word without offence profaned The Degrees of ENGLAND AS to the division of our State it consists of a King or Monarch the Nobles Citizens Free-men which we call Yeomen and Tradesmen The KING The King stiled by our Ancestors Coning and Cyning e Either relating to cene which in Saxon signifies stout valiant c. or to cunnan which signifies to know or understand from whence a designing subtle man is called a Cunning man a name under which is coucht both power and wisdom by us contracted into King has in these Kingdoms the supreme power and a meer government nor holds he his Empire by vassalage neither does he receive Investiture from another nor own any superior Bracton l. 1. c. 8. but God And as that Oracle of Law has delivered it Every one is under him and himself under none but only God He has very many Rights of Majesty peculiar to himself which the learned in the law term The Holy of Holies and Individuals because they are inseparable but the common people The King's Prerogative and those they tell us are denoted by the flowers in the King's Crown Some of these the King enjoys by a written Law others by Right of custom which without a law is established by a tacit consent of the whole body and surely he deserves them Seneca since by his watchfulness every man's house by his labour every man's ease by his industry every one's pleasure and by his toil every one's recreation is secured to him But these things are too sublime to belong properly to my business Next the King is his eldest son and as he amongst the Romans that was designed for the Successor The Prince was first called Prince of the youth * Princeps juventutis and as flattery prevail'd afterwards Caesar Noble Caesar and the most noble Caesar so ours was by our Saxon Ancestors termed Aetheling Aetheling i.e. noble and in Latin Clyto Clyto from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 famous that age affecting the Greek tongue Upon which that saying concerning Eadgar the last heir male of the English Crown is still kept up Eadgar Eðeling Englands Searling i.e. Eadgar the noble England's darling And in the antient Latin Charters of the Kings we often read Ego E. vel AE Clyto the King's son But the name of Clyto I have observed to be given to the King's children in general After the Norman Conquest he had no standing honorary title nor any other that I know of but barely The King's Son or The King's eldest Son till Edward I. summoned to Parliament his son Edward under the title of Prince of Wales Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester to whom he granted also afterwards the Dukedom of Aquitain And this when he came to be King Edward II. summoned his son Edward to Parliament then scarce ten years old under the title of Earl of Chester and Flint But that Edward coming to the Crown created Edward his son a most accomplisht soldier Duke of Cornwal since which time the King 's eldest son f If he be eldest son but if the first dies the second is not born to the same Title See concerning this in the Notes upon Cornwall p. 15 is born Duke of Cornwall And a little after he honoured the same person with the title of Prince of Wales by a solemn Investiture The Principality of Wales was conferred upon him in these words to be held by him and his heirs Kings of England And as the heirs apparent of the Roman Empire were as I observed but just now called Caesars of the Grecian Despotae Lords those of the Kingdom of France Dauphins and of Spain Infantes so those of England have been since that time stiled Princes of Wales And that title continued till the time of Henry VIII when Wales was entirely united to the Kingdom of England But now the formerly divided Kingdoms of Britain being reduced into one under the government of the most potent King James his eldest son Henry the darling and delight of Britain is called Prince of Great Britain whom as nature has made capable of the greatest things so that God would bless him with the highest virtues and a lasting honour that his success may outdo both our hopes of him as also the atchievements and high character of his forefathers by a long and prosperous Reign is the constant and hearty prayer of all Britain Our Nobles are divided into Greater and Less The Greater Nobles we call Dukes Marquesses Earls and Barons who either enjoy these titles by an hereditary claim or have them conferred on them by the King as a reward of their merits A DUKE A Dukâ— is the next title of honour to the Prince At first this was a name of office not of honour About the time of Aelius Verus those who were appointed to guard the Frontiers were first called Dukes and this title in Constantine's time was inferiour to that of a Count. After the destruction of the Roman Empire this title still continued to be the name of an Office and those amongst us who in the Saxon times are stiled Dukes in such great numbers by the antient Charters are in the English tongue only called Ealdormen The same also who are named Dukes are likewise termed Counts for instance most people call William the Conqueror of England Duke of Normandy whereas William of Malmesbury writes him Count of Normandy However that both Duke and Count were names of Office Mar. â—â— Formaâ— is plain from the form of each's creation which we find in Marculph an antient writer The Royal clemency is particularly signalized upon this account that among all the people the good and the watchful are singled out nor is it convenient to commit the judiciary power to any one who has not first approved his loyalty and valour Since weâ—t therefore seem to have sufficiently experienced your fidelity and usefulness we commit to you the power of a Count Duke or Patriciâ—us President in that Lordship which your predecessor governed to act in and rule over it Still upon this condition that you are entirely true to our government and all the people within those limits may live under and be swayed by your government and authority and that you rule justly according to law and their own customs that you zealously protect widows and orphans that you severely punish the crimes of robbers and malefactors so that those who live regularly under your government may be cheerful and undisturbed and that whatever profit arises from such actions to the Exchequer you your self bring yearly into our coffers It began to be an honorary title under Otho the Great â—gâ—ius l. 〈◊〉 Regni â—â—lici about the year 970. For he in order to bind valiant and prudent persons more effectually to his own interest honour'd them with what he call'd Râ—gelia Royalties Those Royalties were either Dignities or Lands in Fee The
their weapons might be examin'd unexpectedly came a Mandate from the King that the cause should not then be decided lest the King should lose his right In the mean time they compounded the Earl agreeing to surrender up all his right in the castle to the Bishop and his successors for ever upon the receit of 2500 Marks aa â—â—rls of â—lisbury Salisbury had Earls very early whose pedigree I will not only draw faithfully but i They may be carry'd yet higher for Knighton stiles Edric Duke of Mercia Earl of Salisbury higher also out of the history of Lacock â—istory of â—â—cock Walter de Euereux Earl of Rosmar in Normandy had by the munificence of William the Conqueror very large possessions in this shire which he bequeathed to his younger son Edward sirnamed of Salisbury who was born in England leaving his other lands in Normandy with the title of Earl of Rosmar to k The eldest son of this Walter that succeeded him in the Earldom was called Gerold Walter his eldest son whose line not long after failed This Edward of Salisbury was very eminent in the twentieth year of William the Conqueror and is often mention'd in Domesday book but without the title of Earl His son Walter founded a small monastery at Bradenstok and there in his old age after he had got a son call'd Patric who was the first Earl of Salisbury by Sibilla de Cadurcis or Chaworth assum'd the habit of a black Canon This Patric the first Earl was slain by Guy of Lusignian A. D. 1169. in his return from a pilgrimage to S. James of Compostella and was succeeded by his son William who died at Paris in the reign of Richard 1. Ela his only daughter by the favour of the said K. Richard was married to William Longspee so sirnamed from the long sword he usually wore who was a natural son of K. Henry 2. to whom upon this marriage with Ela accrued the title of Earl â—â—â—s of the 〈◊〉 of Saâ— and her Coat of Arms viz. Az. 6 Lioncells Rampant Or. His son was also called William Longspee with whom Henry 3. being offended because being signed with the Cross he went to the Holy War without his leave took from him the title of Earl and castle of Sarum He notwithstanding being resolv'd on his design went into Egypt with S. Lewis King of France â—h Paâ— 973. â—051 and fighting valiantly in the midst of his enemies near Damiata which the Christians had taken died in the bed of honour not long before that holy King was unfortunately made prisoner He had a son call'd also William who did not enjoy the title of Earl and had only one daughter named Margaret â—â—â—g â— p. â—4 who was notwithstanding call'd Countess of Salisbury and married to Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln by whom she had but one daughter viz. Alice the wife of Thomas Earl of Lancaster who being outlawed K. Edw. 2. seized upon the lands which she had made over to her husband some of which viz. Troubridge Winterbourn Ambresbury and other manours King Edw. 3. gave to William de Montacute in as full and ample manner as ever the Predecessors of Margaret Countess of Sarum held them â—ds of Patent And at the same time he made the said William de Montacute Earl of Sarum and by the girding on of a sword the said Earldom was invested in him and his heirs for ever This William was King of the Isle of Man and had two sons William who succeeded his father in his honours and died without issue 22 Having unhappily slain his own Son while he train'd him at tilting and John a Knight who died before his brother leaving by Margaret his wife daughter and heiress of Thomas de Monthermer John Earl of Salisbury * De monte Hermerti who being a time-server and conspiring against King Henry 4. was slain at l It should be Cirencester in Comitar Glocestr Chichester A.D. 1400 and afterwards attainted of High Treason Notwithstanding which his son Thomas was restored to his blood and estate one of the greatest Generals of his age whether we consider his pains in all matters of moment his unwearied constancy in all undertakings and his quickness in putting his designs in execution who whilst he besieged Orleans in France was wounded by a Dart from a * è tormento majori Balist of which he died A. D. 1428. Alice his only daughter was married to Richard Nevil Pat. 20 Hen. 6. 1461. to whom she brought the title of Earl of Sarum who following the York-party was taken Prisoner in a battel at Wakefield and beheaded he was succeeded by Richard his son Earl of Warwick and Salisbury who taking delight in dangers engaged his Country in a fresh Civil War in which he lost his own life Isabella one of his daughters married George Duke of Clarence brother to K. Edw. 4. by whom he had a son call'd Edward 23 Earl of Warwick who was unjustly beheaded in his childhood by K. Henry 7. and his sister Margaret to whom the title of Countess of Salisbury was restor'd 24 By Henry 8. in a full Parliament about the fifth year of his reign suffer'd the same fate at 70 years of age by the command of Henry 8. For it is an usual practice among Princes to put to death or perpetually to imprison their kindred upon slight surmizes which are never wanting that they and their posterity may be the better established in the Throne Ann the other daughter of Richard Nevil Earl of Warwick and Salisbury was wife to Richard 3 25 Duke of Glocester and Brother to K. Edw. 4. to whom after she had born Edward * Whom his Unkle K. Edward in the 17th of his reign created Earl of Salisbury and Richard his father usurping the Kingdom made c. Prince of Wales who dy'd young she her self dy'd not without suspicion of poyson From that time this honorary title ceased until A. D. 1605. the most potent K. James dignify'd therewith Robert Cecil second son to our Nestor Wil. Cecil for his prudence and good service to his King and Country whom as I have said he had before honour'd with the titles of Baron Cecil of Essenden and Viscount Cranburn for his great merits and industry in promoting the good of the Kingdom So much concerning the Earls of Salisbury bb Below this City upon the Avon is seated Duncton Duncton or Donketon which is reported to be a very ancient Corporation Bogo commonly Beavois and famous for the seat of Beavois of Southampton who for his valour much celebrated by the Bards is commonly accounted one of the great Worthies Salisbury is every way encompass'd with the open plains unless it be toward the east Clarendon on which side it hath the neighbourhood of the large Park of Clarendon very commodious for keeping and breeding Deer and once beautified with a royal palace
3. had seiz'd their lands into his hands he granted the Rape of Hastings first to Peter Earl of Savoy then to Prince Edward his son and after upon his surrender to John son to the Duke of Little Britain upon certain exchanges of lands pertaining to the Honour of Richmond which Peter Earl of Savoy had made over for the use of the Prince Long time after when the Dukes of Britain had lost their lands in England for adhering to the French King King Henry 4. gave the Rape of Hastings with the mannour of Crowherst Burgwash c. to Sir John Pelham the elder upon whose loyalty wisdom and valour he much relied Furthermore as there were certain great Gentlemen in this County at the beginning of the Norman times sirnam'd de Hastings one of whom Matthew de Hastings held the mannour of Grenocle by this tenure â—â—uisitio 5. â—w 1. That he should find at this haven an Oar whenever the King would cross the seas so the noble family of the Hastings now Earls of Huntingdon enjoys this title of Hastings For King Edward 4. bestow'd it with certain Royalties upon William Hastings his Chamberlain â—illiam â—d Haâ—â—â—ngs who is commended by Cominaeus for that having receiv'd a yearly pension from Lewis xi the French King he could not by any means be perswaded to give him an acquittance under his own hand I will in no case said he that my hand be seen among the accounts of the French King's treasury But this man by falling too deep into the friendship of Kings quite overwhelmed himself For whilst he deliver'd his mind too freely in a Cabinet-Council with the Usurper Richard 3. he was unexpectedly hurried away and without trial beheaded immediately l He had notwithstanding an honourable burial in S. George's Chapel in Windsor leaving issue Edward Lord Hastings his son and heir Neither must we forget to take notice â— H. 6. â—on Hoo â—d Haâ—â—â—ngs that King Henry 6. ennobled Tho. Hoo a worthy person whom he also chose into the Order of the Garter with the Title of Baron Hoo and Hastings whose daughters and heirs were marry'd to Geoffrey Bollen from whom by the mothers side Queen Elizabeth was descended to Roger Copeley John Carew and John Devenish Thence the shore retires backwards and is hollow'd inwards being full of many windings and creeks within which stands Winchelsea Winchelsea built in the time of K. Edward 1. when a more ancient town of the same name in Saxon Wincelsea was quite swallow'd up by the raging and tempestuous Ocean in the year 1250. at which time the face of the earth both here and in the adjoyning coast of Kent was much alter'd It 's situation I will set before you in the very words of Tho. Walsingham Situate it is upon a very high hill very steep on that side which looks towards the sea or overlooks the Road where the Ships lie at Anchor Whence it is that the way leading from that port to the haven goes not streight forward lest it should by a down-right descent force those that go down to fall head-long or them that go up to creep rather on their hands than walk but lying sideways it winds with crooked turns in and out to one side and the other At first it was inclos'd with a mud after with a very strong wall but scarce began to flourish till it was sack'd by the French and Spaniards and by the sea 's shrinking back from it as it were on a sudden faded and fell to decay 28 And now only beareth the countenance of a fair town and hath under it in the level which the sea relinquished a Castle fortify'd by Henry 8. and large marshes defended from Sea-rages with works very chargeable h By which accident and the benefit of the sea it 's neighbour Rye Rye began to flourish or rather to reflourish for that it flourish'd in ancient times and that William of Ipres Earl of Kent fortify'd it Ipres Tower and the immunities and privileges that it had in common with the Cinque-Ports do sufficiently shew But either by reason of the Vicinity of Winchelsea or the sea 's recess it was inconsiderable for a long time But when Winchelsea decay'd and King Edward 3. wall'd it about it began to recover it self and within the memory of our fathers the Ocean to make a rich amends for the injury it had done swell'd with an extraordinary tempest and broke so violently in insinuating it self in form of a bay that it made a very convenient Port which another tempest likewise in our age did not a little contribute to Since which time it has greatly re-flourish'd with inhabitants buildings fishing and navigation and is now the usual passage from hence to Normandy 29 Yet now it beginneth to complain that the sea abandoneth it such is the variable and interchangeable course of that element and in part imputeth it that the river Rother is not contain'd in his Chanel and so loseth it's force to carry away the sands and beach which the sea doth inhear into the haven Notwithstanding it hath many Fishing vessels and serveth London and the Court with variety of Sea-fish But as to it's name whether it takes it from Rive a Norman word which signifies a Bank I cannot easily say Yet since in Records it is very often call'd in Latin ripa and they who bring fish from thence are termed Ripiers I encline the rather this way and should encline more if the French us'd this word for a shore as Pliny does Ripa 30 These two towns neither may it seem impertinent to note it belong'd to the Abbey of Fescampe in Normandy But when K. Henry 3. perceiv'd that Religious men intermingled secretly in matters of state he gave them in exchange for these two Chiltenham and Sclover two manours in Gloucestershire and other lands adding for the reason that the Abbots and Monks might not lawfully sight with temporal Arms against the enemies of the Crown Into this haven the river Rother or Rither hath it's influx which springing at Ritheramfeld River Rother for so the old English call'd that town which we call Rotherfeld runs by Burgwash formerly Burghersh Lords Burghersh which had Lords so sirnam'd amongst whom was that Sir Bartholomew Burgwash a mighty man in his time who being found by most solemn embassies and the wars in Aquitain to be a person of great prudence and undaunted valour was thought fit to be created a Baron of England and to be admitted into the Order of the Garter at the very first institution even amongst the Founders as also to be Constable of Dover-Castle and Warden of the Cinque-Ports And his son of the same Christian name no way degenerating from his father liv'd in a great deal of splendor and honour but left but one only daughter behind him marry'd into the family of Le Despencer descended m Call'd S. Mary's of Robertsbridge and
