Cornwall At the Sinode of Arles in Fraunce there was present one Corinius sonne to Salomon Duke of Cornwall After the abouenamed Octauius his decease Maximianus a Romane who maried his daughter succeeded him also in gouernment betweene whome and the foreremembred Conan grew great warres which concluding at last in a peace Maxim passed with an armie into Fraunce conquered there Armorica naming it little Brittaine and gaue the same in fee to Conan who being once peaceably setled wrote ouer vnto Dionethus or Dionotus Duke or King of Cornwall as Mathew of West termeth him to send him some Maidens whom he might couple in mariage with his people whereon S. Vrsula her companions the 11000. virgins were shipped miscaried as their welknown history reporteth Nicholas Gille a French writer deliuereth vpon the credit of our British Historians that about this time Meroueus a Paynim king of Fraunce caused his owne sonne to be throwne into the fire and burned for that he had slayne the king of Cornwall as he returned from a feast Hee also maketh mention of one Moigne brother to Aurelius and Vter-pendragon Duke of Cornwall gouerner of the Realme vnder the Emperour Honorius Caredoc Duke of Cornwall was employed sayth D. Kay by Octauius about founding the Vniuerfitie of Cambridge And vpon Igerna wife to Gorlois Duke of Cornwall Vter begat the worthy Arthur and a daughter called Amy. This Arthur discomfited in fight one Childerick a king of the Saxons and afterwards vpon certaine couenants suffred him quietly to depart the Realme But Childerick violating the word of a king bound with the solemnity of an othe inuaded estsoones the Westerne coasts harrowing the Country as he passed vntil Cador Earle of Cornwall became Gods Minister to take vengeance of his periury by reauing off his life That Marke swayed the Cornish septer you cannot make question vnlesse you will withall shake the irrefragable authoritie of the round tables Romants Blederic Duke of Cornwall associated with other Welsh kings darrayned a battell against Ethelferd king of the Northumbers by the valiant forgoing of his life got his partners the victory Iuor sonne to Alane king of little Brittaine first wan from the Saxons Cornwall Deuon and Somerset shires by force of armes and then taking to wife Ethelburg cousin to Kentwin king of Westsex enioyed the same by composition Roderit king of the Bretons in Wales and Cornwall vnder whom Bletius was Prince of this last and of Deuon valiantly repulsed Adelred king of Westsex what time he assayled him in Cornwall yet in the end being ouer-matched in number and tired with continuall onsets he was driuen to quit the same and retire himselfe into Wales Polidor Virgill maketh mention of one Reginaldus Comes Britannorum in the time of king Etheldred Dungarth king of Corn by mischance was drowned Alpsius is recorded about this time for Duke of Deuon and Cornwall Orgerius Duke of Cornwall had a daughter named Alfride the fame of whose beauty caused King Edgar to send Earle Athelwold for obtaining her at her fathers hands in mariage But the Earle with the first sight of this faire Lady was so besotted in her loue that preferring the accomplishment of his lust before the duety of his alleageance he returnes answer to the King how the common report far exceeded her priuate worth which came much short of meriting a partnership in so great a Princes bed and not long after begged and obtayned the Kings good wlll to wed her himselfe But so braue a lustre could not lye long concealed without shining foorth into Edgars knowledge who finding the truth of his Ambassadours falshood tooke Athelwold at an aduauntage slewe him and maried her beeing a widdowe whome hee had wooed a mayde Hitherunto these titles of honour carry a kinde of confusednes and rather betokened a successiue office then an established dignity The following ages receiued a more distinct forme and left vs a certeyner notice What time William the bastard subdued this Realme one Condor possessed the Earledome of Cornwall and did homage for the same he had issue another Condor whose daughter and heire Agnes was maried to Reignald Earle of Bristowe base sonne to King Henry the first This note I borowed out of an industrious collection which setteth downe all the noble mens creations Armes and principall descents in euery Kings dayes since the conquest but master Camden our Clarentieulx nameth him Cadoc and saith farther that Robert Morton brother to William Conquerour by his mother Herlot was the first Earle of Norman blood and that his sonne William succeeded