Retreat they fell into Rout and Confusion in all parts of their Army so that a miserable slaughter ensued which had been much greater but that Night put an end to the pursuit and a mighty Storm of Hail falling compelled the English to shelter as many as could in the neighbouring Towns and Villages and the Flyers to betake them to Woods and other places of Refuge though on either side before this could be done many were grievously hurt by the falling of the Hail Stones which were of a prodigious bigness and did much mischief both to Cattle and People in divers other places This Defeat as considerable as it was discouraged not the Danes for being recruited they sent their Ships about to the Southern part of the Island with some â—orces to amuse the English by Landing at Southampton Plymouth and other Sea Ports and with what Plunder they could get immediatly retired to their Ships though many came short as being slain by the Peasants however this made them more revengful for gathering strength from new comers of their Nation who Landed from a Fleet on the Southern Coast they wasted Hampshire stormed Winchester defended by a good Garison and layed it in Ashes but the King coming suddainly with an Army a great number of them were slain and the rest compelled to retire to their Ships several of which were Burnt by Wild-Fire thrown amongst them before they could get to Sea and divers of the Danes perished in the Flames and involving Waves In his time two Blazing Stars appeared one in the North East and another in the South West both within half a Year of each other the first continued Fourteen Days and the latter Seven He began his Reign Anno Dom. 860 and Dyed Anno Dom. 865 having held a troublesom Reign for the space of Five Years He was Buryed at Sherburn Remarks on Cambridgshire c. CAmbridgshire is for the most part exempted from Hills and Woods being much applyed to the breeding of Cattle though it abounds in Corn-Fields and is Watered with many pleasant Streams and has belonging to it the fertil Isle of Ely It is Bounded with Northfolk Suffolk Essex Hartfordshire Bedfordshire Huntingtonshire and Lincolnshire It Contains One Hundred and Sixty Three Parishes Eight Market Towns and One River also the Bishoprick of Ely It sends Members to Parliament viz. Six Cambridge two for the Town and two for the Vniversity and two Knights of the Shire As for the Places Noted in it the first in rank is Cambridge which CAMBRIDGE SHIRE tho' no City is enobled above many others for its many famous Structures dedicated to Learning as Caius Colledge Founded by John Caius Doctor in Physick Anno 1557. Christs Colledge Founded by Queen Margaret 1506 Clare Hall Founded by Elizabeth Daughter to Gilbert Clare Earl of Leicester Anno 1326 Corpus Christi Colledge by John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster 1344 Emanuel Colledge by Sir Walter Mildmay 1588 Jesus Colledge by Doctor John Alcock Bishop of Ely St. John's Colledge by the afore named Queen Margaret 1506 Catharine Hall by Doctor Woodlack Provost of Kings Colledge 1459 Kings Colledge by King Henry the sixth 1441 Magdalen Colledge by the Lord Audley 1509 Pembrook Hall by Mary Countes of Pembrook 1343 Peter House by Hugh Balsam Bishop of Ely 1280 Queens Colledge by Margaret Queen to King Henry the Sixth Anno Dom. 1448 Trinity Colledge by Henry the Eighth Anno Dom. 1546 Trinity Hall by William Bateman Anno Dom. 1354. These famous Structures are Renowned for the many Learned Divines and Statesmen that have been brought up in them to the Honour and Credit of the Kingdom giving it considerable advantages of that kind over others there is in this Renowned Town many stately Churches and Antient Monuments of very curious Workmanship Ely the Bishops Seat from whence the Diocess takes its Name is held to be Built by Audry Wife to Tombart a Prince in those Parts and afterward Marryed Egbert King of Northumberland from whom departing she here betook her self to a Devout Life Building a Monastery of which she became the first Abbess and is famous for the Birth-place of divers Learned and Eminent Persons as Andrew Millet Sr. Thomas Ridley Doctor of Laws Richard Parker c. The next Places of Note are Everton Triplow Everden Caxton Wisbich Linton Milton Mildred from which places proceeded many Eminent Men both in Church and State At Caxton was Born William thence sirnamed Caxton who first set up the Ingenious Art of Printing in England It is likewise Beautified by divers Seats of the Nobility viz. Thorney-Abby the Seate of William Duke of Bedford Newmarket belonging to the Earl of Suffolk Kertling alias Catlidg belonging to the Lord North and Grey of Rolston Ely Place and Wisbich Castle the Seats of the Lord Bishop of the Diocess It is Watered with many small branching Rivers but the chief of Note is Cam on whose Banks Cambridge is advantageously seated and gives the County its Name The Reign of Ethelred Fifth Sole Monarch of England EThelred the Third Son of Ethelwolf upon his coming to the Crown Anno Dom. 866 found himself engaged in a dangerous War against the Danes who with their main Strength almost in all parts Invaded the Kingdom so getting strong footing with several Armys in the North East and South he was at a stand into which quarter he should advance which gave them opportunity to over-run many fertil Counties and being as yet Pagans they used unheard-of Cruelties under the Leading of Hungar and Hubba two of their Dukes who by some are stiled Kings They took the City of York by Storm and set it on Fire upon which Walketulus an Earl of the East Angles gave them Battel but was Overthrown and most of those he commanded slain and flushed with this Victory they destroyed many famous Churches also the Monasteries of Croyland Berdoxey Midlesham side or Peterborough and Ely and the Abbess of Coldingham to prevent Ravishment cut off her Nose and upper Lip and by her Example the Nuns did the like to preserve their Chastity by their Deformity but were nevertheless Defloured and afterward in despight Immured in their House and Fire being put to it they perished in the Flames And so terrible they became in those Parts That Burthred Vice Roy of Mercia to save the ruin of the Country made Peace with them as likwise did Offride and Ella stiled Dukes of the Northumbrians and were thereupon constrained to joyne their Forces with them against Ethelred which some Authors call a Rebellion and that with great reason for it was taking part with Invaders against their Lawful Soveraign These things happening whilst the King was busied in other Parts of the Land he no sooner found a little leasure but taking courage he Marched Northward and in a great Battel Overthrew the Dainish Northern Army in conjunction with many of his Subjects whom they had compelled as is said to the Field under their East Angle and Mercian Leaders
the City of Dublin to the Petty Kings and most of the Nobility of the Kingdom and having settled the Civil and Ecclesiastical matters reforming Barbarities and Abuses he brought those that held out in Vlster under Subjection and so returned in Triumph to London Thus was Ireland made subject to the Crown of England and has so continued ever since being a very spacious Country viz. in Length 303 Miles in Breadth 112 in Circumference 948. And such was the over-fondness of this King to his Eldest Son Henry that he caused him and his Wife Margaret Daughter to Lewis the French King to be twice sollemnly Crowned in the presence of his People himself the second time for that day leaving the Title of King and serving as a Servitor at his Son's Table whereat the Bishop of Winchester whispering the Young Henry in the Ear said Never any King of England had such a Sewer at his Table Nay replied the Upstart my Father need not think it any dishonour to him as being but Royal Born on one side when I had both a King to my Father and a Queen to my Mother upon this the old King shook his Head and whispered the Bishop I find my Lord I have raised the Young Man too soon and too late repent of it And from that time he laboured to suppress the Pride of his Sons which made them often Rebel and Conspire with his Enemies drawing away the Hearts of many of his Subjects And altho' at one time Lewis the French King Henry Geoffry and John three of his Sons joyned with Robert Earl of Leicester Hugh Earl of Chester and William King of Scots against him yet by plain Valour he Routed them and made his Sons and others that were his Subjects submit to his Pardon and soon after his Son Henry Dyed in the flower of his Age. But these were not all the Kings Troubles for he was grievously pestered with the stubbornness of Becket Arch Bishop of Canterbury For upon his first admittance to that See he refused to take the Oath for observation of the Articles administred to the Clergy which the rest of the Bishops had done because it was clearly against the Popes Authority and perceiving the King much displeased at his refusal he resolved to set the Pope on his Back and therefore privately withdrawing himself went to Rome where he made grievous complaints against the King and Clergy of England to Innocent the Second upon which the Pope gave him the Pall and appointed him Legate so upon his return he delivered up his Chancelorship and Great Seal not giving the King or any other an account why he did so These Jars between the King and the Arch Bishop imboldened the Inferiour Clergy to commit many Irregularities for which they received but small punishment for if they committed Murthers Manslaughters Fellonies or Robberie being Censured by Men of their own Profession they came off as they could wish so that the Common Wealth being sorely oppressed to Redress these Grievances the King found himself constrained to call a Parliament In which that Law made in King Stephens Reign which exempted the Authority of Temporal Judges from meddling with Ecclesiastical Affaires was Repealed and the Laws held in the Reign of Henry the First and other the Kings Predecessors Established and Inforced being commonly called Avitae Legis but he was stoutly opposed in his Proceedings by Becket and some other Bishops who unadvisedly made themselves partakers of his Faction but after many Conferences Disputes and Consultations all except Becket Ratified and Subscribed those newly revived Laws but he by no means would do it unless he might enter this Clause Salvo Ordine suo which words clearly Annihilated the Life and Substance of those Laws but the Bishops fearing the Kings Anger might turn to their great disadvantage at last prevailed with Becket to Swear to the said Laws but upon another Pet taken he recanted his Oath and was Absolved by the Pope Yet it nothing daunted the King but rather Irritated him to Seiz into his own hands all such Temporalities as he had formerly given to the Arch Bishop requiring him to render an Account of 30000 Marks he had Imbezilled during his being Chancellor But the Prelate in Answer to this boldly affirmed the King had freely given it to him as a free Gift and ought not in Honour or Conscience to demand it back Whereupon all the Moveables that appertained to him were Seized by the Kings express command At which Becket being disgusted he went to Rome without the Kings License and the King perceiving his drift was to incense the Pope against him sent his Ambassadors to represent his perversness and evil carriage and how reasonable things were he had imposed on him entreating the Pope to divest him of his Dignity and he would provide for him and his in another station But Becket had made such interest in the Court of Rome That the Pope not only refused it but with many Threatnings sent two Legates To Curse the King and all his People unless on their demands Becket were immediatly restored to his Dignity also to his Lands and Moveables that were Confiscated and in the mean while he commended him to the Abbot of Pontynack where he was kindly received and for a time entertained But upon the Kings Threats that unless he was Expelled the House that he would leave no Monk of that Order in France he was dismissed the King Commanding That without his License no Cardinal nor Legate should presume to set Footing in England and hereupon he Banished all Beckets Relations which much grieved him yet under-hand he was encouraged by Lewis the French King resolutely to persist in his Obstinacy whereupon King Henry to put an end to this difference that much disturbed the Kingdom Sailed to France and in the French Kings presence Conferred with the Arch Bishop making him an Offer That if he would take the Oath again and subscribe the Instrument Triparte as himself and the Arch Bishop of York had done he should be restored to his Favour and enjoy all that was formerly appertaining to him and his Friends recalled from Banishment but then he started another obstacle consenting to do it if it might be with an exception of salvo honore Dei This more angered the King than the former for by it he seemed to Object the Laws made tended to the dishonour of God and if so consequently were void in themselves bringing a scandal upon those that first Instituted them and also upon himself and the Parliament that had Revived them Whereupon Becket plainly told him That he feared none but God and since his Laws were derogatory to the Antient Customs and Priviledges of the Church and Robbed God of his Honour the King in seeking to Establish them should not have his will whilst he lived And upon this Disagreement the Pope sent two Legates to Interdict the Kingdom till Becket should be restored to his Dignity This so far
Market Towns and 5 Rivers Isis which gives an additional name to the Thames into which it falls is very much Celibrated in Antient Story It sends Members to Parliament 9 viz. Oxford City 2 the Vniversity 2 Banbury 1 New Woodstock 2 and 2 Knights of the Shire The Antient City of Oxford is renowned for many remarkable things as being the Place of Meeting of divers Parliaments and holding out many Sieges Here Maud the Empress was Besieged by King Stephen and all in White got by Night over the Thames on the Ice This Place King Charles the First made his chief Head-Quarters during the Civil War till it was taken by Sr. Thomas Farfaix King Richard the First was Born here Its Churches are 13 besides the Cathedral most of them very Stately It is Watered almost round and is supplyed within the City by many Conduits on one of which is the Figure of a Queen Riding on an Ox in Brass But the greatest Ornament of Oxford is its being a Vniversity and for the stateliness of its Colledges their Liberal Endowments and the Number of Scholars contained in them it is not except by its Sister Cambridge to be parallelled in the whole Christian World Of the Number of its Colledges the time of their Foundation and their Founders take the following Account An Account of the Colledges in Oxfond 1. University Colledge was founded by King Alfred Anno 872 for 12. Fellows besides other Students 2. Baliol Colledge was founded Anno 1262. by John Baliol and Devorgilla his Wife Parents of John Baliol King of Scots for 12. Fellows c. 3. Merton Colledge was founded Anno 1274. by Walter de Merton Lord High Chancellour of England and Bishop of Rochester This has 19 Fellows 14 Scholars c. 4. Exeter Colledge was founded Anno 1216. by Walter Stapleton Bishop of Exeter for 23. Fellows c. 5. Oriel Colledge was founded Anno 1337. by King Edward II for 18. Fellows 12 Schollars c. 6. Queens Colledge was founded Anno 1340. by Robert Eaglesfield B. D. for 15 Fellows besides other Students of the Foundation 7. New Colledge was founded Anno 1375. by William of Wickham Bishop of Winchester and Lord High Chancellour of England for 70 Fellows 10 Chaplains 3 Clerks 16 Choiristers c. 8. Lincoln Colledge was founded Anno 1420. by Richard Fleming Bishop of Lincoln for 15 Fellows c. 9. All-Souls Colledge was founded Anno 1437. by Henry Chicheley Arch Bishop of Canterbury for 40 Fellows besides Chaplains Clerks and other Servants of the Foundation 10. Magdalen Colledge was founded Anno 1459. by William of Wainfleet Bishop of Winchester and Lord High Chancellour of England for 40 Fellows and 30 Scholars besides Chaplains Clerks Choiristers c. 11. Brazen-Nose Colledge was founded Anno 1515. by William Smith Bishop of Lincoln and Richard Sutton Esq for 20 Fellows besides Scholars and Students of the Foundation 12. Corpus Christi Colledge was founded Anno 1516. by Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester and Lord Privy Seal for 20 Follows 20 Scholars besides Chaplains and Clerks c. 13. Christ-Church Colledge was founded Anno 1546. by King Henry VIII for 8 Canons and 100 Students besides Chaplains c. 14. Trinity Colledge was founded Anno 1555. by Sir Tho. Pope for 12 Fellows 12 Scholars and other Students 15. St. Johns Colledge was founded Anno 1557. by Sir Thomas White Merchant Taylor of London for 50 Fellows c. 16. Jesus Colledge was founded Anno 1572. by Queen Elizabeth for 16 Fellows 16 Scholars and other Students 17. Wadham Colledge was founded Anno 1613. by Nicholas Wadham and Dorothy his Wife for 15 Fellows and 15 Scholars c. 18. Pembroke Colledge was founded Anno 1620. by Thomas Teisdale Esq and Richard Wightwick B. D. for 15 Fellows and 11 Scholars c. The Seven Halls are Glocester Edmund St. Alban Magdalen Hart and S. Mary Hall besides New-Inn In all which Colledges and Halls there are fair Chappels and Libraries But amongst these is the most famous Bodlean Library which for choice Books and rare Manuscripts falls little short of the Vatican Here is also that curious Piece of Architecture called the New Theater built for Scholastick Exercises with a fair Printing House by Dr. Sheldon a late Arch Bishop of Canterbury The Musaeum built at the Charge of the Vniversity for the Improvement of Experimental Knowledge especially in Physick with a Laboratory furnished with all sorts of Furnaces and other Materials for Chymical Practice a Store-Room for Preparations and another Room fitted up for a Chymical Library In the Musaeum is also to be seen a curious Repository The publick Physick Garden deserves also to be mentioned here for its Stateliness and infinite Variety of choice Plants The Number of Students in Oxford is rickoned to be 3000 whereof 1000 live upon the Revenues of the Colledges In this City was formerly a famous Castle but now of no great Strength being mostly used for a Prison It has several Bridges about it but one more specially of Stone curiously Arched and is a Place of considerable Trade Woodstock was a long time the Country Retirement of our Kings here it was that Henry II built a sumptuous Bower for fair Rosamond his Paramour here Edward the Black Prince was Born and Sr. Geoffry Chaucer Educated At Islip King Edward the Confessor was Born the other Towns of Note are Banbury Chipingnorton Charlbury Bampton Henly on Thames c. Near Evisham in the South of this County are erected Stones called Rol Richstone in the nature of those on Salisbury Plain but not so big which Fabulous Stories have rendered to have been Men Transformed into Stone but most certain they are a Monument of a great Battel fought there by Rollo the Dane near Oxford is the Well Dripa whose Waters distil from a Rock that hangs over it very Medicinal There is store of Oaker Fullers-Earth and Gipsum at Shot-over Garsington and Whitney and Tobacco-Pipe-Clay and Vmber is found near Blanden Cerulam or Native Blue near Blonds-Court the Tera Lapidosa the Colour of Turkish Rusma is found in the Quarries about Tame the Gold-gritty Clay at Hampton Gay The Seats af the Nobility are Cornbury belonging to the Earl of Clarendon Blechington to the Earl of Anglesey Caversham to the Earl of Craven Dichley and Les Rest to the Earl of Litchfield Ricot and Chesterton to the Earl of Abingdon Broughton Shutford and North Newton to the Lord Viscount Say and Seal Water-Eton to the late Lord Lovelace Cuddesden the Bishops Palace There are fine Parks in this County stored with Deer and many large Woods wherein abundance of Hares shelter The Seats of the Gentry are not a few so that put together it is a very fine Inland County Watered in some parts by the Thames c. The Reign of King HENRY the Third AFter the untimely Death of King John Henry his Eldest Son being but Nine Years of Age was Crowned at Gloucester in the presence of
Valiantly killed Four with a Bill he wrested out of one of their Hands Thus untimely Dyed King Richard the Second when he had Reigned 22 Years 3 Months and 8 Days Being the 32d Sole Monarch of England After his Death his Body was brought to London and exposed to the view of the People to satisfie them he was Dead and prevent their taking part with Impostors and then Buried at Langley In this Kings Reign the River Ouse between Swelstone and Harleswood near Bedford stood still and divided it self so that the Botton in the Middle remained dry for three Miles Soon after Vtred Bolton John Ashwerby Walter Bruce John Ashton and Peter Peteshall were Persecuted some by Perpetual Imprisonment some by Banishment for Preaching and Maintaining Wickliffe's Doctrine In the last Year of this Kings Reign all the Bay-Trees in England Withered and when Lancaster came to the Crown fresh Branches sprouted from the supposed dead Stocks And an Army of Birds Fighting in the Air strangely destroyed each other THE County of SUFFOLKE Remarks on the County of Suffolk c. SUffolk has many Advantages in its Situation by reason the Eastern part of it opens to the Sea and is stored with commodious Havens besides this County abounds with Cattle Wooll Corn Marshes producing fat Pastures store of Butter and much Cheese but not much approved of It is mostly plain branched with several curious Rivers flowing from and runing into the Ocean On the North it is Bounded with Norfolk on the West with Cambridgeshire and on the South with Essex It contains 22 Hundreds 575 Parishes 28 Market Towns 1 Castle 2 principal Rivers 32 Bridges 27 Parks most of them well stored with Deer It sends Members to Parliament 16 viz. Alborough 2 Dunwich 2 St. Edmunds-Bury 2 Ipswich 2 Orford 2 Sudbury 2 Eye 2 and 2 Knights of the Shire Ipswich in this County was Founded by one Gipsa it has a flourishing Estate in Shiping-Trade by reason of the Navigable River it stands on it was often harassed in antient times by the Danes and is particularly noted for the Birth of that great Pagentry of Fortune Cardinal Wolsey whose Father was a Butcher in it St. Edmunds-Bury is Memorable for King Edmund's being Shot to Death by the Danes for Expiation of which Cruelty King Canute Erected here a stately Monastery once accounted the Richest in Europe And here a Parliament was held in the Reign of King Henry the Sixth Exning is the Birth-place of St. Audri Sister to King Ina. At Renlisham Redwald the first Christian King of the East-Angles kept his Court Lidgate is the Birth-place of John Sirnamed Lidgate a famous English Poet. The Seats of the Nobility are Busbrook Hall belonging to the Duke of St. Albans Ewston to the Earl of Arlington Christs Church in Ipswich Sudbury Hall Soham Lodge to the Lord Viscount Hereford Denham Hall to the Lord Viscount Townsend Broom Hall and Carleford Hall to the Lord Cornwallis Besides these there are a great many stately Buildings belonging to private Gentlemen In some of the Cliffs to the Sea Hawks build and there is much Game for Recreation as Fishing Fowling Hunting c. Here also stands Framlingham Castle a place of great State Beauty Strength and Conveniency and the Ruins of Burgh Castle Remain The Reign of HENRY the Fourth commonly called Henry of Bullenbrook THIS Henry was Crowned by the consent of the Estates in the life time of Richard the Second and created Henry his Eldest Son Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwal and Earl of Chester Then he called a Parliament in his own Name in which the Bishop of Carlisle for speaking in the behalf of King Richard and moving a commiseration of his wrongs was committed close Prisoner to the Abby of St. Albans and the Crown was entailed on Henry and his Heirs forever This Parliament no sooner ended but many Lords Conspired the Death of the King entering into Oath and Covenant to do it at Oxford where they had appointed sollemn Sports for his Entertainment in honour as they Flatteringly pretended of his happy Accession to the Crown but really with an intent to restore King Richard And accordingly they met Armed all but Edward Plantagenet Duke of Aumarle Son to Edmund of Langley Duke of York the Kings Unkle who as he sat at Dinner with his Father had by chance the Label of the Instrument of Combination hanging out at his Bosom of which the old Duke taking hold drew forth the whole Writing and Reading the Contents of the Conspiracy prepared for Windsor to give the King an account of it which the young Duke perceiving hastily took Horse and out-stript him himself revealing all the Intrigue for which he had his Pardon Upon this Discovery the King put off his Journey to Oxford and hastened to the Tower of London securing the City to his Interest and raising an Army of which the Lords at Oxford had no sooner notice but they encreased their Forces causing one Magdalen much in likeness to Personate King Richard and advanced their Standard to meet the King but finding they were much inferiour to him in Number their courage failed which so disheartened the Souldiers that they dispersed and left their Leaders to shift for themselves so that most of them were Taken and Executed in divers places others fled the Kingdom and reserved themselves to broach new Broils and this hastened King Richard's Murther in the manner as has been said For King Henry complaining that so long as he Lived he should never be at rest and demanding if none loved him so well as to rid him of that Torment Pierce of Exton to curry favour with him posted away and with other Ruffians villainously performed it at which the French King was mightily displeased purposing to send his Letters of Defiance to King Henry and Invade his Kingdom but upon second thoughts tho' he had raised a potent Army he dissolved it and proceeded no further in the business Yet soon after he Levied another Army to Invade Aquitaine and Guyan but was so stoutly withstood by King Henry's Forces That he retired and Disbanded them But the King of England doubting the security of his ill-got Title laboured to make Peace with him the better to strengthen himself offering a Marriage between Henry his Son and the Lady Isabella Widow to King Richard and Daughter to Charles the Sixth of France but that King considering how unfortunate Marriages had been between France and England refused it whereupon she was sent over in great State and Married to her Cousin Charles Eldest Son of Lewis Duke of Orleance her Unkle Soon after this Owen Glendour with his Welsh Rebelled Overthrowing the King's Army and taking the Lord Grey of Ruthen and Edmund Mortimer the Kings Cousin Prisoners using them exceeding hardly the sooner to oblige the King to Ransom them but he neglected it because Mortimer was nearer Allied to the Crown by Right of Descent than himself yet tho' he might have had his
