Vale underneath along Corve which commonly is called Corves-dale to Sir Foulque of Dinan Afterwards it belonged to the Lacies of Ireland and by a daughter fell to Sir Geffrey de Ienevile a Poictevin or as some will have it of the house of Lorain from whose heires it descended againe by a daughter to the Mortimers and from thence hereditarily to the Crowne Then the Inhabitants in processe of time built in the very bosome of the Towne and on the highest ground a very faire Church and the onely Church they have And so it beganne to be of great account and to excell other neighbour Townes adjoyning And although by King Stephen Simon Montfort and King Henry the Sixth it suffered much damage in the civill Warres yet it alwayes flourished againe and now especially ever since that King Henry the Eighth ordained the Councell of the Marches not unlike to those Parliaments in France the Lord President whereof doth for the most part keepe Courts and Terme here which a man could hardly have seene at any time without Suites whether it were for the great state and authority that it carryed or because the Welshmen are so forward and hote to goe to Law This Councell consisteth of the Lord President so many Counsellers as it shall please the Prince to appoint a Secretary an Attorney a Sollicitour and the foure Iustices of the Counties in Wales Somewhat lower upon the River Temd is seene Burford which from Theodoricke Saie and his Posterity came unto Robert Mortimer and from his posterity likewise unto Sir Geffrey Cornwaile who derived his Descent from Richard Earle of Cornwall and King of the Alemans and his Race even unto these daies hath flourished under the name of Barons of Burford but not in the dignity of Parliamentary Barons whereas it is holden as we reade in the Inquisition of the King for to finde five men for the Army of Wales and by service of a Baronie As for those that I may note thus much by the way who held an entire and whole Barony they were commonly in times past reputed Barons and as some learned in our common lawes are of opinion Baron and Barony like as Earle and Earledome Duke and Dukedome King and Kingdome were Conjugata that is Originally yoke-fellowes When Temd now is leaving Shropp-shire behinde it not farre from the bankes thereof there raise themselves up Northward certaine hils of easie ascent Cleehill they call them much commended for yeelding the best Barly in great plenty neither are they without iron mines at the descent whereof in a Village called Cleybury Hugh Mortimer built a Castle which King Henry the Second forthwith so rased because it was a noursery of sedition that scarce there remaine any tokens thereof at this day also hard by standeth Kinlet where the Blunts flourished Their name in this Tract is very great so sirnamed at first of their yellow haire the Family noble and ancient and the branches thereof farre spread Then saw we on the right hand banke of Severn Brug Morfe commonly but corruptly called Bridg-North so called of Burg or Burrbugh and Morfe a Forest adjoyning whereas before time it was named simply Burgh A Towne fortified with wals a ditch a stately Castle and the Severn which betweene the Rockes runneth downe with a great fall seated also upon a Rocke out of which the waies leading into the upper part of the Towne were wrought out Achelfleda Lady of the Mercians first built it and Robert de Belesme Earle of Shrewesbury walled it who trusting to the naturall strength of the place rebelled against King Henry the First like as afterward Roger Mortimer against King Henry the the Second but both of them with ill successe for they were both forced to yeeld and submit themselves absolutely to the Kings command At the Siege of this Castle as we reade in our Annales King Henry the Second being levelled at with an arrow had beene shot therewith quite through the body had not Sir Hubert Syncter a noble and trusty Servitour to the King interposed himselfe and to save the King received both the arrow and his deaths wound withall Before time also Sir Raulph de Pichford bare himselfe so valiantly heere that king Henry the First gave unto him the little Burgh hard by To hold by service for to finde dry wood for the great chamber of the Castle of Burgh against the comming of his Soveraigne Lord the King Willeley or Willey is not farre from hence the habitation in old time of Sir Warner De Willeley from whose Posterity by the Harleis and Peshall it came to the notable Family of Lacon advanced by marriage long since with the heire of Passelew and of late by the Possession of Sir I. Blunt of Kinlet There be in like manner other Townes and Castles heere and there in this Tract as Newcastle Hopton Castle Shipton and upon the River Corve Corvesham which Walter Clifford had by the gift of king Henry the Second also Brancroft and Holgot commonly Howgate which belonged sometime to the Manduits then to Robert Blunt Bishop of Bath and afterwards to the Lovells More higher are Wenlocke now knowne for the lime but in king Richard the Seconds time for a mine of Copper there But much more knowne in the Saxons dayes for a most ancient Nunnery where Milburga that most holy virgin lived in great devotion and was entombed the which Nunnery Earle Roger de Montgomerie repaired and replenished with Monkes In later times Sir Iohn Winell called also Wenlocke because he heere inhabited for his faithfull service to king Henry the Sixth was by him advanced to the state and honor of Baron Wenlocke and elected knight of the Garter in whose cause he manfully lost his life in the Battaile of Tewkesbury leaving no issue but from his cozin and heire generall the Lawleys of this County are lineally descended A little more West is Acton Burnell a Castle of the Burnels and after of the Lovels made famous by the Court of Parliament there held in the time of king Edward the First This Family of the Burnells was in old time of great name and antiquity very much enriched also by that Bishop aforenamed But it failed and had an end in the Raigne of Edward the Second when Mawde the heire was married unto John Lovell first and secondly to John Haudlow whose sonne Nicholas assumed to himselfe the name of Burnell from whom the Ratcliffes Earles of Sussex and others draw their pedegree Scarce a mile from hence standeth Langley seated very flat and low in a Parke full of Woods the dwelling place of the Leas which may well challenge to be ranged among the Families that are of the better worth and greater Antiquity in this Tract Next unto these is Condover a Manour sometimes of the Lovells but of late the possession of Thomas Owen
processe of time this Hierarchie or Ecclesiasticall government was established in Scotland Two Archbishops one of Saint Andrews the other of Glasco whereof the former is counted Primate of all Scotland under whom there be eight Bishoprickes Dunkeld Aberdon Murray Dunblan Brechin Rosse Cathanes Orkney Under the Archbishop of Glasco there be onely three Candida Casa or Galloway Lismore or Argile The Iles. THE STATES OR DEGREES OF SCOTLAND THe Republicke or Commonwealth of the Scots like as that of Englishmen consisteth of a King the Nobility or Gentry and Commons The King that I may use the words of their owne Record is Directus totius Dominus that is The direct Lord of the whole Domain or Dominion and hath royall authority and jurisdiction over all the States and degrees as well Ecclesiasticall as Lay or Temporall Next unto the King is his eldest sonne who is called PRINCE OF SCOTLAND and by a peculiar right Duke of Rothsay and Seneschall or Steward of Scotland But all the rest of the Kings children are named simply Princes Among the Nobles the greatest and most honourable were in old time The Thanes that is those who if my judgement be ought were ennobled onely by the office which they administred For the word in the ancient English Saxon tongue signifieth The Kings Minister Of these they of the superior place were called Abthanes the inferior Under Thanes But these names by little and little grew out of use ever since that King Malcolm the third conferred the titles of Earles and Barons after the manner received from the English upon Noble men of good desert Since when in processe of time new titles of honours were much taken up and Scotland as well as England hath had Dukes Marquesses Earles Vicounts and Barons As for the title of Duke the first that brought it into Scotland was King Robert the third about the yeere of Salvation 1400. like as the honourable titles of Marquesse and Vicount were first brought in by our most gracious Soveraigne King James the sixth These are counted Nobles of the higher degree and have both place and voice in the Parliaments and by a speciall name are called Lords like as also the Bishops Among the Nobles of a lower degree in the first place are ranged Knights who verily are dubbed with greater solemnity than in any other place throughout all Europe by taking of an oath and are proclaimed by the publike voice of an Herald Of a second sort are they who are tearmed Lairds and Barons among whom none were reckoned in old time but such as held immediatly from the King lands in Chef and had jus furcarum that is power to hang c. In the third place are all such as being descended from worshipfull houses and not honoured with any especiall dignitie be termed Gentlemen All the rest as Citizens Merchants Artisans c. are reputed among the Commons THE JUDICATORIES OR COURTS OF JUSTICE THe supreme Court as well for dignitie as authoritie is accounted the Assembly of the States of the Kingdome which is called by the very same name as it is in England A Parliament hath the same verie power as absolute It consisteth of three States of Lords Spirituall namely Bishops Abbots and Priors and of Lords Temporall to wit Dukes Marquesses Earles Vicounts and Barons and Commissioners for Cities Burghs Unto whom were adjoined not long since for everie Countie also two Commissioners It is appointed and solemnly called by the King at his pleasure at a certain set time before it be holden When these States abovesaid are assembled and the causes of their assembly delivered by the King or the Chancellour the Lords Spirituall chuse out apart by themselves eight of the Lords Temporall Semblably the Lords Temporall make choise of as many out of the Lords Spirituall then the same all jointly together nominate 8. of the Commissioners for the counties as many of the Commissioners for the free Burghs regall which make up in all the number of 32. And then these Lords of the Articles so they are termed together with the Chancellor Treasurer Keeper of the Privie Seale Kings Secretarie c. do admit or reject everie bill proposed unto the States after they have bin first imparted unto the King Being allowed by the whole assembly of the States they are throughly weighed and examined and such of them as passe by the greater number of voices are exhibited unto the King who by touching them with his Scepter pronounceth that hee either ratifieth and approveth them or disableth and maketh the same voide But if any thing disliketh the King it is razed out before The Second Court or next unto the Parliament is the Colledge of Iustice or as they call it The Session which King James the fifth 1532. instituted after the forme of the Parliament of Paris consisting of a President 14. Senatours seven of the Cleargie and as many of the Laitie unto whom was adjoined afterward the Chancellor who hath the chiefe place and five other Senatours three principall Scribes or Clerks and as many Advocates as the Senatours shall thinke good These sit and minister justice not according to the rigour of law but with reason and equitie every day save onely on the Lords day and Monday from the first of November to the fifteenth of March and from Trinitie Sunday unto the Calends of August All the space betweene as being the times of sowing and harvest is vacation and intermission of all suites and law matters They give judgement according to the Parliament Statutes and Municipall Lawes and where they are defective they have recourse to the Imperiall Civill Law There are besides in everie Countie inferiour civill Judicatories or Courts kept wherein the Sheriffe of the shire or his deputie decideth the controversies of the inhabitants about violent ejections intrusions dammages debts c. From which Courts and Judges in regard of hard and unequall dealing or else of alliance and partialitie they appeale sometime to the Session These Sheriffes are all for the most part hereditarie For the Kings of Scots like as of England also to oblige more surely unto them the better sort of Gentlemen by their benefits and favours made in old time these Sheriffes hereditarie and perpetuall But the English Kings soone perceiving the inconveniences thereby ensuing of purpose changed this order and appointed them from yeere to yeere There be civill Courts also in everie regalitie holden by their Bailiffes to whom the Kings have graciously granted royalties as also in free Burroughs by the Magistrates thereof There are likewise Judicatories which they call Commissariats the highest whereof is kept at Edenburgh in which before foure Judges actions are pleaded concerning Wills and Testaments the right of Ecclesiasticall benefices Tithes Divorces and such other Ecclesiasticall causes In every other severall part almost throughout the Kingdome there sitteth but one Judge alone in a place about these
fighting now with him as it were for their libertie and native country hee overcame his enemies and when hee spoiled the naturall Inhabitants killed them up and in manner left not one alive their land according to his promise hee set out and appointed for the Conquerours to possesse who dividing the same by casting lots seeing many of them were slaine in the wars and that by reason of their fewnesse the whole country could not be occupied and peopled by them part of it that especially which lyeth Eastward they made over to coloners and new Inhabitants to every one according as by lot it fell out to be holden and tilled for a certaine rent and tribute All the rest they themselves possessed On the Southside verily these Saxons have the Franks and a remnant of the Thuringers whom the precedent whirlewind of hostilitie had not touched and are divided from them by the channell of the river Unstrote Northward dwell the Normans a most fierce Nation East from them the Obotrites inhabite and Westward the Frisians from whom continually without intermission they defended their territories and marches thereof either by Covenants of league or necessary skirmishing But now returne wee to our English-Saxons For a long time the State and Empire of the Saxons flourished exceeding well under the foresaid Heptarchie untill those Kingdomes bruised and impaired one of another with civill warres came all in the end to bee subjest unto the West-Saxons For Egbert King of these West-Saxons having conquered already foure of these Kingdomes and swallowed up as it were in hope the other twaine also to the end that they which were subdued and reduced to the rule of one Prince might bee conjoyned likewise in one name commanded by an Edict and Proclamation that the Heptarchie which the Saxons held should bee called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is England whereupon in Latine it was named Anglia taking denomination of the Angles as beeing of those three nations most in number and of greatest prowesse For they kept in their possession the Kingdome of Northumberland and Mercia very great and large countries together with East-England whereas the off-spring of the Jutes held Kent only and the Isle of Wight The Saxons East-sex South-sex West-sex a small parcell verily if it be compared with those spatious territories lands of the English Of whom long before this they were generally throughout called English in their owne language Englatheod Anglcynne Engl-cynn and Englisc-mon albeit every Kingdome therein had a speciall name of the owne by it selfe And this appeareth for certaine as well out of other writers as Beda who intituled his Story The Historie of the English-Nation Yea and in that Heptarchie those Princes that over-ruled the rest were stiled Gentis Anglorum Reges that is Kings of the English nation At this time the name of Britaine lay forgotten and growne quite out of use among the Inhabitants of this Island remaining only in books and not taken up in common speech And hereupō it is that Boniface the bishop of Mentz descended frō hence called this our country Saxony beyond the Sea Howbeit K. Eadred about the yeare of our Lord 948. used in some Charters and Patents the name and title of King of Great Britaine like as Edgar in the yeare 970. bare this stile also The Monarch of all whole Albion Being now called Anglia or England the state and puissance of these Angles was come to the full height and therefore such is the revolution of all mortall things hastened apace to their period and end For the Danes continually infesting our coasts many yeares together at the length began to enter ransacking and mangling this countrie most pittifully NAMES OF ENGLISH-SAXONS MY purpose was even here to have set downe the orderly succession of the English-Saxon Kings both in the Heptarchie and also in their Monarchie but seeing that they seeme not properly to belong unto this place neither is the bare heaping up of names onely delightfull to the Reader perhaps it will be more acceptable if I briefly annexe hereto what I have observed by much reading and especially in Alfricus our ancient Grammarian as touching the force reason and signification of the ancient English names Not that my meaning is to interpret every name severally for that were a piece of worke very laborious neither can such barbarous names in which there lieth couched great significancie succinct brevitie and some ambiguitie be easily delivered in another tongue But considering that most of them bee compounded and that of few simples I will explaine the said simples that the significations of the compound implying all the osse and presage of good lucke wished-for and happie fortune may evidently appeare and that we may throughly perceive there is among all nations that Orthotes of names which Plato speaketh of AEL EAL and AL in names compounded like as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke compositions signifieth Al or Wholly Hereupon Aelwin is as much as Wholly or Fully Victor Albert All bright and dread wholly dread or reverend Alfred Altogether Pacificall or peacefull Whereunto in some sort are correspondent in Greeke Pammachius Pancratius Pamphilius c. AELF which with varietie of Dialect is pronounced Vlf Wolph Hulph Hilp Helfe and in these daies Helpe carrieth in it a signification of Helpe or Aide as for example Aelfwin that is a victorious aide Aelfwold a helpfull Governour Aelfgiva she that giveth helpe according to which are these Greeke names Boetius Symmachus Epicurus ARD betokeneth naturall disposition or towardnesse as Godard is as much as Divine towardlinesse or inclination Reinard Sincere disposition Giffard a franke and liberall nature Bernard a filiall and sonne-like affection ATHEL Adel and Ethel import Noble Thus Aethelred that is Noble in counsell Aethelard a noble nature or disposition Aethelbert famously Noble Ethelward a noble Tutor or Protectour BERT the same that with us at this day Bright and in Latin Illustris and clarus that is Splendent and cleare so Ecbert that is Bright and shining for ever Sigbert a splendent conquerour as also shee whom the Germans named Bertha the Greeke called Eudoxia as Luitprandus witnesseth And of this sort were Phaedrus Epiphanius Photius Lampridius among the Greekes Fulgentius and Illustrius c. among the Latins BALD with the people of the North parts is the same that Audax in Latine that is Bold as Jornandes sheweth a word that yet is not growne out of use So Baldwin and by inversion Winbald is the same that Bold Victour Ethelbald Nobly bold Eadbald Happily bold Unto which are consonant Thraseas Thrasimachus and Thrasibulus in Greeke c. KEN and KIN import Kinsfolke as Kinulph an helpe to Kinsfolke Kinhelm a Defender of his kin Kinburg a defence to kinred Kinric powerfull in or to kinsfolke CVTH beareth with it a signification of skill and cunning so Cuthwin that is a skilfull or politicke Conquerour
faithfull Knights or upon the faith of a Knight how far they were from base gaine and lucre and what manner of paiment or Aid is to be levied for Knights fees when as the Prince the Kings eldest son should be invested in this honour c. I leave it for others to write as also when they had so far offended that being to suffer death therfore they were first dispoiled of their ensignes and of their degree to wit their militarie Girdle ungirted the Sword taken away their Spurs cut off with an hatchet their Gantlets or Gloves plucked from them and the Escutcheon of their Armes reversed like as in the degrading Ecclesiasticall order all the Ecclesiasticall ornaments booke chalice such like are taken away Let the curious also enquire whether those knights were truly by some termed Knights Bachelars or whether Bachelars were of a middle degree between these Knights and Esquires For in the Kings Record are read The names of Knights of Bachelars and of Valects of the Earle of Gocester and of others Whereupon there be that would have Bachelars so called as one would say Bas-Chevaliers that is knights of low degree although other derive that name from the French verbe Battailer which signifieth to combate or fight it out Withall let them weigh and consider whether these dignities of knighthood in times past so glorious as long as they were more rare and bestowed onely as the reward of vertue may not be vilified when it becommeth common and lieth prostitute as it were to the ambitious humour of every one Whereof in the like case Aemilius Probus complained long since among the Romans Next in degree after these Knights 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 that is Men at Armes the Goths called them Schilpor all of carrying the shield as in old time among the Romans such as were named Scutarii who tooke that name either of their 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 the Nobilitie For in times past every Knight had two of these waighting upon him they carried his Morrion and shield as inseparable companions they stuck close unto him because of the said Knight their Lord they held certaine lands in Escutage like as the knight himselfe of the King by knights service But now a daies there be five distinct sorts of these for those whom I have spoken of already be now no more in any request The principall Esquires at this day those are accounted that are select Esquires for the Princes bodie the next unto them be knights eldest sonnes and their eldest sonnes likewise successively 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 male faile togither with them the title also faileth In a fourth ranke are reckoned those unto whom the King himselfe together with a title giveth armes or createth Esquires by putting about their necke a silver colar of SS and in former times upon their heeles a paire of white spurres silvered whereupon at this day in the West part 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 bee those ranged and taken for Esquires whosoever have any superiour publike office in the Common-weale or serve 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 ever I could observe in the raigne of Richard the Second Gentlemen or the common sort of Nobilitie bee they that either are descended of worshipfull parentage or raised up from the base condition of people for their vertue or wealth Citizens or Burgesses be such as in their owne severall citie execute any publike office and by election have a roome in our High Court of Parliament Yeomen are they whom some call Free-borne or Free-holders and our law termeth Homines Legales that is Lawfull men and who of Free-hands may dispend fortie shillings at least by the yeare Lastly Craftsmen Artisans or Workemen be they that labour for hire and namely such as sit at worke Mechanicke Artificers Smiths Carpenters c. Which were termed of the Romans Capite censi as one would say Taxed or reckoned by the poll and Proletarii LAVV COVRTS OF ENGLAND AS touching the Tribunals or Courts of Justice of England there are three sorts of them among us for some bee Ecclesiasticall others Temporall and one mixt of both which being the greatest and most honourable of all is called by a name of no great antiquitie and the same borrowed out of French The Parliament The Anglo-Saxons our ancestours termed it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is An assembly of the wise and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A Counsell and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Greeke word Synodus that is A great Synod or meeting The Latine writers of that and the ensuing age called it Commune Concilium Curiam altissimam Generale placitum Curiam magnam Magnatum Conventum Praesentiam Regis Praelatorum Procerumque collectorum Commune totius Regni Concilium c. That is The Common councell The Highest court The Generall Plea The Great court The meeting of States The Presence of the King Prelates and Peeres assembled together The Publike Councell of the whole Kingdome c. And like as the Generall Councell of all Etolia is named by Livie PANAETOLIUM so this may well be termed PANANGLIUM For it consisteth of the King the Clergie the superior Nobles the elect Knights and Burgesses or to speake more significantly after the Lawyers phrase of the King the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Commons which States represent the body of all England It is not held at set and certaine times but summoned by the King at his pleasure so often as consultation is to be had of high affaires and urgent matters that the Common weale may sustaine no damage at his will alone it is dissolved Now this Court hath soveraigne and sacred authoritie in making confirming repealing and expounding Lawes in restoring such as be attainted or outlawed to their former estates in deciding of the hardest controversies betweene private persons and to speake at a word in all causes which may concerne either the safetie of the State or any private person whatsoever The next Court after this in the daies presently following the Normans comming and some good while after was The Court of the King himselfe and the same kept in the Kings house or Palace accompanying the King whither so ever he retired or went in progresse
Iustices of the Assises to end and dispatch controversies depending and growne to an issue in the foresaid principall Kings Courts betweene plaintiffes and defendants and that by their Peeres as the custome is whence they are commonly called Iustices of Nisi prius which name they tooke of the writs sent unto the Sheriffe which have in them these two words Nisi Prius that is Vnlesse before c. The Star-Chamber or the Court rather of Kings Counsell wherein are discussed and handled criminall matters perjuries cousenages fraud deceit riots or excesse c. This Court in regard of time is right ancient and for dignitie most honourable For it seemes that it may claime antiquitie ever since the first time that Subject appealed unto their Soveraignes and the Kings Councell was erected Now the Judges of this Court are persons right Honourable and of greatest reputation even the Kings Privie Counsellors As for the name of Star-Chamber it tooke it from the time that this Counsell was appointed at Westminster in a Chamber there anciently garnished and beautified with Starres For we read in the Records of Edward the Third Counseil en la Chambre des Estoilles pres de la Receipt al Westminster that is The Counsell in the Chamber of Starres neere unto the Receit at Westminster But the Authoritie thereof that most sage and wise Prince Henry the Seventh by authoritie of Parliament so augmented and established that some are of opinion though untruely hee was the first founder of it The Judges heere are The Lord Chancellor of England The Lord Treasurer of England The Lord President of the Kings Counsell The Lord Keeper of the Privy Seale and all Counselors of the State as wel Ecclesiasticall as Temporall and out of the Barons of the Parliament those whom the King will call The two chiefe Iustices of the Benches or in their absence two other Iudges The Officers heerein are these The Clerke of the Counsell The Clerke of writs and processe of the Counsell in the Star-Chamber c. And causes here are debated and decided not by Peeres according to our common Law but after the course of Civill Law The Court of Wards and Liveries hath the name of Pupils or Wards whose causes it handleth was first instituted by Henrie the Eighth whereas in former times their causes were heard in the Chancerie and Exchequer For by an old Ordinance derived out of Normandie and not from Henry the Third as some doe write when a man is deceased Who holdeth possessions or Lands of the King in chiefe by Knights service as well the heire as his whole patrimonie and revenues are in the Kings power tuition and protection untill he be full one and twentie yeares of age and untill by vertue of the Kings briefe or letter restitution and re-delivery be made unto him thereof In this Court the Generall Master sitteth as Judge under whom are these The Supravisor or Surveior of Liveries The Atturney generall of the Court The generall Receiver The Auditour The Clerke of the Liveries The Clerke of the Court Fortie Fedaries and a Messenger There have sprung up also in these later times two other Courts to wit Of reforming Errours whereof the first is to correct Errours in the Exchequer the other to amend errours committed in the Kings Bench. The Judges in the former of these twaine are the Lord Chancellor and Lord Treasurer of England with others of the Kings Justices whom they are disposed to take unto them In the later The Iustices of the Common Pleas and the Barons of the Exchequer The Admirals Court handleth Sea matters In this are reckoned the Lord Admirall of England his Lieutenant and a Iudge two Scribes a Serjeant of the Court and the Vice-Admirals of England Now proceede we to the Courts of Equitie The Chancerie drew that name from a Chancellor which name under the ancient Roman Emperours was not of so greate esteeme and dignitie as wee learne out of Vopiscus But now adaies a name it is of highest honour and Chancellors are advanced to the highest pitch of civill Dignitie Whose name Cassiodorus fetcheth from crosse grates or lattesses because they examined matters within places severed apart enclosed with partitions of such crosse bars which the Latins call Cancelli Regard saith hee to a Chancellor what name you beare It cannot bee hidden which you doe within Lattesses For you keepe your gates lightsome your barres open and your dores transparent as windows Whereby it is very evident that he sate within grates where he was to be seene on every side and thereof it may be thought he tooke that name But considering it was his part being as it were the Princes mouth eie and eare to strike and dash out with crosse-lines lattise like those letters Commissions Warrants and Decrees passed against law and right or prejudiciall to the comon-wealth which not improperly they termed to cancell some thinke the name of Chancellor came from this Cancelling and in a Glossarie of latter time thus we read A Chancellor is he whose Office is to looke into and peruse the writings and answers of the Emperour to cancell what is written amisse and to signe that which is well Neither is that true which Polydore Virgil writeth namely that William the Conquerour instituted a Colledge or fellowship of Scribes to write letters pattents c. and named the Master of that Societie Chancellor considering it is plaine and manifest that Chancellors were in England before the Normans Conquest How great the dignitie and authoritie of the Chancellor is at this day it is better knowne than I can declare but of what credit it was in old time have heere in a word or two out of a writer of good antiquitie The dignitie of the Chancellor of England is this He is reputed the second person in the Realme and next unto the King with the one side of the Kings Seale whereof by his Office he hath the Keeping he may signe his owne injunctions to dispose and order the Kings Chappell as hee liketh to receive and keepe all Archbishopricks Bishopricks Abbeies and Baronies void and falling into the Kings hand to be present at all the Kings Counsels and thither to repaire uncalled also that all things be signed by the hand of his Clerke who carrieth the Kings Seale and that all things be directed and disposed by advise of the Chancellor Item that by the helpfull merits of his good life through Gods grace he need not die if he will himselfe but Archbishop or Bishop And heereof it is that the Chancellor-ship is not to be bought The forme and manner of ordaining a Chancellor for that also I will note was in the time of King Henrie the Second by hanging the great Seale of England about the necke of the Chancellor elect But in King Henry the Sixth daies this was the order of it according to the notes I tooke out of the Records When the place of the Lord
Alice his onely daughter being wedded unto Richard Nevill augmented his honour with the title of Earle of Salisburie who siding with the house of Yorke was in the battell fought at Wakefield taken prisoner and beheaded leaving to succeede him Richard his sonne Earle of Warwicke and Salisburie who delighting in dangers and troubles enwrapped his native countrey within new broiles of Civill warre wherein himselfe also left his life The one of his daughters named Isabell was married unto George Duke of Clarence brother to King Edward the Fourth and shee bare him a sonne called Edward Earle of Warwicke who being a very child and innocent was by King Henrie the Seventh beheaded like as his sister Margaret suffered the same death under King Henrie the Eighth An usuall pollicie and practise among suspicious Princes For the securitie of their own persons and their posteritie by one occasion or other that evermore are soone offered and as quickly pickt to make away or keepe under the next of their bloud Anne the other daughter of Richard Nevill Earle of Warwick and Salisburie became wife to Richard Duke of Glocester brother to King Edward the Fourth and brought him a sonne whom his uncle King Edward in the 17. of his reigne created Earle of Salisburie and Richard his father usurping the kingdome made Prince of Wales But he departed this life in his tender yeares about that time that his mother also died not without suspition of poison King Henry the Eighth afterward about the fifth yeare of his raigne in a full Parliament restored and enabled in bloud Margaret daughter to George Duke of Clarence to the name stile title honour and dignitie of Countesse of Salisburie as sister and heire to Edward late Earle of Warwick and Salisburie And about the 31. yeare of the said King she was attainted in Parliament with divers others and beheaded when she was 70. yeares old Since which time that title of honour was discontinued untill in the yeare of our Lord 1605. our Soveraigne Lord King Iames honored therewith S. Robert Cecill second sonne of that Nestor of ours William Cecill upon whom for his singular wisedome great employments in the affaires of State to the good of Prince and Countrey he had bestowed the honorable titles of Baron Cecill of Essendon and Vicount Cranburn Thus much of the Earles of Salisburie Lower still and not far from this Citie is scituate upon Avon Dunctone or Donketon a burrough as they say of great antiquitie and well knowne by reason of the house therein of Beavois of Southampton whom the people have enrolled in the number of their brave worthies for his valour commended so much in rhyme to posteritie This Salisburie is environed round about with open fields and plaines unlesse it be Eastward where lieth hard unto it Clarindon a very large and goodly parke passing fit for the keeping and feeding of wild beasts and adorned in times past with an house of the Kings Of which parke and of the twentie groves inclosed therein Master Michael Maschert Doctor of the Civill lawes hath prettily versified in this wise Nobilis est lucus cervis clausura saronam Propter a claro vertice nomen habet Viginti hinc nemorum partito limite boscis Ambitus est passus mille cuique suus A famous Parke for Stag and Hind neere Salisbury doth lie The name it hath of one faire downe or hill that mounts on hie Within the same stand xx groves enclos'd with severall bound Of which in compasse every one a mile containes in ground Famous is this Clarindon for that heere in the yeare 1164. was made a certaine recognition and record of the customes and liberties of the Kings of England before the Prelates and Peeres of the Kingdome for the avoiding discentions betweene the Clergie Iudges and Barons of the Realme which were called The Constitutions of Clarnidon Of the which so many as the Pope approved have beene set downe in the Tomes of the Councels the rest omitted albeit Thomas Becket then Archbishop of Canterburie and the rest of the Bishops approved them all Heereby is Jvy Church sometime a small Priory where as tradition runneth in our grandfathers remembrance was found a grave and therein a corps of twelve foote and not farre of a stocke of wood hollowed and the concave lined with lead with a booke therein of very thicke parchment all written with Capitall Roman letters But it had lien so long that when the leaves were touched they fouldred to dust S. Thomas Eliot who saw it judged it to be an Historie No doubt hee that so carefully laied it up hoped it should be found and discover somethings memorable to posteritie Toward the North about sixe miles from Salisburie in these plaines before named is to bee seeene a huge and monstrous piece of worke such as Cicero termeth Insanam substructionem For within the circuit of a Ditch there are erected in manner of a Crowne in three rankes or courses one within another certaine mightie and unwrought stones whereof some are 28. foote high and seven foote broad upon the heads of which others like overthwart pieces doe beare and rest crosse-wise with a small tenents and mortescis so as 〈◊〉 le frame seemeth to hang whereof wee call it Stonehenge like as our old 〈◊〉 â—â—rmed it for the greatnesse Chorea Gigantum The Giants Daunce The 〈…〉 whereof such as it is because it could not be so fitly expressed in 〈…〉 caused by the gravers helpe to bee portraied heere underneath as it 〈…〉 weatherbeaten and decaied A. Stones called Corsestones Weighing 12. tunne carrying in height 24. foote in breadth 7. foote in compasse 16. B. Stones named Cronetts of 6. or 7. tunne weight C. A place where mens bones are digged up Our countrie-men reckon this for one of our wonders and miracles And much they marvaile from whence such huge stones were brought considering that in all those quarters bordering thereupon there is hardly to be found any common stone at all for building as also by what meanes they were set up For mine owne part about these points I am not curiously to argue and dispute but rather to lament with much griefe that the Authors of so notable a monument are thus buried in oblivion Yet some there are that thinke them to bee no naturall stones hewne out of the rocke but artificially made of pure sand and by some glewie and unctuous matter knit and incorporate together like as those ancient Trophies or monuments of victorie which I have seene in Yorkshire And what marvaile Read we nor I pray you in Plinie that the sand or dust of Puteoli being covered over with water becommeth forthwith a very stone that the cesternes in Rome of sand digged out of the ground and the strongest kind of lime wrought together grow so hard that they seeme stones indeed and that Statues and images of marble chippings and small grit grow together so compact and firme
it selfe into a channell yet often times it overfloweth the low lands about it to no small detriment Not farre from the said mere Furle sheweth it selfe a principall mansion of the Gages who advanced their estate by the marriage of one of the heires of Saint Clare Princes favour and Court Offices The shore next openeth it selfe at Cuckmere which yet affordeth no commodious haven though it be fed with a fresh which insulateth Michelham where Gilbert de Aquila founded a Priory for black Chanons And then at East-bourn the shore ariseth into so high a Promontory called of the beach Beachy-points and Beau-cliffe for the faire shew being interchangeably compounded with rowe of chalke and flint that it is esteemed the highest cliffe of all the South coast of England As hitherto from Arundell and beyond the countrey along the coast for a great breadth mounteth up into high hilles called the Downes which for rich fertilitie giveth place to few valleys and plaines so now it falleth into such a low levell and marsh that the people think it hath been over-flowed by the sea They call it Pevensey Marsh of Pevensey the next towne adjoyning which lieth in the plaine somewhat within the land upon a small river which often times overlaieth the lands adjacent In the old English Saxon Language it was walled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Norman speech Pevensell now commonly Pemsey It hath had a meane haven and a faire large castle in the ruinous walles whereof remaine great bricks such as the Britans used which is some argument of the antiquitie thereof It belonged in the Conquerours time to Robert Earle of Moriton halfe brother by the mothers side to the Conquerour and then had fiftie and six Burgesses After the attainder of his Sonne William Earle of Moriton it came to King Henrie the First by Escheat In the composition betweene Stephen and King Henrie the second both towne and castle with whatsoever Richard de Aquila had of the Honor of Pevensey which after his name was called Honor de Aquila and Baronia de Aquila or of the Eagle was assigned to William Sonne to K. Stephen But he surrendred it with Norwich into King Henrie the Seconds hand in the yeere 1158 when he restored to him all such Lands as Stephen was seased of before hee usurped the crowne of England After some yeeres King Henrie the third over-favouring forrainers granted the Honor de Aquila which had fallen to the crowne by Escheat for that Gilbert de Aquila had passed into Normandie against the Kings good will to Peter Earle of Savoy the Queenes uncle But he fearing the envie of the English against forrainers relinquished it to the King and so at length it came to the Dutchy of Lancaster Inward from Pevensey is seated Herst in a Parke among the woods which name also it hath of the woody situation For the ancient English-men called a wood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This was immediately after the Normans entry into England the seat of certaine noble gentlemen who of that place were a good while named de Herst untill William the sonne of Walleran de Herst tooke unto him the name Monceaux of the place haply where he was borne an usuall thing in that age whereupon that name also was adnexed unto this place which ever since was of the Lord termed Herst Monceaux From whose Posteritie by heire generall it descended haereditarily to the Fienes These Fienes called likewise Fenis and Fienles derive their pedigree from Ingelram de Fienes who had wedded the heire of Pharumuse of Boloigne of the house of the Earles of Boloigne in France About the time of King Edward the Second Sir Iohn Fienes married the heire of Monceaux his sonne William married one of the heires of the Lord Say his sonne likewise the heire of Batisford whose sonne Sir Roger Fienes married the daughter of Holland and in the first yeare of King Henrie the Sixt built of bricke the large faire uniforme convenient house heere Castle-like within a deepe moate The said King Henrie the Sixt Accepted declared and reputed Sir Richard Fienis sonne of the said Sir Roger to be Baron of Dacre And the same tittle King Edward the fourth chosen Arbitratour and Umpire betweene him Sir Humfrey Dacre awarded confirmed to the said S. Richard Fienis and to the heires of his bodie lawfully begotten for that he had married Ioane the cousin and next heire of Thomas Baron Dacre and to have praecedence before the L. Dacre of Gilesland heire male of the family Since which time the heires lineally descending from him being enriched by one of the heires of the Lord Fitz-Hugh have enjoyed the honor of Baron Dacre untill that very lately George Fienis Lord Dacre sonne to the unfortunate Thomas Lord Dacre died without issue whose onely sister and heire Margaret Sampson Lennard Esquire a man both vertuous and courteous tooke to wife and by her hath faire issue In whose behalfe it was published declared and adjudged by the Lords Cōmissioners for Martiall causes in the second yeere of the raigne of King Iames with his privity and assent Royall That the said Margaret ought to beare have and enjoy the name state degree title stile honor place and precedency of the Baronie of Dacre to have and to hold to her and the issue of her bodie in as full and ample manner as any of her ancestors enjoied the same And that her children may and shall have take and enjoy the place and precedence respectively as the children of her ancestors Barons Dacre have formerly had and enjoyed Now to returne to the Sea-coast about three miles from Pevensey is Beckes-hill a place much frequented by Saint Richard Bishop of Chichester and where he died Vnder this is Bulver-hith in an open shore with a rooflesse Church not so named of a bulles hide which cut into thongs by William the Conquerour reached to Battaile as they fable for it had that name before his comming But heere he arrived with his whole fleete landed his armie and having cast a rampier before his campe set fire on all his ships that their onely hope might be in manhood and their safety in victorie And so after two daies marched to Hastings then to an hill neere Nenfeld now called Standard hill because as they say he there pitched his Standard and from thence two miles farther where in a plaine the Kingdome of England was put upon the hazard and chance of a battaile and the English-Saxon Empire came to a full period and finall end For there King Harold in the yeere of our Lord 1066. the day before the Ides of October albeit his forces were much weakened in a former fight with the Danes and his soldiers wearied besides with a long journey from beyond Yorke encountred him in a place named Epiton When the Normans had sounded the Battaile first the skirmish continued for a pretty while with shot of arrowes
birth parentage and Filiation whose wisdome also whose justice princely courage warlike exploits most valiantly atchieved in the defence of the State and whose roiall birth and bloud as who was descended from the bloud roiall of the three most renowned Kingdomes of England France and Spaine they knew assuredly Wherefore having throughly weighed these and such like motives they willingly and withall hearty affection tendring the welfare of the land by that their petition and one generall accord of them all elected him for their King and with prayers and teares lying prostrate before him humbly craved and besought his gracious favour to accept and take upon him the Kingdomes of England France and Ireland appertaining to him by right of inheritance and now presented to him by their free and lawfull election and so for very pitty and naturall zeale to reach forth unto his Countrey now forlorne his helping hand that after so great and grievous stormes the sonne of grace might shine upon them to the comfort of all true hearted English men This supplication being tendred privately to himselfe before that he entred upon the Kingdome was presented also afterwards unto him in the publike assembly of all the States of the Realme and there allowed and so by their authoritie enacted and published with a number of words as the maner is heaped up together that according to the law of God the law of Nature the lawes of England and most laudable custome Richard was and is by lawfull election Inauguration and Coronation the undoubted King of England c. and that the Kingdomes of England France and Ireland appertained rightfully to him and the heires of his body lawfully begotten And to use the very words as they stand penned in the originall Record By the authority of the Parliament it was pronounced decreed and declared that all and singular the contents in the foresaid Bill were true and undoubted and the Lord the King with the assent of the three States of the Kingdome by the foresaid authoritie pronounceth decreeth and declareth the same for true and undoubted These things have I laid forth more at large out of the Parliament Rowle that yee may understand both what and how great matters the power of a Prince the outward shew of vertue the wily fetches of Lawyers fawning hope pensive feare desire of change and goodly pretenses are able to effect in that most wise assembly of all the States of a Kingdome even against all Law and right But this Richard is not to be accounted worthy to have bin a Soveraigne had he not bin a Soveraigne as Galba was reputed who when he was a Soveraigne deceived all mens expectation but most worthy indeed of Soveraigntie had he not being transported with ambition which blasteth all good parts by lewd practises and mischievous meanes made foule way thereunto For that by the common consent of all that are wise he was reckoned in the ranke of bad men but of good Princes Now remembring my selfe to be a Chorographer I will returne to my owne part and leave these matters unto our Historiographers when God shall send them In this Countie there are Parishes 280. OXONIENSIS Comitatus vulgo Oxfordshyre qui pars olim DOBUNORUM OXFORD-SHIRE OXFORD-SHIRE in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as we said belonged also to the Dobuni on the West side joyneth upon Glocester-shire on the South which way it runneth out farthest in breadth is dissevered from Bark-shire by the River Isis or Tamis Eastward it bordereth upon Buckingham-shire and Northward where it endeth pointed in manner of a Cone or Pine-apple hath North-hampton-shire of one side and Warwick-shire on the other side confining with it It is a fertile Country and plentifull wherein the Plaines are garnished with Corne-fields and meddowes the Hilles beset with Woods stored in every place not onely with Corne and fruites but also with all kinde of game for Hound or Hawke and well watered with fishfull Rivers For ISIS or OUSE which afterwards comes to bee named Tamis maketh a long course and runneth under the South side Cherwell also a prety River well stored with fish after it hath for a time parted North-hampton-shire and Oxford-shire passeth gently with a still streame through the middest of the Country and divideth it as it were into two parts And Tamis with his waters conforteth and giveth heart to the East part untill both of them together with many other Riverets and Brookes running into them bee lodged in Isis. This Isis when it hath passed a small part of Wil-shire no sooner is entred into Oxford-shire but presently being kept in and restrained with Rodcot bridge passeth by Bablac where Sir R. Vere that most puissant Earle of Oxford Marquesse of Dublin and Duke of Ireland who as he stood in most high favour and authority with King Richard the Second so he was as much envied of the Nobles taught us as one said that no power is alwaies powerfull Who being there discomfited in a skirmish by the Nobles and constrained to take the River and swimme over found the Catastrophe of his fortune and subversion of his state For immediately he fled his country and died distressed in exile Of whom the Poet in his Marriage of Tame and Isis made these verses Hic Verus notissimus apro Dum dare terga negat virtus tendere contrà Non sinit invictae rectrix prudentia mentis Vndique dum resonat repetitis ictibus umbo Tinnitúque strepit circum sua tempora cassis Se dedit in fluvium fluvius laetatus illo Hospite suscepit salvum salvúmque remisit Heere VERE well knowne by badge of savage Bore While man-hood shames to yeeld yet strive againe Stout heart may not restrain'd by wisdomes lore Whiles shield resounds by doubled blowes amaine And helmet rings about his eares is faine The streame to take The River glad therefore His Guest tooke safe and set him safe on shore Isis from thence overflowing many times the flat and low grounds is first encreased with the Brooke Windrush which springing out of Cotteswold hath standing upon the banke side Burford in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where Cuthred King of West-Saxons at that time by curtesie of the Mercians when hee could endure no longer the most grievous exactions of Aethelbald the Mercian who began to oppresse his people and sucke their bloud came into the field against him and put him to flight having won his Banner wherein by report of Authours there was a golden Dragon depainted Then passeth it by Minster Lovell the habitation in times past of the great Barons Lovels of Tichmerch who being descended from Lupellus a Noble man of Normandy flourished for many ages and augmented their estate by rich marriages with the daughters and heires of Tichmerch with the heires of the Lords Holland D'eyncourt and the Vicounts Beaumont But their line expired in Francis Vicount Lovell Lord
the CORITANI who beyond the ICENI dwelling further within the Land and spreading themselves very farre through the Mediterranean part of the Island inhabited as farre as to the German Ocean to wit in these Countries which now are commonly called NORTHAMPTON-SHIRE LEICESTER-SHIRE RUTLAND-SHIRE LINCOLN-SHIRE NOTTINGHAM-SHIRE and DERBY-SHIRE With the Etymology of this their name I will not once meddle for feare least putting downe incertainties for certaine and undoubted trueths I may seeme to slip into an errour For although this People were spread farre and wide which GUR-TATI signifieth in the British tongue yet if I would boldly avouch that these were thence called CORITANI should I not play hazard at all aventure Let them for mee guesse more safely who can more happily As for mee I will in the meane time according to my purpose survey as diligently as I may these shires which I have now named each one by it selfe orderly in their severall places NORTHAMTONIAE COMITATVS DESCRIPTIO IN QVO CORITANI OLIM IN SEDERVNT NORTHAMPTON-SHIRE THis County of NORTHAMPTON in the English-Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Northanton-shire commonly called Northampton-shire situate in the very middle and heart as it were of England from the South-West side where it is broadest drawing it selfe narrower by little and little reacheth out in length to the North-East On the East lie Bedford and Huntingdon-shires on the South Buckingham and Oxford-shires Westward Warwickshire and Northward Rutlandshire and Lincoln-shire separated from it by Avon the lesse and Welland two Rivers The East side thereof from Ouse to Dowbridge one of the Romane high waies which they call Watling-streat runneth through The middle and East part the River Nen which by Writers is named also Aufona with his gentle streame parteth in twaine A champian countrey it is exceeding populous and passing well furnished with Noblemens and Gentlemens houses replenished also with Townes and Churches in so much as in some places there are twenty and in others thirty Steeples with Spires or square Towres within view at once The Soile very fertile both for tillage and for pasture yet nothing so well stored with Woods unlesse it bee in the further and hither sides But in every place as elsewhere also in England it is over-spred and as it were beset with Sheepe which according as that Hythodaus merrily said Were wont to bee so gentle and fed with so little but now in our daies as the report goes beginne to bee so ravenous and wilde that they devour men they waste and depopulate fields houses and Towneships On the South border where the River Ouse so often mentioned first springeth in a place rising with an easie ascent and out of which there walme Springs in great plenty standeth Brakley as one would say a place full of Brake or Ferne in old time a famous Mercat Towne and staple as it were for wool which how large and wealthy it was it maketh now demonstration to travailers only by the ruines thereof and by a Major whom it hath for the chiefe Magistrate The Zouches Lords of the place founded a College there from whom it came successively as a possession in marriage right unto the Hollands and the Lovels But when Lord Lovell in King Henry the Seventh his time was attainted the Stanleies became Lords of it by the Kings gift But the College there at this day ruinous belongeth to the Students of Mawdlen College in Oxford who use it for a retyring place Neither came this place to the least name and reputation that it had by occasion of the memory of Saint Rumbald a young Infant who as wee finde written in his life being a Kings sonne so soone as ever he was borne after he had spoken I know not what holy words and professed himselfe to be a Christian was forthwith baptised and so presently dyed and being canonized by the people amongst the Saints had his commemoration kept both here and at Buckingham From hence Northward when we had gone six miles forward and all the way well wooded first we saw Astwell where Sir T. Billing sometime Lord chiefe Justice in the Kings Bench with great state dwelt from whom it descended hereditarily to the Shirleis by the ancient Family of the Lovels then Wedon and Wapiham which the Family of the Pinkeneys held by Barony untill that H. de Pinkney ordained King Edward the First his heire Whom being a right good and excellent Prince many evill men made their heire whereas according to Tacitus a good father maketh no Prince but a bad one his heire Then came we straight waies to TRIPONTIUM which Antonine the Emperour mentioneth though not in due place For I am of opinion that this was the very same which now we call Torcester and to prove it there be some arguments of moment as yet remaining If Trimontium in Thracia had that name of three hils Triturrita in Tuskane of three Towres and Tripolis likewise of three Cities conjoyned in one I have no reason to doubt that this TRIPONTIUM of ours might be so called of three Bridges And heere at this Torcester the Roman Port way which in many places most evidently sheweth it selfe betweene it and Stony stratford is cut through by three speciall Chanels or streames that the little River there divideth it selfe into which in times past like as at this day had of necessity there severall Bridges over them Now if you ask a Britain how he saith in British Three Bridges you shall heare him by and by answer Taer ponte and there be certaine honest men from whom I have received heere peeces of Romane Coine that constantly avouch the true name of this place to be Torcester and think it was so called of Towres Howbeit Marianus nameth it Touecester if the booke be not faulty in whom we read that this towne was so fortified in the yeer of our Redemption 917. that the Danes by no meanes could winne it by assault and that King Edward the elder afterwards compassed it about with a stone Wall yet wee with all our seeking could see no tokens of any such Wall Only there is a Mount remaining cast up with mens hands they call it Berihill now turned into private mens Gardens and planted on every side with Chery trees And very time it selfe hath so conquered and subdued the towne that beholden it is to the situation to the name and old Coines other whiles heere found for that esteeme which it hath of antiquity For no memorable thing there is in it but one onely Church that it hath and the same is a large and faire building wherein D. Sponde sometime the Parson thereof by report a good benefactor to Church and towne both lieth entombed within a tombe of fine and curious workemanship But hard by at Easton-Nesson there is to bee seene a faire and beautifull dwelling house belonging to the Knightly Family of the Farmâ—rs The River that watereth Torcester as it goeth from hence toward Ouse runneth
the eldest Daughter and hee built Saint Andrewes Church and the Castle at Northampton After him succeeded his sonne Simon the second who a long time was in suite about his mothers possessions with David King of Scots his mothers second husband and having sided with King Stephen in the yeere of our Lord 1152. departed this life with this testimoniall that went of him A Youth full fraught with all unlawfull wickednesse and as full of all unseemely lewdnesse His sonne Simon the third having gone to law with the Scots for his right to the Earldome of Huntingdon wasted all his estate and through the gracious goodnesse of King Henry the Second married the Daughter and Heire of Gilbert de Gaunt Earle of Lincolne and in the end having recovered the Earledome of Huntingdon and disseized the Scots dyed childelesse in the yeare 1185. Whereas some have lately set downe Sir Richard Gobion to have beene Earle of Northampton afterward I finde no warrant thereof either in Record or History Onely I finde that Sir Hugh Gobion was a Ringleader in that rebellious rable which held Northampton against king Henry the Third and that the inheritance of his house came shortly after by marriage to Butler of Woodhall and Turpin c. But this is most certaine that King Edward the Third created William de Bohun a man of approved valour Earle of Northampton and when his elder brother Humfrey de Bohun Earle of Hereford and of Essex High Constable also of England was not sufficient in that warlike age to beare that charge of the Constable he made him also High Constable of England After him his sonne Humfrey succeeding in the Earledome of Northampton as also in the Earledomes of Hereford and of Essex for that his Unckle dyed with issue begat two Daughters the one bestowed in marriage upon Thomas of Woodstocke the youngest sonne of King Edward the Third the other upon Henry of Lancaster Duke of Hereford who afterwards attained to the Crowne by the name of King Henry the Fourth The Daughter of the said Thomas of Woodstocke brought by her marriage this Title of Northampton with others into the Family of the Staffords But when they afterwards had lost their honours and dignities King Edward the Sixth honoured Sir William Parr Earle of Essex a most accomplished Courtier with the Title of Marquesse of Northampton who within our remembrance ended this life issuelesse And while I was writing and perusing this Worke our most sacred Soveraigne King James in the yeere of our Salvation 1603. upon one and the same day advanced Lord Henry Howard brother to the last Duke of Norfolke a man of rare and excellent wit and sweet fluent eloquence singularly adorned also with the best sciences prudent in counsell and provident withall to the state of Baron Howard of Marnehill and the right honourable name title stile and Dignity of Earle of Northampton There belong unto this Shire Parishes 326. LECESTRIAE COMITATVS SIVE Leicestershyre PARS OLIM CORITANORVM LEICESTER-SHIRE ON the North side of Northampton-shire boundeth LEICESTER-SHIRE called in that Booke wherein William the Conquerour set downe his Survey of England Ledecester-shire a champian Country likewise throughout bearing corne in great plenty but for the most part without Woods It hath bordering upon it on the East side both Rutland-shire and Lincoln-shire on the North Nottingham and Derby-shires and Warwick-shire on the West For the high Rode way made by the Romanes called Watling-streat directly running along the West skirt separateth it from Warwick-shire and on the South side as I noted even now lyeth Northampton-shire Through the middle part thereof passeth the River Soar taking his way toward the Trent but over the East-part a little River called Wreke gently wandereth which at length findeth his way into the foresaid Soar On the South side where it is divided on the one hand with the River Avon the lesse and on the other with the River Welland we meet with nothing worth relation unlesse it be on Wellands banke whiles he is yet but small and newly come from his head with Haverburgh commonly called Harborrow a Towne most celebrate heereabout for a Faire of Cattaile there kept and as for Carleton as one would say the husband-mens Towne that is not farre from it wherein I wote not whether it be worth the relating all in manner that are borne whether it bee by a peculiar property of the Soile or the water or else by some other secret operation of nature have an ill favoured untunable and harsh manner of speech fetching their words with very much adoe deepe from out of the throat with a certaine kinde of wharling That Romane streete way aforesaid the causey whereof being in some other places quite worne and eaten away heere most evidently sheweth itselfe passeth on directly as it were by a streight line Northward through the West side of this Province The very tract of which street I my selfe diligently traced and followed even from the Tamis to Wales purposely to seeke out Townes of ancient memory laugh you will perhaps at this my painfull and expencefull diligence as vainly curious neither could I repose my trust upon a more faithfull guide for the finding out of those said townes which Antonine the Emperour specifieth in his Itinerary This Street-way being past Dowbridge where it leaveth Northampton-shire behinde it is interrupted first with the River Swift that is indeed but slow although the name import swiftnesse which it maketh good onely in the Winter moneths The Bridge over it now called Bransford and Bensford Bridge which heere conjoyned in times past this way having been of long time broken downe hath beene the cause that so famous a way for a great while was the lesse frequented but now at the common charge of the country it is repaired Upon this way lyeth of the one side Westward Cester-Over but it is in Warwick-shire a place worth the naming were it but in regard of the Lord thereof Sir Foulke Grevill a right worshipfull and worthy knight although the very name it selfe may witnesse the antiquity for our ancestours added this word Cester to no other places but only cities On the other side of the way Eastward hard by water Swift which springeth neere Knaptoft the seat of the Turpins a knightly house descended from an heire of the Gobions lieth Misterton belonging to the ancient family of the Poulteneis who tooke that name of Poulteney a place now decaied within the said Lordship Neere to it is Lutterworth a Mercate Towne the possession in times past of the Verdons which onely sheweth a faire Church which hath beene encreased by the Feldings of knights degree and ancient gentry in this Shire That famous John Wickliffe was sometime Parson of this Church a man of a singular polite and well wrought wit most conversant also in the holy Scripture who for that he had sharpened the neb of his pen against the Popes authority the Church