him who taking part with Duke Robert against Henry the first thereby got captiuity and lost his honour with which that King inuested the forementioned Reignald In this variance it is great reason that the ballance panche on his side who hath both authority to establish his assertion and a rarely approued knowledge to warrant his authoritie Hee dying issuelesse Richard the first gaue this Earledome to his brother Iohn Iohns sonne Henry the third honoured therewith his brother Richard King of the Romanes a Prince no lesse plentifully flowing in wealth then his brother was often driuen to extreame shifts through needinesse which made that barbarous age to poetrize Nummus ait pro me nubit Cornubia Rome Money sayd that for her sake Rome did Cornwall to wife take He had issue Henry Earle of Cornwall who deceased issuelesse and Edmond whose daughter and heire Isabell sayth mine authour was married to Moriee Fitsharding Lord Barckleigh but others affirme that this Edmond dyed without issue Edward the second degenerating in his choyce created his mynion Peter Gaueston a Gascoyne Earle of this County whose posterity ended in himselfe and himself by a violent death The last title of this Earldome expired in Iohn of Eltham yonger sonne to that King Edward After which King Edward the third by act of Parliament in the 11. yeere of his raigne erected the same to a Duchy the first in England and graced it with his sonne the blacke Prince for his heroicall vertues did rather bestow then receiue estimation from whatsoeuer dignitie Since which it is successiuely incorporated in the Kings eldest sonne and hath bene so enioyed by Richard the second Henry the fift Henry the sixt Edward his sōne Edward the fift Edward sonne to Richard the third Arthure and Henry sonnes to Henry the seuenth and lastly Edward the sixt 10. Dukes in the whole These Earles and Dukes haue from the beginning beene priuiledged with royall iurisdiction or Growne rights namely giuing of liberty to send Burgesses to the Parliaments returne of writs custome toll Mynes Treasure-trovee wards c. and to this end appoynted their speciall officers as Sheriffe Admirall Receyuer Hauener Customer Butler Searcher Comptroller Gaugeor Excheator Feodary Auditor Clarke of the market c. besides the L. Warden and those others beforeremembred whose functions appertayne
must either craue or take leaue of the Londoners to lay open the hard dealing of their Tynne Marchants in this trade WheÌ„ any Western Gent. or person of accompt wanteth money to defray his expences at London he resorteth to one of the Tynne Marchants of his acquaintance to borrow some but they shall as soone wrest the Clubbe out of Hercules fist as one penie out of their fingers vnlesse they giue bond for euerie twentie pound so taken in lone to deliuer a thousand pound waight of Tyn at the next Coynage which shal be within two or three months or at farthest within halfe a yeere after At which time the price of euerie thousand will not faile to be at least twentie three prehaps twentie fiue pound yea and after promise made the party must be driuen with some indignitie to make three or foure errands to his house or hee shall get the money deliâ—ered In this sort some one Marchant will haue 5. hundred pound out beforehand reaping thereby a double commoditie both of excessiue gaine for his lone and of assurance to bee serued with Tynne for his money This they say is no Vsurie forsooth because the price of Tynne is not certainely knowne before-hand for once onely within these twelue yeeres of set purpose to escape the penaltie of the Law they brought it a little vnder twentie pound the thousand but if to take aboue fiftie in the hundred be extremitie whatsoeuer name you list to giue it this in truth can bee none other then cutthroate and abominable dealing I will not condemne all such as vse this trade neither yet acquite those who make greatest pretence of zeale in Religion and it may be that some vpon by-respects find somwhat friendly vsage in Vsance at some of their hands but the common voice saith that for the most part they are naught all And yet how bad soeuer this fashion may iustly bee accompted certaine of the same Countrymen do passe farre beyond it as thus The Marchant that hee may stand assured to haue Tynne for his money at the time of Coynage or deliuerance besides his trade of lone abouementioned layeth out diuers summes before-hand vnto certaine Cornishmen owners of Tynworkes or otherwise of knowne sufficiencie who are bound to deliuer for the same so many thousands of Tynne as the