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T)  ..  J 

BR  742  .F8  1837  v.l 
Fuller,  Thomas,  1608- 
The  church  history  of 
Britain 

1661. 

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THE 


CHURCH  HISTORY  OF   BRITAIN, 


THE  BIRTH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 


THE  YEAR  MDCXLVIII. 


ENDEAVOURED 

BY  THOMAS  FULLER,  D.D., 

PREBENDARY  OF  SARUM,  &c  &c. 

AUTHOR    OF    "THE    WORTHIES    OF    ENGLAND,"    "THE    HOLY    STATE,"    "THE 

HISTORY  OF  THE  HOLY  WAR,"   "  PISGAH  SIGHT  OF  PALESTINE," 

"  ABEL  REDIVIVUS,"  &c.  &c. 


A  NEW  EDITION.  , 

WITH    THE   author's    CORRECTIONS. 

IN  THREE  VOLUMES. 
VOL.  I. 

LONDON: 

PRINTED  FOR  THOMAS  TEGG  AND  SON,  73,  CHEAPSIDE; 

R.    GRIFFIN    AND    CO.,    GLASGOW; 

TEGG  AND  CO.,  DUBLIN: 

ALSO,  J.  AND  S,  A.  TEGG,  SYDNEY  AND  HOBART  TOWN. 

18^7. 


London  :— Pmted  by  James  Nichols,  46,  Hoxton-sqtiare. 


TO  THE  READER.  ..  .^ 


f^*#>. 


An  ingenious  gentleman  some  months  since  in  jest- 
earnest  advised  me  to  make  haste  with  my  History  of 
the  church  of  England ;  "  for  fear,"  said  he,  "  lest  the 
church  of  England  be  ended  before  the  History 
thereof." 

This  History  is  now,  though  late,  (all  church-work 
is  slow,)  brought  with  much  difficulty  to  an  end. 

And,  blessed  be  God !  the  church  of  England  is  still 
(and  long  may  it  be)  in  being,  though  disturbed, 
distempered,  distracted.  God  help  and  heal  her  most 
sad  condition  ! 

The  three  first  books  of  this  volume  were  for  the 
main  written  in  the  reign  of  the  late  king,  as  appeareth 
by  the  passages  then  proper  for  the  government.  The 
other  nine  books  we  made  since  moiiayxhy  was  turned 
into  a  state. 

May  God  alone  have  the  glory,  and  the  ingenuous 
reader  the  benefit,  of  my  endeavours  !  which  is  the 
hearty  desire  of 

Thy  servant  in  Jesus  Christ, 

Thomas  Fuller. 

From  my  Chamber  in  Sw7i  College. 


THE  EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


In  submitting  to  tlie  public  an  account  of  the  principles  on  which 
the  publication  of  this  edition  of  Fuller's  "  Church  History" 
has  been  conducted,  I  am  but  performing  a  duty  which  for  nearly 
thirty  years  I  have  imposed  upon  myself  as  a  matter  of  conscience, 
in  all  cases  in  which  any  literary  responsibility  has  rested  on  me 
alone  ;  and  the  avowal  of  my  extreme  reluctance  to  alter  or  re- 
construct the  works  of  other  men,  has  always  been  received  with 
courtesy,  and  obtained  general  credence  and  approval. 

In  the  present  work  I  have  not  altered  the  construction  of  a 
single  sentence  ;  though  some  entire  paragraphs,  evidently  written  in 
haste,  were  not  formed  on  the  best  or  most  exact  models.  The 
punctuation,  on  the  whole,  was  so  excellent,  that  I  have  seldom  seen 
cause  for  any  substitution.  In  the  many  thousand  proper  names  of 
men,  cities,  and  countries,  the  spelling  of  which  was  usually  uncouth, 
defective,  and  variable,  I  have  followed,  as  nearly  as  possible,  modern 
nsage :  la  the  early  British,  Danish,  and  Saxon  names,  I  have 
commonly  adopted  the  orthography  of  Tindal  in  his  translation  of 
Rapin  ;  while,  in  the  names  of  churchmen,  the  accurate  Le  Neve 
has  been  my  principal  guide.  In  those  instances  in  which  a  single 
letter  too  much  or  too  little  had  been  employed,  and  in  which  the 
best  authorities  are  somewhat  at  variance,  I  have  usually  suf- 
fered the  words  to  remain  as  they  were  written  by  the  author. 
Thus,  the  Popish  biographer  Pits  has  his  name  occasionally  Latin- 
ized as  Pitseus,  and  in  other  places,  more  in  accordance  with 
analogy,  Pitzccus ;  and  Parsons  the  Jesuit,  in  the  titles  of  his  own 
books,  often  assumes  the  name  of  Persons.  On  all  these  points, 
and  on  others,  on  which,  for  my  own  credit"'s  sake  as  a  printer,  I 
have  bestowed  much  (often'  ill-appreciated)  labour,  I  claim  the 
indulgent  forbearance  of  those  who  may  discover  any  stray  fault  or 
(previously)  undetected  error. 

I  here  subjoin  a  list  of  such  words  as  I  have  changed  for  others, 
their  cognates  in  meaning  and  derivation : — 

j4bbathie  into  abbacy  ;  acception,  acceptation  ;  advotitry,  adultery ;  aferde,  afraid  ; 
akes,  acbes ;  alariimed,  alarmed  ',  almorie,  almonry ;  ambuling,  ambUag  ;  Anglized, 
Anglicized  ;  appale,  appal ;  appliable,  applicable  ;  apprentiship,  apprenticesbip ;  armadu, 
armada  5  assistance,  assistants  ;  astonied,  astonished. 

Bailie,  h&ii&S;  iarrefer*,  barristers  ;  begrutch,  hegswAge  ;  fie^Aroro,  beshrew  ;  biskets, 
biscuits  ;  breve,  brief ;  bucksome,  bnxom. 

Caption,  captiousness  ;  carvil,  carving;  ceased  on,  seized  on;  chain  ie,  chaiy ; 
champion,  cbampaign ;  ehantery  priests,  chanter  priests ;   chirurgeon,   snrgeon  ;  chode, 

Vol.  I.  a 


n  EDITOR  S    PREFACE. 

cliidden  ;  coarse,  coi-pse  ;   dint,  clincli ;  commune,  common  ;  consort,  concert  ;  coTrasive, 
coiTOsive  ;  conmrdness,  cowardliness  ;  cranie.  cranny  ;  o-eeple,  cripple. 

Damosell,  damsel;  deceipts,  deceits  ;  demeans,  domains,  demesnes  ;  desptght,  despite  5 
dirige,  dirge  ;  diurnal,  journal. 

Epigravmiist,  epigrammatist ;  extevipory,  extemporary. 

Pained,  iti\gneA.;flea,  to  flay  ^floiuen,  flown  ^fornace,  furnace  ;  forthward,  forward. 

Gantlop,  gantlet ;  gate,  gait ;  gauled,  galled ;  gentile,  genteel,  gentle  ;  girting,  girding ; 
granat,  garnet ;  grutch,  grudge. 

Harraged,  harassed  ;  heremite,  hermit ;  heratiUs,  heralds  ;  higheth,  hieth  ;  haggard^ 
hog-herd ;  hospital,  hospitable  ;  hollow,  haUoo;  hurted,  did  hurt  ;  husirife,  housewife, 

/,  ay  ;•  ilcs,  aisles  ;  iiiipe,  imp  ;  immergent ,  emergent  5  impatible,  impassible  ;  impos- 
tonrie,  imposture;  influent,  infliiential ;  ingenious,  m^nwiMws,  et  vice  versa  ;  intituleth, 
eutitlpth  ;  intrado,  entrata. 

Jcat,  jet  ;  justicer,  a  justice. 

Kembed,  combed  ;  kephalical,  cephalical ;  knoivn  in,  knowing  in. 

Lagge,  lag  ;  lanthorn,  lantern  ;  lay,  lie  ;  Ueger-book,  ledger-book. 

Margent,  margin ;  marish,  marsh  ;  metal,  mettle  ;  Tnistris,  mistress  ;  moe,  more  J 
inoneths,  months  ;  muting,  mutinying. 

Neb,  nib  ;  nother,  neither  ;  nouzlcd,  nm-sed. 

Paradoxal,  paradoxical;  paramore,  paramour;  paunage,  pannage;  phansie,  fancy  j 
pregagcd,  pre-engaged  ;  prolling,  prowling  ;  pullein,  poultry ;  pursevant,  pursuivant  j 
pustle,  pustule. 

Quire,  choir. 

Rampairing,  rampiring ;  redoub,  redouble ;  redown,  redoimd ;  rode,  rood  ;  Romized, 
Romanized  ;  roomthyer,  roomier  ;  mffin,  ruffian  ;  rythmer,  rhymester. 

Salvages,  savages ;  satyres,  satyrs ;  scallcd  head,  scald  head  ;  scar,  scare ;  scitcd, 
situated  ;  serued,  screwed  ;  sensing,  censing  ;  servial,  servile;  shewen,  shown  ;  shiprack, 
shipwreck ;  shrodely,  shi-ewdly ;  shuffing,  shoving  ;  sithence,  since  ;  sir-loyne,  sir-loin  j 
slcnting,  slanting ;  slovenness,  slovenliness ;  sodain,  sudden ;  sodometry,  sodomy  ; 
sometimes,  some  time  ;  southsayers,  soothsayers;  sotene,  swoon;  spate-bone,  spade-bone; 
strick,  (the  preterite,)  struck,  stricken ;  straightly,  straitly ;  stratved,  strewed  ;  stroke, 
strook,  struck  ;  succours,  slickers  ;  sum7iers,  summoners  ;  synonymas,  synonymous  ; 
sprongen,  spnmg  ;  sungen,  simg. 

Teastie,     testy ;    tenents,    tenets ;     theji,    than ;    throughly,    thoroughly  ;   thorotvoiit, 
throughout ;  tole,  toll ;  tunder,  tinder  ;  tyring-house,  tiring-house. 
Under standeti,  understanded,  understood ;  upholster,  upholsterer. 

Vastel-bread,  vsastel-bread ;  van-currier,  avant-comier ;  velame,  vellum;  vicaridges, 
vicarages  ;  vindicative,  vindictive. 

JFagary,  waggery  ;  tvrack,  to  rack  (stretch)  ;  wrastle,  WTestle  ;  wrccht,  wreaked  j 
to  luete,  to  wit. 

I  also  subjoin  a  collection  of  the,  principal  words,  Avliicli,  for 
various  reasons,  I  have  retained,  though  they  are  seldom  employed 
in  modern  writing  : — 

Abrood,  (brooding,)  accomptant,  adulced,  advoke,  alonely,  amatorious,  apostated, 
apprecation,  approprying,  three  a-clock,  arreared,  (erected,)  attaintiu-e,  authenticness, 
avowance.  Beholding,  (this  word  Fuller  uses  after  the  manner  of  a  Greek  aorist  tense, 
for  /  am  now  and  always  beholden,)  to  bemad,  besteaded,  as  the  preterite  of  bestead, 
Black-Moor.  Chequered,  cheveril,  (flexible,)  chops,  (exchanges,)  co-arctated,  compt, 
complices,  convened,  coparceny,  cor-rivality,  curtallize.  Decession,  decoring,  (adorning,) 
defalk,  detectable,  discede,  disherison,  disorderliness,  duncical,  to  depart  with,  (to 
2}art  with  power,)  to  delate,  dunted.  Eftsoons,  embarren,  enseahng,  evangel,  exornations, 
exscribe,  extii-p-     Farced,  (stuffed,)  to  fend,  flew  in  fitters,  (in  fritters,)  frank- almonage, 

•  This  occurs  but  once,  vol,  iii.  p.  52,  line  2. 


EDITOR  S    rilEFACK.  Ill 

Ciged,*  the  glngles,  gingling,  gremials,  gree,  giipple.  Harry,  (harass,)  hiike.  luculked, 
impostresses,  (female  impostors,)  hupostris,  mfamed,  innodated,  Jocnlai-y.  Kin,  as  an 
adjective.  Lapped,  lashing  out,  licoiirish,  liegeanee,  lieger,  longsomeness,  loohily. 
Minutary,  (momentary,)  misoclere,  (a  hater  of  the  Clergy,)  mortisation,  mumming. 
Ne,  nimiety,  nimmed,  nustled.  Orderable.  Palliate,  (as  an  adjective,)  plausihlelize, 
posthume,  postposing,  postposed,  (placed  after,)  precedential,  predie,  proprietj',  (as 
property,)  privado,  prorentions,  piiblickness,  pursy.  Rampires,  torap,  to  rape,  rashed  iip, 
renderable,  renting  (rending),  restauration.  Sacring,  (consecrating,)  to  sag  aside, 
(shake,  stagger,)  sewer,  (a  serving-man,)  shent,  shive,  (a  slice,)  sliiver,  siftener,  skrine, 
snibbed,  sopiting,  spinster,  (one  who  spins,)  squeasy,  a  stale,  stayedness,  supportation. 
Tailed,  (fined,)  tang,  toUed  out,  (decoyed,)  tomring,  tottad,  triudiUs.  Ure.  Volant. 
Winched. 

Nearly  one-third  portion  of  the  words  in  both  these  lists  occur  in 
public  documents,  or  in  extracts  from  early  authors,  wlio  flourished 
prior  to  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century.  For  the 
remaining  two-thirds  Fuller  is  himself  accountable  :  yet  even  these 
he  does  not  uniformly  write  as  they  are  here  exhibited,  but  he 
occasionally  differs  from  himself,  in  better  accordance  with  modern 
usage.  A  few  of  these  words  may  be  considered  as  mere  misprints  ; 
and  of  other  obsolete  words  (such  as  predie,  mumming,  tomring, 
tottad)  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  give  the  correct  interpretation, 
by  comparison  of  similar  phraseology  in  contemporary  writings,  were 
not  such  an  occupation  rather  the  office  of  a  professed  lexicographer, 
than  of  an  unassuming  editor,  who,  currente  calamo,  may  be  allowed 
occasionally  to  throw  out  some  of  those  remarks  which  naturally 
suggest  themselves  in  the  course  of  his  professional  reading. 

It  is  the  imperative  duty  of  every  one  concerned  in  the  republica- 
tion of  any  of  our  standard  old  authors,  to  retain  as  many  of  the 
sterling  English  words,  whether  of  Saxon  or  Latin  extraction,  as  can  be 
understood  without  much  difficulty  by  general  readers,  and  to  give  an 
honest  account  of  all  such  slight  alterations  made  in  others  as  are 
deemed  necessary.  Among  the  educated  portion  of  the  community  a 
strong  and  laudable  desire  exists  to  investigate  the  original  sources 
and  ancient  construction  of  our  language,  and  to  trace  the  various 
changes  which  it  has  subsequently  undergone  :  to  such  persons  these 
lists  furnish  the  proper  materials  for  that  useful  and  interesting  study. 

The  passive  participle  I  have  commonly  found  to  be  accurately 
formed ;  took  is  the  principal  exception,  which  I  have  uniformly 
changed  into  taken.  The  genitive  case  of  nouns  was,  in  many  pas- 
sages, constructed  on  the  clumsy  plan  of  circumlocution  which, 
more  than  a  century  ago,  became  obsolete,  and  which  I  have  in  this 
work  always  discarded.  Thus,  for  such  phraseology  as  "  the  end  of 
king  James  his  reign,,''''  I  have  substituted  "  the  end  of  king  James''s 
reignP     The  author  always  employs  corpse  as  a  plural  noun  when- 

*  This  word  occurs  only  once,  vol.  ii.  p.  113  ;  and  its  signification  cannot  easily  be 
determined,  though  it  seems  to  bear  that  oi  cngcif/ed,  as  "  induced,  drawn  away,"  &c. 

a  2 


IV  •  ri)iToii  s  preface:. 

ever  it  signifies  "  a  dead  body."  On  three  occasions  lie  has  used 
this  mode  of  address,  "  Mr.  Huis,  esquire ; ""  which,  being  peculiar 
to  an  age  anterior  to  his,  I  have  here  preserved. 

My  reluctance  to  engage  in  alterations,  how  plausible  soever  they 
may  at  first  appear,  will  be  seen  in  my  retaining  such  words  as 
"  under-towers,"  which,  in  connection  with  "  towed,"  occurs  in  vol. 
iii.  page  102,  as  the  interpretation  of  uTn^psrai  ;  though  my  classical 
recollections  do  not  afford  a  single  example  of  that  Greek  word,  or 
its  cognates,  designating  toicing-jiaths  or  the  act  oftoicing,  as  used  by 
the  ancients  ;  and  though  the  same  word  is  found  in  a  subsequent 
page,  (vol.  iii.  p.  308,)  bearing  its  legitimate  meaning  of  under-7'Oii'ers. 
— I  have  also  preserved  the  curious  phrase,  "  on  the  brink  of  the 
brink  of  the  precipice,"  (vol.  i.  p.  198,)  and  similar  expressions,  which 
in  any  other  writer  I  should  have  considered  as  useless  tautology, 
or  an  error  of  the  press.  But,  entertaining  a  fear  lest  some  very 
recondite  wit  might  be  concealed  from  common  observation  under 
such  phrases,  I  have  allowed  them  to  hold  their  accustomed  station 
in  the  text. — In  a  note,  (vol.  iii.  page  458,)  the  word  semnably  is 
found,  quoted  from  Fuller's  "  Appeal  of  injured  Innocence."  I 
have  not  altered  it ;  for  though,  at  the  first  glance,  it  may  appear  to 
be  a  misprint  for  semhlahly^  yet  I  considered,  as  one  of  the  newly- 
coined  words,  of  which  our  lively  author  was  no  slight  contributor 
into  the  common  treasury  of  that  age,  semnahly  might  claim  quite 
as  plausible  an  origin  as  many  others,  from  the  Greek  adverb 
(r£[xvuig,  "  solemnly,"  "  with  all  gravity." 

In  certain  rare  instances  of  defective  composition,  I  have  ventured 
to  add  a  single  explanatory  word  ;  but  the  reader  will  always  find  it 
distinguished  from  the  text  by  its  enclosure  within  crotchets  [thus]. 
The  twenty-five  passages  which  Fuller  specified  as  errata,  at  the 
close  of  his  "  History,"  are  here  corrected ;  as  well  as  nearly  the 
same  number,  pointed  out  in  his  "  Appeal,"  as  acknoAvledged 
errors.  Of  the  copies  of  his  "  Church  History"  which  I  have  used 
in  this  reprint,  one  proves  to  be  what  he  calls  "  an  amended  copy ;" 
that  is,  it  contains  about  twenty  of  his  additional  emendations, 
which,  on  comparing  the  corresponding  pages  of  the  two  editions 
with  each  other,  bear  evidence  of  having  been  made  while  the  several 
sheets  in  which  they  occur  were  at  press,  and  before  the  whole  im- 
pression was  completed.  Had  I  collected  from  his  "  Worthies  " 
the  many  corrections  which  he  wishes  to  be  made  in  this  "  History," 
I  should  have  expended  my  labour  to  no  good  purpose  ;  as  those  who 
peruse  that  posthumous  work  would  thus  have  been  deprived  of  half 
of  that  charm  which  Fuller  imparts,  by  the  witty  and  original 
method  of  varying  his  notes  when  singing  his  own  peccavi. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  work,  I  must  confess,  that,  were  I  called 
vipon  to  superintend  the  printing  of  another  edition,  I  should  con- 


EDITOR  S    PREFACE.  ▼ 

slder  it  my  duty,  after  giving  due  notice  of  it  in  tlie  preface,  to  sub- 
stitute the  relative  who  or  that^  for  "  which  "  when  applied  to  per- 
sons ;  though  the  almost  indiscriminate  use  of  all  the  three  relatives 
in  such  application  was  the  common  practice  of  that  age.  Another 
alteration  also  I  should  conceive  it  to  be  a  part  of  my  duty  to  effect ; 
— by  preventing  this  generally  very  correct  writer  from  transgressing 
the  rules  of  grammar,  especially  in  his  hasty  mode  of  yoking  a  verb 
in  the  singular  number  with  two  or  more  nouns  in  the  nominative 
case.  In  these  two  particulars  I  should  be  borne  out  by  the 
sanction  of  the  author  himself,  who,  in  his  Appeal  of  injured  Inno- 
cence^ observes  : — "  All  faults  committed  are  not  discovered.  All 
faults  which  are  discovered  are  not  confessed.  Such  as  the  printer 
deemeth  small  he  leaveth  to  be  amended  by  the  direction  of  the 
sense,  and  discretion  of  the  reader,  according  to  the  common  speech, 
that  the  reader  ought  to  be  better  than  his  bookT 

Of  notes,  in  elucidation  or  correction  of  the  text,  I  have  been  very 
sparing.  Had  I  subjoined  them  to  every  passage  which  I  deemed  to 
be  incorrect,  the  work  would  have  been  extended  to  an  inconvenient 
size,  without  any  corresponding  advantage  to  the  reader.  Burnet 
and  Strype  have  pointed  out  several  inaccuracies  ;  the  latter  espe- 
cially, who  lived  in  times  of  greater  tranquillity,  has  collated  some  of 
those  public  documents  which  first  appeared  in  Fuller,  and  freed 
them  from  the  faults  which  must  always  attach  to  a  hurried  perusal 
and  a  hasty  transcription  ; — the  circumscribed  leisure  and  flitting  op- 
portunities of  our  author  having  prevented  him  from  bestowing  the 
care  and  caution  which  in  such  cases  are  indispensable  requisites. 
To  me,  indeed,  the  matter  of  highest  wonder  is,  that  the  points  are, 
comparatively,  so  few  on  which  subsequent  historians  show  him  to 
have  been  mistaken  :  and,  after  all  the  collateral  aids  which  he 
received,  I  give  him  full  credit  for  that  compass  and  strength  of 
memory  for  which  he  is  celebrated  in  English  story,  and.  which  in 
this  extensive  work  must  have  been  severely  taxed.  One  excellence 
I  claim  as  distinguishing  my  own  thinly-sprinkled  annotations, — 
that,  strongly  expressed  as  my  private  opinions  have  formerly  been 
on  many  affairs  connected  with  Church  and  State,  which  yet  I  have 
found  little  reason  to  retract  or  modify,  the  world  will  here  discover 
no  traces  of  them  ;  but  I  have  left  Fuller  completely  at  liberty  to 
give  his  own  version  of  doctrines,  ceremonies,  and  public  occurrences, 
and  to  reason  on  them  from  his  own  principles.  We  are  plentifully 
furnished  with  other  conflicting  views  and  arguments  on  the  same  sub- 
jects ;  and  every  man  of  ordinary  intelligence  is  philosopher  enough 
to  know,  that  by  an  impartial  investigation  of  these  contradictory 
data^  truth  is  frequently  elicited,  and  arrant  falsehood  exposed. 

In  the  preceding  Address  to  the  Reader,  the  author  informs  us, 
that  the  first  three  books  of  his  Chiu'ch  History  were,  "  for  the  main, 


VI  EDITORS    PREFACE. 

written  in  the  reign  of  the  late  king.  [Charles  I.]  The  other  nifie 
we  made  since  Monarchy  was  turned  into  a  State."" — Ticehe 
books  are  here  enumerated,  while  only  eleven  will  be  found  in  the 
present  edition ;  but  those  who  purchase  and  peruse  these  three 
volumes,  Avhen  taught  to  reckon  "the  History  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge  "  as  the  twelfth  book,  will  be  inclined  to  defer  to  the 
judgment  which  bishop  Nicoison  thus  reluctantly  pronounces : 
"  Thomas  Fuller  was  pleased  to  annex  his  Jlistoty  of  the  Unhersitii 
of  Cambridge  to  that  of  the  Churches  of  Great  Britain  ;  and  most 
peojyle  think  they  ought  not  to  be  separated^  *  In  composing  his 
Church  History,  he  adopted  the  plan  of  recording  in  chronological 
order  the  founders,  benefactors,  and  celebrated  men  of  the  various 
colleges  in  Oxford  ;  and  repeatedly  directs  his  readers  to  his  History 
of  Cambridge  for  the  corresponding  information  respecting  the  foun- 
dations, benefactions,  and  eminent  persons  of  the  latter  University, 
of  which  he  was  himself  a  member ;  and  to  his  alma  mater  he 
proved  to  be  a  dutiful  son,  rendering  to  her  all  due  honour  and 
respect. 

But  this  Church  History  cannot  be  considered  complete  until 
Fuller's  ''•  Appeal  of  injured  Innocence  "  is  joined  with  it  as  the 
thirteenth  book.  It  is  a  folio  volume,  comprising  280  closely-printed 
pages,  and  its  entire  title  is:  "  The  Appeal  of  injured  Innocence,  unto 
the  religious,  learned,  and  ingenuous  Reader  ;  in  a  Controversy  be- 
twixt the  Animadvertor  Dr.  Peter  Heylin,  and  the  Author  Thomas 
Fuller."  It  was  published  in  the  year  prior  to  the  Restoration  ; 
and  in  it  the  multifarious  acquirements  and  wonderful  intellectual 
resources  of  Fuller  are  displayed  to  better  advantage,  perhaps,  than 
in  any  or  all  of  his  former  productions.  Highly  as  I  am  reputed  to 
venerate  his  antagonist,  Peter  Heylin,  that  staunch  and  sturdy 
royalist,  I  feel  no  hesitation  in  pronouncing  Fuller  the  victor  in  this 
contest ;  not  only  from  the  general  justness  of  his  cause,  but  also  for 
that  which  exalts  him  as  a  man  and  a  Christian — his  playful  wit, 
ingenuous  candour,  almost  unfailing  good-humour,  and  remarkable 
moderation.  The  "  Appeal  "  is  known  to  very  few  of  our  ecclesias- 
tical historians  ;  though,  as  a  regular  and  clever  reply  to  Heylin''s 
severe  and  discursive  Examen  Historicum^  it  incidentally  affords  a 
multitude  of  curious  historical  illustrations,  especially  in  reference  to 
those  eventful  times  in  which  both  of  them  had  been  sufferers. 

In  the  preface  to  the  proposed  additional  volume,  comprising 
the  "  History  of  Cambridge,"  and  the  "  Appeal,"  I  shall  offer 
some  remarks  on  bishop  Nicolson's  satirical  exposure  of  our 
author,  to  several  parts  of  which  I  cannot  subscribe ;  but,  in 
passing,  I  take  particular  exceptions  against  that  which  represents 

*  English  lliitorical  Lilrarj/^-^.  15 J.  Secujid  Eelitioa.  1/1  J. 


EDITOR  S    PREFACE.  Vll 

Fuller  eager  in  Lis  pursuit  of  drollery,*  "  witliout  staying  to  inquire 
■whether  a  pretty  story  have  any  foundation  in  truth  or  not."  On 
the  contrary,  I  have  uniformly  found  him  to  be  tenacious  in  ascer- 
taining the  truth  of  the  facts  which  he  narrates,  and  pouring  floods 
of  ridicule  upon  such  as  were  deficient  in  that  essential  qualification. 
As  to  the  drollery  and  witticisms  with  which  the  work  abounds, 
such  a  style  of  writing  ecclesiastical  history  is  at  first  sight  some- 
what startling,  and  repugnant  to  the  ideas  which  are  usually  enter- 
tained concerning  the  appropriate  gravity  of  the  Historic  Muse  ; 
and  yet,  whether  viewed  as  natural,  or  assumed  for  the  occasion,  its 
effect  on  that  age  was  most  admirable.  Palled  and  perverted  as  the 
public  taste  had  become,  through  the  bitter  and  (in  many  instances) 
gloomy  writings  of  contending  parties  in  politics  and  religion  during 
the  preceding  fifteen  years,  I  doubt  whether  the  people  would  have 
endured  any  narrative  of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  especially  of  those 
which  so  nearly  concerned  that  generation,  in  a  strain  more  stately 
and  dignified  than  that  which  is  here  employed.  The  honest  and 
witty  Tom  Fuller  may  seem  to  have  procured,  from  "the  powers  which 
then  were,"  a  roving  license  or  dispensation  ;  and  was  permitted  to 
give  utterance  to  some  strong  sentiments,  which  less-favoured  indi- 
viduals durst  scarcely  ow^n  to  have  found  a  lodgment  within  their 
breasts.  Natural  strokes  of  humour  are  of  perpetual  recurrence, 
the  allusions  in  which  occasionally  amount  to  the  most  stringent 
sarcasm  ;  and  when  applied  (apparently  at  hap-hazard)  to  the  crying 
enormities  of  those  times,  inculcated  great  moral  lessons,  which, 
though  capable  (in  our  view)  of  being  less  exceptionably  conveyed, 
would  not  then  have  been  so  graciously  received. 

At  the  close  of  his  long  objurgation,  however,  the  good  bishop 
evinces  an  inclination  to  soften  some  of  his  sweeping  censures  on 
the  author  of  this  Church  History  : — "  If  it  were  possible  to  refine 
it  well,  the  work  w^ould  be  of  good  use ;  since  there  are  in  it  some 
things  of  moment,  hardly  to  be  had  elsewhere,  which  may  often 
illustrate  dark  passages  in  more  serious  writers.  These  are  not  to 
be  despised,  where  his  authorities  are  cited  and  appear  credible." 

The  subjoined  brief  and  fair  description  of  Fuller's  principal 
works  is  copied  from  Winstanley's  England''s  Worthies: — 
"  His  writings  are  very  facetious,  and  (where  he  is  careful)  judicious. 
His  Pisgah  Sight  is  the  exactest ;  his  Holy   War  mid  State^  the 

•  The  same  levity  of  expression  and  indiscriminate  dashes  of  wit  were  pointed  out 
to  him  b}'  Heylin  as  culpable  blemishes;  who  in  this  respect  was  himself  an  offender  in 
kind,  though  not  in  degree.  But  Fuller  seems  to  have  been  so  utterl)'  imconscious  of 
any  exuberance  of  broad  humour  -nithin  his  breast,  as  to  repel  the  charge,  and  challenge 
his  adversary,  in  the  following  style  : — "  But  let  him  at  leisure  produce  the  most  light 
and  ludicrous  story  in  aU  my  book,  and  here  I  stand  ready  to  parallel  it  with  as  light 
(I  will  not  say  in  the  Animadvertor,  but)  in  as  grave  authors  as  ever  put  pen  to  paper." 
— Appeal  of  injured  Innocence, 


ym  EDITORS    rUEFACE. 

wittiest ;  his  Church  History^  the  unhappiest, — written  in  such  a 
time  when  he  could  not  do  the  truth  right  with  safety,  nor  Avrong  it 
with  honour  ;  and  his  Worthies,  not  finished  at  his  death,  the  most 
imperfect.  As  for  his  other  works,  he  that  shall  but  read  Fulleii*'s 
name  unto  them  will  not  think  them  otherwise  but  U'oriliy  of  that 
2)raise  and  respect  which  the  whole  nation  afforded  unto  the  author.'''' 
This  commendation  is  noble,  but  well  deserved ;  and  is  the  more 
valuable,  coming  as  it  does  from  one  who  accounted  himself  a  High- 
Churchman,  and  Fuller  a  low  one.  The  remark  respecting  the 
difficulty  under  which  he  laboured  to  "  do  the  truth  right,""  is  man- 
fully met  by  Fuller  himself  in  the  following  passage  and  others  in 
his  Appeal : — "  I  did  not  attemper  my  History  to  the  palate  of  the 
government,  so  as  to  sweeten  it  with  any  falsehood  ;  but  I  made  it 
palatable  thus  far  forth  as  not  to  give  a  wilful  disgust  to  those  in 
present  power,  and  procure  danger  to  myself  by  using  any  over-salt, 
tart,  or  bitter  expression^ — better  forborne  than  inserted,  Avithout 
any  prejudice  to  the  truth." 

What  higher  praise  was  ever  bestowed  on  any  of  our  old  authors, 
by  one  capable  of  forming  a  correct  judgment,  than  the  following 
eloquent  effusion,  warm  from  the  generous  heart  of  the  lamented 
Samuel  Tavlor  Coleridge  ?  It  is  a  note  written  with  his  own 
hand,  at  the  end  of  his  copy  of  the  Church  History,  and  very  appro- 
priately forms  a  part  of  his  interesting  Literary  Remains. 

"  Next  to  Shakspeare  I  am  not  certain  whether  Thomas  Fuller, 
beyond  all  other  writers,  does  not  excite  in  me  the  sense  and  emotion 
of  the  marvellous ; — the  degree  in  which  any  given  faculty  or 
combination  of  faculties  is  possessed  and  manifested,  so  far  sur- 
passing what  one  would  have  thought  possible  in  a  single  mind,  as 
to  give  one''s  admiration  the  flavour  and  quality  of  wonder  !  Wit 
was  the  stuff  and  substance  of  Fuller's  intellect.  It  was  the  element, 
the  earthen  base,  the  material  which  he  Avorked  in  ;  and  this  very 
circumstance  has  defrauded  him  of  his  due  praise  for  the  practical 
Avisdom  of  the  thoughts,  for  the  beauty  and  variety  of  the  truths, 
into  which  he  shaped  the  stuff.  Fuller  was  incomparably  the  most 
sensible,  the  least  prejudiced,  great  man  of  an  age  that  boasted  a 
galaxy  of  great  men.  He  is  a  very  voluminous  Avriter,  and  yet,  in 
all  his  numerous  volumes  on  so  many  different  subjects,  it  is  scarcely 
too  much  to  say,  that  you  will  hardly  find  a  page  in  Avhich  some  one 
sentence  out  of  every  three  does  not  deserve  to  be  quoted  for  itself 
as  motto  or  as  maxim." 

To  offer  any  criticism  in  abatement  of  this  just  encomium  would, 
I  feel,  be  useless  verbiage :  I  leave  it,  therefore,  as  the  best  intro- 
duction to  the  perusal  of  my  author. 

46,  Hoxtox-Square,  JAMES  NICHOLS. 

October  im,  I8.37. 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK  I. 
SECTION  I.     CENTURY  I. 

A.D.  37—76. 

The  doleful  case  of  the  Pagan  Britons — Their  principal  idols — The  office 
and  employment  of  the  Druids — The  powerful  practices  of  the  bards 
on  the  people — The  first  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  Britain — Causes 
which  hastened  the  conversion  of  Britain,  before  other  kingdoms 
which  lay  nearer  to  Palestine — St.  Peter  falsely  reported  to  have 
preached  in  Britain — St.  James,  St.  Paul,  St.  Simon,  and  St.  Aristo- 
bulus,  preachers  in  Britain — Claudia,  notwithstanding  Parsons's  excep- 
tions, might  be  a  British  Christian — Parsons's  objection  to  the  contrary 
answered — The  coming  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea  into  Britain — The 
history  full  of  dross  when  brought  to  the  touch — The  platform  of  the 
most  ancient  church  in  Christendom — Difference  about  the  place  of 
Joseph's  burial — The  budding  hawthorn  nigh  Glastonbury  attributed 
to  Joseph's  holiness — Different  opinions  of  men  concerning  it — The 
subject  of  the  question  taken  away — The  conclusion  of  this  century. 
Pages  5 — 17. 

SECTION  II.     CENTURY  II. 

A.D.  105—187. 

Taurinus  no  bishop  of  York — Difference  of  authors  concerning  the  time  of 
king  Lucius's  conversion — The  history  of  king  Lucius  not  disproved 
by  the  dissension  of  authors  concerning  the  time  thereof — Lucius 
might  be  a  British  king  under  the  Roman  monarchy — Lucius  sendeth 
to  the  bishop  of  Rome  to  be  instructed  in  Christianity — This  transla- 
tion of  the  letter  of  Eleutherius  is  transcribed  out  of  bishop  Godwin, 
in  his  catalogue  of  bishops.  There  is  some  Variety  between  this  and 
that  of  Mr.  Fox — A  preparative  for  the  examining  the  truth  of  this 
letter — King  Lucius  baptized — J.  Monmouth's  fiction  of  flamens  and 
arch-flamens — A  gross  mistake — Pagan  temi^les  in  Britain  converted 
to  Christian  churches — The  bounty  of  king  Lucius  to  Cambridge — 
Several  churches  founded  by  king  Lucius — Two  Luciuses  confounded 
into  one.     Pages  13 — 26. 

SECTION  III.     CENTURY  III. 

A.D.  201. 

The  death,  burial,  and  epitaph  of  king  Lucius — The  Christian  faith  from 
the  first  preaching  thereof  ever  continued  in  Britain — Two  fathers  to 
Vol.  I.  A 


11  CONTENTS. 

be  believed  before  two  children — The  judgment  of  the  Magdeburgenses 
in  this  point — Want  of  work  no  fault  of  the  workman — Reason  why  so 
little  left  of  this  age — Conclusion  of  this  century.     Pages  27 — 29. 

SECTION  IV.     CENTURY  IV. 

A.D.  303—390. 

First  persecution  in  Britain  under  Diocletian — Alb  an,  the  British  St. 
Stephen,  how  a  citizen  of  Rome — The  manner  of  Alban's  conversion 
— The  miraculous  martyrdom  of  Alban — A  new  spring  of  water  at 
Alban's  summons  appears  in  the  top  of  a  hill — Amphibalus.  Differ- 
ence about  his  name — The  cruel  manner  of  his  martyrdom — Vain 
fancies  concerning  the  stake  of  Amphibalus — The  martyrdom  of 
another  thousand  Britons  variously  reported — Several  places  pretend 
to,  and  contend  for,  the  same  martyrdom — The  imperfect  history  of 
these  times — The  cause  of  the  great  silence  of  the  primitive  times — 
Constantius  Chlorus  gives  the  Christians  peace — He  dieth  at  York,  as 
is  witnessed  by  Hieronymus,  in  Chronico,  and  Eutropius,  Hist.  lib.  18 
— Worth  the  scrutiny  to  clear  Constantine  a  Briton  by  birth — The 
main  argument  to  prove  the  point — Answers  to  the  objections  of  the 
contrary  party — INIr.  Fox  defended  against  the  cavils  of  Verstegan — 
Three  cities  contend  for  Constantine  born  in  them — Peace  and  pros- 
perity restored  to  the  church  by  Constantine — The  appearance  of  the 
British  in  foreign  councils — Britain  beginnuth  to  be  tainted  with 
Arianism — IMaximus,  usurping  the  empire,  expelleth  the  Scots  out  of 
Britain — Britain  in  France,  when  conquered,  and  why  so  called — 
Maximus  slain  in  his  march  towards  Italy — Frequent  pilgrimages  of 
the  Britons  to  Jerusalem,  whilst  St.  Keby  lived  quietly  in  Anglesey. 
Pages  30—40. 

SECTION  V.     CENTURY  V. 

A.D.  401—495. 

Pelagius,  a  Briton  by  birth — Pelagius  no  doctor  of  Cambridge,  but  a  monk 
of  Bangor — The  principal  errors  of  Pelagius — French  bishops  sent  for 
to  suppress  Pelagianism  in  Britain — Germanus  and  Lupus  come  over 
and  preach  in  Britain.  Their  disputation  with  the  Pelagian  doctors — 
Many  remarkables  in  this  disputation — St.  Alban's  the  place  of  the 
conference — Germanus  marcheth  against  the  Pagan  Picts  and  Saxons 
— A  victory  gotten,  not  by  shooting,  but  shouting — St.  Alban's  in 
Hertfordshire,  Cologne,  Ely,  and  Osell,  pretend  to  the  whole  body  of 
St.  Alban — After  the  departure  of  Germanus,  Pelagianism  recruits  in 
Britain — Pelagianism  and  king  Vortigern's  incestuous  marriage  con- 
demned in  a  synod — In  vain  the  Britons  petition  to  the  Roman  emperor 
for  help  against  the  Picts — True  reasons  why  the  Romans  neglected  to 
send  aid  to  the  Britons — The  sad  success  of  the  Pagan  Saxons,  invited 
by  king  Vortigern  into  Britain — The  respective  bounds  of  the  Saxon 
heptarchy — Irish  St.  Patrick  said  to  live  and  die  at  Glastonbury — He  is 
made  co-partner  in  the  church  with  the  virgin  IMary — Yet  the  credit  of 
Patrick's  being  at  Glastonbury  shrewdly  shaken— The  fabulous  history 


OONTKXTS.  Ul 

of  St.  Ursula  confuted — Why  so  little  churcli-story  in  tins  age — Gildas 
at  a  strange  sight  suddenly  silenced — The  partiality  of  Saxon  writers — 
The  British  treacherously  murdered — The  description  of  Stonehenge 
— Vortigern,  burning  in  lust,  burned  to  ashes — Aurelius  causelessly 
slandered  by  an  Italian — The  academy  of  learned  men  under  Dubritius 
— Forged  lies  obtruded  on  posterity,  in  lieu  of  lost  truths — The  mas- 
sacre of  the  monks  at  Winchester — Merlin  left  in  a  twilight ;  whether 
that  magician  was  an  impostor,  or  his  whole  story  an  imposture  put 
upon  credulous  posterity.     Pages  46 — 6.5. 

SECTION  VI.    CENTURY  VI. 

A.  D.  501—580. 

The  most  miserable  estate  of  the  British  commonwealth — King  Arthur's 
actions  much  discredited  by  monkish  fictions— Caer-leon  a  principal 
staple  of  learning  and  religion — St.  David  an  advancer  of  monastic  life 
— One  paramount  miracle  of  St.  David — Reasons  why  men  in  this  age 
lived  so  long — The  discreet  devotion  of  Cadocus— Iltutus  abused  with 
monkish  forgeries — Sampson,  archbishop  of  Dole — Paternus  a  pattern 
for  all  bishops — Petrock,  the  captain  of  Cornish  saints — The  piety  of 
St.  Teliau — Several  other  worthies  of  the  same  age — Pastors  in  this 
age,  why  in  constant  motion— Books  falsely  fathered  on  British 
writers.     Pages  66—72. 


BOOK  11. 
SECTION  I. 

A.D.  585—600. 

The  first  occasion  of  the  Sa.xons'  conversion  to  Christianity — Gregory 
would  convert  England  in  his  person,  but  doth  it  by  his  proxy — 
Augustine  and  his  fellows  shrink  for  fear— Augustine  troubled  with 
mocking  Michals  in  his  passage  through  France — Augustine,  for  all 
his  power  of  working  miracles,  needs  interpreters  to  preach  to  the 
English — The  rabble  of  Saxon  idols — A  recruit  of  their  idols — All 
these  antiquated  by  Christianity — The  character  of  king  Ethelbert— 
Augustine's  addresses,  and  Ethelbert's  answer — Ethelbert  and  others 
converted  to  the  Christian  faith — Gregory's  answer  to  Augustine's 
letters — Conclusion  of  this  century.     Pages  77 — 86. 

SECTION  II.     CENTURY  VII. 

A.D.  601—697. 

Why  the  archbishop's  see  was  removed  from  London  to  Canterbury — 
Augustine  summons  a  synod  of  Saxon  and  British  bishops — The 
British  clergy  refuse  submission  to  the  pope  of  Rome — The  credit  of 
this     manuscript     impugned — The     synod    proves    ineffectual — The 

A    2 


(  OXTEXTS. 

dialogue  betwixt  the  British  bishops  and  the  anchoret — Proud 
Diotrephes  Augustine — Augustine's  prophecy — The  massacre  of  the 
monks  at  Bangor — Augustine  suspected  to  be  their  murderer — Wit- 
nesses produced  against  him — Testimonies  in  his  behalf — The  para- 
graph in  Bede's  testimony  questioned — Mr.  Fox's  moderation  much 
moveth  the  jury — The  blood  of  Bangor  monks  revenged — Farewell 
taken  for  some  years  of  the  British  church — Commendation  of  the 
British  language — Causelessly  traduced  by  ignorance — Augustine 
bapLizeth  ten  thousand  in  one  day — The  simplicity  of  ancient  baptism 
— The  idol  Heale  destroyed  by  Augustine  at  Cern — A  ridiculous 
miracle — The  great  improvement  of  the  Gospel — Augustine's  death 
and  epitaph — Tlie  date  of  the  year,  how  wanting  therein — Farewell  to 
St.  Augustine — Laurentius  succeedeth  Augustine — The  controversy 
about  Easter  betwixt  Rome  and  the  Britons  stated — The  Britons'  plea 
— The  controversy  reconciled  by  Laurentius — The  antiquity  of  this 
difference — The  death  of  Ethelbert,  Feb.  24th,  and  decay  of  Chris- 
tianity— INIellitus  and  Justus's  departure  defended — Laurentius,  intend- 
ing to  depart,  rebuked — Eadbald  becomes  a  Christian — Justus  received 
at  Rochester,  and  iMellitus  rejected  at  London — Mellitus's  Character — 
What  a  pall  is — Edwin's  preparatory  promise  to  Christianity — His  con- 
dition performed,  and  yet  he  demurs — The  speech  of  Coify  the  priest 
— The  courtier's  comparison — Edwin  converted  and  baptized — The 
East  Angles  converted  to  Christianity — The  religion  and  learning  of 
king  Sigebert — Difference  about  the  antiquity  of  the  university  of 
Cambridge — The  leading  testimony  of  Bede  explained — Authors  com- 
menting on  Bede's  text— First  objection  against  Sigebert's  founding  of 
Cambridge.  Answer — Second  objection.  Answer — Third  objection. 
Answer — Fourth  objection.  Answer — Fifth  objection.  Answer — 
Conclusion  with  prayer — Edwin,  king  of  Northumberland,  slain — The 
unhappy  year — A  lost  year  well  found — A  victory  given  from  heaven — 
Pope  Honorius's  ineffectual  lettei- — Birinus  converts  the  West  Saxons 
to  the  faith — A  broken  promise  well  kept — Dorchester  made  a  bishop's 
see — England  divided  into  parishes — A  morose  preacher  little  edifieth 
— Aidan's  due  com^mendation — Bede's  allay — Laymen's  diligence  in 
reading  Scripture — The  royal  interpreter — The  first  Lent  in  England 
— The  ill  success  of  good  kings — Oswa'd's  hand  said  never  to 
putrify.  Mystically  true — Over-officiousness  occasioned  purgatory — 
The  death  of  Paulinus — Most  Christian  king  Oswy — Sigebert  the  too- 
good — Annas  happy  in  a  holy  issue — The  conversion  of  the  IMercians 
to  Christianity  vmder  prince  Peada — St.  Cedde  and  St.  Chad — Fridona, 
first  English  archbishop — Wulphere's  murder  of  his  two  sons — The 
making  of  glass  brought  first  into  England — Scottish  bishops  dissent 
from  others  in  keeping  Easter.  This  controversy  spreads  into  private 
families.  A  council  is  called  to  compose  this  controversy — Wilfride's 
prevailing  argument.  His  intended  but  disappointed  preferment — 
Abbess  Hilda.  A  miracle  imputed  to  her  holiness — Theodorus,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  His  fierceness  to  keep  Easter  after  the  Romish 
rile.  He  envieth  Wilfride  bishop  of  York — The  South  Saxons,  as 
formerly  the  Friezlanders,  converted  by  Wilfride — The  first,  the  last — 
Pagan  obstinacy  punished  with  famine — South  Saxons  first  taught  to 
fish — A  double  good  deed — Godfathers  used  to  men  of  mature  age — 
Cadwallader  founds   a  Welsh   hospital   at    Rome  :  since,  injuriously 


CONTENTS.  Y 

taken  from  the  Welsh — The  ecclesiastical  laws  of  king  Ina — Women 
present  at  the  great  council  of  Becanceld — Romish  brags  of  St.  Andre's 
chastity.  Twice  a  wife,  still  a  maid.  Pretended  chastity,  real  injustice- 
Her  miraculous  monument  of  marble.  Confuted  by  a  credible  witness 
— The  council  at  Bergharasteed — Wilfride  restored  to  York,  and  outed 
again.     Pages  87 — 141. 

SECTION  III.     CENTURY  VIII. 

A.  D.  701—800. 

Wilfride  ])ersecuted  afresh  by  Alfred  king  of  Northumberland — Wilfride 
appealeth  to  Rome,  and  is  acquitted.  He  is  at  last  restored,  and  dieth 
in  peace — Sherborne  taken  out  of  Winchester  bishopric — Multitude  of 
books  created  by  a  mistake — The  numerosity  of  noble  saints  in  this 
age — St.  Guthlake  the  first  Saxon  hermit — A  swinish  conceit  of  a 
monk — The  first  synod  for  image-worship  in  England — Binnius  and 
Baronius  sullen,  and  why — The  miracle-working  of  St.  John  of 
Beverley — Kings  and  queens  turn  monks  and  nuns — King  Ina's  fine 
and  rent  to  the  church — Winnifride  an  Englishman  converteth  the 
Germans — Bede,  though  sent  for,  went  not  to  Rome — Bede  pro- 
bably went  out  of  his  cell — Bede,  why  surnamed  Venerabilis — Bede's 
last  blaze,  and  the  going-out  of  the  candle  of  his  life — The  general 
viciousness  of  the  Saxons,  how  occasioned — The  eflTect  of  Boniface's 
letter  to  the  king  of  Mercia — Cliff  in  Kent  probably  tlie  ancient 
Cloves-ho — The  chief  canons  of  this  synod — Egbert,  archbishop 
of  York,  famous  in  several  respects — The  beastly  canons  of  Egltert 
— The  charter  of  Kenulphus  to  the  abbot  of  Abingdon — The  cavils 
of  Parsons  against  Sir  Edward  Coke  confuted — Bodies  first 
brought  to  be  buried  in  churches — The  occasion  of  monks'  first 
drinking  of  wine  in  England — Danes'  first  arrival^  in  England — 
Denmark,  formerly  fruitful,  is  now  become  barren  of  men.  Two 
reasons  thereof — The  reason  of  reasons — Bad  presages  of  the  Danes' 
approach — The  archi-episcopal  pall  removed  to  Lichfield — St.  Alban's 
body  enshrined — Peter-pence  re-confirmed  to  Rome — Gift  no  debt — 
The  royal  foundation  of  St.  Alban's  abbey — Canterbury  recovereth  its 
former  dignit)' — Learned  Alcuinus  confuttth  image-worship — Egbert 
the  first  fixed  monarch  of  England.     Pages  141 — 163. 

SECTION  IV.     CENTURY  IX. 

A.D.  801-900.     1    EGBERT  TO  18  ALFRED. 

'i'lie  archbishopric  restored  to  Canterbury  at  the  instance  of  king  Kenulph 
— The  first  most  formal  subscription  in  a  synod — Some  ol.'servables 
on  the  method  and  manner  of  their  meeting — The  acts  of  the  council 
at  Celichyth — Egbert  proclaimed  monarch  of  England — Seven  king, 
doms  swallowed  up  in  England — Danes  disturb  king  Egbert — 
Athelwolphus's  universal  grant  of  tithes  to  the  church — Former  acts 
for  tithes  infirm— Objections  against  this  act  answered — Store  no  sore 
— A  pleasant  passage — A  solid  answer  of  a  learned  Serjeant — This  law 
not  presently  and  perfectly  obeyed— King    Ethelwolph's   journey  to 


3ri  CONTENTS. 

Rome,  and  bounty  to  the  pope — How  this  sum  was  divided,  and  col- 
lected out  of  several  diocesses — The  Saxons  wilfully  accessary  to  their 
own  ruin  by  the  Danes — Fight  betwixt  Christians  and  Danes — 
Crowland  monks  massacred — Peterborough  monks  killed.  Monastery 
burned — A  heap  of  martyrs — The  cruel  martyrdom  of  king  Edmund — 
King  Ethelliert's  prayer-victory — King  Ethelbert  heart-broken  with 
grief — King  Alfred's  exemplary  character — Alfred,  as  a  fiddler,  dis- 
covereth  the  Danish  designs — The  Danish  ships  left  water-bound — The 
general  ignorance  in  England — Ancient  schools  at  Crekelade  and 
Lechlade — The  university  first  founded  by  Alfred  at  Oxford — King's 
hall  founded  by  king  Alfred — The  birth-place  of  Johannes  Scotus — 
Wales's  right  to  Scotus's  birth — "  Scotus,"  saith  Caius,  "  studied  at 
Cambridge."  Miserably  murdered  by  his  scholars.  Unmartyred  by 
Baronius — Scotus  confounded  with  other  of  his  namesakes — The 
scholars'  maintenance  out  of  the  king's  exchequer — Dissension  betwixt 
the  students  at  Oxford — The  arms  of  Oxford — One,  once  a  Swineherd, 
made  bishop  of  Winchester — The  preface  to  the  canons  made  by  king 
Alfred — A  general  contribution  to  Rome  and  Jerusalem — Death  of 
king  Alfred — Weak  guardians,  God  wot — The  woful  estate  of  the 
English — The  commendable  temper  of  king  Alfred  and  king  Edward. 
Pages  163—187. 

SECTION  V.     CENTURY  X. 

A.D.  &04— 995.     3  EDWARD  THE  ELDER  TO   15  ETHELRED. 

England  interdicted  by  the  pope  for  want  of  bishops — The  character  of 
those  kings  on  whom  the  pope  most  improved  himself — The  pope 
pleased,  and  England  absolved  again — Vacant  bishoprics  supplied,  and 
new  erected — King  Edward  in  a  new  synod  confirms  his  father's  con- 
stitutions—Cambridge university  repaired  by  king  Edward — The  tes- 
timony of  John  Rouse  concerning  king  Edward's  re])airing  of  Cam- 
bridge— Cambridge  rei)resented  in  a  three-fold  estate — The  principal 
laws  enacted  in  the  council  at  Greatlea — Dignities  and  degrees  amongst 
the  Saxons — Dunstan's  first  coming  into  favour  at  the  court.  Banished 
thence  on  suspicion  of  magic.  He  retires  imto  his  cell-prison  at 
Glastonbury.  Takes  a  devil  by  the  nose.  This  false  miracle  canvassed 
— yVelfgine,  Dunstan's  bountiful  friend — Re-called  to  court,  and  re- 
banished thence — King  Edmund's  miraculous  deli^'^erance — Fie,  for 
shame,  lying  monk — King  Edred  a  high  patron  of  Dunstan — But  king 
Edwin  his  professed  enemy  ;  who,  though  wronged  by  the  monks, 
was  a  worthy  prince.  He  banisheth  Dunstan,  and  dieth  heart-broken 
with  grief — Dunstan  re-called  by  king  Edgar,  and  takes  a  double 
bisho{)ric — Oswald's  law  to  eject  secular  priests — Dunstan's  disciplin- 
ing of  king  Edgar,  and  carriage  towards  an  incestuous  count.  Observa- 
tions thereon — Edgar's  canons,  why  by  us  here  related — Edgar  a  most 
triumphant  king— A  national  council  in  Wales.  The  merry  lavvs  made 
therein.  Confirmed  by  the  pope — A  council  at  Winchester,  with  ^ 
miraculous  voice  in  it — Secular  priests  strive  still — A  portentous  coun- 
cil at  Calne — Several  censures  on  this  sad  accident — Seculai's  outed, 
and  monks  advanced — Priests  hardly  dealt  with — The  prodigious 
prodigality  in  building  and  endowing  of  abbeys— Caution  to  our  age — 


CONTENTS.  VU 

King  Edward  murdered,  alias  martyred — King  Ethelred  prognosticated 
unsuccessful — Dunstan's  corpse  wrongfully  claimed  by  the  convent  of 
Glastonbury.  A  night  hue-and-cry  made  after  his  corpse.  Discovered 
with  the  manner  of  the  interment  thereof — Priests  and  monks  alter- 
nately cast  out — The  Danes  re-invade  England — The  unreadiness  of 
king  Ethelred  advantageth  the  Danes — A  dear  peace  bought  of  the 
Danes — Multitudes  of  monasteries  caused  the  Danish  invasion — The 
cruelty  of  the  returning  Danes.     Pages  187 — 212. 

SECTION  VI.     CENTURY  XI. 

A.D.  1011—1066.     35  ETHELRED    TO   1   HAROLD. 

Murder  of  the  Danes  in  a  church.  Canterbury  sacked  :  Alphage  killed  by 
the  Danes — Believe  what  you  list.  More  cruelty — The  valour  of 
Cambridgeshire-men — Tv/o  English  kings  at  once.  Edmund  Ironside 
treacherously  slain — Canutus's  cruelty  converted  into  charity.  He 
goeth  to  Rome.  Returneth,  improved  in  devotion — Tlie  paramount 
cross  of  England  for  richness.  King  Canutus's  humility.  Commands 
the  sea  ;  but  in  vain.  His  sermon  thereon.  His  laws,  why  omitted — 
Harold  Harefoot  succeeded  him  ;  tben  Hardy  Canutus — Edward  the 
*  Confessor  becomes  king  of  England — The  original  of  our  common 
laws — No  hostile  Danes  appear  in  England — The  manner  of  ordeal  by 
fire — Queen  Emma's  miraculous  purgation — A  wife  no  wife.  Yet,  was 
there  not  a  cause  ? — The  good  daughter  of  a  bad  father — Godwin's 
divice  to  get  Berkeley  nunnery.  Another  trick  to  gain  the  manor  of 
Boseham — A  miracle  reported  done  by  king  Edward.  Westminster 
church  rebuilt  by  him — A  ring  said  to  be  sent  from  St.  John  to  king 
Edward — A  vision  worth  observing — King  Edward's  contempt  of 
wealth — King  Edward's  wardrobe  put  into  the  regalia.  No  confessor 
in  the  strictness  of  the  word — Stigand  the  vicious  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury— King  Edward's  ecclesiastical  constitutions — How  the  kings  of 
England  come  to  cure  the  king's  evil.  Several  opinions  of  the  causes 
thereof.  Others  count  it  superstition.  Many  make  the  cure  mira- 
culous— The  ingenuous  confession  of  a  catholic — Queen  Elizabeth,  why 
displeased  with  the  people  in  Gloucestershire — The  kings  of  France  cure 
the  king's  evil — Laurentius  falsely  denies  the  kings  of  England  power 
in  curing  the  king's  evil — The  indifferent  opinion — Harold  usurpeth 
the  crown — William  duke  of  Normandy  twisteth  many  weak  titles 
together — William  rebateth  his  conquering  sword  with  composition — 
A  breviate  of  the  doctrine  of  England  in  these  ages  before  the  Norman 
conquest — The  author's  engagement  to  the  archbishop  of  Armagh,  and 
conclusion  of  this  second  book.     Pages  212 — 233. 

SECTION  VII. 

A.D.  1066.     1   HAROLD  TO   1  WILLIAM   I. 

The  design  propounded  and  asserted — Imposing  of  names  denotes  dominion 
— Fixed  surnames  not  long  befoi'e  the  conquest —  Surnames  late  in 
(because  not  needful  to)  kings — Many  of  the  Normans  most  noble  by 
birth.  Yet  some  not  so  much  as  gentlemen — Many  of  the  neighbour- 
ing nations  under  the  notion  of  Normans — W  names  Walloons — The 


CONTENT&. 

twilight  credit  of  Battle-Abbey  Roll — Objection  :  then  it  is  of  no  credit. 
Answer  :  how  credit  thereunto  is  to  be  cautioned — Copy  of  Battle 
Roll  from  Holinshed.  Copy  of  Battle  Roll  from  Stow.  Copy  of 
Battle  Roll  from  Fox's  Acts  and  Monuments.  Another  from  Holin- 
shed. Two  others  from  Stow — The  prefixing  of  D'  before  names — 
French  surnames  discerned  by  their  terminations — Wivil  closeth  the 
catalogue — The  family  of  the  Walgraves — After  the  conquest  several 
recruits  of  French  in  England — Tradesmen  not  mentioned  in  this  Roll 
came  over  with  them,  as  appears  by  Doomsday-Book — The  sad  case  of 
the  English.     Pages  233—257. 


BOOK  III. 
SECTION  I. 

A.D.  1067—1100.     1  WILLIAM  I.  TO   1   HENRY  I. 

The  drunken  English  conquered  by  the  Normans,  and  [WilliamJ  foundeth 
Battle-Abbey.  William  crowned  by  the  archbishop  of  York,  whilst 
many  of  the  English  clergy  fly  into  Scotland — Doomsday-Book  made 
— Stigand  deposed  in  a  council  at  Winchester — The  pope's  first  usurpa- 
tion of  the  crown  of  England  ;  yet  king  William  invested  ecclesias- 
tical persons ;  and  refuseth  to  do  fealty  to  the  pope — King  VVilliani 
ordereth  the  power  both  of  pope  and  archbishop  in  his  own  domirjion 
— Barons  not  to  be  excommunicated  without  the  king's  command — ■ 
Bishop's  jurisdictions  first  severed  from  the  sheriflFs — The  contest 
betwixt  common  and  canon  law,  how  only  to  be  reconciled — King 
William's  charter  to  the  clergy — Two  contrary  characters  of  king 
William — Our  endeavours  to  compass  the  difference — King  William's 
bounty  to  Battle-Abbey.  His  hard  dealing  with  the  students  at 
Oxford — Lr.nfrarik  most  kindly  treated  by  the  pope — His  charge 
against  Thomas,  elect  of  York,  and  against  Remigius,  elect  of  Lincoln 
— Lanfrank's  return  and  employment — Bishops'  sees  removed  from 
villages  to  cities — Wolstan's  simplicity  saveth  his  bishopric — The 
original  of  "  Secundum  Usum  Sarum"' — The  first  coming  of  the  Jews 
into  England — The  death  of  king  William,  with  the  difficulty  of  his 
burial — The  three  sons  of  the  Conqueror,  how  denominated — King 
William  Rufus  crowned.  His  covetousness  and  inconstancy.  His 
enriching  himself  by  church-livings.  His  sickness  and  resolution 
of  amendment — Anselra's  expression  questioned — Anselm  refuseth  to 
send  king  Rufus  one  thousand  pounds — Herbert  bishop  of  Thetford's 
simoniacal  flattery — Wolstan  bishop  of  Worcester  dieth — Duke  Robert 
prepares  for  the  Holy  War — Variance  betwixt  the  king  and  Anselm. 
Their  several  pleadings,  and  present  reconcilement — They  disagree 
again — King  Rufus's  death.  His  burial  and  character— Henry  I.  suc- 
ceedeth  Rufus,  and  is  crowned.     Pages  260 — 285. 

SECTION  II.    CENTURY  XIL 

A.D.   1101—1174.     2  HENRY  1.  TO  20  HENRY  II. 

The  "hellish  imprecation  of  Maud  when  married  to  king  Henry.  The  story 
otherwise  told  by  Eadmerus,  an  eye  and  ear  witness — A  grand  synod 


CONTENTS.  IX 

of  the  clergy  and  laity,  with  the  constitutions  thereof — Anselm  refuseth 
to  consecrate  the  king's  bishops — Anselm  sent  to  Rome — The  king 
parts  with  his  investing  of  bishops — Anselm  forbids  priests'  marriage, 
only  by  a  church- constitution  grounded  on  a  double  error — Paramount 
holiness  in  a  married  person — St.  Paul  expounded  ;  and  marriage 
defended — A  monk's  verses,  as  bald  as  his  crown — An  ill  evasion  well 
stopped  up — Marriage  bed  may  be  forborne  for  a  time,  not  totally  for- 
bidden— H.  Huntingdon's  censure  of  Anselm — Anselm  dieth  re  infectd 
of  priests'  divorces — The  stoutness  of  Norwich  clergy — Learned  mar- 
ried Ealphegus — A  virgin-leecher  unmasked — Priests  buy  their  own 
wives — Ely-abbey  made  a  bishopric,  and  enriched  with  royalties — St. 
David's  contest  with  Canterbury — Impar  Congressus — King  Henry's 
death — Stephen  usurpeththe  crown  on  a  silly  title — Maud  the  fourth — 
The  perjury  of  the  clergy — Variety  of  people's  opinions — Pro  and  con 
for  king  Stephen — A  second  party,  with  their  opposers.  A  third,  with 
theirs.  A  fourth,  with  theirs— Some  act  at,  not  for,  king  Stephen's 
commands — Politic  patience — Robert  earl  of  Gloucester  singular 
— Highly  conscientious — An  honest  revolt  of  the  clergy — Canons  of 
Paul's  soundly  paid — What  Focariae  were — A  synod  at  Westminster — 
Henry  of  Winchester,  England's  arch-prelate — The  issueless  issue  of 
the  synod  at  Winchester — Why  plenty  of  religious  foundations  in  these 
martial  days — Religious  houses  founded  by  king  Stephen — The  con- 
stancy of  Theobald  archbishop  of  Canterbury — The  seasonable  death 
of  prince  Eustace — An  Englishman  pope — Geoifrey  Monmouth 
defended — The  death  of  king  Stephen — Sobriquets,  what  they  were — 
King  Henry's  character — What  became  of  Maud  the  empress — The 
body  of  the  common-law  compiled — Castles  demolished — Thomas 
Becket,  lord  chancellor  of  England.  His  great  reformation,  being 
made  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  A  stubborn  defender  of  the  vicious 
clergy,  against  secular  magistrates.  He  incurs  the  king's  displeasure 
>— The  vanity  of  Becket's  path.  He  flieth  beyond  sea,  without  the 
Ring's  consent.  How  employed  in  his  banishment — Is  reconciled  to 
the  king.  Returns  as  obstinate  as  he  went  over.  Is  slain  by  four 
knights  in  his  own  church — Various  censures  on  his  death — The  heavy 
penance  performed  by  king  Henry — Becket,  after  fifty  years,  enshrined 
— The  blind  superstition  of  people.     Pages  285 — 318. 

SECTION  III. 

A.D.   1176-1200.     22  HENRY  II.  TO   1   JOHN. 

The  undutifulness  of  young  king  Henry — Richard  made  archbishop  of 
Canterbury — The  controversy  betwixt  Canterbury  and  York  for  pre- 
cedency— Canterbury's  title — York's  title — How  much  carnality  in  the 
most  spiritual — The  pope's  decision  gives  final  satisfaction — The  far- 
extended  English  monarchy,  in  this  king's  reign,  could  not  make  him 
fortunate  in  his  own  family — Disobedience  endeavoured  to  be  expiated 
by  superstition — An  account  of  our  design — Nevil  Kill-Lion's  per- 
formance in  Palestine — Ancestors  to  the  noble  and  numerous  Nevilles 
— Girald  de  Talbote,  whence  the  house  of  Shrewsbury — Guarrin  Fitz 
Girald,  from  whom  the  earls  of  Kildare  and  barons  of  Windsor — A 
quarternion    more   of    a'lventurers — Ingelram    Fiennes's    posterity — 


X  CONTENTS. 

Radulphus  de  Altd  Ripd — A  mistake  freely  confessed — Crescent  and 
star,  why  the  device  of  king  Richard  I.  in  his  voyage  to  the  Holy  Land 
— The  arras  of  the  ancient  family  of  Minshul;  as  also  of  the  nohle  St. 
John's  and  Sackville — The  worshipful  family  of  the  Tilneys — The  most 
honourable  ancestors  of  the  Villiers — The  arms  of  the  Berkeleys — 
INlore  churchmen  abroad  than  church-business  at  home — Longchamp 
and  Wolsey  paralleled.  Wolsey  the  better  of  the  two.  Yet  a  word  in 
excuse  of  Longchamp — King  Richard  dearly  ransomed — Why  a  small 
sum  great  in  that  age — King  Richard  better  for  affliction — Lambeth 
convent,  why  demolished — King  Richard's  death  by  a  poisoned  arrow. 
Tiie  threefold  division  of  his  corpse.  His  double  epitaph  and  suc- 
cessor.    Pages  318—332. 

SECTION  IV.     CENTURY  XIII. 

A.D.  1201—1220.     2  JOHN  TO  4   HENRY  111. 

Hubert's  indiscreet  emulation  of  the  king — A  scratch  betwixt  the  monks  of 
Canterbury  widened  into  a  dangerous  wound — Two  archbishops  chosen 
by  the  monks  of  Canterbury,  and  the  pope  propoundeth  a  third — The 
pope  sends  two  letters  of  contrary  tempers  to  the  king — King  John's 
return,  raising  his  voice  to  too  high  a  note  at  first — Three  bishops,  by 
command  from  the  pope,  interdict  the  whole  kingdom — England's  sad 
case  under  interdiction — Two  grand  effects  wrought  by  this  intei'dic- 
tion — King  John's  innocence  and  the  pope's  injustice  in  these  proceed- 
ings— King  John  by  name  excommunicated  ;  yet  is  blessed  with  good 
success  under  the  pope's  curse — The  prophecy  of  Peter  of  Wakefield 
against  king  John — King  John's  submission  to  the  pope — The  rent 
never  paid  the  pope,  nor  demanded  by  him — The  proud  carriage  of 
Pandulphus  to  the  king — Peter  the  prophet  hanged,  whether  unjustly, 
disputed: — The  interdiction  of  England  relaxed — The  pope's  legate 
arbitrates  the  arrears  betwixt  the  king  and  clergy — The  barons  rebel 
against  king  John — Lewis  prince  of  France  invited  by  the  barons  to 
invade  England — An  unworthy  embassy  of  king  John  to  the  king  of 
Morocco — The  lamentable  death  of  king  John — King  John's  character 
delivered  in  the  dark — Henry  HL  under  tutors  and  governors — By 
what  means  king  Henry  so  quickly  recovered  his  kingdom — Our  prin- 
cipal design  in  writing  this  king's  life — Occasions  of  the  pope's  intole- 
rable extortions — A  new  design — Good  text,  whatever  the  comments — 
Serenity  in  the  state.     Pages  332 — 347. 

SECTION  V. 

A.D.   1215—1262.     7  HENRY  III.  TO  46  HENRY  III. 

A  remarkable  writ  of  the  king  to  the  sheriff  of  Buckinghamshire — A 
remarkable  prohibition  of  papal  appeals — The  effect  of  the  instrument 
— Appeal  to  the  pope  prohibited — The  time  makes  it  the  more  remark- 
able— Caursines,  what  they  were — Necessary  observations — Caursines, 
whence  so  called — Foxes'  hap  and  happiness — Caursines  and  Lom- 
bards the  same — Deep  hypocrisy —The  present  of  the  Oxford  scholars 
to  the  legate,  ill  requited — The  legate's  brother  killed  by  the  scholars 


CONTENTS.  XI 

of  Oxford — The  legate  files  to  the  king — Oxford  hi  a  sad  condition  ; 
interdicted  by  the  legate,  who  returns  to  London — The  bishops  inter- 
cede for  the  university.  All  are  reconciled — Bishops'  ancient  inns  in 
London — A  valiant  offer — A  free-forced  gift — Spoken  like  a  king — Say 
and  do,  best — A  pension  given  by  the  pope  to  an  English  earl — There 
are  rich  who  make  themselves  poor — The  death  of  bishop  (Jrouthead 
— The  pope's  fume  against  tliis  good  bishop  quenched  by  a  Spanish 
cardinal — Gi'outhead  the  people's,  though  not  the  pope's,  saint — Dis- 
contents begin  in  England  ;  grounded  on  too  much  occasion — A  title 
without  power  only  left  to  the  king — The  pope  freely  gives  his  cour- 
tesies for  money — Sad  case  when  the  royal  root  is  no  better  than  a 
sucker.  No  part  of  church-wca-k.  Bettered  by  affliction— Charta 
Magna  first  fully  practised — Balliol  college  built  by  a  banished  prince  : 
great  revenues  for  that  age — Endowed  with  more  land  than  now  it 
possesseth — The  author's  request  to  the  learned  in  Oxford — Four 
necessary  things  premised  :  whence  the  masters  are  collected ;  whence 
the  bishops  ;  whence  the  benefactors  ;  whence  the  learned  writers — No 
wilful  wrong  done  :  add  and  mend — Balliol  college — A  pair  of  learned 
judges — University  college  founded — Jews  damnable  extortioners — A 
second  privilege — The  third  privilege — The  submission  of  the  dean 
and  chapter  of  St.  Asaph — Edmond  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  sainted 
after  his  death — Boniface,  a  worthless  archbishop.     Pages  347 — 368. 

SECTION  VI. 

A.D.   1272—1297.     57  HENRY  III.  TO  25  EDWARD  I. 

The  vivacity  of  king  Henry  IIL  and  the  variety  of  his  life.  The  serenity  of 
his  death,  and  solemnity  of  his  burial — The  advantages  of  absent 
prince  Edward.  His  achievements  against  the  Turks — The  pope's 
present  power  in  England — Merton  college  in  Oxford  founded — A 
manor  in  Cambridge  given  thereunto — Merton's  monument  renewed — 
The  living  passed  over  in  siles^ce — The  original  of  postmasters — The 
church  ready  to  eat  up  the  commonwealth — The  mischief  of  Mortmain 
to  the  crown — This  law  not  new,  but  renewed — Ambrose  angry  with 
Mortmain — The  statute  of  Mortmain — W.ho  the  active  prelates  of  this 
age — The  spiritual  and  temporal  courts  bounded  by  parliament — Judge 
Coke's  decision — No  end  can  end  an  everlasting  difference — A  transi- 
tion to  the  entire  story  of  our  English  Jews.  Their  principal  residence 
in  London — The  justice  of  the  Jews — The  high  priest  or  presbyter  of 
the  Jews — Jews  griping  usurers.  Their  rapaciousness  and  tenacious- 
ness — Jews  might  purchase  houses — Lay  excommunication,  what  it 
was — Jews  unfortunate  at  feasts  and  frays — A  sad  Jewish  jubilee — 
London  Wall  built  with  Jewish  stones — Henry  HI.  cruel  to  the  Jews — 
The  wonder  of  the  Jews'  speedy  recruiting  their  estates — Crowds  of 
counterfeit  converts — Misdemeanours  charged  on  the  Jews — Jews,  say 
others,  not  cast  out,  but  craved  leave  to  depart — The  king  gets  incre- 
dible wealth  forfeited  by  the  Jews— King  Edward  arbitrator  betwixt 
Balliol  and  Bruce.     He  proveth  Malleus  Scotorum.     Pages  369—391. 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

SECTION  VII,     CENTURY  XIV. 

A.D.  1301—1314.     29  EDWARD  I.  TO  7  EDWARD   II. 

The  pope  challengeth  Scotland  as  peculiar  to  himself — King  Edward, 
assisted  by  his  lords,  stoutly  maintaineth  his  own  right — One  con- 
demned for  a  traitor  for  bringing  the  pope's  bull — The  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  humbled  by  the  king — Guiltiness  makes  proud  men  base 
— The  remarkable  dialogue  betwixt  the  king  and  archbishop — Win- 
chelsey  finds  no  favour  from  the  pope,  and  why — A  signal  piece  of 
justice  done  by  foreign  sequestrators — England's  galled  back  ex- 
changes a  full  fly  for  a  hungry  one — The  infinite  wealth  Rome  yearly 
drained  from  England — The  death  and  character  of  king  Edward  I. — 
Winchelsey,  at  the  request  of  king  Edward  II.  restored  to  his  arch- 
bishopric— The  character  of  king  Edward  II. — The  fatal  defeat  of  the 
English  in  Scotland — Nine  eminent  schoolmen  of  the  English  nation — 
Alexander  Hales  their  father  and  founder — Bacon  accused  for  a  con- 
juror— Many  Bacons  in  one  make  a  confusion — Duns  Scotus,  why  so 
called.  Three  kingdoms  lay  claim  to  his  birth — Low  but  learned 
Baconthorpe— Occam  a  stifF  Imperialist— Holcot's  sudden  death — The 
just  praise  of  Thomas  Bradwardine — Schoolmen  busied  in  needless 
difficulties.  Excuses  for  their  bad  Latin.  Their  several  divisions  in 
judgment — .Vll  Oxford,  most  Merton  college— Why  school  divinity  not 
so  used  in  Oxford,  after  this  age — The  sad  distemper  of  England  at 
this  time — King  Edward  accused  for  betraying  his  privileges  to  the 
pope.     Pages  391 — 406. 

SECTION  VIII. 

A.D.  1316—1326.     9  EDWARD   II.  TO  19  EDWARD   II. 

Exeter  college  founded  by  bishop  Stapleton,  who  afterwards  was  barba- 
rously murdered — Sir  William  Petre's  bounty — Dr.  Hackwill  built  this 
chapel — W^estern  men  here  most  proper — The  king's  courteous  answer 
to  the  prelates'  complaints — Made  a  printed  statute  under  the  title  of 
"ArticuliCleri" — Yetthe  controversy  between  the  two  jurisdictions  still 
continued — Oriel  college  built  by  king  Edward  II.  Query  about  the 
name  thereof — Kings  nursing  fathers  to  this  house ;  latelyrebuilded  most 
decently — War  between  the  queen  and  king — Counter  proclamations, 
and  counter  rumours — The  king,  unable  to  fight  and  flee,  after  a  short 
concealment,  is  taken — King  Edward  resigneth  his  crown.  He  is 
rejected  by  his  own  wife,  and  cruelly  murdered — A  brace  of  loyal 
subjects,  and  a  loyal  priest-chancellor — Walter  Reynolds  unthankful 
to  the  king — The  nature  of  the  pope's  provisions — Henry  bishop  of 
Lincoln  bad — Smile  or  frown— A  grave  foolery — A  devil  preaching, 
and  as  bad  writing  :  a  strange  apparition — Arraigned  for  treason,  he 
escapes  the  first  time — .\rraignei  again,  and  protected  by  the  clergy 
— Cast  the  third  time  by  a  lay  jury,  and  proscribed.     Pages  406—416. 


00NTENT3.  XUl 

SECTION  IX. 

A.D.  1326—1370.     1   HENRY  III.  TO  45  EDWARD  III. 

De/uncius  amabitur  idem.  King  Edward  II.  half-sainted — A  pair  of  kings 
well-matched — King  Edward  not  active  in  his  father's  deposing — His 
admirable  success  in  his  wars,  and  humility — England  hitherto  igno- 
rant in  curious  clothing — The  king's  agents  tempt  the  Dutch  appren- 
tices to  come  over  into  England ;  and  obtain  their  desire.  Their 
welcome  reception — The  king  politicly  disperseth  the  Dutch — Fullers' 
earth  a  precious  commodity — Woollen  cloth  the  English  wealth — The 
pope's  Italian  usurers  turn  merchants ;  but  at  last  are  prohibited  by 
the  king — A  survey  made  of  the  clergy's  glebe-land  ;  partly  useless  by 
ill- engrossing — Clergymen  engross  all  offices:  several  opinions  of  the 
causes  thereof — The  founding  of  Queen's  College  in  Oxford  by  Robert 
Eglesfield — A  pair  of  princes  bred  therein — Queens,  nursing-mothers 
to  this  college.  Queen  Elizabeth's  singular  bounty — This  college 
parted  between  two  archbishops — The  pope  makes  use  of  the  king's 
absence — The  statute  of  provisions  reasonably  made.  IMan's  anger 
worketh  God's  pleasure — Statutes  of  provisions  not  presently  obeyed 
— Papal  power  in  England  declines — The  pope  takes  wit  in  his  anger 
— The  institution  of  the  knights  of  the  garter — The  qualification  of 
these  knights ;  their  habits ;  their  oath — Other  rites  they  are  bound  to 
observe — Order,  how  voided — Excess  in  apparel  restrained — Clergy- 
men enjoined  to  take  uj)  arms  More  scared  than  hurt — A  petition 
against  Clergymen's  eraploj'ment  in  secular  places.  The  answer,  in 
effect,  a  denial — Simon  Mepham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury — John 
Stratford  his  successor.  His  last  his  best  days — Thomas  Bradwardine 
the  third  archbishop  ;  the  best  archbishop  of  that  see — Simon  Islip, 
next  archbishop — Langham,  Whittlesey,  and  Sudbury.  Pages  416 
—432. 


BOOK  IV. 
SECTION  I. 

A.D.  1371-1400.     45  EDWARD  III.  TO  2  HENRY  IV. 

Several  causes  of  the  speedy  spreading  of  Wicklifle's  doctrine — Wicklifte 
guilty  of  many  errors — The  learning  of  WicklifTe — Wickliffe  accused 
for  ambition  and  discontent — The  employment  of  Wickliffe  in  Oxford 
— Difference  in  the  number  of  Wickliffe's  opinions — Thomas  Waldensis 
accuseth  Wickliffe  to  have  maintained  these  dangerous  heretical 
opinions — lAIuch  pity  that  Wickliffe's  own  books  are  lost — Wickliffe 
appears  before  the  synod  in  St.  Paul's — The  brawl  betwixt  the  bishop 
and  the  lords  in  the  church — Why  the  archbishop  and  Wickliffe  silent 
the  while — Wickliffe's  opinions  marvellously  spread,  and  why — The 
death  and  character  of  king  Edward  III. — Laity  bandying  against  the 
clergy  in  parliament — Wickliffe  wonderfully  preserved  from  prosecu- 
tion— Transactions  in  the  parliament  of  Gloucester.  Sanctuaries 
shrewdly  shaken — Aliens  debarred  from  holding  benefices — The  rebel- 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

lion  of  Wat  Tyler  and  Jack  Straw — The  rabble  divided  into  three 
companies — The  barbarous  outrages  by  them  committed — Judas  and 
Wat  Tyler  paralleled — Cope  chargeth  all  this  rebellion  on  Wickliffe's 
doctrine,.  His  malicious  slander  confuted — Archbishop  Courtenay 
persecutes  the  Wickliffians — WicklifFe's  miraculous  deliverance.  His 
quiet  death — New  college  built  by  bishop  Wickham — Industry  and 
judgment  in  architecture  the  cause  of  his  advancement — A  castle- 
college  designed  for  defence — A  college  at  Winchester  built  also  by 
bishop  Wickham — His  care  for  his  kindred— Good  laws  in  due  season 
— The  maul-pope's  statute  of  prseraunire — The  occasion  of  this  statute 
— Why  called  preemunire — Pope's  covetousness  odious  to  the  clergy — 
The  pope's  letter  against  this  statute — More  scared  than  hurt — Sir 
Thomas  Smith's  judgment  herein — The  solemn  form  of  an  abjuration 
— Take  it^  faults  and  all — Some  observations  on  this  abjuration — 
The  death  of  John  de  Trevisa ;  who  translated  the  Bible  into  English, 
yet  escaped  persecution — As  did  his  contemporary,  Geoffery  Chaucer. 
His  parentage  and  arms.  He  refined  our  English  tongue.  A  great 
enemy  to  friars — A  short  quiet  in  the  church — The  character  of 
Richard  H.  Conspired  against  by  Henry  IV.  and  resigneth  the  crown 
— The  baseness  of  the  disloyal  clergy — The  courageous  conscience  of 
tlie  bishop  of  Carlisle — Innocency  the  best  armour — Activity  will  be 
tampering — A  bishop  not  triable  by  his  peers — A  seasonable  expedient. 
Pages  438—472. 

SECTION  II.     CENTURY  XV. 

A.D.  1408-1434.     10  HENRY  IV.  TO   11   HENRY  VI. 

King  Henry  bloody  against  poor  Christians,  yet  asserts  his  regal  power 
against  the  pope's  encroachments — William  Sautre  the  proto-martyr  of 
English  protestants — Thomas  Arundel,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
solemnly  pronounceth  Sautre  an  heretic  convicted — Sautre's  indiscreet 
denying  of  himself — Sautre,  by  a  second  sentence,  is  adjudged  to  be 
degraded  and  deposed.  The  order  of  his  degradation — The  king's 
warrant  for  the  burning  of  Sautre — A  surfeit  of  synods  in  archbishop 
Arundel's  time — A  new  chronology — A  severe  motion  against  the 
Welsh,  moderated  by  the  king.  The  cause  of  his  anger — The  quater- 
nion of  Welsh  bishops,  who  and  what  at  tliis  time — The  petition  of  the 
lords  and  commons  to  the  king  against  Lollards — The  prince  made  a 
party  against  Wicklivites — Complication  of  royal  and  prelatical  intere^-t 
— Wicklivists'  schools — Lollards,  why  so  called — A  chariable  paren- 
thesis— King  Richard,  why  believed  alive — No  woman  Lollard  mar- 
tyr— W^ho  meant  by  "the  fool  in  Scotland" — Cruel  persecution — 
Archbishop  Arundel,  going  to  visit  Oxford,  is  resisted  by  the  chan- 
cellor— The  king  determines  the  cause  for  the  archbishop — The  effect 
of  the  statute  of  premunire — Farewell  to  king  Henry  IV.  (Jhaumber- 
dakyns  banished  England — The  death  of  Thomas  Arundel— The  clergy, 
jealous  of  king  Henry's  activity,  divert  it  on  a  war  in  France — The  sad 
s'.ory  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle.  His  belief.  He  is  charged  of  treason — 
The  author,  intricated,  leaveth  all  to  the  last  day — The  lord  Cobham 
taken  in  Wales.  His  double  death.  Unjustly  made  the  buffoon  in 
plays — Lincoln  college  founded — Nicholas  Pont^  great  anti-Lincolnian 


CONTENTS.  XV 

— The  author,  some  weeks  in,  though  not  of,  this  house — The  arch- 
casuist  of  our  church  and  age — Bishop  of  Lincobi  builds  them  a  new 
chapel — The  death  and  character  of  king  Henry  V, — Queen  Catherine 
married  again ;  but  never  buried,  by  her  own  desire  :  alii  aliter — The 
parliament  appoint  the  king's  counsellors — A  strict  law  for  the  Irish 
Clergy — Wickliffe,  quietly  buried  forty-one  years,  ordered  to  be 
ungraved  for  a  heretic.  His  ashes  burned  and  drowned — None  can 
drive  a  nail  of  wax — Difference  betwixt  authors — Wickliffe  traduced — 
A  monk's  charity  to  Wickliffe — A  conditional  privy  counsellor — Pri- 
vilege of  convocation — Want  of  grammar-schools  complained  of — 
Eleanor  duchess  of  Gloucester  commended  by  Mr.  Fox  for  a  confessor: 
made  traitor  by  A.  Cope — Mr.  Fox's  ingenuous  confession.  His 
flat  denial.  His  ten  conjectures  in  behalf  of  the  duchess — A  moderate 
way — The  meanest  bishop  above  the  mightiest  abbot — Lichfield's 
cathedral,  the  neatest  pile  in  England — Charles  the  fifth  of  Florence — 
An  ingenuous  design — A  grievance  complained  on,  with  great  earnest- 
ness ;  yet  not  fully  redressed — William  Linwood's  Constitutions  set 
forth.  First  employed  ambassador  into  Portugal.  His  work  printed 
and  prized  beyond  sea.     Pages  472 — 500. 

SECTION  III. 

A.D.  1434—1482.     12  HENRY  VI.  TO  22  ED^yARD  IV. 

English  ambassadors  sent  to  Basil — Why  the  pope  declines  general  coun- 
cils in  our  age — England  must  send  four,  might  send  more,  bishops  to 
a  general  council — English  puissance  in  France — Langdon,  the  learned 
bishop  of  Rochester — Precedents  for  precedency — A  charitable  and  no 
impolitic  offer — A  contest  betwixt  the  English  and  Castilians  about 
precedency.  The  answer  of  the  English — All- Souls'  college  in  Oxford 
founded — A  tart  jeer  soberly  returned — The  founding  of  Eaton  college 
— The  bad  poetry  of  that  age — A  bountiful  foundation  :  God  continue 
it — All  quickly  lost  in  France — Occasioned  by  the  English  discords — 
The  death  of  Hum.phrey  duke  of  Gloucester — A  fit  work  for  a  good 
pen — The  death  of  the  rich  cardinal — The  clergy  move  in  vain  against 
the  statute  of  premunire — An  eminent  instance  in  Ireland,  of  a  priest 
indicted  on  the  statute  of  premunire — Cade  and  Straw,  like  and  unlike 
— The  wars  begin  between  York  and  Lancaster — Magdalen  college,  in 
Oxford,  founded  by  bishop  Wainlleet — The  many  worthies  bred  therein 
— Edward  IV.  gaineth  the  crown  by  conquest — Why  little  church- 
history  in  this  king's  reign — Synod  privileges  broken  and  repaired — 
King  Henry  returned,  routed,  and  imprisoned — The  earl  of  Warwick 
takes  just  distaste  at  king  Edward — King  Edward  taken  prisoner,  and 
king  Henry  enlarged — Edward  escaped,  flieth  beyond  sea,  and  return- 
eth ;  recovereth  the  crown  by  conquest — Why  most  armies  make  for 
London — Brawls  betwixt  mendicants  and  secular  priests— Christ 
falsely  traduced  to  be  a  beggar.  Writers  jyro  and  con,  in  the  cause — 
A  prodigious  feast  at  an  archbishop's  installation — A  second  [feast] 
sadder  in  the  conclusion — Scotland  freed  from  the  see  of  York — John 
Goose,  martyr — King  Edward  preacheth  his  own  funeral  sermon. 
Pages  501—524. 


XVI  CONTEXTS. 

SECTION  IV. 

A.D.   1483—1500.     1   RICHARD  III.  TO  1(J  HENRY  VII. 

After  More,  no  more — Clergy  complying,  not  active — Shaw's  shameless 
sermon — The  sumptuous  coronation  of  king  Richard — King  Edward 
and  his  brother  stifled — King  Richard  vainly  endeavoureth  to  ingra- 
tiate himself  by  making  good  laws  ;  as  also  by  building  of  monasteries 
— Art  hath  done  more  for  king  Richard  than  ever  nature  did — The 
request  of  the  duke  of  Buckingham  denied.  Buckingham  surprised 
and  beheaded — Morton  Make-Peace — Mr.  Prynne  charged  for  charg- 
ing bishop  IMorton  with  treason — Earl  Henry  landeth  at  I\Iilford-Haven 
— The  battle  of  Bosworth — Henry  the  Seventh's  six-fold  title  to  the 
crown — The  death  of  archbishop  Bourchier — John  Morton  succeeded 
him — A  gift  not  worth  the  taking— Exorbitancies  of  sanctuaries 
retrenched — Two  synods  at  London — Italians  good  at  getting  and 
holding — Rochester  bridge  repaired  by  pardons — The  king  desired 
king  Henry,  then  the  sixth,  to  be  sainted — The  requisites  to  a  canon- 
ization. These  applied  to  king  Henry  VI. — A  brace  of  miracles 
wrought  by  king  Henry  VI. — Reasons  why  king  Henry  VI.  was  not 
sainted — Archbishop  IMorton  procureth  the  sainting  of  Anselm — 
The  king's  carriage  to  the  pope :  severe  to  the  vicious  clergy.  Sad 
to  be  the  king's  convert — Needless  cruelty — The  founding  of  Brazen- 
nose  college — The  death  of  archbishop  Morton.     Pages  525 — 539. 


THE 


CHURCH   HISTORY  OF   BRITAIN. 


BOOK  I. 


FROM  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY  AMONG  THE  ANCIENT 
BRITONS  TO  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  THE  SAXON   HEPTARCHY. 


Vol..    I. 


TO 


THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  ESME  STUART, 

DUKE    OF    RICHMOND. 


I  HAVE  sometimes  solitarily  pleased  myself  with  the 
perusing  and  comparing  of  two  places  of  Scripture : — 

Acts  xxii.  22.  Hebrews  xi.  38. 

The   wicked  Jews   said  of  St.         St.  Paul  said  of  the  godly  Jews, 
Paul,  "  Away  with  such  a  fellow     "  Of  whom   the   world    was   not 
from  the  earth :   for  it  is  not  fit     worthy." 
that  he  should  live." 

Here  I  perceive  heaven  and  hell,  mercy  and  malice, 
God's  Spirit  and  man's  spite,  resolved  on  the  ques- 
tion, that  it  is  not  fit  that  good  men  should  live  long 
on  earth. 

However,  though  the  building  be  the  same,  yet  the 
bottom  is  different ;  the  same  conclusion  being  inferred 
from  opposite,  yea,  contrary  premises.  Wicked  men 
think  this  world  too  good,  God  knows  it  too  bad,  for 
his  servants  to  live  in.  Henceforward  I  shall  not 
wonder  that  good  men  die  so  soon,  but  that  they  live 
so  long ;  seeing  wicked  men  desire  their  room  here  on 
earth,  and  God  their  company  in  heaven.  No  wonder, 
then,  if  your  good  father  was  so  soon  translated  to 
happiness,  and  his  grace  advanced  into  glory. 

He  was  pleased  to  give  me  a  text,  some  weeks 
before  his  death,  of  the  words  of  our  Saviour  to  the 

B  2 


^^Ihw- 


DEDICATION. 


probationer  convert :  "  Thou  art  not  far  from  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  ; "  Mark  xii.  34  ;  that  is,  as  the  words 
there  import,  from  the  state  of  salvation.  But  before 
my  sermon  could  be,  his  life  was,  finished,  and  he  in 
the  real  acceptation  thereof,  possessed  of  heaven  and 
happiness. 

Thus  was  I  disappointed  (O  that  this  were  the 
greatest  loss  by  the  death  of  so  worthy  person!)  of  a 
patron,  to  whom  I  intended  the  dedication  of  this  first 
part  of  my  History. 

I  aftetjovas  entered  on  a  resolution  to  dedicate  it  to 
his  memory  ;  presuming  to  defend  the  innocency  and 
harmlessness  of  such  a  dedication  by  precedents  of 
unquestioned  antiquity.  But  I  intended  also  to  sur- 
round the  pages  of  the  dedication  with  black, — not 
improper,  as  to  his  relation,  so  expressive  of  the  pre- 
sent sad  condition  of  our  distracted  church. 

But,  seasonably  remembering  how  the  altar  "  Ed" 
(only  erected  for  commemoration)  was  misinterpreted 
by  the  other  tribes  for  superstition,  Joshua  xxii.  1 1  ;  I 
conceived  it  best  to  cut  off  all  occasions  of  cavil  from 
captious  persons,  and  dedicate  it  to  you  his  son. and 
heir. 

Let  not  your  Grace  be  oifended,  that  I  make  you  a 
patron  at  the  second  hand ;  for  though  I  confess  you 
are  my  refuge,  in  relation  to  your  deceased  father  ; 
you  are  my  choice,  in  reference  to  the  surviving 
nobility.  God  sanctify  your  tender  years  with  true 
grace,  that  in  time  you  may  be  a  comfort  to  your 
mother,  credit  to  your  kindred,  and  honour  to  your 
nation  ! 

Your  Grace's  most  bounden  orator, 

Thomas  Fuller. 


THE 


CHURCH    HISTORY  OF   BRITAIN. 

BOOK  I. 


SECTION  I. 

THE  FIRST  CENTURY. 

1.   The  doleful  Case  of  the  Pagan  Brito7is. 

Tha-T  Ave  may  the  more  freely  and  fully  pay  the  tribute  of  our 
thanks  to  God's  goodness  for  the  Gospel  which  we  now  enjoy,  let 
us  recount  the  sad  condition  of  the  Britons,  our  predecessors,  before 
the  Christian  faith  was  preached  unto  them.  "  At  'that  time  they 
were  without  Christ,  being  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel, 
and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of  promise,  having  no  hope,  and 
without  God  in  the  world."  They  were  foul  idolaters,  who,  from 
misapplying  that  undeniable  truth  of  God's  being  in  every  thing, 
made  every  thing  to  be  their  god, — trees,  rivers,  hills,  and 
mountains.  They  worshipped  devils,  whose  pictures  remained  in 
the  days  of  Gildas,*  within  and  without  the  decayed  walls  of  their 
cities,  drawn  with  deformed  faces,  (no  doubt,  done  to  the  life, 
according  to  their  terrible  apparitions,)  so  that  such  ugly  shapes  did 
not  woo,  but  fright  people  into  adoration  of  them.  Wherefore,  if 
any  find  in  Tully,  that  the  Britons  in  his  time  had  no  pictures, 
understand  him, — they  were  not  artists  in  that  mystery,  like  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  ;  they  had  not  pieces  of  proportion,  being 
rather  daubers  than  drawers,  stainers  than  painteys,  though  called 
Picti,  from  their  self- discoloration. 

2.   Their  principal  Idols. 

Three  paramount  idols  they  worshipped  above  all  the  rest,  and 
ascribed  divine  honour  unto  them  :  1.  Apollo,  by  them  styled 
"  Belinus  the  Great ;"  2.  Andraste,  or  Andate,  the  goddess  of  vic- 
tory ;  -f-  3.  Diana,  goddess  of  the  game.  This  last  was  most  espe- 
cially reverenced,  Britain  being  then  all  a  forest,  where  hunting  was 
not  the  recreation  but  the  calling,  and   venison,  not  the  dainties 

•  Epist.  de  Excid.  Brit.  1   XiriiiL.  Epi,  in  Neronc. 


6  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN. 

but  the  diet,  of  common  people.  There  is  a  place  near  St. 
Paul's  in  London,  called  in  old  records  "  Diana''s  chamber,"  where, 
in  the  days  of  king  Edward  I.  thousands  of  the  heads  of  oxen 
were  digged  up  ;  whereat  the  ignorant  wondered,  w^hilst  the  learned 
well  understood  them  to  be  the  proper  sacrifices  to  Diana,  whose 
great  temple  was  built  thereabout.*  This  rendereth  their  conceit 
not  altogether  unlikely  who  will  have  London  so  called  from  Llan- 
Dian,  which  signifieth  in  British  "  the  temple  of  Diana."  And 
surely  conjectures,  if  mannerly  observing  their  distance,  and  not 
impudently  intruding  themselves  for  certainties,  deserve,  if  not  to 
be  received,  to  be  considered.  Besides  these  specified,  they  had 
other  porienta  diabolica,  pene  numero  jEgyptiaca  vincentia  ."f- 
as  indeed  they  Avho  erroneously  conceive  one  God  too  little,  Avill 
find  two  too  many,  and  yet  millions  not  enough.  As  for  those 
learned  pens,  \  which  report  that  the  Druids  did  instruct  the  ancient 
Britons  in  the  knowledge  and  worship  of  one  only  God,  may  their 
mistake  herein  be  as  freely  forgiven  them,  as  I  hope  and  desire  that 
the  charitable  reader  will  with  his  pardon  meet  those  involuntary 
errors  which  in  this  work  by  me  shall  be  committed. 

3.  The  Office  and  Employment  of  the  Druids. 
Two  sorts  of  people  were  most  honoured  amongst  the  Britons  : — 
1.  Druids,  who  were  their  philosophers,  divines,  lawyers  ;  2.  Bards, 
who  were  their  prophets,  poets,  historians.  The  former  were  so 
called  from  '^pvc,  signifying  generally  "  a  tree,"  and  properly  "  an 
oak,"  under  which  they  used  to  perform  their  rites  and  ceremonies  ; 
an  idolatry  whereof  the  Jews  themselves  had  been  guilty,  for  which 
the  prophet  threatencth  them  :  "  They  shall  be  ashamed  of  the  oaks 
which  they  have  desired,"  Isaiah  i.  29.  But  the  signal  oak  which 
the  Druids  made  choice  of,  was  such  a  one  on  which  misletoe  did 
grow ;  by  Avhich  privy  token,  they  conceived  God  marked  it  out,  as 
of  sovereign  virtue,  for  his  service. §  Under  this  tree,  on  the  sixth 
day  of  the  moon,  (whereon  they  began  their  year,)  they  invocated 
their  idols,  and  oiFered  two  white  bulls,  filleted  in  the  horns,  with 
many  other  ceremonies.  These  Pagan  priests  never  wrote  any 
thing,  so  to  procure  the  greater  veneration  to  their  mysteries ;  men 
being  bound  to  believe  that  it  was  some  great  treasure  which  was 
locked  up  in  such  great  secresy. 

4.  The  powerful  Practices  of  the  Bards  on  the  People. 

The  bards  were  next  the  Druids  in  regard,  and  played  excellently 
to  their  songs  on  their  harpa;  whereby  they  had  great  operation  on 

*  Camden.  Brilann.  in  Middlesc.r.  t   GihVAS  7ti  priiis.  J  Druides  tinum 

esse   Detim  semper  f«rw/ra)-?<«/.— Camden   and   BiSHor  Godwin.  %  Plinii 

Natur.  Hist.  lib.  vi.  cap.  44. 


A.D.    37-  BOOK    I.       CENT.    I.  7 

the  vulgar,  surprising  tliem  into  civility  unawares, — tliey  greedily 
swallowing  whatsoever  was  sweetened  with  music.  These  also,  to 
preserve  their  ancestors  from  corruption,  embalmed  their  memories 
in  rhyming  verses,  which  looked  both  backward, — in  their  relations, 
and  forward, — in  their  predictions  ;  so  that  their  confidence,  meeting 
■with  the  credulity  of  others,  advanced  their  wild  conjectures  to  the 
reputation  of  prophecies.  The  immortality  of  the  soul  they  did  not 
ftatly  deny,  but  falsely  believe  ;  disguised  under  the  opinion  of 
transanimation,  conceiving  that  dying  men"'s  souls  afterward  passed 
into  other  bodies,  either  preferred  to  better,  or  condemned  to  worse, 
according  to  their  former  good  or  ill  behaviour.  This  made 
them  contemn  death,  and  always  maintain  erected  resolutions, 
counting  a  valiant  death  the  best  of  bargains,  wherein  they  did  not 
lose,  but  lay  out  their  lives  to  advantage.  Generally  they  were 
great  magicians  ;  insomuch  that  Pliny  saith,  that  the  very  Persians, 
in  some  sort,  might  seem  to  have  learned  their  magic  from  the 
Britons.* 

5.  The  first  Preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  Britain.     A.D.  37* 

So  pitiful  for  the  present,  and  more  fearful  for  the  future,  was  the 
condition  of  the  Heathen  Britons,  when  it  pleased  God,  "with  a 
sirong  hand,  and  stretched-out  arm,"  to  reach  the  Gospel  unto 
them,  "  who  were  afar  off,*"  both  in  local  and  theological  distance. 
This  was  perfonned  in  the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of  Tiberius,  some 
thirty-seven  years  after  Chrisfs  birth ;  as  Polydore  Virgil  collecteth 
out  of  the  testimony  of  Gildas.-f-  . 

6.  Causes  which  hastened  the  Conversion  of  Britain,   before 
other  Kingdoms  which  lay  nearer  to  Palestine. 

If  it  seem  incredible  to  any,  that  this  island,  furthest  from  the 
sun,  should  see  light  with  the  first,  whilst  many  countries  on  the 
continent  interposed  (nearer  in  situation  to  Judea,  the  fountain  of 
the  Gospel)  sat,  as  yet,  and  many  years  after,  "  in  darkness,  and  in 
the  shadow  of  death  ;"  let  such  consider,  First,  That  Britain  being  a 
by-corner,  out  of  the  road  of  the  world,  seemed  the  safest  sanctuary 
from  persecution,  which  might  invite  preachers  to  come  the  sooner 
into  it.  Secondly  :  It  facilitated  the  entrance  and  propagation  %  of 
the  Gospel  hither, — that  lately  the  Roman  conquest  had  in  part 
civilized  the  south  of  this  island,  by  transporting  of  colonies  thither, 
and  erecting  of  cities  there  ;  so  that  by  the  intercourse  of  traffic  and 

*  Natur.  Hist.Wh.  xxx.  cap  1.  t   Teinpore  (ut  scimus)  summo  Tiberii  Ccssaris. 

— Jn  Epist.  de  Excid.  Brit.  J   In  his  Appeal  of  injured  Innocence,  Fuller  says 

that,  by  tlie  addition  of  the  two  words  "  and  propagation,"  this  sentence  "  shall  be 
altered,  (God  willing,)  in  the  next  edition ; "  which  is  here  corrected  according  to  his 
expressed  intention. — Edit. 


8  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  37- 

commerce  with  other  countries,  Christianity  had  the  more  speedy 
and  convenient  waftage  over.  Whereas,  on  the  other  side,  this  set 
the  conversion  of  Germany  so  backward,  because  the  inhmd  parts 
thereof  entertained  no  trading  with  others  ;  and,  out  of  defiance  to 
the  Romans,  hugged  their  own  barbarism,  made  lovely  with  liberty, 
bolting  out  all  civility  from  themselves,  as  jealous  that  it  would 
usher  in  subjection.  Lastly  and  chiefly  :  God  in  a  more  peculiar 
manner  did  always  favour  "  the  islands,"  as  under  his  immediate 
protection.  For  as  he  daily  walls  them  with  his  providence,  against 
the  scaling  of  the  swelling  surges,  and  constant  battery  of  the  tide ; 
so  he  made  a  particular  promise  of  his  Gospel  unto  them,  by  the 
mcuth  of  his  prophet :  "  I  will  send  tho?e  that  escape  of  them  to 
the  isles  afar  off,  that  have  not  heard  my  fame,"  Isaiah  Ixvi.  19  ;  to 
show  that  "  neither  height  nor  depth,"  no,  not  of  the  ocean  itself, 
"is  able  to  separate  any  from  the  love  of  God."  And  for  the  same 
purpose,  Christ  employed  fishermen  for  the  first  preachers  of  the 
Gospel,  as  who,  being  acquainted  with  the  water,  and  mysteries  of 
sailing,  would  with  the  more  delight  undertake  long  sea-voyages  into 
foreign  countries. 

7-  SL  Peter  fdhely  reported  to  have  predchedin  Britain. 

But  now,  who  it  was  that  first  brought  over  the  Gospel  into 
Britain,  is  very  uncertain.  The  conversioner  (imderstand  Parsons 
the  Jesuit)  mainly  stickleth  for  the  apostle  Peter  to  have  first 
preached  the  Gospel  here.*  Yea,  w^hen  Protestants  object  against 
St.  Peter\s  being  at  Rome,  because  St.  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the 
Romans,  omitteth  to  name  or  salute  him  ;  the  Jesuit  handsomely 
ansAvers,  that  Peter  Avas  then  probably  from  home,  employed  in 
preaching  in  Britain  and  other  places.  His  arguments  to  prove  it  are 
not  so  strong,  but  that  they  easily  accept  of  answers,  as  followeth  : — 

Argument  I. — St.  Peter  preached  in  Britain,  because  Gildas, 
speaking  against  his  dissolute  countrymen,  taxcth  them  "  for  usurp- 
ing the  seat  of  Peter  with  their  unclean  feet."-f' 

Answer. — Understand  him,  that  they  had  abused  the  profes- 
sion of  the  ministry :  for  it  follows,  "  They  have  sitten  in  the 
jiestilent  chair  of  Judas  the  traitor."  Whence  it  appears,  both  are 
meant  mystically  and  metaphorically,  parallel  to  the  expressions  of 
the  apostle,  Jude  11,  "  They  have  gone  in  the  way  of  Cain,"  &c. 

Argument  II. — Simeon  Metaphrastcs  saith  so,  that  he  stayed 
some  days  in  Britain,  Avherc,  having  preached  the  word,  established 
churches,  ordained  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  in  the  twelfth  year 
of  Nero  he  returned  to  Rome.j 

*  Parsoxs's  Three  Conversions,  part  1,  cliap.  1,  page  19.  f  In  Epist,  de  Exvid. 

Brit.  t  Ctmmcntario  dc  Pclro  el  Paulo,  ad  diem  2'J  Junii. 


A.u.  37 — 41.  BOOK  I.     CENT,  i:  9 

Answer. — Metaphrastcs  is  an  author  of  no  credit,  as  Baronius 
himself  doth  confess.* 

Argujient  III. — Innocent  the  First  reporteth  that  the  first 
churches  in  Italy,  France,  Spain,  Afric,  Sicily,  and  the  inter- 
jacent islands,  were  founded  by  St.  Peter.-|- 

AxswER. — Make  the  map  an  umpire,  and  the  epithet  "  inter- 
jacent "will  not  reach  Britain,  intending  only  the  islands  in  the 
Mid- land  Sea. 

Argument  IV. — Guliclmus  Eysin'grenius  saith  so. 

Answer. — Though  he  hath  a  lo7ig  name,  he  is  but  a  late 
author,  setting  forth  his  book  anno  ISGG.;]:  Besides,  he  builds  on 
the  authority  of  Metaphrastcs  ;  and  so  both  fall  together. 

Argument  V. — St.  Peter  himself  in  a  vision,  in  the  days  of 
king  Edward  the  Confessor,  reported  that  he  had  preached  the 
word  in  Britain. 

Answer. — To  this  vision  pretended  of  Peter,  we  oppose 
the  certain  words  of  St.  Paul,  "  Neither  give  heed  to  fables," 
1  Tim.  i.  4. 

We  have  stayed  the  longer  in  confuting  these  arguments, 
because,  from  Peter''s  preaching  here,  Parsons  would  infer  an 
obligation  of  this  island  to  the  see  of  Rome  ;  which  how  strongly 
he  hath  proved,  let  the  reader  judge.  He  that  will  give  a  cap  and 
make  a  leg,  in  thanks  for  a  favour  he  never  received,  deserveth 
rather  to  be  blamed  for  want  of  wit,  than  to  be  praised  for  store  of 
manners.  None  therefore  can  justly  tax  us  of  ingratitude,  if  we  be 
loath  to  confess  an  engagement  to  Rome  more  than  is  due  ;  the 
rather  because  Rome  is  of  so  tyrannical  a  disposition,  that,  making 
herself  the  mother-church,  she  expects  of  her  daughters  not  only 
dutifulness,  but  servility  ;  and,  not  content  to  have  them  ask  her 
blessing,  but  also  do  her  drudgery,  endeavoureth  to  make  slaves  of 
all  her  children. 

8.  St.  James,  St.  Paul,  St.  Simon,  and  St.  Aristohuliis,  Preach- 
ers in  Britain.     J.D,  41,  47,  56. 

Passing  by  Peter,  proceed  we  to  the  rest  of  the  apostles,  whom 
several  authors  allege  the  first  planters  of  religion  in  this  island  : — 

1.  St.  James,  son  to  Zebedee,  and  brother  to  John.§  But  if  we 
consult  with  the  Scripture,  Ave  shall  find  that  the  sword  of  Herod 
put  an  end  to  all  his  travels  before  the  apostles'*  general  departure 
from  Jerusalem.  Indeed,  this  James  is  notoriously  reported  (how 
truly,  let  them  seek  who  are  concerned)  to  have   been   in   Spain  ; 

•  In  aliis  midtis  ibi  ab  ipso  posiiis  errare  eum  cerium  est. — Ecc.  ^nnal.  in  An.  44, 
num.  54.  t  Episiolu  1,  ad  Deccntium.  \  Mason  de  Minist.  Aug.  lib.  2, 

cap.  2,  page  C5.  §   Isidorvs   Be  Putrihns    ulriusquc  Testament,   cap.  72.      Item 

Fla\ius  Lucks  Dexter  in  Chronica  ad  annum  41. 


10  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.         A.  D.  47 — 56. 

and  it  is  probable,  some,  mistaking  Hibernia  for  Hiberia,  and 
then  confounding  Hibernia,  a  British  island,  with  our  Britain, 
(as  one  error  is  very  procreative  of  another,)  gave  the  beginning  to 
James's  preaching  here. 

2.  St.  Paul  is  by  others  shipped  over  into  our  island  ;  amongst 
Avhom  thus  sings  Venantius  Fortunatus  : — * 

Transit  et  oceanum,  vel  quafacit  insula  portum  : 
Quasque  Britannus  habet  terras,  quasque  ultima  Thule. 

But  less  credit  is  to  be  given  to  Britannus,  because  it  goeth  in 
company  with  ultima  Thule  ;  which,  being  the  noted  expression  of 
poets  for  "the  utmost  bound  of  the  then-known  world,""  seems  to 
savour  more  of  poetical  hyperbole,  than  historical  truth,  as  a  phrase 
at  random,  only  to  express  far-foreign  countries. 

3.  Simon  the  Canaanite,  surnamed  Zelotes :  and  well  did  he 
brook  his  name,  the  fervency  of  whose  zeal  carried  him  into  so  far 
and  cold  a  country  to  propagate  the  Gospel.  Dorothcus  makes  him 
to  be  both  martyred  and  buried  in  Britain.  "  But  this,"  saith 
Baronius,  "  receiveth  no  countenance  from  any  ancient  writers."  -}- 
What,  then,  I  pray,  w^as  Dorotheus  himself,  being  bishop  of  Tyre 
under  Diocletian  and  Constantine  the  Great  ?  If  the  cardinal 
count  him  young,  what  grave  seniors  will  he  call  ancient  ? 

4.  Aristobulus,  though  no  apostle,  yet  an  apostle"'s  mate,  Rom. 
xvi.  10,  counted  one  of  the  seventy  disciples,  is  by  Grecian  Avriters 

J  .■  made  bishop  of  Britain.]:  Strange,  that  foreign  authors  should  see 
f*f '■  more  in  our  island,  than  our  home-bred  historians,  wholly  silent 
thereof !  and  it  much  weakeneth  their  testimony,  because  they  give 
evidence  of  things  done  at  such  distance  from  them.  But  how 
easy  is  it  for  a  writer,  with  one  word  of  his  pen,  to  send  an  apostle 
many  miles  by  land  and  leagues  by  sea,  into  a  country  wherein 
otherwise  he  never  set  his  footing  ! 

The  result  of  all  is  this  :  Churches  are  generally  ambitious  to 
entitle  themselves  to  apostles  for  their  founders  ;  conceiving  they 
should  otherwise  be  esteemed  but  as  of  the  second  form  and 
-  younger  house,  if  they  received  the  faith  from  any  inferior  preacher. 
Wherefore,  as  the  Heathen,  in  searching  after  the  original  of  their 
nations,  never  leave  soaring  till  they  touch  the  clouds,  and  fetch 
their  pedigree  from  some  god ;  so  Christians  think  it  nothing 
worth,  except  they  relate  the  first  planting  of  religion  in  their  coun- 
try to  some  apostle.  Whereas,  indeed,  it  matters  not,  if  the 
doctrine  be  the  same,  whether  the  apostles  preached  it  by  them- 
selves, or  by  their  successors.  We  see  little  certainty  can  be 
extracted,  who  first  brought  the  Gospel  hither  ;  it  is  so  long  since, 

*  Lib.  3,  De  Vitu  H.  Martini.  t  ^innal.  Eccles,  in  anno  4-1,  num.  39. 

X  Menoca  Gruccorum,  die  dccimo  quinlo  Martii. 


A.D.  56 — 60.  BOOK   I.     cp:nt.   1.  11 

the  British  church  hath  forgotten  her  own  infancy,  who  were  her 
first  godfathers.  We  see,  the  light  of  the  word  shined  here,  but 
see  not  who  kindled  it.  I  will  not  say,  as  God,  to  prevent 
idolatry,  caused  the  body  of  Moses  to  be  concealed,  Deut. 
xxxiv.  6 ;  so,  to  cut  off  from  posterity  all  occasion  of  superstition, 
he  suffered  the  memories  of  our  primitive  planters  to  be  buried 
in  obscurity. 

9.  Claudia,  notwithstanding  Parsons's  Exceptions,  might  be  a 
British  Christian.  A.D.  63. 

Now,  amongst  the  converts  of  the  natives  of  this  island,  in  this 
age,  to  Christianity,  Claudia,  suruamed  Ruffina,  is  reputed  a  prin- 
cipal, wife  to  Pudens,  a  Roman  senator.  And  because  all  this  is 
too  high  a  step  for  our  belief  to  climb  at  once,  the  ascent  will  be 
more  easy  thus  divided  into  stairs  and  half-paces  : — 

First.  That  Claudia  was  a  Briton  born.  JNlartial  affiwns  it  in  his 
Epigram,  lib.  11,  epig.  54: — 

Claudia  ccenikis  cum,  sit  Ruffina  Britannis 
Edita,  cur  LaticF.  pectora  plehis  habet  ? 

Secondly.  That  this  Claudia  was  wife  to  Pudens,  the  same  poet 
averreth,  lib.  4,  epig.  13  : — 

Claudia,  Rufe,  meo  mihit  peregrina  Pudetiti. 
Made  esto  iadis,  O  Hymenccey  tuis. 

Thirdly.  That  there  was  a  Pudens  and  Claudia  living  at  Rome, 
both  Christians,  we  have  it  from  a  more  infallible  pen,  [that]  of 
St.  Paul  himself:  "  Eubulus  greeteth  thee,  and  Pudens,  and 
Linus,  and  Claudia,  and  all  the  brethren,"  2  Tim.  iv.  21. 

Lastly.  That  this  Claudia  mentioned  by  St.  Paul,  then  living  at 
Rome,  was  the  same  Claudia,  a  Briton  born,  mentioned  by  Martial, 
is  the  opinion  and  probable  conjecture  of  many  modern  writers. 

But  father  Parsons  Avill  not  admit  hereof,  because  willingly  he 
would  not  allow  any  sprinkling  of  Christianity  in  this  island,  but 
what  was  rained  from  Rome  when  Eleutherius  sent  to  Christian 
king  Lucius,  that  so  our  engagement  to  the  Romish  church  might 
be  the  more  visible  and  conspicuous.  "  This  of  Claudia  Ruffina  is 
huddled  up,*"  saith  he,*  "  by  our  late  heretical  writers ;"  (though 
some  as  catholic  as  himself,  in  his  own  sense,  do  entertain  it ;  -f*) 
"  and  hereby  we  see  that  heretics  are  but  slight  provers,  and  very 
deceitful  in  all  matters,  as  well  historical  as  doctrinal." 

10.  Parsons'^s  Objection  to  the  contrary  answered. 

But  be  it  knoAvn  to  him  and  others,  that  our  history  is  founded 
on  the  best  human  books  we  can  get,  but  our  doctrine  is  grounded 

*    Parsons's   Three  Co?ivcrsions,  fni-i  1,]).  18.  f   Pitsel's   De   Script.  Bril. 

p.  72,  is  zealous  for  it. 


12  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  63. 

on  what  is  best  in  itself, — tlie  Divine  Scriptures.  The  matter  in 
hand  is  so  slight  a  controversy  that  it  cannot  bear  a  demonstration 
on  either  side ;  it  will  suffice,  if,  by  answering  his  reasons  to  the 
contrary,  we  clear  it  from  all  impossibility  and  improbability  that  it 
is  not  "huddled,"  but  built  up  by  plummet  and  line,  with  propor- 
tion to  time  and  place. 

Argument  I. — There  is  a  general  silence  of  all  antiquity  in 
this  matter. 

Answer. — Negative  arguments  from  human  Avriters  in  such  his- 
torical differences  are  of  small  validity. 

Argument  II. — Martial,  a  Heathen,  would  hardly  so  much 
commend  Claudia  if  she  had  been  a  Christian. 

Answer. — A  wanton  poet,  in  his  chaste  intervals,  might  praise 
that  goodness  in  another  which  he  would  not  practise  in  himself. 

Argument  III. — Claudia,  spoken  of  by  St.  Paul,  was  in  the  time 
of  Nero,  and  could  not  be  known  to  Martial,  who  lived  sixty  years 
after,  in  the  reign  of  Trajan. 

Answer. — Though  Martial  died  a  very  old  man  in  Trajan's 
days,  yet  he  flourished  under  Nero,  very  familiar  with  his  friend 
and  fellow-poet,  Silius  Italicus,*  in  whose  consulship  Nero  died. 

Argument  IV. — That  same  Claudia  (reported  also  the  first 
hostess  Avhich  entertained  Peter  and  Paul)  must  be  presumed 
ancient  in  Martial's  remembrance,  and,  therefore,  unfit  to  be  praised 
for  her  beauty. 

Answer. — Even  in  the  autumn  of  her  age,  when  she  had 
enriched  her  husband  with  three  children,  her  vigorous  beauty,  pre- 
served by  temperance,  might  entitle  her  to  the  commendation  of 
matron-like  comeliness. 

Argument  V. — The  children  assigned,  in  the  Roman  calendar, 
to  Claudia  the  Christian  will  not  well  agree  to  this  British  Claudia. 
Answer. — Little  certainty  can  be  extracted,  and  therefore 
nothing  enforced  to  purpose,  from  the  number  and  names  of  her 
children  ;  such  is  the  difference  of  several  writers  concerning  them.-f* 
The  issue  of  all  is  this  :  Claudia's  story,  as  a  British  Christian, 
stands  unrcmoved,  for  any  force  of  these  objections,  though  one 
need  not  be  much  engaged  herein ;  for,  whosoever  is  more  than 
lukeAvarm  is  too  hot  in  a  case  of  so  small  consequence.  Yet  we 
will  not  willingly  leave  a  hoof  of  the  British  honour  behind,  which 
may  be  brouglit  on  ;  the  rather  to  save  the  longing  of  such,  who 
delight  on  rath-ripe  fruits  :  and  antiquaries  much  please  themselves 
to  behold  the  probabilities  of  such  early  converts  of  our  island. 
But,  now  to  return  again  to  the  prime  planters  of  religion  in  Britain  : 
As  for  all  those  formerly  reckoned  up,  there   is    in  authors  but  a 

*  Martial,  lili.  7,  op.  62.  f  See  Usher  Dc  Brit.  Eccl,  Prim.  cap.  3. 


A.D.  63.  BOOK   I.     CEXT.    I.  13 

tinkling  mention  of  them  ;  and  the  sound  of  their  preaching,  low 
and  little,  in  comparison  of  those  loud  peals  which  are  rung  of 
Joseph  of  Arimathea"'s  coming  hither.  Let  the  reader  with  patience 
take  the  sura  thereof,  extracted  out  of  several  authors. 

11.   The  Coming  of  Joseph  of  Arimathca  into  Britain. 

The  Jews,  bearing  an  especial  spite  to  Philip,  (whether  the 
apostle  or  deacon,  uncertain,)  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  Lazarus,  Mary 
Magdalene  and  Martha  his  sisters,  with  Marcella  their  servant, 
banished  them  out  of  Judea,  and  put  them  into  a  vessel  without 
sails  and  oars,  with  intent  to  drown  them.  Yet  they,  being  tossed 
with  tempests  on  the  Mid- land  Sea,  at  last  safely  landed  at  Mar- 
seilles in  France  :  a  relation  as  ill-accoutred  with  tacklings  as  their 
ship,  and  which  is  unrigged  in  respect  of  time  and  other  circum- 
stances ;  neither  hath  it  the  authority  of  any  authentic  writer  for  a 
pilot  to  steer  it ;  which,  notwithstanding,  hath  had  the  happiness  to 
arrive  at  the  hearing  of  many,  and  belief  of  some  few.  Now, 
whilst  Philip*  continued  preaching  the  Gospel  in  France,  he  sent 
Joseph  of  Arimathea  over  into  Britain,  with  Joseph  his  son,  and 
ten  other  associates,  to  convert  the  natives  of  that  island  to  Chris- 
tianity. These,  coming  into  Britain,  found  such  entertainment  from 
Arviragus  the  king,  that  though  he  would  not  be  dissuaded  from  his 
idolatry  by  their  preaching,  yet  he  allowed  them  twelve  hides  of 
ground,  (a  hide  is  as  much  as,  being  well  manured,  will  maintain  a 
family ;  or,  as  others  say,  as  much  as  one  plough  can  handsomely 
manage,)  in  a  desolate  island,  full  of  fens  and  brambles,  called  the 
Ynis-Witrin^  since,  by  translation,  "  Glastonbury."  Here  they 
built  a  small  church,  and  by  direction  from  Gabriel  the  archangel,-f- 
dedicated  it  to  the  virgin  Mary,  encompassing  it  about  with  a 
church- yard ;  in  which  church,  afterwards,  Joseph  Avas  buried  :  and 
here  these  twelve  lived  many  years,  devoutly  serving  God,  and  con- 
verting many  to  the  Christian  religion, 

12.   The  History  full  of  Dross  when  brought  to  the  Touch. 

Now,  a  little  to  examine  this  history,  we  shall  find.  First.  That 
no  writer  of  credit  can  be  produced,  before  the  conquest,  who  men- 
tioneth  Joseph's  coming  hither ;  but  since  that  time,  to  make 
recompence  for  former  silence,  it  is  resounded  from  every  side.  As 
for  Bale's  citations  out  of  Melkinus  Avalonius,  and  Gildas  Albanus, 
seeing  the  originals  are  not  extant,  they  be  as  uncertain  as  -what 
Baronius  hath  transcribed  out  of  an  English  manuscript:|:  in  the 

•  Some  hold  Philip  came  not  in  this  ship,  but  was  in  France  before.  t  Malmes- 

bury  Alls,  de  Jlntiq.  Glaston.  Ecclesicc.  X  Written  in   our  age,   as  Archbishop 

Usher  observes,  De  Brit.  Eccl,  Prim.  p.  15. 


14  CirUIK  H     HISTORY     OF     BKTTAIN.  A.  D.   G4. 

Vatican.  Yet,  because  the  Norman  charters  of  Glastonbury  refer 
to  a  succession  of  many  ancient  charters,  bestowed  on  that  church 
by  several  Saxon  kings,  as  the  Saxon  charters  relate  to  British 
grants  in  intuition  to  Joseph's  being  there ;  we  dare  not  wholly 
deny  the  substance  of  the  story,  though  the  leaven  of  monkery  hath 
much  swollen  and  puffed  up  the  circumstance  thereof.  For,  the 
mentioning  of  an  enclosed  church-yard  overthrows  the  foundation  of 
the  church,  seeing  churches,  in  that  time,  got  no  such  suburbs  about 
them  as  any  church-yards  to  attend  them.  The  burying  his  body 
in  the  church  was  contrary  to  the  practice  of  that  age  ;  yea,  dead 
men's  corpses  were  brought  no  nearer  than  the  porch  some  hundreds 
of  years  after.  The  dedication  of  the  place  to  the  virgin  Mary 
showeth  the  story  of  later  date,  calculated  for  the  elevation  of  saint- 
worship.  In  a  word :  As  this  relation  of  Joseph  is  presented 
unto  us,  it  hath  a  young  man's  brow,  with  an  old  man's  beard ;  I 
mean,  novel  superstitions,  disguised  with  pretended  antiquity. 

13.  The  Platform  of  the  most  ancient  Church  in  Christendom. 

A.D.  64'. 

In  all  this  story  of  Joseph's  living  at  Glastonbury,  there  is  no  one 
passage  reported  therein  beareth  better  proportion  to  time  and  place 
than  the  church  which  he  is  said  to  erect ;  whose  dimensions,  mate- 
rials, and  making,  are  thus  presented  vmto  us.  It  had  in  length 
sixty  foot,  and  twenty-six  in  breadth;*  made  of  rods,  wattled,  or 
interwoven. •!*  Where,  at  one  view,  we  may  behold  the  simplicity 
of  primitive  devotion,  and  the  native  fashion  of  British  buildings  in 
that  age,  and  some  hundred  years  after.  For  we  find  that  Hoel 
Dha,  king  of  Wales,  J  made  himself  a  palace  of  hurdle-work,  called 
Tyguyn^  or  "  the  white  house  ;"  because,  for  distinction's  sake, 
(to  difference  it  from,  and  advance  it  above,  other  houses,)  the  rods 
whereof  it  was  made  were  unbarked,  having  the  rind  stripped  off: 
which  was  then  counted  gay  and  glorious ;  as  white  limed  houses 
exceed  those  which  are  only  rough  cast.  In  this  small  oratory, 
Joseph,  with  his  companions,  watched,  prayed,  fasted,  preached, 
having  high  meditations  under  a  low  roof,  and  large  hearts  betwixt 
narrow  walls.  If  credit  may  be  given  to  these  authors,  this  church, 
without  competition,  was  senior  to  all  Christian  churches  in  the 
world.  Let  not,  then,  stately  modern  churches  disdain  to  stoop 
with  their  highest  steeples,  reverently  doing  homage  to  this  poor 
structure,  as  their  first  platform  and  precedent.  And  let  their 
cliecquercd  pavements  no  more  disdain  this  oratory's  plain  floor,  than 

•  Ancient  plate  of  brass  in  the  custody  of  Sir  Hemy  Spelman,—  Be  Conciliis  Brit.  p.  11 . 
1   Malmesbury,  uf  prius.  t    He   was   king    of   all   Wales   many   years    after, 

viz.  940.    See  Camden  in  Carmarthenishire. 


A.D.  G4 — 7(3.  BOOK   I.        CENT.  I.  15 

her  thatched  covering  doth  envy  their  leaden  roofs.  And  although 
now  it  is  meet  that  church-buildings,  as  well  as  private  houses,  par- 
taking of  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  our  age,  should  be  both  in 
their  cost  and  cunning  increased,  (far  be  that  pride  and  profaneness 
from  any,  to  account  nothing  either  too  fair  for  man,  or  too  foul  for 
God  !)  yet  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  desire,  that  our  judgments  may 
be  so  much  the  clearer  in  matters  of  truth,  and  our  lives  so  much 
the  purer  in  conversation,  by  how  much  our  churches  are  more  light, 
and  our  buildings  more  beautiful,  than  they  were. 

14.  Difference  about  the  Place  of  Josephs  Burial.  A.D.  ^6. 
Some  difference  there  is  about  the  place  of  burial  of  Joseph  of 
Arimathea ;  some  assigning  his  grave  in  the  church  of  Glastonbury, 
others  in  the  south  corner  of  the  church-yard,  and  others  elsewhere. 
This  we  may  be  assured  of, — that  he,  who  resigned  his  own  tomb 
to  our  Saviour,  Matt,  xxvii.  60,  wanted  not  a  sepulchre  for  himself. 
And  here  we  must  not  forget,  how,  more  than  a  thousand  years 
after,*  one  John  Bloone,  of  London,  pretending  an  injunction  from 
heaven,  to  seek  for  the  body  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  obtained  a 
licence  from  king  Edward  III.  to  dig  at  Glastonbury  for  the  same, 
as  by  his  patent  doth  appear.-f-  It  seems,  his  commission  of  inquiry 
never  originally  issued  out  of  the  court  of  heaven  ;  for  God  never 
sends  his  servants  on  a  sleeveless  errand,  but  saith,  "  Ask,  and  ye 
shall  have  ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find."  Whereas  this  man  sought, 
and  did  never  find,  for  aught  we  can  hear  of  his  inquisition.  And 
we  may  well  believe,  that  had  he  found  the  corpse  of  Joseph,  though 
fame  might  have  held  her  peace,  yet  superstition  would  not  have 
been  silent ;  but,  long  before  this  time,  she  had  roared  it  even  into 
the  ears  of  deaf  men.  And  truly  he  might  have  digged  at  Glaston- 
bury to  the  centre  of  the  earth,  and  yet  not  met  with  what  he  sought 
for,  if  Joseph  were  buried  ten  miles  off,  (as  a  Jesuit  j  will  have  it,) 
at  Montacute,  or  in  Hampden  Hill.  Hereafter  there  is  hope,  that 
the  masons,  digging  in  the  quarries  thereof,  may  light  by  chance 
on  his  corpse,  which  (if  fond  papists  might  prize  it)  would  prove 
more  beneficial  to  them,  than  the  best  bed  of  freestone  they  ever 
oj^ened.  The  best  is,  be  Joseph's  body  where  it  will,  his  soul  is 
certainly  happy  in  heaven. 

15.   The   budding   Haivthorn  nigh    Glastonbury    attributed  to 
Josephs  Holiness. 

Some  ascribe  to  the  sanctity  of  this  Joseph  the   yearly   budding 
of  the  hawthorn  near  Glastonbury,  on  Christmas-day, — no  less  than 

•  Anno  Dom.  1344,  the  nineteenth  of  Edward  III.  f  In  the  Tower  of  London, 

nineteenth  of  Edward  III.  part  1.  parchment  8.  f  Gi'LiELMUS  GooDUS,  cited  by 

Archbishop  Uisher,  De  Brit,  Ecc,  Prim.  p.  28. 


16  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAlK.  A.  D.  76. 

an  annual  miracle.  This,  Avcre  it  true,  were  an  argument,  (as  king 
James  did  once  pleasantly  urge  it,)  to  prove  our  old  style  before  the 
new ;  (which  prevents  our  computation  by  ten  days,  and  is  used  in 
the  church  of  Rome  ;)  yea,  all  prognosticators  might  well  calculate 
their  almanacks  from  this  hawthorn.  Others  more  warily  affirm, 
that  it  doth  not  punctually  and  critically  bud  on  Christmas-day, 
(such  miracles  must  be  tenderly  touched,  lest,  crushed  by  harsh 
handling,  they  vanish  into  smoke,  like  the  apples  of  Sodom,) 
but  on  the  days  near  or  about  it.  However,  it  is  very  strange,  that 
this  hawthorn  should  be  the  harbinger,  and,  as  it  were,  ride  post  to 
bring  the  first  news  of  the  spring,  holding  alone,  as  it  may  seem, 
correspondency  with  the  trees  of  the  antipodes,  whilst  other  haw- 
thorns near  unto  it  have  nothing  but  winter  upon  them. 

16.  Differeyit  Opiyiions  of  Men  concerning  it. 

It  is  true,  by  pouring  every  night  warm  water  on  the  root 
thereof,  a  tree  may  be  maturated  artificially,  to  bud  out  in  the  midst 
of  winter  ;  but  it  is  not  within  suspicion,  that  any  such  cost  is  here 
expended.  Some  likewise  affirm,  that  if  an  hawthorn  be  grafted 
upon  an  holly  it  is  so  adopted  into  the  stock  that  it  will  bud  in 
winter :  but  this  doth  not  satisfy  the  accurateness  of  the  time. 
Wherefore  most  men,  pursued  to  render  a  reason  hereof,  take  refuge 
at  occulta  qualitas,  the  most  mannerly  confession  of  ignorance. 
And  God  sometimes  puts  forth  such  questions  and  riddles  in  nature, 
on  purpose  to  pose  the  pride  of  men  conceited  of  their  skill  in  such 
matters.  But  some  are  more  uncharitable  in  this  point,  who, 
because  they  cannot  find  the  reason  hereof  on  earth,  do  fetch  it 
from  hell,  nor  sticking  to  affirm,  that  the  devil,  to  dandle  the  infant 
faith  of  fond  people,  works  these  pretty  feats  and  petty  wonders, 
having  farther  intents  to  invite  them  to  superstition,  and  mould 
them  to  saint-worship  thereby. 

17-  The  Subject  of  the  Question  taken  aivay. 
However,  there  is  no  necessity  that  this  should  be  imputed  to  the 
holiness  of  Arimathean  Joseph.  For  there  is,  as  it  is  credibly  said, 
an  oak  in  New  Forest,  near  Lyndhurst  in  Hampshire,  which  is  endued 
with  4he  same  quality,  putting  forth  leaves  about  the  same  time, 
where  the  firmness  of  the  rind  thereof  much  incr,easeth  the  wonder : 
and  yet,  to  my  knowledge,  (for  aught  I  could  ever  learn,)  none 
ever  referred  it  to  the  miraculous  influence  of  any  saint.  But  I 
lose  precious  time,  and  remember  a  pleasant  story,  how  two  physi- 
cians, the  one  a  Galenist,  the  other  a  Paracelsian,  being  at  supper, 
fell  into  a  hot  dispute  about  the  manner  of  digestion  ;  and  whilst 
they  began  to  engage  Avith  earnestness  in   the  controversv,  a  third 


17 


'O 


18 10 

III iiiiiiii "I iiiii r  liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 


s^ 


-t   I  tl     t,        t   I    *- 


THTK    AJR-MS    otf  JPATROKS. 


A.D.  76.  BOOK     1.       CENT.    II.  17 

man,  casually  coming  in,  carried  away  the  meat  from  them  both. 
Thus,  whilst  opposite  parties  discuss  the  cause  of  this  hawthorn's 
budding  on  Christmas-day,  some  soldiers  have  lately  cut  the  tree 
down,  and  Christmas-day  itself  is  forbidden  to  be  observed ;  and 
so,  I  think,  the  question  is  determined. 

18.  The  Conclusion  of  this  Century. 

To  conclude  this  century :  By  all  this  it  doth  not  appear,  that  the 
first  preachers  of  the  Gospel  in  Britain  did  so  much  as  touch  at 
Rome  ;  much  less,  that  they  received  any  command  or  commission 
thence  to  convert  Britain,  which  should  lay  an  eternal  obligation  of 
gratitude  on  this  island  to  the  see  of  Rome.  Insomuch  that  Parsons 
himself  (as  unwilling  to  confess,  as  unable  to  deny,  so  apparent  a 
truth)  flies  at  last  to  this  slight  and  slender  shift :  "  Tliat  albeit  St. 
Joseph  came  not  immediately  from  Rome,  yet  he  taught  in  England,"" 
in  Britain  he  would  say,  "  the  Roman  faith,  whereof  St.  Paul  hath 
■written  to  the  Romans  themselves,  '  that  your  faith  is  spoken  of 
through  the  whole  world,"'  Rom,  i.  S.'"**  Hereby  the  Jesuit  hopes 
still  to  keep  on  foot  the  engagement  of  this  island  to  Rome  for  her 
first  conversion.  But  why  should  he  call  the  Christian  religion 
*'  the  Roman  faith,"'"'  rather  than  "  the  faith  of  Jerusalem,  or  "  the 
faith  of  Antioch.'*"  seeing  it  issued  from  the  former,  and  was 
received  and  first  named  in  the  latter  city,  before  any  spark  of 
Christianity  was  kindled  at  Rome.  But,  what  is  the  main,  he  may 
sooner  prove  the  modern  Italian  tongue,  now  spoken  in  Rome, 
to  be  the  self-same  in  propriety  and  purity  with  the  Latin  language 
in  Tully's  time,  than  that  the  religion  professed  in  that  city  at  this 
day,  with  all  the  errors  and  superstitions  thereof,  is  the  same  in 
soundness  of  doctrine,  and  sanctity  of  life,  with  that  faith  which  by 
St.  Paul  in  the  Roman  church  was  then  so  highly  commended. 


SECTION   II. 

THE  SECOND  CENTURY. 
TO  ROBERT  ABDY,  OF  LONDON,  ESQUIRE. 

He  that  hath  a  hand  to  take,  and  no  tongue  to 
return  thanks,  deserveth,  for  the  future,  to  be  lame  and 
dumb  :  which  punishment  that  it  may  not  light  on  me, 

*  "Three  Conversions,"  part  i.  chap.  1,  num.  26. 
C 


18  CHURCH    HISTOUV    OF    BRITAIN.     A.D.  105 — 108. 

accept  this   acl^nowledgment  of  your  favours  to  your 
devoted  friend  and  servant, 

T.  F. 

1.   Taiirinus  no  Bishop  of  York.  A.D.  105. 

Desire  of  our  country's  honour  would  now  make  us  lay  claim  to 
Taurinus,  bishop  of  York,  and  reported  martyr.  To  strengthen 
our  title  unto  him,  we  could  produce  many  writers  affirming  it,  if 
number  made  weight  in  this  case.*  But,  being  convinced  in  our 
judgment,  that  such  as  make  him  a  Briton  ground  their  pretence  on 
a  leading  mistake,  reading  him  Episcop^im  Eboricensem,  instead 
of  Ebroice^^sem,  "Eureux"  (as  I  take  it)  in  France;  we  will 
not  enrich  our  country  by  the  errors  of  any,  or  advantage  her 
honour  by  the  misprisions  of  others.  Thus  being  conscientiously 
scrupulous  not  to  take  or  touch  a  thread  which  is  none  of  our  own, 
we  may  with  more  boldness  hereafter  keep  what  is  justly  ours,  and 
challenge  what  is  unjustly  detained  from  us. 

2.  Difference  of  Authors  concerning  the  Time  of  King  Lucius's 
Conversion.  AD.  108. 

But  the  main  matter,  Avhich  almost  engrosseth  all  the  history  of 
this  century,  and,  by  scattered  dates,  is  spread  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  thereof,  is  the  conversion  of  Lucius,  king  of  Britain,  to 
Christianity.  However,  not  to  dissemble,  I  do  adventure  thereon 
with  much  averseness,  seeming  sadly  to  presage,  that  I  shall  neither 
satisfy  others  nor  myself;  such  is  the  variety,  yea,  contrariety  of 
writers  about  the  time  thereof.  "  If  the  trumpet,"  saith  the 
apostle,  "  giveth  an  uncertain  sound,  who  shall  prepare  himself  to 
the  battle  ?  "  He  will  be  at  a  loss  to  order  and  dispose  this  story 
aright,  who  listeneth  with  greatest  attention  to  the  trumpet  of 
antiquity,  sounding  at  the  same  time  a  march  and  retreat ;  appoint- 
ing Lucius  to  come  into  the  world  by  his  birth,  when  others  design 
him  by  death  to  go  out  of  the  same.  Behold,  reader,  a  view  of 
their  differences  presented  imto  thee  ;  and  it  would  puzzle  Apollo 
himself  to  tune  these  jarring  instruments  into  a  concert. 

These  make  king  Lucius  converted  : — 

A.D.  A.D. 

1.  P.  Jovius   in   Descrip.  4.  Ninius,  in  one  copy.         144 
Brit.                                       99     5.  Annals  of  Krokysden.       150 

2.  Jo.  Caius  in  Hist.  Can-  6.  Geoff,  of  Monmouth.         155 
tab.                                        108     7-  John  Capgrave.  156 

3.  Annals  of  Burton.  137     8.  Matth.  Florilegus.  158 

*  GuiL.   Harrison   Descrip.  Brit.  lib.  i.  cap.  7,  el  Werneri'S  Laerhs  in  Fasci- 
culo,  anno  94,  e/  Hartm annus  Schedelu's  in  Chronica. 


OK     I. 

CENT.   11. 

19 

A.D, 

A.D. 

162 

19. 

Polyclore  Virgil. 

182 

164 

20. 

Chron.  Brit.  Abbrev. 

183 

165 

21. 

Roger  de  Wendover. 

184 

166 

22. 

Mattli.  Paris. 

167 

Westminster. 

185 

169 

23. 

Hector  Boethius. 

187 

175 

24. 

Martin  Polonus. 

188 

177 

25. 

Saxon  Annals. 

189 

178 

26. 

John  Harding. 

190 

179 

A.D.  108. 


9.  Florence  Vigorniensis. 

10.  Antiq.  of  Winchester. 

11.  Tho.  Redburn,  jun. 

12.  Will,  of  Malmesbury. 

13.  Venerable  Bede. 

14.  Henry  of  Erphurt. 

15.  Annals  of  Liclifield. 

16.  Marianus  Scotus. 

17.  Ralph  de  Balduc. 

18.  John  Bale. 
Here  is  more  than  a  grand  jury  of  writers,  which  neither  agree  in 

their  verdicts  Avith  their  foreman,  nor  one  with  another ;  there  being 
betwixt  the  fii-st  and  the  last,  Paulus  Jovius  and  John  Harding, 
ninety  years''  distance  in  their  accounts.  This,  with  other  argu- 
ments, is  used,  not  only  to  shake,  but  shatter,  the  whole  reputation 
of  the  story.  And  we  must  endeavour  to  clear  this  objection, 
before  we  go  farther,  which  is  shrewdly  pressed  by  many.  For  if 
the  two  elders,  whicli  accused  Susanna,  were  condemned  for  liars, 
being  found  in  two  talcs  ; — the  one  laying  the  scene  of  her  incon- 
tincncy  under  a  mastick-tree,  the  other  under  an  holm-tree  ;  * — why 
may  not  the  relation  of  Lucius  be  also  condemned  for  a  fiction  .'' 
seeing  the  reporters  thereof  more  differ  in  tin;e,  than  the  fore- 
named  elders  in  place ;  seeing  when  and  tchere  are  two  circum- 
stances, both  equally  important,  and  concerning,  in  history,  to  the 
truth  of  any  action. 

3.  The  History  of  King  Lucius  not  disproved  by  the  Dissen- 
sion of  Authors  concerning  the  Time  thereof 
But  we  answer,  that,  however  learned  men  differ  in  the  date,  they 
agree  in  the  deed-  They  did  set  themselves  so  to  heed  the  matter, 
as  of  most  moment,  being  the  soul  and  substance  of  history,  that 
they  were  little  curious  (not  to  say,  very  careless)  in  accurate  notino- 
of  the  time  ;  which,  being  well  observed,  doth  not  only  add  some 
lustre,  but  much  strength,  to  a  relation.  And,  indeed,  all  computa- 
tion in  the  primitive  time  is  very  uncertain,  there  being  then  (and  a 
good  while  after)  "  an  anarchy,"  as  I  may  term  it,  in  authors' 
reckoning  of  years,  because  men  were  not  subject  to  any  one 
sovereign  rule  in  accounting  the  year  of  our  Lord  ;  but  every  one 
followed  his  own  arithmetic,  to  the  great  confusion  of  history,  and 
prejudice  of  truth.  In  which  age,  though  all  start  from  the  same 
place,  our  Saviour"'s  birth,  yet,  running  in  sevei-al  ways  of  account 
they  seldom  meet  together  in  their  dating  of  any  memorable  acci- 

*  Susanna  .54,  58. 

<■  2  * 


20  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  108 167. 

dent.  Worthy  therefore  was  his  work,  whoever  he  was,  who  first 
calculated  the  computation  we  use  at  this  day,  and  so  set  Christen- 
dom a  copy,  whereby  to  write  the  date  of  actions  ;  which 
since  being  generally  used  hath  reduced  chronology  to  a  greater 
certainty. 

4.  Lucius  might  he  a  British  King  under  the  Roman  Monarchy. 

As  for  their  objection,  that  "  Lucius  could  not  be  a  king  in  the 
South  of  Britain,  because  it  was  then  reduced  to  be  a  province 
under  the  Roman  monarchy ;"  it  affects  not  any  that  understand 
how  it  was  the  Roman  custom,  both  to  permit  and  appoint  petty 
kings  in  several  countries,*  (as  Antiochus  in  Asia,  Herod  in  Judea, 
Dejotarus  in  Galatia,)  -f-  who,  under  them,  were  invested  with  regal 
power  and  dignity.  And  this  Avas  conceived  to  conduce  to  the 
state  and  amplitude  of  their  empire.  Yea,  the  German  emperor  at 
this  day,  successor  to  the  Roman  monarchy,  is  styled  rex  regum, 
as  having  many  princes,  and  particularly  the  king  of  Bohemia, 
homagers  under  him.  As  for  other  inconsistents  Avith  truth  which 
depend,  as  retainers,  on  this  relation  of  king  Lucius,  they  prove 
not  that  this  whole  story  should  be  refused,  but  refined.  Which 
calleth  aloud  to  the  discretion  of  the  reader,  to  fan  the  chaflT  from 
the  corn  ;  and  to  his  industry,  to  rub  the  rust  from  the  gold,  which 
almost  of  necessity  will  cleave  to  matters  of  such  antiquity.  Thus 
conceiving  that  for  the  main  Ave  have  asserted  king  Lucius,  Ave 
come  to  relate  his  history  as  we  find  it. 

5.  Lucius  se?ideth  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome  to  be  instructed  in 

Christianity.  A.D.  167- 

He  being  much  taken  with  the  miracles  which  he  beheld  truly 
done  by  pious  Christians,  fell  in  admiration  of  and  love  with  their 
religion  ;  and  sent  Elvanus  and  Meduinus,  men  of  known  piety 
and  learning  in  the  Scriptures,  to  Eleutherius  bishop  of  Rome,  Avitli 
a  letter,  requesting  several  things  of  him,  but  principally  that  he 
might  be  instructed  in  the  Christian  faith.  The  reason  why  he 
Avrote  to  Rome,  was,  because  at  this  time  the  church  therein  Avas 
(she  can  ask  no  more,  we  grant  no  less)  the  most  eminent  church  in 
the  Avorld,  shining  the  brighter,  because  set  on  the  highest  candle- 
stick— the  imperial  city.  We  are  so  far  from  grudging  Rome  the 
happiness  she  once  had,  that  we  rather  bemoan  she  lost  it  so  soon, 
degenerating  from  her  primitive  purity.  The  letter  which  Lucius 
wrote  is  not  extant  at  this  day,  and  nothing  thereof  is  to  be  seen, 

Veins  ct  j'ainpridcm  recepta  populi  Romani    consuetude,  ut    haberet  instrumenta 
scrvitutis   ct   rcges. — Tacitus  in  Vita  ^gricohx.  t  Fuller,  in    his    Appeal  of 

injured  Innocence,  sayp,  "  I  confess  a  memory -mis  take  of  Sicilia  for  Galatia.—EDix. 

% 


A.D,  IG7.  nOOK    1.    (EKT,   II.  21 

save  only  by  reflection,  as  it  may  be  collected  by  the  answer 
returned  by  Eleutherius,  which  (such  an  one  as  it  is)  it  will  not  be 
amiss  here  to  insert. 

6.  This  Translation  of  the  Letter  of  Eleutherius  is  transcribed 
out  of  Bishop  Godwin^  in  his  Catalogue  of  Bishops.  There 
is  some  Variety  between  this  atid  that  of  Mr.  Fox. 
"  Ye  require  of  us  the  Roman  laws  and  the  emperor''s  to  be  sent 
over  unto  you,  which  you  would  practise  and  put  in  ure  within  your 
realm.  The  Roman  laws  and  the  emperor^s  we  may  ever  reprove, 
but  the  law  of  God  we  may  not.  Ye  have  received  of  late,  through 
God''s  mercy,  in  the  kingdom  of  Britain,  the  law  and  faith  of  Christ ; 
ye  have  with  you,  within  the  realm,  both  parts  of  the  Scriptures : 
out  of  them,  by  God''s  grace,  with  the  council  of  the  realm,  take  ye 
a  law,  and  by  that  law,  through  God*'s  sufferance,  rule  your  kingdom 
of  Britain.  For  you  be  God's  vicar  in  your  kingdom.  '  The 
Lord's  is  the  earth,  and  the  fulness  of  the  world,  and  all  that  dwell 
in  it.'  And  again,  according  to  the  prophet  that  was  a  king  :  '  Thou 
hast  loved  righteousness,  and  hated  iniquity  ;  therefore  God  hath 
anointed  thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows.'  And 
again,  according  to  the  same  prophet :  '  O  God,  give  judgment  unto 
the  king,  and  thy  righteousness  unto  the  king's  son.'  He  said  not, 
'  the  judgment  and  righteousness  of  the  emperor,'  but,  'thy  judg-- 
ment  and  righteousness.'  The  king's  sons  be  the  Christian  people, 
and  folk  of  the  rea'm,  Avhich  be  under  your  government,  and  live 
and  continue  in  peace  within  your  kingdom.  As  the  Gospel  saith, 
'  Like  as  the  hen  gatherethher  chickens  under  her  wings,'  so  doth  the 
king  his  people.  The  people  and  the  folk  of  the  realm  of  Britain 
be  yours ;  whom,  if  they  be  divided,  ye  ought  to  gather  in  concord 
and  peace,  to  call  them  to  the  faith  and  law  of  Christ,  to  cherish 
and  maintain*  them,  to  rule  and  govern  them,  so  as  you  may  reign 
everlastingly  with  Him  whose  vicar  you  are  ;  which  with  the  Father, 
and  the  Son,"  &c. 

7.  A  Preparative  for  the  examining  the  Truth  of  this  Letter. 
Now  we  have  done  our  threshing,  we  must  begin  our  winnowing, 
— to  examine  the  epistle.  For,  the  trade  of  counterfeiting  the  letters 
of  eminent  men  began  very  early  in  the  church.  Some  were  tam- 
pering with  it  in  the  apostles'  time,  which  occasioned  St.  Paul's 
caution,  "  That  ye  be  not  soon  shaken  in  mind,  or  be  troubled, 
neither  by  spirit,  nor  by  word,  nor  by  letter,  as  from  us,"  2  Thess. 
ii.  2.  Since,  men,  then  but  apprentices,  are  now  grown  masters  in 
this  mystery ;  wherefore,  it  will  be  worth  our  examining,  whether 

*  lu  tlie  Latin  it  in,  Mann  fencre. 


22  CHUKCII    HIsrOUY    of    BllITAIX.  A.D.  167. 

thif?  epistle  be  genuine  or  no.  Say  not,  "  This  cloth  betray  a 
peevish,  if  not  malicious,  disposition,  and  argues  a  vexatious  spirit 
in  him  which  will  now  call  the  title  of  this  letter  in  question,  which, 
time  out  of  mind,  hath  been  in  the  peaceable  possession  of  an 
authentic  reputation,  especially  seeing  it  soundeth  i7i  Jwnorem 
ecclesice  Britannicce ;  and,  grant  it  a  tale,  yet  it  is  smoothly 
told  to  the  credit  of  the  British  church."  But  let  such  know, 
that  our  church  is  sensible  of  no  honour  but  what  resulteth  from 
truth ;  and  if  this  letter  be  false,  the  longer  it  hath  been 
received,  the  more  need  there  is  of  a  speedy  and  present  confuta- 
tion, before  it  be  so  firmly  rooted  in  men's  belief,  past  power  to 
remove  it.  See,  therefore,  the  arguments  which  shake  the  credit 
thereof: — 

1.  The  date  of  this  letter  differs  in  several  copies;  and  yet  none 
of  them  light  right  on  the  time  of  Eleutherius,  according  to  the 
computation  of  the  best-esteemed  authors. 

2.  It  relates  to  a  fomier  letter  of  king  Lucius,  wherein  he  seem- 
eth  to  request  of  Eleutherius,  both  what  he  himself  had  before,  and 
what  the  good  bishop  was  unable  to  grant.  For,  what  need  Lucius 
send  for  the  Roman  laws,  to  which  Britain  was  already  subjected, 
and  ruled  by  them  ?  At  this  very  time,  wherein  this  letter  is  pre- 
tended to  be  written,  the  Roman  laws  were  here  in  force  ;  and,  there- 

'  fore,  to  send  for  them  hither  was  even  actum  agere,  and  to  as  much 
purpose  as  to  fetch  water  from  Tiber  to  Thames.  Besides,  Eleu- 
therius of  all  men  was  most  improper  to  have  such  a  suit  preferred 
to  him.  Holy  man  !  he  little  meddled  with  secular  matters,  or  was 
acquainted  with  the  emperor''s  laws  ;  only  he  knew  how  to  suffer 
martyrdom  in  passive  obedience  to  his  cruel  edicts. 

3.  How  high  a  throne  doth  this  letter  mount  Lucius  on,  making 
him  a  monarch !  who,  though  rciX"  Bntannicus^  was  not  rex 
BritanmcB,  except  by  a  large  synecdoche ;  neither  sole  nor 
supreme  king  here,  but  partial  and  subordinate  to  the  Romans. 

4.  The  Scripture  quoted  is  out  of  St.  Jerome''s  translation,  which 
came  more  than  an  hundred  years  after.  And  the  age  of  Eleuthe- 
rius could  not  understand  the  language  of  manu  tenere,  for  "  to 
maintain,"  except  it  did  antedate  some  of  our  modern  lawyers  to  be 
their  interpreter. 

In  a  word :  We  know  that  the  Gibeonites'  mouldy  bread  was 
baked  in  an  oven  very  near  the  Israelites,  Joshua  ix.  12;  and  this 
letter  had  its  original  of  a  later  date,*  which,  not  appearing  any 
where  in  the  world  till  a  thousand  years  after  the  death  of  Eleuthe- 
rius, probably  crept   out  of  some   monk^s  cell,  some  four  hundred 

•  See  Sir  Hen.  Spelman  in  Councils,  p.  34,  &c.  where  there  is  another  cojiy  of  this 
letter,  with  some  alterations  ami  additions, 


A.D.   107.  BOOK     I.    CENT.     II.  23 

years   since,   the   true  answer  of  Eleiitlierius  being  not  extant  for 
many  years  before. 

8.  King  Lucius  baptized. 
But,  to  proceed  :  Eleutlierius,  at  the  request  of  king  Lucius,  sent 
unto  him  Faganus  and  Derwianus,*  or  Dunianus,  two  holy  men 
and  grave  divines,  to  instruct  him  in  the  Christian  religion  ;  by 
■whom  the  said  king  Lucius,  called  by  the  Britons  Lever-Maur,  or 
"  the  great  light,"  was  baptized,  with  many  of  his  subjects.  For 
if  when  private  persons  were  converted,  Cornelius,  Lydia,  &c.  their 
households  also  were  baptized  with  them,  Acts  xvi.  15,  32;  it  is 
easily  credible,  that  the  example  of  a  king  embracing  the  faith  drew 
many  followers  of  court  and  country  ;  sovereigns  seldom  wandering 
alone  without  their  retinue  to  attend  them.  But  whereas  some 
report  that  most,  yea,  all,  of  tlie  natives  of  this  island  then  turned 
Christians, -f"  it  is  very  improbable;  and  the  weary  traveller  may  sooner 
climb  the  steepest  mountains  in  Wales,  than  the  judicious  reader 
believe  all  the  hyperbolical  reports  in  the  British  chronicles  hereof. 

9.  J.  Monmouth''s  Fiction  of  Flamens  and  Arch-Flamens. 

For  Jeffrey  Monmouth  tells  us,  that  at  this  time  there  were  in 
England  twenty-eight  cities,  each  of  them  having  a  flamen,  or 
pagan  priest ;  and  three  of  them,  namely,  London,  York,  and  Caer- 
leon  in  Wales,  had  arch-flamens,X  to  which  the  rest  Avere  subjected  : 
and  Lucius  placed  bishops  in  the  room  of  i\\Q  Jiamons^  and  arch- 
bishops, metropolitans,  in  the  places  of  arch-Jlamens  :  "  All  which," 
saith  he,  "  solemnly  received  their  confirmation  from  the  pope." 
But  herein  our  author  seems  not  well  acquainted  with  the  propriety 
of  the  word  flamen,  their  use  and  office  amongst  the  Romans;  who 
were  not  set  severally,  but  many  together  in  the  same  city.  Nor 
were  they  subordinate  one  to  another,  but  all  to  the  priests'*  college, 
and  therein  to  the  PoJitifex  Maximus.  Besides,  the  British 
manuscript, §  which  Monmouth  is  conceived  to  have  translated, 
makes  no  mention  of  these  Jlame?is.  Lastly.  These  words,  "  arch- 
bishop" and  "  metropolitan,"  are  so  far  from  being  current  in  the 
days  of  king  Lucius,  that  they  were  not  coined  till  after-ages.  So 
that,  in  plain  English,  hia  Jlamens  and  arch-Jlamens  seem  flams 
and  arch-flams,  even  notorious  falsehoods  ! 

10.  A  gross  Mistake. 
Great,  also,  is  the  mistake  of  another  British  historian,  ||  affirming 
how,  in  the  days  of  king  Lucius,  this  island  was  divided  into  five 

*  Aliter  Phaganiis  et  Durianus.  f  Jta  ut,  in  brevi,  nulkts  injidelis  remaneret. — 

Matt.  Paris,  We&tm.  1  Monmouth  Be  Gestis  Britannor.  lib.  ii.  cap.  1,  fol,  33. 

§  Ja.  Armacii.  Be  Brit.  J^ccl.  Prim.  p.  7 .  ||  Girai.dis  Campkensis  Be  Sedi's 

Menevcnsis  diynitate,  apud  B.  Joh.  Priseiim.  p.  "5. 


24  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.      A.D.  167 — 178. 

Roman  provinces ;  namely,  Britain  the  first,  Britain  the  second, 
Flavia,  Maximia,  and  Valentia ;  and  that  each  of  these  was  then 
divided  into  twelve  bishoprics,  sixty  in  the  Avhole  :  a  goodly  com- 
pany, and  more  by  half  than  ever  this  land  did  behold.  Whereas 
these  provinces  were  so  named  from  Valens,  Maximus,  and  Flavins 
Theodosius,  Roman  emperors,  many  years  after  the  death  of  Lucius. 
Thus,  as  the  damsel  convinced  St.  Peter  to  be  a  Galilean,  "  for,"" 
said  she,  "  thy  speech  agreetli  thereunto,"  Mark  xiv.  70 ;  so  this 
five-fold  division  of  Britain,  by  the  very  novelty  of  the  names,  is 
concluded  to  be  of  far  later  date  than  what  that  author  pretendeth. 

11.  Pagan  Temples  in  Briiain  converted  to  Christian  Churches. 
But  it  is  generally  agreed,  that,  about  this  time,  many  Pagan 
temples  in  Britain  had  their  property  altered,  and  the  self-same 
were  converted  into  Christian  churches  ;  particularly,  that  dedicated 
to  Diana  in  London,  and  another  near  it,  formerly  consecrated  to 
Apollo,  in  the  city  now  called  Westminster.  This  was  done,  not 
out  of  covetousness,  to  save  charges  in  founding  new  fabrics,  but 
out  of  Christian  thrift  ;  conceiving  this  imitation  an  invitation  to 
make  Heathens  come  over  more  cheerfully  to  the  Christian  faith  ;• 
when  beholding  their  temples,  (whereof  they  had  a  high  and  holy 
opinion,)  not  sacrilegiously  demolished,  but  solemnly  continued  to 
a  pious  end,  and  rectified  to  the  service  of  the  true  God.  But 
human  policy  seldom  proves  prosperous,  when  tampering  with 
Divine  worship,  especially  when  without  or  against  direction  from 
God''s  word.  This  new  wine,  put  into  old  vessels,  did  in  after-ages 
taste  of  the  cask  ;  and,  in  process  of  time,  Christianity,  keeping  a 
correspondency  and  some  proportion  with  Paganism,*  got  a  smack 
of  Heathen  ceremonies.  Surely,  they  had  better  have  built  new 
nests  for  the  holy  dove,  and  not  have  lodged  it  where  screech-owls 
and  unclean  birds  had  formerly  been  harboured.  If  the  high- 
priest  amongst  the  Jews  was  forbidden  to  "  marry  a  Avidow,  or 
divorced  woman,  but  that  he  should  take  a  virgin  of  his  own  people 
to  wife,"  Lev.  xxi.  14 ;  how  unseemly  was  it,  that  God  himself 
should  have  the  reversion  of  profaneness  assigned  to  his  service,  and 
his  worship  wedded  to  the  relict,  yea,  (what  was  worse,)  whorish 
shrines,  formerly  abused  with  idolatry  ! 

12.  The  Bounty  of  King  Lucius  to  Cambridge.  A.D.  178. 

Some  report,  that  at  this  time  three  thousand  philosophers  of  the 
university  of  Cambridge  were  converted  and  baptized  ;  that  king 
Lucius  came  thither,  and  bestowed  many  privileges  and  immuni- 

*  Thus,  tlie  Pantheon,  or  "  shrine  of  all  gods  "  in  Rome,  was  turned  into  the  chnrcb 
of  All  Saints. 


A.U.  180 187.  BOOK    r.    CENT.  II.  25 

ties  on  the  place  ;  *  with  much  other  improbable  matter.  For, 
surely,  they  do  a  real  wrong,  under  a  pretended  courtesy,  to  that 
famous  academy,  to  force  a  peruke  of  false  gray  hair  upon  it,  whose 
reverend  wrinkles  already  command  respect  of  themselves.  Yet 
Cambridge  makes  this  use  of  these  over-grown  charters  of  pope 
Eleutherius,  king  Lucius,  king  Arthur,  and  the  like,  to  send 
them  out  in  the  front,  as  the  forlorn-hope,  when  she  is  to  encounter 
Avith  Oxford  in  point  of  antiquity  ;  and  if  the  credit  of  such  old 
monuments  be  cut  off,  (as  what  else  can  be  expected  ?)  yet  she  still 
keeps  her  main  battle  firm  and  entire,  consisting  of  stronger  authori- 
ties, which  follow  after.  Nor  doth  Cambridge  care  much  to  cast 
away  such  doubtful  charters,  provided  her  sister  likewise  quit  all 
title  to  fabulous  antiquity,  (setting  dross  against  dross,)  and  waving 
tales,  try  both  the  truth  of  their  age  by  the  register  of  unquestioned 
authors,  if  this  difference  betwixt  them  be  conceived  to  deserve  the 
deciding. 

13.  Several  Churches  founded  by  King  Lucius.  A.D.  179. 

Besides  the  churches  afore-mentioned,  many  others  there  were, 
whose  building  is  ascribed  to  king  Lucius  :  as,  namely, — 

1.  St.  Peter's  in  Cornhill,  in  London,  a.d.  179  ;  to  which  Ciran, 
a  great  courtier,  lent  his  helping  hand.  It  is  said,  for  many  years 
after,  to  have  been  the  seat  of  an  archbishopric  : -f-  one  Thean  first 
enjoyed  that  dignity. 

2.  Ecclesia  prima  sedis,  or  the  chief  cathedral  church  in 
Gloucester. 

3.  A  church  at  Winchester,  consecrated  by  Faganus  and  Duvia- 
nus,  A.D.  180,  whereof  one  Devotus  was  made  abbot. 

4.  A  church,  and  college  of  Christian  philosophers,  at  Bangor.t 

5.  The  church  dedicated  to  St.  Mary  in  Glastonbury,  repaired 
and  raised  out  of  the  ruins  by  Faganus  and  Duvianus,  where  they 
lived  with  twelve  associates,  a.d.  187. 

6.  A  chapel  in  honour  of  Christ  in  Dover  castle. § 

7.  The  church  of  St.  Martin  in  Canterbury :  understand  it  thus, 
— that  church  which  in  after-ages  was  new  named,  and  converted  to 
the  honour  of  that  saint. 

Of  all  these,  that  at  Winchester  was  king  Lucius's  darling,  which 
he  endowed  with  large  revenues,  giving  it  all  the  land  twelve  miles 
on  every  side  of  the  city,  fencing  the  church  about  with  a  church- 
yard, on  which  he  bestowed  privileges  of  a  sanctuary,  and  building 
a  dormitory  and  refectory,  for  the  monks  there  ;  if  the  little  History 

•  Caius  De  Antiq.   Cantuh.  p.  51,  et  Hist.  Cantab,  p.  2'2.  t    Tabula  pensilix 

fjiicB  adhuc   in    Hid   ecclesid  cernitur.  %   Pitzjevs  De  Brit,  Scrijifor.  nnm.  21 . 

%  John  Leland  Assert.  Arthuri.  fol.  7. 


26*        *  CHUUC'H    HISTORY     OF    BRITAIX.  A.  D.   187- 

of  AVincliester  be  to  be  believed,*  whose  credit  is  very  suspicious, 
because  of  the  modern  language  used  therein.  For  as  country- 
painters,  when  they  are  to  draw  some  of  the  ancient  Scripture- 
patriarchs,  use  to  make  them  with  bands,  cuffs,  hats,  and  caps, 
alamode  to  the  times  wherein  they  themselves  do  live ;  so,  it 
seemeth,  the  author  of  this  History  last-cited,  lacking  learning  to 
acquaint  him  with  the  garb  and  character  of  the  age  of  king  Lucius, 
doth  portray  and  describe  the  bounty  and  church-buildings  of  that 
king,  according  to  the  phrase  and  fashion  of  that  model  of  monkery 
in  his  own  age. 

14.   Two  Lticmses  confounded  into  one. 

Some  Dutch  writers  report,  that  king  Lucius  in  his  old  age  left 
his  kingdom,  and  went  over  into  France,  thence  into  Germany,  as 
far  as  the  Alps ;  where  he  converted  all  Rhetia,-f-  and  the  city  of 
Augsburg  in  Suevia,  byhis  preaching,  with  the  assistance  of  Emerita 
his  sister  ;  it  being  no  news,  in  God's  harvest,  to  see  women  with 
their  sickles  a-reaping.  It  is  confessed  that  converting  of  souls  is 
a  work  worthy  a  king ;  David's  and  Solomon's  preaching  hath 
silenced  all  objections  to  the  contrary.  It  is  also  acknowledged, 
that  kings  used  to  renounce  the  world,  and  betake  themselves  to 
such  pious  employment ;  though  this  custom,  frequent  in  after-ages, 
was  not  so  early  a  riser  as  to  be  up  so  near  the  primitive  times.  It 
is  therefore  well  observed,  by  a  learned  man,|  that  Lucius  the 
German  preacher  was  a  different  person  from  the  British  king,  who 
never  departed,  our  island,  but  died  therein.  I  have  read,  how 
woman  in  the  Lower  Palatinate,  being  big  with  twins,  had  the  fruit 
of  her  womb  so  strangely  altered  by  a  violent  contusion  casually 
befalling  her,  that  she  was  delivered  of  one  monster  Avith  tAvo  heads, 
which  nature  had  intended  for  two  perfect  children.^  Thus  the 
history  of  this  age,  being  pregnant  with  a  double  Lucius  at  the  sam'e 
time,  is,  by  the  carelessness  of  unadvised  authors,  so  jumbled  and 
confounded  together,  that  those  which  ought  to  have  been  parted, 
as  distinct  persons, 'make  up  one  monstrous  one,  without  due  pro- 
portion to  truth,  yea,  with  the  manifest  prejudice  thereof. 

*  Manuscript,  in  Bibliothecd  Cottoniand.  t  Velser.  Rerum  August.  J'indelic. 

lib.  vi.  ad  annum  179.  t  Achilles  Gassarus  in  Augustana  urbis  Descriptione. 

§  Mi'NSTER  Be  Germanid,  in  the  description  of  the  Lower  Palatinate. 


A.D.    201.  BOOK     r.       CEXT.     III.  27 

SECTION  III. 

THE  THIRD  CENTURY. 

TO  MR.  SIMEON  BONNELL,  MERCHANT. 

It  is  proportionable  to  present  a  century,  sliort  in 
story,  to  one  low  in  stature,  though  deservedly  high  in 
'the  esteem  of  your  friend, 

T.  F. 

l.The  Death,  Burial,  and  Epitaph  of  King  Lucius.   A.D.  201. 

Of  all  centuries  this  begins  most  sadly  ;  at  the  entrance  whereof, 
we  arc  accosted  with  the  funeral  of  king  Lucius,  (the  brighest  sun 
must  set !)  buried,  as  they  say,  in  Gloucester.  Different  dates 
of  his  death  are  assigned. ;  but  herein  we  have  followed  the  most 
judicious.*  Long  after,  the  monks  of  that  convent  bestowed,  an 
epitaph  upon  him,  having  in  it  nothing  worthy  of  translating  : 

Lnicius  ill  tenebris  priits  idula  qui  coluisti, 
Es  meriio  Celebris  ex  quo  bvptisma  subiati.^ 

It  seems  the  puddle-poet  did  hope,  that  the  jingling  of  his  rhyme 
would  drown  the  sound  of  his  false  quantity.  Except  any  will  say, 
that  he  affected  to  make  the  middle  syllable  in  idola  short,  because 
in  the  days  of  king  Lucius  idolatry  was  curbed  and  contracted, 
whilst  Christianity  did  dilate  and  extend  itself. 

2.  The  Christian  Faith  from  the  first  Preaching  thereof 
ever  continued  iyi  Britain. 
But  Christianity  in  Britain  was  not  buried  in  the  grave  of  Lucius, 
but  survived  after  his  death.  Witness  Gildas,  whose  words  deserve 
to  be  made  much  of,  as  the  clearest  evidence  of  the  constant  con- 
tinuing of  religion  in  this  island-  "  Christ's  precepts,"  saith  he, 
"  though  they  were  received  but  lukewarmly  of  the  inhabitants,  yet 
they  remained  entirely  with  some,  less  sincerely  with  others,  even 
until  the  nine  years  of  persecution  under  Diocletian."^  Whose 
expression  concerning  the  entertaining  of  Christianity  here,  though 
spoken  indefinitely  of  the  British  inhabitants,  yet  we  are  so  far  from 
understanding  it   universally  of  all   this  island,  or  generally  of  the 

•  Annals  of  Sarum,  M.  Paris,  Westm.  with  LouJou  tables,  and  Hist,  of  Rochester, 
t  John  Bever  in  his  Abbrev.  of  the  British  Clu-on.  J   Qum  praccepta,  (in  Britan- 

nid,)  licet  ab  incolis  tepid^  suscepta  sunt,  apud  quosdam  tarnen  intetjri,  et  alios  minus, 

usque  ad  persecutionem  Diocletiani  novennem,  permanscre Gildas  in  Epist.  dc  excidio 

Brit. 


28  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.I).    201. 

most,  or  eminently  of  the  principal  parts  tliereof,  tliat,  if  any  list  to 
contend  that  the  main  of  Britain  was  still  Pagan,  we  will  not 
oppose  :  a  thing  neither  to  be  doubted  of,  nor  wondered  at,  if  the 
modern  complaints  of  many  be  true, — that,  even  in  this  age,  there 
are  dark  corners  in  this  kingdom  where  profaneness  lives  quietly 
Avith  invincible  ignorance.  Yea,  that  the  first  professors  in  Chris- 
tianity Avere  but  lukewarm  in  religion,  will,  without  oath  made  for 
the  truth  thereof,  be  easily  believed  by  such  who  have  felt  the 
temper  of  the  English  Laodiceans  now-a-days.  However,  it  appears 
there  were  some  honest  hearts,  that  still  kept  Christianity  on  foot 
in  the  kingdom.  So  that  since  religion  first  dwelt  here,  it  never 
departed  hence  ;  like  the  candle  of  the  virtuous  wife,  "  it  went  not 
out  by  night,""  Prov.  xxxi.  18  ;  by  the  night  neither  of  ignorance, 
nor  of  security,  nor  of  persecution.  The  island  generally  never  was 
an  apostate,  nor,  by  God's  blessing,  ever  shall  be. 

3.   Two  Fathers  to  be  believed  before  two  Children. 

To  the  authority  of  Gildas,  we  will  twist  the  testimony  of  two 
Fathers,  both  flourishing  in  this  century, — Tertullian  and  Origen  ; 
plainly  proving  Christianity  in  Britain  in  this  age  ;  both  of  them 
being  undoubtedly  orthodox  (without  mixture  of  Montanist  or 
Millenary)  in  historical  matters.  Hear  the  former :  "  There  arc 
places  of  the  Britons,  which  were  unaccessible  to  the  Romans,  but 
yet  subdued  to  Christ."*  Origen,  in  like  manner  :  "  The  power  of 
God  our  Saviour  is  even  with  them  which  in  Britain  are  divided 
from  our  world."""!-  These  ought  to  prevail  in  any  rational  belief, 
rather  than  the  detracting  reports  of  two  modern  men,  Paradine  and 
Dempster,  who  aifirm,  that,  after  Lucius's  death,  the  British  nation 
returned  to  their  Heathen  rites,  and  remained  infidels  for  full  five 
hundred  years  after.  Which  words,J  if  casually  falling  from  them, 
may  be  passed  by  with  pardon  ;  if  ignorantly  uttered,  from  such 
pretenders  to  learning,  will  be  heard  with  wonder ;  if  wilfully 
vented,  must  be  taxed  for  a  shameless  and  impudent  falsehood. 
Had  Dempster  (the  more  positive  of  the  two  in  this  point)  read  as 
many  authors  as  he  quoteth,  and  marked  as  much  as  he  read,  he 
must  have  confuted  himself;  yea,  though  he  had  obstinately  shut 
his  eyes,  so  clear  a  truth  Avould  have  shined  through  his  eyelids. 
It  will  be  no  wild  justice,  or  furious  revenge,  but  equity,  to  make 
themselves  satisfaction,  if  the  Britons  declare  Dempster  devoid  of 
the  faith  of  an  historian,  Avho  endeavoured  to  deprive  their  ancestors 

•  BrUannorum  inaccessa  Romanis  loca,  Chrinto  vera  subdita. — Tebtul.  Advers. 
Judeos,  cap.  7.  t    Virtus   Domini  Salvatoris  et  cum  his  est,  qui  ab  orhe  nostra 

in  Britannia  dividantitr. — Orig.  in  Lmicb,  c,  1,   Hoinil.  6.  \   Paradine  Ang. 

Bescrip.  cap.  22.     Dempster  in  Apparat,  Hist.  Scot.  cap.  G. 


A.D.    201.  BOOK    I.       CENT.    III.  29 

of  the  Christian  faith  for  many  years  together ;  liis  pen,  to  befriend 
the  North,  doing  many  bad  offices  to  the  South  part  of  this  island. 

4.   The  Judgment  of  the  Magdehurgenses  in  this  Point. 

The  Magdehurgenses,  compilers  of  the  general  Ecclesiastical 
History,  not  having  less  learning,  but  more  ingenuity,  speaking  of 
the  churches  through  Europe  in  this  age,  thus  express  themselves  : 
"  Then  follow  the  isles  of  the  ocean,  where  we  first  meet  with 
Britain  ;*"  Mansisse  et  hac  cetate  ejus  insulce  ecclesias,  afflr- 
mare  von  duhitnmus ;  "  We  doubt  not  to  affirm,  that  the  churches 
of  that  island  did  also  remain  in  this  age."  But  as  for  the  names  of 
the  places,  and  persons  professing  it,  we  crave  to  be  excused  from 
bringing  in  the  bill  of  our  particulars.* 

5.  Want  of  Work  no  Fault  of  the  Workman. 
By  the  Levitical  law,  if  an  ox,  sheep,  or  beast,  were  delivered  to 
a  man  to  keep,  and  it  were  stolen  away  from  him,  the  keeper  should 
make  restitution  to  the  owner  thereof ;  but  if  it  was  torn  in  pieces, 
and  he  could  bring  the  fragments  thereof  for  witness,  he  was  not 
bound  to  make  it  good,  Exod.  xxii.  12,  13.  Had  former  historians 
delivered  the  entire  memory  of  the  passages  of  this  century  to  our 
custody,  and  charged  us  with  them,  the  reader  might  justly  have 
blamed  our  negligence,  if,  for  want  of  our  industry  or  carefulness, 
they  had  miscarried  ;  but  seeing  they  were  devoured  by  age,  in 
evidence  whereof  we  produce  these  torn  reversions  hardly  rescued 
from  the  teeth  of  time,  we  presume  no  more  can  justly  be  exacted 
of  us. 

6.  Reason  why  so  little  left  of  this  Age. 
Gildas  very  modestly  renders  the  reason  why  so  little  is  extant  of 
the  British  History.  Scripta  patrice,  scriptorumve  monumenta, 
si  qucB  fuerint^  aut  ignibus  hostium  ewusta,  ant  civium  e.vidum 
classe  longius  deportata.,  nan  comparent.  "  The  monuments,"" 
saith  he,  "  of  our  country,  or  writers,  if  there  were  any,  appear  not, 
as  either  burnt  by  the  fire  of  enemies,  or  transported  far  off  by  our 
banished  countrymen." 

7.  Conclusion  of  this  Century. 
"  This  is  all  I  have  to  say  of  this  century ;  and  must  now  confess 
myself  as  unable  to  go  on,  so  ashamed  to  break  off;  scarce  having 
had,  of  a  full  hundred  years,  so  many  words  of  solid  history.  But, 
as  I  find  little,  so  I  will  feign  nothing ;  time  being  better  spent  in 
silence,  than  in  lying.     Nor  do  1  doubt  but  clean  stomachs  will  be 

•   Ccnluria  tcrtia,  cap.  2,  colum.  6. 


iJO  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.  D.    S03. 

better  satisfied  with  one  drop  of  the  milk  of  truth,  than  foul  feeders, 
who  must  have  their  bellies  full,  with  a  trough  of  wash,  mingled 
with  the  Avater  of  fabulous  inventions.  If  any  hereafter  shall  light 
on  more  history  of  these  times,  let  them  not  condemn  my  negli- 
gence, whilst  I  shall  admire  their  happiness. 


SECTION  IV. 

THE  FOURTH  CENTURY. 
.  TO  THEOPHILUS  BIDULPH,  OF  LONDON,  ESQUIRE. 

Of  all  shires  in  England,  Staffordshire  Avas  (if  not 
the  soonest)  the  largest  sown  with  "  the  seed  of  the 
church,"  I  mean,  "  the  blood  of  primitive  martyrs  ;"  as 
by  this  century  doth  appear.  I  could  not,  therefore, 
dedicate  the  same  to  a  fitter  person  than  yourself,  whose 
family  hath  flourished  so  long  in  that  county,  and 
whose  favours  have  been  so  great  unto  your  thankful 
friend,  "  T.  F. 

1.  First  Persecution  iii  Britain  under  Diocletian.  AD.  303. 
Dark  and  tempestuous  was  the  morning  of  this  century,  which 
afterward  cleared  up  to  be  a  fair  day.  It  began  with  great  affliction 
to  God's  saints.  The  Spirit  saith  to  the  church  of  Smyrna,  "  Ye 
shall  have  tribulation  ten  days,"  Rev.  ii.  10.  This  is  commonly 
understood  of  the  ten  general  persecutions  over  all  the  Christian 
world.  But  herein  Divine  mercy  magnified  itself  towards  this 
island,  that  the  last  ecumenical,  was  the  first  provincial,  persecution 
in  Britain.  God,  though  he  made  our  church  his  darling,  would 
not  make  it  a  Avanton  ;  she  must  taste  of  the  rod  Avith  the  rest  of  licr 
sisters.  "  The  fiery  trial,"  spoken  of  by  the  apostle,  1  Peter  iv.  12, 
now  found  out  even  those  which  by  Avater  Avere  divided  from  the  rest 
of  the  Avorld.  This  tenth  persecution  as  it  Avas  the  last  so  it  Avas 
the  greatest  of  all,  because  satan,  the  shorter  his  reign,  the  sharper 
his  rage  ;  so  that  Avhat  his  fury  lacks  in  the  length  it  labours  to  gain 
in  the  thickness  thereof. 

2.  Alban,  the  British  St.  Stephen,  how  a  Citizeti  of  Rome. 
In  this  persecution,  the  first  Briton  which  to  heaven  led  the  A'an 
of  the  noble  army  of  martvrs,  Avas  Alban,  a  Avealthy  inhabitant  of 


A.D.  303.  BOOK    I.    CKXT.    IV.  31 

Vcrolain-ccstre,  and  a  citizen  of  Rome  ;  for  so  Alexander  Neccliani* 
reports  liim  : — 

Hie  est  martyrii  rosea  dccoratus  horiore, 
Albanus,  cives,  inclyla  Ruma,  tiius. 

"  Here  Albaii,  Rome,  thy  citizen  renown'd, 
With  rosy  grace  of  martjTdom  was  crowu'd." 

None  need  stop,  nuieli  less  stumble,  at  this  seeming  contradiction, 
easily  reconciled  by  him  that  hath  read  St.  Paul,  in  one  place  pro- 
claiming himself  "  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,"  Philip,  iii.  5,  and 
elsewhere,  Acts  xxii.  25,  pleading  himself  to  be  a  Roman,  because 
born  in  Tarsus,  a  city  of  Cilicia,  and  Roman  colony ;  as  Verolam- 
cestre  was  at  this  time  enfranchised  with  many  immunities.  Thus 
Alban  was  a  Briton  by  parentage,  a  Roman  by  privilege  ;  naturally 
a  Briton,  naturalized  a  Roman  ;  and,  which  was  his  greatest  honour, 
he  was  also  citizen  of  that  spiritual  Jerusalem  which  is  from  above. 

3.   T/ie  Manner  of  Alban's  Conversion. 
His  conversion  happened  on  this  manner  :  Amphibalus,  a  Chris- 
tian preacher  of  Caer-leon  in  Wales,  was  fain  to  fly  from  persecution 
into  the  Eastern  parts  of  this  island,  and  was  entertained  by  Alban 
in  his  house  in  Verulam.     Soon  did  the  sparks  of  this  guest"'s  zeal 
catch  hold  on  his  host,  and  inflamed  him  with  love  to  the  Christian 
religion.     Herein  our  Saviour  made  good  his  promise:   "He  that 
receiveth  a  righteous  man  in  the  name  of  a  righteous  man,  shall 
receive  a  righteous  man's  reward,"  Matt.  x.  41.     And  the   shot  of 
Amphibal us''s   entertainment  was  plentifully  discharged  in  Alban''s 
sudden  and   sincere  conversion.     Not   long  after,  a  search   being 
made  for  Amphibalus,   Alban   secretly  and    safely  conveyed    him 
away  ;   and,  exchanging  clothes  with  him,-f-  offered  himself  for  his 
guest  to  the  Pagan  officers,  who,  at  that  instant,  were  a  sacrificing 
to  their  devil-gods  ;  where  not  only  Alban,  being  required,  refused 
to  sacrifice,  but  also  he  reprovqd  others  for  so  doing,  and  thereupon 
was  condemned  to  most  cruel  torments.     But  he  conquered  tlieir 
cruelty  with  his  patience;  and  though  they  tortured  their  brains  to 
invent  tortures  for  him,  he  endured  all  with  cheerfulness  ;   till  rather 
their  weariness   than  pity  made  them  desist.     And  here  Ave  must 
bewail,  that  we  want  the  true  story  of  this  man*'s  martyrdom,  which 
impudent  monks  have  mixed  with  so  many  improbable  tales,  that  it 
is  a  torture  to   a  discreet  ear  to  hear  them.     However,  we  will  set 
them   down  as  we  find  them  ;    the  rather,  because  we  count  it  a 
thrifty  way,  first  to  glut  the  reader's  belief  with  popish  miracles, 

"  In  his  poem  on  A'erulam.  t  Bepa,  lib.  i.  cap.  7. 


S'Z  CHURCH    IlISTORV    OF    BRITAIX.  A.D.  303. 

that  so  he  may  loathe  to  look  or  listen  after  them  in  the  sequel  of 
the  History. 

4.  The  miraculous  Martyrdom  of  Alhan. 
Alban  being  sentenced  to  be  beheaded,  much  people  flocked  to 
the  place  of  his  execution,  which  was  on  a  hill  called  Holm-hurst ;  * 
to  which  they  were  to  go  over  a  river,  where  the  narrow  passage 
admitted  of  very  few  abreast.  Alban,  being  to  follow  after  all  the 
multitude,  and  perceiving  it  w^ould  be  very  late  before  he  could 
come  to  act  his  part,  and  counting  every  delay  half  a  denial,  (who 
will  blame  one  for  longing  to  have  a  crown  ?)  by  his  prayer,  obtained, 
that  the  river,  parting  asunder,  afforded  free  passage  for  many 
together.  The  corrupted  copy  of  Gildas  calls  this  river  the 
Thames.*!*  But  if  the  miracle  Avere  as  far  from  truth  as  Thames 
from  Verulam,  (being  sixteen  miles  distant,)  it  would  be  very  hard 
to  bring  them  both  together.  The  sight  hereof  so  wrought  with 
him  who  was  appointed  to  be  his  executioner,  that  he  utterly  refused 
the  employment,  desiring  rather  to  die  with  him  or  for  him,  than  to 
offer  him  any  violence.  Yet  soon  was  another  substituted  in  his 
place  ;  for  some  cruel  Doeg  will  quickly  be  found  to  do  that  office 
which  more  merciful  men  decline. 

5.  A  new  Spring  of  Water  at  AlharCs  Summons  appears  in  the 
Top  of  a  Hill. 

Alban  at  the  last,  being  come  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  was  very  dry, 
and  desirous  to  drink.  AVonder  not  that  he,  being  presently  to 
taste  of  "joys  for  evermore,"  should  wish  for  fading  water.  Sure, 
he  thirsted  most  for  God"'s  glory,  and  did  it  only  to  catch  hold  of 
the  handle  of  an  occasion  to  work  a  miracle  for  the  good  of  the 
beholders.  For,  presently  by  his  prayer,  he  summoned  up  a  spring 
to  come  forth  on  the  top  of  the  hill,  to  the  amazement  of  all  that 
saw  it.  Yet  it  moistened  not  his  executioner*'s  heart  with  any  pity, 
who,  notwithstanding,  struck  off  the  head  of  this  worthy  saint,  |  and 
instantly  his  own  eyes  fell  out  of  his  head,  so  that  he  could  not  see 
the  villany  which  he  had  done.  Presently  after,  the  former  convert- 
executioner,  who  refused  to  put  Alban  to  death,  was  put  to  death 
himself, — baptized,  no  doubt,  though  not  with  water,  in  his  own 
blood.  The  body  of  Alban  was  afterwards  plainly  buried  :  that  age 
knowing  no  other  use  of  saints'  dust,  than  to  commit  it  to  the  dust, 
"  earth  to  earth  ;"  not  acquainted  with  adoration  and  circumgestation 
of  relics ;  as  ignorant  of  the  manner  how,  as  the  reason  why,  to  do 
it.     But  some  hundred  years  after,  king  OfFa  disturbed  the  sleeping 

*  Understand  it  so   called   afterwards  in  the  time  of  the  Saxons.  f  Thames  is 

wanting  in  the  manuscript  Gildas,  in  Cambridge  library.  1  May  23,  aliter  June  22. 


-A.D.  303,  BOOK    T.    CENT.    IV.  S3 

corpse  of  this  saint,  removing  them  to  a  more  stately  though  less  quiet 
bed,  enshrining  them,  as  (God  willing)  shall  be  related  hereafter. 

6.  Amphihalus.  Difference  about  his  Name. 
6.  Immediately  followed  the  martyrdom  of  Amphibalus,  Alban's 
guest,  and  ghostly  father;*  though  the  story  of  his  death  be  encum- 
bered with  much  obscurity.  For,  first,  there  is  a  query  in  his  very 
name  :  why  called  Amphibalus  ?  and  how  came  this  compounded 
Greek  word  to  wander  into  Wales  ?  except  any  will  say,,  that  this 
man''s  British  name  was,  by  authors  in  after-ages,  so  translated  into 
Greek.  Besides,  the  name  speaks  rather  the  vestment  than  the 
wearer,  signifying  "  a  cloak  wrapped  or  cast  about  ;"•!-  (Samuel  was 
marked  by  such  a  mantle  ;)  and,  it  may  be,  he  got  his  name  hence ; 
as  Robert  Curt-hose,  son  to  William  the  Conqueror,  had  his  sur- 
name from  going  in  such  a  garment.  And  it  is  worth  our  observing, 
that  this  good  man  passeth  nameless  in  all  authors  till  about  four 
hundred  years  since;  when  JefFery  Monmouth  was  his  god-father, 
and  first  calls  him  Amphibalus,;]:  for  reasons  concealed  from  us,  and 
best  known  to  himself. 

7.  The  cruel  Manner  of  his  Martyrdom. 
But  it  matters  not  for  words,  if  the  matter  were  true,  being  thus 
reported.  A  thousand  inhabitants  of  Verulam  went  into  Wales 
to  be  further  informed  in  the  faith,  by  the  preaching  of  Amphi- 
balus ;  who  were  pursued  by  a  Pagan  army  of  their  fellow-citizens, 
by  whom  they  were  overtaken,  overcome,  and  murdered  ;  save  that 
one  man  only,  like  Job's  messenger,  who  escaped  of  them,  to  report 
the  loss  of  the  rest.  And  although  every  thing  unlikely  is  not 
untrue,  it  was  a  huge  drag-net,  and  cunningly  cast,  that  killed  all 
the  fish  in  the  river.  Now  these  Pagan  Verolamians  brought 
Amphibalus  back  again  ;  and  being  within  ken  of  their  city,  in  the 
village  called  Redburn,  three  miles  from  Verulam,  they  cruelly  put 
him  to  death.  For,  making  an  incision  in  his  belly,  they  took  out 
his  guts,  and  tying  them  to  a  stake,  whipped  him  round  about  it. 
All  which  he  endured,  as  free  from  impatience  as  his  persecutors  from 
compassion.  Thus  died  Amphibalus  ;  and  a  writer  §  born  and  named 
from  that  place  reporteth,  that  in  his  days  the  two  knives  which 

•  September  16.  t  The  following  is  die  judgment  of  D-r.  William  Howel,  in  his 

"  Institution  of  General  History,"  who  is  deservedly  considered  a  gi-eat  authority  oa 
matters  of  this  kind: — ■'  Gildas  wrote,  that  Constantiae  slew  two  hoj's  of  royal  blood, 
sub  sancti  abbatis  amphibalo,  that  is, '  under  the  gown-coat  or  vestment  of  the  holy  abbot : ' 
for,  that  amphibalum  was  a  sort  of  outward  vest  or  garment  worn  by  clerks  and  monks, 
is  very  certain,  hairy  on  both  sides,  so  that  it  was  doubtful  which  was  the  outward  or 
inward  side  of  it,  whence  it  had  its  name."— Edit.  X  Usher  De  Brit.  Eccl. 

Primord.  p.  159.  5  Thomas  Redburn,  who  wrote  1480. 

I) 


34  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    ENGLAND.  A.D.  303. 

stabbed  him  were  kept  in  the  church  of  Redburn.  The  heat  and 
resplendent  lustre  of  this  saint's  suffering  wrought  as  the  sun-beams, 
according  to  the  capacity  of  the  matter  it  met  with,  in  the  beholders, 
melting  the  waxen  minds  of  some  into  Christianity,  and  obdurating 
the  hard  hearts  of  others  with  more  madness  against  religion. 

8.   Vain  Fmicies  concerning  the  Stake  of  Amphibalus. 

Tradition  reports,  that  the  stake  he  was  tied  to  afterwards  turned 
to  a  tree,  extant  at  this  very  day,*  and  admired  of  many,  as  a  great 
piece  of  wonder  ;  though,  as  most  things  of  this  nature,  more  in 
report  than  reality.  That  it  hath  green  leaves  in  winter,  mine  eyes 
can  witness  false  :  and  as  for  its  standing  at  a  stay,  time  out  of 
mind,  neither  impaired,  nor  improved  in  bigness,  (which  some  count 
so  strange,)  be  it  reported  to  woodmen  and  foresters,  whether  it  be  not 
ordinary.  I  think  the  wood  of  the  tree  is  as  miraculous,  as  the  water 
of  the  well  adjoining  is  medicinal ;  which  fond  people  fetch  so  far, 
and  yet  a  credulous  drinker  may  make  a  cordial  drink  thereof. 

9.  The  Martyrdom   of  another   thousand   Britons  variously 

reported. 

At  the  time  of  Amphibalus''s  martyrdom,  another  thousand  of  the 
Verulam  citizens,  being  converted  to  Christ,  were  by  command  of 
the  judges  all  killed  in  the  same  place.^f*  A  strange  execution,  if 
true  ;  seeing  John  Ross  of  Warwick  X  lays  the  scene  of  this  tragedy 
far  off,  and  at  another  time,  with  many  other  circumstances  incon- 
sistent with  this  relation  ;  telling  us  how,  at  Lichfield  in  Stafford- 
shire, this  great  multitude  of  people  were  long  before  slain  by  the 
Pagans,  as  they  attended  to  the  preaching  of  Amphibalus,  This 
relation  is  favoured  by  the  name  of  Lichfield,  which  in  the  British 
tongue  signifies  a  "Golgotha,"  or  place  bestrewed  with  skulls;  in 
allusion  whereto  that  city's  arms  are  a  field  surcharged  with  dead 
bodies.  He  needs  almost  a  miraculous  faith, — to  be  able  to  remove 
mountains,  yea,  to  make  the  sun  stand  still,  and  sometimes  to  go 
back, — who  will  undertake  to  accord  the  contradictions  in  time  and 
place,  between  the  several  relaters  of  this  history. 

10.  Several  Places  pretend    to,   and  contend  for,   the  same 

Martyrdom. 

The  records  of  Winchester  make  mention  of  a  gi-eat  massacre, 
whereby,  at  this  time,  all  their  monks  were  slain  in  their  church ; 
whilst  "  the  Chronicle  of  Westminster  "  challengeth  the  same  to  be 
done  in  their  convent ;  and  "  the  History  of  Cambridge  ""  ascribeth 

•  I  mean  anno  1643.         t  UsHEB  De  Brit    Eccl.  Primord.  p.  160,         t  In  his 

Book  of  the  Bishops  of  Worcester. 


A.D.  303.  BOOK'    I.    CENT.   IV.  35" 

it  to  tlie  Christian  students  of  that  university,  killed  by  their 
British  persecutors.  Whether  this  happened  in  any  or  all  of  these 
places,  I  will  not  determine  :  for  he  tells  a  lie,  though  he  tells  a 
truth,  that  peremptorily  affirms  that  which  he  knows  is  but  uncer- 
tain. Meantime  we  see,  that  it  is  hard  for  men  to  suffer  martyr- 
dom, and  easy  for  their  posterity  to  brag  of  their  ancestors' 
sufferings ;  yea,  who  would  not  entitle  themselves  to  the  honour, 
when  it  is  parted  from  the  pain  ?  When  persecution  is  a-coming, 
every  man  posteth  it  o%  as  the  Philistines  did  the  ark  infected  with 
the  plague,  1  Sam.  v ;  and  no  place  will  give  it  entertainment. 
But  when  the  storm  is  once  over,  then,  as  seven  cities  contended 
for  Homer's  birth  in  them,  many  places  will  put  in  to  claim  a  share 
in  the  credit  thereof. 

1 1 .  The  imperfect  History  of  these  Times. 
Besides  Amphibalus,  suffered  Aaron  and  Julius,  two  substantial 
citizens  of  Caer-leon  ;  and  then  Socrates  and  Stephanus,  forgotten 
by  our  British  writers,  but  remembered  by  foreign  authors  ;  and 
Augulius,  bishop  of  London,  then  called  Augusta.  Besides  these, 
we  may  easily  believe  many  more  went  the  same  way  ;  for  such 
commanders-in-chief  do  not  fall  without  common  soldiers  about 
them.  It  was  superstition  in  the  Athenians  to  build  an  altar  "to 
the  unknown  God,""  Acts  xvii.  23 ;  but  it  would  be  piety  in  us  here 
to  erect  a  monument  in  memorial  of  these  unknown  martyrs,  whose 
names  are  lost.  The  best  is,  God's  calendar  is  more  complete  than 
man's  best  martyrologies ;  and  their  names  are  written  in  the  book 
of  life,  who  on  earth  are  wholly  forgotten. 

12.  The  Cause  of  the  great  Silence  of  the  primitive  Times. 

One  may  justly  wonder,  that  the  first  four  hundred  years  of  the 
primitive  church  in  Britain,  being  so  much  observable,  should  be  so 
little  observed  ;  the  pens  of  historians,  writing  thereof,  seeming 
starved  for  matter  in  an  age  so  fruitful  of  memorable  actions.  But 
this  was  the  main  reason  thereof, — that,  living  in  persecution,  (that 
age  affording  no  Christians  idle  spectators,  which  were  not  actors  on 
that  sad  theatre,)  they  were  not  at  leisure  to  do,  for  suffering. 
And  as  commonly  those  can  give  the  least  account  of  a  battle  who 
were  most  engaged  in  it ;  (their  eyes  the  while  being  turned  into 
arms,  their  seeing  into  fighting  ;)  so  the  primitive  confessors  were 
so  taken  up  with  what  they  endured,  they  had  no  vacation  largely 
to  relate  their  own  or  others'  sufferings.  Of  such  monuments  as 
were  transmitted  to  posterity,  it  is  probable  most  were  martyred  by 
the  tyranny  of  the  Pagans  :  nor  was  it  to  be  expected,  that  those  who 
were  cruel  to  kill  the  authors,  would  be  kind  to  preserve  their  books. 

D  2 


S6  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    ENGLAND.    A.D.  304,  305. 

13.    Constantius   Chlorus  gives   the   Christians   Peace.    A.D. 

304,  305. 

Afterwards  it  pleased  God  to  put  a  period  to  his  servants'  suffer- 
ings, and  the  fury  of  their  enemies.  For  when  Diocletian  and 
Maximian  had  laid  down  the  ensigns  of  command,  Constantius 
Chlorus  *  was  chosen  emperor  in  these  western  provinces  of  France, 
Spain,  and  Britain  ;  whose  carriage  towards  Christians,  Eusebius 
thus  describeth  :  Touj  vsr  uvtov  ^so<re§sli  a§Aa§s7f  <$)tjAa0aj,  "  that 
he  preserved  such  religious  people  as  were  under  his  command, 
without  any  hurt  or  harm."  So  that  under  him  the  church  m  these 
parts  had  a  breathing-time  from  persecution.  But  I  am  afraid  that 
that  learned  pen-f*  goes  a  little  too  far,  who  makes  him  founder  of  a 
bishopric  at  York,  and  styleth  him  "  an  emperor  surpassing  in  all 
virtue  and  Christian  piety ; "  seeing  the  latter  will  hardly  be  proved, 
that  Constantius  was  a  thorough-paced  Christian  except  by  our 
Saviour's  argument,  "  He  that  is  not  against  us  is  on  our  part." 
And  Constantius  did  this  good  to  Christianity, — that  he  did  it  no 
harm  ;  and  not  only  so,  a  privative  benefactor  to  piety,  but  positive 
thus  far,  that  he  permitted  and  preserved  those  who  would  rebuild 
the  decayed  Christian  churches.  But  the  greatest  benefaction 
which  he  bestowed  on  Christians  was,  that  he  was  father  to  Constan- 
tine.  Thus  as  physicians  count  all  sudden  and  violent  alterations 
in  men's  bodies  dangerous,  especially  when  changing  from  extremes 
to  extremes  ;  so  God  in  like  manner  adjudged  it  unsafe  for  his 
servants  presently  to  be  posted  out  of  persecution  into  prosperity  ; 
and  therefore  he  prepared  them  by  degi-ees,  that  they  might  be 
better  able  to  manage  their  future  happiness,  by  sending  this  Con- 
stantius, a  prince  of  a  middle  disposition  betwixt  Pagan  and 
Christian,  to  rule  some  few  years  over  them. 

34.    He   dieth   at    York^   as   is   witnessed  by  Hieronymus,   in 
Chronico,  and  Eutropius,  Hist.  lib.  18. 

At  York  this  Constantius  Chlorus  did  die,  and  was  buried. 
And,  therefore,  Florilegus,  or  "  the  flower-gatherer,"  as  he  calleth 
himself,  (understand  Matthew  of  Westminster,)  did  crop  a  weed 
instead  of  a  flower,  when  he  reports  that  in  the  year  1283  the  body 
of  this  Constantius  was  found  at  Caer-custenith  j  in  Wales,  and 
honourably  bestowed  in  the  church  of  Caer-narvon  by  the  command 
of  king  Edward  the  First.  Constantius  dying  bequeathed  the 
empire  to  Constantine,  his  eldest  son  by  Helen  his  former  wife  ; 
"  and  the  soldiers  at  York  cast  the  purple  robe  upon  him,  whilst  he 

•  Eusebius  De  Fitd  Comtantini,  lib.  i.  cap.  12,  et  Orosius,  lib.  vii.  cap.  25. 
t  Camden,  Brit,  in  description  of  York.  t  Compare  Mr.   Camden's  Brit,  in 

Caernarvonshire,  with  him  in  the  description  of  York. 


A.D.  307-  LOOK    I.    CENT.    IV.  37 

wept,  and  put  spurs  to  horse  to  avoid  the  importunity  of  the  army, 
attempting  and  requiring  so  instantly  to  make  him  emperor.  But 
the  happiness  of  the  state  overcame  his  modesty."*  And  whereas 
formerly  Christians,  for  the  peace  they  possessed,  were  only  tenants 
at  will  to  the  present  emperor's  goodness ;  this  Constantine  passed 
this  peaceable  estate  to  the  Christians  and  their  heirs,  or  rather  to 
the  immortal  corporation  of  God''s  church,  making  their  happiness 
hereditary,  by  those  good  laws  which  he  enacted.  Now,  because 
this  assertion, — that  Constantine  was  a  Briton  by  birth,  meets  with 
opposition,  we  will  take  some  pains  in  clearing  the  truth  thereof. 

15.  Worth  the  Scrutiny/  to  clear  Constantine  a  Briton  by  Birth. 
Let  none  say,  "  The  kernel  will  not  be  worth  the  cracking ;  and, 
so  that  Constantine  were  born,  it  matters  not  where  he  was  born.' 
For  we  may  observe  God's  Spirit  to  be  very  punctual  in  registering 
the  birth-places  of  famous  men  :  "  The  Lord  shall  count,  when  he 
writeth  up  the  people,  that  this  man  was  born  there,"  Psalm 
Ixxxvii.  (5^  And  as  David  cursed  mount  Gilboa,  where  godly 
Jonathan  got  his  death  ;  2  Sam.  i.  2 ;  so,  by  the  same  proportion, 
(though  inverted,)  it  follows,  those  places  are  blessed  and  happy 
where  saints  take  their  first  good  handsel  of  breath  in  this  world. 
Besides,  Constantine  was  not  only  "  one  of  a  thousand,"  but  of 
myriads,  yea,  of  millions ;  who  first  turned  the  tide  in  the  whole 
world,  and  not  only  quenched  the  fire,  but  even  overturned  the 
furnace,  of  persecution,  and  enfranchised  Christianity  through  the 
Roman  empire ;  and,  therefore,  no  wonder  if  Britain  be  ambitious 
in  having,  and  zealous  in  holding,  such  a  worthy  to  be  born  in  her. 

16.  The  main  Argument  to  prove  the  Point. 
An  unanswerable  evidence  to  prove  the  point  in  controversy,  that 
Constantine  the  Great  was  a  Briton,  is  fetched  from  the  panegyrist, 
(otherwise  called  Eumenius  Rhetor,)  in  his  oration  made  to  Con- 
stantine himself;  but  making  therein  an  apostrophe  to  Britain : 
O  fortunata,  et  nunc  omnibus  beatior  tei'ris  Britannia,  qiice 
Constantinum  CcEsarem  prima  vidistHf  "  O  happy  Britain,  and 
blessed  above  all  other  lands,  which  didst  first  behold  Constantine 
Csesar!"  Twist  this  testimony  with  another  thread,  spun  of  the 
same  hand  :  Liberavit  pater  Constantius  Britannias  servitute ; 
tu  etiam  nobiles,  illic  orie7ido,  fecisti :  I  "Your  father  Constantius 
did  free  the  British  provinces  from  slavery ;  and  you  have  ennobled 
them  by  taking  thence  your  original."  The  same  is  affirmed  by  the 
writer  of  the  Life  of  St.  Helen,  mother  to  Constantine,  written  about 
the  year  of  our  Lord  940,  in  the  English-Saxon  tongue ;  ds  alsQ 

"  A.  D.  307.  Feb.  27.  j  Panegyr.  9.  X  Panegyr.  5. 


38  CHUECH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  307. 

by  William  of  Malmesbury,  Henry  Huntingdon,  John  of  Salisbury, 
and  all  other  English  ■writers.  And,  lest  any  should  object,  that 
these,  writing  the  history  of  their  own  country,  are  too  light-fingered 
to  catch  aay  thing,  right  or  wrong,  sounding  to  the  honour  thereof; 
many  most  learned  foreign  historians,  Pomponius  Lsetus,  Polydore 
Virgil,  Beatus  Rhenanus,  Franciscus  Balduinus,  Onuphrius  Pan- 
vinius,  Caesar  Baronius,  Anthony  Possevine,  and  others,  concur, 
■with  them,  acknowledging  Helen,  Constantine"'s  mother,  a  Briton, 
and  him  born  in  Britain. 

17.  Answers  to  the  Objections  of  the  contrary  Party. 

But  whilst  the  aforesaid  authors  in  prose  softly  rock  the  infancy 
of  (yet  little)  Constantine  the  Great  in  Britain,  and  whilst  others  in 
verse  (especially  Joseph  of  Exeter*  and  Alexander  Necham-f*) 
sweetly  sing  lullabies  unto  him,  some  learned  men  are  so  rough  and 
uncivil  as  to  overturn  his  cradle,  yea,  wholly  deprive  Britain  of  the 
honour  of  his  nativity  ;  whose  arguments  follow,  with  our  answers 
unto  them. 

Objection  I. — The  panegyrist,  speaking  how  Britain  first  saw 
Constantine  Ceesar,  refers  not  to  his  ordinary  life,  but  imperial  lus- 
tre.|  Britain  beheld  him  not  first  a  child,  but  first  saw  him  Csesar ; 
not  fetching  thence  his  natural  being,  but  honourable  birth,  first 
saluted  Ceesar  in  Britain. 

Ansvv^er. — Even  Lipsius§  (Britain's  greatest  enemy  in  this 
point)  confesseth,  that  though  Constantine  was  first  elected  em- 
peror in  Britain,  yet  he  was  first  pronounced  Csesar  in  France, 
in  the  life  and  health  of  his  father;  (Csesar  was  a  title  given  to 
the  heir-apparent  to  the  empire  ;)  and  therefore  the  words  in  the 
panegyrist,  in  their  native  construction,  relate  to  his  natural  birth. 

Objection  II. — Constantine  Porphyrogenetes,  the  Grecian 
emperor,  about  seven  hundred  years  since,  in  his  book  of  govern- 
ment which  he  wrote  to  his  son,  confesseth  Constantine  the  Great  to 
have  been  a  Frank  by  his  birth  ;  whence  learned  Meursius  collecteth 
him  a  Frenchman  by  his  extraction. 

Answer. — It  is  notoriously  known  to  all  learned  men,  that  the 
Greeks  in  that  middle  age  (as  the  Turks  at  this  very  day)  called  all 
Western  Europeans,  Franks.  Wherefore  as  he  that  calleth  such  a 
fruit  of  the  earth  "grain"  (a  general  name)  denicth  not  but  it  may 
be  wheat,  a  proper  kind  thereof;  so  the  terming  Constantine  "a 
Frank,"  doth  not  exclude  him  from  being  a  Briton  ;  yea,  strongly 
implieth  the  same,  seeing  no  western  country  in  Europe  ever  pre- 
tended unto  his  birth. 

•  In  AntiocMede  sud.  t  See   his   Tetrastichon  in  Bishop  Usher  De   Brit. 

Eccles.  Primord.  p.  76.  t  Joannes  Li\  ineius,  Not.  in  Panegyr,  5,  §  Not.  in 

^dmiranda,  lib.  iv.  cap.  21. 


A.D.  307.  BOOK    I.    CENT.    IV.  39 

Objection  III. — Bede,  a  grave  and  faithful  author,  makes  no 
mention  of  Constantine  born  in  Britain,  who  (as  Lipsius  marketh)  * 
would  not  have  omitted  a  matter  so  much  to  the  honour  of  his  own 
nation. 

Answer. — By  the  leave  of  Lipsius,  Constantine  and  Bede, 
though  of  the  same  country,  were  of  several  nations.  Bede,  being  a 
Saxon,  was  little  zealous  to  advance  the  British  honour  :  the  history 
of  which  church  he  rather  touch eth  than  handleth,  using  it  only  as  a 
porch  to  pass  through  it  to  the  Saxon  history.  And  Saxons  in  gene- 
ral had  little  skill  to  seek,  and  less  will  to  find  out,  any  worthy  thing 
in  British  antiquities,  because  of  the  known  antipathy  betwixt  them. 

Objection  IV. — Procopius-)-  maketli  Drepanura,  a  haven  in 
Bithynia,  (so  called  because  there  the  sea  runs  crooked  in  form  of  a 
sickle,)  to  be  the  place  where  Constantine  had  his  rpo^sTa,  or  "  first 
nursing,"  very  near  to  his  birth  ;  and  Nicephorus  Gregoras  makes 
him  born  in  the  same  country. 

Answer. — The  former  speaks  not  positively,  but  saith,  4>acri, 
"  Men  say  so,"  reporting  a  popular  error.  The  latter  is  a  late 
writer,  living  under  Andronicus  junior,  anno  1340,  and  therefore 
not  to  be  believed  before  others  more  ancient. 

Objection  V. — But  Julius  Firmicus,  contemporary  with  Con- 
stantine himself,  an  author  above  exception,  maketh  this  Constantine 
to  be  born  at  Naissus,  (in  printed  books  Tharsus,)  a  city  of  Dacia. 

Answer. — An  excellent  critic  J  hath  proved  the  printed  copies 
of  Firmicus  to  be  corrupted ;  and  justifieth  it  out  of  approved 
manuscripts,  that,  not  Constantine  the  Great  the  father,  but 
Constantine  the  younger  his  son,  was  intended  by  Firmicus  born  in 
that  place. 

Thus,  we  hope,  we  have  cleared  the  point  with  ingenuous  readers, 
in  such  measure  as  is  consistent  with  the  brevity  of  our  History. 
So  that  of  this  Constantine  (a  kind  of  outward  saviour  in  the  world, 
to  deliver  people  from  persecution)  we  may  say,  with  some  allusion 
to  the  w^ords  of  the  prophet,  Micah  v.  2,  (but  with  a  humble  reserva- 
tion of  the  infinite  distance  betwixt  the  persons,)  "  And  thou, 
Britain,  art  not  the  meanest  amongst  the  kingdoms  of  Europe ; 
for  out  of  thee  did  come  a  governor,  which  did  rule  the  Israel  of 
God,  giving  deliverance  and  peace  to  the  saints." 

18.  Mr.  Fox  defended  against  the  Cavils  of  Verstegan. 
Now  see  what  a  pinch  Verstegan,  §  whose  teeth  are  sharpened  by 
the  difference  of  religion,  gives  Mr.  Fox  :   "  What  is  it  other  than 

•  In  his  Epistle  to  Mr.  Camden.  Non  Beda  ille  antiquus  etjidus?  an  gloria  gentis 
aucB  non  favet?  t  /«  lib.  v.  de  ecdijiciis  Justiniani .  X  Camden  in  his  Letter  to 

Lipsius,  printed  in  Usher  De  Prim.  Eccl.  Brit.  p.  188.       §  In  his  Epistle  to  this  nation. 


40  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  307- 

an  absurdity,  for  an  English  author  to  begin  his  epistle  to  a  huge 
volume  *  with  Constantine,  the  great  and  mighty  emperor,  the  son  of 
Helen,  an  Englishwoman,  &c.  Whereas,"  saith  he,  "  in  truth,  St. 
Helen,  the  mother  of  Constantine,  was  no  English  but  a  British 
woman."  And  yet  Fox's  words  are  capable  of  a  candid  construc- 
tion, if  by  "  Englishwoman"  we  understand,  by  a  favourable  prolepsis, 
one  born  in  that  part  of  Britain  which  since  hath  been  inhabited  by 
the  English.  Sure,  in  the  same  dialect  St.  Alban  hath  often  been 
called  "  the  first  martyr  of  the  English,"  by  many  writers  of  good 
esteem.  Yea,  the  breviary  of  Sarum,-|-  allowed  and  confirmed  no 
doubt  by  the  infallible  church  of  Rome,  greets  St.  Alban  with  this 
salute : — 

j4ve,  proto-martyr  ^nglorutn. 
Miles  Regis  angelorum, 
O  Alhane,fos  martyrum. 

Sure,  Helen  was  as  properly  an  Englishwoman  as  Alban  an  English- 
man, being  both  British  in  the  rigid  letter  of  history ;  and  yet  may 
be  interpreted  English  in  the  equity  thereof.  Thus  it  is  vain  for 
any  to  write  books,  if  their  words  be  not  taken  in  a  courteous  lati- 
tude ;  and  if  the  reader  meets  not  his  author  with  a  pardon  of  course 
for  venial  mistakes,  especially  when  his  pen  slides  in  so  slippery  a 
passage. 

19.  Three  Cities  contend  for  Constantine  born  in  them. 
And  now,  having  asserted  Constantine  a  Briton,  we  are  engaged 
afresh  in  a  new  controversy  betwixt  three  cities,  with  equal  zeal  and 
probability,  challenging  Constantine  to  be  theirs  by  birth  :  London,  j 
York,§  and  Colchester.||  We  dare  define  nothing;  not  so  much 
out  of  fear  to  displease ;  (though  he  that  shall  gain  one  of  these 
cities  his  friend,  shall  make  the  other  two  his  foes  by  his  verdict;) 
but  chiefly  because  little  certainty  can  be  pronounced  in  a  matter  so 
long  since  and  little  evident.  Let  me  refresh  myself  and  the  reader 
with  relating  and  applying  a  pleasant  story.  Once  at  the  burial  of 
St.  Teliau,  second  bishop  of  Landaff,  three  places  did  strive  to  have 
the  interring  of  his  body  ; — Pen-allura,  where  his  ancestors  were 
buried,  Lanfolio-vaur,  where  he  died,  and  LandafF,  his  episcopal  see. 
Now  after  prayer  to  God  to  appease  this  contention,  in  the  place 
where  they  had  left  him  there  appeared  suddenly  three  hearses,  with 
three  bodies  so  like,  as  no  man  could  discern  the  right ;  and  so, 
every  one  taking  one,  they  were  all  well  pleased.^  If  by  the  like 
miracle,  as  there  three  corpses  of  Teliau  encoffined,  so  here  three 
child-Constantines  encradled  might  be  represented,  the  controversy 

"  He  meaneth  his  books  of  "Acts  and  Monuments."  t  In  officio  Sancti  Albani. 

%  William  Fitzstephens  in  "  the  Description  of  London,"  §  Oratores  regis  AnglicB  in 
Concil.  Conslan/,     ||  Camden's  Brit,  in  Essex.     H  Godwin  in  the  Bishops  of  Landaff 


A.D.  312 314.  BOOK    I.    CENT.    IV.  4t 

betwixt  these  tliree  cities  were  easily  arbitrated,  and  all  parties  fully 
satisfied.  But,  seriously  to  the  matter :  That  which  gave  occasion  to 
the  varieties  of  their  claims  to  Constantine's  birth  may  probably  be 
this, — that  he  was  born  in  one  place,  nursed  in  another,  and  per- 
chance, being  young,  bred  in  a  third.  Thus  we  see  our  Saviour, 
though  born  in  Bethlehem,  yet  Avas  accounted  a  Nazarite,  of  the  city 
of  Nazareth,  where  he  was  brought  up ;  and  this  general  error  took 
so  deep  impression  in  the  people,  it  could  not  be  removed  out  of  the 
minds  and  mouths  of  the  vulgar. 

20.  Peace  and  Prosperity  restored  to  the  Church  hy  Constantine. 

A.D.312. 

Constantine  being  now  peaceably  settled  in  the  imperial  throne, 
there  followed  a  sudden  and  general  alteration  in  the  world  ;  perse- 
cutors turning  patrons  of  religion.  O  the  efficacy  of  a  godly 
emperor''s  example,  which  did  draw  many  to  a  conscientious  love  of 
Christianity,  and  did  drive  more  to  a  civil  conformity  thereunto  ! 
The  Gospel,  formerly  a  forester,  now  became  a  citizen ;  and  leaving 
the  woods  wherein  it  wandered,  hills  and  holes  where  it  hid  itself 
before,  dwelt  quietly  in  populous  places.  The  stumps  of  ruined 
churches,  lately  destroyed  by  Diocletian,  grew  up  into  beautiful 
buildings  ;  oratories  were  furnished  with  pious  ministers,  and  they 
provided  of  plentiful  maintenance,  through  the  liberality  of  Con- 
stantine. And  if  it  be  true,  what  one  relates,  that  about  this  time, 
when  the  church  began  to  be  enriched  with  means,  there  came  a 
voice  from  heaven,  (I  dare  boldly  say,  he  that  first  wrote  it  never 
heard  it,  being  a  modern-author,)*  saying,  "  Now  is  poison  poured 
down  into  the  church ;  yet  is  there  no  danger  of  death  thereby,  see- 
ing lately  so  strong  an  antidote  hath  been  given  against  it."  Nor  do 
we  meet  with  any  particular  bounty  conferred  by  Constantine,  or 
Helen  his  mother,  on  Britain,  their  native  country,  otherwise  than 
as  it  shared  now  in  the  general  happiness  of  all  Christendom.  The 
reason  might  be  this, — that  her  devotion  most  moved  eastward 
towards  Jerusalem,  and  he  was  principally  employed  far  off  at  Con- 
stantinople, whither  he  had  removed  the  seat  of  the  empire,  for  the 
more  conveniency  in  the  midst  of  his  dominions  :  an  empire  herein 
unhappy,  that  as  it  was  too  vast  for  one  to  manage  it  entirely,  so  it 
was  too  little  for  two  to  govern  it  jointly,  as  in  after-ages  did  appear. 

21 .   The  Appearance  of  the  British  in  foreign  Councils. 
AD.  314. 

And  now,  just  ten  years  after  the  death  of  St.  Alban,  a  stately 
church  was  erected  there  and  dedicated  to  his  memory  ;  as  also  the 

•  John  Naxiclerusi,  president  of  Tubing  University,  anno  1500. 


42  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.    A.D.314 — 359. 

History  of  Winchester  reportetli,  that  then  their  church,  first 
founded  by  king  Lucius,  and  since  destroyed,  was  built  anew,  and 
monks,  as  they  say,  placed  in  it.  But  the  most  avouchable  evi- 
dence of  Christianity  flourishing  in  this  island  in  this  age  is  produced 
from  the  bishops  representing  Britain  in  the  council  of 

1.  Aries,  in  France,  called  to  take  cognizance  of  the  cause  of  the 

Donatists ;  where  appeared  for  the  British,  (1.)  Eborius,* 
bishop  of  York.  (2.)  Restitutus,  bishop  of  London.  (3.) 
Adelfius,  bishop  of  the  city  called  the  Colony  of  London, 
which  some  count  Colchester,  and  others  Maldon  in  Essex. 
(4.)  Sacerdos,  a  priest,  both  by  his  proper  name  and  office  ; 
(5.)  Arminius,  a  deacon;  both  of  the  last  place,  a.  d.  314. 

2.  Nice,  in  Bithynia,  summoned  to  suppress  Arianism,  and  estab- 

lishing an  uniformity  of  the  observation  of  Easter ;  to  which 
agreed  those  of  the  church  xara  rug  BpiTTccvlas.-f  a.d.  325. 

3.  Sardis  in-  Thracia,  called  by  Constantius  and  Constans,  sons  to 

Constantine  the  Great;  where  the  bishops  of  Britain]:  con- 
curred with  the  rest  to  condemn  the  Arians  and  acquit 
Athanasius.  a.d.  347- 

4.  Ariminum,  on  the  Adriatic  Sea  in  Italy,  a  synod  convocated  by 

Constantius  the  emperor,  a.  d.  359. 
In  this  last  council  it  is  remarkable  that,  whereas  the  emperor 
ordered  that  provisions  (and  those  very  plentiful)  of  diet  should  be 
bestowed  on  the  bishops  there  assembled,  yet  those  of  Aquitaine, 
France,  and  Britain, §  preferred  rather  to  live  on  their  proper  cost, 
than  to  be  a  burden  to  the  public  treasury.  Only  three  British 
bishops,  necessitated  for  want  of  maintenance,  received  the  emperor"'s 
allowance ;  the  refusal  of  the  former  (having  enough  of  their  own) 
being  an  act  full  of  praise,  as  the  latter''s  accepting  a  salary  to 
j-elieve  their  want,  a  deed  free  from  censure.  Collect  we  hence,  1. 
That  there  were  many  British  bishops  in  this  council,  though  their 
names  and  number  are  not  particularly  recorded.  2.  That  the 
generality  of  British  bishops  had  in  this  age  plentiful  maintenance, 
who  could  subsist  of  themselves  so  far  off  in  a  foreign  country  ; 
whereas  lately,  in  the  council  of  Trent,  many  Italian  bishops,  though 
in  a  manner  still  at  home,  could  not  live  without  public  contribu- 
tion. But  there  was  good  reason  why  the  British  were  loath  to 
accept  the  emperor's  allowance,  (though  otherwise  it  had  been 
neither  manners  nor  discretion  for  prelates  to  refuse  a  prince''s 
proffer,)  because  as  Daniel  and  the  children  of  the  captivity  pre- 
ferred their  pulse  before  the  fare  of  king  Nebuchadnezzar,  for  fear 

"  See  the  several  subscriptions  at  tUe  end  of  this  council  in  Binnius.  t  Kusebius 

De  Fitd  Constant,  lib.  iii.  c.  18.  t  Athanasius  m  the  beginning  of  his  Second 

Apology  against  the  Arians.  5  Sulpitius  Severus  Histaria:  Sacrw,  lib.  ii. 


A.D.  SCO.  BOOK    I.     CENT.  IV,  43 

they  sliould  be  defiled  with  his  (though  princely,  yet)  Pagan  diet, 
Dan.  i.  8 ;  so  these  bishops  did  justly  suspect,  that  Constantius  the 
emperor,  being  an  Arian,  had  a  design  to  bribe  their  judgments  by 
their  palates,  and  by  his  bounty  to  buy  their  suffrages  to  favour  his 
opinions.  In  very  deed  this  synod  is  justly  taxed,  not  that  it  did 
bend,  but  was  bowed,  to  Arianism ;  and,  being  overborne  by  the 
emperor,  did  countenance  his  poisonous  positions.* 

22.  Britain  heginneth  to  he  tainted  with  Arianism.  A.D.  360. 
Hitherto  the  church  in  Britain  continued  sound  and  orthodox,  in 
no  degree  tainted  with  Arianism  ;  Avhich  gave  the  occasion  to  St. 
Hilary,  in  his  epistle  to  his  brethren  and  fellow -bishops  of  Germany 
and  Britain,  &c.i-  though  he  himself  was  in  Phrygia  in  banishment, 
to  solace  his  soul  with  the  consideration  of  the  purity  and  soundness 
of  religion  in  their  countries.  But  now,  alas  !  the  gangrene  of  that 
heresy  began  to  spread  itself  into  this  island  ;  so  that  what  the  Jews 
of  Thessalonica  said  unjustly  of  St.  Paul  and  his  followers,  the 
Britons  might  too  truly  affirm  of  Arius  and  his  adherents  :  "  These 
that  have  turned  the  world  upside-down  are  come  hither  also,"  Acts 
xvii.  6.  Hear  how  sadly  Gildas  complaineth  :  Mansit  namque  hcec 
Christi  capitis  membrorum  consonantia  suavis,  donee  Ariana 
perfidia  atrox^  ceu  anguis  transmarina  nobis  evomens  venena^ 
fratres  in  unum  habitantes  ewitiahiliter  faceret  sejungi,  Sfc. 
So  that  the  words  of  Athanasius,  Totus  mundus  Arianixat,  were 
true  also  of  this  peculiar  or  divided  world  of  Britain.  Naturalists 
dispute  how  wolves  had  their  first  being  in  Britain  ;  it  being  impro- 
bable that  merchants  would  bring  any  such  noxious  vermin  over  in 
their  ships,  and  impossible  that  of  themselves  they  should  swim  over 
the  sea ;  which  hath  prevailed  so  far  with  some,  as  to  conceive  this, 
now  an  island,  originally  annexed  to  the  continent :  but  here  the 
query  may  be  propounded,  how  these  heretics  (mystical  "  wolves 
not  sparing  the  flock,"  Acts  xx.  29)  first  entered  into  this  island. 
And,  indeed,  we  meet  neither  with  their  names  nor  manner  of 
transportation  hither,  but  only  with  the  cursed  fruit  of  their  labours. 
And  it  is  observable,  that,  immediately  after  that  this  kingdom 
was  infected  with  Arianism,  the  Pagan  Picts  and  Scots  out  of  the 
North  made  a  general  and  desperate  invasion  of  it ;  j  it  being 
just  with  God,  when  his  vineyard  beginneth  to  bring  forth  wild 
grapes,  then  to  let  loose  the  wild  boar,  to  take  his  full  and  free 
repast  upon  it. 

"  Episcopi  in  Arianum  dogma  fuerunt  subacti,  opprimente  Constantio. — Facundus, 
lib.  V.  cap.  30.  f  Dedicating  unto  them  his  book  Be  Synodis.  %  Aramianus 

Marcellinus,in  the  beginning  of  his  twentieth  book,  maketh  this  irruption  to  happen  anno 
360,  which  continued  many  yeajs  after. 