another place this Dignity had an end and therewith the stately part of the Towne by little and little was empaired untill that Edelfleda a most vertuous and noble Lady in the yeere after our Saviours Nativity 914. repaired and strongly walled it new about in so much as Matthew of Paris in his lesser Story wrote thus Legecester is a right wealthy City and notably well fenced with an indissoluble Wall which if it had a strong foundation were inferiour to no City whatsoever About the Normans entring into this Land it was well peopled and frequented yea and had very many Burgesses in it out of whom they were bound by an ancient custome as we reade in William the Conquerours booke To send twelve with the King so often as he â—ent in person to the warres But if hee made a voyage by sea against his enemies they sent foure horses to carry armour as farre as to London This City paid yeerely to the King 30. pounds by tale and twenty in ora that is by weight also 25. measures called Sextaries of hony But in the time of King Henry the Seconds Raigne it was sore overpressed with a world of great and grievous calamities and the wals throwne downe what time as Robert sirnamed Bossu that is Crouch backe Earle of Leicester conspired and rebelled against the King Which Matthew of Paris sheweth in these words For the obstinate stubbornesse of Earle Robert spurning against the King the noble City of Leicester was besieged and overthrowne by King Henry and the Wall which seemed indissoluble was utterly cast downe all round about For that I may adde thus much out of the lesser History abovesaid when the Wall of the City wanting a good foundation was undermined and the props that sustained it at length burnt the peeces and fragments of the Wall fell downe which even to this day such is the indissoluble tenacity and stifnesse of the morter remaine fast and retaine the bignesse of sound rockes Miserable also was the imposition of a fine upon the Citizens at that time and their banishment as lamentable who having obtained by paying summes of money licence to depart tooke Sanctuary for extreame feare in Saint Albans and Saint Edmundsbury The Castle likewise was dismantled of all Fortifications which verily was a large and strong peece Beneath which there is a very faire Hospitall or house for receit of poore people and a Collegiat Church wherein Henry Earle of Lancaster and Henry of Lancaster his sonne who was the first Duke of Lancaster lie buried For the said Duke when he was now stepped farre in yeeres of a pious minde built this Hospitall for the maintenance of poore folke and to that end dedicated it Concerning which Henry Knighton of Leicester who lived in that age writeth thus in his story Henry the first Duke of Lancaster built a Collegiat Church and an Hospitall without the South Gate of Leicester wherein hee ordained a Deane with 12. Canons Prebendaries as many Vicars and other Officers an hundred poore and feeble people and ten poore able women to give attendance upon the said feeble folke and this Hospitall hee endowed with sufficient revenewes As for this Hospitall it continueth in some good state as an other Bede-house in the Towne built by W. Wigeston But the Collegiat Church which was a magnificent worke and the greatest ornament of Leicester was demolished when religious houses were granted to the King At the other side of the City among most goodly and pleasant medowes which the River Soar watereth there was an Abbay called of that place De Pree of which the said Knighton hath written thus Robert de Bossu Earle of Leicester when he begun Gerondon Abbay for Cistertians founded the Monastery of S. Mary De Pratis at Leicester endowed it richly with Lands Possessions and Revenewes and himselfe with the consent of Amice his Wife became a Chanon Regular in the same and for the space of fifteene yeeres in habite of a Chanon served God there and so slept in the Lord That thus forsooth he might make amends by repentance in a Chanons weed of that offence which beforetime hee had committed by rebelling with a traiterous minde against his Liege Prince What name Leicester had in the Romans time it is not knowne In the Catalogue of Ninnius I thinke it to bee that which is called Caer Lerion But that Leir a King of whom there goe many tales built it they that will may beleeve it for mee But the situation thereof upon the Foss-way and the distance both from BENNONES and VEROMETUM agreeth so just with the description of Antonine that I cannot but thinke it to be that RATAE which Ptolomee nameth RAGAE although there is neither tippe nor toe remaining in it of the name RATAE unlesse peradventure it be in that old long Ditch and Rampire which they call Rawdikes scarce halfe a mile without the South Gate Heere am I at a stand and looke about me what way to follow for the seeking out of ancient Townes Ranulph a Monke of Chester recordeth that the ancient street way went through the wasts from hence to Lincolne but hee telleth us not through what Wasts The common voice goeth that it went on still full North through Nottingham-shire Antonine the Emperour if I have any insight at all seemeth to insinuate that it passed North-Eastward through this County into Lincoln-shire And verily this way there are places of antique memory that by some of their remaines and tokens shew themselves but the other way I could not my selfe ever yet meete with any what others have done I know not and would willingly learne North-West from Leicester and not farre off is Grooby a large Lordship and Manor which from Hugh Grantmaismill whom King William the Conquerour had enriched with great possessions and revenewes came by the Earles of Leicester and the Quincies unto the house of the Ferrers out of which the Lord Ferrers of Grooby flourished a long time in the honorable state of Barons and in the end Isabel the only daughter remaining of the right line brought it by her marriage into the name of the Greies from whence it fell againe at the last by Attainder into the Kings hands But whiles I was revising of this Worke our Soveraigne Lord King James restored Sir Henry Grey a worthy Knight to the ancient honour of his noble Progenitors creating him Baron Grey of Grooby in the first yeare of his Raigne Now let us returne to the River Soar which being past Leicester first giveth name to Montsorell or rather Mont-Soar-hill a name compounded of Norman and English both which now is famous onely for a Mercate there kept but in old time most renowned for the Castle seated upon a steepe and craggy Hill hanging over the River which before time belonged to the Earles of Leicester but afterwards to Saer de Quincy Earle of Winchester in the Barons warre at this day nothing
but a rude heape of rubbish For in the yeere 1217. the Inhabitants of the Towne when after a long Siege they had wonne it rased it downe to the very ground as being the Devils nest and a Den of theeves robbers and rebels Somwhat higher on the other side of the River standeth Barrow where is digged lime commended above all other for the strong binding thereof After some few miles from thence Soar while hee seeketh Trent leaveth Leicester-shire a little above Cotes now the habitation of the Family of Skipwith originally descended out of York-shire and enriched many yeeres since with faire Possessions in Lincoln-shire by an heire of Ormesbie On the opposite banke of Soar standeth Lough-borrough a Mercate Towne which adorned one onely man with the name of Baron to witte Sir Edward Hastings and that in the Raigne of Queene Mary But when shee of whom he was most dearely loved departed this life hee taking a loathing to the World was not willing to live any longer to the World but wholy desirous to apply himselfe to Gods Service retired into that Hospitall which hee had erected at Stoke Pogeis in Buckingham-shire where with poore people hee lived to God and among them finished the course of his life devoutly in Christ. That this Lough-borrow is that Towne of the Kings named in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which as Marianus saith Cuthwulph tooke from the Britans in the yeere of Christ 572. the neere affinity of the name may yeeld some proofe But now among all the Townes of this Shire it rightfully chalengeth the second place next unto Leicester whether a man either regard the bignesse or building thereof or the pleasant Woods about it For within very little of it the Forest of Charnwood or Charley stretcheth it selfe out a great way wherein is seene Beaumanour Parke which the Lords of Beaumont as I have heard fensed round about with a stone Wall These Beaumonts descended from a younger sonne of John County of Brene in France who for his high honour and true valour was preferred to marry the heire of the Kingdome of Jerusalem and with great pompe crowned King of Jerusalem in the yeere of our Lord 1248. Hence it is that wee see the Armes of Jerusalem so often quartered with those of Beaumont in sundry places of England Sir Henry Beaumont was the first that planted himselfe in England about the yeere 1308. who advanced to the marriage of an heire of Alexander Comine Earle of Boghan in Scotland whose mother was one of the heires of Roger Quincy Earle of Winchester entred upon a very goodly and faire inheritance and so a great Family was propagated from him Hee in the Raigne of Edward the Third for certaine yeeres was summoned to the Parliament by the name of Earle of Boghan and John Lord Beamont in the Raigne of Henry the Sixth was for a time Constable of England and the first to my knowledge that in England received at the Kings hands the state and Title of a Vicount But when William the last Vicount was dead without issue his sister was wedded to the Lord Lovell and the whole inheritance afterwards which was rich and great by attainder of Lovell fell into the hands of King Henry the Seventh In this North part we meete with nothing at all worth the naming unlesse it be a little religious house which Roise Verdon founded for Nunnes and called it Grace-Dieu now belonging to a younger house of the Beaumonts and where the Trent runneth hard by is Dunnington an ancient Castle built by the first Earles of Leicester which afterwards came to John Lacy Earle of Lincolne who procured unto it from King Edward the First the priviledge of keeping a Mercate and Faire But when as in that great proscription of the Barons under King Edward the Second the hereditaments of Thomas Earle of Lancaster and Alice Lacy his Wife were seised into the Kings hands and alienated in divers sorts the King enforced her to release this Manour unto Hugh Le Despenser the younger The East part of this Shire which is hilly and feedeth great numbers of Sheepe was adorned with two places of especiall note VERNOMETUM or VEROMETUM whereof Antonine the Emperour hath made mention and Burton-Lazers both in the ages fore-going of very great name and reputation VERNOMETUM which now hath lost the name seemeth to have stood for I dare not affirme it in that place which at this day men call Burrowhill and Erd-burrow For betweene VEROMETUM and RATAE according to Antonine his reckoning are twelve Italian miles and so many well neere there be from Leicester to this place The name Burrow also that it hath at this day came from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the Saxon Tongue signifieth a place fortified and under it a Towne called Burrough belonging to an old Family of Gentlemen so sirnamed But that which maketh most for proofe in that very place there riseth up an hill with a steepe and upright ascent on every side but South Eastward in the top whereof appeare the expresse tokens of a Towne destroyed a duple Trench and the very Tract where the Wals went which enclosed about eighteene Acres of ground within At this day it is arable ground and is nothing so famous as in this that the youth dwelling round about were wont yeerely to exercise themselves in wrestling and other games in this place And out of the very name a man may conjecture that there stood there some great Temple of the Heathen Gods For VERNOMETUM in the ancient Gauls language which was the same that the old Britans tongue soundeth as much as A great Temple as Venantius Fortunatus in the first booke of his Songs plainly sheweth writing of Vernometum a Towne of Gaule in these Verses Nomine Vernometum voluit vocitare vetustas Quod quasi fanum ingens Gallica lingua sonat In elder time this place they term'd by name of VERNOMET Which sounds in language of the Gauls as much as Temple Great As for Burton sirnamed Lazers of Lazers for so they used to terme folke infected with the Elephantiasie or Leprosie was a rich Spittle-house or Hospitall under the Master whereof were in some sort all other small Spittles or Lazer-houses in England like as himselfe also was under the Master of the Lazers in Hierusalem It was founded in the first age of the Normans by a common contribution over all England and the Mowbraies especially did set to their helping hands At which time the Leprosie which the learned terme Elephantiasis because the skins of Lepres are like to that of Elephants in grievous manner by way of contagion ranne over all England For it is verily thought that this disease did then first creepe out of Aegypt into this Island which eft-once had spread it selfe into Europe first of all in Pompeius Magnus his dayes afterwards under Heraclius and at other times as
Aelfred his brother humbly beseeching them to come and aide them that so they might give battaile to the fore-named Army which request they also easily obtained For those two brethren slacking no whit their promise having levied from all parts a mighty Army assembled their forces entred Mercia and seeking with one accord jointly to encounter the enemy come as farre as to Snottenga-ham And when the Painims keeping themselves within the defense of the Castle refused to give battaile and the Christians with all their force could not batter the Wall after peace concluded betweene the Paganes and Mercians those two brethren with their bands returned home But after this King Edward the elder built the Village Bridgeford just over against it and compassed the Towne about with a wall which now is fallen downe and yet the remaines thereof I have seene on the South side And within very few yeeres after in King Edward the Confessours time as wee reade in Domesday booke there were numbered in it one hundred and seventy three Burgesses and from the two Minters there were paid forty shillings to the King Also the water of Trent the Fosse dike and the way toward Yorke were warded and kept that if any man hindered the passage of vessels he was to make amends with the payment of foure pounds As for the Castle which now wee see it may bee well of great name in regard both of the Founder and the worthinesse also of the worke for William of Normandy built it to bridle the English and so strong it was as William of Newborough writeth as well by naturall situation as hand labour that it is held impregnable if it may have sufficient men to defend it unlesse it bee by famine Afterward also King Edward the Fourth bestowed great cost in the repairing of it and beautified it with faire buildings whereto King Richard also the Third set to his helping hand Neither for all the changes and alterations of times hath it undergone the common condition or destiny incident to such great Castles being never forced and wonne by assault Once was it in vaine besieged by Henry of Anjou at which time the souldiers lying in Garison set fire upon the buildings joyning unto it Once also it was suddenly surprised by Earle Robert de Ferrarijs in the Barons warre who spoiled the Inhabitants of all their goods The Castellanes report many stories of David King of the Scots prisoner in it and of Roger Mortimer Earle of March taken heere in a hollow secret passage under the ground who because he prised his faith and loyalty to his country lighter than Scotish gold and with a vaste minde designed other mischiefes was afterwards hanged Certes in the first base Court of the Castle wee went downe by many steps or staires with candle light into a Vault under the ground and certaine close roomes wrought out of the very rocke in the walles whereof are engraven the stories of Christs Passion and other things by the hand as they say of David the Second king of Scots who was there imprisoned But in the upper part of the Castle which riseth up aloft upon a rocke we came also by many staires into another Cave likewise under the ground which they call Mortimers Hole for that in it the foresaid Roger Mortimer lay hidden when as being guilty to himselfe of wickednesse he stood in feare of his life As for the position of Nottingham it seeth the North Pole elevated fifty three Degrees and hath the Meridian two and twenty Degrees and foureteene minutes distant from the utmost point of the West whence Geographers beginne to measure the Longitude From hence the Trent runneth with a milde streame and passeth forward by Holme called of the Lords thereof Holme Pierpount whose Family is both ancient and noble and out of which Robert Pierpount was summoned by King Edward the Third unto the high Court of Parliament among the Barons of the Kingdome unto Shelford where Ralph Hanselin founded a Priory and the Lords Bardolph had a mansion but now the seat of the worshipfull stocke of the Stanhopes knights whose state in this Tract hath growne great and their name renowned since they matched with an heire of Mallovell From whence he runneth downe with a rolling streame to Stoke a little Village but well knowne for no small overthrow and slaughter that there happened when Sir John de la pole Earle of Lincolne who being by King Richard the Third declared heire apparent to the Crowne seeing by the comming of king Henry the Seventh himselfe debarred of the hope of the Kingdome heere in behalfe of a counterfeit Prince rebelliously opposed himselfe against a lawfull king and so resolutely with his friends and followers lost his life Not farre from hence is Thurgarton where Sir Ralph D'eincourt founded a Priory and somewhat higher Southwell sheweth it selfe aloft with a Collegiat Church of Prebendaries consecrated to the blessed Virgin Mary a place not very faire in outward shew I must needs say but strong ancient and of great fame Which as they write Paulinus the First Archbishop of Yorke founded after he had baptised the Inhabitants of this Shire in the River Trent and so regenerated them to Christ. Since which time the Archbishops of Yorke have had here a very faire and stately Palace and three Parkes stored with Deere adjoyning thereto That this is the City which Bede calleth Tio-vul-Finga-cester I doe the more stedfastly beleeve because those things which he hath reported of Paulinus baptizing in the Trent neere unto Tio-vul-Finga-cester the private History of this Church constantly avoucheth to have beene done in this very place From thence out of the East Snite a little Brooke runneth into Trent which being but small and shallow watereth Langer a place of name in regard of the Tibetots or Tiptofts Lords thereof who afterwards became Earles of Worcester also Wiverton which from Heriz a worshipfull man long since in these parts came by the Brets and Caltostes unto the Chaworthes who fetch their name out of the Cadurci in France and derive their pedegree from the Lord of Walchervill Now doth Trent divide it selfe neere Averham or Aram an ancient habitation of the Suttons Gentlemen of respective worth and runneth hard under a good great Towne called Newark as one would say The new worke of the new Castle which Castle so fresh and of so beautifull building as Henry of Huntingdon termeth it Alexander that bountifull minded Bishop of Lincolne built which Prelate that I may use the words of an ancient Historian carrying a most brave and gallant minde builded both this Castle and another also with most profuse and lavish expense And because such manner of sumptuous buildings little became the gravity and dignity of a Bishop he to take away the envie and hard conceit of the world for such building and to expiate as it were the offence that grew thereby founded
worthy and heroicall a Knight ORATE PRO ANIMA PRAENOBILIS DOMINI DOMINI JOANNIS TALBOTT QVONDAM COMITIS SALOPIAE DOMINI TALBOTT DOMINI FURNIVALL DOMINI VERDON DOMINI STRANGE DE BLACK-MERE ET MARESCALLI FRANCIAE QUI OBIIT IN BELLO APUD BURDEVVS VII IULII M. CCCC.LIII That is Pray for the Soule of the right Noble Lord Sir John Talbot sometimes Earle of Shrewsburie Lord Talbot Lord Furnivall Lord Verdon Lord Strange de Black-Mere and Mareshall of France Who died in the battaile at Burdews VII IULII M. CCCC LIII Unto this Family of the Talbots there accrued by marriage-right the inheritance of the Barons Le Strange of Blackmere who were surnamed Le Strange commonly and Extranei in Latine records for that they were strangers brought hether by King Henrie the Second and in short time their house was far propagated These of Blackmere were much inriched by an heire of W. de Albo-monasterio or this Whit-Church and also by one of the heires of John Lord Giffard of Brimsfield of ancient Nobility in Glocester-shire by the onely daughter of Walter Lord Clifford More Westward lieth Ellesmer a little territorie but rich and fruitfull which as the Chronologie of Chester testifieth King John gave with the Castle to Lhewellin Prince of North-Wales in marriage with Joane his base daughter Afterwards in the time of King Henry the Third it came to the Family of the Stranges But now it hath his Baron Sir Thomas Egerton a man whom for his singular wisdome and sincere equity Queene Elizabeth chose to be Lord Keeper of the great Seale and King Iames making him Lord Chancellour advanced to the highest Honour of the long roabe and withall adorned with the Honorable title of Baron of Ellesmer Now let us briefely adde somewhat of the Earles of Shrewsbury Roger de Belesmo otherwise Montgomery was created the first Earle of Shrewsbury by King William the Conquerour unto whom he allotted also the greatest part of this Shire After him succeeded first his eldest sonne Hugh slaine in Wales without issue Then Robert another of his sonnes a man outragiously cruell toward his owne sonnes and hostages whose eyes with his owne hands he plucked out and gelded But afterwards being convict of high Treason he was kept in perpetuall prison by King Henry the first and so suffered condigne punishment for his notorious wickednesse Then was his Earledome made over unto Queene Adeliza for her dowry Many ages after King Henry the Sixth in the 20. yeere of his reigne promoted to this honour Iohn Lord Talbot whom both Nature bred and his disposition inured unto warlike prowesse And in the 24. yeere of his reigne he bestowed moreover upon the same Iohn whom in the Patent he calleth Earle of Shrewsbery and of Weisford the title of Earle of Waterford the Barony of Dongarvan and the Seneschalsie or Stewardship of Ireland But when he was slaine at Castilion upon Dordon neere Burdeaux together with his younger sonne Sir John Talbot Vicount L'isle after he had foure and twenty yeeres together marched with victorious armes over a great part of France his sonne Iohn by the daughter and one of the heires of Sir Thomas Nevill Lord Furnivall succeeded who siding with the house of Lancaster was slaine fighting valorously in the forefront of the battaile of Northampton From him by a daughter of the Earle of Ormond came Iohn the third Earle of Shrewsbury and Sir Gilbert Talbot Captaine of Callis from whom the Talbots of Graston descended This third Iohn had by his wife Katherine daughter to H. Duke of Buckingham George the fourth Earle who served King Henry the Seventh valiantly and constantly at the battaile of Stoke And he by Anne his wife daughter of William Lord Hastings had Francis the fifth Earle who begat of Mary daughter to Thomas Lord Dacre of Gillesland George the sixth Earle aman of approoved fidelity in weighty affaires of State whose sonne Gilbert by his wife Gertrud daughter to Thomas Earle of Rutland the seventh Earle maintaineth at this day his place left unto him by his ancestours with right great honour and commendation for his vertues In this region there are Parishes much about 170. CESTRIAE Comitatus Romanis Legionibus-et Colonijis olim insignis vera et obseluta descriptio CHES-SHIRE THE fifth and last of those Countries which in old time the CORNAVII held is the County of CHESTER in the Saxons Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly CHES-SHIRE and The County Palatine of Chester for that the Earles thereof had Royalties and princely Priviledges belonging to them and all the Inhabitants owed Allegeance and fealty to them as they did to the King As for this tearme Palatine that I may rehearse againe that which I have said before of this name was in times past common to all those who bare any Office in the Kings Court or Palace and in that age Comes Palatinus was a Title of Dignity conferred upon him who before was Palatinus with authority to heare and determine Causes in his owne Territory and as well his Nobles whom they called Barons as his Vassals were bound to repaire to the Palace of the said Count both to give him advise and also to give their attendance and furnish his Court with their presence This Country as William of Malmesbury saith Is scarce of Corne but especially of Wheat yet plentifull in Cattaile and fish Howbeit Ranulph the Monke of Chester affirmeth the contrary Whatsoever Malmesbury dreamd saith hee upon the relation of others it aboundeth with all kinde of victuals plenteous in Corne flesh fish and salmons especially of the very best it maintaineth trade with many commodities and maketh good returne For why in the Confines thereof it hath salt pits mines and metals And this moreover will I adde the grasse and fodder there is of that goodnesse and vertue that cheeses bee made heere in great number of a most pleasing and delicate taste such as all England againe affordeth not the like no though the best dayriwomen otherwise and skilfullest in cheese making be had from hence And whiles I am writing this I cannot chuse but mervaile by the way at that which Strabo writeth That in his time some Britans could not skill of making Cheese and that Plinie afterwards wondered That barbarous Nations who lived of milke either knew not or despised for so many ages the commodity of Cheese who otherwise had the feat of crudding it to a pleasant tartnesse and to fat buâ—yr Whereby it may be gathered that the devise of making Cheese came into Britaine from the Romans But howsoever this Region in fertility of soile commeth behinde many Countries in England yet hath it alwaies bred and reared more Gentry than the rest For you have not in all England againe any one Province beside that in old time either brought more valorous Gentlemen into the field or had more Families in it of Knights degree On the Southside it is hemmed
fortune to escape it selfe This was called The battaile of the Standard because the English keeping themselves close together about the standard received the first onset and shock of the Scotish endured it and at length put them to flight And this Standard as I have seene it pictured in ancient bookes was a mighty huge chariot supported with wheeles wherein was set a pole of a great height in manner of a mast and upon the very top thereof stood a crosse to bee seene and under the crosse hung a banner This when it was advanced was a token that every one should prepare himselfe to fight and it was reputed as an holy and sacred altar that each man was to defend with all power possible resembling the same for al the world that Carrocium of the Italians which might never be brought abroad but in the greatest extremitie and danger of the whole state Within this litle shire also Threske commonly called Thruske is worth to bee mentioned which had sometime a most strong Castle out of which Roger Mowbray displaied his banner of rebellion and called in the king of Scots to the overthrow of his owne native Country what time as King Henry the Second had rashly and inconsiderately digged as it were his owne grave by investing his sonne King in equall authority with himselfe But this rebellion was in the end quenched with bloud and this Castle quite dismantled so that beside a ditch and rampire I could see nothing there of a Castle Another firebrand also of rebellion flamed out heere in the Raigne of Henry the Seventh For when the unruly Commons tooke it most grievously that a light subsidie granted by the States of the Kingdome in Parliament was exacted of them and had driven away the Collectors thereof forthwith as it is commonly seene that Rashnesse speeding once well can never keepe a meane nor make an end they violently set upon Henry Percie Earle of Northumberland who was Lieutenant of these parts and slew him in this place and having John Egremond to be their leader tooke armes against their Country and their Prince but a few daies after they felt the smart of their lawlesse insolency grievously and justly as they had deserved Heere hard by are Soureby and Brakenbake belonging to a very ancient and right worshipfull family of the Lâ—scelles also more Southward Sezay sometime of the Darels from whence a great family branched and afterwards the Dawnies who for a long time flourished heere maintaining the degree and dignity of Knights right worthily The first and onely Earle of Yorke after William Mallet and one or two Estotevils of the Norman bloud who they say were Sheriffes by inheritance was Otho son to Henry Leo Duke of Bavar and Saxony by Maude the daughter of Henry the Second King of England who was afterwards proclaimed Emperour and stiled by the name of Otho the fourth From whose brother William another sonne of Maud are descended the Dukes of Brunswicke and Luneburgh in Germanie who for a token of this their kinred with the Kings of England give the same Armes that the first Kings of England of Norman bloud bare to wit two Leopards or Lions Or in a shield Gueles Long after King Richard the Second created Edmund of Langley fifth sonne of King Edward the Third Duke of Yorke who by a second daughter of Peter King of Castile and of Leon had two sonnes Edward the eldest in his fathers life time was first Earle of Cambridge afterwards Duke of Aumarle and in the end Duke of Yorke who manfully fighting in the battaile at Agincourt in France lost his life leaving no children and Richard his second sonne Earle of Cambridge who having marryed Anne sister of Edmund Mortimer whose grandmother likewise was the onely daughter of Leonell Duke of Clarence and practising to advance Edmund his wives brother to the royall dignity was streightwaies intercepted and beheaded as if hee had beene corrupted by the French to destroy King Henry the Fifth Sixteene yeeres after his sonne Richard was restored in bloud through the exceeding but unadvised favour of King Henry the Sixth as being sonne to Richard Earle of Cambridge brother to Edward Duke of Yorke and cozin also to Edmund Earle of March. And now being Duke of Yorke Earle of March and of Vlster Lord of Wigmore Clare Trim and Conaght hee bare himselfe so lofty that shortly hee made claime openly in Parliament against King Henry the Sixth as in his owne right for the Crowne which he had closely affected by indirect courses before in making complaints of the misgovernment of the State spreading seditious rumours scattering Libels abroad complotting secret Conspiracies and stirring up tumults yea and open Warres laying downe his Title thus as being the sonne of Anne Mortimer who came of Philip the daughter and sole heire of Leonel Duke of Clarence third sonne of King Edward the Third and therefore to be preferred by very good right in succession of the Kingdome before the children of John of Gaunt the fourth sonne of the said Edward the Third And when answere was made unto him that the Nobles of the Realme and the Duke himselfe had sworne Alleageance unto the King that the Kingdome by authority of Parliament had beene conferred and entailed upon Henry the Fourth and his heires that the Duke claiming his Title from the Duke of Clarence never tooke upon him the Armes of the Duke of Clarence that Henry the Fourth held the Crowne in right from King Henry the Third hee easily avoyded all these allegations namely that the said oath unto the King taken by mans law was in no wise to bee performed when as it tended to the suppression of the truth and right which stand by the Law of God That there was no need of Parliamentary authority to entaile the Crowne and Kingdome unto the Lancastrians neither would they themselves seeke for it so if they had stood upon any right thereunto As for the Armes of the Duke of Clarence which were his by right hee forbare of purpose to give them untill then like as hee did to claime his right to the Imperiall Crowne And as for the right or Title derived from king Henry the Third it was a meere ridiculous devise and manifest untruth to cloake the violent usurpation of Henry the Fourth and therefore condemned of all men Albeit these plees in the behalfe of the Duke of Yorke stood directly with law yet for remedy of imminent dangers the matter was ordered thus by the wisdome of the Parliament That Henry the Sixth should enjoy the right of the Kingdome for tearme of life onely and that Richard Duke of Yorke should be proclaimed heire apparant of the Kingdome he and his heires to succeed after him provided alwaies that neither of them should plot or practise ought to the destruction of the other Howbeit the Duke immediately was transported so headlong with ambition that hee went about to preoccupate and forestall
was Robert Boide whose wife and Earldome together when Boide was banished the realme James L. Hamilton as I said erewhile obtained and his posteritie enjoyed the same Earldome saving that of late Sir James Steward appointed guardian to James Hamilton Earle of Arran when hee was so defective in understanding that he could not manage his estate tooke this title in the right of being guardian Neere unto this standeth Buthe so called of a little religious Cell which Brendanus founded for so is a little Cell tearmed in the Scottish tongue In this Iland is Rothsay Castle which giveth the title of Dukedome unto the King of Scots eldest sonne who is borne Prince of Scotland Duke of Rothsay and Seneschall of Scotland since time that King Robert the third invested Robert his eldest sonne Duke of Rothsay the first in Scotland that ever was created Duke With which title also Queene Marie honoured Henrie Lord Darly before she tooke him to be her husband Then shew themselves Hellan sometimes called Hellan Leneow that it as Iohn Fordon interpreteth it The Saints Ilands and Hellan Tinoc that is The Swines Iland with a great number of other Ilands of lesse note and reckoning in the same Forth DAMNII CLUYDSDALE c. BEyond the NOVANTES more inward by the river Glotta or Cluyd and farther still even to the verie East sea dwelt in times past the DAMNII in those countries if I have any judgement for in things so farre remote from our remembrance and in so thick a mist of obscuritie who can speake of certaintie which are now callled Cluydsdale the Baronie of Renfraw Lennox Strivelinshire Menteth and Fife Neere unto the head of Cluyd in Crawford Moore among the wilde wasts certaine husbandmen of the countrey after great store of violent raine happened to finde certaine small peeces like scrapings of gold which have this long time given great hope of much riches but most of all in our dayes since that Sir Beamis Bulmer undertooke with great endevour to finde out here a Mine of gold Certes there is Azur gotten forth everie day without any paines in manner at all Now the Castle of Crawford together with the title of the Earle of Crawford was by Robert the second King of Scots given unto Sir James Lindesey who by a single combate performed with Baron Welles an Englishman won high commendation for his valour These Lindeseyes have deserved passing well of their country and are of ancient nobilitie ever since that Sir William Lindesey married one of the heires of William of Lancaster Lord of Kandale in England whose neice in the third degree of lineall descent was married into the most honourable family of Coucy in France Cluyd after hee hath from his spring head with much struggling got out Northward by Baron Somervils house receiveth unto him from out of the West the river Duglasse or Douglasse so called of a blackish or greenish water that it hath which river communicateth his name both to have the vale through which hee runneth called Douglasdale and also to Douglasse castle therein which name that castle likewise hath imparted unto the family of the Douglasses Which I assure you is very ancient but most famous ever since that Sir James Douglasse stucke verie close at all times as a most fast friend unto King Robert Brus and was readie alwaies with singular courage resolution and wisdome to assist him claiming the kingdome in most troublesome and dangerous times and whom the said King Robert charged at his death to carrie his heart to Jerusalem that hee might bee discharged of his vow made to goe to the Holy-land In memoriall whereof the Douglasses have inserted in their Coat of Armes a mans heart From which time this family grew up to that power and greatnesse and namely after that King David the second had created William Earle of Douglasse that they after a sort awed the Kings themselves For at one time well neere there were sixe Earles of them namely of this Douglasse of Angus of Ormund of Wigton of Murray and of Morton among whom the Earle of Wigton through his martiall prowesse and desert obtained at the hands of Charles the seventh king of France the title of Duke of Tourain and left the same to two Earles of Douglasse his heires after him Above the confluence of Douglasse and Cluyd is Lanric the hereditarie Sheriffdom of the Hamiltons who for their name are beholden unto Hamilton castle which standeth somewhat higher upon Cluyds banke in a fruitfull and passing pleasant place but they referre their originall as they have a tradition to a certaine Englishman surnamed Hampton who having taken part with Robert Brus received from him faire lands in this tract Much increase of their wealth and estate came by the bounteous hand of King James the third who bestowed in marriage upon Sir James Hamilton his own eldest sister whom he had taken perforce from the Lord Boide her husband together with the Earledome of Arran but of honours and dignities by the States of the kingdome who after the death of King James the fifth ordained James Hamilton grandsonne to the former James Regent of Scotland whom Henrie also the second King of France advanced to be Duke of Chasteau Herald in Poictou as also by King James the sixth who honoured his son John with the title of Marquesse of Hamilton which honourable title was then first brought into Scotland The river Glotta or Cluyd runneth from Hamilton by Bothwell which glorieth in the Earles thereof namely John Ramsey whose greatnesse with King James the third was excessive but pernicious both to himselfe and the King and the Hepburns whom I have already spoken of so streight forward with a readie stream through Glascow in ancient times past a Bishops seat but discontinued a great while untill that King William restored it up againe but now it is an Archbishops See and an Universitie which Bishop Turnbull after hee had in a pious and religious intent built a colledge in the yeere 1554. first founded This Glascow is the most famous town of merchandise in this tract for pleasant site and apple trees and other like fruit trees much commended having also a verie faire bridge supported with eight arches Of which towne I. Ionstoun thus versified Non te Pontificum luxus non Insula tantùm Ornavit diri quae tibi caussa mali Glottiadae quantùm decorant te Glascua Musae Quae celsum attollunt clara sub astra caput GLOTTA decus rerum piscosis nobilis undis Finitimi recreat jugera laeta soli Ast Glottae decus vicinis gloria terris Glascua foe cundat flumine cuncta suo The sumptuous port of Bishops great hath not adorn'd thee so Nor mitre rich that hath beene cause of thine accursed woe As Cluyds Muses grace thee now O Glascow towne for why They make thee beare thy head aloft up to the starrie skie Cluyd the beautie of the
his Kingdome divers authors affirme to have granted by his Charter or Patent Ireland and England both unto the Church of Rome to be held of it ever after in fee and to have received it againe from the Church as a Feudatarie also to have bound his successours to pay three hundred Markes unto the Bishop of Rome But that most worthie and famous Sir Thomas Moore who tooke the Popes part even unto death affirmeth this to be false For hee writeth that the Romanists can shew no such grant that they never demanded the foresaid money and that the Kings of England never acknowledged it But by his leave as great a man as hee was the case stood otherwise as evidently appeareth by the Parliament Records the credit whereof cannot bee impugned For in an assembly of all the States of the Realme in the reigne of Edward the third the Lord Chancellour of England proposed and related that the Pope would judicially sue the King of England as well for the Homage as the tribute which was to be yeelded for England and Ireland to the performance whereof King Iohn in times past had obliged himselfe and his successours and of this point which hee put to question required their opinion The Bishops desired to have a day by them selves for to consult about this matter the Nobles likewise and the people or Communaltie The day after they all met and with one generall accord ordained and enacted That for asmuch as neither King Iohn nor any other King whatsoever could impose such servitude upon the Kingdome but with the common consent and assent of a Parliament which was not done and whatsoever he had passed was against his oath at his coronation by him in expresse words religiously taken before God Therefore in case the Pope should urge this matter they were most readie to the uttermost of their power to resist him resolutely with their bodies and goods They also who are skilfull in scanning and sifting everie pricke and tittle of the lawes cry out with one voice That the said Grant or Charter of King Iohn was voide in Law by that clause and reservation in the end thereof Saving unto us and our heires all our Rights Liberties and Regalities But this may seeme beside my text Ever since King Johns time the Kings of England were stiled Lords of Ireland untill that King Henrie the eighth in the memorie of our fathers was in a Parliament of Ireland by the States thereof declared King of Ireland because the name of Lord seemed in the judgement of certaine seditious persons nothing so sacred and full of majestie as the name of King This name and title of the Kingdome of Ireland were by the Popes authoritie what time as Queene Marie in the yeere 1555. had by her Embassadours in the name of the Kingdom of England tendred obedience unto the Pope Paul the fourth confirmed in these words To the laud and glorie of almightie God and his most glorious mother the Virgin Mary to the honour also of the whole Court of heaven and the exaltation of the Catholike faith as the humble request and suite made unto us by King Philip and Queen Marie about this matter wee with the advice of our brethren and of plenarie power Apostolicall by our Apostolicall authoritie erect for ever Ireland to bee a Kingdome and endow dignifie and exalt with the title dignitie honour faculties rights ensignes prerogatives preferments preeminencies royall and such as other Realmes of Christians have use and enjoy and may have use and enjoy for the times to come And seeing that I have hapned upon those Noblemens names who first of all English gave the attempt upon Ireland and most valiantly subdued it under the imperiall crowne of England lest I might seeme upon envie to deprive both them and their posteritie of this due and deserved glorie I will set them downe here out of the Chancerie of Ireland according as the title doth purport The names of them that came with Dermot Mac Morrog into Ireland Richard Strongbow Earle of Pembroch who by Eve the daughter of Morrog the Irish pettie King aforesaid had one only daughter and she brought unto William Mareschall the title of the Earldome of Pembroch with faire lands in Ireland and a goodly issue five sonnes who succeeded one another in a row all childlesse and as many daughters which enriched their husbands Hugh Bigod Earle of Norfolke Guarin Montchensey Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester William Ferrars Earle of Derby and William Breose with children honours and possessions Robert Fitz-Stephen Harvey de Mont-Marish Maurice Prendergest Robert Barr. Meiler Meilerine Maurice Fitz-Girald Redmund nephew of Fitz-Stephen William Ferrand Miles de Cogan Richard de Cogan Gualter de Ridensford Gualter and sonnes of Maurice Fitz-Girald Alexander sonnes of Maurice Fitz-Girald William Notte Robert Fitz-Bernard Hugh Lacie William Fitz-Aldelm William Maccarell Humfrey Bohun Hugh de Gundevill Philip de Hasting Hugh Tirell David Walsh Robert Poer Osbert de Herloter William de Bendenges Adam de Gernez Philip de Breos Griffin nephew of Fitz-Stephen Raulfe Fitz-Stephen Walter de Barry Philip Walsh Adam de Hereford To whom may be added out of Giraldus Cambrensis Iohn Curcy Hugh Contilon Redmund Cantimore Redmund Fitz-Hugh Miles of S. Davids and others The Government of the Kingdome of Ireland EVer since that Ireland became subject unto England the Kings of England have sent over thither to manage the state of the Realme their Regents or Vice-gerents whom they tearmed in those writings or letters Patents of theirs whereby authoritie and jurisdiction is committed unto them first Keepers of Ireland then afterwards according as it pleased them Iustices of Ireland Lievtenants and Deputies Which authoritie and jurisdiction of theirs is very large ample and royall whereby they have power to make warre to conclude peace to bestow all Magistracies and Offices except a very few to pardon all crimes unlesse they be some of high treason to dub Knights c. These letters Patents when any one entreth upon this honourable place of government are publikely read and after a solemne oath taken in a set forme of words before the Chancellour the sword is delivered into his hands which is to be borne before him he is placed in a chaire of estate having standing by him the Chancellour of the Realme those of the Privie Councell the Peeres and Nobles of the kingdome with a King of Armes a Serjeant of Armes and other Officers of State And verily there is not looke throughout all Christendome againe any other Vice-Roy that commeth neerer unto the majestie of a King whether you respect his jurisdiction and authoritie or his traine furniture and provision There bee assistant unto him in counsell the Lord Chancellour of the Realm the Treasurer of the Kingdome and others of the Earles Bishops Barons and Judges which are of the Privie Councell For Ireland hath the very same degrees of States that England hath namely Earles Barons Knights
there was of oxen and kine in Ireland MCCCXXV Richard Lederede Bishop of Ossorie cited Dame Alice Ketyll upon her perverse hereticall opinion and caused her to make personall appearance before him and being examined as touching sorceries he found by an enquest that she had practised sorceries among which this was one foule fact of hers that a certaine spirit named Robyn Artysson lay with her and that she offered unto him nine red cockes at a stone bridge in a certaine foure crosse high way Item that she swept the streets of Kilkenny with beesomes between Complin and Courefew and in sweeping the filth toward the house of William Utlaw her sonne by way of conjuring mumbled these words Unto the house of William my sonne Hie all the wealth of Kilkenny towne Now the complices of the said Alice and those that agreed unto this divelish and wretched practise of hers were one Pernill of Meth and Basilia the daughter of the same Pernil When the above named Alice was by inquisition attainted of these foresaid imputations the Bishop punished her by the purse and caused her utterly to abjure all sorcerie and witch-craft But when afterwards shee stood convict eftsoones of the same crime herselfe with the foresaid Basilia fled but was never after found As for the said Pernill she was burnt at Kilkenny but at the houre of death shee avouched that the foresaid William deserved death as well as her selfe affirming that he for a yeere and a day wore the divels girdle upon his bare bodie Whereupon the Bishop caused the said William to bee apprehended and laid in prison for eight or nine weekes within the Castle of Kilkenny and by the Bishops decree and appointment hee had two men to give attendance and to minister unto him with expresse commandement not to speake unto him but once a day nor to eat or drinke with him At length the said William by the helpe of the Lord Arnald Poer Seneschall of the Countie of Kilkenny was delivered forth of prison and the foresaid William gave a great summe of money unto the abovenamed Arnold to imprison the Bishop aforesaid The Lord Arnold before named caused the Bishop aforesaid to lye in prison about three moneths Now among the goods and implements of the said Alice there was a certaine holy Wafer-cake found having the name of the Divell imprinted upon it there was found also a boxe and within it an ointment wherewith she used to besmear or grease a certaine piece of wood called a Coultree which being thus annointed the said Alice with her complices could ride and gallop upon the said Coultree whethersoever they would all the world over through thick thin without either hurt or hindrance And because the foresaid things were so notorious Alice was cited againe to appeare at Dublin before M. Deane of the Church of St. Patricke there to finde greater favour Who there made her appearance and craved a day of answer under a sufficient mainprise and suretiship as it was thought But shee was no more to be seene for by the counsell of her sonne and others that were not knowne was she kept hidden in a farme house or village untill the winde served for England and so she passed over and never was it knowne whither she went Now because it was found by the inquisition and recognizance of the said Parnell condemned to be burnt that William Utlaw was consenting to his mother in her sorcerie and with-craft the Bishop caused him to be arrested and taken by the Kings writ and to be kept in prison who in the end through the supplication of great Lords was set free yet with this condition that he should cause the Church of S. Maries in Kilkenny to be covered all over with lead and to doe other almes-deeds by a certaine time which almes-deeds if he performed not within the said terme then he should be in the same state wherein he stood when he was taken by vertue of the Kings Processe MCCCXXVI A Parliament was holden at Whitsontide in Kilkenny unto which Parliament came the Lord Richard Burk the Earle of Ulster although he was somewhat weake and crazie thither repaired also all the Lords and Potentates of Ireland and there the said Earle made a great and noble feast unto the Lords and the people Afterwards the Lord Earle taking his leave of those Nobles and Lords went to Athisell where he ended his life And a little before the feast of S. John Baptist he was there enterred The Lord William Burk became his heire MCCCXXVII There arose a quarrell and a fray betweene the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas and the Lord Arnald Pover and the Lord Moris had in his traine and company the Lord Botiller and the Lord William Bermingham and the Lord Arnald had in his retinew the Bourkeins of whom the said Lord Morrice Fitz-Thomas slew many and some he chased into Connaght In the same yeere after Michaelmas the Lord Arnald came to aide the Bourkeins and by occasion of certaine rude and uncivill tearmes which the Lord Arnald had given out in calling him Rymour the said Morice raised an armie againe and together with Botiller and the said William Bermingham with a puissant hoast burnt the lands and possessions of the said Lord Arnâ—ld in Ofath Also the said William Bermingham fired the lands and man our houses of the Lord Arnald Pover in Mounster and Kenlys in Osserie he burnt so that the Lord Arnald was forced to fly with the Baron of Donnyl to Waterford and there they remained a moneth untill that the Earle of Kildare then Lord Justice of Ireland and others of the Kings Counsel took a day betweene them which day the Lord Arnald kept not but came to Dublin and passed the seas into England about the feast of the Purification and after that Arnald had sailed over the said Moris Botiller and the Lord William Bermingham with a great armie came spoiled harried and burnt the lands of the said Arnald and by reason of those puissant forces that they had led and the many mischiefes which they had done the Kings ministers of his Counsell feared lest he would besiege Cities and therefore the Cities made provision with more warding and watching the while betweene And when the said Lord Moris Botiler and William heard that the Cities made such provision and preparation before hand they gave intelligence unto the Kings Counsell that they would come to Kilkenny and there cleere himselves that they never thought to doe any noisance to the lands of their soveraigne Lord the King but onely to be revenged of their enemies Unto which Parliament came the Earle of Kildare then Justice of Ireland the Prior of Kilmaynon to wit Roger Outlaw Chancellour of Ireland Nicholas Fastoll Justice in the Bench and others of the Kings Counsell and the foresaid Moris and William demanded the Kings Charter of peace but they of the Kings Counsell warily making answer tooke day unto the moneth after Easter that they might
they be wealthy Their bodies are died with woâ—d whether it bee for to make a gallant shew or for what else it is uncertaine They pick quarel of warre at their pleasure to satisfie their owne wills and so oftentimes molest one another but principally upon an ambitious desire of rule and soveraigntie and an encroaching mind they have to enlarge their owne possessions Their fight is not only with horse or footmen but also with wagons and chariots harnessed and armed after the Gaul-like manner such as they call Covinos and in those they use axeltrees armed at both ends with hookes and sithes Cornelius Tacitus The Britans neerest unto Gallia resemble likewise the Gaules either because they retaine still somewhat of the race from which they descended or that in countries butting one against another the same aspects of the heavens doe yield the same complexion of bodies But generally if a man consider all it is most likely the Gaules which lay neerest peopled the land unto them In their ceremonies and superstitious perswation there is to bee seene an apparant conformitie The language differeth not much Like boldnesse to challenge and set into dangers when dangers are come like feare in refusing Saving that the Britans make more shew of courage as beeing not mollified yet with long peace For the Gaules also were once as we read redoubted in war till such time as giving themselves over to ease and idlenesse cowardise crept in and shipwrack was made both of manhood and libertie together And so is it also befallen to those of the Britans which were subdued of old The rest remaine such as the Gaules were before Their strength in the field consisteth of footmen Yet some countries there make war in wagons also The greater personage guideth the wagon his waiters and followers fight out of the same Heretofore they were governed by Kings now they are drawne by petty Princes into Partialities and Factions and this is the greatest helpe wee Romans have against those puissant Nations that they have no common counsell Seldome it chanceth that two or three States meete together and concur to repulse the common danger So whilst one by one fighteth all are subdued In another place An usuall manner it was with the Britans to seeke for the direction of the Gods by looking into the inwards of beasts and to make warre under the conduct of women neither mattereth it whether sex beare rule over them Whereupon learned men thinke Aristotle spake of the Britaines where he writeth That certaine warlike nations beyond the Celtes were subject to the government of women Dio Nicaeus out of the Epitome of Xiphilinus as touching the Britans in the North part of the Island They till no ground They live upon prey venison and fruits For of fish although there is exceeding great plenty thereof they will not taste their abode is in tents naked and unshod Wives they use in common and the children borne of them they all doe foster among them the Comminaltie for the most part doth governe most willing they bee to practise robbing In warre their service is out of Chariots the horses they have be little and swift of pace their footmen runne most speedily whiles they stand they bee strongest the armour and weapons that they use are a shield and short speare in the neather part whereof there hangeth a round bell of brasse like an apple that when it is shaken they might with the sound terrifie and maskre the enemies they have daggers also But principally they can endure hunger cold and any labour whatsoever For sticking fast in the bogs up to the head many daies together they will live without food and within the woods they feed upon the barks and roots of trees A certaine kind of meat they provide ready for all occasions whereof if they take but the quantitie of a Beane they are not wont either to be hungrie or thirstie Herodian They know no vse at all of garments but about their belly onely and necke they weare yron supposing that to be a goodly ornament and a proofe of their wealth like as all other Barbarians esteeme of gold For why their very bare bodies they marke with sundry pictures representing all manner of living creatures and therefore it is verily that they will not be clad for hiding forsooth that painting of their bodies Now they are a most warlike nation and very greedy of slaughter content to bee armed onely with a narrow shield and a speare with a sword besides hanging downe by their naked bodies Vnskilfull altogether how to use either corslet or helmet supposing the same to be an hinderance unto them as they passe over the bogs and marish grounds through the hot vapours arising from whence the skie and aire is there most part foggie The rest of the particulars which are very few I will lightly gather and crop here and there Plinie writing of Magicke But what should I quoth he rehearse these things in an art that hath passed over the Ocean also so far as beyond which nothing is to be discovered but aire and water And even at this day verily it is in Britaine highly honoured where the people are so wholly devoted unto it and that with all compliments of ceremonies as a man would thinke the Persian learned all their Magicke from them The same Plinie There groweth an hearbe in Gaule like unto Plantine named Glastum that is Woad with the juce whereof the women of Britaine as well married wives as their young daughters annoint and die their bodies all over resembling by that tincture the colour of Aethiopians in which manner they use at some solemne feasts and sacrifices to goe all naked Againe Their is not a daintier dish of meate known in Britain than are the Chenerotes fowles lesse than wild geese Also The Britaines wâ—re rings on their middle finger Likewise The Britaines manured their grounds with Marle in stead of dung That they inammelled or branded themselves as it were with certain marks which Tertullian termeth Britannorum stigmata that is The Britans marks Solinus sheweth The Countrey saith he is partly peopled with Barbarians who by the meanes of artificiall incisions of sundry formes have from their childhood divers shapes of beasts incorporate upon them and thus having these their markes deepely imprinted within their bodies looke how a man groweth more and more so doe these pictured characters likewise waxe Neither doe these savage Nations repute any thing to signifie their patience more than by such durable skars to cause their limbs to drinke in much painting and colour Dio. The Britaine 's worshipped as their Goddesses Andate that is Victorie and Adraste Caesar and Lucan Ships they had of which the Keeles the footstocks also or upright standards were made of light timber the rest of the body framed of windings and Oyster was covered over with leather Solinus How long soever they held on their
againe Thus they performed in all their fights the nimble motion of horsemen and the firme stabilitie of footmen so ready with daily practise exercise that in the declivity of a steepe hill they could stay their horses in the very full cariere quickly turn short moderate their pace run along the beame or spire of the Chariot stand upon the yoke and harnesse of the horses yea and from thence whip in a trice into their chariots again But by the cōming of Caesar to rescue them in so good time the Romans took heart afresh and the Britans stood still who having conceived good hope to free themselves for ever presuming upon the small number of the Roman forces together with the scarcitie of corne among them had assembled a great power and were come to the campe of Caesar. But he received them even before the campe with a battell put them to rout slew many of them and burnt their houses far and neare The same day came messengers from the Britans to Caesar intreating peace which they obtained upon condition that they should double the number of their hostages whom he commanded to be brought into Gaule And streight after because the Aequinox was at hand hee put to sea hoised saile from Britaine and brought all his ships safe unto the continent of France And thither two onely of all the States of Britaine sent hostages unto him the rest neglected it These exploits thus performed upon the relation of Caesars Letters the Senate decreed a solemne procession for the space of twentie daies although he gained nothing to himselfe nor to Rome but the glorie onely of an expedition enterprized The yeare next ensuing Caesar having gotten together a great fleet for what with ships for convoy of corne and victuals and what with other private vessels that every man had built for to serve his owne turne there was 800. saile and above and the same manned with five Legions and 2000. horsemen he launched from the port called Iccius and landed his forces in that part of the Isle where hee did the yeare before Neither was there an enemie to be seene in the place For albeit the Britans had beene there assembled with a great power yet terrified with so huge a number of ships they had secretly withdrawne themselves into the upland countrey Here Caesar encamped in a place convenient and left two cohorts and three hundred horsemen as a garrison or guard for his ships Himselfe having by night marched forward twelve miles espied the enemies who having gone forward as farre as to the river began to give battell but beaten backe by the cavallery they conveighed themselves into a wood and there lay hid as lodging in a place strongly fortified both by nature and mans hand But the Romans with a Testudo or targnet-roofe which they made and mount that they raised against their fortifications tooke the place and drave them out of the woods neither followed they them with any long pursuit for they were to fortifie the campe in that very place The next day Caesar divided his forces into three regiments and sent them out to pursue the Britaines but straightwaies called them back againe for that hee had intelligence by messengers of such a tempest at sea the night before that his navie was sore beaten run one against another and cast on shore And thereupon himselfe in person returned to the ships and with the labour of ten daies haled them all up to land and enclosed them and his campe together within one and the same fortification and so goeth to the place from whence he was returned Thither also had the Britaines assembled themselves with greater forces under the conduct of Cassivellaunus or Cassibelinus unto whom in a publike counsell of all the Britains the whole government and managing of the warre was committed whose cavallery and chariotiers together gave the Romanes a sharpe conflict in their march wherein many of both sides lost their lives But the Britans after some intermission of time whiles the Romans were busie in fortifying their campe charged fiercely upon those that kept ward before the campe unto whom when Caesar had sent for rescue two cohorts and those the principall and choysest of two legions they most boldly and with full resolution brake through the thickest of the enemies and from thence retired in safety The next morrow the Britans shewed themselves here and there in small companies from the hils but about noone they made an assault upon three legions and all the horsemen sent out for to forage yet beaten backe they were and a great number of them slaine Now by this time were all their auxiliarie forces that had met together departed neither encountred they afterward the Romans with their maine power Caesar then marched with his army to the river Thames and so to the confines of Cassivelaunus Vpon the farther banke of this river yea and under the water they had covertly stucke sharpe stakes and embattelled themselves with a great power But the Romans went and waded over with such violence notwithstanding they had but their heads cleere above the water that the enemy was not able to endure the charge but left the banke and betooke themselves to flight not skared as Polyaenus writeth at the sight of an Elephant with a turret upon his backe Cassivellaunus having now no courage to contend any longer retained onely foure thousand Charioters with him and observed the Romanes journeys and so often as their horsemen went foorth and straied out in the fields for forage or booty he sent out his chariots and kept them from ranging all abroad Meane while the Trinobantes submit themselves unto Caesar and intreated that he would defend Mandubratius whom Eutropius and Beda out of the Fragments of Suetonius now lost call Androgorius and our Britans Androgeus from the oppression of Cassivellaunus and send him unto them to be their soveraign Of them Caesar required and received forty hostages and corne for his army and therewith sent Mandubratius Then the Cenimagi Segontiaci Ancatites Bibroci aad Cassij following the example of the Trinobantes yeeld unto Caesar By whom he understood that Cassivellaunus his towne was not far off fortified with woods and bogs which as he assaulted in two severall places the Britans flung out at a back way but many of them in their flight were taken and put to the sword Whiles these things were a doing foure pety Kings that ruled Kent to wit Cingetorix Carvilius Taximagulus and Segonais by a mandate from Cassivellaunus did set upon the campe where the Romanes navy was kept but by a sally that the Romanes made they were driven backe and Cingetorix one of the said Kings was taken prisoner Then Cassivellaunus having received so many losses and troubled most of all with the revolt of the states sent Embassadour to Caesar by Conius of Arras tending unto him a surrendry Whereupon
