fourty Families in the place which is called Humpum which place he had given a little before for a Monastery to those of the Scottish perswasion But because they afterward of their own accord chose rather to relinquish the place than alter their Customs he gave it to him whose Doctrine and Life was worthy of it About this time came Agilbert Bishop of the West-Saxons a great friend of King Alchfrid's and of Abbot Wilfrid to a Province of the Northnmbers and continued sometime among them who made Wilfrid at the request of Alchfrid Presbyter in his said Monastery but he had with himself a Presbyter named Agatho The question therefore of Easter Shaving or other Ecclestastical Rites being there moved it was ordered that in the Monastery which is called Strensalth which is interpreted Sinus fari over which at that time Hilda the Abbess a Woman devoted to God was Governess a Synod should be called and this question determined Both Kings came thither viz. Father and Son Bishops Colman with his Clergy of Scotland Agilbert with the Presbyters Agatho and Wilfrid James and Romanus were on this side Abbess Hilda with hers on the Scotish Party on which side also was the worshipful Bishop Chad not long before ordained Bishop of the Scots who also was a diligent Interpeter on both sides in that Councel First King Oswy by a short Speech opened the Assembly saying that they which served one God ought to observe but one Rule of Living neither to differ in the celebration of the heavenly Sacraments who all expected but one Kingdom in the Heavens they ought more especially to enquire which was the truest Tradition and all with one consent to follow that He commanded his Bishop Colman to speak first what had been the Custom and from whence that had its Original which he followed Then Colman The Easter said he which I am wont to keep I received from my Ancestors who sent me Bishop hither which all our Fathers men beloved of God are well known to have celebrated the same way which that it may not be contemned and rejected by any 't is the very same which the blessed Evangelist John a Disciple particularly beloved by our Lord is said to have celebrated in all Churches which he governed After he had said this and more to the same purpose the King commanded Agilbert to relate and set forth from whence the Custom he observed had its beginning and by what Authority he followed it Agilbert made Answer I desire that my Disciple Wilfrid the Presbyter may speak in my stead because we both have the same Sentiments with the other followers of Ecclesiastical Tradition that are here present for he can explain it more clearly and better in the English Tongue than I by an Interpreter Then Wilfrid the King commanding him to speak began thus The Easter which we follow said he we have seen celebrated by every body at Rome where the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul lived taught suffered and were buried This we have seen observed in Gaul most of which we have travelled through either teaching or praying This we know is performed in Africa Asia Egypt Greece and in all the World wheresoever the Church of Christ is spread through divers Nations and Languages at one and the same and not distinct order of time except these only and their Accomplices in their obstinacy I mean the Picts and Britains lying in the utmost Islands of the Ocean nor all those neither who by foolish endeavours strive against all the World As he spake this Coleman answered I wonder why you should style our endeavours vain and foolish in which we follow the Example of so great an Apostle who was found worthy to lye in the bosom of our Saviour and since it is well known that the whole World is satisfied in his Wisdom Then Wilfrid God forbid that we should accuse St. John of folly when he observed the precepts of Moses his Law according to the Letter the Church as yet Judaizing in many things Neither were the Apostles on a sudden able to abolish all Observances of the Law which was instituted by God as it was necessary that all which come to the Faith should reject Images which was an invention of Divels viz. lest they might offend those Jews which were dispersed among the Gentiles On this account it is that Paul circumcised Timothy that he offered Sacrifices in the Temple that with Aquila and Priscilla he shore the head of Chorinthus profitable to no other end but avoiding the offending the Jews You see Brother how many thousands there were among the Jews which believed all which were followers of the Law neither to this very day the Gospel beginning to shine all over the World is it necessary or lawful for the faithful to be circumcised or to offer up fleshly sacrifices to God Therefore John according to the manner of the Law began the celebration of the Paschal Feast about Evening on the fourteenth day of the first Month not valuing whether it fell out on the Sabbath or any other Festival But Peter when he preached at Rome mindsul that the Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the Sabbath and gave to the World hopes of a Resurrection understood it so to be celebrated that according to the Custom and Precept of the Law he should always expect the fourteenth Moon of the first Month even as St. John rising at Evening and that being risen if the Lord's day which then was called the first of the Sabbath should happen in the Morning he began to celebrate the Lord's Easter that very Evening as we all do at this day But if the Lord's day happen not on the next Morning after the fourteenth Moon but the sixteenth seventeenth or any other Moon take the twenty first He waited for it and the preceding Sabbath in the Evening he began the Holy Solemnities of Easter so it came to pass that the Lord's day of Easter was not kept unless from the fifteenth day to the twenty first Neither does this Evangelical and Apostolical Tradition diminish from the Law but rather fulfils it in which 't is observable that Easter was commanded from the fourteenth of the first Month at Evening to the twenty first Moon of the same Month at Evening which observation all St. John's Successors in Asia after his death and the whole Church throughout the World were inclined to follow And that this is the true Easter and that this ought only to be celebrated by the faithful is confirmed by the Nicene Councel not lately established as Ecclesiastical History informs us whence it plainly appears O Colman that ye do not follow the Example of John as ye think neither in the Observation of your Easter do you agree with the Tradition of St. Peter which wittingly you contradict nor with the Law nor with the Gospel for John keeping Easter time according to the Decrees of the Mosaick Law observed not the first
Importance whose Inhabitants were dealt with according to their greater or lesser Obstinacy in yielding some being received into Mercy and others quite driven out of their Dwellings For these successes Claudius was oftentimes by his Army saluted with the Name of IMPERATOR a Title never given to any in the same War but once but now often reiterated with the universal Acclamations of all but whether out of flattery to his Person or that some extraordinary circumstances in the Wars with the Britains above other Nations deserved it is uncertain Afterwards he disarmed the Britains and thought that sufficient for his security without proceeding to the confiscation of the Goods of the Nobility and Gentry for which Clemency of his they erected Temples and Altars to him and with Sacrifice worshipt him as a God Having thus gained sufficient Honour he prepares for his Return to Rome sending before him Pompeius and Silanus who had married his Daughters to carry the Tidings of his Victories leaving behind him also Plautius to finish what he had so well begun and to subdue the remainder of the Island All this was accomplisht within sixteen daies for no longer was he in Britain and with so little noise and trouble that it gave occasion to Suetonius not long after to write That he subdued the Country without any Battle fought or the least Blood shed At his Return to Rome whence he had been absent in all but six Months he received a most Magnificent Triumph and as if his Atcheivments had exceeded all Example the Senate decreed yearly Games to his Honour and set up stately Arches not only in Rome but at Bulloigne also the place from whence he set out In this Expedition they gave moreover to him and his Son the Sir-name of BRITANNICUS a Title no less glorious to them than that of Germanicus Africanus or Asiaticus to others and conferred on them with far greater circumstances of Acknowledgment from the State And this may be said to the Honour of our Nation that even in the height of the Roman Empire it was esteemed so considerable a part of the World that it was held not Inferiour to any of the forementioned Provinces and cost as many Legions in preserving it as all Asia and was never forsaken by the Romans but in their last extremity At the Triumph of Claudius to make it more splendid the Governours of Provinces were summoned to appear and as in a publick Jubile all Banished persons for what Crimes soever were for that time admitted into Rome Upon the Loover of the Palace a Naval Coronet was fixed as if at that time BRITAIN had been the Mistress of the Sea and that the Ensign of its new Subjection Provinces presented their Crowns of Gold Gallia Comata or France one of nine pound Spain one of seven pound weight He ascended the Capitol by the stairs on his knees supported on each sides by his Sons in law Pompeius and Silanus He entred in Triumph the Adriatick Sea in a stately Vessel more like a Palace than a Ship To his Wife Messalina by the Senate was allowed the Highest place to sit in and in his Triumph she followed his Charriot in her Caroch or Hanging-Coach after them followed Valerius Asiaticus Julius Silanus Sidius Geta and others on whom in respect of this Conquest he had heaped Triumphal Ornaments the rest followed on foot and in their Robes After this he exhibited Triumphal Sports and Games having