punctual Chronology in things of so vast a distance the Religious care of the Historiographers lest the minutest Circumstances should be omitted Who can but admire at their ingenious Contrivances least the Reigns of these things should want some diverting Circumstances and their Governments run dully without the usual rubs of Ambition and Usurpation If we seriously consider these matters we may easily find that the Government of these Princes began not many hundred years ago The Opinion of Isacius Tzetzes concerning imaginary Regions in the British Seas was never more true then when we consider these Aiery Princes and their phantastical Governments so that hitherto we find rather an History of Utopia than Britain From Samothes his Reign beginning An. Mundi MDCCCCX which is 254 years after the Flood to the end of Phranicus his Reign are 945 years so that the Entrance of Brute into this Island according to this account is in the year of the World MMDCCCLV and after the Flood 1199 years But as if there were some great truth in this matter that required wonderful Exactness we find much variance in Authors Berosus makes Samothes's Kingdom about 152 years after the Flood and that it continued 335 years in his Posterity Mr. Hollinshead saies 310 and then Albion Arrived but from Samothes to the end of Bardus his Reign is but 247 years so that here a vast Inter-regnum is made between Bardus and Albion Besides the differences between 254 and 152 years in which Samothes is said to begin his Kingdom cuts short the seventy five years of Bardus his Reign which are assigned him by the Count Palatine The Entrance of Brute according to this Computation differs something from that which is generally received namely That he arrived at this Island in the year of the World 2887 and after the Flood 1231 in the Eighteenth year of Eli his Priesthood and before Christ 1059. And here Mr. Speed comes upon Brutes History with his Scripture Chronology like a Goliah Let us see to what purpose Brute saith he is the fourth discent from AEneas namely thus AEneas Ascanius Silvius Brutus Now allowing favourably according to Herodotus and I add according to the Britains Thirty years for a Generation we shall find that if Brute entred this Isle Anno Mundi 2887 that the Trojan War in the daies of AEneas happened Anno Mundi 2768 in the Eight and thirtieth year of Gideons Government But this cannot be saies Mr. Speed why not Because saies he Clemens Alexandrinus alleadged out of Pergamenus and Letus placeth the Trojan War fully Two hundred and thirty years after namely in the Reign of King Solomon so that Brute entred not this Island in Ely's Priesthood but in the Usurpation of Juda's Kingdom by Athaliah in the year of the World 3118. and so we see Brutes Antiquity cut off Two hundred and thirty years O wonderful exactness in Chronology will any one henceforth be able to defend Brutes History no certainly especially if they consider the deadly blow that is coming Josephus saies he confidently affirms he is able to prove by Phoenician Records that the City Carthage was built by Dido Sister to Pigmaleon 155 years after the Reign of King Hiram which was Solomons Friend and 143 years and eight months after the building of his most beautiful Temple Now Dido and AEneas according to Virgil were contemporary By this computation we find Troys destruction fell out about the twentieth year of Joash his Reign over Judah which was in the year of the Worlds Creation 3143 to which if we add One hundred and twenty years for the Four discents from AEneas to Brute then will Brutes Conquest of this Island fall with the twelfth of Jothams Reign in Anno Mundi 3263 and thus we see Brute hath miserably lost again 375 years of his Antiquity The greatest loss is to follow and here it is that Mr. Speed saies that he has made a deep breach into Brute's History Manethon saies he the Historian Priest of Egyt in his second Book cited by Josephus affirmeth that the Israelites departure from AEgypt was almost 1000 years before the Wars of Troy and this Mr. Speed saith Josephus seems to allow By this measure Brute is lessened 752 years but I would fain know why he thinks Josephus allows this Computation when as before Josephus is brought in confidently maintaining another Account and that out of the Phoenician Annals Josephus might allow this Computation of Manethon the Egyptian perhaps according to the Egyptian manner of Years which consisted of three Months and so the 1000 years will in reality be but 250 effectually But what makes all this against Brute whose time depends upon the timing of the Trojan War for can any one be so mad or simple as by any Scripture Computation to bring down the War of Troy below the daies of Alexander and almost equalling it with the Punick Clemens Alexandrinus might erre in this Chronology and Virgil is generally reproved for making AEneas and Dido contemporary The Trojan War it self is so disputable that who can expect an exact timing of it If the Author that Jeffery of Monmouth pretends to have translated did place the Entrance of Brute under the Priesthood of Ely it was a fancy grounded upon some Computation of his own which whether it be true or false concerns not the question of Brutes Arrival who knew not and consequently could not deliver down his Entrance in the Priesthood of Ely There are too many Circumstances that condemn the story of Brute and it is vain to confute an Author in a small matter whereas greater things may be laid to his charge like him who declaiming against Nero insisted most in his defects in Musick so if there were nothing to be said against Brutes and Samothes's stories but the ill harmony of Time possibly they may be found as perfect in those points as most Histories But the destroying of Brute by any Computation is as if one would by the same Weapons prove there was never a Trojan Horse or Minerva's fatal Statue and so I proceed to Brutes History THE CHRONICLE OF THE British Kings CHAP. XI The History of BRUTE BRUTUS Brito or as the Count Palatine calls him Brotus is on all hands agreed to be the Off-spring of AEneas but whether by his Wife Creusa or Lavinia there is great variance manifested in Authors AEnaeas dying he left his Kingdom to Ascanius whom he had by his first Wife Creusae Lavinia his second Wife surviving and finding her self big with Child began to dread the power of Ascanius least the odious name of a Step-mother and the jealousie of an half Brother and Competitor in the Kingdom might carry him on to some violence against her Person Upon this she fled into the Woods and was delivered of a Son whom she named Silvius Posthumus from the place of his Birth and by reason he was born after the decease