44  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.      A.D.  379 — 383. 

23.  Maximus,  usurping  the  Empire,  expelleth  the  Scots  out  of 
Britain.  A.D.  379. 

In  this  woful  condition,  vain  were  the  complaints  of  the  oppressed 
Britons  for  assistance  unto  Gratian  and  Yalentinian,  the  Roman 
emperors,  who,  otherways  employed,  neglected  to  send  them  succour. 
This  gave  occasion  to  Maximus,  a  Spaniard*  by  birth,  (though 
accounted  born  in  this  island  by  our  home-bred  authors, •!*)  to  be 
chosen  emperor  of  the  west  of  Europe,  by  a  predominant  faction  in 
his  army ;  who,  for  a  time,  valiantly  resisted  the  Scots  and  Picts, 
which  cruelly  invaded  and  infested  the  South  of  Britain.  For  these 
nations  were  invincible  whilst,  like  two  arms  of  the  same  body,  they 
.assisted  each  other.  But  when  the  Picts,  (the  right  arm,)  being 
most  strong  and  active,  suffered  themselves  to  be  quietly  bound  up 
by  the  peace  concluded,  the  Scots,  as  their  own  authors :[:  confess, 
were  quickly  conquered  and  dispersed.  But  Maximus,  whose  main 
design  was  not  to  defend  Britain  from  enemies,  but  confirm  himself 
in  the  empire,  sailed  over  with  the  flower  of  the  British  nation  into 
France ;  where,  having  conquered  the  natives  in  Armorica,  he 
bestowed  the  whole  country  upon  his  soldiers,  from  them  named 
at  this  day  Little  Britain.  - 

24.  Britain  in  France  when  conquered,  and  why  so  called. 
A.D.  383. 

But  Ireland  will  no  ways  allow  that  name  unto  it,  pleading  itself 
to  be  anciently  called  the  Lesser  Britain  in  authentic  authors  ;§  and, 
therefore,  this  French  Britain  must  be  contented  to  bear  that  name, 
with  the  difierence  of  the  third  brother ;  except  any  will  more  pro- 
perly say,  that  the  French  Britain  is  the  daughter  of  our  Britain  ; 
which  infant,  when  she  asks  her  mother"'s  blessing,  doth  not  jabber 
so  strangely,  but  that  she  is  perfectly  understood  by  her  parent. 
Although  one  will  hardly  believe  what  is  generally  reported,  namely, 
that  these  French  Britons  were  so  ambitious  to  preserve  their  native 
language,  that,  marrying  French  women,  they  cut  out  their  wives' 
tongues,  II  for  fear  they  should  infect  their  children's  speech  with  a 
mixture  of  French  words.  Here  the  Britons  lived  ;  and  though  they 
had  pawned  their  former  wives  and  children  at  home,  they  had 
neither  the  honesty  nor  affection  to  return  thither  to  redeem  the 
pledges  left  behind  them.  Strange  that  they  should  so  soon  forget 
their  native  soil  !  But  as  the  loadstone,  when  it  is  rubbed  over 
with  the  juice  of  onions,  forgetteth  its  property  to  draw  iron  any 

•  ZosiM.   Histor.  lib.  iv.  t  Gildas,   H.  Hunting.  Histor.  lib.  i.    Galfrid. 

Monmouth,  and  before  the  three  latter,  Ethelwerdus  Chronic,  lib.  i.  I  John 

FoRDON  Scoto-Chronic.  lib.  ii.  cap.  45.  §  Ptolemy  calls  it  Mi/cpa  Bperravla,  lib. 

ii.  cap.  6,  p.  31.  Ed,  Grac.  H  Heylin's  Geogr.  in  the  Deecription  of  France. 


A.D.  383 390.  BOOK    I.    CENT.    1.  45 

Jpnger ;  so,  thougli  we  allow  an  attractive  virtue  in  one*s  own  country, 
yet  it  loseth  that  alluring  quality  when  the  said  place  of  one's  birth 
is  steeped  in  a  sad  and  sorrowful  condition,  as  the  state  of  Britain 
stood  at  this  present.  And,  therefore,  these  travellers,  having  found 
a  new  habitation  nearer  the  sun,  and  further  from  suflfering,  there 
quietly  set  up  their  rest. 

25.  Maximus  slain  in  his  March  towards  Italy.  A.  D.  388. 

But  not  long  after,  Maximus,  marching  towards  Italy,  was  over- 
come and  killed  at  Aquileia :  a  prince  not  unworthy  of  his  great 
name,  had  he  been  lifted  up  to  the  throne  by  a  regular  election,  and 
not  tossed  up  to  the  same  in  a  tvunultuous  manner.  This  makes 
St.  Ambrose,*  Gildas,  and  other  authors  violently  to  inveigh  against 
his  memory,  notwithstanding  his  many  most  honourable  achieve- 
ments.•!-  This  difference  we  may  observe  betwixt  bastards  and 
usurpers  ;  the  former,  if  proving  eminent,  are  much  bemoaned, 
because  merely  passive  in  the  blemish  of  their  birth  ;  whilst  usurp- 
ers, though  behaving  themselves  never  so  gallantly,  never  gain 
general  good-will,  because  actually  evil  in  their  original  ;  as  it  fared 
with  Maximus,  who,  by  good  using,  could  never  make  reparation  for 
his  bad  getting  of  the  empire.  Surely,  Britain  had  cause  to  curse 
him,  for  draining  it  of  her  men  and  munition,  so  leaving  it  a  trunk 
of  a  commonwealth,  without  head  or  hands,  wisdom  or  valour, 
effectually  to  advise  or  execute  any  thing  in  its  own  defence ;  all 
whose  strength  consisted  in  multitudes  of  people,  where  number  was 
not  so  great  a  benefit  as  disorder  was  a  burden  ;  which  encouraged 
the  Picts  (the  truce  expired)  to  harass  all  the  land  with  fire  and 
sword.  The  larger  prosecution  whereof  we  leave  to  the  chronicles 
of  the  state,  only  touching  it  here  by  way  of  excuse,  for  the  brief- 
ness and  barrenness  of  our  ecclesiastical  history ;  the  sadness  of  the 
commonwealth  being  a  just  plea  for  the  silence  of  the  church. 

26.  Frequent  Pilgrimages  of  the  Britons  to  Jerusalem,  whilst 
St.  Kehy  lived  quietly  in  Anglesey.  A.D.  390. 
We  conclude  this  century  when  we  have  told  the  reader,  that 
about  this  time  the  Fathers  |  tell  us,  how  pilgrimages  of  the  Britons 
began  to  be  frequent  as  far  as  Jerusalem,  there  not  only  to  visit 
Christ's  sepulchre,  but  also  to  behold  Simon  Stilita  a  pious  man, 
and  Melania  a  devout  woman,  both  residing  in  Syria,  and  at  this 
time  eminent  for  sanctity.  Perchance,  discontentment  mingled  with 
devotion  moved  the  Britons  to  so  long  a  journey,  conceiving  them- 

"  In   Oratione  Funebri  de  exitu,  Theodosii.  t  Sulpitiqs   Severus,  Dtalogo 

Secnndo,  cap.  7.  X  HiERONYMUS,  tom.i.  ep,  17,   et  Palladius   Gai-ata  Hist. 

Lausiac,  cap.  119, 


46  CHURCH  HISTORY  OF  BRITAIN.  A.D.  390 401. 

selves,  because  of  their  present  troubles  at  home,  more  safe  any 
where  else  than  in  their  own  country.  As  for  those  Britons  who, 
in  this  age,  were  zealous  assertors  of  the  purity  of  religion  against 
the  poison  of  Arianism,  amongst  them  we  find  St.  Keby  a  principal 
champion,  son  to  Salomon  duke  of  Cornwall,  scholar  to  St.  Hilary 
bishop  of  Poictiers  in  France,  with  whom  he  lived  fifty  years,  and 
by  whom  being  made  bishop,  he  returned  first  to  St.  David's,  after- 
wards into  Ireland,  and  at  last  fixed  himself  in  the  Isle  of  Anglesey : 
so  pious  a  man  that  he  might  seem  to  have  communicated  sanctity 
to  the  place,  being  a  promontory  into  the  sea  called  from  him  Holy- 
head, but  in  Welsh  Caer-guiby  ;  as  in  the  same  island  the  memory 
of  his  master  is  preserved  in  Hilary-point ;  where  both  shall  be 
remembered  as  long  as  there  be  either  waves  to  assault  the  shore, 
or  rocks  to  resist  them. 


SECTION   V. 

THE  FIFTH  CENTURY. 
TO  THOMAS  BIDE,  OF  LONDON,  ESQUIRE. 

Amongst  your  many  good  qualities,  I  have  particu- 
larly observed  your  judicious  delight  in  the  mathema- 
tics. Seeing,  therefore,  this  century  hath  so  much  of 
THE  SURVEYOR  therein,  being  employed  in  the  exact 
dividing  of  the  English  shires  betwixt  the  seven  Saxon 
kingdoms,  the  proportions  herein  are  by  me  submitted 
to  your  censure  and  approbation. 

1.  Pelagius,  a  Briton  by  Birth.  A.D.  401. 

Now  the  Arian  heresy,  by  God''s  providence  and  good  men's 
diligence,  was  in  some  measure  suppressed,  when  the  unwearied 
malice  of  satan  (who  never  leaveth  off,  though  often  changeth  his 
ways,  to  seduce  souls)  brought  in  a  worse  (because  more  plausible) 
heresy  of  Pelagianism.  For  every  man  is  born  a  Pelagian, 
naturally  proud  of  his  power,  and  needeth  little  art  to  teach  him  to 
think  well  of  himself.  This  Pelagius  was  a  Briton  by  birth  ;  (as 
we  take  no  delight  to  confess  it,  so  we  will  tell  no  lie  to  deny  it ;) 
as  some  say  called  Morgan,*  that  is  in  Welsh,  "  near  the  sea ;"" 
(and  well  had  it  been  for  the  Christian  world  if  he  had  been  nearer 
the  sea,  and  served  therein  as  the  Egyptians  served  the  Hebrew 

•  Jacobus  UsseRIUS  De  Brit,  Eccl.  Prim,  p.  207,  et  I)<ymimts  Hen.  Spelman  in 
ConcilHs,  p.  40. 


A.D.  401.  BOOK    I.    CENT.    V.  47 

males ;)  being  to  the  same  sense  called  in  Latin  Pelagiiis.  Let  no 
foreigner  insult  on  the  infelicity  of  our  land  in  bearing  this  monster ; 
but  consider.  First,  if  his  excellent  natural  parts  and  eminent  acquired 
learning  might  be  separated  from  his  dangerous  doctrine,  no  nation 
need  be  ashamed  to  acknowledge  him.  Secondly.  Britain  did  but 
breed  Pelagius  ;  Pelagius  himself  bred  his  heresy  ;  and,  in  foreign 
parts  where  he  travelled,  France,  Syria,  Egypt,  Rome  itself,  if  not 
first  invented,  much  improved  his  pestilent  opinions.  Lastly.  As 
our  island  is  to  be  pitied  for  breeding  the  person,  so  she  is  to  be 
praised  for  opposing  the  errors,  of  Pelagius.  Thus  the  best  father 
cannot  forbid  the  worst  son  from  being  his  child,  but  may  debar 
him  from  being  his  heir,  affording  no  favour  to  countenance  his 
badness.  » 

2.  Pelagius  no  Doctor  of  Cambridge,  hut  a  Monk  of  Bangor. 

It  is  memorable  what  one  relates,*  that  the  same  day  whereon 
Pelagius  was  born  in  Britain,  St.  Augustine  was  also  born  in  Afric  ; 
Divine  Providence  so  disposing  it,  that  the  poison  and  the  antidote 
should  be  twins  in  a  manner,  in  respect  of  the  same  time.  To  pass 
from  the  birth  to  the  breeding  of  Pelagius :  John  Caius,-f-  who 
observes  eight  solemn  destructions  of  Cambridge  before  the  Con- 
qiiest,  imputeth  that  which  was  the  third  in  order  to  Pelagius ;  who, 
being  a  student  there,  and  having  his  doctrine  opposed  by  the  ortho- 
dox divines,  cruelly  caused  the  overthrow  and  desolation  of  all  the 
university.  But  we  hope  it  will  be  accounted  no  point  of  Pelagian- 
ism  for  us  thus  far  to  improve  our  free-will,  as  to  refuse  to  give 
credit  hereunto  till  better  authority  be  produced.  And  yet  this 
sounds  much  to  the  commendation  of  Cambridge,  that,  like  a  pure 
crystal  glass,  it  would  prefer  rather  to  fly  a-pieces,  and  be  dissolved, 
than  to  endure  poison  put  into  it ;  according  to  the  character  which 
John  Lidgatej  (a  wit  of  those  times)  gave  of  this  university: — 

"  Cambrege  of  heresy  ne're  bore  the  blame." 

More  true  it  is  that  Pelagius  was  bred  in  the  monastery  of  Bangor, 
(in  that  part  of  Flintshire  which,  at  this  day,  is  a  separatist  from  the 
rest,)  where  he  lived  with  two  thousand  monks,  industrious  in  their 
callings,  whose  hands  were  the  only  benefactors  for  their  bellies  ; 
zhhcy-labourers,  not  dhhty-luhhers  like  their  successors  in  after- 
ages,  who,  living  in  laziness,  abused  the  bounty  of  their  patrons  to . 
riot  and  excess. 

3.  The  principal  Errors  of  Pelagius. 

Infinite  are  the  deductions  and  derived  consequences  of  Pelagius''s 
errors.     These  are  the  main :    1.  That   a   man   might   be   saved 

'  Dempster  Hist.  Scot.  lib.  xv.  num.  1012.  t  Hist,  Cantab,  Acadein,,  lib.  i. 

p.  28.  X  In  hie  Poem  of  Cambridge. 


48  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.    A.D.  401 420. 

^vithout  Ood's  grace,  by  his  own  merits  and  free-will.  2.  That 
infants  were  bom  without  original  sin,  and  were  as  innocent  as 
Adam  before  his  fall.  3.  That  they  were  baptized,  not  to  be 
freed  from  sin,  but  thereby  to  be  adopted  into  the  kingdom  of 
God.  4.  That  Adam  died,  not  by  reason  of  his  sin,  but  by  the 
condition  of  nature  ;  and  that  he  should  have  died  albeit  he  had 
not  sinned. 

Here  to  recount  the  learned  works  of  Fathers  written,  their  pious 
sermons  preached,  passionate  epistles  sent,  private  conferences  enter- 
tained, public  disputations  held,  provincial  synods  summoned, 
general  councils  called,  wholesome  canons  made,  to  confute  and 
condemn  these  opinions,  under  the  name  of  Pelagius,  or  his  scholar 
Cselestius,  would  -amount  to  a  volume  fitter  for  a  porter*'s  back  to 
bear,  than  a  scholar's  brains  to  peruse.  I  decline  the  employment, 
both  as  over- painful,  and  nothing  proper  to  our  business  in  hand ; 
(fearing  to  cut  my  fingers  if  I  put  my  sickle  into  other  men''s  corn  ;) 
these  things  being  transacted  beyond  the  seas,  and  not  belonging  to 
the  British  history ;  the  rather,  because  it  cannot  be  proved  that 
Pelagius  in  person  ever  dispersed  his  poison  in  this  island,  but 
ranging  abroad,  (perchance,  because  this  false  prophet  counted  him- 
self "  without  honour  in  his  own  country,"*)  had  his  emissaries  here, 
and  principally  Agricola,*  the  son  of  Severian  a  bishop. 

4.  French  Bishops  sent  for  to  suppress  Pelagianism  in  Britain. 

A.D.  420. 

It  is  incredible  how  speedily  and  generally  the  infection  spread 
by  his  preaching,  advantaged,  no  doubt,  by  the  ignorance  and  lazi- 
ness of  the  British  bishops, — in  those  days  none  of  the  deepest 
divines,  or  most  learned  clerks,  as  having  little  care,  and  less  comfort 
to  study,  living  in  a  distracted  state  :  and  those  that  feel  practical 
discords  will  have  little  joy  to  busy  themselves  with  controversial 
divinity.  However,  herein  their  discretion  is  to  be  commended, 
that,  finding  their  own  forces  too  feeble  to  encounter  so  great  a  foe, 
they  craved  the  assistance  of  foreigners  out  of  France,  and  sent  for 
Germane,  bishop  of  Auxerre,  and  Lupus,  bishop  of  Troyes ;  not 
being  of  their  envious  and  proud  disposition  who  had  rather  suffer  a 
good  cause  to  fall,  than  to  borrow  supporters  to  hold  it  up,  lest 
thereby  they  disgrace  themselves,  confessing  their  own  insufficiency, 
and  preferring  the  ability  of  others.  The  two  bishops  cheerfully 
embraced  the  employment,  and  undertook  the  journey,  no  whit 
discouraged  with  the  length  of  the  way,  danger  of  the  sea,  and  bad- 
ness of  the  winter;  seeing  all  weather  is  fair  to  a  willing  mind,  and 
opportunity  to  do  good  is  the  greatest  preferment  which  a  humble 

•  Beda,  lib,  i.  cap.  17. 


A.D.  429'  BOOK     I.    CENT.    V.  49 

heart  doth  desire.  This  Lupus  was  brother  to  Vincentius  Liri- 
nensis,*  husband-f-  to  Pimeniola,  the  sister  of  Hilary,  archbishop  of 
Aries ;  one  of  such  learning  and  sanctity,  that  a  grave  author  of 
those  times  styleth  him  "  a  father  of  fathers,  and  bishop  of 
bishops ;  yea,  anotlier  James  of  that  age."]:  And  yet  in  this 
employment  he  was  but  a  second  to  Germane  the  principal ;  and 
both  of  them,  like  Paul  and  Barnabas,  jointly  advanced  the  design. 

5.  Germanus  and  Lupus  come   over  and  preach  in  Britain, 

A.D.  429. 
Coming  into  Britain,  with  their  constant  labours  they  confirmed 
the  orthodox,  and  reclaimed  the  erroneous,  preaching  openly  in 
fields  and  high  ways. §  As  the  king's  presence  makes  a  court,  so 
theirs  did  a  church,  of  any  place  ;  their  congregation  being  bounded 
wiih  no  other  walls  than  the  preacher''s  voice,  and  extending  as  far  as 
he  could  intelligibly  be  heard.  As  for  their  formal  disputation  with 
the  Pelagian  doctors,  take  it  from  the  pen  of  Bede,  and  mouth  of 
Stapleton  translating  him. 

6.    Their  Disputation  ivith  the  Pelagian  Doctors. 

"  The  authours  and  head-professours  of  hereticall  errour  lay  lurk- 
ing all  this  while,  and,  like  the  wicked  sprites,  much  spighted  to 
see  the  people  daily  to  fall  from  them.  At  length,  after  long 
advisement  used,  they  taketh  upon  them  to  try  the  matter  by  open 
disputation  ;  which  being  agreed  upon,  they  come  forth  richly 
appointed,  gorgeously  appareled,  accompanied  with  a  number  of 
flattering  favours,  having  leifer^l  to  commit  their  cause  to  open  dis- 
puting then  to  seem  to  the  people,  whom  they  had  subverted,  to 
have  nothing  to  say  in  the  defence  thereof.  Thether  resorted  a 
great  multitude  of  people,  with  their  wives  and  children.  The 
people  was  present,  both  to  see  and  judge  the  matter :  the  parties 
there  were  farre  unleke  of  condition.  In  the  one  side  was  the  faith, 
on  the  other  was  presumption  ;  on  the  one  side  meeknesse,  on  the 
other  pride  ;  on  the  one  side  Pelagius,  on  the  other  Christ.  First 
of  all,  the  blessed  priest  Germanus  and  Lupus  gave  their  adversaries 
leave  to  speak,  which  vainly  occupied  both  the  time  and  eares  of  the 
people  with  naked  words.  But  after  the  reverend  bishops  poored 
out  their  flowing  words,  confirmed  with  Scriptures  out  of  the  Gospels 
and  apostles,  they  joyned  with  their  own  Avords  the  words  of  God  ; 
and  after  they  had   said  their  own   mind,  they  read  other  men''s 

•  EucHERius,  in  libello  de  laude  Eremi  ad  Hilarium.  f  Usher  De  Brit.  EccL 

Primord,  p.  325.  X  Sidonius,  lib.  vi.  epist.  1.  §  Per  trivia,  per  rura,per  devia. 

^  Not  presuming  to  alter  any  of  Stapleton's  words,  take  it  with  all  the  printer's  faults, 
done  probably  by  an  outlandish  press. 

Vol.  I.  K 


50  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  429. 

minds  upon  the  same.  Thus  the  vanite  of  hereticks  is  convicted, 
and  falsehed  is  confuted,  so  that  at  every  objection  they  were  forced 
in  eiFect  to  confesse  their  errour,  not  being  able  to  answere  them. 
The  people  had  much  to  do  to  keep  their  hands  from  them,  yet 
shewed  their  judgement  by  their  clamours." 

7.  Many  Remarkahles  in  this  Disputation. 

A  conference  every  way  admirable  :  First.  In  the  opponents, 
who  came  forth  gallantly,  as  antedating  the  conquest,  and  bringing 
the  spoils  of  their  victory  with  them.  But  gay  clothes  are  no 
armour  for  a  combat.  Secondly.  In  the  defendants  of  the  truth, 
appealing  to  no  unwritten  traditions,  but  to  the  Scriptures  of  the 
Gospels  and  apostles ;  because  the  point  of  grace  controverted 
appeared  most  plainly  in  the  New  Testament.  Thirdly.  In  the 
auditors,  or,  as  they  are  called,  the  judges, — men,  women,  and 
children.  Wonder  not  at  this  feminine  auditory,  seeing  they  were 
as  capable  of  the  antidote  as  of  the  poison ;  and,  no  doubt,  the 
Pelagians  had  formerly,  as  other  heretics,  "  crept  into  houses  to 
seduce  silly  women,"  2  Tim.  iii.  6 ;  and,  therefore,  now  the  plaster 
must  be  as  broad  as  the  sore.  As  for  children,  we  know  who  it  was 
that  said,  "  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them 
not,"  &c.  Matt.  xix.  14.  But  here,  though  called  "  children"*  in 
relation  to  their  parents,  they  might  be  in  good  age  and  capacity  of 
understanding ;  or  if  they  were  little  ones  indeed,  flocking,  out  of 
fashion  in  a  general  concourse,  to  see  these  men  speak  Divine  mys- 
teries, they  could  not  hereafter,  when  grown  old,  date  their  remem- 
brance from  a  more  remarkable  epoch.  See  we  here  that,  in  these 
times,  the  laity  were  so  well  acquainted  with  God's  word,  that  they 
could  competently  judge  what  was  or  was  not  spoken  in  proportion 
thereunto.  Lastly  and  chiefly.  In  the  success  of  this  conference. 
For  though  generally  such  public  disputations  do  make  more  noise 
than  take  effect,  (because  the  obstinate  maintainers  of  error  come 
with  their  tongues  tipt  with  clamorousness,  as  their  proselyte 
auditors  do  with  ears  stopped  with  prejudice,)  yet  this  meeting,  by 
God's  blessing,  was  marvellously  powerful  to  establish  and  convert 
the  people.  But  here  a  main  difficulty  is  by  authors  left  wholly 
untouched,  namely,  in  what  language  this  conference  was  entertained 
and  managed,  that  Germanus  and  Lupus,  two  French  bishops,  and 
foreigners,  could  both  speak  with  fluentness,  and  be  understood  with 
facility.  Perchance  the  ancient  Gauls  in  France,  whence  these 
bishops  came,  spake  still  (as  they  did  anciently)  one  and  the  self-same 
tongue  with  the  Britons,  differing  rather  in  dialect  than  language : 
or,  which  is  more  probable,  both  France  and  Britain,  remaining  as 

*  In  Latin,  not  pueri,  but  liberi. 


A.D.  420.  BOOK    I.    CENT,    V.  51 

yet  Roman  provinces,  spake  a  coarse,  vulgar  Latin,  tlioiigli  invaded 
with  a  mixture  of  many  base  words,  as  Britain  especially,  now 
or  near  this  time,  was  infested  with  foreign  barbarous  nations. 

8,  Si.  Albari's  the  Place  of  the  Conference. 

This  conference  was  held  at  St.  Alban's,  even  where  at  this  day 
a  small  chapel  is  extant  to  the  honour  of  St.  Germane ;  though 
Hector  Boethius*  assigns  London  the  place;  adding,  moreover, 
that  such  obstinate  Pelagians  as  would  not  be  reclaimed  were,  for 
their  contumacy,  burned  by  the  king's  officers.  But  it  will  be  hard 
to  find  any  spark  of  fire  in  Britain,  or  elsewhere,  employed  on 
heretics  in  this  age.  We  may  observe,  that  the  aforesaid  Hector 
Boethius,  and  Polydore  Virgil,  (writing  the  chronicles,  the  one  of 
Scotland,  the  other  of  England,  at  the  same  time,)  as  they  bear  the 
poetical  names  of  two  sons  of  Priamus,  so  they  take  to  themselves 
much  liberty  of  fancy  and  fiction  in  their  several  histories. 

9.  Germanus  marcheth  against  the  Pagan  Picts  and  Saxons. 
Not  long  after,  the  aid  of  Germanus  and  Lupus  was  implored, 
and  employed  an  hundred  miles  off  in  another  service, — against  the 
Pagan  Picts  and  Saxons.  Here  we  meet  with  the  first  mention  of 
Saxons,  being  some  straggling  volunteers  of  that  nation,  coming  over 
to  pillage  here  of  their  own  accord,  not  many  years  before  they  were 
solemnly  invited  hither  under  Horsus  and  Hengistus,  their  generals. 
Germanus,  after  the  Lent  well  spent,  in  the  fasting  of  their  bodies, 
and  feasting  of  their  souls,  (for  the  people  had  daily  sermons, -f-)  and 
the  solemnity  of  Easter  festival  duly  celebrated,  wherein  he  chris- 
tened multitudes  of  Pagan  converts,  in  the  river  Alen,  marched  with 
an  army  of  them,  whilst  their  baptismal  water  was  scarce  wiped  from 
their  bodies,  against  the  aforesaid  enemies,  whom  he  found  in  the 
north-east  of  Wales.  Here  the  pious  bishop,  turning  politic 
engineer,  chose  a  place  of  advantage,  being  a  hollow  dale,  surrounded 
with  hills,  near  the  A'illage  called  at  this  day  by  the  English  Mold, 
by  the  British  Guidcrue,  in  Flintshire,  where  the  field  at  this  day 
retains  the  name  of  Maes  Garmo7i,\  or  German's  Field  ;  the  more 
remarkable,  because  it  hath  escaped  (as  few  of  this  note  and  nature) 
the  exact  observation  of  Master  Camden. 

10.  A  Victory  gotten,  not  by  shooting,  but  shouting. 
Here  Germanus  placed  his  men  in  ambush,  with  instructions  that, 
at  a  signal  given,  they  should  all  shout  "  hallelujah"'"'  three  times 
with  all  their  might,  which  was   done  accordingly.     The  Pagans 

*  Scot.  Hist.  lib.  viii.  +  Bede,  book  i.  cap.  20.  I  Usher  De  Brit.  Etc. 

Primord.  p.  333. 


52  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.B,  430. 

were  surprised  with  the  suddenness  and  loudness  of  such  a  sound, 
much  multiplied  by  the  advantage  of  the  echo,  whereby  their  fear 
brought  in  a  false  list  of  their  enemies''  number ;  and,  rather  trusting 
their  ears  than  their  eyes,  they  reckoned  their  foes  by  the  increase 
of  the  noise  rebounded  unto  them ;  and  then,  allowing  two  hands 
for  every  mouth,  how  vast  was  their  army  !  But  besides  the 
concavity  of  the  valleys  improving  the  sound,  God  sent  a  hollow- 
ness  into  the  hearts  of  the  Pagans ;  so  that  their  apprehensions 
added  to  their  ears,  and  cowardice  often  resounded  the  same  shout 
in  their  breasts,  till,  beaten  with  the  reverberation  thereof,  without 
striking  a  stroke,  they  confusedly  ran  away  ;  and  many  were  drowned 
for  speed,  in  the  river  Alen,  lately  the  Christians'"  font,  now  the 
Pagans'"  grave.  Thus  a  bloodless  victory  was  gotten,  without  sword 
drawn,  consisting  of  no  fight,  but  a  fright  and  a  flight ;  and  that 
hallelujah,  the  song  of  the  saints  after  conquest  achieved,  Rev. 
xix.  1,  was  here  the  forerunner  and  procurer  of  victory  :  so  good  a 
grace,  it  is  to  be  said  both  before  and  after  a  battle.  Gregory 
the  Great,  (a  grave  author,)  in  his  comment  upon  Job  xxxvi. 
29,  30,  makes  mention  of  this  victory,  occasioned  on  those  words, 
"  Can  any  understand  the  noise  of  his  tabernacle  ?" 

n.    St.   Albans   in  Hertfordshire,    Cologne,    Eh/,  and   Oself, 
pretend  to  the  whole  Body  of  St.  Alban.     A.  D.  430. 

Germanus,  now  twice  a  conqueror,  of  Pelagians  and  Pagans, 
prepares  for  his  return  ;  after,  first,  he  had  caused  the  tomb  of  St. 
Alban  to  be  opened,  and  therein  deposited  the  relics  of  many 
saints,  which  he  brought  over  with  him  ;  conceiving  it  fit,  as  he 
said,  that  their  corpses  should  sleep  in  the  same  grave,  whose  souls 
rested  in  the  same  heaven.  In  lieu  of  what  he  left  behind  him, 
(exchange  is  no  robbery,)  he  carried  along  with  him  some  of  St. 
Alban's  dust,  wherein  spots  of  the  martyr's  blood  were  as  fair  and 
fresh,  as  if  shed  but  yesterday.  But  what  most  concerns  St. 
Alban's  monks  to  stickle  in,  some  report  German  to  have  carried 
the  body  of  Alban  to  Rome  :  whence,  some  hundred  years  after, 
the  empress  to  Otho  the  second  brought  it  to  Cologne,*  where,  at 
this  day,  they  maintain  his  uncorrupted  body  to  be  enshrined  ;  the 
monks  of  Ely  in  Cambridgeshire,  pretending  to  the  same,  as  also 
do  those  of  Ottonium,  or  Osell,  in  Denmark.  Thus,  as  Metius 
Suffetius  the  Roman  was  drawn  alive  by  horses  four  ways  ;  like 
violence  is  offered  to  the  dead  body  of  Alban,  plucked  to  four 
several  places  by  importunate  competitors ;  only  with  this  differ- 
ence,— that  the  former  was  mangled  into  quarters,  whereas  here 
each  place  pretends  to  have  him  whole  and  entire,  not  abating  one 

•  Sl'RIUS,  toino  iii,  T'itu  Sand.  Junii  22. 


A.D.  4'SO — 449.  BOOK    1.    CENT.  V,  53 

hair  of  his  beard.*  Nor  know  I  how  to  reconcile  them,  except  any 
of  them  dare  say,  though  without  show  of  probability,  that,  as  the 
river  in  Paradise  went  out  of  Eden,  "  from  whence  it  was  parted, 
and  became  into  four  heads,"  Gen.  ii.  10,  Alban  in  like  manner,  when 
dead,  had  the  same  quality  of  one  to  be  multiplied  into  four  bodies. 

12.  After  the  Departure  of  Germamis,  Pelagianism  recruits  in 

Britain. 

Now  after  Germanus  and  Lupus  were  returned  home  into  their 
native  country,  Pelagianism  began  to  sprout  again  in  Britain  :  an 
accident  not  so  strange  to  him  that  considers  how  quickly  an  error 
much  of  kin  thereunto  grew  up  amongst  the  Galatians,  presently  on 
Paul's  departure.  "  I  marvel,"  said  he,  "  that  you  are  so  soon 
removed  from  him  that  called  you  into  the  grace  of  Christ,  unto 
another  Gospel,"  Gal.  i.  6.  St.  Paul's  marvelling  may  make  us 
marvel  the  less,  seeing  that  wonder  which  hath  a  precedent  is 
not  so  great  a  wonder.  Here  we  may  sadly  behold  the  great 
proneness  of  men  to  go  astray,  whose  hearts,  by  nature  cold  in 
goodness,  will  burn  no  longer  than  they  are  blown.  To  suppress 
this  heresy,  Germanus  is  solicited  to  make  a  second  voyage  into 
Britain  ;  which  he  did  accordingly,  accompanied  with  his  partner 
Severus,  because  Lupus,  his  former  companion,  was  otherwise 
employed,  a.d.  449.  Hereupon  a  prime  poet  of  his  age,-f-  makes 
this  apostrophe  unto  St.  German  : 

Tuque,  0,  cui  toto  discretos  orbe  Britannos 
Bis  penetrare  datum,  bis  intima  cernere  viagni 
Monstra  maris  : 
'*  O  thou  that  twice  pierced  Britain,  cut  asunder 
From  the  whole  world,  ti«ce  didst  survey  the  wonder 
Of  monstrous  seas." 

The  same  success  still  followed  ;:[  and  this  conqueror,  who  formerly 
had  broken  and  scattered  the  main  body  of  the  Pelagians,  now 
routed  the  remnant,  which  began  to  rally  and  make  head  again. 

13.  Pelagianism   and   King  Vortigern's   incestuous   Marriage 

condemned  in  a  Synod. 
He  also  called  a  synod,§  wherein  those  damnable  doctrines  were 
condenmed  ;  as  also  the  incestuous  marriage  of  Vortigern  king  of 
Britain, II  (a  wicked  prince  in  whom  all  the  dregs  of  his  vicious 
ancestors  were  settled,)  who  had  took  his  own  daughter  to  wife. 
And  yet  of  this  unlawful  copulation,  a  pious  son,  St.  Faustus,  wa.s 
born  ;  to  show  that  no  cross-bar  of  bastardy,  though  doubled  with 

•   Caput  enim  cum  barbtt .—lAnn  nt  prius.  t  Erricus  Antissiodorensis  in 

Vila  S.  Germani.  \  Bede,  lih.  i.  cap.  21.  §  Matt.  West,  in  anno  449, 

II  Nennius,  cap.  xxsvii. 


54  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  449. 

incest,  can  bolt  grace  out  of  that  heart  wherein  God  will  have  it  to 
enter.  Germanus,  having  settled  Britain  in  good  order,  went  back 
to  liis  own  country ;  where,  presently  upon  his  return,  he  died  ;  as 
God  usetli  to  send  his  servants  to  bed,  when  they  have  done  all 
their  work  ;  and  by  God's  blessing  on  his  endeavours,  that  heresy 
was  so  cut  down  in  Britain,  that  it  never  generally  grew  up  again. 

14.  In  vain  the  Britons  petition  to  the  Roman  Emperor  for  Help 

against  the  Picts. 
Meantime  the  South  of  this  island  was  in  a  woful  condition, 
caused  by  the  daily  incursions  of  the  Picts.  As  for  the  Picts'  wall, 
built  to  restrain  them,  it  being  a  better  limit  than  fortification, 
served  rather  to  define  than  defend  the  Roman  empire  ;  and  useless 
is  the  strongest  wall  of  stone,  when  it  hath  stocks  only  upon  it : 
such  was  the  sottish  laziness  of  the  Britons  to  man  it ;  a  nation  at 
this  time  given  over  to  all  manner  of  sin,  insomuch  as  Gildas  their 
countryman  calls  them  cetatis  atramentum,  "  the  ink  of  the  age.""* 
And  though  God  did  daily  correct  them  with  inroads  of  Pagans,  yet, 
like  restive  horses,  they  went  the  worse  for  beating.  And  now  the 
land,  being  exhausted  of  the  flower  of  her  chivalry,  (transported 
and  disposed  in  Roman  garrisons,  as  far  as  Judea  and  Egypt  itself,)-f- 
could  not  make  good  her  ground  against  the  Picts  ;  and  was  fain  to 
request,  first,  Theodosius  the  younger,  then  Valentinian  the  third 
Roman  emperor,  (whose  homagers  the  British  kings  were  until  this 
time,)  for  their  assistance.  They  dispatch  petition  after  petition, 
embassy  on  embassy,  representing  their  woful  estate.  Now,  the 
barbarians  beat  them  to  the  sea,  the  sea  repelled  them  to  the 
barbarians  ;  and  thus  bandied  betwixt  death  and  death,  they  must 
cither  be  killed  or  drowned.  They  enforced  their  request  for  aid 
with  much  earnestness  and  importunity  ;  all  in  vain,  (seeing  whis- 
perings and  hallooings  are  like  to  a  deaf  ear,)  and  no  answer  was 
returned.  Had  they  been  as  careful  in  bemoaning  their  sins  to 
God,  as  clamorous  to  declare  their  sufferings  to  the  Roman  emperor, 
their  requests  in  heaven  had  been  as  graciously  received,  as  their 
petitions  on  earth  were  carelessly  rejected. 

15.  True  Reasons  why  the  Romans  neglected  to  se7id  Aid  to  the 

Britons. 

What  might  be  the  cause  of  this  neglect  ?  Had  the  imperial 
crown  so  many  flowers,  that  it  might  afford  to  scatter  some  of 
them  ?  Was  Britain  grown  inconsiderable,  formerly  worth  the 
conquering,  now  not  worth  the  keeping  ?  Or  was  it  because  they 
conceived  the  Britons'  need  not  so  much  as  was  pretended  ;  and  aid 

•   In  Prnlogn  libri  de  Ercid.  Brit.  t   5ee  Notitia  Pronnciarum. 


A.D.  449.  BOOK    I.    CENT.  V,  55 

is  an  alms  ill-bestowed  on  those  beggars  who  are  lame  of  laziness, 
and  will  not  work  for  their  living  ?  Or  was  the  service  accounted 
desperate,  and  no  wise  physician  will  willingly  undertake  a  disease 
■which  he  conceives  incurable  ?  The  plain  truth  is,  the  Roman  em- 
pire, now  grown  ruinous,  could  not  repair  its  out-rooms,  and  was  fain 
to  let  them  fall  down  to  maintain  the  rest ;  and,  like  fencers,  receiving 
a  blow  on  their  leg  to  save  their  head,  exposed  the  remote  countries 
of  Spain,  France,  and  Britain,  to  the  spoil  of  Pagans,  to  secure  the 
Eastern  countries,  near  Constantinople,  the  seat  of  the  empire. 

16.    The  sad  Success  of  the  Pagan  Saxons^  invited  by  King 
Vortiger7i  into  Britain. 

Here  Vortigern,  forsaken  of  God  and  man,  and  left  to  himself, 
(malice  could  not  wish  him  a  worse  adviser,)  resolves  on  a 
desperate  project, — to  call  in  the  Pagan  Saxons  out  of  Germany  for 
his  assistance,  under  Horsus  and  Hengistus,  their  captains.  Over 
they  come,  at  first  but  in  three  great  ships  ;  (a  small  earnest  will 
serve  to  bind  a  great  bargain ;)  first  possessing  the  island  of 
Thanet  in  Kent ;  but  following  afterwards  in  such  swarms,  that 
quickly  they  grew  formidable  to  him  that  invited  them  over,  of  guests 
turning  sojourners,  then  inmates,  and  lastly  landlords,  till  they  had 
dispossessed  the  Britons  of  the  best  of  the  island  :  the  entertaining 
of  mercenary  soldiers  being  like  the  administering  of  quicksilver  to 
one  in  iliaca  passio, — a  receipt  not  so  properly  prescribed  by  the 
physician  to  the  patient,  as  by  necessity  to  the  physician.  If  hired 
aid  do  on  a  sudden  the  work  they  are  sent  for,  and  so  have  a  present 
passage  to  be  discharged,  sovereign  use  may  be  made  of  them  :  other- 
wise, if  long  tarrying,  they  will  eat  the  entrails,  and  corrode  the 
bowels,  of  that  state  which  entertains  them  ;  as  here  it  came  to  pass. 

17.  The  respective  Bounds  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy. 
For,  soon  after,  the  Saxons  erected  seven  kingdoms  in  Britain  j 
and  because  their  several  limits  conduce  much  to  the  clear  under- 
standing of  the  following  History,  and  we  for  the  present  are  well  at 
leisure,  we  will  present  the  reader  with  the  description  of  their  several 
principalities.  The  partition  was  made  by  mutual  consent,  thus  far 
forth, — that  every  king  caught  what  he  could,  and  kept  what  he 
caught ;  and  there  being  amongst  them  a  parity  of  high-spirited 
princes,  (who  more  prized  an  absolute  sovereignty  over  a  little,  than 
a  propriety  with  subjection  in  never  so  much,)  they  erected  seven 
several  kingdoms,  in  little  more  than  but  the  third  part  of  this 
island : — a  thing  which  will  seem  no  wonder  to  him  who  hath  read 
how  the  little  land  of  Canaan  found  room  at  the  same  time  for 
one-and-thirty  kingw.  Josh.  xii.  24 : — but  let  us  reckon  them  up. 


56  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  449. 

1.  The  first  was  the  kingdom  of  Kent :  which  began  anno  457, 
under  king  Hengist.  It  contained  the  county  of  Kent,  as  it  is  at 
this  day  bounded,  without  any  notable  difference.  And  thougli 
this  kingdom  was  the  least  of  all,  (as  consisting  but  of  one  entire 
county,  without  any  other  addition,)  yet  was  it  much  befriended  in 
the  situation  for  traffic  with  France  and  Germany.  Besides,  it 
being  secured  on  three  sides  with  Thames  and  the  sea,  and  fenced  on 
the  fourth  with  woods,  this  made  their  kings,  naturally  defended  at 
home,  more  considerable  in  their  impressions  on  their  neighbours. 

2.  Of  the  South  Saxons  :  comprising  Sussex  and  Surrey  ;  both 
which,  till  very  lately,  were  under  one  sheriff.  And  this  kingdom 
began  anno  491,  under  king  Ella ;  and  was  the  weakest  of  all  the 
seven,  affording  few  kings,  and  fcAver  actions  of  moment. 

3.  Of  the  East  Saxons  :  comprehending  Essex,  Middlesex,  and  so 
much  of  Hertfordshire  as  is  under  the  bishop  of  London's  jurisdic- 
tion, whose  diocese  is  adequate  to  this  kingdom  : — a  small  ring,  if 
we  survey  the  little  circuit  of  ground  ;  but  it  had  a  fair  diamond  in 
it,  the  city  of  London,  (though  then  but  a  stripling  in  growth,)  well 
thriving  in  Avealth  and  greatness.  This  kingdom  began  in  Erchen- 
win  about  the  year  527. 

4.  Of  the  East  Angles  :  containing  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  Cambridge- 
shire, with  the  isle  of  Ely,  and,  as  it  seems,  (saith  a  reverend 
writer,)*  part  of  Bedfordshire,  It  began  a7ino  575,  under  king 
UfFa,  and  lay  most  exposed  to  the  cruelty  of  the  Danish  incursions. 

5.  Of  Mercia  :  so  called  because  it  lay  in  the  midst  of  the  island, 
being  the  merches,  or  limits,  on  Avhich  all  the  residue  of  the  king- 
doms did  bound  and  border. -f-  It  began  anno  582,  under  king 
Cridda,  and  contained  the  whole  counties  of  Lincoln,  Northampton, 
(with  Rutland,  then  and  long  since  part  thereof,)  Huntingdon, 
Buckingham,  Oxford,  Worcester,  Warwick,  Derby,  Nottingham, 
Leicester,  Stafford,  and  Chester,  beside  part  of  Hereford  and 
Salop,  (the  remnant  whereof  was  possessed  by  the  Welsh,) 
Gloucester,  Bedford,  and  Lancaster.;]:  In  view,  it  was  the  greatest 
of  all  the  seven  :  but  it  abated  the  puissance  thereof,  because  on  the 
West  it  affronted  the  Britons,  being  deadly  enemies  ;  and,  bordering 
on  so  many  kingdoms,  the  Mercians  had  work  enough  at  home  to 
shut  their  own  doors. 

6.  Of  Northumberland  :  corrival  with  Mercia  in  greatness,  though 
far  inferior  in  populousness  ;  as  to  which  belonged  whatsoever  lieth 
betwixt  Humber  and  Edinburgh  Frith.  It  was  subdivided  some- 
times into  two  kingdoms, — of  Bernicia  and  Deira.  The  latter 
consisted  of  the  remainder  of  Lancashire,  with  the  entire  counties  of 

•  Usher  De  Brit.  Ecc.  Primurd.  p.  3D-1.  t  Lamberts  "  Description  of  Kent." 

J  Idem,  Hid. 


A.D.  449.  BOOK    I.    CENT.    V,  57 

York,  Durham,  Westmoreland,  and  Cumberland.  Bernicia  con- 
tained Northumberland,  with  the  south  of  Scotland  to  Edinburgh. 
But  this  division  lasted  not  long  before  both  were  united  together. 
It  began  anno  547,  under  king  Ida. 

7-  Of  the  West  Saxons  :  who  possessed  Hampshire,  Berkshire, 
Wiltshire,  Somerset,  Dorset,  and  Devonshire,  part  of  Cornwall,  and 
Gloucestershire.  Yea,  some  assign  a  moiety  of  Surrey  unto  them. 
This  kingdom  began  anno  519,  under  king  Cerdicus,  and  excelled 
for  plenty  of  ports  on  the  South  and  Severn  Sea,  store  of  boroughs, 
stoutness  of  active  men,  (some  impute  this  to  the  natural  cause  of 
their  being  hatched  under  the  warm  wings  of  the  south-west  wind,) 
which,  being  excellent  wrestlers,  gave  at  last  a  fall  to  all  the  other 
Saxon  kingdoms.  So  that  as  the  seven  streams  of  Nilus  lose 
themselves  in  the  Mid-Land  Sea,  this  heptarchy  was  at  last  devoured 
in  the  West  Saxons'  monarchy. 

The  reason  that  there  is  some  difference  in  writers  in  boundinsf  of 
these  several  kingdoms  is,  because  England,  being  then  the  constant 
cock-pit  of  war,  the  limits  of  these  kingdoms  were  in  daily  motion ; 
sometimes  marching  forward,  sometimes  retreating  backward,  accord- 
ing to  variety  of  success.  We  may  see  what  great  difference  there 
is  betwixt  the  bounds  of  the  sea  at  high-water  and  at  low-water 
mark ;  and  so  the  same  kingdom  was  much  disproportioned  to  itself, 
when  extended  with  the  happy  chance  of  war,  and  when  contracted 
at  a  low  ebb  of  ill  success.  And  here  we  must  not  forget  that, 
amongst  these  seven  kings,  during  the  heptarchy,  commonly  one 
was  most  puissant,  over -ruling  the  rest,  who  styled  himself  "  king  of 
the  English  nation."* 

18.  Iriih  St.  Patrick  said  to  live  and  die  at  Glastonbury. 

But,  to  return  to  the  British  church,  and  the  year  of  our  Lord 
449  :  wherein  St.  Patrick,  the  apostle  of  Ireland,  is  notoriously 
reported  to  have  come  to  Glastonbury ;  where,  finding  twelve  old 
monks,  (successors  to  those  who  were  first  founded  there  by  Joseph 
of  Arimathea,)  he,  though  unwilling,  was  chosen  their  abbot,  and 
lived  with  them  thirty-nine  years,  observing  the  rule  of  St.  Mark 
and  his  Egyptian  monks  ;  the  Order  of  Benedictines  being  as  yet 
unborn  in  the  world.  Give  we  here  a  list  of  these  twelve  monks ; 
withal  forewarning  the  reader  that,  for  all  their  harsh  sound,  they 
are  so  many  saints,  lest  otherwise  he  should  suspect  them,  by  the 
ill  noise  of  their  names,  to  be  worse  creatures : — 1.  Brumbam, 
2.  Hyregaan,  o.  Brenwall,  4.  Wencreth,  5.  Bantom-meweng, 
6.  Adel-wolred,  7-  Lowar,  8.  Wellias,  9.  Breden,  10.  Swelves, 
11.  Hiuloemius,    12,  Hin. 

•  Camden's  Brit,  page  139. 


58  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIX.  A.D.  449. 

But  know  that  some  of  tliese  names,  as  tlie  third,  sixth,  and 
ninth,  are  pure,  plain  Saxon  words;*  which  renders  the  rest  sus- 
pected. So  that  whosoever  it  was  that  first  gave  these  British 
monks  such  Saxon  names  made  more  haste  than  good  speed,  pre- 
venting the  true  language  of  that  age. 

19.  He  is  made  Co-partner  in  the  Church  with  the  Virgin  Mary. 

So  great  was  the  credit  of  St.  Patrick  at  Glastonbury  that,  after 
his  death  and  burial  there,  that  church,  which  formerly  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  virgin  Mary  alone,  was  in  after-ages  jointly  consecrated 
to  her  and  St.  Patrick.  A  great  presumption  :  for  if  it  be  true, 
what  is  reported,  that  at  the  first,  by  direction  of  the  angel 
Gabriel,-f-  that  church  was  solely  devoted  to  the  virgin  Mary ;  surely 
either  the  same,  or  some  other  angel  of  equal  power,  ought  to  have 
ordered  the  admission  of  St.  Patrick  to  the  same,  to  be  matched  and 
impaled  with  the  blessed  virgin  in  the  honour  thereof.  In  reference 
to  St.  Patrick''s  being  at  Glastonbury,  several  Saxon  kings  granted 
large  charters,  with  great  profits  and  privileges,  to  this  place. 

20.  Yet  the  Credit  of  Patrick'' s  being  at  Glastonbury  shrewdly 

shaken. 

But  now  the  spite  is,  that  an  unparalleled  critic;]:  in  antiquity 
leaves  this  Patrick  at  this  time  sweating  in  the  Irish  harvest,  having 
newly  converted  Leinster  to  the  faith,  and  now  gone  into  the  pro- 
vince of  Munster  on  the  same  occasion.  Yea,  he  denies,  and 
proveth  the  same,  that  this  Patrick  ever  lived  or  was  buried  at 
Glastonbury.  But  be  it  known  to  whom  it  may  concern,  that  the 
British  are  not  so  over  fond  of  St.  Patrick  as  to  ravish  him  into  their 
country  against  his  will,  and  the  consent  of  time.  Yea,  St.  Patrick 
missed  as  much  honour  in  not  being  at  Glastonbury,  as  Glastonbury 
hath  lost  credit  if  he  were  never  there  ;  seeing  the  British  justly  set 
as  high  a  rate  on  that  place,  as  the  Irish  do  on  his  person.  See  but 
the  glorious  titles  (which,  with  small  alteration,  might  serve  for 
Jerusalem  itself)  given  to  Glastonbury  ;  and  seeing  now  the  place  is 
for  the  most  part  buried  in  its  own  dust,  let  none  envy  these 
epithets  for  the  epitaph  thereof : — 

"  Here  lies  the  city§  which  once  was  the  fountain  and  original  of 
all  religion,  II  built  by  Christ"'s  disciples,  consecrated  by  Christ  him- 
self;^ and  this  place  is  the  mother  of  saints."** 

We  are  sorry,  therefore,  for  St.  Patrick's  sake,  if  he  was  never 

•  First  observed  by  Mr.  Camden,  and  since  by  the  archbishop  of  Armagh.  t  See 

Cent.  i.  paragraph  11.     t  James  Usher  De  Brit.  Ecc.  Primord.  pp.  875, 883,  894, 895. 
§   Or   borough.  1|    In  the  charter    of  king   Ina,   and  also  in  king  Edgar's. 

IT  MALMESBTRy  MS.  de  Antiq.  Eccks.  Glaston.  **  So  called  in  the  charter  of 

king  Kenwin. 


A.D 


450.  BOOK    I.       CENT.    V.  59 


there.  To  salve  all,  some  have  found  out  another  Patrick,  called 
Senior,  or  Sen  Patrick,  (a  nice  diiference,)  equal  with  the  Irish 
apostle  in  time,  and  not  much  inferior  in  holiness,  who  certainly 
lived  at  Glastonbury.  The  plain  truth  is,  that,  as  in  the  comedian,* 
when  there  were  two  Amphitruoes,  and  two  Sosias,  they  made 
much  fallacious  intricacy  and  pleasant  delusion  in  the  eyes  of  the 
spectators  ;  so,  there  being  in  this  age  two  Patricks,  (others  say 
three,)-|-  two  Merlins,;]:  two  Gildasses,§  and  (that  the  homonymy 
may  be  as  well  in  place  as  in  persons)  three  Bangors,|l  three  Glaston- 
buries;*[y  (as  haste  or  ignorance  in  writers  mistake  them;)  these,  • 
jumbled  together,  have  made  a  marvellous  confusion  in  writers,  to 
the  great  prejudice  of  history,  where  they  are  not  exactly  observed. 

21 .  The  fabulous  History  of  St.  Ursula  confuted.  A.  D.  450. 

But,  leaving  St.  Patrick,  let  us  try  whether  we  can  have  better 
success  with  St.  Ursula,  daughter  of  Dinoth,  or  Deo-notus,  duke  of 
Cornwall ;   who  in  this  year  is  said  with  eleven  thousand  virgins  to 
have  sailed  over  into  Little  Britain  in  France,  there  to  be  married 
to  the  Britons  their  countrymen,  Avho  refused  to  wed  Frenchwomen 
for  their  wives.     But  by  foid  weather  these  virgins  were  cast  on  the 
French  shore  amongst  Pagans,  by  whom  they  were  cruelly  mur- 
dered, for  refusing  to  forsake  their  religion,  or  betray  their  chastity. 
Others  tell  the  story  quite  contrary  :  how  the  aforesaid  Ursula,  with 
her  virgin  army,  went  to  Rome,  where  she  conversed  with  pope 
Cyriacus,**    her  countryman,  and    with    him   returning  back  into 
Britain,   was   murdered,  by  the   command  of  Attila  king  of  the 
Huns,  at  Cologne,  with  all  the  rest  of  the  virgins,  and  the  afore- 
said pope  Cyriacus ;  whose  name  is  omitted  in  the  papal  catalogue, 
because  before  his  death  he  surrendered  his  place  to  Anterus  his 
successor :    in  which  relation   we  much  commend  the   even   tenor 
thereof,  consisting  of  so  level  lies,  that  no  one  swelling  improbability 
is  above  the  rest ;  but  for  matter  of  time,  place,  and  persons,  all 
passages  unlikely  alike.     We  dare  not  defame  Britain,  as  to  suspect 
but  that  eleven   thousand   Christian  virgins,   all  at  once,   able   to 
travail,  might  be  found  therein ;    though  at   this  time  Paganism 
prospered  in  this  land,  and  religion  was  in  a  low  condition.     But 
what  made  these  Christian  Amazons,  with  Ursula  their  Penthesilea, 
to  go   (not   to  say   "  to  gad")   to   Rome  ?     Surely  they  were   no 
daughters   of  Sarah,  which  did  abide  in  her  tent.   Gen.  xviii.   9, 
but  rather  sisters  of  Dinah,  Gen.  xxxiv.  1,  which  would  go  abroad 
to  see  foreign  fashions ;  and  therefore  their  hard  usage  is  the  less  to 

"  Plaiitus's  Amphitnio.  t  See    Usher,  page  895.  t  Ambrosius, 

Caledoniiis.  §  Albanius,  Badonicus.  ||   In  Flintshire,  in  Carnarvonshire,  in  Down 

in  Ireland.  IT  Glasgow  in  Scotland.     Dunglas3  in    Ireland.  **  Vision. 

Elizabeth,  lib.  iv,  cap.  2.  Edit.  Paris,  anno  1513  ct  Colon.  1628. 


60  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.450 462. 

be  pitied.  Was  it  modest  for  so  many  maids  to  wander  by  them- 
selves, without  a  masculine  guard  to  protect  them  ?  Did  ever  such 
a  wood  of  weak  ivy  grow  alone,  without  any  other  trees  to  support 
it  ?  But  the  city  of  Cologne  will  not  abate  us  one  of  the  eleven 
thousand,  where  their  relics  and  sepulchral  inscriptions  are  at  this 
day  to  be  seen.  And  we  may  as  safely  believe  that  these  virgin- 
martyrs  lie  there  entombed,  as  that  the  bodies  of  the  three  wise  men 
of  the  east,  commonly  called  "  the  three  kings  of  Cologne,"  which 
came  to  visit  our  infant  Saviour  at  Bethlehem,  are  interred  in  the 
same  city ;  which  the  monks  of  Cologne  brag  of,  and  show  to  travel- 
lers. Beside  all  this,  there  is  a  town  in  Berkshire  called  Maiden- 
head,* which,  as  many  other  churches  in  Christendom,  was  dedicated 
in  memory  of  their  virginity :  which  if  it  be  not  an  argument  strong 
enough  to  convert  the  reader  to  the  belief  of  this  story,  we  must 
leave  him  to  his  infidelity ;  that  as  tales  of  bugbears  are  made  to 
fright  crying  children,  so  this  story  of  Ursula  was  contrived  to  befool 
credulous  men. 

22.    Why  so  little  Church-Story  in  this  Age.  A.D.  453. 

Nor  hath  the  judicious  reader  cause  to  wonder,  that  no  better 
account  is  given  of  the  British  church  in  this  age,  considering  the 
general  persecution  by  Pagan  Saxons.  Religion  now-a-days  played 
least  in  sight,  hiding  itself  in  holes ;  and  the  face  of  the  church  was 
so  blubbered  with  tears,  that  she  may  seem  almost  to  have  wept  her 
eyes  out,  having  lost  her  seers  and  principal  pastors.  Only  two 
prime  preachers  appear : — Vodine,  the  learned  and  pious  bishop  of 
London ;  who,  taking  the  confidence  to  reprove  Vortigem  the 
British  king,  for  putting  away  his  lawful  wife,  and  wedding  Rowena, 
the  Heathen  daughter  of  Hengist,  was  by  him  most  barbarously 
murdered  :-f- — the  second,  Gildas  Albanius,  (much  ancienter  than  his 
name-sake  surnamed  "  the  wise,"")  born  in  Scotland,  bred  in  France  ; 
whence  returning  into  the  South  of  Britain,  he  applied  himself  to  the 
preaching  of  divinity,  and  reading  liberal  sciences  to  many  auditors 
and  scholars  at  Pepidiauc,;|:  a  promontory  in  Pembrokeshire. 

23.  Gildas  at  a  sfratige  Sight  suddenly  silenced.  A.D.  462. 

It  happened  on  a  day,  as  Gildas  was  in  his  sermon,  (reader, 
whether  smiling  or  frowning,  forgive  the  digression,)  a  nun  big  with 
child  came  into  the  congregation  ;  whereat  the  preacher  presently 
was  struck  dumb,  (would  not  a  maid's  child  amaze  any  man  ?)  and 
could  proceed  no  further.^     Afterward  he  gave  this  reason  of  his 

"  Camden's  Britannia  in  Berkshire.  t  Hector  Boethius  Scot.  Hist.  lib.  viii. 

t  J.  Armagh.  De  Brit.  Ecc.  Primord.  page  442.  ^  Girald.  Cambrens.  w  the  Life 
of  St.  David. 


A.D.  4G3.  BOOK    I.    CENT.    V.  61 

silence, — because  that  virgin  bare  in  lier  body  an  infant  of  sucli 
signal  sanctity  as  far  transcended  him.  Thus  as  lesser  loadstones 
are  reported  to  lose  their  virtue  in  the  presence  of  those  that  are 
bigger;  so  Gildas  was  silenced  at  the  approach  of  the  Welsh  St. 
David,  (being  then  but  hanse  en  keldar,)  though  afterward,  like 
Zachary,  he  recovered  his  speech  again.  Thus  fabulous  authors* 
make  this  St.  David  a  mock  John  Baptist,  forcing  a  fond  parallel 
betwixt  them ;  where,  to  make  the  proportion  current,  Gildas  must 
be  allowed  father  to  St.  David.  But,  enough  :  I  like  this  scent  so 
ill,  I  will  follow  it  no  further. 

24.  The  Partiality  of  Saxon  Writers. 
Meantime,  fierce  and  frequent  fighting  betwixt  the  British  and 
Saxons,  about  defending  and  enlarging  their  dominions.  And 
although  Gildas  (and  out  of  him  Bede)  confess  often  alternation  of 
success,  yet  other  Saxon  writers  mention  not  the  least  overthrow  of 
their  own  side,  but  constant  conquering  :  as  if  their  generals  had 
always  buckled  on  victory  with  their  armour.  It  is  almost  incre- 
dible, that  ingenuous  men  should  be  so  injurious  to  the  truth  and 
their  own  credits,  by  partiality,  were  it  not  that  the  factions  of 
modern  pens  invite  us  to  the  belief  thereof;  not  describing  battles 
with  a  full  face,  (presenting  both  sides,)  but  with  a  half  face,  advanc- 
ing their  own,  and  depressing  the  achievements  of  the  opposite 
party.  Most  true  it  is,  the  British  got  many  victories,  especially 
under  hopeful  prince  Vortimer,  whose  valour  was  the  best  bank 
against  the  Saxon  deluge,  until  broken  down  by  untimely  death  : 
the  Pagans  generally  prevailed,  much  by  their  courage,  more  by 
their  treachery. 

25.  The  British  treacherously  murdered. 
For  they  invited  the  British  to  a  parley  and  banquet  on  Salisbury 
Plain  ;  where  suddenly  drawing  out  their  seaxes,  concealed  under  their 
long  coats, — being  crooked  swords,  the  emblem  of  their  indirect  pro- 
ceedings,— they  made  their  innocent  guests,  with  their  blood,  pay  the 
shots  of  their  entertainment.  Here  Aurelius  Ambrosius  is  reported 
to  have  erected  that  monument  of  Stonehenge  to  their  memory. 

26.  The  Description  of  Stonehenge.  A.  D.  463. 
It  is  contrived  in  form  of  a  crown,  consisting  of  three  circles  of 
stones  set  up  gate-wise ;  some  called  "  corse-stones,"  of  twelve 
tons,-|-  others  called  "  cronets,"  of  seven  tons'  weight ;  (those  haply 
fur  greater,  and  these  for  inferior  officers ;)  and  one  stone  at  distance 
seems  to  stand  sentinel  for  the  rest.     It  seems  equally  impossible, 

•  J.  Armach.  De  Brit.  Ecc.  Primord.  page  443.  t  Camden's  Britann.  in 

Wiltshire. 


62  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.  D.  463 466. 

that  they  were  bred  here,  or  brought  hither ;  seeing  (no  navigable 
water  near)  such  voluminous  bulks  are  unmanageable  in  cart  or 
waggon.  As  for  the  tale  of  Merlin's  conjuring  them  by  magic  out 
of  Ireland,  and  bringing  them  aloft  in  the  skies  ;  (what,  in  Chailes*'s 
Wain  ?)  it  is  too  ridiculous  to  be  confuted.  This  hath  put  learned 
men  on  necessity  to  conceive  them  artificial  stones,  consolidated  of 
sand.  Stand  they  there,  in  defiance  of  wind  and  weather,  (which 
hath  discomposed  the  method  of  them,)  which,  if  made  of  any 
precious  matter,  (a  bait  to  tempt  avarice,)  no  doubt  long  since  had 
been  indicted  of  superstition  ;  whereas,  now  they  are  protected  by 
their  own  weight  and  worthlessness. 

27.  Vortigern,  burning  in  Lust,  burned  to  Ashes.  A.  D.  466. 
Vortigern,  the  British  king,  fled  into  Wales,  to  his  castle 
Genereu,  impregnable  for  situation,  which  he  manned  and  womancd  ; 
(conveying  a  multitude  of  his  whores  into  it;)  and  there  lived  sur- 
feiting in  lust,  while  his  land  lay  sweltering  in  blood.  Here 
Aurelius  Ambrosius,  setting  fire  on  his  castle,  burned  him  and  his  to 
ashes.  This  gave  occasion  to  the  report  so  constantly  affirmed  by 
many  authors,  (and  men  are  prone  to  believe  prodigious  deaths,  of 
such  as  led  licentious  lives,)  that  Vortigern's  palace,  like  another 
Sodom,  was  burned  by  fire  from  heaven.  Indeed,  in  a  secondary 
sense  it  was  true  ;  as  all  exemplary  punishments  more  visibly  proceed 
from  Divine  vengeance.  But,  otherwise,  the  first  raisers  of  this 
fable  did  apparent  wrong  to  the  attribute  of  God's  truth,  in  pre- 
tending to  do  extraordinary  right  unto  his  justice. 

28.  Aurelius  causelessly  slandered  by  an  Italian. 

This  Aurelius  Ambrosius  is  said  to  be  extracted  of  the  Roman 
race,  who,  having  done  this  execution  on  Vortigern  the  tyrant,  was  a 
singular  champion  of  the  British  against  their  enemies  ;  one  com- 
posed of  valour  and  religion,  wholly  employing  himself,  in  time  of 
peace,  to  raise  new  churches,  repair  old,  and  endow  both ;  unworthy 
therefore  the  libel  of  an  Italian  author,*  who,  on  no  other  evidence 
than  his  own  bare  assertion,  traduceth  this  Ambrosius  to  have  been 
a  favourer  of  Judaism,  Arianism,  Manicheism,  and  a  persecutor  of 
the  professors  of  true  religion.  Thus  the  greatest  virtue  is  sanctuary 
too  small  to  secure  any  from  the  pursuit  of  slanderous  pens ;  and 
thus  some  humorous  authors,  leaving  the  road  of  true  reports, 
because  common,  go  a  way  by  themselves  of  diflPerent  relation,  so  to 
entitle  themselves  to  more  immediate  and  peculiar  intelligence ;  as 
if  others,  (being  only  of  truth's  council,)  had  not  received  such 
private  instructions  as  themselves,  being  cabinet-historians. 

•   GOTEFRID.   ViTERBiENSls,   Chro.  part  xviii. 


A.D.  469.  BOOK  I.      CENT.  V.  63 

29.  The  Academy  of  learned  Men  under  Duhritius.  A.D.  469. 
Leave    Ave    this    Ambrosius   bickering   with    the    Saxons,    with 

interchange  of  success,  much  commended  for  his  constancy  in  all 
conditions.  For,  sometimes  his  valour  was  the  hammer  upon, 
sometimes  his  patience  was  the  anvil  beneath,  his  enemies ;  but 
always  he  bravely  bore  up  his  spirits ;  and  as  the  sun  looks  biggest 
on  the  earth  when  he  is  nearest  to  set,  so  he  carried  it  out  with  the 
boldest  appearance,  in  the  lowest  declination  of  his  fortune.  If  we 
behold  the  church  in  his  time,  the  most  visible  estate  thereof  pre- 
sents itself  to  us  in  the  academy  which  Dubritius  kept,  near  the 
river  Wye  in  Monmouthshire.  His  father,  say  some,*  was 
unknown  ;  others  make  him  to  be  son  to  Pepiau,-f-  a  petty  king  in 
this  age  :  it  being  observable,  that,  in  this  and  the  next  century,  all 
men  eminent  for  learning  and  religion  are  either  made  without 
known  fathers,  or  sons  to  kings  ;  (no  mean  betwixt  these  extremes, 
as  by  many  instances  may  appear  ;)  so  that  such  as  consider  the 
narrowness  of  the  Principality,  will  admire  at  the  number  of  British 
princes.  This  Dubritius  taught  many  scholars,  for  seven  years 
together,  in  human  and  divine  learning ;  (being  himself,  in  his  life, 
a  book  cf  piety  of  the  best  edition  for  his  pupils  to  peruse ;) 
amongst  whom  the  chiefest,  Theliau,  Sampson,  Ubelin,  Merchiguin, 
Elguored,  &c.  for  the  reader  had  better  believe  than  read  the 
names  of  the  rest,  remarkable  only  for  length  and  hardness,  without 
any  other  information. |  Afterward  Dubritius  removed  to  Warwick, 
(haply  mistaken  for  Werwick,  a  village  some  two  miles  from 
Cardigan, )§  and  from  thence,  it  seems,  returned  to  Moch-Rhos,  that 
is,  "  the  place  of  a  hog ;""  because  he  was  admonished,  in  a  vision  in 
his  sleep,  there  to  build  a  chapel  or  oratory,  where  he  should  find  a 
white  sow  lodging  with  the  hogs:||  a  clean  conceit,  and  as  full  of 
wit  as  devotion.  It  seems,  the  friar,  father  of  this  fable,  had  read  as 
far  as  the  eighth  book  of  VirgiPs  ^neids,  where  the  river  Tiber,  in 
a  dream,  advised  ^neas  to  erect  an  altar,  and  sacrifice  to  Juno,  in 
the  place  where  he  should  find  the  sow  lying  with  the  pigs  ;  and 
from  this  Pagan  hint  was  advantaged  for  a  popish  legend. 

30.  Forged  Lies  obtruded  on  Posterity^  in  Lieu  of  lost  Truths. 

Here  we  cannot  but  renew  our  former  complaint ; — and  it  is 
some  mitigation  to  our  misery,  (as  perchance  some  ease  to  the 
reader,)  if  we  can  but  vent  our  old  grievances  in  new  expressions ; — 
how,  instead  of  true  history,  devoured  by  time,  prodigious  tales  of 
impudent,  brasen-faced  monks  are  obtruded  upon  us.     Thus  when 

•   JOHAN.  TiNMUTHENSis  iw  ejus  J'itd.  t   Chro.  Colleg.  JVarwicensis. 

\   Vide  Armagh.  Be  Brit.  Ecc. Primord.  t^.  4i5.  §  Fj't^e  Speed's  map  of  that 

county.  II  Fide  Aruacu.  lit prius. 


64  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.  D.  469 — 495. 

the  golden  shields  of  king  Solomon  'were  taken  away,  Rehoboam 
substituted  shields  of  brass  in  their  room,  1  Kings  xiv.  27  ;  though 
not  so  good,  perchance  more  gaudy,  especially  to  ignorant  eyes 
viewing  them  at  distance,  and  wanting  either  the  skill  or  opportunity 
to  bring  them  to  the  touch.  Amongst  which  the  tale  of  Cungarus 
the  Eremite,  otherwise  called  Doccwyn,  (but,  first,  let  the  one  man 
be  allowed,  before  his  two  names  be  admitted,)  may  challenge  a 
principal  place  ;  being  reported  son  of  a  Constantinopolitan  emperor, 
and  Luciria  his  empress  :*  a  name  unowned  by  any  Grecian 
historians.  The  best  is,  that  unconscionable  liars,  though  they 
most  hurt  themselves,  do  the  least  harm  others,  whose  loud  ones  are 
both  the  poison  and  the  antidote,  seeing  no  wise  man  will  believe 
them.  Small  grit  and  gravel  may  choke  a  man ;  but  that  stone  can 
never  stop  his  throat  which  cannot  enter  into  his  mouth. 

31.  The  Massacre  of  the  Monks  at  Winchester.  A.D.  495. 

In  very  deed,  very  little  at  this  time  was  ever  reported  of  church 
matters.  For  a  drought  of  Christian  writers  (in  the  heat  of  perse- 
cution) caused  a  dearth  of  all  history.  Now  it  was  that  Cerdicus, 
first  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  having  overcome  the  Britons  at 
Winchester,  killed  all  the  monks  belonging  to  the  church  of  St. 
Amphibalus,-f-  and  turned  the  same  into  a  temple  of  idolatry.  Also 
Theon,  archbishop  of  London,  seeing  the  Pagan  Saxons  to  prevail, 
left  his  see,  and,  about  this  time,;[:  may  be  presumed  to  have  fled 
into  Wales.  I  say,  "  about  this  time."  For,  what  liberty  is  allowed 
to  prognosticators  of  weather,  to  use  all  favourable  correctives  and 
qualifications, — "  like  to  be  rain,  inclined  to  rain,  somewhat  rainy," 
&c. — the  same  latitude  we  must  request,  in  relating  actions  past  in 
point  of  chronology :  his  fere  temporibns^  per  hcec  tempora,  circa, 
circiter,  plus  mi7ius,  ^c.  And  what  we  take  upon  trust  in  this 
kind,  let  the  reader  be  pleased  to  charge,  not  on  the  score  of  our 
ignorance,  but  on  the  uncertainty  of  that  age*'s  computation.  As 
for  St.  Petrock,  son  to  the  king  of  Cumberland,  we  remit  him  to  the 
next  age,  because,  though  budding  in  this,  full  blown  in  the  next 
century. 

32.  Merlin  left  in  a  Twilight ;  ivhether  that  Magiciati  was  an 

Impostor,  or    his    whole    Storij    an    Imposture  put  upon 

credulous  Posterity. 

This  age  is  assigned  by  authors  for  that  famous  Ambrose  Merlin, 

differing  from   Sylvester  Merlin  the  Scot ;   though  it  be  doubtful 

whether  ever  such  a  man  in  rerum,  naturd ;  it  being  suspicious, 

•  JoH.  Capgrave  in  Vita  S.  Cungari.  t  Wintoniensis  Ecc.   Hist.  cap.  is. 

t  But  Matth.  Florilegus  dcsignoth  the  year  586. 


A.D.  495.  BOOK    I.       CENT.    VI.  65 

First.  Because  he  is  reported  born  at  Caer-marthen,  and  tliat 
city  so  denominated  from  him.  Whereas  it  is  called  Maridunum 
by  Ptolemy  many  years  before.  Thus  it  is  ominous  to  begin  with 
a  lie. 

Secondly.  Because  it  was  said,  his  mother  was  a  nun,  got  with 
child  by  a  devil  in  the  form  of  an  incubus ;  perchance  such  a  one  as 
Chaucer  describes. 

It  seems,  that  as  vestal  virgins,  when  they  had  stolen  a  great 
belly,  used  to  entitle  some  deity  to  the  getting  of  their  child,  (so 
did  the  mother  of  Romulus  and  Remus,)  whereby  they  both  saved 
themselves  from  shame,  and  gained  repvitation  ;  so  nuns  in  this  age, 
when  with  child,  unable  to  persuade  people,  (as  the  poets  feign  of 
the  Spanish  mares,)  that  they  were  impregnated  by  the  wind  alone, 
made  the  world  believe  that  some  spirit  had  consorted  with  them. 
This  makes  the  whole  story  of  Merlin  very  doubtful ;  and  as  for  all 
his  miracles  and  prophecies,  they  sink  with  the  subject.  For,  sure, 
the  same  hand  which  made  the  puppet  gave  it  all  its  motions,  and 
suited  his  person  with  properties  accordingly.  May  the  reader  be 
pleased  to  take  notice  of  three  ancient  British  writers  : — 1.  Aquila 
Septonius,  or  "  the  eagle  of  Shaftesbury,''''  whether  he  or  she.  2. 
Perdix  Prsesagus,  or  Partridge  the  prophesier.  3.  Merlin  Ambrose. 
All  three  birds  of  a  feather,  and  perchance  hatched  in  the  same  nest 
of  ignorant  credulity :  nor  can  I  meet  with  a  fourth  to  make  up  the 
mess,  except  it  be  the  Arabian  Phoenix.  But,  because  it  is  a  task 
too  great  for  a  giant  to  encounter  a  received  tradition,  let  Merlin  be 
left  in  a  twilight  as  we  found  him.  And,  surely,  no  judicious  man 
will  censure  the  mention  of  Merlin  (whose  magical  pranks  and  con- 
jurations are  so  frequent  in  our  stories)  to  be  a  deviation  from  the 
history  of  the  church,  who  hath  read  both  of  Simon  Magus  and 
Elymas  the  sorcerer,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 


SECTION  VL 

THE  SIXTH  CENTURY. 

TO  DOUSE  FULLER,  OF  HAMPSHIRE,  ESQUIRE. 

I  CANNOT  say  certainly  of  you,  as  Naomi  did  of  Boaz, 
"  He  is  near  of  kin  unto  us,"  Ruth  ii.  20 ;  having  no 
assurance,  though  great  probability,  of  alliance  unto 
you.     However,  sir,  if  you  shall  be  pleased  in  courtesy 

Vol.  I.  F 


66  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  501 508. 

to  account  me  your  kinsman,  I  will  endeavour  that  (as 
it  will  be  an  honour  to  me)  it  may  be  to  you  no 
disgrace. 

1.  The  most  miserable  Estate  of  the  Britiah  Commonwealth. 

A.D.  501. 

Questionless  we  shall  not  be  accounted  trespassers,  though 
only  ecclesiastical  business  be  our  right  road,  to  go  a  little  in  the 
by-way  of  state-matters,  because  leading  the  shortest  passage  for 
the  present  to  our  church-story.  Most  miserable  at  this  time  was 
the  British  commonwealth,  crowded  up  into  barren  comers,  whilst 
their  enemies,  the  Pagan  Saxons,  possessed  the  East  and  South  ;  if 
not  the  greatest,  the  best  part  of  the  island.  Much  ado  had  Uter 
Pen-dragon,  the  British  king,  with  all  the  sinews  of  his  care  and 
courage,  to  keep  his  disjointed  kingdom  together  ;  whose  only 
desire  was  to  prolong  the  life  (it  being  above  his  hopes  to  procure 
the  health)  of  that  languishing  state.  And  though  sometimes  the 
Britons  got  the  better,  yet  one  may  say,  their  victories  were  spent 
before  they  were  gained  ;  being  so  far  behind-hand  before,  that  their 
conquest  made  no  show,  swallowed  up  in  the  discharging  of  old 
arrearages.  Needs,  then,  must  religion  now  in  Britain  be  in  a 
doleful  condition  ;  for  he  who  expects  a  flourishing  church  in  a 
fading  commonwealth,  let  him  try  whether  one  side  of  his  face  can 
smile,  when  the  other  is  pinched. 

2.  King  Arthur  s  Actions  much  discredited  by  Monkish  Fictions. 

A.D.  508 
Pen-dragon,  dying,  left  the  British  kingdom  to  Arthur  his  son,  so 
famous  in  history  that  he  is  counted  one  of  the  nine  worthies  ;  and 
it  is  more  than  comes  to  the  proportion  of  Britain,  that,  amongst 
but  nine  in  the  whole  world,  two  should  prove  natives  of  this 
island, — Constantine  and  Arthur.  This  latter  w^as  the  British 
Hector,  who  could  not  defend  that  Troy  which  was  designed  to 
destruction  ;  and  it  soundeth  much  to  his  honour,  that,  perceiving 
his  country  condemned  by  God"'s  justice  to  ruin,  he  could  procure  a 
reprieve,  though  not  prevail  for  the  pardon  thereof.  More  unhappy 
was  he  after  his  death ;  hyperbolical  monks  so  advancing  his  vic- 
tories above  all  reach  of  belief,  that  the  twelve  pitched  battles  of 
Arthur,  wherein  he  conquered  the  Pagan  Saxons,  find  no  more 
credit  than  the  twelve  labours  of  Hercules.  Belike,  the  monks 
hoped  to  pass  their  lies  for  current,  because  countenanced  with  the 
mixture  of  some  truths  ;  whereas  the  contrary  came  to  pass  ;  and 
the  very  truths  which  they  have  written  of  him  are  discredited, 
because  found  in   company   with   so   many   lies.       Insomuch   that 


A.D.    508 OIG.  BOOK    I.       CENT    VI.  67 

learned  Leland  is  put  to  it  to  make  a  book  for  the  asserting  of 
Arthur.  Many  are  unsettled  about  him,  because  Gildas,  his 
countryman,  living  much  about  his  age,  makes  no  mention  of  him  : 
though  such  may  be  something  satisfied,  if,  considering  the  principal 
intent  of  that  querulous  author  is  not  to  praise,  but  to  reprove,  not 
greatly  to  grace,  but  justly  to  shame,  his  country  ;  his  book  being  a 
bare  black  bill  of  the  sins  and  sufferings,  monsters  and  tyrants,  of 
Britain,  keeping  no  catalogue  of  the  worthies  of  this  island  ;  so 
that  neither  Lucius,  Constantine,  nor  Arthur  are  once  named  by 
him.  But  the  best  evidence  that  once  Arthur  lived  in  Britain  is, 
because  it  is  certain  he  died  in  Britain  ;  as  appears  undeniably  by 
his  corpse,  coffin,  and  epitaph,  taken  up  out  of  his  monument  in 
Glastonbury,  in  the  reign  of  king  Henry  II.  whereof  many  persons 
of  quality  were  eye-witnesses.* 

3,    Caer-leon  a  principal  Staple  of  Learning  and  Religion. 

A.D.  516. 

The  entire  body  of  the  British  church  at  this  time  was  in  Wales, 
where  Bangor  on  the  North,  and  Caer-leon  (on  Usk,  in  Monmouth- 
shire) on  the  South,  were  the  two  eyes  thereof,  for  learning  and  religion. 
The  latter  had  in  it  the  court  of  king  Arthur,  the  see  of  an  arch- 
bishop, a  college  of  two  hundred  philosophers,-)-  who  therein  studied 
astronomy,  and  was  a  populous  place  of  great  extent.  But  cities, 
as  well  as  their  builders,  are  mortal  :  it  is  reduced  at  this  day  to  a 
small  village.  But  as  aged  parents  content  and  comfort  themselves 
in  beholding  their  children,  wherein  their  memories  will  be  con- 
tinued after  their  death  ;  so  Caer-leon  is  not  a  little  delighted  to 
see  herself  still  survive  in  her  daughter  Newport,;]:  a  neighbouring 
town  raised  out  of  the  ruins  of  her  mother.  Whilst  the  other  stood 
in  prime,  there  was  scarce  an  eminent  man  who  did  not  touch  here 
for  his  education,  whom  we  will  reckon  in  order,  the  rather,  because 
all  the  church-history  of  this  age  seems  confined  to  some  principal 
persons.  Dubritius  aforementioned  was  the  father  and  founder  of 
them  all,  late  bishop  of  LandafF,  now  archbishop  of  Caer-leon  ;  a 
great  champion  of  the  truth  against  Pelagius ;  and  he  had  the 
honour  here  to  crown  two  kings,  liter  and  Arthur.  Being  very 
old,  he  resigned  his  archbishopric  to  David,  his  scholar ;  and  that 
he  might  be  more  able  and  active  to  wrestle  with  death,  he  stripped 
himself  out  of  all  worldly  employment,  and  became  an  anchoret  in 
the  island  of  Bardsey.§  Six  hundred  years  after,  (namely  May 
20th,  1120,)  his  bones  were  translated  to  LandafF,  and  by  Urban, 

*  Giralilus  Cambrensis,  an  eye-witness.— Camden's  Britannia  in  Somersetshire. 
t  Thomas  James,  out  of  Alexander  Elsebiensis.  t  Camden's  Brit,  in  Moumouthsihire. 
§   Fra.  Godwin  in  Epixc.  Meneveuiihui-.  p.  600. 

F    2 


C8  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIX.  A.D.  519. 

bishop    thereof,    buried    in    the    church,    towards    the    north    side 
thereof. 

4.  St.  David  an  Advancer  of  Monastic  Life.  A.D.  519. 
David,  the  next  archbishop,  of  royal  extraction,  was  uncle  to 
king  Arthur.  He  privately  studied  the  Scriptures  ten  years,  before 
he  would  presume  to  preach,  and  always  carried  the  Gospels  about 
him.  He  kept  a  synod  against  the  Pelagian  error,  (a  second 
edition  whereof  was  set  forth  in  his  time,)  and  confirmed  many 
Avavering  souls  in  the  faith.  By  leave  obtained  from  king  Arthur, 
he  removed  the  archi-episcopal  seat  from  Caer-leon  to  Menevea,  now 
called  St.  David''s,  in  Pembrokeshire  :  in  which  exchange  his  devo- 
tion is  rather  to  be  admired  than  his  discretion  to  be  commended  ; 
leaving  a  fruitful  soil  for  a  bleak,  barren  place  ;  *  though  the  worse 
it  was,  the  better  for  his  purpose,  being  a  great  promoter  of  a 
nionastical  life.  And  though  the  place  was  much  exposed  to  the 
rapine  of  pirates,  yet  this  holy  man  laid  up  his  heavenly  treasure 
where  "  thieves  do  not  break  through,  nor  steal. "-f- 

5.  One  yarnmoiint  Miracle  of  St.  David. 

Yet  I  am  sensible  tliat  I  have  spent,  to  ray  shame,  so  much 
precious  time  in  reading  the  legend  of  his  Life,  that  I  will  not 
wilfully  double  my  guiltiness  in  writing  the  same,  and  tempt  the 
reader  to  offend  in  like  nature.  This  miracle  I  cannot  omit:;]; 
David  one  day  -was  preaching  in  an  open  field  to  the  multitude,  and 
could  not  be  well  seen  because  of  the  concourse  ;  (though  they  make 
him  four  cubits  high,§  a  man-and-half  in  stature ;)  when,  behold, 
the  earth,  whereon  he  stood,  officiously  heaving  itself  up,  mounted 
him  to  a  competent  visibility  above  all  his  audience.  Whereas  our 
Saviour  himself,  when  he  taught  the  people,  was  pleased  to  choose 
a  mountain,  Matt.  v.  1  ;  making  use  of  the  advantage  of  nature, 
Aviihout  improving  his  miraculous  power.  He  died  aged  one 
hundred  and  forty-six  years,  on  the  first  of  March,  still  celebrated 
by  the  Welsh  with  wearing  of  a  leek;||  perchance,  to  perpetuate 
the  memory  of  his  abstinence,  whose  contented  mind  made  many  a 
savoury  meal  on  such  roots  of  the  earth. 

6.  Reasons  why  Men  in  this  Age  lired  so  long. 

A  wonder  it  is  to  see  hoAv  many  Methuselahs  (extreme  aged  men) 

these  times  did  produce.     St.  Patrick  died  aged  one  hundred  and 

twenty-two  ;  Sampson,  aged  one  hundred  and  twenty  ;   David,  one 

hundred  and  forty-six ;    Gildas   Badonicus,   ninety,^   &c.     Some 

*   GiRALDUE  Cambrensis..         t  Cajiden's  Bril.  in  PembrokesLire.  I  "  Flowers 

of  the  English  Saints."  p.  222.  §   Bal.eus  Cent,  prima,  nu.  55.  ||   Several 

reasons  hereof  assigned  by  authors.  •[  See  Bal.'EUS  in  their  general  Lives. 


A.D.    519.  BOOK     I.        (KNT     VT.  69 

reason  wliereof  may  be  alleged  :  Because,  living  retired  in  a  con- 
templative way,  they  did  not  bruise  their  bodies  with  embroiling 
them  in  worldly  affairs ;  or  it  may  be  ascribed  to  their  temperate 
diet,  whilst  many  of  our  age  spill  their  radical  moisture  through  the 
leaks  of  their  own  luxury.  Nor  is  it  absurd  to  say,  that  God  made 
these  great  tapers  of  a  more  firm  and  compacted  wax  than  ordinary, 
that  so  they  might  last  the  longer  in  burning  to  give  light  to 
his  church,  and  bestowed  on  them  an  especial  strong  natural 
constitution. 

7.   The  discreet  Devotion  of  Cadociis. 

About  the  same  time,  (accurateness  in  computing  years  is  not  to 
be  expected  :  for  never  were  more  doublings  and  redoublings  made 
by  a  hunted  hare,  than  there  are  intricacies  in  the  chronology  of 
this  age,  going  backward  and  forward,)  flourished  Cadocus,  abbot 
of  Llancarvan  in  Glamorganshire,  son  of  the  prince  and  toparch  of 
that  country.  This  godly  and  learned  man  so  renounced  the  world, 
that  he  retained  part  of  his  paternal  principality  in  his  possession, 
whereby  he  daily  fed  three  hundred  of  clergymen,  widows,  and  poor 
people,  beside  guests  and  visitants  daily  resorting  to  him.*  He  is 
equally  commended  for  his  policy,  in  keeping  the  root  (the  right  of 
his  estate)  in  his  own  hands  ;  and  for  his  piety,  in  bestowing  the 
fruit  (the  profits  thereof)  in  the  relieving  of  others.  It  seems,  in 
that  age  wilful  poverty  was  not  by  vow  entailed  on  monastical  life. 
Nor  did  this  Cadocus  (as  Regulars  in  after-times)  with  open  hands 
scatter  away  his  whole  means,  so  foolishly  to  grasp  his  fist  full  of 
popular  applause.  He  is  said  afterwards  to  have  died  at  Bene- 
ventum  in  Italy. 

8-  Iltutus  abused  with  Monkish  Forgeries. 
Iltutus  comes  next  into  play,  a  zealous  man,  and  deep  scholar ; 
who,  not  far  from  Cadocus,  at  Llan-lwit  in  Glamorganshire,  (con- 
tractedly  for  Llan-iltut,)  preached  God's  word,  and  set  up  a  college 
of  scholars,  being  himself  a  great  observer  of  a  single  life.  It  is 
reported  of  him,  that  when  his  wife  repaired  to  him  for  "  due 
benevolence,"  or  some  ghostly  counsel,  he  put  out  her  eyes,  out  of 
anger,  for  interrupting  him  in  his  constant  course  of  chastity. -f-  But 
surely  some  blind  monk,  having  one  of  his  eyes  put  out  with  igno- 
rance, and  the  other  with  superstition,  was  the  first  founder  of  this 
fable.  Thus  godly  saints  in  that  age  were  made  martyrs  after  their 
death  ;  persecuted  (though  in  their  commendation)  with  impudent 
and  improbable  lies.  It  is  reported  also  of  the  same  Iltutus,  that 
he    turned    men  into    stones. ;[:       Had    it   been    stones    into    men, 

•  .loHAN.  TiNJiiTHENSis  in  rjus  f'itd.  t   Bal.eC'S  De  Script.  Dritan.  centur. 

prima.  t   Idem,  nt priitx. 


70  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  521 548. 

(converting  stupid  souls  into  Chxistians,  by  his  preaching,)  it 
had  been  capable  of  an  allegorical  construction  ;  whereas,  as 
now  told,  it  is  a  lie  in  the  literal,  and  nonsense  in  the  mystical, 
meaning  thereof. 

9.  Sampson,  Archbishop  of  Dole  A.D.  521. 
Sampson  succeeds,  scholar  to  Iltutus,  made  by  Dubritius  bishop 
at  large,  sine  titulo.*  It  seems,  in  that  age  all  bishops  were  not 
fixed  to  the  chair  of  a  peculiar  church,  but  some  might  sit  down  in 
any  vacant  place  for  their  cathedral,  and  there  exercise  their  epis- 
copal authority  ;  provided  it  were  Avithout  prejudice  to  other  bishops. 
Afterwards,  this  Sampson  was  made  archbishop  of  Dole  in  French 
Britain  ;  and  in  those  days,  such  was  the  correspondency  betwixt 
this  Greater  and  that  Lesser  Britain  that  they  seemed  to  possess 
learned  men  in  common  betwixt  them.  Scarce  am  I  reconciled  to 
this  Sampson,  for  carrying  away  with  him  the  monuments  of  British 
antiquity.-f-  Had  he  put  them  out  to  the  bank,  by  procuring  several 
copies  to  be  transcribed,  learning  thereby  had  been  a  gainer ;  and  a 
saver,  had  he  only  secured  the  originals  :  whereas,  now  her  loss  is 
irrecoverable  ;  principal  and  interest,  authentics  and  transcripts,  are 
all  embezzled.  Nor  is  the  matter  much,  whether  they  had  miscarried 
at  home  by  foes"*  violence,  or  abroad  by  such  friends'  negligence. 

10.  Paternus  a  Pattern  for  all  Bishops.  A.D.  540. 
It  were  a  sin  to  omit  St.  Patern,  for  three  and  twenty  years  a 
constant  preacher  at  Llan-Patern  in  Cardiganshire.  His  father-like 
care  over  his  flock  passeth  with  peculiar  commendation, — "  that  he 
governed  his  people  by  feeding  them,  and  fed  his  people  by  govern- 
ing them. "I  Some  years  after,  the  place  continued  an  episcopal  see, 
and  was  extinguished  upon  occasion  of  the  people's  barbarously 
murdering  of  their  bishop. 

11.  Petrock,  the  Captain  of  Cornish  Sairits.     AD.  548. 

St.  Petrock  comes  in  for  his  share ;  (from  whom  Petrock-stow 
contracted  Padstow,  in  Cornwall,  is  denominated ;)  one  of  great 
piety  and  painfulness  in  that  age.  Afterward  he  is  said  to  have 
gone  to  the  East  Indies  ;  (all  far  countries  are  East  Indies  to 
ignorant  people  ;)  and  at  his  return  to  be  buried  at  Bodmin  in 
Cornwall.  That  county  is  the  cornucopia  of  saints,  (most  of  Irish 
extraction,)  and  the  names  of  their  towns  and  villages,  the  best 
nomenclator  of  the  devout  men  of  this  age.  If  the  people  of  that 
province  have    as  much  holiness  in   their  hearts,  as  the  parishes 

"  Armach.  De  Brit.  Ec.  Prim. -p.  1136.  t  Bal.el'S  De  Script.  Britan.  in  Sampson. 
t  Camden's  Brit,  in  Cardiganshire. 


A.D.    550 580.  BOOK    I,       CENT     VI.  71 

therein  carry  sanctity  in  their  names,  Cornwall  may  pass  for  another 
Holy  Land  in  public  reputation. 

A^.ThePietyofSt.TeUav.  A.D.  550. 
Next  St.  Petrock  comes  St.  Teliau ;  for  it  is  pity  to  part  two 
such  intimate  friends.  He  was  called,  by  allusion  to  his  name, 
Helios,'"'  which  in  Greek  signifieth  "  the  sun,"  because  of  the  lustre 
of  his  life  and  learning.  But  the  vulgar  sort,  who  count  it  no  fault 
to  miscall  their  betters  if  they  have  hard  names,  called  him  Eliud ; 
(one  of  that  name  was  one  of  our  Saviour''s  ancestors.  Matt.  i.  14 ;) 
turning  the  Greek  into  a  Hebrew  word,  and  understanding  both 
alike.  He  was  scholar  to  Dubritius,  and  succeeded  him  in  the 
bishopric  of  LandafF:  a  pious  man,  constant  preacher,  and  zealous 
reprover  of  the  reigning  sins  of  that  time.-f-  This  is  all  the  certain 
truth  extant  of  him ;  which  some  monks  counting  too  little  have, 
■with  their  fabulous  breath,  blown  up  the  story  of  his  life  to  such  a 
bigness,  that  the  credit  thereof  breaks  with  its  own  improbability.]; 
Witness  his  journey  to  Jerusalem,  full  of  strange  miracles,  where 
he  had  a  cymbal  given  him,  excelling  the  sound  of  an  organ,  and 
ringing  every  hour  of  its  own  accord  :  no  doubt  a  loud  one. 
"  Loaden  with  merits,"  saith  the  author,  (I  had  thought  nothing 
but  sin  could  burden  a  saint,)  "  he  departed  this  life,  having  his 
memory  continued  in  many  churches  of  South  Wales,  dedicated 
to  him,  and  is  remembered  in  the  Roman  Calendar  on  the  ninth  of 
February."§ 

13.  Several  other  Worthies  of  the  same  Age.  A.D.  580. 
I  had  almost  forgotten  Congel,  abbot  of  Bangor,  who  much 
altered  the  discipline  of  that  monastery  ;  Kentigern,  the  famous 
bishop  of  Ellwye  in  North  Wales  ;  St.  Asaph,  his  successor  in  the 
same  place ;  in  whose  mouth  this  sentence  was  frequent, — "  Such 
who  are  against  the  preaching  of  God's  Word,  envy  the  salvation  of 
mankind." II  As  for  Gildas,  surnamed  the  Wise,  their  contem- 
porary, we  reserve  his  character  for  our  "  Library  of  British  His- 
torians."^ Many  other  worthy  men  flourished  at  the  same  time  ; 
and,  a  national  church  being  a  large  room,  it  is  hard  to  count  all 
the  candles  God  lighted  therein. 

14.  Pastors  in  this  Age,  why  in  constant  Motion. 
Most  of  these  men  seem  born  under  a  travelling  planet ;  seldom 
having  their  education  in  the  place  of  their  nativity ;    oft-times 

•  Harpsfield's  Ecc.  Aug.  p.  41.  c.  27-  t  Bal.eus  cent uria  prim.  num.  58. 

t  In  the  book  of  his  Life  extant  in  the  church  of  Landaff.  §  "  Flowers  of  the  Saints." 

p.  151.  II   Godwin  in  his  Catal.  of  bishops  of  St.  Asaph.  %  Fide  our  Library 

of  British  Histor.  mim.  1. 


72  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.    580. 

composed  of  Irish  infancy,  British  breeding,  and  French  prefer- 
ment ;  taking  a  cowl  in  one  country,  a  crosier  in  another,  and  a 
gfSive  in  a  third;  neither  bred  where  born,  nor  beneficed  where 
bred,  nor  buried  where  beneficed ;  but  wandering  in  several 
kingdoms.  Nor  is  this  to  be  imputed  to  any  humour  of  inconstancy, 
(the  running  gout  of  the  soul,)  or  any  affected  unsettledness  in  them ; 
but  proceeding  from  other  weighty  considerations.  First.  To  pro- 
cure their  safety  :  for,  in  time  of  persecution,  the  surest  place  to 
shift  in  is  constant  shifting  of  places  ;  not  staying  any  where  so 
long  as  to  give  men's  malice  a  steady  aim  to  level  at  them. 
Secondly.  To  gain  experience  in  those  things  which  grew  not  all 
in  the  same  soil.  Lastly.  That  the  Gospel  thereby  might  be 
further  and  faster  propagated.  When  there  be  many  guests  and 
little  meat,  the  same  dish  must  go  clean  through  the  board  ;  and 
Divine  Providence  ordered  it,  that,  in  the  scarcity  of  preachers,  one 
eminent  man,  travelling  far,  should  successively  feed  many  countries. 

15.  Books  falsely  fathered  on  British  Writers. 

To  most  of  these  authors  many  written  volumes  are  assigned,  the 
titles  and  beginnings  whereof  you  may  find  in  our  countrymen,  Bale 
and  Pits  ;  who  will  persuade  you,  that  they  have  seen  and  perused 
some  of  them.  This  they  do  partly  to  enhance  the  merit  of  their 
industry  in  finding  out  so  many  rarities  ;  and  partly  to  commend 
to  the  world  the  latitude  of  their  own  reading.  I  shall  as  soon 
believe  that  they  have  seen  all  Solomon's  volumes,  which  he  wrote 
"from  the  cedar  of  Libanus,  to  the  hyssop  that  groweth  on  the 
wall."  But  this  humour  possesseth  many  men,  that  brag  of  many 
books  coming  under  their  discovery  ;  as  if  not  only  with  the  mice 
they  had  crept  through  the  crannies  of  all  libraries,  but  also  with  the 
moths  had  got  betwixt  the  leaves  of  all  treatises  therein.  In  plain 
truth,  as  it  is  probable  that  those  British  prelates  wrote  many  books 
of  consequence  ;  so  it  is  certain  that  long  since  by  time  they  have 
been  abolished.  As  for  those  spurious  tracts,  which  monks  in 
after-ages  set  out  under  these  worthy  men's  names,  they  are  no 
more  to  be  accounted  the  true  offspring  of  these  learned  saints,  than 
that  common  manna,  ordinarily  sold  in  apothecaries'  shops,  is  the 
self-same  with  that  angels'  food  which  fell  down  from  heaven,  and 
feasted  the  Israelites. 


THE 


CHURCH   HISTORY  OF   BRITAIN, 


BOOK  11. 


FROM  THE  CONVERSION  OF  THE  SAXONS  TO  CHRISTIANITY,  UNTIL 
THE  COMMONLY-CALLED  CONQUEST  OF  THE  NORMANS. 


TO 

THE    RIGHT    HONOURABLE    HENRY, 

LORD    MARQUIS   OF   DORCHESTER, 

EARL  OF  KINGSTON,  VISCOUNT  NEWARK,  LORD 
PIERREPONT,  &c. 


How  low  learning  ran  in  our  land  amongst  the 
native  nobility  some  two  hundred  years  since,  in  the 
reign  of  king  Henry  VL  too  plainly  appeareth  by  the 
motto  in  the  sword  of  the  martial  earl  of  Shrewsbury, 
(where  at  the  same  time  one  may  smile  at  the 
simplicity  and  sigh  at  the  barbarism  thereof,)  Sum 
Talboti,  pro  occidere  iNiMicos  MEos :  the  best  Latin 
that  lord  (and  perchance  his  chaplains,  too,  in  that  age) 
could  afford. 

But  in  the  next  generation  we  may  observe  the  rise 
of  learning  in  noble  families.  I  behold  John  Tiptoft, 
earl  of  Worcester,  (bred  in  Balliol  college,)  as  the  first 
English  person  of  honour  that  graced  learning  with  the 
study  thereof,  in  the  days  of  king  Edward  IV.,  both 
at  home  and  in  foreign  universities.  He  made  so 
eloquent  an  oration  in  the  Vatican,  in  the  presence  of 
pope  Pius  II.  (one  of  the  least  bad,  and  most  learned 
of  any  of  his  order,)  that  his  Holiness  was  divided 
betwixt  weeping  and  wondering  thereat.* 

This  earl  may  be  said  to  have  left  John  Bourchier, 
baron  of  Berners  and  governor  of  Calais,  the  heir  to 
his  learning  ;  as  who  wrote  many  treatises,  and  made 
excursions  into  variety  of  studies,  in  the  days  of  king 
Henry  Vll.f 

This  learned  baron  had  several  successors,  under 

*  J.  Bale  Be  Script.  Angl.       t  Idem,  cl  PiTZiEus  De  Scrip.  Anglic. 


76  DEDICATION. 

king  Henry  VIII.  at  the  same  time  to  his  parts  and 
liberal  studies  : — 1.  Henry  Lord  Stafford,  son  to  the 
last  duke  of  Buckingham  of  that  name.  2.  William 
Lord  Montjoy,  a  great  patron  to  Erasmus,  and  well 
skilled  in  chymistry  and  mathematics.  3.  Henry 
Howard,  earl  of  Surrey,  (though  last  in  time,  not  least 
in  merit,)  the  first  reviver  of  English  poetry  ;  so  that 
he  may  seem  in  some  sort  to  wave  his  coronet,  to  wear 
the  laurel.  Since  whose  time  to  our  days,  learning 
hath  ever  had  a  visible  succession  in  our  nobility  ; 
amongst  whom  your  Honour,  as  captain  of  the  highest 
form,  is  most  illustrious. 

Indeed,  your  lordship  is  a  real  refutation  of  that 
scandalous  position  which  some  maintain,  that  "  such 
who  are  generally  seen  in  all  arts,  cannot  be  eminently 
skilful  in  any  one  : "  a  position  no  better  than  a  libel 
on  learning,  invented  and  vented, — either  by  the  idle, 
who  would  not  themselves  study, — or  by  the  envious, 
who  desire  to  discourage  the  endeavours  of  others  : 
whereas  there  is  such  a  sympathy  betwixt  several 
sciences,  as  also  betwixt  the  learned  languages,  that,  as 
in  a  regular  fortification  one  piece  strengtheneth 
another,  a  resultive  firmness  ariseth  from  their  com- 
plication, reflecting  life  and  lustre  one  on  another. 
Arts  may  be  said  to  be  arched  together ;  and  all 
learned  faculties  have  such  a  mutual  reciprocation. 
Thus  one  is  the  better  canonist,  for  being  a  good  civi- 
lian ;  and  a  better  common-lawyer,  for  being  both  of 
them.  And  hereof  your  Honour  is  an  experimental 
proof,  whose  knowledge  is  spread  so  broad,  yet  lieth 
so  thick  in  all  liberal  sciences. 

What  remaineth,  but  that  I  crave  leave  humbly  to 
mind  your  lordship  of  that  allusive  motto  to  your 
name.  Pie  repone  te  ;  that  your  honour  "  reposing 
yourself  piously  in  this  life,"  may  in  a  good  old  age  be 
gloriously  translated  into  another  ?  The  desire  of 
Your  lordship's  most  bounden  orator, 

Thomas  Fuller. 


I 


THE 


CHURCH    HISTORY   OF   BRITAIN. 

BOOK  II. 


SECTION  I. 

THE  SIXTH  CENTURY. 

1 .  The  first  Occasion  of  the  Savons''  Conversion  to  Christianity. 

A.D.  585. 

It  is  wonderful  to  see  how  the  fruits  of  great  events  are  virtually 
comprised  in  the  small  seed  of  their  cause,  and  how  a  contemptible 
accident  may  give  the  occasion  of  most  considerable  effects  ;  as  may 
appear  by  the  conversion  of  the  Saxons  to  Christianity.  For  it 
happened  that  certain  Saxon  children  were  to  be  sold  for  slaves,  at 
the  market-place  at  Rome  ;  when  Divine  Providence,  the  great 
clock -keeper  of  time,  ordering  not  only  hours,  but  even  instants, 
Luke  ii.  38,  to  his  own  honour,  so  disposed  it,  that  Gregory,  after- 
wards first  bishop  of  Rome  of  that  name,  was  present  to  behold  them. 
It  grieved  the  good  man  to  see  the  disproportion  betwixt  the  faces 
and  fortunes,  the  complexions  and  conditions,  of  those  children, 
condemned  to  a  servile  estate,  though  carrying  liberal  looks,  so 
legible  was  ingenuity  in  their  faces.  It  added  more  to  his  sorrow, 
when  he  conceived  that  those  youths  were  twice  vassals,  bought  by 
their  masters,  and  "sold  under  sin,'"'  Rom.  vii.  14;  servants  in 
their  bodies,  and  slaves  in  their  souls  to  satan  ;  which  occasioned 
the  good  man  to  enter  into  further  inquiry  with  the  merchants 
(which  set  them  to  sale)  what  they  were,  and  whence  they  came,* 
according  to  this  ensuing  dialogue  : — 

Gregory. — Whence  come  these  captives  ? 

Merchaxts. — From  the  isle  of  Britain. 

•  Bede  Hist.  Ecclesiast.  lib.  ii.  cap.  1. 


78  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN,  A.  D.  586. 

Gregory. — Are  those  islanders  Christians  .'* 

Merchants. — O  no  :  they  are  Pagans. 

Gregory. — It  is  sad  that  the  author  of  darkness  should  possess 
men  with  so  bright  faces.  But  what  is  the  name  of  their  particular 
nation  .'' 

Merchants. — They  are  called  Angli. 

Gregory. — And  Avell  may,  for  their  "  angel-like  faces  ; "  it 
becometh  such  to  be  coheirs  with  the  angels  in  heaven.  In  what 
province  of  England  did  they  live  .'* 

Merchants. — In  Deira.* 

Gregory. — They  are  to  be  freed  de  Dei  ird,  "from  the  anger 
of  God."     How  call  ye  the  king  of  that  country  .'' 

Merchants. — Ella. 

Gregory. — Surely  hallelujah  ought  to  be  sung  in  his  kingdom 
to  the  praise  of  that  God  who  created  all  things. 

Thus  Gregory's  gracious  heart  set  the  sound  of  every  word  to  the 
tune  of  spiritual  goodness.  Nor  can  his  words  be  justly  censured 
for  levity,  if  we  consider  how,  in  that  age,  the  elegancy  of  poetry 
consisted  in  rhythm,  and  the  eloquence  of  prose  in  allusions.  And, 
which  was  the  main,  where  his  pleasant  conceits  did  end,  there  his 
pious  endeavours  began  ;  which  did  not  terminate  in  a  verbal  jest, 
but  produce  real  effects,  which  ensued  hereupon. 

2.  Gregory  would  convert  England  in  his  Person,  but  doth  it  by 
his  Proxy.     A.D.  586. 

For,  repairing  to  Pelagius,  bishop  of  Rome,  he  imparted  his 
discoveries  unto  him,  desiring  that  some  might  be  sent  to  endeavour 
the  conversion  of  the  English  nation,  tendering  his  personal  service 
thereunto.  But  Pelagius  was  unwilling  to  expose  Gregory  to  so 
dangerous  a  design  ;  and  the  people  of  Rome,  accounting  him  a 
precious  jewel,  to  be  choicely  kept  for  his  own  wearing,  would  "  not 
cast  this  pearl  before  swine,"  by  hazarding  him  to  the  insolency  of  the 
Pagans.  Now  Pelagius,  not  long  after  being  called  into  another 
world,  Gregory  succeeded  in  his  place  ;  who,  rising  to  new  great- 
ness, did  not  fall  from  his  old  goodness,  but,  prosecuting  his 
project  with  more  earnestness,  sent  Augustine  the  monk,  with 
Mellitus,  and  forty  more,  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  Britain.  He 
himself,  tarrying  behind  in  body,  went  with  them  in  his  spirit, 
1  Cor.  V.  3,  accompanying  them  with  his  effectual  prayers  :  and 
none  will  deny,  but  that  Moses  in  the  mount  contributed  as  much 
to  the  conquering  of  Amalek,  as  Joshua  in  the  valley,  Exod. 
xvii.  11. 

•   'WTiich  at  this  day  is  the  bishopric  of  Deirham,  or  Durham. 


A.D.    586.  BOOK     II.       CENT.    VI,  79 

3.  Augustine  and  his  Fellows  shrink  for  Fear. 

These  men  had  not  gone  far,  when  they  were  surprised  with  a 
quahn  of  fear,  and,  sending  Augustine  back  again  to  Gregory, 
requested  to  be  excused  from  going  to  so  barbarous  a  nation,  not  as 
yet  converted  to  civility,  whose  language  they  did  not  understand. 
Here  some  will  be  ready  to  deride  them  for  cowards  ;  who,  more 
seriously  considering  with  how  many  excuses  Moses,  being  sent  by 
God  himself,  declined  the  going  to  Pharaoh,  Exod.  iii.  iv.  and 
how  loath  Jeremy  was  to  preach  to  his  countrymen,  the  stiff- 
necked  Jews,  Jer.  i.  6,  will  presently  change  their  censuring  into 
commiserating  the  frailty  of  flesh,  and  common  condition  of  man- 
kind. But  those  make  short  miles  who,  looking  through  a  window, 
travel  a  day's  journey  in  an  instant ;  whilst  wayfaring  men  must 
honestly  pay  for  every  step,  and  dearly  earn  it  with  their  industry. 
It  is  facile  for  men,  in  their  pleasing  speculations,  to  project  the 
conversion  of  a  kingdom,  and  with  themselves  to  discourse  a 
Heathen,  nation  into  Christianity,  whilst  those  must  encounter 
many  dilBficulties  who  really  go  about  to  perform  it.  Gregory,  per- 
ceiving them  to  tire  in  their  undertakings,  spurred  them  on  with 
his  exhortatory  letter ;  the  copy  whereof  is  here  inserted,  to  acquaint 
us  with  the  style  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  in  that  age  : — 

"  Gregory,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  &c.  Forso- 
much  as  better  it  were  never  to  begin  a  good  work,  than  after  it  is 
once  begun  to  go  from  it  again  ;  you  must  needs,  my  dear  sons, 
now  fulfil  the  good  work  which,  by  the  help  of  God,  you  have 
taken  in  hand.  Let,  therefore,  neither  the  travel  of  the  journey, 
neither  the  talk  of  evil-tongued  men,  dismay  you.  But  with  all 
force  and  fervour  make  up  that  you  have  by  the  motion  of  God 
begun  ;  assuring  yourselves,  that,  after  your  great  labour,  eternal 
reward  shall  follow.  Be  you  in  all  points  obedient  unto  Augustine, 
whom  I  have  sent  back  unto  you,  and  appointed  him  to  be  your 
abbot ;  knowing  that  shall  much  profit  your  souls,  which  you  shall 
do  upon  obedience  to  his  commandment.  Our  almighty  Lord 
defend  you  with  his  grace,  and  grant  me  to  see  the  fruit  of  your 
labours  in  his  kingdom  of  heaven  !  And  though  I  cannot  labour 
myself  with  you,  yet  I  may  enjoy  part  of  your  reward,  for  that  I 
have  a  will  to  labour.  God  keep  you  healthy,  my  dearly  beloved 
children. 

"  Dated  the  23rd  of  July,  our  lord  Mauritius  Tiberius  reigning, 
our  most  virtuous  emperor,  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  empire,  the 
thirteenth  year  after  his  consulship,  indictione  14.""* 

As  yet  we  see  the  chaplain  had  not  lorded  it  over  his  patron ;  as 

•  Bede's  "  Historj'  of  the  Church  of  England,"  book  i.  chap.  23,  translated  by 
Stapleton. 


80  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  58G. 

yet  the  pope''s  crown  was  not  built  three  stories  high,  but  observed 
a  distance  of  submission  towards  the  emperor,  as  appears  by  his 
respectful  expressions.  Yea,  this  bishop  measured  the  time  by  the 
years  of  the  emperor"'s  reign  ;  whose  successors  have  learned  a  new 
arithmetic,  in  their  modern  dates  of  charters,  only  reckoning  by  the 
years  of  their  own  consecration,  Avithout  relating  to  any  imperial 
account.  Gregory,  by  the  way,  was  the  first  which,  in  humility, 
used  the  style  of  servus  servorum  Dei.  But  as,  in  the  method  of 
nature,  a  low  valley  is  immediately  seconded  with  an  ambitious  hill ; 
so  after  this  humble  Gregory,  (a  submissive  soul,)  within  two  years 
followed  Boniface  the  Third,  in  whom  was  the  pitch  of  pride,  and 
height  of  aspiring  haughtiness,  to  be  termed  "  the  universal  bishop 
of  the  world." 

4.  Augustine  troubled  with  mocking  Michals  in  his  Passage 
through  France. 

Besides  the  aforesaid  letter,  Gregory  wrote  many  others, — one  to 
Theodorick  and  Theodebert,  kings  of  France,*  and  several  epistles 
to  sundry  French  bishops, — to  accommodate  and  assist  Augustine- 
and  his  companions  in  so  pious  a  design.  And,  which  must  not  be 
forgotten,  with  them  he  sent  over  Candidus,  a  priest,-f"  into  France, 
to  receive  the  profits  and  long-detained  arrears  of  the  pope"'s  patri- 
moniolum,^  as  he  terms  it,  (the  diminutive  is  well  increased  at  this 
time,)  and  with  the  money  to  buy  clothes  for  the  poor,  and  also  to 
buy  English  Pagan-captive  youths  in  France  of  seventeen  or  eigh- 
teen years  old,  that  they  might  be  brought  up  in  Christianity  in 
monasteries ;  so  at  once  bestowing  both  liberty,  religion,  and  learn- 
ing upon  them  :  a  transcendent  degree  of  charity ;  an  alms  worthy 
Gregory ''s  hands  to  give  it.  And  now  Augustine  with  his  partners, 
well  encouraged,  eflfectually  prosecute  their  project,  passing  quietly 
through  France,  save  only  at  the  village  of  Saye  in  Anjou,  where 
some  giggling  housewives  (light  leaves  will  be  wagged  with  little 
wind  !)  causelessly  fell  a-flouting  at  them.  But,  in  after-ages,  the 
people  of  the  same  place,  to  repair  this  wrong,  erected  a  masculine 
church  (women  being  interdicted  the  entrance  thereof)  to  the 
memory  of  St.  Augustine  :  and  how  soundly  one  woman  smarted  for 
her  presumption  herein,  take  it  on  the  trust  of  my  author  :§ — 

Plebs  parat  ecclesiaia  mulieribtts  haud  rescrandam  : 
Introitmn  tentat  una,  sed  ilia  peril. 

"  They  build  a  chiireli  where  women  may  not  enter : 
One  tried,  but  lost  her  life  for  her  adventure." 

Yet  Auffustine  himself  found  courteous  usawe  from  the  weaker  sex  : 

•  Gregor.  lib.  V.  epist.  58.  f  Idem,  lib.  v.  epist.  10.  t  Idem,  lib.  v.  epist.  57. 

§  Alexander  Elsebiensis  in  his  "  Annals  of  Saints,"  and  John  Capgrave. 


A.D.  596.  BOOK     11.       VEST.    VI.  81 

witness  the  kind  carriage  of  Brunichilda,  the  queen  of  France,  unto 
him,  (for  which  Gregory,  in  an  epistle,  returned  her  solemn 
thanks,)*  and  Bertha  the  king  of  France's  daughter,  wife  to  Ethel- 
bert  king  of  Kent. 

5,  Augustine,  for  all  his  Power  of  working  Mirricles,  needs 
Interpreters  to  preach  to  the  English.  A.D.  596. 
Augustine,  safely  wafted  over  the  sea,  lands  with  the  rest  at 
Thanet  in  Kent ;  taking,  a.s  it  seems,  deep  footing,  if  it  be  true 
what  one  writes, -f*  that  the  print  of  his  steps  where  he  first  landed 
left  as  perfect  a  mark  in  a  main  rock,  as  if  it  had  been  in  wax ;  and 
the  Romanists  will  cry  shame  on  our  hard  hearts,  if  our  obdurate 
belief,  more  stubborn  than  the  stone,  will  not  as  pliably  receive  the 
impression  of  this  miracle.  But  it  is  worthy  our  consideration,  that 
though  Augustine  all  his  way  might  be  tracked  by  the  wonders  he 
left  behind  him ;  (when  thirsty,  miraculously  fetching  a  fountain  ; 
when  cold,  a  fire  ;  restoring  the  blind  and  lame  to  their  eyes  and 
limbs  ;)|  yet,  for  all  this,  he  was  fain  to  bring  interpreters  out  of 
France  with  him,  by  whose  help  he  might  understand  the  English, 
and  be  understood  by  them  :  whereas  in  Holy  Writ,  when  the 
apostles  (and  papists  commonly  call  Augustine  "  the  English 
apostle,"  how  properly  we  shall  see  hereafter)  went  to  a  foreign 
nation,  God  gave  them  the  language  thereof,  lest  otherwise  their 
preaching  should  have  the  vigour  thereof  abated,  taken  at  the 
second-hand,  or  rather  at  the  second  mouth,  as  Augustinc*'s  was  ; 
who  used  an  interpreter,  not  as  Joseph  to  his  brethren,  Gen.  xlii.  23, 
out  of  state  and  policy,  but  out  of  mere  necessity.  This,  I  say, 
well  thought  on,  will  make  our  belief  to  demur  to  the  truth  of  his 
so  frequent  miracles,  being  so  redundant  in  working  them  on  trivial 
occasions,  and  so  defective  in  a  matter  of  most  moment.  But 
leaving  him  and  his  for  a  time  safely  landed  and  lodged,  that  our 
gratitude  to  God  may  be  the  greater  for  freeing  the  Saxons  our 
ancestors  from  the  bondage  of  idolatry,  let  us  behold  with  horror  the 
huge  fetters  of  error  and  ignorance  wherewith  the  devil  kept  them 
in  durance,  before  the  Gospel  was  preached  unto  them. 

O'.   The  Rabble  of  Saxon  Idols. 

The  Saxons,  like  the  rest  of  the  Germans,  whilst  pure-impure 
Pagans,  worshipped  many  idols,  barbarous  in  name,  some  mon- 
strous, all  antic  for  shape,  and  abominable  in  the  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies of  their  adoration.  Some  aver,  that,  as  the  Germans,  affecting 
an   autarchy    or    sole-sufficiency    amongst    themselves,    disdained 

*  Lib.  vii.  ep.  5.  t  Flores  Sanctorum,  Maii  20,  in    the  Life  of  St.  Augustine, 

page  499.  J  Idem,  page  498. 

Vol.  I.  G 


82 


CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN. 


A.  D.  596. 


commerce  in  customs  or  civil  government  with  the  Romans ;  so  they 
communicated  not  with  them  in  their  religion.  Yet  others  affirm, 
that,  in  after-ages,  the  Dutch  did  enter  common  with  the  Romish 
superstition  ;  at  least-wise  some  modern  authors  have  reduced  the 
Saxon  idols  (symbolizing  Avith  the  Romans  in  power  and  properties) 
to  some  conformity  with  the  Roman  deities.  Now  although, 
according  to  God's  command  to  the  Jews,  "  Their  names  shall  not 
be  heard  out  of  our  mouth,"  Exod.  xxiii.  13,  by  way  of  praising 
them,  praying  to  them,  or  swearing  by  them ;  yet  an  historical 
mention  of  them,  here  ensuing,  is  as  free  from  offence,  as  useful  for 
information.     Beside  the  Sun  and  Moon,  the  Saxons  sacrificed  to 


Ei)ororCl)ur, 

abbreviated  of 

Thunre,  -which 
we        now       write 

'ULifuntin'.Thurs- 

day,  named  from 
him.* 

OTotffn,    that 

is,  "  wood,  fierce, 
or  furious,"  giving 
the  denomination 
to  Wednesday^  or 
Woden  sduy. 

dTrtsaordTrfci, 

remembered  on 
Friday. 

heater,  stiU  re- 
maining on  Satur- 
day. 

CllU^f,  whence 
Tuesday  took  its 
name. 


©vmtn^clul, 

that  is,  "  the  pillar 
or  stay  of  the 
pr-.or." 


%t\\t. 


A  corpulent  statue,  reposed 
on  a  covered  bed,  wearing,  a 
crown  of  gold,  about  which 
twelve  stars ;  a  kingly  sceptre 
in  his  right  hand. 


Armed     cap-a-pid,    with    a 
miUtary  coronet  on  his  head. 


A  hennaphrodite ;  per- 
chance because  the  reputed 
patroness  of  generation,  where- 
in both  sexes  are  joined. 

Of  a  lean  visage,  long  hair, 
bare  head,  holding  in  one  hand 
a  wheel,  in  the  other  a  pail  of 
flowers. 

Covered  with  a  skin,  arms 
and  feet  naked,  with  an  ancient 
aspect,  and  a  sceptre  in  his 
hand. 

Pictured  with  a  banner  in 
one  hand  with  a  red  rose,  in 
the  other  a  pair  of  balances,  on 
his  head  a  cock,  breast  a  bear, 
before  him  an  escutcheon,  &c. 

His  stately  statue  stood  at 
Cern  ii;  Dorsetshire. 


OFFICE. 

He  governed  the 
wind  and  clouds, 
causing  lightning, 
thunder,  tempest, 
fair  or  foul  wea- 
ther. 

He  was  the  god 
of  battle,  by  who^e 
aid  and  furtlierance 
they  hoped  to  ob- 
tain victory. 

The  giver  of 
peace  and  plenty; 
the  causer  of  love, 
amity,  and  increase. 

Conceived  to  have 
a  great  influence  on 
the  kindly  fruits  of 
the  earth. 

The  peculiar  tu- 
telar god  of  the 
Duytsh,  whence 
they  had  their 
name. 

The  pretended 
bestower  of  wit  and 
cunning  in  bargains 
and  contracts. 

The  preventer  of 
diseases,  preserver 
and  restorer  of 
health. 


Correspond- 
ent with 

The   Romaa 
Jupiter. 


Mars.t 


Venus 


Saturn. 


Mercury. 


.Slsculapius. 


Thus  we  see  the  whole  week  bescattered  with  Saxon  idols, 
whose  Pagan  gods  were  the  godfathers  of  the  days,  and  gave  them 
their  names.  This,  some  zealot  may  behold  as  the  object  of  a 
necessary  reformation,  desiring  to  have  the  days  of  the  week  new 
dipped,  and  called  after   other  names  ;  though,   indeed,  this   sup- 


*  VERSTEGy\N's  "  Restitution  of  Decayed  Intelligence,"  chap.  iii.  page  74. 
Verstegan,  page  72 ;  but  Camden,  Brit,  page  135,  makes  him  to  be  Mercury. 


t  So 


A.D.  590.  BOOK    II.       CEXT.    VI.  ^fi 

posed  scandal  will  not  offend  the  wise,  as  beneath  their  notice,  and 
cannot  offend  the  ignorant,  as  above  their  knowledge.  Wherefore, 
none  need  so  hastily  to  hurry  to  the  top  of  the  mainmast,  thence  to 
pluck  doAvn  the  badge  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  Acts  xxviii.  11 ;  but 
rather  let  them  be  careful  steadily  to  steer  their  ship  to  the  heaven, 
for  which  it  is  bound ;  and  let  us  redeem  the  time,  for  the  days  are 
evil :  not  because  in  their  name  they  bear  the  cognizance  of  the 
Pagan  gods  ;  but  because  swarming  with  the  sins  of  profjine  men, 
which  all  should  labour  to  reprove  in  others,  and  amend  in 
themselves. 

7.  A  Recruit  of  their  Idols. 

But  it  was  not  a  week  or  a  month,  yea,  scarce  a  year  of  days, 
which  could  severally  contain  the  numerous  Saxon  idols.  Beside 
the  forenamed,  they  had  Neptune,*  to  whom,  in  their  abominable 
decimations,  they  sacrificed  every  tenth  captive  whom  they  had 
taken  in  war  ;  so  making  that  sea-god  to  swim  in  man's  blood,  per 
hujusmodi  non  tarn  sacrificia  piirgati,  qiiam  sacrilegia  polluti, 
saith  an  ancient  Christian  author.-f*  Secondly.  Eoster  or  Goster,  a 
goddess,  which  they  worshipped  in  the  spring-time,  wherein  the  feast 
of  Easter  afterwards  was  celebrated,  and  so  thence  named,  as  Bede 
observeth.  Thirdly.  Flynt,  so  termed  because  set  on  a  great  flint- 
stone,  which,  I  dare  boldly  say,  had  more  sparks  of  Divine  nature 
than  that  idol  which  thereon  was  erected.  Lastly.  Tacitus 
observeth,  that  the  Saxons  worshipped  the  peculiar  god  Herthus, 
the  self-same  which  in  English  we  call  "  the  earth,""  adoring  that 
"whereon  they  did  daily  trample. 

8.  All  these  antiquated  hij  Christianity. 
Besides  these,  they  had  other  lesser  gods,  of  a  lower  form  and 
younger  house ;  as  Helmsteed,  Prono,  Frldegast,  and  Siwe :  all 
which  at  this  day  (to  use  the  prophet's  expression)  are  "  cast  to  the 
moles  and  the  bats,"  Isaiah  ii.  20 ;  fit  company  for  them  which 
"  have  eyes  and  see  not,""  blind  to  the  blind,  like  all  those  which 
put  confidence  in  them.  And  as  the  true  and  real  serpent  of 
Aaron  did  SAvallow  up  and  devour  the  seeming  serpents,  which 
Jannes  and  Jambres  the  Egyptian  enchanters  did  make,  Exodus 
vii.  12 ;  so,  long  since  in  England,  the  religion  of  the  true  God 
hath  outlived  and  outlasted,  confuted  and  confounded,  all  false  and 
feigned  deities.  To  conclude  this  discourse  :  I  have  heard  of  a 
man,  who,  being  drunk,  rode  over  a  narrow  bridge,  (the  first  and 
last  that  ever  passed  that  way,  as  which  in  likelihood  led  him  to 
imminent  death,)  and  next  morning  viewing  how  he  had  escaped, 

•  Selden  "  Of  Tithes/'  chap.  x.  page  269.     t  SinoNius  Apollinaris,  lib.  viii.  Epist. 

(;  2 


84  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIX.  A.D.  596. 

he  fell  into  a  swoon  with  acting  over  again  the  danger  of  his  adven- 
ture in  his  bare  apprehension.  So,  should  England  (now,  thanks 
be  to  God,  grown  sober  and  restored  to  herself)  seriously  recollect 
her  sad  condition,  when  posting  in  the  paths  of  perdition,  being 
intoxicated  with  the  cup  of  idolatry,  she  would  fall  into  a  trance  of 
amazement  at  the  consideration  of  her  desperate  state,  before 
Christianity  recovered  her  to  her  right  senses  ;  the  manner  whereof 
we  now  come  to  relate. 

9.  The  Character  of  King  Ethelbert. 
When  Augustine  the  monk  (as  is  afore  said)  landed  in  Thanet, 
Ethelbert  was  then  king  of  Kent ;  one,  who  had  very  much  of 
good-nature  in  him  ;  of  a  wild  olive  well  civilized,  and  a  stock  fit  to 
be  grafted  upon.  Yea,  he  was  already,  with  king  Agrippa,  though 
not  in  the  same  sense,  "  almost  a  Christian,""  Acts  xxvi.  28 ;  because 
his  other  half,  queen  Bertha,  daughter  to  the  king  of  France,  was 
a  Christian  ;*  to  whom  he  permitted  the  free  use  of  her  religion, 
allowing  her  both  Luidhard,  a  bishop,  for  her  chaplain,  and  an  old 
church  in  Canterbury  (formerly  dedicated  by  the  Romans  to 
St.  Martin)  to  exercise  her  devotion  therein.  Besides,  at  this  time, 
this  Ethelbert  Avas  in  effect  monarch  of  England  ;  whilst  his  person 
had  residence  chiefly  in  Kent,  his  power  had  influence  even  to 
Humber ;  all  the  rest  of  the  Saxon  kings  being  homagers  unto  him  : 
which  afterward  much  expedited  the  passage  of  the  Gospel  in 
England.  Thus  each  officious  accident  shall  dutifully  tender 
his  service  to  the  advance  of  that  design  which  God  will  have 
effected. 

10.  Augustine s  Addresses,  and  Ethelbert's  Answer. 
Then  Augustine  acquainted  this  Ethelbert  Avith  his  arrival, 
informing  him  by  his  messengers,  that  he  brought  "  the  best  tidings 
unto  him,  which  would  certainly  procure  eternal  happiness  in 
heaven,  and  endless  reigning  in  bliss  with  the  true  God,  to  such  as 
should  entertain  them."  Soon  after  Ethelbert  repaired  into  Thanet ; 
to  whom  Augustine  made  his  address  [xbtix.  ttoKK^;  (puvTua-iuc,  "  with 
a  deal  of""  spiritual,  carnal  "pomp;"  having  a  silver  cross  carried 
before  him  for  a  banner,  the  image  of  our  Saviour  painted  in  a 
table,  and  singing  the  litany  in  the  way  as  they  went.-f-  King 
Ethelbert  desired  all  things  betwixt  them  might  be  transacted  in  the 
open  air,  refusing  to  come  under  a  roof,  for  fear  of  fascination. 
And,  indeed,  a  stranger,  who  had  never  seen  the  like  before, 
beholding  Augustine  with  such  abundance  of  trinkets  about  him, 
being  formerly  jealous,  might  hereby  have  his  suspicion  increased, — 

•  Bede  Hint,  Eccles.  lib.  i.  cap. -25.  f  Beda,  7it priiis. 


A.l).  597.  BOOK    II.     CENT.   VI.  85' 

that  he  went  about  some  strange  machination.  However,  Ethelbcrt 
returned  him  a  civil  answer  : — "  That  their  promises  were  fair  and 
good  ;  but,  because  new  and  uncertain,  he  could  not  presently 
assent  unto  them,  and  leave  the  ancient  customs  of  the  English, 
which  had  been  for  so  long  time  observed.  But  because  they  were 
strangers,  coming  from  far  countries,  to  communicate  to  him  and 
his  such  things  as  they  conceived  were  good  and  true,  he  would  not 
forbid  any  converts,  whom  their  preaching  could  persuade  to  their 
opinion,  and  also  would  provide  them  necessaries  for  their  comfort- 
able accommodation." 

]1.  Ethelbert    and  others  omverted    to    the  Christian    Faith. 

A.  D.  597. 
Hence  Augustine,  with  his  followers,  advanced  to  Canterbury, 
to  the  aforesaid  old  church  of  St.  Martin''s.  Here  they  lived  so 
piously,  prayed  so  fervently,  fasted  so  frequently,  preached  so  con- 
stantly, wrought  miracles  so  commonly,  that  many  people  of  inferior 
rank,  and  at  last  king  Ethelbert  himself  was  baptized,  and  embraced 
the  Christian  religion.  The  same  Ethelbert  also  ordered,  that 
none  should  be  forced  into  religion  ;*  having  understood,  that 
Christ's  service  ought  to  be  voluntary,  and  not  compelled.  And 
if  his  courtiers  had  been  as  cautious  not  to  embrace  religion  for 
fashion,  as  the  king  was  careful  they  should  not  receive  it  for  fear, 
there  had  not  at. that  time  been  made  so  many  Christians,  for 
conveniency,  probably,  rather  than  for  conscience,  who  soon  after 
returned  again  to  Paganism.  However,  as  it  is  rendered  a  reason, 
in  the  days  of  Hezekiah,  why  the  Jews,  at  so  short  warning,  so 
unanimously  kept  the  passover, — "  God  had  prepared  the  people,  for 
the  thing  was  done  suddenly ;" — so,  on  the  same  account,  it  came  to 
pass,  that  in  so  little  a  time  (beside  temporary  believers)  so  many 
true  and  sincere  converts  embraced  the  Christian  faith. 

12.  Gregory  s  Answer  to  Augustine''s  Letters. 
Then  Augustine  by  his  letters  informed  Gregory  of  the  progress 
and  proficiency  of  his  pains  in  England.  Gregory  returned  him  a 
discreet,  answer,  rejoicing  with  him,  and  advising  of  hiin  not  to  be 
puffed  up  by  pride  for  the  great  miracles  wrought  by  him  ;  but, 
timetido  gandere,  et  gaudendo  j)ertimescere.  He  minded  him  how 
when  the  disciples  triumphed  at  their  casting-out  of  devils,  Luke 
X.  17?  Christ  more  spiritualized  their  joy, — rather  to  rejoice  "  that 
their  names  were  written  in  heaven."  And,  indeed,  as  some  emi- 
nent in  piety  never  attained  this  honour;  ("  John"  Baptist  "did 
no  miracle,"  John  x.  41 ;)  so  many,  finally  disavowed  of  God,  as 

•  Bepe  Hiit.  Eccln.  lib.  i.  cap.  26. 


86  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  600. 

unknown  unto  him,  shall  plead  for  themselves,  (and  truly,  no 
doubt,)  "  In  thy  name  have  we  cast  out  devils,"  Matt.  vii.  22. 
Yet  this  admonition  of  Gregory  is,  with  me,  and  ought  to  be  with 
all  unprejudiced  persons,  an  argument  beyond  exception,  that 
(though  no  discreet  man  will  believe  Augustine's  miracles  in  the 
latitude  of  monkish  relations)  he  is  ignorantly  and  imcharitably 
peevish  and  morose  who  utterly  denies  some  miracles  to  have  been 
really  effected  by  him.  About  the  same  time,  St.  Gregory  sent  from 
Rome  Mellitus,  Justus,  Paulinus,  and  RufEnianus,  to  be  fellow- 
labourers  with  Augustine  in  the  English  harvest. 

13.   Conclusion  of  this  Century.  A.D.  600. 

Thus  was  Kent  converted  to  Christianity.  For  such  as  account  this 
a  conversion  of  all  England,  to  make  their  words  good,  do  make  use  of  a 
long  and  strong  synecdoche,  "  a  part  for  the  whole  ;"  far  more  than 
half  of  the  land  lying  some  years  after  in  the  darkness  of  Paganism  ; 
which  others  afterward  enlightened  with  the  beams  of  the  Gospel.  But, 
as  HE  is  esteemed  the  architect  or  master-workman,  not  who  builds  up 
most  of  the  wall,  but  who  first  designeth  the  fabric,  and  layeth  the 
foundation  thereof;  in  the  same  respect  Augustine  carrieth  away  the 
credit  of  all  that  came  after  him,  because  the  primitive  planter  of 
the  Gospel  amongst  the  Saxons.  And  it  is  observable,  that  this 
conversion  was  done  without  any  persecution,  (yea,  considerable 
opposition,)  costing  some  pain,  no  torture ;  some  sweat,  no  blood  ; 
not  one  martyr  being  made  in  the  whole  managing  thereof.  Mean- 
time, the  poor  Christian  Britons,  living  peaceably  at  home,  there 
enjoyed  God,  the  Gospel,  and  their  mountains  ;  little  skilful  in,  and 
less  caring  for,  the  ceremonies  alamode,  brought  over  by  Augustine; 
and,  indeed,  their  poverty  could  not  go  to  the  cost  of  Augustine"'s 
silver  cross,  which  made  them  worship  "  the  God  of  their  fathers" 
after  their  own  homely  but  hearty  fashion  ;  not  willing  to  disturb 
Augustine  and  his  followers  in  their  new  rites,  but  that  he  had  a 
mind  to  disquiet  them  in  their  old  service,  as  in  the  sequel  of  the 
History  will  appear. 


SECTION    II. 

THE  SEVENTH  CENTURY. 
AMICO  SUO  GR.  B. 

Socrates    interrogatus,   quo   pbiltro   natura   sympa- 
thias  conciliatet,  qnidve  esset  in  causa,  ut  alii  hominum 


A.D.   GOl.  BOOK     ir.      TEXT.    VII,  87 

primo  occursu  ament  medullitus,  alii  sibi  mutuo  sint 
infensi,  banc  rationem  reddidit :  "  Deus,"  inquit,  "  ab 
peterno  quicquid  futurum  esset  animarum  creavit ; 
creatas,  per  immensum  temporis  spatium,  in  uno 
cumulo  collocavit ;  collocatas,  corporibus,  prout  indies 
generantur,  in  fund  it,  Hinc  est,  si  contingat  vel  for- 
tuitum  consortium  inter  eos  homines,  quorum  animas 
in  hoc  acsrvo  propinquiores,  quod  primo  visu  (quasi 
veteris  vicinitatis  memores)  se  invicem  dihgant ;  dum 
isti,  primo  intuitu,  antipathice  stimuHs  urgeantur,  quo- 
rum animge  adversantes  diametrice  opponebantur." 

Fateor  commentum  hoc  Socraticum  a  theolosia 
abhorrere  ;  et  in  philosophia  pkn*imis  asystatis  laborare. 
Quod  si  ei  subesset  tantum  veritatis,  quantum  ingenii, 
sanctissime  voverem,  in  hoc  animarum  cumulo  tuam  et 
meam  contiguas  olim  jacuisse ;  cum  te  primum  con- 
spectum  et  animitiis  amarem,  et  a  te  redamarer. 

1.    Wliij  the  Archbishops    See   was   removed  from   London  to 
Conterhury.     A.D.  601. 

Much  about  this  time,  pope  Gregory  sent  two  archbishops'  palls 
into  England;  the  one  for  London,*  the  other  for  York.  The 
former  of  these  cities  had  been  honoured  with  an  archbishop''s  see 
some  hundred  years  since  king  Lucius.  But,  at  the  instance  of 
Augustine,  and  by  a  new  order  of  the  foresaid  Gregory,  this  pall 
sent  to  London  was  removed  thence  to  Canterbury,  (whereof 
Augustine  was  made  archbishop,)  and  there,  for  the  future,  fixed 
and  confirmed  for  several  reasons.  First.  London  already  had 
lustre  enough,  being  the  biggest  city  in  Britain  ;  and  it  was  need- 
less to  add  new  spiritual  to  her  old  temporal  greatness  ;  which,  con- 
joined, might  cause  pride  in  any  one  place,  whilst,  divided,  they  might 
give  honour  to  two  cities.  Secondly,  London,  by  reason  of  the 
receipt  thereof,  was  likely  to  prove  the  residing  place  for  the  English 
monarch  ;  and  it  was  probable  that  the  archi-episcopal  dignity  would 
there  be  eclipsed  and  outshined  by  the  regal  diadem.  Thirdly. 
Had  Augustine  been  archbishop  of  London,  he  might  have  seemed 
to  succeed  the  British  archbishops,  and  to  have  derived  some  right 
from  them,  contrary  to  his  humour,  who  would  lead  all,  but  follow 
none;  and  therefore  would  not  wear  an  old  title,  but  have  a  span- 
new  archbishop's  chair  carved  out  for  himself.     Lastly.  Canterbury 

*  RoG.  WKxNUO\kk,  Matth.  Fi-ortiLEC..  and  Koi-I'.  Hislor. 


98  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.    (301. 

was  the  place  wherein  Christianity  was  first  received  by  the  Saxons, 
and  tlierefore  deserved  to  be  honoured,  to  perpetuate  the  memory 
thereof.  Thus  London  hereafter  must  be  contented  with  the  plain 
seat  of  a  bishop,  the  mother  being  made  a  daughter,  and  must  come 
behind  Canterbury,  Avhich  did  much  wrong  and,  perchance,  some- 
tliino-  trouble  her.  But  churches  have  more  discretion  and  humility 
than  to  break  their  hearts  about  earthly  precedency ;  and  the  matter 
is  not  much,  which  see  went  first  when  living ;  seeing  our  age  hath 
laid  them  both  alike  level  in  their  graves. 

2.  Augustine  summons  a  Synod  of  Scuvon  and  British  Bishops. 
Augustine,  thus  armed  Avitli  archi-episcopal  authority,  to  show  a 
cast  of  his  office,  by  the  aid  of  Ethelbert  king  of  Kent  called  a 
council,  for  the  Saxon  and  British  bishops  to  come  together,  in  the 
confines  of  the  Wiccians  and  West  Saxons  ;  an  indifferent  place, 
for  mutual  ease,  in  mid-way  betwixt  both ;  haply  presaging,  that,  as 
their  distant  persons  met  on  equal  terms,  so  their  opposite  opinions 
might  agree  in  some  moderation.  The  particular  place  was  called 
Augustine's  Ake,  (that  is,  his  oak,  in  our  modern  dialect,)  which 
Stapleton  *  (mistaken  by  the  affinity  of  Wiccii  or  Veccii,  with 
Vectis,  the  Latin  name  for  the  Isle  of  Wight)  seeketh  near  South- 
ampton ;  where,  indeed,  he  may  find  many  oaks  in  the  New  Forest, 
and  yet  miss  the  right  one.  For  this  oak  stood  in  the  confines 
of  Worcester  "j-  and  Herefordshire ;  though,  at  this  day,  time 
hath  confounded  it  root  and  branch  ;  and  therefore  this  meeting 
is,  in  Latin,  called  Synodjis^  Vigomiensis.  Many  solemn 
entertainments,  we  know,  were  anciently  made  under  trees,  Gen. 
xviii.  4  :  and  a  palm-tree  served  Deborah  for  her  Westminster-hall, 
Avherein  she  judged  Israel,  Judges  iv.  5.  But  several  reasons 
are  assigned  why  Augustine  kept  this  council  under  an  oak.  First. 
So  public  a  place  was  free  from  exceptions  ;  whereunto  none  were 
debarred  access.  Secondly.  Being  congregated  under  the  view  of 
heaven,  and  not  pent  within  the  walls  of  a  private  house,  they  were 
minded  of  clear,  fair,  and  open  proceedings,  without  secret  ends,  or 
sinister  intents.  Thirdly.  Perchance  some  Pagan  Saxons,  allured 
with  novelty,  would  repair  to  the  council,  whose  jealousy  was  such 
as  in  no  case  they  would  come  under  a  roof,  for  fear  of  fascination, § 
as  hath  been  formerly  observed.  Lastly.  Augustine,  knowing  that 
the  Pagan  Britons  performed  their  superstitions  under  an  oak,|| 
celebrated  his  synod  under  the  same,  in  some  imitation,  and  yet  a 
correction,  of  their  idolatry  :  as,  in  a  religious  parallel.  Pagan  tem- 

•  In  his  Translation  of  Bede,   book  ii.  chap.  2.  t    Camden's  Brilannia  in 

Worcestershire.  t  Spelman  in  Conciliis,  anno  601,  page  107.  §  This  reason  is 

given  by  Sir  Ilenr.v  Spelman,  ut  priui:  \\  See  First  Ceulury,  parag.  3. 


A.D.    601.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    VII.  89 

,ples  had  formerly  by  him  been  converted  into  churches  of  saints. 
But,  when  allis  done,  the  matter  is  not  so  clear  but  that  the  place 
called  "  Augustine's  Oak""  may  as  well  be  a  town  as  a  tree,  so 
called  from  some  eminent  oak  in,  at,  or  near  it :  as  the  Vine  in 
Hampshire,  so  named  from  vines  anciently  growing  there,  is  a 
beautiful  house,  and  principal  seat,  where  the  barons  Sandys  have 
their  habitation.  And,  what  is  most  apposite  for  our  purpose, 
Sozomen  calleth  the  place  where  Theophilus  kept  a  synod  against 
St.  Chrysostom,  "  the  Oak ;""  which,  notwithstanding,  is  noto- 
riously known  to  have  been  a  populous  suburb  of  the  city  of 
Chalcedon. 

3.   The  British  Clergy  refuse  Submission  to  the  Pope  of  Rome. 

At  the  first  sessions  of  this  synod  there  was  a  very  thin  appear- 
ance of  the  Britons;  of  whom  Augustine  demanded,  that  they 
should  mutually  contribute  with  him  their  pains  to  convert  the 
Heathen  in  Britain,  and  that  they  should  submit  to  the  pope,  and 
embrace  an  uniformity  with  the  Romish  rites,  especially  in  the  cele- 
bration of  Easter.  What  their  answer  was,  it  is  pity  it  should  be 
delivered  in  any  other  words  than  what  the  abbot  of  Bangor,  being 
the  month  for  the  rest,  represented  as  followeth ;  and  let  it  shift,  as 
well  as  it  can,  for  its  own  authenticalness  : — 

Bid  ispis  a  diogel  i,  chwi  ynbod  ni  hall  vn  ac  nrral^  yn  vuild 
ac  ynn  ostingsdig  i  eglwys  Dutv^  ac  ir  Panb  o  Rm^am,  ac  i 
boob  Kyar  grisdic  n  dwyucl,  y  garu  pawb  yn  i  radd  metvn 
kariad  parfaich,  ac  ihelpio  paivb  o  honaunt  ar  air  a  giiecthred 
i  vod  ynn  blant  y  Duw,  ac  amgenach  ivyddod  nc  htvn  nidadiven 
i  vod  ir  neb  yr  yddeck  chwi  y  henwi  yn  paab  ne  in  daad  o  dnad, 
yic  glemio  ac  yw  ovunn :  ar  uvyddod  hi  vn  idden  in  yn  varod 
yw  rodde  ac  yw  dalu  iddo  ef  ac  i  pob  Krisdion  yn  dragwiddol. 
He  uid  yr  ydym  ni  dan  lywodrath  esoob  Kaerllion  ar  IVysc, 
yr  Men  ysidd  yn  oligivr  dan  Diiw  ar  nom  ni,  y  vnienthud  i  ni 
gadwr  fordd  ysbrydol.'* 

"  Be  it  known  and  without  doubt  unto  you,  that  we  all  are,  and 
every  one  of  us,  obedient  and  subjects  to  the  church  of  God,  and  to 
the  pope  of  Rome,  and  to  every  godly  Christian,  to  love  every  one 
in  his  degree  in  perfect  charity,  and  to  help  every  one  of  them  by 
word  and  deed  to  be  the  children  of  God  ;  and  other  obedience 
than  this  I  do  not  know  due  to  him  whom  you  name  to  be  pope, 
nor  to  be  the  father  of  fathers,  to  be  claimed  and  to  be  demanded. 
And  this  obedience  we  are  ready  to  give,  and  to  pay  to  him,  and  to 
every  Christian  continually.     Besides,  we  are  under  the   govern- 

*  Copied  exactly  many  years  since  by  Sir  Henry  Spelman,  out  of  an  ancient  British 
jnauuscript  of  Mr.  Peter  Moston's,  a  'SVclsli  gentleman.    Spelman's  Concilia,  page  108. 


90  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.    601. 

jnent  of  the  bishop  of  Kaerleon  upon  Uske,  who  is  to  oversee  under 
God  over  us,  to  cause  us  to  keep  the  way  spiritual." 

See  we  here  the  pedigree  of  the  British  church,  which  the  shorter 
the  ancienter,  the  fewer  steps  it  had  the  higher  it  reached.  They 
■were  subject  in  spiritual  matters  to  the  bishop  of  Caer-leon,  and 
above  him  unto  God,  without  any  subordination  unto  the  pope  ;  so 
that  it  was  more  than  a  presumption,  that  religion  came  into 
Britain,  not  by  the  semi-circle  of  Rome,  but  in  a  direct  line  from 
the  Asiatic  churches.  We  must  not  forget,  that  though,  many 
years  since,  the  archi- episcopal  see  of  the  Britons  was  removed  from 
Caer-leon  to  St.  David's  ;  yet  it  still  retained  the  title  of  Caer-leon, 
as  of  the  first  and  most  famous  place. 

4.    The  Credit  of  this  Manuscript  impugned. 

A  late  papist  much  impugneth  the  credit  of  this  manuscript,  (as 
made  since  the  days  of  king  Henry  the  Eighth,)  and  cavilleth  at  the 
Welsh  thereof,  as  modern,  and  full  of  false  spelling.  He  need  not 
liave  used  so  much  violence  to  wrest  it  out  of  our  hands,  who  can 
part  with  it  without  considerable  loss  to  ourselves,  or  gain  to  our 
adversaries  ;  for  it  is  but  a  breviate  or  abstract  of  those  passages, 
which  in  Bede  and  other  authors  appear  most  true,  of  the  British 
refusing  subjection  to  the  see  of  Rome.  Whilst,  therefore,  the 
chapter  is  canonical,  it  matters  not  if  the  contents  be  Apocrypha, 
as  the  additions  of  some  well-meaning  scribe.  And  though  this 
Welsh  be  far  later  than  the  days  of  abbot  Dinotli,  and  the 
English  (added  in  the  original)  later  than  the  Welsh  ;  yet  the 
Latin,  as  ancienter  than  both,  containeth  nothing  contrary  to  the 
sense  of  all  authors,  which  write  this  intercourse  betwixt  Augustine 
and  the  Welsh  nation. 

5.    The  Synod  proves  ineffectual. 

But  this  synod,  in  fine,  proved  ineffectual,  the  British  bishops 
refusing  to  submit,  and  Augustine  to  communicate  with  them  with- 
out such  submission.  Whereupon,  at  Augustine's  motion,  a  blind 
man  was  publicly  presented  amongst  them  ;  on  whom  the  British 
bishops  practised  in  vain  with  their  prayers,  to  restore  him  to  his 
sight ;  which,  at  the  request  of  Augustine  to  God,  was  presently  and 
perfectly  performed.*  This  miracle  convinced  the  Britons,  that 
Augustine  was  in  the  right  for  the  critical  observation  of  Easter. 
But  yet,  they  could  not,  absque  suorum  consensu  ac  licentid, 
"  without  the  national  consent  of  their  ow^n  people,  and  principal 
elders  therein,"'''  renounce  their  ancient  customs  to  embrace  new 
practices.     Indeed,  as  for  their  submitting  to  Augustine's  jurisdic- 

*  Bede's  Ecflcs.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  2. 


A.D,  601.  BOOK    II,      CENT.    VII.      .  91 

tion,  tlicy  apprehended  it  unsafe  for  the  present,  and  mischievous 
for  the  future  ;  having  another  civil  government  under  kings  of 
their  own,  and  suspecting  his  spiritual  power  might,  in  process 
of  time,  intrench  upon  their  temporal  liberty. 

6.    The  Dialogue  betwLvt  the  British  Bishops  and  the  Anchoret. 

Departing  hence,  the  Britons  repaired  to  an  aged  anchoret, 
charactered  by  Beda  to  be  sanctus  et  prudens,  "  holy  and  wise," 
(and  none  would  wish  his  counsellor  better  qualified,)  and  craved 
his  advice,  how  hereafter  they  should  behave  themselves  in  the  next 
synod,  wherein  they  had  promised  to  give  Augustine  a  meeting ; 
Avhich  out  of  our  author  may  thus  be  dialogue-wise  digested  : — 

BRITISH    BISHOPS,    ANCHORET. 

British  bishops. — Are  we  bound  to  desert  our  traditions  at 
the  preaching  of  Augustine  ? 

Anchoret. — If  he  be  a  man  of  God,  follow  him. 

British  bishofs. — But  how  shall  we  be  able  to  make  trial 
thereof.? 

Anchoret. — The  Lord  saith,  "  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and 
learn  of  me ;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,"  Matt.  xi.  29.  If 
therefore  this  Augustine  be  mild  and  humble  in  heart,  it  is  credible 
that  he  himself  beareth  the  yoke  of  Christ,  and  tendereth  the  same 
to  be  borne  of  you  ;  but  if  he  be  cruel  and  proud,  it  appeareth  that 
he  is  not  of  God,  neither  ought  ye  to  heed  what  he  saith. 

British   bishops. — But  how  shall  we  make  discovery  hereof? 

Anchoret. — Contrive  it  so,  that  he  and  his  may  come  first  into 
the  place  of  the  synod.  And  if  he  rise  up  when  you  draw  near 
unto  him,  hear  him  then  obediently,  knowing  him  for  a  servant  of 
Christ ;  but  if  he  slighteth  you,  and  vouchsafeth  not  to  rise  up 
unto  you,  (seeing  you  are  more  in  number,)  let  him  be  slighted  by 
you. 

Armed  with  these  instructions,  the  British  bishops  advance  to 
the  second  synod ;  where  Augustine,  pontifically  sitting  in  his 
chair,  at  their  entrance,  entertained  them  only  with  neglect  and 
contempt  ;  Avhich  by  the  Britons  was  accordingly  requited. 

7-  Proud  Diotrephes  Augfustine. 

Herein  that  stately  prelate  foi'got  St.  Gregory's  precept  to  him, 

"  not    to  proceed   too  rigorously  in  the  alteration  of  ceremonies, 

but  to  allow  a  latitude  according  to  time  and  place."*     O  for  a 

little  in  him  of  St.  Paul's  temper,  who  w^as  "  made  all  things  to  all 

*  See  Ids  answer  to  Augustine's  tliird  question. 


92  CHURCH  HISTORY  OF  BRITAIN.    A.D.GOl — 603,  OR  605. 

men,  that  by  all  means  he  might  gain  some  ! ""  1  Cor.  ix.  22. 
Had  Augustine"'s  joints  been  suppled  with  the  oil  of  Immility,  one 
bended  knee  might  probably  have  bowed  many  hearts  unto  him  ; 
"whereas  now  he  lost  their  affections :  pride  being  an  unwinning 
quality,  rendering  the  proud  party  scorned  by  his  betters,  hated  by 
his  equals,  feared  (perchance)  by  his  inferiors,  but  loved  by  none. 
Had  not  he,  who  is  said  to  have  cured  the  blind,  need  to  have  his 
own  eyes  opened  herein  .''  who,  thougli  he  be  commonly  called 
"  Augustine  the  less,"  in  distinction  from  his  name-sake,  Father 
St.  Augustine  of  Hippo  ;  yet  may  be  allowed  "  Augustine  the 
great,"  if  a  measure  be  taken  from  the  dimensions  of  his  pride  and 
haughtiness. 

8.  Avgustines  Prophecy. 

We  pass  now  from  this  Augustine's  pride,  to  his  ])rophecy  ; 
■who,  enraged  at  the  British  bishops,  for  denying  subjection  unto 
him,  flatly  fell  a-menacing  them ;  that,  seeing  they  would  not 
submit  to  his  motion,  and  join  with  him  in  preaching  to  the 
Saxons,  soon  after  they  should  feel  the  force  of  their  enemies"* 
sword,  and  be  suddenly  confounded  by  those  whom  they  would  not 
endeavour  to  convert :   which  accordingly  came  to  pass. 

9.    The  Massacre  of  the  Monks  at  Bangor.      A.D.  603, 
alias  605. 

For  not  long  after,  Ethelfrid,  the  Pagan  king  of  Northumber- 
land, having  conquered  Chester,  invaded  Wales,  and  bade  the 
Britons  battle.  Amongst  them  was  a  regiment  of  the  monks  of 
Bangor,  all  naked  and  unarmed,  save  with  tears  and  prayers, 
(whole  volleys  whereof  they  discharged  to  heaven  for  the  good 
success  of  their  countrymen,)  being  all  by  themselves  upon  an 
advantage  of  ground  ;  and  one  Brockmaile,  a  Briton,  ^s  captain  of 
their  life-guard,  had  a  company  of  soldiers  to  defend  them.  Ethel- 
frid, being  informed  that  these  monks  prayed  against  him,  con- 
cluded them  to  be  his  effectual  enemies,  though  otherwise  offering 
liim  no  hostility ;  and,  fiercely  falling  on  them,  put  twelve  hundred 
of  them  to  the  sword,  fifty  only  escaping  ;  Brockmaile  most  basely 
deserting  them  whom  he  was  set  to  defend. 

10.  Aagtistihe  suspected  to  be  their  Murderer. 
But  here  some  birds  sing  a  different  note  from  the  rest,  which 
must  be  listened  unto  ;  namely,  such  authors,  considerable  for 
their  number,  antiquity,  gravity,  and  learning,  who  accuse  this 
Augustine  for  the  designer  of  the  death  and  destruction  of  these 
innocent  British  monks  ;  so   that  he  cunningly  foretold  what  he 


A.D.   GOo  OR  G05.  BOOK     II.      CENT.   VII.  93 

himself  cruelly  intended  to  fulfil.  Thus,  well  might  Jezebel,  who 
"  calleth  herself  a  prophetess,''"'  Rev.  ii.  20,  certainly  foreshow  the 
death  of  Naboth,  for  denying  his  vineyard  to  Ahab,  when  she  had 
purposely  beforehand  packed  and  plotted  the  same  :  a  heavy  accu- 
sation, if  true,  that  "  Augustine,*"  (to  use  my  friend"'s  expression,)* 
"  Gregorii  Vicariiis,  should  be  gregis  sicarius ;  et  ecclesicB 
fuiurce  Anglicance  conversor  should  be  prcBsentis  Britannicce 
eversor  ;  so  that,  instead  of  a  prophet's  reward,  he  deserved  the 
punishment  of  a  murderer."'''  But,  to  clear  this  point,  conceive  we 
a  grand  jury  of  four-aud-twenty  judicious  readers  empanneled, 
before  whom  the  memory  of  Augustine  is  indicted  of  murder,  and 
witnesses  produced  on  both  sides.  Let  none  censure  me,  if  in 
these  proceedings  my  pen  fails  in  legal  formalities  ;  such  exactness 
not  being  by  me  intended,  but  only  some  general  conformity  with 
a  law-trial,  to  fix  the  history  in  our  fancies  with  more  pleasure  and 
delight. 

11.  Witnesses  produced  against  him. 
The  bill,  first,  was  solemnly  read,  running  to  this  effect, — "  That 
Augustine  the  monk,  (commonly  called  the  English  apostle,)  not 
having  the  fear  of  God  before  his  eyes,  out  of  forethought  malice, 
feloniously  did  plot,  project,  and  contrive,  the  murder  of  twelve 
hundred  monks  of  Bangor,  by  soliciting  Ethelbert  the  Christian  king 
of  Kent,  to  move  Ethelfrid  the  Pagan  king  of  Northumberland, 
with  force  of  arms  to  kill  and  slay  the  monks  aforesaid,"  &c.  An 
accusation  so  heinous,  that  at  first  it  filled  the  whole  jury  with 
silence,  horror,  and  amazement ;  till  afterwards  they  recollected 
themselves  to  attend  unto  the  following  witnesses  : — 

1.  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  whose  Welsh  blood  was  up,  as  . 
concerned  in  the  cause  of  his  countrymen.  "  Ethelbert,  king  of 
Kent,''"'  said  he,  "  when  he  saw  the  Britons  disdaining  to  yield  sub- 
jection to  Augustine,  and  that  they  scorned  to  be  subject  to  him- 
self, stirred  up  the  Northumberlanders,  and  other  Saxon  princes  ; 
that,  gathering  a  great  army  against  the  city  of  Bangor,  they  should 
go  forth  to  destroy  the  abbot  Dinoth,  and  the  other  clergy,  who 
had  formerly  slighted  them.''''-f- 

2.  Thomas  Gray,  an  old  chronicler,^  (as  it  is  written  in 
French,)  brought  in  this  evidence, — "That'  Augustine,  being 
refused  of  the  Christian  Britons,  inflamed  Ethelbertus  kinar  of 
Kent,  to  levy  his  power,  and  to  war  against  them,  himself 
being  also  in  company,'"  (as  in  the  old  abstract  of  chronicles  is 
recorded,)    "  and    marching    with    him    towards    the    slaughter ;'''' 

•  Mr.  Abraham  Wheelock,  in  his  notes  on  Bede,  page  115.  f  Manuscript,  in 

pub.  lib.  Cantab,  page  \67 .  X  Cited  in  Jewel's  "  Apology,"  part  i.  page  11. 


94  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.  D.  603. 

where  they  had  no  more  regard  of  mercy,  than  a  wolf  liath  upon 
a  sheep. 

3.  Nicholas  Trivet,  a  Dominican,  who  wrote  some  three  hun- 
dred years  since,  deposed, — "  That  Ethelbert  king  of  Kent,  being 
highly  offended,  incited  Ethelfrid  king  of  Northumberland,  and 
other  petty  Saxon  kings,  because  they  had  contemned  Augustine 
in  the  council,"*  &c. 

4.  Elsebiensis  Monachus,  commenting  on  those  words  of 
Merlin,  Delehitur  iterum  religio,  "  Religion  shall  again  be  de- 
stroyed," thus  expoundeth  them  : — "  This  was  afterwards  fulfilled, 
either  by  Gormund,  or  by  Augustine,  \v'ho  caused  twelve  hundred 
monks  to  be  slain  at  Bangor  in  Wales,  because  they  obeyed  him 
not  in  a  council."''' -f- 

These  testimonies  much  moved  the  Jury ;  who,  notwithstanding, 
reserved  their  other  ear,  as  it  became  honest  men,  to  hearken  to  the 
depositions  in  Augustine's  behalf. 

12.  Testimonies  in  his  Behalf. 

Amongst  these,  that  of  Bede  was  most  material  : — Sicqne  com- 
pJetum  est  prcEsagium  sancti  potitijicis  Augiistini,  (quamvis 
ipso  jam  multo  ante  tempore  ad  coelestia  regna  siihlato,)  ut 
etiam  temporalis  interitus  ultionem  sentirent  perfidi,  quod 
ohlata  sibi  perpetucB  salutis  consilia  spreverant.\  Which  words 
(for,  it  is  seasonably  remembered,  all  pleas  must  now  be  in 
English)  may  thus  be  translated  : — "  And  so  the  prophecy  of  holy 
bishop  Augustine  was  fulfilled,  (although  himself,  long  before  that, 
was  taken  out  of  this  life  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven,)  that  also  the 
treacherous  people  might  feel  the  revenge  of  temporal  ruin,  because 
they  had  despised  the  counsels  of  eternal  salvation  offered  unto 
them." 

13.    The  Paragraph  in  Bede''s  Testimony  questioned. 

Much  difference  arose  hereabouts ;  the  rather,  because  some 
urged  that  parenthesis  ("  although  himself  long  before,"  &c.)  to 
have  been  studiously  interpolated  in  Bede,  on  purpose  for  the 
purgation  of  Augustine,  by  some  in  after-ages  that  favoured  him  ; 
alleging  that  it  is  not  in  the  ancient  Saxon  copies,  being  put  in 
as  "a  piece  of  new  cloth  into  an  old  garment,"  with  intent  to 
"  fill  it  up,"  but  in  event  "  making  it  worse ;"  because  this  passage 
checketh  the  pen  of  Bede  in  the  full  speed  thereof,  (no  less  against 
the  rules  of  history,  than  of  horsemanship,)  as  he  was  writing  the 
Life  of  Augustine,  the  story  whereof,  notwithstanding,  still  runs  on, 

•  Sir  Henry  Spelman's  "  Conncils,"  page  111.  t  Mamiscr.  in  Bennet  Coll. 

Ldbrar,  Camb.  \  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap,  2.  Editione  TVhelochianu, 


A,D.  603.  BOOK     II.       CEXT.    VII.  95 

and  continues  until  the  end  of  the  next  chapter.  Here  some  of  the 
jury  betook  themselves  to  the  point  of  chronology,  as  most  proper 
to  decide  the  matter  now  depending  ;  but  such  was  the  variety  of 
authors,  that  no  certainty  could  thence  be  extracted.  For,  though 
the  massacre  of  the  monks  of  Bangor  is  generally  noted  to  be 
onno  003,*  which  falls  out  before  the  death  of  Augustine  ;  yet 
the  Annals  of  Ulster  (whose  authority  is  not  to  be  contemned) 
observe  the  same  in  the  year  613 ;  which,  undoubtedly,  was  after 
Augustine's  decease.-j- 

14.  Mi\  Foxs  Moderation  much  moveth  the  Jury. 
Then  a  second  sort  of  witnesses  presented  themselves,  as  Mr. 
Parker,!  bishop  Jewel, §  and  others,  somewhat  sharp  against 
Augustine  in  their  expressions  ;  Avhich  wrought  the  less  with  the 
jury  ;  partly,  because  of  such  authors*'  known  opposition  to  the 
Romish  church ;  and,  partly,  because  of  their  modern  writing, — 
almost  a  thousand  years  after  the  matter-in-fact.  Only  the  moderate 
testimony  of  reverend  Mr.  Fox  much  moved  the  whole  court,  as  one 
thoroughly  well-afFected  in  religion,  and  averse  from  all  popery 
and  cruelty,  thus  expressing  himself:  "This  seemeth  rather  sus- 
picious than  true,  that  Ethelbert,  being  a  Christian  king,  either 
could  so  much  prevail  with  a  Pagan  idolater,  or  else  would 
attempt  so  far  to  commit  such  a  cruel  deed ;  but,  of  uncertain 
things  I  have  nothing  certainly  to  say,  less  to  judge."|)  This,  I  say, 
]H-e vailed  so  far  with  the  jury,  that,  consulting  with  themselves,  they 
fnind  an  ignoramus :  with  whose  commendable  charity  I  concur ; 
preferring  rather  to  clear  a  twilight  innocence  into  noon-day,  than 
to  darken  it  into  midnight. 

15.   The  Blood  of  Bangor  Monks  revenged. 

To  return  to  the  monks  of  Bangor :  Their  innocent  blood  went 
not  long  unrevenged  ;  for  we  find  recorded,  how  three  British 
princes,  namely,  Blederick  duke  of  Cornwall,  Margaduc  duke  of 
South  Wales,  and  Cadwan  duke  of  North  Wales,  bade  battle  to 
the  Northumberlanders  as  they  were  invading  Wales,  and  not 
only  dangerously  wounded  the  aforesaid  Ethelfrid  their  king,  but 
also  discomfited  his  army,  and  slew  ten  thousand  and  sixty  of  his 
soldiers,  forcing  him  at  last  to  articles  of  composition  ; — that  he 
should  confine  himself  within  his  own  country,  north  of  Trent,  and 
leave  all  Wales  to  be  entirely  and  peaceably  enjoyed  by  the  Britons, 
the  true  owners  thereof.^ 

•  Matt.  AVe&t.  Chichestr.  MS.  Bibl.  pub.  Cantabrig.  t  Usher  Brit.  Eccles. 

Antiq.  page  1157.  t  Antiq.  Britun.  page  48.  §  ''Apology,"  part  i.  page  11, 

II  "  Acts  and  Momiments,"  part  i.  page  154,  col.  2.  T[  Nicolas  Trivet,  largely 

cited  by  Sir  Henry  Spelman  iu  his  "  Councils,''  page  112. 


90  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.D.  G03. 

16.  Farewell  taken  for  some  Years  of  the  British  Church. 

However,  here,  to  our  great  grief,  we  are  fain  to  take  our  farewell, 
for  some  hundreds  of  years,  of  the  British  church,  wanting  instruc- 
tions concerning  the  remarkable  particulars  thereof.  Yet  Dr. 
Harpsfield  deserves  a  check,  both  for  his  false  ground-work,*  and 
presumptuous  inference  built  thereupon.  For,  first,  he  slighteth 
the  British  nation,  as  such  a  one  as,  since  this  their  dissenting  from 
Augustine  and  the  Romish  church  in  ceremonies,  never  achieved  any 
actions  of  renown,  or  mounted  to  any  eminency  in  the  world. 
Then,  he  imputeth  their  being  so  long  depressed,  and  at  last  sub- 
dued, by  the  English,  as  a  just  punishment  of  God  on  their  not 
complying  with  Rome  :  so  pragmatical  a  prier  he  is  into  Divine 
secrets.  But  he  who  thus  casteth  forth  a  national  abuse  can  never 
see  where  such  a  stone  lighteth  ;  for,  beside  the  nation  for  the  time 
being,  their  posterity  engaged  therein  have  just  cause  either  to  find 
or  make  reparation  to  themselves.  I  could  and  would  myself  assert 
the  British  from  his  scandalous  pen,  were  it  not  against  the  rules  of 
manners  and  discretion  to  take  this  office  out  of  the  hands  of  some 
of  their  own  nation,  for  whom  it  is  more  proper,  as  they  are  more 
able  to  perform  it. 

17.  Commendation  of  the  British  Language. 
Only  give  me  leave  to  insert  a  line  or  two,  (some  pleasant  dis- 
course will  not  do  amiss,  after  so  much  sad  matter,)  in  commenda- 
tion of  the  British  tongue,  and  vindication  thereof  against  such  as 
causelessly  traduce  it.  First.  Their  language  is  native.  It  was 
one  of  those  which  departed  from  Babel ;  and  herein  it  relates  to 
God,  as  the  more  immediate  author  thereof :  whereas  most  tongues 
in  Europe  owe  their  beginning  to  human  depraving  of  some  original 
language.  Thus  the  Italian,  Spanish,  and  French,  daughters  or 
nieces  to  the  Latin,  are  generated  from  the  corruption  thereof. 
Secondly.  Unmixed.  For,  though  it  hath  some  few  foreign  words, 
and  useth  them  sometimes,  yet  she  rather  accepteth  them  out  of 
state,  than  borroweth  tliem  out  of  need,  as  having,  beside  these, 
other  words  of  her  own  to  express  the  same  things.  Yea,  the 
Romans  were  so  far  from  making  the  Britons  to  do,  that  they  could 
not  make  them  to  speak,  as  they  would  have  them  :  their  very  lan- 
guage never  had  a  perfect  conquest  in  this  island.  Thirdly. 
Unaltered.  Other  tongues  are  daily  disguised  with  foreign  words, 
so  that  in  a  century  of  years,  they  grow  strangers  to  themselves  ;  as 
now  an  Englishman  needs  an  interpreter  to  understand  Chaucer*'s 
Enoflish.  But  the  British  continues  so  constant  to  itself,  that  the 
prophecies  of  old  Teliessin  (who  lived  above  a  thousand  years  since) 

"  Eccles,  Hist,  srcii/o  7,  cap.  39,  page  1  ]4. 


A.D.  003.  BOOK    IT.      CENT.    VIT.  '97 

are  at  this  day  intelligible  in  that  tongue.  Lastly.  Durable ;  which 
had  its  beginning  at  the  confusion  of  tongues,  and  is  likely  not  to 
have  its  ending  till  the  dissolution  of  the  world. 

18.  Causelessly  traduced  by  Ignorance* 
Some  indeed  inveigh  against  it,  as  being  hard  to  be  pronounced, 
having  a  conflux  of  many  consonants,  and  some  of  them  double- 
sounded  ;  yea,  whereas  the  mouth  is  the  place  wherein  the  office  of 
speech  is  generally  kept,  the  British  words  must  be  uttered  through 
the  throat.  But  this  rather  argues  the  antiquity  thereof,  herein 
running  parallel  with  the  Hebrew,  (the  common  tongue  of  the  old 
world,  before  it  was  enclosed  into  several  languages,)  and  hath  much 
affinity  therewith,  in  jointing  of  words  with  affixes,  and  many  other 
correspondencies.  Some  also  cavil,  that  it  grates  and  tortures  the 
ears  of  hearers  with  the  harshness  thereof;  whereas,  indeed,  it  is 
unpleasant  only  to  such  as  are  ignorant  of  it.  And  thus  every 
tongue  seems  stammering,  which  is  not  understood ;  yea,  Greek 
itself  is  barbarism  to  barbarians.  Besides,  what  is  nick-named 
"  harshness  "  therein  maketh  it  indeed  more  full,  stately,  and  mas- 
culine. But  such  is  the  epicurism  of  modern  times,  to  addulce  all 
words  to  the  ear,  that  (as  in  the  French)  they  melt  out,  in  pro- 
nouncing, many  essential  letters,  taking  out  all  the  bones,  to  make 
them  bend  the  better  in  speaking ;  and  such  hypocrites  in  their 
words  speak  them  not  truly  in  their  native  strength,  as  the  plain- 
dealing  British  do,  which  pronounce  every  letter  therein  more  manly, 
if  less  melodious.  Lastly.  Some  condemn  it  unjustly  as  a  worthless 
tongue,  because  leading  to  no  matter  of  moment ;  and, 'who  will 
care  to  carry  about  that  key  which  can  unlock  no  treasure  .''  But 
this  is  false  ;  that  tongue  affording  monuments  of  antiquity,  some 
being  left,  though  many  be  lost ;  and  more  had  been  extant,  but  for 
want  of  diligence  in  seeking,  and  carefulness  in  preserving  them. 

19.  Aiigustine  bapti.reth  ten  thousand  in  one  Day. 

But,  craving  pardon  of  the  reader  for  this  digression,  we  re-assume 
our  Augustine,  who  all  this  while  was  very  industrious,  and  no  less 
successful,  in  converting  the  Saxons  to  the  Christian  faith.  Insomuch 
that  a  certain  author*  reporteth,  how,  in  the  river  Swale,  near 
Richmond  in  Yorkshire,-f-  Augustine  on  one  day  baptized  above  ten 

*  Cited  by  Mr.  Camdeu,  Preface  of  Bril.  page  13G.  t  In  'li^  Examen  Ilistoricum, 

Dr.  Peter  Heylin  says,  tliat  the  Swale,  in  which  Augustine  baptized  such  a  great  multi- 
tude, was  not  the  river  which  fertilizes  the  vaUey  of  Richmond  in  Yorkshire :  "  The 
Medway,  falling  into  the  Thames,  is  divided  by  the  Isle  of  Sheppey  into  two  great  branches, 
of  which  the  one  is  called  East-Swale,  the  other  West-Swale."  Fuller  very  ingenuously 
adds  :  "  I  profess  myself  the  Animadverter's  convert  in  this  point,  agreeing  with  him,  that 
this  grand  baptizing,  if  done  by  St.  Austin,  was  done  in  the  place  by  him  specified." — Edit. 

Vol.  I.  H 


98*  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.   G03. 

thousand ;  adding  withal,  that  the  people  not  only  passed  without 
danger  through  so  deep  a  river,  but  also  they  who  were  sick  and 
deformed  when  they  went  in,  were  whole  and  handsome  when  they 
came  forth  again.*  The  judicious  reader  may,  in  this  miracle,  dis- 
cover how  the  author  thereof  (no  doubt  some  ignorant  monk)  hath 
therein  jumbled  and  confounded  three  distinct  Scripture  histories,  to 
make  a  mock-parallel  betwixt  the  rivers  Jordan  and  Swale  : — 1. 
Borrowing  the  people's  safe  passing  through  it,  from  Joshua''s  con- 
ducting the  Israelites  through  Jordan,  Joshua  iv.  1.  2.  Borrowing 
their  being  baptized  in  it,  from  John's  baptizing  the  Jews  in  Jordan, 
Matt.  iii.  6.  S.  Borrowing  the  curing  of  their  infirmities  by  it, 
from  Elisha's  healing  Naaman's  leprosy  in  Jordan,  2  Kings  v.  14. 
But  here  it  must  be  remembered,  that  Bede  maketh  no  mention  at 
all  hereof;  and  ascribeth  this  numerous  baptizing  to  Paulinus,  arch- 
bishop of  York,  many  years  after.  It  would  argue  too  much 
morosity  in  us,  to  demur  in  our  faith  to  the  whole  fact,  till  authors 
are  all  agreed  about  the  doer  thereof.  For  mine  own  part,  I  con- 
ceive Paulinus  the  more  probable  person,  as  questioning  whether 
Augustine  (most  conversant  amongst  the  South  and  West  Saxons) 
ever  moved  so  far  Northward. 

20.  The  Simplicity  of  ancient  Baptism. 
And,  if  so  many  were  baptized  in  one  day,  it  appears  plainly, 
that,  in  that  age,  the  administration  of  that  sacrament  was  not  loaded 
with  those  superstitious  ceremonies,  as  essential  thereunto,  of  cross- 
ing, spittle,  oil,  cream,  salt,  and  such-like  trinkets ;  which  Protest- 
ants generally  as  little  know  what  they  are,  as  Papists  why  they  use 
them.  I  say,  in  that  age  nothing  was  used  with  baptism  but  bap- 
tism ;  the  Avord  and  the  water  made  the  sacrament.  Yea,  the  arch- 
bishop is  said  to  have  "  commanded  by  the  voice  of  criers,  that  the 
people  should  enter  the  river  confidently,  two  by  two,  and,  in  the 
name  of  the  Trinity,  baptize  one  another  by  turns."-}*  This,  indeed, 
was  the  most  compendious  way  ;  otherwise  Joshua's  day,  wherein 
the  sun  stood  still,  had  been  too  short  for  one  man's  personal  per- 
formance of  such  an  employment. 

21.  The  Idol  Heale  destroyed  by  Avgnstine  at  Cern. 
Another  considerable  accession  was  made  to  Christianity  in  the 
South- West  part  of  this  isle,  and  particularly  in  Dorsetshire  ;  where 
Augustine,  at  Cern,  destroyed  the  idol  of  Heale.,  or  ^sculapius, 
which  the  Saxons  formerly  adored. |  But  in  his  journey  hither, 
(reader,  they  are  not  mine,  but  my  author's,  words)  "  with  his  holy 

•  Flores  Sanctorum,  torn.  i.  wrote  by  Jerome  Porter,  page  515.  t  Camhen, 

vt  pi-iux.         t  Camden's  Brif.  in  Dorsetshire. 


A.D.  603.  BOOK    II,       CENT.    VII.  99 

company,  they  were  cruelly  oppressed  witli  the  three  familiar  dis- 
commodities of  travellers, — hunger,  thirst,  and  weariness  ;  when 
Augustine,  striking  his  staff  into  the  ground,  fetched  forth  a  crystal 
fountain,  which  quenched  the  extremity  of  their  thirst :  whence  the 
place  was  afterward  called  Cernel,  from  Cerno,  in  Latin,  '  to  see,"" 
and  El,  in  Hebrew,  '  God.' "  *  A  composition  of  a  name  hardly  to 
be  precedented,  that  a  word  should  commence,  per  saltum,  from 
Latin  into  Hebrew,  without  taking  Greek  by  the  way  thereof. 
Why  not  rather,  Cernwell,  "  Behold  the  fountain  ;"  or  Cernheal, 
"See  the  destruction  of  the  idol.''"  But,  in  truth,  in  all  books, 
ancient  and  modern, -|-  the  place  is  plainly  written  Cern,  without  any 
paragogical  apposition  thereunto. 

22.  A  ridictdoiis  Miracle. 
Indeed,  most  of  the  miracles  assigned  unto  this  Augustine, 
intended  with  their  strangeness  to  raise  and  heighten,  with  their 
levity  and  absurdity  do  depress  and  offend,  true  devotion.  Wit- 
ness, how,  when  the  villagers  in  Dorsetshire  beat  Augustine  and  his 
fellows,  and  in  mockery  fastened  fish-tails  at  their  backs,  in  punish- 
ment hereof  "  all  that  generation  had  that  given  them  by  nature, 
which  so  contemptibly  they  fastened  on  the  backs  of  these  holy 
men.":]:  Fie  for  shame  !  he  needs  an  hard  plate  on  his  face  that 
reports  it,  and  a  soft  place  in  his  head  that  believes  it.  ifc> 

23.  The  great  Improvetne)it  of  the  Gospel. 
However,  for  the  main,  we  undoubtedly  believe  that  the  preach- 
ing of  Augustine  and  his  fellows  took  good  effect,  finding  the  visible 
progress  and  the  improvement  thereof,  in  the  conversion  of  so  many 
from  Paganism  to  Christianity.  For,  Sebert  king  of  Essex 
(nephew  to  Ethelbert  king  of  Kent,  by  Ricula  his  sister)  embraced 
the  faith,  with  all  his  kingdom,  by  the  ministry  of  Mellitus,  whom 
Augustine  ordained  bishop  of  London ;  much  about  the  same 
time  making  one  Justus  a  Roman,  (who  was  vir  sui  nominis,  "  a 
man  answering  his  name,")  bishop  of  Rochester.  Many  other 
remarkable  matters  happened  in  the  life  of  Augustine,  especially 
those  questions  and  answers  which  passed  betwixt  him  and  Gregory 
the  Great ;  by  us  purposely  omitted,  partly,  because  they  are  too 
voluminous  to  insert ;  and,  partly,  because  they  are  at  large  in 
many  authors,  to  whom  we  remit  the  reader.§ 

24.  J7tgustine''s  Death  and   Epitaph.     A.D.  61 0.|| 
And  now  was  the  time   come  of  Augustine's  dissolution,  whose 
body  was  buried    in    the   northern   porch    of  the   new  church    in. 

"  Flores  Sanctorum,  in  the  Life  of  Augustine,  pp.  515,  616.         f  So  both  in  Camden 
and  Harpsfield.  j  Flores  Sanctorum,  ut  prius.  §  Bede,  ''  Book  of  Martyrs,"  and 

others.  Il  AMs  611,  aMs  612. 


100  CHURCH    HISTOUY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  GIO. 

Canterbury,  dedicated  to  Peter  and  Paul,  having,  as  Bede  informs 
us,  this  inscription  written  upon  his  monument  :  "  Here  resteth 
lord  Augustine,  the  first  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  who,  being  in 
times  past  sent  hither  from  blessed  Gregory,  bishop  of  the  Roman 
city,  and  supported  by  God  with  the  working  of  miracles,  brought 
king  Ethelbert  and  his  country  from  the  Avorshipping  of  idols  to 
the  faith  of  Christ :  and,  the  days  of  his  office  being  finished  in 
peace,  he  died  the  seventh  of  the  calends  of  June,  the  same  king 
reigning."* 

25.  The  Date  of  the  Year,  how  wanting  therein. 
But  in  this  epitaph  one  thing  is  wanting,  and  that  mainly  mate- 
rial ;  namely,  the  year  when  he  died.  Strangely  is  that  watch  con- 
trived, and  is  generally  useless,  which  shows  the  minute  of  the 
hour,  not  the  hour  of  the  day.  As  this  epitaph  points  at  the  day, 
of  smaller  consequence ;  leaving  out  the  year,  of  greater  concern- 
ment ; — this  hath  put  men's  fancies  on  various  conjectures.  Some 
make  it  a  mere  omission  of  Bede ;  which,  notwithstanding,  is  very 
strange,  because  otherwise  he  is  most  critical,  and  punctual  in  the 
notation  of  time.  Others  conceive  it  a  fault  of  commission  in 
some  of  after-ages,  who  purposely  expunged  the  year,  (beshrew  their 
fingers  that  thrust  out  the  eyes, — the  date,  of  this  epitaph  !)  lest 
the  same  should  make  too  clear  discoveries  of  Augustine's  surviving 
after  the  massacre  of  the  monks  of  'Bangor  ;  which  would  increase 
the  suspicion  of  his  having  a  finger  therein.  Others  place  the 
neglect  in  the  monument-maker,  and  not  in  Bede ;  seeing  he  was 
but  the  bare  relater  of  the  epitaph,  and,  therefore,  loath  to  add  or 
alter  any  thing  thereof.  Perchance,  the  tomb-maker  registered  the 
day,  as  a  nicety  most  likely  to  be  forgotten  ;  omitting  the  year,  as 
a  thing  generally,  universally,  and  notoriously  known,  all  men 
keeping  a  record  thereof,  which,  in  process  of  time,  became  wholly 
forgotten.  Thus  those  things  are  not  long  effectually  kept  by  any, 
which  are  equally  to  be  kept  by  all,  and  not  charged  on  any  one 
man's  particular  account.  Sure  I  am,  the  setting-up  of  this  land- 
mark, the  noting  of  the  year  of  his  death,  had  given  excellent  direc- 
tion to  such  as  travel  in  the  Saxon  chronology,  who  now  wander  at 
random  for  the  want  of  it. 

26.  Fareioell  to  St.  Augustine. 

And  now  we  take  our  farewell  of  Augustine,  of  whom  we  give  this 
character  : — He  found  here  a  plain  religion,  (simplicity  is  the  badge 
of  antiquity,)  practised  by  the  Britons,  living  some  of  them  in  the 
contempt,  and  many  more  in  the  ignorance,  of  worldly  vanities,  in  a 

*  Ecclcs.  Hist,  lib  ii.  cap.  3. 


A.  D.   6*10.  BOOK    II.     CENT.   VII.  101 

barren  country  :  and,  surely,  piety  is  most  healthful  in  those  places 
where  it  can  least  surfeit  of  earthly  pleasures.  He  brought  in  a 
religion  spun  with  a  coarser  thread,  though  guarded  Avith  a  finer 
trimming,  made  luscious  to  the  senses  with  pleasing  ceremonies  ;  so 
that  many,  who  could  not  judge  of  the  goodness,  were  courted  with 
the  gaudiness  thereof.  Indeed,  the  Papists  brag,  that  he  was  "  the 
apostle  of  the  English  ;" — but  not  one  in  the  style  of  St.  Paul, 
"  Neither  from  men,  nor  by  man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ,"  Gal.  i.  1  ;  — 
being  only  a  derivative  apostle,  sent  by  the  second-hand;  in  which  sense 
also  he  was  not  our  sole  apostle  ;  though  he  first  put  in  his  sickle, 
others  reaped  down  more  of  the  English  harvest,  propagating  the 
Gospel  farther,  as  shall  appear  hereafter.  But,  because  the  begin- 
nings of  things  are  of  greatest  consequence,  we  commend  his  pains, 
condemn  his  pride,  allow  his  life,  approve  his  learning,  admire  his 
miracles,  admit  the  foundation  of  his  doctrine  Jesus  Christ  ;  but 
refuse  "  the  hay  and  stubble"  he  built  thereupon.  We  are 
indebted  to  God's  goodness  in  moving  Gregory,  Gregory's  careful- 
ness in  sending  Augustine,  Augustine's  forwardness  in  preaching 
here  :  but,  above  all,  let  us  bless  God's  exceeding  great  favour,  that 
that  doctrine  which  Augustine  planted  here  but  impure,  and  his 
successors  made  worse  with  watering,  is  since,  by  the  happy 
^^Reformation,  cleared  and  refined  to  the  purity  of  the  Scriptures. 

27.  Laurenthis  siccceedeth  Augustine. 

After  the  death  of  Augustine,  Laurentins,  a  Roman,  succeeded 
him  ;  whom  Augustine  in  his  life-time  not  only  designed  for,  but 
"  ordained  in,  that  place  ;"*  out  of  his  abundant  caution,  that  the 
infant  church  might  not  be  orphan  an  hour,  lest  satan  should 
assault  the  breach  of  such  a  vacancy,  to  the  disadvantage  of  religion. 
Such  a  super-ordination  in  such  cases  was  canonical  ;  it  being  a 
tradition,  that  St.  Peter  in  like  manner  consecrated  Clement  his 
successor  in  the  church  of  Rome.'f'  And  sure  it  is,  the  prophet 
Elijah,  no  doubt  to  his  great  comfort  whilst  living,  anointed  Elisha 
to  minister  in  his  room,  in  his  prophetical  function,  1  Kings  xix.  16, 
In  one  respect  Laurenlius  exceeded  Augustine, — that  he  reduced 
the  recusant  Britons  and  Scots  (probably  demeaning  himself  more 
humbly  than  his  predecessor)  to  some  tolerable  conformity  to  the 
Romish  ceremonies,  especially  in  the  celebration  of  Easter.  Now, 
seeing  frequent  mention  hath  formerly  been  made  of  the  difference 
between  the  Romish  and  British  churches,  in  observation  of  that 
festival ;  we  will  endeavour,  as  truly  as  briefly,  to  state  the  contro- 
versy betwixt  them,  with  arguments  each  side  produceth  in  their 
own  behalf. 

•  Bede  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  c.  4.  1    Idem,  ibidem^ 


102  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  610. 

28.  The  Controversy  about  Easter  betwixt  Rome  and  the 
Britons  stated. 
But,  because  the  point  in  hand  is  so  nice,  (rather  than  necessary,) 
that  a  little  variation  therein  may  be  material,  I  will  carefully 
follow  the  truest  copy  I  can  get,  in  stating  the  question  ;  taking  it 
from  a  learned  pen  exactly  skilled  therein.*  "  The  Romans  kept 
Easter  upon  that  Sunday  which  fell  betwixt  the  fifteenth  and 
twenty-first  day  of  the  moon,-|-  (both  terms  included,)  next  after  the 
twenty-first  day  of  March,  which  they  accounted  to  be  the  seat  of 
the  vernal  equinoctial :  and,  in  reckoning  the  age  of  the  moon,  they 
followed  the  Alexandrian  cycle  of  nineteen  years,  as  it  was  explained 
imto  them  by  Dionysius  Exiguus.  The  Britons  kept  Easter 
upon  the  Sunday  that  fell  betwixt  the  fourteenth  and  the  twentieth 
day  of  the  moon  ;  following,  in  their  account  thereof,  not  the  nine- 
teen years'*  computation  of  Anatolius,  but  Sulpitius  Severus"'s  circle 
of  eighty-four  years."  It  is  enough  to  prove  the  practice  of  Rome 
was  the  right, — that  it  was  the  practice  of  Rome ;  yea,  did  it  not 
deserve  the  stab  of  excommunication  for  any  dissenting  from  her 
practice,  tantamountingly,  to  give  her  the  lie  ?  However,  it  seems 
the  reputation  of  Rome's  infallibility  was  yet  in  the  nonage  thereof, 
that  the  British  durst  so  boldly  differ  from  them  without  danger  of 
damnation. 

29.   The  Britons"  Plea. 

Yea,  they  pretended  ancient  tradition  on  their  side,  from  the 
primitive  times,  derived  from  St.  John  himself;  as  by  the  ensuing 
verses,  which  we  thought  fit  to  translate,  may  appear : — 

Nos  scriem  patriam,X  non  frivola  scripta  tenemtis, 
Discipulo  eusebii^  Polycarpo  dante  Johannis. 
file  etenim  bis  septcna  sub  tempore  Phtebm 
Sanctum  proBJixit  nobis  fore  Pascha  colendum, 
Atque  nefas  dixit,  si  quis  contraria  sentit. 

*'  No  writings  fond  we  follow,  but  do  hold 
Our  country-coiirse,  wliicli  Pol}'carp  of  old. 
Scholar  to  blessed  John,  to  us  hath  given. 
For  he,  when  th'  moon  had  finish'd  days  twice  seven, 
Bade  us  to  keep  the  holy  Paschal  time. 
And  coimt  dissenting  for  an  heinous  crime." 

Time  was,  when  once  the  activity  of  Peter  and  John  with  holy 
zeal  was  excellently  employed,  contending  in  a  race  which  should 
first  come  to  the  grave  of  our  Saviour,  John  xx.  4 :  but  see  here 

•  James  Usher  in  "  the  Religion  of  the  ancient  Irish,"  cap.  9.  page  63.  t  Hence 

is  it,  that  Beza  tartly  termeth  the  controversy,  Lunatica  quastio.  X  Fridgodus 

in  "  the  Life  of  Wilfrid."  §  Id  est,  sancti  vel  beati. 


A.D.    613.  BOOK     II.    CEKT.    VII.  103 

the  Romans  and  the  Britons,  the  pretended  followers  of  these  two 
apostles,  not  running,  but  wrestling  in  a  violent  contention,  who 
should  most  truly  observe  the  resurrection  of  Christ  out  of  his 
grave. 

30.   The  Controversy  reconciled  by  Laurentius.   A.D.  613. 

Strange  that  so  good  and  wise  men  should  thus  fall  out  about 
the  mint  and  cummin  of  religion, — a  ceremony  not  at  all  decided  in 
Scripture  !  It  is  to  be  feared,  that  the  when  maiTcd  the  how  of 
Easter ;  and  the  controversy  about  the  time  spoiled  a  more  material 
circumstance,  of  the  manner  of  keeping  this  feast ;  these  opposite 
parties  scarce  being  mutually  in  charity  at  the  receiving  of  the 
sacrament,  at  that  solemn  festival,  kept  among  the  Jews  with 
"  unleavened  bread,"  celebrated  among  Christians  with  too  much 
leaven  (sour  and  swelling)  of  anger  and  passion.  The  best  is,  for 
the  present  Laurentius  composed  the  quarrel,  and  brought  both 
Britons  and  Scots*  (that  is,  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland)  to  comply 
with  the  Romans  therein.  But  as  every  small  wrench,  or  stepping 
awry,  is  enough  to  put  an  ill-set  bone  out  of  joint  ;  so  each  petty 
animosity  was  great  enough  to  discompose  this  agreement.  But, 
enough  of  this  controversy  for  the  present :  we  shall  meet  it  too 
soon  again  ;  which,  like  a  restless  ghost,  will  haunt  our  Englisli 
History  for  more  than  a  hundred-and-fifty  years  together. 

31.   The  Antiquity  of  this  Difference. 

Only  I  will  add,  that,  although  about  Augustine''s  time,  this 
controversy  was  then  most  heightened  and  inflamed  ;  yet  an  old 
grudge  it  was,  long  before,  betwixt  the  Romans  and  Britons.  For, 
if  old  Taliessin"'s  (styled  "  chief  of  bards  "  by  the  Britons)  lived  (as 
Pitseus,-}-  a  papist  j  writer,  will  have  it)  in  the  year  five  hundred- 
and-forty ;  and  if  the  following  verses  be  Taliessin's,  as  it  is 
undoubtedly  believed ;  §  then  this  difference  was  on  foot  fifty 
years  before  Augustine  came  into  England. 

Gwae'r  offeiriad  byd 
Nys  engreifftia  gwyd 

jic  ny  phrcgetha  : 
Gwue  ny  cheidwey  gait 
Ac  efyn  vigail 

Ac  nys  areilia  : 
Gwae  ny  cheidwey  dheuaid 
Rhac  bleidhie  Rhufemaid 

Aiffon  gnwppa. 

'  Eede's  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  4.  t  De  Briian.  Scriptoribns  a-tutc  seMd,  page  9.5. 

X  In  his  "Appeal''  Fuller  says,    ^'Catholic   shall   be   deleted  in  the  next  edition,  and 
Papist  placed  in  the  room  thereof."  —Edit.  §  Chron.  of  Wales,  page  254. 


104  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  61*3. 

"  M'oe  be  to  that  priest  ybom 
That  will  not  cleanly  weed  Lis  corn. 

And  preach  his  charge  among  : 
Woe  be  to  that  shepherd,  I  say, 
That  \wll  not  watch  his  fold  alway, 

As  to  his  office  doth  belong. 
Woe  be  to  him  that  doth  not  keep 
From  Romish  wolves  his  sheep, 

With  staff  and  weapon  strong." 

These  words,  "  from  Romish  wolves,"  relate  to  the  vigilancy  of  the 
British  pastors  to  keep  their  people  from  Rome's  infection  in  these 
points.  Thus,  whilst  the  Britons  accounted  the  Romans  "wolves," 
and  the  Romans  held  the  Britons  to  be  "  goats,"  what  became  of 
Christ's  little  flock  of  sheep  the  while  .''  The  best  is,  the  good 
God,  we  hope,  will  be  merciful  in  his  sentence  on  men,  though 
passionate  men  be  merciless  in  their  censures  one  on  another. 

32.  The  Death  of  Ethelbert,  Feb.  24  M,  and  Decay  of 
Christianity. 
To  return  to  Laurentius  :  The  great  joy  for  the  agreement  made 
by  him  was  quickly  abated  with  grief,  at  the  death  of  king  Ethel- 
bert ;  who,  having  reigned  fifty-six,  and  been  a  Christian  one-and- 
twenty  years,  was  buried  nigh  to  his  good  wife,  queen  Bertha,  who 
died  a  little  before  him,  in  the  porch  of  St.  Martin's  church  in 
Canterbury  ;  which  fabric,  with  some  other  churches,  by  him  were 
beautifully  built,  and  bountifully  endowed.  In  Ethelbert's  grave 
was  buried  much  of  the  Kentish  Christianity  ;  for  Eadbald,  his 
son,  both  refused  his  father's  religion,  and,  Avallowing  in  sensuality, 
■was  guilty  of  that  sin  "  not  so  much  as  named  amongst  the  Gen- 
tiles," in  keeping  his  father's  second  wife.  Such  as  formerly  had 
taken  up  Christianity  as  the  court-fashion,  now  left  it ;  and  whom 
Ethelbert's  smiles  had  made  converts,  Eadbald's  frowns  quickly 
made  apostates.  Yea,  at  the  same  time,  (so  infectious  are  the 
bare  examples  of  great  men,)  the  three  sons  of  the  king  of  the 
East  Saxons  fell  back  to  Paganism.  These  refused  to  be  baptized, 
and  yet,  in  derision,  demanded  of  the  bishop  Mellitus  to  receive 
the  eucharist,  which  he  flatly  denied  them  ;  baptism  being  an 
introductory  sacrament,  and  it  being  unlawful  to  break  into  the 
church  without  going  through  this  porch.  Yet  they  gave  Mellitus 
fair  warning,  and  free  leave  to  depart ;  who,  coming  into  Kent, 
held  there  a  council  with  Laurentius  and  Justus,  what  was  best  to 
be  done.  At  last  they  concluded  that  it  was  in  vain  prodigally  to 
lose  their  pains  here,  which  they  might  expend  with  more  profit  in 
their  own  country  ;  and,  seeing  martyrdom  as  it  is  not  cowardly 
to  be  declined,  so  it  is  not  ambitiously  to  be  affected,  they  resolved 


A.D.  613.  BOOK    II.    CENT.    VII.  105 

to   go  the  way  which   Divine   Providence  directed   them,  and    to 
return  into  France  :  which  Mellitus  and  Justus  did  accordingly. 

33.  Mellitus  and  Justus's  Departure  defended. 

Was  this  Avell  done  of  them,  to  leave  their  charge  ?  Did  not 
God  place  them  sentinels  in  his  church  ?  And  could  they  come  off 
from  their  duty,  before  they  were  relieved  by  order  ?  But,  surely, 
their  ill-usage  Avas  an  interpretative  discharge  unto  them.  In 
warrant  whereof,  we  have  not  only  Christ's  precept,  Matt.  x.  14,  to 
leave  the  "unworthy  house"  with  a  witness;  (namely,  with  "the 
dust  of  our  feet"  shaken  off,  as  a  testimony  against  it;)  but  also 
his  practice, — going  from  the  Gadarenes,  Matt.  viii.  34;  ix.  1, 
when  they  desired  he  should  "  depart  their  coasts."  Indeed,  "  the 
word  of  life  "  is  a  quick  commodity,  and  ought  not,  as  a  drug,  to 
be  obtruded  on  those  chapmen  who  are  unwilling  to  buy  it ;  yea, 
in  whose  nostrils  the  very  "  savour  of  life  unto  life "  doth  stink, 
because  proffered  unto  them. 

3i.  Laurentius,  intendiyig  to  depart^  rebuked. 

Laurentius  entertained  the  like  resolution  of  departure  ;  when, 
lying  on  his  bed,  St.  Peter  is  said  to  have  taken  him  to  task  in  a 
vision.*  Yea,  St.  Peter  was  not  only  seen,  but  felt,  sharply  and 
soundly  whipping  him  for  his  unworthy  intention  to  forsake  his 
flock  ;  who,  rather,  should  have  followed  St.  Peter''s  example,  (as 
he  imitated  Christ's,)  whom  no  losses  or  crosses  could  so  deter  as  to 
desert  his  charge.  Some  will  say,  Peter  herein  appeared  a  partial 
parent,  so  severely  disciplining  this  his  son,  whilst  two  other  of  his 
children,  being  more  guilty,  Mellitus  and  Justus,  (who  had  actually 
done  what  Laurentius  only  designed.,)  escaped  without  any  correc- 
tion. But  we  must  know,  though  these  seemed  more  faulty,  by 
what  appears  in  open  view,  yet  the  passages  behind  the  curtain 
(considerables  concealed  from  us)  might  much  alter  the  case. 
And,  indeed,  pastors  leaving  their  people  is  so  ticklish  a  point,  and 
subject  to  such  secret  circumstances,  that  God  and  their  own  con- 
sciences are  only  the  competent  judges  of  the  lawfulness  or  unlaw- 
fulness thereof. 

35.  Eadbald  becomes  a  Christian. 

Thus,  all  black  and  blue,  Laurentius  repaireth  to  Eadbald  king 
of  Kent,  and  presenteth  himself  unto  him  in  that  sad  condition. 
The  king,  much  amazed  thereat,  demands  who  durst  offer  such 
violence  to  so  good  a  man  ?  Whereby  it  plainly  appears,  that, 
though  Eadbald  himself  refused  Christianity,  yet  he  afforded 
civility  and  protection  to  Laurentius,  and  to  all  in  Kent  of  his 

•  Bepe,  lib.  ii.  cap.  6. 


lOG  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  613 624. 

religion.  He  largely  relates  what  had  happened  unto  him  ;  and,  in 
fine,  so  prevailed  on  Eadbald,  that  he  not  only  put  away  his  wife- 
mother-whore,  but  also  embraced  Christianity,  and,  at  his  desire, 
Justus  and  Mellitus  returned  again  into  England. 

36.  Justus  received  at  Rochester,  and  Mellitus  rejected  at 

London. 

Rochester  readily  received  Justus  their  bishop ;  being  a  little 
place,  of  few  persons,  and  they  therefore  the  easier  all  to  be  brought 
to  be  of  one  mind.  But  large  London,  (though  then,  for  greatness, 
but  the  suburbs  to  the  present  city,)  I  say,  London  then  was  even 
London  then, — as  wanton  in  the  infancy  as  now  wayward  in  the  old 
age  thereof;  where  generally  the  people,  long  radicated  in  wicked- 
ness, refused  to  entertain  their  good  pastor  returning  unto  them. 
But  here  my  good  friend,*  in  his  notes  on  this  passage,  makes  an 
ingenious  reservation,  that,  though  the  major  part  must  be  confessed 
peevish  in  all  populous  places,  London  in  all  ages  afforded  eminent 
favourers  of  learned  and  religious  men.  And  would  I  could  (being 
the  meanest  of  ministers)  as  truly  entitle  myself  to  the  foresaid 
qualifications,  as  I  heartily  concur  with  him  in  my  grateful  confes- 
sion,— that  I  have  effectually  found  plenty  of  good  patrons  in  that 
honourable  corporation.  Mellitus,  thus  rejected,  was  glad  to  lead  a 
private  life  in  London,  till  that,  after  the  death  of  Laurcntius, 
(a.d.  619,  Feb.  3rd,)  he  succeeded  him  in  the  church  of 
Canterbury. 

37-   Mellitus''s  Character. 

A  grave  and  good  man,  but  much  afflicted  with  the  gout,  and 
highly  meriting  of  his  see  of  Canterbury  ;  especially  if  true,  what 
Bede  reports,-)-  that,  when  a  grievous  fire  happened  in  that  city, 
Mellitus  accosted  the  very  fury  thereof  with  faithful  prayer  and  his 
own  bare  hands  ;  (strange  !  that  no  modern  monk  hath  since,  in  his 
relation,  put  a  crucifix,  or  holy-water-sprinkle  into  them  ;)  and  so 
presently  quenched  the  raging  of  the  flames.  Say  not,  "  Why 
could  he  not  as  easily  have  cured  his  own  gout,  as  quenched  this 
fire.?"  seeing  miracles  are  done,  not  for  men's  ordinary  ease,  but 
God's  solemn  honour.  Yea,  the  apostles  themselves  were  not  at 
pleasure  masters  of  their  miraculous  power,  for  their  personal  use  ; 
seeing  St.  Paul  could  neither  cure  the  "  often  infirmities"  of  his 
dear  son  Timothy,  1  Tim.  v.  23  ;  nor  remove  the  acute,  desperate 
disease,  Avherewith  he  himself  in  Asia  was  afflicted,  2  Cor.  i.  8. 
Five  years  sat  Mellitus  in  Canterbury  ;  after  whose  death,  (a.  d.  624, 
April  24th,)  Justus  bishop  of  Rochester  succeeded  him,  and  had 
his  pall  solemnly  sent  him  by  pope  Boniface. 

•  Mr.  Wheelock  on  the  place  in  Bede.  t  Ecclcs.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  7. 


A.D.  624.  BOOK    II.      CENT.    VII.  lOJ 

38.  What  a  Pall  is. 
Ely  the  way,  the  pall  is  a  pontifical  vestment,  considerable  for  the 
matter,  making,  and  mysteries  thereof.  For  the  matter  :  It  is 
made  of  lambs'  wool  and  superstition.  I  say,  of  lambs'  wool,  "  as 
it  comes  from  the  sheep's  back,  without  any  other  artificial  colour  ;"* 
spun,  say  some,  by  a  peculiar  Order  of  nuns,  first  cast  into  the 
tomb  of  St.  Peter  ;  "  taken  from  his  body,"  say  others  ;-f-  surely, 
most  sacred  if  from  both ;  and  superstitiously  adorned  with  little 
black  crosses.  For  the  form  thereof :  "The  breadth  exceeded  not 
three  fingers,  (one  of  our  bachelor's  lamb-skin  hoods  in  Cambridge 
would  make  three  of  them,)  having  two  labels  hanging  down  before 
and  behind,"  j  which  the  archbishops  only,  when  going  to  the  altar, 
put  about  their  necks,  above  their  other  pontifical  ornaments.  Three 
MASTERIES  were  couched  therein:  First.  Humility,  which  beau- 
tifies the  clergy  above  all  their  costly  copes.  Secondly.  Innocency, 
to  imitate  lamb-like  simplicity.  And,  thirdly.  Industry,  to  follow 
Him  who  fetched  his  wandering  sheep  home  on  his  shoulders,§ 
Luke  XV.  But,  to  speak  plainly,  the  mystery  of  mysteries  in  this 
pall  was,  that  the  archbishops,  receiving  it,  showed  therein  their 
dependence  on  Rome  ;  and  a  mote,  in  this  manner  ceremoniously 
taken,  was  a  sufficient  acknowledgment  of  their  subjection.  And,  as 
it  owned  Rome's  power,  so  in  after-ages  it  increased  their  profit. 
For,  though  now  such  palls  were  freely  given  to  archbishops,  whose 
places  in  Britain  for  the  present  were  rather  cumbersome  than  com- 
modious, having  little  more  than  their  pains  for  their  labour ;  yet 
in  after-ages  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury's  pall  was  sold||  for  five 
thousand  florins  :^  so  that  the  pope  might  well  have  the  golden 
fleece,  if  he  could  sell  all  his  lambs'-wool  at  that  rate.  Only  let  me 
add,  that  the  author  of  Canterbury-Book**  styles  this  pall,  tanquam 
grande  Christi  sacramentum.-ff  It  is  well  tanquam  came  in  to 
help  it,  or  else  we  should  have  had  eight  sacraments.  But,  leaving 
these  husks  to  such  palates  as  are  pleased  to  feed  on  them,  we  come 
to  the  kernel  of  religion, — how  the  same  was  propagated  in  other 
parts  of  England.  And,  first,  of  the  preparative  for  the  purge  of 
Paganism  out  of  the  kingdom  of  Northumberland. 

39.  JEdwins preparatory  Promise  to  Christianity.     A.D.  625. 
Edwin,  the  king  thereof,  was  monarch  of  all  England,  with  the 
Isles  of  Man  and  Anglesey,  more  puissant  than  any  of  his  predeces- 
sors.   "  And  this,"  saith  Bede,J|  "  was  in  ffUspicium  suscipiendce 

"  Flwes  Sanctorum,  Alaii  26,  page  506.  t  Latin  Camden,  in  Kent,  page  238. 

X  Flores  Sanctorum,  ut  prius.  §  Camden,  ut  prius.  \\  Godwin's  Cut. 

Epiic.  page  225.  %  A  Florin  is  worth  four  shillings  and  sixpence.  **  A  manu- 

script in  Trinity-Hall  libraiy,  in  Cambridge.  \\  Mr.  Wheelock  on  Bede,  page  99. 

II  Ecclcs.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  9. 


108  CHURCH    HISTOKY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.i).  G26, 

Jide%  '  in  good  handsel  of  the  faith'  he  was  hereafter  to  receive." 
God  first  raade  him  great,  and  after  gracious  ;  that  so,  by  his  power, 
he  might  be  the  more  efFectual  instrument  of  his  glory.  Now  he 
had  married  Edilburgc,  daughter  of  Ethelbert  king  of  Kent ;  to 
whom  he  not  only  permitted  free  exercise  of  religion  to  herself  and 
her  servants,  but  also  promised  himself  to  embrace  it,  if,  on 
examination,  it  appeared  the  most  holy  and  fittest  for  Divine  ser- 
vice. In  the  court  of  this  queen  was  one  Paulinus,  a  pious  bishop, 
who,  with  much  pains  and  little  profit,  long  laboured  in  vain  to 
convert  the  Pagans  ;  God  hereby  both  humbling  him,  and  showing 
that  the  hour  of  his  mercy  shall  not  be  antedated  one  minute  by 
any  human  endeavours.  However,  Paulinus,  seeing  he  could  not 
be  happy  to  gain,  would  be  careful  to  save  ;  and  daily  plied  the 
word  and  sacraments,  thereby  to  corroborate  his  own  people  in  piety. 

40.  His  Condition  performed,  and  yet  he  demurs.  A.D.  626. 
Now  it  happened  that  one  Eumere,  a  swash-buckler,  a  contemner 
of  his  own  life,  and  thereby  master  of  another  man's,  sent  from 
Guichelm,*  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  with  an  envenomed  dagger 
sought  to  kill  king  Edwin  ;  when  Lilla,  one  of  his  guard,  foreseeing 
the  blow,  and  interposing  himself,  shielded  his  sovereign  with  his 
own  body,  yea,  deaded  the  stroke  with  his  own  death  :  loyalty's 
martyr,  in  a  case  which  is  likely  to  find  more  to  commend  than 
imitate  it,  on  the  like  occasion.  Edwin,  notwithstanding,  slightly 
hurt,  was  very  sensible  of  the  deliverance,  and  promised,  that  if  he 
might  conquer  the  treacherous  West  Saxon  king,  with  his  adherents, 
he  would  become  a  Christian.  And  though  there  be  no  indenting 
and  conditional  capitulating  with  God,  (who  is  to  be  taken  on  any 
terms,)  yet  this  in  a  Pagan  was  a  good  step  to  heaven,  and  Paulinus 
was  glad  he  had  got  him  thus  far  ;  especially  when,  in  earnest  of  the 
sincerity  of  his  resolution,  he  consigned  over  his  infant  daughter 
Eansted,-}-  to  be  baptized,  whom  Paulinus  christened,  with  twelve 
more  of  the  queen's  family.  Well,  the  West  Saxon  king  was 
quickly  overcome,  and  all  his  complices  either  killed  or  conquered  ; 
and  yet  king  Edwin  demurred  to  embrace  Christianity.  But  he 
communicated  with  the  sagest  of  his  council,  with  whom  he  had  daily 
debates,  being  loath  rashly  to  rush  on  a-  matter  of  such  moment. 
And,  truly,  that  religion  which  is  rather  suddenly  parched  up  than 
seasonably  ripened,  doth  commonly  ungive  afterwards.  Yea,  he 
would  sit  long  alone,  making  company  to  himself,  and  silently  arguing 
the  case  in  his  own  heart,  being  partly  convinced  in  his  judgment  of 
the  goodness  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  and  yet  he  durst  not  entertain 
Truth,  a  lawful  king,  for  fear  to  displease  Custom,  a  cruel  tyrant. 

*  According  to  Rapin  and  other  bistorians,  Qnicclm.-^¥.X}\'X.  f  Idem,  ibidem. 


A.D.  C27.  BOOK    11.      CENT.    VII.  109 

41.    The  Speech  of  Coify  the  Priest. 

Amongst  the  many  debates  he  had  with  his  council  about  altering 
his  religion,  two  passages  must  not  be  forgotten  ;  whereof  one  was 
the  speech  of  Coify,  the  prime  Pagan  priest.  "  Surely,"  said  he,* 
"  these  gods,  whom  we  worship,  are  not  of  any  power  or  efficacy  in 
themselves ;  for  none  hath  served  them  more  conscientiously  than 
myself;  yet  other  men,  less  meriting  of  them,  have  received  more 
and  greater  favours  from  their  hand,  and  prosper  better  in  all  things 
they  undertake.  Now,  if  these  were  gods  of  any  activity,  they  would 
have  been  more  beneficial  to  me,  who  have  been  so  observant  of 
them."  Here  the  reader  will  smile  at  Coify ""s  solecism,  wherein  the 
premises  are  guilty  of  pride,  as  the  inference  thereon  of  error  and 
mistake.  If  he  turn  Christian  on  these  terms,  he  will  be  taught  a 
new  lesson  ; — how  not  only  all  outward  things  happen  alike  to  good 
and  bad,  "  to  him  that  sacrificeth,  as  to  him  that  sacrificeth  not ;" 
Eccles.  ix.  2  ;  but  also,  that  "judgment  begiiineth  at  the  house  of 
God,"  1  Peter  iv.  17,  and  the  best  men  meet  with  the  worst  success 
in  temporal  matters.  However,  God  was  pleased  to  sanctify  this 
man'^s  error,  as  introductory  to  his  conversion  :  and  let  none  wonder, 
if  the  first  glimmering  of  grace  in  Pagans  be  scarce  a  degree  above 
blindness. 

42.   The  Courtier  s  Comparison. 

Better,  in  my  opinion,  was  the  plain  comparison  which  another 
nameless  courtier  made  at  the  same  time.  "  Man's  life,"  said  he, 
"  O  king,  is  like  unto  a  little  sparrow,  which,  whilst  your  majesty  is 
feasting  by  the  fire  in  your  parlour  with  your  royal  retinue,  flies  in 
at  one  window,  and  out  at  another.  Indeed,  we  see  it  that  short 
time  it  remaineth  in  the  house,  and  then  is  it  well  sheltered  from 
wind  and  weather  ;  but  presently  it  passeth  from  cold  to  cold  ;  and 
whence  it  came,  and  whither  it  goes,  we  are  altogether  ignorant. 
Thus,  we  can  give  some  account  of  our  soul  during  its  abode  in  the 
body,  whilst  housed  and  harboured  therein  ;  but  where  it  was 
before,  and  how  it  fareth  after,  is  to  us  altogether  unknown.  If 
therefore  Paulinus's  preaching  will  certainly  inform  us  herein,  he' 
deserveth,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  entertained." -}- 

43.  Edwin  converted  and  baptized.     A.D.  627- 

Long-looked  for  comes  at  last.  King  Edwin,  almost  three  years 
a  candidate  at  large  of  Christianity,  cordially  embraceth  the  same  ; 
and,  with  many  of  his  nobles,  and  multitudes  of  his  subjects,  is 
solemnly  baptized  by  Paulinus,  in  the  little  church  of  St.  Peter's  in 

•  Bede  Eedes.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  13.  t  Idem,  ibid. 


110  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  630. 

York,*  hastily  set  up  by  the  king  for  that  purpose,  and  afterward  by 
him  changed  into  a  firmer  and  fairer  fabric.  Thus,  as  those  children 
which  are  backward  of  their  tongues,  when  attaining  to  speech,  pro- 
nounce their  words  the  more  plainly  and  distinctly  ;  so  Edwin,  long, 
yea,  tedious,  before  his  turning  to  Christianity,  more  effectually  at 
last  embraced  the  same.  And  when  it  was  put  to  the  question, 
"  What  person  most  proper  to  destroy  the  Heathen  altars  ?"  Coify 
the  chief  priest  tendered  his  service,  as  fittest  for  the  purpose, 
solemnly  to  demolish  what  he  had  before  so  superstitiously  adored. 
Down  go  all  the  Pagan  altars  and  images  at  God-mundingham,  now 
Godmanham,  a  small  village  in  the  East-Riding  of  Yorkshire  ;-|-  and 
those  idols  with  their  hands  were  so  far  from  defending  themselves, 
,  that  their  mock -mouths  could  not  afford  one  word  to  bemoan  their 
final  destruction. 

44).   The  East  Angles  converted  to  Christianity. 

"  When  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy  brethren,"  was  the 
personal  precept  given  to  Peter,  Luke  xxii.  32,  but  ought  generally 
to  be  the  practice  of  all  good  men  ;  as  here  it  was  of  king  Edwin, 
restless  until  he  had  also  persuaded  Earpwald,  king  of  the  East 
Angles,  to  embrace  the  Christain  faith.  Indeed,  Redowald, 
Earpwald's  father,  had  formerly  at  Canterbury  (to  ingratiate  himself 
with  king  Ethelbert)  professed  Christianity  ;  but  returning  home, 
he  revolted  to  Paganism  at  the  instance  of  his  wife  ::J:  so  great  is  the 
power  of  the  weaker  sex,  even  in  matters  of  religion  !  For,  asi 
Bertha  and  Edelburge,  the  queens  of  Ethelbert  and  Edwin,  occa- 
sioned and  expedited  the  conversion  of  their  husbands"'  kingdoms  ; 
so  here  a  female  instrument  obstructed  that  holy  design.  Yea, 
Redowald  afterwards  in  the  same  church  set  up  a  Samaritan-mongrel 
religion,  2  Kings  xvii.  41,  having  altare  et  arulam,§  "a  com- 
munion-table and  an  idolatrous  altar*"  in  the  same  temple.  "  You 
cannot  be  partakers,"  saith  the  apostle,  "  of  the  Lord"'s  table,  and  of 
the  table  of  devils,"  1  Cor.  x.  21  ;  that  is.  You  cannot  laAvfully, 
con  scionably,  comfortably  ;  hut,  de  facto,  "it  may  be  done,"  was 
done  by  Redowald  in  this  his  miscellaneous  religion. 

45,   The  Religion  and  Learning  of  King  Sigehert.     A.  D.  630. 

But,  three  years  after,  the  conversion  of  the  East  Angles  was  more 
effectually  advanced  by  king  Sigebert,  brother,  and,  after  the  death 
of  Earpwald,  his  successor  in  the  kingdom.  This  Sigebert  had  lived 
an  exile  in  France,  and  got  the  benefit  of  learning  by  his  banish- 
ment.   For,  wanting  accommodations  to  appear  in  princely  equipage, 

"  Bede  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  cap.  14.  t  Camden's  Britannia.  t  Bede 

Eccles.  Hint.  lib.  ii.  cap.  15.  ?  Bede,  ut  prius. 


A.D.  631.  BOOK    II.      CENT.   VII.  Ill 

he  applied  himself  the  more  close  to  his  studies  ;  seeing  that  means 
which  would  maintain  a  prince  but  like  a  scholar  would  maintain  a 
scholar  like  a  prince.  Yea,  which  was  best  of  all,  on  his  learning 
he  grafted  true  religion  ;  Bede  giving  him  this  character, — that 
he  became  vir  Christianissinms  et  doctis§imus  ;  (can  more  be 
said  in  so  few  words  ?)  and,  returning  home,  assisted  by  the  preach- 
ing of  Felix,  a  monk  of  Burgundy,  jMc^^a  nominis  sui  sacra- 
mentum,  saith  Bede,  (happy  was  his  name,  and  happiness  was  with 
him,)  converted  his  subjects  to  Christianity.  This  Felix  was  made 
the  first  bishop  of  Dunwich  in  Suffolk  ;  a  place  formerly  furnished 
with  two-and-fifty  churches,*  and  hath  scarce  two  now  remaining,  the 
rest  being  swallowed  up  by  the  sea.  I  can  hardly  hold  myself  from 
calling  the  sea  "  sacrilegious ;"  save  that,  on  second  thoughts,  con- 
sidering that  element  to  be  but  a  natural  agent ;  yea,  such  whose 
motions  are  ordered  by  Divine  Providence,  "  Hither  shalt  thou 
come,  and  no  farther  ;""  I  will  rather  reserve  this  epithet,  "  sacri- 
legious," to  be  bestowed  on  those  men  who  willingly  and  wilfully 
demolish  the  places  appointed  for  God's  service. 

46.  Difference  about  the  Antiquity  of  the  Uiiiversity  of 
Cambridge.     A.D.  631. -j- 

This  Sigebert  is  generally  reputed  the  founder  of  the  university  of 
Cambridge.  And  because  the  point  in  hand  is  somewhat  litigious, 
we  will  take  the  more  pains  in  clearing  thereof,  two  things  being 
warily  premised  :  First.  That  Sigebert's  founding  the  university  of 
Cambridge  ought  not  by  any  to  be  extended  to  lessen  and  abate, 
much  less  to  drown  and  destroy,  her  more  ancient  title  to  learning, 
which  she  deriveth  (according  to  good  authors)  j  from  many  hundred 
years  before.  Valeant.,  quantum  valere  possint :  "  Let  such  her 
over-grown  evidences  stand  as  valid  as  they  may,"  by  us  neither 
confirmed  nor  confuted  for  the  present.  And,  indeed,  all  such  old 
things  in  either  university,  though  specious  to  the  eye,  must  be 
closely  kept,  and  tenderly  touched,  lest  otherwise,  being  roughly 
handled,  they  should  moulder  into  dust.  Secondly.  Let  none  sus- 
pect, my  extraction  from  Cambridge  will  betray  me  to  partiality  to 
my  mother,  who  desire  in  this  difference  to  be  like  Melchisedec, 
ayev8«Xoy)jToj,  "  without  descent,"  only  to  be  directed  by  the  truth. 
And  here  I  make  this  fair  and  free  confession,  which,  I  hope,  will 
be  accepted  for  ingenuous  :  That,  as  in  Thamar's  travail  of  twins. 
Gen.  xxxviii.  28,  Zarah  first  put  out  his  hand,  and  then  drew  it  in 
again,  whilst  Pharez  first  came  forth  into  the  world ;  so  I  plainly 
perceive  Cambridge  with  an  extended  arm,  time  out  of  mind,  first 

"  Weaver's  "  Funeral  Monuments"  in  Suffolk.  t   But  some  make  it  four 

years  after.  X  See  Caius  on  the  antiquity  of  Cambridge. 


112  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  631. 

challenging  the  birth-right  and  priority  of  place  for  learning  ;  but, 
afterwards  drawing  it  in  again,  she  lay  for  many  years^  desolate,  and 
of  less  account ;  whilst  Oxford,  if  later,  larger,  came  forth  in  more 
entire  proportion,  and  ever  since  constantly  continued  in  the  full 
dimensions  of  an  university. 

47.  The  leading  Testimony  of  Bede  explained. 
These  things  being  thus  cautiously  stated,  we  proceed  ;  beginning 
■with  Bede,  on  whose  testimony  all  the  following  history  is  founded. 
Sigehurtus,  uhi  regno  potitus  est,  mox  ea  qiicB  in  Galliis  bene 
disposita  vid/t,  imitari  cupiens,  instituit  scholam,  in  qua  ptteri 
Uteris  erudirentur,  juvante  se  episcopo  Felice  (qiiem  de  Cantid 
acceperat)  eisqne  pcedagogos  oc  magistros,  j?uvta  morem  Can- 
tuariorum,  prceheyi.'e. — Beda  Eccles.  Historia,  lib.  iii.  cap.  18. 
"  Sigebert,  when  he  had  obtained  the  kingdom,  presently  desiring 
to  imitate  those  things  which  he  had  seen  well-ordered  in  France, 
instituted  a  school,  wherein  youths  might  be  trained  up  in  learning, 
Felix  the  bishop  (whom  he  had  received  out  of  Kent)  assisting  him, 
and  providing  for  them  teachers  and  masters,  according  to  the  cus- 
tom of  those  in  Canterbury."  See  here,  king  Sigebert,  to  make  his 
school  complete,  united  therein  such  conveniences  for  education,  as 
he  had  observed  commendable,  1.  Abroad,  in  France ;  where  learn- 
ing at  and  before  his  time  was  brought  to  great  perfection  ;  St. 
Jerome  affirming,  that,  even  in  his  age,  he  had  seen  studia  in  Galliis 
Jlorentissima — In  epistold  ad  Rusticum,  "most  flourishing  univer- 
sities in  France,''''  2.  At  home,  in  Canterbury ;  where,  even  at  this 
time,  learning  was  professed,  though  more  increased  some  forty  years 
after;  when,  as  the  same  Bede  reports,*  that,  in  the  days  of  Theo- 
dorus  the  archbishop,  there  were  those  that  taught  geometry,  arith- 
metic, and  music,  the  fashionable  studies  of  that  age,  together  with 
divinity :  the  perfect  character  of  an  university,  where  divinity  the 
queen  is  waited  on  by  her  maids-of-honour.  But  I  question  whether 
the  formality  of  "  commencing"''' was  iTsed  in  that  age;  inclining 
rather  to  the  negative,  that  such  distinction  of  "  graduates"'''  was 
then  unknown,  except  in  St.  PauFs  sense  :  "  Such  as  used  the  office 
of  a  deacon  well,  purchased  to  themselves  a  good  degree,'''' 
1  Tim.  iii.  13. 

48.  Anthers  commenting  on  Bede''s  Text. 

So  much  for  Bede''s  text.  Come  we  now  to  ancient  authors  com- 
menting upon  him.  "  Ancient''''  I  call  those  who  wrote  many  years 
before  the  differences  were  started  about  the  seniority  of  the 
universities,  and  therefore  are  presumed  unpartial,  as  unconcerned  in 

•  Hint.  Eccles. 


A.n.  6*31.  HOOK     II.      TEXT.     VII.  1  I  .'J 

a  controversy  M'liich  did  not  appear.  First.  Polydore  Virgil,*  wlio 
f'l-om  Bcde's  words  plainly  collects,  that  Sigebert  then  foundctl  the 
university  of  Cambridge.  Nor  see  I  any  canse  for  that  passage  in 
the  assertion  of  Oxford''s  antiquity,-|-  charging  Polydore,  Quod 
affectihus  mdidgens,  adamatce  studet  academice ;  who,  being  a 
foreigner  and  an  Italian,  had  nothing  to  bias  his  affection  to  one 
university  mor'e  than  the  other.  Learned  Leland;!:  succeeds  ;  who, 
being  employed  by  king  Henry  the  Eightli  to  make  a  collection  of 
British  antiquities,  (much  scattered  at  the  dissolution  of  abbeys,) 
thus  expresseth  himself: — 

Olim  Granlafuil  titulis  urbi'  mclijta  mulfis, 

f'icini  a  fluvii  nomine,  iiomen  hahens. 
Sa^vones  hanc  belli  dciurbai<ere  procellis  ; 

Sed  nova,  /;)'o  I'eteri,  non  jii'onul  ind^  siia  est : 
Quam  Felix  ^aonachus,  Sigeberti  jussa  sequutns, 

^rlibus  illuiirem  reddidit,  atque  scholis. 
Hmc  ego,  pcrquirens  gentis  monumenta  Brilanncs, 

Asserui  in  laudem,  Granta  diserta,  tuam. 