assumed for that end the Consular Office and Authority and besides the Solemnities in the Theatres he instituted Horse Races for Prizes between every Course which were ten in all Bears were killed Champions fought and the choicest Youths out of Asia danced the Warlike-dance in Armour In the Field of Mars he exhibited a War-like shew wherein he represented the storming and sacking of a Town and the Surrender of the British Princes himself presiding in the Robes of a General To Licinius Crassus Frug. he gave the Honour to follow him in his Triumph mounted upon a Trapped Courser with a rich Caparison and arraied in a Robe of Date-tree work Upon Posidius the Eunuch he bestowed a Spear-staff without a Head Upon C. Gavius Chains Bracelets Horse-trappings and a Coronet of Gold and all in memory of his British Conquest THE British History CONCERNING THE EXPEDITION OF CLAUDIUS And these Times CLAUDIUS at his coming to Land at Portchester besieged that Town to the Releif whereof came Guiderius and the Battle went on the Britains side until Hamo a Roman disguising himself like a Britain got the opportunity of killing the King and retiring Arviragus least the Britains should be discouraged concealed his Brothers death and dressing himself in his Armour as King continued the Battle and so obtained a great Victory Claudius fled to his Ships and Hamo to the next Woods whither Arviragus pursued him and hunting him out to the Sea-coast there slew him at a Haven before he could take Shipping called afterwards by the name of Hamon's-Haven and Hampton and at this day Southampton Thus died Guiderius in the year of our Lord Forty five and Arviragus his Brother for want of Issue succeeded him ARVIRAGUS the youngest Son of Cunobelin and Brother of Guiderius received the Kingdom in the year of our Lord forty five No mention is made of this King in the Roman Histories of these Times which maketh the Reign of this Prince too much suspected considering that in these daies many memorable things were done and Recorded by the Romans concerning this Island and more Inferiour Persons taken notice of and so it seemeth more strange that a Soveraign Prince of so active a Spirit as Arviragus is made and so Victorious against the Romans should be totally neglected by their Historians so that I am afraid as well his Encounters with Hamo as his Marriage with Genuissa a supposed Daughter of Claudius as likewise his Treaty with the Emperour his Homage to him the naming of Caerleon or Glovernia Claudiocestria in honour of his Nuptials with Claudius his Daughter as likewise his Exploits against Vespatian at Richborough will be all accounted of the same stamp and for that reason I will omit them And I will only make mention that about the sixth year of his Reign Joseph of Arimathea sent by Philip the Apostle preached as is generally supposed the Gospel of Christ in this Island having a place assigned him about Glastenbury by this King whom afterwards he converted to the Christian Faith if Harding writes true Joseph converted this King Arviragus By his preaching to know the Law Divine And Baptized him as written hath Nennius The Chronicler in Britain Tongue full fine But his Authority may be supposed to be as bad as his Verses for we find but two Nennius's one Brother of Cassibelan and long before this time the other called Bancharensis and writ not in the British Tongue but in the Latin However it is agreed that about these times the Christian Faith
as hath been said be so soon decayed but the British Roads which by long continuance of War in many places were worn out and in others overgrown with Thorns and Thistles In the daies of Honorius and Arcadius as is sound in Ancient Records there were made other certain beaten High-waies from Sea to Sea no wonder therefore if these additions of new Waies made by the Romans together with the Repairing of the Old ones bath given them às it often happens in such cases the glory of the whole work and Beda as a testimony that the Romans lived South of Severus his Wall in that part of Britain now called ENGLAND brings in among other things the Street-waies as a testimony thereof The Romans called these Causies or Street-waies Vias Consulares Regias Praetorias Militares Publicas Cursus Publicos Actus so Ammianus Marcellinus termeth them Sidonius Apollinaris Aggeres tellures inaggeratas Beda and the later Writers Stratas that is Streets Along these waies were placed at first Young men as Posts within small distances one from another afterwards swift Waggons to carry Intelligence Upon these Waies were seated Cities and Hamlets which had in them Inns furnisht with all necessary provisions for Travels as also Mutations for so they called in that Age the places where Wayfaring Persons and Strangers as they Journied changed their Post Horses Draught Beasts and Wagons Along the sides of these Waies at every Miles end were erected by the Emperours certain Pillars or Columns with the name of the particular Prince that set them up engraven upon them and numerable Characters cut in them to signifie how many Miles from place to place These excellent advantages for Travellers as they are to be solely attributed to the Romans and much in particular to this worthy Emperour Trajan so were they the cause that many Ancient places of the Britains came to decay For the Romans either building altogether upon these Roads or else bringing the Old Roads to serve most opportunely for their Garrisons which at first were built in strong Passes more for convenience of Fortification than Travel It came to pass that the others grew out of use and unfrequented and so the Cities standing upon them necessarily decayed and therefore those places mentioned in the Itinerary of Antoninus as Mr. Gambden observeth must be sought out about these Road-waies of the Romans whose Garrisons and standing-Camps were oftentimes the Seminaries and seed-Plots of great Cities and populous Towns These are the only Actions of Trajan left upon Record relating to Britain He departed this life in the year of Grace 118 after he had reigned nineteen years six months and fifteen daies in the year of his Age 64. So much was he beloved that his Effigies after his death was born in Triumph in a glorious and pompous manner and his Ashes sent to Rome for he died at Seleucia in Asia the Less and were inclosed within the Crown of a goodly Pillar of one hundred and forty foot in height HADRIAN AELIUS HADRIANUS succeeded his Uncle Trajan in the Empire he was of the City Italica near unto Sivill his Father Noble and his Mother descended of an Honourable Family in Cales equal to his Race were the high endowments of his mind He dissented from Trajan in his policy of bounding the Empire and held to Augustus his Rule in placing the Limits thereof not so wide but surer insomuch that he excluded on the East all India Armenia Media Persia Assyria and Mesopotamia the Acquests of Trajan but excepted from the removal as to Rule Britain only which province by no means he would part with although he somewhat streightned it as shall be shewn immediately Under him Julius Severus saith Dion Cassius governed the Island an excellent Souldier and upon that account called away to suppress the Jews then in Tumult After his departure the Britains could scarce be held in Allegiance which caused Hadrian to make a Journey hither in Person in the sixth year of his Empire being thrice Consul where he reformed many things and seemed by force of Arms to have reduced the Britains to Obedience for as Mr. Cambden observeth upon a piece of Mony of his Coyning there is the stamp of an Emperour with three Souldiers whom he judgeth to represent the three Legions of which the Roman Army then consisted and under them this Inscription EXER BRITANNICUS and another of the same Prince with this Motto RESTITUTOR BRITANNI The Restorer of the Britains But the greatest Work done by him in this Island was the building of a Wall fourscore miles in length cross the Island from Solway-Frith upon the Irish Seas to the mouth of Tine by New-caestle on the German Ocean laying the toundation thereof with huge Piles or Stakes driven in deep and fastned together in manner of a strong Rampire or Mound This he did to keep out the Caledonians from infesting the Roman Province who could never it seems be contained within those Fortifications raised by Agricola between Glota and Bodotria the Friths of Edinborough and Dun-britton Thus he gave more room to the Northern and barbarous Britains to inhabit and quitting those barren and cold Soils inclosed only the most delicate part of the Island by which means the Bounds of the Empire as well in Britain as the East were reduced to a more convenient compass Of this Wall I shall speak more fully in the Life of Severus the Emperour who much strengthned it and repaired it In the Reign of this Emperour Priscus Licinius was also Propraetor or Lieutenant in this Island as appeareth by this Ancient Inscription in a broken Marble found in Adrian's Wall M. F. CL. PRISCO ICINIO ITALICO LEGATO AUGUSTORUM PR PR PROV CAPPADOCIAE PR PR PROV BRITANNIAE LEG IIII. GALLICIAE PRAEF COH IIII. LINGONUM VEXILLO MIL. ORNATO A DIVO HADRIANO IN EXPE DITIONE JUDAIC Q. CASSIV DOMITIUS PALUMBUS As for Cne Trebellius being Propraetor in the beginning of the Reign of Hadrian there is no Authority for it in Roman History yet Mr. Speed who so religiously avoideth the British Fables as he calls them hath nevertheless made use of them in recording this Lieutenant relating withal the Tumults in the Northern parts of this Island under his Government and the difficulty he had to reduce to Obedience which Errour he frequently committeth in other places and which I here mention as a prologue to the ensuing British History to shew that the greatest Enemies of it nay Mr. Cambden himself doth oftentimes make use of it THE CONTINUATION OF THE British History From the Daies of VESPATIAN To the fourteenth Year of HADRIAN ABOUT the fourteenth year of HADRIAN according to the best Computations died MARIUS who in the British History ruled King of Britain in some part of it from the daies of Vespatian in the year of our Lord 80 to this present Emperour His Reign is filled up with his Atchievments against the Picts who are