Warryor in the German Besides it appears more manifest that Kamper or Kimper a Warryor hath nothing to do in the derivation of the Ancient Nation the Cimbri if it be considered that Kamper proceeding from Camp in the German Tongue signifying a Field where Souldiers pitch their Tents seems to be derived from the Latin Campus a Field Now the name of the Cimbri was long before ever the Latins can be supposed to have carried any thing of their Language into Germany But Lazius the Author of this Etymology of the Cimbrians did not much relie upon the truth of it himself seeing in another place forgetting what he had written before he names the Cimbri from I know not what King called Cambrivius the Grand-son of Aschenas As the name of the Cimbri from their continual molesting their Neighbours was used by the Gauls in their Tongue to express Robbers so from the exceeding proportion of their Limbs being generally men of great and extraordinary Stature in After times Cimber came also to be taken for a Gyant In the Danish Tongue Pontanus saies Kimber Kemp and Kemper signifie properly a Gyant Now that the Cimbri were in truth very remarkable in this point as likewise the Cymri of Britain according to Strabo who saies He saw very Youths taller by half a foot than the tallest Men Caesar largely expresseth by the general Consternation of his Army in his march against Ariovestus their Leader They were described to the Romans just as the Canaanites were to the Children of Israel and we may judge of the dreadful apprehension the Gauls had of them by the like expression they used to Caesar namely That they were so exceeding Tall that other Nations seemed as nothing in their eyes And that Cimbrian whom Manlius encountred is described by the Romans like a Goliah of a vast and unweildy Body but whilst he stood in the rank of his own Army there was no great disproportion visible in him from the rest but when he had stalked out some paces and came higher the Romans they began to be amazed and astonished at the sight And as Kimber from the great proportion of these Cimbri came to signifie a Gyant in the Danish Tongue so from a part of them called Getes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also came to signifie a Gyant but as the Nation of the Getes is far Ancienter than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Gyant this word being derived from them so the Cumerii or Cimbri were a People long before either Kampher Kimper or Kimber had any of the aforementioned significations for this cause the Cimbri could not receive their Names from those words the signification of which they themselves had occasioned Many other remarkable Qualities these Cimbri had which were also taken notice of in the Cumri of Britain namely their exceeding swiftness by which they could lay their hands on the Mayns of their Horses and equal them in their Race as is witnessed by Caesar. This might give occasion to other significations of the word Kimber in after Ages among the Germans viz. to express Strength and Nimbleness Mr. Sherringham takes notice that in Norfolk they say a Kemper Old Man that is Brisk and Lively These Cimbri therefore who are supposed by Mr. Cambden to be the Fathers of our Cumri in Britain I think that none will doubt but that they were a German Nation seeing their Name also continued long after in Germany and in regard their settlement in Gaul and upon the Sea parts of it especially came by Conquest and not Primitive possession But as all Nations upon some secret and unknown causes have often many ebbs and flows as to matters of Manhood and Courage so it happened that before Caesars daies as he himself writes the Gauls exceeded the Germans in Valour and possibly then it might be that the Gauls encreasing in Number and Power and recovering their Ancient Seats might proceed into Britain also and here invade part of the Cimbri who had long before placed themselves in this Island And although these Gauls had obtained the Sea-Coasts and entred far into the Inland parts so by long possession came to be called Britains yet they were looked upon by the more Ancient Inhabitants as Encroachers only they esteeming themselves only as the Aborigines of the Island I have been more particular in treating of these Cimbri because from a branch of this very same Nation in after Ages our English Ancestors proceeded Providence so ordering it that although the Ancient Cumri of Britain were grievously molested by the Gauls and afterwards afflicted and kept under by the Romans yet may they be said to have recovered these Seats again although not by themselves being but a small Relick yet by the succession of a People descended of the same Original But whether these Cimbri entred the Northern and Eastern parts of this Island before the Phoenicians arrived in the West is a thing altogether unsearchable but I have shewed in all likelyhood that it was Seven or Eight hundred years after the Flood before any part of it was Inhabited In the following Mapp I shew the progress of the Cimbri on the Continent on one part and the Voyages of the Phoenicians from the Streights on the other The Procession of the Cimbri is more Obscure upon the account that all the knowledge we have of them proceeds from the Greeks and Romans there being nothing of their Language remaining which we can say was particularly theirs nor any Records of that as well as other German Nations whereon to build any solid foundation of Antiquity But on the other side all these Proofs are not wanting in the Voyages of the Phoenicians their Language is sufficiently known and by it they may and are traced not only through all the parts of the Mediterranean but on this side of the Streights also even in Britain it self as shall be shewn hereafter a Nation of the greatest Antiquity being it self One and Conversant with the most Knowing and Experienced People of the World As Learning and Science is especially got by Commerce and they were the Wisest People that lived on the Mediterranean and followed Trading in the Primitive Ages of the World so that Phoenicians in this point exceeded all other People their Colonies were more numerous and their Voyages greater than any Nation besides The Greeks did but Copy-out their Actions and the Names that were given by the Phoenicians to all places they Traded unto were translated by the Greeks into their own Language which will appear in the following Mapp of the Ancient WORLD wherein the Phoentcian names of the Countries are exactly put down with the Greeks in all or most of those places to which both those Nations in different times Traded From these Phoenicians therefore the first Antiquity of this Nation is to be deduced which will more evidently appear in the following Chapters wherein it will be manifest that Britain as well as the rest of
make us believe a Conjunction here more than in any other part of the World And here I must desire it to be granted that the Earth continues for many miles together in most parts of the World the very same under Water as it is on the next Neighbouring dry Land and that in no place or very rarely and by accident there is a mutation of the Soyl just upon the Sea-shoar I mean that upon the Sea the uttermost bounds of the Earth shall be fat and sertile stony or minerally and immediately where the Sea begins it shall be of a different nature The want of this Consideration seems to have been the Reason why men in several parts of the World have thought by the likeness of soyls there hath been a Conjunction of Earth when the truth is it was nothing more but the very fame Vein of ground which ran under Water from one Country to another V and F are the Air part whereof is above part under the upper Crust of the Earth E D is the Water M and G the Mineral Earth upon which the upper Crust E is supposed to fall I the Fire Now supposing the upper Crust of Earth E be dried by the heat of the Sun it follows in time that it would shrink and so wanting the continuation of its parts which is necessary to support the Arch some of it would fall upon the Mineral Earth C whereby the Water D and Air F would arise and be uppermost and other parts of E remain above yet so hollow within as to keep Water in its Concavity which drayned through the Earth would produce Springs and being rarified into Vapours would cause Earthquakes Now that which makes to our