"  Grant,  long  ago  a  city  of  gfeat  fame. 
From  neighbouring  river  dotli  receive  her  name.  ' 

When  storms  of  Saxon  wars  her  overthrev\', 
Near  to  tlie  old  sprang  up  another  new. 
Monk  Felix,  whilst  he  Sigehert  obeys, 
Lighten'd  this  place  with  schools,  and  learning's  rays. 
Searching  the  monuments  of  British  nation. 
This  I  assert  in  Grant's  due  commendation." 

Here  we  omit  the  several  testimonies  of  Bale,§  George  Lilie,  and 
Thomas  Cooper,  in  their  several  histories,  anno  6*36,  with  many 
more,  concluding  Sigebert  then  the  founder  of  the  university  of 
Cambridge. 

49.  First  Objection  against  Sigeherfs  founding  of  Cambridge. 

But  our  cousin -germans  of  Oxford  will  scarce  give  credit  hereunto, 
multiplying  objections  against  it.  "  There  were,"  say  they,  "  many 
places,  beside  Cambridge,  in  the  kingdom  of  the  East  Angles, 
(containing  Norfolk,  Suffolk,  and  Cambridgeshire,)  Avliich,  with  equal 
probability,  may  pretend  to  this  school  of  Sigebert''s  foundation, 
seeing  Bede  doth  not  nomiiiatim  affirm  Cambridge  for  the  particu- 
lar place,  where  this  university  was  erected." 

50.  Ansiver. 

Though  Bede  be  dumb  in  this  particular,  not  naming  Cam- 
bridge, yet  he  makes  such  signs  that  most  intelligent  antiquaries, 
by   us   alleged,  understand  him    to    intend    the   same;    especially 

•  Lib.  iv.  et  lib.  v.  page  107.  t   Written  aruio  156G,  page  20.  t   In  hi.-j 

Comment,  in  Cygneam  Cantionem.  %  In  Sigcberto,  ct  rursus,  cent.  xiii.  i7i  Felice. 

Vol.  I.  I 


114  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN,  A.D.  631. 

seeing  Cambridge  is  acknowledged  by  all  authors,  time  out  of  mind, 
to  have  been  a  place  for  the  education  of  students  in  literature. 

51.  Second  Objection. 

"  If  any  such  university  vs^as  founded  by  Sigebert,  it  was  at 
Grantchester,  differing,  as  in  appellation,  so  in  situation,  from 
Cambridge,  as  being  a  good  mile  South-West  thereof.  Cambridge, 
therefore,  cannot  entitle  itself,  but  by  apparent  usurpation,  to  the 
ancient  privileges  of  Grantchester.*" 

52.  Ansiver. 
Most  usual  it  is  for  ancient  places  to  alter  their  names,  (Babylon 
to  Bagdad^  Byzantium  to  Constantinople,  our  old  Verulam  to 
St.  Alhan's^)  still  retaining  the  numerical  nature  they  had  before. 
Oxford,  they  tell  us,  was  once  called  Bellositum,*  and  yet  not 
altered  from  its  same  self  by  another  name.  Nor  is  it  any  news  for 
great  cities,  in  process  of  time,  (as  weary  of  long  standing,)  to  ease 
themselves  a  little,  by  hitching  into  another  place.  Thus,  some 
part  of  modern  Rome  is  removed  more  than  a  mile  from  the  ancient 
area  thereof.  Thus,  Jerusalem  at  this  day  is  come  down  from 
Mount  Sion,  and  more  South-West  climbed  up  Mount  Calvary. 
Yet  either  of  these  places  would  account  themselves  highly  injured, 
if  not  reputed  (for  the  main)  the  same  with  the  former.  Sufficeth 
it  that  some  part  of  Cambridge  stands,  at  this  day,  where  Grant- 
chester-]- did,  (which  anciently  extended  North- West,  as  far  as  the 
village  called  Howse,)|  and  that  is  enough  to  keep  possession  of 
the  privileges  of  Grantchester,  as  properly  belonging  thereunto ; 
especially,  seeing  Oxford  at  this  day  lays  claim  to  the  antiquities  of 
Crekelade  [CrickladeJ  and  Lechlade,  (towns  distant  sixteen  miles  off, 
the  one  in  Wilts,  the  other  in  Gloucestershire,)  two  ancient  schools 
of  Greek  and  Latin,  (as  some  will  have  it,)  removed  afterwards  to 
Oxford,  from  whence  some  of  her  assertors  do  date  her  beginning. 

53.  Third  Objection. 
"  Sigebert  founded  but  scholam,  which  makes  little  to  the  honour 
of  Cambridge  :  for,  thereby  her  professors  are  degraded  to  pedants  ; 
and,  by  a  retrograde  motion,  Cambridge  is  sent  back  to  Eaton;   I 
mean,  is  made  no  better  than  a  great  grammar-school." 

54.  Ansiver. 
If  the  best  of  Latin  orators  may  be  believed,  schola  properly 
signifies   "  the   place  where  all   arts  are  publicly  professed."     Ex 
Platonis  schola  Ponticns  Heraclides :  "  Ponticus  Heraclides  came 

"  Bry^^n  Twine  Antiq.  Acad.  Ox.  page  114.  t  Mr.  Camdeu,  an  Oxford  man, 

in   his    description  of  Cambridgesliire,  alloweth   Grantcliester    and  Cambridge  for  tlie 
same  place.  \  Caius  Oc  Antiq.  Cantah.  (c.r  libra  Barnwellensi.)  page  11. 


A.D.  G31.  BOOK    ir.      CKXT.    Vlf.  115 

out  of  tlie  school  of  Plato;'"*  which  is  notoriously  known  to  have 
been  an  academy ;  yea,  all  his  scholars  known  by  the  name  of 
Academics  to  this  day.  Those  of  Salerno  in  Italy,  dedicating  a 
book  of  physic  to  our  Henry,  (the  Second,  I  take  it,)  begin  thus : 
— Anglorum  regi  scrihit  schola  tota  Salerni.  School-boys  deserve 
to  be  whipped,  indeed,  if,  presuming  to  prescribe  receipts  to  a  king ; 
but  THAT  schola  there  is  sufficiently  known  to  have  been  a  famous 
university.  And,  under  the  favour  of  the  university,  the  word 
universitas  is  but  a  base  and  barbarous  Latin  (while  schola  is  pure 
Greek  originally)  to  design  cither  the  place  where  general  learning 
is  publicly  professed,  or  the  persons  studying  therein.  And,  though 
I  dare  not  totally  concur  with  that  learned  critic,-f-  that  universitas 
was  first  used  in  the  foresaid  sense,  about  the  reign  of  king  Henry 
the  Third  ;  yet,  I  believe,  it  will  not  be  found  in  any  classical 
author  in  that  modern  acceptation. 

55.  Fourth  Objection. 

"  In  good  authors,  Sigebert  is  said  to  have  founded  not  only 
scholam,  '  a  school,'  but  scholas,  '  schools,'  in  the  plural.  If 
schola  therefore  be  an  university,  either  he  made  more  universities 
than  one  in  Cambridge,  (which  is  absurd  to  affirm,)  or  else  he 
erected  more  universities  in  other  places  of  his  kingdom,  which 
Cantabrigians  will  not  willingly  confess." 

56.  Answer. 

The  variation  of  the  number  is  of  no  concernment.  For, 
if  respect  be  had  to  the  several  arts  there  professed,  Sigebert 
founded  schools  in  the  plural.  But  if  regard  be  taken  of  the  cyclo- 
psedy  of  the  learning  resulting  from  those  several  sciences,  he 
erected  but  one  grand  school.  Every  "  fresh -man "  knows  that  the 
single  quadrant,  wherein  the  public  lectures  are  read  and  acts  kept, 
is  called  plurally  "•  the  schools,"  in  each  university. 

57.  Fifth  Objection. 
"  But  Bede  terms  them  pueros,  '  boys,'  properly  under  the  rod 
and  ferula,  whom  Sigebert  placed  in  his  school  ;  and  the  word 
pcsdagogi^  '  ushers,'  placed  over  them,  imports  the  same ;  that 
they  were  no  university-students,  but  a  company  of  little  lads,  that 
lived  there  under  correction." 

58.  Answer. 

Critics  will  satisfy  you,  that  the  word  pueri  signifies  even  those 
of  more  maturity,   especially  if  living  sub   regimine,  "under  the 

•  TuLLY   De  Natiird  Drorum.  t   MR.   Camden   in  his   "  Britauuia,"  in 

Oxford^Lire,  page  381. 


IIG  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    LRITAIN.  A.  D.  C32. 

discipline  of  superiors."  Secondly.  Bedc,  being  a  great  divine,  and 
conversant  in  Scripture-phrase,  boiTOwctli  an  expression  tlience ; 
Christ  calling  his  disciples  TrajS/a,  "  children,"  John  xxi.  5.  He 
useth  also pcedagogos  in  the  same  notion  with  St.  Paul's  izaC^ayMynhc, 
Iv  Xpio-T«3,  which  our  last  translators  read  "  instructors  in  Christ," 
1  Cor.  iv.l5,  even  to  theCorinthians,who  still  needed  such  pedagogues 
or  teachers,  though  already  "  enriched  in  all  utterance  and  know- 
ledge," 1  Cor.  i.  5.  '^rhirdl3\  The  Saxon  ancient  copy  of  Bede, 
which,  doubtless,  doth  emphatically  render  the  Latin,  translates 
p7<en  jeonje  menu.  Fourthly.  Asserius  Menevensis,  speaking  of 
Alfred's  founding  of  Oxford,  saith  that  he  endowed  the  same,  suce 
proprice  gentis  nobilibus  pueris,  et  efiain  ignobilibus ;  and  it  is 
but  equal,  that  the  pveri  at  Cambridge  should  be  allowed  as  much 
man  in  them,  as  those  at  Oxford.  Lastly.  The  young  fry  of 
scholars,  when  first  admitted,  is  such,  to  whom  pueri,*  in  the  proper 
sense  thereof,  may  well  be  applied.  And  here  it  may  seasonably 
be  remembered,  how  an  Oxford  antiquary  affirmeth,-f-  that  Edward 
the  fifth  prince  of  Wales,  and  Richard  his  brother,  duke  of  York, 
O.vonice  studuenint,  "  studied  at  Oxford,"  in  the  life-time  of 
their  father:  stout  students,  no  doubt,  whereof  the  elder  could  not 
then  be  ten,  the  younger  not  nine  years  old.  But  I  forget  what 
lawyers  hold, — that  the  king's  eldest  son  is  at  full  age,  for  some 
purposes,  at  the  day  of  his  birth  ;  in  which  respect  he  may  sue  out 
his  liveries  for  the  dukedom  of  Cornwall  ;  and  this,  perchance,  may 
somewhat  mend  the  matter. 

59.  Concludon  iviUi  Prayer. 
But  enough  of  this  matter,  which  some  will  censure  as  an  imper- 
tinency  to  our  Church  History,  and  scarcely  coming  within  the 
churchyard  thereof.  My  prayers  shall  be,  that  each  university  may 
turn  all  envy  into  generous,  yea,  gracious,  yea,  glorious  emulation  ; 
contending,  by  laudable  means,  which  shall  surpass  other  in  their 
serviceableness  to  God,  the  church,  and  commonweal ih  ;  that  so, 
cnmynencing  in  piety,  and  proceeding  in  learning,  they  may  agree 
against  their  two  general  adversaries, — ignorance  and  profaneness. 
May  it  never  be  said  of  them,  what  Naomi  said  of  herself,  that 
she  was  too  old  to  bear  sons  !  Ruth  i.  12.  May  they  never  be 
superannuated  into  barrenness,  but,  like  the  good  trees  in  God's 
garden,  "  They  shall  still  bring  forth  fruit  in  their  old  age,  they 
shall  be  fat  and  flourishing." 

6*0.  Edivln,  King  of  Northumberland ,  slain.     J.D.  GS2. 
Seasonably  Sigebert  erected  an  university  at  Cambridge,  thereby 
in  part  to  repair  the  late  great  loss  of  Christianity  in  England,  when 

•  All  the  scliolnrH  of  Pemln-oke  Hall  m  Cambridge,  not  beiug  fellow:;,  are  termed  pueri 
in  their  statutes.  t  Buyan  Twine  Antiq.  Oxon,  page  322. 


A.D.  633.  LOOK    II.      C'EXT.    vir.  11' 

(Uie  year  after)  Edwin,  kii\2^  of  Northumberland,  was  slain  in  battle 
by  Cadwal  king  of  Wales,  and  Penda  king  of  tlie  Mercians.* 
After  whose  death,  his  whole  kingdom  relapsed  to  Paganism  ;  and 
Paulinus,  archbishop  of  York,  taking  with  him  queen  Ethelburge, 
returned  into  Kent,  and  there  became  bishop  of  the  (then  vacant) 
church  of  Rochester.  Mortified  man  !  he  minded  not  whether  he 
went  up  or  down  hill,  whilst  he  went  on  straight  in  his  calling  to 
glorify  God,  and  edify  others  ;  sensible  of  no  disgrace,  when 
degrading  himself  from  a  great  archbishop,  to  become  a  poor  bishop. 
Such  betray  much  pride  and  peevishness,  who,  outed  of  eminent 
places,  will  rather  be  nothing  in  the  church,  than  any  thing  less 
than  what  they  have  been  before. 

61.  The  nnhappy  Year. 
After  the  death  of  kins'  Edwin,  his  kingdom  of  Northumberland 
was  divided  into  two  parts,  both  petty  kingdoms  :  1.  Berxicia, 
reaching  from  the  river  Tecs  to  Edinburgh-frith, -f*  whereof 
Eanfrith,J  Avas  king.  2.  Deira,  whence,  say  some,  Deirham,  or 
Durham,  lay  betwixt  Tees  and  Humber,  whereof  Osric  was  king. 
These  both  proved  apostates  from  the  Christian  faith  ;  and  God  in 
his  justice  let  in  Cadwald,  king  of  the  Britons,  upon  them,  who 
slew  them,  harassed  their  country,  and  made  a  lamentable  desola- 
tion, within  the  compass  of  one  year,  without  respect  to  age  or  sex  ; 
until  Oswald,  bred  and  brought  up  in  Scotland,  next  of  the  blood- 
royal,  came  to  be  king  of  Northumberland,  whom  God  sent  to 
redeem  that  miserable  country  from  the  hands  of  their  enemies,  and 
many  eminent  victories  he  obtained, 

G2,  A  lost  Year  ivdl  found.  AD.  633. 

The  fatal  year,  wherein  so  many  outrages  were  committed  on  the 
apostate  Northumberlanders,  by  Cadwald  king  of. the  Britons,  is 
detested  by  all  Saxon  chronologers.  And,  therefore,  all  the 
annalists  and  writers  of  histories  in  that  age,  by  joint  conseiit, 
universally  resolved  to  damn  and  drown  the  memorial  of  that  annus 
mfaustus,  as  they  call  it,  "  unlucky  year,""  but  made  so  by  ungodly 
men.  Yea,  they  unaminously  agreed  to  allow  those  two  apostate 
kings§  no  year''s  reign  in  their  chronicles,  adding  the  time  (sub- 
tracted from  them)  to  Oswald,  their  Christian  successor,  accounting 
him  to  have  reigned  nine  years ;  ||  which,  indeed,  were  but  eight  of 
his  own,  and  one  of  these  historians"  adoption.  Yet  is  it  no  news, 
even   in   Scripture   itself,    to   bury  the   reign  of  tyrants  under  the 

•  Beda  Eccles.  Hut.  lib.  ii.  cap.  10.  t  CAMDE^''s  Bril.  page  797.  X  Accord- 

ing to  the  ortliiigrapliy  of  Rapin  and  otiier  historians,  Anfrid,  r.iiJ  Cadwald,  Cad- 
wullo.  —  Edit.  ^  Beue  Ecr.'cs.  Hist,  lib.  ii.  cap.  1.  ||  Idem,  lib.  iii,  cap,  9. 


118  CHUKCH    HISTORY    OF     BUITAIN.  A.D.  6o5. 

monument  of  a  good  prince  succeeding  them.  Thus  when  Ehud  is 
said  to  have  "judged  the  land  fourscore  years,""  Judges  iii.  30, 
those  eighteen  years  are  included,  wherein  Eglon  the  Moabite 
oppressed  Israel,  Judges  iii.  14. 

63.  A  Victory  given  frotn  Heaven.  A.D.  635. 
Amongst  the  many  victories  achieved  by  this  Oswald,  one 
most  remarkable  was  gained  by  him  near  Hexham  in  Northumber- 
land, against  the  Pagans,  against  whom  he  erected  the  standard 
of  the  cross,  in  a  place  which,  time  out  of  mind,  was  called 
Heaven-feld,  (Haledon  at  this  day,)  by  a  prolepsis,  not  answering 
the  name  thereof  until  this  time.  Hence  a  poet,  writing  the  Life  of 
Oswald  : — 

Tunc  primum  scivit  causam  cur  iiomen  haberei 
Heafen-feld,  hoc  est,  coolestis  campns  y  et  illi 
Nomen  ab  antiqiio  dedit  appellatio  tjentis 
Prmleritce,  tanqiumi  belli  prasafjci  futuri. 

"  Then  he  began  the  reason  first  to  know 
Of  Heaven-feld,  why  it  was  called  so  ; 
N^amed  by  the  natives  long  since  by  foresight, 
That  in  that  field  would  hap  an  heavenly  fight." 

Thus  it  is  generally  reported,  that  the  place  nigh  Leipsic,  where 
the  king  of  Sweden  got  one  of  his  signal  victories,  was,  time  out 
of  mind,  termed  by  the  Dutch  Gots  Acre.,  or  God's  ground."* 
And  thus,  as  Onesimus  and  Eutychus  were  so  called  from  their 
infancy,  but  never  truly  answered  their  names  till  after  the  conver- 
sion of  the  one,  Phil.  11,  and  reviving  of  the  other.  Acts  xx.  12; 
so  places  (whether  casually  or  prophetically)  have  names  anciently 
imposed  upon  them,  which  are  sometimes  verified  many  ages 
after. 

64.  Pope  Honoriuis  ineffectual  Letter. 
About  this  time,  Honorius  the  pope  sent  his  letter  to  the  Scotch 
nation,  advising  them  to  an  uniformity  with  the  church  of  Rome  in 
the  celebration  of  Easter.  His  main  reason  is  thought  to  have 
more  of  state  than  strength,  human  haughtiness  than  holy  divinity, 
in  it :  namely,  he  counsclleth  them,  Ne  imiicitatem  suam  in 
extremis  terrcB  finilnis  constitiitam,  sapientiorem  omnibus  Cliristi 
ecclesiis  cestimarent.  This  is  that  Honorius  of  whom  Leo  II. 
his  successor,  complaineth  in  his  epistle  to  the  bishops  of  Spain  : 
Flammam  hcBretici  dogmatis  non  (ut  decnit  apostolicam  authori- 
tatem)  incipienfeni  extinxit,  sed  negligendo  confovit :  "  By  his 
negligence  he  did  countenance  the  heretical  opinions,"  meaning  of 
the  Monothelites,  then  beginning  afresh  to  spring  up  again,  "  which 

%^  Swedish  Intelligencer^ 


A.B.  GSG.  BOOK     ir.      CENT.    VIT.  119 

he  ought  to  have  suppressed."*  Thus  he,  who  could  stickle  about 
the  ceremony  of  keeping  Easter,  could  quietly  connive  at,  yea, 
interpretatively,  consent  to,  the  depraving  of  the  doctrinal  part  of 
religion.  But  his  letter  to  the  Scotch  took  little  effect,  who  kept 
their  Easter  not  one  minute  the  sooner  or  later  for  all  his  writing 
unto  them. 

65.  Birinus  converts  the  West  Saxons  to  the  Faith. 

In  a  better  work,  and  with  better  success,  was  Birinus  employed ; 
an  Italian  by  birth,  sent  over  by  pope  Honorius  for  the  conversion 
of  the  remainder  of  England,  and  to  that  purpose  (that  his  preach- 
ing, be  like,  might  be  the  more  powerful)  made  a  bishop  before  his 
coming  over,-f-  by  Asterius  bishop  of  Genoa.  Here  I  am  at  a 
loss  :  bishop — of  what  !  Where  was  his  diocese  or  bishopric  ? 
Were  not  bishop  and  bishopric  so  correlated  in  that  age,  that  they 
must  be  together  ?  the  trick  of  making  titular  bishops  not  as  yet 
being  used  in  Rome.  It  is  impossible,  that  "bishop"  here  should 
import  no  more  than  a  plain  "  priest ;"  and  that  he  only  took  orders 
before  he  came  over  into  England.  Well,  commend  me  to  the 
memory  of  this  man,  who  first  was  made  bishop,  and  then  made 
himself  a  bishopric,  by  earning  it  out  of  the  Pagan  English,  whom 
he  intended  to  convert  to  Christianity.  Yea,  he  passed  his  solemn 
promise  in  the  presence  of  the  pope,  that  he  would  preach  the 
Gospel  "in  the  heart  of  the  uttermost  coasts  of  England, "|  (mean- 
ing the  northern  parts  thereof,)  "  whither  no  teacher  had  at  any 
time  gone  before  him:"  minded  herein,  like  St.  Paul,  "not  to 
boast  in  another  man's  line  of  things  made  ready  to  his  hand," 
2  Cor.  X.  16. 

CCi.  A  broken  Promise  well  kept.    A  D.  (SSQ. 

This  his  promise  Birinus,  though  he  literally  brake,  virtually 
kept ;  for  he  chanced  to  land  amongst  the  West  Saxons,  then 
called  Gevises,  in  the  South-West  part  of  England,  where  as  yet 
the  inhabitants  were  pure-impure  Pagans.  Having  here  found  a 
fit  subject  for  his  pains,  why  should  he  go  farther  to  seek  the  same  ? 
Is  not  Providence  the  best  herald  to  marshal  us  ?  And  ought  we 
not  to  sit  down  where  it  disposeth  us  ?  Besides,  according  to 
military  rules,  it  was  best  to  clear  the  coasts  as  he  went,  and  not  to 
leave  a  Pagan  foe  behind  his  back.  Moved  herewith,  Birinus  here 
sets  up  his  staff  episcopal,  fixeth  himself,  falls  a-preaching,  converts 
many,  and,  amongst  the  rest,  Kyngils  §  the  West  Saxon  king, 
whom  he  baptized.     Oswald,  king  of  Northumberland,  chanced  to 

'  Dccret.   I-Jpisf.   rd.    Rviikt,   1591,   torn.   ii.  page  (j54.  t  Bede,  lib.  iii.  cnp.  7. 

1  Idem,  ibid.  %  Otherwise,  Cinigisil. — Edit. 


120  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.B.  637- 

be  present  at  that  time,*  and  was  first  godfather,  then  father  in-law, 
to  king  Kyngils,  to  whom  lie  gave  his  daughter  to  wife. 

67.  Dorchester  made  a  Bishop's  See. 
Dorchester,  (not  the  town  which  denominates  Dorsetshire,  but) 
an  old  city  in  Oxfordshire,  (not  in  Berkshire,  as  Stapleton  mistakes 
it,*f-)  was  made  the  seat  ,of  Birinus''s  bishopric.  Bede  saith,  Dona- 
verunt  aiitem  amho  reges  eidem  episcopo  civitatem,  qrice  vacatur 
Dorhica,  SfC.  "  Both  the  kings"  (Oswald  and  Kyngils)  "gave  to 
the  said  bishop  the  city  Dorinca,  or  Dorchester."  Both  of  them 
— Hence  observe,  first,  that  Oswald,  whose  concurrence  in  this 
grant  was  required,  though  particular  king  of  Northumberland,  was 
also  monarch  of  all  England;  to  justify  our  former  observation, 
that  "  amongst  the  seven  Saxon  kings  always  one  was  paramount 
a,bove  the  rest."  Secondly.  That  this  Dorchester  (though  it  lay 
North  of  Thames  in  Oxfordshire,  which  properly  belonged  to  the 
kino-dom  of  Mercia)  pertained  now  to  the  West  Saxons,  beyond 
the  ordinary  limits  assigned  to  that  kingdom. 

68.  England  divided  into  Parishes.    AD.  63'j. 

In  this  year  Honorius,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  divided  Eng- 
land (understand,  so  much  thereof  as  was  Christian)  into  parishes. 
But  that  most  exquisite  antiquary :J:  seems  very  unwilling  to  admit 
so  early  and  ancient  parishes,  in  the  modern  proper  acceptation  of 
the  word.  Who  knoweth  not,  that  parochia  at  large  signifieth 
*'the  diocese  of  the  bishop  .''"  and  two  new  dioceses,  (Dunwich  and 
Dorchester)  were  erected  under  Honorius  in  the  province  of  Canter- 
bury. But  whether  parishes, — as  usually  understood  for  places 
bounded  in  regard  of  the  profits  from  the  people  therein,  payable 
only  to  a  pastor  incumbent  there  ; — I  say,  whether  such  parishes 
were  extant  in  this  age,  may  well  be  questioned,  as  inconsistent 
with  the  community  of  ecclesiastic  profits,  which  then  seemed 
jointlv  enjoyed  by  the  bishop  and  his  clergy. 

69-  A  morose  Preacher  little  edijieth. 

No  sooner  was  Oswald  (whom  we  formerly  mentioned)  settled 
in  his  kingdom  of  Northumberland,  but  his  first  princely  care  was, 
to  provide  pastors  to  instruct  his  people  in  Christianity.  In  order 
whercunto  he  sends  into  Scotland  (where  he  had  his  own  education) 
for  some  eminent  preachers.  Unusual  the  sun  should  come  out  of 
the  North  to  enlighten  the  South,  as  here  it  came  to  pass.  One 
preacher  was  sent  him  thence,  whose  name  we  find  not,§  but  thus 

•  BiiDii  Ecclcs.  Hiit.]ih.  iii.  cap.  7.     t  In  his  translation  of  Bede,  fol.  82.     |  Mr.  Sel- 
J)EN  in  bis  "  History  of  Tithes,"  cap.  9,  page  256.     §   Gorman,  a  monk  of  lona.  —Edit. 


A.D.  6o7-  BOOK     II.     CENT.    VII.  121 

much  of  his  nature, — tliat,  behig  over  rigid  and  severe,  his  sermons 
made  no  impression  on  his  English  auditory.  "  Hard  with  hard," 
saith  the  proverb,  "  makes  no  Avail ; ""  and  no  wonder,  if  the 
spiritual  building  went  on  no  better,  wherein  the  austerity  and 
harshness  of  the  pastor  met  with  the  ignorance  and  sturdiness  of  the 
people.  Home  he  returns,  complaining  of  his  ill  success  ;  and  one 
Aidan,  of  a  milder  temper  and  more  discretion,  (a  grace  which 
none  ever  spake  against,  but  such  as  Avanted  it,)  was  sent  back  in 
his  room. 

70.  Aidan  s  due  Commendalioti. 

Aidan,  coming  into  England,  settled  himself  at  Lindisfern,  or 
Holy  Island,  in  Northumberland  ;  a  place  which  is  an  island  and 
no  island  twice  in  twenty-four  hours,  as  divided  by  the  tide  from, 
so  conjoined  at  low-water  to,  the  continent.  His  exemplary  life 
was  a  pattern  for  all  pious  pastors.  First.  He  left  to  the  clergy, 
saluherrimum  abstineiitics  vel  contiiientice  eocemjjlum  ;  though 
Ave  read  not  he  vowed  virginity  himself,  or  imposed  it  on  others. 
He  lived  as  he  taught ;  and  whatsoever  the  bounty  of  princes  or 
great  persons  bestoAved  on  him,  he  gave  to  the  poor.  He  seldom 
travelled  but  on  foot  ;  and,  Avhen  invited  to  large  feasts  at  court, 
used  to  arise  after  a  short  refection,  and  betake  himself  to  his  medi- 
tations. He  redeemed  many  slaves  from  captivity,  n^iaking  them 
first  freemen,  then  Christians. 

71  •  Bedes  Allay. 

All  these  his  excellent  practices  Bede*  dasheth  Avith  this  allay, — 
that  "he  had  a  zeal  of  God,  although  not  fully  according  to 
knoAvledge  ;  "  merely  because  he  dissented  from  the  Romish  church 
in  the  celebration  of  Easter.  But  Avhether  those  Avords  of  St. 
Paul,  Rom.  x.  2,  spoken  of  his  countrymen  the  Jcavs,  in  reference 
to  their  stumbling  at  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  be  fitly 
applicable  to  Aidan,  only  differing  in  an  outward  ceremony,  let 
others  decide.  True  it  is,  this  Aidan  was  a  prime  champion  of  the 
Quartadccimans,  as  Avho  had  been  brought  up  under  or  Avith  St. 
Columba,-|-  in  Ireland.  The  writer  of  the  Life  of  this  St.  Columba 
(let  this  be  inserted  by  the  Avay)  reports,  how  the  said  saint  had  a 
revelation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  |  "  Avhich  prophesied  unto  him  of 
this  discord',  which  after  many  days  should  arise  in  the  church, 
about  the  diversity  of  the  feast  of  Easter.'"'  Yet  he  telleth  us 
not,  that  the  Holy  Ghost  reproved  this  Columba  (whose  example 

•  Ecclcs.  UUt.  lib.  iii.  cap.  3.  t  Fuller  writes  him  St.  Colme,  on  the  same  prin- 

piple  as,  in  that  age,  St.  Austin  was  tantaraonnt  to  St.  Augustine,  &c. — Edit- 
t  Archbishop  UsiiEK  in  "  the  Religion  of  the  Irish,"  page  99. 


122  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.    A.D.  637 640. 

animated   others  against  the   Roman  rite)  for  his  error  ;  as  if  God 
cared  not  which  of  both  sides  carried  the  controversy  ! 

72.  Laymen  s  Diligence  in  reading  Scripture. 
But  all  which  Bede  speaketh  in  diminution  of  Aidan  may  freely 
be  foro-iven  him,  were  it  but  for  his  faithful  recording  of  the 
following  passage  in  Aidan's  Life  ;  and  take  it  with  Stapleton's 
own  translation  thereof:  Omnes  qui  cum  eo  incedebant,  sive 
attonsi,  sive  laid,  meditari  deherent ;  id  est,  ant  legendis 
Scripturis,  aut  Psalmis  discendis  operam  dare.  "  All  they 
which  went  with  him,  were  they  professed  into  religion,  or  were 
they  lay-brethren,  gave  themselves  continually  to  contemplation  ; 
that  is  to  say,  bestowed  all  their  time  in  reading  Scripture,  or 
learning  the  Psalter."  Bede,  speaking  hereof,  addeth,  moreover, 
tanhim  vita  illius  a  nostri  temporis  segnitia  distabat,  "so  much 
differed  his  life  from  the  laziness  of  our  age  ;"  taxing  those  of  his 
time  for  neglect  of  the  Scriptures  !  And  thg  ignorance,  bemoaned 
in  his  age,  continued  and  increased  after  his  death. 

73.   The  Royal  Interpreter. 

When  Aidan  came  first  into  England,  he  was  not  perfect  in  the 
language  of  our  country.  For  although  the  speech  of  the  modern 
Southern  Scot  be  only  a  Doric  dialect  of,  no  distinct  language  from, 
English  ;  yet  Aidan,  who  naturally  spoke  Irish,  was  not  intelligible 
of  his  English  congregation.  Wherefore  king  Oswald,  a  better 
Scotchman  (as  bred  amongst  them)  than  Aidan  was  Englishman, 
interpreted  to  the  people  Avhat  the  other  preached  unto  them. 
Thus  these  two,  put  together,  made  a  perfect  preacher.  And 
although  some  will  say,  "  Sermons  thus  at  the  second-hand  must 
lose  much  of  their  life  and  lustre  ;*"  yet,  the  same  Spirit  working 
in  both,  the  ordinance  proved  effectual  to  the  salvation  of  many 
souls. 

74.    The  first  Lent  in  England.     AD.  640. 

This  year  the  first  Lent  was  kept  in  England  ; — conceive  it  in 
those  parts  thereof  which  obeyed  the  Roman  celebration  of  Easter. 
Otherwise  it  is  suspicious,  that  the  Quartadecimans  were  no  good 
Quadragesimaria?is,  and  no  such  conscientious  observers  of  Lent 
on  the  Romish  account.  Surely,  if  people  were  taught  in  Lent  to 
fast  (as  from  flesh,  so)  from  a  proud  and  false  opinion  of  meriting 
thereby,  policy  would  be  well  pleased,  and  piety  not  offended,  at 
the  observing  thereof;  whilst  continent-countries  might  keep  it 
without  any  loss  to  their  souls,  and  islands  with  great  gain  to  their 
estates. 


A.D.  042.  HOOK     H.      CENT.     VII.  123 

75.  The  ill  Success  of  good  Kings.  AD.  642. 
Oswald,  king  of  Northumberland,  fighting  at  Maserfield  (since 
Oswestry)  in  Shropshire,  against  Penda,  the  Pagan  prince  of 
Mercia,  was  overthrown,  slain,  and  his  body  most  barbarously 
abused  and  chopped  in  pieces.  Yea,  it  is  observable  that  such 
Saxon  kings,  Avhich  were  first  converted  to  Christianity,  and  such 
Avho  were  the  most  active  restorers  of  religion  after  a  general  apos- 
tasy, commonly  came  to  violent  deaths  by  the  hands  of  Heathens. 
As,  Edwin,  first  Christian  king  of  Northumberland,  slain  by  Pagnn 
Penda,  anno  632.  Erpenwald,  first  Christian  king  of  East  Angles, 
slain  by  his  own  people,  anno  630.  Peada,  first  Christian  king  of 
Mercia,  slain  by  his  own  wife,  anno  659.  Edelwald,  or  Ethelwald,* 
first  Christian  king  of  Sussex,  slain  likewise.  Oswald,  the  most 
religious  restorer  of  Christianity  in  Northumberland,  slain,  anno 
642.  Annas,  the  most  pious  king  of  the  East  Angles,  slain  by 
Penda,  anno  654.  Edmund,  the  most  devout  king  of  the  East 
Angles,  martyred  by  the  Danes,  anno  870.  Inquiring  into  the 
causes  hereof,  we  find  :  First.  That  the  lustre  of  their  lives,  shining 
before  men,  made  them  the  fairer  mark  for  their  malicious  enemies. 
Secondly.  Satan,  accounting  them  traitors  against  his  "  kingdom  of 
darkness,"  left  no  stone  unturned,  thereby  to  bring  them  to  temporal 
destruction,  the  greatest  hurt  which  his  power  could  inflict.  Thirdly. 
God,  to  try  the  patience  of  his  infant  church,  acquainted  them  with 
afflictions  from  their  very  cradle.  Such  therefore  are  mistaken  who 
make  prosperity  a  note  either  of  piety  in  particular  persons,  or  verity 
in  a  Avhole  church  ;  seeing,  take  it  one  time  with  another,  and  it 
misseth  the  mark  oftener  than  it  hits  it.  As  for  our  Oswald,  legions 
of  miracles  are  attributed  unto  him  after  death  ;  all  which  we  will- 
ingly omit,  insisting  only  on  one  as  most  remarkable. 

76-  OsivalcTs  Hand  said  never  to  initrify. 
The  story  goes  thus  :  On  an  Easter-day  Oswald  was  sitting  in 
his  palace  at  dinner  with  bishop  Aidan  ;  when  in  comes  one  of  his 
servants,  and  informeth  him,  that  abundance  of  poor  people  from  all 
pai-ts  sate  in  the  streets,  expecting  some  alms  for  their  relief.  Pre- 
sently king  Oswald  commands,  not  only  that  the  meat  set  before 
him  should  be  given  them,  but  also  that  the  large  silver  charger 
holding  the  same  should  be  broken  in  pieces,  and  (in  want,  perchance, 
of  present  coin)  parted  betwixt  them.  Whereupon,  Aidan  laying 
hold  on  Oswald's  right  hand,  (and  that  alone,  we  know,  ought  to  be 
the  almoner.  Matt.  vi.  3,)  "  May  this  hand,"  said  he,  "  never  be 
consumed  :"-f"  which  is  said  accordingly  to  come  to  pass.     So  that, 

*   Called  by  Rapin  and  others  Adclwalth ,  or  Addivall. — Edit.  t   So  Stapleton 

translatetli  what  in  Bed?  is,  ijvrtcr'isrnt. 


124  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.   642. 

when  all  the  other  members  of  king  Oswakrs  body  (torn  asunder  by 
his  barbarous  enemies)  were  putrified,  his  right  hand  always  remained 
un  consumed. 

NhHo  vcrme  jjerit,  nulla  pntredine  tahet 
Be.vtra  viri ;  rmllu  constringi  frlgorc,  nullo 
Dissoh'i  fcrvore  potest  ;  sed  semper  codem 
Imiimtata  statti  jiersistit,  mortua  vivit.* 

"  No  ivoiTu,  no  rottenness  taints  his  right  hand  ; 
Corruption-free,  in  vain  the  cold  doth  strive 
To  freeze,  or  heat  to  melt  it,  which  doth  stauil 
Still  at  one  stay  ;  and  though  dead,  is  aEve." 

But  it  is  not  enough  for  us,  that  we  have  the  poet's  pen  for  it ;  if 
Ave  also  had  Oswald's  hand  to  show  for  the  same,  much  might  be 
Avrought  on  our  belief  herein. 

77-  MysiicaUij  trtic- 
For  my  own  part,  I  conceive  that  AiJan's  Avords  to  OsAvald,  that 
"  his  hand  should  never  Avax  old,  or  be  consumed,'"  were  spiritually 
spoken,  in  a  mystical  meaning,  parallel  to  those  Scripture-expres- 
sions :  "  The  righteous  shall  be  in  everlasting  remembrance,""  Psalm 
cxii.  6,  even  Avhen  "  the  name  of  the  wicked  shall  rot,''  Prov.  x.  7- 
"  The  bountiful  hand  never  consumes  :"  neither  actually  ;  it  never 
wastes  nor  impairs  an  estate,  God  so  ordering  it  that  the  more  he 
giveth  the  more  he  hath  : — nor  passively  ;  it  is  not  consumed,  the 
acts  thereof  remaining  in  a  perpetual  memorial  here  and  hereafter. 
But,  grant  this  miracle  of  Oswald's  hand  literally  true  in  the  latitude 
thereof;  I  desire  any  ingenuous  Papist  to  consider  the  time  wherein 
it  was  acted.  It  was  Easter-day,  yea,  such  an  Easter-day  as  was 
celebrated  by  the  Quartadecimans,  Aidan  being  present  thereat, 
contrary  to  the  time  which  the  canons  of  Rome  appointed.  Now, 
did  not  a  Divine  finger  in  Oswald's  miraculous  hand  point  out  this 
day  then  to  be  truly  observed  ?  Let  the  Papists  produce  such 
another  miracle,  to  grace  and  credit  their  Easter  Roman  style,  and 
then  they  say  something  to  the  purpose. 

78.   Over-oJJicinnsness  occasioned  P^irgatory. 

It  plainly  appears,  that  the  survivors  had  not  only  a  charitable 
opinion,  but  a  comfortable  presumption,  yea,  an  infallible  persuasion, 
that  the  soul  of  king  Oswald  Avas  possessed  of  heavenly  happiness, 
instantly  after  his  death.  What  better  demonstration  of  his  present 
being  in  perfect  bliss,  than  those  many  miracles  which  the  Papists 
confidently  report  to  be  done  by  him  after  his  death,  in  curing  sick 
people  of  their  several  maladies  ?  For,  such  souls  Avhich  they  fancy 
in  purgatory  are  so  far  from  healing  others,  that  they  cannot  help 

"  C.MiDiiN's  nriluniua  in  Lincolnshire. 


A.D.  642 — 045,  ifooK  ir.     cent.  vii.  125 

themselves.  Yea,  Becle*  calleth  this  Oswahl,  jam  cum  Domino 
regnantem,  "  now  reigning  with  the  Lord."  Yet  the  same  autliorf 
attesteth,  that  even  in  his  time  it  was  tlie  anniversary  custom  of  the 
monks  of  Hexliam,  to  repair  to  Heofen-fekl,  (a  place  hard  by, 
where  Oswald,  as  aforesaid,  obtained  his  miraculous  victory,)  and 
"  there  to  observe  vigils  for  the  salvation  of  his  soul,"  plurimdque 
psalmorum  laude  celehratd,  victimam  pro  eo  mane  sacrce  ohla- 
tionis  qff'erre  :  a  mongrel  action,  betwixt  good- will  and  will-worship  ; 
though  the  eyes  of  their  souls  in  those  prayers'  looked  not  forward  to 
the  future,  petitioning  for  Oswald's  happiness  ;  but  backward  to 
what  was  past,  gratulatory  to  the  bliss  he  had  received.  Purgatory, 
therefore,  cannot  properly  be  founded  ^on  such  suffrages  for  the 
dead.  However,  such  over-officiousness,  though  at  first  it  was  like 
the  herb  in  the  pot,  which  doth  neither  good  nor  ill,  in  after-ages 
became  like  that  "  wild  gourd,"  2  Kings  iv.  40,  poisoning  men's 
souls  with  superstition,  when  they  fell  to  downright  praying  for  the 
departed. 

79.   The  Death  of  PauUnus.  A.D.  64 }. 

This  year  Paulinus,  late  archbishop  of  York,  since  bishop  of 
Rochester,  ended  his  life ;  and  one  Ithamar  succeeded  him,  bora  in 
Kent,  and  the  first  Englishman-bishop,  all  being  foreigners  before 
him.  As  he  was  the  first  of  his  nation,  I  believe  him  the  second  of 
his  tiame,  meeting  with  no  more  save  only  Ithamar,  the  youngest 
son  of  Aaron,  high  priest  of  Israel,  Exod.  vi.  23. 

80.  Most  Christian  King  Oswy.  A.D.  Q\5. 

After  king  Oswald's  death,  four  Christian  contemporary  kings 
flourished  in  England.  First.  Oswy,  king  of  Northumberland, 
more  commendable  for  the  managing  than  the  gaining  of  his  king- 
dom ;  except  any  will  say,  that  no  good  keeping  can  make  amends 
for  the  ill  getting  of  a  crown,  seeing  he  defeated  Ethelwald, 
Oswald's  son,  and  the  true  heir  thereof.  Bede  termeth  him  regem 
Christianissimum.,1  "  the  most  Christian  king  ;"  a  style  wherewith 
the  present  majesty  of  France  will  not  be  offended,  as  which,  many 
years  after,  was  settled  on  his  ancestors.  Long  had  this  Oswy 
endeavoured  in  vain,  by  presents,  to  purchase  peace  from  Penda, 
the  Pagan  king  of  Mercia,  who  miserably  harassed  his  country,  and 
refused  any  gifts,  (though  never  so  rich  and  great,)  which  were 
tendered  unto  him.  At  last,  saith  my  author, §  "  Oswy  resolved, 
We  will  offer  our  presents  to  such  a  King,  who  is  higher  in  com- 
mand, and  humbler  in  his  courtesy,  as  who  will  not  disdain  to  accept 
them."     Whereupon  he  devoted  his  daughter  to  God,  in  her  per- 

•  Eccles.  Hiit.  lib.  iii.  cap.  12.  t  I'il'.  i'J-  cap-  2.  t  Lib.  iii.  cap.  21.  §  Idem. 


126  CHUKCH     HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.        A.l).C4o 650. 

petual  virginity,  ami  soon  after  obtained  a  memorable  conquest  over 
his  enemies,  and  cleared  the  country  from  his  cruelty. 

81.  Sigebert  the  Too-good. 
Secondly.  Sigebert,  king  of  Essex,  and  the  restorer  of  religion 
in  his  kingdom,  which  formerly  had  apostatized  after  the  departure 
of  Mellitus  ;  valiant  and  pious,  though  taxed  for  his  contumacious 
company-keeping  (contrary  to  his  confessor''s  command)  with  an 
excommunicated  count,  in  whose  house  he  was  afterward  murdered 
by  two  villains  ;  who,  being  demanded  the  cause  of  their  cruelty, 
why  they  killed  so  harmless  and  innocent  a  prince,  had  nothing  to 
say  for  themselves,  but  they  did  it,  "  because  his  goodness  had 
done  the  kingdom  hurt  ;*  such  his  proneness  to  pardon  offenders, 
on  their  (though  but  seeming)  submission,  that  his  meekness  made 
many  malefactors.'"  But  I  hope  and  believe,  that  the  heirs  of 
Sigebert,  (though  the  story  be  silent  herein,)  finding  his  fault, 
amended  it  in  themselves,  and  exercised  just  severity  in  the  execu- 
tion of  these  two  damnable  traitors. 

82.  Annas  happy  in  a  holy  Isszw.  A.D.  6-54. 
Annas  may  be  accounted  the  third  successor  to  Sigebert,  and 
happy  in  a  numerovis  and  holy  offspring.  Yea,  all  his  children 
(save  Firminus  the  eldest,  slain  with  his  father  in  a  fight  against 
Pagan  Penda)  were  either  mitred  or  vailed,  when  living  ;  sainted 
and  shrined,  when  dead :  as,  Erkenwald,  bishop  of  London  ; 
Ethelred  or  Audrey,  and  Sexburga,  successively  foundresses  and 
abbesses  of  Ely  ;  Withgith,  a  nun  therein  ;  and  Ethilburge,  abbess 
of  Barking,  nigh  London. 

83.    The   Conversion  of  the  Mercians   to    Christianity  under 
Prince  Penda.   A.D.  656. 

Peada,  prince  of  Mercia,  may  make  up  the  quaternion,  who 
married  Alfrede,  daughter  of  Oswy,  king  of  Northumberland  ;  and 
thereupon,  renouncing  Paganism,  embraced  Christianity,  and  pro- 
pagated it  in  his  dominions.  Indeed,  Penda,  his  father,  that 
persecutor  of  piety,  was  still  alive,  (and  survived  two  years  after,) 
persisting  a  Heathen  till  death,  but  mollified  to  permit  a  toleration 
of  Christianity  in  his  subjects.  Yea,  Penda  in  his  old  age  used  an 
expression,  which  might  have  beseemed  the  mouth  of  a  better  man  ; 
namely,  that  he  hated  not  Christians,  but  "  only  such  who  professed 
Christ''s  faith,  without  his  works  ;"•!-  accounting  them  contemptible 
who  pretended  to  believe  in  God,  without  obeying  him. 

"  Beda,  lib.  iii.  cap.  22.  t  tifem,  lib.  iii.  caji.  21. 


A.D.  650.  BOOK     II.      CENT.    VII.  127 

84'.  St.  Cedde  and  St.  Chad. 
A  brace  of  brethren,  both  bishops,  both  eminent  for  learning  and 
religion,  now  appeared  in  the  church  ;  so  like  in  name,  they  are  oft 
mistaken  in  authors  one  for  another.  Now,  though  it  be  "  plea- 
sant for  brethren  to  live  together  in  unity,"  yet  it  is  not  fit,  by 
error,  they  should  be  jumbled  together  in  confusion.  Observe 
their  difference  therefore  :  St.  Cedde,  in  Latin  Ceddus,  I  believe 
the  elder,  born  at  London,*  (where  afterward  he  was  bishop,) 
bred  in  Holy  Island,  an  active  promoter  in  making  the  East 
Saxons  C07i-verts  (or  ratlier  re-^rts)  to  the  faith.  He  is  remem- 
bered in  the  Romish  Calendar,  January  the  seventh.  St.  Chad, 
in  Latin  Cedda,  born  in  Northumberland,-]-  bred  likewise  in 
Holy  Island,  and  scholar  to  Aidanus.  He  was  bishop  of  Lich- 
field ;  a  mild  and  modest  man,  of  whom  more  hereafter.  His 
death  is  celebrated  in  the  Calendar  March  the  second,  and  the  dust 
of  his  tomb  is  by  Papists  reported  to  cure  all  diseases  alike  in  man 
and  beast.  I  believe  it  might  make  the  dumb  to  see.,  and  the 
lame  to  speak.  The  latter  of  these  was,  as  the  longest  liver,  so 
the  most  eminent  in  his  life ;  who  made  many  Christians,  and 
amongst  the  rest  Wulfude  and  Rufine,  sons  to  Wulphere  king  of 
Mercia,  succeeding  Peada  therein,  who  was  suddenly  slain,  and  his 
untimely  death  was  a  great  loss  to  religion. 

85.  Fridona,  first  English  Archbishop. 
Look  we  now  on  the  see  of  Canterbury,  -where,  to  our  comfort, 
we  have  gotten  one  of  our  own  countrymen  into  the  place,  Fridona, 
a  Saxon.  Yet  for  the  more  state  of  the  business,  he  assumed  the 
name  of  Detis-dedit.  We  know,  archbishops  of  his  see  are  termed 
Alterius  orbis  PapcB  ;  and  such  changing  of  names  was  fashionable 
with  the  Popes.  He  was  consecrated  by  Ithaniar  alone,  bishop  of 
Rochester;  the  first  English  bishop  consecrating  the  first  English 
archbishop.  Let  no  sophister  cavil  with  his  threadbare  maxim, 
"  Nihil  dat  quod  non  habet,  and  therefore  a  single  bishop  could 
not  confer  archi-episcopal  power ;""  but  leave  it  to  the  canon- 
lawyers,  to  decide  what  may  be  done  in  case  of  extremity.  Mean 
time,  how  causeless  is  the  captiousness]:  of  the  Papists  at  the 
consecration  of  Matthew  Parker,§  because  no  archbishop  (though 
four  bishops)  was  present  thereat.  Seeing,  though  an  archbishop 
be  requisite  ad  dignitatem,  bishops  will  suffice  ad  honestatem  ; 
and  a  single  bishop  (as  Ithamar  here)|l  may  be  effectual  ad  essen- 
tiain  of  an  archi-episcopal  consecration.  No  wonder,  therefore,  if 
Evagrius   Avas   acknowledged    a    legitimate   bishop   by   the    Pope 

*  Flo7-es  Sanctorum,  p.  35.       t  Idem,  p.  224.        t  The  word  here  used  by  Fuller  was 
caption. — Edit.       5  Sanders  De  Schisvi.  page  297.       II  Bede  Hist.  lib.  lii.  page  21f. 


128  CHURCH    HISTORY     OF    BRITATN.  A.  D.   662. 

himself,*  tliouoh  contrary  to  the  rig-our  of  the  canon,  consecrated 
by  Paulinas  alone.-f-  Deus-dedit  answered  his  name  ;  (a  good  arcli- 
bishop  is  "God's  gift;")  and,  for  nine  years  and  more,  ruled  the 
church  to  his  great  commendation. 

86.  Widpheres  Murder  of  his  two  Sons.  A.D.  662. 
A  barbarous  murder  was  committed  by  Wulphere,  king  of 
Mercia ;  who,  understanding  that  his  two  sons,  Wulfade  and 
Rufine,  had  embraced  Christianity,  cruelly  slew  them  with  his  own 
hands.  But  afterwards,  repenting  of  so  foul  a  fact,  he  himself 
turned  Christian  ;  and,  in  testimony  thereof,  finished  the  fair  fabric 
of  the  monastery  at  Peterborough,  begun  by  Peada  his  brother. 
The  whole  story  thereof  was,  till  lately,  set  forth  in  painting,  and 
poetry  (such  as  it  wa*^)  in  the  glass-windov.'s,  round  about  the 
cloisters  of  Peterborough. 

"  Wulfade  jirny'il  Chad,  tliat  glio.^tly  leacL, 
Tbe  faith  of  Christ  him  fcr  to  teach." 

87.  The  making  of  Glass  brought  first  into  England. 
And  now,  having  fallen  on  the  mention  of  glass,  be  it  seasonably 
remembered,  that  just  at  this  time  one  Benault,  a  foreign  bishop, 
(but  of  what  place  I  finH  not,)  brought  the  mystery  of  making  glass 
into  England,  to  the  great  beautifying  of  our  churches  and  houses  ; 
the  eyes  being  the  grace  of  the  body,  as  windows  are  of  buildings. 
I  conceive,  his  invention  was  white  glass  alone,  more  ancient  than 
painted  glass  in  this  island  ;  as  plain-song  is  much  senior  to  all 
descanting  and  running  of  division. 

88.  Scottish  Bishops  dissent  from  others  in  keeping  Easter. 

The  paroxysm  continued  and  increased,  betwixt  the  Scottish 
bishops  (headed,  after  Aidan's  death,  by  Finan,  bishop  of  Holy 
Island)  and  such  who  celebrated  Easter  after  the  Roman  rite. 
The  latter  so  bitterly  detested  the  former,  that  they  would  not 
receive  consecration  of  them,  or  imposition  of  hands  ;  as  if  their 
very  fingers''  ends  were  infected  with  schism,  for  dissenting  from 
Rome.  Yea,  they  would  neither  give  the  sacrament  of  the  Eucha- 
rist to  them,  nor  receive  it  from  them  ;  and  yet  they  never 
quarrelled  at  or  questioned  the  validity  of  baptism  conferred  by 
them,  seeing  bishop  Finan  christened  the  king  of  the  East  Saxons 
and  all  his  subjects.  Somewhat  more  moderate  were  the  Scots,  or 
Quartadecimans,  in  their  carriage  to  the  other,  seeing  St.  Chad 
(Scottized  in  his  judgment)  refused  not  consecration  from  Wyni, 
bishop  of  Winchester,  though  one  of  the  contrary  opinion. 

•  BiNNUis,  torn.  i.  page  579,  in  Notis  in  Epist.  \7 ■   hmocentis  primi.  t  Theo- 

DORET,  lih.  V.  cap.  23. 


A  I).   G63.  BOOK    II.      CEXT.    VII.  129 

89.   This  Controversy  spreads  into  'private  Families. 

Nor  was  this  controversy  confined  to  cloisters  and  colleges,  but 
derived  itself  from  the  king''s  court,  down  into  private  families. 
Tims  Oswy,  king  of  Northumberland,  was  of  the  Scottish  persua- 
sion, whilst  his  queen  and  eldest  son  were  of  the  Romish  opinion, 
in  celebration  of  Easter.  One  board  would  not  hold  them  whom 
one  bed  did  contain.  It  fell  out  so  sometimes,  that  the  husband''s 
Palm  Sunday  was  the  wife^s  Easter-day  ;  and  in  other  families, 
the  wife  fasted  and  kept  Lent  still,  whilst  her  husband  feasted  and 
observed  Easter.  Say  not,  "  That  wife  deserved  to  fast  always  who 
in  so  indifferent  a  ceremony  would  not  conform  to  her  husband's 
judgment."  For,  consciences,  in  such  kinds,  are  to  be  led,  not 
drawn.  Great  was  the  disturbance  in  every  great  family ;  only  the 
poor  gained  by  the  difference,  causing  a  duplicate  of  festivals,  two 
Easters  being  kept  every  year  in  the  same  house. 

90.  A  Coitncil  is  called  to  compose  this  Co'ntroversy.  A.D.  6G3. 
To  compose  this  controversy,  if  possible,  a  council  was  called  at 
Streanch-hall,*  now  Whitby  in  Yorkshire,  by  the  procurement  of 
St.  Hilda,  abbess  therein.  Here  appeared,  amongst  many  others  : — 
For  the  Romish  Easter,  Wilfride,  an  abbot,  a  zealous  champion  ; 
Romanus,  a  priest,  very  hot  in  the  quarrel ;  and  others  : — For 
the  Scottish  Easter,  St.  Coleman,  bishop  of  Holy  Island,  who 
succeeded  Finan  in  that  place. — Moderators,  Hilda,  the  abbess 
of  Streanch-hall  ;  S.  Cedcl,  bishop  of  London,  propending  to  the 
Scottish,  but  not  thoroughly  persuaded.  But  Baronius  and 
Binnius  will  in  no  case  allow  this  for  a  council,  (though  elsewhere 
extending  that  name  to  meaner  meetings,)  only  they  calJ  it  "  a 
collation  ;"  because,  forsooth,  it  wanted  some  council-formalities, — 
all  bishops  not  being  solemnly  summoned,  but  only  some  volunteers 
appearing  therein.  Besides,  as  there  was  something  too  little,  so 
something  too  much,  for  a  canonical  council ;  Hilda,  a  woman, 
being  moderatress  therein  ;  which  seemed  irregular. 

91 .  WHf ride's  pvevaiUng  Argument. 
In  this  council  or  collation,  (call  it  v/hich  you  please,)  after  much 
arguing  j>ro  and  cow,  Wilfride  at  last  knocked  all  down  with  this 
argument  : — That  the  Romish  celebration  of  Easter  was  founded 
on  the  practice  of  St.  Peter,  prince  of  the  apostles,  and  porter  of 
heaven.  King  Oswy,  hearing  this,  was  affrighted  ;  who  had  rather 
anger  all  the  other  eleven  apostles,  than  offend  St.  Peter,  one  so 
high  in  power  and  place ;  for  fear,  as  he  said,  lest,  coming  to 
heaven-gate,   St.  Peter  should   deny  him  a  cast  of  his  office,  and 

*  Otherwise,  Streancs-halk. — Edit. 
VOT,.    I.  K 


ISO  CHURCH    HISTORY     OF    BRITAIN.  A.  O.   663. 

refuse  to  let  him  into  happiness.  St.  Coleman,  being  on  the  other 
side,  was  angry  that  so  slight  an  argument  had  made  so  deep  an 
impression  on  the  king's  credulity ;  and,  to  manifest  his  distaste, 
after  the  council  was  broken  up,  carried  all  those  of  his  own  opinion 
home  with  him  into  Scotland.  One  Tuda  succeeded  him  in  his 
bishopric  of  Holy  Island,  the  first  of  that  see  that  conformed 
himself  in  this  controversy  to  the  Romish  church,  and  died  in  the 
same  year  of  the  plague. 

92.  His  intended  hut  disappointed  Preferment. 

As  for  Wilfride,  he  was  well  rewarded  for  his  pains  in  this 
council,  being  presently  promoted  to  be  bishop  of  York,  which, 
since  Paulinus's  death,  was  no  longer  an  archbishop's,  ^but  a  plain 
bishop's  see.  But,  though  appointed  for  the  place  by  king  Oswy, 
he  refused  consecration  from  any  English  bishops,  being  all  irre- 
gular, as  consecrated  by  the  schismatical  Scots  ;  only  Wyni,  late 
bishop  of  Winchester,  now  of  London,  was  ordained  canonically, 
but  lately  he  had  contracted  just  shame  for  his  simony,  in  buying 
his  bishopric.  Over  goes  Wilfride,  therefore,  to  Rome  for  conse- 
cration ;  and  stays  there  so  long,  that,  in  his  absence,  the  king  put 
St.  Chad  into  the  bishopric  of  York.  The  writer  of  Wilfride's 
Life  complains  loudly  hereof: — 

Audacter  sponsam  vivo  rapuere  marito. 

"  Boldly  in  the  husband 's  life, 

Away  from  him  they  took  his  wife." 

But,  by  the  poet's  leave,  York  was  but  espoused,  not  married,  to 
Wilfride,  whilst  he  was  in  England  :  and  after  his  going  over 
beyond  sea,  he  stayed  so  long  that  his  church  presumed  him  dead, 
and  herself  a  maid-widow,  which  lawfully  might  receive  another 
husband.  At  last  Wilfride,  returning  home,  had  York  restored 
imto  him,  and  St.  Chad  was  removed  to  the  new-founded  bishopric 
of  Lichfield. 

93.  Abbess  Hilda. 

The  abbess  Hilda,  whom  we  mentioned  before,  was  like  another 
Huldah,  which  lived  in  the  college,  2  Chron.  xxxiv.  22  ;  superior  to 
most  of  her  sex  in  learning,  inferior  to  none  in  religion.  Monks 
ascribe  it  to  her  sanctity,  that  she  turned  many  serpents  in  that 
country  into  stones  ;  plenty  of  which  stones  are  found  at  this 
day  about  Whitby,  the  place  of  her  abode,  having  the  shape  of 
serpents,  but  most  headless  ;  as  the  tale  is  truthless,  relating  it  to 
her  miraculous  operation.  Who  knows  not  but  that  at  Alderly,  in 
Gloucestershire,  there  are  found  stones  resembling  cockles  or  peri- 
winkles, in  a  place  far  from  the   sea  ?  which  are  esteemed  bv  the 


A.D.  GGS—GJii.  BOOK    11.     CKXT.   VIT.  131 

learned  the  gamesome  work  of  nature,  sometimes  pleased  to  disport 
itself,  and  pose  us  by  propounding  sucli  riddles  unto  us. 

91.  ^  Miracle  im pitted  to  her  Holiness. 
Some  impute  it  also  to  Hilda''s  holiness  that  wild  geese,  when 
flying  over  the  grounds  near  her  convent,  fell  down  to  the  ground, 
as  doing  homage  to  the  sanctity  thereof.  As  the  credit  of  the 
reporters  hath  converted  wise  men  to  believe  the  thing  ;  so  they 
justly  remain  incredulous,  that  it  proceedeth  from  any  miracle,  but 
secret  antipathy.  But,  as  philosophers,  when  posed  in  nature  and 
prosecuted  to  render  reasons  of  her  mysteries,  took  sanctuary  at 
occulta  qualitas ;  monks,  in  the  same  kind,  make  their  refuge  to 
the  shrine  of  some  saint,  attributing  all  they  cannot  answer,  to  his 
or  her  miraculous  operation.  Yea,  sometimes,  such  is  monkish 
impudence,  falsely  to  assign  that  to  a  saint,  (though  all  chronologies 
protest  against  the  possibility  thereof,)  which  is  the  plain  and 
pregnant  effect  of  nature.  Witness  when  they  write,*  that  Richard 
de  la  Wich,  bishop  of  Chichester,  with  his  fervent  prayers  obtained, 
that  the  wiches,  or  salt-springs,  should  boil  out  of  the  earth  in 
Droitwich  in  Worcestershire ;  which  are  mentioned  and  described 
by  ancient  authors,  dead  before  the  cradle  of  the  said  Richard  de  la 
Wich  was  made. 

95.  Theodoriis^  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  A.D.  668. 
Look  we  now  on  the  see  of  Canterbury,  and  there,  after  the 
death  of  the  last  archbishop,  and  four  years'  vacancy,  we  find 
that  church  hath  changed  her  Latin  into  Greek,  I  mean,  dead 
Deus-dedit,  into  Theodoriis  his  successor,  put  in  by  the  Pope. 
This  Theodorus  was  a  Grecian  by  name  and  nation,  fellow-citizen 
with  St.  Paul,  born  in  Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  Acts  xxii.  3  ;  and  herein 
like  him, — that  "  he  spake  with  tongues  more  than  they  all,"  1  Cor. 
xiv.  18 ;  had  more  skill  in  learned  languages  than  all  his  brethren, 
bishops  of  England,  in  that  age.  Yea,  as  children,  when  young, 
are  permitted  to  play  ;  but,  when  of  some  years,  are  sent  to  learn 
their  book  ;  so  hitherto  the  infant  church  of  Englaind  may  be  said 
to  have  lost  time  for  matter  of  learning,  and  now  Theodorus  set  it 
first  to  school,  brought  books  to  it,  and  it  to  books  ;  erecting  a 
well-furnished  library,  and  teaching  his  clergy  how  to  make  use 
thereof. 

96.    His  Fierceness  to  keep  Easter  after  the  Romish  Rite. 

A.D.  G72-3. 

I   could  wish  this   Theodorus  had  had  one  quality  more  of  St. 
Paul ; — that,  in  matters  indiiferent,  he  would  have  been  "  made  all 

•  As  Camden  saith  in  Worcestershire. 
K    2 


^-r^ 


1«'52  CHUltCH    HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.  D.   G72-3. 

things  to  all  men,  tliat  by  all  means  he  might  save  some,"  1  Cor. 
ix.  22.  Whereas  he  most  rigorously  pressed  conformity  to  Rome, 
in  the  observation  of  Easter :  and,  to  that  purpose,  a  council  was 
called  at  Herad-ford,  now  Hertford,  and  not  Hereford,  as  judicious 
and  industrious  bishop  Godwin  (partial  to  the  place  whereof  he 
himself  was  bishop)  doth  mistake  it.  Here  Easter  was  settled  after 
the  Romish  rite  ;  and  we  are  not  sorry  for  the  same,  willing  rather 
it  should  be  any  way  ordered,  than  that  the  reader  (with  whom  I 
sympathize,  more  than  grudge  my  own  pains)  should  be  troubled 
any  longer  with  such  a  small-great  controversy,  low  in  its  own 
merit,  but  heightened  with  the  spleen  and  passion  of  such  as  pro- 
secuted it.  In  this  synod  nine  other  articles  were  concluded  of,  as 
they  follow  here  in  order,  out  of  Bede,  as  Stapleton*  himself  hath 
translated  them  :  — 

"  1.  That  no  bishop  should  have  aught  to  do  in  another"'s  dio- 
cese, but  be  contented  with  the  charge  of  the  people  committed 
unto  him. 

"  2.  That  no  bishop  should  molest  or  any  wise  trouble  such  mo- 
nasteries as  were  consecrated,  and  given  to  God,  nor  violently  take 
from  them  aught  that  was  theirs. 

''  3.  That  monks  should  not  go  from  place  to  place,  that  is  to 
say,  from  one  monastery  to  another,  unless  by  the  leave  of  their 
own  abbot ;  but  should  continue  in  the  obedience  which  they  pro- 
mised at  the  time  of  their  conversion  and  entering  into  religion. 

"  4.  That  none  of  the  clergy,  forsaking  his  own  bishop,  should 
run  up  and  down  where  he  list,  nor,  when  he  came  any  whither, 
should  be  received  without  letters  of  commendation  from  his  dio- 
cesan. And,  if  that  he  be  once  received,  and  will  not  return,  being 
warned  and  called,  both  the  receiver  and  he  that  is  received  shall 
incur  the  sentence  of  excommunication. 

"  5.  That  such  bishops  and  clerks  as  are  strangers  be  content  with 
such  hospitality  as  is  given  them  ;  and  that  it  be  lawful  for  none  of 
them  to  execute  any  office  of  a  priest,  without  the  permission  of  the 
bishop  in  whose  diocese  they  are  known  to  be. 

"  6.  That  whereas,  by  the  ancient  decrees,  a  synod  and  convoca- 
tion ought  to  be  assembled  twice  a  year ;  yet  because  divers  incon- 
veniences do  happen  among  us,  it  hath  seemed  good  to  us  all,  that 
it  should  be  assembled  once  a  year,  the  first  day  of  August,  at  the 
place  called  Clofeshooh.*f* 

"  7-  That  no  bishop  should  ambitiously  prefer  himself  before 
another,  but  should  all  acknowledge  the  time  and  order  of  their 
consecration. 

"  8.  That  the  number  of  bishops  should  be  increased,  the  number 

*  Lib.  iv.  cap.  5.  t  See  cent.  viii.  parng.  21.  —  Edit. 


A.D.   073 679.  BOOK     II.      CKNT.    VIT.  ISS 

of  Christian  folk  waxing  daily  greater ;  but  hereof  at  this  time  Ave 
said  no  further. 

"  9.  That  no  man  commit  advoutry  [adultery]  nor  fornication  ; 
that  no  man  forsake  his  own  wife,  but  for  only  fornication,  as  the 
holy  Gospel  teacheth.  And,  if  any  man  put  away  his  wife  being 
lawfully  married  unto  him,  if  he  Avill  be  a  right  Christian  man,  let 
him  be  joined  to  none  other  :  but  let  him  so  continue  still  sole,  or 
else  be  reconciled  again  to  his  own  wife." 

I  wonder  no  mention  herein  of  settling  the  tonsure  of  priests,  (a 
controversy  running  parallel  Avith  that  of  Easter,)  according  to  the 
Roman  rite.  To  conclude :  Let  not  the  reader  expect  the  like 
exemplification  of  all  articles  in  following  synods,  so  largely  as  here 
Ave  have  presented  thein.  For  this  synod  Stapleton*  calls  "the 
first  of  the  English  nation  ;"  (understand  him,  Avhose  canons  are 
completely  extant ;)  and  therefore  more  patrimony  is  due  to  the 
heir  and  eldest  son,  than  to  the  younger  brethren,  who  shall  be  con- 
tent to  be  confined  to  their  pensions  ;  I  mean,  to  have  their  articles 
not  exemplified,  but  epitomized  hereafter. 

97-  //e  envicth  Wilfride  Bishop  of  York, 
Theodorus,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  beheld  Wilfride,  bisliop 
of  York,  (one  of  great  parts,  and  greater  passions,)  with  envious 
eyes  ;  and  therefore,  to  abate  his  power,  he  endeavoured  that  the 
diocese  of  York  might  be  divided.  Wilfride,  offended  hereat,  goes 
over  to  Rome  to  impede  the  project,  and  by  the  way  is  tossed  Avith 
a  grievous  tempest.  It  is  an  ill  wind  Avhich  bloAveth  no  man  profit. 
He  is  cast  on  the  shore  of  Friezland  in  Belgia,  Avhere  the  inhabit- 
ants, as  yet  Pagans,  were  by  his  preaching  converted  to  Christianity. 
This  may  be  observed  in  this  Wilfride, — his  irapspya  Avere  better 
than  his  e'pya,  his  casual  and  occasional  were  better  than  his  inten- 
tional performances  ;  which  shows  plainly,  that  Providence  acted 
more  vigorously  in  him,  than  his  OAvn  prudence  :  I  mean,  Avhen  at 
ease  in  wealth,  at  home,  he  busied  himself  in  toys  and  trifles  of 
ceremonious  controversies  ;  but  when  (as  now  and  afterwards)  a 
stranger,  and  little  better  than  an  exile,  he  effectually  promoted 
the  honour  and  glory  of  God. 

98.  The  South  Sa.vons,  as  formerlij  the  Friexhinders,  converted 
by  Wilfride.  A.D.  679. 
And  as  it  is  observed  of  nightingales,  that  they  sing  the  sweetest 
Avhen  farthest  from  their  nests  ;  so  this  Wilfride  Avas  most  diligent 
in  God's  service,  when  at  the  greatest  distance  from  his  own  home. 
For  though  returning  into  England,  he  returned  not  unto  York,  but 

*  In  his  trail -latioii  of  Bedo,  folfo  US, 


134  CHURCH    HISTOUY    OF    BRITAIN.  A    D.  670. 

staid  in  the  Pagan  kingdom  of  the  South  Saxons,  who  also,  by  God's 
blessing  on  his  endeavours,  were  persuaded  to  embrace  the  Christian 
faith. 

99.  The  first,  the  last. 
These  South  Saxons,  of  all  the  seven  kingdoms,  were  the  last 
■which  submitted  themselves  to  the  perfect  freedom  of  God's  service ; 
and  yet  their  country  was  in  situation  next  to  Kent,  where  the 
Gospel  was  first  planted.  Herein  it  was  verified,  "  Many  that  are 
first  shall  be  last,  and  the  last,  first."  Yea,  the  Spirit,  which 
"  bloweth  where  it  listeth,""  observeth  no  visible  rules  of  motion  ; 
but  sometimes,  taking  no  notice  of  those  in  the  middle,  reacheth  to 
them  which  are  farthest  off.  Indeed  Edilwalch  [Adelwalch]  their 
king  was  a  little  before  christened  by  the  persuasion  of  Wulphere, 
king  of  Mercia,  (who  was  his  godfather,  and  at  his  baptizing  gave 
him  for  a  gift  the  Isle  of  Wight,  et  provmciam*  Meanuarorum 
in  gente  Occidentalium  Saxomim,)  but  his  country  still  reniained 
in  Paganism.  And  although  Dicul,  a  Scot,  with  some  six  of  his 
brethren,  had  a  small  monastery  at  Bosenham-f*  in  Sussex  ;  yet  they, 
rather  enjoying  themselves,  than  meddling  with  others,  were  more 
careful  of  their  own  safety,  than  their  neighbours' conversion.  And, 
indeed,  the  Pagans  neither  heeded  their  life,  nor  minded  their 
doctrine. 

100.  Pagan  Obstinam/  punished  with  Famine. 

However,  these  South  Saxons  paid  for  their  stubbornness,  in 
standing  out  so  long  against  the  Gospel ;  for  they  always  were  a 
miserable  people,  and  at  this  present  afflicted  with  a  great  famine, 
caused  by  three  years'  drought ;  so  that  forty  men  in  a  row,  holding 
hand  in  hand,  used  to  throw  themselves  into  the  sea,  to  avoid  the 
misery  of  a  lingering  death.  In  this  woful  condition  did  Wilfride, 
bishop  of  York,  find  them,  when  he  first  preached  the  Gospel  unto 
them ;  and  on  that  very  day  wherein  he  baptized  them,  (as  if  God 
from  heaven  had  poured  water  into  the  font,)  he  obtained  store  of 
rain,  which  procured  great  plenty.  Observe  (though  I  am  not  so 
ill-natured  as  to  wrangle  with  all  miracles)  an  apish  indtation  of 
Elijah  ;  who  carried  the  key  of  heaven  at  his  girdle,  to  lock  or 
unlock  it  by  his  prayer  ;  only,  Elijah  gave  rain  after  three  years  and 
six  months,  Wilfride  after  bare  three  years;  it  being  good  manners 
to  come  a  little  short  of  his  betters. 

101.  South  Saxons  first  taught  to  fish. 
Also,  saith  my  author,:!:  he  taught  the  people  (who  till  then  knew 
not  how  to  catch  any  fishes  but  eels)  how  to  take  all  kind  of  fish  in 

•  Bede,  lib.  it.  cap    13.     t  In  modern  time?,  Bosom, -Edit,     i  Bepe,  lib,  iv.  cap.  13. 


A.D.   G80.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    VII.  135 

the  sea  and  rivers.  Strange  !  that  thus  long  they  should  live  in 
ignorance  of  so  useful  a  trade,  being  (though  infidels)  no  idiots ; 
especially  seeing  men's  capacities  come  very  soon  to  be  of  age  to 
understand  their  own  profit ;  and  the  examples  of  their  neighbours 
might  have  been  tutors  unto  them.  But  Wilfride  afterward  wanted 
no  hearers,  people  flocking  unto  him  ;  as  when  Christ  made  his 
auditors  his  guests,  they  followed  after  him,  "  because  they  ate  of 
the  loaves,  and  were  filled."  The  priests,  Eappa,  Padda,  Bruchelin, 
and  Oidda,  assisted  in  baptizing  the  common  people ;  and  king 
Edilwalch  gave  Wilfride  a  piece  of  land,  containing  eighty-nine 
families,  at  Selsey,  where  he  erected  a  bishop's  see,  since  translated 
to  Chichester. 

102.  A  double  good  Deed. 
Amongst  other  good  deeds,  Wilfride  freed  two  hundred  and 
fifty  men  and  maid-servants,  both  out  of  soul-slavery  and  bodily 
bondage.  For,  having  baptized  them,  he  procured  their  liberty  of 
their  masters  ;  which  they,  no  doubt,  cheerfully  embraced,  accord- 
ing to  St.  Paul's  counsel :  "  Art  thou  called  a  servant  ?  care  not 
for  it :  but  if  thou  mayest  be  made  free,  use  it  rather,"  1  Cor.  vii.  21, 
And  thus,  by  God's  blessing,  in  the  space  of  eighty  and  two  years, 
(from  five  hundred  ninety-seven,  to  six  hundred  seventy-nine,)  was 
the  whole  Saxon  heptarchy  converted  to  Christianity,  and  did  never 
again  relapse  to  Paganism. 

103.  Godfathers  used  to  Men  of  mature  Age. 
Mention  being  lately  made*  of  Wulphure's,  the  Mercian  king, 
being  godfather  unto  Edilwalch,  king  of  the  South  Saxons,  some 
will  much  admire,  that  one  arrived  at  years  of  maturity,  able  to 
render  an  account  of  his  faith,  should  have  a  godfather,  which,  with 
swaddling-clouts,  they  conceive,  belong  to  infants  alone.  Yet  this 
was  very  fashionable  in  that  age  :  not  only  for  the  greater  state,  in 
kings,  princes,  and  public  persons  ;  but  in  majorem  cazitelam, 
even  amongst  private  people.  For  such  susceptors  were  thought  to 
put  an  obligation  on  the  credits,  and  by  reflection  on  the  con- 
sciences, of  new  Christians,  (whereof  too  many  in  those  days  were 
baptized  out  of  civil  designs,)  to  walk  worthy  of  their  profession, 
were  it  but  to  save  their  Iriends'  reputation,  who  had  undertaken 
for  their  sincerity  therein. 

104.   Cadwallader  founds  a  Welsh  Hospital  at  Rome. 

Cadwallader,   the  last  king    of  Wales,    wearied    out    with    war, 
famine,   and   pestilence,   left   his  own   land,   and,  with  some  small 

•  Paragraph  99. 


1S6  CHURCH  HISTORY  OF  BRITAIN.  A.D.  685 692. 

treasure,  fled  to  Alan,  king  of  Little  Britain.  But  princes  are 
welcome  in  foreign  parts,  when  pleasure  (not  need)  brings  tliem 
thither;  or  -whilst  they  are  so  considerable  in  themselves  as  to  com- 
mand their  own  entertainment.  Whereas  this  distressed  king's 
company  was  beheld  not  only  as  useless  and  expensive,  but  dan- 
gerous, as  likely  to  draw  with  it  the  displeasure  of  the  Saxon  kings 
(his  enemies)  on  his  entertainer.  But,  it  seems,  Cadwallader  had 
better  friends  in  heaven,  than  any  he  found  on  earth  ;  if  it  be  true, 
what  confidently  is  reported,  that  an  angel  appeared  unto  him, 
advising  him  to  go  to  Rome,  there  to  take  on  him  the  habit  of  a 
monk,  and  spend  the  remainder  of  his  life.*  Here  he  purchased 
lands,  all  by  the  foresaid  angelical  direction,  built  a  house,  (after 
his  death  converted  into  an  hospital,)  and  by  his  will  so  ordered 
it,  that  certain  priests  of  his  own  country  should  for  ever  have  the 
rule  and  government  thereof.  These  were  to  entertain  all  Welsh 
pilgrims  with  meat,  drink,  and  lodging,  for  the  space  of  a  month, 
and  to  give  them  a  certain  sum  of  money  for  a  viaticum  at  their 
departure,  towards  their  charges  in  returning  to  their  own  country. 

105.  Since,  injuriously  taken  from  the  Welsh. 
Many  a  year  did  this  hospital  flourish  in '  good  plenty,  till  the 
middle  of  queen  Elizabeth''s  reign  ;  when  fair  the  revenues  belong- 
ing, and  few  the  Welsh  pilgrims  repairing,  thereto.  This  made 
father  Parsons,  with  the  rest  of  our  English  J  esuits,  cast  an  envious 
eye  thereon,  who  would  never  be  quiet  until  they  had  obtained  of 
pope  Gregory  XIII.  to  eject  the  old  British,  and  unite  this 
hospital  to  the  English  college  at  Rome.  This,  no  dcmbt,  stirred 
up  the  Welsh  blood  of  Dr.  Morris,  Dr.  Lewes,  Dr.  Smith,  and  Mr. 
Griffith,  who,  in  vain,  stickled  to  the  utmost  of  their  power  to  con- 
tinue this  foundation  to  their  countrymen.  In  my  poor  opinion, 
seeing  an  angel  is  said  to  direct  in  the  founding  and  endowing  of 
this  hospital,  it  was  but  fit  that  either  the  same  angel  appearing 
again,  or  some  other  of  an  higher  or,  at  least,  equal  dignity  and 
degree  in  the  celestial  hierarchy,  should  have  altered  the  use  and 
confirmed  the  alienation  thereof.     But  of  this  more  hereafter.-f- 

106.    Thf' ecclesiastical  Laics  of  King  Ina.     J.D.(i9-2. 

Ina,  king  of  the  West  Saxons,  about  this  time,  set  forth  his 
Saxon  laws,  translated  into  English  by  Mr.  Lambert.  Eleven  of 
his  laws  concerned  church-matters  ;  kings  in  that  age  understanding 
their  own  power,  the  pope  having  not  as  yet  intrenched  on  their 
just  prerogative.  These  constitutions  were  concluded  on  by  the 
king,   through   the  persuasion   of  Kenred  his  father,    Hedda  and 

•  Lewes  Owen's  "  Running  Register,"  page  \7  ■        t  ^ "^f  annum  Domini  1569. 


A.D.  692.  BOOK    ir.       CENT.    VII,  137 

Erkenwald  liis  bishops,  and  all  his  aldermen  and  wise  senators  of 
the  people.  Let  none  wonder  that  Ina,  in  his  preface  to  these 
laws,  ternieth  Erkenwald  his  bishop,  whose  see  of  London  was 
properly  under  the  king  of  the  East  Saxons.  For  he  might  call 
him  his  in  affection,  whose  diocese  was  in  another  king's  possession  ; 
Ina  highly  honouring  Erkenwald  for  his  piety,  and,  therefore, 
inviting  him  (forward  of  himself  to  all  goodness)  to  be  present  at 
the  passing  of  these  laws.  Besides,  some  assign  Surrey  as  part  of 
the  kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons.*  Probably,  at  this  present  Ina's 
puissance  sallied  over  the  Thames,  and  London  might  be  reduced 
into  his  honorary  protection.  But  see  here  a  breviate  of  his  church- 
laws  : — 

1.  That  ministers  observe  their  appointed  form  of  living.-f- 

2.  That  every  inflmt  be  baptized  within  thirty  days  after  his 
birth,  on  the  penalty  of  his  parents  forfeiting  thirty  shillings  ;  and, 
if  the  child  chance  to  die  before  he  be  baptized,  all  his  estate. 

3.  If  the  servant  doth  any  work  on  the  Lord's  day  at  the 
master's  command,  the  servant  shall  be  acquitted, |  and  the  master 
pay  thirty  shillings.  But  if  he  did  that  work  without  his  master's 
command,  let  him  be  beaten,  or  redeem  it  with  money,  &c.  A 
priest  offending  in  this  kind  was  to  be  double  punished. 

4.  The  first-fruits  of  seeds  were  to  be  paid  to  the  church  on  the 
feast  of  St.  Martin,  on  the  penalty  of  forty  shillings,  besides  the 
payment  of  the  said  first-fruits  twelve  times  over. 

5.  If  any  deserving  stripes  shall  fly  to  a  church,  his  stripes  shall 
be  forgiven  him.  If  guilty  of  a  capital  crime,  he  shall  enjoy  his 
life,  but  make  recompence  according  to  what  is  right  and  due. 

6.  Fighters  in  the  king's  court,  to  lose  their  goods,  and  to  be  at 
the  king's  mercy  for  their  life.  Such  as  fight  in  the  church,  to  pay 
one  hundred  and  twenty  shillings.  If  in  the  house  of  an  alderman, 
sixty  shillings,  &c. 

7.  Such  as  falsify  their  witness  or  pawn  in  the  presence  of  the 
bishop,  to  pay  one  hundred  and  twenty  shillings. 

8.  Several  penalties  of  moneys  imposed  on  those  that  should 
kill  a  stranger. 

9.  Such  as  are  breakers  of  the  peace  in  the  town  of  the  king  or 
archbishop,  punishable  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  shillings  ;  in 
the  town  of  an  alderman,  eighty  shillings  ;  in  the  town  of  one  of 
the  king's  servants,  sixty  shillings,  &c. 

10.  First-fruits   of  all  seeds  were  to  be  paid  by  house-keepers 

"  UsSERii   Dc   Brit.   Ecc.   Primord.   page  394.  f   Sir  Henry  Spelman's 

"  Councils,"  page  182,  &c.  t  Latin,  liber  esto,  may  not  only  import  a  freedom  from 

fault,  but,  alao,  that  sacli  a  slave-servant  should  he  nianumissed  from  servitude.  See  the 
following  113th  paragraph. 


138  CHURCH    HISTOKY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  692 — 694. 

as  due  to  that  place  wherein  they  themselves  were  resident  on  the 
day  of  Christ's  nativity. 

11.  What  sums  of  money  are  to  be  paid  by  such  who  have 
killed  their  god-fathers  or  god-sons. 

In  this  last  law,  express  provision  is  made,  episcopi  filius  si 
occidatur,  "  in  case  the  son  of  a  bishop  be  killed  ;"  a  passage 
impertinently  alleged,  by  some,  for  the  proof  of  bishops  mamed  in 
that  age  ;  seeing  neither  sons  natural  nor  conjugal,  but  only 
spiritual,  at  the  font,  are  thereby  intended.  Now  let  the  learned 
in  the  law  render  the  reason,  why  murder  in  that  age  was  not 
punishable  with  death,  but  might  be  bought  off  with  money. 

107.    Wometi  present  at  the  great  Council  of  Becaticeld. 
A.D.  694. 

A  great  council  (for  so  it  is  titled)  was  held  at  Becanceld  *  by 
Withred  king  of  Kent,  and  Bertuald  archbishop  of  Britain,  so 
called  therein  ;  (understand  him  of  Canterbury  ;)  wherein  many 
things  Avere  concluded  in  favour  of  the  church.  Five  Kentish 
abbesses,  namely,  Mildred,  Etheldred,  ^te,  Wilnolde,  and  Heres- 
wide,  were  not  only  present,  but  subscribed  their  names  and 
crosses  to  the  constitutions  concluded  therein.  And  we  may  ob- 
serve, that  their  subscriptions  are  not  only  placed  before  and^  above 
all  presbyters,  but  also  above  Botred-f*  a  bishop,  (but  of  what  diocese 
not  specified,)  present  in  this  great  council.  It  seems  it  was  the 
courtesy  of  England  to  allow  the  upper  hand  to  the  weaker  sex,  as 
in  their  sitting,  so  in  their  subscriptions. 

108.  Romish  Brags  of  St.  Audre''s  Chastity. 
We  will  conclude  this  century  with  the  miraculous  holiness  of 
Ethelreda,J  or  St.  Audre ;  professing  at  first  to  be  afraid  to  adven- 
ture on  so  high  a  subject,  disheartened  in  reading  a  popish  author 
to  rant  so  in  her  commendation  ;  "  Let  the  fabulous  Greeks  talk  no 
more  of  their  chaste  Penelope,  who  in  the  twenty  years'  absence  of 
her  husband  Ulysses  lived  continently,  in  despite  of  the  tempting 
importunity  of  many  noble  wooers  ;  and  let  the  proud  Romans 
cease  to  brag  of  their  fair  Lucretia,  that  chose  rather  to  become  the 
bloody  instrument  of  her  own  death,  than  to  live  after  the  violent 
ravishment  of  her  honour  ;  and  let  all  the  world  turn  their  minds  to 
admire,  and  their  tongues  and  pens  to  sound  the  praises  of  the 
Christian  virtues  and  chastity  of  our  blessed  Ethelreda,"'"'§  &c.  But, 
leaving  the  bubbles  of  his  rhetoric  to  break  of  themselves,  on  serious 

*  Supposed  to  be  Beckenliain   in   Kent Edit.  t   Sir   Henry   Spelman's 

"  Councils,"  page  190.  t  Adelfrida,  or  St.  AiUdry. — Edit.  §  "  The  Flowers 

of  the  Saints,"  written  by  Jerome  Porter. 


A.D.  694 — 696.  KooK  ir.    cent.  vn.  139 

considerations  we  are  so  far  from  admiring,  it  is  more  tlian  we  can 
do  to  excuse,  this  St.  Andre,  as  her  story  is  reported. 

109.   Twice  a  Wife,  still  a  Maid. 

This  Audrc  was  daughter  to  Annas  king  of  the  East  Angles,  and 
from  her  inflmcy  a  great  afFecter  of  virginity.  However,  she  was 
over-persuaded  to  marry  one  Tombert,  prince  of  the  Fen-land,  with 
whom  she  lived  three  years  in  the  bands  of  unexperienced  wedlock, 
both,  by  mutual  consent,  abstaining  from  carnal  copulation.  After 
his  death,  so  importunate  were  her  friends  with  her,  that  she  married 
with  Egfride  king  of  Northumberland. 

110.  Pretended  Chastity  real  hi  justice. 

Strange,  that,  being  once  free,  she  would  again  entangle  herself; 
and  stranger,  that,  being  married,  she  utterly  refused  to  afford  her 
husband  what  the  apostle  calls  "  due  benevolence,"  1  Cor.  vii.  3, 
though  he  by  importunate  intreaties  requested  the  same.  Being 
"  benevolence,*"  it  was  uncharitable  to  deny  it ;  being  "  due,"  it 
was  unjust  to  detain  it ;  being  both,  she  was  uncharitable  and  unjust 
in  the  same  action.  Was  not  this  a  mockage  of  marriage,  (if  in 
that  age  counted  a  sacrament,) — solemnly  to  give  herself  unto  her 
husband,  whom  formerly  she  had  passed  away  by  a  previous  vow  of 
virginity  .''  At  last  she  wrested  leave  from  her  husband  to  live  a 
nun  in  the  monastery  of  Ely,  which  she  built  and  endowed.  After 
her  entrance  therein  she  ever  wore  woollen,  and  never  linen*  about 
her  ;  which  whether  it  made  her  more  holy  or  less  cleanly,  let  others 
decide.  Our  author^f*  tells  us,  that,  in  memory  of  her,  our  English 
women  are  wont  to  wear  about  their  necks  a  certain  chain  made  of 
fine  small  silk,  which  they  call  "Ethelred's  chain."  I  must  profess 
myself  not  so  well  acquainted  with  the  sex,  as  either  to  confute  or 
confirm  the  truth  thereof.  At  last  she  died  of  a  swelling  in  her 
throat,  and  was  buried  in  Ely. 

111.  Her  miruciilons  Monument  of  Marble. 
Sixteen  years  her  corpse  slept  in  a  private  grave  near  her  own 
convent ;  when  it  came  into  the  head  of  bishop  Wilfride  and  her 
friends,  to  bestow  on  her  a  more  costly  burial.  But,  alas  !  the  soft 
and  fenny  ground  of  Ely-Isle  (where  scarce  a  stone  big  enough  to 
bury  a  worm  under  it)  afforded  not  a  tomb-stone  for  that  purpose. 
Being  thus  at  a  loss,  their  want  is  said:[:  to  be  miraculously  sup- 
plied ;  for  under  the  ruined  walls  of  Grantchester,  or  Cambridge,  a 
coffin   was  found,  a.d.  696,  with  a  cover  correspondent,  both   of 

*  Bede  Ecclcs.  Hist.  lib.  iv.  cap.  19,  t  Jerome  Poeter  in  his  "  Flowers  of  the 

Saints,"  and  Harpsfield,  sec.  vii.  cap.  24.  1  Beda  Eccles.  Hist.  lib.  iv.  cap.  19, 


140  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  697- 

white  marble,  which  did  fit  her  body  so  exactly,  as  if  (which  one 
may  believe  was  true)  it  was  made  for  it.  Herein  Avas  Audre"'s 
corpse  stately  enslirined,  and  for  many  years  superstitiously  adored. 

112.  Confuted  bij  a  credible  Witness. 
But  Johan.  Caius,  fellow  of  Gonville-Hall,  Avithin  ten  miles  of 
Ely,  at  the  dissolution  of  abbeys,  being  reputed  no  great  enemy  to 
the  Romish  religion,  doth  on  his  own  knowledge  report,  in  his 
Histor.  Cantab,  lib.  i.  page  8  :  Quamquam  illius  cevi  ccBcitas 
admirationem  in  eo  paret,  quod  regnante  Hen.  nuper  VIII. 
dirutum  idem  sepidchriim  ex  lapide  communi  ftiit,  non,  ut  Beda 
narrate  ex  albo  marmore.  "  Although  the  blindness  of  that  age 
bred  admiration  therein,  yet  when  the  tomb  was  pinched  down  in 
the  reign  of  king  Henry  VIH.  it  was  found  made  of  common  stone, 
and  not  of  white  marble,  as  Bede  reporteth.*"  Thus  was  her  tomb 
degraded  and  debased  one  degree  ;  which  makes  the  truth  of  all  the 
rest  to  be  suspected.  And  if  all  popish  miracles  were  brought  to 
the  test,  they  would  be  found  to  shrink  from  marble  to  common 
stone,  nay,  from  stone  to  dirt  and  untempered  mortar. 

113.  The  Council  at  B  erg  karr.  steed.     AD.  Cd^J. 

It  is  needless  here  to  insert  the  canons  concluded  on  at  Bergham- 
steed,  by  Withred  king  of  Kent,  and  Bertuald  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury. First.  Because  topical,  confined  to  that  small  kingdom. 
Secondly.  Hard  to  be  understood,  as  depending  on  some  Saxon  law- 
terms,  whereon  conjectures  are  the  best  comment.  Thirdly.  Such 
as  are  understood  are  obsolete  ;  namely,  If  a  master  gave  his  servant 
flesh  to  eat  on  a  fasting-day,  his  servant  was,  on  the  refusal  and  com- 
plaint thereof,  to  be  made  free.*  Some  punishments  therein  were 
very  absurdly  proportioned  ;  namely,  six  shillings,  or  a  whipping, 
was  to  be  paid  by  that  servant  Avho  ate  flesh  on  fasting-days  ;  and 
just  the  same  penalty  was  inflicted  on  him  if  convicted  of  offering 
oblations  to  the  devil ;  as  if  equal  their  offences.  And  be  it  remem- 
bered, that  this  council  was  kept  cum  viris  quibusdam  militarihus, 
"  some  soldiers  being  present  thereat ;"  and  yet  the  fifth  canon 
therein  was  made  to  punish  adultery  in  men  of  their  profession. 

114.  Wilfride  restored  to  York,  and  outed  again. 

As  for  bishop  Wilfride,  whom  lately  we  mentioned  so  active 
about  the  removal  of  St.  Andre's  corpse,  he  was  about  this  time 
restored  to  his  bishopric  of  York.  Whereupon  he  fairly  quitted  the 
bishopric  of  Selsey,  which  Edilwalch,  and  after  Cedwall,  kings  of 
Sussex,  bestowed  upon   him,  and  returned   to  York.     It  is  much 

•  Sir  Henry  Stelman's  "  Councils,"  page  1904,  &c. 


A.D.  701.  BOOK    II.      CKNT.    VIIT.  141 

tliis  rolling  stone  sliould  gather  so  much  moss,  and  get  wealth 
enough  to  found  two  monasteries ;  who  sometimes  had  three  bishop- 
rics together, — York,  Lindisfern,  and  Hagulsted  ;  sometimes  none 
at  all,  living  many  years  together  in  exile.  And,  indeed,  he  con- 
tinued not  long  in  York  ;  but,  being  expelled  thence  again,  was  for 
a  time  made  bishop  of  Leicester.  Nor  was  the  king  of  Northum- 
berland content  with  his  bare  expulsion,  but  also  he  would  have  him 
confess  the  same  legal,  and  resign  it  according  to  the  late  decrees 
which  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  had  made  against  him.  But 
more  hereof,  God  willing,  in  the  next  century. 


SECTION  III. 

THE   EIGHTH   CENTURY. 

TPIOM^   ADAMIDT,    SENATORI    LONDINENSI, 
MEC^NATI    MEO. 

In  liiic  tanta  rerum  vicissitudine,  q^iiis,  qui  te  novit, 
constantiam  tuain  non  suspicit?  Undique  turbatiir  ;  tu 
interim  tibimet  ipsi  tota  tranquillitas,  cum  Deo,  et 
bonis,  et  studiis  tuis  vacas. 

Perlegas,  quseso,  banc  centuriam,  vel  eo  nomine, 
quod  funera  tui  et  mei  Bedse  exbibeat :  "  Tuum"  dico, 
quia  baud  ita  pridem  sub  auspiciis  patronatus  tui,  typis 
Saxonicis  pulcberrimus  prodiit :  "  Meum,"  quo  authore 
(vel  potius  autboribus)  in  boc  opere  toties  usus  sum. 
Pluribus  viro  occupatissimo  molestus  esse  nolo.     Vale. 

1.    Wilfride  persecuted  afresh  hy  Alfride  King  of  Northumher- 
land.    A.D.  7OI. 

Painful  Wilfride  was  no  sooner  out  of  one  trouble,  but  he 
was  engaged  in  another.  Hereupon  Harpsfield  *  calls  him  "  the 
Athanasius  of  that  age  ;  "  only,  saith  he,  "  that  father  was  perse-r 
cuted  by  heretics,  and  this  Wilfride  by  catholics,"  He  might 
have  added,  that  Athanasius  was  troubled  for  essential  and  doctrinal 
truths,  whilst  Wilfride  was  vexed  about  ceremonious  and  circum- 
stantial matters.  And  now  Alfride,  who  succeeded  Egfride  king 
of  Northumberland,  powerfully  opposed  him,  being  the  paramount 

•  Hist.  Eccles.  Angl.  page  95. 


142  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  705. 

prince  and,  in  effect,  monarch  of  the  Saxon  heptarchy.  For,  as  we 
have  noted  before,  amongst  these  seven  kings,  as  amongst  the 
planets,  there  was  ever  one  sun  that  outshined  all  the  rest.  This 
Alfride,  joining  with  Bertuald  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  called  a 
council,*  and  summoned  Wilfride,  who  appeared  there  accordingly. 
But  being  demanded  whether  he  would  obey  the  decrees  of 
Theodore  late  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  he  warily  returned,  that 
he  was  willing  to  obey  them  so  far  as  they  -were  consonant  to  the 
holy  canons. "f"  This  answer  was  not  satisfactory  to  his  adversaries, 
as  having  in  it  too  little  of  a  grant  to  please  them,  and  yet  not 
enough  of  a  denial  to  give  them  a  just  offence.  Then  they  sought 
by  fair  means  to  persuade  him,  because  much  trouble  had  arisen  in 
the  church  about  him,  voluntarily  to  resign  under  hand  and  seal  his 
possessions  and  archbishopric  ;  affirming,  it  would  be  a  glorious  act 
to  prefer  the  public  good  before  his  private  profit.  But  Wilfride 
persisted  loyal  to  his  own  innocence,  affirming  such  a  cession  might 
be  interpreted  a  confession  of  his  guiltiness  ;  and  appealed  from 
that  council  to  his  Holiness  ;  and  this  tough  old  man,  being  seventy 
years  of  age,  took  a  journey  to  Rome,  there  to  tug  it  out  with  his 
adversaries. 

2.    Wilfride  appealeth  to  Rome.,  and  is  acquitted.    A.D-J05. 

They  accused  him  of  contumacy,  that  he  had  contemptuously 
denied  canonical  obedience  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He 
cleared  himself,  and  complained  that  he  had  been  unjustly  deprived, 
and  that  two  monasteries  of  his  own  founding,  Ripon  and  Hexham, 
Avere  violently  detained  from  him.  No  fewer  than  seventy  several 
councils^  (understand  them  so  many  several  meetings  of  the  con- 
clave) were  assembled  in  four  months,  and  employed  only  or 
chiefly  about  deciding  of  this  difference.  Belike,  there  were  intri- 
cacies therein  more  than  are  specified  in  authors,  (knots  to  employ 
so  many  cunning  fingers  to  untie  them,)  or  else  the  court  of  Rome 
was  well  at  leisure.  The  sentence  of  pope  John  VII.  passed  on 
his  side  ;  and  his  opposers  were  sent  home  with  blame  and  shame, 
whilst  Wilfride  returned  with  honour,  managing  his  success  with 
much  moderation  ;  equally  commendable,  that  his  innocence  kept 
him  from  drooping  in  affliction,  and  his  humility  from  insulting  in 
prosperity. 

3.  He  is  at  last  restored,  and  dieth  in  Peace. 
Bertuald,    archbishop    of  Canterbury,    humbly    entertained    the 
pope*'s  letters   in   behalf  of  Wilfride,  and  welcomed  his  person  at 
his  return.       But    Alfride,    king    of  Northumberland,    refused    to 

"  Malmesb.  De  Gestis  Pont.  lib.  iii.  t  See  Sir  Henry  Spelman  in  Conciliis 

anno  701.  t   Septuaginta  coticiUabtda  cvacUi. — Malmesbury,  tit  priiis. 


A.D.  705.  BOOK     IT.      CENT.    VIII.  143 

re-seat  him  in  his  bishopric,  stoutly  maintaining,  that  "  it  was 
against  reason  to  communicate  with  a  man  twice  condemned  by  the 
council  of  England,  notwithstanding  all  apostolic  commands  in 
favour  of  him.""*  But  soon  after  he  fell  dangerously  sick, — a  con- 
sequent of,  and  therefore  caused  by,  his  former  stubbornness ;  as 
those  that  construe  all  events  to  the  advantage  of  the  Roman  see, 
interpret  this  a  punishment  on  his  obstinacy.  Suppled  with  sick- 
ness, he  confessed  his  fault ;  and  so  Wilfride  was  restored  to  his 
place  :  whose  life  was  like  an  April-day,  (and  a  day  thereof  is  a 
month  for  variety,)  often  interchangeably  fair  and  foul ;  and,  after 
many  alterations,  he  set  fair  in  full  lustre  at  last.  Being  forty-five 
years  a  bishop,  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age,  he  died,  and 
was  buried  in  his  monastery  at  Ripon.  And  as  he  had  been  a 
great  traveller  when  living,  so  his  bones  took  one  journey  after  his 
death,  being  translated,  by  Odo  archbishop  of  Canterbury,-|-  from 
Ripon  to  Canterbury ;  in  reparation,  perchance,  for  those  many 
wrongs  which  the  predecessors  of  Odo  had  done  to  this  Wilfride. 
Let  not  therefore  the  papists  vaunt  immoderately  of  the  unity  of 
their  church,  neither  let  them  uncharitably  insult  on  our  unhappy 
differences  ;  seeing,  by  the  confession  of  their  own  authors,  there 
was  digladiahile  odium,  "  hatred,"  as  one  may  say,  "  even  to 
daggers'  drawing,"  betwixt  Wilfride  and  certain  principal  persons, 
conceived  signal  for  sanctity  in  that  age,  and  since  put  into  the 
"  Calendar  of  their  Saints."  And  it  is  as  sure  as  sad  a  truth,  that 
as  long  as  corruption  resides  in  the  bosoms  of  the  best,  there  will 
be  dissensions,  inflamed  by  malicious  instruments,  betwixt  pious 
people,  which  otherwise  agree  in  main  matters  of  religion. 

4.  Sherborne  taken  out  of  Winchester  Bishopric. 

The  bishopric  of  Sherborne  was  taken  out  of  the  bishopric  of 
Winchester  by  king  Ina,  and  Adeline  his  kinsman  made  first 
bishop  thereof.  I  find  no  compensation  given  to  the  see  of 
Winchester  for  this  great  canton  cut  of  it ;  as,  in  after-ages,  when 
Ely  was  taken  out  of  Lincoln  diocese,  the  manor  of  Spaldwick  in 
Huntingtonshire  was  given  by  king  Henry  L  to  Lincoln,  in  repara- 
tion of  its  loss,  for  so  much  of  the  jurisdiction  taken  from  it. 
But  at  this  time,  when  Sherborne  was  parted  from  Winchester,  the 
damage  to  Winchester,  accruing  thereby,  was  not  considerable  ; 
episcopal  jurisdiction  in  that  age  not  being  beneficial,  but  rather 

•  Contra  rationem,  homini  jam  bis  a  into  ^nglorum  consilio  damnato,  propter  quce- 
libet  apoitolica  scripta  communicare . — Malmesburv  De  Gcstis  Pontificum,  lib.  iii. 
t  Godwin,  in  Lis  Catalogue  of  the  archbishops  of  York,  page  11  : — Firi  illi  qiios  sanc- 
tissimos  celebrat  antiquitas,  Theodorus,  Bertualdus,  Johannes  Bosa,  et  Hilda  ^bbatissa, 
diffladiabili  odio  impetierunt  IVilfridum  Deo  accepiissimum. 


144  CHUUCII    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  705. 

burdensome.  So  that  Winchester  might  turn  her  complaints  into 
thankfulness,  being  thus  eased  of  her  cumbersome  greatness.  This 
Adelme,  bishop  of  Sherborne,  was  the  first  of  our  English  nation 
who  wrote  in  Latin  ;  *  and  the  first  that  taught  Englishmen  to 
make  Latin  verse,  according  to  his  promise  : — 

Primus  ego  in  patriam  mecum  modo  vita  supersit, 
j4onio  rediens  deditcain  vertice  Musas. 

"  If  life  me  last,  that  I  do  see  that  native  soil  of  mine, 
From  Aon  top  I'll  first  with  me  bring  down  the  Muses  nine.'' 

He  wrote  many  works ;  one  of  Virginity, -f*  another  of  the 
Celebration  of  Easter  :  and  about  this  time,  the  libraries  of  monas- 
teries began  to  be  replenished  with  books,  many  being  written  in 
that  age. 

5.  MultiHide  of  Books  created  by  a  Mistake. 

By  the  way,  one  mistake  (I  could  not  have  discerned  it  myself, 
had  not  a  learned  writer|  discovered  it  unto  me)  makes  books  of 
this  age  more  numerous,  and  the  kings  therein  more  learned,  than 
indeed  they  were  :  namely,  because  every  Latin  charter,  granted  by 
any  king  to  a  monastery,  is  termed  by  the  Saxon  writers,  liber,  or 
libellus,  "  a  book."  Wherefore,  when  they  tell  us  of  such  and  such 
books,  made  by  the  Saxon  kings  ;  understand  we  most  of  them  of 
their  charters  of  donation.  In  which  sense  king  Edgar,  who,  some 
two  hundred  years  after  this  time,  founded  as  many  monasteries  as 
weeks  in  the  year,  (and  consequently  made  as  many  charters,)  was  a 
voluminous  writer  of  no  less  than  fifty-two  books.  And  yet  this 
large  acceptation  of  books  will  not  make  up  the  number,  which  Bale 
and  Pits  pretend  they  have  seen  in  this  age  :  a  vanity  in  them  to 
affect  a  title-learning  ;  (though  a  stationer"'s  apprentice,  after  some 
weeks'"  experience,  might  excel  them  therein ;)  and  the  greater, 
because  many  imaginary  authors,  which  they  make  as  if  they  had 
seen,  either  were  never  extant,  or  long  since  extinguished. 

6.  The  Numerosity  of  Noble  Saints  in  this  Age. 
But  the  multitude  of  books  increaseth  not  our  marvel  so  much  as 
the  numerosity  of  saints,  such  as  they  were,  in  this  age ;  Avhereof 
four  parts  of  five  (according  to  the  heraldry  of  such  who  wrote  their 
Lives)  were  of  royal  or  noble  extraction.  It  addeth  to  the  wonder, 
because  St.  Paul  saith,  "  Not  many  noble  are  called  ;"  1  Cor.  i. 
26 ;  except  any  confine  that  observation  of  the  apostle  to  times  of 
persecution,  whereas  Christianity  now  in  England  flourished  in  all 
peace  and  prosperity.     But,  to  render  their  noble  parentage  at  this 

•  Camden's  Britntmia  in  M'^iltshire.         t  Bede.         I  Spelman  in  Conri/iis,  page  210. 


A.D.  705 708.  BOOK    II.       CEXT    VIII.  145  "ii^p*^ 

time  the  more  probable,  know,  tliat,  under  tlie  Saxon  licptarcliy, 
royalty  was  increased  seven-fold  in  England,  which  must  beget  a 
proportionable  multiplication  of  nobility  attending  them.  Yet, 
when  all  is  done,  as  the  Jewish  Rabbins,  on  their  bare  tradition^ 
without  ground  from  Scripture,  make  Ruth  the  daughter  to  Eglon, 
king  of  Moab,  merely  to  make  the  descent  of  their  king  David  from 
her  the  more  illustrious ;  so  it  is  suspicious,  that,  to  advance  the 
temporal  reputation  of  these  saints,  such  monks  as  wrote  their  Lives 
causelessly  clarified  and  refined  many  of  their  bloods  into  noble 
extraction.  However,  if  truly  pious  indeed,  such  saints  have  the 
best  nobility  in  the  Scripture-sense :  "  These  were  more  noble, 
because  they  received  the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,"  Acts 
xvii.  11. 

7.  St.  Gulhlake  the  first  Saxon  Herm't.     A.D.  708. 

Of  these  noble  saints,  St.  Guthlake,  a  Benedictine  monk,  was  the 
first  Saxon  that  professed  a  hermitical  life  in  England  ;  to  •which 
purpose  he  chose  a  fenny  place  in  Lincolnshire,  called  Crowland, 
that  is,  "  the  raw  or  crude  land  ;"  so  "  raw,"  indeed,  that  before 
him  no  man  could  digest  to  live  therein.  Yea,  the  devils  are  said 
to  claim  this  place  as  their  peculiar,  and  to  call  it  "  their  own  land."* 
Is  any  place,  but  the  prison  of  hell,  properly  theirs .''  Yet  wonder 
not  at  their  presumption,  pretending  this  spot  of  ground  to  be  theirs 
whose  impudence  durst  affirm,  that  God  had  given  them  "  all  the 
world,  and  the  glory  thereof,"  Matt,  iv,  8.  Could  those  infernal 
fiends,  tortured  with  immaterial  fire,  take  any  pleasure,  or  make 
any  ease  to  themselves,  by  paddling  here  in  puddles,  and  dabbling 
in  the  moist,  dirty  marshes  .''  However,  Guthlake  took  the  boldness 
to  "  enter  common"  with  them,  and  erect  his  cell  in  Crowland. 
But  if  his  prodigious  Life  may  be  believed,  ducks  and  mallards  do 
not  now  flock  thither  faster  in  September,  than  herds  of  devils  came 
about  him  ;  all  whom  he  is  said  victoriously  to  have  vanquished. 
But,  whom  satan''s  power  could  not  foil,  his  policy  had  almost 
destroyed,  by  persuading  Guthlake  to  fast  forty  days  and  nights 
together,  after  the  example  of  Moses  and  Elias  :•}•  till,  finding  this 
project  destructive  to  nature,  he  was  forced,  in  his  own  defence,  to 
take  some  necessary  but  very  sparing  refection.  He  died  in  his  own 
cell  ;  and  Pega,  his  sister,  an  anchoritcss,  led  a  solitary  life,  not  far 
from  him. 

8.  A  sivinish  Conceit  of  a  Monk. 

Eoves  also,  a  poor  plain  man,  was  eminent  in  this  age  :  a  shep- 
herd, say  some ;  a  neatherd,  others ;   swineherd,  say  the  third  sort, 

•  Floras  Sanctorum,  \mttenby  Jerome  Porter, in  the  Life  of  St.  GutLlake,  page  348. 
t  Idem,  page  347. 

Vol.  I.  L 


146  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  709. 

and  that  most  probable.  For  whilst  he  lived  in  Worcestershire,  not 
far  from  the  River  Avon,  the  virgin  Mary  is  said  to  have  appeared 
unto  him,  even  where  (farewell  all  good  tokens  !)  "  he  found  a  lost 
sow  with  seven  pigs  sucking  upon  her  f  *  and  to  have  given  order, 
that  in  that  very  place  a  monastery  should  be  erected  to  her  honour. 
The  beastly  monk,  who  made  this  vision,  had  even  learned  as  far  as 
VirgiFs  iEneids  ;  whence  he  fetched  the  platform  of  this  pretty 
conceit,  a  place,  so  marked,  being  foretold  fortunate  to  iEneas,  to 
found  Alba  (near  Rome)  therein. 

Litoreis  t  ingens  inventa  sub  ilicibus  sus 
Triginta  capiturn  foetus  enixa  jaccbit 
yilba  solo  rccubans,  albi  circwn  ubera  nati': 
Hie  locus  urbis  ei'il,  requies  iibi  certa  laborurn. 

■"  Where  under  oaks  on  shore  there  shall  be  found 
A  mighty  bow,  all  white,  cast  on  the  ground, 
With  thirty  sucking  pigs;  that  place  is  'sign'd 
To  build  your  town,  and  ease  your  wearied  mind." 

Here  the  monk,  mutatis  mutandis,  (but,  principally,  shrinking  the 
number  of  the  pigs  from  thirty  to  seven,  as  more  mystical,)  applies 
the  apparition  to  his  purpose.  A  pretty  parallel,  that  Pagan  Rome, 
and  Popish  superstition,  (if  hue-and-cry  should  be  made  after 
them,)  might  be  discovered  by  the  same  marks  !  This  gave  the 
first  motion  to  the  foundation  of  Evesham  abbey,  (so  called  from 
Eoves  aforesaid,)  first  built  in  that  sow-place, 

9-  The  first  Synod  for  Image-tvorsliip  in  England.  A.D.  709* 
But  the  building  thereof  was  hastened  by  a  second,  more  neat 
and  cleanly,  apparition  of  the  virgin  Mary  in  the  same  place ;  who 
is  pretended  to  have  showed  herself,  with  two  maiden  attendants, 
to  Egwin,  bishop  of  Worcester,  prompting  him  to  expedite  a  struc- 
ture therein,  j  Egwin  posts  presently  to  Rome,  and  makes  faith  of 
this  vision  to  Constantine  the  pope  ;  who,  convinced  in  his  judgment 
of  the  truth  thereof,  dispatcheth  his  commands  to  Brightwall,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  to  assemble  a  synod  at  Auncester  in  Worces- 
tershire, to  promote  the  building  of  an  abbey  in  that  place :  which 
was  done  accordingly,  and  the  same  was  bountifully  endowed  by 
OfFa,  and  other  Mercian  kings,  with  very  large  revenues.  And  not 
long  after,  another  synod,  saith  my  author,§  was  called  at  London, 
to  introduce  into  England  the  doctrine  of  image-worship,  not  heard 
of  before,  and  now  first  beginning  to  appear  in  the  public  practice 
thereof. 

•   Godwin   in   Catalogo   Episcoporuni,   page  501.  f   /Encidos,  lib.  iii.  t   See 

Sir  Henry    Spelman's   "  Coimcils,"  page  210.  §  Magdeburgenses   Cent. 

sed  ex  recentioribus  authoribus,  Nauclero,  viz.  et  Baleco. 


A.I).   709 71B.  BOOK     IT.       CKNT.    VIII.  147 

10.  Biyinius  and  Bnrnnius  sullen^  and  win/. 
Here  we  expected  that  Binnius  and  Baronius,  two  of  the  Romish 
champions,  should  have  been  both  joyful  at  and  thankful  for  this 
London  synod,  in  favour  of  image-worship, — a  point  so  beneficial  to 
the  Popish  coffers.  But  behold  them,  contrary  to  our  expectation, 
sad  and  sullen  !  insomuch  as  they  cast  away  the  credit  of  this  synod, 
as  of  no  account,  and  disdain  to  accept  the  same.  For,  say  they, 
long  before,  by  Augustine  the  monk,  worship  of  images  was  intro- 
duced into  England.  But  let  them  show  us  when  and  where  the 
same  was  done.  We  deny  not  but  that  Augustine  brought  in  with 
him,  in  a  banner,  the  image  of  Christ  on  the  cross,*  very  lively  de- 
pictured ;  but  this  makes  nothing  to  the  worshipping  thereof.  Vast 
the  distance,  in  their  own  nature,  betwixt  the  historical  use  and 
adoration  of  pictures  ;  though,  through  human  corruption,  the 
former,  in  after-ages,  hath  proved  introductory  to  the  latter.  Nor 
was  it  probable,  that  Augustine  would  deliver  doctrine  point-blank 
against  Gregory  that  sent  him,  who  most  zealously  inveigheth  against 
all  worshipping  of  images.*}*  Wherefore,  let  Binnius  and  Baronius 
make  much  of  this  London  synod  for  image -worship,  or  else  they 
must  be  glad  to  accept  of  later  councils  in  England  to  prove  the 
same,  seeing  before  this  time  none  can  be  produced  tending 
thereunto. 

IL   IVie  Mirocle- working  of  St.  John  of  Beverley.  A.D.  7I8. 

Now  also  flourished  another  noble-born  saint,  namely,  John  of 
Beverley,  archbishop  of  York,  a  learned  man,  and  who  gave  the 
education  to  one  more  learned  than  himself,|  I  mean.  Venerable 
Bede.  Now,  though  John  Baptist  did  none,  John  x.  41,  yet 
John  of  Beverley  is  said  to  have  done  many,  miracles.  But,  did 
not  the  monk  over-do,  who  reports,  in  his  relation,  that  this  John  of 
Beverley,  by  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  a  dumb  youth,  with  a 
scald  head,  not  only  restored  him  to  speech  and  a  head  of  hair,  but 
to  elegant  discourse  and  brave  curled  locks  .''  §  Some  years  before 
his  death,  he  quitted  his  archbishopric,  and  retired  himself  to  his 
monastery  at  Beverley,  where  he  died  ;  and  which  afterwards  king 
Athelstan  made  (I  will  not  call  it  "  a  sanctuary,"  because  un- 
hallowed with  the  largeness  of  the  liberties  allowed  thereunto,  but) 
a  place  of  refuge  for  murderers  and  malefactors  :  so  that  i\\c  f reed- 
stool  in  Beverley  became  "  the  seat  of  the  scornful ;  "  and  such 
heinous  offenders  as  could  recover  the  same,  did  therein  securely 
defy  all  legal  prosecution  against  them. 

*  See   our   second   Book,  cent.  vi.   parag.  10.  t  In  liis   epistle  ad  Serenutn. 

Massiliensem.  X  Bede  acknowledgeth  that  he  received  the  order   of  priesthood 

from  him.  §   "  Flowers  of  the  Lives  of  Epglish  Saints,"  page  416. 

I.  2 


148  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.718 726. 

12.  Kings  and  Queens  turn  Monks  and  Nuns. 

About  this  time  it  grew  fashionable  with  kings  and  queens  in 
England  to  renounce  the  world,  and  turn  monks  and  nuns, 
commonly  in  convents  of  their  own  foundation.  Surely,  it  is  not 
only  lawful,  but  commendable,  for  men  to  leave  the  world  before  it 
leaveth  them,  by  "being  crucified  thereunto,  and  using  it  as  if  they 
used  it  not,"  Gal.  vi.  14.  But  let  others  dispute,  whether  this 
properly  be  renouncing  the  world, — for  Christians  to  bury  their 
parts  and  persons  in  a  cloister,  which,  put  forth  to  the  bank,  would 
turn  to  good  account  for  church  and  commonwealth.  David,  I 
dare  say,  as  holy  a  man  as  any  of  these,  lived  a  king,  and  died  a 
king.  The  swaying  of  his  sceptre  did  not  hinder  the  tuning  of  his 
harp ;  his  dignity  being  no  impediment  to  his  devotion.  And 
whilst  these  kings,  turning  monks,  pretended  to  go  out  of  the 
world,  a  world  of  spiritual  pride  and  superstition  went  into  them, 
if  (as  it  is  too,  too  suspicious)  they  had  a  high  opinion  to  merit 
heaven  thereby. 

13.  Kifig  Ina's  Fine  and  Rent  to  the  Church.  A.D.  726. 

Amongst  the  Saxon  princes  who  thus  renounced  the  world,  in 
this  and  the  next  century,  these  nine  following  were  the  principal  : 
— 1.  Kinigilsus,  king  of  West  Saxons  ;  2.  Ina,  king  of  West 
Saxons  ;  3.  Ceolwolfus,  king  of  Northumberland  ;  4.  Edbertus, 
king  of  Northumberland  ;  5.  Ethelredus,  king  of  Mercia  ; 
6.  Kenredus,  king  of  Mercia ;  7-  OfFa,  king  of  East  Saxons ; 
8.  Sebbi,  king  of  East  Saxons  ;  9.  Sigeburtus,  king  of  East 
Angles.  Of  all  whom  king  Ina  was  paramount  for  his  reputed 
piety  ;  who,  accounting  himself  to  hold  all  that  he  had  of  God,  his 
Landlord-in-chief,  paid  not  only  a  great  fine,  but  settled  a  constant 
rent  on  the  church,  then  accounted  the  receiver-general  of  the  God 
of  heaven.  Great  fine — For,  beside  his  benefaction  to  other,  he 
bestowed  on  the  church  of  Glastonbury  two  thousand  six  hundred 
forty  pounds  weight,*  in  the  utensils  thereof,  of  massy  gold  and 
silver.  So  that  while  some  admire  at  his  bounty,  why  he  gave  so 
much  ;  others  wonder  more  at  his  wealth,  how  he  got  so  much  ; 
being  in  that  age  wherein  such  dearth  of  coin,  and  he  (though, 
perchance,  the  honorary  monarch  of  England)  but  the  effectual 
king  of  the  West  Saxons.  The  "  constant  rent "  he  settled  were 
the  Peter-pences-f-  to  the  pope  of  Rome,  to  be  paid  out  of  every 
fii-e-house  in  England,  (a  small  sum  in  the  single  drops,  but  swell- 
ing great  in  the  general  channel,)  which,  saith  Polydore  Virgil, 
this  king  Ina  began  in  England.     I  say  Polydore  Virgil,  (and  let 

•  Sir  H.  Spelman  in  his  "  Councils,"  page  229.  t  Aittiq.  Brit.  fol.  58. 


A.D.  726 7oO.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    VIII.  14D 

every  artificer  be  believed  in  his  own  art,)  seeing,  as  lie  confesseth, 
this  place  was  his  first  preferment  in  England,  which  brought  him 
over  to  be  the  pope*'s  publican,  or  collector  of  that  contribu- 
tion. Afterwards  this  king  went  to  Rome,  and  there  built  a 
school  for  the  English,  and  a  church  adjoining  unto  it,  to  bury 
their  dead. 

14,   Winnifride  on  Englishman  eonverteth  the  Germans. 
A.D.^SO. 

But,  if  my  judgment  mistake  not,  Winnifride,  an  Englishman, 
was  better  employed,  being  busied,  about  this  time,  to  convert  to 
Christ  the  provinces  of  Franconia  and  Hessia  in  Germany.  True 
it  is,  the  English  were  indebted  to  the  Dutch,  from  them  formerly 
deriving  their  original,  by  natural  generation  ;  and  now  none  will 
censure  them  for  incest,  if  the  son  begat  his  parents ;  and  this 
Winnifride,  descended  from  the  Dutch,  was  an  active  instrument  of 
their  regeneration. 

15.  Bede.,  though  sent  for,  went  not  to  Rome. 

Now,  although  many  in  this  age  posted  from  England  to  Rome, 
possessed  with  a  high  opinion  of  the  holiness  thereof;  yet,  sure  I 
am,  one  of  the  best  judgment  (namely.  Venerable  Bede)  was  often 
sent  for,  by  pope  Sergius  himself,  to  come  to  Rome  ;  yet,  for  aught 
we  can  find,  never  went  thither  :  which,  no  doubt,  he  would  not 
have  declined,  if  sensible  of  any  transcendent  sanctity  in  that  place, 
to  advantajje  the  dwellers  therein  the  nearer  to  heaven.  This  Bede 
was  born  in  the  kingdom  of  Northumberland,  at  Girwy,*  now 
Yarrow,  in  the  bishopric  of  Durham,  brought  up  by  St.  Cuthbert ; 
and  was  the  profoundest  scholar  in  his  age,  for  Latin,  Greek, 
philosophy,  history,  divinity,  mathematics,  music,  and  what  not  ? 
Homilies  of  his  making  were  read  in  his  life-time,  in  the  Christian 
churches ;  a  dignity  afforded  to  him  alone.  We  are  much  behold- 
ing to  his  Ecclesiastical  History,  written  by  him,  and  dedicated  to 
Ceolwolfus,  king  of  Northumberland.  A  worthy  work,  indeed  ; 
though,  in  some  respect,  we  could  heartily  wish  that  his  faith  had 
been  less,  and  his  charity  more.  Faith  less — In  believing  and 
reporting  so  many  prodigious  miracles  of  the  Saxons  ;  except  any 
will  say,  that  this  in  him  was  not  so  much  vitium  hominis  as 
seculi.  Charity  more — I  mean  to  the  Britons,  being  no  friend  to 
them,  and  over-partial  to  his  own  countrymen,  slightly  and  slen- 
derly touching  British  matters,  only  thereof  to  made  a  pedestal, 
the  more  fairly  to  rear  and  advance  his  Saxon  History  thereupon. 

*  C.miuen's  Brit,  page  743. 


150  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN'.  A.D.  730. 

16.  Bede  prohahly  went  out  of  his  Cell. 

Some  report,  that  Bede  never  went  out  of  his  cell,  but  lived  and 
died  therein.  If  so,  the  scholars  of  Cambridge  will  be  very  sorry, 
because  thereby  deprived  of  their  honour,  by  Bede's  living  once 
in  their  university ;  whose  house  they  still  show,  betwixt  St.  John''s 
college  and  Round-church,  or  St.  Sepulchre''s.  Surely,  Bede  was 
not  fixed  to  his  cell,  as  the  cockle  to  his  shell,  seeing  no  observance 
of  his  Benedictine  Order  imposed  such  a  penance  upon  him. 
Indeed,  his  own  words,  in  the  end  of  his  book,  give  some  counte- 
nance to  their  conjecture  of  his  voluntary  confinement,  speaking  of 
himself,  Cunctwm  tempus  vitcB  in  ejusdem  monasterii  hahitatione 
peragens.  But  his  expression  imports  only  his  general  residence 
therein,  that  he  was  no  gadder  abroad,  or  discontinuer  from  his 
convent,  for  a  long  time  ;  though  he  might  for  some  short  space 
make  his  abode  elsewhere.  Thus,  when  of  the  prophetess  it  is  said, 
*'  that  she  departed  not  from  the  temple,"  Luke  ii.  37  ;  we  under- 
stand it  not  so  as  if  she  never  Avent  out  thereof,  but  that,  for  the 
main,  she  spent  the  most  of  her  time  therein. 

17-  Bede,  whij  surnamed  Ve:^erabilis. 
He  is  generally  surnamed  Venerable  ;  but  why,  authors  differ 
therein.  Some  say,  a  dunce-monk,  being  to  make  his  epitaph, 
was  non-plused  to  make  that  dactyle,  which  is  only  of  the  quorum 
in  the  hexameter,  and  therefore  at  night  left  the  verse  thus 
gaping,— 

Hie  sunt  in  fossd  Bedm^ ossa  ; 

till  he  had  consulted  with  his  pillow,  to  fill  up  the  hiatus.  But, 
returning  in  the  morning,  an  angel  (we  have  often  heard  of  their 
singing,  see  now  of  their  poetry  !)  had  filled  up  the  chasma  with 
Venerahilis.  Others,  disclaiming  this  conceit,  assign  tliis  reason  : 
Because  Bede's  Homilies  were,  as  aforesaid,  read  in  all  churches  in 
his  life-time,*  plain  Bede  was  conceived  too  little,  and  saint  Bede 
too  much ;  because,  according  to  Popish  (but  not  St.  Paul's) 
principles,  saint  is  too  much  flattery  to  be  given  to  any  whilst 
alive  ;  Solon  allowing  none  happy,  and  this  mine  author  none,  in 
this  degree,  holy,  before  their  death.  Wherefore  Venerable  was 
found  out  as  an  expedient  to  accommodate  the  difference,  luckily 
hitting  the  mark,  as  a  title  neither  too  high  nor  too  low  ;  just  even 
to  so  good  a  man  and  great  a  scholar,  whilst  alive.  This  is  observ- 
able in  all  those  who  have  written  the  Life  of  Bede, — that,  whereas 
such  Saxon  saints  as  had  not  the  tenth  of  his  sanctity,  nor  hun- 
dredth part  of  his  learning,  are  said  to  have  wrought  miracles 
ad  lectoris  nauseam  ;  not  one  single  miracle  is  reported   to  have 

*  F/orcs  !<anct(inan,  in  the  Life  of  Bede,  page  528. 


A.D.  730 735.  BOOK    II,       CENT.    VII  f.  151 

been  done  by  Bede.  Whereof,  under  favour,  I  conceive  this  the 
reason  :  Monks,  who  wrote  the  Lives  of  many  of  their  saints,  knew 
little  more  of  many  of  them  than  their  bare  names,  and  times 
wherein  they  lived  ;  which  made  them  historicB  vacua  miraculis 
supplere,  "  to  plump  up  the  hollowness  of  their  history  Avith 
improbable  miracles,"  swelling  the  bowels  of  their  books  with 
empty  wind,  in  default  of  sufficient  solid  food  to  fill  them. 
Whereas  Bede's  Life  affording  plenty  and  variety  of  real  and 
effectual  matter,  the  writer  thereof  (why  should  a  rich  man  be  a 
thief  or  liar  ?)  had  no  temptation  (I  am  sure,  no  need)  to  farse  his 
book  with  fond  miracles,  who  might  rather  leave  than  lack  of 
material  passages  therein. 

18.  Bede  6-  last  Bla:<;e,  and  the  Gohig-out  of  the  Candle  of  his 

Life.     A.  D.  734. 

One  of  the  last  things  he  did  was  the  translating  of  the  Gospel 
of  St.  John  into  English.  When  death  seized  on  him,  one  of  his 
devout  scholars,  whom  he  used  for  his  secretary  or  amanuensis,  com- 
plained, "  My  beloved  master,  there  remains  yet  one  sentence 
unwritten."  "  Write  it,  then,  quickly,"  replied  Bede,  and,  sum- 
moning all  his  spirits  together,  like  the  last  blaze  of  a  candle  going 
out,  he  indited  it,  and  expired.  Thus,  God"'s  children  are  immortal 
while  their  Father  hath  any  thing  for  them  to  do  on  earth  ;  and 
death,  "  that  beast,  cannot  overcome  and  kill  them,  till  first  they 
have  finished  their  testimony,"  Rev.  xi.  7 ;  which  done,  like  silk- 
"worms,  they  willingly  die  when  their  web  is  ended,  and  are  com- 
fortably entombed  in  their  own  endeavours.  Nor  have  I  aught  else 
to  observe  of  Bede,  save  only  this  :  A  foreign  ambassador,  some 
two  hundred  years  since,  coming  to  Durham,  addressed  himself 
first  to  the  high  and  sumptuous  shrine  of  St,  Cuthbert,  "  If  thou 
beest  a  saint,  pray  for  me ;"  then,  coming  to  the  plain,  low,  and 
little  tomb  of  Bede,  "  Because,"  said  he,  "  thou  art  a  saint,  good 
Bede,  pray  for  me." 

19.  The  general  Viciouaness  of  the  Sa.vons,  how  occasioned. 

J.D.'JSS. 

Now  beo-an  the  Saxons  to  be  infected  with  an  universal  vicious- 
ness.  The  cause  whereof  was,  Ethelbald,  king  of  Mercia,  contemned 
marriage  ;  and,  though  abstinence  from  it  in  some  cases  may  be 
commendable,  the  contempt  thereof  always  is  dangerous, — yea, 
damnable,  as  it  proved  in  him.  For  his  unlawful  lust  made  no 
difference  of  places  or  persons,  castles  or  cloisters  :  common 
kerchief  or  nuns'  vail,  all  came  alike  to  him.  But  O  the  legislative 
power  which  is  in  a  groat  prince's  example  !      His  subjects  presumed 


152  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.         A.D.  735 — 747- 

they  might  not  only  impune  but  legitime^  follow  his  precedent ; 
"which  made  the  land  swann  with  wickedness. 

20.   The  Effect  of  Boriif ace's  Letter  to  the  King  of  Mercia. 

This  caused  the  letter  of  Boniface,  archbishop  of  Mentz,  (an 
Englishman  bom,  and  lately  very  eminent  for  converting  the 
Germans  to  Christianity,)  to  king  Ethelbald ;  wherein  he  observed  the 
prudent  method  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  1  Cor.  xi.  2,  22. 
As  the  apostle  first  commended  them, — "  I  praise  you,  brethren, 
that  you  remember  me  in  all  things,"  &c. — so  he  began  with  a 
large  encomium  of  king  Ethelbald  ""s  charity  and  bountiful  alms- 
giving. Hence,  seasonably,  he  descended  to  his  faults  :  "  Shall  I 
praise  you  in  this  .''  I  praise  you  not ;"  and  soundly  and  roundly 
told  him  of  his  notorious  incontinency ;  proving,  both  by  Scripture 
and  reason,  the  heinousness  of  that  sin,  and  heavy  judgments  of 
God  upon  it.  In  fine  :  this  wrought  so  far  on  the  king*'s  good 
nature,  that  he  not  only  reformed  himself,  but,  with  Cuthbert 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  called  a  solemn  synod  at  Cloves-Ho,  or 
Clives-at-Ho,  for  the  reformation  of  others,  a.  d.  747- 

21.  Cliff  in  Kent  probably  the  ancient  Cloves-Ho. 

But  where  this  Cloves-Ho  should  be,  authors  make  much  inquiry. 
It  is  generally  conceived  the  same  with  Cliff,  near  Gravesend,  in 
Kent.  Though  a  learned  author*  will  hardly  consent  thereunto  ; 
and  his  intimations  to  the  contrary  are  of  no  great  validity.  For, 
whereas  he  allegeth,  that  this  Cliff  is  in  Kent,  whilst  Ethelbald, 
who  called  this  synod,  was  king  of  Mercia  ;  l.e  minded  not,  mean 
time,  (what,  no  doubt,  he  knew  well,)  that  this  Ethelbald  is  styled, 
in  the  letter  of  Boniface,-f-  archbishop  of  Mentz,  unto  him,  inclyta 
Angloruvi  imperii  sceptra  gubernans,  "  ruling  the  famous  sceptre 
of  the  English  empire."  And  whereas  he  objecteth,  "  the  site  of 
that  place  inconvenient  for  such  an  assembly  ;"  it  seems  fit  enough, 
(though  confessed  dirty  in  winter,  and  unhealthy  at  all  times,)  for 
the  vicinity  thereof  to  London  and  Canterbury, — the  residing 
places  of  the  king  and  archbishop,  the  two  persons  in  this  synod 
most  concerned.!  -^^^  ^oih.  the  modern  meanness  of  the  place 
make  any  thing  against  it ;  it  might  be  a  gallant  in  that  age,  which 
is  a  beggar  now-a-days.  And  though,  we  confess,  there  be  many 
Cliffs  in  the  inland  shires,  (properly  belonging  to  Mercia,)  yet  the 
addition  of  Ao,  or  haw,  speaketh  the  maritime  positure  thereof.     So 

"  Camden's  Drlt.   in  Kent.  f   Extant  in  Sir  H.  Spelman's   "Councils," 

page  233.  1   "  Cliff-at-Hoo,"  sa3s  Rapin,  "  is  a  town  on  a  rock  near  Rochester. 

But  the  presence  of  the  king  of  Mercia  at  this  and  some  other  councils,  held  at  Cloves- 
boo,  makes  it  supposed  that  it  is  the  same  with  Abingdon  in  Berkshu-e,  about  the  middle 
of  the  nation,  anciently  written  Shovcsham." — Edit. 


A.D.  747-  BOOK    J  I.      CENT.    VIII.  153 

that  Clives-Ho,  or  Haw,*  seems  to  be  a  ClifF  near   llic   sea,  well 
agreeing  to  the  situation  of  ClifF  in  Kent  aforesaid. 

22.   The  chief  Canons  of  this  Synod. 

But  the  acts  of  this  synod  are  more  certain  than  the  place  thereof; 
being  generally  accounted  one  and  -thirty  canons,  although  some 
small  variation  in  their  number  and  order,  all  extant  at  large  in 
Malmcsbury  ;  -f-  and  of  which  we  take  notice  of  these  four  as  of  most 
concernment : — 

1.  "  That  the  priests  '  learn,  and  teach  to  know,'!  the  Creed, 
Lord's  Prayer,  and  words  of  Consecration  in  the  Mass,"  or  Eucha- 
rist, "  in  the  English  tongue." — It  seems  learning  then  ran  low,  that 
the  priests  themselves  had  need  to  learn  them  ;  yet  ignorance  was 
not  then  so  high  but  that  the  people  were  permitted  to  be  taught 
them. 

2.  "  That  the  Lord"'s  day  be  honourably  observed."" — We  under- 
stand it  not  so  as  if  the  sanctity  of  that  day  depended  only  upon 
ecclesiastical  constitutions,  or  that  the  command  thereof  in  Scripture 
is  so  infirm,  in  point  of  right  to  oblige  men''s  consciences,  that  it 
needs  the  title  of  man's  power,  ad  corroborandum :  only,  human 
authority  was  here  cast  in  as  over-weight,  for  the  better  observation 
of  the  day  ;  carnal  men  being  more  affected  and  afTrightcd  with 
corporal  penalties  of  man's  inflicting,  (as  nearer  unto  them,)  than 
with  eternal  punishments,  which  Divine  justice,  at  distance,  de- 
nounceth  against  them. 

3.  "  That  the  sin  of  drunkenness  be  avoided,  especially  in  the 
clergy." — Indeed,  it  was  high  time  to  suppress  that  sin,  which  was 
grown  so  rife  that,  (as  Boniface,  archbishop  of  Mentz,  doth  observe 
in  his  letter  to  Cuthbert,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, )§  the  English 
bishops  were  so  far  from  punishing  it,  that  they  were  guilty  of  the 
same.  Moreover,  he  addeth,  Ebrietas  speciale  malum  nostras 
gentis ;  hoc  nee  Franci,  nee  Galli,  nee  Longobardi,  nee  Romania 
7iee  GrcEci  faclunt,  "  Drunkenness  is  a  special  evil  of  our  naticn  ;" 
(namely,  of  the  Saxons,  of  which  country  this  Boniface  was  a 
native ;)  "  for  neither  Franks,  nor  Gauls,  nor  Lombards,  nor 
Romans,  nor  Greeks,"  (understand  him,  anciently,  for  we  know  the 
modern  proverb,  of  a  merry  Greek,)  "  are  guilty  thereof." 

4.  "  That  prayers  be  publicly  made  for  kings  and  princes." — An 
excellent  canon  indeed,  because  canonical  Scripture,  and  long  before 
made  by  St.  Paul  himself:  "  I  exhort,  therefore,  that  supplications 
be  made  for  all  men ;  for  kings,"  &c.  1  Tim.  ii.  1. 

•  Plymouth  Haw.  See  Speed's  "  Sm-vey  of  London,"  tLie  meaning  of  Haw. 
t   Dc   Gestis  Punl.   lib.   i.  in   Cuthbcrto.  X  Dbcant  ct  doccant. — Malmesbury. 

§   Extant  in  Sir  H.  Si'ELman'^  "  Councilr^,"  page  241. 


154  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  747 750- 

This  synod  being  finished,  with  the  royal  assent  and  all  the 
bishops^  subscriptions  thereunto,  Cuthbert,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
with  wonderful  celerity,  returned  the  canons  concluded  therein,  by 
Rinebert  his  deacon,  to  Boniface  archbishop  of  Mentz,  who  was 
affected  with  great  joy  at  the  sight  thereof. 

23.  Egbert,  Archbishop  of  York,  famo7xs  in  several  Respects. 

At  this  time  flourished  Egbert,  archbishop  of  York,  famous  in  his 
generation  for.  First,  his  royal  extraction,  being  brother  to  Eadbert, 
king  of  Northumberland ;  both  of  them  lovingly  lying  buried 
together,  in  the  porch  of  the  church  of  York.  For,  in  that  age,  the 
greatest  princes"*  and  prelates''  corpses  came  no  nearer  than  the 
church-porch,  and,  as  I  may  say,  only  knocked  at  the  church-doors  ; 
though,  in  after-ages,  the  bodies  of  meaner  persons  were  admitted 
into  the  church,  and  buried  therein.  Secondly.  For  his  procuring 
the  archi-episcopal  pall  to  his  see.  For,  after  the  departure,  or, 
rather,  the  banishment  of  Paulinus  from  York,  his  successors  were 
content  with  the  plain  title  of  "  Bishop,"  until  this  Egbert  (to  do 
something  extraordinary,  proportionable  to  his  princely  extraction) 
procured  the  restitution  of  his  pall,  which  ipso  facto  re-advanced 
his  church  into  an  archbishopric.  Thirdly.  For  furnishing  the  same 
■with  a  plentiful  library,  highly  commended  by  Alcuinus,  in  his 
epistle  to  Charles  the  Great,  wishing  France  had  the  like ;  which, 
though  exceeding  England  in  paper  till  of  late  years,  ever  came  short 
of  it  in  books.  Fourthly.  For  his  canons,  for  the  regulating  of  his 
province ;  whereof  one  sort  is  called,  "  Egbert"'s  Excerptions  out  of 
Fathers,"*  and  is  generally  good  ;  the  other  entitled,  "  Canons  for 
the  Remedy  of  Sin,"  and  are  fraught  with  abundance  of  abominable 
beastliness  and  superstition. 

24.   The  beastly  Cations  of  Egbert.     A.D.  750. 

I  will  give  the  reader  only  a  taste  (or  rather  a  distaste)  of  these 
canons,  by  which  he  may  guess  the  rest : — "  If  a  layman  hath  carnal 
knowledge  of  a  nun,  let  him  do  penance  for  two  years,  &c.  she  three. 
If  a  child  be  begotten  betwixt  them,  then  four  years  :  if  they  kill  it, 
then  seven  years'*  penance."  •!*  Penance  also  is  provided  for  besti- 
ality and  sodomy,  in  the  same  canons.  Thus,  where  God  in  Scrip- 
ture denounceth  death, — "  Whoso  sheddeth  man''s  blood,  by  man 
shall  his  blood  be  shed,"  Gen.  ix.  6  ; — they  now  changed  it  into 
penance,  and  in  after-ages  commuted  that  penance  into  money ;  so 
by  degrees  "  making  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect,"  by  their 
paltry   canons.     See  we   here,  also,  how  forced  virginity  was  the 

*  At  large  in  Sir   H.  Spelman's  "  Coimcils,"  page  258.  ,         t  See  Sir   H. 

Spelman's  "  Councils,"  page  282. 


A.D.  750 — 755.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    VIII,  155 

mother  of  much  unclcanness  ;  it  being  applicable  to  them,  what  tlie 
apostle  speaketh  of  others :  "  It  is  a  shame  even  to  speak  of  those 
things  which  are  done  of  them  in  secret,"  Eph.  v.  12.  And  one 
may  justly  admire  how  these  canonists,  being  pretended  virgins, 
could  arrive  at  the  knowledge  of  the  criticisms  of  all  obscenity  ;  so 
that  chaste  love  may  lie  seven-and-scven  years  in  "  the  undefilcd 
marriage-bed,"  and  be  utterly  ignorant  what  the  language  of  lust 
meaneth  in  such  filthy  canons.  Yea,  when  such  love,  by  the  help 
of  an  interpreter,  shall  understand  the  same,  it  would  blush  for 
shame ;  were  it  not  that  that  red  would  be  turned  into  paleness,  as 
amazed  at  so  horrid  uncleanness  ! 

25.   The  Charter  of  Kenulphiis  to  the  Abbot  of  Abingdon. 
A.D.  ^55. 

Some  five  years  after,  Kenulphus,  king  of  West  Saxons,  conferred 
large  privileges  on  the  monastery  of  Abingdon.  We  will  recite  so 
much  of  his  charter*  as  concerns  us,  because  useful  to  show  the 
power  which  kings  in  that  age  had  in  ecclesiastical  matters  : — 

Kenulphus,  rex^  c^c ;  per  literas  suas  patentes,  consilio  et 
consensu  episcoporum  et  senatoricm  gentis  suop^  largitus  fuit 
monasterio  de  Abbindon  in  comitatu  Barke^  ac  cuidam  Richino 
tunc  abbati  monasterii,  SfC.  quandam  ruris  sui  port'ionem,  id  est., 
quindecim  mansias  in  loco,  qui  a  ruricolis  tutic  nuncupabatiir 
CuLNAM,  cum  omnibus  utilitatibus  ad  eandem  pertinentibus, 
tarn,  in  magnis,  quam  in  modicis  rebus,  in  ceternam  hcBvedi- 
tatem.  Et,  quod  prcsdictus  Richinus,  S^c.  ab  omni  episcopali 
jure  in  sempiternum  esset  quietus,  ut  inhabitatores  ejus  nidliiis 
episcopi  aut  suorum  qfficialium  jugo  inde  deprimantur ;  sed  in 
cunctis  rerum  eventibus,  et  discussionibus  causarum,  abbatis  mo- 
nasterii  prcBdicti  decreto  subjiciantur.     Ita  quod,  <§-c. 

"  Kenulphus,  king,  &c.  by  his  letters  patents,  with  the  advice  and 
consent  of  the  bishops  and  counsellors  of  his  country,  hath  given  to 
the  monastery  of  Abingdon  in  the  county  of  Berks,  and  to  one 
Richine  then  abbot  of  the  monastery,  &c.  a  certain  portion  of  his 
land,  that  is  to  say,  fifteen  mansions,  in  a  place  which  then  of  the 
inhabitants  was  called  Culnam,  with  all  profits  to  the  same  belong- 
ing, as  well  in  great  as  mean  matters,  as  an  inheritance  for  ever. 
And,  that  the  aforesaid  Richine,  &c.  should  be  for  ever  acquit  from 
all  episcopal  jurisdiction,  that  the  inhabitants  thereof  be  thenceforth 
oppressed  with  the  yoke  of  no  bishop  or  his  officials ;  but  in  all 
events  of  matters,  and  discussions  of  causes,  they  be  subject  to  the 
decree  of  the  abbot  of  the  aforesaid  monastery.     So  that,"  &c. 

•  Cited  by  ."Stanford,  lib.  iii.  fol.  Ill;  and  this  cbarter  was  pleaded  prirao  Hen.  vii. 
fol.  23  and  25. 


156  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  755. 

From  this  charter,Sir  Edward  Coke,*  the  king's  attorney,  inferreth, 
that  king  Kenulphus  had  ecclesiatical  jurisdiction  in  himself,  in  that 
he  had  power  to  discharge  and  exempt  this  abbot  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  bishop.  Which  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  was  always 
invested  in  the  imperial  crown  of  England ;  and  therefore  the 
statute. made  under  Henry  VIII.  concerning  the  king's  spiritual 
authority,  "  was  not  introductory  of  a  new  law,  but  declaratory  only 
of  an  old." 

26.    The  Cavils  of  Parsons  against  Sir  Edward  Coke  confuted. 

But  father  Parsons  (for  he  it  is  who  stands  under  the  vizard  of 
the  "  Catholic  Divine,"  in  a  book  written  of  set  purpose  against 
Master  Attorney,  in  this  point)  will  by  no  means  allow  king 
Kenulphus  any  ecclesiastical  power ;  but  by  many  fetches  seeks  to 
evade  so  pregnant  a  proof. 

Argument  I. — First  he  pleadeth.-f-  that  "  in  this  charter, 
Kenulphus  did  not  exempt  the  abbot  from  all  jurisdiction  spiritual 
of  the  bishop,  but  from  some  temporal  interest,  or  pretence,  which, 
perhaps,  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  claimed  over  the  lordship  of 
Culnam." 

Answer. — Perhaps^  (commend  not  his  modesty,  but  thank  his 
guiltiness  for  his  timorous  assertion,)  saith  he  :  but,  how  doth  this 
appear  ?  For  he  bringeth  no  proof;  and,  if  he  affirmeth  it  on  free 
cost,  we  can  confute  it  as  cheap,  by  denying  it. 

Arg.  II. — Secondly.  Saith  he,  "The  king  exempted  the  abbot, 
ab  omni  episcopali  jure-,  that  is,  '  from  all  right  of  the  bishop,'  and 
not  jurisdiction." 

Answ. — Sharp  wit,  to  cut  so  small  a  mote  in  two  parts,  for  no 
purpose  ;  seeing,  jus  and  jurisdiction  are  often  known  to  import 
the  same  sense  ! 

Arg.  III. — Thirdly.  He  objecteth,  "  The  words  no  way  seem 
fitly  to  agree  to  be  spoken  of  the  bishop's  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction, 
which  run  thus  :  '  That  the  abbot  should  be  quiet  from  the  bishop's 
right,  and  that  the  inhabitants  from  thenceforward  should  not  be 
oppressed  by  the  yoke  of  the  bishop's  officers.' " 

Answ. — Why  ?  what  incongruity,  but  that  these  words  may  be 
spoken,  as  they  are,  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  .'*  Is  the  word  yoke 
too  coarse  a  phrase  to  be  applied  to  the  bishop's  spiritual  power,  as 
they  sometimes  did  manage  it  ?  I  appeal  to  those  who  felt  it :  for 
no  yoke  is  heavy  to  him  that  puts  it  on,  but  to  those  who  bear  it. 
Mark,  by  the  way,  the  word  he  rendereth  officers,  is  in  the  charter 
(not  officiarii,  lay-Latin,  but)  qfficiales,  which  is  church-language, 

•   His  "Reports,"    part  v.  fol.  9.  f  Catholic   Divine,   alias  TARSOti^,  in   his 

Answer  to  the  King's  Attorney,  pp.  95,  96,  &c. 


A.D.  755 758.  BOOK    IT.      CENT.    VIII,  157 

and  the  very  dialect  of  the  court  Christian,  and  should  be  translated 
"  officials,"  to  whom  bishops  committed  their  spiritual  power.  But 
Parsons  knew  well  how  to  lay  his  thumb  on  what  he  would  not  have 
seen. 

Aug.  IV. — Fourthly.  "Howsoever  it  were,  it  is  manifestly 
false,"  saith  he,  "  that  this  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  of  king 
Kenulphus  Avas  derived  from  his  crown  ;  it  might  be,  he  had  it 
from  the  pope,  which  is  most  likely." 

Answ. — Which  is  most  unlikely ;  for  no  clause  in  the  charter 
relates  to  any  delegate  power ;  and  yet  such  a  passage  might  easily 
have  been  inserted,  yea,  could  not  justly  have  been  omitted,  if  he 
had  claimed  his  jurisdiction  by  deputation  from  the  pope. 

Arg.  V. — Lastly.  "  Which,"  he  saith,  "  seemeth  to  con- 
vince the  whole  matter,  and  decide  the  very  case.  One  Rethurus, 
abbot  of  Abingdon,  went  afterwards  to  Rome,  to  obtain  confirma- 
tion of  the  privileges  of  his  monastery  from  the  see  apostolic."* 

Answ. — What  of  this  ?  This  post-fact  of  Rethurus  argues 
no  invalidity  in  Kenulphus's  former  grant,  but  rather  shows  the 
over-officiousness  of  a  pragmatical  abbot,  who,  to  ingratiate  himself 
with  the  pope,  craved  of  him  what  he  had  before.  Yea,  such 
cunning  compliance  of  the  clergy  with  his  Holiness,  by  degrees,  fixed 
in  him  a  supposed  ecclesiastical  power  paramount,  which  really  he 
never  had,  nor  rightly  ever  ought  to  have. 

See  here  the  king's  power  in  church-matters,  in  conferring  eccle- 
siastical privileges  ;  and  this  single  thread  we  will  twist  with  another 
instance,  so  strong  that  the  Jesuit's  art  shall  be  unable  to  break  it 
in  sunder. 

27.  Bodies  first  hrmight  to  he  buried  in  Churches. 
A.D.  758. 
By  the  constitution  of  Augustine,  first  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
confirmed  by  the  authority  of  Gregory  the  Great,  bishop  of  Rome, 
it  was  decreed,  that  no  corpse,  cither  of  prince  or  prelate,  should  be 
buried  within  the  walls  of  a  city,  but  only  in  the  suburbs  thereof; 
and  that  alone  in  the  porch  of  the  church,  and  not  in  the  body. 
Now  Cuthbert,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  having  built  Christ- 
church  therein,  was  desirous  to  adorn  it  with  the  corpses  of  great 
persons,  therein  afterwards  to  be  interred.  In  pursuance  of  this  his 
design,  he  durst  not  adventure  on  this  innovation  by  his  own 
power,  nor  did  he  make  his  applications  to  the  pope  of  Rome,  (as 
most  proper  to  repeal  that  act,  which  the  see  apostolic  had  decreed,) 
but  only  addresseth  himself  to  Eadbert,  king  of  Kent,  and  from 
him,  partim   precariOf  partim   etiam   pretio,    "  partly   praying, 

"  Harpsfielt)  Hist  Ang.  serulo  prinw  cap.  9,  e,r  Mariano  Scoio. 


15$  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D;  758 789- 

partly  paying  for  it,"  saith  my  author,*  obtained  his  request. 
Behold  here  an  ancient  church-canon,  recalled  at  the  suit  of  an 
archbishop,  by  the  authority  of  a  king.  This  Cuthbert  afterwards 
handseled  Christ-church  with  his  own  corpse ;  whose  predecessors 
were  all  buried  in  St.  Augustine's  without  the  walls  of  Canterbury. 
Thus  began  corpses  to  be  buried  in  the  churches,  which,  by  degrees, 
brought  in  much  superstition  ;  especially  after  degrees  of  inherent 
sanctity  were  erroneously  fixed  in  the  several  parts  thereof:  the 
porch  saying  to  the  churchyard,  the  church  to  the  porch,  the 
chancel  to  the  church,  the  east  end  to  all,  "  Stand  farther  off,  for  I 
am  holier  than  you.""  And,  as  if  the  steps  to  the  high  altar  were 
the  stairs  to  heaven,  their  souls  were  conceived  in  a  nearer  degree  to 
happiness,  whose  bodies  were  mounted  there  to  be  interred. 

28  The  Occasion  of  Mo7ihs  first  Drinling of  Wine  i7i  England. 
About  this  time  the  bill  of  fare  of  monks  was  bettered  generally 
in  England,  and  more  liberty  indulged  in  their  diet.  It  was  first 
occasioned  some  twenty  years  since,  when  Ceolwolphus,  [Ceolulph,] 
formerly  king  of  Northumberland,  but  then  a  monk  in  the  convent 
of  Lindisfern,  or  Holy  Island,  gave  leave  to  that  convent  to  drink 
ale  and  wine,f  anciently  confined  by  Aidan,  their  first  founder,  to 
milk  and  water.  Let  others  dispute,  whether  Ceolwolphus  thus 
dispensed  with  them  by  his  new  abbatical  or  old  regal  powder  ;  which 
he  so  resigned,  that,  in  some  cases,  he  might  resume  it,  especially 
to  be  king  in  his  own  convent.  And,  indeed,  the  cold,  raw,  and 
bleak  situation  of  that  place,  with  many  bitter  blasts  from  the  sea, 
and  no  shelter  on  the  land,  speaks  itself  to  each  inhabitant  there, 
"  Drink  no  longer  water,  but  use  a  little  wine  for  thy  stomach's 
sake,  and  thine  often  infirmities,"  1  Tim.  v.  23.  However,  this 
local  privilege,  first  justly  indulged  to  the  monks  of  Lindisfern,  was 
about  this  time,  (a.d.  760,)  extended  to  all  the  monasteries  of 
England  ;  whose  primitive  over-austerity  in  abstinence  was  turned 
now  into  a  self-sufficiency,  that  soon  improved  into  plenty,  that 
quickly  depraved  into  riot,  and  that,  at  last,  occasioned  their  ruin. 

29.  Danes'  first  Arrival  in  England.  A.D.  789. 
This  year  the  English  have  cause  to  write  with  sable  letters  in 
their  almanac,  on  this  sad  occasion, — that  therein  the  Danes  first 
invaded  England  with  a  considerable  army.  Several  reasons  are 
assigned  for  their  coming  hither,  to  revenge  themselves  for  some 
pretended  injuries;  though  the  true  reason  was,  because  England 
was  richer  and  roomier  than  their  own  country. 

•  Tho.  Spot   in  his   "  History  of  Canterbury. "     Also  jirchiv.  Cantuariens.  cited  by 
Antiq.  Brit,  in  Cutlibert.  t  Roger  Hoved.  in  parte  prinri. 


A.D.  789.  BOOK    II,       CENT.    VIII.  159 

30.  Denmark,  formerly  fruitful.,  is  now  become  barren  of  Men. 

It  is  admirable  to  consider  what  shoals  of  people  were  formerly 
vented  out  of  Cimbrica  Chersonesus,  take  it  in  the  largest  extent  for 
Denmark,  Norway,  and  Swedeland,*  who,  by  the  ten-ible  names  of 
Goths,  Ostro-Goths,  Visi-Goths,  Huns,  Vandals,  Danes,  Normans, 
over-ran  the  fairest  and  fraitfullest  parts  of  Christendom.  Whereas 
now,  though  for  these  last  three  hundred  years  (the  Swedish  wars  in 
Germany  excepted)  that  country  hath  sent  forth  no  visible  numbers 
of  people,  and  yet  is  very  thinly  inhabited,  so  that  one  may  travel 
some  hundreds  of  miles  therein  through  mere  deserts,  every  man 
whom  he  meeteth  having  a  phffiuix  in  his  right  hand.  Yea,  so  few 
the  natives,  that  some  of  their  garrisons  are  manned  with  foreigners, 
and  their  kings  fain  to  entertain  mercenary  Dutch  and  Scotch  to 
manage  their  wars. 

31.  Two  Reasons  thereof 
Strange,  that  this  country,  formerly  all  on  the  giving,  should  now 
be  only  on  the  taking  hand.  Some  impute  their  modern  compara- 
tive barrenness  to  their  excessive  drinking, -f-  (a  vice,  belike,  which 
lately  hath  infected  that  nation,)  drinking  themselves  past  goats  into 
stocks,  out  of  wantonness  into  stupidity,  which  by  a  contracted 
habit  debilitateth  their  former  fruitfulness.  Others,  more  truly, 
ascribe  their  former  fruitfulness  to  their  promiscuous  copulations 
with  women  during  their  Paganism,;]:  which  are  not  so  numerous 
since  Christianity  hath  confined  them  to  the  marriage  of  one  wife. 

32.  The  Reason  of  Reasons. 
If  I  might  speak  according  to  my  own  profession  of  a  divine, 
(soaring  over  second  causes  in  nature,)  I  should  ascribe  their  ancient 
populousness  to  Divine  operation.  As  the  widow"'s  oil  multiplied 
till  her  debts  were  satisfied,  and  that  effected  for  which  the  miracle 
was  intended,  which  done,  the  increase  thereof  instantly  ceased  ;  so 
these  northern  parts  flowed  with  crowds  of  people,  till  their  inunda- 
tions had  paid  the  scores  of  sinful  Christians,  and  then,  (the  birch 
growing  no  more  when  the  wanton  children  were  suflficiently 
whipped,)  the  procreativeness  of  those  nations  presently  stinted  and 
abated. 

33.  Bad  Presages  of  the  Danes'*  Approach. 

The  landing  of  these  Danes  in  England  was  ushered  with  many 
sad  prognostics :  §    stars  were  seen  strangely  falling  from   heaven, 

*  Otberwise,    strictlj'   it   containeth   only  part  of   Denmark,   continent  to   Germany, 
t  Barklay  in  Icon  Animarum.  %  G.  Taylor  in  his  "  Chronicle  of  Normandy." 

§  Sim.  Dl'nel.  Ranulphl's  Cestrensis,  et  alii. 


160  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  790. 

and  sundry  terrible  flames  appeared  in  the  skies.  From  the  firing 
of  such  extraordinary  beacons,  all  concluded  some  new  enemy  was 
approaching  the  nation.  Serpents  were  seen  in  Sussex,  and  blood 
rained  in  some  parts  of  the  land.  Lindisfern,  or  Holy  Island,  was 
the  first  that  felt  the  fury  of  these  Pagans ;  but,  soon  after,  no  place 
was  safe  and  secure  from  their  cruelty  ;  whereof  more  hereafter. 

34.   The  archi-episcopal  Pall  removed  to  Lichfield.     A  D.  790. 

At  this  time  the  archbishopric  of  Canterbury  was  in  part 
removed  to  Lichfield,  five  essential  things  concurring  to  that  great 
alteration  : — 

1.  The  puissance  and  ambition  of  Offa,  king  of  Mercia,  com- 
manding in  chief  over  England.  He  would  have  the  brighest  mitre 
to  attend  the  biggest  crown. 

2.  The  complying  nature  of  pope  Adrian  ;  except  any  will  call  it 
"  his  thankfulness,"  to  gratify  king  OfFa  for  the  large  gifts  received 
from  him. 

•3.  The  easy  and  unactive  disposition  of  Jambert,  or  Lambert, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury  :  unless  any  will  term  it  "  his  policy," 
that,  finding  himself  unable  to  resist,  (a  pope  and  a  prince  over- 
match for  a  prelate,)  he  would  not  strive  to  keep  what  must  be 
taken  away  from  him. 

4.  The  commodious  situation  of  Lichfield,  almost  in  the  navel  of 
the  land  :  and  where  should  the  highest  candlestick  stand  (the 
metropolitan  cathedral)  but  in  the  midst  of  the  table  .''  Whereas 
Kent  itself  was  but  a  corner,  (whence  it  taketh  its  name,)  and 
Canterbury  seated  in  the  corner  of  that  corner,  a  remote  nook 
thereof. 

5.  The  antiquity  of  Lichfield  in  Christianity,  where  the  British 
church  suffered  a  massacre  from  the  Pagans  three  hundred  years 
before  St.  Augustin»"'s  coming  to  Canterbury ;  *  witness  the  name 
of  the  place,  being  another  Helkath-hazzurim,  or  "  field  of  strong 
men,"  2  Sam.  ii.  16,  where  so  many  worthies  died  for  the  testimony 
of  the  truth. 

On  these  and  other  considerations,  Aldulph  was  made  the  first 
(and  last)  archbishop  of  Lichfield,  (though  others  make  Humbert 
and  Higbert  his  successors  in  that  dignity,)  and  six  suffragans, 
(namely,  Worcester,  Hereford,  Leicester,  Sidnacester,  Helmham, 
and  Dunwich,)  subjected  to  his  jurisdiction.  Yet  was  not  the 
archi-episcopal  see  removed,  as  some  seem  to  conceive,  but  com- 
municated to  Lichfield  ;  Canterbury  still  retaining  its  former  dignity, 
and  part  of  its  province ;  the  bishops  of  London,  Rochester, 
Winchester,  and  Sherborne  continuing  still  subject  unto  him. 

"  Vide  supra,  cent.  iv.  parag.  8. 


A.D.  703 79'^'  BOOK    II.       CENT.    VIIT.  161 

35.  St.  Alhmi's  Body  ejishrined.    A.D.  793. 

King  Offii  having  settled  an  archbishopric  at  Lichfield,  his  next 
design  was  to  enshrine  the  corpse  of  St.  Alban  ;  five  hundred  and 
seven  years  had  passed  since  his  death  and  plain  burial.*  For  as 
John  Baptist,  the  last  martyr  before  Christ,  and  St.  Stephen,  the 
first  martyr  after  him,  were  fairly  interred  by  their  friends  and 
followers,  Avithout  any  more  ado;  so  the  corpse  of  St.  Alban  was 
quietly  committed  to  the  earth,  and  there  some  centuries  of  years 
peaceably  reposed.  But  now  OfFa,  they  say,  was  admonished  in  a 
vision,  to  bestow  more  public  sepulture  upon  him.  A  star,  wc 
know,  directed  to  the  place  of  Christ's  birth  ;  whereas  a  bright 
beam,-f-  say  the  monks,  discovered  the  place  of  St.  Alban's  burial  : 
a  beam,  suspected  by  some  shot  by  him  who  can  turn  himself  into 
an  angel  of  light,  because  gaining  so  much  by  their  superstition. 
Then  was  Alban's  body  in  pompous  manner  taken  up,  enshrined, 
and  adored  by  the  beholders.  No  wonder,  then,  if  the  Danes  now 
invaded  the  dominions  of  the  English,  seeing  the  English  invaded 
the  prerogative  of  God,  diverting  the  worship,  due  to  him  alone,  to 
the  rotten  relics  of  dead  men  ;  and  henceforth  the  old  Romans'" 
city  of  Verulam  lost  its  name  under  the  new  Saxon  town  of  St. 
Alban's. 

36.  Peter-pence  re-confirmed  to  Rome.  A.  D.  794. 
King  OfFa  went  to  Rome,  and  there  confirmed  and  enlarged  to 
pope  Adrian  the  gift  of  Peter-pence,  what  Ina  king  of  the  West 
Saxons  had  formerly  bestowed.  For  this  favour  the  pope  granted 
him,  that  no  Englishman  for  penance  imposed  should  be  banished 
out  of  his  own  country. 

37.  Gift  no  Debt. 

But  bold  beggars  are  the  bane  of  the  best  bounty,  when  grown 
so  impudent,  that  what  at  first  was  given  tlicm  for  alms,  in  process 
of  time,  they  challenge  for  rent.  Some  call  this  a  tribute  (badge  of 
subjection)  of  England  to  the  see  of  Rome  ;  among  whom  is 
Polydore  Virgil,  once  collector  of  those  Peter-pence  in  England. 
But  blame  him  not  for  magnifying  his  own  office  ;  who,  had  he 
owned  this  money  (as  indeed  it  was)  given  in  frank-almonage,  had 
then  appeared  no  better  than  a  gentle  beggar,  whereas  now  he  hopes 
to  advance  his  employment  to  a  nobler  notion. 

38.   The  royal  Foundation  of  St.  Alhan's  Abbey.    A.D.'J95. 
OfFa,  having  done  all  his  work  at  Rome, — namely,  procured  the 
canonization   of  St.  Alban,   the   absolution   of  his    own    sins    and 

•  nta  Offa  Seciindi,  annexed  to  the  new  edition  of  M.  Paris,  page  28.       f  Ibid.  p.  20'. 

Vol.  I.  M 


162  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  795 799- 

many  murders,  and  visited  and  endowed  the  English  college  there, 
■ — returned  home,  fell  to  found  the  monastery  of  St.  Alban's,  bestow- 
ing great  lands  and  liberties  upon  it ;  as  freeing  it  from  the 
payment  of  Peter-pence,  episcopal  jurisdiction,  and  the  like.  This 
IS  alleged  and  urged  by  our  regians  to  prove  the  king''s  paramount 
power  in  ecclesiasticis  ;  seeing  none  can  give,  save  what  they  are 
formally  or  eminently  possessed  of.  And  whereas  Papists  plead 
that  OfFa  had  fore- requested  the  granting  of  these  privileges  from 
the  pope  ;  no  mention  at  all  thereof  appears  in  the  charter  of  his 
foundation,*  (here  too  large  to  insert,)  but  that  all  was  done  by  his 
own  absolute  authority.  Next  year  OfFa  ended  his  life  ;  buried  at 
Bedford,  on  that  token, — that  the  river  Ouse  swelling  on  a  sudden 
swept  his  corpse  clean  away. 

39.   Canterhurii  recovereth  its  former  Dignity.    A.D.  799. 

Offa  being  dead,  down  fell  the  best  pillar  of  Lichfield  church,  to 
support  the  archi-episcopality  thereof.  And  now  Canterbury  had 
got  Athclard  a  new  archbishop,  who  had  as  much  activity  to  spare, 
as  his  predecessor  Lambert  is  said  by  some  to  want.  Wherefore, 
he  prevailed  with  Kenulph  king  of  Mercia,  and  both  of  them  with 
Leo  the  new  pope,  to  restore  back  the  archi-episcopal  see  to  Canter- 
bury ;  as  in  the  next  century  was  perfectly  effected. 

40.  Learned  Alcuiniis  confuteth  Image-worship. 

We  Avill  conclude  this  century  with  two  eminent  men,  (to  leave 
at  last  a  good  relish  in  the  memory  of  the  reader,)  now  flourishing 
therein.  The  one  Alcuinus,  or  Albinus  ;  it  being  questionable, 
whether  he  were  more  famous  for  Venerable  Bede,  who  was  his 
master,  or  Charles  the  Great,  who  was  his  scholar  ;  whilst  it  is  out 
of  doubt,  that  he  is  most  honoured  for  his  own  learning  and 
religion.  And  because-  Englishmen  may  be  presumed  partial  in 
the  praise  of  an  Englishman  ;  hear  Avhat  a  character  a  learned 
foreigner  gives  of  him  :  *[-  Vir  in  divinis  scriptis  eruditissimus,  et 
i7i  scECularium  literarum  peritid  nulli  suo  tempore  secundus, 
carmine  e.vccllens  et  prosd.  But  he  got  himself  the  greatest 
credit  by  opposing  the  canons  of  the  second  Nicene  council, 
wherein  the  superstititious  adoration  of  images  was  enjoined. :[ 
Tliese  canons,  some  seven  years  since,  were  sent  by  Charles  the 
Great  to  king  OfFa,  to  be  received  of  the  English  ;  who,  notwith- 
standing, generally  distasted  and  rejected  them,  the  aforesaid 
Alcuinus   writing   a   learned   epistle   against    the   same.     He   was 

*  Amongst  Sir  Tho.  Cotton's  Mamiscripts,  and  is  exemplified  in  Weaver's  "  Fim. 
Mon."  page  99.  f  Trithemius  Ahbas  lib.   de  Script.    Ecclesiasticis,  fol.  61. 

X  R.  HovED.  Annul,  part  i.  page  405. 


1    EGBERT.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    IX.  ^  163 

fetched  by  Charles,  liis  scholar,  calling  him  his  "  delicious  master;" 
where  he  first  founded  the  university  of  Paris,  and  died  abbot  of 
St.  Martin''s  in  Tours, 

41.  Egbert  the  first  jixed  Monarch  of  England.    A.D.  800. 

The  other  Avas  Egbert,  who  in  this  very  year  made  himself  sole 
monarch  of  England.  True  it  is,  in  the  Saxon  heptarchy  there 
was  generally  one  who  out-powered  all  the  rest.  But  such  monarchy 
was  desultory  and  movable,  sometimes  the  West  Saxon,  some- 
times the  Mercian,  sometimes  the  Northumberland  king  ruled  over 
the  rest.  But  henceforward  Egbert  fixed  the  supreme  sovereignty 
in  himself  and  his  posterity :  for  though  afterwards  there  con- 
tinued some  other  petty  kings,  as  Kenulph  king  of  Mercia,  &c. 
yet  they  shincd  but  dimly,  (as  the  moon  when  the  sun  is  risen,)  and 
in  the  next  age  were  utterly  extinguished.  So  that  hereafter  we 
shall  double  our  files,  and  for  the  better  regulating  of  time,  next  the 
column  of  the  year  of  our  Lord,  add  another  of  the  reign  of  our 
English  kings.* 


SECTION  IV. 

THE  NINTH  CENTURY. 

TO    MR.    WILLIAM    AND    MR.    ROBERT    CHRISTMAS, 
MERCHANTS,    OF  LONDON. 

You  are  both  brethren  by  birth,  and  by  your  joint 
bounty  on  my  endeavours.  It  is  therefore  pity  to  part 
you.  May  no  other  difference  be  in  your  hearts,  than 
what  heraldry  allows  in  your  arms,  only  to  distinguish 
the  age  of  the  elder  from  the  younger  ;  that  so  the 
memory  of  your  happy  father  may  survive  in  you  his 
hopeful  children. 

1 .  The  Archbishopric  restored  to  Canterbury  at  the  Instance  of 
King  Kenulph.  1  Egbert.  J.Z).  801. 
Then  Kenulph,  king  of  Mercia,  sent  a  letter  to  Leo  the  third, 
pope,  by  ^Ethelard  the  archbishop,  to  this  effect : — That  whereas 
the  metropolitan  seat,  by  authority  apostolic,  was  primitively  fixed  at 
Canterbury,  where  the  blessed  body  of  Augustine  was  buried  ;  and 

*  In  this  edition,  the  alteration  is  added  to  the  running  title  on  each  leaf. Edit 

M    2 


164  ^CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.        A.D.   801 IG. 

whereas  lately  king  OfFa,  out  of  opposition  to  archbishop  Lambert, 
had  removed  the  same  seat  to  Lichfield,  and  procured  from  pope 
Adrian  the  same  translation  to  be  confirmed;  Kenulph*  requested 
his  Holiness  so  far  to  concur  with  the  general  desire  of  the  English 
nation,  as  to  revoke  the  act  of  his  predecessor,  and  restore  the  arch- 
bishopric to  its  proper  place.  And  knowing  that  suits  in  the  court 
of  Rome  speed  no  whit  the  less  when  accompanied  with  gifts,  he 
sent  his  Holiness  one  hundred  and  twenty  mancuses-|-  for  a  present. 
The  gift  was  kindly  accepted,  the  archbishop  courteously  enter- 
tained, the  request  bountifully  granted  ;  and  thus  the  archbishop''s 
see,  dislocated,  or  out  of  joint,  for  a  time,  was  by  the  hands  of  his 
Holiness  set  right  again. 

2.   The  first  most  formal  Subscription  in  a  Synod.     A.D.  803. 

jEthelard,  returning  home,  called  a  synod  at  Clives-Ho,  in  Kent, 
not  far  from  Rochester,  where  by  power  from  the  pope,  he  riveted 
the  archbishopric  into  the  city  of  Canterbury,  the  synod  denouncing 
heavy  penalties  to  any  that  hereafter  should  endeavour  to  divide 
them  ;  so  that  it  is  believed,  that  the  archbishop's  see  may  as  easily 
be  wholly  dissolved,  as  hence  removed.  The  subscriptions  in  this 
council  were  the  most  formal  and  solemn  of  any  so  ancient.  The 
reader  will  not  be  offended  with  their  hard  names]:  here  following, 
seeing  his  eye  may  run  them  over  in  perusing  them,  though  his 
tongue  never  touch  them  in  pronouncing  them. 

Canteiibury  : — ^thclard,  archbishop  ;  ^thilheah,  Feologeld, 
abbots ;  Wulfheard,  Wernoth,  Beornmod,  presbyters ;  Vulfrssd, 
archdeacon. 

Lichfield  : — Aldulf,  bishop  ;  Higberth,  abbot;  LuUa,  Monn, 
Wigfreth,  Eadhere,  Cuthberth,  presbyters. 

Leicester  : — Werenberth,  bishop  ;  Falmund,  Beomia,  Forth- 
rod,  Wigmund,  priests  and  abbots  ;   Eadberth,  presbyter. 

Sydnacester  : — Eadulf,  bishop  ;  Eadred,  Daeghelm,  priests 
and  abbots  ;   Plegberth,  Eadulf,  Hereberth,  presbyters. 

Worcester: — Dsenebreth,  bishop;  Higberth,  Thineferth,  Pega, 
abbots,  and  Freothomimd,  priest  and  abbot ;  Coenferth,  presbyter. 

Hereford: — Wulfheard,  bishop;  Cuthraed,  abbot;  Srygol, 
Dygoga,  Monn,  presbyters  ;   Heathobald,  deacon. 

Shikeburn  : — Wigberth,  bishop  ;  Muda,  Eadberth,  Beorth- 
mund,  abbots. 

Winchester  : — Almund,  bishop  ;  Cuthberth,  Mark,  Cuinba, 
Lulla,  abbots  ;   Northeard,  Ungthe,  presbyters. 

•  Malmesb.  De  Gestis  Reg.  lib.  i.  cap.  4.  f  Mancusa:  quasi  manu  custr,  a  coin 

about  the  valuatiou  whereof  is  much  varietj-  [of  opinion] .  t  The  original  is  extant 

in  the  Records  of  Canterhury,  copied  out  by  Sir  H.  Spelman  in  his  "  Councils,"  p.  325. 


10    EGBERT.  BOOK     II.       CENT.    IX.  165 

Helmham  : — Ealhcard,  bisliop  ;   Folcberth,   Frithobcrtli,  Ead- 
bcrtli,  Vulflab,  presbyters  ;   Hunfride,  deacon. 
.  DuNwicii  : — Fidfrith,    bishop;     Wulfheard,     Lulla,    abbots; 
Ceolhelm,  Cynulfe,  Tydbcrtli,  presbyters  ;   Eadbcrth,  deacon. 

London: — Osmond,  bishop;  Heahstan,  Plcgberth,  abbots; 
A'Vighcard,  Tidhun,  Frithorad,  Ethelhehiie,  presbyters. 

RocHESTEii : — Wsermund,  bishop  ;  Lullingo,  Tuda,  Beagnoth, 
Heathoberth,  Wigheard,  presbyters. 

Selsey  : — Weothun,  bishop;  Ceolmund,  abbot;  Dudd,  Ead- 
bcrth, Beorcol,  Hethfridc,*  Cyncbald,  presbyters. 

Being  one  archbishop ;  twelve  bishops ;  twenty-six  abbots ; 
thirty-nine  presbyters ;  one  archdeacon  ;  three  deacons  :  eighty-two, 
in  all. 

3.  Some  Observahles  on  the  Meihod  and  Manner  of  their 
Meeting. 
Now,  to  make  a  short,  but  necessary,  digression  :  In  this  synod 
we  may  observe,  that  bishops  appeared  personally,  and  the  rest  of 
the  clergy  v/ere  represented,  monks  in  their  abbots,  and  the  seculars 
in  the  priests  and  deacons  of  their  diocese  respectively.  Such 
abbots  as  in  this  catalogue  have  the  addition  of  pr.-f-  were  also  priests, 
and  so  present  in  a  double  capacity  ;  though,  perchance,  they  made' 
only  use  of  their  abbotship.  No  deans  appear  here,  as  a  dignity  of 
fiir  later  institution.  The  bishops,  in  the  order  of  their  subscrip- 
tions, seem  to  observe  seniority  of  their  consecrations,  and  not 
dignity  of  their  bishoprics  ;  seeing  London  lags  one  of  the  last,  to 
which  our  church-heralds :|:  did  afterwards  assign  the  highest  place, 
next  the  archbishops  :  only  Lichfield  may  seem  to  have  had  the 
precedency,  by  the  courtesy  of  the  synod,  that  the  lost  dignity 
thereof  might  be  buiied  in  honour,  being  so  lately  the  seat  of  an 
archbishop.  Lastly.  This  v/as  but  a  provincial  council  for  Canter- 
bury alone  ;  York  with  his  two  suffragans  (Lindisfern  and  Hexham) 
not  mentioned  in  the  meeting.  Thus,  as  the  anatomy  of  a  little 
child,  representing  all  parts  thereof,  is  accounted  a  greater  rarity 
than  the  skeleton  of  a  man  of  full  stature  ;  so  I  conceive  it  more 
acceptable  to  the  studious  in  antiquity,  to  behold  the  form  of  these 
synods,  with  the  distinct  members  thereof,  in  the  infancy  of  the 
Saxon  church,  than  to  see  a  complete  council  in  after-agcsj  when 
grown  to  full  perfection. 

4.   The  Acts  of  the  Council  at  Celichyth.     A.D.  81 G, 
Pass  we  by  some  petty  synods  celebrated  in  the  reign  and  country 
of  king  Kenulph  of  Mercia.    Eminent  was  the  council  at  Celichyth  § 

•  Doubtful  whether  priestrf  or  deacons.       t  Here  called  "  priests"  unabridged.— Edit. 
X  Harpsfield  Hist.  Jng.  page  T\o.  h  Rapin  calld  it  Calcuith  or  Calchite.  —Edit. 


166  CHURCH  HISTORY  OF  BRITAIK.   A.D.  816 31. 

under  Wolfred  (who  succeeded  iEthelard)  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. Wherein,  amongst  other  things  slight  or  superstitious,  was 
decreed, 

1.  That  the  catholic  faith  should  be  kept,  and  ancient  canons 
observed. 

2.  That  new  churches  *  should  be  consecrated  with  holy- water  by 
their  bishops,  and  the  saints  somewhere  painted  therein  to  whom  the 
same  is  dedicated. 

3.  That  all  in  Christian  charity  mutually  love  one  another. 

4.  That  abbots  and  abbesses  be  blameless  persons,  chosen  by  the 
bishop  with  the  consent  of  the  convent. 

5.  That  no  Scotchman  baptize,  or  administer  the  eucharist,  in 
England ;  it  being  uncertain,  whether,  or  by  whom,  they  are 
ordained. 

We  may  discover  herein  some  remaining  dregs  of  the  long-lasting 
difference  about  the  celebration  of  Easter,  which  made  the  suspicious 
English  still  to  harbour  a  causeless  prejudice  against  the  Scotch 
priesthood. 

6.  That  the  judicial  sentences  of  bishops  in  former  synods 
remain  ratified  ;  as  also  all  their  acts  solenmly  signed  with  the  cross. 

7.  That  no  abbey-lands  be  leased  out  longer  than,  in  dies  et 
spatiii^m  unius  hotyiinis  ; — that  is,  as  I  take  it,  "  for  the  single  life  of 
one  man ;"  except  in  some  case  of  extremity ;  "  to  help  against 
famine,  invasion  of  foes,  or  for  obtaining  of  freedom." 

8.  That  things  dedicated  to  God  remain  so  for  ever. 

9.  That  the  acts  of  all  synods  be  fairly  written  out,  with  the  date 
thereof,  and  name  of  the  archbishop  president,  and  bishops  present 
thereat. 

10.  That  bishops  at  their  death  give  the  full  tithe  of  their  goods 
to  the  poor,  and  set  free  every  Englishman  which  in  their  life-time 
was  a  slave  unto  them. 

11.  That  bishops  invade  not  the  diocese,  priests  the  parish, 
neither  the  office,  of  another  ;  save  only  when  desired  to  baptize,  or 
visit  the  sick.  The  refusers  whereof  in  any  place  are  to  be  sus- 
pended their  ministry,  till  reconciled  to  the  bishop. 

12.  That  they  pour  not  water  upon  the  heads  of  infants,  but 
immerge  them  in  the  font,  in  imitation  of  Christ,  who,  say  they,  was 
thrice  so  washed  in  Jordan. "|* 

But  where  is  this  in  Scripture  .''  The  manifestation  indeed  of  the 
Trinity  plainly  appears  in  the  text ; — Matt.  iii.  10,  17 ;  Father  in 
the  voice,  Bon  personally  present.  Holy  Spirit  in  the  dove  ;  but  as 
for  thrice  washing  him,  altum  silentium  !  However,  see  how  our 
modern  sectaries  meet  popery  in  shunning  it, — requiring  the  persun 

•  Sec  Sir  H.  Speljun  in  liis  "  Couucils,"  jiago  328.  t  Idem,  page  331. 


ol    EGBERT.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    IX.  167 

to  be  plunged ;  though  critics  have  cleared  it,  that  baptize  doth 
import  as  Avell  "  dipping"  as  "  drenching"  in  water. 

5.  Egbert  proclaimed  Monarch  of  England.  A.D.  820. 
And  now  we  take  our  farewell  of  king  Kenulph,  who,  for  all  his 
great  bustling  in  church-matters  for  the  first  twenty  years  in  this 
century,  was  (as  genus  subalternum  amongst  the  Logicians)  a  king 
over  his  subjects,  yet  but  a  subject  to  king  Egbert,  who  now  at 
Winchester  was  solemnly  crowned  monarch  of  the  southern  and 
greater  moiety  of  this  island,  enjoining  all  the  people  therein  to  term 
it  Engelond,  (since,  England,)  that  so  the  petty  names  of  seven 
former  distinct  kingdoms  might  be  honourably  buried  in  that  general 
appellation. 

6.  Seven  Kingdoms  swalloived  up  in  Engelond. 

Some  will  wonder,  seeing  this  nation  was  compounded  of  Saxons, 
Juites,*  and  Angles,  why  it  should  not  rather  be  denoiuinated  of 
the  first,  as  in  number  greatest,  and  highest  in  reputation.  Such 
consider  not,  that  a  grand  continent  in  Germany  was  already  named 
Saxony ;  and  it  was  not  handsome  for  this  land  to  wear  a  name  at 
second-hand  belonging  to  another.  Besides,  England  is  a  name  of 
credit,  importing  in  Dutch  the  same  with  "  the  land  of  angels." -f- 
And  now  the  name,  stamped  with  the  king*'s  command,  soon  became 
current,  and  extinguished  all  the  rest.  For  Kent,  Essex,  Sussex, 
Northumberland,  though  remaining  in  common  discourse,  shrunk 
from  former  kingdoms  into  modern  counties  :  Wessex,  Mercia,  and 
East  Angles  were,  in  effect,  finally  forgotten.  It  will  not  be  amiss 
to  wish,  that,  seeing  so  great  a  tract  of  ground  meets  in  one  name, 
the  people  thereof  may  agree  in  Christian  unity  and  affections. 

7.  Danes  disturb  King  Egbert.  A-D.  831. 
King  Egbert  was  now  in  the  exaltation  of  his  greatness.  But 
never  will  human  happiness  hold  out  full  measure  to  man's  desire. 
Freed  fi-om  home-bred  hostility,  he  was  ready  to  repose  himself  in 
the  bed  of  ease  and  honour ;  when  the  Danes  not  only  jogged  his 
elbows,  but  pinched  his  sides,  to  the  disturbance  of  his  future  quiet. 
They  beat  the  English  in  a  naval  fight  at  Charmouth  in  Dorsetshire, 
which  proved  fatal  to  our  nation.  For  an  island  is  never  an  island 
indeed,  until  mastered  at  sea,  cut  off  from  commerce  with  the  con- 
tinent. Henceforward  these  Pagans  settled  themselves  in  some  part 
of  the  land,  though  claiming  it  by  no  other  title  than  their  own  pride 
and  covetousness,  and  keeping  it  in  no  other  tenure  than  that  of  vio- 
lence and  cruelty. 

*  The  ancient  inhabitants  of  Jutia.  or  .Tutlaml,  in  Denmark. — Edit.  \  Verstegan 
"  Of  Decayed  Intelligence." 


168  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIX,     A.D.837 48  OR  55. 

8.  Athelwolphtis's  ujiiversal  Grant  of  Tithes  to  the  Church. 
]  Ethelwulf.  ^.i>.  837. 

Athelwolphus,  [Ethelwulpli]  his  son  succeeded  king  Egbert  in 
the  tlirone  ;  a  prince  not  less  commended  for  his  valour,  than  devo- 
tion, and  generally  fortunate  in  his  undertakings  ;  though  much 
molested  all  his  life-time  by  the  Danes.  But  nothing  makes  him  so 
remarkable  to  posterity,  as  the  granting  of  this  charter,  or  rather  the 
solemn  passing  of  this  act  ensuing  : — 

Regiiante  Domino  nostro  Jesu  Christo,  in  perpetuum.  Diim 
in  nostris  tenipoj'ibus  beUoruni  incejidia,  et  direptiones  opum 
nostrancm,  nccnon  et  "vastantium  cnidelissivias  depr<zdatio?ies 
Itostiuvi  barharorum,  Paganarumque  gcntinm  nmltipliccs  iribula- 
tiones  ad  ajfligendum  iisque  ad  internecionem,  cernimus  tempoia 
incuvibere  pcriculosa. 

Quamobrem  ego  Ethehvolphus^  rex  Occidcntalium  Saxonum, 
cum  consilio  cpiscoponim  ac principum  meoritm,  consilium  salubre, 
atque  uniforjne  remedium  affirmavi :  ut  aliquam  portionem  terra- 
rum  heereditariam  antea  possidentibus  omnibus  gradibus,  sive 
famulis  et  fannilabus  Dei,  Deo  scrvientibus,  sive  laicis,  semper 
decimam  mansionem  zibi  minimum  sit,  tamen  partem  decimam  in 
libertatem  perpetiiam  perdonari  dijudieavi,  j/t  sit  iuta  ac  jnunita 
ab  omnibjiS  sectdaribus  servitutibus,  necnon  regalibus  tribtiiis 
onajoribus  et  mirioribus,  sive  taxationibus,  quod  nos  dicimtis 
WiTEREDEN ;  sitquc  Ubcra  omnium  rerum  pro  remissione  anima- 
rum  nostrarum  ad  serviendum  Deo  soli  sine  cxpeditione,  et  pontis 
instructione,  et  arcis  miinitione,  tit  eo  diligentiiis  pro  nobis  ad 
Deum  preccs  sine  cessatione  fu7idant,  quo  eorum  sei'vitutem  in 
aliqud  parte  levigamus. 

■  Placuit  etiam  episcopis  Alhstano  Schireburnensis  ecelesiee,  et 
SzvitMino  Wintoniensis  eccleslee,  cum  suis  abbiitibus,  et  servis 
Dei,  consilium  inire,  ut  omnes  fratres,  et  sororcs  nostree,  ad 
nnam.quamque  ecclesiam  omni  hebdomada  die  Mereurii,  hoc  est 
Weddensday,  cantent  quinquaginia  psahnos,  et  nnusquisque 
prc.:bi/ter  duas  missas,  %inam  pro  rcge,  Ethelicolpho,  et  aliagn  pro 
ducibus  ejus  hnic  dono  consentientibus,  pro  mercede  et  j'efrigerio 
delictorum  suorum  :  et  pro  rege  vivente  dieant,  Oremus,  Devs, 
QUI  jusTiFic^s ;  pro  ducibus  etiam  vivcniibus,  Pr.^texde, 
DoMiNE :  postquayn  cmtem  defuncti  fuerint,  pro  rcge  defuncto 
singulariter,  et  pro  principibus  dcfunctis  comrauniter.  Et  hoc  sit 
tarn  firmiter  constitutum  omnibus  Chi-istianitatis  diebus,  sicut 
Vibcrtas  ilia  constitufa  est,  quamdiu  fides  crescit  in  gente 
Auglorum.* 

"  E.V  iNGii^rii.  ct  Malmesb.  Gcst.  Reg.  lib  ii.  cap.  2. 


11  OR  18  ETIIELWULF.  BOOK    II.      CENT.    IX.  169 

This  Athelwolphus  was  designed  by  his  father  to  be  bishop  of 
Winchester,  bred  in  a  monastery,  after  taken  out,  and  absolved  of 
his  vows  by  the  pope  ;  and,  having  had  churcli-cducation  in  his 
youth,  retained  to  his  old  age  the  indelible  character  of  his  affec- 
tions thereunto.  In  expression  whereof,  in  a  solemn  council  kept  at 
AVinchester,  he  subjected  the  whole  kingdom  of  England  to  the 
payment  of  tithes,  as  by  the  foregoing  instrument  doth  appear. 
He  was  the  first  horn  monarch  of  England.  Indeed,  before  his 
time  there  were  monarchs  of  the  Saxon  heptarchy ;  but  not 
successive  and  fixed  in  a  family,  but  fluctuating  from  one  kingdom 
to  another.  Egbert,  father  to  this  Athelwolph,  was  the  first  that 
achieved  this  monarchy,  and  left  it  to  this  his  son,  not  monarclia 
factus,  but  natiis,  and  so  in  unquestionable  power  to  make  the 
foresaid  Act  obligatory  over  all  the  land. 

9.  Former  Acts  for  Tithes  injirm. 

Indeed,  before  his  time  many  Acts  for  tithes  are  produced, 
which,  when  pressed,  will  prove  of  no  great  validity.  Such  are  the 
imperial  edicts  in  civil  laAV,  never  possessed  of  full  power  in 
England ;  as  also  the  canons  of  some  councils  and  popes,  never 
admitted  into  plenary  obedience  by  consent  of  prince  and  people. 
Add  to  these,  first,  such  laws  as  were  made  by  king  Ina  and  OfFa, 
monarchs  indeed  of  England  in  their  turns,  as  I  may  say,  but  not 
deriving  the  same  to  the  issue  of  their  bodies ;  so  that  their 
Acts,  as  personal,  may  by  some  froward  spirits  be  cavilled  at,  as 
determining  with  their  own  lives.  Join  to  these  (if  produceable) 
any  provincial  constitutions  of  an  English  archbishop,  perchance, 
Egbertus  of  York  :  those  might  obey  them  who  would  obey,  being 
otherwise  not  subject  to  any  civil  penalty.  But  now  this  Act  of 
Athelwolphus  appears  entire  in  all  the  proportions  of  a  law,  made 
in  his  great  council,  equivalent  to  after-parliaments  ;  not  only  cjim 
condlio  episcoporum,  "  with  the  advice  of  his  bishops,"  (which 
easily  may  be  presumed  willingly  to  concur  in  such  a  matter 
of  church-advancement,)  but  also  principum  meorum,  "  of  my 
princes,""  saith  he ;  the  consent  of  inferior  persons  not  being 
required  in  that  age. 

10.  Objections  against  this  Act  answered. 

However,  nothing  can  be  so  strong  but  it  may  meet  Avith  cavils, 
though  not  to  destroy,  to  disturb  the  validity  thereof;  as  this 
Act  hath  :  and  we  will  severally  examine  the  defects  charged 
upon  it. 

Objection  I. — Some  object  that  "Athelwolphus  was  but  king 
of  the   West  Saxons,  as  appears  by  his  style,  Re>x  Occidentalium 


170  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.         A.  D.  848 55. 

Saxonum,  and  not  '  universal  monarch  of  England,'  whose  Act 
only  is  obligatory  to  his  own  subjects.  Let  those  of  Cornwall, 
Devon,  Somerset,  Dorset,  Hants,  Wilts,  and  Berks  pay  tithes  by 
virtue  of  this  command  ;  other  parts  of  the  land  are  freed  from  the 
same,  because  nihil  dat  quod  non  habet,  '  none  can  derive  that  to 
others  which  they  enjoy  not  themselves  ;'  being  king  but  of  a  part, 
he  could  not  lay  this  law  upon  all  the  land." 

Answer. —  He  is  termed  eminently,  not  exclusively,  "  king  of  the 
West  Saxons ;"  being  fondest  of  that  title,  as  his  father's  first  inherit- 
ance, before  he  acquired  the  monarchy  of  the  whole  land.  There 
were,  indeed,  at  this  time  two  other  royalets,  as  only  kings 
by  his  leave ;  namely,  Beorred  king  of  Mercia,  and  Edmond 
king  of  East  Angles,  who,  as  it  plainly  appears  by  Ingul- 
phus,*  were  present  at  his  council,  and  consented  to  the  Acts 
thereof. 

Objection  H. — "  The  consideration  was  superstitious,  to  say 
so  many  masses  for  the  souls  of  this  king  and  his  captains  when 
deceased." 

Answer. — A  double  consideration  is  mentioned  in  this  grant. 
The  First,  general  :  So  pious  in  itself,  no  exception  can  be  taken 
thereat,  namely,  to  divert  the  imminent  judgments  of  God  from 
the  land,  hourly  fearing  the  invasion  of  fierce  foreign  Pagans  ;  so, 
the  better  to  secure  the  nine  parts  thereof  to  himself  and  his 
subjects,  by  setting  apart,  resigning,  and  surrendering  a  tenth 
to  God,  (the  supreme  Landlord  of  all,)  in  such  as  attended 
his  daily  service.  The  Second  consideration  is  more  restrictive 
and  particular ;  and  resents,  indeed,  of  the  ignorance  of  that 
age ;  but  yet  is  proportionable  to  the  best  devotion  those 
days  produced :  and  easily  may  an  accidental  abuse  be  purged 
by  the  pious  use  intended,  and  designed  generally  to  God's 
glory. 

Objection  IH. — "The  king  only  granted  tithes  of  his  own 
crown-land,  non  in  dominio  sed  in  domitiico  suo,  '  not  in  all  his 
dominions,  but  only  in  his  demesnes.'" 

Answer. — There  needed  no  such  solemn  consent  of  the  council 
of  the  land  for  the  passing  away  of  his  private  bounty.  And  that 
the  grant  extended  to  the  kingdom  in  general,  appears  by  other 
authors  on  the  same  :-|*  Adelwolphus  dechno-nono  anno  vegni  6,ui, 
qui  totam  terram  suam  ad  opus  ecclesiarum  decimavit  propter 
amorem  Dei,  &c.  More  plainly  another  author  :  /w  eodem  anno 
decimavit  Aihulf.  rex  de  omni  possessione  sua  in  partem  Domini, 
et  in  universo  regimine  sui  jirincipatus  sic  constituit. 

*  Exempliliocl  iu  Sir  H.  SrjiLMAN's  "  Councils/'  page  348.  t  Henry  Hunting. 

Hist,  lib,  V.  pago  318. 


18    ETHELWULF.  BOOK    II.      CENT.    IX.  l/l 

11»  Store  no  Sore. 
Here  "we  insist  not  on  the  many  arguments  out  of  Old  and  New 
Testament,  to  prove  tithes  to  be  jure  Divino ;  Avhich  in  due  time 
may  be  produced,  when  all  tempests  of  tumultuous  spirits  are 
allayed,  and  when — what  the  town  clerk  of  Ephesus  promised  to 
the  citizens  thereof — the  question  may  be  determined  h  t^  Ivvojw,«j 
hxxXridia,  "  in  a  lawful  and  ordinary  assembly,"  Acts  xix.  39, 
without  fear  of  force,  and  suspicion  of  violence.  For,  two  strings 
to  a  bow  do  not  amiss  ;  being  no  hinderance  to  the  archer  for  the 
better  hitting  of  the  mark,  who  may  wind  up  one,  and  use  that  for 
the  present  which  he  sees  most  for  his  own  convenience.  Mean 
time  most  true  it  is,  that  men  are  not  so  conscientious  to  obey  the 
laws  of  God,  as  fearful  to  resist  the  edicts  of  men  ;  and  therefore 
(though  far  be  it  from  the  clergy  to  quit  their  title  to  tithes  by 
Divine  right)  they  conceive  it  the  snrest  way  sometimes  to  make 
use  of  human  injunctions,  as  having  the  most  potent  influence  on 
men's  affections  :  especially  in  this  age,  wdien  the  love  of  many 
(both  to  God  and  goodness)  beginneth  to  wax  cold. 

12.  A  pleasant  Passage. 
A  reverend  Doctor  in  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  bishop  of 
Salisbury,  was  troubled  at  his  small  living  at  Hogginton,  with  a 
peremptory  Anabaptist,  who  plainly  told  him  :  "  It  goes  against 
my  conscience  to  pay  you  tithes,  except  you  can  show  me  a  place  of 
Scripture  whereby  they  are  due  unto  you.""  The  Doctor  returned  : 
"  Why  should  it  not  go  as  much  against  my  conscience,  that  you 
should  enjoy  your  nine  parts,  for  which  you  can  show  no  place 
of  Scripture  ?  "  To  whom  the  other  rejoined  :  "  But  I  have,  for 
MY  land,  deeds  and  evidences  from  my  flithers,  who  purchased  and 
were  peaceably  possessed  thereof  by  the  lav/s  of  the  land."  "  The 
same  is  my  title,"  saith  the  Doctor  ;  "  tithes  being  confirmed  unto 
me  by  many  statiifes  of  the  land,  time  out  of  mind."  Thus  he 
drave  that  nail,  not  which  was  of  the  strongest  metal  or  sharpest 
point,  but  which  would  go  best  for  the  present.  It  was  argii- 
mentum  ad  hominem^  "  fittest  for  the  person  he  was  to  meddle 
with  ;"  who  afterwards  peaceably  paid  his  tithes  unto  him.  Had 
the  Doctor  engaged  in  Scripture-argument,  though  never  so  j^rcg- 
nant  and  pertinent,  it  had  been  endless  to  dispute  with  him  who 
made  clamour  the  end  of  his  dispute,  whose  obstinacy  and  igno- 
rance made  him  uncapable  of  solid  reason  ;  and  therefore  the  Avorse 
the  argument,  the  better  for  his  apprehension. 

13.  A  solid  Answer  of  a  learned  Serjeant. 
Most   solid  and  ingenious  was  the  answer  of  a  most  eminent 
serjeant-at-law   of  this  age,   to  the  impertinent   clamours    of  such 


172  chuiu;h  history  of  buitain.       a.d.  855^ — 67. 

against  the  payment  of  tithes,  because,  as  they  say,  due  only  by 
liuman  right :  "  My  cloak  is  my  cloak  by  the  law  of  man  ;  but  he 
is  a  thief,  by  the  law  of  God,  that  taketh  it  away  from  me." 

14.  This  Law  not  presently  and  perfectly  obeyed. 
True  it  is,  that  this  law  did  not  presently  find  an  universal 
obedience  in  all  the  land.  And  the  wonder  is  not  great  if,  at  the 
first  making  thereof,  it  met  with  many  recusants ;  since,  corroborated 
by  eight  hundred  years'  prescription  and  many  confirmations,  it 
finds  obstacles  and  oppositions  at  this  day :  for,  in  succeeding  ages, 
several  kings  confirmed  the  same,  though  papal  exemptions  of 
several  Orders,  and  modus  decimandi  according  to  custom,  have 
almost  since  tithed  the  tithes  in  some  places. 

15.  King  Ethelaiolplts  Journey  to  Rome,  and  Bounty  to  the 
Pope.     A.  D.  856. 

King  Athelwolphus  the  next  year  took  his — call  it  "  progress" 
or — "  pilgrimage"  to  Rome  :  where  the  report  of  his  piety  pre- 
vented his  arrival,  and  provided  both  welcome  and  wonder  for  his 
entertainment.  Here  he  confirmed  unto  the  pope  his  predeccssor''s 
grant  of  Peter-pence,  and,  as  a  surplusage,  bestowed  upon  him  the 
yearly  revenue  of  three  hundred  marks,  thus  to  be  expended  : — 
1.  To  maintain  candles  for  St.  Peter,  one  hundred  marks.  2.  To 
maintain  candles  for  St.  Paul,  one  hundred  marks.  3.  For  a  free 
largess  to  the  pope,  one  hundred  marks.* 

■  16.  How  this  Sum  was  divided,  and  collected  out  of  several 

Dioceses. 

If  any  be  curious  to  know  how  these  three  hundred  marks  were 
in  after-ages  divided  and  collected,  let  them  peruse  the  following 
account ;  if  the  particulars  be  truly  cast  up,  and  (attested  to  me 
out  of  Sir  Thomas  Cotton's  library,  and,  as  they  say,  out  of  the 
Vatican  itself)  be  authentical : — 

£.    s.  d.  £.  s.  d. 

Canterbury 8     8  0     Winchester     .' 17  0  8 

London   16  10  0  Coventry   and    Lich- 

Rochester    5  12  0         field     41  5  0 


s. 

d. 

8 

0 

10 

0 

12 

0 

10 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

Norwich 21  10     0     Exeter    9     5  0 

Salisbury 17     0     0     Worcester 10     5  0 

Ely 5     0     0     Hereford 6     0  0 

Lincoln  42     0     0     Bath  and  Wells 12     5  0 

Chichester 8     0     0     York  1110  0 

*  William  Malmesijury,  utprius. 


1    ETHELRED.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    IX.  173 

These  sums  were  demanded  by  pope  Gregory  XIII.  in  the  forty- 
sixth  of  Edward  III.  on  that  token, — that  their  payment  was  mueli 
opposed  by  John  of  Gaunt.  I  dare  not  discede  from  my  copy  a 
tittle,  coming,  as  they  say,  from  the  register  at  Rome  :  nor  will  I 
demand  a  reason  why  Durham  and  Carlisle  are  here  omitted  ;  much 
less,  examine  the  equity  of  their  proportions,  as  applied  to  their 
respective  dioceses  ;  but  implicitly  believe  all  done  very  justly. 
The  reason  why  the  Welsh  bishoprics  were  exempted,  is,  because, 
at  the  grant  hereof  by  king  Athelwolph,  Wales  was  not  then  under 
his  dominion.  This  three  hundred  marks  was  but  a  distinct 
payment  by  itself,  and  not  the  whole  body  of  Peter-pence, 
(amounting  to  a  greater  sum,)  whereof,  God  willing,  more  hereafter. 

17-   '^he  Sawons  wilfully  accessory  to  their  own  Rui/i  by  the 
Danes.     1  Ethelred.   A.  D.  867. 

After  the  death  of  king  Athelwolphus,  and  his  two  sons 
Ethelbald  and  Ethelbcrt  succeeding  him,  this  land  was  in  a  sad 
condition,  though  nothing  so  bad  as  under  the  reign  of  Ethelred  his 
third  son  and  successor  :  for  then,  indeed,  most  miserable  was  the 
state  of  the  English,  harassed  by  the  Danes,  who,  like  the  running- 
gout,  shifted  from  joint  to  joint,  from  place  to  place  ;  often  repelled 
from  the  several  shires,  never  expelled  out  of  England.  The  Saxon 
folly  hurt  them  more  than  the  Danish  fury  ;  refusing  effectually  to 
unite,  to  make  a  joint  resistance  against  a  general  enemy.  For, 
some  sixty  years  since,  the  West  Saxons  had  subdued  the  other  six 
kings  of  this  nation  ;  yet  so,  that  they  still  continued  kings,  but 
homagers  to  the  West  Saxon  monarchy.  The  shortening  of  their 
sceptres  stuck  in  their  stomachs,  especially  of  the  Mercian  and 
Northumbrian  kings,  the  most  puissant  of  all  the  rest.  Where- 
upon, beholding  Ethelred,  the  West  Saxon  king,  (the  staff  and 
stay  of  the  whole  nation,)  embroiled  with  the  invasion  of  the  Danes, 
they  not  only  lazily  looked  on,  but  secretly  smiled  at  this  sight,  as 
the  only  way  to  conquer  the  conqueror.  Yea,  such  their  envv, 
that  rather  than  one  (once  their  equal)  should  be  above  them  in 
felicity,  they  all  would  be  equal  with  him  in  misery.  They  would 
more  contentedly  be  slaves  to  a  foreign  foe,  to  whom  they  all  stood 
unrelated,  than  homagers  to  him  who  had,  as  they  thought, 
usurped  dominion  over  them  ;  never  considering,  that  the  Danes 
were  Pagans;  (self-interest  is  deaf  to  the  checks  of  conscience;) 
and  revenge,  which  is  wild  at  the  best,  was  so  mad  in  them  that 
they  would  procure  it  with  the  hazard,  if  not  loss,  of  their  God,  his 
church,  and  true  religion.  Thus  the  height  of  the  Saxon  pride  and 
envy  caused  the  breadth  of  the  Danish  power  and  cruelty.  Indeed, 
the  foresaid  Saxon  kings,   perceiving  their  error,   endeavoured  at 


174  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  867 ^70. 

last  to  help  the  West  Saxon  (or  rather  to  help  themselves  in  him) 
against  the  Danes.  But,  alas  !  it  was  too  late.  For  the  Danish 
garrisons  lay  so  indented  in  the  heart  of  the  land,  that  the  Saxon 
troops  were,  blasted  before  they  could  grow  into  regiments,  and 
their  strength,  dispersed  in  the  gathering,  was  routed  before  regulated 
into  an  array. 

18.  Fight  hetwiwt  Christians  and  Danes.     A.D.  87O. 
This  year  the  Danes  made  an  invasion  into  Lincolnshire,  Avhere 
they  met  with  stout  resistance  ;  and  let  us  take  a  list  of  the  chief 
officers  on  both  sides. 

CHRISTIAN    SAXONS. 

Count  Algar,  general,  with  the  youth  of  Holland  :  *  Harding  de 
Rchalc,  with  Stanford  men,  all  very  young  and  valiant :  Tolie,  a 
monk,  with  a  band  of  two  hundred  Crowlanders  :  Morcar,  lord  of 
Burn,  with  those  of  his  numerous  family  :  Osgot,  sheriff  of  Lincoln- 
shire, with  five  hundred  under  him  :-}-  Wibert,  living  at  Wiberton^ 
nigh  Boston  in  Holland ;  Leofrick,  living  at  Leverton,  anciently 
Lefrinkton  ; — places  named  from  their  owners. 

DANISH    PAGANS. 

King  Gordroum,  king  Baseg,  king  Osketill,  king  Halfeden,  king 
Hammond  ;  count  Frena,  count  Unguar,  count  Hubba,  count 
Sidroke  the  elder,  count  Sidroke  the  younger. 

The  Christians  had  the  better  the  first  day,  wherein  the  Danes 
lost  three  of  their  kings,  buried  in  a  place  thence  called  Trekingham  ; 
so  had  they  the  second,  till  at  night,  breaking  their  ranks  to  pursue 
the  Danes  in  their  dissembled  flight,  they  were  utterly  overthro^vn, 

19.  Crowland  Monks  massacred. 
Theodore,  abbot  of  Crowland,  hearing  of  the  Danes'"  approach, 
shipped  away  most  of  his  monks,  with  the  choicest  relics  and 
treasures  of  his  convent,  and  cast  his  most  precious  vessels  into  a 
well  in  the  cloister.  The  rest  remaining  Avere  at  their  morning 
prayers,  when  the  Danes,  entering,  slew  Theodore,  the  abbot,  on 
the  high  altar  ;  Asher,  the  prior,  in  the  vestiary  ;  Lethwin,  the 
sub-prior,  in  the  refectory ;  Pauline,  in  the  choir ;  Herbert,  in  the 
choir ;  Wolride,  the  torchbearer,  in  the  same  place  ;  Grimketule 
and  Agamund,  each  of  them  an  hundred  years  old,  in  the  cloisters. 
These,  saith  my  author,^  were  first  examinati,  "  tortured,"  to 
betray  their  treasure,  and  then  e,va7iimati,  "  put  to  death,"  for 
their  refusal.     The  same  writer  seems  to  wonder,  that,  being  killed 

•  Ingulphi  Hist,  page  865.  t  ricedominus.  t  iNOrLPHUs,  page  866. 


4    ETHELUED.  ROOK    II.       CENT.    IX.  175 

in  one  place,  their  bodies  were  afterwards  found  in  another.  Surely, 
the  corpses  removed  not  themselves,  but,  no  doubt,  the  Danes 
dragged  them  from  place  to  place  when  dead.  There  Avas  one 
child-monk  therein,  but  ten  years  old,  Turgar  by  name,  of  most 
lovely  looks  and  person.  Count  Sidroke  the  younger,  pitying  his 
tender  years,  (all  devils  are  not  cruel  alike,)  cast  a  Danish  coat  * 
upon  him,  and  so  saved  him,  who  only  survived  to  make  the  sad 
relation  of  the  massacre. 

20.  Peterborough  Monks  killed.     Monastery  burned. 

Hence  the  Danes  marched  to  Medeshamsted,  since  called  Peter- 
borough ;  where,  finding  the  abbey-gates  locked  against  them,  they 
resolved  to  force  their  entrance  ;  in  effecting  whereof,  Tulba, 
brother  to  count  Hubba,  was  dangerously  wounded,  almost  to 
death,  with  a  stone  cast  at  him.  Hubba,  enraged  hereat,  like 
another  Doeg,  killed  abbot  Hedda,  and  all  the  monks,  being  four- 
score and  four,  with  his  own  hand.  Count  Sidroke  gave  an  item  to 
young  monk  Turgar,  (who  hitherto  attended  him,)  in  no  Avise  to 
meet  count  Hubba,  for  fear  that  his  Danish  livery  should  not  be  found 
of  proof  against  his  fury.  Then  was  the  abbey  set  on  fire,  which 
burned  fifteen  days  together,  wherein  an  excellent  library  Avas  con- 
sumed. Having  pillaged  the  abbey,  and  broken  open  the  tombs 
and  coffins  of  many  saints  there  interred,  these  Pagans  marched 
forwards  into  Cambridgeshire,  and,  passing  the  river  Nine,  two  of 
their  waggons  fell  into  the  water,  Avherein  the  cattle  Avhich  drew 
them  were  drowned,  much  of  their  rich  plunder  lost,  and  more 
impaired. 

9A.  A  Heap  of  Martyrs. 

Some  days  after,  the  monks  of  Medeshamsted  Avere  buried  all 
together  in  a  great  grave,  and  their  abbot  in  the  midst  of  them,  a 
cross  being  erected  over  the  same  ;  where  one  may  have  four  yards 
square  of  martyrs'  dust,  Avhich  no  place  else  in  England  doth  afford. 
Godric,  successor  to  Theodore,  abbot  of  Crowland,  used  annually  to 
repair  hither,  and  to  say  masses  tAvo  days  together  for  the  souls  of 
such  as  Avere  entombed.  One  Avould  think,  that,  by  popish  prin- 
ciples, these  Avere  rather  to  be  prayed  to,  than  prayed  for ;  many 
maintaining  that  martyrs  go  the  nearest  Avay  to  heaven,  sine  ambage 
Purgatorii :  so  that  surely  Godric  did  it  not  to  better  their  con- 
dition, but  to  express  his  own  affection,  out  of  the  redundancy  of  his 
devotion  ;  Avhich  others  will  call  "  the  superfluity  of  his  superstition." 

22.    The  cruel  Martyrdom  of  King  Edmund. 
The  Danes  spared  no  age,  sex,  condition  of  people ;  such  Avas  the 
cruelty  of  this  Pagan  unpartial  SAvord  !     With  a  violent  inundation 

•  In  Latin,  Collobium. 


IJG  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  870 — -J2. 

they  brake  into  the  kingdom  of  the  East  Angles  ;  wasted  Cam- 
bridge, and  the  country  thereabouts ;  burnt  (the  then  city  of) 
Thetford  ;  forced  Edmund,  king  of  that  country,  into  his  castle  of 
Framlingham  ;  who,  perceiving  himself  unable  to  resist  their  power, 
came  forth,  and  at  the  village  of  Hoxon  [Hoxne]  in  Suffolk  ten- 
dered his  person  unto  them,  hoping  thereby  to  save  the  effusion  of 
his  subjects''  bloods  :  where,  after  many  indignities  offered  unto  him, 
they  bound  him  to  a  tree  ;  and,  because  he  would  not  renounce  his 
Christianity,  shot  him  with  arrow  after  arrow  ;  their  cruelty  taking 
deliberation,  that  he  might  the  better  digest  one  pain,  before  anotlier 
succeeded,  so  distinctly  to  protract  his  torture,  (though  confusion 
be  better  than  method  in  matters  of  cruelty,)  till  not  mercy,  but 
want  of  a  mark,  made  them  desist ;  according  to  the  poet's* 
exj  ression : — 

Jam  loca  imlncrilus  desunt,  nee  duin  furiosis 
Tela,  sed  hyhernd  grandinc plura  volant. 

"  Room  wants  for  woiiuds,  but  arrows  do  not  fail 
From  foes,  whicli  thicker  fly  than  winter-hail." 

After-ages,  desiring  to  make  amends  to  his  memory,  so  over-acted 
their  part  in  shrining,  sainting,  and  adoring  his  relics,  at  Bury  St. 
Edmunds's  ;  that,  if  those  in  heaven  be  sensible  of  the  transactions 
on  earth,  this  good  king's  body  did  not  feel  more  pain  from  the  fury 
of  the  Pagan  Danes,  than  his  soul  is  filled  with  holy  indignation  at 
the  superstition  of  the  Christian  Saxons. 

23.  King  Ethelherfs  Prayer-victory. 

However,  the  West  Saxon  king  Ethelbert  behaved  himself 
bravely;  fighting,  with  various  success,  nine  battles -f-  against  the 
Danes  :  though  ninety-nine  had  not  been  sufficient  against  so  nu- 
merous an  enemy.  But  we  leave  these  things  to  the  historians  of 
the  state  to  relate.  We  read  of  "a  heap  of  stones,"  Gen.  xxxi.  52, 
made  between  Jacob  and  Laban,  with  a  mutual  contract,  that 
neither  should  pass  the  same  for  harm.  Thus  would  I  have  eccle- 
siastical and  civil  historians  indent  about  the  bounds  and  limits  of 
their  subjects,  that  neither  injuriously  encroach  on  the  right  of  the 
other.  And,  if  I  chance  to  make  an  excursion  into  the  matters  of 
the  commonwealth,  it  is  not  out  of  curiosity,  or  busybodiness,  to  be 
meddling  in  other  men's  lines  ;  but  only  in  an  amicable  way,  to  give 
a  kind  visit,  and  to  clear  the  mutual  dependence  of  the  church  on 
the  commonwealth.  Yet  let  me  say,  that  this  war  against  the  Danes 
Avas  of  church-concernment ;  for  it  was  as  much  pro  nris,  as  pro 
focis,  "  as  much  for  religion,  as  civil  interest."     But  one  war  must 

•  Camden's  Britan.  in  the  Description  of  Suffolk.  t  ^yILLlAM  MalmesbuRV 

De  Gciiis  Rpffum  Ayiglorwn,  lib.  ii.  pnge  42. 


1    ALFRED.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    IX.  177 

not  be  forgotten  :  Importunate  messengers  brought  the  tidings,  that 
the  English  were  dangerously  engaged  with  the  Danes,  at  Essen- 
dune,  (haply,  Essenden  now,  in  Surrey,)*  and  likely  to  be  worsted. 
King  Ethelbert  was  at  his  devotions,  which  he  would  not  omit,  nor 
abbreviate,  for  all  their  clamour.  No  suit  would  he  hear  on  earth, 
till  first  he  had  finished  his  requests  to  heaven.  Then,  having  per- 
formed the  part  of  pious  Moses  in  the  mount,  Exod.  xvii.  11,  he 
began  to  act  valiant  Joshua  in  the  valley.  The  Danes  are  van- 
quished, leaving  posterity  to  learn, — that  time  spent  in  prayer  is 
laid  out  to  the  best  advantage. 

24.  King  Ethelbert  heart-broken  with  Grief.  A.  D.  871  • 
But,  alas  !  this  Danish  invasion  was  a  mortal  wound,  dedecus 
Saxonicce  fortitudinis ;  the  cure  whereof  was  rather  to  be  desired 
than  hoped  for.  Ease  for  the  present  was  all  art  could  perform. 
King  Ethelbert  saw,  that  of  these  Pagans  the  more  he  slew,  the 
more  they  grew,  which  went  to  his  valiant  heart.  Grief  is  a  heavy 
burden  ;  and,  generally,  the  strongest  shoulders  are  able  to  bear  the 
least  proportion  thereof.  The  good  king,  therefore,  withered  away 
in  the  flower  of  his  age,  willingly  preferred  to  encounter  rather 
death  than  the  Danes  ;  for  he  knew  how  to  make  a  joyful  end  with 
the  one,  but  endless  was  his  contest  with  the  otlier ;  according  to 
the  observation  of  the  English  Historian,-|-  that  the  Saxon  kings,  in 
this  age,  magis  optabant  honestum  exitum,  qudm  acerbum 
imperium, 

25.  King  Alfred's  exemplary  Character.  1  Alfred.  AD.  872. 
In  this  sad  condition  God  sent  England  a  deliverer,  namely,  king- 
Alfred,  or  Alured,  born  in  England,  bred  in  Rome,  where,  by  a 
prolepsis,  he  was  anointed  king  by  pope  Leo,  (though  then  but  a 
private  prince,  and  his  three  elder  brothers  alive,)  in  auspicium 
futuri  regni,  "  in  hope  that  hereafter  he  should  come  to  the  crown." 
Nor  did  this  unction  make  Alfred  antedate  his  kingdom,  who 
quietly  waited  till  his  aforesaid  brothers  successively  reigned,  and 
died  before  him,  and  then  took  his  turn  in  the  kingdom  of  the  West 
Saxons.  The  worst  was,  his  condition  was  like  a  bridegroom,  who, 
though  lawfully  wedded,  yet  might  not  bed  his  bride,  till  first  he  had 
conquered  his  rival ;  and  must  redeem  England,  before  he  could 
reign  over  it.  The  Danes  had  London,  many  of  the  inland,  more 
of  the  maritime  towns,  and  Alfred  only  three  effectual  shires, — 
Somersets  Dorset,  and  Wilts  ;  yet,  by  God''s  blessing  on  his  valour, 
he  got  to  be  monarch  of  all  England.  Yea,  consider  him  as  a  king 
in  his  court,  as  a  general  in  his  camp,  as  a  Christian  in  his  closet,  as 

"  Or,  according  to  otJiers,  Aston  in  Berkshire. — Edit.       t  Malmesburiensis  ut  prius. 

Vol.  I.  N 


T78  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  872 82. 

a  patron  in  the  church,  as  a  founder  in  his  college,  as  a  father  in  his 
family, — his  actions  will  every  way  appear  no  less  excellent  in  them- 
selves, than  exemplary  to  others. 

26.  Alfred,  as  a  Fiddler,  discovereth  the  Danish  Designs. 

j.D.s'je. 

His  most  daring  design  was,  when  lying  hid  about  Athelney  in 
Somersetshire,  and  disguised  under  the  habit  of  a  fiddler,  (being  an 
excellent  musician,)  he  adventured  into  the  Danish  camp.  Had  not 
his  spirit  been  undaunted,  the  sight  of  his  armed  foes  had  been 
enough  to  have  put  his  instrument  out  of  tune.  Here  going  unsus- 
pected through  their  army,  he  discovered  their  condition,  and  some 
of  their  intentions.  Some  would  say,  that  the  Danes  deserved  to  be 
beaten,  indeed,  if  they  would  communicate  their  counsels  to  a 
fiddler.  But  let  such  know,  Alfred  made  this  general  discovery  of 
them, — that  they  were  remiss  in  their  discipline,  lay  idle  and  care- 
less :  and  security  disarms  the  best-appointed  army.  Themistocles 
said  of  himself,  that  he  could  not  fiddle,  but  he  knew  how  to  make 
a  little  city  great.  But  our  Alfred  could  fiddle,  and  make  a  little 
city  great,  too  ;  yea,  enlarge  a  petty  and  contracted  kingdom  into  a 
vast  and  absolute  monarchy. 

27.  The  Danish  Ships  left  water-howid. 

But,  as  the  poets  feign  of  Antaeus,  the  son  of  the  earth,  who, 
fighting  with  Hercules,  and  often  worsted  by  him,  recovered  his 
strength  again  every  time  he  touched  the  earth,  revived  with  an 
addition  of  new  spirits  ;  so  the  Danes,  which  may  seem  the  sons  of 
Neptune,  though  often  beaten  by  the  English  in  land-battles,  no 
sooner  recovered  their  ships  at  sea,  but,  presently  recruiting  themselves, 
they  returned  from  Denmark,  more  numerous  and  formidable  than 
before.  But,  at  last,  (to  follow  the  poetical  fancy,)  as  Hercules,  to 
prevent  Antseus's  farther  reviving,  hoisted  him  aloft,  and  held  him 
strangled  in  his  arms  till  he  was  stark  dead,  and  utterly  expired;  so, 
to  secure  the  Danes  from  returning  to  the  sea,  who  out  of  the  Thames 
had  with  their  fleet  sailed  up  the  river  Lea,  betwixt  Hertfordshire 
and  Essex,  Alfred  with  pioneers  divided  the  grand  stream  of  Lea 
into  several  rivulets  ;  so  that  their  ships  lay  water-bound,  leaving 
their  mariners  to  shift  for  themselves  overland ;  most  of  which  fell 
into  the  hands  of  their  English  enemies  :  so  that  this  proved  a  mor- 
tal defeat  to  the  Danish  insolence. 

28.  The  general  Ignorance  in  England. 

Alfred — having  thus  reduced   England  to   some  tolerable  terms 
of  quiet,  made  most  of  the  Danes  his  subjects  by  conquest,  and  the 


11     ALFRED.  BOOK    II.       CENT.     IX.  179 

rest  his  friends  by  composition — encountered  a  fiercer  foe,  namely, 
ignorance  and  barbarism,  which  had  generally  invaded  the  whole 
nation  ;  insomuch,  that  he  writeth,  that,  south  of  Thames,  he  found 
not  any  that  could  read  English.  Indeed,  in  these  days  all  men 
turned  students.  But  what  did  they  study  ?  Only  to  live  secretly 
and  safely  from  the  fury  of  the  Danes.  And  now,  that  the  next 
age  might  be  wiser  than  this,  Alfred  intended  the  founding  of  an 
university  at  Oxford. 

29.  Ancieyit  Schools  at  Crekelade  and  Lechlade. 
Indeed,  there  were  anciently  standing  on  the  banks  of  Isis, 
(which  in  due  time  commenceth  Thamisis,)  two  towns  ;  one  Creke- 
lade, or  Greeklade,  [Cricklade]  in  Wiltshire  ;  the  other  Lechlade, 
or  Latinlade,  in  Gloucestershire.  In  the  former  of  these,  many  years 
since,  (things  "  time  out  of  mind  "  must  not  be  condemned  as 
"  time  out  of  truth,")  the  Greek  tongue,  as  in  the  latter  the  Latin 
tongue,  are  said  to  he  publicly  professed  by  philosophers.  But 
where  was  Hehrew-lade  ?  the  Hebrew  tongue  being  more  necessary 
than  both  the  former  for  the  understanding  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Alas  !  in  this  age  it  was  banished,  not  only  out  of  -England,  but  out 
of  Christendom.  As  in  the  ordinary  method  of  nature,  the  more 
aged  usually  die  first ;  so  no  wonder  if  Hebrew,  generally  presumed 
the  oldest  language  in  the  world,  expired  first  in  this  age  of  igno- 
rance, utterly  abolished  out  of  the  Western  countries.  Yea,  it  is 
well  the  other  two  learned  tongues  were  preserved  in  these  places ; 
Crekelade  and  Lechlade  being  then  cities  of  eminent  note,  shrunk 
now  to  mean  towns,  and  content  with  plain  English,  where  Latin 
and  Greek  were  formerly  professed.* 

30.   The  University  first  founded  by  Alfred  at  Oxford. 
A.  D.  882. 

But  now  the  Muses  swam  down  the  stream  of  the  river  Isis,  to 
be  twenty  miles  nearer  to  the  rising  sun,  and  were  by  king  Alfred 
removed  from  Crekelade  and  Lechlade,  to  Oxford,  where  he 
founded  an  university.      Yet  some  say,  Alfred  did  Jind  and  not 

•  Heylin  says,  "  There  is  a  common  tradition,  (amongst  the  common  people,)  that 
Crekelade  [Cricklade]  was  a  imiversity  of  Greek  philosophers ;  Lechlade  of  Leches,  or 
physicians,  as  the  name  doth  intimate  ;  and  Latten,  a  small  village  betvvixt  both,  to  be 
the  place  of  study  for  the  Latin  tongue.  But  though  the  people  are  mistaken  in  the 
et)Tnon  of  the  name  of  Lechlade,  yet  are  they  not  so  far  out,  as  our  author  is  in  making 
Lechlade  or  Latinlade  to  be  both  the  same  place  and  of  the  same  signification  ;  whereas, 
in  tinith,  that  town  is  so  denominated  from  the  river  Lech,  which,  arising  in  the  hills  of 
Cotswold,  passeth  first  by  Northlech,  from  thence  to  Eastlech,"  &c.  Fuller,  after 
expressing  his  obligations  for  these  remarks,  subjoins :  "  My  next  edition,  God  willing, 
shall  he  reformed  accordingly."  See  also,  in  this  volume,  the  same  subject  discussed, 
page  114.— Edit. 

N    2 


180  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  882. 