Caesar being determined to winter in the continent of France commanded pledges to be brought unto him and imposed a yeerly tribute that Britaine should pay unto the people of Rome But withall he inhibited Cassivellaunus and commanded him to doe no harme either to Mandubratius or the Trinobants And thus with a great number of captives he embarked his army and transported it backe at two severall passages Thus much Caesar of his owne warre in Britain But Eutropius out of some writings of Suetonius now not extant addeth thus much moreover Scaeva one of Caesars souldiers with foure other fellow servitours crossed over sea before in a small barke unto a rocke neere the Iland and by the reflow or ebbe of the Ocean the while was there left The Britans many in number set upon the Romanes being but few howbeit the rest who here and there had been his companions returned in a ship Scaeva tarieth behind still undanted notwithstanding he was overlaid with darts from every side First he made resistance with his pike or massie speare and at length tooke him to his sword and fought alone with many of them When he was weary and wounded and had withall lost his helmet and target after many a stroke with two habergeons he swum unto Caesars campe and craved pardon of his Generall for his fool hardy rashnesse whom Caesar advanced to the honor and degree of a Centurion When Caesar came first into this Isle as Cotas one who then in the campe had the second place hath put downe in a Greeke Commentary of his concerning the Romane Common-wealth of such temperance he was and so far short of the pompe of our age that he had no more servants and attendants ordinarily in his domesticall retinue but three What time as Caesar saith Seneca travelled into Britaine and could not containe his owne felicitie within the Ocean he heard that his daughter was departed this life drawing with her a traine of publike calamities But he passed over this griefe of heart as lightly as he was wont all things else Being returned with conquest out of Britaine he dedicated unto Venus genitrix in her temple a breast-plate made of British pearles Some of his British prisoners he appointed for services in the Theatre and about these rich hangings of Tapestrie there wherein he had woven in colours his victories in Britaine Which the Britans were wont being themselves therein wrought to remove and take away whereupon Virgill Purpureaque intextitollant auleae Britanni Let Britans purple Tapestrie rid wherein themselves are wrought Neither were the Britans appointed to the ministeries and offices onely about the Theatre but also I note it by the way to the Emperors Licter as it appeareth manifestly by an antique inscription of this age wherein there is made mention of a Decurio over the British Licter-bearers Of this victorie of Caesar an old Poet hath thus written Vis invicta viri reparatâ classe Britannos Vicit hostiles Rheni compescuit undas Lo here the mans undaunted heart with navie rigged new He Britans vanquish'd and fell waves of Rhene he did subdue Hitherto may be referred those verses also of Claudian touching the valour of the Romanes Nec stetit Oceano remisque ingressa profundum Vincendos alio quaesivit in orbe Britannos In Ocaan rhode it rested not nor put to sea for nought But Britads in their otherworld for conquest sake it sought Moreover Cicero in a certaine Poeme now lost which hee entituled Quadrigas caried Caesar in poeticall Chariots of triumph through the midst of all praise and commendation for his acts atchieved in Britainc as Ferrerius of Piemont perswadeth us for thus he writeth Pingam Britanniam coloribus tuis penecillo autem meo that is I will depaint Britaine in your colours but with mine owne pencill Howbeit in the judgement of others he terrified onely the Britans with a fortunate fight or as Lucane who nothing favoured the house of the Caesars wrote Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis He sought the Britans and for feare to them his backe he shew'd And Tacitus a right grave and substantiall author writeth That he discovered onely but delivered not unto the Romanes Britaine and Horace implieth that he scant touched them at all when to flatter Augustus hee saith That the Britaine was not medled withall in these words Intactus Britannus ut descenderet Sacrâ catenatus uiâ Or that the Britans heretofore not dealt withall in fight Might chained now the sacred street descend in all mens sight And Propertius Te manet invictus Romano Marte Britannus The Britans yet unconquered by Romanes stay for thee So farre it is off that it should be true which Velleius Paterculus a flattering Historian of the Emperours Court wrote Bis penetrata Britannia à Caesare that is twise Caesar passed through Britaine when as hee scarce made entry into it For many yeeres after this entrance of Caesar this Island was left to the free government of their owne Kings and used their owne Lawes Augustus seemeth of purpose and with good advise to have neglected Britaine when as he called that * Consilium as Tacitus saith that is Policie or a point of state haply because it was thought the best pollicie and safest for the State That the Romane Empire should be kept and held within bounds to wit the Ocean the rivers Ister and Euphrates limits set by nature to the end it might be a State Adamantine for so Augustus himselfe speaketh in Iulian that is invincible and lest as a ship of exceeding great bulke it might not possibly bee well governed and managed but endangered through the owne unweldy hugenesse sinke anone and fall downe at once which usually befalleth unto over-great States or as Strabo is of opinion he despised it seeing neither any cause at all of feare nor hope of much profit from the Britans and yet it seemed that no small dammage would be presented from other nations lying round about the said Island But what cause so ever it was certes after Iulius and the edge of Romane armes turned upon the Common-wealth it selfe Britaine was a long time forgotten even in time of peace Neverthelesse at last Augustus departed from Rome with a purpose to transferre the warre into Britaine At which verie time Isoratius framed this kinde of prayer unto the Goddesse Fortune at Antium Serves iturum Caesarem in ultimos Orbis Britannos Save Caesar now that readie is a journey long to take Against the Britans most remote a conquest there to make But after he was come into Gaule the Britans sent Embassadors unto him to crave peace and verily the British Princes and Potentates having by Embassages and dutifull services obtained his amity dedicated presents and oblations in the Capitol and brought the whole Iland in a manner to be familiar unto the Romanes and as it were their owne so as they could endure taxes and imposts which now
and the Normans of the other did what they could and left no stone unturned But when he in a pitched field had neere unto Stamford-bridg in Yorkshire slaine his brother Tosto and Harold King of Norway whom Tosto had drawn to take part with him in this war and so obtained a bloudy victorie behold within nine daies after the said WILLIAM surnamed the Bastard Duke of Normandie taking hold of the promises of King Edward late deceased and presuming of his adoption and neere alliance having levied a great armie arrived in England among the South-Saxons Against whom Harold forthwith advanced albeit his souldiers were sore wearied and his power by the former battaile much empaired And not farre from Hastings they encounter and joyne battaile where Harold engaging himselfe into the midst of the medley and fighting manfully lost his life with a great number of Englishmen left slaine in the place but how many they were just hard it is exactly to conceive and faithfully to put downe WILLIAM thus a Conquerour presently with banner displaid marched about in order of battaile by Wallingford to London where being received he was solemnly inaugurated King as unto whom by his owne saying The Kingdome was by Gods providence appointed and by vertue of a gift from his Lord and Cosen King Edward the Glorious granted and after some few lines the story runneth on and saith that the most beauteous King Edward had by adoption ordained him his heire in the Kingdome of England And if we list to believe the Historie of Saint Stephens in Caen of Normandie at his last breath he uttered these words The Regall Diadem which none of all my predecessours ever wore I got and gained by the grace of God only and no right of inheritance And a little after I ordaine no man heire of the Kingdome of England but I commend the same to the eternall Creator whose I am and in whose hands are all things For I became not possessed of so great honour by any hereditary right but by a terrible conflict and with much effusion of bloud I tooke it from that perjured King Harold and after I had either slaine or put to flight his favourers and adherents I subdued it under my Dominion But why doe I so briefly run over this so great alteration of the English state Have therefore if you thinke not much to read it what my selfe with no curious pen haply with as little studie and premeditation howbeit according to the truth of the Historie wrote when being but young not well advised nor of sufficiencie to undergoe so great a burthen I purposed to set forth our Historie in the Latine tongue VVHen Edward the Confessour was now without issue departed this life the Nobles and people of the land were in doubtfull care distracted about the setting up of a new King in his place Edgar surnamed Aetheling King Edmund Iron side his nephewes nephew by a sonne onely of all the issue male of the Saxons line remained alive unto whom by right of inheritance the kingdome was due But considering he was thought by reason of his tender yeares not meete to mannage the State and had beside intermingled his naturall disposition with forrain manners as being borne in Pannonia and the sonne of Agathra daughter to the Emperor Henrie the third who was in so remote a countrie farther off than that he could conveniently assist the young Gentleman either with aid or counsell in these regards hee was lesse affected of the Englishmen who desired nothing more than to have a King as it were out of their owne bodie And therefore all of them for the most part had their eies fixed with much respect upon Harold Goodwins sonne a man for his good parts as well in warre as peace very glorious For albeit he was of noble parentage but by one side and his father for his treacherie and treason as also for pilling and polling had incurred everlasting infamie and shame yet with his courteous affabilitie gentill deportment liberalitie and warlike prowesse he wound himselfe into exceeding great especiall favour with the people For there could not another bee set by him in whom there was more resolute hardinesse to adventure upon danger or more advised policie in the midst of dangers His valour also and fortitude shined out so apparantly in the Welsh warres which heretofore most happily hee had brought to an end that he was reputed verily a man passing well furnished with all vertues required in a soveraigne Commander and even borne to repaire the decaied state of England Moreover good hope there was that the Danes who onely terrified this country would bee the better contented and pleased with him because he was the son of Githa daughter to Sueno King of Denmarke And in case there should arise any other power against him either forraine or domesticall he was thought sufficiently enabled to make his part good with the affectionate hearts of the common people with the alliance also and affinitie that hee had among the Nobility For hee had to wife the sister of Morcar and Edwin two brethren men of exceeding great puissance and Edric surnamed the Wild a man of high spirit and in chiefe authoritie was linked to him in the neerest bond of Affinitie besides it fell out very well for him that at one and the selfe-same time Sueno King of the Danes had his hands full of warre with Sueden and betweene William Duke of Normandy and Philip the French King there fell some dislikes and emulation for that Edward the Confessor during his exile in Normandie had in expresse termes promised unto William of Normandie the Kingdome if hee died without issue For the performance of which promise Harold became as it were surety and bound himselfe with an oath what time hee was detained prisoner in Normandie but with this condition annexed that he might espouse the daughter of the said William of Normandie Whereupon most men thought it the wisest policy to set the Crowne upon William his head to the end that by performing oath and promise the warre that they foresaw now threatned and destruction which alwaies waiteth as a due punishment upon perjurie might be averted and withall by laying Normandie to England the Kingdome under so mightie a Prince might be surely established and the common-wealth very much advanced But Harold quickly preventing all consultations whatsoever thinking it not good for him to linger and delay any whit that very day on which King Edward was enterred contrary to the expectation of most men entred upon the soveraigne government and with the applause onely of such as were then present about him who with acclamations saluted him King without the due complements and solemnitie of Coronation set the Imperiall Diadem upon his owne head By which act of his as being a breach of ancient ordinance he exceedingly provoked and stirred up against him the whole Clergie and Ecclesiasticall state But he knowing well enough
Earles of Anjou Poictou Maine and Bulloigne and unto them he promiseth faire Lands and possessions in England Philip also the French King he goeth unto and solliciteth voluntarily promising in case he aided him to become his vassall and leege man and for England to take the oath of fealtie unto him But it being thought nothing good for the state of France that the Duke of Normandie who already was not so pliable and obedient to the French King as he ought should bee bettered in his state by the addition of England for the power of neighbour potentates is alwaies suspected of Princes so far was the King from yeelding any helpe that he disswaded him rather from invading England But by no meanes could the Duke be reclaimed from his enterprise nay much more encouraged he was now and set on being once backed with warrant from Alexander the Bishop of Rome for even now began the Pope to usurpe authority over Princes who allowing of his cause and quarrell had sent unto him a sacred and hallowed banner as a luckie fore-token of gaining both the victory and Kingdome yea and with all cursed whosoever should oppose themselves against him He assembled therefore all the forces he could possibly raise and gathered together a mighty navie before the Towne of Saint Valeries which standeth upon the mouth of the river Some where he lay a long time windbound For the procurement whereof with many a vow he importuned Saint Valeric the patron-Saint of the Towne and heaped upon him a number of gifts and oblations Harold who with his forces had waited very long in vaine for his comming determined to dissolve his armie to withdraw his navie and to leave the sea-coast both for that he was compelled thereto for want of provision as also because the Earle of Flanders had written unto him that William would not stirre that yeere whom he soone beleeved as thinking that the time of the yeere was such as had locked up the seas and barred all navigation forasmuch as the autumnall Aequinox was neere Whiles he thus deviseth with himselfe driven he was upon an unexpected necessity of new warre to call backe his armie for Harold surnamed the Hard and Harfager king of Norway who had practised piracie in the North parts of Britaine and already subdued the Isles of Orknes being by Tosto sollicited and called forth in hope of the Kingdome of England arrived within the mouth of the river Tine with a fleet of 500. flibotes or thereabout where Tosto also came and joined his owne fleet When they had a good while forraged and spoiled the countrey heere they weighed anchor and sailing along the coast of Yorkshire put into Humbre and there began to commit outrages with all manner of hostility For the repressing of whom the two Earles Edwin and Morcar led forth a power of soldiers whom they had raised suddainly and in tumultuary haste but they not able to abide the violent charge of the Norwegians fled for the most part as fast as they could and together with the Earles made shift to escape howbeit many of them passing over the river Ouse were swallowed up with the waves thereof The Norwegianâ—â—hen goe in hand to lay siege unto the Citie of Yorke which straight waies they get by surrender hostages being given on both sides But after some few dayes King Harold having gathered his whole power from all parts together speedeth him to Yorke and from thence marcheth against the Norwegians who lay encamped strongly in a most safe place for backed they were with the Ocean flanked on the left hand with Humber wherein their fleet rid at anchor and had for their defence on the right side and afront the river Derwent Howbeit King Harold couragiously setteth upon them where first there was a cruell conflict at the Bridge standing over the river Darwent which one Norwegian souldier by report made good for a time against the whole armie of the Englishmen and held out so long untill he was shot through with a dart and died after this continued the battell a good while within the very campe fought with equall valour and indifferent fortune on both sides But in the end the Norwegians were disarraied and scattered and in the midst of the battell Harold himselfe King of the Norwegians and Tosto with the greater part of the Armie lost their lives Vpon this Victorie there fell unto King Harold an exceeding rich bootie a great masse both of gold and silver and that huge Armado except twentie small Barques onely which he granted unto Paul Earle of Orkney and Olave the Sonne of Harold who was slaine for to carry away those that were hurt taking their oath first that from thence forward they should not attempt any hostilitie agaist England This happie victorie encourged Harold and set him aloft now he thought that he should bee a terrour yea to the Normans howsoever hee grew odious unto his owne people because hee had not divided the spoile among his souldiers Howbeit wholly hee employed himselfe to reforme the disordered state of the countrey which in this part was pittifully out of frame and lay neglected Meane while Willam Duke of Normandie finding a fit season for his purpose about the end of September weighed anchor and launched forth then with a gentle gale of winde he sailed with all his shipping and arrived at Pevensey in Sussex where being landed upon the naked shore for to cut off all hope of return from his men he did set fire on his ships and having erected a fortresse there for his men to retire thither in safetie forward he marcheth to Hastings where also he raised another strong hold and placed therein a garrison Now by this time he maketh proclamation declaring the causes of this warre namely to revenge the death of Alfred his Cousin whom together with many Normans Godwin the Father of Harold had murthered Item to bee avenged of the wrongs that Harold had done who when he had banished Robert Archbishop of Canterburie even then by intrusion entred upon the Kingdome of England now pertaining to him treading under foot the religious respect of his oath Howbeit by an Edict he straightly charged his souldiers not in hostile manner to spoile the English men Newes hereof in all hast was brought to King Harold who by all meanes thinking it good to use prevention and as spedily as might be to encounter the Duke sendeth out his messengers every way calleth earnestly upon his subjects to continue in their faithfull allegiance assembleth all his forces in every place and with great journies hasteneth to London where there presented himselfe unto him an Embassadour from Duke William but as he made many words in claiming the Kingdom Harold in a furious fit of anger and indignation went within a little of laying violent hands upon the very person of the Embassadour For a hard matter it was to bereave a fresh Victour
by fine force and true valour indeed get the upperhand betooke himselfe to stratagems commanding his men to sound the retreat and keeping them still in good order and array to give ground and retire The English men supposing now that they turned backe and fled and that themselves had the victorie in their hands display their ranks and being thus disraied presse hard upoÌ„ their enemies as making full account that the day was now sure enough theirs Wheras the Normans casting themselves suddenly againe into array and winding about charge the English afresh and thus setting upon them being scattered and out of order enclosed them round about and made an exceeding great slaughter of them Many of them whiles they stood doubtfull whether to fight or to flie were borne downe and slaine but more of them having recovered an higher ground casting themselves round into a ring and comforted with the exhortation one of another with good resolution turned head and resisted a long time as if they had made choice of that place for an honorable death until that Harold being shot through the head with an arrow together with his two brethren Gyth Leofwin lost his life Then Edwin and Morcar with some others that remained alive and escaped by flight yielded to the hand of God and gave place unto the time considering that the battell had continued without intermission from seven of the clock in the morning unto the evening twilight There were in this battell missed of Normans much about 6000. but of English many more by far William now Conqueror rejoyced exceedingly by way of a solemne supplication or procession which he appointed gave all honor to the Almightie and most gratious God and when he had erected his pavilion in the midst of the bodies lying slain by heapes there he passed that night The morrow after when he had buried his owne men granted leave unto the English men to do the like himselfe returned to Hastings partly to consult about following the traine of his victorie and in part to refresh awhile his wearied souldiers No sooner was the newes of this grievous overthrow by fearfull Messengers brought to London and to other cities of England but the whole land generally was striken into dumps and as it were astonied Githa the Kings mother like a woman gave her selfe to plaints and lamentations so as that she would admit no consolation but with most humble praiers intreated the Conquerour for the dead bodies of her sonnes And those she enterreth in the Abbey of Waltham Edwin sendeth Queen Algitha his sister into the farther parts of the Kingdome But the Lords and Peeres of the Realme will the people not to cast downe their hearts but lay their heads together about the State and Common wealth The Archbishop of Yorke the Citizens of London and the Sea souldiers whom they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gave their advice to consecrate Edgar King and to begin warre againe with William Edwin and Morcar plotted secretly to usurpe the Imperiall rule and dignitie for themselves but the Bishops Prelates and others who were terrified with the flashing thunderbolts of the Popes curse thought best to yield and not by doubtfull battell to provoke the Conquerours heavie indignation against them nor to strive against God who now for the sinnes of the people calling for vengeance had delivered England as it wâ—re into the hands of the Norman William all this while fortifying the Towne of Hastings purposed to march directly with his armie in warlike manner to London but because he would raise the greater terrour abroad and make all sure behinde having divided his forces he rangeth over part of Kent over Southsex Suthrey Southampton shire and Berk shire fireth villages and upland houses driveth booties at Wallangford hee passeth over the Thames and terrifieth all the countrey as hee goeth Yet for all this the Nobles and Peeres wist not what counsell or course to take neither could they be brought to lay downe private grudges and enmities and with one heart to consult in common for the good of the State The Prelates to be absolved from curses of the Church and censures of the Bishop of Rome whereby he now exercised his authoritie not only over mens soules but also over Kingdomes seeing that the state of the Realme was now not decaied but quite ruinate and past recoverie persisted in this mind to submit in so much as many seeking to save themselves secretly departed out of the Citie But Alfred Archbishop of Yorke Wolstan Bishop of Worcester and other Prelates together with Eadgar Aetheling Edwin and Morcar at Berkhamsted doe meete the Norman Conquerour who made them many and large promises and having given hostages committed themselves to his protection and submitted Then forthwith speedeth he to London where being received with great and joyfull acclamations he was saluted King for the solemnizing of his Coronation which he appointed should be on Christmas day he made all the preparation that might bee and meane while bent his whole mind and all his thoughts to the setling of the State Now was the period and revolution of the English-Saxons Empire in Britaine come about which was determined within the compasse of 607. yeeres and a notable alteration and change made in the Kingdome of England which some lay upon the base a varice of the Magistrates and the superstitious lazinesse of the Prelates others impute to that Comet or blazing Starre and the powerable influence of celestiall bodies some againe made God the Author thereof who in his secret judgements and those never unjust disposeth of Kingdomes Others also there were who looked into neerer secondarie causes and they found a great want and lacke of wisedome in King Edward in that whiles under a goodly shew and pretext of religious and vowed virginitie he casting off all care of having issue exposed the Kingdome for a prey to ambitious humours WHat an insolent and bloudie victorie this was the Monks that write of it have declamed with full mouth neither is it to be doubed but in this Victorie as it hapneth in other wickednes tooke head and bare the full sway William the Conquerour in token as it were of a Trophee for this conquest abrogated some part of the ancient positive lawes of England brought in some Customes of Normandie and by vertue of a decree commanded That all causes should be pleaded in the French tongue The English hee thrust out of their ancient Inheritances assigned their lands and Lord-ships to his souldiers yet with this reservation to himself that he should still remaine chiefe Lord and bind them to doe due service and homage unto him and his successors that is to say That all of them should hold their lands in Fee or fealty He caused also a Seale for himselfe to be made of purpose with this inscription upon the one side Hôc Normannorum Guilielmum nosce Patronum The Normans Patron William know by this stamp that you
see And on the other Hoc Anglis signo Regem fatearis eundem By this a King to Englishmen acknowledge him to be Moreover as William of Malmesburie doth report In imitation of Caesars policy who expelled the Germans lying hidden within that huge forrest Ardenna and by many asallie from thence annoying his armie not by the helpe of his owne Romans but by the Gaules his confederates to this end that whiles strangers and aliens killed one another himselfe might triumph with their bloud-shed the very same course I say did William take with the English men For against certaine of them who upon the first battell of that infortunate man Harold were fled into Denmarke and Ireland and returned with a puissant armie in the third yeere after he opposed meere English forces and an English generall permitting the Normans to sit still and keepe holiday foreseeing heereby and providing for his owne great easement whether of them soever should have the better Neither was he in this point frustrate of his purpose For the English having thus a prettie while skuffeled and skirmished one with another in the end rendred up the entire Victorie to the King without his paines taking And in another place Having undermined and quite overthrowne the power of the Laimen he provided by a sure and irrevocable edict to suffer no Monke or Clerke of the English Nation to endevour for to get any dignitie much disagreeing herein from the clemencie and gentlenesse of King Cnuto in times past who gave unto those that he conquered all their honours entire And hence it came to passe that when hee was once dead the naturall Inhabitants of the countrey upon light occasions fell to driving out of strangers and recovered unto themselves their ancient right and freedome When he had brought this to passe above all things hee laboured to turne away the storme of the Danish wars that hung over his head and to purchase peace though it were with round sums of mony Wherein he used Adelbert Archbishop of Hamburgh as his Instrument For Adam Bremensis writeth thus Betweene Suen and the Bastard there was continuall strife about England although our Bishop being greased in the hand with Williams bribes would have concluded a firme peace betwixt the Kings Which may seeme also to have beene established for since that time England was never any whit afraid of the Danes And William verily betooke himselfe wholly to the defence and maintenance of his Imperiall dignitie and to governe the state by excellent lawes For as Gervase of Tilburie writeth When the renowned Conqueror of England King William had subdued the farther coasts of this Island under his dominion and throughly tamed the stomacks and hearts of rebels by terrible examples lest that from thenceforth they should licentiously run into errour and commit trespasse he determined to reduce his subjects under the obedience of positive and written Lawes Having therefore all the lawes of England laid before him according to the Tripartite Division whereby they were distinguished that is to say Merchenlag Denelag and Westsex-enlag when hee had rejected some of them and allowed of others he adjoyned thereto those Lawes of Neustria beyond the seas which seemed most effectuall to preserve the peace of his Kingdome Afterwards as mine Author Ingulphus saith who flourished in those daies He commanded every Inhabitant of England to doe him homage and to sweare fealtie to him against all men He tooke the survey and description of the whole Land neither was there an Hide of England through but he knew both the value and the owner thereof there was neither plash nor place but set it was in the Kings Roll and the rent revenue and profit thereof the very tenure of possession and possessour himselfe was made knowne to the King according to the credit and true relation of certaine Taxers who being chosen out of every country did put downe in writing the territorie properly belonging thereto And this Roll was called the Roll of Winchester and by the Englishmen for the generalitie thereof because it contained fully and exactly all the tenements of the whole Land named Domesday I have beene more willing to make mention of this booke because it is to be cited alleaged often times hereafter which booke also it pleaseth me to name Gulielmi librum Censualem that is The Tax-booke of William Angliae Notitiam that is The Notice of England Angliae commentarios Censuales that is The Taxe Register or Sessing booke of England and Angliae Lustrum that is the Survey of England But whereas Polydore Virgill writeth how William that Conqueror first brought in the Triall or Iudgement of twelve men there is nothing more untrue For most certaine it is and apparant by the lawes of Etheldred that it was in use many yeares before Neither hath he any cause to terme it a terrible Iudgement For these 12. free-borne and lawfull men are duely by order empannelled and called forth of the Neighbourhood these are bound by oath to pronounce and deliver up their Verdict de facto they heare the counsell pleading in courts on both sides before the Bench or Tribunall and the disposition of witnesses then taking with them the evidences of both parties they are shut up together and kept from meat drinke and fire unlesse haply some one of them be in danger of death thereby so long untill they be all agreed of the fact which when they have pronounced before the Judge hee according to right and law giveth his definitive sentence For this manner of triall our most sage and wise Ancestours have thought the best to finde out the truth to avoid corruption and cut off all partialitie and affections Now as touching martiall prowesse how much the Normans excelled therein let others tell this may suffice for me to have said thus much that being planted among most warlike nations they alwaies saved themseves not by obsequious basenesse but by force of armes and founded most noble Kingdomes in England and Sicilie For Tancrede nephew unto Richard the second of that name Duke of Normandie and his posteritie atchieved brave exploits in Italie and having compelled the Sarazens to flie out of Sicilie erected a Kingdome there Whereupon the Sicilian Historiographer doth freely acknowledge that the Sicilians are beholden unto the Normans for that themselves remaine still in their native soile live in freedome and continue Christians Likewise in the holy Land their martiall prowesse hath been seen with singular commendation Hence it is also that Roger Hoveden writeth in these termes Bold France having made triall once of the Normans warfare durst not peepe out Fierce England being conquered yielded as captive unto them Rich Apulia falling to the lot of their possession flourished a fresh Famous Ierusalem and renowned Antioch were both subdued by them And ever since their comming England as well for martiall honour as civill behaviour hath among the most flourishing Kingdomes of
Carleil containeth within it part of Cumberland and the Country of Westmerland To these you may adde the Bishopricke of Sodor in the Isle of Mona which commonly is called Man Among these the Archbishop of Canterburie hath the first place the Archbishop of Yorke the second the Bishop of London the third the Bishop of Durham the fourth the Bishop of Winchester the fifth the rest as they are consecrated or enstalled first so in prioritie they take the place Howbeit if any of the other Bishops happen to be Secretary to the King hee challengeth by his right the fift place Besides there are in England Deaneries xxvj whereof thirteene were ordained by Henrie the Eighth in the greater Cathedrall Churches after the Monks were thrust out Archdeaconries three skore Dignities and Prebends five hundred fortie foure Numbred also there are parish-churches under Bishops 9284 of which 3845 be Appropriat as I find in a Catalogue exhibited unto King Iames which here I have put downe underneath Now Appropriat Churches those are called which by the Popes authority comming betweene with consent of the King and the Bishop of the Diocesse were upon certaine conditions tied or as the forme runneth of our Law united annexed and incorporate for ever unto Monasteries Bishopricks Colledges and Hospitals endowed with small lands either for that the said Churches were built with in their Lordships and lands or granted by the Lords of the said lands Which Churches afterwards when the Abbaies and Monasteries were suppressed became Laye Fees to the great dammage of the Church  DIOECESES Parish-Churches Churches appropriated  Of Canterburie 257 140  Of London 623 189  Of Winchester 362 131  Of Coventrie and Lichfield 557 250  Of Sarisburie 248 109  Of Bath and Wels. 388 160  Of Lincoln 1255 577  Of Peter-burgh 293 91  Of Exceter 604 239  Of Glocester 267 125 In the Province of Canterburie in the Diocesse Of Hereford 313 166  Of Norwich 1121 385  Of Elie. 141 75  Of Rochester 98 36  Of Chichester 250 112  Of Oxford 195 88  Of Worcester 241 76  Of Bristoll 236 64  Of S. Davids 308 120  Of Bangor 107 36  Of Lhandaffe 177 98  Of S. Asaph 121 19  Peculiar in the Province of Canterburie 57 14  The summe of the Province of Canterburie 8â—19 3303  Of Yorke 581 336  Of Durham 135 87 In the Province of Yorke Of Chester 256 101 Of Carlile 93 18  The summe of the Province of Yorke 1065 592  The totall Summe in both Provinces 9284 3845 Howbeit in the booke of Thomas Wolsey Cardinall digested and written in The yeere 1520. by Counties are reckoned 9407. Churches How this varietie should come I cannot say unlesse that in the former age some Churches were pulled downe and the Chappels which belong unto Parishes be omitted and others that are but bare Chappels counted in the number of Parish-churches Yet out of this booke of Wolsey have I put downe the number of Parish-churches to every Shire There were also in the reigne of Henrie the Eight I hope without offence I may speake the truth many religious places Monuments of our fore-fathers pietie and devotion to the honor of God the propagation of Christian faith and good learning and also for the reliefe and maintenance of the poore and impotent to wit Monasteries or Abbaies and Priories to the number of 645 of which when by permission of Pope Clement the seventh fortie were suppressed by Cardinall Wolseies meanes who then had begun to found two Colledges one at Oxenford the other at Ipswich straight waies about the xxxvj yeere of the reigne of the said Henrie the Eight a sudden floud as it were breaking thorow the banks with a maine streame fell upon the Ecclesiasticall State of England which whiles the world stood amazed and England groned thereat bare downe and utterly overthrew the greatest part of the Clergie together with their most goodly and beautifull houses For that leave which the Pope granted to the Cardinall the King with assent of the Parliament tooke to himselfe Whereupon in the yeere of our Lord 1536. all religious houses every one together with all their livings and revenewes as many I meane as might dispend by yeerely rent 200. pound or under and those amounted to the number of 376 were granted to the King And in the yeere next following under a faire pretence and shew of rooting out superstition all the rest together with Colledges Chanteries and Hospitals were left to the dispose and pleasure of the King At which time the religious houses remaining in number 605. were surveied valued or taxed Colledges there were besides those in the Vniversities 90. Hospitals 110. Chanâ—eries and free Chappels 2374. All which for the most part shortly after were every where pulled downe their revenues sold and made away those goods riches which the Christian pietie of the English nation had consecrated unto God since they first professed Christianity were in a moment as it were dispersed and to the displeasure of no man be it spoken prophaned THE STATES AND DEGREES of England AS touching the division of our Common-wealth it consisteth of a King or Monarch Noblemen or Gentry Citizens Free-borne whom we call Yeomen and Artisans or Handicraftsmen THE KING whom our ancestors the English-Saxons called Coning and Gyninâ— in which name is implied a signification both of power and skill and wee name contractly King hath soveraigne power and absolute command among us neither holdeth he his Empire in vassalage not receiveth his investure or câ—stalling of another â—e yet acknowledgeth any superiour but God alone and as one said All verily are under him and himselfe under none but God onely Also he hath very many rights of Majestie peculiar to himselfe the learned Lawyers terme them Sacra sacrorum that is Sacred and Individua that is inseparable because they cannot be severed and the common sort Royall prerogatives which they to me The flowers of his Crowne in which respect they affirme that the regall materiall Crowne is adorned with flowers Some of these are by positive or written law others by right of custome which by a silent consent of all men without law prescription of â—ime hath allowed the King justly enjoieth and most deservedly considering that His watchfull care defendeth the state of all his painfull labour maintaineth the rest of all his spadious industry upholdeth the deâ—ights of all and his busie employment affordeth case to all But these are points of a loâ—â—ier discourse and not of the argument now in hand The second or next to the King is his first begotten sonne who like as among the Romans the heire apparant and assigned successour to the Empire was first entituled Princeps Iuventutis that is Prince of the youth and afterwards as flatterie did increase stiled by the name of Caesar Noble Caesar
their Charter or Patent We give and grant the Name Title State Stile Place Seat Preheminence Honour Authoritie and Dignitie of a Duke to N. and by the cincture of a Sword and imposition of a Cap and Coronet of gold upon his head as also by delivering unto him a verge of gold we doe really invest A MARQVESSE that is if you consider the very nature of the word a Governour of the Marches hath the next placec of honour after a Duke This Title came to us but of late daies and was not bestowed upon any one before the time of King Richard the Second For hee made his minion Robert Vere who was highly in his favour Marquesse of Dublin and then it began with us to be a title of honour Fâ—r before time those that governed the Marches were commonly called Lord Marchers and not Marquesses as now we terme them Henceforth they were created by the King by cincture of the Sword and the imposition of the Cap of honor and dignitie with the Coronet as also by delivery of a Charter or writing Neither will I think it much to relate here that which is found recorded in the Parliament Rols When Iohn de Beaufort from beeing Earle of Sommerset was by Richard the Second created Marquesse Dorset and afterwards by Henrie the Fourth deprived of that title what time as the Commons of England made humble suit in Parliament to the King that hee would restore unto him the title of Marquesse which he had lost he opposed himselfe against that petition and openly said That it was a new dignitie and altogether unknowne to his Ancestours and therefore hee neither craved it nor in any wise would accept of it Earles called in Latine Comites are ranged in the third place and may seeme to have come unto us from our Ancestours the Germans For they in times past as Cornelius Tacitus writeth had their Comites Who should alwaies give attendance upon their Princes and bee at hand in matters of counsell and authoritie But others thinke that they came from the Romans to us as also to the Franks or French For the Emperours when as the Empire was growne now to the full strength began to have about them a certaine privie Counsell which was called Caesaris Comitatus and then those whose counsell they used in warre and peace were termed Comites whence it is that in ancient Inscriptions wee find oftentimes COMITI IMPP. And in few yeares the name of Comes grew so rife that it was given to all Officers and Magistrates that observed or gave attendance upon the said sacred or privie Counsel or that came out of it and from hence afterward the name extended to all those which were the Provosts or Over-seers of any matters of state And Suidas defineth Comes to be The ruler of the people as Cuiacius hath taught us who also teacheth us that before Constantine the Great the name of Comes was not in use to signifie any honour But he when he altered the forme of the Roman Empire by new distinctions and endevored to oblige many unto him with his benefits and them to advance unto honour ordained first the title of Comes without any function or government at all to be a title of dignitie and this Comes had a certaine power and priviledge for to accompanie the Prince not only when hee went abroad but in his palace also in his privie chamber and secret roomes to have libertie likewise to be present at his Table and private speeches And hereupon it is that wee read thus in Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Who so obtained of the King the Dignitie of Comites At length to them which were beholden unto him for this honourable preferment hee granted other dignities with charge and againe upon those that were in place of Magistracie and executed any office of State either at home or abroad he bestowed that title of honour Comes Domesticorum L. Great Master of the Houshold Comes sacrarum largitionum L. High Treasurer Comes sacrae vestis Master of the Wardrobe Comes Stabuli Master of the Horse Comes Thesauri Treasurer Comes Orientis Lieutenant of the East Comes Britanniae Comes Africae c. Herehence it came that ever since the name of Comes imported Dignitie and authoritie or government at the first temporarie afterward for terme of life Moreover in processe of time when the Empire of the Romans became rent into many kingdomes this title yet was retained and our English-Saxons called them in Latine Comites and Consules whom in their owne language they named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the very same the Danes termed in their tongue Eorlas that is Honourable as Ethelward writeth by which name somewhat mollified they are called of us at this day Earles And verily for a long time they were knowne by this name simply at length with addition also of the place over which they were put in authoritie Neither as yet descended this honour to the next heire by inheritance Where by the way thus much I note that the first hereditarie Earles in France were the Earles of Britaine But when William of Normandy had made conquest of this Land and seated himselfe in the absolute government of this Kingdome Earles began to bee Feudall Hereditarie and Patrimoniall that is By fee or Tenure by service by inheritance and by Lands who also as it appeareth in Doomesday-booke were simply without any addition at all named Earles as Comes Hugo Comes Alanus Comes Rogerus Earle Hugh Earle Alan Earle Roger c. Afterwards as wee may see in ancient Charters Earles were created with the name of a place joyned unto them and the third pennie of the Shire was assigned unto them As for example Mawd the Empresse daughter and heire to K. Henry the First created an Earle in these words as appeareth in the very Charter which I have I Mawd daughter of K. Henry and Ladie of the Englishmen doe give and grant unto Geffrey de Magnavil for his service to his heires after him by right of inheritance to be Earle of Essex to have the third pennie out of the Sheriffs Court issuing out of all pleas as an Earle should have through his Countie in all things And this is the most ancient Charter that hitherto I have seen of an Earles creation Likewise Henry the Second King of England her sonne created an Earle by these words Know yee that wee have made Hugh Bigod Earle of Norfolk to wit of the third pennie of Norwic and Norfolc as freely as any Earle of England holdeth his Countie Which words an old booke of Battaile Abbey expoundeth thus An usuall and ancient custome it was throughout all England that the Earles should have the third pennie to themselves of the Provinces whereof they tooke the name and were called Earles Semblably another booke without name more plainly The Shire or Countie hath the name of
the Earle or Count or else contrariwise the Count of the Countie And Count or Earle he is because he receiveth the third part of those things that accrew or arise by plea in every Countie or Shire But all Earles reape not these fruits but those to whom the King hath granted them by right of inheritance or in their owne persons And hereupon Polydore Virgil writeth truly and according to the manner of our age It is a custome in England saith he that the titles of Earldomes be given at the Princes pleasure even without possession of those places from whence the very titles are taken And therefore the King is wont to give unto them that possesse nothing in that Countie some certaine pension or summe of money out of his owne revenues in liew of the possession Earles were created in old time without any complement or ceremonie at all but onely by delivering unto them a Charter Vnder Stephen who usurped the kingdome during the heat of civill war many also tooke upon them the titles of Earles whom the Historie of Waverlew Church and others of that age calleth Pseudo-Comites that is counterfeit Earles and Comites imaginarios that is Earles in conceit whiles it reporteth unto us that Henrie the Second deposed them And King Iohn was the first by my observation that used in creating of them the cincture of a sword For Roger of Hoveden writeth thus King Iohn upon the day of his Coronation girded William Mareschall with the sword of the Earldome of Strigulia and Geffrey Fitz-Peter with the sword of the Earldome of Essex who albeit they had beene called Earles before and governed their Shires yet were they not girt with the sword of an Earldome and upon that day they waited at the Kings table wearing those swords by their sides In the age next ensuing there came up the imposition of a chaplet cap with a Circlet of gold that now is turned into a coronet with raies or points onely and with a robe of estate Which three to wit a sword with a girdle a cap or chaplet with a coronet and a mantle or robe of estate are by three severall Earles borne before him that is to be created Earle and betwixt two Earles arraied also in their robes of estate brought he is in his Surcoat unto the King sitting in his throne where kneeling downe while the Patent or Charter of his creation is a reading at these words This same T. we erect create constâ—â—ute make appoint and ordaine Earle of S. and we give and grant unto him the name title state stile honour authority and dignitie of the Earle S. and into it by the cincture of a sword really doe invest Then is the robe or mantell of estate done upon him by the King the sword hung about his neck the cap with the Coronet put upon his head and the said Charter of his creation being read before delivered into his hand But these matters are beside my purpose Now whereas it is growen to bee a custome that he which is to be created Earle if he were not a Baron before should be made a Baron first it is a new ceremonie come up of late daies and put in use since the time of King Henrie the Eight But among Earles most honorable are they by many degrees which are called Counts Palatine For as this terme Palatine was a name common to all them that had offices in the Kings palace so Count Palatine was a title of dignity conferred upon him that before had beene an Officer Palatine with a certaine roiall authority to sit in judgment within his owne Territorie As for the Earle Marshall of England King Richard the second gave that title first to Thomas Mowbray Earle of Nottingham whereas before they were simply stiled Marshals of England and after the banishment of Mowbray he granted to T. Holland Duke of Surrey substituted Earle Marshall in his place that he should carrie a rodde of gold enamelled blacke at both ends when as before they used one of wood After Earles next follow in order VICECOMITES whom we call Vicounts An old name this is of an office but a new title of dignitie not heard of with us before Henry the Sixth daies who conferred that title upon â— Lord Beaumont In the ranke of the superior or chiefe Nobility BARONES have the next place And although I am not ignorant what the learned doe write of this words signification in Tullie yet willingly will I accord to the opinion of Isidore and of an old Grammarian who will have Barones to signifie hired souldiers For that place in Hirtius so well knowne touching the warre of Alexandria seemeth cleerely to prove the same and this it is They came running together to defend Cassius for hee was wont alwaies to have about him Barones and a great many chosen souldiers weaponed from which the rest are severed apart Neither dissenteth from this the old Glossarie with Latin before Greeke which interpreteth Baro by 〈◊〉 that is a man And throughout the laws of the Longobards Baro is used for Vir that is a man And for the Etymologies of this word which some have forged I like theÌ„ not The French Heralts deduce Barones from the French tongue as one would say Par-hommes that is men of equall dignitie our English Lawyers would have them to be as much as Robora belli that is the strength of war Some Germans say they import as it were Banner heires that is Lord-bearing Banners Isidorus saith they are so termed as a man should say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is grave or weighty Alciatus deriveth them of Berones an ancient people in Spaine who were as he saith in times past waged souldiers But that derivation out of the German tongue is the better wherin Bar betokeneth Free and him that is his owne man and at libertie When this name first came into this Island I know not for certaine The Britaines doe not acknowledge it for theirs In the English Saxon Lawes it is no where to bee seene nor found in the Saxon Glossarie of Alfricus among the Vocables or termes of honour where Dominus is translated Laford which wee have contracted short into Lord. The Danes called their Free-Lords such as these Barons be at this day Thani and so they terme them still as Andreas Velleius witnesseth Howbeit in Burgundie the use of the name hath beene of great antiquitie For Gregorie Turonensis writeth thus The Barons of Burgundie as well Bishops as other Leudes c. In a fragment of the laws of Canatus King of English-men and Danes was the first mention made of a Baron with us so far as ever I could hitherto observe and yet therein according to the variety of copies we read indifferently these termes Vironis Baronis and Thani But that a Baron is meant therby evident it is out of the Lawes of William the Conquerour into which those ordinances of
Westminster The Abbat of S. Albans The Abbat of S. Edmonds-Bury The Abbat of Peterburgh The Abbat of S. Iohn of Colchester The Abbat of Evesham The Abbat of Winchelcomb The Abbat of Crouland The Abbat of Battaile The Abbat of Reding The Abbat of Abindon The Abbat of Waltham holy Crosse. The Abbat of Shrewsburie or Salop. The Abbat of Sircester The Abbat of S. Peters in Glocester The Abbat of Bardeney The Abbat of S. Bennets of Hulme The Abbat of Thorney The Abbat of Ramsey The Abbat of Hyde The Abbat of Malmesburie The Abbat of S. Marie in Yorke The Abbat of Selbey The Prior of Coventrie The Prior of The order of S. Iohn at Ierusalem who commonly is called Master of S. Iohns Knights and would be counted the first and chiefe Baron of England Vnto whom as still unto the Bishops By right and custome it appurtained as to Peeres of the Kingdome to be with the rest of the Peeres personally present at all parliaments whatsoever there to consult to handle to ordaine decree and determine in regard of the Baronies which they held of the King For William the first a thing that the Church-men of that time complained of but those in the age ensuing counted their greatest honor ordained Bishopricks and Abbaies which held Baronies in pure and perpetuall Almâ—s and untill that time were free from all secular service to bee under military or Knights service enrolling every Bishopricke and Abbay at his will and pleasure and appointing how many souldiers he would have every of them to find for him and his successours in the time of hostility and warre From that time ever since those Ecclesiasticall persons enjoyed all the immunities that the Barons of the Kingdome did save onely that they were not to be judged by their Peeres For considering that according to the Canons of the Church such might not be present in matters of life and death in the same causes they are left unto a jurie of twelve men to be judged in the question of Fact But whether this be a cleere point in law or no I referre me to skilfull Lawyers Vavasors or Valvasors in old time stood in the next ranke after Barons whom the Lawyers derive from Valvae that is leaved dootes And this dignitie seemeth to have come unto us from the French For when they had soveraigne rule in Italy they called those Valvasores who of a Duke Marquesse Earle or Captaine had received the charge over some part of their people and as Butelere the civill Lawyer saith had power to chastise in the highest degree but not the Libertie of faires and mercates This was a rare dignity among us and if ever there were such long since by little and little it ceased and ended For in Chaucers time it was not great seeing that of his Franklin a good yeoman or Freeholder he writeth but thus A Sheriffe had he beene and a Câ—ntour Was no where such a worthy Vavasour Inferiour nobles are Knights Esquires and those which usually are called Generosi and Gentlemen Knights who of our English Lawyers be termed also in Latin Milites and in all nations well neere besides tooke their name of Horses for the Italians call them Cavellieni the Frenchmen Chevaliers the Germans Reiters and our Britans in Wales Margogh all of riding Englishmen onely terme them Knights by a word that in the old English language as also of the German signifieth indifferently a servitor or minister and a lusty young man Heereupon it commeth that in the Old written Gospels translated into the English tongue wee read for Christs Disciples Christs Leorning Cnyhts and else where for a Client or Vassall Incnyght and Bracton our ancient civill Lawyer maketh mention of Radâ—nights that is to say serving horsemen who held their lands with this condition that they should serve their Lords on horsbacke and so by cutting off a peece of the name as our delight is to speake short I thought long since that this name of Knights remained with us But whence it came that our countreymen should in penning of lawes and in all writings since the Normans conquest terme those Knights in Latin Milites I can hardly see And yet I am not ignorant that in the declining time of the Roman Empire the Denomination of Milites that is Souldiers was transferred unto those that conversing neere about the Princes person bare any of the greater offices in the Princes Court or traine But if I have any sight at all in this matter they were among us at first so called who held any lands or inheritances as Tenants in Fee by this tenure to serve in the warres For those Lands were termed Knights Fees and those that elsewhere they named Feudatarij that is Tenants in Fee were here called Milites that is Knights as for example Milites Regis c. The Kings Knights Knights of the Archbishop of Canterburie Knights of Earle Roger of Earle Hugh c. For that they received those lands or manors of them with this condition to serve for them in the wars and to yeeld them fealty and homage whereas others who served for pay were simply called Solidarij and Servientes that is Souldiers and Servitors But these call them Milites or Equites whether you will are with us of foure distinct sorts The most honorable and of greatest dignitie be those of the Order of S. George or of the Garter In a second degree are Banerets in a third ranke Knights of the Bath and in a fourth place those who simply in our tongue be called Knights in Latin Equites aurati or Milites without any condition at all Of S. Georges Knights I will write in due place when I am come to Windsor Of the rest thus much briefly at this time Banerets whom others terme untruely Baronets have their name of a Banner For granted it was unto them in regard of their martiall vertue and prowesse to use a foure square ensigne or Banner as well as Barons whereupon some call them and that truly Equites Vexillarij that is Knights-Banerets and the Germans Banner-heires The antiquitie of these Knights Banerets I cannot fetch from before the time of King Edward the Third when Englishmen were renowned for Chivalrie so that I would beleeve verily that this honorable title was devised then first in recompence of martiall prowesse untill time shall bring more certainty of truth to light In the publicke records of that time mention is made among military titles of Banerets of Men at the Banner which may seeme all one and of Men at armes And I have seene a Charter of King Edward the Third by which he advanced Iohn Coupland to the State of a Baneret because in a battell fought at Durham hee had taken prisoner David the Second King of the Scots and it runneth in these words Being willing to reward the said Iohn who tooke David de Bruis prisoner and
frankly delivered him unto us for the deserts of his honest and valiant service in such sort as others may take example by this president to doe us faithfull service in time to come we have promoted the said Iohn to the place and degree of a Baneret and for the maintenance of the same state we have granted for us and our heires to the same Iohn five hundred pounde by the yeere to bee received for him and his heires c. Worth the remembrance it is to set downe heere out of Froissard the very maner and forme whereby Iohn Chandos a brave noble warrior in his time was made a Baneret What time as Edward Prince of Wales saith he was to fight a field in the behalfe of Peter King of Castile against Henry the Bastard and the Frenchmen Iohn Chandos came unto the Prince and delivered into his hands his own Banner folded and rolled up with these words My Lord this is my Banner may it please you to unfold and display it that I may advance it into the field this day For I have by Gods favour revenewes sufficient thereunto The Prince then and Peter King of Castile who stood hard by tooke the Banner into their hands unfolding the same delivered it again unto him with these or such like words Sir Iohn in the name of God who blesse this dayes service of yours that it may speed well and turne to your glorie Beare your selfe manfully and give proofe what a Knight you are Having thus received the Banner to his companies he went with a cheerefull heart My fellow souldiers quoth he Behold there is my Banner and yours in case yee defend it courageously as your owne Of later time he that is to be advanced unto this dignity either before the battell that hee may bee encouraged or after the battell ended that hee may receive due honor for his valour bearing an ensigne of a long fashion such as they call a Pennon wherein his owne armes are depainted in their colours is brought betweene two elderly Knights with trumpeters and Heralds going before into the presence of the King or his Regent and Lieutenant generall who after good words and wishes imparting happie fortune commandeth the tip or point of the said pennon to bee cut off that of a long pennon it might bee made a foure square banner Concerning Knights of the Bath in all my readings hitherto I could find no greater Antiquitie thereof than this that they were in use among the ancient French and that Henrie the Fourth King of England that day whereon hee was crowned in the Tower of London dubbed 46. Esquiers Knights who the night before had watched and bathed unto every one of whom hee gave greene side coats reaching downe to their ankles with streit sleeves and furred with minivere also they they wore upon their left shoulder two cordons of white silke with tassels thereto hanging downe These in former times were wont to be created and selected out of the flower of Nobilitie which had not before taken the degree of Knighthood at the coronation of Kings and Queenes and at their marriages sometimes also when their sonnes were invested Princes of Wales or Dukes or when they solemnly received the cincture or militarie girdle of Knighthood and that with many ceremonies which now for the most part are grown out of use But in our daies they that are called by the King to enter into this order neither will I handle this argument exquisitly the day before they are created being clad in an Eremits gray weed with a hood a linnen coife and booted withall come devoutly to divine service to begin their warfare there as if they would employ their service for God especially they suppe all together and upon every one of them there wait two Esquiers and one Page After supper they retire themselves into their bed-chamber where for each of them is prepared a prettie bed with red curtains and their owne armes fastened thereupon with a bathing vessell standing close by covered with linnen clothes wherein after they have said their praiers and commended themselves to God they bathe themselves that thereby they might bee put in mind to be pure in bodie and soule from thenceforth The next morrow early in the morning awakened they are and raised with a noyse of Musicall Instruments and doe on the same apparell Then the high Constable of England the Earle Marshall and others whom the King appointeth come unto them call them forth in order and tender an oath unto them namely that they shall serve and worship God above all defend the Church honour the King maintaine his rights protect widowes virgins orphans and to their power repell and put by all wrong When they have sworne thus to doe by laying their hand upon the Gospels they are brought with state to morning prayer the kings Musitians and Heralds going before and by them likewise they are conducted backe to their bed-chambers where after they have devested themselves from their Eremites weed they put on a mantle of martiall redde Taffata implying they should bee Martiall men and a white Hat with a white plume of feathers over their linnen coife in token of sincerity and tie a paire of white gloves to the pendant cordon of their mantle This done they mount upon Steedes dight with sadle and furniture of blacke leather with white intermingled and having a crosse in the frontlet Before every one of them rideth his owne Page carrying a sword with a gilded hilt at which there hang gilt spurres and of either hand of them ride their Esquiers With this pompe and trumptes sounding before them to the Kings Court they goe where when they are brought by two ancient Esquiers to the Kings presence the Page delivereth the Girdle and Sword hanging thereto unto the Lord Chamberlaine and he with great reverence unto the King who therewith girdeth the Knight overthwart and commandeth therewith two elder Knights to put on the Spurres who in times past were wont with good wishes and praiers to kisse his knees that was to bee Knighted And these new Knights thus created used in old time to bring up the service of meates to the Kings Table after this they dine altogether sitting to one side of the boord every one under the Escutcheon of his owne Armes fastened over his head At evening praier they repaire to the chapel offer their swords upon the high altar and by laying downe a piece of money redeeme the same againe Now as they returne from divine service the Kings Master-Cooke sheweth them his knife and admonisheth them to performe the part of good and faithfull Knights otherwise he would to their shame and reproch cut off those Spurres of theirs Upon the Coronation day in that solemne pompe they accompanie the King keeping their places with their Swords girt to them and their spurres on in Joviall blew mantles as a man would say in the colour of just Jupiter as a
the native place of that great Arthur partly upon a little ridge putting forth as it were a tongue and partly within an Iland having both of them sometime a bridge betweene They call it at this day Tindagel beeing now a glorious ruine onely in times past a stately Castle of which a late Poet hath thus written Est locus Abrini finnoso littore ponti Rupe situs media refluus quem circuit astus Fulminat hic latâ— turritâ— vertice castrum Nomine Tindagium veteres dixere Corini There is a place within the winding shore of Severne Sea On mids a rocke about whose foote the tides turne-keeping play A Towry-topped Castle here farre thundreth over all Which Cornishmen by ancient name Tindagel Castle call A long discourse it would aske to declare here out of Geffries history how Uther Pendragon King of Britaine within this Castle became enamoured upon the wife of Gorlois Prince of Cornwall and how by Magick slights and delusions taking the shape of her husband upon him dishonourably violated the Ladie his wife and of her begat the said renowned Arthur It may suffice if I doe but alleage the verses of our Poet Iohn Havillan Facie dum falsus adulter Tindagel irrupit nec amoris Pendragon astum Vincit omnificas Merlini consulit artes Mentiturque ducis habitus rege latente Induit absentis praesentia Gorlois ora Whiles Pendragon that could not quench his flaming heats of love But beare a mind adult'rous still by meanes brake in above To Tindagel disguis'd in face by Merlin taught thereto By magicke and inchauntments strange which all such feats could doe Duke Gorloes habite absent then that was he tooke by guile But presence of the King in place he did conceale the while This Uther Pendragon verily was a Prince flourishing in Marâ—iall feats who valiantly upheld the decaying state of his countrey against the English Saxons But whether came from him That Royall Banner in England having the portraict of a Dragon with a golden head whereof of neighbour nations have had experience and which in far Lands beyond sea was under King Richard the First terrible to the Panims I dare not avouch I would beleeve rather it was received from the Romans who a long time used the Eagle after that Marius had rejected the Ensignes of a Wolfe of Minotaurus of an Horse c. And in the end under the latter Emperors tooke them to the Dragon Whereupon Claudianus writeth thus Hij picta Draconum Calla levant The banners these advance aloft With speckled necks of Dragons wrought And Nemesianus Signa micant sinuatque truces levis aura Dracones Their Ensignes shine and Dragons fell that therein pictur'd show Wave to and fro with whiffes of wind as it doth gently blow And Hoveden sheweth that the West Saxon Kings used to carrie in their Banners the Dragon As for another Banner of the English which Beda called Tufa as also the Danes Reafan I will say nothing of them in this place for feare I may seeme to have digressed too farre from my purpose Betweene Padstow and Tindagel inwardly there extendeth a fruitfull veine and therein flourish the families of Roscarrock Carnsew Penkevell Cavell Pencavell of ancient name and great respect in this coast Forward still Eastward on the same coast which is open barren and destitute of woods there butteth upon the sea Botereaux Castle corruptly by the common people called Boscastle built by the Lords Botereaux who gave for their armes three Buffones toads sable in a shield Argent William Botereaux was the first famous man of honour in this familie who married Alice the daughter of Robert Corbet whose sister was Paramour to King Henrie the First of whom hee begat Reginald Earle of Cornwall From this William there flourished eleven successively in order But Margaret the onely daughter and sole heire of the last was wedded unto Robert Hungerford by whose posteritie the Inheritance is devolved upon the familie of the Hastings which inheritance was augmented and became more honourable by marriages that those of Botereaux contracted with the heires of the Noble houses De Moeles S. Laud commonly called S. Lo and Thweng From hence the Land shooting forth into the Sea extendeth it selfe so farre northward that the countrey carrieth here full three and twenty miles in breadth betweene the two seas which hitherto went on still drawen after a sort together into a narrow streit In this greatest breadth of it standeth Stow upon the sea-side the ancient habitation of the Creenvils which verily for Antiquitie and Noblenesse of birth is a famous house out of which one Richard in the raigne of William Rufus was for his valour much renowned among those worthy Knights that subdued Glamorganshire in Wales and another of late daies surnamed likewise Richard for his magnanimitie surpassing the Nobilitie of his bloud fighting most valiantly against the Spaniards at the Ilands of Tercera lost his life as I shall shew more fully in my Annals To this Stratton lieth close to a market Towne of no meane name amongst the neighbours for their gardens and good garlicke and next unto it Lancels a faire new seat of that old family de Calvo monte or Chaumond The river TAMARA now TAMAR shewing his head here not farre from the northren shore taketh his course with a swift running streame southward encreased with the channels of many rivelets hard by TAMARA a Towne mentioned by Ptolomee now called Tamerton by Tamar an ancient Mannour of the Trevilions to whom by marriage the Inheritance of Walesborough and Ralegh of Netlested descended also by Lanstuphadon that is Saint Stephens commonly and contractly Launston which standeth farther off from his banke a proper little Towne this is situate upon the pitch of a prettie hill which of two Burgards Dunevet and Newport is growne as it were into one Burgh At the first comming of the Normans William Earle of Moriton built a Castle there and had a Colledge of Chanons or Secular Priests as appeareth out of Domesday book wherein it is named Launstaveton of that Colledge no doubt built in the honour of Saint Stephen which Reginald Earle of Cornwall about the yeere of our Lord 1150 turned into a monasterie Against which pious worke of his the Bishops of Excester carried away over much and seduced with humane and private affection were verie maliciously bent as fearing exceedingly lest one day it would become a Bishops seat and so prejudice and impeach their jurisdiction At this day this Town is best knowne by reason of the common Goale of the countrey and the Assises which are often times kept there Then Tamar looketh up unto an high hil stretched out in length with a vast head which Marianus nameth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and interpreteth it Hengists mount commonly called Hengston-hill Which in times past was so plentifull of Tinne veines that the countrey people had this
