Chappell and for the Sepulchre the body of Henry the seuenth King of England the first begotten Sonne of Edmund Earle of Richmond by Margaret daughter and heire to Iohn Duke of Somerset This glorious rich Tombe is compassed about with verses penned by that Poet Laureat as he stiles himselfe and Kings Orator Iohn Skelton I will take onely the shortest of his Epitaphs or Eulogiums and most to the purpose Septimus hic situs est Henricus gloria Regum Cunctorum ipsius qui tempestate fuerunt Ingenio atque opibus gestarum nomine rerum Accessere quibus nature dona benigne Frontis honos facies augusta heroica forma Iunctaque ei suanis coniux perpulchra pudica Et secunda fuit felices prole parentes Henricum quibus octauum terra Anglia debes He deceased at Richmond the 22. of Aprill 1509. when hee had raigned 23. yeares and somewhat more then seuen moneths and liued fifty two yeares Whosoeuer would know further of this king let him reade his History wherein hee is delineated to the life by the matchlesse and neuer enough admired penne of that famous learned and eloquent knight Sir Francis Bacon not long since deceased Lord Verulam and Viscount Saint Alban Here lieth entombed by her Husband Henry the seuenth Elizabeth the first childe legitimate and eldest daughter of king Edward the fourth to whom she was married the eighteenth of Ianuary 1488. whereby was vnited the long contending Families of Lancaster and Yorke and the Roses red and white ioyned into one to the great ioy of the English Subiects She was his wife eighteene yeares and twenty foure dayes and died in child-bed in the Tower of London the eleuenth of February euen the day of her owne Natiuitie the eighteenth of her Husbands raigne and yeare of our Saluation 1503. I haue an Epitaph of this good Queene borne for Englands happinesse which I transcribed out of a Manuscript in Sir Robert Cottons Library Extinctum iacet hic genus a Plantagine ductum Et Rosa purpureis candida nupta Rosis Elisabet claris Anglorum Regibus orta Regina Patrij gloria rara soli Edwardi soboles quarti tibi septime coniux Henrice heu populi cura benigna tui Exemplex vite qua nec prestantior altra Moribus ingenio nec probitate fuit Reginam Deus eterno dignetur honore Et Regem hic annos viuere Nestoreos Here lieth magnificently entombed Margaret Countesse of Richmond and Darby daughter and onely heire to Iohn Duke of Somerset by Margaret daughter to the Lord Beauchampe of Powicke first married to Edmund the sonne of Owen Tedder who begat Henry the seuenth King of England and afterwards to Thomas Stanley Earle of Derby Two Colledges namely of Christ and Saint Iohn Baptist she erected for Students in Cambridge Shee instituted also two Diuinitie Lectures one at Cambridge and the other at Oxenford who hauing liued so long to see her Grandchilde Henry the eight crowned King died the twelfth of Iuly 1509. in the first yeare of his raigne Here is a long Elegie made to her memorie by the foresaid Skelton with this terrible curse to all those that shall tread spoile or take it away Qui lacerat violatue rapit presens Epitoma Hunc laceretque voret cerberus absque mora Hanc tecum statuas Dominam precor O Sator orbis Quo regnas rutilans Rex sine fine manens Here lieth Margaret one of the daughters of King Edward the fourth by Elizabeth his royall Queene and wife She died an Infant the eleuenth of December 1472. Nobilitas forma decorque tenella inuentus Insimul hic ista mortis sunt condita cista Vt genus nomen sexum tempus quoque mortis Noseas cuncta tibi manifestat margo Sepulchri Here lieth Elizabeth the second daughter of King Henry the seuenth by his louing consort and Queene Elizabeth who was borne the second day of Iuly 1492. and died the 14. day of Nouember 1495. Vpon her Tombe this Epitaph Hic post sata iacet proles regalis in isto Sarcophago inuenis nobilis Elizabeth Princeps illustris Hen. Sept. filia Regis Qui bini regni florida sceptra tenet Atropos hanc rapuit seuissima nuntia mortis Sit super in celo vita perhennis ei Here lieth interred without any Monument Anne the second daughter and coheire to Richard Nevil the stout Earle of Warwicke and Salisbury who was first married to Edward Prince of Wales the sonne and onely childe of king Henry the sixth and after remarried to Richard Duke of Gloucester who at the battell of Tewxbury had stabbed her husband into the heart with his dagger afterwards by vsurpation king of England surnamed Crook-backe She died not without suspition of being poysoned the 16. of March 1485. Here lieth entombed Edmund the second sonne of King Henry the third Earle of Lancaster Leicester and Darby surnamed Crouch-backe of his bowing in his backe because he is neuer found saith Vincent in his discouery of Brookes errours title Lancaster with any other addition and indeed with no other Epithite then Gibbosus which signifieth crooked crump-shouldred or Camell-backed But others say he was so denominated of wearing the signe of the Crosse anciently called a Crouch vpon his backe which was vsually worne of such as vowed voyages to Ierusalem as he had done Further confirming their opinions from the name of Crouched-Friers that wore a Crosse vpon their garments And Io. Harding speaking of him and his elder Brother Edward afterwards king of England and of their voyage to Ierusalem hath these verses to the same effect His brother Edward and he associate To Ierusalem their voyage them avowed Two semely Princes together adioynate In all the world was none them like alowed So large and faire thei were eche man he bowed Edward aboue his menne was largely seen By his shulders more hie and made full clene Edmond next hym the comeliest Prince aliue Not croke backed ne in no wyse disfigured As some menne wrote the right lyne to depriue Through great falsehed made it to be scriptured For cause it should alwaye bee refigured And mentioned well his yssue to prevaile Vnto the Crowne by such a gouernaile I cannot let passe although I do somewhat digresse the cunning sleights and deuises the Popes of Rome vsed in these times to empouerish this kingdome and enrich their owne coffers First they combine and confederate with the king to the vtter vndoing of all his loyall Subiects And now Pope Alexander the fourth puts a tricke vpon the king himselfe a Prince more pious then prudent which exhausts his Treasure and leaues him for a laughing-stocke to all other Nations This Pope forsooth inuested this Edmund his sonne into the kingdomes of Sicilia and Apulia Conradus king thereof still liuing by a ring conditionally that hee should sustaine the charges and maintaine the warres that should happen thereupon In which regard he suckt
broghte his mattores to passe without brekyng vppe of any grate or yet counterfettyng of keayes such capassetye God hathe sent him From Syone this sondaye xii Decembere By the speedy hand of your assured poore Preeste Richard Layton Not farre from hence was a fraternitie founded by Iohn Somerset Chancellor of the Exchequor and the Kings Chaplaine which he called Ecclesia omnium Angelorum Thistleworth Al yow that doth this Epitaph rede or see Of yowr mere goodnesse and grete cheritie Prey for the sowl of Maister Antony Sutton Bacher of Diuinity Who died in secundo die Augusti Annoque Domini M. ccccc.xl and three Orate pro anima Henrici Archer qui obijt 2 die Septemb. Anno Domini 480. cuius anime ..... If the date of this Inscription were true this Archer did line in the raigne of Lucius the first Christian King of this Monarchie but questionlesse this was the ouersight of him which inlaid the monument leauing out the figure of one which might haue made it right 1480. Here lyeth Iohn Robinson With his wyfs Katherin and Ione Who dyed M. ccccc and three On whos sowls Iesu haue mercy Hic iacet Clemens Colyns de Isleworth Vicarius vtriusque iuris Doctor qui obijt 1498. Prey for the sowls of Iohn Holt Margerie and Elizabeth his wyffs and for the sowls of all his children who died Anno Dom. 1520. In the yere of owr Lord God M. ccccc the fourth dey of December Margerie to God her sowl she did surrender Iesu full of mercy on her sowl haue mercy For in thy mercy she trusted fully Pray for the sowl of Audry the wyf of Gedeon Aundesham who dyed 1502. Here lyeth Iohn Sampol yeoman Vsher of the Kings Chamber who dyed the yeare 1535. Sampoll antiently called Saint Paul a familie of which name flourished at Melwood in Lincolnshire of which hereafter Hic Dominus Iohannes Payne Vicarius ..... 1470. Quisquis eris qui transieris sta perlege plora Sum quod eris fueram quod es pro me precor ora Hownslow Chappell Which belonged sometime to a Frierie thereunto adioyning now a Chappell of ease for the Inhabitants which are of two parishes Heston and Thistleworth by whom this fraternitie was founded I cannot learne except by the Windsores a familie of many descents euer since the comming in of the Norman Conqueror who had their habitation at Stanwell not farre off and chose this Friers Chappell for their place of buriall which together with the house was after the dissolution giuen by exchange to the Lord Windsore by King Henry the eight Orate pro animabus Georgij Windsore filij Andree Windsore de Stanwell militis et Vrsule vxoris eius .......... suorum et heredis apparentis .... Iohannis comitis Oxonie ..... Orate pro anima Willelmi Iacob qui dedit vnam clausuram vocatam Bushiheme ad inueniendam vnam Lampadem ....... qui ob ..... 1478. Vermibus hic donor et sic ostendere conor Qualiter hic ponor ponitur omnis honor Quisquis ades tu morte cades sta respice plora Sum quod eris quod es ipse fui pro me precor ora Vnder the picture of the blessed Virgine these verses following were depainted now almost quite worne out Virginis intacte cum veneris ante figuram Pretereundo caue ne fileatur Aue. Stanes Here sometimes stood a Priorie founded by Raph Lord Stafford some of which family as noble and ancient as any lye here interred namely Nicholas Baron Stafford who died 10. Kal. Nouemb. 1288. as I haue it out of an old Manuscript Obijt Nicholaus Baro Stafford 1288. et 10. Kalend Nouembris apud Stanes sepultus est Hellingdon great In this Church lieth buried vnder a Tombe couered with a marble stone Iohn Lord Strange of Knocking vpon which this Inscription is ingrauen Sub hac Tumba iacet nobilis Iohannes Dominus le Strange Dominus de Knocking Mahun Wasset Warnell et Lacy et Dominus de Colham vna cum pictura Iagnette quondam vxoris sue que quidem Iagnetta suit sâ—ror Elizabethe Regine Anglie quondam vxoris Regis Edwardi quarii qui quidem Iohannes obijt 15 die Octobris Anno regni Regis Ed. quarti 17 quam quidem Tumbam Iohanna Dominale Strange vna cum pictura lagnette ex sumptibus suis proprijs fieri fecit 1509. This race of le Strange continued for many descents in the dignity of Lord Barons in latine Records called Extranei for that they were Strangers brought hither by King Henry the second the yeare 1148. This Iohn Lord Strange here intombed was the laft of that Surname Baron of Knocking for Sir George Stanley sonne and heire of Thomas Lord Stanley Earle of Darby the first of that name married Ioane the sole daughter and heire of the aforesaid Iohn Lord Strange here mentioned who to her fathers memory made this monument with whom he had both her fathers honours and ample inheritance of which Thomas Stanley sometime Lord Bishop of Man in his pedegree of the Stanleyes speaking of Thomas the first Earle thus makes his rime a Mss. He maried his first sonne George to no Ferme nor Grange But honourably to the heire of the Lord Strange Who liued in such loue as no man els had For at the death of him diuars went almost madd At an vngodly banquet alas he was poysoned And at London in Saint Iames Garlikhith lyes buried The stile title and dignitie of Lord Strange Iames Stanley eldest sonne and heire of William Earle of Darbie a gentleman of laudable endowments both of minde and bodie now at this day happily enioyeth Harrow on the Hill I finde diuers of the Surname of Flamberds of Flamberds in this Parish now the habitation of a worthy Gentleman Sir Gilbert Gerard knight and Baronet to be here interred One of whose Tombes is thus inscribed Ion me do marmore numinis ordine slam tumulatur Barde quoque verbere stigis è funere hic tucatur Edmund Flambard Elisabeth gisont icy Dieu de â—almes eyt mercy Amen Flambard Edmundus iacet hic tellure sepultus Coniux addetur Elisabeth et societur Sta moriture vide docent te massa Iohannis Birkhed sub lapide trux necat Atropos annis M. Domini C quater X octo numeratis Iungitur iste Pater Cuthherge luce beatur Hunc charitas grauitas fides prudentia morum Presulibus primus Regni fecere decorum O Deus in celis tua nunc fouet alma maiestas Quem tantum terris morum perfecit honestas Acton Pray for the soul of Sir Thomas Cornwal Baron of Burford in the County of Salop knight and Baâ—neret which tooke to wyf Anne the dawghter of Sir Richard Corbet of the same County who departyd this lyf the xix of August M. D.xxx.vii on whos soul c. Learned Camden speaking of the Ancestors of this
husband Eleanor the second wife of the foresaid Sir Iohn Wriothesley Here lieth buried Ioan wyfe to Thomas Wriothesley sonne to the said Sir Iohn Wriothesley Here lyeth Iohn Wriothesley the younger sonne to Sir Iohn Wriothesly and Eleanor with others of that familie mentioned by Stow in his Suruay of London This Church is likewise much honoured by the Sepultures of Sir Henry Grey knight sonne and heire to George Grey Earle of Kent as also by Reginald Grey Earle of Kent Of which their Funeralls being so neare these times in another place S. Benet Pauls Wharfe In this Church lie entombed the bodyes of Sir William Cheyney knight and Dame Margaret his wife which Sir William Cheyney deceased Ann. 1422. In this Parish and partly as I take it in Saint Peters the little is a faire house sometime belonging to the Stanleys vpon the outward wall whereof are embossed the Armes or rather if you will the legges of the Isle of Man for that the Stanleys honoured with the title of Earles of Darby were commonly called Kings of Man This house was built by Thomas Stanley first of that sirname Earle of Darby and so for a long time it was called Darbie House but at length it being in the tenure of Sir Richard Sackuile knight fallen by morgage vnto him for which morgage Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke out of his affection to the office of Armes satisfied the said Sir Richard who thereupon past it ouer to Q. Mary and at the instant request of the said Duke she by her Charter granted it to Sir Gilbert Dethicke as then Garter principall King of Armes who lieth buried in this Church Thomas Hauley Clarencieux king of Armes of the south parts William Haruey Norroy king of Armes of the north parts and to the other Heralds and Pursuiuants of Armes expressing their titles and order qui pro tempore fuerint in perpetuum vt essent vnum corpus corporatum in re facto nomine habeantque successionem perpetuam nec non quoddam sigillum commune To the end that the said King of Armes Heralds and Pursuiuants of Armes and their successors might at their liking dwell together and at conuenient times meete together speake conferre and agree among themselues for the good gouernement of their faculty and their Records might be more safely kept c. Dated the 18. day of Iuly 1555. Philip and Mary the first and third yeare This Corporation consists of thirteene in number whose names and titles at this time viz. Anno 1631. are as followeth Sir William Segar Knight Garter Principall King of Armes Sir Richard S. George Knight Clarencieux Sir Iohn Borough Knight Norroy Prouinciall Kings William Penson Lancaster Sir Henry S. George Knight Richmond Henry Chitting Chester Iohn Philipot Somerset William le Neue Yorke Iohn Bradshaw Windsore Heralds These sixe Heralds non ab Officiorum praestantia sed è creationis cuiusque antiquitate locos obtinet not from the excellencie of their office but according to the prioritie of their creation take preheminence And to make vp the number there are foure Pursuiuants in this Colledge helpers and furtherers likewise in matters of Heraldry although of an inferiour Classe viz. Rouge-crosse so called of the red crosse by which Saint George the Tutelar Saint of all Englishmen is famozed Blewmantle so called of a skie-coloured coate of Armes Francica maiestatis of a French-like Maiesty assumed by K. Edward the third Rouge-Dragon of a red Dragon sustaining the Shield Roiall of the English instituted by King Henry the seuenth Port cullis of the Port cullis which the said Henry the seuenth vsed in his Cognisance If you would know more of this Colledge may it please you peruse Sir Henry Spilmans Glossarie litera H. Saint Michaels Querne Here lieth interred the body of Iohn Leland or Leyland Natiue of this honourable Citie of London brought vp in the Vniuersities of England and France where he greatly profited in all good learning and languages Keeper of the Libraries he was to King Henry the Eight in which Office he chiefly applied himselfe to the study of Antiquities wherein he was so laborious and exquisite that few or none either before or since may bee with him compared which will best appeare by his New yeares gift to the said King Henry written in Latine and translated into English by his contemporarie companion Iohn Bale and by him intituled The loboryouse Iourney and serche of Iohan Leylande for Englandes Antiquitees giuen of him as a New yeares gift to Kynge Henry the Eyghte in the thirty seuenth yeere of his Reygne Vbi tuae celsit udini visum fuit c. so it begins in Latine Where as it pleased youre hyghnesse vpon very iust consideratyons to encourage mee by the authoryte of youre moste graciouse Commyssion to peruse and dyligently to serche all the Libraries of Monasteries and Collegies of this youre noble Realme to the entent that the Monuments of auncyent Wryters as well of other Nacyons as of your owne Prouynce myghte be brought out of deadly darkenesse to lyuely lyght and to receiue lyke thankes of their posteryte as they hoped for at such time as they employed their long and great studies to the publique wealthe Yea and furthermore that the holy scripture of God might both be sincerely taught and learned all maner of supersticion and crafty coloured doctrine of a rowte of romane Bishops totally expelled oute of this your most Catholique realme I thinke it now no lesse than my very dewtie breuely to declare to your Maiestie what frutes haue spronge of my laboriouse iourney and costly enterprise both roted vpon your infinite goodnesse and liberalite qualitees right highly to be estemed in al Princes and most specially in yow as naturally your owne wele knowne proprietes First I haue conserued many good authors the which otherwise had ben like to haue perished to no small incommodite of good letters Of the which parte remaine in the most magnificent libraries of your royall Palaces Part also remaine in my custodie whereby I trust right shortly so to describe your most noble Realme and to publish the Maiestie of the excellent actes of youre progenitors hitherto sore obscured bothe for lacke of emprinting of such workes as lay secretly in corners And also because men of eloquence hath not enterprised to set them forth in a florishing stile in some times past not commonly vsed in England of Writers otherwise wele learned and now in such estimacion that except truth be delicately clothed in purpure her written veritees can scant finde a Reader That all the world shall euidently perceiue that no particular region may iustly be more extolled than yours for true nobilitie and vertues at all points renoumed Farther more part of the exemplaries curiously sought by me and fortunately found in sundry places of this your dominion hath bene emprinted in Germany and now be in the presses chefely
to reestablish that holy and yet vnfortunate King Henry the sixt in his regall authoritie In this battaile vpon King Edwards part were slaine Humfrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell Henry Bourchier sonne and heire to the Lord Barners both buried at Westminster In the quarrell of King Henry were slaine the foresaid Richard Neuill Earle of Warwicke and Iohn Neuill Marquesse Montacute his brother both buried at Bisham Abbey in Barkeshire the bodies of many others of the Nobilitie and Gentrie on both parties which perished in this vnnaturall conflict had Christian buriall in the Frier Augustines Church London The common Souldiers as also many Commanders were buried vpon the same Plaine where the foresaid battaile was strucken to whose memory a Chappell was built vpon the said Plaine and a Priest appointed to say Masse for their soules as the doctrine went in those daies Vpon both sides of common Souldiers there died that holy Easter day as then the 14. of Aprill saith Ed. Hall ten thousand foure thousand saith Io. Stow and Rob. Fabian saith farre lesse fifteene hundred so vncertaine as I haue said before is the number of the dead slaine in battaile Howsoeuer a part onely of Hertfordshire is comprised within this Diocesse yet giue me leaue to say somewhat in this place of the whole County A rich Countrie saith Clarencieux in corne Fields Pastures Medowes Woods Groues and cleere riuerets And for ancient townes it may contend with the neighbours euen for the best For there is scarcely another in all England that can shew more good townes in so small a compasse the whole circumference of the Shire being but about an hundred and thirtie miles In this County and in the towne of S. Albans two mortall and bloudy battels of Englands ciuill dissentions haue beene fought The first whereof chanced the 24. of May Anno 1455. by Richard Duke of Yorke with his associates the Earles of Warwicke and Salisbury and Lords of Fawconbridge and Cobham against King Henry the sixt In whose defence Edmund Duke of Somerset Henry Earle of Northumberland and Iohn Lord Clifford with fiue thousand more lost their liues the King himselfe was wounded in the necke with an arrow the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Sudley in their faces Humfrey Earle Stafford in his right hand and the Earle Dorset almost slaine On the Dukes part onely sixe hundred were slaine Of which battell and of the timerous flight of the Souldiers on the Kings partie the learned Abbot of Saint Albans Iohn Wheathamstead who liued in those daies writes thus Marcia splendiferum regerent cum sydera celum Aspicerentque feros toruis aspectibus Anglâ—s Albani Villam tranquilla pace vigentem Fedarunt multo violenter sanguine fuso Rex aderat presens secumque cohors satis ingent De Dominis Regni contrarius hijs Eboraci Dux que duo comites Warwici et Sarsburiensis Venerunt media fit grandis pugna platea In qua corruerant qui nobilitate vigebant De patria Boree comes insignis Dominusque Corruit ac ipse qui belli causa fuisse Fertur Dux magnus de Somercethe vocitatus Ac alij plures satis asperasors fuit ipsis Multi fugerunt aliter se non properarunt Quin faciunt trepide visum fugiendo Columbe Insultum ve Canis Damus Lepus ac fera queuis Dum fugiunt nemora pecierunt siue Frutecta In quibus vt pueri virgam metuendo magistri Se pudet id ferre vecorditer occoluere Qui fuerant nostra proprius penetralia tecta Ad nos fugerunt sub Stallis et latuerunt Aut infra latebras timor ingens duxerat ipsos Sic imbecillis tergum dedit hostibus hostis Non sine dedecore nec nominis absque rubore Mors est non vita sub turpi viuere fama Et patet in paucis sors belli que fuit huius Qualis euentus Domini Ducis et comitatus Ter deno trino Domini Regis fuit anno Henrici sexti facies hec obuia celi In Maio mense bis dena bis quoque luce M. semel x quino C quater fuit I quoque quino In Maio mense bis dena bis quoque luce Hic strages procerum conflatus hic populorum The second battell fought in this towne of Saint Albans was by Queene Margaret against the Dukes of Norfolke and Suffolke the Earles of Warwicke and Arundell that by force kept with them the King her husband with whom by constraint he held and on their side fought vntill the field was lost and Lords fled when with great ioy he was receiued by his Queene and yong sonne Prince Edward This battell sell the 17. of February being Shrouesunday Of this towne and of these two battels thus Camden writes in a more succinct and serious stile As Antiquity consecrated this place saith he to be an Altar of Religion so Mars also may seeme to haue destined it for the very plot of bloudy battaile For to let other particulars goe by when England vnder the two houses of Lancaster and Yorke bereft as it were of vitall breath was ready through a ciuill warre to sinke downe and fall in a swoune the chiefe Captaines on both sides ioyned battaile twise with reciprocall varietie of fortune in the very towne First Richard Duke of Yorke gaue the Lancastrians here a sore ouerthrow tooke King Henry the sixt captiue and slew many honourable personages Foure yeares after the Lancastrians vnder the conduct of Queene Margaret wonne here the field put the house of Yorke to flight and restored the King to his former liberty The bodies of such of the Nobility and others of eminent ranke and qualitie which lost their liues in these mortall contentions were buried in the Abbey Church as I haue partly touched before in Saint Peters and in other religious Structures accordingly as they were befriended the common Souldiers were buried in Church-yards and vpon a little greene at the Townes end called No mans land which lies betwixt the two waies as I take it leading to Luton and Sandridge Nere vnto the roade high way saith Camden in this tract betweene Stenenhaugh and Knebworth the seat of the worshipfull house of the Littons descended from Litton in Darbishire I saw certaine round hils cast vp by mans hands such as the old Romans were wont to reare for Souldiâ—ers slaine in the wars of which the Captaine himselfe laid the first turse and now for Essex Essex is a country large in compasse the circumference thereof being one hundred forty sixe miles fruitfull of woods plentifull of Saffron and very wealthy A late writer hauing reckoned vp the commodities which this County doth affoard concludes on this manner If you esteeme not these as things aboue the ground Looke vnder where the Vrnes of ancient times are found The Roman Empâ—rours Coynes oft digd out of the dust And warlike weapons now consum'd with cankring rust And huge and massy bones of mighty fearefull
ville Quorum animabus obijt ille ...... Hic iacet Dominus Robertus Wingfeeld miles et Elisabetha vxor eius qui quidem Robertus obijt tertio die Maij 1409. Quorum animabus propitietur Altissimus Waldingfield magna ...... Iohn Appulton of Waldingfeeld magna ..... ob anno 14. of Hen. 4. 1416. Three Aples Gules leaues and stalkes vert Orate pro animabus Iohannis Appulton et Margarete vnxoris eius quidem Iohannes obijt 9. die Aprilis Anno Domini 1481. et predicta Margareta obijt 4. die Iulij Anno Dom. 1468. quorum ..... Orate pro anima Thome Appulton de Waldingfeeld magna qui Thomas ab hoc luce migrauit 4. die Octob. ann Dom. 1507. Orate pro anima Margerie Appulton que obijt 4. die Nouemb anno Dom. 1504. Cuius anime propitietur altissimus Amen Orate pro animabus Roberti Appulton generosi et Marie vxoris eius qui quidem Robertus obiit 27. Augusti 1526. Quorum ..... Amen Barton magna Hic iacet corpus Alicie Harpley quondam vxoris Ricardi Harpley ...... que quidem Alicia .... Hic .... Cotton ..... Of these Cottons I haue read as followeth The ancient seat of the Cottons in Cambridgeshire is Lanwade Hall many descents were higher and before the father to the elder Sir Iohn Cotton knight who died neare the beginning of Queene Elisabeth This Sir Iohn being the elder had three brothers whereof Edmund Cotton was the third from Sir Iohn aforesaid and sisters they had c. This elder Sir Iohn Cotton had one sonne called by his fathers name sir Iohn Cotton Knight who dying in the time of King Iames left to inherite his estate one onely Sonne begotten of his wife Anne eldest daughter of sir Richard Hoghton of Hoghton Tower in the county of Lancaster Knight and Baronet now in being whose name is likewise Iohn Edmund Cotton the third brother aforesaid married Ela Coniers the daughter and heyre of Iohn Coaniers the onely sonne of Robert Coniers Knight of neere allyance to the Lord Coniers of Hornby Castell in Richmondshire who liued in the seuerall raignes of Ed. 2. and Ed. 3. A sister of the forenamed Robert Coniers Knight was married in that time to Sir Richard Harpley knight now lieth interred in the Chancell of Barton magna vnder a monument inscribed as before Hic iacet corpus Alicie c. Edmund Cotton aforesaid by Ela his wife had diuers children George was his eldest sonne and Audery a daughter of his vailed her selfe a Nunne George had issue many children and Edmund was his eldest sonne and heire Edmund Cotton in like manner had issue diuers sonnes and daughters and his eldest sonne and heire is Edmund Cotton now in being The ancient seat left vnto him amongst other lands was called by the name of Coniers alias Necton Hall in Bramble Barton alias Barton magna iuxta Bury S. Edmonds Debenham Here lyeth Iohn Farmingham who died .... 1424. and Margaret his wife Robert Cheake and Rose his wife George Neuill and ... his wife Iohn Neuill Iohn Cheake who died 1490. Babewell Here sometimes stood a Monasterie of Grey Friers first founded by master Adam de Lincolne who gaue the Foundership to the honour of Clare Here lay buried Sir Walter Trumpinton and Dame Anne his wife Nicholas Drury and Iane his wife which died the seuenth of MArch in the seuenth yeare of King Richard the second Margaret Peyton Blithborrow This little Towne is memorable for that Anna King of the East Angles together with his eldest sonne and heire apparent Ferminus were here buried both slaine in a bloudie fierce battaile by Penda the Mercian King a Pagan of which my old Manuscript Penda anone his hoste withe hym he led And on Anna came fyrst with mykle pryde Kynge of Este Englonde whos dowter Egfryde wed And slew him Anna was a man of great vertue and the father of a blessed issue saith Bede which were many and those of great holinesse and sanctitie of life First Ferminus slaine in the same battaile with his father as I haue said before here buried but afterwards remoued to S. Edmundsbury His other sonne was Erkenwald Abbot of Chertseie and Bishop of London of whom before His daughters were these Etheldred the eldest was first married vnto a Noble man whom Bede nameth Tombert Gouernour of the Fenny Countries of Norfolke Huntington Lincolne and Cambridge shires And after his death remaining a virgin she was married to Egfrid King of Northumberland with whom likewise she liued in perfect virginitie the space of twelue yeares notwithstanding his entreaty and allurements to the contrary From whom lastly she was released and had licence to depart his Court vnto the Abbey of Coldingham where first shee was vailed a Nunne vnder Abbesse Ebba and thence departing she liued at Ely and became her selfe Abbesse thereof wherein lastly she died and was interred remembred vnto posterities by the name of S. Audrie of whom more hereafter His second daughter was Sexburgh who married Ercombert King of Kent vnto whom she bare two sons and two daughters after whose death she tooke the habit of a Nunne and succeeded her Sister Etheldrid Abbesse of Ely wherein she died and was interred And their yongest sister Withgith was likewise a Menchion with them in the same monastery and all of them canonized for Saints Ethilburghe his third daughter was made Abbesse of Berking in Essex built by her brother Bishop Erkinwald wherein she liued and lastly died as I haue said before A naturall daughter likewise he had whose name was Edelburgh that with Sedrido the daughter of his wife were both of them professed Nuns and succeeded each other Abbesses in the Monastery of S. Brigges in France Such a reputed holinesse was it held in those daies not onely to be separated from the accompanying with men but also to abandon the countrie of their natiuity and as strangers in forraine lands to spend the continuance of their liues Orate pro anima VVillelmi Colet quâ—ndam Mercatoris de Blyburgh siue istius ville qui obijt 16 die Ianuar. An. Domini 1503. Cuius anima per gratiam Dei requiescat in pace Amen Orate pro anima Iohanne Baret nuper vxoris Iohannis Baret qui obijt xiiii die Ianuarij anno M.D.xx. ... Orate pro anima Iohanne Ranyngham quondam vxoris Iohannis Ranyngham qui obijt quarto die mensis Maii anno M.D ..... cuius anime propitietur Deus Orate pro anima Iohannis Ranyngham alias Loman qui obiit xi die mensis Decembris anno Domini M. cccc lxxxxiiii Orate pro animabus Simonis Todyng et Iohanne vxoris eius qui quidem Iohannes obiit xx die Decemb. anno Domini M. cccc.lxxxxii Quorum .... In gratia et miserecordia Dei hic iacet Rogerus Boreham qui obiit xxvii die Nouembris anno Domini M.
many Townes and Cities the bodies of the Christians haue wanted the rites and ceremonies of buriall it was neither fault in the liuing that could not performe them nor hurt to the dead that could not feele them Yet notwithstanding all this which I haue spoken the bodies of the dead are not to be contemned and cast away especially of the righteous and faithfull which the holy Ghost hath vsed as Organs and instruments vnto all good works for if the garment or ring of ones father be so much the more esteemed of his posterity by how much they held him dearer in their affection then are not our bodies to bee despised being wee weare them more neare vnto our selues then any attire whatsoeuer CHAP. VII Of Cenotaphs Honorarie and religious Of the reuerence attributed to these emptie Monuments A Cenotaph is an emptie Funerall Monument or Tombe erected for the honour of the dead wherein neither the corps nor reliques of any defunct are deposited in imitation of which our Hearses here in England are set vp in Churches during the continuance of a yeare or for the space of certaine moneths Octauia the sister of Augustus buried her sonne young Marcellus that should haue beene heire in the Empire with sixe hundred Cenotaphs or hearses and gaue to Virgil more then fiue thousand French crownes in reward for the writing of sixe and twentie Hexameters in her sonnes commendation all which you may haue for nothing in the latter end of the sixth booke of his Aeneidos These Cenotaphs were of two sorts they were made either to the memory of such as were buried in some other remote funerall monument or to such which had no buriall at all The first kinde of these Cenotaphs are called by Suetonius in the life of Claudius Honorarie tombes erected Honoris vel memoriae gratia Such as the souldiers made to the memorie of Drusus neare vpon the riuer of Rhine howsoeuer his body was carried to Rome and there interred in Campo Martio Alexander Seuerus slaine by the treacherie of certaine seditious French souldiers about the yeare of grace 238 An Emperour saith Sir Thomas Eliot who translated his story out of Greeke whose death all Rome lamented all good men bewailed all the world repented whom the Senate deified noble fame renowned all wise men honoured noble writers commended had his Cenotaph erected in France neare vnto the place where he was slaine but his body was carried to Rome and there interred vnder a most rich magnificent sepulchre as Lampridius affirmes Septimius Seuerus the Romane Emperour died in Yorke in the yeare of mans saluation 212. out of which Citie his corps were carried forth to the funerall fire by the sixth Legion of his souldiers called Victrix after the militarie fashion committed to the flames and honoured with iusts and Turneaments in a place neare beneath the Citie Westward where is to be seene a great mount of earth raised vp as for his Cenotaph But his ashes being bestowed in a little golden pot or vessell of the Porpherite-stone were carried to Rome and shrined there in the Monument of the Antonines Constantine or Constantius the younger sonne to Constantine the Great who is supposed to be the builder of Silcester in Hampshire died at Mopsuestia in Cilicia and was interred in Constantinople in the Sepulchre of his Ancestours Yet he had a Cenotaph or emptie monument built to his memory in the said now-ruined Citie of Silcester And many there were that in honour and remembrance of them had such monuments built about which the souldiers were wont yearely to iust and keepe solemne Turneaments in honour of the dead The second kinde of Cenotaphs were made Religionis causa to the memory of such whose carcases or dispersed reliques were in no wise to bee found for example of such as perished by shipwracke of such as were slaine cut mangled and hew'd apeeces in battell or of such that died in forraine nations whose burials were vnknowne For in ancient times it was thought that the Ghost of the defunct could not rest in any place quietly before the body had decent buriall or the performance thereof in as ample manner as could possibly be imagined Aeneas as it is fained by the helpe of Sibylla Cumea descending into hell found Palinurus his shipmaster drownd not long before among many more wandring about the lake of Styx because his body was vnburied which kinde of punishment is thus related by the Prophetesse Phaers translation This prease that here thou seest beene people dead not laid in graue A pitious rable poore that no reliefe nor comfort haue This Boate-man Charon is And those whom now this water beares Are bodies put in ground with worship due of weeping teares Nor from these fearfull bankes nor riuers hoarce they passage get Till vnder earth in graues their bodies bones at rest are set An hundred yeares they walke and round about these shores they houe And then at last full glad to further pooles they do remoue Then after this she puts him in comfort with hope of Exequies and honorable buriall thus Since whan O Palinure both all this madnesse come on thee Wouldst thou the Limbo-lake and dolefull flouds vntombed see Vnbidden from this banke doest thou indeed to scape intend Seeke neuer Gods eternall doome with speech to thinke to bend Yet take with thee Aeneas word and comfort thus thy fall For they that border next vnto that mount and Cities all By tâ—kens great from heauen shall be compelld thy bones to take And tombe they shall thee build and solemne seruice shall thee make And Palinurus name for euermore the place shall keepe This spoken from his heauy heart his cares abating creepe And sorrowes partly shranke and glad on earth his name he knew Vlysses at the commandement of Circes went downe into the lower shades where he met with his companion or fellow-traueller Elpenor who desired of him buriall with the ceremonies thereof as also a Sepulchre which Vlysses granted and erected to his memory a Cenotaph Doe not depart from hence and leaue me thus Vnmournd vnburied lest neglected I Bring on thy selfe th incensed Deitie I know that saiâ—d from hence thy ship must touch On th' Isle Aeaea where vouchsafe thus much Good King that landed thou wilt instantly Bestow on me thy royall memory And on the foamie shore a Sepulchre Erect to me that after times may heare Of one so haplesse Let me these implore And fixe vpon my Sepulchre the Ore With which aliue I shooke the aged Seas And had of friends the deare societies To these inania busta or vacua Sepulchra the friends of the defunct would yearely repaire and there offer sacrifice vpon Altars erected neare to the Cenotaph for that purpose calling vpon the spirit ghost or Manes of him to whose memory the Cenotaph was made by which ceremony they imagined that the body of the party deceased would lie some where or other at reâ—â— and his
was commanded by the Law Deâ—em pondo auri Fisco inferre to bring ten pound weight of gold into the â—xchequer But the most execrable and hellish abuse of all other offered to the dead is effected by witchcraft incantation and Art-magicke an art saith Quinâ—â—lâ—aâ—s Declam 15. which is said to disquiet the Gods to trouble and displace the starres to search into the graues and sepulchres of the dead to mutilate dismember and cut off certaine parts of the carcases therein inhumed and by those pairings and cuttings together with certaine horrid enchantments charmes and spels to bring to passe strange diabolicall conclusions The powerfull force of which coniurers witches or infernall Hags is thus exprest by the ancient Poets Skill'd in blacke Artes she makes streames backward 〈◊〉 The vertues knowes of weeds of laces spunne On wheeles and poyson of a lust-stung mâ—re Faire daies makes cloudy and the cloudy faâ—â— Starres to drop bloud the moone looke bloudily And plum'd aliue doth through nights shadows flyâ— The dead cals from their graues to further harmes And cleaues the solid earth with her long charmes She said her charmes could ease ones heart of paine Euen when she list and make him grieue againe Sâ—op flouds bring backe the starres and with her breath Rouse the blacke fiends vntill the earth beneath Groand and the trees came marching from the â—ills These witches spels loues soft desires haue sent Into the hardest hearts gainst fates intent Seuere old men haue burnd in impious loue Which temp'red drinks and Philirums could not moue the dull world aâ— their Dire voice has been benum'd great Iupiter Vrging their course himselfe admir'd to see The poles not mou'd by their swift axleâ—tree Showres they haue made clouded the clearest skie And he auenâ—as thundred Ioue not knowing why But not to speake thus in generall of their power and come nearer to the purpose Sextus the sonne of great Pompey desirous to know the euent of the Pharsalian warres consults thereof with the witch Erictho who amongst many her powerfull charmes resolues to take vp the body of one lately buried which she by her Art-magicke would coniure to disclose the sad issue of his and his fathers fates as it is thus in the Argument of the said sixth booke To the dire witch Erictho Sextus goes This fatall warres sad issue to disclose She quickens a dead carcase which relates To Sextus eare his and his Fathers Fates And crauing then deaths freedome to obtaine Is by a magicke spell dissolu'd againe Now in the booke following Lucan makes young Sextus thus to woe and sollicite the old witch Erictho for the speedie knowledge of the warres euent thus Pompey's fearefull sonne best aâ—e Wisest of all Thessalians that canst make Foreknowne all things to come and turne aâ—ay The course of destiny to me I pray The certaine end of this warres chance relate â— am â—o meane part of the Romane state Great Pompey's sonne now either Lord of all â—r wofull heire of his great funerall My mind though â—ounded now with doubtfull feare â— well resolu'd any knowne woe to beare 〈…〉 from chance this power it may not fall 〈◊〉 and suddaine on me the Gods call Or spare the Gods and force the truth out from The ghosts below open Elysium â—all forth grâ—mâ—â—e death himselfe bid him relate Which of the two is giuen to him by fate Tâ—is no meane taske but labour worthie thee To search what end of this great warre shall be The witch makes a replication with an expression as also a limitation of her magicke power in these words The â—mpious witch proud of a fame so spread Replies young man wouldst thou haue altered Some meâ—ner fate it had been easily done â— could haue forcâ—d to any action 〈◊〉 unwilling Gods I can preserue the breath Of him whom all the starres haue doomb'd to death And though the planets all conspire to make Him old the midst of his lifes course can breake But Fates and thuâ—der of great causes all Worke downeward from the worlds originall When all mankinde depend on one successe If there you would change ought our arts confesse â—ortune has greater power but if content â—oâ— be alone to know this warres euent Many and easie wayes for vs there be To finde out truth the earth the sea the sky Tâ—e dead the Rodopeian rock and fields Shall speake 〈◊〉 But since late slaughter yeeldâ— Such choice of carcases in Thessaly 〈◊〉 vp one of those who easiest be That a warme new-slaine carcase with a cleare â—â—â—elligible voice may greet your eare 〈◊〉 by the sunne the organs parch'd and spillâ—d The dismall ghost vncertaine hissings yeild â—rictho hauing raised vp a dead carcase by her damnable incantations and possest his inward parts with some diabolicall spirit who by and thorow 〈…〉 gans might giue to her and young Sextus some satisfactory answers 〈◊〉 she goes forward with her demands Speake quoth Erictho what I aske and well Shalt thou rewarded be if truth thou tell 〈◊〉 our Hamonian art I le set thee free Throughout all ages and bestow on thee Such funeralls with charmes so burne thy bones Thy ghost shall heare no incantations Let this the fruit of thy reuiuall be No spels no herbs shall dare to take from thee Thy long safe rest when I haue made thee die The Gods and Prophets answer doubtfully But he that dares enquire of ghosts beneath And boldly go to th' oracles of death Is plainly told the truth spare not but name Plainly the things and places all and frame A speech wherein I may conferre with fate Adding a charme to make him know the state Of whatsoe're she askt thus presently The weeping carcase spake The deuill in his conference with the Sompner who to tell you by the way Is a renner vp and doun With maundements fornicatioun And is y beat at euery tounes end Amongst other his subtilties relates this for one by way of interrogation thus Yet tell me quoth this Sompner faithfully Make ye you new bodies thus alway Of elements the fiend answerd nay Sometime we faine and sometime we arise With dead bodies and that in sundry wise And speake as renably faire and well As the Phitonesse did to Samuel This violation or fearefull disturbance of the dead was punished with extreme tortures and afterwards by decollation Kelley otherwise called Talbot that famous English Alchymist of our times who flying out of his owne countrey after he had lost both his cares at Lancaster was entertained with Rodolph the second and last of that Christian name Emperour of Germany for whom Elizabeth of famous memory sent very secretly Captaine Peter Gwinne with some others to perswade him to returne backe to his owne natiue home which hee was willing to doe and thinking to escape away in the night by stealth as he was clammering ouer a wall in his owne house in Prague which beares his name to this day and which sometime was an old Sanctuary
For the foundation of these Friers I will vse the words of the famous Antiquary Iohn Leyland in his Commentaries who flourished in the raigne of King Henry the eighth Cui à Bibliothecis erat who died in the raigne of Edward the sixth of a Phrenesie to the great griefe of all such as then did or â—ow do take delight in the abstruse studie of reuerend Antiquitie Hee lieth buried in Saint Michaels Church in Pater Noster Row London The Priorie of Knasborough saith hee is three quarters of a mile beneath Maâ—ch Bridge which goes ouer Nid one Robert Flower sonne of one Tork Flower that had beene twice Maior of Yorke was the first beginner of this Priory he had beene a little while before a Monke in New minster Abbey in Morpeth within the County of Northumberland forsaking the lands and goods of his father to whom hee was heire and first-borne sonne and desiring a solitarie life as an Hermit resorted to the Rockes by the riuer of Nid and thither vpon opinion of his sanctitie others resorted for whom and himselfe he built a little Monasterie got institution and confirmation of an Order about the yeare 1137 which after his owne name he called Robertins Howsoeuer his companie of Friers were instituted of the order De redemptione captiuorum alias S. Trinitatis King Iohn as he saith was of an ill will to this Robert Flower at the first yet afterwards very beneficiall both to him and his Some of the Flowers lands at Yorke were giuen to this Priory and the name of the Flowers of late dayes remained in that Citie Many miracles as it is said were wrought at the Tombe in his owne Priory wherein he was interred Eodem anno claruâ—t fama Roberti Heremitae apud Knaresburgh cuius 〈◊〉 oleum medicinale fertur abundanter emisisse In the same yeare the same of Robert the Hermite of Knarsborrow spread it selfe clearely abroad whose Tombe as the report went cast forth abundantly medicinable oyle saith Mat. Paris the Monke of Saint Albonâ— who liued in those dayes This Order as I take it was abolished before the dissolution These Friers challenge and deriue their first institution from Saint Antonie who liued about the yeare of our redemption 345. howsoeuer they obsâ—rae and follow the rule of Saint Augustine but whosoeuer was their first Patron it skills not much Vpon this occasion following they came first into England Edmund the sonne and heire of Richard Earle of Cornwall who was second sonne to King Iohn being with his father in Germany where beholding the reliques and other precious monuments of the ancient Emperours he espied a boxe of Gold by the Inscription whereof hee perceiued as the opinion of men then gaue that therein was contained a portion of the bloud of our blessed Sauiour He therefore being desirous to haue some part thereof by faire intreatie and money obtained his desire and brought the Boxe ouer with him into England bestowing a third part thereof in the Abbey of Hales which his father had founded and wherein his father and mother were both buried thereby to enrich the said Monasterie and reseruing the other two parts in his owne custodie till at length moued vpon such deuotion as was then vsed he founded an Abbey at Ashrugge in Hertfordshire a little from his Manor of Berkamsted in which hee placed Monkes of this order Bonhommes Good men and assigned to them and their Abbey the other two parts of the said sacred bloud Whereupon followed great resort of people to those two places induced thereunto by a certaine blinde deuotion to the great emolument and profit of these Good-men the religious Votaries The superiour of this Order was called a Rector or a Father Guardian About the yeare 1257. the Bethlemit Friers had their dwelling in Cambridge who should be the first institutor I do not reade their rule and habite was much what like that of the Dominicans sauing that they wore a starre in their breast wrought vpon their habite in memoriall of the starre which appeared at the time that our Sauiour was borne in Bethlem This Order was extinct before the suppression This religious Order was first instituted in the yeare of our Lord God 1080. vpon this occasion the story is frequent a Doctor of Paris famous both for his learning and godly life being dead and carried to the Church to be buried when as they sung ouer his bodie the lesson which begins Responde mihi quot habes iniquitates Answer me how many iniquities thou hast the bodie sitting vp in the coffin answered with a terrible voice Iusto Dei iudicio accusatus sum I am accused by the iust iudgement of God at which voice all the companie being much amazed they defeâ—red the interment vntill the next day at which time vpon the rehearsall of the same words the body did rise in like manner and said Iusto Dei iudicio iudicatus sum I am iudged by the iust iudgement of God The third day hee raised himselfe vp as before saying Iusto Dei iudicio condemnatus sum I am condemned by the iust iudgement of God Amongst many Doctors which assisted these Funeralls one Bruno a German borne at Colleyn of a rich and noble familie Chanon of the Cathedrall Church of Rheimes in Champaigne being strucken and fearfully affrighted at this strange and neuer-heard of spectacle began to consider with himselfe and to reuolue and iâ—erate very often these words following Si iustus vix salvabitur impius peccator vbi erit If such a pious man as hee was in the opinion of the world be damned by the iust iudgement of God thinkes hee what will become of me and many thousands more farre worse and more wicked in the eye of the world then this man was Vpon this deepe consideration Bruno departed from Paris and tooke his iourney together with sixe of his Schollers to liue solitarily in some wildernesse and not long after came to the Prouince of Dolphine in France neare to the Citie of Grenoble where hee obtained of Hugh Bishop of that Citie a place to build him a Monasterie on the top of an high stupendious hill called Carthusia from whence the Order tooke the name They gaue themselues to silence and reading and separated themselues by little Cels one from another lest they should interrupt one anothers quiet They spent some houres in the labour of their hands and some in the writing of godly books both to relieue their wants and to do seruice to the Church of God Many workes of theirs are still extant out of which tending to mortification the Iesuite Parsons collected the Resolution They did macerate their bodies by fasting and discipline and in the end resolued to eat no flesh during their liues This donation of Bishop Hugh who became himselfe one of their order was confirmed by Hugh Bishop of Lions and afterwards by Pope Vrban the second The said Pope Vrban as the story