[did]  found  letters  therein,  seeing  there  Avas  a  sprinkling  of 
students  therein  before  ;  though  learning  was  very  low  and  little 
therein,  till  this  considerable  accession,  when  Alfred  founded 
therein  three  colleges,  one  for  grammarians,  a  second  for  philoso- 
phers, a  third  for  divines.  Take  a  list  of  their  primitive  professors  : 
— In  divinity,  St.  Grimbal,  St.  Neoth  ;  in  grammar,  Asserius,  a 
monk;  in  logic,  John  of  St.  David"'s  ;  in  mathematics,  Johannes 
Monachus.  It  is  credibly  reported,  that  what  is  now  called 
University  College  was  then  one  of  king  Alfred"'s  foundations,  as 
the  verses  written  in  their  hall,  under  his  arms  do  attest : — 

Nobilis  Alfredi  sunt  hcec  insignia,  cujus 
Primum,  constructa  est  haec  pietate  domus. 

And  from  this  time  learning  flourished  here  in  great  plenty  and 
abundance,  though  oft-times  abated  ;  the  universities  feeling  the 
impressions  of  the  commonwealth. 

31.  King's  Hall  founded  by  King  Alfred. 

At  the  same  time  wherein  king  Alfred  built  University  College 
in  Oxford,  he  also  founded  another  house  called  King"'s-great-hall, 
(intimating  a  lesser  hard  by,)  now  included  within  the  compass  of 
Brazen-nose  College.*  And  hence  it  is  that  at  this  very  day  it 
payeth  some  chief  rent  to  University  College,  as  the  ancient 
owner  thereof.  Here  he  placed  Johannes  Scotus  (highly  endeared 
in  this  king's  affections)  reader  therein.  On  the  clearing  of  whose 
extraction  and  opinions  a  long  story  doth  depend. 

32.  The  Birth-place  of  Johannes  Scotus. 

This  Scotus  is  called  Johannes  Scotus  Erigena,  with  addition 
sometimes  of  Sophista :  so  that  all  may  amount  to  a  kind  of 
definition  of  him  as  to  his  individual  person.  Conceive  we  Scotus 
for  his  genus,  which  because  homonymous  in  that  age,-|*  (as 
signifying  both  Scotland  and  Ireland,)  Erigena  is  added  for  his 
difference,  that  is,  born  (as  some  will  have  it)  in  Ireland,  called 
Erin  in  their  own  country  language.;]:  But  Dempster,  a  Scotch 
■writer,{:j  who  will  leave  nothing  that  can  be  gotten  above-ground 
(yea,  will  dive  and  dig  into  the  water  and  land  of  others)  to  the 
credit  of  his  country,  claimeth  Scotus  as  born  in  Scotland,  spelling 
him  Airigena,  from  Aire,  a  small  place  therein.  But,  beside 
unanswerable  arguments  to  the  contrary,  "  gena "  is  a  termination 
seldom  added  to  so  restrictive  a  word,  but  (as  Francigena,  Angli- 
gena)  denoteth  generally  the  nation,  not  petty  place,  of  a  man's 
extraction.     As  for  Dempster,  his  credit  runneth  low  with  me,  ever 

•  Rcje  Platonicns,  page  211.  t  Jac.  War.  Be  Scrip.  Hib.  page  43.  t  Mercat. 
Atlas,  page  47.  4  Eccles.  Hist.  Scot.  lib.  i.  num.  64,  and  lib.  ix.  num.  104. 


11    ALFRED.  BOOK     II.      CENT.    IX-  181 

since  he  made  pope  Innocentius  I.  a  Scotchman,  because  calling 
himself  Albanus, — and  Scotland,  forsooth,  is  Albania  ! — it  being 
notoriously  known  that  the  said  Innocent  was  born  at  Long  Alba 
nigh  Rome.  Yea,  Bellarmine  himself  said,  reading  the  three  books 
of  Dempster,  wherein  he  hooketh  in  so  many  for  his  countrymen, 
that  he  thought  that  if  he  should  add  a  fourth,  he  would  make 
Jesus  Christ  himself  to  be  a  Scotchman. 

33.  Wales's  Right  to  Scotus's  Birth. 
All  this  while  Wales  stands  modestly  silent,  with  intention  to 
put  in  her  claim  the  last  to  Scotus's  nativity,  whom  many  writers 
make  born  at  St.  David's.*  Whilst  some  will  have  the  epithet  of 
Erigena  affixed  unto  him  quasi  tjpi  yivo^j-svos-,  "  early  born," 
because  of  the  timely  rising  of  his  parts  (as  a  morning  star)  in  those 
dark  days,  which  I  can  better  applaud  for  an  ingenious  allusion, 
than  approve  for  a  true  and  serious  assertion.  But  be  Scotus  born 
where  he  please,  most  sure  it  is,  by  king  Alfred  he  was  made  a 
professor  of  learning  in  Oxford. 

34.  "  Scotus^''  saith  Cains,  "  studied  at  Camhridgey 

I  confess,  Caius  maketh  this  John  Scotus  scholar  to  Bede,-f-  (as 
many  good  authors  also  do,:j:)  and  brought  up  at  Cambridge  ;  to 
which  the  sons  of  our  aunt  are  loath  to  consent,  that  one  who  was 
taught  in  Cambridge  should  teach  in  Oxford  ;  and  their  eloquent 
orator  falls  very  foul  §  (save  that  it  is  some  ease  to  be  railed  on  in 
good  Latin)  on  him  for  the  same.  Now,  because  we  Cambridge- 
men  are  loath  to  take  a  limb  of  John  Scotus,  or  any  other  learned 
man,  more  than  what  will  come  of  itself,  with  the  consent  of 
chronology  ;  and  because  I  find  Bale  dislikes  the  same,||  chiefly  on 
the  account  of  his  improbable  vivacity  of  an  hundred-and-seventy 
years  ;  I  can  be  content  to  resign  my  particular  title  unto  him, 
provided  it  be  without  prejudice  to  others  of  our  university,  who 
hereafter  may  challenge  him  with  better  arguments. 

'65.  Miserably  murdered  by  his  Scholars. 
I  much  wonder  that  this  Scotus  should  be  so  degraded  in  his 
old  age  from  Oxford  to  Malmesbury ;  from  a  professor  in  an 
university,  to  a  schoolmaster  in  a  country-town  ;  where  pouring 
learning  into  his  lads,  (rather  in  proportion  to  the  plenty  of  the 
fountain,  than  to  the  receipt  of  the  vessels,)  he  was  severe  to  such 
scholars   as  were    dull   in    their  apprehensions.     This  so  irritated 

•  Bale  De  Scrip.  Brit.  cent.  ii.  page  124.  t  Caius  De  Ant.  Cant.  lib.  i.  page  157. 
t  Trithemius  ct  ejus  sequaces.  §  Sir  Isa.  M'ake  in  Reg.  Platonico,  page  212. 

II  Baleus,  cent.  ii.  ut  print. 


182  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  882 5. 

their  anger  against  him,  tliat  by  an  universal  conspiracy  they 
dispatched  him  in  the  school  with  their  penknives.  I  find  not 
"what  punishment  was  inflicted  upon  them  ;  whipping  being  too 
little,  if  sturdy  youths  ;  and  hanging  too  much,  if  but  little  boys. 
Only  I  observe  one  Cassianus,  a  schoolmaster  in  primitive  times,  sent 
the  same  way  on  the  same  occasion,  his  death  being  elegantly 
described  by  Prudentins.* 

36.   Unmartyred  hy  Baronius. 

All  the  amends  which  is  made  to  the  memory  of  Scotus  is,  that 
he  was  made  a  martyr  after  his  death,  and  his  anniversary  is  remem- 
bered in  the  Calendar  on  the  fourth  of  the  Ides  of  November,  in 
the  Roman  Martyrology,  set  forth  at  Antwerp,  1586,  by  the 
command  of  Gregory  XIII.  But  since  Baronius  hath  unmartyred 
him  ;  and  that  on  good  reason,  saith  Henry  Fitz-Simon,-f-  atte^ing 
that  an  apology  is  provided,  confirmed  with  approbation  of  many 
popes,  cardinals,  and  many  learned  doctors,  justifying  Baronius 
therein,  which  we,  as  yet,  have  not  belield.  Indeed,  Scotus  detested 
some  superstitions  of  the  times,  especially  about  the  Presence  in  the 
Lord"'s  supper ;  and  I  have  read,|  that  his  book  De  Eucharistid 
was  condemned  in  the  Vercellian  synod,  for  some  passages  therein, 
by  pope  Leo.  This  makes  it  suspicious,  that  some  hands  of  more 
age,  and  heads  of  more  malice,  than  school-boys,  might  guide  the 
penknives  which  murdered  Scotus,  because  of  his  known  opposition 
against  some  practices  and  opinions  of  that  ignorant  age. 

37.  Scotus  confounded  with  other  of  his  Xamesakes. 

It  is  much  that  this  Scotus,  though  carrying  in  his  name  a 
comment  on  himself,  that  all  should  not  suffice  so  distinctly  to 
expound  him  to  some  apprehensions,  but  that  still  they  confound 
him  with  others  of  his  name  ;  sometimes  with  Johannes  Scotus 
Mailrossius,§  sometimes  with  John  Duns  Scotus ;  though  indeed 
there  be  difference  enough  of  time,  place,  and  other  distinguishing 
characters  betwixt  them, — our  present  Scotus  being  most  probably 
an  Irisliman,  a  great  linguist  in  the  learned  tongues,  a  vast  traveller 
into  the  Eastern  parts,  a  monk  by  profession,  killed  and  buried  at 
Malmesbury.  The  other  Scotus  born  in  Northumberland,  skilled 
only,  and  that  but  meanly,  in  Latin,  never  travelling  farther  than 
France  and  the  hither  part  of  Germany,  a  Franciscan  by  his  Order, 
dying  of  an  apoplexy,  and  buried  at  Cologne,  of  whom  (God 
willing)  largely  hereafter. 

"  Prudentius  in  his  book  Peri  Strphanon.  t  In  secunda  edit.  Catai.  i>S.  Hib. 

\  JoH.  PARi!?iii.NSi>i  Hist,  in  anno  877.  ^  John  Bale,  ut  prius. 


14  ALFRED.  SOOK  II.   CEKT.  IX.  183 

38.   The  Scholars'  Maintenance  out  of  the  King's  Exchequer. 

To  return  to  king  Alfred  :  As  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
scholars,  it  issued  forth  annually  from  Alfred's  exchequer,  who 
made  a  fourfold  division  of  his  wealth  :* — understand  it  of  the 
surplusage  thereof,  more  than  what  his  court  and  camp  expended  : — 
one  part  to  the  poor,  of  all  kinds,  that  came  and  craved  of  him ;  a 
second  to  the  monasteries  of  his  own  erection  ;  a  third  to  the 
school,  understand  Oxford,  which  he  himself  had  founded  ;  the 
fourth  and  last  to  the  neighbouring  monasteries  round  about. 
However,  we  may  easily  believe,  that,  after  his  death,  the  students 
of  Oxford  were  often  at  a  loss  of  livelihood.  For,  seeing  the 
coffers  of  the  greatest  kings,  especially  in  the  time  of  war,  are 
subject  to  a  drought  of  coin,  there  must  needs  be  a  dearth  in  those 
colleges  which  are  watered  thence  for  their  maintenance.  Scholars 
may  in  time  of  peace,  but  soldiers  must  be  paid  in  time  of  war. 
Wherefore  the  most  certain  subsistence  for  scholars,  (so  far  forth  as 
inconstant  things,  as  all  sublunary,  can  be  made  constant,)  is,  what 
ariseth  from  solid  lands,  wherewith  they  are  endowed.  For,  though 
even  such  revenues  are  subject  to  casualties,  yet  some  water  will 
ever  be  running,  though  the  tide  thereof  may  ebb  or  flow,  accord- 
ing to  the  fall  or  rise  of  commodities. 

39.  Dissension  betwixt  the  Students  at  Ooeford.     A.D.  885. 

But  it  is  hard  so  to  compose  two  swarms  of  bees  in  one  hive,  but 
that  they  will  fall  out  and  fight.  The  college  of  logic,  it  seems, 
from  the  foundation  thereof,  studied  divisions,  as  well  as  distinc- 
tions ;  there  happening  a  dangerous  difference  betwixt  the  abo- 
rigines and  the  advence,  "  the  old  stock  of  students  and  the  new 
store "  brought  in  by  St.  Grimbald  :  the  former,  standing  on  their 
seniority,  expected  more  respect  unto  themselves,  deriving  their 
privileges  from  their  learned  ancestors,  time  out  of  mind,  which  the 
Grimballists  would  not  consent  unto.  Both  sides  appealed  to 
Alfred,  as  their  patron.  He,  coming  to  Oxford,  carried  himself 
with  much  moderation,  as  accounting  that  agreement  most  durable 
into  which  the  parties  were  persuaded,  not  commanded.  Grimbald, 
expecting  king  Alfred's  zealous  engaging  on  his  side,  according  to 
the  conceived  merits  of  his  cause,  was  not  a  little  offended  that  the 
king  did  not  appear  more  resolute  in  his  behalf.  Insomuch  that  he 
forsook  Oxford,  wherein  he  had  formerly  built  the  church  of  St. 
Peter  from  the  very  foundation,  with  stone  most  curiously  wrought 
and  polished,  and  translated  both  himself  and  his  intended  tomb 
thence  to  Winchester. 

*  Asserius  Mencvcmis  in  Alfredo. 


184  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BllITAIN.       A.D.  885—- 89. 

40.   The  Arms  of  Oxford. 

An  antiquary  tells  us,*  that  the  ancient  arms  were  assigned  to 
Oxford  about  this  time  ;  namely,  in  a  Field  Azure,  a  Bible  with 
seven  seals  appendant  thereunto,  opened  (at  the  beginning  of  St. 
John's  Gospel,  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,"  &c.)  betwixt 
three  Crowns  Or :  which  three  crowns,  saith  he,  signify  the  three 
senses  of  the  Scripture  ;  in  the  which,  I  confess,  I  do  not  under- 
stand him.  For  either  we  must  admit  but  one  sense  of  the 
Scripture,  as  principally  intended  therein,  which  is  the  general  opi- 
nion of  the  Protestants  ;  or,  if,  with  the  Papists,  we  will  allow  more 
senses  than  one,  we  must  conclude  four,  namely, -f*  the  literal,  alle- 
gorical, moral,  and  anagogical.  What,  if  the  three  crowns  import 
the  three  professions  which  Alfred  here  founded,  and  all  necessary 
to  the  understanding  of  the  book  betwixt  them  ?  Grammar,  to 
understand  the  letter ;  Philosophy,  the  reason  ;  and  Divinity,  the 
mystery  of  the  Scripture. 

41.  One,  once  a  Swineherd,  made  Bishop  of  Winchester. 
One  of  the  first  scholars  of  note,  whom  I  find  bred  in  Oxford, 
was  one  Dunwolphus,  once  a  swineherd  in  Athelney,  when  Alfred 
lurked  therein,  being  the  king's  host,  who  entertained  him,  or 
rather  his  master  whom  the  king  served.  Alfred,  perceiving  in  him 
pregnancy  of  parts,  (though  stifled  with  the  narrowness  and  crippled 
with  the  lowness  of  his  vocation,)  sent  him  to  Oxford,^  where  he 
became,  after  some  years'  study,  doctor  in  divinity,  and  was  by  the 
king,  in  gratitude,  preferred  to  be  bishop  of  Winchester.§  But 
the  monks  of  Winchester  are  so  proud  and  sullen,  they  disdain  to 
accept  this  man  for  their  bishop,  affirming,  that  their  see  stood  void 
at  this  time; II  more  willing  to  confess  a  vacancy,  than  admit  a 
swineherd  into  their  episcopal  chair.  Whereas,  surely,  Alfred  so 
great  a  scholar  and  good  a  man,  would  not  have  advanced  him,  per 
saltum,  from  a  swineherd  to  a  bishop,  had  he  not  been  qualified  by 
intermediate  degrees  of  education.  For  my  own  part  J  see  no 
reason  why  Wincliester  should  be  ashamed  of  him  ;  and  for  aught 
I  know,  Dunwolph  might  be  as  good  a  bishop  as  Dunstan,  of  whom 
the  monks  of  Winchester  so  boast,  both  without  cause  and  measure. 

42.   The  Preface  to  the  Canons  made  by  King  Alfred.  A.D.  887- 

Councils,   except  councils  of    war,   were  very  rare   in  this  age. 

The  first   I  find  a  solemn   one,  celebrated  by  king  Alfred  ;^  the 

•  Brian  Twine  in  Apolog.  Antiq.  Oxon.  \  A^uinas's  "  Sums,"  quws.  i.  art.  10. 
J  Godwin  in  his  Bishops  of  Winchester,  page  263.  §  Malmesb.  Be  Gest.  Pontiji- 

cum,  lib.  ii.  ||  See  Mr.  Ic.aakson's  "  Chronology"  in  Catal.  of  Bishops.  ^  Sir 

H.  Sfelman's  "  Councils,"  page  354. 


18  ALFRED.  BOOK  II.   CEXT.  IX.  185 

place  not  expressed,  but  the  canons  therein  fairly  transmitted  to 
posterity.  The  preface  of  these  canons  is  very  remarkable,  consist- 
ing of  three  parts  ; — 1.  The  Ten  Commandments  translated  into 
Saxon,  as  being  the  basis  and  foundation  of  all  human  laws. 
2.  Several  pieces  of  chapters  in  Exodus,  being  the  breviate  of  the 
judicial  law  of  the  Jews  ;  which  though  in  the  latitude  thereof  cal- 
culated only  for  the  Jewish  commonwealth,  yet  the  moral  equity 
therein  obligeth  all  Christians.  3.  The  fifteenth  chapter  of  the 
Acts,  containing  the  council  of  Jerusalem,  as  being  a  Divine  pre- 
cedent, or  warrant  for  Christians  to  convene  together,  and  conclude 
orders  for  regulating  men^s  conversations.  It  is  remarkable,  that 
in  the  aforesaid  Ten  Commandments,  as  exemplified  in  this  council 
of  Alfred,  the  second  commandment  is  wholly  expunged  ;  image- 
worship  beginning  then  to  grow  common  in  the  world,  and  the 
clergy,  who  gained  thereby,  (hating  the  second  commandment  on 
the  same  account  as  Ahab  did  Micaiah,  1  Kings  xxii.  8  ; — because  it 
ever  prophesied  evil  unto  them,)  dashed  it  out  of  the  Decalogue. 
The  worst  is,  when  this  was  wanting,  the  Decalogue  was  but  an 
Ennealogue  ;  and,  therefore,  to  preserve  the  number  of  ten,  the 
papists  generally  cleave  the  last  commandment  into  two  ;  but  in 
Alfred"'s  preface,  this  is  made  the  tenth  and  last  commandment, 
"  Thou  shalt  not  worship  gods  of  gold  and  silver."  Which,  as  it 
comes  in  out  of  its  proper  place,  (and  why  should  not  God's  order 
be  observed,  as  well  as  his  number,  in  the  commandments  ?)  so 
is  it  defectively  rendered,  nothing  so  full  against  graven  images 
as  God  propounded  it.  The  canons  made  in  this  council  fall 
under  a  threefold  consideration  :  some  relate  only  to  the  com- 
monwealth, and  by  us  may  properly  be  forborne  ;  others  concern 
only  monks  and  friars, — a  sixth  finger,  and  no  necessary  mem- 
ber of  the  church ;  and,  as  actio  moritur  cum  persona,  so, 
with  the  extirpation  of  those  convents,  those  canons  may  seem  to 
expire. 

43.  A  general  Contribution  to  Rome  arid  Jerusalem. 

A.D.sm. 

Plegmund,  a  hermit  in  the  Isle  of  Chester,  (now  called  Pleg- 
mundsham)  tutor  to  king  Alfred,  was  by  him  preferred  to  be  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  then  a  miserable  place,  as  hardly  recovered 
from  the  late  sacking  of  the  Danes.  By  the  king's  command,  he 
called  the  clergy  of  England  together,  and  made  a  collection  of 
alms,  to  be  sent  to  Rome  and  Jerusalem  ;  and  Athelm,  archbishop 
of  York,  was  employed  in  the  journey,  going  personally  to  the 
aforesaid  places,  to  see  the  contribution  there  faithfully  delivered, 
and  equally  distributed. 


186  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.         A.D.  900 — 4. 

^^.  Death  of  King  Alfred.  A.D.  ^00. 
About  the  end  of  this  century  died  worthy  king  Alfred,  remark- 
able to  posterity  on  many  accounts,  whereof  this  not  the  least, — 
that  he  turned  David's  Psalms  into  English  ;  so  that  a  royal  text 
met  with  a  royal  translator.  He  left  his  crown  to  Edward  his  son 
(commonly  called  "  the  elder")  far  inferior  to  his  father  in  skill  in, 
but  not  so  much  in  his  love  to,  good  literature.  Indeed,  he  had  an 
excellent  tutor,  Asserius  Menevensis,  archbishop  of  St.  David''s, 
(the  faithful  writer  of  his  father's  actions,)  supposed  by  some  bishop 
of  Sherborne  ;  which  is  denied  by  others,*  (though  one  of  the  same 
name  was  some  years  before,)  as  inconsistent  with  chronology. 

45.    Weak  Guardians,  God  zvot. 

As  for  the  principal  clergymen  extant  at  this  time,  we  take  special 
notice  of  two  :  The  one,  Berthulf,  bishop  of  Winchester,  made  one 
of  the  guardians  of  the  realm  against  the  incursion  of  the  Danes  : 
The  other,  Halard,  bishop  of  Dorchester,  advanced  also  into  the 
same  employment.  But,  alas  !  what  weak  guardians  were  these  to 
defend  the  land,  which  could  not  secure  their  own  sees  !  And  in 
what  capacity  (save  in  prayers  and  tears)  were  they  able  to  make 
any  resistance .''  For  now  the  Danes  not  only  assailed  the  skirts 
and  outsides  of  the  land,  but  also  made  inroads  many  miles  into  the 
continent  thereof.  Insomuch  that  Winchester  lay  void  six,  and 
Sherborne  seven,  years ;  such  the  Pagan  fury,  that  none  durst  offer 
to  undertake  those  places  ! 

46.   The  woful  Estate  of  the  English. 

True  it  is,  the  English  oftentimes  in  battle  got  the  advantage  of 
them  ;  when  the  Pagan  Danes,  being  conquered,  had  but  one  way 
to  shift  for  themselves  ;  namely,  to  counterfeit  themselves  Christians, 
and  embrace  baptism  :  but  no  sooner  had  they  got  power  again  into 
their  hands,  but  that  they,  turning  apostates,  were  ten  times  more 
cruel  than  ever  before.  Thus  successively  was  the  land  affected 
with  sickness,  recovery,  and  relapses  ;  the  people's  condition  being 
so  much  the  more  disconsolate,  because,  promising  a  continuance  of 
happiness  to  themselves  upon  their  victories,  they  were  on  their 
overthrows  remanded  to  the  same,  if  not  a  worse,  condition. 

47.   The  commendable  Temper  of  King  Alfred  and  King 

Edward. 

It  is  strange  to  observe  the  alternations  of  success  between  the 
English  and  Danes,  how  exactly  they  took  their  turns  ;  God  using 
them  to  hold  up  one  another,  whilst  he  justly  beat  both.     Meantime, 

•  James  Usher  Dc  Brit.  Eccles.  Primoi-.  in  Indice  Chnmolntj.  page  1177. 


3  EDWARD  THE  ELDER.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    X.  187 

commendable  the   temper  of  late  king  Alfred,   and   present  king 
Edward  ;  it  being  true  of  each  of  them, 

St  viodo  victus  erat,  ad  crasiina  bella  parabat  y 
-Sj  modo  victor  erat,  ad  crastina  bella  timebat. 

"  If  that  it  happed  that  conquered  was  he, 

Next  day  to  fight  he  quickly  did  prepare  ; 
But  if  he  chanced  the  conqueror  to  be, 
Next  day  to  fight  he  wisely  did  beware." 

But  these  things  we  leave  to  the  historians  of  the  state  to  prosecute, 
and  confine  ourselves  only  to  matters  of  ecclesiastical  cognizance. 


SECTION   V. 

THE  TENTH  CENTURY. 

JAOOBO  LANGHAM,  ARMIGERO,  AMPLISSIMI  SENATORIS 
LONDINENSIS  PRIMOGENITO. 

Decimam  hanc  centuriam  tibi  dedicandam  curavi, 
quod  numerus  denarius  semper  aliquid  augustum 
sonet.  Sic  in  Papicolarum  globulis,  quibus  preculas 
suas  numerant,  decimus  (ut  Decurio)  aliis  magnitiidine 
preestat. 

At  dices :  "  Centuria  hsec  inter  ecclesiasticos  audit 
infelix,  ciim  sua  tantum  obscuritate  sit  illustris."  Quid 
tibi  igitur,  felicissimo  viro,  cui  leetum  ingenium,  lauta 
hsereditas,  cum  infelici  seculo? 

Verbo  expediaiji :  Volui  nomen  tuum  historiae  meae 
hie  prsetendi,  ut,  instar  phosphori,  lectores  in  bac 
tenebrosa  setate  oberrantes,  splendoris  sui  radiis  dirigat. 

Percurras,.  quseso,  insequentes  paginas  ;  nihil  scien- 
tiae,  ahquid  voluptatis,  tibi  allaturas.  Quo  cum  nemo 
sit  in  ipsis  elegantiarum  apicibus  Latinior,  probe  scio, 
te  perquam  suaviter  risurum,  cum  diploma  Edvardi- 
num,  nimia  barbaric  scatens,  perlegeris. 

1.  England  interdicted  by  the  Pope  for  want  of  Bishops. 
S  Edward  the  Elder.  J.D.  904. 

At  this  time  there  was  a  great  dearth  of  bishops  in  the  land, 
which  lasted  for  seven  years, — as  long  as  the  famine  in   Egypt ; 


188  CHURCH    HISTOHY    of    BRITAIN.        A.D.  904 6. 

during  which  time,  there  -was  no  bishop  in  all  the  West  parts  of 
England.  Pope  Formosus  was  foully  offended  hereat,  and  there- 
upon, cum  magna  iracundid  et  devotione,*  "  with  much  passion 
and  piety,"  by  his  curse  and  excommunication,  interdicted  king, 
kingdom,  and  all  the  subjects  therein.  We  cannot  but  gaze  at  the 
novelty  of  this  act,  as  we  conceive,  a  leading  case  in  this  kind  ; 
whilst  the  skilful  in  the  canon  law  can  give  an  account  of  the  equity 
of  the  pope''s  proceedings,  why  all  should  suffer  for  some,  the 
guiltless  with  the  guilty,  and  have  the  word  and  sacraments  taken 
from  them,  for  the  want  of  bishops  in  other  places :  otherwise,  the 
punishment  seemeth  unjust  in  the  rigid  justice  thereof,  and,  if  not 
heavier,  larger  than  the  offence,  and  beareth  no  proportion  with 
common  equity.  Christian  charity,  and  God''s  proceedings,  who 
sailh,  "  The  soul  that  sinneth  shall  die."'"' 

2.  The  Character  of  those  Kings  on  whom  the  Pope  most 
improved  himself. 
Notwithstanding,  this  excommunicating  of  king  Edward  by  the 
pope  is  highly  urged  by  Parsons,-f*  to  prove  the  pope''s  power  in 
England  over  princes,  according  to  his  constant  solecism  clean 
through  the  tenure  of  his  book,  to  reason  a  facto  ad  jus ;  arguing, 
from  the  pope's  barely  doing  it,  that  he  may  justly  do  it.  We 
deny  not  but  that,  in  this  age,  active  and  ambitious  popes  mightily 
improved  their  power  upon  five  sorts  of  princes.  First.  On  such  as 
were  lazy  and  voluptuous  ;  who,  on  condition  they  might  enjoy 
their  sports  and  delights  for  the  present,  cared  not  for  their 
posterity.  Secondly.  On  such  as  were  openly  vicious,  and  so 
obnoxious  to  censure  ;  who  would  part  with  any  thing,  out  of  the 
apprehension  of  their  guiltiness.  Thirdly.  On  such  as  were  tender 
and  easy-natured  ;  who  gave,  not  so  much  out  of  bounty  to  give,  as 
out  of  bashfulness  to  deny  the  pope's  importunity.  Fourthly.  On 
those  of  a  timorous  spirit ;  who  were  affrighted  with  their  own 
fancies  of  the  pope's  terriblencss,  and,  being  captivated  unto  him  by 
their  own  fear,  they  ransomed  themselves  at  what  price  he  pleased. 
Lastly.  On  pious  princes  ;  whose  blind  zeal,  and  misled  devotion, 
thought  nothing  too  precious  for  him  :  in  which  form  we  rank  this 
Edward  the  Elder,  then  king  of  England.  And  it  is  worth  our 
observing,  that,  in  point  of  power  and  profit,  what  the  popes  once 
get,  they  ever  hold,  being  as  good  at  keeping  as  catching  ;  so  that 
what  one  got  by  encroaching,  his  successor  prescribed  that 
encroachment  for  a  title,  which  whether  it  will  hold  good  in  matter 
of  right,  it  is  not  for  a  historian  to  dispute. 

•  ^rchiv.  Cant,  in  Regist.  Priorat.  Eccles.  Cant.  fol.  3,  b.  f  In  his  Answer  to 

the  Lord  Coke's  Report,  cap.  6,  page  136. 


5  EDWARD  THE  ELDER.       ROOK    II.       CENT.    X.  189 

3.  The  Pope  pleased,  and  England  absolved  again. 
But,  to  return  to  our  story  :  We  are  glad  to  see  Malmesbury  so 
merry,  who  calleth  this  passage  of  the  pope's  interdicting  England, 
jocundum  memoratu^  "  pleasant  to  be  reported,"  because  it  ended 
so  well.  For  Plegmund,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  posted  to 
Rome,  bringing  with  him  honorifica  munera,  (such  ushers  will 
make  one  way  through  the  thickest  crowd  to  the  pope's  presence,) 
informing  his  Holiness  that  Edward,  king  of  England,  in  a  late- 
summoned  synod,  had  founded  some  new,  and  supplied  all  old, 
vacant  bishoprics.  Pacified  herewith,  the  pope  turned  his  curse 
into  a  blessing,  and  ratified  their  elections.  The  Avorst  is,  a 
learned  pen  tells  me,*  that  in  this  story  there  is  an  inextricable 
error  in  point  of  chronology,  which  will  not  suffer  pope  Formosus 
and  this  king  Edward  the  Elder  to  meet  together.  And  Baronius 
makes  the  mistake  worse,  by  endeavouring  to  mend  it.  I  have  so 
much  wariness,  as  not  to  enter  into  that  labyrinth  out  of  which  I 
cannot  return  ;  but  leave  the  doubt  to  the  pope's  Datary  to  clear, 
proper  to  him,  as  versed  in  such  matters.  The  same  pen  informs 
me,-f-  that  the  sole  way  to  reconcile  the  difference  is,  to  read  "  pope 
Leo  V."  instead  of  pope  Formosus  :  which,  for  quietness,  I  am  con- 
tent to  do  ;  the  rather,  because  such  a  roaring  curse  best  beseems 
the  mouth  of  a  lion. 

4.  Vacant  Bishoprics  supplied.,  and  new  erected. 
Hear  now  the  names  of  the  seven  bishops  which  Plegmund 
consecrated  in  one  day :  a  great  day's  work, — and  a  good  one,  if 
all  were  fit  for  the  function.  Fridstan,  bishop  of  Winchester,  a 
learned  and  holy  man ;  Werstan,  of  Sherborne ;  Kenulfe,  of 
Dorchester  ;  Beornege,  [Beornock,]  of  Selsey  ;  Athelme,  of 
Wells  ;  Eadulfe,  of  Crediton  in  Devon  ;  and  Athelstan,  in  Corn- 
wall, of  St.  Petrock's  [or  Padstow].  These  three  last  Western 
bishoprics  were  in  this  council  newly  erected.  But  St.  Petrock's 
had  never  long  any  settled  seat,  being  much  in  motion,  translated 
from  Bodmin  in  Cornwall,  (upon  the  wasting  of  it  by  the  Danes,) 
to  St.  Germain's  in  the  same  county,  and  afterward  united  to 
Crediton  in  Devonshire.  This  bishopric  was  founded  principally 
for  the  reduction  of  the  rebellious  Cornish  to  the  Romish  rites ; 
who  as  they  used  the  language,  so  they  imitated  the  lives  and 
doctrine,  of  the  ancient  Britons,  neither  hitherto  nor  long  after 
submitting  themselves  to  the  see  apostolic. 

5.  King  Edward  i7i  a  new  Synod  confirms  his  Father''s 
Constitutions.    A.D.  906. 
A  synod  was  called  at  Intingford  ;  where  Edward  the  Elder,  and 
Guthurm  king  of  the  Danes,  in  that  part  of  England  which  formerly 

•  Sir  H.  Spelman  t«  Conciliis,  page  389.  f  Idem,  ibidem. 


190  CHURCH    HISTOllY    OF    BRITAIN.        A.D.  906 15. 

belonged  to  the  East  Angles,  only  confirmed  the  same  ecclesiastical 
constitutions*  which  Alfred,  Edward's  father,  Avith  the  said 
Guthivrm,  had  made  before.  Here  the  curious  palates  of  our  age 
will  complain  of  crambe, — that,  two  kings,  with  their  clergy, 
should  meet  together  only  actum  agere,  "  to  do  what  was  done  to 
their  hands."  But  whilst  some  count  all  councils  idle,  which  do  not 
add  or  alter  ;  others  will  commend  their  discretion,  Avho  can  discern 
what  is  well  ordered  already,  approve  their  policy  in  enjoining  such 
things  unto  others,  and  principally  praise  their  piety  for  practising 
them  in  themselves.  And  whosoever  loohs  abroad  into  the  world, 
with  a  judicious  eye,  will  soon  see,  that  there  is  not  so  much  need 
of  new  laws,  (the  multitude  whereof  rather  cumbers  men's  memories, 
than  quickens  their  practice,)  as  an  absolute  necessity  to  enforce  old 
laws,  with  a  new  and  vigorous  execution  of  them. 

G.  Cambridge  University  repaired  by  King  Edward.      A.D.9\5. 

And  now  king  Edward,  remembering  the  pious  example  of  his 
father  Alfred  in  founding  of  Oxford,  began  to  repair  and  restore  the 
university  of  Cambridge.  For  the  Danes,  who  made  all  the  sea- 
coasts  of  England  their  haunt,  and  kept  the  kingdom  of  the  East 
Angles  for  their  home,  had  banished  all  learning  from  that  place  ; 
Apollo's  harp  being  silenced  by  the  drum  of  Mars,  till  this  king's 
bounty  brought  learning  back  again  thither,  as  by  his  following 
charter  may  appear  : — 

l7i  nomiyie-f  D.  Jesu  Christi :  Ego  Edxvardus,  Dei  gratia,  rex 
Anglorum,  divino  compulsus  amore,  prctce-pto  Joannis,  apostoUcfe 
sedis  episcnpi,  ac  Pleigmundi  Cantuar.  archiepisc.  consilio  omni- 
um sacerdotum  et  principum  mea  dominationis,  universa  et  sin- 
gida  privilegia,  docto?-ibus  et  scholartbus  Cantabrigia,  necnon 
scrv'ientibus  eoruJidem,  (uti  ab  oVini  viguit  indesinenter  mater 
philosophic,  et  reperitur  in  prcesenti  fons  clerimoniix,)  a  me  data, 
sen  ab  antecessoribns  meis  quoviodoUbet  concessa,  stabilijure  grata 
et  rata  decerno  durare,  quamdiu  vertigo  poli  circa  terras  atque 
aqiwra  athera  syderiim  justo  moderamine  volvet.  Datum  in 
Grantece stria,  anno  ab  Incarnatione  D.  915.  venerabili  fratri 
Frithstano,  civitntis  scfiolarium  Cantabrig.  cancellario,  et  doctori 
per  suum,  (§-c. 

The  credit  of  this  charter  is  questioned  by  some,  because  of  the 
barbarous  style  thereof;  as  if  an  university  were  disgraced  with 
honourable  privileges  granted  unto  it  in  base  Latin.  But  know, 
that  age  was  so  poor  in  learning,  it  could  not  go  to  the  cost  of  good 

•  Lambert  in  bid  "Saxon  Laws,"  and  Sir  H.  Spelman  in  his  "  Councils,"  p.  390. 
t  Cliarta  exlat  in  MS.  codice  qui  Cantabrigiai  est  in  ytnld  Clarensi.  cjnsdem  mewinit 
Tho.  RrPBiiRN,  necnon  Jon.  Rossrs. 


14  EDWARD  THE  EI,DER.       BOOK    II.       CENT.    X.  191 

language.  Who  can  look  to  find  a  fair  flice  in  the  hottest  parts  of 
Ethiopia  ?  Those  times  were  ignorant :  and  as  it  is  observed  of 
the  country-people  born  at  the  village  of  Carlton*  in  Leicestershire, 
that  they  have  all  (proceeding  from  some  secret  cause  in  their  soil  or 
water)  a  strange  uncouth  wharling"f*  in  their  speech  ;  so  it  was  pro- 
per to  the  persons  writing  in  this  age  to  have  a  harsh,  unpleasant, 
grating  style,  (and  so  much  the  sourer  to  critical  ears,  the  more  it  is 
sweetened  with  an  affected  rhythm,)  though  a  blemish,  yet  a  badge 
of  their  genuine  Deeds  which  were  passed  in  those  times. 

7-   The  Testimony  of  John  Rouse  concerning  King  Edward's 
repairing  of  Cambridge. 

Hear  also  what  John  Rouse,  an  excellent  antiquary,  furnished  by 
king  Edward  IV.  with  privacy  and  pension,  to  collect  the  monu- 
ments of  this  land,  allegeth  to  this  ^^urpose  :  who,  being  bred  in 
Oxford,  and  having  Anitten  a  book  in  confutation  of  those  which 
deduce  the  foundation  of  this  university  from  Cantaber,  may  be  pre- 
sumed will  allow  Cambridge  no  more  than  what  in  right  is  due  unto 
her.  He,  speaking  of  king  Edward ;}:  the  Elder,  out  of  an  ancient 
table  and  chronicle  of  Hyde  abbey  by  Winchester,  Avhich  himself, 
by  the  favour  of  the  abbot,  perused,  reporteth  of  the  restoration  of 
decayed  Cambridge  at  this  time,  in  manner  as  followeth : — 

Propterea  ad  clerimuniam  aug-mentandam,  sicut  pater  suns 
O.voniam,  sic  ipse  ah  antiquo  cum  ceteris  studiis  geiieralibus  sus- 
pensam,  desolatam,  et  deslructam  Cantabrig-iam,  iterum  ad  pri~ 
mam  plo7'iam  erexit :  neciion  ibi  aulas  studie7itium,  et  doctorum 
magistrorumque  cathedras  et  scdilia,  ut  dilectissimus  cleri  nutritor, 
ainator,  et  defensor^  suis  sumtibus  erigi  et  fabricari  pracepif. 
Ab  Oxonid  namque  universitate^  quam  pater  smis  iwbilis  irx 
erexerat,  mag'islros  artium  quas  liberales  vocamus,  pariter  in 
sacra  theologia  doctores,  advocavit,  ibique  ad  legendtim  forma- 
liter,  et  docendum  invilavit. — Joh.  Rossus  in  lib.  de  Regibits. 

"  Therefore,  for  the  augmentation  of  clerk-like  learning,  as  his 
father  had  done  to  Oxford,  so  he  again  raised  up  Cambridge  to  her 
first  glory,  which,  for  a  long  time,  with  other  general  schools,  had 
been  suspended,  desolate,  and  destroyed  :  as  also,  like  a  most  loving 
nourisher  of  the  clergy,  he  commanded  that  halls  for  students,  chairs 
and  seats  of  doctors  and  masters,  should  there  be  erected,  and  built 
on  his  own  proper  charges  :  for  he  called  from  Oxford  university, 
which  his  noble  father  the  king  had  erected,  masters  of  those  arts 
which  we  call  liberal.,  together  with  doctors  in  holy  divinity,  and 
invited  them  there  formally  to  read  and  teach." 

•  Camden's  Brit,  in  Leicestershire,  page  517-  t  Ash  describes  this  as  a  provincial 
word,  which  signifies  "  fluttering."— Edit.         X  Baleus,  cent.  viii.  num.  53. 


192  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  915 28. 

8.   Cambridge  represented  in  a  three-fold  Estate. 

Have  we  here  Cambridge  presented  in  a  three-fold  condition. 
First.  What  she  had  been  long  before  king  Edward's  time  ;  fairly 
flourishing  with  learning.  Secondly.  In  what  case  he  found  her ; 
desolate  and  decayed.  Then  the  cup  of  Cambridge  was  at  the 
bottom,  her  breasts  dry,  and  her  sun  in  an  eclipse.  She  was,  saith 
Rouse,  "  suspended,"  not  by  the  power  of  any  pope''s  keys,  (as  the 
word  may  import,)  but  by  the  force  of  Pagan  swords,  who  here 
interrupted  the  exercise  of  Acts  and  public  lectures  ;  as  in  Spain, 
Germany,  and  other  foreign  parts,  places  appointed  for  learning  had 
shared  in  the  like  calamity.  Thirdly.  In  Avhat  condition  Edward 
left  her  ;  under  whom,  as  under  "  the  father  of  the  Act,"  Cambridge 
itself  did  then  commence  and  take  a  new  "  degree."  Happy  this 
Edward,  who  like  a  wealthy  landlord  had  two  nurseries  of  choice 
fruit ;  so  that  if  the  one,  by  any  sad  accident,  chanced  to  fail,  he 
could  supply  it  from  the  other,  without  being  beholding  to  his 
neighbours.  This  was  the  love  betwixt  the  two  sisters  ; — what 
either  had,  neither  could  want ;  and  Oxford,  which  lent  now,  bor- 
rowed another  time,  as  in  due  place  shall  appear.  If  the  same 
author*  elsewhere  calleth  this  king  Edward  "founder  of  Cam- 
bridge," it  is  by  an  easy  and  obvious  error,  because  a  total  repairer 
doth  amount  to  a  partial  founder.  Nor  doth  Cambridge  regret 
thereat ;  seeing  grateful  expressions,  which  had  rather  transgress  in 
the  excess,  than  the  defect,  may  in  courtesy  call  their  mender  their 
"  maker." 

9.   The  principal  Laws  enacted  iti  the  Council  at  Greatlea. 
1  Athelstan.  ^.Z).  924. 

Athelstan,  his  son,  succeeded  king  Edward,  being  much  devoted 
to  St.  John  of  Beverley  ;  on  whose  church  he  bestowed  a  freed- 
stool,  with  large  privileges  belonging  thereunto.  Many  councils 
were  kept  in  this  king's  reign,  at  Exeter,  Feversham,  Thunderfield, 
and  London,  all  of  them  of  uncertain  date.  But  one  held  at 
Grately  is  of  greatest  account  for  the  laws  therein  enacted  ;  the 
principal  here  ensuing  : — 

1.  "  That  the  king's  officers  should  truly  pay  tithes,  out  of  his 
demesnes,  as  well  as  of  his  quick  cattle,  as  dead  commodities. 

2.  "  That  cyricsceat  (that  is,  first-fruits  of  seeds)  be  duly  paid  to 
God  in  his  church. 

3.  "  That  the  king's  officers  maintain  one  poor-body  in  the 
king's  villages  ;  and  in  case  none  be  found  therein,  fetch  him  from 
other  places." — Christ  saith,  "  The  poor  you  have  always  with  you." 
The  church  in  general  is  well  stocked  with  them,  though  some  par- 

•  la  his  Catalogue  of  the  Earls  of  Warwick. 


5    ATHELSTAN.  BOOK     II.      CKNT.    X.  10.'} 

ticular  parish  may  want  such  as  are  in  want.  If  any  would  know  the 
bill  of  fare  allowed  these  poor  people,  it  was  monthly  a  measure  of 
meal,  una  pertia,  a  gammon  of  bacon,  a  ram  worth  a  groat,  four 
cheeses,  and  thirty  pence  on  Easter- Wednesday  to  buy  them 
clothes. 

4.  "  That  moneyers,  wilfully  corrupting  the  coin,  and  found 
guilty,  have  their  hands  cut  off,  and  nailed  to  the  mint-house." — 
Every  borough  was  allowed  one  mint  therein  ;  but,  besides  these, 
Hastings  had  one  ;  Cirencester,  one  ;  Shaftesbury,  two  ;  Wareham, 
two ;  Exeter,*  two ;  Hampton,  two ;  Lewes,  two ;  Rochester, 
three  ;  Winchester,  six  ;  Canterbury,  seven  ;  (namely,  for  the  king, 
four  ;  for  the  archbishop,  two  ;  for  the  abbot,  one ;)  London,  eight. 
Most  of  these  places  were  anciently  in  the  West  Saxon  kingdom  ;  to 
whom  the  English  monarchs  Avere  most  favourable,  in  doubling  their 
privilege  of  coinage,  but  single  in  other  places  of  greater  capacity. 

5.  "  That  such  who  were  tried  by  ordeal,  should  ceremoniously  be 
prepared  thereunto  with  the  solemn  manner  of  managing  that  trial. 

6.  "  That  no  buying  or  selling  be  on  the  Lord's  day." — This 
took  not  full  effect  for  many  years  after  ;  for  Henry  L-|*  granted  to 
Battle  Abbey  a  market  to  be  kept  on  that  day,  lately  (at  the 
motion  of  Anthony  Marquis  Montacute)  by  Act  of  parliament 
removed  to  another  day. 

7.  "  That  one  convicted  of  perjury  shall  be  trusted  no  more  on 
his  oath,  nor  be  buried  in  holy  earth,  except  restored  by  the  bishop 
on  his  penance. 

8.  "  That  witches,  confessing  themselves  to  have  killed  any,  be 
put  to  death." — Such  as  Avere  suspected,  and  denied  the  fact,  might 
be  tried  by  ordeal  ;  which  was  done  either  by  fire,  whereof  here- 
after, or  by  water.  Of  the  latter,  mergatur  una  ulna  et  dimidia 
infune;  which  I  thus  understand  :  "Let  the  party  be  tied  to  a 
rope,  and  drenched  an  ell-and-half  above  his  own  height."  And 
this  is  the  first  footstep  we  find  of  swimming  of  witches  ;  for  which 
no  law,  save  custom,  at  this  day ;  and  that  Avhether  just  in  itself, 
and  satisfactory,  as  a  means  proportionable  for  the  discovery  of  the 
truth,  is  not  my  work  to  determine. 

Whosoever  desires  to  have  more  exact  information  of  this  council 
may  repair  to  Sir  Henry  Spelman,|  where  he  may  receive  plentiful 
satisfaction. 

10.  Dignities  and  Degrees  amongst  the  Saxons. 

Only  I  must  not  omit  one  passage  in  this  council,  acquainting  us 
with  the  heraldry  of  that  age,   and  the  distances  and  degrees  of 

•  So  in  the  Saxon  Manuscript,  though  m  libro  Jornalensi  by  mistake  Oxonia  is  put  for 
Exonia.     t  Camden's  Brit,  in  Sussex.      X   In  his  "  Councils,"  page  396,  et  sequentihus. 

Vol.  I.  o 


194  CHUKCII    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.928 35. 

persons,  collected  from  their  weers  or  tveer-gilds,  that  is,  "  taxes 
and  valuations  ;"  it  being  truly  to  be  said  in  that  age, — 

Quantum  qtiisque  sud  minimorum  servat  in  arcd, 
Tantmn  habet  et  fidei  —^—^^—. 

"  Every  one's  testimony  in  law-cases  in  courts  was  credited  accord- 
ing to  his  Avealth." 

1.  Ceorles  (whence  our  northern  word  "  carles,"  and  common 
word  "churls'")  being  country-clowns,  whose  weer-gild  was  two 
hundred  shillings,  or  ten  pounds  ;  the  same  with  "  villains,"  who 
held  land  in  villanage  of  others.  These,  if  by  blessing  on  their 
industry  they  rose  so  high  as  to  have  five  hides  of  land  of 
their  own,  with  a  place  in  the  king''s  court,  and  some  other 
privileges  now  hardly  to  be  understood,  were  advanced  to  be 
thanes.* 

2.  The  weer-gild  or  value  of  a  thane  was  six  times  as  much  as 
a  churl  or  a  villain,  namely,  twelve  times  a  hundred  shillings, 
therefore  termed  "  a  twelve-hind-man  ;"  whose  oath  in  law  was 
equivalent  to  six  oaths  of  churls  or  villains  ;  as  a  shilling  pass- 
ing in  payment  countervaileth  six  two-pences.  Note,  that  if  a 
masseer,  or  "merchant,"  pass  the  Great  Sea  thrice,  (understand 
the  Mediterranean,  not  the  Narrow  Seas  betwixt  us  and  France,) 
and  not  in  the  notion  of  a  servant,  but  on  his  own  account,  he  then 
was  dignified  with  the  reputation  of  a  thane.  These  thanes  were  of 
two  sorts  :  "  Meset  thanes,"  priests  qualified  to  say  mass ;  and 
"  Worrould  thanes,"  that  is,  secular  or  temporal  thanes. 

3.  Of  the  first,  if  a  scholar  made  such  proficiency  in  his  studies 
that  he  took  Holy  Orders,  he  was  reverently  respected,  and  (though 
not  valued  as  a  worrould  thane  in  rates  and  taxes)  amends  were 
to  be  made  for  any  wrongs  done  unto  him,  equal  to  a  thane  ;  and  in 
case  he  should  be  killed,  the  penalty  thereof  was  the  higher,  the 
more  Orders  the  person  had  taken.  Observe  by  the  way,  (so  far  as 
we  can  understand  the  Saxon  laws,)  that  manslaughter  was  not  then 
punished  with  death,  but  might  be  redeemed  by  the  proportionable 
payment  of  a  sum  of  money,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  person 

*  Dr.  William  Howel  says,  "  The  mulcts  or  fines  of  om-  Saxon  ancestors  were  either 
greater  or  lesser.  The  greater  took  away  all  or  much  of  their  substance,  being  the  same 
with  that  which  we  call  'the  valuation  of  the  head,'  by  them  called  were;  which  word 
oricriually  signifieth  '  a  man,'  and  this  '  valuation  or  payment'  secondarily,  or  by  way  of 
translation.  The  lesser  sort  of  mulcts  they  call  u-ite  ;  which  differed  from  were,  both  in 
this,  that  it  was  less,  as  also  in  that  it  was  uncertain  ;  whereas  the  otlier  was  settled  and 
constant.  The  first  [u'pre]  answers  to  the  word  redemption,  or,  as  it  is  now  iised  in 
English,  ransom ;  and  the  last  [wite]  to  Jitie  and  amercement  properly.  Thus  '  the 
valuation  of  heads'  they  called  were,  the  payment  whereof  they  termed  were-gild."  See 
the  sense  in  which  witereden  is  used  in  the  Latin  charter  of  Ethelwulf,  quoted  in  a  pre- 
ceding page,  168. — Edit. 


12    ATHELSTAN.  HOOK     If.       CEXT.    X.  195 

slain  ;  part  thereof  payable  to  tlie  king,  part  to  his  kindred,  part  to 
the  country  thereabouts. 

But  the  further  prosecution  hereof  (where  the  footsteps  are 
almost  outworn  with  time)  we  leave  to  more  expert  antiquaries  ; 
who  will  tell  you,  that  alderman  in  that  age  was  equal  to  our 
modern  "  earl,"  who  with  bishops  were  of  the  same  valuation  ;  also 
that  comes  in  that  age  sounded  as  much  as  "  duke "  in  ours, 
archbishops  going  along  with  them  in  all  considerable  equipage. 

11.  DunstarCsJirst  Coming  into  Favour  at  the  Court. 
A.D.  933. 

Now  began  St.  Dunstan  to  appear  in  court,  born  at  Glastonbury, 
of  noble  parentage, — as  almost  what  saint  in  this  age  was  not 
honourably  extracted  ? — nephew  both  to  Elphegus  bishop  of 
Winchester  and  Athelm  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  yea,  kinsman 
remote  to  king  Athelstan  himself;  and  being  thus  highly  related,  he 
could  not  miss  of  preferment.  His  eminencies  were  painting  and 
gi-aving,  (two  qualities  disposing  him  to  be  very  useful  for  saint- 
worshipping,  either  for  pictures  or  images,)  an  excellent  musician, 
(preaching  in  those  days  could  not  be  heard  for  singing  in 
churches,)  and  an  admirable  worker  in  brass  and  iron.  These 
accomplishments  commended  him  at  court  to  be  acceptable  to 
company ;  and  for  some  time  he  continued  with  the  king  in  great 
reputation. 

12.  Banished  thence  on  Suspicion  of  Magic.  A.D.  935. 
But  it  is  given  to  that  bowl  which  lies  next  to  the  mark,  to  have 
most  take  aim  to  remove  it.  Eminency  occasions  envy,  which 
made  Dunstan's  enemies  endeavour  to  depress  him.  He  is  accused 
to  the  king  for  a  magician,  and  upon  that  account  banished  the 
court.  It  was  brought  as  evidence  against  him,  that  he  made  his 
harp  not  only  to  have  motion,  but  make  music  of  itself;  which  no 
white  art  could  peiform. 

"  St.  Dunstan's  liai-p  fast  by  the  wall 
Upon  a  pin  did  hang-a  : 
The  harp  itself,  with  ly  and  aU, 
Untoxicht  by  hand  did  twang-a." 

For  our  part  let  Dunstan"'s  harp  hang  there  still  on  a  double  suspi- 
cion twisted  together  :  First.  Whether  this  story  thereof  were  true 
or  false  :  Secondly.  If  true,  whether  done  by  magic  or  miracle.  Sure 
I  am,  as  good  a  harper  and  a  better  saint  than  Dunstan  was,  hath 
no  such  miracle  reported  of  him,  even  David  himself;  who  with  his 
harp  praised  God,  pleased  men,  frighted  devils,  1  Sam.  xvi.  2'S  ; 
yet  took  pains  with  his  own  right  hand  to  play,  Psalm  cxxxvii.  5, 

o  2 


190  CIU'RCH     HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN,        A.D.   937 40. 

not    lazily    commanding   music    by    miracle    to    be    made    on   his 
instrument. 

13.  He  retires  unto  his  Cell-prison  at  Glastonbury.  A.D.  937- 
Banished  from  court,  Dunstan  returns  to  Glastonbury,  and  there 
falls  a-puffing  and  blowing  in  his  forge.  Here  he  made  himself  a 
cell,  or  rather  a  little-ease,  being  but  four  foot  long,  two  and  a  half 
broad,  (enough  to  cripple  his  joints  Avith  the  cramp,  -who  could  not 
lie  along  therein,)  whilst  the  height  thereof  was  according  to  the 
stature  of  a  man.  Wisely  and  virtuously  he  would  not  confine 
himself  upwards,  that  the  scantness  of  the  earthly  dimensions  in  his 
cell  (breadth  and  length)  might  be  enlarged  in  the  height  thereof, 
and  liberty  left  for  the  ascending  of  his  meditations.  But  it 
matters  not  how  little  the  prison  be,  if  a  man,  with  Dunstan,  be  his 
own  gaoler,  to  go  in  and  out  at  pleasure.  Leave  we  him  at  the 
furnace  in  smithery-work,  (excelling  "Alexander  the  coppersmith" 
therein,)  whilst  we  find  such  monks  as  wrote  his  Life  at  another 
forge,  whence  they  coined  many  impudent  miracles,  pretended  done 
by  Dunstan,  and  this  among  the  rest : — 

\^.   Takes  a  Devil  by  the  Nose.     J.Z>.  938. 

Dunstan  was  in  his  vocation  making  some  iron  trinkets,  when  a 
Proteus-devil  appeared  unto  him,  changing  into  shapes,  but  fixing 
himself  at  last  into  the  form  of  a  fair  woman.  Strange,  that  satan 
(so  subtile  in  making  his  temptations  most  taking)  should  prefer 
this  form  ;  belike,  shrewdly  guessing  at  Dunstan's  temper,  that  a 
fair  woman  might  work  upon  him,  and  Vulcan  might  love  a  Venus. 
Dunstan,  perceiving  it,  plucked  his  tongs  glowing  hot  out  of  the 
fire,  and  with  them  kept  him  (or  her  shall  I  say .?)  there  a  long  time 
by  the  nose  roaring  and  bellowing  ;  till  at  last  he  brake  loose,  by 
what  accident  it  is  not  told  unto  us, 

15.   This  false  Miracle  canvassed. 

I  have  better  employment  than  to  spend  precious  time  in 
confuting  such  follies  ;  but  give  me  leave  to  admire  at  these  new 
arms  against  satan.  "  Take  the  shield  of  faith,""  saith  the  apostle, 
"  wherewith  ye  may  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked,'" 
Ephes,  vi,  16.  Dunstan  found  a  new  way  by  himself,  with  fiery 
tongs  to  do  the  deed.  But  let  us  a  little  examine  this  miracle.  The 
devil  himself,  we  know,  is  a  spirit,  and  so  impassible  of  material 
fire.  Now,  if  it  were  a  real  body  he  assumed,  the  snake  could  slip 
off  his  skin  at  pleasure,  and  not  be  tied  to  it,  much  less  tormented 
with  it.  Besides,  did  Dunstan  willingly  or  unwillingly  let  the 
devil  go  ?     If  willingly,  mercy  to  so  malicious  an  enemy,  incapable 


1    EDMUXD.  HOOK    II.       CENT.    X.  -  107 

of  being  anieiuled,  was  cruelty  to  liimself;  if  unwillingly,  was  it 
Dunstan's  fire  or  his  faith  that  failed  him,  that  he  could  hold  out 
against  him  no  longer  ?  But  away  with  all  suspicions  and  queries  ! 
None  need  to  doubt  of  the  truth  thereof,  finding  it  in  a  sign  painted 
in  Fleet-street  near  Temple-bar. 

16.  Aelfgine,  Dunstari's  hountiful  Friend. 

During  Dunstan"'s  abode  in  his  cell,  he  had,  to  his  great  comfort 
and  contentment,  the  company  of  a  good  lady,  Aelfgine  by  name, 
living  fast  by.  No  preacher  but  Dunstan  would  please  her,  being 
so  ravished  with  his  society  that  she  would  needs  build  a  little  cell 
for  herself  hard  by  him.  In  process  of  time  this  lady  died,  and  by 
her  last  will  left  Christ  to  be  the  heir,  and  Dunstan  the  executor,  of 
her  estate.  Enabled  with  the  accession  thereof,  joined  to  his  pater- 
nal possessions,  which  were  very  great,  and  now  fallen  into  his 
hands,  Dunstan  erected  the  abbey  of  Glastonbury,  and  became  him- 
self first  abbot  thereof.*  He  built  also  and  endowed  many  other 
monasteries,  filling  them  with  Benedictine  monks,  who  began  now 
to  swarm  in  England,  more  than  maggots  in  a  hot  May,  so  incredi^ 
ble  was  their  increase. 

1 7-  Re-called  to  Courts  and  re-banished  thence.  1  Edmund. 
A.D.  939,  940. 
After  the  death  of  king  Athelstan,  Dunstan  was  re-called  to  court 
in  the  reign  of  king  Edmund,  Athelstan's  brother*  and  flourished 
for  a  time  in  great  favour.  But  who  would  build  on  the  brittle 
bottom  of  princes'  love  ?  Soon  after  he  falls  into  the  king's  dis- 
fiivour ;  the  old  crime,  of  being  a  magician,  (and  a  wanton  with 
women,  to  boot,)  being  laid  to  his  charge.  Surely,  Dunstan,  by 
looking  on  his  own  furnace,  might  learn  thence,  there  was  no  smoke 
but  some  fire  :  either  he  was  dishonest  or  undiscreet,  which  gave 
the  ground-work  to  their  general  suspicion.  Hereupon  he  is  re- 
banished the  court,  and  returned  to  his  desired  cell  at  Glastonbury ; 
but  within  three  days  was  solemnly  brought  back  again  to  court,  if 
the  ensuing  story  may  be  believed. 

18.  King  Edmund'' s  miraculous  Deliverance, 

King  Edmund  was  in  an  eager  pursuit  of  a  buck,  on  the  top  of 
a  steep  rock,  whence  no  descent  but  destruction.  Down  falls  the 
deer,  and  dogs  after  him,  and  are  dashed  to  pieces.  The  king  fol- 
lows in  full  speed  on  an  unruly  horse,  whom  he  could  not  rein,  and 

•  The  following  clause  was  added  in  the  text — "  a  title  till  his  time  unknown  in 
England."  But  in  the  Appeal  of  injured  Innocence,  Fuller  sa3-.s,  "  I  request  such  as 
have  my  Church- History  to  delete  these  words  ;  for  I  profess  I  know  not  by  what  (.•asu^lty 
these  words  crept  into  my  book,  contrary  to  my  intent." — Edit. 


198  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.  D.  940 58. 

is  on  the  brink  of  tlie  brink  of  the  precipice.  Yet  his  prayers  prove 
swifter  than  his  horse  ;  he  but  raw,  whilst  they  did  Jly  to  heaven. 
He  is  sensible  of  his  sin  in  banishing  Dunstan,  confessetli  it  with, 
sorrow,  vows  amendment,  promiseth  to  restore  and  prefer  him. 
Instantly  the  liorse  stops  in  his  full  career,  and  his  rider  is  wonder- 
fully preserved. 

19.  Fie,  for  shame,  lying  Monk  I 
Thus  far  a  strong  faith  may  believe  of  the  story  ;  but  it  must  be 
a  wild  one  which  gives  credit  to  the  remainder.  Cervus  et  canes 
reviviscunt,*  saith  the  impudent  monk,  "  The  deer  and  dogs  revive 
again."  I  remember  not  in  Scripture  that  God  ever  revived  a  brute 
beast ;  partly,  because  such  mean  subjects  are  beneath  the  majesty 
of  a  miracle  ;  and  partly,  because,  as  the  apostle  saith,  brute  beasts 
are  "  made  to  be  taken  and  destroyed,"  2  Peter  ii.  12,  Well  then 
might  the  monk  have  knocked  off,  Avhen  he  had  done  well  in  saving 
the  man  and  horse  ;  and  might  have  left  the  dogs  and  deer  to  have 
remained  dead  on  the  place  ;  the  deer  especially,  were  it  but  to 
make  venison-pasties,  to  feast  the  courtiers  at  the  solemnizing  of 
their  lord  and  master''s  so  miraculous  deliverance. 

20.  King  Edred  a  high  Patron  of  Dunstan.     1  Edred. 
A.D.  946. 

Dunstan,  returning  to  court,  was  in  higher  favour  than  ever 
before.  Nor  was  his  interest  any  whit  abated  by  the  untimely 
death  of  king  Edmund,  (slain  by  one  LeofF,  a  thief,)  seeing  his 
brother  Edred,  succeeding  to  the  crown,  continued  and  increased 
his  kindness  to  him.  Under  him  Dunstan  was  "  the  do-all"  at 
court,  being  the  king"'s  treasurer,  chancellor,  counsellor,  confessor, — 
all  things.  Bishoprics  were  bountifully  proffered  him,  pick  and 
choose  where  he  please ;  but  none  were  honoured  with  his  accept- 
ance :  whether  because  he  accounted  himself  too  high  for  the  place, 
and  would  not  stoop  to  the  employment ;  or  because  he  esteemed 
the  place  too  high  for  him,  unable  conscientiously  to  discharge  it  in 
the  midst  of  so  many  avocations.  Mean  time  monasteries  were 
every  where  erected,  (king  Edred  devoutly  resigning  all  his  treasure 
to  Dunstan's  disposal,)  secular  priests  being  thrust  out  of  their  con- 
vents, and  monks  substituted  in  their  rooms. 

21.  But  King  Edwin  his  jyrofessed  Enemy.  1  Edwin.  A.D.  954. 

But,  after  Edred's  death,  the  case  was  altered  with  Dunstan, 
falling  into  disgrace  with  king  Edwin  his  successor.  This  king,  on 
his  coronation-day,    was  said    to  be   incestuously  embracing   both 

*  RoFF.  HiSTOR.    Matt.  Wes-t.    Joha.nne«  Capgrave.   Osbernus. 


5    EDWIN.  BOOK    11.       CENT.    X.  l99 

mother  and  daugliter,  Avhen  Dunstan,  boldly  coming  into  his  bed- 
chamber, after  bitter  reproofs,  stoutly  fetched  him  thence,  and 
brought  him  forth  into  the  company  of  his  noblemen.  A  heroic 
act,  if  true,  done  with  a  John-Baptist  spirit ;  and  no  wonder  if 
Herod  and  Herodias,  I  mean,  this  incestuous  king  and  his  concu- 
bines, were  highly  offended  with  Dunstan  for  the  same. 

22.  Who,  though  wronged  by  the  Monks^  was  a  worthy  Prince. 

But  good  men  and  grave  authors  give  no  belief  herein,  conceiv- 
ing king  Edwin  (how  bad  soever  charactered  by  the  monks,  his 
malicious  enemies)  to  have  been  a  worthy  prince.  In  witness 
whereof  they  produce  the  words  of  Henry  Huntingdon,*  a  learned 
man,  but  no  monk,  thus  describing  him  :  Edwin  non  illaudahiliter 
regni  infulam  tenuit.  Et  rursus  :  Edwin  rex.,  anno  regni  sui 
qtiinfo,  cum  in  principio  regnum  ejus  decentissime Jloreret,  pros- 
pera  et  Icetahunda  exordia  mors  immafura  perrupit. 

"  Edwin  was  not  undeserving  of  praise  in  managing  the  sceptre 
of  this  land."  And  again  :  "  King  Edwin,  in  the  fifth  year  of  his 
reign,  when  his  kingdom  began  at  first  most  decently  to  flourish, 
had  his  prosperous  and  pleasant  beginnings  broken  off  with  untimely 
death." 

This  testimony  considered,  makes  many  men  think  better  of  king 
Edwin,  and  worse  of  Dunstan,  as  guilty  of  some  uncivil  intrusion 
into  the  king's  chamber,  for  which  he  justly  incurred  his  royal 
displeasure. 

23.  He  banisheth  Dunstan,  and  dieth  heart-broken  with  Grief, 

AD.  956. 

Hereupon  Dunstan  is  banished  by  king  Edwin,  not  as  before 
from  England  to  England,  from  the  court  to  his  cell  at  Glastonbury  ; 
but  is  utterly  expelled  the  kingdom,  and  flieth  into  Flanders  j 
where  his  friends  say  that  his  fame  prepared  his  welcome,  and  the 
governor  of  Ghent  most  solemnly  entertained  him.  Mean  time,  all 
the  monks  in  England  of  Dunstan's  plantation  were  rooted  up,  and 
secular  priests  set  in  their  places.  But  soon  after  happened  many 
commotions  in  England,  especially  in  Mercia  and  Northumberland, 
The  monks  Avhich  write  the  story  of  these  rebellions  conceive  it 
unfit  to  impart  to  posterity  the  cause  thereof;  which  makes  wise 
men  to  suspect,  that  Dunstan,  (who  could  blow  coals  elsewhere  as 
well  as  in  his  furnace,)  though  at  distance,  virtually  (or  rather 
viciously  present)  had  a  finger,  yea,  a  hand  therein.  Heart-broken 
with  these  rebellions,  king  Edwin  died  in  the  flower  of  his  age. 

*  Hist.  lib.  V.  page  357. 


^00  CHURCH    HISTORY    01'     BRITAIX.        A.D.  959 69. 

24.  Dunstaii  re-called  hy  King  Edgar,  and  takes  a  double 
Bishopric.     1  Edgar.  A.D.  959. 

Edgar  succeeds  him,  and  re-calls  Dunstan  home,  receiving  him 
with  all  possible  affection.  Yea,  now  Dunstan"'s  stomach  was  come 
down,  and  he  could  digest  a  bishopric,  which  his  abstemiousness 
formerly  refused.  And  one  bishopric  drew  down  another:  Wor- 
cester and  London,  not  successively,  but  both  a-breast,  went  down 
his  conscience.  Yea,  never  age  afforded  more  pluralist  bishops.  In 
this  king''s  reign  Letine  [Leofwyn]  held  Lincoln  and  Leicester  ;* 
Oswald  (a  great  monk-monger,  of  whom  hereafter)  held  York  and 
Worcester ;  and  Aldulph,  his  successor  in  both  churches,  did  the 
like,  pardoned,  yea,  praised  for  the  same :  though  Woolstan 
(because  no  favourer  of  monks)  is  reproved  for  the  like  plurality. 
Thus  two  men,  though  doing  the  same  thing,  do  not  the  same 
thing.  Bigamy  of  bishoprics  goes  by  favour  ;  and  it  is  condemn- 
able  in  one,  what  is  commendable  in  another.  Odo  Severus,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  being  ceremoniously  to  consecrate  Dunstan 
bishop  of  Worcester,  used  all  the  formalities  fashionable  at  the 
consecration  of  an  archbishop : -f-  and  being  reproved  for  the 
same,  he  answered  for  himself,  that  he  foresaw  that  Dunstan, 
instantly  after  his  death,  would  be  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  And, 
therefore,  a  compendious  Avay  to  spare  pains,  he  only  by  a  provident 
prolepsis  ante-dated  his  consecration.  Surely,  whosoever  had  seen 
the  decrepit  age  of  Odo,  the  affection  of  king  Edgar  to  Dunstan, 
the  affection  of  Dunstan  to  dignity,  needed  no  extraordinary  pro- 
phetical spirit  to  presage  that  (on  the  supposition  of  Dunstan''s 
surviving  him)  he  should  succeed  him  in  the  archbishopric  of  Can- 
terbury, 

25,  Oswald's  Law  to  eject  secular  Priests. 
Yea,  king  Edgar  was  so  wholly  Dunstanized,  that  he  gave  over 
liis  soul,  body,  and  estate  to  be  ordered  by  him  and  two  more,  then 
the  triumvirate  who  ruled  England,  namely,  Ethclwald  bishop  of 
Winchester,  and  Oswald  bishop  of  Worcester,  This  Oswald  was 
the  man  who  procured  by  the  king's  authority  the  ejection  of  all 
secular  priests  out  of  Worcester,  and  the  placing  of  monks  in  their 
room  ;  which  Act  was  called  "  Oswald's  law  "  in  that  age.  .  They 
might,  if  it  pleased  them,  have  styled  it  "  Edgar's  law  ;""  the  legis- 
lative power  being  then  more  in  the  king  than  in  the  bishop.  This 
"  Oswald's  law  "  afterwards  enlarged  itself  over  all  England,  secular 
priests  being  thrown  out,  and  monks  every  where  fixed  in  their 
rooms  ;  till  king  Henry  VIIL's  law  outed  "  Oswald's  law,"  and 
ejected  those  drones  out  of  their  habitations. 

•  N'iilc  .Inliq.  Brilan.  page  83.  t  Jdeni,  ibidem. 


12    EDGAR.  BOOK     II.       CENT.    X.  201 

26.  Dimstans  disciplining  of  King  Kdgar, 

King  Edgar  violated  the  chastity  of  a  nun  at  Wilton.  Dimstan, 
getting  notice  thereof,  refused  at  the  king''s  request  to  give  him  his 
hand,  because  he  had  defiled  a  "  daughter  of  God,"  as  he  termed 
her.  Edgar,  hereby  made  sensible  of  his  sin,  with  sorrow  confessed 
it ;  and  Dunstan  (now  archbishop  of  Canterbury)  enjoined  him 
seven  years^  penance  for  the  same.  Monks  endeavour  to  enforce  a 
mock  parallel  betwMxt  David  and  Edgar,  Nathan  and  Dunstan, 
herein.  Sure  I  am,  on  David''s  profession  of  his  repentance, 
Nathan  presently  pronounced  pardon  :  "  The  Lord  also  hath  put 
away  thy  sin  ;  thou  shalt  not  die,""  2  Sam.  xii.  13  ;  consigning  him  to 
be  punished  by  God  the  principal ;  (using  an  undutiful  son,  treach- 
erous servants,  and  rebellious  subjects  to  be  the  instruments  thereof;) 
but  imposing  no  voluntary  penance,  that  David  should  by  will- 
worship  undertake  on  himself.  All  that  I  will  add  is  this,  if 
Dunstan  did  septenary  penance,  to  expiate  every  mortal  sin,  to  use 
their  own  terms,  he  committed,  he  must  have  been  a  Methuselah, 
extremely  aged,  before  the  day  of  his  death. 

27.  ^nd  Carriage  towards  an  incestuous  Count. 
A.D.  969. 
More  commendable  was  Dunstan ""s  carriage  towards  an  Englisli 
count,  who  lived  incestuously  with  his  own  kinswoman.  Dunstan 
admonished  him  once,  twice,  thrice  ;  nothing  prevailed  :  whereupon 
he  proceeded  to  excommunicate  him.  The  count  slighted  his  excom- 
munication, conceiving  his  head  too  high  for  church-censures  to 
reach  it.  King  Edgar,  falsely  informed,  desires  Dunstan  to  absolve 
him,  and  is  denied.  Yea,  the  pope  sends  to  him  to  the  same 
purpose,  and  Dunstan  persists  in  his  refusal.*  At  last  the  count, 
conquered  with  Dunstan ""s  constancy,  and  the  sense  of  his  own  sin, 
came  into  a  national  council  at  Canterbury,  where  Dunstan  sate 
president,  (active  therein  to  substitute  monks  in  the  places  of  secular 
priests,)  on  his  bare  feet,  with  a  bundle  of  rods,  tendering  himself  to 
Dunstan's  chastisement.  -This  wrought  on  Dunstan''s  mild  nature, 
scarce  refraining  from  tears  ;  who  presently  absolved  him. 

28.  Observations  thereon. 

Three  things  herein  are  remarkable.  First.  That  bribes  in  the 
court  of  Rome  may  purchase  a  malefactor  to  be  innocent. 
Secondly.  That  the  pope  himself  is  not  so  infallible,  but  that  his 
key  may  miss  the  lock,  and  he  be  mistaken  in  matter  of  absolu- 
tion.    Thirdly.  That    men    ought    not    so    with    blind  obedience 

*  OsBERN.  in  Vila  Dunstani. 


202  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.       A.D.  969 70. 

to  obey  his  pretended  Holiness ;  but  that  if  (with  Dunstan  here) 
they  see  just  cause  to  the  contrary,  it  is  no  mortal  sin  to  disobey  his 
commands. 

29.  Edgar's  Canons,  why  by  us  here  related. 
The  apprenticeship  of  Edgar's  penance  long  since  expired,  he 
flourished  in  all  monarchical  lustre  ;  sole  founder  of  many,  co- 
founder  of  more,  benefactor  to  most,  abbeys  in  England.  And  as 
he  gave  new  cases  to  most  monasteries,  (repairing  their  outward 
buildings,)  so  he  gave  new  linings  to  all,  substituting  monks  instead 
of  the  secular  priests,  whom  he  expelled.  Many  ecclesiastical 
canons  were  by  him  ordained,  which,  at  large,  are  presented  in  Sir 
Henry  Spelman,  and  which  I  have  neither  list  nor  leisure  to  recount 
in  this  my  History.  Our  women  have  a  proverb,  "  It  is  a  sad 
burden  to  carry  a  dead  man's  child  ;"  and,  surely,  an  historian  hath 
no  heart  to  take  much  pains  (which  herein  are  pains  indeed)  to 
exemplify  dead  canons  ;  (dead  and  buried  long  since,  as  most 
relating  to  monkery  ;)  this  age,  wherein  we  live,  being  little  fond  of 
antiquity,  to  know  those  things  which  were  antiquated  so  many 
years  since. 

30.  Edgar  a  most  triumphant  King. 
Now,  though  the  devotion  of  king  Edgar  may  be  condemned  to 
be  biassed  to  superstition,  yet,  because  the  sincerity  of  his  heart 
sought  to  advance  God's  honour,  according  to  the  light  in  those 
dark  days,  he  appears  one  of  the  most  puissant  princes  that 
ever  England  enjoyed,  both  in  church  and  commonwealth.  I  have 
read  in  a  most  fair  and  authentic  gilded  manuscript,*  wherein  he 
styleth  himself  "  God's  vicar  in  England,  for  the  ordering  ecclesias- 
tical matters ;"  a  title  which  at  this  day  the  pope  will  hardly 
vouchsafe  to  any  Christian  princes.  His  reign  Avas  blessed  with  peace 
and  prosperity,  both  by  land  and  sea ;  insomuch  that,  in  a  royal 
frolic,  eight  petty  kings  rowed  him  over  the  river  Dee  near  to 
Chester ;  namely,  five  princes  of  Wales,  (whereof  Hoel-Dha  was 
the  principal,)  Kened,  [Kunade  or  Kineld,]  king  of  Scotland, 
Malcolm,  king  of  Cumberland,  and  Mac-huse,  a  great  sea-robber, 
who  may  pass  for  the  prince  of  pirates.-j- 

•  Extant  in  the  precious  librarj-  of  Sir  Thomas  Cotton.  t  Of  tliis  worthy,  and  of  his 
strange  title,  the  very  learned  Dr.  William  Howel  gives  us  the  following  information,  in 
his  Institutio7i  of  General  History  : — •'  Maccusius,  by  Florent  of  Worcester  and  Hove- 
den,  is  temied  '  a  king  of  very  many  islands.'  Matthew  of  Westminster  calls  him  '  king 
of  Man  and  very  many  other  islands."  And  MaUnesbury  calls  him  'an  arch-pirate;' 
by  which  word  a  robber  is  not  to  be  understood,  but,  as  Asserius  and  others  of  that  age 
use  it,  one  nkilkd  in  sea-affairs,  or  a  sca-mun,  so  called  from  pira,  wliich  in  the  Attic 
tongue  signifies  crofl  or  art  [TreTpa,  the  knowledge  ivhich  is  the  result  of  crpcricnrr].    But 


13    EDGAR.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    X.  203 

31.  A  national  Council  in  Wales.     A.D.Q^O. 

This  Hoel-Dha,  contemporary  with  king  Edgar,  was  he  that  hekl 
a  national  council  for  all  Wales,  at  a  place  called  Ty-guin,  or  "  the 
White-house,"  (because  built  of  white  hurdles,  to  make  it  more 
beautiful,)  regulated  after  this  manner  :  Out  of  every  Hundred  in 
Wales  he  chose  six  laymen,  with  whom  he  joined  all  the  eminent 
ecclesiastical  persons  (accounted  a  hundred  and  forty)  in  his  domi- 
nions. Out  of  those  he  chose  eleven  laymen  and  one  clergyman, 
(but  such  an  one  as  who  alone  by  himself  might  pass  virtually  for 
eleven,)  Blangoridus  by  name,  to  enact  what  laws  they  pleased, 
which,  after  the  impression  of  royal  assent  upon  them,  should  be 
observed  by  that  nation.  One  might  suspect  this  council,  thus 
overpowered  with  laics  therein,  which  pinch  on  the  priests'  side  ; 
whereas  we  find  the  canons  therein  wholly  made  in  favour  of  the 
clergy  ;  enacting  this  among  the  rest,  "  That  the  presence  of  a 
priest  and  a  judge  constitute  a  legal  court,""  as  the  two  persons  only 
in  the  quorum  thereof. 

32.  The  merry  Laws  made  therein. 

But  methinks  the  laws  therein  enacted  (which  a  learned  anti- 
quary *  presents  us  at  large)  fall  far  short  of  the  gravity  of  a 
council ;  except  any  will  excuse  it  from  the  age  thereof.  What  we 
count  light  and  trivial  might  be  esteemed  serious  and  solid  in  those 
days.  Besides,  the  laws  discover  in  them  a  conceited  affectation  of 
the  number  of  three.  In  three  cases  a  wife  may  legally  leave  her 
husband  :  First.  If  he  hath  a  leprosy.  Secondly.  If  he  hath  a 
stinking  breath.  Thirdly.  And  if  he  be  unable  to  give  her  due 
benevolence.  In  three  cases  it  was  lawful  for  a  man  to  kiss  his 
neighbour's  wife :  First.  At  a  banquet.  Secondly.  At  the  Welsh 
play  called  Guare-raifau.  And,  Thirdly,  when  he  comes  from  a 
far  journey,  by  way  of  salutation.  If  a  man  and  his  wife  were  to 
part  asunder,  they  were  to  divide  their  goods  betwixt  them  so  that 
she  was  to  have  the  sheep  ;  he,  the  hogs ; — she,  the  milk  and  milk- 
vessels,  with  all  the  dishes  save  one  ;  he,  all  the  beer  and  barrels, 
with  the  axe,  saw,  &c. 

afterward  it  came  to  be  applicable  only  to  stich  as  without  any  justice  infest  the  seas. 
Not  long  after,  the  governor  of  a  ship  of  pirates  came  to  be  called  '  a  pilot,'  from  pile,  the 
name  of  a  ship  in  the  ancient  Gallic  language,  some  remainders  whereof  still  continue 
among  the  Franks.  After  the  insoleney  of  these  northern  rovers  and  Pagans  grew  so 
great,  all  the  maritime  towns  throughout  Christendom  might  well  be  sensible  of  their 
danger  and  the  means  of  their  deliverance  ;  as,  to  express  their  common  faith,  and,  next, 
their  common  refuge  under  God,  on  one  side  of  their  coin  they  stamped  a  cross,  and  on 
the  reverse  a  ship ;  which  gave  original  to  that  (though  much-practised  yet)  little- 
understood  custom  of  casting  and  naming  cross  and  pi/e  to  this  day." — Edit. 
"  Sir  H.  Spelman  in  his  "  Councils,"  page  411. 


204  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  071 7- 

33.  Cojip-med  by  the  Pope.  A  D.  971. 
But  hoAv  silly  soever  these  canons  seem  to  our  modern  critics, 
they  were  then  conceived  of  such  weight  and  worth,  that  king  Hoel- 
Dha,  with  his  archbishop  of  St.  David's,  the  bishops  of  Bangor, 
Landaff,  and  St.  Asaph,  are  said  to  have  taken  a  journey  to  Rome, 
and  procured  the  pope's  confirmation  to  them.  Nor  find  I  aught 
else  of  this  synod,  save  that  the  close  thereof  presents  us  with  a 
list  of  seven  episcopal  seats  then  in  Wales :  1.  St.  David's, 
2.  Ismael,  3.  Degenian,  4.  Ussyll,  5.  Teylaw,  6.  Teuledauc, 
7.  Kenew.*  I  am  not  Welshman  enough  to  point  at  these  places, 
and  to  show  you  where  they  be  at  this  day,  which  we  leave  to  some 
skilful  antiquary  of  their  own  nation. -f-  Only  we  find  that  whereas 
the  churches  were  burdened  with  some  payments  out  of  them,  two 
of  the  bishops'"  seats,  Ussyl  and  Kenew,  were  freed  from  the  same. 
And  this  satisfactory  reason  is  rendered  of  their  exemption,  qiiia 
terris  carent,  "  because  they  had  no  lands  belonging  unto  them." 

34.  A  Council  at  Winchester^  with  a  miraculous  Voice  in  it. 
1  Edward  the  Martyr.  A.D.  974. 

King  Edgar  was  peaceably  gathered  to  his  fathers,  leaving  his 
crown  to  Edward  his  son  ;  and  his  son,  because  under  age,  to  the 
tuition  of  Dunstan.  In  this  king's  reign  three  councils  were 
successively  called,  to  determine  the  differences  between  monks  and 
secular  priests.  The  first  Avas  at  Winchester  ;  where  the  priests, 
being  outed  of  their  convents,  earnestly  pressed  for  restitution,  and 
sought  by  arguments  to  clear  their  innocence,  and  prove  their  title  to 
their  ancient  possessions.     The  council  seemed  somewhat  inclinable 

•  Query,  "AVhether  Bangor,  LandafF,  and  St.  Asaph  be  not  comprised  under  these, 
t  Sucli  a  "skilful  antiquary"  was  Dr.  AVjlliam  Howel,  from  whose  Inititution  of 
General  History,  I  make  the  following  quotation,  not  only  to  elucidate  the  test,  but  also  as 
an  instance  of  the  great  confiision  both  in  many  dates  and  names  at  that  dark  period  and 
for  some  ages  afterwards  : — "  This  king  Lndwal  is  by  others  called  Hunwal,  Hurval,  or 
Hoiiil ;  no  name  having  more  various  reading,  and  is  thought  to  have  been  the  same  with 
Hoivel-Dha,  or  '  the  good,'  that  great  king  of  the  'Wekh,  so  famous  for  the  laws  he 
made  to  govern  his  subjects.  Perceiving  them  out  of  all  order  for  want  of  laws,  he  sum- 
moned together  out  of  every  kennel  or  'himdred'  of  his  kingdom,  both  laymen  that  were 
eminent  for  authorit)-  and  knowledge,  as  also  ecclesiastics,  to  a  place  called  Guin  upon 
Taff  yn  dead,  a  house  he  had  caused  to  be  built  of  white  or  pilled  rods  for  his  use  when 
he  came  to  hunt  in  the  parts  of  Demetia,  whereupon  it  was  called  by  the  name  of  Ty 
Guyn.  There  the  king  and  they  continued  all  the  Lent,  fasting,  and  praj-ing  for  a  good 
issue  of  their  meeting.  Of  those  that  now  met  he  chose  twelve  of  the  laity,  and  a  very 
learned  clerk  called  Blaugondus,  to  make  a  draught  and  preparative  for  their  businc-^s. 
Camden  wiU  have  this  assembly  held  in  the  year  914 ;  a  certain  manuscript,  written  long 
ago,  about  the  year  920  ;  the  Histoiy  of  Wales,  after  or  about  940;  so  great  is  the  dis- 
agreement of  waiters  ;  which  seems  to  hint,  that  three  several  assemblies  were  lield,  if  se 
long  the  reign  of  this  Howel  continued.  The  Book  of  Landaff  makes  him  later,  the  con- 
temporary of  king  Edgar,  who  began  not  his  reign  till  the  year  969." — Edit. 


4  EDWAKD   THK    MAUTVR.        BOOK     TI.        CEKT.    X.  205 

to  favour  unto  them  ;  when  presently  a  voice,  as  coming  from  a 
crucifix  behind  Dunstan,  is  reported  to  be  heard,  saying,  Absit 
hoc  vtjiat  I  Absit  hoc  utjiat !  Judicastis  bene  ;  mutaretis  non 
bene.  "  God  forbid  it  should  be  done  !  God  forbid  it  should  be 
done  !  Ye  have  judged  it  well,  and  should  change  it  ill." 
Whether  these  words  were  spoken  in  Latin  or  English,  authors 
leave  us  unresolved.  Monks  equal  this  (for  the  truth  thereof)  to 
the  "  still  small  voice,"  1  Kings  xix.  12,  to  Elijah  ;  whilst  others 
suspect  some  forgery  ;  the  rather,  because  it  is  reported  to  come 
"  as  from  a  crucifix  : "  they  fear  some  secret  falsehood  in  the  foun- 
tain, because  visjble  superstition  was  the  cistern  thereof.  However, 
this  voice  proved  for  the  present  the  casting  voice  to  the  secular 
priests,  who  thereby  were  overborne  in  their  cause,  and  so  was  the 
council  dissolved. 

35.  Secular  Priests  strive  still.  A.D.  977- 
Yet  still  the  secular  priests  did  stniggle,  refusing  to  be  finally 
concluded  with  this  transient  airy  oracle.  "  To  the  law  and  to  the 
testimony  :  if  they  speak  not  according  to  this  word,"  &c.  Isaiah 
viii.  20.  They  had  no  warrant  to  rely  on  sucli  a  vocal  decision,  from 
which  they  appealed  to  the  Scripture  itself.  A  second  council  is  called 
at  Kirtlington,  now  Katlage  in  Cambridgeshire,  the  barony  of  the 
right  honourable  the  lord  North  ;  but  nothing  to  purpose  effected 
therein.  Dunstan,  say  the  monks,  still  answered  his  name  ;  that 
is.  Dun,  "  a  rocky  mountain,"  and  Stain,  "  a  stone,"  (but, 
whether  a  precious  stone,  or  a  rock  of  offence,  let  others  decide,) 
persisting  unmovable  in  his  resolution  ;  nor  was  any  thing  per- 
formed in  this  council,  but  that,  by  the  authority  thereof,  people 
were  sent  on  pilgrimage  to  St.  Mary  at  Abingdon. 

36.  A  portentous  Council  at  Calne. 
The  same  year  a  third  council  was  called,  at  Calne  in  Wiltshire. 
Hither  repaired  priests  and  monks,  with  their  full  forces,  to  try  the 
last  conclusion  in  the  controversy  betwixt  them.  The  former,  next 
the  equity  of  the  cause,  relied  most  on  the  ability  of  their  cham- 
pion, one  Beornelm,  a  Scottish  bishop  ;  who,  with  no  less  eloquence 
than  strength,  with  Scripture  and  reason  defended  their  cause  : 
when,  behold,  on  a  sudden,  the  beams  brake  in  the  room  where 
they  were  assembled,  and  most  of  the  secular  priests  were  slain,  and 
buried  under  the  ruins  thereof.  All  were  affrighted,  many 
maimed  ;  only  the  place  whereon  Dunstan  sate,  either,  as  some 
say,  remained  firm,  or  fell  in  such  sort,  that  the  timber  (the 
sword  to  kill  others)  proved  the  shield  to  preserve  him  from 
danger. 


20G  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  977. 

37.  Several  Censures  on  this  sad  Accident. 

Some  behold  this  story  as  a  notable  untruth  :  others  suspect  the 
devil  therein,  not  for  a  liar,  but  a  murderer,  and  this  massacre 
procured  by  compact  with  him  :  a  third  sort  conceived  that 
Dunstan,  who  had  so  much  of  a  smith,  had  here  something  of  a 
carpenter  in  him,  and  some  device  used  by  him  about  pinning  and 
propping  of  the  room.  It  renders  it  the  more  suspicious,  because 
he  dissuaded  king  Edward  from  being  present  there,  pretending  his 
want  of  age  ;  though  he  was  present  in  the  last  council,  and,  surely, 
he  was  never  the  younger  for  living  some  months  since  the  same 
assembly.  If  truly  performed,  Dunstan  appears  happier  herein 
than  Samson  himself,  who  could  not  so  sever  his  foes,  but  both 
must  die  together.  Sure  I  am,  no  ingenuous  papist  now-a-days  will 
make  any  uncharitable  inference  from  such  an  accident ;  especially 
since  the  fall  of  Black  Friars,  1623,  enough  to  make  all  good  men 
turn  the  censuring  of  others  into  a  humble  silence,  and  pious  ador- 
ing of  Divine  Providence. 

38.  Seculars  outed,  and  Monks  advanced. 

But  the  monks  made  great  advantage  of  this  accident,  conceiving 
that  Heaven  had  confirmed  their  cause,  as  lately  by  word  at  Win- 
chester, so  now  by  ivork  in  this  council  at  Calne.  Hereupon 
secular  priests  are  every  where  outed,  and  monks  substituted  in  their 
room.  Indeed,  these  latter,  in  civil  respect,  were  beheld  as  more 
beneficial  to  their  convents  ;  because  secular  priests  did  marry,  and 
at  their  deaths  did  condere  testamenta,  "  make  their  wills,"  and 
bequeathed  their  goods  to  their  wives  and  children  ;  whilst  monks, 
having  no  issue  which  they  durst  own,  made  their  monastery  heir  of 
all  they  had.  It  was  also  objected  against  the  priests,  that,  by 
their  looseness  and  laziness,  left  at  large  in  their  lives,  they  had 
caused  the  general  declination  of  piety  at  this  time  ;  whilst  it  was 
presumed  of  the  monks,  that,  by  the  strict  rules  of  observance  to 
which  they  were  tied,  they  would  repair  the  ruins  of  religion  in 
all  places. 

39.  Priests  hardly  dealt  with. 
It  appears  not  Avhat  provision  was  made  for  these  priests  when 
ejected ;  and  they  seem  to  have  had  hard  measure,  to  be  dis- 
possessed of  their  civil  right.  Except  any  will  say,  "  It  was  no 
injury  to  them  to  lose  their  places  so  soon,  but  a  great  favour  that 
they  enjoyed  them  so  long,  living  hitherto  on  the  free  bounty  of 
their  founders,  and  now  at  the  full  dispose  of  the  church  and.  state. 
Little  can  be  said  in  excuse  of  the  priests,  and  less  in  commenda- 
tion of  the  monks  ;  who,  though   they  swept  clean  at  the  first,  as 


4  EDWARD  THE  MARTYR.         BOOK    II.       CENT.    X.  207 

new  besoms,  yet  afterwards  left  more  dust  bcliind  them  of  tlieir  own 
bringing  in  than  their  predecessors  had  done.  Thus  the  hive  of  the 
church  was  no  whit  bettered  by  putting  out  drones,  and  placing 
wasps  in  their  room.  Yea,  whereas  formerly  corruptions  came  into 
the  church  at  the  wicket,  now  the  broad  gates  were  opened  for  their 
entrance  ;  monkery  making  the  way  for  ignorance  and  superstition 
to  overspread  the  whole  world. 

40.   T/ie  prodigious  Prodigality  in  building  ajid  endoiving 

of  Abbeys. 
Another  humour  of  the  former  age  (to  make  one  digression  for 
all)  still  continued,  and  increased,  venting  itself  in  the  fair  founda- 
tions and  stately  structures  of  so  many  monasteries.  So  that  one, 
beholding  their  greatness,  (being  cor-rivals  with  some  towns  in 
receipt  and  extent,)  would  admire  that  they  could  be  so  neat ;  and, 
considering  their  neatness,  must  wonder  they  could  be  so  great ; 
and,  lastly,  accounting  their  number,  will  make  all  three  the  object 
of  his  amasement  :  especially,  seeing  many  of  these  were  founded 
in  the  Saxon  heptarchy,  when  seven  kings  put  together  did  spell 
but  one  in  effect.  So  that  it  may  seem  a  miracle,  what  invisible 
Indies  those  petty  princes  were  masters  of,  building  such  structures 
which  empoverish  posterity  to  repair  them.  For  although  some  of 
these  monasteries  were  the  fruit  of  many  ages,  long  in  ripening,  at 
several  times,  by  sundry  persons,  all  whose  parcels  and  additions 
met  at  last  in  some  tolerable  uniformity  ;  yet  most  of  them  were 
begun  and  finished,  absolute  and  entire,  by  one  founder  alone. 
And  although  we  allow,  that  in  those  days  artificers  were  procured, 
and  materials  purchased,  at  easy  rates ;  yet,  there  being  then 
scarceness  of  coin, — as  a  little  money  would  then  buy  much  ware,  so 
much  ware  must  first  in  exchange  be  given  to  provide  that  little 
money, — all  things  being  audited  proportionably,  the  wonder  still 
remains  as  great  as  before.  But  here  we  see  with  what  eagerness 
those  designs  are  undertaken  and  pursued,  which  proceed  from 
blind  zeal ;  every  finger  being  more  than  a  hand  to  build,  when 
they  thought  merit  was  annexed  to  their  performances.  O,  with 
what  might  and  main  did  they  mount  their  walls,  both  day  and 
night  !  en'oneously  conceiving,  that  their  souls  were  advantaged  to 
heaven,  when  taking  the  rise  from  the  top  of  a  steeple  of  their  own 
erection  ! 

41.  Caution  to  our  Age. 

But  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  mind  our  forgetful  age,  that,  seeing 
devotion  (now  better-informed)  long  since  hath  desisted  to  express 
itself  in  such  pompous  buildings,  she  must  find  some  other  means 
and  manner  to  evidence  and  declare  her  sincerity.     Except  any 


203  CHURCH    HISTOUy    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  977 — 87- 

will  say,  that  there  is  less  heat  required,  where  more  light  is  granted  ; 
and  that  our  practice  of  piety  should  be  diminished,  because  our 
knowledge  thereof  is  increased.  God,  no  doubt,  doth  justly  expect 
that  religion  should  testify  her  thankfulness  to  him,  by  some  eminent 
way  and  works  ;  and  where  the  fountain  of  piety  is  full,  it  will  find 
itself  a  vent  to  flow  in,  though  not  through  the  former  channels  of 
superstition. 

4'2.  King  Edward  murdered,  alias  martyred.     A.  D.  979- 

King  Edward  went  to  give  his  mother-in-law  at  Corfe-Castle  a 
respectful  visit,  when  by  her  contrivance  he  was  barbarously  mur- 
dered, so  to  pave  the  way  for  her  son  Ethelred's  succession  to  the 
crown.  But  king  Edward  by  losing  his  life,  got  the  title  of  "a 
martyr,"  so  constantly  called  in  our  Chronicles.  Take  the  term  in  a 
large  acceptation,  otherwise,  restrictively,  it  signifies  such  an  one  as 
suffers  for  the  testimony  of  the  truth.  But,  seeing  this  Edward 
was  cruelly  murdered,  and  is  said  after  death  to  work  miracles  ;  let 
him,  by  the  courtesy  of  the  church,  pass  for  a  martyr,  not  knowing 
any  act  or  order  to  the  contrary,  to  deny  such  a  title  unto  him. 

43.  King  Ethelred  prognosticated  unsuccessful.     1  Ethelred 

the  Unready. 

Ethelred,  Edward's  half  brother,  succeeded  him  in  the  throne  : 
one  with  Avhom  Dlmstan  had  a  quarrel  from  his  cradle,  because, 
when  an  infant,  he  left  more  water  in  the  font  than  he  found  there,  at 
his  baptizing.  Happy  Dunstan  himself,  if  guilty  of  no  greater  fault, 
which  could  be  no  sin,  nor  properly  a  slovenliness  in  an  infant,  if 
he  did  as  an  infant !  Yet  from  such  his  addition.,  Dunstan  prog- 
nosticated an  inundation  of  Danes  would  ensue  in  this  island  ; 
which,  accordingly,  came  to  pass.  But  Ethelred  is  more  to  be 
condemned  for  the  blood  he  shed  when  a  man  ;  it  being  vehemently 
suspected  that  he  was  accessary,  with  his  mother,  to  the  murdering 
of  his  brother  Edward. 

44.  Dunstan''s  Corpse  wrongfully  claimed  by  the  Cojivent  of 

Glastonbury.     A.D.  987. 

But  Dunstan  survived  not  to  see  his  prediction  take  effect ;  for 
he  was  happily  prevented  by  death,  and  buried  on  the  south  side  of 
the  high  altar  in  the  church  of  Canterbury  ;  where  his  tomb  was 
famous  for  some  time,  till  Thomas  Becket  eclipsed .  the  same  ; 
seeing  saints,  like  new  besoms,  sweep  clean  at  the  first,  and  after- 
wards are  clean  swept  out  by  newer  saints  which  succeed,  them. 
Yea,  Dunstan's  grave  grew  so  obscure  at  Canterbury,  that  the 
monks  of  Glastonbury,  taking  heart  thereat,  and  advantaged  by  John 


8    ETHELRKD.  BOOK    II.       CEXT.    X.  200 

Capgrave''s  report,  that,  anno  1012,  Danstan's  corpse  were  trans- 
lated thither,  pretended  his  burial,  and  built  him  a  shrine  in  their 
convent.  Men  and  money  met  at  Glastonbury  on  this  mistake  ; 
and  their  convent  got  more  by  this  eight-feet  length  of  ground,  (the 
supposed  tomb  of  Dunstan,)  than  eight  hundred  acres  of  the  best 
land  they  possessed  elsewhere.  Whereupon  William  Wareham, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  try  the  truth,  and  to  prevent  farther 
fraud  herein,  caused  a  solemn  search  to  be  made  in  the  cathedral  of 
Canterbury  after  Dunstan's  corpse,  in  the  place  tradition  reported 
him  to  be  interred. 

45.  A  Night  Hue-and-Cry  made  after  his  Corpse. 
Four  of  the  friars,  fittest  fur  the  work,  (to  wit,  of  stronger  bodies 
than  brains,)  undertook  to  make  this  scrutiny,  anno  1508,  the 
22nd  of'  April.  Great  caution  was  used,  that  all  should  be  done 
semotis  laicis,  "  no  laymen  being  present ;"  whether  because  their 
eyes  were  too  profane  to  behold  so  holy  an  object,  or  too  prying 
to  discover  the  default  if  the  search  succeeded  not.  In  the  night 
they  so  plied  their  work,  that  ere  morning  they  discovered  Dunstan''s 
coffin,  and  rested  the  day  following  from  more  digging  ;  as  well  they 
might,  having  taken  so  much  jMiins,  and  gained  so  much  profit  by 
their  endeavours. 

46,  Discovered  with  the  Manner  of  the  Interment  thereof 
Next  night  they  on  afresh  ;  and,  with  main  force,  plucked  up 
the  ponderous  coffin  upon  the  pavement.  A  coffin  built,  as  one 
may  say,  three  stories  high  :  the  outermost  of  wood,  but  almost  made 
iron  with  the  multitude  of  nails  therein  ;  within  that  another  of 
plain  lead  ;  within  that  a  third  of  wrought  lead,  wherein  the  bones 
of  Dunstan  lay  in  his  pontifical  vests,*  with  this  inscription  in  a 
plate,  Hie  requiescit  Sanctus  Dunstanus  archi-episcopiis. 
Some  lumps  of  flesh  were  found,  which  were  said  to  smell  very 
sweet,  the  relics,  perchance,  of  some  spices  which  embalmed  him ; 
and  all  done  in  the  presence  of  many  worthy  witnesses  :  amongst 
whom,  Cuthbert  Tunstal  was  one,  then  the  archbishop's  chancellor, 
afterward  bishop  of  Durham.  Hereupon  the  archbishop  sent  his 
mandate  to  the  abbot  and  convent  of  Glastonbury,  henceforward  to 
desist  from  any  jactitation  of  Dunstan''s  corpse,  and  abusing  people 
■<vith  such  pretences  :  a  fault  most  frequent  in  that  convent,  chal- 
lenging almost  the  monopoly  of  all  English  saints ;  witness  that 
impudent  lie  of  the  rhyming  monk,  writing  thus  of  Glastonbury  : — 

•  Archiva  Eccles.  Cant,  exemplified  by  my  good  friend  Mr.  Will.  Sojiner  in  his 
Descript.  of  Cant,  in  Appendice  Script.  12. 

Vol.  I,  p 


210  CHURCH    HISTORY    Ol"    BRITAIN.        A.D.  987 94. 

Hie  tumulus  sanctus,  hie  svala  poli  celebratur  / 
Vix  liiit  Inferni  pwnas  hie  qui  tumulatur. 

But,  who  is  rather  to  be  believed  ? — St.  Peter,  that  saith,  "  The 
righteous  shall  scarcely  be  saved  ?""  1  Peter  iv.  18;  or  this  monk, 
affirming  that  "  ■whoso  is  buried  at  Glastonbury  shall  scarcely  be 
damned.'^" 

47.  Priests  and  Monks  alternately  cast  out.  A.D.  988. 
After  the  death  of  Dunstan  their  patron,  the  monks  (not  much 
befriended  by  king  Ethelred)  were  cast  out  of  the  convent  of 
Canterbury,  or  rather  cast  out  themselves  by  their  misdemeanours. 
"  Man  in  honour  hath  no  understanding,"  &c.  Psalm  xlix.  20. 
They  waxed  so  wanton  with  possessing  the  places  of  secular  priests, 
that  a  monk,*  himself  of  Canterbury,  confesseth,  Monachi  pi'opfer 
eorum  insolentiam  sedibus  pulsi,  et  clerici  introducti :  •'  Monks 
for  their  insolency  were  driven  out  of  their  seats,  and  secular  clerks 
brought  into  their  room."  Thus  was  it  often,  "  in  dock,  out  nettle," 
as  they  could  strengthen  their  parties.  For  Siricius,  the  next  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  endeavoured  the  re-expulsion  of  the  priests  ; 
which  by  Alfricus  his  successor  was  effected. 

48.  The  Danes  re-invade  England.  A.D.  989. 
But,  soon  after,  the  Danes  revenged  the  quarrel  of  the  secular 
priests  ;  and,  by  a  firm  ejection,  outed  the  monks  before  they  were 
well  warm  in  their  nests.  Their  fury  fell  more  on  convents  than 
castles ;  Avhether,  because  the  former  were  in  that  age  more 
numerous  ;  (castles  afterwards  were  increased  by  William  the 
Conqueror;)  or  because  their  prey  and  plunder  was  presumed  the 
richest,  and  easiest  to  be  gotten  ;  or  because  the  Danes,  then 
generally  Pagans,  principally  spited  places  of  religion.  A  relapse  is 
far  more  dangerous  than  a  simple  disease  ;  as  here  it  proved  in  the 
Danes.  England  for  these  last  sixty  years  had  been  cured  of  and 
cleared  from  their  cruelty,  which  now  returned  more  terrible  than 
ever  before. 

49.   The  Unreadiness  of  King  Ethelred  advantageth  the  Danes. 

A.D.  990. 

These  Danes  were  also  advantaged  by  the  unactiveness  of  king 
Ethelred,  therefore  surnamed  "  the  Unready "  in  our  Chronicles. 
The  clock  of  his  consultations  and  executions  was  always  set  some 
hours  too  late,  vainly  striving  with  much  industry  to  redress  what  a 
little  providence  might  seasonably  have  prevented.  Now,  when 
this  unready  king  met  with  the  Danes,  his  over-ready  enemies,  no 

•  Will.  Thorn,  cited  by  Ant.  Brit,  page  90. 


15    KTHELRED.  «OOK    11.       f'F.XT.    X,  211 

wonder  if  lamentable  was  the  event  thereof.  The  best  thing  I  find 
recorded  of  this  king  Ethelred,  is,  that  in  his  days  began  the  trial 
of  causes  by  a  jury  of  twelve  men  to  be  chosen  out  of  the  vicinage, 
of  like  quality,  as  near  as  may  be  suited,  to  the  persons  concerned 
therein.  Hereby  men  have  most  fair-play  for  their  lives  ;  and  let 
it  be  the  desires  of  all  honest  hearts,  that,  whilst  we  pluck  off  the 
badges  of  all  Norman  slavery,  we  part  not  with  the  livery  of  our  old 
Saxon  liberty. 

50.  A  dear  Peace  bought  of  the  Danes.  A.D.  991. 
In  this  sad  condition  king  Ethelred  hearkened  to  the  persuasions 
of  Siricius,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  with  ten  thousand  pounds 
purchased  a  present  peace  Avith  the  Danes.  Indeed,  it  was  con- 
formable to  the  calling  of  a  churchman  to  j)rocure  peace,  having  not 
only  Scripture  precepts  therein,  "  Seek  peace,  and  pursue  it," 
Psalm  xxxiv.  14  ;  but  also  precedents  for  the  same,  when  gracious 
Hezekiah  with  a  present  pacified  Sennacherib  to  desist  from  invading 
him,  2  Kings  xviii.  14.  However,  this  archbishop  generally 
suffered  in  his  reputation,  condemned  of  all,  for  counselling  of  what 
was,  First,  Dishonourable  :  That  an  entire  nation,  being  at  home 
in  their  own  land,  should  purchase  a  peace  from  foreigners,  fewer  in 
number,  and  fetching  their  recruits  and  warlike  provisions  from  a 
far  country  :  let  them  be  paid  in  due  coin,  not  silver,  but  steeL 
Secondly.  Unprofitable  :  If  once  the  Danes  got  but  the  trick  to 
make  the  English  bleed  money  to  buy  peace,  they  would  never 
leave  them  till  they  had  sucked  out  their  heart-blood,  and  exhausted 
the  whole  treasure  of  the. land. 

51 .  Multitudes  of  Monasteries  caused  the  Danish  Invasion, 
A.D.  994. 

Indeed,  one  may  safely  affirm,  that  the  multitude  of  monasteries 
invited  the  invasion,  and  facilitated  the  conquest  of  the  Danes  over 
England  ;  and  that  in  a  double  respect :  First.  Because  not  only 
the  fruit  of  the  king"'s  exchequer  (I  mean,  ready  money)  was  spent 
by  this  king's  predecessors  on  founding  of  monasteries  ;  but  also  the 
root  thereof  (his  demesne  lands)  plucked  up,  and  parted  with,  to 
endow  the  same  :  whereby  the  sinews  of  war  were  wanting,  to  make 
eflTectual  opposition  against  foreign  enemies.  Secondly.  Because 
England  had  at  this  time  more  flesh  or  fat  than  bones,  wherein  the 
Strength  of  a  body  consists ;  more  monks  than  military  men.  For 
instance  :  Holy  Island,  near  Northumberland,  is  sufficiently  known, 
for  the  position  thereof,  an  advantageous  landing-place,  especially  in 
relation  to  Denmark.  This  place  Avas  presently  forsaken  of  the 
fearful   monks,    frighted  Avith    the    approach    of  the    Danes ;     and 

p  2 


212         CHURCH  HISTORY  OF  BRITAIN.   A.  D.  994 — 1012. 

Aldhunus,  the  bishop  thereof,  removed  his  cathedral  and  convent  to 
Durham,  an  inland  place  of  more  safety.  Now,  had  there  been  a 
castle  in  the  place  of  this  monastery,  to  secure  the  same  with 
fighters  instead  of  feeders,  men  of  arms  instead  of  men  of  bellies 
therein,  probably  they  might  have  stopped  the  Danish  invasion  at 
the  first  inlet  thereof;  England  then  as  much  wanting  martial  men, 
as  since*  it  hath  surfeited  with  too  many  of  them. 

52.   The  Cruelty  of  the  returning  Danes.     A.D.  995. 

The  Danes,  having  received  and  spent  their  money,  invaded 
England  afresh,  according  to  all  wise  men''s  expectation.  It  is  as 
easy  for  armed  might  to  pick  a  quarrel,  as  it  is  hard  for  naked  inno- 
cence to  make  resistance.  The  deluge  of  their  cruelty  over-ran  the 
realm ;  whose  sword  made  no  more  difference  betwixt  the  ages, 
sexes,  and  conditions  of  people,  than  the  fire  (which  they  cast  on 
houses)  made  distinction  in  the  timber  thereof,  whether  it  was  elm, 
oak,  or  ash  ;  the  fierceness  of  the  one  killing,  the  fury  of  the  other 
consuming  all  it  met  with.  Indeed,  in  some  small  skirmishes  the 
English  got  the  better,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  There  is  a  place  in 
Hertfordshire  called  Danes-end,  where  the  inhabitants  by  tradition 
report,  (uncertain  of  the  exact  date  thereof,)  that  a  fatal  blow  in  a 
battle  was  given  to  the  Danes  thereabouts.  But,  alas  .'  this  Danes- 
end  was  but  Danes-beginning  ;  they  quickly  recovered  themselves 
as  many,  and  mighty  in  the  field,  and  it  seemed  an  endless  end  to 
endeavour  their  utter  extirpation.  Thus  this  century  sets  with  little 
mirth,  and  the  next  is  likely  to  arise  with  more  mourning. 


SECTION  VL 

THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY. 

BALDWINO   HAMEY,  MEDICIN.E   DOCTORI    LITERATIS- 
SIMO,  MEC^NATI  SUO  DIGNISSIMO. 

CoNQUERUNTUR  iiostrates  novissimo  hoc  decennio, 
iiovam  reiTim  faciem  indui ;  nee  miitata  soliim,  sed  et 
inversa  esse  omnia.  Hujus  indicia  plurima  proferunt, 
tristia  sane  ac  dolenda ;  dominos  nimiriim  servis  post- 
positos,  dum  alii  e  servis  domini  repente  prodierint. 

*  Namely,  in  the  wars  between  York  and  Lancaster. 


35    ETHELRED,  BOOK    II.       CExVT.    XI.  213 

At,  ad  metamorphosin  banc  probandam,  argumentum 
suppetit  mibi  ipsi  laetum  et  memoratu  jucuiidum. 
Solent  enim  eegroti,  si  quando  medicum  adeant,  manus 
afferre  plenas,  referre  vacuas.  At  ipse  e  contra  te 
saepe  accessi  et  aeger  et  inops ;  decessi  integer  et  bene 
nummatus.  Quoties  enim  opus  hoc  nostrum  radicitus 
exaruisset,  si  non  imbre  munificentice  tuse  fuisset 
irrigatum ! 

1.  Murder  of  the  Danes  hi  a  Church.  Canterbury  sacked: 
Alphage  killed  by  the  Danes.  A.D.  1011. 
This  century  began  (as  children  generally  are  born)  with  crying; 
partly  for  a  massacre  made  by  the  English  on  the  Danes,  but  chiefly 
for  the  cruelty  committed  by  the  Danes  on  the  English.  Concern- 
ing the  former:  Certain  Danes  fled  into  a  church  at  Oxford,  hoping 
the  sanctity  thereof  (according  to  the  devout  principles  of  that 
age)  would  secure  them ;  and  probably  such  pity  might  have  in- 
clined them  to  Christianity.  Whereas,  by  command  from  king 
Ethelred,  they  were  all  burned  in  the  place  ;*  whose  blood  remained 
not  long  unrevenged.  The  Danish  fury  fell  (if  not  first)  fiercest  on 
the  city  of  Canterbury,  with  fire  and  sword,  destroying  eight  thou- 
sand people  therein  :  and  such  authors  who  quadruple  that  number, 
surely  take  in  not  only  the  vicinage,  but  all  Kent,  to  make  up  their 
account.  Ealphegus  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  commonly 
called  Alphage,  was  then  slain,  and  since  sainted  ;  a  church  nigh 
Cripplegate  in  London  being  consecrated  to  his  memory. 

2.  Believe  what  you  list.     More  Cruelty.     ^.Z).  1012. 

A  monk  of  Canterbury  f  reports,  that  the  abbey  of  St.  Augustine 
was  saved  on  this  occasion  :  A  Danish  soldier  stealing  the  pall  from 
the  tomb  of  St.  Augustine,  it  stuck  so  close  under  his  arm-pits,  that 
it  could  not  be  parted  from  his  skin,  until  he  liad  publicly  made 
confession  of  his  fault.  Ultio  raptorem  rapuit,  saith  the  author. 
And  hereupon  the  Danes,  of  invaders,  turned  defenders  of  that 
monastery.  But  others  ;|:  conceive,  if  it  found  extraordinary  favour, 
their  money  (not  this  miracle)  procured  it.  Sure  I  am,  when  Achan 
stole  the  Babylonish  garment,  he  was  left  at  large  to  discovery  by 
lot,  Joshua  vii.  18,  and  no  miracle  detected  him.  Next  year  a 
nameless  bishop  of  London  was  sacrificed  to  their  fury,  used 
worse  than  the  taskmasters  of  Israel,  (on  whose  back  the  number 
of  bricks  wanting  were  only  scored  in  blows.  Exodus  v.  14,)  being 

"  Hen.  Huntingdon,  Matth.  Westminster.  t  Thorn  in  his  "  Descriptioa 

of  Canterbuiy."  \  See  Will.  Somneb  in  Lis  "  Antiqiiitiea  of  Canterbury,''  p.  5G 


214  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     RRITAIX.  A.  D.  1012 35. 

killed  outriglit,  for  want  of  present   pay  of  the   tribute*  promised 
unto  them. 

3.  The  Valour  of  Camhridgeshire-men. 
Cambridge  and  Oxford  both  of  them  deeply  tasted  of  this  bitter 
cup  at  the  same  time.  True  it  is,  some  two  years  since,  when  the 
rest  of  the  East  Angles  cowardly  fled  away,  homines  comitatus 
Cantahrigice  viriliter  nbstiterunt,  unde  Anglis  regnantihus  laus 
Cajitabrigiensis  provincicB  splendide  Jlorebat.'f  Hence  it  is  that 
I  have  read,  (though  unable  at  the  instant  to  produce  my  author,) 
that  Cambridgeshire-men  claim  an  ancient  (now  antiquated)  privi- 
lege, to  lead  the  van  in  all  battles.  But  valour  at  last  little  be- 
friended them  ;  the  Danes  burning  Cambridge  to  ashes,  and  harass- 
ing the  country  round  about. 

4-   Tivo  English  Kings  at  once.     Edmund  Ironside  treacher- 
ously slain.     1  Edmund  Ironside.  A.D.  1016. 

Here  let  state-historians  inform  the  reader  of  intestine  wars  be- 
twixt Edmund  Ironside,  (so  called  for  his  hardy  enduring  all 
troubles,)  king  of  England,  defender.,  and  Canutus  the  Dane, 
invader  of  this  land  ;  till  at  last,  after  a  personal  duel  fought,  the 
land  was  equally  divided  betwixt  them  :  a  division  wherewith  both 
seemed,  neither  tvere,  well  pleased  ;  seeing  the  least  whole  head 
cannot  be  fitted  with  the  biggest  half-cvown  ;  all  or  none  was  their 
desire.  Canutus  at  last,  with  his  silver  hand,  was  too  hard  for  the 
other's  Iron  Side ;  who  by  his  promised  bribes  prevailed  with  one 
Edrick  to  kill  this  his  cor-rival ;  which  being  performed,  he  was  fairly 
advanced  with  a  lialter.:j:  It  would  spoil  the  trade  of  all  traitors,  if 
such  coin  only  were  current  in  paying  their  rew^ards. 

5.  Canutiis''s  Cruelty  converted  into  Charity.     1  Canute. 
A.D.  1017—31. 

Canutus,  or  lynot,  the  Dane,  (from  whom  a  bird  in  Lincolnshire 
is  so  called,  wherewith  his  palate§  was  much  pleased,)  bathed  him- 
self in  English  blood  ;  whom,  at  this  distance  of  time,  we  may 
safely  term  "  a  tyrant,"  so  many  murders  and  massacres  were  by  him 
committed.  For  his  religion  :  As  yet  he  was  a  mongrel  betwixt  a 
Pagan  and  a  Christian  ;  though,  at  last,  the  latter  prevailed,  espe- 
cially after  his  pilgrimage  to  Rome.  In  his  passage  thither,  he  went 
through  France ;  where,  understanding  that  the  people  paid  deep 
taxes,  he  disbursed  so  much  of  his  own  money  in  their  behalf,  that 
he  brought  their  taxes  ||   to  be  abated  to  one  half  :^  an  act  of  pity  in 

"  Hen.  Huntingdon,  Rog.  Hoveden.  t  Chronicon.  Jo.  Prompton,  page  887. 
t  Others  say  he  was  beheaded.        5  Drayton's  Poly-olbion,  page  U2  ||  Rodulph. 

j)E  DicETO,  column   468.  IT  Johannes  Brompton,  in  letj.  Canuti.  colimm.  912. 


18    CANUTE.  BOOK     11.       CEXT.    XI.  215 

a  prince  without  precedent  done  to  foreigners.  It  is  vain  for  the 
English  to  wish  the  like  courtesy  from  the  king  of  France  ;  partly 
because  England  lies  not  in  their  way  to  Rome,  partly  because  they 
are  fuller  of  compliments  than  courtesy. 

6.  He  goeth  to  Rome.     Returneth^  improved  in  Devotion. 

A.I).  1033. 

Coming  to  Rome,  Canutus  turned  convert,  changing  his  condition 
with  the  climate,  showing  there  many  expressions  of  devotion. 
Much  he  gave  to  the  pope  ;  and  something  he  gained  from  him, 
namely,  an  immunity  for  archbishops  from  their  excessive  charges 
about  their  pall ;  and  some  other  favours  he  obtained  for  his  subjects. 
After  his  return  into  his  own  country,  he  laid  out  all  the  remainder 
of  his  days  in  acts  of  charity,  in  founding  or  enriching  of  religious 
houses,  and  two  especially,  Saint  Bennet's  in  the  Holm  in  Norfolk, 
and  Hyde  Abbey  near  Winchester. 

7.  The  paramount  Cross  of  England  for  richness.     King 

C  anil  tic  s''s  Humility.     A.D.  1035. 

To  this  latter  he  gave  a  cross  so  costly  for  the  metal,  and  curious 
for  the  making,  that  one  year's  revenues*  of  his  crown  was  expended 
on  the  same.  But  the  cross  of  this  cross  was, — that,  about  the 
reign  of  king  Henry  VI.  it  was  burnt -f*  down  with  the  whole  mo- 
nastery, in  a  fire  which  was  very  suspicious  to  have  been  kindled  by 
intentional  malice.  This  Canutus,  towards  the  latter  end  of  his 
reign,  never  wore  a  crown  ;  resigning  up  the  same  to  the  image  of 
our  Saviour  :  he  was  also  famous  for  a  particular  act  of  humility  done 
by  him  on  this  occasion. 

8.   Commands  the  Sea  ;  but  in  vain. 

A  parasite  (and  sooner  will  a  hot  May  want  flies,  than  a  king's 
court  such  flatterei  s)  sought  to  puff  up  king  Canutus  with  an  opinion 
of  his  puissance  ;.  as  if,  because  England  and  Norway,  therefore 
tEoIus  and  Neptune,  must  obey  him.  In  confuting  of  whose 
falsehood,  Canutus  commanded  his  chair  of  state  to  be  set  on  the 
sea-shore,  nigh  Southampton,  and  settled  himself  thereon.  Then 
he  imperiously  I  commanded  the  waves  (as  a  fence  which  walled  that 
land  belonging  unto  him)  to  observe  their  due  distance,  not  presum- 
ing to  approach  him.  The  surly  waves  were  so  far  from  obeying, 
they  heard  him  not ;  who  listened  only  to  the  proclamation  of  a 
higher  Monarch, — "  Hither  shalt  thou  come,  and  no  further,"  Job 

•  Camden's  Britannia  in  Hampshire.  t  Idom,  ibidem.  t  Hen.  Hir<. 

TiNGDON  in  Vitd  Canuti, 


216  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1035 42. 

xxxviii.  11 ;  and  made  bold  to  give  tlie  king''s  feet  so  coarse  a  kiss, 
as  wetted  him  up  to  tlie  knees. 

9-  His  Sermon  thereon.     His  Laws,  zchy  omitted. 

On  this  accident,  king  Canutus  made  an  excellent  sermon :  First. 
Adoring  the  infinite  power  of  God,  sole  Commander  of  the  winds 
and  waves.  Secondly.  Confessing  the  frailty  of  all  flesh,  unable  to 
stop  the  least  drop  of  the  sea.  Thirdly.  Confuting  the  profaneness 
of  flatterers,  fixing  an  infinite  power  in  a  finite  creature.  As  for  the 
laws  made  by  king  Canutus,  we  have  purposely  omitted  them  :  not 
so  much  because  many,  large,  and  ordinarily  extant ;  but  chiefly 
because,  most,  of  civil  concernment. 

10.  Harold  Harefoot  succeeded  him  ;  then  Hardy  Canutus. 
1  Harold  Harefoot  A.D.  1036.  1  Hardy  Canute.  A.D.  1040. 
Two  of  his  sons  succeeded  him,  more  known  by  their  handsome 
surnames,  than  any  other  desert.  First  his  base  son,  (taking  ad- 
vantage of  his  brother's  absence,)  called  from  his  swiftness,  Harold 
Harefoot, — belike,  another  Asahel  in  nimbleness,  2  Sam.  ii.  18  ;  but 
\\?ixe&-heart  had  better  befitted  his  nature,  so  cowardly  his  disposi- 
tion. Then  his  legitimate  son,  called  Hardy  Canute,  more  truly 
Bloody  Canute,  eminent  for  his  cruelty.  With  him  expired  the 
Danish  royal  line  in  England,  leaving  no  issue  behind  him,  and 
opening  an  opportunity  for  the  banished  son  of  king  Ethelred  to 
recover  the  crown,  whose  ensuing  reign  is  richly  worth  our  descrip- 
tion. Mean  time  it  is  worth  our  observing,  in  how  few  years  the 
Danish  greatness  shrank  to  nothing  ;  and  from  formidable  became 
inconsiderable,  yea,  contemptible.  Indeed,  Canutus  was  one  of  ex- 
traordinary worth  ;  and  the  wheel,  once  moved,  will  for  a  time  turn 
of  itself.  Had  Harold  his  son  (by  what  way  it  skilled  not)  been 
one  of  a  tolerable  disposition,  he  might  have  traded  in  reputation  on 
the  stock  of  his  father's  memory.  But  being  so  very  mean,  (con- 
siderable only  in  cruelty,)  his  father's  worth  did  him  the  disadvan- 
tage to  render  his  unworthiness  the  more  conspicuous.  Besides, 
when  Hardy  Canute  his  brother  succeeded  him,  and,  though  better 
born,  showed  himself  no  better  bred  in  his  inhuman  carriage,  it 
caused  not  only  a  nauseation,  in  the  people  of  England,  of  Danish 
kings,  but  also  an  appetite,  yea,  a  longing  after  their  true  and  due 
sovereign. 

11.  Edward  the  Confessor  becomes  King  of  England. 
1  Edward  the  Confessor.     J.D.  1042. 

Edward  the  Confessor,  youngest  son  of  Icing  Ethelred,  (his  elder 
brethren  being  slain,  and  their  children  fled  away,)  came  to  be  king 


4  EDWARD  THE  CONFESSOR.         BOOK    II.    .  CENT.    XI.  217 

of  England.  I  understand  not  the  ceremony  which  I  read  was 
used  to  this  Edward,  Avhilst  as  yet  (saith  a  monkisli  author,* 
properly  enough  in  his  own  language)  "  he  was  contained  in  the 
weak  cloisters  of  his  mother's  womb  ;"  at  which  time  the  peers  of 
the  land  sware  allegiance  unto  him  or  her  (the  sex  as  yet  being 
unknown)  before  he  was  born.  Indeed,  I  find  that  Varranes's 
child  was  crowned  king  whilst  yet  in  his  mother's  body,  applicatd 
ad  iiteriim  corond.'\-  But  what  solemnity  soever  was  done  to  this 
Hans-in-kelder,l  it  did  not  afterwards  embolden  him  to  the  antici- 
pation of  the  crown, — attending  till  it  descended  upon  him. 

12.  The  Original  of  our  Common  Laws. 
A  worthy  king,  no  less  pious  to  God,  than  just  to  man.  For, 
whereas  formerly  there  were  manifold  laws  in  the  land, — made, 
some  by  the  Britons,  others  by  the  Danes,  others  by  the  English, 
— swelling  to  an  unmeasurable  number,  to  the  great  mischief  of  his 
subjects  ;  he  caused  some  few  of  the  best  to  be  selected,  and  the 
rest,  as  captious  and  unnecessary,  to  be  rejected.  Hence,  say 
some,  they  were  "called  "  the  common  laws,"  as  calculated  for  the 
common  good,  and  no  private  person's  advantage. 

13.  No  hostile  Danes  appear  in  England. 

It  is  admirable  how  the  Danes  in  this  king's  reign  were  vanished 
away.  They  who  formerly  could  scarce  be  numbered  in  England 
they  were  so  many,  could  now  scarce  be  numbered  they  were  so 
few,  and  those  living  quietly  with  their  English  neighbours.  As 
for  foreign  invading  Danes  in  this  king's  reign,  as  I  cannot  see 
them,  so  I  will  not  seek  them,  glad  of  their  room  and  riddance. 
Indeed,  once  I  meet  with  an  assay  of  them  in  a  navy  bound  to 
infest  England ;  but  their  king  being  casually  drowned  as  he 
entered  his  own  fleet,  put  an  end  to  their  hopes,  and  our  fears  for 
that  design. 

1 4.    The  Manner  of  Ordeal  hg  Fire.     A.D.  1046. 

Emma,  king  Edward's  mother,  being  suspected  too  familiar  with 
Alwin  bishop  of  Winchester,  under  the  colour  of  devotion,  put 
herself  to  be  tried  by  ordeal  ;  whereof  this  the  manner :  Nine 
plough-shares,  glowing  hot,  Avere  laid  on  the  ground,  one  foot 
distant  from  another  ;  the  party  suspected  was  to  be  brought  blind- 
folded, and  bare-footed  to  pass  over  them.  If  he  chanced  to  step 
in  the  intervals,  or  on   the  hot  iron  unhurt,   he  was  pronounced 

•  Father  Jerome  Porter  in  "  the  Flowers  of  the  Lives  of  the  Saints,"  page  2. 
t  Agathias,  lib.  iv.  J  A  Dutch  phrase,  Jack-in-the-cellar,  for  "a  child  in  the 

womb.''     See  a  similar  application  of  thi.3  epithet  to  St.  David,  page  61. — Edit. 


218  CHURCH    HISTOllY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1046. 

"innocent,""  otherwise  condemned  for  an  offender.  An  unjust  law, 
Avherein  the  triers  had  no  precept,  the  tried  no  promise.  Must 
innocence  be  ruined  as  often  as  malice  would  wrong  it,  if  miracle 
would  not  rescue  it  ?  This  was  not  a  way  to  try  man,  but  tempt 
God  :  as  just  a  trying  by  fire,  as  that  of  our  modern  witches  by 
water.  This  trial  queen  Emma  admirably  underwent,  not  sensible 
of  the  plough-shares  till  past  them,  saying  to  such  as  led  her,  "  O, 
when  shall  I  come  to  the  place  of  my  purgation  .'*"" 

15.   Queen  Emma's  miraculous  Purgation. 

By  what  power  this  was  performed,  I  will  not  dispute  ;  finding 
amongst  the  Heathens  a  city  Feronia,*  twenty  miles  from  Rome, 
under  Mount  Soracte ;  where  the  inhabitants,  possessed  with  a 
spirit  of  a  deity  therein  worshipped,  usually  walked  upon  burning 
coals,  without  any  harm.  Only  I  wonder,  that  bishop  Alwin 
(equally  suspected  and  equally  innocent  Avith  Emma)  should  not 
proffer  himself  to  the  like  trial.  But,  perchance,  the  prudent 
prelate  remembered,  that  such  barbarous  customs,  though  kept  up 
amongst  the  common  people,  were  forbidden  by  the  ancient  canons, 
as  also  by  the  letter  of  pope  Stephen  V.  which  about  the  year 
eight  hundred  eighty  and  seven  he  wrote  to  Humbert,  bishop  of 
Mentz.  And  now  Emma  who  went  willingly  on  this  sad  errand, 
did  the  business  for  them  both,  and  cleared  their  credits.  The 
church  of  Winchester  got  well  hereby ;  namely,  nine  manors, 
which  queen  Emma  bestowed  thereon,  in  commemoration  of  her 
deliverance, 

16.  A  Wife  no  Wife. 

King  Edward  the  Confessor  was  married  to  the  devout  lady 
Edith  ;  his  wife  in  mind,  but  not  in  body  ;  in  consent,  not  act ; 
being  only  (as  my  author  saith)  an  Abishag  to  the  king.  Strange  ! 
that  two  persons,  if  loving  each  other  in  the  prime  of  their  years, 
should  light  on  so  happy  a  temper  as  mutually  to  warm,  not  to  heat, 
one  another  ;  which  the  wise  men  in  our  age  will  account  difficult, 
and  the  wanton  impossible.  Such  will  say,  if  this  was  true,  that 
king  Edward  passed  as  great  a  trial  as  queen  Emma  his  mother ; 
and  that  his  ordeal  was  as  hard,  as  hers  was  painful. 

17.    Yet,  was  there  not  a  Cause  ? 

Was  it  not  pity  but  the  world  should  have  more  of  the  breed  of 

thtm  who  were  so  godly  a  couple  ?     Let  baseness   be  barren,  and 

cruelty  childless.     Pious  persons  deserve  a  double   portion   in  that 

charter  of  fruitfulness,  "  Multiply  and  increase,"  Gen.  i,  28.     Yea, 

*  Strab.  (jcol).  lib.  V.  ct  Plin.  lib.  vii.  cap.  2. 


4  EDWARD   THE   CONFESSOll.       BOOK     II.       CENT.    XI.  219 

tlie  Englisli  crown  now  wanting  an  heir,  and,  for  default  thereof, 
likely  to  fall  to  foreigners,  might  (I  will  not  say  have  tempted, 
but)  have  moved  king  Edward  to  the  knowledge  of  his  wife.  But 
whilst  Papists  cry  up  this  his  incredible  continency,  others  easily 
iinwonder  the  same,  by  imputing  it  partly  to  his  impotence, 
afflicted  with  an  infirmity  ;  partly  to  the  distaste  of  his  wife,  whom 
he  married  only  for  conveniency ;  and  to  the  distrust  of  her 
chastity,  on  suspicion  whereof  he  confined  her  to  the  monastery  of 
Whore-well*  (as  I  take  it)  in  Hampshire. 

18.   The  good  Daughter  of  a  had  Father. 
But   grant    queen    Edith  a  chaste  woman,  as  she    is  generally 
believed  ;  daughter  she  was  to  a  wicked   father,  earl  Godwin   by 
name  ;  whence  the  proverb  : — 

Sicut  spina  rosam,  gmiuit  Godivinus  Editham,  : 

"  From  prickly  stock  as  springs  a  rose, 
So  Edith  from  earl  Godwin  grows  :  " 

little  ill  being  written  of  the  daughter,  and  no  good  of  the  father. 
Indeed,  king  Edward  was  father-in-law-ridden,  who  feared  earl 
Godwin  rather  than  trusted  him,  as  who  with  a  long  train  of  his 
power  could  sweep  many  dependents  after  him.  This  Godwin,  like 
those  sands  near  Kent  which  bear  his  name,  never  spared  what  he 
could  spoil,  but  swallowed  all  which  came  within  his  compass  to 
devour.  Two  instances  whereof,  because  both  belonging  to  church- 
matters,  we  will  relate. 

19.  Godwin's  Device  to  get  Berkeley  Nunnery. 
He  cast  a  covetous  eye  on  the  fair  nunnery  of  Berkeley  in 
Gloucestershire,  and  thus  contrived  it  for  himself :  He  left  there  a 
handsome  young  man,  really  or  seemingly  sick,  for  their  charity  to 
recover ;  who  quickly  grows  well  and  wanton.  He  is  toying, 
tempting,  taking  ;  such  fire  and  flax  quickly  make  a  flame.  The 
sisters  lose  their  chastity,  and,  without  taking  wife  in  the  way,  are 
ready  to  make  mothers.  The  young  man,  if  sick,  returns  to  earl 
Godwin  in  health,  leaving  the  healthful  nuns  sick  behind  him. 
The  fame  hereof  fills  the  country,  flies  to  court,  is  complained  of  by 
carl  Godwin  to  the  king.  Officers  are  sent  to  inquire,  they  return 
it  to  be  true,  the  nuns  are  turned  out,  their  house  and  lands 
forfeited,  both  bestowed  on  earl  Godwin  ;  surprised  weakness  being 
put  out,  and  designed  wickedness  placed  in  the  room  thereof. 
Surely,  king  Edward  knew  nothing  of  Godwin"'s  deceit  herein  ; 
otherwise  it  was  unjust,  that  the  whores  should  be  punished,  and 
the  principal  pander  rewarded. 

•  "  Horwell,"  saya  Mills,  in  "his  "  Catalogue  of  Honour." — Edit. 


220  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1046 — 61. 

20.  Another  Trick  to  gain  the  Manor  of  Boseham. 
At  another  time  lie  had  a  mind  to  the  rich  manor  of  Boseham  in 
Sussex,  and  complimented  it  out  of  Robert  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, in  this  manner  :  Coming  to  the  archbishop,  he  saith,  Da 
mihi  Basium,  that  is,  "  Give  me  a  buss,"  or  "  a  kiss," — an  usual 
favour  from  such  a  prelate.  The  archbishop  returns.  Do  tibi 
Basium,  kissing  him  therewith:  a  holy  kiss  (perchance)  as 
given,  but  a  crafty  one  as  taken  ;  for  Godwin  presently  posts  to 
Boseham,  and  takes  possession  thereof.  And  though  here  was 
neither  real  intention  in  him  who  passed  it  away,  nor  valuable 
consideration  to  him,  but  a  mere  circumvention  ;  yet  such  was 
Godwin*'s  power,  and  the  archbishop''s  poorness  of  spirit,  that  he 
quietly  enjoyed  it.  Nor  have  I  aught  else  to  observe  either  of 
Berkeley  or  Boseham,  but  that  both  these  rich  and  ancient  manors, 
earl  Godwin''s  brace  of  cheats,  and  distant  a  hundred  miles  each 
from  other,  are  now  both  met  in  the  right  honourable  George 
Berkeley,  (as  heir-apparent  thereof,)  the  paramount  Mecsenas  of  my 
studies  ;  whose  ancestors  as  they  were  long  since  justly  possessed  of 
them,  so  I  doubt  not  but  their  posterity  will  long  comfortably 
enjoy  them. 

21.  A  Miracle  reported  done  by  King  Edivard. 

The  monks  that  wrote  this  king  Edward's  Life  had  too  heavy  a 
hand  in  over-spicing  it  with  miracles  ;  which  hath  made  the  relation 
too  hot  for  the  mouth  of  any  moderate  belief.  A  poor  cripple 
chanced  to  come  to  him,  one  who  might  have  stocked  a  whole 
hospital  with  his  own  maladies.  It  was  questionable,  whether  the 
difficulty  of  his  crawling  caused  more  pain,  or  the  deformity  thereof 
more  shame  unto  him.  The  sight  of  him  made  all  tender  beholders 
cripples  by  sympathy,  commiserating  his  sad  condition.  But,  it 
seems,  this  weak  wretch  had  a  strong  fancy  and  bold  face,  who 
durst  desire  the  king  himself  to  carry  him  on  his  back  into  the 
church,  on  assurance,  as  he  said,  that  thereby  he  should  be  recovered. 
The  good  king  grants  his  desire ;  and  this  royal  porter  bears  him 
into  the  church,  where  so  strange  an  alteration  is  said  to  happen  : 
Qui  venit  quadrupes  decessit  bipes :  "  He  that  came  on  all  four, 
departed  straight  and  upright." 

22.   Westminster  Church  rebuilt  by  him.     A.D.  1061. 

The  church  into  which  the  king  carried  the  cripple  was  St. 
Peter's  in  Westminster,  built  by  him  on  this  occasion  : — King 
Edward  had  made  a  vow  to  visit  the  relics  of  St.  Peter  in  Rome  ; 
and,  because  his  subjects  could  not  safely  spare  him  out  of  his  own 


19  EDWARD  THE  CONFESSOR.        ROOK    II.       CENT.    XI.  221 

country,  the  pope  dispensed  with  him  for  the  performance  thereof. 
Now,  although  he  went  not  to  St.  Peter,  St.  Peter  came  to  him, 
and  in  several  apparitions  advised  him  to  build  him  a  church  in  the 
place  now  called  Westminster,  then  Thornie,  because  desolate,  and 
overgrown  with  thorns  and  briers.  Nor  is  it  any  news,  that  populous 
cities,  at  this  present,  were  anciently  woods  and  bushy  plots.  What 
else  was  Jerusalem  itself  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  but  a  Thornie, 
when,  in  the  midst  thereof,  on  Mount  Moriah,  "  a  ram  was  caught 
by  the  horns  in  a  thicket?"  Gen.  xxii,  13.  This  church  many 
years  before  had  been  dedicated  to,  and,  as  the  monks  say,  con- 
secrated by,  St  Peter,  till  destroyed  by  the  Danes  :  king  Edward 
raised  it  from  the  ruins,  endowing  it  with  large  privileges  and  rich 
possessions. 

23.  A  Ring  said  to  be  sent  from  St.  John  to  King  Edward. 

Next  to  St.  Peter,  our  Edward's  darling,  he  is  said  to  be  most 
in  favour  with  St.  John  the  apostle,  who  is  reported  to  have  appeared 
unto  him  in  the  shape  of  a  begging  pilgrim.  The  king,  not  having, 
at  the  present,  money  to  supply  his  wants,  plucked  off  his  ring  from 
his  finger,  and  bestowed  it  upon  him.  This  very  ring,  some  years 
after,  St.  John  sent  him  back  again  by  two  pilgrims  out  of 
Palestine ;  but  withal  telling  him,  that  he  should  die  within  six 
months  after :  a  message  more  welcome  than  the  ring  to  such  a 
mortified  man.  If  any  doubt  of  the  truth  thereof,  it  is  but  riding 
to  Havering  in  Essex,  so  called,  as  they  say,*  from  this  ring*, 
where,  no  doubt,  the  inhabitants  will  give  any  sufficient  satisfaction 
therein. 

24.  A  Vision  worth  observing. 

Amongst  the  many  visions  in  this  king's  reign,  one  I  will  not 
omit,  because  seeming  to  have  somewhat  more  than  mere  monk 
therein.  One,  being  inquisitive  what  should  become  of  England 
after  king  Edward's  death,  received  this  answer  ;  "  The  kingdom  of 
England  belongeth  to  God  himself,  who  will  provide  it  a  king  at 
his  pleasure."  Indeed,  England  is  God's  on  several  titles.  First. 
As  a  country :  "^  The  earth  is  his,  and  the  fulness  thereof.'* 
Secondly.  As  an  island ;  which  are  God's  demesnes,  which  he  keeps 
in  his  own  hand  of  his  daily  providence.  Thirdly.  As  a  kingdom, 
on  which  he  hath  bestowed  miraculous  deliverances.  Seeing,  then, 
England  is  his  own,  we  know  who  said,  "  Is  it  not  lawful  to  do 
what  I  will  with  mine  own  ?"  Matt.  xx.  15.  May  He  dispose  of 
his  own  to  his  own  glory,  and  the  good  of  his  own  servants  ! 

•  Camden's  Britan.  in  Essen. 


222  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1061. 

25.  King  Edward's  Contempt  of  Wealth. 
Amongst  the  many  resplendent  virtues  in  king  Edward,  con- 
tempt of  wealth  was  not  the  least,  whereof  some  bring  in  this  for  an 
instance  : — The  king  lay  on  a  pallet  surrounded  with  curtains  ;  by 
him  stood  a  chest  of  silver,  which  Hugolin,  his  treasurer,  (called 
away  on  some  sudden  occasion,)  had  left  open.  In  comes  a 
thievish  courtier,  takes  away  as  much  money  as  he  could  carry,  and 
disposeth  thereof.  Then  cometh  he  the  second  time  for  a  new 
burden,  little  suspecting  that  the  unseen  king  saw  him  all  the  while, 
and,  having  laden  himself,  departed.  Some  add,  he  returned  the 
third  time.  "  Be  content,"  quoth  the  king,  "  with  what  you  have, 
lest,  if  Hugolin  come  in  and  catch  you,  he  take  it  all  from  you." 
Soon  after  the  treasurer  returning,  and  fretting  for  loss  of  the 
money,  "  Let  him  have  it  quietly,"  said  the  king,  "  he  needeth  it 
more  than  we  do  : ""  words  which  spake  him  a  better  man  than 
king,  as  accessary  to  his  own  robbing ;  who,  if  pleased  to  have 
made  this  pilfering  fellow  to  have  tasted  of  the  whip  for  his  pains, 
had  marred  a  pretty  jest,  but  made  a  better  earnest  therein. 

26.  King  Edward''s  Wardrobe  put  into  the  Regalia. 
Posterity  conceived  so  great  an  opinion  of  king  Edward's  piety, 
that  his  clothes  were  deposited  amongst  the  regalia,  and  solemnly 
worn  by  our  English  kings  on  their  coronation  ;  never  counting 
themselves  so  fine,  as  when  invested  with  his  robes  ;  the  sanctity  of 
Edward  the  first  wearer  excusing,  yea,  adorning,  the  modern 
antiqueness  of  his  apparel.  Amongst  these  is  the  rod  or  sceptre, 
with  a  dove  on  the  top  thereof,  the  emblem  of  peace,  because  in  his 
reign  England  enjoyed  halcyon  days,  free  from  Danish  invasions  ; 
as  also  his  crown,  chair,  staff,  tunic,  close  pall,  Tuisni  hosen,  sandals, 
spurs,  gloves,  &c.*  Expect  not  from  me  a  comment  on  these 
several  clothes,  or  reason  for  the  wearing  of  them.  In  general,  it 
was  to  mind  our  kings,  when  habited  with  his  clothes,  to  be  clothed 
with  the  habit  of  his  virtuous  endowments  ;  as,  when  putting  on 
the  gloves  of  this  Confessor,  their  hands  ought  to  be  like  his,  in 
moderate  taking  of  taxes  from  their  subjects.  Indeed,  impositions, 
once  raised,  are  seldom  remitted  ;  pretended  necessities  being 
always  found  out  for  their  continuance.  But  our  Edward  released 
to  his  subjects  the  grievous  burden  of  Dane-gelt,  paid  to  his  prede- 
cessors, conceiving  it  fit,  now  the  Danes  were  departed,  that  the 
gelt  or  tax  should  go  after  them.  But  now,  Edward''s  staff  is 
broken,  chair  overturned,  clothes  rent,  and  crown  melted  ;  our 
present  age  esteeming  them  the  relics  of  superstition. 

"  See  Mills's  "  Catalogue  of  Honour,"  page  59. 


19  EDWARD  THE  CONFESSOR.        BOOK    II.       CENT.    XI.  223 

2/    No  Confessor  in  the  Strictness  of  the  Word. 

And  yet,  all  things  being  cast  up,  I  confess  I  understand  not 
how  the  name  "  Confessor"  is  proper  to  king  Edward,  in  the  strict 
acceptance  thereof.  For  a  confessor  is  one  actually  persecuted  for 
the  testimony  of  the  truth,  and  prepared  to  lose  his  life  for  the 
same.  He  is  a  martyr  in  bullion,  wanting  only  the  stamp  of  a 
violent  death  to  be  impressed  upon  him.  Now  a  great  part  of  our 
Edward's  life  was  led  by  him  in  peace  and  plenty ;  nothing 
bounding  his  abundance  but  his  own  moderation,  and,  for  twenty 
years  together,  having  no  visible  foe  to  offend  him.  And  although 
in  his  youth  he  lived  in  Normandy,  in  a  middle  condition,  betwixt 
an  exile  and  a  traveller,  flying  thither  for  fear  of  the  Danes  ;  yet 
such  his  sufferings  were  of  civil  concerniient,  not  directly  relating 
to  conscience,  though  at  distance  reducible  thereunto.  But  seeing, 
in  the  titles  of  great  persons,  it  is  better  to  give  too  much  than  too 
little ;  a  Confessor  we  found  him,  and  a  Confessor  we  leave  him. 

28.  Stigand  the  vicious  Archbishop  of  Cmiferbury. 
Our  eyes  have  been  so  intent  in  beholding  the  virtues  of  this 
king,  we  have  been  little  at  leisure  to  take  notice  of  the  archbishops 
of  Canterbury,  during  his  reign.  Know,  then,  that  about  ten  years 
since,  Robert  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who-  succeeded  Eadsin 
therein,  fearing  some  hard  measure  from  earl  Godwin,  (notwith- 
standing he  had  been  contentedly  kissed  out  of  his  manor  of 
Boseham,)  conveyed  himself  away  beyond  the  seas,  to  his  monastery 
in  Normandy,  whence  he  came  first  into  England.  After  whose 
departure,  Stigand,  bishop  of  Winchester,  intruded  himself  into 
that  see,  eminent  only  for  vice  and  sordid  covetousness. 

29.  King  Edward''s  ecclesiastical  Constitutions. 

As  for  the  ecclesiastical  laws  made  by  this  king  in  his  reign,  it 
will  be  enough  to  affix  their  principal  titles. 

1.  That  every  clerk  and  scholar  should  quietly  enjoy  their  goods 
and  possessions. 

2.  What  solemn  festivals  people  may  come  and  go  of,  without 
any  lawsuits  .to  disturb  them. 

3.  That  in  all  courts  where  the  bishop*'s  proctor  doth  appear,  his 
case  is  first  to  be  heard  and  determined. 

4.  That  guilty  folk,  flying  to  the  church,  should  there  have  pro- 
tection, not  to  be  reprehended  by  any,  but  by  the  bishop  and  his 
ministers. 

5.  That  tithes  be  paid  to  the  church,  of  sheep,  pigs,  bees,  and 
the  like. 


224  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A,D.  1061 QG. 

6.  How  the  ordeal  was  to  be  ordered  for  the  trial  of  guilty  per- 
sons by  fire  and  water. 

7.  That  Peter-pence,  or  Rome-scot,  be  faithfully  paid  to  the 
pope. 

But  I  lose  time,  and  refer  the  reader  to  read  these  constitutions 
at  large  being  three-and-twenty  in  number,  in  the  worthy  work  of 
that  no  less  learned  than  religious  knight,  Sir  Henry  Spelman.* 

30.  How  the  Kings  of  England  come  to  cure  the  King's  Eml. 
A.D.  January  Uh,  lOGO. 

And  now  the  full  time  was  come,  wherein  good  king  Edward 
exchanged  this  life  for  a  better ;  who  as  he  was  famous  for  many 
personal  miracles,  so  he  is  reported  to  have  entailed  (by  heaven"'s 
consort)  an  hereditary  virtue  on  his  successors,  the  kings  of 
England,  (only  with  this  condition, — that  they  continue  constant  in 
Christianity,)  to  cure  the  king's  evil.-f*  This  disease,  known  to  the 
Greeks  by  the  name  of  y^oipahs,  termed  by  Latins  struma  and 
scrophulce,  hath  its  cause  from  phlegm  ;  its  chief  and  common 
outward  residence  in  or  near  the  neck  and  throat,  where  it 
expresseth  itself  in  knobs  and  kernels,  pregnant  oftentimes  with 
corrupted  blood,  and  other  putrified  matter,  which,  on  the  breaking 
of  those  bunches,  floweth  forth,  equally  offensive  to  sight,  smell, 
and  touch.  And  yet  this  noisome  disease  is  happily  healed  by  the 
hands  of  the  kings  of  England  stroking  the  sore  ;  and  if  any  doubt 
of  the  truth  thereof,  they  may  be  remitted  to  their  own  eyes  for 
farther  confirmation.  But  there  is  a  sort  of  men,  who,  to  avoid  the 
censure  of  over-easy  credulity,  and  purchase  the  repute  of  prudent 
austerity,  justly  incur  the  censure  of  affected  frowardness  ;  it  being 
neither  manners  nor  discretion  in  them,  in  matters  notoriously 
known,  to  give  daily  experience  the  lie  by  the  backwardness  of 
their  belief. 

•31.  Several  Opinions  of  the  Causes  thereof. 

But  whence  this  cure  proceeds,  is  much  controverted  amongst  the 
learned.  Some  recount  it  in  the  number  of  those  avaTroSsjxra, 
whose  reason  cannot  be  demonstrated.  For  as  in  vicious  common- 
wealths bastards  are  frequent,  who,  being  reputed  filii  populi,  have 
no  particular  father  ;  so  man"'s  ignorance  increaseth  the  number  of 
occult  qualities,  (which  I  might  call  "  chances  in  nature,*")  where 
the  effect  is  beheld,  but  cannot  be  certainly  referred  to  .any 
immediate  and  proper  cause  thereof.  Others  impute  it  to  the 
power  of  fancy,  and  an  exalted  imagination. j     For  when  the  poor 

•  In  bis  "  Councils,"  page  619.  |  Primrosius  De  Vtilgat.  Error,  cap.  ultimo. 

X  Ferrerius,  Method,  lib.  v.  cap.  11,  Dr  Homeric.  Curat. 


24  EDWARD  THF,   CONFESSOR.        I?OOK    II.       CENT.    XI.  225 

patient  (who,  percliancc,  seldom  heard  of  and  never  saw  a  king 
before)  shall  behold  his  royal  hand  dabbling  in  a  puddle  of  putre- 
faction, and,  with  a  charitable  confidence,  rubbing,  smoothing, 
chafing  those  loathsome  kernels ;  which  I  may  call  "  clouds  of 
corruption,"  dissolved  oft-times  into  a  feculent  shower; — I  say, 
"when  the  sick  man  shall  see  a  hand  so  humble  of  an  arm  so  high, 
such  condescension  in  a  king,  to  stroke  that  sore  at  which  meaner 
persons  would  stop  their  nostrils,  shut  their  eyes,  or  turn  their  faces  ; 
this  raiseth,  erecteth,  enthroneth  the  patient's  fancy,  summoning  his 
spirits  to  assist  nature  with  their  utmost  might,  to  encounter  the 
disease  with  greater  advantage.  And  who  will  look  into  the  legend 
of  the  miracles  of  imagination,  shall  find  many  strange  and  almost 
incredible  things  thereby  really  effected. 

32.  Others  count  it  Superstition. 

Other  learned  men,  and  particularly  Gaspar  Peucerus,*  though 
acquitting  this  cure  from  diabolical  conjuration,  yet  tax  it  as  guilty 
of  supei-stition.  With  him  all  such  do  side  as  quarrel  at  the  cere- 
monies and  circumstances  used  at  the  healing  of  this  malady :  either 
displeased  at  the  second  Gospel  read,  (consisting  of  the  first  nine 
verses  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,)  as  wholly  improper,  and  nothing 
relating  to  the  occasion  ;  or  unresolved  of  the  efficacy  of  the  gold 
pendent  about  the  patients  neck  ;  (whether  partly  completing,  or  a 
bare  compliment  of,  the  cure;)  or  secretly  unsatisfied,  what  manner 
and  measure  of  belief  is  required ;  (according  to  the  model  whereof 
health  is  observed  to  come  sooner  or  later  ;)  or  openly  offended  with 
"  the  sign  of  the  cross,"-f-  which  was  used  to  be  made  by  the  royal 
hands  on  the  place  infected.  All  which  exceptions  fall  to  the 
ground,  when  it  shall  be  avowed,  that,  notwithstanding  the  omission 
of  such  ceremonies,  (as  requisite  rather  to  the  solemnity  than 
substance  of  the  cure,)  the  bare  hands  of  our  kings  (without  the 
gloves,  as  I  may  term  it,  of  the  aforesaid  circumstances)  have 
effected  the  healing  of  this  disease. 

33.  Many  make  the  Cure  miraculous. 

Hereupon  some  make  it  a  clear  miracle,  and  immediately  own 
God's  finger  in  the  king's  hand :  That  when  the  art  of  the  physician 
is  posed,  the  industry  of  the  surgeon  tired  out,  the  experience  of 
both  at  a  loss,  when  all  human  means  cry  "  craven  ;'*'  then  that  wound 
made  by  the  hand  of  God  is  cured  by  the  hand  of  his  vicegerent. 
Hath  Heaven  endued  vegetables  (the  worst  and  weakest  of  living 
creatures)  with  cordial  qualities .''  Yea,  hath  it  bestowed  precious 
properties  on  dull  and  inanimate  waters,  stones,  and  minerals,  inso- 

*  Lib.  De  Jncantamentis.  f  Gu.  Tucker  in  Charisrnate,  cap.  vii.  page  96. 

Vol.  I.  Q. 


226  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1066. 

much  that  such  are  condemned  for  silly  or  sullen,  for  stupid  or 
stubborn,  as  doubt  thereof?  And  shall  we  be  so  narrow-hearted  as 
not  to  conceive  it  possible,  that  Christian  men,  the  noblest  of  cor- 
poreal creatures ;  kings,  the  most  eminent  of  all  Christian  men ; 
kings  of  Britain,  the  first-fruits  of  all  Christian  kings,  should  receive 
that  peculiar  privilege  and  sanative  power,  whereof  daily  instances 
are  presented  unto  us  ?  See  here  the  vast  difference  betwixt  Papists 
and  Protestants  !  How  do  the  former  court  those  miracles  which 
fly  from  them  ;  and  often,  in  default  of  real  ones,  are  glad  and 
greedy  to  hug  and  embrace  empty  shadows  of  things  falsely  reported 
to  be  done,  or  fondly  reputed  to  be  miracles  !  Whereas  many 
Protestants,  on  the  contrary,  (as  in  the  matter  in  hand,)  are  scrupu- 
lous in  accepting  miracles  truly  tendered  unto  them.  But  although 
our  religion,  firmly  founded  on  and  safely  fenced  with  the  Scriptures, 
needs  no  miracles  to  confirm  or  countenance  the  truth  thereof;  yet 
when  they  are  by  the  hand  of  Heaven  cast  into  our  scales,  not  to 
make  our  doctrine  weight,  but  as  siiperpondium,  or  an  overplus 
freely  bestowed,  sure,  they  may  safely  Avithout  sin  be  received ;  not 
to  say,  can  scarce  be  refused,  without  (at  least)  some  suspicion  of 
neglect  and  ingratitude  to  the  goodness  of  God. 

34.  The  ingenuous  Confession  of  a  Catholic. 
Nor  will  it  be  amiss  here  to  relate  a  passage  which  happened 
about  the  midst  of  the  reign  of  queen  Elizabeth,  after  pope  Pius  did 
let  fly  his  excommunication  against  her.  There  was  a  stiflf  Roman 
Catholic,  (as  they  delight  to  term  themselves,)  otherwise  a  man 
Avell-accomplished,  and  of  an  ingenuous  disposition,  who,  being  cast 
into  prison,  (I  conceive,  for  his  religion,)  was  there  visited  in  a  high 
degree  with  the  king's  evil.  And  having  with  great  pain  and 
expense,  but  no  success,  long  used  the  advice  of  physicians,  at  last 
he  humbly  addressed  himself  unto  the  queen''s  majesty ;  by  whom, 
with  God's  help,  he  was  completely  cured.  And  being  demanded, 
"What  news?"  "I  perceive,"  said  he,  "now  at  last,  by  plain 
experience,  that  the  excommunication  denounced  by  the  pope 
ao-ainst  her  majesty  is  in  very  deed  of  none  effect,  seeing  God  hath 
blessed  her  with  so  great  and  miraculous  a  virtue."* 

35.    Queen    Elizabeth    why   displeased    with    the    People    in 
Gloucestershire. 

This  mention  of  queen  Elizabeth  (there  is  a  magnetic  virtue  in 
stories,  for  one  to  attract  another)  minds  me  of  a  passage  in  the 
beginning  of  her  reign.  Making  her  progress  into  Gloucestershire, 
people  affected  with  this  disease  did  in  uncivil  crowds  press  in  upon 

•  Gu.  TccKER  in  Charismate,  cap.  v\.  page  92. 


24  EDWARD  THE  ooNFKSson.       lioOK   I  r.     (?t:nt.  XI.  227 

her,  insomucli  that  her  majesty,  betwixt  anger,  grief,  and  compas- 
sion, let  fall  words  to  this  effect :  "  Alas  !  poor  people  !  I  cannot,  I 
cannot  cure  you.  It  is  God  alone  that  can  do  it."  Which  words 
some  interpreted  (contrary  to  her  intent  and  practice,  continuing 
sucli  cures  till  tlie  day  of  her  death)  an  utter  renouncing  and  dis- 
claiming of  any  instrumental  efficacy  in  herself.  Whereas  she  only 
removed  her  subjects'*  eyes  from  gazing  on  her,  to  look  up  to  heaven. 
For  men''s  minds  naturally  are  so  dull  and  heavy,  that,  instead  of 
travelling  with  their  thanks  to  God,  the  Cause  of  all  cures,  they 
lazily  take  up  their  lodging  more  than  half-way  on  this  side,  mistak- 
ing the  dealer  for  the  giver  of  their  recovery.  It  follows  not,  there- 
fore, that  the  queen  refused  to  heal  their  bodies,  because  careful  in 
the  first  place  to  cure  their  souls  of  this  dangerous  mistake :  a 
princess,  who  as  she  was  a  most  exact  demander  of  her  due, 
(observed  seldom  or  never  to<.  forgive  her  greatest  favourites  what 
they  owed  her,)  so  did  she  most  punctually  pay  her  engagements  to 
others,  as  to  all  men,  so  most  especially  to  God,  loath  that  he 
should  lose  any  honour  due  unto  him  by  her  unjust  detaining 
thereof. 

36.   The  Kings  of  France  cure  the  King's  Evil. 

The  kings  of  France  share  also  with  those  of  England  in  this 
miraculous  cure.  And  Laurentius  reports,  that  when  Francis  I. 
king  of  France  was  kept  prisoner  in  Spain,  he,  notwithstanding  his 
exile  and  restraint,  daily  cured  infinite  multitudes  of  people  of  tliat 
disease  ;  according  to  this  epigram  : — 

Hispanos  inter  sanat  rex  chwradas,  estque 
Captivus  Superis  gratuSf  ut  antefuit. 

"  The  captive  king  the  evil  etires  in  Spain  : 
Dear,  as  before,  he  doth  to  God  remain." 

So  it  seemeth  his  medicinal  quality  is  affixed  not  to  his  prosperity, 
but  person  ;  so  that  during  his  durance  he  was  fully  free  to  exercise 
the  same. 

37.  Laurentius  falsely  denies  the  Kings  of  England  Power  in 
curing  the  King''s  Evil. 

Thus  far  we  patiently  hear  and  sufficiently  credit  this  author ; 
but  can  no  longer  afford  him  either  belief  or  attention  when  he  pre- 
sumetli  to  tell  us,  that  the  kings  of  England  never  cured  the  king''s 
evil,* — a  virtue  appropriated  only  to  hisimajesty  of  France.  Only 
he  confesseth,  that  long  ago  some  of  our  English  kings  of  the 
Anjouan  race,  descended  from  Jeffery  Plantagenet,  did  heal  the 
falling  sickness  with  certain  consecrated  annulets, — a  custom  long 

•  De  Mirabili  Strwmarum  Curatione,  cap.  2. 
Q    2 


228  CHURCH    HISTOHY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1066. 

since  disused.  Thus  he  seeks  to  deprive  our  princes  of  their 
patrimonial  virtue,  and  to  make  them  reparations  (instead  of  their 
sanative  povi'er,  whereof  they  are  peaceably  possessed  to  them  and 
their  heirs,  holding  it  of  God  in  chief)  with  assigning  them  an  old 
lease,  Avhere  the  title  at  the  best  was  litigious,  and  the  term  long 
ago  expired.  But  the  reader  may  be  pleased  to  take  notice,  that 
this  Lauren  tins  was  physician-in-ordinary  to  king  Henry  IV,  of 
France,  and  so  had  his  judgment  herein  Jbowed  awry  with  so 
weighty  a  relation  ;  flattery  being  so  catching  a  disease,  wherewith 
the  best  doctors  of  physic  may  sometimes  be  infected.  To  cry 
quits  with  him,  doctor  Tucker,  chaplain  to  queen  Elizabeth,  in  a 
treatise  he  wrote  of  this  subject,  denieth  the  kings  of  France  ever 
originally  cured  this  evil,  but  per  aliqnam  propaginem,*  "  by  a 
sprig  of  right,""  derived  from  the  primitive  power  of  our  English 
kings,  under  whose  jurisdiction  most  of  the  French  provinces  were 
once  subjected. 

38.   The  indifferent  Opinion. 

Between  these  two  authors,  violent  in  opposition,  haply  we  may 
find  the  truth,  whose  constant  dwelling-place  is  pleasantly  seated  in 
a  moderate  vale,  betwixt  two  swelling  extremes.  For  it  plainly 
appeareth  by  uncontrollable  arguments  and  evidences,  that  both  the 
crowns  of  England  and  France  have  for  many  years  been  invested 
with  this  miraculous  gift ;  yet  so,  that  our  English  kings  are  the 
elder  brothers  in  the  possession  thereof.  For  if  St.  Lewis,  king  of 
France,  (who  was  contemporary  with  our  king  Henry  HL)  was  the 
first  of  that  royal  race  which  healed  this  evil,-f-  his  cradle  was  more 
than  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  after  the  coffin  of  our  Edward  the 
Confessor ;  from  whom,  as  is  aforesaid,  our  kings  derive  this 
sovereign  power  by  constant  succession.  But,  methinks,  my  book 
ill  this  discourse  begins  to  bunch  or  swell  out ;  and  some  will 
censure  this  digression  for  a  struma,  or  "  tedious  exuberancy," 
beyond  the  just  proportion  of  our  history ;  wherefore,  no  more 
hereof:  only  I  will  conclude  with  two  prayers  ;  extending  the  first 
to  all  good  people, — that  Divine  Providence  would  be  pleased  to 
preserve  them  from  this  painful  and  loathsome  disease.  The  second 
I  shall  confine  to  myself  alone,  (not  knoAving  how  it  will  suit  with 
the  consciences  and  judgments  of  others,)  yet  so  as  not  excluding 
any  who  are  disposed  to  join  with  me  in  my  petition  ;  namely, — 
that  if  it  be  the  will  of  God  to  visit  me  (whose  body  hath  the  seeds 
of  all  sickness,  and  soul  of  all  sins)  with  the  aforesaid  malady,  I 
may  have  the  favour  to  be  touched  of  his  majesty,  the  happiness  to 

•  In  his  Charixmate,  cap.  vi.  page  8^.  f  So  witne=iseth  Andrew  Cbasne,  a  French 

author,  and  others. 


1   HAROLD.        .  BOOK    II.       CKXT.    XI.  229 

be  healed  by  lilni,  and  the  thankfuhiess  to  be  grateful  to  God  the 
author,  and  God's  image  the  instrument,  of  my  recovery.  I  will 
only  add  this  short  story,  and  then  proceed  :  A  little  before  these 
wars  began,  a  minister  (not  over-loyally  affected)  was  accused,  and 
was  like  to  have  been  troubled  for  this  passage  in  his  sermon,  that 
"  oppression  was  the  king's  evil.''''  But,  being  called  to  answer  it 
before  the  commissioners,  he  expounded  his  own  words,  that  he 
meant  oppression  was  the  king's  evil,  not  that  the  king  caused  it, 
but  only  cured  it,  and  alone  in  this  land  could  remedy  and  redress 
the  same. 

S9.  Harold  iisicrpetk  the  Crown.     1  Harold.  A.D.  1066. 

King  Edward  dying  childlessj  caused  by  his  affected  chastity,  left 
the  land  at  a  loss  for  an  heir  in  a  direct  line,  and  opened  a  door  to 
the  ambition  of  collateral  pretenders.  Indeed,  the  undoubted  right 
lay  in  Edgar  Atheling,  son  to  Edward  the  Outlaw,  grandchild  to 
Edmund  Ironside  king  of  England.  But  he,  being  tender  in  age, 
and,  as  it  seems,  soft  in  temper,  and  of  a  foreign  garb  because  of  his 
education  in  Hungary,  (his  most  potent  alliance  in  Germany,  out 
of  distance  to  send  him  seasonable  assistance,)  was  passed  by,  by 
the  English  nobility.  These  chose  Harold  to  be  king,  whose  title 
to  the  crown  is  not  worth  our  deriving  of  it,  much  less  his  relying 
on  it.  But  having  endeared  martialists  by  his  valour,  engaged 
courtiers  by  his  bounty,  and  obliged  all  sorts  of  people  by  his 
affability,  he  was  advanced  to  the  crown  by  those  who  more  con- 
sidered his  ability  to  defend  than  his  right  to  deserve  it. 

40.   William  Duke  of  Normandy  twisteth  many  weak  Titles 

together. 

William  duke  of  Normandy  was  competitor  with  Harold ;  who, 
supplying  in  number  what  he  wanted  in  strength  of  his  titles, 
claimed  the  crown  by  alliance,  adoption,  and  donation,  from  Edward 
the  Confessor  ;  though  he  was  as  unable  to  give  and  bequeath,  as 
William,  being  a  bastard,  in  the  strictness  of  Saxon  laws,  was 
uncapable  to  receive  it.  But  his  sword  was  stronger  than  his  titles, 
and  the  sins  of  the  English  more  forcible  than  either,  to  deliver 
that  nation  (now  grown,  as  authors  observe,  intolerably  vicious) 
into  his  subjection.  So  that,  in  a  pitched  field,  he  overcame  and 
killed  king  Harold,  with  the  prime  of  the  English  nobility ;  (a  just 
punishment  on  their  perjury,  for  their  deserting  their  lawful  prince;) 
and  such  as  survived  were  forced  either  to  hold  tlie  stirrup,  or 
lackey  by  the  side,  of  many  a  mean-born  Norman  mounted  to 
places  of  profit  and  honour.  This  was  the  fifth  time  wherein  the 
South  of  this  island  was  conquered  :   First.  By  Romans.    Secondly. 


230  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.D.  1066. 

By  Picts  and  Scots.  Thirdly.  By  Saxons.  Fourthly.  By  the 
Danes.  And,  Fifthly,  By  the  Normans.  This  mindeth  me  of  the 
prophet  Elisha's  speech  to  Joash  king  of  Israel :  "  Thou  shouldest 
have  smitten  five  or  six  times ;  then  hadst  thou  smitten  Syria 
till  thou  liadst  consumed  it,"  2  Kings  xiii.  19.  (It  seemeth  five 
may^  but  six  must  dispatch  a  people.)  God  hath  already  smitten 
this  island  five  times  with  a  rod  of  foreign  invasion  ;  let  us  beware 
the  sixth  time,  (that  final,  fatal  number,)  for  fear  it  prove  the  last 
and  utter  confusion  and  destruction  of  our  nation. 

41.  William  rehateth  his  co)iquering  Sword  with  Composition. 

Thus  king  William  came  in  by  conquest ;  though,  in  the  latter 
part  of  his  reign,  growing  more  mild  and  moderate,  he  twisted  his 
right  of  victory  with  composition.  As  such  who  have  ravished  a 
woman  ag-ainst  her  will,  endeavour  afterwards  to  make  her  reparation 
by  wooing  and  wedding  her,  whom  formerly  they  had  wronged ;  so 
with  love  to  cover  their  lust,  by  the  most  excusable  way  of  marriage  : 
so  king  William,  though  he  had  forced  this  land,  yet  afterwards, 
not  so  much  out  of  remorse  as  policy,  (to  suppress  frequent  tumults, 
and  procure  security  to  himself  and  successors,)  is  said  to  have 
closed  with  the  Commons  in  a  fair  way  of  agreement,  restoring 
many  ancient  privileges  unto  them.  Thus,  though  conquest  was 
more  honourable  for  his  credit,  composition  was  comfortable  for  his 
conscience,  and  accounted  most  safe  for  his  posterity.  Witness 
that  judicial  sentence  which  king  William  in  open  court  pronounced 
against  himself,  adjudging  the  lord  of  Sharnborn  in  Norfolk,* 
being  an  Englishman,  true  owner  of  that  manor  ;  contrary  to  that 
grant  wherein  he  had  formerly  bestowed  it  on  one  Warren,  a  Norman. 
Herein  the  Conqueror  confessed  himself  conquered,  submitting  his 
arbitrary  power  and  pleasure  to  be  regulated  by  justice,  and  the 
ancient  rights  of  Englishmen. 

42.  A  Breviate  of  the  Doctrine  of  England  in  these  Ages  before 

the  Norman  Conquest. 

But  what  impression  the  Norman  victories  made  on  the  state,  let 
politicians  observe.  What  change  it  produced  in  the  laAvs,  we  leave 
to  the  learned  of  that  faculty  to  prosecute  ;  whilst  that  which  ren- 
ders the  conquest  to  consideration  in  our  church-story  is,  the  mani- 
fest change  of  religion  from  what  formerly  was  publicly  professed  in 
England.  To  make  this  mutation  in  its  due  time  more  con- 
spicuous,  we  will  here  conclude  this  book  with  a  brief  character  of 
the  principal  doctrines  generally  taught  and  believed  by  the  English, 
in  these  four  last  centuries,  before  tainted  with  any  Norman  infec- 

•  Camden's  Britannia  in  Norfolk. 


1    HAHOLI).  BOOK     II.       CENT.    XI.  2ol 

tion.  For  though  we  must  confess  and  bemoan,  that  corruptions 
crept  into  the  church  by  degrees,  and  divine  worship  began  to  be 
clogged  with  superstitious  ceremonies  ;  yet  that  the  doctrine  re- 
mained still  sound  and  entire,  in  most  material  points,  will  appear 
by  an  induction  of  the  dominative  controversies,  wherein  we  differ 
from  the  church  of  Rome. 

Scripture  gexerally  read. — For  such  as  were  with  the 
holy  bishop  Aidan,  sive  aitonsi,  sive  laid,*  "  either  clergy  or 
laity,"  were  tied  to  exercise  themselves  in  reading  the  Holy  Word, 
and  learning  of  Psalms. 

The  original  preferred. — For  Ricemarch  a  Briton,-f-  a 
right  learned  and  godly  clerk,  son  to  Sulgen  bishop  of  St.  David's, 
flourishing  in  this  age,  made  this  epigram  on  those  who  translated 
the  psalter  out  of  the  Greek,  so  taking  it  at  the  second-hand,  and 
not  drawing  it  immediately  out  of  the  first  vessel : — 

Ebrais  nablain  custodit  litera  signis. 
Pro  captu  quaiii  quisque  suo  sermone  Latino 
Edidit,  innumeros  lingua  variante  libellos, 
EbrdEtimque  jubar  svffuscat  nube  Latina. 
Nam  tepefacta  ferum  dcmt  tertia  labra  saporem. 
Sed  sacer  HieroJiymtis,  Ebrcso  fonte  repletus, 
Lucidius  nudat  verum,  breviusque  ministrut.X 

''  Tliis  haip  tlie  holy  Hebrew  text  doth  tender, 
Which,  to  their  power,  whilst  every  one  doth  render 
In  Latin  tongue  with  many  variations, 
He  clouds  the  Hebrew  rays  with  his  translations. 
Thus  liquors,  when  twice  shifted  out,  and  pom-'d 
In  a  third  vessel,  are  both  cool'd  and  sour'd. 
But  holy  Jerome  truth  to  light  doth  bring 
Briefer  and  fuUer,  fetch'd  from  the  Hebrew  spring." 

No  PRA"VERS  FOR  THE  DEAD,  IN  THE  MODERN  NOTION  OF 

PAPISTS. — For,  though  Ave  find  prayers  for  the  dead,  yet  they  were 
not  in  the  nature  of  propitiation  for  their  sins,  or  to  procure  relaxa- 
tion from  their  sufferings  ;  but  were  only  an  honourable  commemo- 
ration of  their  memories,  and  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  for  their 
salvation.  Thus  St.  Cuthbert,  after  he  had  seen  the  soul  of  one 
Hadwaldus  "  carried  by  angels  into  heaven,"  §  did  celebrate  obse- 
quies of  prayers  in  his  behalf. 

Purgatory,  though  newly  hatched,  not  yet  fledged. 
— For,  although  there  are  frequent  visions  and  revelations  in  this 
age  pretended,  thereon  to  build  jjurgatory,  which  had  no  foundation 
in  Scripture  ;  yet  the  architects  of  that  fanciful  fabric  had  not  so 

*  Bed.e  Ecclcs.  Hist.  lib.  iii.  cap.  5.  t  CaRadoc.  in  "  Clu'on.  of  Cambridge." 

J  MS.  in  the  library  of  the  learned  bishop,  WiUiam  Bedel,  and  cited  by  the  archbishop 
of  Armagh  in   "  the   Religion   of  the   ancient   Irish,"   page  9.  §    Bedb   in  Htd 

Cufhberti,  cap.  .34. 


232  CHURCH    HISTOKY    Ol"    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1066. 

handsomely  contrived  it,  as  it  stands  at  tliis  day  in  the  Romish 
belief.  For  Bede,*  out  of  the  vision  of  Furseus,  relateth  certain 
great  fires  above  the  air,  appointed  to  "  examine  every  one  according 
to  tlie  merits  of  his  work,"  differing  from  the  Papists"'  Purgatory ; 
which  Bellarmine,  by  the  common  consent  of  the  schoohnen,  deter- 
mineth  to  be  within  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Thus  nothing  can  be 
invented  and  perfected  at  once. 

Communion  under  both  kinds. — For,  Bede-f-  relateth,  that 
one  Hildmer,  an  officer  of  Egfride  king  of  Northumberland,  en- 
treated our  Cuthbert  to  send  a  priest  that  might  minister  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord''s  body  and  blood  unto  his  wife,  that  then  lay 
a-dying.  And  Cuthbert  himself,  immediately  before  his  own  de- 
parture out  of  this  life,  received  the  communion  of  the  Lord's  body 
and  blood.  And,  lest  any  should  fondly  hope  to  decline  so  preg- 
nant an  instance,  by  the  novel  conceit  of  concomitancy,  (a  distinction 
that  could  not  speak,  because  it  was  not  born  in  that  age,)  it  is 
punctually  noted,  that  he  distinctly  received  the  cup  : — 

Pocula  (fcffustfd  vitix,  Christigue  supinum 
Hungidne  vumit  itcrX  — . 

"  His  voyage  steep  the  easier  to  climb  np, 

Christ's  blood  he  drank  out  of  life's  healthful  cup." 

So  that  the  eucharist  was  then  administered  entire,  and  not  maimed, 
as  it  is  by  Papists  at  this  day  ;  serving  it  as  Hanun  the  Ammonite 
did  the  clothes  and  beards  of  David's  ambassadors,  2  Sam.  x.  4, 
cutting  it  off  at  the  middle.  And,  though  the  word  "  mass"  was 
frequent  in  that  age,  generally  expressing  all  Divine  service  ;  yet 
was  it  not  known  to  be  offered  as  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  the  quick 
and  dead. 

43.   The  Author'' s  Engagement  to  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh^ 
and  Conclusion  of  this  second  Book. 

But  if  any  desire  farther  information  herein,  let  him  repair  to  the 
worthy  work  which  James  the  right  learned  and  pious  archbishop  of 
Armagh  hath  written  of  "  the  Religion  professed  by  the  ancient 
Irish  and  British."  From  whom  I  have  borrowed  many  a  note, 
though  not  always  thanking  him  in  the  margin,  by  citing  his  name  ; 
and,  therefore,  now  must  make  one  general  acknowledgment  of  my 
eno-ao'cment.  In  cities  we  see,  that  such  as  sell  by  retail,  though  of 
less  credit,  are  of  great  use,  especially  to  poor  people,  in  parcelling 
out  penny-worths  of  commodities  to  them,  whose  purses  cannot 
extend  to  buy  by  wholesale  from  the  merchant.  Conceive  I,  in  like 
manner,  my  pains  will  not  be  altogether  unprofitable,  Avho  in  this 

"  I^ib.  iii.  cap.  19.  t  Dc  I'itd  Cuthberti,  prosa,  cap  15.  X   Idem  in  Viid 

Cuthbcrli,  lanninc,  cap.  ofci. 


1  HAROLD.  BOOK    II.       CENT.    Xf.  2o3 

History  liave  fctclied  my  wares  from  the  storeliouse  of  that  reverend 
prelate,  the  cape-inerchant  of  all  learning  ;  and  hero,  in  little  rem- 
nants, deliver  them  out  to  petty  country-chapmen,  who  hitherto  have 
not  had  the  hap,  or  happiness,  to  understand  the  original  treasuries 
whence  they  are  taken.  And,  clean  through  this  work,  in  point  of 
chronology,  I  have  with  implicit  faith  followed  his  computation,* 
setting  my  watch  by  his  dial,  knowing  his  dial  to  be  set  by  the  sun, 
and  account  most  exactly  calculated,  according  to  the  'critical  truth 
of  time.  Long  may  he  live  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  good  of  his 
church :  for  whereas  many  learned  men,  though  they  be  deep 
abysses  of  knowledge,  yet,  like  the  Caspian  Sea,  receiving  all,  and 
having  no  out-let,  are  loath  to  impart  aught  to  others ;  this  bright 
sun  is  as  bountiful  to  deal  abroad  his  beams,  as  such  dark  dales  as 
myself  are  glad  and  delighted  to  receive  them. 


SECTION   VII. 

SEVERAL  COPIES  OF  BATTLE-ABBEY  ROLL. 

TO  THE  RIGHT  WORSHIPFUL   SIR   SIMON  ARCHER,  OF 
TANWORTH,  IN  WARWICKSHIRE. 

Some  report,  that  the  toad,  before  her  death,  sucks 
up,  if  not  prevented  with  sudden  surprisal,  the  precious 
stone  (as  yet  but  a  jelly)  in  her  head,  grudging  man- 
kind the  good  thereof.  Such  generally  the  envy  of 
antiquaries,  preferring  that  their  rarities  should  die 
with  them,  and  be  buried  in  their  graves,  rather  than 
others  receive  any  benefit  thereby. 

You  cross  the  current  of  common  corruption ;  it 
being  questionable  whether  you  be  more  skilful  in 
knowing,  careful  in  keeping,  or  courteous  in  communi- 
cating, your  curious  collections  in  that  kind. 

Justly,  therefore,  have  I  dedicated  these  several 
copies  of  Battle- Abbey  Roll  unto  you:  First.  Because 
I  have  received  one  of  the  most  authentic  of  them  from 
your  own  hand  :  Secondly.  Because  your  ancient  name 
chargeth  through  and  through  most  of  these  catalogues. 

*  In  Lis  book,  Dc  Brit.  Eccl,  Priinord. 


2^4  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1066. 

Yea,  as  the  Archers  came  over  with  the  Conqueror, 
so  the  Conqueror  may  be  said  to  come  over  with  the 
Archers,  (therefore  placed  in  a  hst  by  themselves,) 
because  their  valour  achieved  the  greatest  part  of  his 
victory. 

The  Design  propounded  and  asserted. 

Perusing  the  wortliy  pains  of  grave  and  godly  Mr.  Fox,  in  his 
Book  of  MartjTS,  I  find  liim  in  the  reign  of  William  I.  exemplifying 
a  double  catalogue  of  such  eminent  persons  as  came  over  at  the  Con- 
quest. Now,  seeing  so  reverend  a  writer  accounted  the  inserting 
thereof  no  deviation  from  his  Church-History,  we  presume  ac- 
cordingly, by  way  of  recreation  of  the  reader,  to  present  him  with  a 
larger  list  of  those  names,  with  some  brief  notes  thereupon. 

Imposing  of  Names  denotes  Dominion. 

Here  will  I  premise  nothing  about  the  ancient  original  of  names, 
which  argued  the  undoubted  dominion  of  him  who  first  gave  them, 
over  those  on  whom  they  were  imposed.  Thus  Eve  named  Cain, 
Gen.  iv.  1 ;  to  show  the  command,  even  of  the  mother,  over  the 
eldest  (and  therefore  over  all  her)  children.  Adam  named  Eve  : 
"  She  shall  be  called  Woman,"  Gen.  ii.  23 ;  to  signify  the  hus- 
band"'s  sovereignty  over  his  wife.  God  named  Adam  :  "  Let  us 
make  Adam,"  Gen.  i.  26,  or  man  ;  to  denote  his  power  and  authority 
over  man.  And  God  named  himself:  "  I  AM  hath  sent  me  unto 
you,"  Exodus  iii.  14 ;  importing  his  absolute  and  independent 
being  in  and  from  himself.  But,  waving  what  may  be  said  of  the 
beginning  oT  names,  we  shall  digest  what  we  conceive  necessary  for 
our  present  purpose,  into  the  following  propositions. 

Fixed  Surnames  not  long  before  the  Conquest. 
The  first  is  :  "  Surnames  were  fixed  in  families  in  England,  at  or 
about  the  Conquest."  I  say,  "  fixed."  Formerly,  though  men  had 
surnames,  yet  their  sons  did  not,  as  I  may  say,  follow  suit  witli  their 
fathers,  the  name  descended  not  hereditarily  on  the  family.  At,  or 
about — Forty  years  under  or  over  will  break  no  squares.  It  began 
somewhat  sooner,  in  the  Confessor''s  time,  fetched  out  of  France,  but 
not  universally  settled  till  some  hundred  years  after.  When  men 
therefore  tell  us,  how  their  surnames  have  been  fastened  on  their 
families,  some  centuries  of  years  before  the  Conquest,  we  hear  them 
say  so.  His  chronology  was  no  better  than  his  heraldry  who 
boasted  that  his  ancestors  had  given  the  three  gun-holes  (which 
indeed  were  the  three  annulets)  for  their  arms  these  thousand  years, 


1   WILLIAM    I.  THE     llOLL    OF     BATTLE    ABBEY.  235 

when  guns  themselves  had  not  been  extant  three  liundretl  years  in 
Europe.  The  same  solecism  in  effect  is  committed  by  such  who 
pretend  to  the  antiquity  of  surnames,  before  the  same  were  settled 
in  rerum  naturd. 

Surnames  late  in  (because  not  needful  to)  Kings. 
The  second  :  "  Kings  had  fixed  surnames  later  than  common 
people."  Our  four  first  Norman  kings  had  no  surnames,  Henry  II. 
being  the  first  of  the  Plantagenists.  Wonder  not  that  a  Gentile 
fashion  should  come  later  into  the  court  than  into  the  country,  and 
last  to  the  crown  itself.  For,  names  being  made  to  distinguish  men, 
they  were  more  necessary  for  common  people,  whose  obscurities 
would  be  lost  in  a  multitude,  were  they  not  found  out  by  the  sign 
of  their  surnames,  having  no  other  eminency  whereby  they  might  be 
differenced.  But  princes,  being  comparatively  few  in  respect  of 
private  persons,  are  sufficiently  discovered  by  their  own  lustre,  and 
sovereignty  may  be  said  to  be  a  surname  to  itself;  and  therefore 
kings,  not  of  necessity,  but  mere  pleasure,  have  accepted  additions 
to  their  Christian-names. 

Many  of  the  Normans  most  nohle  hy  Birth. 

The  third  :  "  Many  who  came  over  out  of  Normandy  were  noble 
in  their  native  country  :""  especially  such  who  are  styled  from  their 
places,  as  le  Sire  de  Soteville,  le  Sire  de  Margnevilte^  le  Sire  de 
Tancarville,  &c.  whereby  we  understand  them  lords  and  owners  of 
such  manors,  towns,  and  castles  from  Avhence  they  took  their  deno- 
mination. However,  this  particle,  de  such  a  place,  when  without  le 
Sire  going  before  it,  doth  not  always  give  livery  and  seizin,  and  pre- 
sently put  the  person  so  named  into  possession  of  the  place  ;  some- 
times barely  importing  that  he  was  born  there,  and  not  owner  thereof. 

Yet  some  not  so  much  as  Gentlemen. 

The  fourth  :  "  All  that  came  over  with  the  Conqueror  were  not 
gentlemen  until  they  came  over  with  the  Conqueror."  For, 
instantly  upon  their  victory,  their  flesh  was  refined,  blood  clarified, 
spirits  elevated  to  a  higher  purity  and  perfection.  Many  a  peasant 
in  Normandy  commenced  "  Monsieur"  by  coming  over  into  Eng- 
land ;  where  they  quickly  got  goods  to  their  gentry,  lands  to  their 
goods,  and  those  of  the  most  honourable  tenure  in  capite  itself. 
What  Richard  III.  said,  no  less  spitefully  than  falsely,  of  the 
Woodviles,  (brethren  to  the  wife  of  his  brother  king  Edward  IV. 
by  whom  they  were  advanced,)  that  "  many  were  made  noble  who 
formerly  were  not  worth  a  noble,"  was  most  true  of  some  of  the 
Norman  soldiery,  suddenly  starting  up  "honourable"  from  mean 


1236  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN,  A.D.  10G6. 

originals.  These  cruelly  insulted  over  the  Saxon  ancient  gentry, 
whom  they  found  in  England.  Thus,  on  the  new  casting  of  a  dib, 
when  ace  is  on  the  top,  sise  must  needs  be  at  the  bottom. 

Many  of  the  neighbouring  Nations  under  the  Notion  of 
Normans. 

The  fifth  :  "  Beside  native  Normans,  many  of  the  neighbouring 
countries  engaged  in  England's  invasion  :"  As  Flemings,  which 
Baldwin  earl  of  Flanders,  and  father-in-law  unto  the  Conqueror,  sent 
to  aid  him  :  Walloons,  with  many  from  Picardy,  Britain,  Anjou, 
and  the  very  heart  of  France.  Thus  when  a  fair  of  honour  and 
profit  is  proclaimed,  chapmen  will  flock  from  all  parts  unto  it.  Some 
will  wonder,  that  any  would  be  such  wilful  losers  as  to  exchange 
France  for  England,  a  garden  for  a  field.  Was  not  this  degrading 
of  their  souls  in  point  of  pleasure,  going  backward  from  wine  to  ale, 
from  wheat  to  oats,  then  the  general  bread-corn  of  England  ? 
Besides,  coming  NorthAvard,  they  left  the  sun  on  their  backs  ;  the 
sun,  who  is  a  comfortable  usher  to  go  before,  but  bad  train-bearer  to 
come  behind  one.  But  let  such  know,  that  England  in  itself  is  an 
excellent  country,  too  good  for  the  unthankful  people  which  live 
therein  ;  and  such  foreigners,  who  seemingly  slight,  secretly  love 
and  like  the  plenty  and  profit  thereof.  But,  grant  England  far 
short  of  France  in  goodness,  yet  such  adventurers  hoped  to  achieve 
to  themselves  a  better  condition  in  a  worse  country.  Many  a 
younger  brother  came  over  hither,  in  hope  here  to  find  an  elder 
brothership,  and  accordingly  procured  an  inheritance  to  him  and  his 
posterity.  As  for  the  great  French  nobility,  store  was  no  sore  unto 
them  :  such  pluralists  retained  still  their  old  patrimonies  in  France, 
with  the  additions  of  their  new  possessions  in  England. 

W  Names  Walloons. 

The  sixth :  "  Names  coming  over  with  the  Conquest,  beginning 
with  w,  were  not  out  of  France,  but  the  vicinage  thereof."  As  the 
Britons  disclaim  x,  the  Latins  y,  (save  when  the  badge  of  a  Greek 
word  Latinized,)  so  the  French  disown  w.  When  we  find  it,  there- 
fore, the  initial  letter  of  a  name,  (whereof  many  occur  in  the  ensu- 
ing catalogue,)  it  argueth  the  same  Walloon,  or  Almain,  Yea,  I  am 
credibly  informed,  that  some  of  the  English  here,  wearied  with 
Harold's  usurpation,  fled  over  into  Normandy  to  fetch  in  the  Con- 
queror;  so  that,  when  king  William  entered,  they  returned  into 
England.  And  this  particularly  hath  been  avouched  of  the  noble 
family  of  the  Wakes,  who  were  here  before  the  Conquest,  yet  found 
among  the  Norman  invaders. 


1   WILLIAM  I.         THE    KOLL    OF    BATTLE    ABBEY.  237 

The  twilight  Credit  of  Battle- Abbey  Roll. 

The  seventh  :  "  Battle-Abbey  Roll  is  the  best  extant  catalogue 
of  Norman  gentry,  if  a  true  copy  thereof  could  be  procured." 

1.  Battle-Abbey  Roll — Because  hung  up  in  that  abbey,  as  fixed 
to  the  freehold  thereof;  where  the  names  of  such  as  came  over  with 
the  Conquest  were  recorded. 

2.  Best  extant — Otherwise,  industry,  with  honesty,  leisure,  and 
liberty  to  peruse  Doomsday-book,  might  collect  one  more  perfect, 
out  of  impartial  records,  which  neither  fear  nor  flatter.  Such  a 
catalogue  were  to  be  believed  on  its  word,  before  Battle  Roll  on  its 
oath. 

3.  Yet  that  Abbey  Roll  deserved  credit,  if  a  true  copy  might  be 
procured — One  asked,  which  was  the  best  St.  Augustine  ;  to  whom 
this  answer  was  given,  (generally  true  of  all  ancient  authors,)  "Even 
that  Augustine  which  is  least  corrected."  For  corrections  com- 
monly are  corruptive,  as  following  the  fancy  and  humour  of  the  cor- 
rector. Battle-Abbey  Roll  hath  been  practised  upon  with  all  the 
figures  of  diction, — Prothesis,  AphcEresis,  &c.  some  names  therein 
being  augmented,  subtracted,  extended,  contracted,  lengthened,  cur- 
tailed. The  same  scruple,  therefore,  which  troubleth  sophisters, — 
Whether  Jason's  weather-beaten  ship,  so  often  clouted  and  patched 
with  new  boards,  were  the  s-amc  numerically  with  the  first, — may  be 
propounded  of  Battle-Abbey  Roll, — Whether  that  extant  with  us, 
after  so  many  alterations,  be  individually  the  same  with  the  original. 
See  what  a  deadly  gash  our  great  antiquary*  gives  to  the  credit 
thereof:  "  Whosoever  considereth  it  well  shall  find  it  to  be  forged, 
and  those  names  to  be  inserted  which  the  time  in  every  age  favoured, 
and  were  never  mentioned  in  that  authentical  record." 

Objection. —  Then  it  is  of  no  Credit. 
Objection.—"  If  such  be  the  depraving  of  Battle-Abbey  Roll, 
then  no  credit  at  all  is  due  unto  it.  Let  it  be  pilloried  for  a  mere 
cheat,  and  be  suffered  no  longer  to  go  about,  to  deceive  the  honest 
reader  thereof;  seeing  we  cannot  hear  the  true  tone  of  names  therein, 
monks  have  so  set  them  to  the  tune  of  their  present  benefactors, 
and  minions  of  the  age  they  lived  in." 

Answer. — How  Credit  thereunto  is  to  be  cautioned. 

Answer. — Though  there  be  much  adulteration   therein,  yet  I 

conceive  the  main  bulk  and  body  thereof  uncorrupted.     As  they 

therefore  overvalue  this  Roll,  who  make  it  the  Grammar  of  French 

gentry,   the   herald's   Institutes,    and  of  canonical    credit  amongst 

•  Camden  iu  liis  "  Remains,"  page  152. 


238  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.  D.   lOGG- 

them  ;  so  such  too  much  decry  the  same  who  deny  all  trust  there- 
unto. Yea,  we  may  confidently  rely  on  this  Roll,  Avhere  we  find  a 
concurrence  of  ancient  English  historians  therewith ;  and  this 
will  appear  in  the  generality  of  names  which  that  Roll  presenteth 
unto  us. 

We  find  in  our  English  chroniclers  two  printed  copies  (a  manu- 
script thereof  worth  mentioning  I  have  not  met  with)  of  Battle- 
Abbey  Roll  ;  wherein  such  various  lections,  they  agree  neither  in 
number,  order,  nor  spelling  of  the  names  ;  which,  though  generally 
digested  in  an  alphabetical  way,  are  neither  of  them  exactly  ordered 
according  to  the  same.     But  behold  both. 

From  Holinshed.     (Pages  3 — 5.) 

Aumarle,  Aincourt,  Audeley,  Angilliam,  Argentoun,  Arundell, 
Abell,  Auverne,  Aunwers,  Anglers,  Angenoun,  Archere,  Anvay, 
Aspervile,  Albevile,  Andevile,  Araoverduile,  Arcy,  Akeny,  Albeny, 
Aybevare,  Amay,  Aspermomid,  Amerenges. — 24. 

Bertram,  Buttecourt,  Brehus,  Byseg,  Bardolfe,  Basset,  Bigot, 
Bohun,  Bailif,  Bondevile,  Brabason,  Baskervile,  Bures,  Bounilayne, 
Bois,  Botelere,  Bourcher,  Brabaion,  Berners,  Braibuf,  Brande, 
Bronce,  Burgh,  Bushy,  Banet,  Blondell,  Breton,  Bluet,  Baious, 
Browne,  Beke,  Bickard,  Banastre,  Baloun,  Beauchamp,  Bray, 
Bandy,  Bracy,  Boundes,  Bascoun,  Broilem,  Brolevy,  Burnell, 
Bellet,  Baudewin,  Beaumont,  Burdon,  Bertevilay,  Barre,  Busse- 
vile.  Blunt,  Beaupere,  Bevill,  Bardvedor,  Brette,  Barrett,  Bonret, 
Bainard,  Barnivale,  Bonett,  Barry,  Bryan,  Bodin,  Bertevile, 
Bertin,  Berenevile,  Bellewe,  Bevery,  Busshell,  Boranvile,  Browe, 
Belevers,  BufFard,  Botelere,  Bonveier,  Botevile,  Bellire,  Bastard, 
Bainard,  Brasard,  Beelhelm,  Braine,  Brent,  Braunch,  Belesuz, 
Blundell,  Burdet,  Bagot,  Beauvise,  Belemis,  Bisin,  Bernon,  Boels, 
Belefroun,  Brutz,  Barchamp. — 96. 

Camois,  Camvile,  Chawent,  Chauncy,  Conderay,  Colvile,  Cham- 
berlaine,  Chamburnoun,  Comin,  Columber,  Cribet,  Creuquere, 
Corbin,  Corbett,  Chaundos,  Chaworth,  Cleremaus,  Clarell,  Chopis, 
Chaunduit,  Chantelow,  Chamberay,  Cressy,  Curtenay,  Conestable, 
Cholmely,  Champney,  Chawnos,  Comivile,  Champaine,  Carevile, 
Carbonelle,  Charles,  Cherberge,  Chawnes,  Chaumont,  Caperoun, 
Cheine,  Curson,  Coville,  Chaiters,  Cheines,  Cateray,  Cherecourt, 
Cammile,  Clerenay,  Curly,  Cuily,  Clinels,  Chaundos,  Courteney, 
Clifford.— 52. 

Denaville,  Dercy,  Dive,  Dispencere,  Daubeny,  Daniell,  Denise 
and  Druell,  Devaus,  Davers,  Dodingsels,  Darell,  Delaber,  Delapole, 
Delalinde,  Delahill,  Delaware,  Delavache,  Dakcny,  Dauntre, 
Desny,  Dabernoune,  Damry,  Daveros,  Davonge,  Duilby,  Delavere, 


1   WILLIAM    I.  THE     KOLL    OF    BATTLE    ABBEY.  2'J9 

Delalioitl,  Durange,  Dclee,  Delaund,  Delaware!,  Delaplancli,  Dam~ 
not,  Dainvay,  Deliense,  Devile,  Disard,  Doiville,  Duraut,  Drury, 
Dabitot,  Dunsterville,  Dunchainpe,  Daiiibelton, — 44. 

Estrange,  Estutevile,  Engaine,  Estriels,  Esturney. — 5. 

Ferrerers,  Folville,  Fitz  Water,  Fitz  Marmaduke,  Flevcz, 
Filberd,  Fitz  Roger,  Favccourt,  Ferrers,  Fitz  Philip,  Filiot, 
Furniveus,  Furnivaus,  Fitz  Otes,  Fitz  William,  Fitz  Roand,  Fitz 
Pain,  Fitz  Auger,  Fitz  Aleyn,  Fitz  RaufF,  Fitz  Brown,  Fouke, 
Frevil,  Front  de  Boef,  Facunberge,  Fort,  Frisell,  Fitz  Simon, 
Fitz  Fouk,  Filioll,  Fitz  Thomas,  Fitz  Morice,  Fitz  Hugh,  Fitz 
Henry,  Fitz  Waren,  Fitz  Rainold,  Flamvile,  Formay,  Fitz 
Eustach,  Fitz  Lam-ence,  Formibaud,  Frisound,  Finere  and  Fitz 
Robert,  Fm-nivalc,  Fitz  Geffrey,  Fitz  Herbert,  Fitz  Peres,  Fichet, 
Fitz  Rewes,  Fitz  Fitz,  Fitz  Jolm,  Fleschampe. — 53. 

Gurnay,  Gressy,  Graunson,  Gracy,  Georges,  Gower,  Gaugy, 
Goband,  Gray,  Gaunson,  Golofre,  Gobion,  Grensy,  Graunt,  Greile, 
Grevet,  Gurry,  Gurley,  Grammori,  Gernoun,  Grendon,  Gurdon, 
Gines,  Grivel,  Grenevile,  Glatevile,  Gurney,  GifFard,  Goverges, 
Gamages. — 80. 

Hauntcney,  Haunsard,  Hastings,  Hanlay,  Haurell,  Husee, 
Hercy,  Herioun,  Heme,  Harecourt,  Henoure,  Hovell,  Hamelin, 
Harewell,  Hardell,  Haket,  Hamound,  Harcord. — 18. 

larden,  lay,  Teniels,  lerconvise,  lanvile,  laspervile. — 6. 

Kaunt,  Karre,  Karrowe,  Koine,  Kimaronne,  Kiriell,  Kancey, 
Kenelre. — 8. 

Loveny,  Lacy,  Linneby,  Latomer,  Loveday,  Lovcll,  Lemare, 
Levetot,  Lucy,  Luny,  Logevile,  Longespes,  Loverace,  Longe-. 
champe,  Lascalcs,  Lacy,  Lovan,  Leded,  Luse,  Loterell,  Loruge, 
Longevale,  Loy,  Lorancourt,  Loians,  Limers,  Longepay,  Laumale, 
Lane,  Lovetot. — 30. 

Mohant,  Mowne,  Maundevile,  Marmilon,  Moribray,  Morvile, 
Miriell,  Manlay,  Malebraunch,  Malemaine,  Mortimcrc,  Morti- 
maine,  Muse,  Marteine,  Mountbothcr,  Mountsoler,  Malevile, 
Malet,  Mounteney,  Monfichet,  Maleheibe,  Mare,  Musegros, 
Musard,  Moine,  Montravers,  Merke,  Murres,  Mortivale,  Mon- 
chenesy,  Mallory,  Marny,  Mountagu,  Mountfort,  Maule,  Monher- 
mon,  Musett,  Menevile,  Mantevenat,  Manfe,  Menpincoy,  Maine, 
Mainard,  Morell,  Mainell,  Maleluse,  Memorous,  Morreis,  Morleian,^ 
Maine,  Malevere,  Mandut,  Mountmarten,  Mantelet,  Miners,  Mau- 
clerke,  Maunchenel,  Movet,  Meintenore,  Meletak,  Manvile, 
Manlay,  Maulard,  Mainard,  Menere,  Martinast,  Mare,  Mainwaring, 
Matelay,  Malemis,  Maleheire,  Moren,  Melun,  Marceans,  Maiell, 
Morton. — 76- 

Noers,    Nevile,    Newmarch,    Norbet,     Norice,     Newborough, 


240  CHURCH  HISTORV  OF  BRfTAlX.      A.D.  1066. 

Neircmet,  Ncile,  Noiinavilc,  Neofmarch,  Nerniitz,  Nenibrutz. 
—12. 

Otevel,  Olibet,  Olifant,  Osenel,  Oisel,  Olifaid,  Orinal,  Oriol. 
—8. 

Pigot,  Pery,  Perepount,  Persliale,  Power,  Paine],  Perche, 
Pavey,  Peurell,  Perot,  Picard,  Pinkenie,  Pomeray,  Pounce, 
Pavely,  Paifrere,  Plukenet,  Phuars,  Punchardoun,  Pincliard,  Placy, 
Pugoy,  Patefinc,  Place,  Pampilioun,  Percelay,  Perere,  Pekeny, 
Potcrell,  Peukeny,  Pecce],  Pinel,  Putril,  Petivol,  Preaus,  Pautolf, 
Peito,  Penecord,  Prendirlegast,  Percivale. — 39. 

Quincy,  Quintiny. — 2. 

Ros,  Ridell,  Rivers,  Rivell,  Rous,  Rushell,  Raband,  Ronde, 
Rie,  Rokell,  Risers,  Randvile,  Roselin,  Rastoke,  Rinvill,  Rougere, 
Rait,  Ripere,  Rigny,  Richemound,  Rochford,  Raimond. — 22. 

Souch,  Shevile,  Seuclieus,  Senclere,  Sent  Quintin,  Sent  Omere, 
Sent  Amond,  Sent  Legere,  Somervile,  Siward,  Saunsovere,  Sanford, 
Sanctes,  Savay,  Saulay,  Sules,  Sorell,  Somerey,  Sent  John,  Sent 
George,  Sent  Les,  Sesse,  Salvin,  Say,  Solers,  Saulay,  Sent  Albin, 
Sent  Martin,  Sourdemale,  Seguin,  Sent  Barbe,  Sent  Vile, 
Soureniount,  Soreglise,  Sand  vile,  Sauncey,  Sirewast,  Sent  Cheverol, 
Sent  More,  Sent  Scudemore. — 40. 

Toget,  Tercy,  Tuchet,  Tracy,  Trousbut,  Trainel,  Taket, 
Trussel,  Trison,  Talbot,  Touny,  Traies,  Tollemacli,  Tolous, 
Tanny,  Touke,  Tibtote,  Turbevile,  TurvHe,  Tomy,  Taverner, 
Trenchevile,  Trenchelion,  Tankervile,  Tirel,  Trivet,  Tolet,  Travers, 
Tardevile,  Turbarvile,  Tinevile,  Torel,  Tortecliappel,  Trusbote, 
Treverel,  Tenwis,  Totelles. — 37. 

Vere,  Vernoun,  Vescy,  Verdoune,  Valence,  Verdeire,  Vavasour, 
Vendore,  Verlay,  Valenger,  Venables,  Venoure,  Vilan,  Verland, 
Valers,  Veirny,  Vavurvile,  Veniels,  Verrere,  Uschere,  VefFay, 
Vanay,  Vian,  Vernoys,  Urnal,  Unket,  Urnaful,  Vasderol, 
Vaberon,  Valinford,  Venicorde,  Valive,  Viville,  Vancorde, 
Valenges. — 3.^. 

Wardebois,  Ward,  Wafre,  Wake,  Wareine,  Wate,  Watelin, 
Watevile,  Wely,  Werdonel,  Wespaile,  Wivell. — 12. 

The  total  sum  of  all  in  Ralph  Holinshed,  629, 

From  Stow.     (Pages  105 — 107.) 

Aumeic,  Audley,  Angilliani,  Argentoun,  Arundell,  Avenant, 
Abel],  Awgers,  Angenoun,  Archer,  Aspervile,  Amonerduil,  Arey, 
Albeny,  Alceny,  Asperemound. — 16. 

Bertram,  Butrecourt,  Brahus,  Byseg,  Bardolf,  Basset,  Boliun, 
Baylife,  Bondevile,  Barbason,  Beer,  Bures,  Bonylayne,  Barbayon, 
Berners,    Braybuf,    Brand,     Bonvile,    Burgh,    Busshy,  Blundell, 


1   WILLIAM   I.  THE     ROLL    OF    HATTLK     ABBEY.  241 

Breton,  Belasyse,  Bowser,  Bayons,  Bulmere,  Brounc,  Beke, 
Bowlers,  Banistre,  Belomy,  Belknai)e,  Beacliamp,  Bandy, 
Broyleby,  Burnell,  Belot,  Beufort,  Baudewine,  Burdon,  Bertcvy- 
ley,  Barre,  Bussevile,  Blunt,  Beawper,  Bret,  Barret,  Barnevale, 
Barry,  Bodyt,  Bertevile,  Bertine,  Belew,  Bushell,  Beleneers, 
BufFard,  Boteler,  Botvilc,  Brasard,  Belhelme,  Braunch,  Bolesur, 
Blundel,  Burdet,  Bagot,  Beaupount,  Bools,  Belefroun,  Barchampe. 
—69. 

Camos,  Canville,  Chawent,  Chancy,  Couderay,  Colvile,  Chamber- 
lain, Chambernoune,  Cribet,  Corbine,  Corbet,  Coniers,  Chaundos, 
Coucy,  Chaworth,  Claremaus,  Clarel,  Camuine,  Chaunduyt,  Clare- 
vays,  Chantilowe,  Colet,  Cressy,  Courtenay,  Constable,  Chaucer, 
Cholmelay,  Cornevile,  Champeney,  Carew,  Chawnos,  Clarvaile, 
Chanipaine,  Carbonel,  Charles,  Chareberge,  Chawnes,  Chawmoiit, 
Cheyn,  Cursen,  Conell,  Cliayters,  Cheynes,  Cateray,  Cherecourt, 
Chaunvile,  Clereney,  Curley,  Clifford. — 49. 

Deanvile,  Dercy,  Dine,  Dispencer,  Daniel,  Denyse,  Drliel, 
Devause,  Davers,  Doningsels,  Darel,  De  la  Bere,  De  la  Pole,  De  la 
Lind,  De  la  Hill,  De  la  Ware,  De  la  Watch,  Dakeny,  Dauntry, 
Desny,  Dabernoun,  Damry,  Daveros,  De  la  Vere,  De  Liele,  De  la 
Ward,  De  la  Pance,  Danway,  De  Hewse,  Disard,  Durant,  Drury. 
—32. 

Estrange,  Escutavile,  Escriols,  Engain,  Evers,  Esturney. — 6. 

Folvile,  Fitzwatter,  Fitz-Marmaduke,  Fibert,  Fitz-Roger,  Fitz- 
Robert,  Fanecourt,  Fitz-Philip,  Fitz- William,  Fitz-Pain,  Fitz- 
Alyne,  Fitz-Ralfe,  Fitz-Broun,  Foke,  Frevile,  Faconbridge,  Frissel, 
Filioll,  Fitz-Thomas,  Fitz-Morice,  Fitz-Hugh,  Fitz- Warren,  Faun- 
vile,  Formay,  Formiband,  Frison,  Finer,  Fitz-Urcy,  Furnivall, 
Fitz-Herbert,  Fitz-John. — 31. 

Gargrave,  Granson,  Gracy,  Glaunvile,  Gouer,  Gascoyne,  Gray, 
Golofer,  Grauns,  Gurly,  Gurdon,  Gamages,  Gaunt. — 13. 

Hansard,  Hastinges,  Haulay,  Husie,  Heme,  Hamelyn,  Harewell, 
Hardell,  Hecket,  Hamound,  Harcourd. — 11. 

larden,  lay,  lanvile,  laspervile. — 4. 

Kan-e,  Karron,  Kyriell. — 3. 

Lestrange,  Levony,  Latomere,  Loveday,  Logenton,  Levell, 
Le  Scrope,  Lemare,  Litterile,  Lucy,  Lislay  or  Liele,  Longspes, 
Longschampe,  Lastels,  Lind-Sey,  Loterell,  Lindsey,  Longvaile, 
Le  Vawse,  Loy,  Lave,  Le  Dispenser. — 22. 

Marmilou,  Moribray,  Morvile,  Manley,  Malebranch,  Malemaine, 
Muschampe,  Musgrave,  Menilebillers,  Mortmain,  Muse,  Mount- 
bocher,  Malevile,  Marteine,  Mountney,  Malcherbe,  Musegioss, 
Musard,  Mautravers,  Merkfe,  Murres,  Montague,  JNLantalent, 
Mandute,  Manle,  Malory,  Merny,   Muffet,    Menpincoy,    Mainard, 

Vol.  I.  II 


242  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  10G6. 

Morell,  Morley,  Mouiitniartin,  Myners,  Mauley,  Mainwaring, 
Mantell,  Mayel,  Morton. — 30. 

Nevile,  Neumarcli,  Norton,  Norbet,  Norece,  Newborougli, 
Neele,  Normanvile. — 8. 

Otenel,  Olibet,  Olifaunt,  Oysel,  Oliford,  Oryol. — 6. 

Pigot,  Percy,  Perecount,  Pershale,  Power,  Paynel,  Peche, 
Peverel,  Perot,  Picard,  Pudsey,  Pimeray,  Pounsey,  Punchardon, 
Pynchard,  Placy,  Patine,  Pampilion,  Poterel,  Pekeney,  Pervinke, 
Penicord.— 22. ' 

Quincy,  Quintine. — 2. 

Rose,  Ridle,  Rynel,  Rous,  Russel,  Rond,  Richmond,  Rocliford, 
Reymond. — 9. 

Seuche,  Seint  Quintine,  Seint  Omer,  Seint  Amond,  Seint  Leger, 
Sovervile,  San  ford,  Somery,  Seint  George,  Seint  Les,  Savine,  Seint 
Glo,  Seint  Albine,  Seint  Barbe,  Sandevile,  Seint  More,  Seint 
Scudemore. — 17. 

Towrs,  Toget,  Talybois,  Tucliet,  Truslot,  Trusbut,  Traynel, 
Taket,  Talbot,  Tanny,  Tibtote,  Trussel,  Turbevile,  Turvile, 
Totet,  Tavers,  Torel,  Tirel,  Totels,  Taverner. — 20. 

Valence,  A^ancord,  Vavasour,  Vender,  Verder,  Verdon,  Vere, 
Vernoune,  Venables,  Venoure,  Veriand,  Verlay,  Vernois,  Verny, 
Vilan,  Umframvile,  Unket,  Urnall. — 18. 

Wake,  Walenger,  Warde,  Wardebus,  Waren,  Wate,  Wateline, 
Watevile,  Woly,  Wyvel.— 10. 

The  total  sum  of  all  in  John  Stow,  407. 

Beside  this  Roll  of  Battle  Abbey,  there  is  another  extant,  not 
(as  this)  alphabetically  modelled,  the  work  of  some  monk  Avell  at 
leisure  ;  but  loose,  without  any  literal  order  :  an  argument,  in  my 
opinion,  of  the  more  native  purity  thereof,  (less  soiled  with  partial 
fingers,)  as  not  so  much  tampered  with  by  art  and  industry.  It  is 
reputed  by  many  to  be  the  muster-roll  of  such  principal  soldiers  as 
embarked  with  duke  William  at  St.  Valeries  ;  and  it  is  said,  that, 
after  the  fight  ended,  this  list  was  called  over,  and  all  persons 
solemnly  summoned  to  answer  to  their  names  therein  ;  though  many 
made  no  voiis-avez,  as  either  sick  of  their  wounds,  or  slain  outright 
amongst  the  six  thousand  and  odd,  which  lost  their  lives  on  the 
place.  Were  we  assured  hereof,  we  would  prefer  this  before  the 
former  Roll,  believing  a  French  muster-master,  rather  than  any 
English  monk,  (though  the  abbot  of  Battle  himself,)  as  not  so  sub- 
ject to  the  suspicion  of  flattery  herein.  This  catalogue  is  taken  out 
of  Guilliam  Tayleur,  a  Norman  chronicler  of  good  credit.  But  the 
worst  is,  we  want  Tayleur's  French  original  ;  and,  I  fear,  it  hath 
passed  through  some  botcher''s  hands,  before  it  came  to  us.     For 


1    WILLIAM    I.         THE     ROLL    OF     «ATTI,E     ABBEY.  24^ 

there  be  three  editions  tliereof  in  our  English  historians,  which,  like 
the  feet  of  a  badger,  fall  out  of  unequal  length,  (if  the  reader  be 
pleased  to  measure  them,)  so  different  the  number  of  names  therein. 
However,  because  this  catalogue  may  conduce  to  the  supplying  of 
defects,  clearing  of  doubts,  and  amending  of  faults  in  that  former, 
we  here  present  the  several  copies  thereof. 

Fox's  Acts  and  Monuments.     (Pages  182,  183.) 

Odo  bishop  of  Bayeux,  Robert  count  de  Mortaigne,  (duke  Wil- 
liam's half  brethren,)  Baudwin  de  Buillon,  Roger  count  de  Beau- 
mont sumamed  "  with  the  beard,"  Guillaume  Malet,  le  sire  de  Mon- 
fort  sur  Rille,  Guil.  de  Viexpont,  Neel  de  S.  Sauveur  le  Vicente,  le 
sire  de  Fougiers,  Henry  Seigneur  de  Ferieres,  le  sire  Daubemare, 
Guil.  sire  de  Romare,  le  sire  de  Lithehare,  le  sire  de  Touque,  le 
sire  de  la  Mare,  le  sire  de  Ne^hou,  le  sire  de  Pirou,  Rob.  sire  de 
Beaufou,  le  sire  Danou,  le  sire  de  Soteville,  le  sire  de  Margneville, 
le  sire  de  Tancarville,  Eustace  Dambleville,  le  sire  de  Magneville, 
le  sire  de  Grantmesnil,  Guil.  Crespin,  le  sire  de  S.  Martin,  Guil.  de 
Moulins,  le  sire  de  Puis,  Geoffray  sire  de  Mayenne,  Auffroy  de 
Bohon,  Auifroy  and  Mangier  de  Cartrait,  Guil.  de  Garennes,  Hue 
de  Gournay  sire  de  Bray,  le  conte  Hue  de  Gournay,  Euguemont 
de  r  Aigle,  le  viconte  de  Touars,  Rich.  Dauverenchin,  le  sire  de 
Biars,  le  sire  de  SoUigny,  le  Bouteiller  Daubigny,  le  sire  de  Maire, 
le  sire  de  Vitry,  le  sire  de  Lacy,  le  sire  du  val  Dary,  le  sire  de 
Tracy,  Hue  sire  de  Montfort,  le  sire  de  Piquegny,  Hamon  de 
Kayeu,  le  sire  Despinay,  le  sire  de  Port,  le  sire  de  Torcy,  le  sire  de 
lort,  le  sire  de  Riviers,  Guil.  Moyonne,  Raoul  Tesson  de  Tingue- 
leiz,  Roger  Marmion,  Raoul  de  Guel,  Avenel  des  Byars,  Paennel 
du  Monstier  Hubert,  Rob.  Bertran  le  Tort,  le  sire  de  Senile,  le  sire 
de  Dorival,  le  sire  de  Breval,  le  sire  de  S.  lehan,  le  sire  de  Bris,  le 
sire  du  Homme,  le  sire  de  Sauchoy,  le  sire  de  Cailly,  le  sire  de 
Semilly,  le  sire  de  Tilly,  le  sire  de  Romelli,  Mar  de  Basqueville,  le 
sire  de  Preaulx,  le  sire  de  Gonis,  le  sire  de  Sainceaulx,  le  sire  de 
Moulloy,  le  sire  de  Monceaulx  ;  the  archers  du  val  de  Reul,  and  of 
Bretheul,  and  of  many  other  places ;  le  sire  de  S.  Saen,  i.  de  S. 
Sydonio,  le  sire  de  la  Kiviere,  le  sire  de  Salnarville,  le  sire  de  Rony, 
Eude  de  Beaugieu,  le  sire  de  Oblie,  le  sire  de  Sacie,  le  sire  de 
Nassie,  le  Visquaius  de  Chaymes,  le  sire  du  Sap,  le  sire  de  Glos,  le 
sire  de  Mine,  le  sire  de  Glanville,  le  sire  de  Breencon,  le  Vidam  de 
Partay,  Raoul  de  Morimont,  Pierre  de  Bailleul  sire  de  Fiscamp, 
le  sire  de  Beausault,  le  sire  de  Tillieres,  le  sire  de  Pacy,  le  senes- 
chal de  Torcy,  le  sire  de  Gacy,  le  sire  Doully,  le  sire  de  Sacy,  le 
sire  de  Vacy,  le  sire  de  Tourneeur,  le  sire  de  Praeres,  Guil.  de 
Coulombieres,  Hue  sire  de  Bollebcc.  Rich,  sire  Dorbec,  le  sire  de 

u  2 


244  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  10G6. 

Bonneboz,  le  sire  de  Tresgoz,  le  sire  de  Montfiquct,  Hue  le  Bigot 
de  Maletot,  le  sire  de  la  Haye,  le  sire  de  Brecy,  le  sire  de  Mom- 
bray,  le  sire  de  Saye,  le  sire  dc  la  Ferte,  Boutevillain,  Troussebout, 
Guillaume  Patric  de  la  Laund,  Hue  de  Mortenier,  le  sire  Danvillers, 
le  sire  Donnebaut,  le  sire  de  S.  Cler,  Rob.  le  filz  Herneys  Due 
d""  Orleans,  le  sire  de  Harecourt,  le  sire  de  Crevecoeur,  le  sire  de 
Deyncourt,  le  sire  de  Brimetot,  le  sire  de  Combray,  le  sire  Daunay, 
le  sire  de  Fontenay,  le  conte  Deureux,  le  sire  de  Rebelcliil,  Alain 
Fergant  conte  de  Bretaigne,  le  sire  de  S.  Vallery,  le  conte  Deu, 
Gaultier  Giffard  conte  de  Longueville,  le  sire  Destouteville,  le  conte 
Thomas  Daubmalle,  Guil.  conte  de  Hoymes  and  Darques,  le  sire 
de  Bereville,  le  sire  de  Breante,  le  sire  de  Frcanville,  le  sire  de 
Pavilly,  le  sire  de  Clere,  Toustan  du  Bee,  le  sire  de  Maugny, 
Roger  de  Montgomery,  Amaury  de  Touars. — 153. 

•0 

Holinshed's  Chronicle.     (Pages  2,  3.) 

Odo  bishop  of  Bayeulx,  Robert  earl  of  Mortaing,  Roger  eail  of 
Beaumont  surnamed  a  la  Barbe,  Guillaume  Mallet  seig.  de  Mont- 
fort,  Henry  seign.  de  Ferrers,  Guil.  d''  Aubellcmare  seig.  de  Fou- 
gieres,  Guil.  de  Roumare  seig.  de  Lithare,  le  seig.  de  Touque,  le 
seig.  de  la  Mare,  Neel  le  viconte,  Guil.  de  Vepont,  le  seig.  de 
Magnevillc,  le  seig.  de  Grosmenil,  le  seig.  de  S.  Martin,  le  seig.  de 
Puis,  Guil.  Crespin,  Guil.  de  Moyennc,  Guil.  Desmoullins,  Guil. 
Desgarennes,  Hue  de  Gourney  alias  Genevay,  le  seig.  de  Bray,  le 
seig.  de  Govy,  le  seig.  de  Laigle,  le  seig.  de  Tovarts,  le  seig.  de 
Aurenchin,  le  seig.  de  Vitrey,  le  seig.  de  Trassy  alias  Tracy,  le 
seig.  de  Picquigny,  le  seig.  d'  Espinay,  Osmond  seig.  du  Pont,  le 
seig.  de  Estoutevile,  le  seig.  de  Torchy,  le  seig.  de  Barnabost,  le 
seig.  de  Breval,  le  seig.  de  Seeulme,  le  seig.  de  Houme,  le  seig.  de 
Souchoy,  le  seig.  de  Cally,  le  seig.  de  la  Rivere,  Euldes  de  Beavieu, 
le  seig.  de  Rouinilly,  le  seig.  dc  Glotz,-  le  seig.  du  Sap,  le  seig.  de 
Vanville,  le  seig.  Branchou,  le  seig.  Balleul,  le  seig.  de  Beausault, 
le  seig.  de  Telleres,  le  seig.  de  Senlys,  le  seig.  de  Bacqueville,  le 
seig.  de  Preaulx,  le  seig.  de  lovy,  le  seig.  de  Longueville,  le  seig.  de 
Aquigny,  le  seig.  de  Passy,  le  seig.  de  Tournay,  le  seig.  de  Colom- 
bieres,  le  seig.  de  BoUebcc,  le  seig.  de  Garensieres,  le  seig.  de 
Longveile,  le  seig.  de  Houdctot,  le  seig.  de  Malletot,  le  seig.  de  la 
Haie  Malerbe,  le  seig.  de  Porch  Pinche,  le  seig.  de  Ivetot,  the  earl 
of  Tanquervile,  the  carle  d'  Eu,  the  earl  d'  Arques,  the  earl  of 
Anjou,  the  earl  of  Nevers,  le  seig.  de  Rouvile,  le  prince  de  Ale- 
maigne,  le  seig.  de  Pavilly,  le  seig.  de  S.  Cler,  le-seig.  d'  Espinay, 
le  seig.  de  Bremetot,  Alain  Fergant  earl  of  Britaigne,  le  seig.  de  la 
Ferte,  Rob.  fils  Hervays  due  de  Orleans,  le  seig.  de  la  Lande,  le 
seig.  de  Mortimer,  le  seig.  dc  Clare,  le  seig.  de  Magny,  le  seig.  de 


1   WILLIAM   I.  THE     ROLL    OF    BATTLIi    AliUKY.  245 

Fontnay,  Roger  dc  Montgomery,  Amaury  cle  Touars,  le  seig.  de 
Hacquevile,  le  seig.  de  Ncansliou,  le  seig.  de  Perou,  Robert  de 
Beautbu,  le  seig.  Meauvon,  le  seig.  dc  Sotevile,  Eustace  de  Ham- 
blevile,  GeofFray  Bournom,  le  seig.  de  Blainvile,  le  seig.  de  Maune- 
vile,  Geoffray  de  Moienne,  Auffray  and  Mauger  de  Carteny,  le 
seig.  de  Freanvile,  le  seig.  de  Moubray,  le  seig.  dc  lafitay,  Guil. 
Patais  seig.  de  la  Lande,  Eukle  de  Mortimer,  Hue  earl  of  Gour- 
nay,  Egremont  de  Laigle,  Richard  d'  Aurinchin,  le  seig.  de  Bearts, 
le  seig.  de  Soulligny,  Bouteclier  d'  Aubigny,  le  seig.  de  Marcey,  le 
seig.  de  Lacliy,  le  seig.  de  Valdere,  Eulde  de  Montfort,  Henoyn  de 
Caliieu,  le  seig.  de  Vimers,  Guil.  de  Movion,  Raoul  Tesson  de 
Tionolles,  Anauerand  earl  of  Hcrcourt,  Roger  Marmion,  Raoul  de 
Gaiel,  Avenel  de  Yiers,  Pauvcl  du  Montier  Hubert,  Rob.  Bertraule 
Tort,  le  seig.  de  Seulle,  le  seig,  Dorival,  le  seig.  de  la  Hay,  le  seig. 
de  S.  John,  le  seig.  de  Saussy,  le  seig.  de  Brye,  Richard  Dollebec, 
le  seig.  du  Moufiquet,  le  seig.  de  Bresey,  le  seig.  de  Semilly,  le 
seig.  de  Tilly,  le  seig.  dc  Preaux,  le  seig.  de  Meuley,  le  seig.  de 
Monceaux ;  the  archers  of  Bretvile,  the  archers  of  Vaudrevile ;  le 
seig.  de  S.  Sain,  le  seig.  de  Breansou,  le  seig.  de  Sassy,  le  seig..de 
Nassy,  le  Vidam  de  Chartres,  le  seig.  de  leanvile,  le  Vidam  du 
Passais,  Pierre  du  Bailleul  seig.  de  Fescampe,  le  seneschal  de 
Torchy,  le  seig.  de  Grissey,  le  seig.  de  Bassey,  le  seig.  de  Tourneur, 
Guil.  de  Colombieres,  le  seig.  de  Bonnebault,  le  seig.  de  Ennebault, 
le  seig.  de  Danvillers,  le  seig.  de  Bervile,  le  seig.  de  Creveccur,  le 
seig.  de  Breate,  le  seig.  de  Coutray,  the  earl  of  Eureux,  le  seig.  de 
S.  Valery,  Thomas  earl  d'  Aumale,  the  earl  de  Hiesmes. — 167. 

Stow's  Chronicle.     (Pages  103,  104.) 