business is this Suppose all the distance between 1 2 3 4. to be of a Sandy and Rocky nature if the breach be in the middle point betwixt 1 and 4 the shoar 1 and shoar 4 will be of the same Nature in respect the Earth is the same all along between them which now is supposed to be under Water between those two Points E E E the upper Crust of the Earth 1 2 3 9. V 6 the several Breaches the Breach at 9 and V makes the Mountain whose top is at 4 the Concavity at F. From 2 to 8 as likewise from 7 to X the Water is above the Earth and maketh two Seas the shoars whereof are at 8 and X from 8 to 9 and so to X is dry Land And because in the Nature of the thing it is more reasonable to imagine the Breaches to be made where the Soyls differ therefore it happens that different and opposite Shoars are most commonly of a different Nature yet it follows not that Shoars of the same Nature and Soyl ought to be imagined of later date in their Separation than those which are of a different Nature neither is it material whether the Shoars be steep and Cliffy or whether plain and eaven or whether they answer one another or no. For we find in sounding of the depths of the Seas Hills and Valleys as well as on the dry Land neither does it follow more that the Cliffs of Dover and Bullen were a continued Ridge of Hills than that Highgate and Penman in Flint-shire are All that I think worthy to be observed is this that where a Shoar is high and steep there as to the main matter the further you go from Shoar for some distance the fewer fathom of Water you find And on the contrary where a Shoar is plain by degrees you go deeper and deeper and in this also you must allow for height of ground which often casually happens in the bottom of the Sea as well as on the dry Land The Reason of it is this because that Arch of Earth which we called Mineral Earth and was formed under Water being a less Circle of vast proportion as included by two Outward ones could not have Superficies enough for the upper Earth to lie upon it for where the fall is greater and steeper of necessity not far off must there be some Ascent proportionable as we find Dover and the opposite Clyffs exactly in the mid-way an Ascent of ground called the Riff or Trowen Shoal not sandy but of a Rocky substance scarce four Fathom deep at low Water the farther you go from it East or West being deeper and deeper still as afore allowing for casual and accidental Hillocks in the bottom From all which I think that the similitude of Soyls and equality of Promontories are no Argument to make us believe that after the general ordering the Earth Dover and Bullen were more joyned than any other parts whatever but were Primitively disjoyned as other Nations were And this Argument will hold good whether according to Des Cartes we suppose the Earth above the Water as a Postulatum only and no further or whether with Moses we certainly believe that the Waters were above the Earth for according to both the Earth must shrink and by ascent and descent gather it self together to make room for the Waters which in its hollow or concave places were to be gathered together As for Verstegans Argument That there is nothing broken but what was whole I think he might have joyned the two Promontories as easily with any other Principle as two entire parts joyned make a whole or that the Parts are less than the whole Of the same force is his Observation That steep places near the Sea are called Cliffs when as in the In-lands they are rather called Hills or Mountains and this he would have to intimate as much as if they had been cleaved from some other Promontory According to his Principle Nothing is broken in Nature that hath not been whole a Principle undeniable yet makes no more for the Cliffs of Dover than any other in the World which are not answered by other Cliffs as perhaps Dovers are These are his Reasons that shew the probability of such a Breach Let us now examine his Arguments by which he thinks he has put it out of all doubt Such as he calls evident Reasons and remarkable Demonstrations which he saith ought to be admitted as sufficient as Authors nay beyond some who deliver it by Hear-say but to give my Judgment in this case I should think the least Tradition in Antiquity that there was such athing to be of more force than all his Demonstrations to perswade and convince a man of so great a change in the World Although to him it might seem never so easie and common yet we read that some who had rashly undertook to cut the Isthmus of ground on which Corinth stood they were daily and hourly terrified and affrighted with Noises and hideous Out-cries and their works notwithstanding all their diligence went backwards Nature will not easily permit such Changes whether it proceeds from guilt of mind being a presumption that naturally would startle humane nature to set surer bounds to Kingdoms than first ordained or whether it
a Person as who with Scipio the Great had been an Eye-witness of most Places of Note and had seen most Phoenician Records some notable History of Britain But thus much we are sure that in his daies the Islands were called BRATANACS preserving the C of their first Original as in his Works is found Those three Persons Pytheas Dicaearchus and Eratosthenes whose Opinions Strabo introduceth Polybius comparing and confuting as they writ of Britain all three of them so were they much Ancienter than Polybius As for Eratosthenes Suidas makes him to live in the One hundred twenty sixth Olympiad in the daies of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus Dicaearchus was the Schollar of Aristotle Ancienter than he and Pytheas cited by both of the former precedes them both so that I find three most Eminent Persons among the Greeks to have written concerning Britain even in those daies when Mr. Cambden imagin'd it to lie in a Nook of the World obscurely and unknown For as the Trade of it was great for Tynn and Lead so that the Graecians had none but what was brought from thence as Mr. Cambden himself confesses so it manifestly appears that the Cassiterides were known before Homers daies who writes of Lead which otherwise he could not do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Goddess to the bottom fell like Lead Now let any judge whether the Scilly Islands could be discovered and many Voyages made thither and this Island of BRITAIN to be unknown As for those Verses of Avienus which Mr. Cambden seems to slight so much as to call them Credulous who give any belief to them although he makes use of them afterwards in his description of the Scilly Islands Thus much is to be said in general Festus Avienus professes that himself had read all the Navigations of Himiko in the Punic Annals Haec olim Himilco Poenus Oceano super Spectasse semel probasse retulit Haec nos ab imis Punicorum Annalibus Prolata longo tempore edidimus tibi These things of Old on Western Sea Himilco saies he try'd and saw From hidden Punick Annals we Relate what we from thence did draw Certainly it is unreasonable to condemn an Author upon no ground in the World but Humor neither do I think it a fond Credulity but an act of true Judgment to give Assent to a Person who professes himself to have read it and especially where there is nothing related but what agrees with the whole consent and current of those times And this way of proceeding is unequal to Reject without being able to give some Reason so it reflects upon the Authority of all Ancient Writers whose Veracity cannot be made out otherwise than by their constant