aut per me aut per meum nuntium nisi Apostoliâ—a absoluat licenâ—ia Possessiones vero ad mensam mei Archiepiscopatus pertinentes non vendam neque donabo neque impignerabo neque de nouo insendabo vel aliquo modo alienabo inconsulto Rom. Pontifice sicut me Deus adiuuet c. The crosse was deliuered vnto him by a Monke of this his Church in these words Reuerend Father I am the messenger of the great King that doth require and command you to take on you the gouernment of his Church and to loue and defend the same in token whereof I deliuer you this his ensigne But I doubt I am tedious I will draw to his end which happened August 23. 1532. after hee had continued Archbishop eight and twentie yeares and was buried without any great funerall pompe mourning clothes being giuen onely to the poore Hee purchased much land for his kindred and bestowed very much in repairing and beautifying his houses with faire buildings euen to the value of thirtie thousand pounds as hee professeth for which cause hee prayed his Successours to forbeare sute for dilapidations His motto I finde in many places of the pallace which was Auxilium meum à Domino I finde no more Archbishops to bee here buried saue Cardinall Poole whom I reserue for another booke Here sometimes was a monument erected to the memory of that valiant Knight Sir William Molyneux of Seston in Lanchishire who at the battell of Nauarret in Spaine was made knight Banneret by Edward the black Prince Anno 1367. vnder whose command he serued in those warres as also for a long time in the warres of France From whence returning homewards he died here at Canterbury Anno 1372. Whose Epitaph I haue out of the pedegree of that honourable worthy gentleman Sir Richard Molyneux of Seston Knight and Baronet and Viscount Marybourgh in Ireland now liuing who from the said Sir William is lineally descended Miles honorificus Molyneus subiacet intus Tertius Edwardus dilexit hunc vt amicus Fortia qui gessit Gallos Nauar osque repressit Hic cum recessit morte feriente decessit Anno milleno trecento septuageno Atque his iunge duo sic perit omnis home Icy gist Gulian Septvaus cheualier qui morust le dernier iour D'aust â—an de Grace M. CCCC.VII de quele alme Deux eit pite et mercy Amen This Sir William serued in the warres of France vnder Edward the third as I haue it in the Pell office Sub hoc marmore iacent corpora Wilhelmi Septvans militis qui obijt 4. die mens Mar. Ann. Dom. 1448. et Elizabethe vxoris eius silie Iohannis Peche militiâ— que obijt 28. Mar. Sequenti quoruÌ„ animabus propitietur Deus Sum quod eris volui quod vis credes quasi credis Viuere forte diu mox ruo morte specu Cessis quo nescis nee quomodo quando sequeris Hinc simul in celis vt simus queso preceris Hic iacet Odomarus Hengham Ar. qui obijt 4. April Ann. Dom. 1411. he dwelt at Gowsted in Stokebury Hic iacet expectans miserecordiam Dei prenobilis vir Iohannes Guilâ—eford miles vnus consiliariorum illustrissimi Regis Hen. 7. qui quidem Iohannes obijt 19. die mens Iuly 8. Hen. 7. Ann. 1493. Cuius anime proâ—â—tetur altissimus Iesu filius Dei miserere mei Camden tells vs that this familie of the Guildfords is very ancient but most eminent euer since this Sir Iohn Guilford here interred was Controuler to the house to King Edward the fourth whose sonne and heire Sir Richard was by King Henry the seuenth made Knight of the Garter of his sonnes againe Sir Edward Guilford was Marshall of Callais Lord Warden of the Cinque-ports and Master of the Ordnance father to Iâ—ne Dutches of Northumberland wife to Sir Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland mother of the late Earles of Waâ—wick and Leicester of Guilford Dudley beheaded with his wife the Lady Iane and of fiue sonnes and eight daughters besides and Sir Henry was chosen Knight of the Garter by King Henry the eight and had his armes ennobled with a Canton of Granado by Ferdinando King of Spaine for his worthy seruice in that kingdome when it was recouered from the Moores and Edward liued in great esteeme in his countrey To be briefe from this Sir Iohn Guilford are issued by females immediatly the Darells Gages Brewâ—es Walsinghams Cromers Isaacs and Iselcies families of prime and principall note in these parts But I digresse and I craue pardon Onely let me tell you that Sir Richard Guilford aforesaid serued King Henry the seuenth sâ—pra mare cum 550. Nautis et Soldarijs pre duos menses 5. Hen. 7. Thomas Fogge iacet hic iacet hic sua sponsa Iohanna Sint celo ciues per te Deus hos O sanna Regni protector Francos Britones superauit Nobilium Rector sicuti Leo castra predauit Et quoque militiam sic pro patria per amauit Ad summam patriam Deus hic ab agone vocauit Fogge a name both of antiquitie and eminencie one of which familie namely Sir Iohn Fogge was of the priuie Councell to King Edward the fourth and sate with the Duke of Clarence the Earle of Warwicke and the Lord Riuers in iudgement vpon Sir Thomas Cooke of Giddie-Hall in Essex And I finde one Sir Iohn Fogge a warriour in the beginning of the raigne of King Henry the eight But this great conquering Knight did flourish long before he was the sonne of Sir Thomas Fogge knight buried at Glastenbury by his wife the Countesse of Ioyeux in France And this Ioane his wife here buried was the daughter and heire of Valons or Valance Hic iacent Wilhelmus Bruchelle siue Brenchley miles quondam Iusticiarius Domini Regis de communi Banco qui obijt in Holborne in suburbo London 20. Maij 1406. et Ioanna vxor eius que obijt 1453. Aug. 8. Here lieth Edmund Hawte Esquire ..... 1488. Hic iacet Iohannes Fyneux miles et Elisabetha vxor eius filia ..... Paston ..... the rest gone This Fyneux was Lord chiefe Iustice of the Common Pleas the â—â— of Henry the seuenth Hic iacet Iohannes Fynch de Winchelsey quond â—n prior huius Ecâ—lssie 〈◊〉 obijt ..... 9 die Ianuar ...... edificta constructa plura alia collata bona .... cuius anime .... Hic iacet reuerendus pater Thomas Goldstone huius sacrosancte Ecclesie Prior ac sacre pagine Prosessor 〈…〉 Ecclesiam per annos 24.8 mens et dies 16. optime 〈…〉 migrauit ad dominum 16. Septemb. Ann. Dom. 1517. Cuius animâ— Plangite vos Cythâ—ram plangentes carmine mole Hic iacet occulta Religionis honos 〈◊〉 Doctor Thomas Goldston vocitatus Moles quem presâ—ns saxea magna tenet O â—os spectantes huius â—um fureâ— a patris Nunc est is memores fundite que so preces Hic
arriuall here in England and was married to king Ethelbert with these conditions made by her parents That it should be lawfull for her to keepe inuiolable the rites of her Religion and enioy the presence and instructions of her learned Bishop Luitharde whom they appointed to assist and helpe her in matters of her faith She was a woman of vertuous and holy inclination spending much of her time in prayer almes-deeds and other workes of charitie frequenting daily her Oratorie within Saint Martins a Church built in former times by the beleeuing Romanes wherein her reuerend assistant Luitardus vsed also to instruct and exhort the people to newnesse of life and Religion so that by her example and his preaching many of the Kentish Paynims were brought in to beleeue the glad tydings of the Gospell These proceedings with his wiues perswasions wrought so effectually with good king Ethelbert that his heart was softned and his eares already opened to receiue and embrace the doctrine of S. Austine Whereupon some do gather that the happinesse of his and his Subiects conuersion may as well be attributed to Berta and her French attendants as to Austine and his fellow-disciples Of which an old namelesse Rimer very ancient Whan Ethilbert hadde regned bot a yer Sent Awstyn hym to Cristen feyth conuert Thrughe goddys grase as clerly dyd apere Who hadde to wyffe Berta that was advert To Cristen feyth in Fraunce afore convert That helpt therto wyth all hur dylygens As Awstyn dyd wythe all benyvolens She was likewise an earnest parswader and a pertaker with her husband Ethelbert in and for the propagating and erecting of Religion and religious structures as I obserue out of the same Authour Kynge Ethilbert wythe ryall gret expens Gret Mynsters made of hyghe reuyrens In Rochestre and eke in Canterbery For Bysschoppys sees that wer ful necessary Atte London eke sent Pawles edyfyed In whyche so then shuld be the Bysschoppys Se Thus hely Câ—yrch tha Pâ—yns ther fortyfyed Wythe alle kynde thynge that was necessary For sustenauns of the Christyante So dydde hys wyff hur part wythe all hur myght To fortefy the cristen in thâ—yr ryght This blessed Queene died before her husband neare vnto whom he desired to be buried ann 622. for whom this Distich was composed Moribus ornata iacet hic Regina beata Berta Deo grata fuit ac homini peramata Here sometime lay the body of Edbald entombed king of Kent the sonne and heire of the before named Ethelbert by his Queene Berta who began his raigne as wickedly as his father ended his worthily for hee refused to entertaine the doctrine of Christ and polluted himselfe by the marriage of his mother in law his owne fathers second wife but at length being conuerted by Archbishop Lawrence from his idolatrie and incestuous matrimonie hee endeuoured by all meanes possible to propagate and maintaine the state of the Gospell The king of Kent Edbald his furst wyf forsoke And held hym to hys Christendom yat he furst toke And built a Chappell within this Monasterie in honour of Mary the blessed mother of God endowing it with sufficient maintenance wherein after the continuance of 24. yeares raigne hee was buried ann 640. His wife Emma the daughter of Theodebert king of Lorraine was buryed by him Here lieth Ercombert the sonne of the said Edbald king of Kent a religious king who suppressed all the Temples of the heathen Idols and commanded the fast of Lent to be obserued His wife Sexburgh daughter of Anna king of the East Angles was layed by him This King hauing raigned foure and twentie yeares and odde monethes finished his dayes ann 664. Egbert succeeded his father Ercombert and if the murther of his two cosin-Germans had not much blemished his peaceable gouernment he might well haue holden place with the worthiest of the Kentish kings He died in the tenth yeare of his raigne anno 673. and was buried here by his predecessours And so in like manner this Church was honoured with the sepulchres of Lothaire Withred Edelbert and other Kentish kings and also with the shrines of many English Saints whose sacred Reliques as they were then esteemed brought both great veâ—â—ration and bencht to this religâ—ouâ— Structure The first man of eminencie that I finde to haue bâ—ene eâ—shrined in this Abbey was Saint Augustine the first Archbishop of this See of Canterbury a Romane borre and a Monke of Saint Benets order who with others was sent hither out of Italie by Gregory the great Pope of Rome to preach the word of God to this our English nation hee with his fellowes to the number of fourty persons landed in the Isle of Tenet within this County where they were shortly after visited of king Ethelbert But the story is frequent and I shall be often touching vpon it by the way and hiâ— Legend is too long for my intended short discourse therefore I hope the Reader will rest contented with this abbreuiation for both Whils Ethelbert was reignyng kyng of Kent Sainct Austin sent by Gregory of R. bishop Landed in Tenet with Clerkes of his assent And many Monkes to teache the saith I hope That clothed were vnder a blacke cope Whiche in Procession with crosses and Bells came The Latinies syngyng in Iesus his name In the yere of Chryst his incarnacion Fiue hundreth fourescore and sixtene King Ethelbert had in his dominacion Alâ— Kent throughout with greate ioy as was seen Were baptised then in holy water clene To whome Gregory sent Mellito and Iusto With other Clerkes and Doctors many mo Gregory him made Archbishop of Canterbury Of all Englande hiest then Primate And had the Paule with hiest legacye By Gregory sent to him and ordinate Fro London then thus was that tyme translate To Canterbury the sea Metropolitan And London sette as for his suffrigan Saynt Augustine then with helpe of Ethelbert Saynt Augustines made and Christes Church also That Christes Church hight as it was adverte And sacred so by hym and halowed tho For the chiefe Sea Metropolitan so Of all England by Gregory ordinate And Saynt Augustine of all England Primate This man was of an exceeding tall stature well fauoured of a very amiable countenance but of his learning I finde little worthy of remembrance sine doctrina sana docebat saith one ac sine perceptibili lingua ignotae praedicabat genti He died the 26. of May in the thirteenth yeare of his first entrance into England and was buried first without doores neare to the Church of this Monastery because the Church was not finished and afterwards his body was remoued into the North Porch of the said Church in which place fiue of his Successours were likewise interred Vpon the Tombe of this Austine this Epitaph was insculped in Latine thus translated Here resteth the body of Augustine the first Archbishop of Canterbury that was sent into this Land by Saint
fashion in former times fetched from the French which they call rebus or name-deuises examples of the same are frequent Neare to this Church sometime stood that goodly Abbey founded by Stephen king of England grandchilde to the Conquerour dedicated to Saint Sauiour replenished with blacke Monkes of Cluni valued at the suppression to be well worth according to the fauourable rate of such endowments in those dayes 286. l. 12. s. 6. d. ob yearely such was the charter of his donation Stephanus Rex c. Archiepiscopis Episcopis c. salutem Sciatis me pro salute anime mee Matildis Regine vxoris mee Eustachij filij mei aliorum puerorum meorum antecessorum Regum Anglie dedisse c. Manerium meum de Fauresham ad fundand Abbatiam vnam ibidem ae ordine Monachorum Cluniacensium c. Sciatis etiam quod dedimus ego et Matildis Regina mea Willelmo de Ipra in Escambium pro eodem Manerio de Fauresham Lillechire cum pertinencijs suis de hereditate Regine Teste H. Episcopo Winton fratre meo Rogero Episcopo de London Richardo de Lucy Hen. de Essex c. This king died at Douer of an Iliack passion mixed with his old disease the Emrods Octob. 25. 1154. hauing raigned 18. yeares ten moneths and odde dayes and was buried in this Church of his owne foundation Of which heare these ancient rimes Aftur king Harry euyn Then regnyd king Stevyn The Erlys son Bloys he was truly He wedded Mold the doghter of Mary A good man he was bedeme I trow king Harry was his Eme He regnyd here XUIII yere And to Feuersham in Kent men him bere He deyed without issue truly Then regnyd his cosin Harry Stephen was a most worthy Souldier saith one and wanted nothing to haue made him an excellent king but a iust title but that was wanting The whiche he found whyles he was liuing so And reigned here in much trouble and wo. And had this Realme without any ryght Fro th'emprise Maude that faire Lady bryght And this was the cause that he was driuen perforce to defend his vsurâ—ped authoritie by the sword which must needs procure him the hatred of many who thus speake of him in old English King Stephen his luthenesse withdrew yers a fewe But er Uyer were goo he ganne to wex a shrewe For he wende aboute and robbyd the lond and to grownd broght Then the toune of Wyrcester he brent all to noght But to conclude with the words of a late writer This Stephen was a man so continually in motion saith he that we cannot take his dimension but onely in passing and that but on one side which was warre on the other we neuer saw but a glaunce on him which yet for the most part was such as shewed him to be a very worthy Prince for the gouernment Hee kept his word with the State concerning the relieuement of Tributes and neuer had Subsidy that we finde But which is more remarkable hauing his sword continually out and so many defections and rebellions against him hee neuer put any great man to death Besides it is noted that notwithstanding all these miseries of war there were more Abbeyes built in his raigne then in an 100. yeares before which shewes though the times were bad they were not impious the king himselfe being mente piissimus as he was miles egregius His body rested here in quietnesse vntill the dissolution when for the gaine of the lead wherein it was encoffined it was taken vp and throwne into the next water So vncertaine is man yea greatest Princes of any rest in this world euen after buriall Here sometime likewise lay interred Maud his wife the daughter of Eustace Earle of Bulloigne the brother of Godfrey and Baldwin of Bulloigne kings of Ierusalem by her mother Mary sister to Maud Queene of England wife of Henry her predecessour who dyed at Heueningham Castle in Essex the third of May 1151. Whose Epitaph I found in a namelesse Manuscript Anno milleno C. quinquagenoque primo Quo sua non minuit sed sibi nostra tulit Mâ—thildis selix coniux Stephani quoque Regis Occidit insignis moribus et titulis Cultrix vera Dei cultrix et pauperiei Hic subnixa Deo quo frueretur eo Femina si qua Polos conscendere queque meretur Angelicis manibus diua hec Regina tenetur Eustace the sonne and heire apparant of Stephen and Queene Maud liued not long after his mother for being highly displeased with the agreement betwixt his father and Henry Fitzempresse afterwards king of England by which he was made hopelesse euer to haue the Crowne as his fathers Successour in a fury he departed the Court purposing to raise himselfe by his owne meanes and so marched along destroying the countrey alwayes as he went vntill he came to Saint Edmundsbury where he was honourably receiued of the Monkes of that Monastery But hee came not for meat but money and thereupon vngratefully vrged them for a great summe to set forward his heady designes yet the wiser amongst them vnwilling to be wagers of new warres which though ill for all sorts yet proued euer worst for the Clargie mens possessions denyed his request Wherewith eâ—raged be commanded his owne men to carry their corne and other prouision into his owne Castle situated hard by But being set at dinner the very first morsell he put into his mouth draue him into a Frensie whereof shortly after he dyed His body was brought to this Abbey and here interred by his mother His death happened the tenth day of August 1152. He was married to Constance sister of Lewis the seuenth king of France daughter of king Lewis the Grosse by whom he had no issue In this Abbey saith Robert of Glocester is a pece of ye hely croys which Godfrey Boylon forkyndred had sent to king Stephene Tunstall Hic iacet Margareta filia Iacobi Cromer militis vxor Iohannis Rycils heredis de Elsingham .... qui obiit ... 1496. Sittingborne Here lyeth Iohn Crowmer Esquire and Ione his wife who died Ann. Dom. 1539 .... on whose soules A family of knightly descent and ample reuenues one of which house called William Crowmer Esquire sonne of Sir William Lord Maior of London high Shiriffe of Kent in the fury of Iack Cade and the Kentish and Essex rebells was sacrificed at Mile-end and cut shorter by the head like as the day before they had serued Sir Iames Fienes Lord Say and Sele and Treasurer of England in Cheape-side whose onely daughter this Crowmer had married Whose heads giue me leaue to go a little further pitched vpon high poles were carried by the villaines through the Citie of London who caused their trunklesse faces in spight and mockerie to kisse one the other at euery street-corner as they marched along in this their damnable triumph and
spatium triginta dierum 11. Ed. quarti Boniface of Sauoy Archbishop of Canterbury Vnckle to Eleanor the wife of king Henry the third built here at the confluence of the waters a religious structure to the honour of Saint Peter S. Paul and S Thomas the Martyr as most call him and endowed it with faire possessions by the name of an Hospitall but vsually called The new Worke which had not stood fully an hundred and fourty yeares but that William Courtney one of his Successours in this See pulled it downe and erected it anew after his owne pleasure thereby gaining the name of a Founder and called it a Colledge of secular Priests which he consecrated to the holinesse of All Saints which was valued at the suppression at 139. l. 7. s. 6. d. of yearely reuenues This Archbishop Courtney was sonne of Hugh Courtney the third of that Christian name Earle of Deuonshire by Margaret his wife daughter of Humphrey de Bohun Earle of Hereford and Essex And being thus honourablie descended he was no sooner entred into Orders but that he was loaden with spirituall preferments as a Prebend in Wells Exceter and Canterbury beside Benefices with Cure more I thinke then he could well discharge The first Bishopricke he had was Hereford which he enioyed fiue yeares from thence he was remoued to London which hee gouerned about sixe yeares in which time saith Walsingham he was aduanced to the dignity of Cardinal from London to Canterbury which gracious honour hee enioyed 12. yeares lacking one moneth euen vntill his death which happened the last day of Iuly 1396. He lyeth buried according to his will here in his owne Church vnder a plaine graue-stone a lowly Tombe for such an high borne Prelate vpon which his pourtraiture is delineated and this Epitaph inlaid with brasse about the Verge Nomine Willelmus en Courtnaius reuerendus Qui se post obitum legauerat hic tumulandum In presenti loco quem iam fundarat ab imo Omnibus sanctis titulo sacrauit honoris Vltima lux Iulij fit vite terminus illi M. ter C. quinto decies nonoque sub anno Respice mortalis quis quondam sed modo talis Quantus iste fuit dum membra calentia gessie Hic Primas Patrum Cleri Dux genus altum Corpore valde decens sensus acumine clarens Filius hic comitis generosi Deuoniensis Legum Doctor erat celebris quem fama serenat Vrbs Herdfordensis Polis inclita Londoniensis Ac Dorobernensis sibi trine gloria sedis Detur honor digno fit Cancellarius ergo Sanctus vbique pater prudens fuit ipse minister Nam largus letus castus pius atque pudicus Magnanimus iustus egenis totus amicus Et quia Rex Christe Pastor bonus extitit iste Sumat solamen nunc tecum quesumus Amen This Archbishop bestowed much in building and enlarging of his houses especially vpon his Castle of Saltwood Towards the reparation of his Church at Canterbury he gaue 1000. Marks hee gaue also vnto the same Church a certaine image of siluer weighing one hundred and threescore pounds two vestments and thirteene Copes of great value Besides a number of bookes Hic iacet Dominus Iohannes Wotton Rector Ecclesie Parochialis de Stapilhurst Canonicus Cicestrensis primus Magister huius Collegij qui obijt vltimo die Octobris 1417. On the North side of the Quire stands an old Monument most shamefully defaced Onely these words remayning of an old Inscription ..... ad bona non tardus vocitando ..... namque Deo trino valefecit ....... December .... ..... Annomilleno C. quater X. ... It is said that one Woodvill lyeth herein entombed who dwelt at Thamote within this Parish I finde saith M. Lambard in a Record that Thomas Arundell Archbishop of Canterbury the next Successour of Courtney founded a Chantrie at Maidston which whether it be the same that was sometime called the house of the Brothers and but lately conuerted by the Townsmen into a freeschoole or no I will not boldly affirmed but I thinke it rather so then otherwise Leedes There was a Priory in this Towne built and amplie endowed by one Sir Robert Creuequer and Adam his sonne and heire who in ancient Records is named de Creuequer or de crepito corde a Nobleman of Normandie and knight to William the Conquerour in the yeare of our redemption 1107. or thereabouts which he consecrated to the honour of our alone Sauiour Iesus Christ and Saint Nicholas and placed therein blacke Canons regular Augustines Rainham In a Chappell of his owne foundation here in this Church lyeth interred Iohn Bloor and William Bloor Which Iohn dyed 29. Decemb. 1520. Hic iacet Iacobus Donet Ar. qui ob Viij Kal. Feb. 1409. For the loue of Iesu pray for me I may not pray now pray ye That my peynes lessyd may be Wyth on Pater Noster and on Aue. Iohn Paynter of Douer namyd I was And two times Maire of that plas I passyd to God the thirteenth of Iuly On thousand fyve hundryd and forty The people of this place make a great vaunt of the best wheate in all Kent or Christendome Now here gentle Reader giue me leaue to speake a little more of the Priory of Leedes though casually misplaced because forgotten I finde saith Lambard in a Heralds note who belike made his coniecture by some coate of Armes lately apparant that one Leybourne an Earle of Salisbury was the founder of this Priory And indeed it is to be seene in the Annalls of Saint Augustines of Canterbury that a Nobleman called Roger Leybourne was sometime of great authoritie within this Shire notwithstanding that in his time he had tasted of both fortunes for in the dayes of king Henry the third hee was first one of that coniuration which was called the Barons warre from which faction Edward the kings sonne wonne him by faire meanes to his part and made him the bearer of his priuie purse Afterward they agreed not vpon the reckoning so that the Prince charging him with great arrerage of account seised his liuing for satisfaction of the debt by which occasion Roger once more became of the Barons partie But after the pacification made at Kenelworth he was eft-soones receiued into fauour and was made Warden of the fiue Ports and Lieutenant of this whole Shire Now though it cannot be true that this man was the builder of this Priory for the same Annals say that it was erected long before yet if hee did but marry the heire he might truly bee termed the Patron or Founder thereof for by that name not onely the builders themselues but their posterity also to whom the glory of their deeds did descend were wont to bee called Patrons and Founders as well as they It is obserued by my Author in this place speaking of the Priory that in ancient time the greatest Personages held Monkes
and made their nest here at Newenden which was at that time a wooddy and solitarie place and therefore in common opinion the more fit for religious persons to inhabite they were called Carmelites of a hill in Siria named Carmelus where at the first a sort of them liued solitarily vntill by Iohn Patriarch of Ierusalem they were drawne into companies Now to giue these sanctimonious white Brethren such meere strangers the better entertainment one Sir Thomas Albuger knight about the yeare 1241. built for them here a faire house calling it the Friery which he caused to bee hallowed to the honour of the Virgin Mary for that by Honorius Quartus the Pope they were appointed to a rule and order by the name of the Brothers of Mary which title liked themselues so well that they procured of Pope Vrban the sixth three yeares pardon for all such as would so call them But certaine merry fellows saith mine Author seeing their vanity and knowing how little they were of kinne to Mary the blessed Virgine called them the Brothers of Mary Aegiptiaca the harlot Whereat the Pope was so offended that hee plainly pronounced them Heretickes for their labour He that was the Prouost or principall of this Fraternitie was called the Prior of the house One of which namely William Starnefeld writ a Treatise of the originall or beginning of this Order What the value of this Priorie was at the suppression I cannot learned Combewell In this village was a Monastery of blacke Canons dedicated to S. Mary Magdelene and valued to be worth 80. l. 17. s. 5. d. Romden One of the great family of the Guilfords here in this Church founded a Chappell Anno 1444. Ossham Hic â—acet Iohannes Elys Armiger qui obijt 18. die mensis Septemb. An. 1467. cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Hic iacet Dominus Nich. de Sandwich qui quondam fuit Rector istius Ecclesie de Ossham .... ob ... 1370. This man was Lord of the Mannor and a younger sonne of the family of Sandwiches of Sandwich Kennington Orate pro animabus Willelmi Brent Ar. Elisabethe vxoris eius filie Rise Madris Orate pro anima Willelmi Walkesley militis Willisborough In the East window of the South Isle of this Church you may finde by an inscription that one Tho. Elys Esquire and Thomazin his wife were here buried And also one William Barre the sonne of George Barre or Barry of Mote in Seuington Parish who dyed Ann. 1463. An ancient familie euer since the raigne of king Richard the first in whose time as also in the raignes of King Iohn and Henry the third Sir Iohn Barre knight flourished in great reputation here in this County Bradgare Here was a Colledge founded by Robert de Bradgare Tho. Iocelin Clerk and Robert de Vise Narden Vpon the Tombe of Lady Elisabeth Nevill here interred wife to Sir Thomas Nevill and daughter to the Lord Dakers and Dame Anne Graistocke this old rime is engrauen O Lord my Sauiour and hevenly Maker Haue mercy on Elisabeth Graistock and Daker In what kings dayes this Lady might flourish I haue not made much search the character of the Inscription seemes to be ancient and so are the families of the Nevils Dacres and Greystocks as also of signall note and exemplarie noblenesse in many parts of this kingdome with the two first Surnames I do often meet Thus much here then of Greystocke out of Camden as followeth By Peterill beside Petrianae saith hee standeth Greystock a Castle belonging not long since to an honourable house which deriued their first descent from one Ranulph Fitz-walter of which line William called de Greystock wedded Mary a daughter and one of the coheires of Sir Merley Lord of Morpath and hee had a sonne named Iohn who being childlesse by licence of king Edward the first conueyed his inheritance to Raph Granthorpe the sonne of William and his Aunts sonne by the fathers side whose male progenie flourished a long time in honour with the title of Lord Greistock but about king Henry the seuenth his dayes expired and came to an end and so the inheritance came by marriage vnto the Barons of Dacree and the female heires generall of the last Baron Dacre were married vnto Philip Earle of Arundell and Lord William Howard sonnes of Thomas Howard late Duke of Norfolke Pluckley anciently written Plokele This Towneship or Parish was by Archbishop Lanfrancke in the time of William the Conquerour giuen vnto one Iohn de Cobham whose posterity assuming a Surname from the place did flourish here by the space of two hundred yeares vntill the daughters of Sir William of Pluckley knight became the coheires of this Mannor Amongst whom shee that onely is knowne to haue had issue was married vnto Iohn de Surenden alias Sarenden who vpon the old seate new founded the Mannor house a faire one at this day and by the antiquitie thereof seemes to haue beene the like or much fairer at her first building which stands vpon the very forehead of that hill which from this place doth reach Westward into Surrey A situation so elegant that it compares with most that are in rich pastures healthfull aire and plenty both of fewell and timber but aboue all in a very delicate and various prospect From the owner it then receiued and still retaines the name of Surenden although from that family it did immediatly by a daughter passe to the Noble and spreading house of Haute whose first childe being daughter and coheire Christian was married vnto Iohn Dering sonne of Richard sonne of Sir Iohn Dering of Westbroke knight In the possession of which family the name of Surenden hath by continuance gotten its Masters Surname to distinguish it from another of the same appellation within two miles and so is knowne by the name of Surenden Dering And through many descents hauing beene at no time bought nor sold the gift of Lanfranke now resteth in person of Sir Edward Dering knight and Baronet Lieutenant of his Maiesties Castle of Douer and of his Cinque ports the third of that name and family of Dering which haue enioyed this Office being a place of especiall trust of honour and command In this Church dedicated to S. Nicholas and in our Ladies Chappell there now belonging to Sir Antony Dering of Surenden Dering knight and founded by Richard Dering Esquire in the raigne of king Henry the sixth as appeares by his Armes carued on the bottome of the Arches which are Or a Salter sables and Dering and Haute quartered Or a Salter sables and Or a crosse engraled gules thereon a cressant Argent are seuerall graue-stones very fairely figured with pourtraitures in armour to the length first one for Iohn Dering of Surenden Esquire who liued in the dayes of King Richard the second Henry the fourth and Henry the fifth some of the brasse is torne away that which remaines is accordingly as
anima Radulphi de Dene Aui mei qui predictam Ecclesiam fundauit c. Sciant presentes c. quod nos Willelmus de Marci et Ela vxar mea dedimus et concessimus Deo et Sancto Laurentio de Oteham et Canonicis ibidem Deo seruientibus in liberam perpetuam Eleemosinam sex denarios quos predicti Canonici nobis annuatim soluebant de terra Roberti Rug. c. Hij sex denarij sint ad emendacionem refectionis conuentus in die Sancti Laurencij Hanc que donationem pro salute animarum nostrarum et Antecessorum nostrorum heredum nostrorum Sigillis nostris confirmauimus Testibus Radulfo Capellano Ailfredo Capellano Willelmo de Marci c. But these Canons did not continue long at Otteham the scituation of the place being vnfitting and very chargeable for so many liuing together in a Couent whereupon by the said Ela daughter and heire of the said Raph Dene and as then the widow of Iordan de Sackvile one of the Ancestors of that right honourable and no lesse ancient family of the Sackviles Earles of Dorset they were remoued to Begam a village in the South-west Verge of this County adioyning to Sussex such was the Charter for their remouall Sciant presentes c. quod ego Ela de Saukevil filia Radulphi de Dene in viduitate et legia potestate mea diuine pietatis intuitu concessi Abbati et Canonicis de Otteham propter magnas et intollerabiles inedias loci de Otteham quod transferant sedem Abbathie de Otteham vsque ad Begeham qui dicitur Beulin salua tenentia et dignitate aduocacionis quam mihi et heredibus meis tam vita quam in morte tenentur Preterea confirmaui omnes donaciones eisdem Canonicis quas pater meus eis dedit et Robertus de Dene frater meus eis dedit The land whereupon this house was built was giuen by one Sir Robert de Turnham a valiant knight who flourished in the raigne of king Richard the first and went with him to the warres in the holy Land as these old rimes do testifie King Richard wyth gud entent To yat cite of Iafes went On morne he sent aftur Sir Robart Sakevile Sir William Wateruile Sir Hubart and Sir Robart of Turnham Sir Bertram Brandes and Iohn de St Iohn And speaking further of this Turnhams valour he saith Robart of Turnham with his Fauchion Gan to crake many a croun But he was so busie in cracking the Sarasins Crownes that hee tooke the lesse heed I thinke of his owne for then and there he was slaine together with Robert de Bellemont surnamed Blanchmaines Earle of Leicester with other noble warriours whose great losse king Richard doth thus lament Alas he seyd yat I was bore My gud Barons by th nigh forlore Aslaw is Robart of Lecestre That was my curteys Mastre Euery her on him was worth a knight And Robart of Turnham that was wight William of Arsne and Sire Gerard Sire Bertram and Sire Pepard Thesbeth slaw and wel mo But to returne to Ela de Sackvile who hauing finished her religious fabricke did dedicate it to the honour of the blessed Virgine Mary and gaue it the name of a Priory which was valued at the suppression to 152. l. 19. s. 4. d. ob Sir Thomas Sackuile knight sonne and heire of Sir Andrew Sackuile by his second wife Ioane Burgese who was Sheriffe of Sussex and Surrey the eight of King Henry the fourth was here interred in the Church of Beigham as appeares by these words in his last Will dated the first of December 1432. Ego Tho. Sakevile miles de Com. Sussex volo me sepultum esse in Ecclesia de Beigeham Item lego Edwardo â—ilio meo omnia vtensilia domus mee c. Hee dyed in the same yeare the eleuenth of King Henry the sixth Here sometime in our Ladies Chappell lay interred the body of Richard Sackevile Esquire who dyed Ann. 1524. This Church was and that of Withiam in Sussex now is greatly honoured by the funerall Monuments of the Sackviles of whom I shall haue more occasion to speake hereafter Pensherst Here in this Church vnder a marble Monument whereon is yet to be seene the pourtraiture of a knight compleatly armed lyeth interred as it is deliuered vnto me by tradition the body of Sir Stephen Pensherst or Stephen de Penchester for so also I finde him called that famous Lord Warden of the Fiue Ports who flourished in the raigne of King Edward the first as appeares by this Record following Rex scripsit Stephano de Penecestre Constabulario Castri de Douor et custodi Quinque Portuum prouidere Naues et galeas sufficientes contra Regis aduentum in Angliam Et meliores et fideliores Regis amicos portuum predict secretius premuniat Vt ipsi caute et sine strepitu preparent se ad veniend in obuiam Regis in aduentu suo supradicto c. Dat. apud West c. 4. Iulij Claus. Anno 1. Ed. primi Cedul pendent Here lye also interred diuers of that ancient and highly renowned Familie of the Sidneys whose Monuments of any great antiquitie together with their Inscriptions are worne away with time Who deriue their race from William de Sidney Chamberlaine to king Henry the second Out of which came saith Camden Sir Henry Sidney that renowned Lord Deputy of Ireland who of the daughter of Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland and Earle of Warwicke begat Philip and Robert whom our late Soueraigne Lord King Iames created Baron Sidney of Penshert Viscount Lisle and Earle of Leicester And to giue more lustre to these foresaid honours he was elected knight and companion of the honourable Order of the Garter at an extraordinarie Chapter holden at Greenwich the day of May Ann. 1616. and enstalled at Windsor the seuenth of Iuly next following This Earle dyed the day of .... Ann. But here I cannot passe ouer in silence Sir Philip Sidney the elder brother being to vse Camdens words the glorious starre of this family a liuely patterne of vertue and the louely ioy of all the learned sort fighting valiantly with the enemy before Zutphen in Gelderland dyed manfully This is that Sidney whom as Gods will was he should be therefore borne into the world euen to shew vnto our age a sample of ancient vertues so his good pleasure was before any man looked for it to call for him againe and take him out of the world as being more worthy of heauen then earth Thus we may see perfect vertue suddenly vanisheth out of sight and the best men continue not long Seigneur Des Accords in his booke entituled Les Bigarrures a miscellanie or hotch-potch of sundry collections amongst many choice Epitaphs hath one selected out of the works of Isaac du Bellay the French Poet excellently composed to the memory of Sieur de Boniuet a
mother this Raph by the marriage of his wife Margaret writ himselfe in his Charters and deeds Baron of Tunbridge And a noble Baron he was and the first Earle of Stafford created by Edward the third the fifth of March in the twentieth and fifth yeare of his raigne Mills in the Catalogue of Honour sets downe this mans pedegree after this manner drawne from William the Conquerours time still abiding in the male line Nicholas the sonne of Robert begot Robert the second whose daughter and heire married to Henry de Bagot he in the right of his wife was made Baron of Stafford and hee begat another called Heruey who left the name of Bagot and tooke on him the name of Stafford and he begot Robert the third father to Nicholas the second father to Edmund who begot this first Earle of Stafford all successiuely Barons and Lords of Stafford Hee dyed the 31. of August in the yeare 1372. Margaret his wife dyed the seuenth of September 1349. This Earle was knight of the honourable order of the Garter at the first foundation Andrew Iud the sonne of Iohn Iud of this Towne of Tonebridge sometime Lord Maior of London erected here a faire free-Schoole and an Almes-house nigh Saint Helens Church in London and left to the Skinners of which company he was lands to the value of threescore pounds three shillings and eight pence the yeare for the which they bee bound to pay twenty pound to the Schoolemaster eight pound to the Vsher yearely for euer and foure shillings the weeke to the sixe Almes-people and twenty fiue shillings foure pence the yeare in Coales for euer This Andrew was Lord Maior of London the yeare 1550. the fourth of King Ed. the sixth Dyed in the yeare following and was buried at S. Helens aforesaid within Bishopsgate ward Senenoke Orate pro anima Edwardi Bowrgchier filij et heredis Thome Bowrgchier militi filii Iohannis Domini de Berners et pro anima Domine Agnete vxoris dicti Thome Bowrgchier filie Thome Carleton militis qui quidem Edwardus obijt 24. Augusti 1496. Thomas Bourchier Archbishop of Canterbury great Vnckle to this Edward bought of Sir William Fienes Lord Say and Sele and built anew that stately house of Knoll hereunto adioyning which he left to his kindred the cause of their residence in this countrey Ecce sub hoc premitur de funere cuius Curia Primatus Anglorum tota soluta est In lachrymas Haydok Haymundus vir preciosus Moribus eloquio dulcis Philologus ille Atque Theologicus clarus fuit ille viarum Rupta restaurauit letus tribuebat egenis Non auri cupidus non ambitiosus honoris Extitit extinctum Decembris luce secunda Quem mors abripuit Dominoque .... famulari Iussit is annus erat Domini quem C. quater M. que LXX complectimur hunc bone Christe In te confisum bonis celestibus auge Amen Qui pro alijs orat pro seipso laborat Orate pro anima Roberti Lawe Capellani capelle beate Marie istius Ecclesie ... obijt .... 1400. Cuius ... Pray for the soules of Thomas Brooke and Clemence Brooke his wife which Clemence Brooke dyed 1510.24 Febr. On whose soule Pray for the sowls of Tho. Gregby Alice and Godliffe his wyfes and for the sowls of his fader and moder Richard Gregbye Margaret and Agnes his wyfs which Thomas deceysed 22. Aprill 1515. On whos sowls Pray for the sowl of Robart Totleherst sometym servant vnto the Lord Cardinall Bourchier who died ..... 1512. Pray for the sowls of Iohn Yardley Sergeant of Armes to our Souereygn Lord the king and Ioane Pette his wyf whych Iohn died An. 1522. Hic iacent Willelmus Potkine Alexandra vxor eius qui quidem Willelmus obijt 1. Ianuar. 1499. et dicta Alexandra obijt 6. Dec. 1501. quorum Respicias Lector nostrum Epitaphium vt â—res pro nobis Deum About the latter end of the raigne of king Edward the third to vse M. Lambards words there was found lying in the streets of Sennocke a poore childe whose parents were vnknowne and he for the same cause named after the place where he was taken vp William Sennock This orphan was by the helpe of some charitable persons brought vp and nourtured in such wise that being made an Apprentice to a Grocer in London he arose by degrees in course of time to bee Maior and chiefe Magistrate of that Citie At which time calling to his minde the goodnesse of Almighty God and the fauour of the Townesmen extended towards him he determined to make an euerlasting Monument of his thankfull minde for the same and therefore in the yeare 1418. the yeare of his Maioroialtie hee builded both an Hospitall for reliefe of the poore and a free-Schoole for the education of youth within this Towne endowing both the one and the other with competent yearely liuing as the dayes then suffered towards their sustentation and maintenance But since his time the Schoole was much amended by the liberalitie of one Iohn Potkyn which liued vnder the reigne of king Henry the eighth and now lately also in the raigne of Queene Elizabeth of famous memory through the honest trauell of diuers Towne-inhabitants not onely the yearely stipend is much increased and the former litigious possessions quietly established but the Corporation also changed into the name of two Wardeins and foure Assistants of the free-Schoole of Queene Elizabeth in Sennocke Seale In this Church vpon a marble stone inlaid with brasse I found the portraiture of a Bishop and these words onely remaining Credo quod Redemptor meus viuit And these figures 1389. Vnder which as I gather by the date of the yeare of Grace Thomas Brenton Bishop of Rochester lyeth interred who trauelled into many places beyond Seas and comming to Rome preached in Latine before the Pope many learned Sermons which he left behinde him in writing For which and other his rare parts he was much admired and became very famous The Pope made him his Penitenciarie and bestowed vpon him this Bishopricke of Rochester he being before a Benedictine Monke of Norwich He was Confessour vnto king Ric. the second and a singular Benefactour he was to the English Hospitall at Rome He dyed as before Ann. 1389. Hic iacet Dominus de Bryene miles quondam Dominus de Kemsing et Sele qui obijt 13. Septemb. 1395. The family of the Bruins which I take to bee all one with this name was a long time famous as well in Essex as in this tract The last I finde of exemplarie note was one Thomas Bruine high Sheriffe of Kent who with the Lord Scales and others kept the Tower of London for their Soueraigne Lord king Henry the sixth against the rebellious Earles Ann. 1460. Reg. 38. Wrotham De Strattone natus iacet hic Rogerus humatus De Wrotham Rector sacre pagineque Professor
seruiens Abbati et Conuentui de Lesnes qui obiit primo die mensis Ianuarij 1425. Cuius anime Lesnes Abbey In the yeare of our Lord 1178. the third of the Ides of Iune Richard Lucie a Councellour of State and chiefe Iustice of the Realme began the foundation of an Abbey at Lesnes or Westwood neare vnto this Towne of Eâ—â—th The extent of whose yearely reuenue as it was prized by the Commissioners at the suppression amounted to one hundred eighty sixe pounds and nine shillings When this his goodly fabricke was in all parts finished he presently forsooke and surrendred into the kings hands all both his offices and honours And betooke himselfe to the habite and profession of a Canon Regular in this house of his owne foundation where within a short while after euen in the same yeare to wit the fourteenth of Iuly 1479. he exchanged his Conuentuall blacke coole for a glorious bright heauenly crowne And here in the Quire of his Church hee was sumptuously entombed vpon whose Monument this Epitaph was engrauen Rapitur in tenebras Richardus lux Luciorum Iusticie pacis dilector vrbis honorum Christe sibi requies tecum sit sede piorum Iulia tunc orbi lux bis septena nitebat Mille annos C. nouem et septuaginta mouebat Now giue me leaue to go a little further with him and his heires as I finde the words in the Collection of Englands Protectours by Francis Thinne Lancaster Herald Sir Richard Lucie knight chiefe Iustice of England saith he was Protectour of England in the twelfth yeare of the raigne of king Henry the second in the absence of the king when hee was in Normandie and in the parts beyond the Seas Which Lucie in the thirteenth yeare of the same King did valiantly resist and politikely driue backe the Earle of Bolloigne inuading this kingdome He built the Abbey of Leosnes or Westwood in the Parish of Erith in Kent and not in Southfleet as some haue written in the yeare of Christ 1178. and the Castle of Chipping Augre in Essex He had issue Godfrey Bishop of Winchester and three daughters who after the death of Godfrey their brother were his heires Maude the eldest daughter was married to Robert the first called Fitzwater Aueline the second daughter was married to Richard Riuers of Stanford Riuers in Essex Rose the third daughter was married to Richard de Warren the naturall sonne of king Iohn as appeareth by a deed belonging to my selfe who had the Rectory of Leosnes beginning thus Rosa de Douer quondam vxor venerabilis viri Richardi filij Regis de Chillam And king Iohn by his Charter grants to another Rose her grandfathers lands in these words Rex reddidit Roesie de Douerita totam terram suam cum pertenenc qua eam contingit de heredit Richardi de Lucy avi sui tenend sibi hered c. Cart. 24. Reg. Iohannis numero 37. in Archi. Turris London The foresaid Godfrey de Lucy was consecrated Bishop of Winchester the first of Nouember 1189. And died Ann. 1204 hauing gouerned that See fifteene yeares He purchased of king Richard the first the Mannors of Wergraue and Menes which in times past had belonged to his Bishopricke he was a great Benefactour to this Religious house of Leosnes founded by his father wherein according to his will hee was enterred To whose memory this Epitaph was engrauen vpon his Tombe Lux mea lux Christi si terre ventre quiesco Attamen in celo sanctorum luce lucesco Presul de Winton fueram quondam Cathedratus Multum resplendens alto sanguine natus Nunc id sum quod eris puluis rota non retinenda Voluitur inuigila prudens nec differ agenda M. C. bis quatuorque annos his insuper addas Carnis vincla dies soluit secunda Decembris Vos qui transitis ancillam poscite Christi Sit Dominus mitis pulso purgamine tristi Wolwich Orate pro anima Iohannis Colin et Mathilde vxoris eius qui Iohannes obiit 27. Ianuar ..... Mathilda 25. Octob. 1397. Hic tacet Dominus Will. Prene quondam Rector huius Ecclesie viz. tempore Regis Edwardi quarti et postea Rector Ecclesie de Lymming qui fieri fecit istam Capellam et Campanile huius Ecclesie et in uita sua multa alia bona .... ob I. die Decemb. 1464. Willelmus Prene me fecit in honorem sancte Trinitatis Eltham Pray for the sowl of Dame Margerie Roper late wyff of Iohn Roper Suier daughter and one of the heires of Iohn Tattersall Suier who dyed 2. Februar 1518 Roper a name of eminent respect in this County honoured with the title of Baron Roper of Tenham by our Soueraigne Lord Iames late King of England giuen to Iohn Lord Roper now liuing Pray for the sowl of Iohn Morton sonne and heire of Margaret Morton of Asheby de la Zouch in the County of Leicester late wife to Tho. Squier who dyed 23. Aug. Prier pur l'alme Thomas Pierle qi morust le primer iour de Iuyl l'an de Grace Mil. ccc.lxix ..... Here lyeth Iohn Pasley yeoman Porter to king Henry the eighth and Agnes his wife which Iohn dyed .... 1509. Hen. 8.1 West Peckham Iohn Culpeper one of the Iustices of the Common Pleas in the raigne of king Henry the fourth founded here a Preceptorie or free-Schoole which he endowed with threescore and three pounds sixe shillings eight pence of yearely allowance Bromley In the Church wall lyeth the pourtraiture as I learne by tradition of Richard Wendouer Bishop of Rochester and Parson of this Towne He was consecrated 1238. and dyed 1250. yet it is said that his body was buried in Westminster by the kings speciall commandement for that he was accounted a very holy and vertuous man which I cannot much contradict Icy gist Mestre Water de Henche Qi fut Persone de Bromleghe 1360. Lewsham Hic iacet Georgius Hatecliffe Ar. Thesaurarius Domini Regis in Hibernia ac vnus clericorum compoti Hospitii regis obiit 1. Aug. 1514. Iohn Norbury founded a Priory in this Towne of Lewsham which hee replenished with blacke Monkes Aliens belonging to the Abbey of Gaunt in Flanders and thereupon called Aliens because they were Celles to some Monastery or other beyond the Seas The first foundation of these houses I do not finde but in the raigne of king Edward the third they were encreased to the number of one hundred and ten in England besides them in Ireland Aquitane and Normandy The goods of all which Priories the said king Ann. Reg. 12. because of his warres with France caused to be confiscated to his owne vse letting out their houses to farme with all their lands and tenements for the space of three and twenty yeares At the end of which Terme Peace being concluded betweene the two Nations he restored to the Priors Aliens their