Odo  bishop  of  Bayon,  Robert  earl  of  Mortaigne,  Bandonni  de 
Buillon,  Roger  E.  of  Beamont  with  the  beard,  Guilliam  Mallet, 
Guil.  Fitz  Osberne,  le  sire  de  Montfort  sus  Rille,  Guil.  de  Vielz 
pont,  Neel  de  Saint  Saveur  le  vicont,  le  sire  de  Feugiers,  Henry 
sire  de  Ferrers,  le  sire  Dambemare,  Guil.  sire  de  Romare,  le  sire  de 
Licharc,  le  sire  de  Tonquc,  le  sire  de  la  Mare,  le  sire  de  Nahabon, 
le  sire  de  Piron,  le  sire  de  licauson,  le  sire  de  Damnon,  le  sire  de 
Soteville,  le  sire  de  Margneville,  le  sire  de  Tankerville,  Eustace 
Dambleville,  le  sire  de  Magneville,  le  sire  de  Grimsville,  Guil. 
Crespin,  le  sire  de  S.  Martin,  Guil.  de  Moulinous,  le  sire  de  Pins, 
Gieffiay  sire  de  Mayenne,  AfFroy  de  Behunt,  AfFroy  and  Mavigr. 
de  Cartaict,  Guil.  de  Garennes,  Hue  de  Gournay  sire  de  le  Bray, 
le  conte  Hue  de  Dournay,  Enguemount  le  Laigle,  le  vicont  de 
Tovars,  Rich.  Donnemchin,  le  sire  de  Biars,  le  sire  de  Salligny, 
le  Boutellier  Daubegny,  le  sire  de  Marre,  le  sire  de  Victry, 
le    sire   de  Lacy,    le    sire   du   vail  Darie,   le  sire  de  Tracy,    Hue 


246  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1086. 

sire  de  Montfort,  le  sire  de  Piqgny,  Hamon  de  Bra  yen,  le  sire  de 
Spinay,  le  sire  de  Port,  le  sire  de  Torchy,  le  sire  de  lort,  le  sire  de 
Rivers,  Guil.  Moyon,  Raoul  Tesson  de  Chignelois,  Rogier  Mar- 
mion,  Raoul  de  Gael,  Ave  Neel  de  Biars,  Parnel  du  Monstier, 
Bertram  le  Tort,  Hubert  Robert,  le  sire  de  Seukee,  le  sire  de 
Dormal,  le  sire  de  Brenall,  le  sire  de  S.  Jehan,  le  sire  de  Bois,  le 
sire  de  Hoinme,  le  sire  de  Saussay,  le  sire  de  Cailly,  le  sire  de 
Semilly,  le  sire  de  Tilly,  le  sire  de  Romely,  Martell  de  Basque- 
vill,  le  sire  de  Praux,  le  sire  de  Gonys,  le  sire  de  Sainteaulx,  dc 
Mullox. 

These  archers  of  the  vale  of  Rueill,  and  of  Bretviel,  and  of  many 
other  places  : — Le  sire  de  S.  Saen,  le  sire  de  la  Rimer,  le  sire  de 
Salnarnille,  le  sire  de  Tony,  Eude  de  Beaugien,  le  sire  de  Ollie,  le 
sire  de  Sacy,  le  sire  de  Vassie,  le  Bisquams  de  Chaymes,  le  sire  de 
Sap,  le  sire  Duglosse,  le  sire  de  Nime,  le  sire  de  Blamville,  le  sire 
de  Brencon,  le  Vidam  de  Partenay,  Raoult  de  Mormont,  Pierre  de 
Bailleul,  sire  de  Fescamp,  le  sire  de  Beaufavdt,  le  sire  de  Tillieres, 
le  sire  de  Pacy,  le  seneschall  de  Torchy,  le  sire  de  Gacy,  le  sire  de 
Doully,  le  sire  de  Sancy,  le  sire  de  Bacy,  le  sire  de  Tourneur,  le 
sire  de  Praores,  Guilliam  de  Colombieres,  Hue  sire  de  Bollebec, 
Richart  sire  Dorbec,  le  sire  de  Donnebos,  le  sire  de  Troisgros,  le 
sire  Mont  Fiquet,  Hue  le  Vigot  alias  Bigot  de  Maletot,  le  sire  de 
la  Haye,  le  sire  de  Bracy,  le  sire  de  Moubray,  le  sire  de  Say,  le 
sire  de  Lasert,  Bontevillam  Tronsebours,  Guilliam  Patris  de  la 
Laud,  Hue  de  Mortimer,  le  sire  Donviller,  le  sire  Donnebant,  le 
sire  de  S.  Cler,  Robert  le  Fitz  Herneys  duke  Dorlians,  le  sire  de 
Harecourt,  le  sire  Crevecure,  le  sire  de  Dancourt,  le  sire  de  Brune- 
tot,  le  sire  de  Cambray,  le  sire  Dauncy,  le  sire  Fonteney,  le  counte 
Deureux,  le  sire  de  Roberchil,  Alan  sergent  counte  de  Britaigne,  le 
sire  de  sainct  Wallery,  le  counte  Deden,  Gualtar  GuisarL  counte 
de  Logneville,  le  sire  de  Scouteville,  le  counte  Thomas  Danbinale, 
Guil.  de  Hoimes  and  Darques,  le  sire  de  Barrevile,  le  sire  de 
Breante,  le  sire  de  Freanvile,  le  sire  de  Panilly,  le  sire  de  Clere, 
Tostamdubec,  le  sire  de  Mangny,  Roger  du  Montgomery  Comes, 
Almary  de  Tovaers, — 153. 

There  is  still  another  catalogue,  late  in  the  possession  of  Thomas 
Scriven,  Esq.  I  confess,  qiianhis  author,  tanta  Jides ;  and  the 
gentleman,  long  since  dead,  being  generally  unknown,  some  will 
question  the  authority  thereof.  But  know,  he  was  a  good  promus- 
condiis  of  ancient  records  :  condiis  in  keeping  them  faithfully 
himself;  and  promus,  in  imparting  them  freely  to  others.  This 
his  catalogue  is  exemplified  by  John  Stow  in  his  "  Chronicle  :""  of 
"whom  though  a  Cambridge  comedian  was  pleased  pleasantly  to  say, 
that  "  Mendacio  now  and  then  jogged  on  the  elbow  ;"  yet,  indeed. 


1   WILLIAM   I.  THE    ROLL    OF    BATTLE    AUBEV.  24/ 

lie  deseiveth  Camden's  commendation*  of  "  a  famous  clironicler," 
lacking  learning  rather  than  truth,  seldom  omitting  what  is,  some- 
times recording  what  is  not,  observable.     But  see  the  catalogue. 

Stow*'s  Chronicle.  (Page  107.) 

Achard,  Averenges,  Aielard,  Alard,  Aubeney,  Avenel,  Asprevil, 
Audeny,  Akein,  Arcy,  Amile,  Aunmidvile,  Abbevile,  Andvile, 
Albemarke,  Aubrey,  Archer. — 17- 

Bastarde,  Baignard,  Barvile,  Brassard,  Berad,  Boygnard, 
Barkarvile,  Baret,  Basset,  Bars,  Belet,  Beil,  Breit,  Boneit,  Bluet, 
Brachet,  Buket,  Biset,  Blundet,  Burdet,  Blete,  Barry,  Berri, 
Bracy,  Brenenile,  Bounttuile,  Butenile,  Beamchampe,  Burnel, 
Bussel,  Beleice,  Bonere,  Bodler,  Botiler,  Bogod,  Burle,  Baul, 
Brenbe,  Brus,  Butelem,  Bricourt,  Brian,  Boch,  Bozim,  Bion, 
Bailoil,  Brocheris,  Bardulfe,  Bancan,  Bussey,  Beamvis,  Bleis, 
Baventre. — 5o. 

Camule,  Carenile,  Cardevile,  Condrey,  Cursey,  Caution,  Caily, 
Corbet,  Clare,  Curtais,  Curthose,  Chamlin,  Costentin,  Comthense, 
Cozmit,  Chalenges,  Chastlem,  Courtueis,  Chawers,  Curty,  Conun, 
Crioile,  Charles,  Chen,  Chaucer,  Chandos,  Cunly,  Curly,  Crely, 
Colenile,  Cabot,  Charnel,  Chamel,  Charel,  Cheinie. — 35. 

Darcy,  Dunstervile,  Douchampe,  Despenser,  Duredent,  Drivall, 
Duket,  Dreward,  Delamare,  Drunall,  Dela,  Deincourt. — 12. 

Eurous,  Estotkirke. — 2. 

Faherburt,  Fossard,  Fresel,  Frevile,  Fressenile,  Folenile, 
Firmunde,  FizgefFray,  Firpers,  Fitzwaters,  Feskampe,  Fizhu, 
Fizurs,  Ferrer,  Fornitall,  Fineis,  Fitzbrian,  Frison,  Ferers,  Foham,- 
ble,  Frignes,  Fitzgariz,  Formentin. — 23. 

Gangy,  Greminle,  Gieunile,  Gornumile,  Gemule,  Gerard,  GifFard, 
Gondrel,  Gorger,  Goner,  Gigod,  Gaibit,  Giptot,  Garin,  Gunter, 
Gras,  Grauntson,  Gournay,  Greis,  Gamage,  Gautere,  Gorge. — 22. 

Hainule,  Hantvile,  Humchampe,  Herebrace,  Henile,  Herenile, 
Havel,  Hachet,  Haket,  Harvy,  Hanesy,  Hersy,  Hai,  Hasard, 
Hansard,  Hasser,  Hubert,  Hamelin,  Harecurte,  Hus.  Hense. — 21. 

lardin. — 1. 

Kemes,  Keines,  Kusac,  Kosin,  Kamais. — 5. 

Laci,  Liar,  Lunecy,  Luret,  Lucy,  Lidet,  Linguenile,  Levener, 
Licot,  Lonecot,  Lovell,  Lescei,  Lambert,  Lenn,  Limare,  Lisle, 
La. — 17. 

Maignard,  Maureward,  Mountford,  Mountague,  Mountbray, 
Maundevile,  Mortmer,  Mansel,  Maschy,  Mungomer,  Morvile, 
Meisy,  Munty,  Mounteni,  Mulct,  Mumfitchet,  Martell,  Morell, 
Musard,  Maleit,  Milere,  Molevorer,  Manturners,  Moreiis,  Muelent, 

*  Cajiijen  in  Middlesex. 


248  CHURCH    HISTORY     OF    BRITAIN.  A.l).   1066. 

Meigne,  Meiml,  Manne,  Maceis,  Mabuom,  Mortem,  Manfey, 
Marcsthall,  Morley,  Martinas,  Murdacke,  Metun,  Manieisin, 
Morin,  Mire,  Morim. — 41. 

Neemarch,  Nepunt. — 2. 

Orniall,  Osevile,  Onvare. — 3. 

Passemer,  Passenaiint,  Picot,  Poorvanger,  Pers,  Parcel,  Pichard, 
Pypard,  Pamel,  Panel,  Piterel,  Penerel,  Pleisy,  Paveli,  Pilet, 
Parly,  Palet,  Piket,  Percy,  Punchet,  Packet,  Punis,  Pandulfe, 
Pulem,  Penir,  Penne,  Phanecourt,  Pales,  Prouz,  Pirim,  Peisim, 
Partebeii,  Puntfrait. — 33. 

Quinsi,  Quatraraart. — 2. 

Russel,  Rydel,  Roter,  Rockell,  Rooz,  Rickmount. — 6. 

Seintenile,  Somery,  Say,  Suneli,  Sorel,  Seteplace,  Spivenile, 
Saundernile,  Sonule,  Soler,  Sourrile,  Stutenile,  Soleny,  Spigurnel, 
Seintbrenel,  Soylard,  Swywar,  Saucer,  Sausaver,  Seniler,  Saintcler, 
Senittomer,  Seintlegcr,  Saundenal,  Savage,  Seintion,  Saint-mareis, 
Saucei,  Sal,  Seignes,  Seintlis,  Seintmoris,  Seintgorge,  Seintiore, 
Seint-quintin,  Seintmore,  Sauntzire,  Saintcky,  Setuans,  Seinte-royiz, 
Seinteleme. — 41. 

Toret,  Tavit,  Turpet,  Tramel,  Torckapel,  Toniiy,  Trussel, 
Tucket,  Torevile,  Trevet,  Tirel,  Trans,  Talebot,  Turbenile,  Tracy, 
Trussebut,  Toe,  Tailpas,  Truan,  Tener,  Tisiure,  Tayleboys — 22. 

Verer,  Vilers,  Vesty,  Vinframile,  Veily,  Vaieus,  Veisin,  VoriJI, 
Vcnur,  Yavasue,  Vans. — 11. 

Widenile,  Wimle,  Wilby,  Wadel,  Ward,  Wysckard,  Walde- 
boef,  Wastueis,  Warem,  Weirim. — 10. 

Yuoire.— 1.     Total  381. 

To  tkese  six  catalogues  let  me  add  one  more ;  not  tkat  I  am  an 
affecter  of  a  septenary  number,  but  because  confident  it  is  tke  best 
and  most  autkentic  of  all  tke  rest.  I  find  it  in  Mr.  Fox;*  but 
surely  collected  by  some,  more  skilful  tkan  kimself  in  tkis  kind, 
out  of  several  ancient  ckronicles.  It  containetk  suck  persons  wko 
after  tke  battle  were  advanced  to  seigniories  in  tkis  land.  It  pre- 
sentetk  us  only  witk  tke  initial  letters  of  tkeir  Ckristian  names,  save 
for  the  first  seven  tkerein.  And  altkougk  kereby  we  are  left  at  an 
unceriainty,  as  wketker  G.  signifietk  "  George"  or  "  Gilbert,"  I. 
"James"  or  "  Jokn  ;"  yet  more  than  a  conjecture  may  be  made  by 
observing  wkat  Ckristian  name  Avas  predominant  in  tkeir  posterity. 

Jokn  de  Maundevile,  Adam  Undevile,  Bernard  de  Previle, 
Rick,  dc  Rockvile,  Gilbert  de  Frankvile,  Hugo  de  Dovilc, 
Symond  de  Rotevile,  R.  de  Evile,  B.  de  Kneuvilc,  Hugo  de 
Morvile,  R.  de  Colevile,  A.  de  Warvile,  C.  de  Karvile,  R.  de 
Rotevile,  S.  de  Stotevile,  H.  Bonum,  I.  Monum,  W.  de  Vignoum, 

*   "  Acts  and  Rloniinients,"  torn.  i.  page  237. 


1    WILLIAM    I.  THE    ROLL    OF    BATTLE    ABBEY.  249 

K.  cle  Vispount,  W.  Bailbeof,  S.  de  Baleyii,  II.  dc  Matreys, 
I.  Aguleyne,  G.  Agilon,  R.  Chamburlayn,  N.  de  Vendrcs,  H.  de 
Verdon,  H.  de  Vcrto,  C.  de  Vernon,  H.  Hardul,  C.  Cappan, 
W.  de  Canivile,  I.  de  Cameres,  R.  de  Rotes,  R.  de  Boys,  W.  de 
AVaren,  T.  de  Wardboys,  R.  de  Roys,  W.  de  Audely, 
K.  Dynham,  R.  de  Vaures,  G.  de  Vargenteen,  I.  de  Hastings, 
G.  de  Hastank,  L.  de  Burgee,  R.  de  Butvileyn,  H.  de  Malcbranch, 
S.  de  Malemain,  G.  de  Hautevile,  H.  Hauteyn,  R.  de  Morteyn, 
R.  de  Mortimer,  G.  de  Kanovile,  E.  de  Colmnb,  W.  Payne], 
C.  Fanner,  H.  Pontrel,  I.  de  Rivers,  T.  de  Revile,  W.  de 
Beauchamp,  R.  de  Beaupale,  E.  de  Ou,  F.  Lovel,  S.  de  Troys, 
I.  de  Artel,  I.  de  Montebrugge,  H.de  Mounteserel,  W.  Trussebut, 
W.  Trussell,  H.  Byset,  R.  Basset,  R.  Molet,  H.  Malovile, 
G.  Bonet,  P.  de  Bonvile,  S.  de  Rovile,  N.  de  Norbeck,  I.  de 
Corneux,  P.  de  Corbet,  W.  de  Mountague,  S.  de  Mountfycliet, 
I.  de  Genevyle,  H.  GyfFard,  I.  de  Say,  T.  Gilbard,  R.  de  Chalons, 
S.  de  Cliainvard,  H.  Ferret,  Hugo  Pepard,  I.  de  Harecourt,  H.  de 
Haunsard,  I.  de  Lamare,  P.  de  Mautrevers,  G.  de  FeiTon,  R.  de 
Ferrers,  I.  de  D''esty,  W.  de  Werders,  H.  de  Bornevile,  I.  de 
Saintenys,  S.  de  Syncler,  R.  de  Gorges,  E.  de  Gemere,  W.  de 
Feus,  S.  de  Filberd,  H.  de  Turbervile,  R.  Troblenuer,  R.  de 
Angon,  T.  de  Morer,  T.  de  Rotelet,  H.  de  Spencer,  R.  de  St. 
Quentin,  I.  de  Saint  Martin,  G.  de  Custan,  Saint  Constantin, 
Saint  Leger  et  Saint  Med,  M.  de  Cronu  et  de  S.  Viger,  S.  de 
Crayel,  R.  de  Crenker,  N.  Meyvel,  I.  de  Berners,  S.  de  Chumly, 
E.  de  Charers,  I.  de  Grey,  W.  de  Grangers,  S.  de  Grangers, 
S.  Baubenyn,  H.  Vamgers,  E.  Bertram,  R.  Bygot,  S.  Treoly, 
I.  Trigos,  G.  de  Feues,  H.  Filiot,  R.  Taperyn,  S.  Talbot, 
H.  Santsaver,  T.  de  Samford,  G.  de  Yandien,  C.  de  Vautort, 
G.  de  Mountague,  Tlio.  de  Cliambernon,  S.  de  Montfort,  R.  de 
Fernevaulx,  W.  de  Valence,  T.  Clare],  S.  de  Clervaus,  P.  de 
Aubermale,  H.  de  Saint  Arvant,  E.  de  Auganutcy?,  S.  de  Gant, 
G.  de  Malearbe,  H.  Mandut,  W.  de  Cliesun,  L.  de  Cliandut, 
R.  Filzurz,  B.  Vicount  de.  Low,  G.  de  Cantemere,  T.  de  Cantlow, 
R.  Breaunce,  T.  de  Broxeboof,  S.  de  Bolebec,  B.  Mo]  de  Boef, 
I.  de  Muelis,  R.  de  Brus,  S.  de  Brewes,  I.  de  Lille,  T.  de  Bellile, 
I.  de  Watervile,  G.  de  Nevile,  R.  de  Neuburgli,  H.  de  Burgoyne, 
G.  de  Bourgh,  S.  de  Lymoges,  L.  de  Lyben,  W.  de  Hclyoun, 
W.  de  Hildrebron,  R.  de  Loges,  S.  de  Saint  Low,  I.  de  Maubank, 
P.  de  Saint  Malow,  R.  de  Leofern,  I.  de  Lovotot,  G.  de 
Dabbevile,  H.  de  Appetot,  W.  de  Percy,  H.  de  Lacy,  G.  de 
Quincy,  E.  Tracy,  R.  de  la  Souchc,  V.  de  Soniery,  I.  de  Saint 
John,  T.  de  Saint  Gory,  P.  de  Boyly,  R.  de  Saint  Valery,  P.  de 
Pinkonv,    S.   de   Pavcly,    G.    do    Monthaut,    1\   dc    Mountchesy, 


250 


CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN. 


A.D.  10G6. 


R.  de  Lymozy,  G.  de  Lucy,  I.  de  Artois,  N.  de  Arty,  P.  de 
Grenvile,  I.  de  Greys,  V.  de  Cresty,  F.  de  Courcy,  T.  de  Lamar, 
H.  de  Lymastz,  L  de  Moubray,  G.  de  Morley,  S.  de  Gorney, 
R.  de  Courtenay,  P.  de  Gourney,  R.  de  Cony,  L  de  la  Huse, 
R.  de  la  Huse,  V.  de  Longevile,  P.  Longespy,  L  Poucliardon, 
R.  de  la  Pomercy,  L  de  Pountz,  R.  de  Pontlarge,  R.  Estraunge, 
Tho,  Savage. — 224. 

I  presume  the  reader  sufficiently  wearied  witli  so  many  dull 
prose-catalogues ;  and  now  we  will  refresh  him  a  little  with  an  old 
song,  as  I  find  their  names  metrically  composed,  in  the  Chronicle  of 
John  Brompton  the  abbot.  Indeed,  the  rhymes  may  be  said  to 
make  themselves ;  such  is  the  like  cadency  of  many  Norman 
names  ;  and  if  the  verses  do  but  chime  and  tink  in  the  close,  it  is 
enough  to  the  purpose. 


Vous  que  desyrez  assaver 
Les  lions  de  grauntz  de  la  la  mer, 
due  vindrent  Od  le  conquerour, 
William  Bastard    de   graimt  vi- 
gour e  ; 
Lours  surnons  issi  nous  detiys, 
Co7nje  les  trova  en  escris. 
Car  des  propres  nons  force  ny  a. 
Puree  qillis  sont  channges  sa  et  la; 
Come  de  Edtnond  en  Edwardc, 
De  Baldwyn  en  Barnard, 
De  Godwyn  en  Godard, 
De  Elys  en  Edwin  : 
Et  issint  de  toutz  autrez  nons, 
Come  ils  sont  levez  dufons. 
Puree  lour  surnons  que  sont  usez, 
Et  ne  sont  jias  sovent  chaungez, 
Vous  ay  escript ;  ore  escotez, 
Si  vous  oier  les  voylletz. 

Maundevyle  et  Daundevyle, 
Ounfravyle  et  Do^vnefrevyle, 
Bolvyle  et  Baskarvyle, 
Evyle  et  Clevyle, 
Morevyle  et  Colevyle, 
Warbevyle  et  Carvyle, 
Botevyle  et  Sotevyle, 
Devcrous  ct  Cavcrvyle ; 


Mooun  et  Boun, 
Vipoun  et  Vinoun, 
Baylon  el  Bayloun, 
Maris  et  Marmyoun, 
Agulis  et  Aguloun, 
Chaumberleyn  et  Chaumbersoun, 
Vere  et  Vernoun, 
Yerdyers  et  Verdoun, 
Cryel  et  Caroun, 
Dummer  et  Dammoun  ; 
Hastyng  et  Cammois, 
Bardelfe,  Botes,  et  Boys, 
Warenne  et  Wardeboys, 
Rodes  et  Deverois ; 
Auris  et  Argenten, 
Botetour  et  Botevelyn, 
Malebouch  et  Malemeyn, 
Hautevyle  et  Hauteyn, 
Danvey  et  DjT^eyn, 
Malure  et  Malvesyn ; 
Morten  et  Mortimer, 
Braunz  et  Columber, 
Seynt  Denis  et  Seynt  Cler, 
Saint  Aubyn  et  Seynt  Omer, 
Seynt  Fylbert,  Fyens,  et  Gonier, 
Turbevyle  et  Turbemer, 
Gorges  et  Spensei", 
Brus  et  Boteler : 


1   WILLIAM    I.         THE    ROLL    OF    BATTLE    ABBEY. 


2ol 


Crevequel  el  Seynt  Quiuteyn, 
Deverouge  el  Seynt  Martin ; 
Seynt  ]\[or  et  Seynt  Leger, 
Seynt  Vigor  et  Seynt  Per  ; 
Avynel  et  Paynell, 
P.iyvere  et  Peverell, 
Rivers  et  Rivel, 
Beauchamp  et  Beaupel, 
Lou  et  Lovell, 
Ros  et  Druell, 

Mountabours  el  Mountsorell, 
Trussebot  et  Trussell, 
Bergos  et  Burnell, 
Bra  et  Boterell ; 
Biset  et  Basset, 
Malevyle  et  Malet, 
Bonevyle  et  Bonet, 
Nervyle  et  Narbet, 
Coynale  et  Corbet, 
Mountayn  et  Mounfycliet ; 
Geynevyle  et  Gyffard, 
Say  et  Seward, 

Chary  et  Chaward, 
Pyryton  et  Pypard, 
Harecourt  et  Haunsard, 

Musegrave  et  Musard ; 

Mare  et  Mautravers, 

Fernz  et  Ferers, 

Bernevyle  et  Berners, 

Cheyne  et  Chalers, 

Daundon  et  Daungers, 

Vessi,  Gray,  et  Graungers  ; 

Bertram  et  Bygod, 

Traylliz  et  Tragod  ; 

Penbri  et  Pypotte, 

Freyn  et  Folyot, 

Dapisoun  et  Talbote, 

Sanzaver  et  Saunford, 

Vadu  et  Vatorte, 

Montagu  et  Mounford; 

Forneus  et  Fornyvaus, 

Valens,  Ylo,  ct  Vaus. 


Clarel  et  Claraus  ; 
Aubevyle  et  Seint  Amauns, 
Agantez  et  Dragans ; 
Malerbe  et  Maudut, 
Brewes  et  Ohaudut  ; 
Fizowres  et  Fiz  de  Lou, 
Cantemor  et  Cantelou ; 
BraybufFe  et  Huldbynse, 
Bolebeke  et  Molyns  ; 
Moleton  et  Besyle, 
Ricliford  et  Desevyle, 
Watervyle  et  Dayvyle, 
Nebors  et  Nevyle  ; 
Hynoys,  Burs,  Burgenon, 
Ylebon,  Hyldebrond,  Holyon; 
Loges  et  Seint  Lou, 
Maubank  et  Seint  Malou ; 
Wake  et  Wakevyle, 
Coudree  et  Knevyle ; 
Scales  et  Clermount, 
Beauvys  et  Beamount ; 
Mouns  et  Mountchampe, 
Nowers  et  Nowchampe  ; 
Percy,  Crus,  et  Lacy, 
Quincy  et  Tracy ; 
Stokes  et  Somery, 
Seynt  Johan  et  Seynt  Jay, 
Greyle  et  Seynt  Walry, 
Pynkeney  et  Panely, 
Mohant  et  Mountchensy, 
Loveyn  et  Lucy, 
Artoys  et  Arcy, 
Grevyle  et  Courcy, 
Arras  et  Cressy, 
Merle  et  Moubray, 
Gomay  et  Courtnay, 
Haustlayng  et  Tomay, 
Husee  et  Husay, 
Pounchardon  et  Pomeray, 
Longevyle  et  Longespay ; 
Peyns  et  Pountlarge, 
Straunge  ct  Sauvage — 247- 


252  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.   106C. 

Pass  we  now  from  poetry  to  painting,  seeing  great  the  affinity 
betwixt  them,  fancy  being  predominant  in  both.  Present  we  here 
the  reader  witli  the  names  and  arms  of  forty  soldiers  of  king 
AVilliam  the  Conqueror,  matched  with  as  many  monks  ;  but  how, 
and  on  what  occasion,  the  ensuing  writing  will  acquaint  us  : — 

"In  the  time  of  Thurston,  our  abbot  of  Ely,  born  of  worshipful 
parentage  in  the  village  of  Wichford  near  Ely,  king  Harold,  son  of 
Godwin,  and  together  with  him  all  the  states  of  England  almost, 
were  shiin  by  the  soldiers  of  William  duke  of  Normandy,  nephew 
to  St.  Edward  the  king,  upon  the  feast  of  St.  Calixt  the  pope,  in 
the  year  of  o-  r  Lord  God  one  thousand-sixty-and-six. 

"  Whereupon    Egelwine    bishop    of  Durham,    Egfride  abbot  of 
St.  Alban's,  the  earl  of  Margary,  and  Edward  Byarn,  with  sundry 
other  chief  of  the  land,  together  with   their  friends,  laden  with  great 
treasures,  fled  unto  us,  desirous  to  withstand,  so  far  as  lay  in  them, 
the    enterprise  of  the  Bastard ;    by  whose  aid    we  withstood    the 
tempestuous  threats  of  the  Normans  seven  years  ;  until  such  time 
as  Bclase — who  at  that  time  Avas  general  of  the  king^s  army,  and 
from    whom    the    circuit    of    certain    hills    at    the    south    end    of 
Alderliithe-Causey,  which  at  this  day  are  corruptly  called  Belsar"'s- 
Hills,  took  their  name,  being  cast  up  on  purpose  that  the  army  in 
the  night-time  might  lodge  there  safely — astonished  us  by  the  means 
of  an  huge  number  of  boats  gathered  together  upon  a  sudden.     A 
council  then  being  called,   it  seemed  good  to  our  captains  in  con- 
venient time  to  crave  the   king''s  mercy.     Whereupon  certain  Avere 
sent  to  the  king''s  court,  being  then  at  Warwick,  carrying  Avith  them 
to  the  king  a  mighty  treasure,  a  competent  price  and  satisfaction  to 
})acify    him    concerning    an    unadvised     attempt  :     AvhercAvith    the 
lionourable  king  Avas  appeased,   yet  Avith   this  covenant  and   condi- 
tion,— that,  so  long  as  it  pleased  him,   forty  of  the  king's  soldiers 
should  be  maintained  at  the  charge  of  the  monastery.     For  the 
king  feared,   lest  that,  Avhilst  he  bent  his  forces  against  the  Scots 
not  yet  subdued,  the  Isle  of  Ely  (being  indeed  a  dreadful  strength) 
should  again  revolt,  to  his  great  dinger.     The  soldiers  Avith  their 
retinue  are  sent,  they  come  and  here  abide.     Whereof  each  one  is 
delivered  to  some  principal  monk,  as  a  captain  to  his  lieutenant,  or 
a   guest   to   his   host.     Noav  the  king  decreed  that  Bertwolde,  the 
butler,  should  minister  food  to  the  soldiers  and  monks  jointly  together, 
one  Avith  another  in  the  common   hall  of  the  monastery.      What 
need   many    Avords  ?     These    captains    to    their   lieutenants,    these 
guests  to   their   hosts,  these    soldiers    to    their   monks,  Avere  most 
Avelcome :   for  all  of  them  entertained  each  one,  each  one  entertained 
all,    and    every    one    mutually    one    another,    Avith    all    duties    of 
humanity.     At  the  length  the  fire  of  the  civil  Avar  being  quenched, 


.m 


Vail  Fa^e  ZfZ 

23 


■L7 


31 


35 


1   WILLIAM   1.  THE    ROLL    OK    BATTLE    ABBEY.  253 

and  the  king  cstablislicd  according  to  liis  hcart"'s  desire,  five  years 
after,  his  severity  in  punishing  being  in  godly  manner  pacified,  it 
pleased  the  king  to  withdraw  this  yoke,  •'vherewith  the  pride  of  the 
monks  was  now  sufficiently  abated.  A  d  the  Conqueror  reclaimed 
his  soldiers,  to  punish  the  ungodly  lusolcncy  of  his  son  Robert,  who 
at  that  time  in  outrageous  man-  er  kept  riot  in  Normandy.  But 
our  monks  (which  is  a  wonder  to  report)  did  not  only  with  tears 
bewail  the  departure  of  iev  dearest  mates,  the  heroical  soldiers 
and  welcome  guests  ;  bat  wled  out  most  fearfully,  and  beat  their 
breasts  as  destitute  of  hope,  after  the  manner  of  a  new-married  wife 
whose  husband  is  violently  taken  away,  at  an  unseasonable  time, 
out  of  her  sweet  arms  unto  the  wars.  For  they  doubted  lest  that, 
being  thus  forsaken,  they  should  be  subject  to  the  spoil  ;  whereas 
they  had  lived  securely  at  ease,  with  their  armed  guests,  to  whose 
trust  they  had  committed  themselves  and  their  goods.  They  being 
now  all  ready  for  their  journey,  every  one  of  our  monks,  many  in 
number,  investured  in  their  copes,  in  dutiful  manner  accompanied 
these  gentlemen  departing,  unto  Hadenham,  with  songs,  crosses, 
censers,  processions,  and  all  solemnity  that  might  be  used  :  and, 
returning  home,  took  order  that  the  arms  of  each  soldier  should  be 
lively  depainted  upon  the  wall  of  the  common  hall,  where  they  took 
their  repast  together,  to  the  perpetual  memory  of  the  customed 
kindness  of  their  soldierlike  guests  ;  the  which  from  time  to  time, 
from  the  predecessors  to  the  successors,  and  from  obscure  antiquity 
to  our  posterity  at  this  day,  are  curiously,  set  forth  to  be  viewed  of 
all  men,  not  without  a  pleasant  delight,  in  such  manner  as  they 
glitter  and  shine  honourable  in  the  margent  of  this  table.'" 

This  Avriting  was  composed  about  the  reign  of  king  Henry  VII. 
but  the  arms  set  up  in  Ely-Hall,  (as  may  appear  by  inserting  the 
coat  of  Robert  Orford,  the  fourteenth  bishop  of  Ely.)  about  the  year 
1306 ;  which  hall  was  destroyed  at  the  Dissolution.  But  another 
transcript  of  the  arms  of  these  knights  being  depicted  on  the  wall 
of  the  dean's  dining-room,  was  lately  extant,  whence  our  draught 
here  presented  was  taken,  (rather  truly  than  neatly  done,  out  of 
desire  to  conform  to  the  original,)  and  communicated  to  me  by 
that  worthy  knight  and  able  antiquary,  Sir  Simon  Archer,  of 
Warwickshire. 

Some  will  wonder  that  Mr.  Camden  maketh  no  mention  hereof, 
whose  omniscience  in  these  things  may  be  presumed  of.  Yea, 
which  is  more,  "  there  is,"  saith  he,*  "a  rampire  of  mean  height, 
but  of  very  large  compass,  which  they  call  Belsar's-Hills,  of  one 
Bellisar,  I  wot  not  who  ;"  taking  no  notice  of  Belasis,  the  Norman 
general,  who  subdued  Ely,  and  from  whom  our  late-produced  writing 

•  Camden's  Brilannia  iu  Camlmdgeshiro. 


2o4  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAlX.  A.D.  1066. 

attesteth  those  hills  to  be  so  named.  But,  besides  that  Camdenus 
non  videt  omnia,  great  antiquaries  are  sometimes  subject  to  fits 
of  sullenness,  and  will  not  see  what  they  do  see,  when  resolved  to 
take  no  notice  thereof. 

And,  now  we  have  presented  the  reader  with  eight  several  cata- 
logues ;  two  of  Holinshed's,  two  of  Stow's,  two  of  Mr.  Fox's,  one 
of  Scriven's,  one  of  friar  Brompton's,  besides  the  list  of  Ely  knights, 
I  could  wish  a  good  herald  would  make  a  mono-ogdoon,  that  is, 
"  one  out  of  eight,"  and  alphabetically  digest  the  same  ;  also  note 
M'hat  names  are  extant,  and  which,  how,  and  when  extinct. 

By  names  which  I  call  "  extinct,"  understand  "  not  existent  in 
any  signal  and  remarkable  lustre  proportionable  to  their  former 
greatness,"  though  possibly  some  obscure  under-boughs,  truly  de- 
rived thence,  may  still  be  in  being.  That  worthy  doctor*  hath 
made  many  converts  in  physic  to  his  seeming  paradox,  maintaining 
the  circulation  of  the  blood  running  round  about  the  body  of  man. 
Nor  is  it  less  true,  that  gentle  blood  fetcheth  a  circuit  in  the  body 
of  a  nation,  runnmg  from  yeomanry,  through  gentry,  to  nobility  ; 
and  so,  retrograde,  returning  through  gentry  to  yeomanry  again. 
My  father  hath  told  me  from  the  mouth  of  Sir  Robert  Cotton,  that 
that  worthy  knight  met  in  a  morning  a  true  and  undoubted  Planta- 
genet  holding  the  plough  in  the  country. 

He  might  add  arms  to  ancient  names,  where  he  could  recover  any 
certainty  therein  ;  for  I  am  confident  that  hereditary  arms  are  not 
so  ancient  as  the  Conquest,  but  fixed  in  families  about  the  begin- 
ning of  Henry  III.  finding,  before  that  time,  the  warlike  devices 
of  the  sons  not  the  same  with  the  fancies  of  their  fathers,  and  their 
grandchildren  differing  from  both. 

If  any  say  that  I  have  already  gone  too  far  in  this  subject,  who 
am  no  herald  by  profession,  but  only  Krjpv^,  Prceco,  "  a  crier"  in  the 
spiritual  acceptation  of  the  office  ;  yea,  that  this  savours  of  revenge, 
as  if,  because  so  many  in  this  age  invade  my  calling,  I  in  requital 
have  made  incursion  into  other  men''s  professions  ;  like  men  that 
take  "  letters  of  mart,"  not  caring  whom  they  wrong,  so  they  repair 
themselves  for  their  former  sustained  or  pretended  losses  :  let  such 
know  that  I  adventure  on  heraldry,  not  as  a  calling,  but  as  an  acces- 
sory quality  for  recreation.  And,  in  evidence  of  my  loyalty  to  the 
kings  of  arms,  I  submit  what  here  I  have  written  to  their  censure 
and  correction,  who  have  obliged  me  unto  them  with  their  many  and 
great  civilities. 

Only  I  will  add  some  corollaries  to  this  roll,  and  so  conclude. 

"  Dr.  Hervey. 


1   WILMAM    I.  THE     ROI.T,    OF    BATTLE     ABBEY.  255 

The  prefixing  of  U'  before  Names. 
CoROLL,  I. — When  any  name  begins  with  a  vowel,  or  an  H,  the 
prefixing  of  D"'  createth  a  (seeming)  new  name :  as  Arcy,  D"'Arcy ; 
Aunvers,  D'Aunvers  ;   Haurel  or  Hairel,  D'Hairel. 

French  Surnames  discerned  by  their  Terminations. 

CoROLL.  II. — French  surnames  are  generally  discernible  by  their 
terminations. 

In  age,  as  Savage  ;  ard.,  as  Giffard ;  champe,  as  Beauchampe  ; 
court,  as  Harcourt ;  c^/,  as  Darcy ;  ell,  as  Terrell ;  er,  as 
Archer ;  ers,  as  Danvers ;  eu.v,  as  Devereux ;  et,  as  Barret ; 
la?/,  as  Cholmelay  ;  7iay,  as  Courtnay  ;  ot,  as  Talbot ;  vile,  as 
Nevile. 

Some  few  names,  whose  endings  are  exceptions  from  these  rules, 
are  easily  observed  by  reading,  and  known  to  be  of  French  ex- 
traction. 

IVivil  closeth  the  Catalogue. 

CoROLL.  III. — Wivil  is  the  last  name  in  most  catalogues.  First 
fixed  at  Stanton  Wivil  in  Leicestershire,  where  they  continued  in 
the  twenty-fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  king  Henry  VI.  on  this 
token, — that  William  Wivill,  being  sworn  and  examined,  did 
depose  that  he  could  expend  twenty  pounds  a-year  of  old  rents 
besides  all  charges.  Of  this  house  was  Robert  de  Wivil,  bishop  of 
Salisbury ;  one  neither  handsome  nor  learned,  but  eminent  for  his 
long  life  (forty-five  years  bishop  there)  and  high  spirit,  that  he  would 
not  suffer  the  castle  of  Sarum  to  be  parted  from  his  see,  challenged 
by  William  Mountacute  earl  of  Salisbury,  without  putting  it  upon 
"  trial  of  battle."  Long  since  the  Wivils  here  are  extinct,  bearing 
Gules,  Frettey  Vary,  a  Chief  Or.  But  there  is  extant  an  ancient 
family  of  that  name  in  the  North,  though  different  in  arms,  aug- 
mented in  state  and  honour  by  matches  with  the  heirs  of  Pigot, 
Scroope  of  Upsall,  and  Bointon  ;  whereof  Sir  Mannaduke  Wivil, 
of  Constable-Burton  in  Richmondshire,  was  created  baronet  by  king 
James,  whose  grandchild  Marmaduke  Baronet  Wivil  married  the 
daughter  of  Coniers  lord  Darcy.  And  I  am  glad  that  I  may  auspi- 
ciously close,  and  conclude  my  catalogue  with  so  worthy  a  gentle- 
man ;  bearing  Gules,  three  Cheveronels  braced  in  Base,  Gobonee 
Argent  and  Azure,  a  Chief  Or. 

The  Family  of  the  Walgraves. 

CoROLL.  IV. — All  names  of  gentry  which  by  authentical  records 
came  over  at  the  Conquest,  are  not  expressed  in  any  of  these  cata- 
logues ;  as  Saukvil,  or  Sackvil,  and  Walgrave  ;  we  finding  two  of 
that  surname  :   One  John  Walgrave  a  Saxon,  living  at  Walgrave  in 


25G  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1006. 

Northamptonshire,  and  possessed  of  that  manor  before  the  Con- 
quest :  The  other  a  Walloon  of  that  name,  coming  over  with  the 
Conqueror,  and  employed  by  him  in  many  services.  The  latter  of 
these,  on  the  consent  of  the  former,  that  he  should  marry  his  only 
daughter,  procured  from  the  Conqueror  a  pardon  for  his  father-in- 
law,  that  he  might  quietly  enjoy  his  lands  and  livings,  descending 
on  this  Walloon  Walgrave  after  the  other's  death.  Which  pardon, 
legible  in  French,  was,  anno  1612,  in  the  possession  of  the  Wal- 
graves,  still*  flourishing  in  Suffolk. 

After  the  Conquest  several  Recruits  of  French  in  England. 

CoROLL.  V. — Let  none  wonder,  if  some  names  of  worshipful  and 
honourable  families,  undoubtedly  of  French  original,  (but  since  the 
Conquest,)  have  not  appeared  in  the  aforesaid  catalogues.  For 
know,  that  after  the  Conquest,  sundry  Frenchmen  of  signal  worth 
entered  England  at  several  times,  chiefly,  first,  at  the  marriage  of 
king  Henry  II.  to  queen  Eleanor,  who  brought  the  dukedom  of 
Aquitaine  and  earldom  of  Poictiers  for  her  dowry.  Secondly,  at 
the  marriage  of  Edward  II.  to  Isabella,  daughter  to  Philip  the  Fair, 
king  of  France,  when  three  thousand  French  came  over  with  her, 
(complained  of  as  a  great  grievance,)  and  many  settled  here.  Not 
to  speak  of  the  conquests  of  king  Edward  III.  and  Henry  V.  in 
France,  causing  such  an  intercourse  of  the  nations,  that  then  Eng- 
land and  France  may  be  said  to  have  borne  counterchangeably  each 
other's  natives. 

Tradesmen  not  mentioned  in  this  Roll  came  over  unth  them. 

CoROLL.  YI. — Many  will  admire  no  mention  of  tradesmen  in  all 
these  catalogues,  being  of  absolute  necessity  both  in  war  and  peace. 
For  soon  would  the  head  of  the  best  Monsieur  ache  without  a 
Capper ;  hands  be  tanned  without  a  Glover ;  feet  be  foundered 
without  a  Tanner,  Currier,  Shoemaker ;  whole  body  be  starved, 
cold,  without  Weaver,  Fuller,  Tailor ;  hungry,  without  Baker, 
Brewer,  Cook  ;  harbourless,  without  Mason,  Smith,  and  Carpenter. 
Say  not,  "  It  was  beneath  the  French  gallantry  to  stoop  to  such 
mean  employments,  who  found  all  these  trades  here  amongst  the 
English  their  vassals."  For,  besides  that  nothing  is  base  which  is 
honest,  and  necessary  for  human  society,  such  as  are  acquainted  with 
the  French  (both  ancient  and  modern)  finical  humour,  know  they 
account  our  tailors  botchers,  shoemakers  cobblers,  cooks  slovens, 
compared  to  the'  exactness  of  their  fancy  and  palate  ;  so  that,  cer- 
tainly, such  trades  came  over  with  them. 

*  Attested  by  Jolm  Raven,  Riehmoud  Herald.  See  We.v\'i;r's  "Funeral  Monn- 
ments,"  page  758. 


1    WILLIAM    1,         THE     ROLL    OF     BATTLE    ABBEV.  257 

As  appears  by  Doomsday-Book. 
CoROLL.VII. — But  hear  what  our  great  antiquary*  saitli  herein  : 
"  In  that  most  authentical  register,  Doomsday-Book  in  the 
Exchequer,  ye  shall  have  Cocus,  Jurifaher,  Pirfor,  Pistor, 
Accipitrarius,  Camerarms^  Venator.,  Pisco  tor,  Medicvs  ;  '  Cook, 
Goldsmith,  Painter,  Baker,  Falconer,  Chamberlain,  Huntsman, 
Fisher,  Leach,'  Marshal,  Porter,  and  others,  which  then  held  land 
in  capite,  and,  without  doubt,  left  these  names  to  their  posterity  ; 
albeit  haply  they  are  not  mentioned  in  those  tables  of  Battle  Abbey 
of  such  as  came  in  at  the  Conquest. 

The  sad  Case  of  the  English. 
CoROLL.  VIII. — Now  let  me  bespeak  the  reader''s  pity  (though 
possibly  his  ingenuous  sympathy  hath  given  it  before  it  was  re- 
quested) for  those  poor  Englishmen  Avho  were  to  find  free-quarter 
for  all  these  French.  Where  could  their  landlords  lodge  them  ? 
Or,  rather,  how  could  they  long  continue  landlords,  when  such 
potent  guests  came  to  their  houses  .''  O  the  several  ways  which 
their  necessities  dictated  unto  them  !  Some  fought,  as  the  Kentish, 
who  capitulated  for  their  liberty.  Some  fled,  as  those  in  the  North, 
into  Scotland.  Some  hid  themselves,  as  many,  in  middle  England, 
in  the  Isle  of  Ely.  Some,  as  those  of  Norfolk,  traversed  their  title 
by  law,  and  that  with  good  success  in  the  old  age  of  king  William 
the  Conqueror.  Most  betook  themselves  to  patience  ;  which  taught 
many  a  noble  hand  to  work,  foot  to  travel,  tongue  to  entreat ;  even 
thanking  them  for  their  courtesy,  who  were  pleased  to  restore  a 
shiver  of  their  own  loaf,  which  they  violently  took  from  them. 

•  Camden's  '*  Remains,"  page  234, 


Vol.  I. 


THE 


CHURCH   HISTORY  OF  BRITAIN. 


BOOK  III. 


FROM  THE  COMING-IN  OF  THE  NORMANS,  UNTIL  THE 
APPEARING  OF  JOHN  WICLIFFE, 


s  2 


THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  WILLIAM, 

LORD  BEAUCHAMPE,  &c. 

GRANDCHILD    AND    HEIR-APPARENT    TO    THE   RIGHT 
HONOURABLE  WILLIAM,  MARQUIS  OF  HERTFORD. 


Some  there  are  who  exact  of  every  Christian,  as  a 
touchstone  of  their  sincerity,  to  render  an  account  of 
the  exact  time  of  their  conversion,  with  the  circum- 
stances thereof, — how,  when,  and  where  performed. 
I  must  crave  leave  to  enter  myself  a  dissenter  herein, 
conceiving  such  a  demand  unreasonable,  as  generally 
required  essential  to  all  true  believers. 

I  confess,  some  may  return  a  satisfactory  answer 
thereunto ;  namely,  such,  whose  souls,  suddenly 
snatched  out  of  error  and  viciousness,  were  imme- 
diately wrought  upon,  almost  in  an  instant,  by  the 
Spirit  of  God.  Thus  of  those  three  thousand  gained, 
on  Many-Saints'  Day,  by  St.  Peter,  at  Jerusalem,  with 
the  preaching  of  one  sermon.  Acts  ii.  41,  each  one 
might  punctually  and  precisely  tell  the  very  moment  of 
their  true  conversion;  and,  generally,  the  worse  men 
have  been,  the  better  they  can  point  at  the  accurate 
date  thereof. 

And  thus  as  kings  count  their  actions  by  the  years 
of  their  reign,  (bishops  formerly  of  their  consecration,) 
so  these  may  use  the  style,  "  In  the  year  of  our  con- 
version, first,  or  second,"  &c.  And  as  Herod  kept  a 
festival  of  his  natural  birth- day,  Matt.  xiv.  6,  such,  if 
so  pleased,  may  duly  and  truly  observe  an  anniversary 
solemnity  of  their  regeneration. 


2C2  DEDICATION. 

A  privilege,  not  granted  to  all  true  believers :  God, 
to  show  his  power  that  he  can,  and  pleasure  that  he 
will,  vary  the  manner  of  men's  conversion,  (though 
going  the  same  path  by  his  word  and  Spirit,)  useth  a 
slower  pace  in  the  hearts  of  others,  in  whom  grace  is 
wrought  sensim  sine  sensu,  modelled  by  degrees ;  in 
such,  no  mortal  man  can  assign  the  minutary  juncture 
of  time,  when  preparing  grace  (which  cleared  the 
ground)  ended,  and  saving  grace  (which  finished  the 
fabric  of  conversion)  did  first  begin. 

Observable  to  this  purpose  are  the  words  of  our 
Saviour :  "  So  is  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  if  a  man 
should  cast  seed  into  the  ground  ;  and  should  sleep,  and 
rise  night  and  day,  and  the  seed  should  spring  and 
grow  up,  he  knoweth  not  how,"  Mark  iv.  26.  That 
grace  is  sown,  and  is  grown,  men  know ;  but  when,  and 
how,  in  the  persons  aforesaid,  God  knows. 

Besides  these  adult  converts,  there  are  a  second  sort 
of  Christians  unable  to  discover  the  date  of  grace 
dawning  in  them  ;  namely,  such  who,  with  Timothy, 
2  Tim.  i.  5 ;  iii.  15,  may  be  said  to  be  good,  time  out  of 
mind,  sucking  in  grace  with  their  milk,  extracted  from 
and  educated  under  a  pious  parentage. 

I  hope  and  trust  that  your  Honour  may  truly  be 
ranked  in  this  latter  form,  that  as  many  ancient  deeds 
(written  before  the  reign  of  king  Henry  HI.)  are  com- 
monly without  any  date  ;  grace,  in  like  manner,  will 
arise  so  early  in  your  heart,  (advantaged  by  your  godly 
birth  and  breeding,)  that  you  shall  not  remember  the 
beginning  thereof. 

However,  to  make  sure  work,  it  will  be  safest  to 
examine  yourself,  (when  arrived  at  age,)  what  eminent 
accessions  and  additions  of  grace  you  can  remember, 
with  the  place  and  time  when  ths  same  were  effectually 
wrought  in  your  soul,  and  what  bosom-sin  you  have 
conquered.  Especially  take  notice  of  your  solemn 
reconciling  to  God,  after  repentance  for  some  sin 
committed. 


DEDICATION.  263 

David,  no  doubt,  in  some  sort  may  be  said  to  be 
born  good,  God  being  his  hope  when  in  the  woml), 
PsahT)  xxii.  10,  when  on  the  breasts  of  his  mother, 
Psalm  Ixxi.  5,  trusting  in  him,  and  taught  by  him,  from 
his  youth.  Psalm  Ixxi.  17.  Now,  though  probably  he 
could  not  remember  his  first  and  general  conversion, 
he  could  recount  his  re- conversion,  after  his  foul 
offences  of  adultery  and  murder,  as  by  his  penitential 
Psalm  doth  plainly  appear. 

Otherwise,  such  who  boast  themselves  converted 
before  memory,  (by  the  privilege  of  their  pious 
infancy,)  if  they  can  recover  no  memorials  of  their 
repentance  after  relapse,  and  produce  no  time  nor 
tokens  thereof,  are  so  far  from  being  good  from  their 
cradle,  it  is  rather  suspicious  they  will  be  bad  to  their 
coffin,  if  not  labouring  for  a  better  spiritual  estate. 

And  now,  my  lord,  let  me  recommend  to  your  child- 
hood the  reading  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  as  the  apostle 
termeth  them,  2  Tim.  iii.  15:  Holy — in  the  fountain, 
flowing  from  the  Holy  Spirit  inditing  them.  Holy — in 
the  conduit-pipe,  derived  through  holy  men  penning 
them,  2  Peter  i.  21.  Holy — in  the  liquor,  teaching  and 
directing  to  holiness.  Holy — in  the  cistern,  working 
sanctity  in  such  as  worthily  receive  them,  and  "  making 
them  wise  unto  salvation." 

Now,  next  to  the  study  of  the  Scriptures,  history 
best  becometh  a  gentleman,  church-history  a  Christian, 
the  British  history  an  Englishman  ;  all  which  qualifica- 
tions, meeting  eminently  in  your  Honour,  give  me 
some  comfortable  assurance,  that  these  my  weak 
endeavours  will  not  be  unwelcome  unto  you ;  by  perus- 
ing whereof,  some  profit  may  probably  accrue  to  your- 
self, and  more  honour  will  certainly  redound  to 
The  meanest  and  unworthiest 

of  your  lordship's  servants, 

THOMAS  FULLER. 


CHURCH    HISTORY   OF   BRITAIN. 

BOOK  III. 


SECTION  I. 

THE  ELEVENTH  CENTURY. 

1.     The   drunken   English   conquered  by   the   Normans,    and 
\^Williani\  foundeth  Battle-Abbey.     1  William   the    Conqueror. 

A.D.  IO67. 

William  duke  of  Normandy  being  thus  amved,  (October 
14th,)  soon  conquered  Harold  with  an  army  of  Normans,  as  far 
beneaUi  the  English  in  number  as  above  them  in  temperance.  For, 
the  English,  being  revelling  before,  had  in  the  morning  their  brains 
arrested  for  the  arrearages  of  the  indigested  fumes  of  the  former 
night,  and  were  no  better  than  drunk  when  they  came  to  fight.* 
But  these  things  belong  to  the  historians  of  the  state  to  relate  ; 
whilst  it  is  proper  to  us  to  observe,  that  king  W^illiam,  to  testify 
his  gratitude  to  God  for  the  victory,  founded  in  that  place  Battle- 
Abbey,  endowing  it  with  revenues  and  large  immunities.  The 
abbot  whereof, •!•  being  a  baron  of  parliament,  carried  a  pardon  in 
his  presence  ;  who,  casually  coming  to  the  place  of  execution,  had 
power  to  save  any  maleflictor.  The  Abbey-church  was  a  place  of 
safety  for  any  felon  or  murderer  ;  though  such  popish  sanctuaries 
themselves,  if  accused  as  unlawful,  can  find  no  refuge  in  Scripture- 
precepts  or  precedents  for  their  justification,  seeing  the  very  horns 
of  the  altar,  by  Divine  command,  did  push  away  those  wilful 
offenders  which  fled  unto  them  ;  and  impunity,  being  the  greatest 
motive  to  impiety,  made  their  convent  the  centre  of  sinners.  Here 
the  monks  flourished  in  all  affluence  ;  as  the  old  world  in  the  days 
of  Noah,  "  they  ate,  they  drank,  they  bought,  they  sold  ;'"  would  I 

•  Man4  adhuc  ehrii  contra  hasten  iiinaictantir  proredunt. — M.  Paris.  f  Camdkn's 
Jirit.  iu  Su.sses. 


1   WILLIAM   r.  IJOOK    in.       CKNT.    Xf.  26o 

niiglit  add,  "  They  married  wives  and  were  given  iu  inarriiige,'" 
(for  want  whereof  they  did  worse,)  till  in  the  days  of  king  Henry 
VIII.  they  were  all  drowned  in  the  general  deluge  of  the 
Dissolution. 

2.  William  crowned  by  ike  Archbishop  of  York,  tvhilst  many  of 
the  English  Clergy Jly  into  Scotland. 
Now  it  was  proper  to  the  place  of  Stigand,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  to  perform  the  solemnities  of  king  William''s  corona- 
tion ;  but  he  declined  that  employment,  pretending  William's- 
unlawful  title,  and  loath  to  pour  the  sacred  oil  on  his  head,  whose 
hands  had  shed  so  much  innocent  blood.  The  other,  accounting 
himself  to  have  a  better  title  to  the  crown  by  conquest,  than  the 
archbishop  had  to  his  mitre  by  simony,  disdained  his  service,  and 
accepted  the  crown  from  the  hands  of  Aldred,  archbishop  of  York  ; 
who  first  required  an  oath  of  him,  to  defend  the  church,  minister 
justice,  and,  amongst  other  things,  to  use  Englishmen  as  favourably 
as  Normans.  Notwithstanding  which  oath,  he  made  the  Normans 
his  darlings,  and  tlie  English  his  drudges  ;  insomuch  as  many 
English  bishops  and  abbots,  unable  to  comport  themselves  with  his 
harshness,  and  conceiving  it  more  credit  and  safety  to  go  than  to 
be  driven  away  ;  fearing  by  degrees  they  should  all  be  quarrelled 
out  of  their  places,  unwillingly-willing  quitted  their  preferments, 
and  fled  into  Scotland,  Here  king  Malcolm  Canmore  (who  had 
married  Mai-garet,  niece  to  Edward  the  Confessor)  freely  received 
them.  He  himself  had  formerly  lived  fourteen  years  in  England; 
and  now,  of  a  grateful  guest  became  a  bountiful  host,  and  cour- 
teously harboured  these  exiles.  And  as,  at  this  time,  England 
began  to  turn  France,  imitating  the  language,  garb,  and  manners 
thereof;  so  Scotland  began  now  to  turn  England, — the  families 
transplanted  thither  transporting  the  English  customs,  fashions,  and 
civilities  along  with  them. 

3.  Doomsday-Book  made.  A.D.  1068. 
About  this  time,  (October  2nd,)  Doomsrl ay-Book  was  made, 
containing  an  exact  survey  of  all  the  houses  and  land  in  the  king- 
dom, unpartially  done  with  rigorous  severity.  They  omitted  nee 
lucam,  nee  lacum,  nee  locum.,*  so  accurate  they  were  in  the  very 
fractions  of  the  land  ;  and  therefore  it  may  seem  a  niiracle,  that  the 
monks  of  Crowland  should  find  a  courtesy  peculiar  to  themselves, 
(belike  out  of  veneration  to  their  convent,)  that  their  lands  were 
rated  nee  ad  spatiam,  nee  ad  prcetiitm.,'f  "  neither  so  much  in  . 
quantity,  nor  so  high  in  value  as  indeed  they  were  worth."     This 

•    iNGlLPHl  llistoria,  fol.  516.  1  Idem,  ibid. 


266  CIIUHOH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAiy.  A.D.  lOjO — 8. 

"Book  of  til  e  General  Survey  of  England,"  tliougli  now  begun,  did 
take  up  some  years  before  it  was  completed.* 

4.  Stigand  deposed  in  a  Council  at  Winchester.     A.D.  IO7O. 

King  William  called  a  synod  of  his  bishops  at  Winchester, 
■wherein  he  was  personally  present,  with  two  cardinals  sent  thither 
from  Rome.  Here  Stigand  archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  deposed, 
for  several  imcanonical  exorbitances ;  and  Lanfrank,  a  lordly 
Lombard,  substituted  in  his  room.  Stigand  lived  some  years  after 
in  a  prison  ;  and,  which  was  worse,  a  prison  lived  in  him, — being 
"straitened  in  his  own  bowels"  towards  himself.  For,  pretending 
poverty,  he  denied  himself  necessaries,  being  afterwards  discovered, 
to  carry  a  key  about  his  neck  which  opened  to  infinite  treasure,  so 
that  none  would  lavish  pity  on  him  who  starved  in  store,  and  was 
wilfully  cruel  to  himself. 

5.   The  Pope''s  first  Usurpation  of  the  Crown  of  England. 

A  learned  lawyer  hath  observed,"!'  that  "  the  first  encroachment 
of  the  bishop  of  Rome  upon  the  liberties  of  the  crown  of  England 
was  made  in  the  time  of  king  William  the  Conqueror.  For  the 
Conqueror  came  in  with  the  pope''s  banner,  and  under  it  won  the 
battle,  which  got  him  the  garland  ;  and  therefore  the  pope  pre- 
sumed he  might  boldly  pluck  some  flowers  from  it,  being  partly 
gained  by  his  countenance  and  blessing.  Indeed,  king  William 
kindly  entertained  these  legates,  sent  from  Rome,  so  to  sweeten  the 
rank  savour  of  his  coming  in  by  the  sword,  in  the  nostrils  of 
religious  men,  pretending  what  he  had  gotten  by  power  he  would 
keep  bya  pious  compliance  with  his  Holiness.  But  especially  he 
did  serve  the  pope  to  be  served  by  him  ;  that  so,  with  more  ease 
and  less  envy,  he  might  suppress  the  English  clergy.  But  although 
this  politic  prince  was  courteous  in  his  complimental  addresses  to 
the  see  apostolic,  yet,  withal,  he  was  careful  of  the  main  chance — to 
keep  tlie  essentials  of  his  crown,  as,  amongst  others,  by  these  four 
remarkable  particulars  may  appear  :  — 

6.  Yet  King  William  invested  ecclesiastical  Persons.  A.D.lOi]^. 

First.  He  retained  the  ancient  custom  of  the  Saxon  kings,| 
investing  bishops  and  abbots,  by  delivering  them  a  ring  and  a  stafl^; 
whereby,  without  more  ado,  they  were  put  into  plenary  possession 
of  the  power  and  profit  of  their  place.  Yea,  when  archbishop 
Lanfrank — one  so  prevalent  that  he  could  persuade  king  William 

*  Fi.fjRENTiLS  AVuioRMENSis  (t  H.iGUEN  make  it  fiuished  an)io  1078.  \  Sir  John 
D.\\Ys  iu  hi.-i  "  Ii-isli  Report,"  case  of  Pramunire,  ibl.  87,  89.  t  Anna!..  Evd. 

Lichfield  MS.  cited  by  Mr.  Seldin  iu  bis  riote.^i  on  Eadmeras,  page  14. 


12  WILLIAM   I.  BOOK    HI.       OE>fT    XI.  267 

to  any  thing,  (provided  that  the  king  himself  thought  it  fitting,) — 
requested  William  to  bestow  on  him  the  donation  of  the  abbey  of 
St.  Augustine  in  Canterbury,  the  king  refused,  saying,  that  he 
would  keep  all  pastoral  staves  in  his  own  hand  ;  *  wiser  herein  than 
his  successors,  who  parted  with  those  staves,  wherewith  they  them- 
selves were  beaten  afterward. 

7-  ^nd  refuseth  to  do  Fealty  to  the  Pope.     A.  D.  1 O78. 

Secondly.  Being  demanded  to  do  fealty  for  his  crown  of  England 
to  Gregory  the  seventh  pope  of  Rome,  he  returned  an  answer  as 
followeth  : — Ewcellentissimo  sanctcp.  ecclesicB  pastori  Gregorio, 
gratia  Dei  Anglorum  rex,  et  dti.v  Normnnnorum,  Willielmus 
salutem  cum  amicitia.  Hubertus  legatus  tiius,  religiose  pater, 
ad  me  veniens  ex  tua  parte,  me  admonuit,  quatemis  tibi  et  sue- 
cessoribus  tuis  Jidelitatem  facerem,  et  de  pecunid  quam  anteces- 
sores  met  ad  Romanam  ecclesiam  mittere  solebant,  melius  cogita- 
rem.  Unum  admisi,  alterum  tion  admisi.  Fidelitatem  facere 
nolui,  nee  volo,  quia  nee  ego  promisi ;  nee  antecessores  meos 
antecessoribus  tiiis  id  fecisse  comperio.  Peciinia,  tribus  ferme 
annis,  in  Gall'iis  me  agente,  negligenter  collecta  est.  Nunc  vero, 
Divind  misericordid  me  in  regnum  meiim  reverso,  quod  coUectum 
per  prcefatum  legatiim  mittltnr  ;  et  quod  reliquum  est  per  legates 
Lanfranci.,  archiepiscopi  fidelis  nostri,  cum  opportunum  fuerit, 
transmit tetur.  Orate  pro  nobis,  et  pro  statu  regjii  nostri,  quia 
antecessores  vestros  dileximus,  et  vos  prce  omnibus  siticere  dili- 
gere  et  obedienter  audire  desiderarmis.-f     In  English  : — 

"  To  Gregory  the  most  excellent  pastor  of  the  holy  church, 
William,  by  the  grace  of  God,  king  of  the  English  and  duke  of  the 
Normans,  wishelh  health,  and  desireth  his  friendship. ;|:  Religious 
father,  your  legate  Hubert  coming  unto  me  admonished  me,  in  your 
behalf,  inasmuch  as  I  should  do  fealty  to  you  and  your  successors ; 
and  that  I  should  take  better  care  for  the  payment  of  the  money 
which  my  predecessors  were  wont  to  send  to  the  church  of  Rome. 
One  thing  I  have  granted,  the  other  I  have  not  granted.  Fealty  I 
would  not  do,  nor  will  I ;  because  I  neither  promised  it,  neither  do 
I  find  that  my  predecessors  ever  did  it  to  your  predecessors.  The 
money,  for  almost  three  years,  when  I  was  abroad  in  Fiance,  hath 
been  but  negligently  collected.  But  now,  seeing  by  Divine  mercy 
I  am  returned  into  my  kingdom,  what  is  gathered  is  sent  by  the 
aforesaid  legate ;  and  the  arrears  which  remain  shall  be  sent  by  the 
messengers  of  Lanfrank,  our  faithful  archbishop,  in  time  convenient. 

"   Gervasius    DoROBERNiiNsis   MS.  citeJ  iliiil.  t   -'^^■'^'-  Codc.v  Epislolarum 

Lanfrayici,  cited  by  Sir  John  Davys  in  his  "  Irisli  Repoilsi,"  of  l^ri/niiinrn',  fol.  89. 
X  Or,  remerabereth  his  love  to  him. 


208  CHUnCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN'.  A.D.  lOOJ. 

Pray  for  us,  and  for  tlie  good  state  of  our  kingdom  ;  because  we 
have  loved  your  predecessois,  and  do  desire  sincerely  to  love  and 
obediently  to  hear  you,  above  all  others." 

It  is  strange  on  what  pretence  of  right  the  pope  required  this 
fealty.  Was  it  because  he  lent  king  William  a  consecrated  banner, 
that,  under  the  colour  thereof,  he  endeavoured  to  display  his  power 
over  all  England,  as  if  the  king  must  do  him  homage  as  a  banneret 
of  his  creation,  or  because  he  had  lately  humbled  Henry  IV.  the 
German  emperor,  he  thought  that  all  kings  in  like  manner  must  be 
slaves  unto  him, — the  pope  being  then  in  his  vertical  height  and 
dog-days  of  the  heat  of  his  power  .''  But  we  need  no  further  inquiry 
into  the  cause  of  his  ambition,  when  we  read  him  to  be  Gregory 
VII.  otherwise  Hildebrand,  that  most  active  of  all  that  sate  in  that 
chair.  Surely,  he  sent  this  his  demand  rather  with  an  intent  to  spy 
than  hope  to  speed  therein  ;  so  to  sound  the  depth  of  king  William, 
whom  if  he  found  shallow,  he  knew  how  to  proceed  accordingly  ;  or 
else  he  meant  to  leave  this  demand  dormant  in  the  deck,  for  his  suc- 
cessors to  make  advantage  thereof,  who  would  claim  for  due  what- 
soever they  challenged  before.  However  so  bold  an  asker  never 
met  with  a  more  bold  denier.  Soon  did  king  William  find  his 
spirits,  who  formerly  had  not  lost  but  hid  them  for  his  private  ends. 
England's  Conqueror  would  not  be  Rome's  Vassal ;  and  he  had 
brain  enough  to  deny  what  the  other  had  brow  to  require,  and  yet  in 
such  wary  language  that  he  carried  himself  in  a  religious  distance, 
yet  politic  parity,  with  his  Holiness. 

8.  King  William  ordereth  the  Power  both  of  Pope  and  Arch- 
bishop 171  his  own  Dominion.     A.D.  1067- 

Thirdly.  King  William  would  in  no  wise  suffer  any  one  in  his 
dominion  to  acknowledge  the  bishop  of  Rome  for  apostolical  without 
his  command,*  or  to  receive  the  pope's  letters,  except  first  they  had 
been  showed  unto  him.  As  for  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  pri- 
mate of  England,  though  by  his  own  authority  he  might  congregate 
councils  of  bishops,  and  sit  president  in  them  ;  yet  the  king  per- 
mitted him  to  appoint  or  prohibit  nothing  but  what  was  according 
to  his  own  will  and  pleasure,  and  what  the  king  had  ordained 
before. -f- 

2-  Barons  not  to  he  cvconimunicated  ivithoiit  the  King's 
Command. 

Lastly.  King  William  suffered  no  bishop  to  excommunicate  any 
of  his  barons  or  officers,  for  adultery,  incest,  or  any  such  heinous 
crime,  except  by  the  king's  command,  first  made  acquainted  with 

•  E.APMERi's  Hiit.  Nov.  lib.  i.  page  6.  t  Idem,  ibid. 


12    WILLIAM    I.      '  HOOK     III.        (EXT.    XI.  ""    269 

the  same.  Here  the  word  "  baroir'  is  not  to  be  taken  in  that 
restrictive  sense  to  which  the  modern  acceptation  hath  confined  it, — 
only  for  such  of  the  higher  nobility  which  have  place  and  votes  in 
parliament ;  but  generally*  for  such  who  by  tenure-en-chief,  or  in 
capite,  as  they  term  it,  held  land  immediately  of  the  king.  And 
an  English  poet,-f-  counted  the  Virgil  of  his  age  and  the  Ennius  in 
ours,  expresseth  as  much  in  his  rhymes,  which  we  here  set  down, 
with  all  the  rust  thereof,  without  rubbing  it  off;  remembering  how 
one  John  Throckmorton,:!:  a  justice  of  Cheshire,  in  queen  Elizabeth's 
days,  for  not  exhibiting  a  judicial  concord,  with  all  the  defects  of  the 
same,  but,  supplying  or  filling  up  what  was  worn  out  of  the  authen- 
tical  original,  was  fined  for  being  over-officious  ;  and,  therefore,  take 
them  with  their  faults,  and  all,  as  followeth  : — 

"  The  bertLe  was  that  noe  man  that  of  the  khig  huld  ought 
lu  cheif  or  in  eni  sernse,  to  manling  were  ibrought 
Bote  the  wardenis  of  holy  chirch  that  broiiglit  him  thereto 
The  king  lede  or  his  bailifes  wat  he  had  tnisdoe 
And  loked  verst  were  thei  to  amendment  it  bring 
And  bote  hy  wolde  by  their  leve  doe  the  manling.'' 

And  a  grave  author  §  gives  a  good  reason  why  the  king  must  be 
informed  before  any  of  his  barons  be  excommunicated  ;  "  lest  other- 
wise,"" saith  he,  "  the  king,  not  being  certified  thereof,  should,  out 
of  ignorance,  unawares  communicate  with  persons  excommunicated, 
when  such  officers  of  his  should  come  to  kiss  his  hand,  be  called  to 
his  council,  or  come  to  perform  any  personal  attendance  about  him." 
Hitherto  we  have  seen  how  careful  the  Conqueror  was  in  preserving 
his  own  right  in  church-matters.  AVe  will  conclude  all  with  the 
syllogism,  which  the  oracle  ||  of  the  common-law  frameth  in  this 
manner  : — 

"  It  is  agreed,  that  no  man  only  can  make  any  appropriation  of 
any  church  having  cure  of  souls,  (being  a  thing  ecclesiastical,  and  to 
be  made  to  some  person  ecclesiastical,)  but  he  that  hath  ecclesias- 
tical jurisdiction. 

"  But  William  the  First  of  himself,  without  any  other,  (as  king 
of  England,)  made  appropriation  of  churches,  with  cure  to  ecclesias- 
tical persons  ;  as  by  many  instances  may  appear. 

"  Therefore  it  followeth,  that  he  had  ecclesiastical  jurisdic- 
tion." 

And  so  much  concerning  king  William's  policy  in  doing  justice 
to  his  own  power.  Proceed  we  now  to  his  bounty,  confirming  old 
and  conferring  new  favours  upon  the  church  and  clergy. 

*  J.  Selden  Spicilegium.  ad  Eadmerum,  page  168.  t  Robert  of  Glolxester. 

t  Camden's  "  Elizabeth,"  anno  1584.  ■5  RADrLPHi's  De  Diceto  sub  anno  1163. 

II  Lord  Coke's  *'  Reports,  "  part  v.  Dc  Jure  Rrgif  Ecclcsiuitico,  fol.  10. 


270  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  lOGJ. 

10.     Bishops'   Jurisdictions  Jirst   severed  from   the 

Sheriffs. 

First.  Whereas  before  his  time  the  sheriff  and  Jbishop  jointly 
kept  their  courts  together,  (especially  at  the  two  solemn  times, 
about  Easter  and  Michaelmas,)  king  William,  in  favour  of  the 
clergy,  assigned  the  bishops  an  entire  jurisdiction  by  themselves,* 
wherein  they  should  have  cognizance  of  all  causes  relating  to 
religion.  I  say  "  relating  to  religion," — a  latitude  of  a  cheverel  -f 
extension,  adequate  almost  to  the  mind  of  him  that  will  stretch  it 
out ;  and  few  ecclesiastical  judges  woidd  lose  what  might  be  got 
by  measuring.  Now,  formerly,  whilst  the  power  of  sheriff  and 
bishop  went  hand-in-hand  together  in  the  same  court,  neither  could 
much  outstrip  other ;  but  since  they  were  severed,  the  spiritual 
power  far  outwent  its  old  mate,  improving  his  own,  by  impairing  the 
secular  courts  ;  and  henceforward  the  canon-law  took  the  firmer 
footing  in  England.  Date  we  from  hence  the  squint  eyes  of  the 
clergy,  whose  sight  (single  before)  was  hereafter  divided  with  double 
looks  betwixt  two  objects  at  once, — the  pope  and  the  king,  to  put 
him  first  whom  they  eyed  most,  acting  hereafter  more  by  foreign 
than  domestic  interest. 

11.   The  Contest  betwixt  common  and  canon  Law,  how  only 
to  he  reconciled. 

A  learned  pen  %  makes  a  just  complaint,  that  "  courts  which 
should  distribute  peace  do  themselves  practise  duels,  whilst 
it  is  counted  the  part  of  a  resolute  judge  to  enlarge  the  privilege  of 
liis  court : "  a  grievance  most  visible  in  contest  betwixt  the  common 
and  the  canon  law  ;  which,  as  they  were  stars  of  so  different  an 
horizon,  that  the  elevation  of  the  one  necessitated  the  depression  of 
the  other,  lie  at  catch,  and  wait  advantages  one  against  another. 
So  that,  whilst  both  might  continue  in  a  convenient  and  healthful 
habitude,  if  such  envious  cor-rivality  were  deposed,  now  alternately 
those  courts  swell  to  a  tympany,  or  waste  to  a  consumption,  as  their 
judges  find  themselves  more  or  less  strengthened  with  power,  or 
befriended  with  favour  :  a  mischief  not  to  be  remedied,  till  either 
that  mutual  consent,  or  a  predominant  power  to  both,  impartially 
state  their  jurisdictions,  rightly  setting  down  the  land-marks 
thereof,  and  binding  their  proceedings  not  to  exceed  their  bounds  ; 
which  would  both  advance  learning,  and  expedite  the  execution  of 
justice. 

•  See  this  cleared  bj-  Mr.  Selden  in  his  notes  on  Eadmerus,  page  16/.  t  '"  Pliable, 

flexible." — Edit.  1    Lord    Bacon    in   his   ''  Advancement    of  Learning," 

Aphorism  xcvi.  page  463. 


12  WILLIAM   T.  BOOK     111.       CENT.    XI.  271 

12.  King  Willianis  Charter  to  the  Clergy. 
To  return  to  king  William  :  As  he  conferred  power  on,  so  lie 
confirmed  profit  to,  the  clergy.  Witness  his  charter,*  granting 
them  throughout  England,  tithes  of  calves,  colts,  lambs,  milk, 
butter,  cheese,  Avoods,  meadows,  mills,  &c.  Which  charter  is  con- 
cluded :  (it  is  the  strong  hem  keeps  all  the  cloth  from  ravelling 
out :)  Qui  decimam  detinuerit,  per  justitimn  episcopi  et  regis^ 
(si  necesse  fuerit, )  ad  redditionem  arguattcr  .--f-  "Who  shall 
detain  his  tithes,  by  the  power  of  the  bishop  and  king,  (if  need 
be,)  let  him  be  argued  into  the  payment  thereof."  And  kings'" 
arguments,  we  know,  are  unanswerable,  as  ab  authorifate^  carrying 
power  and  penalties  with  them.  This  charter  might  seem  to  give 
the  tenth  loaf,  of  all  the  bread  in  the  land,  into  the  hands  of  the 
English  clergy.  But  the  municipal  laws,  which  were  afterwards 
made,  did  so  chip  and  pare  this  loaf,  with  their  modus  decimandi, 
that  in  many  places  (vicarages  especially)  a  small  shiver  of  bread 
falls  to  the  share  of  the  minister,  not  enough  for  his  necessary 
maintenance. 

13.  Two  contrary  Characters  of  King  William. 
And  here, — to  make  a  short  but  needful  digression, — I  find  in 
eminent  writers  two  contrary  characters  of  king  William.  Some 
make  him  an  arrant  tyrant,  ruling  only  by  the  magna  charta  of  his 
own  will,  oppressing  all  English  without  cause  or  measure.  No 
author  need  to  be  alleged  for  the  avouching  thereof,  the  thing  being 
author  for  itself,  being  so  notoriously  known  and  generally  believed. 
Others  make  him  to  quit  his  title  by  conquest,  and  hold  the  crown, 
partly  by  bequest  from  king  Edward  the  Confessor,  whose  good 
laws  he  is  said  to  confirm  ;  (leges  honi  regis  Edvardi  quas 
Gulielmus  Bastardus  postea  eonjirmavit ;)  and  partly  by  compact 
with  his  people.^  Yea,  the  Chronicles  of  Lichfield  make  him  to  call 
a  parliament  in  effect ;  I  mean,  a  meeting  of  his  clergy  and  nobility 
in  a  great  council ;  where,  as  if  he  had  turned  perfect  Englishman, 
he  confonued  his  practice  to  their  ancient  constitutions. 

14.  Our  Endeavours  to  compass  the  Difference. 
Should  I  interpose  between  these  opposite  parties  to  reconcile 
them,  probably  the  blows  from  both  sides  would  fall  heavy  on  my 
charitable  indiscretion.  Yet  thus  far  I  will  be  bold  to  say,  Such 
confirmation  of  king  Edward''s  law,  if  made  by  king  William, 
probably  was  rather  oral  and  verbal,  than  real  and  effectual.     But, 

"  See  it  at  large  in  Mr.  Selden  "  Of  Tithes,  "  cap.  viii.  page  225.  f  Others  read 

it  adijalur,  "  let  liiiii  be  couipeilcd."  X  See  Mr.  Selden,  ut  supru. 


272  CHUKCH    HISTORY    OF    RKITAIX.  A.D.  10G7 81. 

if  real,  certainly  it  Mas  not  general,  but  limited  to  some  particular 
place,  as  the  province  of  Kent, — tlie  English  "  land  of  Goshen,'" 
which  alone  enjoyed  the  light  of  liberty,  though  rather  gotten  by 
them  than  given  unto  them.  But  if  any  will  contend,  that  this 
confirmation  was  general,  they  must  confess  it  done  in  the  latter 
end  of  his  reign.  King  William,  Avhen  young,  loved  honour; 
when  old,  ease  :  when  young,  to  conquer ;  when  old,  to  enjoy. 
Age  will  make  all  to  stoop,  as  here  it  bowed  him  to  a  better 
compliance  with  his  people.  However,  this  his  confirmation  of 
king  Edward^s  laws  was  not  such  as  either  gave  general  content 
to,  or  begat  assured  confidence  in,  the  English  ;  percliance,  because 
but  a  personal  act,  and  but  partially  done,  and  no  whit  obligatory 
of  his  posterity.  This  made  the  English  press  so  importunately, 
though  in  vain,  to  William  Rufus,  the  king"'s  son  and  successor, 
for  a  re-confirmation  of  king  Edward's  laAvs,  which  had  been  need- 
less, (as  being  the  same  with  actum  agere,  or  rather  datum  petere,) 
had  the  former  grant  from  king  William  his  fiither  been  conceived 
sufficient  for  their  security. 

15.  Xing  WillianCs  Bounty  to  Battle- Abbey.     A.D.  1081. 

As  for  king  William "'s  particular  bounty  to  Battle- Abbey  in 
Sussex,  which  he  founded,  it  bare  better  proportion  to  the  dignity 
of  the  giver,  than  to  the  deserts  of  the  receivers.  For,  beside  those 
privileges  formerly  mentioned,*  he  gave  it  all  the  land  wdthin  a 
league  of  the  site  thereof.  He  ordered  that  no  foreigner  should  be 
obtruded  on  their  abbey  ;  but,  in  every  vacancy,  one  of  their  own  con- 
vent should  be  elected  abbot  thereof ;  except  (which  Heavens  forbid .') 
no  fit  person  should  be  found  therein  for  that  preferment.  Nor 
should  the  abbot  be  forced  to  appear  at  any  synod,  or  meeting, 
except  pleased  of  himself  so  to  do.  These  and  many  more  immu- 
nities he  confirmed  to  that  foundation,  in  such  an  imperious  style  as 
if  therewith  he  meant  to  bluster  all  future  princes,  and  king  Henry 
VIII.  among  the  rest,  into  a  perfect  obedience  unto  his  commands  ; 
especially  with  that  clause  in  his  charter,  Nullus  successorum, 
meornm  violare  prcEsumat.  But  dead  kings'"  charters,  though 
they  have  tongues  to  threaten,  yet  have  no  teeth  to  bite,  especially 
when  meeting  with  an  equal  after-power  to  rescind  them. 

16.  His  hard  Dealing  tvith  the  Students  at  Oxford. 

The  more  the  pity  that   such  drones,   lazy  Abbey-lubbers,  went 

away  with    the    honey,   whilst    the    industrious    bees   were    almost 

starved  ;   I  mean  the  scholars  of  Oxford.     For,  at  tlie  coming-in  of 

the  Conqueror,  the  students  in  University  College,  formerly  founded 

•  In  the  Cr:-t  paragraph  of  this  [tliirdj  book. 


15  WILLIAM    I.  nOOK     III.       CENT.    XI.  270 

by  king  Alfred,  were  maintained  by  pensions,  yearly  paid  them  out 
of  the  king's  exchequer  ;  which  provision  was  then  conceived  both 
most  honourable,  as  immediately  depending  on  the  crown,  and  less 
troublesome,  .issuing  out  in  ready  coin,  free  from  vexatious  suits, 
casualties  of  tenants,  and  other  encumbrances.  But  now,  king- 
William,  who  loved  that  the  tide  of  wealth  should  flow  into,  but 
not  ebb  out  of,  his  coffers,  detained  and  denied  their  exhibitions.* 
Yea,  the  king  picked  a  quarrel  with  them,  because  they  sought  to 
preserve  and  propagate  the  English  tongue  ;  which  the  king 
designed  to  suppress,  and  to  reduce  all  to  the  French  language. 
And  yet  the  French  speech  was  so  far  from  final  prevailing  in  this 
kingdom,  that  it  was  fain  at  lust  to  come  to  a  composition  with  the 
English  tongue,  mixed  together,  as  they  remain  at  this  day  ;  save 
that  in  terms  of  law,  venary,  and  blazon,  the  French  seemeth  solely 
to  command.  The  scholars,  thus  deprived  of  their  pensions,  lived 
on  the  charity  of  such  as  loved  the  continuance  of  their  native 
tongue.-f-  Their  Latin  was  then  maintained  by  their  English  ; 
though,  surely,  it  was  no  small  disturbance  to  their  studies,  "merely 
to  depend  for  their  subsistence  on  the  arbitrary  alms  of  others. 

17-  Lanfrank  most  kindly  treated  hi)  the  Pope. 
Pass  we  now  from  king  William  unto  Lanfiank  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  next  the  king,  then  the  most  considerable  person  in  our 
ecclesiastical  history.  To  Rome  he  went  with  Thomas,  elect  of 
York,  and  Remigius  of  Lincoln  ;  all  three  for  confirmation  from  the 
pope  in  their  preferment.  Pope  Alexander  treated  Lanfrank  so 
civilly,  that  a  stranger,  if  beholding  the  passages  betAvixt  them,  haply 
might  have  mistaken  Lanfrank  for  the  pope,  and  the  pope  for  the 
petitioner.  His  highness  honoured  him  as  his  master,  cujus 
studio  sumus  in  iUis  qucB  scimus  imbuti  ;  "  by  whose  care," 
said  he,  "  we  have  been  instructed  in  those  things  whereof  we  have 
knowledge."' 

18.  His  charge  against  Thomas,  elect  of  Yorlc. 

Then  Lanfrank  charged  Thomas,  in  the  presence  of  the  pope,  as 
canonically  uncapable  of  that  archbishopric,  because  the  son  of  a 
priest.  And  yet,  by  Lanfrank's  leave,  no  canon  can  be  produced, 
then  in  force,  to  debar  priests'  sons  from  preferment,  though,  some 
few  years  after,  in  the  council  of  Clermont  such  a  prohibition  was 
made.  And  therefore  Eadmerus,|  speaking  of  Lanfrank,  cahimni- 
atus  est  Thomam  coram  ^mpa,  in  the  proper  acceptation  of  his 
words,  speaks  more   truth   than  he  was  aware  of,  or  probably  did 

•  Ex  monuvientis  Collegii  Universitatis.  t  Brian*  Twine  in  Anfq.  Academ. 

O.ron.  page  215.  t  Novorum,  lib.  i.  page  7 . 

Vol.  I.  T 


274  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  lOGJ- 

intend,  Bixt  LanTrank,  being  a  privado  to  tlie  pope"'s  projects,  and 
as  well  to  the  intentions  as  the  actions  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
might,  by  a  prolepsis,  antedate  this  objection  against  Thomas,  using 
it  for  the  present  as  a  rub  to  retard  him,  which  some  years  after  was 
constituted  a  legal  obstacle  to  exclude  any  priest''s  son  from  promo- 
tion. But,  even  when  that  canon  some  years  after  was  made,  the 
pope  was  not  so  cruel  as  thereby  fully  and  finally  to  exclude  all 
priests'  sons  from  church-dignity,  but  only  to  shut  them  out  for  a 
time,  that  they  might  stand  at  the  door  and  knock,  (I  mean,  with 
the  chink  of  their  money,)  and  at  last  be  let  in  when  they  had  paid 
dear  for  a  dispensation. 

19.  And  against  Remigius,  elect  of  Lincoln. 
Lanfrank  likewise  charged  Remigius,  elect  of  Lincoln,  as  irregu- 
lar, because  guilty  of  simony.  Yet  he  did  not  tax  him  with  a  penny 
of  money,  either  paid  or  contracted  for,  only  charged  him  that  officio 
e?nerat,*  "  by  service-simony  he  had  purchased"  the  place  of  king 
AVilliam  ;  so  that  his  officiousness  to  comply  with  the  king's  plea- 
sure had  made  him  injurious  and  vexatious  unto  the  people.  Here 
all  things  Avere  referred  to  Lanfrank's  own  arbitration  ;  whom  the 
pope,  of  an  accuser,  made  a  judge  so  far  as  either  to  admit  or 
exclude  the  aforesaid  prelates  ;  affirming,  that  if  "  any  unworthiness 
crept  into  English  preferment,  be  it  charged  on  Lanfrank's  account, 
whom  he  made  sole  judge  of  men's  merits  to  any  promotion." 

20.  LanfranWs  Return  and  Employment. 

But  all  is  well  that  ends  well ;  and  so  did  this  contest.  Lanfrank, 
having  first  given  them  a  taste  of  his  power,  did  afterwards  give  them 
a  cast  of  his  pity,  and  favourably  accepted  them  both  into  their 
places.  Hence  they  all  post  homewards,  where  we  leave  Lanfrank 
safely  arrived,  and  soundly  employed  in  variety  of  business  : — 1.  In 
asserting  the  superiority  of  his  see  above  York.  2.  In  defending 
his  tenants,  in  what  diocese  soever,  from  the  visitations  of  their 
respective  bishops  ;  which  gave  the  first  original  to  peculiars.  3.  In 
repairing  his  church  of  Canterbury,  lately  much  defaced  with  fire. 
4.  In  casting  out  secular  priests,  and  substituting  monks  in  their 
room.  5.  Lastly.  In  recovering  lands  long  detained  from  his  see. 
Nor  was  he  affrighted  with  the  height  and  greatness  of  Odo,  bishop 
of  Bayeux,  though  half-brother  to  king  William,  and  earl  of  Kent ; 
but  wrestled  a  fair  fall  with  him  in  a  legal  trial,  and  cast  him  flat  on 
his  back,  regaining  many  lordships,  which  Odo  had  most  unjustly 
invaded.  Such  as  desire  more  of  Lanfrank's  character,  let  them  con- 
sult Eadmerus,  a  monk   of  Canterbury,  and  therefore  prodigal  in 

*  Eadmeri's,  ibid. 


15   WILLIAM   I.  nOOK    III.       CENT.    XI.  275 

Lanfrank's  praise,  an  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  great  promoter 
of  nionastical  life.  Indeed,  there  was  a  design,  driven  on  by 
Walkeline,  bishop  of  AVinchester,  (who  had  privately  wrought  the 
king  to  abet  it,)  to  re-induce  secular  priests  into  monks''  places,  till 
Lanfrank,  getting  notice,  defeated  the  plot ;  procuring,  that  all  such 
monks,  whom  he  had  first  fastened  in  their  convents,  were  afterwards 
riveted  therein  by  papal  authority. 

21.  Bishops'  Sees  removed  from  Villages  to  Cities, 

About  this  time  a  constitution  was  made,  that  bishops  should 
remove  their  sees  from  petty  towns  to  populous  places ;  this  reason 
being  rendered  for  their  removal,  Ne  vilesceret  episcopalis  dignitas^ 
by  their  long  living  in  so  little  villages.  Such  bishops'  churches 
could  not  properly  be  called  "  cathedrals,"  who  sate  not  upon  chairs, 
but  low  stools,  so  inconsiderably  small  were  some  places  of  their 
residences.  A  fair  candlestick,  advantageously  set,  in  some  sense 
may  be  said  to  give  light  to  the  candle  itself;  and  episcopal  lustre 
will  be  the  brighter,  if  placed  in  eminent  cities.  Besides,  bishops 
having  now  gotten  canon-law,  and  distinct  courts  by  themselves, 
much  people  repaired  unto  their  consistories  ;  which  conveniently 
could  not  be  accommodated  in  little  villages,  but  req\iired  bigger 
places  for  their  better  entertainment.  In  order  to  this  command, 
the  bishop  of  Dorchester,  near  Oxford,  removed  to  Lincoln  ;  as, 
somewhat  before,  Selsey  was  translated  to  Chichester  ;  and  Sher- 
borne to  Salisbury  ;  and,  not  long  after,  Thetford  to  Norwich. 
Now,  as  these  cities,  to  which  they  removed,  being  great  before, 
grew  greater  afterwards  ;  so  those  places  which  they  left,  Dorchester, 
and  Selsey  especially,  decayed  to  contemptible  villages  :  it  faring 
with  places  as  with  persons, — the  rich  grow  richer  still,  and  the 
meaner  are  daily  diminished. 

22.  WolstarCs  Simplicity  saveth  his  Bishopric. 
As  these  bishops  accounted  themselves  well-busied  in  removing 
their  bishoprics,  so  some,  I  am  sure,  were  ill-employed  in  endea- 
vouring to  remove  a  good  bishop  ;  I  mean  Wolstan,  from  his  church 
of  Worcester.  As  the  poets  feign  of  Janus,  that  he  had  two  faces, 
because  living  before  and  after  the  flood  ;  so  this  Wolstan  may 
be  charactered  accordingly,  made  bishop  before,  but  continuing  his 
place  long  after,  the  Norman  inundation.  But,  in  what  sense 
soever  he  may  be  said  to  have  two  faces,  he  had  but  one  heart,  and 
that  a  single  and  sincere  one  to  God  _and  all  goodness ;  yet  his 
adversaries  heaved  at  him,  to  cast  him  out  of  his  bishopric,  because 
an  Englisliman  of  the  old  stamp  ;  but  he  sate  safe,  right-poised 
therein  with  his  own  gravity  and  integrity.     And,  being  urged  to 

T   2 


276  CHUnCII     HISTORY    OF     BRITAINT.  A.D.  1007 88. 

resign  his  staff  and  ring,  ensigns  of  his  episcopacy,  he  refused  to 
surrender  them  to  any  man  alive,  but  willingly  offered  them  up  at 
the  tomb  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  from  Avhom  he  received  them. 
This  his  gratitude  to  his  dead  patron,  and  candid  simplicity  in 
neglecting  the  pomp  of  his  place,  procured  him  much  favour,  and 
occasioned  his  peaceable  confinnation  in  his  bishopric. 

23.   The  original  of  ^^ Secundum  Usum  Sarum.'''' 

At  this  time  several  liturgies  were  used  in  England,  which  caused 
confusion,  and  much  disturbed  men's  devotions.  Yea,  which  was 
worse,  a  brawl,  yea,  a  battle  happened  betwixt  the  English  monks 
of  Glastonbury,  and  Thurstan,  their  Norman  abbot,  in  their  very 
church,  obtruding  a  service  upon  them  which  they  disliked :  unfit 
persons  to  fight,  (being  by  their  profession  men  of  peace,)  and 
unfitter  the  place  for  a  quarrel.  "•  Have  ye  not  houses  to  eat  and 
drink  in  ?''''  saith  St.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians,  "  or  despise  ye  the 
church  of  God  V  1  Cor.  xi.  22.  Was  there  no  other  room  in  their 
convent  for  them  to  fall  out  and  fight  in,  but  their  church  alone  ? 
Here  was  an  "  Holy  War"  indeed,  when  church-forms,  candle- 
sticks, and  crucifixes  were  used  for  shields,  by  the  monks,  against 
the  abbot"'s  armed  men  brought  in  against  them.  Nor  was  holy- 
water  only,  but  much  blood,  spilled  in  the  place  ;  eight  monks  being 
wounded,  and  two*  slain,  (or,  if  you  will,  sacrificed,)  near  the  steps 
of  the  high  altar.  But  this  accident,  ill  in  itself,  was  then  conceived 
good  in  the  event  thereof,  because  occasioning  a  settlement  and 
uniformity  of  liturgy  all  over  England.  For  hereupon  Osmund, 
bishop  of  Salisbury,  devised  that  ordinary,  or  form  of  service,  which 
liereafter  was  'observed  in  the  whole  realm  ;  his  church"'s  practice 
being  a  precedent,  and  the  devotion  therein  a  direction,  to  all  others. 
Henceforward  the  most  ignorant  parish-priest  in  England,  though 
having  no  more  Latin  in  all  his  treasury,  yet  understood  the  mean- 
ing of  secundum  usiim  Sarum,  that  all  service  must  be  ordered 
"  according  to  the  course  and  custom  of  Salisbury  church." 

24.  The  first  Coming  of  the  Jews  into  England. 
I  find  no  Jews  in  England,  (no  deviation,  I  hope,  from  church- 
history,  to  touch  at  the  synagogue,)  before  the  reign  of  the 
Conqueror,  who  brought  many  from  Roan  in  Normandy,  and 
settled  them  in  London,  Norwich,  Cambridge,  Northampton,-}-  &c. 
In  what  capacity  these  Jews  came  over,  I  find  not ;  perchance,  as 
plunderers,  to  buy  such  oppressed  Englishmen's  goods,  which 
Christians  would  not  meddle  with.     Sufficeth  it  us  to  know,  that  an 

•  Eulogium,  an  ancient  and  autlientic  clironicle,  cited  by  Mr.  Fox,  page  233. 
t  bxow's  "  Survpj-  of  London,"  in  Coleman-street  Ward. 


'22  WILLIAM    I.  BOOK     111.       CENT.     XI.  277 

invasion  by  conquest,  sucli-as  king  William  then  made,  is  like 
an  inn  entertaining  all  adventurers  ;  and,  it  may  be,  these  Jewish 
bankers  assisted  the  Conqueror  with  their  coin.  These  Jews, 
though  forbidden  to  buy  land  in  England,  grew  rich  by  usury,  their 
consciences  being  so  wide  that  they  were  none  at  all  ;  so  that  in  the 
barest  pasture,  in  which  a  Christian  would  starve,  a  Jew  would  grow 
fat,  he  bites  so  close  unto  the  ground.  "  And  ever  bow  down 
their  backs,"  is  part  of  God's  curse  upon  the  Jews.  And  crook- 
backed  men,  as  they  eye  the  earth,  the  centre  of  wealth  ;  so  they 
quickly  see  what  straight  persons  pass  by,  and  easily  stoop  to  take 
up  that  they  find  thereon  ;  and  therefore  no  wonder  if  the  Jewish 
nation,  whose  souls  are  bowed  down  with  covctousncss,  quickly  wax 
wealthy  therewith.  King  William  favoured  them  very  much  ;  and 
Rufus,  his  son,  much  more  ;  especially,  if  that  speech  reported  of 
him  be  true,  that  he  should  swear  "  by  St.  Luke's  face,"  his  com- 
mon oath,  "if  the  Jews  could  overcome  the  Christians,  he  himself 
would  become  one  of  their  sect."* 

25.   The  Death  of  King  William,  with  the  Difficulty  of  his 
Burial.     J.  Z).  1088. 

Now  was  the  time  come  of  king  William's  death,  ending  his 
days  in  Normandy,  September  9th.  But  see  the  unhappincss  of  all 
human  felicity  !  For,  his  breath  and  his  servants  forsook  him  both 
together  ;  the  latter  leaving  him,  as  if  his  body  should  bury  itself. 
How  many  hundreds  held  land  of  him  in  knights'  service  !  whereas 
now  neither  knight  nor  esquire  to  attend  him.  At  last,  with  much 
ado,  his  corpse  are  brought  in  mean  manner  to  be  interred  in  Caen. 
As  they  were  prepared  for  the  earth,  a  private  person  forbids  the 
burial  till  satisfaction  was  made  unto  him,  because  the  king  had 
violently  taken  from  him  that  ground  on  which  that  church  was 
erected.  Doth  not  Solomon  say  true,  "  A  living  dog  is  better  than 
a  dead  lion  ;"  when  such  a  little  cur  durst  snarl  at  the  corpse  of  a 
king,  and  a  conqueror  ?  At  last  the  monks  of  Caen  made  a  com- 
position, and  the  body  was  buried.  And,  as  it  was  long  before 
this  king's  corpse  could  get  peaceable  possession  of  a  grave  ;  so, 
since,  by  a  firm  ejection,  he  hath  been  outed  of  the  same.  AVhen 
French  soldiers,-]-  anno  Domino  1562,  (amongst  whom  some 
English  were  mingled,)  under  Chatillion  conducting  the  remnant  of 
those  which  escaped  in  the  battle  of  Dreux,  took  the  city  of  Caen 
in  his  way,  out  of  pretence,  forsooth,  to  seek  for  some  treasure 
supposed  to  be  hid  in  his  tomb,  most  barbarously  and  cowardly 
brake  up  his  coffin,  and  cast  his  bones  out  of  the  same. 

•  Stow's  "  Survey  of  London,"  page  286.  t   Srow'ts  "  Chronicle"  at  the  deatli 

of  king  William. 


278  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1087 93. 

26.   The  three  Sons  of  the  Conqueror^  how  denominated. 
1  William  Rufus.    ^.Z>.  IO87. 

William  the  Conqueror  left  three  sons, — Robert,  William,  and 
Henry  :  and,  because  hereditary  surnames  were  not  yet  fixed  in 
families,  they  were  thus  denominated  and  distinguished  : — 1.  The 
eldest  from  his  goods  of  fortune,  to  which  clothes  are  reduced, 
Robert  Curthose  from  the  short  hose  he  wore  ;  not  only  for  fancy, 
but  sometimes  for  need,  cutting  his  coat  according  to  his  cloth  ;  his 
means,  all  his  life  long,  being  scant  and  necessitous.  2.  The 
second  from  the  goods  of  his  body,  namely,  a  ruddy  complexion, 
William  Rufus,  or  "  Red."  But,  Avhether  a  lovely  and  amiable 
or  ireful  and  choleric  red,  the  reader,  on  perusal  of  his  Life,  is  best 
able  to  decide.  3.  The  third  from  the  goods  of  his  mind,  and  his 
rich  abilities  of  learning,  Henry  Beauclerk,  or,  '^  the  good  scholar." 
The  middlemost  of  these,  William  Rufus,  presuming  on  his 
brother  Robert's  absence  in  Normandy,  and  pretending  his  father 
got  the  crown  by  conquest,  which  by  will  he  bequeathed  unto  him, 
(his  eldest  brother  being  then  under  a  cloud  of  his  father's  dis- 
pleasure,) adventured  to  possess  himself  of  the  kingdom. 

27.  King  William  Rufus  croivned. 
On  the  twenty-sixth  of  September,  Lanfrank,  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  with  good  Wolstan,  bishop  of  Worcester,  assisting 
him,  crowned  Rufus  king  of  England,  though  but  his  father's 
second  son.  And,  indeed,  the  known  policy  of  the  former,  and 
the  reputed  piety  of  the  latter,  were  the  best  supporters  of  his  title. 
Jacob,  we  knOw,  (acted  with  a  prophetical  spirit,)  guiding  his 
hands  Avittingly,  laid  his  right  on  Ephraim  the  younger,  and  his  left 
on  Manasseh  the  elder  brother.  Gen.  xlviii.  14  :  but  what  warrant 
these  bishops  had  to  invert  and  transpose  nature's  method,  by 
preferring  the  younger  brother  before  the  elder,  was  best  known  to 
themselves.  Under  Lanfrank  he  had  his  education,  who  made  him 
a  knight,*  though  it  had  been  more  proper  for  his  tutor's  profession, 
yea,  and  more  for  his  credit,  and  his  pupil's  profit,  if  he,  as  the 
instrument,  had  made  him  a  good  Christian. 

28.  His  Covetousness  and  Inconstancy.  A.D.  1088. 
He  began  very  bountifully,  but  on  another  man's  cost ;  not  as  a 
donor  but  a  dealer  thereof,  and  executor  of  his  father's  will.  To 
some  churches  he  gave  ten  marks,  to  others  six,  to  every  country 
village  five  shillings,  besides  an  hundred  pound  to  every  county,  to 
be  distributed  among  the   poor.f     But  afterward  he  proved  most 

"  Mat.  Paris,  page  14.  t  Ckronicon  Johannis  Brompto^,  page  983. 


0  WILLIAM    II.  BOOK    III.       CKNT.    XI. 

parsimonious,  thougli  no  man  more  prodigal  of  never-perfori 
promises.  Indeed,  Relioboam,  though  simple,  was  honest,  sp« 
ing  to  his  subjects,  though  foolishly,  yet  truly  according  to 
intent,  that  his  finger  should  be    heavier  than  his  father"'s    loins, 

1  Kings  xii.  10 :  whereas  Rufus  was  false  in  his  proceedings,  who, 
on  the  imminence  of  any  danger  or  distress,  (principally  to  secure 
himself  against  the  claim  of  his  brother  Robert,)  instantly  to  oblige 
the  English,  promised  them  the  releasing  of  their  taxes,  and  the 
restoring  of  the  English  laws  ;  but,  on  the  sinking  of  the  present 
danger,  his  performance  sunk  accordingly  ;  no  letter  of  the  English 
laws  restored,  or  more  mention  thereof,  till  the  returning  of  the 
like  state-storm  occasioned  the  reviving  of  his  promise  ;  and,  alter- 
nately, the  clearing  up  of  the  one  deaded  the  performance  of  the 
other. 

29.  His  enriching  himself  hy  Church-Livings.     A.D.  1089. 

This  year  died  Lan frank,  archbishop  of  Canterbury  :  after  whose 
death,  the  king  seized  the  profits  of  that  see  into  his  own  hand,  and 
kept  the  church  vacant  for  some  years  ;  knowing  the  emptiness  of 
bishoprics  caused  the  fulness  of  his  coffers.  Thus  archbishop 
Rufus,  bishop  Rufus,  abbot  Rufus,  (for  so  may  he  be  called,  as 
well  as  king  Rufus  ;  keeping  at  the  same  time  the  archbishopric  of 
Canterbury,  the  bishoprics  of  Winchester  and  Durham,  and 
thirteen  abbeys  in  his  hand,)  brought  a  mass  of  money  into  his 
exchequer.  All  places  which  he  parted  with  was  upon  present 
payment.  Simon  Magus,  Acts  viii.  18,  with  his  hands  full  of 
money,  would  carry  any  thing  from  Simon  Peter,  with  his,  "Silver 
and  gold  have  I  none,"  Acts  iii.  6.  Yea,  John  bishop  of  Wells 
could  not  remove  his  seat  to  Bath,  nisi  albo  unguento  manibus 
regis  delibatis,  "  unless  he  had  moistened  the  king's  hands  with 
Avhite  ointment  ;"*  though  a  less  proportion  of  a  yellow  colour, 
Avould  have  been  more  sovereign  to  the  same  use.  And  picking  a 
quarrel  with  Remigius,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  about  the  founding  of  his 
cathedral,  he  forced  him  to  buy  his  peace  at  the  price  of  a  thousand 
marks. 

30.  His  Sickness  and  Resolution  of  Amendmeyit.  AD.  1093. 
But  in  the  midst  of  his  mirth,  king  Rufus,  coming  to  Gloucester, 
fell  desperately  sick,  and  began  to  bethink  himself  of  his  ill-led  life. 
As  all  aches  and  wounds  prick  and  pain  most  the  nearer  it  drawcth 
to  night ;  so,  a  guilty  conscience  is  most  active  to  torment  men,  the 
nearer  they  conceive  themselves  approaching  to  their  death.  Here- 
upon he  resolveth  to  restore  all  ill-gotten  goods,  release  all  persons 

•  Mat.  Tariis,  page  17- 


2o0  CHUIICH    HISTOUY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1093 5. 

unjustly  imprisoued,  and  supply  all  empty  places  with  able  pastors. 
In  pursuance  hereof,  he  made  Anselm,  the  abbot  of  Bee  in 
Normandy,  one  of  eminent  learning  and  holiness  of  life,  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  ;  which  place  he  was  hardly  persuaded,  with  much 
importunity,  to  accept.  The  first  eminent  act  of  his  archi-episcopal 
office  which  we  find,  was,  when  preaching  at  the  court  on  Ash- 
Wednesday,  he  denied  ashes  and  absolution  to  all  those  courtiers 
who  affected  effeminateness ''  in  their  behaviour  ;  *  especially,  in 
wearing  their  hair  long,  and  combed  like  women  :  a  sin,  no  doubt ; 
for  whereas  Tertullian  calls  the  length  of  womcn''s  hair,  sarcinam 
Slice  humiliiatis,  the  same  in  men  (so  promiscuously  worn)  may  be 
called,  sarcina  siice  super bicB. 

31 .  Anselni's  Expression  questioned. 
There  passeth  a  memorable  expression  of  Anselm's,  cried  up  and 
commended  by  some  for  a  master-piece  of  devotion  ;  namely, 
"•  that  lie  had  rather  be  in  hell  without  sin,  than  in  heaven  with 
sin;"  which  others -f  condemn  as  an  unsavoury  speech,  "not 
according  to  Scripture- phrase,  as  from  one  not  sufficiently  acquainted 
Avith  the  justification  of  a  Christian  man."  Indeed,  some  high- 
flown  expressions  often  knock  at  the  door  of  blasphemy,  but  yet 
not  with  any  intention  to  enter  in  thereat ;  in  which  we  are  more 
to  mind  the  sense  than  the  sound  of  the  words.  Amongst  those 
may'this  of  Anselm''s  be  ranked,  uttered,  no  doubt,  in  a  zealous 
detestation  of  sin  ;  yea,  which  charitably  may  be  defended  in  the 
very  letter  thereof.  For  Adam,  we  know,  was  some  while  in 
paradise  (heaven"'s  suburbs)  after  the  eating  of  the  forbidden  fruit, 
Gen.  iii.  yet  was  sensible  of  no  pleasure  therein,  which  made  him 
hide  himself,  as  prosecuted  by  his  guilty  conscience  ;  and  some  of 
the  ancients  conceive,  that  Christ  went  locally  to  hell,  yet  no  pain 
did  seize  on  him  there,  seeing  sorrow  can  arrest  none  but  at  the 
suit  of  sin  going  before. 

32.  Anselm  refuseth  to  send  King  Rufus  one  thousand  Pounds. 

But,  to  leave  Anselnrs  words,  let  us  come  to  his  deeds  :  who 
was  scarce  warm  in  his  archbiBliopric,  when  the  king  sent  to  him 
for  a  thousand  pounds  ;  which  sum,  being  so  small  in  itself,  (Rufus 
usually  demanding  more  of  less  bishoprics,)  and  that  after  his 
entrance  on  his  see,  free  from  any  pre-contract,  might  have  passed 
without  the  suspicion  of  simony,  under  the  notion  of  a  mere  gratuity. 
However,  Anselm  refused  to  pay  it,  because  he  would  "  avoid  the 
appearance  of  evil."     Others  say,:J:  that  he  freely  sent  the  king  five 

*  Eadmerus  Noiwum,  lib.  i.  page  23.  t  ^1k.  Fox's  "  Acts  and  MoDuments," 

vol.  i.  page  240.  \  Eadmerts  Xovorum,  lib.  i.  page  22, 


0  WILLIAM    II.  HOOK     III.       CENT.    XI.  281 

hundred  pounds,  with  this  compliment ; — tliat,  though  it  was  the 
first,  it  should  not  be  the  last  he  would  present  to  his  majesty  ; 
which  the  king  in  choler  refused,  because  short  to  the  sum  he 
expected.  Indeed,  Rufus  only  retained  this  of  all  his  archi-episcopal 
education,  (being  bred  under  Lanfrank,  as  is  afore  said,) — that 
thereby  he  experimentally  knew  the  sweetness  of  church-prefer- 
ments ;  and,  in  his  bargain  and  sale,  set  a  rate  upon  them  accord- 
ingly, being,  after  his  recovery  from  his  sickness,  far  more  sordid 
and  sacrilegious  than  before. 

33.  Herbert  Bishop  of  Thetford's  simoniacal  Flattery. 
A.D.  1094. 

Amongst  the  many  simoniacal  prelates  that  swarmed  in  the  land, 
Herbert,  bishop  of  Thetford,  must  not  be  forgotten  ;  nicknamed, 
(or  surnamed  shall  I  say .'')  Loseng,  that  is  "  the  Flatterer  ;"  our 
old  English  word  leasing  for  "  lying  "  retains  some  affinity  there- 
unto, and  at  this  day  we  call  an  insinuating  fellow,  "  a  glozing 
companion  :"  though  the  best  persuasiveness  of  his  flattery  con- 
sisted in  downright  arguments  of  gold  and  silver.  For,  guilty  of 
the  hereditary  sin  of  simony,  (his  father  formerly  having  bought  the 
abbey  of  Ramsey,)  he  purchased  the  bishopric  of  Thetford  of  the 
king.  But  afterward  he  posted  to  Rome,  confessed  his  fault,  and 
was  absolved  from  the  guilt  thereof.  Thus,  as  the  leprosy  of 
Naaman  was  washed  away  in  Jordan,  so  that  "  his  flesh  came  again 
as  the  flesh  of  a  little  child,  and  he  was  clean,"  2  Kings  v.  14 ;  so 
this  bishop  was  persuaded,  that  all  his  simoniacal  corruption  was 
cleansed  in  this  his  holy  pilgrimage,  conceiving  himself  henceforward 
to  begin  on  a  new  account  of  integrity,  especially  having,  after  his 
return,  removed  his  episcopal  seat  from  Thetford  to  Norwich, 
where  he  first  founded  the  cathedral. 

34.  Wolstan  Bishop  of  Worcester  dieth.  A.D.  1095. 
Wolstan,  the  venerable  bishop  of  AVorcester,  left  this  life :  a 
bishop  of  the  old  edition,  unacquainted  with  Lanfrank's  Italian 
additions  ;  not  ftuilty  in  his  conversation  but  country,  because  an 
Englishman  born.  It  was  laid  to  his  charge,  that  he  could  not 
speak  French,  no  essential  quality  in  a  bishop,  as  St.  Paul  describes 
him,  1  Tim.  iii.  2  ;  Titus  i.  6,  &c.  Sure  I  am,  he  could  speak  the 
language  of  Canaan, — humble,  holy,  heavenly  discourse  :  a  mortified 
man,  much  macerating  his  body  with  fasting  and  watching,  if  not 
over-acting  his  part,  and  somewhat  guilty  of  will-worship  therein. 

35.  Duke  Robert  prepares  for  the  Holy  War. 

About  this  time  began  the  Holy  War,  which  here  we  will  not 
repeat,   having  formerly  made    an    entire    work   thereof.       Robert, 


282  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A. D.  1095 100. 

duke  of  Normandy,  to  fit  himself  for  that  voyage,  sold  his  dukedom 
to  king  William  Rufus  for  ten  thousand  marks,  say  some  ;  for  six 
thousand,  six  hundred,  sixty-six  pounds,  that  is,  one  mark  less,  say 
others ;  haply,  abating  the  odd  mark,  to  make  up  the  rotundity  of 
so  sacred  and  mystical  a  number.  To  pay  this  money,  king  Rufus 
laid  a  general  and  grievous  tax  over  all  the  realm,  extorting  it  with 
such  severity,  that  the  monks  were  fain  to  sell  the  church-plate  and 
very  chalices  for  discharging  thereof.  Wonder  not,  that  the  whole 
land  should  be  impoverished  with  the  paying  of  so  small  a  sum  ; 
for,  a  little  wool  is  a  great  deal  when  it  must  be  taken  from  a  new- 
shorn  sheep  ;  so  pilled  and  polled  were  all  people  before,  with 
constant  exactions.  Such,  whom  his  hard  usage  forced  beyond 
the  seas,  were  recalled  by  his  proclamation  ;  so  that  his  heavy  levies 
would  not  suffer  them  to  live  here,  and  his  hard  laws  woidd  not 
permit  them  to  depart  hence.  And  when  the  clergy  complained 
unto  him,  to  be  eased  of  their  burdens  ;  "  I  beseech  you,"  said  he, 
"have  ye  not  coffins  of  gold  and  silver  for  dead  men's  bones?" 
intimating  that  the  same  treasure  might  otherwise  be  better 
employed. 

3G.   Variance  hetwixt  the  King  and  Anselm. 

The  streams  of  discord  began  now  to  sAvell  high  betwixt  the  king 
and  archbishop  Anselm  ;  flowing  principally  from  this  occasion  : — 
At  this  time  there  were  two  popes  together,  so  that  the  eagle  with 
two  heads,  the  arms  of  the  empire,  might  now  as  properly  have  fitted 
the  papacy  for  the  present.  Of  these,  the  one  (Guibertus)  I  may 
call  "  the  lay-pope,""  because  made  by  Henry  the  emperor  ;  the  other 
(Urban)  "  the  clergy-pope,"  chosen  by  the  conclave  of  cardinals. 
Now,  because  "  like  unto  like,"  king  William  sided  with  the 
former,  whilst  Anselm  as  earnestly  adhered  to  Urban,  in  his 
affections,  desiring  to  receive  his  pall  from  him,  which  the  king 
refused  to  permit.  Hereupon  Anselm  appealed  to  his  pope, 
whereat  king  William  was  highly  offended. 

37-   Their  several  Pleadings,  and  present  Reconcilement. 
But,  because  none  are  able  so  emphatically  to  tell  their  stories, 
and   plead    their    causes,    as   themselves,    take   them   in   their  own 
words  : — 

THE    KING    OLJECTEU. 

"  The  custom,  from  my  father's  time,  hath  been  in  England,  that 
no  person  should  appeal  to  the  pope,  without  the  king's  license. 
He  that  breaketh  the  customs  of  my  realm  violateth  the  power  and 
crown  of  my  kingdom.  He  that  violateth  and  taketh  away  my 
crown  is  a  traitor  and  enemy  iigainst  me." 


14  WILLIAM   II.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XI.  283 

ANSELM    ANSWERED. 

"  The  Lord  hath  discussed  this  question  :  '  Give  unto  Cscsar  the 
things  tliat  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things  that  are  God's.' 
In  such  things  as  belong  to  the  terrene  dignities  of  temporal  princes, 
I  will  pay  my  obedience  ;  but  Christ  said,  '  Thou  art  Peter,  and 
upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church,'  &c.  whose  vicar  he  ought 
to  obey  in  spiritual  matters  ;  and  the  fetching  of  his  pall  was  of  that 
nature." 

At  last  an  expedient  was  found  out,  that-Anselm  should  not  want 
his  pall,  nor  fetch  it  himself  from  Rome,  being  by  the  king's  consent 
brought  to  him  by  Gualtar,  pope  Urban's  legate,  whom  the  king  at 
last  was  fiiin  to  acknowledge ;  and  so  all  things  for  the  present 
reconciled. 

38.   They  disagree  again.  ^ 

But  the  wound  betwixt  them  was  rather  skinned  over  than  per- 
fectly healed ;  and  afterwards  brake  out  again,  the  king  taking 
occasion  of  displeasure  at  Anselm's  backwardness  to  assist  him  in  his 
expedition  into  Wales.  Whereupon  Anselm  desired  a  second 
journey  to  Rome,  there  to  bemoan,  and,  probably,  to  relieve  him- 
self by  complaint  to  the  pope.  But  the  king  stopped  his  voyage  ; 
affirming,  that  Ansehn  had  led  so  pious  a  life  he  need  crave  no 
absolution  at  Rome ;  and  was  so  well-stored  with  learning  that  he 
needed  not  to  borrow  any  counsel  there.  "  Yea,"  said  the  king, 
"  Urban  had  rather  give  place  to  the  wisdom  of  Anselm,  than 
Anselm  have  need  of  Urban."  In  fine,  after  much  contesting, 
Anselm  secretly  stole  out  of  the  realm  ;  and  the  king  seized  all  his 
goods  and  lands  into  his  own  coffers.  Three  years  was  he  in  exile, 
sometimes  at  Lyons,  sometimes  at  Rome  ;  welcome  wheresoever  he 
came,  and  very  serviceable  to  the  church  by  his  pious  living,  painful 
preaching,  learned  writing,  and  solid  disputing,  especially  in  the 
general  council  of  Bari,  where  he  was  very  useful  in  confuting  and 
condemning  the  errors  of  the  Greek  church  about  the  procession  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

39.  KingRufus's  Death.     A.D.  1100. 

King  Rufus  was  a-hunting  in  New-Forest,  August  2nd,  which 
was  made  by  king  William,  his  father  ;  not  so  much  out  of  pleasure 
or  love  of  the  game,  as  policy  to  clear  and  secure  to  himself  a  fair 
and  large  landing-place  for  his  forces  out  of  Normandy,  if  occasion 
did  require.  Here  then  was  a  great  devastation  of  towns  and  tem- 
ples ;  the  place  being  turned  into  a  wilderness  for  men,  to  make  a 
paradise  for  deer.  God  seemed  displeased  hereat ;  for,  amongst 
other  tragedies  of  the  Conqueror's  family,  acted  in  this  place,  Rufus 


284  CUUllCH    HISTORY    Ol"     BlllTAlN.  A.D.  1100. 

was  here  slain,  by  the  glancing  of  an  arrow  shot  by  Sir  Walter 
Tyrrel : — an  unhappy  name  to  the  kings  of  England  ;  this  man 
casually  and  another  wilfully  (Sir  James  Tyrrel  employed  in  the 
murdering  of  king  Edward  V.)  having  their  hands  in  royal  blood. 
Now  it  is  seasonably  remembered,  that,  some  years  since,  this  king 
William  had  a  desperate  disease,  whereof  he  made  but  bad  use  after 
his  recovery;  and  therefore  now  Divine  Justice  would  not  the 
second  time  send  him  the  summons  of  a  solemn  visitation  by  sick- 
ness, but  even  surprised  him  by  a  sudden  and  unexpected  death. 

40.  His  Burial  and  Character. 

Thus  died  king  William  Rufus,  leaving  no  issue  ;  and  was  buried, 
saith  my  author,*  at  Winchester,  multorum  procenmi  conventu^ 
paiicoriim  vero  platictu ;  '•  many  noblemen  meeting,  but  few 
mourning  at  his  funerals."  Yet  some,  Avho  grieved  not  for  his 
death,  grieved  at  the  manner  thereof;  and  of  all  mourners  Anselm, 
though  in  exile  in  France,  expressed  most  cordial  sorrow  at  the  news 
of  his  death.  A  valiant  and  prosperous  prince,  but  condemned  by 
historians  for  covetousness,  cruelty,  and  wantonness,  though  no 
woman  by  name  is  mentioned  for  his  concubine  ;  probably,  because 
thrifty  in  his  lust  with  mean  and  obscure  persons.  But,  let  it  be 
taken  into  serious  consideration,  that  no  pen  hath  originally  written 
the  Life  of  this  king,  but  what  was  made  by  a  monkish  penknife  ;  and 
no  wonder  if  his  picture  seem  bad,  which  was  drawn  by  his  enemy. 
And  he  may  be  supposed  to  fare  the  worse  for  his  opposition  to  the 
Romish  usurpation  ;  having  this  good  quality, — to  suffer  none  but 
himself  to  abuse  his  subjects,  stoutly  resisting  all  payments  of  the 
pope's  imposing.  Yea,  as  great  an  enemy  as  he  was  conceived  to 
the  church,  he  gave  to  the  monks  called  De  Charitate  the  great 
new  church  of  St.  Saviour''s  in  Bermondsey,  with  the  manor  thereof, 
as  also  of  Charlton  in  Kent. 

41.  Henry  I.  succeedeth  Rufus.,  and  is  crowned.     1  Henry  I. 

Henry  Beauclerk,  his  brother,  succeeded  him  in  the  throne  ;  one 
that  crossed  the  common  proverb,  "The  greatest  clerks  are  not  the 
wisest  men  ;"  being  one  of  the  most  profoundest  scholars  and  most 
politic  princes  in  his  generation.  He  was  crowned  about  four  days 
after  his  brother's  death.  At  that  time,  the  present  providing  of 
good  svvords  was  accounted  more  essential  to  a  king's  coronation, 
than  the  long  preparing  of  gay  clothes.  Such  preparatory  pomp  as 
was  used  in  after-ages  at  this  ceremony  was  now  conceived,  not  only 
useless,  but  dangerous  ;  speed  being  safest  to  supply  the  vacancy  of 
the  throne.  To  ingratiate  himself  to  the  English,  he  instantly  and 
•  John  Brompton,  page  'Jt)"- 


2  IlEXRY   T.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XII.  28o 

actually  repealed  (fur  his  brother  Williiim  had  put  all  the  land  out 
of  love  and  liking  of  fair  promises)  the  cruel  Norman  laws  :  laws 
written  in  blood,  made  more  in  favour  of  deer  than  of  men  ;  more 
to  manifest  the  power  and  pleasure  of  the  imposer,  than  for  the  good 
and  protection  of  the  subject ;  wherein,  sometimes,  men's  mis- 
chances were  punished  for  their  misdeeds.  Yea,  in  a  manner,  king 
Henry  gave  eyes  to  the  blind  in  winter-nights  ;  I  mean,  light  to 
them  who  formerly  lived  (though  in  their  own  houses)  in  uncomfort- 
able darkness,  after  eight  o'clock  ;  Avhen  heretofore  the  Curfew-bell 
did  ring  the  knell  of  all  the  fire  and  candle  light  in  English  families. 
But  now  these  rigorous  edicts  were  totally  repealed  ;  the  good  and 
gentle  laws  of  Edward  the  Confessor  generally  revived  ;  the  late 
king's  extorting  publicans  (whereof  Ranulf  Flambard,  bishop  of 
Durham,  the  principal)  closely  imprisoned ;  the  court-corruption, 
by  the  king's  command,  studiously  reformed;  adultery  (then  grown 
common)  with  the  loss  of  virility,  severely  punished  ;  Anselm  from 
exile  speedily  recalled  ;  after  his  return,  by  the  king  heartily  wel- 
comed; by  the  clergy,  solemnly  and  ceremoniously  received  ;  he  to 
his  church,  his  lands  and  goods  to  him,  fully  restored ;  English  and 
Normans  lovingly  reconciled  ;  all  interests  and  persons  seemingly 
pleased  ;  Robert,  the  king's  elder  brother,  though  absent  in  the 
Holy  Land,  yet  scarcely  missed  ;  and  so  this  century,  with  the  first 
year  of  king  Henry's  reign,  seasonably  concluded. 


SECTION  11. 

THE  TWELFTH  CENTURY. 

JOHANNI   FITZJAMES   DE   LEUSTON,  IN   COMITATU 
DORSET.    ARMIGERO. 

NoN  desunt  in  lioc  nostro  seeculo,  qui  librorum  dedi- 
cationes  pene  ducunt  superstitiosum,  plane  siiperfluum  ; 
sic  enim  argutuli  ratiocinantur : — "Liber,  si  bonus, 
patrono  non  indiget,  suo  marte  pergat ;  sin  malus, 
patrono  ne  sit  dedecori,  suo  merito  pereat." 

Habeo  tamen  quod  huic  dilemmati  possim  regerere. 
Liber  ineus,  nee  bonus  nee  malus,  sed  quiddam 
medium  inter  utrumque.  "  Bonum  "  ipse  non  ausum 
pronuntiare,  cum  plurimis  mendis  laboret :  "Malum" 


28C  CHURCH    HISTORY     OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1102. 

alii,  spero,  non  dijudicent ;  chm  legentibus  possit  esse 
Usui. 

Sub  hac  dubia  conditione,  vel  adversariis  nostris 
judicibus,  opus  hoc  nostrum  patronum  sibi  asciscere 
et  potest  et  debet ;  et  sub  alis  clientelse  tuse,  qui  tarn 
Marte  prpestas  quam  Mercurio,  foveri  serio  triumphat. 

1.    The  licUish  Imprecation  of  Maud  when  married  to 
King  Henry/  ^.i>.  1101. 

Grave  Anselm  archbishop  of  Canterbury  espoused  and  married 
Maud  (daughter  of  Malcolm  king  of  the  Scots  and  St.  Margaret  his 
wife)  to  Henry  king  of  England.  She  had  been  a  professed  votary, 
and  was  pressed,  by  the  importunity  of  her  parents  and  friends,  for 
politic  ends,  to  this  marriage  ;  insomuch  as,  in  the  bitterness  of  her 
soul,  (able  to  appal  the  writer  hereof,  seeing  his  ink  out-blacked 
with  her  expression,)  she  devoted  the  fruit  of  her  body  to  the  devil, 
because  they  would  not  permit  her  to  perform  her  promise  of 
virginity  :  Thus  Matthew  Paris.*  But  the  reader  reserveth  his 
other  ear  for  the  relation  of  Eadmerus,  reporting  this  story  after  a 
different,  yea,  contrary  manner,  as  followeth. 

2.    The  Story  otherwise  told  by  Eadmerus,  an  Eye  atid  Ear 

Witness. 

The  aforesaid  Maud,  when  a  girl,  lived  under  the  tuition  and  cor- 
rection of  Christian  her  aunt,  and  abbess  of  Wilton,  at  what  time 
the  Norman  soldiers,  conquering  the  kingdom,  did  much  destroy 
and  more  endanger  virgins  by  their  violence.  Christian,  therefore, 
to  preserve  this  her  niece,  clapped  a  black  cloth  on  her  head,  in 
imitation  of  a  nun's  vail,  which  she  unwillingly  ware  in  the  pre- 
sence of  her  aunt,  but  in  her  absence  off  it  went,  from  above  her 
head  to  under  her  heels,  so  that  in  despiteful  manner  she  used  to 
tread  and  trample  upon  it.  Yea,  if  Malcolm  her  father  chanced  to 
behold  her  wearing  that  mock  vail,  with  rage  he  would  rend  it  off, 
cursing  the  causers  of  it,  and  avowing,  that  he  intended  her  no 
votary,  but  a  wife  to  count  Alan.  Besides,  two  grave  archdeacons, 
sent  down  to  Wilton  to  inquire  into  the  matter,  reported,  that,  for 
aught  they  could  learn  from  the  nuns  there,  this  Maud  was  never 
solemnly  entered  into  their  Order.  Hereupon  a  council  was  called 
of  the  English  clergy,  wherein  some  grave  men  attested  of  their  own 
knowledge,  that,  at  the  Norman  .Conquest,  to  avoid  the  fury  of  the 
soldiery,  many  maids  out  of  fear  not  affection,  for  protection  not 
piety,  made  a  cloister  their  refuge,  not  their  choice  ;  were  nuns  in 

*  Hi  si.  A  fig.  in  Hen.  I.  anno  1101. 


ti  HENRY   r.  BOOK     III.       CENT.    XII.  287 

tlieir  own  defence,  running  their  heads,  but  witliout  their  hearts, 
into  a  vail.  And  in  this  case  it  was  resolved  by  learned  Lanfrank, 
that  such  virgins  were  bound,  by  an  extraordinary  obligation,  above 
other  women 

Debitam  castitati  revcrcntiam  eahibere, 
Nullum  religionis  contineniiam  scrvave  :  * 

■wliich  is  in  effect,  that  they  must  be  chaste  -wives,  though  they  need 
not  be  constant  maids.  These  things  alleged  and  proved,  Anselm 
pronounced  the  nunship  of  Maud  of  none  effect,  and  solemnly  mar- 
ried her  to  king  Henry.  However,  some  infer  the  unlawfulness  of 
this  match  from  the  unhappiness  of  their  children,  all  their  issue 
male  coming  to  untimely  deaths.  But  sad  events  may  sometimes  be 
improved  by  men's  censures  further  than  they  were  intended  by  God's 
justice  ;  and  it  is  more  wisdom  seriously  to  observe  them  to  the 
instructing  of  ourselves,  than  rigidly  to  apply  them  to  the  condemn- 
ing of  others  ;  the  rather,  because  Maud  the  empress,  their  sole 
surviving  child,  seemed  by  her  happiness  to  make  reparation  for  the 
infelicity  of  all  the  rest. 

3.  A  grand  Sijnod  of  the  Clergy  and  Laity,  ivith  the 
Constitutions  thereof.     A.D.  1102. 

Next  year  a  more  solemn  synod  was  summoned  by  Anselm,  with 
the  king's  consent,  held  at  Westminster;  whereat,  beside  bishops, 
were  present,  at  Anselm's  request  from  the  king,  the  chief  lay  lords 
of  the  land  ;  and  this  reason  rendered  :  "  Forasmuch  as  that  what- 
soever should  be  determined  by  the  authority  of  the  said  council, 
might  be  ratified  and  observed  by  the  joint  care  and  solicitousness 
of  both  estates."  But  whether  the  lords  were  present,  as  bare 
spectators  and  witnesses  to  attest  the  fair  transaction  of  matters, 
(which  some  will  conceive  too  little,)  or  whether  they  had  a  power 
to  vote  therein,  (which  others  will  adjudge  too  much,)  is  not  clearly 
delivered.  Here  we  insert  the  constitutions  of  this  synod.  And 
let  none  say,  that  it  is  vain  to  look  after  the  cobwebs,  when  the 
besom  of  reformation  hath  swept  them  away  ;  seeing  the  knowledge 
of  them  conduces  much  to  the  understanding  of  that  age. 

1.  •'  That  the  heresy  of  simony  be  severely  punished,-}*  for  which 
several  abbots  were  then  and  there  deposed. 

2.  "  That  bishops  undertake  not  the  office  of  secular  pleas,  wear- 
ing an  habit  beseeming  religious  persons,  and  not  be  like  laymen  in 
their  garments  ;  and  that  always  and  every  where  they  have  honest 
persons  witnesses  of  their  conversation. 

3.  "  That  no  archdeaconries  be  let  out  to  farm. 

4.  "  That  all  archdeacons  be  deacons. 

•  Eapmerus  Novni-jitn,  lib.  v.  pp.  57,  58.  t  Idem,  lib.  iii.  pp.  67,  68. 


288  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    I^RITAtN.  A.D.  1102 5. 

5.  "  That  no  archdeacon,  priest,  deacon,  or  canon  *  marry  a  Avife, 
or  retain  one  being  married  unto  him  :  and  that  every  sub-deacon, 
who  is  not  a  canon,  if  he  have  married  after  his  profession  made  of 
chastity,  be  bound  by  the  same  rule." — Hear  what  a  grave  author, 
almost  of  the  same  age,  saith  of  this  constitution  :  Hoc  quibusdam 
mundissimum  visum  est,  quibusdam  periculosum,  ne  dum  mnn- 
ditias  viribus  majores  sacerdotes  appeterent,  in  immunditias 
horribiles  ad  Christiani  nominis  summtim  dedenus  inciderent.-f 
And  as  Jordan,  wanting  a  vent  or  influx,  like  other  rivers,  into  the 
ocean,  loselh  its  current  at  last  in  a  filthy  lake,  or  Dead  Sea  of  its 
own  making  ;  so  it  was  to  be  feared,  that  these  men,  now  debarred 
that  remedy  for  their  weakness,  which  God,  who  best  knew  the  consti- 
tution of  his  own  creatures,  hath  provided,  settled  themselves  in  some 
unclean  ways,  and  most  mortal  filthiness  occasion  by  this  prohibition. 

6.  "  That  a  priest  so  long  as  he  keeps  unlawful  conversation  with 
a  woman,  [understand  his  own  wife,]  is  not  legal,  nor  rightly  cele- 
brateth  the  mass  ;  nor  is  his  mass  to  be  heard  if  he  celebrate  it. 

7.  "  That  none  be  admitted  to  the  order  of  sub-deacon,  or 
upwards,  without  the  profession  of  chastity. 

8.  "  That  the  sons  of  priests  be  not  made  heirs  to  the  church  of 
their  fathers. 

9.  "  That  no  clerks  be  provosts  or  proctors  of  secular  matters,  or 
judges  in  blood." — This  is  the  reason,  saith  the  appendi.x  to 
Harpsfield,;]:  (reporting  is  no  approving  of  his  judgment,)  why 
bishops,  being  arraigned  for  their  lives,  are  not  to  be  tried  by  their 
peers,  but  by  a  jury  of  ordinary  men,  because  debarred  by  their 
canons  to  be  judges  of  lay  peers  in  like  cases  ;  and,  therefore,  it 
was  conceived  unfitting  that  they  should  receive  that  honour,  which 
they  could  not  return. 

10.  "  That  priests  should  not  go  to  public  drinkings,  nee  ad 
pinnas  bibatit,^  '  nor  drink  at  pins.*" " — This  was  a  Dutch  trick 
(but  now  used  in  England)  of  artificial  drunkenness,  out  of  a  cup 
marked  with  certain  pins,  and  he  [was]  accounted  the  man,  who 
could  nick  the  pin,  drinking  even  unto  it ;  whereas  to  go  above  or 
beneath  it,  was  a  forfeiture. 

11.  "  That  the  garments  of  clergymen  be  of  one  colour,  and  their 
shoes  according  to  order. 

12.  "  That  monks  and  clerks  that  have  cast  off  their  Order, 
either  return  thereto  or  be  excommunicated. 

13.  "  That  clerks  have  crowns  patent,  so  that  their  shaving  be 
conspicuous  to  the  beholder. 

*  Atiter  "being  canonical."  ■[■  Henricus  Huntingdon  Historiarum,  lib.  vii. 

page  217.  I  III  Caialogo  Re  /  iff  to  i  a  rum  ^dium,  page  74Li.  %  Hence  probably 

the  proverb,  "  He  is  in  a  merr}-  pin." 


R  HENKY   1.  1500K     HI.       (KNT.    XII.  2^1) 

14.  "  That  tithes  be  given  to  none  but  to  churches. 

15.  "  That  churches  or  prebends  be  not  bought. 

16.  "  That  new  chapels  be  not  made  without  the  consent  of  the 
bishop. 

17.  "  Thai  no  church  be  consecrated,  until  necessaries  be  pro- 
vided for  the  priest  and  church. 

18.  "  That  abbots  make  no  knights  ;  and  that  they  eat  and  sleep 
in  the  same  house  with  their  monks,  except  some  necessity  forbid. 
— It  appeareth,  it  was  the  ancient  custom  of  abbots  in  this  age  to 
make  knights.  Thus,  Brando,  the  abbot  of  St.  Edmundsbury,* 
knighted  Heward  his  nephew,  having  first  confessed  his  sins,  and 
received  absolution.  Indeed,  in  those  days  men's  minds  were  so 
possessed,  that  they  thought  nothing  well  and  fortunately  done  but 
what  came  from  churchmen.  Whereupon  he  that  was  to  be  made  a 
knight,  first  offered  his  sword  upon  the  altar,  and,  after  the  Gospel 
read,  the  priest  put  the  sword,  first  hallowed,  upon  the  knight's 
neck  with  his  benedictum,-f  and  so,  having  heard  mass  again,  and 
received  the  sacrament,  he  became  a  lawful  knight.  And  seeing 
the  Holy  War  now  was  begun,  no  wonder  if  churchmen  made 
knights.  And  that  age  conceived,  that  a  knight's  sword  dipped  in 
holy-water  was  well  tempered,  and  became  true  metal  indeed.  Why 
abbots  were  now  prohibited  to  confer  this  honour,  the  cause  is  not 
rendered ;  whether  because  it  made  knighthood  too  common,  or 
that  this  privilege  was  reserved  only  for  higher  prelates,  sucli  as 
bishops  and  archbishops  w^re,  or  that  it  was  an  encroachment  upon 
the  royal  dignity,  it  being  as  proper  for  kings  to  ordain  priests,  as 
for  abbots  to  dub  knights.  This  is  most  sure,  that,  notwithstand- 
ing this  canon,  king  Henry  I.|  some  years  after  granted,  and  king 
John  confirmed,  to  the  abbot  of  Reading,  the  power  of  knighting 
persons,  with  some  cautions  of  their  behaviour  therein. 

19.  "  That  monks  enjoin  no  penance  to  any,  without  permission 
of  their  abbot,  and  that  only  to  such  persons  whereof  they  have  cure 
of  souls. 

20.  "  That  monks  and  nuns  be  not  godfathers  or  godmothers. 

21.  "  That  monks  hold  no  lands  in  farm. 

22.  "  That  monks  take  no  churches  by  the  bishops,  and  that 
they  spoil  not  such  as  are  given  unto  them  of  the  revenues,  but  so 
that  the  priests  serving  in  those  cures  and  the  churches  might  be 
provided  with  necessaries. 

23.  "  That  faith  in  way  of  marriage,  pledged  secretly  and  with- 
out witness,  betwixt  man  and  woman,  be  of  no  effect  if  either  party 
do  deny  it. 

•  Ingulphus,  page  512.     Edict.  LondinT  f  Camden's  Rritaiiuia,  pago  173. 

t  J.  Selpen  ad  Eadmer.  Spicileffium,  page  207. 

Vol.  I.  u 


290  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN,  A.D.  1105 

24.  "  That  Criniii,  '  such  as  wear  long  liair,'  be  so  shaven,  that 
part  of  their  ears  may  appear,  and  their  eyes  not  be  covered." — 
Criniti  are  opposed  to  Tonsi,  extended  to  all  lay  persons.  If  any 
demand  how  it  came  within  the  cognizance  of  the  church  to  provide 
about  their  trimming,  (which  might  well  have  been  left  to  the 
party's  pleasure  and  his  barber''s  skill,)  know,  this  canon  was  built 
on  the  apostle's  words,  "  Doth  not  even  nature  itself  teach  you,  that,  if 
a  man  have  long  hair,  it  is  a  shame  unto  him  ? ""  1  Cor.  xi.  14.  And  the 
church  forbade  whatsoever  was  a  trespass  against  Christian  decency. 
Gildas  giveth  this  character  of  the  Picts  :  Furciferos  magis  vultus 
pilis  qiidm  corporum  pudenda  vesiibns  tegentes^*  that  "they 
covered  rather  their  thievish  eyes  with  their  hair,  than  their  shame 
with  clothes  ;"  which  ruffian-like  custom  of  long  hair,  now  used  by 
the  Normans,  was  here  justly  restrained. 

25.  "  That  parties  akin  to  the  seventh  generation,  be  not 
coupled  in  marriage  ;  and  that  persons  so  coupled  remain  not  in 
marriage  ;  and  if  any  be  privy  to  this  incest  and  not  declare  it,  let 
him  know  himself  to  be  guilty  of  the  same  crime." — This  brought 
much  grist  to  the  pope's  mill  for  dispensations.  As  secular  princes 
used  to  stop  travellers  on  common  bridges,  or  at  the  entrance  of 
gates,  not  with  intent  finally  to  forbid  their  going  further,  but  to 
receive  toll  or  custom  for  their  passing-by  ;  so  the  pope  prohibited 
these  degrees  in  marriage,  not  absolutely  to  hinder  such  matches, 
but  to  receive  large  sums  of  money  for  his  leave  ;  after  whose  facul- 
ties obtained,  if  such  marriage  were  against  the  law  of  God,  men  did 
sin  not  Avith  less  guiltiness,  but  more  expenses. 

26.  "  That  the  bodies  of  the  dead  be  not  carried  to  be  buried  out 
of  their  own  parishes,  so  that  the  parish-priest  should  lose  his  due 
unto  him. 

27.  "That  none,  out  of  a  rash  novelty,  [which  we  know  to  have 
happened,]  exhibit  reverence  of  holiness  to  any  bodies  of  the  dead, 
fountains,  or  other  things,  without  authority  from  the  bishop. 

28.  "  That  none  presume  hereafter  [what  hitherto  men  used  in 
England]  to  sell  men  like  brute  beasts." — This  constitution,  as  all 
others  which  concerned  the  subjects'  civil  right,  found  not  general 
obedience  in  the  kingdom.  For,  the  proceedings  of  the  canon 
law  were  never  wholly  received  into  practice  in  the  land  ;  but  so  as 
made  subject,  in  whatsoever  touched  temporals,  to  secular  laws  and 
national  customs.  And  the  laity,  at  pleasure,  limited  canons  in  this 
behalf.  Nor  were  such  sales  of  servants,  being  men's  proper  goods, 
so  weakened -f-  with  this  prohibition  but  that,  long  after,  they 
remained  legal  according  to  the  laws  of  the  land. 

29.  "  That  the  sin  of  sodomy,  both  in  clergy  and  laity,  should  be 

•  De  Excid.  Dritan.  fol.  6.  1  See  Mr.  Selden,  Spicileg.  ad  Eadtnerum,  p.  208. 


b*  HENRV    I.  BOOK     III.       (  ENT.    XII.  '2i)\ 

punished  wilh  heavy  censures." — Remarkable  that  the  same  synod 
which  forbade  priests'*  marriage  found  it  needful  to  punish  sodomy, 
an  Italian  vice,  beginning  now  to  be  naturalized  in  England.  For, 
those  who  endeavour  to  make  the  way  to  heaven  narrower  than  God 
hath  made  it,  by  prohibiting  what  he  permits,  do  in  event  make  the 
way  to  hell  wider,  occasioning  the  committing  of  such  sins  which 
God  hath  forbidden.  We  may  further  observe,  that  the  plaster 
now  applied  to  the  rotten  sore  of  sodomy  was  too  gentle,  too  nar- 
row, and  too  little  time  laid  on.  Too  gentle — For  whereas  the  sin 
is  conceived  to  deserve  death,  it  was  only  slubbered  over,  that  the 
party  convict  of  this  wickedness,  if  in  Orders,  was  admitted  to  no 
higher  honour,  and  deposed  from  what  he  had,  till  restored  again  on 
his  repentance.  Too  narrow — If  it  be  true  what  one  observes, 
that  monks  *  (as  neither  merely  lay  nor  priests)  were  not  threatened 
with  this  curse,  where  all  was  hidden  in  cloisters.  Lastly.  Too 
little  time  laid  on — For  whereas  at  first  it  was  constituted,  that 
such  excommunication  of  sodomites  convicted  should  solemnly  be 
renewed  every  Lord's  day  ;  this  short-lived  canon  did  die  in  the 
birth  thereof,  and  Anselm  himself  postponi  concessit^-f  "  suffered 
it  to  be  omitted,"  on  pretence  that  it  put  beastly  thoughts  into 
many  menV  minds,  whose  corruption  abused  the  punishment  of  sin 
in  the  provocation  thereof;  whilst  others  conceive  this  relaxation 
indulged  in  favour  to  some  great  offenders,  who,  hardened  in  con- 
science, but  tender  in  credit,  could  not  endure  to  be  so  solemnly, 
publicly,  and  frequently  grated  with  the  shame  of  the  sin  they  had 
committed. 

So  much  for  the  constitutions  of  that  synod,  wherein  though 
canons  were  provided  for  priests,  cap-a-pie,  from  the  shaving  to  the 
shoes,  yet  not  a  syllable  of  their  instructing  the  people  and  preach- 
ing God"'s  word  unto  them.  We  must  not  forget,  that  men  guilty 
of  simony  in  the  first  canon  are  not  taken,  in  the  vulgar  acceptation, 
for  such  as  were  promoted  to  their  places  by  money ;  but,  in  a  new- 
coined  sense  of  that  word,  for  those  who  were  advanced  to  their 
dignities  by  investiture  from  the  king  ;  which  gave  occasion  to  the 
long  and  hot  broil  happening  betwixt  king  Henry  and  Anselm, 
which  now  we  come  to  relate. 

4.  Anselm  refuseth  to  consecrate  the  King's  Bishops. 
A.D.  1103—5. 

The  king  commanded  him  to  consecrate  such  bishops  as  he  lately 
had  invested  ;  namely,  William  of  Winchester,  Roger  of  Hereford, 
&c.  which  Anselm  refused,  because  flatly  against  the  canon  newly- 
made  in  the  council  of  Rome,  by  pope  Urban,  that  any  who  had 

•  Bale  in  the  "  Acts  of  English  Votaries,"  part  ii.  chap.  74.        f  Eadmerl's,  lit  prius, 

u  2 


292  CHURCH     HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1103 7 

their  entrance  by  the  authority  of  temporal  princes  should  be 
admitted  to  bishoprics.  Hereupon  the  king  enjoined  Gerard  arch- 
bishop of  York  to  consecrate  them  ;  who,  out  of  opposition  to 
Anselm  his  competitor,  was  as  officious  to  comply  witli  the  king  as 
the  other  was  backward,  hoping  thereby  to  hitch  his  church  a  degree 
the  higher,  by  help  of  his  royal  favour.  Here  happened  an  unex- 
pected accident  :  for  William,  bishop  of  Winchester,  refused  conse- 
cration from  the  archbishop  of  York,  and  resigned  his  staff  and  ring 
back  again  to  the  king,  as  illegally  from  him.  This  discomposed 
all  the  rest.  For  whereas  more  than  the  moiety  of  ecclesiastical 
persons  in  England  were  all  in  the  same  condemnation,  as  invested 
by  the  king,  the  very  multitude  of  offenders  would  have  excused 
the  offence  if  loyal  to  their  own  cause.  Whereas  now  this  defec- 
tion of  the  bishop  of  Winchester  so  brake  the  ranks,'  and  maimed 
their  entireness,  that  their  cause  thereby  was  cast  by  their  own  con- 
fession, and  so  a  party  raised  among  them  against  themselves. 

5.  Anselm  sent  to  Rome. 
Soon  after,  the  king  was  contented  that  Anselm  should  go  to 
Rome,  to  know  the  pope''s  pleasure  herein.  But  one,  none  of  the 
conclave,  without  a  prophetical  spirit,  might  easily  have  foretold  the 
resolution  of  his  Holiness  herein  ; — never  to  part  with  power  whereof 
(how  injuriously  soever)  though  but  pretendedly  possessed.  Anselm, 
for  his  compliance  with  the  pope  herein,  is  forbidden  to  return  into 
England,  while  the  king  seizcth  on  his  temporalities. 

6.   The  King  parts  with  his  Investing  of  Bishops.     A.D.  1106. 

However,  not  long  after,  by  mediation  of  friends,  they  are  recon- 
ciled ;  the  king  disclaiming  his  right  of  investitures, — a  weak  and 
timorous  act  of  so  wise  and  valiant  a  prince  ;  whose  predecessors 
before  the  Conquest  held  this  power  (though  some  time  loosely)  in 
their  own  hands  ;  and  his  predecessors  since  the  Conquest  grasped 
it  fast  in  their  fist,  in  defiance  of  such  popes  as  would  finger  it  from 
them.  Whereas  now  he  let  it  go  out^of  his  hand,  whilst  his  suc- 
cessors in  vain,  though  with  a  long  arm,  reached  after  it  to  recover 
it.  And  now  Anselm,  Avho  formerly  refused,  consecrated  all  the 
bishops  of  vacant  sees ;  amongst  whom,  Roger  of  Salisbury  was  a 
prime  person,  first  preferred  to  the  king's  notice,  "  because  he  began 
prayers  quickly,  and  ended  them  speedily ;"  for  which  quality  he 
was  commended  as  fittest  for  a  chaplain  in  the  camp,  and  was  not 
unwelcome  to  the  court  on  the  same  account. 

7-  Atisehn forbids  Priests'"  Marriage.     A.D.  1\0^. 
Anselm,  having  divested  the  king  of  investing  bishops,   (one  of 
the  fairest  robes  in  his  wardrobe,)  did  soon  after  deprive   the  clergy 


8  HENKY    I.  BOOK     III.       CENT.    XII.  21)3 

of  one  half  of  themselves.  For,  in  a  solemn  synod  he  forbade 
priests'*  marriage  ;  wherein,  as  charitably  we  believe,  his  intentions 
pious  and  commendable,  and  patiently  behold  his  pretences  spe- 
cious and  plausible,  so  we  cannot  but  pronounce  his  performance, 
for  the  present,  injurious  and  culpable,  and  the  effects  thereof  for 
the  future  pernicious  and  damnable.  And  here  we  will  a  little 
enlarge  ourselves  on  this  subject  of  so  high  concernment. 

8.  Only  by  a  Church-Constitution. 

It  is  confessed  on  all  sides,  that  there  is  no  express  in  Scripture 
to  prohibit  priests'  marriage,  Thomas,*  and  Scotus,-|-  commonly 
cross,  (as  if  reason  enough  for  the  latter  to  deny,  because  the  former 
affirmed  it,)  do  both  (such  the  strength  of  truth)  agree  herein. 
Only  ecclesiastical  constitutions  forbid  them  mamage.  And, 
though  many  popes  tampered  hercat,  none  effectually  did  drive  the 
nail  to  the  head,  till  Hildebrand,  alias  Gregory  VII.  (the  better 
man  the  better  deed)  finally  interdicted  priests'  marriage.  How- 
ever, his  constitutions,  though  observed  in  Italy  and  France,  were 
not  generally  obeyed  in  England ;  till  Anselm  at  last  forbade 
married  priests  to  officiate ;  or  any  lay  people,  under  pain  of 
censure,  to  be  present  at  their  church-service. 

9.  Grounded  on  a  double  Error. 
Herein  he  proceeded  on  two  erroneous  principles  :  one  that  all 
men  have,  or  may  have,  if  using  the  means,  the  gift  of  continency. 
Wherein  they  do  not  distinguish  betwixt,  1.  Common' gifts,  which 
God  bestoweth  on  all  his  servants,  "  The  common  salvation," 
Jude  3.  2.  Proper  gifts.  Thus  the  apostle,  1  Cor.  vii.  7,  when 
he  had  wished  all  like  himself,  (that  is,  able  to  contain,)  he  immedi- 
ately addeth,  "  But  every  man  hath  his  proper  gift  of  God,  one 
after  this  manner,  and  another  after  that."  His  other  false  suppo- 
sition is,  that  marriage  is  either  inconsistent  with  or,  at  least,  impedi- 
tive  to  the  purity  of  priestly  profession. 

10.  Paramount  Holiness  in  a  Married  Perso7i. 

The  falseness  whereof  appeareth  by  the  precedent  of  Enoch,  in 
whom  met  the  threefold  capacity  of  king,  priest,  and  prophet.  Yet 
liis  marriage  remitted  not  the  reins  of  his  princely  power,  hindered 
not  the  performance  of  his  sacerdotal  function,  rebated  not  the  edge 
of  his  prophetical  spirit ;  for,  he  "  walked  with  God,  and  begat  sons 
and  daughters,"  Gen.  v.  22.     He  made  not  a  prayer  the  less  for 

•  [n  ■Secundd  Secunda;  Part.  Sum.  Thcol.  qucest.  Ixxxviii.  art.  11.  t  Lib.  vii.  De 

Jnntilid,  i^iucst.  vi.  art.  2. 


294  CHURCH    HISTORY     OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1107* 

having  a  child  the  more  :  and  let  us  be  but  alike  holy  with  Enoch, 
and  let  others  be  more  holy  with  Anselm, 

11,  12.  St.  Paul  expounded;  and  Marriage  defended. 
Wherefore,  when  the  apostle  saith,  "  He  that  is  married  careth 
for  the  things  which  are  of  this  world,  how  he  may  please  his  wife," 
1  Cor.  vii.  33,  therein  he  describeth,  not  that  height  of  God-pleasing 
which  marriage  ought,  and  in  itself  may,  and  by  Enoch  was 
improved  ;  but  expresseth  such  faults  which,  through  human  corrup- 
tion, too  commonly  come  to  pass  :  which  are  vita  mariti,  non 
matrimonii ;  uxoris,  non  uxoratus ;  flowing  neither  from  the 
essence  nor  from  the  exercise  of  marriage,  but  only  from  the  depraved 
vise  thereof,  which,  by  God's  assistance,  and  man's  best  endeavours, - 
may  be  rectified  and  amended.  It  is  therefore  falsely  charged  on 
marriage,  qua  marriage,  that  it  is  an  hinderance  to  hospitality  ; 
starving  the  poor  to  feed  a  family.  It  is  confessed  it  would  break 
marriage,  if,  cceteris  paribus,  she  should  offer  to  vie  bounty  with 
virginity  ;  only  she  may  equal  virginity  in  "  cheerfulness  of  her 
giving,""  and  in  the  discreet  choice  of  fit  objects  whereon  to  bestow 
it.  Yet  give  me  leave  to  say,  in  a  married  family  there  be  com- 
monly most  mouths  ;  and  where  most  mouths,  there  probably  most 
bread  is  eaten  ;  and  Avhere  most  bread  is  eaten,  there  certainly  most 
crumbs  fall  beneath  the  table,  so  that  the  poor  are  feasted  by  those 
fragments.  If  any  rejoin,  that  "  single  folk  bestow  their  alms,  not 
by  crumbs,  but  whole  loaves  ;"  the  Avorst  T  wish  is,  that  poor  people 
may  find  the  truth  thereof.  Nor  doth  the  having  of  children,  qua 
children,  make  men  covetous,  seeing  Solomon  saw  a  man  "  who  had 
neither  child  nor  brother,  yet  his  eye  was  not  satisfied  with  riches," 
Eccles.  iv.  8.  On  the  other  side,  I  find  two  in  one  and  the  same 
chapter,  Gen.  xxxiii.  9 — 11,  professing  they  had  enough;  namely, 
Esau  and  Jacob,  both  of  them  married,  both  of  them  parents  of 
many  children, 

13.  ^  Monk''s  Verses,  as  bald  as  his  Crown. 

And  here  well  may  we  wonder  at  the  partiality  of  the  papists, 
over-exalting  marriage  in  the  laity  to  a  sacrament ;  and  too  much 
depressing  the  same  in  priests,  as  no  better  than  "  refined  fornica- 
tion." Yea,  some  have  made  virginity  the  corn,  and  marriage  the 
cockle  ;  which  is  a  Avonder  that  they  should  be  of  several  kinds, 
seeing  virginity  is  but  the  fruit,  and  marriage  the  root  thereof.  But, 
amongst  all  the  foul  mouths  belibelling  marriage,  one  railing  rhyme- 
ster, of  Anselm's  age,  bore  away  the  bell,  drinking,  surely,  of  Styx 
instead  of  Helicon ;  and  I  am  confident  my  translation  is  good 
enough  for  his  bald  verses. 


8  HENRY   I.  HOOK    IIT.       CEXT.    XII.  295 

O  mal6  viventes,  versus  aiidite  scquejites  / 
Uxorcs  vestras,  qtias  odit  summa  potestas, 
Linquite  propter  eum,  tcnuit  qui  morte  trophcr.um. 
Quod  si  non  facitis,  Inferni  claustra  petetis  : 
Christi  Sponsa  jubet,  ne  presbyter  ille  nmiistret. 
Qui  tenet  uarorem,  Domini  quia  perdit  amorein. 
Contradicentes  fore  dicimus  insipientes, 
Non  c,v  rancore  loquor  hcec,  potiits  sed  amore.* 

"  O  ye  that  iU  live,  The  spouse  of  Christ 

Attention  give  Forbids  that  priest 

Unto  my  following  riiymes ;  His  ministerial  function, 

Your  wives,  those  dear  mates,  Because  he  did  part 

Whom  the  highest  power  hates,  With  Christ  in  his  heart. 

See  that  ye  leave  them  betimes.  At  his  man-iage-conjunction. 

Leave  them  for  His  sake  We  count  them  all  mad, 

Who  a  conquest  did  make,  If  any  so  bad, 

And  a  crown  and  a  cross  did  acquire.  As  daring  herein  to  contest. 

If  any  say,  "  No,"  Nor  is  it  of  spite, 

I  give  them  to  know.  That  this  I  indite, 

They  must  all  unto  hell  for  their  liire.  But  out  of  pure  love,  I  protest." 

Where  did  this  railing  monk  ever  read,  that  God  hated  the  wives  of 
priests  ?  And  did  not  the  church  of  Rome,  at  this  time,  come 
under  the  cliaracter  of  that  defection,  described  by  the  apostle  .'' — 
That  "  in  the  latter  times  some  should  depart  from  the  faith,  for- 
bidding to  marry,"  &c.  1  Tim.  iv.  1,  3. 

14,  15.  An  ill  Evasion  well  stopped  up. 
These  endeavour  (as  they  are  deeply  concerned)  to  wipe  off  from 
themselves  this  badge  of  Antichrist,  by  pleading  that,  1.  They 
forbid  marriage  to  no  man.  2.  They  force  priesthood  on  no  man. 
Only  they  require  of  those  who  freely  will  enter  into  the  priesthood 
to  vow  virginity,  and  command  such  to  part  with  their  wives  who 
were  formerly  entered  into  Orders.  All  which  is  alleged  by  them 
but  in  vain,  seeing  marriage  may  be  forbidden  either  directlv  or 
consequentially.  For  the  first :  None,  well  in  their  wits,  consulting 
their  credit,  did  ever  point-blank  forbid  marriage  to  all  people.  Such 
Avould  be  held  as  hostes  humani  generis.,  "  enemies  of  mankind," 
in  their  destructive  doctrines.  Nor  did  any  ever  absolutely  (as  it 
followeth  in  the  same  text)  "  command  all  to  abstain  from  meats."' 
This  were  the  way  to  empty  the  world  of  men,  as  the  simple  for- 
bidding of  marriage  would  fill  it  with  bastards.  And,  although  some 
silly  heretics,  as  Tatian,  Marcion,  and  Manicheus,  are  said  abso- 
lutely to  forbid  marriage,  yet  they  never  mounted  high,  nor  spread 
broad,  nor  lasted  long.  Surely,  some  more  considerable  mark  is  the 
aim  of  the  apostle's  reproof,  even  the  church  of  Rome,  who,  by  an 
oblique  line,  and  consequentially,  prohibit  marriage  to  the  priests, — 

*  Found  in  Ramsey  Abbey,  in  a  treatise  De  Muiiicatii,  cited  by  Jobif  Bale. 


20G  CHURCH    HISTORY     OF    BKITAIX.  A.  D.   1107 — 25. 

a    most    considerable    proportion   of  men    within    the    pale  of   the 
church. 

16*.  Marriage-Bed  may  he  forborne  for  a  ti)ue,  not  totally 
forbidden. 

Notwithstanding  the  premisses,  it  is  fit  tiiat  the  embraces  of  mar- 
riage should  on  some  occasion  for  a  time  be  forborne,  for  the  advance 
of  piety.  First.  When  private  dalliance  is  to  yield  to  public  dole- 
fulness  :  "  Let  the  bridegroom  go  out  of  his  chamber,  and  the 
bride  out  of  her  closet,"  Joel  ii.  16.  For  though,  by  the  Levitical 
law,  one  might  not  be  forced  to  fight  in  the  first  year  of  his  mar- 
riage, yet  might  he  on  just  occasion  be  pressed  to  fast  on  the  first 
day  thereof.  It  is  not  said,  "  Let  the  bridegroom  go  out  of  his 
bridegroom-ship,"  but  only  "  out  of  his  chamber  ;"  and  that  also 
with  intention  to  return,  when  the  solemnity  of  sorrow  is  overpast. 
Secondly.  When  such  absence  is  betwixt  them  mutually  agreed  on  : 
'•  Defraud  ye  not  one  another,  except  it  be  with  consent  for  a  time, 
that  ye  may  give  yourselves  to  fasting  and  prayer  ;  and  come  together 
again,  that  satan  tempt  you  not  for  your  incontinency,'"  1  Cor. 
vii.  5.  Here,  indeed,  is  an  interdiction  of- the  marriage-bed  ;  but  it  is 
voluntary,  by  mutual  consent  of  the  parties  ;  and  temporary,  only 
durante  eorum  beneplacito ;  not  as  the  popish  prohibition, 
impulsive,  by  the  power  of  others,  and  perpetual,  to  continue 
during  their  lives, 

17-  H.  Huntingdon's  Censure  of  Anselm. 
Hear  what  Henry  of  Huntingdon  expressly  saith  of  Anseln^s 
carriage  herein  : — "  He  prohibited  English  priests  to  have  wives, 
who  beforetime  were  not  prohibited  ;  which  as  some  thought  to  be 
a  matter  of  greatest  purity,  so  others  again  took  it  to  be  most  peril- 
ous, lest  while  by  this  means  they  aimed  at  cleanliness  above  their 
power,  they  should  fall  into  horrible  uncleanness,  to  the  exceeding 
great  shame  of  Christianity." 

18.  Anselm  dieth  re  infectd  of  Priest's  Divorces. 
A.b.  1108. 
But  Anselm  died  before  he  could  finish  his  project  of  priests'" 
divorces  ;  who  had  he  deceased  before  he  began  it,  his  memory  had 
been  left  less  stained  to  posterity.  His  two  next  successors, 
Rodulphus,  and  William  Corbell,  went  on  vigorously  with  the 
design,  but  met  with  many  and  great  obstructions.  Other  bishops 
found  the  like  opposition  ;  but  chiefly  the  bishop  of  Norwich, 
whose  obstinate  clergy  would  keep  their  wives,  in  defiance  of  hi? 
endeavours  against  them. 


20  lliiXKY    I.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XH.  207 

19.    The  Stoutness  of  Xorwich  Clergy. 

Indeed,  Norfolk-men  are  dxaiTSLciexediinjuremunicipaliversa- 
tissimi,  and  are  not  easily  ejected  out  of  that  whereof  they  had 
long  prescription,  and  present  possession.  No  wonder,  therefore,  if 
they  stickled  fur  their  wives,  and  would  not  let  go  a  moiety 
of  themselves.  Besides,  Herbert  Losing  of  Norwich  needed  not  to 
be  so  fierce  and  furious  against  them,  if  remembering  his  own  extrac- 
tion, being  the  son  of  an  abbot.  These  married  priests  traversed 
their  cause  with  Scripture  and  reason,  and  desired  but  justice  to  be 
done  unto  them.  But  justice  made  more  use  of  her  sword  than  of  her 
balance  in  this  case,  not  weighing  their  arguments,  but  peremptorily 
and  powerfully  enjoining  them  to  forego  their  wives,  notwithstand- 
ing that  there  Avere  in  England,  at  this  time,  many  married  priests, 
signal  for  sanctity  and  abilities. 

20.  Lear7ied  married  Ealphegus.  A.D.W^o. 
Amongst  the  many  eminent  married  priests,  flourishing  for 
learning  and  piety,  one  Ealphegus  was  now  living,  or  but  newly 
dead.  His  residence  was  at  Plymouth  in  Devonshire.  Mr. 
Camden  saith,*  he  was  eruditus  et  conjitgntus ;  but  the  word 
conjugatus  is  by  the  Index  Expurgatorius  commanded  to  be 
deleted. -f- 

21.  A  Virgin-Lecher  unmasked. 
To  order  the  refractory  married  clergy,  the  bishops  were  fain  to 
call  in  the  aid  of  the  pope.  John  de  Crema,  an  Italian  cardinal, 
jolly  with  his  youthful  blood  and  gallant  equipage,  came  over  into 
England  with  his  bigness  and  bravery  to  bluster  the  clergy  out  of 
their  wives.  He  made  a  most  gaudy  oration  in  the  commendation 
of  virginity,  as  one  who  in  his  own  person  knew  well  how  to  value 
such  a  jewel — by  the  loss  thereof.  Most  true  it  is  that  the  same 
night,  at  London,  he  was  caught  a-bed  with  an  harlot ;  |  whereat 
he  may  be  presumed   to  blush  as  red  as   his  cardinal's  hat,  if  any 

remorse  of  conscience  remained  in  him.     What  saith   Deborah  .'* 

"  In  the  days  of  Shamgar,  when  the  highways  were  unemployed," 
(obstructed  by  the  Philistines,)  "  travellers  walked  through 
bypaths,"  Judges  v.  6.  The  stopping  the  way  of  marriage,  God's 
ordinance,  make  them  frequent  such  base  bypaths,  that  my  pen  is 
both  afraid  and  ashamed  to  follow  them.  Cardinal  Crema's  mis- 
chance (or  rather  misdeed)  not  a  little  advantaged  the  reputation  of 
married  priests. 

•  Biif.  in  Devonshire.  f  Printed  anno  1612,  page  383.  I  Roger  Hoveden 

ailfl  Hf,.\.   IIlNTINCPON. 


298       CHURCH  HISTORY  OF  BRITAIN.       A. D.  1126 — 36. 

22.  Priests  buy  their  oivn  Wives.  A.D.  1126. 
Bishops,  archbishops,  and  cardinal,  all  of  them  almost  tired  out 
with  the  stubbornness  of  the  recusant  clergy  ;  the  king  at  last  took 
his  turn  to  reduce  them.  William  Corbell,  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, willingly  resigned  the  work  into  his  king"'s  hand,  hoping  he 
would  use  some  exemplary  severity  against  them.  But  all  ended  in 
a  money-matter  ;  the  king,  taking  a  fine  of  married  priests,  per- 
mitted them  to  enjoy  their  wives,  as  well  they  might  who  bought 
that  which  was  their  own  before. 

23,  24.  Ely-Abhey  made  a  Bishopric,  and  enriched  with 
Royalties. 

About  this  time  the  old  abbey  of  Ely  was  advanced  into  a  new 
bishopric,  and  Cambridgeshire  assigned  for  its  diocess,  taken  from 
the  bishopric  of  Lincoln  ;  out  of  which  Henry  the  First  carved 
one,  (Ely,)  and  Henry  the  Last  two  (Oxford  and  Peterborough) 
bishoprics,  and  yet  left  Lincoln  the  largest  diocess  in  England. 
Spaldwick  manor  in  Huntingdonshire  was  given  to  Lincoln, 
in  reparation  of  the  jurisdiction  taken  from  it,  and  bestowed  on 
Ely. 

One  Herveyus  was  made  first  bishop  of  Ely  ;  one  who  had  been 
undone,  if  not  undone,  banished  by  the  tumultuous  Welsh  from  the 
beggarly  bishopric  of  Bangor,  and  now  (in  pity  to  his  poverty  and 
patience)  made  the  rich  bishop  of  Ely.  It  is  given  to  parents  to 
be  most  fond  of  and  indulgent  to  their  youngest ;  which  some, 
perchance,  may  render  as  a  reason  why  this  bishopric,  as  last-born, 
was  best-beloved  by  the  king.  Surely,  he  bestowed  upon  it  vast 
privileges  ;  and  his  successors,  cockering  this  see  for  their  darling, 
conferred  some  of  their  own  royalties  thereon. 

25.  St.  David''s  contest  with  Canterbury. 
Bernard,  chaplain  to  the  king,  and  chancellor  to  the  queen,  was 
the  first  Norman  made  bishop  of  St.  David's.  Presuming  on  his 
master''s  favour,  and  his  own  merit,  he  denied  subjection  to  Canter- 
bury, and  would  be,  as  anciently  had  been,  an  absolute  archbishop 
of  himself.  Indeed,  St.  David''s  was  Christian  some  hundred  of 
years  whilst  Canterbury  was  yet  Pagan  ;  and  could  show  good 
cards  (if  but  permitted  fairly  to  play  them)  for  archi -episcopal 
jurisdiction,  even  in  some  respect  equal  to  Rome  itself.  Witness 
the  ancient  rhyming  verse,  about  the  proportions  of  pardons  given 
to  pilgrims  for  their  visiting  religious  places  : — Roma  semel  quan- 
tum his  dat  Menevia  tantum.  Not  that  St.  David's  gives  a  peck 
of  pardons  where  Rome  gives  but  a  gallon,  as  tiie  words  at  the  first 


1   STEPHEN,  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XII.  299 

blush  may  seem  to  import ;  but  that  two  pilgrimages  to  St.  David's 
should  be  equal  in  merit  to  one  pilgrimage  to  Rome,  such  was  the 
conceived  holiness  of  that  place. 

26.  Impar  Congressus.     AD.  1129. 

Giraldus  Cambrensis  states  the  case  truly  and  briefly  :  That 
Canterbury  hath  long  prescription,  plenty  of  lawyers  to  plead  her 
title,  and  store  of  money  to  pay  them  ;  whereas  St.  David"'s  is  poor, 
remote  out  of  the  road  of  preferment ;  intimating  no  less  [than] 
that,  if  equally  accommodated,  she  could  set  on  foot  as  good  an 
archi-episcopal  title  as  Canterbury  itself.  But  he  addeth,  that 
"except  some  great  alteration  happeneth,"  (understand  him,  except 
Wales  recover  again  into  an  absolute  principality,)  "  St.  David's  is 
not  likely  to  regain  her  ancient  dignity."  William  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  aided  by  the  pope,  at  last  humbled  the  bishop  of  St. 
David's  into  a  submission  ;  who,  vexed  hereat,  wreaked  his  spleen 
on  the  Welsh  clergy  ;  furiously  forcing  them  to  forego  their  wives. 
The  successors  of  this  bishop  would  have  been  more  thankful  to  his 
memory,  had  he  laboured  less  for  the  honour,  and  more  preserved 
the  profits,  of  his  see,  whose  lands  he  dilapidated  with  this  his 
expensive  suit,  and  on  other  designs  for  his  own  preferment. 

2Q.  King  Henry's  Death.     ^.Z).  1135. 

King  Henry  died  in  Normandy  of  a  surfeit  by  eating  lampreys  ;  * 
an  unwholesome  fish,  insomuch  that  Galen,  speaking  of  eels  in 
general,  (whereto  lampreys  may  be  reduced,)  expostulates  with  the 
gods  for  giving  them  so  delicious  a  taste,  and  so  malignant  and 
dangerous  an  operation.  But  grant  them  never  so  good,  excess  is  a 
venemous  string,  in  the  most  wholesome  flesh,  fish,  and  fowl  ;  and 
it  was  too  great  a  quantity  caused  his  surfeit.  I  find  him  generally 
commended  for  temperance  in  his  diet ;  only  his  palate,  his  servant 
in  all  other  meats,  was  commonly  his  master  in  this  dish.  He  was 
buried  at  Reading,  leaving  but  one  daughter  (the  sea  having 
swallowed  his  sons)  surviving  him. 

27.  Stephen  usurpeth  the  Crown  on  a  silly  Title.  1  Stephen. 
Stephen,  earl  of  Boulogne,  hearing  of  Henry's  death,  hasteth 
over  into  England,  (December  2nd,)  and  seizeth  on  the  crown. 
All  his  title  unto  it  was  this  :  First.  Maud,  the  true  heir  thereof, 
was  a  female.  Secondly.  Absent  beyond  the  seas.  Thirdly. 
Married  to  a  foreigner.  Fourthly.  No  very  potent  prince,  namely, 
GeoflPrey  Plantagenet  earl  of  Anjou,  whose  landlock-situation 
rendered   him  less  formidable   for  any  effectual  impression  on  this 

"  Mat.  Paris.  ]iago  "3. 


300  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1135. 

island.  Lastly.  He  was  son  to  Adela,  daughter  to  king  William 
the  Conqueror,  though  a  male  deriving  his  title  from  a  female  ; 
conceiving  himself,  the  daughter's  son,  to  be  preferred  before 
Maud,  the  son's  daughter.  Indeed,  Stephen  had  an  elder  brother, 
Theobald  earl  of  Blois  ;  but  he  chose  a  quiet  county  before  a  cum- 
bersome kingdom ;  the  enjoyment  of  his  own,  rather  than  invasion 
of  another's  inheritance,  seeing  Maud  was  the  undoubted  heir  of  the 
English  crown. 

28.  Maud  the  fourth. 

This  Maud,  I  may  call,  Maud  the  fourth  ;  yea,  England  had  no 
queen  of  another  name  since  the  conquest  which  left  any  issue. 
1.  Maud  I.  wife  to  king  William  the  Conqueror.  2.  Maud  II. 
daughter  to  Malculm  king  of  Scots,  wife  to  king  Henry  I.  3. 
Maud  III.  wife  to  king  Stephen.  4.  Maud  IV.  daughter  to  king 
Henry  I.  and  in  right  queen  of  England.  This  last  Maud  was 
first  married  to  Henry  IV.  emperor  of  Germany  ;  and  after  his 
death  was  constantly  called  "  the  empress,"  by  the  courtesy  of 
Christendom,  though  married  to  earl  Geoffrey,  her  second  husband. 
To  her  all  the  clergy  and  nobility  had  sworn  fealty,  in  her  father's 
life-time. 

29.   The  Perjury  of  the  Clergy. 

William,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  notwithstanding  his  oath  to 
Maud,  solemnly  crowned  Stephen,  December  26th  ;  and,  in  the 
same  act,  showed  himself  perjured  to  his  God,  disloyal  to  his 
princess,  and  ungrateful  to  his  patroness,  by  whose  special  favour  he 
had  been  preferred.  The  rest  of  the  bishops,  to  their  shame, 
followed  his  example  ;  dealing  with  oaths,  as  seamen  with  the  points 
in  the  compass,  saying  them  forwards  and  backwards.  Indeed, 
covetousness  and  pride  prompted  this  disloyalty  unto  them,  hoping 
to  obtain  of  an  usurper  Avliat  they  despaired  to  get  from  a  lawful 
king.  For,  their  modesty  (and  that  little  enough)  in  asking  was 
all  Stephen's  measure  in  giving ;  resolving  Avitli  himself,  for  the 
present,  to  grant  what  should  please  them,  and  at  leisure  to  perform 
what  should  please  himself.  Let  him  now  get  but  the  stump  of 
a  crown,  and,  with  wise  watering  thereof,  it  would  sprout  afterwards. 
Hence  was  it  that  he  granted  the  bishops  liberty  to  build  and 
hold  many  castles,  freedom  in  forests,  investiture  from  the  pope ; 
with  many  other  immunities,  which  hitherto  the  clergy  never 
obtained.  All  things  thus  seemingly  settled,  yet  great  was  the 
difference  of  judgments  in  the  English  concerning  king  Stephen, 
which  afterwards  discovered  themselves  in  the  variety  of  men's 
practices. 


1  STEPHEN.  BOOK    111.       CENT.    XII.  JJOl 

30.  Variety  of  People  s  OpinUms. 
Some  acted  vigorously  for  Stephen,  conceiving  possession  of  a 
crown  createtli  a  right  unto  it.  Where  shall  private  persons,  unable 
of  themselves  to  trace  the  intricacies  of  princes'  titles,  fix  their  loy- 
alty more  safely  than  on  him  whom  success  tendereth  unto  them  for 
their  sovereign  .''  God  doth  not  now,  as  anciently,  visibly  or  audibly 
discover  himself ;  we  must  therefore,  now  only  look  and  listen  to  what 
he  showeth  and  saith  by  his  voice,  in  the  success  of  things,  whereby 
alone  he  expresseth  his  pleasure, — what  he  owneth  or  disclaimeth. 
This  their  judgment  was  crossed  by  others,  who  distinguished 
betwixt  Heaven's  permission  and  consent ;  God  sometimes  suffering 
them  to  have  power  to  compel,  to  whom  he  never  gave  authority  to 
command. 

31.  Pro  and  Con  for  King  Stephen. 
But  some  urged,  that  "  Stephen  was  declared  lawful  king  by- 
popular  consent ;"  which,  at  this  time,  could  alone  form  a  legal 
right  to  any  in  this  island.  For  Maud,  Stephen's  cor-rival,  in  vain 
pretended  succession,  seeing  the  crown,  since  the  Conquest,  never 
observed  a  regular,  but  an  uncertain  and  desultory  motion.  Nor 
was  it  directed  to  go  on  by  the  straight  line  of  primogeniture, 
which  leaped  over  the  Conqueror's  eldest  to  his  second  son  ;  then, 
taking  a  new  rise,  from  the  eldest  still  surviving,  to  Henry's  third 
son.  Here  no  chain  of  succession  could  be  pleaded,  where  no  tw^o 
links  followed  in  order.  But  others  answered,  that  "  such  popular 
election  of  Stephen  had  been  of  validity,  if  the  electors  had  been  at 
liberty ;  whereas  they,  being  pre-engaged  to  Maud  by  a  former 
oath,  could  not  again  dispose  of  those  their  votes,  which  formerly 
they  had  passed  away." 

32.  A  second  Party,  with  their  Opposers. 
Others  conceived,  that  the  stain  of  Stephen's  usurpation  in  getting 
the  crown  was  afterward  scoured  clean  out  by  his  long  (more  than 
eighteen  years')  enjoying  thereof.  For,  suppose  Providence  for  a 
time  may  wink  and  connive,  yet  it  cannot  be  conceived  in  so  long  a 
slumber, — yea,  a  sleep,  yea,  a  lethargy, — as  to  permit  one  peaceably 
so  long  to  possess  a  throne,  except  Heaven  had  particularly  designed 
him  for  the  same.  To  this  others  answered,  that  "  Stephen  all  that 
time  rather  possessed  than  enjoyed  the  crown,  alarmed  all  his  life 
long  by  Maud  and  her  son  ;  so  that  he  had  as  little  quiet  in,  as 
right  to,  the  kingdom."  But,  grant  his  possession  thereof  never  so 
peaceable  ;  what  at  first  was  foundered  in  the  foundation  could  not 
be  made  firm  by  any  height  of  superstructure  thereupon.  An  error 
by  continuance  of  time  can  never  become  a  truth,  but  the  more 
inveterate  error. 


302  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1135,  6. 

33.  A  thirds  with  theirs. 
A  third  sort  maintained,  that  "  subjects'  loyalty  is  founded  on 
their  sovereign's  protection  ;  so  that  both  sink  together.  Seeing, 
therefore,  Maud  was  unable  to  afford  her  people  protection,  her 
people  were  bound  to  no  longer  allegiance."  But  this  position  was 
disproved  by  such,  who,  bottoming  allegiance  only  on  conscience, 
make  protection  but  the  encouragement,  not  the  cause,  thereof. 
They  distinguished  also  betwixt  a  prince's  wilful  deserting  his 
people,  and  his  inability  to  protect  them ;  not  through  his  own 
default,  but  the  forcible  prevailing  of  others.  Thus  the  conjugal 
tie  is  only  dissolved  by  the  party's  voluntary  uncleanness  ;  and  not 
by  his  or  her  adventitious  impotency  to  render  due  benevolence. 

34.  A  fourth,  with  theirs. 

A  fourth  party  avouched  that  "  Maud  (though  not  actually  and 
openly,  yet)  tacitly  and  interpretatively  released  the  English  from 
their  allegiance  unto  her.  For,  what  prince  can  be  presumed  so 
tyrannical  as  to  tie  up  people  to  the  strict  terms  of  loyalty  unto 
him,  when  the  same  is  apparently  destructive  unto  them,  and  no 
"vvhit  advantageous  to  himself.^"  But  others  disliked  this  position  ; 
for,  where  did  any  such  relaxation  appear  ?  It  cancelleth  not  the 
obligation  of  a  debtor,  to  fancv  to  himself  an  acquittance  from  his 
creditor,  which  cannot  be  produced. 

35.  Some  act  at,  not  for.  King  Stephens  Commands. 

Some  acted  at  the  commands,  though  not  for  the  commands,  of 
king  Stephen  ;  namely,  in  such  things  wherein  his  injmictions  con- 
curred with  equity,  charity,  and  order,  consistent  with  the  principles 
of  public  utility  and  self-preservation.  These,  having  the  happiness 
to  be  commanded  by  an  usurper  to  do  that  which,  otherwise,  they 
would  have  done  of  themselves,  did  not  discover  themselves  to  act 
out  of  their  own  inclinations,  whilst  it  passed  unsuspected  in  the 
nolion  of  their  obedience  to  king  Stephen.  Thus  many  thousands 
under  the  happy  conduct  (or  at  leastwise  contrivance)  of  Thurstan, 
archbishop  of  York,  though  in  their  hearts  well-afFected  to  Maud's 
title,  unanimously  resisted  David  king  of  Scots,  though  he  pretended 
recuperative  arms  in  queen  Maud's  behalf;  under  Avhich  specious 
title,  he  barbarously  committed  abominable  cruelties,  till  nettled 
therewith,  both  Stephanists  and  Maudists  jointly  bade  him  battle, 
and  overthrew  him,  nigh  Allerton  in  Yorkshire. 

36.  Politic  Patience. 

All  generally  bare  the  burdens,  and  no  less  politicly  than 
patiently  paid  all  taxes  imposed  upon   them.     Recusancy  in   this 


2  stephp:n.  book  hi.     cent.  xii.  303 

kind  had  but  armed  king  Stephen  with  a  specious  pretence  to  take 
all  from  them,  for  refusing  to  give  a  part.  Nor  scrupled  they 
hereat,  because  thereby  they  strengthened  his  usurpation  against  the 
rightful  heir,  because  done  against  their  wills,  and  to  prevent  a 
greater  mischief.  Mean  time  they  had  a  reservation  of  their  loyalty  ; 
and,  erecting  a  throne  in  their  hearts,  with  their  prayers  and  tears 
mounted  queen  Maud  on  the  same. 

37.  Robert  Earl  of  Gloucester  singular. 
Robert,  earl  of  Gloucester,  (the  queen's  half-brother,)  may  even 
make  up  a  form  by  himself,  finding  none  other  before  or  after  him 
of  the  same  opinion ;  who  conditionally  did  homage  to  king 
Stephen,  scilicet,  si  dignitatem  suam  sihi  servaret  illibatam^* 
namely,  "  So  long  as  he  preserved  this  Robert's  dignity  "  (for  so  I 
understand  the  pronoun's  reciprocation)  "  to  be  in  violated." 

38.  Highly  conscientious. 

A  few  there  were,  whose  relucting  consciences  remonstrated 
against  the  least  compliance  with  king  Stephen  ;  Avhose  high  loy- 
alty to  Maud,  interpreted  all  passiveness  under  an  usurper  to 
be  activity  against  the  right  heir.  These  even  quitted  their  lands 
in  England  to  the  tempest  of  times;  and  secretly  conveyed  them- 
selves, with  the  most  incorporeal  of  their  estates,  (as  occupying  the 
least  room  in  their  waftage  over,)  into  Normandy. 

39.  An  honest  Revolt  of  the  Clergy.     A.D.  1136. 

The  clergy,  perceiving  that  king  Stephen  performed  little  of  his 
large  promises  unto  them,  were  not  formerly  so  forward  in  setting 
him  up,  but  now  more  fierce  in  plucking  him  down,  and  sided  effec- 
tually with  Maud  against  him  :  an  act  which  the  judicious  behold, 
not  as  a  crooked  deed  bowing  them  from  their  last,  but  as  an 
upright  one  straightening  them  to  their  first  and  best,  oatli,  made 
to  this  Maud  in  the  life-time  of  her  father.  But  Stephen,  resolved 
to  hold  with  a  strong  what  he  had  got  with  a  wrong  hand,  fell  vio- 
lently on  the  bishops,  who  then  were  most  powerful  in  the  land  ; 
every  prime  one  having  as  a  cathedral  for  his  devotion,  so  many 
manors  for  his  profit,  parks  for  his  pleasure,  and  castles  for  his  pro- 
tection ;  and  he  uncastled  Roger  of  Salisbury,  Alexander  of  Lin- 
coln, and  Nigellus  of  Ely,  taking  also  a  great  mass  of  treasure  from 
them. 

40.  Canons  of  Paurs  soundly  paid. 

Most  fiercely  fell  the  fury  of  king  Stephen  on  the  dean  and 
canons  of  Paul's,  for  crossing  him  in  the  choice   of  their  bishop. 

•  Mat.  Paris,  page  76. 


804        CHUnCH  HISTORY  OF  BRITAIN,        A.D.  lloG 1). 

For  he  sent,  and  took  tlieir  focarias,*  and  cast  them  into  London- 
tower  ;  where  they  continued  many  days,  not  without  much  scorn 
and  disgrace,  till  at  last  those  canons  ransomed  their  liberty  at  a 
great  rate. 

41.  What  Focarice  were. 
What  these  focaricB  were,  we  conceive  it  no  disgrace  to  confess 
our  io-norance  ;  the  word  not  appearing  in  any  classical  author,  and 
\ie  must  by  degrees  screw  ourselves  into  the  sense  thereof.  1.  It 
sio-nifieth  some  female  persons,  the  gender  of  the  word  discovering 
so  much,  2.  They  were  near  to  the  canons,  who  had  a  high  cour- 
tesy for  them,  as  appears  by  procuring  their  liberty  at  so  dear  a 
price.  3.  Yet  the  word  speaks  not  the  least  relation  of  affinity  or 
consanguinity  unto  them.  4.  All  the  light  we  can  get  in  this 
focarice,  is  from  some  sparks  of  fire  which  w^o  behold  in  the  word, 
so  as  if  these  shes  were  "  nymphs  of  the  chinmey,"  or  "  fire-makers  " 
to  these  canons.  If  so,  surely  they  had  their  holiday-clothes  on, 
when  sent  to  the  tower,  (kitchen -stuff  doth  not  use  to  be  tried  in 
tliat  place,)  and  were  considerable,  if  not  in  themselves,  in  the 
affections  of  others.  And  now,  well  fare  the  heart  of  Roger 
Hoveden,-|-  who  plainly  tells  us,  that  these  focarice  were  these 
canons"'  concubines.  See  here  the  fruit  of  forbidding  marriage  to 
the  clergy,  against  the  law  of  God  and  nature  !  What  saith  the 
apostle  ? — '•  It  is  better  to  marry  than  to  burn,""  1  Cor.  vii.  9 ;  or, 
which  is  the  same  in  effect,  "  It  is  better  to  have  a  wife  than  a 
fire-maker." 

42.  J  Synod  at  Westminster.     A.D.  1138. 

Albericus,  bishop  of  Hostia,  came  post  from  Rome,  sent  by 
pope  Innocent  II.  into  England  ;  called  a  synod  at  Westminster, 
(December  13th,)  where  eighteen  bishops  and  thirty  abbots  met 
together.  Here  was  concluded,  that  no  priest,  deacon,  or  sub- 
deacon,  should  hold  a  wife,  or  woman,  within  his  house,  under  pain 
of  degrading  from  his  Christendom,  and  plain  sending  to  hell ;  that 
no  priest"'s  son  should  claim  any  spiritual  living  by  heritage ;  that 
none  should  lake  a  benefice  of  any  layman;  that  none  were 
admitted  to  cure  which  had  not  the  letters  of  his  Orders  ;  that 
priests  should  do  no  bodily  labour  ;  and  that  their  transubstantiated 
God  should  dwell  but  eight  days  in  the  box,  for  fear  of  worm- 
eating,  moulding,  or  stinking;  with  such  like.  In  this  synod, 
Theobald,  abbot  of  Becco,  was  chosen  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
in  the  place  of  William  lately  deceased. 

•  RopoiPHfs  Or  Dh-eto  in  hum-  nnuiim.  f  Id  anno  1191. 


5  STEPHEN.  BOOK    III.       CEXT.    XII.  'JOo 

43.  Henry  of  Winchester,  England's  Arch-Prelate. 

The  most  considerable  clergyman  of  England  in  this  age,  for 
birth,  wealth,  and  learning,  was  Henry  of  Blois,  bishop  of  Win- 
chester, and  brother  to  king  Stephen.  He  was  by  the  pope  made 
his  legate  for  Britain,  and  outshined  Theobald  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  For,  although  Theobald  just  at  this  time  was  aug- 
mented with  the  title  of  Legatus  nattis,  (which  from  him  was 
entailed  on  his  successors  in  that  see,)  yet  this  Henry  of  Blois, 
being  for  the  present  Legatus  foetus,  out-lustred  the  other  as  far 
as  an  extraordinary  ambassador  doth  a  leger  of  the  same  nation. 
In  this  Henry  two  interests  did  meet  and  contend  ;  that  of  a 
brother,  and  that  of  a  bishop  ;  but  the  latter  clearly  got  the  con- 
quest, as  may  appear  by  the  council  he  called  at  Winchester,  a.d. 
1139,  wherein  the  king  himself  was  summoned  to  appear.  Yea, 
some  make  Stephen  personally  appearing  therein ; — a  dangerous 
precedent,  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  crown  before  a  conventicle  of 
his  own  subjects  :  so  that,  to  secure  Rome  of  supremacy  in  appeals, 
he  suffered  a  recovery  thereof  against  his  own  person  in  a  court  of 
record  loosing  of  himself  to  save  the  crown  thereby  unto  himself. 
But  William  of  Malmesbury,  present  at  the  council,  (and,  there- 
fore, his  testimony  is  to  be  preferred  before  others,)  mentions  only 
three  parties  in  the  place  present  there  with  their  attendance  : — 1. 
Roger  of  Salisbury,  Avith  the  rest  of  the  bishops,  grievously  com- 
plaining of  their  castles  taken  from  them.  2.  Henry  bishop  of 
Winchester,  the  pope''s  legate,  and  president  of  the  council ;  with 
Theobald  archbishop  of  Canterbury  pretending  to  umpire  matters  in 
a  moderate  way.  3.  Hugh  archbishop  of  Roan,  and  Aubery  de 
Vere,  (ancestor  to  the  earl  of  Oxford,)  as  advocate  for  king  Stephen. 
This  Aubery  de  Vere  seems  learned  in  the  laws,  being  charactered 
by  my  author,*  kofno  causarum  varietatibus  evercitatus,  "  a  man 
well-versed  in  the  windings  of  causes," 

i4.  The  issueless  Issue  of  the  Synod  at  Winchester. 
In  this  synod,  first,  the  commission  of  pope  Innocent  II.  was 
read,  empowering  the  said  Henry  bishop  of  Winchester  with  a 
legative  authority.  Then  the  legate  made  a  sermon  ;  latiariter, 
which  is,  as  I  conceive,  "  in  the  Latin  tongue."  We  find  not  his 
text;  but  know  this  was  the  subject  of  his  discourse, — to  inveigh 
against  king  Stephen  depriving  those  bishops  of  their  castles. 
Sermon  ended,  the  king's  advocates,  jjr  true  subjects  rather,  (many 
making  them  to  speak  only  out  of  the  dictates  of  their  own  loyalty, 
and  not  to  plead  by  deputation  from  the  king,)  made  his  defence, — 

*  William  Malmesbury  Hist.  Novel,  lib.  ii.  page  183. 

Vol.  I.  X 


tiOG  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRTTATN.  AjD.  1139 — 53. 

that  bishops  could  not  canonically  hold  castles,  and  that  the  king 
had  despoiled  them  of  their  treasure,  not  as  episcopal  persons,  but 
as  they  were  his  lay-offices,  advised  thereto  by  his  own  security. 
The  bishops  returned  much  for  themselves,  and,  in  fine,  the  synod 
brake  up  without  any  extraordinary  matter  effected.  For,  soon 
after,  a.d.  1140,  came  queen  Maud  with  her  navy  and  army  out  of 
Normandy,  which  turned  debates  into  deeds,  and  consultations  into 
actions.  But  we  leave  the  readers  to  be  satisfied  about  the  alterna- 
tion of  success  betwixt  king  Stephen  and  Maud,  to  the  historians  of 
our  state.  There  may  they  read  of  Maud's  strange  escapes,  when 
avoiding  death,  by  being  believed  dead,  (otherwise  she  had  proved 
in  her  grave,  if  not  pretended  in  a  coffin,)  when  getting  out  in 
white  linen,  under  the  protection  of  snow  :  I  say,  how  afterwards, 
A.D,  1141,  both  king  Stephen  and  Robert  earl  of  Gloucester  were 
taken  prisoners,  and  given  in  exchange,  the  one  for  the  liberty  of 
the  other  ;  with  many  such  memorable  passages,  the  reader  may 
stock  himself  from  the  pens  of  the  civil  historians,  the  proper 
relaters  thereof. 

45.    Why  Plenty  of  religious  Foundations  in  these  martial 

Days. 

It  is  strange  to  conceive  how  men  could  be  at  leisure,  in  the 
troublesome  reign  of  king  Stephen,  to  build  and  endow  so  many 
religious  foundations  ;  except  any  will  say,  that  "  men  being  (as 
mortal  in  peace)  most  dying  in  war,  the  devotions  of  those  days 
(maintaining  such  deeds  meritorious  for  their  souls)  made  all  in  that 
martial  age  most  active  in  such  employments."  Not  to  speak  of 
the  monastery  of  St.  Mary  de  Pratis,  founded  by  Robert,  earl  of 
Leicester,  a.d.  1144,  and  many  others  of  this  time;  the  goodly 
hospital  of  St.  Katherine''s,  nigh  London,  was  founded  by  Maud, 
wife  to  king  Stephen,  though  others  assign  the  same  to  Robert  de 
Querceto,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  as  founder  thereof.  So  stately  was 
the  choir  of  this  hospital,  that  it  was  not  much  inferior  to  that  of 
St.  Paul's  in  London,*  when  taken  down  in  the  days  of  queen 
Elizabeth,  by  Dr.  Thomas  Wilson,  the  master  thereof,  and 
secretary  of  state. 

46.  Religious  Houses  founded  by  King  Stephen. 
Yea,  king  Stephen  himself  was  a  very  great  founder.  St.  Stephen 
was  his  tutelary  saint,  though  he  never  learned  his  usurpation  from 
the  patient  example  of  that  lifartyr  ;  whose  name  he  bore,  on  Avhose 
day  he  was  crow^ned,  to  whose  honour  he  erected  St.  Stephen's 
chapel   in  Westminster,  near  the  place  where  lately  the  Court  of 

•  Stow's  "  Survey  of  London,"  page  117- 


19  STEPHEN.  HOOK    III.       CENT.    XII.  307 

Request  was  kept.  He  built  also  the  Cistertians''  monastery  in 
Feversham  ;  with  an  hospital  near  the  West-gate  in  York.  And 
whereas  formerly  there  were  paid  out  of  every  ploughland  in 
England,  betwixt  Trent  and  Edinburgh-Frith,  twenty  four  oat- 
sheaves  for  the  king's  hounds  ;*  Stephen  converted  this  rent-charge 
to  his  new-built  hospital  in  York  :  a  good  deed  no  doubt  ;  fur, 
though  it  be  unlawful  to  "take  the  children's  bread  and  to  cast  it 
unto  the  dogs,"  ^Mark  vii.  27  ;  it  is  lawful  to  take  the  dogs'  bread, 
and  to  give  it  unto  the  children. 

47.  The  Constancy  of  Theobald,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 

J.D.  1150. 

The  king,  being  desirous  to  settle  sovereignty  on  his  son  Eustace, 
earnestly  urged  Theobald,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  crown  him. 
For  Stephen  saw  that  fealty,  barely  sworn  to  Maud  in  her  father's 
life-time,  was  afterwards  broken  ;  and,  therefore,  (his  own  guilt 
making  him  the  more  suspicious,)  for  the  better  assurance  of  his 
son's  succession,  he  would  go  one  step  farther,  endeavouring  to 
make  him  actual  king  in  his  own  life-time.  But  the  archbishop 
stoutly  refused,  though  proscribed  for  the  same,  and  forced  to  fly 
the  land,  till  after  some  time  he  was  reconciled  to  the  king. 

48.  The  seasonable  Death  of  Prince  Eustace.     AD.  1153. 

Eustace,  the  king's  son,  died  of  a  frenzy,  as  going  to  plunder  the 
lands  of  Bury  Abbey.-|-  A  death  untimely  in  reference  to  his 
youthful  years,  but  timely  and  seasonably  in  relation  to  the  good  of 
the  land.  If  conjecture  may  be  made  from  his  turbulent  spirit, 
coming  to  the  crown,  he  would  have  added  tyranny  to  his  usurpa- 
tion. His  father  Stephen  begins  now  to  consider,  how  he  himself 
was  old,  his  son  deceased,  his  subjects  wearied,  his  land  wasted 
with  war  ;  which  considerations,  improved  by  the  endeavours  of 
Theobald,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  God's  blessing  on  both, 
produced  an  agreement  between  king  Stephen  and  Henry  duke  of 
Normandy,  the  former  holding  the  crown  for  his  life,  and  after  his 
death  settling  the  same  on  Henry,  his  adopted  son  and  successor. 

49.  A?!  Englishman  Pope. 
We  have  now  gotten  (to  our  great  credit  and  comfort  no  doubt) 
an  Englishman  pope  ;  namely,  Nicholas  Breakspear,  alias  Adrian 
IV.  Born,  saith  my  author,}  nigh  Uxbridge  in  Middlesex,  of  the 
ancient  and  martial  family  of  the  Breakspears  ;  though  others  § 
make  him  no  better  than  a  bastard  of  an  abbot  of  St.  Alban's  ;   the 

■      *  Stow  in  the  end  of  king   Stephen's   Life.  t   Mat.    Paris  in  this  year, 

t  Camden  in  Middlesex.  §  BitLE  in  "  English  Votarips,"  fol.  85. 


308  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1154. 

abbot  of  -which  convent  he  confirmed  the  first  in  place  of  all  in 
England.  If  I  miscount  not,  we  never  had  but  four  popes  and  a  half 
(I  mean  cardinal  Pole,  pope-elect)  of  our  nation.  And  yet  of  them, 
one  too  many  (will  the  papists  say)  if  pope  Joan  (as  some  esteem 
her)  were  an  Englishwoman.  Yea,  lately,  (the  elected  following 
the  plurality  of  the  electors,)  they  have  almost  engrossed  the  papacy 
to  the  Italians.  Our  Adrian  had  but  bad  success,  choked  to  death 
with  a  fly  in  his  throat.  Thus  any  thing  next  nothing,  be  it  but 
advantageously  planted,  is  big  enough  to  batter  man's  life  down  to 
the  ground. 

50.  Geoffrey  Monmouth  defended. 
Geoffrey  ap  Arthur,  commonly  called,  from  his  native  place, 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  was  now  bishop  of  St.  Asaph.  He  is  the 
Welsh  Herodotus,  the  father  of  ancient  history  and  fables  ;  for,  he 
who  Avill  have  the  first  must  have  the  latter.  Polydore  Virgil 
accuseth  him  of  many  falsehoods ;  (so  hard  it  is  to  halt  before  a 
cripple ;)  who,  notwithstanding,  by  others  is  defended,  because  but 
a  translator,  and  not  the  original  reporter.  For  a  translator  tells  a 
lie  in  telling  no  lie,  if  wilfully  varying  from  that  copy  which  he 
promiseth  faithfully  to  render.  And  if  he  truly  translates  what  he 
finds,  his  duty  is  done,  and  is  to  be  charged  no  further.  Otherwise, 
the  credit  of  the  best  translator  may  be  cracked,  if  himself  become 
security  for  tlie  truth  of  all  that  he  takes  on  trust  from  the  pens  of 
others. 

51.  The  Death  of  King  Stephen.     A.D.  1154. 

King  Stephen  ended  his  troublesome  life  :  a  prince,  Avho  if  he 
had  come  in  by  the  door,  the  best  room  in  the  house  had  not  been 
too  good  to  entertain  him.  Whereas  now  the  addition,  "  usurper," 
affixed  generally  to  his  name,  corru^its  his  valour  into  cruelty, 
devotion  into  hypocrisy,  bounty  into  flattery  and  design.  Yet,  be 
it  known  to  all,  though  he  lived  an  usurper,  he  died  a  lawful  king  ; 
for,  what  formerly  he  held  from  the  rightful  heir  by  violence,  at 
his  death  he  held  under  him  by  a  mutual  composition.  He  was 
buried  with  his  son  and  wife,  at  Feversham  in  Kent,  in  a  monastery 
of  his  own  building.  At  the  demolishing  whereof,  in  the  reign  of 
king  Henry  VIII.  some,*  to  gain  the  lead  wherein  he  was  wrapped, 
cast  his  corpse  into  the  sea.  Thus  sacrilege  will  not  only  feast  on 
gold  and  silver,  but  (when  sharp-set)  will  feed  on  meaner  metals. 

52.  Sobriquets,  what  they  were.     1  Henry  II. 

Henry  II.  succeeded  him,  known  by  a  triple  surname  ;  two 
personal  and   ending   with  himself,    "  Fitz-empress,"  and   "  Short- 

•  Stow  in  the  end  of  hi^f  Life. 


1   HEXHY   II.  BOOK     III.       CKNT.     XII.  309 

mantle  ;"  the  other  hereditary,  fetched  from  Geoffrey  his  father, 
and  transmitted  to  his  posterity,  Plantagenet,  or  Plantagenest.* 
This  name  was  one  of  the  sobriquets,  or  penitential  nicknames, 
•which  great  persons  about  this  time,  posting  to  the  Holy  War  in 
Palestine,  either  assumed  to  themselves,  or  had  by  the  pope  or  their 
confessors  imposed  upon  them,  purposely  to  disguise  and  obscure 
their  lustre  therewith.  See  more  of  the  same  kind  : — 1.  Berger, 
"a shepherd."  2.  Grise-gonelle,  "gray-coat."  3.  Teste  de  estoupe, 
"head  of  tow."  4.  Arbusi,  "a  shrub,"  5.  Martel,  "a  hammer." 
C.  Grand-bcBufe,  "  ox-face."  7-  La-zouch,  "  a  branch  upon  a 
stem."  8.  Hoidet^  "a  sheep -hook."  9.  Hapkin^  "a  hatchet." 
10.  Chapell,  "a  hood."  11.  Sans-terr,  "lack-land."  12. 
Malduit,  "  Ill-taught."  13.  Jiivencas,  geffard,  or  "  heifer." 
14.  Fitz  dejlaw,  "son  of  a  flail."  15.  Plantagenist,  "stalk  of  a 
broom."  Thus  these  great  persons  accounted  the  penance  of  their 
pilgrimage,  with  the  merit  thereof,  doubled,  when,  passing  for  poor 
inconsiderable  fellows,  they  denied  their  own  places  and  persons. 
But,  be  it  reported  to  others,  whether  this  be  proper  and  kindly 
evangelical  self  denial,  so  often  commended  to  the  practice  of 
Christians.  However,  some  of  these  by-names,  assumed  by  their 
fanciful  devotion,  remained  many  years  after  to  them  and  theirs  ; 
amongst  which  Plantagenist  was  entailed  on  the  royal  blood  of 
England.  .  _ 

53.  King  Henrys  Character. 

This  king  Henry  was  wise,  valiant,  and  generally  fortunate. 
His  faults  were  such  as  speak  him  man,  rather  than  a  vicious  one. 
Wisdom  enough  he  had  for  his  work,  and  work  enough  for  his 
wisdom,  being  troubled  in  all  his  relations.  His  wife  queen 
Eleanor  brought  a  great  portion,  (fair  provinces  in  France,)  and  a 
great  stomach  with  her ;  so  that  it  was  questionable,  whether  her 
froward  spirit  more  drave  her  husband  away  from  her  chaste,  or 
Rosainond''s  fair  face  more  drew  him  to  her  wanton,  embraces.  His 
sons  (having  much  of  the  mother  in  them)  grew  up,  as  in  age,  in 
obstinacy  against  him.  His  subjects,  but  especially  the  bishops, 
(being  the  greatest  castle-mongers  in  that  age,)  very  stubborn  and 
not  easily  to  be  ordered. 

54.   What  became  of  Maud  the  Empress, 

Mean  time  one  may  justly  admire,  that  no  mention  in  authors  is 
made  of,  nor  provisions  for,  Maud  the  king's  mother,  surviving  some 
years  after  her  son's  coronation  ;  in  whom,  during  her  life,  lay  the 
real  right  to  the  crown.     Yet  say  not  king  Henry's  policy  wa?? 

*  y1li(i.s-  Phmtasonist.  .  ... 


310  CHURCH    HISTOIIY    OF    BKITAIN,  A.D.   1154 62. 

little  in  preferring  to  take  his  title  from  an  usurper  by  adoption, 
rather  than  from  his  own  mother,  the  rightful  heir,  by  succession  ; 
and  his  piety  less,  in  not  attending  his  mother''s  death,  but  snatch- 
ing the  sceptre  out  of  her  hand,  seeing  no  writer  ever  chargeth  him 
with  the  least  degree  of  undutifulness  unto  her.  Which  leadeth  us 
to  believe,  that  this  Maud,  Avorn  oiit  with  age  and  afflictions, 
willingly  waved  the  crown,  and  reigned  in  her  own  contentment,  in 
seeing  her  son  reign  before  her. 

55.  The  Body  of  the  Common-Law  compiled.     A.D.  1155. 

Those  who  are  most  able  to  advise  themselves  are  most  willing  to 
be  advised  by  others,  as  appeared  by  this  politic  prince.  Presently 
he  chooseth  a  privy  council  of  clergy  and  tempoialty,  and  refineth 
the  common  laws  ;  yea,  towards  the  end  of  his  reign  began  the  use 
of  our  itinerant  judges.  Tlie  platform  hereof  he  fetched  from 
France,  where  he  had  his  education,  and  where  Charles  the  Bald, 
some  hvindred  of  years  before,  had  divided  his  land  into  twelve 
parts,  assigning  several  judges  for  administration  of  justice  therein. 
Our  Henry  parcelled  England  into  six  divisions,  and  appointed 
three  judges  to  every  circuit,  annually  to  visit  the  same.  Succeed- 
ing kings,  though  changing  the  limits,  have  kept  the  same  number 
of  circuits  ;  and  let  the  skilful  in  arithmetic  cast  it  up,  whether  our 
nation  receiveth  any  loss,  by  the  change  of  three  judges  every  year, 
according  to  Henry  the  Second''s  institution,  into  two  judges  twice  a 
year,  as  long  since  hath  been  accustomed. 

56.  Castles  demolished.  A.D.  1156. 
The  laws  thus  settled,  king  Henry  cast  his  eye  on  the  numerous 
castles  in  England.  As  a  good  reason  of  state  formerly  persuaded 
the  building,  so  a  better  pleaded  now  for  the  demolishing  of  them. 
William  the  Conqueror  built  most  of  them,  and  then  put  them  into 
the  custody  of  his  Norman  lords,  thereby  to  awe  the  English  into 
obedience.  But  these  Norman  lords  in  the  next  generation,  by 
breathing  in  English  air,  and  wedding  with  English  wives,  became 
60  perfectly  Anglicised  and  lovers  of  liberty,  that  they  would  stand 
on  their  guard  against  the  king,  on  any  petty  discontentment.  If  their 
castles  (which  were  of  proof  against  bows  and  arrows,  the  artillery  of 
that  age)  could  but  bear  the  brunt  of  a  sudden  assault,  they  were 
privileged  from  any  solemn  siege  by  their  meanness  and  multitude, 
as  whose  several  beleaguerings  would  not  compensate  the  cost 
thereof.  Thus,  as  in  foul  bodies  the  physic  in  process  of  time 
groweth  so  friendly  and  familiar  with  the  disease,  that  they  at  last 
side  together,  and  both  take  part  against  nature  in  the  patient ;  so 
here  it  came  to  pass,  that  these  castles,  intended  for  the  quenching, 


8  UliNUY    11.  BOOK.    111.       CE\T.    XI 1.  311 

in  continuance  of  time  occasioned  the  kindling,  of  rebellion.  To 
prevent  farther  mischief,  king  Henry  razed  most  of  them  to  the 
ground,  and  secured  the  rest  of  greater  consequence  into  the  hands 
of  his  confidants.  If  any  ask,  how  these  castles  belong  to  our 
Church-History  ;  know,  that  bishops,  of  all  in  that  age,  were  the 
greatest  traders  in  such  fortifications. 

5'J.   Thomas  Becket,  Lord  Chancellor  of  England. 

Thomas  Becket,  born  in  London,  and  (though  as  yet  but  a 
deacon)  archdeacon  of  Canterbury,  doctor  of  canon-law,  bred  in  the 
universities  of  Oxford,  Paris,  Bononia,  was  by  the  king  made  lord 
chancellor  of  England.  During  which  his  office,  who  braver  than 
Becket .''  None  in  the  court  wore  more  costly  clothes,  mounted 
more  stately  steeds,  made  more  sumptuous  feasts,  kept  more  jovial 
company,  brake  more  merry  jests,  used  more  pleasant  pastimes.  In 
a  word,  he  was  so  perfect  a  layman,  that  his  parsonages  of  Brom- 
field,  and  St.  Mary-hill  in  London,  with  other  ecclesiastical  cures, 
whereof  he  was  pastor,  might  even  look  all  to  themselves,  he  taking 
no  care  to  discharge  them.  This  is  that  Becket  whose  mention  is 
so  much  in  English,  and  miracles  so  many  in  popish  writers.  We 
will  contract  his  acts  in  proportion  to  our  History,  remitting  the 
reader  to  be  satisfied  in  the  rest  from  other  authors. 

58.  His  great  lieformatioti,  being  made  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  A.D.  1162. 
Four  years  after,  upon  the  death  of  Theobald,  Becket  was  made 
by  the  king  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  the  first  Englishman  since 
the  Conquest,  (and  he  but  a  mongrel,  for  his  mother  was  a  Syrian, 
the  intercourse  of  the  Holy  War  in  that  age  making  matches 
betwixt  many  strangers,)  who  was  preferred  to  that  place.  And 
now  (if  the  monks"'  writing  his  Life  may  be  believed)  followed  in 
him  a  great  and  strange  metamorphosis.  Instantly  his  clothes  were 
reformed  to  gravity,  his  diet  reduced  to  necessity,  his  company  con- 
fined to  the  clergy,  his  expenses  contracted  to  frugality,  his  mirth 
retrenched  to  austerity  ;  all  his  pastimes  so  devoured  by  his  piety, 
that  none  could  see  the  former  chancellor  Becket  in  the  present 
archbishop  Becket.  Yea,  they  report,  that  his  clothes  were  built 
three  stories  high  ;  next  his  skin  he  was  a  hermit,  and  wore  sack- 
cloth ;  in  the  mid  he  had  the  habit  of  a  monk  ;  and  above  all  wore 
the  garments  of  an  archbishop.  Now,  that  he  might  the  more 
eflPectually  attend  his  archi-episcopal  charge,  he  resigned  his  chan- 
cellor's place  ;  whereat  the  king  was  not  a  little  oflTended.  It  added 
to  his  anger,  that  his  patience  was  daily  pressed  with  the  impor- 
tunate petitions  of  people  complaining,  that  Becket  injured  them  ; 


312  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN'.  A. D.  1162 — 64. 

tliougl),  generally,  he  did  but  recover  to  his  church  such  possessions 
as,  by  their  covetousncss,  and  his  predecessors''  connivance,  had  for- 
merly been  detained  from  it. 

59.  A  stubborn  Defender  of  the  vicious  Clergy^  against  secular 

Magistrates. 

But  the  main  matter  incensing  the  king  against  him,  was,  his 
stubborn  defending  tlie  clergy  from  the  secular  power  ;  and  parti- 
cularly, (what  a  great  fire  doth  a  small  spark  kindle  !)  that  a  clerk, 
having  killed  and  stolen  a  deer,  ought  not  to  be  brought  before  the 
civil  magistrate  for  his  punishment.  Such  impunities,  breeding 
impieties,  turned  "  the  house  of  God  into  a  den  of  thieves  :  "  many 
rapes,  riots,  robberies,  murders,  were  then  committed  by  the  clergy. 
If  it  be  rendered  as  a  reason  of  the  viciousness  of  Adonijah,  that 
his  father  never  said  unto  him,  "  Why  doest  ihou  so  ?"  1  Kings  i.  6 ; 
no  wonder  if  the  clergy  of  this  age  were  guilty  of  great  crimes,  whom 
neither  the  king  nor  his  judges  durst  call  to  an  account.  And,  seeing 
ecclesiastical  censures  extend  not  to  the  taking  away  of  life  or  limb, 
such  clerks  as  were  guilty  of  capital  faults  were  either  altogether 
acquitted,  or  had  only  penance  inflicted  upon  them  ;  a  punishment 
far  lighter  than  the  offence  did  deserve.  Indeed,  it  is  most  meet, 
in  matters  merely  ecclesiastical,  touching  the  word  and  sacraments, 
clergymen  be  only  answerable  for  their  faults  to  their  spiritual 
superiors,  as  most  proper  and  best  able  to  discern  and  censure  the 
same.  And  in  cases  criminal,  it  is  unfit  that  ministers  should  be 
summoned  before  each  proud,  pettish,  petulant,  pragmatical,  secu- 
lar, under-officer.  However,  in  such  causes  to  be  wholly  exempted 
from  civil  power,  is  a  privilege  which  with  reason  cannot  be  desired 
of  them,  nor  with  justice  indulged  unto  them.  Sure  I  am, 
Abiathar,  though  high  priest,  was  convented  before  and  deposed  by 
Solomon  for  his  practising  of  treason.  And  St.  Paul  saith,  "  Let 
every  soul  be  subject  to  the  higher  powers,"  Roni.  xiii.  1. 

60.  He  incurs  the  King''s  Displeasure.     A.D.  1164. 

To  retrench  these  enormities  of  the  clergy,  the  king  called  a 
parliament  at  Clarendon,  near  Salisbury,  (and  not  in  Normandy, 
as  Mr.  Fox  will  have  it,)  intending,  with  the  consent  of  his  great 
council,  to  confirm  some  severe  laws  of  his  grandfather,  king- 
Henry  I.  To  these  laws,  sixteen  in  number,*  Becket,  with  the 
rest  of  the  bishops,  consented,  and  subscribed  them.  But  after- 
wards, recanting  his  own  act,  renounced  the  same.  Let  not 
therefore  the  crime  of  inconstancy  be  laid  too  heavily  to  the  charge 

•  See  tlieni  at  large  in  Matthew  Paris. 


10  HENRY   II.  ■  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XII.  31^3 

of  archbishop  Cranmer,  first  subscribing  tlien  revoking  popish 
articles  presented  unto  him  ;  seeing  this  his  name-sake  Thomas, 
and  predecessor  Becket,  without  any  stain  to  his  saintship 
retracted  his  own  act,  upon  pretence  of  better  information.  But 
so  highly  was  Becket  offended  with  himself  for  his  subscription, 
that,  in  revenge,  for  some  months,  he  suspended  himself  from  all 
Divine  service,  (his  pride  and  laziness,  both  before  and  after,  sus- 
pended him  from  ever  preaching,)  and  would  not  be  present  thereat. 
Hereafter  let  none  hope  for  more  favour  from  this  archbishop  than 
their  fact  may  deserve  ;  seeing  he  cannot  rationally  be  expected  to 
be  courteous  to  others,  who  was  so  severe  unto  himself.  The  best 
was,  in  this  his  suspension  the  knot  was  not  tied  so  hard  as  to  hurt 
him  ;  who,  in  case  of  necessity,  as  he  had  bound  so  he  could 
loose  himself;  though,  for  the  more  state  of  the  matter,  pope 
Alexander  himself  was  pleased  solemnly  to  assoil  him  from  his 
suspension.*  Mean  time  Becket,  both  in  his  suspension  and  abso- 
lution, most  highly  offended  king  Henry,  who  every  day  the  more 
was  alienated  from  and  incensed  against  him. 

61.  The  Vanity  of  Beckefs  Path. 
During  Becket's  abode  about  Clarendon,  he  is  reported  every 
morning  to  have  walked  from  his  lodging,  some  miles,  to  the  king's 
palace  ;  where  the  ground,  say  they,  called  "  Becket''s  path,"  at  this 
day  presenteth  itself  to  the  eyes  of  the  beholders,  (but  most  quick- 
sighted,  if  looking  through  popish  spectacles,)  with  the  grass  and 
ffrain  oi'owinof  thereon,  in  a  different  hue  and  colour  from  the  rest  : 
a  thing  having  in  it  more  of  report  than  truth  ;  yet  more  of  truth 
than  wonder;  the  discol orations  of  such  veins  of  earth  being  com- 
mon in  grounds  elsewhere,  which  never  had  the  happiness  of 
Becket's  feet  to  go  upon  them. 

62.  He  flieth  beyond  Sea,  without  the  King's  Consent. 
But  O  !  if  Becket's  feet  had  left  but  the  like  impression  in  all  the 
ways  he  went,  how  easy  had  it  been  for  all  men's  eyes,  and  par- 
ticularly for  our  pen,  to  have  tiacked  him  in  all  his  travels  ;  who, 
not  long  after,  without  the  consent  of  the  king,  took  ship,  sailed 
into  Flanders,  thence  travelled  into  the  southern  parts  of  France, 
thence  to  Pontiniac,  thence  to  Sens,  abiding  seven  years  in  banish- 
ment. But,  though  he  served  an  apprenticeship  in  exile,  he  learned 
little  humility  thereby,  only  altering  his  name,  for  his  more  safety, 
from  Becket  to  Derman  ;  but  retaining  all  his  old  nature,  remitting 
nothing  of  his  rigid  resolutions. 

*  Fox's  "  Mominients.''    See  the  letter  at  large,  page  269. 


314  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1165 70. 

63.  How  employed  in  his  Banishment.     A.D.  1165. 

Now,  to  avoid  idleness,  Becket,  in  his  banishment,  variously 
employed  himself.  First.  In  making  and  widening  breaches 
between  Henry  his  native  sovereign,  and  Lewis  the  French  king. 
Secondly.  In  writing  many  voluminous  letters*  of  expostulation  to 
princes  and  prelates.  Thirdly.  In  letting  fly  his  heavy  excommu- 
nications against  the  English  clergy  ;  namely,  against  Roger,  arch- 
bishop of  York  ;  Gilbert  Foliot,  bishop  of  London,  a  learneder 
man  than  himself;  Joceline,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  and  others.  His 
chief  quarrel  with  them  was  their  adherence  to  the  king  ;  and  par- 
ticularlv,  because  the  archbishop  presumed  to  crown  Henry  the 
king's  son,  made  joint  king  in  the  life  of  his  father  ;  a  privilege 
which  Becket  claimed  as  proper  to  himself  alone.  Fourthly.  In 
receiving  comfort  from,  and  returning  it  to,  pope  Alexander  at 
Beneventum  in  Italy.  Sameness  of  affliction  bred  sympathy  of 
affection  betwixt  them,  both  being  banished ;  the  pope  by  Frederick 
Barbarossa,  the  emperor,  for  his  pride  and  insolency ;  as  our  Becket 
smarted  for  the  same  fault  from  king  Henry.  Here  also  Becket 
solemnly  resigned  his  archbishopric  to  the  pope,  as  troubled  in  con- 
science that  he  had  formerly  taken  it  as  illegally  from  the  king ;  and 
the  pope  again  restored  it  to  him,  whereby  all  scruples  in  his  mind 
were  fully  satisfied. 

64.  Is  reconciled  to  the  King.     A.D.  1167« 

But  afterwards,  by  mediation  of  friends,  Becket's  reconciliation 
was  wrought,  and  leave  given  him  to  return  into  England.  How- 
ever, the  king  still  retained  his  temporals  in  his  hand,  on  weighty 
considerations  ;  namely,  to  show  their  distinct  nature  from  the 
spirituals  of  the  archbishopric,  to  which  alone  the  pope  could  restore 
him  ;  lay  lands  being  separable  from  the  same,  as  the  favour  of 
secular  princes  ;  and  Beckct''s  bowed  knee  must  own  the  king's 
bountiful  hand,  before  he  could  receive  them.  Besides,  it  would  be 
a  caution  for  his  good  behaviour. 

Q5.  Returns  as  obstinate  as  he  went  over.  A.D.  II70. 
Coelum  non  animum.  Travellers  change  climates,  not  con- 
ditions. Witness  our  Becket ;  stubborn  he  went  over,  stubborn 
he  staid,  stubborn  he  returned.  Amongst  many  things  which  the 
king  desired  and  he  denied,  he  refused  to  restore  the  excommu- 
nicated bishops,  pretending  he  had  no  power,  (indeed,  he  had  no 
will,)  and  that  they  were  excommunicate  by  his  Holiness.  Yea, 
he,  instead  of  recalling  his  old,  added  new  excommunications  ;  and 

"  See  them  exemplified  at  large  in  STAPLiiTox  Dc  Tridm  Tlwmis. 


16  HENRY    II.  IJOOK     III.       CENT,    XII.  315 

that  thunder  which  long  before  rumbled  in  his  threatenings,  now 
gave  the  crack  upon  all  those  that  detained  his  temporal  revenues. 
Roger  Hoveden*  reports,  that  upon  Christmas-day  (the  better  day 
the  better  deed)  he  excommunicated  Robert  de  Broc,  because  the 
day  before  he  had  cut  off  one  of  his  horses''  tails.  Yea,  he  continued 
and  increased  his  insolence  against  the  king  and  all  his  subjects. 

6*6.  Is  slain  by  four  Knights  in  his  own  Church. 

Here  the  king  let  fall  some  discontented  words,  which  instantly 
were  catched  up  in  the  eais  of  some  courtiers  attending  him.  He 
complained  that  never  sovereign  kept  such  lazy  subjects  and  servants, 
neither  concerned  in  their  king's  credit,  nor  sensible  of  his  favours 
conferred  on  them,  to  suffer  a  proud  prelate  so  saucily  to  affront 
him  :  (now,  a  low  halloo,  and  a  less  clap  with  the  hand,  will  set 
fierce  dogs  on  worrying  their  prey  :)  a  quarternion  of  courtiers  being 
present ;  namely,  1.  Sir  Richard  Breton,  of  which  name  (as  I  take 
it)  a  good  family  at  this  day  is  extant  in  Northamptonshire.  2.  Sir 
Hugh  Morvil  of  Kirk-Oswald  in  Cumberland,  where  his  sword -f* 
wherewith  he  slew  Becket,  was  kept  a  long  time,  in  memorial  of  his 
fact.  His  family  at  this  day  extinct.  3.  Sir  William  Tracey, 
whose  heirs  at  this  day  flourish,  in  a  worthy  and  worshipful  equipage, 
at  Todington  in  Gloucestershire.  4.  Sir  Reginald  Fitz-Urse,  or, 
"  Bear''s-son."'|  His  posterity  was  afterwards  men  of  great  lands 
and  command,  in  the  county  of  Monaghan  in  Ireland,  being  there 
called  Mac-Mahon,§  which  in  Irish  signifieth  "the  son  of  a  bear." 
These  four  knights,  applying -the  king's  general  reproof  to  them- 
selves, in  their  preproperous  passions  mis-interpreted  his  complaint, 
not  only  for  Becket's  legal  condemnation,  but  also  for  their  warrant  for 
liis  execution.  Presently  they  post  to  Canterbury,  December  28th, 
where  they  find  Becket  in  a  part  of  his  church,  (since  called  the 
Martyrdom,)  who,  though  warned  of  their  coming,  and  advised  to 
avoid  them,  would  not  decline  them  ;  so  that  he  may  seem  to  have 
more  mind  to  be  killed,  than  they  had  to  kill  him.  Here  happened 
high  expostulation,  they  requiring  restitution  of  the  excommunicated 
bishops  ;  whose  peremptory  demands  met  with  his  pertinacious 
denials,  as  then  not  willing  to  take  notice  of  Solomon's  counsel, 
"  A  soft  answer  pacifietli  wrath,"  Prov.  xv.  1.  Brawls  breed 
blows  ;  and  all  four  falling  upon  him,  with  the  help  of  the  fifth,  an 
officer  of  the  church,  called  "  Hugh,  the  ill  clerk,"  each  gave  him  a 
Avound,  though  that  with  the  sword  dispatched  him,  which  cut  off 
his  crown  from  the  rest  of  his  head. 

"  Parte  posterio)  i  Hcnrici  Sccu?ic/i,  page  521.  t  CAMPF.ti'f^  Britannia  in  Cumberland, 
page  777.  1   Others  call  him  Walter.  §  C.\>iden's  Rjitannia  in  Ireland, 

page  107. 


316  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN-.  A.D.  1170 4. 

67-  Various  Censures  on  his  Death. 
A  barbarous  murder,  and  wliich  none  will  go  about  to  excuse,  but 
mucli  heightened  both  by  the  prose  and  poetry  (good  and  bad)  of 
popish  writers  in  that  age.  Of  the  last  and  worst  sort,  I  account 
that  distich,  not  worthy  the  translating,  one  verse  whereof,  on  each 
leaf  of  the  door  of  Canterbury  choir,  is  yet  legible  in  part : — 

Est  sacer  intra  locus,  venerabilis,  atqxic  beatus, 
Prtrsul  til/i  satictus  Thomas  est  martyrizatus* 

But,  if  he  were  no  truer  a  martyr  than  martyrizatns  is  true  posi- 
tion, his  memory  might  be  much  suspected.  More  did  the  Muses 
smile  on  the  author  of  the  following  verses  : — 

Pro  Christi  spans  a,  Ckristi  sub  tempore,  Christi 

In,  templo,  Christi  verus  amator  obit. 
Quis  moritur  ?     Prasul.     Cur?     Pro  grege.     Qualiter  ?     Ense. 

Quando  ?     Natali.      Quis  locus  ?     ^ra  Dei. 

"  For  Christ  his  spotise,  in  Christ  church,  at  the  tide 
Of  Christ  his  birth,  Christ  hi^;  true  lover  died. 
Who  dies  ?     A  priest.     Why  ?      For  "s  flock.      How  ?     By  th'  sword. 
When  ?     At  Christ's  birth.     Where  ?     Altar  of  the  Lord." 

Here  I  understand  not,  how  properly  it  can  be  said,  that  Becket 
died  pro  grege,  "  for  his  flock."  He  did  not  die  for  feeding  his 
flock,  for  any  fundamental  point  of  religion,  or  for  defending  his 
flock  against  the  wolf  of  any  dangerous  doctrine ;  but  merely  he 
died  for  his  flock  ;  namely,  that  the  sheep  thereof  (though  ever  so 
scabbed)  might  not  be  dressed  with  tar,  and  other  proper  (but  sharp 
and  smarting)  medicines ;  I  mean,  that  the  clergy  might  not  be 
punished  by  the  secular  power  for  their  criminal  enormities.  Sure 
I  am,  a  learned  and  moderate  writer -j*  of  that  age  passeth  this  cha- 
racter upon  him  :  Quce  ah  ipso  acta  sunt  laudanda  nequaquam 
censuerim,  licet  ex  laudabili  zelo  processerint :  "  Such  things  as 
were  done  by  him  I  conceive  not  at  all  to  be  praised,  though  they 
proceeded  from  a  laudable  zeal."  But  Stapleton  ;J:  calls  this  his 
judgment,  audacis  monachi  censura  non  tarn  politico,  quam 
plane  ethnica,  "  the  censure  of  a  bold  monk,  not  so  much  politic 
as  heathenish."  Should  another  add  of  Stapleton,  that  "  this  his 
verdict  is  the  unchristian  censure  of  a  proud  and  partial  Jesuit ;" 
railing  would  but  beget  railing;  and  so  it  is  better  to  remit  all  to 
"  the  day  of  the  revelation  of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God," 
Rom.  ii.  5. 