service of Chamberlaine in Chef from our soveraigne Lord the King But under Edward the Third I have read that this was held by Sergeantie namely by holding the Laver or Ewre for the King his Soveraigne Lord to wash upon his Coronation day Also Raulph Moien held the Mannour of Owres neere adjoyning by service of Serjeantie in the Kitchin of the gift likewise of King Henry the First and R. de Welles the Mannour of Welles heereabout since the Conquest of England by the service of the Kings Baker Which I note onely by the way Where Frome maketh his issue into that Bay whereupon Poole is scituate hard by the very mouth is planted Warham in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a towne strongly seated on every side but Westward as being fenced on all parts beside with the rivers Trent Frome and the Sea together In King Edward the Confessors time it had two Mint maisters but whiles William the Conquerour raigned it could not reckon above seven dwelling houses in it Yet afterwards it flourished againe fortified with the wall furnished with a mint house a great number of Inhabitants and a most strong Castle which that King William the First built it continued in a most flourishing state untill the daies of King Henry the Second who when hee came to challenge the Crowne of England in the yeare 1142 hee arrived heere besieged and tooke the Castle which was defended by Robert Lacy against him in behalfe of King Stephen and afterward Robert of Lincolne a man of mightie possessions in these parts defended the same against King Stephen But from that time by occasion partly of warres and partly of sudden casualtie by fires by reason also that the sea by little and little which draweth the commoditie of an haven it is almost run to ruine and in the very heart of the old towne it bringeth forth store of garlick At this mouth likewise is discharged another small river with Frome Asserius calleth it Trent but now the Inhabitants thereby name it Piddle From the North banke whereof scarce three miles off I saw the ruins of Middleton Abbey which King Athelstane founded as a satisfaction to appease the ghost and soule of his brother Edwine whom hee had deprived both of his Kingdome and life For when that solicitous desire of raigning had caused him quite to forget all Justice hee put the young Prince heire apparant to the Crowne with one page into a little whirrey without any tackling or furniture thereto to the end he might impute his wickednesse to the waves And so the young Prince overcome with griefe of heart and unable to master his owne passions cast himselfe headlong into the sea Under this Middleton there is voided also another river which runneth hard by Bere a little mercate towne where for a long time that ancient and famous family de Turbida villa commonly Turbervill had their chief habitation whereof as some were famous so Hugh Turburvill in the time of King Edward the First was infamous for his traiterous practises with the French But to goe backe againe to the West part of the shire At the spring head of Frome where the soile is most fruitfull the forrest of Blackmore sometimes thicke and full of trees but now thinner growne yeildeth plentifull game for hunting This by a more common and better knowne name is called The Forrest of white hart The reason of which name the Inhabitants by tradition from their forefathers report to be thus When King Henry the Third came hither to hunt and had taken other Deere he spared a most beautifull and goodly White-Hart which afterwards T. de la-Lynde a gentleman of this countrey with others in his company tooke and killed but how perillous a matter it was to bee twitching as they say of a lion they soone found and felt For the King conceived great indignation and high displeasure against them put them to a grievous fine of money for it and the very lands which they held pay even to this day every yeare by way of amercement a piece of money into the Exchequer which is called White hart silver There joyneth neere to this forrest Shirburne towne named also Shirburne Castle in old time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which by interpretation is Fons Limpidus or as it is else where writen Fons clarus that is Pure fountaine or cleare well scited on the hanging of an hill a pleasant and proper seate as William of Malmesburie saith as well for the frequent number of Inhabitants as the scituation and now it is the most populous and best haunted towne of all this country and gaineth exceeding much by clothing In the yeare of our redemption 704 an Episcopall seat was heere erected and Aldelme the first Bishop there consecrated afterwards also in the raigne of Etheldred Herman the Bishop of Sunning having obtained this Bishoprick translated his Episcopall see hither and joyned the said Bishoprick of Sunning unto this which under William Conqueror the same Bishop translated to Sarisburie and reserved Shirburne to bee a retiring place for his Successors unto whom it belongeth as yet And one of them namely Roger built a strong Castle in the East-part thereof under which lay sometime a wide meere and many fish pooles and now being filled up are converted into most pleasant and rich medow ground As for the Cathedrall Church presently upon the translation of the See it became a monasterie againe and beareth shew of great antiquitie although not many became a monasterie againe and beareth shew of great antiquitie although not many yeares past in a broile betweene the townesmen and the Monks it was fired which the burnt and scorched colour upon the stones doth as yet most evidently shew Under this the river Iuell whereof I will speake some where else winding in and out with many curving reaches runneth Westward to Chiston the seate sometime of the linage de Maulbauch from which it descended hereditarily unto the family of the Horsâ—ies Knights where it entreth into Sommersetshire More toward the East the most famous river Stoure passing full of tenches and Eeles especially arising in Wiltshire out of six fountaines commeth downe to Stourton the honor and seat of the Barons of Stourton So soone as it entred in this Shire it passeth through Gillingham forrest in which Edmund surnamed Iron-side in a memorable battell put the Danes to flight and three miles from thence saluteth Shaftsbury standing upon an hill top very defective of water sometimes called by the Britaines as it is commonly but falsely thought Caer Paladur and in Latine by later writers Septonia by the Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perhaps of the Churches Spire steeple such as they tearmed Scheafts A little before the Normans time it had in it 104. houses and three Mint masters as we read in that booke so often by me alleadged And afterwards it flourished the more by reason of a Nunnerie
mother to Edward Courtney the last Earle of Devonshire of that house and on the other side of the quier Iohn de Beaufort Duke of Somerset with his wife Margaret daughter and heire to Sir Iohn Beauchamp of Bletneshoe whose daughter Margaret Countesse of Richmond and mother of King Henry the Seventh a most godly and vertuous Princesse erected a Schoole heere for the training up of youth But now will I turne my pen from the Church to the Towne when the Danes by their crafty devices went about to set the Englishmen together by the eares and would have broken that league and unitie which was betweene King Edward the Elder and his cosen Aethelwald Aethelwald then lusting after the Kingdome and wholly set against his liege Prince fortified this towne as strongly as possibly he could But so soone as Edward came towards him with his forces and pitched his tents at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now called Badbury he fled and conveied himselfe to his confederates the Danes This Badbury is a little hill upon a faire doune scarce two miles off environed about with a triple trench and rampier and had by report in times past a Castle which was the seate of the West-Saxon Kings But now if ever there were any such it lieth so buried in the owne ruines and rubbish that I could see not so much as one token thereof But hard by a sight I had of a village or mannour called Kingston Lacy because together with Winburne it appurtained to the Lacies Earles of Lincolne unto whom by covenant it came from the Earles of Leicester by the meanes of Quincie Earle of Winchester For King Henry the first had given it to Robert Earle of Mellent and of Leicester and at the last both places from the Lacies fell unto the house of Lancaster whose bountie and liberalitie Winburne had good triall of From this Winburne Stoure as it passeth admitteth Alen a little brook over which standeth S. Giles Winburne the habitation of the worshipfull and ancient house of Astleys Knights also Wickhampton the inheritance sometime of the Barons de Maltravers of whom the last in the raigne of Edward the Third left behind him two daughters onely the one wedded unto Iohn de Arundell grandfather to Iohn Earle of Arundell who left unto his posteritie the title of Barons de Maltravers the other wife of Robert Le-Rous and afterwards of Sir Iohn Keines Knight From hence the Stoure passeth on by Canford under which not long ago Iames Lord Montjoy studious in Minerall matters began to make Calcanthum or Vitriol we call it Coperas and to boile Alome And out of which in old time Iohn Earle of Warren to the great disteining of his owne good name and the damage of England tooke as it were by strong hand and carried away as it is to be seene in our Chronicles Dame Alice Lacey the wife of Thomas Earle of Lancaster And now by this time Stoure leaveth Dorsetshire behind him and after hee hath travelled through some part of Hantshire at length taketh up his lodging in the Ocean and yet not before hee hath entertained a pretty river that runneth to Cranburne a place well watered Where in the yeare of Salvation 930. Aelward a noble Gentleman surnamed for his whitenesse Meaw founded a little monasterie which Robert Fitz-Haimon a Norman unto whom fell the possessions of the said Aelward leaving heere one or two Monkes in a cell translated to Theoksbury From whom in order of succession by the Clares Earles of Glocester and Burghs Earles of Ulster it came to Lionell Duke of Clarence and by him to the Crowne But now Cranborne hath his Uicount now Earle of Salisburie whom King Iames for his approved wisedome and worth honored first with the title of Baron or Lord Cecil of Essendon and the next yeare after of Vicount Cranborne South from hence lieth Woodland emparked sometime the seat of the worshipfull family of Filioll the heires whereof were married to Edward Seimor after Duke of Somerset and Willoughby of Wallaton As touching the Earles and Marquesses of this shire King William the Conqueror having now by conquest attained to the Kingdome of England made Osmund that was Earle of Seez in Normandie both Bishop of Sarisbury and afterward also the first Earle of Dorset and his Chancellor highly admiring the godly wisedome of the man and his notable good parts Long after that King Richard the Second in the one and twentieth yeare of his raigne advanced Iohn de Beaufort Iohn of Gaunt his sonne and Earle of Sommerset to be Marquesse Dorset of which dignitie King Henry the Fourth in hatred of Richard the Second deprived him And when as in the high Court of Parliament the Commons of England there assembled who loved him very dearely made earnest intercession that the said dignitie of Marquesse might bee restored unto him hee himselfe distasting this new title and never heard of before those daies utterly refused it And then his younger brother named Thomas Beaufort was created Earle of Dorset who afterward for his warlike prowesse and valour was by King Henrie the Fifth adorned with the title of Duke of Excester and with the Earledome of Harcourt For he valiantly defended Harflew in Normandie against the Frenchmen and in a pitched field encountring the Earle of Armignac put him to flight After he was dead without issue King Henry the Sixth nominated out of the same house of Lancaster Edmund first Earle afterwards Marquesse Dorset and lastly Duke of Somerset whose sonnes being slaine in the civill wars Edward the Fourth when as now the family of Lancaster lay as it were over troden in the dust created Thomas Grey out of the house of Ruthin who was his sonne in law for the King had espoused the mother of the said Grey Marquesse Dorset when in right of his wife he had entred upon a great state and inheritance of the Bonvilles in this country and the territories adjoyning After him succeeded in the same honour Thomas his sonne and Henrie his nephew by the said Thomas who also was created by King Edward the Sixth Duke of Suffolk having wedded Lady Frances daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and Neece unto King Henry the Eighth by his sister This Duke in Queene Maries daies being put to death for high treason learned too late how dangerous a thing it is to marrie into the bloud royall and to feed ambitious hopes both in himselfe and in others From that time the title of Dorset was bestowed upon none untill King Iames at his first entrance into this Kingdome exalted Thomas Sackvill Baron of Buckhurst and Lord high Treasurer of England a man of rare wisedome and most carefull providence to the honour of Earle of Dorset who ended his life with suddaine death 1608. and left Robert his sonne his successor who deceasing within the yeare left the said honour againe to Richard his hopefull sonne whom he
fuit Hinc abiens illinc meritorum fulget honore Hic quoque gestorum lande perennis erit Two mountaines high that reach the stars two tops of Sion Faire From Libanon two cedar trees their flouring heads doe beare Two royall gates of highest heaven two lights that men admire Paul thundreth with his voice aloft Peter he flasheth fire Of all the Apostles crowned crew whose raies right glittering bee Paul for deepe learning doth excell Peter for high degree The one doth open the hearts of men the other heaven doore For Peter lets those into heaven whom Paul had taught before As one by meanes of doctrine shewes the way how heaven to win By vertue so of th' others Keys men quickly enter in Paul is a plaine and ready way for men to heaven hie And Peter is as sure a gate for them to passe thereby This is a rocke remaining firme a Master builder hee Twixt these a Church and altar both to please God built we see Rejoice ô England willingly For Rome doth greet thee well The glorious Apostles light in Glaston now doe dwell Two bulwarks strong afront the Foe are rais'd These towres of faith In that this Citie holds the head even of the world it hath These monuments King Ina gave of perfect meere good will Vnto his subjects whose good deeds remaine and shall doe still He with his whole affection in godlinesse did live And holy Church to amplifie great riches also give Well might he our Melchisedech a Priest and King be thought For he the true religious worke to full perfection brought The lawes in common weale he kept and state in Court beside The onely Prince that prelats grac'd and them eke rectifide And now departed hence to heaven of right he there doth reigne Yet shall the praise of his good deeds with us for ay remaine In this first age of the primitive Church very holy men and the Irish especially applied the service of God in this place diligently who were maintained with allowances from Kings and instructed youth in religion and liberall sciences These men embraced a solitarie life that they might the more quietly studie the Scriptures and by an austere kind of life exercise themselves to the bearing of the crosse But at length Dunstane a man of a subtile wit and well experienced when he had once by an opinion of his singular holinesse and learning wound himselfe into the inward acquaintance of Princes in stead of these brought in Monks of a later order called Benedictines and himselfe first of all others became the Abbat or ruler heere of a great covent of them who had formerly and afterward gotten at the hands of good and godly Princes a royall revenue And having reigned as it were in all affluence 600. yeres for all their neighbours round about were at their beck they were by K. Henry the Eighth dispossessed thrust out of all this their Monastery which was growne now to be a prety Citie environed with a large wall a mile about replenished with stately buildings was razed and made even with the ground and now onely sheweth evidently by the ruines thereof how great and how magnificent a thing it was Now I might be thought one of those that in this age have vanities in admiration if I should tell you of a Walnut tree in the holy Churchyard heere that never did put forth leafe before S. Barnabees feast and upon that very day was rank and full of leaves but that is now gone and a young tree in the place as also of the Hawthorne in Wiral-park hard by which upon Christmasday sprouteth forth as well as in May. And yet there bee very many of good credit if we may beleeve men of their word who avouch these things to be most true But before I returne from hence I wil briefly set downe unto you that which Giraldus Cambrensis an eie-witnesse of the thing hath more at large related touching Arthurs Sepulchre in the Churchyard there When Henrie the Second King of England tooke knowledge out of the Songs of British Bards or Rhythmers how Arthur that most noble Worthy of the Britans who by his Martial prowesse had many a time daunted the fury of the English-Saxons lay buried heere betweene two Pyramides or sharpe-headed pillars hee caused the bodie to be searched for and scarcely had they digged seven foot deepe into the earth but they lighted upon a Tomb or Grave-stone on the upper face whereof was fastened a broad Crosse of lead grosly wrought which being taken forth shewed an inscription of letters and under the said stone almost nine foot deeper was found a Sepulchre of oake made hollow wherin the bones of that famous Arthur were bestowed which Inscription or Epitaph as it was sometime exemplified and drawn out of the first Copie in the Abbey of Glascon I thought good for the antiquitie of the characters here to put downe The letters being made after a barbarous maner resembling the Gothish Character bewray plainely the barbarisme of that age when ignorance as it were by fatall destinie bare such sway that there was none to be found by whose writings the renowne of Arthur might bee blazed and commended to posteritie A matter and argument doubtlesse meet to have beene handled by the skill and eloquence of some right learned man who in celebrating the praises of so great a prince might have wonne due commendation also for his owne wit For the most valiant Champian of the British Empire seemeth even in this behalfe onely most unfortunate that hee never met with such a trumpetter as might worthily have sounded out the praise of his valour But behold the said Crosse and Epitaph therein Neither will it be impertinent if I annex hereunto what our Countrey man Ioseph a Monke of Excester no vulgar and triviall Poet versified sometime of Arthur in his Poeme Antiocheis wherein he described the warres of the Christians for recoverie of the Holy Land and was there present with King Richard the First speaking of Britaine Hinc celebri fato foelici claruit ortu Flos Regum Arthurus cujus cúm facta stupori Non micuere minús totus quód in aure voluptas Et populo plaudente favus Quemcunque priorum Inspice Pelaeum commendat fama tyrannum Pagina Caesareos loquitur Romana triumphos Alcidem domitis attollit gloria monstris Sed nec pinetum coryli nec sydera solem Aequant Annales Latios Graiosque revolve Prisca parem nescit aequalem postera nullum Exhibitura dies Reges supereminet omnes Solus praeteritis melior majorque futuris For famous death and happie birth hence flourish'd next in place Arthur the flower of noble Kings whose acts with lovely grace Accepted and admired were in peoples mouth and eare No lesse than if sweet hony they or pleasant musicke were See former Princes and compare his worth even with them all That King in Pella borne whom we great Alexander call The trumpe
Village having nothing to boast of but a Major for the head Magistrate and in it a passing fine house of the Earles of Pembrokes raised out of the ruines of the old religious house But most of all it was over-topped and shadowed first by SORBIODVNVM and now by Salisburie that is risen out of the ruine thereof For so Antoninus in his Itinerarie calleth that which the Saxons afterwards named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the vulgar Latinists Sarum Sarisburia Salisburialia Moreover the account taken by miles of distant places from it and the tracts remaining of the name testifie no lesse if I should say never a word For who would ever make doubt that Searesbirig proceeded from Sorbiodunum by addition of the Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Burg or town in stead of Dunum which the Britaines and Gaules both used to put unto places seated on higher grounds such as this Sorbiodunum was In so much as I have beene told by one right skilfull in the British tongue that Sorviodunum is by interpretation as much as The dry hill a conjecture surely more probable that theirs who with much adoe have derived the name from one Saron in Berosus or from the Emperour Severus and have named it forsooth Severia For it mounted upon a high hill and as our Historiographer of Malmesburie saith Instead of the Citie there was a Castle fenced with a wall of no small bignesse indifferently well provided otherwise of necessaries but so scant of water that it is good chaffer there sold at a wonderfull price Whereupon these verses were made of old Sorbiodunum by one living in those daies Est tibi defectus lymph◠sed copia cretae Saevit ibi ventus sed philomela silet No water there but chalke yee have at will The winds there sound but nightingales be still By the ruines yet remaining it seemeth to have beene a strong place sufficiently fortified and to have contained in circuite some halfe a mile Kinric the Saxon after he had wonne a most fortunate Victorie of the Britans was the first of all the Saxons that forced it in the yeare 553 and Canutus the Dane about the yeare 1003. by setting it on fire did much harme unto it But it revived when by the authority of a Synode and the ascent of William the Conqueror Herman Bishop of Shirburne and Sunning translated his See hither whos 's next successour Osmund built a Cathedrall Church And King William the Conquerour after he had taken the survey of England summoned all the States of the Kingdome hither to sweare unto him fealtie at which time as it stands upon record in Domesday booke it payd after the rate of 50. hides Of the third penny of Salisbury the King hath xx shillings ad pensum de Cremento IX libras ad pondus Which I note therefore because in our forefathers daies like as among the old Romans money was wont to bee paied as well by the weight as tale but not many yeares after in the raigne of Richard the first partly for the insolencie and mis-rule that the garison souldiers made there against the Church-men and in part for want of water the Church-men first and then the Inhabitants began to leave it and planted themselves in a lower ground scarce a mile off South-East from it where there is a receit as it were of many rivelets and where Avon and Nadder meet Of this their removing Petrus Blesensis in his Epistles maketh mention For thus of old Salisburie he wrote A place that was open to the winds barraine dry and desert In it stood a towre like that of Siloam which oppressed the townes-men with the burthen of long servitude And againe The Church of Sarisburie was captive in that hill Let us therefore in Gods name goe downe to the plaine countrey where the valleies will yield store of wheat and other corne where also the large fields are rich fat in pasture And the Poet afore-said in verse thus Quid Domini domus in castro nisi foederis arca In templo Baalim carcer uterque locus What is Gods house in Castle pent but like the Arke of blisse In Baalims temple Captivate Each place a prison is And the place whereunto they descended he thus describeth Est in valle locus nemori venatibus apto Contiguus celeber fructibus uber aquis Tale Creatoris matri natura creata Hospitium toto quaesijt orbe diu Neere to a Parke well stor'd of game there lies in vale a ground Where corne and fruits in plentie grow where water-streames abound Such lodging long throughout the world when nature daughter deere Had for Creatours mother sought at last she found it heere When they were now come downe because they would begin first with the house of God Richard Poore the Bishop in a most delectable place named before Merifield began to found a most stately and beautifull Minster Which with an exceeding high spired steeple and double crosse yles on both sides carrying with it a venerable shew as well of sacred hilaritie as religious majestie was with great cost finished forty yeares after and in the yeare of our Lord 1258. dedicated even in the presence of King Henrie the third Whereof the said old Poet hath these prety verses Regis enim virtus temple spectabitur isto Praesulis affectus artificumque fides For why This Church a Prelats zeale sets forth unto the sight The workmens trusty faithfulnesse a Princes power and might But much more elegantly the most learned Daniel Rogers as concerning the said Church Mira canam Soles quot continet annus in una Tam numerosa ferunt ade fenestra micat Marmoreasque capit fusas tot ab arte columnas Comprensas horas quot vagus annus babet Totque patent portae quot mensibus annus abundat Res mira at verares celebrata fide Wonders to tell How many daies in one whole yeare there beene So many windows in one Church men say are to be seene So many pillars cast by Art of marble there appeare As houres doe flit and flie away throughout the running yeare So many gates doe entry give as monthes one yeare doe make A thing well knowne for truth though most it for a wonder take For the windowes as they reckon them answer just in number to the daies the pillars great and small to the houres of a full yeare and the gates to the twelve monethes A cloister it hath beside on the South side for largenesse and fine workmanship inferiour to none whereunto joyneth the Bishops pallace a very faire and goodly house and on the other side a high bell towre and passing strong withall standing by it selfe apart from the Minster Moreover in short time it grew to be so rich in goods and endowed with so great revenewes that it still maintained a Deane a Chaunter a Chauncellor a Treasurer and three and thirty Prebendaries of whom the Residents as they terme
that they are deemed entire and solid marble The common saying is that Ambrosius Aurelianus or his brother Vther did reare them up by the art of Merlin that great Mathematician in memorie of those Britaine 's who by the treachery of Saxons were there slaine at a parley Whereupon Alexander Necâ—â—m a Poet of no great antiquitie in a poeticall fit but with no speciall grace and favour of Apollo having his instructions out of Geffreys British historie come out of these verses Nobilis est lapidum structura Chorea Gigantum Ars experta suum posse peregit opus Quod ne prodiret in lucem segniùs artem Se viresque suas consuluisse reor Hoc opus adscribit Merlino garrula fama Filia figmenti fabula vana refert Illa congerie fertur decorata fuisse Tellus quae mittit tot Palamedis aves Hinc tantum munus suscepit Hibernia gaudens Nam virtus lapidi cujlibet ampla satis Nam respersus aquis magnam transfundit in illa Vim queis curari sepiùs aeger eget Vther Pendragon molem transvexit ad Ambri Fines devicto victor ab hoste means O quot nobilium quot corpora sacra virorum Illic Hengesti proditione jacent Intercepta fuit gens inclita gens generosa Intercepta nimis credula cauta minùs Sed tunc enituit praeclari Consulâ— Eldol Virtus qui letho septuaginto dedit The Giants Daunce a famous stone-worke stands Art did her best in bringing it to passe Vaine prating fame reports by Merlins hands In manner strange this worke effected was The stones men say in their land first did lie Whence Cranes in flockes so many use to flie From thence conveied as things of charie price The Irish soile received them with joy For why their vertue in a wondrous wise Oft cures the griefe that doth sicke folke annoy For waters cast and sprinckled on these stones Their vertue take and heale the grieved ones The noble Vther that Pendragon hight Them over seas to Ambresburie brought Returning thence where he by martiall might Had quel'd his foes in battell fiercely fought O worthy Wights how many on that plaine Of you lie dead by Hengists treason slaine The Britans brave that race of noble blood Entrap't by little heed and too much trust Were kild alas in parley as they stood Through faithlesse fraud of enemies unjust But Eldol Earle his manhood excellent Then shewed to death who seventie persons sent Others say that the Britaine 's erected this for a stately Sepulchre of the same Ambrose in the very place where hee was slaine by his enemies sword that hee might have of his countries cost such a piece of worke and tombe set over him as should forever be permanent as the Altar of his vertue and manhood True it is that mens bones have many times beene digged up heere and the village lying now on Avons side is called Ambresburie that is to say Ambrose his towne where certaine ancient Kings by the report of the British Historie lay interred And the booke called Euâ—â—gium saith that a Monasterie stood there of three hundred Monkes which one Gurmundus I wot not what Pagan and Barbarian spoiled and rifled In that place afterward Alfritha King Edgar his wife by repentance and some good deed to expiate and make satisfaction for murthering of King Edward her sonne in Law built a stately Nunnerie and endowed it with livings In which Queene Eleanor King Henrie the Thirds widdow renouncing all royall pompe and princely state devoted her selfe unto God among other holy Nuns The said Ambrose Aurelianus who gave name unto the place when the Romane Empire drew now to an end toske upon him the Imperiall purple Roabe in Britaine as saith Paulus Diaconus succoured his decaying countrey and the aide of that warlike Arthur repressed the violent rage of the enemies overthrew puissant armies consisting of the most couragious Nations of Germany and at the last in a battell fought upon this Plaine lost his life in the defence of his countrey Now seeing both Gildas and Bede do write that his Parents wore the purple Roabe and were slaine why may not I suppose him to be descended of that Constantine who in the Fourth Consulship of Theodosius the younger was elected Emperour heere in Britaine in hope of his luckie name and afterwards slaine at Arles I have heard that in the time of King Henrie the Eighth there was found neere this place a table of mettall as it had beene tinne and lead commixt inscribed with many letters but in so strange a Caracter that neither Sir Thomas Eliot nor master Lilye Schoole-master of Pauls could read it and therefore neglected it Had it beene preserved somewhat happily might have beene discovered as concerning Stonehenge which now lieth obscured Scarce foure miles from Ambresburie on this side Avon there is a Warren of hares commonly called Everlie Warren where there is great increase of hares for Gentlemen in the countrey there dwelling to disport themselves with game yet not such store as that the neighbour Inhabitants should require the helpe of souldiers in their defence against them as the men of the Isles Baleares sometime did by Plinies relation albeit they did likewise much harme heere unto the Corne fields and neere neighbour unto it is Lutgershall where stood sometimes as I read the Castle of Geffrey Fitz-Peter Lord chiefe Justice of England in his time and Earle of Essex a man of exceeding great wealth Not much higher is Wolshall which was the house of the Noble Familie of Seimoâ— now Earle of Hertford or of Saint Maur to whom by marriage accrewed a great inheritance of the Estâ—rmies in this tract who bare argent three Demy-Lions Gules and from the time of King Henrie the Second were by right of inheritance the Bailifes and Guardians of the Forrest of Savenac lying hard by which is of great name for plenty of good game and for a kind of Ferne there that yieldeth a most pleasant savour In remembrance whereof their Hunters â—orne of a mightie bignesse and tipt with silver the Earle of Hertford keepeth unto this day as a monument of his progenitours More somewhat into the East the River Cunetio in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly Kenet ariseth neere unto a little Village of the same name which some would have to be that CVNETIO mentioned by Antoninus but the distance of both sides gain-saieth it Heere Selburie a round hill mounteth up aloft to a great height which by the forme of the hill it selfe and the outward settling of the earth beneath may seeme to have beene cast up by mans hand And many of that sort round and with sharpe tops are to bee seene in this tract Burrowes they call them and Barrowes raised happily in memoriall of Souldiers there slaine For bones are found in them and read I have how an usuall thing it was with the Northerne
nations that every souldier remaining alive after a foughten field should carry his head-piece full of earth toward the making of their fellowes tombes that were slaine Although I am of opinion rather that this of Selburie was set there in stead of a limit if not by the Romans then certainly by the Saxons Like as that fosse called Wodensdike considering that betweene the Mercians and the West-Saxons there was much bickering in this Shire many a time about their Marches and both Boetius and the Grammaticall Writers have made mention of such Mounts raised for bounds Within one mile of Selburie is Aiburie an up-landish village built in an old Campe as it seemeth but of no large compasse for it is environed with a faire trench and hath foure gappes as gates in two of the which stand huge Stones as jambes but so rude that they seeme rather naturall than artificiall of which sort there are some other in the said village This River Kenet runneth at the first Eastward through certaine open fields out of which there stand up aloft every where stones like rockes and off them a little village there is called Rockley among which there breaketh out sometimes at unawares water in manner of a streame or sudden Land-flood reputed the messenger as it were and forerunner of a dearth and is by the rusticall people of the countrey called Hunger-borne From hence Kenet holdeth on his course to a towne bearing his name called of Antoninus CVNETIO and is placed from Verlucio twenty miles At which distance just from thence that ancient towne called by a new name Marleborow in old time Marleberge standeth upon this river Cunetio now Kenet stretching out East and West on the pendant of an hill Whether this name Marleborow came in latter ages of Marga which in our language we call Marle and use in stead of dung to manure our grounds I am not ready to affirme Certes it lieth neere a chaulkey hill which our Ancestours before they borrowed this name Chaulke of the Latine word Calx named Marle But the Etymologie thereof that Alexander Necham in his Booke of divine wisedome hath coined and drawne from Merlins Tombe as appeareth by this Distichon of his making is ridiculous Merlini tumulus tibi Merlebrigia nomen Fecit testis erit Anglica lingua mihi O Merlebridge towne of Merlins Tombe thou had'st thy name Our English tongue will testifie with me the same The fatall end of this towne Cunetio and the name together and the estate thereof with the ancient memorie also from the comming in of the Saxons unto the Normans time is utterly vanished and gone for in all this space betweene our histories doe not so much as once name it But in the age next ensuing wee reade that Iohn surnamed Sine terra that is Without Land who afterwards was King of England had a Castle heere which when hee revolted from his brother King Richard the First Hubert Archbishop of Canterburie tooke by force and which afterwards was most famous by reason of a Parliament there holden wherein by a generall consent of the States of the Kingdome there assembled a law passed for the appeasing of all tumults commonly called the Satute of Marleborow But now being daunted by time there remaineth an heape of rammell and rubbish witnessing the ruines thereof and some few reliques of the walles remaine within the compasse of a drie ditch and an Inne there is adjoyning thereto which in stead of the Castle hath the signe of a Castle hanging out at it The Inhabitants of the place have nothing to make greater shew of than in the Church of Preshut hard by of a Christning Font as it seemeth of Touchstone or of Obsidian stone in which by their report certaine Princes I wot not who were in times past baptized and made Christians Neither verily can I conceale that which I have read that every Burger heere admitted is by an old order and custome among them to present unto the Major a brace of hounds for the hare a couple of white Capons and a white Bull. On the same River and the same side thereof is seated Ramsburie a prettie village having nothing now to commend it but pleasant meadowes about it howsoever in old time famous it was for the Bishops See there who had this Shire for their Diocesse but that seate being by Herman the Eighth Bishop laid unto that of Shirburne and at length as I said before translated to Saliburie carried away with it all the name and reputation of this place because at Ramesburie there was never any Covent of Clerkes nor ought for their maintenance From the other side of the River more Eastward Littlecot sheweth it selfe not long since a seate of the Darels a place worthy to bee remembred for the late Lord thereof Sir Iohn Popham who being the chiefe Iudge in the Kings Bench executed justice as I have said already against malefactors to his high praise and commendation And heereby runneth the limit betweene this Shire and Berkshire Thus farre forth have we taken a slight view and survey of Wilshire which as wee find in the Domesday booke and worth the noting it is paide unto the King tenne pounds for an Hawke twentie shillings for a strong Steed for hey one hundred shillings and five ores now what kind a piece of money and of what kind that Ore was I wot not but out of a Register of Burton Monasterie I have observed thus much that twentie Ores are worth two Markes of silver This province can reckon out of divers and sundry houses but few Earles besides those of Salisburie whom I have named before for to omit Weolsthan before the Normans Conquest it had none to my knowledge unto King Richard the Second his daies who preferred William le Scrope to that one honour But this mans good fortunes stood and fell together with his Prince For when the one was deposed the other lost his head After whom within short time succeeded Iames Butler Earle of Ormund advanced to that dignitie by King Henrie the Sixth Howbeit when the Lancastrians were downe the wind and hee was attainted his estate forfeited and Iohn Stafford a younger sonne of Humfrey Duke of Buckingham by the favour of King Edward the Fourth received this title whose sonne Edward succeeded him and died without issue The same honour afterwards King Henrie the Eighth bestowed upon Henrie Stafford of the same house of Buckingham who having enjoyed it a little while departed likewise and left no children behind him In the end the favour of the said King brought it into the family of the Bullens for Thomas Bullen Vicount Rochfort Sonne to one of the Daughters and coheires of Thomas Butler Earle of Ormund hee created Earle of Wilshire whose Daughter Anne the King tooke to wife A marriage this was to her selfe and her brother unhappie and deadly to her Parents wofull but
they boyle untill it bee exceeding white And of this sea or Bay-salt and not of ours made out of salt springs is Saint Ambrose to bee understood when hee writeth thus Consider we those things which are usuall with many very grace-full namely how water is turned into salt of such hardnesse and soliditie that often-times it is hewed with axes This in the salts of Britaine is no wonder as which carrying a shew of strong marble doe shine and glitter againe with the whitenesse of the same mettall like unto snow and bee holesome to the bodie c. Farther within the land the MEANVARI dwelt whose countrey togither with the Isle of Wight Edilwalch King of the South Saxons received in token of Adoption from Wlpher King of Mercians Godfather unto him at the Font when he was baptized The habitations of these Meanvari scarce changing the name at this day is divided into three hundreds to wit Means-borow East-mean and West-mean and amongst them there mounteth up an high Hill environed in the top with a large rampier and they call it old Winchester at which by report there stood in old time a citie but now neither top nor toe as they say remaineth of it so as a man would quickly judge it to have beene a summer standing campe and nothing else Under this is Warnford seated where Adam de Portu a mightie man in this tract and of great wealth in the raigne of William the first reedified the Church a new as a couple of rude verses set fast upon the wall doe plainly shew Upon these more high into the land those SEGONTIACI who yeilded themselves unto Iulius Caesar had their seate toward the North limite of this shire in and about the hundred of Holeshot wherein are to bee seene Mercate Aultim which King Elfred bequeathed by his will unto the keeper of Leodre also Basingstoke a mercate towne well frequented upon the descent of an hill on the North side whereof standeth solitarie a very faire Chappell consecrated unto the holy Ghost by William the first Lord Sands who was buried there In the arched and embowed roofe whereof is to be seene the holy history of the Bible painted most artificially with lively portraicts and images representing the Prophets the Apostles and the Disciples of Christ. Beneath this Eastward lieth Basing a towne very well knowne by reason of the Lords bearing the name of it to wit Saint Iohn the Poinings and the Powlets For when Adam de Portu Lord of Basing matched in marriage with the daughter and heire of Roger de Aurevall whose wife was likewise daughter and heire to the right noble house of Saint Iohn William his sonne to doe honour unto that familie assumed to him the surname of Saint Iohn and they who lineally descended from him have still retained the same But when Edmund Saint Iohn departed out of this world without issue in King Edward the third his time his sister Margaret bettered the state of her husband Iohn Saint Philibert with the possessions of the Lord Saint Iohn And when she was dead without children Isabell the other sister wife unto Sir Luke Poinings bare unto him Thomas Lord of Basing whose Neice Constance by his sonne Hugh unto whom this fell for her childs part of Inheritance was wedded into the familie of the Powlets and she was great Grandmother to that Sir William Powlet who being made Baron Saint Iohn of Basing by King Henrie the Eighth and created by King Edward the Sixth first Earle of Wilshire and afterward Marquesse of Winchester and withall was Lord Treasurer of England having in a troublesome time runne through the highest honours fulfilled the course of nature with the satietie of this life and that in great prosperitie as a rare blessing among Courtiers after he had built a most sumptuous house heere for the spacious largenesse thereof admirable to the beholders untill for the great and chargeable reparations his successors pulled downe a good part of it But of him I have spoken before Neere unto this house the Vine sheweth it selfe a very faire place and Mansion house of the Baron Sands so named of the vines there which wee have had in Britaine since Probus the Emperours time rather for shade than fruit For hee permitted the Britaines and others to have vines The first of these Barons was Sir William Sands whom King Henrie the Eighth advanced to that dignitie being Lord Chamberlaine unto him and having much amended his estate by marrying Margerie Bray daughter and heire of Iohn Bray and cousin to Sir Reinold Bray a most worthy Knight of the Order of the Garter and a right noble Baneret whose Sonne Thomas Lord Sands was Grandfather to William L. Sands that now liveth Neighbouring hereunto is Odiam glorious in these daies for the Kings house there and famous for that David the Second King of Scots was there imprisoned a Burrough corporate belonging in times past to the Bishop of Winchester the fortresse whereof in the name of King John thirteene Englishmen for fifteene daies defended most valiantly and made good against Lewis of France who with his whole armie besieged and asted it very hotly A little above among these Segontiaci toward the North side of the countrey somtimes stood VINDONVM the chiefe citie of the Segontiaci which casting off his owne name hath taken the name of the Nation like as Luteria hath assumed unto it the name of the Parisians there inhabiting for called it was by the Britaines Caer Segonte that is to say the Citie of the Segontiaci And so Ninnius in his catalogue of cities named it wee at this day called it Silecester and Higden seemeth to clepe it of the Britaines Britenden that this was the ancient Vindonum I am induced to thinke by reason of the distance of Vindonum in Antoninus from Gallena or Guallenford and Venta or Winchester and the rather because betweene this Vindonum and Venta there is still to bee seene a causey or street-way Ninnius recordeth that it was built by Constantius the sonne of Constantine the Great and called sometime Murimintum haply for Muri-vindum that is the wals of Vindon For this word Mur borrowed from the provinciall language the Britaines retained still and V. the consonant they change oftentimes in their speech and writing into M. And to use the verie words of Asinnius though they seeme ridiculous the said Constantius sowed upon the soile of this citie three seedes that none should be poore that dwelt therein at any time Like as Dinocrates when Alexandria in Egypt was a building strewed it with meale or flower as Marcellinus writeth all the circular lines of the draught which being done by chance was taken for a fore-token that the citie should abound with al manner of victualls He reporteth also that Constantius died here and that his Sepulchre was to be seene at one of the gates as the Inscription
fought with good successe and slew all the valiantest men amongst them Yet did hee little or no good to his native country the Danes evermore renewing their forces still as they were overthrowne like unto that serpent Hydra A little from the fountaines where this river springeth standeth Gatton which now is scarce a small village though in times past it hath beene a famous towne To prove the antiquitie thereof it sheweth Roman coines digged forth of the ground and sendeth unto the Parliament two Burgesses Lower than it is seated Rhie-gat which if a man interpret according to our ancient language is as much as the Rivers course in a vale running out farre into the East called Holmesdale the Inhabitants whereof for that once or twice they vanquished the Danes as they wasted the country are wont in their owne praise to chaunt this Rythme The vale of Holmesdall Never wonne ne never shall This Rhie-gate carrying a greater shew for largenesse than faire buildings hath on the South-side a Parke thicke sette with faire groves wherein the right Noble Charles Earle of Nottingham Baron of Effingham and Lord Admirall of England hath a house where the Earles of Warren and Southrey had founded a prety Monasterie On the East side standeth a Castle mounted aloft now forlorne and for age ready to fall built by the same Earles and of the vale wherein it standeth commonly called Holmecastle under which I saw a wonderfull vault carried under the ground of arch-worke over head hollowed with great labour out of a soft gritte and crombling stone such as the whole hill standeth of These Earles of Warren as wee finde in the Offices or inquisitions held it in chiefe of the King in their Baronie from the conquest of England Hence runneth this river downe by Bechworth Castle for which Sir Thomas Browne obtained of King Henry the Sixth the libertie of holding a Faire For it is the habitation of the Brownes Knights out of which family since our grand-father can remember when Sir Anthony Browne had married Lady Lucie the fourth daughter of Iohn Nevil Marquesse Mont-a-cute Queene Mary honoured his sonnes sonne with the title of Vicount Mont-a-cute Some few miles from hence Westward Effingham sheweth it selfe the possession not long since of William Howard son to that Noble Thomas Duke of Norfolke that triumphed over the Scots who being created by Queene Mary Baron Howard of Effingham made Lord High-Admirall of England was first Lord Chamberlain unto Queene Elizabeth of most happy memorie and then Lord privie Seale whose sonne Charles now flourisheth Lord great Admirall of England whom in the yeare of our Lord 1597. the same Queene Elizabeth honoured also with the title of Earle of Nottingham of whom more in my Annales but now returne we to the river The Mole now being come as farre as Whitehill whereon the Box tree groweth in great plenty at the foote thereof hideth himselfe or rather is swallowed up and thereof the place is called the Swallow but after a mile or two neere unto Letherhed bridge boyling up and breaking forth taketh joy to spring out againe So that the Inhabitants of this tract may boast as well as the Spaniards that they have a bridge which feedeth many flockes of sheepe For this is a common by-word most rife in the Spaniards mouthes as touching the place where their river Anas now called Guadiana hideth himselfe for ten miles together Thus our Mole rising up a fresh hasteneth faire and softly by Stoke Dabernoun so named of the ancient possessors the Dabernouns gentlemen of great good note afterward by inheritance from them the possession of the Lord Bray and by Aesher sometimes a retyring place belonging to the Bishops of Winchester And then very neare Molesey whereunto it giveth name sheddeth himselfe into the Tamis After Tamis hath taken unto him the Mole hee carrieth his streame Northwardly and runneth fast by Kingstone called in times past Moreford as some will have it a very good mercate towne for the bignesse and well frequented well knowne also in old time by reason of a Castle there belonging to the Clares Earles of Glocester Which towne had beginning from a little towne more ancient then it of the same name standing upon a flat ground and subject to the inundation of Tamis In which when England was almost ruinated by the Danish warres Athelstan Edwin and Etheldred were crowned Kings upon an open stage in the Market place and of these Kings heere crowned it came to be named Kingstone as one would say The Kings Towne Tamis now turning his course directly Northward visiteth another place which the Kings chose for themselves sometimes to sojourne at which of the shining brightnesse they call Shene but now it is named Richmond wherein the most mighty Prince King Edward the Third when he had lived sufficiently both to glory and nature died with sorrow that hee conceived for the death of that most valiant and Martiall prince his sonne which sorrow pierced so deepe and stucke so neere him and all England beside that it farre exceeded all comfort And verily at this time if ever else England had a good cause to grieve For within one yeare after it lost the true praise of military prowesse and of accomplished vertue For both of them by bearing their victorious armes throughout all France struke so great a terrour wheresoever they came that as the father might most worthily with King Antiochus carrie the name of Thunder-bolt so his sonne with Pyrrhus deserved to bee named the Eagle Heere also departed Anne wife to King Richard the Second sister of the Emperour Wenzelaus and daughter to the Emperour Charles the fourth who first taught English women the manner of sitting on horsebacke which now is used whereas before time they rode very unseemely astride like as men doe Whose death also her passionate husband tooke so to the heart that he altogether neglected the said house and could not abide it Howbeit King Henry the Fifth readorned it with new buildings and in Shene a pretty village hard by he joyned thereto a little religious house of Carthusian Monks which he called The house of Iesu of Bethelem But in the raigne of Henry the seventh this Princely place was with a woefull sudden fire consumed almost to ashes Howbeit rising up againe forthwith farre more beautifull and glorious as it were a Phaenix out of her owne ashes by the meanes of the same King Henry it tooke this new name Richmond of the title hee bare being Earle of Richmond before he obtained the Crowne of England Scarce had that Noble King Henry the Seventh finished this new worke when in this place he yeilded unto nature and ended his life through whose care vigilancy policy and forecasting wisedome for time to come the State and common-weale of England hath to this day stood established and invincible From hence likewise his sonnes daughter Queene
word which signifieth a strond or Banke I cannot easily say But seeing that in Records it is very often called in Latine Ripa and they who bring fish from hence be termed Ripiers I encline rather this way and would encline more if the Frenchmen used this word for a stroud or shore as Plinius doth Ripa These two townes neither may it seeme impertinent to note it belonged to the Abbey of Fescampe in Normandie But when King Henry the Third perceived that religious men intermingled secretly in matters of State he gave them in exchange for these two Chiltenham and Sclover two Manours in Glocester-shire and other lands adding for the reason that the Abbat and Monkes might not lawfully fight with temporall armes against the enemies of the Crowne Into this haven the River Rother or Rither sheddeth it selfe which issuing forth at Ritheram fieldes for so the Englishmen in ancient times called that towne which wee doe Rotherfield passeth by Burgwash in old time Burghersh which had Lords so surnamed thereof among whom was that Sir Bartholomew Burgwash a mightie man in his time who being approved in most weighty Ambassages and warres in Aquitaine for his wisedome and valour deserved to be created a Baron of the Realme to be admitted into the Order of the Garter at the very first institution even among the Founders thereof and to bee made Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque-ports And his sonne carrying the same fore-name not degenerating from his father lived in high honour and estimation but hee left behind him one daughter and no more issue married into the house of Le Despencer of which there remaineth still a goodly of-spring of Noble personages Echingham next adjoyning had also a Baron named William de Echingham in the time of King Edward the Second whose ancestours were the hereditarie Seneschals of this Rape And their inheritance in the end by the heires females name to the Barons of Windsor and to the Tirwhits Then the Rother dividing his water into three channels passeth under Roberts bridge where Alured de S. Martin in King Henrie the seconds daies founded a Monasterie and so running beside Bodiam a Castle belonging to the ancient Family of the Lewknors built by the Dalegrigs here falleth as I said into the Ocean Now I have passed along the Sea coast of Sussex And as for the mid-land part of the shire I have nothing more to relate thereof unlesse I should recount the woods and forrests lying out faire in length and breadth which are a remnant of the vast wood Anderida Among which to begin at the West those of greatest note are these The forrest of Arundill Saint Leonards forrest Word forrest and not farre off East Gren-sted anciently a parcell of the Barony of Eagle and made a Mercate by King Henry the seventh Ashdowne forrest under which standeth Buckhurst the habitation of the ancient house of the Sackviles out of which race Queene Elizabeth in our daies aduanced Thomas Sackvile her allie by the Bollens a wise Gentleman to be Baron of Buckhurst took him into her Privie Councell admitted him into the most honorable Order of the Garter and made him Lord Treasurer of England whom also of late K. Iames created Earle of Dorset Waterdown forrest where I saw Eridge a lodg of the Lord Abergevenny and by it craggie rocks rising up so thicke as though sporting nature had there purposed a sea Here-by in the very confines of Kent is Groomebridge an habitation of the Wallers whose house there was built by Charles Duke of Orleance father to K. Lewis the 12. of France when he being taken prisoner in the battaile at Agincourt by Richard Waller of this place was here a long time detained prisoner As touching the Earles Sussex had five by the line of Albiney who were likewise called Earles of Arundell but had the third pennie of Sussex as Earles then had The first of them was William D' Albiney the sonne of William Butler to King Henrie the first and Lord of Buckenham in Norfolk who gave for his armes Gules a Lion rampant Or and was called one while Earle of Arundell and another while Earle of Chichester for that in those places he kept his chiefe residence This man of Adeliz the daughter of Godfrey Barbatus Duke of Lorraine and of Brabant Queen Dowager or Widdow of K. Henrie the First begat William the second Earle of Sussex and of Arundell father to William the third Earle unto whom Mabile the sister and one of the heires of the last Raulph Earle of Chester bare William the fourth Earle Hugh the fifth who both died without issue and also foure daughters married unto Sir Robert Yateshall Sir Iohn Fitz-Alan Sir Roger de Somery and Sir Robert de Mount-hault After this the title of Arundell budded forth againe as I said before in the Fitz-Alans but that of Sussex lay hidden and lost unto this our age which hath seene five Ratcliffes descended of the most Noble house of the Fitz-walters that derived their pedigree from the Clares bearing that honour to wit Robert created Earle of Sussex by King Henrie the Eight who wedded Elizabeth daughter of Henry Stafford Earle of Buckingham of whom he begat Henrie the second Earle unto whom Elizabeth the daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk brought forth Thomas who being Lord Chamberlaine to Queene Elizabeth died without issue a most worthy and honourable personage in whose mind were seated joyntly both politike wisedome and martiall prowesse as England and Ireland acknowledged Him succeeded Sir Henrie his brother and after him Robert his onely sonne now in his flower This Province containeth parishes 312. THus farre of Sussex which together with Suth-rey was the habitation of the Regni in the time of the Britaines and afterwards the kingdome of the South-Saxons called in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the two and thirty yeare after the Saxons comming was begun by Ella who as Beda writeth First among the Kings of the English Nation ruled all their Southern Provinces which are severed by the River Humber and the limits adjoyning thereto The first Christian King was Edilwalch baptized in the presence of Wulpher King of Mercia his Godfather and he in signe of adoption gave unto him two Provinces namely the Isle of Wight and the Province of the Meanvari But in the 306. yeare after the beginning of this Kingdome when Aldinius the last King was slaine by Ina King of West-Saxons it came wholly under the Dominion of the West-Saxons CANTIVM NOw am I come to Kent which Countrey although master WILLIAM LAMBARD a man right well endued with excellent learning and as godly vertues hath so lively depainted out in a full volume that his painefull felicitie in that kind bath left little or nothing for others yet according to the project of this worke which I have taken in hand I will runne it over also and
small trouble and labour about it and when he had hanged all the rest that he found therein he sent the wife and sonnes of Bartholmew aforesaid to the Tower of London Thus Medway having received this rivelet from Leeds fetching about through good grounds rūneth by Allington sometime a castle now lesse than a castellet where Sir T. Wyat the elder a worthy learned knight reedified a faire house now decaied whose son Sr. Thomas enriched by an heire of Sir T. Haut proposing to himself great hopes upō fair pretēses pitifully overthrew himself his state Hence commeth Medway to Ailsford in the old English Saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which H. of Huntingdon calleth Elstre Ninnius Episford who hath written that it was named in the British tongue Saissenaeg haibail of the Saxons there vanquished like as others in the very same sense termed it Anglesford For Guortemere the Britaine Guortigerns sonne did here set upon Hengist and the English Saxons whom being disraied and not able to abide a second charge he put all to flight so as they had beene utterly defeated for ever but that Hengist skil-full and provident to prevent and divert danger withdrew himselfe into the Isle of Tenet untill that invincible vigour and heat of the Britanes were allaied and fresh supplies came to his succour out of Germanie In this Battaile were slaine the Generalls of both sides Catigern the Britaine and Horsa the Saxon of whom the one buried at Horsted not farre from hence gave name to the place and Catigern honored with a stately and solemne funerall is thought to have beene enterred neere unto Ailesford where under the side of a hill I saw foure huge rude hard stones erected two for the sides one transversall in the middest betweene them and the hugest of all piled and laied over them in manner of the British monument which is called Stone heng but not so artificially with mortis and tenents Verily the unskilfull common people terme it at this day of the same Catigern Keiths or Kits Coty house In Ailsford it selfe for the religious house of the Carmelites founded by Richard Lord Grey of Codnor in the time of King Henrie the Third is now seene a faire habitation of Sir William Siddey a learned Knight painefully and expensfully studious of the common good of his country as both his endowed house for the poore and the bridge heere with the common voice doe plentifully testifie Neither is Boxley neere adjoyning to bee passed over in silence where William de Ipres in Flaunders Earle of Kent founded an Abbey in the yeare of our Lord 1145. and translated thither the Monkes from Clarevalle in Burgundie Medway having wound himselfe higher from the East receiveth a brooke springing neare Wrotham or Wirtham so named for plentie of wortes where the Archbishops had a place untill Simon Islep pulled it downe leaveth Malling which grew to bee a towne after Gundulph Bishop of Rochester had there founded an Abbey of Nunnes and watereth Leibourn which hath a Castle sometime the seate of a family thereof surnamed out of which Sir Roger Leibourn was a great Agent in the Barons warres and William was a Parliamentary Baron in the time of King Edward the first Neare neighbour to Leibourn is Briling now the habitation of the Lord Abergeveny in times past parcell of the Baronie of the Maminots then of the Saies whose Inheritance at length by heires generall came to the families of Clinton Fienes and Aulton Upon the banke of Medway Eastward somewhat higher after it hath passed by Halling where Hamo Heath Bishop of Rochester built an house for his successors there standeth an ancient Citie which Antonine calleth DVRO BRVS DVRO-BRIVAE and in another place more truely DVRO PROVae and DVRO BROVae Bede DVRO BREVIS and in the declining state of the Romane Empire processe of time contracted his name so that it came to be named ROIBIS and so by addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which commeth of the latin word Castrum betokeneth among our ancestors a city or Castle was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and now with us more short Rochester and in Latin Roffa of one Rhufus as Bede guesseth but it seemeth unto mee to retaine in it somewhat still of that old name Durobrevis Neither is there cause why any man should doubt of the name seeing that by the account of journies or distance betweene places and Bedes authoritie it is named expressely in the Charter of the foundation of the Cathedrall Church there DVROBROVIS yet thus much I would advertise the Reader that in the printed bookes of Bede it is read Darueruum whereas in the manuscript copies it is termed DVROBREVIS seated it is in a bottome fortified on the one side with a marsh the river the weake walles and as William of Malmesburie saith pent within too streight a roome whereupon in time past it was counted a Castle rather then a Citie For Bede calleth it Castellum Cantuariorum that is the Kentishmens Castle But now it stretcheth forth with large suburbs on the West East and South sides It hath passed through no few dangers and mischances In the yeare of Christ 676. it was overthrowne and laid along by King Aetheldred the Mercian and many a time afterward sacked by the Danes Aethelbert King of Kent erected there a sumptuous Church which also he made more famous with the dignitie of Bishopricke ordaining Iustus to bee the first Bishop of that See But when it fell to decay for very age Bishop Gundulph a Norman about the yeare 1080. reedified it and thrusting out the Priests brought in Monkes in their roomes and when they were cast out a Deane sixe Prebendaries and Scholars were substituted in their places Neere unto the Church there standeth over the river an old Castle fortified both by art and situation Which as the report goeth Odo Bishop of Bayeux and Earle of Kent built But it was no doubt King William the first that built it For in Domesday booke we read thus The Bishop of Rouecester holdeth in Elesford for exchange of the land on which the Castle is seated Yet certaine it is that Bishop Odo when his hope depended of a doubtfull change of the State held this against King William Rufus At which time there passed proclamation through England that whosoever would not be reputed a Niding should repaire to recover Rochester Castle Whereupon the youth fearing that name and most reproachfull and opprobrious in that age swarmed thither in such numbers that Odo was enforced to yeeld the place lose his dignitie and abjure the realme But concerning the reedification of this Castle about this time listen what the Text of Rocester saith when King William the second would not confirme the gift of Lanfrank as touching the Manour of Hedenham in the County of Buckingham made unto Rochester church unlesse Lanfranck and Gundulph Bishop of
