they boyle untill it bee exceeding white And of this sea or Bay-salt and not of ours made out of salt springs is Saint Ambrose to bee understood when hee writeth thus Consider we those things which are usuall with many very grace-full namely how water is turned into salt of such hardnesse and soliditie that often-times it is hewed with axes This in the salts of Britaine is no wonder as which carrying a shew of strong marble doe shine and glitter againe with the whitenesse of the same mettall like unto snow and bee holesome to the bodie c. Farther within the land the MEANVARI dwelt whose countrey togither with the Isle of Wight Edilwalch King of the South Saxons received in token of Adoption from Wlpher King of Mercians Godfather unto him at the Font when he was baptized The habitations of these Meanvari scarce changing the name at this day is divided into three hundreds to wit Means-borow East-mean and West-mean and amongst them there mounteth up an high Hill environed in the top with a large rampier and they call it old Winchester at which by report there stood in old time a citie but now neither top nor toe as they say remaineth of it so as a man would quickly judge it to have beene a summer standing campe and nothing else Under this is Warnford seated where Adam de Portu a mightie man in this tract and of great wealth in the raigne of William the first reedified the Church a new as a couple of rude verses set fast upon the wall doe plainly shew Upon these more high into the land those SEGONTIACI who yeilded themselves unto Iulius Caesar had their seate toward the North limite of this shire in and about the hundred of Holeshot wherein are to bee seene Mercate Aultim which King Elfred bequeathed by his will unto the keeper of Leodre also Basingstoke a mercate towne well frequented upon the descent of an hill on the North side whereof standeth solitarie a very faire Chappell consecrated unto the holy Ghost by William the first Lord Sands who was buried there In the arched and embowed roofe whereof is to be seene the holy history of the Bible painted most artificially with lively portraicts and images representing the Prophets the Apostles and the Disciples of Christ. Beneath this Eastward lieth Basing a towne very well knowne by reason of the Lords bearing the name of it to wit Saint Iohn the Poinings and the Powlets For when Adam de Portu Lord of Basing matched in marriage with the daughter and heire of Roger de Aurevall whose wife was likewise daughter and heire to the right noble house of Saint Iohn William his sonne to doe honour unto that familie assumed to him the surname of Saint Iohn and they who lineally descended from him have still retained the same But when Edmund Saint Iohn departed out of this world without issue in King Edward the third his time his sister Margaret bettered the state of her husband Iohn Saint Philibert with the possessions of the Lord Saint Iohn And when she was dead without children Isabell the other sister wife unto Sir Luke Poinings bare unto him Thomas Lord of Basing whose Neice Constance by his sonne Hugh unto whom this fell for her childs part of Inheritance was wedded into the familie of the Powlets and she was great Grandmother to that Sir William Powlet who being made Baron Saint Iohn of Basing by King Henrie the Eighth and created by King Edward the Sixth first Earle of Wilshire and afterward Marquesse of Winchester and withall was Lord Treasurer of England having in a troublesome time runne through the highest honours fulfilled the course of nature with the satietie of this life and that in great prosperitie as a rare blessing among Courtiers after he had built a most sumptuous house heere for the spacious largenesse thereof admirable to the beholders untill for the great and chargeable reparations his successors pulled downe a good part of it But of him I have spoken before Neere unto this house the Vine sheweth it selfe a very faire place and Mansion house of the Baron Sands so named of the vines there which wee have had in Britaine since Probus the Emperours time rather for shade than fruit For hee permitted the Britaines and others to have vines The first of these Barons was Sir William Sands whom King Henrie the Eighth advanced to that dignitie being Lord Chamberlaine unto him and having much amended his estate by marrying Margerie Bray daughter and heire of Iohn Bray and cousin to Sir Reinold Bray a most worthy Knight of the Order of the Garter and a right noble Baneret whose Sonne Thomas Lord Sands was Grandfather to William L. Sands that now liveth Neighbouring hereunto is Odiam glorious in these daies for the Kings house there and famous for that David the Second King of Scots was there imprisoned a Burrough corporate belonging in times past to the Bishop of Winchester the fortresse whereof in the name of King John thirteene Englishmen for fifteene daies defended most valiantly and made good against Lewis of France who with his whole armie besieged and asted it very hotly A little above among these Segontiaci toward the North side of the countrey somtimes stood VINDONVM the chiefe citie of the Segontiaci which casting off his owne name hath taken the name of the Nation like as Luteria hath assumed unto it the name of the Parisians there inhabiting for called it was by the Britaines Caer Segonte that is to say the Citie of the Segontiaci And so Ninnius in his catalogue of cities named it wee at this day called it Silecester and Higden seemeth to clepe it of the Britaines Britenden that this was the ancient Vindonum I am induced to thinke by reason of the distance of Vindonum in Antoninus from Gallena or Guallenford and Venta or Winchester and the rather because betweene this Vindonum and Venta there is still to bee seene a causey or street-way Ninnius recordeth that it was built by Constantius the sonne of Constantine the Great and called sometime Murimintum haply for Muri-vindum that is the wals of Vindon For this word Mur borrowed from the provinciall language the Britaines retained still and V. the consonant they change oftentimes in their speech and writing into M. And to use the verie words of Asinnius though they seeme ridiculous the said Constantius sowed upon the soile of this citie three seedes that none should be poore that dwelt therein at any time Like as Dinocrates when Alexandria in Egypt was a building strewed it with meale or flower as Marcellinus writeth all the circular lines of the draught which being done by chance was taken for a fore-token that the citie should abound with al manner of victualls He reporteth also that Constantius died here and that his Sepulchre was to be seene at one of the gates as the Inscription
in the North side to the river Tamis King Offa usurped and seized into his owne hands Neere unto it Northwest lieth Lee which by the daughter of a certaine worshipfull Knight surnamed thereupon de Lee fell to the familie of Besiles and thereof it came to bee called Besiles Lee and from that house in right of marriage to Richard Fetiplace whose Progenitor Thomas brought some honor to his posterity by matching with Beatrice the base daughter of Iohn the first King of Portugall and widdow to Gilbert Lord Talbot of whom they are descended But now let us returne Hard by Abendon Ocke a little river that runneth by the South side of the towne over which in times past Sir Iohn of Saint Helenes Knight built a bridge gently falleth into Isis This Ocke springeth in that vale of Whitehorse scarce a mile or two from Kingston-Lisle in olde time the possession of Warin de Insulâ or Lisle a noble Baron From whom when as Sir Iohn Talbot the younger sonne of that renowned warrior Iohn Earle of Shrewsburie was descended by his mother hee was created by King Henrie the Sixth Lord Lisle like as Warin de Insula in times past in regard of the possession of this place as if that dignity were annexed thereto and afterwards Vicount Lisle by a Patent without any such regard This title through the gratious favor of Kings flourished still in his posterity one after another successively For breifly to knit up their succession When Sir Thomas Talbot sonne of the said Iohn departed this life without issue beeing deadly shot into the mouth with an arrow in a skirmish defending his possessions against the Lord Barkley Sir Edward Grey who had married his sister received the same at the hands of King Richard the third and left it to Iohn his sonne and successour Whose onely daughter and heire King Henrie the Eighth assured to Sir Charles Brandon and thereupon created him Vicount Lisle But when as shee died in tender yeeres before the marriage was solemnized hee also relinquished that title Which King Henrie afterward bestowed upon Sir Arthur Plantagenet base sonne to King Edward the fourth Who had wedded Elizabeth sister to Sir Iohn Grey Vicount Lisle and widdow of Edmund Dudley And when hee deceased without heires male the said King honoured therewith Sir Iohn Dudley sonne of Edmund by the same Elizabeth Grey who in the time of King Edward the sixth was created Duke of Northumberland and afterward attainted by Queene Marie His sonne Sir Ambrose Dudley beeing restored in bloud was by Queene Elizabeth on one and the selfe same day created Lord Lisle and Earle of Warwicke who ended his life issuelesse And now lately Sir Robert Sidney his sisters sonne was honoured with the stile of Vicoun Lisle by King Iames who had before created him beeing Chamberlaine to the Queene his wife Baron Sidney of Pensherst Then runneth the river Ocke aforesaid betweene Pusey which they that are named de Pusey hold it yet by the horn from their ancestors as given unto them in ancient time by K. Canutus the Dane and the two Dencheworths the one and the other where flourished for a long time two noble and auncient houses to wit de Hide at the one and Fetiplace at the other which families may seeme to have sprung out of one and the same stocke considering they both beare one and the same coat of armes Then entertaineth Ock a namelesse river which issueth out of the same vale at Wantage called in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where some time there was a Manour house of the Kings and the place wherein Aelfred that most noble and renowned King was borne and bred which at his death he bequeathed to Alfrith Long time after it became a mercate towne by the meanes and helpe of Sir Fulke Fitzwarin that most warlike Knight upon whom Roger Bigod Mareschall of England had bestowed it for his martiall prowesse and at this daie it acknowledgeth for Lords thereof the Bourchiers Earles of Bath descended from the race of the Fitzwarins of whose familie some were here buried Isis being departed once from Abbendon straight waies receiveth into it out of Oxfordshire the river Tame of which elsewhere and now by a compound word being called Tamisis first directeth his course to Sinodun an high hill and fenced with a deepe trench were stood for certaine in old time a fortresse of the Romanes for the ground being now broken up with the plough yeeldeth otherwhiles to the ploughmen store of Roman pieces of coine as tokens of antiquitie Under it at Bretwell there was a Castle if it were not that upon this hill which King Henry the Second wonne by force a little before that he made peace with King Stephen From hence Tamis holdeth on his way to the chiefe Citie in times past of the Attrebatians which Antonius termeth GALLEVA of Attrebats Ptolomee GALEVA but both of them through the carelessnesse of the Scriveners name it wrong for GALLENA and they likewise in their Greeke copies have thrust upon us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Gallena by transposition of letters I have thought it was so named in the British tongue as it were Guall hen that is The old rampier or fort Which name being still kept and Ford added thereto which is a shallow place in the river the Englishmen in old time called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we at this day shorter Wallengford In King Edward the Confessors time it was counted a Burgh and contained as we find in that Book wherein K. William the Frst tooke the Survey of all England two hundred threescore and sixteene Hages that is to say Houses yielding nine pounds de Gablo and those that dwelt there did the King service on horsebacke or by water Of those Hages eight were destroyed for the Castle In old time it was compassed about with walles which as men may see by their tract tooke up a mile in circuit It hath a Castle scituate upon the river very large I assure you and stately so fortitified in times past that the hope in it as impregnable and invincible made divers over-bold and stout For when England burned as a man may say in a generall flame of warres we read that it was by King Stephen belaied once or twise with sieges but all in vaine The greatnesse and magnificence thereof I much wondered at when I was young and removed thither from Oxford for a place it is now for the Students there of Christ Church to retire unto as having a double range of walles about it and being compassed round likewise with a duple rampier and ditch and in the midst of it there standeth a tower to keepe raised upon a mightie high mount in the steepe ascent whereof by steps we saw a Well of an exceeding depth The Inhabitants are verily perswaded that it
menaces and censures were sent out from the Bishop of Rome against these Archbishops For these Monkes were in bodily feare least this would bee their utter undoing and a prejudice unto them in the Elections of the Archbishops Neither were these blustering stormes allaied untill the said Church newly begunne was laid levell with the ground Adjoyning hard to this is the most famous mercate towne and place of trade in all this shire which at this day they call The Burrough of Southwarke in Saxon speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Southworke or building because it standeth South over against London the Suburbs whereof it may seeme in some sort to bee but so large it is and populous that it gives place to few Cities of England having beene as it were a corporation by it selfe it had in our fathers daies Bayliffes but in the reigne of King Edward the Sixth it was annexed to the Citie of London and is at this day taken for a member as it were of it and therefore when wee are come to London wee will speake more at large thereof Beneath this Burrough the Tamis forsaketh Surry the East bound whereof passeth in a manner directly downe from hence Southward neere unto Lagham which had their Parliamentarie Barons called Saint Iohn de Lagham in the reigne of Edward the First whose Inheritance came at length by an heire generall to Iohn Leddiard and some-what lower in the very angle well neere where it bendeth to Southsex and Kent stands Streborow Castle the seate in ancient time of Lord Cobham who of it were called of Sterborow where the issue proceeding from the bodies of Iohn Cobham Lord of Cobham and Cowling and the daughter of Hugh Nevil flourished a long time in glory and dignitie For Reginald Cobham in King Edward the thirds daies being created Knight of the Garter was Admirall of the sea-coasts from Tamis mouth West-ward But Thomas the last male of that line wedded the Lady Anne daughter to Humfrey the Duke of Buckingham of whom he begat one onely daughter named Anne married unto Edward Burgh who derived his pedigree from the Percies and Earles of Athole whose sonne Thomas made by King Henry the Eighth Baron Burgh left a sonne behind him named William And his sonne Thomas a great favourer of learning and Lord Governour of Briell Queeene Elizabeth made Knight of the Garter and Lord Deputy of Ireland where hee honourably ended his life pursuing the rebels As touching Dame Eleanor Cobham descended out of this family the wife of Humfrey Duke of Glocester whose reputation had a flawe I referre you to the English Historie if you please Now are wee to reckon up the Earles of this shire William Rufus King of England made William de Warrena who had married his sister the first Earle of Surrey For in that Charter of his by which hee founded the Priory of Lewis thus wee read Donavi c. that is I have given and granted c. For the life and health of my Lord King William who brought mee into England and for the health of my Lady Queene Mawd my wives mother and for the life and health of my Lord King William her sonne after whose comming into England I made this charter who also created me Earle of Surry c. whose sonne William succeeded and married the daughter of Hugh Earle of Vermandois whereupon his posteritie as some suppose used the Armes of Vermandois vz. Chequy Or and Azure His sonne VVilliam dying in the Holy-land about the yeare 1148. had issue a daughter onely who adorned first William King Stephens sonne and afterward Hamelin the base sonne of Gefferey Plantagenet Earle of Anjou both her husbands with the same title But whereas her former husband died without issue William her sonne by Hamelin was Earle of Surry whose posterie assuming unto them the name of Warrens bare the same title This William espoused the eldest daughter and a coheire of William Marescall Earle of Pembroch the widow of Hugh Bigod who bare unto him Iohn who slew Alan de la Zouch in presence of the Judges of the Realme This Iohn of Alice the daughter of Hugh le Brune halfe sister by the mothers side of King Henry the third begat William who died before his father and hee of Ioan Vere the Earle of Oxfords daughter begat Iohn Posthumus borne after his decease and the last Earle of this house who was stiled as I have seene in the circumscription of his seale Earle of Warren of Surry and of Strathern in Scotland Lord of Bromfield and of Yale and Count-palatine But hee dying without lawfull issue in the twelfth yeare of Edward the thirds raigne Alice his sister and heire wedded unto Edmund Earle of Arundell by her marriage brought this honour of Surrey into the house of Arundells For Richard their sonne who married in the house of Lancaster after his father was wickedly beheaded for siding with his Soveraigne King Edward the Second by the malignant envie of the Queene was both Earle of Arundell and Surrey and left both Earledomes to Richard his sonne who contrary-wise lost his head for siding against his soveraigne King Richard the Second But Thomas his sonne to repaire his fathers dishonour lost his life for his Prince and country in France leaving his sisters his heires for the lands not entailed who were married to Thomas Mowbraie Duke of Norfolke c. to Sir Powland Lenthall and Sir William Beauchampe Lord of Abergeveny After by the Mowbraies the title of Surrey came at length to the Howards Howbeit in the meane while after the execution of Richard Earle of Arundell King Richard the Second bestowed the title of Duke of Surry upon Thomas Holland Earle of Kent which honour he enjoyed not long For while hee combined with others by privie conspiracies to restore the same King Richard to his libertie and kingdome the conspiracie was not carried so secretly but contrary to his expectation brake forth and came to light then fled hee and by the people of Cirencester was intercepted and cut shorter by the head After him Thomas Beaufort Chancellour to the King if we give credit to Thomas Walsingham bare this dignity For in the yeare of our Lord as hee saith 1410. The Lord Thomas Beaufort Earle of Surrey left this world Now let Walsingham in this point make good that which he writeth for in the Kings Records there is no such thing found but onely this that Thomas Beaufort about that time was made Lord Chancellour But certaine it is and that out of the Records of the Kingdome that King Henry the Sixth in the nine and twentie yeare of his raigne created Iohn Mowbray the sonne of Iohn Duke of Norfolke Earle Warren and of Surry And Richard second sonne of King Edward the Fourth having married the heire of Mowbray received all the titles due to the Mowbraies by creation from his father Afterward King Richard the Third having dispatched the
pulcherrima quid tibi gemma Pallet gemma tibi nec diadema nitet Deme tibi cultus cultum natura ministrat Non exornari forma beata potest Ornamenta cave nec quicquam luminis inde Accipis illa micant lumine clara tuo Non puduit modicas de magnis dicere laudes Nec pudeat Dominam te precor esse meam When Muses mine thy beauties rare faire Adeliza Queene Of England readie are to tell they starke astonied beene What booteth thee so beautifull gold-crowne or pretious stone Dimne is the Diademe to thee the gemne hath beautie none Away with trimme and gay attire nature attireth thee Thy lovely beautie naturall can never bett'red be All Ornaments beware from them no favour thou do'st take But they from thee their lustre have thou doest them lightsome make I shamed not on matters great to set small praises heere Bash not but deigne I pray to be my Soveraigne Ladie deere She after the Kings death matched in marriage with William de Albeney who taking part with Maud the Empresse against King Stephen and defending this Castle against him was in recompence of his good service by the saide Maude the Empresse and Ladie of Englishmen for this title she used created Earle of Arundell and her sonne King Henrie the Second gave the whole Rape of Arundell to that William To hold of him by the service of fourescore and foure Knights fees and one-halfe And to his sonne William King Richard the first granted in such words as these The Castle of Arundell with the whole Honor of Arundell and the Third penny of the Plees out of Sussex whereof he is Earle And when after the fifth Earle of this surname the issue male failed one of the sisters and heires of Hugh the fifth Earle was married to Sir Iohn Fitz-Alan Lord of Clun whose great grand sonne Richard For that he stood seised of the Castle Honour and Lordship of Arundell in his owne demesne as of Fee in regard of this his possession of the same Castle Honour and Seignorie without any other consideration or Creation to be an Earle was Earle of Arundell and the name state and honor of the Earle of Arundell c. Peaceably he enjoied as appeareth by a definitive judgement given in Parliament in the behalfe of Sir Iohn Fitz-Alan chalenging the Castle and tittle of Arundell by force of an entaile against Iohn Mowbray Duke of Norfolke the right Heire in the neerest degree Whereby it was gathered that the name state and dignitie of Earle was annexed to the Castle Honour and Seignorie of Arundell as it is to be seene in the Parliament Rolls of King Henry the Sixth out of which I have copied forth these notes word for word Of these Fitz-Alans Edmund second Earle sonne to Richard married the heire of the Earle of Surry and was beheaded through the malicious furie of Queene Isabell not lawfully convicted for that hee opposed himselfe in King Edward the Seconds behalfe against her wicked practises His sonne Richard petitioned in Parliament to be restored to bloud lands and goods for that his father was put to death not tried by his Peeres according to the law and great Charter of England neverthelesse whereas the attaindor of him was confirmed by Parliament hee was forced to amend his petition and upon the amendment thereof hee was restored by the Kings meere grace Richard his sonne as his grandfather died for his Soveraigne lost his life for banding against his Soveraigne King Richard the Second But Tho. his sonne more honourably ended his life serving King Henrie the Fifth valerously in France and leaving his sisters his heires generall Sir Iohn of Arundell Lord Maltravers his next cosin and heire male obtained of King Henrie the sixt the Earldome of Arundell as we even now declared and also was by the said King for his good service created Duke of Touraine Of the succeeding Earles I find nothing memorable Henrie Fitz Alan the eleventh and last Earle of that surname lived in our daies in great honor as you shall see After whom leaving no issue male Philip Howard his daughters sonne succeeded who not able to digest wrongs and hard measure offered unto him by the cunning sleights of some envious persons fell into the toile and net pitched for him and being brought into extreame perill of his life yeelded up his vitall breath in the Tower But his sonne Thomas a most honorable young man in whom a forward spirit and fervent love of vertue and glorie most beseeming his nobility and the same tempered with true courtesie shineth very apparently recovered his fathers dignities being restored by King Iames and Parliament authoritie Besides the Castle and the Earles Arundell hath nothing memorable For the Colledge built by the Earles which there flourished because the revenue or living is alienated and gone now falleth to decay Howbeit in the Church are some monuments of Earles there enterred but one above the rest right beautifull of Alabaster in which lieth in the mids of the Quire Earle Thomas and Beatrice his wife the daughter of Iohn King of Portugall Neither must I overpasse this Inscription so faire guilt set up heere in the Honor of Henrie Fitz-Alan the last Earle of this line because some there be whom liketh it well CONSECRATED TO VERTVE AND HONOVR THE MAGNANIMOVS AND VVORTHY KNIGHT VVHOSE PERSONAGE IS HERE SEENE AND VVHOSE BONES HERE VNDERNEATHLY ENTERRED VVAS BARLE OF THIS TERRITORIE ACCORDING TO HIS HOVSE AND LINAGE SVRNAMED FITZ ALAN LOKD MALTRAVERS CLVN AND OSVVALDESTRE PRINCIPAL HONOVRS STILED ALSO LORD AND BARON OF THAT MOST NOBLE ORDER OF THE GARTER THE AVNCIENTEST COMPANION VVHILES HE LIVED OF WILLIAM EARLE OF ARVNDELL THE ONELY SONNE AND SVCCESSOR COMPARTNER ALSO OF ALL HIS VERTVES VVHO BEING OF THE PRIVY COVNSEL TO KING HENRIE THE EIGHT KING EDVVARD THE SIXT MARIE AND ELIZABETH KINGS AND QVEENES OF ENGLAND VVAS GOVERNOR ALSO OF THE TOVVNE OF CALES AND VVHAT TIME AS THE SAID KING HENRIE BESIEGED BVLLEN VVAS HIGH MARESCHAL OF HIS ARMY AND AFTER THAT LORD CHAMBERLAIN TO THE KING ALSO VVHEN EDVVARD HIS SONNE VVAS CROVVNED KING HE BARE THE OFFICE OF L. MARESCHAL OF THE KINGDOME AND VNTO HIM LIKE AS BEFORE VNTO HIS FATHER BECAME LORD CHAMBERLAINE MOREOVER IN THE REIGNE OF QVEENE MARIE DVRING THE TIME OF HER SOLEMNE CORONATION HE VVAS MADE LORD HIGH CONSTABLE AFTERVVARD STEVVARD OF HER ROIAL HOVSE AND PRESIDENT OF THE COVNCEL EVEN AS TO QVEENE ELIZABETH ALSO HE VVAS LIKEVVISE LORD HIGH STEVVARD OF HER HOVSHOLD THVS THIS MAN NOBLE BY HIS HIGH PARENTAGE MORE NOBLE FOR VVEL PERFORMING THE PVBLICKE OFFICES OF STATE â—OST NOBLE AND RENOVNED BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD FLOVRISHING STIL IN HONOVR BROKEN VVITH TRAVEL MVCH VVORNE VVITH YEERES AFTER HE VVAS COME TO THE LXVIII OF HIS AGE AT LONDON THE XXV DAY OF FEBRVARY IN THE YEERE OF OVâ— SALVATION BY CHRIST M. D. LXXIX GODLY AND SVVEETLY SLEPT IN THE LORD IOHN LVMLEY BARON OF LVMLEY HIS MOST
but a rude heape of rubbish For in the yeere 1217. the Inhabitants of the Towne when after a long Siege they had wonne it rased it downe to the very ground as being the Devils nest and a Den of theeves robbers and rebels Somwhat higher on the other side of the River standeth Barrow where is digged lime commended above all other for the strong binding thereof After some few miles from thence Soar while hee seeketh Trent leaveth Leicester-shire a little above Cotes now the habitation of the Family of Skipwith originally descended out of York-shire and enriched many yeeres since with faire Possessions in Lincoln-shire by an heire of Ormesbie On the opposite banke of Soar standeth Lough-borrough a Mercate Towne which adorned one onely man with the name of Baron to witte Sir Edward Hastings and that in the Raigne of Queene Mary But when shee of whom he was most dearely loved departed this life hee taking a loathing to the World was not willing to live any longer to the World but wholy desirous to apply himselfe to Gods Service retired into that Hospitall which hee had erected at Stoke Pogeis in Buckingham-shire where with poore people hee lived to God and among them finished the course of his life devoutly in Christ. That this Lough-borrow is that Towne of the Kings named in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as Marianus saith Cuthwulph tooke from the Britans in the yeere of Christ 572. the neere affinity of the name may yeeld some proofe But now among all the Townes of this Shire it rightfully chalengeth the second place next unto Leicester whether a man either regard the bignesse or building thereof or the pleasant Woods about it For within very little of it the Forest of Charnwood or Charley stretcheth it selfe out a great way wherein is seene Beaumanour Parke which the Lords of Beaumont as I have heard fensed round about with a stone Wall These Beaumonts descended from a younger sonne of John County of Brene in France who for his high honour and true valour was preferred to marry the heire of the Kingdome of Jerusalem and with great pompe crowned King of Jerusalem in the yeere of our Lord 1248. Hence it is that wee see the Armes of Jerusalem so often quartered with those of Beaumont in sundry places of England Sir Henry Beaumont was the first that planted himselfe in England about the yeere 1308. who advanced to the marriage of an heire of Alexander Comine Earle of Boghan in Scotland whose mother was one of the heires of Roger Quincy Earle of Winchester entred upon a very goodly and faire inheritance and so a great Family was propagated from him Hee in the Raigne of Edward the Third for certaine yeeres was summoned to the Parliament by the name of Earle of Boghan and John Lord Beamont in the Raigne of Henry the Sixth was for a time Constable of England and the first to my knowledge that in England received at the Kings hands the state and Title of a Vicount But when William the last Vicount was dead without issue his sister was wedded to the Lord Lovell and the whole inheritance afterwards which was rich and great by attainder of Lovell fell into the hands of King Henry the Seventh In this North part we meete with nothing at all worth the naming unlesse it be a little religious house which Roise Verdon founded for Nunnes and called it Grace-Dieu now belonging to a younger house of the Beaumonts and where the Trent runneth hard by is Dunnington an ancient Castle built by the first Earles of Leicester which afterwards came to John Lacy Earle of Lincolne who procured unto it from King Edward the First the priviledge of keeping a Mercate and Faire But when as in that great proscription of the Barons under King Edward the Second the hereditaments of Thomas Earle of Lancaster and Alice Lacy his Wife were seised into the Kings hands and alienated in divers sorts the King enforced her to release this Manour unto Hugh Le Despenser the younger The East part of this Shire which is hilly and feedeth great numbers of Sheepe was adorned with two places of especiall note VERNOMETUM or VEROMETUM whereof Antonine the Emperour hath made mention and Burton-Lazers both in the ages fore-going of very great name and reputation VERNOMETUM which now hath lost the name seemeth to have stood for I dare not affirme it in that place which at this day men call Burrowhill and Erd-burrow For betweene VEROMETUM and RATAE according to Antonine his reckoning are twelve Italian miles and so many well neere there be from Leicester to this place The name Burrow also that it hath at this day came from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the Saxon Tongue signifieth a place fortified and under it a Towne called Burrough belonging to an old Family of Gentlemen so sirnamed But that which maketh most for proofe in that very place there riseth up an hill with a steepe and upright ascent on every side but South Eastward in the top whereof appeare the expresse tokens of a Towne destroyed a duple Trench and the very Tract where the Wals went which enclosed about eighteene Acres of ground within At this day it is arable ground and is nothing so famous as in this that the youth dwelling round about were wont yeerely to exercise themselves in wrestling and other games in this place And out of the very name a man may conjecture that there stood there some great Temple of the Heathen Gods For VERNOMETUM in the ancient Gauls language which was the same that the old Britans tongue soundeth as much as A great Temple as Venantius Fortunatus in the first booke of his Songs plainly sheweth writing of Vernometum a Towne of Gaule in these Verses Nomine Vernometum voluit vocitare vetustas Quod quasi fanum ingens Gallica lingua sonat In elder time this place they term'd by name of VERNOMET Which sounds in language of the Gauls as much as Temple Great As for Burton sirnamed Lazers of Lazers for so they used to terme folke infected with the Elephantiasie or Leprosie was a rich Spittle-house or Hospitall under the Master whereof were in some sort all other small Spittles or Lazer-houses in England like as himselfe also was under the Master of the Lazers in Hierusalem It was founded in the first age of the Normans by a common contribution over all England and the Mowbraies especially did set to their helping hands At which time the Leprosie which the learned terme Elephantiasis because the skins of Lepres are like to that of Elephants in grievous manner by way of contagion ranne over all England For it is verily thought that this disease did then first creepe out of Aegypt into this Island which eft-once had spread it selfe into Europe first of all in Pompeius Magnus his dayes afterwards under Heraclius and at other times as
afterward this honor at the hands of King Henry the Fifth Who shortly after in the French war lost his life at the siege of Meaux in Brye leaving one onely daughter married to Sir Edward Nevill from whom descended the late Lords of Abergevenny Afterward King Henry the Sixth created John Tiptoft Earle of Worcester But when he presently taking part with King Edward the Fourth had applied himselfe in a preposterous obsequiousnesse to the humor of the said King and being made Constable of England plaied the part as it were of the butcher in the cruell execution of diverse men of qualitie himselfe when as King Henry the Sixth was now repossessed of the crowne came to the blocke Howbeit his sonne Edward recovered that honor when King Edward recovered his Kingdome But after that this Edward died without issue and the inheritance became divided among the sisters of the said John Tiptoft Earle of Worcester of whom one was married to the Lord Roo◠another to Sir Edmund Ingoldesthorpe and the third to the Lord Dudley Sir Charles Somerset base sonne to Henry Duke of Somerset Lord Herbert and Lord Chamberlaine to King Henry the Eighth was by him created Earle of Worcester After whom succeeded in lineall descent Henry William and Edward who now flourisheth and among other laudable parts of vertue and Nobility highly favoureth the studies of good literature There are in this Shire Parishes 152. STAFFORDIAE COMITATVS PARS olim Cornauiorum STAFFORD-SHIRE THE third Region of the old CORNAVII now called STAFFORD-SHIRE in the English Saxons Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants whereof because they dwelt in the middest of England are in Bede termed Angli Mediterranei that is Midland Englishmen having on the East Warwick-shire and Darby-shire on the South side Worcester-shire and Westward Shropp-shire bordering upon it reacheth from South to North in forme of a Lozeng broader in the middest and growing narrower at the ends The North part is full of Hilles and so lesse fruitfull the middle being watered with the River Trent is more plentifull clad with Woods and embroidered gallantly with Corne fields and medowes as is the South part likewise which hath Coles also digged out of the earth and mines of Iron But whether more for their commodity or hinderance I leave to the Inhabitants who doe or shall best understand it In the South part in the very confines with Worcester-shire upon the River Stour standeth Stourton Castle sometimes belonging to the Earles of Warwicke the natall place of Cardinall Pole and then Dudley Castle towreth up upon an hill built and named so of one Dudo or Dodo an English Saxon about the yeere of our Salvation 700. In King William the Conquerours daies as we finde in his Domesday Booke William Fitz-Ausculph possessed it afterwards it fell to Noble men sirnamed Somery and by an heire generall of them to Sir Richard Sutton knight descended from the Suttons of Nottingham-shire whose Posterity commonly called from that time Lords of Dudley but summoned to Parliament first by King Henry the Sixth grew up to a right honourable Family Under this lyeth Pensueth Chace in former times better stored with game wherein are many Cole-pits in which as they reported to mee there continueth a fire begunne by a candle long since through the negligence of a grover or digger The smoke of this fire and sometime the flame is seene but the savour oftener smelt and other the like places were shewed unto mee not farre off North-West ward upon the Confines of Shropp-shire I saw Pateshull a seat of the Astleies descended from honourable Progenitours and Wrotesley an habitation of a Race of Gentlemen so sirnamed out of which Sir Hugh Wrotesley for his approoved valour was chosen by King Edward the Third Knight of the Garter at the first institution and so accounted one of the founders of the said honourable Order Next after this the memorable places that wee meet with in this Tract more inwardly are these Chellington a faire house and Manour of the ancient Family of the Giffards which in the Raigne of Henry the Second Peter Corbuchin gave to Peter Giffard upon whom also Richard Strongbow that Conquerour of Ireland bestowed in free gift Tachmelin and other Possessions in Ireland Theoten hall which is by interpretation The habitation of Heathens or Pagans at this day Tetnall embrued with Danish bloud in the yeere 911. by King Edward the Elder in a bloudy Battaile Ulfrunes Hampton so called of Wulfruna a most godly and devout woman who enriched the Towne called before simply Hampton with a religious House and for Wulfrunes Hampton it is corruptly called Wulver Hampton The greatest name and note whereof ariseth by the Church there annexed to the Warden or Deane and Prebendaries of Windsor Weadsbury in these dayes Weddsborrow fortified in old time by Aethelfled Lady of the Mercians and Walshall a Mercate Towne none of the meanest Neere unto which the River Tame carryeth his streame which rising not farre off for certaine miles wandereth through the East part of this Shire seeking after Trent neere unto Draiton Basset the seat of the Bassets who springing out from Turstan Lord of this place in the Raigne of Henry the First branched forth into a great and notable Family For from hence as from a stocke flourished the Bassets of Welleden of Wiccomb of Sapcot of Cheddle and others But of this of Draiton Raulph was the last who being a right renowned Baron had marryed the sister of John Montfort Duke of Britaine and in the Raigne of Richard the Second died without issue Then Tame passing through the Bridge at Falkesley over which an ancient high way of the Romanes went runneth hard under Tamworth in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marianus calleth it Tamawordia a Towne so placed in the Confines of the two Shires that the one part which belonged sometime to the Marmions is counted of Warwick-shire the other which pertained to the Hastings of Stafford-shire As for the name it is taken from Tame the Riuer running beside it and of the English Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Barton Court or Ferme-house and also an Holme or River Island or any place environed with water seeing that Keyserwert and Bomelswert in Germanie betoken as much as Caesars Isle and Bomels Isle Whiles the Mercians Kingdome stood in state this was a place of their Kings resiance and as we finde in the Lieger Booke of Worcester a Towne of very great resort and passing well frequented Afterward when in the Danes Warre it was much decaied Aethelfled Lady of Mercia repaired and brought it againe to the former state also Edith King Eadgars Sister who refusing Marriage for the opinion that went of her for holinesse was registred in the roll of Saints founded heere a little house for Nunnes and veiled Virgins which after some yeeres was translated to
change of one letter termed it Moult-grave by which name although the reason thereof be not so well knowne the world takes knowledge of it This Peter de Mololacu commonly called Mauley that I may in this point satisfie the curious borne in Poictou in France marryed the onely daughter of Robert de Turnham in the Raigne of King Richard the First in whose right he entred upon a very great inheritance heere after whom succeeded in order seven Peters called Lords Mauley who give for their Armes A Bend Sables in an Eschocheon Or. But when the seventh dyed issuelesse this the Manours of Dancaster Bainton Bridesalle c. were parted by the sisters betweene the families of the Salvains and Bigots Neere unto this place as elsewhere in this shore is found blacke Amber or Geate Some take it to be Gagates which in old time they held to be one of the rare gems and precious stones It groweth among the cliffes and rockes where they chinke and gape asunder Before it be polished it is of a reddish and rusty colour but after it bee once polished it becommeth as saith Solinus as a Gemme of a bright radiant blacke colour Touching which Rhemnius Palamon out of Dionysius Afer thus versifieth Praefulget nigro splendore Gagates Hic lapis ardescens austro perfusâ—s aquarum Ast oleo perdens flammas mirabile visu Attritus rapit hic teneras seu succina frâ—ndes The Geat is blacke and shineth passing bright Which Stone in water dipt and drencht takes fire and burneth light In oile a wonder for to see the flame is quickly done And like to Amber rub it hard small stickes it catcheth soone And Marbodaeus in his little booke of precious stones Nascitur in Lycia lapis prope gemma Gagates Sed genus eximium foecunda Britannia mittit Lucidus niger est levis lavissimuâ— idem Vicinas paleas trabit attritu calefactus Ardet aqua lotus restinguitur unctus olivo Geat is a Stone and Gemme well nere that men in Lycia finde But fruitfull Britan yeelds the best simply of all that kinde Of colour blacke yet bright it is most smoothe and light withall Well rubbed and enchaul'd thereby thin strawes and fescues small That are neere hand it drawes thereto it burnes in water drencht Annoint the same with fatty oile the flame streigthwaies is quencht Heare also what Solinus saith In Britaine there is great store of Gagates or Geat and an excellent stone it is If you demand the colour it is a bright radiant blacke if the quality it is in manner nothing weighty If the nature it burneth in water and is quenched with oile if the vertue being made hote with rubbing it holdeth such things as are applied thereto From Whitby the shore gives backe Westward by which lyeth Cliveland taking that name as it seemeth of steepe bankes which in our language wee call Cliffes for there runne all along the side thereof cliffie hilles at the foote of which the country spreadeth into a Plaine full of fertile fields Upon the shore Sken grave a little Village is much benefited by taking great store of fish where also by report was caught a Sea-man about 70. yeeres since that for certaine daies together fed of raw fishes but espying his opportunity escaped away unto his proper element againe Whensoever the windes are laied and that upon still weather the sea is most calme and the water lieth as one would say levell and plaine without any noise there is heard heere many times on a sudden a great way off as it were an horrible and a fearefull groning at which time the fishermen dare not launch out farre into the deepe as beleeving according to their shallow reach that the Ocean is a fell and cruell beast and being then very hungry desireth greedily in that sort to devoure mens bodies Beneath Sken-grave is situate Kilton Castle within a Parke which belonged sometime to the habitation of the Thwengs whose patrimony descended to the Barons of Lumley Hilton and Daubeneie And there joyneth almost close unto it Skelton Castle appertaining to the ancient family of the Barons Brus who derive their descent from Robert Brus the Norman The said Robert had two sonnes Adam Lord of Skelton and Robert of Anan-dale in Scotland from whom is descended the royall stem of Scotland But Peter Brus the fifth Lord of Skelton died without issue and left his sisters to inherite namely Agnes wife to Walter Falconberg Lucie wedded to Marmaduke Thweng of whom is come the Baron Lumley Margaret married to Robert Ros and Laderina to John Belle-eau men in that age of honourable reputation The heires successively of Walter Falconberg flourished a long time but in the end by a female the possessions came to Sir William Nevill who was a redoubted Knight for martiall prowesse and by King Edward the Fourth advanced to the title of Earle of Kent And his daughters were bestowed in marriage upon Sir John Cogniers N. Bedhowing and R. Strangwaies Neere unto Hunt-cliffe and not farre from the shore there appeare aloft at a vale water certaine Rockes about which the fishes that wee call Seales short as some thinke for Sea-veales meete together in droves to sleepe and sunne themselves and upon that rocke which is next unto the shore there lieth one as it were to keepe the Centinell and as any man approcheth neere he either by throwing downe a big stone or by tumbling himselfe into the water with a great noise giveth a signall to the rest to looke unto themselves and get into the water Most affraid they bee of men against whom when they chase them they being destitute of water fling backeward with their hinder feete a cloud as it were of sand and gravell stones yea and often times drive them away For women they care not so much and therefore whosoever would take them use to bee clad in womens apparell In the same coast are found stones some of yellowish others of a reddish colour and some againe with a rough cast crust over them of a certaine salt matter which by their smell and taste make shew of Coperose Nitre and Brimstone and also great store of Marquesites in colour resembling brasse Hard by at Huntly Nabb the shore that lay for a great way in length open riseth now up with craggy rockes at the rootes wherof there lie scattering here and there stones of divers bignesse so artificially by nature shaped round in maner of a Globe that one would take them to be big bullets made by the turners hand for shot to bee discharged out of great ordinance In which if you breake them are found stony serpents enwrapped round like a wreath but most of them are headles Then see you from thence Wilton Castle sometime the Bulmers and above it at Dobham the river Tees voideth into the Sea after it hath lodged sundry rivers and at the last one that is namelesse beside Yare
seeking for moisture get under the ground and men goe a fishing with spades But that in Paphlagonia many and those good fishes are gotten by digging in places nothing watery there is some secret and peculiar reason thereof in Nature and pleasantly wrote Seneca Why should not fishes enter and passe into the land if we passe over the Sea From hence the open shore shooteth out with a great bent and more within land from the sea standeth Ormeskirke a mercate towne well knowne by reason of the sepulture there of the Stanleys Earles of Derby whose chiefe seat Latham is hard by a stately house which they have enlarged continually ever since King Henry the Fourth his dayes what time Sir John Stanley knight father to John Lord deputy of Ireland descended of the same stemme whence the Barons de Audley married the daughter and heire of Sir Thomas Latham a right noble knight who brought to him for her dowrie this faire inheritance with many other possessions And from that time have the Stanleys planted their seat heere of whom Thomas the sonne of Thomas Lord Stanley was by King Henry the seventh created Earle of Derby and had issue by Eleonor Nevill daughter to the Earle of Salisbury George Lord Strange for he had wedded Joan the onely daughter and heire of John Baron Le Strange of Knockin who dying in his fathers life time begat a sonne named Thomas the second Earle of Derby unto whom Anne the daughter of Edward Lord Hastings bare Edward the third Earle of Derby who begat of Dorothea daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke Henry the fourth Earle who married Margaret daughter of Henry Clifford Earle of Cumberland mother unto Ferdinando the fifth Earle lately deceased and to William now the sixth Earle who succeeded his brother but I forget my selfe now when as I have formerly remembred as much Duglesse a riveret creepeth and stealeth along quietly by this place neere unto which our noble Arthur as Ninnius writeth put the Saxons to flight in a memorable battaile At the head hereof standeth the towne Wiggin called in ancient times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which name I have nothing else to say but that in Lancashire they call buildings and houses Biggins neither of the towne but that it is faire and a Corporation also with a Maior and Burgesses and the parson of the Church as I have learned is Lord of the towne Hard by it Holland sheweth it selfe out of a younger brother whereof that most noble and renowned race of the Hollands Earles of Kent and Dukes also of Surry and Excester fetched both their originall and their sirname But the daughter and heire of the eldest brother who flourished here in knights degree being in the end married into the house of the Lovels brought unto them an addition of possessions with her Armes viz. in a shield Azure florete Argent a Lion rampant gardant Arg. Neere unto the mouth of Duglesse is Merton a very great large poole which emptieth it selfe into this river and then streight waies meeteth with the river Ribell neare his out-let for this is the next river after Mersey that runneth into the sea and hath not yet lost quite his former ancient name for Ptolomee calleth the salt water or arme of the sea here BELLISAMA and we Ribell perhaps by addition of the Saxon word Rhe unto it that signifieth a River This river comming with a quicke and hasty streame out of the hils in Yorke-shire taketh his course first Southward by three exceeding high mountaines Ingleborow hill at the spring head which I wondered at to see how it ascendeth as it were by degrees with a huge and mighty ridge Westward and at the farthest end mounteth up into the aire as if an other hill were set upon the head of it Penigent haply so called of his whitish snowy top for so Pengwin signifieth in the british tongue and he riseth aloft with an huge bulke howbeit not altogether so high as the other But when Ribell commeth into Lancashire for those two stand in Yorke-shire Pendle-hill advanceth it selfe up to the skie with a lofty head and in the very top thereof bringeth forth a peculiar plant which as though it came out of the clowdes they tearme Clowdes-bery But this mountaine is most notorious for the harme that it did not long since to the country lying beneath it by reason of a mighty deale of water gushing out of it as also for an infallible prognostication of raine so often as the top thereof is covered with a mist. Of these hils I have made mention the more willingly both because they are the highest in our Apennine whence commeth this vulgar Rhime Ingleborow Pendle and Penigent Are the highest hils betweene Scotland and Trent As also that the reader may understand as I said before why the highest Alpes were called of the old Gaules Penninae and why the very top of the hils named Pennum and Apennini were of them so tearmed For Pen in the British tongue signifieth the tops of hils By an out corner or parcel of Pendle hill standeth Clithero castle built by the Lacies neere unto Ribell and a neighbour unto it Whaley in the Saxon tongue Walalez famous for the monastery that the said Lacies founded which was translated from Stanlaw in Cheshire hither in the yeere 1296. where in the yeere 798. duke Wade unfortunately gave battaile to Ardulph King of Northumberland at Billangho which is more short called Langho This Ribell no sooner turneth into the West but imparteth his name to a small towne which in our age is called Riblechester where are digged up from time to time so many monuments of Romane antiquity statues peeces of coyn Pillars Piedestals Chapters of pillars heathen altars Marble-stones and inscriptions that the inhabitants may seeme not without cause to have this hobling rhyme so rise in their mouthes It is written upon a wall in Rome Ribchester was as rich as any towne in Christendome And the port high wayes came directly hither raiâ—ed up with eminent cause is one from Yorke another out of the North through Bowland-Forrest a spacious peece of ground which as yet is most evidently to be seene for many miles together But the country folke have so disfigured the inscriptions that although I did see many yet could I scarce read one or two of them At Salesbury hall an house of that ancient family of the Talbots standing neere by I saw the base or foot of a pillar with this inscription DEO MARTI ET VICTORIAE DD. AUGG. ET CC NN In a wall neare unto it there is another great stone infixed shewing in the fore-part Cupid and another little image out of the backe-side or reverse whereof this was exemplified for me but the inscription carrieth no sense with it which because it troubled me a long time I will set down here underneath to see what