money shal amount vnto after the price agreed vpon at the Coynages To these hungrie flies the poore labouring Tynner resorteth desiring some money before the time of his pay at the deliuerance the other puts him off at first answering he hath none to spare in the end when the poore man is driuen through necessitie to renew his suite he fals to questioning what hee will doe with the money Saith the Tynner I will buy bread and meate for my selfe and my houshold and shooes hosen peticoates such like stuffe for my wife and children Suddenly herein this owner becomes a pettie chapman I will serue thee saith he hee deliuers him so much ware as shall amount to fortie shillings in which he cuts him halfe in halfe for the price and foure nobles in money for which the poore wretch is bound in Darbyes bonds to deliuer him two hundred waight of Tynne at the next Coynage which may then bee worth fiue pound or foure at the verie least And as mischiefe still creepes onward this extreme dealing of the London Marchant and Countrie chapman in white Tynne is imitated or rather exceeded by the wealthier sort of Tynners themselues in the blacke by laying out their money after thus much the marke which trade though subtill and darke I will open as plainely as I can A foote of blacke Tynne as is before said containeth in measure two gallons the waight vncertainely followeth the goodnesse A foote of good Moore-tyn which is counted the best sort will way about fourescore pound Of the Myne Tynne which is meaner fiftie two pound of the worst fiftie pound Two pound of good blacke Tynne being melted will yeeld one of white twentie eight or thirtie foote of the best fortie of the middle 52. of the meanest a thousand Now the wealthier sort of Tynners laying out part of their money beforehand buy this black Tynne of the poore labourers after so much the marke that is looke how many markes there are in the price made at the Coynage for the thousand so many two pence halfepenie three pence or foure pence partly after the goodnesse and partly according to the hard conscience of the one and necessitie of the other shal he haue for the foote as if the price be twentie sixe pound thirteene shillings foure pence the thousand therein are fortie markes then shall the poore Tynner receiue of him who dealeth most friendly for euerie foote of his best blacke tynne of which as was said about thirtie will make a thousand fortie times foure pence viz. thirteene shillings and foure pence which amounteth to twentie pound the thousand whereas that foote at the price is worth aboue fiue pence the marke Likewise will hee pay for the meaner blacke Tynne of which about fortie foote will make a thousand three pence the marke which is ten shillings the foote and so shall he haue also after twentie pound for the thousand for the worse they giue lesse rateably By which proportion how vncertaine soeuer the goodnesse of the Tynne or the greatnesse of the price do fall their gaine of a fourth part at least riseth alwaies vncertainly Whereto adding that they lay out beforehand but a portion of the money due and that onely for some small time you shall find it grow to the highest degree of extremitie But whether it proceedeth from this hard dealing or for that the Tynners whole familie giue themselues to a lazie kind of life and depend only vpon his labour and gaynes which often ill succeeding aduentures such ouer-deare bought Tynne daylie impaire or from both these together once it hath beene duly obserued that the parishes where Tynne is wrought rest in a meaner plight of wealth then those which want this dammageable commoditie and that as by abandoning this trade they amend so by reuiuing the same they decay againe whereas husbandrie yeeldeth that certayne gaine in a mediocritie which Tynneworkes rather promise then performe in a larger measure Let vs now examine what course of Iustice is held for deciding such controuersies as befall in Tinne causes and with what priuileges they are endowed and encouraged After such time as the Iewes by their extreame dealing had worne themselues first out of the loue of the English Inhabitants and afterwards out of the land it selfe and so left the Mines vnwrought it hapned that certaine Gentlemen being Lords of seuen tithings in Blackmoore whose grounds were best stored with this Minerall grewe desirous to renew this benefit and so vpon suit made to Edmond Earle of Cornwal sonne to Richard king of the Romans they obtayned from him a Charter vvith sundrie Priuileges amongst