to be Master of his own school was deny'd that favour by the Trustees By the * Cap. 7. 4th of James 1. it was settl'd upon Queen's College in Oxford ff More to the south is Cirencester Cirencester where was a Church of Prebendaries before the Conquest but of whose foundation unknown Rumbaldus as †Itin. MS. Leland affirms Chancellour to Edward the Confessor was Dean of this place and bury'd here They have had 3 Parochial-Churches St. Cecilia's St. Lawrence and St. John's a very fair one the present Parish-Church It hath in it 5 Chapels that of St. Mary's was very considerable of the perquisites whereof there is a large account in the MSS. of Sir William Dugdale in Oxford The body of the Church is new work said to be built by Tho. Ruthall Bishop of Durham a native of this place whose Arms impal'd with those of the Bishoprick of Durham are seen in it But notwithstanding that he could not be the Founder for there is a Tomb for Sir William Nottingham 1427. whereas the Bishop dy'd not till 1524. and the Register of St. Mary's Chapel was made 1460. Leland indeed has told us that Aveling the Bishop's Aunt gave 100 l. to the building of the goodly porch there and his other relations contributed to the finishing of it gg The Author of the Welsh History makes mention of one Gurmundus an Arch pirate Captain of the Norwegians who assisted the Saxons The place call'd Grismund s Tower is yet to be seen on the west-side of the town 't is a steep round berry like a Windmill-hill where mens bones of an unusual size have been found and sepulchres with a round vessel of lead with ashes and pieces of bones in them as Leland informs us In this town are two fine seats the one belonging to the Earl of Newburrough and the other which was the site of the Abbey to Thomas Masters Esq hh The 7 Hundreds that were so great a privilege to the Abbey are now vested in Sir Robert Atkyns Knight of the Bath Lord chief Baron of the Exchequer who hath a fair seat and estate at Sapperton Sapperton near this place His Ancestors have been very eminent in the Law the father and two sons having sat Judges in Westminster-hall since the year 1660. There have been lately dug up in the town large vaults of brick which were in ancient times made by the Romans for Baths ii Beyond Cirencester lyeth Fairford Fairford where the fine Church was built by John Tame Esq He dy'd the 8. of May 1500. and lies bury'd here He is said also to have built Rendcombe-Church which place is now the habitation of Sir John Guyse Baronet where he hath made him a pleasant seat The Tames were possessed of this place by the Attainder of Nevil Earl of Warwick where was a house on the north-side of the Church call'd Warwick-Court The present possessor is Andrew Barker Esq who about 30 years since built a neat house remoter from the Church Thence we go to Lechlade which the Monkish Writers hammer'd into Latinlade to support their forged notion of it's being a Latin University Whereas ‖ See Somner's Gloss to the X. Scriptores under the title Greglada if they had understood their own original language they would easily have perceiv'd that the name implies no more than the Lech's unlading it self there into the Thames kk Before the Earls reckon'd up by our Author * Baronage p. 1. Sir William Dugdale has observ'd that Eldol the Britain had the title of Earl of Glocester in the year 461. †Ibid. p. 18. and that Swayne eldest son to Godwin Earl of Kent had the same honour Continuation of the DUKES Henry third son to King Charles 1. born 1639. was Duke of Glocester and dy'd unmarry'd 13. Sept. 1660. Since which time this title lay vacant till William son of George Prince of Denmark was created Duke of this place by his present Majesty More rare Plants growing wild in Glocestershire Androsaemum Campoclarense Col. Matthioli Park quoad descr Hypericon elegantissimum non ramosum folio lato J. B. Ascyron seu Hypericum bifolium glabrum non perforatum C. B. Elegant broad-leav'd imperforate S. John's-wort On St. Vincent's rock near Bristol Asparagus palustris Ger. Marsh Asparagus or Sperage corruptly call'd Sparrow-grass See the other Synonymes in Cornwall Cat. In Appleton-meadow about two miles from Bristol where the Country-people do gather the buds or young shoots and sell them in the markets at Bristol much cheaper than our Garden-kind is sold in London Park p. 455. This should seem rather to be the common or manured Asparagus growing wild than the maritime which differs from it though growing in the same place in having thicker leaves and a better taste Magnol Buxus arborescens Park Buxus Ger. J. B. The Box-tree At Boxwell in Coteswold As I find in some notes communicated to me by my honoured friend Mr. John Aubrey Cardamine pumila Bellidis folio Alpina Ger. emac. Plantula Cardamines alterius aemula Park Nasturtium Alpinum Bellidis folio minus C. B. Sinapi pumilum Bellidis folio Clusio J. B. Daisie-leav'd Ladies-smock Found by Mr. Newton on St. Vincent's-rock near Bristol Ceterach sive Asplenium Scolopendria Spleenwort or Miltwast About St. Vincent's-rock among the heaps of stones plentifully and on many walls about Bristol Hyacinthus Autumnalis minor Small Autumnal Hyacinth On the same St. Vincent's-rock See the Synonymes in Cat. Cornw. Malva arborea marina nostras Park English Sea-tree-mallow On an Island call'd Dinney three miles from Kings-road and five miles from Bristol Park p. 306. Peucedanum minus Park C. B. Phytop pumilum Ger. Peucedani facie pusilla planta Lob. Selinum montanum pumilum Clusii foliis Foeniculi aut Peucedani flore albo semine Selini J. B. Rock-Parsley On St. Vincent's-rock near Bristol Rubia Sylvestris Park See the other Synonymes in Devon Cat. Wild-madder On St. Vincent's-rock This hath been mistaken for the common manured Madder from which it is specifically distinct Sedum minus è rupe S. Vincentii Small Sengrene of St. Vincent's-rock The title directs to the place To these I shall add Anemone tuberosa radice Phyt. Brit. Knobby rooted Anemony or Wind-flower said to grow on Coteswold-hills near Black-Burton and to be a great ornament to those barren hills by Mr. Heaton My learned and inquisitive friend Mr. Edward Lloyd sought it there in vain Hipposelinum Ger. emac. Hipposelinum seu Smyrnium vulgare Park Macerone quibusdam Smyrnium semine magno nigro J. B. Hipposelinum Theophrasti vel Smyrnium Dioscoridis C. B. Alexanders On the rocks at Bechley going down to Ast-ferry Nasturtium montanum annuum tenuissimè divisum Finely-cut annual Mountain-Cresse Brought to Mr. Bobert from St. Vincent's-rock near Goram's-Chair in the parish of Henbury three miles from Bristol It is something agreeable to the Nasturtium Alpinum tenuissimè divisum septimum C. B. Allium Holmense sphaericeo capite Scorodoprassum
raised Edmund Crouchback his younger son to whom he had given the estate and honours of Simon Montfort Earl of Leicester of Robert Ferrars Earl of Derby and of John of Monmouth for rebelling against him to the Earldom of Lancaster Eaâ—â—â—â— Lancastâ—â— giving it in these words The Honour Earldom Castle and the Town of Lancaster with the Cow-pastures and Forests of Wiresdale Lownsdale Newcastle under Lime with the Manour Forest and a Castle of Pickering the Manour of Scaleby the Village of Gomecestre and the Rents of the Town of Huntendon c. after he had lost the Kingdom of Sicily with which the Pope by a ring invested him to no purpose and what expos'd the English to the publick scoff and laughter of the world he caus'd pieces of gold to be coyn'd with this Inscription AIMUNDUS REX SICILIAE 〈…〉 having first chous'd and cully'd the credulous King out of much money upon that account The said Edmund his first wife dying without issue who was the daughter and heir of the Earl of Albemarle 10 Of William de Fortibus Earl c. yet by her last Will made him her heir had by his second wife Blanch of Artois of the 〈…〉 Royal Family of France Thomas and Henry and John who dy'd very young Thomas was the second Earl of Lancaster who married Alice the only daughter and heir of Henry Lacy Earl of Lincoln she convey'd this and her mother's estate who was of the family of the Long Espee's Earls of Salisbury as likewise her father Henry Lacy had done before with his own Lands in case Alice should dye without issue as indeed it afterwards hapen'd over to the family of Lancaster But this Thomas for his Insolence and disrespect to his Prince Edward the second and for imbroiling the State was at last taken prisoner in the field and beheaded having no issue However his Sentence was afterwards revers'd by Act of Parliament because he was not try'd by his Peers and so his brother Henry succeeded him in his estate and honours He was also enrich'd by his wife Maud daughter and sole heir of Patrick Chaworth and that not only with her own but with great estates in Wales namely of Maurice of London and of Siward from whom she was descended He dying left a son Henry 〈…〉 whom Edward the third rais'd from Earl to a Duke and he was the second of our Nobility that bore the title of Duke But he dy'd without issue-male leaving two daughters Mawd and Blanch between whom the Inheritance was divided Mawd was married to William of Bavaria Earl of Holland Zeland Friseland Hanault and of Leicester too in right of his wife But she dying without issue John of Gaunt so call'd because he was born at Gaunt in Flanders fourth son of Edward the third by marriage with Blanch the other daughter of Henry came to the whole estate And now being equal to many Kings in wealth and created Duke of Lancaster by his father he also obtain'd the Royalties of him The King too advanc'd the County of Lancaster into a Palatinate by this Rescript wherein after he has declar'd the great service he had done his Country both at home and abroad he adds We have granted for us and our heirs to our son aforesaid that he during the term of life shall have within the County of Lancaster his Chancery and his Writs to be issued out under his own Seal belonging to the Office of Chancellor his Justices likewise as well for Pleas of the Crown as for other Pleas relating to Common Law to have cognisance of them and to have power of making all Executions whatsoever by his Writs and Officers And to have all other Liberties and Royalties of what kind soever appertaining to a County Palatine as freely and as fully as the Earl of Chester within the said County is known to have c. Nor was he only Duke of Lancaster but also by marriage with Constantia daughter of Peter King of Castile John of Gaunt K. of Castile for some time bore the title of King of Leon and Castile But by contract he parted with this title and in the 13th of King Richard the second was created by consent of Parliament Duke of Aquitain 11 To have and to hold the same title for term of life of the King of England and Monarch of France but to the general disgust of the inhabitants of the Province of Aquitain who gave it out that their Seigniory was inseparably annext to the Crown of England to the great dissatisfaction of that Country At that time his titles were John son to the King of England Duke of Aquitain and Lancaster Earl of Derby Lincoln and Leicester and high Steward of England After this John Henry de Bullingbroke his son succeeded in the Dutchy of Lancaster 12 Who when he had dispossess'd Richard the second and obtain'd the Kingdom of England he considering that being now King he could not bear the title of Duke of Lancaster and unwilling that the said title should be discontinu'd ordain'd by assent of Parliament that Henry his present son should enjoy the same and be stil'd Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitain Lancaster and Cornwall and Earl of Chester and also that the Liberties and Franchises of the Dutchy of Lancaster should remain to his said son sever'd from the Crown of England who having deposed Richard the second obtain'd the Crown and conferr'd this honour upon Heny his son K. Henr. 4. afterwards King of England And that he might entail it upon him and his heirs for ever he had an Act of Parliament made in these words We being unwilling that our said inheritance or its liberties by reason of our now assuming the Royal state and dignity should be any ways chang'd transferr'd diminish'd or impair'd but that our said inheritance with its rights and liberties aforesaid should in the same manner and form condition and state wherein they descended and fell to us and also with all and singular liberties franchises and other privileges commodities and profits whatsoever which our Lord and Father in his life time had and held it withal for term of his life by the grant of the late King Richard be wholly and fully preserv'd continu'd and enjoy'd by us and our heirs specified in the said Charters And by the tenure of these presents we do upon our certain knowledge and with the consent of this our present Parliament grant declare decree and ordain for us and our heirs that as well our Dutchy of Lancaster as all and singular Counties Honours Castles Manours Fees Advowsons Possessions Annuities and Seigniories whatsoever descended to us before the Royal Dignity was obtain'd by us how or in what place soever by right of inheritance in possession or in reversion or other way remain to us and our said heirs specified in the Charters abovesaid after the said manner for ever Afterwards King Henry the fifth by Act
Francis who dy'd at York 1643. leaving issue one only daughter so that the male line of that most ancient and noble family is now extinct At present his Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark honours this County by having the title of Duke of Cumberland which was enjoy'd before him by Prince Rupert Prince Palatine of the Rhine a person of admirable courage and bravery aa If our Author means by the Praetentura of Agricola any thing of Walls or Rampires we may justly question the truth of it since the learned â— Eâ—l p 3.6 Archbishop Usher has prov'd out of Tacitus that Agricola only garison'd the Frontiers at this place without contriving any other sence 'T is likely that according to the Roman custom he plac'd some of his troops within the limits of the Barbarians Country intra fines Horestorum for these Horesti were not the inhabitants on the river Esk near the borders of England as our Author afterwards in his description of Scotland asserts but those of Angus and Mernes as the Scotch Historians sufficiently evidence particularly the learned Sir George Mackenzie Defence of the Royal Line p. 79. â— in 〈◊〉 Not but Mr. Camden's foundation may for all that stand good and the Horesti be deriv'd from Ar-Esc considering there is a South as well as a North Esk. â—od 〈◊〉 bb Not many years ago there was found on the ruins of the Wall a little below Carlisle a small wing'd image of brass somewhat more than half a foot in length well agreeing with the description which some of the ancients have given us of the god Terminus 'T is now in the possession of the right honourable Sir John Lowther of Lowther Baronet cc Buchanan maintains that Severus's Rampier was at Grimesdike but Fordon and Major as well as Hector Boëtius are of Camden's opinion The Controversie will be best determin'd by considering the length as it is deliver'd by several authors Eutropius sets it at XXXII and if some others have XXXV 't is easie to imagine that a little inadvertency in a Transcriber might change II into V. Thus far the account seems to make for Buchanan that Severus's fortification was really between the two Friths of Edenburrow and Dumbritton And Paulus Orosius who computes its length at CXXXII miles goes so far beyond the extent of that which reach'd from Solway to Tinmouth that thence no true estimate is to be had But 't is most likely that this whole difference is to be stated by Spartianus who rightly asserts that the extent of Hadrian's ditch was LXXX miles Out of this number by the heedless change of L into C the copyers of Orosius made CXXX and by a careless dropping of the same Letter the transcribers of Eutropius turn'd it into XXX * V. Usher Antiquitat p. 316. As to the dispute betwixt the Archbishop and our Author Whether Severus's work was a wall of stone or a rampier of earth we shall only add to the authorities produc'd by Camden that the Royal Paraphrast upon †Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 5. Bede says it was mid dice and mid eoƿþ-Æ¿ealle and ‖ Lib. 1. c. 12. afterwards speaking of a later fabrick of Stone in the same place he says it was built ðaer Severus se Casere in het dician eopð Æ¿all geÆ¿yrcan The Saxon Chronicle also affirms that it was of turfum And if that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Agathemer who is suppos'd to have liv'd in Severus's time have any relation to this work it very much countenances the opinion of Bede and Mr. Camden Vide Geogr. Agathem edit à Sam. Tennulio Amst 1671. p. 45 74 86. dd That this last Wall was built betwixt Tinmouth and Solway-Frith * Lib. 1. c. 12. Bede seems most peremptorily to assert And yet Archbishop Usher Antiquitat Eccl. p. 317. enclines rather to Buchanan's opinion that it was at Grimesdike and thinks this conjecture supported by Gildas's saying that it was built recto tramite which says he that betwixt Bowness and Tinmouth is not With the Archbishop agrees our very learned Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield then of St. Asaph in his historical account of Church-government c. p. 4. And 't is certain that along Grimesdike there are here and there as the Gordons in Bleau's Atlas have observ'd several ruins of Stone-buildings nor can we doubt but there were Forts of stone erected at due distances along that Rampier But 't is certain that in most places there appear no manner of remains of a stone-building whereas a continu'd stone-wall is easily follow'd from Carlisle to New-castle As for Nennius's story Hist Brit. cap. 19. 't is so full of contradictions that there 's no regarding it and after all the stress that 's laid upon Gildas's expression a man shall hardly travel the length of The Picts-Wall in any great road in England that goes more recto tramite in a streight line than it does ee As to the Medicinal Plants Mr. Nicolson to whom we owe these observations upon the WALL as well as several others throughout the Province of York has made very diligent search but could never meet with any sort of Plants growing along the Wall which is not as plentiful in some other part of the Country An Account of the Division of Cumberland by William the Conquerour amongst his Followers a It is call'd Distributio Cumbriae ad Conquestum Angliae inter Gentes Sir William Dugdale calls it Chronicon Cumbriae and so the Lord Willâ—am Howard has stiled it in one of the MSS. but 't is a mistake for that piece of Antiquity if it be extant was of another nature and writ by one Everardus Abbot of Holme Cultram temp H. 2. It was said to be in the Library of Sir Thomas Gower Baronet but upon search it could not be found taken out of two ancient Latin Manuscripts in the Library of the Dean and Chapter of Carlisle carefully Collated by the Reverend Dr. Hugh Todd KING William sirnam'd the Bastard Duke of Normandy Conqueror of England gave all the Lands of the County of Cumberland to Ranulphus de Meschins and to Galfridus Brother to the said Ranulphus he gave the whole County of Chestre and to William another brother he gave all the Land of Coupland between Duden and Darwent Ranulphus de Meschins infeoffed Hubbertus de b Vaux MS. B. Waux in the Barony of Gillisland and Ranulphus his brother in Sowerby Carlaton and Hubbrightby And Robert the third brother in the Barony of Dalston He infeoffed also Robert Destrivers im the Barony of Burgh and Richerus de Boyvile in the Barony of Levington and Odardus de Logis in the Barony of Stanyton He infeoffed also Waldevus son of Gospatricius Earl of Dunbar in Scotland in all the Barony of Allerdale between Wathenpole and Darwent The aforesaid William de Meschins Lord of Coupland infeoffed Waldevus son of Gospatricius in all the Land that lyes between Cocar