assevering that they have Heard and Read such things which they relate without Assent to which their Histories become dead and useless Now to deny that to Festus Avienus which we grant to other Authors without giving any Reason for our dislike but only because it makes not to our purpose seems to me rather the Act of a Judge than an Inquirer or diligent Searcher after Antiquities And looks as if it proceeded from the thoughts of having obtained the utmost heights and top of Truth and Antiquity so that it is lawful to judge and condemn Authors at pleasure However Festus Avienus in this matter agrees with all Antiquity as to the Sailing of the Phoenicians into the Western Sea there arriving at the Isles of Scilly to Traffick for Tyun and Lead with the Inhabitants all which things are made out from Strabo Diodorus Siculus and Solinus and therefore needs not to lie so heavy upon the Credit of Festus Avienus as though he were the only Person that sustained them And here it will not be amiss to take notice how Mr. Cambden although he will not have Britain to be known long before Caesars time that the beginning of his Antiquities to speak the truth in time are very much below the discovery of this Island may seem to be of a higher date than indeed they are yet where he speaks of the Plenty of this Nation how the Ground was enriched with all sorts of Corn he cites Orpheus who reported it to be the very Seat of Lady Ceres 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Loe here the stately Hall of Ceres Queen And saies that this is meant of BRITAIN which if he means as he speaks certainly he contradicts himself in saying It was not known but by Name only to the Ancients seeing that Orpheus one of the Argonauts treats in particular of the Commodities in this Country in which it is blest above all Nations in the World even to this day But enquiring closer after the Truth you will find Orpheus to be of a later date than he is generally thought to be of for in his daies Britain was not discovered to the Greeks but the Phoenicians who kept it private to themselves as I shall shew hereafter out of Strabo so that this feigned Orpheus is indeed the true Onomacritus as may be learnt out of Tacitus and Clemens Alexandrinus an Athenian Poet who lived in the daies of Pisistratus and as they say in the Fiftieth Olympiad but rather in the Five and fiftieth before Christ five hundred and sixty years when the Graecians began by the discovery of the Phoenicians to enter the Atlantick Ocean and to be Eye witnesses of those Places they formerly had only by Hear-say And when no doubt as Pliny writes our Island was celebrated to the Greeks not only for its Mines of Tynn and Lead by which it was useful to all the World but its plenty of Provisions also by which it sustained and blest its Inhabitants so that Mr. Cambden forced by the Truth oftentimes confesses what in other places he would have lie dark and obscure namely That BRITAIN for a long time was unknown but here I suppose we must take him in his Poetical humour only and so I shall leave him and proceed to shew what Foot-steps the Phoenicians left among the Ancient Britains of their Language and Customes and what remains to this day And first I will begin with Strabo because what he speaks of has relation to the Plenty of England for all sorts of Grain in his fourth Book Artimidorus asserts That there was an Island near Britain I suppose one of the Scilly Islands and in most probability St. Maries in which they worshipped Ceres and Proserpina with the same Rites they did in Samothrace Now this Artimidorus lived in the daies of Ptolemeus Lathyrus before Colaeus the Greek had ever discovered any thing of these Seas so that the Graecians could not introduce the Worship of Ceres and Proserpina into any British Island It remains therefore that they were brought in by the Phoenicians who had taught the Samothracians first their Worship and the Mysteries of their Cabiri which were so many that Juvenal takes notice of them jurent licet Samothracum Et nostrorum ar as Now
that there were found two Teeth of a certain Giant of such a huge bigness that two hundred such Teeth as men now adaies have might be cut out of them These Teeth he sales he saw himself but not without great Admiration And a Gentleman named R. Cavendish in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth reports also that he saw some Relicks of this nature near the very same place That which Geropius and Mr. Cambden answer to this out of Suetonius seems frivolous That the Bones of Sea Fish have been taken for Giants Bones Men certainly may easily distinguish between them neither is it ever to be rationally supposed men ever entombed Fishes as those in Germany were found to be But that which comes nearer to our purpose concerning the Phoenicians in Britain and their Gigantick bodies is the Tradition which has been preserved in Cornwal a place they most resided in for the sake of their Tynn Traffick which Tradition of the being of Giants in those Parts was preserved to the daies of Havillan the Poet who lived four hundred years since In some of whose Verses the Phoenicians seem to be exactly described neither can this relate as Mr. Cambden implies to the Great bodies of Cornish men who are not so disproportional to their Neighbours as to create so serious a description The Verses are these of Cornwal Titanibus illa Sed Paucis famulosa domus quibus uda serarum Terga dabant vates Cruor haustus Pocula trunci Antra Lares dumeta Thoros Coenacula rupes Praeda cibos raptus Venerem spectacula caedes Imperium Vires animos suror impetus arma Mortem pugna sepulchra rubus monstrisque gemebat Monticolis tellus sed eorum plurima tractus Pars erat occidui terror majorque premebat Te furor extremum Zephyrt Cornubia limen Here Giants lodg'd a brood of Titan's Race Raw Hides their Cloathing Blood their drinking was Their Cups were hollow Trees their Houses Dens Bushes their Beds their Chambers craggy Pens Hunger with Prey their Lust with Rapes they cas'd The sport of slaughtering Men their Eye-sight pleas'd Force gave them Rule their rage did Arms supply Being kill'd in Groves instead of Graves they lye These Monsters every quarter did molest But most of all the Cornwal in the West This description of them agrees exactly with the Character the British Histories all along gives of those Giants that lived before Brutes entrance into this Island which Histories though by some are esteemed Fabulous yet let any one consider whether it be not much more probable to imagine that there were many Truths delivered down and so taken up and corrupted by those Writers than to think they had no grounds to begin their Histories or that they were so unreasonably given to Deceiving as to have no other motives in the publishing their Writings but to put Tricks and Cheats upon the World especially in the matter of Giants a thing which they could not but fore-see would in all Ages be hardly credited Now if there be any truth in the British Histories those men of vast Proportions called by them GIANTS could be none but the Phoenicians as the Time of the being of such Giants viz. about the year MMDLX this Island corresponding with the Age of the Phoenicians Navigation hither doth plainly shew I do verily believe from their hard usage of the Islanders whom they found at their first entrance and whom all along they oppressed this custome of making of Wicker Statues and firing them upon special occasions was introduced for we see even to these daies the burning of Persons