ought not to be so careless of their Peoples wellfare and safety as to meet every Madman who had the vanity to send them a Challenge But that he would be at all times ready to Repel any Violence or Injury which he should dare rashly or unadvisedly to Attempt against him or his People This exceedingly nettled Mounsieur so that in an angry mood designing Revenge he Besieged the Town of Vergie in Guyan but having wasted his Army in almost a four Months Siege he was constrained to raise it and retire with disgrace After this the Duke of Burgundy to mend the matter raised an Army to reduce Callis but upon King Henry's preparations to pass the Seas with an Army he was Remanded by the French King which he looking on as the Duke of Orleances doings to hinder him from gathering expected Lawrels a mortal hatred sprung up between them and several Battels were Fought King Henry first assisting Burgundy and then Orleance and gained much Money by their Contention whilst they weakened each other and the whole Estate of France whilst they drew in Parties to side with them In the mean while the Marshal of France laying Siege to a Town in Gascony with 4000 Men at Arms was beaten off by Sir John Blunt with 300 English 12 Noblemen and 120 Gentlemen taken Prisoners and carried into the Town in Triumph And now tho' the King had Pardoned the Earl of Northumberland yet he resenting some Indignities put on him grew restless for Revenge and therefore Associating with Richard Scroop Arch Bishop of York Thomas Moubray Earl Marshal The Lords Hastings Faulconbridge Bardolf and divers others Forces were resolved to be raised and another hazard of the Field to be Enterprised But the Earl of Westmoreland whom they would have drawn to their Party revealing their Design to the King he secretly Marched with an Army into the North and surprising Moubray Scroop and some others caused their Heads to be stricken off but Northumberland Bardolf c. Escaped to France from whence they afterward came to Scotland where that King promised to Aid them but to prevent the threatening Danger the King raised a potent Army and sent it under the Prince of Wales into Scotland where he Retook Berwick Alnwick and other strong places that the Earl had delivered to the Scots and Burnt many Towns in the heart of that Kingdom whereupon the Scots finding themselves unable to make Resistance craved a Truce which was Granted for twelve Months and thereupon the Prince returned home with his Spoils Whilst this was doing the French to favour the Design set out several Armed Ships to Alarum the Coast Towns of England when the Lord Castile with three other Lords 20 Knights and a great many Soldiers Landing at Dartmouth were Encountered by the Country People who Slew Castile and most of his Soldiers and taking the rest Prisoners brought them to the King who very well rewarded the Rusticks for their Care and Vigilancy and put the Lords and Knights to great Ransoms and the King going to see them on Board at their departure in his return from the Downs very narrowly scaped being taken by a French Privatier's supposedly lying purposely in wait for him whereupon the Lord Commois who attended him being a Norman Nobleman was suspected of Treachery but upon his Tryal acquitted and received into Favour The Truce with Scotland Expired Northumberland and Bardolf Animated the Scots to Invade England which they did doing much mischief in Northumberland and other Northern parts Whereupon the King Levied an Army and Traveled by long Marches to Encounter them but before his Arrival they were Fought-with and Overthrown by Sir Thomas Rookby High Sherif of Yorkshire who slew the Earl and sent his Head as a Present to the King that was very acceptably received and the Lord Bardolf being Wounded fled into Scotland and there Dyed of his Wounds After this the King Assembling a Parliament Created therein his three Younger Sons viz. Thomas Duke of Clarence John Duke of Bedford and Humphry Duke of Gloucester and many Laws were therein Enacted profitable to the Common-weal and from this Day till his Death the King Enjoyed a Life free from Hostility but found such Inward perplexities of Mind for having Consented to or Instigated the Murther of King Richard his first Cousin for the lucre of his Crown that to make some Attonement and quiet his Conscience he Levied an Army resolving as he had Vowed to make War against the Infidels that Oppressed the Christians in the Holy Land which the Popes of those times declared was a full Atonement or sufficient Expiation for any Crime how Notorious so ever but whilst things were getting ready he fell into an Appoplexy and finding Death approaching caused his Crown to be placed on his Pillow with an intent to deliver it to the Prince when he was near Departing but he impatient of delay supposing him when fallen into a Drowsâ—ness to be Dead removed it thence whereupon the King raised himself and missing it demanded Who had taken it And the Prince Replying It was he The King fell back and fetching a deep Sigh said My Son what Right I had to this Crown and how I have Enioyed it God knows and the World hath seen and thereupon he fetched a deep Groan but the Prince not minding that said Comfort your self in God Father The Crown you have and if you Dye it is mine and I will keep it with my Sword as you have done and within a few Hours the King dyed in the 46th Year of his Age when he had Reigned 13 Years 5 Months and 19 Days and was Buried at Canterbury Anno 1412. In this Kings Reign two Blazing Stars appeared before the breaking out of the Piercy's Rebellion and many Drops of Blood fell on Peoples Garments in the Northern Parts as from the Clouds Anno 1407 a great Plague happened that destroyed in London 30000 Persons and multitudes else where and the Year after a violent Frost held 15 Weeks And by the wicked procurement of Thomas Arundel Arch Bishop of Canterbury William Sawtree William Swinderby and William Thorp worthy Divines suffered Martyrdome for opposing the Romish Superstitions and Idolatry Preaching the Gospel and much adhearing to Wickliffe's Doctrine Remarks on the County of Surry c. SUrry is a very spacious County and would be aboundantly Fruitful did not a ridge of barren Hills run in a manner quite through it however it abounds in Corn Cattle Rich Medows and Vpland Pastures and Open and Inclosed Grounds yeilds store of Honey Wooll Fowl Fish Deer and is abundant in pleasant Gardens and Orchards of Fruit-Trees It is Bounded on the North with the Thames and Middlesex on the East with Kent on the South with Sussex and on the West with Hampshire and Buckinghamshire It contains 13 Hundreds in which are 141 Parishes 8 Principal Market Towns 7 Bridges 4 Forrests and 17 Parks as for Rivers there are many small ones as at Gilford
might be any hopes to recover and some were recovered for in so suddain an Execution many received Wounds that were not Mortal This famous Victory obtained the King fell on his Knees and caused all the Army to do the like and with up-lifted Hands say Lord Not unto us not unto us but to thy Name be Glory and Honour In this Battel which the King said should be called The Battel of Agincourt to all Posterity because Fought near that Town were slain of the French Charles Lord Delabreth Constable of France Jaques Lord of Dampire High Admiral John Duke of Alanson Anthony Duke of Brabant Edward Duke of Barre The Earls of Marle Vaudemont Blawmount Grand Pree Russey Faulconbridg Foys and Lastrake 25 Lords 8000 Knights Esquires and Gentlemen and about 10000 of the meaner sort The Prisoners of Note were Charles Duke of Orleance John Duke of Burbon The Lords Donuart Fosseux Humiers Roy Cawny Hamcourt Noell Bonciqualt and some others and on King Henry's part of Note were slain Edward Duke of York and the Earl of Worcester Some Historians will have the latter to be the Earl of Suffolk and not above 600 others of all Ranks The King who before the Battel had Vowed to Dye or Conquer and that England should never be at a Penny charge for his Ransom was informed by some of his Noble Prisoners That the French were so confident of the Victory that they had not only disposed of his Person and the spoil of his Camp before hand but also of Places and Offices in England But when Man proposes God disposes The Dead being Honourably Buried and the Soldiers Inriched with the Spoil the King Marched to Callis without any interuption and having settled his Affairs passed into England where he was received by his Subjects with unspeakable Joy Soon after this the Duke of Exeter Captain of Harestew Ravaged the Countries and Overthrew the Earl of Arminiack the new Constable of France with considerable slaughter taking many Prisoners for which he had large Ransoms And Sigismund the Emperor of Germany coming into England laboured to conclude a Peace between the two Kings but not being able to effect it he made one for himself and being honourably attended by the King and his Nobles to his Ships he returned home highly satisfied with his Entertainment Shortly after the Duke of Burgundy made a Peace with King Henry only for the Counties of Flanders and Arthois for which he was suspected as an Enemy to the Crown of France In the Kings absence the French Besieged Hareflew by Sea and Land but their Fleet Commanded by John Viscount Narbon was utterly destroyed by John Duke of Bedford whereupon the Constable raised the Siege by Land and hasted to Paris upon which the French Nobility Quarelled among themselves about the several bad Successes charging the Miscarriage upon one another which made for King Henry's Interest so that he called a Parliament at Westminster declaring publickly his Right and undoubted Title to the Crown of France and the many wrongs the French had done the English Nation which now they had an opportunity to repair in giving him Supplies to enable him in the prosecution of his Wars which they liberally Granted him and it was raised without any murmurings of the People as in other Reigns had happened on the like occasion In the mean while John Holland Earl of Huntington after a sharp Engagement took three Carracks of Genoa and sunk other six that were going to Aid the French and in the Prizes found great store of Treasure and early in the Spring the King Landed a strong Army in Normandy took the Castle of Tonque whereupon the Villagers of that Dutchy fled into their Walled-Towns and he laid Siege to the City of Caen which after many fierce Assaults he took putting to Death the most obstinate who had too long refused his proffered Mercy in holding out against him and the more Wealthy Citizens he put to Fines and Ransoms And now a Quarrel happened between the Queen of France and the Dauphin her Son for she having raked together great store of Treasure he forcibly seized it for the use of the War which so enraged her that she vowed Revenge and procured John Duke of Burgundy to be Protector of the Kings Person and of the Kingdome so that an irreconcileable Quarrel continued among them The Constable and Dauphin labouring to weaken his Interest and he on the other hand supported by the Kings Favour was not wanting to do the like for them Whilst King Henry was Warring in Normandy and took in about 50 strong Towns and Castles reducing the Normans for the most part to his obedience and having appointed Sir Gilbert Vmphrevile Captain of Caen Castle and Sir Gilbert Talbot the like of the Town Sir John Popham Baylif c. and disposed the other Places in Trusty Hands he Marched to Roan where he found the Citizens had drawn a great Trench about it and strongly Fortified it with Towers and Bullwarks and having laid Siege to it at Pontle-Arch he laid over a strong Chain and a Wooden Bridge to hinder any Succours coming by Water keeping likewise that Passage blocked up with a strong Squadron under the Command of the Earl of Warwick and whilst he lay at this Siege the Lord Kilmay with 16000 Irishmen came to him Armed with Darts and Coats of Mail being joyfully received and proved very servicable But the King finding his violent Assaults were repulsed the Garrison being very Numerous incompassed the place to the Landward with a wide and deep Trench impailed at the bottom with sharp Stakes and so well guarded with Archers that they durst not approach it so there being Multitudes of useless People in the City the Famine encreased so sore among them that nothing Unclean was left uneaten nor were those they turned out suffered to pass the English Camp so that many Hundreds with piteous cries lay and died under the Walls and the Siege having continued from Lamas tide till Christmas on New-Years Day they desired safe Conduct for their Commissioners to pass to the King which was allowed but to little purpose for a bold Frenchman so angered him with his vaunting speech wherein he taxed him with unprincely degenerateness and meanness of Courage for Cloistering up the Garrison to Starve them as not daring to let them be at liberty to Fight and sell their Lives bravely in the Field That he resolved not to hearken to any Terms but the Surrender of the City upon discretion Granting them only a Truce of Eight Days to well advise in the matter but nothing being determined the half-Starved Inhabitants with hideous cries and shouts compelled the Governour and Magistrates to a Surrender so that having Four Days more allowed they Surrendered the City and Castle to the King there being Famished during the Siege 5000 and 12000 Starvelings were turned out who many of them dyed in the Fields and Lanes Then he compelled the Burghers for
the Earls of Warwick Devonshire Salisbury and others they resolved to complain in Parliament of the Queen's Misgovernment who by reason of the Kings Weakness and Imbecility did what she pleased as also did her Favourits the chief of which now was the Duke of Sommerset but his complaints not taking such effect as he supposed upon new Counsels he took other Measures raising an Army under pretence of removing Evil Counsellours from the King charging the Duke of Sommerset with oppressing the People and the many Miscarriages in France during his Regency occasioning the loss of Normandy and Aquitain with many other things The King upon this fearing the worst raised likewise an Army whereupon the Duke of York sent a submissive Message and Letter to him That he intended nothing against his Royal Person nor against the State but only craved That in Parliament the Duke of Sommerset might be Tryed and caused to Answer to such Crimes as would be Objected against him and the Duke of Sommerset upon this being for shew sake committed to the Tower the Duke of York dissolved his Army and came to the King where contrary to his expectation he met with the Duke of Sommerset who Accused him of Treason for that without the Kings Leave or Commandment he had raised an Army with which he intended to have Murthered his Soveraign and made himself Inheritor and Possessor of the Crown Whereupon the Duke was Arrested but in a few days Released Whilst these things happened in England the Lords of Guyan and Aquitain threw off their Subjection to France and sent secret Messages to King Henry That if he would furnish an Army to Protect them they would re-deliver those Provinces into his Possession upon which the Earl of Shrewsbury was sent with 3000 Men who received them into the Kings Protection But soon after being fought with by 20000 French he was Overthrown and Slain with almost all his followers and thereupon these Provinces were utterly Lost In the mean while the Queen was delivered of a Son whom she caused to be Named Edward The Duke of York having strengthened his Faction made grievous Complaints to the Lords in Parliament against the Duke of Sommerset so that in the Queen's Chamber he was Arrested for High Treason and conveyed to the Tower But the Parliament being suddainly Adjourned and the King by many protestations faithfully promising that at some other time he should Answer those Accusations he was set at Liberty and made Captain of the Castle and Town of Callice which made the Duke of York Leavy another Army and fought with the King at St. Albans and so prevailed that the Duke of Sommerset the Earls of Northumberland and Stafford the Lord Clifford and about 8000 others were Slain the King was also hurt in the Neck with an Arrow and taken Prisoner but used with much dissembled Civility and brought to London where at the Duke of York's entreaty he called a Parliament and the Earl of Salisbury was made Chancellour The Earl of Warwick Captain of Callice The Duke of York was likewise appointed Protector of the Kings Person and of the Realm but the Queen being perswaded he Aimed at the Crown they were soon displaced Whilst these Differences continued many disorders happened The Houses of Merchant-Strangers were Rifled and Robbed in London and the French greatly Annoy'd our Merchants on the Seas which compelled the Queen who was Wise Politick and of a Masculine Spirit to use a Stratagem which was to get the King to retire into the North for his Pleasure and sent Letters to the Three Lords immediatly to come and Confer with him who delay'd not to do it but having secret notice their destruction was intended they timely Fled and prevented their Ruin Yet the King advised by his grave Counsellours laboured for an Accommodation of matters appointing for this purpose a General Meeting of all his Lords at London who came strongly Guarded with Friends and Servants where the Arch Bishop of Canterbury and other great Clergymen used such Perswasions and Arguments That the King Queen and all the Lords were pleased in friendly and in kind sort to consent that all Jars and Discontents should be laid aside and by Instruments in Writing a Reconciliation was outwardly Confirmed but not with any hearty goodwill on either side yet it greatly Rejoyced the People who thought it Real After this the King rod through the City with the Crown on his Head the Duke of York conducted the Queen and the Lords of either Faction rod two and two together Not long after this one of the Kings Servants was Wounded in the Court by a Gentleman belonging to the Earl of Warwick who escaping the rest of the Kings Servants fell upon the Earl as he came from the Council-Table but he Escaped by Water and was searched after in London in order to be sent to the Tower yet he was not there but fled into Yorkshire complaining to his Father the Earl of Salisbury of the Injury that had been done to him who Advised him immediatly to repare to his Government of Callice and then the Earl of Salisbury raised an Army and Marched towards London of which the Queen had no sooner notice but she sent the Lord Audley to oppose him so that the Battel being joyned after a sharp Fight the Lord Audley and 2200 of his Men was Slain the rest flying and leaving Salisbury Master of the Field upon this success the Duke of York conceiving he should gain what he aimed at raised an Army on the Marches of Wales and Joyning with Salisbury near Ludlow the King's Army came in sight of them but the Lords fearing they were Betrayed by one Andrew Trollop and John Blunt two famous Captains trained up in the French Wars who had been brought over by the Earl of Warwick because after they had shewed them advantageously how to Attack the Kings Army they had on scruple of Conscience deserted and gone over to him raised their Camp in the Night and secretly Retiring disbanded their Army and shifted for themselves yet several of their Captains being Taken were Executed but the common Soldiers Pardoned and the flying Lords Proclaimed Arch Traytors to the King and Kingdom their Goods Offices and Lands Sequestered to the Kings Use c. And the King made Henry Son to the Duke of Sommerset Slain in the Battel of St. Albans Captain of Callice and now the King on good Advice Assembled a Parliament in which the Lords of the Yorkist's Faction were Attainted of High Treason and to prevent the Returning of such as were Fled beyond the Seas the Ports were Fortified and strictly Guarded yet they returned took Sandwich and in a short time raised an Army of 25000 Men with which they Marched towards London to secure which the Lord Scales was sent by the King but the Lord Mayor refused him admittance saying He was able to defend the City and would do it seeing the King had committed it to his charge so that
little settled Ferdinand the King's Father-in-Law craved Aid of him against the Moors who infested his Kingdom which he obtained and drove them by that means out of Spain but the War ceasing he sent home the English poor and ill rewarded for their Service which much offended the King and Wars arrising between Pope Julius the Second and Lewis the French King in Italy where the latter seized on the strong Towns of Bologna and La Gasse and became very Formidable King Henry became a friendly Mediator between them But the French King refusing to yeild to Proposals of Peace pursuing his Conquests he required him by his Ambassadors to restore him the Peaceable possession of Guyan and Normandy with his Antient Inheritance of Mayne and Anjou unjustly detained from his Ancestors and himself which being refused he Proclaimed War and for this and Writing a Book in defence of the Roman Pontificate against Martin Luther the Pope on whose account this Quarrel was espoused stiled him Defender of the Faith which Title has ever since been retained by the Kings and Queens of England The King was not slow in raising an Army and King Ferdinand of Spain having notice of his preparations sent to offer his Service if he would Land his Forces in Biscay a part of his Country and from thence March into Guyan which was agreed to and done under the Leading of Thomas Crey Marquess of Dorset But the crafty Spaniard intending nothing but his own advantage by this after the English had suffered many hardships in his Country he joyned them and fell unexpectedly on the Kingdom of Navarre which he seized in a short time the Natives being so amazed at the suddainness of the Invasion that they made little or no resistance But after this success he afforded them no subsistance or any part of the spoil which made the Soldiers Disband of their own accord and come straglingly into England Poor and almost Naked But Sir Edward Howard Youngest Son to the Earl of Surry being Lord Admiral of England many times Landed in the French Territories and greatly endamaged them and at Sea overthrew their Navy in which Fight Sir John Carew of Devonshire in the Regent grapling with a great Carrick of Brest both Ships in the contest fell on Fire and in them on both sides about 800 Men perished This distress on his Coast made the French King augment his Fleet and Fortify his Harbours However the Admiral entered that of Brest with Boats and armed Barges and assailed three great Galleys of Rhodes brought to the assistance of the French King by Prior John these they soon Boarded but the Boats and Barges then returning and leaving them well Manned to be brought off at high Tide by this oversight the French regained them and in the contest the Admiral was born overboard by a Pike and Drowned But in few days his Elder Brother was made Admiral and two Land Armies prepared one under the Leading of George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury and the other by Charles Somerset Lord Herbert Chamberlain to the King These had not long been Landed but the King leaving the publick mannagement of Affaires to the Queen and directing the Earl of Surry to Guard the North against the Scots Incursion he Sailed to Callice and caused his Army to March to Terwyn which he Besieged and upon the overthrow of the French Army that came to its Relief had it put into his possession which he rased and consumed by Fire except the Cathedral and Bishops Palace During this Siege Maximilian the Emperour with 30 Nobles and Gentlemen repared to King Henry's Camp where to the Honour of England they Enrolled themselves in the King's Pay and were Nobly entertained The next Place that opposed him in his intended Conquest was Tournay which despairing of succour after many fierce Assaults yielded and on condition of their paying 10000 l. the Citizens were received into Henry's Protection and Wolsey his Almoner took an Oath of Allegiance of them to be True to him as his own Subjects However in his Absence the Scots Invaded England with 8000 Men under the Command of the Lord Humes and did great mischief but as they were returning with their Plunder Sir William Bulmer who lay in wait with 1000 Archers put them to the Rout in a sharp Fight slew 500 and took 400 Prisoners and recovered all the Booty so that those who had the luck to Escape returned Poor and Beggarly into Scotland But King James the Fourth to revenge this disgrace raised the Power of his Kingdom and come before the Castle of Norham some Historians say with 100000 Fighting Men which he Took by reason the Captain being prodigal of his Powder too soon spent it But the Earl of Surry Marching against the Scots with 26000 Fighting Men Anno 1513 the fatal Battel of Floden Field was Fought September 9 in which the Victory fell to the English the Scots King 2 Bishops 12 Earls 14 Lords and 12000 others of lesser note being slain For this good Service the Earl of Surry was Created Duke of Norfolk Charles Brandon Viscount Lysle Duke of Suffolk and Woolsey was made Bishop of Lincoln and after some Bickerings with the French on the Coast of Normandy King Lewis stricken much in Years sued for Peace and the better to confirm it Married the Lady Mary Second Sister to King Henry a Young and very Beautiful Lady at whose Wedding and Coronation many brave feats of Chivalry were performed by the English Nobility and Gentry who waited on her But Lewis the 12th Dying three Months after this Marriage she returned again for England and with the King 's private consent was Married to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk who had a long time been her Lover Woolsey who was a Butchers Son at Ipswich now began to rise a pace for Doctor Bambridge dying he was made Arch-Bishop and after by the Pope Cardinal of York which puffed him up with so much Pride that he undertook to Rule the King and Kingdom doing for a time without controul what he listed placing and displacing Officers and meddling in all Affairs where there was Advantage or Homage to be gained Especially when made Lord Chancelour and Counsellour of State demanding Accounts of the Treasurers Captains and other Officers that had been in the Wars by which he got much Money out of some that were Rich and those that could not furnish him he Punished and Imprisoned Erecting Courts of his own head and by subtilty got himself to be made the Popes Legat and to Build two Colledges by the Popes permission suppressed and seized on the Lands Effects of many Religious Houses which gave an inlet to King Henry's suppressing the rest some time after who concluded if it were not Sacriledge in the Pope but he could alow of it at pleasure it would be none in him However this Cardinal was sent on several Honourable Embassies wherein he behaved himself so Proudly Naming the King but in the Second
of Philosophy and Arts The Birth-place of Amphibalus whose Disciple our Proto Martyr St. Alban was and here King Henry the Fifth was Born Vsk is a place of Antiquity and considerable in this Shire Abergavenny c. The Seats of the Nobility are Troy House Monmouth Castle Ragland Castle Chepstow Castle Tintorn Abby and Chepstow Grange belonging to the Duke of Beaufort Abergavenny Castle to the Lord Abergavenny St. Julian to the Lord Herbert Baron of Cherbury Matherne Palace to the Bishop 11. MONTGOMERYSHIRE receives great advantage from the River Severn over which are divers considerable Bridges This River in many branches winds very pleasantly among the Hills Fertilizing the Valleys and Plaines so that the Earth produces sufficient Plenty where the barren Hills are not Interposing It is Bounded with Cardiganshire Radnorshire Shropshire Denbighshire and Merionethshire It contains 7 Hundereds in which are 47 Parishes 6 Market Towns 25 Rivers 3 Castles 6 Bridges and 1 Chase It sends Members to Parliament 2 viz. Montgomery 1 and 1 Knight of the Shire Montgomery is pleasantly Situated and has a very strong Castle appertaining to it Dolevere is founded on large Antiquity and some others The Seats of the Nobility are Powis Castle and Buttingto belonging to the Marquess of Powis â—limore Lodg and Llyslin to the Lord Herbert Baron of Cherbury 12. PEMBROOKSHIRE lies very advantageous to the Sea St. David's being the extream point of Land from which in the Sea are those dangerous Rocks called The Bishop and his Clerks This County is not much Mountanous unless to the North-East part It is Bounded by Cardiganshire Carmardenshire and the Sea Milford Haven opening with a large Stream to its Southward and the River Dougledy makes the other branches It is thereby pretty Fruitful and much subject to Seafaring Trade It contains 7 Hundreds 145 Parishes 9 Market Towns 6 Rivers 1 Bishoprick 5 Castles 7 Bridges 2 Forrests 〈…〉 It sends Members to Parliament 3 viz. Haverford-Wâ—â—â— Pembrook 1 and 1 Knight of the Shire And tho' here Pembrook is accounted the County Town yet St. Davids is more remarkable as having been an Archiepiscopal See translated from Isâ—a Legionum by the great Archbishop Devi now stiled St. David whose Day is kept by the Native â—ritains the First of March in memory of a great Battel he gained over the Saxons and the wearing the Leek comes from his ordering the Soldiers on his part the better to be distinguished in Battel every one to place a Leek in his Cap. The Isle of Sâ—laney in this County is almost all over-grown with Wild Thime 13. RADNORSHIRE has many pleasant Valleys in the Mid-land parts producing Corn and breeds plenty of Cattle unless where the Hills hinder It is pleasantly Watered by the River Wye which winds on the Southern side of it and spreads branching into it receiving other Rivers as Ithon Weverly Dâ—las c. It abounds in Fish and particularly store of Salmon This Shire is Bounded by Montgomeryshire Shropshire Herefordshire Breknockshire and Cardiganshire It contains 6 Hundreds 52 Parishes 4 Market Towns 1â— Rivers 5 Castles 5 Bridges and 3 Forrests It sends Members to Parliament 2 viz. Radnor 1 and 1 Knight of the Shire Radnor is the Antient Magnus of Antonie and the station of the Roman Regiment called the Pacentine tho' in Beauty and Building it is Inferiour to Prestain And thus much shall suffice to be said of the Principality of Wales The Reign of Queen MARY the First KING Edward was no sooner Dead but the Lords of the Duke of Northumberland's party hasted to Proclaim the Lady Jane Queen and in order to do it sent for the Lord Mayor of London six Aldermen and six of the Common Council to Greenwich where the King lay dead and declared to them his death which before was kept as secret as possible Moreover shewing them his Will and the Letters Pattents with the Great Seal made fourteen Days before causing them to Swear Allegiance to the Lady Jane as their Soveraign Lady and now the Policy was to surprise the Lady Mary whom they thought knew nothing of the King's Death or their Proceedings for it had been carry'd on very closely But she having secret Intelligence from her Friends at Court left St. Edmunds Bury on pretence she feared the Infection one of her Servants being dead of the Plague and Riding forty Miles came to Freminghâ—m Castle in Suffolk about Eighty Miles from London considering that being near the Sea if â—ortune turned against her she might Escape into France And here taking upon her the stile of Queen for King Henry at his Death repenting his Illegitimating his two Daughters Mary and Elizabeth had by his last Will appointed they should Successively Reign in default of Issue she dispatched Letters to her Friends and Allies that they should hasten to come to her This was no sooner known by the Lords at London but the Lady Jane was immediately Proclaimed Queen Yet she received the Regalia unwillingly not without some Sighs and Tears which Presaged the Misfortune she was violently thrust upon so that it plainly appeared to all present it was much against her will she ascended this height of Honour and indeed as she passed through the City tho' there were crouds of Gazers yet very few Shouts or Acclamations of Joy as in such cases are usual were heard Which gave courage to the contrary Party who heitherto had kept silence but now began to grow bold in their discourses and the Council sitting a Letter was presented from the Lady Mary wherein she commanded the Lords to repair to her acknowledg her the Right Heir to the Crown and their Lawful Princess and do their Duties and Services as became Loyal Subjects Many that envyed Northumberland's Greatness hereupon began to encline to her Party but then they found it could not be well contrived to bring her to London as Queen whilst Northumberland's Presence hindered whereupon hearing that the Suffolk-Men and a great part of Norfolk had promised her their Aid upon condition of enjoying the freedom of Religion they concluded it was convenient to send Forces against her that she might be suppressed before she became Strong and tho' the Duke of Northumberland would have shifted it Forces were raised and he appointed General and so on the 13th of June he set out from London but was much daunted when he heard none of the Multitude that crowded to see him pass along bid him good speed Which he noted to the Lord Grey as an Omen of bad success However he Marched slowly towards Cambridge and in the mean while the Lady Mary's Party greatly encreased by the coming over of the Earls of Bath and Sussex Sir Thomas Cornwallis Sir Henry Jernington Sir Robert Drury Sir John Williams Sir Robert Waldgrave and others and soon after Sir Edward Hastings Brother to the Earl of Huntington Revolted from the Duke of Northumberland with 4000 Foot he had Raised by his order for which he was after created