Church with timber couered it with lead and beautifully glased it Iohannem tegit hic cognomine Gray lapis iste Mentem queso suam celo tene as tibi Christe Aspice mortalis quid sit nisi mors tua vita Vt modo sum talis breuiter quoque tu fies ita .................. 1424. Debita qui teneriâ— Nature soluit in annis Ipsorum prolis Iesu miserere Iohannis Hic iacet Thomas Cornwaleis quondam ciuis London qui obijt quarto die Ianuarij Ann. Dom. 1384. Cuius This Thomas was Sheriffe of London Ann. 1378. Henry Gisors gist yci Deeu de sa Ame tien pite e Iohn le filz a mercy Qui morust le veille de S. Katherine En l'an de grace 1343. Here lieth also Sir Iohn Gisors knight who was Maior of this Citie An. 1311. the father of this Henry Saint Iames Garlickehyth Gemmarius Lion hic Richardus est tumulatus Qui fuit in rabie vulgi ve decapitatus Hic bonus extiterat cunctis hospes egenorum Pacis et author erat dilector et vrbis honorum Anno milleno tricenteno numerato Sic octogeno currente cum simul vno Plebe rea perij ...... morte dolosa Basily festo dum regnat plebs furiosa This Richard Lion here interred whose corporall proportion is engrauen wondrous curiously vpon his Graue-stone was a famous Wine-merchant a skilfull Lapidarie sometime Sheriffe of London Hee was drawne and hailed out of his owne house by Wat. Tyler and other Rebels and by them beheaded in Cheape the yeare 1381. Not many yeares since here stood a monument in the North wall erected to the memory of Sir George Stanley Knight of the Garter and Lord Strange in right of his wife Ioan daughter and heire of Iohn Lord Strange of Knocking sonne and heire of Thomas Stanley Lord Stanley of Lathum in Lancashire and Earle of Derby which George died before his Father at Derby house now the Heralds Office Anno 1487. the third of Henry the seuenth And neere to the same place Elianor his mother Countesse of Derby the daughter of Richard Neuill Earle of Salisbury was likewise entombed This Church was honoured with the monuments of many worthy personages of which no mention is now remayning Saint Michaels Pater Noster in the Royall This Church was new builded and made a Colledge of S. Spirit and S. Mary founded by Richard Whitington Mercer foure times Maior for a Master foure Fellowes Masters of Art Clarkes Conducts Quiristers c. and an Almes house called Gods house or Hospitall for thirteene poore men one of them to be Tutor and to haue xvi d the weeke the other twelue each of them to haue xiiij d. the weeke for euer with other necessary prouisions These were bound to pray for the good estate of Richard Whitington and Alice his wife their Founders and for Sir William Whitington Knight and Dame Ioan his wife and for Hugh Fitz-Warren and Dame Maud his wife the Fathers and Mothers of the said Richard Whitington and Alice his wife for King Richard the second and Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester speciall Lords and promoters of the said Richard Whitington The licence for this foundation was granted by King Henry the fourth the eleuenth of his raigne and confirmed by King Henry the sixt the third of his raigne This Richard Whitington saith my Author Stow was three times buried in this his owne Church first by his Executors vnder a faire monument then in the raigne of Edward the sixt the Parson of the Church thinking some great riches as hee said to be buried with him caused his monument to be broken his body to be spoyled of his leaden sheet and againe the second time to be buried And in the raigne of Queene Mary the Parishioners were forced to take him vp to lap him in lead as afore to bury him the third time and to place his monument or the like ouer him againe whereupon this Epitaph is engrauen partly erazed and imperfect Vt fragrans Nardus fama fuit iste Richardus Albisicans villam qui iuste rexerat illam Flos Mercatorum Fundator presbiterorum Sic Egenorum testis sit cetus eorum Omnibus exemplum Barathrum vincendo molosum Condidit hoc templum Michaelis quod specio sum Regia ....... res rata turbiss Pauperibus Pater extiterat Maior quater vrbis Martius hunc vicit en Annos gens tibi dicit Finijt ipse dies sis sibi christe quies Amen Eius sponsa pia generosa probata Sophia Iungitur This Whitington flourished in the raigne of King Richard the second Henry the fourth Henry the fift and died about the beginning of Henry the sixt hauing begun to build Newgate and the Librarie of Gray Friers at Christ Church London with that at Guild hall all which were finished by his Executors with his goods His Colledge here was suppressed by the Statute of Edward the sixt the Almes houses with the poore men doe remaine to this day and are paid by the Mercers Alhallowes the great Willelmus dudum Lichfeeld quem mors fera pressit Ista post ludum mundi sub rupe quiescit In Domini rure cultor sator ac operosus Dum preciat ture Pastor vigil et studiosus Hanc Edem rexit ornauit et amplificauit Pignora prouexit ac sacro dogmate pauit Pauperibus carus inopes in mente gerebat Consilio gnarus dubitantibus esse solebat Christe pugil fortis eius dissolue reatus Vt viuat mortis post morsum glorificatus Luce bis X quater I. migrat octobris sine panno E .... quater X quater V semel .... M anno 1447. This Doctor was a great student and compiled many bookes both morall and diuine as well in verse as prose Sta precor interne qui transis aspice cerne Non nitidis pannis sed â—lentibus ossa Iohannis Brickles ista mei specus includit requiei Taliter indutus tumulabere tu resolutus Dormit in hac cella mea coniux ac Isabella Apollinaris .... vixit lux nece stratus Et quater x ter v. I bis et M. sociatis This Brickles was a linnen Draper a worthy benefactor to this Church who gaue by his Testament certaine Tenements to the reliefe of the poore Alhallowes the lesse Iesu that sufferyd bitter passion and peyn Haue mercy on my sowl Iohn Chamberleyn And my Wyfs too Agnes and Ione also The seyd Iohn deceised the sooth for to sey In the Monyth of Decembyr the fowrth dey The yere of owr Lord God reckond ful euin A thowsand fowr hundryd fowrscor and seuin Before this time that here yee haue seene Lyeth buried the body of William Greene Barbor and Surgeon late master of that company And Clark of this Church yeeres fiftie Which William decesyd the truth for to say The month of December the fourth day The yere of our Lord God as by books doth appere On thowsand
fyue hundryd and eighteen yere Inscriptions in the Stilliard the house sometime of the German-Merchants Haec domus est laeta semper bonitate repleta Hic Pax hic requies hic gaudia semper honesta Item Aurum blanditiae pater est natusque doloris Qui caret hoc maeret qui tenet hic metuit Item Qui bonis parere recusat quasi vitato fumo in flammam incidit Saint Mary Bothaw .......... Chich .... vocitatus ..... Robertus omni bonitate refertus Bauperibus largus pius extitit ad mala tardus Moribus ornatus iacet istic intumulatus Corpore procerus his Maior arte Grocerus Anno milleno C quater x quater anno ............. This Robert Chichley was Lord Maior An. 1422. hee appointed by his Testament that on his birth day acompetent dinner should be ordained for 2400 poore men housholders of this city euery man to haue two pence in money Saint Michaels Crooked lane Here lieth entombed in a Chappell of his owne foundation Sir William Walworth Knight Lord Maior of London whose manfull prowesse against that arch-Rebell VVat Tyler and his confederates is much commended in our English Chronicles his monument was shamefully defaced in the raigne of King Edward the sixt as many others were but since it was renewed by the Fishmongers he died Anno 1383. as appeareth by this Epitaph Here vnder lyth a man of Fame William Walworth callyd by name Fishmonger he was in life time here And twise Lord Maior as in bookes appere Who with courage stout and manly might Slew Wat Tyler in King Richards sight For which act done and trew entent The King made him Knight incontinent And gaue him armes as here you see To declare his fact and Chiualrie He left this life the yere of our God Thirteene hundryd fourescore and three od Iohn Philpot Nicholas Brember and Robert Launde Aldermen were knighted with him the same day To this Maior the King gaue 100 pound land yeerely and to each of the other 40 pound land by yeare to them and their heires for euer He founded a Colledge to this parish Church for a Master and nine Priests or Chaplaines Worthy Iohn Louekin Stockfishmonger of London here is leyd Four times of this City Lord Maior hee was if truth be seyd Twise he was by election of Citizens then being And twise by the commandment of his good Lord the King Cheef Founder of this Church in his life time was he Such louers of the common-welth too few ther be Of August the fourth thirteene hundryth sixty and eyght His flesh to Erth his soul to God went streyght Sir William Walworth was an apprentice to this Iohn Louekin Here lyeth wrapt in clay The body of William VVray I haue no more to say Saint Laurence Poultney This Church was increased with a Chappell of Iesus by one Thomas Cole for a Master and a Chaplaine the which Chappell and Parish-Church was made a Colledge of Iesus and of Corpus Christi for a Master and seuen Chaplaines by Iohn Poultney Maior and was confirmed by Edward the third in the twentieth of his raigne So that of him it was called Saint Laurence Poultney in Candlewickstreet This Colledge was valued at 79. l. 17. s. 11. d. per ann and surrendred in the raigne of Ed. the sixth The thrice honourable Lord Robert Radcliffe the first earle of Sussex of that name and Henry Radcliffe his sonne and heire as of his possessions so of his honours were first interred in this Collegiate Church whose relique were afterwards remoued to Boreham in Essex Saint Mary Abchurch Hac gradiens fortis tua lingua precando laboret Esto memor mortis dum virtus vivida floret Dum vita fueris quid agas circumspice mente Nam tu talis eris qualis concido repente Corpora Gilberti Melites celat lapis iste Eius vxoris Christine quos cape Christe Saint Mary Colechurch So called of one Cole the builder thereof King Henry the fourth granted licence to William Marshall and others to found a brotherhood of S. Katherine in this Church to the helpe of Gods seruice because Thomas Becket and S. Edmund Archbishops of Canterbury were baptised herein Alhallowes Barking On the North side of this Church was sometime builded a faire Chappell founded by king Richard the first and much augmented by king Edward the first Edward the fourth gaue licence to his cosin Iohn Lord Tiptost Earle of Worcester to found here a Brotherhood for a Master and Brethren And he gaue to the Custos of that Fraternitie the advowsion of the Parish Church of Stretham in Surrey with all the members and appurtenances the Priory of Totingbeck and a part of the Priory of Okeborne in Wiltshire both Priors Aliens and appointed it to be called the Kings Chantrie In Capella beate Marie de Barking king Richard the third founded herein a Colledge of Priests and reedified the decayed structure Great concourse of people came hither to our Lady of Barking a pilgrimage vntill the Colledge was suppressed and pulled downe in the second of Edward the sixth and the ground whereupon it stood imployed as a Garden plot Many funerall Monuments are yet remaining in this Parish Church which you may reade in the Suruay of this Citie Saint Mary Wolnoth Here lieth Sir Iohn Arundell knight of the Bath and knight Baneret Receiuor of the Duchy ....... Grey daughter to the Lord Marquese Dorset who died 8. Febr. the 36. of the reigne of king Hen. the 8. This Sir Iohn Arundell was of the house of Lanherne in Cornwall a family of great respect in that county Of which I shall haue further occasion to speake when I come to Saint Columbs where this mans Ancestors lye entombed The Christian name of his wife with time worne or torne out of the brasse was Elianor the third daughter of Thomas Grey Marquesse Dorset halfe brother by the mother to Edward the fifth by Cicely daughter and heire of William Bonvile Lord Harrington Quid caro letatur cum vermibus esca paratur Terre terra datur Caro nascitur moriatur Orate pro anima Simonis Eyre ......................................... vnder this defaced Monument Simon Eyre the sonne of Iohn Eyre of Brandon in Suffolk lieth interred He was Lord Maior in the yeare 1445. Hee built Leaden Hall for a common Granary for the Citie and a faire large Chappell on the East side of the Quadrant ouer the Porch whereof was painted Dextra Domini exaltauit me And on the North wall Honorandus famosus Mercator Symon Eyre huius operis Fundator He gaue 5000. l. and aboue the poore Maids marriages and did many other works of charitie Hee died the 18. day of September 1459. Saint Nicholas Acons O ye dere frendys whych sall here aftyr be Of yowr deuotion plese ye to remembyr Me Richard Payne which of this noble cite Somtym whylst I liud was
the eight in the 30 of his raigne Saint Botolphs Algate In this Church ouer a vault is a faire tombe of Alabaster curiously wrought hauing these lines following engrauen thereon Here lyeth Thomas Lord Darcy of the north and sometime of the order of the Garter Sir Nicholas Carew knight sometime of the Garter Lady Elizabeth Carew daughter to Sir Francis Brian Knight and Sir Arthur Darcy Knight yonger sonne to the aboue named Lord Darcy and Lady Mary his deare wife daughter to Sir Nicholas Carew knight who had ten sonnes and fiue daughters Here lye Charles William and Philip Mary and Vrsula sonnes and daughters to the said Sir Arthur and Mary his wife whose soules God take to his infinite mercy Amen This Thomas Lord Darcy and Sir Nicholas Carew who was also master of the Kings Horse were both beheaded on the Tower hill the first because he was one howsoeuer constrained thereunto by the Rebels of the commotion in Yorkeshire Anno 1536. the second for being of councell with Henry Marquesse of Exceter and Henry Poole Lord Mountague who were indighted and found guilty of high Treason for deuising to maintaine promote and aduance one Reginald Poole late Deane of Exceter enemie to the King beyond the sea and to depriue the King Anno 1539. Sir Arthur Darcy here mentioned was first buried in the new Abbey of Eastminster wherein he deceased Sir Edward Darcy knight sonne of Sir Arthur lieth with his noble Ancestors in the same vault but hee died but lately Hic iacet Iohannes Epis Bathon Wellensis qui cum plures insignes Legationes .... tandem obijt in Legatione Cleuensis .... Ianuar. M. ccccc.xl cuius anime propitietur Altisimus This Iohn Clerke Doctor of Diuinitie and master of the Rolls was brought vp in Cambridge and consecrated to his Bishopricke the yeare 1523. A man much imploy'd in Ambassages He died as before and was first buried in the Minories being poysoned as it was supposed in Germany when he went Embassadour to the Duke of Cleue to render a reason of the Kings diuorce from the Lady Anne of Cleue his sister King Edgar established here without Aldgate a Knightengield or Confrery for thirteene knights or souldiers of good desert to him and the realme the like by supposition saith Verstegan was in Knight-riders street being the place where the residence or meeting of such Knights-riders with the King might be kept Saint Mary Bethlem This Hospitall of Saint Mary of Bethlem was founded by Simon Fitz-Mary one of the Sheriffes of London in the yeere 1246. He founded it to haue beene a Priorie of Canons with Brethren and Sisters it is now an Hospitall for distracted people who are here receiued and kept yet not without charges to their kindred or friends Saint Mary Spitle This Hospitall was founded by Walter Brune Mercer and Sheriffe of London and Rosia his wife A.D. 1235. it was dedicated to the honour of Iesus Christ and his mother the perpetuall Virgine Mary by the name of Domus Dei and Beate Marie extra Bishopsgate This Hospitall surrendred to king Henry the eight was valued to dispend 478. l. 6. s. 8. d. wherein were found besides ornaments of the Church and other goods pertaining to the Hospitall one hundred and fourescore Beds well furnished for receipt of the poore This place is now best knowne by the Sermons there preached on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday in Easter weeke Saint Leonards Shordich So called of the Sordiches Lords thereof one of which familie namely Sir Iohn Sordich knight flourished in the raigne of king Edward the third as appeares by this deed of grant to his Chaplaine William Croston here resident Sciant c. nos Ioh. de Sordich Miles et Elena vxor mea et Nicholaus de Sordich dedimus Will. de Crostone Capellano omnia illa Red. terr que habuimus in Hackney tam in Dominio quam in Seruitio c. Ann. Reg. Regis Edwardi tertij duodecimo This knight serued in the warres vnder Ed. the third in France and is remembred in our Annals Ann. 14. Ed. 3. Orate pro animabus Humfredi Starky militis nuper capitalis Baronis de Scaccario Domini Regis Henrici septimi et Isabelle vxoris eius et omnium amicorum suorum quorum c. ...... Erlington modo miles Et Margareta coniux ....... ................ Sit pietate dei vita perhennis ei M. C. quater x semel ......... Vnder this defaced Monument Sir Iohn Erlington knight with Margaret his wife daughter and heire to Thomas Lord Itchingham widow to William Blount sonne and heire to Walter Blount the first Lord Mountioy lye entombed In this Church diuers honourable persons lie buried of whom because they dyed but in these later dayes I shall speake hereafter The plates with the Inscriptions of such Monuments as were of more Antiquitie were all taken away for couetousnesse of the brasse by one Doctor Hanmer as I haue it by relation of the Inhabitants Vicar of this Church which he conuerted into coine and presently after ashamed belike of such a detestable act went ouer into Ireland and there ignominiously ended his dayes The Priory of Holywell This was an house of blacke Nunnes anciently founded by a Bishop of London and consecrated to the honour of God S. Iohn Baptist. Stephen Grauesend Bishop of this Diocesse about the yeare 1318. was hereunto a great benefactour Sir Thomas Louell knight of the Garter in the raignes of King Henry the seuenth and of Henry the eighth with whom hee was of Councell was another benefactor not onely in building a beautifull Chappell wherein his body was interred but in many other goodly buildings and endowing the same with lands In most of the glasse windowes of this house these two verses following not long since to be read were curiously painted Al the Nunnes in Holywel Pray for the soul of Sir Thomas Louel He died the 25. of May at Endfield Ann. 1524. This Priory was valued at the suppression to haue of Lands two hundred ninetie three pounds ten shillings three pence by yeare which with the house were surrendred Ann. 1539. the one and thirtieth of Henry the eight I finde in a pedegree of the right noble Lord Francis now Earle of Rutland that Sir George Mannors knight Lord Ros of Hamlake being with King Henry the eight at the siege of Turney and Turwine there tooke a grieuous sicknesse whereupon he languished in the same yeare of this their expedition into France which was Ann. Dom. 1513. And according to his will was here entombed in the Chappell and neare to the high Altar of this Priory This Sir George Mannors was the eldest sonne of Sir Robert Mannors knight by Eleanor his wife the daughter and heire of Thomas Lord Ros of Hamlake hee married Anne the daughter and heire of Sir Thomas Saint Leoger or Sellinger knight begotten of his wife Anne Duchesse of Exceter
laid his foundation 137â— His death was much lamented by the King the Nobilitie and commons of all England for with singular commendations hee had for a long time serued vnder Edward the third in the French warres and was employed by him vpon seuerall Embasies and his truth and good councell was euer much auailable to the whole state of the kingdome His obsequies were performed with great solemnity King Edward the third and all his children with the greatest Prelates and Lord Barons of the kingdome being there present His wife Margaret was here entombed with him by whom he had issue Thomas Manye who in his youth was drowned in a Well at Detford in Kent and Anne then his onely daughter and heire married to Iohn Lord Hastings Earle of Penbroke Margaret Lady Manye saith Iohn Stow here interred yet the Catalogue of Honour will haue her to be buried in the Minories died the 24. of March 1399. she was the onely daughter of Thomas of Brotherton Earle of Norfolke and Marshall of England second sonne of King Edward the first and her fathers onely heire after the death of her brother Edward which happened in the same yeare that his father departed the world She was for the greatnesse of her birth her large reuenewes and wealth created Dutchesse of Norfolke for terme of life she had beene first married to Iohn Lord Segraue and her last husband was the foresaid Sir Walter Manny Here sometime was interred the body of Philip Morgan Doctor of Law Chancelour of Normandy and Bishop of Ely a very wise man who with great commendations gouerned that See nine yeeres sixe moneths and foure daies and departed this life at Bishops-Hatfield October 25. 1434. Many funerall monuments were in this Church as you may finde them mentioned in the Suruay of London This religious house is now turned into an Hospitall consisting of a Master a Preacher a Free-Schoole with a Master and an Vsher fourescore decaied gentlemen Souldiers and forty schollers maintained with sufficient cloathing meate drinke lodging and wages besides Officers and Ministers to attend vpon them all so that the whole number now in the house with the attendants is one hundred and fourescore The greatest gift that euer at any time in England no Abbey at the first foundation thereof excepted or therewith to bee compared being the gift of one man onely whose name was Thomas Sutton of Castle Campes in the County of Cambridge Esquire borne at Knaith in the County of Lincolne who liued to the age of 79 yeares and deceased the 12. day of December 1611. somewhat before this his famous Foundation was fully accomplished Great Saint Bartholomewes This Priorie was founded by one Rahere a pleasant conceited wittie gentleman and a Courtier in the raigne of King Henry the first which he dedicated to the honour of God and Saint Bartholomew and placed therein blacke Canons or Canons regular himselfe became their first Prior his foundation was confirmed in these words Henricus Rex c. Sciatis me concessisse presenti carta me confirmasse Ecclesie beati Bartholomei London que est Dominica Capella mea et canonicis dominicis in ea Domino seruientibus quod sint ab omni subiectione terrena seruitute liberi vt sic aliqua Ecclesia in tota Anglia magis libera c. dat per manum nostram apud Winton 15 Iunij Anno reg 37. Here he died and was here buried in a faire monument renewed by Prior Bolton which Bolton was the last Prior of this house a great builder and repairer of the Priorie and the Parish Church and of diuers lodgings belonging to the same as also of new he builded the Mannor of Canonbury now called Canbury at Islington which belonged to the Canons of this house This Bolton and the rest of his brethren were portraied vpon a Table sometimes hanging in this Church now it is in Sir Robert Cottons Librarie holding vp their hands to the Crucifixe vnder whom these verses were depensiâ—d Gulielmo Bolton precibus succurrite vestris Qualis erat pater hic Domus hec cetera monstrant He died at his Parsonage house at Harrow vpon the hill as I haue it by relation the fourth of Edward the sixt and was there interred He surrendred vp this his Priorie the 30 of Henry the 8. which was then valued at 757 l. 8 s. 4 d. ob q. by yeere Here sometime lay entombed the body of Roger Walden Bishop of London Neuer had any man better experience of the variable vncertaintie of worldly felicity then he for from the estate of a very poore man he was suddenly raised to be Treasurer of England hauing beene first Secretarie to the King Deane of Yorke and Treasurer of the towne of Calis and then made Archbishop of Canterbury which honour he enioyed not past two yeares but was remoued from the same and forced to leade a priuate life a long time At last being once more lift vp to the honour of this Bishopricke of London he left this present life within the compasse of the yeere following Of this man thus writeth Thomas Walsingham who liued in those times and much what to the same effect I will vse his owne language Anno 1406. Dominus Rogerus de Waldene debitum Naturae soluit qui varia fortuna vectus expertus est sub breui tempore Quam sit inconstans incerta volubilis ipsa Errans instabilis vaga quae dum stare putatur Occidit et falso mutatur gaudia vultu Nempe ex pauperculo factus est Regni Thesaurarius and so proceeds on forwards with his story Vpon his monument this Epitaph was inlayd in brasse Hic iacet Rogerus de Walden Episcopus Londinens qui cum in vtraque fortuna plurimuÌ„ laborauit ex hac vita migrauit 2 die Nouem an dom 1406 Vir cultor verus Domini iacet intra Rogerus Walden Fortuna cus nunquam steterat vna Nunc requiem tumuli Deus omnipotens dedit illi Gaudet et in celis plaudet vbi quisque fidelis He denied his preferment to the Bishoppricke of London being preferred vnto him by the Pope saying that he would not accept of it from any but from the king As I finde thus recorded in the Tower Cum summus Pontifex nuper prouidisset Rogero Walden de Ecclesia Cathedral London prefatus tamen Rogerus dominicum beneficium sine Regis assensu et licentia acceptare noluit nec vult ni presenti Rex concedit eidem Rogero licentiam quod ipse tanquam verus Pastor et Episcopus dicte Ecclesie Cathedralis eandem ecclesiam capere valeat et acceptare T. R. apud W. 24. Iunij Little Saint Bartholomewes This Hospitall for the poore and diseased was founded by the forenamed Rahere Prior of great Saint Bartholomewes to be gouerned by a Master and eight Brethren being Priests for the Church and foure Sisters to see the poore
in Philosophie both naturall and morall in Physicke and the canon Law very eloquent an excellent Preacher and esteemed so profound a Diuine as he was thought meete to be the professour of Diuinity or Doctor of the Chaire in the Vniuersitie of Tholouze For these his good gifts hee was much fauoured of the blacke Prince then of King Richard his sonne who preferred him to the Bishopricke of the Isle of Man from that preferment he was translated to the Archbishopricke of Dublin in Ireland thence to Chichester and lastly to the Archbishopricke of Yorke where he sate not fully three yeares but died the 29. of May 1397. His Epitaph is quite worne or torne away from his monument yet I found it in a Manuscript in Sir Robert Cottons Librarie Hic fuit expertus in quouis iure Robertus De Walbye dictus nunc est sub marmore strictus Sacre Scripture Doctor fuit et geniture Ingenuus medicus Plebis semper amicus Presul Adurensis post hec Archas Dublinensis Hinc Cicestrensis tandem Primus Eborensis Quarto Kalend Iunij migrauit cur sibus anni Milleni ter C. septem nonies quoque deni Vos precor orate quod sint sibi dona beate Cum sanctis vite requiescat et hic sine lite In an old riming Manuscript of the succession of the Archbishops of Yorke I finde thus much of this man Tunc Robertus ordinis Fratris Augustini Ascendit in Cathedram Primatis Paulini Lingua scientificus sâ—rmonis Latini Anno primo proximat vite sue fini De carnis ergastulo Presul euocatur Gleba sui corporu Westminstre humatur Here vnder a marble stone in the Chappell royall lyeth the body of Iohn Waltham Lord Bishop of Salisbury who had beene master of the Rolles keeper of the priuie Seale and Treasurer of England in which office he continued till his death which happened in the yeare 1395. hauing sate bishop 7 yeares and executed the Treasurorship foure yeares King Richard the second loued him entirely and greatly bewailed his death In token whereof hee commanded that hee should be buried here among the Kings hoc anno saith Walshingham viz. in the yeare 1395. obijt Iohannes de Waltham Episcopus Sarum regni Thesaurarius qui tantum Regi complacuerit vt etiam multis licet murmurantibus apud monasterium inter Reges meruit sepulturam He lieth in the pauement vnder a flat marble stone iust beside King Edward the first vpon which his Epitaph was inlayd in brasse with his portraiture in Episcopall robes now defaced and almost quite perished Here lyeth another Bishop here buried but not in so conspicuous and princely a place of the Church as doth Waltham who was likewise by the Kings speciall commandement here inhumed for that he was accounted a very holy and vertuous man namely one Richard de Wendouer Parson of Bromley and Bishop of Rochester who died in the yeare 1250. and in the raigne of King Henry the third Here lieth interred Sir Humfrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell the sonne of Henry Bourchier Earle of Essex by Isabell daughter of Richard Earle of Cambridge and sister to Richard Duke of Yorke who in aide of his kinsman King Edward the fourth was slaine at Barnet field vpon Easter day 1471. And here lieth interred another Humfrey Bourchier who was the sonne and heire of Iohn Bourchier Lord Berners who was also slaine at the same battaile to whose memories this Epitaph yet remaines Hic Pugil ecce iacens Bernet fera bella cupiscens Certat vt Eacides fit saucius vndique miles Vt cecidit vulnus Mars porrigit arma cruore Sparsim tincta rubent dolor en lachrimabilis hora Lumine nempe cadit quo christus morte resurgit Bourchier Humfridus clara propagine dictus Edwardi Regis qui tertius est vocitatus Iohn Domini Berners proles et paruulus heres Quartus et Edwardus belli tenet ecce triumphum Quo perit Humfridus vt Regis vernula verus Cyronomon mense sponse Regis fuit iste Elisabeth sibi sic sua virtus crescit honore Armis conspicuus quondam charusque Britannis Hic fuit Vt celis viuat deposcite votis Here lieth entombed in a slight monument in the wall Thomas Mylling sometime Abbot of this Monastery from whence he was preferred to the Bishopricke of Hereford by King Edward the fourth vnder whom he was of the priuie Councell and was Godfather to Prince Edward his eldest Sonne He was a Monke of this house being but a youth and then went to Oxford where he studied vntill hee proceeded Doctor of Diuinitie in which time he attained good knowledge in the Greeke tongue which in those dayes was geason saith the reuerend Author of the Bishops Catalogue He died in the yeare 1493. Here in an obscure place of this Church lieth the body of Hugoline Chamberlaine to King Edward the Confessor of whom this Storie is written in the life of the said Edward King Edward one afternoone lying in his bed with his curtaines round about him drawne a poore pilfering Courtier came into his Chamber where finding the Kings Casket open which Hugolin had forgotten to shut he tooke out so much money as hee could well carry and went away but insatiable desire brought him againe the second and third time for such a ready prey vntill the King who lay still all this while and would not seeme to see began to speake to him and bade him speedily be packing for he was well if he could see for if Hugoline came and tooke him there he were not onely like to loose all that he had gotten but also to stretch an halter The fellow was no sooner gone but Hugoline came in and finding the Casket open and much money taken away was greatly moued But the king willed him not to be grieued For said he he that hath it hath more need of it then we haue This Hugolin saith M. Camden was buried in the old Chapter house of this Church Vpon whose Monument these sillie verses were engrauen Qui ruis iniuste capit hic Hugoline locus te Laude pia clares quia martyribus nece clareâ— For learning in this kings dayes was so low ebbed in England that betweene Thames and Trent there was scant one found which could vnderstand Latine This passage of the aforesaid pilfery is delineated and wrought in the Hangings about the Quire with the Portraitures of the king Hugolin and the Theefe vnder which are these verses Ecce nimis parca furis manus exit ab archa Celat opus furis pietas non regula iuris Tolle quod habes et fuge Hic iacet Willelmus Bedel Ar. et Cecilia vx eius filia heres Domini Roberti Grene militis ac etiam heres domini Iohannis Cley militis qui quidem Willelmus fuit Thesaurarius Hospitij excellentissimi Principis Margarete nuper Comitisse Richmondie Darbie matris Regis Henrici
septimi nec non Thesaurarius Hospitij reuerendissimi Patris domini huius regni Cancellarij titulo Sancte Cecilie trans Tiberim sacro sancte Romane Ecclesie Presbyteri Cardinalis ordinati Qui quidem Willelmus ob 3. Iulij 1518. Here is an Epitaph cut in Brasse vpon a marble stone now almost worne out which was made to the memory of one Robert Haule Esquire murdered in this Church the manner whereof our Chronicles doe thus briefely relate In the battell of Nazers in Spaine this Robert Haule or Hawley and Iohn Schakell Esquires tooke the Earle of Dene prisoner who deliuered vnto them his sonne and heire as a pledge for assurance of performances Not long after this their Hostage was demanded by Iohn Duke of Lancaster in the Kings name whom they denyed to deliuer for which they were clapt in the Tower from whence escaping here they tooke Sanctuary to whom Sir Raph Ferreis and Sir Alan Buxhull with fifty armed men were secretly sent to doe this mischiefe who finding them at high Masse first drew Schakell by a wile out of the priuiledge of the Church then offering to lay hands on Hawley he manfully resisting with his short sword made them all flie off But in the end he was slaine in the Chancell commending himselfe in his last words to God the reuenger of such iniuries and to the liberty of our holy mother the Church With him was slaine a seruant of his thrust into the backe with a Iauelin and a Monke who intreated for him in respect of the holinesse of the place This wicked act was perpetrated the 11. of August 1378. the second of Richard the second These words following now onely remaining vpon his Monument Me dolus ira furor multorum militis atque ................... ..... in hoc gladijs celebri pietatis asylo Dum leuita Dei sermonis legit ad aram Proh dolor ipse meo Monachorum sanguine vultus Aspersi moriens chorus est mihi testis in evum Et me nunc retinet sacer is locus Haule Robertum Hic quia pestiferos male sensi primitus enses .................. Hic iacet Thomas Ruthal Episcopus Dunelmensis Regis Henrici septimi Secretarius qui obijt 1524. To this short Inscription Godwin in his Catalogue addeth a long story of the life and death of this Bishop Who was borne in Cicester saith he in the County of Glocester and brought vp in Cambridge where he proceeded Doctor of Law He was preferred to the Bishopricke of Durham by King Henry the seuenth after whose death hee was made one of the priuie Councell vnto the young King Henry the eight who esteemed greatly of him for his wisedome and learning and imployed him often in ambassages and other businesses of importance Amongst the rest it pleased the king one time to require him to set downe his iudgement in writing concerning the estate of his kingdome in generall and particularly to enforme him in certaine things by him specified This discourse the Bishop writ very carefully and caused it to be bound in Velime gilt and otherwise adorned in the best manner Now you shall vnderstand that it chanced himselfe about the same time to set downe a note of his owne priuate estate which in goods and ready money amounted to the summe of one hundred thousand pounds This account was written in a paper booke of the same fashion and binding that the other was which was prouided for the king Whereby it happened that the king sending Cardinall Wolsey for the other draught which he had so long before required of him the Bishop mistaking deliuered that which contained an estimate of his owne infinite Treasure This the Cardinall soone espying and willing to doe the Bishop a displeasure deliuered it as he had receiued it vnto the King shewing withall how the Bishop had very happily mistaken himselfe for now quoth he you see where you may at any time command a great masse of money if you need it As soone as the Bishop vnderstood his errour the conceit thereof touched him so neare that within a short spaâ—â— after hee died at his house here in the Strand His intention was to haue repaired the Church of Cicester to haue built Bridges as he had begun that ouer the Riuer of Tyne and to haue done many other deeds of charitie if hee had not beene preuented by death Here lieth the body of Sir William Trussell knight and speaker of that Parliament wherein Edward the second king of England resigned his Diadâ—me and all ensignes of Maiestie to Edward his eldest Sonne This Trussell saith an ancient Author was a Iudge who could fit the house with quirks of Law to colour so lawlesse and treasonable an act as the deposing of a lawfull king And thereupon was chosen in the behalfe of the whole Realme to renounce all homage and obedience to the Lord Edward of Carnarvon his Soueraigne Lord and King The forme of which renunciation was by him the said Trussell pronounced at Kenelworth Castle the 20. of Ianuary 1326. in these disgracefull words which you may finde in Polychronicon I William Trussel in the name of al men of the lond of Engelond and of the Parliament Prolocutor resigne to the Edward the homage that was made to the somtym and from this tym forward now folowyng I defye the and priue the of al royal Powyr and shal neuer be tendant to the as for Kyng aftyr this tyme. The time of this Trussels death I cannot learne Here lieth interred before the Communion Table the body of Richard de Ware or Warren Abbot of this Monastery and sometime Lord Treasurer of England Who going to Rome for his consecration brought from thence certaine workmen and rich Porphery stones whereof and by whom hee made that curious singular rare pauement before the high Altar in which are circulary written in letters of brasse these ten verses following containing a discourse as one saith of the worlds continuance Si Lector posita prudenter cuncta reuoluat Hic finem primi mobilis inveniet Sepes trina canes equos homines super addas Ceruos coruos aquilas immania cete Mundi quodque sequens pereuntis triplicat annos Sphericus Archetypum globus hic monstrat Macrocosmum Christi milleno bis centeno duodeno Cum sexageno subductis quatuor anno Tertius Henricus Rex vrbs Odoricus Abbas Hos compegere Porphyreos lapides With these stones and workmen he did also frame the Shrine of Edward the Confessor with these verses Anno milleno Domini cum septuageno Et bis centeno cum completo quasi deno Hoc opus est factum quod Petrus duxit in actum Romanus ciuis Homo causam noscere si vis Rex fuit Henricus Sancti presentis amicus This Abbot died the second day of December 1283. after he had gouerned this Monastery three and twenty yeares and more Vpon whose grauestone this briefe
whencesoeuer he come or for what offence or cause it be either for his refuge into the said holy place he be assured of his life liberty and limbes And ouer this I forbid vnder the paine of euerlasting damnation that no Minister of mine or of my Successours intermeddle them with any the goods lands or possessions of the said persons taking the said Sanctuary for I haue taken their goods and liuelode into my speciall protection and therefore I grant to euery each of them in as much as my terrestriall power may suffice all manner freedome of ioyous liberty and whosoeuer presumes or doth contrary to this my Grant I will he lose his name worship dignitie and power And that with the great traytor Iudas that betrayed our Sauiour he be in the euerlasting fire of hell And I will and ordaine that this my grant endure as long as there remaineth in England either loue or dread of Christian name King Edward the third built in the little Sanctuarie a Clochard of stone and timber and placed therein three bells for the vse of Saint Stephens Chappell About the biggest Bell was engrauen or cast in the mettall these words King Edward made mee thirtie thousand weight and three Take mee downe and wey mee and more you shall fynd mee But these Bells being to be taken downe in the raigne of King Henry the eight one writes vnderneath with a coale But Henry the eight will bait me of my weight In the Steeple of the great Church in the Citie of Roane in Normandy is one great Bell with the like Inscription Ie suis George de Ambios Qui trente cinque mille pois Mes lui qui me pesera Trente six mill me trouera I am George of Ambois Thirtie five thousand in pois But he that shall weigh me Thirtie six thousand shall find mee One lately hauing taken view of the Sepulchres of so many Kings Nobles and other eminent persons interred in this Abbey of Westminster made these rimes following which he called A Memento for Mortalitie Mortalitie behold and feare What a change of flesh is here Thinke how many royall bones Sleepe within this heape of stones Hence remou'd from beds of ease Daintie â—are and what might please Fretted roofes and costlie showes To a roofe that flats the nose Which proclaimes all flesh is grasse How the worlds faire Glories passe That there is no trust in Health In youth in age in Greatnesse wealth For if such could haue repriu'd Those had beene immortall liu'd Know from this the worlds a snare How that greatnesse is but care How all pleasures are but paine And how short they do remaine For here they lye had Realmes and Lands That now want strength to stirre their hands Where from their pulpits seel'd with dust They preach In Greatnesse is no trust Here 's an Aker sowne indeed With the richest royall seed That the earth did ere sucke in Since the first man dy'd for sin Here the bones of birth haue cry'd Though Gods they were as men haue dy'd Here are sands ignoble things Dropt from the ruin'd sides of Kings With whom the poore mans earth being showne The difference is not easily knowne Her 's a world of pompe and state Forgotten dead disconsolate Thinke then this Sithe that mowes downe kings Exempts no meaner mortall things Then bid the wanton Lady tread Amid these mazes of the dead And these truly vnderstood More shall coole and quench the blood Then her many sports a day And her nightly wanton play Bid her paint till day of doome To this fauour she must come Bid the Merchant gather wealth The vsurer exact by stealth The proud man beate it from his thought Yet to this shape all must be brought Chappell of our Lady in the Piew Neare vnto the Chappell of Saint Stephen was sometime a smaller Chappell called our Lady of the Piew but by whom first founded I cannot finde To this Lady great offerings were vsed to be made Richard the second after the ouerthrow of Wat. Tilar as I haue read and other the Rebels in the fourth of his raigne went to Westminster and there giuing thankes to God for his victory made his offering in this Chappell By the negligence of a Scholler forgetting to put forth the Lights of this Chappell the Image of our Lady richly decked with Iewels precious stones Pearles and Rings more then any Ieweller saith he could iudge the price was with all the apparell and ornaments belonging thereunto as also the Chappell it selfe burnt to ashes It was againe reedified by Antony Widâ—uile Earle Riuers Lord Scales Vncle and Gouernour to the Prince of Wales that should haue beene King Edward the fifth Who was vniustly beheaded at Pomfret by the procurement of Richard Crook-backe Duke of Glocester then Lord Protectour the 13. of Iune 1483. Saint Margaret in Westminster Adioyning on the North side of the Abbey standeth Saint Margarets the Parish Church of the Citie of Westminster reedified for the most in the raigne of King Edward the fourth especially the South Isle from the piety of the Lady Marye Billing and her second husband Sir Thomas Billing chief Iustice of England in that Kings time Whose Monument with that to the memorie of her first husband William Cotton Esquire I haue here expressed Here lieth Dame Mary Bylling late wife to Sir Thomas Bylling Knight chiefe Iustice of England and to William Coton and Thomas Lacy which Mary died the 14 day of March in the yeare of our Lord God 1499. Blessed Lady c. haue mercy c. Ant Mary gratia plena on me haue mercy on me haue mercy Ecce ancila dom Fiat 〈…〉 secund uerbu tuuÌ„ 〈…〉 〈…〉 The inheritance of this Lady was the Lordship of Connington in Huntingtonshire The seate once of Turketell the Dane Earle of the East Angles who inuited ouer Swain King of Denmarke to inuade this kingdome He exiâ—'d with most of his Nation by Saint Edmond the Confessor This his seate with other his large possessions were giuen by the same King to Walthâ—oâ— Earle of Northumberland and Huntington to whom the first William gaue in marriage the Lady Iudithe his sisters daughter This Lordship with the Earledome of Huntington by the marriage of Mary that Earles daughter to Dauid the sonne of the first Malcolme King of Scots and the holy Margaret his wife Neece to Edward the King Confessor Grandchilde to Edmond surnamed Ironside King of the English Saxons and sister and heire to Edgar surnamed Ethelinge by which marriage the Stemme Royall of the Saxons became vnited into the bloud Royall of the Scottish Kings in whose male lyne that Earldome and this Lordship continued vntill Isabell the daughter and heire of Dauid Earle of Huntington and brother to Malcome William and Alexander successiue Kings of that kingdome brought them both by her marriage to Robert de Brus into that family She leauing the iust clayme of the Crowne of Scotland to Robert her eldest sonne whose sonne
Robert the third thereof obtained full possession in right from whom our sacred soueraigne King Charles is lineally to the same Crowne descended And to her second sonne Bernard de Brus shee gaue this Lordship of Connington with other large possessions in England which after foure descents in that Stemme was by marriage of Anne the daughter and heire of Sir Iohn de Brus to Sir Hugh Welengham brought into that family who after three descents by the marriage of Mary the daughter and heire of the last of that surname it came to William second sonne of Sir Richard Cotton of Ridware in the County of Stafford From whom Sir Robert Cotton Knight and Baronet is lineally to that Lordship of Connyngton now descended Hereby appeareth the much mistaking of many who hold that the first King of the Norman race cancelled with his sword all claime of Inheritances before his entrance whereas in truth hee neither altered the fundamentall lawes or liberties of the Kingdome or fortunes of any but of those that sided with Harrold against him in his claime For the words of his owne great Charter vnder seale made the day of his Coronation are Deuicto Harraldo Rege cum suis complicibus in ore gladij ouer whom onely he declareth his conquest but his Tytle was beneficio concessionis beati regis Edwardi cognati sui And that he acknowledgeth as his right And we cannot passe ouer a dutifull and thankefull remembrance vnto God who in his diuine iustice after the course of little more then 500. yeares hath restored againe in the sacred person of King Iames of happy memory the lyneall Royall race and bloud of the Saxon Monarchie In him vniting the Briton Saxon Norman and Scottish Regall bloud and by him restoring not onely the name but the ancient dignity of the Britaine Empire fulfilling that old presage of Aquila recorded many hundred yeares agoe Regnabunt Britones Albani Gentis amici Antiquum nomen Insula tota feret Vt profert Aquila veteri de turre Loquta Cum Scotis Britones regna paterna regent Regnabunt pariter in prosperitate quieta Hostibus expulsis Iudicis vsque diem Of which we haue a most happy assurance by the now blessed issue of our most gratious and dread Soueraigne King Charles who hath crowned thereby this state with an eternall peace Vnder this stone lyeth here Iohn Bedel Tallow Chandlere Who departyd the nynth day Of this present month of May On thowsand fyue hundryd and fifteen As is here playn to be seen Such as thou art such haue I bin somtym Such as I am such salt thou be in tym Therfor of thy cherite remembyr me Euen as in like case thou wouldst remembryd be I beseâ—h on God in Trinite On my soul to haue mercy Here lyeth Walter Garden come out of the west God geeu to the soul of hym good rest I prey you negbors euerich on Prey for me for I am gon who died 26 April 1523. Sancta Maria virgo virginum Prey for the soul of Ione Pymichum Here lyes vndyr this ston Iohn Den Barbor Surgeon And Agnes his wyf who to heuyn went M. ccccc and x. that is verament For whos soul of your cherite Sey a Pater Noster and an Aue Marie Iohannes Skeltonus vates Pierius hic situs est animam egit 21 Iunij 1529. This Iohn Skelton was that pleasant merry Poet as his rimes yet extant doe testifie who stiled himselfe Iohannes Skeltonus Orator regius Poeta laureatus He flourished in the raignes of Henry the seuenth and Henry the eight by whom in the Quire Thomas Churchyard that old Court-Poet lieth interred and not in the Church-Porch as these rimes following would approue Come Alecto and lend me thy Torch To fynde a Church yard in a Church porch Pouertie and Poetrie this Tombe doth enclose Therefore Gentlemen be merry in Prose I finde in the collections of Master Camden that there was some vnkinde passages betwixt this Poet laureat Skelton and Lily our sole authenticke allowed Gramarian in so much that Skelton carping against the verses of the said Lily is bitterly by him thus answered Lilij endecasillaba in Skeltonum Eius carmina calumniantem Quid me Skeltone fronte sic aperta Carpis vipereo potens veneno Quid versus trutina meos iniqua Libras dicere vera num licebit Doctrinae tibi dum parare famam Et doctus fieri studes Poeta Doctrinam nec habes nec es Poeta Almes-houses of Henry the 7. On the South side of the Gate-house King Henry the 7. founded an Almes-house for thirteene poore men one of them to be a Priest aged fiue and forty yeares a good Gramarian the other 12 to be aged fiftie yeares without wiues euery Saturday the Priest to receiue of the Abbot or Prior foure pence by the day and each other two pence halfe penny by the day for euer for their sustenance and euery yeare to each one a Gowne and a hood ready made And to three women that dressed their meat and kept them in their sicknesse each to haue euery Saturday sixteene pence and euery yeare a Gowne ready made More to the thirteene poore men yeerely fourescore quarters of Coales and one thousand of good Fagots to their vse In the Hall and Kitchin of their mansion a discreet Monke to be ouerseer of them and he to haue forty shillings by the yeare c. and hereunto was euery Abbot and Prior sworne An Almes-house founded by Margaret Countesse of Richmond Westward from the Gate house was an old Chappell of Saint Anne ouer against the which the Lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond and Derby and mother to King Henry the seuenth erected an Almes-house for poore women which was afterwards turned into lodgings for the Singing men of the Colledge the place wherein this Chappell and Almes-house stood was called the Eleemosinary or Almory now corruptly the Ambry for that the almes of the Abbey was there distributed to the poore An Hospitall founded by Lady Anne Dacre At the entry into Totehill field was sometimes an old building called Stourton house which Giles Lord Dacre of the South purchased and built new whose Lady and wife Anne Sister to Thomas Lord Buckhurst the first of that Familie Earle of Dorset left money to her Executours to build an Hospitall there for twenty poore women and so many children to bee brought vp vnder them For whose maintenance she assigned Lands to the value of one hundred pounds by the yeare Almes-houses founded by Cornelius Van Dun. In the same field vpon Saint Hermits hill and neare vnto a Chappell of Saint Mary Magdelen now wholly ruinated Cornelius van Dun borne at Breda in Brabant a Souldier with King Henry the eight at Turney yeoman of the Guard and Vsher to the said King Henry Edward Mary and Elizabeth Kings and Queenes of famous memory built certaine Almes-houses for twenty poore widowes to dwell in rent free He died in September An. 1577.