Britans Vale as they called also Segontium an ancient towne of the Britans of which we spake before whence the whole Hundred adjoyning is named Selbrittenden The Romans for to defend this coast against the Saxon rovers placed heere the band of the Abulci with their Captaine Afterward being taken by the English Saxons it decaied quite For Hengist being fully determined to rid all the Britans out of Kent and thinking it would much availe him to encrease his troupes and bands with greater forces of his owne nation called foorth Aella out of Germany with a strong power of English Saxons and while he gave the assault unto this Anderida by violence the Britans out of the wood hard by where they laie in ambushments chased him so that at length after many losses on both sides given and taken when he had parted his army and both discomfited and put to flight the Britans in the wood and also at the same time forced the towne by assaults his barbarous heart was so enflamed with desire of revenge that he put the Inhabitants to the sword and razed the towne even to the ground The place lying thus desolate was shewed as Henry of Huntingdon saith to those that passed by many ages after Vntill the Friers Carmelites newly come out from Mount Carmell in the Holiland who sought for such solitary places built them heere a little Priory in the time of King Edward the first at the charges of Sir Thomas Albuger Knight and so streight waies there rose up a village which in regard of the old towne overthrowen began to be called Newenden that is The New towne in the vale I saw nothing there now but a mean village with a poore Church a wodden bridge to no great purpose for a ferry is in most use since that the river Rother not containing himselfe in his chanell hath overlaied is like to endanger surround the levell of rich lands thereby Whereupon the inhabitants of Rhie complaine that their haven is not scoured by the streame of Rother as heeretofore and the owners heere suffer great losse which their neighbours in Oxeney doe feare if it were remedied would fall upon them This is a river-isle ten miles about encompassed with the river Rother dividing his streames and now brackish having his name either of mire which our ancestours called Hox or of Oxen which it feedeth plentifully with ranke grasse Opposite to this is Appledore where a confused rabble of Danish and Norman Pirates which under the conduct of one Hasting had sore annoied the French coasts loden with booties landed and built a Castle whom notwithstanding King Aelfred by his valour enforced to accept conditions of peace Vp-land hence and from Nawenden I saw which I should have before remembred Cranbroke and Tenterden good clothing towns Sisingherst a faire house of the familie of Bakers advanced by Sir Iohn Baker not long since Chauncellour of the Exchequer and his marriage with a daughter and heire of Dingley Bengebury an habitation of the ancient familie of Colpepper and neere adjoining Hemsted a mansion of the Guildfords an old familie but most eminent since S. Iohn Guilford was Controuler of the house to king Edward the Fourth For his sonne and heire S. Richard Guildford was by king Henry the seventh made knight of the Garter Of his sonnes againe Sir Edward Guildford was Marshall of Callais Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports and Master of the Ordnance father to Iane Dutches of Northumberland wife to Sir I. Dudley Duke of Northumberland mother to the late Earles of Warwick and Leicester and Sir Henrie was chosen Knight of the Garter by King Henrie the Eight and had his Armes enobled with a Canton of Granado by Ferdinand king of Spaine for his worthy service in that Kingdome when it was recovered from the Moores and Edward lived in great esteeme at home To be briefe from the said Sir Iohn are issued by females immediatly the Darells of Cale-hill Gages Brownes of Beechworth Walsinghams Cromers Isaacs and Iseleies families of prime and principall note in these parts But now I digresse and therefore crave pardon In the parishes heere-about the commendable trade of cloathing was first set up and freshly practised ever since King Edward the Third his daies who by proposing rewards and granting many immunities trained Flemings into England in the tenth yeere of his reigne to teach our men that skill of Draperie or weaving and making wollen cloth which is justly counted at this day one of the Staies that support our common Weale Thus much of Kent which to conclude summarily hath this part last spoken of for Draperie the Isle of Tenet and the East parts for the Granarie the Weald for the wood Rumney Marsh for the meddow-plot the North downs toward the Thames for the Conny-garthe Tenham and thereabout for an Orchard and Head-Corne for the brood and poultrey of fat big and commended capons As for the Earles omitting the English Saxons Godwin and Leofwin his brother and others who were Earles not by descent and inheritance but by office Odo halfe brother by the mothers side to King William the Conquerour and Bishop of Baieux was the first Earle of Kent of the Norman bloud a man by nature of a bad disposition and busie head bent alwaies to sow sedition and to trouble the State Whereupon he was committed to prison by a subtile distinction as Earle of Kent and not Bishop of Baieux in regard of his holie orders and afterward for a most dangerous rebellion which he had raised he was by his nephew King William Rufus deprived of his places of dignity lost all his goods in England and abjured the Realme Afterwards King Stephen who as an Intruder reaped the revenewes and Commodities of the Crowne of England that hee might bind by benefits martiall men to him hee advanced William of Ipres a Fleming to that honor who being as Fitz-Stephen calleth him Violentus Cantij incubator that is the violent over-pressor of Kent was forced by King Henrie the second to depart sheading many teares and so became a monke Henrie likewise the sonne of King Henrie the second whom his father had crowned King rebelling against his father gave in like respect the title of Kent unto Philip Earle of Flanders But this Philip was Earle of Kent in title only and by promise For as Gervase of Canterburie writeth Philip Earle of Flanders undertooke to the uttermost of his power for to aide the young King doing him homage and binding himselfe with an oath unto whom the said King promised in reward of his service the revenewes of a thousand pounds together with all Kent also the Castle of Rochester and the Castle of Dover Not many yeeres after Hubert de Burgh having done notable good service unto the State received as it were by due desert the same honor at the hands of King Henrie the Third who also made him chiefe Iustice of England
give my voice and accord with Ninnius who writeth That it tooke the name from Glovus the great grandfathers father of King Vortigern but that long before it Antonine had named it Glevum which both the Distance from Corinium and the name also may prove But as the Saxon name Gleavecester came from Glevum so Glevum proportionably from the British Caer Glow which I suppose sprong from the word Glow that in the British tongue signifieth Faire and Goodly so that Caer Glow may bee as much as to say a faire Citie In which signification also the Greekes had their Callipolis Callidromos Callistratia the English men their Brightstow and Shirley and in this very Countie Faireford Faire-ley c. This Citie was built by the Romans and set as it were upon the necke of the Silures to yoake them And there also was a Colonie planted to people it which they called COLONIA GLEVVM For I have seene a fragment of antique stone in the walles of Bath neere unto the North-gate with this Inscription DEC COLONIAE GLEV VIXIT ANN. LXXXVI It lieth stretched out in length over Severne on that side where it is not watered with the river it hath in some places a very strong wall for defence A proper and fine Citie I assure you it is both for number of Churches and for the buildings On the South part there was a lofty Castle of square Ashler stone which now for the most part is nothing but a ruine It was built in King William the first his time and sixteene houses there about as wee read in the booke of Englands Survey were plucked downe for the rearing of this Castle About which Roger the sonne of Miles Constable of Glocester went to law with King Henry the second and his brother Walter lost all the right and interest hee had in this City and Castle as Robert de Mont hath written Ceaulin King of the West Saxons was the first that about the yeare of our redemption 570. by force and armes wrested Glocester out of the Britans hands After this the Mercians won it under whom it flourished in great honour and Osricke King of Northumberland by permission of Etheldred the Mercian founded there a very great and stately Monastery for Nunnes over whom Kineburg Eadburg and Eve Queenes of the Mercians were Prioresses successively one after another Edelfled also that most noble Ladie of the Mercians adorned this City with a Church wherein shee her selfe was buried and not long after when the Danes had spoyled and wasted the whole countrey those sacred Virgins were throwne out and The Danes as Aethelward that ancient authour writeth with many a stroake pitched poore cottages into the citie of Glenvcester At which time when those more ancient Churches were subverted Aldred Archbishop of Yorke and Bishop of Worcester erected another for Monkes which is now the chiefe Church in the Citie and hath a Deane and sixe Prebendaries But the same in these late precedent ages was newly beautified For Iohn Hanley and Thomas Farley two Abbats added unto it the Chappel of the blessed Virgin Mary N. Morwent raised from the very foundation the forefront which is an excellent piece of worke G. Horton an Abbat adjoyned to it the crosse North-part Abbat Trowcester a most daintie and fine Cloister and Abbat Sebrok an exceeding high faire steeple As for the South side it was also repaired with the peoples offerings at the Sepulcher of the unhappy King Edward the second who lieth heere enterred under a monument of Alabaster and not farre from him another Prince as unfortunate as hee Robert Curt-hose the eldest sonne of King William the Conquerour Duke of Normandy within a woodden painted tombe in the midest of the quire who was bereft of the Kingdome of England for that he was borne before his father was King deprived of his two sonnes the one by strange death in the New-forrest the other dispoiled of the Earledome of Flanders his inheritance and slaine he himselfe dispossessed of the Dukedome of Normandie by his brother King Henry the first his eies plucked out and kept close prisoner 26. yeares with all contumelious indignities untill through extreame anguish hee ended his life Above the quire in an arch of this church there is a wall built in forme of a semicircle full of corners with such an artificiall device that if a man speake with never so low a voice at the one part thereof and another lay his eare to the other being a good way distant he may most easily heare every sillable In the reigne of William the Conquerour and before it may seeme that the chiefest trade of the Citizens was to make Iron For as we find in the Survey booke of England the King demanded in manner no other tribute than certaine Icres of Iron and Iron barres for the use of the Kings Navy and some few quarts of hony After the comming in of the Normans it suffered divers calamities by the hands of Edward King Henry the third his sonne whiles England was all on a smoake and cumbustion by the Barons warre it was spoiled and afterward by casualty of fire almost wholy consumed to ashes but now cherished with continuance of long peace it flourisheth againe as fresh as ever it was and by laying unto it two Hundreds it is made a County and called the County of the Citie of Glocester Also within the memory of our fathers King Henry the Eighth augmented the state thereof with an Episcopall See with which dignitie in old time it had beene highly endowed as Geffery of Monmouth avoucheth and I will not derogate ought from the credit of his assertion considering that among the Prelates of Britaine the Bishop Cluviensis is reckoned which name derived from Clevum or Glow doth after a sort confirme and strengthen my coniecture that this is that Glevum whereof Antonine maketh mention Severne having now left Glocester behind it and gathered his waters unto one streame againe windeth it selfe by Elmore a Mansion house of the Gises ancient by their owne lineall descent being in elder times owners of Apsely-Gise neere Brickhill and from the Beauchamps of Holt who acknowledge Huber de Burgo Earle of Kent whom I lately mentioned beneficious to them and testifie the same by their Armories Lower upon the same side Stroud a pretty river slideth into Severne out of Coteswold by Stroud a Mercat towne sometimes better peopled with Clothiers and not farre from Minching-Hampton which anciently had a Nunnery or belonged to Nunnes whom our ancestors named Minchings Now Severn waxing broader and deeper by reason of the alternative flowing and ebbing of the sea riseth and swelleth in manner of a rough and troublous sea indeed and so with many windings and turnings in and out speedeth him unto the Ocean But nothing offereth it selfe unto his sight to count of as hee passeth along but Cam-bridge a little country towne where it receiveth Cam a small
Chamberlaine to King Richard the Third attainted by King Henry the Seventh and slaine in the battaile at Stoke in the quarrell of Lambert that Counterfeit Prince whose sister Fridiswid was Grandmother to Henry the first Lord Norris Hence Windrush hodling on his course watereth Whitney an ancient Towne and before the Normans daies belonging to the Bishops of Winchester to which adjoyneth Coges the chiefe place of the Barony of Arsic the Lords whereof branched out of the family of the Earles of Oxford are utterly extinguished many yeeres agoe Neere unto this the Forest of Witchwood beareth a great breadth and in time past spread farre wider For King Richard the Third disforested the great Territory of Witchwood betweene Woodstocke and Brightstow which Edward the Fourth made to be a Forest as Iohn Rosse of Warwicke witnesseth Isis having received Windrush passeth downe to Einsham in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Manour in times past of the Kings seated among most pleasant medowes which Cuthwulfe the Saxon was the first that tooke from the Britans whom he had hereabout vanquished and long after Aethelmar a Nobleman beautified it with an Abbay the which Aethelred King of England in the yeere of Salvation 1005. confirmed to the Benedictine Monkes and in his confirmation signed the priviledge of the liberty thereof I speake out of the very originall grant as it was written with the signe of the sacred Crosse but now is turned into a private dwelling house and acknowledgeth the Earle of Derby Lord thereof Beneath this Evenlode a little river arising likewise out of Cotteswald speedeth him into Isis which riveret in the very border of the Shire passeth by an ancient Monument standing not farre from his banke to wit certaine huge stones placed in a round circle the common people usually call them Rolle-rich-stones and dreameth that they were sometimes men by a wonderfull Metamorphosis turned into hard stones The draught of them such as it is portrayed long since heere I represent unto your view For without all forme and shape they bee unequall and by long continuance of time much impaired The highest of them all which without the circle looketh into the earth they use to call The King because hee should have beene King of England forsooth if hee had once seene Long Compton a little Towne so called lying beneath and which a man if he goe some few paces forward may see other five standing at the other side touching as it were one another they imagine to have been knights mounted on horse backe and the rest the Army But loe the foresaid Portraiture These would I verily thinke to have beene the Monument of some Victory and haply erected by Rollo the Dane who afterwards conquered Normandie For what time as he with his Danes and Normans troubled England with depredations we read that the Danes joined battaile with the English thereby at Hoche Norton and afterwards fought a second time at Scier stane in Huiccia which also I would deeme to be that Mere-stone standing hard by for a land Marke and parting foure shires For so much doth that Saxon word Scier-stane most plainly import Certainly in an Exchequer booke the Towne adjacent is called Rollen-drich where as it is there specified Turstan le Dispenser held land by Serjeanty of the Kings Dispensary that is to be the Kings Steward As for that Hoch-Norton which I spake of before for the rusticall behaviour of the Inhabitants in the age afore going it grew to be a proverbe when folke would say of one rudely demeaning himselfe and unmaneâ—ly after an Hoggish kinde that hee was borne at Hocknorton This place for no one thing was more famous in old time than for the woefull slaughter of the Englishmen in a foughten field against the Danes under the Raigne of King Edward the Elder Afterwards it became the seat of the Barony of the D' Oilies an honourable and ancient Family of the Norman race of whom the first that came into England was Robert de Oily who for his good and valiant service received of William Conquerour this Towne and many faire possessions whereof hee gave certaine to his sworne brother Roger Ivery which were called the Barony of Saint Valeric But when the said Robert departed this life without issue male his brother Niele succeeded him therein whose sonne Robert the second was founder of Osney Abbay But at length the daughter and heire generall of this house D' Oily was married to Henry Earle of Warwicke and she bare unto him Thomas Earle of Warwicke who dyed without issue in the Raigne of Henry the Third and Margaret who deceased likewise without children abeit shee had two husbands John Marescall and John de Plessetis both of them Earles of Warwicke But then that I may speake in the very words of the Charter of the Grant King Henry the Third granted Hoch-norton and Cudlington unto John de Plessetis which were in times past the possessions of Henry D'Oily and which after the decease of Margaret wife sometime to the foresaid John Earle of Warwicke fell into the kings hand as an Escheat of Normans lands To have and to hold untill the lands of England and Normandy were common Howbeit out of this ancient and famous stocke there remaineth at this day a family of D' Oilies in this shire Evenlode passeth by no memorable thing else but La Bruer now Bruern sometime an Abbay of white Monks and after he hath runne a good long course taketh to him a Brooke neere unto which standeth Woodstocke in the English Saxon language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A woody place where King Etheldred in times past held an assembly of the States of the Kingdome and enacted Lawes Heere is one of the Kings houses full of State and magnificence built by King Henry the First who adjoyned also thereunto a very large Parke compassed round about with a stone wall which John Rosse writeth to have beene the first Parke in England although we read once or twise even in Doomesday Booke these words Parcus silvestris bestiarum in other places In which sense old Varro useth the word Parcus which some thinke to be but a new word But since that Parkes are growne to such a number that there bee more of them in England than are to be found in all Christendome beside so much were our Ancestours ravished with an extraordinary delight of hunting Our Historians report that King Henry the Second being enamoured upon Rosamund Clifford a Damosell so faire so comely and well favoured without comparison that her beauty did put all other women out of the Princes minde in so much as now shee was termed Rosa mundi that is The Rose of the World and for to hide her out of the sight of his jealous Juno the Queene he built a Labyrinth in this house with many inexplicable windings backward and forward Which notwithstanding is no where to be seene at this day The Towne
it selfe having nothing in it at all to shew glorieth yet in this that Geffrey Chaucer our English Homer was there bred and brought up Of whom and of our English Poets I may truely avouch that which that learned Italian said of Homer and the Greeke Poets Hic ille est cujus de gurgite sacro Combibit arcanos vatum omnis turba furores This is the man whose sacred streame hath served all the crew Of Poets thence they dranke their fill thence they their furies drew For he surpassing all others without question in wit and leaving our smattering Poet-asters by many degrees behinde him jam monte potitus Ridet anhelantem dura ad fastigia turbam When once himselfe the steepe top hill had wonne At all the sort of them he laught anone To see how they the pitch thereof to gaine Puffing and blowing doe clamber up in vaine Isis having now entertained Evenlode divideth his Chanell and severing it selfe maketh many and those most delectable Islands neere which stood Godstow a little Nunnery which Dame Ida a rich widow built and King John both repaired and also endowed with yearely Revenewes that these holy Virgins might releeve with their prayer for by this time had that persuasion possessed all mens mindes the soules of King Henry the Second his father and of Rosamund For there was she buryed with this Epitaph in Rhyme Hac jacet in tumbâ Rosa mundi non Rosamunda Non redolet sed olet quae redolere solet Rose of the World not Rose the fresh pure floure Within this Tombe hath taken up her boure She senteth now and nothing sweet doth smell Which earst was wont to savour passing well We read that Hugh the Bishop of Lincolne Diocesan of this place comming hither caused her bones to bee removed out of the Church as unworthy of Christian buriall for her unchaste life Neverthelesse the holy sisters there translated them againe into the Church and layed them up in a perfumed leather bagge enclosed in lead as was found in her Tombe at the dissolution of the house and they erected a Crosse there whereby the Passengers were put in minde with two rhyming Verses to serve God and pray for her But I remember them not Neither doth the Ouse or Isis as yet gather himselfe into one streame when hee meeteth with Cherwell which out of Northampton-shire runneth almost through the mids of this Country This River first watereth Banbury sometime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a faire large Towne at which Kinric the West Saxon King in old time put to flight the Britans in a memorable battaile fighting manfully for their lives state and all they had and in this later foregoing age not farre off Richard Nevill Earle of Warwicke siding with the house of Lancaster gave such an overthrow to those of Yorke that forthwith also he tooke King Edward the Fourth now forlorne and hopelesse Now the fame of this Towne is for zeale cheese and cakes and hath a Castle for shew which Alexander Bishop of Lincolne for to the See of Lincolne it belongeth first built who having a minde to dwell stately rather than quietly brought upon himselfe many adversities by his huge buildings About this Towne that I may observe so much by the way peeces of the Romane Emperours Coine found as also elsewhere in the field neere adjoyning make somewhat to prove the antiquity of the place Neere to Banbury is Hanwell where the Family of Cope hath flourished many yeares in great and good esteeme And neere it againe is Broughton the habitation of Sir Richard Fienes or Fenis unto whom and to the heires of his body the most mighty Prince King James in the first yeare of his Raigne Recognized and confirmed the name stile title degree dignity and honour of the Baron Say and Sele as who lineally descended from Sir James Fienes Baron Say and Sele and Lord high Treasurer of England who was cruelly beheaded by a rable of Rebells in the time of King Henry the Sixth Cherwell carrying his Streame along from Banbury seeth nothing but pleasant fields passing well husbanded and as plentifull medowes Amongst which stand Heiford Warin so denominated Warin Fitz-Gerold Lord thereof Heyford Purcell likewise so named of the Purcels or de Porcellis ancient Gentlemen the old owners Blechindon an an ancient Possession of the ancient Family Le Pover and Islip in elder time Ghistlipe the natall place of that King Edward whom for his religious Piety and continency our Ancestours and the Popes vouchsafed the name of Saint Edward the Confessor as hee himselfe witnesseth in the originall-Charter whereby he granted this place to the Church of Westminster Here there runneth a riveret from the East in to Cherwell which passeth by Burcester in the English Saxons tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little towne carrying an ancient name but wherein I have observed no matter of antiquity save that Gilbert Basset and Egelina Courteney his Wife built heere a Religious House in honour of Saint Eadburga in the time of King Henry the Second and that not long since the Barons Le Strange of Knocking were Lords of the place But Westward there lie some few remaines of a decayed and forlorne ancient station Alchester they call it happily as one would say Aldchester that is an old Towne by which a Port way from Wallengford as the neighbour Inhabitants thinke led to Banbury and the same they called Akemanstreet way the Tract whereof for certaine miles together is yet most plainly to bee seene in the plaine of Otmore which oftentimes is strangely overspread with winter waters Cherwell thus increased passeth Southward nere to Hedindon which King Iohn gave to Sir Thomas Basset for his Barony But where Cherwell is confluent with Isis and pleasant Eights or Islets lye dispersed by the sundry disseverings of Waters there the most Famous University of OXFORD called in the English Saxon tongue Oxenford sheweth it selfe aloft in a Champion plaine OXFORD I say our most noble Athens The Muses-Seate and one of Englands stayes nay The Sunne the Eye and the Soule thereof the very Source and most cleare Spring of good Literature and Wisedome From whence Religion Civility and Learning are spred most plenteously into all parts of the Realme A faire and goodly Citty whether a man respect the seemely beauty of private houses or the stately magnificence of publike buildings together with the wholsome sight or pleasant prospect thereof For the hils beset with woods doe so environ the plaine that as on the one side they exclude the pestilent Southwinde and the tempestuous West winde on the other so they let in the cleering Eastern-winde onely and the North-east winde with all which free from all corruption Whence it came to passe that of this Situation it was as writers recorde in ancient times called Bellositum Some are of opinion that it hath beene named Caer Vortigern
Lancaster second son of K. Henry the third and his wife Aveline de fortibus Countesse of Albemarle William and Audomar of Valence of the family of Lusignian Earles of Pembroch Alphonsus Iohn and other children of King Edward the First Iohn of Eltham Earle of Cornwall son to K. Edward the second Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester the yongest son of K. Edward the third with other of his children Aeleanor daughter and heire of Humfrey Bohun Earle of Hereford and of Essex wife to Thomas of Woodstocke the yong daughter of Edward the fourth and K. Henry the seventh Henry a childe two months old son of K. Henry the eight Sophia the daughter of K. Iames who died as it were in the very first day-dawning of her age Phillippa Mohun Dutches of Yorke Lewis Vicount Robsert of Henault in right of his wife Lord Bourchier Anne the yong daughter and heire of Iohn Mowbray Duke of Norfolke promised in marriage unto Richard Duke of Yorke yonger son to K. Edward the fourth Sir Giles Daubency Lord Chamberlaine to king Henry the Seventh and his wife of the house of the Arundels in Cornwall I. Vicount Wells Francis Brandon Dutches of Suffolke Mary her daughter Margaret Douglasse Countesse of Lennox grandmother to Iames King of Britaine with Charles her son Winifrid Bruges Marchionesse of Winchester Anne Stanhop Dutches of Somerset and Iane her daughter Anne Cecill Countesse of Oxford daughter to the L. Burghley Lord high Treasurer of England with Mildred Burghley her mother Elizabeth Berkeley Countesse of Ormund Francis Sidney Countesse of Sussex Iames Butler Vicount Thurles son and heire to the Earle of Ormond Besides these Humfrey Lord Bourchier of Cromwall Sir Humfrey Bourchier son and heire to the Lord Bourchier of Berners both slaine at Bernet field Sir Nicholas Carew Baron Carew Baronesse Powisse T. Lord Wentworth Thomas Lord Wharton Iohn Lord Russell Sir T. Bromley Lord Chancellour of England Douglas Howard daughter and heire generall of H. Vicount Howard of Bindon wife to Sir Arthur Gorges Elizabeth daughter and heire of Edward Earle of Rutland wife to William Cecill Sir Iohn Puckering Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England Francis Howard Countesse of Hertford Henrie and George Cary the father and sonne Barons of Hunsdon both Lords Chamberlaines to Queene Elizabeth the heart of Anne Sophia the tender daughter of Christopher Harley Count Beaumont Embassadour from the king of France in England bestowed within a small guilt Urne over a Pyramid Sir Charles Blunt Earle of Devonshire Lord Lieutenant Generall of Ireland And whom in no wise wee must forget the Prince of English Poets Geoffry Chauer as also he that for pregnant wit and an excellent gift in Poetry of all English Poets came neerest unto him Edmund Spencer Beside many others of the Clergy and Gentlemen of quality There was also another College or Free-chapell hard by consisting of a Deane and twelve Chanons dedicated to Saint Stephen which King Edward the Third in his princely Magnificence repaired with curious workmanship and endowed with faire possessions so as he may seeme to have built it new what time as he had with his victories overrun and subdued al France recalling to minde as we read the Charter of the foundation and pondering in a due weight of devout consideration the exceeding benefits of Christ whereby of his owne sweet mercy and pity he preventeth us in all occasions delivering us although without all desert from sundry perils and defending us gloriously with his powerfull right hand against the violent assaults of our adversaries with victorious successes and in other tribulations and perplexities wherein wee have exceeding much beene encombred by comforting us and by applying and in-powering remedies upon us beyond all hope and expectation There was adjoyning hereto a Palace the ancient habitation of the Kings of England from the time of King Edward the Confessor which in the Raigne of king Henry the Eighth was burnt by casuall fire to the ground A very large stately and sumptuous Palace this was and in that age for building incomparable with a vawmurâ— and bulwarks for defence The remaines whereof are the Chamber wherein the King the Nobles with the Counsellers and Officers of State doe assemble at the high Court of Parliament and the next unto it wherein anciently they were wont to beginne the Parliaments knowne by the name of Saint Edwards painted chamber because the tradition holdeth that the said king Edward therein dyed But how sinfull an Act how bloudy how foule how hainous horrible hideous and odious both to God and man certaine brute and savage beasts in mens shape enterprised of late by the device of that Arch Traitour Robert Catesby with undermining and placing a mighty deale of gunpowder under these Edifices against their Prince their Country and all the States of the Kingdome and that under an abominable pretence of Religion my very heart quaketh to remember and mention nay amazed it is and astonied but to thinke onely into what inevitable darknesse confusion and wofull miseries they had suddenly in the twinckling of an eye plunged this most flourishing Realme and Common wealth But that which an ancient Poet in a smaller matter wrote we may in this with griefe of minde utter Excidat illa dies aevo nè postera credant Secula nos certè taceamus obruta multa Nocte tegi propriae patiamur crimina gentis That cursed day forgotten be no future age beleeve That this was true let us also at least wise now that live Conceale the same and suffer such Designes of our owne Nation Hidden to be and buried quite in darknesse of oblivion Adjoyning unto this is the Whitehall wherein at this day the Court of Requests is kept Beneath this is that Hall which of all other is the greatest and the very Praetorium or Hall of Justice for all England In this are the Judiciall Courts namely The Kings Bench the Common Pleas and The Chancery And in places neere thereabout The Star-Chamber the Exchequer Court of Ward and Court of the Dâ—teby of Lancaster c. In which at certaine set times wee call them Tearmes yearely causes are heard and tryed whereas before king Henry the Third his dayes the Court of common Law and principall Justice was unsetled and alwaies followed the kings Court But he in the Magna Charta made a law in these words Let not the Common Pleas folâ—ow our Court but bee holden in some certaine place Which notwithstanding some expound thus That the Common Pleas from thenceforth bee handled in a Court of the owne by it selfe a part and not in the Kings Bench as before This Judgement Hall which we now have king Richard the Second built out of the ground as appeareth by his Armes engraven in the stone-worke and many arched beames when he had plucked downe the former old Hall that king William Rufus in the same place had built before and made it his
heart of the Shire betweene two Rivers who as it were agreed heere to joyne both their streames together to wit Chelmer from the East and another from the South the name whereof if it be Can as some would have it we have no reason to doubt that this was CANONIUM Famous it was within the remembrance of our fathers in regard of a small religious house built by Malcome King of Scots now of note onely for the Assises for so they call those Courts of Iustice wherein twice a yeere the causes and controversies of the whole County are debated before the Judges It beganne to flourish when Maurice Bishop of London unto whom it belonged built the Bridges heere in the Raigne of Henry the First and turned London way thither which lay before through Writtle a Towne right well knowne for the largenesse of the Parish which King Henry the Third granted unto Robert Brus Lord of Anandale in Scotland whose wife was one of the heires of Iohn sirnamed Scot the last Earle of Chester for that hee would not have the Earldome of Chester to bee divided among the distaves and King Edward the Third when as the posterity of the Bruses forsooke their allegeance bestowed it upon Humfrey Bohun Earle of Hereford and of Essex But now of late when King Iames at his entrance to the Kingdome bestowed Baronies bountifully upon select persons hee created Sir Iohn Petre a right respective Knight Baron Petre of Writtle Whose father Sir William Petre a man of approoved wisdome and exquisite learning memorable not so much for those most honourable places and offices of State which hee bare as who was of the Privie Counsell to King Henry the Eighth King Edward the Sixth Queene Mary and Queene Elizabeth and sent oftentimes in Embassage to forreigne Princes as for that being bred and brought up in good learning he well deserved of learning in the University of Oxford and was both pitifull and bounteous to his poore neighbours about him and at Egerstone where he lyeth buryed Frosh-well the River more truely called Pant and neere to his mouth Black-water issuing out of a small spring about Radwinter that belonged to the Barons of Cobham after it hath gone a long course and seene nothing but Bocking a fat Parsonage it commeth to Cogeshall a Mercate Towne well knowne in times past for a Priory of Cluniacke Monkes built by King Stephen and the habitation of ancient Knights thence sirnamed De Cogeshall from whose heire generall marryed into the old family of Tirell there branched farre a faire propagation of the Tirells in this shire and elsewhere Then goeth on this water by Easterford some call it East-Sturford and leaving some mile of Whitham a faire through-faire and built by King Edward the elder in the yeere 914. which also afterward was of the Honour of Eustace Earle of Bollen meeteth at length with Chelmer Which now passing on whole in one chanell not farre from Danbury mounted upon an high Hill the habitation for a time of the family of the Darcies runneth hard by Woodham-walters the ancient seate of the Lords Fitz-Walters who being nobly descended were of a most ancient race derived from Robert the younger sonne of Richard sonne to Earle Gislebert but in the age more lately foregoing translated by a daughter into the stocke of the Ratcliffes who being advanced to the Earledome of Sussex dwell now a little from hence in New Hall a stately and sumptuous house This New Hall appertained sometime to the Butlers Earles of Ormond and then hereditarily to Sir Thomas Bollen Earle of Wiltshire of whom King Henry the Eighth getting it by way of Exchange enlarged it to his exceeding great charges and called it by a new name Beaulieu which for all that was never currant among the people After this Chelmer with other waters running with him being divided by a River-Island casting off that name and now being called of some Blacke-water and of others Pant saluteth that ancient Colony of the Romanes CAMALODUNUM which many hundred yeeres since adorned this shore Ptolomee tearmeth it CAMUDOLANUM Antonine CAMULODUNUM and CAMOLUDUNUM But Pliny Dio and an old marble stone induce us to beleeve that CAMALODUNUM is the right name In the seeking out of this City good God how dim-sighted have some been whereas it bewraied it selfe by the very name and situation and shewed it selfe cleerely to them that are halfe blinde A number have searched for it in the West part of this Isle as that good man who thought himselfe to carry as one would say the Sunne of Antiquity in his owne hand others in the furthest part of Scotland others wholly addicted in opinion to Leland affirmed it to bee Colchester when as the name scarce any whit maimed it is called at this day in stead of CAMALODUNUM Maldon in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the greater part of the word remaining yet entire and in use Neither hath the expresse remaine of the name onely perswaded me to this but also the distance set downe in Pliny from Mona and the very situation in the ancient Itinerary Table doe affoord a most evident proofe thereof That this name was imposed upon CAMALODUNUM of the God CAMULUS I hardly dare imagine Howbeit that Mars was worshipped under this name Camulus both an old stone at Rome in the house of Collotians and Altars discovered with this Inscription CAMULO DEO SANCTO ET FORTISSIMO that is TO CAMULUS THE HOLY AND MOST MIGHTY GOD doe joyntly proove And in an antique Coine of Cunobellinus whose royall Palace this was as I have already said I have seene the portraict stamped of an head having an helmet on it also with a speare which may seeme to be that of Mars with these letters CAMV But seeing this peece of money is not now ready at hand to shew I exhibite here unto you other expresse portraicts of Cunobellinus his peeces which may be thought to have reference to this Camalodunum This Cunobelin governed this East part of the Isle in the time of Tiberius the Emperour and seemeth to have had three sonnes Admimus Togodumnus and Catacratus Admimus by his father banished was entertained by Caius Caligula the Emperour what time as he made his ridiculous expedition into Batavia that from thence he might blow and breath out the terrour of his owne person over into Britaine As for Togodumnus Aulus Plautius in a set battaile defeited and slew him and over Catacratus whom as I said he discomfited and put to flight hee rode ovant in pety triumph This is that Plautius who at the perswasion of C. Bericus the Britaine a banished man for there never want quarels one or other of Warre was the first after Iulius Caesar that attempted Britaine under Claudius whom Claudius himselfe having shipped over the Legions followed in person with the whole power of the Empire and with Elephants the bones of which
Afterwards Herveie the Abbot comming of the Norman bloud compassed it round about with a wall whereof there remaine still some few Reliques and Abbot Newport walled the Abbay The Bishop of Rome endowed it with very great immunities and among other things granted That the said place should bee subject to no Bishop in any matter and in matters lawfull depend upon the pleasure and direction of the Archbishop Which is yet observed at this day And now by this time the Monkes abounding in wealth erected a new Church of a sumptuous and stately building enlarging it every day more than other with new workes and whiles they laid the foundation of a new Chappell in the Reigne of Edward the First There were found as Eversden a Monke of this place writeth The walles of a certaine old Church built round so as that the Altar stood as it were in the mids and we verily thinke saith he it was that which was first built to Saint Edmunds service But what manner of Towne this was and how great the Abbay also was while it stood heare Leland speake who saw it standing The Sunne saith hee hath not seene either a City more finely seated so delicately standeth it upon the easie ascent or hanging of an hill and a little River runneth downe on the East side thereof or a goodlier Abbay whether a man indifferently consider either the endowment with Revenewes or the largenesse or the incomparable magnificence thereof A man that saw the Abbay would say verily it were a Citie so many Gates there are in it and some of brasse so many Towres and a most stately Church Upon which attend three others also standing gloriously in one and the same Churchyard all of passing fine and curious Workmanship If you demand how great the wealth of this Abbay was a man could hardly tell and namely how many gifts and oblations were hung upon the Tombe alone of Saint Edmund and besides there came in out of lands and Revenewes a thousand five hundered and three score pounds of old rent by the yeare If I should relate the broiles severally that from time to time arose betweene the Townesmen and the Monkes who by their Steward governed the Townesmen and with how great rage they fell together by the eares purposedly to kill one another my relation would seeme incredible But as great a peece of worke as this was so long in building and still encreasing and as much riches as they gathered together for so many yeares with S. Edmunds shrine and the monuments of Alan Rufus Earle of Britaine and Richmond Sir Thomas of Brotherton sonne to King Edward the first Earle of Norfolke and Marshall of England Thomas of Beaufor Duke of Excester W. Earle of Stafford Marie Queene Dowager of France Daughter to King Henry the Seaventh and many other worthie personages there Entombed were by King Henry the Eighth utterly overthrowne What time as at one clappe hee suppressed all Monasteries perswaded thereto by such as under a goodly pretense of reforming religion preferred their private respects and their owne enriching before the honour of Prince and Country yea and before the Glory of God himselfe And yet there remaineth still lying along the carcasse as one would say of that auncient monument altogether deformed but for ruines I assure you they make a faire and goodly shew which who soever beholdeth hee may both wonder thereat and withall take pity thereof England also that I may note this also by the way if ever else it had losse by the death of any Man sustained here one of the greatest For that father in deede of his Country Humfrey Duke of Glocester a due observer of Iustice and who had furnished his noble witte with the better and deeper kinde of studies after hee had under King Henry the Sixth governed the Kingdome five and twenty yeares with great commendation so that neither good men had cause to complaine of nor evill to finde fault with was here in Saint Saviours Hospitall brought to his end by the spightfull envy of Margaret of Lorain Who seeing her husband King Henry the Sixth to bee a man of a silly simple minde and faint hearted to the end shee might draw into her owne hands the managing of the State devised and plotted this wicked deed but to her owne losse and this Realme in the highest degree For Normandy and Aquitane were thereby shortly after lost and Warres more then civill enkindled in England Nere unto this Saint Edmunds Bury is Rushbroke to be seene the habitation of the worshipfull Family of the Iermins Knights and not farre from thence Ikesworth where there stood an auncient Priory founded by Gilbert Blund a man of great nobility and Lord of Ikesworth whose issue male by the right line ended in William that in King Henry the Third his dayes was slaine in the battell at Lewis and left two sisters his Heires Agnes wife to William de Creketot and Roise wedded to Robert de Valoniis Afterward both here at Haulsted neere by Rougham and else-where the Family of Drury which signifieth in old English A Pretious jewell hath beene of great respect and good note especially since they married with the heires of Fressil and Saxham More Northward is Saint Genovefs Fernham in this regard memorable for that Richard Lucy Lord chiefe Justice of England tooke Prisoner there in a pight fielde Robert Earle of Leicester making foule worke and havocke here and withall put to the sword above ten thousand Flemings whom hee had levied and sent forth to the depopulation of his Country Here hard by I had the sight of two very faire houses the one built by the Kitsons Knights at Hengrave the possession in times past of Edmund de Hengrave a most renowned Lawyer under King Edward the First the other at Culfurth erected by Sir Nicolas Bacon Knight sonne unto that Sir Nicolas Bacon Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England who for his singular wisedome and most sound judgement was right worthily esteemed one of the two Supporters of this Kingdome in his time And not farre off standeth Lidgate a small Village yet in this respect not to be passed over in silence because it brought into the World Iohn Lidgate the Monke whose witte may seeme to have beene framed and shapen by the very Muses themselves so brightly re-shine in his English verses all the pleasant graces and elegancies of speech according to that age Thus much for the more memorable places on the West side of Suffolke On the South side wee saw the river Stour which immediately from the very spring head spreadeth a great Mere called Stourmeer but soone after drawing it selfe within the bankes runneth first by Clare a noble Village which had a Castle but now decayed and gave name to the right noble Family of the Clares descended from Earle Gislebert the Norman and the title of Dukedome unto Leonel King
a small Towne which for no other thing is memorable but because Anna a Christian King was there buried whom Penda the Mercian slew in a pitched Field It was beautified by King Henry the First with a Colledge of Chanons who granted the same as a Cell to the Chanons of Saint Osiths And it was made a Mercate by the meanes of Iohn Lord of Clavering unto whom King Edward the Second gave this Liberty together with the Faire And verily a goodly Inheritance hee had in this Tract as who derived his Descent from the Daughter and Heire of William Cheney who held the Barony of Horsford in the County of Norfolke and erected the little Abbay at Sibton Heere the Promontory Easton-Nesse shooteth out and reacheth farre into the East which is deemed to bee the farthest East point in all Britaine Ptolomee calleth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or EXTENSIO And that you may not doubt that this is the very same which wee call Easton bee it knowne unto you that Eysteney in the British tongue is the same that in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in Latine Extensio that is A stretching forth although this name may seeme with as good probability to have beene imposed in our English Language of the Situation Eastward Upon the point of this Promontory standeth Easton a Village of Fishermen well neere eaten up by Sea and on South side of this Promontory Southwold lieth in the Plaine full against the open shore of the sea a Towne well enough frequented through the benefit of an Haven that the River Blith emptying it selfe there into the Sea maketh and at every high water it is so invironed with the waves that it seemeth to bee an Island and a man would wonder that it is not overflowne In so much as when I saw the manner thereof I called that saying of Cicero into my remembrance What should I speak of the Sea Tides about Spaine and Britaine and of their Flowing and Ebbing at certaine times Surely they cannot bee without the hand of God who hath restrained and gaged the waves within their bounds More within the land Wingfield sheweth it selfe where the walles of a Castle halfe downe are to bee seene which hath given name to a family in this Tract that is spred into a number of branches and is besides for knighthood and ancient Gentility renowned and thereof it was the principall seat Also Dunnington which standeth much upon the Lord thereof Sir Iohn Philips father to that Sir William who married the daughter and Heire of Baron Bardolph whose daughter and Heire likewise Iohn Vicount Beaumont tooke to Wife But now the Habitation it is of the ancient Family of the Rousses Not farre from hence standeth Huntingfield which had a Baron of that name in King Edward the Third his time and neere unto it Heveningham the residence of the Family of Heveningham knights who are knowne to bee of very great antiquity and not farre off standeth Halesworth in times past Healsworda an ancient Towne of the Argentons and now of the Alingtons unto which Sir Richard Argenton obtained at the hand of King Henry the Third the liberty of a Mercate I gave you to understand before that two small Rivers Ouse the least and Waveney on the North side divided this County from Norfolke which Riverets rising out of a Marish ground by Lophamford from two springs but a little a sunder one from another take their courses divers wayes with creekes full of shallow fourds Along by Ouse which runneth Westward there is nothing in this Quarter to bee seene worth the report By Waveney side that tendeth Eastward first is Hoxon in times past Hegilsdon ennobled by reason of King Edmunds Martyrdome For there the most cruell and bloudy Danes that I may use the words of Abbo having bound the most Christian King to a tree for that hee would not renounce Christianity shot him in with sharpe arrowes all his body over augmenting the paines of his torment with continuall piercing him with arrow after arrow and thus inflicted wound upon wound so long as one arrow could stand by another And as a Poet of middle time versified of him Iam loca vulneribus desunt nec dum furiosis Tela sed hyberna grandine plura volant Though now no place was left for wound yet arrowes did not faile These furious Wretches still they flie thicker than winter haile In which place afterwards stood a very faire house of the Bishops of Norwich untill they exchanged it not long since for the Abbay of Saint Benet Hard by at Brome dwelt a long time the family of Cornwalleis of knights degree of whom Sir Iohn Cornwal was Steward of Edward the Sixth his Houshold while hee was Prince and his sonne Sir Thomas for his wisdome and faithfulnesse became one of the privie counsell to Queene Mary and Controller of her royall House Beneath it lieth Eay that is The Island so called because it is watered on every side with brookes where are to bee seene the rubbish ruines and decayed walles of an old Castle that belonged to Robert Malet a Norman Baron But after that he under King Henry the First was deprived of his Dignity because he sided with Robert Duke of Normandy against the King the said King bestowed this Honour upon Stephen Earle of Bullen who being afterwards the Vsufructuary King of England left it unto his son William Earle of Warren But after hee had surrendred his State to King Henry the Second and lost his life in the expedition of Tholose the King held it in his owne hands untill that King Richard the First confer'd it upon Henry the Fifth of that name Duke of Brabant and of Lorain together with King Stephens Neece by his daughter who had beene a professed Nunne Long time after when it was now devolved againe upon the Kings of England King Edward the third gave it as I have read to Sir Robert Vfford Earle of Suffolke Neither must I passe over in silence Bedingfield neere adjoyning which gave the name to a worshipfull and ancient Family that received very much reputation and credit from the Heire of the Family of Tudenham From thence by Flixton in stead of Felixton so named of Faelix the first Bishop of these parts like as many other places in this Shire the River Waveney runneth downe to Bungey and spreadeth it selfe in manner round about it where Hugh Bigod fortified a Castle both by artificiall workmanship and also by naturall situation when as the seditious Barons tossed all England to and fro with stormes of rebellion Concerning which Castle as impregnable he was wont to vaunt in these termes Were I in my Castle of Bungey Upon the River of Waveney I would ne care for the King of Cockeney Yet notwithstanding afterwards he obtained at the hands of King Henry the Second by giving him
memory I will briefly runne them over Neere to Linne upon an high hill standeth Rising-castle almost marchable to the Castle of Norwich the seat in times past of the Albineys afterwards of Robert de Monthault by one of the sisters and coheires of Hugh Albiney Earle of Arundell and at last the mansion place of the Mowbrays who as I have learned came out of the same house that the Albineys did But now after long languishings as it were by reason of old age the said Castle hath given up the ghost Below it is Castle-acre where was sometimes the habitation of the Earles of Warren in a Castle now halfe downe on a little Rivers side which carrying no name ariseth not farre from Godwicke a lucky good name where there stands a small house but greatly graced by the Lord thereof Sir Edward Coke Knight a man of rare endowments of nature and as in the Common lawes much practised so of deepe insight therein which all England both tooke knowledge of whiles hee discharged the function of Atturney Generall many yeares most learnedly and now acknowledgeth whiles being Lord Chiefe Justice of the Common Pleas he administreth justice as uprightly and judiciously Neither is he lesse to be remembred for that he loveth learning and hath well deserved of the present and succeeding ages by his learned labours This Riveret or brooke with a small streame and shallow water runneth Westward to Linne by Neirford that gave name to the Family of the Neirfords famous in times past and by Neirborrough where neere unto the house of the Spilmans knights upon a very high hill is to be seene a warlike Fort of passing great strength and of ancient worke so situated as it hath a very faire prospect into the Country about it After upon the said Brooke is seated Penteney a prety Abbay the ordinary buriall place in ancient time of the Noblemen and Gentlemen in this Tract Neere unto it lieth Wormegay commonly Wrongey which Reginald de Warren brother of William de Warren the second Earle of Surry had with his wife of whom as I have read the said Earle had the donation or Maritagium as they use to speake in the law phrase and by his sonnes daughter streightwayes it was transferred to the Bardolphs who being Barons of great nobility flourished a long time in honorable state and bare for their Armes Three Cinque-foiles or in a Shield Azâ—r The greatest part of whose Inheritance together with the Title came to Sir William Phellips and by his daughter passed away to the Vicount Beaumont More Eastward are seated Swaffham a Mercat Towne of good note sometime the Possession of the Earle of Richmond Ashele Manour by Tenure whereof the Hastings and Greies Lords of Ruthin had the charge of table clothes and linnen used at the solemne Coronation of the Kings of England North Elmham the Bishops See for a good time when as this Province was divided into two Dioceses Dereham wherein Withburga King Annas daughter was buried whom because shee was piously affected farre from all riotous excesse and wanton lightnesse our Ancestours accounted for a Saint Next unto which is Greshenhall and adjoyning thereto Elsing the possessions in ancient time of the Folliots men of great worth and Dignity which in right of dowry came by a daughter of Richard Folliot to Sir Hugh de Hastings descended out of the Family of Abergevenny and at length by the daughters and heires of Hastings the last Greshenhall aforesaid fell unto Sir Hamon le Strange of Hunstanton and Elsing unto William Browne the brother of Sir Antonie Browne the first Vicount Mount-acute In this quarter also is Ick-borrough which Talbot supposeth to have beene that ICIANI whereof Antonine speaketh Neither have I cause to write any more of these places And now I thinke it is good time to set downe the Earles and Dukes of Northfolke that I may proceed to Cambridgeshire William the Conquerour made one Raulph Governour of East-England that is to say of Norfolke Suffolke and Cambridgeshire who forthwith gaping as I said after an alteration and change in the State was dispossessed of that place After certaine yeares in the Raigne of Stephen Hugh Bigod was Earle of Norfolke For when peace was concluded betweene Stephen and Henry Duke of Anjou who became afterwards King Henry the second by expresse words it was provided that William King Stephens sonne should have the whole Earledome of Norfolke excepting among other things The third peny of that County whereof Hugh Bigod was Earle Whom notwithstanding King Henry the Second created Earle againe of the third peny of Norfolke and Norwich Who dying about the 27. yeare of Henry the Second Roger his sonne succeeded who for what cause I know not obtained at the hands of King Richard the first a new Charter of his creation Him succeeded his sonne Hugh who tooke to his wife Mawde the eldest daughter and one of the heires of William Marescall Earle of Pembroch By whom he had issue one sonne named Roger Earle of Norfolke and Marescall of England who at Tournament having his bones put out of joint died without issue and another called Hugh Bigod Lord chiefe Justice of England slaine in the battaile of Lewis whose sonne Roger succeeded his Uncle in the Earldome of Norfolke and dignity of Marescall but having incurred through his insolent contumacy the high displeasure of King Edward the First was compelled to passe away his honors and well neere his whole inheritance into the Kings hands to the use of Thomas of Brâ—therton the Kings son whom he had begotten of his second wife Margaret sister to Philip the Faire King of France For thus reporteth the History out of the Library of Saint Austens in Canterbury In the yeare 1301. Roger Bigod Earle of Norfolke ordained King Edward to bee his heire and hee delivered into his hands the rod of the Marshals Office with this condition that if his wife brought him any children he should without all contradiction receive againe all from the King and hold it peaceably as before and the King gave unto him a 1000. pounds in money and a thousand pound land during his life together with the Marshalship and the Earldome But when he was departed this life without issue King Edward the Second honoured the said Thomas of Brotherton his brother according to the conveiance aforesaid with the Titles of Marshall and Earle of Norfolke Whose daughter Margaret called Marshallesse and Countesse of Norfolke wife to Iohn Lord Segrave king Richard the Second created in her absence Dutchesse of Norfolke for terme of life and the same day created Thomas Mowbray the daughters sonne of the said Margaret then Earle of Notingham the first Duke of Norfolke To him and his heires males unto whom he had likewise granted before the State and stile of Earle Marshall of England This is hee that before the king was challenged and accused by Henry of Lancaster Duke
which King Henry the First gave unto the Church of Lincolne for amends of a losse when hee erected the Bishopricke of Ely taken out of the Diocesse of Lincolne as I have before shewed But where the River Nen entreth into this Shire it runneth fast by Elton the seat of the ancient Family of the Sapcots where is a private Chappell of singular workemanship and most artificiall glasse windowes erected by Lady Elizabeth Dinham the widow of Baron Fitz-warin married into the said Family But a little higher there stood a little City more ancient than all these neere unto Walmsford which Henry of Huntingdon calleth Caer Dorm and Dormeceaster upon the River Nen and reporteth to have beene utterly rased before his time This was doubtlesse that DUROBRIVAE that is The River passage that Antonine the Emperour speaketh of and now in the very same sense is called Dornford neere unto Chesterton which beside peeces of ancient Coine daily found in it sheweth apparant tokens of a City overthrowne For to it there leadeth directly from Huntingdon a Roman Portway and a little above Stilton which in times past was called Stichilton it is seene with an high banke and in an ancient Saxon Charter termed Ermingstreat This Street now runneth here through the middest of a foure square Fort the North side whereof was fensed with Wals all the other sides with a Rampire of earth onely Neere unto which were digged up not long since Cofins or Sepulchres of stone in the ground of R. Bevill of an ancient house in this Shire Some verily thinke that this City tooke up both bankes of the River and there bee of opinion that the little Village Câ—ster standing upon the other banke was parcell thereof Surely to this opinion of theirs maketh much the testimony of an ancient story which sheweth that there was a place by Nen called Dormund-caster in which when Kinneburga had built a little Monastery it began to be called first Kinneburge-caster and afterwards short Caster This Kinneburga the most Christian daughter of the Pagan King Penda and wife to Alfred King of the Northumbrians changed her Princely State into the service of Christ if I may use the words of an ancient Writer and governed this Monastery of her owne as Prioresse or mother of the Nunnes there Which afterwards about the yeare of Salvation 1010. by the furious Danes was made levell with the ground But where this River is ready to leave this County it passeth hard by an ancient house called Bottle-bridge so is it now termed short for Botolph-bridge which the Draitons and Lovets brought from R. Gimels by hereditary succession into the Family of the Shirleies And to this house adjoyneth Overton now corruptly called Orton which being by felony forfait and confiscate Neele Lovetoft redeemed againe of King John and the said Noeles sister and coheire being wedded unto Hubert alià s Robert de Brounford brought him children who assumed unto them the sirname of Lovetoft This County of Huntingdon when the English-Saxons Empire began now to decline had Siward an Earle by Office and not inheritance For as yet there were no Earles in England by inheritance but the Rulers of Provinces after the custome of that age were termed Earles with addition of the Earledome of this or that Province whereof they had the rule for the time as this Siward whiles he governed this County was called Earle of Huntingdon whereas afterwards being Ruler of Northumberland they named him Earle of Northumberland He had a sonne named Waldeof who under the Title of Earle had likewise the government of this Province standing in favour as he did with William the Conquerour whose Niece Judith by his sister of the mothers side hee had married but by him beheaded for entring into a conspiracy against him The eldest daughter of this Waldeof as William Gemiticensis reporteth Simon de Senlys or S. Liz tooke to wife together with the Earldome of Huntingdon and of her begat a sonne named Simon But after that the said Simon was dead David brother to Maud the Holy Queene of England who afterwards became King of Scots married his wife by whom hee had a sonne named Henry But in processe of time as fortune and Princes favour varied one while the Scots another while the Sent Lizes enjoyed this dignity First Henry the sonne of David aforesaid then Simon S. Liz sonne of Simon the first after him Malcolm King of Scots sonne to Earle Henry and after his death Simon Sent Liz the third who dying without issue William King of Scots and brother to Malcolm succeeded for so wrote he that then lived Raphe de Diceto in the yeare 1185. When Simon saith hee the sonne of Earle Simon was departed without children the King restored the Earldome of Huntingdon with the Pertinences unto William King of the Scots Then his brother David and Davids sonne John sirnamed Scot Earle of Chester who dying without issue and Alexander the third that had married the daughter of our King Henry the Third having for a time borne this Title the Scots by occasion of incident warres lost that honour and with it a very faire inheritance in England A good while after King Edward the Third created Sir William Clinton Earle of Huntingdon who dyed issuelesse And in his roome there was placed by King Richard the Second Guiseard of Engolisme a Gascoine who was his Governour in his minority and after his death succeeded Iohn Holland Iohn his sonne who was stiled Duke of Excester Earle of Huntingdon and Ivory Lord of Sparre Admirall of England and Ireland Lieutenant of Aquitane and Constable of the Towre of London and his sonne likewise Henry successively who were Dukes also of Excester This is that very same Henry Duke of Excester whom Philip Comines as himselfe witnesseth saw begging bare foote in the Low Countries whiles he stood firme and fast unto the house of Lancaster albeit he had married King Edward the Fourth his owne sister Then Thomas Grey who became afterward Marquesse Dorset a little while enjoyed that honour Also it is evident out of the Records that William Herbert Earle of Pembroch brought in againe the Charter of creation whereby his father was made Earle of Pembroch into the Chancery for to be cancelled and that King Edward the Fourth in the seventeenth of his Raigne created him Earle of Huntingdon at such time as he granted the Title of Pembroch to the Prince his sonne Afterward King Henry the Eighth conferred that honour upon George Lord Hastings after whom succeeded his sonne Francis and after him likewise his sonne Henry a right honourable Personage commended both for true Nobility and Piety But whereas hee dyed without issue his brother Sir George Hastings succeeded and after him his Grandchilde Henry by his sonne who at this day enjoyeth the said honour In this little Shire are numbered Parishes 78. CORITANI NOw must wee passe on to