68.   The  heavy  Penance  performed  by  King  Henry. 
Now  king  Henry,  though  unable  to  revive  Becket,   showed  as 
much  sorrow  himself  for  his  death,  as  a  living  man  could  express ; 

•  William  Somner  in  his  '<  Antiquities  of  Canterbury,"  page  166.        t  Gilielmls 
Xlbrigiensis.  I  1)1  tribus  Thomis. 


20  HENRV  II.  HOOK    III.       CENT.    XIl.  317 

and  did  the  oUicr  as  niudi  lionour  as  a  dead  man  could  receive. 
First,  Searching  after  all  his  kindred,  (as  most  capable  of  his 
kindness,)  he  found  out  his  two  sisters  :  One  Mary,  a  virgin,  not 
inclinable  to  marry,  whom  he  preferred  abbess  of  the  rich  nunnery 
of  Barking.  His  other  nameless  sister,  being  married  to  one  of  the 
le  Boielers,  or  "  Butlers,"  he  transplanted  with  her  husband  and 
children  into  Ireland,*  conferring  upon  them  high  honours  and  rich 
revenues  ;  from  whom' the  earls  of  Ormond  are  at  this  day  descended. 
He  founded  also  the  magnificent  abbey,  called  Thomas-court -f*  in 
Dublin,  A.D.  1174,  in  memory  of  the  said  Thomas  Becket,  and 
expiation  of  his  murder  ;  beautifying  the  same  with  fair  buildings, 
and  enriching  it  with  large  possessions.  Nor  did  only  the  purse, 
but  the  person,  of  king  Henry  do  penance  ;  who,  walking  some 
miles  barefoot,  suffered  himself  to  be  whipped  on  the  naked  back 
by  the  monks  of  Canterbury.  As  for  the  four  knights,  who  mur- 
dered him,  the  pope  pardoned  them,  but  conditionally, — to  spend 
the  rest  of  their  lives  in  the  Holy  War,  (where  the  king,  as  part  of 
his  penance  enjoined  by  the  pope,  maintained  two  hundred  men  for 
one  year,  on  his  proper  charges,)  to  try  whether  they  could  be  as 
courageous  in  killing  of  Turks,  as  they  had  been  cruel  in  murdering 
a  Christian. 

69.   Becket,  after  jifty  Years,  enshrined. 

And  now,  being  on  this  subject,  once  to  dispatch  Becket  out  of 
our  way,  just  a  jubilee  of  years  after  his  death,  Stephen  Langton, 
liis  mediate  successor,  removed  his  body  from  the  Under-croft  in 
Christ-church,  where  first  he  was  buried,  and  laid  him,  at  his  own 
charge,  in  a  most  sumptuous  shrine,  at  the  east  end  of  the  church. 
Here  the  rust  of  the  sword  that  killed  him,|  was  afterwards  ten- 
dered to  pilgrims  to  kiss.  Here  many  miracles  were  pretended  to  be 
wrought  by  this  saint,  in  number  two  hundred  and  seventy. §  They 
might  well  have  been  brought  up  to  four  hundred,  and  made  as 
many  as  Baars  lying  prophets  ;  though,  even  then,  one  prophet  of 
the  Lord,  one  Micaiah,  one  true  miracle,  were  worth  them  all. 

70.    The  blind  Superstition  of  People. 

It  is  almost  incredible,  what  multitudes  of  people  flocked  yearly 
to  Canterbury,  (which  city  lived  by  Becket's  death,)  especially  on 
his  jubilee,  or  each  fifty  years  after  his  enshrining.  No  fewer  than 
an  hundred  thousand  (we  find  it  in  words  at  length,  and  therefore 
a  cipher  is  not  mistaken)  of  English  and  foreigners  repaired  hither. || 

•  Camden's  Brit,  iu  Ireland,  page  83.  t  Ide7n,  page  93.  t   Erasju's's 

Dialog,  in  Religiunis  er.,6.  §  Fox's  "  Acts  and  Monuments,"  page  493.  1|  Will. 
SOMNER.  tit  prius,  page  249. 


•318  CHURCH    HISTOUY    OF    BUITAIN.  A.n.  1174 G. 

And,  though  great  the  odds  in  hardness  between  stones  and  flesh, 
there  remains  at  tiiis  day  in  the  marble  the  prints  of  their  super- 
stition who  crept  and  kneeled  to  his  shrine ;  the  revenues  whereof, 
by  people's  offerings,  amounted  to  more  than  six  hundred  pounds 
a-year.  And  the  same  accomptant,  when  coming  to  set  down  what 
then  and  there  was  offered  to  Christ's  or  the  high  altar,  dispatcheth 
all  with  a  blank,  summo  altari  nil.  Yea,  whereas  before  Becket's 
death  the  cathedral  in  Canterbury  was  called  Christ's  church,  it 
passed  afterwards  for  the  church  of  St.  Thomas  ;  verifying  therein 
the  complaint  of  Mary  Magdalene,  Sustulerunt  Dominum,  "  I'hey 
have  taken  away  the  Lord,"  John  xx.  2,  13  ;  though  since,  by  the 
demolishing  of  Becket's  shrine,  the  church  (and  that  justly)  hath 
recovered  his  true  and  ancient  name. 


SECTION  III. 

DOMINO    JOANNI     WYRLEY,    DE     WYRLEY-HALL,    IN 
COMITATU  STAFFORD,  EQUITI  AURATO. 

Lex  Mahometica  jubet,  ut  Turcarum  quisque 
mechanicce  arti  incumbat.  Hinc  est,  quod,  vel  inter 
Ottomanicos  imperatores,  hie  faber,  ille  sartor,  hie 
totus  est  in  baltheorum  bullis,*  ille  in  sagittarum  pennis 
concinnandis,  prout  quisque  sua  indole  trahatur. 

Lex  milii  partim  placet,  partim  displicet.  Placet 
industria,  ne  animi  otii  rubigine  obducti  sensim  torpes- 
cerent,  Displicet,  ingenuas  mentes  servili  operi  dam- 
nari,  ciim  humile  nimis  sit  et  abjectum. 

At  utinam  vel  lex,  vel  legis  eemula  consuetude,  inter 
Anglos  obtineret,  ut  nostrates  nobiles,  ad  unum  omnes, 
meliori  literaturee  litarent.  Hoc  si  fiat,  uberrimos 
fructus  respublica  perceptura  esset  ab  illis,  qui  nunc 
absque  Musarum  cultu  penitiis  sterilescunt. 

Tu  vero,  doctissime  miles !  es  perpaucorum  homi- 
num,  qui  ingenium  tuum  nobilitate  premi  non  sinis : 
sed  artes  ingenuas,  quas  Oxonii  didicisti  juvenis,  vir 
assidue  colis.  Gestit  itaque  liber  noster  te  patrono ; 
quo  non  alter  aut  in  notandis  mendis  oculatior,  aut  in 
condonandis  clementior. 

"  Edw.  Sandys  in  suis  Peregrinationibus. 


22  HENRY  TI.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XII.  319 

1.  The  Undntif  Illness  of  young  King  Henry. 
Even  amongst  all  the  stripes  given  liim  since  the  death  of 
Becket,  none  made  deeper  impression  in  king  Henry's  soul,  than 
the  undutifulness  of  Henry  his  eldest  son,  whom  he  made  (the 
foolish  act  of  a  wise  king  !)  joint  king  with  himself,  in  his  life-time. 
And,  as  the  father  was  indiscreet  to  put  off  so  much  of  his  apparel 
before  he  went  to  bed  ;  so  the  son  was  more  unnatural  in  endea- 
vouring to  rend  the  rest  from  his  back,  and  utterly  to  disrobe  him 
of  all  regal  power.  The  clergy  were  not  wanting  in  their  plentiful 
censures,  to  impute  this  mischance  to  the  king,  as  a  Divine  punish- 
ment on  Becket's  death  ;  that  his  natural  son  should  prove  so 
undutiful  to  him,  who  himself  had  been  so  unmerciful  to  his 
spiritual  father.  But  this  rebellious  child  passed  not  unpunished. 
For,  as  he  honoured  not  his  father,  so  "  his  days  were  few  in  tlie 
land  which  the  Lord  gave  him."  And,  as  he  made  little  account  of 
his  own  father,  so  English  authors  make  no  reckoning  of  him  in  the 
catalogue  of  kings.  This  Henry  the  Third  being  wholly  omitted, 
because  dying  during  the  life  of  his  father. 

2.  Richard  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
But,  before  this  Henry's  death,  Richard,  prior  of  Dover,  who 
divided  Kent  into  three  archdeaconries,  was  made  archbishop  of 
Canterbury.  Indeed,  the  place  was  first  proffered  to  Robert,  abbot 
of  Becco,  in  Normandy  ;  sequents  of  three,  if  he  had  accepted  it, 
(Anselm,  Theobald,  and  this  Robert,)  who,  in  the  compass  of 
seventy,  years,  out  of  the  same  abbey  were  made  archbishops  of 
Canterbury ;  but  he  refused  it,  as  ominous  to  succeed  Becket 
in  his  chair,  lest  he  should  succeed  him  in  his  coifin  ;  and  preferred 
a  whole  skin  before  a  holy  pall.  But  Richard,  accepting  the  place, 
is  commended  for  a  mild  and  moderate  man,  being  all  for  accom- 
modation, and  his  temper  the  best  expedient  betwixt  the  pope  and 
king  ;  pleasing  the  former  with  presents,  the  latter  with  compliance. 
This  made  him  connive  at  Geoffrey  Plantagenet's  holding  the  bishop- 
ric of  Lincoln,  though  uncanonicalness  on  uncanonicalness  met  in 
his  person.  For,  first,  he  was  a  bastard.  Secondly.  He  was 
never  in  Orders.  Thirdly.  He  was  under  age.  All  which  irregu- 
larities were  answered  in  three  words,  "  The  king's  son."  This  was 
that  Geoffrey,  who  used  to  protest  that  "  by  the  royalty  of  the  king 
his  father,""  when  a  stander-by  minded  him  to  remember  the 
honesty  of  his  mother. 

3.   The  Controversy  betwixt  Canterbury  and  York  for 
Precedency.     A.D.  II76. 
A   synod  was   called  at   Westminster,  the   pope's   legate   being 
present  thereat ;  on  whose  right  hand   sat   Richard,   archbishop  of 


320  CHUllCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.U.  1176. 

Canterbury,  as  in  his  proper  place ;  when  in  siirings  Roger  of 
York,  and,  finding  Canterbury  so  seated,  fairly  sits  him  down  on 
Canterbury's  lap  ;  (a  baby  too  big  to  be  danced  thereon  !)  yea, 
Canterbury's  servants  dandled  this  lap-child  with  a  Avitness,  who 
plucked  him  thence,  and  buffeted  him  to  purpose.  Hence  began 
the  brawl,  which  often  happened  betwixt  the  two  sees  for  pre- 
cedency ;  though  hitherto  we  have  passed  them  over  in  silence,  not 
conceiving  ourselves  bound  to  trouble  the  reader  every  time  those 
archbishops  troubled  themselves.  And,  though  it  matters  as  little 
to  the  reader  as  to  the  writer,  whether  Roger  beat  Richard,  or 
Richard  beat  Roger  ;  yet,  once  for  all,  we  will  reckon  up  the  argu- 
ments which  each  see  alleged  for  its  precedency. 

canterbury''s  title. 

1.  No  catholic  person  will  deny,  but  that  the  pope  is  the  foun- 
tain of  spiritual  honour,  to  place  and  displace  at  pleasure.  He  first 
gave  the  primacy  to  Canterbury.  Yea,  whei'eas  the  proper  place  of 
the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  a  general  council,  was  next  the 
bishop  of  St.  Ruffinus  ;  Ansel m  and  his  successors  were  advanced 
by  pope  Urban  to  sit  at  the  pope's  right  foot,  as  alterius  orbis 
papa.  2.  The  English  kings  have  ever  allowed  the  priority  to 
Canterbury.  For  a  duarchy  in  the  church  (namely,  two  arch- 
bishops equal  in  power)  being  inconsistent  with  a  monarchy  in  the 
state,  they  have  ever  countenanced  the  superiority  of  Canterbury, 
that  the  church-government  might  be  uniform  Avith  the  common- 
wealth's. 3.  Custom  hath  been  accounted  a  king  in  all  places, 
which  time  out  of  mind  hath  decided  the  precedency  to  Canterbury. 

York's  title. 

1.  When  Gregory  the  Great  made  York  and  Canterbury  archi- 
opiscopal  sees,  he  affixed  precedency  to  neither,  but  that  the 
archbishops  should  take  place  according  to  the  seniority  of  their 
consecrations  ;  until  Lanfrank,  chaplain  to  king  William,  (think- 
ing good  reason  he  should  conquer  the  whole  clergy  of  England,  as 
his  master  had  vanquished  the  nation,)  usurped  the  superiority 
above  the  see  of  York.  2.  If  antiquity  be  to  be  respected,  long 
before  Gregory's  time,  York  was  the  see  of  an  archbishop,  whilst  as  yet 
Pagan  Canterbury  was  never  dreamed  of  for  that  purpose.  Lucius, 
the  first  Christian  Britain  king,  founding  a  cathedral  therein, 
and  placing  Samson  in  the  same,  who  had  Taurinus,  Pyrannus, 
Tacliacus,  &c.  his  successors  in  that  place.  3.  If  the  extent  of 
jurisdiction  be  measured,  York,  though  the  lesser  in  England,  is 
the  larger  in  Britain,  as  which  at  this  time  had  the  entire  kingdom 
of  Scotland   subject    thereunto.     Besides,  if  the  three  bishoprics, 


22  HENRY  II.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XII.  321 

(namely,  Worcester,  Lichfield,  Lincoln,)  formerly  injuriously  taken 
from  York,  were  restored  unto  it,  it  would  vie  English  latitude  with 
Canterbury  itself. 

This  controversy  lasted  for  many  years.  It  was  first  visibly  begun 
(passing  by  former  private  grudges)  betwixt  Lanfrank  of  Canterbury 
and  Thomas  of  York,  in  the  reign  of  the  Conqueror  ;  continued 
betwixt  William  of  Canterbury  and  Thurstan  of  York,  in  the  days 
of  king  Henry  L  increased  betwixt  Theobald  of  Canterbury  and 
William  of  York,  at  the  coronation  of  Henry  IL  and  now  revived 
betwixt  Richard  of  Canterbury  and  Roger  of  York,  with  more  than 
ordinary  animosity. 

4.  How  much  Carnality  in  the  most  spiritual. 

Some  will  wonder  that  such  spiritual  persons  should  be  so  spite- 
ful, that  they,  who  should  rather  have  contended  de  pascendis 
ovibus,  "  which  of  them  should  better  feed  their  flocks,"  should  fall 
out  de  land  caprind,  about  a  toy  and  trifle,  only  for  priority.  Yet 
such  will  cease  to  wonder,  when  they  consider  how  much  carnality 
there  was  in  the  disciples  themselves  :  witness  their  unseasonable 
contest,  just  before  our  Saviour''s  death,  quis  esset  tnajor,  "  which 
of  them  should  be  the  greater,"  Lukexxii.24;  when  then  the 
question  should  rather  have  been,  quis  esset  mosstior,  not,  who 
should  be  the  highest,  but,  "  who  should  be  the  heaviest"  for  their 
departing  Master. 

5.   The  Pope''s  Decision  gives  Jinal  Satisfaction. 

Here  the  pope  interposed,  and,  to  end  old  divisions,  made  a  new 
distinction, — "  primate  of  all  England,"  and  '•  primate  of  England  ;" 
giving  the  former  to  Canterbury,  the  latter  to  York.  Thus  when 
two  children  cry  for  the  same  apple,  the  indulgent  father  divides  it 
betwixt  them  ;  yet  so  that  he  giveth  the  bigger  and  better  part  to 
the  child  that  is  his  darling.  York  is  fain  to  be  content  therewith, 
though  full  ill  against  his  will,  as  sensible  that  a  secondary  primacy 
is  no  primacy  ;  and  as  one  stomaching  a  superior,  as  much  as  Can- 
terbury disdained  an  equal.  Yea,  on  every  little  occasion  this 
controversy  brake  out  again.  The  last  flash  which  I  find  of  this 
flame  was  in  the  reign  of  king  Edward  L  when  William  Wickliam, 
archbishop  of  York,  at  a  council  at  Lambeth  for  reformation,  would 
needs  have  his  cross  carried  before  him,  which  John  Peckham,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  would  in  no  case  permit  to  be  done  in  his 
province.  Wherefore  the  said  Peckham  inhibited  all  from  selling 
victuals  to  him  or  his  family,*  so  hoping  to  allay  his  stomach  by 
raising  his  hunger,  and  starve  him  into  a  speedy  submission  ;  which 

•  Mr.  Jackson  out  of  Flnrilegns,  in  his  Chronology,  anno  1280. 
Voi,.     I.  Y 


322  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1176 90. 

accordingly  came  to  pass.  Since,  York  was  rather  quiet  than  con- 
tented, pleasing  itself  that  as  stout  came  behind  as  went  before. 
But  at  this  day  the  clergy,  sensible  of  God's  hand  upon  them  for 
their  pride  and  other  offences,  are  resolved  on  more  humility ;  and 
will  let  it  alone  to  the  laity  to  fall  out  about  precedency. 

6,  7'   The  far-extended  English  Monarchy,  in  this  King's  Reign^ 
could  not  make  him  fortunate  in  his  own  Family. 

To  return  to  king  Henry  :  Never  did  the  branches  of  the  English 
monarchy  sprout  higher,  or  spread  broader  before  or  since,  as  in  the 
reign  of  this  king,  so  large  and  united  his  command,  though  in 
several  capacities.  For,  by  right  of  inheritance  from  his  mother 
Maud,  he  held  England  and  the  dukedom  of  Normandy ;  by  the 
same  title  from  his  father,  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  he  possessed  fair 
lands  in  Anjou  and  Maine  ;  by  match,  in  right  of  queen  Eleanor,  his 
wife,  he  enjoyed  the  dukedoms  of  Aquitaine  and  Guienne  even  to  the 
Pyrenean  Mountains  ;  by  conquest  he  lately  had  subdued  Ireland, 
leavinar  it  to  his  successors  annexed  to  the  Enoflish  dominions  ;  and 
for  a  time  was  the  effectual  king  of  Scotland,  whilst  keeping  William 
their  king  a  prisoner,  and  acting  at  pleasure  in  the  southern  parts 
thereof.  The  rest  of  Christendom  he  may  be  said  to  have  held  by 
Avay  of  arbitration,  as  Christiani  orbis  arbiter ;  so  deservedly  did 
foreign  princes  esteem  his  wisdom  and  integrity,  that  in  all  difficult 
controversies  he  was  made  umpire  betwixt  them. 

Yet  all  this  his  greatness  could  neither  preserve  him  from  death, 
nor  make  him,  when  living,  happy  in  his  own  house ;  so  that,  when 
freest  from  foreign  foes,  he  was  most  molested  in  his  own  family ; 
his  Avife  and  sons  at  last  siding  with  the  king  of  France  against  him, 
the  sorrow  whereat  was  conceived  to  send  him  the  sooner  to  his 
grave.     I  meet  with  this  distich  as  parcel  of  his  epitaph : — 

Cui  satis  ad  votiim  non  essent  mnnia  terns 
Climata,  terra  modo  stifficit  octo  pedum.* 

"  He  whom  alive  the  world  would  scarce  suffice, 
When  dead,  in  eight-foot  earth  contented  lies." 

He  died  at  Chinon  in  Normandy,  and  was  buried  with  very  great 
solemnity,  in  the  nunnery  of  Font-Everard  [Fontevraud]  in  the 
same  country ;  a  religious  house  of  his  own  foundation  and 
endowment. 

8.  Disobedience  endeavoured  to  be  expiated  by  Superstition. 
1  Richard  I.  J.D.  1189. 

It  is  confidently  reported,-f-  that  when  Richard,  son  and  successor 
to  king  Henry,  approached  his  father's  dead  corpse,  they  bled  afresh 

•  Matt.  Paris,  page  151  t  Idem,  ut prius. 


1    RICHARD   I.  BOOK    III.       CENT,    XII.  32^ 

at  the  nostrils  ;  whence  some  collected  him  the  cause  of  his  death. 
But  whilst  nature's  night-counsellors,  treading  in  the  dark  causes  of 
hidden  qualities,  render  the  reason  of  the  sallying  forth  of  the  blood 
on  such  occasions,  let  the  learned  in  the  laws  decide  how  far  such  an 
accident  may  be  improved  for  a  legal  evidence.  For,  surely,  that 
judge  is  no  better  than  a  murderer,  who  condemneth  one  for  murder 
on  that  proof  alone.  However,  on  the  bleeding  of  the  father's  nos- 
trils, the  son's  heart  could  not  but  bleed,  as  meeting  there  with  a 
guilty  conscience.  And  therefore,  according  to  the  divinity  and 
devotion  of  those  days,  to  expiate  his  disobedience,  he  undertook, 
with  Philip  Augustus,  king  of  France,  a  long  voyage  against  sultan 
Saladine,  to  recover  Christ's  grave,  and  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  from 
the  Turks  in  Palestine. 

9-  An  Account  of  our  Design.     A.D.  1190. 

Having  formerly  written  a  whole  book  of  the  Holy  War,  and  par- 
ticularly of  king  Richard's  achievements  therein,  I  intend  here  no 
repetition.  Only  our  design  is  to  give  a  catalogue  of  some  of  our 
English  nobility,  who  adventured  their  persons  in  the  Holy  War  ; 
and  whose  male  posterity  is  eminently  extant  at  this  day.  I  have 
known  an  excellent  musician,  whom  no  arguments  could  persuade  to 
play,  until  hearing  a  bungler  scrape  in  the  company,  he  snatched  the 
instrument  out  of  his  hand,  in  indignation  that  music  should  be  so 
much  abused  ;  then  tuned  and  played  upon  it  himself.  My  project 
herein  is,  that  giving-in  an  imperfect  list  of  some  few  noble  families, 
who  engaged  themselves  in  this  service,  it  will  so  offend  some  emi- 
nent artist,  hitherto  silent  in  this  kind,  that  out  of  disdain  he  will 
put  himself  upon  so  honourable  a  work,  deserving  a  gentleman  who 
hath  lands,  learning,  and  leisure  to  undertake  so  costly,  intricate, 
and  large  a  subject  for  the  honour  of  our  nation.  And  be  it  pre- 
mised, that,  to  prevent  all  cavils  about  precedency,  first  come,  first 
served  ;  I  shall  marshal  them  in  no  other  method  but  as  in  my 
studies  I  have  met  with  the  mention  of  them. 

10.  Nevil  Kill-Lion's  Performance  in  Palestine.  A.  D.  1190. 
To  begin  with  the  place  of  my  present  habitation  :  One  Hugh 
Nevil  attended  king  Richard  into  the  Holy  War,  and  anciently  lieth 
buried  in  a  marble  monument,  in  the  church  of  Waltham  Abbey  in 
Essex,  whereof  no  remainders  at  this  day.  This  Hugh  Nevil  being 
one  of  the  king's  special  familiars,  slew  a  lion  in  the  Holy  Land,  first 
driving  an  arrow  into  his  breast,  and  then  running  him  through  with 
his  sword,  on  whom  this  verse  was  made  : — Viribus  Hugonis  vires 
periire  Leonis,*  "  The  strength  of  Hugh  a  lion  slew."     If  Benaiah, 

*  Matt.  Paris,  A.D.  1222. 
Y    2 


324  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A. D.  1191. 

the  son  of  Jehoiada,  was  recounted  the  fiftli  amongst  David"'s 
worthies  for  killing  "  a  lion  in  the  midst  of  a  pit  in  the  time  of 
snow,"  2  Sam.  xxiii.  20,  surely,  on  the  same  reason,  this  bold 
and  brave  baron  Hugh  ought  to  be  entered  into  the  catalogue  of  the 
heroes  of  his  sovereign.  But  I  cannot  give  credit  to  his  report,* 
who  conceiveth  that  the  achievement  of  the  man  was  translated  to 
liis  master ;  and  that  on  this  occasion  king  Richard  I.  got  the  name 
of  Cceur-de-Lion,  or  "  lion's  heart."" 

11.  Ancestors  to  the  noble  and  numerous  Nevilles. 

This  Hugh  Nevil  gave  the  manor  of  Thorndon  to  Waltham 
Abbey,-}-  and  was  ancestor  of  the  noble  and  numerous  family  of  the 
Nevilles ;  to  which  none  in  England  equal  for  honour,  Avealth,  and 
number,  in  the  latter  end  of  king  Henry  VI.  though  at  this  day 
the  lord  Abergavenny  be  the  only  baron  thereof.  He  gave  for  his 
arms  a  Cross  Saltire,  or  the  cross  of  St.  Andrew,  probably  assuming 
it  in  the  Holy  War.  For,  though  I  confess  this  is  not  the  proper 
cross  of  Jerusalem,  yet  was  it  highly  esteemed  of  all  those  who 
adventured  thither,  as  may  appear,  in  that  all  knights-templars  make 
such  Saltire  Cross,  with  their  thwarted  legs  upon  their  monuments. 

12.  Girald  de  Talbote,  whence  the  House  of  Shrewsbury. 

Girald  de  Talbote  succeeds  in  the  second  place.  When  articles 
were  drawn  up  between  our  king  Richard,  in  his  passage  to 
Palestine,  and  Tancred,  king  of  Sicily,  for  the  mutual  observation 
of  many  conditions  betwixt  them,  he  put  in,  upon  their  oaths,  for 
his  sureties,  a  grand  jury  of  his  principal  subjects  then  present ; 
namely,  tAvo  archbishops,  two  bishops,  and  twenty  other  of  his  prime 
nobility  expressed  in  his  letters  patents ;  :|:  besides  many  others, 
whose  names  were  concealed.  Of  these  twenty,  the  aforesaid  Girald 
de, Talbote  is  the  first ;  whose  male  issue  and  name  is  extant  at  this 
day,  flourishing  in  the  right  honourable  family  of  the  earls  of 
Shrewsbury. 

13.  Guai'rin  Fitz  Girald,  from  whom  the  Earls  of  Kildare  and 
Barons  of  Windsor. 

Next  amongst  the  royal  jurors,  as  I  may  term  them,  was  Guarrin 
Fitz  Girald,  from  whom  are  descended  the  Fitzgeralds  in  Ireland, 
(where  their  name  is  in  some  places  provincial,)  of  whom  the  earl 
of  Kildare  is  chief.  A  memorial  of  their  service  in  Palestine  is 
preserved  in  their  arms,  giving  Argent  a  Cross  Saltire  Gules.  Here 
it  must  be  remembered,  that  the  valiant  sprightly  gentleman,  Hick- 

•  Weaver's  "Funeral  Mouuments,"  page  644.  t  Rcgistrum  Cart.  Abhat.  de 

Waltham.  \  R.  'Wo\'iS)fLK  pars  posterior  in  Rich,  primo. 


2  RICHARD   I.  BOOK    III.       CKNT.    XII.  325 

man  Lord  Windsor,*  is  descended  from  the  same  male  ancestors  with 
the  Fitzgeralds  (as  Robert  Glover,  a  most  exquisite  herald,  doth 
demonstrate,)  though,  according  to  the  fashion  of  that  age,  altering 
his  old,  and  assuming  a  new  name  from  Windsor,  the  place  of  his 
office  and  command.  This  lord  Windsor  carrieth  the  badge  of  his 
service  in  his  arms,  being  essentially  the  same  with  the  earl  of 
Kildare's,  save  that  the  colours  are  varied ;  the  Field  Gules,  and 
Cross  Saltire  Argent,  betwixt  twelve  Crosses  Crossed,  Or ;  which 
coat,  seemingly  surfeited,  was  conceived  in  that  age  the  more  health- 
ful for  the  same  ;  "  the  more  crossed  the  more  blessed,"  being  the 
devotion  of  those  days. 

14.  A  Quaternion  more  of  Adventurers. 

Four  other  gentlemen  of  quality  remain  mentioned  in  that  patent, 
William  de  Curcy,  father  to  John  the  valiant  champion  and  con- 
queror of  Ireland  ;  Robert  de  Novo  Burgo,  Hugh  le  Brain,  and 
Amaury  de  Mountford ;  of  all  whom  formerly  in  our  alphabetical 
comment  on  Abbey  Roll. 

15.  Ingelram  Fiennes's  Posterity.     A.D.  1191. 

At  the  siege  of  Acre  or  Ptolemais,  the  grave-general  of  the 
Christian  army,  amongst  many  worthies  dying  there  within  the  com- 
pass of  one  year,  I  find  Ingelram  de  Fiennes  to  be  slain,-f-  from 
whom  the  lord  viscount  Say  and  Sele,  and  the  lord  Dacres  of  the 
South,  derive  their  descent.  But  most  visible  are  the  remains  of  the 
Holy  War  in  the  achievement  of  Theophilus  Fiennes,  alias 
Clinton,  earl  of  Lincoln,  giving  in  the  lower  parts  of  his  shield  (in 
a  field  Argent)  six  Crosses  crossed  Fitchee  Sable,  denoting  the 
stability  and  firmness  of  his  ancestors  in  that  service. 

16.  Radulphus  de  Alta  Ripa. 

Also  at  the  aforesaid  siege  of  Acre,  Radulphus  de  Alta  Ripa, 
archdeacon  of  Colchester,  ended  his  life.  Now,  although,  because 
a  clergyman,  he  could  not  then  leave  any  lawful  issue  behind  him  ; 
yet  we  may  be  confident,  that  the  ancient  family  De  Alta  Ripa  or 
Dautry,  [Dealtry,]  still  continuing  in  Sussex, J  were  of  his  alliance. 

17.  A  Mistake  freely  confessed. 
Before  we  leave  the  siege  of  Acre,  let  me  refresh  the  reader  with 
my  innocent  (and,  give  me  leave  to  say,  probable)  mistake  :    I  con- 
ceived the  noble  family  of  the  lord  Dacre  took  their  surname  from 
some  service  there    performed,   confirmed  in  my   conjecture :     1. 

"  See  Camden's  Brit,  in  Berkshire.  t  R-  Hoveden  in  Richardo  prima,  page  655. 
X  Camden's  Brit.  ibid. 


326  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1192. 

Because  the  name  is  written  Avith  a  local  tmesis^  D"'Acre.  2,  Joan 
daughter  to  Edward  I.  king  of  England,  is  called  D'Acre,  because 
born  there.  3.  They  gave  their  arms,  Gules,  three  Scollop-shells 
Argent ;  which  Scollop-shells,  (I  mean,  the  nethermost  of  them, 
because  most  concave  and  capacious,)  smooth  within,  and  artificially 
plated  without,  were  ofl-times  cup  and  dish  to  the  pilgrims  in 
Palestine ;  and  thereupon  their  arms  often  charged  therewith. 
Since,  suddenly  all  is  vanished,  when  I  found  Dacor,*  a  rivulet  in 
Cumberland,  so  ancient  that  it  is  mentioned  by  Bede  himself,  long 
before  the  Holy  War  was  once  dreamed  of,  which  gave  the  name  to 
Dacre  Castle,  as  that  (their  prime  seat)  to  that  family. 

18.  Crescent  and  Star,  why  the  Device  of  King  Richard  I.  in 
his  Voyage  to  the  Holy  Land. 

Before  we  go  further,  be  it  here  observed,  that  when  king  Richard 
I.  went  into  Palestine,  he  took  up  for  his  device  in  his  ensign,  a 
Crescent  and  a  Star,  but  on  what  account  men  variously  conjecture. 
Some  conceive  it  done  in  affront  to  the  sultan  Saladine,  the  Turk 
giving  the  half-moon  for  his  arms.  But  this  seems  unlikely,  both 
because  a  crescent  is  not  the  posture  of  the  Turkish  moon,  and 
because  this  was  a  preposterous  method  wdth  a  valiant  man  at  his 
bare  setting  forth,  who  would  rather  first  win,  before  wear,  the  arms, 
of  his  enemies.  Others  make  a  modest,  yea,  religious  meaning 
thereof;  interpreting  himself  and  his  soldiers  by  the  crescent  and 
star,  expecting  to  be  enlightened  from  above  by  the  beams  of 
success  from  the  sun  of  divine  providence.  Indeed,  it  woidd  trouble  a 
wise  man,  (but  that  a  wise  man  will  not  be  troubled  therewith,)  to 
give  a  reason  of  king  Richard's  fancy  ;  it  being  almost  as  easy  for 
him  to  foretell  ours,  as  for  us  infallibly  to  interpret  his  design 
herein.  However,  we  may  observe,  many  of  the  principal  persons 
which  attended  the  king  in  this  war  had  their  shields  be-crescented 
and  be-starred  in  relation  to  this  the  royal  device. 

19.  The  Arms  of  the  ancient  Family  of  Minshul. 
Thus  Michael  Minshul,  of  Minshul  in  Cheshire,  serving  king 
Richard  in  this  war,  had  not  only  the  Crescent  and  Star  given  him 
for  his  arms,  b»it  since  also  that  family  hath  borne  for  their  crest, 
two  Lion's  paws  holding  a  Crescent.  And  I  have  seen  a  patent 
lately,  (July  4th,  1642,)  granted  by  the  lord  marshal  to  a  knight,-|- 
deriving  himself  from  a  younger  branch  of  that  family,  assigning 
him  for  distinction,  to  change  his  crest  into  the  Sultan  kneeling  and 
holding  a  Crescent. 

•  Camden's  Brit,  in  Cumberland,  p.  776.      f  Sir  Richard  Minshul,  of  Burton  in  Bucks. 


3  RICHARD  I.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XII.  327 

20.  As  also  of  the  noble  St.  John's  and  Sackville. 
And  thus  the  noble  family  of  St.  John  (whereof  the  earl  of 
Bolingbroke,  &c.)  give  for  their  paternal  coat  Argent  two  Stars  Or 
on  a  Chief  Gules.  These  stars  first  give  us  a  dim  light  to  discover 
their  service  in  the  Holy  Land,  who  since  are  beholding  for  perfccter 
information  to  one  now  scarce  counted  a  rhymer,  formerly  admitted  for 
a  poet,  acquainting  us  with  this  and  another  noble  family  adventuring 
in  the  Holy  War ;  namely,  the  Sackvilles,  still  flourishing  in  the 
right  honourable  the  earl  of  Dorset. 

"  King  Ricliard  wyth  gud  enteat 
To  yat  cite  of  Jafesf  went 
On  mom  he  sent  aftnx  Sir  Robart  Sakevile 
Sir  William  Wateniile 
Sir  Hubart  and  Sir  Robart  of  Tumham 
Sir  Bertram  Brandes  and  John  de  St.  John."  ♦ 

Yet  the  arms  or  crest  of  the  Sackvilles  give  us  not  the  least  intima- 
tion of  the  Holy  War.  And,  indeed,  no  rational  man  can  expect 
an  universal  conformity  in  so  much  variety  of  fancies,  that  all  the 
arms  of  the  adventurers  thither  should  speak  the  same  language,  or 
make  some  sign  of  their  service  therein. 

21.   The  worshipful  Family  of  the  Tilneys.     A.D.  1192. 

I  find  Sir  Frederick  Tilneyij:  knighted  at  Acre  in  the  Holy  Land, 
in  the  third  year  of  king  Richard  I.  He  was  a  man  magncB 
staturce  et  potens  corpore  ;  sixteen  knights  in  a  direct  line  of 
that  name  succeeded  in  that  inheritance  ;  whose  heir-general  was 
married  to  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  whilst  a  male  branch  (if  not,  which 
I  fear,  very  lately  extinct)  flourished  since  at  Shelley  in  Suffolk. 

22.  The  most  honourable  Ancestors  of  the  Villiers. 

When  I  look  upon  the  ancient  arans  of  the  noble  family  of  the 
Villiers,  wherein  there  is  pilgrim  on  pilgrim,  I  mean  Five  Scallops 
Or,  on  the  Cross  of  St.  George ;  I  presently  concluded,  one  of  that 
family  attended  king  Richard  in  the  Holy  Land.  But,  on  better 
inquiry,  I  find  that  this  family,  at  their  first  coming  into  England, 
bare  Sable  Three  Cinquefoyles  Argent ;  and  that  Sir  Nicholas  de 
Villiers,  knight,  changed  this  coat  in  the  reign,  not  of  Richard,  but 
Edward  L§  whom  he  valiantly  followed  in  his  wars  in  the  Holy 
Land,  and  elsewhere. 

23.   The  Arms  of  the  Berkeleys. 

I  .will  conclude  with  the  noble  family  of  Berkeley,  than  which 
none  of  England  now  eminently  existing  Mas  more  redoubted  in  the 

•  Robert  of  Gloucester.  t  Jafes,  that  is,  Joppa  in  Palestine.  \  Hacklhyt 
in  his  first  volume  of  "  Voyages."  §  Burton  in  his  Description  of  Leicestershire. 


328  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1193. 

Holy  War.  All  knoAv  tlieir  descent  from  Harding,  son  to  the  king 
of  Denmark,  whose  arms  are  said  to  be  Gules  Three  Danish  Axes 
Or  :  or,  as  others  suppose,  with  more  probability,  I  conceive,  only  a 
plain  Cheveron,  though,  some  three  hundred  years  since,  they  have 
filled  their  coat  with  Ten  Crosses  Patte  Or,  in  remembrance  of  the 
achievements  of  their  ancestors  in  that  service.  For  I  find  that  Hard- 
ing of  England  landed  at  Joppa,*  July  the  third,  in  the  second  year 
of  king  Baldwin,  with  a  band  of  stout  soldiers,  where  he  relieved 
the  Christians  besieged  therein. 

24.  More  Churchmen  abroad  than  Church-business  at  Home. 

But  I  have  been  too  tedious,  intending  only  a  short  essay,  and 
to  be  (let  me  call  it)  an  honest  decoy,  by  entering  on  this  subject, 
to  draw  others  into  the  completing  thereof,  during  the  whole  extent 
of  the  Holy  War.  The  best  is,  for  the  present  we  have  had  good 
leisure,  these  martial  times  affording  but  little  ecclesiastical  matter. 
For  at  this  present  much  of  the  English  church  was  in  Palestine, 
where  Baldwin,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  ended  his  life  before  the 
siege  of  Acre ;  and  where  Hubert  Walter,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  was 
a  most  active  commander;  besides  many  more  of  the  eminent  clergy 
engaged  in  that  service.  Yet  many  did  wish  that  one  clergyman 
more  had  been  there,  to  keep  him  from  doing  mischief  at  home ; 
namely,  William  Longchamp,  bishop  of  Ely,  who  played  rex  in  the 
king's  absence  :  so  intolerable  a  tyrant  was  he,  by  abusing  the  royal 
authority  committed  unto  him  !  And  it  is  a  wonder,  that  he, 
being  indeed  a  Norman  born,  but  holding  so  many  and  great 
offices  in  this  land,  should  not  be  able  to  speak  one  word  of 
good  English, -f-  as  the  English  were  not  willing  to  speak  one  good 
word  of  him, 

25.  Longchamp  and  Wolsey  paralleled. 

Such  as  draw  up  a  parallel  betwixt  this  Williain  Longchamp  and 
Thomas  Wolsey,  (afterward  archbishop  of  York,)  find  ihem  to  meet 
in  many  conformities.  First.  In  the  lowness  of  their  birth  ;  the  one 
the  son  of  a  husbandman,  the  other  of  a  butcher.  Secondly.  In  the 
greatness  of  their  power  ;  both  being  the  pope''s  legates,  and  tlieir 
king''s  principal  officers.  Thirdly.  Height  of  their  pride  ;  Long- 
champ having  fifteen  hundred  daily  attendants  :  Wolsey,  though  but 
a  thousand,  equalizing  that  number  with  the  nobility  of  his  train. 
Fourthly.  Suddenness  of  their  fall  ;  and  it  is  hard  to  say  which  of 
the  two  lived  more  hated,  or  died  less  pitied.  * 

•  Chronicon  Jerusalem,  lib.  ix.  cap.  11.  f  Godwin  in  his  Catalogue  of  the 

Bishops  of  Ely. 


3  RICHARD  I.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XII.  329 

26.   Wolsey  the  better  of  the  two. 

Yet,  to  give  Wolsey  his  due,  he  far  exceeded  the  other.  Long- 
champ  is  accused  of  covetousness,  promoting  his  base  kindred,  to  the 
damage  and  detriment  of  others  :  no  such  thing  charged  on  Wolsey. 
Longchamp''s  activity  moved  in  the  narrow  sphere  of  England''s 
dominions ;  whilst  Wolsey  might  be  said,  in  some  sort,  to  have  held 
in  his  hand  the  scales  of  Christendom  :  "  Up  Emperor,  Down 
France  ;"  and  so  alternately  as  he  was  pleased  to  cast  in  his  grains. 
Wolsey  sat  at  the  stern  more  than  twenty  years,  whilst  Longchamp''s 
impolitic  pride  outed  him  of  his  place  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  the 
time.  Lastly.  Nothing  remains  of  Longchamp,  but  the  memory  of 
his  pride  and  pomp ;  whilst  Christ  Church  in  Oxford,  and  other 
stately  edifices,  are  the  lasting  monuments  of  Wolsey's  magnificence 
to  all  posterity. 

27.  Yet  a  Word  in  Excuse  of  Longchamp. 
But  seeing  it  is  just  to  settle  men's  memories  on  their  true  bot- 
tom, be  it  known,  that  one  putteth  in  a  good  word  in  due  season, 
in  the  excuse  of  bishop  Longchamp,*  haply  not  altogether  so  bad 
as  the  pens  of  monks  would  persuade  us.  It  enraged  them  against 
him,  because  Hugh  Nonant,  bishop  of  Coventry  and  Lichfield, 
drave  out  monks  out  of  Coventry,  and  brought  in  secular  priests  in 
the  room  ;  which  alteration  he  being  not  able  of  himself  to  effect, 
used  the  assistance  of  Longchamp  bishop  of  Ely  ;  ordering  the  same 
in  a  synod  called  at  London.  And  seeing  monks  have  no  medium 
betwixt  not  loving  and  bitter  hating,  no  wonder  if  for  this  cause  they 
paid  him  their  invectives.  But  Ave  have  done  with  him,  and  are  glad 
of  so  fair  a  riddance  of  him,  on  this  account, — that  most  of  his  mis- 
demeanours were  by  him  committed,  not  qua  bishop,  but  qua 
viceroy,  and  so  more  properly  belonging  to  the  civil  historian. 

28.  King  Richard  dearly  ransomed.  A.D.  1193. 
King  Richard,  in  his  return  from  Palestine,  was  taken  prisoner  by 
Leopold  duke  of  Austria,  and  detained  by  him  in  durance,  with  hard 
and  un-prince-like  usage,  whilst  the  English  clergy  endeavoured 
the  utmost  for  his  enlargement.  And  at  last,  when  a  fine  certain 
Avas  set  upon  him  to  be  paid  for  his  ransom,  they,  Avith  much  ado,  in 
two  years'  time  disbursed  the  same. 

29.    Why  a  small  Sum  great  in  that  Age. 
The  sum  Avas  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  marks,   to  be  paid, 
part  to  the  duke  of  Austria,  part  to  Henry  VL  surnamed   "  the 

"  Godwin,  utprius. 


SoO  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1194 9. 

sharp,"  (sure,  such  our  Richard  found  him,)  emperor  of  Germany- 
Some  will  wonder  that  the  weight  of  such  a  sum  should  then  sway 
the  back  of  the  whole  kingdom,  (putting  many  churches  to  the  sale 
of  their  silver  chalices,)  having  seen  in  our  age  one  city,  in  few 
days,  advance  a  larger  proportion.  But  let  such  consider,  1.  The 
money  was  never  to  return,  not  made  over  by  bills  of  exchange,  but 
sent  over  in  specie,  which  made  it  arise  the  more  heavily.  For  such 
sums  may  be  said  in  some  sort  to  be  but  lent,  not  lost,  (as  to  the 
commonwealth,)  which  are  not  exported,  but  spent  therein  in  the 
circulation  of  trading.  2.  A  third  of  silver  Avent  then  more  to 
make  a  mark  than  now  a-days  ;  witness  their  groats,  worth  our  six- 
pence in  the  intrinsic  value.  'S.  Before  trading  to  the  East  and 
West  Indies,  some  hundred  and  fifty  years  since,  very  little  the 
silver  of  England  in  comparison  to  the  banks  of  modern  merchants. 
However,  Hubert  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with  much  diligence, 
perfected  the  work  ;  and,  on  his  ransom  paid,  king  Richard  returned 
into  England. 

30.  King  Richard  better  for  Affliction.     A.D.  119  4-. 

Now  lest  his  majesty  should  suffer  any  diminution  by  his  long 
late  imprisonment,  king  Richard  was  crowned  again  by  Hubert 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  at  Winchester,  with  great  solemnity  ; 
and  one  may  say  that  his  durance  was  well  bestowed  on  him,  seeing 
after  the  same  he  was  improved  in  all  his  relations  : — Son — For 
though  he  could  not  revive  his  dead  father ;  yet  on  all  occasions  he 
expressed  sorrow  for  his  undutifulness.  Husband — Hereafter 
prizing  the  company  of  Beringaria  [Berenguella]  his  queen,  daughter 
to  Sanctius,  king  of  Navarre,  whom  formerly  he  slighted  and  neg- 
lected. Brother — Freely  and  fully  pardoning  the  practices  of  his 
brother  John,  aspiring  to  the  crown  in  his  absence  ;  and  being 
better  to  his  base  brother  Geoffrey  archbishop  of  York,  than  his 
tumultuous  nature  did  deserve.  Man — Being  more  strict  in 
ordering  his  own  conversation.  King — In  endeavouring  the 
amendment  of  many  things  in  the  land  ;  in  whose  days  a  council 
was  kept  at  York,  for  reformation,  a.d.  1196,  but  little  effected. 

31.  Lambeth  Convent,  why  demolished.     A.D.  1198. 

Hubert  Walter,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  had  almost  finished  a 
fair  convent  for  monks  at  Lambeth,  begun  by  Baldwin  his  predecessor. 
But  instantly  the  monks  of  Canterbury  are  all  up  in  anger  against 
him.  They  feared  that,  in  process  of  time,  Lambeth  would  prove 
Canterbury,  (namely,  the  principal  place  of  the  archbishop's  resid- 
ence,) to  the  great  impairing  of  their  privileges.  The  vicinity  of 
Lambeth  to  the  court  increased  their  jealousy.     And  now  they  ply 


9  RICHARD  T.  BOOK    III,       CENT.    XIT.  S'Jl 

the  pope  with  petitions,  and  with  what  makes  petitions  to  take 
effect  in  the  court  of  Rome  ;  never  content  till  they  had  obtained, 
contrary  to  the  king*'s  and  archbishop"'s  desire,  that  the  convent  at 
Lambeth  was  utterly  demolished  ;  many  bemoaning  the  untimely 
end  thereof,  before  it  was  ended ;  murdered,  as  one  may  say,  by 
malicious  emulation. 

32.  King  Richard's  Death.  A.D.  1199. 
The  death  of  king  Richard  is  variously  reported  :  but  this  rela- 
tion is  generally  received,  that  he  lost  his  life  on  this  sad  occasion  : 
— A  viscount  in  France,  subject  to  king  Richard,  having  found  a 
vast  treasure,  (hid  probably  by  some  prince,  the  king's  predecessor,) 
sent  part  thereof  to  king  Richard,  reserving  the  rest  to  himself; 
who,  could  he  have  concealed  all,  had  made  no  discovery,  and,  had 
he  sent  all,  had  got  no  displeasure ;  whilst  hoping  by  this  middle 
way  to  pleasure  the  king,  and  profit  himself,  he  did  neither.  King 
Richard  disdains  to  take  part  for  a  gift,  where  all  was  due ;  and 
blame  him  not,  if,  having  lately  bled  so  much  money,  he  desired  to 
fill  his  empty  veins  again.  The  viscount  fled  into  Poictou,  whither 
the  king  following  straitly  besieged  him. 

33.  By  a  poisoned  Arrow. 
The  castle  being  reduced  to  distress,  a  soldier  shoots  a  poisoned 
arrow,  contrary  to  the  law  of  arms ;  being  [seeing]  a  sharp  arrow, 
from  a  strong  bow,  is  poison  enough  of  itself,  without  any  other 
addition.  But  those  laws  of  arms  are  only  mutually  observed  in 
orderly  armies,  (if  such  to  be  found,)  and  such  laws  outlawed  by 
extremity  ;  when  the  half-famished  soldier,  rather  for  spite  than 
hunger,  will  champ  a  bullet.  The  arrow  hits  king  Richard  in  the 
eye,  who  died  some  days  after  on  the  anguish  thereof,  having  first 
forgiven  the  soldier  that  wounded  him. 

34.  The  threefold  Division  of  his  Corpse. 
By  will  he  made  a  tripartite  division  of  his  body,  and  our  author* 
takes  upon  him  to  render  a  reason  thereof.  His  heart  he 
bequeathed  to  Roan  ;  because  he  had  ever  found  that  city  hearty 
and  cordial  unto  him.  His  body  to  be  buried  at  Fount-Everard, 
[Fontevraud,]  at  his  father's  feet,  in  token  of  his  sorrow  and  sub- 
mission, that  he  desired  to  be  as  it  were  his  father's  footstool.  His 
bowels  to  be  buried  in  the  parish- church,  in  the  province  of  Poictou, 
where  he  died  ;  not  for  any  bowels  of  affection  he  bare  unto  them, 
but  because  he  would  leave  his  filth  and  excrements  to  so  base  and 
treacherous  a  place.     Others  more  charitably  conceive  them  buried 

•  Matt.  Paris  in  hoc  atmo,  page  196. 


332  CHURCH    HISTOKY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1200 — 5. 

there,  because  conveniently  not  to  be  carried  tlience,  whose  corrup- 
tion required  speedy  interment.  Another  monk  telleth  us,  that  his 
heart  was  grossitudine  prcestans*  "  gross  for  the  greatness 
thereof;"  which  is  contrary  to  tlie  received  opinion,  that  that  part 
is  the  least  in  a  valiant  man,  and  the  heart  of  a  lion,  (this  Richard 
we  know  was  called  Coeur  de  Lion,  or  "  lion-hearted,")  less  than 
the  heart  of  a  hare. 

35.  His  double  Epitaph  and  Successor.     1  John.  A.D.  1200. 
I   find   two  epitaphs  made  upon   him.     The  first,   better  for  the 
conceit  than  the  poetry  thereof,  thus  concludeth  : — 

Sic  loca  per  trina  se  sparsit  tanta  ruina  ; 
Necfuit  hoc  funus  cut  sufficeret  locus  unus.-\ 

"  Three  places  thus  are  sharers  of  his  fall  ; 
Too  little  one  for  such  a  funeral." 

The  second  may  pass  for  a  good  piece  of  poetry  in  that  age : — 

Hie,  Richarde,  jaces  ;  sed  mors  si  ccderet  armis, 
Victa  timore  tui,  cederei  ipsa  iuis.t 

"  Richard,  thou  liest  here ;  but,  were  death  afraid 
Of  any  arms,  thy  arms  had  death  dismay'd." 

Dying  issueless,  the  crown  after  his  death  should  have  descended  to 
Arthur,  duke  of  Britain,  as  son  to  Geoffrey,  fourth  son  to  Henry  II. 
in  whose  minority,  John,  fifth  son  to  the  said  king,  seized  on  the 
crown,  keeping  his  nephew  Arthur  in  prison  till  he  died  therein. 
Thus  climbing  the  throne  against  conscience,  no  wonder  if  he  sate 
thereon  without  comfort,  as  in  the  following  century,  God  willing, 
shall  appear. 


SECTION  IV. 

THE  THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 

TO  MR.  JOHN  ROBINSON,  OF  MILK-STREET,  IN  LONDON, 

MERCHANT. 

Divines  generally  excuse  the  dumb  man  cured  by 
Christ,  for  publishing  the  same,  though  contrary  to  his 
command,  Mark  vii.  36.     Theopliylact  goes  farther  in 

his  comment  on  the  text,    Aj8a<rjco/x,e9a  yap   IvtsuSsv,  x^pvaa-stv 
xu)     (^rj/x/^eiv    TOVi    ocya.Qo'KOirjcrcx.vTa.Cy     xuv    exelvot    fxrj    ^s\u)(nv  : 

"  Gervasius  Dorobernensis  in  Rich.  I.  page  1628.  t  Milles  in  his  "  Cata- 

logue of  Honoiu-,"  page  120.  t  Camden's  Brit,  in  Oxfordshire. 


7  JOHN.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIII.  3'J3 

"  Hence  we  are  taught,"  saith  he,  "  to  proclaim  and 
spread  the  fame  of  our  benefactors,  though  they 
themselves  be  unwillmg."  On  which  account  I  safely 
may,  and  justly  must,  publicly  acknowledge  your 
bounty  to  me. 

1.  Huherfs  indiscreet  Emulation  of  the  King.     ^.Z).  1201. 

His  Christmas  king  John  kept  at  Guildford,  where  he  bestowed 
many  new  holiday-liveries  on  his  guard ;  and  Hubert  the  arch- 
bishop gave  the  like  to  his  servants  at  Canterbury ;  who  offended 
the  king  not  a  little,  that  the  mitre  should  ape  the  crown,  and  the 
chaplain  vie  gallantry  with  his  patron.  To  make  some  amends, 
when  the  king  and  queen,  the  Easter  following,  were  crowned  at 
Canterbury,  Hubert  made  them  magnificent,  yta,  superfluous 
cheer.*  Yet  his  offence  herein  carried  an  excuse  in  it ;  and  super- 
fluity at  that  time  seemed  but  needful  to  do  penance  for  his  former 
profuseness  ;  and  to  show  that  his  loyalty  in  entertaining  of  the  king 
should  surpass  his  late  vanity  in  ostentation  of  his  wealth.  How- 
ever, when  king  John  had  digested  the  archbishop's  dainty  cheer, 
the  memory  of  his  servants'  coats  still  stuck  in  his  stomach.  Surely, 
if  clergymen  had  left  all  emulation  with  the  laity  in  outward  pomp, 
and  applied  themselves  only  to  piety  and  painfulness  in  their 
calling,  they  had  found  as  many  to  honour  as  now  they  made  to 
envy  them. 

2.  A  Scratch  betwixt  the  Monks  of  Canterbury  widened  into 

a  dangerous  Wound.     A.D.  1205. 

But  now  we  enter  on  one  of  the  saddest  tragedies  that  ever 
was  acted  in  England,  occasioned  by  the  monks  of  Canterbury,  after 
the  decease  of  Hubert,  about  the  election  of  a  new  archbishop.  O 
that  their  monkish  controversies  had  been  confined  to  a  cloister,  or 
else  so  enjoined  a  single  life,  that  their  local  discords  might  never 
have  begotten  any  national  dissensions  !  "  Behold,""  saith  the 
apostle  "  how  great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kindleth,"  James  iii.  5, 
especially  after  a  long  drought,  when  every  thing  it  meets  is  tinder 
for  it.  All  things  at  home,  beside  foreign  concurrences,  conspired 
to  inflame  the  difference.  King  John,  rather  stubborn  than  valiant, 
was  unwilling  to  lose,  yet  unable  to  keep,  his  right ;  the  nobility 
potent  and  factious ;  the  clergy  looking  at  London,  but  rowing  to 
Rome,  carrying  Italian  hearts  in  English  bodies  ;  the  commons, 
pressed  with  present  grievances,  generally  desirous  of  change, — con- 
ceiving any  alteration  must  be  for  their  advantage,  barely  because 

"  Matt.  Paris  Hist.  Ang.  in  anno  1201. 


•334  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1205 7- 

an  alteration.  All  improved  the  discord  so  long  till  Normandy  was 
lost,  England  embroiled,  the  crown  thereof  envassalled,  the  king''s 
person  destroyed,  his  posterity  endangered,  foreigners  fetched  in  to 
insult,  and  native  subjects  made  slaves  to  their  insolencies. 

3.  Two  Archbishops  chosen  by  the  Monks  of  Canterbury,  and 

the  Pope  propoundeth  a  third. 
The  younger  of  the  monks  of  Canterbury,  in  the  night-time, 
without  the  king's  knowledge  or  consent,  chose  Reginald  their  sub- 
prior,  to  be  archbishop.  The  seniors  of  their  convent,  solemnly,  at 
a  canonical  hour,  with  the  approbation,  yea,  commendation,  of  the 
king,  chose  John  Grey,  bishop  of  Norwich,  for  the  place;  and  both 
sides  post  to  Rome  for  the  pope's  confirmation.  He,  finding  them 
violent  in  their  ways,  to  prevent  further  faction,  advised  them  to 
pitch  on  a  third  man,  Stephen  Langton,  born  in  England,  but  bred 
in  France,  lately  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Paris,  and  since 
made  cardinal  of  St.  Chrysogone.  Which  expedient,  or  middle 
way,  though  carrying  a  plausible  pretence  of  peace,  would  by  the 
consequence  thereof  improve  the  pope"'s  power,  by  invading  the 
undoubted  privileges  of  king  John.  The  monks  soberly  excused 
themselves,  that  they  durst  not  proceed  to  an  election  without 
the  king's  consent ;  but,  affrighted  at  last  with  the  high  threats 
of  his  Holiness,  menacing  them  wiih  excommunication,  Stephen 
Langton  was  chosen  accordingly :  one  that  wanted  not  ability 
for  the  place,  but  rather  had  too  much,  as  king  John  conceived, 
— having  his  high  spirit  in  suspicion,  that  he  would  be  hardly 
managed. 

4,  The  Pope  sends  two  Letters  of  contrary  Tempers  to  the  King. 

AD.  1207. 

Then  two  letters  were  dispatched  from  the  pope  to  the  king. 
The  first  had  nothing  of  business,  but  compliment,  and  four  gold 
rings  with  several  stones  ;  desiring  him  rather  to  mind  the  mystery, 
than  value  the  worth,  of  the  present :  wherein  the  round  form 
signifieth  eternity ;  their  square  number,  constancy ;  the  green 
Smaragd,  faith ;  the  clear  Sapphire,  hope ;  the  red  Garnet, 
charity ;  the  bright  Topaz,  good  works.  How  precious  these 
stones  were  in  themselves,  is  uncertain  ;  most  sure  it  is,  they  proved 
dear  to  king  John,  who  might  beshrew  his  own  fingers  for  ever 
wearing  those  rings,  and,  as  my  author  *  saith,  soon  after,  gemmce 
commutatcB  in  gemitus.  For  in  the  second  letter,  the  pope  recom 
mended  Stephen  Langton  to  the  king"'s  acceptance,  closely 
couching  threats  in  case  he  refused  him. 

•  Matt.  Paris  in  anno  1207,  page  223. 


10  JOHN.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIII.  335 

5.  King  Johii's  Return^  raising  his   Voice  to  too  high  a  Note  at 

first. 
King  John  returned  an  answer  full  of  stomach  and  animosity, 
that  this  was  an  intolerable  encroachment  on  his  crown  and  dignity, 
which  he  neither  could  nor  would  digest, — to  have  a  stranger, 
unknown  unto  him,  bred  in  foreign  parts,  familiar  with  the  French 
king  his  sworn  enemy,  obtruded  upon  him  for  an  archbishop.  He 
minded  the  pope,  that  he  had  plenty  of  prelates  in  the  kingdom  of 
England,  sufficiently  provided  in  all  kind  of  knowledge,  and  that  he 
need  not  to  go  abroad  to  seek  for  judgment  and  justice  ;  intimating 
an  intended  defection  from  Rome,  in  case  he  was  wronged.  Other 
passages  were  in  his  letter,  which  deserved  memory,  had  they  been 
as  vigorously  acted  as  valiantly  spoken.  Whereas,  now,  (because 
he  foully  failed  at  last,)  judicious  ears  hearken  to  his  words  no 
otherwise  than  to  the  empty  brags  of  impotent  anger,  and  the  vain 
evaporations  of  his  discontentment.  However,  he  began  high,  not 
only  banishing  the  monks  of  Canterbury,  for  their  contempt,  out  of 
his  kingdom,  but  also  forbidding  Stephen  Langton  from  once  enter- 
ing into  England. 

6.   Three  Bishops,  by  Command  from  the  Pope,  interdict  the 
whole  Kingdom. 

Hereupon  pope  Innocent  III.  employed  three  bishops — William 
of  London,  Eustace  of  Ely,  and  Maugere  of  Worcester — to  give 
the  king  a  serious  admonition,  and,  upon  his  denial  or  delaying  to 
receive  Stephen  Langton  for  archbishop,  to  proceed  to  interdict  the 
kingdom  of  all  ecclesiastical  service,  saving  baptism  of  children, 
confession,  and  the  eucharist  to  the  dying  in  case  of  necessity, 
which  by  them  was  performed  accordingly.  No  sooner  had  they 
interdicted  the  kingdom,  but  with  Joceline  bishop  of  Bath,  and 
Giles  of  Hereford,  they,  as  speedily  as  secretly,  got  them  out  of 
the  land,  like  adventurous  empirics,  unwilling  to  wait  the  working 
of  their  desperate  physic  ;  except  any  will  compare  them  to  fearful 
boys,  which  at  the  first  trial  set  fire  to  their  squibs  with  their  faces 
backwards,  and  make  fast  away  from  them.  But  the  worst  was, 
they  must  leave  their  lands,  and  considerable  movables,  in  the  king- 
dom behind  them. 

7.  England's  sad  Case  under  Interdiction. 
See  now  on  a  sudden  the  sad  face  of  the  English  church  ! — a 
face  without  a  tongue,  no  singing  of  service,  no  saying  of  mass,  no 
reading  of  prayers  :  as  for  preaching  of  sermons,  the  laziness  and 
ignorance  of  those  times  had  long  before  interdicted  them.  None 
need  pity  the  living,  (hearing  the  impatient  complaints  of  lovers,  for 


336  CHURCH    HISTOllY    OF    ERITAIN.  A.D.  1207 10. 

whose  marriage  no  license  could  be  procured,)  when  he  looks  on  the 
dead,  who  were  buried  in  ditches,*  like  dogs,  without  any  prayers 
said  upon  them.  True,  a  well-informed  Christian  knows  full  well, 
that  a  corpse,  though  cast  in  a  bog,  shall  not  stick  there  at  the  day 
of  judgment ;  thrown  into  a  wood,  shall  then  find  out  the  way  ; 
buried  by  the  highway's  side,  is  in  the  ready  road  to  resurrection  ; 
in  a  word,  that  wheresoever  a  body  be  put  or  placed,  it  will  equally 
take  the  alarm  at  the  last  trumpet  :  yet  seeing  these  people 
believed,  that  a  grave  in  consecrated  ground  was  a  good  step  to 
heaven,  and  were  taught  that  prayers  after  their  death  were  essential 
to  their  salvation,  it  must  needs  put  strange  fears  into  the  heads  and 
hearts  both  of  such  which  deceased  and  their  friends  which  survived 
them.  And  although  afterwards,  at  the  entreaty  of  Stephen 
Langton,  the  pope  indulged  to  conventual  churches  to  have  service 
once  a  week  ;  "f*  yet  parish-churches,  where  the  people*'s  need  was  as 
much,  and  number  far  more  of  souls,  as  dear  in  God's  sight,  were 
debarred  of  that  benefit. 

8.   Two  grand  Effects  wrought  by  this  Interdiction. 

Some  priests  were  well  pleased  that  the  interdiction  for  a  time 
should  continue,  as  which  would  render  their  persons  and  places  in 
more  reputation,  and  procure  a  higher  valuation  of  holy  mysteries. 
Yea,  this  fasting  would  be  wholesome  to  some  souls,  who  afterwards 
would  feed  on  Divine  service  with  greater  appetite.  Hereby  two 
grand  effects  were  generally  produced  in  the  kingdom  :  One,  a 
terrible  impression  made  in  men's  minds  of  the  pope's  power,  which 
they  had  often  heard  of,  and  now  saw  and  felt,  whose  long  arm 
could  reach  from  Rome  all  over  England,  and  lock  the  doors  of  all 
churches  there  ;  an  emblem,  that,  in  like  manner,  he  had  or  might 
have  bolted  the  gates  of  heaven  against  them  :  The  second,  an 
alienation  of  the  people's  hearts  from  king  John,  all  being  ready  to 
complain  :  "  O  cruel  tyrant  over  the  souls  of  his  subjects,  whose 
wilfulness  depriveth  them  of  the  means  of  their  salvation  !  " 

9-  King  Johii's  Innocence  and  the  Pope''s  Injustice  in  these 
Proceedings. 

However,  if  things  be  well  weighed,  king  John  will  appear 
merely  passive  in  this  matter,  suffering  unjustly  because  he  would 
not  willingly  part  with  his  undoubted  right.  Besides,  suppose  him 
guilty,  what  equity  was  it,  that  so  many  thousands  in  England, 
who,  in   this  particular  case,  might  better  answer  to  the  name  of 

•  Corjmra  dcfumUirum  more  canum  2?i  hiviis  etfossaiis  sine  orationibui  et  sacerdotutn 
ministerio  iepeliebantur. — Matt.   Paris,   page   226.  t  ■^'Intiq.  Brit,  in  Steph. 

Langton,  page  159. 


n    JOHX.  TIOOK    HI.       CENT.    XIII.  ooj 

"  Innocent "  tlian  his  Holiness  himself,  should  be  involved  in  his 
punishment  !  God,  indeed,  sometimes  most  justly  punisheth  sub- 
jects for  the  defaults  of  their  sovereigns  ;  as  in  the  case  of  the 
plague  destroying  the  people  for  David's  nmnbering  of  them.  But 
it  appears  in  the  text,*  that  formerly  they  had  been  offenders,  and 
guilty  before  God,  as  all  men  at  all  times  are.  But  seeing  the 
English  at  this  present  had  not  injured  his  Holiness  by  any  personal 
offence  against  him,  the  pope,  by  interdicting  tlie  whole  realm, 
discovered  as  much  emptiness  of  charity  as  plenitude  of  power. 
But  some  will  say,  "  His  bounty  is  to  be  praised,  that  he  permitted 
the  people  some  sacraments,  who  might  have  denied  them  all  in 
rigour,  and  with  as  much  right  ;"  yea,  it  is  well  he  interdicted  not 
Ireland  also,  as  a  country  under  king  John''s  dominion,  deserving  to 
smart  for  the  perverseness  of  their  prince  placed  over  it. 

10,  11.  King  John  hy  Name  excommunicated ;  yet  is  blessed 
with  good  Success  under  the  Pope'^s  Curse.  A.D.  1209,  1210 

But  after  the  continuance  of  this  interdiction,  a  year  and 
upwards,  the  horror  thereof  began  to  abate  :  use  made  ease,  and  the 
weight  was  the  lighter,  borne  by  many  shoulders.  Yea,  the  pope 
perceived  that  king  John  would  never  be  weary  with  his  single 
share,  in  a  general  burden,  and  therefore  proceeded  nominatim  to 
excommunicate  him.  For  now  his  Holiness  had  his  hand  in, 
having  about  this  time  excommunicated  Otho  the  German  emperor ; 
and  if  the  imperial  cedar  had  so  lately  been  blasted  with  his 
thunderbolts,  no  wonder  if  the  English  oak  felt  the  same  fire.  He 
also  assoiled  all  English  subjects  from  their  allegiance  to  king  John, 
and  gave  not  only  licence,  but  encouragement,  to  any  foreigners  to 
invade  the  land,  so  that  it  should  not  only  be  no  sin  in  them,  but 
an  expiating  of  all  their  other  sins,  to  conquer  England.  Thus  the 
pope  gave  them  a  title,  and  let  their  own  swords  by  knight-service 
get  them  a  tenure. 

Five  years  did  king  John  lie  under  this  sentence  of  excommuni- 
cation ;  in  which  time  we  find  him  more  fortunate  in  his  martial 
affairs  than  either  before  or  after.  For  he  made  a  successful  voyage 
into  Ireland,  (as  greedy  a  grave  for  English  corpses,  as  a  bottomless 
bag  for  their  coin,)  and  was  very  triumphant  in  a  Welsh  expedition, 
and  stood  on  honourable  terms  in  all  foreign  relations.  For  as  he 
kept  Ireland  under  his  feet,  and  Wales  under  his  elbow  ;  so  he 
shaked  hands  in  fast  friendship  with  Scotland,  and  kept  France  at 
arms''  end,  without  giving  hitherto  any  considerable  advantage 
against  him.     The  worst  was,  not  daring  to  repose  trust   in    Kis 

•  Compare  2  Sam.  xxir.  1,  with  1  Chron.  xxi,  1. 

Vol.  I.  z 


•338  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    RRITAIN.  A.D.  1210 — ^13. 

subjects,  he  was  forced  to  entertain  foreigners,  which  caused  his 
constant  anxiety  ;  as  those  neither  stand  sure,  nor  go  safe,  who 
trust  more  to  a  staff  than  they  lean  on  their  legs.  Besides,  to 
pay  these  mercenary  soldiers,  he  imposed  unconscionable  taxes  both 
on  the  English,  (clergy  especially,)  and  Jews  in  the  kingdom. 
One  Jew  there  was  of  Bristol,*  vehemently  suspected  for  wealth, 
though  there  was  no  clear  evidence  thereof  against  him  ;  of  whom 
the  king  demanded  ten  thousand  marks  of  silver,  and.  upon  his 
refusal,  commanded,  that  every  day  a  tooth,  with  intolerable  torture, 
should  be  drawn  out  of  his  head  ;  which  being  done  seven  several 
times,  on  the  eighth  day  he  confessed  his  wealth,  and  paid  the  fine 
demanded  ;  who,  yielding  sooner,  had  saved  his  teeth,  or,  stubborn 
longer,  had  spared  his  money  ;  now  having  both  his  purse  and  his 
jaw  empty  by  the  bargain.  Condemn  we  here  man's  cruelty,  and 
admfre  Heaven"'s  justice  ;  for  all  these  sums  extorted  from  the 
Jews,  by  temporal  kings,  are  but  paying  their  arrearages  to 
God  for  a  debt  they  can  never  satisfy, — namely,  the  crucifying 
of  Christ. 

12.   The  Prophecy  of  Peter  of  Wakefield  against  King  John. 
A.D.  1212. 

About  the  same  time,  one  Peter,  of  Wakefield  in  Yorkshire,  a 
hermit,  prophesied,  that  John  should  be  king  of  England  no  longer 
than  next  Ascension-Day,  after  which  solemn  festival,  (on  which 
Christ,  mounted  on  his  glorious  throne,  took  possession  of  his 
heavenly  kingdom,)  this  opposer  of  Christ  should  no  longer  enjoy 
the  English  diadem  ;  and,  as  some  report,  he  foretold  that  none  of 
king  John's  lineage  should  after  him  be  crowned  in  the  kingdom. 
The  king  called  this  prophet  "an  idiot-knave;"-!-  which  description 
of  him  implying  a  contradiction,  the  king  thus  reconciled, — pardon- 
ing him  as  an  idiot,  and  punishing  him  as  a  knave  with  imprison- 
ment in  Corfe-Castle.  The  fetters  of  the  prophet  gave  wings  to  his 
prophecy  ;  and,  whereas  the  king's  neglecting  it  might  have  puffed 
this  vain  prediction  into  wind,  men  began  now  to  suspect  it  of  some 
solidity,  because  deserving  a  wise  prince's  notice  and  displeasure. 
Far  and  near  it  was  dispersed  over  the  whole  kingdom,  it  being 
generally  observed,^  that  the  English  nation  are  most  superstitious 
in  believing  such  reports,  which  causeth  them  to  be  more  common 
here  than  in  other  countries.  For  as  the  receiver  makes  the  thief, 
so  popular  credulity  occasioneth  this  prophetical  vanity  ;  and 
brokers  would  not  set  such  base  ware  to  sale,  but  because  they  are 
sure  to  light  on  chapmen. 

•   Mat.  Paris  i?i  anvo  1210,  page  229.  t   Fox's  "  Martyi-ology,"  page  229. 

1  Coniinajus  saitli,  that  the  English  are  never  without  some  prophecy  on  foot. 


14  JOHN.  BOOK     III.       CENT.    XIII.  339 

13.  King  John's  Submission  to  the  Pope.  A.D.  1213. 
Leave  we  the  person  of  this  Peter  in  a  dark  dungeon,  and  his 
credit  as  yet  in  the  twilight,  betwixt  prophet  and  impostor,  to 
behold  the  miserable  condition  of  king  John,  perplexed  with  the 
daily  preparation'of  the  French  king's  invasion  of  England,  assisted 
by  many  English  mal-contents,  and  all  the  banished  bishops  :  good 
patriots,  Avho,  rather  than  the  fire  of  their  revenge  should  want  fuel, 
would  burn  their  own  country  which  bred  them.  Hereupon  king 
John,  having  his  soul  battered  without  with  foreign  fears,  and 
foundered  within  by  the  falseness  of  his  subjects,  sunk  on  a  sudden 
-  beneath  himself,  to  an  act  of  unworthy  submission  and  subjection  to 
the  pope.  For  on  Ascension-Eve,  May  15th,  being  in  the  town 
of  Dover,  (standing  as  it  were  on  tip-toes,  on  the  utmost  edge, 
brink,  and  label  of  that  land  which  now  he  was  about  to  surrender,) 
king  John,  by  an  instrument  or  charter,  sealed  and  solemnly 
delivered  in  the  presence  of  many  prelates  and  nobles,  to  Pandulphus 
[Masca]  the  popie's  legate,  granted  to  God,  and  the  church  of 
Rome,  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  and  to  pope  Innocent  III.  and 
his  successors,  the  whole  kingdom  of  England  and  Ireland  ;  and 
took  an  estate  thereof  back  again,  yielding  and  paying  yearly  to  the 
church  of  Rome,  (over  and  above  the  Peter-pence,)  a  thousand 
marks  sterling,  namely,  seven  hundred  for  England,  and  three 
hundred  for  Ireland.  In  the  passing  hereof,  this  ceremony  is 
observable,  that  the  king's  instrument  to  the  pope  was  sealed  with  a 
seal  of  gold,*  and  the  pope's  to  the  king  (which  I  have  beheld  and 
perused,  remaining  amongst  many  rarities  in  the  earl  of  Arundel's 
library)  was  sealed  with  a  seal  of  lead.  Such  bargains  let  them 
look  for,  who  barter  with  his  Holiness,  always  to  be  losers  by  the 
contract.  "  Thy  silver,"  saith  the  prophet,  "  is  become  dross," 
Isaiah  i.  22  ;  and  here  was  the  change  of  Glaucus  and  Diomedes 
made,  as  in  the  sequel  of  the  History  will  appear. 

1 4.   The  Rent  never  paid  the  Pope.,  nor  demanded  by  him. 

Yet  we  find  not,  that  this  fee-farm  of  a  thousand  marks  was  ever 
paid,  either  by  king  John  or  by  his  successors  ;  but  that  it  is  all 
run  on  the  score,  even  unto  this  present  day.  Not  that  the  pope 
did  remit  it  out  of  his  free  bounty,  but  for  other  reasons  was  rather 
contented  to  have  them  use  his  power  therein.  Perchance,  sus- 
pecting the  English  kings  would  refuse  to  pay  it,  he  accounted  it 
more  honour  not  to  demand  it,  than  to  be  denied  it.  Or  it  may 
be,  his  Holiness  might  conceive,  that  accepting  of  this  money  might 

•    Both  instruments  for  tlie  present  were  but  sealed  with   wax,   and  the  next  year 
solemnly  embossed  with  metfll,  iu  the  presence  of  Nicholas  the  pope's  legate. 

z  2 


340  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1213,  14. 

colourably  be  extended  to  the  cutting  him  off  from  all  other  profits 
he  might  gain  in  the  kingdom.  The  truth  is,  he  did  scorn  to  take 
so  poor  a  revenue  per  annum  out  of  two  kingdoms,  but  did  rather 
endeavour  to  convert  all  the  profits  of  both  lands  to  his  own  use, 
a?  if  he  had  been  seized  of  all  in  demesnes. 

15.   The  proud  Carriage  of  Pandidphus  to  the  King. 

At  the  same  time,  king  John  on  his  knees  surrendered  the 
crown  of  England  into  the  hands  of  Pandulphus,  and  also  presented 
him  with  some  money,  as  the  earnest  of  his  subjection  ;  which  the 
proud  prelate  trampled  under  his  feet  :  *  a  gesture  applauded  by 
some,  as  showing  how  much  his  Holiness  (whom  he  personated) 
slighted  worldly  wealth,  caring  as  little  for  king  John's  coin,  as  his 
predecessor  St.  Peter  did  for  the  money  of  Simon  !Magus,  Acts  viii. 
20.  Others,  and  especially  Henry,  archbishop  of  Dublin,  then 
present,  were  both  grieved  and  angry  thereat,  as  an  intolerable 
affront  to  the  king;  and  there  wanted  not  those  who  condemned 
his  pride  and  hypocrisy,  knowing  Pandulphus  to  be  a  most  greedy 
griper,  as  appeared  by  his  unconscionable  oppression,  in  the 
bishopric  of  Norwich,  which  was  afterwards  bestowed  upon  him. 
And,  perchance,  he  trampled  on  it,  not  as  being  money,  but  because 
no  greater  sum  thereof.  Five  days,  (namely,  Ascension-Day,  and 
four  days  after,)  Pandulphus  kept  the  crown  in  his  possession,  and 
then  restored  it  to  king  John  again  :  a  long  eclipse  of  royal  lustre  ; 
and  strange  it  is,  that  no  bold  monk,  in  his  blundering  Chronicles, 
did  adventure  to  place  king  Innocent,  with  his  five  days'"  reign, 
in  the  catalogue  of  English  kings,  seeing  they  have  written  what 
amounts  to  as  much  in  this  matter. 

16.  Peter  the  Prophet  hanged,  ivhether  unjustly,  disputed. 

Now  all  the  dispute  was,  whether  Peter  of  Wakefield  had 
acquitted  himself  a  true  prophet,  or  no.  The  Romanized  faction 
were  zealous  in  his  behalf;  John,  after  that  day,  not  being  king  in 
the  same  sense  and  sovereignty  as  before ;  not  free,  but  feodary  ; 
not  absolute,  but  dependent  on  the  pope,  whose  legate  possessed 
the  crown  for  the  time  being  ;  so  'that  his  prediction  was  true  in 
that  lawful  latitude  justly  allowed  to  all  prophecies.  Others, 
because  the  king  was  neither  naturally  nor  civilly  dead,  condemned 
him  of  forgery  ;  for  which,  by  the  king's  command,  he  was  dragged 
at  the  horse-tail  from  Corfe-Castle,  and  with  his  son,-|-  hanged  in 
the  town  of  Wareham  :  a  punishment  not  undeserved,  if  he 
foretold,  as  some  report,  that  none  of  the  line  or  lineage  of  king 
John  should  after  be  crowned  in  England  ;  of  whose  offspring  some 

•  Matt.  Paris,  page  237.  t  Idem,  ut  prim. 


15  JOHN.  BOOK     III.       CENT.     XIII.  341 

shall  flourish,  in  free  and  full  power  on  the  English  throne,  when 
the  Chair  of  Pestilence  shall  be  burned  to  ashes,  and  neither  triple- 
crown  left  at  Rome  to  be  worn,  nor  any  head  there  which  shall  dare 
to  wear  it. 

17.  The  Interdiction  of  England  relaxed.     A.D.  1214. 

Next  year  the  interdiction  was  taken  off  of  the  kingdom,  and  a 
general  jubilee  of  joy  all  over  the  land ;  banished  bishops  being 
restored  to  their  sees  ;  service  and  sacraments  being  administered 
in  the  church,  as  before.  But  small  reason  had  king  John  to 
rejoice,  being  come  out  of  God's  blessing,  (of  whom  before  he 
immediately  held  the  crown,)  into  the  warm  sun,  or  rather 
scorching  heat,  of  the  pope's  protection,  which  proved  little  bene- 
ficial unto  him. 

18.  The  Pope's  Legate  arbitrates  the  Arrears  betwixt  the  King 

and  Clergy. 

A  brawl  happened  betwixt  him  and  the  banished  bishops,  now 
returned  home,  about  satisfaction  for  their  arrears,  and  reparation  of 
their  damages,  during  the  interdiction  ;  all  which  term  the  king  had 
retained  their  revenues  in  his  hands.  To  moderate  this  matter, 
Nicholas,  a  Tusculan  cardinal  and  legate,  was  employed  by  the 
pope  ;  who,  after  many  meetings  and  synods  to  audit  their  accounts, 
reduced  all  at  last  to  the  gross  sum  of  forty  thousand  marks  :  the 
restoring  whereof  by  the  king  unto  them  was  thus  divided  into 
three  payments : — 1.  Twelve  thousand  marks  Pandulphus  carried 
over  with  him  into  France,  and  delivered  them  to  the  bishops  before 
their  return.  2.  Fifteen  thousand  were  paid  down  at  the  late 
meeting  in  Reading.  3.  For  the  thirteen  thousand  remaining, 
they  had  the  king's  oath,  bond,  and  other  sureties.  But  then  in 
came  the  whole  cry  of  the  rest  of  the  clergy,  who  stayed  all  the 
while  in  the  land,  bringing  in  the  bills  of  their  several  sufferings 
and  losses  sustained,  occasioned  by  the  interdiction.  Yea,  some 
had  so  much  avarice  and  little  conscience,  they  could  have  been 
contented  the  interdiction  had  still  remained,  until  all  the  accidental 
damages  were  repaired.  But  cardinal  Nicholas  averred  them  to 
amount  to  an  incredible  sum,  impossible  to  be  paid,  and  unreason- 
able to  be  demanded  ;  adding,  withal,  that,  in  general  grievances, 
private  men  may  be  glad  if  the  main  be  made  good  unto  them,  not 
descending  to  petty  particulars,  which  are  to  be  cast  out  of  course, 
as  inconsiderable  in  a  common  calamity.  Hereupon,  and  on  some 
other  occasions,  much  grudging  and  justlmg  there  Avas  betwixt 
Stephen  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  legate,  as  one,  in  his 
judgment  and  carriage  too  propitious  and  partial  to  the  king's  cause. 


342  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN'.  A.D.  1214 IG. 

1 9.   The  Barons  rebel  against  King  John. 

The  remnant  of  this  king's  reign  afForded  little  ecclesiastical 
story,  but  what  is  so  complicated  with  the  interest  of  state,  that  it  is 
more  proper  for  the  chronicles  of  the  commonwealth.  But  this  is 
the  brief  thereof :  The  barons  of  England  demanded  of  king  John 
to  desist  from  that  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  power  he  exercised,  and 
to  restore  king  Edward*'s  laws,  which  his  great-grandfather  king 
Henry  I.  had  confirmed  to  the  church  and  state,  for  the  general 
good  of  his  subjects ;  yea,  and  which  he  himself,  when  lately 
absolved  from  the  sentence  of  excommunication  by  Stephen  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  had  solemnly  promised  to  observe.  But  king 
John,  though  at  the  first  he  condescended  to  their  requests,  after- 
wards repented  of  his  promise,  and  refused  the  performance  thereof. 
Hereupon  the  barons  took  up  arms  against  him,  and  called  in  Lewis 
prince  of  France,  son  to  Philip  Augustus,  to  their  assistance,  pro- 
mising him  the  crown  of  England  for  his  reward. 

20.  Lewis  Prince  of  France  invited  by  the  Barons  to  invade 
'England.     J.2>.  1215. 

Yet  the  pope  endeavoured  what  lay  in  his  power  to  dissuade 
prince  Lewis  from  this  design  ;  to  which  at  first  he  encouraged  him, 
and  now  forbade  him  in  vain.  For,  where  a  crown  is  the  game 
hunted  after,  such  hounds  are  easier  laid  on,  than  either  rated  or 
hallooed  off.  Yea,  ambition  had  brought  this  prince  into  this 
dilemma ;  that  if  he  invaded  England,  he  was  accursed  by  the  pope  ; 
if  he  invaded  it  not,  forsworn  of  himself,  having  promised  upon  oath 
by  such  a  time  to  be  at  London.  Over  comes  Lewis  into  England, 
and  there  hath  the  principal  learning  of  the  land — the  clergy,  the 
strength  thereof — the  barons,  the  wealth  of  the  same — the  London- 
ers, to  join  with  him;  who  but  ill  requited  king  John  for  his  late 
bounty  to  their  city,  in  first  giving  them  a  mayor*  for  their 
governor.  Gualo  [Gallo]  the  pope''s  new  legate,  sent  on  purpose, 
bestiiTcd  himself  with  book,  bell,  and  candle  ;  excommunicating  the 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Avith  all  the  nobility  opposing  king  John, 
now  in  protection  of  his  Holiness.  But  the  commonness  of  these 
curses  caused  them  to  be  contemned ;  so  that  they  were  a  fright  to 
few,  a  mock  to  many,  and  a  hurt  to  none. 

21 .  An  unworthy  Embassy  of  King  John  to  the  King  of  Morocco. 

King  John,  thus  distressed,  sent  a  base,  degenerous,  and  unchris- 
tian-like embassage  to  Admiralius  Mermelius,  a  Mahometan  king  of 
Morocco,  then  very  puissant,  and  possessing  a  great  part  of  Spain  ; 
offering  him,  on  condition  he  would  send  him  succour,  to  hold  the 

•  Granted  to  the  city,  A.  D.  1209.     Grafton,  fol.  59. 


17  JOHN'.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIII,  343 

kingdom  of  England  as  a  vassal  from  him,  and  to  receive  the  law  of 
Mahomet.*  The  Moor,  marvellously  offended  with  his  offer,  told 
the  ambassadors,  that  he  lately  had  read  Paul's  epistles,  which  for 
the  matter  liked  him  very  well,  save  only  that  Paul  once  renounced 
that  faith  wherein  he  Avas  born  and  the  Jewish  profession  ;  where- 
fore he  neglected  king  John,  as  devoid  both  of  piety  and  policy, 
who  would  love  his  liberty,  and  disclaim  his  religion  :  a  strange 
tender,  if  true.  Here,  whilst  some  allege  in  behalf  of  king  John, 
that  cases  of  extremity  excuse  counsels  of  extremity,  (when  liberty  is 
not  left  to  choose  what  is  best,  but  to  snatch  what  is  next,  neglecting 
future  safety  for  present  subsistence,)  we  only  listen  to  the  saying  of 
Solomon,  "  Oppression  maketh  a  wise  man  mad,"  Eccles.  vii.  7-  In 
a  fit  of  which  fury,  oppressed  on  all  sides  with  enemies,  king  John, 
scarce  compos  sui^  may  be  presumed  to  have  pitched  on  this 
project. 

22.  The  lamentable  Death  of  King  John.  A.D.12\6. 
King  John  having  thus  tried  Turk  and  Pope,  and  both  with  bad 
success,  sought  at  last  to  escape  those  his  enemies  whom  he  could 
not  resist,  by  a  far  and  fast  march  into  the  north-eastern  counties ; 
where,  turning  mischievous  instead  of  valiant,  he  cruelly  burned  all 
the  stacks  of  corn  of  such  as  he  conceived  disaffected  unto  him  ; 
doing  therein  most  spite  to  the  rich  for  the  present,  but,  in  fine, 
more  spoil  to  the  poor,  the  prices  of  grain  falling  heavy  on  those 
who  were  least  able  to  bear  them.  Coming  to  Lynn,  he  rewarded 
the  fidelity  of  that  town  unto  him  with  bestowing  on  that  corpora- 
tion his  own  sword  ;-f-  which  had  he  himself  but  known  how  wtII  to 
manage,  he  had  not  so  soon  been  brought  into  so  sad  a  condition. 
He  gave  also  to  the  same  place  a  fair  silver  cup  all  gilded.  But 
few  days  after,  a  worse  cup  was  presented  to  king  John,  at  Swines- 
head-Abbey  in  Lincolnshire,  by  one  Simon  a  monk,:]:  of  poisoned 
wine,  whereof  the  king  died  :  a  murder  so  horrid  that  it  concerned 
all  monks  (who  in  that  age  had  the  monopoly  of  writing  histories) 
to  conceal  it,  and  therefore  give  out  sundry  other  causes  of  his 
death.  Some§  report  him  heart-broken  with  grief  for  the  loss  of  his 
baggage  and  treasure  drowned  in  the  passage  over  the  washes  ;  it 
being  just  with  God,  that  he  who  had  plagued  others  with  fire  should 
be  punished  by  water,  a  contrary  but  as  cruel  an  element.  Others  || 
ascribe  his  death  to  a  looseness,  and  scouring  with  blood  ;  others,  to  a 
cold  sweat ;  others,  to  a  burning  heat ; — all  effects  not  inconsistent 

•Matt.   Paris,  page    245,  placeth   this    two   years    sooner,    namelj-,  A.  I).  1213. 
t  Camden's  Brit,  in  Norfolk.  |   Will.  Caxton    in  Us  "Chronicle"  called 

Fructus  Temp.  lib.  vii.  §  Matt.  Paris,  page  287.  (|  Compare  Mr.  Fo.x's 

"  MartjToIogy,"  page  231,  with  Holinshed,  page  194. 


344  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1217. 

with  poison  :  so  that  they,  in  some  manner,  may  seem  to  set 
down  the  symptoms,  and  suppress  his  disease. 

23.  King  Johns  Character  delivered  in  the  Dark. 
It  is  hard  to  give  the  true  character  of  this  king''s  conditions. 
For  we  only  behold  him  through  such  light  as  the  friars  his  foes 
show  him  in  ;  who  so  hold  the  candle,  that,  with  the  shadow 
thereof,  they  darken  his  virtues,  and  present  only  his  vices.  Yea, 
and  as  if  they  had  also  poisoned  his  memory,  they  cause  his  faults 
to  swell  to  a  prodigious  greatness,  making  him  with  their  pens  more 
black  in  conditions,  than  the  Morocco  king  (whose  aid  he  requested) 
could  be  in  complexion :  a  murderer  of  his  nephew  Arthur  ;  a 
defiler  of  the  wives  and  daughters  of  his  nobles  ;  sacrilegious  in  the 
church  ;  profane  in  his  discourse  ;  wilful  in  his  private  resolutions  ; 
various  in  his  public  promises  ;  false  in  his  faith  to  men,  and  waver- 
ing in  his  religion  to  God.  The  favourablest  expression  of  him  falls 
from  the  pen  of  Roger  Hoveden  : — 

Princeps  quidem  magniis  crat,  sed  minus felixy 
Atqite  ut  Marius,  utramque  fortunam  expertus. 

Perchance  he  had  been  esteemed  more  pious,  if  more  prosperous  ; 
it  being  an  usual  (though  uncharitable)  error,  to  account  mischances 
to  be  misdeeds.  But  we  leave  him  quietly  buried  in  Worcester 
church,  and  proceed  in  our  story. 

24.  Henry  III.  under  Tutors  and  Governors.     1  Henry  III. 

Henry,  the  third  of  that  name,  his  son,  succeeded  him,  being  but 
ten  years  old ;  and  was  crowned  at  Gloucester,  October  28th,  by  a 
moiety  of  the  nobility  and  clergy,  the  rest  siding  with  the  French 
Lewis.  Now,  what  came  not  so  well  from  the  mouth  of  Abijah  the 
son,  concerning  his  father  Rehoboam,  posterity  may,  no  less  truly, 
and  more  properly,  pronounce  of  this  Henry,  even  when  a  man  ; 
"  He  was  but  a  child,  and  tender-hearted,"  2  Chron,  xiii.  7-  But, 
what  strength  was  wanting  in  the  ivy  itself  was  supplied  by  the  oaks, 
his  supporters,  his  tutors  and  governors  ;  first,  William  Marshall, 
earl  of  Pembroke,  and,  after  his  death,  Peter,  bishop  of  Winchester. 
But,  of  these  two  protectors,  successively  a  sword-man  and  a  church- 
man, the  latter  left  the  deeper  impression  on  this  our  king  Henry, 
appearing  more  religious  than  resolute,  devout  than  valiant.  His 
reign  was  not  only  long  for  continuance,  fifty-six  years,  but  also 
thick  for  remarkable  mutations  happening  therein. 

25.  By  ivhat  Means  King  Henry  so  quickly  recovered  his 

Kingdom. 
Within  little  more  than  a  twelvemonth,  he  recovered  the  entire 
possession  of  his  kingdom  ;   many  things  concurring  to  expedite  so 


1  HENRY  Iir.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIIT.  345 

great  an  alteration.  First.  The  insolency  of  tlie  French,  disobliging 
the  English  by  their  cruelty  and  wantonness.  Secondly.  The 
inconstancy  of  the  English,  (if  starting  loyalty's  return  to  its  lawful 
sovereign  may  be  so  termed,)  who,  as  for  their  own  turns  they 
called  in  Lewis,  so  for  their  turns  they  cast  him  out.  Thirdly.  The 
innocence  of  prince  Henry,  whose  harmless  age,  as  it  attracted  love 
to  him  on  his  own  account,  so  he  seemed  also  hereditarily  to  succeed 
to  some  pity,  as  the  son  of  a  suffering  father.  Fourthly.  The 
wisdom  and  valour,  counsel  and  courage,  of  William  earl  of  Pem- 
hroke,  his  protector  ;  who,  having  got  the  French  Lewis  out  of  his 
covert  of  the  city  of  London,  into  the  champaign  field,  so  mauled 
him  at  the  fatal  battle  of  Lincoln,  that  soon  after  the  said  Lewis 
was  fain,  by  the  colour  of  a  composition,  to  qualify  his  retreat  (not 
to  say  his  flight)  into  the  honour  of  a  departure.  Lastly  and  chiefly. 
The  mercy  of  God  to  an  injured  orphan,  and  his  justice,  that 
detained  right  (though  late,  yet)  at  last  should  return  to  its  proper 
owner. 

26.  Our  piincipal Design  in  writing  this  Kincfs  Life.  A.D.  1217. 
But  it  were  not  only  uncivil  but  injurious  for  us  to  meddle  with 
these  matters,  proper  to  the  pens  of  the  civil  historians.  We  shall 
therefore  confine  ourselves  principally  to  take  notice,  in  this  king's 
reign,  as  of  the  unconscionable  extortions  of  the  court  of  Rome  on 
the  one  side,  to  the  detriment  of  the  king  and  kingdom ;  so  of  the 
defence  which  the  king,  as  well  as  he  could,  made  against  it :  defence, 
which,  though  too  faint  and  feeble  fully  to  recover  his  right  from  so 
potent  oppression,  yet  did  this  good, — to  continue  his  claim,  and 
preserve  the  title  of  his  privileges,  until  his  son,  and  successors  in 
after-ages,  could  more  effectually  rescue  the  rights  of  their  crown 
from  papal  usurpation. 

27.  Occasions  of  the  Pope''s  intolerable  Extortions. 
Indeed,  at  this  time  many  things  emboldened  the  pope  (not  over- 
bashful  of  himself)  to  be  the  more  busy  in  the  collecting  of  money. 
First.  The  troublesomeness  of  the  times,  and  best  fishing  for  him 
in  such  waters.  Secondly.  The  ignorance  of  most,  and  the 
obnoxiousness  of  some,  of  the  English  clergy.  Now,  such  as  had 
weak  heads  must  find  strong  backs  ;  and  those  that  led  their  lives 
loose  durst  not  carry  their  purses  tied,  or  grudge  to  pay  dear  for  a 
connivance  at  their  viciousness.  Thirdly.  The  minority  of  king 
Henry,  and,  which  was  worse,  his  non-age,  after  his  full  age  ;  such 
was  his  weakness  of  spirit,  and  lowness  of  resolution.  Lastly. 
The  pope,  conceiving  that  this  king  got  his  crown  under  the  coun- 
tenance of  his   excommunicating  his  enemies,   thought  that  either 


34(5  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1217 20. 

king  Henry ''s  weakness  could  not  see,  or  his  goodness  would  wink  at, 
his  intolerable  extortions  ;  which,  how  great  soever,  were  but  a  large 
shiver  of  that  loaf  which  he  had  given  into  the  king's  hand.  Pre- 
suming on  the  premises,  Gualo,  the  pope's  legate,  by  his  inquisitors 
throughout  England,  collected  a  vast  sum  of  money  of  the  clergy, 
for  their  misdemeanours ;  Hugo  bishop  of  Lincoln  paying  no  less 
for  his  share,  than  a  thousand  marks  sterling  to  the  pope,*  and  a 
hundred  to  this  his  legate.  Yet  when  this  Gualo  departed,  such  as 
hated  his  dwelling  here  grieved  at  his  going  hence,  because  fearing  a 
worse  in  his  room  ;  choosing  rather  to  be  sucked  by  full  than  fresh 
flies,  hoping  that  those  already  gorged  would  be  afterwards  less 
greedy. 

28.  A  new  Design. 

And  being  now  to  give  the  reader  a  short  account  of  the  long 
reign  of  this  king,  I  shall  alter  my  proceedings,  embracing  a  new 
course  which  hitherto  I  have  not,  nor  hereafter  shall,  venture  upon  ; 
wherein,  I  hope,  the  variation  may  be  not  only  pleasant  but  profit- 
able to  the  reader,  as  scientifical  and  satisfactory  in  itself;  namely, 
I  will  for  the  present  leave  off  consulting  with  the  large  and  numerous 
printed  or  manuscript  authors  of  that  age,  and  betake  myself  only  to 
the  Tower  Records,  all  authentically  attested  under  the  hands  of 
William  Ryley,  Norroy,  keeper  of  that  precious  treasury. 

29.  Good  Text,  whatever  the  Comments. 

When  I  have  first  exemplified  them,  I  shall  proceed  to  make 
such  observations  upon  them,  as,  according  to  my  weakness,  I  con- 
ceive of  greatest  concernment ;  being  confident  that  few  consider- 
ables in  that  age  (which  Avas  the  crisis  of  regal  and  papal  power  in 
this  land)  Avill  escape  our  discovery  herein. 

30.  Serenity  in  the  State.     A.  D.  1220. 

Only  I  desire  a  pardon  for  the  premising  of  this  touch  of  state- 
matters.  At  this  instant  the  commonw^ealth  had  a  great  serenity, 
as  lately  cleared  from  such  active  spirits,  who  nick-named  the  calm 
and  quiet  of  peace,  "  a  sloth  of  government."  Such  Falcatius  de 
Brent,  and  others,  Avho  had  merited  much  in  setting  this  Henry  HI. 
on  the  throne;  and  it  is  dangerous  when  subjects  confer  too  great 
benefits  on  their  sovereigns ;  for  afterwards  their  minds  are  only 
made  capable  of  receiving  more  reward,  not  doing  more  duty. 
These  were  oflTended  when  such  lands  and  castles,  which  by  the  heat 
of  war  had  unjustly  been  given  fliem,  by  peace  were  justly  taken 
away  from  them ;  finding  such   uprightness  in  the  king,   that  his 

*  Matt.  Paris,  page  299. 


7  HENRY   III.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIII.  347 

power  of  protection  would  not  be  made  a  wrong-doer.  But  now 
the  old  stock  of  such  malcontents,  being  either  worn  out  with  age, 
or  ordered  otherwise  into  obedience,  all  things  were  in  an  universal 
tranquillity,  within  the  first  seven  years  of  this  king"'s  reign. 


SECTION   V. 

THOM^   HANSON,   AMICO   MEO. 

DisPLiCET  mihi  modernus  scribendi  mos,  quo  monu- 
menta  indies  exarantur.  Literee  enim  sunt  fugaces,  ut 
quae  non  stabili  manu  penitiis  membranis  infiguntur, 
•sed  currente  calamo  summam  earum  cuticulam  vix 
leviter  praestringunt.  Hae  cum  saeculum  unum  et 
alteram  duraverint,  vel  linceis  oculis  lectu  erunt 
perdifficiles. 

Haud  ita  olim  archiva,  in  Turre  Londinensi,  Rotalis, 
Scaccario,  &c.  deposita;  in  quibus  ingens  scribarum 
cura,  justa  membranarum  firmitas,  atramentum  vere 
iEthiopicum,  integra  literarum  lineamenta,  ut  calamus 
praeli  aemulus  videatur.  Ita  adhuc  vigent  omnia,  in 
illis  quce  trecentis  abliinc  annis  notata,  ut  is,  cui  cha- 
racteris  antiquitas  minus  cognita,  nuperrime  descripta 
judicaret. 

Ex  his  nonnulla  decerpsi,  ad  rem  nostram  facientia, 
et  ea  tibi  dedicanda  curavi,  quem  omnes  norunt  anti- 
quitatis  canitiem  venerari :  quo,  in  Ducatiis  Lancas- 
trensis  chartulis  custodiendis,  nemo  fidelior,  perlegendis 
oculatior,  communicandis  candidior. 

1.    A    remarkable    Writ   of  the  King   to   the   Sheriff'  of 
Buckinghamshire. 

Hkre  we  begin  with  the  king''s  precept  to  the  sheriff  of  Buck- 
inghamshire, considerable  for  the  rarity  thereof,  though  otherwise 
but  a  matter  of  private  concernment. 

Vic.  BiicJcs. — Precipimus  tibi  quod  Emnie  de  Pinkney  nx. 
Lanr.  Pinkney^  qui  e.vcommjinicatKs  est.,  eo  quod  predict. 
Emmam  affectione  maritali  non  tractamt.,  eid.  Emme  rationa- 
bil.  estover.  invenias,  donee  idetn  Laur.  vir  suus  earn 
tanquani  sriant  fractaverit. 


348  CHURCH    HISTOEY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1215. 

"  To  the  High  Sheriff  of  Buckinghamshire. — We  command  you 
concerning  Emme  de  Pinkney,  wife  of  Laurence  Pinkney,  who  is 
excommunicated,  because  he  did  not  use  the  aforesaid  Emme  with 
affection  befitting  a  husband  ;  that  you  find  for  the  said  Emme 
estovers  in  reasonable  proportion,  until  the  said  Laurence  her  hus- 
band shall  use  her  as  becometh  his  wife."" 

Of  this  Laurence  Pinkney  I  can  say  nothing  :  only  I  find  his 
family  ancient,  and  barons  of  Weedon  in  Northamptonshire.*  It 
seemeth  strange  he  should  be  excommunicated  for  not  loving  usage 
of  his  wife,  no  incontinency  appearing  proved  against  him  ;  except 
his  carriage  was  cruel  in  a  high  degree.  By  estovers  in  our  forest 
towns,  we  only  understand,  "a  certain  allowance  of  wood  ;"  though 
the  extent  of  the  word  be  far  larger,  importing,  "  nourishment,"  or 
"maintenance  in  meat  and  cloth,"  as  a  learned  lawyer -f*  hath 
observed.  This,  it  seems,  being  denied  by  her  husband,  the  king 
enjoineth  the  sheriff,  that  he  should  appoint  the  said  Emme  Pink- 
ney reasonable  alimony,  in  proportion,  no  doubt,  to  her  portion  and 
her  husband's  estate. 

2,  A  remarkable  Prohibition  of  papal  Appeals.     A.D.  1215. 

Next  we  take  notice  of  a  writing  which  the  king  sent  over  to  the 
archbishop  of  Dublin, |  and  which  deservcth  the  reader's  serious 
perusal : — 

Rex  Dublin.  Archiepiscopo,  Ju-iticiario  Hiberniee,  sahdem. — 
Adea  que  vobis  nuper  nostris  dcdimus  in  mandatts^  ut  nobis  rescri- 
heretis  quatenns  fuisset  processum  in  causa  Nicolai  de  Feldd,  qui 
contra  abbatem  et  canonicos  St.  ThonKe  Dublinensis  in  Curia 
nostra^  coram  Justiciariis  nostris,  petiit  duas  carrncatus  terra 
cum  pertinentiis  in  Kelredhery  per  assisam  de  morte  Antecessoris^ 
cui  etiam  coram  eiidem  Justiciariis  objectafuit  Bastardia,  propter 
quod  ab  ipsis  Justiciariis  nostris  ad  vos  J'uit  transmissus,  ut  in 
Jbro  erclesiastico  de  ejus  Bastardia  sive  Legitimitate  agnosceretis, 
nobis  per  litteras  vestras  signijicastis  ;  quod  cum  in  foro  civili 
tcrram  predlctam  peteret,  per  litteras  nostras  de  morte  anteces- 
sor'is  versus  memoralos  abbatem  et  canonicos  objccta  eifuit  nota 
Bastardie,  quare  in  foro  eodem  tunc  nonfuit  ulterius  processum. 
Memoratus  etiam  Nicolaus  de  mandato  Justiciariorum  nostrorum 
in  foro  ecclesiastico  coram  nobis  volens  probare  se  esse  Legitimum, 
testes  produxlt :  et  publicatis  attestationibus  suis,  post  diuturn. 
altercatioues  et  disputationes  tam  ex  parte  abbatis,  quam  ipsius 
Nicolai^  cum  ad  calculum  diffinitive  sententie  §  procedere  velletis, 
comparuerunt  due  puelle  minoris  etatis,  Jilie  Ricardi  de  la  Feld, 

"  Camden's  Brit,  in  Northamptonshire,  f  Bracton  lib.  iii.  tract.  2,  cap.  18,  num.  1. 
i  Clans.  8,  Ilenr.  III.  memb.  24,  in  dorso.         §  No  ee  diphthongs  in  old  records. 


8  HENRY   ITT.  BOOK    IIT.       CENT.    Xllt.  349 

pafris  predkti  Nicohi,  et  appellavenmt  ne  ad  senteniiavi  foxn- 
dam  pt'ocederetis,  quia  hoc  in  manifesttim  earum  verier ctnr  mc- 
jud'icmm  :  eo  quod  alid'i  precluderetur  e'ls  via  pctendi  licreditatcm 
'petitam,  nee  possit  eis  subveniri  per  restitutionem  in  integrum. 
Undc  de  consilio  vestrorum  prudeuium,  nt  dicitis,  appeUationl 
deferentes  causam,  secvndum  quod  coram  tiohis  agitata  est. 
Domino  pape  transmisistis  inst7-uetam.  De  quo  plurimnm  admi- 
rantes,  non  im7?ierito  movemur,cicm  de  Legitimitate  prcdieti  Nicolai 
per  testium  productiones,  et  attestationum  publicationes,  plene 
nobis  constet ;  vos  propter  appellatioriern  piiellarinn  predictarum, 
C07itra  quas  non  agebatur,  veletiam  de  quibusnnllafiebatmentioin 
assisd  memorata,  nee  fue runt  alique  partes  illartcm  in  causa  pre- 
dictd,  sententiam  diffinitivam  pro  eo  distulistis  pronunciare^  et 
male  quasi  nostrum  declinantes  examen,  et  volentes  nt  quod  per 
nostrum  determinandum  esset  Jurisdictioiiem,  et  dignitatem,  ad 
alienam  transferretur  dignitatem  ;  quod  valde  pcrniciusum  esset 
exemplo.  Cum  etiam  si  adepttis  esset  prftdictiis  NicJtoIaus posses- 
sionem teme  pnedictcB,  per  assisam  preedictam,  benejicium  peti- 
cionis  heereditatis  pnedictis  pueUis  plane  suppeteret  in  curia  nostra, 
j)er  Breve  de  Recto ;  maxime  cum  per  Uitei'as  de  morie  ante- 
cessoris  agatiir  de  possessione,  et  non  de  proptietate,  et  ex 
officio  vestro  in  easti  proposito  nihil  aliud  ad  vos  pertinebat,  nisi 
iantnm  de  ipsius  Nicholai  LcQ^itimitate  po'obaiiones  admittere,  et 
ipsum  cum  Utteris  vestris  testimonialibus  ad  Justiciarios  nostros 
remitter e.  De  consilio  igitur  magnatum  et  JideVnim  nobis 
assistentium,  vobis  mandamus  jirmiter  injungentes,  quatenns  non 
obstante  appellatiune  prttmissd,  non  differatis  pro  eo  sentcnciare, 
ipsum  ad  Justiciarios  nostros  remittentes,  cum  Utteris  vestris 
testimonialibus,  ut  eis  de  loqxield  postmodum  agitatd,  postmodum 
possint  secundu7n  legem  et  consiietudinem  terra  nostree  Hibernice 
Justiciee  plenitudinem  exhibere.  Teste  rege  apud  Glocester 
19  die  Novembris. 

3.  The  Effect  of  the  Instrument. 
Tlie  sum  of  this  instrument  is  this :  One  Nicholas  de  Fold  suino- 
for  a  portion  of  ground  detained  from  him  by  the  abbot  of  St. 
Thomas  in  Dublin,  (founded  and  plentifully  endowed  in  memory  of 
Thomas  Becket,)  had  bastardy  objected  against  him.  The  clearing 
hereof  was  by  the  king's  j  udges  remitted  to  the  courts  ecclesiastical, 
where  the  said  Nicholas  produced  effectual  proofs  for  his  legitima- 
tion. But  upon  the  appeal  of  two  minor  daughters  of  the  father  of 
the  said  Nicholas,  who  never  before  appeared,  and  who,  if  wronged, 
had  their  remedy  at  common  law,  by  a  Writ  of  Right  the  matter 
was  by  the  archbishop  of  Dublin  transferred  to  the  court  of  Rome, 


350  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1215 35. 

4.  Appeal  to  the  Pope  prohibited. 

The  king  saith  in  this  his  letter,  that  he  did  much  admire  thereat, 
and  (though  all  interests  express  themselves  to  their  own  advantage)  . 
intimates  the  act  not  usual.  And  whereas  he  saith,  that  "  the  ex- 
ample would  be  pernicious  ;"  it  seems,  if  this  were  a  leading  case, 
the  king"'s  desire  was  it  should  have  none  to  follow  it,  peremptorily 
enjoining  the  archbishop  (notwithstanding  the  aforesaid  appeal  to 
the  pope)  to  proceed  to  give  sentence  on  the  behalf  of  the  said 
Nicholas  ;  and  not  to  derive  the  king''s  undoubted  right  to  a  foreign 
power. 

5.  The  Time  makes  it  the  more  remarkable. 

Indeed,  the  kings  of  England  were  so  crest-fallen,  or  rather  cro'WTi- 
fallen,  in  this  age,  that  the  forbidding  of  such  an  appeal  appeareth 
in  him  a  daring  deed.  Est  aliqicid  prodire  temis  ;  essays  in  such 
nature  were  remarkable,  considering  the  inundation  of  the  papal 
power.  Green  leaves  in  the  depth  of  winter  may  be  more  than  full 
flowers  from  the  same  root  in  the  spring.  It  seems,  some  royal  sap 
still  remained  in  the  English  sceptre,  that  it  durst  oppose  the  pope 
in  so  high  a  degree. 

6.  Caursines,  ivhat  they  zvere.     A.D.  1235. 

In  this  year,  1235,  the  Caursines  first  came  into  England,  proving 
the  pests  of  the  land,  and  bane  of  the  people  therein.  These 
were  Italians  by  birth,  terming  themselves  the  pope''s  merchants, 
driving  no  other  trade  than  letting-out  money,  great  banks  whereof 
they  brought  over  into  England  ;  differing  little  from  the  Jews  , 
save  that  they  were  more  merciless  to  their  debtors.  Now,  because  the 
pope's  legate  was  all  for  ready  money,  when  any  tax  by  levy,  com- 
mutation of  vows,  tenths,  dispensations,  &c.  were  due  to  the  pope, 
from  prelate,  convents,  priests,  or  lay  persons,  these  Caursines 
instantly  furnished  them  with  present  coin  upon  their  solemn  bonds 
and  obligations  :  one  form  whereof  we  have  inserted  : — 

"  To  all  that  shall  see  the  present  writing,  Thomas  the  prior  and 
the  convent  of  Barnwell  wish  health  in  the  Lord. — Know  that  we 
have  borrowed  and  received  at  London,  for  our  selves,  profitably  to 
be  expended  for  the  affaires  of  our  church,  from  Francisco  and 
Gregorio,  for  them  and  their  partners,  citizens  and  merchants  of 
Millain,  a  hundred  and  four  marks  of  lawfuU  money  sterling,  thirteen 
shillings  four  pence  sterling  being  counted  to  every  mark.  Which 
said  one  hundred  and  four  marks  we  promise  to  pay  back  on  the 
feast  of  St.  Peter  ad  Vincula,  being  the  first  day  of  August,  at  the 
New  Temple  in  London,  in  the  year  1235.  And  if  the  said  money 
be  not  throughly  paid,  at  the  time  and  place  aforesaid,  we  bind  our 


11)  HENRY.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIII.  351 

selves  to  pay  to  the  foresaid  merchants,  or  any  one  of  tlieni,  or  their 
certain  atturney,  for  every  ten  marks,  forborne  two  months,  one  mark 
of  money  for  recompence  of  the  damages,  which  the  foresaid  mer- 
chants may  incnr  by  the  not-payment  of  the  money  unto  them,  so 
that  both  principal!,  damages,  and  expences,  as  above  expressed,  with 
the  expences  of  one  merchant  with  his  horse  and  man,  untill  such  time 
as  the  aforesaid  money  be  fully  satisfied.  For  payment  of  principal, 
interest,  damages,  and  expences,  we  oblige  our  selves,  and  our  church 
and  successours,  and  all  our  goods,  and  the  goods  of  our  church, 
moveable  or  immoveable,  ecclesiasticall,  or  temporall,  which  we  have, 
or  shall  have,  wheresoever  they  shall  be  found,  to  the  foresaid  mer- 
chants, and  their  heirs  ;  and  do  recognize  and  acknowledge  that  we 
possesse  and  hold  the  same  goods  from  the  said  merchants  by  way  of 
courtesy,  untill  the  premises  be  fully  satisfied.  And  we  renounce 
for  our  selves,  and  successours,  all  help  of  canon  and  civil  law,  all 
priviledges,  and  clark-ship,  the  epistle  of  St.  Adrian,  all  customes, 
statutes,  lectures,  indulgences,  priviledges,  obtained  for  the  king  of 
England,  from  the  see  apostolick  :  as  also  we  renounce  the  benefit  of 
all  appeales,  or  inhibition  from  the  king  of  England,  with  all  other 
exceptions  real  or  personal,  which  may  be  objected  against  the  validity 
of  this  instrument.  All  these  things  we  promise  faithfully  to  observe: 
in  witnesse  whereof  we  have  set  to  the  seal  of  our  convent.  Dated 
at  London,  die  quinto  Elphegi,  in  the  year  of  Grace  1235." 

Sure  bind,  sure  find.  Here  were  cords  enough  to  hold  Samson 
himself;  an  order  taken  they  should  never  be  cut  or  untied,  the 
debtor  depriving  himself  of  any  relief,  save  by  full  payment. 

7.  Necessary  Observations. 

It  will  not  be  amiss  to  make  some  brief  notes  on  the  former  obli- 
gation, it  being  better  to  write  on  it,  than  to  be  written  in  it  as  the 
debtor  concerned  therein. 

One  hundred  and  four  marks — The  odd  four  seem  added  for 
interest.  Feast  of  St.  Peter  ad  Vincula — The  popish  tradition 
saith,  that  Eudoxia  the  empress,  wife  to  Theodosius  the  younger, 
brought  two  great  chains,  wherewith  Herod  imprisoned  St.  Peter, 
from  Jerusalem  to  Rome,  where  they  are  reported  seen  at  this  day, 
and  a  solemn  festival  kept  on  the  first  of  August,  the  quarter  pay- 
day of  Rome's  revenues,  in  memorial  thereof.  But  the  name  of 
Lammas  hath  put  out  St.  Peter's  chains  in  our  English  almanac. 
New  Temple  at  London — In  Fleet-street,  founded  by  the  Knights 
Templars,  and  dedicated  by  Heraclius  patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  1185. 
Called  "  New ""  in  relation  to  Ancient  Temple,  (less  and  less  con- 
venient,) they  had  formerly  in  Oldburn  [Holborn].  And  our 
certain  atturney — Nuncius  in   the  Latin,  being  one  employed  to 


352  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1235 8. 

solicit  their  suit.  All  the  goods  of  our  church,  moveable  and  im- 
moveable— Hence  oftentimes  they  were  forced  to  sell  their  chalices 
and  altar-plate  to  pay  the  bond,  and  secure  the  rest  of  their  goods, 
for  these  creditors.  Canon  and  civil  law — Common  law  not  men- 
tioned herein,  with  which  these  Caursines,  being  foreigners,  would 
have  nothing  to  do.  Epistle  of  St.  Adrian — This  seems  to  be  some 
indulgence  granted  by  pope  Adrian  IV.  perchance,  whereby  churches 
indicted  found  some  favour  against  their  creditors.  Die  quinto 
Elphegi — I  am  not  datary  enough  to  understand  this.  I  know 
Elphegus  to  be  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  martyr,  and  his  day 
kept  the  nineteenth  of  April  ;  so  that  the  money  was  borrowed  but 
for  three  months  ;  so  soon  did  the  payment,  or  heavy  forfeiture  in 
default  thereof,  return. 

8.  Caursines,  ivhence  so  called. 

These  Caursines  were  generally  hated  for  their  extortions.  Some 
will  have  them  called  Caursines  quasi  causa  ursini,  so  bearish 
and  cruel  in  their  causes  :  others  Caursini  quasi  corrasini,  from 
scraping  all  together.  But  these  are  but  barbarous  allusions,  though 
best  becoming  such  base  practices. 

9.  Foxes''  Hap  and  Happiness. 

Mean  time  the  Caursines  cared  not  what  they  were  called,  being 
akin  to  the  cunning  creature,  which  fareth  best  wdien  cursed  ;  and 
were  indeed  lords  of  the  land,  according  to  Scripture-rule,  "  The 
borrower  is  servant  to  the  lender  ;""  many  of  the  laity,  more  of  the 
clergy  and  convents,  and  the  king  himself,  being  deeply  indebted 
unto  them.  Indeed,  Roger  Black,  that  valiant,  learned,  and  pious 
bishop  of  London,  once  excommvmicated  these  Caursines  for  their 
oppression  ;  but  they,  appealing  to  the  pope,  their  good  friend, 
forced  him,  after  much  molestation,  to  desist. 

10.  Caursines  and  Lombards  the  same. 

These  Caursines  were  more  commonly  known  by  the  name  of 
Lombards,  from  Lombardy  the  place  of  their  nativity,  in  Italy.  And 
although  they  deserted  England  on  the  decaying  of  the  pope's  power 
and  profit  therein  ;  yet  a  double  memorial  remaineth  of  them  :  One 
of  their  habitation,  in  Lombard-street  in  London  :  the  other  of  their 
employment,  "  a  Lombard"  imto  this  day  signifying  "a  bank  for 
usury,"  or  "  pawns,"  still  continued  in  the  Low  Countries,  and 
elsewhere. 

11.  Deep  Hypocrisij. 

Mean  time  one  may  lawfully  smile  at  the  pope''s  hypocrisy, 
forbidding  usury  as  a  sin  so  detectable  under  such  heavy  penalties 


22  HENRY  III.  ROOK    ITI.       CENT.    XIII.  ^53 

in  his  canon  law,  whilst  his  own  instnnnents.  were  the  most  uncon- 
scionable practisers  thereof  without  any  control. 

12,  13.   Tke  Present  of  the  Oxford  Scholars  to  the  Legate^  ill 
requited.     A.D.  1238. 

Otho,  cardinal,  deacon  of  St.  Nicholas,  was  sent  the  pope's  legate 
into  England  ;  and,  going  to  Oxford,*  took  up  his  lodgings  in  the 
abbey  of  Osney.  To  him  the  scholars  in  Oxford  sent  a  present  of 
victuals  before  dinner ;  and,  after  dinner,  came  to  tender  their 
attendance  unto  him.  The  porter,  being  an  Italian,  demanded 
their  business  ;  Avho  answered  him,  that  they  came  to  wait  on  the 
lord  legate  ;  promising  themselves  a  courteous  reception,  having 
read  in  the  Scripture,  "A  man's  gift  maketh  room  for  him," 
Prov.  xviii.  16  :  though  here,  contrary  to  expectation,  they  were 
not  received.  Call  it  not  "  clownishness "  in  the  porter,  (because 
bred  in  the  court  of  Rome,)  but  carefulness  for  the  safety  of  his 
master. 

But  whilst  the  porter  held  the  door  in  a  dubious  posture,  betwixt 
open  and  shut,  the  scholars  forced  their  entrance.  In  this  juncture 
of  time,  it  unluckily  happened  that  a  poor  Irish  priest  begged  an 
alms,  in  whose  face  the  clerk  of  the  kitchen  cast  scalding  water 
taken  out  of  the  caldron.  A  Welsh  clerk,  beholding  this,  bent  his 
bow  (by  this  time  the  scholars  had  got  weapons)  and  shot  the  clerk 
of  the  kitchen  stark  dead  on  the  place. 

14.  The  Legate's  Brother  killed  hy  the  Scholars  of  Oxford. 

This  man,  thus  killed,  was  much  more  than  his  plain  place 
promised  him  to  be,  as  no  meaner  than  the  brother  of  the  legate 
himself;  who,  being  suspicious  (O  how  jealous  is  guiltiness  !)  that 
he  might  find  Italy  in  England,  and  fearing  to  be  poisoned, 
appointed  his  brother  to  oversee  all  food  for  his  own  eating.  And 
now  the  three  nations  of  Irish,  AVelsh,  and  English  fell  down  right 
on  the  Italians.  The  legate,  fearing  (as  they  came  from  the  same 
womb)  to  be  sent  to  the  same  grave  with  his  brother,  secured  him- 
self fast  locked  up  in  the  tower  of  Osney  church,  and  there  sat  still 
and  quiet,  all  attired  in  his  canonical  cope. 

15.   The  Legate Jlies  to  the  King. 

But  he,  it  seems,  trusted  not  so  much  to  his  canonical  cope,  as 
the  sable  mantle  of  night ;  under  the  protection  whereof  he  got  out, 
with  a  guide,  to  make  his  escape  ;  not  without  danger  of  drowning 
in   the   dark,   being  five  times  to  cross  the  river  then  swelling  with 

*  M.  P.ARis  in  anno  1238.  Ran.  Cistrensis,  lib.  ult,  cap.  34,  et  T.  W.ALSi\yiiAM 
in   Hypodigin.  Ncnstria. 

VOT,.   I.  A    A 


3.)4  CHIIUCH    HIStOUY    OF    ERITAIX.  A.D.  12o8. 

late  rain,  as  much,  as  the  scholars  with  anger.  He  made  fords 
where  he  found  none,  all  known  passages  being  way-laid ;  and 
heard  the  scholars  following  after,  railing  on,  and  calling  him 
"  usurer,  simoniac,  deceiver  of  the  prince,  oppressor  of  the  people," 
&c.  whilst  the  legate  wisely  turaed  his  tongue  into  heels,  spurring 
with  might  and  main  to  Abingdon  where  the  court  then  lay. 
Hither  he  came,  being  out  of  all  breath  and  patience  ;  so  that 
entering  the  king"'s  presence,  his  tears  and  sighs  were  fain  to  relieve 
his  tongue,  not  able  otherwise  to  express  his  miseries  ;  whom  the 
king  did  most  affectionately  compassionate.    , 

16, 17, 1^-  Oxford  in  a  sad  Co7idition ;  interdicted  hy  the  Legate, 
who  returns  to  London. 

And  now  woe  to  the  poor  clergy  of  Oxford,  when  both  temporal 
and  spiritual  arms  are  prepared  against  them  !  Next  day  the  king 
sent  the  earl  Warren  with  forces  against  them,  and  a  double  com- 
mission,— eripere  et  arripere  ;  "  to  deliver  the  remainder  of  the 
Italians,"  (little  better  than  besieged  in  Osney  Abbey.)  "  and  to 
seize  on  the  scholars  ;"  of  whom  thirty,  with  one  Otho  Legista, 
(forward,  it  seems,  in  the  fray  against  the  legate  his  name-sake,) 
were  taken  prisoners,  and  sent,  like  felons,  bound  in  carts,  to 
AVallingford  prison,  and  other  places  of  restraint. 

Nor  was  the  legate  lazy  the  wdiile  ;  but,  summoning  sugh  bishops 
as  were  nearest  him,  interdicted  the  university  of  Oxford,  and 
excommunicated  all  such  as  were  partakers  in  the  tumult ;  which 
Avere  not  the  young  fry  of  scholars,  but  clerks  in  Orders  ;  and 
manv  of  them  beneficed,  and  now  deprived  of  the  profit  of  their 
livings. 

From  Abingdon  the  legate  removed  to  London,  lodging  at 
Durham-house  in  the  Strand  ;  the  king  commanding  the  mayor  of 
London  "  to  keep  him  as  the  apple  of  his  eye,"  with  watch  and 
ward  constantly  about  him.  Hither  he  assembled  the  bishops  of 
the  land,  to  consider  and  consult  about  reparation  for  so  high  an 
affront. 

19-  The  Bishops  intercede  for  the  University. 
The  bishops  pleaded  hard  for  the  university  of  Oxford,  as  being 
the  place  wherein  most  of  them  had  their  education.  They  alleged 
it  was  secunda  ecclesia,  "  a  second  church,"  being  the  nursery  of 
learning  and  religion.  They  pleaded  also  that  the  churlishness 
of  the  porter  let  in  this  sad  accident,  increased  by  the  indiscre- 
tion of  those  in  his  own  family ;  adding  also,  that  the  clerks 
of  Oxford  had  deeply  smarted,  by  their  long  durance  and  sufferings, 
for  their  fault  therein. 


.25  HENRY  III.  liOOK    III.       OKNT.    XIII.  355 

20.   ////  are  reconciled. 

Mollified  with  the  premisses,  the  legate  at  last  was  over-entreated 
to  pardon  the  clergy  of  Oxford,  on  their  solemn  submission  ;  which 
was  thus  performed  :  They  went  from  St.  PauFs  in  London  to 
Durham-house  in  the  Strand,  no  short  Italian  (but  an  English 
long)  mile,  all  on  foot ;  the  bishops  of  England,  for  the  more  state 
of  the  business,  accompanying  them,  as  partly  accessary  to  their 
fault,  for  pleading  in  their  behalf.  When  they  came  to  the  bishop 
of  Carlisle's  (now  Worcester)  house,  the  scholars  went  the  rest  of 
their  way  barefoot,  sine  capis  et  mantidis,  which  some  understand, 
*'  without  capes  or  cloaks."  And  thus  the  great  legate  at  last  was 
really  reconciled  unto  them. 

21.  Bishops'  ancient  Inns  in  London. 

The  mention  of  the  house  of  the  bishop  of  Carlisle  minds  me 
how,  anciently,  every  bishop  (as  all  principal  abbots)  had  a  house 
belonging  to  their  see,  commonly  called  their  "  inn,""  for  them  to 
lodge  in  when  their  occasions  summoned  them  to  London.  Not  to 
mention  those  which  still  retain  their  names,  as  Winchester, 
Durham,  Ely,  &c.  we  will  only  observe  such  which  are  swallowed 
up  into  other  houses,  conceiving  it  charitable  to  rescue  their  memory 
from  oblivion, 

Salisbury-house,  in  Fleet-street,  is  now  turned  into  Dorset-house  : 
St.  David's,  north  of  Bridewell,  into  small  tenements  :  Chichester- 
house.  Chancery-lane,  built  by  Ralph  Neville,  bishop  of  Chichester, 
is  now  turned  into  Lincoln's  Inn  :  Exeter-house,  by  Temple-bar, 
built  by  Walter  Stapleton,  bishop  of  Exeter,  is  now  turned  into 
Essex-house  :  Bath  and  Wells-house,  Strand,  into  Arundel-house  : 
Landaff-house,  Strand,  into  Somerset-house  :  Worcester-house, 
Strand,  into  Somerset-house  :  Lichfield  and  Coventry-house,  Strand, 
built  by  Walter  de  Langton,  bishop  of  Chester,  into  Somerset-house  : 
Carlisle-house,  Strand,  into  Worcester- house  :  Norwich-house, 
Strand,  into  York-house  :  York-house,  Westminster,  into  White- 
hall :  Hereford-house,  Old  Fish-street-hill,  built  by  Ralph  de  May- 
denstune,  bishop  of  Hereford,  into  a  sugarmaker's  house. 

I  question  Avhether  the  bishop  of  Rochester,  whose  country-house 
at  Bromley  is  so  nigh,  had  ever  a  house  in  the  city.  Let  others 
recover  the  rest  from  oblivion  ;  a  hard  task,  I  believe  :  they  are  so 
drowned  in  private  houses.  O  let  us  secure  to  ourselves  "  ever- 
lasting habitations,"  seeing  here  no  abiding  mansion  !  Luke  xvi.  9. 

22.  A  valiant  Offer.     AD.  1241. 
Come  we   now  to   present   the  reader  with  another  offer  of  the 

king's,  (I  fear  it  was  not  much  more,)  to  repress  papal  oppression  ; 

2  A  2 


S^G  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1241. 

Rea:  dilecio  sihi  in  Chrlsto  JrchicUacorio  Gloiic.  salutem. — S'lg- 
nificavimus,  ei  et'iam  viva  voce  exposuimiis  magisti-o  P.  Rtibeo, 
Ntincio  Domini  Pavte,  quod  non  est  intentionis  nostra,  nee  etiam 
volumus  nliquatemis  sustiiiere,  quod  vel  vivos  religiosos  vel 
clericum  aliquem  ad  contribution  em  faciendam  ad  opus  Domini 
Papa'  compellant.  Et  ided  vohis  m.andamns  inhibentes  districte, 
ne  ad  mandatum  ipsius  maglstri  Petri  vel  suorum,  viros  rel'igiosos 
sen  clericos  ad  contributionem  prad'ictam  faciendam  aliqud  censura 
ecclesiasticd  compellatis.  Scitiiri  quod  si  secils  egei'itis,  nos  contra 
vos  tanquam  pcrturbatorem  pacis  ecclesiastics,  quam  conservare 
tenemur,  modis  quibus  expedire  viderimus,  procedemus.  Teste 
rege  apud  Glouc.  11  die  Junii.^ 

"  The  king  to  his  beloved  in  Christ  the  archdeacon  of  Gloucester, 
gTeeting. — We  have  signified,  and  also  by  word  of  mouth  have 
declared  to  Mr.  P.  Rubeus,  nuncio  to  the  lord  the  pope,  that  it  is 
not  our  intention,  nor  will  we  any  ways  endure  it,  that  they  shall 
compel  religious  men,  or  any  clerk,  to  make  a  contribution,  to 
supply  the  occasions  of  the  lord  the  pope.  And,  therefore,  we 
command  you,  strictly  forbidding,  that,  at  the  command  of  the  same 
JMr.  Peter,  or  any  of  his  officers,  you  compel  not  any  religious  men 
or  clerks,  by  any  ecclesiastical  censures,  to  make  the  aforesaid  con- 
tribution :  knowing  tha^if  you  do  otherwise,  we  shall  proceed 
against  you,  by  means  we  shall  think  fit,  as  against  the  disturber  of 
the  peace  of  the  church,  which  we  are  bound  to  preserve.  Witness 
the  king  at  Gloucester,  the  eleventh  of  June.'' 

By  the  way,  a  nuncio  differed  from  a  legate,  almost  as  a  lieger 
from  an  extraordinary  ambassador  ;  who,  though  not  so  ample  in 
his  power,  was  as  active  in  his  progging  to  advance  the  profit  of  the 
pope  his  master. 

23.  A  free-forced  Gift 

This  instrument  acquainteth  us  with  the  method  used  by  him  in 
managing  his  money-matters.  Such  as  refused  to  pay  his  demands 
were  proceeded  against  by  church  censures, — suspension,  excom- 
munication, &c.  the  cunning  Italian,  to  decline  the  odium,  employ- 
ing the  archdeacons  to  denounce  the  same  in  their  respective 
jurisdictions.  Yet  this  went  under  the  notion  of  a  voluntary 
contribution,  as  free  as  fire  from  flint,  forced  with  steel  and  strength 
out  of  it. 

24.  Spoken  like  a  King. 

Whereas  the  king  counted  himself  "  bound  to  preserve  the  peace 
of  the   church,""  the  words  well   became  his  mouth.     They  seem  to 

•  Pat.  25.  of  Hemy  HI.  raem.  6. 


25  HENRY    111.  TOOK     HI.       CENT.    XIII.  357 

me  to  look  like  "  Defender  of  the  Faith  "  as  yet  but  in  the  bud, 
and  which  in  due  time  might  grow  up  to  amount  to  as  much.  For, 
though  every  Christian  in  his  calling  must  keep  the  peace  of  the 
church,  kings  have  a  coercive  power  over  the  disturbers  thereof. 

25.  Say  and  do,  best. 

This  royal  resolution,  to  resist  the  oppressing  of  his  subjects,  was 
good  as  propounded,  better  if  performed.  I  find  no  visible  effect 
thereof.  But  we  may  believe,  it  made  the  pope's  mill  go  the  slower, 
though  it  did  not  wliolly  hinder  his  grinding  the  faces  of  the  clergy. 
This  patent  is  dated  from  Gloucester,  more  loved  of  king  Henry 
than  London  itself,  as  a  strong  and  loyal  city,  where  he  was  first 
crowned,  and  afterwards  did  often  reside. 

26.  A  Pension  given  by  the  Pope  to  an  English  Earl. 

Amongst  the  thousands  of  pounds  which  the  pope  carried  out  of 
England,  I  meet  only  with  three  hundred  marks  yearly,  which  came 
back  again  as  a  private  boon,  bestowed  on  an  English  knight,  Sir 
Reginald  Mohun,  by  pope  Innocent  IV.  then  keeping  his  court  at 
Lyons  in  France.  And  because  these  are  vestigia  sola  retrorsumy 
it  will  not  be  amiss  to  insert  the  whole  story  thereof,  as  it  is  in  an 
ancient  French  manuscript,  pertaining  to  the  family  of  the 
Mohuns : — 

Qiiont  Sire  Reinalda  voit  ceo  fait%  il  passa  a  la  Court  de 
Rome  que  adonques Jiiist  a  Lions,  ptir  confirmer  et  rotifer  sa  no- 
velle  Ahbay  a  grand  honor  de  Hit  atouz  joues  etfnist  en  la  Courte 
le  deniergne  en  quaresme  quant  lenchaunce  loffice  del  messe 
Lcetare  Jerusalem  al  quen  jour  lusage  de  la  Court  este  que  la 
poistoille  doa  a  pk(s  valiant  et  a  plus  honorable  home  qui  puit 
estre  trovez  en  la  deste  Courte  tine  Rose  ou  tine  Jlorette  de  fin 
or  donquez  ilz  sercherent  tote  le  Courte  enfroverent  Cesti 
Reinald  pur  le  plus  noble  de  toute  la  Courte  a  oui  le  Pape 
Innocent  donna  celle  Rose  ou  Jlorette  dor  et  la  Papa  lui 
damanda  quit  home  il  fuist  en  son  pais  il  respondi  simple  bache- 
leri,  bean  jitz  fetz  la  Pape  celle  Rose  ou  Jlorette  unqiiez  ne 
fuist  dotiez  fors  an  Rois  ou  an  Dukes  an  a  Countese  pour  ceo 
nous  voluns  que  vous  so?is  le  Counte  de  Est  ceo  est  Somerset 
Reinald  respondi  et  Aist  O  Saincts  Piere  ceo  nay  dout  le  nom 
meinteyner  lapos  soille  do7iqiies  lui  dona  ducent  mariz  per 
annum  receiver  sur  Cantee  saint  Paul  de  Londres  de  ces 
deneires  d''  Engleterre  j)our  son  honor  mainteyner  de  quen 
donna  il  report  a  Bulles  que  enquore  aurent  en  plomps,  ^c. 
en  semblement  odue  moltes  dii  aulires  Bulles  confirmatione  de  sa 
novelle  Abbay  de  Newham  a  pres  quen  jour  il  porta  la  rose  ou 
fiorette  en  les  armes. 


358  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN'.  A. D.  1241 54. 

It  is  as  needless,  as  difficult,  to  translate  this  Bull  verbatim, 
being  of  base,  obsolete,  and  ill-pointed  French  ;  sufficeth  it  that 
this  is  the  sum  thereof:  The  pope  used  on  the  Lord's  day  called 
LcBtare^  Jerusalem,  solemnly  to  bestow  a  consecrated  rose  on  the 
most  honoiu'able  persons  present  at  mass  with  his  Holiness. 
Inquiry  being  made,  the  rose  was  conferred  on  Sir  Reginald 
Mohun,  as  the  best-extracted  in  the  present  congregation. 

But  seeing  that  rose  used  always  to  be  given  to  kings,  dukes,  and 
earls  at  least,  (the  lowest  form  of  coronetted  nobility  in  that  age,) 
his  Holiness  understanding  the  same  Sir  Reginald  to  be  but  a  plain 
knight  bachelor,  created  him  the  earl  of  Est,  that  is,  saith  this  Bull, 
of  Somerset ;  and,  for  the  better  support  of  his  honour,  he  allowed 
him  three  hundred  marks  out  of  the  pence  of  England  (understand 
the  Peter-pence)  as  the  most  certain  papal  revenue  in  the  land. 

By  this  Bull  the  same  Sir  Reinald  was  made  a  Count  Apostolic, 
whereby  he  had  the  privileges  to  appoint  public  notaries,  and  to 
legitimate  bastards  on  some  conditions.  King  Henry  III.  was  so 
far  from  excepting  against  this  act,  that  he  highly  honoured  him. 
And  yet  Master  Camden  sometimes  acknowledgeth,*  sometimes 
denieth-f-  him  for  an  English  earl.  Not  that  I  accuse  him  as 
inconstant  to  himself,  but  suspect  myself  not  well  attaining  his 
meaning  therein. 

27.  There  are  Rich  who  make  themselves  Poor. 

Now,  though  the  said  Sir  Reginald  did  modestly  decline  the 
pope''s  honour  for  want  of  maintenance,  yet  had  he  at  that  time  no 
fewer  than  forty-three  knights'"  fees  held  of  his  castle  of  Dunster. 
I  have  nothing  else  to  add  herein,  save  that  the  ancient  arms  of  the 
Mohuns,  namely,  a  Hand  in  a  Maunch  holding  a  Flower-de-luce, 
(in  that  ag-e  more  fashionable  than  a  rose,  in  heraldry,)  seems  to 
relate  to  this  occasion  ;  which  their  family  afterward  changed  into  a 
Sable  Cross,  in  the  achievements  in  the  Holy  Land,  borne  at  this 
day  by  the  truly  honourable  the  lord  Mohun,  baron  of  Okehampton, 
as  descended  from  this  family. 

28.   The  Death  of  Bishop  Grouthead.     A.D.  1254. 

This  year  died  Robert  Grouthead, ;J:  bishop  of  Lincoln,  born  at 
Stradbrook  in  Suffolk,  tiatalibics  pudendis,  saith  my  author,§  "  of 
shameful  extraction  ;""  intimating  suspicion  of  bastardy  ;  though  the 

*  In  his  Brit,  iu  Somersetshire.  t  In  I'is  Elizabeth  in  the  case  of  Count  Anindel. 

X  The  name  of  this  excellent  bishop  largely  partakes  of  that  variety  in  spelling  surnames 
which  distinguished  the  middle  ages.  "  Robertus  Grosthead,  seu  Capjto  dictus,"  sa3-s 
Cave  in  his  Hist.  Liter.  Dr.  Pegge  writes  him  Grosseteste,  and  others  Grotehead, 
&c. — Edit.  ^  Bisiifir  Godwin  in  Catalogue  of  Lincoln  bishops. 


38  HENRY   III.  BOOK     III.       CLNT.    XIII.  359 

parents,  rather  than  the  chikl,  have  caused  a  blush  thereat.  He  got 
his  surname  from  "  the  greatness  of  his  head,"  having  large  stowage 
to  receive,  and  store  of  brains  to  fill  it ;  bred  for  a  time  in  Oxford, 
then  in  France ;  a  great  and  general  scholar,  Bale  reckoning  up  no 
fewer  than  two  hundred  books  of  his  making,  and  a  great  opposcr  of 
the  pope's  oppression,  which  now  grew  intolerable. 

29,  30.    The  Popes  Fume  against  this  good  Bishop  quenched  by 
a  Spanish  Cardinal. 

For  it  appeared  by  inquisition  made  the  last  year,  that  the  eccle- 
siastical revenues  of  Italians  in  England — whereof  many  were  boys, 
more  blockheads,  all  aliens — amounted  per  annum  unto  threescore 
and  ten  thousand  marks ;  whereas  the  king's  income  at  the  same 
time  was  hardly  twenty  thousand.*  Bishop  Grouthead,  offended 
thereat,  wrote  pope  Innocent  IV.  such  a  juniper  letter,  taxing  him 
with  extortion  and  other  vicious  practices,  that  his  Holiness  brake 
out  into  this  expression  :  "  What  meaneth  this  doting  old  man, 
surdus  et  ahsiirdus,  thus  boldly  to  control  our  actions  .''  By  Peter 
and  Paul,  did  not  our  innate  ingenuity  restrain  us,  I  would  confound 
him,  and  make  him  a  prodigy  to  the  whole  world.  Is  not  the  king 
of  England  our  vassal,  yea,  our  slave,  to  imprison  and  destroy  what 
persons  we  please  to  appoint .''" 

The  pope  being  in  this  pelt,  -'Egidius,  a  Spanish  cardinal,  thus 
interposed  his  gravity  :  "  It  is  not  expedient,  my  lord,  to  use  any 
harshness  to  this  bishop.  We  must  confess  the  truths  which  he 
saith.  He  is  a  holy  man,  of  a  more  religious  life  than  any  of  us  , 
yea,  Christendom  hath  not  his  equal ;  a  great  philosopher,  skilled 
in  Latin  and  Greek,  a  constant  reader  in  the  Schools,  preacher  in  the 
pulpit,  lover  of  chastity,  and  loather  of  simony." 

31.  Grouthead  the  People's.,  though  not  the  Pope''s,  Saint. 

Thus  the  pope  took  wit  in  his  anger,  and  Grouthead  escaped  for 
the  present ;  though  Bale  reporteth,  that  he  died  excommunicate  and 
deprived  of  his  bishopric.  Popish  authors "j"  confidently  report  a 
strange  vision,  or  rather  a  passion,  of  pope  Innocent  IV.  whom 
Grouthead  (appearing  after  his  death)  so  beat  with  many  blows  (it 
seems  he  had  a  heavy  hand  as  well  as  a  great  head)  that  the  pope 
died  thereof  soon  after.  No  wonder,  therefore,  if  his  successors 
would  not  canonize  this  Robert,  who  notwithstanding  was  a  saint, 
though  not  in  the  pope's,  yet  in  the  people's,  calendar ;  many  miracles 
being  ascribed  unto  him,  and  particularly,  that  a  sweet  oil  after  hia 
death  issued  out  of  his  monument :  ^  which,  if  false  in  the  literal, 

•  Matt.  Paris  »j  anno  1552.  t  John  Blrie,  Matt.  Paris,  Matt.  AVestjun- 
STER,  Mr.  Fabian.  t  Godwin  in  his  Catalogue  of  Bi,-liops. 


360  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1254. 

may  be  true  in  a  mystical  meaning,  Solomon  observing  that  "  a  good 
name  is  as  ointment  poured  out." 

32,  33.  Discontents  begin  in  England ;  grounded  on  too  much 

Occasio7i. 

England  began  now  to  surfeit  of  more  than  thirty  years'*  peace 
and  plenty,  which  produced  no  better  effects  than  ingratitude  to 
God  and  murmuring  at  their  king.  Many  active  spirits,  whose 
minds  were  above  their  means,  offended  that  others  beneath  them 
(as  they  thought)  in  merit  were  above  them  in  employment,  cavilled 
at  many  errors  in  the  king"'s  government,  being  State  Donatists, 
maintaining,  the  perfection  of  a  commonwealth  might  and  ought  to 
be  attained  :  a  thing  easy  in  the  theory,  impossible  in  the  practice, 
to  conform  the  actions  of  men"'s  corrupted  natures  to  the  exact  ideas 
in  men's  imaginations. 

Indeed,  they  had  too  much  matter  whereon  justly  to  ground  their 
discontents ;  partly,  because  the  king,  distrusting  his  natives, 
employed  so  many  French  foreigners  in  places  of  power  and  profit ; 
partly,  because  he  had  used  such  indirect  courses  to  recruit  his 
treasuries,  especially  by  annihilating  all  patents  granted  in  his 
minority,  (though,  indeed,  he  was  never  more  in  his  full-age  than 
when  in  his  non-age,  as  guided  then  by  the  best  counsel,)  and  forc- 
ing his  subjects  to  take  out  new  ones  on  what  terms  his  officers 
pleased.  In  a  word,  an  author*  then  living  complaineth,  that 
"justice  Mas  committed  to  men  unjust,  the  laws  to  such  who  them- 
selves were  outlaws,  and  the  keeping  of  the  peace  to  injurious 
people  delighting  in  discords." 

34.  A  Title  without  Power  only  left  to  the  King. 

After  many  contests  betwixt  the  king  and  his  subjects,  (which  the 
reader  may  learn  from  the  historians  of  the  state,)  four-and-twenty 
prime  persons  were  chosen  by  parliament  to  have  the  supreme 
inspection  of  the  land  ;  which  soon  after,  to  make  them  the  more 
cordial,  passed  a  decoction,  and  were  reduced  to  three  ;  and  they 
three  in  effect  contracted  to  one,  Simon  Mountfort,  earl  of  Leicester, 
the  king's  brother-in-law  ;  the  king  himself  standing  by  as  a  cipher, 
yet  signifying  as  much  as  his  ambitious  subjects  did  desire.  These, 
to  make  sure  work,  bound  him  with  his  solemn  oath  to  submit  him- 
self to  their  new-modelled  government. 

35.   The  Pope  freely  gives  his  Courtesies  for  Money. 

Here  the  pope,  charitable  to  relieve  all  distressed  princes,  inter- 
posed his  power,  absolving  the  king  from  that  oath,  as  unreasonable 
•  Roger  We^tover. 


o8  HENRY   III.  BOOK     III.       CENT.    XIII.  361 

in  itself,  and  forced  upon  liini.  His  Holiness  Mas  well  paid  fur  this 
great  favour;  the  king  hereafter  conniving  at  his  horse-leeches 
(legates  and  nuncioes)  sucking  the  blood  of  his  subjects  with 
intolerable  taxations.  Thus  was  it  not  altogether  the  flexibility  of 
king  Henry,  but  partly  the  flexion  of  his  condition,  (I  mean,  the 
altering  of  his  occasions,)  which  made  him  sometimes  withstand  and 
otherwhiles  comply  with  the  pope's  extortion.  Thus  always  the 
pope's  courtesies  are  very  dear  ;  and  the  storm  itself  is  a  better 
shelter  than  the  bramble,  fleecing  such  sheep  as  fly  under  the  shade 
thereof. 

36,  37.  Sad  Case  when  the  royal  Root  is  no  better  thap,  a 
Sucker.     No  Part  of  Church-  Work. 

Mean  time  the  king,  having  neither  coin  nor  credit,  having 
pawned  his  jewels,  mortgaged  all  his  land  in  France,  and  sold  much 
of  it  in  England,  wanting  wherewithal  to  subsist,  lived  on  abbeys 
and  priories,  till  his  often- coming  and  long-staying  there  made  what 
was  welcome  at  the  first  quickly  to  become  wearisome.  Thougli  a 
royal  guest,  with  often  coming, — his  royalty  made  not  his  guestship 
the  more  accepted;  but  the  notion  of  a  guest  rendered  his  royalty 
the  less  to  be  esteemed.  Indeed,  his  visits  of  abbeys  at  first  did 
wear  the  countenance  of  devotion,  on  which  account  this  king  was 
very  eminent ;  but  afterwards  they  appeared  in  their  own  likeness, 
the  dimmest  eye  seeing  them  to  proceed  from  pure  necessity. 

Soon  after  began  the  civil  wars  in  England,  with  various  success  ; 
sometimes  the  king,  and  sometimes  the  barons,  getting  the  better  : 
till  at  last  an  indifferent  peace  was  concluded  for  their  mutual  good, 
as  in  the  historians  of  the  commonwealth  doth  plentifully  appear. 

38.  Bettered  by  Affliction.  > 

The  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  king  Henry  was  not  only  eminent 
in  itself,  but  might  be  exemplary  to  others.  He  reformed  first  his 
own  natural  errors,  then  the  disorders  in  his  court,  the  expense 
whereof  he  measured  by  the  just  rule  of  his  proper  revenue.  The 
rigour  and  corruption  of  his  judges  he  examined,  and  redressed  by 
strict  commission,  filled  the  seats  of  judgment  and  counsel  with  men 
nobly-born,  sate  himself  daily  in  council,  and  disposed  afi:airs  of 
most  weight  in  his  own  person. 

39.  Charta  Magna  first  f ally  'practised. 

And  now  the  charta  magnt^was  very  strictly  observed,  being  made 

in  the  ninth  year  of  this  king's  reign,  but  the  practice  thereof  mucli 

interrupted  and   disturbed  with   civil   wars.      It  is  beheld  by  all 

judicious  men  as,  like  the    aurea    Bulla,  or    "  golden   Bull""  of 


3C2  CHUllCH    HISTOKY     OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1254 62. 

Germany,  the  life  of  English  liberty,  rescued  by  the  blood  and 
valour  of  our  ancestors  from  t}Tannical  encroachment,  giving  the  due 
bounds  to  prerogative  and  propriety,  that  neither  should  mutually 
intrench  on  the  other's  lawful  privileges.  And  althovigh  some  high 
royalists  look  on  it  as  the  product  of  subjects' animosities,  improving 
themselves  on  their  prince's  extremities ;  yet  most  certain  it  is,  those 
kings  flourished  the  most,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  who  tied  them- 
selves most  conscientiously  to  the  observation  thereof. 

40,  41.  Balliol  College  buili,  b?/  a  banished  Prince:  Great 
Revenues  for  that  Age.     A.  D.  1262. 

Two  colleges  in  Oxford  were  founded  in  the  reign  of  this  king  : 
One,  Balliol  College,  by  John  Balliol  (and  Dervorguill  *  his  lady) 
of  Barnard's  Castle  in  the  bishopric  of  Durham,  banished  into 
England,  and  father  of  Balliol  king  of  Scotland.  Wonder  not  that 
an  exile  should  build  a  college,  charity  being  oftentimes  most  active 
in  the  afflicted,  willingly  giving  to  others  a  little  of  that  little  they 
have  :  witness  the  Macedonians,  "  whose  deep  poverty  abounded  to 
the  riches  of  their  liberality,"  2  Cor.  viii.  2. 

True  it  is,  the  ancient  revenues  of  this  college  were  not  great, 
allowing  but  eight-pence  a-week  ■}*  for  every  scholar  therein  of  his 
foundation,  whereas  Merton  college  had  twelve-pence :  and  yet 
as  one  casteth  up,;J:  their  ancient  revenues  amounted  unto  ninety-nine 
pounds  seventeen  shillings  and  ten-pence  ;  which,  in  that  age,  I 
will  assure  you,  was  a  considerable  sum,  enough  to  make  us  suspect, 
that  at  this  day  they  enjoy  not  all  the  original  lands  of  their 
foundation. 

42.    Endowed  with  more  Land  than  now  it  jjossesseth. 

Indeed,  I  am  informed  that  the  aforesaid  king  Balliol  bestowed  a 
large  proportion  of  land  in  Scotland  on  this  his  father's  foundation  ; 
the  Master  and  Fellows  whereof  petitioned  king  James,  (when  the 
Marches  of  two  kingdoms  were  newly  made  the  middle  of  one 
monarchy,)  for  the  restitution  of  those  lands  detained  from  them 
in  the  civil  wars  betwixt  the  two  crowns.  The  king,  though  an 
aiFectionate  lover  of  learning,  would  not  have  his  bounty  .injurious 
to  any,  save  sometimes  to  himself;  and  considering  those  lands  they 
desired  were  long  peaceably  possessed  with  divers  owners,  gave 
them  notice  to  surcease  their  suit.  Thus  not  king  James,  but  the 
infeasibility  of  the  thing  they  petitioned  for  to  be  done  with  justice, 
gave  the  denial  to  their  petition. 

•  She  is  called  Devergiild  by  Rapin,  Devorgiiilla  by  Le  Neve. — Edit.  t  Rogeb 

Walden  in  his  "  History."  t  Brian  Twine,  .fnlit/.  ^4cud.  Ox.  in  ^ipjicndkc. 


46  HENRY.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIII.  363 

43.   The  Authors  Request  to  the  Learned  in  Oxford. 

Being  to  present  the  reader  with  llie  catalogues  of  this  and  other 
"worthy  foundations  in  Oxford,  I  am  sorry  that  I  can  only  build  bare 
walls,  (erect  empty  columns,)  and  not  fill  them  with  any  furniture  ; 
which  the  ingenuous  reader,  I  trust,  will  pardon,  when  he  considers  : 
First.  That  I  am  no  Oxford  man.  Secondly.  That  Oxford  is 
not  that  Oxford  wherewith,  ten  years  since,  I  was  acquainted. 
Wherefore  I  humbly  request  the  antiquaries  of  their  respective 
foundations,  best  skilled  in  their  own  worthy  natives,  to  insert  their 
own  observations,  which  if  they  would  return  unto  me  against  the 
next  edition  of  this  work,  if  I  live,  and  it  be  thought  worthy 
thereof,  God  shall  have  the  glory,  they  the  public  thanks,  and  the 
world  the  benefit  of  their  contribution  to  my  endeavours. 

44,  45,  46,  47.  Four  necessary  Things  premised :  Whence  the 
Masters  are  collected ;  ivhence  the  Bishops  ;  whence  the 
Benefactors  ;  whence  the  learned  Writers. 

The  catalogue  of  Masters  we  have  taken,  with  an  implicit  faith,  out 
of  Mr.  Brian  Twine,  who  may  be  presumed  knowing  in  that  subject, 
until  the  year  1608,  where  his  work  doth  determine.  Since  which 
time  Ave  have  supplied  them  as  well  as  we  may,  though  too  often  at 
a  loss  for  their  Christian  names.  If  Mr.  Twine's  Register  be 
imperfect,  yet  he  writes  right  Avho  writes  wrong,  if  following  his 
copy. 

The  list  of  Bishops  hath  been  collected  out  of  Francis  Godwin, 
bishop  of  Hereford,  whose  judicious  pains  are  so  beneficial  to  the 
English  church.  Yet  Godwinus  non  vidit  omtiia  ;  and  many,  no 
doubt,  have  been  omitted  by  him. 

As  for  the  roll  of  Benefactors,  I,  who  hope  to  have  made  the 
other  catalogues  true,  hope  I  have  made  this  not  true, — upon  desire 
and  confidence  that  they  have  more  than  I  have  or  can  reckon  up, 
though  following  herein  J.  Scot's  printed  tables,  and  the  last  edition 
of  John  Speed's  Chronicle. 

The  column  of  Learned  Writers  I  have  endeavoured  to  extract  out 
of  Bale  and  Pitts  ;  Avhereof  the  latter  being  a  member  of  this  Uni- 
versity, was  no  less  diligent  than  able  to  advance  the  honour 
thereof. 

48,  49.    No  wilful  Wrong  done  :  add  and  mend. 

Let  none  suspect  that  I  will  enrich  my  mother,  by  robbing  my 
aunt.  For,  besides  that  Cambridge  is  so  conscientious  she  will  not 
be  accessary  to  my  felony  by  receiving  stolen  goods;  Tros^ 
Tyriusque  mihi  millo  discrimine  habetur. 


364  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1'2G'2. 

"  A  Trojan  whether  he 
Or  a  Tyrian  be, 
AU  is  the  same  to  me." 

It  matters  not  whether  of  Cambridge  or  Oxford,  so  God  hath  the 
glory,  the  church  and  state  the  benefit,  of  their  learned  endeavours. 
However,  I  am  sensible  of  many  defects,  and  know  that  they  may 
be  supplied  by  the  endeavours  of  others.  Every  man  knows  his 
own  land  better  than  either  Ortelius  or  Mercator,  though  making 
the  maps  of  the  whole  world.  And  the  members  of  respective 
colleges  must  be  more  accurate  in  the  particularities  of  their  own 
foundations,  than  the  e.xactest  historian  who  shall  write  a  general 
description  thereof. 

BALLIOL    COLLEGE. 

Masters. — John  Foderinghay,  Robert  Thwaites,  John  Abdy, 
John  Wickleffe,  Robert  Burleigh,  Richard  Berningham,  William 
Whyte,  George  Cootes,  William  Wryght,  Francis  Babington, 
Richard  Stubbs,  James  Gloucester,  Anthony  Garnet,  Robert 
Hooper,  James  Brookes,*  John  Piers,  Adam  Squire,  Edmund 
Lilly,  Robert  Abbot,  John  Parkhurst,  Thomas  Laurence,  Henry 
Savage.-f- 

Bi SHOPS. — Roger  Whelpdale,  Fellow,  bishop  of  Carlisle  ;  George 
Nevil,  chancellor  of  the  University  at  twenty  years  of  age,  after- 
wards archbishop  of  York  and  chancellor  of  England  ;  William 
Grey,  bishop  of  Ely  ;  John  Bell,  bishop  of  Worcester  ;  John  Piers, 
archbishop  of  York ;  Robert  Abbot,  bishop  of  Salisbury  ;  George 
Abbot,  Fellow,  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

Benefactors. — Philip  Somervile,  and  Margaret  his  wife; 
Ella  de  Long-Spee,  countess  of  Salisbury  ;  Rich,  d''  Humsnigore ; 
L.  Will.  Fenton  ;  Hugh  de  Vienna,  knight;  John  Bell,  bishop 
of  Worcester ;  William  Hammond,  of  Gilford,  Esq.  Peter 
Blundill  of  Tiverton  ;  L.  Eliz.  Periam,  of  the  county  of  Bucks  ; 
Thomas  Tisdale,  of  Glymton,  Com.  Oxon.,  Esq. ;  Mary  Dunch  ; 
John  Brown. 

Learned  Writers. — John  Duns  Scotus,  first  of  this,  then 
of  Merton  College  ;  Humphrey,  duke  of  Gloucester,  commonly 
called   "  the   good  ;"    William    Walton,  Fellow,  chancellor  of  the 

•  The  fifteenth  Master  is  here  said  to  be  James  Brookes,  while  the  twelfth  is  styled 
James  Gloneester  ;  both  these  names  belong  to  one  man  :  James  Brookes  became  Master 
of  Balliol  in  1547,  and  was  created  bishop  of  Gloucester  in  154>4.  The  reader  will  per- 
ceive, from  this  specimen,  the  utter  hopelessness  of  correcting  these  lists,  especially  when 
he  is  further  told,  that  though  only  twentj--two  Masters  appear  m  this  list,  the  actual 
number  was  thirty-nine,  not  including  the  two  appointed  on  the  Foundation  in  1282. 
See  Le  Neve's  Fasti. — Edit.  f   Much  discrepancy  exists  between  this  list,  and 

the  more  accurate  one  of  Le  Neve.       The  same  obseiTation  applies  to  the  subsequent 
lists  in  other  colleges,  Fuller  having  acted  as  pioneer  in  this  toilsome  warfare.—  EuiT. 


4G  HENUY   IIT.  BOOK    III.       CKNT.    XIU.  365 

University  ;  Thomas  Gascoign,  Fellow,  chancellor  of  the  University  ; 
John  Tiptoft,*  earl  of  Worcester ;   Robert  Abbot. 

That  John  WicklifFe,  here  mentioned,  may  be  the  great  WicklifFe, 
though  others  justly  suspect  him  not  the  same,  because  too  ancient, 
if  this  catalogue  be  complete,  to  be  the  fourth  Master  of  this  house, 
except  they  were  incredibly  vivacious. "f*  Nothing  else  have  I  to 
observe  of  this  fomidation,  save  that  at  this  day  therein  are  main- 
tained one  Master,  twelve  Fellows,  thirteen  Scholars,  four  Exhibi- 
tioners, which,  with  Servants,  Commoners,  and  other  Students, 
lately  made  up  one  hundred  thirty  and  six. 

50.  A  Pair  of  learned  Judges. 

Norn)nst  we  forget,  that,  beside  others,  two  eminent  judges  of  our 
land  were  both  contemporaries  and  students  in  this  foundation  ;  the 
lord  chief  baron  Davenport,  and  the  Lord  Thomas  Coventry,  lord 
chancellor  of  England,  whose  ftither,  also,  a  judge,  was  a  student 
herein.  So  that  two  great  oracles,  both  of  law  and  equity,  had  here 
their  education. 

51.   University  College  founded. 

The  other  was  University  College  :  whereof  I  find  different  dates, 
and  the  founding  thereof  ascribed  to  several  persons. 

1.  Founder. — King  Alfred:  Time. — J?^wo  882  :  Author. — 
Universal  tradition. 

2.  William  de  St.  Carilefo,  bishop  of  Durham  :  1081,  the  12th 
of  king  William  the  Conqueror :  Stow,  in  his  "  Chronicle  "  page 
106]  ;   to  whom  Pitts  consenteth. 

3.  William,  bishop  of  Durham,  though  none  at  this  time  of  the 
name:!  1217,  in  the  first  of  Henry  III.  John  Speed,  in  his 
"  History,""  page  817. 

4.  William,  archdeacon  of  Durham,  whom  others  confidently 
call  Walter  ;  time  uncertain  ;   Camden's  Brit,  in  Oxfordshire. 

I  dare  interpose  nothing  in  such  great  differences,  only  observe 
that  Master  Camden  (no  less  skilful  a  herald  in  ordering  the  anti- 
quity of  houses,  than  martialling  the  precedency  of  men)  makes 
University  the  third  in  order  after  Merton  College  :  which  makes 
nie  believe  the  founding  thereof  not  so  ancient  as  here  it  is  inserted. 

Masters. — 1.  Roger  Caldwell ;  2.  Richard  Witton  ;  3.  M. 
Rokleborough  ;  4.  Ranulph  Hamsterly  ;  5.  Leonard  Hutchinson  ; 

*  See  more  of  him  in  our  Detlication  to  the  Second  Book.  t    According   to  Le 

Neve's  accurate  enumeration,  "  John  de  Wieklyffe,  A.M.  late  of  Merton  College,  ob- 
tained this  Mastership  about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1361  ;''  consequently,  a  few  years 
prior  to  tlie  publication  of  his  opinions  respecting  the  eiTors  of  the  church  of  Rome. 
—Edit.  t  Le  Neve  says,  William  Scott,  archdeacon  of  Worcester,  was  elected  in 

122G  ;  "  but  the  king  denied  his  as.-ent,  October  tlie  20th  ''  in  the  same  year. — Edit. 


oGG  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRTTAlX.  A.T).  1262. 

6.  John  CrafFurth  ;  7.  Richard  Salvaine  ;  8.  George  Ellison  ;  9. 
Anthony  Salvaine  ;  10.  James  Dugdale  ;  11.  Thomas  Key  ;  12. 
William  James  ;  13.  Anthony  Gate  ;  14.  George  Abbot ;  15.  John 
Bancroft;  16.  Thomas  Walker ;  17-  Joshua  Hoyle  ;  18.  Francis 
Johnson. 

Bishops. — St,  Edmond,  archbishop  of  Canterbury;  George 
Abbot,  archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  John  Bancroft,  bishop  of 
Oxford. 

Benefactors. — Walter  Shirlow,  archdeacon  of  Durham,  three 
fellowships  ;  Henry  Percy,  earl  of  Northumberland,  three  fellow- 
ships ;  R.  Dudley,  earl  of  Leicester,  two  exhibitions,  each  twenty 
pounds  per  annum ;  John  Freistone,  two  exhibitions,  twenty 
pounds  in  all  per  annum  ;  —  Gunsley,  two  exhibitions  ;  Mistress 
Payn,  one  exhibition,  eight  pounds ;  Mr.  Aston ;  Sir  Simon 
Bennet,  who  hath  bequeathed  good  lands,  (after  the  decease  of  his 
lady,)  to  increase  the  Fellows  and  Scholars  ;  Mr.  Charles  Green- 
wood, some  time  Fellow  of  this  College,  and  Proctor  to  the  Uni- 
versity, gave  a  thousand  pounds  to  the  building  thereof. 

Learned     Writers. —  Some  charitable  and  able 

antiquary  fill  up  this  vacuity. 

So  that  at  this  present  are  maintained  therein  one  Master,  eight 
Fellows,  one  Bible-Clerk,  which,  with  Servants,  Commoners,  and 
other  Students,  amount  to  the  number  of  threescore  and  nine. 

'  52.  Jews  damnable  Extortioners. 

Sure  it  is,  at  this  time  Oxford  flourished  with  multitude  of  Stu- 
dents ;  king  Henry  conferring  large  favours  upon  them,  and  this 
amongst  the  rest, — that  no  Jews  *  living  at  Oxford  should  receive  of 
scholars  above  two-pence  a-week  interest  for  the  loan  of  twenty 
shillings  ;  that  is,  eight  shillings  eight  pence  for  the  interest  of  a 
pound  in  the  year.  Hereby  we  may  guess  how  miserably  poor 
people  in  other  places  were  oppressed  by  the  Jews,  where  no 
restraint  did  limit  their  usury  ;  so  that  the  interest  amounted  to  the 
half  of  the  principal. 

53.  A  second  Privilege. 

Secondly,  Whereas  it  was  complained  of,  that  justice  was 
obstructed,  and  malefactors  protected  by  the  citizens  of  Oxford, 
who,  being  partial  to  their  own  corporation,  connived  at  offenders 
who  had  done  mischiefs  to  the  scholars  ;  the  king  ordered,  that 
hereafter  not  only  the  citizens  of  Oxford,  but  also  any  officers  in 
the  vicinage,  should  be  employed  in  the  apprehending  of  such  who 
offered  any  wrong  to  the  Students  in  the  University. 

•  Claus.  22,  of  Hen.  III.  nioinb.  9,  in  dorso. 


4G  HKXRY    III.  BOOK     III.        CEXT.    XIII.  367 

54.  The  third  Prioilege. 
Lastly.  He  enjoined  the  bailiffs  of  Oxford  solemnly  to  acquaint 
the  chancellor  thereof  of  those  times  when  bread  and  other  victuals 
were  weighed  and  priced.  But  in  case  the  chancellor  had  timely 
notice  thereof,  and  refused  to  be  present  thereat,  then  the  bailiffs, 
notwithstanding  his  absence,  might  proceed  in  the  foresaid  matters 
of  weight  and  measure. 

55.    The   Submission  of  the   Dean   and   Chapter   of  St. 

Asaph. 

We  will  conclude  this  section  with  this  civil  and  humble  submis- 
sion of  the  dean  and  chapter  of  St.  Asaph,  sent  to  the  king  in  the 
vacancy  (as  it  seems)  of  their  bishopric  ;  though  dislocated,  and 
some  years  set  back  in  the  date  thereof. 

De  Recognitione  Decani  et  Capit.  de  ISancto  Asapho. 
Universis  Christi  Jidelibiis  ad  quos  presens  scriptum  per- 
venerit,  Decanus  et  Capitidum  de  Saticto  Asapho  salutem  in 
Domino.  Consiietudini  antique  et  dignitati  quas  Dominus 
Henricus  illustris  Rex  Angl.  et  progenitores  sui  habuerunt  in 
ecclesia  Anglicand,  de  petendd  licentia  eligendi  vacantibus  epis- 
copatuum  sedibus,  et  de  requirendo  assensu  regio  post  factam 
electionem,  obviare  nolentes  ;  protestamur  et  I'ecognoscimiis,  nos, 
quotiens  ecclesia  nostra  jiostore  vacaverit,  ab  iliustri  domino 
Rege  Angl.  et  heredibus  suis  debere  reverenter  petere  licentiam 
eligendi.,  et  post  electionem  factam  assensum  eomm  requirere. 
Et  ne  super  hoc  futuris  temporibus  dubitetm\  presenti  scripto 
sigilla  nostra  fecimus  apponi.  Dat.  apnd  Sanctum  Asaph. 
Anno  Domini  mccxlix.  in  crastino  Evaltationis  SanctcB 
Crucis.— Fat.  33,  H.  III.  M.  3. 

The  substance  is  this  : — That  the  dean  and  chapter  promise  to 
depend  wholly  on  the  king's  pleasure  in  the  choice  of  the  next  elect. 
So  that  now  cathedrals  began  to  learn  good  manners.  Notwith- 
standing, the  pope  usually  obtruded  whom  he  pleased  upon  them. 
Say  not,  that  St.  Asaph's  was  an  inconsiderable  cathedral,  being  at 
great  distance  and  of  small  revenue,  which  might  make  them  more 
oificious  to  comply  with  the  king  ;  seeing  the  poorest  oft-times 
prove  the  proudest,  and  peevishest  to  their  superiors.  But  although 
this  qualm  of  loyalty  took  this  church  for  the  present,  we  must 
confess,  that  generally  chapters  ask  the  king's  leave,  as  widows  do 
their  fathers  to  marry, — as  a  compliment  not  requisite  thereunto  : 
as  conceiving  it  civility  to  ask,  but  no  necessity  to  have,  his 
approbation. 


368  rilUKCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAINT.  A. D.  1262. 

56,  57.    Edmond  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  sainted  after  his 

Death. 

Two  eminent  arclibishops  of  Canterbury  successively  filled  that 
see,  during  the  most  part  of  this  king"'s  reign.  First.  Edmond, 
treasurer  of  Salisbury,  bom,  say  some,  in  London,  and  christened  in 
the  same  font  with  Thomas  Becket.  My  author*  makes  him 
educated  in  University  College  in  Oxford,  a  great  scholar,  and  lover 
of  learned  men,  refusing  to  consecrate  Richard  Wendover,  bishop  of 
Rochester,  because  of  his  Avant  of  sufficiency  for  such 'a  function. 
Hereupon  he  incurred  the  displeasure  of  Otho  the  pope"'s  legate, 
siding  with  Wendover,  requiring  no  other  qualification  save  money 
to  make  a  bishop ;  and  was  enforced  to  undertake  a  dangerous  and 
expensive  journey  to  Rome,  to  his  great  damage  and  greater  dis- 
grace, being  cast  in  his  cause,  after  the  spending  of  a  thousand  marks 
therein. 

He  took  the  boldness  to  tell  the  pope  of  his  extortion  ;  though 
little  thereby  was  amended.  After  his  return  he  fell  into  the  king's 
displeasure  ;  so  that,  overpowered  with  his  adversaries,  and  circum- 
vented with  their  malice,  weary  of  his  native  country,  the  miseries 
whereof  he  much  bemoaned,  he  went  into  voluntary  banishment.  He 
died  and  was  buried  in  France  ;  and,  six  years  after,  (which,  I  assure 
•you,  was  very  soon,  and  contrary  to  the  modern  custom,)  was  sainted 
by  pope  Innocent  IV.  whose  body  Lewis  IV.  king  of  France, 
solemnly  removed,  and  sumptuously  enshrnied. 

58.  Boniface,  a  worthless  Archbishop. 

The  other,  Boniface  by  name,  was  only  eminent  on  the  account  of 
his  high  extraction,  as  uncle  to  the  queen,  and  son  of  Peter  earl  of 
Savoy  ;  a  horrible  scraper  of  money,  generally  hated  ;  insonmch 
that  he  went  his  Visitation,  having  a  corslet  on  under  his  episcopal 
habit,  which,  it  seems,  was  no  more  than  needs,  the  Londoners  being 
so  exasperated  against  him,  that  they  threatened  his  death,  had  not  he 
secured  himself  by  flight.  Only  he  is  memorable  to  posterity  for 
paying  two  and  twenty  thousand  marks''  debt  of  his  see,  which  his 
predecessors  had  contracted,  for  building  a  fair  hall  at  Canterbury, 
and  a  stately  hospital  at  Maidstone,  which,  it  seems,  was  indicted 
and  found  guilty  of,  and  executed  for,  superstition  at  the  Dissolution 
of  abbeys,  when  it  was  valued  at  above  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
of  yearly  revenue,  being  aliened  now  to  other  uses. 

"  Godwin  in  "  Catalogiie  of  Bishop.-i,"  page  130. 


57  HENRY  III.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIII.  369 


SECTION  YI. 

TO    WILLIAM    ROBINSON,    OF    THE    INWARD-TEMPLE, 

ESQUIRE. 

Sir  Edward  Coke  was  wont  to  say,  that  he  never 
knew  a  divine  meddle  with  a  matter  of  law,  but  that 
therein  he  committed  some  great  error,  and  discovered 
gross  ignorance.  I  presume  you  lawyers  are  better 
divines  than  we  divines  are  lawyers;  because,  indeed, 
greater  your  concernment  in  your  precious  souls,  than 
ours  in  our  poor  estates.  Having  therefore  just  cause 
to  suspect  my  own  judgment  in  this  section,  wherein 
so  much  of  law,  I  submit  all  to  3^our  judgment,  to  add, 
alter,  expunge  at  pleasure ;  that  if  my  weak  endeavours 
shall  appear  worthy  of  a  second  impression,  they  may 
come  forth  corrected  with  your  emendations. 

1.   The  Vivacity  of  King  Henry  III.  and  the  Variety  of  his 
Life.     A.  D.  12^2. 

Quiet  king  Henry  III.  our  English  Nestor,  (not  for  depth  of 
brains,  but  length  of  life,)  as  who  reigned  fifty-six  years,  in  which 
term  he  buried  all  his  contemporary  princes  in  Christendom  twice 
over.  All  the  months  in  a  year  may  in  a  manner  be  carved  out  of 
an  April  day  ;  hot,  cold,  dry,  moist,  fair,  foul  weather,  being  oft 
presented  therein.  Such  the  character  of  this  king"'s  life,  certain 
only  in  uncertainty  :  sorrowful,  successful ;  in  plenty,  in  penury  ; 
in  wealth,  in  want ;  conquered,  conqueror. 

2.   The   Serenity   of  his   Death,   and   Solemnity   of  his 

Burial. 

Yet  the  sun  of  his  life  did  not  set  in  a  cloud,  but  went  down  in  full 
lustre  ;  a  good  token  that  the  next  day  would  be  fair,  and  his 
successor  prove  fortunate.  He  died  at  St.  Edmundsbury,  and, 
though  a  merciful  prince,  ended  his  days  in  a  necessary  act  of 
justice,  severely  punishing  some  citizens  of  Norwich  for  burning  and 
pillaging  the  priory  therein.  His  coi-pse  were  buried  at  Westmin- 
ster church  (founded  and  almost  finished  by  him)  with  great 
solemnity,  though  prince  Edward  his  son,  as  beyond  the  seas,  was 
not  present  thereat. 

Vol.  i.  b   b 


870  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN^.  A.D.  1272 4. 

3.   T lie  Advantages  of  absent  Prince  Edward.     1  Edward  I. 

There  cannot  be  a  greater  temptation  to  ambition  to  usurp  a 
crown,  than  when  it  findeth  a  vacancy  on  the  throne,  and  the  true 
heir  thereof  absent  at  a  great  distance.  Such  an  advantage  at  this 
instant  had  the  adversaries  of  prince  Edward  (not  as  yet  returned 
from  Palestine)  to  put  in,  if  so  minded,  for .  the  kingdom  of 
England.  And  strange  it  was,  that  no  arrears  of  the  former 
rebellion  were  left,  but  all  the  reckonings  thereof  so  fully  discharged 
that  no  cor- rival  did  appear  for  the  crown.  But  a  general  con- 
currence of  many  things  befriended  prince  Edward  herein  : — 1.  His 
father  on  his  death-bed  secured  his  son''s  succession,  as  much  as 
might  be,  by  swearing  the  principal  peers  unto  him  in  his  absence. 
2.  The  most  active  and  dangerous  military  men  the  prince  had 
politicly  carried  away  with  him  into  Palestine.  3.  Prince  Edward's 
fame,  present  here  in  the  absence  of  his  person,  preserved  the  crown 
for  him,  as  due  to  him  no  less  by  desert  than  descent.  The  pre- 
misses meeting  with  the  love  and  loyalty  of  many  English  hearts, 
paved  the  way  to  prince  Edward"'s  peaceable  entrance  without  any 
opposition. 

4.  His  Achievements  against  the  Turks. 

King  Edward  was  a  most  worthy  prince,  coming  off  with  honour 
in  all  his  achievements  against  Turk,  and  pope,  and  Jews,  and 
Scots,  and  against  whomsoever  he  encountered.  For  the  Turks  ; 
he  had  lately  made  a  voyage  against  them,  which,  being  largely 
related  in  our  Holy  War,  we  intend  not  here  to  repeat.  Only  I 
will  add,  that  this  foreign  expedition  was  politicly  undertaken,  to  rid 
the  land  of  many  martialists,  wherewith  the  late  barons'*  wars  had 
made  it  to  abound.  These  spirits  thus  raised,  though  they  could 
not  presently  be  conjured  down,  were  safely  removed  into  another 
room.  The  fiercest  mastiff-dogs  never  fight  one  with  another, 
whilst  they  have  either  bull  or  bear  before  tliem  to  bait ;  the  com- 
mon foe  employing  that  fury  which  otherwise  would  be  active 
against  those  of  their  own  kind.  This  diversion  of  the  English 
soldiery  gave  a  vent  to  their  animosities,  which  otherwise  would 
have  been  mutually  mis-spent  amongst  themselves. 

5.  The  Pope's  present  Power  in  England. 
Great  at  this  present  was  the  pope's  power  in  England,  improv- 
ing himself  on  the  late  tumultuous  times,  and  the  easiness  of  king 
Henry's  nature  ;  insomuch  that  within  these  last  seven  years  ex 
'plenitndine  (ox  rather  ex  ahundantia  et  superfluitate )  potes- 
tatis,  he  had  put  in  two  archbishops  of  Canterbury,  Robert 
Kilwarby,  and  John  Peckham,  against  the  minds  of  the  monks, 


3  EDWARD   T.  BOOK     IH.        CKNT.    XIII.  371 

who  had  legally  chosen  others.  Probably  the  tliird  time  would 
have  created  a  right  to  the  pope ;  and  his  Holiness  hereafter 
prescribe  it  as  his  just  due,  had  not  king  Edward  seasonably  pre- 
vented his  encroachment,  by  moderating  his  power  in  England, 
as  hereafter  shall  appear.  Mean  time  we  are  called  away  on  a 
welcome  occasion,  to  behold  a  grateful  object ;  namely,  the  founda- 
tion of  one  of  the  first  and  fairest  colleges  in  Christendom. 

6.  Merton  College  hi  Oxford  founded.     A.D.  1274. 

For  in  this  year  Walter  de  Merton,  bishop  of  Rochester  and 
chancellor  of  England,  finished  the  college  of  his  own  name  in 
Oxford.  This  Walter  was  born  at  Merton  in  Surrey,  and  at 
Maldon  in  that  county  had  built  a  college,  which  on  second 
thoughts  (by  God's  counsel,  no  doubt)  he  removed  to  Oxford,  as  it 
seems,  for  the  more  security  ;  now  if  the  barons*'  wars,  then  (some 
fifteen  years  since)  in  height  and  heat,  were,  as  it  is  probable,  any 
motive  of  this  translation,  it  was  one  of  the  best  effects  which  ever 
so  bad  a  cause  produced.  For,  otherwise,  if  not  removed  to  Oxford, 
certainly  this  college  had  been  swept  away,  as  "  rubbish  of  supersti- 
tion," at  the  Dissolution  of  abbeys. 

7.  -4  Manor  in  Cambridge  given  thereunto. 

Amongst  the  many  manors  which  the  first  founder  *  bestowed  on 
this  college,  one  lay  in  the  parish  of  St.  Peter's  and  west  suburb 
of  Cambridge,  beyond  the  bridge,  anciently  called  Pythagoras- 
House,  since  Merton-Hall.  To  this  belongeth  much  good  land 
thereabout,  as  also  the  mills  at  Grantchester  mentioned  in  Chaucer ; 
those  of  Merton- College  keeping  yearly  a  Court  Baron  here. 
Afterwards  king  Henry  VI.  took  away  (for  what  default  I  find  not) 
this  manor  from  them,  and  bestowed  it  upon  his  own  foundation  of 
King's-College  -j-  in  Cambridge.  But  his  successor,  Edward  IV. 
restored  it  to  Merton-College  again.  It  seemeth  equally  admirable 
to  me,  that  holy  king  Henry  VI.  should  do  any  wrong,  or  harsh 
Edward  IV.  do  any  right,  to  the  Muses  ;  which  maketh  me  to 
suspect  that  there  is  more  in  the  matter  than  what  is  generally 
known,  or  doth  publicly  appear. 

8.  MertorCs  Monument  renewed. 

Sir  Henry  Saville,  the  most  learned  AVarden  of  this  college,  three 
hundred  and  more  years  after  Merton's  death,  plucked  down  his  old 
tomb  in  Rochester  church,  near  the  north  wall,  almost  over  against 
the  bishop's  chair,  and  built  a  neat  new   monument  of  touch   and 

•  Brian  Twine  Ant.  Acad.  Or.  page  319.  f  Caii's  Hist.  Cant.  Acad,  page  68. 

2  B  2 


372  CHURCH    HISTOllY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1274, 

alabaster,  whereon,  after  a  large  inscription  in  prose,  this  epitaph  was 
engraven : — 

Macjne  sencx  titulis,  Musarum  sede  sacraid 

Major,  Mertonidiim  maxime  progeiiie, 
HcBc  tibi  ffrafantes  post  scecula  sera  nepotes 

En  votiva  locant  tnarm.ora,  sancte  jiarens. 

And,  indeed,  malice  itself  cannot  deny,  that  this  college,  or  little 
University  rather,  doth  equal,  if  not  exceed,  any  one  foundation  in 
Christendom,  for  the  famous  men  bred  therein,  as  by  the  following 
catalogue  will  appear  : — 

Wardens. — 1.  Peter  Abyngdon ;  2.  Richard  Warblisdon  ; 
3.  John  de  la  More ;  4.  John  de  Wan  tinge;  5.  Robert  de  Trenge; 
6.  Guliel.  de  Durant ;  7-  John  de  Bloxliam  ;  8.  John  de  Wen- 
dover ;  9.  Edmund  de  Beckingham  ;  10.  Thomas  de  Rudburne  ; 
11.  Robert  Gylbert ;  12.  Henry  de  Abingdon;  13.  Elias  de 
Halcot ;  14.  Henry  Sever;  15.  John  Gygur  ;  16.  Richard  Fitz- 
James;  17- Thomas  Harper ;  18.  Richard  Rawlings  ;  19.  Rowland 
Philips;  20.  John  Chamber;  21.  Henry  Tindal ;  22.  Thomas 
Raynolds  ;  23.  Jacobus  Gervase  ;  24.  John  Manne  ;  25.  Thomas 
Bickley ;  26.  Henry  Saville ;  27-  Sir  Nathanael  Brent ;  28.  Dr. 
Jonathan  Goddard. 

Bishops. — Robert  Winchelsey,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  anno 
1294 ;  Simon  Mepham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury;  anno  1327 ; 
Simon  Islip,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  an7io  1349  ;  John  Kemp, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  anno  1462 ;  Ralph  Baldock,  bishop 
of  London,  ayino  1305  ;  Henry  Gower,  bishop  of  St.  David''s, 
anno  1328 ;  William  Reade,  bishop  of  Chichester,  anno  1369  ; 
Robert  Gilbert,  bishop  of  London,  anno  1435;  Thomas  Rodeburn, 
bishop  of  St.  David's,  an7io  1440  ;  John  Chedw^orth,*  bishop  of 
Lincoln,  anno  1452 ;  John  Marshall,  bishop  of  LandafF,  anno 
1478  ;  Richard  Fitz-James,  bishop  of  London,  anno  1506;  William 
Siveyer,  bishop  of  Durham,  anno  1502;  Richard  Rawlins,  bishop 
of  St.  David's,  anno  1523 ;  John  Parkhurst,  bishop  of  Norwich, 
ontio  1560 ;  Thomas  Bickley,  bishop  of  Chichester,  anno  1585  ; 
George  Carleton,  bishop  of  Chichester,  anno  1626. 

Bexefactors. — John  Willet  (bred  in  this  college)  D.  D.  and 
chancellor  of  Oxford,  founded  the  Portionists'-f-  Hall  and 
exhibitions ;  William  Read,  an  excellent  mathematician,  built 
the  library ;  Thomas  Rudburne,  Warden,  built  the  tower  over 
the  gate ;  Richard  Fitzjames,  Warden,  built  the  Warden's  lodgings  ; 
Henry  Abingdon,  Warden,  gave  bells  to  the  church  ;  Richard 
Rawlins  wainscotted  the  inside,  and  covered  the  roof  thereof  with 
lead  ;  Thomas   Leach  ;    Sir  Thomas  Bodley ;     Dr.  Wilson  ;   Mr. 

•   He  was  provost  also  of  king's  college  in  Camln-idge.     t  The  same  w-ith  postmasters. 


3  EDWARD   I.  HOOK    IJl.       CENT.    XIII.  37*3 

John  Chambers,   some  time    Fellow    of  Eaton  ;  Doctor  Jervicc  ; 
Doctor  Jesop  ;  Sir  Henry  Saville. 

Learned  Writers. — 1.  Roger  Bacon,  a  famous  mathematician ; 
2.  John  Dunce  Scotus ;  3.  Walter  Barley;  4.  William  Ochani; 
5.  Thomas  Bradwardine,  archbishop  of  Canterbury;  6.  John 
Gatisden  ;  7-  —  Dumbleton  ;  8.  Nicholas  Gorrham  ;  9.  William 
Grysant,  father  to  Grimoald  Grysant,  pope  by  the  name  of 
Urban  V.  10.  Roger  Switzet ;  11.  John  Wiclif;  Henry  CufFe, 
an  able  scholar,  bnt  unfortunate  ;  Sir  Thomas  Bodley,  who  built 
Oxford  library ;  Sir  Henry  Saville  ;  Sir  Isaac  Wake,  University 
orator  and  ambassador  to  Venice ;  Henry  Mason,  who  Avorthily 
wrote  De  Ministerin  Anglicano ;  John  Greaves,  an  excellent 
mathematician ;  Dr.  Peter  Turner,  active  in  composing  the  new 
statutes  of  the  University. 

The  Living  passed  over  in  Silence. 

I  purposely  omit  such  as  still  (and  may  they  long)  survive  ; 
whereof  some — as,  Dr.  Edward  Reynolds,  Dr.  John  Earles,  Dr. 
Francis  Cheynel,  Mr.  Doughty,  Mr.  Francis  Rouse,  &c. — have 
already  given  the  world  a  testimony  of  their  great  learning  and 
endowments.  Others  may,  in  due  time,  as  Dr.  Higgs,  late  Dean  of 
Lichfield,  Dr.  Corbet,  &c.  And  surely  Mr.  John  Hales,  formerly 
Greek  professor,  will  not  envy'  Christian  mankind  his  treasury  of 
learning ;  nor  can  conceive,  that  only  a  sermon  (owned  under  his 
name)  can  satisfy  the  just  expectation  from  him  of  the  church  and 
commonwealth. 

The  Original  of  Postmasters. 
There  is  a  by-foundation  of  postmasters  in  this  House,  a  kind  of 
college  in  the  college  ;  and  this  tradition  goeth  of  their  original  : — 
Anciently  there  was  over  against  Morton-College,  a  small  un-endowed 
Hall,  whose  scholars  had  so  run  in  an'ears,  that  their  opposite  neigh- 
bours, out  of  charity,  took  them  into  their  college,  (then  but  nine  in 
number,)  to  wait  on  the  Fellows.  But,  since,  they  are  freed  from  any 
attendance,  and  endowed  with  plentiful  maintenance ;  Mr.  Willet 
being  the  first  benefactor  unto  them  in  that  nature,  whose  good 
example  hath  provoked  many  to  follow  his  liberality.  These  most 
justly  conceive  themselves  much  honoured,  in  that  bishop  Jewel  was 
a  postmaster  before  removed  hence  to  be  Fellow  of  Corpus  Christi 
College.  We  take  our  farewell  of  this  House,  when  we  have  told, 
it  consisted  lately  (namely,  1635)  of  one  Warden,  twenty-one 
Fellows,  fourteen  Scholars,*  beside  Officers  and  Servants,  of  the 
foundation,  with  other  Students  ;   the  whole  number  being  eighty. 

•  The  same,  I  conceive,  with  the  postmasters. 


374  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1274 9. 

9-  The  Church  ready  to  eat  up  the  Commonwealth. 
Come  we  now  to  the  king"'s  retrencliing  the  pope's  power,  grown 
so  exorbitant  in  England  :  a  principal  part  whereof  consisted  in 
the  multitude  of  monasteries,  daily  increasing  in  wealth,  and  all  at 
the  pope's  absolute  devotion.  If  posterity  had  continued  at  this 
rate  to  build  and  endow  religious  houses,  all  England  would,  in 
short  time,  have  turned  one  entire  and  continued  monastery ;  and 
the  inhabitants  thereof  become  either  friars  or  founders.  Where, 
then,  should  be  any  soldiers  to  fight  the  king's  battles  ?  seamen  to 
steer  his  ships  .''  husbandmen  to  plough  the  king's  land  ?  or  rather 
any  land  of  his  to  be  ploughed  by  husbandmen  ? 

10.  The  Mischief  of  Mortmain  to  the  Crown. 
Besides,  though  these  friars  had  a  living  hand,  to  take  and 
receive  from  any  ;  they  had  mortmain,  a  dead  hand,  to  restore 
and  return  any  profit  to  the  king  again.  Yea,  such  alienation  of 
lands  in  mortmain,  settled  on  monasteries,  (which,  as  corporations, 
neither  married  nor  died,)  afforded  neither  wards,  marriages,  reliefs, 
nor  knights'-service,  for  the  defence  of  the  realm  ;  in  a  word, 
enriched  their  private  coffers,  impoverished  the  public  exchequer. 
It  was  not,  therefore,  such  a  dead  hand  which  could  feed  so  many 
living  mouths  as  the  king  for  his  state  and  safety  must  maintain. 
Wherefore,  for  the  future,  he  restrained  such  unlimited  donatives  to 
religious  houses. 

11.   This  Law  not  new,  hut  reneived. 

Ignorance  makes  many  men  mistake  mere  transcripts  for  originals. 
So  here,  the  short-sighted  vulgar  sort  beheld  the  king's  act  herein 
as  new,  strange,  and  unprecedented ;  whereas,  indeed,  former  times 
and  foreign  princes  had  done  the  like  on  the  same  occasion.  First. 
We  find  some  countenance  for  it  in  Scripture,  when  Moses  by 
proclamation  bounded  the  overflowing  bounty  of  the  people  to  the 
tabernacle,  Exod.  xxxvi.  6.  And  in  the  primitive  times,  Theodosius 
the  emperor,  although  most  loving  and  favourable  to  the  clergy, 
made  a  law  of  a  mortisation  or  mortmain,  to  moderate  people's 
bounty  to  the  church.  Yet  a  great  Father,  Jerome  byname,  much 
disliked  this  act,  as  appears  by  his  complaint  to  Nepotian  of  that 
law :  "  I  am  ashamed  to  say  it,  the  priests  of  idols,  stage-players, 
coachmen,  and  common  harlots,  are  made  capable  of  inheritance, 
and  receive  legacies  :  only  ministers  of  the  Gospel  and  monks  are 
barred  by  law  thus  to  do  ;  and  that  not  by  persecutors,  but  by 
Christian  princes."  But  that  passionate  Father  comes  off  well  at 
last :  "  Neither  do  I  complain  of  the  law,  but  I  am  sorry  we  have 
deserved  to  have  such  a  law  made  against  us." 


7  EDWARD   I.  BOOK     III.       CENT.    XIII.  375 

12.  Ambrose  angry  with  Mortmain. 

St.  Ambrose,  likewise,  in  his  thirty-first  epistle,  expresseth  much 
anger  on  the  same  occasion,  out  of  his  general  zeal  for  the  churclfs 
good.  But,  had  the  aforesaid  Fathers  (men  rather  pious  than 
politic  ;  good  churchmen,  no  statesmen)  seen  the  monasteries 
swollen  in  revenues  from  an  inch  in  their  days  to  an  ell,  (by  people's 
fondness,  yea,  dotage,  on  the  four  sorts  of  friars,)  in  king  Edward's 
reign,  they  would,  no  doubt,  instead  of  reproving,  have  commended 
his  and  the  neighbouring  kings'  care  for  their  commonwealths. 

13.  The  Statute  of  Mortmain.     A.  D.  1279. 

For,  the  like  laws  for  limiting  men's  liberality  were  lately  made 
in  Spain  and  France,  and  now  at  last  followed  by  king  Edward, 
according  to  the  tenor  ensuing  : — 

"  Whereas  of  late  it  was  provided,  that  religious  men  should  not 
enter  into  the  fees  of  any  without  licence  and  will  of  the  chief  lords 
of  whom  such  fees  be  holden  immediately :  and,  notwithstanding, 
such  religious  men  have  entered  as  well  into  their  own  fees,  as  into 
the  fees  of  other  men,  approprying  and  buying  them,  and  sometime 
receiving  them  of  the  gift  of  others,  whereby  the  services  that  are 
due  of  such  fees,  and  which  at  the  beginning  were  provided  for 
defence  of  the  realm,  are  wrongfully  withdrawn,  and  the  chief  lords 
do  leese  their  escheats  of  the  same  ;  we  therefore  to  the  profit  of 
our  realm  intending  to  provide  convenient  remedy,  by  the  advice  of 
our  prelates,  earls,  barons,  and  other  our  subjects,  being  of  our 
council,  have  provided,  made,  and  ordained, — That  no  person, 
religious  or  other,  whatsoever  he  be,  that  will  buy  or  sell  any  lands 
or  tenements,  or  under  the  color  of  gift  or  lease,  or  that  will  receive 
by  reason  of  any  other  title,  whatsoever  it  be,  lands  or  tenements, 
or  by  any  other  craft  or  engine  will  presume  to  appropriate  to  him- 
self, under  pain  of  forfeiture  of  the  same,  whereby  such  lands  or 
tenements  may  any  wise  come  into  mortmaine.  We  have  provided 
also, — That  if  any  person,  religious  or  other,  do  presume  either  by 
craft  or  engine,  to  oflPend  against  this  statute  ;  it  shall  be  lawful  to 
us  and  other  chief  lords  of  the  fee,  immediately  to  enter  in  the  land 
so  aliened,  within  a  year  from  the  time  of  their  alienation,  and  to 
hold  it  in  fee,  and  as  inheritance.  And,  if  the  chief  lord  imme- 
diately be  negligent,  and  will  not  enter  into  such  fee  within  the 
year,  then  it  shall  be  lawful  to  the  next  chief  lord  immediate  of  the 
same  fee,  to  enter  in  the  said  land  within  half  a  year  next  follow- 
ing, and  to  hold  it  as  before  is  said  ;  and  so  every  lord  immediate 
may  enter  into  such  land,  if  the  next  lord  be  negligent  in  entering 
into  the  same  fee,  as  is  aforesaid.  And,  if  all  the  chief  lords  of 
such  fees  being  of  full  age,  within  the  four  seas,  and  out  of  prison, 


876  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1279 83. 

be  negligent  or  slack  in  this  behalf,  we  immediately  after  the  year 
accomplished,  from  the  time  that  such  purchases,  gifts,  or  appropria- 
tions hap  to  be  made,  shall  take  such  tenements  into  our  hand,  and 
shall  enfeofFe  others  therein,  by  certain  services  to  be  done  to  us, 
for  the  defence  of  our  realm,  saving  to  the  chief  lords  of  the  same 
fees  their  wards  and  escheats,  and  other  services  thereunto  due  and 
accustomed.  And  therefore  we  command  you,  that  ye  cause  the 
foresaid  statute  to  be  read  before  you,  and  from  henceforth  to  be 
kept  firmly  and  observed. 

"  Witness  myself  at  Westminster,"  &c. 
Date  we  from  this  day,  the  acme  or  vertical  height  of  abbeys, 
Avhich  henceforward  began  to  stand  still,  and,  at  last,  to  decline. 
Formerly  it  was,  "  Endow  monasteries  who  would,"  hereafter,  "  who 
could,"  having  first  obtained  licence  from  the  king.  Yet  this  law 
did  not  ruin  but  regulate,  not  destroy  but  direct,  well-grounded 
liberality,  that  bounty  to  some  might  not  be  injury  to  others.  Here 
I  leave  it  to  lawyers  by  profession,  to  show  how,  many  years  after, 
(namely,  the  eighteenth  of  Edward  III.)  prelates  impeached  before 
the  king^s  justices  for  purchasing .  land  in  mortmain,  shall  be  dis- 
missed without  further  trouble,  upon  their  producing  a  charter  of 
licence,  and  process  thereupon  made,  by  an  inquest,  ad  quod 
damnum,  or,  in  case  that  cannot  be  showed,  by  making  a  con- 
venient fine  for  the  same. 

14.  Who  the  active  Prelates  of  this  Age.     A.D.  1283. 

The  late  mention  of  the  prelates'*  advice,  in  passing  a  law  so 
maleficial  unto  them,  giveth  me  just  occasion  to  name  some,  the 
principal  persons  of  the  clergy,  present  thereat ;  namely,  1.  John 
Peckham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  a  stout  man.  He  afterwards 
excommunicated  the  prince  of  Wales,  because  he  went  a  long 
journey  to  persuade  him  to  peace  with  England,  but  could  not 
prevail.  2.  William  Wickwane,  archbishop  of  York,  accounted  a 
great  scholar,  author  of  a  book  called  Memoriale,  and  esteemed  a 
petty  saint  in  that  age.  3.  Anthony  Beake,  soon  after  bishop  of 
Durham  ;  the  richest  and  proudest  (always  good  manners  to  except 
cardinal  Wolsey)  of  that  place ;  patriarch  titular  of  Jerusalem,  and 
prince  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  Yet,  in  my  mind,  Gilbert  Bellinger, 
[De  Sancto  Leofardo,]  his  contemporary,  and  bishop  of  Chichester, 
had  a  far  better  title,  as  commonly  called  "  the  father  of  orphans, 
and  comforter  of  the  widows."  These,  with  many  more  bishops 
consented  (though  some  of  them  resorhentes  suam  bitem  as  inwardly 
angry)  to  the  passing  or  confirming  of  the  statute  of  mortmain. 
To  make  them  some  amends,  the  king  not  long  after  favourably 
stated  what  causes  should  be  of  spiritual  cognizance. 


13  EDWARD   I.  BOOK    III.        CENT,    XIII.  377 

15.   The  spiritual  and  temporal  Courts  hounded  by  Parliament. 

A.D.  1285. 

For  a  parliament  was  called  at  Westminster,  eminent  on  this 
account, — that  it  laid  down  the  limits,  and  fixed  the  boundaries, 
betwixt  the  spiritual  and  temporal  jurisdictions  :  "  Hitherto  shall  ye 
come  and  no  farther  ;'"  though,  before  and  since,  both  powers  have 
endeavoured  to  enlarge  their  own  and  contract  their  rivaPs  authority. 
We  will  present  first  the  Latin  out  of  the  records,  and  then  the 
English  out  of  our  printed  statutes,  and  make  some  necessary 
observations  on  both. 

Rex  talibusjudicibus  sahdem. — Circitmspecte  agatis  de  negotiis 
tangcntibus  episcopum  Noi'wicenscm,  et  ejus  clentm,  nan  puniend, 
eos  si  placitum  teinier'int  in  curia  Clirisiianiiatis  de  his  quee  mere 
sunt  spiritiialia,  viz.  de  correctionibus  quas  prelati  faciunt  pro 
mortali  peccato,  viz.  projbrnicatione,  adtdterio  et  htijusrnodi,  pro 
quibus  aliquando  injiigitur  poena  corporal'/s,  aViquando  pecuniaria, 
maxime  si  convict  us  fuerit  de  hujusmodi  liber  homo. 

Item  :  Si  pralatus  puniat  pro  cemeterio  non  clauso,  ecclesia  dis- 
coopertd,  vel  non  decenter  ornata,  i?t  quibus  casibus  alia  poena  non 
potest  infligi  quam  pecuniaria. 

Item  :  Si  rector  petal  versus  parochianos  oblationes,  et  decimas 
debitas  vel  consuetas,  vel  si  rector  agat  contra  rectorem  de  decimis 
majorihus,  vel  minoribus,  dummodo  non  pctatur  qtmrta  pars 
valoris  ecclesits. 

Item:  Si  rector  petat  mortuarium  in  jjartibics  ubi  mortuarium 
clari  consuevit. 

Item :  Sipj'relatus  alia/jus  ecclesia,  vel  advocatus  petat  a  rectore 
pensionem  si  debitam,  omnes  hujusmodi  petitiones  sunt  faciend.  in 
foro  ecclesiastico.  De  violentd  manuum  injectione  in  clericum,  et 
in  causa  diffamationis  concessum  fuit  alias,  quod  placitum  inde 
teneatur  in  curia  Christianitatis,  cum  non  petatur  pecunia,  sed 
ogahir  ad  correctionem  peccati,  et  similiter  pro  Jidei  Icesione.  In 
omnibus  pnedictis  casibus  habet  judex  ecclesiasticns  cognoscere, 
regid  pi-ohibitione  non  obstante. 

"  The  king  to  his  judges  sendeth  greeting. — Use  yourself  circum- 
spectly in  al  matters  concerning  the  bishop  of  Norwich,  and  his 
clergie,  not  punishing  them,  if  they  hold  plea  in  court  Christian,  of 
such  things  as  be  meerly  spiritual,  that  is  to  wit  of  penance  enjoyned 
for  deadly  sin,  as  fornication,  adultery,  and  such  like  ;  for  the  which, 
many  times,  corporal  penance  or  pecuniary  is  enjoyned,  specially  if 
a  free  man  be  convict  of  such  things. 

"  Also  if  prelates  do  punish  for  leaving  church-yards  unclosed,  or 
for  that  the  church  is  uncovered,  or  not  conveniently  decked  ;  in 
which  cases  none  other  penance  can  be  enjoyned  but  pecuniary. 


378  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  a'.D.  1285. 

"  Item :  If  a  parson  demand  of  his  parishioners  oblations  and 
tythes  due  and  accustomed,  or  if  any  person  plead  against  another 
for  tythes,  more  or  less,  so  that  the  fourth  part  of  the  value  of  the 
benefice  be  not  demanded. 

"  Item  :  If  a  parson  demand  mortuaries  in  places  where  a  mor- 
tuarie  hath  used  to  have  been  given. 

"  Item  :  If  a  prelate  of  a  church  or  if  a  patron  demand  a  pension 
due  to  themselves,  all  such  demands  are  to  be  made  in  a  spiritual 
court.  And  for  laying  violent  hands  on  a  priest,  and  in  cause  of 
deflimation,  it  hath  been  granted  already,  that  it  shall  be  tried  in  a 
spiritual  court,  when  money  is  not  demanded,  but  a  thing  done  for 
punishment  of  sin,  and  likewise  for  breaking  an  oath.  In  all  cases 
afore  rehearsed,  the  spiritual  judg  shall  have  power  to  take  knowledg 
notwithstanding  the  king''s  prohibition." 

Something  must  be  premised  about  the  validity  of  this  writing, 
learned  men  much  differing  therein.  Some  make  it,  1.  Only  a  constitu- 
tion made  by  the  prelates  themselves  ;  much  to  blame,  if  they  cut  not 
large  pieces,  being  their  own  carvers :  2.  Amere  writ  issued  out  from  the 
king  to  his  judges  :  3.  A  solemn  Act  of  Parliament,  complete  in  all 
the  requisites  thereof.  Hear  what  a  Bacon  *  (but  neither  Sir  Nicholas 
nor  Sir  Francis,  the  two  oracles  of  law)  writes  in  this  case:  "A 
writing  something  like  a  grant  of  liberties,  which  beforetimes  were 
in  controversy  ;  and  this  grant,  if  it  may  be  so  called,  hath  by  con- 
tinuance usurped  the  name  of '  a  statute,"*  but,  in  its  own  nature  is  no 
other  than  a  writ  directed  to  the  judges."  Presently  after  he  saith, 
"  It  is  therefore  no  grant,  nor  release,  but  as  it  were,  a  covenant  that 
the  clergy  should  hold  peaceable  possession  of  what  they  had,  upon 
this  ground."  And  in  the  next  page  more  plainly  :  "  For  my  part, 
therefore,  I  shall  not  apprehend  it  of  a  higher  nature  than  the  king's 
writ,  which  in  those  days  went  forth  at  random.'''' 

16.  Judge  Coke''s  Decision. 

Come  we  now  to  the  calm  judgment  of  Sir  Edward  Coke,  on  whose 
decision  we  may  safely  rely  :  "  Though  some  have  said  that  this  was 
no  statute,  but  made  by  the  prelates  themselves ;  yet  that  this  is  an 
Act  of  Parliament,  it  is  proved,  not  only  by  our  books,  but  also  by 
an  Act  of  Parliament."*!' 

17-  The  king  to  his  judges-^W ere  it  of  concernment,  it  were 
not  difficult  to  name  the  prime  judges  of  England  at  this  time  : 
namely,  1.  In  the  King's  or  Upper  Bench,  either  Ralph  de  Heng- 
ham,  or,  which  is  more  probable,  one  Wymborne  was  judge.  2.  In 
the  Common  Pleas,    Thomas  de  Weyland,  on  that  token — that  he 

•  Mr.  Nath.  Bacon  in  his  "  Historical  Discourse  of  the  Government  of  England," 
lib.  i.  page  233,  t  Second  Part  of  his  "  Institutes,"  page  487. 


I 


13  EDWARD   I.  BOOK     HI.       CENT.    XHI.  l]Jd 

was  guilty  of  bribery.  3.  In  the  Exchequer,  Adam  do  Strattoii,  as 
faulty  as  the  former.  But  by  the  judges  named  in  this  writ,  (for,  as 
this  was  an  Act  of  Parliament,  so  was  there  a  writ  also  founded 
thereon,  called,  circumpecie  agatis,)  we  understand  some  peculiar 
commissioners  dispatched  and  employed  on  this  particular  business, 

18.  Concernmg  the  bishop  of  Norwich — It  is  needless  to  tell 
the  reader,  that  William  Middleton  was  bishop  thereof  at  this  time, 
charactered  to  be,  vir  in  jure  civili  et  canonico  peritissimus  et 
elegantissimiis*  But  Norwich  is  here  put  only  for  example,  which 
equally  extended  to  all  the  bishops  of  the  realm. 

19.  Si  placitum  temierint,  "  if  they  hold  plea" — Placiium,  "  a 
plea  ;"  so  called,  saith  my  author, -f*  per  antiphrasi?!,  quia  non 
jjlacet,  none  being  pleased  to  go  to  law  save  barristers,  who  delight 
in  brangling.  But  what,  if  it  be  called  placitum,  because  the 
plaintiff  is  pleased  to  submit  his  right  in  question  to  the  pleasure 
of  the  court  to  decide  it  ? 

20.  In  court  Christian — These  words  are  left  out  in  Linwood's 
"  Constitutions,*"  where  all  the  rest  is  registered ;  and,  where  the 
recording  thereof  amongst  the  provincial  canons  of  Canterbury  gave 
the  best  countenance  to  their  conjecture  who  degrade  this  Act  of 
Parliament  into  a  mere  church-constitution.  It  is  called  "  the  court 
Christian,"  because  therein  the  laws  of  Christ  do  or  should  bear  the 
decisive  sway,  whilst  the  statutes  of  secular  princes  regulate  the  j^ro- 
ceedings  in  other  courts. 

21.  Such  things  as  be  merely  spiritual — This  furnisheth  us 
with  a  necessary  distinction  of  all  matters,  into  merely  and  purely 
spiritual,  and  into  mixedly  and  partly  spiritual.  Of  the  former  we 
shall  find  very  few  merely  spiritual.  For  the  apostles  sometimes 
conceived,  that  the  very  distribution  of  alms  to  the  poor  had  some- 
thing of  worldly  drossiness  therein,  called  by  them  "  serving  of 
tables,"  Acts  vi.  2;  as  if  only  the  preaching  of  the  word  were  a 
spiritual  employment.  Of  the  latter  sort  many  things  are  mixedly 
spiritual.  For,  seeing  man  consists  of  two  principles,  soul  and 
body,  all  his  actions,  good  or  bad,  as  to  the  mind-moiety  or  soul -part 
thereof,  must  needs  have  at  least  a  glance  of  spiritual  reflection. 
Here  then  the  query  will  be  in  matters  mixedly  spiritual,  whether 
the  spirituality  of  them  shall  refine  the  rest  so  as  to  exalt  the  same 
into  church-cognizance  ?  or  the  corporality  or  carthliness  of  them 
depress  them,  so  as  to  subject  them  to  civil  consideration  ?  The 
decision  hereof  dependeth  on  the  practice  and  custom  of  the  land,  as 
will  appear  hereafter. 

22.  For  deadly  siii — Distinguish  we  here  betwixt  a  sin  "  deadly" 
to  the  soul,  drawing  damnation  without  repentance,  and  a  "  deadly" 

•   Chronkon  Osnicnsc.  t  Linwood's  Cons>>.t.\ih,\i.  tit.  Dc  Foro  Compctenti. 


ySO  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1285. 

(commonly  called  a  "capital")  crime,  deserving  deatli  by  human 
laws.  The  former  only  is  here  intended,  the  latter  belonging 
wholly  to  the  common  law.  Nor  did  the  punishment  of  every 
"  mortal  sin,"  to  use  the  language  of  that  age,  belong  to  church- 
men ;  seeing,  if  so,  as  Linwood  no  less  learnedly  than  modestly 
confessetih,  sic  periret  temporalis  gladii  jurisdictio,  "  Thereby  the 
power  of  the  temporal  sword  will  wholly  be  taken  away."  Long 
since  had  Doctors-Commons  eaten  up  all  the  Inns  of  Court,  if  all 
things  reducible  to  deadly  sins  had  pertained  to  the  court  Christian. 
And  therefore  the  casuists  themselves  do  qualify  and  confine  these 
words  of  indefinite  extent  to  such  crimes,  which  de  sui  natiird  spec- 
tant  ad  forum  ecclesiasticum. 

23.  As  first  fornication — Here,  saith  Linwood,  thirteen  cases 
are  in  specie  recited,  though  I  dare  not  reckon  them  up,  fearing  to 
make  them  (lying  so  confusedly)  more  or  less.  Fornication,  that 
is,  saith  the  casuist,  soluti  cum  solutd,  "  the  uncleanness  of  a 
loose"  (understand  "  unmarried")  "  with  a  loose  person." 

24.  Adultery — These  two  alone  are  specified,  because  lying  in  a 
middle  distance,  so  the  more  conveniently  to  reach  other  sins  of  this 
kind,  of  higher  or  lower  guilt  :  1.  Higher,  as  incest :  2.  Lower,  as 
soliciting  a  woman''s  chastity.  If  any  say  that  adultery  doth  not 
belong  to  the  court  Christian,  because  Christ  himself  would  not 
punish  an  adulteress  taken  in  the  act,  John  viii.  4 — 11,  waving  it  as 
an  improper  employment ;  it  is  answered,  that  our  Saviour,  appear- 
ing in  privacy  and  poverty,  and  coming  not  to  act  but  to  suffer,  not 
to  judge  but  be  judged,  justly  declined  all  judicial  power.  But  we 
see  afterwards  how  the  church  of  Corinth,  by  St.  PauFs  command, 
proceeded  against  the  incestuous  person  ;  and  at  this  time  church- 
men cleanly  carried  the  cognizance  of  such  offences.  I  say,  "  at 
this  time ;"  it  plainly  appearing,  that  in  the  Conqueror"'s  time,  forni- 
cation and  adultery  were  punishable  in  the  king^s  court,  and  the 
Leets  especially,  (by  the  name  of  Letherwite,)  and  the  fines  of 
offenders  assessed  to  the  king,  though  now  it  merely  belonged  to 
the  church.  As  for  a  rape,  being  adultery,  or,  at  leastwise,  fornica- 
tion offered  with  violence,  the  common  law  hath  justly  reserved  to 
itself  the  trial  and  punishment  thereof. 

25.  And  such  like — Here  is  an  interpretative  et-cc&tera  inserted 
in  the  body  of  a  Parliament  Act,  and  a  writ  grounded  thereon, 
causing  some  differences  about  the  dimensions  thereof.  For,  if  these 
words,  "  And  such  like,"  relate  only  to  the  last  foregoing,  "fornica- 
tion and  adultery,"  (in  common  construction  most  probable,)  then 
they  only  fetch  in  such  offences  which  have  some  tincture  of  carnal 
uncleanness.  But  if  they  also  refer  to  the  mediate  preceding  words, 
"  deadly  sins,"  behold  a  troop  comcth,  beyond  our  power  exactly  to 


13  EDWARD   I.  BOOK    TTI.       CENT.    XIII,  381 

number  them.  And  here  foreion  casuists  bviiiQ-  in  a  bundle  of  mor- 
tal  sins,  all  grist  for  their  own  mill,  as  of  church-cognizance  ;  namely, 
sacrilege,  usury,  heresy,  simony,  perjury,  fortune-telling,  consulting 
astrologers,  drunkenness,  &c.  But  it  matters  not  how  long  and 
large  their  bills  be  from  beyond  the  seas,  seeing  our  common  law 
brings  their  reckonings  to  a  new  account,  defalking  a  great  part  of 
that  measure  which  they  make  to  themselves  in  favour  of  church- 
jurisdiction. 

26.  For  that  the  church  is  uncovered — It  belonged  ever  to  the 
priests  to  provide  for  the  decent  reparation  of  God's  house.  Thus 
Jehoiada  was  careful  to  amend  the  decays  of  the  temple,  2  Chron. 
xxiv.  But  though  it  pertained  to  churchmen  to  see  the  thing 
done,  yet  several  persons  were  to  do  it.  1.  The  steeple  with  the 
body  of  the  church,  and  all  chapels  lying  in  common  thereunto,  are 
to  be  repaired  at  the  joint  cost  of  the  parish.  2.  Private  chapels, 
wherein  particular  persons  claim  a  propriety  of  sepulture  at  their 
own  charges.  3.  The  chancel,  at  the  expense  of  the  parson. 
However,  in  all  these,  such  respect  is  had  to  the  custom  of  the  place 
time  out  of  mind,  that  it  often  over-ruleth  the  premisses.  Query, 
— Whether  the  fences  of  the  churchyard  be  to  be  made  on  the 
parish-charges,  or  on  the  purse  of  the  several  persons  whose  ground 
surroundeth  it,  or  abutteth  on  the  same  .'' 

Oblations  and  tythes — It  is  a  question  which  I  believe  will 
never  be  decided  to  the  contentment  of  both  parties,  in  what  notion 
tithes  belong  to  the  court  Christian.  1.  The  canonists  maintain, 
that  originally  and  ex  sua  natura^  they  are  of  ecclesiastical  cogni- 
zance, as  commonly  avouched  and  generally  believed  due  jxire 
Divino.  Besides,  such  the  near  relation  of  the  church  and  its 
maintenance,  that  to  part  the  oil  from  the  lamp  were  to  destroy  it.* 
They  produce  also  the  confession  in  the  statute  of  the  first  of 
Richard  II.  that  pursuit  for  tithes  ought,  and  of  ancient  time  did, 
pertain  to  the  spiritual  court. 

2.  The  common  lawyers  defend,  that  tithes  in  their  own  nature 
are  a  civil  thing,  and  therefore  by  Britton  (who,  being  bishop  of 
Hereford,  and  learned  in  the  laws  of  this  realm,  Avas  best  qualified 
for  an  unpartial  judge  herein)  omitted,  when  treating  of  what  things 
the  church  hath  cognizance.  They  affirm,  therefore,  that  tithes 
were  annexed  to  the  spirituality.  Thus  they  expound  those  pas- 
sages in  statutes  of  tithes,  anciently  belonging  to  court  Christian,  as 
intended  by  way  of  concession,  and  not  otherwise. 

But  the  canonists  are  too  sturdy  to  take  that  for  a  gift  which 
they  conceive  is  their  due,  lest  thanks  also  be  expected  from  them  for 
enjoying  the  same ;  and  so  we  leave  the  question  where  we  found  it. 

•  Bracton,  lib.  Y.  fol.  401. 


382  CHUnCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1285 — 90. 

27.  Mortuary — Because  something  of  history  is  folded  up  in 
this  word,  which  may  acquaint  us  with  the  practice  of  this  age,  we 
will  enlarge  a  little  hereon,  and  show  what  a  mortuary  was,  when  to 
be  paid,  by  whom,  to  whom  and  in  what  consideration.  1.  A 
mortuary  was  the  second  best  quick  cattle  whereof  the  party  died 
possessed.*  If  he  had  but  two  in  all,  (such,  forsooth,  the  charity  of 
the  church,)  no  mortuary  was  due  from  him.  2.  It  was  often 
bequeathed  by  the  dying  ;  but,  however,  always  paid  by  his 
executors  after  his  death,  thence  called  a  mortuary  or  corse-present. 
S.  By  ivhom — No  woman  under  covert-baron  was  liable  to  pay  it, 
and  by  proportion  no  children  unmarried,  living  under  their  father ""s 
tuition  ;  but  widows,  and  all  possessed  of  an  estate,  were  subject  to 
the  payment  thereof.  4.  To  whom — It  was  paid  to  the  priest  of 
the  parish  where  the  party  dying  received  the  sacrament,  (not  where 
he  repaired  to  prayers,)  and  if  his  house  at  his  death  stood  in  two 
parishes,  the  value  of  the  mortuary  was  to  be  divided  betwixt  them 
both.  5.  It  was  given  in  lieu  of  small  or  personal  tithes,  (predial 
tithes  are  too  great  to  be  casually  forgotten,)  which  the  party  in  his 
life-time  had,  through  ignorance  or  negligence,  not  fully  paid.  But 
in  case  the  aforesaid  mortuary  fell  far  short  of  full  satisfaction  for 
such  omissions,  casuists  maintain  the  dying  party  obliged  to  a 
larger  restitution.  So  much  of  mortuaries,  as  they  w^ere  generally 
paid  at  the  present,  until  the  time  of  Henry  VI.  when  learned 
Linwood  wrote  his  Comment  on  that  constitution.  How  mortua- 
ries were  after  reduced  to  a  new  regulation  by  a  statute,  in  the 
twenty-first  of  Henry  VIII.  pertains  not  to  our  present  purpose. 

28.  For  laying  violent  hands  on  a  prieat — The  ecclesiastical 
judge  might  proceed  ex  officio^  and,  pro  salute  animce^  punish  the 
offender  who  offered  violence  to  a  priest ;  but  damages  on  action  of 
battery  were  only  recoverable  at  common  law.  Note,  that  the 
arresting  of  a  clergyman  by  process  of  law  is  not  to  be  counted  a 
violence. 

29.  A?id  in  cause  of  defamation — Where  the  matter  defama- 
tory is  spiritual,  as  to  call  one. "  heretic,"  or  "  schismatic,"  &c.  the 
plea  lay  in  court  Christian.  But  defamations  with  mixture,  any 
matter  determinable  in  the  common  law,  as  "  thief,  murderer,"  &c. 
are  to  be  traversed  therein. 

30.  Defamation  it  hath  been  granted — From  this  word 
"granted,"  common  lawyers  collect,  (let  them  alone  to  husband  their 
own  right,)  that  originally  defamations  pertained  not  to  the  court 
Christian.  From  the  beginning  it  was  not  so,  until  the  common 
law%  by  Acts  of  Parliament,  granted  and  surrendered  such  suits  to 
the  spirituality. 

•  LiNWOOD's  Consitt.  lib.  i.  fol.  2,  cap.  Be  Corisuetttdine. 


18  EDWAUD    r.  JU)OK     III.       VF.KT.    XIII,  383 

31.  No  End  can  end  an  everlastmg  Difference. 
Thus  by  this  Act  and  writ  of  circumspecte  agatis,  king  Edward 
may  seem,  like  an  expert  artist,  to  cleave  a  hair  betwixt  the  spiritual 
and  temporal  jurisdiction,  allowing  the  premisses  to  the  former,  and 
leaving  whatever  is  not  specified  in  this  Act,  to  the  cognizance  of  the 
common  law,  according  to  the  known  and  common  maxim,  Exceptio 
Jirmat  regulam  in  non  exceptis.  However,  for  many  years  after, 
there  was  constant  heaving  and  shoving  betwixt  the  two  courts. 
And,  as  there  are  certain  lands  in  the  Marches  of  England  and 
Scotland,  whilst  distinct  kingdoms,  termed  "  battable  grounds," 
which  may  give  for  their  motto,  not,  Dentur  justiori,  but,  Dentur 
fortiori  ;  for,  always  the  strongest  sword  for  the  present  possessed 
them  :  so,  in  controversial  cases  to  which  court  they  should 
belong,  sometimes  the  spirituality,  sometimes  the  temporality, 
alternately  seized  them  into  their  jurisdiction,  as  power  and  favour 
best  befriended  them.  But,  generally,  the  clergy  complained,  that, 
as  in  the  blending  of  liquors  of  several  colours,  few  drops  of  red  will 
give  a  tincture  to  a  greater  quantity  of  Avhite,  so  the  least  mixture  of 
civil  concernment  in  religious  matters  so  discolorated  the  Christian 
candour  and  purity  thereof,  that  they  appeared  in  a  temporal  hue, 
and  under  that  notion  were  challenged  to  the  common  law.*  Sad, 
when  courts  that  should  be  judges,  turn  themselves  plaintiffs  and 
defendants  about  the  bounds  of  their  jurisdiction  ! 

S9a.  a  Transition  to  the  entire  Story  of  our  English  Jews. 
J.Z>.  1290.  ' 

We  long  since  mentioned  the  first  coming-in  of  the  Jews 
into  England,  (brought  over  by  William  the  Conqueror,)  and  now 
are  come  this  year  to  their  casting-out  of  this  kingdom  ;  having  first 
premised  some  observables  concerning  their  continuance  therein. 
If  hitherto  we  have  not  scattered  our  History  with  any  discourse  of 
the  Jews,  know  it  done  by  design  ;  that  as  they  were  enjoined  by 
our  laws  to  live  alone  in  streets  by  themselves,  (not  mixing'  in  their 
dwellings  with  Christians,)  so  Ave  purposely  singled  out  their  story, 
and  reserved  it  by  itself,  for  this  one  entire  relation  thereof. 

33.   Their  principal  Residence  in  London. 

They  were  scattered  all  over  England  ;  in  Cambridge,  Bury, 
Norwich,  Lynn,  Stamford,  Northampton,  Lincoln,  York,  and — 
where  not .''  But  there  principal  abode  Avas  in  London,  Avhere  they 
had  their  areh-synagogue  at  the  north  corner  of  the  Old  JcAvry,  as 
opening  into  Lothbury.     After  their  expulsion,  their  synagogue  was 

*  ir>ee  more  hereof  on  Artieuli  Cleri,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  II. 


384  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1290. 

turned  into  tlie  convent  of  the  friars  of  the  Sack,  or,  De  Poenitentia 
Jesu ;  and,  after  their  suppression,  it  became  successively  the 
house,  first  of  a  lord,  then  of  a  merchant,  since  of  any  man  for  his 
money,  being  turned  into  a  tavern,  with  the  sign  of  "  the  wind- 
mill:""* a  proper  sign  to  express  the  movableness  of  that  place, 
which,  with  several  gales  of  success,  hath  been  turned  about,  from 
so  many  owners,  and  to  so  many  uses. 

34.   The  Justice  of  the  Jews. 

As  for  the  civil  government  of  Jews  in  England,  tlie  king  set 
over  them  one  principal  officer,  called  "  the  Justice  of  the  Jews," 
whose  place  in  honour  was  next  to  the  Barons  of  the  Exchequer. 
His  office  was  to  be  the  patron  and  protector  of  the  Jews  in  their 
just  rights,  to  decide  all  suits  betwixt  Christians  and  them,  and  to 
keep  the  seal  of  the  Jews'  corporation,  with  the  keys  of  their 
treasury  ;  I  conceive,  of  such  moneys  as  they  paid  as  tribute  to  the 
king  :  otherwise,  the  Jews  had  age  enough  to  keep  the  keys  of  their 
own  coffers  themselves,  and  wit  too  much  to  trust  them  with  others. 
Sir  Robert  de  Hoo,  and  Sir  Philip  Luvel,  (afterward  treasurer  of 
England,)  men  of  signal  nobility,  successively  discharged  this  place. 
These  Justices  often  acted  very  high  in  defence  of  their  clients,  the 
Jews  ;  insomuch  as  I  find  it  complained  of  by  the  English  clergy,-|- 
as  a  great  grievance,  that,  when  a  Jew  was  convented  before  the 
ecclesiastical  judge  for  his  misdemeanours,  (as  sacrilege,  violence 
offered  to  some  priest,  adultery  with  a  Christian  woman,  &c.)  their 
own  Justice  would  interpose,  and,  by  a  prohibition  obtained  from 
the  king,  obstruct  all  legal  proceedings  against  such  a  Jew,  as  only 
responsible  in  his  own  jurisdiction. 

35.   The  High  Priest  or  Presbyter  of  the  Jews. 

In  their  spiritual  government  they  were  all  under  one  pontifex., 
or  high  priest.  We  find  his  name  was  Elias,  who,  anno  1254.  had 
that  office.  He  was  also  called  "  the  presbyter  of  the  Jews,"  whose 
place  was  usually  confirmed  at  least,  if  not  constituted,  by  the  king, 
who  by  his  patent  granted  the  same,  as  may  appear  by  this  copy  of 
king  John''s,  as  followetli  : — 

Rew  omnibusjidelibus  suis,  et  omnibus  Judais,  et  Anglis  salutem. 
— Sciatisnosconccssisse,  etprasenti  charta  no.sird  conjirmasseJacobo 
Judao  de  Londoniis  presbyterio  Judaorum,presbiiteratun  omnium 
Juddorum  totius  Anglia,  habendum  et  tenendum  quamdiu  vixerit 
lihere  et  quiete  ;  et  honorifice,  et  integre,  ita  qxiod  nemo  ei  super 
hoc  molestiam  aliquam,  aut  gravamen  infeire  prasumat :  quare 

*  Stow's  "Sm-vey  of  London,"  page  288.  t  Additamenta  Matth.ei  Parisieksis, 
page  702. 