think thereto by Quatratus a Disciple of the Apostles and Aristides a Philosopher of Athens who wrote an Apology for them He died in the year of our Lord one hundred thirty nine and of his Age sixty two in his life time he had designed Caesar Lucius AElius a man exceedingly dear to him but he dying Antoninus Pius received the Empire Antoninus Pius ANTONINUS for his Princely Vertues Sirnamed PIUS and by the Senate called the Father of his Country was a Lombard born Son of Aurelius Fulvius and Nephew to Titus Aurelius Fulvius who had been Consul and held other Offices of great Authority and State At his first entrance into the Empire by an Ordinance of his as many as were of the Roman World were made Citizens of Rome by which Edict the Southern Britains within Hadrians Wall as well as other Provinces enjoyed that high Dignity and Priviledge but the Northern Inhabitants not content with their Liberty and the Bounds assigned them brake into the Roman Pale and began to waste wide but by the Conduct of Lollius Urbicus then Lieutenant they were not only driven back but confined to a narrower compass namely the Friths of Edinborough and Dunbritton where Lollius repaired the Ancient Fortification first begun by Agricola That this Wall built by Lollius was in Scotland Mr. Cambden learnedly proves and not where Hadrian built his to wit between Carlile and New-castle He saith Capitolinus cited by Mr. Cambden vanquisht the Britains and having driven out the Barbarians made another Wall of Turffs beyond that of Hadrians which makes me wonder at Speed who proves the same Author to say that it was Hadrian's Wall The same Errours he commits in writing That for these Atchievments Lollius obtained the name of Britannicus when indeed it was Antoninus himself to whom Fronto as the Panegyrical Oratour saith ascribed the Honour of this War and hath testified that He Although sitting still at home in the Palace of Rome had given charge and Commission to another General for the War yet like the Pilot of a Gally sitting at the Stern and guiding the Helm deserved the Honour of the whole Voyage and Expedition In the time of this Emperour the Brigantes also a Nation of all others most impatient of Forreign Servitude brake in upon Genounia which Mr. Cambden guesses to be Ginnethia or North-Wales within the Jurisdiction of the Romans but were soon driven back and fined with the loss of one part of their Territory This is all upon Record touching Britain in the daies of Antoninus Pius saving that Sejus Saturrinus as is collected from the Digests had charge here of the Roman Navy He Reigned twenty three years or as others say twenty two years seven months and twenty six daies and died of a Feavour at Lorium the seventh day of March in the year of his life 75 and of Christ 162. Among many of his Vertues which fill out a worthy Character it is most especially Recorded of him In his Youth he did nothing Rashly nor any thing in his Age Negligently Marcus Aurelius MArcus Aurelius Antoninus Verus Philosophus for by so many names he was called was the Son of Elius Verus who died Praetor and whose Family was derived from Numa Pompilius second King of Rome his Mother was Domitia Gamilla Daughter of Claudius Tullus He was the adopted Son of Antoninus Pius and ingrafted into his Family by the marriage of Faustina his Daughter having taken upon him the Title of Emperour he chose Lucius Verus the Son of Lucius Ceionius Commodus for his associate in the Empire It is observable that this Verus was born the same day as Nero and indeed he imitated him in all the Vices and Cruelties of his nature so that whilest these two Princes sate together upon the Throne then might Mankind be judge and spectatour at the same time of a Just and equal Government and a Proud and insolent Tyranny Aurelius was nothing but Glemency moderation and goodness on the other hand Verus gave himself to Pride carelessness haughtiness and cruelty and as the Vertues of the one secured him from the attempts and mixtures of the others Vices so were the Exorbitances of this Verus nothing allayed by the sweetness of Aurelius his deportment so that what is a rare Example and perhaps not to be equalled in all precedent and future Ages from the same height of Power at the same time streamed forth the most different Extreams of unlimited Greatness But Goodness was the longest survivor for Verus dying of an Apoplexy after nine years Reign Aarelius was left in possession of the whole Empire And now the Britains impatient alwaies of Forreign Subjection raised new Commotions for the appeasing whereof Galphurnius Agricola was sent Lieutenant The Sirname of Agricola no doubt was terrible to the Britains who could not but remember the great Overthrows they had received formerly under a General of that name and indeed the Commotions lasted not long after his Arrival but seemed to be ended with fortunate success for which there was raised an Altar in gratitude to the Syrian Goddess a peculiar Deity of this Island as appeareth by this Inscription found in a Stone taken out of the Picts Walls DEAE SURI AE SUB CALP URNIO AGR ICOLA LEG AUG PR PR A. LICINIUS CLEMENS PRAEF C. O. H. I. HAMMIOR The glory of having dispatched this War so soon Fronto for Roman Eloquence inferiour to none ascribes wholly to the Emperour Aurelius for although the State still as residing in Person in the Court of Rome gave out only the Commission for the War yet he protesteth That like a Pilot at the Helm who steers and directs the Ship he deserved the Honour of the whole course Nothing else is recorded of Britain during Antoninus his Reign saving that Helvius Pertinax afterwards Emperour was employed in these Wars being translated hither from his Service against the Parthians and here for some time afterwards remained Antoninus Reigned nineteen years and eleven daies and died on the seventeenth day of April in the year of our Lord 181 having by his Vertue kept up to the Renown of his Predecessour and so endeared the Name of the 〈◊〉 that it was held by the Romans afterwards in equal veneration with there of the Gods and in nothing was he unhappy saith Capitolinus save that he left behind him a Son Comm. Antoninus COMMODUS ANTONINUS the Son of Aurelius degenerated from the Vertues of his Father and may be said the successour of Verus rather than of Antonine The known Adulteries of his Mother Faustina and himself being a Twin together with the Wickedness of his life gave liberty to some to please themselves in thinking he was not the true Son of so worthy a Father At nineteen years of Age he was invested in the Empire when the violence of his Temper which under the Authority of a Father and the discipline of worthy Tutors could not be kept under meeting
at least Recorded though some of them through their short continuance in Power had no time to exercise it so far off And this is all I intend to do for I mean not to write of their Actions in Rome Syria or Africa or to make a History of the World save only what I shall speak of their Original and Antiquity when I intend only one of Britain Nothing shall be Recorded but what hath some relation to our Island and where no Circumstances tend to it it shall be sufficient the Emperour is named and the time of his Reign Secondly Another Motive which swayeth me to proceed in the aforesaid method is the weight of Presidents that have written after this manner and yet it is not absolutely necessary I should name them Nay the British Histories themselves have all along hitherto made the presence of a King in Britain and his being born here a necessary qualification to his being King Now we must take up with Kings in Right and admit of Heliogabulus Gordianus Maximine c. who never saw this Island to be their natural or rightful Inheritance And what can be said more for these Emperours which cannot be alleadged for all the rest for allowing Martia to have created a Title to Severus and his Sons must Heliogabulus the Bastard of Caracalla be hookt in upon the same score and must Alexander Severus be created another of his Bastards or else have no Right to the Kingdom most excellent But by what Right is his Murtherer Maximine admitted King Because saith Basingstoke BELIN a British God undertook the Revenge Was ever Title so plainly demonstrated Then follows Gordian who is lawful King of Britain because he was Father of Claudius from whom proceeded Constantine who had Right by his Wife Helena so that we see the Grandson gives Title to the Grand-father a Tenure able to puzzle the ablest Lawyers we have now in England If this were sufficient to make a lawful King of Eritain we need not fear even in their sence to hook-in the most obstinate and perversest Emperour imaginable so that the maintainers of that History have no reason to find fault with the Method designed And as for those who are only for the Romans I hope they will not account it impertinent and besides the purpose to give a short account if it were no more of the Emperours of Rome Macrinus Reigned one year one month and twenty eight daies Anton. Heliogabulus HE is supposed the Bastard Son of Bassianus by his Concubine Simiamira his Name HELIOGABULUS he took from being a Priest to that God in Phoenicia for Heliogabulus in the Phoenician Tongue signifies the Sun or Jupiter as Lampridius witnesseth But it seemeth rather to have been the Sun for from Clioun in the Phoenician Tongue signifying Lord or God the Greeks had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Sun which sheweth that the Sun in a peculiar manner was the God of the Phoenicians When he came to Rome he introduced that barbarous Custome in the honour of this God of sacrificing of Infants and Children looking into their Intrails to foretel future Events a Custome for which the Britains in former time were so much accused and which I mention to shew That the Phoenician Worship by such horrid