Romane high-way goeth straight into the West by Whinfield a large Parke shaded with trees hard by BROVONIACUM standing twentie Italian miles or seventeene English miles from VERTERAE as Antonine hath set it who also hath called it Brovocum like as the book of Notices Broconiacum which specifieth that a companie or band of Defensors had here their abode The beautie and buildings of this towne although time hath consumed yet the name remaineth almost untouched for we call it Brogham Here the river Eimot flowing out of a great lake for a good space dividing this shire from Cumberland receiveth the river Loder into it neere unto the spring head whereof hard by Shape in times past Hepe a little monasterie built by Thomas the sonne of Gospatrick sonne of Orms there is a Well or Fountaine which after the manner of Euripus ebbeth and floweth many times in a day also there be huge stones in forme of Pyramides some 9. foot high and fourteene foot thick ranged directly as it were in a row for a mile in length with equall distance almost betweene which may seeme to have beene pitched and erected for to continue the memoriall of some act there atchieved but what the same was by the injurie of time it is quite forgotten Hard by Loder there is a place bearing the same name which like as Stricland neere unto it hath imparted their names to families of ancient gentrie and worship Somewhat above where Loder and Eimot meet in one chanell in the yeere of our Lord 1602. there was a stone gotten out of the ground erected in the honour of Constantine the Great with these words IMP. C. VAL. CONSTANTINO PIENT AUG When Eimot hath served a good while for a limit betweene this shire and Cumberland neere unto Isan-parles a rocke full well knowne unto the neighbour inhabitants whereunto nature hath left difficult passage and there framed sundry caves and thosefull of winding crankes a place of safe refuge in time of danger hee lodgeth himselfe after some few miles both with his owne streame and with the waters of other rivers also in Eden so soone as he hath entertained Blencarne a brook that boundeth this county on Cumberland side Neere unto which I have heard there be the strange ruines of an old Castle the people call them the hanging walls of Marcantoniby that is of Marke Antony as they would have it As for such as have borne the title of Westmorland the first Lord to my knowledge was Robert de Vipont who bare Guels sixe Annulets Or in his coat armour For King John gave unto him the balliwicke and revenues of Westmorland by the service of foure Knights whereupon the Cliffords his successors untill our daies held the office of the Sherifdome of Westmorland For Robert de Vipont the last of that name left behind him only two daughters Isabel wife to Roger Lord Clifford and Idonea married unto Sir Roger Leybourne Long time after K. Richard the second created Ralph Nevill of Raby the first Earle of Westmorland a man of the greatest and most ancient birth of English nobility as descended from Ucthred Earl of Northumberland whose heires successively by his former wife Margaret daughter to the Earle of Stafford flourished in that honour untill that Charles by his wilfull stomack and wicked conspiracy casting off his allegeance to Q. Elizabeth and covering treason under the mantle of religion most shamefully dishonoured that most noble house and foully steined his owne reputation by actuall rebellion in the yeere 1599. Whereupon hee fled into the Low countries led a miserable life and died as miserably The said first Earle to note so much incidently by his second wife Catharine daughter to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster had so faire issue and the name of Nevill thereby so greatly multiplied that almost at one and the same time there flourished out beside the Earle of Westmorland an Earle of Salisbury an Earle of Warwicke an Earle of Kent Marquesse Montacute a Duke of Bedford Lord Latimer and Lord Abergevenny all Nevils In this shire are conteined Parishes 26. CVMBRIA Sive CVMBERLANDIA Quae olim pars Brigantum CUMBER-LAND WEstward Northward from Westmorland lieth CUMBERLAND the utmost region this way of the realme of England as that which on the North side boundeth upon Scotland on the South side and the West the Irish sea beateth upon it and Eastward above Westmorland it butteth upon Northumberland It tooke the name of the inhabitants who were the true and naturall Britans and called themselves in their owne language Kumbri and Kambri For the Histories testifie that the Britans remained here a long time maugre the English Saxons howsoever they stormed thereat yea and Marianus himselfe recordeth as much who tearmed this countrey Cumbrorum terram that is Thâ— land of the Cumbri or Britans to say nothing of the places that everie where here beare British names as Caer-Luel Caer-dronoc Pen-rith Pen-rodoc c. which most evidently declare the same and as cleerly prove mine assertion The country although it be somewhat with the coldest as lying farre North and seemeth as rough by reason of hills yet for the varietie thereof it smileth upon the beholders and giveth contentment to as many as travaile it For after the rockes bunching out the mountaines standing thicke together rich of metall mines and betweene them great meeres stored with all kindes of wilde foule you come to prettie hills good for pastorage and well replenished with flockes of sheepe beneath which againe you meet with goodly plaines spreading out a great way yeelding come sufficiently Besides all this the Ocean driving and dashing upon the shore affoordeth plentie of excellent good fish and upbraideth as it were the inhabitants thereabouts with their negligence for that they practise fishing no more than they doe The South part of this shire is called Copeland and Coupland for that it beareth up the head aloft with sharpe edged and pointed hills which the Britans tearme Copa or as others would have it named Copeland as one would say Coperland of rich mines of copper therein In this part at the very mouth of the river Duden whereby it is severed apart from Lancashire standeth Millum Castle belonging to the ancient house of the Hodlestones from whence as the shore fetcheth about with a bent Northward two rivers very commodiously enclose within them Ravenglasse a station or roade for ships where also as I have learned were to be â—eene Roman inscriptions some will have it called in old time Aven-glasse as one would say the blew river and they talke much of King Eueling that here had his Court and royall palace One of these rivers named Eske springeth up at the foot of Hard-knot an high steepe mountaine in the top whereof were discovered of late huge stones and foundations of a castle not without great wonder considering it is so steep and upright that one can hardly ascend up to it
thither MCCXI. Sir Richard Tuit by the fall of a towre at Alone was crushed and whindred to death This Richard was founder of the Monasterie de Grenard MCCXII The Abbey of Grenard was founded In the same yeere died John Comyn Archbishop of Dublin and was buried within the quire of the Church of the Holy Trinitie who was founder of Saint Patricks Church of Dublin after whom succeeded Henrie Londres who is called Scorch Villeyn by occasion of a certaine act of his for that one day he called his tenants before him to answer by what teâ—nure they held of him And those tenants shewed their deeds and charters but he commanded the charters or deeds of these husbandmen his tenants to be burned and then the Freeholders evermore called him Henrie Scorch-Villein which Henrie Archbishop of Dublin was Justice of Ireland and built Dublin castle MCCXIII William Petit and Petre Messet departed this life This Petre Messet was Baron of Luyn hard by Trym but because he died without heire male the inheritance passed unto three daughters the eldest of whom the Lord Vernail married the second Talbot wedded and the other Lounders espoused and so they parted the inheritance betweene themselves MCCXIX The Citie of Damieta in the Nones of September was about the still time of midnight miraculously wonne so that in the forcing and taking thereof there was not one Christian lost his life In the same yeere died William Mareshal the elder Earle Mareshall and of Pembroch who begat on the daughter of Richard Strongbow Earle of Stroghul five sonnes the name of the first sonne was William the named of the second Walter the name of the third Gilbert the name of the fourth Anselme the name of the fifth Richard who was slaine in the warre of Kildare and everie one of these five sonnes was Earle after their father by succession in their fathers inheritance and none of these had issue wherefore the inheritance went away unto the sisters namely the daughters of their father the first was named Maud Mareschal the second Isabel Clare the third Eva Breos the fourth Johan Mount Chensey the fifth Sibill Countesse Ferrers Hugh Bigod Earle of Norfolk espoused Maud Mareschal he in the right of his wife was Earle Mareschal of England which Hugh begat Raufe Bigod father of John Bigod who was the sonne of the Ladie Bertha Furnival also Isabell Lacie wife to Lord John Fitz-Gefferey and when Hugh Bigod Earle of Norfolke was dead she bare John de Gâ—aren Earle of Surrey and his sister Isabell Albeney Countesse of Arundell Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester espoused Isabel the second sister who between them had issue Richard de Clare Earle of Glocester and she was mother to the Ladie Anise Countesse of Denshire who was mother to Isabel wife of the Lord Robert Brus Earle of Carricke in Scotland and was afterwards King of the same Scotland Of Eva Brus the third sister was begotten Maud who was the mother of the Lord Edmund Mortimer and mother to the Ladie Eve Cauntelow mother of the Ladie Milsond Mohun who was mother of Dame Eleanor mother to the Earle of Hereford The Lord Guarin Mont Chensey espoused Johan Mareschall the fourth sister of whom came Johan Valens Sibyll the Countesse of Ferrers to wit the fourth had issue five daughters the first Agnes Vescie mother to the Lord John and the Lord William Vescie the second Isabel Basset the third Joan Mohun wife to the Lord John Mohun son of the Lord Reginald the fourth Sibyll Mohun wife to Lord Francis Bohun Lord of Midhurst the fifth Eleanor Vaus who was wife unto the Earle of Winchester the sixth Agatha Mortimer wife to the Lord Hugh Mortimer the seventh Maud Kyme Lady of Carbry All these abovesaid as well males as females are of the genealogie of the said William Earle Mareschal MCCXX. The translation of St. Thomas of Canterburie In the same yeere died the Lord Meiler Fitz Henrie founder of the house of Connall who is buried in the Chapter house of the same house MCCXXIV The Castle of Bedford was besieged and the Castle of Trim in Ireland MCCXXV Roger Pippard died And Anno MCCXXVIII died William Pippard sometime Lord of the Salmons-leap There departed likewise Henrie Londres alias Scorch villeyn Archbishop of Dublin and is interred in the Church of the Holy Trinitie at Dublin MCCXXX Henrie King of England gave unto Hubert Burk the Justiceship of Ireland and a third pennie of rent and made him Earle of Kent And afterward the same Hubert was imprisoned and great trouble arose between the King and his subjects because he adhered to strangers more than to his owne naturall people MCCXXXI William Mareschall the younger Earle Mareshall and of Pembroke died who is buried within the Quire of the Friers Preachers in Kilkenny MCCXXXIV Richard Earle Mareshall and of Pembroke or Stroghull on the first day before the Ides of April was wounded in battell upon the plaine of Kildare and some few dayes after died in Kilkenny and there hard by his naturall whole brother to wit William lieth buried within the Quire of Friers Preachers of whom it is thus written Cujus sub fossa Kilkenia continet ossa Whose bones bestow'd in grave so deep Kilkenny towne doth safely keepe MCCXI. Walter Lacie Lord of Meth departed this life in England leaving behind him two daughters his heires whereof Sir Theobald Verdon married the first and Geffery Genevile espoused the second MCCXLII The Castle of Slegah was built by Morice Fitz-Gerald Justice of Ireland King Edward the first marched into Wales with a great army and sent to the said Justice that he would come to him with some forces out of Ireland who accordingly came with the flower of the English in Ireland and Phelin O-Conor who was then King of Conacht in his company and shortly returned with victorie honour Afterward the said Justice preied the countrey Tirconnell and gave a moitie thereof to Cormac Mac-Dermot Mac-Rory and carried with him pledges for the other moitie and left them in the castle of Sleagh Another expedition was made by the said Justice and the English first he came to Sleigagh thence to Hohosserovie Mac Morin the Tuesday after the feast of Peter and Paul and Cormac-Mac-Dermot Mac-Rorie accompanied them At that time O Donnel assembled all Kineoill Conail against them at the ford of Ath-Shany so that hee permitted neither English nor Irish to passe over the ford whereupon the English resolved to send Cormac Mac-Rory O-Conor with a company of horse into the champion Westward and they returned by an higher plaine over the moores Eastward to the ford of Quilvain upon the water Earne so that O-Donnel knew nothing of those companies of horse untill he saw them on that side of the river that he himselfe encamped and when he saw the English at his backe hee encountred them but his army was put to rout Moyls Haghlin O-Donnel commonly called King of Kineoil Conail was slain
alwayes called in plaine words Burg-water that is Walters burgh or Burgh-walter and as we may very probably conjecture of that Walter de Duaco or Doway who served under William Conqueror in his wars and received at his hands many faire mannors in this shire Neither carrieth it any other name in that grant or donation whereby Fulke Paynes Lord of Bampton passed the possession of the place over unto William Briwer to curry favour with him being so great a man and so gracious a favourite with King Richard the First This Williams sonne and bearing his name bettered this haven having obtained licence of King Iohn to fortifie a Castle built heere a Fortresse which now time hath wrought her will of and began a bridg which one Strivet a gentleman of Cornwall with infinite cost finished founded also the Hospitall of S. Iohn heere and Dunkeswell Abbay But when this William Briwer the younger left this life without issue in the partition of his heritage it fell to Margaret his sister in right of whose daughter that she had by William De la fort it came to the house of Cadurci or Chaworths and from it hereditarily to the Dukes of Lancaster as some lands heereabout by an other sister came to Breos and so by Cantalupe to Lord Zauch But the greatest honor that this place had was by the title of an Earldome that King Henrie the Eight adorned it withall what time as he created Henrie Doubeney Earle of Bridge-water whose sister Cecilie was married unto Iohn Bourchier the first Earle of Bath out of that house Beneath this some few miles off Parret voideth it selfe into the Severne sea at a wide mouth which as we said Ptolomee called Vzella aestuarium and some even at this day Evelmouth but the old English-Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at which place as Marianus mine author writeth Ealstan Bishop of Shirburne about the yeere of Salvation 845. discomfited the Danish forces as they were stragling abroad At the same mouth where we saw Honispell an ancient Mannour of the Coganes men of great fame in the conquest of Ireland there meeteth it another river called of some Brius which ariseth out of that great and wide wood in the East-side of this shire which the Britans named Cort Maur the Saxons Selwood that is by Asserius interpretation The great wood but now not so great This river first visiteth Bruiton to which he leaveth his name a place memorable for that the Mohuns there entombed who built a religious house of the Fitz-Iames runneth a long way by small villages and encreased with some other brooks it watereth goodly grounds untill it meete with softer soile then and there it maketh certaine marshes and meres and when the waters rise environeth a large plot of ground as an Isle so called of old time in the British tongue the Isle of Aualon of Appulis afterwards named Inis Witrin that is The Glassy Isle like as in the Saxon Idiome the same sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latin Gloscania Of which a Poet of good antiquity writeth thus Insula pomorum quae fortunata vocatur Ex re nomen habet quia per se singula profert Non opus est illi sâ—lcantibus arva colonis Omnis abest cultus nisi quem natura ministrat Vltró foecundas segetes producit herbas Nataque poma suis praetonso germine sylvis The Apple-Isle and Fortunate folke of the thing so call For of it selfe it bringeth forth corne Forage fruit and all There is no need of country clowns to plough and till the fields Nor seene is any husbandry but that which nature yeelds Of the owne accord there commeth up corne grasse and herbs good store Whole woods there be that apples beare if they be prun'd before In this Isle under a great hill rising in great height with a tower theron which they call the Tor flourished the famous Abbay of Glastenbury the beginning whereof is very ancient setched even from that Ioseph of Arimathaea who enterred the bodie of Iesus Christ and whom Philip the Apostle of the Gaules sent into Britaine for to preach Christ. For thus much both the most ancient records and monuments of this Monasterie testifie and also Patrick the Irish Apostle who lived there a Monke thirtie yeeres in an Epistle of his hath left to memorie Whereupon this place was by our Ancestors named The first land of God The first land of Saints in England The beginning and fountaine of all religion in England The tombe of Saints The mother of Saints The Church founded and built by the Lords Disciples Neither is there any cause why we should much doubt thereof sithence I have shewed before that the beames of Christian religion in the very infancie of the primitive Church were spred and shined upon this Iland yea and Freculphus Lexoviensis hath written that the said Philip conducted barbarous nations neere unto darknesse and bordering just upon the Ocean to the light of knowledge and port of faith But to our Monasterie and that out of Malmesburie his booke touching this matter When that old Cell or litle chappell which Ioseph had built by continuance of time was in the end decaied Devi Bishop of Saint Davids erected a new one in the same place which also in time falling to ruine twelve men comming out of the North part of Britaine repaired it and lastly King Ina who founded a schoole in Rome for the training up and instruction of English youth to the maintenance thereof as also for almes to be distributed at Rome had laid an imposition of Peter-pence upon every house thorowout his realme having demolished it built there a very faire and stately Church to Christ Peter and Paul and under the very highest coping thereof round about caused to bee written these verses Syderei montes speciosa cacumina Sion A Libano geminae flore comante cedri Caelorum portae lati duo lumina mundi Ore tonat Paulus fulgurat arce Petrus Inter Apostolicas radianti luce coronas Doctior hic monitis celsior ille gradu Corda per hunc hominum reserantur astra per illum Quos docet iste stylo suscipit ille polo. Pandit iter coeli hic dogmate clavibus alter Est via cui Paulus janua fida Petrus Hic Petra firma manens ille Architectus habetur Surgit in hijs templum quo placet ara Deo Anglia plaude lubens mittit tibi Roma salutem Fulgor Apostolicus Glasconiam irradiat A facie hostili duo propugnacula surgunt Quod fidei turres urbs caput orbis habet Haec pius egregio Rex Ina refertus amore Dona suo populo non moritura dedit Totus in affectu divae pietatis inhaereus Ecclesiaeque juges amplificavit opes Melchi-sedech noster meritó Rex atque Sacerdos Complevit verae religionis opus Publica jura regens celsa palatia servans Vnica Pontificum gloria norma
for all England right happy For it brought forth to us Queene Elizabeth a most gracious and excellent Prince worthy of superlative praise for her most wise and politique government of the Common-wealth and for her heroicke vertues farre above that sexe But when the said Thomas Bullen overcome with the griefe and sorrow that hee tooke for the infortunate fall and death of his children he ended his daies without issue this title lay still untill that King Edward the Sixth conferred it upon William Powlet Lord Saint Iohn whom soone after hee made Marquesse of Winchester and Lord Treasurer of England in whose family it remaineth at this day This Countie containeth in it Parishes 304. HANTSHIRE NExt to Wilshire is that Country which sometimes the Saxons called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and is now commonly named Hantshire of which one part that beareth farther within the land belonged no doubt to the Belgae the other which lieth upon the sea appertained without question to the Regni an ancient people of Britaine On the West it hath Dorsetshire and Wilshire on the South the Ocean to bound it on the East it joyneth to Sussex and Surrie and on the North it bordereth upon Barkshire A small province it is fruitfull in corne furnished in some places with pleasant woods standing thicke and well growne rich in plenteous pasture and for all commodities of sea most wealthy and happie It is thought that it was with the first brought under subjection to the Romans For our Histories report that Vespasian subdued it and very probable reasons there are inducing us to beleeve the same For Dio witnesseth that Plautius and Vespasian when they were sent by the Emperour Claudius against the Britaines did give the attempt upon this Island with an armie divided into three parts least if they should have ventured to land in one place onely they might have beene driven backe from the shore Suetonius also writeth that in this expedition Vespasian fought thirtie battailes with the enemie and subdued the Isle of Wight which lieth against this country and two other right puissant nations with it For which his victories as also for passing over the Ocean so safely Valerius Flaccus speaketh unto Vespasian himselfe as one more fortunate than Iulius Caesar in this manner Tuque O Pelagi cui major aperti Fama Caledonius post quam tua Carbasa vexit Oceanus Fhrigios prius indignatus Iülos And thou for Seas discoverie whose fame did more appeare Since that thy ships with sailes full spred in Northren Ocean were Which skorn'd before of Phrygian line the Julii to beare And of the very same Vespasian Appolonius Collatius Novariensis the Poet versified thus Ille quidem nuper faelici Marte Britannos Fuderat He verily of late by happy flight Had won the field and Britains put to flight But how in this war Titus delivered Vespasian his father when he was very streightly besieged by the Britans and how at the same time likewise an adder grasped him about and yet never hurt him which he tooke as a lucky foretoken of his Empire you may learne out of Dio and Forcatulus I for my part to come to my purpose beginning at the West side of this province will make my perambulation along the sea-coast and the rivers that runne into the Ocean and after that survey the more in-land parts thereof HAMSHIRE OLIM PARS BELGARVM A long the East banke of this river in this Shire King William of Normandie pulled downe all the townes villages houses and Churches farre and neere cast out the poore Inhabitants and when he had so done brought all within thirty miles compasse or there about into a forrest and harbour for wild beasts which the Englishmen in those daies termed Ytene and we now call New forrest Of which Act of his Gwalter Maps who lived immediately after wrote thus The Conquerour tooke away land both from God and men to dedicate the same unto wild beasts and Dogs-game in which space he threw downe sixe and thirtie-Mother-Churches and drave all the people thereto belonging quite away And this did he either that the Normans might have safer and more secure arrivall in England for it lieth over against Normandie in case after that all his wars were thought ended any new dangerous tempest should arise in this Island against him or for the pleasure which he tooke in hunting or else to scrape and rape money to himselfe by what meanes soever he could For being better affected and more favourable to beasts than to men he imposed verie heavie fines and penalties yea and other more grievous punishments upon those that should meddle with his game But Gods just judgement not long after followed this so unreasonable and cruell act of the King For Richard his second sonne and William Rufus King of England another sonne of his perished both in this Forrest William by chance shot through with an arrow by Walter Tirell the other blasted with a pestilent aire Henrie likewise his Grand-child by Robert his eldest sonne whiles hee hotely pursued his game in this Chase was hanged amongst the boughes and so died that wee may learne thereby How even childrens children beare the punishment of their Fathers sonnes There goe commonly abroad certaine verses that Iohn White Bishop of Winchester made of this Forrest Which although they falsly make William Rufus to have ordained the same yet because they are well liked of many I am likewise well content heere to set them downe Templa adimit Divis fora civibus arva colonis Rufus instituit Beaulensi in rure forestam Rex cervum insequitur Regem vindicta Tirellus Non bene provisum transfixit acumine ferri From God and Saint King Rus did Churches take From Citizens town-court and mercate place From Farmer lands New forrest for to make In Beaulew tract where whiles the King in chase Pursues the Hart just vengeance comes apace And King pursues Tirrell him seeing not Unawares him slew with dint of arrow shot He calleth it Beauley tract for that King Iohn built hard by a pretty Monasterie for the pleasant scituation called Beaulieu which continued ever unto our Fathers memorie of great fame as being an unviolated sanctuarie and a safe refuge for all that fled to it in so much that in times past our people heere thought it unlawfull and an hainous offence by force to take from thence any persons whatsoever were they thought never so wicked murtherers or traitours so that our Ancestors when they erected such Sanctuaries or Temples as they terme them of Mercie every where throughout England seemed rather to have proposed unto themselves Romulus to imitate than Moses who commanded that wilfull murtherers should bee plucked from the Altar and put to death and for them onely appointed Sanctuarie who by meere chance had killed any man But least the sea coast for so long a tract as that forrest is heere should lie without defence all open
they call it a Fesse with a labell of seven as I have seene upon his seales After him succeeded Roger his sonne who bare Gules seven Mascles voided Or but with him that honour vanished and went away seeing he died without issue male For he married the eldest daughter and one of the coheires of Alan Lord of Galloway in Scotland by a former wife in right of whom he was Constable of Scotland He had by her three onely daughters the first married to William de Ferrariis Earle of Derbie the second to Alan de la Zouch the third to Comine Earle of Bucqhanan in Scotland A long time after Hugh le Dispencer having that title bestowed upon him for terme of his life by King Edward the second whose minion he was and only beloved felt together with his sonne what is the consequence of Princes extraordinary favours For both of them envied by most were by the furious rage of the people put cruelly to shamefull death And long it was after this that through the bounty of King Edward the Fourth Lewis of Bruges a Netherland Lord of Gruthuse Prince of Steinhuse c. Who had given him comfort and succour in the Netherlands when hee was fled his native countrey received this honour with Armes resembling those of Roger Quincy in these words Azur a dix Mascles D'or en orm d'un Canton de nostie propre Armes d' Engleterre cestsavour de Goul un Leopard passant d' or armeè d' azur All which after King Edwards death he yeilded up into the hands of Henrie the seventh But lately within our memorie King Edward the sixth honoured Sir William Pawlet Lord Treasurer of England Earle of Wilshire and Lord Saint Iohn of Basing with a new title of Marquesse of Winchester A man prudently pliable to times raised not sodainely but by degrees in Court excessive in vaste informous buildings temperate in all other things full of yeares for he lived nintie seven years and fruitfull in his generation for he saw one hundred and three issued from him by Elizabeth his wife daughter to Sir William Capell Knight And now his grand-child William enjoyeth the said honours For the Geographicall position of Winchester it hath beene observed by former ages to be in longitude two and twenty degrees and in latitude fiftie one From Winchester more Eastward the river Hamble at a great mouth emptieth it selfe into the Ocean Beda calleth it Homelea which as he writeth by the lands of the Intae entreth into Solente for so termeth he that frith our narrow sea that runneth betweene the Isle of Wight and the main land of Britain in which the tides at set houres rushing in with great violence out of the Ocean at both ends and so meeting one another in the midst seemed so strange a matter to our men in old time that they reckoned it among the wonders of Britaine Whereof read heere the very words of Beda The two tides of the Ocean which about Britaine breake out of the vast Northern Ocean daily encounter and fight one against another beyond the mouth of the river Homelea and when they have ended their conflict returne backe from whence they came and runne into the Ocean Into this Frith that little river also sheadeth it selfe which having his head neere Warnford passeth betweene the Forrests of Waltham where the Bishop of Winchester hath a goodly house and of Bere whereby is Wickham a mansion of that ancient family of Vuedal and then by Tichfield sometime a little monasterie founded by Petre de Rupibus Bishop of Winchester where the marriage was solemnized betweene King Henry the sixth and Margaret of Anjou and now the principall seate of the Lord Writheosleies Earles of South-hampton From thence forthwith the shore with curving crookes draweth it selfe in and the Island named Portesey maketh a great creeke within the more inward nooke or corner whereof sometimes flourished Port peris where by report Vespasian landed An haven towne which our Ancestours by a new name called Port-chester not of Porto the Saxon but of the port or haven For Ptolomee tearmeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is THE GREAT HAVEN for the widenesse of it like as that Portus Magnus also in Africk as Plinie witnesseth And verily there remaineth yet a great Castle which hath a faire and spacious prospect into the haven underneath But when as the Ocean by with-drawing it selfe tooke away by little and little the commoditie of the haven the Inhabitants flitted from thence into the Island Portsey adjoyning which taketh in circuit much about fourteene miles being at every full sea floated round about with salt-waters out of which they boile salt and by a bridge that hath a fortresse adjoyning unto it is united to the Continent This Island Athelflede King Eadgars wife had given to the New monasterie of Winchester And in it at the very gullet or mouth where the sea entreth in our fore-fathers built a towne and thereupon named it Portsmouth that is the mouth of the haven A place alwaies in time of warre well frequented otherwise little resort there is to it as beeing more favourable and better affected to Mars and Neptune than to Mercurie that is to warre rather than to traffique A Church it hath of the old building and an Hospitall Gods house they call it founded by Peter de Rupibus Bishop of Winchester Fortified it was with a wall made of timber and the same well covered over with thicke bankes of earth fenced with a platforme also or mount of earth in times past on the North-east nere to the gate and two block-houses at the entry of the haven made of new hewen stone Which being by King Edward the fourth begunne King Henrie the seventh as the Inhabitants report did finish and strengthned the towne with a garrison But in our remembrance Queene ELIZABETH at her great cost and charges so armed it as one would say with new fortifications as that now there is nothing wanting that a man would require in a most strong and fenced place And of the garrison-souldiers some keepe watch and ward both night and day at the gates others upon the towre of the Church who by the ringing or sound of a bell give warning how many horse or foote are comming and by putting forth a banner shew from what quarter they come From hence as the shore fetcheth a compasse and windeth from Portes-bridge wee had the sight of Havant a little mercate towne and hard by it of Wablington a goodly faire house belonging some-times to the Earles of Salisbury but now to the family of the Cottons Knights Before which there lie two Islands the one greater named Haling the other lesse called Thorney of thornes there growing and both of them have their severall parish Church In many places along this shore of the sea-waters flowing up thither is made salt of a palish or greene colour the which by a certaine artificious devise
it selfe into a channell yet often times it overfloweth the low lands about it to no small detriment Not farre from the said mere Furle sheweth it selfe a principall mansion of the Gages who advanced their estate by the marriage of one of the heires of Saint Clare Princes favour and Court Offices The shore next openeth it selfe at Cuckmere which yet affordeth no commodious haven though it be fed with a fresh which insulateth Michelham where Gilbert de Aquila founded a Priory for black Chanons And then at East-bourn the shore ariseth into so high a Promontory called of the beach Beachy-points and Beau-cliffe for the faire shew being interchangeably compounded with rowe of chalke and flint that it is esteemed the highest cliffe of all the South coast of England As hitherto from Arundell and beyond the countrey along the coast for a great breadth mounteth up into high hilles called the Downes which for rich fertilitie giveth place to few valleys and plaines so now it falleth into such a low levell and marsh that the people think it hath been over-flowed by the sea They call it Pevensey Marsh of Pevensey the next towne adjoyning which lieth in the plaine somewhat within the land upon a small river which often times overlaieth the lands adjacent In the old English Saxon Language it was walled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Norman speech Pevensell now commonly Pemsey It hath had a meane haven and a faire large castle in the ruinous walles whereof remaine great bricks such as the Britans used which is some argument of the antiquitie thereof It belonged in the Conquerours time to Robert Earle of Moriton halfe brother by the mothers side to the Conquerour and then had fiftie and six Burgesses After the attainder of his Sonne William Earle of Moriton it came to King Henrie the First by Escheat In the composition betweene Stephen and King Henrie the second both towne and castle with whatsoever Richard de Aquila had of the Honor of Pevensey which after his name was called Honor de Aquila and Baronia de Aquila or of the Eagle was assigned to William Sonne to K. Stephen But he surrendred it with Norwich into King Henrie the Seconds hand in the yeere 1158 when he restored to him all such Lands as Stephen was seased of before hee usurped the crowne of England After some yeeres King Henrie the third over-favouring forrainers granted the Honor de Aquila which had fallen to the crowne by Escheat for that Gilbert de Aquila had passed into Normandie against the Kings good will to Peter Earle of Savoy the Queenes uncle But he fearing the envie of the English against forrainers relinquished it to the King and so at length it came to the Dutchy of Lancaster Inward from Pevensey is seated Herst in a Parke among the woods which name also it hath of the woody situation For the ancient English-men called a wood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was immediately after the Normans entry into England the seat of certaine noble gentlemen who of that place were a good while named de Herst untill William the sonne of Walleran de Herst tooke unto him the name Monceaux of the place haply where he was borne an usuall thing in that age whereupon that name also was adnexed unto this place which ever since was of the Lord termed Herst Monceaux From whose Posteritie by heire generall it descended haereditarily to the Fienes These Fienes called likewise Fenis and Fienles derive their pedigree from Ingelram de Fienes who had wedded the heire of Pharumuse of Boloigne of the house of the Earles of Boloigne in France About the time of King Edward the Second Sir Iohn Fienes married the heire of Monceaux his sonne William married one of the heires of the Lord Say his sonne likewise the heire of Batisford whose sonne Sir Roger Fienes married the daughter of Holland and in the first yeare of King Henrie the Sixt built of bricke the large faire uniforme convenient house heere Castle-like within a deepe moate The said King Henrie the Sixt Accepted declared and reputed Sir Richard Fienis sonne of the said Sir Roger to be Baron of Dacre And the same tittle King Edward the fourth chosen Arbitratour and Umpire betweene him Sir Humfrey Dacre awarded confirmed to the said S. Richard Fienis and to the heires of his bodie lawfully begotten for that he had married Ioane the cousin and next heire of Thomas Baron Dacre and to have praecedence before the L. Dacre of Gilesland heire male of the family Since which time the heires lineally descending from him being enriched by one of the heires of the Lord Fitz-Hugh have enjoyed the honor of Baron Dacre untill that very lately George Fienis Lord Dacre sonne to the unfortunate Thomas Lord Dacre died without issue whose onely sister and heire Margaret Sampson Lennard Esquire a man both vertuous and courteous tooke to wife and by her hath faire issue In whose behalfe it was published declared and adjudged by the Lords Cōmissioners for Martiall causes in the second yeere of the raigne of King Iames with his privity and assent Royall That the said Margaret ought to beare have and enjoy the name state degree title stile honor place and precedency of the Baronie of Dacre to have and to hold to her and the issue of her bodie in as full and ample manner as any of her ancestors enjoied the same And that her children may and shall have take and enjoy the place and precedence respectively as the children of her ancestors Barons Dacre have formerly had and enjoyed Now to returne to the Sea-coast about three miles from Pevensey is Beckes-hill a place much frequented by Saint Richard Bishop of Chichester and where he died Vnder this is Bulver-hith in an open shore with a rooflesse Church not so named of a bulles hide which cut into thongs by William the Conquerour reached to Battaile as they fable for it had that name before his comming But heere he arrived with his whole fleete landed his armie and having cast a rampier before his campe set fire on all his ships that their onely hope might be in manhood and their safety in victorie And so after two daies marched to Hastings then to an hill neere Nenfeld now called Standard hill because as they say he there pitched his Standard and from thence two miles farther where in a plaine the Kingdome of England was put upon the hazard and chance of a battaile and the English-Saxon Empire came to a full period and finall end For there King Harold in the yeere of our Lord 1066. the day before the Ides of October albeit his forces were much weakened in a former fight with the Danes and his soldiers wearied besides with a long journey from beyond Yorke encountred him in a place named Epiton When the Normans had sounded the Battaile first the skirmish continued for a pretty while with shot of arrowes
these very same of which we now speake And verily no where else are they found but in a chalkie and marly soile Vnlesse a man would thinke that our English-Saxons digged such caves and holes to the same use and purpose as the Germans did of whom they were descended For they were wont as Tacitus writeth to make holes and caves under the ground and those to charge aloft with great heapes of dung as harbours of refuge for Winter and garners of receit for corne because by such like places they mitigate the rigour of cold wether and if at any time the enemie commeth hee wasteth onely the open ground but as for those things that lie hidden and buried under the earth they are either unknowne or in this respect doe disappoint the enemies for that they are to be sought for From above Feversham the shoare runneth on plentifull of shel-fish but especially oisters whereof there are many pits or stewes as far as Reculver and farther This Reculver is a place of ancient memorie named in the old English-Saxon Reaculf but in elder time REGVLBIVM For so it is named in the Roman Office booke Notitia Provinciarum which reporteth that the captaine of the primer band of the Vetasians lay heere in garrison under the Lieutenant of the Saxon-shoare for so was the sea coast a-long this tract called who had the command then of nine Ports as the L. Warden now hath of five Ports And verily the Roman Emperours coines digged up there give testimony to this antiquitie of the place In it Aethelbert King of Kent when he had made a grant of Canterbury to Augustine the Monk built himselfe a Palace and Bassa an English-Saxon beatified it with a Monasterie out of which Brightwald the Eighth Archbishop of Canterbury was elected Of this Monastery or Minster it was named Raculf-Minster what time as Edred brother to King Edward the Elder gave it to Christ-church in Canterbury Howbeit at this day it is nothing else but an uplandish country towne and if it bee of any name it hath it for the salt savory Oisters there dredged and for that Minster the steeples whereof shooting up their loftie spires stand the Mariners in good stead as markes whereby they avoide certaine sands and shelves in the mouth of the Thames For as he versifieth in his Philippeis Cernit oloriferum Thamisin sua Doridi amarae Flumina miscentem It now beholds swann-breeding Thames where he doth mix his streame With brackish sea Now are we come to the Isle Tanet which the river Stour by Bede named Wantsum severeth from the firme land by a small channell running betweene which river made of two divers rivelets in the wood-land called the Weald so soone as it goeth in one entire streame visiteth Ashford and Wye two prety Mercate townes well knowne Either of them had sometimes their severall Colledges of Priests the one built by Iohn Kemp Archbishop of Canterbury who was there borne the other to wit of Ashford by Sir R. Fogge Knight Wye also had a speciall fountaine into which God infused a wonderfull gift and vertue at the instant prayer of Eustace a Norman Abbat if we may beleeve Roger of Hoveden whom I would advise you to have recourse unto if you take delight in such like miracles As how the blind by drinking thereof recovered sight the dumbe their speech the deafe their hearing the lame their limbes And how a woman possessed of the devill sipping thereof vomited two toades which immediately were first transformed into huge blacke dogs and againe into asses and much more no lesse strange than ridiculous which some in that age as easily believed as others falsely forged Thence the Stour leaving East-well the inhabitation of the family of the Finches worshipfull of it selfe and by descent from Philip Belknap and Peoplesham goeth on to Chilham or as other call it Iulham where are the ruines of an old Castle which one Fulbert of Dover is reported to have built whose issue male soone failed and ended in a daughter inheritrice whom Richard the base sonne of King Iohn tooke to wife and had with her this Castle and the lands thereto belonging Of her hee begat two daughters namely Lora the wife of VVilliam Marmion and Isabell wife first to David of Strathbolgy Earle of Athole in Scotland afterward to Sir Alexander Baliol who was called to Parliament by the name of Lord of Chilham mother to that Iohn Earle of Athole who being condemned oftentimes for treason was hanged at the last upon a gibbet fifty foot high as the King commanded because he might be so much the more conspicuous in mens eies as he was of higher and nobler birth and being cut downe halfe alive had his head smitten off and the truncke of his body throwen into the fire a very cruell kinde of punishment and seldome seene among us And after his goods were confiscate King Edward the first bounteously bestowed this castle together with Felebergh Hundred upon Sir Bartholomew Badilsmer who likewise quickly lost the same for his treason as I have before related There is a constant report among the inhabitants that Iulius Caesar in his second voiage against the Britans encamped at this Chilham and that thereof it was called Iulham that is Iulius his Mansion and if I be not deceived they have the truth on their side For heere about it was when at his second remove he in his march staied upon the intelligence that his ships were sore weather-beaten and thereupon returned and left his army encamped tenne daies while he rigged and repaired the decaies of his Navy And in his march from hence was encountered sharply by the Britans and lost with many other Laberius Durus a Marshall of the field A little beneath this towne there is a prety hillocke to be seene apparelled in a fresh suit of greene sord where men say many yeeres agoe one Iullaber was enterred whom some dreame to have beene a Giant others a Witch But I conceiving an opinion that some antiquity lieth hidden under that name doe almost perswade my selfe that the foresaid Laberius was heere buried and so that the said hillocke became named Iul-laber Five miles from hence the river Stoure dividing his Channell runneth swiftly by DVROVERNVM the chiefe Cittie of this Countie and giveth it his name For Durwhern in the British tongue signifieth a swift river Ptolome calleth it in steed of Durovernum DARVERNVM Bede and others DOROBERNIA the English Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Kentishmens citie Ninnius and the Britans Caer Kent that is the Citie of Cent wee Canterbury and the later writers in Latine Cantuaria A right antient citie this is and famous no doubt in the Romans time not over great as William of Malmesbury said 400. yeares since nor verie small much renowned both for the situation and exceeding fertility of the soile adjoining as also for
of a sumptuous and stately house which Edward the last Duke of Buckingham was in hand to build in the yeare of our Lord as the engraving doth purport 1511. when he had taken downe an ancient house which Hugh Audeley E. of Glocester had formerly built seven miles from hence Avon sheading it selfe into Severn running crosse before it maketh a division betweene Glocestershire and Sommersetshire and not farre from the banke thereof Pucle-Church appeareth being in times past a towne or Manour of the Kings called Pucle-Kerkes wherein Edmund King of England whiles he interposed himselfe betweene his Sewer and one Leove a most vilanous wretch for to part and end certaine quarrels betweene them was thrust through the body and so lost his life Nere bordering upon this place are two townes Winterburne which had for their Lords the Bradstons amongst whom S. Thomas was summoned amongst the Barons in the time of King Edward the Third From whom the Vicounts Montacute the Barons of Wentworth c. fetch their descent Acton which gave name to the house of the Actons Knights whose heire being married unto Nicolas Points Knight in K. Edward the second his daies left the same to their off-spring Derham a little towne in the Saxons tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where Ceaulin the Saxon slew three Princes or chiefe Lords of the Britans Commeail Condidan and Fariemeiol with others whom he likewise put to the sword and dispossessed the Britans of that countrie for ever There remaine yet in that place huge rampieâ—s and trenches as fortifications of their campes and other most apparent monuments here and there of so great a war This was the chiefe seat of the Barony of Iames de novo Mercatu who begat three daughters wedded to Nicholas de Moelis Iohn de Boteraux and Ralph Russell one of whose posterity enriched by matching with the heire of the ancient family of Gorges assumed unto them the name of Gorges But from Ralph Russell the heire this Deorham descended to the family of Venis Above these is Sodbury knowne by the familie of Walsh and neighbours thereunto are Wike-ware the ancient seat of the familie De-la-ware Woton under Edge which yet remembreth the slaughter of Sir Thomas Talbot Vicount Lisle heere slaine in the time of King Edward the Fourth in an encounter with the Lord Barkley about possessions since which time have continued suites betweene their posterity untill now lately they were finally compounded More Northward I had sight of Durisley reputed the ancientest habitation of the Barkleyes hereupon stiled Barkleis of Duresley who built here a Castle now more than ruinous and were accounted founders of the Abbey of Kings-wood thereby for Cistertian Monkes derived from Tintern whom Maud the Empresse greatly enriched The males of this house failed in the time of King Richard the Second and the heire generall was married to Cantelow Within one mile of this where the river Cam lately spoken of springeth is Vleigh a seat also of the Barkeleis descended from the Barons Barkeley stiled of Vleigh and Stoke Giffard who were found coheires to I. Baron Boutetort descended from the Baron Zouch of Richards Castles alias Mortimer and the Somerus Lords of Dueley Beverston Castle not farre of Eastward appertained also to the name of Barkeleies but in former times to the Gournois and Ab-Adam a Baron in the time of King Edward the First Hitherto have we cursorily passed over the principall places in this Shire situate beyond and upon Severn and not far from his banke Now proceede we forward to the East part which I said riseth up with hilles to wit Cotteswold which of woulds and Cotes that is hils and Sheepfolds tooke that name For mountaines and hils without woods the Englishmen in old time termed Woulds whence it is that an Old Glossary interpreteth Alpes Italie The Woulds of Italie In these Woulds there feed in great numbers flockes of sheepe long necked and square of bulke and bone by reason as it is commonly thought of the weally and hilly situation of their pasturage whose wool being most fine and soft is had in passing great account among all nations Vnder the side of these hils and among them are to be seene as it were in a row neighbouring together these places following of more antiquity than the rest beginning at the North-east end of them Campden commonly Camden a mercat towne well peopled and of good resort where as Iohn Castoreus writeth all the Kings of Saxon bloud assembled in the yeare of Salvation 689. and consulted in common about making war upon the Britans In William the Conquerours time this Weston and Biselay were in the possession of Hugh Earle of Chester and from his posterity came at last by Nicolaa de Albeniaco an inherice to the ancient Earles of Arundel unto Roger de Somery Neere unto it standeth the said Weston a place now to bee remembred in regard of a faire house which maketh a goodly shew a farre off built by Ralph Sheldon for him and his Posterity Hales in late time a most flourishing Abbay built by Richard Earle of Cornwall and King of Romanes who was there buried with his Wife Sanchia daughter to the Earle of Province and deserving commendation for breeding up of Alexander of Hales a great Clerke and so deepely learned above all others in that subtile and deepe Divinity of the Schoole men as he carryed away the sirname of Doctor Irrefragabilis that is the Doctor ungain-said as he that could not be gain-said Sudley in times past Sudlengh a very faire Castle the seat not long since of Sir Thomas Seimor Baron Seimor of Sudley and Admirall of England attainted in the time of king Edward the Sixth and afterward of Sir John Bruges whom Queene Mary created Baron Chandos of Sudley because he derived his pedegree from the ancient family of Chandos out of which there flourished in the raigne of Edward the third Sir John Chandos a famous Baneret Vicount of Saint Saviours L of Caumont and Kerkitoâ— in France a martiall man and for military Prowesse every way most renowned But in old time certaine Noblemen here dwelt and of it had their addition de Sudley descended of a right ancient English Race to wit from Gorda K. Aetheldreds daughter whose son Ralph Medantinus Earle of Hereford begat Harold L. of Sudley whose progeny flourished here a long time untill for default of issue male the daughter and heire matched in marriage with Sir William Butler of the family of Wem and brought him a sonne named Thomas and he begat Ralph Lord Treasurer of England created by king Henry the Sixth Baron of Sudley with a fee of 200. markes yearely who repaired this castle and enlarged it with new buildings His sisters and coheires were married unto the houses of Northbury and Belkâ—ape and by their posterity the possessions in short time were divided into