many noble men besides But not too much of this least a partiall affection steale at vnwares into my commendation as one by my mother descended frō his loynes and by my birth a member of the house Certaine olde ruines yet remaining confirme the neighbours report that neere the waters side there stood once a towne called Weststone house vntill the French by fire and sword ouerthrew it In the yeere one thousand fiue hundred ninetienine the Spaniards vaunts caused the Cornish forces to aduance there a kind of fortification and to plot the making of a Bridge on barges ouer that strait for inhibiting the enemies accesse by boates and Gallies into the more inward parts of the hauen But it may be doubted whether the bridge would haue proued as impossible as the Sconcefell out vnnecessarie Master Peter Edgecumbe commonly called Peers married Margaret the daughter of Sir Andrew Lutterel his father Sir Richard married the daughter of Tregian his father Sir Peers married the daughter and heire of Stephan Durnford and his father Sir Richard married the daughter of Tremayn These names of Peers and Richard they haue successiuely varied for sixe or seuen descents Hee beareth for his Armes Gules on a Bend ermine betweene two Cotises Or. 3. Bores heades coped arg armed as the three Langued is the field A little inward from Mountedgecumb lieth a safe and commodious Road for shipping called Hamose and compounded of the words Ose and Ham according to the nature of the place Here those vessels cast anchor which are bound to the Eastwards as those doe in Catwater who would fare to the West because euerie wind that can serue them at Sea will from thence carrie them out which commoditie other Roads doe not so conueniently affoord It is reported that in times past there was an ordinary passage ouer this water to a place on Deuon side called Horsecoue but long since discontinued At the higher end of a creek passing vp from hence Milbrook lurketh between two hilles a village of some 80. houses and borrowing his name from a mill and little brook running therethrough In my remembrance which extendeth not to aboue 40 yeeres this village tooke great encrease of wealth and buildings through the iust and industrious trade of fishing and had welneere forty ships and barks at one time belonging therevnto But our late broyles with Spayne haue set vp a more compendious though not so honest way of gayning and begin by little and little to reduce these plaine dealers to their former vndeserued plight Yet do they prescribe in a suburbiall market as I may terme it to Plymmouth for their reliefe by intercepting if not forestalling such corne and victuals as passing thorow their streights cannot for want of time or weather get ouer Crymell passage to the other and surely they are not vnworthy of fauour for this towne furnisheth more able Mariners at euery prest for her Highnesse seruice then many others of far greater blaze It chanced about twenty yeeres sithence that one Richaurd wife to Richard Adams of this towne was deliuered of two male children the one ten weekes after the other who liued vntil baptisme the later hitherto Which might happen in that the woman bearing twinnes by some blow slide or other extraordinary accident brought forth the first before his time and the later in his due season Now that a childe borne in the seuenth moneth may liue both Astrologers and Phisicions doe affirme but in the 8. they deny it and these are their reasons The Astrologers hold that the child in the mothers wombe is successiuely gouerned euery moneth by the seuen Planets beginning at Saturne after which reckoning he returning to his rule the 8. month by his dreery influēce infortunateth any birth that shal then casually befall whereas his succeeder Iupiter by a better disposition worketh a more beneficiall effect The Phisicions deliuer that in the seuenth moneth the childe by course of nature turneth itself in the mothers belly wherefore at that time it is readier as halfe loosed to take issue by any outward chance Mary in the eightth when it beginneth to settle againe and as yet retayneth some weakenes of the former sturring it requireth a more forcible occasion that induceth a slaughtering violence Or if these coniecturall reasons suffice not to warrant a probability of the truth Plynies authority in a stranger case shall presse them farther for hee writeth that a woman brought a bed of one childe in the seuenth moneth in the moneths following was also deliuered of twinnes A part of Mount-Edgecumb and of this Milbrook though seuered from Deuon by the generall bound yet vpon