Sacrifices was yet continued in the World and in all probability might be the Original of the same Custome in Britain brought hither when the Phoenicians were most conversant in the Island as I have shewn in the Antiquities of this Nation He was the most vicious Prince of all that either went before him or came after him and in his daies were acted over the Vices of the whole Empire for many Ages By Herodians Computation he Reigned six years and died in the twentieth year of his Age. Aurelius Victor saith he Ruled but three years and was slain at seventeen years of Age. Eusebius whom I follow assigneth him four years which agreeth with Onuphrius who maketh him to live but eighteen years And by all it is agreed that he came to the Empire at fourteen and for the Honour of our Nation is allowed King of this Island by our British Histories Alexander Severus ALEXANDER was the Son of Varius and Mammea Sister to Simiamira others make him the Son of Bassianus and that the two Sisters Simiamira and Mammea waiting on their Aunt Julia the Empress had the misfortune to be both gotten with Child by him But whether he were the Brother and Cousin German of Heliogabulus certain it is he had no Alliance with him in his Vicious inclinations being a Learned Warlike and Fortunate Prince We find that the Senate met together in the Temple of Concord and used many of those Acclamations to him and the Gods which I have taken notice of in the Life of Commodus and are too tedious here to be repeated It is thought that he made an Expedition into Britain and Lampridius saies he was slain in a Town called Sicila but whether it were in Britain or Gaul he leaves us uncertain Howbeit thus much we find in the same Author of his Actions in this Island When he had given unto the Captains and Souldiers of the Marches those Grounds and Lands which were won from the Enemies so that they should be their Propriety if their Heirs served as Souldiers and that they should not revert to any private Men supposing they would go to the Wars more willingly and take the better care if they could to defend their own peculiar Possessions Note these words well saith Mr. Cambden from hence may be deduced either a kind of Feudum or Fee or the beginning of Fewds Before his death a Druid Woman cried out to him in the Gaulish Tongue Go on but hope not for Victory and trust not thy Souldiers He was slain by some of his own Army at the instigation of Maximine who succeeded him and the cause of his death was That the Souldiers grown loose under Heliogabulus could not endure the severity of Discipline He Reigned according to Lampridius thirteen years and nine daies Aged twenty nine years three months and seven daies in the year of our Lord 236. Basing stoke endeavoureth to prove Sicila was a Town in Britain so called from the British Prince Sicilius who built it but his Arguments are not worth reputing This Alexander Severus is also numbred among the British Kings Julius Maximinus MAXIMINE a Man of mean Birth but of prodigious strength and greatness proved an unweildy insolent and untractable Tyrant insomuch that Old Gordianus and his Son were set up by the Senate against him their Reigns were but short for Capelianus Governour of Numidia and Mauritania more out of private hatred to Gordian than kindness to Maximine gave them Eattle the success whereof was That young Gordian being slain his Father out of grief hanged himself This Gordian had been Quaestor of Rome and amongst many of his Magnificent Shews
he might make away Trajan at last compast it by this wile He caused Rumors to spread abroad and Letters given to Gratian how that his Wife was coming in person to visit him which Gratian believing and hastning to meet her opening the Litter wherein he thought she was was barbarously murthered by Androgathius taking in his bosom his deaths wound where he hoped to have received his Empress St. Ambrose was the second time sent to demand his Body but not accepted because he refused to communicate with those Bishops which had sided with Maximus All things thus succeeding to the desire of Maximus having setled the State of France and casheir'd those Officers who had sided with Gratian he created Victor his Son Caesar committing his Infancy to Nannius and Quintinus Masters in Military skill whom he appointed to be his Tutors And now he sends his Embassadours to Theodosius who governed in the East to require or rather to demand to be admitted sharer in Power which was for the present consented unto by Theodosius and he saluted Emperour by him and his Image exhibited to the Alexandrines and set up in the publick Market-place Having thus by Violence and Extortion graspt all into his possession and filled his own Cosfers with the spoil of the Common-wealth he made the defence of Catholick Religion a cloak to cover his oppression and Tyranny Priscillian and other Hereticks convicted in the Councel of Bourdeaux and appealing as their manner is to his usurped Tribunal he condemned to death although disswaded by Martin that good Bishop of Towrs alleadging It was sufficient they were Excommunicated by the Church to which in matters of Faith they were only ameanable These were the first that being Executed by the Civil Power for matters of Religion left a foul and dangerous president to posterity After this he entred with his whole Army into Italy which struck such terrour into Valentinian that flying to Theodosius he earnestly besought him to undertake his Quarrel and to redress the Violence of Maximus Theodosius after much entreaty for he upbraided Valentinian because an Arrian consented to his Suit and with all his Forces marehed against the Tyrant who then lay secure at Aquileia and in two Battles overthrew him whom afterwards betrayed by his own Souldiers he delivered to the Executioner His Son Victor was vanquished and slain in Gallia and Andragathius who had assassinated Gratian threw himself headlong into the Sea The British Souldiers who had assisted Maximus invaded as saith Bede that part of France called Armorica from whence the Britains first arrived into this Island but in this Bede is infinitely mistaken or else we are altogether ignorant of his meaning This was the end of Maximus and his Empire who is reasonably supposed to be that Clemens Maximus who had under his Command the second Legion Augusta which was removed from Germany by Claudius the Emperour and lying long in Garrisonat Isca Silurum or Caerleon in Wales was afterwards translated to Rhutupia or Richborow for he is called by Arsonus the Rhutupine Robber and that his name was Clemens that Inscription of the Bononians set up to his Honour doth sufficiently witness DD. N. N. MAG C. MAXIMO ET FL. VICTORI PIIS FE LICIBUS SEMPER AUGUSTIS B. R. NATIS But whether or no that part of the Inscription MAG doth sufficiently authorize Basingstoak to say this is meant of Magnentius who slew Constans the Emperour and was afterwards slain by Constantius I will not determine but leave to others to judge THE British Account OF MAXIMUS And the state of AFFAIRS IN HIS DAIES MAXIMUS whom we must now call Maximian took to Wife as hath been said before the Daughter of Octavian a British Lord but sore against the will of Conan Meridoc Duke of Cornwal who hoped by matching himself with that Lady to obtain the Crown wherefore after the Marriage concluded spur'd on with the loss of a Kingdom and the disgrace to see a Rival preferred before him he passes into Scotland raises Forces and entring the Country on this side the Humber wasted far and wide On the other hand Maximian arms and encountring him in several Battles the success was so equal and the loss on both sides so great that they were both content upon the mediation of Friends to come to an agreement A Peace concluded Maximian passed into France and invaded the Country Armorica and in a Battle overcame and slew Imball the King of it and then granted it to Conan Meridoc to be held of him and the Kings of Britain for ever changing the Ancient name Armorica into that of Little Britain Conan possessed of the Country expels the Ancient Inhabitants plants Britains in their stead who it seems grown exceeding squeemish and disdaining to take the Women of Gaul to their Wives Conan thought it necessary to supply them out of Britain A Messenger therefore was dispatched to Dionethus another Duke of Cornwal for Meridoc must be supposed to have Resigned and Governour of Britain under Maximian to enjoyn him forthwith to send over into Little Britain eleven thousand Virgins a hard task that is eight thousand for the Commons and three thousand for the Nobility yet others who thought not the raising so many a sufficient employment make the number fifty one thousand that is eleven thousand of the better sort and forty thousand of the Vulgar The Count Palatine saies eleven thousand of the one and sixty thousand of the other But however it is Dionethus sent his Daughter Ursula a Lady of excellent Beauty whom Conan had desired in marriage These Virgins taking Shipping together a number never heard of besore or shall ever after in one Fleet were not far from shoar when the ill manner'd Winds blowing rudely upon them drowned many and the rest dispersed they who escaped the Tempest fell into the hands of Guanius King of the Hunns and Melga King of the Picts upon the Coast of Germany set there by Gratian to watch the motions of Maximian These Princes either surpriz'd with the exceeding Beauty of these Damosels or disdaining to see so much Ugliness together for different Passions often produce the same effect slew them all Ursula self not escaping and as if they intended to destroy the Country whence they proceeded they invaded the Island on the North and proceeded on with great slaughter of the Inhabitants Maximian advertis'd thereof sent Gratianus with three Legions to withstand them who entering the Island drave them back and constrained them to refuge in Ireland This Gratianus is supposed by Mr. Hollinshead to be the same who afterwards usurped in the daies of Honorius Flav. Theodosius THEODOSIUS after the death of Maximus was in full possession of the whole Empire for Valentinian was treacherously strangled in Vienna by Eugenius first a Grammarian then a Souldier and Arbogastes a base Commander but he lived not long after for having brought the Murtherers of Valentinian to condign punishment and