surprised by the craft of the Saxons set his full purpose to driue them out and from the seuenth yeare after their first entrance for twentie yeares continuance fought many battailes with them and foure of them with great puissance in the open field in the first whereof they departed with like fortune and losse of the Generals brethren Horsa and Latigern in the other three the Britaines went away with victory and so long vntill Vortimer was taken away by fatall death It is recorded of him that after he had vanquished the Saxons and dispossessed them of all their footing in the Continent yea and often assailed them in the Isle of Tannet the Church of Christianitie being ruinated by the Pagan marriage of Rowena with his Brother as aforesaid that he restored the Christian Religion as then sorely decaied and new built the Churches that his enemies the misbeleeuing Saxons had destroied It is also reported by Nennius of Bangor in the historie of his countrie that after his last victorie ouer the Saxons he caused his monument to be erected at the entrance into Tanet and in the same place of that great ouerthrow which by the said Author is called Lapis Tituli of vs the Stonar where for certaine it seemes hath beene an hauen In this monument hee commanded his body to be buried to the further terror of the Saxons that in beholding this his Trophie their spirits might be daunted at the remembrance of their great ouerthrow As Scipio Africanus conceited the like who commanded his Sepulchre to be so set that it might ouerlooke Africa supposing that his very Tombe would be a terror to the Carthaginians But how that desire of Vortimer was performed I finde not saith a late writer but rather the contrarie for an old Manuscript I haue that confidently affirmeth him to be buried in London which agreeth with these old Rimes of my reuerend Monke of Glocester Aftur his deth he badde anon his body yat me nome And bury hit at an hauene wher ye hethen men vp come In a Tombe swithe an heigh yat me myght hit fer yse That hii for drede of yat syght ayen hom sholde fle Hare was herte to hem whan he wolde hit hadde Drede of his body dede as they aliue hadde Ther was deol and Soâ—we enogh tho this man was ded As natheles me buryed him nought ther as yat he ked For hit was but of a will as hii hem bethoughte In London wythe gret honor that body an erthe broughte Harding hath it thus In a pyller of brasse he laid on hyght At the gate where Saxons had landed afore He bad his men for also farre as he myght Hym se he truste they wolde not nerre come thore But neuerthelesse they letted not therfore But buried hym at Troynouant Citee As he them bade with all solempnitee The vncertaine buriall of Edward and Richard the sonnes of King Edward the fourth Edward the eldest sonne of King Edward the fourth by Queene Elizabeth his wife say our English Writers was borne in the Sanctuary at Westminster the fourth of Nouember and yeare of grace 1470. being the tenth of his fathers raigne at that time expulsed the Realme by the powerfull Earle of Warwicke but fortune being changed and the father restored the sonne in Iuly following the sixe and twentieth day 1471. was created Prince of Wales and Earle of Chester and afterwards vpon the eight of Iuly in the 19 yeare of his said fathers raign he was by Letters Patents dated at Esthamsted further honoured with the Earledomes of Penbroke and March He was proclaimed King but neuer crowned yet had not the ambitious hand of his Vncle beene defiled in his innocent bloud hee might haue worne the Diadem many yeares whereas he bare the title of King no longer then two moneths and eighteene daies Richard surnamed of Shrewsbury because he was there borne the second sonne of Edward the fourth by his wife Elizabeth as aforesaid was affianced in his infancie to Anne the onely daughter and heire of Iohn Lord Mowbray Duke of Norfolke hee was honoured by the titles of Duke of Norfolke Earle Warren Earle Marshall and Nottingham also Lord Baron of Mowbray Segraue and of Gower as Milles will haue it but inioying neither wife title or his owne life long was with his brother murthered in the Tower of London and in the prison of that Tower which vpon that most sinfull deed is euer since called the bloudy Tower their bodies as yet vnknowne where to haue buriall The storie of whose death and supposed interment extracted out of authenticall Authors is thus deliuered by Iohn Speed Prince Edward and his brother saith hee were both shut vp in the Tower and all attendants remoued from them onely one called Blacke-Will or William Slaughter excepted who was set to serue them and to see them sure After which time the Prince neuer tied his points nor cared for himselfe but with that yong Babe his brother lingred with thought and heauinesse till their traiterous deaths deliuered them out of that wretchednesse for the execution whereof Sir Iames Tirrill appointed Miles Forrest a fellow fleshed in murther before time to whom he ioyned one Iohn Dighton his horse-keeper a bigge broad square knaue About midnight all others being remoued from them this Miles Forrest and Iohn Dighton came into the Chamber and suddenly wrapped vp the sely children in the Bed-clothes where they lay keeping by force the featherbed and pillowes hard vpon their mouthes that they were therein smothered to death and gaue vp to God their innocent soules into the ioyes of heauen leauing their bodies vnto the Tormentors dead in the bed which after these monstrous wretches perceiued first by the strugling with the paines of death and after long lying still to bee thorowly dispatched they laid their bodies naked out vpon the bed and then fetched Sir Iames Tirrill their instigator to see them who caused these murtherers to bury them at the staires foot somewhat deepe in the ground vnder a great heape of stones Then roâ—e Sir Iames in haste to the King vnto whom he shewed the manner of their death and place of buriall which newes was so welcome to his wicked heart as hee greatly reioyced and with great thankes dubbed as some hold this his mercilesse Instrument Knight But the place of their buriall he liked not saying that vile corner should not containe the bodies of those Princes his Nephewes and commanded them a better place for buriall because they were the Sons of a King Whereupon the Priest of the Tower tooke vp their bodies and secretly interred them in such a place which by the occasion of his death could neuer since come to light The continuer of Iohn Harding tels vs from the report of others that King Richard caused Sir Robert Brakenburies Priest to close their dead corpes in lead and so to put them in a coffin full of holes
difference betweene their receits and their allowances commonly called Allocations as namely the Auditors of the Exchequer take the account of those Receiuers which receiue the reuenues of the augmentation as also of the Sheriffes Escheators and customers and set them downe and perfect them He that will know more hereof may looke Stat. An. 33. Hen. 8. cap. 33. Of your cherite prey for the soul of Iohn Ienyngs who dyed ....... M. cccc.xxiii Pray for the soul of Iohn Elryngton Fylycer of London and keeper of the Records of the Common pleas who departed .... 1504. Fylycer or Filazer deriued from the French word Filace id est silum is an Officer in the Common pleas whereof there be fourteene in number They make all originall Processe as well reall as personall and mixt and in actions meerely personall where the defendants be returned or summoned there goeth out the distresse infinitè vntill appearance if he be returned nihil then Processe of Capias infinitè if the plaintiffe will or after the third Capias the Plaintiffe may goe to the Exigenter of the Shire where his originall is grounded and haue an Exigent and Proclamation made And also the Filazer maketh forth all writs in view in causes where the view is placed He is also allowed to enter the Imparlance or the generall issue in common actions where appearance is made with him and also iudgement by confession in any of them before issue be ioyned and to make out writs of Execution thereupon But although they entred the issue yet the Protonotarie must enter the iudgement if it be after verdict They also make Writs of Supersedeas in case where the Defendant appeareth in their Officers after the Capias awarded Here lyeth ..... William Lowthe Goldsmith of London .... 1528. Prey for the soul of Robert Walsingham Clarke of the Spicery to King Henry the eight who dyed ..... 1522. Here lieth vnder a faire monument the body of Christopher Vrswicke the Kings Almoner his picture in brasse with this subscription Christopherus Vrswicus Regis Henrici septimi Eleemosinarius vir sua etate clarus summatibus atque insimatibus iuxta charus Ad exteros Reges vndecies pro patria Legatus Deconatum Eboracensem Archidiaconatum Richmundie Decanatum Windesorie habitos viuens reliquit Episcopatum Norwicensem oblatum recusauit Magnos honores tota vita spreuit frugali vita contentus hic vinere hic mori malnit plenus annis obijt ab omnibus desideratus funeris pompam etiam Testamento vetuit hic sepultus carnis resurrectionem in aduentum Christi expectat obijt Anno Domini 1521. 24 Octob. I haue not heard of many Clergie men neither in his nor these dayes that would relinquish and refuse thus many ecclesiasticall honours and preferments and content himselfe with a priuate Parsonage but here let him rest as an example for all our great Prelates to admire and for few or none to imitate Islington Here .... Iohn Fowler ... 1538. on whos soule ... Here lieth Alis Fowler the wyff of Robart Fowler Esquire who died .... 1540. Behold and se thus as I am so sal ye be When ye be dead and laid in graue As ye haue done so sal ye haue Diuers of this familie lie here interred the ancestors of Sir Thomas Fowler Knight and Baronet now liuing 1630. Hic sepelitur Thomas Sauil silius et heres apparens Iohannis Sauil Armig et Margarete vxoris eius qui in primo limine vite immature mortis celeritate matrem preueniens ex hac luce migrauit 14 die etatis sue Anno Dom. 1546. I preye the Christen man that hasts go to se this To preye for the soulys of thos that here beryed is And remember that in Chryst we be brether The which hath commanded erye man to preyer for other This seyth Robart Midleton and his wyf here wrapped in cley Abyding the mercy of Almighty God till Doomys dey Which was seruant somtym to Sir George Hastings Erle of Huntington And passed this transitory lyff as t is written hereupon In the yere of owr Lord God on thowsand fyue hundryd and ten On whos soulys Almighty God haue mercy Amen Orate pro Wilielmo Mistelbroke Auditore qui in seruitio Regis itinerans deo disponente apud Denby in Marchia Wallie An. Dom. M. cccc.lxxxxij Corpus suum sacre sepulture reddidit pro Catherina vxore sua cuius corpus sub isâ—o marmore tumulatum suit Quorum anime in pace lesu Christi requiescant Amen Saint Pancras In this old weather-beaten Church standing all alone as vtterly forsaken which for antiquitie will not yeeld to Saint Pauls in London I finde a wondrous ancient Monument which by tradition was made to the memorie of one of the right honourable familie of the Greyes and his Lady whose pourtraitures are vpon the Tombe Whose mansion house say the Inhabitants was in Port-Poole or Greyes-Inne-lane now an Inne of Court But these are but suppositions for by whom Greyes-Inne was first possessed builded or begun I haue not yet learned Yet it seemeth saith Stow to bee since Edward the third his time These following are all the words left vndefaced Holy Trinite on God have mercy on vs. Hic iacent Robertus Eve et Lawrentia soror eius filia Francisci Eve filii Thome Eve clerici corone Cancellarie Anglie .... Quorum ....... Hospitall of Saint Giles in the Field This Hospitall was founded by Mawde the Queene wife to King Henry the first about the yeare one thousand one hundred and seaventeene it was a Cell to Burton Lazars so called of Leprous persons in Leicestershire At this Hospitall the prisoners conueyed from the Citie of London to Tyborne there to bee executed were presented with a great Bowle of Ale thereof to drinke at their pleasure as to be their last refreshing in this life Stepney Here lieth Henry Steward Lord Darle of the age of three quarters of a yeere late sonne and heire of Mathew Steward Erle of Lennoux and Lady Margaret his wife Which Henry deceased the xxviii day of Nouember in the yeere of our Lord God M. ccccc.xlv Whose soule Iesus pardon This Henryes second brother was likewise christened Henry and stiled Lord Darle or Dernley a noble Prince and reputed for person one of the goodliest Gentlemen of Europe who married Mary Queene of Scotland the royall parents of our late Soueraigne Lord Iames the first king of great Britaine father of our most magnificent Monarch Charles the first now happily raigning Vndyr this ston closyde and marmorate Lyeth Iohn Kitte Londoner natyffe Encreasyng in vertues rose to high estate In the fourth Edwards Chappell by his yong lyffe Sith whych the sevinth Henryes servyce primatyffe Proceding stil in vertuous â—fficase To be in fauour wiâ—h this our kings Grase With witt endewyd chosen to be Legate Sent into Spayne where he ryght ioyfully Combyned both
Prynces in pease most amate In Grece Archbyshop elected worthely And last of Carlyel rulyng pastorally Kepyng nobyl Houshold wyth grete Hospitality On thowsand fyve hundryd thirty and sevyn Invyterate wyth pastoral carys consumyd wyth age The nintenth of Iun reckonyd ful evyn Passyd to hevyn from worldly pylgrâ—mage Of whos soul good pepul of cherite Prey as ye wold be preyd for for thus must ye lie Iesu mercy Lady help Here lieth Sir Henry Collet knight twise Maior of London who died in the yere of our redemption 1510. This Hâ—nry was sonne to Robert Collet of Wendouer in Buckinghamshire and father to Iohn Collet Deane of Pauls in the first time of his Maioraltie the Crosse in Cheape-side was new builded in that beautifull manner as it now standeth Richardus iacet hic venerabilis ille Decanus Qui fuit etatis doctus Apollo sue Eloquio forma ingenio virtutibus arte Nobilis eternum viuere dignus erat Consilio bonus ingenio fuit vtilis acri Facunda eloquij dexteritate potens Non rigidus non ore minax affabilis omni Tempore seu puero seu loquerere sexi Nulli vnquam nocuit multos adiuvit omnes Officij studuit demeruisse bonos Tantus hic et talis ne non deleatur ademptus Flent Muse et laceris mesta Minerua comis Obijt anno 1532. etat circiter 40. This Pace succeeded Collet in the Deanrie of Pauls a man highlie in fauour with king Henry the eight by whom he was employed as Embassadour to Maximilian the Germane Emperour as also to Rome in the behalfe of Cardinall Wolâ—ey who stood in election for the Popedome Hee writ diuers learned treatises yet extant Nam vir erat saith Bale viriusque literaturae peritia praeditus Nemo ingenio candidior aut humanitate amicitior He was a right worthie man and one that gaue in counsell faithfull aduâ—ce learned he was also and indued with many excellent good gifts of nature curteous pleasâ—nt and delighting in Musicke highlie in the Kingsfauour and well heard in matters of weight Here was I borne and here I make myne end Though I was Citizen and Grocer of London And to the office of Schrevalty did ascend But things transitorie passe and vanische sone To God be geeuen thanks if that I haue ought done That to his honowre and to the bringing vp of youth And to the succowre of the Age for sewerly this is soth By Avise my wyff children were left me non Which we both did take as God had it sent And fixed our myndes that ioyntly in on To releue the poore by mutuall consent Now mercifull Iesu which hast assystyd owre intent Have mercy on owre sowles and as for the residew If it be thy will thou mayst owre Act continew Vpon the same marble these verses following The fyve and twentyth day of this monyth of Septembyr And of owre Lord God the fifteenth hundryd and fowrty yeere Master Nicholas Gibson dyde as this tombe doth remembyr Whose wyff aftyr maryed the worschypful Esquier Master William Kneuet on of the kings privy chamber Much for his time also did he endeuer To make this Act to continew for euer This pious act here mentioned in this Epitaph is a free-Schoole founded at Radcliffe in this Parish by the said Nicholas and Avise for the instruction of threescore poore mens children by a Schoolemaster and an Vsher with an Almeshouse for fourteene poore aged persons and this Foundation continues to this day Saint Leonards in Stratford Bow This religious structure was sometime a Monasterie replenished with white Monkes dedicated to the honour of our alone Sauiour Iesus Christ and Saint Leonard founded by King Henry the second in the 23. yeare of his raigne And valued at the suppression to be yearely worth an hundred one and twenty pounds sixteene shillings In this Abbey Church sometime lay entombed the body of Iohn de Bohun eldest sonne and heire of Humfrey de Bohun Earle of Hereford and Essex Which Iohn de Bohun to vse the words of Milles in his Catalogue of Hereford Earles after the death of his father Humfrey was fifth Earle of Hereford Constable of England and Patron of the Abbey of Lanthony fourth Earle of Essex of that Surname and fifth Lord of Brecknock Because this Earle Iohn in regard of his weaknesse of body by a continuall sicknesse was not able to performe this office of the Constableship of England Edward the third at this Earles intreatie did substitute Edward Bohun the Earles younger brother Vice-Constable vnder him for the tearme of his life But Earle Iohn died at Kirby Thore the 20. of Ianuary vpon Saint Fabian and Sebastians day 1136. the tenth of Edward the third leauing no issue and was buried at Stratford Abbey not farre from London This Iohn married first Alice the daughter of Edmund Fitz-alan Earle of Arundell who died in childbed and was buried at Walden with her Infant sonne after it was christened His second wife was Margaret daughter of Raphe Lord Basset of Drâ—yton a Baron of the best ranke in those dayes by whom hee had no issue Hertfordshire For Ecclesiasticall gouernment onely some part of this Shire belongeth to the Diocesse of London the rest to the Bishopricke of Lincolne Now because the Bishop of Lincolne hath so large a Territorie vnder his iurisdiction I wâ—ll be so bold as to borrow a few Funerall Inscriptions which I haue collected in this County and within his charge and imprint them with those which are properly for London Diocesse Alhallowes in the Towne of Hertford Off yowr cherity prayeth to God and Alhalwin hertely For Ser Ion Chappilaine somtym of yis plas Vicary Almighty Iesu resseve his sowl to grase and mercy Icy gist Isabele Newmarche iadis Damosele a tresâ—oble Dame Isabele Roigne d' Engletere This Isabell Newmarch or de nouo Mercatu a name of great reputation in the raigne of King Henry the third was Maide of Honour to that Isabell Queene of England who was second wife to Richard the second daughter of Charles the sixth King of France Hic iacet Lodouicus Baysbury Capell Henrici sexti ac Prebend Ecclesie Cathedral Lincoln .... M. ccccxxviii Here lyeth vndyr this ston William Wake And by him Ione his wyff and Make Somtym yeman of Iohn Duc of Bedfords hors And lat Survayor wyth king Henry the sixt he was Gentylman mad he was at the holy Grav On qwos sowls Almyghty God mercy hav Hic iacet Iohannes Prest quondam Ianitor Hospitii Katherine nuper Regine Anglie ....... This Priest was Porter to that Katherine Queene of England who was the onely wife of that inuincible Conquerour of France Henry the fifth and daughter of Charles the sonne of Charles aforesaid King of France Saint Nicholas Hic iacet Alicia Tymyslow quondam Dominella Domine Ducisse Lankastrie que obiit 17 Septemb. 1396. This faire yong waiting Chamber-maid for so much the word
imports was seruant to Katherine Swinford the third wife of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Hic iacet Iohannes de Chandry quondam Nolettus Domini Ducis Lankastrie .... This mans office vnder the Duke of Lancaster was to ring as I take it the Sance or sacring Bell. Hic iacet Richardus Pynere quondam Botelere cum Regina Anglie qui obitt xxii Ianuar. M. cccc xix A Flagon and a cuppe cut in brasse vpon his graue stone Hic iacet venerabilis Armiger Iohannes Ingylby qui obiit festo Mathei Apostoli et Euangeliste 1457. This Iohn was in especiall fauour and did wonderfully flourish in the seruice of King Henry the sixt A familie of great antiquity in the Countie of Yorke By these Funerall Monuments it appeares that diuers Princes of this Land haue often made their residence in this Towne by which meanes it hath beene in former times of great state estimation and beautie but now for want of that generall conuention the Castle built before the Conquest by Edward the Elder is greatly decayed these Parish Churches much ruined and the Towne neither greatly inhabited nor much frequented Here in this Towne was a Priory of blacke Monkes valued in the Exchequer to be yeerely worth fourescore and sixe pounds fourteene shillings eight pence A Cell it was to Saint Albans founded by Raph Limsey a Nobleman and dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the raigne of the Conquerour I haue my authority out of the Collections of Thomas Talbot sometime keeper of the Records in the Tower a great Genealogist these are his words Raph Lord Limsey buried in the Priorie of Hertford which he founded he came into England with the Conquerour and was his sisters sonne as the Monkes of the same house report Port Or three Eagles heads gules One Robert Sotingdon or Sadington a man in great fauour with Henry the third and vnder him in honourable office fell sicke in his iourney being Iustice Itinerant in this towne in the yeare 1257. and was here interred One Sir Robert Sadington Knight was Lord Chancelour of England Anno 1345. and Sir Richard Sadinton Lord Treasurer much what about the same time as in the Catalogue of both you may read Ware Hic iacet Thomas Bourchier miles filius Henrici comitis Essex ac Isabella vxor eius nuper comitissa Deuon filia et heres Iohannis Barry militis qui obijt .... 1491 .... et Isabella ob 1 die Marcij 1488. quorum animabus This Thomas Bourchier was the first sonne saith Vincent of Henry Bourchier the first of that surname Earle of Essex and this Isabell the daughter and heire of Sir Iohn Barry Knight was when the said Thomas married her the widow of Humfrey Lord Stafford of Southwike sonne of William Stafford of Hooke Esquire created Earle of Deuon by King Edward the fourth to whom the said King gaue all the Honours Mannors Castles c. which were Thomas Courtneys the fourteenth Earle of Deuon who neuerthelesse grew ingratefull to King Edward his aduancer in reuolting from him at the battaile of Banbury for which cowardise hee being apprehended was without processe executed at Bridgewater the seuenteenth of August anno 1469. hauing beene Earle but three moneths Hic iacent Rogerus Damory Baro tempore Edwardi secundi et Elizabetha tertia silia Gilberti Clare comitis Glocestrie et Iohanne vxoris eius filie Edwardi primi v. cate Iohann de Acris ..... This Roger Damory was Baron of Armoye in Ireland and Elizabeth his wife the Founder of Clare Hall in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge of which more hereafter Iean Lucas gist icy Dieu de salme eit mercy This is an ancient monument so is the familie At the north end of this Towne was a Frierie whose ruines not altogether beaten downe are to be seene at this day founded by Baron Wake Lord of this Towne about the raigne of King Iohn dedicated to Saint Francis and surrendred the 9 of May 26 Henry 8. Here lieth Thomas Heton Ione his wife which Thomas died xix Aug. M. cccc.ix and Ioyce ... ... Will. Litlebury and Elizabeth his wife he died xxii of Iuly M. cccc Watton Hic iacet corpus domini Philippi Butler militis quondam Domini de Woodhall et hutus Ecclesie Patroni qui obijt in festo Sancti Leonardi Anno Domini M. cccc.xxi et Regis Henrici quinti post conquestum vltimo Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Camden saith that these Butlers are branched from Sir Raph Butler Baron of Wem in Shropshire and his wife heire to William Pantulfe Lord of Wem soone after the first entrie of the Normans Hunsdon In this Church are the right ancient and honourable familie of the Caryes enterred to whose memory I finde no monument saue one vnder which Iohn Cary Baron of Hunsdon lieth entombed father to the right honourable Lord Henry Cary Lord Hunsdon Viscount Rochford and Earle of Douer now liuing Grandchild to Henry Baron of Hunsdon Lord Chamberlaine and Cosin german to Queene Elizabeth and descended from the royall familie of the Dukes of Somerset Francisco Poyno Equiti literis prudentia armis fauore sui Principis et pietate insigni Domina Iohanna pia et amans vxor Charo marito posuit 1520. This name is ancient and honourable Sir Hugh Poynes being one of the ranke of Parliamentarie Barons in the raigne of King Edward the first Eppalets or Hippolites vulgarly Pallets This Church was dedicated saith Norden in his description of Hertfordshire to a supposed Saint called Eppalet whose reliques lie buried about the high Altar This man in his life time was a good tamer of Colts and as good a Horse-leach And for these qualities so deuoutly honoured after his death that all passengers by that way on Horse-backe thought themselues bound to bring their Steedes into the Church euen vp to the high Altar where this holy Horseman was shrined and where a Priest continually attended to bestow such fragments of Eppalets miracles as would either tame yong horses cure lame iades or refresh old wearied and forworne Hackneyes which did auaile so much the more or lesse as the passengers were bountifull or hard-handed Baldock Here is an ancient Monument and an old Inscription which I often meete with Farwel my frendys the tydabidyth no man I am departed hens and so sal ye But in this pasage the best song I can Is Requiem Eternam now Iesu grant it me When I haue ended all myn aduersity Grant me in Paradys to hav a mansion That shedst thy bloud for my redemption Prey for the sowlys of William Crane Ioane and Margaret his wyffs ... which William died ... 1483. ... on whos Orate pro ... Wilielmi Vynter generosi et Margarete consortis sue qui quidem Wilielmus obijâ— 2 Iunii 1416. et Margareta ob ... Octob. 1411. eorum animabus parentum amicorum bene factorum
in hys lusty age Owr Lord list cal to hys mercy and grase Benign and curteys free withoutyn rage And Sqwire with the Duc of Clarence he was The eyghtenth dey of Iun deth did him embrase The yer from Crists incarnatioon A thowsand fowr hundryd seuenty and oon Hic iacent Iohannes Dentwel .... Christiana vxor ... 1388. Here lyeth William Warner and Ioan his wyf Whych William dyed .... 1531. and Ioan 1588. on whos sowls Here vndyr this marble ston Lyeth Lucas Goodyer departyd and gon It pleasyd the Lord God in Octobre the tenth day She being in chyldbed decessyd withoutyn nay And Edmond her liffe sonne lyeth her by On whos sowlys Iesu have mercy 1547. Here lyeth Raph Stepney Esquyre the first Lord of the Lordshyp of this Towne of Aldenham and Patron of this Church Who dyed 3. Decemb. 1544. on whos sowl Iesu haue mercy Amen In the South wall of this Church the proportion of two weemen lye cut in stone who as I haue it by relation were two Sisters here entombed the builders of this Church and coheires to this Lordship which at their deaths gaue the said Lordship to the Abbey and Couent of Westminster Here is now the seate of that right honourable Lord Sir Edward Carey knight Baron of Falkland lately Lord Deputie of Ireland Some of which familie lie here fairely entombed South Mimmes A seat of a worshipfull familie of the Coningesbies saith Camden descended to them by Frowick from the Knolles ancient possessors thereof In the Belfrey of this Church is a goodly marble stone inlay'd all ouer with brasse vnder which one of the Frowicks lieth interred A gentleman who made his recreations for the good of his neighbours as appeares by his Epitaph composed by Iohn Wethamsted Abbot of S. Albans aforesaid Hic iacet Thomas Frowick Armig. qui obiit 17. Mens Februar 1448. Elisabetha vxor eius que ob 1400 ac pueri eorundem quorum animabus propitietur altissimus Amen Qui iacet hic stratus Thomas Frowick vocitatus Moribus et natu victu gestu moderatu Vir generosus erat generosaque gesta colebat Nam quod amare solent generosi plusque frequentant Aucupium volucrum venaticumque serarum Mâ—ltum dilexit vulpes foueis spoliauit Ax Taxos caueis breuiter quecunque propinquis Intulerant dampâ—a pro posse fugauerat ipsa Inter eos etiam si litis cerneret vnquam Accendi faculas medians extinxâ—rat ipsas Fecerat et pacem Cur nunc pacis sibi pausam Det Deus et requiem que semper permanet Amen Standon In the Quire of this Church lieth entombed the body of Sir Raph Sadleir the last knight Banneret of England priuye Counsellor to three Princes A man so aduanced saith Camden for his great Seruices and stayed wisdome Hee was brought vp vnder politicke great Cromwell Earle of Essex as appeares by the prose and verse engrauen vpon his Monument who when he came to mans estate employed him as his Secretary But Henry the eight conceiued so good an opinion of his discreet comportement and ingenious pregnancie that he tooke him from the seruice of the sayd Cromwell about the twentie and sixt yeare of his raigne made him his principall Secretary and vsed his aduice in matters of greatest trust and importance especially in the affaires and passages betwixt the two Realmes of England and Scotland He continued his loue towards him to the end of his life and for the speciall trust and confidence hee had in his approued wisedome and fidelitie together with the Earle of Arundell the Earle of Essex and others he made choise of him for the ayding and assisting of the Executors of his last Will and Testament by which his last Will the copie whereof I haue in my custody he gaue him two hundred pounds as a Legacie In the first of Edward the sixt hee was chosen Treasurer for the Armie sent into Scotland vnder the conduct of Edward Duke of Somerset Protector and Iohn Earle of Warwicke where in the battell of Musselborrow he shewed great manhood and prowesse His great diligence saith Hollinshead in bringing the scattered troopes into order and ready forwardnesse in the fray did worthily merit no small commendacions After which Battle he with Sir Francis Brian Captaine of the light horsemen and Sir Raph Vane Captaine of all the horsemen were honoured for their valiant good seruice with the dignitie of Knights Bannerets In the tenth yeare of the raigne of Queene Elisabeth hee was preferred and aduanced by her to the Chancellourship of the Dutchie of Lancaster But his honours and offices are most succinctly engrauen vpon his goodly Tombe in these Hexameters Radulphus Sadlier titulum sortitus Equestrem Principibus tribus arcanis a sensibus vnus Auspiciis sum Cromwelli deductus in Aulam Henrici octaui quem Secretarius omni Officio colui Regique gregique fidelis Vexillarum Equitem me Musselburgia vidit Edwardus sextus Scotiam cum frangeret armis Ducatu Lancastrensi sublime Tribunal Cancellarius ascendi quod pondus honoris Elisabetha meae posuit diadema senectae Explesset Natura suas gloria partes Maturus facili decerpor ab arbore fructus Obijt Ann. Dom. 1587. 29. Elis. aetatis 80. His Motto Servire Deo sapere His sonne and heire Sir Thomas Sadleir knight lieth interred by him of whom in another place for I haue already come nearer to these times then I determined the father of Raph Sadleir Esquire that bountifull good House-keeper now liuing Ann. 1630. Neare vnto the faire builded mansion house of the said Raph Sadleir some time stood a little religious fabricke of Austine Friers but by whom founded or how endowed I doe not finde It was a cell to the Priory of Clare in Suffolke some part of which cell is standing at this day Here lyeth Syr William Coffyn knyght somtym of the privy Chamber to king Henry the eight and master of the Horse to Quene hygh Steward of the liberty and Mannour of Stondon Who dyed viii of December M. cccccxxxviii Here lyeth Iohn Iseley somtym Alderman of London Who dyed .... M. cccclxxiiii and Iohn his sonn who dyed the same yere Here lyeth Iohn Curteys Stockfishmonger of London Who dyed the the xxiiii of September M. cccclxv Here lyeth Phillep Astley Esquyre who dyed the xiiii of Iuly in the yere M. cccc .... He had foure wiues Lettis Margaret Elisab and Alice Digswell Hic iacent Iohannes Perient Armiger pro corpore Regis Richardi secundi et Penerarius eiusdem Regis Et Armiger Regis Henrici quarti Et Armiger etiam Regis Henrici quinti Et Magister Equitum Iohanne filie Regis Nauarr et Regine Anglie qui obiit ........ et Iohanna vxor eius quondam capitalis Domicilla ...... que obijt xxiiij Aprilis Ann. Domini M ccccxv ...... This Inscription here engrauen to the memory of such a remarkeable man being Squire for the Body
to three such potent Princes Ensigne or Penon-bearer to one and Master of the Horse to Ioane the second wife of King Henry the fourth giues me occasion to speake somewhat in particular of these his honours and offices And first in generall of the signification and Etymology of the name of Esquire Next in degree after knights saith Camden in his treatise of Degrees of States in England are Esquires termed in Latine Armigeri that is Costrels or Bearers of Armes the same that Scutiferi that is Shield-bearers and Homines ad arma Men at Armes the Gothes called them Schilpor all of carrying the Shield as in old time among the Romanes such as were named Scularij who tooke that name either of the Escutcheons of Armes which they bare as Ensignes of their descent or because they were Armour-bearers to Princes or to the better sort of Nobilitie Ranulph Earle of Chester giues Viello Armigero suo tenementum in Bruhello to Viell his Esquire a Tenement in Bruhell And so Archbishops Bishops Barons knights huiusmodi Magnates and such sort of Peeres of the kingdome had their Esquiers In times past euery knight had two of these waiting vpon him they carried his Morion and Shield as inseparable companions they stucke close vnto him because of the said knight their Lord they held certaine Lands in Escuage like as the knight himselfe of the king by Knights seruice The old Gaulish knights saith Selden sate at their round table attended by their Esquires The Germans called an Esquire Schild-knapa or Shield-knaue or knaue a denotation of no ill qualitie in those dayes For here note by the way that Iohannes de Temporibus Iohn of the Times so called for the sundrie times or ages he liued was Shield-knaue vnto the Emperour Charles the Great Of whom he also was made knight as Verstegan affirmes in his Treatise of Honor and Offices The Interpreter out of Hotoman saith that these which the French men call Escuiers wee Esquiers were a militarie kind of vassall hauing ius Scuti which is as much to say as that they bare a Shield and in it the Ensignes of their Familie in token of their gentility or dignitie But these Esquires of whom I haue already spoken be now no more in any request fiue distinct sorts are onely remaining of these at this day The principall Esquires are accounted those that are select Esquires for the Princes bodie and such a one was Perient here interred Inter Armigeros qui fâ—unt non nascuntur Primarij habentur quatuor illi Armigeri ad corpus Regis Amongst Esquires which are made so by their offices not so borne those foure Esquires to the kings bodie are chiefe and princiall saith Sir H. Spelman The next vnto them be knights eldest sonnes and such an Esquire was the knights sonne in Chaucer who attended his father on pilgrimage to Thomas Beckets Shrine as doth appeare by their characters in the Prologues to the Canterbury tales Of which so much as tends to this purpose A Knyght ther was and that a worthy man That fro the tyme that he first began To riden out he loued cheualrie Trouth honour freedome and courtesie he was late come fro his voyage And went for to done his pilgrimage With him there was his son a yong squire A louer and a lusty Bachelere With his locks crull as they were laid in presse Of twenty yere of age he was as I gesse Curteys he was lowly and servisable And kerste before his Fader at the table In a third place are reputed younger sonnes of the eldest sonnes of Barons and of other Nobles in higher estate and when such heires males faile together with them also the title faileth In a fourth ranke are reckoned those vnto whom the King himselfe together with a title giueth Armes or createth Esquires by putting about their necke a siluer collar of S S and in former times vpon their heeles a paire of white spurres siluered whereupon at this day in the West parts of the kingdome they be called White-spurres for distinction from knights who are wont to weare gilt spurres and to the first-begotten sonnes onely of these doth the title belong In the fifth and last place be those ranged and taken for Esquires whosoeuer haue any superiour publicke Office in the common weale or serue the Prince in any worshipfull calling But this name of Esquire which in ancient time was a name of charge and office onely crept first among other titles of dignitie and worship so farre as I could euer obserue saith Camden in the raigne of Richard the second In ancient deeds we finde little mention made of gentlemen or Esquires but since the time of Henry the fourth these additions to names haue beene vsually inserted in writings by reason of the Statute of the first of Henry the fifth cap. 5. that in all cases wherein Processe of Outlary lieth additions shall be made of the estate degree or Misterie of which the parties sued are This Perient is here stiled also Penerarius Ric. secundi because as I coniecture he had the carriage of the Kings Penon Which word signifieth a Banner or Ensigne carried in warre or a little Streamer worne on the top of a lawnce by a Horseman A word borrowed from France for Penon in French signifieth the same thing Master of the Horse which office this deceased Gentleman enioyed vnder the Queene as aforesaid is he that hath the rule and charge of the Kings or Queenes stable being an office of high account Hitching Here lyeth Willyam Polter Gentylman who dyed the xx day of May in the fyfth yere of kyng Henry the eygth Here adioyning to the Towne was a Priory of white Friers Carmelites founded by king Edward the second Iohn Blomvill Adam Rouse and Iohn Cobham and dedicated to the Honour of our alone Saviour and the blessed Virgine valued in the Kings books vpon the surrender thereof which was vpon the ninth of May Ann. 26. Hen. 8. but at 4. l. 9. s. 4. d. Kinesburne or Kinesbourgh Here lyeth the carkasse of an old Castle interred in her owne ruines which in former times gaue entertainment to certaine obnoxious persons which called themselues the kings loyall good Subiects and the chiefe preseruers of his peace throughout all the adiacent countries as it is in the golden Register of S. Albans as followeth Stephanus Rex ad petitionem Abbatis Roberti ob honorem Albani Martyr is permisit dirui castrum de Kynesbury vbi antiquis temporibus latebant quidam Regales nequam homines Abbathie nimis infesti damnosi dicentes se Regis esse fideles et custodes pacis patrie cum potius pacem patriam perturbarent King Stephen at the request of Robert Abbot of Saint Albans and for the honour he bore to the holy Martyr S. Alban gaue commission for the pulling downe of the Castle of Kinesbury wherein in ancient times certaine