the East with Essex and the North with Cambridge-shire A rich country in corne fields pastures medows woods groves and cleere riverets And for ancient townes it may contend with the neighbours even for the best For there is scarsely another shire in all England that can shew more places of Antiquities in so small a compasse In the very limit thereof Northward where it boundeth upon Cambridge-shire standeth Roiston a towne well knowne but of no antiquity as being risen since the Normans daies For one Dame Roise a woman in that age of right great name whom some thinke to have been Countesse of Norfolke erected there about a Crosse in the high way which was thought in that age a pious worke to put passengers in minde of Christs passion whereupon this place was for many yeeres called Roises-Crosse untill that Eustach de Marc adjoined thereto a little Monastery in the honour of Thomas of Canterbury for then were Innes built and by little and little it grew to be a towne which in stead of Roises Crosse was called Roiston that is Roises towne unto which King Richard the First granted a Faire at certaine set times and a mercat Now it is very famous and passing much frequented for Malt For it is almost incredible how many buyers and sellers of corne how many Badgers yea and Corne-mongers or Regraters flocke hither weekely every mercat day and what a number of horses loden doe then fill the high waies on every side Over Roiston Southward is mounted Tharfield among the high hils an ancient habitation of the familie of Berners descended from Hugh de Berners unto whom in recompence of his valiant service in the Normans Conquest King William the Conquerour granted faire lands in Eversdon within the county of Cambridge And in so great worship and reputation flourished his posterity that Sir John Bourchier who married the right heire at common law of that familie being promoted by King Edward the Fourth to the honour of Baron tooke his addition thereof and was stiled Baron Bourchier of Berners and usually Lord Berners Upon this confineth Nucelles belonging in times past to the house of the Rochesters or Roffes but all the repute and glory that it hath arose from the inhabitants thereof afterwards namely the Barons of Scales descended out of Norfolke but yet the heires of Roffe For King Edward the First gave unto Sir Robert de Scales in regard of his valourous service in the Scotish warres certaine lands to the value in those daies of three hundred markes by the yeare and called him among the Barons to the Parliament Their Eschocheon Gules with sixe escallops argent is seene in many places They flourished unto King Edward the Fourth his daies at what time the only daughter and heire of this family was wedded vnto Sir Anthonie Widevile Earle Rivers whom being advanced by his owne glorious prowesse and the kings marriage with his sister the malicious hatred and envie of his enemies most vilanouslie overwrought and brought to utter destruction For King Richard the Third beheaded him innocent man as he was And when as she died without issue the inheritance was parted in King Henry the Sevenths time betweene Iohn Earle of Oxford who by the Howards and Sir William Tindale knight who by the Bigods of Felbridge were found next cousens and coheires The Manour of Barkway hereby appertained also to those Lords Scales a well knowne throughfare Beyond which is Barley that imparted surname to the ancient and well allied family of the Barleies and on this side Anestie which was not long since the inheritance of the house of Yorke and in elder times the Castle there was a nest of rebels wherefore Nicholas of Anesty Lord thereof was expresly commanded by King Henry the Third to demolish so much of it as was raised since the Barons warres against his Father King John But now time hath wholy rased it all To returne though disorderly East-ward is Ashwell as one would say The well or fountaine among the Ashes a Country towne of good bignesse and full of houses situate on a low ground in the very North edge of the shire where there is a source of springs bubling out of a stony banke overshadowed on every side with tall ashes from whence there floweth at certaine veines continually running such store of water that forthwith being gathered within banks it carrieth a streame able to drive a Mill and all of a sudden as it were groweth to a good big river Of these wels and ashes together as most certaine it is that the English-Saxons imposed this new name Ashwell so I have been sometime of this opinion that the ancient Britans who as Gildas witnesseth heaped divine honours upon hils rivers fountaines and groves from the very same thing and in the same sense called it Magiovinium and that it was the same which Antonine named MAGIONINIVM But time hath now discovered a more certaine truth neither am I ashamed to change mine opinion in this point seeing I take no pleasure at all in mine owne error And yet to prove the ancientnesse of this towne the large quadrant adjoyning enclosed with a trench and rampire maketh much which by the Romane peeces of coyne digged up there oftentimes sheweth whose worke it was and in that booke wherein above 500. yeeres since King William the Conquerour tooke the review and account of all the townes in England it is in plaine words tearmed a Burgh Southward we saw Merkat-Baldock situate upon a whitish soile wherein as also in Hitching hard by we read of no antiquity Then is there seated in a well-husbanded and good ground Wimondley an ancient and famous Lordship held by the most honourable tenure with us which our Lawyers terme Grand-Sergeanty namely that the Lord thereof should serve unto the Kings of England upon their Coronation day the first cup and be as it were the Kings Cup-bearer Which honorable office in regard of this Lordship certaine Noble Gentlemen called Fitz-Tek held in the beginning of the Normans reigne from whom by a daughter it came unto the Argentons These fetched their name and pedegree from David de Argenton a Norman and a martiall knight who under King William the Conquerour served in the wars and they in remembrance heereof gave for their armes Three Cups Argent in a shield Gueules But at last for want of issue male in King Henry the Sixth his daies Elizabeth Argenton the sole and entier inheritrice brought it unto her husband Sir William Allington knight with faire lands thereby and this dignity from whom Sir Giles Allington now the heire of this family is the seventh a young Gentleman right courteous and of a generous nature who I hope will give some new lustre by his vertues unto the ancient worship of his house Hard by and neere unto the roade high-way betweene Stevenhaugh and Knebworth the seat of the worshipfull house of the
a small Towne which for no other thing is memorable but because Anna a Christian King was there buried whom Penda the Mercian slew in a pitched Field It was beautified by King Henry the First with a Colledge of Chanons who granted the same as a Cell to the Chanons of Saint Osiths And it was made a Mercate by the meanes of Iohn Lord of Clavering unto whom King Edward the Second gave this Liberty together with the Faire And verily a goodly Inheritance hee had in this Tract as who derived his Descent from the Daughter and Heire of William Cheney who held the Barony of Horsford in the County of Norfolke and erected the little Abbay at Sibton Heere the Promontory Easton-Nesse shooteth out and reacheth farre into the East which is deemed to bee the farthest East point in all Britaine Ptolomee calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or EXTENSIO And that you may not doubt that this is the very same which wee call Easton bee it knowne unto you that Eysteney in the British tongue is the same that in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Extensio that is A stretching forth although this name may seeme with as good probability to have beene imposed in our English Language of the Situation Eastward Upon the point of this Promontory standeth Easton a Village of Fishermen well neere eaten up by Sea and on South side of this Promontory Southwold lieth in the Plaine full against the open shore of the sea a Towne well enough frequented through the benefit of an Haven that the River Blith emptying it selfe there into the Sea maketh and at every high water it is so invironed with the waves that it seemeth to bee an Island and a man would wonder that it is not overflowne In so much as when I saw the manner thereof I called that saying of Cicero into my remembrance What should I speak of the Sea Tides about Spaine and Britaine and of their Flowing and Ebbing at certaine times Surely they cannot bee without the hand of God who hath restrained and gaged the waves within their bounds More within the land Wingfield sheweth it selfe where the walles of a Castle halfe downe are to bee seene which hath given name to a family in this Tract that is spred into a number of branches and is besides for knighthood and ancient Gentility renowned and thereof it was the principall seat Also Dunnington which standeth much upon the Lord thereof Sir Iohn Philips father to that Sir William who married the daughter and Heire of Baron Bardolph whose daughter and Heire likewise Iohn Vicount Beaumont tooke to Wife But now the Habitation it is of the ancient Family of the Rousses Not farre from hence standeth Huntingfield which had a Baron of that name in King Edward the Third his time and neere unto it Heveningham the residence of the Family of Heveningham knights who are knowne to bee of very great antiquity and not farre off standeth Halesworth in times past Healsworda an ancient Towne of the Argentons and now of the Alingtons unto which Sir Richard Argenton obtained at the hand of King Henry the Third the liberty of a Mercate I gave you to understand before that two small Rivers Ouse the least and Waveney on the North side divided this County from Norfolke which Riverets rising out of a Marish ground by Lophamford from two springs but a little a sunder one from another take their courses divers wayes with creekes full of shallow fourds Along by Ouse which runneth Westward there is nothing in this Quarter to bee seene worth the report By Waveney side that tendeth Eastward first is Hoxon in times past Hegilsdon ennobled by reason of King Edmunds Martyrdome For there the most cruell and bloudy Danes that I may use the words of Abbo having bound the most Christian King to a tree for that hee would not renounce Christianity shot him in with sharpe arrowes all his body over augmenting the paines of his torment with continuall piercing him with arrow after arrow and thus inflicted wound upon wound so long as one arrow could stand by another And as a Poet of middle time versified of him Iam loca vulneribus desunt nec dum furiosis Tela sed hyberna grandine plura volant Though now no place was left for wound yet arrowes did not faile These furious Wretches still they flie thicker than winter haile In which place afterwards stood a very faire house of the Bishops of Norwich untill they exchanged it not long since for the Abbay of Saint Benet Hard by at Brome dwelt a long time the family of Cornwalleis of knights degree of whom Sir Iohn Cornwal was Steward of Edward the Sixth his Houshold while hee was Prince and his sonne Sir Thomas for his wisdome and faithfulnesse became one of the privie counsell to Queene Mary and Controller of her royall House Beneath it lieth Eay that is The Island so called because it is watered on every side with brookes where are to bee seene the rubbish ruines and decayed walles of an old Castle that belonged to Robert Malet a Norman Baron But after that he under King Henry the First was deprived of his Dignity because he sided with Robert Duke of Normandy against the King the said King bestowed this Honour upon Stephen Earle of Bullen who being afterwards the Vsufructuary King of England left it unto his son William Earle of Warren But after hee had surrendred his State to King Henry the Second and lost his life in the expedition of Tholose the King held it in his owne hands untill that King Richard the First confer'd it upon Henry the Fifth of that name Duke of Brabant and of Lorain together with King Stephens Neece by his daughter who had beene a professed Nunne Long time after when it was now devolved againe upon the Kings of England King Edward the third gave it as I have read to Sir Robert Vfford Earle of Suffolke Neither must I passe over in silence Bedingfield neere adjoyning which gave the name to a worshipfull and ancient Family that received very much reputation and credit from the Heire of the Family of Tudenham From thence by Flixton in stead of Felixton so named of Faelix the first Bishop of these parts like as many other places in this Shire the River Waveney runneth downe to Bungey and spreadeth it selfe in manner round about it where Hugh Bigod fortified a Castle both by artificiall workmanship and also by naturall situation when as the seditious Barons tossed all England to and fro with stormes of rebellion Concerning which Castle as impregnable he was wont to vaunt in these termes Were I in my Castle of Bungey Upon the River of Waveney I would ne care for the King of Cockeney Yet notwithstanding afterwards he obtained at the hands of King Henry the Second by giving him
memory I will briefly runne them over Neere to Linne upon an high hill standeth Rising-castle almost marchable to the Castle of Norwich the seat in times past of the Albineys afterwards of Robert de Monthault by one of the sisters and coheires of Hugh Albiney Earle of Arundell and at last the mansion place of the Mowbrays who as I have learned came out of the same house that the Albineys did But now after long languishings as it were by reason of old age the said Castle hath given up the ghost Below it is Castle-acre where was sometimes the habitation of the Earles of Warren in a Castle now halfe downe on a little Rivers side which carrying no name ariseth not farre from Godwicke a lucky good name where there stands a small house but greatly graced by the Lord thereof Sir Edward Coke Knight a man of rare endowments of nature and as in the Common lawes much practised so of deepe insight therein which all England both tooke knowledge of whiles hee discharged the function of Atturney Generall many yeares most learnedly and now acknowledgeth whiles being Lord Chiefe Justice of the Common Pleas he administreth justice as uprightly and judiciously Neither is he lesse to be remembred for that he loveth learning and hath well deserved of the present and succeeding ages by his learned labours This Riveret or brooke with a small streame and shallow water runneth Westward to Linne by Neirford that gave name to the Family of the Neirfords famous in times past and by Neirborrough where neere unto the house of the Spilmans knights upon a very high hill is to be seene a warlike Fort of passing great strength and of ancient worke so situated as it hath a very faire prospect into the Country about it After upon the said Brooke is seated Penteney a prety Abbay the ordinary buriall place in ancient time of the Noblemen and Gentlemen in this Tract Neere unto it lieth Wormegay commonly Wrongey which Reginald de Warren brother of William de Warren the second Earle of Surry had with his wife of whom as I have read the said Earle had the donation or Maritagium as they use to speake in the law phrase and by his sonnes daughter streightwayes it was transferred to the Bardolphs who being Barons of great nobility flourished a long time in honorable state and bare for their Armes Three Cinque-foiles or in a Shield Azâ—r The greatest part of whose Inheritance together with the Title came to Sir William Phellips and by his daughter passed away to the Vicount Beaumont More Eastward are seated Swaffham a Mercat Towne of good note sometime the Possession of the Earle of Richmond Ashele Manour by Tenure whereof the Hastings and Greies Lords of Ruthin had the charge of table clothes and linnen used at the solemne Coronation of the Kings of England North Elmham the Bishops See for a good time when as this Province was divided into two Dioceses Dereham wherein Withburga King Annas daughter was buried whom because shee was piously affected farre from all riotous excesse and wanton lightnesse our Ancestours accounted for a Saint Next unto which is Greshenhall and adjoyning thereto Elsing the possessions in ancient time of the Folliots men of great worth and Dignity which in right of dowry came by a daughter of Richard Folliot to Sir Hugh de Hastings descended out of the Family of Abergevenny and at length by the daughters and heires of Hastings the last Greshenhall aforesaid fell unto Sir Hamon le Strange of Hunstanton and Elsing unto William Browne the brother of Sir Antonie Browne the first Vicount Mount-acute In this quarter also is Ick-borrough which Talbot supposeth to have beene that ICIANI whereof Antonine speaketh Neither have I cause to write any more of these places And now I thinke it is good time to set downe the Earles and Dukes of Northfolke that I may proceed to Cambridgeshire William the Conquerour made one Raulph Governour of East-England that is to say of Norfolke Suffolke and Cambridgeshire who forthwith gaping as I said after an alteration and change in the State was dispossessed of that place After certaine yeares in the Raigne of Stephen Hugh Bigod was Earle of Norfolke For when peace was concluded betweene Stephen and Henry Duke of Anjou who became afterwards King Henry the second by expresse words it was provided that William King Stephens sonne should have the whole Earledome of Norfolke excepting among other things The third peny of that County whereof Hugh Bigod was Earle Whom notwithstanding King Henry the Second created Earle againe of the third peny of Norfolke and Norwich Who dying about the 27. yeare of Henry the Second Roger his sonne succeeded who for what cause I know not obtained at the hands of King Richard the first a new Charter of his creation Him succeeded his sonne Hugh who tooke to his wife Mawde the eldest daughter and one of the heires of William Marescall Earle of Pembroch By whom he had issue one sonne named Roger Earle of Norfolke and Marescall of England who at Tournament having his bones put out of joint died without issue and another called Hugh Bigod Lord chiefe Justice of England slaine in the battaile of Lewis whose sonne Roger succeeded his Uncle in the Earldome of Norfolke and dignity of Marescall but having incurred through his insolent contumacy the high displeasure of King Edward the First was compelled to passe away his honors and well neere his whole inheritance into the Kings hands to the use of Thomas of Brâ—therton the Kings son whom he had begotten of his second wife Margaret sister to Philip the Faire King of France For thus reporteth the History out of the Library of Saint Austens in Canterbury In the yeare 1301. Roger Bigod Earle of Norfolke ordained King Edward to bee his heire and hee delivered into his hands the rod of the Marshals Office with this condition that if his wife brought him any children he should without all contradiction receive againe all from the King and hold it peaceably as before and the King gave unto him a 1000. pounds in money and a thousand pound land during his life together with the Marshalship and the Earldome But when he was departed this life without issue King Edward the Second honoured the said Thomas of Brotherton his brother according to the conveiance aforesaid with the Titles of Marshall and Earle of Norfolke Whose daughter Margaret called Marshallesse and Countesse of Norfolke wife to Iohn Lord Segrave king Richard the Second created in her absence Dutchesse of Norfolke for terme of life and the same day created Thomas Mowbray the daughters sonne of the said Margaret then Earle of Notingham the first Duke of Norfolke To him and his heires males unto whom he had likewise granted before the State and stile of Earle Marshall of England This is hee that before the king was challenged and accused by Henry of Lancaster Duke
of the same name not farre from the ruines of Bitham Castle which as we find in an old Pedigree King William the first gave to Stephen Earle of Albemarle and Holdernesse that he might from thence have wherewith to feed his sonne as yet a little infant with fine wheat bread considering that in Holdernesse they did eate in those daies oten bread onely although they use now such kind of bread little or nothing at all But in the reigne of King Henry the Third when William de Fortibus Earle of Aumarle rebelliously kept this Castle and thence forraged and wasted the country about it it was laid well neere even with the ground Afterward this was the capitall seat as it were of the Barony of the Colvils who along time flourished in very great honour but the right line had an end under King Edward the Third and then the Gernons and those notable Bassets of Sapcot in right of their wives entred upon the inheritance This river Witham presently beneath his head hath a towne seated hard by it named Paunton which standeth much upon the antiquity thereof where are digged up oftentimes pavements of the Romanes wrought with checker worke and heere had the river a bridge over it in old time For that this is the towne AD PONTEM which Antonine the Emperor placed seven miles distant from MARGIDUNUM the name Paunton together with the distance not onely from Margidunum but also from Crococalana doth easily convince for in Antonine that towne was called CROCOCALANA which at this day is named Ancaster and is no more but a long streete through which the High-way passeth whereof the one part not long since belonged to the Veseies the other to the Cromwells At the entry into it on the South part we saw a rampier with a ditch and certaine it is that aforetime it had been a Castle like as on the other side Westward is to be seene a certaine summer standing campe of the Romanes And it may seeme that it tooke a British name from the situation thereof For it lieth under an hill and Cruc-maur in British signifieth a Great hill like as Cruc-occhidient a mount in the West as we read in Giraldus Cambrensis and Ninnius But what should be the meaning of that Calana let others looke The memory of antiquity in this towne is continued and maintained by the Romane Coines by the vaults under ground oftentimes discovered by the site upon the High-street and by those fourteene miles that are betweene it and Lincolne through a greene plaine which we call Ancaster-Heath for just so many doth Antonine reckon betweene Croco-calana and Lindum But now returne we to the river After Paunton wee come to Grantham a towne of good resort adorned and set out with a Schoole built by Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester and with a faire Church having a spire-steeple of a mighty heigth whereof there goe many fabulous tales Beneath it neere unto Herlaxton a little village a brasen vessell in our fathers time was turned up with a plough wherein a golden Helmet of a most antique fashion was found set with precious stones which was given as a present to Catherine of Spaine wife and Dowager to King Henry the Eighth From hence Witham passeth with a long course North-ward not farre from Somerton Castle which Antonine Becc Bishop of Durham built and gave to King Edward the First but a little after it was bestowed upon Sir Henry de Beaumont who about that time came into England and began the family of the Lords Beaumont which in the foregoing age in some sort failed when as the sister and heire of the last Vicount was married to John Lord Lovel de Tichmersh But of this house I have spoken before in Leicester-shire From thence the river bending by little and little to the South-East and passing through a Fenny Country dischargeth it selfe into the German Sea beneath Boston after it hath closed in Kesteven on the North. On the other side of Witham lieth the third part of this shire named Lindsey which of the chiefe Citie of the Shire Bede called Lindissi and being greater than Hoiland and Kesteven butteth with a huge bowing front upon the Ocean beating upon the East and North sides thereof On the West part it hath the river Trent and is severed from Kesteven on the South by that Witham aforesaid and the Fosse Dike anciently cast and scoured by King Henry the First for seven miles in length from Witham into Trent that it might serve the Citizens of Lincolne for carriage of necessaries by water Where this Dike entreth into Trent standeth Torksey in the Saxon language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little towne and in these daies of small account but in ancient times very famous For before the Normans comming in as we finde in that booke wherein King William the first set downe his survey of England there were numbered in it two hundred Burgesses who enjoyed many priviledges on this condition that they should transport the Kings Embassadours whensoever they came this way in their owne Barges along the Trent and conduct them as farre as YORKE But where this Dike joyneth to Witham there is the principall City of this Shire placed which Ptolomee and Antonine the Emperour called LINDUM the Britans LINDCOIT of the woods for which we finde it elsewhere written amisse Luit-coit Bede LINDE-COLLINUM and LINDE COLLINA CIVITAS whether it were of the situation upon an hill or because it hath been a Colonie I am not able to avouch The Saxons termed it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Normans most corruptly Nichol we Lincolne and the Latine writers Lincolnia whereupon Alexander Necham in his booke intituled Divine wisdome writeth thus Lindisiae columen Lincolnia sive columna Munificâ foelix gente repleta bonis Lincolne the stay or piller sure of Lindsey thou maist bee Blest for thy people bounteous and goods that are in thee Others will have it to take that name of the river Witham which they say was called by a more ancient name Lindis but they have no authority to warrant them Neither am I of their judgement For Necham is against it who foure hundred yeeres agoe called the said river Witham in this verse Trenta tibi pisces mittit Lincolnia sed te Nec dedigneris Withama parvus adit The Trent unto thee sendeth fish O Lincoln well we see Yet little Witham scorne it not a riveret comes to thee I for my part would rather derive it from the British word Lhin which with the Britans signifieth a Lake For I have been enformed of the Citizens that Witham below the Citie by Swanpole was broader than now it is and yet is it at this day of a good breadth and to say nothing of Lindaw in Germanie by the Lake Acronius and of Linternum in Italie standing by a Lake I see
the Conquerour appointed over this Shire William Peverell his base sonne not with the Title of Earle but of Lord of Nottingham who had a sonne that dyed before his father and hee likewise had a sonne of the same name whom king Henry the Second disinherited for that he went about to poison Ranulph Earle of Chester Much about this time Robert de Ferrarijs who rifled and ransacked Nottingham in a Donation which he made unto the Church of Tuttesbury stiled himselfe thus Robertus Comes junior de Nottingham that is Robert the younger Earle of Nottingham But afterwards King Richard the First gave and confirmed unto his brother John the Earledome and Castle of Nottingham with all the Honour of Peverell Many yeeres after King Richard the Second honoured John Lord Mowbray with this Title of Earle of Nottingham who dying a young man without issue his brother Thomas succeeded after him He being by king Richard the Second created Earle Mareshall and Duke of Norfolke and soone after banished begat Thomas Earle Mareshall whom king Henry the Fourth beheaded and John Mowbray who as also his sonne and Nephew were likewise Dukes of Norfolke and Earles of Nottingham But when as their male issue failed and that Richard the young sonne of King Edward the Fourth being Duke of Yorke had borne this Title with others by his Wife the heire of the Mowbraies but a small while King Richard the Third honoured William Vicount Barkley descended from the Mowbraies with this Title of Earle of Nottingham and whereas hee dyed without issue king Henry the Eighth bestowed the same honour upon his illegitimate sonne H. Fitz Roy when hee created him Duke of Richmond but hee departed this life in the flower of his age leaving no childe Afterward this Title lay extinct untill in the yeere of our Lord 1597. Queene Elizabeth by solemne investiture adorned therewith Charles Lord Howard of Effingham and High Admirall of England descended from the Mowbraies in regard of his service as appeareth in the Charter of his Creation right valiantly and faithfully performed against the Spanish Armado in the yeere 1588. as also at the winning of Caliz in Spaine where he was Lord Generall of the forces by sea like as the Earle of Essex of those by land There are in this County Parish Churches 168. DARBY-SHIRE DARBY-SHIRE called in old English-Saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lieth close to Nottingham-shire Westward confining with Leicester-shire upon the Southside like as with Stafford-shire on the West and York-shire in the North resembling as it were the forme of a Triangle but not with equall sides For whereas about the point of it lying Southward it is scarce sixe miles broad it so enlargeth and spreadeth it selfe on both sides that where it looketh into the North it carrieth much about thirty miles in breadth The River Derwent that runneth along the middest of it divideth it after a sort in two parts which River breaking out of the North limit thereof and taking his course Southward sometimes with his blacke waters stained with the Soile and earth that it passeth by rumbleth downe apace into the Trent For Trent overthwarteth the said narrow point that I spake of lying Southward The East side and the South parts are well manured not unfruitfull and besides well stored with Parkes The West part beyond Derwent which they call the Peake being all of it hilly or a stony and craggy ground is more barraine howbeit rich in lead iron and coles which it yeeldeth plentifully and also feedeth Sheepe very commodiously In the South corner the first place worth the naming that offereth it selfe to sight is Greisely Castle more than broken downe which together with a little Monastery was founded in times past in honour of Saint George by the Greiseleies Lords thereof who fetching their descent from William the sonne of Sir Niele of Grieseley about the very Conquest of England by the Normans have flourished unto these dayes in great worship the which they have not a little augmented long since by marrying with the daughter and heire of the ancient family of Gasteneys Upon the River Dove which untill it entreth into Trent divideth this Country from Stafford-shire we meet with nothing in this Shire but small country Villages and Ashburne a Mercate towne where the house of the Cokains flourished a long time and Norbury where the right ancient family of the Fitz-Herberts have long inhabited out of which Sir Anthony Fitz-Herbert hath deserved passing well of the knowledge and profession of our Commons law Not farre from which is Shirley an ancient Lordship of the well renowned Family of the Shirleys who derive their pedegree from one Fulcher unto whom beside the antiquity of their house much honor and faire lands have accrued by marriage with the heires of the Breoses the Bassets of Brailesford the Stantons Lovets c. And heere stand round about many places which have given name and Habitation to worshipfull Families as Longford Bradburne Kniveton from whence came those Knivetons of Mercaston and Bradley of which house Saint Lo Kniveton is one to whose judicious and studious diligence I am deeply endebted also Keidelston where the Cursons dwelt as also at Crokhall But whether Sir Robert Curson knighted by King Henry the Seventh made a Baron of the Empire by Maximilian the Emperour in the yeere 1500. for his singular valour and thereupon by King Henry the Eigth made a Baron of England with a liberall pension assigned was descended from these Cursons I dare not affirme Heereby is Radborn where Sir John Chandos knight Lord of the place laid a goodly foundation of a great and stately house from whom by a daughter it came by hereditary succession unto the Poles who dwell heere at this day But these particularities I leave for him who hath undertaken the full description of this Shire But upon Trent so soon as ever he hath taken to him the river Dove is Repandunum to bee seene for so doe our History-writers call it the Saxons named it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we at this day Repton which from a great and faire Towne is become a poore small Village For in old time very famous it was by reason both of the buriall of Aethelbald that good King of the Mercians who through the treachery of his owne people lost his life and of the other Kings of Mercia as also for the unfortunate calamity of Burthred the last King of the Mercians who when hee had enjoyed his kingdome partly by way of entreaty and partly by meanes of bribery full twenty yeeres was heere deprived of his kingdome by the Danes or rather freed and exempted from the glittering misery of princely State and so became an example to teach men in how ticklish and slippery a place they stand which are underpropped onely with money Then not farre from Trent is Melborn a Castle of the Kings now decaying wherein John Duke of
Romanists But this See few yeeres after was removed againe to Lichfield yet so as that one and the selfe same Bishop carried the name both of Lichfield and of Coventry The first Lord of this City so farre as I can learne was this Leofricke who being very much offended and angry with the Citizens oppressed them with most heavie tributes which he would remit upon no other condition at the earnest suite of his wife Godiva unlesse she would herselfe ride on horse-backe naked through the greatest and most inhabited street of the City which she did in deed and was so covered with her faire long haire that if we may beleeve the common sort shee was seene of no body and thus shee did set free her Citizens of Coventry from many payments for ever From Leofricke it came into the hands of the Earles of Chester by Lucie his sonne Algars daughter for shee had beene married to Ranulph the first of that name and the third Earle of Chester out of this line who granted unto Coventrey the same liberties that Lincolne had and gave a great part of the City unto the Monkes the rest and Chilmore which is the Lords Manour hard by the City hee reserved to himselfe and to his heires After whose death when for want of issue male the inheritance was divided betweene the sisters Coventry came at length mediately by the Earles of Arundell unto Roger Mont-hault whose grand sonne Robert passed over all his right for default of issue male of his body begotten unto Queene Isabel mother to King Edward the Third To have and to hold during the whole life of the Queene herselfe and after her decease to remaine unto Iohn of Eltham the said Kings brother and to the heires of his body begotten and for default the remainder to Edward King of England c. For thus is it to be seene in the Fine in the second yeere of King Edward the Third Now the said John of Eltham was afterwards created Earle of Cornwall and this place became annexed to the Earldome of Cornwall From which time it hath flourished in great state Kings have bestowed sundry immunities upon it and King Edward the Third especially who permitted them to chuse a Major and two Bailiffes and to build and embattle a Wall about it also king Henry the Sixth who laying unto it certaine small Townes adjoyning granted That it should bee an entire County corporate by it selfe the very words of the Charter runne in that sort in deed and name and distinct from the County of Warwicke At which time in lieu of Bailiffes he ordained two Sheriffes and the Citizens beganne to fortifie their City with a most strong Wall wherein are beautifull Gates and at one of them called Gosford Gate there hangeth to bee seene a mighty great Shield bone of a wilde Bore which any man would thinke that either Guy of Warwicke or else Diana of the Forest Arden slew in hunting when he had turned up with his snout that great pit or pond which at this day is called Swansewell but Swinsewell in times past as the authority of ancient Charters doe proove As touching the Longitude of this City it is 25. Degrees and 52. Scruples and for the Latitude it is 52. Degrees and 25. Scruples Thus much of Coventrey yet have you not all this of me but willingly to acknowledge by whom I have profited of Henry Ferrars of Baddesley a man both for parentage and for knowledge of antiquity very commendable and my especiall friend who both in this place and also elsewhere hath at all times courteously shewed me the right way when I was out and from his candle as it were hath lightned mine Neere unto Coventrey North-west ward are placed Ausley Castle the habitation in times past of the Hastings who were Lords of Abergavenney and Brand the dwelling place in old time of the Verdons Eastward standeth Caloughdon commonly Caledon the ancient seat of the Lords Segrave from whom it descended to the Barons of Berkley by one of the daughters of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke These Segraves since the time that Stephen was Lord chiefe Justice of England flourished in the honorable estate of Barons became possessed of the Chaucombes Inheritance whose Armes also they bare viz. A Lion rampant Argent crowned Or in a Shield Sable But John the last of them married Margaret Dutchesse of Northfolke Daughter of Thomas Brotherton and begat Elizabeth a daughter who brought into the Family of the Mowbraies the Dignity of Marshall of England and Title of Duke of Norfolke Brinklâ— also is not farre from hence where stood an ancient Castle of the Mowbraies to which many possessions and faire lands thereabout belonged But the very rubbish of this Castle time hath quite consumed as Combe Abbay is scant now apparent which the Camvills and Mowbraies endowed with possessions and out of the ruines and reliques whereof a faire house of the Lord Haringtons in this very place is now raised As you goe East-ward you meet anon with Cester-Over whereof I spake incidently before belonging to the Grevills neere unto which the High port-way Watling-street dividing this shire Northward from Leicester-shire runneth on forward by High-crosse whereof also I have already written neere unto Nun-Eaton which in ancient time was named Eaton But when Amice wife to Robert Bossu Earle of Leicester as Henry Knighton writeth had founded a Monastery of Nunnes wherein her selfe also became professed it began of those Nunnes to be called Nun-Eaton And famous it was in the former ages by reason of those religious Virgines holinesse who devoting themselves continually to prayers gave example of good life A little from this there flourished sometimes Astley-Castle the principall seate of the Familie of Astley out of which flourished Barons in the time of King Edward the First Second and Third the heire whereof in the end was the second wedded Wife of Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin from whom came the Greies Marquesses of Dorset some of whom were enterred in a most fine and faire Collegiat Church which Thomas Lord Astley founded with a Deane and Secular Chanons Somewhat higher hard by Watling street for so with the common people wee call the High-way made by the Romanes where as the riuer Anker hath a stone bridge over it stood MANDVESSEDUM a very ancient towne mentioned by Antonine the Emperour which being not altogether deprived of that name is now called Mancester and in Ninnius his Catalogue Caer Mancegued Which name considering there is a stone-quarry hard by I may ghesse was imposed upon it of the stones digged forth and hewed out of it For out of the Glossaries of the British tongue we finde that Main in the British language signified a Stone and Fosswad in the Provinciall tongue to digge out which being joyned together may seeme very expressely to import that ancient name MANDVESSEDUM But what how great or how faire soever it hath been
Shrop-shire adjoyning and held that I may note so much by the way the Hamelet of Lanton in chiefe as of the Honour of Montgomery by the service of giving to the King a barbdheaded Arrow whensoever he commeth into those parts to hunt in Cornedon Chace Lugg hasteneth now to Wy first by Hampton where that worthy Knight Sir Rouland Lenthal who being Maister of the Wardrobe unto King Henry the Fourth had married one of the heires of Thomas Earle of Arundell built a passing faire house which the Coningsberes men of good worship and great name in this tract have now a good long time inhabited then by Marden and Southton or Sutton of which twaine Sutton sheweth some small remaines of King Offaes Palace so infamous for the murdering of Ethelbert and Marden is counted famous for the Tombe of the said Ethelbert who had lien heere a long time without any glorious memoriall before that he was translated to Hereford Neere unto the place where Lugg and Wy meete together Eastward a hill which they call Marcley hill in the yeere of our redemption 1571. as though it had wakened upon the suddaine out of a deepe sleepe roused it selfe up and for the space of three daies together mooving and shewing it selfe as mighty and huge an heape as it was with roring noise in a fearefull sort and overturning all things that stood in the way advanced it selfe forward to the wonderous astonishment of the beholders by that kinde of Earthquake which as I deeme naturall Philosophers call Brasmatias And not farre from this hill toward the East also under Malvern hills which in this place bound the East part of this shire standeth Ledbury upon the River Ledden a Towne well knowne which Edwin the Saxon a man of great power gave unto the Church of Hereford being assuredly perswaded that by Saint Ethelberts intercession he was delivered from the Palsey Touching the Military fort on the next hill I need not to speake seeing that in this tract which was in the Marches and the ordinary fighting ground plot first betweene the Romanes and Britans afterwards betweene the Britains and the English such holds and entrenchments are to be seene in many places But Wy now carrying a full streame after it hath entertained Lugg runneth downe with more bendings and bowings first by Holm Lacy the feate of the ancient and noble Family of Scudamore unto which accrewed much more worship by marriage with an heire out of the race of Ewias in this shire and Huntercombe c. else where From hence passeth Wy downe betweene Rosse made a free Burrough by King Henry the Third now well knowne by reason of iron Smiths and Wilton over against it a most ancient Castle of the Greis whence so many worthy Barons of that name have drawne their originall This was built as men say by Hugh de Long-champ but upon publique and certaine credit of Records it appeareth that King John gave Wilton with the Castle to H. de Longchamp and that by marriage it fell to William Fitz-Hugh and likewise not long after to Reinold Grey in the daies of King Edward the first Now when Wy hath a little beneath saluted Goderick Castle which King John gave unto William Earle Mareschall and was afterward for a time the principall seate of the Talbots hee speedeth himselfe to Monmouth-shire and bids Hereford-shire farewell When the state of the English-Saxons was now more than declining to the downe-fall Ralph sonne to Walter Medantinus by Goda King Edward the Confessoursâ— sister governed this Countie as an Official Earle but the infamous for base cowardise was by William the Conquerour remooved and William Fitz-Osbern of Crepon a martiall Norman who had subdued the Isle of Wight and was neere allied to the Dukes of Normandy was substituted in his place When he was slaine in assistance of the Earle of Flanders his sonne Roger surnamed De Bretevill succeeded and soone after for conspiracie against the Conquerour was condemned to perpetuall prison and therein died leaving no lawfull issue Then King Stephen granted to Robert Le Bossu Earle of Leicester who had married Emme or Itta as some call her heire of Bretevill to use the words of the Graunt the Burrough of Hereford with the Castle and the whole County of Hereford but all in vaine For Maude the Empresse who contended with King Stephen for the Crowne advanced Miles the sonne of Walter Constable of Glocester unto this Honour and also graunted to him Constabulariam Curiae suae i. The Constableship of her Court whereupon his posteritie were Constables of England as the Marshalship was graunted at the first by the name of Magistratus Marescalsiae Curiaenostrae Howbeit Stephen afterwards stript him out of these Honours which he had received from her This Miles had five sonnes Roger Walter Henry William and Mahel men of especiall note who were cut off every one issuelesse by untimely death after they had all but William succeeded one another in their Fathers inheritance Unto Roger King Henry the Second among other things gave The Mote of Hereford with the whole Castle and the third peny issuing out of the revenewes of Plees of the whole County of Hereford whereof he made him Earle But after Roger was deceased the same King if wee may beleeve Robert Abbot De Monte kept the Earledome of Hereford to himselfe The eldest sister of these named Margaret was married to Humfrey Bohun the third of that name and his heires were high Constables of England namely Humfrey Bohun the Fourth Henry his sonne unto whom King Iohn graunted twenty pounds yeerely to be received out of the third penny of the County of Hereford whereof he made him Earle This Henry married the sister and heire of William Mandevill Earle of Essex and died in the fourth yeere of Henry the Third his reigne Humfrey the Fifth his sonne who was also Earle of Essex whose sonne Humfrey the Sixth of that forename died before his Father having first begotten Humfrey the Seventh by a daughter and one of the heires of William Breos Lord of Brecknock His sonne Humfrey the Eighth was slaine at Burrowbrig leaving by Elizabeth his wife daughter unto King Edward the First and the Earle of Hollands widow among other children namely Iohn Bohun Humfrey the Ninth both Earles of Hereford and Essex and dying without issue and William Earle of Northampton unto whom Elizabeth a daughter and one of the heires of Giles Lord Badlesmer bare Humfrey Bohun the Tenth and last of the Bohuns who was Earle of Hereford Essex and Northampton Constable besides of England who left two Daughters Aeleonor the Wife of Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester and Mary wedded to Henry of Lancaster Earle of Darby who was created Duke of Hereford and afterwards Crowned King of England But after this Edward Stafford last Duke of Buckingham was stiled Earle of Hereford for that hee descended from Thomas