strengthned by whose Passion we are delivered from passion by whose Love we sought Brethren in Britain whom we knew not and by whose courtesie whom not knowing we sought we have found Who is able to relate how great the joy is that is arose in the hearts of the Faithful that through the Grace of Almighty God cooperating and your Brotherhood labouring the darkness of Errors being driven away the English Nation is covered over with the glorious light of holy Faith that now out of a sincere mind and pious devotion it tramples on those Idols to which before it madly croucht to that it prostrates it self before God with a pure heart that it is restrained from relapsing into sin by the rules and instructions of holy Preaching that it submits in mind to the Divine precepts but raised in understanding humbles it self in prayer on the ground lest in affections it should grovel in the earth Whose working is this but His that saies My Father hitherto works and I work Who that he might make it manifest to the World that he converts not by the wisdom of Men but by his own vertue and power The Preachers whom he sent into the World he made choice of without learning using the same method here also for in the English Nation he has wrought mighty things by the hands of weak Persons But there is my Dearest Brother something in this celestial gift which you ought extremely both to fear and rejoyce at †I know that Almighty God has shewn great Miracles by you in the Nation he would should be chosen from whence it is necessary that concerning the same heavenly gift you with fear rejoyce and with joy be afraid You may rejoyce that the Souls of the English through outward Miracles are drawn to an inward grace you ought to be afraid lest among the Miracles that are wrought your frail mind be puffed up too much by presumption and self-confidence so that outwardly raised in honour it inwardly falls through such vainglory Moreover we ought to remember that when the Disciples returning from preaching with joy said to their Heavenly Master Lord in thy name Devils are subject unto us they presently heard Rejoyce not for this but rather rejoyce that your names are written in Heaven They had placed their mind in a temporal and private joy because they rejoyced in Miracles but they are streight recalled from a private to a publick from a temporal to an eternal joy to whom it is said In this rejoyce because your Names are written in Heaven For all the Elect don't work Miracles but the Names of them all are registred in Heaven to the Disciples of truth there ought to be no joy unless in that good which they have common with all and in which they have no end of their joy It remains therefore My Dear Brother that among those things which with the help of God you outwardly perform you alwaies inwardly strictly judge your self and particularly examine your self who you are and how great Grace there may be in that Nation for whose Conversion you have received the gift of performing Miracles and if ever you remember that you have offended our Creator either by word or deed alwaies bear it in mind that the remembrance of the guilt may suppress the rising glory of the heart and what power soever of working Miracles you shall receive or have received alwaies think it given not for your sake but for those for whose salvation 't was conferred upon you †There comes into my mind thinking of these things what became of one Servant of God even extraordinarily elected Certainly Moses whilst he brought the People of God out of Egypt wrought wonderful Miracles as your Brotherhood knows in the land of Egypt on Mount Sinai after he had fasted fourty daies and nights he received the Tables of the Law amongst dreadful Thunderings all the People being afraid In the service of Almighty God he alone enjoyed a familiar conference with Him the Red-Sea he divided in his Journey his guide was a Pillar of Cloud When the People were hungry he gave them Manna from heaven he miraculously gave them Flesh when they wanted in the Wilderness till they were cloyed but when in the time of Thirst they came to the Rock he mistrusted and doubted whether he could bring water from it which the Lord commanding he struck and opened a passage for the running water How great Miracles after this did he persorm in the Wilderness for the space of thirty eight years who can reckon them who can trace them as often as he doubted of any thing having recourse to the Tabernacle he secretly inquired of the Lord and was presently informed by the word of the Lord concerning that thing By the interposition of his prayers he appeased the Anger of the Lord towards his people when they were puffed up with pride or rebelled against him He caused the earth to open and swallow them up he foyled the Enemy with victories and shewed signs to his own People but when they came to the land of Promise he was called into the Mountain and heard of his fault that he had committed thirty eight years before because he despaired of bringing out water and he acknowledged that for this thing he could not enter into the land of Promise wherefore we ought to consider what a dreadful thing the judgment of Almighty God is who had done so many signal Wonders by this his Servant and yet kept his fault committed so long ago still in remembrance Therefore most Dearest Brother if we acknowledge him dead after so many Miracles for his fault whom we know to have been in a more especial manner elected by God Almighty with how great fear ought we to tremble who know not whether as yet we are elected What should I speak of the Miracles of Reprobates since your Brotherhood knows very well vvhat Truth it felf hath said in the Gospel Many shall come in that day saying unto me Lord in thy name we have Prophesied and in thy name we have cast out Devils and in thy name we have done wonders But I will say unto them I know ye not depart from me all you workers of Iniquity Therefore the mind is very much to be depressed and kept under amongst Signs and Miracles lest in those things it should seek its own glory and rejoyce in the joy of self exaltation In Miracles we ought to have respect to the gain of Souls and to his glory by whose power those Miracles are wrought but our Lord has given us one sign concerning which we ought extremely to rejoyce and by which we may acknowledge the glory of Election in us By this it shall be known whether you are my Disoiples if you love one another which sign the Prophet desired when he said Grant some token unto me O Lord for good that they that hate me may see and be confounded I speak these things that my Hearer's mind
might be laid prostrate in humility but let this your humility have its confidence too for I a Sinner have most certain hope that your sins are forgiven through the grace of our Omnipotent Creator and God our Redeemer the Lord Jesus Christ. And to this end you were Elected that others sins might be forgiven through you Neither shall you hereafter find sorrow for any guilt because you endeavour to make joy in Heaven by the conversion of so many the same our Creator and Redeemer when he speaks of the repentance of Man saies I say thus unto you There shall be greater joy in Heaven over one Sinner that repents than over ninety nine Just persons that need no repentanca Now if over one Penitent there is made great joy in Heaven what great rejoyceing do we think there was at the conversion of such a number of People from their Errours who coming to the faith by repentance has condemned the evil it had done Amidst therefore the joy of Heaven and the Angels let us repeat those words of the Angels which we said before let us say therefore Glory be to God on high and on earth peace good will towards men Observations upon this Epistle Bede recites this Epistle but not all only as much of it as is included within these two fore-going Marks as thus ††but the Date which is here wanting he shews for when he writ a Letter to Melitus going into Britain dated as you see above the fifteenth day of the Kalends of July our Lord Mauritius Tiberius Augustus being Emperour in the nineteenth year after the Consulship of our said Lord the eighteenth year in the fourth Indiction He adds in the following Chapter about which time he sent a Letter to Augustine concerning Miracles which he knew were wrought by him in which lest through the number of them he should incur the danger of self-opinion and pride he exhorts him in these words I know Most Dear Brother that Almighty God c. as above That date of the fifteenth of the Kalends of July agrees with the year of our Lord 601 about which time he wrote more Epistles Gregory To Aldiberga Queen of the English HE that desires after this Earthly dominion to acquire the glory of an Heavenly kingdom to gain his ends ought diligently to labour in the service of his Creator that by degrees of working he may attain to what he desires which we rejoyce you have done our Beloved Son Laurence the Priest and Peter the Monk at their return related in what manner your Majesty behaved it self towards our most Reverend Brother and Follow Bishop Augustine and what assistances and comfort you bestowed on them likewise And indeed we bless Almighty God who out of his mercy propitiously vouchsafed to reserve the Conversion of the English Nation for your glory and advancage For as by Helen of Blessed memory the Mother of the most pious Emperour Constantine he inflamed the hearts of the Romans towards the Christian Faith So in regard of the frequent Zeal of your Majesty we hope his mercy will effectually work upon the English Nation And indeed you ought also long since by your good prudence which is purely Christian to have inclined the mind of our most glorious Son your Husband that for the good