some of the foreremembred considerations haue bene annexed thereunto Aside of Milbrook lyeth the Peninsula of Inswork on whose neckland standeth an ancient house of the Champernons and descended by his daughters and heires to Forteskew Monck and Treuilian three Gentlemen of Deuon The site is naturally both pleasant and profitable to which the owner by his ingenious experiments daily addeth an artificiall surplusage Passing somewhat farther vp you meet with the foot of Lyner where it winneth fellowship with Tamer that till then and this yet longer retayning their names though their ouer-weake streames were long before confounded by the predominant salt water A little within this mouth of Lyner standeth East-Antony the poore home of mine ancestours with which in this maner they were inuested Sir Iohn Lerchedekne Knight and not priest for he was so called of his family and not by his calling as in Froissard you shall note the like to be familiar amongst the nobility of Gascoigne by Cecill the daughter and heire of Iordan of Haccumb had issue 9. sonnes Ralph Waryne Richard Otho Iohn Robert Martyn Reignald and Michael Richard married Ione the daughter of Iohn Bosowr that bare him Thomas in whome the heires male of this multiplyed hope tooke an end Warine afterwards knighted tooke to wife Elizabeth one of the daughters and heires to Iohn Talbot de Castro Ricardi and on her begate three daughters and heires Alienor wedded to Sir Walter Lucy Margery to Sir Thomas Arundel of Taluerne and Philip to Sir Hugh Courtney of Bauncton which I take is now named Boconnock From Lucy descended the Lord Vaux and others Margery dyed childlesse anno 1419. as is testified by her toomb-stone in West-Antony Church where shee lyeth buried Sir Hugh Courtney was second sonne to Ed. Earle of Deuon had 2. wiues the first Maud daughter of the L. Beaumond to whose children for want of issue in the elder stock that Earledome deuolued the later our foreremēbred Philip who left her inheritance to her only daughter Ione and she taking a patterne from her fathers fortune espoused likewise 2. husbands viz. Sir Nicholas Baron of Carew and Sir Robert Vere brother to Iohn Earle of Oxford to Sir Nicholas shee bare Thomas Nicholas Hugh Alexander and William to Sir Robert Iohn and became
conduct of Arundel Wydeslade Resogan and others followed by 6000. with which power they marched into Deuon besieged and assaulted Excester gaue the L. Russell employed with an army against them more then one hot encounter which yet as euer quayled in their ouerthrow In my particular view I wil make easie iournies from place to place as they lye in my way taking the Hundreds for my guydes vntill I haue accomplished this wearisome voyage My first entrance must be by the hundred of East so named for his site and therein at Plymmouth hauen It borroweth that name of the riuer Plym which rising in Deuon and by the way baptizing Plymston Plymstock c. here emptieth it selfe into the sea The hauen parteth Deuon and Cornwall welneere euery where as Tumer riuer runneth I say welneere because some few interland places are excepted a matter so sorted at the first partition eyther to satisfie the affection of some speciall persons or to appropriate the soyle to the former Lords or that notwithstanding this seuerance there might stil rest some cause of entercourse between the Inhabitants of both Counties as I haue heard a late great man ensued and expressed the like consideration in diuision of his lands betweene two of his sonnes Now though this hauen thus bound both shires yet doth the iurisdiction of the water wholly appertayne to the Duchy of Cornwall and may therefore bee claymed as a part of that Country Notwithstanding I will forbeare what I may to intrude vpon my good friend M. Hookers limits and reserue to him the description of the farther shore The first promontory of this harbour on the West side is Rame head by his proportion receyuing and by his possession giuing that name and armes to his owner whose posterity conueyed it by inter-marriages from Durnford to Edgecumb on the toppe thereof riseth a little vaulted Chappell which serueth for a marke at sea From thence trending Penlee poynt you discouer Kings sand and Causam Bay an open roade yet sometimes affoording succour to the woorst sort of Sea-farers at not subiect to cōptrolment of Plymmouth forts The shore is peopled with some dwelling houses and many Cellers dearely rented for a short vsage in fauing of Pilcherd At which time there flocketh a great concourse of Sayners and others depending vpon their