different quality of the tribute Though some learned men do not close with Baronius in this point Additions to Mr. Camden Concerning British COINS By Mr. Walker TAB I. THese eighteen first described are in Mr. Camden those which follow are partly out of Speed's History partly from other friends Before we come to the particulars I desire to premise in general I. That we find very little mention of the Britains or their affairs till Julius Caesar who left a brief but material description of the country and people their manners and customs particularly concerning their traffick and the great instrument of it money which he saith was not Coin but rings and pieces of brass and iron delivered out by weight as it was also in the beginning at Rome So that they had no mark upon their metals of exchange which seems somewhat odd seeing that the invention is so easie ready and useful for human conversation But especially since in Abraham's time coined or stamped money was current amongst merchants and called by a particular name shekel taken it may be from the weight of it And Jacob is said to have given or paid to Hâ—mor father of Sichem for a part of a field centum agnos which is interpreted Act. 7.16 not lambs but pretio argenti commonly explained centum probatos nummos This ignorance I say is strange except we affirm the transmigration of the Predecessors of the Britains to have been before Abraham's time from the Northern parts of Asia not so well civilized as the Eastern where Coin seems to have been antiently even before Abraham the current instrument of traffick Long before Caesar's time Polybius tells us that these Islands were frequented both by Greeks and Phaenicians trading for tinn and other commodities But it seems those crafty people were careful to conceal from these generally accounted heavie Northern nations the value and usefulness of money II. The Coins I have seen of the Britains for the most part are neither gold nor good silver but of mixed metals and those compositions very different and not as yet by any that I know endeavoured to be discover'd perhaps since the quantities of them are so small and their value taken from the fairness of their impression Nor can we give any certain account of their weight because we have very few of one stamp or perfect and some of them also may be probably thought counterfeited III. The Coins of the Britains are not unlike those of the antient Gauls as those of our Saxons to those of the first race of the Kings of the Franks who settled in France near the time that the Saxons invaded Britain concerning which a farther account shall be given by and by But in this we find the Saxons as the English after them to differ both from the Gauls and Franks that they did not so often change the weight or value of their Coins much less raised and decryed the same piece according to the pleasure or necessities of the Prince An action lawful indeed but without very great caution detrimental and prejudicial to the Subject But in this themselves confess the English to understand their interest better than the French IV. I can hardly satisfie my self why we have so many Coins of Cunobeline and so few of other Princes more famous at least in Roman story for of British Historians we have none certainly antienter than Gildas and he only speaks of those near or of his own time But we have nothing of Caratacus Arviragus c. but conjectural Some of those of Cunobeline I know are modern perhaps also Cuno signifying as Camden observes a Prince may be applied especially since many Coins have no more than Cuno to divers Princes and is added to the end of the names of several mentioned in Gildas perhaps also he reigned a long time But the best reason seems to be either because he lived some while at Rome or that London was then a famous city for trade and therefore had both more money and better preserved Remarks upon Mr. Camden's Conjectures I am not satisfied in the first of Mr. Camden If it be a Janus I had rather apply it to the shutting of Janus's Temple by Augustus in whose time Cunobeline lived at Rome and both himself and the Britains were benefited by that general peace But I fear that is not the head of Janus for the faces upon his Temple and Coins were divers one old the other young but this seems made for two young women's faces whether Cunobeline's wives sisters or children I know not To the third I conceive the horse was so frequently stamped upon their Coins because of their extraordinary goodness in this country The like is upon divers Cities and Provinces in Gallia Or to shew that they were in their own opinion excellent horsemen The Boar also and Bull were Emblems of strength courage and fierceness and I find that antiently the Romans used for their Ensigns horses wolves boars c. till Caius Marius's third Consulship who then first ordained the Eagle only to be the standing Ensign of the Legions as Trajan after the Dacian War set up Dragons for Ensigns of the Cohorts In the sixth the horse seems fasten'd by one fore and the opposite hinder-foot to some weight as if it signified the invention of one of their Princes to teach them some pace or motion The wheel under him amongst the Romans intimated the making of an Highway for Carts So many of which being in the Romans time made in this country well deserved such a memorial The seventh Novane seems to be the same with the two and twentieth wherein is Tasci Novanit some unknown city in the Dominion of Cunobeline Reverse a hog and wolf concorporated The ninth Speed thinks probably to be Caractacus the valiant and renowned King of the Silures The Britains called him Caradaue and gave him the Epithets Uric fras forti brachia But others read it Epatica which may keep its native signification since we find Parsly the Palm Vine Myrtle Cynoglossum Laserpitium and other plants sometimes figured sometimes only named upon Coins as you may find in Spanhemius Com. in the tenth I cannot conceive to have been Comius made by Caesar King of the Atrebates Arras because he seems not to have had any power in Britain where the greatest part of his stay was in prison and at his return into his own country he headed a rebellion against the Romans Besides in other Coins it is Comm. which either signifies some City or other Community to have coined it or to have been stamped in the time of Commodus the Emperor For I cannot think it signified Commorus by Greg. Turon or Venant Fortunatus named Duke of Britannia Armorica A. C. 550. The thirteenth an Octogone seems to have been of a Christian Prince for by it the Christians anciently figured the Font for baptism In Gruter's Inscriptions p. 1166. are verses of St. Ambrose upon the Font of St. Tecla
be Bernwaled unknown to me who he was So is also that of the fifteenth only it was an eminent name amongst them as was also Aethelstan on the sixteenth That upon the seventeenth is likely to be of that valiant and noble Viceroy of Mercia married to the King's daughter Ethelfleda a woman of admirable wisdom courage and zeal in sum a daughter worthy of such a father The eighteenth is of Edward Senior that victorious and glorious son and successor of King Aelfred equal to his father in valour and military skill but inferiour to him in learning and knowledge His actions are sufficient for a volume On his head is a close or imperial crown born by few if any other besides the Kings of England The reverse is Leofwine or Lincoln The twenty third Beornwald I rather read it Deorwald i.e. Deirorum sylva York-woulds the chief Town whereof was Beverly And the rather because of the twenty fourth Diora Moneta which seems to be the money of the Deiri or Yorkshire-men The rest of the Coins of this Prince are easily understood The names upon the reverses seem to have been Noblemen or Governors The twenty fifth is remarkable for the spelling Jedword the reverse is Arnerin on Eoferwic i.e. York The twenty sixth hath the reverse Othlric on Ring which might be Ringhornan in Lancashire a large Town one of the eight built by his sister Ethelflede Of the twenty seventh I do not understand the reverse The twenty eighth is of that most famous and worthy King Aethelstan the true progeny of such a father and grandfather In his youth his grandfather King Aelfred saw such a spirit and indoles in him that he foretold if it should please God that he came to the Crown he would perform very great actions for the good of his country and he made him also I think the first that we read to have received that honour in this nation a Knight and gave him ornaments accordingly the more likely because Aelfred also order'd the robes and ceremonies of the Coronation This Prince extended his Victories Northward even into Scotland Which countreys till his time were never peaceably settled because the two nations Saxons and Danes mingled together in their habitations and yet having several Kings and Laws could never be long in quiet Upon the borders of Scotland he fought one of the most terrible battles that ever was in England against Anlaf King of Ireland Constantine King of Scotland and a very mighty and numerous Army Wherein were said to be slain five Kings seven Earls or chief Commanders besides vast numbers of inferior Officers and Soldiers Authors say that King Aethelstan's valiant Chancellor and General Turketill with wonderful courage and strength broke through the enemies ranks till he met with King Constantine and slew him with his own hand Others say that Constantine was not slain but his son Turketill after all his wars and greatness resigning his estates and wealth repaired to the Monastery of Croyland and lived in it himself till his death The reverse is Biorneard moneta Londonensis civitas or Holond ci The former reading is the true The twenty ninth is King Edmund Brother and not inferior either in valour or counsel to Aethelstan He pursued the design of reducing all his subjects to perfect unity and peace by extirpating those rebellious irreconcileable enemies the Danes In the beginning of his Reign he cleared Mercia of them For King Edward seeing the Kingdom so much depopulated by those destructive wars ever since the entrance of the Danes upon promise and oath of fealty and obedience as his father also had done amongst the East-Angles permitted these Danes to live amongst his natural Subjects and chiefly in the great Towns thinking because of their profession of arms and soldiery they would better defend them than the Saxons more industrious and skilful in labour and husbandry The Danes also having been themselves beaten and conquered by him were very ready to engage to obedience peace and loyalty But the Saxons by their labours growing rich and the Danes retaining their former tyrannical and lazy dispositions began to oppress and dominere over the natives Edmund therefore after Mercia began to reduce Northumberland where remained the greatest number of them for Edward himself had suppressed those in East-Anglia and to reduce those Northern counties into the form of Provinces and committed Cumberland as a Feud to Malcolme King of Scotland His zeal for justice cost this heroical Prince his life For celebrating the festival of St. Austin and giving thanks for the Conversion of the nation he spied amongst the Guests one Leof a notable thief whom he had before banished The King's spirit was so moved against him that rising from the Table he seized upon him threw him to the ground and was about to do some violence unto him The Thief fearing what he had deserved with a short dagger which he concealed wounded the King mortally who died in a short time to the very great grief and affliction of his people The reverse is very imperfect but it may perhaps be Edward Moneta Theodford or rather Eadmund Martyr to whose Church he gave the Town called St. Edmund's-bury The thirtieth is Eadred who degenerated not in the least from his father King Edward or his brethren the precedent Kings He compleated the reduction and settlement of the North making Osulf the first Earl of it The Scots voluntarily submitted and swore Allegiance to him An. 955. in the fifth year of his reign and flower of his youth he sickned died and was exceedingly lamented of his subjects The thirty first is Eadwig son of K. Edmund who being come to age received the Kingdom so lovely a person that he was named the fair His actions are variously reported by Historians generally they accuse him of voluptuousness and neglect of his affairs insomuch that a great part of the North applied themselves to his Brother Edgar and set him up against Edwy who as is thought with sorrow sickned and died An. 958. Heriger on the reverse seems to have been Mint-master Tabula VII Nummi saxonici Page cxlvi The thirty third Eadgar son of King Edmund peaceably enjoyed the fruits of the labours and dangers of his predecessors A man admired by all both foreigners and natives for his great piety justice prudence and industry in governing the Kingdom Sine praelio omnia gubernavit prout ipse voluit The reverse is Leofsig Moneta Hamptonensis The thirty fourth is of Eadward son of King Edgar by Ethelfleda the fair called also Eneda Daughter of Duke Ordmear He is much commended for a virtuous well-disposed and hopeful Prince and such the small remainders of his History do truly represent him But by order of his Stepmother Alfritha to whom he was too obedient he was murthered to empty the Throne for her son Aethelred Edward was accounted a Saint and Martyr because of the many miracles said to be done at his Tomb which occasioned the
King chose as it were out of their own body The general inclination was towards Harold Godwin's son much fam'd for his admirable conduct both in Peace and war For tho' the nobleness of his Birth lay but on one side his father having by treason and plunder render'd himself eternally infamous yet what by his courteous language and easie humour his liberal temper and warlike courage he strangely insinuated himself into the affections of the people As no one threw himself into danger with more chearfulness so in the greatest extremities no man was so ready with advice He had so signaliz'd his courage and success in the Welsh wars which he had some time before happily brought to an end that he was look'd upon as a most accomplish'd General and seem'd to be born on purpose to settle the English Government Moreover 't was hop'd the Danes who were at that time the only dread of this nation would be more favourable to him as being the son of Githa Sister to Sueno King of Denmark From what â—ther parts soever attempts whether foreign or domestick might be made upon him he seem'd sufficiently secur'd against them by the affections of the Commonalty and his relation to the Nobility He married the sister of Morcar and Edwin who at that time bore by much the greatest sway and Edric sirnam'd the Wild a man of an high spirit and great authority was his near kinsman It fell out too very luckily that at the same time Sueno the Dane should be engag'd in the Suedish wars and there was an ill understanding between William the Norman and Philip King of France For Edward the Confessor while he lived under banishment in Normandy had made this William an express promise of the Crown in case himself died without issue And Harold who was then kept prisoner in Normandy was bound under a strict oath to see it perform'd and made this one part of the conditon that he might marry the Duke's daughter For these reasons a great many thought it most advisable to make a present of the Crown to the Duke of Normandy that by discharging the promise they might prevent both the war that then threatned them and destruction the certain punishment of perjury as also that by the accession of Normandy to England the government might be established in the hands of so great a Prince and the interest of the nation very much advanc'd But Harold quickly cut off all debates that look'd that way for finding that delays would be dangerous the very day Edward was bury'd contrary to all mens expectation he possessed himself of the government and with the applause of those about him who proclaimed him King without all ceremony of inauguration put on the diadem with his own hands This action of his very much disgusted the Clergy who looked upon it as a breach of Religion But as he was sensible how difficult it was for a young Prince to establish his government without the reputation of piety and virtue to cancel that crime and to settle himself on the throne he bent all his thoughts towards promoting the interest of the Church and the dignity of Monasteries He show'd Edgar Aetheling Earl of Oxford and the rest of the Nobility all the favour imaginable he eas'd the people of a great part of their taxes he bestowed vast sums of money upon the poor and in short what by the smoothness of his discourse patience in hearing others and equity in all causes he gained himself a wonderful love and authority So soon as William Duke of Normandy had certain intelligence of those matters he pretended to be infinitely afflicted for the death of Edward when all the while the thing that lay upon his stomach was his being disappointed of England which he had so long promised himself Without more ado by advice of his Council he sends over Embassadors to remind Harold of his promise and engagement and to demand the Crown Harold after mature deliberation returned him this answer That as to Edward's promise the Crown of England could not be disposed of by promise nor was he obliged to take notice of it since he governed by right of election and not any hereditary claim And for what concerned his engagement that was plainly extorted by force treachery and the fear of perpetual imprisonment did likewise tend to the manifest damage of the Nation and infringe the privileges of the Nobility and therefore he look'd upon it as null in it self That if he could make good his promise he ought not or if he would that it was not in his power being made without the knowledge of the King or concurrence of the People That the demand seem'd highly unreasonable for him to surrender the government to a Norman Prince who was altogether a stranger when he had been invested with it by the unanimous consent of all Orders The Norman Duke did not very well relish this answer but plainly perceived that Harold was seeking out ways to avoid the perjury Upon which he sent over another Embassy on the same errand to put him in mind of the strictness of his Oath and that damnation from God and disgrace among men are the certain rewards of perjury But because William's daughter who as betroth'd to Harold was a tye upon him for the discharge of his promise was now dead they were entertained with so much the more coldness and returned with the same answer as the first In all appearance there was nothing like to ensue but open war Harold prepares a fleet levies soldiers places garisons upon the sea-coasts as he sees convenient in short omits nothing which may any way contribute towards repelling the Normans In the mean time what was never before so much as thought of the first storm of the War comes from Tosto Harold's own brother He was a man of a high spirit and cruel temper and had for some time presided over the Kingdom of Northumberland with great insolence till at last for his barbarous dealings with inferiors impudent carriage towards his Prince and a mortal hatred to his own brethren he was cashiered by Edward the Confessor and went over into France And at this juncture push'd forward in all probability by Baldwin Earl of Flanders drawn in by William Duke of Normandy for Tosto and William had married two of Earl Baldwin's daughters he declares open war against his brother whom he had for a long time mortally hated He set out from Flanders with 60 sail of Pirate-vessels wasted the Isle of Wight and very much infested the Kentish coast but being frighted at the approach of the Royal Navy he set sail and steered his course towards the more remote parts of England landed in Lincolnshire and plundered that County There he was engaged by Edgar and Morcar and defeated then made for Scotland with a design to renew the war Now were all thoughts in suspence with the expectation of a double assault one from Scotland another from