thereof For in this tenour runne the very words of the Charter She likewise bestowed it upon John de Lacy Constable of Chester and the heires whom hee should beget of the body of Margaret her daughter This John had issue Edmund who dying before his mother left this honour for Henry his sonne to enjoy who was the last Earle of that line For when his sonnes were taken away by untimely death and he had but one little daughter onely remaining alive named Alice hee affianced her being but nine yeeres old to Thomas the sonne of Edmund Earle of Lancaster with this condition That if he should fortune to dye without heires of her body or if they happened to dye without heires of their bodies his Castles Lordships c. should in Remainder come to the heires of Edmund Earle of Lancaster for ever But the said Alice had no childe at all by her husband Thomas But when Thomas her husband was beheaded shee that by her light behaviour had not a little steined her good name tooke Sir Eubul le Strange with whom she had lived before time too familiarly for her husband without the assent and privity of her Soveraigne who being hereat highly offended seised her possessions into his owne hands Yet both Sir Eubul Strange and Sir Hugh Frene her third husband are in some Records named Earles of Lincolne After Alice now very aged was departed this life without issue Henry Earle of Lancaster Nephew to Edmund aforesaid by his second sonne entred upon her large and faire patrimony by vertue of that conveiance which I spake of before and from that time it accrued to the House of Lancaster Howbeit the Kings of England at their pleasure have bestowed the name and honour of Earles of Lincolne as King Edward the Fourth gave it to Sir John De la Pole and King Henry the Eighth to Henry Brandon both the Sonnes of the Dukes of Suffolke who both ended this life without Issue the first slaine in the battaile at Stoke and the other taken away by the sweating sicknesse Afterward Queene Elizabeth promoted Edward Baron Clinton Lord high Admirall of England to the said honour which his sonne Henry enjoyeth at this day There are in this Shire Parishes much about 630. NOTINGAMIAE Comitatus olim pars CORITANORVM NOTTINGHAM-SHIRE VPon the West side of Lincolne-shire confineth the County of NOTTINGHAM in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in English Nottingham-shire being farre lesse in quantity limited Northward with York-shire Westward with Darby-shire and in some parts with York-shire and on the South side with Leicester-shire The South and East part thereof are made more fruitfull by the noble and famous River Trent with other Riverets resorting unto it The West part is taken up with the Forest of Shirewood which stretcheth out a great way This part because it is sandy the Inhabitants tearme The Sand the other for that it is Clayish they call the Clay and so have divided their Country into these two parts The River Trent in the old English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some Antiquaries of small note and account have called Triginta in Latine for the affinity of the French word Trent that signifieth that number Triginta that is thirty having gone a long journey so soone as hee is entred into this Shire and hath recepto Souro flumine ex agro Leicestrensi taking in the River Soure from the field of Leicester runne by Steanford where I have learned there be many tokens remaining of old antiquity and peeces of Roman money oftentimes found and then by Clifton which hath given both habitation and sirname also to the ancient family of the Cliftons much enriched by one of the heires of Cressy taketh in from the West the little River Lin which rising neere unto Newsted that is New place where sometime King Henry the Second founded a small Abbay and which is now the dwelling house of the ancient Family of the Burons descended from Ralph de Buron who at the first comming in of the Normans flourished in great state both in this Countrey and also in Lancashire runneth hard by Wallaton rich in veines of cole where Sir Francis Willoughby a Knight nobly descended from the Greis Marquesse Dorset in our daies built out of the ground with great charges upon a vaine ostentation of his wealth a stately house with artificiall workemanship standing bleakely but offering a very goodly prospect to the beholders farre and neere Then runneth it by Linton or Lenton much frequented and famous in old time for the Abbay there of the Holy Trinity founded by William Peverell the base sonne of King William the Conquerour but now all the fame is onely for a Faire there kept Where on the other banke at the very meeting well neere of Lin and Trent the principall Towne that hath given name unto the Shire is seated upon the side of an hill now called Nottingham by softning the old name a little for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for so the English Saxons named it of certaine caves and passages under the ground which in old time they hewed and wrought hollow under those huge and steepe cliffes which are on the South side hanging over the little River Lin for places of receit and refuge yea and for habitations And thereupon Asserius interpreteth this Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Speluncarum domum that is An house of Dennes or Caves and in the British Tui ogo bauc which signifieth the very selfe same The Towne for the naturall site thereof is right pleasant as where on the one hand lye faire and large Medowes by the Rivers side on the other rise hils with a gentle and easie ascent and is plentifully provided of all things beside necessary for mans life On the one side Shirewood yeeldeth store of wood to maintaine fire although many use for that purpose stinking pit cole digged forth of the ground on the other Trent serveth it aboundantly with fish And hence hath beene taken up this od barbarous Verse Limpida sylva focum Triginta dat mihi piscem Shire-wood yeelds me fuell for fire As Trent yeelds fish what I require At a word for largenesse for building for three faire Churches a passing spacious and beautifull Mercat place and a most strong Castle it maketh a goodly shew The said Castle is mounted upon an huge and steepe worke on the West side of the City in which place it is thought that Castle stood in times past upon whose strength the Danes presuming held out against the Siege of Aethered and Aelfrid so long untill they frustrate of their purpose brake up their Siege trussed up bagge and baggage and dislodged For when the Danes had taken this Castle Burthred King of the Mercians as mine Authour Asserius writeth and the Mercians addresse their messengers to Aethered King of the West Saxons and to
the Conquerour appointed over this Shire William Peverell his base sonne not with the Title of Earle but of Lord of Nottingham who had a sonne that dyed before his father and hee likewise had a sonne of the same name whom king Henry the Second disinherited for that he went about to poison Ranulph Earle of Chester Much about this time Robert de Ferrarijs who rifled and ransacked Nottingham in a Donation which he made unto the Church of Tuttesbury stiled himselfe thus Robertus Comes junior de Nottingham that is Robert the younger Earle of Nottingham But afterwards King Richard the First gave and confirmed unto his brother John the Earledome and Castle of Nottingham with all the Honour of Peverell Many yeeres after King Richard the Second honoured John Lord Mowbray with this Title of Earle of Nottingham who dying a young man without issue his brother Thomas succeeded after him He being by king Richard the Second created Earle Mareshall and Duke of Norfolke and soone after banished begat Thomas Earle Mareshall whom king Henry the Fourth beheaded and John Mowbray who as also his sonne and Nephew were likewise Dukes of Norfolke and Earles of Nottingham But when as their male issue failed and that Richard the young sonne of King Edward the Fourth being Duke of Yorke had borne this Title with others by his Wife the heire of the Mowbraies but a small while King Richard the Third honoured William Vicount Barkley descended from the Mowbraies with this Title of Earle of Nottingham and whereas hee dyed without issue king Henry the Eighth bestowed the same honour upon his illegitimate sonne H. Fitz Roy when hee created him Duke of Richmond but hee departed this life in the flower of his age leaving no childe Afterward this Title lay extinct untill in the yeere of our Lord 1597. Queene Elizabeth by solemne investiture adorned therewith Charles Lord Howard of Effingham and High Admirall of England descended from the Mowbraies in regard of his service as appeareth in the Charter of his Creation right valiantly and faithfully performed against the Spanish Armado in the yeere 1588. as also at the winning of Caliz in Spaine where he was Lord Generall of the forces by sea like as the Earle of Essex of those by land There are in this County Parish Churches 168. DARBY-SHIRE DARBY-SHIRE called in old English-Saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lieth close to Nottingham-shire Westward confining with Leicester-shire upon the Southside like as with Stafford-shire on the West and York-shire in the North resembling as it were the forme of a Triangle but not with equall sides For whereas about the point of it lying Southward it is scarce sixe miles broad it so enlargeth and spreadeth it selfe on both sides that where it looketh into the North it carrieth much about thirty miles in breadth The River Derwent that runneth along the middest of it divideth it after a sort in two parts which River breaking out of the North limit thereof and taking his course Southward sometimes with his blacke waters stained with the Soile and earth that it passeth by rumbleth downe apace into the Trent For Trent overthwarteth the said narrow point that I spake of lying Southward The East side and the South parts are well manured not unfruitfull and besides well stored with Parkes The West part beyond Derwent which they call the Peake being all of it hilly or a stony and craggy ground is more barraine howbeit rich in lead iron and coles which it yeeldeth plentifully and also feedeth Sheepe very commodiously In the South corner the first place worth the naming that offereth it selfe to sight is Greisely Castle more than broken downe which together with a little Monastery was founded in times past in honour of Saint George by the Greiseleies Lords thereof who fetching their descent from William the sonne of Sir Niele of Grieseley about the very Conquest of England by the Normans have flourished unto these dayes in great worship the which they have not a little augmented long since by marrying with the daughter and heire of the ancient family of Gasteneys Upon the River Dove which untill it entreth into Trent divideth this Country from Stafford-shire we meet with nothing in this Shire but small country Villages and Ashburne a Mercate towne where the house of the Cokains flourished a long time and Norbury where the right ancient family of the Fitz-Herberts have long inhabited out of which Sir Anthony Fitz-Herbert hath deserved passing well of the knowledge and profession of our Commons law Not farre from which is Shirley an ancient Lordship of the well renowned Family of the Shirleys who derive their pedegree from one Fulcher unto whom beside the antiquity of their house much honor and faire lands have accrued by marriage with the heires of the Breoses the Bassets of Brailesford the Stantons Lovets c. And heere stand round about many places which have given name and Habitation to worshipfull Families as Longford Bradburne Kniveton from whence came those Knivetons of Mercaston and Bradley of which house Saint Lo Kniveton is one to whose judicious and studious diligence I am deeply endebted also Keidelston where the Cursons dwelt as also at Crokhall But whether Sir Robert Curson knighted by King Henry the Seventh made a Baron of the Empire by Maximilian the Emperour in the yeere 1500. for his singular valour and thereupon by King Henry the Eigth made a Baron of England with a liberall pension assigned was descended from these Cursons I dare not affirme Heereby is Radborn where Sir John Chandos knight Lord of the place laid a goodly foundation of a great and stately house from whom by a daughter it came by hereditary succession unto the Poles who dwell heere at this day But these particularities I leave for him who hath undertaken the full description of this Shire But upon Trent so soon as ever he hath taken to him the river Dove is Repandunum to bee seene for so doe our History-writers call it the Saxons named it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and we at this day Repton which from a great and faire Towne is become a poore small Village For in old time very famous it was by reason both of the buriall of Aethelbald that good King of the Mercians who through the treachery of his owne people lost his life and of the other Kings of Mercia as also for the unfortunate calamity of Burthred the last King of the Mercians who when hee had enjoyed his kingdome partly by way of entreaty and partly by meanes of bribery full twenty yeeres was heere deprived of his kingdome by the Danes or rather freed and exempted from the glittering misery of princely State and so became an example to teach men in how ticklish and slippery a place they stand which are underpropped onely with money Then not farre from Trent is Melborn a Castle of the Kings now decaying wherein John Duke of
married to Edward Conway brother to Sir Hugh Conway of Wales a gracious favourite of King Henry the Seventh the knightly Family of the Conwaies have ever since flourished and laudably followed the profession of Armes But East from the river and higher among the Woods which now begin to grow thin stand these townes under named Wroxhall where Hugh de Hatton founded a little Priory Badesley belonging in times past to the Clintons now to the Ferrars Also Balshall sometimes a Commandery of the Templars which Roger de Mowbray gave unto them whose liberality to the order of Templars was so great that by a common consent in their Chapiter they made a decree that himselfe might remit and pardon any of the brotherhood whomsoever in case hee had trespassed against the statutes and ordinances of that Order and did withall before him acknowledge the crime yea and the Knights of the Order of Saint Iohn of Ierusalem unto whom the Templars possessions in England were assigned over for our Ancestours in those daies held it a deadly sinne to prophane things consecrated to God granted in token of thankfulnesse unto Iohn Mowbray of Axholme the successour of the foresaid Roger that himselfe and his successours in every of their Covents and assemblies should be received and entertained alwaies in the second place next unto the King More North-east where wilde Brookes meeting together make a broad poole among the Parkes and so soone as they are kept in with bankes runne in a Chanell is seated Kenelworth in times past commonly called Kenelworde but corruptly Killingworth and of it taketh name a most ample beautifull and strong Castle encompassed all about with Parkes which neither Kenulph nor Kenelm ne yet Keneglise built as some doe dreame but Geffrey Clinton Chamberlaine unto King Henry the First and his sonne with him as may be shewed by good evidences when he had founded there before a Church for Chanons Regular But Henry his Nephew in the second degree having no issue sold it unto King Henry the Third who gave it in franke marriage to Simon Montfort Earle of Leicester together with his sister Aeleonor And soone after when enmity was kindled betweene the King and Earle Simon and hee slaine in the bloody warres which he had raised upon faire pretexts against his Soveraigne it endured six moneths fiege and in the end was surrendred up to the king aforesaid who annexed this Castle as an inheritance to Edmund his sonne Earle of Lancaster At which time there went out and was proclaimed from hence an Edict which our Lawyers use to call Dictum de Kenelworth whereby it was enacted That whosoever had tooke Armes against the King should pay every one of them five yeeres rent of their lands c. A severe yet a good and wholsome course without effusion of bloud against rebellious subjects who compassing the destruction of the State built all their hopes upon nothing else but dissentions But this Castle through the bountifull munificence of Queene Elizabeth was given and granted to Robert Dudleie Earle of Leicester who to repaire and adorne it spared for no coste in so much as if a man consider either the gallant building or the large Parkes it would scorne as it were to be ranged in a third place amongst the Castles in England Next after this to keepe on the journey that my selfe made I saw Solyhill but in it setting aside the Church there is nothing worth sight Then Bremicham full of Inhabitants and resounding with hammers and anvils for the most of them are Smiths The lower part thereof standeth very waterish the upper riseth with faire buildings for the credite and praise whereof I may not reckon this in the last place that the Noble and martiall Family of the Bremichams Earles of Louth c. in Ireland fetched their originall and name from hence Then in the utmost skirt of this Shire North-westward Sutton Colfield standing in a woody and on a churlish hard Soile glorieth of John Voisy Bishop of Excester there borne and bred who in the Raigne of king Henry the Eighth when this little Towne had lien a great while as dead raised it up againe with buildings priviledges and a Grammar Schoole As I went downe from hence Southward I came to Coleshull a Towne sometime of the Clintons and to Maxstocke Castle neighbouring to it which acknowledged by a continuall line of hereditary succession for his Lords the Limseies who were also Lords of Wolverley the Odingsells that came out of Flanders and the Clitons men of greatest worth and worship in their times Lower yet in the mids of this Woodland standeth Coventrey so called as we take it of a Covent of Monkes considering that we terme in our tongue such a brotherhood a Covent and Coven and it is oftentimes in our Histories and Pontificall Decrees named Coventria as for example in this one passage Vel non est compos sui Episcopus Conventrensis vel nimis videtur à se scientiam repulisse Yet there be that would have this name to be taken from that little Brooke that runneth within the City at this day called Shirburn and in an ancient Charter of the Priory is written Cuentford Well whence so ever it was so called in the foregoing age growing wealthy by clothing and making of Caps it was the onely Mart and City of trade in all these parts frequented also and peopled more than ordinarily a midland place as being a City very commodiously seated large sweet and neat fortified with strong Walles and set out with right goodly houses among which there rise up on high two Churches of rare workmanship standing one hard by the other and matched as it were as concurrents the one consecrated to the Holy Trinity the other to Saint Michael Yet hath it nothing within it that one would say is of great antiquity And the most ancient monument of all as it may seeme was the Monastery or Priory the ruines whereof I saw neere unto those Churches which Priory king Canutus founded first for religious Nunnes who when they were within a while after throwne out in the yeere 1043 Leofricke Earle of the Mercians enlarged and in manner built anew with so great a shew and bravery of gold and silver these be the very words of William Malmesbury that the wals seemed too narrow for to receive the treasure of the Church and the coste bestowed there was wonderfull to as many as beheld it for out of one beame were scraped 50. Markes of silver And he endowed it with so great livings that Robert de Limseie Bishop of Lichfield and Chester translated his See hither as it were to the golden sand of Lydia to the end for so writeth the said Malmesbury that out of the very treasure of the Church hee might by stealth convey wherewith to fill the Kings hand wherewith to avoid the Popes businesse and wherewith to satisfie the greedinesse of the
Romanists But this See few yeeres after was removed againe to Lichfield yet so as that one and the selfe same Bishop carried the name both of Lichfield and of Coventry The first Lord of this City so farre as I can learne was this Leofricke who being very much offended and angry with the Citizens oppressed them with most heavie tributes which he would remit upon no other condition at the earnest suite of his wife Godiva unlesse she would herselfe ride on horse-backe naked through the greatest and most inhabited street of the City which she did in deed and was so covered with her faire long haire that if we may beleeve the common sort shee was seene of no body and thus shee did set free her Citizens of Coventry from many payments for ever From Leofricke it came into the hands of the Earles of Chester by Lucie his sonne Algars daughter for shee had beene married to Ranulph the first of that name and the third Earle of Chester out of this line who granted unto Coventrey the same liberties that Lincolne had and gave a great part of the City unto the Monkes the rest and Chilmore which is the Lords Manour hard by the City hee reserved to himselfe and to his heires After whose death when for want of issue male the inheritance was divided betweene the sisters Coventry came at length mediately by the Earles of Arundell unto Roger Mont-hault whose grand sonne Robert passed over all his right for default of issue male of his body begotten unto Queene Isabel mother to King Edward the Third To have and to hold during the whole life of the Queene herselfe and after her decease to remaine unto Iohn of Eltham the said Kings brother and to the heires of his body begotten and for default the remainder to Edward King of England c. For thus is it to be seene in the Fine in the second yeere of King Edward the Third Now the said John of Eltham was afterwards created Earle of Cornwall and this place became annexed to the Earldome of Cornwall From which time it hath flourished in great state Kings have bestowed sundry immunities upon it and King Edward the Third especially who permitted them to chuse a Major and two Bailiffes and to build and embattle a Wall about it also king Henry the Sixth who laying unto it certaine small Townes adjoyning granted That it should bee an entire County corporate by it selfe the very words of the Charter runne in that sort in deed and name and distinct from the County of Warwicke At which time in lieu of Bailiffes he ordained two Sheriffes and the Citizens beganne to fortifie their City with a most strong Wall wherein are beautifull Gates and at one of them called Gosford Gate there hangeth to bee seene a mighty great Shield bone of a wilde Bore which any man would thinke that either Guy of Warwicke or else Diana of the Forest Arden slew in hunting when he had turned up with his snout that great pit or pond which at this day is called Swansewell but Swinsewell in times past as the authority of ancient Charters doe proove As touching the Longitude of this City it is 25. Degrees and 52. Scruples and for the Latitude it is 52. Degrees and 25. Scruples Thus much of Coventrey yet have you not all this of me but willingly to acknowledge by whom I have profited of Henry Ferrars of Baddesley a man both for parentage and for knowledge of antiquity very commendable and my especiall friend who both in this place and also elsewhere hath at all times courteously shewed me the right way when I was out and from his candle as it were hath lightned mine Neere unto Coventrey North-west ward are placed Ausley Castle the habitation in times past of the Hastings who were Lords of Abergavenney and Brand the dwelling place in old time of the Verdons Eastward standeth Caloughdon commonly Caledon the ancient seat of the Lords Segrave from whom it descended to the Barons of Berkley by one of the daughters of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke These Segraves since the time that Stephen was Lord chiefe Justice of England flourished in the honorable estate of Barons became possessed of the Chaucombes Inheritance whose Armes also they bare viz. A Lion rampant Argent crowned Or in a Shield Sable But John the last of them married Margaret Dutchesse of Northfolke Daughter of Thomas Brotherton and begat Elizabeth a daughter who brought into the Family of the Mowbraies the Dignity of Marshall of England and Title of Duke of Norfolke Brinklâ— also is not farre from hence where stood an ancient Castle of the Mowbraies to which many possessions and faire lands thereabout belonged But the very rubbish of this Castle time hath quite consumed as Combe Abbay is scant now apparent which the Camvills and Mowbraies endowed with possessions and out of the ruines and reliques whereof a faire house of the Lord Haringtons in this very place is now raised As you goe East-ward you meet anon with Cester-Over whereof I spake incidently before belonging to the Grevills neere unto which the High port-way Watling-street dividing this shire Northward from Leicester-shire runneth on forward by High-crosse whereof also I have already written neere unto Nun-Eaton which in ancient time was named Eaton But when Amice wife to Robert Bossu Earle of Leicester as Henry Knighton writeth had founded a Monastery of Nunnes wherein her selfe also became professed it began of those Nunnes to be called Nun-Eaton And famous it was in the former ages by reason of those religious Virgines holinesse who devoting themselves continually to prayers gave example of good life A little from this there flourished sometimes Astley-Castle the principall seate of the Familie of Astley out of which flourished Barons in the time of King Edward the First Second and Third the heire whereof in the end was the second wedded Wife of Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin from whom came the Greies Marquesses of Dorset some of whom were enterred in a most fine and faire Collegiat Church which Thomas Lord Astley founded with a Deane and Secular Chanons Somewhat higher hard by Watling street for so with the common people wee call the High-way made by the Romanes where as the riuer Anker hath a stone bridge over it stood MANDVESSEDUM a very ancient towne mentioned by Antonine the Emperour which being not altogether deprived of that name is now called Mancester and in Ninnius his Catalogue Caer Mancegued Which name considering there is a stone-quarry hard by I may ghesse was imposed upon it of the stones digged forth and hewed out of it For out of the Glossaries of the British tongue we finde that Main in the British language signified a Stone and Fosswad in the Provinciall tongue to digge out which being joyned together may seeme very expressely to import that ancient name MANDVESSEDUM But what how great or how faire soever it hath been
in old time a very small village it is at this day containing in it scarce foureteene dwelling houses and those but little ones and hath no monument of antiquitie to shew beside an ancient mount which they call Old-burie For on the one side Atherstone a mercate towne of good resort where there stood a Church of Augustine Friers now turned into a Chappell which neverthelesse acknowledgeth Mancester Church for her mother and Nun-Eaton on the other side by their vicinity have left it bare and empty Close unto Atherstone standeth Mery-Vale where Robert Ferrars erected a Monastery to God and the blessed Virgin Mary wherein himselfe enwrapped in an Oxe-hide for a shrouding sheet was interred Beyond these Northeastward is Pollesworth where Modwena an Irish Virgin of whom there went so great a fame for her holy life built a religious house for Nuns which R. Marmion a Noble man repaired who had his Castle hard by at Stippershull Neere unto this place also there flourished in the Saxons daies a towne that now is almost quite gone called then SECANDUNUM and at this day Seckinton where Aethelbald King of the Mercians in civill warre about the yeere of our Lord 749. was stabbed to death by Beared and soone after Offa slew Beared so that as by bloudy meanes he invaded the Kingdome of Mercia he likewise lost the same suddainely It remaineth now that we reckon up the Earles of Warwick for to passe over Guare Morind Guy of Warwick of whose actes all England resoundeth and others of that stampe whom pregnant wits have at one birth bred and brought forth into the world Henry the sonne of Roger de Beau-mont and brother to Robert Earle of Mellent was the first Earle descended of Normans bloud who had married Margaret the daughter of Ernulph de Hesdin Earle of Perch a most mighty and puissant man Out of this Family there bare this Honourable title Roger the sonne of Henry William the sonne of Roger who died in the thirtieth yeere of King Henry the Second Walleran his brother Henry the sonne of Walleran Thomas his sonne who deceased without issue in the sixe and twentieth yeere of King Henry the Third leaving behinde him Margery his sister who being Countesse of Warwicke and barraine departed this life yet her two husbands first Iohn Mareschal then John de Plessetis or Plessey in their wives right and through their Princes favour mounted up to the Honourable dignitie of Earles of Warwicke Now when these were departed without any issue by that Margery Waller and Uncle unto the said Margery succeeded them After whom dying also childlesse his sister Alice enjoyed the inheritance Afterwards her sonne William called Malduit and Manduit of Hanslap who left this world and had no children Then Isabell the said William Malduits sister being bestowed in marriage upon William de Beauchamp Lord of Elmesly brought the Earledome of Warwicke into the Familie of the Beauchamps who if I deceive not my selfe for that they came of a daughter of Ursus de Abtot gave the Beare for their cognisance and left it to their posteritie Out of this house there flourished sixe Earles and one Duke William the sonne of Isabell John Guy Thomas Thomas the younger Richard and Henry unto whom King Henry the Sixth graunted this preheminence and prerogative without any precedent to be the first and chiefe Earle of England and to carry this stile Henricus Praecomes totius Anglia Comes Warwici that is Henry chiefe Earle of all England and Earle of Warwicke he nominated him also King of the Isle of Wight and afterwards created him Duke of Warwicke and by these expresse words of his Parent graunted That he should take his place in Parliaments and elsewhere next unto the Duke of Norfolke and before the Duke of Buckingham One onely daughter he had named Anne whom in the Inquisitions wee finde entituled Countesse of Warwicke and shee died a child After her succeeded Richard Nevill who had married Anne sister to the said Duke of Warwicke a man of an undaunted courage but wavering and untrustie the very tennisse-ball in some sort of fortune who although he were no King was above Kings as who deposed King Henry the Sixth a most bountifull Prince to him from his regall dignitie placed Edward the Fourth in the royall throne and afterwards put him downe too restored Henry the Sixth againe to the Kingdome enwrapped England within the most wofull and lamentable flames of civill warre which himselfe at the length hardly quenched with his owne bloud After his death Anne his Wife by Act of Parliament was excluded and debarred from all her lands for ever and his two daughters heires to him and heires apparant to their mother being married to George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Glocester were enabled to enjoy all the said lands in such wise as if the said Anne their mother were naturally dead Whereupon the name stile and title of Earle of Warwicke and Sarisbury was graunted to George Duke of Clarence who soone after was unnaturally dispatched by a sweet death in a Butte of Malvesey by his suspicious brother King Edward the Fourth His young sonne Edward was stiled Earle of Warwicke and being but a very child was beheaded by King Henry the Seventh to secure himselfe and his posteritie The death of this Edward our Ancestors accounted to be the full period and finall end of the long lasting warre betweene the two royall houses of Lancaster and Yorke Wherein as they reckoned from the twenty eight yeere of Henry the Sixth unto this being the fifteenth of Henry the Seventh there were thirteene fields fought three Kings of England one Prince of Wales twelve Dukes one Marques eighteene Earles with one Vicont and twenty three Barons besides Knights and Gentlemen lost their lives From the death of this young Earle of Warwicke this title lay asleepe which King Henry the Eighth feared as a fire-brand of the State by reason of the combustion which that Richard Nevill that whip-king as some tearmed him had raised untill that King Edward the Sixth conferred it upon Iohn Dudley that derived his pedigree from the Beauchamps who like unto that Richard abovesaid going about in Queene Maries daies to turne and translate Scepters at his pleasure for his Traiterous deepe ambition lost his head But his sonnes first Iohn when his father was now Duke of Northumberland by a courteous custome usually received held this title for a while and afterwards Ambrose a most worthy personage both for warlike prowesse and sweetnesse of nature through the fauour of Queene Elizabeth received in our remembrance the Honour of Earle of Warwick to him and his heires males and for defect of them to Robert his brother and the heires males of his body lawfully begotten This Honour Ambrose bare with great commendation and died without children in the yeere one thousand five hundred eighty nine shortly after his brother Robert Earle of Leicester
single life For then Oswald Bishop of this City who promoted the Monasticall life as busily as any whosoever remooved the Priests and brought in Monkes Which King Eadgar testifieth in these words The Monasteries as well of Monkes as of Virgins have beene destroied and quite neglected throughout England which I have now determined to repaire to the glory of God for my soules health and so to multiply the number of Gods servants and hand-maides And now already I have set up seven and forty Monasteries with Monkes and Nunnes in them and if Christ spare me life so long I am determined in offering my devout munificence to God for to proceed to fifty even the just number of a Iubilee Whereupon at this present that Monastery which the reverend Bishop Oswald in the Episcopall See of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amply enlarged to the honour of Mary the holy Mother of God and by casting out those Clerkes c. hath with my assent and favour appointed there Monkes the religious servants of God I my selfe doe by my royall authority confirme and by the counsell and consent of my Peeres and Nobles corroborate and consigne to those religious men living a sole and single life c. Long time after when the state of the Church and Clergy here partly by the Danes incursion and in part by civill dissentions was so greatly weakened and brought upon the very knees that in lieu of that multitude of religious persons whom Oswald had heere placed scarce twelve remained Wolstan Bishop of this Church about the yeer of the worlds redemption 1090. put to his helping hand raised it up againe and brought them to the number of 50. yea and built a new Church for them Wolstan I say a man not so learned the times then were such but of that simple sincerity without all hypocrisie so severe also and austere of life that as he was terrible to the wicked so he was venerable to the good and after his death the Church registred him in the number of Saints But King Henry the Eighth suppressed and expelled the Monkes after they had in all plenty and fulnesse lived more than 500. yeeres and in their roomes he substituted a Deane and Prebendaries and withall erected a Grammar-schoole for the training up of youth Hard by this Church the bare name and plot of a Castle remaineth which as wee reade in William of Malmesburies booke of Bishops Ursus appointed Sheriffe of Worcestershire by William the Conquerour built under the very nose and in the mouth well neere of the Monkes in so much as he cut away from them a part of their Church-yard But this Castle through the iniquity of time and casuality of fire was consumed many yeeres ago The City it selfe also hath been burnt more than once as being set on fire in the yeere of Christ 1041. by Hardy-Cnute who exceedingly incensed against the Citizens because they had slaine his Huscarles for so they tearmed those domesticall Gatherers of the Danes tribute did not only set fire on the City but slew the Citizens every mothers sonne unlesse it were those that saved themselves in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Island compassed in with the River Howbeit as we finde written in King William the Conquerours booke in King Edward the Confessours time It had many Burgesses and for fifteene Hides discharged it selfe when the Mint went every Minter gave twenty shillings at London for to receive coyning stamps of money In the yeere 1113. a skarfire that came no man knew how burnt the Castle caught also with the flames to the roofes of the Church Likewise in the Raigne of Stephen in the time of Civill Warres it was twice on fire but most dangerously when King Stephen who had to his owne damage given this City unto Wallerand Earle of Mellent seized it into his owne hands howbeit he was not able at that time to winne the Castle Neverthelesse it raised it selfe up againe out of the ashes in a goodlier forme alwaies than it had before and flourished in a right good state of civill government governed by two Bailiffes chosen out of 24. Citizens two Aldermen and two Chamberlains with a Common Counsell consisting of 48. Citizens As touching the Geographicall position of this City it is distant in Longitude from the West Meridian 21. Degrees and 52. Minutes and the North Pole is elevated 52. Degrees and 12. Minutes From Worcester the River Severn running on still Southward passeth beside Powicke the seat in times past of Sir Iohn Beauchamp whom King Henry the Sixth raised up to the state of a Baron and within a small time the female heires brought the inheritance to the Willoughbeies of Broke the Reads and the Lygons then runneth it through most rich and redolent medowes by Hanley Castle belonging sometimes to the Earles of Glocester and by Upton a Mercate Towne of great name where peeces of Romane money are oftentimes found Not farre from hence upon the banke on the right hand the Severn beholdeth Malvern-Hills hills in deed or rather great and high mountaines which for the space of seven miles or thereabout doe as it were by degrees rise higher and higher dividing this Shire from the County of Hereford On the brow of which Hills Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester did cast a Ditch in times past to make a partition betweene his possessions and the lands of the Church of Worcester a peece of worke which is at this day seene not without wonder Over against those hils and in like distance almost from the other banke Bredon Hills being farre lesse yet in emulation as it were to match them mount aloft among which Elmsley Castle belonging sometimes to Ursus or Urso D' Abtot maketh a goodly shew by whose daughter and heire Emeline it came hereditarily to the Beauchamps At the foote of these hills lieth Bredon a Village concerning the Monastery whereof Offa King of the Mercians saith thus I Offa King of the Mercians will give land containing seven times five Acres of Tributaries unto the Monastery that is named Breodun in the Province of the Wiccij and to the Church of blessed Saint Peter Prince of the Apostles there and in that place standing which Church Eanwulph my grandfather erected to the praise and glory of the everliving God Under these Bredon hils Southward you see two villages named Washborne whence came the sirname to a very ancient and worshipfull Family in this Tract standing in a parcell of this Province dismembred as it were from the rest of the body of which kinde there be other parcels here and there scattering all about But what should be the cause I am not able to resolve unlesse haply those that in old time were governours adjoined to their government their owne lands that lay neere unto the Region which they then governed Now Avon from above runneth downe and speeds himselfe to Severn who in this shire
watereth Eovesham so called as the Monkes write of one Eoves Swinheard to Egwin Bishop of Worcester whereas before time the name of it was Eâ—th-home and Heath-field A very proper Towne situate upon an hill arising from the River in the Suburb as it were whereof was sometime Bengeworth Castle at the Bridge head which Castle William de Audevill the Abbot recovered by law against William Beauchamp utterly rased it and caused the place to be hallowed for a Church-yard A Towne this is well knowne by reason of the Abbay which that noble Egwin with the helpe of King Kenred the sonne of Wolpher King of the Mercians founded about the yeere of our Lord 700. knowne likewise for the vale under it named thereof The Vale of Evesham which for plentifull fertility hath well deserved to be called the Garnary of all these countries so good and plentifull is the ground in yeelding the best corne aboundantly But most knowne in elder time by occasion of the great overthrow of the Barons and our Catiline Simon Montfort Earle of Leicester For this man being of a lewd disposition and profound perfidiousnesse hath taught us that which another truly said That good turnes are so long acceptable as they may be requitable For when King Henry the Third had with full hand heaped upon him all the benefits he could yea and given him his owne sister in marriage what other fruit reaped he of his so great bounty but most bitter and deadly hatred For he raised a most dangerous Warre hee spoiled shamefully a great part of England under pretense of restoring the common wealth and maintaining liberty neither left he any thing undone to bring the King under to change the State and of a Monarchy to bring in an Oligarchy But in the end after that fortune had for a good while favourably smiled upon him he was slaine at this place with many others of his complices by the prowesse of Prince Edward and forthwith the sinke of lawlesse rebels being as it were pumped and emptied out of the common weale joyfull peace which hee had banished shone againe most comfortably on every side Upon the same River hard by standeth Charleton the possession sometime of the ancient family of Hansacres Knights but now of the Dinleies or Dingleies who being descended from that ancient stocke of the Dinleies in Lancashire came unto this by hereditary succession More beneath in the primitive Church of our English Nation there was another place wherein religious men lived to God then called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now Flatbury and neere unto it Pershor in the English Saxons language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 taking the name from Peares which as we reade in that worthy Historiographer William of Malmesbury Egelward Duke of Dorset a man bearing no nigardly minde but exceeding liberall founded and finished in King Eadgars time But what detriment hath it sustained one part of it the ambition of the rich seized upon another part oblivion hath buried but the greatest portion King Edward the Confessour and King William bestowed upon the Church of Westminster Then receiveth Avon a Riveret from the North upon which standeth Hodington a seat of the Winters out of which were Robert Winter and his brother Thomas who when as they were of the hellish damned crew in the Gunpowder Treason let their memory lie damned From thence Avon running gently downe by Strensham the habitation of the Russels Knights by degree of ancient descent in the end out-ladeth his owne streame into Severn Neere to these places on this South side is Oswaldslaw Hundred so called of Oswald Bishop of Worcester who obtained it for himselfe of King Eadgar The immunity whereof when William Conquerour made a Survey and taxation of all England was registred in the Domesday booke after this manner The Church of Saint Mary of Worcester hath the Hundred called Oswaldslaw wherein lye 300. Hides out of which the Bishop of the same Church by ancient order and custome hath all the revenewes of Soches and all customes or duties there appertaining to the Lords victuall and the Kings service and his owne so that no Sheriffe may hold there any action or suit neither in any plea nor in any other cause whatsoever This witnesseth the whole County A place there is about this Shire but precisely where it should be is not certainly knowne called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Augustines Oke at which Augustine the Apostle of the Englishmen and the Bishops of Britaine met and after they had disputed and debated the matter hotely for a good while touching the celebration of Easter preaching Godâ— Word also to the English Nation and of administring Baptisme according to the rites of the Roman Church in the end when they could not agree they departed on both sides with discontented mindes upon their dissenting opinions This Province since the Normans comming in had for the first Sheriffe Vrsus or Vrso de Abtot unto whom and his heires King William the Conquerour granted that office together with faire and large possessions After him succeeded his sonne Roger who as William of Malmesbury the Historiographer reporteth enjoying his fathers possessions through the high displeasure and indignation of King Henry the first was disseized thereof because in a furious fit of anger hee had commanded one of the Kings Officers to be killed But this Sheriffedome was by Emeline this Rogers sister translated hereditarily into the Family of the Beauchamps For she was married to Walter Beauchamp whom king Stephen after he had put downe Miles of Glocester ordained Constable of England Within some few yeeres king Stephen created Walleran Earle of Mellent twin-brother to Robert Bossu Earle of Leicester the first Earle of Worcester having given unto him the Citie of Worcester who afterwards became a Monke and died at Pratellae in Normandie in the yeere 1166. As for his sonne Robert who had wedded the daughter of Reginald Earle of Cornwall and advanced the Standard of rebellion against King Henry the Second and Peter his sonne who in the yeere 1203. revolted to the French neither of them used the title of Worcester but onely of Mellent so farre as ever I could yet read For King Henry the Second who succeeded Stephen would not easily suffer that any under him should enjoy the honors received from Stephen an usurper and his enemy For as I finde in the Annales of Waverley Abbay he put downe those imaginary and counterfeit Earles among whom King Stephen had inconsideratly distributed and given away all the revenewes pertaining to the Exchequer Neither to my knowledge was there any one that bare the title of the Earldome of Worcester untill the daies of King Richard the Second For he bestowed it upon Sir Thomas Percy who when he conspired against King Henry the Fourth was taken at the battaile of Shrewsbury and there beheaded Then Sir Richard Beauchamp descended from the Abtots received
afterward this honor at the hands of King Henry the Fifth Who shortly after in the French war lost his life at the siege of Meaux in Brye leaving one onely daughter married to Sir Edward Nevill from whom descended the late Lords of Abergevenny Afterward King Henry the Sixth created John Tiptoft Earle of Worcester But when he presently taking part with King Edward the Fourth had applied himselfe in a preposterous obsequiousnesse to the humor of the said King and being made Constable of England plaied the part as it were of the butcher in the cruell execution of diverse men of qualitie himselfe when as King Henry the Sixth was now repossessed of the crowne came to the blocke Howbeit his sonne Edward recovered that honor when King Edward recovered his Kingdome But after that this Edward died without issue and the inheritance became divided among the sisters of the said John Tiptoft Earle of Worcester of whom one was married to the Lord Roo◠another to Sir Edmund Ingoldesthorpe and the third to the Lord Dudley Sir Charles Somerset base sonne to Henry Duke of Somerset Lord Herbert and Lord Chamberlaine to King Henry the Eighth was by him created Earle of Worcester After whom succeeded in lineall descent Henry William and Edward who now flourisheth and among other laudable parts of vertue and Nobility highly favoureth the studies of good literature There are in this Shire Parishes 152. STAFFORDIAE COMITATVS PARS olim Cornauiorum STAFFORD-SHIRE THE third Region of the old CORNAVII now called STAFFORD-SHIRE in the English Saxons Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants whereof because they dwelt in the middest of England are in Bede termed Angli Mediterranei that is Midland Englishmen having on the East Warwick-shire and Darby-shire on the South side Worcester-shire and Westward Shropp-shire bordering upon it reacheth from South to North in forme of a Lozeng broader in the middest and growing narrower at the ends The North part is full of Hilles and so lesse fruitfull the middle being watered with the River Trent is more plentifull clad with Woods and embroidered gallantly with Corne fields and medowes as is the South part likewise which hath Coles also digged out of the earth and mines of Iron But whether more for their commodity or hinderance I leave to the Inhabitants who doe or shall best understand it In the South part in the very confines with Worcester-shire upon the River Stour standeth Stourton Castle sometimes belonging to the Earles of Warwicke the natall place of Cardinall Pole and then Dudley Castle towreth up upon an hill built and named so of one Dudo or Dodo an English Saxon about the yeere of our Salvation 700. In King William the Conquerours daies as we finde in his Domesday Booke William Fitz-Ausculph possessed it afterwards it fell to Noble men sirnamed Somery and by an heire generall of them to Sir Richard Sutton knight descended from the Suttons of Nottingham-shire whose Posterity commonly called from that time Lords of Dudley but summoned to Parliament first by King Henry the Sixth grew up to a right honourable Family Under this lyeth Pensueth Chace in former times better stored with game wherein are many Cole-pits in which as they reported to mee there continueth a fire begunne by a candle long since through the negligence of a grover or digger The smoke of this fire and sometime the flame is seene but the savour oftener smelt and other the like places were shewed unto mee not farre off North-West ward upon the Confines of Shropp-shire I saw Pateshull a seat of the Astleies descended from honourable Progenitours and Wrotesley an habitation of a Race of Gentlemen so sirnamed out of which Sir Hugh Wrotesley for his approoved valour was chosen by King Edward the Third Knight of the Garter at the first institution and so accounted one of the founders of the said honourable Order Next after this the memorable places that wee meet with in this Tract more inwardly are these Chellington a faire house and Manour of the ancient Family of the Giffards which in the Raigne of Henry the Second Peter Corbuchin gave to Peter Giffard upon whom also Richard Strongbow that Conquerour of Ireland bestowed in free gift Tachmelin and other Possessions in Ireland Theoten hall which is by interpretation The habitation of Heathens or Pagans at this day Tetnall embrued with Danish bloud in the yeere 911. by King Edward the Elder in a bloudy Battaile Ulfrunes Hampton so called of Wulfruna a most godly and devout woman who enriched the Towne called before simply Hampton with a religious House and for Wulfrunes Hampton it is corruptly called Wulver Hampton The greatest name and note whereof ariseth by the Church there annexed to the Warden or Deane and Prebendaries of Windsor Weadsbury in these dayes Weddsborrow fortified in old time by Aethelfled Lady of the Mercians and Walshall a Mercate Towne none of the meanest Neere unto which the River Tame carryeth his streame which rising not farre off for certaine miles wandereth through the East part of this Shire seeking after Trent neere unto Draiton Basset the seat of the Bassets who springing out from Turstan Lord of this place in the Raigne of Henry the First branched forth into a great and notable Family For from hence as from a stocke flourished the Bassets of Welleden of Wiccomb of Sapcot of Cheddle and others But of this of Draiton Raulph was the last who being a right renowned Baron had marryed the sister of John Montfort Duke of Britaine and in the Raigne of Richard the Second died without issue Then Tame passing through the Bridge at Falkesley over which an ancient high way of the Romanes went runneth hard under Tamworth in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marianus calleth it Tamawordia a Towne so placed in the Confines of the two Shires that the one part which belonged sometime to the Marmions is counted of Warwick-shire the other which pertained to the Hastings of Stafford-shire As for the name it is taken from Tame the Riuer running beside it and of the English Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Barton Court or Ferme-house and also an Holme or River Island or any place environed with water seeing that Keyserwert and Bomelswert in Germanie betoken as much as Caesars Isle and Bomels Isle Whiles the Mercians Kingdome stood in state this was a place of their Kings resiance and as we finde in the Lieger Booke of Worcester a Towne of very great resort and passing well frequented Afterward when in the Danes Warre it was much decaied Aethelfled Lady of Mercia repaired and brought it againe to the former state also Edith King Eadgars Sister who refusing Marriage for the opinion that went of her for holinesse was registred in the roll of Saints founded heere a little house for Nunnes and veiled Virgins which after some yeeres was translated to
in British called Castle Hean that is The Old Castle and in English The Old Towne A poore small Village now but this new name is a good proofe for the antiquity thereof for in both tongues it soundeth as much as an Old Castle or towne Next unto this Old Towne Alterynnis lieth in manner of a River-Island insulated within waters the seat in old time of that ancient family of the Sitsilts or Cecils knights whence my right honourable Patron accomplished with all the ornaments of vertue wisdome and Nobility Sir William Cecil Baron of Burghley and Lord high Treasurer of England derived his descent From hence Munow turning Eastward for a good space separateth this Country from Monmouth-shire and at Castle Map-harald or Harold Ewias is encreased with the River Dor. This Ewias Castle that I may speake out of K. William the First his Booke was repaired by Alured of Marleberg Afterwards it pertained to one Harold a Gentleman who in a Shield argent bare a Fesse Geules betweene three Estoiles Sable for his Armes of whom it beganne to bee called Harold Ewias but Sibyll his niece in the second degree and one of the heires by her marriage transferred it to the Lords of Tregoz froÌ„ whom it came at length to the Lords of Grandison descended out of Burgundie But of them elsewhere Now the said Dor which running downe froÌ„ the North by Snodhill a Castle and the Barony sometime of Robert Chandos where is a quary of excellent marble cutteth through the midst of the Vale which of the River the Britans call Diffrin Dore but the Englishmen that they might seeme to expresse the force of that word termed it the Gilden Vale which name it may by good right and justly have for the golden wealthy and pleasant fertility thereof For the hils that compasse it in on both sides are clad with woods under the woods lie corne fields on either hand and under those fields most gay and gallant medowes then runneth in the midst between them a most cleere and crystall River on which Robert Lord of Ewias placed a faire Monastery wherein most of the Nobility and Gentry of these parts were interred Part of this shire which from this Vale declineth and bendeth Eastward is now called Irchenfeld in Domesday Booke Archenfeld which as our Historians write was layed wast with fire and sword by the Danes in the yeere 715. at what time Camalac also a Britan Bishop was carried away prisoner In this part stood Kilpeck a Castle of great name and the seat it was of the noble Family of the Kilpecks who were as some say the Champions to the Kings of England in the first age of the Normans And I my selfe also will easily assent unto them In the Raigne of Edward the First there dwelt heere Sir Robert Wallerond whose nephew Alane Plugenet lived in the honourable state of a Baron In this Archenfeld likewise as wee reade in Domesday booke certaine revenewes by an old custome were assigned to one or two Priests on this condition that they should goe in Embassages for the Kings of England into Wales and to use the words out of the same booke The men of Archenfeld whensoever the Army marcheth forward against the enemy by a custome make the Avantgard and in the returne homeward the Rereward As Munow runneth along the lower part of this shire so Wy with a bending course cutteth over the middest upon which River in the very West limit Clifford Castle standeth which William Fitz Osborn Earle of Hereford built upon his owne West as it is in King William the Conquerours booke but Raulph de Todenay held it Afterward it seemeth to have come unto Walter the sonne of Richard Fitz Punt a Norman for he was sirnamed De Clifford and from him the right honorable family of the Earles of Cumberland doe truly deduce their descent But in the daies of King Edward the First John Giffard who married the heire of Walter L. Clifford had it in his hands Then Wy with a crooked and winding streame rolleth downe by Whitney which hath given name to a worshipfull Family and by Bradwardin Castle which gave both originall and name to that famous Thomas Bradwardin Archbishop of Canterbury who for his variety of knowledge and profound learning was in that age tearmed The Profound Doctour and so at length commeth to Hereford the head City of this Country How farre that little Region Archenfeld reached I know not but the affinity betweene these names Ereinuc Archenfeld the towne ARICONIUM of which Antonine in the description of this Tract maketh mention and Hareford or Hereford which now is the chiefe City of the Shire have by little and little induced mee to this opinion that I thinke every one of these was derived from ARICONIUM Yet doe I not thinke that Ariconium and Hereford were both one and the same but like as Basil in Germany chalenged unto it the name of Augusta Rauracorum and Baldach in Assyria the name of Babylon â—or that as one had originall from the ruines of Babylon so the other from the ruines of Augusta even so this Hariford of ours for so the common people call it derived both name and beginning in mine opinion from his neighbour old ARICONIUM which hath at this day no shape or shew at all of a Towne as having beene by report shaken to peeces with earthquake Onely it reteineth still a shadow of the name being called Kenchester and sheweth to the beholders some ruines of walles which they tearme Kenchester walles about which are often digged up foure square paving stones of Checker worke British-brickes peeces of Romane money and other such like remaines of Antiquity But Hereford her daughter which more expressly resembleth the name thereof standeth Eastward scarce three Italian miles from it seated among most pleasant medowes and as plentifull corne fields compassed almost round about with Rivers on the North side and on the West with one that hath no name on the South side with Wy thath hastneth hither out of Wales It is thought to have shewed her head first what time as the Saxons Heptarchie was in the flower and prime built as some write by King Edward the Elder neither is there as farre as I have read any memory thereof more ancient For the Britans before the name of Hereford was knowne called the place Tresawith of Beech trees and Hereford of an Old way and the Saxons themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of ferns The greatest encrease if I be not deceived that it had came by Religion and by the Martyrdome of Ethelbert King of the East England Who when he wooed himselfe the daughter of Offa K. of the Mercians was villanously forlaid and murdered by the procurement of Quendred Offaes wife respecting more the countries of the East England than the honest and honorable match of her daughter which Ethelbert being registred in
Shrop-shire adjoyning and held that I may note so much by the way the Hamelet of Lanton in chiefe as of the Honour of Montgomery by the service of giving to the King a barbdheaded Arrow whensoever he commeth into those parts to hunt in Cornedon Chace Lugg hasteneth now to Wy first by Hampton where that worthy Knight Sir Rouland Lenthal who being Maister of the Wardrobe unto King Henry the Fourth had married one of the heires of Thomas Earle of Arundell built a passing faire house which the Coningsberes men of good worship and great name in this tract have now a good long time inhabited then by Marden and Southton or Sutton of which twaine Sutton sheweth some small remaines of King Offaes Palace so infamous for the murdering of Ethelbert and Marden is counted famous for the Tombe of the said Ethelbert who had lien heere a long time without any glorious memoriall before that he was translated to Hereford Neere unto the place where Lugg and Wy meete together Eastward a hill which they call Marcley hill in the yeere of our redemption 1571. as though it had wakened upon the suddaine out of a deepe sleepe roused it selfe up and for the space of three daies together mooving and shewing it selfe as mighty and huge an heape as it was with roring noise in a fearefull sort and overturning all things that stood in the way advanced it selfe forward to the wonderous astonishment of the beholders by that kinde of Earthquake which as I deeme naturall Philosophers call Brasmatias And not farre from this hill toward the East also under Malvern hills which in this place bound the East part of this shire standeth Ledbury upon the River Ledden a Towne well knowne which Edwin the Saxon a man of great power gave unto the Church of Hereford being assuredly perswaded that by Saint Ethelberts intercession he was delivered from the Palsey Touching the Military fort on the next hill I need not to speake seeing that in this tract which was in the Marches and the ordinary fighting ground plot first betweene the Romanes and Britans afterwards betweene the Britains and the English such holds and entrenchments are to be seene in many places But Wy now carrying a full streame after it hath entertained Lugg runneth downe with more bendings and bowings first by Holm Lacy the feate of the ancient and noble Family of Scudamore unto which accrewed much more worship by marriage with an heire out of the race of Ewias in this shire and Huntercombe c. else where From hence passeth Wy downe betweene Rosse made a free Burrough by King Henry the Third now well knowne by reason of iron Smiths and Wilton over against it a most ancient Castle of the Greis whence so many worthy Barons of that name have drawne their originall This was built as men say by Hugh de Long-champ but upon publique and certaine credit of Records it appeareth that King John gave Wilton with the Castle to H. de Longchamp and that by marriage it fell to William Fitz-Hugh and likewise not long after to Reinold Grey in the daies of King Edward the first Now when Wy hath a little beneath saluted Goderick Castle which King John gave unto William Earle Mareschall and was afterward for a time the principall seate of the Talbots hee speedeth himselfe to Monmouth-shire and bids Hereford-shire farewell When the state of the English-Saxons was now more than declining to the downe-fall Ralph sonne to Walter Medantinus by Goda King Edward the Confessoursâ— sister governed this Countie as an Official Earle but the infamous for base cowardise was by William the Conquerour remooved and William Fitz-Osbern of Crepon a martiall Norman who had subdued the Isle of Wight and was neere allied to the Dukes of Normandy was substituted in his place When he was slaine in assistance of the Earle of Flanders his sonne Roger surnamed De Bretevill succeeded and soone after for conspiracie against the Conquerour was condemned to perpetuall prison and therein died leaving no lawfull issue Then King Stephen granted to Robert Le Bossu Earle of Leicester who had married Emme or Itta as some call her heire of Bretevill to use the words of the Graunt the Burrough of Hereford with the Castle and the whole County of Hereford but all in vaine For Maude the Empresse who contended with King Stephen for the Crowne advanced Miles the sonne of Walter Constable of Glocester unto this Honour and also graunted to him Constabulariam Curiae suae i. The Constableship of her Court whereupon his posteritie were Constables of England as the Marshalship was graunted at the first by the name of Magistratus Marescalsiae Curiaenostrae Howbeit Stephen afterwards stript him out of these Honours which he had received from her This Miles had five sonnes Roger Walter Henry William and Mahel men of especiall note who were cut off every one issuelesse by untimely death after they had all but William succeeded one another in their Fathers inheritance Unto Roger King Henry the Second among other things gave The Mote of Hereford with the whole Castle and the third peny issuing out of the revenewes of Plees of the whole County of Hereford whereof he made him Earle But after Roger was deceased the same King if wee may beleeve Robert Abbot De Monte kept the Earledome of Hereford to himselfe The eldest sister of these named Margaret was married to Humfrey Bohun the third of that name and his heires were high Constables of England namely Humfrey Bohun the Fourth Henry his sonne unto whom King Iohn graunted twenty pounds yeerely to be received out of the third penny of the County of Hereford whereof he made him Earle This Henry married the sister and heire of William Mandevill Earle of Essex and died in the fourth yeere of Henry the Third his reigne Humfrey the Fifth his sonne who was also Earle of Essex whose sonne Humfrey the Sixth of that forename died before his Father having first begotten Humfrey the Seventh by a daughter and one of the heires of William Breos Lord of Brecknock His sonne Humfrey the Eighth was slaine at Burrowbrig leaving by Elizabeth his wife daughter unto King Edward the First and the Earle of Hollands widow among other children namely Iohn Bohun Humfrey the Ninth both Earles of Hereford and Essex and dying without issue and William Earle of Northampton unto whom Elizabeth a daughter and one of the heires of Giles Lord Badlesmer bare Humfrey Bohun the Tenth and last of the Bohuns who was Earle of Hereford Essex and Northampton Constable besides of England who left two Daughters Aeleonor the Wife of Thomas of Woodstock Duke of Glocester and Mary wedded to Henry of Lancaster Earle of Darby who was created Duke of Hereford and afterwards Crowned King of England But after this Edward Stafford last Duke of Buckingham was stiled Earle of Hereford for that hee descended from Thomas
in France As for his wife being taken prisoner and famished in prison the extremest misery that can befall unto man or woman she paied most deerely for her wicked and malapert tongue His sonne Giles Bishop of Hereford by the favour and consent of King John having recovered his fathers inheritance neglecting his nephew the right heire left it unto his brother Reginald whose sonne William Lhelin Prince of Wales having taken him in bed with his wife hanged But by the daughters of that William the Mortimers Cantelows and Bohuns Earles of Hereford entred upon a great and goodly inheritance And this Brechnock fell in partition unto the Bohuns and in the end by them unto the Staffords and when Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham was attainted many very goodly revenewes fell unto the King in this Shire and elsewhere It reckoneth Parishes 61. MONMOUTH-SHIRE BEneath Brechnock and Hereford-shire Southward lyeth the County of Monmouth commonly called in English MONMOUTH-SHIRE in times past Went-set and Wents-land in British Guent of an ancient City so called It is inclosed on the North side with the River Munow that separateth it from Hereford-shire on the East side with Wye running betweene it and Glocester-shire on the West with the River Remney which severeth it from Glamorgan-shire and on the South with the Severn sea whereinto the said Rivers together with Vske that cutteth through the middest of the Country are discharged As for commodities necessary to mans life it hath not onely sufficient for it selfe but also affoordeth them in plentifull manner to the neighbours adjoyning The East part is full of grasse and woods the West is somewhat hilly and stony yet not unthankefull to the Husbandman The people as saith Giraldus writing of his owne age most inured to martiall conflicts is in feates of strength and valour right commendable and for skill of archery and shooting farre surpassing any Country in Wales In the utmost angle called Ewias toward the North-West not farre from the River Munow among Hatterell hills which because they rise up in heigth like a chaire they call Munith Cader there stood Lanthony a little ancient Abbay which Walter Lacy founded unto whom William Earle of Hereford gave faire lands heere and from whom are descended those renowned Lacies worthily reputed among the most noble Conquerours of Ireland The situation of which Abbay Giraldus Cambrensis who knew it better than I shall pensile it out unto you for mee In the most deepe Valley of Ewias saith hee which is about an arrow-shoote over standeth a Church of Saint Iohn Baptist enclosed on every side in a round compasse with hilles mounting up into the aire covered with lead and built sightly as the nature of the place would permit with an arched roofe of stone in a place where had stood aforetime a poore Chappell of Saint David the Archbishop adorned onely with wilde mosse and wreathes of clasping ivie A fit place for true Religion and of all the Monasteries in the Island of Britaine most convenient for Canonicall Discipline being founded first by two Eremits in the honour of an Eremite farre remooved from all stirres and noise of people in a certaine desert and solitary nouke seated upon the River Hodney running along the botome of the Vale whereof and of Hodney together it is called Lanhodeny For Lhan signifieth a Church or Ecclesiasticall place But if we will speake more exquisitely it may be said that the proper name of that place is in Welsh Nanthodeny For even to this day they that dwell thereabout call it Lhan Devi Nanthodeny That is Davids Church upon the River Hodeney Now the raine which mountaines breed falleth heere very often the windes blow strong and all Winter time almost it is continually cloudy and misty weather And yet notwithstanding such is the healthfull temperature of the aire which the grosser it is the gentler and milder it is very seldome there are any diseases heere The Cloisterers sitting heere in their Cloistures when to refresh and breathe themselves they chance to looke up they see on every side of them over the high roofes and ridges of their houses the tops of the hils touching as it were the skie and the very wilde Deere for the most part whereof there is heere great store feeding aloft as one would say in the farthest Horizon or kenning of their sight And it is betweene one and three of the clocke or thereabout in a faire cleere day ere they can see heere the body of the Sunne so much adoe he hath to get above the hill tops by that time And a little after The fame that went of this place drew Roger Bishop of Salisbury hither being then the chiefe Governour of the Realme under the King who when hee had a good while considered with admiration the nature of the place the desert solitarinesse the Eremeticall state and condition of the religious men there serving God without complaining together with their conversation in every respect without murmuring and grudging returned home to the King and making report unto him of such things there as were worth relation when he had spent the most part of the day in commendation of the foresaid place at length knit up all the praises thereof in this one word What should I say more quoth hee All the treasure both of King and Kingdome will not suffice to build this Cloisture when as therefore he had held a good while as well the King as the whole Court in suspense wondering as they did at this speech at length he expounded the darke riddle of his words by meaning the Cloistures of those hilles wherewith it is enclosed on every side But heereof enough if not too much By the River Munow are to bee seene Grossemont and Skinffrith Castles belonging in times past by the grant of King John to the Breoses afterwards to Hubert de Burgh Earle of Kent who that he might calme the Court-tempests of displeasure and for the renewing of peace and recovering former favour resigned both these and withall Blanc-castle and Hanfield into the hands of King Henry the Third In the other corner North-Eastward Munow and Wye at their confluence doe compasse almost round about the chiefe Towne of the Shire and give it the name For in the British tongue it is called Mongwy and in ours Monmouth On the North-side where it is not defended with the Rivers it was fortified with a wall and ditch In the middest of the Towne hard by the Mercate place standeth a Castle which as it is thought John Baron of Monmouth built from whom it came to the house of Lancaster after that King Henry the Third had taken from him all his inheritance for that he had sided with the Barons and stood rebelliously against him or rather as wee reade in the Kings Prerogative because his heires had given their faith and allegeance to the Earle of Britaine in France And ever since that time the