18  EDWARD  T.  BOOK    Iir.       CENT.    Xlir.  385 

volumus,  etftrmtter  pradpivius,  quod  c'ldem  Jucoho  quoad  viaurif 
presbyteratum  Judfeorum  per  iotam  Anglinm^  garanteiis,  viunii 
tencatis^  ct  pacifice  defendatis  ;  et  s'l  quis  ci  super  eo  Jbr'isfacere 
presumserit^  id  ei  sine  dilatione,  (salvd  nobis  emendd  nostra,)  de 
forisfacturd  nostra  emendari  fadatis,  tanquam  Dominico  Judeeo 
nostro  quern  specialHer  in  servtiio  nostro  retinuimus.  Prohibennis 
etiam  ne  de  aliquo  adse  pertinente ponatur  in  phcltum,  nisi  coram 
nobis,  aut  coram  capitali  jiistitm  nostra,  sicut  cliarta  regis 
Richardi,  fratris  nostri,  testainr.  Teste  S.  Bathomensi  episcopn, 
Sfc.  Dat.  per  manus  H.  Cantuariejisis  archiepiscopi  chancellarii 
noslri  apud  Kothomagmn,  31  die  Julii,  anno  regni  nostri  primo.* 
I  have  transcribed  this  patent  the  rather  for  the  rarity  thereof,  it 
being  a  strange  sight  to  see  a  Christian  archbishop  date  an  instrument 
for  a  Jewish  presbyter. 

36.  Jews  griping  Usurers. 
Their  livelihood  was  all  on  usury.  One  verse  in  Deuteronomy 
(with  their  comment  thereon)  was  more  beneficial  unto  them  than 
all  the  Old  Testament  besides  :  "  Unto  a  stranger  thou  mayest  lend 
upon  usury ;  but  unto  thy  brother  thou  shalt  not  lend  upon  usury," 
Deut.  xxiii.  20.  Now,  interpreting  all  strangers,  who,  though  neigh- 
bours at  the  next  door,  were  not  of  their  own  nation,  they  became 
the  universal  usurers  of  all  England  ;  and  did  our  kingdom  this 
courtesy,  that,  because  all  hated  the  Jews  for  their  usury's  sake,  all 
also  hated  usury  for  the  Jews'  sake,  so  that  Christians  generally  dis- 
dained to  be  guilty  thereof.  Now,  seeing  there  are  two  ways 
to  wealth, — one  long  and  sure,  by  saving  at  home ;  the  other  short, 
but  not  so  certain,  {because  probably  it  may  meet  with  detection 
and  punishment,)  by  oppressing  abroad, — no  wonder  if  the  Jews, 
using  both  ways,  quickly  arrived  at  vast  estates. 

57.   Their  Rapaciousness  and  Tenaciousness. 

For,  first,  for  their  fare  :  It  was  coarse  in  the  quality,  and  yet 
slender  in  the  quantity  thereof.  Insomuch,  that  they  would,  in  a 
manner,  make  pottage  of  a  flint.  Swine's  flesh  indeed  they  would  not 
eat,  but  dog's  meat  they  would  ;  I  mean,  beef  and  mutton  so  poor 
and  lean,  that  the  refuse  of  all  Christians  was  the  Jews' choice  in  the 
shambles.  Clothes  they  wore  so  poor  and  patched,  beggars  would 
not  take  them  up  to  have  them.  Attendants  they  kept  none,  every 
one  waiting  on  himself.  No  w^onder,  then,  if  easily  they  did  over- 
grow others  in  wealth  who  basely  did  under-live  themselves  in  all 
convenient  accommodations.     Nor  were  thy  less  gripple  in  keeping, 

*  Rof.  Cart   1  Hrff.  Joh.  part.  i.  meinb.  28,  cart.  171. 

Vol.  j.  t:  c 


886  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1290. 

than  greedy  in  catching  of  goods ;  who  would  as  soon  lose  their  fingers 
as  let  go  what  they  had  clutched  therein. 

38.  Jews  might  purchase  Houses. 

I  was  of  the  opinion,  (and  perchance  not  without  company  in  my 
mistake,)  that  the  Jews  were  not  permitted  to  purchase  lands  in 
England.  I  thought  only  the  ground  of  their  graves  (generally 
buried  Avithout  Cripplegate,  in  the  Jews'  Garden,  on  the  Avest  side  of 
St.  Giles's  Churchyard,  now  turned  into  tenements  in  Red-cross- 
Street)  could  be  termed  theirs.  But  since,  I  am  informed,  that 
Benomy  Mittun,*  a  Jew,  (as  certainly  many  more  beside  him,)  was 
possessed  of  much  land,  and  many  houses  in  several  parishes  in 
London.  Surely,  their  purchases  were  limited  within  some  restric- 
tions. But  the  Jews  generally  more  fjincied  letting-out  of  money, 
than  buying-in  of  land,  as  which  made  their  estates  less  subject  to 
discovery,  more  plentiful  in  their  increasing,  and  more  portable  in 
the  removing  thereof. 

39-  Lay  Excommvnication.,  what  it  was. 
It  was  an  usual  punishment  legally  inflicted  on  these  Jews,  for 
their  offences  not  capital,  to  excommunicate  them.  Thus  such  Jews 
should  be  excommunicated  who,  contrary  to  the  laws,  kept  Christian 
nurses  in  their  houses  ;*f-  or  who  cast  off  that  badge  or  cognizance, 
which  they  ought  to  have  worn  over  their  upper  garment  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from  Christians.  Surely  such  excommunication  was  no 
ecclesiastical  censure,  needless  to  keep  the  Jews  out  of  our  churches, 
who  hated  all  coming  into  them.  Rather  it  was  a  civil  penalty,  equi- 
valent to  the  universities  discommoning  a  townsman  in  Cambridge, 
whereby  the  Jews  were  debarred  all  commerce  with  Christians, — 
worse  to  them  than  all  the  plagues  of  Egypt ;  and  so  the  mart  of 
their  profit  marred,  dearer  unto  them  than  life  itself. 

40.  Jeivs  unfortunate  at  Feasts  and  Frays. 

Endless  it  Avere  to  reckon  up  the  indignities  offered  unto  these 
Jews,  on  occasion  sometimes  given,  but  oftener  taken.  Apprentices 
now-a-days  do  not  throw  sticks  at  cocks  on  Shrove  Tuesday  so  com- 
monly, as  then  on  that  day  they  used  clubs  on  the  Jews,  if  appearing 
out  of  their  houses  :  a  people  equally  unhappy  at  feasts  and  at 
frays.  For,  whensoever  the  Christians  at  any  revels  made  great 
entertainments,  the  Jews  were  made  to  pay  the  reckoning.  And 
wheresoever  any  brawl  began  in  London,  it  ended  always  in  the  Old 
Jewry,  Avith  pillaging  of  the  people  therein.  What  good  heart  can, 
without  grief,  recount  the  injuries  offered  to  those  who  once  were  the 

•  Stop's  "  Survey,"  pages  288,  289.  f  Additamenta  Matt.  Paris,  page  202. 


18  EDWARD  I.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIII.  -JSJ 

only  people  of  God  ?  These  were  tlicy  who  preferred  Barabbas 
before  Christ  their  Saviour,  which  Barabbas  "  was  a  robber,  a  raiser 
of  insurrection,  and  a  murderer,'"'  John  xviii.  40;  Mark  xv.  7-  And 
ever  since  that  time,  in  all  insurrections  against  them,  when  they 
desired  and  sought  safety  and  deliverance,  it  hath  been  their  constant 
portion  to  be  robbed  and  murdered. 

41.  A  sad  Jewish  Jubilee. 

But  the  most  terrible  persecution  fell  upon  them  at  the  coronation 
of  king  Richard  I.  which,  according  to  the  Jewish  computation,  was 
their  jubilee  :  and  then  busy  in  the  observance  thereof,  though, 
alas  !  they  had  not  one  merry  day  in  the  compass  of  the  whole  year. 
They  were  forbidden,  for  fear  of  their  enchantments,  to  approach  the 
king's  coronation,  upon  heavy  penalties  denounced.  Now,  their 
curiosity  was  so  far  above  their  covetousness,  or  rather,  their  wilful- 
ness so  far  above  their  curiosity  herein,  that,  out  of  their  old  spirit  of 
contradiction,  some  appeared  there,  which  caused  the  killing  of  many, 
robbing  of  more,  Jews  in  London.  On  the  same  account,  within  few 
days  after,  (how  quickly  can  cruelty  ride  post  seven-score  and  ten 
miles  !)  five  hundred  J  ews,  besieged  in  a  tower  at  York,  first  beheaded 
their  own  wives  and  children,  and  then  burnt  themselves,  to  escape 
more  cruel  torments. 

42.  London  Wall  built  with  Jewish  Stones. 

In  the  seventeenth  year  of  the  reign  of  king  John,  the  barons 
brake  into  the  Jews'  houses,  and  rifled  their  coffers,  and  with  the 
.stone  of  their  houses  repaired  the  gates  and  walls  of  London.* 
Surely,  such  stones  must  be  presumed  very  hard,  like  the  Jews 
their  owners,  from  whom  they  were  taken ;  and  yet  they  soon 
mouldered  away  with  wind  and  weather.  Indeed,  plundered  stones 
never  make  strong  walls.  And  I  impute  it  as  a  partial  cause  of  the 
weakness  of  London-walls,  (which  no  enemy  ever  since  assaulted 
but  he  entered  them,)  that  a  great  part  of  them,  enough  to  infect 
all  the  rest,  was  built  with  materials  got  by  oppression. 

43.  Henry  III.  cruel  to  the  Jews. 

But,  of  all  our  English  kings,  none  ground  the  Jews  with  exac- 
tions like  king  Henry  III.  Only  herein  the  Jews  might  and  did 
comfort  themselves,  that  the  English,  his  native  subjects,  also 
smarted  soundly  under  his  oppression.  He  not  only  flayed  the 
skin,  but  raked  the  flesh,  and  scarified  the  bones,  of  all  the  Jews' 
estates  in  England  ;  ut  vivere  fastidirent,  "  that  it  was  irksome 
for  them  to  live."-|-     Gold  he  would  receive  of  every  Jewish  man  or 

•  Stow's  "  Siu-vey  of  London,"  page  288.  t  Matt.  Paris,  page  G05. 

2  f  2 


388  CHURCH     HISTORY    OF    BKTTATN,  A.  D.  1290. 

■woman,  always  with  his  own  hand  ;  but  consigned  other  officers  to 
receive  the  silver  from  them.  One  offensive  act  he  wilfully  did  to 
their  conscience,  in  giving  them  leave,  at  their  own  cost  and  charges, 
to  build  them  a  new  synagogue  ;  and,  when  they  had  finished  it, 
he  commanded  them  to  dedicate  it  to  the  virgin  Mary,*  whereby 
they  utterly  lost  the  use  thereof ;  and  afterwards  the  king  gave  it  to 
be  a  cell  of  St.  Anthony  of  Vienne.  A  vexatious  deed,  merely  to 
despite  them,  who  are,  since  their  smarting  for  idolatry  in  the  cap- 
tivity of  Babylon,  pertinacious  worshippers  of  one  God  ;  and  nothing 
more  retardeth  their  conversion  to  Christianity,  than  the  scandal 
given  daily  unto  them,  by  the  popish  saintship  to  their  images. 

44.  The  Wonder  of  the  Jews'  speedy  recruiting  their  Estates. 
It  may  justly  seem  admirable,  whence  these  Jews,  so  often  pil- 
laged to  their  bare  skins,  so  suddenly  recruited  themselves  with 
wealth.  What  I  have  heard  affirmed  of  some  ground  in  Gloucester- 
shire, that,  in  a  kindly  spring,  "  bite  it  bare  over  night,  next  morn- 
ing the  grass  will  be  grown  to  hide  a  Avand  therein,"  is  most  cer- 
tainly true  in  application  to  the  Jews,  so  full  and  fast  did  wealth 
flow  in  upon  them.  Let  their  eggs  -not  only  be  taken  away,  but 
their  nests  be  plucked  down  ;  yet  within  few  years  we  shall  find 
them  hatching  a  new  brood  of  wealth  therein.  This  made  many 
suspect  them  for  clipping  and  coining  of  money.  But,  to  lessen 
the  wonder  of  these  Jews'*  speedy  recovery,  know,  that,  beside  some 
of  their  invisible  hoards  escaping  their  plunderers' hands,  the  Jews 
in  other  places  (where  no  persecution  for  the  present)  furnished  them 
to  set  up  trading  again.  Indeed,  commendable  was  the  Jews"* 
charity  to  their  own  countrymen  ;  save  that  necessity  commanded 
them  to  love  one  another,  being  hated  of  all  other  nations. 

45.  Crowds  of  counterfeit  Co?iverts. 

To  avoid  these  miseries,  they  had  but  one  shift,  (and,  as  used  by 
some  of  them,  it  was  but  a  shift  indeed,)  to  pretend  themselves 
Christian  converts,  and  to  tender  themselves  to  be  baptized.  To 
such  persons,  in  a  temporal  respect,  baptism  washed  away  all  siji  ; 
they  being  cleared  and  quitted  from  all  ante-facts,  how  heinous 
soever,  by  their  entrance  into  Christianity.  Thus,  anno  1259, 
Elias  Biscop,  a  London  Jew,  charged  with  many  horrible  crimes, 
and,  amongst  others,  that  with  poisoned  drink  he  had  caused  the 
death  of  many  English  gentlemen,  escaped  all  punishment  by  being 
baptized. -f-  For  the  farther  encouragement  of  their  conversion,  king 
Henry  III.  erected  a  small  house  in  Chancery-Lane,  (where  the 
office  of  the  Rolls  is  now  kept,)  for  convert-Jews  to  dwell  in,  allow- 

"  Stow's  "  Survey,"  pnge  190.  f  Matt.  Paris,  page  982. 


18  EDWARD    I.  BOOK     III.       CENT.    Xlll.  o89 

ing  a  daily  salary  to  them  for  their  maintenance.  It  is  to  be  feared 
many  lived  therein  who  were  Jews  inwardly,  but  not  in  the  apostle's 
acceptation  thereof, — "  in  the  spirit,  and  not  in  the  letter;  whose  praise 
is  not  of  men,  but  of  God,"  Rom.  ii.  29  ;  but  I  mean  such  who 
still  retained  the  dregs  of  Judaism  under  the  feigned  profession  of 
Christianity.  Sure  I  am,  king  Edward  at  this  time  was  so  incensed 
against  the  .Jewish  nation,  that  now  he  resolved  the  total  and  final 
extirpation  of  them  and  theirs  out  of  his  dominions. 

46.  Misdemeanours  charged  on  the  Jews. 
Many  misdemeanours  were  laid  to  their  charge,  amongst  which 
these  following  were  the  principal.  First.  Enchantments.  This 
was  an  old  sin  of  the  Jews,  whereof  the  prophets  always  complained  : 
"  The  multitude  of  thy  sorceries,  and  the  great  abundance  of  thine 
enchantments,"  Isaiah  xlvii.  9.  And,  it  seems,  they  still  retained 
their  old  wicked  wont.  Secondly.  Poisoning.  To  give  the  Jews 
their  due,  this  was  none  of  their  faults,  whilst  living  in  their  own 
land,  not  meeting  with  the  word  in  the  whole  Bible.  It  seems, 
they  learned  this  sin  after  their  dispersion  in  other  nations,  and  since 
are  grown  exquisite  in  that  art  of  wickedness.  Thirdly.  Clipping  of 
money.  Fourthly.  Counterfeiting  of  Christians"*  hands  and  seals. 
Fifthly.  Extortion.  A  Jew  occasioned  a  mutiny  in  London,  by 
demanding  from  a  poor  Christian  above  two  shillings  for  the  use  of 
twenty  shillings  for  one  week,  being,  by  proportion,  no  less  than 
five  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  per  annum  for  every  hundred. 
Sixthly.  Crucifying  of  the  children  of  Christians,  (to  keep  their 
hands  in  ure,)  always  about  Easter  :  so  that  the  time  pointed  at 
their  intents  directly  in  derision  of  our  Saviour.  How  sufficiently 
these  crimes  were  witnessed  against  them,  I  know  not.  In  such 
cases  weak  proofs  are  of  proof  against  rich  offenders.  We  may  well 
believe,  if  their  persons  were  guilty  of  some  of  these  faults,  their 
estates  were  guilty  of  all  the  rest. 

47.  JewSf  say  others^  not  cast  out,  but  craved  Leave  to  depart. 
Now,  although  it  passeth  for  an  uncontrolled  truth,  that  the  Jews 
Avere  by  the  king  violently  cast  out  of  the  land,  yet  a  great  lawyer* 
states  the  case  much  otherwise  ;  namely,  that  the  king  did  not 
directly  expel  them,  but  only  prohibit  them  to  put  money  to  use  ; 
which  produced  a  petition  from  them  to  the  king,  that  they  might 
have  leave  to  depart  the  land  ;  a  request  easily  granted  unto  tlicm. 
Some  will  say,  "  It  is  all  one  in  effect,  whether  one  be  starved  or 
stabbed,  death  inevitably  following  from  both,  as  here  the  Jews  were 
famished,  on  the  matter,  out  of  England  ;  usury  being  their  meat 
•  Sir  Edward  Coke. 


390  CimUCH    HISTOUY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1290 SOI. 

and  drink,  without  which  ihey  were  unable  longer  to  subsist."  How- 
ever, this  took  off  much  from  the  odium  of  the  act, — that  they  were 
not  immediately,  but  only  indirectly  and  consequentially  banished 
the  realm,  or  rather  permitted  a  free  departure  on  their  own  petition 
for  the  same.  As  for  the  sad  accident  that  some  hundreds  of  them, 
being  purposely  shipped  out  of  a  spiteful  design,  in  a  leaking  vessel, 
were  all  drowned  in  the  sea  ;  if  true,  it  cannot  but  command  compas- 
sion in  any  Christian  heart. 

48.   The  King  gets  incredible  Wealth  forfeited  by  the  Jews. 
^.i>.  1294. 

It  is  hardly  to  be  believed  what  vast  sums  of  wealth  accrued  to 
the  king,  by  this  (call  it  ejection,  or  amotion,  or)  decession  of  the 
JeAvs.  He  allowed  them  only  bare  viaticum  to  bear  their  charges, 
and  seized  on  all  the  rest  of  their  estates.  Insomuch,  that  now  the 
king  needed  not  to  listen  to  the  counsel  of  William  Marsh,  bishop 
of  Bath  and  Wells,  and  treasurer  of  England,  (but  therein  speaking 
more  like  a  treasurer  than  a  bishop,)  advising  him,  if  in  necessity, 
"  to  take  all  the  plate  and  money  of  churches  and  monasteries, 
therewith  to  pay  his  soldiers."*  The  poor  Jews  durst  not  go  into 
France,  whence  lately  they  had '  been  solemnly  banished;  but 
generally  disposed  themselves  in  Germany,  and  Italy,  especially  in 
the  pope''s  territories  therein,  where  profit  from  Jews  and  stews 
much  advance  the  constant  revenues  of  his  Holiness. 

49.  King  Edivard  Arbitrator  betwixt  Balliol  and  Bruce. 
A.D.  1295. 

King  Edward,  having  done  with  the  Jews,  began  with  the  Scots, 
and  effectually  humbled  them  and  their  country.  This  the  occa- 
sion :  Two  competitors  appearing  for  the  crown  of  Scotland,  (John 
Balliol,  [Baliol,]  and  Robert  Bruce,)  and,  both  referring  their  title 
to  King  Edward's  decision,  he  adjudged  the  same  to  Balliol,  or 
rather  to  himself  in  Balliol.  For  he  enjoined  him  to  do  homage 
unto  him,  and  that  hereafter  the  Scottish  crown  should  be  held  in 
fealty  of  the  English.  Balliol,  or  his  necessity  rather,  (his  person 
being  in  king  Edward's  pow'er,)  accepted  the  condition,  owning  in 
Enoland  one  above  himself,  that  so  he  might  be  above  all  in  Scot- 
land. But,  no  sooner  was  he  returned  into  his  own  kingdom,  and 
peaceably  possessed  thereof,  but  instantly,  in  a  letter  of  defiance,  he 
disclaimed  all  former  promises  to  king  Edward,  appealing  to  the 
Christian  world,  whether  his  own  enforced  obedience  were  more  to 
be  pitied,  or  king  Edward's  insolence  (improving  itself  on  a  prince's 
present  extremities)  more  to  be  condemned. 


25  KDWAllD   1.  HOOK     III.       CENT.    XIV,  391 

50.  He  proveth  Malleus  Scotorum.     A.D.  1297- 

Offended  hereat,  king  Edward  advanceth  into  Scotland,  with  tlic 
forces  he  formerly  intended  for  France.  Power  and  policy  make  a 
good  medley,  and  the  one  fareth  the  better  for  the  other.  King 
Edward,  to  strengthen  himself,  thought  fit  to  take  in  the  title  of 
Robert  Bruce,  (BallioFs  cor-rival,  hitherto  living  privately  in  Scot- 
land,) pretending  to  settle  him  in  the  kingdom.  Hereupon  the 
Scots,  to  lessen  their  losses  and  the  English  victories,  affirm,*  that 
in  this  expedition  their  own  countrymen  were  chiefly  conquered  by 
their  own  countrymen,  the  Brucian  party  assisting  the  English. 
Sure  it  is,  that  king  Edward  took  Berwick,  Dunbar,  Stirling, 
Edinburgh,  the  crown,  sceptre,  and  (out  of  Scone)  the  royal  chair, 
and  prophetical  marble  therein.  And  though  commonly  it  be 
observed,  that  English  valour,  hopefully  budding  and  blossoming  on 
this  side  of  Edinburgh-Frith,  is  frost-bitten  on  the  north  thereof; 
yet  our  victorious  Edward,  crossing  that  sea,  took  Montrose,  and 
the  best  counties  thereabout.  In  a  word,  he  conquered  almost  all 
the  garden  of  Scotland,  and  left  the  wilderness  thereof  to  conquer 
itself.  Then  having  settled  Warren,  earl  of  Surrey,  viceroy  thereof, 
and  made  all  the  Scottish  nobility  (Doughty  Douglas  alone 
excepted,  who  was  committed  to  prison  for  his  singular  recusancy) 
swear  homage  unto  him,  and  taking  John  Balliol  captive  along  with 
him,  he  returned  triumphantly  into  England. 


SECTION   VII. 

THE  FOURTEENTH  CENTURY. 

TO    CLEMENT    TPIROCKMORTON,    THE    ELDER,    OF 
HASELEY,  IN  AVARWICKSHIRE,  ESQUIRE. 

Let  others  boast  of  their  French  blood,  whilst  your 
English  family  may  vie  gentry  with' any  of  the  Norman 
extraction.  1.  For  antiquity  :  four  monosyllables  being, 
by  common  pronunciation,  crowded  into  your  name ; — 
THE,  ROCK,  MORE,  TOWN.  2.  FoT  numerosity :  being 
branched  into  so  many  counties.  3.  For  ingenuity  : 
charactered  by  Camden  f  to  be  fruitful  of  fine  wits, 
whereof  several  instances  might  be  produced. 

*  G.  BccHAiNAN  Rcrum  Scot,  libra  octavo.  f  Britannia  in  Warwickshire. 


•302  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A. D.  1301 5. 

But  a  principal  consideration,  which  doth  and  ever 
shall  command  my  respect  unto  your  person,  is,  your 
faithful  and  cordial  friendship,  in  matters  of  highest 
concernment  (whatever  be  the  success  thereof)  to  the 
best  of  my  relations,  which  I  conceived  myself  obliged 
publicly  to  confess. 

1.   The  Pope  challengeth  Scotland  as  peculiar  to  himself. 
A.D.  1301. 

Amidst  these  cruel  wars  betwixt  the  English  and  Scots,  pope 
Boniface  VIII.  sent  his  letters  to  king  Edward,  requiring  him  to 
quit  his  claim,  and  cease  his  wars,  and  release  his  prisoners,  of  the 
Scotch  nation,  as  a  people  exempt  and  properly  pertaining  to  his 
own  chapel.  Perchance,  the  pope's  right  to  the  crown  of  Scotland 
is  written  on  the  backside  of  Constantine''s  donation.  And  it  is 
strange,  that  if  Scotland  be  the  pope''s  peculiar  demesnes,  it  should  be 
so  far  distant  from  Rome,  his  chief  mansion-house  ;  he  grounded  his 
title  thereunto,  because  "  Scotland  was  first  converted,  by  the  relics 
of  St.  Peter,  to  the  unity  of  the  catholic  faith."*  But  it  seems 
not  so  much  ambition  in  his  Holiness  made  him  at  this  present  to 
start  this  pretence,  but  the  secret  solicitation  of  the  Scots  themselves, 
who  now,  to  avoid  the  storm  of  the  English,  ran  under  this  bush, 
and  put  themselves  in  the  pope's  protection. 

2.  Kiyig  Edward,  assisted  hy  his  Lords,  stoutly  maintaineth  his 

oivn  Right. 

Hereupon  king  Edward  called  a  council  of  his  lords  at  Lincoln, 
Avhere,  perusing  the  contents  of  the  pope's  prescript,  he  returned  a 
Iqrge  answer,  wherein  he  endeavoured,  by  evident  reasons  and 
ancient  precedents,  to  prove  his  propriety  in  the  kingdom  of 
Scotland.  This  was  seconded  by  another  from  the  English  peerage, 
subscribed  with  all  their  hands,  the  whole  tenor  whereof  deserves  to 
be  inserted  ;  "f*  but  this  passage  must  not  be  omitted,  being  directed 
to  no  meaner  than  his  Holiness  himself: — "  Wherefore,  after  treaty 
had,  and  diligent  deliberation  of  the  contents  of  your  foresaid  letters, 
this^was  the  common  agreement  and  consent  with  one  mind,  and 
shall  be  without  fail,  in  time  to  come,  by  God's  grace,  that  our 
foresaid  lord  the  king  ought  by  no  means  to  answer  in  judgment  in 
any  case,  or  should  bring  his  foresaid  rights  into  doubt,  nor  ought 
not  to  send  any  proctors  or  messengers  to  your  presence  :  especially 
seeing  that  the   premisses  tend  manifestly  to   the  disheriting  of  the 

•  Fox's  "  Acts  and  Monuments,"  lib.  i.  pp.  444,  445.  \   It  is  extant  in  Fox  nt 

supra,  as  also  in  Holinsued,  in  the  29th  of  tlie  reign  of  king  Edward  I.  page  311. 


33  EDWARD   I.  BOOK     III.       CENT.    XIV.  31)3 

crown  of  England,  and  the  plain  overthrow  of  the  state  of  the  said 
realm,  and  also  hurt  of  the  liberties,  customs,  and  laws  of  our 
fathers  :  for  the  keeping  and  defence  of  which  we  are  bound,  by  the 
duty  of  the  oath  made  ;  and  we  will  maintain  them  with  all  poAvcr, 
and  will  defend  them,  by  God's  help,  with  all  our  strength."  The 
pope  perceived  he  had  met  with  men  which  understood  themselves, 
and  that  king  Edward  was  no  king  John,  to  be  frighted  or  flattered 
out  of  his  right ;  he  therefore  was  loath  to  clash  his  keys  against  the 
other's  sword,  to  try  which  was  made  of  the  hardest  metal  ;  but 
foreseeing  the  verdict  would  go  against  him,  wisely  nonsuited  him- 
self. Whereas  had  this  unjust  challenger  met  with  a  timorous 
defendant,  it  had  been  enough  to  have  created  an  undeniable  title 
to  him  and  his  successors.  The  best  is,  milium  tempus  occurrit 
papcB,  "  no  process  of  time  doth  prejudice  the  pope's  due ;"  but 
whensoever  he  pleaseth  to  prosecute  his  right,  Scotland  lieth  still  in 
the  same  place  where  it  did  before. 

3.   One  condemned  for  a  Traitor  for  bringing  the  Pope's  Bull. 

J.D.  1302. 

About  this  time  a  subject  brought  in  a  Bull  of  excommunication 
against  another  subject  of  this  realm,  and  published  it  to  the  lord 
treasurer  of  England  ;  and  this  was  by  the  ancient  common  law  of 
England  adjudged  treason  against  the  king,  his  crown,  and  dignity,* 
for  the  which,  the  offender  should  have  been  drawn  and  hanged  ; 
but,  at  the  great  instance  of  the  chancellor  and  treasurer,  he  was 
only  abjured  the  realm  for  ever.  And  this  case  is  the  more  remark- 
able, because  he  was  condemned  by  the  common  law  of  England, 
before  any  particular  statute  was  enacted  in  that  behalf. -f* 

4.   The  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  humbled  by  the  King. 
A.D.  1305. 

But  the  courage  of  king  Edward  most  appeared  in  humbling  and 
ordering  Robert  Winchelsey,  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He  was  an 
insolent  man,  hated  even  of  the  clergy,  because,  though  their 
champion  to  preserve  them  from  civil  and  secular  burdens,  yet  the 
pope's  broker,  to  reserve  them  for  his  unconscionable  exactions,  as 
if  keeping  churchmen  to  be  wronged  by  none  but  himself.  Long 
had  the  king  looked  on  him  Avith  an  angry  eye,  as  opposite  to  his 
proceedings  ;  and  now  at  the  last  had  him  at  his  mercy,  for  plotting 
treason  with  some  others  of  the  nobility  against  him,|  projecting  to 
depose  him,  and  set  up  his  son  Edward  in  his  room. 

•  Brook  tit.  Prccmunire,  page  10.  t  Fifth  Part  of  Sir  Ed.  Coke's  "  Reportii,' 

De  Jure  Rcfj.  Ecc.  fol.  12.  t  Anncil.  Eccl.  August.  Cant, 


394  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1305. 

5.  Guiltiness  makes  proud  Men  base. 
The  archbishop,  throwing  himself  prostrate  at  the  king's  feet, 
with  tears  and  lamentation  confessed  his  fault  in  a  posture  of 
cowardly  dejection,*  descending  now  as  much  beneath  himself,  as 
formerly  he  had  arrogantly  insulted  over  others  ;-f  some  are  loath  to 
allow  him  guilty  of  the  crime  objected,  others  conceive  him  only  to 
have  done  this,  presuming  on  the  king's  noble  disposition  for  pardon. J 
But  such  must  yield  him  a  traitor  either  to  the  king's  crown,  or  to 
his  own  innocence  by  his  unworthy  acknowledging  his  offence.  Thus 
that  man  who  confesseth  a  debt  which  he  knows  not  due,  hoping  his 
creditor  will  thereupon  give  him  an  acquittance,  scarce  deserveth  pity 
for  his  folly,  if  presently  sent  to  prison  for  non-payment  thereof. 
Then  he  called  the  king  "  his  master,"  a  term  wherewith  formerly 
his  tongue  was  unacquainted,  (whom  neither  by  word  or  letter  he 
would  ever  acknowledge  under  that  notion,)  tendering  himself  to  be 
disposed  at  his  pleasure. 

6.   The  remarkable  Dialogue  betwixt  the  King  and  Archbishop. 

"  No,"  quoth  the  king,  "  I  will  not  be  both  party  and  judge,  and 
proceed  against  you  as  I  might  by  the  common  law  of  the  land.  I 
bear  more  respect  to  your  Order,  whereof  you  are  as  unworthy  as  of 
my  favour :  having  formerly  had  experience  of  your  malice  in 
smaller  matters,  when  you  so  rigorously  used  my  chaplains  attend- 
ing on  me  in  their  ordinary  service  beyond  the  seas  ;  so  that,  though 
I  sent  my  letters  unto  you,  you  as  lightly  regarded  what  I  wrote,  as 
what  they  pleaded  in  their  own  behalf."  Winchelsey,  having  but 
one  guard  for  all  blows,  persisted  in  his  submission,  desiring  (a  pre- 
cedent unparalleled)  that  the  king  would  give  him  his  blessing. 
"  No,"  said  the  king,  "  it  is  more  proper  that  you  should  give  me 
your  blessing.  But,  well,  I  will  remit  you  to  your  own  great 
master  the  pope,  to  deal  with  you  according  to  your  deserts. "§  But 
the  archbishop,  loath  belike  to  go  to  Rome,  and  staying  longer  in 
England  than  the  king's  command,  and  (perchance)  his  own  pro- 
mise, lurked  in  a  convent,  at  Canterbury,  till  fourscore  monks  || 
were  by  the  king's  command  thrust  out  of  their  places  for  relieving 
him  out  of  their  charity  ;  and  were  not  restored  till  the  aforesaid 
archbishop  was  banished  the  kingdom. 

7-   Winchelsey  finds  no  Favour  from  the  Pope,  and  why. 

Not  long  afterhe  appeared  before  pope  Clement  V.  at  Bourdeaux  ; 
where,  having  been  so  great  a  stickler  for  his  Holiness,   (insomuch 

*  j4ntiq.  Britan.  page  207,  e.v  Tho.  irakmyham.  \   Hari'SFIELD  Hist.    Eccl. 

Ang.  page  446.  \  Wortbily  see  Goodwin  He  ArcMepis.  Canhiaricns.  page  145. 

§  Anliquilutcs  Britannkw,  ul  jmia.  ||  Annul.  Eccl.  Angusi.  Cant. 


o3  EDWARD   1.  HOOK    III.       CliNT,    XIV.  395 

that  his  present  disfavour  with  the  king  was  originally  caused  by  his 
activity  for  the  pope,)  he  might  rationally  have  expected  some 
courtesy.  But  though  he  had  used  both  his  hands  to  scrape  treasure 
for  the  church  of  Rome,  the  pope  would  not  lend  his  least  finger 
to  his  support,  but  suspended  him  from  office  and  benefit  of  his  place, 
till  he  should  clear  himself  from  the  crime  of  treason  wherewith  he 
was  charged.  Whether  done  to  procure  reputation  to  the  justice  of 
the  court  of  Rome  :,  where,  in  public  causes,  men,  otherwise  privately 
well-deserving,  should  find  no  more  favour  there  than  they  brought 
innocence  thither :  or  because  (which  is  most  probable)  the  pope 
loved  the  archbishopric  better  than  the  archbishop  ;  and  knew, 
during  his  suspension,  both  to  increase  his  profit  and  improve  his 
power  in  England,  by  such  cunning  factors,  as  he  employed  in  the 
business  ;  namely,  William  de  Testa,  and  Peter  Amaline,  both 
strangers,  to  whom  the  pope  committed  the  sequestration  of 
Canterbury,  whilst  the  cause  of  Winchelsey  did  as  yet  depend 
undetermined. 

8.  A  signal  Piece  of  Justice  done  hy  foreign  Sequestrators. 
These,  by  papal  authority,  summoned  before  them  John  Salmon, 
bishop  of  Norwich,  for  exacting  the  first-fruits  of  vacant  benefices, 
from  the  clergy  of  his  diocess.  The  case  was  this  :  Some  sixty  years 
since,  Pandulph,  an  Italian,  and  pope"'s  legate,  (a  perfect  artist  in 
progging  for  money,)  being  bishop  of  Norwich,  pretending  his  church 
to  be  in  debt,  obtained  of  his  Holiness  the  first-fruits  of  vacant  bene- 
fices in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  to  discharge  that  engagement.*  This 
grant  to  him,  being  but  personal,  local,  and  temporary,  was  improved 
by  his  successors  to  a  constant  revenue  ;  yea,  covetousness  being  an 
apt  scholar,  and  profit  an  easy  lesson,  this  example  was  followed  by 
other  English  bishops  in  their  respective  diocesses.  Behold  here  a 
piece  of  exemplary  justice  !  Who  could  have  looked  for  less  (the 
illegality  of  these  payments  appearing)  but  that  the  clergy  should 
be  eased  of  them  ?  Whereas  these  foreign  sequestrators  did  order, 
that,  generally  throughout  England,  the  first-fruits  of  all  spiritual 
promotions  falling  void  next  for  three  years  should  be  paid  over  to 
the  pope^s  chamber  at  Rome:  only  cathedral  and  conventual  churches 
were  excepted  hercin.-f-  No  reason  is  rendered  why  the  burden  fell 
on  parish -churches  :  except  any  will  say,  that  the  ass  must  bear  more 
than  the  horse ;  and  the  load  is  best  laid  on  that  beast  which  hath 
least  mettle  to  kick  it  off,  and  throw  it  down  ;  the  poor  parochial 
clergy  being  most  unable  to  resist  the  usurpation  of  his  Holiness. 

*  Harfsfield  Hiit.  Eccl.  Ang.  in  seculo  xiii.  cap.  15.  i  Antiquiiates  Brilan. 

page  208. 


896  CHURCH    HISTORY    OK    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1305 12. 

9.  England's  galled  Back  exchanges  a  full  Fly  for  a  hungry 


one. 


Afterwards,  this  William  Testa,  who,  according  to  his  name,  came 
over  an  empty  shell,  but  departed  with  the  kernel  of  the  English 
wealth,  complained  of  for  his  extortion  to  the  parliament,*  was  called 
home,  and  Peter  a  Spanish  cardinal  sent  in  his  room  ;  where  he 
concluded  and  celebrated  a  marriage  betwixt  prince  Edward  and 
Isabel,  the  king  of  France's  daughter.  Towards  the  bearing  of  his 
charges,  this  cardinal  required  twelve  marks  of  all  cathedrals  and 
convents ;  and  of  parish-churches  eight-pence  out  of  every  mark  of 
their  yearly  revenue.  But  the  king  made  him  content  with  the 
moiety  of  his  demand. 

10.   The  infinite  Wealth  Rome  yearly  drained  from  England. 

Mean  time  intolerable  were  the  taxes  which  the  English  clergy 
paid  to  Rome.  The  poets  feign  Arethusa,  a  river  in  Armenia,  to  be 
swallowed  up  by  the  earth,  and,  running  many  miles  under  the  ocean, 
in  Sicily  (they  say)  it  vents  itself  up  again.  But,  without  any 
fiction,  the  Avealthy  streams,  flowing  from  a  plentiful  spring  in 
England,  did  suddenly  disappear  ;  and  being  insensibly  conveyed 
in  invisible  channels,  not  under  but  over  the  sea,  were  found  far  oflT 
to  arise  afresh  at  Rome,  in  the  pope's  treasury ;  where  the  Italians, 
though  (being  themselves  bred  in  a  clear  and  subtile  climate)  they 
scorned  the  dulness  of  the  wits  and  hated  the  gross  air  of  this  island, 
yet  hugged  the  heaviness  of  the  gold  thereof;  this  kingdom  being 
one  of  the  best  places  for  their  profit.  Although  proud  Harding 
saith,  "  that  the  pope's  yearly  gains  out  of  England  Avere  but  as  a 
gnat  to  an  elephant.""!-    ^  ^^^^  overgrown  beast  of  Rome's  revenues  ! 

11.   The  Death  and  Character  of  King  Edward  I.    AD.  1307. 

The  death  of  king  Edward  I.  gave  a  great  advancement  to  the 
pope's  encroaching.  A  worthy  prince  he  was,  fixed  in  his  generation 
betwixt  a  weak  father  and  a  son  ;  as  if  made  wise  and  valiant  by 
their  antiperistasis :  equally  fortunate  in  drawing  and  sheathing  the 
sword,  in  war  and  peace  ;  having  taught  the  English  loyalty,  by  them 
almost  forgotten  ;  and  the  Welsh,  subjection,  which  they  never 
learned  before.  In  himself,  religiously  disposed ;  founded  the 
famous  abbey  of  Vale  Royal  for  the  Cistercians  in  Cheshire,|  and  by 
will  bequeathing  thirty-two  thousand  pounds  to  the  Holy  War  : 
obedient,  not  servile,  to  the  sec  of  Rome  :  a  foe  to  the  pride,  and 
friend  to  the  profession,  of  the  clergy ;   whom  he  Avatered  with  his 

•  Contra  intcinperantcm  Testae  avaritiam  publice  in  Parliamcnto  querela:  quod  clerurn, 
immoderate    envnigcret. —  HARrsFlELn,    page   431.  +    In    Covfitt.    u4polo(j. 

\  Camden's  Brit,  in  CUesliii-e. 


5   EDWARD   II.  BOOK    III.       CEXT.    XIV.  397 

bounty,  but  would  not  liave  to  spread  so  broad  as  to  justlc,  or  <n-(m 
so  liighas  to  overtop  the  regal  authority  ;  dying  in  due  time  for  himself 
almost  seventy  years  old  :  but  too  soon  for  his  subjects,  especially 
for  his  son,  whose  giddy  youth  lacked  a  guide  to  direct  him.  In  a 
Avord  :  As  the  arm  of  king  Edward  I.  was  accounted  the  measure 
of  a  yard,  generally  received  in  England  ;  so  his  actions  are  an  excel- 
lent model  and  a  praiseworthy  platform  for  succeeding  princes  to 
imitate. 

12.  Winchelsey,  at  the  Request  of  King  Edward  II.  restored  to 
his  Archbishopric.  1  Edward  II. 
Edward  his  son,  by  letters  to  the  pope,  requested,  that  Robert 
Winchelsey  might  be  restored  to  his  archbishopric,  which  was  done 
accordingly  ;  though  he  returned  too  late  to  crown  the  king  ;  which 
solemnity  was  performed  by  Henry  Woodlock,  bishop  of  Winchester. 
Here  let  the  peaceable  reader  part  two  contrary  reports  from  fighting- 
together,  both  avowed  by  authors  of  credit.  Some  say  V/inchelsey, 
after  his  return,  received  his  profits  maimed  and  mangled,  scarce 
amounting  to  half;  and  that  poor  pittance  he  was  fain  to  bestow  to 
repair  his  dilapidated  palace.*  Others  report,  his  revenues,  not 
lessened  in  quantity,  and  increased  in  the  entireness,  were  paid  him 
all  in  a  lump ;  insomuch  that  hereby  (having  learned  thrift  in  exile 
to  live  of  a  little)  he  speedily  became  the  richest  of  all  his  predeces- 
sors ;-f-  so  that  he  gained  by  losses ;  and  it  was  his  common  proverb, 
that  there  is  no  hurt  in  adversity,  where  there  hath  been  no  iniquity  ; 
and  many  make  his  future  success  an  evidence  of  his  former 
innocence. 

13.  The  Character  of  King  Edward  II.     A.D.  1312. 

The  calamitous  reign  of  king  Edward  II.  afforded  little  history 
of  the  church,  though  too  much  of  the  commonwealth  except  it  had 
been  better.  A  debauched  prince  this  Edward  was  ;  his  beauty 
being  the  best  (not  to  say  only)  commendable  thing  about  him. 
He  had  an  handsome  man-case,  and  better  it  had  been  empty  with 
weakness,  than  (as  it  was)  ill-filled  with  viciousness.  Pierce 
Gaveston  first  corrupted  him,  maugre  all  the  good  counsel  that 
Robert  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  all  his  good  friends,  could 
give  him.  And,  when  Gaveston  was  killed  and  taken  away,  the 
king's  badness  was  rather  doubled,  than  diminished  ;  exchanging 
one  pandar  to  vice  for  two,  the  two  Spencers.  In  a  word,  the  court 
was  turned  tavern,  stews,  stage,  play-house  :  wherein  as  many  vain 
and  wanton  comedies  were  acted  before  the  king  in  his  life-time,  so 
a  sad  and  sorrowful  tragedy  was  acted  by  him  at  his  death. 

•  Harpsfiei.d  Hist.  Eic.  Ang.  page  440.  t  AnHq.  Brit,  page  209,  r.r  Adumo 

Mtiiiimuten. 


398  CPIURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIX.  A.D.  1314. 

14.   The  fatal  Defeat  of  the  English  in  Scotland.     A.D.  1314. 

Robert  Bi-uce,  king  of  Scotland,  encouraged  by  the  laziness  of 
king  Edward,  thought  this  a  fit  time  to  recover  his  country,  and 
which  the  English  detained  from  him.  Whereupon  he  regained 
Berwick,  inroaded  England,  invaded  Ireland.  King  Edward  in 
wrath  advanceth  against  him,  with  an  army  rather  dancing  than 
marching,  fitter  for  a  masque,  than  a  battle  ;  their  horses  rather 
trapped  than  armed.  In  all  points  it  appeared  a  triumphant  army, 
save  that  no  field  as  yet  was  fought  by  them.  Thus,  excluding  all 
influence  of  Divine  Providence,  and  concluding  it  was  fortune''s 
duty  to  favour  them,  at  Stirling  they  bid  the  Scots  battle,  wherein 
ten  thousand  of  our  men  are  by  our  own  authors  confessed  to  be 
slain.  There  fell  the  flower  of  the  English  nobility,  the  king  with  a 
few  hardly  saving  himself  by  flight.  Thus,  as  malleus  Scotorum, 
"  the  hammer  or  mauler  of  the  Scots,*'"'  is  written  on  the  tomb  of 
king  Edward  I.  in  Westminster ;  incus  Scotoriim,  "  the  anvil  of 
the  Scots,"  might  as  properly  be  Avritten  on  the  monument  (had  he 
any)  of  Edward  II. 

15,  Nine  eminent  Schoolmen  of  the  English  Nation. 

But,  leaving  these  fights,  we  proceed  to  other  polemical  digla- 
diations,  more  proper  for  our  pen  ;  namely,  the  disputes  of  School- 
men, which  in  this  king"'s  reign  were  heightened  to  perfection. 
Formerly  those  were  termed  Scholastici  who  in  the  schools  were 
rhetoricians,  making  therein  declamatory  orations.  Such  exercises 
ceasing  in  this  age,  the  term  w^as  translated  to  signify  those  who 
busied  themselves  in  controversial  divinity,  though  some  will  have 
them  so  called,  from  scholion,  "  a  commentary,"  their  studies  being 
generally  nothing  else  than  illustrations  of  the  text  of  Peter  Lom- 
bard, the  Master  of  the  Sentences.  Take  them  here  together 
at  one  view,  intending  to  resume  them  again  in  their  several 
characters  : — 

1.  Alexander  Hales  flourished  a.d.  1240,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  HI.  His  title  was,  Doctor  Irrefirigabilis,  or.  Doctor 
Doctoriim  ;  his  Order  Franciscan.  He  was  born  at  or  nigh  Hales, 
in  Gloucestershire :  bred  in  Hales,  ibidem ;  and  buried  in  the 
Franciscan  church  in  Paris. 

2.  Roger  Bacon  flourished  a.d.  1280,  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  I.  His  title  was.  Doctor  Mirahilis  ;  his  Order  Francis- 
can. He  was  bred  in  Oxford,  in  Merton  college  ;  and  buried  at 
Oxford. 

3.  Richard  Middleton,  or,  De  Media  Villa,  flourished  a.d. 
1290,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I.  His  title  was,  Doctor  Funda- 
tissimus  ;  his  Order  Franciscan.     It  is  uncertain  whether  he  was 


7  EDWAUD  II.  BOOK.    III.       CENT.    XIV.  399 

born  at  Mitldleton-Stony,  in  Oxfordshire,  or  Middleton-Chcny  in 
Nortliamptonshirc.  He  was  bred  in  Oxford  or  Paris  ;  and  buried 
at  Paris. 

4.  John  Duns  Scotus  flourished  a.  i>.  1308,  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  II.  His  title  was.  Doctor  Suhtilis  ;  his  Order  Francis- 
can. He  was  born  at  Dunston  (contracted  Duns)  in  Emildon 
parish  in  Northumberland  ;  bred  in  Merton  college,  in  Oxford  ; 
and  buried  at  Cologne. 

5.  GuALTER  BuRLEY  flourished  A.D.  1337,  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.  His  title  -svas,  Doctor  Approbatus,  He  was  a  secu- 
lar priest ;  bred  in  Merton  college,  in  Oxford  ;  and  buried  at  Paris. 

6.  John  Baconthorpe  flourished  a.  d.  1346,  in  the  rei^n  of 
Edward  III.  His  title  was.  Doctor  Resohttiis ;  his  Order 
Carmelite.  He  was  born  at  Baconthorpe,  in  Norfolk  ;  bred  in 
Blackney  Abbey,  in  Norfolk  ;  and  buried  in  the  church  of  his 
Order  in  London. 

7.  William  Ocham  flourished  a.d.  1347,  in  the  reign  of 
Edward  III.  His  title  was,  Doctor  Singularis,  or.  Pater  Nomi- 
naliiim ;  his  Order  Franciscan.  He  was  born  at  Ocham,  in 
Surrey ;  bred  in  Merton  college ;  and  buried  at  Munich  in 
Bavaria. 

8.  Robert  Holcot  flourished  a.d.  1349,  in  the  reio-n  of 
Edward  III.  He  was  of  the  Order  of  Dominicans ;  born  at 
Holcot,  in  Northamptonshire ;  bred  in  Oxford ;  and  buried  at 
Northampton,  where  he  died  of  the  plague. 

9.  Thomas  Bradwardine  flourished  a.d.  1.350,  in  the  reimi 
of  Edward  III.  His  title  was,  Doctor  Profimchis ;  he  Avas  a 
secular  priest ;  born  at  Bradwardine,  in  Herefordshire ;  bred  in 
Merton  college,  in  Oxford  ;  and  buried  in  St.  Anselm's  chapel  in 
Canterbury. 

Besides  many  other  Schoolmen  of  inferior  note,  which  we  pass  by 
in  silence.  Now  we  may  safely  dare  all  Christendom  besides  to 
show  so  many  eminent  School  Divines,  bred  within  the  compass 
of  so  few  years  ;  insomuch  that  it  is  a  truth  what  a  foreign  writer 
saith,*  Scholastica  theologia  ab  Jngl'is,  et  in  Anglia,  sumpsit 
exordium,  fecit  incrementtcm,  pervenit  ad  perfectionem.  And 
although  Italy  falsely  boasteth  that  Britain  had  her  Christianity  first 
from  Rome,  England  may  truly  maintain,  that  from  her  (immedi- 
ately by  France)  Italy  first  received  her  School-divinity. 

IG.  Alexander  Hales  their  Father  and  Founder. 
Of  these  Schoolmen,  Alexander  Hales  goeth  the  first,  master  to 
Thomas  Aquinas  and   Bonaventure  ;    whose  livery,  in  some   sort, 
"  Alexander  Minijtianus  in  Eptstold. 


400  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    RRTTATX.  A.D.  1314. 

the  rest  of  the  Schoohiien  may  be  said  to  wear,  insisting  in  liis  foot- 
steps. At  the  command  of  pope  Innocent  IV.  he  wrote  the  body 
of  all  School-divinity  in  four  volumes.  He  was  the  first  Franciscan 
who  ever  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  the  university,  (who  formerly 
counted  the  height  of  a  degree  inconsistent  with  the  humility  of 
their  Order,)  as  appeareth  by  the  close  of  his  epitaph  : — Egenorum 
Jit  primus  Doctor  eorum.  So  great  an  honourer  of  the  virgin 
Mary,  that  he  never  denied  such  who  sued  to  him  in  her  name  ;  * 
as,  since,  our  Mr.  Fox  is  said  never  to  have  denied  any  who  begged 
of  him  for  Jesus  Christ. 

17.  Bacon  acctised  for  a  Conjurer. 
Rojrer  Bacon  succeeds.  O  what  a  sin  is  it  to  be  more  learned 
than  one's  neighbours  in  a  barbarous  age  !  Being  excellently 
skilled  in  the  mathematics,  (a  wonder-working  art,  especially  to 
ignorant  eyes,)  he  is  accused  for  a  conjurer  by  Hieronymus  de 
Esculo,  minister-general  of  his  Order,  and  afterwards  pope  by  the 
name  of  Nicholas  IV.  The  best  is,  this  Hieronymus,  before  he 
was  a  pope,  was  not  infallible,  and  therefore  our  Bacon  might  be 
scandalized  by  him  ;  however,  he  was  committed  to  prison  at 
Rome,  by  pope  Clement  IV.  and  remained  in  durance  a  consider- 
able time  before  his  own  innocence,  with  his  friends'  endeavours, 
could  procure  his  enlargement. 

18.  Many  Bacons  in  one  make  a  Confusion. 
For  mine  own  part,  I  behold  the  name  of  Bacon  in  Oxford,  not 
as  of  an  individual  man,  but  corporation  of  men  ;  no  single  cord, 
but  a  twisted  cable  of  many  together.  And  as  all  the  acts  of 
strong  men  of  that  nature  are  attributed  to  an  Hercules  ;  all  the 
predictions  of  prophesying  women  to  a  Sibyl ;  so,  I  conceive,  all 
the  achievements  of  the  Oxonian  Bacons,  in  their  liberal  studies,  are 
ascribed  to  one,  as  chief  of  the  name.  And  tliis  in  effect  is  con- 
fessed by  the  most  learned  and  ingenious  orator  of  that  university. "f" 
Indeed,  we  find  one  Robert  Bacon  who  died  anno  one  thousand  two 
hundred  forty  eight,  a  learned  doctor ;  and  Trithemius  styleth 
John  Baconthorpe,  plain  Bacon,  which  addeth  to  the  probability  of 
the  former  assertion.  However,  this  confounding  so  many  Bacons 
in  one  hath  caused  antichronisms  in  many  relations.  For  how  could 
this  Bacon  ever  be  a  Reader  of  Philosophy  in  Brasen-nose  college, 
founded  more  than  one  hundred  years  after  his  death  ?  so  that  his 
brasen  head,  so  much  spoken  of,  to  speak,  must  make  time  past  to 
be  again,  or  else  these  inconsistencies  will  not  be  reconciled. 
Except  any  will  salve   it  with   the    prolepsis  of  Brasen-nose  hall, 

•  PiTS's  Descript.  ^ng.  t  Sin  Isaac  Wake  in  his  Rrx  PMonicus,  pp.  209,  210. 


/    EDWARD   ir.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIV.  4()l 

formerly  in  tlie  place  where  the  college  is  now  erected.  1  have 
done  with  the  Oxford  Bacons  :  only  let  me  add,  that  those  of 
Cambridge,  father  and  son,  Nicholas  and  Francis,  the  one  of 
Bennet,  and  the  other  of  Trinity  college,  do  hold  {absit  invidia  !) 
the  scales  of  desert,  even  against  all  of  their  name  in  all  the 
world  besides. 

19.  Duns  Scottis,  why  so  called.     Three  Kingdoms  lay  claim  to 

his  Birth. 

John  Duns  Scotus  succeeds,  who  some  will  have  called  Scotus, 
oh  profundissimam  diccndi  obscuritatem,*  "  from  his  profound 
obscurity  in  writing."  Indeed,  there  was  one  Heraclitus,  to  whom 
cognomen  Scotinon  fecit  oratiojiis  obscuritas :  "f  but  others  con- 
ceive him  so  called,  either  from  Scotland  his  country,  or  John  Scott 
his  father.  Nor  was  he  called  Duns,  as  some  will  have  it  con- 
tractedly  from  Dominus,  but  from  the  place  of  his  nativity,  though 
three  kingdoms  earnestly  engage  to  claim  him  for  their  country- 
man. 

England. — It  is  thus  written  at  the  end  of  his  manuscript 
works  in  Merton  college  in  Oxford,  whereof  he  was  fellow  :  Explicit 
lectura  Subtilis  in  universitate  Parisiensi  doctoris  Joannis 
Du7is,  nati  in  quadam  villuld  jif^^ochice  de  Eniildon  vocata 
Dunston,  in  comitatu  Northumbrice,  pertinente  domui  scho- 
lariiim  de  Merton-hall  iti  Oxonia.\ 

Scotland. — Although  John  Scott  dissembled  himself  an 
Englishman,  to  find  the  more  favour  in  Merton  college,  living  in  an 
age  wherein  cruel  w^ars  betwixt  England  and  Scotland  ;  yet  his 
tomb  erected  at  Cologne  is  bold  to  tell  the  truth,  whereon  this 
epitaph  :  § — 

Scotia  me  genuit,  ^nglia  suscepit, 
Gallia  edocuit,  Gertiiania  tenet. 

Besides,  the  very  name  of  Scotus  avoweth  him  to  be  a  Scotchman. 

Ireland. — He  is  called  Joannes  Duns,  by  abbreviation  for 
Dunensis ;  that  is,  born  at  Do\vn,||  an  episcopal  see  in  Ireland, 
where  Patricius,  Dubricius,  and  St.  Columba  lie  interred.  And  it 
is  notoriously  known  to  critics,  that  Scotus  signifieth  an  Irishman  in 
the  most  ancient  acceptation  thereof. 

I  doubt  not  but  the  reader  will  give  his  verdict,  that  the  very 
Scotiety  of  Scotus  belongeth  to  England  as  his  native  country,  who 
being  born  in  Northumberland, — which  kingdom  in  the  Saxon 
heptarchy  extended   from   H  umber  to   Edinburgh- Frith, — it  was  a 

•  SiXTL's  Senensis.  1  Seneca  in  Epist.  X  Camden's  Britannia  in  Northum- 
berland. §  Archbishop  Spotswood  in  his  "  History  of  the  Chiirch  of  Scotland." 
II  Hugh  Cavel.  in  Vitd  Scoti. 

Vol.  i.  d  d 


402  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A. D.  1314. 

facile  mistake  for  foreigners  to  write  liim  a  Scotcliman  on  his  monu- 
ment.  As  for  the  name  of  Scotus,  it  is  of  no  validity  to  prove  him 
that  countryman,  as  a  common  sm-name  amongst  ns  ;  as,  some  four 
years  since,  when  the  Scotch  were  enjoined  to  depart  this  land,  one 
Mr.  English,  in  London,  was  then  the  most  considerable  merchant 
of  the  Scotch  nation.  The  sad  manner  of  Scotus's  death  is  suffi- 
ciently known  ;  who,  being  in  a  fit  of  a  strong  apoplexy,  was,  by  the 
cruel  kindness  of  his  over-officious  friends,  buried  Avhilst  yet  alive, 
and,  recovering  in  the  grave,  dashed  out. his  brains  against  the 
coffin,  affording  a  large  field  to  such  wanton  wits  in  their  epigrams, 
who  could  make  sport  to  themselves  on  the  sad  accident  of  others. 

20.  Low  hut  learned  Baconthorpe. 

I  had  almost  over-seen  John  Baconthorpe,  being  so  low  in 
stature,  as  but  one  remove  from  a  dwarf;  of  whom  one  saith, — 
Ingenio  magnus,  corpore  pm'vus  erat  ;*  "  His  wit  was  tall,  in 
body  small."  Insomuch  that  corpus  non  tulisset  quod  ingenium 
protulit,  "  his  body  could  not  bear  the  books  which  his  brain  had 
brought  forth.'"  Coming  to  Rome,  being  sent  for  by  the  pope,  he 
was  once  hissed  at-|-  in  a  public  disputation,  for  the  badness, 
forsooth,  of  his  Latin  and  pronunciation  ;  but,  indeed,  because  he 
opposed  the  pope"'s  power  in  dispensing  with  mairiages,  contrary  to 
the  law  of  God  ;  whose  judgment;]:  was  afterwards  made  use  of  by 
the  defenders  of  the  divorce  of  king  Henry  VIIL 

21.  Occam  a  stiff  Imperialist. 

William  Occam  sided  with  Lewis  of  Bavaria  against  the  pope, 
maintaining  the  temporal  power  above  the  spiritual.  He  was  fain 
to  fly  to  the  emperor  for  his  safety  ;  saying  unto  him, — Defende 
me  gladio,  et  ego  te  defetidam  verbo :  "  Defend  me  with  tliy 
sword,  and  I  will  defend  thee  with  my  word."  This  Occam  was 
Luther's  chief  (if  not  sole)  Schoolman,  who  had  his  works  at  his 
fingers''  end  ;  loving  him,  no  doubt,  the  better  for  his  opposition  to 
the  pope. 

22.  Holcofs  sudden  Death. 

Robert  Holcot  was  not  the  meanest  among  them,  who  died  of  the 
plague  at  Northampton,  just  as  he  was  reading  his  lectures  on  the 
seventh  of  Ecclesiasticus  ;  wherein  as  many  canonical  truths  as  in 
any  Apocrypha  chapter  ;  and  although  as  yet  in  his  public  reading 
he  was  not  come  to  the  last  verse  thereof,  so  proper  for  mortality, 
we  may  charitably  believe  he  had   seriously  commented  thereon  in 


*  JoHANNKs  Trissa  Nemausensis  in  lihro  De  Viris  I/lustr/bt/s.  t  Baleus  in 

rfii.1  J'itch  I  Jacobi's  Calcts  Papiensis. 


A 


/    EDWARD   ir.  IJOOK     III.       CENT.     XIV.  403 

his  private  meditations  :   "  ^yhatsocve^■  thou  takest  in  hand,  remem- 
ber the  end,  and  thou  shalt  never  do  amiss."* 

23.  The  just  Praise  of  Thomas  Bradwardine. 

Thomas  Bradwardine  bringeth  up  the  rear,  though  in  learning 
and  piety,  if  not  superior,  equal  to  any  of  the  rest ;  witness  his 
worthy  book  against  Pelagianism,  to  assert  the  freeness  of  God's 
grace  in  man's  conversion  ;  which  he  justly  entitleth,  De  Causa  Dei, 
"  Of  God's  Cause  :""  for  as  God  is  a  second  in  every  good  cause,  so 
he  is  a  principal  in  this,  wherein  his  own  honour  is  so  nearly  con- 
cerned. And  though  the  psalmist  saith,  "  Plead  thine  own  cause, 
O  Lord  ;"  yet  in  this  age,  wherein  miracles  are  ceased,  God  pleadeth 
his  cause,  not  in  his  person,  but  by  the  proxy  of  the  tongues  and 
pens,  hands  and  hearts,  of  his  servants.  This  Bradwardine  was 
afterwards  archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  and  how  highly  esteemed,  let 
Chaucer-f-  tell  you  : — 

"  But  I  ue  cannot  Ijoult  it  to  the  bren, 
As  can  the  liolj-  Doctour  St.  Austin, 
Or  Boece,  or  the  Bishop  Bradwardin." 

This  testimony  of  Chaucer,  by  the  exact  computation  of  time,  [was] 
written  within  forty  years  after  Bradwardine's  death,  which  addeth 
much  to  his  honour,  that  in  so  short  a  time  his  memory  was  in  the 
peaceable  possession  of  so  general  a  veneration,  as  to  be  joined  in 
company  with  St.  Augustine  and  Boethius,  two  such  eminent  per- 
sons in  their  several  capacities. 

24.  Schoolmen  busied  in  needless  Difficulties. 

The  Schoolmen  principally  employed  themselves  in  knotty  and 
thorny  questions  of  controversial  divinity.  Indeed,  as  such  who 
live  in  London,  and  like  populous  places,  having  but  little  ground 
for  their  foundations  to  build  houses  on,  may  be  said  to  enlarge  the 
breadth  of  their  houses  in  height ;  (I  mean,  increasing  their  room  in 
many  stories  one  above  another  ;)  so  the  Schoolmen  in  this  ao-e, 
lacking  the  latitude  of  general  learning  and  languages,  thought  to 
enlarge  their  active  minds  by  mounting  up  ;  so  improving  their 
small  bottom  with  towering  speculations,  though  some  of  thino-s 
mystical  that  might  not — ^more  of  things  difficult  that  could  not — 
most  of  things  curious  that  need  not — be  known  unto  us. 

25.  Excuses  for  their  had  Latin. 

Their  Latin  is  generally  barbarous,  counting  any  thing  eloquent 
that  is  expressive ;  going  the  nearest  way  to  speak  their  own  notions, 
though  sometimes  trespassing  on  grammar,  abusing,  if  not  breaking, 

•  Bale's  Dfsnipt.  Brit.  cent.  xv.  page  434,  t  In  the  Nnn's  Priest's  Tale. 

2  D  2 


404  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.    1314 

Priscian"'s*  head  therein.  Some  impute  this  their  bald  and  thread- 
bare language  to  a  design  that  no  vermin  of  equivocation  should  be 
hid  under  the  nap  of  their  words  ;  whilst  others  ascribe  it  to  their 
want  of  change,  and  their  poverty  in  learning,  to  procure  better 
expressions. 

26.   Their  several  Divisions  in  Judgment. 

Yet  these  Schoolmen  agreed  not  amongst  themselves  in  their 
judgments.  For  Burley,  being  scholar  to  Scotus,  served  him  as 
Aristotle  did  Plato  his  master,  maintaining  a  contrary  faction  against 
him.  Ocliam  his  scholar,  father  of  the  Nominals,  opposed  Scotus 
the  founder  of  the  Reals  ;  which  two  factions  divided  the  School- 
men betwixt  them  ;  Holcot  being  a  Dominican,  stiffly  resisted  the 
Franciscans,  about  the  conception  of  the  virgin  Mary,  which  they 
would  have  without  any  original  sin.  However,  the  papists,  when 
pressed  that  their  divisions  mar  their  unity,  (a  mark  of  the  church 
whereof  they  boast  so  much,)  evade  it,  by  pleading  that  these  points 
are  not  de  fide  only,  in  the  out-skirts  of  religion,  and  never  con- 
cluded in  any  council  to  be  the  articles  of  faith. 

27.  All  O.vford^  most  Merton  College. 

All  of  these  Schoolmen  were  Oxford — most  Merton-college  men. 
As  the  setting  up  of  an  eminent  artist  in  any  place  of  a  city  draws 
chapmen  unto  him  to  buy  his  wares,  and  apprentices  to  learn  his 
occupation ;  so  after  Roger  Bacon  had  begun  School-divinity  in 
Merton  college,  the  whole  gang  and  genius  of  that  house  succes- 
sively applied  their  studies  thereunto  ;  and  many  repaired  thither 
from  all  parts  of  the  land  for  instruction  in  that  nature.  Mean  time 
Cambridge-men  were  not  idle,  but  otherwise  employed,  more 
addicting  themselves  to  preaching,  whereof  though  the  world  took 
not  so  much  notice,  positive  divinity  not  making  so  much  noise  as 
controversial,  (where  men  engage  more  earnestness,)  yet  might  be 
more  to  God's  glory,  and  the  saving  of  the  souls  of  men. 

2(J.  Why  School- Divinity  not  so  used  in  Oxford,  after  this  Age. 

Some  will  wonder,  seeing  School-divinity  was  so  rife  in  Oxford  in 
this  age,  for  some  hundred  years  together,  (namely,  from  towards 
the  end  of  Henry ''s  to  the  end  of  Edward''s  reign,  both  the  Third  of 
their  names,)  how  the  study  thereof  should  sink  so  suddenly  in  that 
university,  which  afterwards  produced  not  such  eminent  men  in  that 
kind.  But  hereof  several  reasons  may  be  assigned  : — 1.  The  wars 
betwixt  York  and  Lancaster  soon  after  began  ;  a  controversy, 
indeed,  which  silenced  School-velitations,  students  being  much  dis- 

*  opus  opciaiuin. 


/    EDVVAKD   11.  BOOK     HI.       CENT.    XIV.  405 

heartened  witli  those  martial  discords.  2.  Once  in  an  age  the 
appetite  of  an  university  alters,  as  to  its  diet  in  learning ;  which, 
formerly  filled  (not  to  say,  surfeited)  with  such  hard  questions,  for 
variety'  sake,  sought  out  other  employments.  3.  The  sparhs  of 
scholars'  wits,  in  School-divinity,  went  out  for  want  of  fuel  in  that 
subject,  grown  so  trite  and  threadbare,  nothing  could  be  but  what 
had  been  said  of  the  same  before.  Wherefore  fine  wits  found  out 
other  ways  to  busy  themselves.  4.  Only  information  of  the  brain, 
no  benefit  to  the  purse,  accrued  by  such  speculations  ;  which  made 
others,  in  after-ages,  to  divert  their  studies,  a  qucBstionihus  ad 
qucBs-tmn,  from  metaphysical  queries,  to  case-divinity,  as  more 
gainful  and  profitable  ;  best  enabling  them  for  hearing  confessions, 
and  proportioning  penance  accordingly.  Since  the  Reformation, 
School-divinity  in  both  the  universities  is  not  used  (as  anciently) 
for  a  sole  profession  by  itself,  to  engross  all  a  man's  life  therein,  but 
only  taken  as  a  preparative  quality  to  divinity  ;  discreet  men  not 
drowning  but  dipping  their  minds  in  the  study  thereof. 

29.   The  sad  Distemper  of  England  at  this  Time. 

Return  we  now  to  the  commonwealth,  which  we  left  bad,  and  find 
amended  as  an  old  sore  without  a  plaster  in  cold  weather.  King 
Edward,  rather  wilful  than  weak,  (if  wilfulness  be  not  weakness,  and, 
sure,  the  same  eftects  are  produced  by  both,  ruin  and  destruction,) 
slighted  his  queen's  company  ;  and  such  a  bed,  if  left,  (where  beauty 
Avithout  grace,)  seldom  standeth  long  empty.  Queen  Isabel, 
blinded  with  fury,  mistook  the  party  who  had  wronged  her,  and 
revengeth  her  husband's  faults  on  her  own  conscience,  living  incon- 
tinently with  Roger  Mortimer  ;  a  man  martial  enough,  and  of  much 
merit  otherwise,  save  that  a  harlot  is  a  deep  pit,  therein  invisibly  to 
bury  the  best  deserts.  The  two  Spencers  ruled  all  at  pleasure ;  and 
the  king  was  not  more  forward  to  bestow  favours  on  them,  as  they 
free  to  deal  afFionts  to  others  their  superiors  in  birth  and  estate. 
Thus,  men  of  yesterday  have  pride  too  much  to  remember  what 
they  were  the  day  before  ;  and  providence  too  little  to  foresee  what 
they  may  be  to-morrow.  The  nobility,  then  petty  kings  in  their 
own  countries,  disdained  such  mushrooms  should  insult  over  them  ; 
and  all  the  Spencers'  insolencies  being  scored  on  the  king's  account, 
no  wonder  if  he,  unable  to  discharge  his  own  engagements,  M'as 
broken  by  suretiship  for  others. 

30.  King  Edward  accused  for  betraying  his  Privileges  to  the 

Pope. 

I  find  it  charged  on  this  king,  that  he  suffered  the  pope  to 
encroach  on  the  dignity  of  the  crown,  to  the  great  damage  and  more 


406  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.D.  1314 G. 

dishonour  of  the  nation.  Indeed,  his  father  left  him  a  fair  stake, 
and  a  winning  hand,  (had  a  good  gamester  had  the  playing  thereof,) 
having  recovered  some  of  his  privileges  from  the  papal  usurpation  ; 
•which  since,  it  seems,  his  son  had  lost  back  again,  though  the  par- 
ticulars thereof  in  history  do  not  so  plainly  appear.  Only  it  is 
plain,  that  to  support  himself,  and  supply  his  necessities,  he  com- 
plied with  the  clergy,  a  potent  party  in  that  age ;  favourably 
measuring  out  the  causes  of  their  cognizances.  For  although,  in 
the  reign  of  his  father,  a  hedge  was  made  by  an  Act  in  that  nature 
betwixt  the  spiritual  and  temporal  courts  ;  yet  now  a  ditch  (a  new 
Act)  was  added  to  the  former  scene.  So  that  hereafter  (except 
wilfully)  they  could  not  mutually  trespass  on  each  other's 
jurisdictions. 


SECTION  VIII. 

RICHARDO  SEYMERE,  NECESSARIO  MEO. 

Inter  amicum  meum  et  necessarium  hoc  pono 
discriminis,  quod  ille  ad  bene  esse,  hie  ad  meum  esse, 
quodammodo  requiratur ;  quo  nomine  tu  mihi  es  salu- 
tandus,  qui  sine  te  plane  mancus  mihi  videor.  Tua 
enim  artifici  dextra  usus  sum,  per  totum  hoc  opus  in 
scutis  gentilitiis  depingendis.  Macte,  vir  ingenue,  ac 
natales  tuos,  generosos  satis,  novo  splendore  illustriores 
reddito. 

1,    2.    Exeter   College  founded   hij   Bishop   Stapleton,    ivho 
afterwards  was  barhai'ouslu  murdered.     A.D.  131(5. 

Colleges  yet  were  few,  and  students  now  many,  in  Oxford  : 
whereupon  Walter  Stapleton,  bishop  of  Exeter,  founded  and  endowed 
one  therein,  by  the  name  of  Stapleton*'s  Inn,  since  called  Exeter 
college.  This  bishop  was  one  of  high  birth  and  large  bounty,  being 
said  to  have  expended  a  year's  revenues  of  his  (this  rich)  bishopric 
in  the  solemnity  of  his  instalment.  He  also  founded  Hart-Hall  in 
Oxford.  But  O  the  difference  betwixt  the  elder  and  younger 
brother,  though  sons  to  the  same  flither  !  the  one  carrying  away  the 
whole  inheritance,  whilst  the  other  sometimes  hath  little  more  than 
himself  left  unto  him,  as  here  this  Hall  is  altogether  unendowed. 

This  worthy  bishop  had  an  unworthy  and  untimely  death,  some 
ten  years  after.     For,  being  lord  treasurer,  and  left  by  the  king  in 


I 


0  EDWAllD  II.  BOOK    111.       CENT.    XIV.  407 

his  absence  to  govern  the  then  mutinous  city  of  London,  the 
citizens,  not  without  encouragement  from  the  queen,  furiously  fell 
upon  him,  and  in  Cheapside  most  barbarously  butchered  him,  and 
then  (as  hoping  to  bury  their  murder  with  his  body)  huddled  him 
obscurely  into  a  hole.  But  afterwards,  to  make  his  ghost  some 
reparation  and  stop  the  clamour  of  the  clergy,  the  queen  ordered 
the  removing  and  interring  of  his  body,  and  his  brother's,  (a  valiant 
knight  slain  on  the  same  account,)  in  the  cathedral  of  Exeter.  One 
would  wonder  this  bishop  was  not  made  a  martyr  and  sainted  in 
that  age,  save  that  his  suffering  was  of  civil  concernment,  and  not 
relating  to  religion. 

3.  Sir  William  Petres  Bounty. 

This  House  hath  since  found  two  eminent  benefactors  :  First. 
Sir  William  Petre,  born  of  honest  parentage  in  Exeter,  principal 
secretary  to  four  successive  kings  and  queens  :  one  who  in  ticklish 
and  turning  times  did  good  to  himself,  got  a  great  estate,  injurious 
to  none,  (that  I  ever  heard  or  read  of,)  but  courteous  to  many,  and 
eminently  to  this  college,  wherein  he  bestowed  much  building,  and 
augmented  it  with  eight  fellowships. 

4.  Dr.  Hackwill  hnilt  this  Chapel. 

The  other,  George  Hackwill  doctor  of  divinity,  late  Rector 
thereof,  Avho,  though  married  and  having  children,  (must  it  not  be 
a  quick  and  large  fountain  which,  besides  filling  a  pond,  had  such 
an  overflowing  stream  ?)  bestowed  more  than  one  thousand  pounds 
in  building  a  beautiful  chapel.  This  is  he  who  Avrote  the  learned 
and  religious  "  Apology  for  Divine  Providence,"  proving  that  the 
world  doth  not  decay.  Many  begin  the  reading  thereof  with  much 
prejudice,  but  few  end  it  without  full  satisfaction,  converted  to  the 
author's  opinion  by  his  unanswerable  arguments. 

5.  Western  Men  here  most  proper. 

This  college  consisteth  chiefly  of  Cornish  and  Devonshire  men ; 
the  gentry  of  which  latter,  queen  Elizabeth  used  to  say,  were 
courtiers  by  their  birth.  And  as  these  western  men  do  bear  away 
the  bell  for  might  and  sleight  in  wrestling,  so  the  scholars  here 
have  always  acquitted  themselves  with  credit  in  palcBstrd  literarid. 
The  Rectors  of  this  house  anciently  were  annual,  therefore  here 
omitted  ;  fixed  but  of  latter  years,  to  continue  the  term  of  their  lives. 

Rectors. — 1.  John  Neale,  2.  Thomas  Glasier,  3.  Thomas 
Holland,  4.  John  Prideaux,  5.  George  Hackwill,  6.  John  Conant. 

Bishops. — John  Prideaux,  bishop  of  Worcester;  Thomas 
WinniflT,  bishop  of  Lincoln. 


CHURCH    HISTORY    01<"    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1316 24. 

Benefactors. — Edmund  Stafford,  bisliop  of  Exeter ;  Mr. 
John  Piriam,  alderman  of  Exeter ;  Sir  John  Ackland,  knight, 
expending  (beside  other  benefactions)  eight  hundred  pounds  in 
building  the  Hall. 

Learned  Writers. — Judge  Dodderidge,  George  Hackwill, 
John  Prideaux,  Sir  Simon  Baskerville,  Dr.  Veluain,  Nathanael 
Carpenter,  Nathanael  Norrington,  George  Kendal.* 

So  that  lately  therein  were  maintained,  one  Rector,  twenty-three 
Fellows,  a  Bible-Clerk,  two  Pensioners,  Servants,  Commoners,  and 
other  Students  to  the  number  of  two  hundred. 

6.     The   King's   courteous   Answer   to   the   Prelates' 
Complaints. 

Clergymen  began  now  to  complain,  that  the  lay  judges  intrenched 
on  their  privileges  ;  and,  therefore,  they  presented  a  petition  to  the 
king  in  his  parliament  at  Lincoln,  requesting  the  redress  of  sixteen 
grievances.  To  most  of  them  the  king  returned  a  satisfactory 
answer,  and  so  qualified  his  denials  to  the  rest,  that  they  could  not 
but  content  any  reasonable  disposition. 

7-    Made  a  printed  Statute  under  the  Title  of  Articuli 

Cleri. 
These  concessions  of  the  king  were  digested  into  laws,  and  are 
printed  at  large  in  the  statutes  known  by  the  title  of  Articuli  Cleri. 
Whereon  Sir  Edward  Coke,  in  the  second  part  of  his  Institutes, 
hath  made  no  less  learned  than  large  commentary.  So  that  though 
the  law  of  circumspecte  agatis  had  stated  this  difference ;  yet  it 
seems  this  statute  (as  circumspectivus  agatis)  was  conceived  very 
requisite. 

8.  Yet  the  Controversy  between  the  two  Jurisdictions  still 
continued. 

Moreover,  these  statutes  did  not  so  clearly  decide  the  difference 
betwixt  the  spiritual  and  temporal  jurisdictions,  but  that  many 
contests  happened  afterwards  betwixt  them,  no  longer  ago  than  in 
the  fifth  of  king  James,  when  the  Doctors  of  the  Commons  under 
Richard  Bancroft,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  their  general,  opposed 
the  judges  about  the  indeterminable  controversies  of  prohibitions. 
Add  herevinto,  that  the  clergy  claimed  to  themselves  the  most 
favourable  interpretation  of  all  statutes  in  their  own  behalf,  whilst 
the  temporal  judges,  in  the  not  sitting  of  parliaments,  challenged 
that  privilege  to  themselves. 

•  I  am  informed  that  Dr.  Prideaux,  in  a  dedication  to  one  of  his  sermons,  hath  reck- 
oned all  the  worthy  writers  of  this  House  j  but  as  yet  I  have  not  seen  it. 


17  EDWARD   II.  BOOK     III.       CENT.    XIV.  V  409 

9,  10.  Oriel  College  built  by  Kini)  Edward  II.  Query  about  the 
Name  thereof.     A.D.  1324. 

The  most  lasting  monument  of  the  memory  of  woful  king 
Edward  II.  was  the  building  of  Oriel  college  in  Oxford.  Indeed, 
some  make  him,  and  others  Adam  Brown  his  almoner,  founder 
thereof;  and  both,  perchance,  truly, — the  king  allowing,  his  almoner 
issuing,  money  for  the  building  and  endowing  thereof.  Others  will 
have  it,  that  his  almoner  persuaded  him  on  conscientious  principles 
to  this  good  work,  pertinently  alleging  and  pressing  this  instance, 
to  prove  that  the  king's  nature  not  bad  in  itself,  but  too  yielding  to 
the  impressions  of  others.  Now,  whereas  the  other  alms  of  this 
king  were  perishing,  as  relieving  only  poor  for  the  present,  these,  as 
more  lasting,  have  done  good  to  many  generations. 

I  meet  with  no  satisfactory  reason  of  the  name  which  some  will 
have  to  contain  something  of  Easterness  therein  :  so  situated  com- 
paratively to  some  more  ancient  foundation.  Others  deduce  it  from 
criolium,  an  eminent  room  in  monasteries;*  and  I  cannot  but  smile 
at  such  who  will  have  O  Rot/al,  as  a  pathetical  admiration  of 
princely  magnificence. 

11,  12.  King's  nursing  Fathers  to  this  House  ;  lately  rebuilded 

most  decently. 

However,  I  do  not  deny  but  that  the  kings  of  England  have 
been  very  indulgent  to  this  foundation.  For,  beside  king  Edward 
II.  the  founder  thereof,  his  son  king  Edward  gave  unto  them  the 
hospital  of  St.  Bartholomew"'s  nigh  Oxford  with  lands,  to  maintain 
eight  poor  people,  subject  to  the  government  of  the  Provost  and 
Fellows  of  this  college.  Besides,  king  James,  being  informed  of 
some  legal  defects  in  this  foundation,  granted  them  a  new  corpora- 
tion cavil- proof  against  all  exceptions. 

This  college  being  much  decayed,  Anthony  Blencowe,  late  Pro- 
vost, bequeathed  twelve  hundred  pounds  to  the  new  building  of  a 
front  thereof;  which  being  done,  lest  it  should  be  a  disgrace  to  the 
rest  of  the  fabric,  the  whole  college  is  rebuilt  in  a  most  decent 
manner. 

Provosts. — Adam  Brown,  William  de  Leverton,  William  do 
Hawkesworth,  William  Daventre,  William  Colyntre,  John 
Middleton,  John  Possell,  William  CorfF,  Thomas  Lintlewarden, 
Henry  Kayle,  Nicholas  Barry,  John  Carpenter,  Walter  Lyhart, 
John  Halce,  Henry  Sampson,  Thomas  Hawkins,  John  Taylower, 
Thomas  Cornish,  Edmund  Wylforde,  James  More,  Thomas  Ware, 
Henry   Mynne,  William  Haynes,   John   Smith,   Roger  Marbeck, 

*  M.  Paris  in  f'ilii  23,  .16.  5,  .4lbnni,  page  100. 


410  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.I).  l'J24 G. 

John  Belly,  Anthony  BlencoAve,  William  Lewis,  John  Tolson, 
John  Sanders. 

Benefactors. — John  Frank  gave  four  fellowships  ;  John 
Carpenter,  bishop  of  Worcester,  gave  one  fellowship  ;  William 
Smith,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  gave  one  fellowship  ;  Richard  Dudley, 
D.  D.  gave  two  fellowships  and  two  exhibitions. 

Bishops. — John  Carpenter,  bishop  of  Worcester. 

Learned  Writers. — William  Allen,  cardinal ;  Sir  Walter 
Rayleigh  ;*  William  Prynne. 

So  that  lately  were  maintained  therein,  one  Provost,  eighteen 
Fellows,  one  Bible-Clerk,  twelve  Exhibitioners,  with  Commoners 
and  College  Officers,  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  sixty. 

13.  War  hetweeyi  the  Queen  and  K'wg. 
Let  us  cast  our  eye  on  the  commonwealth  only,  as  it  is  the  ring 
wherein  the  diamond  of  the  church  is  contained,  and  that  now  full 
of  cracks,  caused  by  the  several  state-factions.  The  two  Spencers 
ruled  all  things,  till  the  queen  and  her  son  (who  politicly  had  got 
leave  to  go  beyond  the  sea)  returned  into  England  with  a  navy  and 
army,  landing  in  Suffolk.  She  denouncelh  open  war  against  her 
husband,  unless  he  would  presently  conform  to  her  desires. 

14.  Counter  Proclamations,  and  counter  Rumours. 
The  king  proclaimed  that  a  thousand  pounds  should  be  given  to 
liim  that  brought  the  head  of  Roger  Mortimer.  The  queen  pro- 
claimed, (such  who  had  the  better  purse  may  give  the  greater 
price,)  that  whosoever  brought  the  head  of  the  young  Spencer  (it 
seems  his  father  was  not  so  considerable)  should  have  two  thousand 
pounds.  The  queen"'s  party  gave  out,  that  the  king  of  France  had 
sent  over  a  vast  army  for  her  assistance,  and  the  king's  side  anti- 
rumoured,  (who  could  raise  reports  easier  than  armies,)  that  the 
pope  had  excommunicated  all  such  who  sided  against  him.  Now, 
though  both  reports  were  false,  they  made  true  impressions  of  hope 
in  such  hearts  as  believed  them. 

15,  16,  17-   The  King,  unable  to Jight  andjlee,  after  a  short 
Concealment,  is  taken. 

Three  ways  were  presented  to  king  Edward, — fight,  flight,  and 
concealment :  the  first  he  was  unable  to  do,  having  no  effectual 
forces,  only  able  for  a  time  to  defend  the  castle  of  Bristol,  till  many 
of  his  complices  were  taken  therein  ;  a  tower  therein  (given  out  to 
be  undermined)  being  indeed  undermonied  with  bribes  to  the 
defenders  thereof.     Here  the  elder  Spencer  was  taken  and  executed. 

*  Before  ox  after  of  Christ  cLurch, 


18  EDWARD  II.  BOOK    HI.       CENT.    XIA',  4H 

Fliglit  was  no  less  unsafe  than  clislionourable.  For,  his  kino-doin 
being  an  island,  the  sea  would  quickly  put  a  period  thereunto. 
Indeed,  there  was  some  thoughts  of  his  flight  into  Ireland,  which 
was  no  better  than  out  of  a  dirty  Avay  into  a  very  bog,  besides  great 
the  difficulty  to  recover  the  sea,  and  greater  to  pass  over  it,  all  ports 
and  passages  were  so  waylaid. 

Concealment  was  at  the  last  resolved  on,  not  as  the  best,  but 
only  way  of  his  security.  For  a  time  he  lay  hid  amongst  the 
Welsh,  (not  able  to  help,  but  willing  to  pity  him  as  a  native  of 
their  country,)  concealed  in  the  Abbey  of  Neath,  till  men  are  sent 
down  with  money,  (no  such  light  as  the  shine  of  silver,  wherewith 
to  discover  a  person  inquired  for  .')  and  soon  after  he  was  betrayed 
into  their  hands.  The  younger  Spencer,  taken  with  him,  is  hung 
on  a  gallows  fifty  feet  high  ;  and  the  promised  two  thousand  pounds 
Avere  duly  paid,  and  equally  parted  betwixt  several  persons  employed 
in  his  apprehension. 

18.  King  Edward  resigneth  his  Crown. 

Many  persons  of  quality  Avere  sent  down  from  the  parliament 
then  sitting,  to  king  Edward,  to  Kenilworth  Castle,  to  move  {alias 
to  command)  him  to  resign  the  crown  ;  which,  at  last,  he  sadly 
surrendered.  Sir  William  Trussel,  a  lawyer  of  great  abused  abili- 
ties, (being  rather  to  make  than  find  a  precedent  in  this  kind,) 
improved  his  wits  in  the  formalities  thereof.  Soon  after,  prince 
Edward,  his  son,  is  crowned  king,  whose  father  is  now  no  more  than 
plain  Edward  of  Caernarvon,  though  his  mother  (whose  title  was 
relative  to,  and  a  derivative  from,  her  husband  the  dethroned  king) 
was  now  more  queen  Isabel  than  ever  before.  Thus  the  degrada- 
tion of  a  knight  (as  some  have  informed  me)  extendeth  not  to  his 
wife,  Avho,  by  the  courtesy  of  England,  if  once,  is  ever  a  lady. 

19,  20.  He  is  rejected  hrj  his  own  Wife,  and  cruelly  murdered. 

Edward,  late  king,  with  many  letters,  solicited  to  be  admitted 
into  the  queen's  company.  All  in  vain  :  she  found  embraces  at  a 
less  distance,  dearer  unto  her,  preferring  the  society  of  a  lord  who, 
in  effect,  had  deposed  a  king,  before  a  king  who  had  deposed  him- 
self. She  made  many  excuses  of  sickness  and  indisposition,  to 
enjoy  him.  So  easily  can  that  sex  make  plausible  pretences,  that 
they  cannot  what  they  will  not  do  ! 

Roger  Mortimer,  whose  lust  and  revenge  was  equally  unsatiable, 
could  not  be  quiet  whilst  king  Edward  was  alive  :  he  feared  king 
Edward  might  play  an  after-game  of  affection  in  his  subjects  ;  in 
order  therefore  to  his  death,  he  is  removed  from  Kenilworth,  (where 
the  earl   of  Leicester  his  keeper  was  suspected,  too,  sympathizing 


412  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1'3'2G. 

with  his  sorrow,)  unto  Berkeley  Castle,  where  he  was  barbarously 
butchered,  being  struck  into  the  postern  of  his  body  with  a  hot  spit, 
as  it  is  generally  reported. 

21,  22.  A  Brace  of  loyal  Subjects,  and  a  loyal  Priest- 
Chancellor. 

Nothing  now  remaineth  in  this  king"'s  reign,  save  to  take  notice 
how  the  clergy  (understand  such  who  were  active,  for  neuters  shall 
pass  for  none)  stand  affected  in  this  great  state-difference.  I  find 
not  enough  to  call  a  number  of  the  bishops  cordial  to  the  king. 
For,  beside  Walter  Stapleton,  bishop  of  Exeter,  (of  whom  before,) 
only  John  Stratford,  bishop  of  Winchester,  heartily  adhered  unto 
him  ;  and  yet  this  Stratford  was  employed  on  a  message  from  the 
parliament  to  the  king  at  Kenilworth,  to  persuade  him  to  resign  the 
crown,  though  having  no  other  design  than  the  king''s  safety  therein. 
He  hoped  that  in  this  tempest  the  casting-out  of  the  lading  would 
save  the  hulk  of  the  ship,  and  the  surrendering  of  the  sceptre  secure 
the  king''s  person. 

With  John  Stratford  let  me  couple  Robert  de  Baldock,  (though 
no  bishop,  a  bishop's  mate,)  as  a  priest  and  chancellor  of  England. 
This  man,  unable  to  assist,  resolved  to  attend  the  king,  and  was 
taken  with  him  in  Wales.  Hence  was  he  brought  up  to  London, 
and  committed  to  Adam  Tarleton,  [De  Orleton,]  bishop  of 
Hereford.  Here  the  shadow  of  Tarleton  mitre,  if  pleased  to  put 
forth  his  power,  might  have  secured  this  his  guest-prisoner  from  any 
danger  ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  more  than  suspicious  that  he 
gave  a  signal  to  the  tumultuous  people  to  seize  his  person.  For  he 
was  dragged  to  Newgate,  and  there  paid  his  life  for  his  loyalty  ;  yet 
was  never  heard  to  complain  of  the  dearness  of  his  pennyworth.  If 
any  violence  was  secretly  offered  unto  his  person,  he  might  endure 
it  the  more  patiently,  having  read,  that  "  the  disciple  is  not  above 
liis  Master,  nor  the  servant  better  than  his  Lord,"  Matt.  x.  24-. 
This  Baldock  was  a  good  justice,  nor  charged  in  our  Chronicles 
with  any  misdemeanour,  save  faithfulness  to  an  unfortunate  master  ; 
and  his  memory  Avill  traverse  his  innocence,  as  confessing  the  fact, 
but  denying  any  fault  therein. 

23.   Walter  Reynolds  unthankful  to  the  King. 

But  Ave  have  more  than  a  good  number  of  such  bishops,  which 
imgratefully  sided  with  the  queen,  against  her  husband  and  their 
.  sovereign.  Walter  Reynolds,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  leads 
their  van,  preferred  to  that  see,  at  the  king's  great  importunity,  and 
by  the  pope's  power  of  provision, — -on  the  same  token,  that  a 
far  better  man,  Thomas  Cobham   by  name,  dean  of  Salisbury,  (so 


18  EDWARD  II.  BOOK  III.   CENT.  XIV.  413 

learned  and  pious  a  person  that  he  was  generally  called  "  the  good 
clergyman,")  legally  elected  by  the  commons,  was  put  by,  by  the 
pope,  to  make  room  for  this  Reynolds.  He  afterwards  complied 
with  the  queen,  (his  new  mistress,)  against  his  old  master,  active  to 
perform  his  desires.  This  some  seek  in  vain  to  excuse,  by  pleading 
her  imperious  spirit,  and  this  archbishop's  fearfulncss,  alleging  that 
cowardliness  is  rather  a  defect  in  nature  than  default  in  moralitv. 

24.  The  NnUire  of  the  Pope's  Provisions. 
A  word  by  the  way  of  the  nature  of  the  pope's  provisions, 
(lately  mentioned,)  which  now  began  to  be  a  general  grievance  of 
our  nation.  When  any  bishopric,  abbot's  place,  dignity,  or  good 
living,  (aquila  non  capit  muscas  /)  was  like  to  be  void,  the  pope, 
by  a  profitable  prolepsis  to  himself,  predisposed  such  places  to  such 
successors  as  he  pleased.  By  this  device  he  defeated,  when  so 
pleased,  the  legal  election  of  all  convents,  and  rightful  presentation 
of  all  patrons.  He  took  up  churches  before  they  fell,  yea,  before 
they  ever  stumbled  :  I  mean,  whilst  as  yet  no  suspicion  of  sickness 
in  incumbents  younger  and  healthier  than  his  Holiness  himself. 
Yea,  sometimes  no  Act  of  Provision  was  entered  in  scriptis  in  the 
court ;  only  the  pope  was  pleased  to  say  by  word  of  mouth,  (and 
■who  durst  confute  him  ?)  he  had  done  it.  So  that  incumbents  to 
livings,  who  otherwise  had  a  rightful  title  from  their  patrons,  were,  to 
purchase  their  peace,  glad  to  buy  of  the  pope's  provisions.  Yea, 
his  Holiness  sold  them  aforehand  to  several  persons ;  so  that 
not  he  who  gave  the  first  but  the  most  money,  carried  away 
the  preferment. 

25.  Henri)  Bishop  of  Lincoln  had. 
Next  we  take  notice  of  Henry  Burwash,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
lately  restored  to  the  favour  of  king  Edward,  and  by  him  lately 
esteemed.  Yet  no  sooner  did  the  queen  appear  in  the  field,  with 
an  army  against  him,  but  this  bishop  was  the  first  and  forwardest 
who  publicly  repaired  unto  her.  This  Burwash  was  he  who,  by 
mere  might,  against  all  right  and  reason,  took  in  the  land  of  many 
poor  people,  (without  making  also  the  least  reparation,)  therewith  to 
complete  his  park  at  Tinghurst.  These  wronged  persons,  though 
seeing  their  own  bread,  beef,  and  mutton,  turned  into  the  bisliop's 
venison,  durst  not  contest  with  him  who  was  chancellor  of  England, 
— though  neither  law  nor  equity  in  this  his  action  ;  only  they 
loaded  him  with  curses  and  execrations.  This  mindeth  me  of  a 
modern  accident,  when,  some  twenty  years  since,  a  knight  went 
about  injuriously  to  enclose  the  commons  of  a  town,  and  demanded 
of  his  bailiff  what  the  railing-in  of  the  same  would  amount  to  ;  to 


414  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRTTAIN.  A.D.  1326. 

whom  his  servant  answered,  that  "  if  he  would  take  in  the  com- 
mons, the  country  would  find  him  railings,""  as  here  they  did  this 
injurious  bishop.  Otherwise,  let  me  say,  that  enclosures  made 
without  oppression  are  a  grand  enriching  both  to  private  persons 
and  to  the  commonwealth. 

26.  Smile  or  frown. 

Here  let  the  reader  smile  or  frown,  I  am  resolved  to  write  what  I 
find  recorded  in  a  grave  author,*  deriving  it  no  doubt  from  good 
intelligence.  This  bishop  Bur  wash  is  said,  after  his  death,  to  have 
appeared  to  one  of  his  former  familiar  friends,  apparelled  "  like  a 
forester  all  in  green-a,"  with  his  bow  and  quiver  of  arrows,  and  his 
bugle-horn  hanging  by  his  side.  To  him  he  complained,  that,  for  the 
injuries  done  by  him  to  [the]  poor,  whilst  living,  he  was  now  con- 
demned to  this  penance, — to  be  tlie  park-keeper  of  that  place  which 
he  so  wrongfully  had  enclosed.  He  therefore  desired  liim  to  repair 
to  the  canons  of  Lincoln,  and  in  his  name  to  request  them,  that 
they  would  take  order,  that  all  hedges  being  cut  down,  and  ditches 
filled  up,  all  might  be  reduced  to  their  property,  and  the  poor  men 
be  restored  to  their  inheritance.  It  is  added,  moreover,  that  one 
W.  Batlieler  was  employed  by  the  canons  aforesaid  to  see  the  pre- 
mises performed  ;  which  was  done  accordingly. 

27-  A  grave  Foolery. 

This  pretended  apparition  seems  inconsistent  with  the  nature  of 
purgatory,  as  usually  by  papists  represented  to  people.  Surely,  the 
smoke  thereof  would  have  sooted  his  green  suit ;  and  the  penance 
seems  so  slight  and  light  for  the  offence,  as  having  so  much  liberty 
and  pleasure  in  a  place  of  command.  Some  poets  would  have  fan- 
cied him  rather  conceived  himself  turned  Acteon-like,  into  a  deer, 
to  be  daily  hunted  by  his  own  hound,  (guilt  of  conscience,)  until  he 
made  restitution.  But,  it  seems,  there  be  degrees  in  purgatory ; 
and  the  bishop,  not  in  the  prison  itself,  but  only  within  the  rules 
thereof,  privileged  to  go  abroad,  (whether  on  his  parole  or  with  his 
keeper,  uncertain,)  till  he  could  procure  suffrages  for  his  plenary 
relaxation. 

28,  29.  A  Devil  preaching.^  and  as  bad  writing :  a  strange 
Apparition. 

Adam  Tarleton,  bishop  of  Hereford,  is  the  last  we  will  insist  on, 
born  in  that  city,  where  afterward  he  became  bishop,  yet  not 
honoured,  but  hated  and  feared,  in  the  place  of  his  nativity.  He 
was  the  grand  engineer  and  contriver  of  all  mischief  against  the 

"  Godwin  in  the  Bishops  of  Lincoln. 


19  EDWARD  II.  BOOK  HI.   CENT.  XIV.  415 

king  :  witness  the  sermon  preached  by  him  at  Oxford,  before  the 
queen,  then  in  hostile  pursuit  after  her  husband,  taking  for  his  text 
the  words  of  the  sick  son  of  the  Shunamite  :  "  My  head,  my  head  !" 
Here  his  wit  and  malice  endeavoured  to  reap  what  God's  Spirit  did 
never  intentionally  sow,  and  urged,  that  a  bad  king  (the  distempered 
head  of  a  state)  is  past  physic  or  surgery  to  be  cured  by  receipts  or 
plasters,  but  the  only  way  is  to  cut  it  off  from  the  body. 

His  writing  was  worse  than  his  preaching  :  for  when  such  agents 
set  to  keep  king  Edward  in  Berkeley  Castle  were,  by  secret  order 
from  Roger  Mortimer,  commanded  to  kill  him,  they  by  letters 
addressed  themselves  for  advice  to  this  bishop,  then  not  far  off  at 
Hereford,  craving  his  counsel,  what  they  should  do  in  so  difficult 
and  dangerous  a  matter.  He  returned  unto  them  a  riddling  answer, 
altogether  unpointed,  which  carried  in  it  life  and  death ;  yea,  life  or 
death,  as  variously  construed  ; — resolved  to  be  guided  and  governed 
wholly  by  his  direction,  not  to  dispute  but  do  what  from  him  was 
recommended  unto  them,  as  knowing  him  able  both  in  conscience 
and  policy  to  advise  them. 

Life  and  Death. — "  To  kill  king  Edward  you  need  not  to 
fear  it  is  good." 

Life. — "  To  kill  king  Edward  you  need  not,  to  fear  it  is  good." 

Death. — "  To  kill  king  Edward  you  need  not  to  fear,  it  is  good." 

30.  Arraigned  for  Treason^  he  escapes  the  first  Time. 
This  Adam  Tarleton  was  afterwards  accused  of  treason,  in  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  king  Edward  III.  and  arraigned  by  the 
king's  officers,  when,  in  the  presence  of  the  king,  he  thus  boldly 
uttered  himself: — "My  lord  the  king,  with  all  due  respect  unto 
your  majesty,  I  Adam,  a  humble  minister  and  member  of  the  church 
of  God,  and  a  consecrated  bishop,  though  unworthy,  neither  can  nor 
ought  to  answer  unto  so  hard  questions,  without  the  connivance  and 
consent  of  my  lord  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  my  immediate  judge 
under  the  pope,  and  without  the  consent  of  other  bishops  who  are 
my  peers."  Three  archbishops  were  there  present  in  the  place, — 
Canterbury,  York,  and  Dublin,  by  whose  intercession  Tarleton 
escaped  at  that  time. 

31 .  Arraigned  again,  and  protected  hy  the  Clergy. 

Not  long  after,  he  was  arraigned  again  at  the  King's  Bench  ;  the 
news  whereof  so  startled- the  clergy,  that  the  foresaid  archbishops 
erected  their  standards  ;  I  mean,  set  up  their  crosses,  and,  with  ten 
bishops  more,  attended  with  a  numerous  train  of  well-weaponed 
servants,  advanced  to  the  place  of  judicature.  The  king's  officers, 
frighted  at  the  sight,  fled  away,  leaving  Tarleton  the  prisoner  alone 


410  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  lo26. 

at  the  bar  ;  whom  the  archbishops  took  home  into  their  own  cus- 
tody, denouncing  a  curse  on  all  such  who  should  presume  to  lay 
violent  hands  upon  him. 

32.  Cast  the  third  Time  by  a  lay  Jury ,  and  proscribed. 

The  king,  offended  hereat,  caused  a  jury  of  laymen  to  be  empan- 
nelled,  and  to  inquire,  according  to  form  of  law,  into  the  actions  of 
the  bishop  of  Hereford.  This  was  a  leading  case,  and  the  first  time 
that  ever  laymen  passed  their  verdict  on  a  clergyman.  These  jurors 
found  the  bishop  guilty ;  whereupon  the  king  presently  seized  on 
his  temporals,  he  proscribed  the  bishop,  and  despoiled  him  of  all  his 
movables.  However,  afterwards  he  came  off,  and  was  reconciled  to 
the  king,  and  by  the  pope  made  bishop  of  Winchester,  where  he 
died,  a  thorough  old  man  and  blinded  with  age  ;  many  envying  so 
quiet  a  death  to  one  who,  living,  had  been  so  turbulent  a  person. 
But  these  things  happened  many  years  after. 


SECTION  IX. 

TO  MASTER  THOMAS  WILLIAMS,  AND  MASTER  WILLIAM 
YANBRUGH,  OF  LONDON,  MERCHANTS. 

Astronomers  affirm  that  some  planets,  Saturn, 
Jupiter,  &c.  are  by  many  degrees  greater  than  the 
moon  itself;  and  this  they  can  easily  evidence  bv 
demonstration.  However,  the  moon  is  bigger,  and 
shows  brighter,  to  men's  eyes,  because  of  the  vicinity 
thereof;  whilst  other  stars  are  dimmed  and  diminished 
by  their  distance. 

He  is  not  the  happiest  man  who  has  the  highest 
friends,  too  remote  to  assist  him ;  whilst  others  lesser 
might  be  nearer  at  his  need.  My  own  experience  can 
avouch  the  truth  thereof,  in  relation  to  your  courtesies 
bestowed  upon  me. 

1.  Defunctus  amabitur  idem.      King  Edward  II.  half-sainted. 

1  Henry  III. 

Soon  after  his  death,  king  Edward  was  much  lamented  by  those 
of  whom  in  his  life-time  he  was  never  beloved.  "Whether  this  pro- 
ceeded from  the  mere  mutability  of  men's  minds,  weary  to  loiter 


1  EDWARD  III.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIV.  417 

long  in  the  lazy  posture  of  the  same  affection  ;  or- whether  it  pro- 
ceeded from  the  pride  of  Mortimer,  whose  insolence  grew  into- 
lerable ;  or  whether  it  was  because  his  punishment  was  generally 
apprehended  to  be  too  heavy  for  his  fault ;  so  that  deposition  with- 
out death,  or,  at  the  worst,  death  without  such  unhuman  cruelty, 
had  been  sufficient. 

One  of  our  English  poet-historians*  acquainteth  us  with  a  passage, 
which  to  my  knowledge  appeareth  not  in  other  authors  : — 

"  At  Gloucester  entombed  faire,  and  biixied 
Where  some  say  God  shewed  for  him  great  grace 
Sith  that  time,  with  miracles  laudified 
Oft-times,  in  diverse  many  case 
As  is  wiitten  there,  in  that  same  placet 
For  which  king  Richard,  called  the  Second, 
To  translate  him  was  pm-posed  whole  and  sound." 

It  is  much  that  one,  but  a  small  saint  whilst  alive,  should  be  so 
great  an  one  when  dead  as  to  be  miraculously  illustrious.  But 
every  man  may  believe  his  proportion. 

2.  A  Pair  of  Kings  ivell-matched. 

Indeed,  great  was  the  conformity  betwixt  this  king  Edward  and 
that  king  Richard,  both  being  secutidi,  "  the  second "  of  their 
name  :  but  not  secundi,  "  happy "  in  their  success.  And  had 
king  Richard  II.  known  aforehand  what  casualty  did  attend  him, 
no  wonder  if  he  secretly  sympathized  with  his  condition  :  both  sons 
of  valiant  and  beloved  fathers  ;  both  of  proper  and  amiable  persons  ; 
both  debauched  by  the  ill  counsel  of  their  dissolute  companions  ; 
both  deposed  from  their  crowns  ;  both  murdered  whilst  prisoners,  in 
a  clandestine  and  (as  some  report)  self-same  way  of  cruelty. 

3.  King  Edward  not  active  in  his  Father's  Deposing. 

Ingenuous  people  are  very  loath  to  believe  king  Edward  III. 
accessary  to  his  father''s  death,  otherwise  than  by  accepting  the 
crown  which  he  should  have  refused,  and  antedating  his  own  sove- 
reignty :  which  may  be  excused  by  his  tender  years, — thirteen  as 
some,  fifteen  as  others,  compute  them.  Nor  is  it  a  Aveak  argument 
of  his  innocence  with  impartial  people,  because  he  reigned  above 
fifty  years,  and  lived  to  be  a  thorough  old  man  :  a  happiness  pro- 
mised by  God  to  such  who  are  obedient  to  their  parents.  Besides, 
it  is  considerable,  that  this  king,  having  a  numerous  issue  of  active 
children  of  both  sexes,  none  visibly  appear  a  cross  unto  him  for  any 
notorious  undutifulness. 

•  John  Harding  in  the  Life  of  King  Edward  II, 

Vol.  I.  K  E 


418  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1326 S8. 

4,  5.  His  admirable  Success  in  his  Wars^  and  Humility. 

The  former  part  of  this  king's  reign  affords  but  little  church- 
history,  as  totally  taken  up  with  his  achievements  in  Scotland  and 
France,  where  his  success  by  sea  and  land  was  above  belief  and 
even  to  admiration.  He  conquered  both  before  his  face  and  behind 
his  back,  whence  he  came  and  whither  he  went,  north  and  south  ; 
the  one  in  his  person,  the  other  by  his  substitutes  in  his  absence. 
Insomuch  that  he  got  more  than  he  knew  what  to  do  with,  exhaust- 
ing the  land  to  man  the  cities  which  he  had  gained.  Herein  he 
stands  without  a  parallel, — that  he  had  both  the  kings  he  fought 
against,  namely,  John  de  Valois  of  France,  and  David  tlie  king  of 
Scotland,  his  prisoners  at  one  time,  not  taken  by  any  cowardly 
surprise,  but  by  fair  fight  in  open  field. 

It  soundeth  much  to  the  commendation  of  his  modesty  and 
moderation,  that,  intending  to  found  an  Order  of  knighthood  at  his 
castle  of  Windsor,*  where  he  had  these  two  royal  prisoners  ;  in  the 
institution  thereof  he  neither  had  any  insolent  relation  to  his  own 
conquest,  nor  opprobrious  reflection  on  his  enemies'"  captivity,  but 
began  the  innocent  Order  of  the  Garter,  unreferring  to  any  of  his 
former  achievements.     But,  more  hereof  in  due  time. 

6.  England  hitherto  ignorant  in  curious  Clothing.  A.D.  1336*. 
The  king  and  state  began  now  to  grow  sensible  of  the  great  gain 
the  Netherlands  got  by  our  English  wool ;  in  memory  whereof  the 
duke  of  Burgundy,  not  long  after,  instituted  the  Order  of  the 
Golden  Fleece;  wherein,  indeed,  the  ^eece  was  ours,  the  golden 
theirs, — so  vast  their  emolument  by  the  trade  of  clothing.  Our 
king  therefore  resolved,  if  possible,  to  reduce  the  trade  to  his  own 
country,  who  as  yet  were  ignorant  of  that  art,  as  knowing  no  more 
what  to  do  with  their  wool  than  the  sheep  that  wear  it,  as  to  any 
artificial  and  curious  drapery  ;  their  best  clothes  then  being  no 
better  than  friezes,  such  their  coarseness  for  want  of  skill  in  their 
making.  But  soon  after  followed  a  great  alteration,  and  we  shall 
enlarge  ourselves  in  the  manner  thereof. 

7,  8,  9,  10.   The  King''s  Agents  tempt  the  Dutch  Apprentices  to 
come  over  into  England  ;  and  obtain  their  Desire.    Their 
welcome  Reception. 
The  intercourse  now  being  great  betwixt  the  English  and  the  Nether- 
lands, (increased  of  late,  since  king  Edward  married  the  daughter  of 
the  earl  of  Hainault,)  unsuspected  emissaries  were  employed  by  our 
king  into  those  countries,  who  wrought  themselves  into  familiarity  with 

•  Others  say  in  London  town. 


11   EDWARD  III.  BOOK    I[I.       CENT.    XIV.  410 

such  Dutchmen  as  were  absolute  masters  of  their  trade,  but  not 
masters  of  themselves,  as  either  journeymen  or  apprentices.  These 
bemoaned  the  slavishness  of  these  poor  servants,  whom  their  masters 
used  rather  like  Heathens  than  Christians,  yea,  rather  like  horses 
than  men  !  Early  up  and  late  in  bed,  and  all  day  hard  work  and 
harder  fare,  (a  few  herrings  and  mouldy  cheese,)  and  all  to  enrich 
the  churls  their  masters  without  any  profit  unto  themselves. 

But  O  how  happy  should  they  be  if  they  would  but  come  over 
into  England,  bringing  their  mystery  with  them,  which  would  pro- 
vide their  welcome  in  all  places  !  Here  they  should  feed  on  fat 
beef  and  mutton,  till  nothing  but  their  fulness  should  stint  their 
stomachs :  yea,  they  should  feed  on  the  labours  of  their  own  hands, 
enjoying  a  proportionable  profit  of  their  pains  to  themselves ;  their 
beds  should  be  good,  and  their  bed-fellows  better,  seeing  the  richest 
yeomen  in  England  would  not  disdain  to  marry  their  daughters  unto 
them ;  and  such  the  English  beauties,  that  the  most  envious 
foreigners  could  not  but  commend  them. 

Liberty  is  a  lesson  quickly  conned  by  heart ;  men  having  a 
principle  within  themselves  to  prompt  them,  in  case  they  forget 
it.  Persuaded  with  the  premisses,  many  Dutch  servants  leave  their 
masters  and  make  over  for  England.  Their  departure  thence  (being 
picked  here  and  there)  made  no  sensible  vacuity  ;  but  their  meeting 
here  all  together  amounted  to  a  considerable  fulness.  With  them- 
selves, they  brought  over  their  trade  and  their  tools  ;  namely,  such 
which  could  not  as  yet  be  so  conveniently  made  in  England. 

Happy  the  yeoman"'s  house  into  which  one  of  these  Dutchmen  did 
enter,  bringing  industry  and  wealth  along  with  them.  Such  who 
came  in  strangers  within  their  doors,  soon  after  went  out  bridegrooms, 
and  returned  son-in-laws,  having  married  the  daughters  of  their  land- 
lords who  first  entertained  them.  Yea,  those  yeomen  in  whose 
houses  they  harboured  soon  proceeded  gentlemen,  gaining  great 
estates  to  themselves,  arms  and  worship  to  their  estates. 

11.  The  King  politicly  disperseth  the  Dutch. 
The  king  having  gotten  this  treasury  of  foreigners,  thought  not 
fit  to  continue  them  all  in  one  place,  lest  on  discontent  they  might 
embrace  a  general  resolution  to  return  ;  but  bestowed  them  through 
all  the  parts  of  the  land,  that  clothing  thereby  might  be  the  better 
dispersed.  Here  I  say  nothing  of  the  colony  of  old  Dutch,  who 
frighted  out  of  their  own  country  with  an  inundation,  about  the  reign 
of  king  Henry  I.  possibly  before  that  nation  had  attained  the  cunnino- 
of  cloth-making,  were  seated  only  in  Pembrokeshire.  This  new 
generation  of  Dutch  was  now  sprinkled  every  where,  so  that  England 
(in  relation,  I  mean,  to  her  own  counties)  may  bespeak  these  inmates 

2  E  2 


420  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  133(). 

in  the  language  of  the  Poet : — Qucb  regio  in  ferris  vestri  non  plena 
laboris  ?  Though  generally,  where  left  to  their  own  choice,  they 
preferred  a  maritime  habitation. 

East.  —  1.  Norfolk,  Norwich  Fustians;  2.  Suffolk,  Sudbury 
Baize  ;  3.  Essex,  Colchester  Sayes  and  Serges  ;  4.  Kent,  Kentish 
Broad  Cloths. 

West. — 1.  Devonshire,  Kerseys  ;  2.  Gloucestershire,  Cloth  ;  3. 
Worcestershire,  Cloth  ;  4.  Wales,  Welsh  Friezes. 

North. — 1.  Westmoreland,  Kendal  Cloth  ;  2.  Lancashire, 
Manchester  Cotton  ;  3.   Yorkshire,  Halifax  Cloths. 

South.  —  1.  Somersetshire,  Taunton  Serges  ;  2.  Hampshire, 
Cloth  ;  3.  Berkshire,  Cloth  ;  4.  Sussex,  Cloth. 

I  am  informed  that  a  prime  Dutch  cloth-maker  in  Glouces- 
tershire had  the  surname  of  Web  given  him  by  king  Edward  there  ; 
a  family  still  famous  for  their  manufacture.  Observe  we  here,  that 
Mid-England, — Northamptonshire,  Lincolnshire,  and  Cambridge, 
having  most  of  wool,  have  least  of  clothing  therein. 

12.  Fullers'  Earth  a  precious  Commodity. 

Here  the  Dutchmen  found  fullers''  earth,  a  precious  treasure ; 
whereof  England  hath,  if  not  more,  better  than  all  Christendom 
besides  :  a  great  commodity  of  the  quorum  to  the  making  of  good 
cloth,  so  that  nature  may  seem  to  point  out  our  land  for  the  staple 
of  drapery,  if  the  idleness  of  her  inhabitants  be  not  the  only  hin- 
derance  thereof.  This  fullers'"  earth  is  clean  contrary  to  our  Jesuits, 
who  are  needless  drugs,  yet  still  staying  here,  though  daily  com- 
manded to  depart ;  whilst  fullers'*  earth,  a  precious  ware,  is  daily 
scoured  hence,  though  by  law  forbidden  to  be  transported. 

13.    Woollen  Cloth  the  English  Wealth. 

And  now  was  the  English  wool  improved  to  the  highest  profit, 
passing  through  so  many  hands,  every  one  having  a  fleece  of  the 
fleece, — sorters,  combers,  carders,  spinsters,  weavers,  fullers,  dyers, 
pressers,  packers  :  and  these  manufactures  have  been  heightened  to 
a  higher  perfection  since  the  cruelty  of  the  duke  de  Alva  drove  over 
more  Dutch  into  England.  But  enough  of  this  subject :  which  let 
none  condemn  for  a  deviation  from  Church  History  :  First.  Because 
it  would  not  grieve  one  to  go  a  little  out  of  the  way,  if  the  way  be 
good,  as  this  digression  is,  for  the  credit  and  profit  of  our  country. 
Secondly.  It  reductively  belongeth  to  the  Church  History,  seeing 
many  poor  people,  both  young  and  old,  formerly  charging  the 
parishes,  (as  appeared  by  the  account  of  the  church-oflScers,)  were 
hereby  enabled  to  maintain  themselves. 


11    EDWARD    III.  BOOK     111.       CENT.    XIV.  421 

]4,  15.   The  Pope's  Italian   Usurers  turn  Merchants;  hut  at 
last  are  prohibited  by  the  King. 

The  extortion  of  the  pope  being  now  somewhat  abated  in  England, 
the  Caursines  or  Lombards,  formerly  the  money-merchants  of  his 
Holiness,  and  the  grand  usurers  of  England,  did  not  drive  so  full  a 
trade  as  before.  Whereupon  they  betake  themselves  to  other  mer- 
chandize, and  began  to  store  England  with  foreign  commodities,  but 
at  unreasonable  rates,  whilst  England  itself  had  as  yet  but  little  and 
bad  shipping,  and  those  less  employed. 

But  now  king  Edward,  to  prevent  the  engrossing  of  the  trade  into 
the  hand  of  foreigners,  and  to  restore  the  same  to  his  native  subjects, 
took  order  that  these  aliens  should  no  longer  prey  on  the  radical 
moisture  of  this  land ;  but  began  to  cherish  navigation  in  his  own 
subjects,  and  gave  a  check  to  such  commodities  \\\\\c\\  foreigners  did 
import,  as  in  ancient  poems  is  largely  described,  whercof  so  much  as 
concerneth  our  purpose  : — 

"  He  made  a  statute  for  Lombards  in  this  land, 
That  they  should  in  no  wise  take  on  hand 
Here  to  inhabit,  here  to  charge  and  discharge, 
But  forty  dayes  no  more  time  had  they  large, 
This  good  king  by  wit  of  such  appriefe 
Kept  his  merchants  and  the  sea  from  mischiefe."* 

But  this  was  a  work  of  time  to  perform,  and  took  not  full  effect  to 
the  end  of  this  king's  reign  ;  yea,  the  Lombards  were  not  totally 
routed  till  the  reign  of  king  Richard  IIL 

16,  17-  A  Survey  made  of  the  Clergy'' s  Glebe- Land  ;  partly 
useless  by  ill  engrossing. 

About  this  time  the  clergy  were  very  bountiful  in  contributing  to 
the  king''s  necessities,  in  proportion  to  their  benefices.  Hereupon  a 
survey  was  exactly  taken  of  all  their  glebe-land  ;  and  the  same, 
fairly  engrossed  in  parchment,  was  returned  into  the  Exchequer, 
where  it  remaineth  at  this  day,  and  is  the  most  useful  record  for 
clergymen  (and  also  for  impropriators  as  under  their  claim)  to 
recover  their  right.  Many  a  straggling  acre,  wandering  out  of  the 
way,  had  long  since  by  sacrilegious*  guides  been  seduced  into  the 
possession  of  false  owners,  had  not  this  record  directed  them  at  last 
to  their  true  proprietary. 

The  worst  is,  whilst  some  diocesses  in  this  terrier  were  exactly 
done,  and  remain  fairly  legible  at  this  day,  others  were  so  slightly 
slubbered  over,  that,  though  kept  with  equal  carefulness,  they  are 
useless  in  effect,  as  not  to  be  read  :  thus  I  was  informed  from  a 
clerk   in  that  office  lately  deceased,-f-  who,  when  living,   was  older 

*  lAbcr  dc  custodid  maris,  extant  in  Hakluyt's  "Voyages,"  book  i.  page  191. 
t  Walt.  Hillary. 


422  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1336 40. 

and  as  able  as  any  therein.  And  thus  manuscripts,  like  those  men 
who  wrote  them,  though  starting  with  their  equals,  hold  not  all  out 
to  the  same  length,  their  humidum  radicale  (their  ink,  I  mean) 
not  lasting  alike  in  all  originals. 

18,  19.  Clergymen  engross  all  Offices :  several  Opinions  of  the 
Causes  thereof. 

It  was  now  generally  complained  of  as  a  grand  grievance,  that 
the  clergy  engrossed  all  places  of  judicature  in  tlie  land.  Nothing 
was  left  to  laymen,  but  either  military  commands,  as  general, 
admiral,  &c.  or  such  judges'*  places  as  concerned  only  the  very 
letter  of  the  common  law  ;  and  those  also  scarcely  reserved  to  the 
students  thereof.  As  for  embassies  into  foreign  parts,  noblemen 
were  employed  therein,  when  expense,  not  experience,  was  required 
thereunto,  and  ceremony  the  substance  of  the  service  ;  otherwise, 
when  any  difficulty  in  civil  law,  then  clergymen  were  ever  enter- 
tained. The  lord  chancellor  was  ever  a  bishop,  as  if  against  equity 
to  employ  any  other  therein  ;  yea,  that  court  generally  appeared  as  a 
synod  of  divines,  Avhere  the  clerks  were  clerks,  as  generally  in 
Orders.  The  same  was  also  true  of  the  lord  treasurer  and  barons  of 
the  Exchequer. 

Some  imputed  this  to  the  pragmaticalness  of  the  clergy,  active  to 
insinuate  themselves  into  all  employment,  how  improper  soever 
to  their  profession.  Others  ascribed  it  to  the  king''s  necessity  ;  the 
Avar  engrossing  the  main  of  his  men  of  merit ;  so  that  he  was 
necessitated  to  make  use  of  clergymen.  Others  attributed  it  to  the 
king''s  election,  (no  way  weak  in  head  or  hand,  plotting  or  perform- 
ing,) finding  such  the  fittest  to  serve  him  ;  who,  being  single 
persons,  and  having  no  design  to  raise  a  family,  were  as  knowing  as 
any  in  the  mysteries  of  money,*  and  safest  to  be  entrusted  therein. 
But  more  hereof  hereafter. 

20.   The  Founding  of  Queens  College  in  Oxford  by  Robert 
Eglesfield.     A.D.  1340. 

Robert  Eglesfield,  bachelor  of  divinity,  chaplain  to  queen 
Philippa,  wife  to  king  Edward  III.  founded  a  college  on  his  own 
ground,  by  the  name  of  Q,ueen''s  College,  commending  the  patron- 
age thereof  to  his  lady  the  queen,  and  to  the  queens  of  England 
successively  ;  which  he  endowed  with  lands  and  revenues  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  Provost  and  twelve  Fellows,  which  were  to  be 
augmented  as  the  revenues  increased. 

•  iMatters  of  weight. 


15  EDWARD  III.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIV.  423 

21 .  A  Pair  of  Princes  bred  therein. 

Now,  thougli  this  was  called  Queen's,  from  their  honorary  patron- 
esses, it  may  be  styled  Princes'  College  from  those  pair  of  students 
therein — Edward  the  Black  Prince,  who  presently  after  this  founda- 
tion had  his  education  therein,  and  Henry  V.  (as  yet  prince  of 
Wales)  under  Henry  Beaufort,  chancellor  of  this  university,  and  his 
imcle  ;  his  chamber  was  over  the  college  gate,  where  his  picture  at 
this  day  remaineth  in  brass  with  this  inscription  under  it : — 

IN  PERPETUAM  REI  MEMORIAM. 

Imperator  Brita7ini<£, 
Triumphator  Gallia, 
Hostium  victor,  et  sui, 
Henricus  qtdnttis  hujus  collegii, 
Et  cubiculi  (minnti  satis) 
Olim  magnus  incola.* 

Which  lodging  hath  for  this  sixteen  years  belonged  to  my  worthy 
friend  Mr.  Thomas  Barlow,  that  most  able  and  judicious  philoso- 
pher and  divine,  being  a  library  in  himself,  and  keeper  of  another, 
that  of  Sir  Thomas  Bodley's  erection,  out  of  which  he  hath  courte- 
ously communicated  to  me  some  rarities  of  this  university. 

22,  23.  Queens,  Ntirsing-Mothers  to  this  College.       Queen 
Elizaheth''s  singular  Bounty. 

Now,  according  to  the  care  and  desire  of  the  founder,  the  queens 
of  England  have  ever  been  nursing-mothers  to  this  foundation.  O 
what  advantage  they  have  when  lying  in  the  bosoms  of  their  royal 
consorts,  by  whom  they  cannot  be  denied  what  is  equal,  and  of 
whom  they  will  not  desire  what  is  otherwise  !  Thus  queen  Philippa 
obtained  of  her  husband  king  Edward  III.  the  hospital  of  St. 
Julian's  in  Southampton,  commonly  called  God's  House.  Queen 
Elizabeth,  wife  to  king  Edward  IV.  procured  of  him  the  priory  of 
Sherborne  in  Hampshire ;  and  queen  Mary  by  her  intercession 
prevailed  with  king  Charles  for  the  perpetual  patronage  of  certain 
benefices  in  the  same  county. 

Nor  let  not  our  virgin-queen  be  forgotten,  as,  in  effect,  re- 
foundress  of  this,  from  the  third  year  of  her  reign  ;  being  informed 
that  the  title  of  the  foundation  thereof,  with  the  lands  thereunto 
belonging,  were  in  question,  and  subject  to  eviction,  by  Act  of 
Parliament  conferred  a  sure  estate  of  the  same. 

24.   This  College  parted  between  two  Archbishops. 
I  meet,  in  the  records  of  the  Tower  rolls,  with  a  passage  concern- 
ing this  college ;  and  though  I  do  not  perfectly  understand,  I  will 
exemplify  it. 

•  Rossus  AVarwicensis  J/6'.  in  Henrico  quinto. 


424  CHURCH    HISTOUY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.B.  1340 5. 

"  And  a  little  after,  upon  divers  matters  moved  between  the 
said  archbishop,  [Thomas  Arundel,]  and  the  archbishop  of  York, 
[Henry  Bowet,]  upon  certain  privileges  pretended  by  the  said  arch- 
bishop of  York  in  the  college  called  Queen-Hall  in  the  university 
of  Oxford  :  The  said  archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  presence  of  the 
king  and  of  the  lords  promised,  that  if  the  said  archbishop  of  York 
could  sufficiently  show  any  privilege,  or  specialty  of  record,  where- 
fore the  said  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ought  not  to  use  his  visita- 
tion of  the  said  college,  he  would  then  abstain  :  saving  to  himself 
always  the  visitation  of  the  said  scholars  abiding  in  the  said  college, 
according  to  the  judgment  and  decrees,  made  and  given  by  king 
Richard  II.  and  by  our  lord  king  Henry  that  now  is,  as,  in  the 
record  thereof  made,*  thereof  more  plainly  is  declared." -f- 

It  seems  hereby,  so  far  as  I  can  apprehend,  this  college  was  so 
parted  betwixt  the  two  metropolitans,  that  the  dead  moiety,  namely, 
the  lands  and  revenues  thereof  belonged  to  the  inspection  of  the 
archbishop  of  York,  whilst  the  living  half,  namely,  the  scholars, 
especially  in  matters  concerning  their  religion,  pertained  to  the 
visitation  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

Provosts. — Richard  de  Retteford,'  John  de  Hotham,  Henry 
Whitfield,  Thomas  de  Carlile,  Roger  Whelpdale,  Walter  Bell", 
Rowland  Byris,  William  Spenser,  Thomas  Langton,  Christopher 
Bainbridge,  Edward  Rigge,  John  Pantrcy,  William  Denys, 
[Devenisli,]  Hugh  Hodgson,  Thomas  Francis,  Lancelot  Shaw, 
Alane  Scot,  Bartholomew  Bowsefield,  Henry  Robinson,  Henry' 
Airay,  Barnabas  Potter,  Christopher  Potter,  Gerard  Langbaine. 

Benefactors. — Robert  Langton,  Thomas  Langton,  Edmund 
Grindal,  Christopher  Bainbridge,  William  Fettiplace,  Henry 
Robiqson,  Henry  Airay. 

Bishops. — Henry  Beaufort,  bishop  of  Winchester  and  cardinal 
of  St.  Eusebius  ;  Christopher  Bainbridge,  archbishop  of  York  and 
cardinal  of  St.  Praxes ;  Henry  Robinson,  bishop  of  Carlisle ; 
Barnabas  Potter,  bishop  of  Carlisle. 

Learned  Writers. — John  WicklifFe,:|:  John  de  Trevisa,  of 
v/hom  hereafter,  anno  1397.  This  house  hath  lately  been  happy  in 
learned  lawyers,  Sir  John  Banks,  Sir  Robert  Berkeley,  Sir  Thomas 
Tempest,  attorney-general  of  Ireland,  judge  Atkins,  courteous  to  all 
men  of  my  profession,  and  myself  especially.  Sir  Thomas 
Overbury,  Christopher  Potter,  in  his  excellent  work  of  "  Charity 
Mistaken  ;"  Gerard  Langbaine,  eminent  for  his  "  Review  of  the 
Council  of  Trent."     Thomas  Barlow. 

.  "  E.v  Rot.  Pari,  Henrici.  quarti  anno  13.  t   See  this  recorded  at  large  in  the 

next  book,  sect.  ii.  pavag.  24—2/.  1  Balliol,  Merton,  and  Queen's  CoUegeg  claim 

him ;  and,  perchance  rightly,  at  several  limes. 


20   KDWARD   III.  BOOK    It[.       CENT.    XfV.  425 

So  that  at  this  present  are  maintained  therein,  one  Provost,  four- 
teen Fellows,  seven  Scholars,  two  Chaplains,  two  Clerks,  and  other 
Students  about  one  hundred  and  sixty. 

25.  The  Pope  makes  Use  of  the  King's  Absence. 
In  the  mean  time  the  pope  was  not  idle,  but  laid  about  him  for 
his  own  profit ;  knowing  king  Edward  could  not  attend  two  things 
at  once.  And  therefore,  whilst  he  was  busied  about  his  wars  in 
France,  his  Holiness  bestirred  him  in  England,  cropping  the  flowers 
of  the  best  livings  in  their  bud  before  they  were  blown.  Yea,  in  a 
manner  he  may  be  said  to  "  seethe  the  kid  in  the  mother*'s  milk." 
So  that  before  livings  were  actually  void,  he  provisionally  pre- 
provided  incumbents  for  them,  and  those  generally  aliens  and  his 
own  countrymen. 

26,  27.   The  Statute  of  Provisions  reasonably  made.     MarCs 
Anger  worketh  God's  Pleasure.     A.  D.  1343. 

Though  late,  the  king  got  leisure  to  look  on  his  own  land,  where 
he  found  a  strange  alteration  ;  for  as  France  lately  was  made 
English  by  his  valour,  England  was  now  turned  Italian  by  the 
pope''s  covetousness.  In  prevention,  therefore,  of  future  mischief, 
this  Statute  of  Provision  was  made,  whereby  such  forestalling  of 
livings  to  foreigners  was  forbidden. 

Our  authors  assign  another  accidental  cause  of  the  king's  dis- 
pleasure with  the  pope  ;  namely,  that  when  his  Holiness  created 
twelve  cardinals  at  the  request  of  the  king  of  France,  he  denied  to 
make  one  at  the  desire  of  this  king  of  England.  Surely,  it  was 
reasonable  in  proportion,  that  his  Holiness,  giving  the  whole  dozen 
to  the  king  of  France,  might  allow  the  advantage  to  the  king  of 
England.  However,  betwixt  both,  this  statute  was  made  to  the  great 
enriching  of  the  kingdom,  and  contentment  of  the  subjects  therein. 

28.  Statutes  of  Provisions  not  presently  obeyed. 
Yet  this  law  of  Provisions,  as  all  otherg,  did  not,  at  the  first 
making,  meet  with  present  and  perfect  obedience.  The  papal  i:)arty 
did  struggle  for  a  time,  till  at  last  they  were  patient  per-force,  find- 
ing the  king's  power  predominant.  True  it  is,  this  grievance  did 
continue,  and  was  complained  of,  all  this  and  most  of  the  next  king's 
reijrn,  till  the  Statute  of  Prcemiinire  was  made,  which  clinched  the 
nail  which  now  was  driven  in.  So  that  afterwards  the  land  was 
cleared  from  the  encumbrance  of  such  Provisions. 

29    Papal  Power  in  England  declines.     A.D.  1345. 

A  good  author  tells  us,  Habent  imperia  suos  tenninos ;  hue 
cum  venerint,  sistunt,  retrocedunt.,  ruuni :  "  Empires  have  their 


426  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1345 50. 

bounds  ;  whither  when  tliey  come,  they  stand  still,  they  go  back, 
they  fall  down."  This  is  true  in  respect  to  the  papal  power  in 
England.  It  went  forward  until  the  Statute  of  Mortmain  was  made 
in  the  reign  of  king  Edward  I.  It  went  backward  slowly  when  this 
Statute  of  Provisions,  swiftly  when  this  Statute  of  Prcemunire,  was 
made.  It  fell  down  when  the  papacy  was  abolished  in  the  reign  of 
king  Henry  VIII. 

30.   The  Pope  takes  Wit  in  his  Anger.     A.D.  1346. 

Three  years  after  the  Statute  against  the  pope''s  Provisions  was 
made,  the  king  presented  unto  him  Thomas  Hatlife  [De  Hatfield] 
to  be  bishop  of  Durham,  one  who  was  the  king''s  secretary  ;  and 
when  this  is,  all  is,  said  that  can  be,  in  his  commendation,  as  utterly 
devoid  of  all  other  episcopal  qualifications.  However,  the  pope 
confirmed  him  without  any  dispute  or  delay  ;  and,  being  demanded 
why  he  consented  to  the  preferment  of  so  worthless  a  person,  he 
answered,  that,  rehus  sic  stantibus,  if  the  king  of  England  had 
presented  an  ass  unto  him,  he  would  have  confirmed  him  in  the 
bishopric.  Indeed,  as  yet,  his  Holiness  was  in  hope,  that  either  the 
king  would  revoke  the  foresaid  statute,  or  else  moderate  the  execu- 
tion thereof. 

31.   The  Institution  of  the  Knights  of  the  Garter. 
A.D.  1350. 

This  year,  authors  generally  agree,  (some  few  making  it  later, 
namely,  after  John  king  of  France  was  taken  prisoner,)  king  Edward 
instituted  the  Order  of  the  Garter,  consisting  of 

1.  One  chief  guardian  or  sovereign,  being  the  king  of  England. 

2.  Five-and-twenty  knights,  whereof  the  first  set  were  termed 
"  Founders,"  and  their  successors  ever  since  called  "  Fellows"  or 
"  Companions"  of  the  Order. 

3.  Fourteen  canons*  resident,  being  secular  priests. 

4.  Thirteen  vicars,  or  choral  priests. 

5.  Twelve  military  gentlemen  of  the  meaner  sort,  decayed  in  age 
and  estate,  commonly  called  "  the  poor  Knights  of  Windsor." 

6.  One  Prelate  of  the  Garter,  being  always  the  bishop  of 
Winchester. 

7.  One  chancellor  thereof,  being  anciently  the  bishop  of  Salis- 
bury, in  whose  diocess  Windsor  is  ;  but  lately  a  lay  person.  The 
truly  honourable  and  well-experienced  statesman  and  traveller.  Sir 
Thomas  Row  (if  I  mistake  not)  was  the  last  chancellor  of  the 
Garter. 

•  "  Thii-teen  only  with  tlie  Dean,"  says  Heylin  ;  which  mistake  Fuller  acknowledges 
and  promises  to  rectify. — Edit. 


25   EDWARD   III.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIV.  427 

8.  One  register,  being  generally*  the  dean  of  Windsor. 

9.  One  usher,  who  is  one  of  the  ushers  of  the  king''s  chamber, 
called  "  the  Black  Rod." 

10.  A  chief  herald,  added  for  the  more  solemnity  by  king  Henry 
V.  and  called  "  Garter."  This  Order  the  king  founded  within  his 
castle  of  Windsor,  to  the  honour  of  Almighty  God,  and  the  blessed 
virgin  Mary,  and  of  the  glorious  martyr  St.  George,  and  to  the 
exaltation  of  the  holy  catholic  faith. 

32,  33,  34.   The  Qualification  of  these  Knights  ;  their  Habits  ; 

their  Oath. 

Four  essentials  are  requisite  in  the  persons  eligible  into  this 
Order :  First.  That  they  be  gentlemen  of  name  and  arms  by 
fathers'"  and  mothers'"  side,  for  three  descents.  Secondly.  That  he 
be  without  spot  or  foul  reproach  ;  understand  it,  not  convicted  of 
heresy,  or  attamted  of  treason.  Thirdly.  That  he  have  a  competent 
estate  to  maintain  the  dignity  of  the  Order.  Fourthly.  That  he 
never  fled  in  the  day  of  battle,  his  sovereign  lord  or  his  lieutenant 
being  in  the  field. 

Their  habiliments  are  either  ordinary,  as  a  blue  ribbon  with  the 
picture  of  St.  George  appendant,  and  the  sun  in  his  glory  on  the  left 
shoulder  of  their  cloak,  added,  as  some  say,  by  king  Charles,  being 
for  their  daily  wearing :  or  extraordinary,  as  their  collar  of  S.  S. 
their  purple  mantle,  their  gown,  kirtle,  chaperon,  and  chiefly  their 
garter.  This  being  made  of  blue  is,  with,  Hony  soit  qui  male 
pense,  in  golden  letters,  enchased  with  precious  stones,  fastened 
with  a  buckle  of  gold,  and  worn  on  the  left  leg  of  the  Fellows  of 
this  Order. 

They  take  an  oath,  that  to  their  power,  during  the  time  that  they 
are  Fellows  of  the  Order,  they  shall  defend  the  honour,  quarrel, 
rights,  and  lordships  of  their  sovereign  ;  that  they  shall  endeavour 
to  preserve  the  honour  of  the  Order,  and,  without  fraud  or  covin, 
well  observe  the  statutes  thereof.  This  is  taken  absolutely  by  the 
natives  of  this  kingdom,  but  by  foreigners  relatively  and  in  part, 
with  their  reference  to  some  former  Order. 

35.  Other  Rites  they  are  bound  to  observe. 

They  oblige  themselves,  first,  to  be  personally  present  (without 
a  just  cause  specified  to  and  accepted  by  the  sovereign  or  his 
deputy)  at  Windsor  on  the  festival  of  St.  George.  Secondly. 
That  if  coming  within  two  miles  of  that  place,  (except  hindered  by 
some  important  business,)  they  repair  thither,  put  on  their  mantles, 

*  "  Always"  was  the  word  employed  by  Fnller,  who,  at  Heylin's  suggestion,  promises 
that  "  it  shall  be  reformed." — Edit, 


428  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A  D.  1J350 — 70. 

(lying  constantly  leigcrs  there,)  proceed  to  the  chapel,  and  there 
make  their  offering.  Thirdly.  That  they  be  never  openly  seen 
•without  their  Georges,  which  they  shall  neither  engage,  aliem,  sell, 
nor  give  away  on  any  necessity  whatsoever.  Lastly.  That  they  take 
order,  their  garter  at  their  death  be  safely  and  solemnly  sent  back  to 
the  sovereign,  to  confer  the  same  on  one  to  succeed  him  in  the 
Order. 

36.  Order,  how  voided. 
I  have  done  when  I  have  told,  that  their  places  may  be  vacated, 
on  three  occasions :  First.  By  death,  which  layeth  this  (as  all 
other)  "  honour  in  the  dust.""  Secondly.  By  deprivation,  on  the 
person's  misdemeanour  or  want  of  the  foresaid  qualifications. 
Thirdly.  By  cession  or  surrender,  when  a  foreign  prince  (entering 
into  enmity  with  this  crown)  is  pleased  to  send  his  garter  back 
again. 

37,  38.  Excess  in  Apparel  restrained.     A.D.  1361. 

Excess  in  apparel  began  now  to  be  great  in  England,  which  made 
the  state  take  order  to  retrench  it.  Some  had  a  project,  that  men"'s 
clothes  might  be  their  signs  to  show  their  birth,  degree,  or  estate  ; 
so  that  the  quality  of  an  unknown  person  might,  at  the  first  sight, 
be  expounded  by  his  apparel.  But  this  was  soon  let  fall  as  impos- 
sible ;  statesmen  in  all  ages,  notwithstanding  their  several  laws  to 
the  contrary,  being  fain  to  connive  at  men's  riot  in  this  kind,  Avhich 
maintaineth  more  poor  people  than  their  charity.  However,  the 
ensuing  passage  must  not  be  omitted  : — 

"  Item,  that  the  clerks  which  have  a  degree  in  a  church,  cathedral, 
collegial,  or  in  schools,  and  the  king's  clerks  which  have  such  an 
estate  that  requires  fur,  do  and  use  according  to  the  constitution  of 
the  same  ;  and  all  other  clerks  which  have  about  two  hundred 
marks'  rent  per  annum  use  and  do  as  knights  of  the  same  rent ; 
and  other  clerks  under  that  rent  use  as  squires  of  an  hundred  pound 
rent.*  And  that  all  those,  as  well  knights  as  clerks,  which  by  this 
ordinance  may  use  fur  in  winter,  by  the  same  manner  may  use  it  in 
summer."-f- 

39,  40.   Clergymen  enjoined  to  take  up  Arms.     More  scared 
than  hurt.     J.D.I  368. 

Pass  we  now  from  soft  fur  to  hard  steel ;  I  mean,  a  command 
from  the  king  for  the  arming  of  all  clergymen  : — 

"  And  beside  this,  the  king  commands  and  requires  all  the 
prelates  there  assembled,  that,    in  respect  of  the  great   danger  and 

•  PcUurc  in  the  French  original.  f  Rot.  Tnr.  Lon.  anno  Edaurdi  III.  37, 


45  KDWARU  iir.  nooK  in.     cent.  xiv.  429 

damage  which  perhaps  might  happen  to  the  reahn  and  churcli  of 
England,  by  reason  of  this  war,  in  case  his  adversary  should  enter 
the  kingdom  to  destroy  and  subvert  the  same,  that  they  will  put  to 
their  aid  in  defence  of  the  kingdom,  and  cause  their  subjects  to  be 
arrayed,  as  well  themselves  and  their  religious  men,  as  parsons, 
vicars,  and  other  men  of  holy  church  whatsoever,  to  abate  the 
malice  of  his  enemies,  in  case  they  should  enter  the  kingdom  : 
which  prelates  granted  to  do  this,  in  aid  and  defence  of  the  realm 
and  holy  church.     And  so  the  parliament  ended.""* 

Here  we  see,  in  hostes  puhlicos  omnis  homo  miles,  none  arc 
dispensed  with  to  oppose  an  invading  enemy.  But  where  were 
these  foreign  foes  ?  France  and  Scotland  being  now  both  of  them 
ordered  into  a  defensive  posture,  whose  invasion  was  expected  ? 
Possibly  these  dangers  were  represented  through  state-multiplying 
glasses,  to  quicken  the  care  and  continue  the  taxes  on  the  English 
nation. 

41,  42,  .43.  A  Petition  against  Clergymen's  Employment  in  secu- 
lar Places.     The  Answer,  in  Effect,  a  Denial.     A.  D.  1 370. 

The  Lords  and  Commons  in  Parliament  began  now  to  find  them- 
selves much  aggrieved,  that  the  clergy  engrossed  all  secular  offices  ; 
and  thereupon  presented  the  ensuing  petition  to  the  king,  according 
to  this  effect  insisting  only  in  the  substance  thereof: — 

"  And  because  that  in  this  present  Parliament  it  was  declared  to 
our  lord  the  king,  by  all  the  Earls,  Barons,  and  Commons  of 
England,  that  the  government  of  the  kingdom  hath  been  performed 
for  a  long  time,  by  the  men  of  Holy  Church,  which  are  not  justifi- 
able in  all  cases,-|-  wherebv  great  mischiefs  and  damages  have  hap- 
pened in  times  past,  and  more  may  happen  in  time  to  come  in 
disinheriting  of  the  crown  and  great  prejudice  of  the  kingdom  for 

divers  causes  that  a  man  may  declare that   it  will   please  our 

said  lord  the  king,  that  the  laymen  of  the  said  kingdom  which  are 
sufficient  and  able  of  estate  may  be  chosen  for  this,  and  that  no 
other  person  be  hereafter  made  chancellor,  treasurer,  clerk  of  the 
privy  seal,  barons  of  the  exchequer,  chamberlains  of  the  exchequer, 
controller,  and  all  other  great  officers  and  governors  of  the  said 
kingdom, -and  that  this  thing  be  now  in  such  manner  established  in 
form  aforesaid,  that  by  no  way  it  may  be  defeated  or  any  thing 
done  to  the  contrary  in  any  time  to  come  ;  saving  always  to  our 
lord  the  king  the  election  and  removing  of  such  officers,  but  that 
always  they  be  laymen,  such  as  is  abovesaid."J 

*  Rot.  hi  Tur.  Londin.  anno  Edicardi  III.  t  Justifiahles  in  the  French  originals. 
Quere,  Whether  "  not  aLle  to  do  justice,"  or,  "  not  to  be  justified  in  their  employment," 
as  improper  for  it.  \  E.v  Rot.  Pari,  in  Turre  Londincnsi  in  45  Edwardi  III. 


430  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  ISJO. 

To  this  petition  the  king  returned,  that  he  would  ordain  upon 
this  point  as  it  shall  best  seem  to  him  by  the  advice  of  his  good 
council.  He,  therefore,  who  considereth  the  present  power  of  the 
clergy,  at  the  council-table,  will  not  wonder,  if  all  things  remained 
in  their  former  condition,  till  the  nobility  began  more  openly  to 
favour  John  WicklifFe''s  opinions ;  which  the  next  book,  God 
willing,  shall  relate. 

44.  Simon  Mej)ham,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 
We  will  close  this  with  a  catalogue  of  the  archbishops  of  Can- 
terbury, contemporary  with  king  Edward  III.  and  begin  with 
Simon  Mepham,  made  archbishop  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign  :  so 
that  the  crown  and  the  mitre  may  seem  in  some  sort  to  have  started 
together ;  only  here  was  the  odds, — the  king  was  a  young  (yea, 
scarce  a)  man,  whereas  the  archbishop  was  well  stricken  in  years. 
Hence  their  difference  in  holding  out, — the  king  surviving  to  see 
him  buried  and  six  more,  (whereof  four  Simons  inclusively,)  heart- 
broken, as  they  say,  with  grief.  For  when  John  Grandison,  bishop 
of  Exeter,  (making  much  noise  with  his  name,  but  more  with  his 
activity,)  refused  to  be  visited  by  him,  (the  pope  siding  with  the 
bishop,)  Mepham  so  resented  it  that  it  cost  him  his  life. 

45,  46.  John  Stratford  his  Successor.      His  last  his  best  Days. 

John  Stratford  was  the  second  ;  consecrated  first  bishop  of 
Winchester  on  the  Lord''s  day  whereon  it  was  solemnly  sung, 
"  Many  are  the  afflictions  of  the  righteous  ;"  whereof  he  was  very 
apprehensive  then,  and  more  afterwards,  when  his  own  experience 
had  proved  a  comment  thereon.  Yet  this  might  comfort  him, 
whilst  living,  and  make  others  honour  his  memory, — that  a  good 
conscience,  without  any  great  crime,  generally  caused  his  molesta- 
tion. For,  under  king  Edward  II.  he  suflfered  for  being  too  loyal 
a  subject,  siding  with  the  king  against  the  queen  and  her  son  ;  and 
under  king  Edward  III.  he  was  molested  for  being  too  faithful  a 
patriot,  namely,  in  pitying  his  poor  countrymen's  taxations  ;  for 
which  he  was  accused  for  correspondency  with  the  French,  and  com- 
plying with  the  pope,  (pope  and  king  of  France  then  blowing  in 
one  trumpet,)  whereat  king  Edward  was  highly  incensed. 

However  Stratford  did  but  say  what  thousands  thought ;  namely, 
that  a  peace  with  France  was  for  the  profit  of  England,  especially 
as  proffered  upon  such  honourable  conditions.  This  the  archbishop 
was  zealous  for,  upon  a  threefold  account.  First.  Of  piety,  to  save 
the  effusion  of  more  Christian  blood.  Secondly.  Of  policy,  sus- 
pecting success,  that  the  tide  might  turn,  and  what  was  suddenly 
gotten   might   be  as  suddenly  lost.      Thirdly.    On   charity,   sym- 


45   EDWARD  I  IT.  BOOK    III.       CENT.    XIV.  4*J1 

pathizing  with  the  sad  condition  of  his  fellow-subjects,  groaning 
under  the  burden  of  taxes  to  maintain  an  unnecesary  war.  For 
England  sent  over  her  wealth  into  France,  to  pay  their  victorious 
soldiers,  and  received  back  again  honour  in  exchange,  whereby  our 
nation  became  exceeding  proud  and  exceeding  poor.  However,  the 
end  as  well  as  the  beginning  of  the  psalm  was  verified  of  this  arch- 
bishop :  "  The  Lord  delivereth  them  out  of  all,"  dying  in  great 
honour  and  good  esteem  with  the  king, — a  strong  argument  of  his 
former  innocence. 

47,  48.   Thomas  Bradwardine  the  third  Archbishop  ;  the  best 
Archbishop  of  that  See. 

The  third  was  Thomas  Bradwardine,  whose  election  was  little 
less  than  miraculous.  For,  commonly,  the  king  refused  whom  the 
monks  chose ;  the  pope  rejected  whom  the  monks  and  king  did 
elect  ;  whereas  all  interests  met  in  the  choice  of  Bradwardine. 
Yea,  which  was  more,  the  pope  as  yet  not  knowing  that  the  monks 
and  the  king  had  pre-elected  him,  of  his  own  accord,  as  by  super- 
natural instinct,  appointed  Bradwardine  for  that  place,  who  little 
thought  thereon.  Thus  omne  tulit  punctiim ;  and  no  wonder, 
seeing  he  mingled  his  profitable  doctrines  with  a  sweet  and  amiable 
conversation.  Indeed,  he  was  skilled  in  School-learning,  which  one 
properly  calleth  spinosa  fheologia  ;*  and  though  some  will  say, 
"  Can  figs  grow  on  thorns  V  yet  his  thorny  divinity  produced 
much  sweet  devotion. 

He  was  confessor  to  king  Edward  III.  whose  miraculous  victories 
in  France  some  impute  more  to  this  man's  devout  prayers,  than 
either  to  the  policy  or  prowess  of  the  English  nation.  He  died 
before  he  was  enthronized,  few  months  after  his  consecration,  though 
now  advanced  on  a  more  glorious  and  durable  throne  in  heaven, 
where  he  hath  received  the  crown  from  God,  who  here  defended 
*'  the  cause  of  God."-!*  I  behold  him  as  the  most  pious  man  who, 
from  Anselm  (not  to  say  Augustine)  to  Cranmer,  sat  on  that  seat. 
And  a  better  St.  Thomas  (though  not  sainted  by  the  pope)  than 
one  of  his  predecessors  commonly  so  called. 

49-  Simon  Islip,  next  Archbishop. 
Simon  Islip  was  the  fourth,  a  parsimonious  (but  no  avaricious) 
man;  thrifty  whilst  living,  therefore  clandestinely  enthronized; 
and,  when  dead,  secretly  interred  without  any  solemnity.  Yet  his 
frugality  may  be  excused,  (if  not  commended  herein,)  because  he 
reserved  his  estate  for  good  uses,  founding  Canterbury  college  in 
Oxford  :  thus  generally  bishops,  founders  of  many  colleges  therein, ;{: 

"  Camden  in  Eliz.  t  He  wrote  De  Causd  Dei.  X  Excipe  Merton  College. 


432  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A. D.  1370. 

denominated  them  either  from  that  saint  to  whom  they  were  dedi- 
cated, or  from  their  see,  (as  Exeter,  Canterbury,  Durham,  Lincoln,) 
putting  thereby  a  civil  obligation  on  their  successors  to  be  as  visitors 
so  benefactors  thereunto.  This  Canterbury  college  is  now  swallowed 
up  in  Christ-Church,  which  is  no  single  star  as  other  colleges,  but  a 
constellation  of  many  put  together. 

50.  Langham^Whifilesey,  and  Sudbury. 

Simon  Langham  is  the  fifth,  much  meriting  by  his  munificence 
to  Westminster  abbey.  He  was  made  cardinal  of  St.  Praxes, 
and  by  the  pope  bishop  of  Prseneste  in  Italy,  with  a  faculty  to 
hold  as  many  ecclesiastical  preferments  as  he  could  get.  Here- 
upon he  resigned  his  archbishopric  of  Canterbury,  lived  for  a  time 
at  Avignon  in  France,  and  there  buried  (according  to  his  own 
directions)  in  a  temporary  tomb,  in  a  religious  house  of  his 
own,  till  three  years  after  removed  to  Westminster.  William 
Whittlesey  succeeded  him,  famous  for  freeing  the  university  of 
Oxford  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of  Lincoln,  formerly  the 
diocesan  thereof.  As  for  Simon  Sudbury,  the  last  archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  in  the  reign  of  king  Edward  II L  of  him,  God  willing, 
hereafter. 


THE 


CHURCH   HISTORY  OF   BRITAIN. 


BOOK  IV. 


FROM  THE  FIRST  APPEARING  OF  JOHN  WICKLIFFE,   UNTIL  THE 
REIGN  OF  KING  HENRY  VIII. 


Vol.  I.  F  F 


TO    THE 


RIGHT  HONOURABLE  JAMES   HAY, 

EARL  OF  CARLISLE, 

VISCOUNT  DONCASTER,  BARON  OF  SAULEY 
AND  WALTHAM. 


We  read  in  Holy  Writ,  when  the  IsraeHtes  fled 
before  the  PhiHstines,  who  spoiled  a  field  of  barley, 
how  Eleazar  the  son  of  podo  made  them  pay  dear  for 
their  trespass,  so  stopping  them  in  the  full  speed  of 
their  conquest,  that  he  "  saved  Israel  by  a  great  deli- 
verance," 1  Chron.  xi.  14. 

Inspired  truths  need  not  the  security  of  human  his- 
tory to  pass  them  into  our  belief.  However,  other 
writers  afford  examples  how  one  man,  in  a  manner, 
hath  routed  a  whole  army,  and  turned  the  flight  of  his 
party  into  an  unexpected  victory. 

Thus  the  Chronicles*  inform  us,  that  when  the  Scots 
fled  from  the  Danes  (at  a  place  called  Long-Carty)  one 
Hay,  a  husbandman,  then  at  plough  with  his  two  sons, 
snatching  the  yoke  into  his  hand,  (it  is  the  man  makes 
the  weapons,  not  the  weapons  the  man,)  not  only 
stopped  the  enemies'  further  pursuit,  but  beat  them 
back  with  a  great  overthrow :  whose  valour  king 
Keneth  II.  (seven  hundred  years  since)  rewarded  with 
as  much  ground  of  the  best  in  Scotland  as  a  falcon  flew 
over  at  one  flight  before  it  did  take  a  stand.  And  the 
memory  hereof  is  continued  in  your  arms,  who  doth 
carry  a  chronicle  in  your  coat,  crest,  and  supporters, 

*  George  Buchanan  Rermn  Scotkanim.  Hist,  book  vi.  page  55. 

2  F  2 


436  DEDICATION. 

Let  none  quarrel  at  your  supporters,  being  two  men 
holding  each  a  yoke  in  his  hand ;  seeing  they  are  the 
supporters-general  of  all  mankind,  Solomon  (being 
himself  a  king)  observing,  that  "  the  king  himself  is 
maintained  by  husbandry,"  Ecclesiastes  v.  9.  Besides, 
those  yokes  procured  the  Scotch  liberty,  who  otherwise 
had  been  miserably  enslaved  to  the  Danish  insolence. 
And  if  the  bearing  of  arms  were  so  ancient  amongst 
the  Jews  as  the  Rabbles  will  have  it,  it  is  proportion- 
ably  probable  that  the  posterity  of  Shamgar  gave  the 
goad  for  the  hereditary  ensigns  of  their  family,  Judges 
iii.  31. 

Nor  must  your  motto  be  forgotten,  Conscientia 
MiLLE  SCUTA,  "A  good  couscienco  is  a  thousand 
shields,"  and  every  one  of  proof  against  the  greatest 
peril.  May  your  Honour  therefore  be  careful  to  pre- 
serve it ;  seeing  lose  the  shield,  and  lose  the  field, — so 
great  the  concernment  thereof. 

No  family  in  Christendom  hath  been  ennobled  on  a 
more  honourable  occasion,  hath  flourished  for  longer 
continuance,  or  been  preserved  in  a  more  miraculous 
manner. 

It  is  reported  of  the  Roman  Fabii,  no  less  numerous 
than  valiant,  (three  hundred  and  sixty  patricians  flou- 
rishing of  them  at  once,)  they  were  all  slain  in  one 
battle,  one  only  excepted,  who,  being  under  age  to  bear 
arms,  was  preserved  alive.* 

A  greater  fatality  befel  your  family  in  a  fight  at 
Duplin  Castle,  in  the  reign  of  our  Edward  I.  when  the 
whole  household  of  Hayes  was  finally  extirpated,  and 
not  one  of  them  visible  in  the  whole  world.  Only  it 
happened,  that  the  chief  of  them  left  his  wife  at  home 
big  with  child,  from  whom  your  name  is  recruited,  all 
springing  as  it  were  from  a  dead  root,  and  thence 
deriving  a  posthume  pedigree.! 

This  puts  me  in  hopes,  that  God,  who  so  strangely 

*  Titus  Livirs  Ubro  secundo.  t  Camden's  Bril.  in  Scot. 

Slraihcriie,  page  705. 


DEDICATION.  437 

preserved  your  name  in  Scotland,  will  not  suffer  it  so 
soon  to  be  extinct  in  England,  but  give  you  posterity 
by  your  noble  consort,  when  it  shall  seem  seasonable 
to  his  own  will  and  pleasure. 

All  that  I  will  add  is  this, — that,  seeing  your  Honour 
beareth  three  smaller  shields,  or  in-escutcheons,  in 
your  arms,  the  shadow  of  the  least  of  them,  with  its 
favourable  reflection,  is  sufficient  effectually  to  protect 
and  defend  the  weak  endeavours  of 

Your  most  obliged  servant  and  chaplain, 

THOMAS  FULLER. 


THE 


CHURCH    HISTORY   OF   BRITAIN. 

BOOK  IV. 


SECTION  L 

FOURTEENTH  CENTURY,  CONTINUED. 

1.  Several  Causes  of  the  speedy  spreading  of  Wickliffe's 
Doctrine.     A.D.  I37I. 

The  Romanists  observe,  that  several  advantages  concuiTcd  to  the 
speedy  propagation  of  Wickliffe's  opinions ;  as,  namely,  First, 
the  decrepit  age  of  Edward  III.  and  infancy  of  Richard  his 
successor,  being  but  a  child,  as  his  grandfather  was  twice  a  child  ; 
so  that  the  reins  of  authority  were  let  loose.  Secondly.  The 
attractive  nature  of  novelty,  drawing  followers  vmto  it.  Thirdly. 
The  enmity  which  John  of  Gaunt  bare  unto  the  clergy,  which 
made  him  out  of  opposition  to  favour  the  doctrine  and  person  of 
Wickliffe.  Lastly.  The  envy  which  the  pope  had  contracted  by 
his  exactions  and  collations  of  ecclesiastical  benefices.*  We  deny 
not,  these  helps  were  instrumentally  active  in  their  several  degrees, 
but  must  attribute  the  main  to  Divine  Providence,  blessing  the 
Gospel,  and  to  the  nature  of  truth  itself,  which,  though  for  a  time 
violently  suppressed,  will  seasonably  make  its  OAvn  free  and  clear 
passage  into  the  world. 

2.   Wickliffe  guilty  of  many  Errors. 

And  here  we  will  acquaint  the  reader,  that,  being  to  write  the 
History  of  Wickliffe,  I  intend  neither  to  deny,  dissemble,  defend, 
nor  excuse  any  of  his  faults.  "  We  have  this  treasure,"  saith  the 
apostle,  "in  earthen  vessels,"  2  Cor.  iv.  7 ;  and  he  that  shall 
endeavour  to  prove  a  pitcher  of  clay  to  be  a  pot  of  gold,  will  take 
great  pains  to  small  purpose.  Yea,  should  I  be  over-officious  to 
retain  myself  to  plead  for  WicklifFe"'s  faults,  that  glorious  saint 
would  sooner  chide  than  thank  me,  unwilling  that,  in  favour  of  him, 

•  Harpsfield  in  his  Historin  JFicliffiana,  cap.  i. 


45  EDWARD  Iir.  HOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  439 

truth  should  suffer  prejudice.  He  was  a  man,  and  so  subject  to 
error ;  living  in  a  dark  age,  more  obnoxious  to  stumble  ;  vexed 
with  opposition,  wliich  makes  men  reel  into  violence  ;  and  therefore 
it  is  unreasonable,  that  the  constitution  and  temper  of  his  positive 
opinions  should  be  guessed  by  his  polemical  heat,  when  he  was 
chafed  in  disputation.  But  beside  all  these,  envy  hath  falsely 
fathered  many  foul  aspersions  upon  him. 

3.  The  Learning  of  Wickliffe. 

We  can  give  no  account  of  WicklifFe''s  parentage,  birth-place,  or 
infancy  ;  only  we  find  an  ancient  family  of  the  WicklifFes  in  the 
bishopric  of  Durham,*  since  by  match  united  to  the  Brackenburies, 
persons  of  prime  quality  in  those  parts.  As  for  this  our  Wickliffe., 
history  at  the  very  first  meets  with  him  a  man,  and  full  grown,  yea, 
graduate  of  Merton  college  in  Oxford.-j*  The  fruitful  soil  of  his 
natural  parts  he  had  industriously  improved  by  acquired  learning  ; 
not  only  skilled  in  the  fashionable  arts  of  that  age,  and  in  that 
abstruse,  crabbed  divinity,  all  whose  fruit  is  thorns  :  but  also  well- 
versed  in  the  Scriptures, — a  rare  accomplishment  in  those  days. 
His  public  Acts  in  the  Schools,  he  kept  with  great  approbation  ; 
though  the  echo  of  his  popular  applause  sounded  the  alarm  to 
awaken  the  envy  of  his  adversaries  against  him. 

4.  Wickliffe  accused  for  Ambition  and  Discontent. 
He  is  charged  by  the  papists,  as  if  discontent  first  put  him  upon 
his  opinions.  For,  having  usurped  the  Headship  of  Canterbury 
College,:}:  (founded  by  Simon  Islip,)  since,  like  a  tributary  brook, 
swallowed  up  in  the  vastness  of  Christ  Church,  after  a  long  suit,  he 
was  ejected  by  sentence  from  the  pope,  because,  by  the  statutes, 
only  a  monk  was  capable  of  the  place.  Others  add,  that  the  loss 
of  the  bishopric  of  Worcester,  which  he  desired,  incensed  him  to 
revenge  himself  by  innovations.  And  can  true  doctrine  be  the 
fruit  where  ambition  and  discontent  hath  been  the  root  thereof  ? 
Yet  such  may  know,  that  God  often  sanctifies  man's  weakness  to 
his  own  glory  ;  and  that  wise  Architect  makes,  of  the  crookedness 
of  men's  conditions,  straight  beams  in  his  own  building,  to  raise  his 
own  honour  upon  them.  Besides,  these  things  are  barely  said, 
without  other  evidence  :  and  if  his  foes'  affirming  be  a  proof,  why 
should  not  his  friends'  denial  thereof  be  a  sufficient  refutation  ? 
Out  of  the  same  mint  of  malice  another  story  is  coined  against  him, 
— how  Wickliffe,  being  once  gravelled  in  public  disputation,  pre- 
ferring rather  to   say  nons than  nothing,  was  forced  to  affirm 

*  CaiMDEn's  Brit,  in  the  Bishopiic  of  Diu-liani.  t  Bal-EI'S,  cent.  vi.  num.  1. 

I  Harpsfield  Hiit.  IFicliffiami,  cap.  i. 


440  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1371. 

that  an  accident  was  a  substance.*  Yet,  methinks,  if  the  story 
were  true,  such  as  defend  the  doctrine  of  accidents  subsisting  in  the 
sacrament  without  a  substance  might  have  invented  some  charitable 
qualification  of  his  paradox,  seeing  those  that  defend  falsehoods 
ought  to  be  good  fellows  and  help  one  another. 

5.  The  Employment  of  Wickliffe  in  Oxford. 
Seven  years  Wickliffe  lived  in  Oxford,  in  some  tolerable  quiet, 
having  a  professor''s  place,  and  a  cure  for  souls  ;  on  the  week-days, 
in  the  Schools,  proving  to  the  learned  what  he  meant  to  preach  ; 
and,  on  the  Lord's  day,  preaching  in  the  pulpit,  to  the  vulgar,  what 
he  had  proved  before  :  not  unlike  those  builders  in  the  second 
temple,  holding  a  sword  in  one  hand,  and  a  trowel  in  the  other, 
Nell.  iv.  17;  his  disputing  making  his  preaching  to  be  strong,  and 
his  preaching  making  his  disputations  to  be  plain.  His  speculative 
positions  against  the  real  presence  in  the  eucharist  did  offend  and 
distaste,  but  his  practical  tenets  against  purgatory,  and  pilgrimages 
<lid  enrage  and  bemad  his  adversaries  ;  so  woundable  is  the  dragon, 
under  the  left  wing,  when  pinched  in  point  of  profit.  Hereupon 
tliey  so  prevailed  with  Simon  Sudbury,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
that  Wickliffe  was  silenced  and  deprived  of  his  benefice  ;  notwith- 
standing all  which,  he  wanted  nothing,  secretly  supplied  by  invisible 
persons,  and  he  felt  many  a  gift  from  a  hand  that  he  did  not 
behold. 

6.  Difference  in  the  Number  of  Wickliffe's  Opijiions. 
Here  it  will  be  seasonable  to  give  in  a  list  of  Wickliffe's  opinions, 
though  we  meet  with  much  variety  in  the  accounting  of  them. 

1.  Pope  Gregory  XI. -f*  observed  eighteen  principal  errors  in  his 
books  ;  and  Wickliffe  is  charged  with  the  same  number,|  in  the 
convocation  at  Lambeth. 

2.  Thomas  Arundel, §  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  a  synod  held 
at  Preaching-Friars,  in  London,  condemned  three-and-twenty  of  his 
opinions ;  the  ten  first  for  heretical,  and  the  thirteen  last  for 
erroneous. 

3.  In  the  council  at  Constance, ||  five-and-forty  articles  of  false 
doctrines  were  exhibited  against  Wickliffe,  then  lately  deceased. 

4.  Thomas  Waldensis  computeth  fourscore  errors  in  him. 

5.  John  Lucke,^  doctor  of  divinity  in  Oxford,  brings  up  the 
account  to  two  hundred  sixty-six. 

Lastly,  and  above  all,  John  Cocleus**  (it  is  fit  that  the  latest 

•  Harpsfield,  cap.  1.         t  Idem,  page  684.  |  Fox's  "  Martyrology,"  page  398. 

§  Idem,  page  401.  Ij  Idem,  page  414.  ^  Harpsfield  Hist.  IFidiff.  page  669. 

••  In  Hisioria  Hussitarum  in  Prolog,  iomi  primi. 


45  EDWARD  III.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XTV.  441 

edition  should  be  the  largest)  swells  them  up  to  full  three  hundred 
and  three. 

Wonder  not  at  this  difference,  as  if  WicklifFe's  opinions  were 
like  the  stones  on  Salisbury-Plain, — falsely  reported  that  no  two  can 
count  them  alike.  The  variety  ariseth,  first,  because  some  count 
only  his  primitive  tenets,  which  are  breeders  ;  and  others  reckon  all 
the  young  fry  of  consequences  derived  from  them.  Secondly.  Some 
are  more  industrious  to  seek,  perverse  to  collect,  captious  to  expound, 
malicious  to  deduce,  far-distant  consequences  ;  excellent  at  the  in- 
flaming of  a  reckoning,  quick  to  discover  an  infant  or  embryo-error, 
which  others  overlook.  Thirdly.  It  is  probable,  that,  in  process  of 
time,  WickliflTe  might  delate  himself  in  supplemental  and  additional 
opinions,  more  than  he  at  first  maintained  :  and  it  is  possible  that 
the  tenets  of  his  followers  in  after-ages  might  be  falsely  fatliered 
upon  him.  We  will  tie  ourselves  to  no  strict  number  or  method, 
but  take  them  as  we  find  them,  out  of  his  greatest  adversary,  with 
exact  quotation  of  the  tome,  book,  article,  and  chapter,  where  they 
are  reported. 

Thomas  Waldensis  accuseth  WicMiffe  to  have  maintained  these 
dangerous  heretical  Opinions. 

OF    THE    POPE. 

1.  That  it  is  blasphemy  to  call  any  "  Head  of  the  Church  "  save 
Clirist  alone.     Tome  iv.  book  ii.  article  1,  chapter  1. 

2.  That  the  election  of  the  pope  by  the  cardinals  is  a  device  of 
the  devil.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  39. 

3.  That  those  are  heretics  which  say,  that  Peter  had  more  power 
than  the  other  apostles.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  1,  chap.  2. 

4.  That  James,  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  was  preferred  before  Peter. 
T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  1,  chap.  4. 

5.  That  Rome  is  not  the  seat  in  which  Christ's  vicar  doth  reside. 
T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  41. 

6.  That  the  pope,  if  he  doth  not  imitate  Christ  and  Peter  in  his 
life  and  manners,  is  not  to  be  called  "  the  successor  of  Peter."  T.  i. 
b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  35. 

7.  That  the  imperial  and  kingly  authority  are  above  the  papal 
power.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  38. 

8.  That  the  doctrine  of  the  infallibility  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
in  matters  of  faith,  is  the  greatest  blasphemy  of  anti-christ.  T.  i. 
b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  48. 

9.  That  he  often  calleth  the  pope  "anti-christ."  T.  i.  b.  ii. 
art.  3,  chap.  54. 

10.  That  Christ  meant  the  pope,  by  "  the  abomination  of  desola- 


442  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1371. 

tion,  standing  inthe  holy  place,""  Matt.  xxiv.  15.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3, 
chap.  32, 

OF    POPISH    PRELATES. 

11.  That  from  the  words,  and  works,  and  silence  of  prelates  in 
preaching,*  it  seemeth  probable,  that  they  are  devils  incarnate.  T.  i. 
b.  ii.  art.  2,  chap.  16. 

12.  That  bishops'  benedictions,  confirmations,  consecrations  of 
churches,  chalices,  &c.  be  but  tricks  to  get  money.  T.  i.  b.  ii.  art. 
3,  chap.  57. 

OF    PRIESTS. 

13.  That  plain  deacons  and  priests  may  preach  without  licence  of 
pope  or  bishop.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  71. 

14.  That  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  there  were  only  two  orders, 
namely,  priests  and  deacons,  and  that  a  bishop  doth  not  differ  from 
a  priest.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  60. 

1.5.  That  it  is  lawful  for  laymen  to  absolve  no  less  than  for  the 
priests.     T.  iii.  chap.  68. 

16.  That  it  is  lawful  for  clergymen  to  marry.     T.  ii.  chap.  128. 

17-  That  priests  of  bad  life  cease  any  longer  to  be  priests.-|- 
Chap.  61. 

OF    THE    CHURCH. 

18.  That  he  defined  the  church  to  consist  only  of  persons  pre- 
destinated.    T.  i.  b.  ii.  chap.  8. 

19.  That  he  divideth  the  church  into  these  three  members, — cler- 
gymen, soldiers,  and  labourers.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art  1,  chap.  12. 

20.  That  the  church  was  not  endowed  with  any  immovable  pos- 
sessions, before  Constantine  the  Great.     T.  i.  b.  iv.  ai"t.  3,  chap.  37. 

21.  That  it  is  no  sacrilege  to  take  away  things  consecrated  to 
the  church.     T.  i.  b.  iv.  art.  3,  chap.  16,  41. 

22.  That  all  beautiful  building  of  churches  is  blameworthy,  and 
savours  of  hypocrisy.      T.  i.  chap.  143. 

OF    TITHES. 

23.  That  parishioners  by  him  were  exhorted  not  to  pay  tithes 
to  priests  of  dissolute  life.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  6-5. 

24.  That  tithes  are  pure  alms,  and  that  pastors  ought  not  to 
exact  them  by  ecclesiastical  censures.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  64. 

OF    THE    SCRIPTURE. 

25.  That  wise  men  leave  that  as  impertinent  which  is  not  plainly 
expressed  in  Scripture.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  2,  chap.  23. 

•  E.t'  verba,  opere,  cl  tacilurnitalc  pnclatorum.  t   Waldensis  in  several  places 

of  Liis  Look. 


45  EDWARD  III.  HOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  443 

26.  That  he  slighted  the  authority  of  general  councils.  T.  i. 
b.  ii.  art.  2,  chap.  26. 

OF    HERETICS. 

27.  That  he  called  all  writers  since  the  thousandth  year  of 
Christ,  "heretics."   T.  ii.  chap.  81. 

OK    PRAYER. 

28.  That  men  are  not  bound  to  the  observation  of  vigils,  or 
canonical  hours.    T.  iii.  chap.  23,  25. 

29.  That  it  is  vain  for  laymen  to  bargain  with  priests  for  their 
prayers.     T.  iii.  chap.  11. 

30.  That  to  bind  men  to  set  and  prescript  forms  of  prayers,  doth 
derogate  from  that  liberty  God  hath  given  them.     T.  iii.  chap.  21. 

31.  That,  to  depress  the  benefit  of  other  men's  purchased 
prayers,  he  recommended  all  men  to  hope  and  trust  in  their  own 
righteousness.     T.  iii.  chap.  8. 

OF    ALMS. 

32.  That  we  ought  not  to  do  any  alms  to  a  sinner,  whilst  we 
know  him  to  be  so.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  71. 

OF    THE    SACRAMENTS. 

83.  That  chrism,  and  other  such  ceremonies,  are  not  to  be  used 
in  baptism.     T.  iii.  chap.  45,  46. 

34.  That  those  are  fools  and  presumptuous,  which. affirm  such 
infants  not  to  be  saved,  which  die  without  baptism  :  and  also,  that 
he  denied,  that  all  sins  are  abolished  in  baptism.  T.  ii.  chap, 
99,  108. 

35.  That  baptism  doth  not  confer,  but  only  signify,  grace,  which 
was  given  before.     T.  ii.  chap.  98. 

36.  That  in  the  sacrament  of  the  altar,  the  host  is  not  to  be 
worshipped  ;  and  such  as  adore  it  are  idolaters.     T.  ii.  chap.  26. 

37-  That  the  substance  of  bread  and  wine  still  remain  in  the 
sacrament.* 

38.  That  God  could  not,  though  he  would,  make  his  body  to  be 
at  the  same  time  in  several  places.     T.  ii.  chap.  55. 

39.  That  the  sacrament  of  confirmation  is  not  much  necessary  to 
salvation.     T.  i.  chap.  109. 

40.  That  confession,  to  a  man  truly  contrite,  is  superfluous,  used 
by  antichrist  to  know  the  secrets,  and  gain  the  wealth,  of  others. 
T.  iii.  chap.  147- 

"  This  is  scattered  in  several  places  of  his  book. 


444  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1371 6- 

41.  That  that  is  no  due  marriage  which  is  contracted  without 
hope  of  having  children.     T.  ii.  chap.  IJJO. 

42.  Tliat  extreme  unction  is  needless,  and  no  sacrament.  T.  ii. 
chap.  163. 

OF    ORDERS. 

43.  That  religious  sects  confound  the  unity  of  Chrisfs  church, 
who  instituted  but  one  order  of  serving  him.  T.  ii.  b.  ii.  art.  2, 
chap.  15. 

44.  That  he  denied  all  sacred  initiations  into  Orders,  as  leaving 
no  character  behind  them.     T.  ii.  chap,  109. 

45.  That  vowing  of  virginity  is  a  doctrine  of  devils.  T.  iii. 
chap.  91. 

OF    SAINTS. 

46.  That  such  Christians  who  do  worship  saints  border  on 
idolatry.     T.  iii.  chap.  loO. 

47-  That  it  is  needless  to  adorn  the  shrines  of  saints,  or  to  go  in 
pilgrimage  to  them.     T.  iii.  chap.  133. 

48.  That  miracles  conceived  done  at  saints'"  shrines  may  be 
delusions  of  the  devil.     T.  iii,  chap.  124,  125. 

49.  That  saints'  prayers  (either  here  or  in  heaven)  are  only 
effectual  for  such  as  are  good.     T.  iii.  chap.  115, 

OF    THE    KING. 

50.  That  it  is  lawful  in  causes  ecclesiastical,  and  matters  of  faith, 
after  the  bishop's  sentence,  to  appeal  to  the  secular  prince,  T.  i. 
b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  79. 

51.  That  dominion  over  the  creature  is  founded  in  grace.  T.  i. 
b.  iii.  art.  1,  chap.  81. 

52.  That  God  divesteth  him  of  all  right  who  abuseth  his  power. 
T,  i,  b.  iii.  art.  3,  chap.  83. 

OF    CHRIST. 

53.  That  Christ  was  a  man,  even  in  those  three  days  wherein  his 
body  did  lie  in  the  grave.     T.  i.  b.  ii.  art.  3,  chap.  43. 

54.  That  the  humanity  of  Christ,  being  separated,  is  to  be  wor- 
shipped with  that  adoration  which  is  called  latria.  T.  i.  b.  ii. 
art.  3,  chap.  44. 

55.  That  Christ  is  the  humanity  by  him  assumed.  T.  i.  b.  i. 
art.  3,  chap.  44. 

OF    GOD. 

5Q.  That  God  loved  David  and  Peter  as  dearly  when  they 
grievously  sinned,  as  he  doth  now  when  they  arc  possessed  of  glory. 
T.  ii.  chap.  160. 


50  EDWARD  III.  POOR  IV.   CENT.  XfV.  445 

57.  That  God  giveth  no  good  things  to  his  enemies.     T.  i.  b.  ii. 
art.  .3,  chap,  82. 

58.  That  God  is  not  more  willing  to  reward  the  good  than  to 
punish  the  Avicked.     T.  ii.  chap.  135. 

59.  That  all  things  come  to  pass  by  fatal  necessity.* 

60.  That  God  could  not  make  the  world  otherwise  than  it  is 
made.     T.  i.  b.  i.  art.  1,  chap.  13. 

61.  That  God  cannot  do  any  thing  Avhich  he  doth  not  do.  T.  i. 
b.  i.  art.  1,  chap.  10. 

62.  That  God  cannot  make  that  something  should  return  into 
nothing, 

7-  Much  Pity  that  Wickliffe's  own  Books  are  lost. 
Here  the  ingenuous  reader  must  acknowledge,  that  many  of  these 
opinions  are  truths,  at  this  day  publicly  professed  in  the  protestant 
church.  For  the  rest,  what  pity  is  it  that  we  want  WicklifFc"'s 
Works,  to  hear  him  speak  in  his  own  behalf !  Were  they  all 
extant,  therein  we  might  read  the  occasion,  intention,  and  con- 
nexion of  what  he  spake  ;  together  with  the  limitations,  restrictions, 
distinctions,  qualifications,  of  what  he  maintained.  There  we  might 
see  what  was  the  overplus  of  his  passion,  and  what  the  just  measure 
of  his  judgment.  Many  phrases,  heretical  in  sound,  would  appear 
orthodox  in  sense.  Yea,  some  of  his  poisonous  passages,  dressed 
with  due  caution,  would  prove  not  only  wholesome  but  cordial 
truths  ;  many  of  his  expressions  wanting,  not  gratmm  ponderis, 
but  salis,  "  no  weight  of  truth,  but  some  grains  of  discretion." 
But  now,  alas  !  of  the  two  hundred  books  -f*  which  he  wrote,  being 
burnt,  not  a  tittle  is  left,  and  we  are  fain  to  borrow  the  bare  titles 
of  them  from  his  adversaries  ;  |  from  Avhom  also  these  his  opinions 
are  extracted,  who  winnow  his  works,  as  satan  did  Peter,  Luke 
xxii.  31,  not  to  find  the  corn,  but  the  chaff  therein.  And  how 
candid  some  Papists  are  in  interpreting  the  meaning  of  Protestants, 
appears  by  that  cunning  chymist,§  who  hath  distilled  the  spirits  of 
Turcism  out  of  the  books  of  Calvin  himself. 

8.   Wickliffe  appears  before  the  Synod  in  St.  PauVs. 
A.D.  1376. 

Now  a  synod  was  called  by  Simon  Sudbury,  archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, at  PauFs  in  London,  the  Parliament  then  sitting  at  West- 
minster; whither  Wickliffe  Avas  summoned  to  appear;  who  came 
accordingly,  but  in  a  posture  and  equipage  different  from  expectation. 

■  •  Waldensis   in  several  places  layeth  tliis  to  his  charge.  f  ^neas  Sylvius 

Hist.  Bohem.  page  78.  t  So  John  Bale  confesseth,  cent.  vi.  page  451.  §  See 

the  book  called  Calvino-Turchvms. 


446  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1376. 

Four  friars  were  to  assist,  the  lord  Percy  to  usher,  John  duke 
of  Lancaster  to  accompany  him.  These  lords'  enmity  with  the 
prelates  was  all  Wickliffe's  acquaintance  with  them  ;  whose  eyes  did 
countenance,  hands  support,  and  tongues  encourage  him,  bidding 
him  to  dread  nothing,  nor  to  shrink  at  the  company  of  the  bishops  ; 
"  for  they  are  all  unlearned,"  said  they,  "  in  respect  of  you."  Great 
was  the  concourse  of  people ;  as,  in  populous  places,  when  a  new 
sight  is  to  be  seen,  there  never  lack  lookers-on  ;  and,  to  see  this 
man-baiting,  all  people  of  all  kinds  flocked  together. 

9.  The  Brawl  hetwixt  the  Bishop  and: the  Lords  in  the  Church. 

The  lord  Percy,  Lord  Marshal  of  England,  had  much  ado  to 
break  through  the  crowd  in  the  church  ;  so  that  the  bustle  he  kept 
with  the  people  highly  offended  the  bishop  of  London,  as  profaning 
the  place,  and  disturbing  the  assembly.  Whereon  followed  a  fierce 
contention  betwixt  them ;  and,  lest  their  interlocutions  should 
hinder  the  entireness  of  our  discourse,  take  them  verbatim  in  a 
dialogue,  omitting  only  their  mutual  railing ;  which  as  it  little 
became  persons  of  honour  to  bring,  so  it  was  flat  against  the  profes- 
sion of  a  bishop  to  return  ;  who,  by  the  apostle's  precept,  must  be 
"  patient,  not  a  brawler,"  1  Tim.  iii.  3. 

Bishop  Courtenay. — Lord  Percy,  if  I  had  known  beforehand 
what  masteries  you  would  have  kept  in  the  church,  I  would  have 
stopped  you  out  from  coming  hither. 

Duke  of  Lancaster. — He  shall  keep  such  masteries  here,  though 
you  say  "  Nay." 

Lord  Percy. — Wicklifi>,  sit  down  ;  for,  you  have  many  things 
to  answer  to,  and  you  need  to  repose  yourself  on  a  soft  seat. 

Bishop  Courtenay. — It  is  unreasonable,  that  one,  cited  before 
his  ordinary,  should  sit  down  during  his  answer.  He  must  and 
shall  stand. 

Duke  of  Lancaster. — The  lord  Percy's  motion  for  Wickliffe  is 
but  reasonable.  And  as  for  you,  my  lord  bishop,  who  are  grown  so 
proud  and  arrogant,  I  will  bring  down  the  pride,  not  of  you  alone, 
but  of  all  the  prelacy  in  England. 

Bishop  Courtenay. — Do  your  worst.  Sir. 

Duke  of  Lancaster. — Thou  bearest  thyself  so  brag  upon  thy 
parents,*  which  shall  not  be  able  to  help  thee  ;  they  shall  have 
enough  to  do  to  help  themselves. 

Bishop  Courtenay. — My  confidence  is  not  in  my  parents,  nor  in 
any  man  else,  but  only  in  God,  in  whom  I  trust,  by  whose  assistance 
I  will  be  bold  to  speak  the  truth. 

"  His  father,  Hugh  Comtenay,  eaii  of  Devonsliiic. 


50  EDWARD   III.  BOOK     IV.       CENT.    XIV.  447 

Duke  of  Lancaster. — Rather  than  I  will  take  these  words  at  his 
hands,  I  will  pluck  the  bishop  by  the  hair  out  of  the  church.* 

These  last  words,  though  but  softly  whispered  by  the  duke,  in  the 
ear  of  one  next  unto  him,  Avere  notwithstanding  overheard  by  the 
Londoners  ;  who,  enraged  that  such  an  affront  should  be  offered  to 
their  bishop,  fell  furiously  on  the  lords,  who  were  fain  to  depart  for 
the  present,  and  for  a  while  by  flight  and  secresy  to  secure  them- 
selves ;  whilst,  what  outrages  were  offered  to  the  duke's  palace  and 
his  servants,  historians  of  the  state  do  relate. 

10.  Why  the  Archbishop  and  Wickliffe  silent  the  while. 
Wonder  not  that  two  persons,  most  concerned  to  be  vocal,  were 

wholly  mute  at  this  meeting ;  namely,  Simon  the  archbishop,  and 
Wickliffe  himself.  The  former,  rather  acted  than  active  in  this 
business,  seeing  the  brawl  happened  in  the  cathedral  of  London,  left 
the  bishop  thereof  to  meddle  ;  whose  stout  stomach,  and  high  birth, 
made  him  the  meeter  match  to  undertake  such  noble  adversaries. 
As  for  Wickliffe,  well  might  the  client  be  silent,  whilst  such  counsel 
pleaded  for  him.  And  the  bishops  found  themselves  in  a  dangerous 
dilemma  about  him  ;  it  being  no  pity  to  permit,  nor  policy  to 
punish,  one  protected  with  such  potent  patrons.  Yea,  in  the  issue 
of  this  synod,  they  only  commanded  him  to  forbear  hereafter  from 
preaching  or  writing  his  doctrine ;  and  how  far  he  promised  con- 
formity to  their  injunctions,  doth  not  appear. 

11.  Wickliffe'' s  Opinions  marvellously  spread,  and  why. 

In  all  this  synod,  though  Wickliffe  made  but  a  dumb  show, 
rather  seen  than  heard,  yet  the  noise  of  his  success  sounded  all  over 
the  kingdom.  For,  when  a  suspected  person  is  solemnly  summoned, 
and  dismissed  without  censure  ;  vulgar  apprehensions,  not  only  infer 
his  innocence,  but  also  conclude  either  the  ignorance  or  injustice  of 
his  adversaries.  In  public  assemblies,  if  the  weaker  party  can  so 
subsist  as  not  to  be  conquered,  it  conquers  in  reputation,  and  a 
drawn  battle  is  accounted  a  victory  on  that  side.  If  Wickliffe  was 
guilty,  why  not  punished  ?  if  guiltless,  why  silenced  ?  And  it 
much  advantaged  the  propagating  of  his  opinions,  that  at  this  very 
time  happened  a  dangerous  discord  at  Rome,  long  lasting,  for  above 
forty  years,  and  fiercely  followed  ;  begun  betwixt  Urban  VI.  and 
Clement  VII.  one  living  at  Rome,  the  other  residing  at  Avignon. 
Thus  Peter's  chair  was  like  to  be  broken,  betwixt  two  sitting  down 
at  once.  Let  Wickliffe  alone  to  improve  this  advantage  ;  pleading, 
that  now  the  Romish  chiircli  (having  two)  had  no  legal  head  ;  that 

*  Fox's  "  Martyrs,"  p.  393,  and  Harisfield  in  Hist.  Jfliiiffiana,  cap.  v.  p.  083. 


448  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1376 8. 

this  monstrous  apparition  presaged  the  short  life  thereof ;  and  these 
two  anti-popes  made  up  one  anti-christ.  In  a  word,  there  was 
opened  unto  him  a  great  door  of  utterance,  made  out  of  that  crack, 
or  cleft,  which  then  happened  in  this  seasonable  schism  at  Rome. 

12.   The  Death  and  Character  of  King  Edward  III. 
J.D.13TJ.     1  Richard  II. 

Edward,  the  third  of  that  name,  ended  his  life,  having  reigned  a 
jubilee,  full  fifty  years.  A  prince  no  less  successful  than  valiant, 
like  an  amphibion,  he  was  equally  active  on  water  and  land.  Wit- 
ness his  naval  victory  nigh  Sluys,  and  land-conquest  at  Cressy, 
Poictiers,  and  elsewhere.  Yet  his  achievements  in  France  were 
more  for  the  credit  than  commodity,  honour  than  profit,  of  England. 
For,  though  the  fair  provinces  he  conquered  therein  seemed  fat 
enough  to  be  stewed  in  their  own  liquor ;  I  mean,  rich  enough  to 
maintain  themselves  ;  yet  we  find  them  to  have  sucked  up  much  of 
our  English  sauce,  to  have  drained  the  money  and  men  of  this  land 
to  defend  them.  This  made  king  Edward  to  endeavour  to  his 
power  to  preserve  his  people  from  popish  extortions,  as  knowing 
that  his  own  taxes  did  burden,  and  the  addition  of  those  other  would 
break,  the  backs  of  his  subjects.  He  was  himself  not  unlearned,  and 
a  great  favourer  of  learned  men  ;  colleges  springing  by  pairs  out  of 
his  marriage-bed ;  namely,  King's-hall,  founded  by  himself  in 
Cambridge  ;  and  Queen's-college,  by  Philippa  his  wife  in  Oxford. 
He  lived  almost  to  the  age,  and  altogether  to  the  infirmities,  of  king 
David  ;  but  had  not,  with  him,  a  virgin  Abishag,  a  virgin-concubine, 
to  heat  him  :  but,  which  is  worse,  in  his  decrepit  age,  kept  Alice 
Pierce,  a  noted  strumpet,  to  his  own  disgrace,  and  his  people's 
disprofit.  For,  she,  (like  a  bad  tenant,  which,  holding  an  expiring 
lease  without  impeachment  of  waste,  cares  not  what  spoil  he  maketli 
thereon,)  sensible  of  what  ticklish  terms  she  stood  on,  snatched  all 
she  could  rape  and  rend  unto  herself.  In  a  word,  the  bad  beginning 
of  this  king,  on  the  murder  of  his  father,  must  be  charged  on  his 
mother''s  and  Mortimer*'s  account.  The  failings  at  his  end  may  be 
partly  excused  by  the  infirmities  of  his  age ;  the  rather  because, 
whilst  he  was  himself,  he  was  like  himself;  and  whilst  master  of  his 
own  actions,  he  appeared  worthy  of  all  commendations.  Richard 
II.  his  grandchild  by  Edward  the  Black  Prince,  succeeded  him, 
being  about  twelve  years  of  age,  and  lived  under  his  mother's  and 
uncle's  tuition. 

1 3.  Laity  bandying  against  the  Clergy  in  Parliament. 

A  parliament  was  called  at  Westminster,  wherein  old  bandying 
betwixt  the  laity  and  the  clergy.     The  former  moving,  "  That  no 


2  RICHARD   II.  BOOK     IV,       CENT.    XIV.  449 

officer  of  the  holy  church  should  take  pecuniary  sums,  more  or  Icss^ 
of  the  people,  for  correction  of  sins,  but  only  enjoin  them  spiritual 
penance,  which  would  be  more  pleasing  to  God,  and  profitable  to 
the  soul  of  the  offender;*  the  clergy  stickled  hereat;  for,  by  this 
craft  they  got  their  gain  ;  and  no  greater  penance  can  be  laid  on 
them  than  tlie  forbidding  them  to  impose  money-penance  on  others. 
But  here  the  king  interposed, — "  That  prelates  should  proceed 
therein  as  formerly,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  holy  church,  and 
not  otherwise."  Yea,  many  things  passed  in  this  parliament  in 
favour  of  the  clergy  ;  as  that, — "  That  all  prelates  and  clerks  shall 
from  henceforth  commence  their  suits  against  purveyors  and  buyers 
disturbing  them  (though  not  by  way  of  crime)  by  actions  of  tres- 
pass, and  recover  treble  damages."  Also,  "  That  any  gf  the  king's 
ministers,  arresting  people  of  the  holy  church  in  doing  divine 
service,  shall  have  imprisonment,  and  thereof  be  ransomed  at  the 
king's  will,  and  make  gree  to  the  parties  so  arrested." 

14.     Wicklijfe  wonderfullij  preserved  from   Prosecution. 
A.D.  1378. 

About  this  time  Wickliffe  was  summoned  personally  to  appear 
before  Simon  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  rest  of  the  bishops, 
in  his  chapel  at  Lambeth.  He  came  accordingly  :  and  now  all 
expected  he  should  be  devoured,  being  brought  into  the  lions'  den  ; 
when,  in  comes  a  gentleman  and  courtier,  one  Lewis  Clifford,-]-  on 
the  very  day  of  examination,  commanding  them  not  to  proceed  to 
any  definitive  sentence  against  the  said  Wickliffe.  Never  before 
were  the  bishops  served  Avith  such  a  prohibition  :  all  agreed,  the 
messenger  durst  not  be  so  stout,  with  a  mandamus  in  his  mouth, 
but  because  backed  with  the  power  of  the  prince  that  employed  him. 
The  bishops,  struck  with  a  panic  fear,  proceeded  no  farther  ;  the 
rather,  because  the  messenger  so  rudely  rushed  into  the  chapel,  and 
the  person  of  this  John  Wickliffe  was  so  saved  from  heavy  censure, 
as  was  once  the  doctrine  of  his  godly  name-sake,  for  "  they  feared  the 
people,"  Mark  xi.  32.  Only  the  archbishop  summoned  a  synod  at 
London,  himself  preaching  at  the  opening  thereof.  We  find  nothing 
of  his  sermon  ;  but  his  text  was  excellent,  "  Watch  and  pray."  Four 
constitutions  he  made  therein  ;:J:  three  whereof  concerned  confession, 
grown  now  much  into  discredit  and  disuse,  by  Wickliffe's  doctrine, 
and  therefore  conceived  more  needful  to  press  the  strict  observation 
thereof. 

*  E.V  Rotulis  m  Turre  Londlncnsi  ^/rimo  Ricurdi  II.  f  ^Intiq.  Brit,  page  258, 

and  Fox,  page  505.  |  Linwood's  Provincials,  lib.  v.  fol.  183. 

Vol.  I.  G   c; 


450  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1378 — 80. 

15,   16.     Tratisactions  hi   the   Parliament   of  Gloucester. 
Sanctuaries  shrewdly  shaken. 

In  the  parliament  kept  at  Gloucester  this  same  year,  the 
Commons  complained,  that  many  Clergymen,  under  the  notion  of 
sylva'  ccBdua,  "  lopwood,"  took  tithes  even  of  timber  itself; 
requesting,  that,  in  such  cases,  prohibitions  might  be  granted  to 
stop  the  proceedings  of  the  court  Christian.  It  was  moved  also, 
that  sylva  ccedica,  though  formerly  accounted  wood  above  twenty 
years  old,  miglit  hereafter  be  declared  that  which  was  above  the 
growth  of  ten  years,*  and  the  same  to  be  made  free  from  tithes. 
But  this  took  no  effect,  the  king  remitting  things  to  their  ancient 
course.  To  cry  quits  with  the  Commons  in  their  complaints,  the 
archbishop  *of  Canterbury  inveighed,  as  bitterly,  of  the  franchises 
infringed  of  the  abbey-church  of  Westminster ;  wherein  Robert  de 
Hanley,  Esquire,  with  a  servant  of  that  church,  were  both  despite- 
fuUy  and  horridly  slain  therein,  at  the  high  altar,  even  when  the 
priest  was  singing  high  mass,  and  pathetically  desired  reparation  for 
the  same. 

Some  of  the  lords  rejoined  on  their  parts,  that  such  sanctuaries 
were  abused  by  the  clergy,  to  protect  people  from  the  payment  of 
their  due  debts  ;  the  aforesaid  Hanley  being  slain  in  a  quarrel  on 
that  occasion.  And,  whereas  upon  the  oaths  and  examination  of 
certain  doctors  in  divinity,  canon,  and  civil  law,  it  appeared,  that 
immunity  in  the  holy  church  were  only  to  be  given  to  such  who, 
upon  crime,  were  to  lose  life  or  limb,  the  same  was  now  extended 
to  privilege  people  in  actions  of  account,  to  the  prejudice  of  the  cre- 
ditor. They  added,  moreover,  that  neither  God  himself,  (saving  his 
Perfection.)  nor  the  pope,  (saving  his  Holiness,)  nor  any  lay  prince 
could  grant  such  privilege  to  the  church  :  and  the  church,  Avhich 
should  be  the  favourer  of  virtue  and  justice,  ought  not  to  accept  the 
same  if  granted.-]-  The  bishops  desired  a  day  to  give  in  their 
answer,  which  was  granted  them  :  but  I  find  not  this  harsh  string 
touched  again  all  this  parliament ;  haply  for  fear  but  to  make  bad 
music  thereon.  Complaints  were  also  made  against  the  extortion  of 
bishops'  clerks ;  Avho,  when  they  should  take  but  eight-pence  for 
the  probate  of  a  will,;]:  they  now  exacted  greater  sums  than  ever 
before  :  to  which,  as  to  other  abuses,  some  general  reformation  was 
promised. 

17.  Aliens  debarred  from  holding  Benefices.     A.D.  1379. 

In  the  next  parliament  called  at  Westminster,  one  of  the  greatest 
grievances  of  the  land  was  redressed  ;  namely,  foreigners  holding  of 

•  Ex  Rot.  iti  Turre  Londin.  2  Ricardi  II.  parte  prima,  num.  45.  f  Idem, 

part  ii.  num.  28.  X  Ibid.  num.  4(}. 


4  RICHARD   11.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  451 

ecclesiastical  benefices.     For  at  this  time  the  church  of  England 
might  say  with  Israel,  "  Our  inheritance  is  turned  to  strangers,  our 
houses  to  aliens,"  Lam.  v.  2.      Many  Italians — who  knew  no  more 
English  than  the  difference  between  a  teston  and  a  shilling,  a  golden 
noble  and  an  angel  in  receiving  their  rents — had  the  fattest  livings 
in  England  by  the  pope   collated    upon  them.     Yea,  many  great 
cardinals,*  resident  at  Rome,  (those  hinges  of  the  church  must  be 
greased  with  English  revenues,)  were  possessed  of  the  best  prebends 
and  parsonages  in  the  land,  whence  many  mischiefs  did  ensue.    First. 
They  never  preached  in  their  parishes  .  of  such  shepherds  it  could 
not  properly  be  said,  that  "  he  leaveth  the  sheep,  and  fleeth,"  John 
X.  12,  who,  though  taking  the  title  of  "  shepherd"  upon  them,  never 
saw   their  flock,  nor  set  foot  on  English  ground.     Secondly.  No 
hospitality  was  kept  for  relief  of  the  poor  ;   except  they  could  fill 
their  bellies  on  the  hard  names  of  their  pastors,  which  they  could 
not    pronounce  ; — lord  cardinal  of  Agrifolio,  lord  cardinal  de    St. 
Angelo,  lord  cardinal  Veverino,  &c.     Yea,  the  Italians  generally 
farmed  out  their  places  to  proctors,  their  own  countrymen  ;    who, 
instead  of  filling  the  bellies,  grinded  the  faces,  of  poor  people  :  so 
that,  what  betwixt  the  Italian  hospitality,  which   none  could  ever 
see,  and  the  Latin  service,  which  none  could  understand,   the  poor 
English  were  ill  fed,  and  worse  taught.     Thirdly,    The  wealth  of 
the  land  leaked  out  into  foreign  countries,  to  the  much  impoverish- 
ing of  the  commonwealth.     It  was  high  time,  therefore,  for  the  king 
and  parliament  to  take  notice  thereof;   who  now  enacted,  that  no 
aliens  should  hereafter  hold  any  such  preferments,  nor  any  send 
over  unto  them  the  revenues  of  such  benefices  :  as  in  the  printed 
statutes  more  largely  doth  appear. 

18.   The  Rebellion  of  Wat  Tyler  mid  Jack  Straw.    A.D.  1380. 

While  at  this  time  clergy  and  laity  cast  dirt  each  in  other's  faces, 
and  neither  washed  their  own  ;  to  punish  both,  burst  forth  the  dan- 
gerous rebellion  of  Wat  Tyler  and  Jack  Straw,  with  thousands  of 
their  cursed  company.  These  all  were  pure  levellers,  (inflamed  by 
the  abused  eloquence  of  one  John  Ball,  an  excommunicated  priest,) 
who,  maintaining  that  no  gentry  was  jure  Divitio,  and  all  equal  by 
nature, 

"  When  Adam  delved,  aud  Eve  span, 
Who  was  then  the  gentleman  ?  " 

endeavoured  the  abolishing  of  all  civil  and  spiritual  degrees  and 
distinctions.  Yea,  they  desired  to  level  men's  parts,  as  well  as 
their  purses  ;  and,  that  none  should  be  either  wealthier  or  wiser 
than  his  fellows,  projected   the  general  destruction  of  all  that  wore 

•  See  the  Catalogne  of  their  names  and  nimibers  in  Mr.  Fox,  page  562, 


452  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1380. 

a  pen-and-ink-horn  about  tliem,  or  could  write  or  read.  To  effect 
this  design,  they  pretended  the  people's  liberty,  and  the  prince*'s 
honour ;  and,  finding  it  difficult  to  destroy  the  king,  but  by  the 
king,  they  advanced  the  name,  to  pluck  down  the  thing  signified 
thereby  ;  crying  up,  that  all  was  for  king  Richard  !  They  seemed 
also  to  be  much  for  reformation  ;  which  cloak  they  wore,  to  warm 
themselves  therewith,  when  naked  and  first  setting  up  ;  but  after- 
wards cast  it  off  in  the  heat  of  their  success,  as  not  only  useless  but 
burdensome  unto  them. 

19.  The  Rabble  divided  into  three  Companies. 

As  the  Philistines  "  came  out  in  three  companies,"  1  Sam. 
xiii.  17)  to  destroy  all  the  swords  and  smiths  in  Israel ;  so  this 
rabble  of  rebels,  making  itself  tripartite,  endeavoured  the  rooting-out 
of  all  penknives,  and  all  appearance  of  learning :  one  in  Kent, 
under  the  aforesaid  Wat  and  John  ;  the  second  in  Suffolk  ;  the 
third  under  John  Littstarre,  a  dyer  in  Norfolk.  The  former  of 
these  is  described  in  the  Latin  verses  of  John  Gower,  prince  of 
poets  in  his  time  ;  of  whom  we  will  bestow  the  following  transla- 
tion : — 

Watte  vocat,  cui  Thome  venif,  neque  Symme  retardat, 

Betleque  Gibhe  sirnul  Hykke  venire  jubet. 
CoUefurit,  quern  Gibbe  juvat  nocmwnta  paruntes, 

Cum  quibus  ad  damnum  Wille  coire  vovet. 
Grigge  rapit,  dum  Davve  strcpit,  comes  est  quibus  Hobbe, 

Lorkin  et  in  medio  non  viinor  esse  piitat. 
Huddeferit,  quos  Judde  terit,  dum  Tebbe  juvaiur, 

Jakke  domosque  viros  vellit,  et  ense  necat, 

"  Tom  comes  tliereat,  "  Davie  complains, 

When  call'd  by  Wat,  While  Grigg  gets  the  gains, 

And  Simm  as  forward  we  find ;  And  Hohb  with  them  doth  partake  ; 
Bet  calls  as  quick,  Lorkin  aloud, 

To  Gibb  and  to  Hykk,  In  the  midst  of  the  crowd. 

That  neither  would  tarry  behind.  Conceiveth  as  deep  is  his  stake. 

"  Gibb,  a  good  whelp  "  Hudde  doth  spoil. 
Of  that  Utter,  doth  help  Whom  Judde  doth  foil, 

Mad  CoUe  more  mischief  to  do  ;  And  Tebb  lends  his  helping  hand  ; 
And  Will  he  doth  vow.  But  Jack,  the  mad  patch. 

The  time  is  come  now,  Men  and  houses  doth  snatch, 

He  'U  join  with  their  company  too.  And  kills  all  at  his  command." 

O,  the  methodical  description  of  a  confusion  .'  How  doth  Wat 
lead  the  front,  and  Jack  bring  up  the  rear  !  For,  confusion  itself 
would  be  instantly  confounded,  if  some  seeming  superiority  were 
not  owned  amongst  them  !  All  men  without  surnames  :  Tyler  was 
but  the  addition  of  his  trade,  and  Straw  a  mock-name,  assumed  by 
himself;  though  Jack  Straw  would  have  been  John  of  Gold,  had 
this  treason  taken  effect :  so  obscure  they  Avere  and  inconsiderable  ! 


4  RICHARD  II.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  453 

And,  as  they  had  no  surnames,  they  deserved,  no  Christian  names 
for  their  heathenish  cruelties  ;  though,  to  get  them  a  name,  they 
endeavoured  to  buiki  tliis  their  Babel  of  a  general  confusion. 

20.   The  barbarous  Outrages  by  them  committed. 

Many  and  heinous  were  the  outrages  by  them  committed,  espe- 
cially after  they  had   possessed  themselves  of  London.     All  shops 
and  cellars  were  broken  open,  and  they  now  rustled  in  silk,  formerly 
rattling    in    leather  ;    now  soaked    themselves    in   wine,  who   were 
acquainted  but  with  water  before.     The  Savoy  in  the  Strand,  being 
the  palace  of  John  duke  of  Lancaster,  was  plundered  ;  so  was  the 
Hospital  of  St.  John's,  and  Sir  Robert   Hales,   lord   prior  therein, 
and  treasurer  of  England,  slain.     But  as  their  spite  was  the  keenest 
at,  so  the  spoil  the  greatest  on,  the  law ;  well  knowing,  that,  while 
the  banks  thereof  stood  fully  in  force,  the  deluge  of  their  intended 
anarchy  could  not  freely  overflow.     They  ransacked  the   Temple, 
not  only  destroying  many  present  pleas,  written  between  party  and 
party,  (as  if  it  would  accord  plaintiff  and  defendant,  to  send  them 
both  jointly  to  the  fire,)  but  also  abolished  many  ancient  records,  to 
the  loss  of  learning  and  irrecoverable  prejudice  of  posterity.     The 
church  fared  as  ill   as  the  Temple ;  and  Simon  Sudbury,  archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  after  many  indignities  offered  him,  was  at  last   by 
them  beheaded  on  Tower-Hill,  patiently  ending  his  life,  and  dying 
a  state-martyr.     But  most  fiercely  fell  their  fury  on   the   Dutch  in 
London,  offended,   belike,    with   them  for  engrossing  of  trade,  and 
these  words,  "  Bread  and  cheese,^'  were  their  neck-verse,  or  Shib- 
boleth^ to  distinguish  them  ;  all  pronouncing  "  Broad  and  cause''' 
being  presently  put  to  death.     Of  all  people  only  some  Franciscan 
friars  found  favour  in  their  sight,*  whom  they  intended   to  preserve. 
What    quality  (to  us   occult)  commended    them   to  their  mercy .'' 
Was  it  because  they  were  the  most  ignorant  of  other  friars,  and  so 
the  likest  to  themselves  .'     But  perchance  these  rebels,  if  demanded, 
were  as  unable  to  render  a  reason  why  they  spared   these,  as  why 
they  spoiled  others ;  being  equally  irrational   in  their  kindnesses  as 
in  their  cruelties. 

2L  Judas  and  Wat  Tyler  paralleled. 

When  I  read  that  passage  of  Judas  in  the  counsel  of  Gamaliel, 
Acts  V.  37,  it  seemeth  to  me  plainly  to  describe  the  rising,  increase, 
and  ruin  of  these  rebels  : — 

1.  Rising — "  There  rose  up  Judas  of  Galilee  in  the  days  of  the 
taxing  :"  So  Tyler  appeared  ;  and  this  rebellion  was  caused  by  poll- 
money,  heavily  imposed  by  the  king,  and  the  arrears  thereof  more 

*  See  Godwin's  Catalogue  of  the  Bishops  of  Norwich  in  Hen.  Spencer. 


454  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1380. 

cruelly  exacted  by  his  courtiers  that  farmed  it.  And  pity  it  is,  so 
foul  a  rebellion  could  pretend  so  fair  an  occasion  for  the  extenuating 
thereof. 

2.  Increase — "And  drew  away  much  people  after  him  :""  So  the 
snowball  increased  here.  John  Gower*  telleth  us,  in  his  parallel  of 
the  martyring  of  Simon  Sudbury,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  with 
Thomas  Becket,  his  predecessor  : — 

Quatuor  in  mortem  spirarunt  fosdera  Thoina:  y 
Simonis  et  centum  millc  dedere  necem. 

*'  But  ftnir  conspired  Thomas's  blood  to  spill ; 
While  himdred  thousands  Simou  help  to  kill." 

Nor  was  this  any  poetical  hyperbole,  but  a  historical  truth,  if  the 
several  numbers  of  their  three  armies  were  summed  up  together. 

3.  Ruin — "  He  also  perished ;  and  all,  even  as  many  as  obeyed 
him,  were  dispersed :"  So  here,  no  sooner  was  Wat  Tyler,  their 
general,  as  I  may  term  him,  killed  by  valiant  Walworth,  the  lord 
mayor  of  London,  and  his  assistants,  (for  it  was  John  Cavendish, 
Esq.-f-  that  dispatched  him  with  a  mortal  wound,)  in  Smithfield  ; 
and  Jack  Straw,  their  lieutenant-general,  legally  beheaded,:J:  (too 
brave  a  death  for  so  base  a  fellow,)  but  all  the  rest  mouldered  away, 
and  vanished. 

In  memory  of  Sir  William  Walworth's  valour,  the  arms  of  London, 
formerly  a  plain  cross,  were  augmented  with  the  addition  of  a  dagger, 
to  make  the  coat  in  all  points  complete.  Happy,  when  the  cross 
(as  first  there  in  place)  directeth  the  dagger,  and  when  the  dagger 
defendeth  the  cross  ;  when  religion  sanctifieth  power,  and  power 
supporteth  religion. 

22.  Cope  chargeth  all  this  Rebellion  on  Wickliffe's  Doctrine. 

But  Harpsfield  (for  he  it  is,  whose  "Ecclesiastical  History  of 
England"  goes  under  the  name  of  Alanus  Copus,)  heavily  chargeth 
all  this  rebellion  on  the  account  of  Wickliffe's  doctrine  ;  whose 
scholars,  saith  he,§  to  promote  their  master's  opinions,  stirred  up 
this  deadly  and  damnable  sedition,  and  sounded  the  first  trumpet 
thereunto  :  adding  moreover,  that  Wickliffe's  tenet,  that  "  domi- 
nion is  founded  in  grace  ;"  and  that  "  a  king  guilty  of  mortal  sin  is 
no  longer  lord  of  any  thing,"  was  cos  hujiis  seditionis,  "  the  whet- 
stone of  this  sedition."  But  to  what  liar  the  whetstone  doth  pro- 
perly belong,  will  presently  appear. 

•    lu  liis  hook  called   Cor  Cluiaaulis,  lib.  i.  cap.  14.  t   Wea\"er's  ''  Funeral 

Monuments,"  page  693.  J   Stou's  "  Sm'vey  of  London,''  page  55.  5;   In  his 

Historia  iricliffianu,  cap.  1 2. 


4  RICHAUD  II.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  455 

23.  His  malicious  Slander  confuted. 

It  is  no  news  for  the  best  of  God's  children  to  be  slandered  in 
this  kind.  Jeremy  was  traduced  :  "  Thou  fldlest  away  to  the 
Chaldeans,"  Jer.  xxxvii.  VS.  St.  Paul  was  accused  :  "  We  have 
found  this  man  a  pestilent  fellow,  a  mover  of  sedition,"  Acts  xxiv. 
5.  Yea,  our  Saviour  himself  was  charged,  that  he  made  himself  a 
king,  and  was  a  traitor  to  Caesar,  John  xix.  12.  But,  as  these  were 
foul  and  false  aspersions,  so  will  this  appear,  if  we  consider, — 

1.  When  John  Ball  was  executed  at  St.  Alban's,  and  Jack 
Straw*  at  London,  not  the  least  compliance  with  Wickliffe  or  his 
doctrine  is  either  charged  on  them,  or  confessed  by  them. 

2.  No  wild  beast  will  prey  on  his  oAvn  kind.  Now,  it  is  certainly 
known,  that  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster,  was  the  principal 
patron  and  supporter  of  Wickliffe ;  whose  life  they  sought  to 
destroy,  and  whose  palace  in  the  Strand  they  pillaged. 

3.  Wickliffe  himself  came  within  the  compass  of  their  destructive 
principles, — designing  the  death  of  all  who  Avore  a  pen  and  ink. 
And,  that  Wickliffe  had  both  pen  and  ink,  Cope  himself  doth  know, 
and  the  court  of  Rome  with  shame  and  sorrow  will  confess. 

4.  Wickliffe  lived  some  years  after,  and  died  peaceably  possessed 
of  the  living  of  Lutterworth  in  Leicestershire.  Surely,  had  he  been 
reputed  the  inflamer  of  this  rebellion,  the  wisdom  of  the  king  and 
council  would  have  taken  another  order  with  him. 

.5.  Amongst  the  articles  laid  to  the  charge  of  Wickliffe  and  his 
followers,  in  this  king"'s  reign,  examined  at  Oxford  and  elsewhere,  not 
a  tittle  of  this  rebellion  is  pressed  upon  them  ;  which  their  malicious 
adversaries  would  not  have  omitted,  if  in  any  hope  to  make  good 
that  accusation  against  them. 

6.  Whereas  it  is  charged  on  Wickliffe,  that  he  held,  that 
"  dominion  was  founded  in  grace,"  which  occasioned  this  rebellion  ; 
we  know  this,  that  Huss,  his  scholar,  though  he  did  hold,  that  "  a 
king,  being  in  mortal  sin,  was  only  called  a  king  cEquivocd  deno- 
minatione  ,-"  yet  the  same  Huss  confesseth,  to  use  his  own  words,f 
Ipsiim  Deum  approbare  hujusmodi  regem,  quoad  esse  principem 
exterius,  "  that  God  himself  allows  such  a  king  to  be  a  prince  in  all 
outward  matters."  So  that,  leaving  him  to  Divine  justice,  he  never 
dreamed  of  any  resistance  or  rebellion  to  be  made  against  him. 

7.  The  modern  Protestants  (heirs,  say  the  Papists,  to  Wickliffe's 
doctrine)  so  far  abominate  the  revelling  and  ignorant  principles  of 
these  rebels,  that  they  are  known,  both  to  maintain  distances  of 
people,  and  to  have  been  the  restorers  of  lost,  yea,  the  revivers  of 

•  See  his  confession  at  large  in  Stow's  "  Survey  of  London,"  page  54.  i  Huss 

Tract,  dc  Decimis,  page  128.     See  Bishop  Davi:nant's  Thirty  Determinations. 


45^  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1380 G. 

dead  learning  and  languages.  How  had  the  mathematics  measured 
their  own  grave  Greek  turned  barbarism,  Hebrew,  as  it  readeth, 
gone  backward,  never  to  return  again,  had  not  Protestant  critics, 
Fith  vast  pains  and  expense,  preserved  them  ! 

8.  It  is  more  suspicious,  that  this  rebellion  came  out  of  the 
Franciscan  convent,  because  some  of  these,  belike,  were  the  rebePs 
white-boys  ;  and  (as  is  afore-mentioned)  to  be  spared  in  a  general 
destruction. 

In  a  word  :  I  wonder,  how  any  ingenuous  papists  can  charge 
WicklifFe  of  rebellion,  in  maintaining  dominion  to  be  founded  in 
grace  ;  when  the  grandees  of  their  own  religion, — Aquine,  Cajetane, 
Bellarmine,  Suarez,  maintain,  that  dominion  is  so  founded  in  grace, 
(in  the  pope,)  that  a  king,  by  him  excommunicate,  may  lawfully  be 
deposed  and  nmrdered. 

21.    Archbishop    Courtenaij    persecutes    the    Wickliffians. 
A.D.  1382. 

William  Courtenay,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  the  place  of 
Simon  Sudbury  lately  slain,  made  cruel  canons,  in  a  synod  at  Lon- 
don, against  the  maintainers  of  Wickliffe''s  opinions.  And  I  Avonder, 
that  in  Linwood''s  "  Constitutions'"  no  mention  at  all  of  any  canons 
made  by  this  archbishop,  who  sate  above  ten  years  in  the  see.  As 
for  the  heavy  persecution  which  soon  after  he  raised  against  Robert 
Rug,  Thomas  Britwell,  Nicholas  Herford,  Philip  Ripington,  &c. 
nothing  can  be  added  to  what  Mr.  Fox  hath  related. 

25,  2Q.    WickUffes  miraculotis  Deliverance.     His  quiet  Death. 

A.D.  1384. 

In  my  mind  it  amountcth  to  little  less  than  a  miracle,  that,  during 
this  storm  on  his  disciples,  WicklifFe  tlieir  master  should  live  in 
quiet.  Strange  that  he  was  not  drowned  in  so  strong  a  stream  as 
ran  against  him  ;  whose  safety,  under  God''s  Providence,  is  not  so 
much  to  be  ascribed  to  his  own  strength  in  swimming,  as  to  such  as 
held  him  up  by  the  chin, — the  greatness  of  his  noble  supporters. 
About  this  time  he  ended  his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  English, 
(a  fair  copy  whereof  in  Queen's  College  in  Oxford,  and  two  more  in 
the  University  library,)  done,  no  doubt,  in  the  most  expressive 
language  of  those  days,  though  sounding  uncouth  to  our  ears.  "The 
KNAVE  of  Jesus  Christ,"  for  servant;  "And  Philip  baptized  the 
GELDING,"  for  eunuch.,  Acts  viii.  38  ;  so  much  our  tongue  is 
improved  in  our  age.  As  for  the  report  of  Polydore  Virgil,  making 
liim  to  fly  out  of  England  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.  et  in  magna 
pretio  apud  Bohemos  fuisse,   "and  to  have  been  of  high  esteem 


I 


10  RICHARD  11.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  457 

amongst  the  Bohemians;"  it  is  true  of  WicldifFe*'s  writings,  but  not 
of  his  person,  who  never  departed  his  native  country. 

Not  long  after,  therein  he  ended  his  life,  at  his  cure  at  Lutter- 
worth in  Leicestershire,  of  the  palsy.*  Admirable,  that  a  hare,  so 
often  hunted  with  so  many  packs  of  dogs,  should  die  at  last  quietly 
sitting  in  his  form.  Parsons  the  Jesuit  snarls  at  Mr.  Fox  for  countinof 
WicklifFe  a  martyr  in  his  Calendar  ;  as,  so  far  from  suffering  violent 
death,  that  he  was  never  so  much  as  imprisoned  for  the  opinion  he 
maintained.  But  the  phrase  may  be  justified  in  the  large  accepta- 
tion of  the  word,  for  "  a  witness  of  the  truth."  Besides,  the  body 
of  Wickliffe  was  martyred  as  to  shame,  though  not  to  pain,  (as  far 
as  his  adversaries'*  cruelty  could  extend,)  being  taken  up  and  burned 
many  years  after  his  death  ;  as,  God  willing,  we  shall  show  here- 
after. 

27.  New  College  built  by  Bishop  Wickham.     A.D.  1386. 

William  AVickham  about  this  time  finished  his  beautiful  college 
in  Oxford.-|-  Some  have  raised  a  scandal  of  him, — that  he  was  no 
scholar  at  all ;  from  which  the  very  meanest  scholar  in  his  foundation 
can  acquit  him,  by  that  rule  in  logic,  Quod  efficit  tale,  magis  est 
tale,  "  What  maketh  the  same  is  more  the  same."  By  which  his 
learning  must  be  inferred  whose  bounty  caused  so  many  learned 
men.  Now,  because  the  maxim  runneth  with  a  limitation,  ^S**  sit  tale, 
"  if  it  be  the  same  ;"  the  truth  hereof  also  appears  from  the  learned 
pen, J  who,  writing  Wickliam''s  Life,  has  proved  him  to  have  been  a 
sufficient  scholar,  skilled  in  other  arts,  as  well  as  in  practical  mathe- 
matics and  architecture. 

28.  Industry  aiid  Judgment  in  Jrchitecture,  the  Cause  of  his 
Advancement. 

Now  as  Solomon,  Avhen  about  to  build  his  house  at  Millo,  seeing 
■Jeroboam  to  be  an  industrious  man,  1  Kings  xi.  28,  made  him 
master  of  his  fabric  ;  so  Edward  IIL  discovering  the  like  sufficiency 
in  this  great  clerk,  employed  him  in  all  his  stately  structures  ;  witness 
this  in  motto  at  Windsor  castle,  "  This  made  Wickham  ;"  meaning 
that  the  building  of  that  castle  gave  occasion  to  his  wealth  and 
honour ;  whereas  on  this  college  he  might  write,  "  This  Wickham 
made;"  the  building  and  endowing  thereof  being  the  effect  of  his 
bounty  alone.  Hence  it  is  that  this  college  giveth  the  arms 
of  Wickham,  namely,  two  Cheverons  betwixt  three  Roses, 
each     Cheveron     alluding     to      two    Beams    fastened    together,§ 

•   Leland  ex  Chronica  Tenerisis  Monastcrii.  t    It  was   begun    a.d.   1375. 

X  Dr.  Martin,  who  wrote  a  book  in  vindication  of  bis  learning.  §  Rex  Platonicus, 

page  144. 


458  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1386 — 92. 

(called    "  couples "    in     building,)    to    speak   his   skill   in   archi- 
tecture. 

29.  A  Castle-College  designed  for  Defence. 

This  college  he  built  very  strong,  out  of  a  design  that  it  should 
be  able  to  hold  out  a  siege  of  itself,*  if  need  so  required  it ;  though 
may  it  never  have  a  temptation  in  that  kind,  to  try  the  strength  of 
the  walls  thereof !  Indeed,  this  college,  with  Bourges  in  France, 
may  lay  claim  to  the  name  of  Bituris  : — Turribus  a  hinis  inde 
vocor  Bituris:  so  called  from  "two  towers'"  therein,  as  this 
hath  the  like  ;  one  over  the  gate,  the  other  over  the  porch  in  the 
entrance  into  the  hall ;  so  that  it  may  seem  a  castle-college,  and 
made  as  well  for  defence  as  habitation.  So  that  at  this  present  is 
maintained  therein,  a  Warden,  seventy  Fellows  and  Scholars,  ten 
Chaplains,  three  Clerks,  one  Organist,  sixteen  Choristers,  besides 
Officers  and  Servants  of  the  foundation,  with  other  Students,  being 
in  all  one  hundred  thirty-five. 

30.  A  College  at  Winchester  built  also  by  Bishop  Wickham. 
A.D.  1392. 

Pass  we  now  from  his  orchard  of  grown  trees,  to  his  nursery  of 
grafts, — the  college  at  Winchester,  which,  few  years  after,  the  same 
bishop  finished  ;  not  much  inferior  to  the  former  for  building  and 
endo-ivments,  as  wherein  he  established  one  Warden,  ten  Fellows, 
two  Schoolmasters,  and  seventy  Scholars,  Avith  Officers  and  Servants, 
which  are  all  maintained  at  his  charge  ;  out  of  which  school  he 
ordained  should  be  chosen  the  best  scholars  always  to  supply  the 
vacant  places  of  the  Fellows  of  this  college. 

31.  His  Care  for  his  Kindred. 

As  his  charity  so  his  faith  ("  he  that  provideth  not  for  his  house 
is  worse  than  an  infidel")  appeared  in  this  his  foundation  ;  ordering 
that  his  own  kinsmen  should  be  preferred  before  others.  Let  their 
parents  therefore  but  provide  for  their  nursing  when  infants,  their 
breeding  when  children,  and  he  hath  taken  order  for  their  careful 
teaching  at  Winchester,  when  youth ;  liberal  living  at  Oxford, 
when  men  ;  and  comfortable  subsistence  in  their  reduced  age,  in 
those  many  and  good  patronages  he  hath  conferred  on  the  college. 
And,  truly,  as  these  his  kindred  have  been  happy  in  him,  so 
Wickham  hath  been  happy  in  his  kindred  ;  many  of  them  meriting 
the  best  preferment,  without  any  advantage  of  his  relation.  And 
as  this  Wickham  was  the  first  in  that  kind  so  provident  for  his 
kindred,  his  practice  hath  since  been  precedential   to  some  other 

*  i'o  say  the  Statutes  of  thi.>  College. 


16  RICHARD   ir.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  459 

colleges,  as  the  statutes  of  this  House  are  generally  a  direction  to 
other  later  foundations.  To  take  our  leave  of  this  bishop  :  Who- 
soever considers  the  vast  buildings  and  rich  endowments  made  by 
this  prelate,  beside  his  expense  in  repairing  the  cathedral  at  Win- 
chester, will  conclude  such  achievements  unpossible  for  a  subject, 
until  he  reflect  on  his  vast  offices  of  preferments,  being  bishop 
of  Winchester,  rector  of  St.  Martin"'s-le-Grand,  holding  twelve 
prebends  in  commendam  with  it,  lord  privy-seal,  chancellor, 
and  treasurer  of  England  ;  besides  other  places  of  meaner  con- 
sequence. 

Wardens. — Richard  Toneworth,  Nicholas  Wickham,  Thomas 
Cranely,  Richard  Malforde,  John  Bowke,  William  Escot,  Nicholas 
Osylbury,  Thomas  Chaundler,  Walter  Hill,  William  Porter,  John 
Reade,  John  Younge,  John  London,  Henry  Cole,  Ralph  Skinner, 
Thomas  White,  Martin  Culpepper,  George  Rives,  Arthur  Lake, 
Robert  Pink,  Henry  Stringer,  George  Marshall. 

Benefactors. — Mr.  Rawlins,  Sir  Richard  Read,  knight, 
Dr.  Newman,  Dr.  Reeve,  Warden,  Dr.  Martin,  Robert  Bell, 
Dr.  Smith. 