in Effigle is preserved in many civiliz'd Nations but the making them in Wicker rather than any other Materials may very easily be attributed to the manner of the Boats the Britains used on their Coasts thereby in their own little Models representing the Phoenicians Navigation their Wicker Vessels becoming an Emblem of the Phoenician Ships that enslaved them That the Skiffs they sayled in were made of this sort of work Caesar testifies when he writes Ships they had of which the Keels and Foot-stocks were of slight Timber but the Bodies were winded and worked with Osyers and covered with Leather These sorts of Vessels Lucan also describes after the same manner Primùm Cana Salix madefacto vimine parvam Texitur in puppim caesoque induta juvenco Victoris patiens tumidum super emicat amnem Sic Venetus stagnante Pado fusóque Britannus Navigat Oceano At first with twisted Osyers Boats were made And when the Wicker was with skins o're-laid These Vessels on the Seas the Britain guides On swelling Rivers the Venetian rides This shall suffice to have been spoken of this Custome of the Britains in making these Wicker Statues which I have treated of more largely because in reading the British History where frequent mention is made of Giants we may know to what Nation we may refer and their Original Although after the manner of those Historians the greatness of their Stature and the cruelty of their Natures may be too much magnified yet seeing the Trading of the Phoenicians is made out from undoubted Authority as from Greek and Latin Historians whose testimony in matter of Fact is necessary in other respects we ought not to question but they were the Phoenicians men of Great bodies who gave first the occasion of this Tradition and who by their Traffick hither might bring that Thraldom on the People the remembrance of which they preserved after the Phoenicians themselves had forsaken them But to return to the Customes of the Britains They used a Drink made of Barly as Solinus witnesseth a Custome used by us at this very day a thing unknown in former Ages in any Country of Europe Britain only excepted For in other Nations they used Wine and Water either by themselves or intermixt even in colder Countries than Britain which of it self is not deficient to produce Grapes and to ripen them so that excellent Wine may and is daily produced did not the richness of the Soyl invite the Natives to more useful improvements We find Ovid in his Tristibus complaining of his banishment among the Getes giving this instance of the Coldness of the Country That they did not draw their Wine out of their Vessels as in hotter Countries but that they were constrained to take the Hoops off and so opening the Vessel brake the frozen Wine with Chizels having thawed it by the fire drank it We do not find any Country that had the use of making drink of Barly but if the Country of it self would not bear Wine they had it brought them from hotter Countries or else pleased themselves with Water only Now we must seek elsewhere for this Custome of the Britains and we shall find that this also they might have from the Phoenicians To the proof of which let us consider that the Phoenicians by their Colonies planted themselves on all the Sea Coasts of
the long wished for Island he Lands his Trojans and marches up into the Country to take possession Joyful was he to see the pleasant prospect of so large a Dominion and blest the Gods that they gave him so glorious a Reward for all his labours But all things were not so well as he imagined for from the Clyffs and craggy Rocks he began to perceive mighty Giants arising This sight he communicated to Corinaeus who at first was much surprized at the Object but at last they both pluckt up their wonted Spirits and with a few Trojans valiantly assailed these Monsters In a few Conflicts they found not their Weapons to want success so that they soon convinced these Goliahs that no strength or vastness of Limbs was able to resist a Trojan Puissance Corinaeus after several general Engagements had a longing desire to enter into a nearer trial of skill with some one of them Gogmagog undertakes him and a day of wrestling was appointed and attended with great expectation The Giant at his first grapling by a close-Hug breaks a Rib of Corinaeus but sorely paid for it by the fall Corinaeus gave him from the Clyff of Dover to his utter destruction which from hence is said afterwards to be called Cwymp y Cawr or the fall of the Giant This was a good Omen of the Trojans further success and Corinaeus for this piece of service was rewarded with the Principality of Cornwal Brute by degrees destroyed the whole Race of these Giants and quietly possessing the Island the first work he undertook was the building of a City which he called Troy-novant now London In this City he kept his Royal Court ordaining and enacting that from henceforth the whole Island should be called after his Name BRITAIN and so the Inhabitants Britains Being at the point of Death in the fifteenth year of his Reign and the four and twentieth of his Arrival he divided his Kingdom to his three Sons To Locrinus he bequeathed that part now called ENGLAND To Camber WALES To Albanact SCOTLAND and so called it after his name Albania Brute in that sickness is supposed to have died and was buried in his new City TROY Novant but the particular place where was never yet discovered by any and I much question whether it ever will SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON THIS History of Brute IT is not material whether this story of BRUTE be to be referred to Jeoffery of Monmouth Henry of Huntington or Segibertus Gemblasensis a French-man who lived an hundred years before Jeoffery and treats of Brute and his Trojans Arrival into Gaul and his passage into Britain For if Segibertus or any other Person had the name of Brute before Jeoffery and some particular Actions of such a Prince yet the composing of his Genealogy the methodizing the Circumstances of his Life the Timing of his Entrance the Succession of his Line depends all upon the Credit of Jeoffery and the truth of his Translation and so was esteemed in the daies in which he lived and put forth his History For how long a Trojan Original might be in these parts or how long Britannia might be derived from Brutus is not the thing in question but this was the custome of Ancient times to derive Nations from some particular Persons even amongst the Greeks and Romans and was an old Vanity of the World to refer their beginning to some Divine HERO To make this pretended Brute to be a Trojan and to fasten him upon a Genealogy contrary to the truth of those Histories from which that Genealogy is fetcht and upon whose Credit it depends is the thing for which Brutes History is chiefly condemned Segibertus Gemblasensis might have the same design in deriving his Britain in France from Brutus as the Britains might derive their Britannia I do not deny but Jeoffery of Monmouth might have several hints of Brutus nay a British History of him but it will not justifie the Fiction neither can the multitude of Authors in or about that time take away from the Credit of Ancienter Historiographers as Caesar Tacitus Gildas Ninius and as many as wrote twelve hundred years since who make no mention of any such Person more than that do profess by all their Enquiry they could learn nothing of the Britains concerning their Original so that whatever Original is pretended nevertheless the story of the Trojan Brute and all the Legend of his life seems to be