Normandy and their jealousies were heighten'd by the dreadful appearance of a Comet Comet at Easter for about seven days together This as it commonly does in troublesome times set the distracted brains of the people a working to presage what miseries would follow upon it But Harold after he had curiously viewed every part of the Kingdom fortified the South-coasts with garisons He was not apprehensive of much danger from Scotland and Tosto because Malcolâ—â—s Mil-Columbus King of Scots was diverted with civil wars In the mean time William was continually thinking of a descent into England He now and then advis'd with his Officers and found them cheerful and full of hopes but all the difficulty was how to procure money to carry on so important a war For upon a proposal made at a publick meeting of the States of Normandy about raising a subsidy it was urg'd That the Nation was so exhausted by their former wars with France that if they should engage in a new war they should have much ado even to act defensively that their business was rather to secure their own than to invade another's dominions that how just soever the war might be there was no great necessity for it and that in all probability it would prove of dangerous consequence And lastly that the Normans were not bound by their allegiance to serve in foreign wars No considerations could bring them to raise a supply of money though William * * Filius â—berti Fitzosbert a man generally beloved both by Duke and people promoted it with the utmost zeal and to encourage others engaged to build 40 ships at his own charge for the service of the war The Duke finding himself disappointed in a publick meeting tries other methods and sending for the wealthiest of them one by one speaks them fair and desires that each would contribute something towards the war This drove them to a sort of emulation who should be most assisting to his Prince and made them promise largely and an account being taken of all the contributions a sum beyond what could reasonably be expected was rais'd almost in an instant After matters were thus far dispatched he sollicites his neighbouring Princes for aids the Earl of Anjou Poictou Mayne and Bulloigne with this encouragement that they should have their share of lands in England Next he applies himself to Philip King of France and promises that in case he contributes his assistance he will take an oath of fealty and hold England under him But considering that it was not by any means the interest of France that the neighbouring Norman who already did not seem much to value them should be strengthned by the addition of England as Princes are always jealous of the growing power of their neighbours Philip was so far from encouraging the design that he us'd all means to divert him from invading of England But nothing could draw him off his resolution wherein he was now confirmed and justified by the authority of Pope Alexander This Pope about that time begun to usurp a jurisdiction over Princes and he approved the cause sent him a consecrated banner as a token of his victory and empire and excommunicated all that should oppose him Vpon this he raised what forces he could and got together a vast fleet to S. Valeric's a town at the mouth of the river Some where he lay windbound for some time and in order to have a fair wind he spar'd neither prayers nor offerings to S. Valeric the Saint of that place Harold after he had a long time watched his coming had resolved to disband his army lay up his ships and leave the sea-coasts partly because provisions began to fail him and partly because the Earl of Flanders had assured him that William had no design upon England that year Which he the rather believ'd because at that time of year putting to sea would be very dangerous when the Aequinox was just at hand While he was settling these matters all on a sudden an unexpected invasion puts him under a necessity of getting his army together For Harold sirnam'd Durus and Harfager King of Norwey who had for a long time prey'd upon the northern parts of Britain and possess'd himself of the Isles of Orkney was drawn over by Tosto out of a prospect of the Kingdom of England and entered the river Tine with about 500 rovers where he was joined by Tosto After they had for some time been making havock of those parts they weighed anchor and sailing along the coasts of Yorkshire came into Humber where they plundered all round them with the utmost cruelty of an enemy But to stop their progress Edwin and Morcar two Earls attacked them with a confused undisciplined army which being overpowered by the Norwegians ran away A good many amongst whom were the two Earls made a shift to get off but the greatest number was drowned in their passage over the river Ouse The Norwegians without more ado resolve to lay siege to York but upon hostages given on both sides the place was surrendered Not long after Harold having got his whole army in a body marches towards York and from thence towards the Norwegians who had encamped in a very advantageous place Behind they were secured by the sea on the left by the river Humber where their fleet rid at anchor on the right and front by the river Derwent Notwithstanding all this Harold attacked them very vigorously and the first skirmish was at a * * Stanford bridge near York bridge over the river Derwent where 't is said one single Norwegian bore up for some time against the whole English army till at last he was shot dead Next the battle was removed to the camp where the advantages on both sides were equal for a while At last on the Norwegians side the ranks were broken and Harold King of Norwey with Tosto and the greatest part of their army was slain The booty which Harold got by this victory was very considerable gold and silver in great plenty and every ship of that large fleet except twenty small vessels which he gave Paul Earl of the Orcades and Olavus son of Harold who was slain to carry off their wounded first taking an oath of them that they should never again disturb England Harold was exceedingly heartened with the victory and begun to hope that he should be a terrour to the Normans though his own subjects began to hate him for not distributing the spoil amongst the souldiers All his thoughts were spent in the settlement of the nation which especially in those parts was in a miserable condition In the mean time William the Norman got a favourable wind he set sail about the end of September and having a gentle gale landed with his whole fleet at Pemsey in Sussex He found the coast clear and to cut off all encouragement for running away fir'd the Ships After he had built a castle there for retreat he went forwards
in other places hereabouts Not far from hence is the river Alan call'd also Camb-alan and Camel from it's winding chanel for Cam with them implies as much Running gently into the Upper-sea it has at the mouth a little market-town call'd t In English after the true and old writings it is call'd Adelstow i.e. Athelstan's place K. Athelstan being lookt upon as the chief Author of it's Privileges Lel. Itin. Vol. 2. Padstow Padstow contracted from Petrockstow as 't is call'd in the Histories of the Saints from one u Leland tells us that in his time the Tomb and Shrine of St. Petrok were remaining in the east-part of the Church Itin. Vol. 2. Petrocus a Britain that was Sainted after he had liv'd here in a Religious manner whereas the town was before call'd w Usher's Antiquit. Eccles Britan. p. 292. Loderick and Laffenac It is very conveniently seated for trading into Ireland being but 24 hours easie sail and is very much adorn'd by a beautiful house in the neighbourhood like a castle which N. Prideaux a Gentleman of an ancient name and family lately built in those Western parts p At the head of this river Alan is seated Camelford otherwise writ Gaffelford Gaffeâ—ford a little village formerly call'd Kamblan in the opinion of Leland who tells us that Arthur the English Hector was slain here For as he adds pieces of armour rings and brass-furniture for horses are sometimes digg'd up here by the Countrymen and after so many ages the tradition of a bloody victory in this place is still preserv'd There are also extant some verses of a middle-age-poet about Camel's running with blood after that battle of Arthur against Mordred which because they seem to flow from a good vein I will venture to insert Naturam Cambala fontis Mutatam stupet esse sui transcendit inundans Sanguineus torrens ripas volvit in aequor Corpora caesorum plures natare videres Et petere auxilium quos undis vita reliquit Camel s stream Feels the sad change and wonders whence it came The yielding banks are drown'd with rising blood And mangled corps lie gasping on the flood Poor half-dead wretches spend their fainting breath In cries for rescue from a second death In the mean time not to deny the truth of this story concerning Arthur I have read in Marianus of a bloody battle here between the Britains and Saxons in the year 820. so that the place may seem to be sacred to Mars And if it be true that Arthur was kill'd here the same shore both gave him his first breath and depriv'd him of his last For upon the neighbouring shore stands Tindagium the birth-place of that great Arthur part of it as it were on a little tongue thrust out and part upon an Island formerly joyn d to the main-land by a bridge They now call it Tindagel Tindagel Arthur's birth-place tho' nothing is left but the splendid ruines of an ancient * This Castle says Leland hath been a marvelleus strong and notable fortress and the nature of the place does in a manner make it impregnable especially for the dungeon that is on a great and high terrible cragge environ'd with the sea but having a draw bridge from the residue of the castle to it stately castle of which a modern Poët Est locus Abrini sinuoso littore ponti Rupe situs media refluus quem circuit aestus Fulminat hic latè turrito vertice castrum Nomine Tindagium veteres dixere Corini On a steep rock within a winding bay A castle stands surrounded by the sea Whose frequent thunder shakes the trembling hill Tindage of old 't was call'd now Tindagel It would be tedious to relate here from the History of Geoffrey how Uther Pendragon King of Wales fell in love with the wife of Gorlois Prince of Cornwall in this castle and how by art-magick assuming the shape of her husband he defil'd the Lady and begat this Arthur The verses of our countryman John Hauvillan shall supersede that Facie dum falsus adulter Tindagel irrupit nec amoris Pendragon aestum Vincit omnificas Merlini consulit artes Mentitúrque ducis habitus rege latente Induit absentis praesentia Gorlois ora Nor could the Prince conceal his raging flame But in false shapes to Tindagel he came By Merlin's art transform'd from King to Duke And Gorloi's person for Pendragon's took This Uther Pendragon was a Prince in whom were all the accomplishments of a Souldjer and who valiantly supported the sinking state of his country against the Saxons Aâ—â— the 〈…〉 I dare not affirm that the Royal banner of the English having the effigies of a dragon with a golden head so well known to our neighbours and so terrible to the Pagans in the Holy wars under Richard the 3d Gâ—â— Tâ—â— was deriv'd from him I rather think we owe it to the Romans who for a long time us'd the Eagle after Marius had rejected the common Standards of a wolf a minotaure a horse c. and came at last under the latter Emperors to make choice of a Dragon Upon which Claudian Hi picta Draconum Colla levant Exalted Banners wrought with dragon's heads And Nemesianus Signa micant sinuà tque truces levis aura Dracones In Ensigns mov'd by gentle air Fierce Dragons heads erect appear That the West-Saxon kings carry'd a Dragon in their Standards we have the authority of Hoveden But as for that other banner of the Saxons which Bede calls Tufa and that Reafan of the Danes Tâ—◠〈…〉 I will say nothing of them in this place left I should seem to make too large a digression 21 Between Padstow and Tindagel inwardly there extendeth a fruitful vein and therein flourish the families of the Roscarrock Carnsew Penkevel Cavel Penkavell of ancient name and great respect in this coast Upon the same coast which is not very fruitful and wants wood there stands expos'd to the sea Botereaux-castle corrupted by the vulgar into Bos-castell Bâ—â— built by the Lords of it the Botereauxs who bore in a shield argent three toads sable William Botereaux was the first of any great note in this family who marry'd Alice daughter of Robert Corbet whose sister was concubine to K. Henry 1. and he had by her Reginald Earl of Cornwall From this William eleven flourish'd successively But Margaret only daughter 22 And sole-heir to the last was marry'd to Robert Hungerford by whose posterity the estate came to the Hastings after it had been much augmented and made more honourable by the marriages of the Botereauxs with the heiresses of the noble families of the Moeles S. Laud or S. Lo and Thweng q Oâ—â— Râ—â— From hence northward the land shoots it self so far into the sea that the County between the two seas x It is above 30 miles in breadth is 23 miles broad tho' it has been hitherto but very narrow At the greatest
whom Richard 1. afterwards bestow'd it with other Counties But John coming to the Crown of England his second son Richard had this honour with the Earldom of Poictou conferr'd upon him by his Brother Henry 3. This Richard was a powerful Prince in his time as also a religious man valiant in war and of great conduct behaving himself in Aquitain with wonderful valour and success Going to the Holy Land he forc'd the Saracens to a truce refus'd the kingdom of Apulia when offer'd him by the Pope quieted many tumults in England and being chosen King of the Romans by the 7 Electors of Germany in the year 1257 was crown'd at Aix la Chapelle There is a common verse which intimates that he bought this honour Nummus ait pro me nubit Cornubia Romae Cornwall to Rome Almighty money joyn'd For before he was so famous a mony'd man that a Cotemporary Writer has told us he was able to spend a hundred marks a day for 10 years together But the civil wars breaking out in Germany 30 Among the Competitors of the Empire he quickly return'd to England where he dy'd and was bury'd at the famous Monastery of Hales which himself had built a little after his eldest son Henry in his return from the Holy wars as he was at his devotions in a Church at Viterbium in Italy had been villanously murder'd by Guido de Montefort son of Simon Earl of Leicester in revenge of his father's death For which reason his second son Edmund succeeded in the Earldom of Cornwall who dying without children his large inheritance return'd to the King he as the Lawyers term it being found next a-kin and heir at law The Arms of the Earls of Cornwall Now since Richard and his son Edmund were of the blood Royal of England I have often declar'd my self at a loss to know how they came to bear Arms different from those of the Royal Family viz. in a field argent a Lyon rampant gules crowned or within a border sable garnish'd with bezants And all the reason I can give for it is that they might possibly do it in imitation of the Royal Family of France since this way of bearing Arms came to us from the French For the younger sons of the Kings of France have Arms different from the Crown to this day as one may observe in the Families of the Vermandois Dreux and Courtneys And as Robert Duke of Burgundy Bande d'Or and d'Azur a la bordeure de Gâ—eules brother of Henry 1. King of France took the ancient Shield of the Dukes of Burgundy so this Richard after he had the Earldom of Poictou bestow'd upon him by his brother K. Henry 3. might probably take that Lyon gules crown'd which as the French Authors inform us belong'd to his Predecessors Earls of Poictou Memoriales de Aquitaine and might add that border sable garnish'd with bezants out of the ancient Shield of the Earls of Cornwall For assoon as the younger sons of France began to bear the Royal Arms with some difference we presently follow'd them and Edward 1.'s children were the first instance But where am I rambling to please my self with the niceties of my own profession After Cornwall was united to the Crown Edward 2. who had large possessions given him by his father in those parts conferr'd the title of Earl of Cornwall upon Priece Gaveston a Gascoine who had been the great debaucher of him in his youth But he being seiz'd by the Barons for corrupting the Prince and for other crimes was beheaded and succeeded by John de Eltham younger son of Edw. 2. 31 Advanc'd thereunto by his brother Edward 3. Hol. who being young and dying without issue Edw. 3. Dukes of Cornwall erected Cornwall into a Dukedom and invested Edward his son a most accomplish'd Soldier in the year 1336 with the Dukedom of Cornwall by a wreath on his head a ring upon his finger and a silver verge Since which time g In the 11 of Edw. 3. it was granted Quod primogenitus filius Regis Angliae qui foret haereditabilis regno foret Dux Cornubiae c. So Richard de Bordeaux son to the Black-Prince was not Duke of Cornwall by virtue hereof but was created by Charter Nor was Elizabeth eldest daughter to King Edw. 4. Dutchess hereof because 't is limited to the Son Neither was Henry 8. in the life-time of his father after the death of Prince Arthur Duke hereof because he was not eldest son as I shall observe from Record leaving still the judgment of it to the opinion of Lawyers the eldest son of the King of England is born Earl of Cornwall and by a special Act made in that case Oâ—◠〈◊〉 Hâ—â— he is to be presum'd of full age assoon as ever he is born so that he may claim livery and seisin of the said Dukedom the same day he 's born and ought by right to obtain it as if he had fully compleated the age of twenty one He hath also Royalties and Prerogatives in actions the stannaries wrecks customs c. for which and the like he has certain Officers appointed him But these matters are laid open more distinctly and at large by Richard Carew of Anthony a person no less eminent for his honorable Ancestors than his own virtue and learning who hath describ'd this County at large not contenting himself with a narrow draught and whom I cannot but acknowledge to have been my guide There are in this County 161 Parishes ADDITIONS to CORNWALL CORNWALL as by the situation 't is in a manner cut from the rest of England so by its peculiar customs and privileges added to a difference of Language it may seem to be another Kingdom Upon which account it is necessary to give some light into these matters before we enter upon the Survey of the County Privileges of Cornwall To begin with the Privileges In the 21. of Elizabeth it was order'd that all charge of Custom for transporting of Cornish Cloath upon any English-man within the Dutchy of Cornwall should be discharg'd and that for the future no Custom should be paid for it This was first granted them by the Black-Prince and hath always been enjoy'd by them in consideration that they have paid and do still pay 4 s. for the coynage of every hundred of tinn whereas Devonshire pays but 8 d. They have also the freedom to take sand out of the sea and carry it through the whole County to manure their ground withal * R. Chart. de An. 45 Hen. 3. This is a Grant made by Richard Duke of Cornwall which is confirm'd An. 45 Hen. 3. by that King whereupon in the next Reign upon an Inquisition made we find a complaint that Saltash had lately taken yearly 12 s. for each Barge that carry'd Sand up Tamar whereas nothing ought to have been demanded By this it appears that ever since Hen. 3. at least this has been the
above Padstow is Wadebridge Wadebridge a bridge of seventeen arches and much the largest in the whole country †Lel. Itinerar vol. 2. It was built by one Love-bone Vicar of the place to prevent those dangers which passengers on horse-back were expos'd to by ferrying over The foundations of some of the arches were first laid upon quick sands which made the undertaker despair of effecting his design till he laid packs of wool for the ground work q Upon the north-coast is Botereaux Botereaux which by marriage with an heiress of that name our Author tells us came to the Hungerfords By her Robert Lord Hungerford had issue Robert Lord Hungerford and Molins and he Thomas Lord Hungerford his son whose sole heiress Mary was marry'd to Edward Lord Hastings and Hungerford by whom he had George the first of that Sirname Earl of Huntingdon This castle with a large inheritance continu'd in that family until the reign of Queen Elizabeth r Towards the north-east upon the same coast lies Stratton Stratton near which place the Cornish forces for K. Charles 1. An. 1643. gain'd a victory over the Parliament-army In the place there follow'd a prodigious crop of barley ten or twelve ears on one stalk So formerly after the battle with the Danes in Swornfield a certain shrub sprang up therefore call'd Dane-ball or Dane-wort by others Dwarf-elder which is no where else to be found but there or transplanted from thence Continuation of the DUKES By virtue of that Privilege mention'd by our Author whereby the King 's eldest Son is born Duke of Cornwall since Edward the black-Black-Prince the heirs apparent to the Crown of England if eldest sons have enjoy'd it successively A Catalogue of more rare Plants growing wild in Cornwall Alsine spuria pusilla repens foliis saxifragae aureae Small creeping round-leaved bastard chickweed On moist banks in many places both of Cornwall and Devonshire together with Campanula Cymbalariae foliis This Plant is figur'd by Dr. Plukenet Phytograph Tab. 7. and describ'd in Synops Stirp Britan. Asparagus palustris Ger. marinus J.B. marinus crassiore folio Park maritimus crassiore folio C.B. Marsh-Asparagus or Sperage It is found growing on the cliffs at the Lizard-point in Cornwall Ascyrum supinum villosum palustre C. B. Park Ascyr 2. sive supinum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clusii Ger. emac. Round-leaved marsh St. Peter's wort On boggy grounds about springing waters in many places most abundantly towards the Lands end in this County Campanula Cymbalariae foliis Ger. emac. Park Cymbalariae foliis vel folio hederaceo C. B. folio hederaceo species Cantabricae Anguillarae J. B. Tender Ivy-leaved Bellflower On many moist and watery banks in this County and elsewhere in the West of England Centaurium palustre-luteum minimum The least Marsh Centory On a rotten boggy ground between S. Ives and Pensans It grows also in several the like places thereabouts Chamaemelum odoratissimum repens flore simplici J. B. nobile seu odoratius C. B. Romanum Ger. Sweet scented creeping Camomile or common Camomile It grows so plentifully upon the downs in this Countrey that you may scent it all along as you ride Erica foliis Corios multiflora J. B. Coris folio secundae altera species Clus. Juniperifolia Narbonensis densè fruticans Lob. Fir-leaved Heath with many flowers On Goon-hilly downs going from Helston to the Lizard point plentifully This is different from the the second Erica Coris folio of Clusius