whilst he was expecting high Promotion he caused him to be Arrested and his Head being stricken off was placed on the highest part of the Tower for by this time he was advanced with an Army to London and the English upon the consternation they were in at the surprizing News of the Kings Death not opposing him in a short time the whole Kingdom submitted to him so that being Crowned Sole Monarch he put a Period to the Saxon Reign about 566 Years from the Establishment of the Heptarchy HARTFORD SHIRE By John Seller This Edmund was the Fifteenth Sole Monarch of England He began his Reign Anno Dom. 1016 and continued it about one Year He was a Prince abounding with Courage Courtesie and Strength a lover of Humanity and very Merciful to those that Submitted to him and so Good-natured That he hardly could be induced to believe any Treachery against him Remarks on Hartfordshire c. HArtfordshire is a very pleasant Inland County producing large crops of Corn especially Barly of which the best Malt is held to be made It abounds with pleastant Orchards and Gardens has in it divers Parks stored with Deer It produces large and small Cattle in great abundance and is sprinkled with Woods and adorned with pleasant Hills Meadows and Inclosiures and is particularly noted for the great quantities of Black Cherries that are at the proper season sent from thence to London many of the Trees that produce them growing in the Hedg-rows in Fields and along the Roads casting a pleasant shade in Summer time to refresh the weary Traveller It is Bounded with Cambridgshire Essex Middlesex Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire and divided into Eight Hundreds viz. Odsey Edwinstree Hitching Broadwater Broughing Hartford Dacor and Caisho Hundreds and these again into 120 Parishes It has 18 Market Towns and one River of note viz. Ware River though it is Watered with many small Streams It sends Members to Parliament Six viz. St Albans two Hartford the Shire Town two and two Knights of the Shire In this County are divers Places worthy of note as St. Albans raised out of the Ruins of old Verulam an Antient Roman station It is Memorable for the Death of St Alban the British Proto Martyr who suffered there in the Tenth Persecution raised by Dioclesian the Roman Emperour who being Buryed here and a stately Monument raised on his Grave by Offa the great King of the Mercians seems to have given it its Name This Place is also famous for two Battels fought here The first between Richard Duke of York and King Henry the sixth the 23d of May Anno Don. 1455. In which the King was defeated with the slaughter of the Duke of Summerset Earl of Northumberland Lord Clifford and 5000 of lesser note The second on the 17th of February Anno Dom. 1460 where King Henry the sixth and his Queen Margaret gained the Victory over the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk and the Earls of Arundel and Warwick Barnet is famed for its Market and Medicinal Waters and for the great Victory gained by Edw. the 4th on the 14th of April Anno Dom. 1471 against the Earls of Warwick and Oxford in whose Field that great Earl was slain since called The Battel of Barnet-Field Here was Born John Barnet Bishop of Worcester then of Bath and Wells lastly of Ely Lord Treasurer in the Reign of Edward the Third Ware Hatfield and Hodsdon are all three seated on the River Lea and near unto Ware is Amwel-Spring famous for being the Head of the New-River which so plentifully furnishes the City of London with Water Langly commonly called Kings Langly gave Birth to Edmond of Langly fifth Son to Edward the Third and the first Burial-place of Richard the Second afterward removed to Westminster Abbots Langly was the Birth-place of Nicholas Break-spear advanced to Pope of Rome by the Name of Pope Adrian the Fourth who made the Emperour Frederick of Germany hold his Stirrop Oister supposed by Cambden to have been the Camp of the Roman Lieutenant Ostorius the next of note are Weathamsted Baldock Redburn Helmsteadsbury Gatesden Hemsted Cottered Grohambury which produced many famous Men. The Seats of the Nobility curiously adorn it and are these More Park once the delightful seat of the Late Vnfortunate Duke of Monmouth Caishobury and Hadam-Hall the seats of the Earl of Essex Totteridg the seat of the Earl of Angleseys Hatfield Hartford-Castle Bigrave Chesunt and Quickwood seats of the Earl of Salisburys With divers seats of the Gentry rendering a pleasant Prospect in all Parts CHAP. IX The Reigns of the Three Danish Kings who were Sole Monarches of England viz. Canute Harrold and Hardicanute with the Memorable Things that happened in their several Reigns Some Observations on the Original of the Danes A Brief Description of the Country from whence they came Their manner of War Religion Customs c. BEing come to speak of a Succession of Kings different in Nation from the former it will not be improper to give an account briefly of the Original of the Nation that gave birth to the first of them c. The Original of the Danes is concluded by some Authors to have been from Scythia That a Famine extreamly raging in that Country divers Colonies had left it and ranging to seek Food found out an Island called Scandia situate Northward not far from the continent of Denmark and in time growing too numerous for that scanty place they Warred on the Danij and so long continued it that they grasped the Kingdom with so hard a hand as to this day it is not wrested from the Race of them and from thence they called the Country Danes-Mark or portion of Land now corruptly Denmark This Peninsule so called by reason it is almost an Island as it is now held by the Danish King that is properly called Denmark is in Length Eighty Miles and Twenty in Breadth having but little firm Land being divided into many Islands whereof Jutland for its bigness is the chief It borders upon Germany and is a near Neighbour to the lower Frisia it is difficult to determine whether it receives greater Benefit than Damage from the Sea for often by the violent Tempests the Banks and Fences being forced by the Waves the Water not only covers the Fields for a long time but by the suddainness of the Deluge destroys many Cattle and People and as well Stately Buildings as Lowly Cottages And the Country is full of Woods containing store of Deer The Island of Frunen is separated from the main Land by a narrow Arm of the Sea To the Westward of it lieth Juta to the East Slayland which for the Beauty and Fertility of it is to be preferred before all the other Islands belonging to the Danish King In it is situate Copenhagen the principal residence of the King also Roschilt the place of their Burial near unto which is the Island of Scandia the first Habitation of the Danes in those parts as most
again It is famous for being the Prison of many Nobles as David King of Scots John King of France c. In it were Murthered Henry the Sixth the two Princes Edward the Fifth and his Brother Richard Duke of York by Crookback Richard's Command within its Walls on the Green divers Nobles have been Beheaded as Robert Earl of Essex the Lady Jane Grey a little before Proclaimed Queen and the Lord Dudly her Husband and many others too numerous to mention Here Sr. Tho. Overbury was Poisoned and Arthur Capell the Noble Earl of Essex in King Charles the Seconds Reign was found Dead his Throat being Cut from Ear to Ear. In London one Gallus a Roman Leiutenant being Slain at a Brook it was called thence Galbrook now corruptly Wallbrook The famous Cathedral of St. Pauls was Founded by Sigebert King of the East-Angles and Ethelbert King of Kent where before a Temple was erected to Diana In the Reign of Edmund Ironside this City was closely Besieged by the Danes but the Siege soon raised by that Valiant King Anno 1133 the greater part of it was consumed by Fire In King Richard the Second's time was the great Rencounter in Smithfield with the Rebells Wat Tyler and Jack Straw where the former was killed by Sr. William Walworth the Valiant Lord Mayor For which the Dagger is added to the City Armes This City has had the Honour to Entertain several Kings and Princes King Stephen kept his Court where Crosby Square stands in Bishopsgate-street King Edward the Third in Cornhill where the Popes-Head-Tavern stands King John had his Chappel where the Stone-House on London-Bridge stands and kept his Court in Holy-Well-Lane by Shoreditch King Henry the Eighth held his Palace in Blackfriers and some times in Bridwell where he Lodged the Emperor Charles the Fifth It s Monument on Fish-street-Hill is very famous Erected in Memory of the dreadful Fire Anno Dom. 1666 Sept. the 2. which consumed 13000 Dwelling-Houses besides the Cathedral of St. Pauls and almost all the Churches Chappels Halls and other Publick Buildings To Islington near this City comes a pleasant Stream from a small Spring in Hartfordshire called Amwell and supplies it by Wooden Pipes with Water in abundance Bow Church in this City has a Steeple accounted the finest in Europe It s Exchange in Cornhill is Beautified with the Statues of the Kings and Queens and is a very stately Structure Its Conduits are curious Ornaments to the City as also are the Halls of the Companies and likewise St. Paul's Cathedral the East End and about a Third Part of it being Finished containing the most excellent Workmanship that ever was wrought in Stone Christ's Hospital St. Bartholomew's the Charter-House Bethlehem and Bridwell are very famous for Charity In Christ Church three Queens were Buryed viz. Margaret second Wife to Edward the First Isabell Wife to Edward the Second and Joan her Daughter Married to David King of Scots Westminster the second City standing in this County has the River of Thames pleasantly on the South side of it and has been the most constant Residence of the Kings and Queens of England till White-Hall was Builded by Cardinal Wolsey in the Reign of Henry the Eighth and yet claimes the Coronation and Burials of them in its stately Abby Built in a place once called The Isle of Thorns in Henry the Sevenths Chappel and has also given Birth to many great Princes This City is very Antient viz. about 1660 Years The Palaces of White-Hall and St. James are very Stately but the more to be noted for being the ordinary Residence of our Kings and Queens His Majesties Palace at Kensington is accounted one of the Pleasantest Seats in the County and extraordinary much delighted in by the late Queen Isleworth or Thistleworth is a Village pleasantly situate on the River Thames where Richard King of the Romans and Earl of Cornwal had a stately Palace which was Burnt to the Ground by a Tumultuous Sally made by the London Mob Chealsea is pleasantly seated on the River and above all Beautified with its stately Colledge dedicated to the Vse and Relief of decay'd or disabled Souldiers and Officers Cambray-House beyond Islington is of very Antient Building first Founded by a Grocer and takes a fair Prospect of London Highgate and Hampstead are situate on pleasant Hills giving a large Prospect The next of note are Edger Acton Wilsdon Edmonton Tatnam Highcross Harow Drayton Hackney Newington Hampton famous for its stately Court which is one of the finest in England Built by the great Cardinal Wolsey The Seats of the Nobility in this City and County are many viz. Norfolk-House in Arundel Buildings belonging to the Duke of Norfolk Wallingford-House one of the seats of the late Duke of Buckinghams Albemarle-House one of the seats of the late Duke of Albemarle Soho-Square a seat of the late Duke of Monmouths Clarkenwell-House belonging to the late Duke of Newcastle Cleveland-House to the Dutchess of Cleveland Worcester-House to the Duke of Beaufort Highgate-House to the Duke of Northumberland Winchester-House to the Duke of Bolton Halifax-House to the Marquess of Halifax Kent-House to the Earl of Kent Bedford-House to the Duke of Bedford Thannet-House to the Earl of Thannet Leicester-House to the Earl of Leicester Cambray-House to the Earl of Northampton Warwick and Holland Houses to the Earl of Warwick and Holland Clare-House to the Earl of Clare Mulgrave-House to the Earl of Mulgrave Chealsey-House to the Earl of Lindsey St. Albans-House to the Earl of St. Albans Essex-House to the Earl of Essex Cardigan-House to the Earl of Cardigan Anglesey-House to the Earl of Anglesey Cravan-House to the Lord Cravan Ailesbury-House to the Earl of Ailesbury Burlington-House to the Earl of Burlington Powis-House to the Marquiss of Powis Macclesfield-House to the Earl of Macclesfield Conway-House to the Earl of Conway Campden-House to the Earl of Gainsborough Faulconberg-House to the Lord Viscount Faulconberg Mordant-House to the Lord Viscount Mordant of Avelon Sion-House to the Duke of Sommerset also Northumberland-House in the Strand Drayton to the Lord Paget Hackney-House to the Lord Brook Charterhouse-Close to the Lord Grey of Wark a House at Whitton to the Lord Culpeper Lord Berkley Barron of Stratton his seat Stratton-House alias Berkley-House in Pickadilly and at Twickenham a seat of the Lord Bennets Barron of Ossulston The Bishop of London's seats London-house and Fullham-house As for Medicinal Wells in this County there have been lately found out divers at Islington Hoxdon and other Places by many highly approved for the Cure of divers Distempers The Reign of HENRY the First Sirnamed for his great Learning Beau-Clark or Fine Schollar WHen King William the Second was unfortunately Slain Robert his Eldest Brother Fortunate in all his proceedings save only in his Succession to the Crown of England was Victoriously Warring in the Holy Land against the Turks and Sarazens but hearing of his Brothers Death he declined the Kingdom of Jerusalem to which
of it and his Arrival so terrified the French That they no sooner heard of his Landing but they raised the Siege Yet pursuing this Advantage he gave a mighty Army of them Battel near Gysors slaying great numbers and putting the rest to Flight he not having half their number Whereupon said he Not we but Dieu Et Mondroit that is God and our Right hath obtained this Victory After which the Kings of England made it their Motto under their Arms and so he prosecuting this Victory took many Towns But in the midest of his Success Pope Innocent the Third Interceding a Peace was concluded between the two Crowns but it held not long for the French giving new provocations he passed the Seas again with a powerful Army when closely Besieging the Castle of Challons near to Lymois as he took a private view he was descried and known by a common Soldier who Shooting at him with a square impoisoned Arrow out of a Steel Bow grievously Wounded him in the Arm yet he took the Castle by Storm and caused all he found therein to be Slain except the Person who wounded him who being brought before him and demanded how he durst shoot a Poisoned Arrow at the King The Fellow who expected he was reserved for Death by Cruel Torments seemed not at all daunted but boldly reply'd That in the War he had lest his Father and his Brother and was exceeding glad Fortune had so well assisted him in Revenging their Deaths Upon this resolute Answer the King much contrary to the expectation not only of the Prisoner but all the rest freely Pardoned him and caused him to be led out of the Army to avoid the violence of the Soldiers towards a Person who had Slain their King for indeed he Dyed within three days after viz. the 6th of April Anno Dom. 1199. This King Richard began his Reign Anno Dom. 1189 and Reigned 9 Years and 9 Months Dying in the 42 Year of his Age and was Buried at Font-Everard in Normandy at his Fathers Feet as himself had directed He was for his surpassing Valour called Ceur de Leon or Lions-Heart fearing no danger where the attempt was Honourable In his Reign the Jews were Banished out of Norwich St. Edmunds-Bury Stamford Lyn and York in which last place about 500 of them besides Women and Children entered a Tower of the Castle and when they found themselves hard pressed by a Siege they cut the Throats of their Wives and Children and cast them on the Heads of the Besiegers then in a desperate mood Fired the Tower and Burnt themselves in it tho' Quarter was offered if they would have Surrendered NORTHUMBERLAND Remarks on the County of Northumberland THis Northern County the Extremity of England is Bounded on the North and part of the West with Scotland another part of the West with Cumberland on the South with part of Cumberland and the Bishoprick of Durham and on the East with the German Ocean In many Parts there is Plenty of good Corn it produces a profitable Breed of Cattle has in it many pleasant Gardens Orchards Parks Hare and Coney Warrens on the Western side it is somewhat incommoded with Hills but otherwise produces Plains Inclosures Meadows Woods tho' not many It contains 46 Parishes 5 Market Towns and is branched with 21 Rivers It sends Members to Parliament 8 viz. Berwick upon Tweed 2 Morpeth 2 New-Castle on Tine 2 and 2 Knights of the Shire This County was the Antient Northumbrian Kingdom of the Saxons and suffered much by lying so near the borders of Scotland especially when the Scots utterly destroy'd the Pictish Kingdom that had for some time screened them from the Incroachment of that Northern Nation At a Place called Otterburn a great Battle was Fought between the English and Scots Alnwick is of note for the mighty Victories the English gained over the Scots and being the usual Seat of the Northumbrian Kings and lately of many of the Noble Earls of Northumberland At Emildon Duns Sirnamed Scotus was Born a Person of great Wit and Subtilty in School Philosophy Berwick is pleasantly situate on the Tweed looking a great way from its lofty Turrets into both Kingdoms and is fam us for the many Sieges it has held out against the Scots in divers Kings Reigns Newcastle is pleasantly seated on the River Tine that branches all the Southern part of this County and produces store of Salmon as dos also the River Bywel Newcastle is also famous for furnishing the City of London with Coals brought thence by Sea and therefore commonly called Sea-Coals which Trade is also a great Nursery for Seamen Vpon the Hills near North-Tine tho' Boggy and full of Water there are great heaps of Stones which some take as a Monument of a Roman British or Saxon Victory The Seats of the Nobility are Ogle Castle Bothat Castle Heple Tower belonging to the Noble Family of the Duke of Newcastle Prudhoe Castle to the Duke of Summerset Wark Castle Chillingham Castle Dunstaburg Castle and Horton Castle to the Lord Grey of Wark Widerington Castle to the Lord Widerington and some Houses there are of the Gentry very Beautiful and pleasantly Situate especially on the East side with a curious Prospect to the Sea by means of whose Washing its Shoars this County receives great Benefit The Reign of King JOHN RICHARD the First Dying in Normandy and Buried at Font-Everard his Brother John Earl of Lancaster by his own Right and of Glocester in Right of his Wife having long aspired to the Crown thought this was his time to push hard for it although Arthur Plantaginet Son to Geoffery his Elder Brother was Living and so with what store of Treasure he had heaped up making many of the Nobles and some Leading Commoners of his Party he openly laid claim to the Soveraignty of England as his Undoubted Right and Arthur not being able to stand in competition with him this way as being little Interested in the English by reason he had for the most part been brought up beyond the Seas and consequently a Stranger to the greatest part of the Nation his Right was carried away in the current of the Peoples Inclinations and John was Crowned at Westminster by Hubert Arch Bishop of Canterbury at what time the Bishop to flatter the People and curry-favour with the King declared in an Oration That the Crown of England was meerly Arbitrary and Elective yet the more sober part of the Nobility knowing this Princes Haughty Temper Swore him to several Articles upon his admission to the Crown for Observing and Maintaining their Rights and Priviledges Antient Laws and Customs c. Scarcely was King John Settled in his Throne but Philip the French King underhand assisted by others sent for Arthur to his Court protesting a great deal of Love and tender Affection to him Informed him of his Title to the Crown of England Dutchy of Normandy and Britany animating him to raise his Spirits and use his
Officers he replenished his Treasury with 236000 Marks And about this time Dr. Scotus called Subtilis Preached against the Popes laying claim to St. Peter's Keys his abusing the Episcopal Authority as also that Transubstantiation which wild Notion had been Introduced not long before was contradictory to Scripture and common Reason but the Popish Clergy soon Persecuted him into silence Long had not the Peace continued between England and Wales ere Llewelling by the rash Perswasions and Incitement of his Brother David a Man more contentious than Provident and less Valiant than Mutinous and yet one whom the King did extraordinarily love and favour fell into Rebellion again forgetting his Oath which made him little prosper in his Enterprize to enlarge his Borders for after many sharp Encounters with Sr. Roger Mortimer the Kings Lieutenant on the Western Marches he and his Brother were taken their Heads struck off and placed on the Tower of London Yet their followers gave not over but kept in Parties Ravaging and Spoiling by Incursions within the English Pale and then with their Booty retired again to their Woods and Fastnesses where they had Builded Huts as if they conceived this Trade would be of a long continuance without shifting But the King not longer able to bear the Cries and Complaints of his suffering Subjects Marched a sufficient Army thither but not finding the Enemy in the Field to Ferret them out he caused the Woods to be cut down and consumed with Fire whereupon some submitted others dyed of Cold and Hunger in their Retreatments and many of the Ringleaders were put to Death by sundry manner of Executions by which means they were reduced to a more sociable kind of life and began to practice divers commendable Occupations Arts and Sciences and took some pleasure from thenceforth to live like Honest Men. After this Alexander King of Scots by a fall from his Horse off a Cliff by the Seaside whither upon some suddain Fright he carried him furiously breaking his Neck and leaving no Male or Female Issue his three Sisters the Eldest of which was Married to John Baliol Earl of Galloway the Second to Robert Le Bruce Lord of Valley Androw and the Third to John Hastings Lord of Abergavennie an English Peer laid claim to the Crown by their most powerful Friends many Disputes passed and Reasonings about it but these little availing it came at last to the Sword which for many Years made miserable Havock in that Kingdom each of the Competitors laying claim to the Crown in Right of their Wives refering the Decision of their Cause to King Edward under whose Ward they agreed to put the Government till matters could be determined whereupon he passed into Scotland attended with a considerable Army there as Soveraign Lord to determine the Strife and put the state of Affairs in good order But such was their mutual desires to Reign that no perswasions prevailed to make any one of them recede from his coveted Soveraignty yet they all agreed by a publick Writing under their Hands and Seals to refer themselves and their Titles to the Censure and Judgment of King Edward and by the same Instrument surrendered the Crown and Administration of Affaires to him To the end that thereby he might enable himself absolutely to possess such a one of them of the Kingdom as in his Judgment ought to have the Regal Dignity conferred on him and with the Writing he received their several Demands and Claims fairly drawn up with the Proofs and Arguments to maintain them Whereupon he Summoned a Council of Twenty English and as many Scotch Noblemen Prelates and Lawyers to consider and advise what was most proper to be done in this great Affair and when he had duly informed himself of the matter and was well satisfied in his Conscience about it he gave the Definitive Sentence in favour of John Bailiol who had Married the Eldest of the Three Sisters and he upon doing Homage to King Edward received from him the Crown and Government of Scotland Whilst these things were doing the French supposing the King over-busied in so weighty a matter and not altogether at leasure to mind his own concerns entered into Guyan Gascoyne and other his Territories beyond the Seas taking some Towns and committing many Outrages on his Subjects and their Possessions The King roused upon notice of this inâ—ury done him summoned his wonted Courage and gave speedy orders for Levying a potent Army but upon computing the Charge Money was found in a great measure wanting so that by the Advice of William Marcbyan his Treasurer he exacted it of the Clergy who for the most part having been exempted from the charge of former Wars were grown very Rich he demanded of them half the profit of their Ecclesiastical Revenues seizing into his hands the useless or superfluous Plate Jewels and Treasure of the Churches Abbies Monasteries and other Religious Houses and Places This made them exceedingly murmur against him and labour to Alienate the Hearts of his Subjects from him tho' in some sort he was not wanting to give them satisfaction by promising restitution when his Treasure should by encreased and tho' they little relied on such a Promise as thinking the King would at no time empty his own Coffers to replenish theirs finding they should be stript of their Treasure without remedy they found out another way as they supposed to make themselves amends in time though no great matter presently could be expected from it There had been a Statute Enacted in the Fourth Year of his Reign strictly Prohibiting the giving and conveying Lands or Tenements to any Corporation whatsoever called The Statute against Mortmain unless with the Kings consent and this stood in the way especially to hinder Persons in their Wills to bequeath any thing of that kind to the Church or Religious Houses This they prayed might be Revoked But he Replyed As of himself he could make no Laws so without the Consent of Parliament much less could he Annihilate them for he was honester than to pretend to a Dispensing Power and tho' this vexed them inwardly to be frustrated of all that could be expected to their advantage yet such was the power he had gained oveâ— them that they durst not express any outward dislike of his Proceedings After this he imposed a Subsidy upon every Sack oâ— Wooll also upon all Flesh and Hides that were to bâ— Transported out of the Kingdom and further to maintain his Wars required the tenth part of every Mans Substance or moveable Goods compelling the Clergy over and above to bring into his Treasury all such Sums of Money as they had promised to remit to Rome for the Popes use towards the maintenance of the War against the Turks and other Infidels in the Holy Land and so having sufficient he Transported his Armies sending with them besides other Necessaries 100000 Quarters of Wheat for their Subsistance where many Battels were Fought between the English and French in