brought into the World not long before those times as appears by Mr. Cambden and Speed nay Mr. Sheringham of late in his Vindication of this story in one place ingeniously confesses That these Tales might be invented and so intruded upon the Vulgar But where ever the story of Brute is to be told the Character of it and the Compiler ought never to be omitted It is the saying of William of Newborough who lived in the Age of Geoffery ap Arthur of Monmouth and writes thus of him In these our daies saith he a certain Writer is risen who deviseth foolish Fictions of the Britains he hath to Name Geoffery and a little after With how little shame and with what great confidence doth he frame his Lies About the same time was Francio invented for the Francks Scota Pharaolis Daughter for the Scots Hiberus for the Irish Danus for the Danes Brabo for the Brabanders Gothus for the Goths Saxo for the Saxons and is Brutus for the Britains any thing truer who can think it Scriverius in his Preface to the Antiquitics of Ancient Batavia falls severely upon Jeoffery of Monmouth and gives his History the name of Groote grove lange dicke taste lijck ende unbeschaemte logen that is A most impudent Lie a great one a heavy one a long thick one which like the AEgyptian Darkness was so palpable it might be felt Never had a Lie so many dimensions given it before nor so much substance ascribed to it Well fare Brute and his Trojans above all stories this carries the Honour of the day That which gave some Authority to this Fiction was the use King Edward the first made of it in vindicating his Title to Scotland against the pretence of Pope Boniface and the Church of Rome who laid claim to that Kingdom by Ancient Right as part of St. Peters Patrimony and that Churches Demesne This Action of the King stampt some Character upon this late Invention and the Judgment of so wise a Prince in favour of Brute in a matter of so high a Concern brought this new Embrio into some credit in the World It will not be amiss therefore to examine the whole Circumstances of this debate between the King Pope and Barons of this Realm King Edward having made a considerable progress towards the Conquest of Scotland and being there in Person receives a Prohibition from the Pope who was backt on by the French King to proceed any further in that business until he had proved his Title at Rome to which place the
sometimes as a Goddess as she wore a Female Vesture This is perfectly the Armata Venus of the Romans who took this Notion of her from the Greeks who promiscuously write her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making her an Hermophrodite Venus So that we must not wonder that the Saxons coming acquainted with the Roman Theology like other Nations in great measure conformed to it For the analogy between the Gods of both People as it now stands appears nothing but a modern compliance of the Saxon Priests with the Romans and of no higher date than the mutual knowledge both Nations had of each other Neither ought it to confound the History of each others Theology as to the genuine original Offices and Names of their distinct Deities And if there appear any essential likeness between both Nations as to the order number and coincidence of some of their Idols in some circumstances with one another we must not think the Saxon custome sprang from the Roman more than the Roman from the Saxon But it arose from some Third and ancienter People from whom both taking pattern in many things drew the same lines and figures The Northern Writers mention many of Wodens Companions called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diat that is Gods some whereof were Deified by Woden himself before his death others afterwards the names of which because they are summarily delivered by Arn-Jonas as he found them in ancient Writings and Monuments and may possibly serve to interpret several Names yet remaining among us I shall not think tedious to set down They are in number fifteen Odin otherwise Uggur Thor Uugue or Uuguar Freger Bedar Balldur Tyr Niordur Bragie Hoddur Forsete Loke Uale Uullur Haettir As also Asian Women that came along with him called Asiniur who attained Divine Honour Frygg one of Wodens Wives Freya the other Fulla Snotra Gerdur Gesson Gua Loffu Skade Iorde Idun Ilmur Bill Niorun vel Iorun Hlin Hnoss Nanna Rindur Scofn Sol Saga Sygin or Sygity Uer Uar Thrudur Ran Hildur Gendul Hlock Mist or Niss Skegul Hrind or Rund Hrist or Rik Shuld Nipt Dis or Disa The memory of these Women our Age still retaineth in their proper Names As Gerdut likewise Thorgirdur compounded of Thor and Gerdut so Iduii Ioruii Sygny Thrudur Hildur Besides these many of Wodens Sons or Nephews as Balldur Meile Uiidar Nephur Uale Ale Thor Hilldulfur Hermodur Sigge Skiodur in the Edda Skioldur Assabragur Dlldner Itrekur Hemdallur Semingur or Hemingar Hauddar Brage Cunilanghen Cnidrid Bierii Hlodid Hardveor Sonnungur Uingthor Rymur To which I may add out of the Edda according to Rossenius his Translation his Sons Uegdeg and Begdeg some of these Princes were renowned for particular qualifications Woden excell'd in wisdom and the Art Magick Thor is commended for Spirit Baldur for Beauty from whose name a common Flower but of beautiful Colours is called Balden-braa that is Balders-brow Suenonius in his Notes to Saxo Grammaticus supposeth that there were three different Wodens The first and ancientest was called the Asian and in distinction Odin hin Gamble that is Woden the Elder He was the Son of Saturn The second was Upsalensis and among the Swedes had a splendid Temple shining with Gold built to his Honour He is also called an Asian but was a Scythian born these two Saenonius thinks are confounded in History The third was called Mithoden that is the middle Odin of whom Saxo Grammaticus makes mention he whilst the other Woden was abroad in the World took occasion to feign himself a God but at the others return trusting more to his Heels than his Cheating tricks he fled into Phaeonia where hoping to hide himself he was slain by the Rabble Whether there be any truth in this Conjecture we cannot determine certainly the History of Hengist and Horsa would require some such salvo who according to Bede and Malmsbury derived themselves in the third degree from Woden which if true necessarily implies there was one WODEN at least if not two later in time than him we have hitherto spoken of to which opinion Verstegan inclineth But when we consider that it was the usual way of Heathen Poets not to make their Hero's above three descents from Jupiter himself Sic à Jove tertius Ajax saith Ovid why may not the same liberty be allowed to the Saxon Scaldi to flatter their Princes in placing their Names nigher their fountain of Honour the much admired Woden who was the same to the Saxons as Jupiter to the Greeks and Romans and they gave him the like Titles For as he was saluted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hominum pater atque Deorum so Woden was stiled by the Saxons Fader allra Gudanna og Mannguna Father of Gods and Men. I have given a larger Treatise of him because he was by far the most renowned of all their Idols the words of the Edda are these Odinns er eedstur og ellstur Acanna hann radur ollumm hlutumm og so sem onnur Godinn eru Mattug tha thiona honum ell so sem born fodur WODEN is the highest and chief of the Asae and governs all things and although the other Gods are powerful yet they wait upon him as Children do on their Fathers THOR according to the Danish History was the Son of Woden