with this Greeke Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is THE EMPEROUR CAESAR LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS PERTINAX And in the Reverse an Horseman with a Trophaee erected before him but the letters not legible save under him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Of the Elaians which kinde of great peeces the Italians call Medaglionj and were extraordinary coines not for common use but coined by the Emperours either to bee distributed by the way of Largesse in triumphes or to bee sent for tokens to men well deserving or else by free Cities to the glory and memory of good Princes What name this place anciently had is hard to be found but it seemeth to have beene the Port and landing place for Venta Silurum when as it is but two miles from it Then Throgoy a little River neere unto Caldecot entereth into the Severn Sea where we saw the wall of a Castle that belonged to the High Constables of England and was holden by the service of Constableship of England Hard by are seene Wondy and Penbow the seates in times past of the noble Family of Saint Maur now corruptly named Seimor For G. Mareshall Earle of Pembrock about the yeere of our Lord 1240. was bound for the winning of Wondy out of the Welsh mens hands to aide William Seimor From him descended Roger de Saint Maur Knight who married one of the heires of I. Beauchamp of Hach a very noble Baron who derived his Pedegree from Sibyl Heire unto William Mareshall that most puissant Earle of Pembrock from William Ferrars Earle of Darby from Hugh de Vivon and William Mallet men in times past most highly renowned The Nobility of all these and of others besides as may be evidently shewed hath met together in that right honourable personage Edward Saint Maur or Seimor now Earle of Hartford a singular favourer of vertue and good learning worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and commended to posterity Beneath this lyeth spred for many miles together a Mersh they call it the Moore which when I lately revised this worke suffered a lamentable losse For when the Severn Sea at a spring Tide in the change of the Moone what being driven backe for three dayes together with a South-West Winde and what with a very strong pirry from the sea troubling it swelled and raged so high that with surging billowes it came rolling and in-rushing amaine upon this Tract lying so low as also upon the like flats in Somerset-shire over against it that it overflowed all subverted houses and drowned a number of beasts and some people withall Where this Mersh Coast bearing out by little and little runneth forth into the sea in the very point thereof standeth Goldclyffe aloft that is as Giralaus saith A Golden Cliffe so called because the stones there of a golden colour by reverberation of the Sunne shining full upon them glitter with a wonderfull brightnesse neither can I bee easily perswaded saith hee that Nature hath given this brightnesse in vaine unto the stones and that there should bee a flower heere without fruite were there any man that would search into the Veines there and using the direction of Art enter in the inmost and secretest bowels of the Earth Neere to this place there remaine the Reliques of a Priory that acknowledge those of Chandos for their founders and Patron Passing thence by the Merish Country we came to the mouth of the River Isca which the Britans name Usk and Wijsk and some Writers terme it Osca This River as it runneth through the middest as I said before of this County floweth hard by three Townes of especiall antiquity The first in the limite of the Shire North-West Antonine the Emperour calleth GOBANIUM at the very meeting of Uske and Geveny whereof it had the name and even at this day keeping the ancient name as it were safe and sound is tearmed Aber-Gevenny and short Aber-genny which signifieth the confluents of Gevenny or Gobanny Fortified it is with Wals and a Castle which as saith Giraldus of all the Castles in Wales hath beene most defamed and stained with the foule note of treason First by William Earle Miles his sonne afterwards by William Breos for both of them after they had trained thither under a pretense of friendship certain of the Nobles and chiefe Gentlemen of Wales with promise of safe conduct villanously slew them But they escaped not the just judgement and vengeance of God For William Breos after he had beene stripped of all his goods and lost his wife and some of his children who were famished to death died in banishment the other William being brained with a stone whiles Breulais Castle was on fire suffered in the end due punishment for his wicked deserts The first Lord to my knowledge of Aber Gevenny was one Sir Hameline Balun who made Brien of Wallingford or Brient de L'isle called also the Fitz-Count his heire He having built heere a Lazarhouse for his two sonnes that were Lepres ordained Walter the sonne of Miles Earle of Hereford heire of the greatest part of his inheritance After him succeeded his brother Henry slaine by the Welshmen who seized upon his lands which the Kings Lieutenants and Captaines could not defend without great perill and danger By a sister of this Henry it descended to the Breoses and from them in right of marriage by the Cantelowes to the Hastings which Hastings being Earles of Pembrock enjoyed it for divers descents and John Hastings having then no childe borne devised both it and the Earledome of Pembrock as much as in him lay to his cosin Sir William Beauchamp conditionally that he should beare his Armes And when the last Hastings ended his life issuelesse Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin being found his Heire passed over the Barony of Aber-gevenny to the said William Beauchamp who was summoned afterward to Parliament by the name of W. Beauchamp de Abergevenny Hee entailed the said Barony reserving an estate to himselfe and his wife and to the lawfull issue male of their bodies and for default of such issue to his brother Thomas Beauchamp Earle of Warwick and his heires males This William Beauchamp Lord of Abergevenny had a sonne named Richard who for his martiall valour was created Earle of Worcester and slaine in the French warres leaving one onely daughter whom Sir Edward Nevill tooke to wife Since which time the Nevils have enjoyed the honorable title of the Barons of Abergevenny howbeit the Castle was by vertue of the entaile aforesaid detained from them a long time The fourth Baron of this house dying in our remembrance left one onely daughter Mary married to Sir Thomas Fane Knight betwixt whom being the heire generall and Edward Nevill the next heire male unto whom by a will and the same ratified by authority of the Parliament the Castle of Abergevenny and the greatest part
goeth on forward to Shropp-shire That MEDIOLANUM a Towne of the Ordovices which both Antonine the Emperour and Ptolomee speake of stood in this Shire I am in a manner perswaded upon probability The footings whereof I have sought after with all diligence but little or nothing have I found of it For time consumeth the very carcasses even of Cities Yet if we may ground any conjecture upon the situation seeing the Townes which Antonine placeth on either side be so well knowne to wit BONIUM now Bangor by Dee on the one side and RUTUNIUM now Rowton Castle on the other side for he setteth it twelve Italian miles distant from this and from the other twenty The lines of Position if I may so tearme them or of the distance rather doe cut one another crosse betweene Matrafall and Lan-vethlin which are scarce three miles asunder and shew as it were demonstratively the site of our Mediolanum For this cannot chuse but bee an infallible way to finde out the situation of a third place by two others that are knowne when as there are neither hils interposed nor any troublous turnings of the wayes As for this Matrafall which standeth five miles Westward from Severn although it bee now but a bare name was sometime the regall seat of the Princes of Powis which may bee an argument of the antiquity thereof and the same much spoken of by Writers who record that after the Princes had once forsaken it Robert Vipont an Englishman built a Castle But Lan-vethlin that is Vethlius Church being a little Mercate Towne although it be somewhat farther off from the crosse-meeting of the said lines yet commeth it farre neerer in resemblance of name to Mediolanum For of Methlin by the propriety of the British tongue is made Vethlin like as of Caer-Merden is come Caer Verden and of Ar-mon Arvon Neither doth Methlin more jarre and disagree in sound from Mediolanum than either Millano in Italie Le Million in Xantoigne or Methlen in the Lowcountries which Cities no man doubteth were all in times past knowne by the name of Mediolanum Which of these conjectures commeth neerer to the truth judge you for me it is enough to give my guesse If I should say that either Duke Medus or Prince Olanus built this Mediolanum of ours and those Cities of the same name in Gaule or that whiles they were a building Sus mediatim Lanata that is That a Sow halfe fleeced with wooll was digged up might I not be thought thinke you to catch at Clouds and fish for Nifles Yet notwithstanding the Italians write as much of their Mediolanum But seeing that most true it is that these Cities were built by nations of the same language and that the Gaules and Britans spake all one language I have prooved already it is probable enough that for one and the same cause they had also one and the same denomination Howbeit this our Mediolanum in nothing so farre as I know agreeth with that of Italie unlesse it be that both of them are seated upon a plaine betweene two riverets and a learned Italian derived the name of their Mediolanum hence because it is a Citie standing in the middest betweene Lanas that is little rivers according to his owne interpretation But this may seeme overmuch of MEDIOLANUM which I have sought heere and about Alcester not farre off This Countie hath adorned no Earle with the name title and Honour thereof untill of late our Soveraigne King James created Philip Herbert second Sonne of Henry Earle of Penbroke by Mary Sidney for the singular love and affectionate favour toward him and for the great hope that he conceived of his vertues both Baron Herbert of Shurland and also Earle of Montgomery upon one and the same day at Greenwich in the yeere 1605. But the Princes of Powis descended from the third Sonne of Rotherike the great held this shire with others in a perpetuall line of succession although Roger and Hugh of Montgomery had encroched upon some part thereof untill the daies of King Edward the Second For then Oen ap Gruffin ap Guenwinwyn the last Lord of Powis of the British bloud for the name of Prince had long before been worne out of use left one onely daughter named Hawise whom Sir Iohn Charleton an English man the Kings Valect married and in right of his wife was by King Edward the Second made Lord of Powise who as I have seene in very many places gaue for his Armes a Lion Geules Rampant in a shield Or which he received from his wifes Progenitours Of his posterity there were foure males that bare this Honorable title untill that in Edward the succession of males had an end for he the said Edward begat of Aeleonor the daughter and one of the heires of Thomas Holland Earle of Kent Iane Wife to Sir Iohn Grey Knight and Joice married unto Iohn Lord Tiptoft from whom the Barons of Dudley and others derive their descent The said Sir Iohn Grey for his martiall prowesse and by the bountifull fauour of King Henry the Fifth received the Earledome of Tanquervill in Normandie to have unto him and his heires males by delivering one Bassinet at the Castle of Roan every yeere on Saint Georges day This John had a sonne named Henrie Lord of Powis in whose race the title of Powis with the Honour thereof continued untill Edward Grey died well neere in our time leaving no issue lawfully begotten This Shire hath Parishes 47. MERIONITH Comitatus olim pars ORDOVICVM MERIONETH-SHIRE FFrom the backeside of Montgomery-shire MERIONETH-SHIRE in British Sire-Verioneth in Latine Mervinia and as Giraldus calleth it Terra filiorum Canaeni that is Canaens sonnes Land reacheth to that crooked Bay I spake of and to the maine Sea which on the West side beateth so sore upon it that it is verily thought to have carryed away by violence some part thereof Southward for certaine miles together it is severed from Cardigan-shire by the river Dovy on the North it boundeth upon Caer-narvon and Denbigh-shires As for the in-land part it so riseth with mountaines standing one by another in plumps that as Giraldus saith it is the roughest and most unpleasant Country to see to in all Wales For it hath in it mountaines of a wonderfull height yet narrow and passing sharpe at the top in manner of a needle and those verily not scattering heere and there one but standing very thicke together and so even in height that Shepheards talking together or railing one at another on the tops of them if haply they appoint the field to encounter and meet together they can hardly doe it from morning till night But let the Reader heerein relie upon Giraldus credit Great flockes of Sheepe graze all over these mountaines neither are they in danger of Wolves who were thought then to have beene ridde quite out of all England and Wales when King Eadgar imposed upon Ludwall Prince of these
clawbackes BRITANNICUS even when the Britans would have elected an Emperour against him And then it may seeme was this Statue of his set up when he prizing himselfe more than a man proceeded to that folly that he gave commandement he should be called The Romane Hercules Iupiters sonne For hee was portraied in the habite of Hercules and his right hand armed with a club under which there lay as I have heard such a mangled Inscription as this broken heere and there with voide places betweene the draught whereof was badly taken out and before I came hither was utterly spoiled CAESARI AUGUSTO MARCI AURELII FILIO SEN IONIS AMPLISSIMI VENTS PIUS This was to be seene in Nappa an house built with turrets and the chiefe seat of the Medcalfs thought to be at this day the greatest family for multitude of the same name in all England for I have heard that Sir Christopher Medcalfe knight and the top of this kinred beeing of late high-Sheriffe of the shire accompanied with three hundred men of the same house all on horsback and in a livery met and received the Justices of Assizes and so brought them to Yorke From hence runneth Vre downe a maine full of Creifishes ever since Sir Christopher Medcalfe in our remembrance brought that kinde of fish hither out of the South part of England and betweene two rockes whereof the place is named Att-scarre it runneth head long downe not far from Bolton a stately Castle the ancient seat of the Barons Scrops and which Richard Lord le Scrope and Chancellour of England under king Richard the Second built with exceeding great coste and now bending his course Eastward commeth to Midelham the honour whereof as wee reade in the Genealogie or Pedegree of the Nevils Alan Earle of Richmond bestowed upon his younger brother Rinebald with all the lands which before their comming belonged to Gilpatrick the Dane His nephew by his sonne Raulph named Robert Fitz-Raulph had all Wentsedale also by gift of Conan Earle of Britaine and of Richmond and at Midleham raised a most strong Castle His sonne Ranulph erected a little Abbay for Chanons at Coverham called now short Corham in Coverdale whose sonne Raulph had a daughter named Mary who being wedded to Robert Lord Nevill with this marriage translated this very faire and large inheritance as her portion into the family of Nevils Which Robert Nevill having had many children by his wife was taken in adultery unknowne and by the husband of the adulteresse being for revenge berest of his genitours shortly after dyed with extremity of paine Then Ure after it hath passed a few miles forward watereth Iervis or Iorvalle Abbay of Cistertians founded first at Fo rs and after translated hither by Stephen Earle of Britaine and Richmond but now wholly ruinated and after that Masham which was the possession of the Scropes of Masham who as they sprung from the stocke of the Scropes of Bolton so they were by marriages ingraffed againe into the same On the other side of this River but more inward standeth Snath the principall house of the Barons Latimer who derived their noble descent from George Nevill younger sonne of Raulph Nevill the first Earle of Westmorland and he received this Title of honour from king Henry the Sixth when as the ancienter house of the Latimers expired in a female and so by a continued succession they have flourished unto these our daies when for default of male issue of the last Baron Latimer that goodly and rich inheritance was divided among his daughters marryed into the families of the Percies Cecils D'anvers and Cornwallis Neither are there any other places in this part of the shire worth the naming that Ure runneth by unlesse it bee Tanfeld the habitation in times past of the Gernegans knights from whom it descended to the Marmions the last of whom left for his heire Amice second wife to John Lord Grey of Rotherfeld by whom he had two sonnes John that assumed the sirname of Marmion and died issuelesse and Robert who left behinde him one onely daughter and sole heire Elizabeth wife to Sir Henry Fitz-Hugh a noble Baron After this Ure entertaineth the River Swale so called as Th. Spot writeth of his swiftnesse selfe into it with a maine and violent streame which Swale runneth downe Eastward out of the West Mountaines also scarce five miles above the head of Ure a River reputed very sacred amongst the ancient English for that in it when the English Saxons first embraced Christianity there were in one day baptized with festivall joy by Paulinus the Archbishop of Yorke above tenne thousand men besides women and little children This Swale passeth downe along an open Vale of good largenesse which of it is called Swal-dale having good plenty of grasse but as great want of wood first by Marrick where there stood an Abbay built by the Askes men in old time of great name also by Mask a place full of lead ore Then runneth it through Richmond the chiefe towne of the Country having but a small circuit of walles but yet by reason of the Suburbs lying out in length at three Gates well peopled and frequented Which Alan the first Earle thereof built reposing small trust in Gilling a place or Manour house of his hard by to withstand the violence of the Danes and English whom the Normans had despoiled of their inheritance and hee adorned it with this name as one would say The rich Mount he fensed it with a wall and a most strong Castle which being set upon a rocke from an high looketh downe to Swale that with a mighty rumbling noise rusheth rather than runneth among the stones For the said house or Manour place of Gilling was more holy in regard of devout religion than sure and strong for any fortification it had ever since that therein Beda calleth it Gethling Oswy King of Northumberland being entertained guest-wise was by his hoste forelaid and murthered for the expiation whereof the said Monastery was built highly accounted of among our ancestours More Northward Ravenswath Castle sheweth it selfe compassed with a good large wall but now fallen which was the seat of the Barons named Fitz-Hugh extracted from the ancient line of the English Nation who were Lords of the place before the Normans Conquest and lived in great name unto King Henry the Seventh his daies enriched with faire possessions by marriage with the heires of the noble houses of Furneaux and Marmion which came at last by the females unto the Fienes Lords Dacres in the South and to the Parrs Three miles beneath Richmond Swale runneth by that ancient City which Ptolomee and Antonine call CATURACTONIUM and CATARRACTON but Bede Catarractan and in another place the Village neere unto Catarracta whereupon I suppose it had the name of Catarracta that is a Fludfall or water-fall considering hard by there
here in Gordian the Emperours time as appeareth evidently by these inscriptions which I saw hard by I O M. ALA AUG OB RTUT APPEL CUI PRAEEST TIB. CL. TIB. F. P IN G N JUSTINUS PRAEF FUSCIANO II SILANO II COS. DM MABLI NIVSSEC VNDVS EQUIS ALE AUG STE STIP This votive altar also of a rude stone was erected for the happie health of the Emperour Gordian the third and his wife Furia Sabina Tranquilla and their whole family by the troup of horsemen surnamed Augusta Gordiana when Aemilius Chrispinus a native of Africa governed the same under Nonnius Philippus Lievtenant generall of Britaine in the yeere of Christ 243. as appeareth by the Consuls therein specified I O M PRO SALUTE IMPERATORIS M. ANTONI GORDIANI P. F. INVICTI AUG ET SABINIAE TUR IAE TRANQUILE CONJUGI EJUS TO TA QUE DOMU DIVIN EORUM A LA AUG GORDIA OB VIRTUTEM APPELLATA POSUIT CUI PRAEEST AEMILIUS CRISPINUS PRAEF EQQ. NATUS IN PRO AFRICA DE TUIDRO SUB CUR NONNII PH LIPPI LEG AUG PROPRETO ATTICO ET PRETEXTATO COSS. From hence also were altars brought which are erected in the high way by Wigton in the sides whereof are to bee seene a drinking cup or mazar a footlesse pot a mallet a boll c. all vessels appertaining to sacrifice But time hath so worn out the letters that nothing can be read And not farre from hence just by the high street way there was digged up a long rude stone in manner of a columne which we saw at Thoresby with this inscription to the honour of Philip the Emperour and his sonne who flourished about the yeere of our Lord 248. IMP CAES. M. JUL PHILIPPO PIO FELI CI AUG ET M. JUL. PHI LIPPO NOBILIS SIMO CAES TR. P. COS This also with others Oswald Dikes a learned minister of Gods word copied out for me and now is to be seene in the house of T. Dikes Gentleman at Wardal DEO SANCTO BELA TUCADRO AURELIUS DIATOVA ARAE X VOTO POSUIT LL. MM. Likewise another such like altar to a private tutelar God of the place was there found with this unperfect inscription DEO CE AIIO AUR M RTI. ET MS ERURACIO PRO SE ET SUIS V.S. LL. M. Besides an infinite number of pety images statues of horsemen Aegles Lions Ganimedes and many other monuments of antiquity which are daily discovered Something higher a little promontory shooteth out and a great frith or arme of the Sea lieth under it being now the common limit confining England and Scotland serving in times past to make a separation betweene the Romane Province and the Picts Upon this standeth that ancient town BLATUM-BULGIUM happily of Butch a Britaine word that signifieth a separation from which as from the most remote place and the limit of the Roman province Antonine the Emperour beginneth his journies through Britaine The inhabitants at this day call it Bulnesse and as small a village as it is yet hath it a pile and in token of the antiquity thereof besides the tracts of streets ruinous walls and an haven now stopped up with mud there led a paved high-way from hence along the sea-shore as farre as to Elen Borrough if we may relie upon the report of the by-dwellers Beyond this a mile as is to bee seene by the foundations at a nepe tide beganne that WALL the most renowned worke of the Romanes which was the bound in times past of the Romane province raised of purpose to seclude and keepe out the barbarous nations that in this tract were evermore barking and baying as an ancient writer saith about the Roman Empire I marvailed at first why they built here so great fortifications considering that for eight miles or thereabout there lieth opposite a very great frith and arme of the sea but now I understand that at every ebbe the water is so low that the borderers and beast-stealers may easily wade over That the form of these shores hath bin changed it doth evidently appeare by the tree roots covered over with sand a good way off from the shore which oftentimes at a low ebbe are discovered with the windes I know not whether I may relate here which the inhabitants reported concerning trees without boughes under the ground oftentimes found out here in the mosses by the direction of dew in summer for they have observed that the dew never standeth on that ground under which they lye By the same Frith more within the land standeth Drumbough Castle belonging of later time to the Lords of Dacre a station in times past of the Romans Some will have it to have beene EXPLORATORUM CASTRA notwithstanding the distance utterly controuleth it There was also another station of the Romans beside it which now being changed into a new name is called Burgh upon Sands whence the territory adjoyning is named the Barony of Burgh the which R. Meschines Lord of Cumberland gave unto Robert de Trivers but from him it came to the Morvils the last of which house named Hugh left behind him a daughter who by her second husband Thomas de Molton had issue Thomas Molton Lord of this place whose sonne Thomas by marriage with the heire of Hubert de Vaulx adjoyned Gilles-land to his possessions which in the end were devolved all unto Ranulph Dacre who married M. the heire of Moulton But for no one thing was this little Burgh upon Sands more famous than that King Edward the first that triumphant Conquerour of his enemies was here taken out of this world by untimely death A right noble and worthy Prince to whom God proportioned most princely presence and personage as a right worthy seat to entertaine so heroicall a minde For hee not onely in regard of fortitude and wisedome but also for a beautifull and a personall presence was in all points answerable to the height of royall majesty whom fortune also in the very prime and flowre of his age inured to many a warre and exercised in most dangerous troubles of the State whiles she framed and fitted him for the Empire of Britain which he being once crowned King managed and governed in such wise that having subdued the Welsh and vanquished the Scots hee may most justly bee counted the second ornament of Great Britaine Under this Burgh within the very Frith where the salt water ebbeth and floweth the Englishmen and Scotish by report of the inhabitants fought with their fleets at full Sea and also with their horsemen and footmen at the ebbe A thing which may seeme no lesse marvellous than that which Plinie hath reported not without wonder of the like place in Caramania This arme of the sea both nations call Solway Frith of Solway a towne in Scotland standing upon it But Ptolomee more truely tearmeth it ITUNA For Eden that notable river which wandreth through Westmorland and the inner parts of this shire
of the river Annan which lost all the glorie and beautie it had by the English warre in the reigne of Edward the sixth In this territorie the Ionstons are men of greatest name a kinred even bred to warre betweene whom and the Maxwels there hath beene professed an open enmitie over long even to deadly feud and blood-shed which Maxwels by right from their ancestours have the rule of this Seneschalsie for so it is accounted This vale Eadgar King of Scots after hee was restored to his kingdome by auxiliarie forces out of England gave in consideration and reward of good service unto Robert Bruse or Brus Lord of Cliveland in Yorke-shire who with the good favour of the King bestowed it upon Robert his younger sonne when himselfe would not serve the King of Scots in his warres From him flowered the Bruses Lords of Annandale of whom Robert Brus married Isabel the daughter of William King of Scots by the daughter of Robert Avenall his sonne likewise Robert the third of the name wedded the daughter of David Earle of Huntington and of Gariosh whose sonne Robert surname The Noble when the issue of Alexander the third King of Scots sailed challenged in his mothers right the Kingdome of Scotland before Edward the first King of England as the direct and superiour Lord of the Kingdome of Scotland so the English give it out or an honourable Arbitratour for to say the Scots as being neerer in proximitie in degree and blood to King Alexander the third and Margaret daughter to the King of Norway although bee were the sonne by a second sister who soon after resigning up his own right granted and gave over to his son Robert Brus Earle of Carrick and to his heires I speak out of the verie originall all the right and claime which he had or might have to the Kingdome of Scotland But the action and suit went with John Balliol who sued for his right us descended of the eldest sister although in a degree farther off and sentence was given in these words For that the person more remote in the second degree descending in the first line is to bee preferred before a nâ—â—erer in a second line in the succession of an inheritance that cannot be parted How beit the said Robert sonne to the Earle of Carrick by his own vertue at length recovered the Kingdome unto himself and established it to his posteritie A Prince who as he flourished notably in regard of the glorious ornaments of his noble acts so he triumphed as happily with invincible fortitude and courage over fortune that so often crossed him NIDISDALL CLose unto Annandale on the West side lyeth NIDISDALE suficiently with corne-fields and pastures so named of the river Nid which in Ptolomee is wrongly written NOBIUS for NODIUS or NIDIUS of which name there bee other rivers in Britaine full of shallow foords and muddie shelves like as this NID is also It springeth out of the Lake Logh-Cure by which flourished CORDA a towne of the Selgova He taketh his course first by Sauqhuera Castle of the Creightons who a long time kept a great port as enjoying the dignitie of the Barons of Sauqhuer and the authoritie besides of hereditarie Sheriffs of Nidisdale then by Morton which gave title of Earle to some of the family of Douglas out of which others of that surname have their mansion and abiding at Drumlanrig by the same river neere unto the mouth whereof standeth Danfreys betweene two hills the most flourishing towne of this tract which hath to shew also an old Castle in it famous for making of woollen clothes and remarkable for the murder of John Commin the mightiest man for manred and retinew in all Scotland whom Roberts Brus for feare he should foreclose his way to the kingdome ranne quite through with his sword in the Church and soon obtained his pardon from the Pope for committing that murder in a sacred place Neerer unto the mouth Solway a little village retaineth still somewhat of the old name of Selgova Upon the verie mouth is situate Caer Laverock which Prolomee I supposed called CARBANTORIGUM accounted an imprenable sort when King Edward the first accompanied with the floure of English Nobilitie besieged and hardly wonne it but now it is a weake dwelling house of the Barons of Maxwell who being men of an ancient and noble linage were a long time Wardens of these West matches and of late advanced by marriage with the daughter one of the heires of the Earle of Morton whereby John Lord Maxwell was declared Earle of Morson as also by the daughter and heire of Hereis Lord Toricles whom I a younger sonne took to wife and obtained by the title of Baron Hereis Moreover in this vale by the Lake side lyeth Glencarn whence the Cunninghams of whom I am to write more in place convenient bare a long time the title of Earle This Nidisdale together with Annandale nourisheth a warlike kind of men who have beene infamous for robberies and depredations for they dwell upon Solway Frish a fourdable arme of the sea at low waters through which they made many times outrodes into England for to fetch in booties and in which the inhabitants thereabout on both sides with pleasant pastime and delightfull sight on horse-backe with speares hunt Salmons whereof there is abundance What manner of cattailestealers these be that inhabite these vales in the marches of both kingdomes John Lesley himselfe a Scottish man and Bishop of Rosse will tell you in these words They go forth in the night by troops out of there own borders through desart by-waies and many winding crankes All the day time they refresh their burses and recreate their owne strength in lurking places appointed before band until they be come thither as length in the dark night where they would be When they have laid hold of a bootie back again they returne home likewise by night through blinde waies onely and fetching many a compasse about The more skilfull any leader or guide is to passe through those wild desarts crooked turnings and steep downe-falls in the thickest mists and deepest darknesse hee is held in greaâ—â—ter reputation as one of an excelling wit And so craftie and 〈◊〉 these are that seldome or never they forgo their bootie and suffer it to be taken out of their hands unlesse it happen otherwhiles that they be caught by their adversaries following continually after and tracing them directly by their footing according as quick-senting Slugh-bounds doe lead them But say they be taken so faire spoken they are and eloquen so manie sugred words they have at will sweetly to plead for them that they are able to move the Iudges and adversaries both he they never so austere and severe if not to mercie yet to admiration amd some commiseration withall NOVANTES GALLOWAY FRom Nidisdale as you goe on Westward the NOVANTES inhabited in the vales all that tract which
Sampford archbishop of Dublin In the same yeer the King of Hungary forsaking the Christian faith became an Apostata and when hee had called fraudulently as it were to a Parliament the mightier potentates of his land Miramomelius a puissant Saracene came upon them with 20000. souldiers carrying away with him the King with all the Christians there assembled on the even of Saint John Baptists day as the Christians therefore journied the weather that was cleere and faire turned to be cloudie and suddenly a tempest of haile killed many thousands of the Infidels together The Christians returned to their owne homes and the Apostata King alone went with the Saracenes The Hungarians therefore crowning his sonne King continued in the Catholike faith MCCLXXXIX Tripolis a famous citie was laied even with the ground not without much effusion of Christian blood and that by the Soldan of Babylon who commanded the images of the Saints to bee drawne and dragged at horses tailes in contempt of the name of Christ through the citie newly destroyed MCCXC Inclyta Stirps Regis Sponsis datur ordine legis In lawfull guise by hand and ring Espoused is the Kings off-spring The Lord Gilbert Clare tooke to wife the Ladie Joan a daughter of the Lord King Edward in the Abbey or Covent Church of Westminster and the marriage was solemnely celebrated in the Moneth of May and John the Duke of Brabant his sonne married Margaret the said Kings daughter also in the Church aforesaid in the moneth of July The same yeere the Lord William Vescie was made Justice of Ireland entring upon the office on Saint Martins day Item O Molaghelin King of Meth is slaine MCCXCI Gilbert Clare the sonne of Gilbert and of the Ladie Joan of Acres was borne the 11. day of May in the morning betimes Item there was an armie led into Ulster against O-Hanlon and other Princes hindering the peace by Richard Earle of Ulster and William Vescie Justice of Ireland Item the Ladie Eleanor sometime Queene of England and mother of King Edward died in the feast of St. Iohn Baptist who in the religious habite which she desired led a laudable life for the space of foure yeeres eleven moneths and sixe dayes within the Abbey of Ambresby where she was a professed Nun. Item there resounded certaine rumours in the eares of the Lord Pope Martin on the even of St. Mary Maudlen as touching the Citie Acon in the holy land which was the only refuge of the Christians namely that it was besieged by Milkador the Soldan of Babylon an infinite number of his souldiers and that it had been most fiercely assaulted about fortie daies to wit from the eighth day before the Ides of April unto the fifteene Calends of July At length the wall was plucked down by the Saracens that assaulted it and an infinite number of them entred the Citie many Christians being slaine and some for feare drowned in the sea The Patriarch also with his traine perished in the sea The King of Cypres and Otes Grandison with their companies pitifully escaped by a ship Item granted there was unto the Lord Edward King of England by the Lord Pope Martin the tenth part of all the profits of Ecclesiasticall benefices for seven yeeres in Ireland toward the reliefe of the holy land Item the eldest sonne of the Earle of Clare was borne MCCXCII Edward King of England eftsoones entred Scotland and was elected King of Scotland Lord John Balliol of Galwey obtained the whole kingdome of Scotland in right of inheritance and did homage unto the Lord Edward King of England at New-castle upon Tine on S. Stephens day Florentius Earle of Holland Robert Brus Earle of Carrick John Hastings John Comyn Patrick Dunbar John Vescie Nicolas Soules and William Roos who all of them in that kingdome submitted themselves to the judgement of the Lord King Edward Item a fifteene of all secular mens goods in Ireland was granted unto the soveraign Lord King of England the same to be collected at the feast of S. Michael Item Sir Peter Genevile Knight died Item Rice ap Meredyke was brought to York and there at horses tailes drawne c. MCCXCIII A generall and open war there was at sea against the Normans Item no small number of the Normans by fight at sea was slain by the Barons of the Ports of England and other their co-adjutors between Easter and Whitsuntide For which cause there arose war between England and France whereupon Philip King of France directed his letters of credence unto the King of England that he should make personall appearance at his Parliament to answer unto Questions which the same King would propose unto him whose mandate in this behalf being not fulfilled straightwaies the King of France declaring by the counsell of the French the King of England to be outlawed condemned him Item Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester entred with his wife into Ireland about the feast of S. Luke MCCXCIV William Montefort in the Kings counsell holden at Westminster before the King died sodainly which William was the Dean of S. Pauls in London in whose mouth the Prelates Bishops and Cleargy putting their words which he was to utter and doubting how much the King affected and desired to have of every one of them and willing by him to be certified in whom also the King reposed most trust being returned to the King and making hast before the King to deliver expresly a speech that he had conceived became speechlesse on a sodain and fell downe to the ground and was carried forth by the Kings servants in their armes in piteous manner In regard of which sight that thus happened men strucken with feare gave out these speeches Surely this man hath beene the Agent and Procurator that the Tenths of Ecclesiasticall benefices should bee paied to the King and another author and procurer of a scrutinie made into the fold and flocke of Christ as also of a contribution granted afterward to the King crying against William Item the Citie of Burdeaux with the land of Gascoigne adjoining was occupied or held by the ministers of the King of France conditionally but unjustly and perfidiously detained by the King of France for which cause John Archbishop of Dublin and certaine other Lords of the Nobilitie were sent into Almaine to the King thereof and after they had their dispatch and answer in Tordran the Lord Archbishop being returned into England ended his life upon S. Leodegaries day The bones of which John Sampford were enterred in the Church of Saint Patrick in Dublin the tenth day before the Calends of March. The same yeere there arose debate betweene Lord William Vescy Lord Justice of Ireland for the time being and the Lord John Fitz-Thomas and the said Lord Williliam Vescy crossed the seas into England left Sir William Hay in his stead Justice of Ireland but when both of them were come before the King to fight a combat under an Appeal for treason the foresaid
the native place of that great Arthur partly upon a little ridge putting forth as it were a tongue and partly within an Iland having both of them sometime a bridge betweene They call it at this day Tindagel beeing now a glorious ruine onely in times past a stately Castle of which a late Poet hath thus written Est locus Abrini finnoso littore ponti Rupe situs media refluus quem circuit astus Fulminat hic latâ— turritâ— vertice castrum Nomine Tindagium veteres dixere Corini There is a place within the winding shore of Severne Sea On mids a rocke about whose foote the tides turne-keeping play A Towry-topped Castle here farre thundreth over all Which Cornishmen by ancient name Tindagel Castle call A long discourse it would aske to declare here out of Geffries history how Uther Pendragon King of Britaine within this Castle became enamoured upon the wife of Gorlois Prince of Cornwall and how by Magick slights and delusions taking the shape of her husband upon him dishonourably violated the Ladie his wife and of her begat the said renowned Arthur It may suffice if I doe but alleage the verses of our Poet Iohn Havillan Facie dum falsus adulter Tindagel irrupit nec amoris Pendragon astum Vincit omnificas Merlini consulit artes Mentiturque ducis habitus rege latente Induit absentis praesentia Gorlois ora Whiles Pendragon that could not quench his flaming heats of love But beare a mind adult'rous still by meanes brake in above To Tindagel disguis'd in face by Merlin taught thereto By magicke and inchauntments strange which all such feats could doe Duke Gorloes habite absent then that was he tooke by guile But presence of the King in place he did conceale the while This Uther Pendragon verily was a Prince flourishing in Marâ—iall feats who valiantly upheld the decaying state of his countrey against the English Saxons But whether came from him That Royall Banner in England having the portraict of a Dragon with a golden head whereof of neighbour nations have had experience and which in far Lands beyond sea was under King Richard the First terrible to the Panims I dare not avouch I would beleeve rather it was received from the Romans who a long time used the Eagle after that Marius had rejected the Ensignes of a Wolfe of Minotaurus of an Horse c. And in the end under the latter Emperors tooke them to the Dragon Whereupon Claudianus writeth thus Hij picta Draconum Calla levant The banners these advance aloft With speckled necks of Dragons wrought And Nemesianus Signa micant sinuatque truces levis aura Dracones Their Ensignes shine and Dragons fell that therein pictur'd show Wave to and fro with whiffes of wind as it doth gently blow And Hoveden sheweth that the West Saxon Kings used to carrie in their Banners the Dragon As for another Banner of the English which Beda called Tufa as also the Danes Reafan I will say nothing of them in this place for feare I may seeme to have digressed too farre from my purpose Betweene Padstow and Tindagel inwardly there extendeth a fruitfull veine and therein flourish the families of Roscarrock Carnsew Penkevell Cavell Pencavell of ancient name and great respect in this coast Forward still Eastward on the same coast which is open barren and destitute of woods there butteth upon the sea Botereaux Castle corruptly by the common people called Boscastle built by the Lords Botereaux who gave for their armes three Buffones toads sable in a shield Argent William Botereaux was the first famous man of honour in this familie who married Alice the daughter of Robert Corbet whose sister was Paramour to King Henrie the First of whom hee begat Reginald Earle of Cornwall From this William there flourished eleven successively in order But Margaret the onely daughter and sole heire of the last was wedded unto Robert Hungerford by whose posteritie the Inheritance is devolved upon the familie of the Hastings which inheritance was augmented and became more honourable by marriages that those of Botereaux contracted with the heires of the Noble houses De Moeles S. Laud commonly called S. Lo and Thweng From hence the Land shooting forth into the Sea extendeth it selfe so farre northward that the countrey carrieth here full three and twenty miles in breadth betweene the two seas which hitherto went on still drawen after a sort together into a narrow streit In this greatest breadth of it standeth Stow upon the sea-side the ancient habitation of the Creenvils which verily for Antiquitie and Noblenesse of birth is a famous house out of which one Richard in the raigne of William Rufus was for his valour much renowned among those worthy Knights that subdued Glamorganshire in Wales and another of late daies surnamed likewise Richard for his magnanimitie surpassing the Nobilitie of his bloud fighting most valiantly against the Spaniards at the Ilands of Tercera lost his life as I shall shew more fully in my Annals To this Stratton lieth close to a market Towne of no meane name amongst the neighbours for their gardens and good garlicke and next unto it Lancels a faire new seat of that old family de Calvo monte or Chaumond The river TAMARA now TAMAR shewing his head here not farre from the northren shore taketh his course with a swift running streame southward encreased with the channels of many rivelets hard by TAMARA a Towne mentioned by Ptolomee now called Tamerton by Tamar an ancient Mannour of the Trevilions to whom by marriage the Inheritance of Walesborough and Ralegh of Netlested descended also by Lanstuphadon that is Saint Stephens commonly and contractly Launston which standeth farther off from his banke a proper little Towne this is situate upon the pitch of a prettie hill which of two Burgards Dunevet and Newport is growne as it were into one Burgh At the first comming of the Normans William Earle of Moriton built a Castle there and had a Colledge of Chanons or Secular Priests as appeareth out of Domesday book wherein it is named Launstaveton of that Colledge no doubt built in the honour of Saint Stephen which Reginald Earle of Cornwall about the yeere of our Lord 1150 turned into a monasterie Against which pious worke of his the Bishops of Excester carried away over much and seduced with humane and private affection were verie maliciously bent as fearing exceedingly lest one day it would become a Bishops seat and so prejudice and impeach their jurisdiction At this day this Town is best knowne by reason of the common Goale of the countrey and the Assises which are often times kept there Then Tamar looketh up unto an high hil stretched out in length with a vast head which Marianus nameth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and interpreteth it Hengists mount commonly called Hengston-hill Which in times past was so plentifull of Tinne veines that the countrey people had this
Temporall man Certainely whencesoever the name came it is ancient and they have worshipfully matched and not long since with one of the daughters of Arthur Plantagenet Vicount Lisley naturall sonne to King Edward the Fourth Hence Towridge hastneth to Tourington which it giveth name unto standing over it in a great length upon the brow of a little hill by Bediford also a towne of right good name for the frequent resort of people and number of Inhabitants as also for a goodly stone bridge with arched worke where straight waies it windeth it selfe into the Taw. This Taw breaking forth out of the very midst and hart of the shire first runneth downe by Chimligh a little market towne not far from Chettlehampton a small Village where Hyertha canonized a Shee-Saint lay interred from thence having passed by Tawton where Werstane and Putta the first Bishops of Denshire had their See about the yeare of our Lord 906. and Tawstoke over against it now the seate of the right honourable Earle of Bathe it maketh haste to Berstaple Reputed this is a very ancient Towne and for elegant building and frequencie of people held chiefe in all this coast scituate amidst hilles in forme of a semicircle upon the river being as it were a diameter Which River at every change and full of the Moone by the swelling of the Ocean overfloweth the fields so as the very Towne it selfe seemeth to be a demie Island but when as one saith the sea reengorgeth it selfe backe againe into the sea it is so shallow creeping betweene sands and shelves as it hardly beareth smaller vessels On the south side it hath a stately bridge built by one Stamford a Citizen of London In the North part where North Ewe a little river or brooke runneth are seene the reliques of a Castle which by the common report King Athelstane but as others say Iudaël of Totenais built for the keeping and defence whereof certaine Lands adjoyning thereabout are held in Castle-guard It had sometimes a wall about it but now there remaine scarce any small tokens thereof The said Iudaël of Totenais received it in free gift in fee of King William the First after him the Tracies held it for a long time then the Martins after whom in the raigne of King Richard the Second it came to Iohn Holland Earle of Huntingdon who afterwards was Duke of Excester and last of all it fell to the Crowne But Queene Mary gave the Mannour to Thomas Marrow whose son sold it away In K. William the First his daies as we find in Domesday booke It had within the Burgh fortie Burgesses and nine without King Henrie the First endowed it with many priviledges and King John with more A Major and two Bailiffes for a long time it had but Queene Mary ordained there a Major two Aldermen and a Counsell of twentie and foure The Inhabitants for the most part are Merchants who in France and Spaine trade and traffique much Neither must this be passed over with silence that out of this Towns-Schoole their issued two right learned men and most renowned Divines John Jewell Bishop of Sarisbury and Thomas Harding the publike professour in Lovain who most hotly contended and wrote learnedly one against the other concerning the truth of Religion From hence the river Taâ— saluting as it were Ralegh which in times past had noble Lords of that name but now is the possession of a right worshipfull house surnamed Chichester and afterwards encreased by Towbridge water falleth into the Severne Sea but it meeâ—eth nor with Kinwith Castle whereof Asserius maketh mention For here abouâ— such a Castle there was of that name for scite of the ground about it very safe on every side save onely on the East quarter at the which in the yeare of Christ â—70 Hubba the Dane who with many slaughters and overthrowes had harried the English Nation was with many other Danes slaine And thereupon the place afterwards was called by our Historiographers Hubbestow And then it was that the Englishmen wan the Danes banner called Reafan Which I note therefore the rather because it may be gathered out of a pretty tale in Asserius Menevenâ—is who hath delivered these things in writing that the Danes bare in their Ensigne a Raven wrought by report in needle-worke by the daughters of Lothbrooke that is Leather-breech the Dane with such an opinion of good lucke as they thought that it never should be wonne After this nothing there is to bee seene upon this coast but Ilfarcomb a good and sure rode for ships and Comb-Marton bordering hard upon it under which old mines of lead not without veines of silver have of late beene discovered As for this word Comb to observe so much once for all which is an usuall adjection to names of places in this tract it signifieth a low scituation or a Vale and derived it may seeme to be of Kum a British word that betokeneth the same and the French men in their tongue retaine it still in the very same sense from the ancient Gallique language the same with old British More South-East from hence and neere unto Somersetshire Bampton sometimes Baentun sheweth it selfe which under William the Conquerour befell unto Walter de Doway with other right large and faire lands else-where of whose posteritie Iuliana an Inheritrix married to William Paganell commonly Paynell bare Fulk de Bampton and he begat William and Christian the wife of Cogan of Ireland whose posteritie succeeded in the possession thereof for that the issue of the said William died without children But from the Cogans the possession descended at length hereditarily unto the Bourchiers now Earles of Bathe by an heire of Hancford who had married likewise an heire of the Lord Fitz-warin In the prime and infancie of the Normans Empire to say nothing of Hugh the Norman whom Queene Emnia had before time made Ruler over this countrey King William the First ordained one Baldwine to be the hereditarie Sheriffe or Vicount of Denshire and Baron of Okchampton after whom succeeded in that honour Richard his sonne who died without issue male Then King Henrie the First bestowed upon Richard de Redveriis First Tiverton and afterwards the honour of Plimpton with other places appurtaining thereto and consequently created him Earle of Denshire by granting unto him the third penie of the yearely revenues growing out of the same Countie Now the revenue of the Countie which in those daies was due to the King was not above thirtie marks out of which the said Earle tooke unto him for his part ten markes yearely After this hee obtained of the said King the Isle of Wight whereupon stiled hee was Earle of Denshire and Lord of the Isle Hee had a Sonne named Baldwin who siding with Maude the Empresse against King Stephen was banished the Realme Howbeit Richard his Sonne recovered this honour of his Fathers and hee