of his Kingdom and of his own Soul he should follow that Faith which you profess forasmuch as by him and through him in the Conversion of the whole Nation a reward worthy of you would spring up in the joyes of heaven Since as we have said your Highness hath been confirmed in the right Faith and taught the Scriptures this thing ought not to have been difficult or tedious to you And because by God's appointment a fit time is now offered strive the Divine grace assisting you to repair with gain what has hitherto been neglected therefore by daily exhortations strengthen the mind of your most Glorious Husband in the love of the Christian Faith Let your care and example increase in him a love towards God and let it so stir up his mind especially for a through Conversion of the whole Nation under yee that from the servency of his devotion yee may offer up to Almighty God an acceptable sacrifice that those things which are reported of you may increase and in all respects be found true concerning you Your excellent vertues are not only known to the Romans who more particularly pray for your life but also in divers places even as far as Constantinople to the most excellent Emperour that as we have joy in the consolation of your Christianity so also in the Heavens the Angels may rejoyce at your further perfection So therefore with all diligence and devotion apply your selves to the assistance of our above-named Reverend Brother and Fellow Bishop and of the rest of the Servants of God whom we sent thither for the conversion of of your Nation that with our Most glorious Son and your Husband you may reign with happiness here and after a long time of years attain to the endless joyes of the life to come We beseech Almighty God that he would inflame the heart of your Majesty with the fire of his Grace to a performance of these things we have spoken of and of his good pleasure grant you the fruit of an eternal Reward Observations upon this Epistle It may be doubted what Queen of England this Adilberga was for the Wife of King Edilbert was called Bertha as Bede affirms lib. 1. cap. 25. but I think them both the same but as it commonly happens strange words are ill rendred by Forreigners as hero Bdrga for Bertha for Ald and Aldi are sometimes corruptly added in proper names for Edil and Athel signlfying in the Saxon Language Noble or Honourable which may be seen in the Title of the following Epistle where Gregory calls the King Aldibert whom Bede every where calls Edilberth others for the most part Ethelbert Ald also because it properly signifies Old may by Translation denote Honourable and may seem to be added to the name of Berga or Bertha as an honourable Attribute so that Aldi-berga signifies the same with Noble and Honourable Berga or Bertha Gregory To Aldibert King of the English He congratulates with him concerning the Conversion of that Nation FOR this reason Almighty God commonly advances the best Men to the government of Nations that by them the gifts of his Grace might be dispersed among all those whom they are set over which thing we know has been done in the English Nation over which Your Majesty was therefore made chief that by the good qualities that are given you You might the better convey those Heavenly comforts to the Nation under your subjection And therefore Most Renowned Son carefully preserve that Grace which you have received by the especial providence of God make haste to propagate the Christian Faith among your Subjects increase the servency of your own Faith in furthering their
Convension Destroy the worship of Idols raze their Temples establish the Manners of your Subjects in the great Purity of good living by exhorting terrifying encouraging correcting and by showing the Examples of Good works that you may find him your Rewarder in Heaven whose name and knowledg you shall extend upon Earth for he shall make your Name more glorious to Posterity whose Honour you endeavour to advance and preserve in your Nation So formerly Constantine a most Pious Emperour freeing the Roman Commonwealth from the preverse worship of Idols submitted himself and It to our Almighty LORD Jesus Christ and applied himself and his Subjects with his whole mind unto GOD from whence it came to pass that he transcended his Predecessours as much in Fame as he exceeded them in good works And now therefore let your Majesty make all possible haste to disperse the knowledg of one GOD the Father Son and Holy Ghost to Kings and their Subjects that you may in commendation and merit pass the Ancient Kings of that Nation And by how much you endeavour to wipe away the sins of others by so much you may rest more secure of your own offences before the dreadful examination of Almighty God Our most Reverend Brother Augustine Bishop well taught in the rules of Monastick life filled with the knowledg of the Holy Scripture and endued through God's grace with good works whatsoever he shall advise you willingly hear devoutly perform and carefully lay up in your memory because if you shall hear him in that which he speaks for God Almighty the same Almighty God will the sooner hear him intreating for you But if which God forbid you should neglect his words when do you think Almighty God will hear him for you whom you neglected to hear for God With all your mind therefore joyn your self with him in the fervency of Faith and assist him relying on that power which God has given you that he may make you partakers of his Kingdom whose Faith you have received and endeavoured to preserve in your Kingdom Furthermore we would that your Majesty should understand that as we know in Sacred Writ out of the words of our Almighty Lord that the end of this present World is at hand and that the Kingdom of the Saints shall come of which there shall be no end But the end of the World drawing near many things shall happen which before were not viz. alterations of the Air terrours from Heaven and contrary to the course of Seasons Tempest Wars Famine Pestilences Earth-quakes in divers places all which shall not come to pass in our daies but all of them shall certainly follow our daies If therefore you shall find any of these things happen in your Land let your mind in no sort be disturbed because these signs concerning the end of the World are therefore sent before that we should be careful of our Souls mistrustful of the hour of death that we may be found in good works prepared for the Judg at his coming These things I have spoken to you in short Most Excellent Son that when the Christian Faith shall be increased in your Kingdom my discourse also may be inlarged towards you then 't will be more proper to speak more when the joyes for the perfect conversion of the whole Nation shall be multiplied in your breast We have sent you also some small Presents which will not be small unto you when you shall receive them from us with the benediction of the blessed Apostle Peter Almighty God preserve and perfect in you that Grace he hath begun and extend your life to the course of many years and after long time receive you into the Congregation of his Heavenly Country Let the Grace of Heaven my Royal Son keep your Highness safe Given the tenth of the Kalends of July in the nineteenth year of our Lord Mauritius Tiberlus Augustue Emperour after the Consulship of the same eighteenth year Indiction the fourth i. e. in the year of Christ 161. Gregory To Virgilius Bishop of Arles He commends to him Bishop Augustine HOW great kindness ought to be shewn to Brethren coming of their own accord may be gathered from hence that to shew our charity they are most commonly invited by us and therefore if it should so fall out that our common Brother Bishop Augustine should come unto you let your charity as it ought receive him with all tenderness and affection and cherish him with the benefits of your consolation and teach others how fraternal charity ought to be respected And because it falls out that those that are furthest off commonly are informed first of what ought to be corrected if he shall make mention to your Brotherhood of any enormities committed either by Priests or others sitting with him by diligent search and scrutining examine all things and behave your selves so strict and careful in those things that offend God and provoke him to anger that for the example and amendment of others punishment only may strike the guilty and that false judgment afflict not the innocent Given the tenth day of the Kalends of July Indiction the fourth Bede after this saich Afflict not the Innocent here in the end and so goes on God keep you safe Most Reverend Brother Given the tenth day of the Kalends of July our Lord Mauritius Tiberius Augustus being Emperour in the nineteenth year after the Consulship of the said Lord the eighteenth year Indiction the fourth i. e. in the year of Christ 601. Gregory To Melltus Abbot in France He gives Command to be sent to Augustine about the conversion of that Nation AFter the departure of our Congregation which is with you we were in great suspence because we could hear nothing of the happiness of your Journey but when it shall please Almighty God to bring you to our most Reverend Brother Bishop Augustine tell him I have a long time carefully considered of the condition of the English and am of opinion that the Temples of the Idols in that Nation ought by no means to be destroyed but only the Idols themselves that are in them Let holy water be provided and sprinkled about those Temples let Altars be built and Reliques kept in them For if those Churches are Elegantly built it is necessary they should be taken from the worship of Devils and appropriated to the service of the true God that whilst the people see their Churches are not destroyed they may put away their Errors from their hearts and knowing and worshipping the True God may more familiarly resort to those places they were wont to frequent And because many Oxen were wont to be slain in the sacrifice of Devils some other solemnity ought to be introduced instead of it that on the day of Dedication or Birth-day of the Holy Martyrs whose Reliques are there laid up let them make Arbors to themselves of the Branches of Trees about those Churches that were formerly Temples and let them celebrate the