they could procure an Executioner to Behead him so greatly was he Beloved by all sorts of People but at length a vile Wretch was procur'd out of a Goal for a sum of Money to perform that Office Five others were put to Death there and at York the next day the Lords Clifford Mobray and Derwell were Hanged in Iron-Chaines The Earl of Hereford likewise lost his Head in all at several places Twenty Noblemen so that in no Reign so much Noble Blood by Executions wet the English Earth These terrible Executions astonished the rest and broke their Strength which greatly puffed up the Spencers by whose Instigation more than any cruel inclination in the King it was thought to be done to secure their own State which after this they imagined could not be shaken For soon after some Courtiers Intreating the King for the Life of a Person of mean Rank who had committed a Murther he broke out into a violent Passion in these words viz. A Plague overtake you all for Flatering Knaves you make much Suit for the Life of an errand Caitiff but which of you spoke a word for the good Knight Lord Thomas my Vnkle By the Bread of God this Varlet shall Dye the Death he deserves and so in a Rage he turned from them and soon after he called a Parliament at York in which Prince Edward his Son was Created Prince of Wales and Duke of Aquitain and Sir Andrew Harkly whose extraordinary Service was a principal means of the Barons Overthrow Earl of Carlisle and demanded the Sixth Penny of all Temporalities in England Wales and Ireland to defray the Charges of his intended War against the Scots which he obtained yet the People grievously Murmured at Paying it affirming they were altogether Impoverished by the late Wars and Famine And now the Scots geting secret Inteligence of what the King intended against them resolved to begin first and well knowing they had Impoverished the Northern parts and that no further Booty was there to be had they crossed over the Narrow Straights and fell very furiously on Ireland but by the Courage and prudent Conduct of the Bishop of Armagh and the Lord Brinningham they were Overthrown their King Slain and most of them Cut in Pieces upon this advantage King Edward Marched into Scotland which he found full of Terror and Confusion the People every where flying before him into the Woods Mountains and other Fastnesses thinking by that means to weary out the English and indeed their Project failed not for Snows Rains and bitter Frosts ensuing the English were unable to keep the Field especially their Provisions being near spent and a great Mortality by reason of the raw Damps and Colds grievously afflicted the Camp so that contrary to the mind of the King they were forced to return which the Scots perceiving crept from their lurking Holes and carried Fire a cross which is the usual Signal for the Alarum or raising the Country and soon gathered into such Multitudes that following and wasting his Rear at last they boldly set on his main Battel and discomfited it so that he was constrained to fly and leave them Masters of his Treasure and Baggage This Defeat is said to be occasioned by the Treachery of Sr. Andrew Harkley who had been lately Created Earl of Carlisle who being Bribed by the Scots betraied his trust in the Battel But however it happened it was charged upon him and for it he lost his Head Upon the Kings return there happened a Quarrel between the Queen and the Spencers she charging them to have Alienated the Kings affections from her and to cause him to place it on Harlots and the King seeming to excuse or take part with them she so highly resented the Affront that under pretence of visiting her native Country she obtained leave to go over with the Prince her Son where she was received by King Charles her Brother Philip her Father being Dead with many expressions of kindness and shewing her dislike to return unless matters might be Reformed at home some of the Barons in England sent secretly by Letters to Advise her That if she could procure one Thousand Valliant Strangers they would joyn her on her Landing with a considerable Force and endeavour once more to Redress the Disorders of the State This she made known to her Brother who comforted her by earnest Promises and Oaths That by his Assistance and at his Cost her Wrongs and the Kingdoms Injuries should be Repaired but kept not his Word for being Bribed by the Spencers who by their Spies had notice of her tampering in the French Court when she demanded his Performance he grew cold upon it and chid her for such Intentions saying She was foolishly afraid of her Shaddow since she had Vndutifully forsaken the company of her Lord and Husband The Pope also and chiefest Cardinals being Engaged by great Rewards strictly required the French King upon pain of the Apostolick Curse to send home the Queen and Prince so that she perceiving he intended to deliver her into the hands of such as would have Forcibly brought her over she secretly retired with her Son into the Empire however during her stay at the French Court she had done England a kindness in causing by her Mediation the Troubles in Gascoyne to cease and making an Agreement in other matters relating to the King her Husband In consideration of which he was to confer the Dutchy of Aquitain and Earldom of Poictou on the Prince his Son which he did under his Seal and he did Homage for it to his Unkle the French King but upon his sending for her home she refused to come unless hers and others Grievances were Redressed by Parliament which occasioned his trying by other means to make her return but as is said she retiring into the Empire upon suspicion of what was Intended went to Hainalt where she was kindly received and to make her Interest strong at that Court she without the consent of her Husband or the Peers of England Married the Prince to Phillipa the Earl of Hainalts Daughter upon which account and the means of what Treasure she had brought she raised 2700 Soldiers Commanded by Sr. John of Hainalt and the Lord Beamont to whom Joyned the Young Lord Mortimer who had escaped out of the Tower of London and got beyond the Seas with some other Exiled English Noblemen and Strangers so that having all things in a readiness she Sayled for England and Landed at Orwell in Sussex whither a great Number of English resorted to her and the further she went her Army greatly encreased King Edward having notice of this left his Court and retired hastily into the West to raise Forces promising 1000 l. to any that should bring him the Lord Mortimer's Head The King was no sooner retired but the Londoners taking the Advantage of his Absence seized upon the Bishop of Exeter who was appointed to Govern the City and without any Legal Proceedings or Judicial
joyntly with Coventry the Cathedral was Builded by Oswin King of Northumberland upon a Conquest gained over the Mercians and here Wulferre and Celred two Saxon Kings were Buried It was for some time an Arch Bishoprick by the means of King Offa. At Blore Heath in this County a Battel was Fought between the two Houses of York and Lancaster and 2400 of the Yorkists slain STAFFORD SHIRE The Seats of the Nobility are Blore Hall belonging to the Noble Family of Newcastle Newborough to the Earl of Bridgwater Cherley Castle to the Lord Ferrers Throwley to the Lord Cromwell Beudesert and Seaney Park to the Lord Paget Rolleston to the Lord North and Grey Gerards Brumley Sandon and Wislow to the Lord Gerard of Brumley Hamstal Ridware to the Lord Leigh Dudley Castle and Hinley to the Lord Ward Litchfield Close and Eccleshal Castle to the Bishop of Litchfield and Coventry The Houses of the Gentry are likewise many and spacious The Reign of RICHARD the Second commonly called Richard of Bourdeaux RICHARD the Second Son and Heir to Edward the Black Prince was Crowned Anno 1377 not much exceeding 11 Years in Age so that Charles the French King taking advantage of his Minority set out a great Fleet Sack't and Burnt the Towns of Dartmouth Plimouth Portsmouth Hastings Rie and others on the Sea-Coast of England but after they had roamed up and down doing great Mischief for three Weeks they were beaten off with considerable Loss by Edmund Earl of Cambridge the Kings Unkle and others nor were the Scots Incited by the French King less troublesom Burning Roxborough and taking by surprize the Castle of Berwick but the People breaking down the Draw-Bridge shut them out of the Town and being straightly Besieged all the Scots in the Castle were put to the Sword except Alexander Ramsey who was reserved for a large Ransom yet the French though they had been beaten off not giving over their designs Landed again and did much mischief at Winchelsea Dover Gravesend and other places on or near the Sea-coast So that the King to Enable him to set out a Fleet and Transport an Army that might put a check to these Insolencies fummoned a Parliament at Westminster in which a Subsidy was Granted him of Four Pence a Head on all Persons above the Age of Fourteen Years which was looked on in those days as a very grievous Tax and the Gathering it was attended with bad consequences However the Money set out an indifferent good Fleet and an Army were sent into France under Lord Thomas one of the Kings Unkles who wasting all in his way joyned with the Duke of Britanie and much anoyed the French Recovering many Towns and Castles but whilst this was doing abroad a dangerous Mischief befell at home John Wall a Factious Priest by his going from place to place and Preaching to the inferiour sort of People That they were Free by the Law of Nature and that Laws were made by Crafty People to keep them Poor and Low so to Enslave them and that by their Pedigree derived from Adam the good things of the Earth should be equally divided amongst them and not some grow Fat and Rich whilst others Pine and Starve And moreover no Taxes were due on any pretence but People Free Born in their Liberality ought to be left Free This and such like Cant being sutable to their humor and wishes mainly wrought with them to become Levellers so that these pernicious Insinuations spread soon into most parts of England before the Magistrates were aware to suppress it and to bring about what was wished by some cunning Knaves to Inrich themselves in the Spoil of others they raised Tumults and possess'd the Country People with a belief That the City of London was at their devotion and only waited till they came to take possession of it whereupon they flowed thither like an outragious Torrent from Kent Essex Sussex Bedfordshire and other places stiling themselves The Kings Men and the Servants of the Weale Publick chosing as their chief Captain one Wat Tyler by profession a Taylor and as his subordinate Officers Jack Straw Jack Shepherd and some others and to this Rout the Incendary of a lewd Priest John Wall Chaplain and being Encamped in Kent and Essex they sent to the King to come and Treat with them but he was disswaded by his Nobles Whereupon those in Essex crossed the Thames and joyning the Kentish Rebels came to Southwark which they Plundered and finding London-Bridge Fortified against them intended to have Burnt the Suburbs on the South side and have Murthered such as they had notice were not pleased with their Proceedings But the Citizens to prevent so great a Mischief let down the Draw-Bridge and admitted them into the City Feasting and Carressing them rather out of fear than good-will however they Burnt the Duke of Lancaster's House at the Savoy and Murthered all his Servants they found in it They ransacked the Inns of Court and Law Offices Burning all the Law Books and Records that came to their hands Plundering the Churches and Religious Houses and Wat Tyler having seized Richard Lyon his Master with whom he had been Apprentice caused his Head to be Cut off and carry'd before him on a Lance because in his Service he had sometimes Beat him for his Rogueries They Plundered likewise the Houses of all Strangers They likewise forced into the Tower where the King Lay Plundered his Mothers Lodgings and broke her Head because she reproved them for their Insolency They Murthered Simon Tybald Arch Bishop of Canterbury because he had some time before Imprisoned Wall for his Seditious Doctrine and after several meetings the King finding he could do no good with them their Behaviour being so Audacious and their Demands so Insolent and Unreasonable he laboured to make the Citizens his Frinds and resolved to repel them by force Whereupon a Conference being appointed in Smithfield the King beforehand thinking to bring them to better Terms without Extremity if possible sent them several of his Ensigns and their Pardons as a token that he owned them for his good Subjects and freely forgave them for what had happened and then meeting them as appointed he perswaded them to desist from all Violence assuring them that upon tryal they should find him to be their Good Lord and Gracious King But Tyler with a frowning countenance insolent behaviour and rough speech refused to accept the Kings Grace and Favour proudly telling him That all those Troops and many more Thousands were at his dispose to Execute whatsoever he would command Then he commanded Sr. John Newton one of the Kings Attendants who bore the Sword to deliver his Dagger which by the Kings command he did Then he Insolently proceeded to demand the Sword but he stoutly Answered It was the Kings Sword and should not be given to a Knave which so incensed Tyler That he Swore he should lose his Head before himself would Eat or Drink commanding the
killing the Watch. And now the noble Earl of Warwick Dying the Duke of York a second time was made Regent of France yet the French by Encroachments and Revolts of many Towns encouraged when their Courage failed by one Joan of Arc a Martial Maid who pretended she was sent by Heaven to assist her Bleeding Country and indeed Leading the French Troops she did many brave Exploits till taken by the English after she had received many Wounds they tryed her and burnt her for a Witch tho' great Ransoms were offered for her by the French and this they the rather did not only for that she beat them off from the Siege of Orleance and worsted them in many Skirmishes but because the French conceived a superstitious confidence that whilst she Lived their Proceedings would be successful and prosperous Yet both Potentates in the End on the French recovering Ponthois growing weary of so tedious a War that had wasted their People and Treasure a Conference was appointed at Callice and here they often consulted about Peace but in conlusion adjourned the Negotiation because King Henry's Demands were looked on as unreasonable in Three Points viz. 1. In regard of the great Ransom demanded for the Duke of Orleance 2. For that the peaceable and quiet possession of the Dutchies of Aquitaine and Normandy were required without any Homage or Soveraignty acknowledged to the Crown of France 3. For that the surrendering and yielding up into King Henry's hands all such Cities Towns Forts and Territories in France as the English had at any time enjoyed within the space of thirty Years past was required However tho' the Parley was dissolved yet the Duke of Orleance being brought to Calice tho' King Henry the Fifth on his Death-Bed had commanded he should not be Ransomed he was Ransomed by the Duke of Burgundy and Honourably convey'd to the French Court And now to make way for Calamities at Home as well as Misfortunes Abroad a Quarrel arose between the Cardinal of Winchester and Duke of Gloucester for the Duke being Protector of the Realm making Complaints against the Cardinals Acting many things contrary to the Interest of the King and Kingdome without any Warant or making the King Acquainted with it The Cardinal in Revenge procured the Dutchess of Gloucester to be accused of Sorcery and Witchcraft holding correspondence with Witches to take away the King's Life and tho' most believed there was nothing at all in it yet the Cardinal being backed by the Clergy procured her upon groundless suggestions to do publick Penance twice in the City of London and to be doomed to perpetual Imprisonment and the better to colour the matter some who were pretended to be her Associates suffered the Flames After the refusal of some other Matches as the Earl of Arminack's Daughter c. King Henry by the means and procurement of the Earl of Suffolk Bribed by the French King Married the Lady Margaret whom he received by Suffolk his Ambassador at the Hands of the French King and Reyner her Father Duke of Anjou Titular King of Sicily Naples and Jerusalem tho' with her he had little or no Dowry which made the Match be much disliked by the Nobles and Commons Yet for this Service the Earl was created Duke of Suffolk and stood high in the Queen's favour and they soon found means to dismiss the good Duke of Gloucester from his Protectorship after he had a long time faithfully Served the King and Kingdom And soon after the deposed Protector by the contrivance of his Grand Enemies was Accused in a Parliament assembled by the Queen in the King's Name at Bury of High Treason and committed to the Tower where the next day he was found dead in his Bed to the great Grief of almost all the Kingdom as being a Pious Valliant and Virtuous Prince it was generally concluded he was Smothered for no Wound was found about him But God was not slow in requiring his Blood at the hands of those that were undoubtedly the contrivers of his fall for upon the removal of this great and beloved Statesman Richard Duke of York found an open way to thrust in and set up his pretensions of Title to the Crown making himself strong in Friends and Treasure the better to carry on his designs So that being now Intent on his own Advancement he grew carless of his Command which turned greatly to the advantage of the French for the Truce no sooner expired but they came strongly prepared into the Field and making three Armies took in divers little Towns and this success emboldened them that holding secret correspondence with the Inhabitants of Roan in Normandy they drew an Army before that City whereupon the Citizens compelled the Earls of Sommerset and Shrewsbury to Surrender the place having leave to depart to Caen with all their Goods Soon after Hareflew and divers other places were lost A Rebellion about this time breaking out in Ireland the Duke of Sommerset was made Regent or Lieutenant in Normandy and the Duke of York sent over to quell the Irish Rebells which he easily effected But this dividing weakening the English Strength the Kings Army in Normandy was Overthrown and Caen Lost and soon after all Normandy and now Divisions happened at Home for the Duke of Suffolk the Queens Favourite being Envied by the People they were Instigated by the Duke of York and his Faction to make many grievous Complaints against him upon the miscarriages in Government whereupon he was to please them colourably committed to the Tower yet had his Liberty at will which so Incensed them that making a Fellow their Captain nicknamed Blewbeard they fell into Rebellion but were soon Quelled and some of their Ringleaders Executed the rest were Pardoned Hereupon the King and Queen thinking to reconcile all Differences a Parliament was called but contrary to their expectation the Commons craved Justice on the Duke of Suffolk and upon his Associates viz. James Fines Lord Say and Treasurer of England John Bishop of Salisbury and some others whereupon he was Banished for Five Years but as he Sailed for France being way laid he was taken by an English Man of War brought to Dover and had his Head Choped off on the side of the Ship 's Boat supposed to be done by the Duke of York's contrivance yet he was not Lamented by any but the King and Queen because it was verily supposed he had a hand in the Duke of Glocester's death And now the Duke of York though in Ireland did by his Agents here stir up a Rebellion among the Plebeans whose Ringleader was Jack Cade who falsly Named himself John Mortimer right Heir to the Crown but the King's Forces dispersed them many being Slain and Cade being Proscribed and a Thousand Marks set on his Head it was soon after brought to the King The Duke of York being defeated in this by the Advice of his Friends returned out of Ireland without the King's leave and consulting with
after many Countermarches the Army the King had raised and that of the Lords met near Northampton where the King was Overthrown and taken Prisoner 2000 of his Men were Slain and of Note Humphery Duke of Buckingham John Earl of Shrewsbury Thomas Lord Egremont and John Viscount Beamont whereupon the Queen with the Young Prince and Duke of Sommerset fled into Scotland and were kindly received the King was conveyed to the Tower and the Lord Seales attempting to pass the River in disguise was discovered by the Wherryman who cut off his Head and left his Body on the Sands and Thomas Thorp the Second Baron of the Exchequer shaving his Crown and putting himself in the Habit of a Monk was taken flying to the Queen and being brought to the Earl of Warwick he committed him to the Tower where he remained a long time after The Duke of York informed of this Victory hasted from Ireland and procured a Parliament to be Assembled in the Kings Name at London where placing himself in the Throne he declared his Right to the Crown viz. That he was Son and Heir of Ann Daughter to Roger Mortimer Earl of March who was Son and Heir to Philippa sole Daughter and Heiress to Lionel Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to John Duke of Lancaster Great Grandfather to the present Henry the Sixth and then proceeded to lay before them the Mischiefs and Losses that had befallen the Kingdom by misplacing the Succession by reason God was Angry with them for so doing and to prevent many more he desired it might be restored in the Direct Line When the Lords and Commons had deliberated upon this weighty Affair the contrary Party more out of fear than conscience goodwill or affection agreed with the Duke's Faction and it was Enacted That King Henry during his Natural Life should retain the Name and Honour of a King and that the Duke of York should be Proclaimed Heir apparent to the Crown and be Protector of the Kings Person and of the Realm and should have the present possession of the Crown delivered to him if at any time King Henry his Friends Allies or Favorites on his behalf attempted to infringe this Act which was Agreed to and Confirmed by their Oaths The Duke of York by this means being got near to what he aimed at required the Queen the Dukes of Sommerset and Exeter the Earl of Devonshire the Lords Clifford Ross and others immediatly to repair from the North whither they were fled and confer with the King but instead of so doing being much displeased with the Proceedings of the Parliament they Levied an Army and with it advanced towards London The Duke of York had soon notice of it and Marched with all speed to oppose them leaving the King in the custody of the Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Warwick and the two Armies met near Wakefield Where the Duke being too weak was perswaded to stay for the arrival of Edward Earl of March his Son who was advancing from the borders of Wales with an Army to Joyn him but being carried headlong by his forward Destiny which designed him not to be a King though he wanted but one step to the Throne he forthwith gave the onset but within an Hours space almost three Thousand of his Companions were Slain together with himself and his Youngest Son the Earl of Rutland not exceeding 12 Years who kneeling on his Knees desired Mercy but was cruelly Stabbed to the Heart by the Lord Clifford who horribly Swore By that Act he would be Revenged for his Fathers Death So that upon this the rest of the Army Fled The Duke of York's Head being cut off by those that found him dead in the Field was presented to the Queen who caused a Paper Crown to be set on it in derision and placed it on the Walls of the City of York Beheading the Earl of Salisbury and others of his Favorites who were taken Prisoners and placing their Heads with his to bear him company The Queen supposing now her fears were over by the slaughter of her Capital Enemies Advanced towards London overthrowing the Earl of Warwick and such Forces as he had gathered to oppose her by which means King Henry was set at Liberty and Joyfully received by her But then News came that the Earl of March who hearing of his Fathers death had taken on him the Title of Duke of York had Overthrown the Earls of Pembrook Ormond and Wiltshire Beheaded Owen Tuther the King's Father-in-Law who had Married his Mother the Queen Dowager and divers others whose Heads he placed in the Room of his Fathers and other Heads of his Friends which the Queen had caused to be set on the Walls of York This suddain Turn of Fortune made the Queen draw out her Army and hasten towards him having raised an Army of 60000 Men and near a Town called Towton the New Duke of York and Earl of Warwick met her with near 50000 so that a cruel and bloody Battel ensued wherein on both sides about 36000 were slain among whom were the Earls of Northumberland Westmorland the Lords Dacres Wells Clifford c. The Dukes of Sommerset and Exeter saved themselves by flight but the Earl of Devonshire with sundry others of Note were made Prisoners Upon this great Overthrow for it fell on the Kings-side who was always Unfortunate in the Field he with the Queen and Prince fled into Scotland where they were favourably received and in lieu of their kind Entertainment delivered Berwick to the Scots which they much desired and attempted often times to gain tho' beaten off with great loss so that the Duke of York being every where Received as King may be said here to put an end to Henry's Reign tho' he Lived much longer when he had Reigned 38 Years 6 Months and 3 Days and was after Stabbed in the Tower by Richard Duke of Glocester King Edward the Fourths Brother Anno 1471 in the 49th Year of his Age as will appear more largely in the Reign of that King His Body was first Buried in the Abby of Chertsey in Surry then by King Henry the Seventh at Winchester after removed none can tell where as not being found in History In this Kings Reign from the beginning of April to Allhallontide fell such abundance of Rain that the Corn and Hay Harvest were utterly spoiled which occasioned a dearth among Men and Cattle Anno 1435 the Thames was so Frozen that no homeward-bound Ships could enter it and Games and Pastimes were Exercised on the Ice Anno 1438 all the Lions in the Tower of London dyed and in the 23d Year of the King on Candlemas Eve terrible Thunders and Lightnings happened by which the Church of Baldock in Hartfordshire and that of Walden in Essex were greatly shattered and St. Paul's Steeple in London set on Fire WARWICK SHIRE Anno Dom. 1459 the Useful and Noble Science of Printing was found out by a Soldier at Magunce in Germany and