of the lands was fallen there was great competition for the title of Abergevenny argued in the High Court of Parliament in the second yeere of King James and their severall claimes debated seven severall daies by the learned Counsell of both parts before the Lords of the Parliament Yet when as the question of precise right in law was not sufficiently cleered but both of them in regard of the nobility and honor of their family were thought of every one right worthy of honorable title and whereas it appeared evidently by most certaine proofes that the title as well of the Barony of Abergevenny as of Le Despenser appertained hereditarily to this Family The Lords humbly and earnestly besought the King that both parties might be ennobled by way of restitution who graciously assented thereunto Hereupon the Lord Chancellour proposed unto the Lords first whether the heire male should have the title of Abergevenny or the heire female and the most voices carried it that the title of the Barony of Abergevenny should bee restored unto the heire male And when he propounded secondly whether the title of the Barony Le Despenser should bee restored unto the female they all with one accord gave their full consent Which being declared unto the King he confirmed their determination with his gracious approbation and royall assent Then was Edward Nevill by the Kings Writ called unto the Parliament by the name of Baron Abergavenney and in his Parliament Robes betweene two Barons as the manner is brought into the house and placed in his seat above the Baron Audley And at the very same time were the letters Patents read whereby the King restored erected preferred c. Mary Fane to the state degree title stile name honour and dignity of Baronesse Le-Despenser To have and to hold the foresaid state and unto the above named Mary and her heires and that her heires successively should bee Barons Le-Despenser c. And upon a new question mooved unto whether the Barony of Abergavenney or the Barony Le-Despenser the priority of place was due The Lords referred this point to the Commissioners for the Office of the Earle Mareschall of England who after mature deliberation and weighing of the matter gave definitive sentence for the Barony Le-Despenser set downe under their hands and signed with their seales which was read before the Lords of the Parliament and by order from them entered into the Journall Booke out of which I have summarily thus much exemplified John Hastings for I have no reason to passe it over in silence held this Castle by homage Wardship and marriage when it hapned as wee reade in the Inquisition and if there should chance any warre betweene the King of England and the Prince of Wales hee was to keepe the Country of Over-went at his owne charges in the best manner he can for his owne commodity the Kings behoofe and the Realme of Englands defense The second little City which Antonine named BURRIUM and setteth downe twelve miles from Gobannium standeth where the River Birthin and Uske meete in one streame The Britans at this day by transposing of the letters call it Brunebegy for Burenbegy and Caer Uske Giraldus tearmeth it Castrum Oscae that is The Castle of Uske and we Englishmen Uske At this day it can shew nothing but the ruines of a large and strong Castle situate most pleasantly betweene the River Uske and Oilwy a Riveret which beneath it runneth from the East by Ragland a faire house of the Earle of Worcesters built Castle-like The third City which Antonine nameth ISCA and LEGIO SECUNDA is on the other side of Uske twelve Italian miles just distant from BURRIUM as hee hath put it downe The Britans call it Caer Leon and Caer LEON ar Uske that is The City of the Legion upon Uske of the second Legion Augusta which also is called Britannica Secunda This Legion being ordained by the Emperour Augustus and translated by Claudius out of Germany into Britaine under the conduct of Vespasian being ready at his command when he aspired to bee Emperour and which procured the Legions in Britaine to take his part was heere at last placed in Garison by Julius Frontinus as it seemeth against the Silures How great this ISCA was in those dayes listen unto our Girald out of his Booke called Itinerarium Cambriae who thus describeth it out of the ruines It was an ancient and Authenticke City excellently well built in old time by the Romanes with bricke Walles Heere may a man see many footings of the antique nobility and dignity it had mighty and huge Palaces with golden pinacles in times past resembling the proud statelinesse of the Romanes for that it had beene found first by Romane Princes and beautified with goodly buildings There may you behold a giant-like Towre notable and brave baines the remaines of Temples and Theatres all compassed in with faire walles which are partly yet standing There may one finde in every place as well within the circuit of the Wall as without houses under ground water pipes and Vaults within the earth and that which you will count among all the rest worth observation you may see every where hoâ—e houses made wondrous artificially breathing forth heate very closely at certaine narrow Tunnels in the sides Heere lye enterred two noble Protomartyrs of greater Britaine and next after Alban and Amphibalus the very principall heere crowned with Martyrdome namely Julius and Aaron and both of them had in this City a goodly Church dedicated unto them For in antient times there had beene three passing faire Churches in this City One of Julius the Martyr beautified with a chaire of Nunnes devoted to the service of God A second founded in the name of blessed Aaron his companion and ennobled with an excellent Order of Chanons Amphibalus also the Teacher of Saint Alban and a faithfull informer of him unto faith was borne heere The site of the City is excellent upon the River Oske able to beare a prety Vessell at an high water from the Sea and the City is fairely furnished with woods and medowes heere it was that the Romane Embassadours repaired unto the famous Court of that great King Arthur Where Dubritius also resigned the Archiepiscopall honour unto David of Menevia when the Metropolitane See was translated from hence to Menevia Thus much out of Giraldus But for the avouching and confirming of the Antiquity of this place I thinke it not impertinent to adjoyne heere those antique Inscriptions lately digged forth of the ground which the right reverend Father in God Francis Godwin Bishop of Landaffe a passing great lover of venerable Antiquity and of all good Literature hath of his courtesie imparted unto me In the yeere 1602. in a medow adjoyning there was found by ditchers a certaine image of a personage girt and short trussed bearing a quiver but head hands and feet were broken off upon a pavement of square tile in checker
worke also a fragment of an Altar with this Inscription engraven in great capitall letters three inches long erected by Haterianus the Lieutenant Generall of Augustus and Propretour of the Province Cilicia The next yeere following hard by was this Table also gotten out of the ground which prooveth that the foresaid Image was the personage of Diana and that her Temple was repaired by Titus Flavius Posthumius Varus an old souldier haply of a Band of the second Legion T. FL. POSTUMIUS VARUS V. C. LEG TEMPL DIANAE RESTITUIT Also a votive Altar out of which GETA the name of Caesar may seeme then to have beene rased what time as he was made away by his brother Antonine Bassianus and proclaimed an Enemy yet so as by the tract of the letters it is in some sort apparent PRO SALUTE AUGG. N. N. SEVERI ET ANTONINI ET GETAE CAES. P. SALTIENUS P. F. MAECIA THALAMUS HADRI PRAEF LEG II. AUG C. VAMPEIANO ET LUCILIAN This most beautifull Altar also though maimed and dismembred was there found which I thinke is thus to be made up Also these fragments 7. VECILIANA VIII 7. VALER MAXSIMI Moreover a little before the comming in of the English Saxons There was a Schoole heere of 200. Philosophers who being skilfull in Astronomy and all other Arts diligently observed the course and motion of the Starres as wrote Alexander Elsebiensis a rare Author and hard to be found out of whom Thomas James of Oxford a learned man and a true lover of Bookes who wholly addicted to learning and now laboriously searching the Libraries of England to the publique good purposeth that God blesse his labour which will be to the great benefit of all Students hath copied out very many notes for me In the Raigne of Henry the Second what time Giraldus wrote it seemeth that this City was of good strength For Yrwith of Caer Leon a courageous and hardy Britan defended it a great while against the English untill he was vanquished by the King and so disseized of the possession thereof But now that it may serve for an ensample that as well Cities have fatall periods of their flourishing state as men of their lives it is decaied and become a very small Towne which in times past was of that greatnesse and reaching out so farre in length on both sides of the River that Saint Julians an house of the late Sir William Herbert Knight was by report sometime within the very City where Saint Julius the Martyrs Church stood which now is much about a mile out of the Towne Also out of the ruines thereof a little beneath at the mouth of Vske grew up Newport which Giraldus nameth in Latine Novus Burgus a Towne of later time built and not unknowne by reason of the Castle and commodiousnesse of the Harbour in which place there was in times past some one of these Roman High wayes or Streets whereof Necham hath made mention in these Verses Intrat auget aquas Sabrini fluminis Osca Praceps testis erit Julia Strata mihi Vske into Severn headlong runnes and makes his streame to swell Witnesse with me is Julia Street that knoweth it full well This Julia Strata was no doubt some Port-high way and if we may be allowed to make a conjecture what great absurdity were it to say that it was cast up and made by Julius Frâ—ntinus the vanquisher of the Silures There creepeth saith Giraldus in the bounds of this New-burgh or Newport a little River named Nant Pencarn which cannot bee waded and passed over but at certaine Fourds not so much for any depth that the water is of as for the hollownesse of the Chanell and the easie mudde in the bottome and it had of old a Fourd named Rydpencarn that is The Fourd under the top of a Rocke Which when Henry the Second King of England chanced at a venture to passe over even then when it was almost growne out of remembrance the Welshmen who were over credulous in beleeving of Prophesies as if now all had beene sure on the Kings side and themselves hopelesse of all helpe were quite out of heart and hope of good successe because Merlin Silvester the British Apollo had prophesied that then the Welshmens power should bee brought under when a stout Prince with a freckled face and such a one was King Henry the Second should passe over that Foord Under the Saxons Heptarchy this Region was subject to the mountaine Welshmen whom the English called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who notwithstanding as the ancient lawes doe shew were under the command of the West Saxons But at the first comming in of the Normans the Lords Merchers most grievously plagued and annoyed them but especially Hamelin Balun of whom I spake Hugh Lacy Walter and Gilbert both sirnamed of the house of Clare Miles of Glocester Robert Chandos Pain Fitz-Iohn Richard Fitz Punt and Brien of Wallingford unto whom after that the Kings had once given whatsoever they could get and hold in this tract by subduing the Welsh some of these before named by little and little reduced under their subjection the upper part of this Shire which they called Over-went others the lower part which they termed Nether-went And this Shire is not accounted among the Shires of Wales This Shire containeth Parish Churches 127. GLAMORGAN-SHIRE THE last Country of the Silures was that I thinke which wee at this day call GLAMORGAN-SHIRE the Britans Morganuc Glath-Morgan and Glad Vorganuc that is The Region of Morganuc so named as most suppose of one Morgan a Prince as others thinke of Morgan an Abbay But if I derived it from Mor which in the British tongue signifieth The Sea I know not verily whether I should dally with the trueth or no Howbeit I have observed that a Towne in little Britaine standing upon the Sea-coast now called Morlais was of Ptolomee and the ancient Gaules tearmed Vorganium or Morganium for M. and V. consonant are often changed one for another in this tongue and whence I pray you but from the sea And this our Morganuc also lieth upon the sea for stretching out directly more in length than it spreadeth in bredth on the South side it is accoasted with the Severn sea But where it looketh toward the Land it hath on the East side Monmouth-shire on the North Brechnock-shire and on the West Caermarden-shire bordering upon it The North part by reason of the Mountaines is rough and unpleasant which as they bend downe Southward by little and little become more milde and of better soile and at the foote of them there stretcheth forth a Plaine open to the South-Sunne in that position of situation which Cato judged to bee the best and for the which Plinie so highly commendeth Italie For this part of the Country is most pleasant and fruitfull beautified also on every side with a number of Townes Jestine a great Lord in the Raigne of William Rufus
will in short space be covered over with a stony barke and turne into stone as it hath beene often observed In the Territory there by Liquirice groweth in great abundance and a yellower and softer kinde of marle is there found passing good to make the ground fertile The Keeper or chiefe Ranger of the Forest adjoyning was in times past one Gamell whose posterity of their habitation at Screven assumed the name of Screven and from them descended the Slingsbey who received this Forestership of king Edward the First and to this day live here in great and good regard Nid having passed by these places not farre from Allerton the seat of a very ancient and famous family of the Malliveries who in old Deeds and Records are called Mali Leporarij goeth on a little way and then meeting Ouse augmenteth the streame of Ouse by his confluence As for Vre he also springing out of these Westerne hilles but on the other side of the Country in North-Ricding when by this name he hath watered the North part of the Shire a little before he commeth to Rippon serveth for the limite dividing the North and West Ridings one from another This Rippon in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being placed betweene Vre and Skell a rill is beholden to religious Houses for all the dignity it had and especially to a Monastery built in the primitive Church of the English-Saxons by Wilfride Archbishop of Yorke and that with such arched and embowed Vaults with such floorings and stories of stone-worke with such turnings and windings in and out of Galleries so saith William of Malmesbury that it was wonderfull Which the Danes afterward being so violent and outrageous that they spared neither God nor man raced together with the Towne Yet flourished it againe repaired by meanes of Odo Archbishop of Canterbury who being a very great master of ceremoniall mysteries translated from hence to Canterbury the Reliques of Wilfride But since the Normans arrivall it prospered most when the Castles as one saith of Monkes beganne to bee built in greater number For then both the Towne grew famous partly under the chiefe Magistrate whom they call by an old Saxon word Wakeman as one would say Watchman and partly by their industry in clothing which at this day is much diminished and the Monastery likewise under the tuition and protection of the Archbishops of Yorke beganne marveilously to reflourish Besides a very faire Church was there also built at the charitable charges of the Noblemen and Gentry dwelling thereabout and of their owne Treasurer which with three high Spire-steeples doth welcome those that come to the towne and did as it were emulate in workemanship the wealthy Abbay of Fountaines built within the sight of it by Thurstin Archbishop of Yorke On the one side of this Church wee saw a little College of â—inging men which Henry Bath Archbishop of Yorke erected on the other side a very great mount of earth called Hilshow cast up as they report by the Danes Within the Church Saint Wilfrides Needle was in our Grandfathers remembrance very famous A narrow hole this was in the Crowdes or close vaulted roome under the ground whereby womens honesty was tried For such as were chast did easily passe through but as many as had plaied false were miraculously I know not how held fast and could not creepe through The Abbay Fountaines aforesaid most pleasantly seated in a right plentifull Country and having Lead mines neere it had the originall from twelve precise Monkes of Yorke who fervently zealous to serve God in a more strict kinde of life forsooke their cloistures and addicted themselves to the ordinances of Saint Bernard For whom after they had reaped many Harvests of troubles Thurstine Archbishop of Yorke built this Abbay which was acknowledged an immediate daughter of Clarevalle and in a few yeeres became a mother to many others as Kirkstall Salley Meaux c. I have made more willingly mention of these because Saint Bernard in his Epistles so highly approved their life and discipline Not farre beneath there standeth by Vre a little Towne called Burrow bridge of the bridge that is made over the River which now is built very high and faire of stone worke but in King Edward the Second his time it seemeth to have beene of wood For wee reade that when the Nobles of England disquieted the King and troubled the State Humfrey Bohun Earle of Hereford in his going over it was at a chinke thereof thrust through the body about his groine by a souldier lying close under the Bridge Neere unto this Bridge Westward we saw in three divers little fields foure huge stones of Pyramidall forme but very rudely wrought set as it were in a streight and direct line The two Pyramides in the middest whereof the one was lately pulled downe by some that hoped though in vaine to finde treasure did almost touch one another the uttermore stand not farre off yet almost in equall distance from these on both sides Of these I have nothing else to say but that I am of opinion with some that they were Monuments of victory erected by the Romanes hard by the High Street that went this way For I willingly overpasse the fables of the common people who call them the Devils Bolts which they shot at ancient Cities and therewith overthrew them Yet will not I passe over this that very many and those learned men thinke they are not made of naturall stone indeed but compounded of pure sand lime vitriol whereof also they say there be certaine small graines within and some unctuous matter Of such a kinde there were in Rome cisternes so firmely compact of very strong lime and sand as Plinie writeth that they seemed to be naturall stones A little Eastward from this Bridge IS-URIUM BRIGANTUM an ancient City so called of the River Vre running by it flourished in ancient times but was rased to the very ground many ages past Neverthelesse the Village risen up neere the place giveth testimony of the Antiquity thereof for it is called Ealdburgh and Aldborrow But in that very plot of ground where the said City stood are now arable grounds and pastures so that scarce any footing thereof doth appeare Surely the very credite of Writers should have had much adoe to make us beleeve that this had beene IS-URIUM but that URE the Rivers name the Romane Coine daily digged up and the distance according to Antonines account betwixt this and Yorke warranted it For by that Vre which the Saxons afterward named Ouse because it hath entertained Ousburne a little River is gone sixteene Italian miles from hence hee runneth through the City EBORACUM or EBURACUM which Ptolomee in the second booke of his Great Construction calleth BRIGANTIUM if the said booke bee not corrupted because it was the chiefe City of the Brigantes Ninnius calleth it Caer Ebrauc the Britans Caer Effroc the Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
upon an horse all trapped with one hand brandishing a sword and in the other holding out the Armes of the Bishopricke The Bishops also have had their royalties and princely rights so that the goods of outlawed and attainted persons out of the Kings protection fell into their hands and not into the Kings yea and the Commons of that Province standing upon their priviledges have refused to serve in warre under the King in Scotland For they pleaded the Story of Duresme shall speake for mee That they were Haliwerke folkes and held their lands to defend the Corps of Saint Cuthbert neither ought they to goe out of the precincts of the Bishopricke namely beyond Tine and Teese for King or Bishop But King Edward the First was the first that abridged them of these liberties For when as he interposed himselfe as Arbitratour betweene the Bishop Antony Bec and the Priour who contended most egerly about certaine lands and they would not stand to his award Hee seised as saith mine Authour the liberty of the Bishopricke into his owne hand and there were many corners searched many flawes found and the Liberty in many points much impaired Howbeit the Church afterward recovered her rights and held them inviolate unto the daies of King Edward the Sixth unto whom upon the dissolution of the Bishopricke the States in Parliament granted all the revenewes and liberties thereof But forthwith Queene Mary by the same authority repealed this Act and restored all things safe and sound unto the Church againe which it enjoyeth at this day For the Bishop James Pilkinton of late time entred his action against Queene Elizabeth about the possessions and goods of Charles Nevill Earle of Westmorland and of others that stood attainted for treason in this precinct because they had most wickedly levied warre against their native Country and he the said Bishop had followed the suit to a triall if the authority of Parliament had not interposed and adjudged the same for that time unto the Queene because to her exceeding great charges she had delivered both Bishop and Bishopricke from the outrage of the Rebels But leaving these matters let us proceed forward to the descripton of places The riuer that boundeth the South part of this country is called by Latin writers Teisis and Teesa commonly Tees by Polydore Virgill the Italian whose minde ranne of Athesis in his owne country Italy without any reason Athesis In Ptolomee it seemeth to be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet I thinke that in him it is removed out of his proper place through the negligence of transcribers For considering that he hath placed TUESIS and TINA in the more remote part of Britaine where the Scots now inhabite and seeing that this Region is enclosed within Tees and Tine If I durst as a Criticke correct that ancient Geographer I would recall them home againe hither into their owne places though they have been long displaced and that with the Scots good leave I hope who have no Rivers upon which they can truely father these names TEES springeth out of that stony country called Stanemore and carrying with him away in his chanell along many brookes and beckes on each side and running through rockes out of which at Egleston where there is a marble Quarroy and where Conan Earle of Britaine and Richmond founded a small Abbay first beateth upon Bernard Castle built and so named by Bernard Balliol the great grandfathers father of John Balliol King of the Scots But this John Balliol whom King Edward the First had declared King of Scotland lost the same with other his possessions because he had broken his alleageance which he sware unto Edward At which time the King being highly displeased with Antony Bishop of Durrham tooke this Castle as witnesseth the booke of Duresme with the appertinences thereto from him and conferred the same upon the Earle of Warwicke as Herkes also and Hertnes which hee gave unto Robert Clifford Kewerston also which hee bestowed upon Geffrey of Hertpole which the Bishop had by the forfeiture of Iohn Baliol Robert Bruse and Christopher Seton But a few yeeres after Lewis Beaumount the Bishop a man royally descended but altogether unlettered brought his action for this Castle and the rest of those possessions and obtained his suite by vertue of judgement given in this tenour The Bishop of Durham ought to have the forfeiture of Warres within the Liberties of his Bishopricke as the King hath it without Hard by it is Stretlham seene where dwelt for a long time the worshipfull family of the Bowes Knights who from time to time in the greatest troubles have performed passing good service to Prince and Country and derive their pedigree from W. de Bowes unto whom as I have read Alanus Niger Earle of Britaine and Richmond granted that hee might give for his Armes The Scutcheon of Britaine with three bent Bowes therein Not full five miles from hence standeth somewhat farther from Tees banke Standrop which also is called Stainthorpe that is Stony Village a little Mercate Towne where there was a Collegiat Church founded by the Nevills and was their Buriall-place Neere unto it is Raby whch Cnut or Canute the Danish King gave freely unto the Church of Durham together with the land lying round about it and Stanthorpe to be held for ever Since which time as mine Authour informeth mee The Family of the Nevills or De nova villa held Raby of the Church paying yeerely for it foure pounds and a Stagge These Nevilles deduce their Descent from Waltheof Earle of Northumberland out of whose posterity when Robert the sonne of Maldred Lord of Raby had married the daughter of Geffrey Nevill the Norman whose Grandsire Gilbert Nevill is reported to have beene Admirall to King William the Conquerour their succeeding Progeny tooke unto them the name of Nevilles and grew up into a most numerous honourable and mighty house who erected heere a great and spacious Castle which was the first and principall seate These two places Stainthorpe and Raby are severed one from another onely by a little rill which after some few miles runneth into Tees neere unto Selaby where now is the habitation of the Brakenburies a Family of right good note both in regard of their owne Antiquity as also for their marriages contracted with the heires of Denton and of Wicliff Tees passing on from thence by Sockburne the dwelling house of the ancient and noble Family of the Coigniers out of which were the Barons Coigniers of Hornby whose inheritance much bettered by matching in marriage with the heires of the Lord Darcy of Metnill and of William Nevill Earle of Kent and Lord of Fauconberg is descended from them in the memory of our fathers to the Atherstons and the Darcies holdeth his course neere unto Derlington a Mercate Towne of good resort which Seir an English Saxon the sonne of Ulph
which gave name unto that martiall and warlike family of the Musgraves out of which in the reigne of King Edward the third Thomas Musgrave flourished and was by solemne writ of summons called to the Parliament in the ranke of Barons and these Musgraves had their principall habitation in Heartly castle adjoining Heere Eden doth as it were make stay with his streame to give meeting unto other petty rivers upon one of which scarce two miles off from Eden it selfe stood VERTERAE a towne of ancient memory mentioned by Antonine the Emperour and the booke of Notices wherein it is notified that in the declining age of the Romane Empire a Romane Captaine made his abode there with a band of the Directores But now the towne is decayed and become a small poore village fensed with a little Fortresse and the name turned into Burgh for it is commonly named Burgh under Stanemore For in the time of the later Emperours and willing I am to note so much once for all little castles meet for warre occasions and furnished with store of corne began to bee tearmed Burgi that is Burghs by a new name which after that the Empire was translated into the East the Germans and others may seeme to have borrowed of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hence also came the name of Burgundians because they inhabited Burghs for so in that age they used to call those dwelling places which were planted heere and there along limits and marches Neither have I read any thing else of that Burgh but that in the beginning of the Norman government the Northren English conspired heere against William the Conquerour That this Burgh was VERTERAE I dare be bold to affirme because the distance thereof from Levatrae of the one side and from Brovonacum on the other being reduced into Italian miles doth exactly agree with Antonines numbers and for that the high street of the Romans as yet evidently apparent by the ridges thereof leadeth this way to BROVONACUM by ABALLABA whereof mention is made in the booke of Notices which hath hitherto kept the ancient name so well that it doth most evidently descrie and shew it selfe yea in some sort remove all doubt For we call it short in steed of ABALLABA Apelby Memorable is it for the antiquity and situation only In the Romans time no doubt the Aurelian Maures kept a station there It standeth also in a pleasant site encompassed for the most part with the river Eden but so slenderly inhabited and the building so simple that were it not that by reason of the antiquity it had deserved to be counted the chiefe towne of the shire and to have Sessions and Assises kept in the castle which is the comon gaole for malefactors it would be little better than a village For all the beautie of it is in one broad street which from North to South riseth with an easie ascent of the hill in the upper part whereof standeth the castle aloft environed wholly almost with the river In the nether end of it is the Church and thereby a school which Robert Langton and Miles Spenser Doctors of the law founded the Master whereof is Reginald Bainbrige a right learned man who governeth the same with great commendation and who of his courtesie hath exemplified for mee many antique inscriptions and brought some hither into his garden Neither verily was it for nought that William of Newborrough calleth this town and Burgh Princely holds where he writeth that William King of Scots surprised them on the suddain a little before himselfe was taken prisoner at Alnewick Which King John afterwards having recovered gave liberally unto Robert Vipont in consideration of his singular good service to him and the state From hence the river with his full course passeth directly North-west by Buley a castle of the Bishops of Carlile and by Kirby Thore under which are seene great ruines of an old towne and pieces of Roman coin otherwhiles digged up and not long since this inscription DEO BELATV CADRO LIB VOTV M. FECIT IOLVS But tract of time hath quite out-worne the old name and it is called at this day Whealop-Castle If I might without prejudice to the Judges of antiquitie I would say it were GALLAGUM mentioned by Ptolomee which Antonine nameth GALLATUM the distance of journies accord so well and the name doth not altogether gainsay For what words the Britans began with GALL the English turned into Wall Thus they called GALENA Wallingford and Gall Sever Wall of Sever Gall dour Wall-broke c. Doubtlesse it was a place in old time of better note seeing that from hence there leadeth a paved street Maiden way they call it to Caer Vorran neare the Picts wall 20. miles or thereabouts in length by fells wastes and moores Along which street I would willingly think were placed those Stations and Mansions mentioned by Antonine in the ninth journey of Britain although no man is able precisely to say in what places they stood and no marvaile considering that time which devoureth and consumeth all things hath continually fed upon their carcases so many ages together Not far from Whellop hard by Crawdundale there are evident remaines of ditches trenches and mounts cast up and among them this Roman inscription the draught whereof Reginald Bainbrig before named head schoolemaster of Applebey took out for me was ingraven in a craggie rocke the forepart of which was quite eaten out with continuance of time or thrust out by the root of a tree there growing VARRONIVS ECTVS LEG XX. V. V. AEL LVCANVS P. LEG II. AVG. C. That is to say by my reading Varronius Praefectus legionis vicesimae valentis victricis Aelius Lucanus Praefectus legionis secundae Augustae castrametati sunt Varronius captaine of the xx legion valens victrix Aelius Lucanus Captaine of the second legion Augusta encamped or did some such thing For the twentieth legion called Valens victrix which kept resience at DEVA that is Westchester and the second legion named Augusta that abode at ISCA that is Caer-Leon in Wales may seeme to have beene employed against the enemies in these parts and here to have staied and kept their standing campe for a time and that their Captains or Collonells in memoriall hereof engraved this upon the cragge The just time I may not easily set downe Yet to the pointing out of the verie time there remaine to be seen in a rocke there by these great capitall letters engraven CN OCT. COT. COSS. But in the Consular Rolles among all the Paires of Consulls I can meet with no such names Yet have I observed thus much that from the time of Severus unto Gordian and afterwards the letter A. in all the inscriptions of that age everie where in this Iland wanteth the overthwart little line or stroke and is made thus A. Eden holdeth on his course from hence not farre from Howgill castle belonging to the family of the Sandfords but the
Carlile had was Sir Andrew de Harcla whom King Edward the second created Earle that I may speake out of the very originall instrument of his Creation for his laudable good service performed against Thomas Earle of Lancaster and other his abetters in vanquishing the Kings enemies and disloiall subjects in delivering them up into the Kings hands when they were vanquished giâ—t with a sword and created Earle under the honour and name of the Earle of Carlile Who notwithstanding proved a wretched Traitour himselfe unthankfull and disloyally false both to his Prince and country and being afterwards apprehended was with shame and reproach paied duly for the desert of his perfidious ingratitude degraded in this maner first by cutting off his spurres with an hatchet afterwards disgirded of his military Belt then dispoiled of his shooes and gantlets last of all and was drawne hanged beheaded and quartered As for the position of Carlile the Meridian is distant from the utmost line of the West 21. degrees and 31. minutes and elevation of the North pole 54. degrees and 55. minutes and so with these encomiasticall verses of M. I. Ionston Ibid Carlile adue CARLEOLUM Romanis quondam statio tutissima signis Ultimaque Ausonidum meta labosque Ducum Especula laiè vicinos prospicit agros Hic ciet pugnas arcet inde metus Gens acri ingenio studiis asperrima belli Doctaque bellaci fig ere tela manu Scotorum Reges quondam tenuere beati Nunc iterum priscis additur imperiis Quid Romane putas extrema hîc limina mundi Mundum retrò alium surgere nonne vides Sit vidisse satis docuit nam Scotica virtus Immensis animis hîc posuisse modum CARLILE Unto the Romane legions sometimes the surest Station The farthest bound and Captaines toile of that victorious nation From prospect high farre all abroad it lookes to neighbour fields Hence fight and skirmish it maintaines and thence all danger shields People quicke witted fierce in field in martiall feats well seene Expert likewise right skilfully to fight with weapons keene Whilom the Kings of Scots it held whiles their state stood upright And once againe to ancient crowne it now reverts by right What Romane Cesar thinkest thou the world hath here an end And seest thou not another world behind doth yet extend Well maist thou see this and no more for Scotish valour taught Such haughty mindes to gage themselves and here to make default If you now crosse over the river Eden you may see hard by the banke Rowcliffe a little castle erected not long since by the Lords de Dacres for the defence of their Tenants And above it the two rivers Eske and Leven running jointly together enter at one out-gate into the Solway Frith As for Eske he rumbleth down out of Scotland and for certaine miles together confesseth himselfe to bee within the English dominion and entertaineth the river Kirsop where the English and Scottish parted asunder of late not by waters but by mutuall feare one of another having made passing good proofe on both sides of their great valour and prowesse Neere this river Kirsop where is now seene by Nether-By a little village with a few cottages in it where are such strange and great ruines of an ancient City and the name of Eske running before it doth sound so neare that wee may imagine AESICA stood there wherein the Tribune of the first band of the Astures kept watch and ward in old time against the Northren enemies But now dwelleth here the chiefe of the Grayhams family very famous among the Borderers for their martiall disposition and in a wall of his house this Romane inscription is set up in memoriall of Hadrian the Emperour by the Legion surnamed Augusta Secunda IMP. CAES. TRA. HADRIANO AUG LEG II. AUG F. But where the River Lidd and Eske conjoine their streames there was sometimes as I have heard Liddel castle and the Barony of the Estotevils who held lands in Cornage which Earle Ranulph as I read in an old Inquisition gave unto Turgill Brundas But from Estotevill it came hereditarily unto the Wakes and by them unto the Earles of Kent of the blood roiall And John Earle of Kent granted it unto King Edward the third and King Richard the second unto John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Beyond this river Eske the land for certaine miles together is accounted English ground wherein Solom Mosse became very famous by reason especially of so many of the Scottish Nobility taken there prisoners in the yeere 1543. What time as the Scottish resolute to set upon Sir Thomas Wharton Lord warden of the English marches so soone as they understood that their King had committed the command of the army to Oliver Sincler whom they disdained they conceived such indignation thereat that with their owne shame and losse breaking their arraies in tumultuous manner they made a generall confusion of all which the English beholding from the higher ground forthwith charged violently upon them and put them to flight many they took prisoners who flinging away their weapons yeelded themselves after some few souldiers on both sides slaine into the hands of the English and of the borderers Presently whereupon James the fifth King of Scots was so disjected that weary of his life he died for very sorrow The land thereabout is called Batable ground as one would say Litigious because the English and the Scottish have litigiously contended about it For the inhabitants on both sides as borderers in all other parts are a military kind of men nimble wily alwaies in readines for any service yea and by reason of often skirmishes passing well experienced Leven the other river whereof I spake springing in the limit just of both kingdomes runneth by no memorable place unlesse it be Beucastle as they commonly call it a Castle of the Kings which standing in a wild and solitary country hath beene defended onely by a ward of souldiers But this in publicke records is written Bueth-castle so that the name may seeme to have come from that Bueth who about King Henry the first his dayes after a sort ruled all in this tract Certaine it is that in the reigne of Edward the third it was the patrimony of Sir John of Strivelin a Baron who married the daughter and one of the heires of Adam of Swinborne In the Church now much decaied there is layed for a grave-stone this old inscription translated thither from some other place LEG II. AUG FECIT In the Church-yard there is erected a Crosse about 20. foot high all of one entire foure square stone very artificially cut and engraven but the letters are so worn and gone that they cannot be read But whereas the Crosse is chequy in that manner as the shield of Armes belonging to the family of Vaulx sometime Lords in this tract we may well thinke that it was erected by them More into the South and farther within
Barons of Northumberland had done homage at Felton to Alexander King of Scots Many yeeres after when Iohn Balioll King of Scots had broken his oath King Edward the first in the yeere of salvation 1297. brought Berwick under his subjection yet within a little while after when the fortune of warre began to smile upon the Scots they surprised it standing for-let and neglected but straightwayes it was yeelded up and the English became Masters of it Afterward in that loose reigne of King Edward the second Peter Spalding betraied it unto Robert Bruâ— King of the Scots who hotly assaulted it and the English laid siege unto it in vaine untill that our Hector King Edward the third in the yeere of Christ 1333. setting valiantly upon it wonne it as happily Howbeit in the reigne of Richard the second certaine Scottish robbers upon a sudden surprised the Castle but within nine dayes Henry Pearcy Earle of Northumberland regained it Scarce seven yeeres were overpassed when the Scots recovered it againe not by force but by money For which cause the said Henry Percy Governour of the place was accused of high treason but he with money likewise corrupted both their faith and fortitude and streightway got it in his hands againe A great while after when England was even pining by reason of civill warre King Henry the sixth being now fled the Realme into Scotland surrendred it up into the hands of the Scot for to be secured of his life and safety in Scotland But after twenty two yeeres were expired Sir Thomas Stanley not without losse of his men reduced it under the command of King Edward the Fourth Since which time our Kings have at divers times fortified and fenced it with new works but especially Queen Elizabeth who of late to the terrour of the enemy and safeguard of her state enclosed it about in a narrower compasse within the old wall with an high wall of stone most strangely compacted together which shee hath so forewarded againe with a counterscarfe a banke round about with mounts of earth cast up by mans hand and open terraces above head that either the forme of these munitions or strength thereof may justly cut off all hope of winning it To say nothing all this while of the valour of the garison souldiers the store of great Ordnance and furniture of warre which was wonderfull He that was wont to be chiefe Governour of this towne that I may note thus much also was alwaies one of the wisest and most approved of the Nobility of England and withall Warden of these East marches against Scotland The Longitude of this towne as our Mathematicians have observed is 21. degrees and 43. minutes the Latitude 55. degrees and 48. minutes And by this inclination and position of the heaven the longest day is 17. houres and 22. minutes and the night but sixe houres and 38. minutes so that that there was no untruth in Serviâ—â— Honoratus when he wrote thus Britanni lucis dives c. that is Britain is so plentifull of day light that it affordeth scarce any time for the nights Neither is it any marvaile that souldiers without other light doe play here all night long at Dice considering the side light that the sunne beames cast all night long and therefore this verse of Iuvenall is true Minimá contentos nocte Britannos The Britaines who with least night stand content Concerning Berwicke have here now for an Overdeale these verses of Master I. Ionston Scotorum extremo sub limite meta furoris Saxonidum gentis par utriusque labor Mille vices rerum quae mille est passa ruinas Mirum quî potuit tot superesse malis Quin superest quin extremis exhausta ruinis Funere sic crevit firmior usque suo Oppida ut exaequet jam munitissima Civis Militis censum munia Martis obit Postquà m servitio durisque est functa periclis Effert laetitiae signa serena suae Et nunc antiquo felix sejactat honore Cum reddit Domino debita jura suo Cujus ab auspiciis unita Britannia tandem Excelsum tollit libera in astra caput Afront the bound of Scottish ground where staid the furious broile Of English warres and Nations both were put to equall toile Now won then lost a thousand turnes it felt of fortunes will After so many miseries wonder it standeth still And still it stands although laid wast it were and desolate Yet alwaies after every fall it rose to firmer state So that for strength best fenced townes it matcheth at this day The Citizens were souldiers all and serv'd in warres for pay But after service long performed and hard adventures past Of joy and mirth the gladsome signes it putteth forth at last And now her ancient honour she doth vaunt in happy plight When to her Soveraigne Lord she yeelds all service due by right Whose blessed Crowne united hath great Britain now at last Whereby her head she lifts on high since quarrels all be past That which Aeneas Sylvius or Pope Pius the second who when hee was a private person was Embassadour into Scotland about the yeere 1448. hath reported in his owne life by himselfe penned and published under the name of another touching the borderers that dwelt there round about I thinke good here to put downe considering that as yet they have nothing degenerated There is a river saith he which spreading broad from out of an high hill confineth both the lands This river when Aeneas had ferried over and turned aside into a great village about sun setting where he supped in a country-mans house with the Priest of the place and his hoast many sorts of gruels and pottage hens and geese were set on the board but no wine nor bread at all and all the men women of the village came running thither as it were to see some strange sight and as our countreymen are wont to wonder at Blacka-Moors or men of Inde so they stood gasing gaping as astonied at Aeneas asking of the Priest what countreyman he was upon what busines he came and whether he were a Christian or no Now Aeneas having bin enformed before what scarcity of victuals he should finde in those parts had received at a certaine Abbey some loaves of white bread and a rundlet of red wine which when they had brought forth the people made a greater wonder than before as who had never seen either wine or white bread There approached unto the table great bellied women and their husbands who handling the bread smelling to the wine craved some part thereof and there was no remedy but to deale and give all away among them Now when we had sitten at sâ—pper untill it was two houres within night the Priest and our Hoast together with the children and all the men left Aeneas and made haste away for they said they were to flye for feare of the Scots unto a certaine pile that stood a great way off
to Henrie Earle of Lancaster who being descended of ancient bloud and renowned for his martiall prowesse was rewarded also by King Edward the third with faire possessions in Scotland created Earle of North-humberland by King Richard the second on the day of his Coronation and much enriched by his second wife Dame Maud Lucie although by her hee had no issue upon a fine levied unto her that hee should beare quarterly the Armes of the Lucies with his owne and lived in great honour confidence and favour with King Richard the second Yet full badly hee requited him againe for all his singular good demerits For in his adversitie hee forsooke him and made way for Henrie the fourth to the kingdome who made him Constable of England and bestowed upon him the Isle of Man against whom within a while hee feeling the corrosive and secret pricke of conscience for that King Richard by his meanes was unjustly deposed and besides taking at the heart indignantly that Edmund Mortimer Earle of March the true and undoubted heire of the Kingdome and his neere ally was neglected in prison hee conceived inward enmity grievously complaining and charging him with perjury that whereas hee had solemnly sworne to him and others that hee would not challenge the Crowne but onely his owne inheritance and that King Richard should be governed during his life by the good advice of the Peeres of the realme he to the contrary had by imprisonment and terror of death enforced him to resigne his Crown and usurped the same by the concurrence of his faction horribly murthering the said K. and defrauding Edmund Mortimer Earle of March of his lawfull right to the Crown whom he had suffered to languish long in prison under Owen Glendour reputing those traitours who with their owne money had procured his enlargement After the publication of these complaints he confident in the promises of his confederates who yet failed him sent his brother Thomas Earle of Worcester and his courageous sonne Henry surnamed Hot-Spurre with a power of men against the King who both lost their lives at the battaile of Shrewesbury Whereupon he was proclaimed traitour and attainted but shortly after by a kind of connivency received againe into the Kings favour unto whom he was a terrour yea and restored to all his lands and goods save onely the Isle of Man which the King resumed into his owne hands Howbeit within a while after being now become popular and over forward to entertaine new designes and having procured the Scots to bandy and joyne with him in armes himselfe in person entred with banner displayed into the field against the King as an Usurper and on a sudden at Barrhammore in a tumultuary skirmish in the yeere 1408. was discomfited and slaine by Thomas Rokesby the high Sheriffe of Yorke-shire Eleven yeeres after Henry this mans nephew by his sonne Henry Hot-Spur whose mother was Elizabeth daughter to Edmund Mortimer the elder Earle of March by Philippa the daughter of Leonel Duke of Clarence was restored in bloud and inheritance by authority of Parliament in the time of King Henry the fifth which Henry Percie whiles he stoutly maintained King Henry the sixth his part against the house of Yorke was slaine at the battell of Saint Albans like as his sonne Henry the third Earle of Northumberland who married Aelenor the daughter of Richard Lord Poinings Brian and Fitz-Pain in the same quarrell lost his life in the battaile at Towton in the yeere 1461. The house of Lancaster being now kept under and downe the wind and the Percies with it troden under foot King Edward the fourth made Iohn Nevill Lord Montacute Earle of Northumberland but he after a while surrendred this title into the Kings hands and was created by him Marquesse Montacute After this Henry Percy the sonne of Henry Percy aforesaid recovering the favour of King Edward the fourth obtained restitution in bloud and hereditaments who in the reigne of Henry the seventh was slaine by the countrey people that about a certaine levie of money exacted by an Act of Parliament rose up against the Collectours and Assessours thereof After him succeeded Henry Percy the fifth Earle whose sonne Henry by a daughter and Coheire of Sir Robert Spenser and Eleanor the daughter likewise and Coheire of Edmund Beaufort Duke of Somerset was the sixth Earle who having no children and his brother Thomas being executed for taking armes against King Henry the eighth in the first difference about Religion as if now that family had beene at a finall end for ever prodigally gave away a great part of that most goodly inheritance unto the King and others Some few yeeres after Sir Iohn Dudley Earle of Warwick got to himselfe the title of Duke of Northumberland by the name of Iohn Earl of Warwick Marshal of England Vicount Lisle Baron Somery Basset and Ties Lord of Dudley Great Master and Steward of the Kings house when as in the tender age of King Edward the sixth the Chieftaines and leaders of the factions shared titles of honour among themselves their fautors and followers This was that Duke of Northumberland who for the time like unto a tempestuous whirlewind began to shake and teare the publicke peace of the state whiles he with vast ambition plotted and practised to exclude Mary and Elizabeth the daughters of King Henry the eighth from their lawfull right of succession and to set the Emperiall Crowne upon Lady Jane Grey his daughter in law being seconded therein by the great Lawyers who are alwaies forward enough to humour and sooth up those that bee in highest place For which being attainted of high treason he lost his head and at his execution embraced and publikely professed Popery which long before either seriously or colorably for his own advantage he had renounced When he was gone Queene Mary restored Thomas Percy nephew unto Henry the sixth Earle by his brother Thomas unto his bloud and by a new Patent created him first Baron Percy and anon Earle of Northumberland to himselfe and the heires males of his body and for default thereof to his brother Henry and his heires males But this Thomas the seventh Earle for his treason to Prince and country under maske of restoring the Romish religion againe lost both life and dignity in the yeere 1572. Yet through the singular favour and bounty of Queen Elizabeth according to that Patent of Queene Mary his brother Henry succeeded after him as the eighth Earle who in the yeere 1585. ended his dayes in prison and had for his successor Henry his sonne by Katherin the eldest daughter and one of the heires of John Nevill Lord Latimer the ninth Earle of Northumberland of this family Parishes in Northumberland about 46. SCOTLAND SCOTIA Regnum SCOTLAND NOw am I come to SCOTLAND and willingly I assure you will I enter into it but withall lightly passe over it For I remember well that said saw In places not well knowne lesse while wee must stay
ever wee read that Adam of Kilconath was about the yeere 1270. Earle of Carrict and died serving in the Holy-land whose onely daughter Mariha fell extremely in love with Robert Brus a beautifull young Gentleman as she saw him hunting and thereupon made him her husband advanced him with the title of Earle and with possessions unto whom she bare Robert Brus that most renowned King of Scots from whom the royall line of the Kings is descended But the title of the Earle of Carrict being left for a time to the younger sonnes of the family of Brus afterwards among other honours encreased the stile of the Princes of Scotland KYLE MOre inward from Clids-forth followeth KYLE plentifull in all things and as well inhabited In Bedes Auctarium it is called Campus Cyel that is The Field Cyel and Coil where it is recorded That Eadbert King of Northumberland annexed this with other territories unto his owne Kingdome In Ptolomees time there was known a place here named VIDOGARA haply Aire which is a Sherifdome hath a townlet also of merchandise and a well known port by a little river of the same name Touching which I can thinke of no better thing to write than these verses sent unto mee from Master Iohn Ionstoun AERA sive AERIA Parva urbs ast ingens animus in fortibus haeret Inferior nulli nobilitate virûm Aeris è campis haurit purissima coelum Incubat miti mollior aura solo Aeria hinc non Aera priùs credo illa vocata est Cum duris quid enim mollia juris habent Infera cum superis quod si componere fas est Aurea fo rs dici debuit illa priùs A City small but yet great mindes in valiant bodies rest For noblenesse of Gentlemen matching the very best Out of the fields what aire it drawes is right pure fresh and kinde The soile is milde and upon it there breathes a gentle winde Hence I suppose AERIA first not Aera call'd it was For what have elements to doe with matters hard as brasse But to compare low things with high if that I may be bold Then haply well it should have beene nam'd AUREA of old Besides the river Aire there be other two riverets that water this little territorie having many villages scattering along their bankes namely Longar neere unto which the Caufords and Cesnocke by which the Cambels families in this tract of good worship dwell upon the banke whereof standeth Uchiltre castle the seat of the Stewarts that are of the blood royall as who issued from the Dukes of Albanie and thereupon are the Barons of Uchiltrey out of which house was that noble Robert Stewart who kept continually with the Prince of Condie as an inseparable companion and was with him slain in France in battaile The government of Kyle belongeth by an heritable right to the Cambells of Louden as Bailiffe thereof CUNNINGHAM CUNNINGHAM adjoyning to Kyle on the East side and the North butteth upon the same Forth so close that it restraineth the breadth thereof which hitherto lay out and spread at large The name if one interpret it is as much as the Kings Habitation by which a man may ghesse how commodious and pleasant it is This territorie is watered with Irwin that divideth it from Kyle at the spring-head well neere whereof Kilmarnock sheweth it selfe the dwelling place of the Barons Boids of whom in the reigne of James the first Thomas by a prosperous gale of Court favour was advanced to the authoritie of Regent or Vice-Roy Robert his sonne to the dignitie of Earle of Arran and marriage with the Kings sister But soone after when the said gale came about and blew contrarie they were judged enemies to the State Robert also had his wife taken from him and given unto James Hamilton their goods were confiscate fortune made a game of them and when they had lost all they died in exile Howbeit their posteritie recovered the ancient honour of Barons and honorably enjoy it at this day At the mouth of the river Irwin standeth Irwin a Burrough with an haven so barred up with shelves of sand and so shallow withall that it can beare none other vessels but small barkes and boates Ardrossan also a pile belonging to the Montgomeries more above standeth higher over the Creeke this is a verie ancient and famous familiy as any other who have to shew for witnesse of their warlike prowesse Poununy a fort built with the ransome mony of Sir Henrie Percie surnamed Hot-Spur whom I. Montgomerie with his owne hand tooke prisoner in the battaile at Otterburne and led away captive Not farre from Ardrossan is Largis embrued with the blood of the Norwegians by King Alexander the third From whence as you follow the shore bending and giving in you meet with Eglington a faire castle which was the possession of certaine Gentlemen highly descended of the same surname from whom it came by marriage unto the Montgomeries who thereby received the title of Earles of Eglington But whence the said surname should come a man can hardly tell this I know that out of Normandie it came into England and that divers families there were of the same name but that in Essex from which Sir Thomas Montgomerie Knight of the order of the Garter descended in the reigne of Edward the fourth gave Armes a little different from these This noble linage is faire and farre spread and out of those of Gevan was that Gabriel de Lorges called Earl of Montgomerie Captain of the guard of Scots which Charles the fifth King of France instituted for defence of his owne person and his successors in testimonie of their fidelitie and his love toward them who in running at tilt slew Henrie the second King of France by occasion that a broken splint of his speare where the helmet chanced to be open entred at his eye and pierced into his brain and afterwards in that civill war wherein all France was in a broile whiles he took part with the Protestants he was apprehended and beheaded But the Cunninghams in this tract are counted to be the greater and more numerous family the chiefe whereof enjoying the honour of Earle of Glencarn dwelleth at Kilmauris and fetcheth his descent out of England and from an English Gentleman who together with other killed Thomas Archbishop of Canterburie How true this is I know not but they ground it haply upon a probable conjecture taken from an Archbishops pall which the Cunninghams give in their coat of Armes ISLE GLOTTA OR ARRAN WIthin the sight of Cunningham among sundry other Ilands GLOTA the Isle mentioned by Antonine the Emperour beareth up his head in the very Forth and salt water of the river Glota or Cluyd called at this day Arran of a castle bearing the same name Inwardly it mounteth up altogether with high rising hills at the bottome and foot whereof along the shore it is well inhabited The first Earle hereof that I can read of
tongue the Isle of Masses hereby may bee remembred when as it was a most famous Abbey of the order of Saint Augustin founded by the Earle of Strathern about the yeere 1200. When Ern hath joined his water with Tau in one streame so that Tau is now become more spatious hee looketh up to Aberneth seated upon his banke the royall seat in old time of the Picts and a well peopled Citie which as we read in an ancient fragment Nectane King of the Picts gave unto God and S. Brigide untill the day of Doom together with the bounds thereof which lye from a stone in Abertrent unto a stone nigh to Carfull that is Loghfoll and from thence as farre as to Ethan But long after it became the possession of the Douglasses Earles of Anguse who are called Lords of Aberneth and there some of them lye enterred The first Earle of Strathern that I read of was Malisse who in the time of King Henrie the third of England married one of the heires of Robert Muschamp a potent Baron of England Long afterward Robert Stewart in the yeere 1380. Then David a younger sonne of King Robert the second whose onely daughter given in marriage to Patricke Graham begat Mailise or Melisse Graham from whom King James the first tooke away the Earledome as escheated after that he understood out of the Records of the Kingdome that it was given unto his mothers grandfather and the heires males of his bodie This territorie as also that of Menteith adjoining the Barons Dromund governe hereditarily by Seneschals authority as their Stewarties Menteith hath the name of Teith a river which also they call Taich and thereof this little province they tearme in Latin Taichia upon the banke of which lieth the Bishopricke of Dunblan which King David the first of that name erected At Kirkbird that is Saint Brigids Church the Earles of Menteith have their principall house or Honour as also the Earles of Montrosse comming from the same stocke at Kin-Kardin not farre off This Menteith reacheth as I have heard unto the mountaines that enclose the East side of the Logh or Lake Lomund The ancient Earles of Menteith were of the family of Cumen which in times past being the most spred mightiest house of all Scotland was ruinated with the over-weight and sway thereof but the latter Earles were of the Grahams line ever since that Sir Mailise Graham attained to the honour of an Earle ARGATHELIA OR ARGILE BEyond the Lake Lomund and the West part of Lennox there spreadeth it selfe neere unto Dunbriton Forth the large countrey called Argathelia Argadia in Latin but commonly ARGILE more truely Argathel and Ar-Gwithil that is Neere unto the Irish or as old writings have it The edge or border of Ireland For it lyeth toward Ireland the inhabitants whereof the Britans tearme Gwithil and Gaothel The countrey runneth out in length and breadth all mangled with fishfull pooles and in some places with rising mountaines very commodious for feeding of cattell in which also there range up and downe wilde kine and red Deere but along the shore it is more unpleasant in sight what with rockes and what with blackish barraine mountaines In this part as Bede writeth Britain received after the Britans and Picts a third nation of Scots in that countrey where the Picts inhabited who comming out of Ireland under the leading of Reuda either through friendship or by dint of sword planted here their seat amongst them which they still hold Of which their leader they are to this very day called Dalreudini for in their language Dal signifieth a part And a little after Ireland saith hee is the proper Countrey of the Scots for being departed out of it they added unto the Britans and Picts a third nation in Britaine And there is a very great Bay or arme of the sea that in old time severed the nation of the Britans from the Picts which from the West breaketh a great way into the land where standeth the strongest Citie of all the Britans even to this day called Alchith In the North part of which Bay the Scots aforesaid when they came got themselves a place to inhabite Of that name Dalreudin no remaines at all to my knowledge are now extant neither finde wee any thing thereof in Writers unlesse it bee the same that Dalrieta For in an old Pamphlet touching the division of Albanie wee read of one Kinnadie who for certaine was a King of Scots and subdued the Picts these very words Kinnadie two yeeres before hee came into Pictavia for so it calleth the countrey of the Picts entred upon the Kingdome of Dalrieta Also in an historie of later time there is mention made of Dalrea in some place of this tract where King Robert Brus fought a field unfortunately That Justice should be ministred unto this Province by Justices Itinerant at Perth whensoever it pleased the King King James the fourth by authoritie of the States of the Kingdome enacted a law But the Earles themselves have in some cases their roialties as being men of very great command and authoritie followed with a mightie traine of retainers and dependants who derive their race from the ancient Princes and Potentates of Argile by an infinite descent of Ancestours and from their castle Cambell tooke their surname but the honour and title of Earle was given unto them by King James the second who as it is recorded invested Colin Lord Cambell Earle of Argile in regard of his owne vertue and the worth of his family Whose heires and successours standing in the gracious favour of the Kings have bin Lords of Lorn and a good while Generall Justices of the Kingdome of Scotland or as they use to speake Iustices ordained in Generall and Great Masters of the Kings royall household CANTIRE LOgh Fin a lake breeding such store of herrings at a certaine due season as it is wonderfull severeth Argile from a Promontorie which for thirtie miles together growing still toward a sharpe point thrusteth it selfe forth with so great a desire toward Ireland betwixt which and it there is a narrow sea scarce thirteene miles over as if it would conjoine it selfe Ptolomee termeth this the Promontorie EPIDIORUM betweene which name and the Islands EBUDAE lying over against it there is in my conceit some affinitie At this day it is called in the Irish tongue which they speake in all this tract CAN-TYRE that is The lands Head inhabited by the Mac-Conells a family that here swayeth much howbeit at the pleasure and dispose of the Earle of Argile yea and otherwhiles they make out their light pinnaces and gallies for Ireland to raise booties and pillage who also hold in possession those little provinces of Ireland which they call Glines and Rowts This Promontorie lyeth annexed to Knapdale by so thin a necke as being scarce a mile broad and the same all sandie that the mariners finde it the neerer