notwithstanding that C. Bauhine and Parkinson following him make it the same therewith For Clusius himself distinguisheth them Euphrasia lutea latifolia palustris Euph. latifolia viscata serrata H. Reg. Blaes Great yellow Marsh Eybright About boggy and watery places especially towards the further end of this County plentifully Figured in Dr. Plukenet's Phytogr Tab. 27. Foeniculum vulgare Ger. Park vulgare minus nigriore acriore semine J. B. vulgare Germanicum C. B. item sylvestre ejusdem Common Fennel or Finckle All along the cliffs between Lalant and St. Ives and thereabouts plentifully Geranium pusillum maritimum supinum Betonicae folio nostras Small Sea-Cranesbill with Betony leaves In sandy and gravelly places near the Sea about Pensans and elsewhere abundantly This is figured by Dr. Plukenet in his Phytographia Tab. 31. Fig. 4. Gnaphalium maritimum C. B. maritimum multis J. B. marinum Ger. marinum seu cotonaria Park Sea-Cudweed or Cotton-weed On the baich or gravelly shore between Pensans and St. Michael's mount plentifully Gramen dactyloides radice repente Ger. dactylon folio arundinaceo majus C. B. repens cum panicula Graminis Mannae J. B. canarium Ischaemi paniculis Park Creeping Cocksfoot-grass Found by Mr. Newton on the sandy shores between Pensans and Marketjeu plentifully Herniaria glabra Herniaria Ger. J. B. Millegrana major seu Herniaria vulgaris Park Polygonum minus S. Millegrana minor C. B. Smooth-leaved Rupturewort At the Lizard point plentifully Hyacinthus Autumnalis minor Ger. Park Autumnalis minimus J. B. stellaris Autumnalis minor C. B. The lesser Autumnal Star-Hyacinth On the Promontory called the Lizard point plentifully Pisum maritimum Anglicum The English Sea-pease The same I suppose which grows on the baich between Aldburgh and Orford in Suffolk where see the Synonyma On the baich near Pensans where the Gnaphalium marinum grows DEVONSHIRE By Rob rt Morden Linaria odorata Monspessulana J. B. An Linaria capillaceo folio erecta flore odoro C. B Linar caryophyllata albicans C. B Blue sweet-smelling Toad-flax Near Perin along the hedges plentifully It grows sometimes a yard high The leaves are not set confusedly on the stalk as in the common Linaria but in rundles at distances The stalks are brittle much branched toward the top and the flowers stand not thick clustering together but more sparsed or at greater intervals and are of a pale blue and streaked all along heel and all with a deeper The lower lip at the gaping is spotted with yellow Linum sylvestre angustifolium floribus dilutè purpurascentibus vel carneis C. B. sylv angustifolium J. B. An Linum sylvestre angustifolium 6. Clus an Lini sylv quinti varietas ejusdem Narrow-leaved wild Flax. In the pastures by the Sea-side about S. Ives and Truro plentifully Peplis J. B. Jer. Park maritima folio obtuso C. B. Small purple Sea-spurge On the sandy shores between Pensans and Market jeu plentifully I have not found this any where else in England but in hot Countries as Italy abundantly Pinguicula flore minore carneo Butterwort with a small flesh-coloured flower in moist meadows and marsh-grounds about Kilkhampton and elsewhere Polygonum Serpyllifolium verticillatum Polyg parvum flore alb verticillato J. B. An Polygala repens nuperorum Lob repens Park repens nivea C. B. Verticillate Knot-grass with Thyme-like leaves It grows in watery places near Springs between S. Columbe and Michil and about Pensans and towards the Lands end in many places To these I
be made toll-free in all places saith Ely book freed it from that burthen of watching and warding the duty it ow'd to Norwich-Castle He made the way from Exning to Ely above six miles through the fens 5 He began the fair Palace at Ely for his successors and purchas'd many a fair estate for the Church s use His successors by lessening the number of Monks for from 70 they brought 'em to 40 and by the plenty of all things overflow'd with wealth and riches even till our fathers days and their Holydays and Festivals were always celebrated with such great provisions and pomp that they won the prize in that point from all the Monasteries in England Whence a Poet in those times not improperly says Praevisis aliis Eliensia festa videre Est quasi praevisa nocte videre diem After all others see but Ely's feast You 'll see glad day when tedious night is past The Cathedral also which began to totter with age they built by degrees and brought it to that magnificence it now has 't is a spacious stately and beautiful structure but somewhat defac'd by shamefully breaking down the Noblemens and Bishops tombs Now instead of the full Convent of Monks there is a Dean Prebendaries and a Free-school for the teaching and maintaining 24 boys m In Ely the Bishop has a stately Palace built of late years there are four things about this Church much talk'd of by the common people the Lantern on the top of all just over the Quire supported by eight pillars with singular art hung by John de Hothum the Bishop St. Mary's Chapel standing under the Church to the North a delicate piece of work built by Simon Montacute Bishop a great round heap of earth and very high call'd The Mount on the South-side where a Wind-mill stands lastly a famous fruitful Vine which is now wither'd Which four were joyn'd together in these Rhimes by a certain Monk of the place Haec sunt Eliae Lanterna Capella Mariae Atque Molendinum necnon dans vinea Vinum Saint Mary's Chapel you at Ely see The lofty Lantern rival of the sky The Mill and Vine that bread and drink supply As for Ely it self it is a pretty large city but not much remarkable either for beauty or populousness by reason of its fenny situation and unwholesom air 6 Although it be seated somewhat higher Near to it is Downham where the Bishop hath his residing house with a Park Near to Downham is Cowney the ancientest seat of the family sirnam'd for their habitation here Lisle and De Insula and first planted here by Nigellus the second Bishop of Ely their allie in the time of King Henry 1. as is set down in a Leiger-book of Ely Chateries or Cheaterich is not far hence westward where Alwena a devout woman founded a Nunnery upon a copped ground encompass'd with fens while her husband founded Ramsey z Amidst the same fens to the North-west was a famous Abby from its standing among thorns and bushes call'd Thorney Thorney formerly Ankerige from the Anchorites dwelling there where Sexuulph a very religious devout man as it is in Peterborough-book founded a Monastery with Hermits Cells It was afterwards ruin'd by the Danes but Ethelwold Bishop of Winchester to encourage the Monastick way of living rebuilt it stor'd it with Monks and encompass'd it with trees This place says Malmsbury is the very picture of Paradise for pleasantness resembling Heaven it self amidst the very marshes fruitful in trees whose straight tapering tallness emulates the stars a plain smooth as water charms your eyes with pleasing green where 's no rub to stop the swiftest pace There 's not an inch of ground uncultivated here a place swelling with apple-trees there a field overspread with vines either creeping upon the ground or climbing up poles to support them A mutual strife there is between nature and husbandry that one may always supply what the other forgets What shall I say of the beauty of the buildings to be admir'd if it were only for the fenns making such solid and unshaken foundations It is a wonderful solitary and retir'd place fit indeed for Monks it makes them more mindful of heavenly things and more mortify'd to things below 'T is a prodigy to see a woman here and when but a man comes he 's welcom'd like an Angel So that I may truly call this Isle a Lodge for Chastity an Harbour for Honesty and a School for Divine Philosophy Wisbich Wisbich the Bishop of Ely's castle stands about 13 miles off situated among fens and rivers and lately made a prison for the Romish Priests I have nothing more to say of it but only that this Town and Walepole Walepole were both given to Ely-Monastery by the owner of them at the same time that he dedicated his little son Alwin to a monkish life that William the first erected a castle here when the out-laws made their incursions from these fenny parts and that in the year 1236 the tempestuous waves for two days so violently broke in upon this shore that it drown'd both land and people all about But the Brick-castle that is still there was built by John Morton Bishop of Ely in our grandfathers days who also drew a straight ditch through this fenny Country call'd Newleame Newleame for the better convenience of water-carriage and for encreasing the trade and wealth of this his town tho' indeed it hapn'd to the contrary for it is but of small use and the neighbours mightily complain that this has quite stop'd the course of the Avon or Nen into the Sea by Clowcross Clowcrâ—ss The first Earl of Cambridge Earls of Cambridge was William brother of Ranulph Earl of Chester as may be seen by a Patent of Alexander Bishop of Lincoln dated 1139. After him 't is probable that those Earls of Huntingdon that were of the royal blood of Scotland were likewise Earls of Cambridge for it appears from the publick records of the kingdom That David Earl of Huntingdon receiv'd the third penny of the County of Cambridge A long time after John of Hainault brother to William third Earl of Holland and Hainault was advanc'd to this dignity by Edward 3. for the sake of Queen Philippa whose Kinsman he was For her sake also he honour'd William Marquiss of Juliers her sister's son with the same title after John had revolted and gone over to the French After the decease of these Forreigners King Edward 3. settled this Honour upon his fifth son Edmund of Langley which after he had held four years I have my authority from an old manuscript belonging to that admirable Antiquary Francis Thinn The Earl of Hainault Queen Philippa's Cousin came and openly claim'd it in Parliament but he return'd satisfy'd at last This Edmund of Langley afterwards Duke of York had two Sons Edward Duke of York for a while Earl of Cambridge and slain in the battel of Agincourt and
Richard created Earl of Cambridge by the meer favour of Henry 5. and consent of his own brother Edward But after this perfidious and ambitious man ungratefully conspir'd against the life of that best of Princes and so lost his head the title of Earl of Cambridge was either lost with him or lodg'd among the titles of his son Richard afterwards Duke of York and restor'd to all his dignities as being Kinsman and Heir to his Uncle Edward Duke of York This Shire contains 163 Parishes ADDITIONS to CAMBRIDGESHIRE Improvements of the County a THE County of Cambridge in Saxon Grantabrycgscyr not as our Author Grentbriggscyre and by later writers according to the several ages wherein they liv'd call'd Cantebrigesire Grantebridgescire Cantebriggeschire has of late years had two very considerable improvements of its soil and air the first by planting great quantities of Saintfoine which is brought from foreign parts and thrives only in very dry and barren ground the second by draining the fens in the Isle of Ely a work that was carry'd on at vast expence but has at last turn'd to a double account both in gaining much ground and mending the rest and also in refining and clearing the air and in a great measure taking away that * Under the title Cambridge Caeli gravitas è palustri situ mention'd by our Author Our Author in describing the chief place in it Cambridge Cambridgâ— has hardly allow'd it so much compass as the dignity of so famous an University and Nursery of Learning requires So that 't is no more than justice to be a little more particular upon their several Foundations and the improvements that have been made upon them since his time both in buildings and otherwise b Peter-house Peter-hâ—usâ— seems to have been built some time before 1284. to which year our Author refers it For †History of this Unâ—versity p. 1 Fuller upon whose authority these accounts principally depends tells us that Hugh Balsham when he was only Prior of Ely began the foundation of this house about the year 1257. without Trumpington-gate near the Church of St. Peter from which it seems to have taken the name But all the advantage the Scholars had at first was only the convenience of Chambers which exempted them from those high rents the Townsmen had us'd to exact of them What our Author I suppose refers to is the endowment which was settl'd by the same Hugh when Bishop in 1284. for a Master fourteen Fellows c. which number might be increas'd or diminisht according to the improvement or abatement of their revenues c So likewise the first date of Clare-hall Claâ—e hall tho' not the name is to be carry'd higher than 1340. For this Richard Badew built before that a house call'd University-hall wherein the Scholars liv'd upon their own expence for 16 years together till it was burnt down by a casual fire The founder finding himself unequal to the charge of rebuilding it had the assistance of Elizabeth third sister and coheir of Gilbert Earl of Clare by whose liberality it was built up again and endow'd It is at present one of the neatest and most uniform Houses in the University having been lately new built all of Free-stone d Pembroke-hall Pembroke-hâ—â—â— was founded by Mary de S. Paul third wife to Audomare de Valentia Earl of Pembroke For her husband being unhappily slain at a Tilting on the wedding-day she entirely sequester'd her self from all worldly delights and devoting her self to God amongst other pious acts built this College which was afterwards much augmented by the benefactions of others e Bennet-College Bâ—â—â—et-Câ—â—â—â—ge arose out of two Guilds or Fraternities one of Corpus-Christi and the other of the blessed Virgin These two after long emulation being united into one Body by a joint interest built this College which has its name from the adjoyning Church of St. Benedict Their greatest modern Benefactor was Matthew Parker once Master of the College and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury who by his prudent management recover'd several Rights of the College and besides two Fellowships and five Scholarships gave a great number of excellent Manuscripts to their Library f Trinity-hall Triâ— ty-hâ—â—â— was built upon a place that once belong'd to the Monks of Ely and was a house for Students before the time of Bishop Bateman who by exchange for the Advowsances of certain Rectories got it into his own possession He was a great Master of Civil and Canon Law and so the Master two Fellows and three Scholars the number he appointed at the first Foundation were oblig'd to follow those two Studies It has been since very much augmented by Benefactions and the number of its members is proportionably encreas'd g Caius-College Caiâ—s was at first call'd Gonvil-hall and was built upon the place where now are the Orchard and Tennis-Court of Bennet-College Fâ—â—er's Hâ—â—t of Cambr. p. 5â— But within five years it was remov'd into the place where it stands at present by Bishop Bateman Some time after John Caius Doctor of Physick improv'd this Hall into a new College since call'd after his own name h King's-College King 's was at first but small built by Henry the sixth for a Rector and twelve Scholars There was near it a little Hostle for Grammarians built by William Bingham which was granted by the Founder to the said King Henry for the enlargement of his College Whereupon he united these two and having enlarg'd them by addition of the Church of St. John Zachary founded a fair College for a Provost seventy Fellows and Scholars three Chaplains c. i Queen's-College Queen's was begun by Queen Margaret but the troublesome times coming upon her would not give her leave to compleat her intended fabrick The first Master of it Andrew Ducket by his industry and application procur'd great sums of money from well-dispos'd persons towards the finishing of this work and so far prevail'd upon Queen Elizabeth wife to King Edward the fourth that she perfected what her profess'd Enemy had begun k Catharine-hall Catharine-hall was built by Richard Woodlark third Provost of King's College over against the Carmelites house for one Master and three Fellows and the number encreas'd with the Revenues About one half of it is lately new-built and when 't is finisht it will give place to none in point of beauty and regularity l Jesus-College Jesus was made out of an old Nunnery dedicated to St. Radegund the Nuns whereof were so notorious for their incontinence and so generally complain'd of that King Henry 7. and Pope Julius the second bestow'd it upon John Alcock Bishop of Ely to convert it into a College who establish'd in it a Master six Fellows and six Scholars But their numbers by the great benefactions they have had are very much encreas'd m Christ's-College Christ's was built upon the place where God's-house formerly stood and was endow'd
College here A little higher upon Watlingstreet for so this Military way of the Romans is vulgarly call'd where there is a bridge of stone over the river Anker Manduessedum Manduessedum is seated a town of very great antiquity mention'd by Antoninus which having not yet altogether lost its name is call'd Mancester Mancester and in Ninnius's Catalogue Caer Mancegued Which name since a quarry of free-stone lies near it 't is probable was given it from the stone there digg'd and hew'd For in the Glossaries of the British tongue we learn that Main signifies a stone and Fosswad in the Provincial language digging which being joyn'd together seem aptly enough to express the name Manduessedum u But how great or of what note soever it was in those times 't is now a poor little village containing not above fourteen small houses and hath no other monument of Antiquity to shew but an old Fort which they call Old-bury i.e. an old Burrough w Atherston on the one side a well-frequented market where the Church of the 14 Augustine Friers Friers was converted into a Chapel which nevertheless acknowledges that of Mancester to be the Mother Church and Nonn-eaton on the other side have by their nearness reduc'd Mancester to what you see it Neighbour to Atherston is Meri-val Merival i.e. Merry-vale where Robert de Ferrers built and dedicated a Monastery to God and the blessed Virgin in which his body wrapp'd up in an Ox-hide lies interr'd Beyond these Northward lies Pollesworth Pollesworth where Modwena an Irish virgin fam'd for her wonderful piety built a Nunnery which Robert Marmion a Nobleman who had his castle in the neighbourhood at Stippershull repair'd x Hard by also in the Saxon times flourish'd a town of which there appear now but very small remains call'd Secandunum at this time Seckinton Seckinton where Aethelbald King of the Mercians in a civil war was assassinated by Bcornred Chron. Sax. Beared in the year 749 but in a little time he was cut off by King Offa by the same means falling from the throne by which he had impiously got it y To close the whole I must now give you a Catalogue of the Earls of Warwick Earls of Warwick And to pass over Guar Morindus Guy that Echo of England and many more of that stamp which the fruitful wits of those times brought forth at one birth Henry son of Roger de Bellomonte brother of Robert Earl of Mellent was the first Earl of the Norman race who marry'd Margaret daughter of Aernulph de Hesdin Earl of Perch a person of mighty power and authority Of this family there were who bore that honour Roger son of Henry William son of Roger who dy'd in the 30th of King Henry the second Walleran his brother Henry son of Walleranâ— Thomas his son who dy'd without issue in the 26th of Henry the third and his sister Margery surviving was Countess of Warwick and dy'd childless Her two husbands nevertheless first John Mareschal Plaâ—â—â—3 Rot â—34 then John de Plessets in right of their wife and by the favour of their Prince were rais'd to the honour of Earls of Warwick But these dying without any issue by Margery Walleran Margery's uncle by the father succeeded in the honour and he dying without issue Alice his sister came to the Inheritance Afterwards William her son call'd Male-doctus Malduit and Manduit de Hanslap who dy'd also without issue But Isabel his sister being marry'd to William de Bello Campo or Beauchamp Baron of Elmesly carry'd the Earldom into the family of the Beauchamps Who if I am not mistaken because they were descended from a daughter of Ursus de Abtot gave the Bear for their Cognisance and left it to their posterity Of this family there were six Earls and one Duke William the son of Isabel John Guy Thomas Thomas the younger Richard and lastly Henry to whom King Henry the sixth made a Grant without precedent That he should be primier Earl of all England and use this title Henry primier Earl of all England and Earl of Warwick Rot. Parâ— 23 Hen. â— He made him also King of the Isle of Wight afterwards created him Duke of Warwick and by the express words of his Patent granted that he should have place in Parliament and elsewhere next to the Duke of Norfolk and before the Duke of Buckingham He had but one daughter Anne 24 Hâ— who in the Inquisitions was stil'd Countess of Warwick and dy'd in her Infancy She was succeeded by Richard Nevill who had marry'd the daughter of the said Duke of Warwick a person of an invincible spirit but changeable and fickle in his Allegiance the very sport and tennis-ball of fortune Who altho' no King himself was yet superiour to Kings as being the person who depos'd Henry the sixth a most bountiful Prince to him and set up Edward the fourth in his place Afterwards he un-king'd him again re-establisht Henry the sixth in the Throne and involv'd the kingdom in the flames of a civil war which were not extinguisht but with his own blood 15 After his death Anne his wife by Act of Parliament was excluded and debarred from all her lands for ever and his two daughters heirs to him and heirs apparent to their mother being married to George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Glocester were enabled to enjoy all the said lands in such wise as if the said Anne their mother were naturally dead Whereupon the name stile and title of Earl of Warwick and Sarisbury was granted to George Duke of Clarence who soon after was unnaturally dispatch'd by a sweet death in a Butt of Malvesey by his suspicious brother King Edw. 4. His young son Edward was stil'd Earl of Warwick and being but a very child was beheaded by King Henry 7. to secure himself and his posterity The death of this Edward our Ancestors accounted to be the full period and final end of the long lasting war between the two royal houses of Lancaster and York Wherein as they reckon'd from the 28th year of Henry 6. unto this being the 15th of Henry 7. there were 13 fields fought 3 Kings of England 1 Prince of Wales 12 Dukes 1 Marquis 18 Earls with one Vicount and 23 Barons besides Knights and Gentlemen lost their lives Edward son of one of his daughters by George Duke of Clarence succeeded whom Henry the seventh for neither youth nor innocence could protect him to secure himself and the line put to death The title of this Earldom which was become formidable to Henry the eighth by the great troubles Richard Nevil that scourge of Kings had created lay dormant till Edward the sixth gave it to John Dudley deriving a title from the Beauchamps He as the before mention'd Richard endeavouring to subvert the Government under Queen Mary had his boundless ambition punisht with the loss of his head But his sons first John whilst his father was