different success But at length the Earl perceiving fresh supplies continually press on his weary Soldiers thinking by his Example to give them new Courage he dismounted and with his Sword in his Hand pressed into the Front of his Enemies making miserable slaughter But breaking in too far and not being timely succoured he was slain together with the Marquess his Brother who threw himself into the opening Jaws of Death in hopes to bring the Earl off These great Commanders slain the Army grew faint and giving way by degrees at length fell into a total rout about 10000 being slain and of King Edward's Part of Note only Sir Humphry Bourcher Son to the Lord Barns and the dead Bodies of the Earl and Marquess being brought to St. Paul's were exposed to view three Days and then Honourably Interred among their Ancestors in the Priory of Bissam Queen Margaret having notice of this Defeat fled with her Son to the Abbey of Bewley in Hampshire whither divers Lords resorted to her and agreed to raise new Forces and try the fortune of another Field which they did and were Overthrown at Tewxbury about 3000 being slain and of Note the Duke of Sommerset Sir John Lewkner Sir John Delves c. The Prisoners of Note were the Queen and Prince the Prior of St. John's Sir Jervis Cliffton Sir Thomas Tristram and Twelve others of Note all but the two first being Beheaded the next day and soon after Prince Edward being presented to the King by Sir Richard Crofts who took him Prisoner was piteously Murthered in his sight by the Dukes of Clarence Gloucester and others on the signal given by the King in striking him on the Mouth with his Gantlet nor was it long after that Innocent King Henry was Murthered in the Tower by the same Duke of Gloucester who struck a Dagger to his Heart his Body being afterward exposed to view in St. Paul's three days that the People might be sure he was Dead however these Proceedings caused the King much hatred among the People when somewhat to satisfie them he consented to Ransome the Queen to pay which the poor Prince her Father sold his Titles to Jerusalem Naples and Sicily and returning home she Lived a Melancholy and Disconsolate Life which lasted not long ere she dyed of Grief particularly for the Death of the Prince her Son whom she dearly Loved King Edward by Bloodshed being rid of his greatest opposers took sollace in Pleasures being very Lustful and was rarely without two or three Concubins tho' his Queen was Young and Beautiful and among them Jane Shoar Wife to Mathew Shoar a Goldsmith in Grace-church-street was most pleasing to him though in the end it brought her to shame and misery But to pass this over The King being now as I may term it Established in the Throne the Duke of Burgundy vehemently incited him to War on France and recover it as his Antient Right and Inheritance upon which condition himself promised to do great matters towards assisting him The King was not slow in listening to it for many reasons urged by his Council as The French having frequently assisted his Enemies c. Yet Money being wanting it seemed difficult But to surmount this he resolved without a Parliament to ask it of his Subjects as a Free Gift which many indeed complied with tho' with an ill will But one thing in this is Remarkable The King to oblige them to bring in more freely if not for Love yet for fear of after-claps on Penal Laws seeing many that were Rich had engaged their Persons or Purses in the War against him he sat sundry Hours in a Day to receive it himself when among others a Rich yet Nigardly old Widow brought Twenty Pounds this so highly pleased him That he not only returned her thanks but told her For her kindness she should Kiss a King and having performed it once the Old Woman pull'd out another Bag crying Vdsbodikins if Kings Sell their Kisses so Cheap give me tother Touch on the Lips and here is another Twenty Pound for you The King smiled at this took her at her word and thought his Kisses well Sold. With this Benevolence of his Subjects and his own Treasure he Transported a fair Army over Sea but found the Duke of Burgundy altogether unprovided even of the promised Necessaries for the support of the English who Lying without the Towns on the cold Ground soon began to murmur however to employ them he Marched with the Duke towards St. Quintins which was secretly promised to be delivered to him by Lewis of Luxemburg great Unkle to King Edward's Queen but on their approaching its Walls the Cannon not only plaid fiercely on them but the Garison made great Sallies so that finding no good to be done they were constrained to draw off and soon after the Duke without taking leave went to raise Forces leaving only word That he would come again with an Army as soon as he was able These Proceedings made the King begin to repent he had come over upon his account and the French King making large offers to obtain a Peace it was after some debate Agreed to without the Dukes consent viz. 1. In consideration the French King Paid Edward 65000 Crowns towards his Charge and 50000l per Annum for his Life 2. That in one Year he should send for the Lady Elizabeth King Edward 's Eldest Daughter and Marry her to the Dauphin allowing them for Nine Years space Annually 50000 Crowns and then the Peaceable possession of the Dutchy of Guyan and in consideration of this Hostages should be left till the English had quitted France and were returned home This being Agreed on tho' the Marriage was never performed the Duke of Burgundy hastened to the Kings Camp and in a blustering and storming manner greatly inveighed against what he had done and was as sharply Answered by him whereupon he rod away in much discontent and the French King came to an Enterview with King Edward highly Feasting him and his whole Army giving Money to the Officers and Soldiers and commanding all his Subjects to use them with much Bounty and Civility which done King Edward Marched to Callice and there passed over to England and then the Lord Howard and Sir John Cheney the Hostages were sent after him with great Rewards The Duke of Burgundy however continued the War and was thrice Overthrown in one Year and in the last at Nancy he was slain King Edward being now at leasure to look if therâ— were after so many slaughters any that could lay â— Claim to his Crown or Interrupt by such a pretence the Peace of him or his Heirs for by this time he had two Sons and five Daughters he at last thought on Henry Earl of Richmond who remained with the Duke of Brittany he being of the Royal Blood and near of Allyance to the Crown To get this Prince into his hands he Bribed Peter Landois the Dukes Treasurer with great Sums
to be Spokesman who laid many Reasons before her of the Necessity at that juncture which required her consent But with Sighs and Tears she Replied That the Duke being Sickly and Weak none was more fit than his own Mother to look to him that Brothers when together rarely so well agreed as with those that were not so near a kin But the main is said she my Lord it is dangerous that these Princes as Affairs stand should be together since asunder they are each others safety And if the one of them do well the other cannot be in Peril or Danger and there is nothing more hazardous than to keep them in one place since the Life of the one separate is maintained in the Body of the other But for all these Reasons perceiving he would be forced from her if she consented not willingly to deliver him after many tender Kisses and falling Tears praying Almighty God to preserve and defend him from all dangers she delivered him bitterly Weeping to the Arch Bishop saying That before the High Majesty of Heaven she should require that poor Innocent Infant at his Hands The Protector who with many Nobles waited in the Star-Chamber was over-joyed when he saw the Arch-Bishop return with what he so passionately desired and taking the Young Duke in his Arms he kissed him and said Welcom my Lord with all my Heart Protesting so great a love to him that most believed it real Thus having gotten the Prize he aimed at the better to secure it he conveyed both him and the King in great State through the City of London to the Tower in order as he pretended to the Coronation when things were setled tho' indeed there was nothing out of frame but what himself had disordered where having placed them under such as he confided in he began more openly to tamper with the Duke of Buckingham whom he knew was Popular and Powerful offering to Marry his Son to his Daughter and give him the Earldom of Hartford which the Duke claimed in King Edward's time as his Right but could not obtain if he would to the utmost endeavour to place the Crown on his Head and by this means he won him entirely to his Interest tho' it afterward proved to his destruction For Gloucester being made King performed nothing of his promise The next thing he had to do was to gaine the Lord Hastings who had been in high favour with Edward the Fourth and was now Lord Chamberlain to the Young King but fearing to disclose his mind openly to him for great Rewards he procured one Catesby a Favourite of Hastings secretly with dark discourse to sound him This Man tho' he had been maintained by that Lord and had his Fortunes raised to what he was by him proved so Treacherous that having done what he could and finding that Lord no ways inclinable to favour Gloucester's design he not only told him of it but encouraged him to remove him out of the World if he intended to compass his desires Which being Resolved on he called a Grand Council of Lords at the Tower to consider of suitable preparations for the Coronation and when they had sat a considerable time he came in and took his Chair Jesting with some of them after he had excused his too long stay requesting of Doctor Morton Bishop of Ely some Strawberries that grew in his Garden at Holbourn which he immediatly sent for and took it as a favour that the Protector was so kind to him as to put it in his power to oblige him in any thing for there had been formerly no good understanding between them Then making excuse for a short Absence he desired them to proceed in the method proposed when about an hour after coming in he took his Chair frowning biting his â—ip and rubbing his Fist which tokens oâ— displeasure strangely amazed them so that they kept a profound silence which the Protector perceiving demanded what punishment they deserved who had wickedly procured his destruction he being Unkle and Protector of the King This amused them more than before but knowing themselves Innocent of any such intention the Lord Hastings who by reason of the antient Friendship that had been between them thinking he might make bold Replied My Lord such as have so transgressed deserve the severest Punishment the Law can inflict To which the other Lords Assented Then said he that Sorceress meaning the Queen and Shoars Wife having Conspired by Witchcraft to destroy me So drawing up his Sleeve he shewed his Arm which had been wasted from his Infancy as they all knew as a Testimony of what he had said biding them behold how their Charms had begun already to take effect on him Hereupon the Lord Hastings who had taken Jane Shoar to his Bed upon the Death of King Edward thinking to excuse her said My Lord if they have done so they deserve punishment Thou Traytor Replyed the Protector Servest thou me with Iffs and And 's I tell thee they have done it and that I will make good upon thy Body And so striking his Fist upon the Table the Room was presently filled with Armed Men one of which struck at the Lord Standley and as nimble as he was to sink under the Table grievously Wounded him in the Head and himself Arrested the Lord Hastings biding him make hast to shrive himself For by St. Paul which was his usual Oath he would neither Eat nor Drink till his Head was off And accordingly he was Beheaded on a Log on the Green within the Tower and the same day by the Protectors order the Lords and Sir Thomas Vaughan were Beheaded at Pomfret to whose Death this Lord had consented as appears by his own Story to one Hastings a Priest whom he met on Tower-Hill as he was going to the Council viz. That he should soon hear that Snare they had laid for him in Edward the Fourths time which caused him much trouble would now take themselves One thing more is remarkable The Lord Stanley the Night preceding Dreamed That he and Hastings were Wounded by a Boar that the Blood run about his Ears and seeing the Protector had the White Boar for his Cognizance he truly Interpreted it desiring he would accompany him in Flying ere they could be missed out of his reach but he made slight of it desiring the Messenger to tell his Lord That Dreams were Fables and Fancies yet at his Death he repented he had not taken this warning as sent from Heaven The Protector having Imprisoned the Lord Stanley Arch-Bishop of York Cardinal Bishop of Ely and several others put himself and the Duke of Buckingham into old Armour as if first come to hand in some great danger and sending for the Lord Mayor and many of the chief Citizens movingly told them That himself and the Duke of Buckingham were by Conspiracy of Hastings and his Accomplices to have been Murthered at the Council Table had he not by force prevented it desiring them
Richard Symond a Priest set up a Pupil of his whom he had cunningly Instructed to claim the Crown by the Name of Edward Plantagenet Eldest Son to the Duke of Clarence tho' it afterward appeared his true Name was Lambert Symnel His Age agreed with that of the Prince he represented who was then a Prisoner and in likness he resembled him and his carriage was extreamly Genteil and Taking so that many flocked to him who were desirous of change as well of the Nobles and Gentry as Commons but not finding here a sufficient Strength he failed to Ireland where Sir Thomas Garendine the Lord Chancelor espoused his Quarrel and drew many to take part with him and to him the Dutchess Dowager a mortal Enemy to King Henry sent supplies of Money Men and Arms and by her Encouragement many English espoused his Interest so that he became very Formidable This constrained King Henry to bring the true Edward out of the Tower and carry him through the Streets of London to satisfy the People of the Imposture where the Nobility were required to be present and to confer with him But this did little for the others Army encreasing The King raised Forces to repel him and a Battel was joyned near Stoke in Lincolnshire which was maintained with great resolution but the Irish who compossed the greater part of Symnel's Army being destitute of Warlike Weapons tho' they fought valiantly were routed whereupon the rest gave way And in this Battel the Earl of Lincoln the Lord Lovel Sir Thomas Garendine Marian Swart and Sir Thomas Browghton were Slain Symnell was taken Prisoner and after a publick Confession who he was made Scullion in the Kings Kitchen and after that his Faulconer Peace now being settled the Queen was Crowned and Thomas Bourcher Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being dead Bishop Morton was preferred to that Archiepiscopal See and made Lord Chancelor of England soon after which preferment he was dignified with the Hat and Habit of a Cardinal by Pope Alexander the Sixth Whilst these things Passed a Quarrel arose between Charles the French King and Francis Duke of Britany whereupon the latter too weak to oppose his powerful Enemy required Aid of King Henry but he having in his necessities been befriended by them both rather laboured to make an Accomodation yet underhand the King winking at it many English went over to the Duke's Assistance but were mostly slain in a fatal Overthrow the French gave near the City of Nantz with their chief Leader the Lord Woodvile This made King Henry openly assist the Duke with Men and Money to furnish which he raised by Parliament a Tax of the Tenth Penny on all Moveable Goods which caused a Rebellion in the North where the Earl of Northumberland enforcing the Kings Orders for the strict Levying it was Murthered by the Rout but Thomas Earl of Surry going against them with an Army they dispersed and fled yet several of the Ringleaders were taken and Executed in sundry places During the War in Britany That Duke dyed and the Estates Marrying his Daughter and Heiress to the French King tho' she had before been contracted to Maximillian the Emperour a Peace ensued and the Lady Margaret Daughter to the Emperour whom the French King had taken as his Wife was returned with disgrace which occasioned a War between them and Henry being on both sides solicited for Aid he for many waighty Reasons adhered to the Emperour and Transported an Army under the Command of his Unkle Jasper Duke of Bedford and John Earl of Oxford but the Emperour not being forward in his promised Preparation the King passed into France and laid Siege to Bullen which made the French King for fear of Britany of which by his Marriage he was become Soveraign Prince sue for Peace which was concluded between him and King Henry during their Lives The French King for defraying his Charges paying 186200 l. and a Yearly Pension of 25000 Crowns which was Paid during King Henry's Life whereupon he returned with his Army Not long after this the Dutchess Dowager of Burgundy set up another Imposture who though his true Name was Perkin Warbeck was to pass for Richard Plantagenet the second Son of Edward the Fourth and the better to further her design she used such Policy in England that she gained many of the best Rank who were well affected to the House of York to favour him King Henry however to Countermine her Stratagem bent to work him Mischief secretly caused divers of his Friends seemingly to fly to this nâ—â— pretended Duke and offer him their Service their Estates the mean while the better to colour the matter being seized in England And by this means he gained private Intelligence of all the Proceedings and an Account of the Names of such as being in England held correspondency with him which brought many into Trouble and some to Execution And finding the Emperour disgusted at the Peace he had made with France secretly encouraged this design he removed the English Mart from the Low Countries to Callice which proved greatly prejudicial to the Flemings especially upon a Prohibition of Flemish Wares being brought into England which made the Emperour publish the like Prohibition to hinder the Importation of English Goods in any part of his Territories which causing a decay of Trade incited the meaner sort of Handicrafts in London to commit divers Outrages on the Persons and Goods of the Flemings that Inhabited among them but about 80 of the Ringleaders being Taken were Imprisoned till by the Kings Pardon they were Released and the Flemings Banished Sir Robert Clifton whom the King by Promises and Gifts had won to his Favour about this time came over and the better to Apprehend such as he should Accuse without Blows he appointed to meet him in the Tower where among his Great Courtiers he singled out Stanley who had been Instrumental in setting the Crown on the Kings Head and was now his Lord Chamberlain who was nevertheless committed to Prison and the main Evidence on his Tryal being That he had said That if he was sure this Perkin was the True Duke of York he would not draw his Sword against him he was thereupon Sentenced and all his great Services could not attone to save his Life for he was very soon after Beheaded Yet with this the Storm blew not over for the Native Irish declaring for Perkin tho' the King sent an Army thither under Sir Edward Poinings yet he could do little good there they being too nimble for him in their Woods Bogs and Mountains and not being assisted by the Nobles and Gentry as he expected the fault was charged by him on the Earl of Killdare whom he brought over Prisoner but that Lord so well acquitted himself that he was soon set at Liberty and sent back again with Honour and Rewards and Perkin putting to Sea Landed in Kent but he was beaten off and a great many of his Men slain and such as were
taken Executed which discouragement made him return to Burgundy Yet soon after he Sailed for Ireland where he was received with Promise of large Assistance but not finding it according to his expectation he passed thence into Scotland and was highly welcomed by James the Fourth who esteeming him by reason of his Courtly Behaviour as the True Prince he represented Married him to Catharine Gourdon his Neice and then with a Puissant Army Invaded England which miserably wasted the Northern Borders and compelled King Henry to set forward with all the Forces he on the suddain could raise under the Command of Giles Lord Dawbeny but was soon recalled upon an Insurrection in Cornwal occasioned by the Levying a Tax to support the War They strongly charging the fault on John Morton Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Sir Reynold Bray who as they said to Inrich themselves had advised the King to oppress his Subjects desiring they might be removed from their Dignities Offices and Punished as Enemies to the Common Weale and chose for their Captains Thomas Flammock a Lawyer and one Joseph a Blacksmith and gathering as they Marched brought a great Terrour on the City of London being joyned by the Lord Audley and many Thousands he brought to their assistance and found a free passage till they came into Kent where the Kentishmen opposed them and now the King thinking it his time to set upon them gave them Battel at Black-heath near Greenwich and totally Routed them slaying 2000 and taking their Ringleaders with many others Prisoners who were most of them Executed Joseph the Blacksmith glorying in his way to Execution that for this deed he should be Recorded in History and indeed he missed not of his Expectation The King being now at leasure to revenge the wrongs the Scots had done in the North ordered the Earl of Surry and Richard Fox Bishop of Durham to raise such Forces as they could and oppose their Ravages till he sent a greater Strength but these two active Men raised such a Power that the Scots upon their approach immediatly retired into their own Country and were followed by the English who retaliated in a fearful manner the injuries done within the English Pale winning and razing many strong Castles Towns and Fortresses and though the Scots King made shew he would give Battel and Challenged the Field yet in the Night he Decamped and gave his Army free leave to disperse it self so that for seven Days the English hunted them in Woods and Mountaines tho' to little purpose for Winter approaching the Barrenness of the Country constrained them to return to Berwick to receive King Henry's Orders But in the mean while Peter Hyalus Ambassador from Ferdinand King of Castile arrived to Mediate a Peace between England and Scotland yet it came to no more than a Truce for certain Years on condition the Scots King Banished Perkin and all his Adherents out of his Dominions and about the same time the French King sent to Ratify the Peace that had been concluded between King Henry and himself which was Accorded and Maximillian perceiving his Country of Flanders c. much Impoverished for want of the English Trade with many Entreaties procured it to be Restored and our Merchants coming to Antwerp were received by the Inhabitants with solemn Processions Feastings and all demonstrations of Joy imaginable Perkin Warbeck by means of the Truce being Expell'd Scotland Sailed away with four Ships and Landed in Cornwal where the ordinary sort of People received him with Joy and loud Acclamations raising in a short time a great Multitude to Aid him tho' for Rebellion they had severely smarted but a little before and immediately with great Multitudes he Besieged the City of Exceter but the Citizens stoutly withstood them in their Attempts to Scale the Wales slaying very many of them Whereupon they put Fire to the Gates and Burnt them but could not Enter by reason the Besieged Countermured them with Fire and kept it with continual supplies of Fuel so fierce that they had time to raise Bulwarks and Ramparts Then the Rebells by Threats and fair Promises endeavoured to oblige them to submit but these proved fruitless for being encouraged by the King who promised to come to their Relief very speedily with an Army they stoutly refused all Conditions of Surrender and upon the Kings approach the Siege was raised the Rebells Marching into Somersetshire where they laid Siege to Taunton Dean but being close followed Perkin with 60 Horse fled from the rest and finding the Sea-ports stopped he took Sanctuary in Beauley Abby near Southampton Registering his own and the Names of some few of his Companions who had got thither with him the greater part of his Train being Taken by the King's Light-Horse-Men who closely Pursued And the Multitude Submitting and throwing down their Arms were received into the Kings Protection unless some of the Chief who being Taken were Executed in divers places The King after this coming to Exeter highly commended the Citizens for their Loyalty and Courage rewarding the Meaner sort with Money and those of Note with Knighthood and profitable Places of Trust giving his own Sword to the Mayor with a Priviledge that it should always be born before him And the Sanctuary where Perkin was being incompassed with Armed Men and he perceiving their orders were to take him thence by force he Surrendered himself to the Abbor of Sheen Intreating him to procure the Kings Pardon for him whereupon he was brought to Westminster and publickly declared his mean Birth and Parrentage and that he had been perswaded to this Undertaking chiefly by the Dutchess Dowager of Burgundy whereupon with a Paper of all the Intreague Pinned on his Back he was set upon a Scaffold fastned in a pair of Stocks a whole Day before the Palace at Westminster and the following day in like manner at Cheapside-Cross and then made a close Prisoner in the Tower where Bribing the Keepers and practicing to Escape into Flanders tho' he had been Pardoned before he was for this Executed at Tyburn and the King laying hold on this to rid him of the fears he had of the True Earl of Warwick's being one day advanced to the Throne was not wanting of Evidence who Accused him to have attempted his Escape with Perkin and tho' having been kept in Prison from his Infancy so that he knew not a Goose from a Hen that poor Prince was wrongfully Condemned of High Treason and Beheaded on the Tower-Hill whose Innocent Blood fixed a stain on King Henry to all Posterity his Death being rather looked on as a State-Policy than any ways Just and that in this he had done that Crime for which he had so vehemently accused Richard the Third only with this difference That he made his Courts of Justice Guilty of a Crime not inferiour to what the other had imposed on private Assassins For this Edward Earl of Warwick was Son to George Duke of Clarence second Brother to
gave her up to be Tryed by her Enemies who found her Guilty of High Treason for that being a Queen she had defiled her Marriage-Bed and being Condemned she was Beheaded on Tower-Hill protesting her Innocency to the last which most people believed The Lord Rochford was likewise Executed and some of her Bedchamber Attendants but the Kings hasty Marriage makes Historians apt to conclude he grew weary of her and doated on a fresh Beauty for within Twenty Days he Wedded the Lady Jane Seymor a Beautiful Young Gentlewoman who Dyed in Child-Bed of Prince Edward afterward King Edward the Sixth and about this time the Lord Howard lost his Head for Marrying Margaret Daughter to Margaret Sister to the King and Archibald Dowglas Earl of Angus who Married the Queen Dowager of Scotland and their Issue being so of the Royal Blood it was held Treason in the Lord Howard for Marrying her without King Henry's consent to whom he was a Subject and indeed so Absolute was this King over his Judges and Ministers of State that they rarely denied him any Head he required for fear he should Quarel with them for theirs And now a Book of Six Articles called the Bloody Articles from the much Blood shed on that occasion being made publick the People rose in Arms Tumultuously but upon the King's and his Generals Approach in Lincolnshire and the North they were Dispersed and many of the Ringleaders Taken and Executed The Articles were these 1. That after the speaking the Words of Consecration by the Priest The Real Natural Body and Blood of Christ as he was Conceived and Crucified was in the Sacrament and no other Substance 2. That the Communion in both kinds is not necessary to Salvation 3. That Priests may not Marry 4. That Vows of Chastity ought to be observed by the Laws of God 5. That private Mass ought to be continued And 6. That Auricular Confession is Expedient to be retained in the Church And upon the denyal of these many good Christians suffered the Flames and several Papests were Executed for denying the King's Supremacy it being made Treason The Lord Cromwell a Blacksmiths Son of Putney in Surry who had a long time Served Wolsey and by the King raised upon the fall of that Favourite was made Vicar General of Ecclesastical Affairs and soon after created Earl of Essex and to please the King by Enriching him for complaining of the Lewd Lives of the Monks Fryars Nuns and their Superiours who Lived in Luxury and Ease on the spoil and labour of others he was soon incited to harken to his Advice so that laying before him the great Sums that would accrue to his Treasury by the suppression of those Houses he considering what Wolsey had done by the Popes Approbation and Authority resolved to make havock of the rest and accordingly calling a Parliament at Westminster he procured them to be suppressed and tho' most of the Religious Houses were Demolished yet at a Rate no doubt half the value the Account given in to the King was 183707 l. 13 s. per Annum And intending Posterity should not be enabled to Restore them again to their former Uses he liberally exchanged the Abby-Lands c. with the Gentry for Lands of a less value so that at this day most of the principal Estate or great part of them consist of possessions of that nature This was followed with a very bloody Execution for the King being Jealous that many dealt with Cardinal Pool who was beyond Seas to prevail with the Pope and King of France by Force to restore the Rights of the Roman Catholick Church it was improved so far by such Evidence as were produced that the Marquess of Exceter Henry Pool Lord Montacute and Sir Nicholas Cary Knight of the Garter and Master of the King's Horse were Beheaded and on the same account within a few Months after the Lady Margaret Countess of Salisbury Mother to Cardinal Pool and Daughter to the Duke of Clarence Brother to Edward the Fourth also Gartrude Widow to the Marquess of Exceter Sir Adrian Fortescue and divers others were Executed insomuch that the Hangman of those times is said to have complained That he was weary of shedding Blood Soon after this the Irish Rebelled under O Neâ—i O Donel and others but were soon suppressed by the Lord Grey Deputy of Ireland And now the Lord Cromwell being high in favour with the King Enterprized a business that not only tumbled him from the ticklish Pinacle of Honour where he stood but also cost him his Life The King by the Death of the Lady Jane Seymour was a Widower and that he might not lye pensive alone Cromwell undertook to provide him a Wife and proposed the Lady Ann of Cleve Alluring him with flattering Pictures and unmerited immoderate Commendations of her Beauty and Parts but indeed tho' she was very Religious and replenished with many Virtues in Person and Countenance she was neither well Composed Fair nor Lovely yet on Cromwell's Commendations the Match was concluded and the Lady brought over in great State But when the King met her on Black-Heath at the first sight he took a dislike insomuch that although he was Married to her four Years he in all that time had not as he protested any Carnal knowledge of her nor ever could have any desires that way when in private with her whereupon in a Convocation of the Clergy by an Authentick Instrument under the Seals of the two arch-Arch-Bishops the Marriage was declared void and that the Lady might take another Husband when she pleased and it was made Treason for any to Write or Say the contrary and the King being in haste Married the Lady Catharine Howard Daughter to the Lord Edmund Howard Brother to the Duke of Norfolk The Wedding was no sooner over but the King gave way to the Enemies of the Lord Cromwell who Exhibited a Bill against him in Parliament for Treason Misprison of Treason and Heresie and so far they prevailed by the King 's altogether withdrawing his Favour and Protection from him that he with the Lord Hungerford lost his Head on Tower-Hill And soon after the new Queen Catharine was Accused for having been Familliar before her Marriage with one Francis Dorham and after with one Thomas Culpeper but whether it be True or False the two Gentlemen lost their Lives as did the Queen and Lady Rochford who was accused of Introducing Culpeper at a time he stay'd five Hours privately with the Queen on her Progress and returned Gifted with a Chain and Rich Cap. And in this Parliament the King was Proclaimed King of Ireland which Title his Predecessors never had being only stiled Lords of Ireland The King unwilling yet to Lye alone took to Wife the Lady Catharine Par Widow to the Lord Lattimer who in the end of his Reign was in a fair possibility to have lost her Head if her Vertue Modesty and the King's Death had not reserved her to a better