mother to Edward Courtney the last Earle of Devonshire of that house and on the other side of the quier Iohn de Beaufort Duke of Somerset with his wife Margaret daughter and heire to Sir Iohn Beauchamp of Bletneshoe whose daughter Margaret Countesse of Richmond and mother of King Henry the Seventh a most godly and vertuous Princesse erected a Schoole heere for the training up of youth But now will I turne my pen from the Church to the Towne when the Danes by their crafty devices went about to set the Englishmen together by the eares and would have broken that league and unitie which was betweene King Edward the Elder and his cosen Aethelwald Aethelwald then lusting after the Kingdome and wholly set against his liege Prince fortified this towne as strongly as possibly he could But so soone as Edward came towards him with his forces and pitched his tents at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now called Badbury he fled and conveied himselfe to his confederates the Danes This Badbury is a little hill upon a faire doune scarce two miles off environed about with a triple trench and rampier and had by report in times past a Castle which was the seate of the West-Saxon Kings But now if ever there were any such it lieth so buried in the owne ruines and rubbish that I could see not so much as one token thereof But hard by a sight I had of a village or mannour called Kingston Lacy because together with Winburne it appurtained to the Lacies Earles of Lincolne unto whom by covenant it came from the Earles of Leicester by the meanes of Quincie Earle of Winchester For King Henry the first had given it to Robert Earle of Mellent and of Leicester and at the last both places from the Lacies fell unto the house of Lancaster whose bountie and liberalitie Winburne had good triall of From this Winburne Stoure as it passeth admitteth Alen a little brook over which standeth S. Giles Winburne the habitation of the worshipfull and ancient house of Astleys Knights also Wickhampton the inheritance sometime of the Barons de Maltravers of whom the last in the raigne of Edward the Third left behind him two daughters onely the one wedded unto Iohn de Arundell grandfather to Iohn Earle of Arundell who left unto his posteritie the title of Barons de Maltravers the other wife of Robert Le-Rous and afterwards of Sir Iohn Keines Knight From hence the Stoure passeth on by Canford under which not long ago Iames Lord Montjoy studious in Minerall matters began to make Calcanthum or Vitriol we call it Coperas and to boile Alome And out of which in old time Iohn Earle of Warren to the great disteining of his owne good name and the damage of England tooke as it were by strong hand and carried away as it is to be seene in our Chronicles Dame Alice Lacey the wife of Thomas Earle of Lancaster And now by this time Stoure leaveth Dorsetshire behind him and after hee hath travelled through some part of Hantshire at length taketh up his lodging in the Ocean and yet not before hee hath entertained a pretty river that runneth to Cranburne a place well watered Where in the yeare of Salvation 930. Aelward a noble Gentleman surnamed for his whitenesse Meaw founded a little monasterie which Robert Fitz-Haimon a Norman unto whom fell the possessions of the said Aelward leaving heere one or two Monkes in a cell translated to Theoksbury From whom in order of succession by the Clares Earles of Glocester and Burghs Earles of Ulster it came to Lionell Duke of Clarence and by him to the Crowne But now Cranborne hath his Uicount now Earle of Salisburie whom King Iames for his approved wisedome and worth honored first with the title of Baron or Lord Cecil of Essendon and the next yeare after of Vicount Cranborne South from hence lieth Woodland emparked sometime the seat of the worshipfull family of Filioll the heires whereof were married to Edward Seimor after Duke of Somerset and Willoughby of Wallaton As touching the Earles and Marquesses of this shire King William the Conqueror having now by conquest attained to the Kingdome of England made Osmund that was Earle of Seez in Normandie both Bishop of Sarisbury and afterward also the first Earle of Dorset and his Chancellor highly admiring the godly wisedome of the man and his notable good parts Long after that King Richard the Second in the one and twentieth yeare of his raigne advanced Iohn de Beaufort Iohn of Gaunt his sonne and Earle of Sommerset to be Marquesse Dorset of which dignitie King Henry the Fourth in hatred of Richard the Second deprived him And when as in the high Court of Parliament the Commons of England there assembled who loved him very dearely made earnest intercession that the said dignitie of Marquesse might bee restored unto him hee himselfe distasting this new title and never heard of before those daies utterly refused it And then his younger brother named Thomas Beaufort was created Earle of Dorset who afterward for his warlike prowesse and valour was by King Henrie the Fifth adorned with the title of Duke of Excester and with the Earledome of Harcourt For he valiantly defended Harflew in Normandie against the Frenchmen and in a pitched field encountring the Earle of Armignac put him to flight After he was dead without issue King Henry the Sixth nominated out of the same house of Lancaster Edmund first Earle afterwards Marquesse Dorset and lastly Duke of Somerset whose sonnes being slaine in the civill wars Edward the Fourth when as now the family of Lancaster lay as it were over troden in the dust created Thomas Grey out of the house of Ruthin who was his sonne in law for the King had espoused the mother of the said Grey Marquesse Dorset when in right of his wife he had entred upon a great state and inheritance of the Bonvilles in this country and the territories adjoyning After him succeeded in the same honour Thomas his sonne and Henrie his nephew by the said Thomas who also was created by King Edward the Sixth Duke of Suffolk having wedded Lady Frances daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and Neece unto King Henry the Eighth by his sister This Duke in Queene Maries daies being put to death for high treason learned too late how dangerous a thing it is to marrie into the bloud royall and to feed ambitious hopes both in himselfe and in others From that time the title of Dorset was bestowed upon none untill King Iames at his first entrance into this Kingdome exalted Thomas Sackvill Baron of Buckhurst and Lord high Treasurer of England a man of rare wisedome and most carefull providence to the honour of Earle of Dorset who ended his life with suddaine death 1608. and left Robert his sonne his successor who deceasing within the yeare left the said honour againe to Richard his hopefull sonne whom he
hath now partly effected and in some sort over-mastred it A little beneath by Langport a proper market town the Rivers Ivel and Pedred running together make betweene them an Iland called Muchelney that is to say The great Iland wherein are to bee seene the defaced walles and ruines of an old Abbey built by King Athelstane as writers reporr This Pedred commonly named Parret hath his beginning in the verie edge or skirt of the shire southward and holding on a crooked and winding course thorow Crockhorne in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Pedderton to whom it gave the name sometime Pedridan the Roiall seat of King Ina â— which towne now adayes is of none account unlesse it be for the market and Faire there held which Henrie Daubeney obtained of King Henrie the Sixth at this place runneth into Ivel and robbeth him of his name when hee is come downe three miles Eastward and hath bidden farewell to Montacute so termed by the Earle of Moriton brother by the Mothers side to King William the Conquerour who built a Castle upon the verie hill top and at the foot thereof a Priorie because the said hill riseth up by little and little to a sharpe pâ—int for before time it was called Logoresburgh and Biscopeston As for the Castle it came to nothing many yeeres since the stones thereof being had away to the repairing of the Monasterie and other houses Upon the pitch of the said hill there was a Chapell afterwards set and dedicated unto Saint Michael built with arch-worke and an embowed roofe overhead all of stone right artificially to which for halfe a mile wel nere men ascended upon stone-staires which in their ascent fetched a compasse round about the hil But now that the Priorie and chapell both be pulled down the faire and goodly house which Sir Edward Philips Knight and the Kings Sargeant at Law built lately at the hill foote maketh a very beautifull shew This high place Mont-acute hath given surname to that right honourable family of Montacute which had their beginning of Dru the younger Out of which there were foure Earles of Sarisburie the last of them left one daughter onely Alice who by Richard Nevil pare Richard that renowned Earle of Warwick who kept such stirres and made all England to shake also Iohn Nevil Marquesse Montacute who were both slaine at Barnet field in the yeere 1472. Afterward King Henrie the Eighth conferred the title of Lord Montacute upon Henrie Poole sonne of Margaret daughter to George Duke of Clarence that came of the daughter of that Richard Nevill aforesaid Earle of Warwicke and when hee had so done straightwaies made him shorter by the head afterwards Queene Marie advanced Anthonie Browne whose Grandmother was a daughter of Iohn Nevill Marquesse Montacute to the title and honour of Vicount Montacute which his Grandchild Anthonie who succeeded him now honourably enjoyeth And here I must not forget neither Preston sometime the seat of Iohn Sturton younger sonne to the first Lord Sturton one of whose heires was married to Sidenham of Brimton thereby neither Odcombe adjoyning thereto as small a towne as it is seeing it had a Baron of the owne William de Briewer for so was his father named in the Norman-French because he was borne in an heath who being taken up in the new Forrest by King Henrie the Second in a hunting journey prooved a great man and gratious in the Court as whom King Richard the First highly favored as his minion and all the world embraced and loved grew unto a verie wealthy estate married Beatrix of Vannes widow to Reginald Earle of Cornwall and his daughters for that his sonne died without issue by their marriages brought great possessions to their husbands Breos Wake La-fert and Piercy Under this towne hard by lieth Stoke under Hamden where the Gornaies had their Castle and built a Colledge This familie de Gornaico commonly named Gornay was verie ancient and of good account descended from the same stocke out of which the Warrens Earles of Surrie and the Mortimers are sprung but in the fore-going age it failed and some of their lands descended by the Hamptons to the house of the Newtons Knights who willignly acknowledge themselves to bee come out of Wales and not long since to have beene named Caradocks Neither must I passe over in silence how Matthew Gournay a most famous warriour in the raigne of Edward the Third was buried heere who in the fourescore and sixteenth yeere of his age ended this life when as appeareth by his Epitaph he had fought at the siege of Algizer against the Saracens in the battels of Benamazin Scluse Cressie Ingenos Poictiers and Nazars in Spaine Then Pedred watereth Martocke a litle market Towne which in times past William of Boloigne King Stephens sonne gave unto Faramuse of Boloigne whose sole heire Sibyll was wedded to Ingelraine Fienes from whom descended the Fienes Barons of Dacre and Lords Say and Sele Parret from hence thorow the mire and moorish plaine countrey holding his course Northward passed by Langport a market Towne well frequented and Aulre a Village consisting of a few poore Cottages which seemeth to have beene a Towne of good account for when King Elfred had given the Danes such an overthrow in battell and by strait siege compelled them to yeeld so farre forth that they tooke an oath immediatly to depart out of his dominions and Godrus their King promised to become Christian as writeth Asserius at this very place he with great pompe was Godfather to the said Godrus at the sacred Font. Beneath this place from the West Parret receiveth into it the river Thone which springing farre of in the West part of this Countrey very neere unto Devonshire runneth thorow most rich and pleasant fields passing downe neere Wivelscomb assigned anciently to the Bishops of Bathe and by Wellington which in the time of King Edward the elder was a land of â—ix Manentes what time hee granted it together with Lediard that had twelve Manentes Hides unto the Bishop of Shirburne Now a prettie market Towne it is and graced most by the habitation there of Sir Iohn Popham For vertuous men and such as have so well deserved of their countrey are not to bee passed in silence a man of an ancient worshipfull house and withall a most upright Iusticer and of singular industry who being Lord chiefe Iustice of the Kings Bench administreth his office toward malefactours with such holesome and available severity that England hath beene beholden unto him a long time for a great part of her private peace and home-securitie For thence with a soft streame and gentle fall Thone runneth by Thonton commonly Taunton and giveth it his name A very fine and proper Towne this is indeed and most pleasantly seated in a word one of the eyes of this shire where Ina King
now a little village but sometime King Etheldreds mansion house and for that the Earles of Cornwall were wont to retire themselves and sojourne there it was of good account within view whereof is Castlecombe an old Castle ennobled sometimes by the Lords of it the Walters of Dunstavill men of great renowne in their time out of whose house the Writhosleies Earles of Southampton are descended Petronilla or Parnell daughter and sole heire of the last Walter was wedded unto Robert de Montfore and bare unto him William his Sonne who sold this Castle with the rest of his lands and possessions unto Bartholomew Badilsmer from whom as I have heard it passed to the Scrâ—opes who ever since have held it But now returne we unto the river upon which are seated Leckham the possession of the noble family of the Bainards where pieces of Roman money have oftentimes beene found and Lacocke where the most godly and religious woman Dame Ela Countesse of Salisburie being now a widdow built a Monasterie like as shee did another at Henton in the yeare 1232. to the honour of the blessed Virgin Marie and Saint Bernard in which her selfe devoutly dedicated both her bodie and soule to the service of God Avon from hence shadowed with trees holding on his course not far from Brumham an inhabitation in times past of the Baron Samond or truly De Sancto Amando Saint Amand afterward of the Baintons from them before hee admitteth to him a little rivelet from the East that putteth forth his head neere unto the Castle De Vies Devizes or the Vies Florentius of Worcester calleth it Divisio and Neubergentis Divisae Heretofore a stately place I assure you very strong as well by naturall scituation as by mans hand but through the injurie of time now decaied and defaced This Castle that it might disgrace and put downe all other Castles in England Roger Bishop of Salisburie whom from a poore masse-Priest Fortune had exalted unto the highest authoritie next the King at his excessive charges built But Fortune as one saith hath set no man so high but she threatneth to take from him as much as she hath permitted him to have For King Stephen upon a displeasure wrung from him both this Castle and that also of Shirburne together with all his wealth and riches as great as it was yea and brought the silly old man so low in prison what with hunger and what with other miseries that betweene the feare of death and torments of this life he had neither will to live nor skill to die At which time was handled canvased or rather tossed to and fro this question whether by the Canons and Decrees of Church Bishops might hold Castles or if this be by indulgence tolerated whether they ought not in dangerous and suspected times surrender them up into the Kings hands Avon having received this rivelet to beare him company maketh away westward and straight waies another brook from the South runneth into him which hath given name to the house standing upon it called likewise Barons Brooke which as it afforded habitation in old time to Iohn Pavely Lord of Westburie Hundred so afterwards it gave the title of Baron to Robert Willoughby because by the Chenies hee derived his pedigree from Paveley what time as King Henrie the Seventh advanced him to a Barons dignitie as being high in his favour Steward of his house and appointed by report for a while Admirall Whereupon he used the Helme of a ship for a seale in his ring like as Pompey in times past Governour of the Roman Navie the stemme or Prow thereof in his coines But this family fading as it were and dying in the verie blade quickly came to an end For he left a sonne Robert Lord Brooke who of a former wife begat Edward his sonne that died before his father leaving a daughter married to Sir Foulke Grevil and of a second wife two daughters by whom a great inheritance and rich estate conveied to the Marquesse of Winchester and Lord Montjoy Neere unto this Eastward lieth Edindon in old time Eathandune where King Alfred in as memorable a battell as any time else most fortunately vanquished the bold insolent and outragious Danes and drave them to this hard passe that they swore in a set forme of oath forthwith to depart out of England In which place also William de Edindon Bishop of Winchester whom King Edward highly favoured here borne and taking his name from hence erected a Colledge Bonis hominibus Bon-homes as they called them that is for good men But at the little river aforesaid somewhat higher standeth upon a hill Trubridge sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a sure and trusty bridge But for what cause this name was set upon it it is not for certaine knowne In great name and prosperitie it is in these daies by reason of clothing and sheweth the remaines of a Castle which belongeth to the Duchie of Lancaster and sometime of the Earle of Salisburie Avon thus increased by this rivelet watereth Bradford in the foregoing times Bradanford so named of a broad foard scituate upon the descent or fall of an hill and built all of stone where Kenilwalch King of the West-Britans embrued his sword wiuh bloud in civill warre against Cuthred his neere kinsman Here Avon biddeth Wil-shire farewell and entreth closely into the Countie of Somerset minding to visit the Bathes The West limit of this shire goeth downe directly from hence Southward by Long-leat the dwelling place of the Thins descended from the Bâ—ttevils a verie faire neate and elegant house in a foule soile which although once or twice it hath beene burnt hath risen eftsones more faire Also by Maiden Bradley so called of one of the Inhabitants of Manasses Basset a most noble personage in his time who being her selfe a maiden infected with the leprosie founded an house heere for maidens that were lepers and endowed the same with her owne Patrimonie and Livetide like as her Father before time had thereabout erected a Priorie Likewise by Stourton the seate of the Lords Stourton whom King Henry the Sixth raised to this dignitie after their estaâ—e had beene much bettered in lands and revenues by marriage with the Daughter and heire of the family Le Moigne or Monke of Essex and not of Mohun as some hitherto have beene falsely perswaded and hereupon it is that they have borne for their Crest A Demi-Monke with a whip in his hand The place tooke his name of the River Stour that under this towne walmeth out of sixe fountaines which the Stourtons Lords of the place have brought into their shield sables By Maiden Bradley above said glideth Dever-rill a prettie small Rill so called for that like as Anas in Spaine and Mole in Surrey which tooke their names thereupon it divideth as it were under the ground and a mile off rising up here againe
them have very goodly houses also adjoyning to the Church and all these buildings stand within the close wall severed from the Citie As the Bishop was busied about erecting of Gods house the Citizens likewise for their parts did their best to found the Citie they established their civill government derived rilles and servers of waters into every street and cast a deepe ditch all along that side on which it is not fenced with the running river having obtained licence of Simon the Bishop thus to strengthen and fortifie the same And in such sort grew up this new Salisburie by little an little out of the ruines of old Sorbiodunum that so soone as they by the Kings warrant had turned hither the high-way that leadeth into the West parts it became the second Citie in all this tract passing well inhabited and frequented plentifull of all things especially of fish adorned with a very stately market place wherein standeth their common Hall of timber worke a very beautifull edifice But nothing is there whereof it may so much boast as of Iohn Iowell not long since Bishop there a wonderfull great and deepe Divine a most stout and earnest maintainer of our reformed religion against the adversaries by his learned books Old Sorbiodunum from thence forward decaied more and more and in the raigne of King Henrie the Seventh became utterly desolate so as at this day there remaineth onely a towre or two of the Castle which notwithstanding a long time after the departure of the townesmen from thence was the dwelling house of the Earles of Salisburie and about which in King Edward the Thirds time there arose a memorable controversie and suite For Robert Bishop of Salisburie stirred Milliam Mont acute Earle of Salisburie by vertue of a processe which our Lawyers terme Breve de Recto that is A writ of right for this Castle and hee made answer that hee would defend his right by combat Whereupon at a day appointed the Bishop â—rought forth his champion to the railes or bars of the Lists clâ—d in a white garment reaching downe to his mid-leg upon which he had a mandilian or cassocke garnished with the Bishops Armes at whose heeles followed a Knight carrying a staffe and a page with a shield Immediately after the Earle brought in by the hand his owne champion also arraied in the like apparell accompanied with two Knights bearing white staves Now when these Champions were to enter the Lists commanded they were to withdraw themselves aside that their weapons of both parts might be viewed and they searched whether they had any Amulers or Enchantments about them But all on a suddaine unlooked for came the Kings precept to reprive and defer the matter to a further day that the King might loose thereby none of his right Meane while they grew to this composition That the Earle for the summe of 2500. markes paied and received should yield up all his title and interest in the Castle to the Bishop and his successors for ever This Salisburie had long agoe Earles of that name whose pedigree I will derive somewhat farther off and more truly out of the short reports of Lacock Historie William Conqueror of his bounty liberalitie assigned unto Gualter de Evereaux Earle of Rosmar in Normandie faire lands and large possessions in this shire which he left unto Edward named de Sarisburia a younger sonne borne in England like as to Walter his eldest sonne other lands in Normandie with the Title of Earle of Rosmar whose issue within a while after was extinct That Edward of Sarisburie aforesaid flourished in the twentieth yeere of the Conquerours reigne and is often times barely named in the Indiciarie booke of England without the title of Earle His sonne Walter built a a little monasterie at Bradenstocke and there in his old age tooke him to the habit of a Canon or Regular priest after he had first begotten his sonne Patricke the first Earle of Salisburie upon Sibil de Cadurcis This Patricke I say the first Earle in his returne from his pilgrimage at S. Iames of compostella in Spain in the yeere of our Lord 1169. being slaine by one Guy of Lusigniam left William his sonne to succeede who died in King Richard the first his time His onely daughter Ela through the favour of the said King Richard was married to William Long Espee surnamed so of a long sword that he did usually weare a base sonne of King Henrie the second and her marriage honoured him with the title of Earle and her owne coat of Armes be Azur adorned with sixe Lions Ceux This William had a sonne named likewise William Long-Espee against whom King Henrie the Third conceiving great displeasure for that without licence obtained he was gone to serve in the holy land taking the crosse as they termed it upon him took from him both the title of Earle and also the Castle of Salisburie But he holding still his purpose went into Egypt with S. Lewis King of France and neere unto Damiata which the Christians had wonne carrying a brave and valorous minde fighting manfully among the thickkest troops of his enemies died an honorable and glorious death a little before that holy King was unfortunately taken prisoner His sonne named likewise William lived without the title of Earle and begat one onely daughter Margaret who neverthelesse being reputed Countresse of Salisburie became the wife of Henry Lacy Earle of Lincoln unto whom she bare one only daughter Alice wedded to Thomas Earle of Lancaster Who being attainted King Edward the Second seized upon those possessions which she had granted and demised unto her husband out of which King Edward the Third gave way unto Willam Mont-acute Trowbridg Winterbourn Ambresburie and other Lordships in these words So fully and wholly as the Progenitours of Margaret Countesse of Salisbury at any time held the same And even then hee preferred the said William Mont-acute to be Earle of Salisburie and by the cincture of a sword invested him in the said Earledome This William became Lord of the Isle of Mann and begat two sonnes William who succeeded in his Fathers honour and died without issue having unhappily slaine his onely sonne while he trained him at Tilting and Iohn a Knight who died before his brother leaving behind him a sonne named Iohn Earle of Salisburie whom hee had by Margaret daughter and heire of Thomas de Mont-Hermer who being of an unconstant and changeable nature and plotting the destruction of King Henrie the Fourth was in the yeare of our Lord 1400. killed at Chichester and attainted afterwards of high treason Howbeit his sonne Thomas was fully restored a man worthy to be ranged with the bravest Captaines and Commanders whether you respect paines taking in his affaires industrie in action or expedition in dispatch who lying at the siege before Orleance in France was with a bullet levelled out of a great piece of Ordnance wounded in the yeare 1428. and thereof died
which the unskilfull rurall people envie us the having Onely one was brought from hence to London which was to be seene in the gardens of the right honourable Sir William Cecill Lord Burghley and high Treasurer of England to wit MEMORIAE FL. VICTORINAE T. TAM VICTOR CONJUX POSVIT That this Tombe was erected for that Victorina which was called Mater Castrorum that is The mother of the Campe and who against Gallienus the Emperour excited in Gaule and Britaine the two Victorini her sonne and sonnes sonne Posthumus likewise Lollianus Marius and Tetricus Caesars I would not with others affirme Yet I have read that two of the VICTORS were in some place here in Britaine and those at one and the selfe-same time the one Maximus the Emperour his soone the other Praefectus Praetorio to the same Emperour of whom Saint Ambrose maketh mention in his Epistles but I dare avouch that neither of these twaine reared this monument for his wife As one high way or street of the Romans went straight from hence Southward to Winchester so there was another ran west-ward through Pamber Forrest very full of trees and other by-places now standing out of the way hard by Litchfield that is the field of dead bodies to the Forrest of Chute pleasant for coole shade of trees plentifull game in which the Hunters and Forresters themselves do wonder at the banke or ridge thereof so evident to be seene paved with stone but broken here and there More toward the North in the very edge and frontier of this Shire we saw Kings-Cleare a market towne in these daies well frequented the residence in times past of the Saxon Kings by it Fremantle in a parke where King Iohn much haunted also Sidmanton the habitation of the Kingsmils Knights and Burgh-Cleare scituate under an high hill in the top whereof a warlike rampire such as our countreymen called a Burgh hath a trench taking a great compasse about it from whence there being a faire and open prospect every way ever the countrey lying underneath there standeth a Beacon that by light burning fire the enemies comming may bee shewed to all the neighbour-Inhabitants round about And verily such watches or signals as this we terme in common speech Beacons of the old word Beacnian that is to shew by a signe and for these many hundred yeares they have beene in right great request and much used among us in some places by heaping up a deale of wood in others by barrels full of pitch fastened to the top of a mast or pole in the highest places of the countrey at which by night some doe evermore watch and in old time there were set horsemen as posts in many places whom our Ancestors called Hobelers who in the day time should give notice of the enemies approach This shire like as the rest which hitherto we have run over belonged to the west-Saxon Kings and when they had deposed Sigebert from his Kingdome for his tyrannie evill entreating and lewd managing of his province this countrey as Marianus writeth was assigned unto him least hee should seeme altogether a private person Whom notwithstanding afterward for his wicked deeds they likewise expelled from hence and so far was it off that this afflicted state of a King moved any man to take pitie of him that a Swine-heard in the end slew him in the wood Anderida where he had lurked and hidden himselfe This Shire can reckon but very few Earles besides those of Winchester which I have already named In the first time of the Normans Bogo or Beavose the English man who fought against the Normans in the battell at Cardiff in Wales is reputed to have beene Earle of South-hampton a man for warlike prowesse much renowned whom while the Monks laboured to set out with their fained fables they have obscured his doughtie deeds in greater darkenesse From which time unto the daies of K. Henry the Eight there was no Earle of South-hampton that I read of but he created William Fitz-williams descended from the daughter of Marquesse Montacute both Earle of South-hampton and also Admirall of England when he was now well stricken in yeares Who dying straight after without issue King Edward the Sixth in the first yeare of his raigne conferred the said honour upon Thomas Wriotheosley Lord Chancellor whose grand-child Henrie by his sonne Henrie enjoyeth the same at this day and in the prime and flowre of his age hath by good literature and militarie experience strengthned his honorable parentage that in riper yeares he might be more serviceable to his Prince and countrey There be found in this shire Parishes 253. and mercate townes 18. VECTA INSVLA ISLE OF WIGHT TO this Countie of South-hampton belongeth that Island which lieth out in length over against the midst of it South-ward called by the Romans in times past VECTA VECTIS and VICTESIS by Ptolomee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Britaines Guith by English-Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For an Island they termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by us in these daies the Isle of Wight and the Whight by so small a streight running betweene anciently called Solent It is severed from the maine land that it may seeme to have beene conjoyned to it whereof that British name of it Guith which betokeneth a separation as Ninnius saith is thought to have beene given even as Sicilie also being broken off as it were and cut from Italie got the name from Secando the Latin word which signifieth cutting as the right learned Iulius Scaliger is of opinion Whereupon under correction alwaies of the Iudicious Criticks I would read in the sixt Quest. Naturall of Seneca thus Ab Italia Siciliaresecta that is Sicilie cut from Italie wheras it is commonly read there rejecta By this Vicinitie of Scite Affinitie of name we may well thinke this Vecta to be that Icta which as Diodorus Siculus writeth seemed at every tide to be an Island but when it was ebbe the ancient Britaines were wont that way to carry tinne thither by carts which should bee transported into France But yet I would not deeme it to be that MICTIS in Plinie which likewise commeth very neere unto VECTA For that in it there was plentie of tinne but in this of ours there is not to my knowledge any veine at all of mettall This Isle betweene East and West in ovall forme stretcheth out twentie miles in length and spreadeth in the midst where it is broadest twelve miles having the one side turning to the North and the other Southward The ground to say nothing of the sea exceeding full of fish consisteth of soile very fruitfull and is thankefull to the husbandman in so much as it doth affoord corne to be carried forth breeding every where store of conies hares partridges and phesants One little forrest it hath likewise and two parkes replenished with deere for game and hunting pleasure Through the midst thereof
was built by the Danes but I should rather judge that something was here erected by the Romans and afterwards rased by Saxons and Danes what time as Sueno the Dane ranging and roving this way spoiled and harried the countrey That it was at length reedified under King William the first we know assuredly by Domesday book seeing that it yeeldeth record as even now I noted of eight Hages or Houses destroyed for the Castle Yet William Gemeticensis makes no mention of this Castle when he writeth that William of Normandie having defeited Harold led his armie forthwith to this citie so he termeth it and after he had passed over the Tamis at the ford pitched his tents heere before hee came to London At which time Wigod an Englishman was Lord of Wallengford who had one onely daughter given in marriage to Robert D'Oyley of whom he begat Mawd his sole heire first wedded to Miles Crispin and after his death through the goodnesse and favour of K. Henrie the first married unto Brient called Fitz Count Who being brought up in warlike feates and taking part with Mawde the Empresse most manfully defended this Castle against King Stephen who had raised a fort just over against it at Craumesh and he made it good untill that peace so much wished of all England was concluded in this place and that most grievous dissention about the Crowne betweene K. Stephen and Henrie the Second ended For then the love of God tooke such place in the hearts of the said Brient and his wife that they cast of this fraile and transitorie world and devoted themselves in religious life unto Christ so was this Honour of Wallengford escheated into the Kings hand Which appeareth out of an old Inquisition in the Exchequer by these words To his most beloved Lords the King our soveraigne Lord his Iustices and Barons of the Exchequer the Constable of Wallengford sendeth greeting Know ye that I have made diligent enquiry by the Knights of my Bayliwicke according to a commandement of my Lord the King directed unto me by the Sheriffe and of the Inquisition thus made this is the summe Wigod of Wallengford held the honour of Wallengford in King Harolds time and afterwards in the daies of King William the First He had by his wife a certaine daughter whom he gave in marriage to Robert D'Oyly This Robert begat of her a daughter named Mawd who was his heire Miles Crispin espoused her and had with her the honour aforesaid of Wallengford After the decease of Miles our soveraigne Lord King Henrie the first bestowed the aforesaid Mawd upon Brient Fitz Count who both tooke themselves to a religious life and King Henrie the Second seized the honour into his hand c. Yet afterwards in the time of King Henrie the Third it belonged to the Earles of Chester and then to Richard King of the Romans and Earle of Cornwall who repaired it and unto his sonne Edmond who within the inner Court founded a Collegiate Chappell who dying without issue it fell againe to the Crowne and was annexed to the Dukedome of Cornwall since which time it hath by little and little decaied And verily about the time when that most mortall Plague which followed the conjunction of Saturne and Mars in Capricorne reigned hotely throughout all Europe in the yeare of our Lord 1348. This towne was so dispeopled by reason of continuall mortalitie there that whereas before time it was passing well Inhabited and had twelve Churches in it it can shew now no more than one or two But the cause of this desolation the Inhabitants lay rather upon the bridges of Abbindon and Dorchester whereby London portway was turned from thence From hence Southward the Tamis passeth most mildly betweene very rich and fertile fields on both sides by Moules-ford which K. Henrie the first gave unto Girald Fitz-Walter from whence the Noble family of the Carewes is descended To this house much lands honour and reputation accrewed in Ireland by descent and in England by matching in marriage with right noble families of the Mohuns Dinhams and others Not farre from hence is Aldworth where be certaine tombes and portraictures bigger than the ordinary proportion of men which thereupon the unlearned multitude keepes a wondering at as if they had been Giants whereas indeed they were but of certaine Knights of the Family de la Beche which heere had a Castle and is thought in the raigne of King Edward the Third to have beene extinguished for default of issue male And now at length Tamis meeteth with Kenet which River as I said ere-while watering the South part of this shire at his first entry when he hath left Wiltshire behind him runneth under Hungerford named in old time Ingleford Charnam-street a very small towne and seated in a moist place howbeit it hath given name and title to the honorable family of the Barons of Hungerford which was first raised to greatnesse by Walter Hungerford who under King Henrie the Fifth being Seneschall or Steward of the Kings house was for his warlike prowesse liberally rewarded by the said king and infeoffed in the Castle and Barony of Homet in Normandie To have and to hold unto him and his heires males by homage and service to find the Kings and his heires at the Castle of Roan one Launce with a Fox taile hanging downe thereat which pleasant conceit I thought not a misse to insert here among serious matters The same Walter in the raigne of Henrie the Sixth being high Treasurer of England and created withall Baron Hungerford as well by his singular wisedome as his marriage mith Katherine Peverell descended from the Moels and Courtneys mightily augmented his state His sonne Robert who wedded the daughter and heire of the Lord Botereaux enriched the same house verie much Sir Robert likewise his sonne who matched with Eleanor the daughter and heire of William Molines whereupon he was summoned among the Barons of the Realme by the name of Lord Molines and during the civill warre betweene the two houses of Lancaster and Yorke was beheaded at Newcastle advanced the name not a little His sonne Thomas slaine at Salisbury while his father was living left his onely daughter named Marie whom Edward Lord Hastings tooke to wife with a great and rich Inheritance But Walter brother to the said Thomas begat Edward Hungerford father of that Walter whom King Henrie the Eighth created Baron Hungerford of Heitesbury and condemned him afterwards for a crime not to be spoken of howbeit Queene Marie restored his children unto all his estate save onely the name and title of Barons Not farre from hence Southward is Widehay the seat for a long time of the Baron Saint Amand whose inheritance Gerard Braybrooke entred upon in right of his wife whose eldest Niece by his sonne Gerard named Elizabeth by her marriage brought the same unto William de Beauchamp who being summoned to
This Hubert was a man who unfainedly loved his Countrie amidst the stormes of frowning Fortune performed all duties to the utmost that his Countrey could require of a right good patriot Yet at length he fell in disgrace and was dispoyled of his dignities whereby this title slept and lay as dead untill the time of King Edward the Second Who bestowed it upon his younger brother Edmund of Woodstocke who being Tutor of his nephew Edward the Third falling into the tempest of false injurious and malignant envie was beheaded for that he never dissembled his naturall brotherly affection toward his brother deposed and went about when hee was God wot murthered before not knowing so much to enlarge him out of prison perswaded thereunto by such as covertly practised his destruction Hee had two sonnes Edmund and Iohn who were restored by Parliament to bloud and land shortly after And with all it was inacted that no Peere of the land or other that procured the death of the said Earle should bee empeached therefore than Mortimer Earle of March Sir Simon Beresford Iohn Matravers Baious and Iohn Devoroil So these his two sonnes succeeded in order and when they were both dead without issue their sister Ioane who survived them for her lovely beautie called The Faire maid of Kent brought this honour unto the house of the Hollands For Sir Thomas Holland her husband was stiled Earle of Kent and shee after married by dispensation to the Black Prince heire to him King Richard the Second Her sonne Sir Thomas Holland succeeded in that honourable title who died in the twentieth yeare of King Richard the Second Him againe there succeeded his two sonnes Thomas and Edmund Thomas who also was created Duke of Surry and forthwith for complotting a conspiracie against King Henry the Fourth lost his head leaving no child Edmunds his brother being Lord High Admirall of England was wounded at the assault of Saint Brieu in little Britan and died thereof in the yeare of Salvation 1408. leaving likewise no issue Now when this dignitie was expired in this family of the Hollands their glasse being runne out and the Patrimony parted among Edmund sisters King Edward the Fourth honoured with the title of the Earldome of Kent First Sir William Nevill Lord Fauconberg and after his death Edmund Lord Grey of Ruthin Hastings and Weisford and who had to succeed him George his sonne Hee of Anne Widevile his first wife begat Richard Earle of Kent who having wasted his inheritance ended therewith his daies issuelesse 1523. But the said George by his second wife Katherine daughter to William Herbert Earle of Pembrooke was father of Sir Henry Grey of Wrest knight whose grand-sonne Reginald by his sonne Henrie Queene Elizabeth in the yeare 1571. advanced to the Earledom of Kent And after his decease without issue his brother Henrie succeeded a right honourable personage and endued with the ornaments of true nobility This province hath parishes 398. DOBVNI HItherto we have walked over all those Countries that lie betweene the British Ocean of the one side and the Severne sea and river Thames on the other Now according to the order which wee have begun let us survey the rest throughout and passing over the said river returne to the head of Thames and the salt water of Severne and there view the DOBVNI who in ancient times inhabited those parts which now are termed Oxford-shire and Glocester-shire This their name I verily suppose came of Duffen a British word because the places where they planted themselves were for the most part low and lying under the hils whereupon the name became common to them all and verily from such a kind of site Bathieia in Troas Catabathmos in Africk and Deep-Dale in Britan tooke their names I am the more easily induced to believe this because I see that Dio in the very same signification hath named certaine people BODVNNI if the letters be not misplaced For Bodo or BODVN as Plinie saith in the ancient French tongue which I have proved before was the same that in the British language betokeneth Deepe Hence was it that the City Bodincomagus as he writeth became so called for that it stood where the river Po was deepest hence had the people Bodiontij that name who inhabited a deepe vale by the Lake of Lozanne and Geneva now called Val de Fontenay to say nothing of Bodotria the deepest Frith in all Britan. Concerning these Bodunj I have found in all my reading no matter of great antiquity save only that A. Plautius sent as Propraetor by Claudius into Britan received part of them upon their submission into his protection to wit those that were under Cattuellani for they held the region bordering upon them and as Dio hath recorded about the forty and foure yeare after Christ was borne placed a garrison over them But when the English Saxons reigned in Britan and the name of Dobuni was worne out some of these as also the people dwelling round about them were by a new English Saxons name called Wiccij but whereupon I dare scarce venture to guesse without craving leave of the Reader Yet if Wic in the Saxons tongue soundeth as much as the creeke or reach of a river and the Viguones a nation in Germanie are so called because they dwell neere unto the creekes or baies of the Sea and of rivers for so doth Beatus Rhenanus constantly affirme It will bee no absurditie if I derive our Wiccii from thence who inhabited round about the mouth of Severne which is very full of such Coves and small creekes and reaches GLOCESTRLAE Comitatus olim sedes DOBVNORUM GLOCESTER-SHIRE GLocester-shire in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was the chiefe seat of the Dobuni on the West-side butteth upon on Monmouth-shire and Hereford-shire on the North upon Worcester-shire on the East upon Warwick-shire Oxford-shire and Barck-shire on the South upon Wilt-shire and Somerset-shire both A pleasant countrey and a fruitfull stretching out in length from North-east unto South-west The part that lyeth more East-ward rising up in height with hils and wolds is called Cotteswold the middle part settleth downe low to a most fertile plaine and is watered with Severne that noble river which doth infuse life as it were into the soile That part which bendeth more Westward on the further side of Severne is all over be spread with woods But what meane I to busie my selfe herein William of Malmesbury will ease mee of this labour who fully gives high commendations to this countrey Have therefore what he writeth in his booke of Bishop The countrey saith he is called of the principall Citie The vale of Glocester the ground throughout yieldeth plentie of corne and bringeth forth abundance of fruits the one through the naturall goodnesse onely of the ground the other through diligent manuring and tillage in so much as it would provoke the laziest body that is to take paines
Surrey Iohn Holland Earle of Huntingdon late Duke of Excester Iohn Montacute Earle of Salisbury Thomas de Spenser Earle of Glocester and others who being by him dispoiled of their honors and maligning his usurpation conspired to take away his life and here by the townesmen intercepted were some of them slaine outright and others beheaded The river Churne when it hath left Circester behinde him six miles neere to Dounamveny an ancient seate of the Hungerfords joyneth with Isis. For ISIS commonly called Ouse that it might bee by originall of Glocester-shire hath his head there and with lively springs floweth out of the South border of this shire nere unto Torleton an upland Village not farre from that famous Port-way called the Fosse This is that Isis which afterwards entertaineth Tame and by a compound word is called Tamisis Soveraigne as it were of all the Britain Rivers in Britaine of which a man may well and truely say as ancient Writers did of Euphrates in the East part of the World that it doth both Sow and Water the best part of Britaine The poeticall description of whose Source or first head I have heere put downe out of a Poem entituled The Marriage of Tame and Isis which whether you admit or omit it skilleth but little Lanigeros quà lata greges Cotswaldia pascit Crescit in colles faciles visura Dobunos Haud procul à Fossa longo spelunca recessu Cernitur abrupti surgente crepidine clivi Cujus inauratis resplendent limina tophis Atria tegit ebur tectúmque Gagate Britanno Emicat alterno solidantur pumice postes Materiam sed vincit opus cedúntque labori Artifici tophus pumex ebur atque Gagates Pingitur hinc vitrei moder atrix Cynthia regni Passibus obliquis volventia sydera lustrans Oceano tellus conjuncta marita marito Illinc caelatur fraternáque flumina Ganges Nilus Amazonius tractúsque binominis Istri Vicini Rheni sed his intermicat auro Vellere Phrixaeâ— dives redimitáque spicis Clara triumphatis erecta BRITANNIA Gallis c. Vndoso hîc solio residet regnator aquarum ISIS fluminea qui majestate verendus Caeruleo gremio â—esupinat prodigus urnam Intonsos crines iâ—vis arundine cinctus Cornua cana liquâ—nt fluitantia lumina lymphis Dispergunt lucem propexa in pectore barba Tota madet toto distillant corpore guttae Et salientis aquae prorumpunt undique venae Pisciculi liquidis penetralibus undique ludunt Plurimus cygnus niveis argenteus alis Pervolitat circum c. Where Cotswald spred abroad doth lie and feed faire flocks of sheepe And Dobunes for to see in downes ariseth nothing steepe Within a nouke along not much the Fosse and it betweene Just at the rising of a banke upright a Cave is seene Whereof the entry glistereth with soft stones richly guilt The Haull is seel'd with Ivory the roufe aloft ybuilt Of Geat the best that Britaine yeelds The pillers very strong With Pumish laid each other course are raised all along The stuffe full faire yet Art doth it surpasse and to the feate Of Artisan give place the gold stones Yv'ry and Geat Heere painted is the Moone that rules the Sea like Chrystall Glasse As she through rolling Signes above with traverse course doth passe And there againe enchaced are both land and Ocean wide Conjoyn'd as man and wife in one with Rivers great beside Like brethren all as Ganges rich strange Nilus Tanais Yea and the course of Ister large which double named is Of Rhene also a neighbour streame And heere bedight in gold Among them glitt'reth Britanny with riches manifold Of golden fleece a Coronet of Wheat-eares she doth weare And for her triumph over France her head aloft doth reare c. In waving Throne heere sits the King of waters all and some ISIS who in that Majestie which Rivers doth become All rev'rend from his watchet lap powr's forth his streame amaine With weed and reed his haires tuckt up that grow both long and plaine His hoary hornes distilling runne with water stand his eyes And shoot from them a lustre farre his kembed beard likewise Downe to the brest wet-through doth reach his body drops againe All over and on every side breakes out some water veine In secret watrish room 's within the little fishes play And many a silver Swan besides his white wings doth display And flutter round about c. As touching the Earles of Glocester some there be who have thrust upon us one William Fitz-Eustace for the first Earle who this was I have not yet found and I verily beleeve hee is yet unborne But that which I have found I will not conceale from the Reader About the comming in of the Normans wee reade that one Bithricke an English Saxon was Lord of Glocester whom Maud wife to William Conquerour upon a secret rankor and hatred conceived against him for his contempt of her beauty for Bithrick had before time refused to marry her troubled and molested most maliciously And when shee had at length cast him in Prison Robert Fitz-Haimon Lord of Corboile in Normandy was by the King endowed with his possessions who in a battaile having received a wound with the push of a pike upon the temples of his head had his wits crackt therewith and survived a good while after as a man bestraught and madde His daughter Mabil whom others name Sibill Robert the base sonne of King Henry the First by the intercession of his father obtained for his wife but not before he had made him Earle of Glocester This is hee who is called commonly by Writers The Consull of Glocester A man of an haughty valorous minde and undaunted heart as any one in that age and who being never dejected with any adversity wanne great praise for his fidelity and worthy exploits in the behalfe of his sister Maude the Empresse against Stephen then usurping the Crowne of England This honourable Title left he unto his son William who dejected with comfortlesse griefe when death had deprived him of his onely son and heire assured his estate with his eldest daughter to Iohn son to King Henry the Second with certaine provisoes for his other daughters Yet his three daughters brought this Earldome into as many families For Iohn when he had obtained the Kingdome repudiated her upon pretenses as well that she was barren as that they were within prohibited degrees of consanguinity and reserving the Castle of Bristow to himselfe after some time passed over his repudiated wife with the Honor of Glocester to Geffrey Mandevil son of Geffrey Fitz Peter Earle of Essex for 20000. markes who thus over-marrying himselfe was greatly impoverished and wounded in Tournament died soone after issuelesse and she being remarried to Hubert of Burgh died immediately Then K. Iohn upon an exchange granted the Earldome of Glocester to Almary Earle of Eureux son to the eldest daughter of the foresaid E.