short But he so long deferred the execution of this intent that he was surprised by death before he could performe it the sixteenth day of Ianuarie 1127. He was Warden of the marches of Wales and gouernour of the County of Salop he sate Bishop twenty yeares in which time beside the building of this Monastery he purchased diuers whole streets and much housing neere to his Cathedrall Church of Saint Pauls All which he pulled downe and leauing the ground vnbuilt for a Cemitery or Churchyard enclosed the same with a wall which for the most part remaineth but at this day so couered with houses as it can hardly be seene The Canons of this house desired his body to be here buried which they entombed vnder a marble Monument with this inscription Hic iacet Richardus Beauueis cognomine Rufus London Episcopus vir probus et grandeuus per totam vitam laboriosus Fundator noster religiosus et qui multa bona nobis et Ministris Ecclesie sue sancti pauli contulit obijt xvi Iaenuarij M. c.xx.vii cuius anime propitietur altissimus Woodham waters In this Church I finde no monument of any great antiquity howsoeuer here was the ancient seate of the Lords Fitz-waters who being nobly descended saith Camden were of a most ancient race deriued from Robert the yonger sonne of Richard sonne to Gislebert of Clare accounted Earle of Hertford but in the age lately foregoing translated by a daughter into the stocke of the Radcliffes the predecessors of the Earles of Sussex Woodham Mortimer Prey for the sowlys of Iron Cokar and Christian his wyf which Ion dyed the viii of Octobre on thowsand fowr hundryd seuenty and eight and the seyd Ion for the helth of his sowl gaue by his Testament and last Will to God and to his Church a yeerely rent of xx pens and iii. schillyngs iiii pens for kepyng his obit in this Chirch to bee takyn out of his croft callyd Windets yerly for euer Maldon In this towne stood the pallace royall of Cunobeline or Kimbaline King of great Britaine a Prince that spent his yonger yeares in the warres vnder Augustus Caesar of whom he receiued the order of Knighthood by whom he was so fauoured that by his alone request the peace of this kingdome was continued without the payment of Romane Tribute who hauing for a long time enioyed peace in the vniuersall peace of the world for in the xiii yeare of his raigne the God of peace our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ was borne of the blessed Virgin He trained vp his people in a more ciuill and peaceable kinde of gouernement then that to which they had beene formerly accustomed and departed this world in peace within this his Citie of Maldon then the chamber of his kingdome in the one and twentieth yeare of our redemption when he had raigned thirty and fiue yeares of whom thus writeth my Author Io Harding ca. xlv Kymbaline so was his sonne and heyre Noryshed at Rome instruct with Cheualre That knyght was made wyth honor greate and â—ayer By Octauian reigning then enterly Emperor then of Romes great Monarchy In whose time was both peace and all concord Through all the worlde and borne was Christ our Lorde He was buried in this his chiefe citie some say at London Hic iacet Henricus Coggeshale filius et heres Thome Coggeshale filij Thome Coggeshale Armigeri qui obijt 9. Ian. 1427. cuius Quisquis eris quitransieris sta perlege plora Sum quod eris fueramque quod es pro me precor ora Orate pro anima Thome Darcy Ar. corporis Regum Edwardi quarti et Henrici sexti et nuper vnius Iusticiar ad pacem in com Essex ac filij et heredis Roberti Darcy militis nec non pro anima Margarete consortis sue vnius filiarum et heredis Iohannis Harleton in com Suffolk Ar. qui quidem Tho. obijt 25. Mens Septemb. 1485. Hic iacet Rogerus Darcy Ar. filius et heres Tho. Darcy Ar. pro corpore illustrissimi Principis Henrici septimi Regis Anglie et Elizabetha vxor eius filia Henrici Wentworth militis qui obijt vltimo die Septemb. 1508. Diuers other faire monuments but shamefully defaced are here erected to the memory of the Darcies a numerous familie and for antiquity and noblenesse of birth of great respect in many places of this kingdome Sir Robert Darcy Knight remembred in the former inscription by his last will and testament bequeathed his body to be buried in this Church the substance whereof I haue read in an old Manuscript as followeth Robert Darcy Knight made his Testament the 5 of October Anno Domini 1469. his body he willed to be buried in all Hallowes Church of Maldon before the Altar in the Isle where his father lieth in a Tombe of marble Also he willed l markes to be disposed for two thousand masses for him to be said within sixe weekes next after his deceyse iiii d. for euery masse and that they be charged for to prey for his soule his wifs soul his fathers and his mothers and for all his sisters soules and for all their husbands soules and for all the soules that he is bound to prey for Of which said l. markes hee willed to haue somewhat euery Prist that dwelled in Penbroke hall in Cambridge Also he willed that euery Fryer that was a Prist in Colchester haue xx d. and euery little Fryer vi d. to say three dirgees considering that he was a brother of that Order And the house of Chennesford xl s. the house of Clare xx s. and each yong Frier vi d. considering that hee was a brother of their Order And he made his Executors Elizabeth his wife Io. Clopton Esquire Nicolas Saxton and Richard Astley Clerkes And the superuisors of this his Testament my Lord of Essex my Lord Dinham Thomas Mountgomery and Thomas Tirrill Knights lowly beseeching the said Lord of Essex the Lord Dinham Sir Thomas Mountgomery and Sir Thomas Tirrill to helpe his sonne Thomas and all his children Also hee willed that my Lord of Essex and the Lord Dinham should each of them haue a But of Malmesey and that Sir Thomas Mountgomery and Sir Thomas Tirrill should each of them haue a pipe of red wine Also he willed that his brother Iohn Clopton one of his Executors should haue for his labour xx.l. Also he willed mistresse Anne Darcy his brothers wife to haue xx markes Yeuen at Danbury the day and yeare aboue said This his will was proued quarto diâ— mensis Maij coram reuerendo in Christo Patre Domino Thoma Episcopo London infra manerium suum de Wekeham Anno Domini 1470. One King a Butcher with his two wiues Alice and Anne lie here interred vnder a goodly marble richly inlayd with brasse his Axe for his Armes with this Epitaph who died 1415 Subiacet hic pictus diues durus
Sone men cluped Constantyn Without the walls of this Towne stood a large and stately Monastery which Eudo Sewar to king Henry the firsâ— founded and consecrated to the honour of Christ and Saint Iohn Baptist wherein he placed blacke Monkes The Ancestors of the right honourable Sir Edward Sackvile knight of the Bath and Earle of Dorset were great benefactours or rather cofounders of this religious structure For in the booke of the Abbey of Colchester I haue read that Iordanus de Saukevil miles et Baro de Bergholt Saukevil filius heres Roberti Saukevil superstes tempore Stephani Regis Henrici secundi confirmavit Ecclesie Sancti Iohannis de Colecestria in perpetuam Eleemosinam manerium de Wicham or Witham quod pater sâ—us Robertus eidem Ecclesie donauerat The foresaid Eudo founded likewise in this Towne an Hospitall for people infected with the contagious disease of Leprosie which he dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalen Here was another religious house wherein were placed brethren of the holy Crosse but by whom founded I cannot finde Valued at the suppression to 7. l. 7.5.8 d. per annum Robert Lord Fitzwater in the yeare 1309. founded here an Abbey for Friers Minors into whose order and House he entred himselfe in the yeare 1325. and then and there tooke vpon him the habite of a religious Votary wherein he spent the rest of his dayes Ann. M.ccc.ix saith the booke of Dunmow Robertus filius Walteri custos de Essex fundamentum posuit Ecclesie Fratrum Minorum de Colcestria And in the Catalogue of such Emperours Kings Princes and other potent personages which from the beginning haue entred into this religious order This Robert is reckoned for one These are the words Frater Dominus Robertus Fitzwater Baro fundator Conventus Colcestrie intrauit ibidem ordinem Ann. Domini Milesimo tricentesimo vicesimo quinto This house was valued at the suppression at 113. l. 12. s 8. d. of yearely reuenewes Earles Colne So called of the Sepulture of the Earles of Oxford which deriue their descent saith Camden from the Earles of Guines in France and haue the surname of Vere from Vere a Towne in Zeland In this parish Church are two Monuments of this familie of the Veres the one lieth crosse-legd with a Sarasins head vpon his tombe which Sarasin say the Inhabitants this Earle slew in the holy Land The other of them with his wife lieth entombed at her feet is the Talbot at his feet the Boare they are both shamefully defaced They were remooued out of the Priory neare adioining at the suppression as I was told This Priorie was first founded by Aubrey de Vere soone after the Conquest which he dedicated to the honour of God and Saint Andrew and placed therein black Monks translated from Abingdon to which Abbey he made this Priory to be subiect vpon this occasion as I haue it out of the booke of Abingdon Godfrey de Vere the sonne and heire of the foresaid Aubrey by Beatrice his wife dying in his fathers life time was buried in the Monastery of Abingdon to which he had beene a benefactor whereupon saith the Story Aubrey his father and Beatrice his mother were determined to choose Abingdon for their buriall place in respect of the tender affection they bore to their child But their Lands lying here in Essex farre off they procured a Grant from King Henry the first to build a religious House at Colne in Essex for their soules health their Sonnes and others as also for their Sepultures et hanc domum Sancto Andrâ—e Apostolo dedicatam subiectam et coherâ—ntem Ecclesie Abingdonen si faciebant Not long after the finishing of this worke and a little before his death Aubrey the Founder tooke vpon him the habite of Religion in this his owne house wherein hee died and was here buried by a younger sonne of his named William in whose remembrance this Epitaph was engrauen vpon their Monument Cedunt a vita votis animisque cupita Barbarus et Scita Gentilis et lsraelita Has pariter metas habet omnis sexus et et aes En puer en senior Pater alter filius alter Legem fortunam terram venere sub unam Non iuvenie â—ote quas epotavit Athene Non vâ—tulo vote vires velopes valuere Sed valuere fides et predia quae memoramus Vt valeant valeant per secula cuncta precamus For the said Aubrey de Vere and Beatrice his wife I found this Inscription to be engrauen vpon their Monument in the booke of Colne Priory Here lyeth Aulbery de Veer the first Erle of Guisnes the sonne of Alphonsus de Veer the whyche Aulbery was the fownder of this place and Bettrys hys wyf syster of kyng Wylliam the Conquerour This Priorie was valued at the fatall ouerthrow of such like buildings to be yearely worth 175. l. 14. s. 8 d ob The house is standing at this day conuerted into a priuate dwelling place as also the old Chappell to it wherein are diuers Monuments vnder which lie buried many of this thrice honourable Familie of the Veres but they are all gone to decay and their Inscriptions by time and stealth quite taken away Vpon one Tombe of Alabaster which is thought to bee the ancientest is the pourtraiture of a man lying in his armour crosse-legged but what was carued at his feet cannot be discerned Vpon another is one lying armed wtih the blew Bore vnder his head which was also crosse-legged as I was informed but now is nothing remaining from the middle downeward A third of wood armed crosse-legged on his Target the Armes of the house of Oxford and there lieth by him a woman made of wood which is thought to haue beene his Lady and Countesse Here are two more likewise in wood armed and crosse-legged the one hath an Hound or Talbot vnder his feet the cote Armour of the other is quite broken away with his Target Here is one in Alabaster not crosse-legged the Garter about one of his legges what is vnder his feet cannot be discerned A woman pourtrayed in Alabaster with a Falcon vnder her feet and a little Monument of Alabaster vpon which is the image of one in a Gowne with a purse hanging at his girdle hee is in length about foure foot But I will shew the Reader the names of such Earles and others of this house which by supposition and certainty are said to haue beene heere interred which may giue some light to the further knowledge of these in this manner intombed Aubrey de Vere the sonne of Aubrey Chamberlaine vnder King Henry the first or Camerarius Anglie as I finde it in old Cartularies hauing lost this his Office of great Chamberlaine and other dignities in the turmoiles betweene King Stephen and Maude the Empresse was by the said Empresse and Henry the second as you may haue it more fully in Vincents discouery of errours
restored to all his former honours and withall created Earle of Oxford He died in the yeare 1194. the sixth of king Richard the first and was here buried by his father His wife Agnes or Adeliza lieth buried by him who was the daughter of Henry of Essex Baron of Ralegh the Kings Constable Such was the Epitaph or inscription vpon his Tombe as it is in the book of Colne Priory Hic iacet Albericus de Vere silius Alberici de Veer Comes de Guisney primus Comes Oxonie magnus Camerarius Anglie qui propter summam audatiam effrenatam prauitatem Grymme Aubrey vocabatur obiit 26. die Decembris anno Christi 1194. Richardi â— sexto Aubrey de Vere the sonne of the foresaid Aubrey succeeded his father in all his dignities I finde little written of him in our Histories saue that out of his Christian pietie he did confirme the gift of septem librat terre which Aubrey his father gaue to the Chanons of Saint O sith here in Essex adding thereto something of his owne He dyed in the yeare of our Lord 1214. and sleepeth now in the same Bed with three other Aubreyes his Ancestors To whom this Epitaph vpon Conrad the Emperour at Spires in Germany may be fitly applied Filius hic Pater hic Auus hic Proauus iacet istie The great Belsire the Grandsire Sire and Sonne Lie here interred vnder this Grauestone Hugh de Vere the sonne of Robert the first of that Christian name Earle of Oxford and Lord great Chamberlaine of England was here entombed with his Ancestors who died in the yeare 1263. He had the title of Lord Bolebeck which came by his mother Isabell de Bolebeck daughter and heire of Hugh de Bolebeck a Baron who was Lord of Bolebeck Castle in Whitechurch within Buckinghamshire and of Swaffam Bolebeck in Cambridgeshire Hee had to wife Hawisia the daughter of Saier de Quincy Earle of Winchester as appeares by this Inscription sometime insculpt vpon their Tombe Hic iacent Hugo de Veer eius nominis primus Comes Oxonie quartus magnus Camerarius Anglie filius heres Roberti Comitis Hawisua vxor cius filia Saeri de Quincy comitis Wintonie qui quidem Hugo obiit 1263. Quorum animabus propitietur altissimus Robert de Vere the sonne of Hugh aforesaid Earle of Oxford who enioyed his fathers inheritances and honours the space of thirtie and two yeares lieth here entombed with his ancestours who died in the yeare 1295. Alice his wife the daughter and heire of Gilbert Lord Samford Lord of Hormead in Hertfordshire was interred by him who died at Caufeld house neare Dunmow the ninth day of September 1312. Here lieth buried the body of Robert de Vere sonne and successour to the foresaid Robert whose gouernment both in peace and warre was so prudent his hospitalitie and other workes of charitie so wisely abundant and his Temperance with a religious zeale so admirablie conioyned that he was of all surnamed the good Earle of Oxford and the vulgar esteemed him as a Saint He died the 19. of Aprill 1331. Here lyeth entombed Robert de Vere Richard the seconds Mignion who to adde to his honours created him Marquesse of Dublin a title not knowne before that time in England and in the yeare following Duke of Ireland with commission to execute most inseparable prerogatiues royall These Stiles were of too high a nature and therefore infinitely subiected to enuy Whereupon like a second Gaueston he was hated of the Nobilitie especially for that he was a man nec prudentia caeteris proceribus nec armis valentior as Walsingham saith 9. R. 2. But it was not long before he was banished England by the Barons for abusing the Kings eare to the hurt of the State He had to wife a young faire and noble Lady and the Kings neare kinswoman for she was grandchilde to King Edward by his daughter Isabell he put her away and tooke one of Queene Annes women a Bohemian of base birth Sellarij filia saith Walsingham a Sadlers daughter some say a Ioyners an act full of wickednesse and indignitie Yet this intollerable villanie offered to the bloud-royall King Richard did not encounter neither had the power some say who deemed that by witchcrafts and forceries practised vpon him by one of the Dukes followers his iudgement was so seduced and captiuated that he could not see what was honest or siâ— to doe But where Princes are wilfull or slothfull and their Fauorites flatterers or time-seruers there needs no other enchantments to infatuate yea and ruinate the greatest Monarch Vpon his banishment he went into France where he liued about fiue yeares and there being a hunting he was slaine by a wilde Boare in the yeare 1392. King Richard hearing thereof out of his loue caused his body to be brought into England and to be apparrelled in Princely ornaments and robes and put about his neck a chaine of gold and Rings vpon his fingers and so was buried in this Priory the King being there present and wearing blackes After the death of Robert Duke of Ireland who died without issue his Nephew Aubrey de Vere succeeded him in the Earledome of Oxford he enioyed his honours not passing eight yeares but dyed die Veneris in festo Sancti Georgij Ann. primo Hen. quarti 1400. and lieth here entombed with his worthie Ancestors Here lieth buried in this Priorie Iohn de Vere the third of that Christian name and the thirteenth Earle of Oxford Lord Bolebecke Samford and Scales great Chamberlaine and Lord high Admirall of England Who died the fourth of Henry the eight 1512. hauing beene Earle of Oxford full fifty yeares a long time to tugge out in the troublesome raignes of so many kings especially for men of eminent places and high spirits euer apt to take any occasion to shew their manly prowesse which fire of honour flamed in this Earles breast at Barnet field where in a mist the great Earle of Warwickes men not able to distinguish betwixt the Sun with streames vpon King Edwards liuery and the Starre with streames on this Earles liuery shot at this Earles followers and by that misprision the battell was lost After which he fled into Cornwall and seized vpon Saint Michaels Mount But Edward the fourth got him in his power and committed him prisoner to the Castle of Hames beyond the Seas where he remained for the space of twelue yeares vntill the first of King Henry the seuenth with whom he came into England and by whom he was made Captaine of the Archers at Bosworth-field where after a short resistance hee discomfited the Foreward of King Richard whereof a great number were slaine in the chase and no small number fell vnder the victors sword This Earle gaue a great contribution to the finishing of Saint Maries Church in Cambridge His hospitalitie and the great port he carried here in his country may be gathered out of a
Maria miserere nobis Ioanna Sancta dei genetrix virgo virginum miserere nobis Here lieth interred vnder an ancient monument very ruinous the body of one Leche a great benefactor to this Church as appeareth by this his broken Epitaph ................... Quo non est nec erit nec clarior extitit vllus .... clausum hoc marmore .... habet Huic Lech nomen erat diuine legis amator Huius quem Templi curam habuisse palam est Iste huic multa dabat sacro donaria Fano Inceptique operis sedulus Author erat Pauperibus fuit inde pius pauit miserosque Et me qui temere hec carmina composui Sit Huius ergo anima ..... celum .... vt altum Huc quiades instanti pectore funde preces Prey for the soul of Katerin Semar Walter Coke Roger Pirke and Thomas Semar husband to the seyd Katerin principall founder of the preest which singeth before the Trinity For thees soulys sey a Pater noster and an Aue of cherite Who so hym bethoft ful inwardly and oft How hard t is to flit from bed to the pit From pit vnto peyne which sal neuer end certeyne He wold not do on sin al the world to win Orate .... Hugonis Price Abbatis Monasterij de Conwey Cicestrens ordinis Assauens Dioces qui ab hac vita migrauit ad Christum viii Iulij M. ccccc.xx.viii Conditur hoc tumulo corpus Chynt ecce Iohannis Doctrine speculum plebi qui fulfit in annis Istius Ecclesie regimen contraxerat ipse Atque cacumine Doctorali vixit ille M. C quater anno sexagenoque secundo Martini festo decessit ab orbe molesto Autor Sophie suffragia facta Marie Per te Magdelena sint mihi remedia Vicarius gratus Robertus Wylde vocitatus Hic iacet et mundus prudens fuit atque facundus Pacem seruauit et oues proprias bene pauit Et residens annis bis denis plus quoque trinis Anno milleno sic C quater octuageno Quarto lux dena septena fuit sibi pena Ianuar. .... cuius celo sit amena This Towne was famous in times past saith Clarentieux for a Castle of the Magnauilles which now is almost all vanished out of sight and an Abbey adioyning founded in a place very commodious in the yeare 1136. wherein the Magnauilles founders thereof were buried The principall and first founder hereof was Geffrey Magnauile or Mandeuill the first Earle of Essex with Rohesia or Rose his wife daughter of Aubrey de Vere chiefe Iustice of England who consecrated this their religious Structure to the honour of God the blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Iames the Apostle endowed it with large reuenues and placed therein blacke Monkes to which effect will it please you reade a few words out of his deed of Grant Gaufridus de Mandeuilla comes Essex c. salutem Ad vniuersitatis vesire noticiam volo peruenire me fundasse quoddam monasterium in vsus Monachorum apud Waldenam in honore Dei et sancte Marie et beati Iacobi Apostoti pro salute anime mee et omnium parentum antecessorum successsorum meorum c. To which by the same deed hee giueth the Churches of Walden Waltham Estrene Sabridgworth Thorley and others This house was valued at the suppression to be yearely worth foure hundred sixe pounds fifteene shillings and eleuen pence This place is now called Audley End of Sir Thomas Audley Lord Chancelour of whom I haue spoken before who changed the Abbey into his owne dwelling house whose sole daughter and heire Margaret was second wife to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke and mother of Thomas Lord Howard of Walden Earle of Suffolke lately deceased who liued to finish here a most magnificent building belonging at this present to that worthy gentleman Theophilus his sonne and heire Lord Walden and Earle of Suffolke Geffrey de Mandeuill the founder aforesaid a man both mighty and martiall was shot into the head with an arrow a quodam pedite vilissimo saith Houeden out of the Castle of Burwell in Cambridgeshire of which wound after certaine daies hee died being at that time excommunicated Lying at the point of death ready to giue his last gaspe saith Camden out of the Register booke of Walden there came by chance certaine Knights Templars who laid vpon him the habit of their religious profession signed with a red crosse and afterwards when he was full dead taking him vp with them enclosed him within a coffin of lead and hung him vpon a tree in the Orchard of the old Temple at London in the yeare 1144. for in a reuerend awe of the Church they durst not bury him because he died excommunicated so fearefull in those daies was the sentence of excommunication a violent inuader he was of other mens lands and possessions and therefore iustly incurred saith the same Author the worlds censure and this heauy doome of the Church but I must leaue him where buried or where not buried God knowes As the Church of this monasterie was honoured with the funerall monuments of the Mandeuills so was it with those of the Bohuns Earles of Hereford and Essex of which you may reade in the Catalogues of Nobility It was also honoured with the Sepulture of Humfrey Plantaginet Earle of Buckingham the onely sonne of Thomas Earle of Buckingham and Duke of Glocester commonly called Thomas of Woodstocke the yongest sonne of King Edward the third who after the vntimely death of his father was banished into Ireland by King Richard the second and being recalled backed againe by King Henry the fourth in the first yeare of his raigne in his returne died of the plague in Chester from whence his mother Elianor daughter and coheire of Humfrey de Bohun Earle of Hereford Essex and Northampton caused his body to be conueyed to this Abbey which shee sumptuously here interred amongst his and her noble progenitors his mother the said Elianor liued not long after him but died the third of October in the same yeare as in a French Inscription vpon her monument in Westminster you may reade and scarce two yeares after the murder of her husband at Callis of whose deaths thus writeth that old Poet Sir Iohn Gower Knight in his booke intituled Vox Clamantis Interea transit moriens nec in orbe remansit Humfredus dictus redit ille Deo benedictus Defuncto nato cito post de fine beato Mater transiuit dum nati funera sciuit Primo decessit Cignus dolor vnder repressit Matrem cum pullo sibi mors nec parcit in ullo Liston Hic iacet ..... Liston de Ouerhal .... que ob .... All that I can make of this maimed inscription is that Ioane the wife of William Liston held the Mannor of Ouerhall in this parish by grand Sergeantie namely by the seruice of paying for bringing in and placing of fiue Wafers before the King as he sits
at dinner vpon the day of his coronation and whether this be she here buried or not I know not Richard Lions held the said Mannor after her by the seruice of making Wafers vpon the day of the Kings Coronation and of seruing the King with the same Wafers as he sits at dinner the same day Leez Abbey This Abbey of old time was founded by the Gernons now it is the seate of the Right Honourable and one right worthy of all his due honours Robert Lord Rich Baron Leez and Earle of Warwicke now liuing An. 1631. This Abbey or Priory was valued at the time of the suppression as it is in the catalogue of Religious houses to be yearely worth one hundred forty one pound fourteene shillings eight pence Rickling Humfrey Waldene le premer gist icy Dieu de salme eit mercy Amen Hic iacet Henricus Langley Armig. qui obijt xx Sept. M. cccc.lviii et Margareta vxor cius vna filiarum et heredum Iohannis Waldene Armigeri que obijt v. Martii M. cccc.liii Hic tacet Thomas Langley Ar. qui obijt 1 Mar. M. cccc.lii Here lyth Henry Langley Esquyr and Dame Katherin his wyff whych Henry departyd this lyff 11 April M. cccc lxxx viii and Dame Katherine died ..... the yere of our Lord God M. ..... on whos Vpon this last marble stone are the portraitures in brasse of the three daughters of Henry Langley amongst whom his inheritance was diuided as I haue it by tradition as Waldens was before whose chiefe seate was at Langley Wilbores in this parish Thaxted This Church is spatious beautifull and built Cathedrall-like but neither in this Church in Braintrie nor scarcely in any other Church seated within a Market Towne shall you finde either Monument or Inscription onely some two or three Inscriptions are here remaining Her lyth Rychard Dammary and Alys his wyff and Rychard Dammary his sonn Ione Elizabyth and Ann on whos soulys God hau mercy Which Rychard the yongyrgawe a Meide callyd Abel Meide for a perpetual mynd yerly to be kept for ther soulys and al christen soulys Syr Walter Clerk gist icy Dieu de s'alme eit mercy Orate pro animabus Richardi Large et Alicie vxoris eius qui quidem Richardus obijt 27. Martij 1458. The Inhabitants say that this Richard Large was brother to a certaine Lord Maior of London named Large who at his death bestowed wondrous largely vpon the poore and the repairing of high waies which I take to haue beene Robert Large Maior of London Anno 1440. who gaue 120. l. to poore prisoners and euery yeare for fiue yeare 403. Shirts and Smockes 40. paire of Sheetes and one hundred and fifty Gownes of good Frize to poore people To poore Maids marriages one hundred markes to repairing high waies one hundred markes to fiue hundred poore people in London euery one sixe shillings viii d the rest of his bountifull charitie you may reade in Stow Suruay Little Easton Here is a goodly Tombe of marble on the north side of the Chancell â—nder which saith Brooke in his Catalogue of Nobility William Bourchier Earle of Ewe in Normandy lyeth interred but Vincent whom I rather beleeue in his discouery of Brookes Errors approues this Earle as also his wife Anne the daughter of Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester to be buried in the Abbey of Lanthonie by Gloucester If this monument could speake like others by her inscription it might haply decide the controuersie but all the words vpon it are Fili Dei miserere mei Mater Dei miserere mei Which seemingly commeth by a labell from a man and a woman thereupon pourtraied Of this Earle more when I come to Lanthony Betweene the Chancell and the Bowsers Isle or Chappell is a very costly arched Tombe of polished marble inlaid with brasse the picture of a man and a woman and in diuers places of the foresaid Arch on the womans side is the Fetter lock and Bowsers knot but without inscription By supposition made to the memorie of Henry Bourchier sonne of William Bourchier aforesaid Earle of Essex and Ewe and Isabell his wife daughter of Richard Earle of Cambridge and sister of Richard Duke of Yorke Which Henry died quarto Aprilis 1483. a valiant and worthie Nobleman he was fortunate in Martiall enterprises and in matters of peace so learned wise and politicke that he was thought fit by Edward the fourth to be Lord Chancellour of England In the same Chappell on the North side remaineth a very faire Altar Tombe of marble within the which lyeth the body of Henry Lord Bourchier and Louaine and Earle of Essex Sonne and heire of William Bourchier that died before his father and grandchilde to Henry Earle of Essex next before mentioned ouer his Tombe hangeth as yet part of his achieuements as the cote of his Armes Helme Crest and sword This Earle brake his necke by a fall from his horse the twelfth day of March in the one and thirtieth yeare of the raigne of King Henry the eight 1539. His horse was young saith Stow and he the oldest Earle in England for if you will reckon the yeares from the death of his Grandfather who liued after his sonne the father of this Henry as I haue said before vntill the yeare of this his fatall misfortune you shall finde them to be fifty sixe and what age he was at his Grandfathers death you may imagine In the Hall of the Mannor house of Newton in the Parish of little Dunmowe remaineth in old painting two postures the one for an ancestor of the Bourchiers combatant with another being a Pagan king for the truth of Christ whom the said Englishman ouercame and in memory thereof his descendants haue euer since borne the head of the said Infidell as also vsed the surname of Bourchier or Bowser Here are foure wondrous ancient Monuments of the Louaines all the Inscriptions of them are worne out these few words excepted Sire Thomas Louaine ici gist Margarie la file Moun .... This noble familie of the Lovaines in former ages did here inhabite by the name of Fitz-Gilbert one of which house namely Maurice Fitz-Gilbert was surnamed de Louaine as descended from Godfrey of Louaine brother to Henry the sixth of that name Duke of Brabant Who being sent hither to keepe the honor of Eye his posterity flourished among the Peeres of this Realme to the time of Edward the third when the heire generall was married to the house of Bourchier This Bowsers Chappell for it is so commonly called is now the buriall place for the noble familie of the Maynards In Northburne natus Robertus sum vocitatus De terra factus in terram sumque redactus Intercedendo spiritum tibi Christe comendo Propitietur Deus Benefactoribus omnibus Ecclesie pauperis huius The treble Bell in the steeple of this Church is called the Bowsers
Bell on which is cast a peece of coine of siluer of King Edward the fourth it was giuen by one of the Countesses of Essex as one may partly gather by an old Inscription vpon it is the Bowsers knot Tiltey Here sometime stood a Monastery founded by Maurice Fitz-Gilbert before remembred not long after the Conquest which he dedicated to the honour of the Virgine Mary and therein placed white Monkes of the Cistertian order The donations to this religious house are confirmed in the Records of the Tower Cart. Antiq. lit S. The valuation of it at the suppression was 177. l. 9 s. 4. d. This Monasterie is not altogether ruinous in the little Church whereof I found these Funerall Inscriptions following Bruntingthorpe neare to Leicester hath long beene the habitation of the ancient familie of Dannet saith Master Burton who beareth sable Guttee Argent a Canton Ermine one of which familie lieth here interred with this Epitaph Hic iacet sepultus cum coniuge Maria Gerardus Dannet de Bruntingthorp in Com Lecestr Ar. serenissimi Regis Henrici octaui Consiliarius qui obijt Anno Christi M. ccccc.xx mensis Maij quarto The armes afore blazoned are ouer the Monument of this Councellour to king Henry Abbas famosus bonus viuendo probatus In Thakley natus qui iacet hic tumulatus Thomas dictatus qui Christo sit sociatus Rite gubernauit istumque locum peramauit Great Easton Orate .... Willelmi Moigne Ar .... qui obiit .... M.ccc.v This William Moigne or Monke held this Mannor of Easton ad montem for so it was anciently called with Winterborne and Maston in the Countie of Wilts by seruice of being Clarke of the Kings Kitchin and keeper of his Lardarie tempore Coronationis Hatfield Brad-oke So called saith Camden of a broad spread Oake in which Towne Robert de Vere the third Earle of Oxford and great Chamberlaine of England founded a Priorie for blacke Monkes About the beginning of the raigne of King Henry the third valued at the suppression at 157. l. 3. s. 2. d. ob per annum which Priory Aubrey de Vere the third of that Christian name Earle of Oxford enfeoffed with the Tithes of this Towne and to the instrument of his donation he affixed by a harpe string as a labell to the bottome of the parchment a short blacke hafted knife like vnto an old halfe penny whitle instead of a Seale These are the words in his Grant Per istum cultellum Albericus de Vere tertius feoffauit Prioratum et Conventum de Hatfeeld Regis alas Brodoke cum omnibus decimis in villa predicta Habend c. a festo Assumptionis beate Marie virginis in puram perpetuam Eleemosinam c. Of this old manner of signing and sealing of deeds you may read Lambard in his perambulation of Kent pag. 318. This Robert was first entombed in the Church of his owne foundation and at the dissolution remoued into the Quire of this Parish Church where he lieth crosse-legged with this inscription now almost worne out Sire Robert de Veer le premier count de Oxenford le tierz git ci Dieux del alme si luy plest sace merci Oi pur lame priera xl iors de pardonn anera Pater Noster Sir Robert Vere the first and third Earle of Oxford lieth here God if he please have mercy of his soule whosoeuer shall pray for his soule shall obtaine fourty dayes Pardon He died in the yeare 1221. Hic iacent Thomas Barington Ar. Anna vxor eius qui quidem Thomas obijt v. Aprilis M. cccc lxxij Anna obiit proximo die sequenti Quorum animabus propitietur Altissimus At Barington Hall within this Parish saith that learned delineator of Great Britaine M. Camden dwelleth that right ancient familie of the Baringtons which in the raigne of King Stephen the Barons of Montfitchet inriched with faire possessions since which time this house is much enobled by the marriage of Sir Thomas Barington knight with Winifred the daughter and coheire of Sir Henry Pole knight Lord Montague sonne of Margaret Plantaginet Countesse of Salisbury descended of the bloud royall being the daughter of George Duke of Clarence Great Dunmow Exoretis miserecordiam Dei pro anima Walteri Bigod Armigeri qui obijt 17. die mens Mar. 1397. Simon de Regham iadis Parson de Dunmow gist icy Dieu de son alme eit mercy Amen Of yowr cherite prey for the sowls of Iohn Ienone Esquyr somtym on of the Common Pleas of Westmynstre and Alys his wyff Whych Iohn dyed xvii Septembyr M. Vc.xlii Little Dunmow Iuga the wife of one Baynard a Nobleman that came in with the Conquerour the builder of Baynards Castle in London founded the Priority in this village in the beginning of the raigne of Henry Beauclerke and entreated Mauricius Bishop of London to dedicate the Church to the honour of the virgine Mary to which the same day she gaue halfe a Hide of land Her sonne and heire Geffrey Baynard placed blacke Chanons therein by the consent of Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury This house was valued at the suppression to be yearely worth 173. l. 2. s. 4. d. The Church of this monastery is as yet standing in the Quire whereof betweene two pillars lieth the body of Matilda the faire entombed who was the daughter of Robert Fitz-water the most valiant knight of England About the yeare 1213. saith the booke of Dunmow there arose a great discord betwixt king Iohn and his Barons because of Matilda surnamed the faire daughter of Robert Fitz-water whom the King vnlawfully loued but could not obtaine her nor her fathers consent thereunto Whereupon and for other like causes ensued warre through the whole Realme The king banished the said Fitz-water amongst other and caused his Castle called Baynard and other his houses to be spoiled Which being done he sent a messenger vnto Matilda the faire about his old Suit in Loue Et quia noluit consentire toxicauit eam And because she would not agree to his wicked motion the messenger poisoned a boiled or potched Egge against she was hungrie and gaue it vnto her whereof she died the yeare 1213. In the yeare following after her death her banished father was restored to the kings fauour vpon this occasion It happened in the yeare 1214. king Iohn being then in France with a great armie that a truce was taken betwixt the two Kings of England and France for the terme of fiue yeares and a riuer or arme of the Sea being betwixt either host there was a knight in the English host that cried to them of the other side willing some one of their knights to come and iust a course or two with him Wherupon without stay Robert Fitz-water being on the French part made himselfe ready ferried ouer got on horseback and shewed himself ready to the face of
quingentesimo decimo nono In the hall of the Mannor house of Newton Hall in this Parish remaineth in old painting two postures th' one for an Ancestor of the Bourchiers combatant with another being a pagan king for the truth of Christ whom the said Englishman ouercame and in memory thereof his descendants haue euer since borne the head of the said Infidell as also vsed the surname of Bowser as I had it out of the collections of Augustine Vincent Windsore Herald deceased Boreham The inheritance and honours of this famous and right noble race of the Fitz-waters came at length by mariage into the stocke of the Radcliffes for in the pedegree of Sir Alexander Radcliffe of Ordsall in the county of Lancaster knight of the Bath descended as the Earle of Sussex is from the Radcliffes anciently of Radcliffe in the said County the sonne of that valiant and generally beloued Gentleman Sir Iohn Radcliffe Lieuetenant Colonell slaine fighting against the French in the Isle of Rhee the 29. day of October in the yeare of our Lord one thousand sixe hundred twenty and seuen I finde that Sir Iohn Radcliffe Knight sonne of Sir Iohn Radcliffe knight who married Katherine the daughter and heire of Edward Lord Burnell of Acton Burnell in the county of Salop married Elizabeth the daughter and heire of Walter Lord Fitz-water of Woodham a Baron of great riches as of ancient nobility the father of Iohn who was Father of Robert Radcliffe the first of that sirname Earle of Sussex Viscount Fitz-water Lord Egremont and Burnell who with other two Earles his Sonne and Grandchilde lie here interred vnder a sumptuous monument as appeareth by their seuerall inscriptions and liuely portraitures To the memory of the first Earle for I am tied by my method onely to his at this time these funerall lines following are engrauen Robertus Radcliffe miles Dominus Fitz-water Egremond et Burnel Vicecomes Fitz-water magnus Camerarius Anglie Camerarius Hospitij Regis Henrici octaui ac eidem a consilijs Prelijs in Gallia commissis aliquoties inter primos ductores honoratus in alijs belii pacisque consultationibus non inter postremos habitus aequitatis Institiae constantiae magnum aetatis suae columen obijt xxvii die Nouemb. Anno Dom. M. ccccc.xlii aetat This Earle had three wiues whose portraitures are cut here vpon the Tombe by all of which he had issue By his first wife Elizabeth who was the daughter of Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham hee had Henry after him Earle of Sussex here intombed George Radcliffe and Sir Humfrey Ratcliffe of Elnestow By Margaret his second wife daughter of Thomas Lord Stanley Earle of Darby he had Anne married to Thomas Lord Wharton who lieth here buried by her father and Iane maried to Sir Antony Browne Knight Viscount Mountague By his third wife the daughter of Sir Iohn Arundell of Lanherne in Cornwall Knight he had issue Sir Iohn Radcliffe Knight who died without issue in the yeare 1566. and lieth buried in Saint Olaues Hart-streete London Henry Radcliffe Earle of Sussex sonne of this Robert as aforesaid was one of the priuie Councell to Queene Mary as I finde it in her Grant of liberty made vnto him for the wearing of Coyfes or Cappes in her presence which I coppied out of the Originall amongst the Euidences of Robert late Earle of Sussex deceased expressed in these words following Mary the Queene Mary by the grace of God Quene of Englonde France and Irelonde defendor of the Feythe and in Earthe of the Church of Englonde and Irelonde supreme Hede. To all to whom this present wryting shall come sendeth greting in our Lord euerlasting Know ye that wee do gyue and pardon to our welbeloued and trusty Cosen one of oure priuey Counsell Henry Earle of Sussex Viscount Fitz-water Lord Egremond and Burnell liberty licens and pardon to were his Cappe Coyf or night Cappe or twoo of them at his pleasor as well in oure presens as in the presens of any other person or persons within this our Relme or any other place of our dominion wheresoeuer during his life And these oure lettres shall be his sufficient warrant in this behalfe Yeuen vndre oure Signe Manuell at oure Palaes of Westminstre the second dey of October in the first yere of oure Reigne Her Seale with the Garter about it is fixed to this Grant with a labell of silke and so are the Armes of the Kings of England and E. R. the Seale manuell of Edward the sixt not altered This Henry departed this life at Sir Henry Sidneyes house in Chanon Row at Westminster on wednesday morning the 17. of February betweene fiue and sixe a clocke in the third and fourth yeare of Philip and Mary Anno 1556. as Vincent in his Discouerie of Brookes Errors verifieth by a certificate thereof in the booke of Burials in the Office of Armes Fol. 225. He was buried first by his Father in Saint Laurence Poultney Church in London from whence their remaines were remoued hither as you shall vnderstand by the present sequele That braue-spirited politicke-wise Lord Thomas Earle of Sussex Lord Chamberlaine of the Houshold to Queene Elizabeth of famous memory built or began to build a Chappell in this Church wherein this glorious Tombe is erected as a place of buriall for himselfe and his worthy progeny and commanded by his last Will and Testament as I was told that the honourable remaines of his Father and Grandfather Henry and the foresaid Robert Earles of Sussex should be remoued from the parish Church of Saint Laurence Poultney London where their bodies lay buried to this his Chapbell at Boreham wherein hee desired to be entombed all which was accordingly performed This Tombe was made by one Richard Stephens an outlandish man and finished with all furniture as gilding colouring and the like thereunto belonging the xxviii of May M.D. lxxxxix the whole charge thereof amounting to the summe of cclxxxxii l xii s. viii d. as appeares by the account which I haue seene This Thomas Earle of Sussex saith Camden was a most worthy and honourable personage in whose minde were seated ioyntly both politicke wisedome and martiall prowesse as England and Ireland acknowledged but more of him hereafter These Earles of Sussex of this sirname from Robert the first to Robert the last who died An. Dom. 1629. haue euer beene Knights of the Garter Hic iacet Thomas Coggeshale Ar. filius Thome Coggeshale Armigeri Iohanna vxor eius que quidem Iohanna obijt xvii Iulij M.ccc.xv Thomas obiit ..... Newport Her lyeth Thomas Brown Who 's sowl God pardown ......... M. ccccc.xv Her vndyr this marble ston Lyeth the body of master Ion Heynes Bacheler of Law And somtym Vycar of this Chirch I traw Who passyd out .......... ...... M. cccc Here sometime stood an hospitall in this Towne by whom founded I cannot reade Valued at the fatall destruction of all such houses at 23.