the chief of them they named the Protector sending abroad Proclamations wherein they lay'd many grievous Crimes to his charge as his Male Administration of Government and the great Mischiefs that had thereby befallen the Kingdom his converting the Publick Treasure to his Private Vse his endeavouring to set the Peers at Variance c. The Duke upon this finding â—he Londoners denyed him Aid but on the contrary had assisted his Adversary Warwick with 400 Armed Men who had drawn most of the Peers to his side and that contrary to his expectation he was left in a manner alone he now too late saw his Brothers Fall was contrived to usher in his However putting the best construction on the matter he sent a Messenger to them desiring they would forbear all rough proceedings and deal with him according to Law and Right which they promising to do he yielded himself and the King's Person into their hands and was committed to the Tower together with Sir Thomas Stanhop Sir Thomas Smith and others his Favourites but having been a Prisoner 3 Months and nothing made out against him upon acknowledging himself worthy of the punishment he suffered and begging the King's Pardon he was set at Liberty but deposed from his Protectorship and by the more Peaceable Nobility the Earl of Warwick and he were made Friends and to bind it the firmer the Earls Eldest Son was Married to the Dukes Daughter and new Honours bestowed on persons that had well deserved viz John Lord Russet was created Earl of Bedford William Lord St. John Earl of Wiltshire Sir William Paget Lord Paget and soon after the King called a Parliament at Westminster wherein was Enacted a Statute for the punishment of Rebells and Riotous Assemblies upon which ensuing Statute the Duke was about two Years after Condemned The Parliament being ended the Earl of Bedford and Lord Paget were sent Ambassadors with other Assistants to France and the Emperour by whose means a Peace was concluded upon divers Articles advantageous to the English and the Queen of Scots was included in it and it was Proclaimed with great Joy in the City of London Now all the high Altars being taken down in the Churches Tables were placed in their stead for receiving the Communion and Sir Andrew Jude Builded the Free-School at Tunbridge and six Alms-houses in St. Hellins within Bishopsgate And the Book of Common Prayer which had in some part been Corrected and Amended was appointed by Parliament to be Read in all Churches and Chappels In Aprill Anno 1551. An unaccountable Sweating Sickness happened and held till October of which vast numbers of people dyed Most that were taken with it dying in 24 Hours or sooner it seizing mostly on lusty young Men and very little on Women Children or aged people and of it dyed Henry Duke of Suffolk and his brother Sons to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk both of the Royal Blood by the Mothers side viz Mary younger Sister to Henry the 8th So that the Dukdome fell to Henry Grey Marquess of Dorset who had marryed the Lady Frances Eldest Daughter to Brandon and Mary his Wife And now the Duke of Northumberland growing powerful and labouring to get the King at his disposal to bring his purposes about found he could not do it unless the Duke of Somerset were Removed And the feud growing hot between them the Duke of Somerset by the perswasion of some private Enemies Employed by his Adversary went Armed to the Council under his Surcoat where the Duke of Northumberland feignedly pretending to Clasp him about as in Friendship discovered his Coat of Male and found Weapons about him Whereupon Northumberland laying hold on the opportunity Charged him with an Intention to have Murthered some of the Kings Privy Counsellors and afterwards produced Witnesses to aver he had before come with Armed Men to attempt his Life but that his Courage failed him and one of his followers when he returned demanding if he had done it and he saying No replyed then you are undone Upon this with divers of his Favorites he was sent to the Tower and process being drawn up against him he was Tryed by his Peers in Westminster Hall on two Articles 1. For High Treason viz. That he had not only Imprudently but Treacherously administered the weighty affairs of Government 2. For Conspiring the Death of Northumberland who was a Privy Counsellor which by the new Law was Fellony Of the former he Acquitted himself wherupon the Ax being taken away such a shout arose in the Hall among the Common People that it was heard to Charing Cross but on the other Article he was found Guilty and Condemned but it was a considerable time before they could constrain the King to Sign the Warrant for his Execution which he did not without Tears Saying he was the unhappyest Creature Living For at his Birth he had been the Death of his Mother And had since tho against his Inclination signed the Death of one of her Brothers and now they urged him to do the like for the Noble Duke his Vncle and therfore concluded the Lord Judge between me and you that Constrain me to do this against my mind However having got the Warrant signed they hastened the Duke's Execution and diverted the Kings Melancholly the mean while with Balls Plays and Musick And so infatuated was this Great Man that according to the opinion of divers had he thought upon demanding his Clergy he might have saved his Life his Crime by the new Act being only Fellony However he made a very Pennitent and Christian-like end much bewailing he had forwarded his Brothers Destruction and now saw it brought his own upon himself by opening a way to his Enemies He lost his Head on Tower-Hill and was much Lamented by all sorts of people except his enveterate Enemies who Rejoyced at his removal to another World and in his fall many of his Favourits boâ—e their part by Northumberland's contrivance viz. Sir Ralph Vane and Sir Thomas Arundel Beheaded for Conspiring with Somerset to Kill Northumberland the latter of which declared his Blood should be a Bolster for the Duke of Northumberland as long as he Lived intimating thereby he should have a troubled Conscience and all of them professed their Innocency to the last as to the Crimes they were charged with Doctor Ridley Bishop of London Preaching before the Young King of the excellency of Charity and Alms-deeds he was so affected with his Sermon that thinking he directly pointed at him who was in the highest Station after the Sermon was ended he held a private Conferrence with him how he might effectually bestow his Charity who advised him to send for the Mayor and Aldermen of London who would give him satisfaction in that matter as being most acquainted with the needs of the Poor which he did and after consulting with them allotted them Christs Hospital formerly the Grey Fryars of St. Francis Order St. Thomas's Hospital and Bridewel dividing the Poor
therefore it was the Duty of a good and Religious Prince to set light by all natural tyes and respects of Blood in regard of the Glory of God and the benefit of his Subjects Salvation That vengeance awaited those that should do otherwise for when this Life was ended they must appear before Gods high Tribunal there to give an Account of all their Actions either to receive the Reward of Eternal Life or the Doom of Eternal Death But this was then to serve his ends And I pray God too many in our days do not make Religion a pretence to advantage themselves One thing more is remarkable in this great Mans fall of which it is said he took exceeding notice viz. As he passed to the Tower when first committed a Woman out of a Balcony shook a bloody Handkerchief saying Look you here 's the Blood of a right Noble Man and the Kings Vnkle which was shed through your wicked Treachery and now cryeth for Revenge against you But his profession of the Popish Religion saved not his Life tho' it is supposed Dr. Heath his Confessor had on this account put him in great hopes of Pardon which was conjectured from the unwillingness that appeared in him to submit to the stroak Near the same time Sir John Gates and Sir Thomas Palmer two of the Dukes Favourites were Beheaded for accompanying him to Cambridge which by the Judges was construed Rebellion and consequently Treason against the Queen And divers Protestant Bishops as Dr. Hooper of Gloucester Dr. Coverdale of Exceter Dr. Farrar of St. David's c. and all Ecclesiastical Persons were deprived of their Livings who would not comply with the Romish Religion Soon after these Proceedings the Lords Ambrose and Guilford Dudley two Sons to the Duke of Northumberland with the Virtuous Lady Jane Wife to the latter were Try'd and found Guilty of High Treason and Condemned Arch Bishop Cranmer was Imprisoned but nothing of Treason appearing against him he was at that time Released but afterwards Condemned to the Flames for Heresy as in the Martyrology annexed to this Reign will appear wherefore by the way take notice that to avoid breaking the thred of History by so many occasions as must in his and other cases of that nature occur for the better understanding of the Reader I shall omit them here to place them by themselves However they agreed to send Peter Martyr under safe conduct to Antwerp supposing he would there fall into rougher hands but he escaped into Germany The Queens Coronation had been hitherto deferr'd but now was performed with much Pomp and Solemnity And a Parliament was called in which almost all the Laws Enacted in the Reigns of Henry the 8th and Edward the 6th against Popery were Repealed and in a Synod at London Disputations were held concerning the Real Presence in the Sacrament in which the Popish Doctors were nonpluss'd yet as their saying was They had the Sword tho' we had the Word so that by outclamouring some and over-awing others they gave sentence That it was necessary the Roman Catholick Religion should be Restored And the Queen exhibited a General Pardon so called but with so many Exceptions and Exclusions That those of the Clergy and Laity that stood in most need of it could reap no benefit by it and soon after this the Queen enclining to Marry Phillip King of Spain among many others proposed was thought the most agreeable Match for as much as it was laid before her That an unsettled Kingdom ought to have a potent Prince to defend it if Troubles should arise as well Abroad as at Home which upon Gardener Bishop of Wincbester's moving Oration to the Lords was approved and the Spanish Ambassadars coming over with full Power to Treat about it the Marriage was concluded on and Articles signed very advantageous to the English as to Trade and disencumberance from Wars Abroad she being to Rule Absolute and he not to intermeddle with the Affaires of the Kingdom unless by way of Advice and that such Children as should proceed from this Marriage should be here brought up and not carry'd out of the Kingdome Yet many disliked it as fearing when the Queen was Married her Husband would do as he pleased by easily prevailing on her to have the disposal of Offices Treasure and Armies and under this pretence Sir Thomas Wiat raised a Rebellion in Kent and attempted to enter the City of London but being forcibly resisted at London-Bridge fetching a compass to pass the Thames at Kingston in the mean while such Forces were prepared as routed his Followers and obliged him to surrender himself Prisoner and being Committed to the Tower he soon after lost his Head This Rebellion in which her Father had under-hand sided hastned the Death of the Lady Jane and her Husband for Dr. Fecknam being sent to her to perswade her to the Romish Religion but she being constant and unmovable the Warrant was signed for her Execution and the Lord Guilford being first Beheaded she unconcern'd beheld his Body brought all Bloody into the Tower exposed to her view the more to terrify her and with a settled Constancy of Mind tho' she did not much exceed Sixteen Years mounted the Scaffold and Embracing the Divine that had attended her Desired God to reward him for his Pious endeavours in Counselling and Advising her about the weighty Concern of an Immortal State and then turning to the by-standers with a composed Countenance Lovely in Sorrow she thus spoke her Mind If I am Guilty said she it is not because I affected the Kingdom but that I refused it not being cast upon me and must leave a memorable Example and Monition to all Posterity That Innocency cannot excuse those grievous Actions which tend to the Publick Damage for it seemes they commit wickedness enough that serve the Ambitious Designs of others tho' it be much against their own will Having Spoken these words she Pray'd fervently then desiring her Gentlewoman to help her off with her Gown she vailed her Eyes and submitting to the Block denied the Executioner to do what the Law had appointed as her bitter Portion whereupon her Head being stricken off caused many Tears even in those that favoured not her Religion And thus a worthy Author speaks of her She was says he Religious Wise and Learned above her Age or Sex who for taking the fatal Title of a Queen unsought-for and forced upon her by others was snatched from a Throne to a Prison and from thence to the place of Execution where she suffered Patiently for the Offences of others and yet overcame the many blows of Adversity with Constancy and Innocency A while after the Duke of Suffolk being Imprisoned was Condemned for having a hand in Wiat's Rebellion and attempting to raise others as it was Charged against him on his Tryal tho' on very slender proof Being brought to the Scaffold he thrust from him the Popish Priests who were busy and troublesome in endeavouring
Provision but so outragious was the sea that no Ships could put out so that the Lord Wentworth Governour of the Town found himself constrained to surrender it on Articles when it had been held by the English 211 Years for the Taking of which such joy was made in France as if England was falln into their hands After that they Invaided Flanders pillaging the Country but were Fought with and Overthrown and soon after a great Fleet being set-forth the English Landed near Brest in Britany and Sacked Conquet a considerable Port-Town in that Tract which they afterwards Burnt When the French to strengthen their Interest Married Mary the Young Queen of Scots to Francis the then Dauphin she having been in King Edward the Sixth's Reign conveyed into France to that end But whilst Queen Mary was making great preparation she fell Sick some say of Melancholly for the Absence of King Philip who now seemed little to regard her but herself affirmed when that was alledged to her in her Sickness It was not his Vnkindness troubled her but if she Dyed they might open her and find the loss of Callis written upon her Heart and of that Sickness she Dyed on the 17th of November Anno 1558 when she had Reigned 5 Years 4 Months and 11 Days and in the 40th Year of her Age and was Interred among her Royal Ancestors in Westminster In this Queens Reign a Tempest happened accompanied with prodigious Thunder and Lightening and in Notinghamshire it threw down many Churches and Houses tore up huge Trees threw the Bells out of Steeples and took off Sheets of Lead writhed them together like a Glove and threw them 400 Foot from their place A Child was taken by the force of the Tempest out of a Mans Arms a great height and Dyed by the fall Five or Six People were Kill'd and many Cattle by Hail-Stones Fifteen Inches in Circumference A great Mortality happened at the time of the Queens Death which fell mostly on the Clergy and of that burning Feaver 13 Bishops dyed besides a great Number of Priests and others also Cardinal Poole A Brief Chronology of Martyrs and famous Men and Women that have Suffered the Flames and other Tortures and Persecutions under Popery in England before and since the happy Reformation With the Exhortations and Dying Words of the most Eminent of them ACcording to my Promise tho' this History by reason of many things occuring swells to more Sheets than my intended Brevery designed it I shall in this place set down together a Summary Account of the Persons who have Suffered in England for the sake of a good Conscience and could think it no where more fitly to be placed than after a Reign wherein the Blood of those of the Reformed Church was shed like Water yet Dyed with such Constancy as amazed and startled their cruel Persecutors I have already spoke somthing of our English Martyrs after the Kings Reigns wherein they were Persecuted but for Brevity having omitted many I now come to place them closer together that a better view may be taken and the Method by its plainness more easily understood Know then That when the Purity of the Primitive Churches was Clouded and almost Obscured by the Romish Traditions Errors and Superstitions to make Godliness in the Litteral worldly sense a Gain by leading People into Ignorance and blind Devotion in keeping the Word of God from their Knowledge and in its stead imposing the Doctrine of Men not agreeable with it God in his great Mercy was pleased to raise up such Instruments as laboured to rekindle that Light wicked and designing Rome had near extinguished who for the sake of Gods Holy Truth exposed themselves to the fury of the Adversary and as in other Nations there were many so in England faithful Witnesses were not wanting very early to lay down their Lives I shall not look back so far as the Persecutions under the Heathen Roman Emperours Saxons and Danes for tho' they were very grievous yet more Cruel ensued under the Tyranny of that which calles it self Christian Rome or the Roman Catholick Church For after John Wickliff William Wickham Bishop of Winchester and many other Learned Men had Lighted the Candle as I may term it and opened the Eyes of many in this and the Neighboring Nations to discern Truth from Falshood and of this we have just cause to Glory since the Reformation in all Churches was grounded on it True Religion soon raised her Head and tho' Cruel Adversaries made her Proselites few for a time their Constancy and Zeal was very great In the Year 1380 Vter Bolton and John Asherly were severly Persecuted and soon after Walter Bruce John Ashton John Patescul and divers more some of which are mentioned in the History but as yet it began not to grow up to Flames but by degrees it did for William Swinderly was Burnt in Smithfield also William Thorp and divers others Stigmatized Banished Whipped and Starved in Goals the Popes in whose time they Lived Inciting and Encouraging their Clergy here to pursue them with all Violence and utmost Rigor So that in the Year 1417 the Lord Cobham was Burnt Hanging on a Gallows in St Gilse's Fields and soon after William White John Purrey and Richard White confessing their Faith and Dying with Courage and Christian bravery for the sake of a good Conscience and Peter Clark being forced to fly for maintaining Wickliff's Doctrine from Scripture and Fathers was taken beyond the Seas and put to Death by exquisit Torments viz. His Tongue cut out then Hanged by the Heels and a slow Fire made under him till he Dyed Roger Overly for speaking against the Mass and other Superstitions and offering to prove them not consonant to the Word of God was Executed And to put a Scandal on the Professors of the Truth they Nick-Named them Lollards and their common Prison was called the Lollards Tower But Persecution rather encreased than diminished their Number as appears by the largness of their Assemblies some to Teach and others to Hear For one of these Meetings being surprised in St. Gilses Fields Anno 1415 by Armed Force and wrongfully charged as a Riotous or Tumultuous Meeting tending to Insurrection and Rebellion it was by Popish Judges construed a Treasonable Act and hereupon Roger Acton John Beverly John Brown and about 36 more were Drawn Hanged and Quartered in the Place where they met and John Claydon and Benidict Vlman Burned and about 100 others Languished in Prison till most of them Dyed In Henry the Sixth's time William Taylor for embracing the Doctrine Wickliff had Taught was Burnt in Smithfield Henry Web and Henry Florence Scourged unmercifully and 120 Imprisoned and Tortured divers ways and some suffered the Flames among whom William White and Richard Hovelden were Burnt Soon after this Thomas Baly and Richard Wiche both Ministers were burnt one in Smithfield and the other on Tower-Hill In Edward the Fourth's Reign John Huss or Goose was burnt
Practices which much rejoyced the Popish Clergy who supposed by this they had gained a main Point to Exterpate those of the New upstart Religion as they called them tho' indeed what they sincerely Professed was as Antient as Christ and his Apostles being upon Earth but God blasted this design by putting an end to this King in the expiration of his Life when he had waded through a Sea for the most part of Innocent Blood incited thereto by the cruel Principles and sinister Designs of the Popish Clergy And so on King Edward the Sixth's coming to the Crown a happy Reformation ensued but whether God was angry with us for not making a right use of his Favours and Indulgence so mercifully extended towards us or intended to try the Faith Constancy and Patience of those he designed for Vessels of Honour I determine not but that Good Prince being taken to a better Life after a short Reign Mary his Eldest Sister Succeeding him set open again the flood-gates of Persecution by restoring the Popes Supremacy and by severe Lawes made by a Popish Parliament strictly Prohibiting the excercise of the Protestant Religion for so now it was called from some Cities and Provinces in Germany Protesting against the Romish Errors and Superstitions yet so mightily were the Professors of it strengthened by the Divine assistance that neither Flames nor other Tortures could bring about her purposes But after she had put divers of the Nobility to Death who stood in the way to hinder the introducing Popery under pretence of their opposing her coming to the Crown c. which see at large in her Reign she and her Counsellors singled out the most Eminent of the Reformed Clergy dooming them before-hand to Death thinking thereby to terrify those of a meaner Rank into any compliance that should be required whereupon they were dispossessed of their Bishopricks and Popish Bishops Officiated Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was sent to the Tower and to put a more colourable gloss on this Design a Disputation was appointed at Oxford between the Reformed and Romish Clergy which was willingly undertaken against all Opponents by Arch-Bishop Cranmer Nicholas Ridley Bishop of London and Hugh Latimer who had been Bishop of Worcester The chief Points to be Disputed on was about the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and tho' they were shut up in Prisons had no Books nor Friends to Conferr with and a short warning yet on their several Days notwithstanding the Noise Clammour Reproaches and great Numbers of their Opposers one by one suffering the violence of many at once without Order Measure or Modesty Confuted their Adversaries to that degree with found Reasons and Arguments from Scripture Fathers and the Use of the Primitive Church That being non plussed all they in a Rage could retort was viz. You have the Word and we have the Sword see which is likeliest to prevail And indeed the Disputation finished they passed Sentence of Death upon those venerable Prelates That they should be Burnt as Hereticks which Sentence they received with great Alacrity and Constancy of Mind Lattimer expressing much Joy that the pleasure of God was such that being near Fourscore Years of Age he should have so happy a Period as Martyrdom and so they were remanded to Prison to expect it at the leasure of their Enemies and indeed their Execution was delay'd a considerable time in hopes they would have Recanted but at length Ridley and Lattimer were brought to the Town Ditch in Oxford and bound to the Stake Exhorting the People to a constant perseverance in the True Religion and recommending their Souls into the hands of Almighty God Sung even in the Flames and so made an exchange of Earth for Heaven Whilst Cranmer from his Prison beheld the dismal Spectacle and on his Knees was Praying that their Faith and Constancy might not fail in this their Firey Tryal The Archbishops Death was deferred for a time but the Pope sending an Express Order to Degrade him and deliver him over to the Secular Power to be burnt within Ten Days committing the Degrading part to Thurlby Bishop of Ely and Bonner Bishop of London who succeeded Ridley which done the Aged Prelate was so cunningly dealt-with by one Fryar John a Spaniard That he prevailed over his Humane-Frailty in desiring Life upon promising a Pardon and Advancement to Recant his former Tenents and be reconciled to the Church of Rome whereupon he Subscribed a Writing to that purpose but Cardinal â—ool â—or â—ardener was Dead who had designed it for himself wanting the â—rchbâ—shoprick The old Popish Maxim of No Faith to be kept with Hereâ—â—ke was turned upon him and in the height of expectation of â—ire he was brought to Execution and tho' they certified him there was no hopes of Pardon but he must instantly suffer the Flames yet they used many Perswasions to induce him to a Publick Recantation before he went to the Stake shewing him the Writing he had Signed at the sight of which he burst out into Tears Then in a composed Temper addressing himself to the People after he had Exhorted them in moving words to amend their Lives and bring forth Fruits worthy of a Christian Profession he repeated the principal Articles of the Christian Religion Explained his own Opinion and professed the Kingdom of Antichrist was contained in the Papacy and upheld by the Popes Authority And Lastly he shewed how greatly he had offended God by his Recantation Professing that his Right Hand which had rashly Signed it should first feel the Punishment But here he was so Interrupted by the Clamours and Railings of the Popish Priests that he could be heard but little more and then being clad in very vile Garments and hurry'd to the Stake with many Taunts and bitter Scoffs when the Fire was lighted he stretched his Right Hand into the Flame and drew it not back unless once seeming to wipe his Beard till it droped off and the Flames raging high he lift up his Eyes and left and towards Heaven crying out Lord receive my Soul and Dyed not moving his Body whilst he had Life And when the whole Frame was consumed his Heart was found whole and unsinged by the Fire in which God himself by a Miracle gave testimony that his Heart was upright with him And this in any of the Popish Faction would have been sufficient for a Canonization and crowded for a place in the Calender among their Adored Saints And soon after the Bodies of two Learned Men viz. Martin Bucer and Paulus Phagius were a long time after they had been buried dug up accused of Heresie and burnt in the Market-place in Cambridge and Peter Martyr's Wife dug up likewise and buried in a Dunghill so it appears their Rage and Mallice extended as well to the Dead as the Living And Cardinal Pool immediatly entered upon the Archbishoprick which before was only sequestered Whilst these Great Men fell those of a lower Rank escaped not for Mr.