erected and whose immortall soules in them doe speake to the end that Time might not have power and prevaile against men of worth and the desires of mortall men might be satisfied who do all long to know what their persons and presence were The Earle of Dorset late Chancellor of this Vniversity that he might also leave some memoriall of himselfe hath in the very place dedicated unto Sir Thomas Bodley so passing well deserving of the Learned Common-wealth his representation with this inscription THOMAS SACKUILLUS DORSETTIAE COMES SUMMUS ANGLIAE THESAURARIUS ET HUJUS ACADEMIAE CANCELLARIUS THOMAE BODLEIO EQUITI AURATO QUI BIBLIO THE CAM HANC INSTITUIT HONORIS CAUSSA PIE POSUIT That is THOMAS SACKUIL EARLE OF DORSET LORD HIGH TREASURER OF ENGLAND AND CHANCELOR OF THIS UNIVERSITIE UNTO SIR THOMAS BODLEY KNIGHT WHO INSTITUTED THIS LIBRARY OF A PIOUS MIND ERECTED THIS MONUMENT TO DO HIM HONOUR In the Raigne of Henry the Seventh for the better advancement of learning William Smith Bishop of Lincolne built new out of the ground Brasen Nose College which that good and godly old man Master Alexander Nowell Deane of Saint Paules in London lately augmented with Revenewes and Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester erected likewise that which is named Corpus Christi College and Thomas Wolsey Cardinall of Yorke following their example beganne another where the Monastery of Frideswide stood the most stately and fairest of them all for Professors and 200. Students which Henry the Eighth joyning unto it Canterbury College assigned to a Deane Prebends and Students endowed it with livings and named it Christs Church And the same most puissant Prince with money disbursed out of his owne Treasury ordained both for the Dignity of the City a Bishop and for the ornament and advancement of the University publique Professours Likewise within our remembrance for the furtherance of learning with new and fresh benefits Sir Thomas Pope Knight reared a new Durrham College and Sir Thomas White Knight Citizen and Alderman of London raised Bernard College both which lay buryed in the rubbish They reedified them repaired them with new buildings enriched them with faire lands and gave them new names For the one of them they dedicated to Saint Iohn Baptist and that other to the holy and sacred Trinity Queene Mary also built the common Schooles And now of late Hugh Prise Doctor of the Lawes hath begunne a new College with good speede and happy successe as I wish to the honor of Iesus With these Colleges which are in number 16. and eight Haulls beside all faire and decently built richly endowed and furnished with good Libraries Oxford at this day so flourisheth that it farre surmounteth all other Universities of Christendome And for Living Libraries for so may I well and truely with Eunapius terme great Scholers and learned men for the discipline and teaching of the best Arts and for the politique government of this their republicke of Literature it may give place to none But to what end is all this Oxford needeth no mans commendation the excellency thereof doth so much exceede and if I may use Plinies word superfluit that is Surmounteth Let this suffice to say of Oxford as Pomponius Mela did of Athens Clarior est quà m ut indicari egeat that is More glorious it is of it selfe than that it needeth to bee out shewed But have heere for an upshot and farewell the beginning of Oxford story out of the Proctors booke By the joint testimony of most Chronicles many places in divers Coasts and Climats of the world we read to have flourished at sundry times in the studies of divers sciences But the Vniversity of Oxford is found to be for foundation more ancient for plurality of sciences more generall in profession of the Catholike truth more constant and in multiplicity of Privileges more excellent than all other Schooles that are knowne among the Latines The Mathematicians of this University have observed that this their City is from the Fortunate Islands 22. Degrees and the Arcticke or North Pole elevated 51. Degrees and 50. Scruples high And thus much briefly of my deare Nurse-mother Oxford But when a little beneath Oxford Isis and Cherwell have consociated their waters together within one Chanell Isis then entire of himselfe and with a swifter current runneth Southward to finde Tame whom so long he had sought for And gone he is not forward many miles but behold Tame streaming out of Buckinghamshire meeteth with him who is no sooner entred into this Shire but he giveth name to Tame a Mercate Towne situate very pleasantly among Rivers For Tame passeth hard by the Northside and two Riverers shedding themselves into it compasse the same the one on the East and the other on the West Alexander that liberall Bishop of Lincolne Lord of the place when his prodigall humor in sumptuous building of Castles was of every body privily misliked to wash out that staine as Newbrigensis saith built a little Abbay neere unto the Towne and many yeares after the Quatremans who in the age foregoing were men of great reputation in these parts founded an Hospitall for the sustentation of poore people But both of these are now decayed and quite gone and in stead thereof Sir Iohn Williams Knight whom Queene Mary advanced to the Dignity of a Baron by the Title of Lord William of Tame erected a very faire Schoole and a small Hospitall But this Title soone determined when he left but daughters marryed into the Families of Norris and Wenman From hence Tame runneth downe neere unto Ricot a goodly house which in times past belonged to those Quatremans whose stocke failing to bring forth Males it was devolved at length after many sailes and alienations passed by the Foulers and Herons unto the said Lord Williams and so by his daughter fell to Sir Henry Lord Norris whom Queene Elizabeth made Baron Norris of Ricot a man of good marke in regard of his noble birth and parentage for he descended from the Lovells who were neere allied by kinred unto the greatest houses in England but most renowned for that right valiant and warlike Progeny of his as the Netherlands Portugall little Bretagne and Ireland can witnesse At the length Tame by Haseley where sometimes the names of Barentines flourished as at Cholgrave commeth to Dorchester by Bede termed Civitas Dorcinia by Leland Hydropolis a name devised by his owne conceit yet fit enough considering that Dour in the British tongue signifieth water That this Towne was in old time inhabited by Romanes their coined peeces of money oftentimes turned up doe imply and our Chronicles record that it was for a long time much frequented by reason of a Bishops See which Birinus the Apostle of the West-Saxons appointed to be there For when hee had baptised Cinigilse a pety King of the West-Saxons unto whom Oswald King of Northumberland was Godfather both these Kings as saith Bede gave this City unto the same Bishop
Edward the Thirds sonne who after hee had married a wife out of that house was entituled by his father Duke of Clarence For he of this place with a fuller sound than that of Clare was stiled Duke of Clarence like as before him the sonnes of Earle Gislebert and their successors were hence surnamed De Clare and called Earles of Clare Who died at Languvill in Italy after he had by a second marriage matched with a Daughter of Galâ—acius Vicount of Millain and in the Collegiat Church here lieth interred as also Ioan Acres daughter to King Edward the first married to Gislebert de Clare Earle of Glocester Here peradventure the Readers may looke that I should set downe the Earles of Clare so denominated of this place and the Dukes of Clarence considering they have beene alwayes in this Realme of right honorable reputation and verily so will I doe in few words for their satisfaction in this behalfe Richard the sonne of Gislebert Earle of Augy in Normandy served in the warres under King William when hee entred England and by him was endowed with the Townes of Clare and Tunbridge This Gislebert begat foure sonnes namely Gislebert Roger Walter and Robert from whom the Fitz-walters are descended Gislebert by the daughter of the Earle of Cleremont had issue Richard who succeeded him Gislebert of whom came that Noble Richard Earle of Pembroch and Conquerour of Ireland and Walter Richard the first begotten sonne was slaine by the Welshmen and left behinde him two sonnes Gilbert and Roger. Gilbert in King Stephens dayes was Earle of Herford howbeit both he and his Successours are more often and commonly called Earles of Clare of this their principall seat and habitation yea and so many times they wrote themselves After him dying without issue succeeded his brother Roger whose sonne Richard tooke to wife Amice the daughter and one of the Heires to William Earle of Glocester in right of whom his posterity were Earles of Glocester And those you may see in their due place But when at length their issue male failed Leonel Third sonne of King Edward the Third who had married Elizabeth the Daughter and sole Heire of William de Burgh Earle of Vlster begotten of the Bodie of Elizabeth Clare was by his Father honoured with this new Title Duke of Clarence But when as hee had but one onely Daughter named Phillippa wife to Edmund Mortimer Earle of March King Henry the Fourth created Thomas his owne yonger sonne Duke of Clarence who being withall Earle of Albemarle High Steward of England and Governour of Normandy and having no lawfull issue was slaine in Anjou by the violent assault of Scots and French A long time after king Edward the Fourth bestowed this honour upon his owne brother George whom after grievous enmity and bitter hatred hee had received againe into favour and yet at the last made an end of him in prison causing him as the report currently goeth to be drowned in a Butte of Malmesey A thing naturally engraffed in men that whom they have feared and with whom they have contended in matter of life those they hate for ever though they be their naturall brethren From Clare by Long-Melford a very faire Almes-house lately built by that good man Sir William Cordal Knight and Maister of the Rolls Stour passeth on and commeth to Sudbury that is to say the South-Burgh and runneth in manner round about it which men suppose to have beene in old time the chiefe towne of this Shire and to have taken this name in regard of Norwich that is The Northren Towne Neither would it take it well at this day to be counted much inferiour to the Townes adjoyning for it is populous and wealthy by reason of Clothing there and hath for the chiefe Magistrate a Major who every yeare is chosen out of seaven Aldermen Not farre from hence distant is Edwardeston a Towne of no great name at this day but yet in times past it had Lords therein dwelling of passing great Honour of the surname of Mont-chensie out of which Family Sir Guarin Montchensie married the daughter and one of the heires of that mighty William Marescall Earle of Pembroch and of her begat a daughter named Ioan who unto the stile of her Husband William de Valentia of the family of Lusignie in France brought and adjoyned the title of Earle of Penbroch But the said Sir Guarin Mont-chensy as he was a right honourable person so he was a man exceeding wealthy in so much as in those dayes they accounted him the most potent Baron and the rich Crassus of England For his last will and testament amounted unto two hundred thousand Markes no small wealth as the standard was then From a younger brother or cadet of this house of Montchensie issued by an heire generall the Family of the Waldgraves who have long flourished in Knightly degree at Smalebridge neerer to Stoure as another Family of great account in elder ages at Buers which was thereof surnamed A few miles from hence Stour is enlarged with Breton a small Brooke at one of whose heads is seene Bretenham a very slender little towne where fcarce remaineth any shew at all of any great building and yet both the neere resemblance and the signification of the name partly induced me to thinke it to be that COMBRETONIUM whereof Antonine the Emperour made mention in this tract For like as Bretenham in English signifieth an Habitation or Mansion place by Breton so Combretonium in British or Welsh betokeneth a Valley or a place lying somewhat low by Breton But this in Peutegerius his Table is falsly named COMVETRONUM and ADCOVECIN Somewhat Eastward from hence is Nettlested seene of whence was Sir Thomas Wentworth whom King Henry the Eighth adorned with the title of Baron Wentworth and neere thereto is Offion that is to say The towne of Offa King of the Mercians where upon a clay Hill lie the ruines of an ancient Castle which they say Offa built after he had wickedly murdered Aethelbert King of the East-Angles and usurped his Kingdome But to returne to the River Breton Upon another brooke that joyneth therewith standeth Lancham a pretty Mercat and neere it the Manour of Burnt-Elleie whereunto King Henry the Third granted a Mercate at the request of Sir Henry Shelton Lord thereof whose posterity a long time heere flourished Hadley in the Saxons language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is watered with the same brooke a towne of good note in these dayes for making of Clothes and in old time much mentioned by our Historians because Guthrum or Gormo the Dane was heere buried For when Aelfred brought him to this passe that he became Christian and was baptized hee assigned unto him these countries of the East-Angles that he might to use the words of mine Author cherish them by right of inheritance under the Allegiance of a King
Domaine of King William After the Normans time it valiantly withstood the Siege layed unto it by the Barons when they disquieted and troubled the whole Realme with injurious wrongs and slaughters being maliciously bent against King John for private causes which notwithstanding they so cloked with pretenses of Religion and the common good that they tearmed themselves The Army of God and the holy Church at which time they say that Trench and Rampire was made which they call Hunshil but it stood not out with like successe against Henry the third their lawfull King as it did against these rebels for when those Barons being nuzzelled up in sedition and rebellion from hence displaied their banners and sounded the battaile against him he made a breach through the Wall and soone wonne it by assault After this diverse times like as before the kings held their Parliaments here because it standeth very nere in the midst of England and in the yeere after Christ was borne 1460. here was a wofull and bloody field fought wherein such was the civill division of England in it selfe Richard Nevil Earle of Warwick after many a noble man slaine led away captive that most unhappy king Henry the Sixth in a piteous spectacle who was now the second time taken prisoner by his subjects To conclude the Longitude of Northampton our Mathematicians have described by 22. degrees and 29. scruples and the Latitude by 52. degrees and 13. scruples From hence Nen maketh haste away by Castle Ashby where Henry L. Compton began to build a faire sightly house close unto which lieth Yardley Hastings so named of the Hastings sometimes â—arles of Pembroch unto whom it belonged And to turne a little aside I may not omit Horton when as king Henry the Eighth created Sir W. Par Lord thereof unckle and Chamberlaine to Queene Catharin Par Baron Par of Horton which honor shortly vanished with him when he left only daughters who were married into the families of Tresham and Lane But to returne Nen goeth forward to Mercat Wellingborow in old time Wedlingborough and Wodlingborough made a mercat by K. John at the suit of the Monks of Crowland where there runneth into it a Riveret comming downe by Rushton and Newton belonging to the Treshams by Geddington also where the King had a Castle and where there remaineth yet a Crosse erected in the honour of Queene Aeleonor wife to King Edward the First by Boughton the seat of the Montacutes Knights by Kettering a Mercat Towne well frequented neere unto which standeth Rouwell much talked of for the horse Faire there kept by Burton likewise the Barony if I mistake not the name of Alane de Dinant For king Henry the First gave unto him a Barony of that name in this Shire for that in single fight he had slaine the French Kings Champion at Gizors and by Harrouden the Lord whereof named Sir Nicolas Vaulx Captaine of Guines in Picardy king Henry the Eighth created Baron Vaulx of Harrouden From hence goeth the Aufon or Nen to Higham a Towne in times past of the Peverels and after by them of the Ferrers from whom it is named Higham Ferrers who had heere also their Castle the ruines and rubbish whereof are yet seene nere unto the Church But the excellent ornament of this place was Henry Chicheley Archbishop of Canterbury who built All-soules College in Oxford and another here wherein he placed Secular Clerkes and Prebendaries and withall an Hospitall for the poore Then runneth it by Addington the possession in old time of the Veres and by Thorpston commonly called Thrapston belonging likewise to them and over against it Draiton the house in the foregoing age of Sir H. Greene but afterwards by his daughter of John and Edward Staffords Earles of Wiltshire but now the habitation of the Lord Mordaunt unto whom it descended hereditarily from those Greenes noble Gentlemen and of right great name in this Country in their time Then runneth it in manner round about a proper little Towne which it giveth name unto Oundale they now call it corruptly in stead of Avondale where there is nothing worth sight but a faire Church and a free Schoole for the instruction of children and an Almeshouse for poore people founded by Sir William Laxton sometime Major of London Neere adjoyning to this stands Barnewell a little Castle which now of late Sir Edward Mont-acute of the ancient family of the Mont-acutes as may be collected by his Armes hath repaired and beautified with new buildings In times past it was the possession of Berengary le Moigne that is Monke and not as some thinke of Berengary of Touraine the great Clerke whose opinion of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was condemned in a Synode of an hundred and thirteene Bishops assembled by the Bishop of Rome After this it passeth on by Fotheringhay Castle environed on every side with most pleasant medowes which in the Raigne of Henry the Third when the strong holds encouraged the Lords and Nobles to revolt William Earle of Aumarl surprised upon the sodaine and laied all the Country about waste as Mathew of Paris recordeth At which time it belonged unto the Earles of Huntingdon who were of the royall Race of Scotland A good while after King Edward the Third assigned it as it were for an inheritance or appennage as the French tearme it unto his sonne Edmund of Langley Duke of Yorke who reedified the Castle and made the highest fortification or Keepe thereof in forme of an horse-fetter which both of it selfe and with a Faulcon in it was his Devise or Emprese as implying that hee was locked up from all great hope as a younger brother His sonne Edward Duke of Yorke in the second yeere of Henry the Fift his Raigne and in the yeere of Christ 1415. as appeareth by an inscription there in rude and barbarous Verses founded a passing faire Collegiat Church wherein himselfe when he was slaine in the battaile at Agâ—ncourt as also Richard Duke of Yorke his brothers sonne who lost his life at Wakefield and his wife Cecily Nevil had stately and sumptuous Tombes which were profanely subverted together with the upper part of the Church in King Edward the Sixth his time Yet in memoriall of them Queene Elizabeth comming thither commanded two Monuments to be erected in the nether part of the Church that now standeth which notwithstanding such was their pinching and sparing that had the charge of this worke are thought scarce beseeming so great Princes descending from Kings and from whom Kings of England are descended The forme of the Keepe beforesaid built like a fetter-locke occasioneth mee to digresse a little and I hope with your pardon when the gravest Authours in as small matters have done the like Edmund of Langley Duke of Yorke who built that Keepe and garnished the glasse-windowes there with Fetter-lockes when hee saw his sons being young scholers gazing upon the
of Rome and religious men was not onely in his life time most grievously troubled but also one and forty yeeres after his death his dead Corps was cruelly handled being by warrant from the Councell of Siena turned out of his grave and openly burned Neither is it to be forgotten that neere to this Towne is a spring so cold that within a short time it turneth strawes and stickes into stones From that Bensford bridge the foresaid old High way goeth on to High-crosse so called for that thereabout stood sometime a Crosse in stead of which is erected now a very high post with props and supporters thereto The neighbours there dwelling reported unto me that the two principall High-waies of England did here cut one another overthwart and that there stood a most flourishing City there named Cleycester which had a Senate of Aldermen in it and that Cleybrooke almost a mile off was part of it also that on both sides of the way there lay under the furrowes of the corne fields great foundations and ground workes of foure square stone also that peeces of Roman money were very often turned up with the Plough although above the ground as the Poet saith Etiam ipsae periere ruinae that is Even the very ruines are perished and gone These presumptions together with the distance of this place from BANNAVENTA or Wedon which agreeth just and withall the said Bridge leading hitherward called Bensford are inducements unto me to thinke verily that the station BENNONES or VENONES was heere which Antonine the Emperour placeth next beyond BANNAVENTA especially seeing that Antonine sheweth how the way divided it selfe heere into two parts which also goeth commonly currant For Northeastward where the way lieth to Lincolne the Fosse way leadeth directly to RATAE and to VERNOMETUM of which I will speake anon and toward the Northwest Watlingstreet goeth as streight into Wales by MANVESSEDUM whereof I shall write in his due place in Warwick-shire Higher yet neere the same streetside standeth Hinkley which had for Lord of it Hugh Grantmaismill a Norman high Steward or Seneschall of England during the Raignes of king William Rufus and Henry the First The said Hugh had two daughters Parnell given in marriage to Robert Blanch-mains so called of his faire white hands Earle of Leicester together with the High-Stewardship of England and Alice wedded to Roger Bigot Verily at the East end of the Church there are to be seene Trenches and Rampires yea and a Mount cast up to an eminent height which the inhabitants say was Hughes Castle Three miles hence standeth Bosworth an ancient Mercat Towne which liberty together with the Faire S. Richard Harecourt obtained for it at the hands of king Edward the First Under this towne in our great grandfathers daies the kingdome of England lay hazarded upon the chance of one battaile For Henry Earle of Richmond with a small power encountred there in pitched field king Richard the Third who had by most wicked meanes usurped the kingdome and whiles he resolved to die the more valiantly fighting for the liberty of his country with his followers and friends the more happy successe he had and so overcame and slew the Usurper and then being with joyfull acclamations proclaimed King in the very mids of slaughtered bodies round about he freed England by his happy valour from the rule of a Tyrant and by his wisdome refreshed and setled it being sore disquieted with long civill dissentions Whereupon Bernard Andreas of Tholous a Poet living in those daies in an Ode dedicated unto King Henry the Seventh as touching the Rose his Devise writ these Verses such as they are Ecce nunc omnes posuere venti Murmuris praeter Zephyrum tepentem Hic Rosas nutrit nitidósque flores Veris amoeni Behold now all the windes are laid But Zephyrus that blowes full warme The Rose and faire spring-floures in mead He keepeth fresh and doth no harme Other memorable things there are none by this Street unlesse it bee Ashby de la Zouch that lyeth a good way off a most pleasant Lordship now of the Earles of Huntingdon but belonging in times past to the noble Family De la Zouch who descended from Alan Vicount of Rohan in Little Britaine and Constantia his wife daughter to Conan le Grosse Earle of Britaine and Maude his wife the naturall daughter of Henry the First Of this house Alane De la Zouch married one of the heires of Roger Quincy Earle of Winchester and in her right came to a faire inheritance in this Country But when hee had judicially sued John Earle of Warren who chose rather to try the Title by the sword point than by point of Law he was slaine by him even in Westminster Hall in the yeere of our Lord 1269. and some yeeres after the daughters and heires of his grand sonne transferred this inheritance by their marriages into the Families of the Saint Maures of Castle Cary and the Hollands Yet their father first bestowed this Ashby upon Sir Richard Mortimer of Richards Castle his cozin whose younger issue thereupon tooke the sirname of Zouch and were Lords of Ashby But from Eudo a younger sonne of Alane who was slaine in Westminster Hall the Lords Zouch of Harringworth branched out and have beene for many Descents Barons of the Realme Afterward in processe of time Ashby came to the Hastings who built a faire large and stately house there and Sir William Hastings procured unto the Towne the liberty of a Faire in the time of King Henry the Sixth Here I may not passe over the next neighbour Cole-Overton now a seat of the Beaumontes descended from Sir Thomas Beaumont Lord of Bachevill in Normandy brother to the first Vicount This place hath a Cole prefixed for the forename which Sir Thomas as some write was hee who was slaine manfully fighting at such time as the French recovered Paris from the English in the time of King Henry the Sixth This place of the pit-coles being of the nature of hardned Bitumen which are digged up to the profit of the Lord in so great a number that they serve sufficiently for fewell to the neighbour Dwellers round about farre and neere I said before that the River Soar did cut this Shire in the middle which springing not farre from this Street and encreased with many small rils and Brookes of running water going a long Northward with a gentle streame passeth under the West and North side of the cheife Towne or City of this County which in Writers is called Lege-Cestria Leogora Legeo cester and Leicester This Towne maketh an evident faire shew both of great antiquity and good building In the yeere 680. when Sexwulph at the commandement of King Etheldred divided the kingdome of the Mercians into Bishoprickes hee placed in this an Episcopall See and was himselfe the first Bishop that sat there but a few yeeres after when the See was translated to
we may see in the Histories whether by celestiall influence or other hidden causes I leave to the learned But so farre as I could hitherto reade it did never set foote in England before that time Besides these places before named of great name and marke wee must not overpasse neither Melton Mowbray neere unto this Burton a Mercate Towne bearing name of the Mowbraies sometime Lords thereof wherein is nothing more worth the seeing than a faire Church nor Skeffington standing farther off which as it hath given name to a worshipfull Family so againe it hath received worship and credit from the same The River that watereth this part of the Shire is by the Inhabitants about it called the Wreken along which upon resemblance of the name I have sought VERNOMETUM but in vaine This Wreken gathereth a strong streame by many lively Brookes resorting unto it whereof one passeth by Wimondham an ancient habitation of a younger branch of the house of the Lords Barkleis well encreased by an heire of Dela-Laund and so on by Melton Mowbray before mentioned by Kirkby Bellers where there was a Priory having that addition of the Bellers a respective rich and noble Family in their time by Brokesby a seat now of the Villiers of an old Norman race and descended from an heire of Bellers which Brokesby imparted formerly the sirname to the Brokesbies of especiall antiquity in these parts Then the Wreken speedeth by Ratcliffe high mounted upon a cliffe and within few miles conjoyneth it selfe to Soar neere unto Mont-Soar-hill before mentioned Whatsoever of this Shire lieth beyond the Wreken Northward is not so frequently inhabited and part of it is called the Wold as being hilly without wood wherein Dalby a seat of the old Family of the Noels of whom I shall speake elsewhere and Waltham on the Wold a meane Mercat are most notable Through this part as I have beene enformed passeth the Fosse-way made by the Romans from Lewing Bridge by Segrave which gave sirname to the honourable Family often mentioned and the Lodge on the Wold toward the Vale of Bever but the Tract thereof as yet I know not This Shire hath beene more famous from time to time by reason of the Earles thereof have beene very renowned And seeing it had under the Saxons government Earles by inheritance I will first reckon them up in order as Thomas Talbot a skilfull Antiquary hath delivered me a note of them out of the kings Records In the time of Aethelbald King of the Mercians and in the yeere of our Redemption 716. Leofrick was Earle of Leicester whom there succeeded in direct line Algar the first Algar the second Leofrick the second Leofstane Leofrick the third buried in Coventry Algar the third who had issue two sonnes Aeadwin Earle of March Morkar Earle of Northumberland and a daughter named Lucy first married to Ivon Talboys of Anjou afterwards to Roger of Romara who begat of her William of Romara Earle of Lincolne Now when as the issue male of this Saxon Family failed and the name of the Saxons was troden as it were under foot Robert Beaumont a Norman Lord of Pont Audomar and Earle of Mellent after that Simon an officiary Earle of Leicester was dead obtained his Earledome in the yeere of our Lord 1102. at the bountifull hand of King Henry the First which Robert A man for skill and knowledge excellent faire spoken subtile wise and witty and by nature wily who while hee lived in high and glorious estate an other Earle carried away his wife from him whereupon in his old age being much troubled in minde he fell into deepe melancholy After him succeeded from father to sonne three Roberts the first sirnamed Bossu because hee was crook-backed who after he had rebelled against King Henry the First weary of his loose irregular life became a Chanon Regular the second sirnamed Blanch-maines of his lily-white-hands who sided with the young King against King Henry the Second and dyed in the expedition of King Richard the First to the Holy Land the third sirnamed Fitz-Parnell because his mother was Parnels daughter and one of the heires to Hugh Grant-maismill the last in whose right hee was Seneschall or Steward of England and died issuelesse in the time of King John A few yeeres after Simon Montfort descended from a base sonne of Robert King of France who had married the sister of Robert Fitz-Parnell enjoyed this honour But after that hee and his were expelled in the yeere 1200. as wholy devoted to the French Ranulph Earle of Chester attained unto this Dignity not in right of inheritance but by his Princes favour Howbeit afterwards Simon Montfort sonne of the foresaid Simon obtained this honour when Almarik his eldest brother surrendred up his right before King Henry the Third This Simon stood in so gracious favour with King Henry the Third that hee called him home againe out of France when he was banished heaped upon him great wealth admitted him unto the Earledome of Leicester granted to him the Stewardship of England and to honour him the more gave him his owne sister in marriage But hee thus over-heaped with honourable benefits when he had no meanes to requite them such is the perverse wilfulnesse of men beganne hatefully to maligne him yea and did most wickedly molest the good King having so well deserved making himselfe Ringleader to the rebellious Barons and with them raising horrible tempests of civill warre in which himselfe also at length was overthrowne and slaine As for his Honours and Possessions King Henry the Third gave and graunted them to Edmund his owne younger sonne Earle of Lancaster So afterward this honour lay as it were obscured among the Titles of the house of Lancaster and Mawde the daughter of Henry Duke of Lancaster being married to Henry Duke of Bavaria Earle of Henault Holland Zeland c. added unto his other Titles this of Earle of Leicester also For in the Charter dated the five and thirty yeere of King Edward the Third hee is in plaine termes stiled William Earle of Henhault and of Leicester yea and as we finde in the Inquisition made Anno 36. of the said King Edward the Third shee by the name of Dutchesse of Bavaria held the Castle Manour and Honour of Leicester After whose decease without issue that honour reverted to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster who had wedded Blanch the other sister of Mawde From which time it became united to the House of Lancaster untill in our remembrance it reflourished in L. Robert Dudley who was by Queene Elizabeth girt with the sword of the Earledome of Leicester and extraordinarily favoured whereupon the States Generall of the united Provinces in their great troubles chose him triumphantly for their absolute Governour and soone after as contemptuously rejected him reserving all Soveraignty to themselves But after a short time he passed out of this transitory life
both in France and the Low-countries Witham now approching neere unto the Sea entertaineth out of the North another small namelesse River at the spring head whereof standeth Bollingbroke Castle situate upon a low ground and built of a soft and crumbling stone by William de Romara Earle of Lincolne taken from Alice Lacey by King Edward the Second because she married against his will and ennobled in that it was the Birth-place of King Henry the Fourth who thereof was named Henry of Bollingbroke At which time it beganne to be reckoned among those Honorable Manours which are termed Honours And Witham after it hath received this Riveret having passed through Boston as I have said dischargeth it selfe at length into the German Sea From the mouth of Witham the shore shutteth forth with a mighty swelling bent into the German Sea as farre as to Humber a great Arme of the Sea being every where slashed and indented with many small Washes and places which the salt water breaketh into and hath but few Townes upon it because there be few Havens there and the shelves or barres of sand lie every where anenst the land Yet of these few Townes which take up this Coast some be memorable and Wainefleet especially if it were but for this cause onely that it bred William Wainfleet Bishop of Winchester a worthy Prelat founder of Mawdlen College in Oxford a man that singularly well deserved of learning Then Alford which for the Mercate is beholden to Lion Lord Welles who obtained for it this priviledge from King Henry the Sixth This Family of Welles was very ancient and honourable and the last of that name had to wife a daughter of King Edward the Fourth and being by King Henry the Seventh created Vicount Welles died having no issue But the inheritance by the Females came to the Willoughbeys Dimockes De la Launds Hoes and others More inward are Driby and Ormesby neighbour Townes which gave sirnames to two great families in their times from the Dribyes descended the elder Lords Cromwell now determined and from Ormesbyes the house of Skipwith still continuing After this ye have Louth a little Mercate Towne well frequented which had the name of Lud a small River that runneth under Cokerington the capitall place in times past of the Barony of Scoteney And then Grimsby which our Sabins or conceited persons dreaming what they list and following their owne fansies will have to be so called of one Grime a Merchant who for that hee had brought up a little foundling of the Danes royall blood named Haveloke when it had beene cast forth to perish or to take his lucke or fortune is much talked of together with Haveloke that lucky foster-childe of his who having beene first a skullen in the Kings kitchin and afterwards promoted to the marriage of the Kings daughter for his heroicall valour in feates of Armes and I wot not what worthy exploits A narration right well beseeming and meetest for them that take pleasure to passe out the long nights with telling of old wives tales But the honour and ornament of this place was the right reverend Doctour Whitgift late Archbishop of Canterbury a peerelesse Prelate for piety and learning in our daies Scarce six miles from hence more within the country there sheweth it selfe an ancient Castle which at this day is called Castor in the old English Saxons Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Thong-caster in British Caer Egarry in both languages it is aptly named so of the thing to wit of an hide cut into peeces like as Byrsa that Castle or Citadell of the Carthaginians so well knowne For our Annales record that Hengist the Saxon after he had vanquished the Picts and Scots and received very large possessions in other places obtained also in this tract of Vortigern so much ground as hee could compasse round about with an Oxe hide cut out into very small laners that we call Thongs wherein he founded and built this Castle Whence it is that one who hath written in verse a Breviary of the British History turned Virgils verses in this maner AccepÃtque solum facti de nomine Thongum Taurino quantum poter at circundare tergo And ground he tooke which Thong he call'd when he did first begin As much as he a Bull hide cut could well enclose within From Grimsby the Shore draweth in with a great reach to make way for to admit Humber by Thornton a religious house in times past instituted for the Worship of God by William the Grosse Earle of Aumarle also by Barton where there is a very notable Ferry or passage over into York-shire Hard by Ankam a little muddy River and therefore full of Eeles emptieth it selfe into Humber neere unto the spring-head whereof is Merket-Rasin so called of a Mercate there well resorted unto Somewhat higher stands Angotby now corruptly called Osgodby belonging in times past to the family of Semarc from whom it descended hereditarily to the Airmins also Kelsay a Lordship in old time of the Hansards men of great name in this shire from whom in right of the wives it came to the family of the Ascoghs Knights But after this Ankam hath a bridge over it at Glanford a small Mercate Towne which the common people of the said bridge so commonly call Brigg that the true name is almost quite forgotten Next unto it within a Parke I saw Kettleby the seat of the worshipfull ancient family of the Tirwhits Knights descended from Grovil Oxenbridge and Echingham But in times past it was the habitation as a man may gather by the name of one Ketell which was in the time of the Saxons and Danes an usuall name For Bye in the English-Saxon language signifieth A dwelling place and Byan To dwell whence it is that so many places both elsewhere in England and heere especially in this Shire doe end in Bie All this Tract-over at certaine seasons good God what store of fowles to say nothing of fishes is heere to be found I meane not those vulgar birds which in other places are highly esteemed and beare a great price as Teales Quailes Woodcockes Phesants Partridges c. but such as we have no Latine names for the very delicate dainties indeed of service meates for the Demigods and greatly sought for by these that love the tooth so well I meane Puitts Godwitts Knotts that is to say Canutus or Knouts birds for out of Denmarke they are thought to fly thither Dotterels so named of their dotish foolishnesse which being a kinde of birds as it were of an apish kinde ready to imitate what they see done are caught by candle light according to fowlers gesture if he put forth an arme they also stretch out a wing sets he forward his legge or holdeth up his head they likewise doe theirs in briefe what ever the fowler doth the same also doth this foolish bird untill it bee
thereof For in this tenour runne the very words of the Charter She likewise bestowed it upon John de Lacy Constable of Chester and the heires whom hee should beget of the body of Margaret her daughter This John had issue Edmund who dying before his mother left this honour for Henry his sonne to enjoy who was the last Earle of that line For when his sonnes were taken away by untimely death and he had but one little daughter onely remaining alive named Alice hee affianced her being but nine yeeres old to Thomas the sonne of Edmund Earle of Lancaster with this condition That if he should fortune to dye without heires of her body or if they happened to dye without heires of their bodies his Castles Lordships c. should in Remainder come to the heires of Edmund Earle of Lancaster for ever But the said Alice had no childe at all by her husband Thomas But when Thomas her husband was beheaded shee that by her light behaviour had not a little steined her good name tooke Sir Eubul le Strange with whom she had lived before time too familiarly for her husband without the assent and privity of her Soveraigne who being hereat highly offended seised her possessions into his owne hands Yet both Sir Eubul Strange and Sir Hugh Frene her third husband are in some Records named Earles of Lincolne After Alice now very aged was departed this life without issue Henry Earle of Lancaster Nephew to Edmund aforesaid by his second sonne entred upon her large and faire patrimony by vertue of that conveiance which I spake of before and from that time it accrued to the House of Lancaster Howbeit the Kings of England at their pleasure have bestowed the name and honour of Earles of Lincolne as King Edward the Fourth gave it to Sir John De la Pole and King Henry the Eighth to Henry Brandon both the Sonnes of the Dukes of Suffolke who both ended this life without Issue the first slaine in the battaile at Stoke and the other taken away by the sweating sicknesse Afterward Queene Elizabeth promoted Edward Baron Clinton Lord high Admirall of England to the said honour which his sonne Henry enjoyeth at this day There are in this Shire Parishes much about 630. NOTINGAMIAE Comitatus olim pars CORITANORVM NOTTINGHAM-SHIRE VPon the West side of Lincolne-shire confineth the County of NOTTINGHAM in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in English Nottingham-shire being farre lesse in quantity limited Northward with York-shire Westward with Darby-shire and in some parts with York-shire and on the South side with Leicester-shire The South and East part thereof are made more fruitfull by the noble and famous River Trent with other Riverets resorting unto it The West part is taken up with the Forest of Shirewood which stretcheth out a great way This part because it is sandy the Inhabitants tearme The Sand the other for that it is Clayish they call the Clay and so have divided their Country into these two parts The River Trent in the old English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some Antiquaries of small note and account have called Triginta in Latine for the affinity of the French word Trent that signifieth that number Triginta that is thirty having gone a long journey so soone as hee is entred into this Shire and hath recepto Souro flumine ex agro Leicestrensi taking in the River Soure from the field of Leicester runne by Steanford where I have learned there be many tokens remaining of old antiquity and peeces of Roman money oftentimes found and then by Clifton which hath given both habitation and sirname also to the ancient family of the Cliftons much enriched by one of the heires of Cressy taketh in from the West the little River Lin which rising neere unto Newsted that is New place where sometime King Henry the Second founded a small Abbay and which is now the dwelling house of the ancient Family of the Burons descended from Ralph de Buron who at the first comming in of the Normans flourished in great state both in this Countrey and also in Lancashire runneth hard by Wallaton rich in veines of cole where Sir Francis Willoughby a Knight nobly descended from the Greis Marquesse Dorset in our daies built out of the ground with great charges upon a vaine ostentation of his wealth a stately house with artificiall workemanship standing bleakely but offering a very goodly prospect to the beholders farre and neere Then runneth it by Linton or Lenton much frequented and famous in old time for the Abbay there of the Holy Trinity founded by William Peverell the base sonne of King William the Conquerour but now all the fame is onely for a Faire there kept Where on the other banke at the very meeting well neere of Lin and Trent the principall Towne that hath given name unto the Shire is seated upon the side of an hill now called Nottingham by softning the old name a little for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the English Saxons named it of certaine caves and passages under the ground which in old time they hewed and wrought hollow under those huge and steepe cliffes which are on the South side hanging over the little River Lin for places of receit and refuge yea and for habitations And thereupon Asserius interpreteth this Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Speluncarum domum that is An house of Dennes or Caves and in the British Tui ogo bauc which signifieth the very selfe same The Towne for the naturall site thereof is right pleasant as where on the one hand lye faire and large Medowes by the Rivers side on the other rise hils with a gentle and easie ascent and is plentifully provided of all things beside necessary for mans life On the one side Shirewood yeeldeth store of wood to maintaine fire although many use for that purpose stinking pit cole digged forth of the ground on the other Trent serveth it aboundantly with fish And hence hath beene taken up this od barbarous Verse Limpida sylva focum Triginta dat mihi piscem Shire-wood yeelds me fuell for fire As Trent yeelds fish what I require At a word for largenesse for building for three faire Churches a passing spacious and beautifull Mercat place and a most strong Castle it maketh a goodly shew The said Castle is mounted upon an huge and steepe worke on the West side of the City in which place it is thought that Castle stood in times past upon whose strength the Danes presuming held out against the Siege of Aethered and Aelfrid so long untill they frustrate of their purpose brake up their Siege trussed up bagge and baggage and dislodged For when the Danes had taken this Castle Burthred King of the Mercians as mine Authour Asserius writeth and the Mercians addresse their messengers to Aethered King of the West Saxons and to
now spoiling and harrying the whole Island and Vortigern had withdrawne himselfe into these parts Pascentius his sonne ruled all as Lord by the permission of Aurelius Ambrose as Ninnius writeth who in his Chapter of Mervails reporteth I wot not what wondrous thing heere of a heape of stones wherein forsooth was plainly to be seene the footing of King Arthurs hound And as for Hay which in British is called Trekethle that is The Towne in a grove of Hasell trees in the very utmost skirt of this Shire next unto Hereford-shire it standeth hard by the river Wye well knowne as it seemeth to the Romans whose coines is often digged up there and it sheweth also by the ruines that in old time it was walled But being now as it were decaied it complaineth of that most lewde Rebell Owen Glendowerdwy for his furious outrages who in wasting and spoiling all those Countries most villanously did depopulate it and set it on fire As this River Wy washeth the North side of this Shire so doth Vske a notable River likewise runne through the middest thereof which Vske springing out of the Blacke-Mountaine passeth along with a shallow streame beside Brechnock the Shire Towne standing in the very heart in manner of the Country which the Britans call Aber-Hodney because the two Rivers Hodney and Uske doe meet in that place That this Towne was inhabited in the Romans time appeareth by the Coines of Roman Emperours now and then digged up heere Bernard Newmarch who conquered this little Shire built heere a goodly great Castle which the Breoses and Bohuns repaired and in our fathers remembrance King Henry the Eighth in the Friery of the Dominicans appointed a Collegiat Church of foureteene Prebendaries which hee translated hither from Aberguilly in Caer-Marden-shire Two miles hence Eastward there spreads it selfe abroad a large Poole which the Britans call Linsavethan and Linsavathen that is A Lake of standing water Giraldus tearmeth it Clamosum that is Clamorous or Crying loud because it maketh a strange noise like thunder as often as the Yce thereon doth thaw In English we name it Brecknock-Meere Two miles it is in length and as much in bredth breeding in times past many Otters now full of Pearches Tenches and Eeles which the Fishers rowing in small pliant botes doe take Leveney a little River after it is runne into this Poole keepeth his owne hew and color still by himselfe as disdaining to be mingled therewith which the very color sheweth is thought to carry out his owne water entertained a while there by the way and no more than hee brought in with him It hath beene a currant speech of long continuance among the neighbours thereabout that where now the Meere is there was in times past a City which being swallowed up in an earthquake resigned up the place unto the waters And beside other reasons they alleage this for one that all the high waies of this shire come directly hither on every side Which if it be true what other City should a man thinke stood by the River Leveney than LOVENTIUM which Ptolomee placeth in this tract and in no place hitherto could I finde it albeit I searched diligently for it either by the name or situation or ruines remaining Marianus Scotus which I had almost forgotten seemeth to call this Lake Bricenaâ— Meere who recordeth that Edelfled the Mercian Lady in the yeere 913. entred into the land of the Britans to win by assault a Castle at Bricenau Meere and that she tooke there the King of the Britans wife prisoner Whether this Castle were Brechnock it selfe or Castle Dinas which standeth over it upon a rockey hill and which the higher it riseth the slenderer and smaller it becommeth it is not certainely knowne But that Blean Laveney Castle hard by was the chiefe place of the Barony that Petre Fitz Herbert the sonne of Herbert Lord of Dean-forest by Lucy the daughter of Miles Earle of Hereford held appeareth evidently upon Record In the Raigne of King William Rufus Bernard Newmarch the Norman a man both hardy and politique withall having levied a great Army of Englishmen and Normans together was the first that entred into this territory by force and armes won it and wrested it out of the Welshmens hands by bloudy encounters raised fortresses heere for his fellow souldiers among which the chiefe were the Aubreeis Gunters Haverds Waldbeofes and Prichards allotted lands and lordships and that hee might set sure footing and establish his seat among the Welsh who repined maliciously at him he tooke to wife Nesta the daughter of Gruffin who being a woman of a shamelesse and revengefull spirit both bereft her selfe of her owne good name and also defeated her sonne of his inheritance For when Mahel the said Bernards onely sonne did shake up in som hard and sharpe termes a young Gentleman with whom she used more familiarly than was beseeming shee as the Poet saith iram atque animos à crimine sâ—mens growing angry and stomackfull upon this imputation tooke her corporall oath before King Henry the Second and protested that her sonne Mahel was begotten in adultery and not by Bernard her Husband whereupon Mahel being disinherited Sibyl his sister entred upon that faire Inheritance and with the same enriched her Husband Miles Earle of Hereford But after that five sonnes of Miles died without issue this Brechnock-shire in the partition of the inheritance fell to Bertha his daughter who by Philip de Breos had a sonne William de Breos Lord of Brechnock upon whom the seditious spirit and shrewd tongue of his wife drew a world of calamities For when shee had with her intemperate and unbridled language contumeliously abused King John the King thereupon because her Husband William was very deepely indebted unto him fell to bee quicke and rigorous in demanding the debt But he not able to make payment after he had shifted it off many times and by breaking day still made default in the end mortgaged unto the King three of his Castles namely Hay Brecknock and Radnor and put them into his hands But soone after levying certaine forces such as he could muster up in haste upon a suddaine surprised them slew the Garison Souldiers and wrested the said peeces perforce from them burnt the Towne of Lemster and thus killing slaying and driving away booties he made foule worke and havocke every way with all such outrages as Rebels doe commonly commit But when the King pursued him hee conveyed himselfe and all that he had into Ireland complotted and combined with the Kings enemies there yet under a colour as if hee would make submission hee came unto the King upon protection and assurance given of safety when he was upon his returne into Ireland And notwithstanding many goodly promises of the contrary he raised new stirres and troubles eftsoones in Wales But forced in the end to leave his native Country he died a banished man