designs took him off r In the late Civil wars being made a garrison it was almost ruin'd so that he left his project unfinish'd 22 And the old Castle defac'd The family of these Corbets is ancient and of great repute in this Shire and held large estates by fealty of Roger de Montgomery Earl of Shrewsbury about the coming in of the Normans viz. Roger Corbet the son held Huelebec Hundeslit Actun Fernleg c. Robert Corbet the son held lands in Ulestanston Corbet pranomen Rotlinghop Branten Udecot 23 And in later ages this family far and fairly propagated receiv'd encrease both of revenue and great alliance by the marriage of an heir of Hopton More to the south lies Arcoll Arcoll a seat of the Newports 24 Knights of great worship descended from the Barons Grey of Codnor and the Lords of Mothwy Knights and in its neighbourhood is Hagmond-Abbey Hagmond-Abbey which was well endow'd if not founded by the Fitz-Alanes Not much lower is pleasantly situated upon the Severn the Metropolis of this County risen out of the ruins of old Uriconium which we call Shrewsbury Shrewsbury and now a-days more softly and smoothly Shrowsbury Our Ancestors call'd it Scrobbes-byrig because the hill it stands on was well wooded In which sense the Greeks nam'd their Bessa and the Britains this city Penguerne that is the brow of Alders where likewise was a noble Palace so nam'd but how it comes to be call'd in Welsh Ymwithig by the Normans Scropesbery Sloppesbury and Salop and in Latin Salopia I know not unless they be deriv'd from the old word Scrobbes-berig differently wrested Yet some Criticks in the Welsh tongue imagine 't was call'd Ymwithig as much as Placentia from the Welsh Mwithau and that their Bards gave it that name because their Princes of Wales delighted most in this place It is situated upon a hill the earth of which is of a red-dish colour the Severn is here passable by two fair bridges and embracing it almost round makes it a Peninsula as Leland our Poet and Antiquary describes it Edita Pinguerni late fastigia splendent Urbs sita lunato veluti mediamnis in orbe Colle tumet modico duplici quoque ponte superbit Accipiens patriâ sibi linguâ nomen ab alnis Far off it's lofty walls proud Shrewsb'ry shows Which stately Severn 's crystal arms enclose Here two fair bridges awe the subject stream And Alder-trees bestow'd the ancient name 'T is both naturally strong and well-fortified by art for Roger de Montgomery who had it given him by the Conquerour built a Castle upon a rising rock i in the northern parts of this town after he had pull'd down about 50 houses whose son Robert when he revolted from King Hen. 1. enclos'd it with walls on that side where the Severn does not defend it k which were never assaulted that I know of in any war but that of the Barons against King John When the Normans first settl'd here 't was a well-built city and well frequented for as it appears by Domesday-book 25 In King Edward the Confessor's time it paid Gelt according to an hundred Hides In the Conquerour's time it paid yearly seven pounds c. it was tax'd 7 l. 16 s. to the King yearly There were reckon'd 252 Citizens 12 of whom were bound to keep guard when the Kings of England came hither and as many to attend him whenever he hunted which I believe was first occasion'd by one Edrick Sueona a Mercian Duke but a profligate villain who ſ An. Christi 1006. Flor. Wigorn. not long before had way-lay'd Prince Alfhelm and slain him as he was hunting At which time as appears by the same book there was t There are not now the least remains of any such custom a custom in this city That what way soever a woman marry'd if a widow she should pay to the King 20 shillings but if a virgin 10 shillings in what manner soever she took the husband But to return this Earl Roger not only fortify'd it but improv'd it much by other useful buildings both publick and private and founded a beautiful Monastery dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul and endow'd it liberally as he did likewise u The very marks of this Church are quite gone unless it was mistaken for St. Giles's yet standing in the same parish tho' ruinous and which some alledge was the ancient Parish-Church the Church-yard of it being yet their common place of burial St. Gregory's Church upon these conditions so a private history of this Monastery expresses it That when the Prebendaries thereof should die the Prebends should go to the Monks From which arose no small contest for the Prebendaries sons su'd the Monks to succeed their fathers in those Prebends and at that time Prebendaries and Clerks in England were not oblig'd to celibacy but it was customary for Ecclesiastical Benefices to descend hereditarily to the next of blood Prebends inheritable But this controversie was settled in Henry 1.'s reign That heirs should not inherit Ecclesiastical Benefices about which time laws were enacted obliging Clergy-men to celibacy Afterwards other Churches were here built and to pass by the Covents of Dominican Franciscan and Augustine Friers sounded by the Charltons Jenevills and Staffords there were two Collegiate Churches w Besides these there are two other Parish-Churches within the walls St. Alkman's and St. Julian's erected St. Chads with a Dean and ten Prebendaries and St. Mary's with a Dean and nine minor Prebends At this day 't is a fine City well inhabited of good commerce and by the industry of the Citizens their Cloath-manufacture and their trade with the Welsh very rich for hither all Welsh commodities are brought as to the common Mart of both Nations It 's Inhabitants art partly English partly Welsh they use both Languages and this must be mention'd in their praise that they have set up 25 A School wherein were more Scholars in number when I first saw it than any School in England one of the largest Schools in England for the education of youth for which Thomas Aston the first Head-School-master a man of great worth and integrity provided by his own industry a competent Salary l 26 It shall not now I hope be impertinent to note that when divers of the Nobility conspir'd against King Henry 4. with a purpose to advance Edmund Mortimer Earl of March to the Crown as the undoubtful and right heir whose father King Richard the second had also declar'd heir-apparent and Sir Henry Percy call'd Hot-Spur then addressed himself to give the assault to Shrewsbury c. At this city when Henry Percy the younger rebell'd against Henry the fourth and was resolutely bent to attack its walls which that King had made exceeding strong by a turn of Fortune he was prevented and his measures broken in a trice for the King himself was suddenly at his
Isabella and Delaley and other large Possessions which by the Outlawry of Richard Earl of Arundel were then forfeited to the Crown Richard himself was styl'd Princeps Cestriae Prince of Chester But this title was but of small duration no longer than till Henry the fourth repeal'd the Laws of the said Parliament for then it became a County Palatine again and retains that Prerogative to this day which is administred by a Chamberlain 11 Who hath all jurisdiction of a Chancellour within the said County Palatine a Judge Special 12 For matters in Common-Plees and Plees of the Crown to be heard and determin'd in the said County two Barons of the Exchequer three Serjeants at Law a Sheriff an Attorney an Escheator 13 And the Inhabitants of the said County for the enjoying of their Liberties were to pay at the change of every owner of the said Earldom a sum of money about 3000 marks by the name of a Mize as the County of Flint being a parcel thereof about 2000 marks if I have not been misinform'd c. We have now survey'd the Country of the Cornavii who together with the Coritani Dobuni and Catuellani made one entire Kingdom in the Saxon Heptarchy then called by them Myrcna-ric and Mearc-lond but render'd by the Latins Meâ—cia from a Saxon word Mearc which signifies limit for the other Kingdoms border'd upon this This was by far the largest Kingdom of them all begun by Crida the Saxon about the year 586. and enlarg'd on all hands by Penda and a littlâ— after under Peada converted to Christianity But after a duration of 250 years it was too late subjected to the Dominion of the West-Saxons when it had long endured all the outrage and misery that the Danish wars could inflict upon it This County has about 68 Parishes ADDITIONS to CHESHIRE AS the County of Chester exceeds most others in the antiquitâ— and Royalty of it's jurisdiction and multitude of it's ancient Gentry so the famous Colony settled in it under the Roman Government has render'd it very considerable for Antiquities Nor had that Subject wanted a due examination or the remains of Antiquity layn so long undiscover'd if most of it's Historians had not been led away with a chain of groundless stories and extravagant conjectures 'T is true Sir Peter Leicester has made due searches into the Records relating to this County especially to Bucklow-Hundred and reported them with great exactness and fidelity but the Roman affairs he has left so entirely untouch'd that 't is plain he either industriously declin'd them as foreign to his business or wanted experience to carry him through that part of history In like manner Sir John Doderidge a man of great learning in his Treatise concerning this County hath exactly stated the ancient and present revenues thereof but was not so diligent in his enquiries concerning the original of the County Palatine as might from a man of his Profession have been reasonably expected However his defect in this point is in a great measure supply'd by what the learned Mr. Harrington has left upon that subject a Gentleman by whose death Learning in general and particularly the Antiquities of this County which he had design'd to illustrate and improve have suffer'd very much a To begin then with Mr. Camden who first observes that this is a County Palatine County Palatine It may be worth our notice that it had this additional title upon the coming over of the Normans At first indeed William the Conquerour gave this Province to Gherbord a Nobleman of Flanders who had only the same title and power as the Officiary Earls amongst the Saxons had enjoy'd the inheritance the Earldom and grandeur of the Tenure being not yet settl'd Afterwards Hugh Lupus son of the Viscount of Auranches a Nephew of William the Conquerour by his sister receiv'd this Earldom from the Conquerour under the greatest and most honourable Tenure that ever was granted to a Subject Totum hunc dedit Comitatum tenendum sibi haeredibus suis ita liberè ad gladium sicut ipse Rex tenebat Angliae coronam The vast extent of the Powers convey'd in this Grant carry'd in them Palatine jurisdiction tho' it is certain that neither Hugh Lupus nor any of his successors were in the Grant it self or any ancient Records stil'd Comites Palatini As to the original of Palatinates in general it is clear that anciently in the decline of the Roman Empire the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the name imports were only officers of the Courts of Princes The term in process of time was restrain'd to those who had the final deteâ—mination of Causes under the King or Emperour And those that exercis d this sovereignty of jurisdiction in any Precinct or Province were call'd Comites Palatini and the place where the jurisdiction was us'd Palatinatus a Palatinate Instances of such personal offices in the Court we may still observe in the Palatine of Hungary and examples of such local authority we have in the Palatinates of the Rhine Durham and Lancaster Whether therefore the ancient Palatines were equal to the Praefecti Praetorio the Curopalatae the Grand Maistres in France or the ancient Chief Justices in England we need not dispute since it is clear that the Comites Palatini as all new-erected Officers titles retain'd many of the powers of the ancient but still had many characters of difference as well as some of resemblance By virtue of this Grant Chester enjoy'd all sovereign jurisdiction within its own precincts and that in so high a degree that the ancient Earls had Parliaments consisting of their own Barons and Tenants and were not oblig'd by the English Acts of Parliament These high and unaccountable jurisdictions were thought necessary upon the Marches and Borders of the Kingdom as investing the Governour of the Provinces with Dictatorial power and enabling them more effectually to subdue the common enemies of the Nation But when the same power that was formerly a good bar against Invaders grew formidable to the Kings themselves Henry 8. restrain'd the sovereignty of the Palatinates and made them not only subordinate to but dependent on the Crown of England And yet after that restraining Statute all Pleas of Lands and Tenements all Contracts arising within this County are and ought to be judicially heard and determin'd within this Shire and not elsewhere and if any determination be made out of it it is void and coram non judice except in cases of Error Foreign-Plea and Foreign Voucher And there is no other crime but Treason that can draw an inhabitant of this County to a Tryal elsewhere This jurisdiction tho' held now in other Counties was most anciently claim'd and enjoy'd by this County of Chester The Palatinate of Lancaster which was the Favourite-Province of the Kings of that House was erected under Edw. 1. and granted by him to Henry the first Duke of Lancaster and even in the Act of
Gaul were built either by Duke Medus or Prince Olanus or that whilst it was building Sus mediatim lanata a Sow half clad with wooll was dug up should I not seem to grasp at clouds and trifles And yet the Italians tell all these stories of their Mediolanum But seeing it is most evident that all these were founded by people who spoke the same language for we have shewn already that the Gauls and Britains used one common tongue it seems highly probable that they had their denomination from one and the same original Now our Mediolanum agrees in nothing with that of Italy but that each of them are seated in a Plain between two rivers and a learned Italian has from thence derived the name of his Mediolanum for that it is seated media inter lanas Lana 〈◊〉 it signâ—â—â—â— which he interprets betwixt Brooks or small Rivers e 4 But this may seem over-much of Mediolanum which I have sought here and about Alcester not far off This County has dignified no Earl with its name and title till very lately An. 1605. King James created at Greenwich Philip Herbert a younger son of Henry Earl of Penbroke by Mary Sydney at one and the same time Baron Herbert of Shurland and Earl of Montgomery Earls of Montgomery as a particular mark of his favour and for the great hopes he conceiv'd of his virtuous qualifications The Princes of Powis Princes of Powys descended from Roderic the Great †Froâ— Bledhyn 〈◊〉 Kynvyâ— Powel 〈◊〉 Lords of Powys possess'd this County with some others in a continued series till the time of Edward the second For then Owen the son of Grufydh ap Givenŵynwyn the last Lord of Powys of British Extraction for the title of Prince was discontinued long before left only one daughter call'd Hawis D. Powâ—â— who was married to 5 Sir John John Charlton an English-man the King's Valect and he thereupon created Earl of Powys by King Edward the second His Arms as I have observed in several places were Or a Lion rampant Gules 6 Which he receiv'd from his wife's Progenitors He was succeeded in this title by four Barons until the male-line became extinct in Edward who by Aeleanora daughter and one of the heiresses of Thomas Holland Earl of Kent had two daughters viz. Jane married to Sir John Grey and Joyce the wife of John Lord Tiptoft from whom descended the Barons Dudley and others Dupli Norm 6 Hen. 5. This Sir John Grey by his own martial valour and the munificence of King Henry the fifth receiv'd the Earldom of Tanquervil Earl of Tanquerâ—â—â— in Normandy to him and his heirs male delivering one Bassinet at the Castle of Roan yearly on St. George's day His son was Henry Lord Powys in whose Family the title of Powys continued honourable to Edward Grey who not long before our time died without lawful issue f There are in this County 47 Parishes ADDITIONS to MONTGOMERYSHIRE a KEvn Kaer Kevn Kaer tho' it be here mention'd lyes in the County of Meirionydh concerning which a Gentleman who has liv'd there many years adds this farther account The main Fort which was on the highest part of the hill was built quadrangularly and encompass'd with a strong wall and a broad ditch of an oval form excepting that towards the valley 't was extended in a direct line On the out-side of the great ditch next the river Dyvi the foundations of many Houses have been discover'd and on a lower Mount there stood a small Fort which may be supposed to have been built of bricks for that they find there plenty of them All the out-walls were built of a rough hard stone which must have been carried thither by water there being none such nearer than Tâl y Ganeg distant from this place about seven miles From the Fort to the water-side there 's a broad hard way of pitch'd pebles and other stones continued in a straight line through meadows and marsh-grounds which may be about two hundred yards long and ten or twelve in breadth It is very evident this Fort hath been demolish'd before the building of the Church of Penalht for that we find in the walls of that Church several bricks mixt with the stones which were doubtless brought thither from this place Roman Coyns have been found here since Mr. Camden's time particularly some silver pieces of Augustus and Tiberius and near the main Fort in a field call'd Kâe Lhŵyn y Neuodh i.e. the Court or Palace-grove a small gold chain was found about four inches long and another time a Saphire-stone neatly cut Some other things of less note have been discover'd in the same place as a very large brass Cauldron used since as a brewing vessel at Kae'r Berlhan several pieces of lead and some very odd Glasses of a round form like hoops which were of several sizes some of them being about twenty inches in circumference others much less c. These hoop-glasses were curiously listed of divers colours some of which being broke 't was observ'd that variety proceeded from Sands or Powders of the same colours inclosed in several Cells within the Glass b Kaer Sŵs â—â—er Sws was anciently a town of considerable note as may be concluded from the street there and the lanes about it I cannot learn that any Roman coyns have been discover'd at this place however that it was of Roman foundation seems highly probable for that there have been lately besides some neat hewn stones for building several bricks dug up there of that kind we frequently meet with in such ancient Cities as were possess'd by the Romans It has had a Castle and at least one Church and is said to have been heretofore the seat of the Lords of Arwystli but how far this town extended seems at present altogether uncertain It has had encampments about it at three several places viz. First on the North-side on a Mountain call'd Gwyn-vynydh Secondly Eastward near a place call'd Rhôs dhiarbed in the parish of Lhan Dhinam where besides entrenchments there 's a very large Mount or Barrow And thirdly at a place call'd Kevn Karnedh about a quarter of a mile on the West-side of the town Moreover about half a mile Southward from this Kevn Kardnedh on the top of a hill above Lhan Dhinam Church there 's a remarkable entrenchment call'd y Gaer Vechan which name may signifie either the lesser City or the lesser Fortification but is here doubtless put for the latter c The stones on the top of Corndon-hill â—â—rndon-â—â—â—â— whence 〈◊〉 call'd are no other than four such rude heaps as are commonly known on the Mountains of Wales by the name of Karneu and Karnedheu whereof the Reader may find some general account in Radnorshire And to me it seems very probable seeing these stones can in no respect be compar'd to a Crown that the name of Corndon is derived from this word Karn the singular of