labour I haue heard the Inhabitants thereabouts to report that the Earle of Richmond afterwards Henry the seuenth while hee houered vpon the coast here by stealth refreshed himselfe but being aduertised of streight watch kept for his surprising at Plymmouth he richly rewarded his hoste hyed spcedily a shipboord and escaped happily to a better fortune Here also of late yeeres part of the Cornish forces twise encamped themselues planted some Ordinance and raised a weake kind of fortification therethrough to contest if not repulse the landing of the expected enemie and a strong watch is continually kept there euer since one thousand fiue hundred ninetie seuen at which time a Spaniard riding on the Bay while most of the able people gaue their attendance at the Countie Assises sent some closely into the village in the darke of the night who hanged vp barrels of matter fit to take fire vpon certaine doores which by a traine should haue burned the houses But one of the Inhabitants espying these vnwelcome ghests with the bounce of a Caliuer chaced them aboord and remoued the barrels before the traynes came to worke their effect The Inginer of this practise as hath since appeared by some examinations was a Portugall who sometimes sayled with Sir Iohn Borowghs and boasted to haue burned his Ship for which two honourable exploits the King of Spaine bestowed on him two hundred duckets In the mouth of the harbour lyeth S. Nicholas Iland in fashion losengy in quantity about 3. acres strongly fortifyed carefully garded and subiect to the Cōmaunder of Plymmouth for t When the Cornish rebels during Edw. the 6◠raigne turmoyled the quiet of those quarters it yeelded a safe protection to diuers dutyful subiects who there shrowded themselues From this Iland a range of rocks reacheth ouer to the Southwest shore discouered at the low water of Spring tides and leauing onely a narrow entrance in the midst called the Yate for ships to passe thorow whereto they are directed by certaine markes at land Vpon this South shore somewhat within the Iland standeth mount Edgecumb a house builded and named by Sir Ric. Edgecumb father to the now possessioner and if comparisons were as lawfull in the making as they prooue odious in the matching I would presume to ranke it for health pleasure and commodities with any subiects house of his degree in England It is seated against the North on the declining of a hill in the midst of a Deere park neere a narrow entrance thorow which the salt water breaketh vp into the country to shape the greatest part of the hauen The house is builded square with a round turret at eche end garretted on the top the hall rising in the mids aboue the rest which yeeldeth a stately sound as you enter the same In Summer the opened casements admit a refreshing coolenes in Winter the two closed doores exclude all offensiue coldnesse the parlour and dining chamber giue you a large diuersified prospect of land sea to which vnder-ly S. Nicholas Iland Plymmouth fort the townes of Plymmouth Stonehouse Milbrook Saltash It is supplyed with a neuer-fayling spring of water and the dwelling stored with wood timber fruit Deere and Conies The ground abundantly answereth a housekeepers necessities for pasture arable and meadow and is replenished with a kinde of stone seruing both for building lyme and marle On the sea clifs groweth great plenty of the best Ore-wood to satisfie the owners want and accommodate his neighbours A little below the house in the Summer euenings Sayne-boates come and draw with their nets for fish whither the gentry of the house walking downe take the pleasure of the sight sometimes at all aduentures buy the profit of the draughts Both sides of the forementioned narrowe entrance together with the passage betweene much haunted as the high way to Plymmouth the whole towne of Stonehouse and a great circuit of the land adioyning appertaine to M. Edgecumbs inheritāce these sides are fenced with blockhouses and that next to Mount Edgecumb was wont to be planted with ordinance which at comming parting with their base voices greeted such ghest sas visited the house neither hath the opportunity of the harbour wanted occasions to bring them or the owners a franke mind to inuite them For proofe whereof the earst remēbred Sir Ric. a gentleman in whom mildnes stoutnes diffidēce wisdome deliberatenes of vndertaking sufficiency of effecting made a more cōmendable thē blazing mixture of vertue during Q. Ma. raigne entertained at one time for some good space the Admirals of the English Spanish Netherland fleets with