reuenues Richard Cordelion his sonne confirmes the gift and exchange of the Canons made by his father by his Charter to be read in the Tower in these words Richardus Dei gratia c. Inde est quod sicut Pater noster mutationem Canonicorum secularium institutionem Canonicorum regularium fecit in Ecclesia de Waltham eis quasdam non as possessiones et veteres concessit confirmauit Sic nos laudabiliter virorum commutationem in prefata Ecclesia factam nostra autem approbamus Et pro salute predicti Patris nostri et Matris nostre et Fratrum nostrorum et pro salute omnium fidelium constitutionem Canonicorum Regularium in eadem Ecclesia factam donationes possessiones nouas que a Patre nostro eis facte sunt presenti carta nostra confirmamus Dat. c. Henry the third encreased much their reuenues with Faires and Markets a Faire here for seuen dayes and at Epping a Market euery Monday and a Faire for three dayes So by the munificence of these Kings their Successours and Subiects this Abbey at the generall suruey and surrender was valued at Robin Hoods pennieworths to dispend yearely 900. pounds foure shillings and foure pence The Catalogue of religious houses saith 1079. l. 12. s. and a pennie The Church of this Monastery hath escaped the hammers of destruction and with a venerable aspect sheweth vnto vs the magnitude of the rest of this religious Structure Herein Harold made his vowes and prayers for victorie when hee marched against the Norman Conquerour In which battell by the shot of an arrow through the left eye into his braines he was slaine the 14. of October being Saturday 1066. hauing raigned nine moneths and odde dayes whose body by the mediation of his mother Githa and two religious men of this Abbey being obtained of the Conquerour howsoeuer at the first by him denyed affirming that buriall was not fit for him whose ambition had beene the cause of so many funeralls was conueyed with great lamentation by his said mother Githa and a small deiected remainder of the English Nobilitie to this his owne Church and herein solemnly interred vpon whose Monument this Epitaph was engrauen Heu cadis hosle sero Rex a Duce Rege sutaro Par paris gladio milite valido Firmini iusti lux est tibi luce Calixti Pronior hinc superas hinc superatus eras Ergo tibi requiem deposcat vtrumque perennem Sicque precetur eum quod colit omne Deum A fierce foe thee slew thou a King he king in view Both Peeres both Peerelesse both fear'd and both fearlesse That sad day was mixt by Firmin and Calixt Th' one helpt thee to vanquish t'other made thee languish Both now for thee pray and thy Requiem say So let good men all to God for the call Girth and Leofwin his two brethren lost their liues likewise vnder Harolds Banner which was brondet saith Robert of Glocester with sygur of a man fyghtyng biset al about wyth gold and preciosse stons which Baner aftur the Bataile Duc William sent to the Pope in tokne of the victory Whose bodyes were in like manner brought to this Church and here entombed It is said that Girthe not holding it best to hazard the Kindome of England at one cast signified to the King that the successe of warre was doubtfull that victory was rather swayed by fortune then by valour that aduised delay was most important in martiall affaires and if so bee brother said hee you haue plighted your faith to the Duke retire your selfe for no force can serue against a mans owne conscience God will reuenge the violation of an oath you may reserue your selfe to giue them a new encounter which will be more to their terrour As for me if you will commit the charge to me I will performe both the part of a kinde brother and a couragious Leader For being cleare in conscience I shall sell my life or discomfit your enemy with more felicitie But the King not liking his speech answered I will neuer turne my back with dishonour to the Norman neither can I in any sort digest the reproach of a base minde well then be it so said some discontented of the company let him beare the brunt that hath giuen the occasion This Harold is much commended for his courteous affabilitie gentle deportment Iustice and warlike prowesse in nothing blame worthy saue that in the opinion of his owne valour he addicted himselfe wholly to his owne resolutions neglecting the wise deliberations of his best friends and Councellors And that his courage could neuer stoope to be lower then a King For which he is taxed to be an impious man falsely aspiring to the Crowne by vsurpation Of which my old Author with whom I will conclude hath these rimes Harold the falls Erle tho Sent Edward ded ley Hym selue let corone King thulk self dey Falsliche Richard the first king of England for his matchlesse valour surnamed Cordelion or Lions-heart is by some of our old English writers said to haue slaine a Lion and by the pulling out of his heart to haue gained that attribute or denomination the truth is that Hugh Nevill a gentleman of noble linage one of King Richards speciall familiars is recorded to haue slaine a Lion in the holy Land driuing first an arrow into his breast and then running him thorow with his sword whereupon this Hexameter was made Viribus Hugonis vires periere Leonis The strength of Hugh a Lion slue Which atchiuement belike was transferred from the man to the master and the story applied to the by-name of K. Richard This Hugh was high Iustice Gardian or Prothoforester of England He died about the sixt of King Henry the third being full of yeeres corpus eius saith Paris in Ecclesia de Waltam nobili Sarchophago marmoreo et in sculpto traditur sepulturae and his body was buried in this Church of Waltham vnder a noble engrauen marble Sepulchre Iohn Nevill his sonne non ultimus inter Angliae nobiles patris sui pedetentim sequens vestigia and the sonne and heire as well of his vertues as reuenues and offices being accused by one Robert Passelew a man of eminent authoritie vnder King Henry the third of diuers transgressions or omissions in the Forrest Lawes committed by him by his conniuencie or sufferance in this Forrest of Waltham and other the Kings Forrests Parks and Chaces was adiudged to pay a Fine of two thousand markes and ignominiouslie to be cast out of his offices which he tooke so to heart that not long after languishing away with sorrow he breathed out his afflicted spirit in Iuly 1245. at his Mannor of Whelperfield from whence he was conueyed to this Abbey and here honourably entombed by his father I finde in Registro Cartarum Abbatie de Waltam that these two Nevils were great benefactors to
bodyes her befor yow lyn closyd in cley Euery man and woman of yowr cheritie do yow prey That to the blis of heuen sweet Iesu do their soulys bring Vnto the plas celestial befor owr heuenly King Richard deseysed the iiii of August M. ccccc.xxvii and Margerie M. ccccc ... Her vndyr this ston lyes Piers Ion And Elisabyth his wyff lyeth him hard by On whos sowlys Iesu haue mercy Besech yow for cherite Sey a Pater Noster and an Aue. The whych decessyd the on and twentyth of Septembre In the yer of owr Lord God on thowsand four hundred seuenty and thre Her lye Iohn Outred and Ione his wyff Who liuyd long togeddyr withoutyn stryff Iohn left this world and passyd to heuen On thowsand fyue hundryd yere and eleuen This Church is beautified with a sumptuous funerall Monument wherin diuers of the familie of the Cookes lie entombed whose habitation was at Giddy-Hall hereunto adioyning which house was built for the most part by Sir Thomas Cooke Lord Maior of London and knight of the Bath at the Coronation of Elizabeth wife to King Edward the fourth vpon the Frontispice of which these verses were engrauen of later times Aedibus his frontem Proauns Thomas dedit olim Addidit Antoni caetera sera manus 1568. Aedes quisque suas Domini sed maenia pauci Aedisicant leuior cura minora decet Vpmenster This towne of Vpmenster or Vpminster as it is diuersly written lying three miles from Rumpford requireth some large remembrance from mee in respect that it hath enioyed within little more then the space of three hundred yeares diuers eminent families who haue beene Lords of the same or at least of the Mannor of Gains called also the Mannor of Vpmenster lying within the same to which mannor as long tradition hath left to posteritie there is a little Isle or Chappell standing on the north side of the Chancell of the same Church belonging and time out of minde appendant to the Mannor of Gains aforesaid and appropriated to the Lords of the same for their particular place of buriall for themselues and their issue The first familie of whose posteritie I can dilate which I finde to haue beene Lords of the said mannor of Gains alias Vpmenster was that most ancient sirname of Engaine whether thence drawne or no I leaue to others to coniecture and it is warranted by a long tradition that Sir Iohn Engain Knight the sonne of Vitalis Engayn being Lord of the said mannor did build the before mentioned Chappell which since hath receiued its denomination from the blessed Virgin This familie ended in the male line when Sir Thomas Engayne Knight sonne of Iohn Engayne Esquire and grand-childe to the former Sir Iohn left his three daughters his coheirs of whom Iocosa the eldest was wife of Iohn de Goldington Elizabeth the second was married to Sir Lawrence de Pakenham knight Mary the third daughter coheire was wife of Sir William de Barnake knight There is no Tombe or grauestone left of this familie but onely their Coatarmour in the East window of the aforesaid Chappell This Mannor of Gains alias Vpmenster was afterwards seuerally in the possession of Symon de Hauering who I conceiue was but the Feoffe in trust of Sir Iohn the sonne and heire of Iohn Engayne of Alice de Perrers afterwards attainted by Act of Parliament in a. 1. R. 2. and of Henry de la Felde whose further mention leauing the first two in silence serueth onely to this present Narration The said Henry de la Felde did by his Deede indented a. 9. H 4. entaile the said mannour vpon Richard Walter and Iohn his sonnes each after other vpon the default of issue and lastly vpon Iohn Deincourt and Elizabeth his wife the daughter of the said Henry de la Felde in whose right afterwards it should seeme he came to be Lord thereof and there lieth buried together with his wife vnder a faire Tombe placed iust vnder the Arch which diuideth the said north Chappell or Isle from the Chancell of Vpmenster Church Es testis Christe quod non iacet hic lapis iste Corpus vt ornetur sed spiritus vt memoretur And about the tombe though somewhat mutilated is written this Epitaph Sancte deus sancte fortis sancte miserecors saluator miserere Animabus Rogeri Dencourt Armigeri Elizabeth consortis sue quorum corpora sub isto lapide marmoreo tumulantur ac etiam orate Filiarum suarum qui quidem Rogerus obijt vicesimo An. Domini Millesimo cccclv Nec non orate pro animabus omnium defunctorum hic vbique in Christo quiescencium The next owner of this mannor of a new sirname I finde to haue beene Nicholas Wayte of whom or his familie I can say little onely by his sale it came to be the inheritance of Ralph Lathum Esquire a lyneall descendant in the male line from a yonger branch of the ancient familie of Lathom of Lancashire who were Lords of that place in the said Countie as all the receiued descents of that familie warrant from the time of King R. 1. vntill the latter end of E. 3. when Isabel the sole daughter and heire of Sir Thomas Lathom Knight was married to Sir Iohn Stanlye knight from whom the now earle of Darbie is lineally descended and as I conceiue is from the right of this intermarriage Lord of the Mannor of Lathom at this day The Epitaph of this aboue said Ralph Lathom is placed in brasse set into a faire marble stone couering his tombe and is as followeth Here lieth buried Rayff Lathum esquire late Lord of Vpmistre and Elizabeth his wife which Rayffe deceased the xix day of Iuly An. M. ccccc Lvii. whose soule and all christen soules Iesus haue mercy The next familie to whom by the sale of William Lathom sonne and heire of the aforesaid Ralfe Lathom the before mentioned Mannor of Gains did appertaine was the familie of D'Ewes from whom also it was again at last repurchased by Lathom for Adrian D'Ewes being descended of the ancient stem of Des Ewes Dynasts or Lords of the Dition of Kessell in the Dutchie of Gelderland setling and marrying in England not many yeares after the beginning of the raigne of King H. 8. had issue Gerardt D'Ewes his sonne and heire who hauing purchased the said Mannor of Gains as aforesaid was after his death according to the former vsage buried in the said Chappell appendant to the said Mannor as other Lords of the same had beene whose Epitaph because it is replenished with many particulars touching the antiquity and ensignes of this familie I haue beene more exact in the full delineation thereof in the figure following ANTIQVA INSIGNIA FAMI\LIAE DES EWES DYNASTARVM DE KESSEL INSIGNIA GESTA AB EORVM POSTERIS Ad memoriam aeternam Geerardt D'Ewes Filij Primogeniti Adriani D'Ewes ex Illustri perantiqua Familia Des
Ewes Dynastarum ditionis de Kessel in ducatu Gelriae oriundi Aliciae Rauenscroft coniugis suae viri singularis sub hoc marmore tumulati qui obiit die xii Aprilis Anno Domini CIâ—DXCI Vnico relicto sui ipsius Graciae Hind primae suae coniugis Filio haeredae Paulo D'Ewes Armigero qui duxit in vxorem Sissiliam Filiam vnicam Haeredem Richardi Simonds de Coxden in Pago Dorsetensi Armigeri vnicâ filiâ Aliciâ nupta Gulielmo Lathum de Vpmenster in Comitatu Essex Armigero Egregiâ natus Geerardt de stirpe propinquûm Gueldrorum hic foelix ossa regenda tegit Sciliceâ— invidia fatorum ipse ante sepultus Quam vitâ orbatus mors ita sacra quies Stémata namque Deus modo deprimit et modo Ne nobis coeli gaudia terra ferat Fundamenta tamen proli struxisse regaudec ditat PrimaevuÌ„ ut poterint coÌ„memorare DECVS Hinc proavos superans claros virtute ferendi Non fit ONVS sed erit posteritatis HONOS Arkesden Here lieth Anne the daughter and heire of Richard Fox and the wife of Thamas Langley Esquire ..... 1467. Orate pro anima Willi Cook generosi filij Thome Cook militis Elizabethe uxoris ejus qui obijt 1500. et Elizabetha 1503. Pray for the sowls of Thomas Alderton Stockfishmonger of London and Alis his wyff which Alis decessyd on Saint George his Eue 1513. This Inscription following is vpon the North Wall of this Church Thomas Alderton was a goodd benefactor to this Chirch as by his last Wil and Testament remeyning in this Chirch mor pleynly it doth appere He gave certeyne lands towards the sustentatyon of a Chantre Prest to sing at the Awter and to help devyn Servis at the sam on the Holiday He built this Isle from the north dor hitherto on whos sowl Iesu haue mercy Amen Stansted Mont-fichet The habitation in times past of the familie de Monte Fixo commonly Mont-fitchet whereupon the towne had that denomination In the Church lieth buried Roger of Lancaster who married Philip daughter and heire of Hugh de Bulbeck the second saith Norden and lieth crosse legged in an ancient tombe of white stone vpon which no inscription remaineth He was in her right Lord of Stansted the said mannor afterward came vnto Hugo de Playze by marriage of the yongest daughter of Richard Mont-fitchet of whom came Elizabeth Countesse of Oxford who was daughter to Iohn Howard knight by whom the land came to the Earle of Oxford South Church In this Church are some old Monuments of the Bruins which haue beene old inhabitants there and descended saith Norden as hee thinks from Iordan le Brune a knight Lord of Hacwell in Henry the thirds time Here is an old mannor wherein the old knights which surnamed themselues of the towne Chirche inhabited whereof one Sir Richard in Henry the thirds time was one of the kings Iustices for Gaole deliuery He gaue the greatest part of his land to Christs Church in Canterbury mooued thereunto for want of heires males Shopland In Shopland is an ancient mannor called Butlers of a race of knights and gentlemen that dwelt there and gaue three couered Cups as appeareth in the Church window there is one most beautifull Monument in the Church made to the memory of one Staple a Sergeant at Armes to King Ed. the third which gaue in his Shield a Salter mixt with Staples which in colours with other Scutcheons remaine in the North windowes His tombe is thus inscribed Tho. Stapel iadis Seriant d'armes nostre Seigneus le Roi qi morust le secunde iour de Mars l'an de Gras Mil. ccclxxi gist ici Dieu de s'alme eit mercy Amen Canewdon A great parish so called from King Canutus the Dane who kept his Court here unde Canuti domus The Mannor house hath beene double trenched and fensed after the oldest fashion In the same are other Mannors exceeding ancient as that of Clarendon Hall the old seat of the Chanceux many of them were knights as Sir Giles Chanceux in Edward the first his time many of them lie buryed in the Church with their Pictures Scutcheons and French Poesies all defaced Another Mannor called Breamstons or rather Beanstons honoured by knights descended of Bartholomew a yonger sonne to the Earle of Ewe in Normandy it hath beene inhabited by a knight or more of the name of Scot. Another Mannor called Apton Hall and another called Piuersey Hall whereof Sir Iohn Greyton was Lord in Edward the first his time One of the best called Lamberne Hall whereof one Lamberne vnder Swaine was Lord in the Conquest time and so continued till Richard the second at which time his daughter Thamasin carried all to Toteham and from thence to Barington and from thence to Lumsford a Squire of Sussex that being better planted in his natiue Country vseth this for a Farme as I thinke it was in Lambernes time So many Lordships in the parish haue caused so many of their owners to honour this Church with their Sepultures but to whose memory in particular any one of these monuments were erected cannot bee discerned they are all so shamefully abused Great Stanbridge Here was the inheritance and sepulture of a wariike crew of Knights called Tanye or Thanye one of which named Lucas Tanye a knight and an expert warriour at the taking of the Isle of Anglesey and Castle of Oxe in Wales was with Sir William Lindsey William de Audley Roger Clifford and twelue other of the Kings chiefest Captaines and Knights besides seuenteene young Gentlemen and two hundred common souldiers slaine by Dauid Lord of Denbigh brother to Lhewelin Prince of Wales and his band of fierce Welshmen in the tenth yeare of the raigne of King Edward the first This famous knight was Steward of Gascoyn Writle Hic iacet Thomasia filia et heres Tho. Heueningham iunioris Ar. filij heredis Tho. Heueningham senioris Ar. Tomasie consortis sue que quidem Thomasia dicta filia heres primo nupta suit Tho. Berdefield secundo Iohanni Bedel vltimo Waltero Thomas gen et obiit die Martis 21. Iunij 1513 et qui Tho. Heueningham senior Thomasia Consors eius ac Tho. Heueningham iunior iacent partem sub isto lapide partem magis directe coram imagine S. Trinitatis Quorum animabus propitietur Altissimus Here lieth Thomas Fige and Margaret his wife one of the two daughters and heires of Raffe Toppesfeld Esquire He deceased in April 1513. and had issue one sonne and two daughters Here lieth Iohane somtym wyff of William Wyborne daughter and heire of Thomas Hyde Who died .... 1487. Here lieth Iohn Pinchon Esquire who died .... with Ione his wyff daughter to Sir Richard Empson beheaded Of whom I haue spoken before Out of the collections of the right honourable Thomas Lord
Brudnell of Stouton as followeth Margaret daughter of Richard Vere of Addington magna in Com. Northampton Esq. by his wife Isabell sister and heire of Sir Henry Greene of Drayton in the said County which Margaret was sister to Sir Henry Vere whose eldest daughter and coheire Elisabeth was wife of Iohn first Lord Mordant lieth here buried with her husband Iohn Barners Iohn Barners of Writle in Essex Esquire Lord of a place there called Turges or Cassus was gentleman Vsher to Princesse Elizabeth eldest daughter to King Edward the fourth after Sewer to King Edward the fifth as appeareth by his Monument in Writle where he lieth buried Constance daughter of Sir Robert Pakenham of Streetham in Surrey was his second wife she is likewise buried by her husband at Writle ob 1522. Finchingfeeld Iohn Barners of Peches in Finchingfeeld Parish Esq died Ann. Dom. 1500. and there lieth buried by him his first wife Elisabeth daughter of Symon Wiseman .... Debden or Depondon Here lieth buried Nicholas Barners with his wife Margaret one of the daughters and coheires of Iohn Swyndon Esquire who died ... 1441 ..... Of this name thus much as followeth Sir Iames Barners or Berners for it is written both wayes saith Mils was so great in fauour with Richard the second that it cost him his head though he were restord in bloud by Act of Parliament the one and twentieth yeare of the said King Richard was the onely off-spring of so many knights of the Berners of Berners Roding in Essex This Sir Iames Berners had three sonnes Sir Richard Berners of Westhorsley in Surry whose daughter and heire Margerie was married to Iohn Bourchier created Lord Berners From whom Sir Tho. Knyvet of Ashulthorp in Norfolke knight Tho. whose Grandchild Iohn Berners Esquire Sewer to Prince Edward the fifth was great Grandfather of William Berners of Tharfield in Hartfordshire And William of whom are come the Berners of Finchingfield in Essex Great Thorndon Hic .... here 's Iohannis Eton Ar .... que quidem Isabella sedere matrimoniali nupsit Roberto Tyrell Armig. vni filiorum ..... Voluitur in terra magne virtutis alumpna Elisbet que Tyrell generoso sanguine clara ............. vxor veneranda marito ................. amica deo ........ oro vobis dignetur vt miserere Vt gratiamque Dei sic famuletur ei Hic iacet humata Alicia filia Willelmi Cogeshale militis Antiochie consortis sue quondam vxor Iohannis Tyrell militis qui quidem Iohannes Alicia habuerunt inter se exitum filios filias quorum nomina sunt scripta ex viraque parte istius lapidis .... M. cccc xxii Filii 1. Walterus 2. Thomas 3. Willelmus senior 4. Iohannes 5. Willelmus iunior 6. Iohannes Tyrell Clericus Filie 1. Alicia 2. Elizabetha 3. Alionora 4. Another whose name is worne out of the Tombestone Here lyeth Thomas Tyrell sonne and heire of Iohn Tyrell knyht and Dame Anne his wyff doughter to Syr William Marney knyght which Thomas deceysyd the xxii of March in the yeare of ..... In the glasse of the East window .... Tyrell knyth and Dame ...... and for al the soulys schuld be preyd for Prey for the welfar of the seyd Thomas Tyrell knyth of Iohn Tyrell knyth Alyce hys wyffe and for al christen souls .... The wellfar of the seyd dame Anne ... ter of William Marney knyth and .... and .... bet hys wyffe and for all christen souls There be other funerall Monuments in this Church erected to the honour of this familie but their Inscriptions are all torne or worne out and their Sepulchers like all the rest foulie defaced These Tirells me thinks hauing beene gentlemen for so many reuolutions of yeares of exemplarie note and principall regard in this Countrey might haue preserued these houses of rest for their Ancestors from such violation But the Monuments are answerable to the Church both ruinous This Surname hath euer beene as remarkable as ancient since Walter Tirrell the French knight slue his cosin king William Rufus Of whom thus much out of the Norman History Gualter Tirrell a knight of Normandy cosin to William Rufus and the killer of the said William after the vnfortunate death of the said William departed into Normandy where he liued long in the Castle of Chawmont and there deceased The place where he swomme the water vpon the sudden death of his Soueraigne is called Tirrells Foard to this day Willingale Hic iacet Domina Catherina filia Domini Rogeri Beauchamp militis de Com. Bedsord nuper vxor Thome Torell Armig. que obiit vi die Nouemb. Ann. Dom. 1436. et Ann. Regni R. Hen. vi post conquest ...... Stanbridge Edward Mackwilliams Esq. and Henry his Sonne with Anne Spelman wife of the said Henry lye here buried in the Chancell vnder a faire Tombe whereupon this Epitaph following is engrauen or inlaid in brasse Remember all yee that by this toune be to pass And groundly revolue in yowr rememberance Both the world is frayle and britle as glass The end is death of euerye mans chance All worldly peple must lerne to foot his dance As Edward Mackwilliham that lith vndre this stonn Out of this transytorye liff is past and gonn Harry Mackwilliham his sonn lith here also with Ann Mackwilliham his lovyng wiff and dere Thes thre persons togidder and no mo Vndre this Tombe interred they be here Prey for their souls I prey yow with harte inteere A Pater Noster an Ave and a Creede And iii hundryd deyes of pardon yow have for yowr meede This Anne is figured on the Tombe kneeling with the Spelmans Armes of plates all ouer her gowne and so in the great East-window of the Chancell Ashdon In the south Isle of this Church and in the south window thereof there are seene three seuerall Cloptons kneeling in their compleat Armour with their seuerall Escurchions of Armes vpon their breasts being S. a bend Or betweene 2 cotizes dauncitee Or of which three the first is sir William Clopton Knight there mentioned to haue died in the fifth yeare of King Edward the third The second Sir Thomas Clopton Knight mentioned to haue died the second yeare of the raigne of King Richard the second and the third Edmund Clopton the yeare of whose decease is there set downe to haue beene the thirteenth yeare of the said King Richard And it is very likely the said Edmund lieth there buried vnder the Window for Sir William de Clopton of Clopton the father of these three and of other brethren buying the Mannor of Newenham lying for the most part in this parish of Iohn de Lacy the brother and heire of Sir Henry de Lacy Knight in anno 2. E. 3. of which I haue seene the originall deed left to the said Edmund his second sonne by Iuetta the daughter of William de Gray his first wife his said Mannor from whom
it descending to William Clopton his sonne and heire and he dying without issue as did also Sir William Clopton the sonne of the aboue mentioned Sir William The said Mannor of Newenham passed by Conueyance dated at Ashdon 6. die Iunij an 13. Hen. 4. as did most of all the other large possessions of the Cloptons in Suffolke and Cambridgeshire to William Clopton of Melford the sonne and heire of Sir Thomas Clopton Knight who lyeth buried with his wife the daughter and heire of Mylde vnder a faire Tombe in the north Isle of the said Church of Melford called the Cloptons Isle as doth also the said William Clopton his sonne lie buried vnder the same Tombe and Margery his wife the daughter and heire of Elias Francis Esquire in the same Isle whose Epitaph is there found on her Graue-stone as followeth Hic iacet Margeria Clopton nuper vxor Willielmi Clopton Armig. filia et heres Elie Francis Armigeri que obijt ....... Iunij Anno Dom. M. cccciiii euius anime propitietur Deus And on this grauestone is there an Escutcheon of Clopton with an Ermine on the bend empaled with the Armes of Francis being gules a Salteire betweene foure crosses formie Patees Or from which said William and Margerie haue the three seuerall Families of Cloptons of Kentwell Castelins and Liston descended and the first beene much enobled by the marriage of the daughter and heire of Roydon descended likewise from the seuerall heires or coheires of Knyuet Belhous Fitz-warren Basset of Welledon and diuers other ancient families as was that familie of Lyston by the marriage of the daughter and heire of Say whose ancestors had beene long owners of that mannor and held it in Capite as Clopton now doth by the seruice of making Wafers at the Kings Coronation And because these foresaid three Families of Clopton did descend as I haue alreadie noted and were at once branched forth from Sir William Clopton of Lutons in the Countie of Suffolke Knight it shall not be impertinent to set downe his Epitaph as it is now to bee seene on his grauestone in the North Isle of the said Chappell of Melford Church amongst diuers others of his Ancestors being as followeth Orate pro animabus Willielmi Clopton militis et Iohanne Consortis sue Qui quidem Willielmus obijt vicesimo die Febrarij Anno Dom. millesimo quingentesimo tricesimo quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen And on the grauestone aboue this Epitaph is the Cloptons coate before mentioned empaled with Marrow which is Azure a fesse nebulee inter three Maydens heads coupes by the Shoulders Ar the periwiggs Or. Thus much of the Cloptons I had from that studious learned gentleman Sir Simond D'Ewes Knight of which much more when I come to Melford and Tallo-wratting Church in Suffolke Here lyth Nicholas Inglefield Esquyr sometime Controler of the hous to King Rychard the second who dyed the first of April in the yere of Grase M. cccc.xv whos soul Iesu perdon Amen Amen Amen Here end the Monuments in the Countie of Essex Additions or certaine Epitaphs and Inscriptions vpon Tombes and Grauestones within certaine Churches in the Citie of London Collected by my selfe and others not many yeares agoe of which few or none of any Antiquity are remaining in the said Churches at this present day such is the despight not so much of Time as of maleuolent people to all Antiquities especially of this kind In Saint Pauls IN this Cathedrall Church and neere vnto Sir Iohn Beauchamps Tomb commonly called Duke Vmfreys vpon a faire marble stone inlaid all ouer with brasse of all which nothing but the heads of a few brazen nailes are at this day visible and engrauen with the representation and cote-Armes of the party defunct Thus much of a mangled funerall Inscription was of late time perspicuous to be read as followeth Hic iacet Paganus Roet miles Guyenne Rex Armorum Pater Catherine Ducisse Lancastrie ...... This Sir Payne Roet had issue the aforesaid Dutchesse and Anne who was married to Geffrey Chaucer our famous English Poet who by her had issue Sir Thomas Chaucer whose daughter Alice was married to Thomas Montacute Earle of Salisbury by whom she had no issue and after to William de la Pole Duke of Suffolke and by him had Iohn Duke of Suffolke and others The abouesaid Katherine eldest daughter of this King of Armes was first married to Sir Otes Swynford Knight and after to Iohn of Gaunt the great Duke of Lancaster of whose issue by her is obserued to be descended a most royall and illustrious of spring videlicet Eight Kings foure Queenes and fiue Princes of England Sixe Kings and three Queenes of Scotland two Cardinals aboue twenty Dukes and almost as many Dutches of the kingdome of England diuers Dukes of Scotland and most of all the now ancient Nobilitie of both these Kingdomes besides many other potent Princes and eminent nobility of forraigne parts Saint Giles Criplegate Here vnder a large marble stone whereupon no Inscription is at this day remaining neither any Effigies of the deceased left both of which were inlaid and engrauen vpon the monument as I was credibly informed lieth interred the body of Sir Iohn Wriothesley Knight alias Garter principall King at Armes Father of William Wriothesley Yorke Herald who had issue Thomas Wriothesley Knight of the Garter Lord Chancellor of England and the first of that sirname Earle of Southampton His creation was the eighteenth yeare of the raigne of King Ed. 4. as appeares by this his Patent following Pat. 18. Ed. 4. m. 28. part 2. Rex omnnibus ad quos c. Salutem Sciatis quod cum non sit noâ—uÌ„ set iam diu ab antiquis teÌ„poribus vsitatuÌ„ quod inter ceteros Officiales Ministros quos PrincipuÌ„ lateribus pro coruÌ„ magnificencia atque gloria adherere decet eoruÌ„ officij ArmoruÌ„ cura coÌ„mittitur copiaÌ„ habere debeat vt nec teÌ„pus belloruÌ„ quibus neque pacis sine coÌ„uenientibus aptis Ministris debeat preteriri Nos igitur coÌ„siderationis acteÌ„ in laudabilia seruicia que delectus nobis Iohannes Wrythe alias nuper dictus Norrey Rex ArmoruÌ„ parciuÌ„ BorialiuÌ„ Regni nostri Anglie in hijs que ad officium illud spectare intelliguntur exercuit dirigentes eund propterea non minus ob solerciam et sagacitatem quas in eo satis habemus exploratas in principalem Haraldum Officiarium incliti nostri Ordinis Garterij Armorumque Regem Anglicorum ex gracia nostra speciali ereximus fecimus constituimus ordinauimus creauimus et coronauimus ac per presentes erigimus facimus constituimus ordinamus creamus coronamus ac ei officium illud nec non nomen le Garter Stilum titulum libertates preeminencias huiusmodi officio conueniencia et concordancia ac ab antiquo consueta damus et concedimus ac ipsum in eisdem realiter
filiabus suis qui Nicolaus obijt v. die mens Nouembris An. Dom. M. cccc.vii quorum animabus .... Pray for the soul of Roger Hunning Fishmonger somtime porueyor of Seafish to our Soueraigne Lord King Henry the eight and Margaret his wyff the which Roger decessyd the third day of May An. Dom. M. ccccc xli whos soul Iesu pardon Amen Orate pro anima I home Paynard alias dict Thome Aylwood quondam Secretarii cum Radulpho â—uper Domino Cromwell ac nuper Secretarij cum Willelmo Domino Beaumont et postea Secretarii cum Willelmo Domino Hastyngs qui quidem Thomas obijt xxii die Nouembris Anno Dom. M. cccc.lxxiii Raph Lord Cromwell here mentioned was Lord Treasurer of England Anno 1444. William Lord Beaumont was the sonne and heire of Iohn Lord Viscount Beaumont the first Viscount that we certainly know to haue beene in England howsoeuer it is said that Iohn Robsert Captaine of Saint Samers in France sonne of Sir Lewis Robsert knight of the Garter was Viscount Robsert in king Henry the fifts time William Lord Hastings created by king Edward the fourth to whom he was Lord Chamberlaine Hic iacet Ioanna Coppinger vidua quondam vxor Willelmi Coppinger Armigeri postea nupt Richardo Darland gen qui quidem Ioanna obijt xviii die Martij ... Mcccclxxxxii Saint Michaels Pater Noster in the old Royall Hic iacet Thomas Wandesford ciuis et Aldermannus London Idonea vxor eius qui quidem Thomas obijt xiii die Octobris An. Dom. M. ccccxlviii Quorum animabus Gulielmo Bayly militi ciui et Pannario London fide integritate vite insigni qui huius vrbis Preturam tanta ingenij dexteritate tanta animi promptitudine verborum comitate gessit vt omnium Senatorum et populi merito nuncupetur delitie Lites mire perosus Pauperum Patronus delictorum corrector omnibus ordinibus iuxta charus et numerosa sobole beatus fuit Cantariam vt vocant in hoc templo perpetuo stabiliuit ..... Domina Katherina vnica coniux coniugi charissimo et bene merenti et Robertus Leessis Executores fidelissimi posuere 5. Kalend. Nouemb. 1532. He had by his wife Catherin sixteene children as did sometime appeare by their pourtraitures on the Tombe-stone He was the sonne of Iohn Bayly of Thacksted in Essex Glanvile sub glebe tegit hic lapis ossa Iohannis Obsequio Regis subijt se plurimis annis Sci ..... quos viuens ... moriens suos ad vos .............. Spiritus aspiret ferte iunamen ei Prey of yowr cherete for the souls of Agnes Cheyney wydow late wyff vnto William Cheyney somtym Esquyr for the Body vnto kyng Harry the seuenth Whyche Agnes dyed the fyfteenth day of Iuly in the yere of our Lord God on thowsand four hundryd eyghty and seuen And for the souls of William Cheyney Robart Molyneux and Robert Sheryngton her husbands and all Cristen souls Hic iacet Iohannes Rayning generosus qui obijt 22. die Iunij Ann. Domini 1469. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Of yowr charite pray for the soul of William Porter late Clarke of the Crowne and Elisabeth his wife the which departyd the 4 of March 1521. on whose souls .... Clarke of the Crowne is a Clarke or Officer in the Kings Bench whose function is to frame reade and record all Indictments against Traitors Felons and other offenders there arraigned vpon any publike crime He is otherwise called Clarke of the Crowne office And Ann. 2. Hen. 4. cap. 10. he is called Clarke of the Crowne of the Kings Bench. The reason of his denomination is because he reads and records Indictments against Traitors Felons c. which are against the Kings Crowne and dignitie Saint Nicholas Olaue Here lyeth the body of William Fyloll sonn and heyr apparaunt to William Fyloll of Woodlond in the county of Dorset knyght and to Dame Dorothy hys wyff dawter and heyr to Iohn Ifeyld of Stondon in the Shyre of Hertford Esquyr Whych William the sonn dyed in the lyff of his fadeâ— wythowt yssue the iiii day of Septembyr in the yere of owr redemption M. cccccix and in the yere of his age the syxteenth Who 's soul God pardon Amen Orate pro animabus Iohannis Westcliff Ioanne vxoris sue qui quidem Iohannes quondam fuit Maior ville Sandwici obijt 19. Decemb. 1473. quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Ici gist William Newport iadis Citizen pessamere de Londre Massie sa femme leur enfens de ens engendre Dieu de lour alues eit pitye Amen Amen This Newport was one of the Sheriffes of London in the yeare 1375. Hic iacet Willelmus Read Ciuis Piscenarius London qui obiit .... Margeria vxor eius que obiit sexto die Iunij Anno Domini Millesimo quadringentesimo quadragesimo septimo Vpon the same marble stone as followeth Who that passyth by this way Qui pro alijs orat pro se laborat For mercy of God behold and pray Qui pro alijs orat pro se laborat For all souls cristen and for vs Qui pro alijs orat pro se laborat On Pater Noster and an Ave. Qui pro alijs orat pro se laborat To the blessyd Saynts and owr blessyd Lady Qui pro alijs orat pro se laborat Saynt Mary to pray for vs. Qui pro alijs orat pro se laborat Many Monuments of the Dead in Churches in and about this Citie of London as also in some places of the countrey are couered with seates or pewes made high and easie for the Parishioners to sit or sleepe in a fashion of no long continuance and worthy of reformation Of the Diocesse of London the Battels therein fought and of the Burialls of the Dead slaine in those terrible conflicts NOw as I haue before spoken somewhat of the Bishoprickes of Cant. and Rochester so let me here speake a little of this Diocesse of London which extendeth so farre in circuit as the Site of the East or Middle Saxons kingdome anciently comprised which was bounded on the East with the Ocean on the South with the Thames on the West with the Colne and on the North with the Riuer Stowre within the limits whereof Midlesex Essex and a part of Hertfordshire are contained The glory of which Diocesse is principally Midlesex in regard of the far-famed City of London the Metropolis of England of which I haue spoken before and the chiefe seat of her sacred Bishops as also in regard of the Riuer of Thames the king of all our Riuers Of whom and of the rare prospects he views in his passage betweene Windsore and London Bridge a late Poet thus versifies But now this mighty Flood vpon his voiage prest That found how with his strength his beauties still increast From where braue Windsore stood on tiptoe to behold The faire
so A. The Countes of Hereford and Mauld hight she Whiche whan deth the knotte had vndoo Of temporal spousaile bitwixt hem twoo With diuers parcels encresâ—d our fundatioun Liche as our Monumentys make declaratioun Q. Of the furst Gilbert who was the wyff A. Dame Mauld a Ladye ful honourable Borne of the Ulsters as she with ryff Hir aarmes of glas in the Est gable And for to God thei wolde ben acceptable Her Lord and she with an holy entent Made vp our Chirche fro the fundament Now to Dame Iohan turne we ageyn Latter Gilbertis wyff as to forne seyd is Which lyeth here Q. was she baryn A. Nay sir. Q. Sey me what fruite was this A. A brawnshe of right grete ioye I wis Q. Man or woman A. A Lady bright Q. What was hir name A. Elisabeth she hight Q. Who was her husband A. Sir Iohn of Burgh Eire of the Ulstris so conioyned be Ulstris armes and Gloucestris thurgh and thurgh As shewith our wyndowes in housis thre Dortour chapiter hous and Fraitour which she Made oute the ground both plauncher and wal Q. And who the rofe A. she alone did al. Q. Had she ony Issue A. Yea sir sikerly Q. What A. a doughtur Q. what name had she A. Liche hir modir Elisabeth sothely Q. Who euir the husbonde of hir might be A. King Edwards Son the third was he Sir Lionel which buried is hir by As for such a Prince too sympilly Q. Left he onye frute this Prince mighty A. Sir yea a doughtur and Philip she hight Whom Sir Edmond Mortimer wedded truly First Erle of the Marche a manly knight Who 's Son sir Roger by title of right Lefte heire anothir Edmonde ageyn Edmonde lefte noone but deid bareyn Right thus did cese of the Marchis blode The heire male Q Whider passid the right Of the Marchis Londis and in whome it stode I wold fayne lerne if that I might A. Sir Roger myddil Erle that noble Knight Tweyn doughtris lefte of his blode roial That ones issue deide that othris hath al. Q. What hight that Lady whose issue had grase This Lordeschip to atteyne A. Dame Anne I wys To the Erle of Cambrigge and she wyff was Which both be dede God graunte hem blys But hir Son Richard which yet liueth ys Duke of Yorke by discent of his fadir And hath Marchis londis by right of his modir Q. Is he sole or maried this Prynce mighty A. Sole God forbede it were grete pite Q. Who hath he wedded A. A gracious Lady Q. What is hir name I the prey telle me A. Dame Cecile Sir Q. Who 's doughter was she A. Of the Erle of UUestmrelonde I trowe the yengest And yet grase her fortuned to be the hyest Q. Is ther ony frute betwix hem twoo A. Yea sir thonks be God ful glorious Q. Male or female A. Sir bothe too Q. The nombir of this progeny gracious And the names to know I am desyrous The ordre eke of byrth telle yf thou kan And I wil euir be euen thyn owen man A. Sir aftir the tyme of long bareynes God first sent Anne which signyfyeth grase In token that al her hertis heuynes He as for bareynes wold from hem chase Harry Edward and Edmond ech in his plase Succedid and aftir tweyn doughtris cam Elisabeth and Margarete and afterwards William Iohn aftir UUilliam nexte borne was UUhiche be passid to goddis grase George was nexte and aftir Thomas Borne was which sone aftir did pase By the path of deth to the heuenly plase Richard liueth yit but the laste of all Was Ursula to hym whom God liste calle To the Duke of Excestre Anne maried is In hir tendre youthe but my Lord Herry God chosen hath to enherite heuen blis And lefte Edward to succede temporally Now Erle of Marche Edmond of Rutlond sotheley Conute by th fortunabil to right hygh mariage The othir foure stond yit in their pupillage Longe mote he liuen to goddis pleasaunce This hygh and myghty Prynce in prosperite With vertue and vyctory god him auaunce Of al hys enemyes and graunte that he And the noble Princes his wyff may see Hir childres children or thei hens wende And aftir this outelary the ioye that neuer shal ende Amen The body of Ioan of Acres was here entombed as you haue already read She was the second daughter of king Edward the first and Queene Eleanor borne in the first yeare of her fathers raigne at a City in the Holy Land sometime named Ptolomais commonly called Acon Aker or Acres where her mother remained during the warres that her father had with the Saracens She was married at eighteene yeares of age and outliuing her first husband nominated in the Roll she degenerated so farre in the election of another as that she made choise of one Raph de Monte-hermer sometimes her husbands and her seruant She died here at her Mannour of Clare the tenth of May in the yeare 1305. Here likewise in the Austine Friars by his mother was interred the body of Edward Mont-hermer eldest sonne of the foresaid Raph Mount-hermer who hauing obtained the kings fauour had the title of Earle of Glocester and Hertford and Ioan of Acres Hee died without issue the time vncertaine Lionell or Leonell Duke of Clarence and Earle of Vlster in Ireland was buried in the Chancell of this Priorie Church together with his first wife Elisabeth daughter and heire of William de Burgh Earle of Vlster aforesaid as appeareth in the parchment Roll. She departed this world in the yeare 1363. And hee about fiue yeares afterwards as I shall hereafter shew This Lionell surnamed of Antwerpe the place of his birth was the third sonne of king Edward the third In all the world was then no Prince hym like Of hie stature and of all semelinesse Aboue all men within his hole kyngrike By the shulders he might be seene doutlesse As a mayde in halle of gentilnesse And in all places sonne to Retorike And in the feld a Lyon marmorike Not long after the death of his wife Elisabeth hee was remarried vnto Violenta the sister of Iohn Galeas Duke of Milain with whom hee was to receiue a wondrous great Dowrie and in that regard he made a iourney to Millain attended with a chosen companie of the English Nobilitie where in most royall manner he espoused the said Lady Of which his iourney and marriage may it please you reade these following measures The kyng his soonne sir Leonell create Duke of Clarence and to Melayn him sent With chiualrie of fame well ordinate And squyers fresh galaunt and sufficient With officers and yomen as appent This Duke royall of Clarence excellent At Melayne wedded was then in royall wise With that lady faire and beneuolent Full royally as to such a Prince should suffice And all the rule he had by councell wise Fro mount Godard vnto the citee of Florence And well beloued was