Penbroke by vertue of King Edward the Third his Brieffe The Copie whereof I thinke good to set downe heere that wee may see what was the right by heires generall in these honorary Titles Rex omnibus ad quos c. salutem The King to all unto whom c. Greeting Know yee that the good presage of circumspection and vertue which wee have conceived by the towardly youth and happy beginnings of our most welbeloved cozin Laurence Hastings induce us worthily to countenance him with our especiall grace and favour in those things which concerne the due preservation and maintenance of his honour Whereas therefore the inheritance of Aimar of Valence sometime Earle of Penbroke as hee was stiled deceased long since without heire begotten of his body hath beene devolved unto his sisters proportionably to be divided among them and their heires because we know for certaine that the foresaid Laurence who succeedeth the said Aimar in part of the inheritance is descended from the elder sister of Aimar aforesaid and so by the avouching of the learned with whom wee consulted about this matter the prerogative both of name and honour is due unto him We deeme it just and due that the same Laurence claiming his Title from the elder sister assume and have the name of Earle of Penbroke which the said Aimar had whiles he lived Which verily we as much as lyeth in us confirme ratifie and also approve unto him willing and granting that the said Laurence have and hold the prerogative and honour of Earle Palatine in those lands which hee holdeth of the said Aimars inheritance so fully and after the same manner as the same Aimar had and held them at the time of his death In witnesse the King at Mont-Martin the thirteenth day of October and in the thirteenth of our Raigne After Laurence succeeded his sonne John who being taken prisoner by the Spaniards in a battaile at sea and in the end ransomed died in France in the yeere 1375. After him followed his sonne John who in a running at Tilt at Woodstocke was slaine by Sir Iohn Saint Iohn casually in the yeere 1391. And it was observed that for five generations together in this Family I know not by what destiny the father never saw his sonne Now for default of his issue there fell very many possessions and faire revenewes into the Kings hands as our Lawyers use to speake and the Castle of Penbroke was granted unto Francis At-Court a Courtier in especiall great favour who thereupon was commonly called Lord of Pembroke Not long after Humfrey sonne to King Henry the Fourth before he was Duke of Glocester received this title of his brother King Henry the Fifth and before his death King Henry the Sixth granted the same in reversion a thing not before heard of to William de la Pole Earle of Suffolke after whose downefall the said King when hee had enabled Edmund of Hadham and Iasper of Hatfield the sonnes of Queene Katharin his mother to bee his lawfull halfe brethren created Iasper Earle of Penbroke and Edmund Earle of Richmond with preheminence to take place above all Earles For Kings have absolute authority in dispensing honours But King Edward the Fourth depriving Iasper of all his honours by attaindour and forfeiture gave the Title of Pembroke to Sir William Herbert for his good service against Iasper in Wales but hee shortly after lost his life at the battaile of Banbury Then succeeded his sonne bearing the same name whom King Edward the Fourth when hee had recovered the Kingdome invested in the Earledome of Huntingdon and bestowed the Title of Penbroke being surrendred upon his eldest sonne and heire Edward Prince of Wales A long time after King Henry the Eighth invested Anne Bollen to whom he was affianced Marchionesse of Pembroke with a mantle and Coronet in regard both of her Nobility and also her vertues for so runne the words of the Patent At length king Edward the Sixth adorned Sir William Herbert Lord of Caerdiffe with the Title of Earle of Penbroke after whom succeeded his sonne Henry who was Lord President of Wales under Queene Elizabeth And now his sonne William richly accomplished with all laudable endowments of body and minde enjoyeth the same Title This Family of the Herberts in these parts of Wales is honourable and of great antiquity As lineally propagated from Henry Fitz Herbert Chamberlaine to king Henry the First who married the said kings Paramor the mother of Reginald Earle of Cornwall as I was first enformed by Robert Glover a man passing skilfull in the study of Genealogies by whose untimely death that knowledge hath sustained a great losse There are in this Shire Parishes 145. CARDIGAN-SHIRE FRom Saint Davids Promontory the shore being driven backe aslope Eastward letteth in the Sea within a vast and crooked Bay upon which lyeth the third Region of the Dimetae in English called CARDIGAN-SHIRE in British Sire Aber-Tivi by old Latine Writers Ceretica if any man thinke of King Caratacus this may seeme a conjecture proceeding out of his owne braine and not grounded upon any certaine authority and yet wee reade that the worthy Caratacus so worthily renowned was the Soveraigne Ruler in these parts A plaine and champion Country it is Westward where it lyeth to the Sea as also on the South side where the River Tivie separateth it from Caermarden-shire But in the East and North sides which bound upon Brechnock and Montgomery-shires there is a continued range or ridge of hils that shoot along yeelding goodly pasture ground under which there be spread sundry large Pooles That in ancient times this Shire as the rest also of Wales was not planted and garnished with Cities but with little cottages it may bee gathered by that speech of their Prince Caratacus who being taken Prisoner when he had throughly viewed the glorious magnificence of Rome What meane you saith he when yee have these and such like stately buildings of your owne to covet our small cottages Howbeit the places heere of most Antiquity let us breifly view over The River Tivie which Ptolomee calleth TUEROBIUS but corruptly in stead of Dwr-Tivius that is The River Tivie issueth out of the Poole Lin-Tivy beneath the hils whereof I spake before first cumbred as it were with stones in the way and rumbling with a great noise without any chanell and so passeth through a very stony tract neere unto which at Rosse the Mountainers keepe the greatest Faire for cattaile in all those parts untill it come to Strat-fleur a Monastery long since of the Cluniack Monkes compassed about with hilles From thence being received within a chanell it runneth downe by Tregaron and Lhan-Devi-brevi built and so named in memoriall of David Bishop of Menevia where he in a frequent Synode refuted the Pelagian Heresie springing up againe in Britaine both by the holy Scriptures and also by a miracle while the earth whereon he stood as he preached arose
last Baron of this race made it over as I have said already to Isabell Queene of England wife to King Edward the Second Howbeit the possession of the Castle was transferred afterward to the Stanleys now Earles of Darby Through the South part of this Shire lying beneath these places above named wandereth Aleâ— a little River neere unto which in an hill hard by Kilken a small village there is a Well The water whereof at certaine set times riseth and falleth after the manner of the Sea-tides Upon this Alen standeth Hope Castle in Welsh Caer-Gurle in which King Edward the First retired himselfe when the Welshmen had upon the sudden set upon his souldiers being out of array and where good milstones are wrought out of the rocke also Mold in Welsh Guid Cruc a Castle belonging in ancient time to the Barons of Monthault both which places shew many tokens of Antiquity Neere unto Hope a certaine Gardiner when I was first writing this worke digging somewhat deepe into the ground happened upon a very ancient peece of worke concerning which there grew many divers opinions of sundry men But hee that will with any diligence reade M. Vitruvius Pollio shall very well perceive it was nothing else but a Stouph or hote house begunne by the Romanes who as their riotous excesse grew together with their wealth used Bathes exceeding much In length it was five elns in breadth foure and about halfe an eln deepe enclosed with Walles of hard stone the paving layed with bricke pargetted with lime morter the arched roofe over it supported with small pillars made of bricke which roofe was of tiles pargetted over likewise very smoothe having holes heere and there through it wherein were placed certaine earthen pipes of Potters worke by which the heate was conveyed and so as hee saith Volvebant hypocausta vaporem that is the Stuples did send away a waulming hote vapour And who would not thinke this was one of these kindes of worke which Giraldus wondered at especially in Isca writing thus as he did of the Romanes workes That saith hee which a man would judge among other things notable there may you see on every side Stouphs made with marveilous great skill breathing out heate closely at certaine holes in the sides and narrow tunnels Whose worke this was the tiles there did declare being imprinted with these words LEGIO XX. that is The twentieth Legion which as I have shewed already before abode at Chester scarce sixe miles a side from hence Neere unto this River Alen in a certaine streight set about with woods standeth Coles-hull Giraldus tearmeth it Carbonarium collem that is Coles Hill where when King Henry the Second had made preparation with as great care as ever any did to give Battaile unto the Welsh the English by reason of their disordered multitude drawing out their Battalions in their rankes and not ranged close in good array lost the Field and were defeited yea and the very Kings standerd was forsaken by Henry of Essex who in right of inheritance was Standerd-bearer to the Kings of England For which cause he being afterwards charged with treason and by his challenger overcome in combate had his goods confiscate and seized into the Kings hands and he displeased with himselfe for his cowardise put on a coule and became a Monke Another little parcell there is of this Shire on this side the River Dee dismembred as it were from this which the English call English Mailor Of this I treated in the County of Chester whiles I spake of Bangor and there is no reason to iterate the same heere which hath beene already spoken of before Neither doth it afford any thing in it worth the reporting unlesse it be Han-meere by ae Meres side whereof a right ancient and worshipfull Family there dwelling tooke their sirname The Earles of Chester as they skirmished by occasions and advantage of opportunity with the Welsh were the first Normans that brought this Country under their subjection whereupon wee reade in ancient Records The County of Flint appertaineth to the Dignity of the sword of Chester and the eldest sonnes of the K.K. of England were in old time stiled by the Title of Earles of Chester and of Flint But notwithstanding King Edward the First supposing it would bee very commodious both for the maintenance of his owne power and also to keepe under the Welsh held in his owne hands both this and all the sea Coast of Wales As for the in-land Countries he gave them to his Nobles as he thought good following herein the policie of the Emperour Augustus who undertooke himselfe to governe the Provinces that were strongest and lay outmost but permitted Proconsuls by lot to rule the rest Which he did in shew to defend the Empire but in very deed to have all the armes and martiall men under his owne command In this County of Flint there be Parishes in all 28. PRINCES OF WALES AS concerning the Princes of Wales of British bloud in ancient times you may reade in the Historie of Wales published in print For my part I thinke it requisite and pertinent to my intended purpose to set downe summarily those of latter daies descended from the Roiall line of England King Edward the First unto whom his Father King Henry the Third had graunted the Principalitie of Wales when hee had obtained the Crowne and Lhewellin Ap. Gryffith the last Prince of the British race was slaine and thereby the sinnewes as it were of the Principalitie were cut in the twelfth yeere of his Reigne united the same unto the Kingdome of England And the whole Province sware fealty and allegeance unto Edward of Caernarvon his Sonne whom he made Prince of Wales But King Edward the Second conferred not upon his Sonne Edward the title of Prince of Wales but onely the name of Earle of Chester and of Flint so farre as I ever could learne out of the Records and by that title summoned him to Parliament being then nine yeeres old King Edward the Third first Created his eldest Sonne Edward surnamed the Blacke Prince the Mirour of Chivalry being then Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester Prince of Wales by solemne investure with a cap of estate and Coronet set on his head a gold ring put upon his finger and a silver vierge delivered into his hand with the assent of the Parliament who in the very floure of his martiall glory was taken away by untimely death too too soone to the universall griefe of all England Afterwards King Edward the Third invested with the said honour Richard of Burdeaux the said Princes Sonne as heire apparent to the Crowne who was deposed from his Kingdome by King Henry the Fourth and having no issue was cruelly dispatched by violent death The said King Henry the Fourth at the formall request of the Lords and Commons bestowed this Principalitie with the title of Chester and Flint with
were erected unto them We worship saith he The heads of great Rivers and the sudden breaking forth of an huge River out of an hidden and secret place hath Altars consecrated unto it Againe All waters as Servius Honoratus saith had their severall Nymphs to take the rule and protection of them Moreover in a Wall of the Church is fastened this broken and unperfect Inscription RUM CAES. AUG ANTONINI ET VERI JOVI DILECTI CAECILIUS PRAEF COH But in the very Church it selfe whiles I sought diligently for monuments of Romane Antiquity I found nothing but the Image in stone all armed of Sir Adam Midleton who seemeth to have flourished under King Edward the First and whose posterity remaineth yet in the Country heereby at Stubbam More beneath standeth Otley a Towne of the Archbishops of Yorke but it hath nothing memorable unlesse it bee one high and hard craggy cliffe called Chevin under which it is situate For the ridge of an hill the Britans terme Chevin whence I may conjecture that that continued ridge of mountaines in France where in old time they spake the same language that Britans did was called Gevenna and Gebenna After this Wherf runneth hard by with his bankes on both sides reared up and consisting of that Limestone which maketh grounds fat and fertile where I saw Harewood Castle of good strength which by the alteration of times hath often changed his Lords Long since it belonged to the Curcies but by Alice an inheritrice it came to Warin Fitz-Gerold who had taken her to wife whose daughter Margerie and one of his heires being endowed with a very great estate of living was first married unto Baldwin de Ripariis the Earles sonne of Devon-shire who dyed before his father afterwards to Folque de Brent by the beneficiall favour of King John for his approved service in pilling polling and spoiling most cruelly But when at length Isabell de Ripariis Countesse of Devon-shire departed this life without issue This Castle fell unto Robert de L'isle the sonne of Warin as unto her cozin in bloud and one of her heires in the end by those of Aldborrough it descended to the â—ithers as I am enformed by Francis Thinn who very diligently and judiciously hath a long time hunted after Pedigree antiquities Neither is Gawthorp adjoyning hereby to be concealed in silence when as the ancient Family of Gascoignes descended out of Gascoigne in France as it seemeth hath made it famous both with their vertue and Antiquity From hence runneth Wherf hard by Wetherby a Mercate Towne of good note which hath no antiquity at all to shew but a place only beneath it they call it usually now Saint Helens Fourd where the high Roman street crossed over the river From thence he passeth downe by Tadcaster a very little towne yet I cannot but thinke as well by the distance from other places as by the nature of the soile and by the name that it was CALCARIA For it is about nine Italian miles from Yorke according as Antonine hath set CALCARIA Also the limestone which is the very soader and binder of all morter and hardly elsewhere in this tract to be found heere is digged up in great plenty and vented as farre as to Yorke and the whole Country bordering round about for use in building Considering then that the said Lime was by the Britans and Saxons in old time and is by the Northren Englishmen called after the Roman name Calc For that imperious City Rome imposed not their yoke onely but their language also upon the subdued Nations seeing also that in the Code of Theodosius those bee tearmed Calcarienses who are the burners of limestone it may not seeme absurd if the Etymology of the name be fetched from Calx that is Chalke or Lime even as Chalcis of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is brasse Ammon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Sand Pteleon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Elmes and Calcaria a City of Cliveland haply of Calx that is Lime tooke their names especially seeing that Bede calleth it also Calca-cester Where he reporteth that Heina the first woman in this Country that put on the Vaile and religious habite of a Nunne retyred her selfe apart to this City and therein made her abode Moreover an Hill neere to the Towne is called Kelc-bar in which there lieth couched somewhat of the ancient name Neither are there other arguments wanting to prove the antiquity thereof For to say nothing how it is situate upon a port high way there be peeces of the Roman Emperours money oftentimes digged up and the tokens of the Trenches and Bankes that compassed it about the plot also where an old Castle stood yet remaining out of the reliques whereof not many yeeres agoe was a Bridge built which when Wherf is once passed under he becommeth more still and so gently intermingleth his water with Ouse And verily a thing it is in my judgement to be wondered at That Wherf being encreased with so many waters in Summer time runneth so shallow under this Bridge that one comming hither about Midsommer when he saw it pretily and merrily versified thus Nil Tadcaster habet Musis vel carmine dignum Praeter magnificè structum sine flumine pontem Nought hath Tadcaster worth my Muse and that my verse deserv's Unlesse a faire Bridge stately built the which no river serv's But had he come in Winter time he should have seene the Bridge so great as it was scarce able to receive so much water But naturall Philosophers know full well that both Welles and rivers according to the seasons and the heat or cold without or within do decrease or encrease accordingly Whereupon in his returne he finding here durt for dust and full currant water under the Bridge recanted with these verses Quae Tadcaster erat sine flumine pulvere plena Nunc habet immensum fluvium pro pulvere lutum Somewhat higher Nid a muddy river runneth downe well beset with woods on either side out of the bottome of Craven hils first by Niderdale a vale unto which it giveth name and from thence carrieth his streame by Rippley a Mercate Towne where the Inglebeys a Family of great antiquity flourished in good reputation Afterwards with his deepe chanell hee fenseth Gnaresburg commonly called Knarsborow Castle situate upon a most ragged and rough Rocke whence also it hath the name which Serle de Burgh Unkle by the fathers side to Eustace Vescy built as the tradition holdeth Afterward it became the seate of the Estoteviles and now is counted part of the lands belonging to the Dutchy of Lancaster Under it there is a well in which the waters spring not up out of the veines of the earth but distill and trickle downe dropping from the rockes hanging over it whence they call it Dropping well into which what wood soever is put
of the whole bloud marryed to Charles of Bloys King Edward the Third affecting the said John Earle of Montfort and to strengthen his owne party in France favoured the Title of the said John Earle of Montfort for that he was a man and neerer in degree and therefore seemed to have better right and to bee preferred before his Niece to whom the Parliament of France had adjudged it and which is more for that he sware fealty to him as King of France for the Dutchy of Britaine In these respects he granted the Earldome of Richmond unto the said Iohn untill he might recover his owne possessions in France which being soone after recovered by aide of the English the said King bestowed it upon Iohn of Gaunt his sonne And he afterward surrendred it againe into the King his fathers hands for other possessions Who forthwith created Iohn Earle of Montfort Duke of Britaine sirnamed The valiant Earle of Richmond unto whom hee had given his daughter to wife that thereby hee might more surely oblige unto him a warlique person and then ill affected to the French But in the fourth yeere of Richard the Second he by authority of the Parliament forfaited his Earldome because he adhered unto the French King against England howbeit hee kept still the bare Title and left it unto his posterity But the possession was granted to Dame Ioane of Britaine his sister and the widdow of Ralph Lord Basset of Draiton After her decease first Ralph Nevill Earle of Westmorland had the Castle and Earldome of Richmond for the tearme of his owne life by the gift of King Henry the Fourth And after him Iohn Duke of Bedford Then king Henry the Sixth conferred the Title of Earle of Richmond upon Edmund of Hadham his halfe brother by the mothers side with this speciall and peculiar prerogative To take his place in Parliament next unto Dukes After him succeeded Henry his sonne who was King of England by the name of Henry the Seventh But during his exile George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Glocester received the Signiory of Richmond but not the Title from their brother king Edward the Fourth Last of all Henry the base sonne of king Henry the Eighth was by his father invested Duke of Richmond who departed this life without issue 1535. As for Sir Thomas Grey who was made Baron of Richmount by king Henry the Sixth was not Lord of this Richmond but of a place in Bedfordshire called Rugemound and Richmount Greies There are contained in this Shire Parishes 104. beside Chappels BISHOPRICK OF DVRHAM THe Bishopricke of Durham or Duresme bordering on the North side upon Yorke-shire is shaped in fashion of a triangle the utmost angle whereof is made up toward the West where the Northren limit and the Spring-head of Tees doe meete One of the sides which lieth Southward is bounded in with the continued course of the river Tees running downe along by it the other that looketh Northward is limited first with a short line from the utmost point to the river Derwent then with Derwent it selfe untill it hath taken unto it Chopwell a little river and afterward with the river Tine The Sea coast fashioneth out the Base of the Triangle which lieth Eastward and the German Ocean with a mighty roaring and forcible violence beareth thereupon On that part where it gathereth narrow to the Westerne angle the fields are naked and barren the woods very thin the hills bare without grasse but not without mynes of iron As for the Vallies they are reasonably grassie and that high hill which I termed the Apennine of England cutteth in twain this angle But on the East part or Base of the Triangle as also on both sides the ground being well manured is very fruitful and the increase yeeldeth good recompence for the husbandmans toile it is also well garnished with meddowes pastures and corn-fields beset everywhere with townes and yeelding plenty of Sea coale which in many places we use for fewell Some will have this coale to be an earthy black Bitumen others to be Gagates and some againe the Lâ—pis Thracius all which that great Philosopher in Minerals George Agricola hath prooved to be one and the same thing Surely this of ours is nothing else but Bitumen or a clammy kind of cley hardned with heat under the earth and so throughly concocted For it yeeldeth the smell of Bitumen and if water bee sprinkled upon it it burneth more vehemently and the cleerer but whether it may bee quenched with oile I have not yet tried And if the Stone called Obsidianus be in our country I would take that to bee it which is found in other places of England and commonly called Canole cole For it is hard bright light and somewhat easie to be cloven piece meale into flakes and being once kindled it burneth very quickly But let us leave these matters to those that search more deeply into Natures closets All this country with other territories also thereto adjoyning the Monasticall writers tearme the Land or Patrimonie of Saint Cuthbert For so they called whatsoever belonged to the Church of Durham whereof S. Cuthbert was the Patron who in the primitive state of the English Church being Bishop of Lindefarn led all his life in such holinesse and so sincerely that he was enrolled among the English Saints Our kings also and Peeres of the Realme because they verily perswaded themselves that he was their Tutelar Saint and Protectour against the Scots went not onely in Pilgrimage with devotion to visite his body which they beleeved to have continued still found and uncorrupt but also gave very large possessions to this Church and endowed the same with many immunities King Edgfride bestowed upon Cuthbert himselfe whiles he lived great revenewes in the very City of Yorke and Creake also whereof I spake and the City Luguballia as wee reade in the History of Durham King Aelfred and Guthrun the Dane whom hee made Lieutenant of Northumberland gave afterwards all the Lands betweene the Rivers Were and Tine unto Cuthbert and to those who ministred in his Church to have and to hold for ever as their rightfull Possession These bee the very words in effect of an ancient Booke whence they might have sufficient maintenance to live upon and not be pinched with poverty over and besides they ordeined his Church to bee a safe Sanctuary for all fugitives that whosoever for any cause fled unto his Corps should have peaceable being for 37. daies and the same liberty never for any occasion to bee infringed or denyed Edward and Athelstan Kings Knute also or Canutus the Dane who came on his bare feete to Cuthberts Tombe not onely confirmed but enlarged also these liberties In like manner King William the Conquerour since whose time it hath alwayes beene deemed a County Palatine yea and some of the Bishops as Counts Palatine have engraven in their seales a Knight or man at armes in compleat harnesse sitting
upon an horse all trapped with one hand brandishing a sword and in the other holding out the Armes of the Bishopricke The Bishops also have had their royalties and princely rights so that the goods of outlawed and attainted persons out of the Kings protection fell into their hands and not into the Kings yea and the Commons of that Province standing upon their priviledges have refused to serve in warre under the King in Scotland For they pleaded the Story of Duresme shall speake for mee That they were Haliwerke folkes and held their lands to defend the Corps of Saint Cuthbert neither ought they to goe out of the precincts of the Bishopricke namely beyond Tine and Teese for King or Bishop But King Edward the First was the first that abridged them of these liberties For when as he interposed himselfe as Arbitratour betweene the Bishop Antony Bec and the Priour who contended most egerly about certaine lands and they would not stand to his award Hee seised as saith mine Authour the liberty of the Bishopricke into his owne hand and there were many corners searched many flawes found and the Liberty in many points much impaired Howbeit the Church afterward recovered her rights and held them inviolate unto the daies of King Edward the Sixth unto whom upon the dissolution of the Bishopricke the States in Parliament granted all the revenewes and liberties thereof But forthwith Queene Mary by the same authority repealed this Act and restored all things safe and sound unto the Church againe which it enjoyeth at this day For the Bishop James Pilkinton of late time entred his action against Queene Elizabeth about the possessions and goods of Charles Nevill Earle of Westmorland and of others that stood attainted for treason in this precinct because they had most wickedly levied warre against their native Country and he the said Bishop had followed the suit to a triall if the authority of Parliament had not interposed and adjudged the same for that time unto the Queene because to her exceeding great charges she had delivered both Bishop and Bishopricke from the outrage of the Rebels But leaving these matters let us proceed forward to the descripton of places The riuer that boundeth the South part of this country is called by Latin writers Teisis and Teesa commonly Tees by Polydore Virgill the Italian whose minde ranne of Athesis in his owne country Italy without any reason Athesis In Ptolomee it seemeth to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet I thinke that in him it is removed out of his proper place through the negligence of transcribers For considering that he hath placed TUESIS and TINA in the more remote part of Britaine where the Scots now inhabite and seeing that this Region is enclosed within Tees and Tine If I durst as a Criticke correct that ancient Geographer I would recall them home againe hither into their owne places though they have been long displaced and that with the Scots good leave I hope who have no Rivers upon which they can truely father these names TEES springeth out of that stony country called Stanemore and carrying with him away in his chanell along many brookes and beckes on each side and running through rockes out of which at Egleston where there is a marble Quarroy and where Conan Earle of Britaine and Richmond founded a small Abbay first beateth upon Bernard Castle built and so named by Bernard Balliol the great grandfathers father of John Balliol King of the Scots But this John Balliol whom King Edward the First had declared King of Scotland lost the same with other his possessions because he had broken his alleageance which he sware unto Edward At which time the King being highly displeased with Antony Bishop of Durrham tooke this Castle as witnesseth the booke of Duresme with the appertinences thereto from him and conferred the same upon the Earle of Warwicke as Herkes also and Hertnes which hee gave unto Robert Clifford Kewerston also which hee bestowed upon Geffrey of Hertpole which the Bishop had by the forfeiture of Iohn Baliol Robert Bruse and Christopher Seton But a few yeeres after Lewis Beaumount the Bishop a man royally descended but altogether unlettered brought his action for this Castle and the rest of those possessions and obtained his suite by vertue of judgement given in this tenour The Bishop of Durham ought to have the forfeiture of Warres within the Liberties of his Bishopricke as the King hath it without Hard by it is Stretlham seene where dwelt for a long time the worshipfull family of the Bowes Knights who from time to time in the greatest troubles have performed passing good service to Prince and Country and derive their pedigree from W. de Bowes unto whom as I have read Alanus Niger Earle of Britaine and Richmond granted that hee might give for his Armes The Scutcheon of Britaine with three bent Bowes therein Not full five miles from hence standeth somewhat farther from Tees banke Standrop which also is called Stainthorpe that is Stony Village a little Mercate Towne where there was a Collegiat Church founded by the Nevills and was their Buriall-place Neere unto it is Raby whch Cnut or Canute the Danish King gave freely unto the Church of Durham together with the land lying round about it and Stanthorpe to be held for ever Since which time as mine Authour informeth mee The Family of the Nevills or De nova villa held Raby of the Church paying yeerely for it foure pounds and a Stagge These Nevilles deduce their Descent from Waltheof Earle of Northumberland out of whose posterity when Robert the sonne of Maldred Lord of Raby had married the daughter of Geffrey Nevill the Norman whose Grandsire Gilbert Nevill is reported to have beene Admirall to King William the Conquerour their succeeding Progeny tooke unto them the name of Nevilles and grew up into a most numerous honourable and mighty house who erected heere a great and spacious Castle which was the first and principall seate These two places Stainthorpe and Raby are severed one from another onely by a little rill which after some few miles runneth into Tees neere unto Selaby where now is the habitation of the Brakenburies a Family of right good note both in regard of their owne Antiquity as also for their marriages contracted with the heires of Denton and of Wicliff Tees passing on from thence by Sockburne the dwelling house of the ancient and noble Family of the Coigniers out of which were the Barons Coigniers of Hornby whose inheritance much bettered by matching in marriage with the heires of the Lord Darcy of Metnill and of William Nevill Earle of Kent and Lord of Fauconberg is descended from them in the memory of our fathers to the Atherstons and the Darcies holdeth his course neere unto Derlington a Mercate Towne of good resort which Seir an English Saxon the sonne of Ulph
the West twenty degrees and forty eight minutes in Longitude Whiles I looked round about from the top of the said castle hill to see the mouth of Lone that issueth it selfe into the sea a little lower Fornesse the other part of this shire appeared in sight which the sea hath after a sort violently rent apart from the rest For when as the shore did from hence shoote out a maine way into the West the Ocean as it were much displeased and angry hereat obstinately ceased not to flash and mangle it nay which is more hath with his fell flowing at boisterous tides devoured the shore and thereby maketh three wide creâ—kes or bayes namely Kent-sand at which the river Ken powreth it selfe forth Leven-sand and Dudden-sand betweene which two the land beareth out so much that thereupon it tooke the name For with us in our language For-nesse Foreland is all one with the Latine Promontorium anterius that is a Fore-promontory All this part unlesse it be hard by the sea side mounteth up aloft with high topped hils and huge fels standing thicke together which they tearme Forness-fells Among which the Britans lived safe a great while trusting upon these strong naturall fenses although the victorious English Saxons made way through all in the end For in the yeere 228. after there comming in I gather that the Britans had their abode here because Egfride King of Northumberland gave unto Holy Saint Cuthbert the land called Carthmell and all the Britans in it thus we finde written in his life and it is very well knowne that Carthmell is a part of this shire by Kentsand and a little towne in it retaineth yet the same name Wherein William Mareschall the elder Earle of Pembroch built a Priory and endowed it with living If you read in Ptolomee SETANTIORUM 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Setantians Mere as some Copies have and not Setantiorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The Setantians Haven I durst boldly avouch that these Britans here were called SETANTII For among these mountaines the greatest standing water in all England now called Winander-mere in the English Saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haply of his winding and turning in and out lieth stretched out for the space of ten miles or thereabout with crooked bankes and is all paved as it were with stone in the bottome in some places of wonderfull depth and breeding a peculiar kinde of fish found no where else which the inhabitants there by call A Chare And a little village standing hard by carrieth the name thereof In which Eathred King of Northumberland in the yeer of Christ 792. when he had by force fetched King Elfwolds sonnes out of Yorke flue them that by his owne wickednesse and their blood hee might secure the Kingdome to himselfe and his Betwixt this Mere and the river Dudden the promontory runneth out which wee commonly call Fornesse and hath the Iland Walney as a fore-fence or countremure lying along by it with a small arme of the sea betweene The gullet or entry into which is defended with a fort called the Pile of Fouldrey standing in the midst of the waves upon a rocke erected there by the Abbot of Fornesse in the first yeere of King Edward the third As for the Promontory it selfe there is nothing worth the sight in it unlesse it be the ruines of a monastery of Cistertian Monkes called Fornesse Abbey which Stephen Earle of Bullen afterwards King of England in the yeere of our redemption 1127. built in a place called sometimes Bekensgill or translated rather from Tulket in Andernesse Out of the Monkes whereof and from no place else as they themselves have reported the Bishops of the Isle of Man that lieth just over against were by an ancient custome wont to bee elected as having beene the mother as it were of many Monasteries in the said Man and in Ireland More Eastward standeth Aldingham an ancient hereditament belonging to the family of the Haveringtons or Harringtons unto whom it came from the Flemmings by the Cancefelds and whose inheritance descended by a daughter unto William Bonvill of Somersetshire and at last by him unto the Greies Marquesses of Dorset And somwhat higher is Ulverston in this regard not to bee passed over in silence for that King Edward the third gave a moity thereof unto Sir John Coupland a most brave warriour whom also he advanced to the dignity of a Banaret because in the battaile at Durham he took David the second King of the Scots prisoner But after his decease the same King granted it with other faire lands in this tract and the title also of Earle of Bedford unto Ingelram Lord Coucy of France as who had married his daughter Isabel and whose ancestours in right of Christiana Lindsey had great revenewes in England Touching the noble men which have borne the title of Lancaster there were in the first infancy of the Norman Empire three stiled Lords of the Honour of Lancaster namely Roger of Poictou the sonne of Roger Mont-gomery who was surnamed Pictavensis as William of Malmesbury writeth because hee had married a wife from out of Poictou in France But when he had by his perfidious disloyalty lost this honour William the sonne of King Stephen and Earle of Moriton and Warren had the same given unto him by his Father After whose death King Richard the first bestowed it upon his brother John who was afterward King of England For thus we read in an old History King Richard declared his singular love to his brother Iohn For beside Ireland and the Earledome of Moriton in Normandy he heaped upon him so many dignities in England that he was in maner a Tetrarch there Finally he conferred upon him Cornwall Lancaster Notingham Derby with the country adjoining and many more beside A good while after King Henry the third the sonne of John first advanced Edmund his second sonne called by some Crouth-backe to the title of Earle of Lancaster unto whom hee conveyed and made over the inheritances and honours of Simon Montfort Earle of Leicester Robert Ferrars Earle of Derby and John of Monmouth because they had risen and rebelliously born armes against him and he gave this Honor of Lancaster unto him in these words The Honour County Castle and Town of Lancaster with the Cow-pastures forrests of Wiresdale Lownsdale New castle under Lime the manour forrest and Castle of Pickering the manor of Scaleby the towne of Gomicester and the rents of the towne of Huntendon c. After hee the said Edmund had missed the kingdome of Sicily in which the Pope had invested him in vaine by a ring and not without ridiculous disgrace to the English nation caused in honour of him certaine peeces of gold to bee stamped with this title AIMUNDUS REX SICILIAE having first cunningly suckt a great masse of money from the credulous King in this regard This Edmund
powreth forth into it a mighty masse of water having not yet forgotten what adoe it had to passe away struggling and wrestling as it did among the carcasses of free-butters lying dead in it on heapes in the yeere of salvation 1216. when it swallowed them up loaden with booties out of England and so buried that rabble of robbers under his waves This river Eden when it is entred into this shire receiveth from the West the river Eimot flowing out of Ulse a great lake heretofore mentioned neer unto the bank whereof hard by the riveret Dacor standeth Dacre Castle of signall note for that it hath given sirname to the honourable family of the Barons Dacre and mentioned anciently by Bede for that it had a monastery in those dayes as also by William of Malmesbury in regard that Constantine King of Scots and Eugenius or Ewain King of Cumberland yeelded themselves there together with their kingdomes unto Athelstane King of England upon condition to be protected by him Not much higher and not farre from the confluence of Eimot and Loder where is seene that round trench of earth which the countrey people tearme Arthurs Table stands Penrith which is if you interpret it out of the British language The Red head or hill for the soile and the stones there are of a reddish colour but commonly called Perith a little towne and of indifferent trade fortified on the West side with a castle of the Kings which in the reigne of King Henry the sixth was repaired out of the ruines of a Romane fort thereby called Maburg adorned with a proper Church and the mercate place is large with an edifice of timber therein for the use of those that resort thither to mercate garnished with Beares at a ragged staffe which was the devise of the Earles of Warwicke It belonged in times past unto the Bishops of Durham but when Antony Bec the Bishop overweening himselfe with over much wealth waxed proud and insolent King Edward the first as wee finde in Durham book took from him Werk in Tividale Perith and the Church of Simondburne But for the commodious use of this Towne William Stricland Bishop of Carlile descended from a worshipfull Family in this tract at his owne charges caused a channell for a water-course to be made out of Petter-rill that is the little Petter which neer unto the bank had Plumpton park a very large plot of ground which the Kings of England allotted in old time for wild beasts but King Henry the eighth disparked it and wisely appointed it for habitation of men as being in the very merches well neere where the Realmes of England and Scotland confine one upon the other Just by this place I saw many remaines of a decayed towne which they there for the vicinity thereof doe now call Old Perith I for my part would deeme it to be PETRIANAE For the fragment of an antique inscription erected by ULPIUS TRAIANUS EMERITUS an old discharged and pensionary souldier of the Petreian wing doth convince and prove that the wing Petriana made abode here But behold both it and others which wee copied out here GADUNO ULP TRAI EM AL. PET MARTIUS F P. C. D M. AICETU OS MATER VIXIT A XXXXV ET LATTIO FIL. VIX A XII LIMISIUS CONJU ET FILIAE PIENTISSIMIS POSUIT D M FL. MARITO SEN IN C. CARVETIOR QUESTORIO VIXIT AN XXXXV MARTIOLA FILIA ET HERES PONEN CURAVIT D M. CROTILO GERMANUS VIX ANIS XXVI GRECA VIX ANIS IIII. VINDICIANUS FRA. ET FIL. TIT. PO. After that Eden hath now given Eimot entertainment hee turneth his course Northward by both the Salkelds watering as hee goes obscure small villages and fortresses Amongst which at the lesse Salkeld there bee erected in manner of a circle seventy seven stones every one ten foot high and a speciall one by it selfe before them at the very entrance riseth fifteene foot in height This stone the common people thereby dwelling name Long Megge like as the rest her daughters And within that ring or circle are heapes of stones under which they say lye covered the bodies of men slaine And verily there is reason to thinke that this was a monument of some victory there atchieved for no man would deeme that they were erected in vaine From thence passeth Eden by Kirk-Oswald consecrated to Saint Oswald the possession in old time of that Sir Hugh Morvill who with his associates slew Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury and in memoriall of this fact the sword which hee then used was kept here a long time and so goeth on by Armanthwayte a Castle of the Skeltons by Corby Castle belonging to the worthy and ancient family of the Salkelds well advanced by marriage with the heire of Rosgill by Wetherall sometime a little Abbey or Cell which acknowledged the Abbey of Saint Mary in Yorke for her mother where within a rocke are to bee seene certaine little habitations or cabbins hewed hollow for a place of sure refuge in this dangerous countrey Thence by Warwic VIROSIDUM as I supposed where the sixt Cohort of the Nervians in old time held their station within the limit of that Wall against the Picts and Scots and there in the latter age was built a very strong bridge of stone at the charges of the Salkelds and Richmonds by Linstock castle also belonging to the Bishop of Carlile in the Barony of Crosby which Waldeof the sonne of Earle Gospatrick Lord of Allerdale granted unto the church of Carlile And now by this time Eden being ready to lodge himselfe in his owne arme of the sea taketh in two rivers at once namely Peterill Caud which keeping an equall distance asunder march along from the South and hold as it were a parallel pace just together By Peterill beside PETRIANAE which I spake of standeth Greistock a castle belonging not long since to an honorable house which derived their first descent from one Ranulph Fitz-Walter of which line William called de Greistock wedded Mary a daughter and one of the coheires of Sir Roger Merley Lord of Morpath and hee had a sonne named John who being childlesse by licence of King Edward the first conveighed his inheritance to Ralph Granthorpe the sonne of William and his Aunts sonne by the fathers side whose male progeny flourished a long time in honor with the title of Lord Greistock but about King Henry the seventh his dayes expired and came to an end and so the inheritance came by marriage unto the Barons of Dacre and the female heires generall of the last Baron Dacre were married unto Philip Earle of Arundell and Lord William Howard sonnes of Thomas Howard late Duke of Norfolke Upon Caud beside the coper mines neere unto Caudbeck standeth Highgate a castle of the Richmonds of ancient descent and a proper fine castle of the Bishops of Carlile called the Rose castle it seemeth also that
and Westward with one and an halfe the name of the place is now Whiteley Castle and for to testifie the antiquity thereof there remaineth this imperfect inscription with letters inserted one in another after a short and compendious manner of writing whereby wee learne that the third Cohort of the Nervians erected there a Temple unto the Emperour Antonine sonne of Severus IMP. CAES. Lucii Septimi Severi AraBICI ADIABENICI PARTHICI MAX. FIL. DIVI ANTONINI Pii Germanici SARMA NEP. DIVIANTONINI PII PRON. DIVI HADRIANI ABN DIVI TRAIANI PARTH ET DIVI NERVAE ADNEPOTI M. AURELIO ANTONINO PIO FEL AUG GERMANICO PONT MAX. TR. POT X IMP. COS. IIII. P. p. PRO PIETATE AEDE VOTO COMMUNI CURANTE LEGATO AUG PR COH III. NERVIO RVM G. R.POS Whereas therefore the third Cohort of the Nervii served in this place which Cohort the booke of Notices in a latter time placeth at ALIONE or as Antonine nameth it ALONE and the little river running underneath is named Alne if I should thinke this were ALONE it might seeme rather probable than true considering the injury of devouring time and the fury of enemies have long agoe outworne these matters out of all remembrance Albeit when the State of the Romane Empire decaied most in Britain this country had been most grievously harried and spoiled by the Scots and Picts yet it preserved and kept long the ancient and naturall inhabitants the Britans and late it was ere it became subject to the English Saxons But when againe the English Saxons state sore shaken by Danish warres ran to ruine it had peculiar Governors called Kings of Cumberland unto the yeere of our Lord 946. at what time as the Floure-gatherer of Westminster saith King Edmund by the helpe of Leoline Prince of South-wales wasted and spoiled all Cumberland and having put out the eyes of both the sonnes of Dunmail King of the same Province hee granted that kingdome unto Malcolme King of Scots to be holden of him that he might defend the North parts of England by land and sea from the inrodes and invasions of the common enemies Whereupon the eldest sons of the Kings of Scotland were for a while under the English Saxons and Danes both called the Prefects or Deputy Rulers of Cumberland But when England had yeelded it selfe into the hands of the Normans this part also became subject unto them and fell unto the lot of Ralph de Meschines whose eldest sonne Ranulph was Lord of Cumberland and partly in his mothers right and partly by his Princes favour together Earle also of Chester But King Stephen to purchase favour with the Scots restored it unto them againe that they should hold it of him and the Kings of England Howbeit K. Henry the second who succeeded after him perceiving that this over great liberality of Stephen was prejudiciall both to himself and his realme demanded againe of the Scot Northumberland Cumberland and Westmorland And the K. of Scots as Newbrigensis writeth wisely considering that the King of England had in those parts both the better right and also greater power although he might have pretended the oath which he was said to have made unto his grandfather David what time hee was knighted by him yet restored he the foresaid marches according to his demand fully and wholly and received of him againe the Earledome of Huntingdon which by ancient right appertained to him As for Earles of Cumberland there were none before the time of King Henry the eighth who created Henry Lord Clifford who derived his pedigree from the Lords Vipont the first Earle of Cumberland who of Margaret the daughter of Henry Percy Earle of Northumberland begat Henry the second Earle hee by his first wife daughter to Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk had issue Margaret Countesse of Derby and by a second wife the daughter of Lord Dacre of Gillesland two sonnes George and Francis George the third Earle renowned for sea-service armed with an able body to endure travaile and a valorous minde to undertake dangers died in the yeere 1605. leaving one onely daughter the Lady Anne now Countesse of Dorset But his brother Sir Francis Clifford succeeded in the Earledome a man whose ardent and honorable affection to vertue is answerable in all points to his honourable parentage As for the Wardens of the West-marches against Scotland in this County which were Noblemen of especiall trust I need to say nothing when as by the union of both kingdomes under one head that office is now determined This shire reckoneth beside chappels 58. Parish Churches VALLUM SIVE MURUS PICTICUS That is THE PICTS VVALL THrough the high part of Cumberland shooteth that most famous Wall in no case to be passed over in silence the limit of the Roman Province the Barbarian Rampier the Forefence and Enclosure for so the ancient writers termed it being called in Dion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a crosse Wall in Herodian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Trench or Fosse cast up by Antonine Cassiodore and others VALLUM that is the Rampier by Bede MURUS that is the Wall by the Britans Gual-Sever Gal-Sever Bal Val and Mur-Sever by the Scottish Scottishwaith by the English and those that dwell thereabout the Picts Wall or the Pehits Wall the Keepe Wall and simply by way of excellencie The Wall When the ambitious and valiant Romans finding by the guidance of God and assistance of vertue their successe in all their affaires above their wishes had enlarged their Empire every way so as that the very unwealdinesse thereof began now to be of it selfe fearefully suspected their Emperours thought it their best and safest policie to limit and containe the same within certaine bounds for in wisedome they saw That in all greatnesse there ought to be a meane like as the heaven in selfe reacheth not beyond the limited compasse and the seas are tossed to and fro within their owne precincts Now those limits or bounds according to the natures of the places were either naturall as the sea greater rivers mountaines wasts and desart grounds or artificiall as frontier-fenses namely trenches or dikes castles keeps or fortresses wards mounds and baricadoes by trees cut downe and plashed bankes rampiers and walls along which were planted garrisons of souldiers against the barbarous nations confining Whence it is that we read thus in the Novellae of Theodosius the Emperour Whatsoever lieth included within the power and regiment of the Romans is by the appointment and dispose of our Ancestors defended from the incursions of Barbarians with the rampier of a Limit Along these limits or borders souldiers lay garrisoned in time of peace within frontier-castles and cities but when there was any feare of waste and spoile from bordering nations some of them had their field-stations within the Barbarian ground for defence of the lands others made out-rodes into the enemies marches to discover how the enemies stirred yea and
to the Barons Dacre of Gillesland Nothing I have of any antiquity to say of this towne but that in the yeere of Christ 1215. it was set on fire by the inhabitants themselves in spitefull malice to King John From hence the river Wents-beck passeth by Bothall Castle and the Barony somtimes of Richard Berthram from whose posterity it was devolved unto the Barons of Ogle Upon the bank whereof I have thought this great while whether truly or upon a bare supposall I know not that in old time GLANOVENTA stood which was fortified by the Romans with a garrison of the first Cohort of the Morini for defence of the marches Which the very situation doth as it were perswade and the rivers name together with the signification of the same induceth me to thinke For it is seated within the raunge of the rampire or wall even where the booke of Notices placeth it the rivers name is Wants-beck and GLANOVENTA in the British tongue signifieth the shore or bank of Venta Whence also Glanon a city in France upon the sea-shore wherof Pomponius Mela hath made mention may seeme to have drawn that appellation Not farre hence to let passe little piles and towres of lesse account is to be seene neere unto the shore Withrington or Woderington in the English Saxon tongue of old time called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ancient Castle which gave the name unto the Withringtons Gentlemen of good birth and Knights whose valour in the warre hath beene from time to time remarkable Then the river Coquet falleth into the sea which springing among the rough and stony mountaines of Cheviot not farre from his head hath Billesdun upon it from whence sprang the ancient family of the Selbies and somewhat lower Southward Harbottle in the English Saxons tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The station of the Army whence the family of the Harbottles descended that in the ages aforegoing flourished A Castle it had in times past but in the yeere of our salvation 1314. the Scots razed it Close unto this standeth Halyston as one would say Holy stone where the report goeth that Paulinus in the primitive Church of the English nation baptized many thousands And at the verie mouth of Coquet Warkworth a proper faire Castle of the Percies standeth and defendeth the shore where there is a chappell wonderfully built out of a rocke hewen hollow and wrought without beames rafters or anie peeces of timber This Castle King Edward the third gave unto Henrie Percie together with the Mannour of Rochburie Afore time it had beene the Baronie of Roger Fitz-Richard by the gift of Henrie the second King of England who gave also unto his sonne Clavering in Essex whereof at the commandement of King Edward the first they assumed unto them the surname of Clavering leaving the ancient maner of taking their names from the forename or Christian name of the father for before that time they were surnamed according to the forename of the father as Robert Fitz Roger Roger Fitz Iohn c. Part of this inheritance the Nevils entred upon by Fine and Covenant who afterward were Earles of Westmorland and part of it a daughter named Eve inherited who was wedded to Sir Th. Ufford from whose posteritie it came hereditarily unto the Fienes Barons of Dacres But from the younger sonnes branched the Barons of Evers the Evers of Axholme and the Claverings of Kalaly in this Countie and others Hard unto this also lieth Morwick which may likewise boast of the Lords it had whose issue male had an end about the yeere of our Lord 1258. and so the inheritance passed over by the daughters unto the Lumleies Seimors Bulmers and Roscells The shore after this openeth it selfe to give passage unto the river ALAUNUS which being not yet bereft of that name whereby it was knowne unto Ptolomee is called short Alne Upon the bank whereof besides Twifford that is A double fourd where was holden a solemne Synod under King Egfrid and Eslington the habitation of the Collingwoods men renowned for their warlike exploits there sheweth also it selfe Alan-wic in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now commonly called Anwick a towne ennobled by the victorie of Englishmen wherein our ancestors shewed such valour and prowesse that they tooke William King of Scots and presented him prisoner unto King Henrie the second and fortified besides with a goodly castle which when Malcome the third King of the Scots had by long siege enforced to such extremitie that it was at the point now to bee yeelded up hee was slaine by a souldier that making semblance to deliver unto him the keyes of the Castle hanging at the head of a speare ranne him into the bodie with it And withall his sonne Edward whiles to revenge his fathers death he charged unadvisedly upon the enemie was so wounded that hee died thereof shortly after This was a Baronie sometimes belonging to the Vescies For King Henrie the second gave it unto Eustach Fitz-Iohn father to William Vesci to be held by the service of twelve knights Sir John Vescy of this race returning out of the sacred warre in the Holy-land was the first that brought with him into England the Friers Carmelites and built for them a Covent here in Holme a desart place not unlike to Mount Carmel in Syria William the last of the Vescies made Antonine Bec Bishop of Durham his feofie upon trust that he should deliver this Castle with all the lands lying thereto unto his base sonne the onely childe that he left behind him but the Bishop falsly conveied away from him the inheritance and for readie money sold it unto William Lord Percie since which time it hath evermore belonged to the Percies From hence the shore making divers angles and points passeth by Dunstaburge a Castle belonging to the Duchie of Lancaster which some have untruely supposed to be Bebhan for Bebhane standeth higher and in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is now called Bamborrow Our Bede where hee reports that this Castle was besieged and burnt by Penda King of the Mercians writeth that Queene Bebba gave it this name but the Floure-gatherer recordeth that Ida the first King of Northumberland built it which hee sensed first with great stakes or piles of timber and afterward with a wall But take here with you the description thereof out of Roger Hoveden Bebba saith hee is a most strong Citie not verie great but containing the space of two or three fields having into it one hollow entrance and the same raised on high with staires after a wonderfull manner and on the pitch of an hill a very faire Church and Westward on the top thereof there is a well set out with marvailous workmanship sweet to drink of and most pure to see to But in our age it is counted a castle rather than a city yet so