of Hilda's Hilda prayers as if she had transform'd them c In the infancy of the Saxon Church she withstood to the utmost of her power the tonsure of the Clergy and the celebration of Easter after the Roman manner in a Synod touching these matters An. 664. held in the Monastery she had founded in this place whereof her self was first Governess d Geese droping down It is also ascribed to the power of her sanctity that those wild Geese which in the winter fly in great flocks to the lakes and rivers unfrozen in the southern parts to the great amazement of every one fall down suddenly upon the ground when they are in their flight over certain neighbouring fields hereabouts a relation I should not have made if I had not received it from several very credible men But those who are less inclin'd to heed superstition attribute it to some occult quality in the ground and to somewhat of antipathy between it and the Geese such as they say is between Wolves and Scylla-roots For that such hidden tendencies and aversions as we call Sympathies and Antipathies Sympathy and Antipathy are implanted in many things by provident nature for the preservation of them is a thing so evident that every body grants it Edelfleda the daughter of King Oswin afterwards enriched this Abbey with very large revenues and here also she buried her father But at length in the times of the Danish ravages it was destroyed and although Serlo Percius who presently after the Conquest was made Governour of it rebuilt it yet at this day it has hardly the least shew of its ancient greatness Hard by upon a steep hill near the sea which yet is between two that are much higher a Castle of Wada a Saxon Duke is said to have stood Duke Wada from whom the family of the Wadâ—s derive their pedigree who in the confused disorderly times of the Northumbrians so fatal to petty Princes having combined with those that murder'd King Ethered gave battel to King Ardulph at Whalley in Lancashire but with such ill fortune that his army was routed and himself forced to fly for it Afterwards he fell into a distemper which kill'd him and was interr'd on a hill here between two hard stones about seven foot high which being at twelve foot distance from one another Wadesgrave occasions a current report that he was a gyant in bulk and stature Long after Peter de Malo-lacu built a Castle near this place which from its grace and beauty he nam'd in French Moultgrace Moulgrave Castle as we find it in the History of Meaux but because it became a grievance to the neighbours thereabouts the people who have always the right of coyning words by changing one single letter call'd it Moult-grave by which name it is every where known tho' the reason of it be little understood Barons de Malo-lacu This Peter de Malo-lacu commonly called Mauley that I may satisfie the curious in this point born in Poictou in France married the only daughter of Robert de Turnham in the reign of Rich. 2. by whose right he came to a very great inheritance here enjoyed by seven Peters Lords de Malo-lacu successively who bore for their Arms a bend sable in an Escocheon Or. But at last the seventh dying without issue 1 The inheritance of Dancaster Bainton Bridesalle c. were parted c. the inheritance came to be parted by the sisters between the Knightly families of the Salvains and Bigots e Near this place and elsewhere on this shore is found Black Amber or Geate Geate Some take it to be the Gagates Gagates which was valued by the Ancients among the rarest stones and jewels It grows upon the rocks within a chink or cliff of them and before it is polish'd looks reddish and rusty but after is really as Solinus describes them black and shining like a diamond Others are of opinion that our Pit-coal is a sort of Gagates Of which thus Rhemnius Palaemon from Dionysius Praefulget nigro splendore Gagates Hic lapis ardescens austro perfusus aquarum Ast oleo perdens flammas mirabile visu Attritus rapit hic teneras ceu succina frondes All black and shining is the Jeat In water dip'd it flames with sudden heat But a strange coldness dip'd in oyl receives And draws like Amber little sticks and leaves Likewise Marbodaeus in his Treatise of Jewels Nascitur in Lycia lapis prope gemma Gagates Sed genus eximium foecunda Britannia mittit Lucidus niger est levis laevissimus idem Vicinas paleas trahit attritu calefactus Ardet aqua lotus restinguitur unctus olivo Jeat-stone almost a gemm the Lybians find But fruitful Britain sends a wondrous kind 'T is black and shining smooth and ever light 'T will draw up straws if rubb'd till hot and bright Oyl makes it cold but water gives it heat Hear also what Solinus says In Britain there is great store of Gagates or Geate a very fine stone If you ask the colour it is black and shining if the quality it is exceeding light if the nature it burns in water and is quenched with oyl if the virtue it has an attractive power when heated with rubbing f From Whitby the shore winds back to the westward near which stands Cliveland Clivâ—laâ—â— so called as it seems from precipices which in our language we call Cliffs for it is situated by the side of several steep hills up and down here from the foot of which the country falls into a plain fertile ground g Upon the shore Skengrave a small village flourishes by the great variety of fish it takes where seventy years ago it is reported they caught a ‖ Homâ— ma◠〈…〉 sea-man A Sea Mâ— who lived upon raw fish for some days but at last taking his opportunity he made his escape again into his own element When the winds are laid and the sea in a still calm the waters thereof being spread into a flat plain very often a hideous groaning is suddenly heard here and then the fishermen are afraid to go to sea who according to their poor sence of things believe the Ocean to be a huge monster which is then hungry and eager to glut it self with mens bodies Beneath Skengrave stands Kilton Kilton a castle with a park quite round it this belonged formerly to the famous family of the Thwengs whose estate fell to the Barons of Lumley Hilton and Daubeny Very near this place is seated Skelton-castle which belongs to the ancient family of the Barons de Brus Bruis of Skeâ—ton who are descended from Robert Brus a Norman He had two sons Adam Lord of Skelton Skelton and Robert Lord of Anan-dale in Scotland from whom sprang the Royal Line of Scotland But Peter Brus the fifth Lord of Skelton died without issue and left his sisters heirs Agnes married to Walter de Falconberg Barons
Gareock and Strath-Bogie-Land A small part of Buchan Strathdovern Boyn Einzie Strath Awin and Balvenie The East part of Murray The West part of Murray Badenoch Lochabir and the south part of Ross A small part of Ross lying on the south side of Cromartie-Frith The rest of Ross with the Isles of Sky Lewis and Herris Sutherland and Strathnavern Cathness Beside the Stewartries mentioned by our Author there is that of Orkney which contains all the Isles of Orkney and Zetland The Constabularie of Hadington contains East-Lothian To pursue Mr. Camden's method in his general Description of England it will be necessary to give a scheme of the bounds and extent of the several Dioceses of this kingdom Diocese of St. Andrews Glasgow Edinburgh Dunkeld Aberdeen Murray Brichin Dumblam Ross Cathness Orkney Galloway Argile The Isles Contains Part of Perthshire and part of Angus and Mernes The shires of Dunbarton Ranfrew Air Lanerick part of the shires of Roxburgh Dumfreis Peebles and Selkirk The shires of Edinburgh Linlithgow part of Strivelingshire Berwick-shire the Constabularie of Hadington and Bailery of Lauderdale The most part of Perthshire part of Angus and part of West-Lothian Most part of Bams-shire and part of Mernis The shires of Elgin Nairn and part of Inverness and Bamf-shire Part of Angus and Mernis Part of Perth and Striveling-shires The shire of Tain Cromertie and the greatest part of Inverness-shire Cathness and Sutherland All the Northern Isles of Orkney and Zetland The shire of Wigton the Stewartrie of Kircudbright the Regality of Glentrurie and part of Dumfries-shire Argile Lorn Kintyre and Lohaber with some of the West Isles Most of the west Isles Under this Constitution the Government was thus 1. In every Parish the cognizance of some scandals belong'd to the Session a Judicature compos'd of the greatest and worthiest persons in each parish where the Minister presided ex officio 2. But if the Case prov'd too intricate it was referred to the Presbyterie a superior Judicature consisting of a certain number of Ministers between 12 and 20 who met almost every fortnight The Moderator herein was nam'd by the Bishop and besides the censures they inflicted 't was by them that such as enter'd into Orders were solemnly examined The Presbyteries are these that follow Dunce Chernside Kelso Ersilton Jedburgh Melross Dumbar Hadington Dalkeith Edinburgh Peebles Linlithgow Perth Dunkeld Auchterarder Striveling Dumblane Dumfreis Penpont Lochmabane Midlebie Wigton Kircudbright Stranraver Aire Irwing Paselay Dumbarton Glasgow Hamilton Lanerick Biggar Dunnune Kinloch Inerary Kilmore Sky St. Andrews Kirkaldy Cowper Dumfermelin Meegle Dundee Arbroth Forfar Brichen Mernis Aberdeen Kinkardin Alfoord Gareoch Deir Turref Fordyce Ellon Strathbogie Abernethie Elgin Forres Aberlower Chanrie Tayn Dingwell Dornoch Week Thurso Kirkwal Scaloway Colmkill 3. Above this was the Provincial-Synod who met twice a year in every Diocese and had the examination of such cases as were referred to them by the Presbyteries here the Bishop presided ex officio 4. Above all was the Convocation when the King pleas'd to call it wherein the Archbishop of St. Andrews presided And besides these every Bishop for the cases of Testaments c. had his Official or Commissary who was judge of that Court within the Diocese Of these Edenburgh had four the rest one But since Presbyterie has been introduced the Church-government stands thus 1. They also have their Parochial Sessions but with this difference that though the Minister presides yet a Lay-man a Bailie ordinarily assists 2. In their Presbyteries they chose their own Moderator to preside 3. They have their Synod or Provincial Assembly but without a constant head for every time they meet they make choice of a new Moderator 4. Their General Assembly this consists of two members from every Presbytery and one Commissioner from each University The King too has his Commissioner there without whose consent no Act can pass and before they be in force they must be also ratify'd by the King Thus much of the several Divisions of Scotland As to the Orders and Degrees of this Kingdom there appears no alteration in them since our Author's time and if any one desires to have a more particular information in their Courts of Justice and Methods of Proceeding a separate Treatise upon this subject written by the Learned Sir George Makenzy late Lord Advocate of Scotland will give him ample satisfaction The Degrees of SCOTLAND THE Government of the Scots as that of the English consists of a King Nobility and Commonalty The King to use the words of their own Records is directus totius Dominii Dominus direct Lord of the whole Dominion or Domain and hath Royal Authority and Jurisdiction over all the States of his Kingdom as well Ecclesiastick as Laick Next to the King is his Eldest Son who is stiled Prince of Scotland and by a peculiar right is Duke of Rothsay and Steward of Scotland But the rest of the King's Children are called simply Princes Amongst the Nobles the greatest and most honorable were in old times the Thanes Thanes that is if I have any judgment those who were ennobled only by the office which they bore for the word in the antient Saxon signifies The King's Minister Of these they of the higher rank were called Ab-thanes of the lower Under-Thanes But these Names by little and little grew out of use ever since King Malcolm the 3. conferred the Titles of Earls and Barons borrow'd out of England from the Normans upon such Noblemen as had deserv'd them Since when in process of time new Titles of Honour have been much taken up and Scotland as well as England hath Dukes Marquisses Earls Viscounts and Barons Dukes Marquesses Earls Viscoun◠Barons As for the title of Duke the first that brought it into Scotland was Robert the Third about the year of our Lord 1400 as the honourable titles of Marquiss and Viscount were lately brought in by our most gracious Sovereign King James the sixth These are accounted Nobles of a higher degree and have both place and voice in Parliaments and by a special name together with the Bishops are called Lords Amongst the Nobles of a lower degree in the first place are Knights Knight◠who are certainly made with greater solemnity than any where else in Europe by taking of an Oath and being proclaim'd publickly by the Heralds In the second are those who are called Lairds Lairds and commonly without any addition Barons amongst whom none were antiently reckoned but such as held immediately from the King Lands in Capite and had the * Powe◠hang 〈◊〉 Jus Furcarum In the third place are such as being descended of Honourable Families and dignify'd with no certain title are term'd Gentlemen Gentlemen All the rest as Citizens Merchants Artificers c. are reckoned among the Commons The COURTS of JUSTICE THE supream Court as well in dignity as authority is accounted the Assembly of the States of the Kingdom which is called a
place of note here perhaps Aire Aire which is a Sheriffdom a little Mart and a well known Port upon a river of the same name * See 〈◊〉 of it iâ— Additâ—ons Concerning which I can meet with nothing better worth my writing than these Verses sent me by Mr. Johnston Parva urbs ast ingens animus in fortibus haeret Inferior nulli nobilitate virum Aëris è campis haurit purissima coelum Incubat miti mollior aura solo Aëria hinc non Aera priùs credo illa vocata est Cum duris quid enim mollia juris habent Infera cum superis quod si componere fas èst Aurea fo rs dici debuit illa prius Small is the town but of great Souls is prowd For courage fam'd and sons of noble blood From th' happy clime pure draughts of air descend And gentle breezes bless the fruitful land Old times if Poets have a right to guess Not Aeria but Aëria call'd the place Rough brass could ne're such soft delights express If I so high might raise my noble theme I 'd swear that Aurea was the ancient name Besides the River Aire there are two other Rivulets that water this small Territory having many little villages scattering upon their banks Lougar upon which the Crawfords and Cesnock upon which the Cambells have their residence noted families in this tract upon whose bank is also Uchiltre-Castle Uchiltre or Ochiltre the Seat of the Stewarts of the blood Royal as descending from the Dukes of Albany hence stiled Barons of Uchiltre of which House was that Robert Stewart the inseparable companion of the Prince of Conde who was kill'd with him in a battle in France Cambel of Louden enjoys the honour of Hereditary Bailiff of this Kyle CVNNINGHAM TO Kyle upon the West and North is joyned Cunningham and so hems in the same Bay that it streightens its hitherto expatiating breadth The name signifies as much as the King's habitation whence you may conjecture its pleasantness It is water'd by the Irwin which divides it from Kyle at the head almost of which river we have a sight of Kilmarnock the Seat of the Barons Boids 〈…〉 In the reign of King James the third Thomas one of these was by a gale of Court-favor advanced to the authority of Regent and Robert his Son to the Honour of Earl of Arran and a marriage with the King's Sister But upon the same gale's blowing contrary they were adjudged enemies to the State Robert had his Wife taken from him and given to James Hamilton their Estates were confiscated and stript of all by the inconstancy of fortune they died in exile Yet their posterity recover'd the ancient honour of Barons and enjoy it at this day Upon the mouth of the river Irwin stands 〈◊〉 e It hath a Viscount of the family of Ingram a Borough with a Port so choaked up with banks of sand and so shallow that it is only capable of small Vessels Higher up stands Ardrossan â—â—â—â—â—ssan a Castle of the Montgomeries hanging as it were over the bay this is an ancient and noble family which can shew as a proof of their Marshal valour Poununy-Castle built out of the ransom-money of Henry Percy sirnamed Hotspur whom J. Montgomery took with his own hand in the Battle at Otterburne and brought away Prisoner Not far from Ardrossan is Largis embru'd in the blood of the Norwegians by King Alexander the third From whence following the winding of the shore we meet with Eglington-Castle once possessed by Gentlemen of that name from whom it descended to the Montgomeries Montgomeries who take hence the title of Earls of Eglington Earls of Eglington But whence this Sirname came is hard to guess That out of Normandy it came into England and that there were several Families of that name I am satisfied But that in Essex from which Sir Thomas Montgomery Knight of the Garter in the reign of Edward the fourth was descended gave Arms but a little different from these But this noble House hath dilated it self very much and out of those of Gevan was that Gabriel de Lorges called Earl of Montgomery Captain of the Scotch Guard du Corps The Scotch Guard du Corps in France that was instituted by Charles the fifth King of France for a Guard to him and his Successors as a signal mark of their fidelity and favour who in a Tournament slew Henry the second King of France with a Splinter of his Spear which his Beaver chancing to be up penetrated through the eye into his brain Afterwards taking part with the Huguenots in the Civil wars of France he was intercepted and beheaded But the Family of the Cunninghams is accounted the most numerous in this Tract the head whereof the Earl of Glencairn Cunninghams Earls of Glencairn hath a Seat at Kilmauris and derives his descent out of England from an English Gentleman who together with others murdered Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury How true this is I know not but perhaps it may be grounded upon a probable conjecture taken from an Archbishop's Pall which they give in their Coat of Arms. b The Island GLOTTA or ARRAN WIthin sight of Cunningham amongst many other Islands Glotta is of greatest eminence an Island mentioned by Antonine the Emperor in the very Frith of the river Glotta or Clyde called at this day from a Castle of the same name Arran The innermost parts are wholly mountainous but the bottoms along the shore are well inhabited The first Earl it had â—â—â—â—s of â—â—â—on that I ever read of was Robert Boid whose wife and Earldom together upon Boid's being banished the Kingdom James Hamilton as I mentioned before obtained and his Posterity have enjoyed the same saving that of late James Steward appointed Guardian to James Hamilton Earl of Arran when he was so defective in his understanding that he could not manage his Estate took this Title in the right of being guardian Near unto this stands Buthe called from a little Religious Cell founded by Brendanus for so in Scotch the call a Cell which has a Sheriff of the Family of the Stewarts In this Island is Rothesay-Castle which gives the Title of Duke to the eldest Son of the King of Scotland who is born Prince of Scotland Duke of Rothsay and High Steward of Scotland ever since King Robert the third invested David his eldest Son Duke of Rothsay who was the first in Scotland that was honoured with the Title of Duke With which Title Queen Mary honoured Henry Lord Darley before she took him to be her Husband After this in the same Bay we have a sight of Hellen antiently Hellan-Leneow that is according to J. Fordon's interpretation The Saints Island the Hellan Tinoc that is the Island of Hogs with many others of less note Additions to the NOVANTES a THE Country of the Novantes is Galloway and the Sheriffdom of Aire Galloway hath upon