and came with him from Asia hence he is called Asathor that is Thor the Asian and from him Thursday taketh name He was esteemed next in Honour to Woden and to him they sacrificed Men as the highest testimony of their devotion he is written sometimes Thaar and hath been thought by many to be the same with Taramis of the Gauls or Jupiter Tonans Certain it is whether from the similitude of Name or some other account after the knowledge the Saxons had of the Romans he was generally taken in after Ages for Jupiter A memorable instance of this may be given out of an old Book of Saxon Homilies in the publick Library of Cambridge treating of the false Gods of the Gentiles An man þaes eardigende on þam iglande Creta Saturnus gehaten sÆ¿ydlic Æ¿aelraeoþ sua ê§ he abat his sunus þa ða hi geborena þaeron unfaederlice macode heora flaesc him to mete he laefde sua ðeah aenne tolipe þeade he abit his broðre on aer ðe þaer Jovis gehaten hetol ðrymlic he afligde his faeder of þam fore raede igland Æ¿olde hine acþelle gif he him come to se Jovis þaes sua sþiðe gal ê§ he on his sÆ¿uster ge Æ¿ifode seo Æ¿aes gehaten Juno suiðe healic gyden heora dotra þaeron Minerva Venus þaforlag se faeder fullice buta manega his magan manlice geþemde þas manfullan men Æ¿aeron ê§a maerostan godas ðe ða haeðenan Æ¿orðoðon ac se sunu Æ¿aes sua ðeah suiðor ge Æ¿ordod ðon ðe faeder þaere on heora fulan bigenge se Jovis is ar þorðost ealra ðaera goda þe ða haeðenan haefdon on heora geddylde
But they armed with the power of God and not the Devil bearing a Silver cross before them for their Banner and the Image of our Lord and Saviour painted on a Table and singing Litanies prayed unto the Lord for the eternal salvation of themselves and of those for whose sakes and to whom they were come But when with the Kings leave sitting down they had preached the Word of life to him and to all his Nobles that were with him the King made Answer saying The words and promises which Ye have made are indeed fair but unto which as being new and uncertain I cannot suddenly yield my assent laying aside the Religion I have so long maintained with all the English Nation But because ye are strangers and come a great way and as it seems to me would impart to us the knowledge of things you believe the truest and best we will not in the least give you any molestation but rather courteously receive you and take care that all things necessary shall be provided for your maintenance neither do we prohibit but that ye may gain all ye can to the Faith of your Religion And accordingly he alotted them their residence in the City of Canterbury which was the Metropolis of all his Kingdom neither did he abridge them of the freedom of meeting of preaching or neglect their temporal provision It is reported that when they came nigh to the City after their manner with the holy Cross and the Image of the great King our Lord Jesus Christ with an agreeable-voice they sang this Litany We pray thee O Lord in thy mercy that thy sury may be turned away and thy Anger from this City and thy holy House because we have sinned Allelujah But when they came to the Dwellings provided for them they began to imitate the Apostolical life of the Primitive Church by applying themselves to continual prayers watchings and fastings to the preaching the Word of God to all that would hear them by despising all things of this World as superfluous and receiving only those things that were necessary for those they taught for their sustenance living exactly according to the Rules they taught others having a mind ready to suffer any Adversity even to die for the truth that they preached The success of which was some believed and were baptized admiting the simplicity of their innocent lives and the sweetness of their heavenly doctrine There was near this City towards the East a Church anciently built in honour of St. Martyn whilst the Romans inhabited Britain in which the Queen whom above we declared to have been a Christian was wont to pray In this therefore first they begun to assemble sing pray perform Mass preach and baptize until the King being converted to the Faith they obtained a greater liberty of Preaching every where and of building and repairing Churches But when he among the rest being delighted with the pure life of these Saints and their sweet Promises the truth of which they confirmed by shewing many Miracles believing was baptized many flocked in from all parts to hear the word and leaving the Rites of Heathenism joyned themselves to the unity of the holy Church of Christ at whose Faith and Conversion the King is reported so far to have congratulated as nevertheless not compels any to receive Christianity only those that believed he embraced with a nearer affection as fellow-Citizens with him of the heavenly Kingdom For he had learnt from the Teachers and Authors of his salvation that the service of Christ ought to be voluntary not constrained neither did he deser long but gave his Teachers places befitting their Degrees in his Metropolis of Canterbury and conferred upon them Possessions necessary in several kinds in the year of Christ 601. THE ANSWERS OF GREGORY TO THE QUESTIONS SENT BY AUGUSTINE The first Arch-Bishop of CANTERBURY For the better government of the new erected Church of English-Saxons Out of Bede's Hist. Ecclesiast lib. 1. cap. 27. IN the mean while Augustine the Man of God came to Arles and by Etherius Archbishop of the same City according to the Commands he received from the holy Father Gregory was ordained Archbishop of the English Returning therefore into Britain he sent immediately to Rome Lawrence the Priest and Peter the Monk to certifie Pope Gregory that the Christian Faith was received by the English and that he himself was made Bishop desiring also his opinion in certain Questions he thought necessary to be resolved in to all which he speedily received Answers proper to the Questions proposed which we thought fit here to insert into our History The first Question of Augustine Bishop of the Church of Canterbury Of Bishops how they should converse with their Clergy of those things that are presented to the Altar by the offerings of the Faithful how many portions there ought to be and how a Bishop ought to behave himself in the Church The Answer of Gregory Pope of the City of Rome How Bishops ought to act in the Church the Holy Scripture witnesses which you understand very well no doubt and especially the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy in which he endeavors to teach him how he ought to behave himself in the House of God And it was ever the custome of the Apostolick See to deliver Instructions to Bishops that were ordained that out of every thing that came to the Altar there ought to be made four divisions viz. One for the Bishop and his family for hospitality and entertainments the second for the Clergy the third for the Poor and the fourth for repairing Churches But because your Brotherhood is well skilled in the Orders of a Monastery you know nothing ought to be possest by the Clergy apart in your English Church which lately by God's grace is brought to the Faith it ought to imitate the Conversion which was used by our Fathers in the beginning of the Church among whom none said any thing was his of those things he possessed but all things were in common among them The second Question of Augustine I desire to be informed whether Pr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 able 〈◊〉 marry and if they shall marry whether they must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Question Bede hath not but joyne the following Answer to the first Question Sr. Hen. Spelman hath added in out of the Bath Edition An. 1518. The Answer of Gregory If there be any of the Clergy out of holy Orders that cannot contain they ought to provide themselves Wives and to receive their stipends from without because concerning those portions which we have spoken of before we know 't is written that 't was divided to every one as every one had need And indeed there ought some consideration and care to be had of their Stipends that they may be kept under Ecclesiastical Rules that they shew good Manners in their lives that they may be diligent in singing Psalms and that they keep by God's assistance their hearts tongues and bodies