Popish Priest and by their Declaration Invited all the Roman Catholicks to joyn them and at Durham Toâ—e in pieces all the English Bibles and Common Prayer Books they could find in the Churches but being Proclâ—imed Traytors upon the approach of the Queens Forces they Fled with a small company into Scotland from whence the Earl of Westmoreland fled into the Low Countries and there Lived in a poor condition till he Dyed and divers being taken were Executed Soon after this a Rebellion broke forth in Cumberland but the Rebells were routed and dispersed by the Lord Hunsâ—on and another in Ireland but quieted by the Lord Deputy And one Felton by the Popes Command fâ—stned in the Night time a Bull Declaratory to the Bishop of Londons Palace Gate wherein he Absolved all the Queens Subjects from their Oath of Allegiance but Felton being taken Confessing Justifying the Fact he was Condemned and Executed near the place where he fixed the Bull it being at that time hung about his Neck And the Duke of Norfolk having been Imprisoned for designing a Marriage with the Que n of Scots and endeavouring her Escape upon his humble Submission and a Writing â—igned wherein he promised never to think of the Marriage or any thing derogatory to Queen Elizabeth's Authority he was discharged And a great many of the English for sundry crimes being fled into Scotland upon refusal of delivering them up the Earl of Sussex and the Lord Scroop entered that Kingdom with an Army and compelled the Scots of the Queens party to abstain from Hostility and utterly forsake the English Rebells And a Rebellion being raised in Ireland by the Earl of Thumond and his adherents the Earl fled into France for fear of being delivered to the Lord Deputy by his Friends but upon his humble submission was restored to his Estate and Dignity and the Duke of Norfolk being again Imprisoned was brought to his Tryal for High Treason and was thereupon Condemned and lost his Head and soon after Dr. John Storey a great Persecutor in Queen Mary's Reign who was decoyed on Board an English Ship under pretence of seazing Prohibited Goods as being made the Duke of Alva's chief Searcher being Tryed for Treason was found Guilty and Executed at Tyburn And Matthew Stewart Earl of Lenox the Young King of Scotland's Grand-Father and Regent of Scotland being surprized by the contrary Faction was Murthered and the Earl of Marr chosen Regent who Dyed within 13 Months after And divers about this time suffered for conspiring the Queens Death And a League was concluded with France and soon after at the celebration of the Marriage between the King of Navar and the Lady Margaret the French Kings Sister happened the cruel Massacre at Paris and by the French King's command the Protestants were Massacred in all the Provinces of that Kingdom to the Number of 300000 among them fell the Admiral Chastillion and divers other Nobles yet God delay'd not to Revenge their Innocent Blood for the King Dyed a while after with Blood issuing from all his Vents The Duke of Guise who had contrived at one blow to cut off all the Protestants in France was Murthered in his Palace by the Succeeding King's command and most of the rest that had contrived this Tragedy came to untimely Ends. The Earl of Northumberland who since his Rebellion had sheltered in Scotland was by the Earl of Morton delivered to the Lord Hunsdon for a Sum of Money and soon after Beheaded at York And Walter Devereux Earl of Essex whom the Queen held in high favour being sent with Forces into Ireland to depress the Rebellion and being envied by some Great Men at Court in his Absence they made Parties against him Charging many Miscarriages in his Conduct so that the Queen was constrained to call him home with a command to resign up his Authority in Vlster but the Earl of Leicester being Jealous of his presence at Court as imagining he was not indifferent to the Queen soon procured him to be sent back again with the empty Title of Marshal of Ireland which he took so much to Heart that in a short time he Dyed The Prince of Orange Heading the Flemings and they supplicating the Queen for Aid after mature deliberation with her Council and the States of the Low Countries putting Cautionary Towns into her Hands for Security she sent over Forces and permitted as many Voluntiers as would to go and Casimire Son to the Elector Palatine at the Queens charge brought in a considerable Number of Horse and Foot These Forces were unexpectedly Attacked by Don John of Austria and the Prince of Parma with a Numerous Army of the Spaniards best Forces but so fiercely Encountered that after an obstinate Fight they were forced to retreat leaving some Thousands Slain which Victory was attributed to the Valour of the English and Scots The Duke of Alanzon the French Kings Younger Brother now made earnest Suit to the Queen and tho' by the means of one Simier a French Courtier he so far insinuated into the Queens favour as to be admitted to come over Incognito and hold a private Conference with her yet by reason of his Youth and some other Obstacles this Treaty of Marriage as well as the rest had done came to nothing yet the Earl of Leicester for enveighing against it so far as to reflect on the Queen was for a time confined to Greenwich-Castle and the Queen being on the Thames in her Barge a young Fellow fired a Piece which Shot one of the Rowers through the Arm for which being Sentenced to be Hanged the Queen then understanding it was done Accidentally and not out of any Design against her Pardoned him And the Queen having procured of the Grand Signior a liberty of free Trade in all his Dominions a Company of Turkey Merchants was first set up The Pope having bestowed Ireland on the King of Spain a Rebellion was raised there but the Lord Grey being made Deputy the Irish Spanish and Itallians were totally routed and put to the Sword Captain Francis Drake a Native of Plymouth in Devonshire adventuring to America with a few Ships Discovered divers Coasts before unknown and is reputed to Sail about the World because he shot the Gulf of Magelan returning brought home great Riches and after being Knighted he made several advantagious Voyages with greater Force and became such a Terror to the Spaniards in those parts that they started to hear him Named Also Hawkins Forbusher and others pursuing that Voyage not only greatly endamaged the Spaniard but greatly enriched England with Gold and Silver so that the Queen having called in the bad Money the Land soon abounded with plenty of her own Coin The Earl of Desmond being routed in Ireland was after a great Search made for him found and slain by a common Soldier which gave much quiet to that Kingdom And now the Papists using secret Practices against the Queen among other Expedients to prevent the
them A Sow furrowed Piggs with Arms and Hands fingered as a Child instead of Legs And many other Creatures produced Monstrous Births A Plague likewise happened whereof Dyed in 8 Months 23660. The Thames was so hard Frozen that Waines and Carts passed it Markets and divers sorts of Exercises were kept and used on it Great Floods and Tempests happened spoiling much Corn and demolishing many Buildings In Yorkshire a Tempest over-threw a Church called Patrick Burton and laid many Villages in Ruins And many fearful Sights appeared in the Air. The Reign of King JAMES the First QUeen Elizabeth a little before she died having declared King James the Sixth of Scotland her Successor as indeed he was the next Allied to the Crown of England as being great Grand-Son to the Lady Margaret Eldest Daughter to Henry the Seventh he was upon that Queens death Proclaimed by Secretary Cecill and others and solemnly Invited to fill the vacant Throne when having disposed Affairs in Scotland for the preserving the Peace of that Kingdom he set forward with a very splendid Equipage And his first Act was to Establish and Continue Religion as it had been Setled by the deceased Queen causing the Old and New Testaments to be Translated from the Original and set many at liberty who were Imprisoned on sundry occasions by the Queen deceased But whilst these things were doing there wanted not some who envied his Accession to the Throne and secret contrivances were laid to Depose him and set up the Lady Arabella a Branch sprung from the same Stem by another Branch but it being timely discovered divers were Apprehended Tryed and Condemn'd yet only George Brook Brother to the Lord Cobham and two Popish Priests suffered Death Sir Walter Rawleigh and divers others being Pardoned and on the 25th of July 1603 the King and Ann his Queen were Crowned at Westminster in the Marble Chaire brought out of Scotland by Edward the First which fullfilled the Prophecy Inscribed on it and mentioned in that Kings Reign and Prince Henry the Kings Eldest Son was made Knight of the Garter and stiled Prince of Wales and Honours were conferred on divers Persons The next thing the King proceeded to do was to decide the Controversy between the Church of England and the Party that then stiled themselves Puritans and a Conference to that purpose was appointed at Hampton-Court where the King so Learnedly Argued that the former carried the day And the Jesuits proving over-hot in stirring up the People to change in opinions thereby to work their own ends were Banished the Kingdom and a Proclamation put out for Uniformity in the Church Soon after this the King Assembled a Parliament recommending to them the care of the Nation and a lasting settlement of Peace and Tranquility and thereupon restored the Antient Name of this Island causing himself to be Proclaimed King of Great Britain And whilst he and the Parliament happily accorded a private design was carried on to destroy them both for the Popish Party being denied the Tolleration they had petitioned for contrived one of the most Stupendious Mischiefs that ever entered into the Hearts of Men for their heat of Mallice would not be quenched with the Royal Blood but that of the Nobility and Gentry the representative body of the whole Kingdom united at Westminster was to have been shattered in pieces and dismembered by a blast of 36 Barrells of Gunpowder which they had placed in a Cellar under the Parliament House but it was Discovered by a Letter to the Lord Monteagle the Morning before it was to have been put in execution The principal Conspirators were Robert Catesby Thomas Piercy Robert Winter Thomas Winter John Garnet Ambrose Rookwood John Wright Francis Fresham Sir Everard Dighby and Guido Faux This Latter was to have set Fire to the Train and was taken with his Dark-Lanthorn at the Enterance of the Cellar on the 5th of November 1605. Which day by Parliament was appointed Annually a Day of Thanksgiving for that memorable Deliverance Upon this Discovery the Conspirators that escaped by flying were divers of them slain by Forces raised by the High-Sheriff of Warwickshire Faux upon Examination before the Council confessed the whole matter saying God would have had it prosper but the Devil Discovered it expressing himself sorry that it had not taken effect Garnet the Jesuite and others were Executed on this account and some Lords who were absent from Parliament and were suspected to have notice of the Design were committed to the Tower but after some confinement were released again and soon after this a rumour was spread without any certain Author That the King was Stabbed and Slain with an Impoisoned Knife as he was Hunting near Ockingham which for a time much troubled the People nor could their fears be allayed before a Proclamation came out to satisfie them of the contrary and the King of Denmark the Queens Brother coming to White-Hall was Magnificently Entertained and having stay'd about a Month departed highly satisfied The Kingdoms of England and Scotland that had long continued in bloody Wars were now United by both their consents in their Representatives on a foundation advantagious to either Nation and so it has ever since continued The Duke of Juliers about this time dying the Dukes of Newburg and Brandenburg strove for that Dutchey but whilst they weakly contended Spain more powerful resolved to take it from them both seizing on the City of Juliers the principal place of the Province which obliged King James at the States of the Netherlands supplication to send 4000 English under the Command of Sir Edward Cecill and Sir Hatton Cheek by whose Valour it was chiefly Reduced Soon after Henry the Fourth of France was Stabbed in his Coach by one Ravilliack passing the Ironmongers-street in Paris for which the Murtherer was pulled to pieces with Burning Pincers yet could not be compelled to tell who set him on that wicked Enterprize and King James startled with this untimely Death put out a Second Proclamation to Banish the Jesuits out of the Kingdom and all Popish Recusants Ten Miles from the Court. The Lord Sanquire a Scotish Baron having his Eye put out by one Turner a Fencing-master in White-Fryars in revenge hired two Persons to Murther him for which he was Hanged before Westminster-Hall-Gate in the Palace-Yard and Dyed very penitently tho' great intercession was made to save him And the Queen of Scots Beheaded in the foregoing Reign was by the Kings order removed from Peterborough to Westminster and there magnificently Interred and soon after the Elector Palatine of the Rhinâ— came into England and Married the Lady Elizabeth the Kings Daughter But the splendour of the Nuptials were Eclipsed by the Death of Prince Henry the Kings Eldest Son which happened a little before the Weding not without suspicion of Poison as some have it by the Scent of Perfumed Gloves others by eating a Bunch of Grapes but the Disease affecting mostly the Brain it carried him
Salisbury that he might make the King sensible of what he had done invited him to an Entertainment and so ordered it that he should pass to it through a Room wherein he had placed four Tables and on each Table Five Thousand Pounds in Silver when the King came into the Passage he started as amazed at the sight having never before seen such a Sum and asking the Treasurer the meaning of it The Treasurer told the King It was the Boon he bad given to Sir Robert Carr Swounds Man says the King which was the Oath he usually swore but Five Thousand Pounds shall serve his Turn By which means the Lord Treasurer sav'd the King Fifteen Thousand Pounds This shewed how easie he was to be impos'd upon giving his Favourites what they pleas'd to ask without knowing what it was His letting the Dutch redeem their Cautinary Towns upon their own terms and letting them also dispossess the English of their Factory at Amboyna in the East-Indies by the most horrid Massacre that any Age had heard of without any reparation or satisfaction for it however it might Entitle him to be Rex Pacificus it could never be an Argument of his Wisdom nor make him appear a Second Solomon which his Flatterers usually stiled him In the beginning of this King's Reign a Plague raged of which in London and the Liberties in one Year Dyed Thirty Thousand Five Hundred Seventy Eight Persons A terrible Blazing Star appeared before the Queens death and the breaking out of the Wars in Hungary Anno 1603 John Lepton Rode Five times between York and London in Five Days beginning his Journy on Monday finishing it the Friday after Anno 1605 William Calverly of York Esq Murthered two of his own Children in his House Stabbed his Wife and went out with intentions to have Kill'd his Child at Nurse but was prevented and was Pressed to death for refusing to Plead The Reign of King CHARLES the First KING James dying at Theobalds on the 27th of March 1625. The same Day his only Surviving Son Prince Charles was Proclaimed King of Great Britain France and Ireland On the 7th of May following were Celebrated the Funerals of the Deceased King whose Body being brought from Sommerset-House was Interred in the Abbey at Westminster with great Magnificence the King himself being the chief Mourner The next thing after the Celebration of the Funeral was to hasten the coming over of the Queen Henrietta Maria youngest Daughter of Henry the Fourth of France Deceased and Sister to Lewis the 13th then Reigning who had by the King's Proxy the Duke of Chevereux been Espoused to him on the first of May at our Ladies Church in Paris Upon Trinity-Sunday at Night she arriv'd at Dover where being met by the King the next Morning they went from thence to Canterbury where they were Married which the third Day after was Declar'd at White-Hall with great Rejoicing On the 18th of June following the King Summon'd a Parliament to meet at Westminster where he urged them for Supplies for the carrying on the War against Spain for the Recovery of the Palatinate upon which the Commons gave two Subsidies and the Clergy three In this Parliament Dr. Mountague the King's Chaplain was Questioned for certain Tenents in his Answer to a Book called the Romish Gagger and his Defence thereof Intituled Apello ad Caesarem and he being brought before the Bar of the House the Speaker declared their Pleasure That they would refer his Censure till their next Meeting and in the mean time he should stand Committed to the Serjeant's-Ward till Two Thousand Pounds Bail could be procured for his Appearance next Sessions And tho' the King by Bishop Laud's means took him into his Protection as his Servant yet his Bond remained Uncancell'd Divers Laws were Enacted in this Parliament and a Bill for Tunnage and Poundage passed the House of Commons but it Miscarried in the Lords House because it was Limitted to a Year whereas it had been Granted to the King's Predecessors during their Lives And then the Plague greatly encreasing the Parliament was Adjourn'd to Oxford where the King again Soliciting for more Money in order to the setting out the Fleet the Commons entred into a Debate about Grievances and were about drawing up a Remonstrance to present to the King but it bearing hard upon Buckingham the King 's great Favourite they were immediately Dissolved And soon after a Fleet was fitted out and sent against Spain but having staid Considering what to do till they lost the Opportunity of Destroying the Spanish Fleet in Cadiz which at first might have been easily done they Sailed to the Southern Gape in expectation of meeting their Plate-Fleet but the Contagion having got into the Fleet they made an Untimely return without doing any thing but four Dayes before the Fleet came This unprosperous Success of the Fleet very much Displeased the King who prohibited Wimbleton the General for some time from his Presence but he excusing himself laid a great part of the Miscarriage on the Stubbornness of the Earl of Essex But tho' all were Blam'd yet none were Punish'd for the ill Conduct of this Expedition And now the War growing very Chargeable since Parliamentary Aids fail'd the King as advis'd by his Council resolved upon raising Money by way of Loan by Letters of Privy-Seal sent to the Ablest Persons in the Kingdom in each of which Letters the King promised in the Name of Him and his Heirs and Successors to re-pay the Money in Eighteen Months after the Payment thereof to the Collector and the Collectors were Ordered to pay the Sums received into the Exchequer and to return the Names of such as went about to Delay or Excuse the Payment of the Money required of them This manner of Proceedings was by all Wise Men thought very improper for by the Law no Man was bound to lend the King Money so this instead of Supplying the King only tended to Alienate the Affections of his Subjects from him and render things more Difficult in the next Parliament Which after the Coronation was over met the 6th of February but with no better Success than the last For the House of Commons began where they left off at Oxford with matters of Religion and publick Grievances viz. The Miscarriage of the Fleet to Cadiz the Evil-Counsellors about the King Mis-government and Mis-imployment of the King's Revenues and an Account of the three Subsidies and three Fifteenths Granted the 21th of King James That new Impositions and Monopolies were multiplied and settled to continue by Grants Customs inhanced by the new Book of Rates and that Tonnage and Poundage was Levied tho' by no Act of Parliament and the Guard of the Seas neglected In this Parliament also five particular Articles were drawn up against Mr. Richard Mountague wherein he had broken the Laws and Statutes of the Realm and disturbed the Peace both of the Church and Common-wealth Upon all which the House of
Oxford where having Recruited his Army he marched to Gloucester which he Besieged And Prince Rupert having taken Bristol and gained some other advantages came to him In the mean while Essex hasted away with the City Trained-Bands and Auxiliaries added to his Army and between the King and him a great Battel was Fought on Newbury-heath soon after for upon his coming having raised the Siege he followed the King and having view'd his Army presently Engag'd and after a sharp Fight the King's Party had the worst And now the Parliament getting the Fleet from Sir John Pennington made the Earl of Warwick Admiral and watched the Coast to prevent the Landing of Foreign Forces and Sir John Hotham and hâ—s Son being Tryed for intending to deliver Hull to the King on some Disgust taken were Condemned and Beheaded and the Parliament proclaimed all Traytors that should assist the King against them with Horse Arms or Money and Treason for any Member of their House to Desert them and go to him And soon after the second Newbury Fight ensued in which the King was worsted and between 4 or 5000 Men Slain on both sides after which the Vxbridge Treaty began But the Parliaments Demands were such that it broke off without coming to any Agreement Whilst these and other matters happened in England the Marquess of Montâ—osâ— with a handful of Men performed Wonders in Scotland overthrowing the Lord Burleigh and divers others but not being Succoured as he expected it onâ—â— diverted the Scâ—ts for a time from entring England And upon the Parliaments passing the Self-denying Ordinance the Earls of Essex Manchester and Denbeigh Surrendred their Commissions in the Lords House and 10000 l. per Annum was Voted to Essex out of Delinquents Estates And now Sir Thomas Fairfax was made General of their Army and Oliver Cromwell Lieutenant-General of the Horse and most of the Commission-Officers were Changed and Col. Mitton Surprized Shrewsbury one of the King's head Garisons York being Relieved by Prince Rupert the bloody Fight at Marston-Moor ensued in which 9000 were Slain which occasioned the Surrendering that City and Col. Massey Defeated the Prince at Lebury But that which most Ruined the King was Naseby Battel where besides the slain the greater part of his Soldiers and Officers were taken Prisoners also divers of his menial Servants his Coach and Cabinet of Letters This Battel was Fought in a Fallow-Field on the North-West-side of Naseby a mile broad which Ground was wholly taken up by the Armies so that the Battel was exceeding bloody both sides being vâ—ry Couragious and Numerous not being 500 Odds And here the King besides his Men lost 12 pieces of Cannon 8000 Arms 40 Barrels of Pouder 200 Carriages and his baggage besides his Treasure that should have paid his Army or raised Recruits and was never after able to recover the Blow but faintly Strugled whilst the Parliament Forces swept away almost all his Garisons Oxford being the last of any Note in which the King was closely Besieged and that City made a very stout Resistance but there being no Army in the Field that could relieve it the King fearing a Storm resolved to go thence privately and cast himself for Protection on the Scots Army that was advanced as far as Southwel and thence to New-Castle The Scots promised him Protection and appeared very Joyful of his Presence among them yet all waa but Dissimulation for the English Parliament demanded his Delivery and they wanting their Pay which they could not by any other means foresee they should have in consideration of 200000 l. they Surrendred him Prisoner and immediately marched back over the Tweed in the mean while Oxford Litchfield Worcester Pendennis the Island and Castle of Scilly and many others Surrendred and the few Parties of Royalists that made Head were frequently routed But briefly to pass over this Bloody Scene which cannot be very Grateful to English-men I come to a close of this unhappy Reign Having got the King in their Hands they sent him Prisoner to Holmby-Castle whilst many earnestly Laboured for an Accommodation the Surry-men Petitioned but were set upon by the Soldiers some Slain and many Wounded nor fared the Kentish-men better At length a Treaty was set on Foot but Letters were purposely scattered to fright the King away intimating Designs against his Life for then he had a kind of Liberty being brought to Hampton-Court in order to the Treaty When escaping into the Isle of Wight he was there made Prisoner by Coll. Hammond in Carisbrook-Castle and it was Voted No further Address be made to the King But that was afterward Annulled and the King's Concessions Voted Satisfactory and things were in a fair way to an Agreement But the Army Officers knowing their Commissions lasted but with the War dealing under-hand with some designing Men in the Parliament-House who under pretence of a Publick Good had all along along aimed at Self-interest the Soldiers being by Interest and Promises made of their Party all such Members as were for the Accommodation were by Military Force excluded the House and the King brought to Hurst-Castle and afterwards to Windsor and his Party went extreamly to wreck at Maidstone Ponifract Bow Stratford Kingston and Colchester after a brave Resistance being taken Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle were shot to Death tho' Quarter had been given them And now those Members that were left in the House of Commons contrary to the Consent of the Lords being backed by the Army made an Act as they called it for the Tryal of the King and Erected a Tribunal called by them a High-Court of Justice to that end of which John Bradshaw a Serjeant at Law was President and 56 others as Judges and the King being called before them and accused of several Crimes as that he gave cause for the Cruel Blood-shed in England and Ireland that he had Proclaimed War in setting up his Standard against the Parliament That he had commissioned his Son and others to wage War and therefore was pronounced a Traytor a Tyrant and an Enemy to the Common-wealth of England To this Charge the King refused to Answer or to acknowledge the Authority of the Court offering his Reasons but they were not admitted and being several times brought before them and urged thereunto on his refusal on the the 27th of Jan. 1648. the Sentence was pronounced against him viz. That he the said Charles Steuart was fallen from all Dignity was Guilty of High-Treason and to be put to Death by Severing his Head from his Body for being a Tyrant a Murtherer and an Enemy to the Common-Wealth The Sentence being read the Court stood up in Confirmation of it as an Act and Resolution of them all and the King offering to speak was Violently Hurried away by the Guard And tho' the Dutch Embassador the Scots and most of the English Nobles interceeded to stay Execution he was on the 30th of Jan. 1648. brought from St. James's to White-Hall