luxus non Infula tantum Ornavit diri quae tibi causa mali Glottiadae quantum 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 faecundat flumine cuncta suo Not haughty Prelates e'er adorn'd thee so Nor stately Mitres cause of all thy woe As Cluyd's muses grace thy blest abodes And lift thy head among the deathless gods Cluyd great flood for plenteous fish renown'd And gentle streams that cheer the fruitful ground But happy Glascow Cluyd's chiefest pride Glory of that and all the world beside Spreads round the riches of her noble tide On this side the Cluyd upon its banks lies the Barony of Reinfraw Barons of Renfraw so called from its principal Town which may seem to be Ptolemy's Randvara Randvara on the River Cathcart upon which the antient Baron of Cathcart Barons Cathcart hath his habitation Near adjoyning for this little Province is full of Nobility lies Cruikston Cruikston antiently the seat of the Lords of Darley from whom by right of marriage it came to the Earls of Lenox whence Henry the Father of King James the 6. was call'd Lord Darley Halkead the residence of the Barons of Ros Barons of Roos descended originally of English bloud as deriving their Linage from that Robert Roos of Warke who left England and came under the Allegiance of the King of Scots Paslay Paslay formerly a famous Monastery founded by Alexander the 2d High Steward of Scotland inferior to few for its noble Church and rich furniture * See the Additions But now by the favour of K. James 6. it gives a seat and the title of Baron to Claud Hamilton a younger son of the Duke of Castle-Heralt And Sempill whose Lord is Baron Sempill Barons Sempil and by antient right Sheriff of this Barony But I have read that the title of Baron of Reinfraw by a peculiar right belongs to the Prince of Scotland b LENNOX ALong the other side of the Cluyd above Glascow Levinia or Lennox runs a long way Northward amongst a continued series of hills taking its name from the River Levin Ptolemy's Lelanonius â—â—â—â—noniâ—â— which falleth into the Cluyde out of Logh-lomund â—â—gh â—â—â—â—nd a Lake that dilates it self under the mountains twenty miles long and eight miles broad excellently well stocked with fish especially one sort peculiar to it â—â—e fish they call it Pollac It hath likewise many Islands in it concerning which there use to be many Traditional stories amongst the ordinary sort of people As for the Floating-Island here I shall not call the truth of it in question for what should hinder a body from swimming that 's dry and hollow like a pinace and lighter than ordinary â—â—â—i 〈◊〉 20. Pliny tells us that certain green Islands cover'd with reeds and rushes float up and down in the lake of Vadimon But I leave it to the Neighbours that know the nature of this place to be Judges whether this old Distick of our Nechâ—m be true or no Ditatur fluviis Albania saxea ligna Dat Lomund multa frigiditate potens Scotland's enrich'd with Rivers Timber thrown Into cold Lomund's waters turns to stone There are many Fishermens Cottages round about upon the banks of the Logh but nothing worth our notice except Kilmoronock â—â—â—â—oroâ—â—â—k a fine House of the Earl of Cassil seated upon the East side which hath a delicate prospect into the Logh But at the influx of the Levin out of the Logh into the Cluyde stands Al-Cluyd â—â—cluid so called by the antients Bede observes that it signifies the Rock Cluyde but I know not in what language Ar-Cluid in the British certainly signifies upon Cluid and Cluid in old English signify'd a Rock Succeeding ages call'd it Dunbritton â—â—â—britâ—â—â— that is the Britains Town and corruptly by a transposition of letters â—â—â—â—noâ—â—m Dunbarton because the Britains held it a long time against the Scots Picts and Saxons For both by nature and situation it is the strongest Castle in all Scotland fixt upon a craggy two-headed Rock at the confluence of the Rivers in a green plain Upon one of its heads stands a high Watch-Tower on the other which is somewhat lower many strong Towers It hath but one ascent to it and that on the North-side between the two heads having scarce room enough to pass one by one by steps cut out of the rock crosswise with a world of labour Upon the West-side the Levin upon the South the Cluyde serve instead of ditches Eastward lies a Morass which every Tide is wholly under water Towards the North it is very well secur'd by the steepness of its situation Here some remains of the Britains who as Gildas writes generally retreated for shelter and entrench'd themselves upon the tops of craggy inaccessible mountains in thick Forrests and Rocks upon the Sea shore presuming upon the natural strength of the place and their own Courage defended themselves after the departure of the Romans for 300 years in the very midst of their Enemies For in Bede's time as he himself writes it was the best fortify'd City the Britains had R. Hoveden But in the year 756. Eadbert King of Northumberland and Oeng King of the Picts with their joynt Forces shut it up on every side and drove it to that extremity that it was surrender'd upon Articles Of this place the Territory round about is called the Sheriffdom of Dunbarton and hath long had the Earls of Lennox for Sheriffs by inheritance Now as for the Earls of Lennox The Earls of Lennox not to mention those more antient one Duncan was Earl of Lennox in the Reign of Robert the 2. who died and left two only Daughters behind him One of which was marry'd to Alan Stewart Stewart who was descended from Robert a younger son of Walter the 2. High Steward of Scotland and a Brother of Alexander Stewart the 2. founder of the royal line of Scotland For this illustrious Family took its name from that Honourable Office of High Steward of the Kingdom that is he that had the charge of the Revenues of the Crown This Alan had issue John Earl of Lennox and Robert made Captain of the Scotch Guard du Corps Scotâ—h Guard du Corps in France first rais'd by the French King Charles the 6. in recompence of the good services that nation had done the Crown of France as also Lord of Aubigny in Auvergne by the same King as a reward of his valour John had issue Matthew Earl of Lennox who marry'd the daughter of James Hamilton by Mariona daughter to King James the 2. by whom he had John Earl of Lennox who taking up arms to deliver King James the 5. out of the hands of the Douglasses and Hamiltons was kill'd by
presently turn'd their backs and betook themselves every man to flight The Norman proud and haughty with this victory in memory of the battel Battel erected an Abbey and dedicated it to St. Martin which he call'd ‖ Battel-Abbey in that very place where Harold after many wounds died amongst the thickest of his enemies that it might be as it were an eternal monument of the Norman victory 25 And therein he offer'd his Sword and Royal Robe which he ware the day of his Coronation These the Monks kept until their suppression as also a Table of the Normans Gentry which entred with the Conqueror but so corruptly in later times that they inserted therein the names of such as were their Benefactors and whosoever the favour of fortune or virtue had advanc'd to any eminency in the subsequent ages About this Abby there grew up afterwards a town of the same name or to use the words of the private History As the Abbey encreas'd there were built about the compass of the same 115 houses of which the town of Battel was made Wherein there is a place in French call'd Sangue-lac from the blood there shed which after a shower of rain from the nature of the earth seems to look reddish whereupon Guilielmus Neubrigensis wrote but with little of truth The place in which there was a very great slaughter of the English fighting for their Country if it happen to be wetted with a small showre sweats out real blood and as it were fresh as if the very evidence thereof did plainly declare that the voice of so much Christian blood doth still cry from the earth to the Lord. But King William granted many and great privileges to this Abbey And amongst others to use the very words of the Charter If any thief or murderer or person guilty of any other crime fly for fear of death and come to this Church let him have no harm but be freely dismissed Be it lawful also for the Abbot of the same Church to deliver from the Gallows any thief or robber wheresoever if he chance to come by at the execution Henry 1. A marke on Sunâ—â—y likewise to give you the very words of his Charter instituted a market to be there kept on the Lord's Day free from all Toll and other duty whatsoever But Anthony Viscount Mountague who not long since built a fine house there obtain'd of late by authority of Parliament to have the market chang'd to another day And as for the privileges of Sanctuary in those more heinous and grievous crimes they are here and every where else quite abolish'd by Act of Parliament For they perceiv'd well that the fear of punishment being once remov'd outragiousness and an inclination to commit wickedness grew still to a greater head and that hope of impunity was the greatest motive of ill doing Neither here nor in the neighbourhood saw I any thing worth relating Ashburnham but only Esuburnham that has given name to a family of as great antiquity as any in all this tract g Hastings Hastings before spoken of call'd in Saxon Hastinga-ceaster lies somewhat higher upon the same shore Some there are that ridiculously derive it from Haste in our tongue because as Matthew Paris writes At Hastings William the Conquerour hastily set up a fortress of timber But it may rather seem to have taken this new name k William the Norman speaks of this Hasting in Henry Huntingd. Hist 7. f. 211. a from Hasting a Danish Pirate who where he landed with design to ravage and raise booty built sometimes little fortresses as we read in Asserius Menevensis of Beamflote-Castle built by him in Essex and others at Apledor and Middleton in Kent 25 The tradition is That the old Town of Hastings is swallow'd up of the sea That which standeth now as I observ'd is couched between a high cliff sea-ward and as high an hill landward having two streets extended in length from N. to S and in each of them a Parish Church The Haven such as it is being fed but with a poor small Rill is at the south end of the town and hath had a great Castle upon the hill which over-commanded it now there are only ruines thereof and on the said hill light-houses to direct Sailers in the night time Here in the reign of K. Athelstan was a Mint It is the chief of the Cinque-ports Cinque-â—orts which with it's members Winchelsea Rye c. was bound to find 21 ships for war at sea If you have a mind to know in what form both this and the rest also were bound to serve the King in his wars at sea for those most ample immunities they enjoy here take it in the very same words wherein this was anciently recorded in the King's Exchequer Hastings with it's members ought to find 21 ships at the King's summons And there ought to be in every ship 21 men able fitly qualified well arm'd and well furnish'd for the King's service Yet so as that summons be made thereof on the King's behalf 40 days before And when the aforesaid ships and men therein are come to the place of rendezvous whereunto they were summon'd they shall abide there in the King's service for 15 days at their own proper costs and charges And if the King shall have further need of their service after the 15 days aforesaid or will have them stay there any longer those ships with the men therein while they remain there shall be in the King's service at the King's costs and charges so long as the King pleases The Master of each ship shall have sixpence a day and the Constable sixpence a day and every one of the rest three pence a day 26 Thus Hastings flourish'd long inhabited with a warlike people and skilful sailors well stor'd with Barks and Craies and gained much by fishing which is plentiful along the shore But after that the Peer made of timber was at length violently carry'd away by extream rage of the sea it hath decay'd and the fishing less used by the reason of the dangerous landing for they are enforced to work their vessels to land by a Capstall or Crain In which respect for the bettering of the town Q. Elizabeth granted a contribution toward the making of a new harbour which was begun but the contribution was quickly converted into private purses and the publick good neglected Nevertheless both Court the Country and City of London is serv'd with much fish from thence The whole Rape of Hastings together with the Honour â—â—mites â—â—enses â—go de â—gi Earls 〈◊〉 Ew was held by the Earls of Ew in Normandy descended from a Natural son of Richard 1. Duke of Normandy till Henry 3's time when Ralph de Issodun in France marry'd Alice whose posterity lost a noble estate in England because as the Lawyers then deliver'd it they were under the King of France 's Allegiance 27 When K. Henry
the Portraicture of a Layman with an Hawk or Eagle perch'd on his Arm. Over his Head are the foremention'd ruins of the Lord Howard's Inscription Next to these the Picture of some Apostle Saint or other Holy man in a sacerdotal habit with a Glory round his Head On the top stands the Effigies of the B. V. with the Babe in her Arms and both their Heads encircled with Glories as before On the North we have a great deal of Chequer-work subscribed with the following Characters fairly legible Upon the first sight of these Letters I greedily ventured to read them Rynburu and was wonderfully pleased to fancy that this word thus singly written must necessarily betoken the final extirpation and burial of the Magical Runae in these parts reasonably hoped for upon the conversion of the Danes to the Christian Faith for that the Danes were anciently as well as some of the Laplanders at present gross Idolaters and Sorcerers is beyond Controversie and I could not but remember that all our Historians tell us that they brought their Paganism along with them into this Kingdom And therefore 't was not very difficult to imagine that they might for some time practise their Hocus tricks here in the North where they were most numerous and least disturbed This conceit was the more heightened by reflecting upon the natural superstition of our borderers at this day who are much better acquainted with and do more firmly believe their old Legendary Stories of Fairies and Witches than the Articles of their Creed And to convince me yet further that they are not utter strangers to the Black Arts of their forefathers I accidentally met with a Gentleman in the neighbourhood who shew'd me a Book of Spells and Magical Receipts taken two or three days before in the Pocket of one of our Moss-Troopers wherein among many other conjuring feats was prescrib'd a certain Remedy for an Ague by applying a few barbarous characters to the Body of the party distemper'd These methought were very near akin to Wormius's RAMRUNER which he says differ'd wholly in figure and shape from the common Runae For though he tells us that these Ramruner were so called Eo quod molestias dolores morbosque hisce infligere inimicis soliti sint Magi yet his great friend Arng. Jonas more to our purpose says That His etiam usi sunt ad benefaciendum juvandum medicandum tam animi quam Corporis morbis atque ad ipsos Cacodaemones pellendos fugandos I shall not trouble you with a draught of this Spell because I have not yet had an opportunity of learning whether it may not be an ordinary one and to be met with among others of the same nature in Paracelsus or Cornelius Agrippa On the East we have nothing but a few Flourishes Draughts of Birds Grapes and other Fruits all which I take to be no more than the Statuary's Fancy On the South flourishes and conceits as before and towards the bottom the following decay'd Inscription The Defects in this short piece are sufficient to discourage me from attempting to expound it But possibly it may be read thus Gag Ubbo Erlat i.e. Latrones Ubbo Vicit I confess this has no affinity at least being thus interpreted with the foregoing Inscription but may well enough suit with the manners of both ancient and modern Inhabitants of this Town and Country Upon your pardon and correction Sir of the impertinencies and mistakes in this which I shall humbly hope for I shall trouble you with my further Observations on the Font at Bridekirk and to all your other Commands shall pay that ready obedience which becomes Sir Your most obliged and Faithful Servant Will. Nicolson The second was dug up at Cambeck in the ruins of an old stone-wall and is of this form This third is imperfect and in what place it was found I cannot positively say DEO COCIDI COH I. AEL A VS w At Brampton Bramptoâ— there is an Hospital for six poor men and as many poor women with allowance for a Chaplain lately founded and endow'd by the Right Honourable Elizabeth Countess Dowager of Carlisle mother to the present Earl of Carlisle x Upon the river Irthing lyes Naworth-Castle Naworth now in the possession of the Right Honourable Charles Howard Earl of Carlisle great grandson to that Lord William mention'd by our Author who has repair'd the Castle and made it fit for the reception of a Family Here is a Library formerly well furnish'd with Books and there are still * Caâ—â— Lib. Mâ—â— Oxen. many Manuscripts of value relating chiefly to Heraldry and English History In the Hall are the Pictures of all the Kings of England down from the Saxon times which were brought from Kirk-Oswald-Castle when that was demolish'd about 100 years ago In the garden-wall are a great many stones with Roman Inscriptions which were collected and placed there by some of the Family Some of them are not legible others are On one is IVL. AVG. DVO .. M SILV .. VM On another I. O. M .... II. AEL DAC .. C. P ... EST RELIVS FA. L. S. TRIB PET. VO COS. On another LEG II. AVG. On another COH I. AEL DAC CORD .. ALEC PER .... With some others which are plainly the same with those Mr. Camden has copied out and which in all likelihood were brought hither from Willyford y Not far from Lanercost is a medicinal spring which issues out of a rock the water is impregnated with Sulphur Nitre and Vitriol and is said to be very good for the Spleen the Stone and all Cutaneous distempers In the summer time it is much frequented both by the Scotch and English z What our Author has told us in relation to the Lords of Gillesland seems to be a mistake For first Ranulph and Radulph are the same name and Ranulph de Mechinis is call'd indifferently by these two Chron. Cumbâ— Dugd. â— vol. 1. pâ— Id. Bar. â— p. 525. Then Ranulph de Micenis who was Lord of Cumberland by Grant from the Conqueror was the very same who was afterwards Earl of Chester by descent after the death of his Cousin-german Richard second Earl of Chester who was son to John Bohun and Margaret his wife sister to Hugh Lupus first Earl of Chester Again William de Micenis brother to Randolph de Micenis was Lord of Coupland but not of Gillesland for upon Randolph's resignation of the County of Cumberland into the hands of King Henry 1. Randolph had given Gillesland to Hubert de Vallibus which Grant the King confirm'd to him and his Successors enjoy'd it The Right Honourable Charles Howard present Earl of Carlisle and Lord of Gillesland claims descent from him by the mother's side according to the pedigree of the Family which is to be seen in his Chapel at Naworth-Castle Continuation of the EARLS Francis the last Earl mention'd by our Author dying in the year of our Lord 1641. was succeeded by his only son