solemnity with Religious Banquets Neither let them any longer sacrifice Beasts to the Devil but to the praise of God let them kill those Creatures for their own eating and in their fulness give thankes to the Giver of all things that whilst there are left them some inward tokens of Rejoycing they may the easier be brought to the inward Joyes of the Spirit For to wean obdurate minds from all things on a sudden without doubt is impossible He that endeavours to climb on high it is necessary he should rise by degrees and paces not by leaps so the Lord made himself known to the children os Israel in Egypt the customary Sacrifices which they were wont to offer to the Devil he reserved in his own worship that by his command they should offer living creatures in his sacrifice Forasmuch as their hearts being changed they lost somethings of the sacrifice and retained others so that although they were the same creatures they were wont to offer nevertheless offering them to God and not to Idols they were not the same Sacrifices These things I would have your charity to declare to our aforesaid Brother that he for the present being placed there may consider how all things ought to be ordered Given the twelsth day of the Kalends of July Indiction the fourth God preserve you safe my Dearest Son given the fifteenth day of the Kalends of July in the nineteenth year of our Lord Mauritius Tiberius Augustus Emperour after the Consulship of the said Lord the eighteenth Indiction the fourth i. e. in the year of Christ 601. Gregory To Augustine Bishop of the English Of the use of the Pall and of the Church of London ALthough 't is certain that the inexpressable Rewards of an eternal Kingdom are reserved for those that labour in the service of God yet it is necessary that we should allow them the Ensigns of Honour that by such Rewards they may be encouraged the more abundantly to labour in Spiritual works and because the late Church of the English through the mercy of our Lord and your diligence is brought to the grace of Almighty God we grant you the use of the Pall in that Nation but for only celebrating the solemnity of the Mals so that you ordain through all places twelve Bishops that shall be under your Jurisdiction Forasmuch as the Bishop of the City of London shall alwaies hereafter be consecrated by a Synod of his own and receive the honour of the Pall from this holy and Apostolick See in which through God's grace I serve I will also that you send a Bishop to the City of Tork whom you shall think fit to be ordained so that if the same City with the bordering places shall receive the Word of God let him also ordain twelve Bishops that he may also enjoy the honour of a Metropolitan because we intend God willing to bestow on him in like manner the Pall if he is of a meek and courteous behaviour whom nevertheless we will that he submit to the Authority of your Brotherhood After your death so let him preside over the Bishops he shall Ordain that by no means he submits to the power of the Bishop of London But hereafter let this distinction of Honour be between the Bishops of London and York that he be accounted first that was first ordained Let them with common counsel and joynt action order whatever ought to be done for the love of Christ let them unanimously agree in the Right and whatsoever they agree on not by contradicting one another bring to perfection Let your Brotherhood therefore have in subjection under you not only those Bishops whom you have ordained or those that shall be ordained by the Bishop of York but also all the Clergy of Britain our Lord God Jesus Christ being the Author forasmuch as from the life and doctrine of your Holiness they may receive the form of rightly believing and living well and may by executing their office with a sincere Faith and good Manners when the Lord shall please attain to an Heavenly Kingdom The Lord keep you safe Most Reverend Brother Given the tenth day of the Kalends of July our Lord Mauritius Tiberius Augustus being Emperour in the nineteenth year after the Consulship of the said Lord the eighteenth year Indiction the fourth that is in the year of Christ 601. THE LIFE OF S t AUGUSTINE The first Arch-Bishop of CANTERBURY Written in Latin by Sr. Henry Spelman IT would be needless to use many words concerning this Augustine his Life and Actions after he was sent by GREGORY to convert the English plainly appear in the following discourse But what and who he was before little concerns us He was a Roman I think by Birth and a Monk of the Benedictine Order and was afterwards made Provost of St. Gregory's Monastery at Rome as you may understand from the Epistle of St. Gregory himself to Syagrius Bishop of Augustodunum Called forth from thence by Gregory he is sent into Britain with sourty Monks his Companions and others of the Clergy over whom he made him Abbot in the year of our Lord 596 and in the year 597 arriving in Britain he converted to the Faith Ethelbert King of Kent and the greatest part of his People whom on the day of Pentecost he Baptized in the Church of St. Martin at Canterbury which had continued from the time of the Romans till then The same year afterwards he went to Arles where he was by Etherius Arch-Bishop of that City who was so commanded by Gregory ordained the Arch-Bishop of the English the sixteenth of the Kalends of December in the City of Arles Returning to Fngland he was received by both King and People with all imaginable Joy and soleninity besttting his Quality and had the Royal City of Canterbury bestowed upon him by the King for an Episcopal See and the Kings Palace for a Cathedral Church to be erected unto Christ so that the King seemed to imitate what is reported to have been done by the Emperour Constantine the Great Being ordained Bishop he consulted St. Gregory by Messengers and Questions of the form of Government to be imposed on the Church he had lately established amongst the English Saxons The Answers he received we will set down a little below Soon after he was honoured by the same Gregory with the Pall by which the fulness of Power is signisted in the year viz. of Christ 601. Being then Metropolitan of Britain he summons a Councel in the borders of Worcestershire that he might be something nigher the British Clergy and Bishops at that time residing in Wales to which he warned them to appear the place of Session appointed was Augustine's Ac that is Augustine's Oaks where being assembled Augustine demands from them Obedience to the Bishop of Rome and the Reception of the Roman Ceremonies into the British Church The Britains stiffly opposed this and after the business had been a long time controverted on both sides
day of the Sabbath which ye do who will not celebrate it upon the first day of the Sabbath Peter solemnized the Lord's day of Easter from the sisteenth Moon till the twenty first which ye do not who observe the Lords day of Easter from the fourteenth to the twentieth Moon so that on the thirteenth Moon at Evening ye often begin Easter Neither did our Lord the Author and giver of the Gospel eat the old passover on that day but on the fourteenth Moon at Evening or deliver the Sacraments of the New Testament to be celebrated in Commemoration of his Passion also the twenty first Moon which the Law especially commends to our Observation ye utterly reject in the celebration of your Easter so that as I said before ye neither agree with John nor Peter Law or Gospel in the solemnizing the great Festival To these things Colman answered Did Anatholius a holy man and much commended in the sore-mentioned Church History think contrary to either Law or Gospel who writ that Easter was to be kept from the fourteenth to the twentieth Is it to be imagined that our most reverend Father Columba and his Successors men beloved of God either thought or acted any thing contrary to Holy Writ When there were many amongst them of whose heavenly Holiness the wonders and powerful Miracles they wrought have given sufficient Testimony who as I ever thought them to be Holy men so I will never desist from following their times manners and discipline Then Wilfrid 'T is evident said he that Anatholius was a man very holy learned and praise-worthy but what does that concern ye when ve do not observe his Decrees for he in his Easter following the Rule of Truth set forth a Circle of nineteen years which ye are either ignorant of or else utterly contemn if ve acknowledg it to be kept by the whole Church of Christ. He in the Lord's Easter so reckoned the fourteenth Moon that he acknowledged that on the same day after the manner of the Egyptians to be the fifteenth Moon at evening so he observed the twentieth day for the Lord's Easter but so that he believed that the day being done to be the one and twentieth of which rule of distinction he proves thee ignorant because sometimes ye plainly keep your Easter before the full Moon that is on the thirteenth Month. As concerning your Father Columba and his Followers whose sanctity ye say ye will imitate and whose rules and precepts confirmed by heavenly signs ye are resolved to follow I might Answer when many at Judgment shall say to the Lord that they have prophesied in his Name and cast out Devils and wrought many wonders the Lord will answer that he never knew them But far be it from me that I should speak this of your Fathers since 't is more reasonable of uncertain things to entertain good thoughts than bad for which reason therefore I do not deny them to be the Servants of God and beloved by God who out of an innocent simplicity and a pious intention love God Neither do I think such an observation of Easter to be much prejudicial to them as long as no body comes among them that can shew decrees of a better institution which they may follow who nevertheless I believe had some Catholick Calculator better instructed them would have followed