which Scots at a low water when the tide was past used to passe over the river and fall to boot-haling But they would in no wise take Aeneas with them although hee intreated them very instantly no nor any woman albeit amongst them there were many both young maids and wives passing faire For they are perswaded verily that the enemies will doe them no hurt as who reckon whoredome no hurt nor evill at all So Aeneas remaines there alone with two servants and his Guide in company of an hundred women who sitting round in a ring with a good fire in the mids before them fell to hitchell and dresse hemp sate up all night without sleep and had a great deale of talk with his Interpreter When the night was far spent what with barking of dogs and gaggling of geese a mighty noise and outcry was made then all the women slipped forth divers waies his Guide also made shift to be gone and all was of an hurry as if the enemies had beene come But Aeneas thought it his best course to expect the event within his bed-chamber and that was a stable for feare lest if he had runne forth of dores knowing not the way he should become a prey and booty to him that should first meet him But see streightwaies the women returned with the Interpreter bring word all was well and that they were friends and not enemies were come thither There have been in this countrey certaine petty nations called Scovenburgenses and Fisburgingi but to point out precisely the very place of their abode in so great obscurity passeth my skill Neither can I define whether they were Danes or English But Florentius of Worcester published by the right honourable Lord William Howard writeth That when there was an assembly or Parliament holden at Oxenford Sigeferth and Morcar the worthier mightier ministers of the Scovenburgenses were secretly made away by Edrike Streona Also that Prince Edmund against his fathers will married Alfrith the wife of Sigefrith and having made a journey to the Fisburgings invaded Sigeferth his land and brought his people in subjection to him But let others inquire farther into these matters This region of North-humberland being brought under the English Saxons dominion by Osca Hengists brother and by his sonne Jebusa had first officiall governors under the fealty of the Kings of Kent After that when the kingdome of the Bernicii whom the Britans call Guir a Brinaich as it were Mountainers was erected that which reached from Tees to the Scottish Frith was the best part thereof and subject to the Kings of North-humberland who having finished their period whatsoever lay beyond Twede became Scottish and was counted Scotland Then Egbert King of the West-Saxons laied it to his owne kingdome when it was yeelded up to him Afterwards King Aelfred permitted the Danes to possesse it whom Athelstane some few yeeres after dispossessed and drave out yet after this the people set up Eilrick the Dane for their king whom King Ealdred forthwith displaced and expelled From which time forward this countrey had no more Kings over it but such as governed it were tearmed Earles Amongst whom these are reckoned up in order successively in our Histories Osulfe Oslake Edulph Walde of the elder Uchtred Adulph Alred Siward Tostie Edwin Morcar Osculph and that right valiant Siward who as he lived in armes so would he dye also armed Then his Earldome and these parts were given unto Tostie the brother of Earle Harold but the Earldomes of Northampton and Huntingdon with other lands of his were assigned to the noble Earle Walde of his sonne and heire These words of Ingulphus have I put downe because some deny that hee was Earle of Huntingdon And now will I adde moreover to the rest that which I have read in an old manuscript memoriall of this matter in the Librarie of Iohn Stow a right honest Citizen and diligent Antiquarie of the City of London Copso being made Earle of Northumberland by the gift of King William Conquerour expelled Osculph who notwithstanding within a few daies after slew him Then Osculph being runne through with a Javelin by a thiefe ended his life After this Gospatricke purchased the Earldome of the Conquerour who not long after deposed him from that honour and then succeeded after him Walde of Siwards sonne His fortune was to lose his head and in his roome was placed Walcher Bishop of Durham who like as Robert Comin his successour was slaine in a tumultuous commotion of the common people Afterwards Robert Mowbray attained to the same honour which hee soone lost through his owne perfidious treacherie when he devised to deprive King William Rufus of his royall estate and to advance Stephen Earle of Albemarle a sonne to the Conquerors sister thereunto Then K. Stephen made Henrie the sonne of David King of Scotland as wee read in the Poly Chronicon of Durham Earle of Northumberland whose sonne also William that afterwards was King of Scots writ himselfe William de Warrenna Earle of Northumberland for his mother was descended out of the familie of the Earles of Warren as appeareth out of the booke of Brinkburne Abbey After some few yeeres King Richard the first passed away this Earldome for a summe of money unto Hugh Pudsey Bishop of Durham for tearm of his life scoffing that he had made a young Earle of an old Bishop But when the said King was imprisoned by the Emperour in his returne out of the Holy-land and Hugh for his deliverie had contributed only 2000. pounds of silver which the King took not well at his hands because he was deemed to have performed but a little whom hee understood to have raised and gotten together a huge masse of money under pretence of his ransome and release he devested and deprived him of his Earldome After which time the title of the Barledome of Northumberland lay discontinued about an hundred and fourescore yeeres But at this day the family of the Percies enjoyeth the same which family being descended from the Earles of Brabant inherited together with the surname of Percie the possessions also of Percie ever since that Joscelin of Lovaine younger sonne of Godfrey Duke of Brabant the true issue of the Emperour Charles the Great by Gerberga the daughter of Charles a younger brother to Lothar the last King of France of the line of Charles tooke to wife Agnes the daughter and sole heire of William Percie of which William the great grandfather William Percie comming into England with King William the Conquerour was rewarded by him for his service with lands in Tatcaster Linton Normanby and other places Between this Agnes and Joscelin it was covenanted that hee should assume the name of Percies and retaine still unto him the ancient Armes of Brabant viz. A Lion azure which the Brabanters afterwards changed in a shield Or. The first Earle of Northhumberland out of this family was Henrie Percie begotten of Marie daughter
was Robert Boide whose wife and Earldome together when Boide was banished the realme James L. Hamilton as I said erewhile obtained and his posteritie enjoyed the same Earldome saving that of late Sir James Steward appointed guardian to James Hamilton Earle of Arran when hee was so defective in understanding that he could not manage his estate tooke this title in the right of being guardian Neere unto this standeth Buthe so called of a little religious Cell which Brendanus founded for so is a little Cell tearmed in the Scottish tongue In this Iland is Rothsay Castle which giveth the title of Dukedome unto the King of Scots eldest sonne who is borne Prince of Scotland Duke of Rothsay and Seneschall of Scotland since time that King Robert the third invested Robert his eldest sonne Duke of Rothsay the first in Scotland that ever was created Duke With which title also Queene Marie honoured Henrie Lord Darly before she tooke him to be her husband Then shew themselves Hellan sometimes called Hellan Leneow that it as Iohn Fordon interpreteth it The Saints Ilands and Hellan Tinoc that is The Swines Iland with a great number of other Ilands of lesse note and reckoning in the same Forth DAMNII CLUYDSDALE c. BEyond the NOVANTES more inward by the river Glotta or Cluyd and farther still even to the verie East sea dwelt in times past the DAMNII in those countries if I have any judgement for in things so farre remote from our remembrance and in so thick a mist of obscuritie who can speake of certaintie which are now callled Cluydsdale the Baronie of Renfraw Lennox Strivelinshire Menteth and Fife Neere unto the head of Cluyd in Crawford Moore among the wilde wasts certaine husbandmen of the countrey after great store of violent raine happened to finde certaine small peeces like scrapings of gold which have this long time given great hope of much riches but most of all in our dayes since that Sir Beamis Bulmer undertooke with great endevour to finde out here a Mine of gold Certes there is Azur gotten forth everie day without any paines in manner at all Now the Castle of Crawford together with the title of the Earle of Crawford was by Robert the second King of Scots given unto Sir James Lindesey who by a single combate performed with Baron Welles an Englishman won high commendation for his valour These Lindeseyes have deserved passing well of their country and are of ancient nobilitie ever since that Sir William Lindesey married one of the heires of William of Lancaster Lord of Kandale in England whose neice in the third degree of lineall descent was married into the most honourable family of Coucy in France Cluyd after hee hath from his spring head with much struggling got out Northward by Baron Somervils house receiveth unto him from out of the West the river Duglasse or Douglasse so called of a blackish or greenish water that it hath which river communicateth his name both to have the vale through which hee runneth called Douglasdale and also to Douglasse castle therein which name that castle likewise hath imparted unto the family of the Douglasses Which I assure you is very ancient but most famous ever since that Sir James Douglasse stucke verie close at all times as a most fast friend unto King Robert Brus and was readie alwaies with singular courage resolution and wisdome to assist him claiming the kingdome in most troublesome and dangerous times and whom the said King Robert charged at his death to carrie his heart to Jerusalem that hee might bee discharged of his vow made to goe to the Holy-land In memoriall whereof the Douglasses have inserted in their Coat of Armes a mans heart From which time this family grew up to that power and greatnesse and namely after that King David the second had created William Earle of Douglasse that they after a sort awed the Kings themselves For at one time well neere there were sixe Earles of them namely of this Douglasse of Angus of Ormund of Wigton of Murray and of Morton among whom the Earle of Wigton through his martiall prowesse and desert obtained at the hands of Charles the seventh king of France the title of Duke of Tourain and left the same to two Earles of Douglasse his heires after him Above the confluence of Douglasse and Cluyd is Lanric the hereditarie Sheriffdom of the Hamiltons who for their name are beholden unto Hamilton castle which standeth somewhat higher upon Cluyds banke in a fruitfull and passing pleasant place but they referre their originall as they have a tradition to a certaine Englishman surnamed Hampton who having taken part with Robert Brus received from him faire lands in this tract Much increase of their wealth and estate came by the bounteous hand of King James the third who bestowed in marriage upon Sir James Hamilton his own eldest sister whom he had taken perforce from the Lord Boide her husband together with the Earledome of Arran but of honours and dignities by the States of the kingdome who after the death of King James the fifth ordained James Hamilton grandsonne to the former James Regent of Scotland whom Henrie also the second King of France advanced to be Duke of Chasteau Herald in Poictou as also by King James the sixth who honoured his son John with the title of Marquesse of Hamilton which honourable title was then first brought into Scotland The river Glotta or Cluyd runneth from Hamilton by Bothwell which glorieth in the Earles thereof namely John Ramsey whose greatnesse with King James the third was excessive but pernicious both to himselfe and the King and the Hepburns whom I have already spoken of so streight forward with a readie stream through Glascow in ancient times past a Bishops seat but discontinued a great while untill that King William restored it up againe but now it is an Archbishops See and an Universitie which Bishop Turnbull after hee had in a pious and religious intent built a colledge in the yeere 1554. first founded This Glascow is the most famous town of merchandise in this tract for pleasant site and apple trees and other like fruit trees much commended having also a verie faire bridge supported with eight arches Of which towne I. Ionstoun thus versified Non te Pontificum luxus non Insula tantùm Ornavit diri quae tibi caussa mali Glottiadae quantùm decorant te Glascua Musae Quae celsum attollunt clara sub astra caput GLOTTA decus rerum piscosis nobilis undis Finitimi recreat jugera laeta soli Ast Glottae decus vicinis gloria terris Glascua foe cundat flumine cuncta suo The sumptuous port of Bishops great hath not adorn'd thee so Nor mitre rich that hath beene cause of thine accursed woe As Cluyds Muses grace thee now O Glascow towne for why They make thee beare thy head aloft up to the starrie skie Cluyd the beautie of the
tongue the Isle of Masses hereby may bee remembred when as it was a most famous Abbey of the order of Saint Augustin founded by the Earle of Strathern about the yeere 1200. When Ern hath joined his water with Tau in one streame so that Tau is now become more spatious hee looketh up to Aberneth seated upon his banke the royall seat in old time of the Picts and a well peopled Citie which as we read in an ancient fragment Nectane King of the Picts gave unto God and S. Brigide untill the day of Doom together with the bounds thereof which lye from a stone in Abertrent unto a stone nigh to Carfull that is Loghfoll and from thence as farre as to Ethan But long after it became the possession of the Douglasses Earles of Anguse who are called Lords of Aberneth and there some of them lye enterred The first Earle of Strathern that I read of was Malisse who in the time of King Henrie the third of England married one of the heires of Robert Muschamp a potent Baron of England Long afterward Robert Stewart in the yeere 1380. Then David a younger sonne of King Robert the second whose onely daughter given in marriage to Patricke Graham begat Mailise or Melisse Graham from whom King James the first tooke away the Earledome as escheated after that he understood out of the Records of the Kingdome that it was given unto his mothers grandfather and the heires males of his bodie This territorie as also that of Menteith adjoining the Barons Dromund governe hereditarily by Seneschals authority as their Stewarties Menteith hath the name of Teith a river which also they call Taich and thereof this little province they tearme in Latin Taichia upon the banke of which lieth the Bishopricke of Dunblan which King David the first of that name erected At Kirkbird that is Saint Brigids Church the Earles of Menteith have their principall house or Honour as also the Earles of Montrosse comming from the same stocke at Kin-Kardin not farre off This Menteith reacheth as I have heard unto the mountaines that enclose the East side of the Logh or Lake Lomund The ancient Earles of Menteith were of the family of Cumen which in times past being the most spred mightiest house of all Scotland was ruinated with the over-weight and sway thereof but the latter Earles were of the Grahams line ever since that Sir Mailise Graham attained to the honour of an Earle ARGATHELIA OR ARGILE BEyond the Lake Lomund and the West part of Lennox there spreadeth it selfe neere unto Dunbriton Forth the large countrey called Argathelia Argadia in Latin but commonly ARGILE more truely Argathel and Ar-Gwithil that is Neere unto the Irish or as old writings have it The edge or border of Ireland For it lyeth toward Ireland the inhabitants whereof the Britans tearme Gwithil and Gaothel The countrey runneth out in length and breadth all mangled with fishfull pooles and in some places with rising mountaines very commodious for feeding of cattell in which also there range up and downe wilde kine and red Deere but along the shore it is more unpleasant in sight what with rockes and what with blackish barraine mountaines In this part as Bede writeth Britain received after the Britans and Picts a third nation of Scots in that countrey where the Picts inhabited who comming out of Ireland under the leading of Reuda either through friendship or by dint of sword planted here their seat amongst them which they still hold Of which their leader they are to this very day called Dalreudini for in their language Dal signifieth a part And a little after Ireland saith hee is the proper Countrey of the Scots for being departed out of it they added unto the Britans and Picts a third nation in Britaine And there is a very great Bay or arme of the sea that in old time severed the nation of the Britans from the Picts which from the West breaketh a great way into the land where standeth the strongest Citie of all the Britans even to this day called Alchith In the North part of which Bay the Scots aforesaid when they came got themselves a place to inhabite Of that name Dalreudin no remaines at all to my knowledge are now extant neither finde wee any thing thereof in Writers unlesse it bee the same that Dalrieta For in an old Pamphlet touching the division of Albanie wee read of one Kinnadie who for certaine was a King of Scots and subdued the Picts these very words Kinnadie two yeeres before hee came into Pictavia for so it calleth the countrey of the Picts entred upon the Kingdome of Dalrieta Also in an historie of later time there is mention made of Dalrea in some place of this tract where King Robert Brus fought a field unfortunately That Justice should be ministred unto this Province by Justices Itinerant at Perth whensoever it pleased the King King James the fourth by authoritie of the States of the Kingdome enacted a law But the Earles themselves have in some cases their roialties as being men of very great command and authoritie followed with a mightie traine of retainers and dependants who derive their race from the ancient Princes and Potentates of Argile by an infinite descent of Ancestours and from their castle Cambell tooke their surname but the honour and title of Earle was given unto them by King James the second who as it is recorded invested Colin Lord Cambell Earle of Argile in regard of his owne vertue and the worth of his family Whose heires and successours standing in the gracious favour of the Kings have bin Lords of Lorn and a good while Generall Justices of the Kingdome of Scotland or as they use to speake Iustices ordained in Generall and Great Masters of the Kings royall household CANTIRE LOgh Fin a lake breeding such store of herrings at a certaine due season as it is wonderfull severeth Argile from a Promontorie which for thirtie miles together growing still toward a sharpe point thrusteth it selfe forth with so great a desire toward Ireland betwixt which and it there is a narrow sea scarce thirteene miles over as if it would conjoine it selfe Ptolomee termeth this the Promontorie EPIDIORUM betweene which name and the Islands EBUDAE lying over against it there is in my conceit some affinitie At this day it is called in the Irish tongue which they speake in all this tract CAN-TYRE that is The lands Head inhabited by the Mac-Conells a family that here swayeth much howbeit at the pleasure and dispose of the Earle of Argile yea and otherwhiles they make out their light pinnaces and gallies for Ireland to raise booties and pillage who also hold in possession those little provinces of Ireland which they call Glines and Rowts This Promontorie lyeth annexed to Knapdale by so thin a necke as being scarce a mile broad and the same all sandie that the mariners finde it the neerer
extended it selfe in old time farre and wide everie way in these parts As for the places herein they are of no great account but the Earles thereof are very memorable Thomas a younger sonne of Rolland of Galloway was in his wives right Earle of Athol whose sonne Patricke was by the Bissets his concurrents murdered in feud at Hadington in his bed-chamber and forthwith the whole house wherein hee lodged burnt that it might be supposed he perished by casualtie of fire In the Earldome there succeeded David Hastings who had married the aunt by the mothers side of Patricke whose sonne that David surnamed of Strathbogie may seeme to be who a little after in the reigne of Henrie the third King of England being Earle of Athol married one of the daughters and heires of Richard base sonne to John King of England and had with her a verie goodly inheritance in England She bare unto him two sonnes John Earle of Athol who being of a variable disposition and untrustie was hanged up aloft on a gallowes fiftie foot high and David Earle of Athol unto whom by marriage with one of the daughters and heires of John Comin of Badzenoth by one of the heires of Aumar de Valence Earle of Penbroch there fell great lands and possessions His sonne David who under King Edward the second was otherwhiles amongst English Earles summoned to the Parliaments in England and under King Edward Balliol made Lord Lievtenant Generall of Scotland was vanquished by the valerous prowesse of Andrew de Murray and slaine in battaile within the Forrest of Kelblen in the yeere of our Lord 1335. And his sonne David left two young daughters only Elizabeth wedded unto Sir Thomas Percie from whom the Barons of Burrough are descended and Philip married to Sir Thomas Halsham an English Knight Then fell the title of Athol unto that Walter Stewart sonne to King Robert the second who cruelly murdered James the first King of Scotland and for this execrable crueltie suffered most condigne punishment accordingly in so much as Aeneas Sylvius Embassadour at that time in Scotland from Pope Eugenius the fourth gave out this speech That hee could not tell whether hee should give them greater commendations that revenged the Kings death or brand them with sharper censure of condemnation that distained themselves with so hainous a parricide After some few yeeres passed betweene this honour was granted unto John Stewart of the family of Lorne the sonne of James surnamed The Black Knight by Joan the widow of King James the first daughter to John Earle of Somerset and Niece to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster whose posteritie at this day enjoy the same Tau bearing now a bigger streame by receiving Almund unto him holdeth on his course to Dunkelden adorned by King David with an Episcopall See Most writers grounding upon the signification of that word suppose it to be a towne of the Caledonians and interpret it The Mount or hill of Hazeles as who would have that name given unto it of the Hazel trees in the wood Caledonia From hence the Tau goeth forward by the carkasse of Berth a little desolate Citie remembring well enough what a great losse and calamitie hee brought upon it in times past when with an extraordinarie swelling flood hee surrounded all the fields layed the goodly standing corne along on the ground and carried headlong away with him this poore Citie with the Kings childe and infant in his cradle and the inhabitants therein In steed whereof in a more commodious place King William builded Perth which straightwaies became so wealthy that Necham who lived in that age versified of it in this manner Transis ample Tai per rura per oppida per Perth Regnum sustentant istius urbis opes By villages by townes by Perth thou runn'st great Tay amaine The riches of this Citie Perth doth all the realme sustaine But the posteritie ensuing called it of a Church founded in honour of Saint John Saint Iohns towne and the English whiles the warres were hot betweene the Bruses and the Balliols fortified it with great bulwarks which the Scots afterwards for the most part overthrew and dismantled it themselves Howbeit it is a proper pretie Citie pleasantly seated betweene two Greenes and for all that some of the Churches be destroyed yet a goodly shew it maketh ranged and set out in such an uniforme maner that in everie severall street almost there dwell severall artificers by themselves and the river Tau bringeth up with the tide sea commodities by lighters whereupon J. Jonston so often now by me cited writeth thus PERTHUM Propter aquas Tai liquidas amoena vineta Obtinet in medio regna superba solo Nobilium quondam regum clarissima sedes Pulchra situ pinguis germine dives agri Finitimis dat jura locis moremque modumque Huic dare laus illis haec meruisse dari Sola inter patrias incincta est moenibus urbes Hostibus assiduis ne vaga praeda foret Quanta virûm virtus dextrae quae praemia nôrunt Cimber Saxo ferox genus Hectoridum Felix laude novâ felix quoque laude vetustâ Perge recens priscum perpetuare decus PERTH Neere to the waters cleere of Tay and pleasant plaines all greene In middle ground betweene them stands Perth proudly like a Queene Of noble Kings the stately seat and palace once it was Faire for the site and rich with all for spring of corne and grasse To neighbour places all it doth lawes customes fashions give Her praise to give theirs to deserve the same for to receive Of all the Cities in these parts walled alone is she Lest she to foes continuall a scambling prey might be What Knights she bred and what rewards they won to knighthood due Danes Saxons fierce bold Britans eke the Trojans off-spring knew Happie for praises old happie for praises new of late New as thou art thine honour old strive to perpetuate And now of late King James the sixth hath erected it to the title of an Earldome having created James Baron Dromund Earle of Perth Unto Perth these places are neere neighbours Methven which Margaret an English Ladie widow unto King James the fourth purchased with readie money for her third husband Henrie Steward descended of the royall blood and for his heires and withall obtained of her sonne King James the fifth for him the dignitie of a Baron More beneath is Rethuen a castle of the Rethuens whose name is of damned memorie considering that the three states of the kingdome hath ordained that whosoever were of that name should forgoe the same and take unto them a new after that the Rethuens brethren in a most cursed and horrible conspiracie had complotted to murder their soveraigne King James the sixth who had created William their father Earle of Gourie and afterward beheaded him being lawfully convicted when he would insolently prescribe lawes to his soveraigne But of men
time and from out of them three hundred yeeres agoe and thirtie Robert Stewart by Marjorie his mother daughter to King Robert Brus obtained the Kingdome of Scotland and now lately James Stewart of that name the sixth King of Scots by Margaret his great grandmother daughter to King Henrie the seventh the divine power of that most high and almightie Ruler of the world so disposing is ascended with the generall applause of all nations to the height of Monarchicall majestie over all Britaine and the Isles adjacent ROSSIA THe Province ROSSE so called by an old Scottish word which some interpret to be a Promontorie others a Biland was inhabited by the people named CANTAE which terme in effect implieth as much in the time of Ptolomee This extendeth it selfe so wide and large that it reacheth from the one sea to the other What way it beareth upon the Vergivian or Western Ocean by reason of huge swelling mountaines advancing their heads aloft and many woods among them it is full of stagges roe buckes fallow Deere and wilde foule but where it butteth upon the German sea it is more lovely bedect with corne fields and pastures and withall much more civill In the very first entrance into it Ardmanoch no small territorie whereof the second sonnes of the Kings of Scotland beare the title riseth up with high mountaines that are most trustie preservers of snow As touching their height some have reported unto me strange wonders and yet the ancient Geometers have written that neither the depth of sea nor height of hills exceed by the plumbe line ten stadia that is one mile and a quarter Which notwithstanding they that have beheld Tenariffe amongst the Canarie Ilands which is fifteene leagues high and sailed withall the Ocean neere unto them will in no wise admit for truth In this part standeth Lovet Castle and the Baronie of the worthy family of the Frasers whom for their singular good service for the Scottish kingdome King James the second accepted into the ranke of Barons and whom the Clan-Ranalds a most bloodie generation in a quarrell and braule between them had wholly destroied every mothers sonne but that by the providence of God fourescore of the principall persons of this family left their wives at home all great with child who being delivered of so many sonnes renewed the house and multiplied the name againe But at Nesse mouth there flourished sometimes Chanonrie so called of a rich Colledge of Chanons whiles the Ecclesiasticall state stood in prosperitie in which there is erected a See for the Bishop of Rosse Hard by is placed Cromartie where Urqhuart a Gentleman of noble birth by hereditarie right from his ancestours ministreth justice as Sheriffe to this Sheriffdome and this is so commodious and safe an harbour for any fleet be it never so great that both Sailers and Geographers name it PORTUS-SALUTIS that is The Haven of safetie Above it is LITTUS ALTUM whereof Ptolomee maketh mention called now as it seemeth Tarbarth for there indeed the shore riseth to a great height enclosed on the one side with Cromer a most secure and safe haven and on the other with CELNIUS now Killian the river and thus much of the places toward the East Ocean Into the west sea the river LONGUS mentioned in Ptolomee at this day named Lough Longus runneth then the CERONES anciently dwelt where now is Assinshire a countrey much mangled with many inlets and armes of the sea in bosoming it selfe with manifold commodities As for the Earls of Rosse it is full of difficulty to set them down in order successively out of writers About foure hundred yeers past we read that Ferqhuard flourished enjoied this title But for default of issue male it came by a daughter to Walter Lesley who for his noble feats of armes courageously atchieved under Lewis the Emperour was worthily named The Noble Knight he begat Alexander Earle of Rosse and a daughter married unto Donald Lord of the Islands Hebrides This Alexander had issue one onely daughter who made over by her deed all her owne title and right unto Robert Duke of Albany whereat the said Donald of the Islands being highly enchafed and repining stiled himselfe in the reigne of James the third King of the Islands and Earle of Rosse having with fire and sword laied waste his native country far neere At length the said K. James the third by authoritie of Parliament in the yeere 1476. annexed the Earldome of Rosse to the crowne so as it might not be lawfull for his successours to alienate by any meanes from the crowne either the Earldome it selfe or any parcell thereof or by any device to grant the same unto any person save onely to the Kings second sonnes lawfully borne whence it is that Charles the Kings second sonne Duke of York at this day holdeth an enjoieth the title of Earle of Rosse SUTHERLAND BEyond Rosse Sutherland looketh toward the East Ocean a land more meet to breed cattell than to beare corne wherein there be hills of white marble a wonderfull thing in this so cold a climate but of no use almost considering excesse in building and that vain ostentation of riches is not yet reached to these remote regions Here is Dunrobin a castle of very great name the principall seat of the ancient Earles of Sutherland descended if I be not deceived out of the family of Murray Among whom one William under King Robert Brus is most famous who married the sister of the whole blood to K. David and had by her a son whom the said David declared heire apparant of the crown and compelled his Nobles to sweare unto him alleageance but he within a little after departed without issue and the Earldome in the end came by a daughter and heire hereditarily unto A. Gordon one of the line of the Earles of Huntly CATHANES HIgher lieth CATHANES butting full upon the said East sea bending inward with a number of creakes and compasses which the waves as it were indent In which dwelt in Ptolomees time the CATINI but written falsly in some copies CARINI among whom the selfe same Ptolomee placeth the river Ila which may seem to be the Wifle at this day The inhabitants of this province raised their greatest gaine and revenues by grazing and raising of cattell and by fishing The chiefe castle therein is called Girnego in which the Earls of Catnesse for the most part make their abode The Bishops sea is in Dornock a little meane town otherwise where also King James the fourth appointed the Sheriffe of Catnesse to reside or else at Wik as occasions should require for the administration of justice The Earles of Catnesse in ancient times were also Earles of the Orcades but at last they became distinct and by the eldest daughter of one Malise given in marriage to William Seincler the Kings Pantler his heires successively came to be Earls of Catnesse
sitten since Wina whom the said Kenelwalch ordained the first Bishop there Many Bishops some renowned for their wealth and honourable port and some for holinesse of life But among other Saint Swithin continueth yet of greatest fame not so much for his sanctitie as for the raine which usually falleth about the Feast of his translation in Iuly by reason the Sunne then Cosmically with Praesepe and Aselli noted by ancient writers to be rainie constellations and not for his weeping or other weeping Saints Margaret the Virgine and Mary Magdalen whose feasts are shortly after as some superstitiously-credulous have believed This by the way pardon me I pray you for I digresse licentiously Thus Bishops of Winchester have beene anciently by a certaine peculiar prerogative that they have Chancellours to the Archbishop of Canterbury and for long time now Prelates to the order of the Garter and they have from time to time to their great cost reedified the Church and by name Edington and Walkelin but Wickham especially who built all the West part thereof downe from the quire after a new kind of worke I assure you most sumptuously In the midst of which building is to be seene his owne tombe of decent modestie betweene two pillars And these Bishops have ever and anon consecrated it to new Patrons and Saints as to Saint Amphibalus Saint Peter Saint Swithin and last of all to the holy Trinitie by which name it is knowne at this day The English Saxons also had this Church in great honour for the sepulture of certaine Saints and Kings there whose bones Richard Fox the Bishop gathered and shrining them in certaine little gilded coffers placed them orderly with their severall Inscriptions in the top of that wall which encloseth the upper part of the quire and they called it in times past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The old Minster for difference from another more lately built which was named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The new Minster which Elfred founded and for the building of houses of office belonging to the same purchase of the Bishop a plot of ground and for every foot of it paid him downe a marke after the publike weight This monasterie as also that other the older was built for married Priests who afterwards upon I know not what miracle of a Crosse that spoke and disliked their marriage were thrust out by Dunstane Archbishop of Canterbury and Monkes put in their place The walls of these two monasteries stood so neere and close together that the voices of those that sung in the one troubled the chaunting of the other whereupon there arose grudge and heart-burning betweene these Monkes which afterwards brake out into open enmities By occasion whereof and because at this new monasterie there gathered and stood much water which from the Westerne gate came downe thither along the current of the streets and cast forth from it an unwholsome aire the Minster Church two hundred yeares after the first foundation of it was removed into the Suburbs of the citie on the North part which they call Hide Where by the permission of King Henry the First the Monks built a most stately and beautifull monasterie which a few yeares after by the craftie practice of Henrie de Blois Bishoppe of Winchester as the private historie of this place witnesseth was pitiously burnt In which fire that Crosse also was consumed which Canutus the Dane gave and upon which as old writings beare record he bestowed as much as his owne yeares revenewes of all England came unto The monasterie neverthelesse was raised up againe and grew by little and little to wonderfull greatnesse as the very ruines thereof even at this day doe shew untill that generall subversion and finall period of our monasteries For then was this monasterie demolished and into that other of the holy Trinitie which is the Cathedrall Church when the monkes were thrust out were brought in their stead a Deane twelve Prebendaries and there placed At the East side of this Cathedrall Church standeth the Bishops palace called Wolvesey a right goodly thing and sumptuous which being towred and compassed almost round with the streame of a prety river reacheth even to the Citie walls and in the South-suburbes just over against it beholdeth a faire Colledge which William Wickham Bishop of this See the greatest father and Patron of all Englishmen of good literature and whose praise for ever to the worlds end will continue built for a Schoole and thereto dedicated it out of which both for Church and Common-wealth there riseth a most plentiful increase of right learned men For in this Colledge one warden ten fellowes two Schoole-masters and threescore and ten schollers with divers others are plentifully maintained There have beene also in this Citie other faire and goodly buildings for very many were here consecrated to religion which I list not now to recount since time and avarice hath made an end of them Onely that Nunnery or monasterie of vailed Virgins which Elfwida the wife of King Elfred founded I will not overpasse seeing it was a most famous thing as the remainder of it now doth shew and for that out of it King Henrie the First tooke to wife Mawde the daughter of Malcolne King of Scots by whom the Royall bloud of the ancient Kings of England became united to the Normans and he therefore wonne much love of the English nation For neiphew shee was in the second degree of descent unto Edmund Iron-side by his sonne Edward the Banished A woman as adorned with all other vertues meet for a Queene so especially inflamed with an incredible love of true pietie and godlinesse Whereupon was this Tetrastich made in her commendation Prospera non laetam fecêre nec asperae tristem Aspera risus ei prospera terror erant Non decor effecit fragilem non sceptra superbam Sola potens humilis sola pudica decens No prosp'rous state did make her glad Nor adverse chances made her sad If fortune frown'd she then did smile If fortune frown'd she feard the while If beauty tempted she yet said nay No pride she tooke in scepters sway Shee onely high her selfe debas'd A lady onely faire and chast Concerning Sir Guy of Warwick of whom there goe so many prety tales who in single fight overcame here that Danish giant and Golias Colbrand and of Waltheof Earle of Huntingdon that was here beheaded where afterwards stood Saint Giles chappell as also of that excellent Hospital of Saint Crosse there adjoyning founded by Henry of Blois bother to King Stephen and Bishop of this City and augmented by Henry Beauford Cardinall I need not to speake seeing every man may read of them in the common Chronicles As touching the Earles of Winchester to say nothing of Clyto the Saxon whom the Normans deprived of his ancient honour King Iohn created Saier Quincy Earle of Winchester who used for his armes a military belt
that the place tooke that name of later time by farre from Guy Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke and certaine it is that Richard Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke built Saint Margarets Chappell heere and erected a mighty and giantlike statue of stone resembling the said Guy Avon now runneth downe from Warwicke with a fuller streame by Charle-cot the habitation of the renowned ancient family of the Lucies knights which place long agoe descended hereditarily to them from the Charlecots who upon a pious and devout minde founded a religious House at Thellisford for entertainment of poore folke and Pilgrims For that little River was called Thelley which by Compton Murdacke the possession sometime of the Murdackes and now of the Vernaies Knights and by this Thellisford goeth into Avon which within a while runneth hard by Stratford a proper little mercate towne beholden for all the beauty that it hath to two men there bred and brought up namely John of Stratford Archbishop of Canterbury who built the Church and Sir Hugh Clopton Major of London who over Avon made a stone Bridge supported with foureteene Arches not without exceeding great expenses This Hugh was a younger brother out of that ancient family which from Clopton a Manour adjoyning borrowed this sirname since the time that Walter de Cocksfeld called Knight Mareschall setled and planted both himselfe and his successours at Clopton The inheritance of these Cloptons is in our time descended to two sisters coheires the one of which is married to Sir George Carew knight Vice chamberlaine to our most gracious Lady Queen Anne whom King James hath entituled Baron Carew of Clopton and whom I am the more willing to name with honour in this respect if there were none other for that hee is a most affectionate lover of venerable antiquity Neither seeth Avon any other memorable thing upon his bankes but Bitford a Mercate Towne and some Country Villages being now ready to enter into Worcester-shire Now let us enter into the Woodland which beyond the River Avon spreadeth it selfe Northward much larger in compasse than the Feldon and is for the most part thicke set with Woods and yet not without pastures corne fields and sundry mines of Iron This part as it is at this day called Woodland so also it was in old time knowne by a more ancient name Arden but in the selfesame sense and signification as I thinke For it seemeth that Arden among the ancient Britans and Gaules signified a Wood considering that we see a very great Wood in France named ARDEN a Towne in Flanders hard by another Wood called Ardenburg and that famous Wood or Forest in England by a clipped word likewise cleped DEN to say nothing of that DIANA which in the ancient inscriptions of Gaule is sirnamed ARDVVENA and ARDOINA that is if I doe not mis-conceive Of the Wood and was the same Diana which in the inscriptions of Italy went under the name of NEMORENSIS Of this Forest Turkill of Arden who flourished heere in all honour under King Henry the First tooke his name and his offspring which was of great worship and reputation spred very much over all England for many yeeres successively ensuing In the West side of this Country the River Arrow maketh haste to joyne himselfe in society with Avon by Studly Castle belonging sometime to John the sonne of Corbutio But whether this River Arrow tooke name of swiftnesse as Tigris in Mesopotamia for Arrow with us like as Tigris among the Persians betokeneth a shaft or contrariwise of the still streame and slow course which Ar in the old French and British Tongue implied let other men looke who have better observed the nature of this River Upon this River standeth Coughton the principall mansion house of the Throckmortons a family of Knights degree which being spred into a number of faire branches and fruitfull of fine wits flourished in this tract especially ever since they matched in marriage with the daughter and heire of Speney Not farre from hence is Ousley which also was in ancient time well knowne by the Lords thereof the Butlers Barons of Wem from whom it was devolved hereditarily to the Ferrars of Ousley Whose inheritance within a short time was divided betweene John Lord of Greistocke and Sir Raulph Nevill Beneath it upon Arrow standeth Beauchamps-Court so named of Baron Beauchamp of Powicke from whom by the onely daughter of Edward Willoughbey sonne to Robert Willoughbey Baron Broke it came to Sir Foulque Grevill a right worshipfull person both for his Knights degree and for kinde courtesie whose only sonne carrying likewise the same name hath consecrated himselfe so to true Vertue and Nobility that in nobility of minde he farre surmounteth his parentage and unto whom for his exceeding great deserts toward me although my heart is not able either to expresse or render condigne thankfulnesse yet in speech will I ever render thankes and in silence acknowledge my selfe most deepely endebted Under this Towne there runneth into Arrow the River Alâ—e which holding on his course through the woods passeth under Henley a prety mercate towne a Castle joyning whereunto belonged the Family of the Mont-forts being Noblemen of great name which for the pleasant situation among the Woods they called by a French name Bell-desert but this together with the ruines is now buried quite and scant to be seene at all These were descended not from the Almarian Family of the Mont-sorts of France but from Turstan de Bastanberg a Norman whose inheritance passed away at length by the daughters unto the Barons of Sudley and to the Frevills In the very place where Arrow and this Alne doe meete together we saw Aulcester by Matthew Paris called and that more rightly Allencester which the inhabitants affirme to have beene a most famous and ancient Towne and thereupon they will have the name to be Ouldcester This as we reade in an old Inquisition was a Frank-burogh of our Lord King Henry the First and the same King gave that Burogh to Robert Corbet for his service and when the said Robert died it came by descent to Sir William of Botereux and to Sir Peter Fitz-Herbert and when William of Botereux dyed the moity of that Burogh fell by descent into the hand of Sir Reginald of Botereux as to the heire who now holdeth it and when Peter Fitz-Herbert died that moity descended into the hand of Herbert the sonne of Peter which Herbert gave it to Sir Robert de Chaundoys But now it is decaied and of a very great Towne become a small Mercate of wares and trade Howbeit exceeding much frequented for the Corne Faire there holden This hath for a neere neighbour Arrow according to the name of the River whose Lord Thomas Burdet for his dependance upon George Duke of Clarence words unadvisedly uttered and hardly construed through the iniquity of the time lost his life But by his grand daughter
married to Edward Conway brother to Sir Hugh Conway of Wales a gracious favourite of King Henry the Seventh the knightly Family of the Conwaies have ever since flourished and laudably followed the profession of Armes But East from the river and higher among the Woods which now begin to grow thin stand these townes under named Wroxhall where Hugh de Hatton founded a little Priory Badesley belonging in times past to the Clintons now to the Ferrars Also Balshall sometimes a Commandery of the Templars which Roger de Mowbray gave unto them whose liberality to the order of Templars was so great that by a common consent in their Chapiter they made a decree that himselfe might remit and pardon any of the brotherhood whomsoever in case hee had trespassed against the statutes and ordinances of that Order and did withall before him acknowledge the crime yea and the Knights of the Order of Saint Iohn of Ierusalem unto whom the Templars possessions in England were assigned over for our Ancestours in those daies held it a deadly sinne to prophane things consecrated to God granted in token of thankfulnesse unto Iohn Mowbray of Axholme the successour of the foresaid Roger that himselfe and his successours in every of their Covents and assemblies should be received and entertained alwaies in the second place next unto the King More North-east where wilde Brookes meeting together make a broad poole among the Parkes and so soone as they are kept in with bankes runne in a Chanell is seated Kenelworth in times past commonly called Kenelworde but corruptly Killingworth and of it taketh name a most ample beautifull and strong Castle encompassed all about with Parkes which neither Kenulph nor Kenelm ne yet Keneglise built as some doe dreame but Geffrey Clinton Chamberlaine unto King Henry the First and his sonne with him as may be shewed by good evidences when he had founded there before a Church for Chanons Regular But Henry his Nephew in the second degree having no issue sold it unto King Henry the Third who gave it in franke marriage to Simon Montfort Earle of Leicester together with his sister Aeleonor And soone after when enmity was kindled betweene the King and Earle Simon and hee slaine in the bloody warres which he had raised upon faire pretexts against his Soveraigne it endured six moneths fiege and in the end was surrendred up to the king aforesaid who annexed this Castle as an inheritance to Edmund his sonne Earle of Lancaster At which time there went out and was proclaimed from hence an Edict which our Lawyers use to call Dictum de Kenelworth whereby it was enacted That whosoever had tooke Armes against the King should pay every one of them five yeeres rent of their lands c. A severe yet a good and wholsome course without effusion of bloud against rebellious subjects who compassing the destruction of the State built all their hopes upon nothing else but dissentions But this Castle through the bountifull munificence of Queene Elizabeth was given and granted to Robert Dudleie Earle of Leicester who to repaire and adorne it spared for no coste in so much as if a man consider either the gallant building or the large Parkes it would scorne as it were to be ranged in a third place amongst the Castles in England Next after this to keepe on the journey that my selfe made I saw Solyhill but in it setting aside the Church there is nothing worth sight Then Bremicham full of Inhabitants and resounding with hammers and anvils for the most of them are Smiths The lower part thereof standeth very waterish the upper riseth with faire buildings for the credite and praise whereof I may not reckon this in the last place that the Noble and martiall Family of the Bremichams Earles of Louth c. in Ireland fetched their originall and name from hence Then in the utmost skirt of this Shire North-westward Sutton Colfield standing in a woody and on a churlish hard Soile glorieth of John Voisy Bishop of Excester there borne and bred who in the Raigne of king Henry the Eighth when this little Towne had lien a great while as dead raised it up againe with buildings priviledges and a Grammar Schoole As I went downe from hence Southward I came to Coleshull a Towne sometime of the Clintons and to Maxstocke Castle neighbouring to it which acknowledged by a continuall line of hereditary succession for his Lords the Limseies who were also Lords of Wolverley the Odingsells that came out of Flanders and the Clitons men of greatest worth and worship in their times Lower yet in the mids of this Woodland standeth Coventrey so called as we take it of a Covent of Monkes considering that we terme in our tongue such a brotherhood a Covent and Coven and it is oftentimes in our Histories and Pontificall Decrees named Coventria as for example in this one passage Vel non est compos sui Episcopus Conventrensis vel nimis videtur à se scientiam repulisse Yet there be that would have this name to be taken from that little Brooke that runneth within the City at this day called Shirburn and in an ancient Charter of the Priory is written Cuentford Well whence so ever it was so called in the foregoing age growing wealthy by clothing and making of Caps it was the onely Mart and City of trade in all these parts frequented also and peopled more than ordinarily a midland place as being a City very commodiously seated large sweet and neat fortified with strong Walles and set out with right goodly houses among which there rise up on high two Churches of rare workmanship standing one hard by the other and matched as it were as concurrents the one consecrated to the Holy Trinity the other to Saint Michael Yet hath it nothing within it that one would say is of great antiquity And the most ancient monument of all as it may seeme was the Monastery or Priory the ruines whereof I saw neere unto those Churches which Priory king Canutus founded first for religious Nunnes who when they were within a while after throwne out in the yeere 1043 Leofricke Earle of the Mercians enlarged and in manner built anew with so great a shew and bravery of gold and silver these be the very words of William Malmesbury that the wals seemed too narrow for to receive the treasure of the Church and the coste bestowed there was wonderfull to as many as beheld it for out of one beame were scraped 50. Markes of silver And he endowed it with so great livings that Robert de Limseie Bishop of Lichfield and Chester translated his See hither as it were to the golden sand of Lydia to the end for so writeth the said Malmesbury that out of the very treasure of the Church hee might by stealth convey wherewith to fill the Kings hand wherewith to avoid the Popes businesse and wherewith to satisfie the greedinesse of the