for ioy of his departure out of this life with merry hearts doe leape and celebrate a solemne feast at Easter At whose death the flouds ceased and the distemperature of the aire had an end and in one word the common sort truely and heartily praise the onely sonne of God Well when this Iustice now dead was once fast folded within a sheet and Coffin of lead the foresaid Countesse with his treasure not worthy to be bestowed among such holy reliques in horrible griefe of heart conueied him ouer into England there to be enterred Orate pro ... Roberti Lambe Alicie Lambe ...... ..... Lambe ...... These Lambes haue beene speciall benefactors to this Church being sometimes men of faire possessions in this parish as I was told their names with the pictures of Lambes are depensild in many places of the woodworke and feeling of the Church Hic iacent Symon Brooke et Emota Margareta et Alicia vxores eius qui quidem Symon obijt 12. octob 1488. An ancient Familie these Brookes were in this parish now extinct as I haue it by relation Orate pro bono statu Christopheri Willoughby Armigeri Margerie vxoris eius this is in a glasse window of the Church Campsey or Camesey This was a Nunnery not farre from Vfford founded by one Theobald and consecrated to the honour of the Virgin Mary which was valued at the suppression to be yearely worth in Lands one hundred eighty and two pounds nine shillings fiue pence These Nunnes were of the order of S. Clare and called Minoresses Maud who was first married to William Lord Burgh Earle of Vlster and after to Raph de Vfford chiefe Iustice of Ireland repenting her selfe belike of her own and her last husbands delinquences committed in Ireland of which I haue spoken before obtained licence of King Edward the third by the procuration of her brother Henry Earle of Lancaster to found a Chantrie in this monastery of fiue Chaplaines secular Priests to pray and sing Masse for the soules of the said William de Burgh and Raph de Vfford whose body was here interred such is the Charter of the Foundation Edwardus c. Sciatis quod 16 die Octobris Anno regni nostri 21. ad requisitionem dilecti consanguinei et fidelis nostri Hen. Com. Lancastrie nec non Matildis comitisse Vltonie consanguinee sororis eiusdem comitis c. dederimus et consesserimus prefate comitisse quod ipsa quondam cantariam quinque capellanorum quorum vnum custodem eiusdem cantarie duxerit nominand in capella virginis gloriose infra Ecclesiam Monasterij siue prioratus monialium de campese diuina celebrar ad laudem Dei dicte virginis matris eius pro salute que Willelmi de Burgh quondam comitis Vltonie primi ac Radulphi de Vfford secundi et virorum suorum Cuius quidem Radulphi corpus in eadem capella quiescit humatum c. Test. meipso apud West c. Letheringham In the parish Church and in the Church of the little Priory adioyning are diuers Tombes and grauestones to the memory of that noble and ancient Family of the Wingfields all of which are fouly defaced This Priory was founded by sir Iohn Boynet of the dedication order or time I am altogether ignorant it was valued at twenty sixe pounds eighteene shillings fiue pence of yearely commings in The Wingfelds here buried were these Sir Robert Wingfeld Lord of Letheringham Sir Robert Wingfeld and Elizabeth Gousall his wife Sir Iohn Wingfeld and Elisabeth his wife Sir Thomas Wingfeld Sir Robert Wingfeld and Elisabeth Russell his wife obijt Robertus 1409. Thomas Wingfeld and Margaret his wife Richard Wingfeld Anne and Mary Inscriptions vpon the monuments of the Wingfelds partly remaining are these which follow Hic iacet tumulatus Dominus Willelmus Wingfeld Miles Dominus istius ville patronus istius Ecclesie qui ob primo die Iulij 1398. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Hic iacet Willelmus VVingfeld Armig. et Katherina vxor eius .... Dominus et patronus Quorum ... Hic iacet Dominus Robertus VVingfeld miles et Elisabetha vxor eius qui quidem Robertus obijt 3. die Maij 1409. Quorum animabus .... Amen Hic iacet Dominus ...... Wingfild miles quondam Dominus de Letheringham Here is also an ancient faire Tombe very fouly defaced whereupon this fragment of an Inscription following is onely remaining ..... Elizabethe Arundel Ducisse Norfol. Iohannis Paulet militis qui quidem Iohannes obijt x Maij M. cccclxxxi ...... ac Domina Elizabetha Wingfeld vxor predicti Iohannis filia ..... Sir Antony Wingfield of Letheringham Knight sonne and heire of Sir Iohn liued in the raignes of King Henry the eight and Edward the sixth in the 31. of Hen. the 8. he was Captaine of the Guard He was Controller of Edward the sixth his House and of the priuie Councell to King Henry the eight and Edward the sixth and Knight of the Garter Hee died ..... he married Elisabeth daughter and coheire of Sir George Veere Knight and of Margaret his wife the daughter of Sir William Stafford Hee was Vice-chamberlaine to King Henry the eight and together with the Earles of Arundell and Essex and others appointed to be ayding and assisting with his aduise and counsell the Executours of the said Kings last Will and Testament A copie whereof I haue in my custody By which his will he giues to the said Sir Antony two hundred pounds In the Priorie Church here at Letheringham diuers of the ancient familie of the Nantons lie buried Of whom out of their pedegree I haue these notes following Master William Smart affirmeth that he hath seene â—n ancient Euidence dated before the Conquest of England wherein the Nantons are named who saith they were written by the name of Nawnton Roger Awston reporteth that Nawnton came in with the Conquerour and that he hath seene Records of the same who for seruice done had then giuen him in marriage a great inheritrix It is reported that Nawntons lands were at that time 700. markes per annum These Nauntons are Patrons of the Church of Alderton in this County as appeares by this Epitaph there Here lieth Henry Naunton Esquire late Patron of this Church and Tristram Naunton both sonnes of William Naunton Esquire and of Elisabeth his wife and Elisabeth wife to the said Henry daughter of Euerard Asheby Esquire and Elisabeth daughter to the said Henry Naunton and Elisabeth Asheby Patruus ignotus Genetrix vix nota sororque Occumbunt sequeris tu mihi sancte Pater Chara Domus terras fugitis neque sic me fugitis Vos sequar in caelos ..... Patri Patruo Matri Sororulae charissimis Posui fleuique Robertus Naunton 1600. Now Sir Robert Naunton knight one of his Maiesties most Honourable priuie Councell and master of the Court of Wardes and Liueries Of which
Office will it please reade thus much out of the Interpreter as followeth Master of the Court of Wards and Liueries saith he is the chiefe and principall Officer of the Court of Wards and Liueries named and assigned by the King to whose custody the Seale of Court is committed He at the entring vpon his Office taketh an Oath before the Lord Chancellour of England well and truly to serue the king in his Office to minister equall Iustice to rich and to poore to the best of his cunning wit and power diligently to procure all things which may honestly and iustly be to the kings aduantage and profit and to the augmentation of the right and prerogatiue of the Crowne truly to vse the Kings Seale appointed to his office to endeuour to the vttermost of his power to see the King iustly answered of all such profits rents reuenues and issues as shall yearely rise grow or be due to the King in his office from time to time to deliuer with speed such as haue to doe before him not to take or receiue of any person any gift or reward in any case or matter depending before him or wherein the King shall be partie whereby any preiudice losse hinderance or disherison shall be or grow to the King Ann. 33. Hen. 8. cap. 33. Buers Hic iacet Andreas de Buers Robertus de Buers filius eiusdem Andree militis qui Andreas obijt 12. die Aprilis Anno Dom. 1360. et dictus Robertus obijt 7. die mens Octob. Ann. Dom. 1361. quorum animabus Hic iacet Richardus Waldegraue miles qui obijt 2. die Maij Anno Dom. 1400. Ioanna vxor eius que obijt 10. Iunij 1406. Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Qui pro alijs oras pro se laborat Hic iacet Richardus Waldegraue miles qui obijt 2. Maij An. Dom. 1434. Iohanna vxor eius filia Thome de Montecamisij militis que obijt in festo Sancti Dionisij Anno Dom. 1450. Quorum animabus Amen Hic iacet Thomas Waldergraue miles Elisabetha vxor eius prima filia vna beredum Iohannis Fraye militis nuper capitalis Baronis Scaccarij qui quidem Thomas obijt 28. die 1500. Of your cherite prey for the souls of Edward Waldergraue and Mabell his wyff doughter and heyre of Iohn Cheney of Pynehoo in Deuonshyre and one of the heyres of Iohn Hill of Spaxton in the County of Somerset The which Edward decessyd the yere of our Lord God 1506. and the said Mabell ..... on whose souls Iesu haue mercy Amen Orate pro animabus Willelmi Waldegraue militis Margerie consortis sue qui quidem Willelmus obijt ... This Church of Buers is very neatly kept Out of the pedegree of the Waldegraues this story following was collected by Iohn Rauen Richmond Herald On a time a Gentleman of Northampton being at the signe of the Growne in Sudbury and hauing conference with master Edward Waldgraue of Bilston in Com. Suss. Esquire did make vnto him a very credible report of one Waldegraue in Northamptonshire affirming that he heard it reported of old time that these Waldgraues were of a very ancient antiquitie before William the Conquerours raigne and that his name should be Iohn who hauing one onely daughter and meeting with one Waldgraue which came out of Germany and was employed in the Conquerors seruices the said Germane Waldgraue related with Waldgraue of Northamptonshire concerning the marriage of his said daughter told him that if he would giue his consent that he might haue his daughter in marriage that then he would procure him a pardon from the Conquerour for the quiet enioying of his lands and liuings By which meanes he obtained the Conquerours grant with his owne hand and Seale for confirmation of all his lands vnto him and his posterity The which Pardon and grant remayneth to be seene at this day 1612. in the French tongue and is in the possession of the Lords of that Mannour Iohn Rauen Richmond Herald Thebarton Hic iacet Willelmus Iermey miles vnus Iusticiar Domini Regis de Banco suo et Elisabeth vxor eius qui quidem Willelmus obijt xxiij die Decembris Anno Domini M. cccclxxxiij Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Wingfield Here sometimes stood a Colledge or Chantrie by whom founded I haue not yet found out But the de la Poles Earles of Suffolke were the Patrons of it Valued it was at the dissolution to amount to fifty pounds three shillings fiue pence halfe penny of yearely reuenues Surrendred 36 H. 8. In this Colledge was buried the body of William de la Pole Lord Wingfield Earle Marquesse and Duke of Suffolke as also Earle of Penbroke After all these honours giuen him he was banished England for fiue yeares for being too familiar with Queene Margaret priuy and consenting to the yeelding and losse of Aniou and Mayne as also to appease the murmuring of the people for the murthering of the Duke of Glocester and as he was â—aking of ship to passe for France he was surprised and taken on the sea by a ship of warre called the Nicholas belonging to the Duke of Exceter then Constable of the Tower of London and there presently beheaded and his body cast into the sea which was after found and taken vp againe at Douer brought to this Colledge and here honourably interred saith Hall as also the Catalogue of Honour by Brooke This happened in the yeare 1450. Iohn de la Pole sonne and heire of William aforesaid after the death of his Father Duke of Suffolke was likewise buried here at Wingfield Of which he was Lord and owner He died in the yeare 1491. In the Parish Church are these Inscriptions or Epitaphs Hic iacet Richardus de la Pole filius Domini Michaelis de la Pole nuper Comitus Suff. qui obijt 18. die Decembris Ann. Dom. 1403. Cuius anime propritietur Deus Hic iacet Magister Iohannes de la Pole silius Domini Michaelis de la Pole quondam Comitis Suffolcie Baccalaureus vtriusque iuris Canonicus in Ecclesia Cathedrali Ebor. ac in Ecclesia Collegiata de Beuerley qui ob 4. die mens Februarij Anno Dom. 1415. Hen. 54. These two were the sonne of Michaell de la Pole the first Earle of Suffolke of that surname Hic iacet Dominus Wingfild de Letheringham ....... Cuius anime This towne of Wingfield hath giuen name to a familie in this tract that is spread into a number of branches and is besides for knighthood and ancient gentilitie renowned and thereof it was the principall seat Donnington Hic iacet tumulatus Dominus Willelmus Wingfeld miles Dominus istius ville ac patronus istius Ecclesie qui obijt 1 Iunij Ann. Dom. 1398. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Hic iacet Willelmus Wingfeld Armiger Katherina vxor eius Dominus et Patronus istius
cccc.xlii et Katherina vxor eius que ... Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen This Towne was beautified by King Henry the first with a colledge of blacke Canons who granted the same as a cell to the Canons of Saint Osiths in Essex Her reuenues were augmented by Richard Beauveys Bishop of London who is reckoned as a cofounder with the said King the value of it was 48 pounds 8 shillings 9. pence Mettingham Sir Iohn sirnamed de Norwich Lord of this place built here a foure square Castle and a Colledge or Chantrie within it which he dedicated to the honour of God and the blessed Virgin Mary which was valued at the suppression to bee yearely worth in lands two hundred two pounds seuen shillings fiue pence halfe penny which was surrendred the 8 of Aprill 33 Hen. the eight Brusyerd A Monastery of Nunnes dedicated to the blessed Virgin by whom â—ounded or in whose time I haue not learned valued it was at 56 pound two shillings and a penny per annum and surrendred the 17. of February in the thirtith yeare of King Henry the eight VVangford Here sometimes stood a Priory or a Cell of blacke Monkes Cluniakes dedicated to the honour of the Virgin Mary founded by one Ansered of France valued at the suppression to be worth thirty pounds nine shillings fiue pence by yeare and surrendred the sixteenth of February 32 Hen. 8. Bungey Here was a Nunnery founded by Roger Glanuil and Gundreda his wife or as others say by the Ancestors of Thomas de Brotherton Earle of Norfolke valued at the downefall of religious houses at sixtie two pounds two shillings and a penny and of it I know no further Sotterley Towards the vppermost end of the Chancell of this Church lieth a large Grauestone with two full proportioned pictures in brasse and this Inscription at the feete of them Orate pro animabus Thome Playsers Armigeri nuper huius Ecclesie Patroni et Anne vxoris eius et sororis et heredis Rogeri Henays nuper de Tadington Armigeri qui quidem Thomas obijt xxi die mensis Septembris anno M. cccc.lxxix et predicta Anna obijt x. die mensis Octobris ex tunc prox sequent Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen In the same Chancell is a Tombe of free stone couered with a faire marble with this following Inscription in brasse about it Here lyeth buried the body of VVilliam Playfers Esquire sonne and heire to Thomas and Anne his wife who married Iane daughter of sir of Knots Hall Knight by whom hee had issue diuers children and dyed the xi day of Nouember anno M.D.xii Adioyning to this is another Tombe with the Effigies of a man cut in brasse and this Inscription at his feete Here vnder lyeth buried the body of Christopher Playfers Esquire true Patron of this Church sonne and heire to VVilliam and Iane his wife who had two wiues videlicet Dorothy one of the daughters and heires of VVilliam Aselak of Carrow in the County of Norfolke Esquire by whom he had issue Thomas and by Anne daughter to VVilliam Read of Becles Esquire he had issue seuen sonnes and foure daughters and he dyed in the yeare of our Lord God M.D.xlvii Here likewise lye buried the bodies of Thomas Playfers Esquire and of VVilliam Playfers Esquire Patrons of this Church but they dyed but of late yeares Thomas died the 19 of September 1572. and VVilliam the first day of Iune 1584. Orate pro anima Roberti Bumpsted generosi qui obijt xv die mensis Aprilis anno Domini M. cccc.lxxxii Eay or Eye Where was a Monastery of blacke Monkes consecrated to Saint Peter and founded by Robert Malet a Norman Baron Lord of the Iland of Eye so called because it is watered on euery side with brookes where are to bee seene the rubbish ruines and decaied walles of an old Castle that belonged to the said Robert Malet whose donations which were many and great were confirmed by King Stephens Charter of which thus much as followeth out of Selden in his History of Tithes cap. 11. which hee had from the originall Quoniam diuina miserecordia prouidente cognonimus esse dispositum et longè lateque predicante Ecclesia sonat omnium auribus diuulgatum Quod Eleemosynarum largitione possunt absolui vincula peccatorum et adquiri celestium premia gaudiorum Ego ✚ Stephanus Dei gratia Anglorum Rex partem habere volens cum illis qui felici commercio celestia pro terrenis commutant Dei amore compunctus et pro salute anime mee ✚ et patris mei matrisque mee et omnium parentum meorum ✚ et antecessorum meorum Regum ✚ VVillielmi scilicet Regis Aui mei ✚ et VVillielmi Regis Avunculi mei ✚ et Henrici Regis Auunculi mei ✚ et Roberti Malet et concilio Baronum meorum Concedo Deo et Ecclesie Sancti Petri de Eia et Monachis ibidem in Dei seruitio congregatis vt habeant omnes res suas quetas et liberas ah omni exactione et teneant eas in terris in Decimis in Ecclesiis in omnibus possessionibus sicut vnquam melius honorabilius tenuerunt tempore Roberti Malet et tempore meo antequam Rex essem cum Soca et Soca et Tol et Tiem et Infanganathief â— precipio etiam vt teneant de quocunque tenehant et non mittantur in placitum sicut tenebant die quam Henricus Rex fuit viuus et mortuus et die qua ad Regni coronam perveni c. Dat. Anno ab Incarnatione Domini M.C.xxxvii apud Eia secundo Anno Regni mei in tempore Ebrardi Episcopi Norwicensis et Gausleni Prioris Eie Quicunque aliquid de his que in hac carta continentur auferre aut minuere aut disturbare scienter voluerit autoritate Domini Omnipotentis patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti et Sanctorum Apostolorum et omnium Sanctorum sit excomunicatus Anathematizatus et a consortio Domini et liminibus Sancte Ecclesie sequestratus donec resipiscat et Regie potestati xxx libras auri persoluat Fiat Fiat Fiat Amen Amen Amen This Foundation in Lands Tithes and Churches was rated to bee yearely worth one hundred fourescore and foure pounds nine shillings seuen pence halfe pennie qua Ockley or Okeley At the East end of the Chancell lyeth a Grauestone with this Inscription Orate pro animabus Willelmi Cornwalleis et Elisabethe vxoris sue qui quidem Willelmus obiit anno Domini M.D.xx. Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Hic iacet Robertus Bucton Armiger Dominus Patronus istius ville qui obiit xvii die mensis Decembris anno Domini M. ccccviii cuius anime propitietur Deus In the heart of the Chancell lieth a Tombestone with this Inscription Orate pro anima Domini Iohannis Dennis quondam Rectoris istius Ecclesie qui
regard of their former seruices done to his Father Swenus King of Denmarke Snape A Priory of blacke Monkes and a Cell to Colchester founded in the yeare 1099. the twelfth of William Rufus by William Martill and Albreda his wife and Geffrey Martill their sonne and heire dedicated to the Virgin Mary and valued in the Kings bookes to be yearely worth ninety nine pounds one shilling eleuen pence halfe penny Hoxon In times past called Hegilsdon and much ennobled by reason of the Martyrdome in this place of Edmund King of the East Angles enshrined sometimes in the Abbey of Bury as I haue spoken before honoured by his name to whose holinesse a Monasterie was erected in this place Wykes This was a Monastery of Nuns dedicated to the Virgin Mary founded by King Henry the third or at least wise by him confirmed as it is in the Records in the Tower valued at fourescore and twelue pounds twelue shillings three pence halfe penny of yearely commings in Neyland The manufacture of Clothing in this County hath bin much greater and those of that trade farre richer I perswade my selfe heretofore then in these times or else the heires and executors of the deceased were more carefull that the Testators dead corps should bee interred in more decent manner then they are now a daies otherwise I should not finde so many marbles richly inlaid with brasse to the memory of Clothiers in foregoing ages and not one in these latter seasons All the monuments in this Church which beare any face of comelinesse or antiquity are erected to the memorie of Clothiers and such as belong to the mystery Hic iacet Iohannes Ewel quondam Fuller istius ville et Agnes vxor eius qui quidem Iohannes obijt vi Octobris anno Dom. M. cccc.xxxvi litera Dominicalis G. Orate .... Georgij Hamund Textoris de Barby qui obiit anno Domini M.D.xxx I beseche you as to say oon Pater Noster and an Aue for the soul of Dame Thomasin Hamund .... worker .... M.D.xlviii One Abell a Cloth worker built the Porche of this Church which is a very faire one in the wall whereof he hath a funerall monument and to signifie his name as also to make vp his cote Armour is the letter A. and the picture of a Bell cast vpon the Monument Stoke iuxta Neyland This Church is highly honoured by the Sepulture of diuers of the illustrious Familie of the Howards PASSIO ΞΡῙ CONFORTA NOS IESV MISERERE NOBIS In the East Window of the South part in the Church are these portraitures of Sir Iohn Howard Knight and Dame Alice his wife daughter and heire of Sir William Tendring Knight with the subscription following Orate pro animabus Domini Iohannis Howard Dominae Aliciae vxo ris eius Vpon a faire marble though much defaced in the Quire Orate pro animabus Iohannis Howard militis qui obijt ... 1400. et Alicie vxoris eius que obijt in festo Sancte Luce Euangeliste 1426. Vpon the Pauement before the high Aultar lyeth an auncient Grauestone hauing thereon the figure of a Knight in compleat Armour resting his Head vpon his Gauntlet with this circumscription Hic iacent Tumulati Dominus Willelmus Tendring miles Katherina Clapton vxor eiusdem obierunt anno Domini 1408. ..... Domina Iohanna Redmeld quondam sponsa Willelmi Redmeld militis ac filia recolende memorie Domine Margarete Howard Ducisse Norfolcie hic superius tumulate obijt .... xx Febr. M.D. Neare vnto the same vpon the pauement is also another Monument with the circumscription as here vnder appeareth the Brasses of the Figures and some of the Armes thereof are most impiously stolne away and so is the Brasse of the Inscriptions Armes and Images of three other faire stones lying there neare Orate pro animabus Iohannis Howard Militis qui obiit Ann. 14. et Allicie vxoris eius que obiit in festo Sancti Luce Evangeliste Ann. 1426. quorum animabus proprietur Deus HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE Under this Stone is buried the body of the right honorable woman and Ladie sometime wife vnto the right high and mighty Prince Lord Iohn Howard Duke of Norfolke and mother vnto the right noble and puissant Prince Lord Thomas Howard Duke also of Norfolke Which Lady departed this present life Ann. Dom. 1452. In the South part of the said Church betweene the high Altar and the Quier is a monument with this similitude and subscription aforementioned of the right honourable Lady Katherine daughter of William Lord Molins the first wife of Iohn Howard Duke of Norfolke who was the sonne of Sir Robert Howard and of Margaret his wife daughter and co-heire of Tho. Mowbray Duke of Norfolke sonne of Iohn Lord Mowbray and Elisabeth his wife daughter and heire of Iohn Lord Segraue and Margaret Dutchesse of Norfolke the daughter and heire of Tho. of Brotherton the fifth sonne of King Edward the first the which he had by Margaret his second wife the daughter of the French King Phelip the Third Tendringhall Chappell in the Parish of Stoke iuxta Neyland In the East window of the priuate Chappell of Tendring Hall in the said Parish of Stoke iuxta Neyland is the effigies aboue shewed which is supposed by reason of the quarterings in his Coate of Armes to be made for Iohn Lord Howard after created Duke of Norfolke In which and in the foresaid Monument is to be obserued that according to the auncient rule the Coate Armour of the Bloud-Royall is placed in the first quarter before the Paternall Coate Hic .... Katerina de Tenderyng quondam vxor Thome Clopton que obijt die Veneris ante festum Pentecostes M. ccccii ... Lady Windsore .... doughter of Sir William Walgraue At the vpper end in the North side of this Church next to the Chancell Iohn de Peyton the sonne of Reginald lieth interred vnder a marble stone About the verge whereof these few French words following are onely remayning .... Iena de Peytona .... Mercye ... lame Crist .... Vnder another marble stone adioyning his sonne Sir Iohn Peyton knight lieth inhumed with this French Inscription Vous qe par ici passet Pur l'ame Sire Iehan de Peytona priet Le cours de oi ici gist L'ame receyue Ihu crist Amen These Peytons had their mansion at Peyton Hall in Boxford not farre hence Of which and of them Camden Wicken came to the familie of the Peytons saith he by a daughter and coheire of the Gernons about Edward the thirds time as afterward Isleham descended to them by a coheire of Bernard in Henry the sixth his time which knightly familie of Peytons flowred out of the same male-stocke whence the Vffords Earles of Suffolke descended as appeareth by their coat-armour albeit they assumed the surname of Peyton according to the vse of that age from their Mannour of Peyton Hall in Boxford in
the County of Suffolke Dodnash A Monastery dedicated to the honour of our alone Sauiour Christ and the blessed Virgine his mother founded by some of the Ancestours of the Earles or Dukes of Norfolke Valued at fourty two pounds eighteene shillings eight pence halfe pennie Sibbeton or Sibton William Cheney or William de Casineto who held the Baronie of Horsford in the County of Norfolke erected an Abbey here at Sibton which he dedicated to the Virgine Mary and therein placed blacke Monkes Cistertians which was valued at the suppression to bee yearely worth two hundred fifty pounds fifteene shillings seuen pence halfe pennie Redlingfield In this Parish was a religious House of blacke Nunnes dedicated likewise to the Virgine Mary and founded by one Manasses de Guies Valued at fourescore and one pound two shillings fiue pence halfe pennie Rendlesham Howsoeuer there be no Inscriptions here vpon any of the Grauestones in the Church yet questionlesse in former times it hath beene beautified with the Funerall Monuments of many worthie Personages For here Redwald king of the East Angles kept vsually his Court who was the first of all his Nation that was baptised and receiued Christianity but afterwards seduced by his wife he had in the selfe same Church as saith Bede one Altar for Chirsts Religion and another for sacrifices vnto Deuills In this place also Swidelm a king of these East-Angles was likewise afterwards baptised by Cedda Bishop of London Redwald hauing raigned king of the East-Angles one and thirty yeares and Monarch of the Englishmen eight yeares died in the yeare of our saluation six hundred twenty three And by supposition he as also Swidâ—lme lye buried at this place Ratisford An Hospitall dedicated to Saint Iohn valued at thirty three pounds ten shillings Of which I haue read no further Rombuth or Rombrughe A Priory of blacke Monkes dedicated to Saint Michaell Saint Genouefa Fernham This village is in this regard memorable for that Richard Lucy Lord chiefe Iustice of England and Protectour of the kingdome in the absence of king Henry the second tooke prisoner here in a pight field Robert surnamed Blanchmame Earle of Leicester together with his Amazonian proud Countesse Petronell or Pernell and withall put to the sword aboue ten thousand Flemmings which the said Robert had leuied and sent forth to the depopulation of his countrey all or the most of which number were buried in and about this the foresaid village of Fernham in the yeare of our redemption 1173. in the twentith of Henry the second Of the valourous atcheeuements and pious actions of this worthie Knight and religious Votarie I haue related somewhat before within the Diocesse of Rochester where I write of the dissolued monastery of Lesnes an Abbey of his Foundation where in the place where the Church thereof sometime stood which had laine a long time buried in her owne ruines and growne ouer with Oke Elme and Ashe-trees certaine workemen appointed by the owner of the mannour Sir Iohn Epsley knight to digge amongst the rubbish of the decayed Fabricke for stones happened vpon a goodly Funerall monument the full proportion of a man in his coate armour cut all in freestone his sword hanging at his side by a broad belt vpon which the Flower de luce was engrauen in many places being as I take it the Rebus or name-deuise of the Lucies this his representation or picture lay vpon a flat marble stone that stone vpon a trough or coffin of white smooth hewen Asheleâ— stone in that coffin and in a sheet of lead â— both being made fit for the dimension of a dead body the remaines of an â—â—hâ—e drie carkasse lay enwrapped whole and vndisioynted and vpon the head some haire or a simile quiddam of haire appeared they found likewise other statues of men in like manner proportioned as also of a woman in her attire and abiliments with many grauestones and bones of the deceased to see all which great confluence of people resorted amongst which number I was not the hindmost Certaine Church collections within this County taken by William Haruey Clarencieux King of Armes now in the hands of William le Neue Yorke Herald George Mannoke dysseased the xxii day of August Anno Domini M. ccccc xli Iohn Walgraue Esquire sonne and heire of Edward Walgraue which dysseased the vi of Octobre an M. ccccc.xliii Robart Crane of Stonam parua and Lady Anne his wyefe doughter of Sir Andro Egard knight de Buckingham ad castrum which dysceased xxiii of Octob. an Dom. M.D. Georg Crane son and heyre of Robart Crane Esquyer and Lady Anne his mother dysceased M. cccc.lxxxxi Sir Raffe Butle Lord of Sudley and Alyce his wyef doughter of Daynecourte in a glasse wyndoo there founde Andro Bures and Robert his sonne knight were buried Andro the xii of Apryl an M.ccclx and Robard died the vii of October an M.ccc.lxi Also there lyeth buried in the North I le of the same Cherch Robart de Bures crose leged Alyce de Bryan doughter and heyre of Robart de Bures knight and wyef to Sir Edmond Bryan the yonger knight William Geddynge dyed the iiii of Nouember an Dom. M. cccc.lvij Sir Robart Drewry dysceased an Dom. M.D. xx as appeareth vpon his tombe there Sir William Drewry dysceased xxvii of Iuly an Dom. M.D. xxv as aforesaid apereth Thomas Lewcas was seruant and Secretory and one of the Counsell to Iesper Duke of Bedford and Erle of Penbroke as apereth in a Wyndow in the North side of the same Cherche dated in the yere of our Lord M.D.xxviii in whiche Wyndoo he and his wyef kneeleth in their cote Armor In the said Cherch in the North side lieth buried Margery doughter and heyre of Robart Geddynge with this Scrypture foloinge Orate pro animabus Margerie nuper vxoris Iesper filii et heredis Thome Lewcas Armigeri filie et heredis Gilberti Peche militis Iohannes Aspall Armiger qui obiit xxi die Sept. M.D. xv Henry Torner Esquyer and Margaret his wyef and Ione Torner wife to the said Henry and Iohn Torner son to the said Henry lyeth buried in the quire in anno Dom. M. cccc.lxiiij In a wyndoo in the foresaid quire is William Gyfford and his wife and Iohn Gyfford and Alyce his wife Iohn Hynkley esquier dysceased the xxiii of Ianuary an Dom. M. cccc.xxxii and Margaret his wife the xxiii of Nouember M. cccc.xlii Iohn Bladwell Esquire and Anne his wife which Iohn dysceased the xxix of September an MD. xxxiiii Thomas Knighton gent. and Ales his wife which Thomas died the xxiij of Aprill an M.D. xxxii Thomas Vnderell Esquire and Anne his wife lieth buried in a Tombe in the quire who dysceased the xi of February an M.D. viii Thomas Stoteuyle Patron of the foresaid Cherche Matylda and Iane his wiues which Thomas dysceased M. cccclx Thomas Stoteuyle Esquier
and Edyth his wife which Thomas died M. cccc.xlvii Anne wife of Iohn Terell of Gepynge Esquier of the doughters of Sir Iohn Sulyarde knight dysceased the xxiii of February M.D.lviii Elisabeth wife to Iohn Sulyard Esquier doughter to Sir Iohn Ierningeham knight dysceased xix of Ianuary an M.D. xviii Margaret wife to Iohn Sulyard Esquier dysceased laste of August M.D.xxi. Margaret wife of Andro Sulyard Esquire dysceased 1 of April an M.D. xxi Andro Sulyard Esquire dysceased xxi of October M. cccc.xliii Iohn Sulyard Esquire dysceased the viii of Merche anno Dom. M.D.xxxviii Dame Anne first married to Sir Iohn Sulyard Knight and aftyr to Sir Thomas Bansher knight who dyed the xxv of Iuly anno Dom. M.D.xx. Sir Iohn Sulyard Iustice of the Kings Benche first husband of the foresaid Anne dyed in an M.D. vi William Sulyard the sonne of Iohn Sulyard Knight .... Iohn Copynger Esquire Lord and Patron Anne and Iane his wiues who had vii children and dysceased an M.D.xvii Nycholas Tymperley Esquire who dysceased the xx of May. M. cccc.lxxxix Water Copynger gent. which died the x. of Merche an M.D.xxxii and Beatryx his wife the second of February M.D.xii Robart Roydon Gentylman dyed the xxiii of Aprill an M.D.v. Symon Powley gent. and Margery his wife the doughter of Edmond Alcokes which dyed the xiii of October M. cccc.lxxx.v Edmond Alcock gent. Lord of the towne of Badley Beatrix and Izabell his wiues which Edmond dyed the v. of February Mcccc lxxxxi Edward Powley gent. which dyed the xxv of Ianuary M.D.iiii and Iane his wife Elizabeth Garnes wedow late wife of Iohn Garnes Esquire of Kenton which died the second of April an M.D.xxxix Robart Hamond Esquire and Alyce his wife who had iiii sons and ix doughters Iohn Sulyard the son of Iohn Sulyard Esquire and Ales his wife the doughter of Iohn Barington Esquire of Essex which Ales dyed the xxi of December an M. cccc.lxviii Iohn Batysford Esquire and Margery his wife which Iohn dyed the vi of February in an M. cccc.vi and Margaret in an M. cccc .... Iohn Yaxley otherwise called Iohn Herberd of Melles Sergeant at Law which died the xix of Iuly M.D.v and in the xx yeare of Henry the vij and also Elizabeth Yaxley doughter of Richard Brome Esquire being late wife of the foresaid Iohn Yaxley which dyed M.D. Rychard Floyde Esquire which died the xvi of Ianuary M.D.xxi. Robert Bucton Esquire Lord and Patron of the towne of Ockley which died the xvii of December M. cccc.viii William Cornwalleys and Elizabeth his wife which William died M.D.xx. Elizabeth wife to William Cornwalleyes Esquire who died the first of Aprill M.D.xxxvij Robart Southwell Esquire Sergeant at Law and Iustyce of peace and Cecyll his wife doughter of Thomas Sherington Esquire which died the xxvii of September M.D.xiiii Catheren Bouth late wife of Rychard Bouth of Suss. Esquire which dyed the xiii of Iuly M. cccc.xlvi Edmond Iermy Esquire which died the last of September an M.D.vi. Thomas Barnaby a Priest that bare Armes dyed the iii. of Aprill M. cccc.lxxxix Thomas Sackford Esquire Elizabeth and Margaret his wiues which Thomas dyed xxiii of Nouemb. 〈◊〉 an M.D.v. Thomas Sampson Esquire dyed the v. of February M.D.vii Iohn Walworth gent. dyed the x. of Aprill an M. cccc.lxxxviij Clemencia Walworth wedow dyed in an M. cccc.lxxxvij Margaret late wife of William Walworth late of Ipsewich gent. which dyed the first of April M. cccclx Augustine Stratton and Margaret his wife Margaret late wife of Iohn Goldyngham Knight died in an M. ccccxiii Iohn Goldingham Esquire Ione and Thomasyn his wiues which Iohn dyed in an M.D.xviii Iohn Goldingham Esquire son to Iohn dyed in an M. cccc.xx Elyzabeth late wife of Iohn Goldingham Esquire died in anno M. cccc.xxix Iohn Broke of Eston dyed in anno M. cccc.xxvi Robart Wyngfelde Knight and Elizabeth his wife which Robart dyed the first of May M. cccc.ix Sir William Boyvile Lord of Letheringham and Patron of the cherche ...... Lady Anne Russell late wyef to Sir Iohn Russell of Woostershyr .... Margaret Wyngefelde sometyme wyef to Sir Iohn Wyngefelde knight ... Sir Iohn Wyngefelde knight late Lord of Letheringham Thomas Wyngefelde knight Rychard Wyngefelde and William Wyngefelde Esquyers sons of Sir Robart Wyngefelde knight and Elysabeth his wyef syster to the Duke of Norfolke ..... William VVyngefelde Esquyer sometyme Sewer to our Souereigne Lord Henry the eight and the son of Sir Iohn VVyngefelde knight and Dame Elizabeth his wyef which VVilliam dyed the iiii day of December M. cccclxxxi Nicholas Fastalff late son to Thomas Fastalff esquyer which dyed in â—â—o M. cccclxxix â—â—chard Fastalff late son to Thomas Fastalff Esquyer dyed Anno M. â—â—â—â—lxxix Iohn â—lemham esquyer Anne and Elenor his wyves the which Iohn dyed in anno M. cccc Anne in anno M. cccclxvi and Lady Elenor M. cccc.iiij VVilliam VVyngefelde knight Lord of the Towne of Donyngton and â—on of the cherche died in Anno M.ccclxxxviii William Wyngfelde and Kateren his wyef Lord and Patron of the said Towne William Wyngfelde and Ione his wyef Raynold Rowsse son and heyre of Robart Rowsse and Elizabeth Denston his wyef which dyed in Anno M. cccclxiiii Henry de Bello monte son and heyre of Iohn Viscount Beaumont and Elizabeth his wyef doughter and heyre of William Phelippe Lord Bardolff and heyre to the third parte of Orpingham Whych dyed M. ccccxlii William Phelippe esquyer dyed M. ccccvii and Iulyan his wyef in anno M. ccccxiiii Robart Dowe and Elizabeth his wyef doughter of Iohn Fremyngham esquyer Iohn Shelton the son of Raff Shelton esquyer dyed in anno M. cccclxv Mabell Bellamy late wyef of Rychard Bellamy of London gent. and one of the doughters and heyres of Thomas Boyse of Harrow of the hyll in the â—ouâ—â—y of Medelsex which Mabell dyed in anno M.D.xxxiiii Iohn Iermy and Izabell his wyef one of the doughters of Iohn Hapton Esquyer which Iohn dyed the xii of Ianuary M.D iiii Iohn Wyngfeld and Margaret his wyef in the glase wyndoo Iohn Rowsse and Iane his wyef Robart Rowsse and Kateren his wyef and for Iohn and Iohn Robart Rychard and Iohn Agnes and Iane chyldren to the said Robart Pray for the souls Ioh. Fremyngham dyed the xii of Iune anno Dom. M. ccccxxv Robart Cheke and Rose his wyef Iohn Cheke gent. which dyed M. ccccxl Iohn Neuell and Agnes his wyef Iohn Hervy and Margaret his wyef the doughter of Robart Deladowne esquyer late the wyef of Raffe Cheke Iohn Garneis Esquyer and Elizabeth the doughter of Iohn Sulyard his wyef which Iohn dyed the xi of Iune M.D.xxiiii who had issue vi sons and ix doughters Robart Garneis esquyer and Margaret his wyef which dyed the xxiiii of Marche M. ccccxlviii Iohn Falstaff and Elenor
dwarfe to death saith my foresaid Author Much more might bee said of this little-great man but I am called for my selfe to the Presse and to speake more then I haue done in the praise of little men I may be thought to flatter my selfe He died in the yeare 1346. in the twentieth of the raigne of King Edward the third I read in a booke of the order of Carmelites of which Fraternitie he was one as also Prouinciall of them all throughout all England penned by Iohn Bale before his conuersion a part of an Eulogium composed to the memory of this Baconthorpe which may serue for an Epitaph Thus. Iohannes de Bachonethorpe Doctor resolutus Carmelita Hic Bachone fuit Iohannes natus in vrbe Anglica quo felix terra priore fuit Parisio dulces hausit de fonte liquores Post tamenin patrio claruit ipse solo Exposuit libros Petri sed sanccius esse Est ratus in quartum peruigilare librum Fecit Aristotelem clarum inclitumque legenti Dans Testamentum clarius omne navum .......... Vpon a faire marble stone in the Quire this Inscription following is engrauen in brasse Hic iaces corpus Willelmi Boleyn militis qui obijt x. Octobris Anno Dom. M. ccccc.v Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Let it be the greatest honour to this noble deceased Knight for that he was great Grandfather to the most renowned and victorious Princesse Elizabeth late Queene of England which will best appeare by the Light of Great Britaine learned Camden in his Introduction to the History which he writ of her long and prosperous raigne beginning as followeth The Linage and descent of Elizabeth Queene of England saith he was by her Fathers side truly Royall for daughter she was to King Henry the eight grand daughter to Henry the seuenth and great grand-daughter to Ed the fourth By the Mothers side her descent was not so high howbeit noble it was and spread abroad by many and great Alliances throughout England and Ireland Her great grand-fathers father was Ieffrey Bolen a man of Noble birth in Norfolke Lord Maior of the Citie of London in the yeare 1457. and at the same time honoured with the dignitie of Knighthood An vpright honest man of such estimation that Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastings Knight of the Order of Saint George gaue him his daughter and one of his heires to wife and of such wealth as he matched his daughters into the Noble houses of the Cheineys Heydons and Fortescues left his sonne a goodly inheritance and bequeathed a thousand pounds of English money to bee bestowed vpon the poore in the Citie of London and two hundred in Norfolke This mans sonne William Bolen was chosen amongst eighteene most choice Knights of the Bath at the Coronation of King Richard the third to whom Thomas Earle of Ormond who was in such fauour with the Kings of England that hee alone of all the Nobleman of Ireland had his place and voice in the Parliaments of England and aboue the Barons of England also gaue his daughter and one of his heires in marriage By her besides daughters married to Shelton Calthorp Clere and Sackvill men of great wealth and noble descent and other children hee begat Thomas Bolen whom being a young man Thomas Howard Earle of Surry who was afterward Duke of Norfolke a man much renowned for his worthie seruice and atchiuements in the warres chose to be his sonne in law giuing vnto him his daughter Elizabeth in marriage and Henry the eight after he had performed one or two very honourable Embasies made him first Treasurer of his Houshold Knight of the Order of Saint George and Viscount Rochford and afterwards Earle of Wiltshire and Ormond and made him Lord Keeper of the priuie Seale This Thomas among other children begat Anne Bolen who in her tender yeares being sent into France attended on Mary of England wife to Lewis the twelfth and then on Claudia of Britaine wife to Francis the first and after she was dead on Margaret of Alencon who with the first fauoured the Protestants Religion springing vp in France Being returned into England and admitted amongst the Queenes Maides of Honour and being twenty two yeares of age King Henry in the thirtie eight yeare of his age did for her modestie â—empered with French pleasantnesse fall deeply in loue with and tooke her to wife by whom he had issue Elizabeth aforesaid Queene of England Thome Presbyteri ..... lapis iste retentum Funus habet .... qui sumptu dedit hoc pauimentum Anno milleno quater et C septuageno Octauo Stephani liquit terrestria festo Vt celi detur requies sibi quisque precetur En iacet hic stratus Helby Thomas vocitatus Saluet eum Christus tribuens sibi gaudia lucis Vnder this ston Ligs Iohn Knapton Who died iust The twenty eight of August M. ... xc and on Of thys Chyrch Peti-Canon Vnder the picture of Saint Peter is portraied the Sea a Ship Nets and Fishes with this distichon Ecclesiam pro naue rego mihi climata mundi Sunt mare Scripture Retia piscis homo The figures of the Sunne and Moone are painted here vpon the Frontispiece of the Clocke to whom the Clocke comparatiuely seemes to speake in this Hexastich vpon the same place likewise depicted Horas significo cunctas quas Phebe diebus Quas solet atque tua pallida nocte Soror Nec magis errarem Rector mihi si foret idem Vos qui et queque regit motibus astra suis. Tempora nam recte designo si mihi doctus Custos assiduam conferat artis opem In English Phoebus I tell all th' houres and all as right As thou or thy pale Sister day and night Nor I no more then you in ought should erre If he ruld mee who guides you and each starre For times I rightly tell to me of 's Art If my learnd keeper will his helpe impart In imitation of this it may bee that Thomas Scot in his Philomythie makes a Clocke to compare with a Diall and the difference to be partly decided by the Wethercocke of which a little although not much to the purpose I confesse Vpon a Church or steeples side neere hand A goodly Clocke of curious worke did stand Which ouerpaysde with lead or out of frame Did time miscall and euery houre misname The Diall hearing this aloud gan crye Kind neighbour Clocke your glib tongue tels a lye Reforme your errour for my Gnomon saith You gad too fast and misse an houres faith Foole quoth the Clocke reforme thy selfe by me The fault may rather in thy Gnomon be Had'st thou told euer truth to what end then Was I plac'd here by th' art of cunning men The Weathercocke vpon the steeple standing And with his sharpe eye all about commanding Heard their contention wild them to appeale To him the chiefe of all that common weale Told them that he was
he that is sufficiently mine Of two I haue the one is common to all my race yea and also to others There is a family at Paris and another at Montpellier called Montaigne another in Brittany and one in Zantoigne surnamed de la Montaigne The remouing of one only sillable may so confound our webbe as I shall haue a share in their glory and they perhaps a part of my shame And my Ancestors haue heretofore beene surnamed Heigham or Hyquem a surname which also belongs to a house well knowne in England Here is another Tombe on the South side of the Chancell vpon which is the pourtraiture of Sir VVilliam Butts in his complete armour kneeling his sword by his side his spurres his helmet at his feet His Lady by him kneeling hauing her coat-armour Here are the coats of Butts and Bacon quartered vpon the Tombe Arwerton saith Camden in Suffolke the house long since of the Family of the Bacoâ—s who held this Mannor and Brome by conducting all the footmen of Suffolke and Norfolke from S. Edmunds-dike in the warres of Wales These Bacons haue at this day their residence at Culfurth in Suffolke a goodly house erected by Sir Nicholas Bacon knight the first Baronet sonne vnto that Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England who for his singular wisedome and most sound iudgement was right worthily esteemed one of the two supporters of this kingdome in his time Who lieth entombed in S. Pauls with his two wiues Who died An. 1578. You may reade this Inscription vpon the said Monument Hic Nicolaum ne Baconem conditum Existima illum tam diu Britannici Regni secundum columen exitium Malis Bonis Asylum caeca quem non extulit Ad hunc honorem sors sed aequitas fides Doctrina pietas vnica prudentia Neu morte raptum crede quia vnica breui Vita perennes emerit duas agit Vitam secundam caelites inter animus Fama implet orbem vita quae illi tertia est Hac positum in Ara est corpus olim animi domus Ara dicata sempiternae Memoriae No lesse worthie of praise for his many excellent good parts was his sonne who followed the fathers steps I meane Sir Francis Bacon knight Lord Verulam Viscount Saint Alban and Lord Chancellour of England lately deceased Snoring Here vnder a faire Tombe lieth the daughter of Sir Iohn Heydon who married one of the Heninghams These Heydons are an ancient race of Knights degree Orate pro animabus Radulphi Shelton militis Domine Alicie vxoris eius filie Thome de Vnedal Militis qui quidem Radulphus obiit xxv die Aprilis Anno M. ccccxxiiii Blackney A famous religious house of Carmelite Friers in this late age aforegoing built and endowed by Sir Robert de Roos or Rosse Sir Robert Bacon and Sir Iohn Bret Knights about the yeare 1321. out of which came Iohn Baconthorpe of whom I haue spoken somewhat before And now here giue me leaue to speake a little more which I had omitted our of Camden A man saith he in that age of such varietie and depth withall of excellent learning that he was had in exceeding great admiration among the Italians and commonly called the Resolute Doctor Whence it is that Paulus Pansa thus writeth of him If thy minde stand to enter into the secret power of the Almighty and most mercifull God no man hath written of his Essence more exactly If any man desireth to learne the causes of things or the effects of Nature if he wish to know the sundrie motions of heauen and the contrary qualities of the Elements this man offereth himselfe as a storehouse to furnish him The armour of Christian Religion of better proofe and defence then those of Vulcans making against the Iewes this resolute Doctor alone hath deliuered Sculthorpe Orate pro anima Henrici Vnton qui obijt Anno Millesimo cccxx Statton Saint Michaels Orate pro anima Iohannis Cowal quondam Rectoris istius Ecclesie quiistam Cancellam de nouo fieri fecit Anno Domini M. cccclxxxvii pro quibus tenetur orare .... Stratton Saint Mary Orate pro animabus Iohannis Bocher Margarete vxoris eius quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Orate pro anima Thome Drake qui obijt Anno Domini 1490. Orate pro animabus Iohannis Waith Margerie vxoris eius qui Iohannes obijt xviii die mensis Februar Anno Domini M. cccclxxxx Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Bunwell Of your charity pray for the soul of Iohn Darosse and Margaret his wyffe on whos souls Ihesu haue mercy Amen Tybenham Orate pro anima Iohannis Avelyn quondam vicarij istius Ecclesie qui obijt xxviii die Decembris anno M. cccccvii Cuius ..... Orate pro anima Iacobi Glouer quondam Vicarii istius Ecclesie Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Orate pro animabus Roberti Buxton Cristiane Agnetis vxorum eius qui quidem Robertus obiit anno Domini M. cccccxxviii Quorum animabus propitietur altissimus Here lieth likewise vnder a faire Grauestone Iohn Buxton sonne and heire of Robert aforesaid who married Margaret Warner by whom he had issue two sonnes and two daughters Annos spirauit octoginta quatuor euen to our times Of whom more hereafter North Walsham Orate pro anima Willelmi Roys qui obiit x. die Kalend. Martii M. cccc Ashwelthorp Hic iacet Isabella que fuit vxor Philippi Tylney Armigeri vna filiarum heredum Edmundi Thorp Militis Domine Iohanne quondam Domine de Scales consortis sue que obiit decimo die mensis Nouembris anno Domini M. ccccxxxvi Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Iane Knyvet resteth here the only heire by right Of the Lord Berners that Sir Iohn Bourcher hight Twenty yeres and thre a wydoos life she ledd Alwayes keping howse where rich and pore were fedd Gentell iust quyet voyd of debate and stryfe Euer doying good Lo thus she ledd her life Euen to the Graue where Erth on Erth doth ly On whos soul God graunt of his abundant mercy The xvii of February M.D.lxi. Spikesworth or Spixford Orate pro animabus Iohannis Styward et Margarete vxoris eius Orate pro anima Georgii Linsted qui obiit in festo Assumptionis beate Marie anno Domini M.D.xvii Orate pro anima Willelmi Davy quondam Ciuis Norwic. Vinter et huins Ecclesie spiritualis benefactor Orate pro anima Margarete Thorne nuper vxoris Thome Thorne que obiit tertio die Septembris 1544. South-acre In the Chancell vnder the South wall lieth entombed Sir Roger Harsicke Knight the sonne and heire of Iohn who liued in the eight yeare of King Henry the fifth and in the twenty ninth of Henry the sixth in whom the issue male ended leauing his inheritance to his two daughters Sir Alexander Harsick