extended it selfe in old time farre and wide everie way in these parts As for the places herein they are of no great account but the Earles thereof are very memorable Thomas a younger sonne of Rolland of Galloway was in his wives right Earle of Athol whose sonne Patricke was by the Bissets his concurrents murdered in feud at Hadington in his bed-chamber and forthwith the whole house wherein hee lodged burnt that it might be supposed he perished by casualtie of fire In the Earldome there succeeded David Hastings who had married the aunt by the mothers side of Patricke whose sonne that David surnamed of Strathbogie may seeme to be who a little after in the reigne of Henrie the third King of England being Earle of Athol married one of the daughters and heires of Richard base sonne to John King of England and had with her a verie goodly inheritance in England She bare unto him two sonnes John Earle of Athol who being of a variable disposition and untrustie was hanged up aloft on a gallowes fiftie foot high and David Earle of Athol unto whom by marriage with one of the daughters and heires of John Comin of Badzenoth by one of the heires of Aumar de Valence Earle of Penbroch there fell great lands and possessions His sonne David who under King Edward the second was otherwhiles amongst English Earles summoned to the Parliaments in England and under King Edward Balliol made Lord Lievtenant Generall of Scotland was vanquished by the valerous prowesse of Andrew de Murray and slaine in battaile within the Forrest of Kelblen in the yeere of our Lord 1335. And his sonne David left two young daughters only Elizabeth wedded unto Sir Thomas Percie from whom the Barons of Burrough are descended and Philip married to Sir Thomas Halsham an English Knight Then fell the title of Athol unto that Walter Stewart sonne to King Robert the second who cruelly murdered James the first King of Scotland and for this execrable crueltie suffered most condigne punishment accordingly in so much as Aeneas Sylvius Embassadour at that time in Scotland from Pope Eugenius the fourth gave out this speech That hee could not tell whether hee should give them greater commendations that revenged the Kings death or brand them with sharper censure of condemnation that distained themselves with so hainous a parricide After some few yeeres passed betweene this honour was granted unto John Stewart of the family of Lorne the sonne of James surnamed The Black Knight by Joan the widow of King James the first daughter to John Earle of Somerset and Niece to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster whose posteritie at this day enjoy the same Tau bearing now a bigger streame by receiving Almund unto him holdeth on his course to Dunkelden adorned by King David with an Episcopall See Most writers grounding upon the signification of that word suppose it to be a towne of the Caledonians and interpret it The Mount or hill of Hazeles as who would have that name given unto it of the Hazel trees in the wood Caledonia From hence the Tau goeth forward by the carkasse of Berth a little desolate Citie remembring well enough what a great losse and calamitie hee brought upon it in times past when with an extraordinarie swelling flood hee surrounded all the fields layed the goodly standing corne along on the ground and carried headlong away with him this poore Citie with the Kings childe and infant in his cradle and the inhabitants therein In steed whereof in a more commodious place King William builded Perth which straightwaies became so wealthy that Necham who lived in that age versified of it in this manner Transis ample Tai per rura per oppida per Perth Regnum sustentant istius urbis opes By villages by townes by Perth thou runn'st great Tay amaine The riches of this Citie Perth doth all the realme sustaine But the posteritie ensuing called it of a Church founded in honour of Saint John Saint Iohns towne and the English whiles the warres were hot betweene the Bruses and the Balliols fortified it with great bulwarks which the Scots afterwards for the most part overthrew and dismantled it themselves Howbeit it is a proper pretie Citie pleasantly seated betweene two Greenes and for all that some of the Churches be destroyed yet a goodly shew it maketh ranged and set out in such an uniforme maner that in everie severall street almost there dwell severall artificers by themselves and the river Tau bringeth up with the tide sea commodities by lighters whereupon J. Jonston so often now by me cited writeth thus PERTHUM Propter aquas Tai liquidas amoena vineta Obtinet in medio regna superba solo Nobilium quondam regum clarissima sedes Pulchra situ pinguis germine dives agri Finitimis dat jura locis moremque modumque Huic dare laus illis haec meruisse dari Sola inter patrias incincta est moenibus urbes Hostibus assiduis ne vaga praeda foret Quanta virûm virtus dextrae quae praemia nôrunt Cimber Saxo ferox genus Hectoridum Felix laude novâ felix quoque laude vetustâ Perge recens priscum perpetuare decus PERTH Neere to the waters cleere of Tay and pleasant plaines all greene In middle ground betweene them stands Perth proudly like a Queene Of noble Kings the stately seat and palace once it was Faire for the site and rich with all for spring of corne and grasse To neighbour places all it doth lawes customes fashions give Her praise to give theirs to deserve the same for to receive Of all the Cities in these parts walled alone is she Lest she to foes continuall a scambling prey might be What Knights she bred and what rewards they won to knighthood due Danes Saxons fierce bold Britans eke the Trojans off-spring knew Happie for praises old happie for praises new of late New as thou art thine honour old strive to perpetuate And now of late King James the sixth hath erected it to the title of an Earldome having created James Baron Dromund Earle of Perth Unto Perth these places are neere neighbours Methven which Margaret an English Ladie widow unto King James the fourth purchased with readie money for her third husband Henrie Steward descended of the royall blood and for his heires and withall obtained of her sonne King James the fifth for him the dignitie of a Baron More beneath is Rethuen a castle of the Rethuens whose name is of damned memorie considering that the three states of the kingdome hath ordained that whosoever were of that name should forgoe the same and take unto them a new after that the Rethuens brethren in a most cursed and horrible conspiracie had complotted to murder their soveraigne King James the sixth who had created William their father Earle of Gourie and afterward beheaded him being lawfully convicted when he would insolently prescribe lawes to his soveraigne But of men
condemned to perpetuall oblivion I may seeme to have said overmuch although it concerneth posteritie also for a Caveat that wicked generations be notified as well as noisome weeds and venemous plants As for the countrey Gourie aforesaid famous for the corn-fields and singular fertilitie of the soile it lyeth more plaine and flat along the other banke of Tay. In this tract over against Perth on the farther side of Tay standeth Scone a renowned monasterie in old time and of reverend respect for the coronation therein of the Kings of Scotland since that time K. Keneth having hard by put the Picts for the most part to the sword placed a stone here enclosed within a chaire of wood for inauguration of the Kings of Scotland that had beene transported out of Ireland into Argile which stone Edward the first King of England caused to bee conveied unto Westminster Touching which I have put down this prophesie so rise in everie mans mouth since it hath now proved true and taken effect as verie few of that sort doe Ni fallat fatum Scoti quocunque locatum Inveniunt lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem Except old sawes be vaine And wits of wisards blind The Scots in place must raigne Where they this stone shall finde But now Scone giveth title of Baron of Scone to Sir David Murray whom K. James for his good service advanced lately to that honour Where Tay now growne bigger enlargeth himselfe there appeareth over it Arrol the habitation of the noble Earles of Arrol who ever since the Bruses daies have beene by inheritance the Constables of Scotland and verily they deduce an ancient pedegree from one Hay a man of exceeding strength and excellent courage who together with his sonnes in a dangerous battaile of Scots against the Danes at Longcartie caught up an Oxe yoke and so valiantly and fortunately withall what with fighting and what with exhorting re-enforced the Scots at the point to shrinke and recule that they had the day of the Danes and the King with the States of the kingdome ascribed the victorie and their owne safetie unto his valour and prowess Whereupon in this place the most battle fruitfull grounds were assigned unto him and his heires who in testimony hereof have set over their coat a yoke for their crest over their Armes Three Escotcheons Geules in Argent Touching Huntley castle that joyneth unto it I have nothing to write but that it hath given title to a very potent great and honourable family whereof I am to speake hereafter ANGUSIA or ANGUS BY the out-let or mouth of Tay and more within beside the river North-Eske Anguis called by the naturall and true Scots Aeneia lyeth extended with goodly fields bearing wheat and corne of all kinds plentifully with large hills also and pooles forrests pastures and meadowes and also garnished with many forts and castles In the very first entry into it from Goury standeth Glamis a castle and the Baronie of a family surnamed Lions which arose to honour and reputation ever since that Sir I. Lion standing in the high favour of King Robert the Second received this and the dignity of a Baron with the Kings daughter for her marriage portion and therewith as I finde written the surname of Lion with a Lion in his Armes within a Treassure Floury as the Kings themselves doe beare but in different colours like as Sir Patrick Lion Lord Glamis who now liveth was advanced very lately by King James the Sixth of that name to the honour of the Earle of Kinghorn Not farre hence standeth Forfare where for the administration of justice the Barons Greies are hereditary Sheriffs who being descended from the Greies of Chillingham in the county of Northumberland came into Scotland with King James the first at his returne out of England upon the first of whom named Andrew the King of his bounteous liberality bestowed the Seigniorie of Foulis together with Helen Mortimer in marriage for his advancement Hard by the mouth of Tay is situate Dundee sometimes called Alectum others tearme it in Latin Taodunum a towne verily of great resort and trade and the Constable whereof by a speciall priviledge is Standard-bearer to the King of Scots Hector Boetius who was here born expoundeth this name Dundee by way of allusion to Donum Dei that is Gods gift This Hector in the reflourishing time of learning wrote the Scottish historie elegantly and that out of such hidden and farre fetched monuments of antiquitie that Paulus Iovius wondered in his writings there should be records extant for above a thousand yeeres of these remote parts of the world Scotland the Hebrides and the Orcades considering that Italy the nource of fine wits for so many ages after the Goths were cast out was defective of writers and records But of this place Master Ionston borne not farre from it writeth thus TAODUNUM OR DEIDONUM Quâ Notus argutis adspirat molliter auris Hâc placidè coeunt Taus Oceanus Hîc facili excipiens venientes littore puppes Indigenis vasti distrahit orbis opes Saepè dolis tentata belli exercita damnis Invictis animis integra praestat adhuc Fama vetus crevit cum Relligione renatâ Lucis hinc fulsit para nitela aliis Alectum dixêre priùs si maxima spectes Commoda fo rs Donum dixeris esse Dei. Tu decus aeternum genrisque urbisque Boeti Caetera dic patriae dona beata tuae DONDEE or DUNDEE Where South wind with his whistling blasts aloft doth mildly blow There Tay with streame and sea with tide doe friendly meet below And here Dundee ships under saile harbring in gentle road The wide worlds wealth to Inlanders both sells and sends abroad By wiles betraied by force assailed oft times like to have beene With heart undaunted to this day it stands sound to be seene With new spring of religion her old fame more did grow Hence shone pure light hence to the rest cleere beames full bright did show At first Alectum clep'd it was but if you marke withall Her gifts so great perhaps you will it Donum Dei call Thou Boeth now this peoples praise and Cities joy for aye The blessings all besides of thine owne native place shalt say From hence standeth within sight Brochty-cragge a good fortresse which the English garrison souldiers manfully defended and made good for many moneths together what time as in their affectionate love to a perpetuall peace they desired and wished for a marriage betweene Marie heire apparent of Scotland and Edward the sixth King of England and upon promise thereof demanded it by force of armes and in the end of their owne accord abandoned the said piece Then there lieth full against the open Ocean Aberbroth short Arbroth a place endowed with ample revenues and by King William dedicated in old time to Religion in honour of Thomas of Canterburie beside which the Red-head
to embrace other mens riches who for Christs sake had forsaken their own And the Bishops of Britain seemed no lesse to have despised riches seeing they were so poore that they had nothing of their owne For as we read in Sulpitius Severus three Bishops of Britaine in the Councell holden at Rimine for want of their owne lived of the publick charges The English Saxons also in that age conflowed and resorted from all parts into Ireland as it were to the mart of good learning and hence it is that we read so often in our writers concerning holy men thus Such a one was sent over into Ireland for to be trained up in learning and in the life of Sulgen who flourished 600. yeeres agoe Exemplo patrum commotus amore legendi Ivit ad Hibernos sophiâ mirabile claros The fathers old he following for love to read good works Went unto Irish men who were O wonder famous Clarkes And from thence it may seeme our forefathers the ancient English learned the manner of framing their letters and of writing considering that they used the selfe same character which the Irish commonly use at this day And no cause have wee to marvaile that Ireland which now for the most part is rude halfe barbarous and altogether voide of any polite and exquisite literature was full of so devout godly good wits in that age wherein good letters throughout all Christendome lay neglected and halfe buried seeing that the divine providence of that most gracious and almightie ruler of the world soweth the seeds and bringeth forth the plants of sanctitie and good arts one whiles in one nation and other whiles in another as it were in garden beds and borders and that in sundry ages which being removed and translated hither and thither may by a new growth come up one under another prosper and bee preserved to his owne glory and the good of mankinde But the outrage of warres by little and little quenched these hot affections and studies of holinesse and good literature For in the yeere 644. after Christs nativitie Egfrid King of Northumberland with fire and sword made spoile and havocke of Ireland a nation most friendly unto England for which cause Bede chargeth him after a sort in most grave and important tearmes Afterward the Norwegians under the leading of Turgese their Captaine spoiled and wasted the countrey in most lamentable manner for the space of 30. yeeres But when he was once slaine by a train and ambush laid for him the inhabitants fell upon the Norwegians and made such a bloodie massacre of them that scarce any one survived to be a messenger of so great a slaughter These Norwegians were no doubt those Normans who as Rhegino saith in the time of Charles the great setting upon Ireland an Isle of the Scots were by the Scots put to flight After this the Oustmans as one would say Esterlings or Eastmen came out of the sea-coasts of Germanie into Ireland who having entred into certain Cities under the pretence of great trafficke in a short space raised a most dangerous warre About the very same time in manner Eadgar that most puissant King of England conquered also a great part of Ireland For thus we read in a certaine Charter of his Unto whom God of his gracious favour hath granted together with the Empire of England dominion over all the kingdomes of the Isles lying in the Ocean with their most stout and fierce Kings even as farre as to Norway yea and to subdue under the English Empire the greatest part of Ireland with her most noble Citie Dublin After these tempestuous forraine warres were allaied there followed a most grievous storme of civill dissention at home which made way for the English to conquer Ireland For Henrie the second King of England taking occasion and opportunitie by the privie dislikes heart-burnings and malicious emulations among the Irish Princes grew into a serious deliberation with the Nobles of England in the yeere of Salvation 1155. about the conquest of Ireland for the behoof of his brother William of Anjou But through the counsell of his mother Maude the Empresse this project was rejected unto another time Howbeit not many yeeres betweene Dermicius the son of Murchard Dermot Mac Morrog they call him who reigned over the East part of Ireland which in Latin is called Lagenia and commonly Leinster being for his tyrannie and lustfull leudnesse thrust out of his kingdome for hee had ravished the wife of O Rorke a pettie King of Meth obtained aide and forces of Henrie the second King of England to be restored into his kingdome againe and made a covenant with Richard Earle of Pembroch surnamed Strongbow of the house of Clare that he for his part should aide him in the recovering of his Kingdome and that himselfe would assure unto the Earle together with his daughter Eva the said Kingdome in succession after him Hereupon the said Earle having forthwith mustered up and raised an armie of Welsh and English together and joined unto him to accompanie him in the warres the Fitz-Giralds Fitz-Stephans and other Gentlemen out of England and Wales restored his father in law Dermot into his former Kingdome againe and within few yeeres gat by conquest so great a part of Ireland into his owne hands that his power became now suspected to the King of England who by proclamation and that with grievous menaces recalled home the said Earle and his followers out of Ireland and unlesse they obeyed without delay pronounced them traitours and their goods confiscate Whereupon the Earle granted unto the King by covenant and writing whatsoever he either inherited in right of his wife or won with his sword and as his tenant in vassailage received from him the Earldomes of Weisford Ossorie Caterlogh and Kildare with certain Castles Then King Henrie the second having gathered a power together in the yeere of Christ 1172. sailed over into Ireland and obtained the Princely title of soveraigne rule of the Iland For the States of Ireland passed over unto him all their rule and power namely Rothericke O Conor Dun that is The Browne Monarch of Ireland Dermot Mac Carti King of Corke Donald O Bren King of Limiâ—icke O Carell King of Uriel Macshaglin King of Ophaly O Rorke King of Meth O Neale King of Ulster with the rest of the Nobles and their people and the same under their Charters subscribed signed delivered and transmitted to Rome Which was ratified and confirmed moreover by a Patent of Pope Hadrian by a ring delivered unto him in token of his investiture and also by the authoritie of certaine Provinciall Synods This King Henrie afterward delivered up the Seigniorie of Ireland into the hands of his sonne Iohn which conveiance Pope Urban confirmed by his Bull and in testimonie of his confirmation sent him a Coronet of Peacocks feathers broided and embroidered with gold Whom after hee was once established in
Esquires c. The Courts of Justice or Tribunals of Ireland THe supreme Court of the Kingdome of Ireland is the Parliament which at the pleasure of the Kings of England is usually called by the Deputie and by him dissolved although in the reigne of King Edward the second a Law was enacted That every yeer there should be Parliaments holden in Ireland which seemeth yet not to have been effected There be likewise foure Tearmes kept as in England yeerely and there are five Courts of Justice The Star-chamber the Chancerie the Kings Bench the common Pleas and the Exchequer There are also Iustices of Assises of Nisi prius and of Oyer and Determiner according as in England yea and Iustices of Peace in every countie for the keeping of peace Moreover the King hath his Serjeant at law his Atturney Generall his Sollicitour c. Over and besides in the more remote Provinces there be Governours to minister Justice as a principall Commissioner in Connaught and a President in Mounster who have to assist them in Commission certaine Gentlemen and Lawyers and yet every of them are directed by the Kings Lievtenant Deputie As for the common lawes Ireland is governed by the same that England hath For we read in the Records of the Kingdome thus King Henry the third in the 12. yeere of his reigne gave commandement to his Iustice of Ireland that calling together the Archbishops Bishops Barons and Knights he should cause there before them to be read the Charter of King Iohn which he caused to be read accordingly and the Nobles of Ireland to be sworn as touching the observation of the lawes and customes of England and that they should hold and keepe the same Neverthelesse the meere Irish did not admit them but retained their owne Brehon lawes and leud customes And the Kings of England used a connivence therein upon some deepe consideration not vouchsafing to communicate the benefit of the English lawes but upon especiall grace to especiall families or sects namely the O Neales O Conors O Brien O Maloghlins and Mac Murough which were reputed of the blood roiall among them The Parliamentary or Statute lawes also of England being transmitted were usually in force in Ireland unto the time of K. Henrie the seventh For in the tenth yeere of his reign those were ratified confirmed by authoritie of Parliament in Ireland in the time of Sir Edw. Poinings government but ever since they have had their Statutes enacted in their owne Parliaments Besides these civill Magistrates they have also one militarie officer named the Mareshal who standeth here in great stead to restrain as well the insolencie of souldiers as of rebels who otherwhiles commit many great insolencies This office the Barons de Morley of England bare in times past by inheritance as appeareth by Records for King John gave it to bee held by right of inheritance in these very expresse words We have given and granted unto Iohn Mareschal for his homage and service our Mareshalship of Ireland with all appurtenances We have given also unto him for his homage and service the Cantred in which standeth the towne of Kilbunny to have and to hold unto him and his heires of us and our heires From whom it descended in the right line to the Barons of Morley This Mareshall hath under him his Provost Marshall and sometime more than one according to the occasions and troubles of the time who exercise their authoritie by limitation under the great seale of Ireland with instructions But these and such like matters I will leave to the curious diligence of others Touching the order of justice and government among those more uncivill and wilde Irish I will write somewhat in place convenient when I shall treat of their manners THE DIVISION OF IRELAND IRELAND according to the maners of the inhabitants is divided into two parts for they that refuse to be under lawes and do live without civilitie are termed the Irishry and commonly the Wild Irish but such as being more civill do reverence the authoritie of lawes and are willing to appeare in Court and judicially to be tried are named English-Irish and their country goeth under the tearm of The English Pale because the first Englishmen that came thither did empale for themselves certaine limits in the East part of the Iland and that which was most fruitfull Within which there bee even at this day those also that live uncivilly enough and are not very obedient unto the lawes like as others without the pale are as courteous and civill as a man would desire But if we look into higher times according to the situation of the country or the number rather of governors in old time it containeth five portions for it was sometimes a Pentarchie namely Mounster Southward Leinster Eastward Connacht in the West Ulster in the North and Meth well neere in the very middest In Mounster are these Counties Kerry Desmond Cork Waterford Limiricke Tipperary with the county of holy Crosse in Tipperarie In Leinster be these Counties Kilkenny Caterlough Queenes County Kings Countie Kildare Weishford Dublin In Meth are these Counties East Meath West Meath Longford In Connaght are these Counties Clare Galloway Majo Slego Letrim Roscoman In Ulster be these Counties Louth Cauon Fermanagh Monaghan Armagh Doun Antrim London-Derry Tir-Oen Tir-Conell or Donegall The Ecclesiasticall State of Ireland was ordered anciently by Bishops whom either the Archbishop of Canterburie consecrated or they themselves one another But in the yeere 1152. as we read in Philip Flatesburie Christianus Bishop of Lismore Legate of all Ireland held a most frequent and honourable Councell at Mell whereat were present the Bishops Abbats Kings Captaines and Elders of Ireland In which by authoritie Apostolicall and by the counsell of Cardinals with the consent of Bishops Abbats and others there in Consistorie he ordained foure Archbishopricks in Ireland Armach Dublin Cassile and Tuem or Toam The Bishopricks which were Diocessans under these seeing that now some of them are by the covetous iniquitie of the times abolished others confounded and conjoined others againe translated another way I am disposed here to put downe according as they were in old time out of an ancient Roman PROVINCIALL faithfully exemplified out of the originall Under the Arch-Bishop of Armagh Primate of all Ireland are the Bishops of Meath or Elnamirand Dune alias Dundalethglas Chlocor otherwise Lugundun Conner Ardachad Rathbot Rathluc Daln-Liquir Dearrih or Derriâ— Cloâ—macnois Dromor Brefem To the Archbishop of Dublin are subject the Bishops of Glendelach Fern. Ossery alias De Canic Lechlin Kil-dare or Dare. Under the Archbishop of Cassile are the Bishops of Laonie or De Kendalnan Limric The Isle Gathay Cellumabrath Melite or of Emileth Rossi alias Roscree Waterford alias De Baltifordian Lismore Clon alias De Cluanan Corcage that is Cork De Rosalither Ardefert or Kerry Unto the Archbishop of Tuam or Toam are subject the Bishops of Duac alias
therein bee with the narrowest thrust close and pent together yet such is the convenience and commodiousnesse of the haven that for wealth fresh trading and frequent resort it is the second City in all Ireland and hath alwaies shewed a singular loialty fidelitie and obedience to the Imperiall Crowne of England For ever since that Richard Earle of Pembrok wanne it it hath continued so faithfull and quietly disposed that it performed at all times safe and secure peace unto the English on their backes whiles they went on in the conquering of Ireland Whence it is that the Kings of England have granted unto it very many and those right large Franchises which King Henry the seventh augmented and confirmed because the Citizens had demeaned themselves most valiantly and wisely against that Mock-Prince Perkin Warbeck who being a young man of base condition by hoising up the full sailes of impudence went about to mount up aloft unto the Imperiall diadem whiles he a meer suborned counterfeit tooke upon him to be Richard Duke of Yorke the second sonne of King Edward the fourth This countie of Waterford together with the city King Henry the sixth gave unto Iohn Talbot Earle of Shrewsbury aforesaid by these words which because they testifie the valerous vertue of that most martiall Knight to the end that vertue might have the due honour thereto belonging I thinke it worth my labour and haply any man else would deeme no lesse to put downe out of the Record which may be Englished thus We therefore saith the King after other eloquent termes penned by the Secretaries of that age when there was but simple Latin weighing with due consideration the valiant prowesse of our most deere and faithfull cousin John Earle of Shrewsbury and of Weisford Lord Talbot Furnivall and Le Strange sufficiently tried and approved even unto his old age in the warres aforesaid upon his body no lesse bedewed with sweat many a time than embrued with blood and considering in what sort our Countie and Citie of Waterford in our land of Ireland the Castle Seigniory Honour Land and Baronie of Dungarvan and all the Lordships Lands Honours and Baronies with the pertinences within the same County which by forfeiture of rebels by reversion or decease of any person or persons by escheat or any other title of law ought to come into our hands or our progenitors or in the same to be by reason of the hostile invasions of our enemies and rebells in those parts are become so desolate and lye so much exposed to the spoiles of warre wholly as it were wasted that they turne us to no profit but have and doe redound oftentimes to our detriment in this regard also that by the same our Cousin our foresaid land of Ireland may the more valiantly be defended in those parts against such attempts and invasions of our enemies and rebells doe ordaine promote and create him Earle of Waterford together with the stile title name and honour thereto belonging And because as the highnesse of his state and degree groweth all things consequently of necessity grow withall upon our speciall grace certaine knowledge and meere motion and for the estate of the Earle himselfe our Cousin to be maintained in more decent manner we have given granted and by these our letters confirmed unto the same Earle the County aforesaid together with the foresaid stile title name and honour of Earle of Waterford yea and the foresaid City with the fee ferme of the same the Castles Lordships Honours Lands and Baronies with the pertinences within the County likewise all and every sort the Manors Hundreds Wapentakes c. all along the sea coast from the towne of Yoghall unto Waterford City aforesaid To have and to hold the foresaid County of Waterford the stile title name and honour of Earle of Waterford and the City Waterford aforesaid the Castle Seigniory Honour Land and Barony of Dungarvan and all other Lordships Honours Lands and Baronies within the said county as also all and every the foresaid Manors Hundreds c. unto the above named Earle and the heires males issuing out of his body to have I say and to hold of us and our heires by homage fealty and the service of being and to be our Seneschall or Steward and that his heires be the Seneschals of Ireland to us and our heires throughout our whole land of Ireland to do and that hee doe and ought himselfe to doe in the same his office that which his predecessors Seneschals of England were wont to doe hitherto in that office for ever In witnesse whereof c. But when as whiles the Kings of England and the Nobles who had large and goodly possessions in Ireland were much busied and troubled a long time first with the warres of France and afterward with civill warres at home Ireland lay in manner neglected and the State of English there falling still to decay was now in manner come to nothing but the Irishry by occasion of the others absence grew exceeding mighty for to recover these losses and to abate the power of the Irish it was ordained and enacted by the States of the Realme in Parliament that the Earle of Shrewsbury for his absence and carelesnesse in maintaining of his owne should surrender into the hands of the King and his successors the Earledome and towne of Waterford the Duke of Norfolke likewise the Baron Barkley the heires generall of the Earle of Ormond and all the Abbats Priors c. of England who had any lands should surrender up all their possessions unto the King and his successors for the same absence and neglect THE COUNTY OF LIMERICK HItherto have wee gone over the Maritime counties of Mounster two there remaine yet behind that bee in-lands Limericke and Tipperary which wee are now to goe unto The county of LIMERICK lieth behinde that of Corke Northward betweene Kerry the river Shanon and the county of Tipperary A fertile countrey and well peopled but able to shew very few places of any good account and importance The more Western part of it is called Conilagh wherein among the hills Knock-Patric that is Patricks hill mounteth up of a mighty height and yeelding a pleasant prospect into the sea beholdeth afarre off the river Shanon falling with a wide and wast mouth into the Vergivian or Ocean Under which hill a sept of Fitz-Giralds or Giraldines lived honourably a long time untill that Thomas called the Knight of the Valley or of the Glin when his gracelesse sonne that wicked firebrand suffered death for to set villages and houses a fire is by the lawes of Ireland high treason because himselfe advised his sonne and set him on to enter into these lewd actions by authority of the Parliament was disseized of his goodly and large possessions The head City of this county is Limerick which Shanon a most famous river by parting his chanell compasseth round about The Irish call it Loumeag and
in Irish Bala-Mac-Andan that is The towne of Antonies sonne For it tooke both names of the founder Thomas Fitz-Anthonie an Englishman who flourished under King Henry the third whose heires are yet acknowledged the Lords thereof Beneath this towne the river Callan voideth his streame into Neore upon which standeth the third Burrough or incorporate towne of this county bearing the same name Callan Like as Inise-Teog which is the fourth The family of Butlers hath spread and branched farre and wide throughout this County men that with much honour bare a great port and for their worth and vertues were adorned with the titles of Earles of Carick Ormond Wiltshire in England and of Ossorie as is before said and at this day there remaine of their line beside the Earle of Ormond Vicount Thurles and Knight of the Order of Saint George Vicount Montgarret Vicount Tullo the Barons of Dunboyn and of Cahir a goodly race also and progenie of Noble Gentlemen The rest of the Gentry in this Tract that are of better birth and parentage be likewise of English descent as the Graces Walshes Lovells Foresters Shortels Blanch-felds or Blanchevelstons Drilanas Comerfords c. THE COUNTY OF CATERLOGH THe County of CATERLOGH by contraction Carlogh toward the Sunne rising adjoineth to the County of Kilkenny wholly in manner situate betweene the rivers Barrow and Slane of a fertile soile and shaded well with woods hath two townes in it of better note and importance than the rest both standing upon the West banke of Barrow namely Caterlogh which Leonel Duke of Clarence began to wall and Bellingham a most renowned Lord Deputy fortified with a castle Also Leighlin called in Latine Lechlinia where there was an Episcopall Chaire now united to the See of Fernes These townes have both of them their wards or garrisons and Constables over them And whereas the greatest part of this County belonged in right of inheritance unto the Howards Dukes of Norfolke who by the Earles of Warren drew their descent from the eldest daughter of William Mareschall Earle of Penbroch King Henry the eighth by a generall consent of the States of the Realme tooke unto himselfe both from them and also from other Noblemen yea and from Monasteries in England all their lands and possessions in Ireland for that the Lords thereof by neglecting in their absence their owne private estates carelesly brought therewith the publike state into danger as is already shewed From hence Barrow passeth through the Baronie Ydron which by right belonged to the Carews for Sir John Carew an English Knight died seised thereof in the time of King Edward the third and which Peter Carew within our memorie recovered as it were by a writ of remitter after it had been unlawfully usurped and a long time in the occupation of unjust detainers Upon the river Slane appeareth Tullo memorable in this regard that King James hath lately honoured Theobald Butler the Earle of Ormonds brothers sonne with the title of Vicount Tullo The Cavanaghs dwell a great many of them every way hereabouts who being descended from Dovenald a younger sonne as they say the Bastard of Dermot the last King of Leinster are spred and branched out into a very great sept or linage a warlike generation renowned for their good horse-manship and who as yet though they bee exceeding poore beare themselves in spirit answerable to their ancient nobilitie But being at deadly feud amongst themselves for I wot not what man-slaughters which many yeeres agoe they committed one upon another they daily work their owne mischiefe by mutuall wrongs and hurts When as the English had set some of these to oversee and mannage the possessions they had in this part of Ireland about King Edward the seconds time they by little and little usurped the whole country unto themselves and assumed the name of O-Mores and taking into their societie the Toles and Brenes by little and little disseized the English of all the territorie betweene Caterlogh and the Irish sea Among these is the confluence of Neore and Barrow which after they have travailed in a joint streame some few miles from hence in one channell present both their name and their waters unto their eldest sister the Shour which straightwaies is swallowed up at a mouth full of rockes within the gulfe of the Ocean where on the left hand there shooteth out a little promontorie with a narrow necke that sheweth a prettie high tower unto the sailers erected by the merchants of Rosse what time they were in their prosperity for their direction and safer arrivall at the rivers mouth QUEENES COUNTIE ABove Caterlogh toward the North-west there spreadeth out a little country full of woods and bogs named in Irish Lease and QUEENES Countie in English which Queene Mary ordained to be a Countie by Commission given unto Thomas Ratcliffe Earle of Sussex then Lord Deputie who reduced it into the tearmes of civill order and governement whence it is that the chiefe towne thereof is called Mary-Burgh where certaine garrison souldiers with their Seneschall keep ward and have much adoe to defend themselves against the O-Mores who beare themselves as the ancient Lords thereof against Mac-Gilpatric the O-Dempsies and others a mischievous and tumultuous kind of people who daily practise and plot all they can to annoy the English and to shake off the yoke of lawes For to subdue this wilde and hostile part of the countrey at the first entrie of the English thither Meilere was sent For whom Hugh Lacie governour of Ireland erected one Castle at Tahmelio like as a second at Obowy a third likewise upon the river Barrow and a fourth at Norrach But among the rest he fortified Donemaws an ancient Castle standing in the most plentifull part of the territorie which came hereditarily unto the Breoses Lords of Brecknocke by Eua the younger daughter of William Mareschall Earle of Pembroch and what way as Barrow which rising out of Slew Blomey hills Westward runneth solitarie alone amongst the woods he visiteth that ancient RHEBA mentioned by Ptolomee which keeping the name still intire is called at this day Rheban but insteed of a citie it is altogether as one saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A citie citilesse or The remaines of that which was a citie even a few little cottages with a fortresse Notwithstanding it giveth the title of a Baronet unto that Nobleman Nicholas of Saint Michael the Lord thereof who is commonly called the Baronet of Rheban KINGS COUNTIE LIke as the Queenes Countie aforesaid was so named in honour of Queene Marie so the territorie bordering next unto it Northward divided with Barrow running betweene and called in times past Offalie was in honour of Philip King of Spaine her husband tearmed Kings Countie and the principall towne in it Philips Towne where is placed a Seneschall with a ward and divers Gentlemen of English blood are here planted
hand in fight Afterwards upon the sixth day of the weeke being Good-friday when the foresaid John was unarmed and went by way of pilgrimage bare foot and in his linnen vesture a visiting the Churches as the manner is treacherously he was taken prisoner by his owne people for a piece of money given in hand and for a greater reward to be given afterward for a recompence and so was delivered unto Hugh Lacie But hee bringeth him unto the King of England who gave unto Hugh Lacie the Earldom of Ulster and the Seigniorie of Conaught which belonged unto John Curcie Then Hugh Lacie being Earle rewarded all the foresaid Traitours that had betraied John Curcie and gave unto them gold and silver more or lesse but straightwayes hung up all the Traitours aforesaid and tooke away all their goods and so Hugh Lacie ruleth over all Ulster and John Curcie is condemned to perpetuall prison because he had before time beene a Rebell to John King of England and would not doe him homage and besides blamed him about the death of Arthur the rightfull heire unto the Crowne But whiles hee was in prison and in extreme povertie having but little allowance and the same course and simple for to eat and drinke he said O God wherefore dealest thou thus by me who have built and re-edified so many Monasteries for thee and thy Saints Now when he had many times wailed and made loud moane in this wise and therewith fell asleep the holy Trinitie appeared unto him saying Why hast thou cast me out of mine owne seat and out of the Church of Doun and placed there my S. Patrick the Patron of Ireland Because indeed John Curcie had expelled the Secular Canons or Priests out of the Cathedrall Church of Doune and brought the blacke Monks of Chester and placed them in the said Church And the holy Trinitie stood there in a stately shrine or seat and John himselfe tooke it downe out of the Church and ordained a Chappell for that Image and in the great Church set up the image of S. Patrick which displeased the most High God therefore thus said God Know thou well that thou shalt never enter into thy Seigniorie in Ireland Howbeit in regard of other good deeds that thou hast done thou shalt with honour be delivered forth of prison which also came to passe And now by this time there arose a contention betweene John King of England and the King of France about a Seigniory and certain Castles and this suit or controversie still depending the King of France offered unto him a Giant or Champion to fight for his right Then the King of England called to remembrance his most valiant Knight John Curcie whom upon the information of others he had before cast into prison The King therefore sent for John Curcie and asked him if he were able to help and stand him in stead in a combat then John answered and said I will not fight for thee but for the right of the Kingdome for which afterward hee undertooke to doe his endeavour in single fight and so refreshed himselfe with meat drink and bathing and tooke the vertue of his owne fortitude and strength and a day was appointed betweene these Giants or Champions namely betweene John Curcie and the other But when the Champion of France heard of his exceeding great feeding and of his strength hee refused the combat and then was the said Seigniorie given unto the King of England Then the King of France requested to see a stroake given by the hand of John Curcie and he set a strong and doughtie good morion full of maile upon a great blocke or log of wood and the foresaid John taking his skeine or sword and looking back round about him with a stern and grim countenance smote the moâ—ion through from the very crest downeward into the blocke and the sword stucke in the wood so fast that no other man but himselfe was able to plucke out the sword then John at the request of the Kings easily pluckt it forth And the Kings demanded of the foresaid John wherefore he looked behind him with so grim a countenance before he gave the stroke who answered that if he had failed in giving that stroke he would have slaine them all as well Kings as others And the Kings gave unto him great gifts yea and the King of England rendred unto him also his Seigniorie of Ulster But John Curcie attempted 15. times to saile over sea into Ireland but was alwaies in danger and the wind evermore against him wherefore hee waited a while among the Monkes of Chester At length he returned into France and there rested in the Lord. MCCV. The Abbey of Wetheney in the countie of Lymericke was founded by Theobald the sonne of Walter Butler Lord of Karryke MCCVI. The order of Friers Minors was begun neere the citie Assisa by Saint Francis MCCVIII William Breos is expelled out of England and commeth into Ireland England is interdicted for the tyrannie of King John of England Likewise a great overthrow and slaughter hapned at Thurles in Mounster committed upon the Lord Justice of Irelands men by Sir Geffery Mareys MCCX John King of England came into Ireland with a great fleet and a puissant armie and for that the sons of Hugh Lacie to wit the Lord Walter Lord of Meth and Hugh his brother exercised tyrannie upon the Commons and especially because they slew Sir John Curson Lord of Rathenny and Kilbarrocke for they heard that the foresaid John accused them unto the King therefore I say the King drave the foresaid sonnes of Hugh Lacie out of the land and they fled into France and served in the Monasterie of Saint Taurin as unknowne working about clay and bricke and sometime in gardens as Gardiners but at length they were knowne by the Abbat of the said Monasterie and the said Abbat entreated the King for them because he had baptized his sonnes and was Godsib unto him as a Godfather many times and Walter Lacie paid two thousand and five hundred markes and Hugh Lacie payed a great summe of money unto the King for his ransome and at the request of the said Abbat restored they were againe unto their former degree and Seigniorie And Walter Lacie brought with him John the sonne of Alured that is Fitz-Acory sonne to the foresaid Abbats whole brother and he made him Knight and gave unto him the Seigniorie of Dengle and many other Lordships Item hee brought Monkes with him out of the same Monasterie and gave unto them many fermes and the Cell called Fourie in regard of charitie thankfulnesse and counsell and Hugh Lacie Earle of Ulster made a Cell for Monkes and endowed them in Ulster in a place called ..... But John King of England having taken many pledges and hostages as well of English as of Irish and hanged a number of malefactours upon Jebbits and setled the State of the land returned into England the same yeere that he came
seas into England out of Ireland the Earle of Ulster Roger Mortimer and Sir Iohn Fitz-Thomas Item Sir Theohald Verdon died MCCCX. King Edward and Sir Piers Gaveston tooke their journey toward Scotland to fight against Robert Bruâ— Item in the said yeere great dearth there was of corn in Ireland an eranc of wheat was sold for 20. shillings and above Also the Bakers of Dublin for their false waight of bread suffered a new kinde of torment which was never seen there before for that on S. Sampson the Bishops day they were drawne upon hurdles through the streets of the Citie at horse-tailes More in the Abbey of S. Thomas Martyr at Dublin died Sir Neile Bruin Knight Escheator to the Lord the King in Ireland whose bodie was committed to the earth at the Friers minors with so great a pompe of tapers and waxe lights as the like was never seene before in Ireland The same yeere a Parliament was holden at Kildare where Sir Arnold Pover was acquit for the death of the Lord Bonevile because he had done this deed in his owne defence Likewise on S. Patricks day by assent of the Chapter M. Alexander Bickenore was elected Archbishop of Dublin Item the Lord Roger Mortimer returned into Ireland within the Octaves of the Nativitie of the blessed Virgin Marie Also the same yeere the Lord Henrie Lacie Earle of Lincolne died MCCCXI In Thomond at Bonnorathie there was a wonderfull and miraculous discomfiture given by the Lord Richard Clare unto the side of the Earle of Ulster Which Lord Richard aforesaid tooke prisoner in the field the Lord William Burke and John the sonne of the Lord Walter Lacie and many others In which battaile verily there were slaine a great number as well of the English as the Irish the 13. day before the Galends of June Item Taslagard and Rathcante were invaded by the robbers to wit the O-Brines and O-Tothiles the morrow after the Nativitie of S. John Baptist. Whereupon soon after in Autumne there was a great armie assembled in Leinster to make head and fight against the said robbers lurking in Glindelory and in other places full of woods Also a Parliament was holden at London in August betweene the King and the Barons to treat about the State of the kingdome and of the Kings houshold according to the ordinance of sixe Bishops sixe Earles and sixe Barons as they might best provide for the good of the Realme Item on the second day before the Ides of November the Lord Richard Clare slew sixe hundred of Galegalaghes More on All-Saints day next going before Piers Gaveston was banished the Realme of England by the Earles and Barons and many good Statutes necessarie for the commonwealth were by the same Lords made Which Piers abjured the Realme of England about the Feast of All-Saints and entred into Flanders foure moneths after the said Piers returned presently upon the Epiphanie and by stealth entred into England keeping close unto the Kings side so that the Barons could not easily come neere unto him And hee went with the King to Yorke making his abode there in the Lent whereupon the Bishops Earles and Barons of England came to London for to treat about the State of the kingdome for feare lest by occasion of Piers his returne the Common wealth should bee troubled with commotions Item Sir John Cogan Sir Walter Faunt and Sir John Fitz-Rerie Knights died and were buried in the Church of the Friers Preachers at Dublin Item John Mac-Goghedan is slaine by O-molmoy Item William Roch died at Dublin with the shot of an arrow by an Irish mountainer Item Sir Eustace Power Knight died Item in the Vigill of Saint Peters Chaire began a riot in Urgaly by Robert Verdon Item Donat O-Brene is traiterously slaine by his owne men in Tothomon MCCCXII Sir Peter or Piers Gaveston entred the castle of Scardeburgh resisting the Barons But soone after the Calends of June hee yeelded himselfe unto Sir Aumare Valence who had besieged him yet upon certaine conditions named before hand who brought him toward London But by the way he was taken prisoner at Dedington by the Earle of Warwicke and brought to Warwicke whereupon after counsell taken by the Earles and Barons he lost his head the thirteenth day before the Calends of July whose bodie lieth buried in the coventuall Church of the Friers Preachers at Langley Item John Wogan Lord Justice of Ireland led forth an armie to bridle the malice of Robert Verdon and his abettors which was miserably defeated the sixth day before the Ides of July in which fight were slain Nicolas Avenel Patrick Roch and many others For this fact the said Robert Verdon and many of his complices yeelded themselves unto the Kings prison at Dublin in expectance of favour and pardon Also on Thursday the morrow after Saint Lucie Virgin in the sixth yeere of King Edward the Moone was wonderfully seene of divers colours on which day determined it was that the order of Templars should be abolished for ever More in Ireland Lord Edmund Botiller was made the Lievtenant of Lord John Wogan Justice of Ireland which Edmund in the Lent following besieged the O-Brynnes in Glindelorie and compelled them to yeeld yea and brought them almost to confusion unlesse they had returned the sooner unto the peace of the Lord the King Item the same yeere on the morrow after Saint Dominickes day Lord Maurice Fitz-Thomas espoused Katherin daughter of the Earle of Ulster at Green-castle And Thomas Fitz-Iohn espoused another daughter of the same Earle the morrow after the Assumption in the same place Also the Sunday after the feast of the exaltation of the holy Crosse the daughter of the Earle of Glocester wife to the Lord Iohn Burke was delivered of a sonne MCCCXIII Frier Roland Joce Primate of Ardmach arrived at the Iland of Houth the morrow after the annuntiation of the blessed Virgin Marie and rising in the night by stealth tooke up his Crosier and advanced it as farre as to the Priorie of Grace Dieu whom there encountred certaine of the Archbishop of Dublins servants debasing and putting downe that Crosier and the Primate himselfe of Ardmagh they chaced with disgrace and confusion out of Leinster Item a Parliament was holden at London wherein little or nothing was done as touching Peace from which Parliament the King departed and tooke his journey into France at the mandate of the King of France and the King of England with many of his Nobles tooke the badge of the Crosse. Also the Lord John Fitz-Thomas knighted Nicolas Fitz-Maurice and Robert Clonhull at Adare in Mounster More on the last day of May Robert Brus sent certaine Gallies to the parts of Ulster with his rovers to make spoile whom the men of Ulster resisted and manfully chased away It is said that the same Robert arrived with the licence of the Earle to take truce Item in the same summer Master John Decer a Citizen of Dublin caused a necessarie bridge to
he was kept in hold a long time and the chamber wherein hee lay was burned and seven of the said Earles men were there killed In the same weeke and upon the Vigill of St. Matthias came Brus with his armie toward Dublin and because he had quickly intelligence of the said Earles apprehension he tooke his journey toward the castle of Knocke and entred the said castle and tooke the Lord Baron of the same namely the Lord Hugh Tirell and his wife who for a peece of money were delivered And the same night by common consent the men of Dublin for feare of the Scots burnt St. Thomas street and with the said fire the Church of St. Iohn with the chappell of S. Marie Maudlen was by casualtie burnt yea and all the suburbs of Dublin were set on fire together with the Monasterie of S. Mary and the Church of St. Patricke in Dublin was by the said villaines spoiled Item the said Maior with the Communaltie destroied the Church of St. Saviour which is the place of the Friers Preachers and carried away the stones of the same place toward the building of the Citie wall which hee then enlarged on the North side above the Key because the wall at first went along by the Church of St. Owen where a tower is to be seene beyond the gate and in the Vintners street appeareth another gate But afterwards the King of England commanded the Maior and Communalty to make a covent Church of Friers as before And after the feast of Saint Matthias Brus understanding that the Citie was strongly walled and fortified took his journey toward the Salmon leape and there they pitched their tents namely Robert Brus King of the Scots Edward Brus the Earle of Morrey Iohn de Menteth the Lord Iohn Steward the Lord Philip Mountbray and abode there foure daies and burnt part of the towne brake downe the Church and spoiled it and afterwards marched on toward the Naas and the Lacies against their oath conducted them and gave them counsell and Sir Hugh Canon appointed Wadin White his wives brother to be their guide through the countrey and they came to the Naas and sacked the towne brake into the Churches opened the tombes in the Church-yard to seeke for treasure and did much mischiefe while they remained there for two daies together And afterwards they went on toward Tristeldermot in the second week of Lent and destroied the Friers minors the books vestiments and other ornaments they had away and then departed from thence to Baligaveran and from Baligaveran leaving the towne of Kilkenny they came as far as to Kallan about the feast of St. Gregorie the Pope At the same time there came letters from the Lord Edmund Botiller Justice of Ireland the Lord Thomas Fitz-John then Earle of Kildare the Lord Richard Clare the Lord Arnald Pover and the Lord Maurice Fitz-Thomas for the delivery of the Earle of Ulster by mainprise and by a writ of the Kings about which nothing was then done And afterward the Ulster men came with an armie about two thousand and craved the Kings aide for to destroy the Scots as they said for which cause the Kings standard was delivered unto them and when they had it they did more harme than the Scots and fell to eating of flesh all Lent long and wasted in manner the whole countrey whereby they purchased the curse of God and man Item a great overthrow was given unto the Irish neere unto the desert of Dermot that is Trostil-Dermot by Edmund Botiller Also the same Edmund Botiller Lord Justice of Ireland for the time being gave a great overthrow to O-Morgh at Balilethan Then Brus with the Scots marched forward as faâ—â—e as Limericke But after that the bravest forces of the English in Ireland were assembled together at Ledyn they retired privily by night from the castle of Conniger And about Palme-sunday there came newes to Dublin that the Scots were at Keâ—â—ys in 〈◊〉 and the Nobles of Ireland at Kilkenny and there levied a power to set forward against Brus and the munday following the King gave commandement to the men of Ulster to speed them against the Scots whose leader and head the Earle of Kildare to wit Thomas Fitz-John was appointed to bee and so they put themselves on their journey and then was Brus at Cashill and hee marched from thence to Nanath and there abode and all the lands of the Lord Butler hee burnt and destroied quite MCCCXVII Upon Mandie thursday the Lord Edm. Botiller the Lord Justice of Ireland and Sir Thomas Fitz-Iohn Earle of Kyldare because the King gave unto them the jurisdiction and liberty of the countie of Kildare also Richard Clare with the army of Ulster Sir Arnold Poâ—â—r Baron of Donnoyll Maurice Roch-fort Thomas Fitz-Moris and the Caâ—ntons with their retime assembled themselves together about the Scots and for one whole weeke abode about them and did nothing whose forces were reckoned to be about 30000. strong And afterwards upon thursday in Easter weeke arrived Roger Mortimer at Yoghall with the Kings power because hee was Lord Justice and the munday following speedily took his journy toward the army and sent his letters unto Edmund Botiller late as it hath beene said Justice that hee should attempt nothing against the Scots before his comming But before that Mortimer came Brus was forewarned by some to depart from thence who the night following tooke his journey toward Kildare and afterwards in the weeke following every one of the English returned hence into their countrey and the army of Ulster came to the Naas And at the same time two messengers were dispatched from the city of Dublin who passed the seas toward the King of England to aske advice and to advertise as touching the State of Ireland and about the deliverance of the Earle of Ulster Also at the same time the Lord Roger Mortimer Justice of Ireland and the Nobles of Ireland were at Kilkenny to dispose of Brus but nothing effected they there at that time And about a moneth after Easter Brus advanced with his army about 4. leagues neere unto Trim in a certain wood and there staied a weeke and more to refresh his men who with 〈◊〉 and travaile were almost perished and for that many of them died there And afterwards on Philip and Jacob the Apostles day the said Brus entred on his journy toward Ulster and after the said feast came the Lord Roger Mortimer Justice of Ireland to Dublin accompanied with the Lord John Wogan and Sir Fulk Warin with thirtie Knights and their traines and they held a Parliament with all the Lords and Potentates of the land at Kylmainan but did nothing there save onely treat about the deliverance of the Earle of Ulster And on the sunday before the feast of our Lords ascension there repaired again unto the Parliament at Dublin the said Nobles of the land and there they delivered the Earle of Ulster by mainpriâ—e and hostages and upon an oath And
third day of February Also in the parts of Ireland the frost was so vehement that Aven-Liffie the river of Dublin was so frozen that very many danced and leaped upon the Ice of the said river they played at foot-ball and ran courses there yea and they made fires of wood and of turfe upon the same Ice and broyled herrings thereupon This Ice lasted very many dayes And as for the snow also in the parts of Ireland that accompanied the same frost a man need not speake any more seeing it was knowne to lye on such a wonderfull depth This hard time of weather continued from the second day of December unto the tenth day of February the like season was never heard of before especially in Ireland MCCCXXXIX All Ireland was generally up in armes Item an exceeding great slaughter there was of the Irish and a number of them drowned even 1200. at the least by the meanes of the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Desmond and the rest of the Geraldines in the parts of Kernige Item the Lord Moris Fitz-Nicolas Lord of Kernige was apprehended and imprisoned by the Lord Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Desmond and died in prison being put to strait diet for that he openly went out and rebelled with the said Irish against the Lord King of England and against the Lord Earle Item a number of the O. Dymcies and other Irish were killed and drowned in the water of Barrow by the English and the hot pursuit of the Earle of Kildare Also a great booty of cattell of sundry sorts and such a booty as had not been seen in the parts of Leinster by the said Lord Thomas Bishop of Hereford and Justice of Ireland and with the helpe of the English of that country was taken from the Irish in the parts of Odrone in the end of February MCCCXL The said Bishop of Hereford and Justice of Ireland being sent for by the King returned into England the tenth day of Aprill leaving in his place Frier Roger Outlaw Priour of Kylmaynon Also this Sir Roger Lord Priour of Kylmainon Justice and Chancellour of the said land died the thirteenth day of February Item the King of England granted by his letters patents unto Iohn Darcy the office of Lord Justice of Ireland for terme of life MCCCXLI Sir John Moris Knight came Lord Justice of Ireland in the moneth of May as Lievtenant unto Iohn Darcy in the foresaid land Item this wondrous prodigie following and such as in our age had not been heard of before hapned in the county of Leinster where a certain waifaring man as he travelled in the Kings high way found a paire of gloves fit as he thought for his owne turne which as he drew upon his hands forthwith instead of a mans voice and speech he kept a strange and marvellous barking like unto a dogge and from that present the elder folke and full growne yea and women too throughout the same county barked like bigge dogges but the children and little ones waughed as small whelpes This plague continued with some 18. daies with others a whole moneth and with some for two yeeres Yea this foresaid contagious malady entred also into the neighbour shires and forced the people in like manner to barke Also the King of England revoked all those gifts and grants that by him or his father had bin conferred by any meanes upon any persons whatsoever in Ireland were they liberties lands or other goods for which revocation great displeasure and discontent arose in the land and so the land of Ireland was at the point to have beene lost for ever out of the King of Englands hand Item by the Kings Councell there was ordained a generall Parliament of Ireland in the moneth of October To the same Parliament Moris Fitz-Thomas Earle of Desmond came not Before which time there was never knowne so notable and manifest a division in Ireland between those that were English by birth and English in blood The Maiors besides of the Kings cities in the same land together with all the better sort of the Nobility and Gentry of the said land with one consent upon mature deliberation and counsell had among other their conclusions decreed and appointed a common Parliament at Kilkenny in November to the utility and profit both of the King and the land before named without asking any counsell at all of the Lord Justice and the Kings officers aforesaid in this behalfe Now the Lord Justice and the rest of the Kings Ministers in no wise presumed to come unto the same Parliament at Kilkenny The Elders therefore of the land aforesaid together with the Ancients and Maiors of the cities agreed and ordained as touching solemne Embassadours to be sent with all speed unto the King of England about relieving the State of the land and to complaine of his Ministers in Ireland as touching their unequall and unjust regiment of the same and that from thenceforth they neither could nor would endure the realme of Ireland to be ruled by his Ministers as it had wont to be And particularly they make complaint of the foresaid Ministers by way of these Questions Imprimis How a land full of warres could be governed by him that was unskilfull in warre Secondly how a Minister or Officer of the Kings should in a short time grow to so great wealth Thirdly how it came to passe that the King was never the richer for Ireland MCCCXLII The eleventh day of October when the moone was eleven dayes old there were seen by many men at Dublin 2. moones in the firmament well and early before day The one was according to the course of nature in the West and appeared bright the other to the quantity of a round loafe appeared in the East casting but a meane and slender light MCCCXLIII St. Thomas street in Dublin was casually burnt with fire upon the feast of S. Valentine Martyr Item the 13. day of July the Lord Ralph Ufford with his wife the Countesse of Ulster came Lord chiefe Justice of Ireland Upon whose entring the faire weather changed sodainly into a distemperature of the aire and from that time there ensued great store of raine with such abundance of tempestuous stormes untill his dying day None of his predecessours in the times past was with griefe be it spoken comparable unto him For this Justicer bearing the office of Justice-ship became an oppressor of the people of Ireland a robber of the goods both of Clergy and Laity of rich and poore alike a defrauder of many under the colour of doing good not observing the rights of the Church nor keeping the lawes of the kingdome offering wrongs to the naturall inhabitants ministring justice to few or none and altogether distrusting some few onely excepted the inborne dwellers in the land These things did hee still and attempted the like misled by the counsell and perswasion of his wife Item the said Justice entring into Ulster in the moneth of March through a Pas called Emerdullan