King of Northumberland and Alnud slain by the Danes and Canonized for a Saint ETHELRED ETHELRED the Son of Mollo succeeded who having caused three of his Nobles Adwulf Kinwulf and Ecca to be treacherously slain he was driven out of his Kingdom by Edelbald and Herebert who overcame him in a set battel ELFWALD ELFWALD the Son of Oswulf succeeded a just and upright Prince yet not freed from civil Commotions for in his second year Osbald and Ethelheard two Earls raising an Army against him routed his general Bearn and pursuing burnt him at a place called Seletune Others relate that Siga was chief Conspirator and that the King was slain at Scilcester on the wall and his body buried at Hexam upon Tine Siggan five years after laid violent hands on himself Elfwald left Issue Alfus and Alfin both slain by Ethelred Son of Mollo OSRED OSRED the Son of Alcred succeeded and the same year was deposed and driven from his Kingdom ETHELRED ETHELRED Son of Mollo after twelve years banishment imprisonment saith Alkuin was restored again to the Crown having taken Osred his Predecessour he shaved his Crown and encloystered him at York next he draws by fair promises Alfus and Alfwin Sons of Elfwald from the place they had taken Sanctuary in and barbarously murthers them at a place called Wonwaldremere a Village by the great Pool in Lancashire now called Winandermer Nor was his following Reign less bloody for Osred who by force had been made a Monk not liking the life had desired Banishment and obtained it And going into the Isle of Man raises some small Forces by the encouragement of certain Northumbrian Nobility with whom he kept intelligence and who promised by oath to assist him in his return but coming into his Country he is basely betrayed and deliveren unto Ethelred who immediately put him to death To strengthen himself in these Violencies he marries Elfled the Daughter of Ossa putting away his former wife but he enjoyed not long his Cruelties and Injustice for he was slain by his own Subjects at Cobre in the year 798. After his death many petty Princes or Dukes rather seized the Kingdom dividing it into parcels much molested by the Danes who made continual Inroads into those as well as other quarters which shall be treated of in order in the life of Egbert the West-Saxon who laid this as well as other Provinces to his own Dominion THE KINGDOM OF THE East-ANGLES Contained Counties Suffolk Norfolk Cambridgshire Isle of Ely KINGS Uffa Titulus Redwald Earpenwald Sigebert Egric Anna. Ethelherd Edelwald Aldulf Elswold Beorn Ethelred Egilbert UFFA TITULUS THE name of this Province testifieth what Nation they were who seated themselves in it to wit the Angles a People of Denmark of the same stock and Original with the Saxons who coming some of them with Hengist others with other Captains chose at length these quarters as the principal Rendezvous of their particular Tribe whither they flocked so fast that as Bede reporteth their Native Country in his daies was left almost desolate and uninhabitable The first time of their fixing in these parts is uncertainly guessed at but with most probability supposed about the year 500 when coming over in several parcels saith Bede they were divided into as many Principalities and petty Governments continually striving among themselves as they had leasure and rest from the Common enemy But about the year 575 UFFA the eighth from Woden in strength and policy overpowered the rest and either quelling or uniting different factions moulded the several Lordships into one Crown which he wore with great honour leaving his name to his Subjects many years after called Uffins and his Scepter to his Son TITULUS who upheld the greatness of it during his whole Reign with equal glory but the particulars of his life and actions are utterly lost and had not the lustre of his Son and Successour redeemed his Name from oblivion he might well have been left out in the Catalogue of Kings And this is the reason I shall begin the date of this Kingdom from Redwald his Son who raised it to the highest glory and made its Infancy more illustrious than its riper years And this is to be said of this Province above others that in its first appearance in History we find it in its full proportions though they not so great as of other Kingdoms REDWALD REDWALD the Son of Titulus came to the Kingdom about the year 593. In this first beginnings he was Tributary to Ethelbert King of Kent and served him as a Vice-Roy over all his Dominions by which means he gained experience in Government and after the death of that Potent King so managed his business that he became Monarch of the English-men and had all his Neighbours at his disposal The great Scene of his life which raised him to extent of dominion and reputation in the World was his encounter with Edilfrid the Wild a mighty Conquequerour and who had stretched his Dominions from Sea to Sea Him Redwald in the height of his glory and the pride of Victory undertakes in the quarrel of Edwin as hath been related in the life of that Prince and overthrows with his whole Host at the River Idle near Nottingham after which he marched into Northumberland where having established Edwin in his Throne he returns into his own Country loaden with Honour leaving the World to admire his Moderation and Justice as well Conduct and Valour He had formerly been Baptized in Kent but it seems more in compliance to Ethelbert than that he was really perswaded of the truth of that Religion For returning into his own Country by the perswasions of his Wife he was easily brought to his old Idolatry but fearing perhaps that the Christian Faith might prove true he was not willing wholly to reject either so that to be sure on one side or other he crected in the same Temple an Altar for the service of Christ and another for burnt Sacrifices to his Idols This Prince kept his usual Court of residence at Rendelisham nigh Ufford in Suffolk and as Bede interpreteth the word Rendelisham it is nothing but Rendil's Mansion place that is saith Mr. Cambden Redwald's Court. EARPENWALD EARPENWALD the Son of Redwald succeeded him in the Kingdom and by the perswasions of Edwin King of Northumberland openly professed the Christian Religion which his Father would not own but by halves but he not long survived his Conversion for he was slain by Ricbert a Pagan He had been baptized by Foelix a Bishop a Burgundian by Nation whom Honorius Archbishop of Canterbury sent into the Province to teach the Nation who held his Seat at a place called Dommoc now Dunwick a Town well peopled even to the Conquerours daies and long after much frequented and strongly fortified till upon the removal of the Bishop's Seat and the breaking in of the Sea it became almost desolate SIGEBERT SIGEBERT succeeded in the