was a Priory dedicated to the honour of Saint Austin the first Archbishop of Canterbury founded by one Theobald de Vallencia as some say others by William de Albeny the second of that name Earle of Arundell valued at one hundred thirty seuen pounds pennie halfe penny qua Wallpoole ... Radulphus Rochford miles .... Willelmus filius Domini Iohannis de Rochford Constabularii castri de VVisbiche .... Tirrington Hic iacet Thomas Sutton filius Thome Sutton nuper de Milton filii Domini Iohannis Sutton Domini de Dudley ..... Hic iacet Elizabeth Sutton filia Roberti Goddard ..... que obiit ..... Hic iacet Robertus Goddard armiger qui obiit anno Dom. M. cccc.xlviii Hic iacet Ricardus Zorke quondam Burgeni ville Berwic super Tweed ...... I reade in Hackluits first volume of Voyages that Sir Fredericke Tilney a great Commander in the holy warres was interred in this Church of Tirrington take it as he sets it downe A note out of a Booke in the hands of Thomas Tilney Esquire touching Sir Fredericke Tilney his ancestor knighted at Acon in the Holy Land by King Richard the first Pertinuit iste liber prius Frederico Tylney de Boston in Com. Lincoln militi facto apud Acon in terra sancta anno Regis Richardi primi tertio Vir erat iste magnae staturae et potens corpore qui cum patribus suis dormit apud Tirrington iuxta villam sui nominis Tylney in Mershland cuius altitudo in salua custodia permanet ibidem vsque in hunc diem Et post eius obitum sexdecem Militibus eius nominis Tylney haereditas illa successiue obuenit quorum vnus post alium semper habitabat apud Boston praedict dum fratris senioris haereditas haeredi generali deuoluta est quae nupta est Thome Duci Norsolciae Eorum miles vltimus suit Philippus Tylney nuper de Shelleigh in Com. Suff pater et genitor Thomae Tylney de Hadleigh in Com. praedict Armigeri cui modo attinet iste liber anno aetatis 64.1556 Fincham S. Martins Orate pro anima Iohannis filii et heredis Iohannis Fincham filii Symonis Fincham qui obiit vltimo die Aprilis M. cccc lxxxxix Orate pro anima Elizabethe quondam vxoris Symonis Fincham Armigeri et vnius filiarum et heredum Iohannis Tendering de Brokedyn in Com. Suff. Ar. que quidem Elizabetha obiit ... M. cccc.lxiiii Orate pro anima Iohannis Fincham filii et heredis Symonis Fincham de Fincham Ar. qui obiit vi die Septembris anno Domini M. cccc.lxxxxvi Saint Benets in the Holme The foundation of this religious structure is thus set downe by learned Camden in his chorographicall description of this County Then passeth the riuer Thirn saith hee neere the great decayed Abbey called Saint Benet in the Holme which Knute the Dane built the Monks afterward so strengthened with most strong wals and bulwarkes that it seemed rather a castell then a Cloister In so much that William the Conquerour could not winne it by assault vntill a Monke betraied it into his hands vpon this condition that himselfe might be made Abbot thereof which was done accordingly but forth with this new Abbot for being a traitour as the inhabitants make report was hanged vp by the Kings commandement and so iustly punished for his treason After the first foundation of this Abbey by King Knute her reuenues were greatly augmented and her building enlarged by Edward the Confessor and Editha his Queene with the consent of fiue Dukes and of all or the most of the Lords spirituall and temporall within his kingdome as it appeares by his Charter in Arch Turris Lond. Cart. Ant. It was dedicated to the honour of Christ and Saint Benedict replenished with blacke Monkes Benedictines and valued in the Exchequer at sixe hundred seuenty seuen pounds nine shillings eight pence qua Clipesby Not farre from the foresaid Abbey is the Parish and Lordship of Clipesby which gaue name saith Camden to a familie of ancient note in this tract whereof there hath beene diuers Knights where after it had passed in the names of Algar Elfled and Odberd all sirnamed de Clipesby as appeareth by many vndated Deedes which I haue seene it came about the first of King Iohn to Iohn de Clipesby and from him lineally to the last Iohn heire male of that line On whose Monument in this Church of Clipesby are empaled the Armes of Ierningham Woodhouse Spelman Paston all Knightly families of that countrey with whom the Clipesbies had formerly matched By Iulian a daughter and coheire of this last Iohn married to Sir Randall Crewe of Crewe in the County of Chester Knight after Lord chiefe Iustice of England the old surname of the Lord of this Mannor was changed but not the bloud For she left besides a daughter two sonnes the eldest her heire christened with the name of her paternall familie Clipesby now Sir Clipesby Crew Knight She the said Iulian died at Kewe in the County of Surrey in the yeare 1603. and was in the Chancell of the Church of Richmond decently interred with this Inscription vpon her Monument Antiqua fuit orta domo pia viuit iniuit Virgo pudica Thorum Sponsa pudica polum In this Church are diuers other Funerall Monuments for the Clipesbies but so defaced as neither Inscription nor coate-armes are remaining vpon them to giue me any further light Oby Orate pro anima Katerine filie Iohannis Spelman Armigeri quondam vxoris Clipesby Armigeri postea vxoris Edmundi Paston Armigeri que obijt xviii die Aprilis anno Domini M. cccclxxxxi Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Elingham Orate pro anima Henrici Spelman Armigeri filij et heredis Thome Spelman Armigeri qui obiit primo die mensis Martii anno Dom M. cccccxxv Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen The Armes of Spelman and Mortimer of Attilborough Narborough Orate pro animabus Henrici Spelman Legis periti ac Recordatoris ciuitatis Norw Ele vxoris eius qui quidem Henricus obiit xxiii die Septembris anno Domini M. cccclxxxxvi Vpon this Monument are his Armes and his two wiues Christian daughter and coheire of Thomas Manning Esquire and of Elisabeth his wife daughter and coheire of Sir Thomas Ienny Knight The second Ela daughter and coheire of William Narburgh of Narburgh Esquire a family of great antiquitie that bare gules a chiefe Ermin Here vndre lieth buried the body of Sir Iohn Spelman knyght and Secundary Iustice of the Kyngs Bench and Dame Elis. his wyffe whych had xiii sonnes and vii doughters of theire bodyes betwene them begottyn The which Sir Iohn decessed the xxvi day of February in the yere of our Lord God M. cccccxliv and the said Dame Elizabeth decessed the v day of Nouembre the yere of our Lord M. ccccclvi on whos
souls Iesu haue mercy Amen This Elisabeth was the daughter and coheire of Sir Henry Frowick of Gonwelsbury in the County of Midlesex Knight who lieth entombed in Eling Church in the said County Grandmother to that learned Gentleman and iudicious Antiquarie Sir Henry Spelman Knight now lining Anno 1631. and great Grandmother to Sir Clement Spelman Knight deceased who succeeded in that inheritance Here lyeth Iohn Spelman Esquyre sonne and heire apparent to Sir Iohn Spelman Knyghte one of the Iustyces at the Pleas before the kyng to bee holden and Dame Elisabeth his wyffe which Iohn married Margaret one of the doughters to Sir Thomas Blennerhasset knyght and Dame Margaret his wyffe and had issue by the said Margaret too sonnes and too doughters liuing at the day of his death and decessed the xxvii day of December in the yere of our Lord God M. cccccxlv on whos soul Iesu have mercy Amen Stow. William Spelman Esquire who died in the raigne of Henry the seuenth lay buried vnder a faire Tombe in this Church of Stow by Watton and the Vicar and Churchwardens here about eight yeares agoe making a Raile about the Communion table pulled downe the Tombe to make roome for the Raile and Communicants Others of the ancient Family of the Spelmans lie interred here and at Narborrow whose names I will onely set downe being so neare these times As Iohn Spelman Esquire who married Iudeth one of the daughters of Sir Clement Higham knight who died 28 April anno 1581. Sir Clement Spelman knight high Sheriffe of this County anno 1599. who died 24. Septemb. 1607. Ierome Spelman Esquire the twelfth sonne of Sir Iohn Spelman Rougham Here is a Tombe of Sir William Yeluerton Knight one of the Iustices of the Kings Bench in the time of King Henry the sixth and a Monument of his sonne who is mentioned vpon it to bee Esquire to King Edward the fourth Orate pro animabus Willelmi Yeluerton Militis et quondum Iustic Domini Regis de suo banco et Dominae Agnetis vx sue qui quidem Willelmus obijt 27 die Martis c. ......... Yeluerton miserere Consortis que sue Yeluerton olim Katherine .................. Armiger Edwardi quondam pro corpore quarti 9 Iulij Anno Nat. Christ. 1481. Another stone in the Chancell with two portraitures inscribed Obijt Io. Yeluerton 1505. Obijt Rogerus Yeluerton 1510. Orate pro anima Domini Io. Swaffham quondam Vicar huius Ecclesie qui obijt Anno Domini 1409. cuius Anime propitietur Deus Sandringham Prey pur le alme Du Richard Fitz Iean Iadis Patron De ceste Maison Holme iuxta mare Herry Notynham and hys wyfe lyne her Yat madden thys Chyrche Stepull and Quer Too Vestyments and Bells yei madden alsoo Crist hem sav therfor fro woo And to bryng her souls to blis of hevyn Seyth Pater and Ave wyth myld Stephyn Hunstanton Here the noble ancient familie of Le Strange lie buried vnder faire Monuments Orate pro anima Henrici Le Strange Armigeri Katherine vxoris eius pro benefactoribus .... pro fidelibus defunctis Qui quidem Henricus obijt vicesimo quinto die mensis Nouembris An. Domini M. cccclxxv quorum animabus propitietur Deus Vpon the side of a Tombe the names of Roger Le Strange and others of the name about the Verge of the said Tombe being inlaid with brasse this Genealogicall Inscription is to be read Orate pro anima prenominati Rogeri le Strange Militis pro corpore illustrissimi nuper Regis Anglie Henrici septimi ac fil et hered prefati Henrici le Strange Armigeri Fratris et heredis Iohannis le Strange filij heredis tam Iohannis le Strange quam Alicie Beamont consanguinee et heredis Iohannis Pike et Iohannis Rushbroke Et dictus Iohannes le Strange fuit filius et heres tam Iohannis le Strange militis quam Elianore fil et hered tam Richardi Walkefare Militis quam consanguinee et heredis Thome Morieux Militis Et dictus Iohannes le Strange miles fuit fil et her Hamonis le Strange Armigeri et Katherine fil Domini Iohannis de Camois et dictus Hamo le Strange fuit fil et heres Hamonis le Strange Militis et Margarite Vernon de Motton consanguinee et hered Magistri Richardi Vernon et dictus Hamo le Strange miles fuit frater Domini Iohannis le Strange de Knocking et Mohun Qui quidem Rogerus le Strange miles obiit xxvii die Octobris anno Domini M. cccccvi et nuper Regis dicti vice simo primo Cuius anime ac animabus antecessorum benefactorum suorum nec non anime Iohannis le Strange de Masingham parua Armigeri fratris et executoris prerecitati Rogeri le Strange Militis Deus propitietur Amen Hunstanton saith Camden is to bee remembred in this regard if there were nothing else for that it hath beene the habitation of the Familie of Le Strange Knights by degree euer since that in the raigne of Edward the second Iohn Baron Le Strange of Knocking gaue the same vnto Hamon his younger brother Hamon Le Strange the elder performed great and good seruice for his Lord and Soueraigne Henry the third against Simond de Montford Earle of Leicester and his complices the 48. yeare of the said Kings raigne Hee tooke vpon him a voiage to the holy Land as I finde it thus recorded Hamo extraneus diu antequam iter arripuit versus terram sanctam Feosauit Rogerum Extraneum fratrem suum de Manerijs de Colouere et Henton que idem Hamo tenuit de Petro de Monteforti Fines Anno 2. Ed. 1. Memb. 26. Penteney A Monastery founded by Reginald de Warren brother of William de Warren the second Earle of Surrey in which he placed blacke Canons it was dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene and valued vpon the dissolution thereof at two hundred and fifteene pounds eight shillings eight pence This Abbey saith Camden was the ordinary buriall place in ancient time of the Noblemen and Gentlemen in this tract Anno Domini 1326. obijt Domina Petronilla de Neirford iacet apud Penteney Dominus Iohannes de Neirford obijt .... et iacet in Ecclesia Prioratus de Penteney These are all I haue as yet found to haue beene here interred Fornset Saint Peters Hic iacet Richardus Baxter qui per Isabellam vxorem eius habuit duos filios et duas filias et postea ignaue vulneratus inde obijt vltimo die Maij anno Domini M. cccclxxxiiii Cuius anime propitietur Deus Orate pro anima Thome Baxter qui duxit Margaretam filiam Willelmi Drake generosi et habuit exitum quatuor filios et vnam filiam et obijt 27. Aprilis 1535. Orate pro animabus Thome Drake et Elisabethe vxoris eius .... All cristian peple that walk by thys Tomb erly
erexit ... Transit sicut Fulmerston gloria mundi Propitietur Deus animabus Mortuorum Saint Peters Hic iacet Willelmus Knighton ... M. cccc.lxix .... Peter Larke and Elisabeth his wyff on whos souls sweet Iesu haue pite Saint Cuthberts ...... Iohannes Bernard et Elis ..... M. ccccc.xi Here in this towne was a Religious house of Friers Preachers dedicated to the holy Trinitie and Saint Mary which Arfast Bishop of the East-Angles made his Episcopall chaire Afterwards Henry Duke of Lancaster made it a societie of Friers Preachers it was valued at thirty nine pounds sixe shillings nine pence Arfast who died circa annum 1092. was herein buried with this Epitaph vpon his monument Hic Arfaste pie pater optime et Arca Sophie Viuis per merita virtutum laude perita Vos qui transitis hic omnes atque reditis Dicite quod Christi pietas sit promptior isti 〈◊〉 â—â—â—ers Augustines in this I owne was founded by Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and Blanch his wife others say by Henry Earle of Lancaster and Leicester It was valued at three hundred twelue pounds foureteene shillings foure pence Here lye buried Dame Margery Todenham Dame Elisabeth wife of Sir Thomas Hâ—ngraue daughter of Sir Iohn Harling with many other you may imagine whose names I haue not The blacke Friers here was founded by Sir Edmond Gonvile Lord of â—irâ—ingford in this County Parson of Terington and Steward with Iohn Eâ—â—e Warren and with Henry Duke of Lancaster It was dedicated to S. Sepulchre The value I haue not learned Buried in the Church of this monâ—sterâ— were Sir Iohn Bretâ— knight Dame Agnes Honell Dame Maud Talâ—â—e wife of Peter Lord of Rickinghill Dame Anastisia wife of Sir Richard Walsingham A Priory of blacke Canons dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Iohn was here founded by one of the Bigods or Bigots Earle of Norfolke Valued at fourty nine pounds eighteene shillings and a penny Surrendred the 16. of February 31. Hen. 8. Here was a religious structure for blacke Nunnes consecrated to the honour of God and Saint Gregory but by whom sounded I do not know It was valued in the Exchequer at fifty pound nine shillings eight pence Here sometimes stood a Colledge or gild dedicated to the blessed Virgine Mary valued at the suppression to be yearely worth one hundred nine pounds seuen shillings Hugh Bigod or Bigot Steward of the House to King Henry the first built and endowed a religious House here for blacke Monkes Benedictines or Cluniacks These words following are in the Instrument of his Foundation I Hugh Bigod Steward to King Henry by his grant and by the aduice of Heâ—bert Bishop of Norwich haue ordained Monkes of the Order of Cluny in the Church of S. Mary which was the Episcopall seate of Thetford which I gaue vnto them and afterwards founded another more meet for their vse without the Towne This Monastery was found at the suppression to be in the Kings bookes foure hundred eighteene pounds sixe shillings three pence halfe penny of yearely reuenues This Hugh the Founder was created Earle of Norfolke by King Stephen in the first yeare of his raigne He died very aged in the 24. yeare of King Henry the second and was buried in this Priory of his owne foundation to whose memory this Inscription was engrauen vpon his Funerall Monument Orate pro anima religiosissimi viri Hugonis Bigod Fundatoris huius Monasterij Seneschalli Hospitij prepotentissimo Principi Henrico Conquestoris filio Anglie Regi et Comitis Norfolcie qui quidem Hugo obiit pridie Kalend. Martii anno milesimo centesimo septuagesimo octauo Propter miserecordiam Iesu requiescat in pace Anno 1107. Optimates Angliae Richardus de Radvarijs Rogerius cognomento Bigotus mortui sunt in Monasteriis Monachorum sepulti sunt quae in propriis possessionibus ipsi condiderunt Rogerius autem apud Thetfordum in Anglia Richardus vero tumulatus apud Montisburgum in Normannia Super Rogerium Cluniacenses Alonax di tale scripserunt Epitaphium Clauderis exiguo Rogere Bigote sepulchro Et rerum cedit portio parva tibi Diuitiae sanguis facundia gratia Regum Intereunt mortem fallere nemo potest Diuitiae mentes subuertunt erigat ergo Te pietas virtus consiliumque Dei Soli moerebat virgo ter noctibus octo Cùm soluis morti debita morte tua It should seeme by the premisses that this Roger Bigot who was Sewer to King Henry the first and Father of the foresaid Hugh was the first founder of this religious Edifice or at least wise of some other in this Towne for Monkes of the order of Cluny And Stow in his Annalls agrees with my Author Ordericus This yeare saith he Maurice Bishop of London Robert Fitzhamon Roger Bigot founder of the Monastery of Monkes at Thetford Richard Redvers Councellours to the King Milo Crispen and many other Noblemen of England deceased Roger Bigot the second of that surname Earle of the East Angles or Norfolke He died about the yeare 1218. and was here interred Hugh Bigot sonne of the foresaid Roger Earle of Norfolke lay here buried who died the ninth of Henry the third 1225 Roger Bigot sonne and heire of Hugh aforesaid Earle of Norfolke and first Marshall of England of that Family was here entombed if his last will and Testament was performed Of which so much as tends to that purpose In Nomine Patris et Filij et Spiritus Sancti Amen Ego Rogerus Bigot Comes Norfolcie et Mareschallus Anglie in bona prosperitate constitutus condo Testamentum meum sub hac forma Inprimis commendo animam meam Christo c. et corpus meum in Ecclesia beate Marie Thetfordie sepeliendum Postea lego c. Huius Testamenti Executores constituo Dominum Symonem de Monteforti Com. Lecestren Dominum Richardum de Clara Com. Glouern Hertford Dominum Willelmum Malberbe Dominum Thomam Denebanke Dominum Hugonem de Tudeham c. Dat. apud Cestreford die Mercurij proximo ante festum Sancti Barnabe Apostoli anno Domini M.cclviii He died about eleuen yeares after the making of his will without issue of a bruise running at Tilt anno 1269. Roger Bigot the last of that Familie Earle of Norfolke and Marshall of England was here buried together with his first wife Alina Alyva or Adeliza daughter of Philip Lord Basset and widow of Hugh de Spenser Iustice of England she died in Aprill in the ninth yeare of Edward the first and he in the 35. of the said Kings raigne Iohn Lord Mowbray Duke of Norfolke Earle Marshall of England Earle of Nottingham Lord and Baron of Segraue and of Gower sonne and successour of Iohn the first Duke of Norfolke in the dignities aforesaid was here entombed with his wife Elianor daughter of William Lord Bourchier and sister of Henry Bourchier Earle of
Essex He died in the first yeare of King Edward the fourth Iohn Mowbray sonne of Iohn aforesaid who in his Fathers dayes was created Earle Warren and Surrey and hauing enioyed these and his fathers Honours for the space dyed without issue at his Castle of Framingham in Suffolke in the fifteenth yeare of King Edward the fourth and was here entombed Sir Iohn Howard knight sonne of Sir Robert Howard knight and of Margaret his wife daughter and coheire of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke first made Baron by king Edward the fourth 1461. Quia postea constituit eum Capitaneum Armate potentie super mare Test. Rege apud West Pat. anno 10. Ed. 4. M. 13. was here interred as I finde in the Collections of Francis Thinne Lancaster Herald In the yeare 1483. he was created Duke of Norfolke by King Richard the third in whose aide he was slaine at Bosworth field on Monday the two and twentieth of Aug. 1485. He was warned by diuers to refraine from the field insomuch that the night before he should set forward toward the King one wrote this rime vpon his gate Iack of Norffolk be not too bold For Dikon thy Master is boght and sold. Yet all this notwithstanding he regarding more his oath his honour and promise made to King Richard like a gentleman and as a faithfull subiect to his Prince absented not himselfe from his master but as he faithfully liued vnder him so he manfully died with him to his great fame and laud. And therefore though his seruice was ill employed in aide of a Tyrant whom it had beene more honourable to haue suppressed then supported yet because he had vpon his fealtie vndertaken to fight in his quarrell he thought it lesse losse of life and liuing then of glory and honour so that he might haue said in respect of his loyaltie and promised truth testified with constancie to the death Est mihi supplicium causa fuisse pium This passage is wondrously well deliuered to vs in verse by an honourable late writer thus Long since the King had thought it time to send For trustie Norfolke his vndaunted friend Who hasting from the place of his abode Found at the doore a world of papers strow'd Some would affright him from the Tyrants aide Affirming that his Master was betraide Some laid before him all those bloudy deeds From which a line of sharpe reuenge proceeds With much compassion that so braue a Knight Should serue a Lord against whom Angels fight And others put suspitions in his minde That Richard most obseru'd was most vnkinde The Duke a while these cautious words reuolues With serious thoughts and thus at last resolues If all the Campe proue traytors to my Lord Shall spotlesse Norfolke falsifie his word Mine oath is past I swore t'vphold his Crowne And that shall swimme or I with it will drowne It is too late now to dispute the right Dare any tongue since Yorke spread forth his light Nortâ—umberland or Buckingham defame Two valiant Cliffords Roos or Beaumonts name Because they in the weaker quarrell die They had the King with them and so haue I. But euery eye the face of Richard shunnes For that foule murder of his brothers sonnes Yet lawes of Knighthood gaue me not a sword To strike at him whom all with ioynt accord Haue made my Prince to whom I tribute bring I hate his vices but adore the King Victorious Edward if thy soule can heare Thy seruant Howard I deuoutly sweare That to haue sau'd thy children from that day My hopes on earth should willingly decay Would Glouster then my perfect faith had tried And made two graues when Noble Hastings died This said his troopes he into order brings A little after he giues vs a touch of the Dukes valour and deciphers the manner of his death in these matchlesse numbers which follow Here valiant Oxford and fierce Norfolke meete And with their speares each other rudely greete About the aire the shiuer'd peeces play Then on their swords their Noble hands they lay And Norfolke first a blow directly guides To Oxfords head which from his helmet slides Vpon his arme and biting through the steele Inflicts a wound which Vere disdaines to feele He lifts his Fauchion with a threatning grace And hewes the Beuer off from Howards face This being done he with compassion charm'd Retires asham'd to strike a man disarm'd But straight a deadly shaft sent from a bow Whose master though far off the Duke could know Vntimely brought this combat to an end And pierc'd the braine of Richards constant friend When Oxford saw him sinke his noble soule Was full of griefe which made him thus condole Farewell true Knight to whom no costly graue Can giue due honour would my teares might saue Those streames of blood deseruing to be spilt In better seruice had not Richards guilt Such heauie weight vpon his fortune laid Thy glorious vertues had his sinnes outwaighd Sir Thomas Howard Knight of the Garter Earle of Surrey and Duke of Norfolke sonne and heire of the foresaid Iohn thus slaine was here likewise entombed who died in the sixteenth yeare of the raigne of King Henry the eight 1524. This Thomas was with his father in the forefront of the foresaid Battell where he had the leading of the Archers which King Richard so placed as a bulwarke to defend the rest The martiall prowesse of this Earle in the pight field and his resolute braue carriage being taken prisoner are delineated to the life by my said Author Sir Iohn Beaumont the particulars wherof if they may seeme as pleasing to you in the reading as they were to me in the writing cannot be any way tedious here to set downe for they are sinnewy strong liues and will draw you no doubt with them along Couragious Talbot had with Surrey met And after many blowes begins to fret That one so yong in Armes should thus vnmoou'd Resist his strength so oft in warre approou'd And now the Earle beholds his fathers fall Whose death like horrid darkenesse frighted all Some giue themselues as captiues others flie But this yong Lion casts his gen'rous eye On Mowbrayes Lion painted in his shield And with that King of beasts repines to yeeld The field saith he in which the Lyon stands Is blood and blood I offer to the hands Of daring foes but neuer shall my flight Dye blacke my Lyon which as yet is white His enemies like cunning Huntsmen striue In binding snares to take their prey aliue While he desires t' expose his naked brest And thinkes the sword that deepest strikes is best Yong Howard single with an Army fights When mou'd with pitie two renowned knights Strong Clarindon and valiant Coniers trye To rescue him in which attempt they dye Now Surrey fainting scarse his sword can hold Which made a common souldier grow so bold To lay rude hands vpon that noble flower Which he disdaining anger giues him power Erects his
weapon with a nimble round And sends the Peasants arme to kisse the ground This done to Talbot he presents his blade And saith It is not hope of life hath made This my submission but my strength is spent And some perhaps of villaine blood will vent My wearie soule this fauour I demand That I may dye by your victorious hand Nay God forbid that any of my name Quoth Talbot should put out so bright a flame As burnes in thee braue youth where thou hast err'd It was thy fathers â—ault since he preferr'd A Tyrants Crowne before the iuster side The Earle still mindfull of his birth replide I Wonder Talbot that thy noble heart Insults on ruines of the vanquisht part Wee had the right if now to you it flow The fortune of your swords hath made it so I neuer will my lucklesse choyce repent Nor can it staine mine honour or descent Set Englands Royall wreath vpon a stake There will I fight and not the place forsake And if the will of God hath so dispos'd That Richmonds brow be with the Crowne inclos'd I shall to him or his giue doubtlesse signes That duty in my thoughts not faction shines Which he proued to be true in the whole course of his life which was depensild vpon a Table and fixed here to his funerall monument a copie whereof it was my hap to haue out of the originall of which so much as concernes the subiect I here speake of in the same Character FOr as moche as it is wryttyn in the Epitaphe aboute the Tombe here present of the high and myghty Prynce Thomas late Duke of Norffolk after his discent from his noble antecessours declared in the same in wrytyng whyche is also set out in armes about the same Tombe That who will se farther of the manner of his lyuyng and seruyce doon by hym to hys Pryncis And of hys honorable depertyng out of this world schall resorte and loke in thys Table Fyrst you schall know the seid Duke was in hys yong age after he had been a sufficient season at the gramer schole Hencheman to Kyng Edward the iiii and was than callyd Thomas Howard Son and heire to Sir Iohn Howard Knight after Lord Howard and after that Duke of Norffolke of right enheritance and the seid Thomas Howard whan he was at mannes age was wyth dyuers other Gentlemen of Englond sent to Charles Duke of Burgâ—n in the begynnyng of the warres betwixt Kynge Lewes of Fraunce and the seid Duke Charles and ther contynued vnto th ende of the seid warres to hys greate prayse and thankys As well of Kyng Edward hys own souerayn Lord as of the seid Duke Charles And after the warres doon betwyxt the seid Kynge Lewes and the seid Duke Charles Than the seid Thomas Howard returned in to Englond vn to Kynge Edward hys souerayn Lord And he made hym immedyatly Esquyer for his body And he was aboute hym at hys makynge redy bothe euenyng and mornyng And afterward he made hym Knyghte at the maryage of the Duke of Yorke Kynge Edward hys seconde son And so he was with the seid Kynge Edward in all hys busynes aswell at Lyncolne Shire feld at the tyme of Banberyfeld as at all other hys busynes And also at suche tyme as the same Kynge was takyn by the Erle of Warwyke at Warwyke befor hys escape and departynge in to Flaunders And after the Kyngys depertynge in to Flaunders for that the Coostis of Englond were so sett ffor depertynge of any other his seruauntis and frendis the seid Thomas Howard was dryuyn of fforce to take Sayntwary of Seynt Ioannes in Colchester for the true seruyce he bare vn to Kynge Edward and at the seid Kyngys retourne out of Flaunders the seid Sir Thomas Howard resortyd vn to hym and went wyth hym to Barnet Feld and ther was sore hurte And after whan Kyng Edward went into Fraunce wyth hys Army Ryall he sent thether before dyuers gentylmen And for that the seid Sir Thomas Howard had good experyence aswell in hys beynge wyth Charles Duke of Burgon as in dyuers Feldys and busynesses witthe seid Kynge Edward he had therfor Commaundement to go ouer wyth them For his aduyse and counsell tyll the seyd Kynge came ouer And whan Kyng Edward and Kyng Lewes mette at the Barriars vpon the Ryuer of Som the seid Sir Thomas Howard was wyth kynge Edward at the Barriars by the kyngis commaundement and no mo Men saue only the Chaunceller of Englond the Chaunceller of Fraunce and Sir Iohn Cheney And after the kyngis comyng home into Englond the seid Sir Thomas Howard obteyned lycence of the kynge to lye in Norffolk at an howsse which he had in the righte of my Lady hys wyffe called Asshewelthorpe and ther he laye and kepte an honorable howsse in the fauor of the hoole Shire duryng the lyffe of the seid kynge Edward and at that tyme and long after my Lord hys father was alyue And after kynge Edward was ded and kynge Edward the fyfte his Son than kyng Rychard was kyng And than the forseid Sir Thomas Howard was hys Subgette And for that the yonge Duches of Norffolk whiche was very heire therunto was ded withoute yssue And the Lord Howard Father to the seid Sir Thomas Howard was rightefull heire to the same off former discent was creatt Duke of Norffolk and he creatt Erle of Surrey And so they both serued the seid kynge Rychard truly as his Subgettis durynge his lyff lyeng at home in their owne Countries and kepyng honorable howsses And they went with hym to Bosworthe felde where the seid kynge Rychard was slayne and also the seid Duke of Norffolk And thafforseid Erle hurte and takyn vpon the Feld and put in the Tower of London by kynge Henry the vii and ther contynued thre yeerys and an halfe In whiche tyme of his beyng in the Tower the same kynge Henry had a felde wyth the Erle of Lyncolne in Notyngham Shire besydys Newarke and the leeffetenant of the Tower came to the seid Erle and proferred to hym the keyes to goo out at his plesure and he answered hym ageyne that he wolde not deperte thens vn to suche tyme as he that commaunded hym thether shuld commaunde hym out ageyn whiche was kynge Henry the vii but charged the leffetenant vpon hys alligeaunce yf the kynge war on lyue to bryng hym ther as the kynge was to theâ—tente he myght do his Grace seruyce and after that for the true and feithfull seruyce that the seid kynge Henry herd of him doon to his other Prynce and also that he sawe hymselfe he dide on Bosworth feld and for the grete preyse and truth that he herd of hym whills he was prisoner and that he wold nat thoughe he had liberty come out of the Tower at the Erle of Lyncolnes feld he toke hym out to his presence and to be aboute his own person And wythin x. wekes after hys comyng out of the Towre
and them in case the sâ—â—d kyng wold invade thys hys Realme whiche he dide in deede contrary to hys oth and promyse with the hoole power of the Realme of Scotlond Whiche when the seid Erle hard of he made as greatt haste towardis hym as he coude with the kyngs power of the North partys And toke hys lodgyng in the Campe or playn caâ—â—yd Wollar haugh in the Countie of Northumbrelond which was in the â—ight of the kyng of Scottis and of all hys army then â—ying on Floddon hyll a ground more lyke a campe or forteres than any meete ground to gyve batayle on contrary to hys promes made to Rogeâ—ras Purseuaunte at armys before sent vnto hym from the seid Erle with message that the said Erle with the Lord Howard then Admerall of Englond hys Son And the no 〈◊〉 men of the North partis with other the kyngs Subgettis of the same North partis was come thedir to represse and resiste hys Invasyons of hys souerayn Lordis Realme desyryng the said kyng of Scottis to gyve hym bataile which his message the same kyng of Scottis toke very thankfully and ioyusly promysyng hym to abide ther on the same grounde wher he than was whiche hys promys he brake as is aforesaid and tooke Floddon hilâ—ys a ground unprengnable and shot at hym hys great Ordenaunce where as he lay like one mynded to kepe it like a forteres And whan the said Erle dide perceyve that he had brokyn hys promys and takyn so stronge â— grounde as Floddon hillys he than the said Erle remoued all his Batail vnto a playn besydis Barmer wood to thentente to get betwene hym and hys owne Realme of Scotlond and ther leygeed but one nyght and on the next mornyng toâ—e hys passage ouer the water of at Twyfull forthe and than he marched the said kyng and hys oste in suche maner as he gat betwene hym and hys aune reame of Scotlond be force wherof the said kyng was fayn to leue his Campe and to prepare hymself to bataile witthe seid Erle on a hyll besydis Bramston in Northumbrelond very neer vnto Sandyford Wher the said Erle witthe good assistauns of the Nobull men and the power of the said North partys fought witthe said kyng and hym â—anquâ—sshed and slewe in playn bataile derectely before his owne Standard In which bataile ware slayne on the Scottysshe parte ii Bysshoppes xi Eâ—lys xvii Barons CCCC knyghtis besydys other Gentilmen with xvii M in nombre which ware nombred asweel by Scottysshe men as by them that dyd bury the moste parte of them And of trouth dyvers Gentylmen and others aswell of the said Erlys servantys as of the North partyes and of Chesshir and Lankasshir war ther slayne for hard it ys and half impossible in suche a conflicte and bataile to be wonne without losse of men whoys deth may be ioyed among ther frendis to dye in so hygh a servys doon to ther Prynce And this noble acte was don by the helpe of almyghty God to the highe honour of the kyngis hyghnes Honor and prays to the said Erle and to all other Noble men and otheres the kyngs Subgettis that war ther with hym at the bataile the ix daye of Septembir in the v yeer of our souerayn Lord kyng Henry the viii And this doon the said Erle went to Barwyke to establysshe all thyngys well and in good order And sent for the dede body of the kyng of Scottis to Barwyke And whan the Ordenaunce of the kyng of Scottis was brouth of the feld and put in good suertie and all other thyngys in good order Than the seid Erle toke hys Iorney toward Yorke and ther abode duryng the kyngis pleasur and caryed with hym the dede body of thafforesaid kyng of Scottis And ther laye vnto suche tyme as the kyngis hyghâ—es cam from beyond the See after his wynnyng of Tyrwyn and Tomey And than hys highnes sent for the seid Erle to mete hym at Rychemond and so he dide and ther delyvered vnto his highnes the dede body of the kyng of Scottis whiche deâ—â— bodye was delyuered in to the Charter hous ther and ther to abide duryng the kyngs plesur And for the servyce that the seid Erle dide he was honorably restored vnto his right name of Duke of Norffolk and also had geuen vnto hym greatt possessyons by the kyngis highnes And whan the warre betwixt the kyng our souerayn Lord and the Frenche Kyng was eended than the said Duke was sent into Fraunce as chieff Commyssyoner with Lady Marye the Kyngis Suster to be maryed vnto the Frenche Kyng Lewes And after when the kyng and the Quene were both out of the Reame to mete witthe Frenche kyng Frauncys at Guynes and the Prynces remaynyng in the Reame beyng a childe the said Duke was left behynde as protector and defender to mynyster Iustice and to see good Rule and Gouernaunce in the Reame in the absence of the kyngis highnes and so contynued aboute the kyng and of his preuye Counsayle tyll he wâ—s of age of fourescore yeeris and then the kyngis highnes was content that the said Duke shulde go home in to hys owne countrey vnto the Castell of Framlyngham wher he contynued and kepte an honorable howse vnto the houre of his deth And ther he dyed lyke a good Cristen Prynce I now to wytnes Whose sowle Iesu pardon And at his depertyng out of Framlyngham Castell toward hys buryall he coude nat be asked one grote for his dette nor for restitucion to any person and so was had to this present Abbay of Thetford with moche honor Accompanyed with many greatt Lordis and the Noble men of both Schires of Norffolk and Suffolk Leuyng then lyuyng these his children herafter named that is to seye his son and heyre the Lord Thomas Duke of Norffolk the Lord Edmond Howard the Lord Willyam Howard and the Lord Thomas Howard witthe Ladye Elysabeth wiffe to the Uicount Rocheford the Lady Agnes Countes of Oxenford the Lady Kateryne espoused to the heyre of Sir Rice app Thomas of Walys the Lady Elysabeth espoused vnto the Uicount Fitzwaters son and heyr And the Lady Dorathie then beyng not maryed but lefte for hir Right good substance to marry hyrwyth Henry Fitz-Roy the naturall sonne of King Henry the eight begotten of the Lady Talboys daughter of Sir Iohn Blount knight Duke of Richmond was here interred as Graston Stow Hollinshed and other writers affirme howsoeuer some will haue him to bee buried at Framingham in Suffolke Hee married Mary daughter of the foreremembred Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke Earle Marshall and Lord high Treasurer of England with whom he liued not long but dyed at Saint Iames by Westminster the 22. of Iuly in the yeare of Christ Iesus 1536. He was a Prince very forward in Martiall actiuities of good literature and knowledge in the tongues vnto whom the learned Antiquarie Leland dedicated a booke as appeareth by this Hexastichon following which is
Hengraue in Suffolke of which Familie and the owner of which Lordship was that renowned Lawyer Edmund de Hengraue who flourished in the raigne of Edward the first who died the 23. of May 1349. Sir Robert Bacon Richard Earle of Clare Roger Fitz. Osbert Lady Katherin his wife Sir Henry Bacon Sir Robert Bacon Knights Lady Sabina the wife of ... Bacon Iohn Bacon his sonne and nine other children Ione of Acris Countesse of Glocester William Woderow and Margaret his wife Founders of this Monasterie of Augustine Friers as I haue it in my notes from William Le Neue Sir Henry Bacon of Garleston or Garneston obiit 1335. Dame Alice Lunston obijt 1341. Dame Elianor wife of Sir Thomas Gerbrigge of Wickhampton obijt 1353. Dame Elianor .... Dame Ione Caxton obijt 1364. Dame Sibill Mortimer wife of Sir Raphe Pygott of Gelston obijt 1385. Sir Iohn Laune of Flixtonforth and Mary his wife Iohn Haukin Esquire obijt 1385. Iohn Belhowse Esquire obijt 1399. Alexander Falstolfe William March Esquire obijt 1412. Iohn Pulham gent. obijt 1481. Snoring Orate pro animabus Radulphi Shelton Militis Domine Alicie vxoris eius filie Thome de Vuedal militis qui quidem Radulphus obijt M. ccccxxiiii The Rector of this Church at this time as I am informed is that reuerend learned Diuine and bountifull house-keeper Robert Pearson Doctor of Diuinitie Archdeacon of Suffolke sometimes Fellow of Queenes Colledge in Cambridge To whom I am bound to acknowledge all thankfulnesse he being in the same Colledge my Tutor Shelton Pries pour l'ame du Mounsieur Rauf Shelton Maistres istius ville qui morust le 18. Nouemb. L'an de grace M.ccclxxiii ...... pour la femme fil du Mounsieur Plays ... Vnder a faire Grauestone lieth the body of Sir Iohn Shelton who married the daughter of Sir William Bullein this Inscription remaining Hic sum sepultus Iohannes de Shelton Miles Here is a Tombe vnfinished of Sir Iohn Shelton knight who married Margaret the daughter of the Lord Morley and had issue Sir Raph Shelton knight and three daughters Anne married to .... Sir Iohn Goosalue knight Alice married to the heire of Sir Thomas Ieselyn knight and Mary married to Sir Iames Skudamor knight Here is also another Tombe vnfinished of Sir Raphe Shelton knight who married to his first wife Mary the daughter of Sir William Woodhouse knight and had issue Thomas his sonne and heire who married the daughter of Baron Flowerdew Sir Iohn who married the daughter of the Lord Cromwell Raph vnmarried Edward who dyed young Audrie Shelton married to .... Walsingham in Kent By his second wife the daughter of Master Barrow he had issue Henry Shelton and two daughters .... How neare these times these come I doe not know for I haue no further instructions but from an imperfect Funerall Monument Neither had he I meane Master Howldich who first collected these Inscriptions Marham Here was a religious little house of white Nunnes valued at thirteene pounds sixe shillings pennie halfe penny The first Founder hereof was Isabell Countesse of Arundell in her widowhood the wife of Hugh de Albeney Earle of Arundell and Sussex as by these words following extracted out of the booke of Wauerley in Surrey will appeare Isabella Comitissa Arundell morum quidem grauitate non mediocriter adornata circa salutem anime sue diligens sollicita divina vt creditur inspiratione preuenita Abbatiam Monialium ordinis Cistercen Marham vocatam cum summa devotione hoc anno viz. 1252. construxit Cuius rei causa Abbatem nostrum duxit consulendum ac permissione Domini ipsius domum nostram intrauit societatem ordinis in capitulo nostro deuote petiit et obtinuit Quatuor Marcas vnum Dolium vini Conventui ad pitancias donauit And thus religious orders were enricht and made great feasts by the admittance of lay persons into their Fraternities and Sisterhoods as I haue touched before in my discourse cap. I finde that William Bishop of Norwich gaue vnto the Abbey of Nunnes in Marham the appropriation and patronage of the Parish Church of Saint Peter in Rockland within the Diocesse of Norwich Anno Christi 1349. Shouldham A Priory consecrated to the holy Crosse and the blessed Virgin replenished likewise with white Nunnes Gilbertines The valuation of whose endowments amounted to bee yearely worth an hundred seuenty and one pound six shillings 8. pence It may very well be that Robert de Monte alto or Monthault was the Founder for I finde in the Abbey booke of Langeley that he lieth here buried An honorable Familie anciently in this tract and in diuers other places of the kingdome Chappell in the field Founded by Iohn Brome or his Ancestours for a Deane and seuen Prebends in which lye buried besides the Founder Williom Rees Esquire and Margerie his wife Edmond Bokenham Esquire and Dionisia his wife Iohn Strange Elisabeth wiffe of Iohn Ienny daughter and heire of Io. Wedyrlye Raueningham Sir Iohn of Norwich knight founded a Colledge here at Raueningham the Kings licence and Antonyes Bishop of Norwich thereunto first obtained for a Master and eight brethren Priests Anno 24. Ed. 3. which will best appeare by his Charter which followes Vniuersis c. Iohannes de Norwico miles Salutem Illud Apostoli frequenter in animo revoluens Qualia seminaverit homo talia metet c. ad mei meriti et Margarete consortis mee c. ad honorem Dei Genetricisque sue Sancti Andree Apostoli omniumque sanctorum Collegium ex Magistro et octo confratribus Presbyteris in Ecclesia de Raueningham diuina perpetuis temporibus celebratur duxi peritorum consilio ordinand Quod Collegium domus Sancte Marie de Raveningham nominari dispono Dat. apud Thorpe iuxta Norwic. die xxv Iulij Anno Domini M.cccl Tomeston or Thonston Sir Thomas de Skardelow knight and Iohn his brother founded here a Chantrie of six Chapleines to pray for the soules of the said Thomas Iohn and Agnes his wife and their parents soules The donation beares date the 8. of Feb. 1349. the 23. of Ed. the third Valued it was at fiftie two pounds fifteene shillings seuen pence halfe penie Cockford Anno 1243. the Priory of blacke Canons Reguler at Cockford or Cokesford was founded by Sir Iohn de Canneto id est Cheney knight After him the Lord Say and after that the Lord Clinton were Patrons as I haue it out of a Manuscript Which Foundation was rated as others were at a low value to be of yearely reuenues one hundred fiftie three pounds seuen shillings and a pennie Tylney Smeeth So called of a smooth plaine or Common thereunto adioyning some two miles in extensure Pinguis adeo luxurians vt Paduana pascua videatur superasse So abundantly fertile that in fatnesse of soile it doth exceed the pastures about Padua in Italy For it serues