another Parliament called there that long harassed Kingdom was brought to a good Settlement And now a Match being Negotiated in the Court of Portugal between the King and Donna Catharina Infanta of that Kingdom her Dowry was settled and in Lieu thereof the English had Tangier which became afterwards a great Charge to the Nation without any Profit So that the Earl of Peterborough having taken Possession of that place on the Continent of Africa for the King the Lady came over Royally attended and the King going to Portsmouth was there Married to her with much Pomp by the Bishop of London and afterwards came to White-Hall and was Joyfully received Sir Henry Vane and John Lambert being Tryed and found Guilty of Treason for things done before the Restoration being excepted out of the Act of Indemnity the former was Beheaded but the latter Reprieved and kept in Prison till he Died and Archibald Johnson Lord Warrestone being taken beyond the Sea and brought over was Sentenced as a Traytor by the Parliament of Scotland and Executed on a Gibbit at Edenborough 22 Foot high A Conspiracy being timely Discovered in Ireland divers were Imprisoned and some Executed which altogether dashed their further Intentions and kept the Kingdom in Quiet a considerable time And in the North of England another much about the same time being discovered one Gibbons and Baker were Tryed found Guilty and Executed whereupon the rest Dispersed The Commons in Parliament having Voted the King a Supply of 2500000 l great Naval Preparations were made which caused our Neighbours the Dutch to fear a Storm and therefore they thought it convenient to provide for their Safety and indeed a Misunderstanding happening between both Nations an Order of Council was made giving Letters of Reprisal against them and about 112 Sail were taken by our Frigats Men of War c. most of them being adjudged Lawful Prizes and hereupon the King set out his Declaration touching his Proceedings for Reparation from the Subjects of the States Whilst these things were doing a Dutchman under the Disguise of a Sweed coming from Guinea publickly reported De Ruytter the Dutch Commander had Destroyed all the English in the Factories on that Coast which for a time caused much Consternation among the Merchants trading thither but it proving False he was Sentenced and Whipt through London However the Parliament being Prorogued War was Proclaimed on the 2d of March 1664 and a General Fast succeeded for a Blessing on the King's Forces to be employed against them and De Ruyter attempting with his Fleet to Plunder the English Plantation of Barbadoes in the West-Indies was beaten off but whilst many Encounters happened at Sea a worse Calamity befell at Land for by reason of the great Heat in the Spring and but little cool breathing Winds to purge and purify the Air about the beginning of May 1665 a Plague began fearfully to Rage so that in London that Year 97306 Persons of all Degrees dyed and of these were accounted 68596 of the Plague However the War was carryed on with great Vigour and on the 3d of June the Duke of York being Admiral of the English Navy the two Fleets engaged and after a long and obstinate Fight which continued many Hours bloody and doubtful the Dutch gave way and such as got off stood to their own Coast The English having taken burnt sunk and shattered about thirty of their Ships and slain and taken Prisoners about 8000 tho' not without Loss considerable on our own part which was chiefly occasioned by most of the great Ships crouding about the Admiral to screen him from the Fury of the Enemy and prevent his being laid on Board by Fire-ships Those English of Note who lost their Lives in this Engagement were the Earls of Falmouth Portland Marlborough and the Lord Muskery Sir John Lawson dyed of his Wounds soon after and 2063 Dutch Prisoners were brought to Colchester whereof 13 were Commanders Hereupon a publick Thanksgiving was performed for this Victory the King likewise Conferred the Honour of Knighthood on such Sea-Commanders as had eminently Signalized their Courage and Conduct in the Action The Plague still continuing to Rage a Fast was Proclaimed solemnly to be held every first Wednesday in the Month till it should cease and Fires were continued in the Streets of London and Westminster for three Days and Nights to purify the Air whilst the King c made his progress through the greater part of England the two Houses of Parliament attending him at Christ-Church in Oxford and upon his laying before them them the necessity of a supply to maintaine the charges of the War the Commons Voted him 1250000 l. And Michaelmas Term by Proclamation was Adjournd from Westminster to that City But the Plague abating the Parliament and Courts of Judicature returned to Westminster as did the King and Queen The French King envying the growing greatness of the English more than any love he had for the Dutch as it afterward plainly appeared Joyned with them and was soon answered in the same Language at the Instigation of others The Fleets being abroad Prince Rupert and the Duke of Albermarle then Joynt-Admirals of the English the latter with a Squadron of fifty Ships the former being to the Westward with the rest engaged 80 of the Dutch on the Coast of Flanders and maintained the Fight two Days when on the third Prince Rupert coming in the Fight continued very Bloody till the Evening with much Loss on both sides and then the Dutch stood away to their own Coast In this Fight the Royal Prince was stranded on the Galloper and burnt by the Dutch Sir George Ascough who Commanded her being taken Prisoner and carryed into Holland About six or seven Weeks after there happened another Sea-Fight and the English chased the Dutch to their own Coasts and on the 7th of August Sir Robert Holms burnt divers Dutch Merchants Ships in the Fly and the Town of Baudaris upon the Island of Scheling and four French Men of War salling in with our Fleet mistaking it in Foggy-weather for the Dutch one of them of 54 Guns was taken On the Second of September 1666 being Sunday began the dreadful Fire of London at one Faringdons a Baker's House in Pudding-Lane the back-side of Fish-street-hill It continued Burning until Wednesday Night following and that time destroyed the greatest part of the City But the best Account of it being Engraven on the North-side of the Monument Erected in the perpetual Remembrance thereof take as followeth In the Year of Christ 1666 the second Day of September Eastward from hence at the Distance of Two hundred and two foot the heighth of this Column a terrible Fire broke out about Midnight which driven on by a high Wind not only wasted the adjacent Parts but also very remote Places with incredible noise and fury It consumed eighty nine Churches the City-Gates Guildhall many publick Structures Hospitals Schools Libraries a vast Number of stately
in the Year 1682. The chief Witness against him was Rumsey who Swore That the Declaration for a Rising being read Alderman Cornish being present and being ask'd how he lik'd it he answer'd Very well and what poor Interest he had he would join in it And yet this Fellow at the Lord Russel's Tryal Swore Cornish was not there when the Declaration was read nor knew nothing of it However the Alderman's Death was resolved on and both Judge and Jury being agreed he was found Guilty Condemn'd and on the 23th of the same Month executed in Cheapside over against the Guild-Hall of the City Declaring his Innocency as to what he was Condemn'd for to the very last And indeed Heaven it self attested it for him for his Execution was follow'd with such a dreadful Storm of Wind attended with Thunder Lightning and Rain as the like has scarce happened at that time of the Year in the Memory of Man His true Crime was That he was a Zealous Protestant that had serv'd the City Faithfully in his Shrievalty and had Examined Fitz-Harris in Newgate and had like to have discovered the Depth of that cursed Design against the Protestants The same Day also one Mrs. Gaunt a Woman of great Goodness and Charity was burn'd at Tyburn for relieving a Lieutenant under Monmouth in the West himself being the Witness against her for which he had his Pardon And now the Parliament met again and the King tells them how he had Defeated Monmouth and that several Popish Officers had been very useful to him therein that he could not be without their Service and that the Militia was not sufficient without keeping up a standing Army and hopes they will help him to Defray the Charge but the Parliament address to him to Disband his Popish Officers and offers to pass an Act to Indempnify them from the Penalties they had already incurr'd in serving without having taken the Test appointed by Law This Address of the Commons was very surprising to the King who expected from them absolute Obedience without Reserve But the King was much more Surpriz'd when he understood that the Bishop of London had made a motion in the House of Lords to take the King's Speech into Consideration as fearing the Lords would concur with the Commons in their Address But the King was resolved to prevent it and therefore first Prorogued and soon after Dissolved the Parliament who had been so large in their Supplies the first Session that now too late they saw he was able to live without them The Parliament's questioning of the Popish Officers had put them all into a Fright but the Parliament being Dissolved they were all at ease again and nothing but Popish Officers and Priests and Jesuites are seen about the Court who were grown to an unparallell'd degree of Impudence And yet to find Fault with them was a Crime next to High-Treason But the King finding the Penal Laws and Tests stand as a mighty Obstacle in his way was resolv'd to remove them In order to which the Lord-Keeper North dying while Jefferies was keeping the Bloody Assizes in the West at his return back he had the Seals given him with the Title of Lord-Chancellor as a Reward for his good Service in destroying the Western Hereticks and as an encouragement to him to destroy the Penal Laws and Tests the great Bulwark against Popery And therefore dispensing Power in the King is that which must next be set up in order to effect it And the Judges must be dealt with to give their Opinions for it And I have been certainly told That the King Closetting Sir Thomas Jones about it Sir Thomas was not enough thorow paced but boggled at it and told the King He could not do it to which the King answering He would have twelve Judges of his Opinion Sir Thomas Replyed He might have twelve Judges of his Opinion but he would scarce find twelve Lawyers of his Opinion But the King was as good as his Word and made such Judges as gave their Opinions That the King might dispense with the Penal Laws and Tests out of Parliament The Papists having always look'd upon the Church of England with an evil Eye did so now more than ever they having writ several Elaborate and Learned Books in opposition to the principal Errors of Popery which they were never able to answer But they were resolv'd if they could not deal with them one way they would another and therefore the King granted a Commission for Ecclesiastical Affairs expresly contrary to Law thereby to Curb them This Commission was Granted to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Lord Chancellor Jefferies the Earl of Rochester the Earl of Sunderland the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Rochester and the Lord-Chief-Justice of England But the Arch-bishop of Canterbury refusing to act in it the Bishop of Chester was added Before these Commissioners the Bishop of London was Cited and Suspended for not Suspending Dr. Sharp for Preaching a Sermon against the Corruptions and Frauds of the Church of Rome In Ireland the King having recalled the Duke of Ormond from his Lieutenancy made the Earl of Clarendon Lieutenant and Sir Charles Porter Lord-Chancellor who after their arrival there declared according to their Instructions that the King would preserve the Acts of Settlement and Explanation inviolable as the Magna-Charta of Ireland But at the same time the King having given to Collonel Richard Talbot a Man not at all belov'd by the Protestants an Independent Commission to reform the Army and he turns out those Officers that were firm to the Protestant Religion and the English Interest and puts Notorious Irish Papists in their Room and serves not only the Officers but even the private Troopers and Soldiers that were Protestants in the same manner So that one of the best principled Armies in the World both with respect to Loyalty and a firm adherence to the Protestant Religion was turn'd out and Disbanded and a parcel of Irish Popish Cut-Throats entertain'd in their places which seemed strange to the English Protestants there and not at all agreeable to what my Lord Clarendon and Sir Charles Porter had told them who were not themselves pleased with it but knew not how to help it But in England the King having established his Dispensing Power puts forth a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience pursuant to which the Goals all over England that were fill'd with Protestant Dissenters were clear'd and the Dissenters set at Liberty Who having been long oppress'd and almost ruin'd by severe Prosecutions for several Years together were now glad of a little Ease tho' the most Judicious among them saw clearly enough it was not for their Sakes but to introduce Popery that this Indulgence was principally Granted and therefore were always afraid of the Snake hid in the Grass The Episcopal Clergy who in the late Reign and the beginning of this also had been very severe to Dissenters began now to see they had
were Kill'd and about 300 of lesser Note on our Part The Enemy lost 3000 and were pursued 4 Miles and upon this Defeat Drogheda Surrendred and K. James with part of his broken Army hasted to Dublin and from thence he went to Waterford where soon after he took Ship and Sailed for France and the King of England coming to Dublin was received with all imaginable Demonstrations of Joy and a great many Protestants who had been Imprisoned were set at Liberty the Papists disarmed and the Affairs in those Parts settled and many places that stood out Surrendred The Brass and Copper Money K. James had Coined as passable in that Kingdom was called in or set at the Value of the Metal only Sheriffs appointed and the Face of Justice restored Whilst these things were doing beyond the Seas an Engagement happened between the English and French off Beachy viz. on June 30. in which the Dutch Squadron being forward to gain the Weather-Gage of the Enemy received great Loss many of them being Burnt or so shattered that after the Fight they fell into the Hands of the Enemy the English red Squadron not coming up as was expected for which Miscarriage our Admiral the Earl of Torrington was Tryed but acquitted and after the Fight the French insulted our Coasts burning Tingmouth a Viâ—â—age of Fishers Cots and doing some other Damage after which they retired to their own Coast and one Godfrey Cross an Inn-keeper in Kent for going on Board the Enemy and giving Intelligence was afterward Try'd Condemned and Executed near St. Thomas's Waterings in the Kentish-road from London And this Year the King besieged Lymerick in Ireland but by reason of the Strength of the Place advancing of the Season and great Rains that over-flowed the River Shannon on which it is seated having in vain summoned it he drew off and returned to England But our Fleet standing to that Coast and the Earl of Marlborough on board it with considerable Land-Forces and joyned upon Landing by part of the Army already there they took Cork and Kinsale with little Loss at the Siege of the first the Noble Duke of Grafton amongst others pressing too forwards on the Works was Slain by a small Shot A Plot was soon after Discovered to have set the City of Dublin on Fire and in that Hurry to have fallen on the King ' Forces in Garison there and by a miserable Slaughter to have Surprized it but some Letters intimating the Intention being found by the Care of the Lord Sidney and Conningsby whom the King had appointed Lords-Justices the Mischief was prevented by securing Suspected Persons And now the Parliament of England waited on the King with their humble Addresses of Thanks for the great Things he had done for these Kingdoms and to Congratulate his happy Return and Success and the King was not slow by Marks of Honour and Promotion to Gratify those that had well-behaved themselves in the Service and among others Coll. Cuts was Created Baron of Gowran in the Kingdom of Ireland he also appointed his Privy Council there and all other Officers of State Judges and Magistrates restored such as had been outed and appointed some new Bishops causing a Regulation of the Clergy in General The Winter thus passing on the King prepared to pass the Seas to be at the Congress of Princes and Embassadors appointed at the Hague to Concert the Measures for carrying on the War against France and after he had passed several Acts and Prorogu'd the Parliament he Embarq'd with a splendid Train of Nobility and with great Difficulty by reason of the Ice it being January Landed near Maesland-sluys and being Complemented by the Deputies of the States passed to the Hague where the States General and Council of State with other Colledges made their Complements to him as also the Foreign Ministers and to make his Reception the more Magnificent three Triumphal Arches were Erected one by the States-General and two by the Magistrates with sundry Motto's and Devices Expressing the great things he had done and what more Glorious were Promised from his Heroick Virtues too many here to Enumerate and in the Evening the Cannon Illuminations Fire-works and shouts of the People spoke more loudly the Welcome of a Prince that has so well deserved of that Nation And at his first appearing in the Assembly of the States-General taking his Place at the upper-end of the Table he with many Obliging Expressions declared his Affections and good Inclinations to them in a most Elegant Speech which being deliberated on the Heer Van Wickers President of the Assembly in the name of the rest made a suitable Answer and the Duke of Brandenburg and other Princes being met a League and strict Amity was agreed on for restoring the Peace and Tranquility of Europe in reducing by Arms the Grand Disturber of it to Reason and a Restitution of what he had wrongfully either by Surprize or Vioolence taken from the Confederates for which War had been Proclaimed by them Whilst the King was thus busy beyond the Seas some ill-affected Persons were Designing at home to betray our Strengths into the Hands of the Common Enemy by giving account of the Ports Shipping and what else might facilitate an Invasion and on this account the Lord Preston John Ashton and Edmund Elâ—ot were seized in a Smack as they were passing out of the River of Thames by Captain Billop and Papers of Dangerous Consequence found with which they were designed for France for which the two first being Tryed and found Guilty of High-Treason Ashton was Executed The King having appointed the Baron D' Ginkle chief Commander of his Forces in Ireland having received Supplies and Stores from England he besieged Ballymore which surrendred upon Discretion And having Garisoned it the Army marched and set down before Athlone where they had put up French Colours to make him believe the Garison mostly consisted of that Nation However a Breach being made and succeeded by a vigorous Attack the Base Town was soon won and the other followed the same Fate in a short time tho' their whole Army lay behind it and the Soldiers furiously entring a great many were put to the Sword This was no sooner Repaired and Garisoned but the Army pursued the Retreating Enemy and in a long-Contested Battel at Aghrim gave them a total Rout so that they never considerably appeared in the Field after it St. Ruth the French General was slain with a Cannon-shot at the beginning of the Fight and all their Cannon Baggage Ammunition and Plunder of the Camp fell to the share of our Men. And being Refreshed they marched to Galloway which place after a considerable Battery was Surrendred on Articles and the Garison marched to Lymerick which was the next place besieged but holding out Obstinately and having in it a numerous Garison it was thought fit after a considerable Siege to grant advantagious Articles and as many as would had leave to depart the Kingdom And
a Prisoner to King Stephen's Queen However after this Battel Maud received the Allegiance of all the Counties of England except Kent and Marching to Winchester received there the Crown and other Regalia's and so passing to London she was received in Triumph and now the reports of King Stephen's Defeat and Imprisonment flying into Normandy caused his Subjects there to slight him and incline to Geoffery Husband to the Empress but changed their Minds when they heard the King was at Liberty and had strongly Besieged the Empress in Oxford whither she was Fled upon notice the Londoners consulted to seiz her and deliver her Prisoner to the King because she had refused to confirm to them King Edward's Laws with all their Charters and Priveledges And withdrawing privately from London for fear of a Surprize she posted to Oxford where she had not been scarce five Days ere the King Beleagured the City and pressed it with continual Assaults tho' in the depth of Winter so that the Empress fearing to be Taken dressed herself in White and passing the Thames on the Ice went through the Snow which lay then thick on the Ground to Abingdon where taking Horse she passed to Wallingford-Castle kept with a strong Garison by her Friends and by this time her Brother and Son Henry were Landed at Warram-Haven and from thence came to her with some Forces but she wearied with the various turns and chances of War soon after left England and returned to her Husband who was in Normandy having sent Prince Henry before and so Oxford being Surrendered to the King he went to Lincoln and Summoned the Barons who there Swore Allegiance to Eustace his Son whom he Created Duke of Normandy and Theobald Arch Bishop of Canterbury refusing to Consecrate him was obliged for his contempt of the Kings commands to leave the Land and fly to Normandy whereupon the King seized on his Temporalities but did not dispose of the Arch Bishoprick It is Remarkable that the Kings of England before Stephen refrained going into Lincoln upon the account of a fatal Prophecy pronounced by Merlin viz. When a King enters within Lincoln's Walls His Reign proves Stormy and he Childless falls The Kings Treasure being much wasted in the Wars he Fought he demanded a Subsidy of the Clergy but they refusing it he was extream angry with the Prelates demanding of the Bishops of Salisbury Lincoln and Ely the Keys of their Castles and exacted great Sums of Money from them pretending they were Indebted to the Crown for the Tenures of their Temporalities And now Prince Henry being grown up gathered an Army and Invaded England nor was the King slow to Oppose him but was somewhat retarded by the Indisposition of his Son who fell into a Frenzy of which he shortly Dyed greatly lamented of the King who had no more Children but Sorrow giving place to Anger he caused the Trumpets to sound a Charge against the Enemy but as the two Armies were about to joyn such a Storm of Rain and Hail fell and continued so long that they were forced out of the Field to seek shelter which gave a time for Parly and the King weary of the War and pittying the Sufferings of his People being Childless and not expecting any more Children after many Messages from one to the other a meeting was appointed in which it was firmly agreed That the King should Adopt Prince Henry his Heir to Succeed him in the Kingdom and other his Dominions and in lieu thereof he should quietly enjoy the Crown during the Term of his Natural Life which being Signed and Sworn to all Hostilities ceased and Henry was sent to suppress the Rebellion in Normandy and oppose the intruding French where in his Young Years he shewed himself an expert General and Souldier in driving the Frenchmen out of the Garrisons and Castles they had taken but whilst he was busied in the Wars Abroad King Stephen fell Sick of the Iliack Passion and Dyed in the Monastery of Monks at Dover This Stephen was King of England and Duke of Normandy the third Son of Stephen Earl of Bloyce by Adilicia or Alice He began his Reign on Monday the Second of December Anno Dom. 1135 and Reigned 18 Years 10 Months and 20 Days being the 24th Sole Monarch of England He was Buried at Feversham in Kent in an Abby of his own Founding In his Reign Anno 1136 a Fire began at London-Stone and consumed all before it thence Eastward as far as Aldgate and Westward to St. Paul's Church and the next Year Rochester was destroyed by Fire And in the Third Year of his Reign St. Martin's Church without the Walls and the Hospital with Thirty Nine Houses and much Riches were Burnt In the Last Year of his Reign a little before his Death appeared a plain sign of a Cross in the Moon Remarks on the County of Norfolk c. THis County is pleasantly Situated and receives many Advantages by lying so commodiously open to Sea which Bounds it on the North-East and part of the West on the South it is Bounded by Suffolk and the remaining part of the West by Cambridgshire It produces plenty of Butter Cheese large Cattle Corn Wooll Deer Coneys Sheep and store of Woollen Manufacture It has in it one City viz Norwich a Bishops See it is divided into 31 Hundreds containing 660 Parishes 33 Market Towns and 3 Rivers of note the River Y ar from which Yarmouth takes its Name being the Principal It sends Members to Parliament 12 Norwich 2 Thetford 2 Yarmouth 2 Lynn-Regis 2 Castle-Rising 2 and 2 Knights of the Shire Yarmouth lies advantagiously on the North side the River Y ar and has great Trade by Shipping it was Founded by the Danes the better to favour their Landing when they Invaded this Island and has been often Graced with the Presence of many Kings and Princes as William the Conquerer who Fortefied it Henry the Second and Queen Elizabeth Norwich the Antient Venta of the Romans is a City of great Antiquity often Sacked and Burnt by the Danes especially it was levelled to the Ground by them Anno 1004. It suffered much in the Conquerers time for siding with Earl Randdulph The Cathedral was Founded by one Herbert who Translated the Bishoprick from Thetford to Norwich and was the first Bishop of Norwich This City Imploys Thousands of People in the Woollen Manufacture in making Stuffs Bays Says Serges Stockings c. Thetford the Antient Stigomagus of the Romans was the principal seat of the Saxon East-Angle Kings where King Edmund the Martyr was Overthrown by the Danes NORFOLK Lynn is a pleasant Sea-Port Town honoured with the Gift of a Rich Cup by King John and their Charter was enlarged by Henry the Third for their good service against the Outlaw'd Barons and other Priviledges were added in Henry the Eighth's time the Name being changed from Lynn-Episcopi to Lynn-Regis Elmham was Antiently the Bishops See but it was Translated thence to Thetford
and thence to Norwich where it now remains The Seats of the Nobility are Dukes-Place belonging to the Duke of Norfolk Oxnead-Hall and Paston-Hall to the Earl of Yarmouth Reynam-Hall and Stif-key-Hall to the Lord Viscount Towusend Castle-Rising to the Duke of Norfolk Norwich-Palace and Ludham-Hall to the Bishop of the Diocess Besides divers sightly Houses of the Gentry The Reign of King HENRY the Second commonly called Henry Fitz-Empress AT the time when King Stephen Dyed Henry was in Normandy Besieging a strong Castle the French had a little before taken by Surprize and being advised by some Nobles about him to pass over for England and leave the Siege least another in his Absence might step into the Throne as before had happened he made a Reply full of Discretion and true Valour to this effect The Kingdom of England shall henceforth be at my Command in despight of those that dare to cross me most and so shall these Intruding Frenchmen ere I raise the Siege This resolution redoubled his honour among his Friends and brought fear on the Enemy for when they knew it they surrendered the Castle and submitted themselves to his Mercy and so having settled Affairs in that Dukedom with a Noble Train of Lords and Gentlemen he came for England where he was Crowned three times viz. By Theobald Arch Bishop of Canterbury at Westminster Then at Lincoln and lastly at Worcester He chose his Council of the Gravest Wisest and most Learned Peers and made Thomas of Becket Chancelour and appointed such Judges and Learned Men in the Laws by Industry and Labour to Refine them That the Common Laws were greatly Mended and Improved being rendred more tolerable and profitable to the People and after this he divided the Kingdom into six Circuits and for the better administration of Justice and Trying of Causes between Subject and Subject he appointed his Judges to go those Circuits twice a Year which Order yet continues He Banished the greatest part of Strangers who in those days by multitudes flocked hither and by their extraordinary Sparing and painful Industry procured much Wealth and Begger'd the Natives He Exiled many of the Nobles who contrary to their Duties had adhered to King Stephen and differing much from the Opinion of his Predecessor he affirmed that strong Castles and Forts maintained in the heart of the Kingdom did rather Animate Great Men upon any displeasure to Revolt than Fear them into Obedience whereupon he caused most of them to be Razed to the Ground and Seized such Mannors Lordships Possessions as his Predecessors had either Sold or Given from the Crown holding it to be the Duty of every Subject to refuse the Gift or Purchace of such things as do immediately concern the Honour and Maintenance of a King And the like he did in the Northern Parts where many Great Men Commanding as they list had wrought themselves and their Posterity into many Honours Castles Mannors which properly appertained to the Crown He likewise took into his hands the Provinces of Cumberland Northumberland and the Earldom of Huntingdon which David King of Scots and Henry his Son had received as a Gift from King Stephen to favour his Wars against the Empress However the King entered into Amity with Malcolm King of Scots upon the same Conditions as were Agreed on in Henry the Firsts time and in Token of his Subjection the Scot Offered his Bonnet and Saddle upon St. Peter's Altar at York And about this time Theobald Dying Becket was made Arch Bishop of Canterbury This King even in time of Peace had generally an Army on foot and rarely kept them Idle but would often Transport them to Normandy and there having Exercised them would bring them back again so that on all occasions they were found ready and expert Souldiers And now an advantage opened a way to the English for the Conquest of Ireland For the Eastern part along the Sea being possessed by Dormat-Mac-Mahur King of Leinster his Cruelties had highly incensed his Subjects against him especially upon taking away the Queen of Morice King of Meath so that the Injured King Confederating with Roderick O Conor King of Connought they beat him out of his Country so that he fled for England and craved Aid of King Henry to Restore him which upon taking an Oath of Fidelity and Subjection was harkened to when the better to encourage the design the King for a Sum of Money obtained leave of Pope Adrian an Englishman then advanced to St. Peter's Chair that he might Conquer Ireland promising moreover throughly to Establish the Christian Religion therein and bring it to an acknowledgment of the See of Rome but whilst he was preparing for this Expedition new Troubles arose in Normandy which required his Presence to pacifie but he granted his Letters Patents by which he gave leave with Encouragement to his Nobles and such others as were willing to go for Ireland Dormat impatient of Exile laid hold of this first Advantage and Solicited the Nobles but above all he promised Richard the Kings Son a Young Prince of a Warlike Spirit his Daughter a very Beautiful Young Lady and all his Countries after his Decease to be made over to them he likewise incited one Fitz Stephens who with a Band of Valiant Welshmen was the first that Landed and maintained his Ground with much Courage till the Prince and divers Nobles came over and with little trouble they seized the Town of Wexford which was given to Fitz Stephens for his part of the Charge of the War and soon after many of the petty Irish Kings being Overthrown Dormat was Restored and Dublin the chief City Submitting to him he put to Death by many Cruelties such of his Capital Enemies as he found there However the Prince went Conquering on and Subdued all before him of which King Henry had no sooner Notice but fearing this might flush Ambition and make him practice with his own Subjects for the Crown he speedily returned to England and sent Mandates Commanding all the English under great Penalties to return rallying the Nobility for suffering the Prince in his Absence to go over he was in this so far Obeyed that the Prince was left in Dublin with a small Train the Irish was not slow in taking the advantage of this Retreat and therefore Besieged him in that prime City with an Army of 30000 Men upon which he Sally'd with about 1500 and utterly Routed them taking great Spoils and so in obedience to the Kings commands returned for England where he surrendered into his Fathers hands all the Forts and Cities he had taken Anno 1172 the King Landed in Ireland with a Royal Army and found Dormar to be Dead however he brought such a Terror on the Country That Roderick and most of the other Princes submitted to him intreating him to take the Government on him as their Supream Lord which he Accepted with their Oaths of Fealty and at Christmas he made a Royal Feast in