those things which they knew and had learned to be the Commands of God You therefore and your Associates if you despise to follow the decrees of the Apostolick See when you have heard them nay of the Universal Church and those confirmed by Holy writ without doubt ye sin What though your Fathers were holy are the paucity of these in a corner of the farthest Island to be preferred before the Universal Church of Christ over the World What if this your Columba and ours too if he be Christ's was holy and powerful in Miracles ought he to be preferred before the blessed Prince of the Apostles to whom the Lord said thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and to thee will I give the Keys of the kingdom of Heaven After Wilfrid had thus spoken the King said Colman is it true that these words were spoken by the Lord to Peter Who answered True O King Then said he Have you any thing that you can bring to prove so great power was given to Columba but he said No we have not The King again said Do both you agree without any controversie on this that these words were principally spoken to Peter and the Keys of the kingdom of Heaven were given him by the Lord They both answered Yes Then the King thus concluded And I say unto you because he is the Door-keeper I will not contradict him but as far as I know and am able I desire to obey his commands in all things lest perchance I coming to the Gates of the Kingdom of Heaven there be no body to open he being turned aside whom you have proved to hold the Keys After the King had said thus both those that sate down and those that stood great and small assented so that the less perfect Institution being abandoned every one made haste to apply themselves to those things they thought better The Dispute being ended and the Assembly dismist Agilbert returned home Colman seeing his Doctrine slighted and his Party despised taking along with him those that were resolved to be of his sect i. e. they that would not admit of the Catholick Easter and shaving of the Crown for there was no little question about that returned into Scotland to treat with his Party what he should do in the business Chad leaving the tract of the Scotish Doctrine returned to his See as acknowledging the observation of the Catholick Easter This Disputation fell out in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 664 the twenty second year of King Oswy and the 30th year of the Bishoprick of the Scots which they had born in the Province of the English The wife of Oswy was Eanfled Daughter of Edwin King of Northumberland after the death of her husband she spent her daies in the Monastery of Streanshalch where she deceased and was interred in the Church of St. Peter in the same Monastery The Issue of King Oswy by Eanfled was this Elwin was slain in a battel against Ethelred King of the Mercians Elfled the eldest Daughter at a year old according to the Vow of her Father was committed to Hilda Abbess of Streanshalch to be bred up in Religion where she was afterwards Abbess and was buried in the Church of St. Peters in that Monastery Offrid the younger Daughter was married to Ethelred King of Mercia His natural Issue Alkfrid who succeeded Ethelwald in Deira came at last to the whole Crown of Northumberland Alkfled married to Peada Son of King Penda she is taxed by most Writers for the death of her Husband EGFRID
Christians For this King at first as is said was a great Persecutor of that way and if Fame belye him not after his conversion none of the sincerest Christians For the Bishoprick of London he sould to Wini who had been driven out of Winchester by Kenwalch the Saxon King But however this Simony be blameable in Wulfer yet he afterwards made amends in sending Jerumannus a painful Bishop to recover the East-Saxons who had fell from the Christian Religion into open Idolatry ETHELRED ETHELRED the Brother of Wulfer obtained next the Kingdom for Kenred the Son of Wulfer was put by upon what Account is not recorded His first Actions were the recovery of Lindsey and other Territories adjoyning which his Brother had lost to Egfrid King of Northumberland Afterwards he turned his Arms upon Kent wasted that Country sparing neither Church or Monastery and sacked the City of Rochester notwithstanding what resistance Lothair could make against him Putta their Bishop was forced to fly into Mercia where he sustained his old age by teaching School But Ethelred after thirty years Reign weary of the cares of Government retired to a Monastery at Bradney which himself had built and to make amends for his Injustice he restored the Crown to Kenred his Nephew though he had a Son of his own of Age able to succeed him His Wife Ostrid was slain by her own Subjects as Bedes Epitome Records Florence names them South-Imbrians but tells not the occasion of such horrid Treason KENRED KENRED having received the Crown from his Uncle Ethelred held it but four years when desirous to return to his private Life he commended the care of Government to Kelred the Son of Ethelred and in company of Offa the Son of Siger the East-Angle King and Edwin Bishop of Worcester went to Rome in the time of POPE Constantine the first where he and his Royal Companion were both shorn Monks and ended their days KELRED KELRED the Son of Ethelred by the Resignation of Kenred came to the Crown of Mercia in the year 715 he had an encounter with Ina King of the West-Saxons at a place called Wodnesburg in Wiltshire the success whereof is left doubtful Mr. Speed in his succession of English Monarchs treating of this Kelred gives him high commendations as a Prince beloved of his Subjects for his Vertues and much lamented by them at his death Thus he dresseth him up whom he will needs have to be the fourteenth Monarch but as his custom is without the least shew of Authority nay absolutely against it For we read in an Epistle of Boniface Archbishop of Mentz written to his Successor Ethelbald and yet extant that he was a defiler of Nuns and a breaker of the Priviledges of the Church And he admonisheth that Prince by his example to beware of such ossences lest they bring him into the same destruction For Kelred one day sitting at a Feast with his Nobles in the midst of his jollity was taken with an evil Spirit which worke him into high fits of distraction so that mad and raging he talked wildly by himseif and refusing the comforts of the Ministry and Saeraments finally died in despair of his salvation ETHELBALD ETHELBALD of the Royal blood succeeded Kelred not unlike him in his exorbitant life as the same Epistle of the Archbishop of Mentz doth witness but reclaimed in the end by that and other good advices he proved an excellent Prince Aften the death of King Ina the West-Saxon he so managed his affairs that all on this side Humber was intire at his Command He besieged and took the Town of Somerton about the year 740. And whilst Eadbert King of Northumberland was taken up in his Putish wars he entered his Country in his absence as the supplement of Bede's Epitome Records testifie Afterwards he waged War with Cuthred the West-Saxon newly come to his Crown whom he often engaged with inter changeable success But at last coming to a Peace they joyn both their Forces and invade the Welch whom in a great battel they overthrow But in the year 752 Cuthred the West-Saxon falling again at variance with him they sought another battel at Borford now Burford in Shropshire and a year after at a place called Secundune now Seckinton eight miles from Tamworth in Warmickshire He was slain as Huntington reporteth by the same Prince others say he was murthered in the night by his own Guards through the Treason of Beornred out of ambition to succeed him In this King's Reign at a Synod held at Gloveshow by Cuthbert Archbishop of Canterbury it was ordained among other things that the Lord's day should be carefully observed that the reading of the Holy Scriptures should be generally used in Monasteries that the Creed and Lord's Prayer should be taught in the English tongue and that publick Supplications should be made for Kings and all in Authority BEORNRED BEORNRED having trayterously slain King Ethelbald stept into the Throne himself about the year 754 but he enjoyed not long his ill-gained Honour for Offa the next of the Royal Family having for some time lain concealed until he could unite his Interest at length came upon him and in a set battel slew him after he had held the Kingdom by Usurpation for the space of two years or thereabouts as may be most probably calculated OFFA OFFA at the death of Beornred was received by the universal consent of his People and advanced to the Crown of his Ancestours He proved the Greatest that ever swayed this Scepter but though he often gave fair strokes for the whole Monarchy of the Island yet he was never able to compass that design His first enterprize was against the Hestings a neighbouring People whom he quickly subdued and added to his own Dominions Next he invades Kent and slaies their King Alric at a place called Ottenford then recalled by the West-Saxon King he engages with him at Besington where he wins the day and the Town for which they contended And now to add Treachery to his Conquests he invites Egilbert King of the East-Angles to his Court with fair promises of his Daughter in marriage whom no sooner come but he beheads ' and then seizeth his Kingdom But the baseness of this action blunted his Sword and we never after find him the same man as before so that the remaining part of his life will be spent in recounting his satisfactions Pilgrimage and such other deeds To expiate this murther he gave the Tenths of all he had to the Church and great possessions to the Church of Hereford where Egilbert was buried He caused the Reliques of St. Alban to be enshrined in a Cask of Gold set with precious Jewels and to the Martyr himself gives Lands and Tenements the Ancient demesns of his Crown He took a Journy to Rome to the Colledge of English there he gave a yearly Pension and a Tribute to the Pope through all his Dominions for which he