Bishops. — William  Warham,  archbishop  of  Canterbury;  Wil- 
liam Wainflete,  bishop  of  Winchester  ;  John  White,  bishop  of 
W^inchester ;  Thomas  Bilson,  bishop  of  Winchester ;  William 
Knight,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  ;  Jam^s  Turberville,  bishop  of 
Exeter  ;  Robert  Sherbourne,  bishop  of  Chichester  ;  Arthur  Lake, 
bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells. 

Learned  Writers. — Thomas  Harding,  Thomas  Nele, 
Nicholas  Sanders,  Nicholas  Harpsfield,  William  Reynolds,* 
Thomas  Hide,  John  Marshall,  Thomas  Stapleton,  John  Fenne, 
Richard  Wlnte,-|-  John  Pits  ;  all  violent  maintainers  of  the  popish 
religion.  Sir  Henry  Wotton  ;  Dr.  Tooker,  dean  of  Lichfield ; 
Dr.  James  Cook,  archdeacon  of  Winchester  ;  Sir  Thomas  Rives, 
(beside  other  elegant  works,)  for  his  "  Vicar's  Plea  ;""  Sir  James 
Hassee  ;  Sir  Henry  Martin  ;  Dr.  Merideth,  dean  of  Wells  ; 
Arthur  Lake,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells  ;  William  Twisse  ;  John 
White. 

One  may  defy  the  suspicion  of  flattery,  if  adding  Dr.  Harris,  the 
reverend  Warden  of  Winchester ;  Dr.  Richard  Zouch,  not 
beholden  to  his  noble  extraction  for  his  repute,  founded  on  his 
own  worth,  and  books  reprinted  beyond  the  seas ;  Dr.  Merick, 
late  judge  of  the  prerogative ;  but  it  is  better  to  leave  the 
characters  of  their  worth  to  the  thankfulness  of  the  next  age  to 
describe. 

*  He  was  brother  to  Dr.  Jolin  Reynolds  tlie  great  Protestant.  t   He  wrote   a 

Historj-  of  England. 


4^  CHUnCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1393. 

32.  Good  Laws  in  due  Season.    A.  D.  1393. 

Lately  the  pope's  usurpation  was  grown  so  great  in  intrencliing 
on  the  crown,  that  there  was  an  absolute  necessity  seasonably  to 
retrench' his  usui-pation.  For  albeit  the  kings  of  England  were 
as  absolute  in  their  domains,  their  prelacy  and  clergy  as  learned, 
their  nobility  as  valiant  and  prudent,  their  commons  as  free  and 
wealthy,  as  any  in  Christendom  ;  yet  had  not  some  Laws  of  Provi- 
sion now  been  made,  England  had  long  since  been  turned  part  of 
St.  Peter's  patrimony  in  domains  :  yea,  the  sceptre  wrested  out 
of  their  kings'  hands,  her  prelates  made  the  pope's  chaplains 
and  clerks,  nobility  his  servants  and  vassals,  commons  his  slaves 
and  villains,  had  not  some  seasonable  Statutes  of  Manumission 
been  enacted. 

33.   The  Maul-Popes'' Statute  of  Prjemvnire. 

For  now  came  the  Parliament  wherein  the  statute  was  enacted, 
which  mauled  the  papal  power  in  England.  Some  former  laws  had 
pared  the  pope's  nails  to  the  quick  ;  but  this  cut  off  his  fingers,  in 
effect,  so  that  hereafter  his  hands  could  not  grasp  and  hold  such  vast 
sums  of  money  as  before.  This  is  called  "  the  Statute  of 
praemunire;"  and  let  not  the  reader  grudge  the  reading  thereof, 
"which  gave  such  a  blow  to  the  church  of  Rome,  that  it  never  reco- 
vered itself  in  this  land,  but  daily  decayed  till  its  final  destruction. 

"  Whereas  the  Commons  of  the  reahn  in  this  present  Parliament 
have  sued  to  our  redoubted  lord  the  king,  grievously  complaining, 
that  whereas  the  said  our  lord  the  king  and  all  his  liege  people, 
ought  of  right,  and  of  old  time  were  wont,  to  sue  in  the  king's  court, 
to  recover  their  presentments  to  churches,  prebends,  and  other 
benefices  of  holy  church,  to  the  which  they  had  right  to  present,  the 
cognizance  of  plea  of  which  presentment  belongeth  only  to  the  king's 
court,  of  the  old  right  of  his  crown,  used  and  approved  in  the  time 
of  all  his  progenitors,  kings  of  England  :  And  when  judgment  shall 
be  given  in  the  same  court  upon  such  a  plea  and  presentment,  the 
archbishops,  bishops,  and  other  spiritual  persons,  which  have  institu- 
tion of  such  benefices  within  their  jurisdictions,  be  bound  and  have 
made  execution  of  such  judgments  by  the  king's  commandments  of 
all  the  time  aforesaid,  without  interruption,  (for  another  lay  person 
cannot  make  such  execution,)  and  also  be  bound  of  right  to  make 
execution  of  many  other  of  the  king's  commandments,  of  which  right 
the  crown  of  England  hath  been  peaceably  seized,  as  well  in  the 
time  of  our  said  lord  the  king  that  now  is,  as  in  the  time  of  all  his 
progenitors  till  this  day.  But  now  of  late  divers  processes  be  made 
by  the  bishop  of  Rome,  and   censures  of  excommunication  upon 


16  RICHAllD  II.  BOOK    IV.       CKNT.    XIV.  4G1 

certain  bishops  of  England,  because  they  have  made  execution  of 
such  commandments,  to  the  open  disherison  of  the  said  crown,  and 
destruction  of  our  said  lord  the  king,  his  law,  and  all  his  realm,  if 
remedy  be  not  provided.  And  also  it  is  said,  and  a  common 
clamour  is  made,  that  the  said  bishop  of  Rome  hath  ordained  and 
purposed  to  translate,  some  prelates  of  the  same  realm,  some  out  of 
the  realm,  and  some  from  one  bishopric  into  another  within  the  same 
realm,  without  the  king's  assent  and  knowledge,  and  without  the 
assent  of  the  prelates  which  so  shall  be  translated,  which  prelates  be 
much  profitable  and  necessary  to  our  said  lord  the  king,  and  to  all 
his  realm  :  By  which  translations,  (if  they  should  be  suffered,)  the 
statutes  of  the  realm  should  be  defeated  and  made  void,  and  his  said 
liege  sages  of  his  Council  without  his  assent,  and  against  his  will, 
carried  away  and  gotten  out  of  his  realm,  and  the  substance  and 
treasure  of  the  realm  shall  be  carried  away,  and  so  the  realm  desti- 
tute as  well  of  counsel  as  of  substance,  to  the  final  destruction  of 
the  same  realm.  And  so  the  crown  of  England  which  hath  been  so 
free  at  all  times,  that  it  hath  been  in  no  earthly  subjection,  but 
immediately  subject  to  God  in  all  things  touching  the  reality  of  the 
same  crown,  and  to  none  other,  should  be  submitted  to  the  pope, 
and  the  laws  and  statutes  of  the  realm  by  him  defeated,  and  avoided 
at  his  will,  in  the  perpetual  destruction  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
king,  our  lord,  his  crown,  his  regality,  and  of  all  his  realm,  which 
God  defend. 

"  And  moreover  the  Commons  aforesaid  say,  that  the  things  so 
attempted  be  clearly  against  the  king's  crown  and  regality,  used  and 
approved  of  the  time  of  all  his  progenitors.  Wherefore  they,  and 
all  the  liege  Commons  of  the  same  realm,  will  stand  with  our  said 
lord  the  king,  and  his  said  crown,  and  his  regality,  in  the  cases 
aforesaid,  and  in  all  other  cases  attempted  against  him,  his  crown, 
and  his  regality,  in  all  points,  to  live  and  to  die.  And  moreover 
they  pray  the  king,  and  him  require  by  way  of  justice,  that  he  would 
examine  all  the  lords  in  Parliament,  as  well  spiritual  as  temporal, 
severally,  and  all  the  States  of  the  Parliament,  how  they  think  of 
the  cases  aforesaid,  which  be  so  openly  against  the  king's  crown,  and 
in  derogation  of  his  regality,  and  how  they  will  stand  in  the  same 
cases  with  our  lord  the  king,  in  upholding  the  rights  of  the  said 
crown  and  regality.  Whereupon  the  lords  temporal,  so  demanded, 
have  answered  every  one  by  himself,  that  the  cases  aforesaid  be 
clearly  in  derogation  of  the  king's  crown,  and  of  his  regality,  as  it  is 
well  known,  and  hath  been  of  a  long  time  known,  and  that  they  will 
be  with  the  same  crown  and  regality,  in  these  cases  especially,  and 
in  all  other  cases  which  shall  be  attempted  against  the  same  crow^n 
and  regality,  in  all  points  with  all  their  power.     And  moreover  it 


462  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1393. 

was  demanded  of  the  lords  spiritual  there  being,  and  the  procurators 
of  others  being  absent,  their  advice  and  will  in  all  these  cases,  which 
lords,  that  is  to  say,  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and  other  prelates, 
being  in  the  said  Parliament  severally  examined,  making  protesta- 
tions, that  it  is  not  their  mind  to  deny  nor  affirm,  that  the  bishop 
of  Rome  may  not  excommunicate  bishops,  nor  that  he  may  make 
translation  of  prelates,  that  if  any  execution  of  processes,  made  in 
the  king's  court  (as  before)  be  made  by  any,  and  censures  of  excom- 
munication to  be  made  against  any  bishops  of  England,  or  any  other 
of  tlje  king's  liege  people,  for  that  they  have  made  execution  of  such 
commandments,  and  that  if  any  executions  of  such  translations  be 
made  of  any  prelates  of  the  same  realm,  which  prelates  be  very  pro- 
fitable and  necessary  to  our  said  lord  the  king  and  to  his  said  realm, 
or  that  the  sage  people  of  his  council  without  his  assent,  and  against 
his  will,  be  removed  and  carried  out  of  the  realm,  so  that  the  sub- 
stance and  treasure  of  the  realm  may  be  consumed,  that  the  same  is 
against  the  king  and  his  crown,  as  it  is  contained  in  the  petition 
before-named.  And  likewise  the  same  procurators  every  one  by 
himself,  examined  upon  the  said  matters,  have  answered  and  said  in 
the  name  and  for  their  lords,  as  the  said  bishops  have  said  and 
answered,  and  that  the  said  lords  spiritual  will,  and  ought  to  be  with 
the  king  in  these  cases,  in  lawfully  maintaining  of  his  crown,  and  in 
all  other  cases  touching  his  crown,  and  his  regality,  as  they  be  bound 
by  their  liegeance  [allegiance].  Whereupon  our  said  lord  the  king, 
by  the  assent  aforesaid,  and  at  the  request  of  his  said  Commons, 
hath  ordained  and  established,  that  if  any  purchase,  or  pursue,  or 
cause  to  be  purchased  or  pursued  in  the  court  of  Rome,  or  else- 
where, any  such  translations,  processes,  sentences  of  excommunica- 
tions, bulls,  instruments,  or  any  other  things  whatsoever,  which  touch 
the  king,  against  him,  his  crown  and  his  regality,  or  his  realm,  as  is 
aforesaid  ;  and  they  which  bring  within  the  realm,  or  them  receive, 
or  make  thereof  notification,  or  any  other  execution  whatsoever 
within  the  same  realm  or  without,  that  they,  their  notaries,  pro- 
curators, maintainers,  abettors,  fautors,  and  counsellors,  shall  be  put 
out  of  the  king's  protection,  and  their  lands  and  tenements,  goods 
and  chattels,  forfeit  to  our  lord  the  king  ;  and  that  they  be  attached 
by  their  bodies,  if  they  may  be  found,  and  brought  before  the  king 
and  his  council,  there  to  answer  to  the  cases  aforesaid,  or  that  pro- 
cess be  made  against  them,  by  Prcemunire  facias^  in  manner  as  it 
is  ordained  in  other  Statutes  of  Provisors :  and  other  which  do  sue 
in  any  other  court  in  derogation  of  the  regality  of  our  lord  the 
kinff." 


IG  RICHARD   II.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  4G*J 

34.  The  Occasion  of  this  Staticte. 
Something  of  the  occasion,  name,  and  use  of  this  statute  :  The 
first  is  notoriously  known  from  the  papal  encroachments  on  the 
crown.  No  bishopric,  abbacy,  dignity,  or  rectory,  of  value  in 
England,  was  likely  to  fall  but  a  successor  in  reversion  was,  by  the 
pope's  "  provisions,"  fore-appointed  for  the  same.  To  make  sure 
work,  rather  than  they  would  adventure  to  take  the  place  at  the  first 
rebound,  they  would  catch  it  before  it  lit  on  the  ground.  This  was 
imputed  to  the  pope's  abundance  (yea,  superfluity)  of  care  ne  detur 
vacuum  in  the  church  ;  and  rather  than  a  widow-benefice  should 
mourn  itself  to  death,  a  second  husband  had  his  license  for  marriage 
before  the  former  was  deceased.  But  great  parishes,  where  small 
the  profit  and  numerous  the  people,  and  where,  indeed,  greatest 
care  ought  to  be  had  of  their  souls,  were  past  by  in  the  pope's 
Bulls;  his  Holiness  making  no  "provisions"  for  those  livings, 
which  livings  had  no  "  provisions  "  for  his  Holiness. 

35.  Why  called  Prmmunire. 
Some  will  have  it  called  Prcemunire,  from  fencing  or  fortifying 
the  regal  power  from  foreign  assaults  ;  as  indeed  this  was  one  of  the 
best  bulwarks  and  sconces  of  sovereignty  :  others,  that  PrcBmunire 
signifieth  the  crown  fortified  before  the  making  of  this  statute,  as 
fixing  no  new  force  therein,  but  only  declaring  a  precedent  and 
foregoing  just  right  and  due  thereof.  Others  conceive  the  word 
Prcemonere  turned,  by  corruption  of  barbarous  transcribers,  inter- 
preters, and  pronouncers,  into  Prcemnnire.  Others  allege  the 
figure  of  the  effect  for  the  cause,  and  the  common  proverb,  Pr(B- 
monitus,  PrcBmunitus.  Most  sure  it  is  that  PrcBmunire  facias 
are  operative  words,  in  the  form  of  the  writ  grounded  on  the  statute, 
which  may  give  denomination  to  the  whole. 

36.  Pope's  Covetousness  odious  to  the  Clergy. 
It  may  seem  strange  such  a  statute  could  pass  in  Parliament, 
where  almost  sixty  spiritual  barons  (bishops  and  abbots)  voted 
according  to  papal  interest ;  except  any  will  say,  that  such  who 
formerly  had  much  of  a  pope  in  their  bellies  had  now  more  of 
patriots  in  their  breast,  being  weary  of  Rome's  exactions.  Indeed, 
no  man  in  place  of  power  or  profit  loves  to  behold  himself  buried 
alive,  by  seeing  his  successor  assigned  unto  him,  which  caused  all 
clergymen  to  hate  such  superinductions,  and  many  friends  to  the 
pope  were  foes  to  his  proceedings  therein. 

37-   The  Pope''s  Letter  agaitist  this  Statute. 
This  law  angered  all  the  veins  in  the  heart  of  his  Holiness  :  the 
statute  of  Mortmain  put  him  into  a  sweat,  but  this  into  the  fit  of  a 


464  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A. D.  139.3. 

fever.  The  former  concerned  him  only  mediately  in  the  abbeys  his 
darlings  ;  this  touched  him  in  his  person  :  and  how  choleric  he  was, 
will  appear  by  the  following  letter,  here  inserted  (though  written 
some  fifty  years  after)  to  make  the  story  entire  :— 

Martinus  episcopns,  servus  servornni  Dei,  dilecto  filio  nobili 
viro  Johajiiii,  Duci   Bedford^   salutem    et   apostolicam   benedic- 
tionem. — Quamvis  dudum  in  regno  AngUa,  jurisdictio  Romante 
ecclesice,   et    liber tas  ecclesiastica  fuerit   oppressa,    vigor e   ilUiis 
EXECRABiLis    8TATUTI,    quod  omni   divinet   et   humanee   rationi 
cantrarium    est:    iamen  adhuc  non  fuit  ad    tantam   vioUntiam 
prolapsum,    ut    in    sedis   apostolica    nuncios   ct  legatos   manus 
temere  mitterentur  ;  sicut  novissime  Juctum  est  in  persona  dilecti 
Jilii  Johannis  de  Ois'is  palatii  apastolici  causarum  auditoris,  et  in 
prafato  regno  nuntii,  et  collectojis  nostri,  quern  audivimus  ex  hdc 
sold  causa,  quod  literas  apostoUcas  nostro  nomine  prasentabat, 
fuisse  per  aliquos  de  ipso  regno  career ibus  mancipatum.    ^uce 
injuria  nobis,  et  apostolica  sedi  illata,  animum  nostrum  ojfecit 
admiratione,  turbatione,  et  molestid  singulari.     Miramur  enim, 
stupescimus,  et  dolemus,  quod    tam  fcedvm  et    turpe   fjcinus 
in  illo  regno  commissum  sit,  contra  sedem  B.  Petri,  et  nuntios 
ejus,  j)r<£sertim  cum  literts  illee  nostra,  nil  allud  quam  salutem 
animarum,    Jionorem    regni,  et  per  omnia  paternas  et   sanctas 
admonitiones  continererit.     Fuit  enim  semper  etiam  apud  Gen- 
tiles, qui  nullam  tenebant  vera  Jidei  rationem  inviolabile  nomen 
NUNCii ;    atque  legati  etiamsi    ah   liostibus  mitterentur  semper 
salvi,  et  hodie  apud    Saracenos  ct  Turcos,   a    quibnsdam    tute 
destinantur  legationes  et  liter ce  ;  etiamsi  illis  ad  quos  deferuntur 
molestct  sint  et  injuriosa;.     Et  nuncius  noster,  vir  humanus   et 
moderatus,  et  continud  conversatione  notissiimis  in  regno  Anglia, 
quod  devotion e  fide i,  ct  cultu  divino  se  jactat  omnes  alias   Chris- 
tianas  rationes  superare  turpiter  captus  est,  nihil  impium,  nee 
hostile  deferens,  sed  literas  salutares  et  justas.     Sed  revereantur 
aliqtcando   illi    qui   sic    contumaciter   et   supcrbe   ecclesiam  Dei 
contemnent,   et    sedis    apostolica    authoritatcm,  ne    super    ipsos 
eveniat  Justa   punitio,   ex    Christi  judicio^   qui    earn    instituit 
et  fiindavit.     Caveant  ne  tot  cuniulatis  qjfcnsis  Deum    irritent 
ad  %dtionem,  et  tarditatem  svpplicii  gravitate  compensent.     Non 
videbatur   eis    satis   crff'endisse    Deum   statuta    condendo    contra 
vicarium  ejus,  contra  ecclesiam  et  ccclesia.  caput,  nisi  pertinaciter 
perseverantes  in  mulo  proposito,  in  nuntium  apostoUcum  violentas 
manus  iijicerent  ?      Quod  non  dubdamus  tua  excellentia,  qua 
ecclesia  et  regni  honorem   diligit,  displicere,  et  certi  suvius  quod 
si  fuisses  in  Angl'id,  pro  tad  naturali  prndentid,  et  pro  fide  et 
devotione  quam  geres  erga  nos,  et  ecclesiam  Dei,  illos  rncurrere 


16  RICHARD  II.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV,  4<)0 

ijt  hunc  J'urorem  nidldtenus  permisisses.  Verilm  cum  nan  solilm 
ipsis  qui  hoc  fecerunt,  sod  toti  regno  magna  acceder'it  igjiominia, 
et  dietim,  si  persev€7'ahit  in  eiTorc,  acccssina  sit  major  ;  gcnc- 
rositatcm  tuam,  in  qua  valde  conjidemus,  exhortamur^  et  affcctiiose 
rog-amus,  ut  circa  Ikec  provideas,  prout  sapjentite  luce  videbitur, 
honori  nostra,  et  ecclesiee,  ac  saluti  regni  convenire.  Datum 
Roma  apud  Sanctos  Apostolos,  VI  Kal.  Junii,  pontificatus  nostri 
anno  \9,mo.*' 

Give  winners  leave  to  laugh,  and  losers  to  speak,  or  else  both  will 
take  leave  to  themselves.  The  less  the  pope  could  bite,  the  more 
he  roared,  and,  as  it  appears  by  his  language,  he  was  highly  offended 
thereat.  This  penal  statute  as  a  rod  was  for  many  years  laid  upon 
the  desk,  or  rather  locked  up  in  the  cupboard  ;  no  great  visible 
use  being  made  thereof,  until  the  reign  of  king  Henry  VIII. 
whereof  hereafter. 

38.  More  scared  than  hurt. 

Since  the  Reformation,  the  professors  of  the  common  law  have 
taken  much  advantage  out  of  this  statute,  threatening  therewith  such 
as  are  active  in  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdictions,  as  if  their  dealings 
tended  to  be  the  disherison  of  the  crown  ;  a  weapon  wherewith  they 
have  rather  flourished  than  struck,  it  being  suspicious,  that  that 
appearing  sword  is  but  all  hilt  whose  blade  was  never  drawn  out,  as 
this  charge  hath  never  been  driven  home  against  them.  But,  herein 
let  us  hearken  to  the  learned  judgment  of  Sir  Thomas  Smith, 
secretary  of  state,  who  well  knew  the  interest  of  his  sovereign 
therein. 

39-  Sir  Thomas  Smith''s  Judgment  herein. 

"  Because  the  court,  which  is  called  curia  Christia?iitatis,  is 
yet  taken  for  an  extern  and  foreign  court,  and  difFereth  from  the 
polity  and  manner  of  government  of  the  realm,  and  is  another  court, 
as  appeareth  by  the  Act  and  Writ  of  Praemunire,  than  C7iria  regis 
aut  regincB  ;  yet,  at  this  present,  this  court,  as  well  as  others,  hath 
her  force,  power,  authority,  rule,  and  jurisdiction  from  the  royal 
majesty  and  the  crown  of  England,  and  from  no  other  foreign 
potentate  or  power,  under  God  ;  which  being  granted,  as  indeed  it 
is  true,  it  may  now  appear  by  some  reason,  that  the  first  statute  of 
Preemunire,  whereof  I  have  spoken,  hath  now  no  place  in  England, 
seeing  there  is  no  pleading  alibiquamin  curia  regis  ac  regince.''''']- — 
All  I  will  add  of  this  statute  is  this  :   That  it  hath  had  the  hard  liap 

*  The  original  of  tliis  Bill  was  iu  the  study  of  Sir  Nicholas  Bacou,  lord  chaucollor, 
"whence  the  archbishop  of  Armagh  had  this  his  cop)-,  from  which  that  of  Sir  Kohert 
Cotton  is  derived.  t  Commomvealth  of  England,  book  iii.  chap.  H. 

Vol.  I.  H  H 


40G  CHUllCH    HISTORY    OF    DRITAIN.  A.D.  1393 97. 

not  to  be  honoured  with  so  many  readings  therein,  as  other  statutes  ; 
perliaps  because  not  bringing  in  crpocraXi^jTa,  in  proportion  to  the 
pains  which  must  be  laid  out  thereon  ;  and  therefore  I  would  invite 
some  ingenious  in  our  common  law,  (and  with  such  no  doubt  it 
aboundeth,)  to  bestow  their  learned  endeavours  thereon,  to  their 
own  honour,  and  advancement  of  the  truth  in  so  noble  a  subject. 

40.    The  solemn  Form  of  an  Abjuration.     AD.  139-5. 

Many  poor  souls  at  this  time  were,  by  fear  or  flattery,  moved  to 
abjure  the  truth,  and  promise  future  conformity  to  the  church  of 
Rome.  In  proof  whereof,  let  not  the  reader  think  much  to  peruse 
the  following  instruments  :  First.  For  the  authenticness  thereof, 
being  truly  copied  out  of  the  originals  of  the  Tower.  Secondly. 
Because  it  contains  some  extraordinary  formalities  of  abjuration. 
Lastly.  Because  the  four  persons  mentioned  therein  have  escaped 
Mr.  Fox's  observation,  seeing  no  drag-net  can  be  so  carefully  cast 
as  to  catch  all  things  which  come  under  it. 

"  Memoraiid.  qnod  primo  die  S'eptemhru;  aniw  rcgnl  regis 
Richardi  Secundi  post  Conguestum  decimo-nono  Will.  DiJiiet^ 
jVic.  Taillour,  A^ic.  Poiicher,  et  Will.  Steynour  de  Notyngham, 
in  cancel/or.  ipsius  regis  pcrsonnliter  constiiuti  sacra  divisim 
prestiterniit  sub  eo  qui  sequitur  tenore  : — * 

"  I,  William  Dynet,  be-for  yhow  worshipefuU  father  and  lord 
archbishop  of  Yliorke,  and  yhother  clergie  with  my  free  will  and 
full  avysede  swere  to  God  and  to  all  his  sayntes  upon  this  holy 
Gospells,  yat  fro  this  day  forwarde  I  shall  worship  ymages  with 
preying  and  ofFeryng  unto  hem  in  the  worschep  of  the  sayntes  that 
yey  be  made  after.  And  alsoe  I  shall  never  more  despise  pvgre- 
mage  ne  states  of  holy  chyrche,  in  no  degree.  And  alsoe  I  shall 
be  buxum  to  the  laws  of  holy  chyrche  and  to  yhowe  as  myn  arch- 
bishop, and  to  myn  oyer  ordinares  and  curates,  and  kepe  yo  lawes 
upon  my  power  and  meynten  hem.  And  alsoe  I  shall  never  more 
meynten,  ne  tochen,  ne  defenden  errours,  conclusions,  ne  techynges 
of  the  Lollardes,  ne  swych  conclusions  and  techynges  that  men 
clepyth  Lollardes  doctryn,  ne  I  shall  her  bokes.  Ne  swych  bokes 
ne  hem  or  any  suspeict  or  difFamede  of  Lolardery  resceyve,  or  com- 
pany withall  wyttyngly  or  defende  in  yo  matters,  and  yf  I  know  ony 
swich,  I  shall  wyth  all  the  haste  that  y  may  do  yhowe  or  els  your 
ner  officers  to  wyten,  and  of  her  bokes.  And  also  I  shall  excite 
and  stirre  all  you  to  goode  doctryn  yat  I  have  hindered  with  myn 
doctryn  up  my  power,  and  also  I  shall  stonde  to  your  declaracion 
wych  es  heresy  or  errour  and  do  therafter.  And  also  what  penance 
yhe  woll  for  yat  I  have  don  for  meyntenyng  of  this  false  doctryn  in 

•  Ex  Rotulo  Clausar.  de  anno  regni  regis  decimo-nono  Ricardi  II,  memb.  18. 


21    RICHARD   II.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XIV.  467 

mynd  mee  and  I  shall  fulfill  it,  and  I  submit  me  yer  to  up  my 
power,  and  also  I  shall  make  no  othir  glosc  of  this  my  oth,  bot  as 
ye  wordes  stonde,  and  if  it  be  so  that  I  come  againe  or  doe  again 
this  oath  or  eny  party  thereof  I  yhelde  me  here  cowpable  as  an 
heretyk,  and  to  be  punyshed  be  the  lawe  as  an  heretyk,  and  to  forfet 
all  my  godes  to  the  kynges  will  withowten  any  othir  processe  of 
lawe,  and  yerto  I  require  ye  notarie  to  make  of  all  this,  ye  whych  is 
my  will,  an  instrument "agayns  me. 

"  Et  ex  habiindanti  idem  Will.  Dynet  eodem  die  voluit  et  recog- 
vovit  quod  omnia  bona  et  caialla  sua  mobilia  nobis  sintybris/ca  in 
casu  quo  ipse  Juramentum  pradietum  seu  aliqua  in  eodem  Jura- 
mento  contenla  de  cetcro  contravcnerit  iillo  modo.'''' 

41.   Take  it,  Faults  and  all. 

We  have  here  exemplified  this  abjuration  just  according  to  the 
originals,  with  all  the  faults  and  pseudography  thereof.  F^r  I 
remember,  in  my  time,  an  under-clerk  at  court  threatened  to 
be  called  before  the  Green-Cloth  for  an  innovation  from  former 
bills,  though  only  writing  sinapi  with  an  s,  contrary  to  the  common 
custom  of  the  clerks  of  the  kitchen,  formerly  writing  of  it  with' a  c  : 
so  wedded  are  some  men  to  old  orders,  and  so  dangerous  in  their 
judgment  is  the  least  deviation  from  them  ! 

42.  Some  Observations  on  this  Abjuration. 

The  archbishop  of  York  mentioned  therein  was  Thomas  Arundel, 
then  chancellor  of  England  ;  and  in  all  probability  this  instrument 
was  dated  at  York.  For  I  find  that  at  this  very  time,  Thomas 
Arundel,  to  humble  the  Londoners,  (then  reputed  disaffected  to  the 
king,)  removed  the  terms  and  courts  to  York,*  where  they  con- 
tinued for  some  short  time,  and  then  returned  to  their  ancient  course. 
Whereas  he  is  enjoined  point-blank  to  worship  images,  it  seemeth 
that  the  modern  nice  distinction  of  worshipping  of  saints  in 
IMAGES  was  not  yet  in  fashion.  It  appeareth  herein  that  relapse 
after  abjuration  was  not  as  yet  (as  afterwards)  punishable  with  death, 
but  only  with  forfeiture  of  goods  to  the  crown. 

43,  44,  45.  The  Death  of  John  de  Trevisa  ;  who  translated 
the  Bible  into  English,  yet  escaped  Persecution.  A.D.  1397- 
This  year  a  godly,  learned,  and  aged  servant  of  God  ended  his 
days  ;  namely,  John  de  Trevisa,  a  gentleman  of  an  ancient  family, -f- 
(bearing  Gules,  a  Garbe,  Or,)  born  at  Crocadon  in  Cornwall,  a 
secular  priest,  and  vicar  of  Berkeley  ;  a  painful  and  faithful  translator 

•  Godwin  in  liis  "  Catalogue  of  the  Archbishops  of  York."  t  Carew's  "  Survey 

of  Cornwall,"  page  114. 

2  H  2 


466  cHuncH  history  of  dritain.  a.d.  1393 — 97- 

not  to  be  honoured  with  so  many  readings  therein,  as  other  statutes  ; 
perliaps  because  not  bringing  in  'crpocraX<f  ira,  in  proportion  to  the 
pains  Avhich  must  be  laid  out  thereon  ;  and  therefore  I  would  invite 
some  ingenious  in  our  common  law,  (and  with  such  no  doubt  it 
aboundeth,)  to  bestow  their  learned  endeavours  thereon,  to  their 
own  honour,  and  advancement  of  the  truth  in  so  noble  a  subject. 

40.   The  solemn  Form  of  an  Abjuration.     AD.  139-5. 

Many  poor  souls  at  this  time  were,  by  fear  or  flattery,  moved  to 
abjure  the  truth,  and  promise  future  conformity  to  the  church  of 
Rome.  In  proof  whereof,  let  not  the  reader  think  much  to  peruse 
the  following  instruments  :  First.  For  the  authenticness  thereof, 
being  truly  copied  out  of  the  originals  of  the  Tower.  Secondly. 
Because  it  contains  some  extraordinary  formalities  of  abjuration. 
Lastly.  Because  the  four  persons  mentioned  therein  have  escaped 
Mr.  Fox's  observation,  seeing  no  drag-net  can  be  so  carefully  cast 
as  to  catch  all  things  which  come  under  it. 

"  Memoraiid.  quod  prhno  die  Septemhris,  anno  rcgn'i  regis 
R'lchardi  Secund'i  post  ConqnesUtvi  dccimo-no7io  Will.  Dynet.f 
Nic.  TaUloiii\  Nic.  Poucher,  et  Will.  Steynour  de  Notynghavi, 
hi  cancellar.  ipsins  regis  pcr.sonaliter  constiiuti  sacra  divisim 
prestiterwit  sub  eo  qui  sequitur  tenore : — * 

"  I,  William  Dynet,  be-for  yhow  worshipefull  father  and  lord 
archbishop  of  Yhorke,  and  yhother  clergie  with  my  free  will  and 
full  avysede  swere  to  God  and  to  all  his  sayntes  upon  this  holy 
Gospells,  yat  fro  this  day  forwarde  I  shall  worship  ymages  with 
preying  and  ofFeryng  unto  hem  in  the  worschep  of  the  sayntes  that 
yey  be  made  after.  And  alsoe  I  shall  never  more  despise  pygre- 
mage  ne  states  of  holy  chyrche,  in  no  degree.  And  alsoe  I  shall 
be  buxum  to  the  laws  of  holy  chyrche  and  to  yhowe  as  myn  arch- 
bishop, and  to  myn  oyer  ordinares  and  curates,  and  kepe  yo  lawes 
upon  my  power  and  meynten  hem.  And  alsoe  I  shall  never  more 
meynten,  ne  tochen,  ne  defenden  errours,  conclusions,  ne  techynges 
of  the  Lollardes,  ne  swych  conclusions  and  techynges  that  men 
clepyth  Lollardes  doctryn,  ne  I  shall  her  bokes.  Ne  swych  bokes 
ne  hem  or  any  suspeict  or  difFamede  of  Lolardery  resceyve,  or  com- 
pany withall  wyttyngly  or  defende  in  yo  matters,  and  yf  I  know  ony 
swich,  I  shall  wyth  all  the  haste  that  y  may  do  yhowe  or  els  your 
ner  officers  to  wyten,  and  of  her  bokes.  And  also  I  shall  excite 
and  stirre  all  you  to  goode  doctryn  yat  I  have  hindered  with  myn 
doctryn  up  my  power,  and  also  I  shall  stonde  to  your  declaracion 
wych  es  heresy  or  errour  and  do  therafter.  And  also  what  penance 
yhe  woll  for  yat  I  have  don  for  meyntenyng  of  this  false  doctryn  in 

•  Ex  Rotulo  Clausar.  de  anno  regni  retjis  decimo-nono  Ricardi  II.  memb.  18. 


21    RICHARD   II.  BOOK    IV.       CKNT.    XIV.  467 

mynd  mee  and  I  shall  fulfill  it,  and  I  submit  me  yer  to  up  my 
power,  and  also  I  shall  make  no  othir  glose  of  this  my  oth,  bot  as 
ye  wordes  stonde,  and  if  it  be  so  that  I  come  againe  or  doe  again 
this  oath  or  eny  party  thereof  I  yhelde  me  here  cowpable  as  an 
heretyk,  and  to  be  punyshed  be  the  lawe  as  an  heretyk,  and  to  forfet 
all  my  godes  to  the  kynges  will  withowten  any  othir  processe  of 
lawe,  and  yerto  I  require  ye  notarie  to  make  of  all  this,  ye  whych  is 
my  will,  an  instrument 'agayns  me. 

"  Fa  cx  habiindanti  idem  Will.  Dynet  eodem  die  voluit  et  recog- 
novit  quod  omnia  bona  et  caialla  sua  mobilia  nobis  sintjorisfca  in 
casii  quo  ipse  J ur amentum  py^dictum  sen  aliqna  in  eodem  Ju7'a- 
mento  contenta  de  cetcro  contravcnerit  ullo  modo.'''' 

41.  Take  it,  Faults  and  all. 
We  have  here  exemplified  this  abjuration  just  according  to  the 
originals,  with  all  the  faults  and  pseudography  thereof.  F^r  I 
remember,  in  my  time,  an  under-clerk  at  court  threatened  to 
be  called  before  the  Green-Cloth  for  an  innovation  from  former 
bills,  though  only  writing  sinapi  with  an  s,  contrary  to  the  common 
custom  of  the  clerks  of  the  kitchen,  formerly  writing  of  it  with' a  c  : 
so  wedded  are  some  men  to  old  orders,  and  so  dangerous  in  their 
judgment  is  the  least  deviation  from  them  ! 

42.  So77ie  Observations  on  this  Abjuration. 

The  archbishop  of  York  mentioned  therein  was  Thomas  Arundel, 
then  chancellor  of  England  ;  and  in  all  probability  this  instrument 
was  dated  at  York.  For  I  find  that  at  this  very  time,  Thomas 
Arundel,  to  humble  the  Londoners,  (then  reputed  disaffected  to  the 
king,)  removed  the  terms  and  courts  to  York,*  where  they  con- 
tinued for  some  short  time,  and  then  returned  to  their  ancient  course. 
Whereas  he  is  enjoined  point-blank  to  worship  images,  it  seemeth 
that  the  modern  nice  distinction  of  worshipping  of  saints  in 
IMAGES  was  not  yet  in  fashion.  It  appeareth  herein  that  relapse 
after  abjuration  was  not  as  yet  (as  afterwards)  punishable  with  death, 
but  only  with  forfeiture  of  goods  to  the  crown. 

43,  44,  45.  The  Death  of  John  de  Trevisa  ;  who  translated 
the  Bible  into  English,  yet  escaped  Perseczition.  A.D.  1397- 
This  year  a  godly,  learned,  and  aged  servant  of  God  ended  his 
days;  namely,  John  de  Trevisa,  a  gentleman  of  an  ancient  family, -f- 
(bearing  Gules,  a  Garbe,  Or,)  born  at  Crocadon  in  Cornwall,  a 
secular  priest,  and  vicar  of  Berkeley  ;  a  painful  and  faithful  translator 

•  Godwin  in  his  "  Catalogue  of  the  Archbishops  of  York."  f  Carew's  "  Survey 

of  Comvfall,"  page  114. 

2  H  2 


468  CHURCH    HISTORY     OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.   1397 9. 

of  many  and  great  books  into  English,  as  "  Polychronicon,"  written 
by  Ranulplius  of  Chester,  Bartholomseus  De  Rerum  Proprietatibus, 
&c.  But  his  master-piece  was  the  translating  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament ;  justifying  his  act  herein  by  the  example  of  Bede,  who 
turned  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  in  English. 

I  know  not  which  more  to  admire,  his  ability,  that  he  could 
— his  courage,  that  he  durst — or  his  industry,  that  he  did — perform 
so  difficult  and  dangerous  a  task  ;  having  no  other  commission  than 
the  command  of  his  patron,  Thomas  Lord  Berkeley  :  *  which  lord, 
as  the  said  Trevisa  observeth,-f-  had  the  Apocalypse  in  Latin  and 
French,  then  generally  understood  by  the  better  sort  as  well  as 
English,  written  on  the  roof  and  walls  of  his  chapel  at  Berkeley  ;  and 
which  not  long  since,  (namely,  an7io  1622,)  so  remained,  as  not 
much  defaced.  Whereby  we  may  observe,  that,  midnight  being 
past,  some  early  risers  even  then  began  to  strike  fire,  and  enlighten 
themselves  from  the  Scriptures. 

It  may  seem  a  miracle,  that  the  bishops  being  thus  busy  in  per- 
secuting God's  servants,  and  Trevisa  so  obnoxious  to  their  fury  for 
this  translation,  that  he  lived  and  died  without  any  molestation. 
Yet  was  he  a  known  enemy  to  monkery ;  witness  that  (among 
many  other)  of  his  speeches,  that  he  "had  read  how  Christ  had  sent 
apostles  and  priests  into  the  world,  but  never  any  monks  or  begging 
friars.";];  But,  whether  it  was  out  of  reverence  to  his  own  aged 
gravity,  or  respect  to  his  patron"'s  greatness,  he  died  full  of  honour, 
quiet,  and  age,  little  less  than  ninety  years  old.  For,  1.  He  ended 
his  translation  of  "  Polychronicon,"  (as  appeareth  by  the  conclusion 
thereof,)  the  29th  of  Edward  III.  when  he  cannot  be  presumed 
less  than  thirty  years  of  age.  2.  He  added  to  the  end  thereof, 
fifty  (some  say  more)§  years  of  his  own  historical  observations. 
Thus  as  he  gave  a  Garbe  or  Wheat-sheaf  for  his  arms,  so,  to  use 
the  prophet's  expression,  "the  Lord  gathered  him  as  a  sheaf  into  the 
floor,"  Micah  iv.  12,  even  full  ripe  and  ready  for  the  same. 

46,  47i  48,  49.  As  did  his  Contemporary  Geoffery  Chancer. 
His  Parentage  and  Arms.  He  refined  our  English  Tongue. 
A  great  E^iemy  to  Friars.     A.D.  1399^ 

We  may  couple  with  him  his  contemporary,  Geoffery  Chaucer, 
born  (some  say)  in  Berkshire,  others  in  Oxfordshire,  most  and  truest 
in  London.  If  the  Grecian  Homer  had  seven,  let  our  English  have 
three  places  contest  for  his  nativity.  Our  Homer,  I  say  ;  only  herein 
he  differed  :  McBonides  nullas  ipse  reliquit  opes :  "  Homer  him- 

"  Bal^us  De  Script.  Angl.  cent.  vii.  mini.  18.  \  "  Polychronicon,"  fol.  2. 

t  Bal.bus,  ut prhts.  §  Pitz.eus  De  Script.  Jngl. 


23  RICHARD   II.  BOOK    IV,       CENT.    XIV.  469 

self  did  leave  no  pelf:"  whereas  our  Chaucer  left  behind  him  a  rich 
and  worshipful  estate. 

His  father  was  a  vintner  in  London  ;  and  I  have  heard  his  arms 
quarrelled  at,  being  Argent  and  Gules  strangely  contrived,  and  hard 
to  be  blazoned.  Some  more  wits  have  made  it  the  dashing  of  white 
and  red  wine,  (the  parents  of  our  ordinary  claret,)  as  nicking  his 
father's  profession.  But  were  Chaucer  alive,  he  would  justify  his 
own  arms  in  the  face  of  all  his  opposers,  being  not  so  devoted  to  the 
Muses,  but  he  was  also  a  son  of  Mars.  He  was  the  prince  of 
English  poets;  married  the  daughter  of  Pain  Roec,  king  of  arms 
in  France,  and  sister  to  the  wife  of  John  of  Gaunt,  king  of  Castile. 

He  was  a  great  refiner  and  illuminer  of  our  English  tongue  ;  and, 
if  he  left  it  so  bad,  how  much  worse  did  he  find  it !  Witness 
Leland  thus  praising  him  : — 

Prcedicat  Algeruin  mcrito  Florentia  Danicm, 

Italia  ct  mimeros  toia,  Pctrarche,  tuos. 
Anglia  Ckaucerttm  veneratur  nostra  Poetain^ 

Cut  Veneres  debet  patria  lingua  suas. 

"  Of  Alger  Dan^s,  Floreuce  dotli  justly  boast, 
Of  Petrarcb.  brags  all  tbe  Italian  coast. 
England  doth  poet  Chaucer  reverence, 
To  whom  our  language  owes  its  eloquence." 

Indeed,  Verstegan,  a  learned  antiquary,*  condemns  him,  for 
spoiling  the  purity  of  the  English  tongue,  by  the  mixture  of  so  many 
French  and  Latin  words.  But  he  who  mingles  wine  with  water, 
though  he  destroys  the  nature  of  water,  improves  the  quality  thereof. 

I  "find  this  Chaucer  fined  in  the  Temple  two  shillings  for  striking 
a  Franciscan  friar  in  Fleet-street ;  and  it  seems  his  hands  ever  after, 
itched  to  be  revenged,  and  have  his  pennyworths  out  of  them,  so 
tickling  religious  Orders  with  his  tales,  and  yet  so  pinching  them 
with  his  truths,  that  friars,  in  reading  his  books,  know  not  how  to 
dispose  their  faces  betwixt  crying  and  laughing.  He  lies  buried  in 
the  south  aisle  of  St.  Peter's,  Westminster  ;  and  since  hath  got  the 
company  of  Spencer  and  Draytf)n,  a  pair  royal  of  poets,  enough 
almost  to  make  passengers'  feet  to  move  metrically,  who  go  over  the 
place  where  so  much  poetical  dust  is  interred. 

50,  51,  52,  53.  A  short  Quiet  in  the  Church.      The  Charactei' 

of  Richard  II.     Conspired   against   by   Henry   IV.    and 

resigneth  the  Crown. 

Since  the  abjuration  last  exemplified,  we  meet  in  this  king's  reign 

no  more  persecution  from   the  bishops.     We   impute   this,  not  to 

their   pity,  but   other  employment, — now   busy   in    making   their 

*  In  his  •'  Restitution  of  (le<'aycd  Intelligence,''  page  203. 


470         CHURCH  HISTOKY  OF  BRITAIN.         A.D.  1399. 

applications  to  the  new  king,  on  the  change  of  government,  king 
Richard  being  now  deposed. 

He  was  one  of  a  goodly  person,  of  a  nature  neither  good  nor  bad 
but  according  to  his  company,  which  commonly  were  of  the  more 
vicious.  His  infancy  was  educated  under  several  lord  Protectors 
successively,  under  whom  his  intellectuals  thrived,  as  babes  battle 
with  many  nurses,  commonly  the  worse  for  the  change.  At  last  he 
grew  up  to  full  age  and  empty  mind,  judicious  only  in  pleasure, 
giving  himself  over  to  all  licentiousness. 

As  king  Richard  was  too  weak  to  govern  ;  so  Henry  duke  of 
Lancaster,  his  cousin-german,  was  too  wilful  to  be  governed.  Taking 
advantage  therefore  of  the  king's  absence  in  Ireland,  he  combined 
with  other  of  the  discontented  nobility,  and  draws  up  articles  against 
him  ;  some  true,  some  false,  some  both  ;  as  wherein  truth  brought 
the  matter,  and  malice  made  the  measure.  Many  misdemeanours 
(more  misfortunes)  are  laid  to  his  charge, — murdering  the  nobility, 
advancing  of  worthless  minions,  sale  of  justice,  oppression  of  all 
people  with  unconscionable  taxations.  For,  such  princes  as  carry  a 
fork  in  one  hand  must  bear  a  rake  in  the  other ;  and  must  covet- 
ously scrape  to  maintain  what  they  causelessly  scatter. 

Looseness  brings  men  into  straits  at  last,  as  king  Richard  may  be 
an  instance  thereof.  Returning  into  England,  he  is  reduced  to  this 
doleful  dilemma, — either  voluntarily,  by  resigning,  to  depose  himself; 
or  violently,  by  detrusion,  to  be  deposed  by  others.  His  misery 
and  his  enemies'  ambition  admit  of  no  expedient.  Yea,  in  all  this 
act  his  little  judgment  stood  only  a  looker-on,  whilst  his  fear  did 
what  was  to  be  done,  directed  by  the  force  of  others.  In  hopes  of 
life,  he  solemnly  resigneth  the  crown  ;  but  all  in  vain.  For,  cruel 
thieves  seldom  rob  but  they  also  kill ;  and  king  Henry  his  successor 
could  not  meet  with  a  soft  pillow  so  long  as  the  other  wore  a  warm 
head.  Whereupon,  not  long  after,  king  Richard  was  barbarously 
murdered  at  Pontefract  Castle.  But  of  these  transactions  the 
reader  may  satisfy  himself  at  large  out  of  our  civil  historians. 

54.   The  Baseness  of  the  disloyal  Clergij. 

Only  we  will  add,  that  the  clergy  were  the  first  that  led  this 
dance  of  disloyalty.  Thomas  Arundel,  now  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, in  the  room  of  William  Courtenay  deceased,  made  a  sermon 
on  Samuefs  words,  Vir  dominahitur  popido.  He  showed  himself 
a  satirist  in  the  former,  a  parasite  in  the  latter  part  of  his  sermon,  a 
traitor  in  both.  He  aggravated  the  childish  weakness  of  king 
Richard,  and  his  inability  to  govern  ;  magnifying  the  parts  and  per- 
fections of  Henry  duke  of  Lancaster.  But,  by  the  archbishop's 
leave,   grant   Richard   either   deservedly  deposed  or  naturally  dead 


2  HENRY  IV.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XtV.  471 

"»vithout  issue,  the  right  to  the  crown  lay  not  in  this  Henry,  but  in 
Roger  Mortimer,  earl  of  March,  descended,  by  his  mother  Philippa, 
from  Lionel,  duke  of  Clarence,  elder  son  to  Edward  III.  This  the 
archbishop  did  willingly  conceal.  Thus  in  all  state -alterations,  be 
they  never  so  bad,  the  pulpit  will  be  of  the  same  wood  with  the 
council-board.  And  thus  ambitious  clergymen  abuse  the  silver 
trumpets  of  the  sanctuary  ;  who,  reversing  them,  and  putting  the 
wrong  end  into  their  mouths,  make  what  Avas  appointed  to  sound 
religion  to  signify  rebellion. 

55,  56,  57,  58,  59.  The  courageous  Conscience  of  the  Bishop  of 
Carlisle.  Innocency  the  best  Armour.  Activity  ivill  be 
tampering.  A  Bishop  not  triable  by  his  Peers.  A  season- 
able Expedient.  A.D.ViQO. 
But  whilst  all  other  churches  in  England  rung  congratulatory 
peals  to  king  Henry ''s  happiness,  one  jarring  bell  almost  marred  the 
melody  of  all  the  rest,  even  Thomas  JSIerks,  bishop  of  Carlisle. 
For,  when  the  lords  in  Parliament,  not  content  to  depose  king 
Richard,  were  devising  more  mischief  against  him,  up  steps  the 
aforesaid  bishop,  formerly  chaplain  to  the  king,  and  expresseth  him- 
self as  followeth  : — "  There  is  no  man  present  worthy  to  pass  his 
sentence  on  so  great  a  king,  as  to  whom  they  have  obeyed  as  their 
lawful  prince,  full  two-and-twenty  years.  This  is  the  part  of 
traitors,  cut-throats,  and  thieves.  None  is  so  wicked,  none  so  vile, 
who,  though  he  be  charged  with  a  manifest  crime,  we  should  think 
to  condemn  before  we  heard  him.  And  you, — do  ye  account  it 
equal  to  pass  sentence  on  a  king  anointed  and  crowned,  giving  him 
no  leave  to  defend  himself.?  How  unjust  is  this  !  But  let  us  con- 
sider the  matter  itself  I  say,  nay,  openly  affirm,  that  Henry  duke 
of  Lancaster,  whom  you  are  pleased  to  call  your  king,  hath  most 
unjustly  spoiled  Richard,  as  well  his  sovereign  as  ours,  of  his 
kingdom,"*  More  would  he  have  spoken,  when  the  Lord  Marshal 
enjoined  him  silence,  for  speaking  too  much  truth  in  so  dangerous  a 
time.  Since,  it  seems,  some  historians  have  made  up  what  more  he 
would  have  said,  spinning  these  his  heads  into  a  very  large  oration, 
thouffh  tedious  to  none  save  those  of  the  Lancastrian  faction. 

Here,  if  ever,  did  the  proverb  take  effect,  "  Truth  may  be 
blamed,  but  cannot  be  shamed  ;"  for,  although  the  rest  of  the 
bishops,  being  guilty  themselves,  condemned  him,  as  discovering 
more  convent-devotion  (who  originally  was  a  monk  of  Westminster) 
than  court  discretion,  in  dissenting  from  his  brethren  ;  yet  generally 
he  was  beheld  as  loyalty's  confessor,  speaking  what  became  his 
calling,  in  discharge  of  his  conscience.       Yea,    for    the    present, 

*  Bishop  Ooouin  in  tin.'  Bishops  of  Carlisle. 


472  CHUKCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1400 — 8. 

such    the  reverence  to  his  integrity,   no  punishment  was  imposed 
upon  him. 

Merks  was  conceived,  in  the  judgment  of  most  moderate  men, 
abundantly  to  have  satisfied  his  conscience  with  his  speech  in  Parlia- 
ment. But  how  hard  is  it  to  stop  an  active  soul  in  its  full  speed  ! 
He  thought  himself  bound,  not  only  to  speak,  but  do,  yea,  and 
suffer  too,  if  called  thereunto,  for  his  sovereign.  This  moved  him 
to  engage  with  Henry  Hotspur,  and  other  discontented  lords, 
against  king  Henry  ;  on  whose  defeat,  this  bishop  was  taken  prisoner, 
and  judicially  arraigned  for  high  treason. 

This  is  one  of  the  clearest  distinguishing  characters  betwixt  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  lords, — that  the  former  are  to  be  tried  per 
pares,  "  by  their  peers,"  being  barons  of  the  realm  ;  the  latter  are 
by  law  and  custom  allowed  a  trial  only  by  a  jury  of  able  and  sub- 
stantial persons.  Such  men  found  bishop  Merks  guilty  of  treason, 
for  which  he  was  condemned  and  sent  prisoner  to  St.  Alban'^s.* 

The  king  would  gladly  have  had  a  fair  riddance  of  this  bishop, 
whom  he  could  not  with  credit  keep  here,  nor  send  hence  ;  as  to 
deprive  him  of  life,  it  was  dangerous  in  those  days,  when  some 
sacredness  was  believed  inherent  in  episcopal  persons.  Here  his 
Ploliness  helped  the  king  with  an  handsome  expedient  to  salve  all 
matters,  by  removing  Merks  to  be  bishop  of  Samos,  in  Grecia.-|- 
I  find  three  Grecian  islands  of  the  same  name,  and  a  critic  |  com- 
plaineth  they  are  often  confounded.  The  best  is,  it  is  not  much 
material  of  which  of  them  Merks  was  made  bishop,  having  only  a 
title  (to  starve  in  state)  Avithout  a  penny  profit  thereby.  But 
before  his  translation  was  completed,  he  was  translated  into  another 
■world. 


SECTION  II. 

THE  FIFTEENTH  CENTURY. 

TO    SIR   GERARD   NAPIER,    OF    DORSETSHIRE, 
BARONET. 

I  HAVE  read  that  a  statute  was  made  to  retrench  the 
number  of  great  men  keeping  their  retainers,  in  the 
reign  of  king  Henry  VII.  and  that  politicly  done,  in 
those    mutinous    times,  to    prevent   commotions,   lest 

"  Mr.  Selden  in  a  late  small  "  Treatise  of  Parliaments."  t   Godwin   in  his 

Bishops.  1  Caroll's  Stephanl's  in  Diclionario  Po'etico. 


•10  HENRY  TV,  HOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  473 

some  popular  person  should  raise  a  little  army,  under 
the  covert  of  his  ^reat  attendance :  a  law  improved  to 
rigour,  though  certainly  (as  all  other  penal  statutes) 
intended  but  to  terror;  insomuch  that  the  earl  of 
Oxford,  more  meriting  of  king  Henry  VII.  than  any 
other  subject,  was  even  delivered  to  the  king's  attor- 
ney,* and,  as  report  saith,  fined  fifteen  thousand  marks 
for  exceeding  the  proportion  legally  allowed. 

I  confess,  we  live  in  as  dangerous  days,  and  afford- 
ing as  great  jealousies,  as  those.  But  I  have  cause  to 
be  right  glad,  (as  deeply  concerned  therein,)  that 
though  a  statute  hath  forbidden  many  to  depend  on 
one,  none  hath  prohibited  one  to  depend  on  many 
patrons  ;  but  any  author  of  a  book  may  multiply  them 
sa?i.s-number,  as  driving  on  no  hurtful  design,  but  only 
the  protection  of  his  own  endeavours. 

On  this  account  I  tender  these  my  labours  unto  you, 
knowing  the  very  name  of  Napier  acceptable  to  all 
scholars,  ever  since  the  learned  laird  of  Marchistown 
(no  stranger  to  your  blood,  as  I  am  informed)  by  his 
logarithms  contracted  the  pains,  and  so  by  consequence 
prolonged  the  time  and  life,  of  all  employed  in  nume- 
ration. 

1.  King  Henry  bloody  against  poor  Christians,  yet  asserts  his 
regal  Power  against  the  Pope''s  Encroachments.  A.D.  1408. 

King  Henry  being  conscious  that  he  had  got  and  did  keep  the 
crown  by  a  bad  title,  counted  it  his  wisest  way  to  comply  with  the 
clergy,  whose  present  power  was  not  only  useful  but  needful  for 
him.  To  gain  their  favour,  he  lately  enacted  bloody  laws  for  the 
extirpation  of  poor  Christians,  under  the  false  notion  of  heretics, 
condemning  them  to  be  burnt  ;-f-  a  torment  unheard-of  in  such 
cases  till  that  time  :  and  yet  it  appeareth,  that  the  pope,  in  this  age, 
■was  not  possessed  of  so  full  power  in  England,  whatsoever  the 
catholics  pretend,  but  that  this  politic  prince  kept  the  reins,  though 
loose,  in  his  own  hand.  For,  in  this  time  it  was  resolved,:]:  "  that 
the  pope's  collector,  though  he  had  the  pope's  Bull  for  that  purpose, 
had  no  jurisdiction  within  this  realm  ;  and  that  the  archbishops  and 
bishops  of  England  were  the  spiritual  judges  in  the  king's  behalf." 

•  Lord  Verulam  in  his  "  Life,"  page  211.  t  Statute  2  of  Henry  IV.  cap.  15. 

i  1  Henrv  H'.  fol.  19. 


474  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1408. 

As  it  was  also  enacted,*  "  if  any  person  of  religion  obtained  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome  to  be  exempt  from  obedience,  regular  or  ordinary, 
he  was  in  prcmunire."  Yea,  this  very  statute,  which  gave  power  to 
a  bishop  in  his  diocess  to  condemn  a  heretic,  jjlainly  proveth,  that 
the  king  by  consent  of  parliament  directed  the  proceedings  of  the 
ecclesiastical  court,  in  cases  of  heresy  ;  so  that  the  pope,  even  in 
matters  of  spiritual  cognizance,  had  no  power  over  the  lives  of 
English  subjects. 

2.    William  Santre  the  Proio-Martyr  of  English  Protestants. 

The  first  on  whom  this  cruel  law  was  hanselled,  was  William 
Sautre,  formerly  parish-priest  of  St.  Margaret,  in  the  town  of  Lynn, 
but  since  of  St.  Osyth  in  the  city  of  London.  This  was  he  whose 
faith  fought  the  first  duel  with  fire  itself,  and  overcame  it.  Abel 
was  the  first  martyr  of  men,  St.  Stephen  the  first  of  Christian  men, 
St.  Alban  the  first  of  British  Christians,  and  this  Sautre  the  first  of 
English  Protestants,  as  by  prolepsis  I  may  term  them.  Scriveners 
use  with  gaudy  flourishes  to  deck  and  garnish  the  initial  characters 
of  copies  ;  which  superfluous  pains  may  be  spared  by  us,  in  adorn- 
ing this  leading  letter  in  the  pattern  of  patience,  seeing  it  is 
conspicuous  enough  in  itself,  dyed  red  with  its  own  blood.  Some 
charge  this  Sautre  with  fear  and  fickleness,  because  formerly  he  had 
abjured  those  articles  for  which  afterwards  he  died  before  the  bishop 
of  Norwich.  But  let  those  who  severely  censure  him  for  once 
denying  the  truth,  and  do  know  who  it  was  that  denied  his  Master 
thrice.,  take  heed  they  do  not  as  bad  a  deed  more  than  /b?/r  times 
themselves.  May  Sautre''s  final  constancy  be  as  surely  practised  by 
men,  as  his  former  cowardliness,  no  doubt,  is  pardoned  by  God  ! 
Eight  errors  were  laid  to  his  charge  in  order  as  followeth  : — 

1.  Imprimis,  He  saith,  that  he  will  not  worship  the  cross  on 
which  Christ  suffered,  but  only  Christ  that  suffered  upon  the  cross. 
2.  Item,  That  he  would  sooner  worship  a  temporal  king  than  the 
aforesaid  wooden  cross.  3.  Item,  That  he  would  rather  worship 
the  bodies  of  the  saints  than  the  very  cross  of  Christ  on  which  he 
hung,  if  it  were  before  him.  4.  Item,  That  he  would  rather  wor- 
ship a  man  truly  contrite  than  the  cross  of  Christ.  5.  Item,  That 
he  is  bound  rather  to  worship  a  man  that  is  predestinate  than  an 
angel  of  God.  6.  Item,  That  if  any  man  would  visit  the  monuments 
of  Peter  and  Paul,  or  go  on  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb  of  St.  Thomas, 
or  any  whither  else,  for  the  obtaining  of  any  temporal  benefit,  he  is 
not  bound  to  keep  his  vow,  but  may  distribute  the  expenses  of  his 
vow  upon  the  alms  of  the  poor.  7-  Item,  That  every  priest  and 
deacon   is  more  bound  to   preach  the  word  of  God  than  to  say  the 

*  Statute  2  Henry  IV.  cap.  o. 


10  HENRY  IV.  BOOK  IV,   CENT.  XV.  475 

canonical  hours,  8,  Item,  That  after  the  pronouncing  of  tlic 
sacramental  words  of  the  body  of  Christ,  the  bread  remaineth  of 
the  same  nature  that  it  was  before,  neither  doth  it  cease  to  be 
bread." 

3.    Thomas  Anindel,  Archbishop  of  Ccmterhiiry^  solemnly 
pronounceth  Sautre  an  Heretic  convicted. 

These  were  the  opinions  wherewith  Sautre  is  charged  in  their 
own  registers,  which,  if  read  with  that  favour  which  not  charity  but 
jjistice  allows  of  course  to  human  frailty,  will  be  found  not  so 
heinous  as  to  deserve  fire  and  faggot,  seeing  his  expressions  are  rather 
indiscreet,  than  his  positions  damnable.  But  Thomas  Arundel, 
archbishop  of  Canterbury,  before  whom  Sautre  was  con  vented,  in  the 
convocation,  at  St.  Paul's  in  London,  principally  pinched  him 
with  the  last  about  transubstantiation  in  the  sacrament.  Thus  their 
cruelty  made  God's  table  a  snare  to  his  servants  ;  when  their  other 
nets  broke,  this  held  ;  what  they  pretended  a  sacrifice  for  the  living 
and  dead  proved,  indeed,  the  cause  of  the  sacrificing  of  many 
innocents  ;  and  cavils  about  the  corporal  presence  was  the  most 
compendious  way  to  dispatch  them  :  for  the  denial  whereof,  the 
aforesaid  archbishop  solemnly  pronounced  Sautre  an  heretic 
convicted. 

4.  Saiitre''s  indiscreet  Denying  of  himself . 

Here  happened  a  passage  in  Sautre,  which  I  must  not  omit ; 
which  either  I  do  not  understand,  or  cannot  approve  in  him.  For 
being  demanded  whether  or  no  he  had  formerly  abjured  these 
opinions,  he  denied  the  same  ;  whereas,  his  formal  abjuration  of 
them,  the  last  year,  before  the  bishop  of  Norwich,  was  produced  in 
presence  ;  an  action  utterly  inconsistent  Avith  Christian  sincerity,  to 
deny  his  own  deed  ;  except  any  will  say  that  he  was  not  bound  to 
accuse  himself,  and  to  confess  in  that  court,  (what  he  had  done 
elsewhere,)  to  his  own  prejudice.  Thus  offenders,  which  formerly 
have  confessed  their  fact,  in  their  private  examinations  before  a 
Justice  of  peace,  yet  plead  "  Not  Guilty,"  when  they  are  brought 
before  the  assizes,  accounting  themselves  innocent  in  that  court  till, 
by  the  verdict  of  the  jury,  they  are  proved  otherwise.  However,  I 
am  rather  inclined  to  suspect  my  ignorance  than  condemn  his  inno- 
cence, conceiving  there  is  more  on  his  side  than  appeareth  in  his 
behalf. 

5.  Sautre^  by  a  second  Sentence,  is  adjudged  to  be  degraded  and 

deposed. 

The  reader,  I  presume,  will  pardon  our  largeness  (which  we  will 
recompence  with   brevity  in  the  rest)  in  relating  the  proceedings 


476  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1408. 

against  this  first  martyr ;  who  being,  as  I  may  say,  the  eldest,  and 
the  heir  in  our  History,  may  justly  challenge  a  double  portion 
thereof.  Yea,  the  archbishop,  who  in  his  condemnation  did  not 
follow  but  make  a  precedent  therein,  was  very  punctual  and  ceremo- 
nious in  his  proceedings,  that  he  might  set  the  fairer  copy  for  the 
direction  of  posterity  ;  and  that  the  formality  of  his  exemplary 
justice  might,  for  the  terror  of  others,  take  the  deeper  impression  in 
all  that  did  see  it,  or  should  hear  thereof.  And  now  his  former 
abjuration  plainly  appearing,  Arundel,  by  a  second  sentence, 
adjudged  him  refallen  into  heresy,  and  incorrigible,  and  therefore  to 
be  degraded  and  deposed. 

6.  The  Order  of  his  Degradation. 

For,  lest  priesthood  should  suffer  in  the  person  of  Sautre,  (and 
all  the  clergy  present,  out  of  a  religious  sympathy,  were  tender  of 
the  honour  of  their  own  profession,)  he  was  there  solemnly  degraded 
in  order  as  followeth  : — 

1.  From  the  order  of  Priest ;  by  taking  from  him  the  patin, 
chalice,  and  plucking  the  chasuble  from  his  back.  2.  From  the 
order  of  Deacon  ;  by  taking  from  him  the  New  Testament  and  the 
stole.  3.  From  the  order  of  Sub-deacon  ;  by  taking  from  him  the 
alb,  and  the  maniple,  4.  From  the  order  of  Acolyte ;  by  taking 
from  him  the  candlestick,  taper,  urceolum.  5.  From  the  order  of 
Exorcist ;  by  taking  from  him  the  book  of  conjurations.  6.  From 
the  order  of  Reader ;  by  taking  from  him  the  book  of  church- 
leo'ends.  7-  From  the  order  of  Sexton  ;  by  taking  from  him  the 
key  of  the  church-door  and  surphee. 

How  many  steps  are  required  to  climb  up  to  the  top  of  popish 
priesthood  !  But,  as  when  a  building  is  taken  down,  one  Avould 
little  think  so  much  timber  and  stone  had  concurred  thereunto,  until 
he  sees  the  several  parcels  thereof  lie  in  ruinous  heaps ;  so  it  is 
almost  incredible  how  many  trinkets  must  be  had  to  complete  a 
priest,  but  that  here  we  behold  them  solemnly  taken  asunder  in 
Sautre''s  degradation.  And  now  he,  no  longer  priest  but  plain 
layman,  with  the  tonsure  on  his  crown  rased  away,  was  delivered  to 
the  secular  power,  with  this  compliment,  worth  the  noting : 
"  Beseeching  the  secular  court,  that  they  would  receive  favourably 
the  said  William  unto  them  thus  recommitted.'"  But  who  can 
excuse  their  double-dealing  herein  from  deep  hypocrisy,  seeing  the 
bishops,  at  the  same  time,  (for  all  their  fair  language,)  ceased  not  to 
call  upon  the  king  to  bring  him  to  speedy  execution  ? 

7.   The  King's  Warrant  for  the  Burning  of  Sautre. 
Hereupon  the  king  in  parliament  issued  out  his  warrant  to  the 
;nayor  and  sheriffs  of  London,  that  the  said  William,  being  in  their 


10  HENRY  IV.  UOOK  IV.   CENT.  XV.  477 

custody,  should  be  brought  forth  into  some  public  or  open  place, 
within  the  liberty  of  the  city,  and  there  "  really  to  be  burned  to  the 
great  horror  of  his  offence,  and  manifest  example  of  other  Chris- 
tians ;"*  which  was  performed  accordingly.  Thus  died  this  worthy 
man  ;  and  though  we  be  as  far  from  adoring  his  relics,  as  sucli 
adoration  is  from  true  religion,  yet  we  cannot  but  be  sensible  of  the 
value  of  such  a  saint :  nor  can  we  mention  his  memory  without 
paying  an  honourable  respect  thereunto.  His  death  struck  a  terror 
into  those  of  his  party  who  hereafter  were  glad  to  enjoy  their  con- 
science in  private,  without  public  professing  the  same.  So  that  now 
the  ship  of  Christ,  tossed  with  the  tempest  of  persecution,  had  all 
her  sails  taken  down  ;  yea,  her  mast  cut  close  to  the  deck  ;  and, 
without  making  any  visible  show,  was  fain  to  lie  poor  and  private 
till  this  storm  was  overpassed  ;  the  archbishop  Arundel  being  most 
furious  and  cruel  in  detecting  and  suppressing  all  suspected  of  piety. 

8.  A  Surfeit  of  Synods  in  Archbishop  Arunders  Time. 

Synods  of  the  clergy  were  never  so  frequent  before  or  since,  as  in 
his  time,  when  scarce  a  year  escaped  without  a  synod  called  or  con- 
tinued therein.  Most  of  these  were  but  ecclesiastical  meetings  for 
secular  money.  Hereupon,  a  covetous  ignorant  priest,  guilty  of  no 
Greek,  made  this  derivation  of  the  word  "  synodus,"  (far-fetched  in 
itself,  but  coming  close  to  him,)  from  crumena  sine  nodo,  because, 
at  such  assemblies,  the  purse  ought  ever  to  be  open,  Avithout  knots 
tied  thereon,  ready  to  disburse  such  sums  as  should  be  demanded. 
Indeed,  the  clergy  now  contributed  much  money  to  the  king  ;  hav- 
ing learned  the  maxim  commended  in  the  comedian,  pecutiiam  iii 
loco  negligere  maxumum  interdum  est  lucrum  ;"f*  and,  perceiving 
on  what  ticklish  terms  their  state  stood,  were  forced  to  part  with  a 
great  proportion  thereof  to  secure  the  rest,  the  parliament!  ^^^^^ 
shrewdly  pushing  at  their  temporal  possessions.  For,  although  in 
the  first  year  of  king  Henry,  the  earls  of  Northumberland  and 
Westmoreland  came  from  him  to  the  clergy  with  a  compliment,  that 
"  the  king  only  desired  their  prayers,  and  none  of  their  money,"8 
(kingdoms  have  their  honey-moon,  when  new  princes  are  married 
unto  them,)  yet  how  much  afterwards  he  received  from  them,  the 
ensuing  draught  of  synods  summoned  in  his  days  doth  present : — 

1.  At  St.  PauPs  in  London,  a.d.  1399.  The  President: 
The  prior  and  chapter  of  Canterbury,  in  the  archbishop's  absence. 
The  Preacher  :   William  bishop  of  Rochester.     His    Text :    Cor 

*  Fox's  "  Martyrology,"  page  477,  out  of  whom  the  effect  of  this  story  is  taken, 
t  Terenth   Addph.  \    Vide  infra  in  the  History  of  Abheys,  lib.  vi.  cap.  1. 

§  Antiq.  Brit,  page  273,  and  Harpsfield  Hist.  Ang.  page  618,  out  of  whom  the  fol- 
lowing table  of  synods  is  composed. 


478  CHURCH    HISTORY-    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1412. 

meum  diligit    principes    Israel.      Money  granted   the    King: 

Nothing  at  this  time,  but  the  Clergy's  prayers  required.  The  other 
Acts  thereof:  the  king,  at  the  request  of  the  universities,  promised 
to  take  order  with  the  pope's  Provisions,  and  Proventions,  that  so 
learned  men  might  be  advanced.     St.  Gregory's  day  made  holy. 

2.  Ibidem,  a.d.  1400.  The  President:  Thomas  Arundel. 
Money  granted  the  King  :  A  tenth  and  half.  For  a  single  tenth 
■was  first  proffered  him,  and  he  refused  it.  The  other  Acts  thereof: 
Nothing  else  of  moment  passed,  save  Sautre's  condemnation. 

3.  Ibidem,  a.d.  1402.  The  President:  Thomas  Arundel. 
Money  granted  the  King :  At  the  instance  of  the  earl  of  Somerset, 
and.  lord  Ross  the  treasurer,  a  tenth  was  granted.  The  other 
Acts  thereof:  The  clergy  renewed  their  petition  of  right  to  the 
king,  that  they  should  not  be  proceeded  against  by  temporal  judges, 
nor  forced  to  sell  their  goods,  for  provision  for  the  king's  court. 
No  answer  appears. 

4.  Ibidem,  a.d.  1404.  The  President:  Henry  bishop  of 
Lincoln,  the  archbishop  being  absent  in  an  embassy.  Money 
granted  the  King  :  A  tenth  towards  the  king's  charges  in  suppress- 
ing the  late  rebels.  The  other  Acts  thereof :  Constituted  that  the 
obsequies  of  every  English  bishop  deceased  should  be  celebrated  in 
all  the  cathedrals  of  ihe  kingdom. 

5.  Ibidem,  a.d.  1405.  The  President:  Thomas  Arundel. 
Money  granted  the  King :  A  tenth ;  when  the  laity  in  par- 
liament gave  nothing.  The  other  Acts  thereof:  Nothing  of 
consequence. 

6.  Ibidem,  a.d.  1406.  T/^e  PreszV/ew^  ;  Henry  Beaufurt,  bishop 
of  Winchester,  the  archbishop  being  absent.  The  Preacher: 
Thomas  bishop  of  Carlisle.  His  text :  Magister  adest,  et  vocat 
te.  Money  granted  the  King:  A  tenth.  The  other  Acts 
thereof:  Nothing  of  moment. 

7.  Ibidem,  a.d.  ]408.  The  President:  Thomas  Arundel. 
The  Preacher:  John  Monke  of  St.  Augustine's  in  Canterbury. 
His  Text:  Faciei  unus  quisque  opus  smim.  The  other  Acts 
thereof:  This  synod  was  principally  employed  in  suppressing  of 
schism  ;  and  the  following  synod  in  the  same  year  to  the  same 
purpose. 

8.  Ibidem.  The  President :  Thomas  Arundel.  The  Preacher  : 
John  Botel,  General  of  the  Franciscans.  His  Text :  Vos  vocati 
estis  in  nno  corpore. 

9.  Ibidem,  a.d.  1411.  The  President:  Henry  bishop  of 
Winchester,  the  archbishop  being  abroad  in  an  embassy.  The 
Preacher:  John  Langdon,  monk  of  Canterbury.  His  Text: 
Stellce  dedenint  lumen.     Money  granted  the  King :  A  tenth, 


14  HENllY  IV.  HOOK    IV.       CEXT.    XV.  479 

and  a  subsidy  granted,  saith  Matthew  Parker;*  but,  others -|-  say, 
the  clergy  accused  themselves,  as  drained  dry  with  former  payments. 
Also  the  pope's  agent,  progging  for  money,  was  denied  it.  The 
other  Acts  thereof:  Little  else  save  some  endeavours  against 
WicklifFe''s  opinions. 

10.  Ibidem,  a.d.  1412.  The  President:  Thomas  Arundel. 
IVie  Preacher:  John  Godmersham,  monk  of  Canterbury.  His 
Text :  Diligite  lumen  sapicntio'  omnes  qui  prceestis.  Money 
granted  the  King :  A  tenth.  The  clergy  complained  to  the  king 
of  their  grievances,  but  received  no  redress.  The  other  Acts 
thereof:  The  pope's  rents  sequestered  into  the  king's  hands, 
during  the  schism  betwixt  Gregory  XII.  and  Benedict. 

We  will  not  avouch  these  all  the  conventions  of  the  clergy  in 
this  king's  reign,  who  had  many  subordinate  meetings  in  reference 
to  their  own  occasions,  but  these  of  most  public  concernment. 
Know  this  also,  that  it  was  a  great  invitation  (not  to  say  an  enforce- 
ment) to  make  them  the  more  bountiful  in  their  contributions  to 
the  king,  because  their  leaders  were  suspicious  of  a  design  now  first 
set  on  foot,  in  opposition  to  all  religious  houses,  as  then  termed,  to 
essay  their  overthrow  ;  which  project  now,  as  a  pioneer,  only  wrought 
beneath  ground,  yet  not  so  insensibly  but  that  the  church-statists 
got  a  discovery  thereof,  and,  in  prevention,  were  very  satisfying  to 
the  king's  jjecuniary  desires  ;  insomuch  that  it  was  in  effect  but 
"Ask  and  have," — such  their  compliance  to  all  purposes  and 
intents  ;  the  rather  because  this  king  had  appeared  so  zealous  to 
arm  the  bishops  with  terrible  laws  against  the  poor  naked  Lollards, 
as  then  they  were  nick-named. 

9 — 12.  A  new  Chronology.    A  severe  Motion  against  the  Welsh, 
moderated  by  the  King.    The  Canse  of  his  Anger.  AD.  1412. 

NoAv  we  pass  from  the  Convocation  to  the  Parliament,  only  to 
meddle  with  church-matters  therein  ;  desiring  the  reader  to  dispense 
in  the  margin  wath  a  new  chronology  of  this  king's  reign  ;  assuring 
him  that  whatsoever  is  written  is  taken  out  of  the  authentic  records 
of  the  Parliament  in  the  Tower. 

It  was  moved  in  parliament,  that  no  Welshman,  bishop  or  other, 
be  justice,  chamberlain,  chancellor,  treasurer,  sheriff,  constable  of  a 
castle,  receiver,  escheator,  coroner,  or  chief  forester,  or  other  officer 
whatsoever,  or  keeper  of  records,|  or  lieutenant  in  the  said  offices, 
in  any  part  of  Wales,  or  of  counsel  to  any  English  lord,  notwith- 
standing any  patent  made  to  the  contrary.  Cum  clausula  non 
obstante^  licet  Wallicus  natus. 

•  Antiq.  Brit,  page  274.  t  HaRPSFIEld  Ecc.  Ang.  page  616.  \  Ex  Rot. 

Par.  in  Tur.  Land,  in  hoc  anno. 


4^  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.  D.  1412. 

It  was  answered,  that  "  the  king  willeth  it,  except  the  bishops  ; 
and  for  them  and  others,  which  he  hath  found  good  and  loyal  lieges 
towards  him,  our  said  lord  the  king  will  be  advised  by  the  advice  of 
his  council." 

Such  as  wonder  why  the  parliament  was  so  incensed  against  the 
Welsh,  (seeing  Henry  prince  of  Wales  was  their  own  countryman, 
born  at  Monmouth,)  may  consider,  how  now  or  very  lately  Owen 
Glendower,  a  Welsh  robber,  (advanced  by  the  multitude  of  his 
followers  into  the  reputation  of  a  general,)  had  made  much  spoil  in 
Wales.  Now  commendable  was  the  king's  charity,  who  would  not 
return  a  national  mischief  for  a  personal  injury  ;  seeing  no  man  can 
choose  the  place  of  his  nativity,  though  he  may  bemoan  and  hate 
the  bad  practices  of  his  own  nation. 

13.   The  Quaternion  of  Welsh  Bishops,  ivho  and  what  at  this 

Time. 

The  king's  courteous  exception  for  the  Welsh  bishops  putteth  us 
upon  a  necessary  inquiry,  who  and  what  they  were,  placed  in  sees  at 
this  time. 

St.  David's. — Guido  de  Mona,  or,  of  Anglesey  ;  a  true  Briton 
by  birth,  witnessed  by  his  name.  He  was  at  the  present  lord 
treasurer  of  England  ;  *  in  whom  the  king  much  confided,  though 
T.  Walsingham  be  pleased  to  dash  his  memory,  that  "  he  was  the 
cause  of  much  mischief."'"' 

Landaff. — Thomas  Peverell.  His  surname  speaks  him  Eng- 
lish by  extraction,  and  he  was  of  no  remarkable  activity. 

Bangor. — Richard  Young.  He  might  be  English  or  Welsh 
by  his  name  ;  but,  I  believe,  the  latter  :  a  man  of  merit  sent  by 
the  king  into  Germany,  to  give  satisfaction  of  king  Henry's 
proceedings. 

St.  Asaph. — John  Trevaur,  second  of  that  Christian  and  sur- 
name, bishop  of  that  see  ;  a  Welshman,  no  doubt.  He  was  sent, 
saith  T.  Walsingham,  to  Spain  to  give  account  of  the  king's 
proceedings  :  very  loyal  at  the  present,  but,  after  his  return  home, 
he  sided  with  Owen  Glendower. 

But  though  the  English  at  this  time  were  so  severe  against  the 
Welsh,  king  Henry  VII.  (born  in  the  bowels  of  Wales,  at 
Pembroke,  and  assisted  in  the  gaining  of  the  crown  by  the  valour 
of  his  countrymen,)  some  years  after  plucked  down  this  partition- 
wall  of  difference  betwixt  them  ;  -f-  admitting  the  Welsh  to  English 

•  Godwin's  "  Catalogue  of  Bishops  in  St.  David's."  f  In  his  E.vamen  Hiitoricum, 
Heylin  remarks  :  "  King  Henry  the  seventh  did  not  hreak  down  the  partition  between 
England  and  Wales.  That  was  a  work  reserved  for  king  Harr}-  tlie  eighth  ;  in  the  27th 
of  whose   reign  there  passed  an  Act  of  Parliament,  by  which  it  was  enacted,    lltat  the 


14  HENRY   IV.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  481 

honours  and  offices, — as  good  reason,  equality  of  merits  should  be 
rewarded  with  equality  of  advancement. 

14.  The  Petition  of  the  Lords  and  Commons  to  the  King 

against  Lollards. 

Sir  John  Tiptoft,  made  afterwards  earl  of  Worcester,  put  up  a 

petition  to  the  parliament,  touching  Lollards ;  which  wrought  so  on 

the  lords,  that  they  joined  in  a  petition  to  the  king,  according  to 

the  tenor  following  : — 

"  To  our  most  redoubted  and  gracious  sovereign  the  king.— 
Your  humble  son,  Henry  prince  of  Wales,  and  the  lords  spiritual 
and  temporal  in  this  present  parliament,  humbly  show, — that  the 
church  of  England  hath  been,  and  now  is,  endowed  with  temporal 
possessions,  by  the  gifts  and  grants  as  well  of  your^oyal  pro- 
genitors, as  by  the  ancestors  of  the  said  lords  temporal,  to  maintain 
Divine  service,  keep  hospitality,  &c.  to  the  honour  of  God,  and 
the  souls'  health  of  your  progenitors,  and  the  said  lords  temporal. 

"  Yet  now  of  late,  some,  at  the  instigation  of  the  enemy  against 
the  foresaid  church  and  prelates,  have  as  well  in  public  sermons,  as 
in  conventicles  and  secret  places  called  schools^  stirred  and  moved 
the  people  of  your  kingdom  to  take  away  the  said  temporal  posses- 
sions from  the  said  prelates,  with  which  they  are  as  rightly  endowed, 
as  it  hath  been,  or  might  be,  best  advised  or  imagined,  by  the  laws 
and  customs  of  your  kingdom,  and  of  which  they  are  as  surely 
possessed  as  the  lords  temporal  are  of  their  inheritances. 

"  Wherefore  in  case  that  this  evil  purpose  be  not  resisted  by 
your  royal  majesty,  it  is  very  likely  that,  in  process  of  time,  they 
will  also  excite  the  people  of  your  kingdom  for  to  take  away,  from 
the  said  lords  temporal,  their  possessions  and  heritages,  so  to  make 
them  common  to  the  open  commotion  of  your  people. 

"  There  be  also  others,  who  pubk  .h,  and  cause  to  be  published 
evilly  and  falsely  among  the  people  of  your  kingdom,  that  Richard 
late  king  of  England — who  is  gone  to  God,  and  on  whose  soul  God 
through  his  grace  have  mercy  ! — is  still  alive.  And  some  have 
writ  and  published  divers  false  pretended  prophecies  to  the  people  ; 

country  of  ffales  should  be,  stand,  arid  continue  for  ever,  from  thenceforth,  united  and 
annexed  to  and  with  this  realm  of  England  :  And  that  all  and  sinytilar  person  and  per- 
sons horn,  and  to  he  born,  in  the  said  principality,  country,  or  dominion  of  Wales  shall 
have,  enjoy,  aiid  inherit  all  and  singular  freedoms,  liberties,  rights,  privileges,  and  laws 
within  this  realm,  and  other  the  king's  dominiotis,  as  other  the  king's  subjects  naturally 
born  within  the  same  have,  and  enjoy,  and  inherit.  Between  the  time  which  our  author 
speaks  of,  heing  the  fourteenth  year  of  king  Henry  the  fom'th,  and  the  making  of  this  Act 
by  king  Henry  the  eighth,  there  passed  above  a  hundred  and  twent)'  years  ;  which  inti- 
mates a  longer  time  than  some  years  after,  as  our  author  words  it."  In  his  Appeal 
Fuller  says,  in  reply,  "  The  intentions  of  king  Henry  the  seventh  were  executed  by  king 
Henrj'  the  eighth  j  and  all  shall  be  reformed  in  my  book  accordingly."— Edit. 

Vol.  I.  II 


482  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.D.  1412. 

disturbing  them  wlio  would  to  their  power  live  peaceably,  serve 
God,  and  faithfully  submit  and  obey  you  tlieir  liege  lord. 

"  Wherefore  may  it  please  your  royal  majesty,  in  maintenance  of 
the  honour  of  God,  conservation  of  the  laws  of  the  holy  church,  as 
also  in  the  preservation  of  the  estate  of  you,  your  children,  and  the 
lords  aforesaid,  and  for  the  quiet  of  all  your  kingdom,  to  ordain  by 
a  statute,  in  the  present  parliament,  by  the  assent  of  the  lords  afore- 
said and  the  commons  of  your  kingdom,  that  in  case  any  man  or 
woman,  of  what  estate  or  condition  they  be,  preach,  publish, 
or  maintain,  hold,  use,  or  exercise  any  schools,  if  any  sect  or  doc- 
trine hereafter  against  the  catholic  faith  either  preach,  publish, 
maintain,  or  write  a  schedule,  whereby  the  people  may  be  moved  to 
take  away  the  temporal  possessions  of  the  aforesaid  prelates,  or 
preach  andpjiublish,  that  Richard  late  king,  who  is  dead,  should  still 
be  in  full  life,  or  that  the  fool  in  Scotland  is  that  king  Richard 
who  is  dead  ;  or  that  publish  or  write  any  pretended  prophecies  to 
the  commotion  of  your  people,  that  they  and  every  of  them  be 
taken,  and  put  in  prison,  without  being  delivered  in  bail,  or  other- 
wise, except  by  good  and  sufficient  mainprise,  to  be  taken  before 
the  chancellor  of  England,"  &c.* 

15,  16.   The  Prince  made  a  Party  against    Wicklivites.     Com- 
plication of  royal  and  prelatical  Interest. 

See  we  here  the  policy  of  the  clergy,  who  had  gained  prince  Henry 
(set  as  a  transcendent  by  himself  in  the  petition)  to  their  side, 
entering  his  youth  against  the  poor  Wicklivites  ;  and  this  earnest 
engaged  him  to  the  greater  antipathy  against  them,  when  possessed 
of  the  crown. 

Observe  also  the  subtlety  of  the  clergy  in  this  medley  petition, 
interweaving  their  own  interest  with  the  king*'s,  and  endeavouring  to 
possess  him,  that  all  the  adversaries  to  their  superstitions  were 
enemies  also  and  traitors  to  his  majesty. 

17,  18.    Wicklivists''  Schools.     Lollards,  why  so  called. 

Now  as  "  conventicles'"  were  the  name  of  disgrace  cast  on, 
"  schools'"  was  the  term  of  credit  owned  by,  the  Wicklivists  for  the 
place  of  their  meeting ;  whether  because  "  the  school  of  Tyrannus,"" 
wherein  St.  Paul  disputed,  Acts  xix.  9,  was  conceived  by  them 
senior  in  Scriptm-e  to  any  material  church  ;  or  that  their  teaching 
therein  was  not  in  entire  discourses,  but  admitted  (as  in  the  Schools) 
of  interlocutory  opposition  on  occasion. 

By  "  Lollards"  all  know  the  Wicklivites  arc  meant,  so  called  from 

•  Contracted  by  myself  (exactly  keeping  the  viiords)  out  of  the  original. 


14  HENRY   IV.  HOOK     IV,       CEXT.    XV.  4f)0 

Walter  Lollardus*  one  of  their  teachers  in  Germany;  (and  not  as 
the  monk  alluded,-f-  quasi  lolia  in  ard  Domini  ;)  flourishing  many 
years  before  WicklifFe,  and  much  consenting  with  him  in  judgment. 
As  for  the  word  *'  Lollard"  retained  in  our  statutes  since  the  Reforma- 
tion, it  seems  now,  as  a  generical  name,  to  signify  such  who  in  their 
opinions  oppose  the  settled  religion  of  the  land  ;  in  which  sense  the 
modern  sheriffs  are  bound  by  their  oath  to  suppress  them. 

19,  20.  A  charitable  Parentfiesis.     King  Richard,  why  believed 

alive. 

The  parenthesis  concerning  king  Richard — "  Who  is  gone  to  God, 
and  on  whose  soul  God  through  his  grace  have  mercy" — is  according 
to  the  doctrine  of  that  age.  For  they  held  all  in  purgatory,  "  gone 
to  God,"  because  assured  in  due  time  of  their  happiness ;  yet  so 
that  the  suffrages  of  the  living  wiere  profitable  for  them.  Nor  feared 
they  to  offend  king  Henry  by  their  charitable  presumption  of  the 
final  happy  estate  of  king  Richard,  his  professed  enemy ;  knowing 
he  cared  not  where  king  Richard  was,  so  be  it  not  living  and  sitting 
on  the  English  throne. 

As  for  the  report  of  king  Richard''s  being  still  alive,  it  is  strange 
any  should  believe  it ;  if  it  be  true,  that-  his  corpse  for  some  days 
were  at  London  exposed  to  open  view :  understand  it  done  at  dis- 
tance, lest  coming  too  near  might  discover  some  violence  offered  on 
his  person.  It  is  probable,  that  the  obscurity  of  his  burial  (huddled 
into  his  grave  at  Langley  in  Hertfordshire)  gave  the  lustre  to  the 
report  that  he  was  still  alive,  believed  of  those  who  desired  it. 

21,  22,  23.   No  Woman  Lollard  Martyr.     Who  meant  by  "  the 
FOOL  in  Scotland.''''     Cruel  Persecution. 

Whereas  this  law  against  Lollards  extended  to  women  ;  though 
many  of  the  weaker  sex  were  in  trouble  upon  that  account,  yet,  on 
my  best  inquiry,  I  never  found  any  one  put  to  death  ;  Anna  Ascough 
being  the  first  who,  in  the  reign  of  king  Henry  VHL  was  burned 
for  her  religion. 

A  Scotch  writer  tells  us,|  that  king  Richard  fled  disguised  into 
Scotland,  discovered  himself  to,  and  was  honourably  entertained 
by,  Robert  the  king  thereof;  adding,  that  Richard,  who  would  no 
more  of  the  Avorld,  gave  himself  wholly  to  contemplation,  lived,  died, 
and  was  buried  at  Stirling.  Possibly  some  mimic  might  personate 
him  there,  and  is  the  fool  mentioned  in  this  petition. 

Hereupon  it  was  that  the  poor  Lollards  were  prosecuted  with 
such  cruelty,  that  the  prisons   were   full  of  them  ;  many  forced   to 

"Trithemius  in  Chron.  amio  1315.  t   Of  Si/,  ^vg.  Conf.  MS.  anno  1406. 

\  Hector  BoETrus,  lib.  16. 

2  I  2 


484  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A. D.  1412. 

abjure,  and  such  who  refused,  used  without  mercy,  as  in  Mr.  Fox  is 
largely  related. 

24,  25.    Archbishop  Arundel,  going  to  visit  Oxford^  is  resisted 
by  the  Chancellor. 

Thomas  Arundel,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  came  to  Oxford,  with 
a  pompous  train,  accompanied  with  many  persons  of  honour,  and 
particularly  with  his  nephew,  Thomas  Fitz-Allen,  earl  of  Arundel. 
His  intent  was  juridically  to  visit  the  university,  expecting  to  be 
solemnly  met,  and  sumptuously  entertained,  according  to  his  place 
and  dignity. 

But,  see  the  spite  of  it !  Richard  Courtenay,  the  chancellor  of 
Oxford,  (whom,  by  his  surname  and  high  spirit,  I  should  guess 
descended  from  the  earls  of  Devonshire,)  with  Benedict  Brent  and 
John  Birch,  the  two  proctors,  denied  the  archbishop  entrance  into 
the  university  under  the  notion  of  a  visitor  ;  though  as  a  stranger, 
great  prelate,  and  privy  counsellor,  all  welcome  was  provided  for  him 
and  his  retinue.  Arundel  was  angry  with  the  aiFront  ;  and,  finding 
force  both  useless,  (the  scholars  siding  with  the  chancellor,)  and 
inconsistent  with  his  gravity,  was  fain  fairly  to  retreat,  re  infectd,  to 
London  ;  the  rather  because  the  chancellor  had  submitted  the  cause 
in  controversy  to  the  hearing  and  determining  of  his  majesty. 

26.   The  Xing  determines  the  Cause  for  the  Archbishop. 

King  Henry,  at  the  joint  instance  of  both  parties,  summoned  them 
to  Lambeth,  to  hear  and  determine  the  controversy.  The  chancellor 
of  Oxford  produceth  an  army  of  large  Bulls  of  the  pope.  Archbishop 
Arundel  brought  forth  one  champion  ;  namely,  an  instrument  in 
the  reign  of  king  Richard  IL  wherein  the  king  adjudged  all  their 
papal  privileges  void,  as  granted  to  the  damage  of  the  crown,  and 
much  occasioning  the  increase  of  Lollards  ;  not  that  it  was  so  done 
intentionally  by  his  Holiness  ;  (for  who  can  suspect  the  pope  turn 
Lollard?)  but  accidentally  it  came  to  pass,  that,  the  university  of 
Oxford  freed  from  archiepiscopal  visitation,  by  virtue  of  those  Bulls, 
the  Wicklivists  therein  escaped  from  consistorian  censure.  Here- 
upon king  Henry  pronounced  sentence  on  the  archbishop's  side,  on 
Friday,  Feb.  9th,  as  by  the  ensuing  instrument  will  plainly  appear : — 

£!t  ullerius  tarn  uvctoritate  sua  regid,  gudm  virtnte  submissiunis 
p7'(edictce  sibi  factce  ad  tunc  ibidem  arbi trains  fuit,  ordinavit,  con- 
sideravit,  decrevit,  et  adjndicavit^  qttod  pradictus  archiepiscopiis 
et  successores  sui  in  perpetunm  habeant  visitationem  et  jiirisdic- 
tionem  in  universitate  pradictd,  iam  cancellarii  commissai'iornm^ 
gudm  procuraiortim  ejuadem  tmiversitatis,  qui  pro  tempore  fue- 
rint,    necnon    omnium    doctorum^   magistrorum,    regentium    et 


14  HENRY  IV.  BOOK  IV.   CENT.  XV.  485 

non-regentium,  ac  scholartum  ejusdem  univcrsitatis  quorumcunqu€y 
eorumque  servientium^  aliarumque  personarum  ciijuscunqite  states 
et  conditionis  ext'Uerhit^  et  et'iam  ejtisdem  universitatis  ut  univer- 
sitatis,  et  quod  canccllarins,  commissarii,  procuratores  universi- 
tatis prred'/ctte,  qui  pro  tempore  fuerunt^  eorumque  successores, 
et  omnes  alii  indicia  universitate  pro  tempore  commorantes,futuris 
iemporibus  eidem  archiepiscopo,  et  successorihus  suis  in  visitatione 
et  jurisdictione  universitatis  jjr^edictce  etiam  ut  universitatis,  in 
omnibus  pareant  et  ohediant.  Et  quod  nee  dictus  cancellarius^ 
commissarii,  nee  procuratores  universitatis  prfedictct,  nee  eorum 
successores,  nee  aliquis  alius  in  tmiversitate  pradictd  aliquod 
privilegium  sen  benejicium  exemptionis  ad  ecocludcndum  jntsfatuni 
a?-chiepiscopum  seu  successores  suos  de  visitatione  et  jurisdictione 
preedictis,  in  universitate  antedictd  colore  alicujus  BuII(b  seu 
alterijis  tituli  cujusciinque  erga  pradictum  archiepiscopum  seu 
successores  suos,  clament,  habeant,  seu  vendicent,  ullo  rnodo  in 
futurum.  Et  quod  quotiens  cancellarius,  commissarii,  vel  locum- 
te/iens  ipsorum,  vel  aliciijus  ipsorum,  vel  procuratores  dicta 
U7iiversitatis  qui  pro  tempore  fuerint^  vel  eorum  successores,  sive 
aliquis  eorum  impedierint  vel  impedierit,  prafatum  archiepis- 
copum vel  successoi'es  suos,  aut  ecclesiam  suavi  preedictam,  aut 
ipsorum  vel  alicujus  ipsorum  commissarium,  vel  commissarios,  de 
hujusmodi  visitatione  sive  jurisdictione  dictee  universitatis  vel  in 
aliquo  contravenerint,  vel  aliquis  eorum  cont raven erit,  dictis, 
arbitrio,  ordinationi,  sive  judicio  per  praefatum  Ricardum  nuper 
regem  J'actis,  sive  arbitrio,  judicio,  decreto,  considerationi  vel 
ordinationi,  ipsius  domini  nostrl  regis  Henrici  in  hoc  casu,  vel  si 
aliquis  dicta  universitatis  in  futurum  impedierit  dictum  archie- 
piscopum, vel  successores  suos,  aut  ecclesiam  suam  pradictam,  aut 
ipsorum,  vel  alicujus  ipsorum  commissarium,  vel  commissarios^ 
de  visitatione  sua  aut  jurisdictione  antedictd,  vel  in  aliquo  contra- 
venerit  dictis,  arbitj-io,  ordinationi,  sive  judicio  per  prafaturn 
Ricardum  nuper  regem  in  forma  pradictd,  factis,  vel  arbitrio, 
judicio,  decreto,  considerationi  vel  ordinationi  ipsius  domini  nostri 
regis  Henrici.  Et  quod  cancellarius,  cornmissarii  vel  procura- 
tores universitatis  pradicta  tunc  non  yecerint  diligentiam  et  posse 
eorum  ad  adjuvandum  dictum  archiepiscopum  vel  successores  suos, 
aut  ecclesiam  suam  pradictam,  seu  commissarium  vel  commissarios 
suos  in  hujusmodi  casu,  ac  etiam  ad  puniendum  hijusmodi  impe- 
dientes  et  resistentes.  Quod  totiens  omnes  franchesia,  libertates, 
et  omnia  privilegia  ejusdem  universitatis  in  majius  domini  regis 
vel  haredum  suorum  seisiantur,  in  eisdem  manibus  ipsorum  domini 
regis  vel  haredum  suorum  remansura,  quousque  pradictus  archie- 
piscopus  vel  siu:essores  sui  pacificam  visitationem  etjurisdictionem 


4oG  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN,  A. D.  1412 4^ 

in  forma  prcEdictu,  in  dicta  universitate  habuerit  vel  habueiint, 
ct  etiam  totietis  cancellariiis,  commissorii,  et  procuratores  ejus- 
dem  uniiiersitatis,  qui  pro  te?npore  fuerint,  et  eorian  successores, 
ac  universitas  prcedicta  solvant,  et  teneantur  solvere  ipsi  domino 
nostra  regi  Henrico  et  hcsredibus  suis  mille  libra s  legalis  monetce 
AnglicE. 

Concordat  cum  originali :  Gulielmvs  Ryley. 
Afterwards  the  king  confirmed  the  same,  with  the  consent  of  tlie 
lords    and    commons  in  parliament,    as  in  the    Tower    rolls  doth 
plainly  appear. 

27,  28,  29.  The  Effect  of  the  Statute  of  Premunire.  Fareivell 
to  King  Henry  IV.  Chaumberdakyns  banished  England. 
1  Henry  V.  AD.  1413. 

See  we  here  the  grand  difference  betwixt  the  pope''s  power  in 
England,  before  and  after  the  Statute  of  Premunire.  Before  it,  his 
avToc  s<^Yi  was  authentical,  and  his  Bulls  received  next  to  canonical 
Scripture.  Since,  that  statute  hath  broken  off  their  best  seals, 
wherein  they  cross  the  royal  power  ;  and,  in  all  things  else,  they 
enter  into  England  mannerly  with,  "  Good  king,  by  your  leave, 
sir,"  or  else  they  were  no  better  than  so  much  waste  parchment. 

This  doth  acquaint  us  with  a  perfect  character  of  king  Henry  IV. 
who,  though  courteous,  was  not  servile  to  the  pope.  And  Sir 
Edward  Coke*  accounteth  this  his  Oxford  action,  (though  uuAvilling 
to  transcribe  the  instrument  for  the  tediousness  thereof,)  a  noble  act 
of  kingly  power  in  that  age;  and  so  we  take  our  farewell  of  king 
Henry  IV.  not  observed,  as  all  English  kings  before  and  after  him, 
to  have  erected  and  endowed  any  one  entire  house  of  religion,  as 
first  or  sole  founder  thereof,  though  a  great  benefactor  to  the  Abbey 
of  Leicester,  and  College  of  Fotheringhay  in  Northamptonshire.  His 
picture  is  not  so  well  known  by  his  head  as  his  hood,  which  he 
weareth  upon  it  in  an  antic  fashion  peculiar  to  himself. 

At  the  commons''  petition  to  the  king  in  parliament,  that  all  Irish 
begging-priests,  called  "Chaumberdakyns,"  [Chamberdekins,] 
should  avoid  the  realm  before  Michaelmas  next,  they  were  ordered 
to  depart  by  the  time  aforesaid,  upon  pain  of  loss  of  goods  and 
imprisonment  during  the  king''s  pleasure.-f- 

30.  The  Death  of  Thomas  Arundel. 

I  had  almost  forgotten,  that,  just  a  month  before  the  death  of 
king  Henry  IV.  Thomas  Arundel,  archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
expired  ;  famished  to  death,  not  for  want  of  food,  but  a  throat  to 

•  Foxirth  book  of  his  Institutes,  "  Of  the  JurisiUction  of  Courts,"  page  228. 
t   RoUdi  in  Turre  in  hoc  anno. 


2  HENRY   V.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  487 

swallow  it, — such  the  swelling  therein  that  he  could  neither  speak 
nor  eat  for  some  days.  I  may  safely  report,  what  others  observe, 
how  he,  who  by  his  cruel  canons  forbade  the  food  to  the  soul,  and 
had  pronounced  sentence  of  condemnation  on  so  many  innocents, 
was  now  both  starved  and  stricken  dumb  together.  Henry  Chicheley 
succeeded  him  in  the  place,  whose  mean  birth  interrupted  the  chain 
of  noble  archbishops,  his  two  predecessors  and  successors  being  earls'* 
sons  by  their  extraction. 

31 ,  32.   The  Clergy,  jealoics  of  King  Henry's  Activity,  divert  it 
on  a  War  in  France.     AD.  14.<14. 

The  prelates,  and  abbots  especially,  began  now  to  have  the  active 
soul  of  king  Henry  in  suspicion.  For,  working  heads  are  not  so 
willing  to  follow  old  ways,  as  well  pleased  to  find  out  new  ones. 
Such  a  meddling  soul  must  be  sent  out  of  harm''s-way :  if  that  the 
clergy  found  not  this  king  some  work  abroad,  he  would  make  them 
new  work  at  home.  Had  his  humour  happened  to  side  with  the 
Lollards,  Henry  V.  would  have  saved  king  Henry  VHI.  much 
pains  in  demolishing  of  monasteries. 

Hereupon  the  clergy  cunningly  gave  vent  to  his  activity,  by 
diverting  it  on  a  long  w^ar  upon  the  French  ;  where  his  victories 
are  loudly  sounded  forth  by  our  state-historians  :  a  war  of  more 
credit  than  profit  to  England  in  this  king's  reign,  draining  the  men 
and  money  thereof.  Thus  victorious  bays  bear  only  barren  berries, 
no  whit  good  for  food,  and  very  little  for  physic  ;  whilst  the  peaceable 
olive  drops  down  that  precious  liquor,  "  making  the  face  of  man  to 
shine""  therewith.  Besides,  what  this  king  Henry  gained,  his  son 
as  quickly  lost,  in  France.  Thus,  though  the  Providence  of  nature 
hath  privileged  islanders  by  their  entire  position  to  secure  them- 
selves, yet  are  they  unhappy  in  long  keeping  their  acquisitions  on 
the  continent. 

33,  34,  35.    The  sad  Story  of  Sir  John   Oldcastle.     His  Belief. 
He  is  charged  of  Treason. 

Now  began  the  tragedy  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  so  largely  handled 
in  Mr.  Fox,  that  his  pains  hath  given  posterity  a  writ  of  ease  herein. 
He  was  a  vigorous  knight,  whose  martial  activity  wrought  him  into 
the  affections  of  Joane  de  la  Pole,  baroness  of  Cobham;*  the  lord 
whereof  he  became,  (sed  quaere,  whether  an  actual  baron,)  by  her 
marriage. 

As  for  the  opinions  of  this  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  they  plainly 
appear  in  his  belief,  which  he  drew  up  with  his  own  hand,  and  pre- 
sented it  first  to   the  king,  then  to  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  ; 

"  Camden's  Biit.  in  Kent. 


488  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  ]  414. 

■wherein  some  tilings  are  rather  coarsely  than  falsely  spoken.  He 
knew  to  speak  in  the  language  of  the  Schools,  (so  were  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Wicklivists  called,)  but  not  scholastically  ;  and  I  believe 
he  was  the  first  that  coined,  and  last  that  used,  the  distinction  of  the 
church  militant, — divided  into  "  Priesthood,  Knighthood,  and  Com- 
mons," which  had  no  great  harm  therein,  as  he  explained  it.  As 
for  Parsons''s  *  charging  him  with  anabaptistical  tenets,  it  is  pity 
that  the  words  of  a  plain-meaning  man  should  be  put  on  the  rack 
of  a  Jesuit's  malice,  to  extort  by  deduction  what  never  was  intended 
therein. 

But  a  worse  accusation  is  charged  on  his  memory, — that  he  was 
not  only  guilty  of  heresy,  but  treason.  But,  by  the  way,  it  appeareth 
that  Lollardism,  then  counted  heresy,  was  made  treason  by  statute, 
and  on  that  account  heresy  and  treason  signify  no  more  than  heresy  ; 
and  then  heresy,  according  to  the  abusive  language  of  that  age,  was 
the  best  serving  of  God  in  those  days.  But,  beside  this,  a  very 
formal  treason  is  laid  to  this  lord's  account  in  manner  following  :-^ 
"  It  is  laid  to  his  charge,  that,  though  not  present  in  the  person 
with  his  counsel,  he  encouraged  an  army  of  rebels,  no  fewer  than 
twenty  thousand,  which  in  the  dark  thickets  "  (expounded  in  our  age 
into plahi  pasture)  "of  St.  Giles's  fields  nigh  London,  intended  to 
seize  on  the  king's  person,  and  his  two  brothers,  the  dukes  of 
Bedford  and  Gloucester."  Of  this  numerous  army,  thirty-six  are 
said  to  be  hanged  and  burned,  though  the  names  of  three  are  only 
known,  and  Sir  Roger  Acton,  knight,  the  only  person  of  quality 
jiamed  in  the  design. 

3(i,  37-   l^he  AtUhor,  intricated,  leaveth  all  to  the  last  Day. 

For  mine  own  part,  I  must  confess  myself  so  lost  in  the  intri- 
cacies of  these  relations,  that  I  know  not  what  to  assent  to.  On 
the  one  side,  I  am  loath  to  load  the  lord  Cobham's  memory  with 
causeless  crimes,  knowing  the  perfect  hatred  the  clergy  in  that  age 
bare  unto  him,  and  all  that  looked  towards  the  Reformation  in 
religion.  Besides,  that  twenty  thousand  men  should  be  brought 
into  the  field,  and  no  place  assigned  whence  they  were  to  be  raised, 
or  where  mustered,  is  clogged  with  much  improbability  ;  the  rather, 
because  only  the  three  persons,  as  is  aforesaid,  are  mentioned  by 
name  of  so  vast  a  number. 

On  the  other  side,  I  am  much  startled  with  the  evidence  that 
appeareth  against  him.  Indeed,  I  am  little  moved  with  what  T. 
Walsingham  writes,  (whom  all  later  authors  follow,  as  a  flock  the 
bellwether,)  knowing  him  a  Benedictine  monk  of  St.  Alban^,  bowed 
by  interest  to  partiality ;  but  the  records  of  the  Tower,  and  Acts 

•  In  his  "  Three  Conversions." 


2  HENRY   V.  HOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  489 

of  Parliament  therein,  wherein  he  was  solemnly  condemned  for  a 
traitor  as  well  as  heretic,  challenge  belief.  For  with  what  con- 
fidence can  any  private  person  promise  credit  from  posterity  to  his 
own  writings,  if  such  public  monuments  be  not  by  him  entertained 
for  authentical .''  Let  Mr.  Fox,  therefore,  be  this  lord  Cobham"'s 
compurgator :  I  dare  not.  And  if  my  hand  were  put  on  the  Bible, 
I  should  take  it  back  again :  yet  so  that,  as  I  will  not  acquit,  I  will 
not  condemn  him,  but  leave  all  to  the  last  "  day  of  the  revelation 
of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,'"*  Rom.  ii.  />. 

38,  39,  40.    The  Lord  Cohham  taken  in   Wales.     His  double 
Death.     Unjustly  made  the  Buffoon  in  Plays. 

This  is  most  true,  that  the  lord  Cobham  made  his  escape  out  of 
the  Tower,  wherein  he  was  imprisoned ;  fled  into  Wales  :  here  he 
lived  four  years,  being  at  last  discovered  and  taken  by  the  lord 
Powis ;  yet  so,  that  it  cost  some  blows  and  blood  to  apprehend 
him,  till  a  woman  at  last  with  a  stool  broke  the  lord  Cobham's  legs, 
whereby  being  lame,  he  was  brought  up  to  London  in  a  horse-litter. 

At  last  he  was  drawn  upon  a  hurdle  to  the  gallows,  his  death  as 
his  crime  being  double, — hanged  and  burned  for  traitor  and  heretic. 
Hence  some  have  deduced  the  etymology  of  Tyburn,  from  "  Ty  " 
and  "  burne  ;""  the  necks  of  offending  persons  being  tied  thereunto, 
whose  legs  and  lower  parts  were  consumed  in  the  flame. 

Stage-poets  have  themselves  been  very  bold  with,  and  others  very 
merry  at,  the  memory  of  Sir  John  Oldcastle  ;  whom  they  have 
fancied  a  boon  companion,  a  jovial  roister,  and  yet  a  coward  to  boot, 
contrary  to  the  credit  of  all  chronicles,  owning  him  a  martial  man 
of  merit.  The  best  is,  Sir  John  Falstaif  hath  relieved  the  memory 
of  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  and  of  late  is  substituted  buffoon  in  his 
place ;  but  it  matters  as  little  what  petulant  poets,  as  what  mali- 
cious papists,  have  written  against  him. 

41,  42.  Lincoln  College  founded.     Nicholas  Pont,  great  Jnti- 
Lincolnian.      The  Author,  some  weeks  in,  thoxigh  not  of^ 
this  House. 
Richard    Fleming,   doctor  of    divinity,  designed  by  the    pope 
archbishop  of  York,  but,  to  please  king  Henry  V.  contented  with 
the  bishopric  of  Lincoln,  about  this  time  founded  a  college,  named 
Lincoln  College  in  Oxford.      It  fared  the  worse  because  he  died 
before  it  was  fully  finished ;  and  the  best  guardian   to  an   orphan- 
foundation   comes  far  short  of  the  father   thereof.      Yet  was  this 
House  happy  in  two  bountiful  benefactors ;   Thomas   Beckington, 
bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  who,  according  to  the  ingenuity  of  that 
age,  hath  left  his  memory  in  a  Beacon  with  a  Tun  on  the  walls  ; 


490  CHUnCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1414 22. 

and  Thomas  Rotherham,  arclibisliop  of  York,  adding  five  fellowships 
thereunto. 

Here  I  wonder  what  made  Nicholas  Pont,*  fellow  of  Merton- 
college,  and  scholar  enough,  to  be  such  a  back-friend  to  this  college 
in  the  infancy  thereof,  inveighing  bitterly  against  it.  This  is  that 
Pont  whose  faith  many  distrust,  for  his  violent  writing  against 
Wickliffe,  but  whose  charity  more  may  dislike  for  his  malice  to  this 
innocent  college  ;-f-  except  it  was,  that  he  foresaw  it  would  produce, 
in  time,  worthy  champions  of  the  truth,  opposers  of  his  erroneous 
opinions  ;  as  indeed  it  hath,  though  I  be  unable  to  give  a  particular 
catalogue  of  them. 

Indeed,  I  could  much  desire,  were  it  in  my  power,  to  express  my 
service  to  this  foundation,  acknowledging  myself  for  a  quarter  of  a 
year  in  these  troublesome  times  (though  no  member  of)  a  dweller  in 
it.  I  will  not  complain  of  the  dearness  of  this  university,  where 
seventeen  weeks  cost  me  more  than  seventeen  years  in  Cambridge, 
even  all  that  I  had ;  but  shall  pray  that  the  students  therein  be 
never  hereafter  disturbed  upon  the  like  occasion.^ 

42.    The   Arch-casuist  of  our   Church   and   Age. 
A.D.  1421. 

Amongst  the  modern  worthies  of  this  college  still  surviving,  Dr. 
Robert  Saunderson,  late  Regius  Professor,  moveth  in  the  highest 
sphere  ;  as  no  less  plain  and  profitable  than  able  and  profound 
casuist, — a  learning  almost  lost  among  protestants ;  wrapping  up 
sharp  thorns  in  rosy  leaves  ;  I  mean,  hard  matter  in  sweet  Latin  and 
pleasant  expressions. 

Rectors. — 1.  Mr.  Gul.  Chamberlen  ;  2.  Mr.  John  Beke ; 
3.  Mr.  John  Tristrope ;  4.  Dr.  George  Strangwayes ;  5.  Mr. 
Gul.  Bethome  ;  6.  Mr.  Thomas  Banke ;  7.  Mr.  Thomas  Drax  ; 
8.  Dr.  John  Cottisford ;  9.  Mr.  Hugo  Weston  ;  10.  Mr.  Christo- 
pher Hargrave ;  11.  Dr.  Francis  Babington  ;  12.  Mr.  Henry 
Henshaw;  13.  Mr.  John  Bridgter ;  14.  Mr.  John  Tatham ;  15. 
Dr.  John  Underbill;  16.  Dr.  Richard  Kilbie;  VJ.  Dr.  Paul 
Hudd. 

Bishops. — John  Underbill,  bishop  of  Oxford. 

BeiNKFActors. — 1.  John  Forrest,  dean  of  Wells;  2.  John 
Southam,  archdeacon  of  Oxford  ;  3.  William  Findern,  Esquire  ;  4. 
Henry  Beaufort,  cardinal,  bishop  of  Winchester ;  5.  John  Bucktot ; 
6.  John  Crosly,  treasurer  of  Lincoln  ;  7-  William  Batz  ;  8.  Edward 
Darby  ;  9.  William  Dagril,  mayor  of  Oxford  ;   10.   William  Bish  ; 

•  Brian  Twine  in  Miscellaniis.  1  PitZ-EUS,  anno  1410.  J   He  ftilly 

explains  tlie  meaning  of  tliis  rather  obscure  paragraph,  in  his  very  interogting  "Appeal 
of  injured  Innocence."- — Ebit. 


1  HENRY  VI.  BOOK.    IV.       CENT.    XV.  491 

11.  Edmund  A  udley;  12.  Jolm  Traps ;  13.  Richard  Kilbic,  late 
rector. 

Learned  Writers. — William  Harris,*  whose  writings  are 
much  esteemed  by  the  papists ;   Richard  Thornton. 

So  that  at  the  present  are  maintained,  one  Rector,  fourteen 
Fellows,  two  Chaplains,  four  Scholars,  which,  with  Servants  and 
other  Commoners,  lately  made  up  seventy-two. 

43.  Bishop  of  Lincoln  builds  them  a  new  Chapel. 
We  must  not  forget  John  Williams,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  bred  in 
Cambridge,  related  only  to  this  House  as  visitor  thereof.  Here 
finding  the  chapel  (built  by  John  Forrest,  dean  of  Wells  in  the 
reign  of  king  Henry  VL)  old,  little,  and  inconvenient,  he  erected  a 
far  fairer  fabric  in  the  room  thereof.  He  had  a  good  precedent  of  a 
Cambridge-man's  bounty  to  this  House  ;  even  Thomas  Rotherham, 
Fellow  of  King's  college,  and  Master  of  Pembroke-hall  therein, 
whom  bishop  Williams  succeeded,  as  in  the  bishopric  of  Lincoln 
and  the  archbishopric  of  York,  so  in  his  liberality  to  this  foundation. 

44.   The  Death  and  Character  of  King  Henry  V.     A.  D.  1422. 

On  the  last  of  August,  king  Henry  V.  ended  his  life  in  France ; 
one  of  a  strong  and  active  body,  neither  shrinking  in  cold,  nor 
slothful  in  heat,  going  commonly  with  his  head  uncovered :  the 
wearing  of  armour  was  no  more  cumbersome  unto  him  than  a  cloak. 
He  never  shrunk  at  a  wound,  nor  turned  away  his  nose  for  ill  savour, 
nor  closed  his  eyes  for  smoke  or  dust ;  in  diet,  none  less  dainty  or 
more  moderate  ;  his  sleep,  very  short  but  sound  ;  fortunate  in  fight, 
and  commendable  in  all  his  actions  ;  verifying  the  proverb,  that  an  ill 
youth  may  make  a  good  man.  The  nunnery  of  Sion  was  built  and 
endowed  by  him  ;  and  a  college  was  by  him  intended  in  Oxford, 
had  not  death  prevented  him. 

45,  46,  47,  48.  Queen  Catherine  married  again  ;  but  never 
buried^  by  her  own  Desire  :  alii  aliter.     1  Henry  VI. 

As  for  Catherine  de  Valois,  daughter  to  Charles  VI.  king  of 
France,  widow  of  king  Henry,  she  was  afterward  married  to,  and 
had  issue  by,  Owen  ap  Tudor,  a  noble  Welshman  ;  and  her  body 
lies  at  this  day  unburied,  in  a  loose  coffin  at  Westminster,  lately 
showed  to  such  as  desire  it ;  and  there  dependeth  a  story  thereon  : — 

There  Avas  an  old  prophecy  among  the  English,  (observed  by 
foreigners  to  be  the  greatest  prophecy-mongers,-}-  and  whilst  the  devil 
knows  their  diet  they  shall  never  want  a  dish  to  please  the  palate,) 
that  an  English  prince,  born  at  Windsor,  should  be  unfortunate  in 

•  PiTZ.ECS  De  Script.  Ang.  6,  page  801.  t  PHibiP  CoMMi>.M2t's. 


492  GHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1422 8. 

losing  what  his  father  had  acquired.  Whereupon  king  Henry- 
forbade  queen  Catherine  (big  with  child)  to  be  delivered  there  ; 
who,  out  of  the  corrupt  principle,  Nitimur  in  vetitum,  and  affecting 
her  father  before  her  husband,  was  there  brought  to  bed  of  king 
Henry  VI.  in  whose  reign  the  fair  victories  woven  by  his  father's 
valour,  were  by  cowardice,  carelessness,  and  contentions,  unravelled 
to  nothing. 

Report,  the  greatest,  though  not  the  truest,  author,  avoucheth, 
that,  sensible  of  her  fault  in  disobeying  her  husband,  it  was  her  own 
desire  and  pleasure,  that  her  body  should  never  be  buried.*  If  so, 
it  is  pity  but  that  a  woman,  especially  a  queen,  should  have  her 
will  therein  :  whose  dust  doth  preach  a  sermon  of  duty  to  feminine, 
and  of  mortality  to  all,  beholders. 

But  this  story  is  told  otherwise  by  other  authors  ;  namely,  that 
she  was  buried  near  her  husband  king  Henry  V.  under  a  fair  tomb, 
where  she  hath  a  large  epitaph, -f  and  continued  in  her  grave  some 
years,  until  king  Henry  VII.  laying  the  foundation  of  a  new  chapel, 
caused  her  corpse  to  be  taken  up.  But  why  the  said  Henry,  being 
her  great-grandchild,  did  not  order  it  to  be  re-interred,  is  not 
recorded  ;  if  done  by  casualty  and  neglect,  very  strange ;  and 
stranger,  if  out  of  design. 

49.  The  Parliament  appoitit  the  King's  Counsellors. 
In  the  minority  of  king  Henry  VI.  as  his  uncle  John  duke  of 
Bedford  managed  martial  matters  beyond  the  seas  ;  so  his  other 
uncle,  Humphrey  duke  of  Gloucester,  was  chosen  his  protector  at 
home,  to  whom  the  parliament  then  sitting  appointed  a  select 
number  of  privy  counsellors,  wherein  only  such  as  were  spiritual 
persons  fall  under  our  observation.  1.  Henry  Chicheley,  archbishop 
of  Canterbury  ;  2.  John  Kempe,  bishop  of  London  ;  3.  Henry 
Beaufort,  bishop  of  Winchester,  lately  made  lord  cardinal ;  4.  John 
Wackaring,  bishop  of  Norwich,  privy  seal ;  5.  Philip  Morgan, 
bishop  of  Worcester ;  6.  Nicholas  Bubwith,  bishop  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  lord  treasurer.  So  strong  a  party  had  the  clergy  in  that 
age,  in  the  Privy  Council,  that  they  could  carry  all  matters  at  their 
own  pleasure. 

50.  A  strict  Law  for  the  Irish  Clergy.     A.D.  1423. 

It  was  ordered  in  parliament,  that  all  Irishmen  living  in  either 
university  should  procure  their  testimonials  from  the  Lord  Lieutenant 
or  justice  of  Ireland,  as  also  find  sureties  for  their  good  behaviour, 
during  their  remaining  therein.     They  were  also  forbidden  to  take 

•  Speed's  "  Clirouicle,"  page  661.  t  Stow's  "  Survey  of  London,"  page  507- 


6  HENRY  Vr.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  493 

upon  them  the  Principality  of  any  Hall  or  House,  in  either  univer- 
sity, but  that  they  remain  under  the  discipline  of  others. 

51,  52,  53.  Wickliffe,  quietly  buried  forty-one  Years,  ordered  to  be 
ungraved  for  a  Heretic.  His  Ashes  burned  and  drowned. 
^.Z).  1428. 

Hitherto  the  corpse  of  John  Wickliffe  had  quietly  slept  in  his 
grave,  about  one-and-forty  years  after  his  death,  till  his  body  was 
reduced  to  bones,  and  his  bones  almost  to  dust.  For  though  the 
earth  in  the  chancel  of  Lutterworth  in  Leicestershire,  where  he  was 
interred,  hath  not  so  quick  a  digestion  with  the  earth  of  Aceldama, 
to  consume  flesh  in  twenty-four  hours,  yet  such  the  appetite  thereof, 
and  all  other  English  graves,  to  leave  small  reversions  of  a  body  after 
so  many  years. 

But  now,  such  the  spleen  of  the  council  of  Constance,  as  they 
not  only  cursed  his  memory,  as  dying  an  obstinate  heretic,  but 
ordered  that  his  bones  (with  this  charitable  caution,  "  if  it  may  be 
discerned  from  the  bodies  of  other  faithful  people,")  to  be  taken  out 
of  the  ground,  and  thrown  far  oif  from  any  Christian  burial. 

In  obedience  hereunto,  Richard  Fleming,  bishop  of  Lincoln, 
diocesan  of  Lutterworth,  sent  his  officers  (vultures  with  a  quick 
sight  scent  at  a  dead  carcase)  to  ungrave  him  accordingly.  To 
Lutterworth  they  come,  Sumner,  Commissary,  Official,  Chancellor, 
Proctors,  Doctors,  and  the  servants  (so  that  the  remnant  of  the 
body  would  not  hold  out  a  bone,  amongst  so  many  hands)  take  what 
was  left  out  of  the  grave,  and  burnt  them  to  ashes,  and  cast  them 
into  Swift,  a  neighbouring  brook  running  hard  by.  Thus  this 
brook  hath  conveyed  his  ashes  into  Avon,  Avon  into  Severn, 
Severn  into  the  narrow  seas,  they  into  the  main  ocean.  And  thus 
the  ashes  of  Wickliffe  are  the  emblem  of  his  doctrine,  which  now  is 
dispersed  all  the  world  over. 

54,  55.  None  can  drive  a  Nail  of  Wax.     Difference  betwixt 

Authors. 

I  know  not  whether  the  vulgar  tradition  be  worth  remembrance, 
that  the  brook  into  which  Wickliffe ""s  ashes  were  poured,  never  since 
overflowed  the  banks.  Were  this  true,  (as  some  deny  it,)  as  silly 
is  the  inference  of  Papists  attributing  this  to  Divine  Providence, 
expressing  itself  pleased  with  such  severity  on  a  heretic,  as  simple 
the  collection  of  some  Protestants,  making  it  an  effect  of  Wick- 
liffe"'s  sanctity.  Such  topical  accidents  are  good  for  friend  and  foe, 
as  they  may  be  bowed  to  both  ;  but  in  effect  good  to  neither, 
seeing  no  solid  judgment  will  build  where  bare  fancy  hath  laid 
foundation. 


494  CHURCH    HISTORY    01"    BRITAIN.  A..D.  1428 S3. 

It  is  of  more  consequence  to  observe  the  differences  betwixt 
authors,  some  making  the  council  of  Constance  to  pass  this  sentence 
of  condemnation,  as  Master  Fox  doth,  inserting  (but  by  mistake) 
the  history  thereof,  in  the  reign  of  king  Richard  II.  which 
happened  many  years  after.  But  more  truly  it  is  ascribed  to  the 
council  of  Sienna,  except,  for  sureness,  both  of  them  joined  in 
the  same  cruel  edict. 

56.   Wicklijfe  traduced. 

Here  I  cannot  omit  what  I  read  in  a  popish  manuscript  (but 
very  lately  printed)  about  the  subject  of  our  present  discourse  : 
"  The  first  unclean  beast  that  ever  passed  through  Ovenford  *  (I 
mean  Wickliffe  by  name)  afterwards  chewed  the  cud,  and  was 
sufficiently  reconciled  to  the  Roman  faith ;  as  appears  by  his 
recantation,  living  and  dying  conformable  to  the  holy  catholic 
church  .'"•f- 

It  is  strange  that  this  popish  priest  alone  should  light  on  his 
recantation,  which,  I  believe,  no  other  eyes,  before  or  since,  did 
behold.  Besides,  if,  as  he  saith,  "  Wickliffe  was  sufficiently 
reconciled  to  the  Roman  faith,^'  why  was  not  Rome  sufficiently 
reconciled  to  him  ?  using  such  cruelty  unto  him  so  many  years  after 
his  death  !  Cold  encouragement  for  any  to  become  Romists""  con- 
verts, if,  notwithstanding  their  reconciliation,  the  bodies  must  be 
burned  so  many  years  after  their  death  ! 

57.  A  Monk's  Charity  to  Wickliffe.     A.D.  1430. 

But  though  Wickliffe  had  no  tomb,  he  had  an  epitaph,  (such  as 
it  was  !)  which  a  monk  afforded  him  ;  and  that  it  was  no  worse, 
thank  his  want,  not  of  malice,  but  invention,  not  finding  out  worse 
expressions.  "  The  deviFs  instrument,  cliurch''s  enemy,  people"'s 
confusion,  heretics'*  idol,  hypocrites'"  mirror,  schism's  broacher, 
hatred''s  sower,  lies'*  forger,  flatteries'*  sink  ;  who  at  his  death 
despaired  like  Cain,  and,  stricken  by  the  horrible  judgments  of 
God,  breathed  forth  his  wicked  soul  to  the  dark  mansion  of  the 
black  devil  !  "|  Surely,  he  with  whose  name  this  epitaph  beginneth 
and  endeth  was  with  the  maker  clean  through  the  contrivance 
thereof. 

58,  59-  A  conditional  Privy  Counsellor.      Privilege  (rf 
Convocation. 
Henry  Beaufort,  bishop  of  Winchester,  cardinal  Sancti  Eusebii., 
but  commonly  called  cardinal  of  England,  was  by  consent  of  parlia- 

•  O  the  vrit !  1  Hall  iu  the  "  Life  of  Bisliop  Fislior,"  page  33.  I  M'alsingha.m 
Ypodi)).  Neust.  page  322. 


11  HENRY  VI.  nOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  405 

ment  made  one  of  the  kiiig"'s  council,  with  this  condition, — that  he 
should  make  a  protestation  to  absent  himself  from  the  council  when 
any  matters  were  to  be  treated  betwixt  the  king  and  pope  ;  being 
jealous,  belike,  that  his  papal  would  prevail  over  his  royal  interest.* 
The  cardinal  took  the  protestation,  and  promised  to  perform  it. 

The  clergy  complained  in  Parliament  to  the  king,  that  their 
servants  which  came  with  them  to  Convocations  were  often  arrested, 
to  their  great  damage  ;  and  they  prayed  that  they  might  have  the 
same  privilege  which  the  Peers  and  Commons  of  the  kingdom  have 
which  •are  called  to  Parliament :  which  was  granted  accordingly. 

60.    Want  of  Grammar-Schools  complained  of. 

Great  at  this  time  was  the  want  of  grammar-schools,  and  the 
abuse  of  them  that  were  even  in  London  itself ;  for  they  were  no 
better  than  monopolies,  it  being  penal  for  any  (to  prevent  the 
growth  of  Wicklivism)  to  put  their  children  to  private  teachers. 
Hence  was  it  that  some  hundreds  were  compelled  to  go  to  the  same 
school  ;  where,  to  use  the  words  of  the  records,  "  the  masters  waxen 
rich  in  money,  and  learners  poor  in  cunning." 

Whereupon  this  grievance  was  complained  on  in  parliament  by 
four  eminent  ministers  in  London  ;  namely,  Mr.  William  Lichfield, 
parson  of  Allhallow's  the  More ;  Mr.  Gilbert,  parson  of  St. 
Andrew's,  Holborn  ;  Mr.  John  Cote,  parson  of  St.  Peter's,  Corn- 
hill  ;  Mr.  John  Neele,  master  of  the  house  of  St.  Thomas  Acre's, 
and  parson  of  Colchirch.  To  these  it  was  granted,  by  the  advice  of 
the  ordinary,  or  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  to  erect  five  schools 
(Neele,  the  last-named,  having  a  double  licence  for  two  places)  in 
their  respective  parishes,  which  are  fitly  called  "  the  five  vowels  of 
London,""  which,  mute  in  a  manner  before,  began  now  to  speak  and 
pronounce  the  Latin  tongue.  Know  that  the  house  St.  Thomas 
Acre's  was  where  Mercers'  Chapel  standeth  at  this  day. 

61.  Eleanor  Duchess  of  Gloucester  commended  by  Mr.  Fox  for 
a  Confessor :  made  Traitor  by  A.  Cope.     A.D.  1433. 

About  this  time  the  lady  Eleanor  Cobham,  so  called  from  the 
lord  Cobham,  her  father,  (otherwise,  Eleanor  Plantagenet  by  her 
husband,)  was  married  unto  Humphrey  the  king's  uncle,  duke  of 
Gloucester.  She  was,  it  seems,  a  great  savourer  and  favourer 
of  Wickliflfe's  opinions  ;  and  for  such  Mr.  Fox  hath  ever  a  good 
word  in  store  ;  insomuch  that  he  maketh  this  lady  a  confessor.  Sir 
Roger  Only,  {alias  Bolingbroke,)  her  chaplain,  a  martyr,  assigning, 
in  his  Calendar,  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  of  February  for  the  days 
of  their  commemoration. 

•  E,v  Archivis  Tur,  London. 


49G  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  j(^.D.  14o3. 

But  Alanus  Copus  (namely,  Harpsfield,  under  his  name)  falls 
foul  on  Mr.  Fox  for  making  Sir  Roger  a  martyr,  who  was  a 
traitor ;  and  Eleanor  this  duchess  a  confessor,  who,  by  the  consent 
of  our  chroniclers,  Robert  Fabyan,  Edward  Hall,  &c.  was  con- 
demned (after  solemn  penance  and  carrying  a  taper  barefoot  at 
PauFs  Cross)  to  perpetual  banishment,  for  plotting  with  Only  his 
chaplain,  (an  abominable  necromancer,)  and  three  others,  by  witch- 
craft to  destroy  the  king,  so  to  derive  the  crown  to  her  husband,  as 
the  next  heir  in  the  line  of  Lancaster.  But  Cope-Harpsfield  pinch- 
eth  the  Fox  the  hardest,  for  making  Margaret  Jourdman  (the  witch  of 
Eye)  a  martyr,  who  was  justly  burnt  for  her  witchcraft.  Other  small 
errors  we  omit,  whereof  he  accuseth  him. 

62.  Mr.  FoaPs  ingenuous  Confessio?i.     His  Jlat  Denial.       His 
ten  Conjectures  in  behalf  of  the  Duchess. 

In  answer  hereunto,  Mr.  Fox  makes  a  threefold. return, — ingenu- 
ously confessing  part  of  the  charge,  flatly  denying  part,  and  fairly 
excusing  the  rest.  He  confesseth, — and  take  it  in  his  own  words, 
— that  "  the  former  edition  of  his  Acts  and  Monuments  was  hastily 
rashed  up  at  the  present  in  such  shortness  of  time,""*  (fourteen 
months,  as  I  remember, — too  small  a  term  for  so  great  a  task)  that 
it  betrayed  him  to  many  mistakes,  as  when  he  calleth  Sir  Roger  Only 
a  knight,  who  was  a  priest  by  his  profession  :  adding,  moreover,  that 
"  had  he  thought  no  imperfections  had  passed  his  former  edition,  he 
would  not  have  taken  in  hand  a  second  recognition  thereof."-|- 

He  flatly  denieth  that  his  martyr-making  of  Margaret  Jourdman, 
the  witch  of  Eye.  "I  here,"  saith  he,  "profess,  confess,  and 
ascertain,  both  you,"  (Cope-Harpsfield,  he  meaneth,)  "and  all 
Englishmen  both  present,  and  all  posterity  hereafter  to  come,  that 
Margaret  Jourdman  I  never  spake  of,  never  thought  of,  never 
dreamed  of,  nor  did  ever  hear  of,  before  you  named  her  in  your 
book  yourself.  So  far  it  is  off  that  I,  either  with  my  will,  or  against 
my  will,  made  any  martyr  of  her." 

He  excuseth  the  aforesaid  duchess  Eleanor,  alleging  "  ten  con- 
jectures," as  he  calleth  them,  in  her  vindication  : — 

1.  Sir  Roger  Only  took  it  upon  his  death,  that  he  and  the  lady 
were  innocent  of  those  things  for  which  they  were  condemned. 

2.  It  was  usual  for  the  clergy,  in  that  age,  to  load  those  who  were 
of  Wicklifl[e"'s  persuasion  (such  this  duchess)  with  no  less  false  than 
foul  aspersions. 

3.  Sir  Roger  Only  wrote  two  books,  (mentioned  by  Bale,);}:  the 
one  of  his  own  innocency,  the  other  contra  vulgi  super stitiones. 

•  First  Volume,  page  920.  f  Page  921.  J  As  in  his  ciglitb  cent.  cap.  i. 


11   IIENRV   VI.  nOOK     IV.        CENT.     XV,  407 

It  is  not  therefore  probable  he  should  be  so  silly  a  necromancer,  who 
had  professedly  confuted  popular  superstitions. 

4.  The  accusation  of  this  duchess  began  not  until  after  the 
grudges  betwixt  the  duke  her  husband,  and  the  cardinal  of  Win- 
chester,* about  the  year  1440. 

5.  It  is  not  probable,  if  the  duchess  intended  such  treason  against 
the  king''s  life,  (as  to  consume  him  by  burning  a  wax  candle,)  that 
she  would  impart  a  plot  of  such  privacy  to  four  persons ;  namely, 
Sir  Roger,  INIargaret  Jourdman,  Mr.  Thomas  Southwell,  and  John 
Hume  ;   seeing  "  five  may  keep  counsel,  if  four  be  away." 

6.  So  heinous  a  treason  against  the  king's  person,  if  plainly 
proved,  would  have  been  more  severely  punished,  with  death,  no 
doubt,  of  all  privy  thereunto.  Whereas  this  lady  escaped  with 
exile,  and  John  Hume  had  his  life  pardoned ;  which,  being  so  foul  a 
fact,  would  not  have  been  forgiven,  if  clearly  testified  against  him. 

7.  She  is  accused  in  our  Chronicles  (Harding,  Polychronicon, 
&c.)  for  "  working  sorcery  and  enchantments  against  the  church 
and  the  king."  Now  how  can  enchantments  be  made  against  the 
church,  which  is  a  collective  body,  consisting  of  a  multitude  of 
Christians  ?  And,  reader,  in  my  weak  opinion,  this  conjecture 
carrieth  some  w^eight  wqth  it.  Balaam  himself  can  tell  us,  "  There  is 
no  sorcery  against  Jacob,  nor  soothsaying  against  Israel,"  Num. 
xxiii.  2-3.  If  any  interpret  '"against  the  church,"  that  is,  "the  laws 
and  canons  of  the  church,"  the  sense  is  harsh  and  unusual.  This 
rendereth  it  suspicious  that  her  enchantments  against  the  church 
■was  only  her  disliking  and  distasting  the  errors  and  superstitions 
thereof. 

8.  This  witch  of  Eye,  saith  Fabyan,  lived  near  Winchester  ;  a 
presumption,  as  Mr.  Fox  conjectureth,  that  the  cardinal  of  Win- 
chester had  a  hand  in  packing  this  accusation. 

9.  Polydore  Virgil  maketh  no  mention  thereof,  otherwise  suffi- 
ciently quick-sighted  in  matters  of  this  nature. 

10.  Why  may  not  this  be  false,  as  well  as  that  king  Richard 
III."'s  accusing  of  Jane  Shore  for  bewitching  of  his  withered  arm  ? 

These  conjectures  are  not  substantial  enough  severally  to  subsist 
of  themselves  ;  yet  may  they  be  able  to  stand  in  complication,  (in 
the  wdiole  sheaf,  though  not  as  single  arrows,)  and  conduce  not  a 
little  towards  the  clearing  of  her  innocence. 

63.  A  moderate  Way. 
For  my  own  part,  it  is  past  my  skill  to  scour  out  stains,  inlaid  in 
the  memory  of  one  deceased  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago.     I 
see  her  credit  stands  condemned  by  the  generality  of  writers  ;  and 

"  I  see  not  how  thi.s  i^  much  material  in  her  defence. 

Vol.  I.  K   K 


41)8  CHURCH    HIS)T011Y    OK     liltlTAIK.  A.  D.  1433. 

as  it  is  above  the  power  of  the  present  age  to  pardon  it,  so  it  is 
against  all  pity,  cruelty,  to  execute  the  same,  some  after-evidences 
appearing  with  glimmering  light  in  her  vindication.  Let  her . 
memory  therefore  be  reprieved  till  the  day  of  judgment,  when  it  is 
possible,  that  this  lady,  "  bearing  here  the  indignation  of  God  for 
her  sins,"  may  in  due  time  "have  her  cause  pleaded,  and  judgment 
executed  for  her,  and  her  righteousness  be  brought  into  light," 
Micah  vii.  9.  Sure  I  am  she  ftired  no  whit  the  better  for  her  sur- 
name of  Cobham,  odious  to  the  clergy  of  that  age  on  the  account  of 
Sir  John  Oldcastle  lord  Cobham,  though  these  two  were  nothing  of 
kin.  The  best  is,  she  left  no  issue  to  be  ashamed  of  her  faults,  if 
she  were  guilty ;  the  best  evidences  of  whose  innocence  are  in  the 
manuscript  books  of  J.  Leland,  which  as  yet  I  have  not  had  the 
happiness  to  behold. 

64.    The  meanest  Bishop  above  the  mightiest  Abbot. 

At  this  time  William  Heiworth  sat  bishop  of  Coventry  and 
Lichfield,  being  translated  thither  from  being  abbot  of  St.  Alban''s. 
Wonder  not  that  he  should  leave  the  richest  abbey  of  England, 
(where  he  took  place  of  all  of  his  Order,)  and  exchange  it  for  a 
middle-sized  bishopric.  For,  First,  even  those  who  most  admire 
the  holiness  and  perfection  of  monastical  life  do  grant  the  episcopal 
function  above  it  in  all  spiritual  respects.  Secondly.  In  temporal 
considerations  the  poorest  bishop  was  better,  (and  might  be  more 
beneficial  to  his  kindred,)  than  the  richest  abbot,  seeing  he  by  will 
might  bequeath  his  estate  to  his  heirs,  which  no  abbot  (incapable  in 
his  own  person  of  any  propriety)  could  legally  do,  whose  goods 
belonged  to  his  convent  in  common. 

65.    LichfieliVs   Cathedral,   the   neatest   Pile   in   England. 
A.  D.  1433. 

This  bishop  Heiworth  deserved  not  ill  of  his  cathedral  church  of 
Lichfield.  Indeed,  the  body  of  the  church  was  built  by  Roger  de 
Clinton,  bishop  thereof,  in  the  reign  of  king  Henry  I.  who  increased 
the  number  of  the  prebends,  and  surrounded  Lichfield  with  a  ditch, 
bestowing  much  cost  on  the  invisible  castle,  which  now  is  vanished 
out  of  sight.  Afterwards  Walter  de  Langton  his  successor  in  the 
reicrn  of  kinof  Edward  I.  was  a  most  munificent  benefactor  thereunto, 
laying  the  foundation  of  the  chapel  of  the  virgin  Mary,  and,  though 
dying  before  it  was  finished,  bequeathing  a  sufficient  sum  of  money 
for  the  finishing  thereof.  He  also  fenced  the  close  of  the  church 
about  with  a  high  wall  and  deep  ditch,  adorning  it  with  two  beautiful 
gates,  the  fairer  on  the  west,  the  lesser  on  the  south   side  thereof. 


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IJ    HEXKV   VI.  liOOK     IV.        C'KXT.    XV.  4D9 

He  expended  no  less  than  two  thousand  pounds  in  beautifying  the 
shrine  of  St.  Chad  his  predecessor. 

But  now,  in  the  time  of  the  aforesaid  William  Heiworth,  the 
cathedral  of  Lichfield  was  in  the  vertical  height  thereof,  being, 
though  not  augmented  in  the  essentials,  beautified  in  the  orna- 
mentals thereof.  Indeed,  the  west  front  thereof  is  a  stately  fabric, 
adorned  with  exquisite  imagery,  [of]  which  I  suspect  our  age  is  so  far 
from  being  able  to  imitate  the  workmanship,  that  it  understandetli 
not  the  history  thereof. 

66,  ()7.  Charles  the  fifth  of  Florence.     An  ingenious  Design. 

Surely,  what  Charles  V.  is  said  to  have  said  of  the  city  of 
Florence,  "  that  it  is  pity  it  should  be  seen  save  only  on  holi- 
days ;"  as  also  that  "  it  was  fit  that  so  fair  a  city  should  have  a  case 
and  cover  for  it  to  keep  it  from  wind  and  weather ;"  so,  in  some 
sort,  this  fabric  may  seem  to  deserve  a  shelter  to  secure  it. 

But,  alas  !  it  is  now  in  a  pitiful  case  indeed, — almost  beaten  down 
to  the  ground  in  our  civil  dissensions.  Now,  lest  the  church  should 
follow  the  castle, — I  mean,  quite  vanish  out  of  view, — I  have,  at 
the  cost  of  my  worthy  friend,  here  exemplified  the  portraiture 
thereof;  and  am  glad  to  hear  it  to  be  the  design  of  ingenious 
persons,  to  preserve  ancient  churches  in  the  like  nature,  whereof 
many  are  done  in  this,  and  more  expected  in  the  next,  part  of 
Monasticon  ;  seeing  when  their  substance  is  gone,  their  very 
shadows  will  be  acceptable  to  posterity. 

68,  69,  7^*  -^  Grievance  complained  on,  with  great  Earnestness ; 
yet  not  fully  redressed. 

The  Commons  in  Parliament  complained  to  the  king,  that 
whereas  they  had  sold  great  wood  of  twenty  years"*  growth  and 
upwards,  to  their  own  great  profit,  and  in  aid  to  the  king  in  his 
wars  and  shipping,  the  parsons  and  vicars  impleaded  such  merchants 
as  bought  this  timber  for  the  tithes  thereof,  whereby  their  estates 
were  much  damnified,  the  king  and  kingdom  disserved. 

They  also  complained,  that  when  such  merchants,  troubled  in  the 
courts  Christian,  addressed  themselves  for  remedy  to  the  chancery, 
and  moved  therein  for  a  prohibition,  Avhich  in  such  cases  is  to  be 
granted  unto  them,  by  virtue  of  a  statute  made  in  the  forty-fifth 
year  of  king  Edward  III.  yet  such  a  writ  of  prohibition  and  attacli- 
ment  was  against  all  law  and  right  denied  them.  Wherefore  they 
humbly  desired  the  king  to  ordain,  by  authority  of  the  present 
parliament,  that  such,  who  shall  find  themselves  grieved,  may  here- 
after have  such  writs  of  prohibition  and  upon  that  attachments  as 
well  in  the  Chancery  as  in  the  King's  and  Common  Bench  at  tlicir 

2  K  ^2 


500  CHURCH    HISTORY     OF     BKITATN.  A.D.  1434. 

choice  ;  and  that  the  said  writs  of  prohibition  and  attachment, 
issuing  out  of  the  said  benches,  have  the  same  force  and  effects,  as 
the  original  writs  of  prohibition  and  attachment  so  issuing  out  of 
the  chancery  of  our  lord  the  king.* 

To  this  it  was  returned,  "  The  king  will  be  advised,"  the  civilest 
expression  of  a  denial.  However,  we  may  observe,  that,  for  a  full 
hundred  years,  (namely,  from  the  middle  of  king  Edward  III.  to 
and  after  this  time,)  no  one  parliament  passed  wherein  this  grievance 
was  not  complained  on.  So  that  an  acorn  might  become  an  oak 
and  good  timber  in  the  term  wherein  this  molestation  for  the  tithes 
of  wood,  under  the  pretence  of  silva  ccsdua,  did  continue.  But  it 
seems  it  was  well  ordered  at  last,  finding  future  parliaments  not 
complaining  thereof. 

71,  72?  T**^-  ^Vil'lia^n  Lmwood''s  Constitutions  set  forth.  First 
employed  Ambassador  into  Portugal.  His  Work  printed 
and  prized  beyond  Sea. 

At  this  time  William  Linwood  finished  his  industrious  and  useful 
work  of  his  "  Constitutions.""  He  was  bred  in  Cambridge  ;  first, 
scholar  of  Gonvile,  then  Fellow  of  Pembroke  hall.  His  younger 
years  he  spent  in  the  study  of  the  laws,  whereby  he  gained  much 
wealth,  and  more  reputation.  Afterwards,  quitting  his  practice,  he 
betook  himself  to  the  court,  and  became  keeper  of  the  privy  seal 
unto  king  Henry  V.  who  employed  him  on  a  long  and  important 
embassy  into  Spain  and  Portugal. 

Linwood,  being  no  less  skilful  in  civil  than  canon  law,  performed 
the  place  with  such  exemplary  industry  and  judgment,  that,  had  not 
the  king's  sudden  death  prevented  it,  he  had  been  highly  advanced 
in  the  commonwealth.  Afterwards  he  re-assumed  his  officiaFs  place 
of  Canterbury,  and  then  at  spare  hours  collected  and  digested  the 
Constitutions  of  the  fourteen  latter  archbishops  of  Canterbury,  from 
Stephen  Langton  to  Henry  Chicheley,  unto  whom  he  dedicated  the 
work,  submitting  the  censure  thereof  to  the  church. 

A  worthy  work,  highly  esteemed  by  foreign  lawyers  :  not  so  par- 
ticularly provincial  for  England,  but  that  they  are  useful  for  other 
countries,  his  comment  thereon  being  a  magazine  of  the  canon  law. 
It  was  printed  at  Paris,  1505,  (but  at  the  cost  and  charges  of 
William  Bretton,  an  honest  merchant  of  London,)  revised  by  the 
care  of  Wolfangus  Hippolius,  and  prefaced  unto  by  Jodocus 
Badius.-  This  Linwood  was  afterward  made  bishop  of  St.  David's, 
whose  works  (though  now  beheld  by  some  as  an  almanac  out  of 
date)  will  be  valued  by  the  judicious  whilst  learning  and  civility 
have  a  being. 

•  E.v  Archivh-  in  Tur.  Londin.  uHdccimo  Hen.  VI. 


12  HEKilY  VI.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  501 

SECTION   III. 

TO  THOMAS  RICH,  LATE  OF  LONDON,  ESQUIRE. 

Great  is  the  praise  St.  Paul  gives  to  Gains,  styling 
him  "  HIS  host,  and  of  the  whole  church,"  Rom.  xvi.  23. 
Surely,  the  church  then  was  very  little,  or  Gaius's 
house  very  large.  Now,  hosts  commonly  are  corpulent 
persons;  but  Gains  not  so,  it  being  nnore  than  suspicious 
that  he  was  afflicted  with  a  faint  and  feeble  body,  as 
may  be  collected  from  the  words  of  St.  John  :  "  I  wish 
that  thou  may  est  prosper  and  be  in  health,  even  as  thy 
soul  prospereth,"  3  John  2. 

You  are,  Sir,  the  entertainer-general  of  good  men ; 
many  a  poor  minister  will  never  be  wholly  "  seques- 
tered" whilst  you  are  living,  whose  charity  is  like  to 
the  wind,  which  cannot  be  seen,  but  may  be  felt.  And 
God  hath  dealt  with  you  more  bountifully  than  with 
Gaius,  blessing  you  in  all  dimensions  of  soul,  body,  and 
estate  ;  and  my  prayers  shall  never  be  wanting  for  the 
continuance  and  increase  thereof. 

1.  English  Ambassadors  sent  to  Basil.     A.  D.  1434. 

This  year  began  the  smart  and  active  council  of  Basil,  to  which 
our  ambassadors  were  to  represent  both  their  sovereign  and  the 
English  nation  ;  where  they  were  received  with  honour  and  respect, 
tlie  reputation  of  king  Henry ""s  holiness  adding  much  to  their  credit ; 
foreigners  there  being  very  inquisitive  of  tlicm,  to  be  satisfied  in  the 
particulars  of  his  devotion,  which  by  them  was  represented  much  to 
their  master's  advantage.  But  it  is  worth  our  pains  to  peruse  the 
commission  they  carried  wdth  them. 

Reoc  omnibus  qtios,  etc.  salutem. — Sciatis  quod,  cum  Juxta 
decreta  Constantiensis  concilii,  prasens  concilium  Basileense 
actuaUter  celebretur,  sub  sanctissirno  patre  domino  Eugenio  Papa 
quarto ;  nos  eidem  concilio,  nedum  ex  parte  ejusdem  concilii  per 
suos  oratorcs  nobis  ex  hac  causa  specialiter  destinatos^  verum 
etiam  aposiolicis  et  iniperialihus,  ac  aliurum  quamplurimoium 
sanctce  matris  ecclesifB  patrurn  et  principum  Sfrcularium  Uteris 
creberrime  instiguti,  ad  Dei  laudem,  sancta  matris  ecclesice  pros- 
per itatem-  optatam  et  honorem,  et  prasertim  ob  fidei  caiholicee 
exaltationem  interessc  cupienies,  variis  et  diversis  causis  raliona- 


502  CHUilCII    HISTOUY    OF    liRITAIN.  A,D.  1434. 

h'dUcr  prcepcd'itl^  quo  minus  pcrsonaUter  ddcm  Intcresse  potcr'nnus, 
nt  vcUenuts,  veuerabiles  patrcs  Roberhim  Londonicnsem,  PhU'qj- 
pinn  Lexov'ien'iem,  Johanncm  Roffenscm,  Johamiem  Bajocensem, 
et  Bernardum  Jqucnscm  episcnpos,  ac  carissimiim  consanguhieuni 
nostruvi  Edmundum  Comitcin  Moi'itonii,  dllectos  nobis  Niclio- 
laurn  Abbatem  Gla.':t >niensem,  Wdl'uimum  Abbatcvi  ccclesice 
heatcE.  Marie  Eboruiii  et  Wdliehniim  Priorem  Norwicensem,  nee 
non  dilcctos  et  Jidclcs  nostras  Hcnricwn  Broumflete  m'ditem^ 
vnag'istnnn  Thomam  Broun  vtrlusque  Juris  doctorem;  Sa7'U7n 
Decanutn,  Johannem  Colluclle  militem^  magistrum  Petrum 
Maurieii  *  doctorcm  in  thcologid  et  vtngistrurn  Nicholaum  David 
Archidiaeonum  CoJistantiejisem  et  Lieentiatum  in  uti-oque  jure^ 
nostras  ambassiatores,  aratores,  veros,  et  indubitatos  procuratores, 
actor es^  faetores,  et  nuncios  spccicdes  eoustituimus,  facimus  et 
deputamus per  pruEsentes^  demies  et  damns  eis  et  ipsorum  majari 
parti  potestatem  et  maudatum  tarn  gencrule  quain  speciale 
namine  nastro  et  pro  nobis  in  codem  concdio  interessendi,  tractandi, 
communieandi  et  concludoidi  tarn  de  hiis  qua  fidei  arthodoxtc 
fulcimentum^  regumque  ac  principum  pacificationcm  cancer nere 
poterunt^  nee  non  de  et  super  pace  pcrpetua  guerrarumvc  absti- 
nentta  inter  nos  et  Carolum  adversarium  nostruvi  de  F rancid, 
ac  etiam  tractandi,  covwiunicandi  et  appunctuandi,  eonsentiendi 
insuper,  et  si  opus  fuerit  dissentiendi  hiis,  qucejaxta  delibcrationem 
dicH  eancilii  inibi  statui,  ac  ordinari  cantigerit.  Promittentes  et 
pramittimus  bond  jide  nas  ratum,  gratum,  et  firmum  perpeiuo 
habiturum  totum  •]•  et  quicquid  per  dictas  amhassiatores,  oratares, 
et  praeuratores  nostras,  ant  7nnjarem  partem  earundem,  actum, 
factum,  seu  gestumfaerit  in  pra:rinssis,  et  in  siugidispraviissorum, 
et  hoc  idem  cum  de  et  super  hiis  certiarati  fuerimus  quantum  ad 
nos  et  Christianum  principem  attinet,  exceuticmi  debitee  curabimus 
dejuandare.  In  ciijus  rei  testimonium  has  Uterus  nostras  fieri 
fecimus  patentes. 

Dat.  sid)  magni  sigilll  nasiri  testimonio  in  pulutio  nostra 
West.  10  die  Julii. 

Per  Concdium. 

*'  The  king  to  all  wliom,  &c,  greeting.  Know  that  according  to 
the  decrees  of  [the  late]  council  of  Constance,  the  present  council 
of  Basil  is  actually  celebrated  under  the  most  holy  father,  lord 
Eugenius  the  fourth  pope.  We  being  often  instigated  to  be  pre- 
sent at  the  same  council,  not  only  on  the  behalf  of  the  same  coun- 
cil, by  their  orators,  especially  dispatched  to  us  for  that  purpose,  but 
also  by  the  letters  apostolical  and  imperial,  and  the  letters  of  very 
many   other  fathers   of    the  holy   molher    church,    and    of   secular 

*  Or  Maurisou.  t  HulAtuvmn  in  ]\IS. 


12  HENUY  vr.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  503 

princes.  And  we,  desiring'  to  be  present  tliereat,  to  the  praise 
of  God,  prosperity  of  the  holy  mother  church,  and  her  desired 
honour,  and  chiefly  for  the  exaltation  of  the  Catholic  faith,  being  on 
just  reason  hindered  with  many  and  several  occasions,  cannot  (as  we 
would)  be  personally  present  thereat.  Wherefore  by  these  presents 
we  constitute,  make,  and  depute,  the  venerable  fathers,  Robert 
bishop  of  London,  Philip  bishop  of  Lisieux,*  John  bishop  of 
Rochester,  John  bishop  of  Baieux,  and  Bernard  bishop  of  Aix,  and 
our  most  dear  cousin  Edmund  earl  of  Morton,  our  beloved  Nicholas 
abbot  of  Glasto,  William  abbot  of  St.  Mary's  in  York,  and 
William  prior  of  Norwich,  and  our  beloved  and  trusty  Henry 
Brouuiflete,  knight,  Mr.  Thomas  Broun,  doctor  of  laws,  dean  of 
Sarum,  John  Coleville,  knight,  Mr.  Peter  Fitzmaurice,  D.D.  and 
Mr.  Nicholas  David  archdeacon  of  Constance,  and  licentiate  in  both 
laws,  our  ambassadors,  orators,  true  and  undoubted  proctors,  actors, 
factors,  and  special  messengers  ;  giving,  and  we  give  to  them,  and 
the  greater  part  of  them,  power  and  command,  as  well  general 
as  special,  in  our  name,  and  for  us,  to  be  present  in  the  same  coun- 
cil, to  treat,  debate,  and  conclude  as  well  of  these  things  which  may 
concern  the  support  of  the  orthodox  faith,  the  pacification  of  kings 
and  princes,  as  also  upon  either  a  perpetual  peace,  or  else  a  cessation 
from  war,  betwixt  us  and  Charles  of  France  our  adversary  ;  empower- 
ing them  also  to  treat,  commune,  and  appoint,  moreover  to  consent, 
and,  if  need  be,  dissent,  in  those  things  which  shall  happen  there  to 
be  established  and  ordained  according  to  the  deliberations  of  the 
aforesaid  council :  promising,  and  we  do  promise,  on  good  faith, 
that  whatsoever  shall  be  acted,  done,  or  managed,  in  the  premisses, 
and  every  one  of  them  by  our  aforesaid  ambassadors,  orators,  and 
proctors,  or  the  greater  part  of  them,  we  shall  have  and  account  for 
ratified,  welcome,  and  firm  for  ever.  And  when  we  shall  be  certilied 
of  and  upon  the  same,  we  shall  care  to  command  the  due  execu- 
tion, so  far  as  appcrtainetli  to  us,  and  a  Christian  prince.  In  wit- 
ness whereof,  we  have  made  these  our  letters  patent. 

"  Given  under  our  great  seal,  being  our  witness,  in   our  palace  at 
Westminster,  July  lO.'"'!' 

So  eminent  an>  instrument  of  so  great  importance  must  not  pass 
without  some  of  our  observations  thereupon. 

2.   Why  the  Pope  declines  General  Councils  in  our  Age. 
The  council  of   Basil   is  said   to  be  assembled  according  to  the 
decrees  of  the  late  council  of  Constance,  wherein  it  was  constituted, 
that  within  so  many  years  a  general  council  should  be  called.     For, 

*  A  city  in  Normandy.  1  The  Latin  running  on   all  in  one  continued  sentence, 

we  are  fain  to  divide  it  into  many,  for  the  more  clearness. 


504  CHURCH    HISTOllY    OF     BUITAlX.  A.D.  1434. 

seeing  the  clmrcli  was  subject  to  contract  rust  in  doctrine  and 
manners,  frequency  of  councils  was  conceived  tlie  best  way  to  scour 
the  same.  But  tlie  pope  lately  hath  willingly  forgotten  this  canon, 
no  general  council  being  called  since  that  of  Trent,  wherein  all  the 
power  and  profit  of  the  pope  was  secured  under  the  notion  of  "  arti- 
cles of  the  faith  ;"  since  which  time  his  Holiness  thought  it  not  safe 
to  tamper  with  a  new  council,  as  which  might  impair,  but  could  not 
improve,  his  condition. 

3.  England  must  send  four,  might  send  more.  Bishops  to  a 
General  Council. 

See  we  here  fourteen  ambassadors  sent  to  Basil ; — five  bishops, 
one  earl,  (not  that  he  >vas  to  vote  in  the  council,  but  only  behold 
the  transactions  thereof,)  two  abbots,  one  prior,  two  knights,  one 
doctor  in  divinity,  two  doctors  of  law,  all  interests  being  in  them 
represented.  When,  therefore,  we  read  in  Roger  Hoveden  and 
others,*  ad  generate  concilium  Domini  papcE,  quatuor  episcopi 
de  Anglia  fantiim  Romam  mitfendi  sunt,  "  only  four  English 
bishops  are  to  be  sent  to  Rome  to  a  general  council  of  the  pope  ;"'"' 
understand  it,  that  such  a  number  is  sufficient.  England  needed  to 
send  but  so  many,  though,  if  pleased,  might  send  more,  confined  by 
no  other  command  save  the  king's  free  discretion.  And  seeing 
Basil  was  little  above  the  half-way  to  Rome,  the  journey  being 
shorter,  the  more  messengers  were  employed. 

4.  English  Puissance  iti  France. 
The  three  French  bishops  sent  by  the  king  speak  the  great  com- 
mand which  king  Henry  as  yet  had  in  France,  especially  (if  as  I 
take  it  by)  Aquensis,-f-  Aix  be  mentioned,  situated  in  the  furthermost 
parts  of  Provence,  though  even  now  the  English  power  in  France 
was  a-waning. 

5.  Langdon^  the  learned  Bishop  of  Rochester. 

John,  bishop  of  Rochester,  here  mentioned,  was  John  Langdon, 
intruded  by  the  pope  into  that  bishopric,  to  the  apparent  prejudice 
of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  For  the  bishop  of  Rochester 
was  accounted  Canterbury"'s  chaplain,  to  whom  he  owed  his  spirituals 
and  temporals  as  his  patron  and  founder ;  though  now  the  pope, 
contrary  to  the  archbishop''s  will  and  right,  forced  this  Langdon  into 

*  SniON  Dl'nelmensis.  t  n(>3-lin  observes,  in  his  E.vamtn  :  '•  BemarJ,  whom 

the  Latin  calls  Ejiiscopus  ^qucnsis  is  verj'  ill  taken  by  oiir  author  to  be  bishop  of  Aix. 
He  was,  indeed,  bishop  of  Acqus  or  Aux  in  Gtiienne,  called  anciently  AqucB  AiiyustcE. 
from  whence  those  parts  of  France  had  the  name  of  Aqnitaine,  Now,  Giiienne  was  at 
that  time  in  the  power  of  the  kings  of  England." — Edit. 


12  HENllV  VI.  BOOK    IV.       CKNT.    XV.  505 

the  place.  But,  indeed,  he  was  a  learned  man,  dying  this  year  in 
his  embassy  at  Basil ;  and  deserved  far  better  preferment  than  the 
poor  bishopric  of  Rochester.  But  yet,  as  some  observe  of  tailors, 
that  they  make  the  largest  garments  when  they  have  the  least  cloth 
allowed  them  ;  so  the  poor  bishopric  of  Rochester  hath  fared  better 
than  many  richer  sees,  seeing  sacrilege  would  never  feed  on  so  bare 
a  pasture. 

6.  Precedents  for  Precedency. 

Observe  the  method  in  the  nomination  of  these  commissioners, 
wherein  no  wonder  if  the  bishops  precede  so  great  an  earl.  Was  it 
not  fit  that  "  reverend  fathers"  should  be  placed  before  a  "  dear 
cousin  .^"  Besides,  the  employment  being  of  church-concernment, 
spiritual  persons  carried  It  clear  in  the  race  of  dignity.  More  strange 
it  is  to  find  herein  a  knight,  Henry  Broumflete,  put  before  a  doctor 
of  both  laws,  and  yet  John  Coleville,  another  knight,  placed  after  the 
same  doctor.  I  confess  the  contest  very  ancient  about  priority 
betwixt  a  knight  and  a  doctor  of  law, — ever  since  the  comparison 
which  Tully  *  made  betwixt  Lucius  Murena,  a  knight  of  Rome, 
and  Pub.  Sulpitius,  a  lawyer,  either  of  them  standing  for  the  con- 
sulship ;  though  now  in  England  the  precedency  of  the  knight  be 
indubitable,  since  preferment  is  taken  from  civil  law,  and  the  pro- 
fessors thereof  shut  up,  as  it  were,  in  a  narrow  corner  of  their  own 
faculty.  But  we  leave  the  critical  decision  thereof  to  his  pen  -f-  who 
hath  written  a  just  tract  "  of  the  Glory""  (in  truth,  "  of  the  vanity") 
"  of  this  World,"  and  exactly  stated  this  particular,  with  all  the 
circumstances  thereof. 

7-  ^  charitable  and  no  impolitic  Offer. 

Whereas  the  king  empowereth  those  his  commissioners  to  meddle 
in  the  point  of  his  right  of  the  realm  of  France  with  king  Charles 
his  competitor,  submitting  his  title  to  be  discussed  in  the  council,  it 
carrieth  with  it  a  confidence  of  his  own  right,  and  charitable  desire 
to  save  the  effusion  of  Christian  blood.  But  this  was  not  council, 
but  camp -work  ;  and  we  meet  not  with  the  mention  hereof  once 
touched  on  in  this  great  assembly.  However,  so  wary  was  king 
Henry  (or  rather  his  council)  as  not  absolutely  to  tie  up  his  title  to 
the  decision  of  this  council,  but  to  give  his  commissioners  a  negative 
voice,  in  case  they  see  cause  to  dissent. 

8.  A  Contest  betwixt  the  English  and  Castilians  about 
PrecedencTj. 

The  general  history  of  the  church  reporteth  the  acts  of  this  coun- 
cil, how  they  deposed  pope  Eugenius,  and  substituted  Felix  in  his 

*  In  Orationc  pro  Murcnci.  t  CH.^ssA^EL'S  La  Gloria  Mtaidi,  lib.  ix. 


500  CHURCH    HlSTOJlY    OF    BRITATX.  A.D.  1434 7- 

room  ;  for  which  and  other  decisions  therein,  Rome  beholds  his 
council  but  with  bad  eyes  unto  this  day.  We  will  only  meddle 
vith  a  difference  therein,  which  concerned  our  own  nation.  The 
orators  of  several  kings  began  to  take  their  places,  according  to  their 
birthrights  ;  dating  their  age  from  their  nations'  first  receiving 
of  Christianity.  Here  arose  the  controversy,  of  course,  about  pre- 
cedency betwixt  the  English  and  Castile  ambassadors  ;  the  former 
alleging  Britain's  conversion  by  Joseph  of  Arimathea;  which  Alphon- 
sus  Garsias  de  Sancta  Maria  dean  of  Compostella  and  Segovia, 
doctor  of  law,  and  ambassador  for  Castile,  with  a  speech  more 
tedious  than  his  name  and  titles,  much  endeavoured  to  disprove,* 
and  his  arguments  may  be  reduced  to  these  four  heads  : — 

First.  He  denied  Joseph's  arrival  in  Britain,  and  imposed  the 
proof  thereof  on  the  English  who  affirmed  it,  challenging  them  to 
produce  any  authentic  record  for  the  same. 

Secondly.  He  urged  probability  to  the  contrary,  out  of  the 
Golden  Legend,  or  Flores  Sanctorum ;  where  it  is  reported,  how 
Titus,  taking  Jerusalem,  caused  a  thick  wall  to  be  digged  through, 
and  therein  found  an  aged  man,  who  confessed  himself  to  be  Joseph 
of  Arimathea,  there  imprisoned  by  the  Jews  for  burying  of  Christ; 
and  that  ever  since  he  had  been  fed  with  meat  from  heaven.  Hence 
he  inferred,  that  if  Joseph  were  in  durance  all  this  while  in  the  wall, 
he  could  not,  as  the  English  pretended,  come  over  into  Britain  to 
plant  the  Gospel. 

Thirdly.  Grant  that  Joseph,  after  his  enlargement  by  Titus, 
preached  in  Britain,  (which  must  needs  be  after  the  year  of  our 
Lord,  seventy  and  two,)  Spain  long  before  had  received  the  Gospel 
by  the  preaching  of  James  the  apostle. 

Fourthly.  Be  it  granted,  that  Joseph  did  preach  in  England,  it 
was  but  in  a  corner  thereof,  the  grand  body  of  Britain  remaining 
Pagan  many  hundred  years  after. 

These  argimients  he  uttered  with  such  an  affected  gravity,  as  if 
he  could  have  made  the  matter  the  more  by  pronouncing  the  Avords 
the  longer. 

9-  The  Anstcer  of  the  English. 

The  English  easily  answered  these  exceptions,  proving  James  to  be 
slaughtered  at  Jerusalem  by  Herod,  Acts  xii.  2,  before  his  pretended 
preaching  in  Spain  ;  seeing  their  own  countryman,  and  an  archbishop 
of  Toledo, -|-  confesseth  as  much.  They  produced  many  ancient  tes- 
timonies for  the  preaching  of  Joseph  in  Britain  ;  the  fond  fable  of 
his  being  kept  in  a  wall  being  beneath  confutation,  as  attested  only 

•  Ex  Sihcdis  Cottonianis.  t  RoDERict'S  Ximenius  in  Concer.  de  Primatu  cuia 

ProCiule  Compostel,  in  Coniil.  Lakran.     ^nno  1215. 


15  HENRy   vr.  BOOK     IV.       CENT.    XV.  507 

by  a  Avorthlcss  author,  Jolianncs  de  Voragine.*  Their  allegation, 
tliat  Britain  was  but  partially  converted  by  his  preaching,  was  but 
impertinent  to  the  present  purpose  ;  the  point  controverted  not 
being  of  the  universality,  but  the  antiquity,  of  first  receiving  the 
Christian  faith.  Besides,  neither  James,  nor  any  other  disciple, 
ever  converted  a  kingdom  totally  and  entirely  to  Christianity.  How- 
ever, nothing  was  concluded  in  this  controversy,  always  agitated, 
never  decided : — 1.  In  the  council  of  Pisa,  anno  1409.  2.  In  the 
council  of  Constance,  1417,  betwixt  the  ambassadors  of  England  and 
France.  3.  In  the  council  of  Sienna,  before  Martin  V.  pope ; 
wherein  Richard  Fleming,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  encountered  France, 
Spain,  and  Scotland,  about  precedency.  Lastly.  Betwixt  England 
and  Spain,  in  the  council  of  Basil,  though  therein  nothing  concluded  ; 
those  politic  prelates  accounting  it  better  to  keep  both  princes  in  hope 
by  discussing,  than  to  put  one  into  anger  by  deciding  it.  Yea, 
they  loved  to  set  up  this  controversy  (as  that  of  the  precedence  of 
Cambridge  and  Oxford  in  the  English  parliaments)  out  of  design, 
sometimes  to  delay  time ;  sometimes,  by  starting  it,  to  stop  and 
divert  more  dangerous  disputes. 

10.  All- SouW  College  in  Oxford  foujided.     AD.\^S^. 

Henry  Chicheley,  doctor  of  law,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  founded 
a  college  in  Oxford,  by  the  name  of  All-Souls,  for  a  Warden,  and 
forty  Fellows  ;  which  number  by  statute  was  never  to  be  augmented 
or  impaired  ;  and  all  void  places  (by  death,  or  otherwise)  once  in  a 
year  to  be  supplied. 

Wardens. — 1.  Mr.  Richard  Andrews  ;  2.  Mr.  Roger  Keys  ; 
3.  Mr.  Gulielmus  Kele  ;  4.  Mr.  Gulielmus  Poleman  ;  5.  Mr.  John 
Stokie  ;  6.  Thomas  Hobbys  ;  7-  Mr.  Gulielmus  Brooke  ;  8.  Mr. 
John  Coale  ;  9.  Mr.  Robert  Woodward  ;  10.  Mr.  Robert  Stokelie  ; 
11.  Mr.  John  Warner  ;  12.  Mr.  Seth  Holland  ;  13.  Mr.  John 
Pope;    14.    Mr.    Richard   Barber;    15.   Mr.   Robert   Hovenden ; 

•  Couceming  this  author  the  remark  of  Heylin  is  :  "  I  find  mention  of  one  Johannes  de 
Voragine,  a  worthless  author;  mistook  Loth  in  the  name  of  the  man,  and  his  quality  also. 
For,  the  author  of  the  book  called  Lcgenda  Aureu  was  not  Johannes  but  Jaeohus  de 
Voragine  :  in  which  book  though  there  are  many  idle  and  imwarrantable  fictions,  yet  was 
the  man  of  more  esteem  than  to  pass  imder  the  character  of  a  worthless  author,  as  being 
learned  for  the  times  in  which  he  lived,  archbishop  of  Genoa,  a  chief  citj-  of  Italy,  et 
mcyribus  et  dlgnitate  magno  pretio,  as  Philippus  Bergomensis  telleth  us  of  him,  anno  1250, 
at  what  time  he  lived ;  most  eminent  for  his  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Italian 
tongue,  (as  we  read  Vossius,)  a  work  of  great  both  difficulty  and  danger,  as  the  times 
then  were ;  sufficient,  were  there  nothing  else,  to  free  him  from  the  ignominious  name  of 
a  worthless  author."  Fuller,  after  ha\ing  with  his  usual  frankness  "  entered  his  public 
thanks  to  the  Ayiimadverter,"  concludes  with  this  sentence :  "I  confess  I  have  formei-ly, 
in  the  table  of  my  esteem,  placed  this  \^oragine  in  the  very  lag  at  the  lowest  end  thereof; 
but  hereafter  I  shall  say  to  him,  Come  up  hither,  and  provide  a  higher  place  for  him  in 
my  reputation." — Edit. 


508  CHURCH    HISTORY    01"    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1437 46. 

16,  Mr.  Richard  Mocket ;  17-  Mr.  Richard  Ashley  ;  Mr.  Gilbert 
Sheldon  ;   Mr.  John  Palmer. 

Bishops. — James  Gouldwcll,  bishop  of  Norwich,  1472;  Gilbert 
Bourn,  bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells,  1554 ;  Gyles  Thompson,  bishop 
of  Gloucester,  1611  ;  Brian  Duppa,  bishop  of  Sarum,  Fellow  of 
this  House. 

Benefactors. — King  Henry  VI.  at  the  procurement  of  the 
Founder,  gave  four  Priories  Aliens ;  namely,  Alberbury,  Romney, 
Weedon-Pinkney,  and  Languenith  ;  queen  Elizabeth  confirmed 
the  parsonage  of  Stanton-Harcourt  ;  Reginald  Pole,  cardinal,  arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury ;  Sir  William  Petre,  Fellow  of  this  college, 
and  secretary  to  four  kings  and  queens. 

Learned  Writers. — Sir  Clement  Edmonds  ;  Dr.  Albericus 
Gentilis,  an  excellent  civilian  ;   Dr.  Steward  ;   Mr.  Diggs. 

So  that  at  this  present  this  college  hath  one  Warden,  forty  Fel- 
lows, two  Chaplains,  three  Clerks,  six  Choristers,  beside  Officers  and 
Servants  of  the  foundation,  with  other  Students,  the  whole  number 
being  seventy.  The  Fellows  of  this  college  are  bound  by  their 
statutes  to  be  in  be?ie  nati,  splendide  vesHti,  et  mediocriter  docti 
in  piano  eantu. 

Know,  reader,  I  was  promised  by  my  respected  friend.  Dr.  Jeremy 
Taylor,  late  Fellow  of  this  House,  well  known  to  the  world  by  his 
■worth,  a  catalogue  of  the  eminent  scholars  thereof;  but,  it  seems,  the 
press  (like  time  and  tide)  staying  for  no  man,  I  have  not  been  so 
happy  seasonably  to  receive  it. 

11.  A  tart  Jeer  soberly  returned.     AD.  1443. 

Six  years  did  this  archbishop  survive  the  first  founding  of  this 
college.  He  was  a  worthy  man  in  his  generation,  had  not  his  vas- 
sallage  to  the  pope  (the  epidemical  disease  of  those  days)  eng<iged 
him  in  cruelty  against  the  poor  professors  of  the  truth.  Most  of  the 
synods  called  by  him,  toward  the  latter  end  of  his  life,  effected  only 
the  advance  of  money ;  the  clergy  being  very  desirous  to  buy  off 
the  penalty  of  a  premunire,  so  pernicious  to  their  proceedings  ;  but 
could  not  completely  compass  the  same.  I  have  nothing  else  to 
observe  of  archbishop  Chicheley,  save  the  common  tradition,  how 
king  Henry  VI.  acted  herein  by  some  misoclere  courtiers,  (other- 
wise in  himself  friend  enough  to  churchmen,)  sent  this  archbishop, 
for  a  new-year''s  gift,  a  shred-pie  indeed,  as  containing  pieces  of 
cloth  and  stuff,  of  several  sorts  and  colours,  in  jeer,  because  his 
father  was  a  tailor  at  Higliam-Fcrrars  in  Northamptonshire.  The 
archbishop  thankfully  received  the  gift,  even  after  he  had  seen  the 
entrails  thereof,  and  courteously  entertained  the  messenger,  request- 
ing him  to  return  to  his  Grace  :    "  If  my  lord  the  king  do  but  as 


24  HENRY  Vr.  BOOK  IV.   CENT.  XV.  509 

far  exceed  Henry  V.  (whom  God  assoil)  his  father,  as  my  meanness 
hath  gone  beyond  my  poor  father,  he  will  make  the  most  accom- 
plished monarch  that  ever  was  in  Christendom.'"'  John  Stafford, 
one  of  noble  parentage,  succeeded  in  the  place  of  Ciiicheley  deceased, 
May  3rd. 

12.  The  Founding  of  Eaton  College.  A.D.  1446. 
This  good  precedent  of  the  archbishop's  bounty  may  be  presumed 
a  spur  to  the  speed  of  the  king's  liberality ;  who,  soon  after, 
founded  Eaton  College,  incorporate  by  the  name  of  PrcEpositi  et 
Collegii  Regalis  Collegii  Beatce  MaricB  de  Eaton  jaxta  Winsor. 
It  seemeth  these  words  Beatce  Marice  are  so  necessary,  that,  being 
left  out  in  a  lease,  wherein  all  the  other  titles  of  the  foundation 
were  inserted  at  large,  the  said  lease  was  adjudged  void  for  that 
omission.*  But  know,  this  verdict  passed  in  queen  Mary's  days, 
when  Reginn  Maria  made  the  mention  of  Beatce  Marice  so  essen- 
tial thereunto. 

13.   The  bad  Poetry  of  that  Age. 

Indeed,  it  was  high  time  some  school  should  be  founded,  con- 
sidering how  low  grammar-learning  ran  then  in  the  land  ;  as  may 
appear  by  the  following  verses  made  for  king  Henry,  the  founder; 
as  good  no  doubt  as  the  generality  of  that  age  did  afford,  though 
scarce  deserving  translation  ;  so  that  the  worst  scholar  in  Eaton 
college  that  can  make  a  verse  can  make  a  better. 

Luce  tud.  qui  natus  erat,  Nicolae,  sacer  rex 

Hetiricus  Sextiis  hoc  stabilivit  opus, 
Unctum  qui  kipidem  postquam  ponebat  in  Eaton 

Hunc  Jixit  cleruin  conwiemorando  suuiii. 
Astiterant  illi  tunc  pontijices  in  honorcni 

Actus  solennis  regis  et  ecclesicc. 
Ex  Orientali  f  si  his  septcm  pedeteniini 

Mensurare  vclis,  i?ive?iies  lapidein  ; 
Infesto  sancti  Jacobi  sanctum  stabilivit 

Hie  unctam  pctram  regia  sacra  inanus. 

An7iis  M.CCCC.  sexto  quater  Xque, 
Regis  et  H.  regni  quinto  jungendo  vicena. 

"  Devout  king  Heury,  of  tliat  name  the  sixt, 
Bom  (Nic'las)  on  thy  day,  tliis  building  fixt. 
In  Eaton  having  placed  a  stone  anointed, 
In  sign,  it  for  the  clergy  was  appointed. 
His  prelates  then  were  present,  so  the  more 
To  honour  the  king's  acts  and  holy  chore. 
From  Eastern  midst,  whereof  just  fourteen  feet 
If  an}'  measure,  they  this  stone  shall  meet ; 
On  holy  James's  day,  the  sacred  hand 
Of  royal  Henry  caused  this  stone  to  stand 

•  Abridgment  of  .Tudge  Dier's  "Reports,"  mmi.  3/9.      Trin.  Term,  qnaito  Maria, 
t  Medio. 


510  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.Ti.  1447- 

M,  four  Cs.  forty-sis  siuce  Christ  was  born, 
When  H.  the  crown  tweutj'-Cve  years  had  worn."* 

14    A  bountiful  Foundation:  God  co7itinne  it. 

This  college  consisteth  of  one  Provost,  Fellows,  a  Scliool- 
master  and  Usher,  with  king's  Scholars ;  beside  many  oppidans, 
maintained  there  at  the  cost  of  their  friends  ;  so  that  were  Eaton  as 
also  Winchester  school  removed  into  Germany,  they  would  no 
longer  be  accounted  scholce^  hwi  gymnasia ,  a  middle  term  betwixt 
a  school  and  an  university.  The  Provostship  of  Eaton  is  accounted 
one  of  the  genteelest  and  entirest  preferments  in  England,  the 
Provost  thereof  being  provided  for  in  all  particulars,  to  the  very 
points  of  his  hose,  (my  desire  is,  one  tag  of  them  may  not  be 
diminished,)  and,  as  a  pleasant  courtier -j*  told  king  Henry  VIII. 
"  an  hundred  pounds  a  year  more  than  enough.""  How  true  this  is, 
I  know  not ;  this  I  know,  if  some  courtiers  were  to  stint  the 
ENOUGH  of  clergymen,  even  the  most  industrious  of  them  should 
(with  Solomon's  slothful  man)  have  poverty  enough,  Prov. 
xxviii.  19.     But  take  here  a  catalogue  of  the  Provosts  of  Eaton  : — 

1.  Henry  Seilver,  D.D.  almoner  to  king  Henry  VI.  2.  William 
Wainflete,  B.D.  afterwards  bishop  of  Winchester  ;  3.  John  Clerk, 
B.D.  died  provost,  Nov.  7th,  1447;  4.  William  Westbury,  B.D. 
chosen  provost,  anno  1448 ;  5.  Henry  Bost,  B.  D,  he  gave  an 
hundred  marks,  and  twenty  pounds  per  annum,  to  the  college,  died 
Feb.  7th,  1503  ;  6.  Roger  Lupton,  B.  D. ;  7-  Robert  Aldridge, 
[Aldrich,]  afterwards  bishop  of  Carlisle  ;  8.  Sir  Thomas  Smith, 
doctor  of  law,  of  Queen's  college  in  Cambridge,  chosen  anno  1554  ; 
9.  Henry  Colle,  doctor  of  divinity  and  of  law,  chosen  in  the  same 
year,  1554;  10.  William  Bill,  D.D.  almoner  to  queen  Elizabeth, 
chosen  July  5th,  1559  ;  11.  William  Day,  B.  D.  dean  also  of 
Windsor,  chosen  Jan.  5th,  1561,  afterwards  bishop  of  Winchester  ; 
12.  Sir  Henry  Savile,  warden  of  Merton  college  in  Oxford,  chosen 
June  3rd,  1596,  eminent  to  all  posterity  for  his  magnificent  edition 
of  St.  Chrysoslom  in  Greek  ;  13.  Thomas  Murray,  Esq.  tutor  and 
secretary  to  king  Charles,  whilst  prince  :  14.  Sir  Henry  Wotton,| 
famous  for  several  embassies,  chosen  1625  ;  15.  Richard  Steward, 
doctor  of  law  and  dean  of  St.  Paul's  ;   16.  Francis  Rouse,  Esq. 

This  Eaton  is  a  nursery  to  King's  College  in  Cambridge.  All 
that  I  will  add  is,  to  wish  that  the  prime  scholars  in  this  school 
may  annually  be  chosen  to  the  university,  and,  when  chosen,  their 
places  may  fall   accordingly,   not  by  the  death   of  those   in    King's 

•  That  is,  cun-eat;  otlRn-vvi.se,  but  twenty-four  complete.  t  Sir  John  Harrington 
in  the  "  Continuation  of  Godwin's  Bishops,"  in  bishop  Day  of  Winchester.  I  Whose 

Life  is  excellently  WTitten  by  my  worthy  friend  Mr.  Isaac  Walton. 


37  HENHY  VI.  Rook   iv.     cent.  xv.  511 

college,  but  their  advancement  to  better  preferment   in   the  church 
and  commonwealth. 

15.  All  quickly  lost  in  France.     A.D.  1417. 

If  we  cast  our  eyes  on  the  civil  estate,  we  shall  find  our  foreign 
acquisitions  in  France,  which  came  to  us  on  foot,  running  from  us 
on  horseback  ;  nulla  dies  sine  civitate,  scarce  a  day  escaping 
wherein  the  French  regained  not  some  city  or  place  of  importance  ; 
so  that  the  English,  who  under  king  Henry  had  almost  a  third  of 
France,  beside  the  city  of  Paris,  another  third  in  itself  for  wealth 
and  populousness,  soon  lost  all  on  the  continent,  to  the  poor  pit- 
tance of  Calais  and  a  little  land,  or,  if  you  will,  some  large  suburbs 
round  about  it. 

16.  Occasioned  by  the  English  Discords. 

Yet  let  not  the  French  boast  of  their  valour,  but,  under  God's 
providence,  thank  our  sins,  and  particularly  our  discords,  for  their 
so  speedy  recoveries.  There  were  many  clefts  and  claps  in  our 
council-board ;  factions  betwixt  the  great  lords  present  thereat ;  and 
these  differences  descended  on  their  attendants  and  retainers,  who, 
putting  on  their  coats,  wore  the  badges,  as  well  of  the  enmities  as 
of  the  arms,  of  their  lords  and  masters  :  but  behold  them  how 
coupled  in  their  antipathies  : — 

Deadly  Feud  betwixt  Edmund  Beaufort,  duke  of  Somerset, 
and  Richard  Plantagenet,  duke  of  York :  Betwixt  Humphrey 
Plantagenet  duke  of  Gloucester,  and  Henry  Beaufort,  cardinal, 
bishop  of  Winchester :  Betwixt  William  De  la  Pole,  duke  of 
Suffolk,  and  John  Holland,  duke  of  Exeter  :  Betwixt  Humphrey 
Stafford,  duke  of  Buckingham,  and  Richard  Neville,  earl  of  War- 
Avick  :  Betwixt  Humphrey  Plantagenet,  duke  of  Gloucester, 
William  De  la  Pole,  duke  of  Suffolk,  Richard  Neville,  earl  of 
Warwick. 

Betwixt  the  three  last  there  was  as  it  w^ere  a  battle  royal  in  this 
cockpit,  each  of  them  hating  and  opposing  another.  In  all  these 
contests  their  ambition  was  above  their  covetousness ;  it  being  every 
one's  endeavour,  not  so  much  to  raise  and  advance  himself,  as  ruin 
and  depress  his  adversary. 

17,  18.  The  Death  of  Humphrey  Duke  of  Gloucester.  A  fit 
Work  for  a  good  Pen. 
Two  of  the  aforesaid  principal  persons  left  the  world  this  year, 
and  in  the  same  month.  First.  Humphrey  duke  of  Gloucester, 
brother  to  king  Henry  V.  uncle  and  guardian  to  king  Henry  VI. 
a  great  housekeeper.    Hospitality  being  so  common  in  that  age,  none 


512  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1447 50. 

were  commended  for  the  keeping,  but  condemned  for  the  neglecting 
thereof.  He  was  much  opposed  by  queen  Margaret,  (who  would 
have  none  rule  the  king  her  husband,  save  herself,)  and  accused  of  a 
treacherous  design  ;  insomuch  that,  at  a  packed  parliament  at  Bury, 
he  was  condenmed  of  high  treason,  and  found  dead  in  his  bed,  not 
without  rank  suspicion  of  cruel  practices  upon  his  person. 

His  death  is  suspended  betwixt  legal  execution  and  murder,  and 
his  memory  pendulous  betwixt  malefactor  and  martyr.  However, 
the  latter  hath  most  prevailed  in  men''s  belief,  and  "  the  good  duke 
of  Gloucester"  is  commonly  his  character.  But  it  is  proper  for 
some  Oxford-man  to  write  his  just  vindication  ;  a  manual  in  asserting 
his  memory  being  but  proportionable  for  him  who  gave  to  their 
library  so  many  and  precious  voluminous  manuscripts.  As  for  those 
who,  chewing  their  meat  with  their  feet,  whilst  they  walk  in  the  body 
of  St.  Paul's,  are  commonly  said  to  "  dine  Avith  duke  Humphrey,"" 
the  saying  is  as  far  from  truth  as  they  from  dinner, — even  twenty 
miles  off;  seeing  this  duke  was  buried  in  St.  Alban's,  to  which 
church  he  was  a  great  benefactor. 

19.  The  Death  of  the  rich  Cardinal. 
The  same  month  with  the  duke  of  Gloucester,  died  Henry  Beau- 
fort, bishop  of  Winchester,  and  cardinal ;  one  of  high  descent,  high 
spirit,  and  high  preferments ;  hardly  to  be  equalled  by  cardinal 
Wolsey  (otherwise  but  a  pigmy  to  him  in  birth)  for  wealth  and 
magnificence.  He  lent  king  Henry  V.  at  once  twenty  thousand 
pounds,  who  pawned  his  crown  unto  him.  He  built  the  fair  hospi- 
tal of  St.  Cross,  near  Winchester ;  *  and,  although  chancellor  of  the 
university  of  Oxford,  was  no  grand  benefactor  thereunto  in  propor- 
tion to  his  own  wealth,  (commonly  called  '  the  rich  cardinal,")  or 
the  practices  of  his  predecessor,  Wickham,  or  successor,  Wainefleet. 

20.   The  Clergy  move  in  vain  against  the  Statute  of  Premunire. 

The  bishops  assembled  in  parliament  laboured  the  recalling  of  the 
Act  of  Premunire  ;  and  no  wonder  if  galletl  horses  would  willingly 
cast  off  their  saddles  ;  but,  belike,  they  found  that  statute  girt  too 
close  unto  them,  the  Lords  and  Commons  stickling  stoutly  for  the 
continuance  thereof.  And  because  this  is  the  last  time  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  mention  this  statute,  and  therefore  must  take  our 
farewell  thereof,  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  insert  the  ensuing  passage, 
as  relating  to  the  present  subject,  though  it  happened  many  years 
after. 

*  Heylin  informs  lis,  In  his  Examen  Historiciim,  tliat  this  hospital  was  first  built  hy 
Henry  of  Bio's,  brother  of  king  Stephen,  and  bishop  of  Winchester,  anno  1129;  aug- 
mented only,  and  perhaps  more  liberully  endowed,  by  this  potent  cardinal." — Edit. 


28  HENRY   VI.  BOOK    IV.       OKT^T.    XV.  51»J 

21.  An  eminent  Instatice  in  Ireland,  of  a  Priest  indicted  on 
the  Statute  of  Prenninire. 

One  Robert  Lalor,  priest,  a  native  of  Ireland,  to  whom  the 
pope  had  given  the  tituhiry  bishopric  of  Kihiiore,  and  made  him 
vicar-general  of  the  see  apostolic  within  the  archbishopric  of  Dublin, 
&c.  boldly  and  securely  executed  his  pretended  jurisdiction  for  many 
years,  was  indicted  at  Dublin,  in  Hilary  Term,  quarto  Jacohi,  upon 
this  statute  of  premunire,  made  two  hundred  years  before,  being 
the  sixteenth  of  Richard  II.  His  majesty''s  learned  counsel  did 
wisely  forbear  to  proceed  against  him  upon  any  later  law,  (whereof 
plenty  in  the  reign  of  queen  Elizabeth,)  because  recusant^  (swarming 
in  that  kingdom)  might  have  their  judgments  convinced, — that,  long 
before  king  Henry  VIII.  banished  the  usurpation  of  the  pope,  the 
king,  lords,  and  commons  in  England,  though  for  the  most  part  of  the 
Romish  religion,  made  strict  laws  for  the  maintenance  of  the  crown 
against  any  foreign  invasion.*  Whereupon,  after  the  party  indicted 
had  pleaded  at  large  for  himself,  the  jury  departed  from  the  bar,  and, 
returning  within  half  an  hour,  found  the  prisoner  guilty  of  the  con- 
tempts whereof  he  was  indicted  ;  whereupon  the  Solicitor-General 
moved  the  court  to  proceed  to  judgment,  and  Sir  Dominick  Sars- 
field,-f-  one  of  the  justices  of  his  Majesty''s  Chief  Pleas,  gave  judgment 
according  to  the  form  of  the  statute  whereupon  the  indictment  was 
framed.  Hence  it  plainly  appears,  that  such  misdemeanours  of  papists 
are  punishable  at  this  day,  by  virtue  of  those  ancient  statutes,  with- 
out any  relation  to  such  as  were  enacted  since  the  Reformation. 

22.   Cade  and  Straw,  like  and  unlike.     A.  D.  1450. 

About  this  time  Jack  Cade  raised  his  rebellion,  like  and  unlike  to 
the  former  commotion  of  Jack  Straw.  Like.  First.  Because 
Jacks  both  ;  I  mean,  insolent,  impudent,  domineering  clowns. 
Secondly.  Both  of  them  were  Kentish  by  their  extractions.  Thirdly. 
Both  of  them  pressed  upon  London,  and  there  principally  played 
their  pranks.  Fourthly.  Both  of  them,  after  they  had  troubled 
the  land  for  a  short  time,  were  justly  slain,  and  their  numerous 
rabble  routed  and  dispersed.  In  other  remarkables.  Cade  differed 
from  Jack  Straw.  First.  Straw  defied  all  nobility  and  learning, 
vowing  and  endeavouring  their  ruin  and  extirpation  ;  whilst  Cade 
pretended  himself  to  be  the  lord  Mortimer,  and  next  heir  to  the 
crown,  and  no  design  against  learning  is  chaiged  on  his  account. 
Lastly.  Straw^s  rebellion  is  (though  most  falsely)  fathered  by 
popish  writers  on  Wickliffe  and  his  adherents,  [who  are  said]  to 
iiave   occasioned,   at  leastwise  connived  at,  his   commotion  ;  but  I 

•  Sir  John  Davies  in  his  "  Case  of  Premuuire,"  ful.  83.  1  Idein,  fol.  99. 

Vol.  I.  L   L 


514  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF     RKITAIN.  A.D.  1455 9. 

never  met  jet  with  any  Romanists  accusing  the  Lollards,   as  they 
term  them,  for  having  any  hand  in  Cade's  rebellion. 

23.    The    Wars  begin  betwixt  York   and  Lancaster. 
A.D.  1455. 

Now  began  the  broils  to  break  out  betwixt  the  two  Houses  of  Lan- 
caster and  York,  so  mutually  heightened  that  scarce  a  county 
betwixt  York  (the  place  whence  generally  their  armies  started) 
and  London,  (the  goal  they  both  aimed  to  win,)  but  a  set  battle 
hath  been  fought  therein  ;  and  if  any  one  shire  lieth  fallow  in  this 
kind,  the  next  afforded  a  double  crop  in  that  nature,  (besides  other 
counties  in  the  Marches  of  Wales,)  as  by  the  ensuing  catalogue 
will  appear. 

1.  At  St.  Alban's  in  Hertfordshire ;  betwixt  Richard  duke  of 
York,  and  king  Henry  VI.  for  Lancaster,  anno  1455,  and  34th  of 
king  Henry  VL  in  June :  slain  on  the  king's  side  five  thousand ; 
on  the  duke's  six  hundred  :  conqueror,  York  House. 

2.  At  Blore  Heath,  in  Staffordshire  ;  betwixt  Richard  earl  of 
Salisbury,  for  York,  and  James  Touchet,  lord  Audley,  for  Lancaster, 
anno  1469,  the  37th  of  Henry  VI.  September  21st :  two  thousand 
four  hundred,  most  Cheshiremen,  slain  on  Lancaster's  side  :  con- 
queror, York  House. 

3.  At  Northampton  ;  betwixt  Richard  earl  of  Warwick,  for 
York,  and  king  Henry  VI.  for  Lancaster,  aiino  1460, 38  Henry  VI. 
July  9th  :  ten  thousand  slain  and  drowned  on  both  sides  :  conqueror, 
York  House. 

4.  At  Wakefield,  in  Yorkshire  ;  betwixt  Richard  duke  of  York, 
and  queen  Margaret,  for  Lancaster,  in  the  same  year,  December 
31st :  two  thousand  two  hundred  slain  on  York's  side,  with  their 
duke :  conqueror,  Lancaster. 

5.  At  Mortimer's  Cross,  in  Shropshire  ;  (?)  betwixt  Edward  earl 
of  March,  afterwards  king,  for  York,  anno  1461,  39  Henry  VL 
February  2nd  :  three  thousand  eight  hundred  slain  on  Lancaster's 
side  :  conqueror,  York  House. 

6.  At  St.  Alban's,  in  Hertfordshire  ;  betwixt  Richard  earl  of 
Warwick,  for  York,  and  king  Henry  VI.  and  Margaret  his  wife  in 
person,  for  Lancaster,  the  same  year  and  month,  February  17th  : 
about  two  thousand  slain  on  both  sides  :  conqueror,  Lancaster! 

7.  At  Towton,  in  Yorkshire  ;  betwixt  Edward  earl  of  March, 
for  York,  and  King  Henry  VL  the  same  year,  March  27th,  being 
Palm-Sunday  :  thirty  five  thousand  ninety  and  one  slain  on  both 
sides  :  conqueror,  York  House. 

8.  At  Hexham,  in  Northumberland;  betwixt  John  Neville,  lord 
Montague,  and    king   Henry  VI.    and    the   queen,   anno  1464, 


o4  HENRY   VI.  nOOK     IV.       CENT.    XV.  515 

4  Edward  IV.  May    15th  :    number  slain,   great  but   uncertain  : 
conqueror,  York  Houfee. 

9.  At  Banbury,  or  Edgcot,  in  the  confines  of  Oxford  and  North- 
amptonshire ;  betwixt  William  Herbert,  earl  of  Pembroke,  for  York, 
and  Robin  of  Ridsdale,  alias  Hilliard,  for  Lancaster  ;  amio  1469, 
9  Edward  IV.  July  26th:  five  thousand  slain  in  the  place,  most  of 
them  Welshmen  :  conqueror,  Lancaster. 

10.  At  Barnet,  in  Middlesex  ;  Richard  Neville,  earl  of  War- 
wick, for  Lancaster,  and  king  Edward  IV.  for  York,  anno  1471,  11 
Edward  IV.  April  14th,  being  Easter-day:  four  thousand  slain  on 
both  sides  :   conqueror,  York   House. 

11.  At  Tewkesbury,  in  Gloucestershire  ;  betwixt  king  Edward 
IV.  for  York,  and  queen  Margaret  and  Edward  her  son  for  Lan- 
caster, in  the  same  year,  on  May  4lh  :  three  thousand  slain  of  the 
House  of  Lancaster  :  conqueror,  York  House. 

12.  At  Bosworth,  in  Leicestershire ;  betwixt  king  Richard  III. 
for  York,  and  Henry  earl  of  Richmond,  for  Lancaster,  anno  1485, 
3  Richard  III.  August  22nd  :  about  four  thousand  slain  in  all  : 
conqueror,  Lancaster. 

13.  At  Stoke,  in  Nottinghamshire ;  betwixt  John  De  la  Pole, 
earl  of  Lincoln,  for  York,  and  king  Henry  VII.  for  Lancaster, 
anno  1487,  2  king  Henry  VII.  June  16th :  about  four  thousand 
(whereof  many  Irish)  slain  on  both  sides  :  conqueror,  Lancaster,  or 
rather  the  two  Houses  united  in  king  Henry  VII. 

Besides  many  other  skirmishes,  cor-rival  with  battles  ;  so  that  such 
who  consider  the  blood  lost  therein,  would  admire  England  had  any 
left.  And  such  as  observe  how  much  it  had  left,  ■would  wonder  it 
had  any  lost,  such  still  the  populousness  thereof. 

But  these  things  the  reader  may  best  inform  himself  of  out  of  the 
state-historians,  and  particularly  out  of  that  noble  Italian  author, 
(elegantly  and  expressively  translated  by  the  earl  of  Monmouth,)  who 
hath  written  a  large  volume,  to  the  great  credit  of  our  English  nation, 
of  the  wars  betwixt  York  and  Lancaster.  So  that  I  could  heartily 
wish  that  some  Englishman,  in  requital  of  his  courtesy,  would  write 
the  Italian  discords  betwixt  the  Guelphs  and  Ghibelines. 

24.  Magdalen  College,  hi  Oxford^  founded  hy  Bishop  Wainjleet. 

A.D.  1459. 

It  was  much,  that,  in  the  midst  of  so  many  miseries  of  civil  wars, 
William,  surnamed  Patin,  from  his  parents  ;  but  Wainfleet  from 
the  place  of  his  nativity,  now  bishop  of  Winchester,  should  found 
the  fair  college,  dedicated  to  Mary  Magdalen,  in  Oxford,  for  one 
President,  forty  Fellows,  thirty  Demies,  four  Chaplains,  eight  Clerks, 
and  sixteen  Choristers ;  which  number  can  never  be  increased.     But 

9  T    9 


516  CHURCH     HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.D,  1459 61. 

though  this  foundation  cannot  be  broader  or  longer,  (admit  of 
more  members,)  yet  may  it  be  made  deeper,  and  this  is  capable  of 
benefactors"'  charity  to  augment  the  maintenance  of  the  aforesaid 
number.  This  William  AVainfleet  first  founded  Magdalen-Hall 
hard  by,  as  scriveners  use  to  try  their  pens  on  a  small  piece  of  paper, 
before  they  begin  Avhat  they  fairly  intend  to  write,  and  afterwards 
undertook  and  finished  this  far  more  stately  piece  of  architecture. 
For  whoso  observeth  the  magnificence  of  the  structure,  the  nume- 
rousness  of  the  corporation,  the  largeness  of  their  endowments, 
and  the  mutual  concinnity  of  all  parts  amongst  themselves  therein, 
may  possibly  find  out  a  college  which  may  exceed  it  in  some, 
but  hardly  any  that  will  equal  it  in  all,  accommodations;  where 
nothing  is  wanting  for  health  and  pleasure,  except  some  will  say, 
that  "  Mary  Maudlin  weepeth  too  much,"  and  the  walks  sometimes 
too  wet  and  moist  for  the  depressed  situation  thereof. 

2-5.   The  many  Worthies  bred  therein. 

Nor  hath  this  House  been  less  fruitful  than  any  with  famous 
persons  ;  and  it  is  observable  that  there  is  scarce  a  bishopric  in 
England, -to  which  this  college  hath  not  afforded  one  prelate  at  the 
least,  doubling  her  files  in  some  places  ;  as  by  the  ensuing  catalogue 
will  appear  :— 

Presidents. — Mr.  William  Horneley,  Mr.  William  Tybbard, 
Mr.  Richard  Mayewe,  Mr.  John  Clarmund,  Mr.  Knolles,  Mr. 
Oglethorpe,  Mr.  Cole,  Mr.  Coveney,  Mr.  Laurence  Humphrey, 
Dr.  Nicholas  Bond,  Dr.  John  Harding,  Dr.  William  Langton,  Dr. 
Accepted  Frewen,  Dr.  John  Oliver,  Dr.  John  Wilkinson,  Dr. 
Thomas  Goodwin. 

Benefactors. — King  Henry  VII.  Thomas  Ingledue,  chaplain 
to  the  founder  ;  William  Fitz- Allen,  carl  of  Arundel  ;  John 
Forman  ;  Dr.  Higden,  president ;  John  Claiinund,  president ; 
Robert  Morewent ;  John  Mullins,  archdeacon  of  London  ;  Dr. 
John  Warner,  last  bishop  of  Rochester. 

Bishops. — John  Stokesley,  bishop  of  London,  1530;  Thomas 
Cooper,  bishop  of  Winchester,  1584  ;  John  Longland,  bishop  of 
Lincoln,  1521  :  Thomas  Bentham,  bishop  of  Coventry  and  Lich- 
field ;  William  Overton,  bishop  of  Coventry  and  Lichfield,  1609 ; 
Accepted  Frewen,  bishop  of  Coventry  and  Lichfield,  1643  ;  Henry 
Cotton,  bishop  of  Salisbury,  1598;  Thomas  Godwin,  bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  1584;  Thomas  Wolsey,  archbishop  of  York, 
1515 ;  John  Peirce,  archbishop  of  York,  1588 ;  Owen  Ogle- 
thorpe, bishop  of  Carlisle,  1556 ;  John  Voysey,  bishop  of  Exeter, 
1520 ;  William  Bradbridge,  bishop  of  Exeter,  1578 ;  Richard 
Mayo,  bishop  of  Hereford,  1504 ;  John  Harley,  bishop,  of  Hereford, 


1    EDWARD   IV.  BOOK    IV.        CENT.    \V.  517 

1553;  Tliomas  Bickley,  bisliop  of  Chicliester,  1585;  Jolin 
Warner,  bishop  of  Rochester,  1637  ;  Jolin  Bullinghani,  bishop  of 
Bristol  and  Gloucester,  holding  both  togetlier,  1581  ;  John  Cotes, 
bishop  of  Chester,  1556  ;  AViliiam  Downham,  bisliop  of  Chester, 
1561. 

Writers. — John  Clarmiuul,  afterwards  president  of  Corpus 
Christi;*  John  Hooke  ;-f-  Mich.  Reniger;j  John  Fox,  author  of 
"  the  BodIc  of  Martyrs  ;"  Thomas  Cooper,  who  wrote  the  great 
Dictionary;  Robert  Crowley  ;§  Peter  Morving;||  Alan  Cope,^ 
proctor  of  the  university,  1558 ;  Julius  Palmer,  martyr ;  Dr. 
Laurence  Humphrey ;  John  Budden,  doctor  of  law,  who  wrote 
many  men's  lives  in  elegant  Latin  ;  Dr.  Henry  Hammond  ;  Dr. 
Peter  Heylin. 

Give  me  leave  to  suspect  this  catalogue  of  Presidents  not  com- 
plete, (though  set  forth  by  their  great  antiquary,**)  both  because 
Dr.  Higden  (avowed  president  in  the  list  of  benefiictors-f"f-)  is  therein 
omitted,  as  also  Dr.  Walter  Haddon,:|::]:  whom  we  find  president 
hereof  in  the  beginning  of  queen  Mary.  At  this  day  there  are 
therein  a  President,  forty  Fellows,  thirty  Demies  or  Scholars,  four 
Chaplains,  eight  Clerks,  sixteen  Choristers,  one  Schoolmaster,  and 
an  Usher,  three  Readers  of  Divinity,  Natural  and  Moral  Philosophy, 
besides  divers  Officers  and  Servants  of  the  foundation,  with  other 
Students  ;  being  in  all  two  hundred  and  twenty, 

26,  27.  Edward  IV.  gaineth  the  Crown  by  Conquest.  Why 
little  Church-History  in  this  King's  Reign.  1  Edward  IV. 
J.  Z).  1461. 

King  Henry  being  conquered  in  a  fatal  battle  at  Towton  in 
Yorkshire,  fled  with  his  queen  into  Scotland ;  and,  to  make 
himself  the  more  welcome,  resigned  Berwick  to  the  king  thereof. 
Edward,  duke  of  York,  his  adversary,  reigned  in  his  stead  by  the 
name  of  Edward  IV.  who,  next  to  God  and  his  own  right,  had  just 
cause  to  thank  Richard  Nevill,  earl  of  Warwick  for  his  crown. 
This  was  that  Nevill  who,  for  extraction,  estate,  alliance,  depen- 
dents, wisdom,  valour,  success,  and  popularity,  was  superior  to  any 
English  subject  since  the  Conquest.  People's  love  he  chiefly  pur- 
chased by  his  hospitality,  keeping  so  open  an  house  that  he  was 
most  welcome  who  brought  the  best  stomach  with  him  ;  the  earl 
charitably  believing,  that  all  who  were  men  of  teeth  were  men  of 
anns.     Any  that  looked  like  a  man  might  have  in  his  house  a  full 

•  PiTZyi:rs  De  Brit.  Script,  page  688.  t  Idem,  page  730.  |  Bale,  page  755. 

5   Idem,  page  728.  ||   Pitz.eus,  page  755.  ^  Brian  Twine  Ant.  jIc.  Ox.  in, 

Catal.  Procuratorum.  *•    I'ide  in  cake  libri.  ft   Vide  Scot's  Tables. 

It  L.  HuMPiiUEY  in  "  the  Life  of  Bishop  Jewel,"  page  71- 


518  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1461 8. 

lialf-yarcl  of  roast  meat ;  namely,  so  much  as  he  could  strike  through 
and  carry  away  with  his  dagger.*  The  Bear  was  his  crest,  and  it 
may  be  truly  said,  that  when  the  Bear  roared,  the  lions  of  the 
forest  trembled,  the  kings  of  England  themselves  being  at  his 
disposal. 

This  king''s  reign  affordeth  very  little  church-story,  and  therefore 
Mr.  Fox  (whose  industry  Avould  have  found  out  church-matter,  if 
above  ground)  is  fain  to  fill  it  up  Avith  foreign  passages,  or  domestic 
relations  of  our  civil  differences.  Indeed,  now  the  sound  of  all 
bells  in  the  steeples  was  drowned  with  the  noise  of  drums  and 
trumpets  ;  and  yet  this  good  was  done  by  the  civil  wars, — :it 
diverted  the  prelates  from  troubling  the  Lollards ;  so  that-  this 
very  storm  was  a  shelter  to  those  poor  souls,  and  the  heat  of  these 
intestine  enmities  cooled  the  persecution  against  them. 

28.  Synod  Privileges  broken  and  repaired.     A.D.  1462. 

Thomas  Bourchier,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  kept  a  synod  of  his 
clergy  at  London,  when  Geoffrey  Longbrooke,  a  member  thereof, 
(as  proctor  for  Peter  Courtney,  archdeacon  of  Exeter,)  was,  at  the 
suit  of  Simon  Nottingham,  aiTCsted  by  the  bailiffs  of  the  lord 
mayor.  Complaint  being  made  hereof  to  the  Convocation,  they  sent 
the  prior  of  Canterbury  to  the  mayor  and  sheriffs,  to  restore  the  afore- 
said Geoffrey  to  his  liberty,  threatening  them  else  with  excommuni- 
cation ;-f-  to  prevent  which,  the  party  was  released.  The  parliament, 
sitting  at  the  same  time,  bestowed  many  privileges  on  the  clergy. 
As  for  the  other  synods  in  this  king''s  reign,  being  six,  as  I  account 
them,  little  more  than  granting  of  subsidies  was  propounded  and 
concluded  therein, 

29.  King  Henry  returned,  routed,  and  itnprisoned.    A.D.  1463. 

King  Henry  returned  out  of  Scotland,  furnished  with  sufficient 
forces  from  James  III.  to  recover  his  crown,  had  success  befriended 
him.  But  king  Edward  marched  against  him  in  person,  (one 
means  of  his  being  so  fortunate  in  his  fights,  seeing  in  peace  the 
master's  eye  maketh  the  fat  horse,  as  the  prince's  in  war  the  valiant 
horse-rider,)  totally  defeated,  took,  and  imprisoned  him  in  the 
Tower.  Here  whilst  churchmen  observe  how  tender-eyed  the 
charity,  statesmen  admire  how  blind  the  policy,  of  that  age  in 
keeping  king  Henry  alive.  No  such  sure  prison  for  a  captive  king 
as  a  grave,  whose  life,  though  in  restraint,  is  a  fair  mark  for  the 
full  aim  of  malcontents  to  practise  his  enlargement:  as  here  it  fell 
out  in  king  Henry,  who,  either  slighted  for  his  simplicity,  that  he 
could  do  no  mischief,  or  reverenced  for  his  sanctity,  that  he  should 

•  S row's  "Annals,"  page  421.  f  ^infi'^.  Brit,  page  293. 


8  EDWARD  IV.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  519 

suffer  no  ill,  was  preserved  alive,  and  reserved  thereby  to  be  a 
future  trouble  to  king  Edward,*  who,  though  valiant  to  repel,  was 
not  wise  to  foresee  dangers  ;  and  now,  conceiving  himself  secure, 
was  viciously  disposed,  and  given  over  to  too  much  licentiousness. 

30.  The  Earl  of  Warwick  takes  jus/  Distaste  at  King  Edward. 

A.D.  i465. 

Richard  Nevill,  earl  of  Warwick,  is  sent  over  into  France  to 
obtain  the  lady  Bona,  (daughter  to  the  duke  of  Savoy,)  wife  to 
king  Edward.  So  powerful  a  spokesman  could  not  but  speed  ;  and 
all  things  are  concluded,  save  the  meeting  of  the  parties  and  a 
priest  to  maiTy  them.  Mean  time  king  Edward  marrieth  the  lady 
Elizabeth  Grey,  the  first  English  king  who  since  the  Conquest 
wedded  his  subject ;  I  might  also  add,  and  the  first  that  matched 
with  a  widow,  seeing  Eleanor,  wife  to  king  Henry  II.  divorced 
from  Lewis  the  younger,  king  of  France,  was  properly  neither  maid 
nor  widow.  Warwick  stormeth  hereat,  that  ke  had  taken  so  much 
pains  about  nothing,  highly  sensible  of  the  affront,  seeing  a  potent 
arm  is  not  to  be  employed  about  a  sleeveless  errand.  He  resolves 
revenge  ;  and,  because  he  could  not  make  her  queen  whom  he 
desired,  he  would  make  him  king  whom  he  pleased. 

31.  King  Edward  taken  Prisoner,   and  King  Henry  enlarged. 

A.D.  1468. 

Take  hereof  this  cursory  account :  After  many  bloody  battles, 
King  Edward  was  taken  prisoner  at  Wolney  in  Warwickshire,  and 
committed  by  the  earl  of  Warwick  to  the  custody  of  his  brother 
George  Nevill,  archbishop  of  York.  Henry  is  brought  out  of  the 
Tower, — shall  I  call  him  the  sixth  or  the  seventh,  because  dead 
(though  not  in  law)  in  dignity,  and  once  deposed  ?  He  is  now 
restored  again  to  wear  the  royal  robes,  not  so  much  as  his  own  gar- 
ments, but  as  the  livery  of  the  earl  of  Warwick's  liberality.  However, 
he  acted  a  very  short  part  of  sovereignty,  wherein  he  revenged  not 
any  personal  wrongs  offered  unto  him  in  his  restraint.  For,  one 
who  thrust  him  into  the  side  with  a  sword  when  he  was  prisoner  in 

■  On  this  passage  Heylin  makes  the  following  just  remarks,  among  others  :  "  Oiir 
author  might  have  spared  this  doctiiue  so  frequently  in  practice  amongst  the  worldly- 
politicians  of  all  times  and  ages,  that  there  is  more  need  of  a  bridle  to  hold  them  in,  than 
a  spur  to  quicken  them.  The  miu-dering  of  deposed  and  captive  princes,  though  too  often 
practised,  never  foimd  advocates  to  plead  for  it,  and  much  less  preachers  to  preach  for 
it,  until  these  latter  times.  No  such  divinity  preached  in  the  schools  of  Ignatius, 
though  fitter  for  the  pen  of  a  Mariana,  than  of  a  divine  or  minister  of  the  Church  of 
England."  Part  of  Fuller's  reply,  in  his  Appeal,  is  :  "I  say,  Statesmen  did  admire  at 
the  preserving  king  Henry  alive,  and  render  their  reason.  If  the  ^niinadverter  takes  me 
for  a  statesman,  whose  general  judgment  in  this  point  I  did  barely  relate,  he  is  much 
mistaken  in  me." — Edit. 


520  CHUKCH    HISTORY    OF    URITAIN.  A.D.  1468 70. 

the  Tower,  was  afterwards  pardoned  by  him  when  restored  to  his 
former  dignity. 

32,  33.  Edward  escaped.^  flieth  beyond  Sea,  and  returnefh  ,• 
recovereth  the  Crown  by  Conquest.     A.D.  I47O. 

Meantime  the  archbishop  allowed  king  Edward  liberty  to  ride 
abroad  and  follow  his  pleasure.  Now,  a  careless  keeper  giveth  his 
prisoner  a  warning,  and  showeth  him  a  way  to  make  his  escape. 
King  Edward  followeth  his  hawking  so  long,  that  he  taketh  his  own 
flight  at  last.  Over  he  gets  beyond  th,e  seas  to  his  brother-in-law 
Charles  duke  of  Burgundy,  by  whom  he  was  supplied,  to  the  pro- 
portion of  a  competent  subsistence  ;  but  not  enabled  for  the  recovering 
of  a  crown.  However,  he  returned  into  England,  landed  in  the 
north,  marched  to  York,  desired  to  be  received  therein,  as  into  the 
place  Avhence  he  received  his  title,  but  in  no  other  notion  than  a 
subject  to  king  Henry,  taking  the  sacrament  on  the  truth  thereof; 
but  having  gotten  the  city  as  duke,  he  kept  it  as  king,  contrary  to  his 
oath,  for  which  his  children  are  conceived  to  fare  no  whit  the  better. 

Let  the  state-historians  inform  you  with  what  various  changes  king 
Edward  made  hence  into  the  south,  and  at  last,  near  Barnet,  bid 
battle  to  and  defeated  the  earl  of  Warwick,  slain  with  his  brother 
the  marquess  Montague  on  the  place.  Learn  also  from  them  how 
king  Henry  was  cruelly  put  to  death,  and  his  son  and  queen  Mar- 
garet soon  after  overthrown  at  Tewkesbury.  For  when  a  royal 
family  is  once  falling,  all  things  conduce  to  expedite  their  destruc- 
tion. Henceforward  king  Edward  (saving  the  differences  of  his 
own  with  his  wife's  kindred)  passed  the  rcnmant  of  his  days  in 
much  peace,  plenty,  and  pleasure. 

34.    WJiy  most  Armies  make  for  London. 

In  most  of  the  battles  we  may  observe,  it  was  the  word-general  of 
the  weaker  side,  "  For  London  !  for  London  ! "  as  the  most  martial 
thrift  to  conquer  a  kingdom  in  a  city.  For  such  whose  necessities 
can  allow  their  armies  but  little  time  to  stay  do  burn  day-light  in 
pelting  against  petty  towns  in  the  out-skirts  of  a  land,  especially  if 
all  other  human  hopes  be  in  one  desperate  push.  Hence  was  it 
that  so  many  battles  were  fought  about  Barnet  and  St.  Alban's, 
(the  cock-pit  of  war,)  the  lines  of  all  armies  drawn  fiom  the  circum- 
ference of  the  land  being  the  closer  together,  the  nearer  they 
approached  London,  the  centre  in  trade  and  wealth,  though  not  in 
exact  position  thereof. 

3-5.  Brawls  betwiait  Mendicants  and  Secular  Priests. 

Come  we  now  to  a  tamer  contest,  and  more  proper  for  our  pen, 
continuing   all   this  king's  time,  betwixt  the  Begging  Friars    and 


10  EDWARD   IV.  BOOK     IV.       CENT.    XV.  521 

Secular  Priests ;  the  former  not  content  to  cry  up  the  dignity  of 
their  own  Order,  but  cast  contempt  on  the  rest  of  the  clergy.  But 
these  bold  beggars  met  with  as  bold  sayers  "  Nay."  I  mean,  these 
Mendicants  found  their  matches  in  the  Secular  Priests,  effectually 
humbling  their  pride  herein.  For  it  was  beheld  as  a  most  pestiferous 
doctrine,  the  friars'  so  heightening  the  perfection  of  begging,  that, 
according  to  their  principles,  all  the  priesthood  and  prelacy  in  the 
land,  yea,  by  consequence  the  pope  himself,  did  fall  short  of  the 
sanctity  of  their  Order.  Yet  hard  was  it  for  them  to  persuade  his 
Holiness  to  quit  Peter's  patrimony,  and  betake  himself  to  poverty, 
although  a  friar  (Thomas  Holden  by  name)  did  not  blush  to  preach 
at  Paul's  Cross,  that  Christ  himself,*  as  first  founder  of  their 
Society,  was  a  beggar, — a  manifest  untruth,  and  easily  confuted  out 
of  Scripture. 

36,  37.  Christ  falsely  traduced  to  he  a  Beggar.   Writers  'pro  and 
con  in  the  Cause. 

For,  vast  the  diiference  betwixt  begging,  and  taking  what  the 
bounty  of  others  doth  freely  confer, — as  our  Saviour  did  from  such 
who  "  ministered  unto  him  of  their  substance,"  Luke  viii.  3.  We 
never  read  him  begging  any  thing,  save  when  from  the  woman  of 
Samaria  he  asked  water,  John  iv.  7  ; — a  creature  so  common  and 
needful,  that  it  was  against  the  law  of  nature  to  deny  it  liim.  Nor 
is  it  probable  he  was  a  Mendicant,  who  was  rated  in  the  publican's 
toll-book,  and  paid  tribute  unto  Csesar,  Mat.  xvii.  24  ;  not  to  say 
that  he  was  so  far  from  begging,  that  it  was  his  custom,  especially 
about  the  time  of  the  passover,  to  relieve  others  ;  and  Judas  his 
purse-bearer  was  his  almoner  to  distribute  to  the  poor,  John  xiii.  29. 

Here  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  reckon  up  the  principal  champions 
on  both  sides,  whose  pens  publicly  appeared. 

FOR   MENDICANTS. 

1.  Henry  Parker,-|-  a  Carmelite,  bred  in  Cambridge,  living  after- 
wards in  Doncaster  convent,  imprisoned  for  preaching. 

2.  Jo.  Milverton,!  bred  in  Oxford,  Carmelite,  of  Bristol.  Being 
excommunicated  by  the  bishop  of  London,  and  appealing  to  the 
pope,  found  no  favour,  but  was  kept  three  years  captive  in  St. 
Angelo. 

AGAINST    MENDICANTS. 

1.  Thomas  Wilton,§  doctor  of  both  laws,  and,  say  some,  dean  of 
St.  Paul's,  most  zealous  in  his  preachings  and  disputings. 

2.  William  Ivie,   canon  of  St.  Paul's  in  London, ||   who  wrote 

•  Fox's  "  Acts  and  Monuments,"  page  717.  t  Pitz.eus,  page  660.  %  Idem, 

page  673.  §  Idem,  page  659.  ||  Idem,  page  654. 


522  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1470 L 

very  learnedly  in  the  defence   of  Richard  Hill,  bishop  of  London, 
■who  imprisoned  two  Mendicants  for  their  proud  preaching. 

But  after  pope  Paul  II.  had  interposed  herein,  concluding,  quod 
Christus  puhlice  metidicavit,  pro  damnatd  hceresi  undique 
declarandum  et  conculcandam  esse,  the  Mendicants  let  fall 
their  bucklers,  and  the  controversy  sunk  in  silence  never  more 
revived. 

38.  A  prodigious  Feast  at  an  Archbishop'' s  Installation. 
A.D.  1465. 

Never  had  England  at  once  two  archbishops  of  so  high  extraction 
as  at  this  time,  namely,  Thomas  Bourchier,  son  of  Henry  earl  of 
Essex  ;  and  George  Neville,  brother  to  the  great  earl  of  Warwick. 
The  latter  is  famous  for  a  prodigious  feast,  wherein,  whoso  noteth 
the  number  and  quality  of  the  guests,  (all  the  nobility,  most  of  the 
prime  clergy,  many  of  the  great  gentry,)  will  wonder  where  he  got 
meat  for  so  many  mouths,  whilst  such  who  number  the  dishes  thereof 
will  more  admire  where  he  got  mouths  for  so  much  meat.  But  see 
the  bill  of  fare  : — 

Three  hundred  quarters  of  wheat,*  three  hundred  and  thirty  tuns 
of  ale,  one  hundred  and  four  tuns  of  wine,  one  pipe  of  spiced  wine, 
eighty  fat  oxen,  six  wild  bulls,  one  thousand  and  four  wethers,  three 
hundred  hogs,  three  hundred  calves,  three  thousand  geese,  three 
thousand  capons,  three  hundred  pigs,  one  hundred  peacocks,  two 
hundred  cranes,  two  hundred  kids,  two  thousand  chickens,  four 
thousand  pigeons,  four  thousand  rabbits,  two  hundred  and  four 
bittours,  [bitterns,]  four  thousand  ducks,  four  hundred  hernsews, 
[herons,]  two  hundred  pheasants,  five  hundred  partridges,  four  thou- 
sand woodcocks,  four  hundred  plovers,  one  hundred  curlews,  one 
hundred  quails,  one  thousand  egrets,  two  hundred  rees,  more  than 
four  hundred  bucks,  does,  and  roes,  fifteen  hundred  and  six  hot 
venison  pasties,  four  thousand  cold  venison  pasties,  one  thousand 
dishes  of  jelly  parted,  four  thousand  dishes  of  jelly  plain,  four  thou- 
sand cold  custards,  two  thousand  hot  custards,  three  hundred  pikes, 
three  hundred  breams,  eight  seals,  four  porpoises,  four  hundred 
tarts.  Earl  of  WarAvick,  steward;  earl  of  Bedford,  treasurer; 
lord  Hastings,  comptroller  ;  with  many  more  noble  officers  ;  one 
thousand  servitors,  sixty-two  cooks,  five  hundred  and  fifteen 
kitcheners. 

People  present  at  this  feast  needed  strong  stomachs  to  devour, 
and  others,  absent,  stronger  faith  to  believe,  so  much  meat  at  one 
time.  Take  the  proportion  by  sheep,  whereof  magnificent  Solomon 
spent  but  "  a  hundred  a  day,""  1  Kings  iv.  23,   in   his   sumptuous 

*  Godwin  in  his  "  Catalogue  of  the  Bishopg  of  York,''  page  65, 


14  EDWARD  IV.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  523 

court ;  and  here  was  ten  times  as  many  expended  at  tlvis  feast  as  he 
in  a  day's  provision  for  all  his  numerous  retinue.  How  long  this 
entertainment  lasted,  is  uncertain  ;  but  by  the  pork,  doves,  and 
woodcocks  eaten  therein,  it  plainly  appears  kept  in  winter,  when 
such  are  in  season  ;  and  how  the  same  can  be  reconciled  with  so 
much  summer-fowl  as  was  here  used,  I  little  know,  and  less  care  to 
resolve. 

39-  A  second  \^Feast\  sadder  in  the  Conclusion.     A.D.  1472. 

But,  seven  years  after,  this  archbishop,  to  entertain  king  Edward, 
made  another  feast  at  More-Park  in  Hertfordshire,  inferior  to  the 
former  for  plenty,  yet,  perchance,  equalling  it  in  price.  For  the 
king  seized  on  all  his  estate,  to  the  value  of  twenty  thousand 
pounds,  amongst  which  he  found  so  rich  a  mitre,  that  he  made  him- 
self a  crown  thereof.  The  archbishop  he  sent  over  prisoner  to 
Calais  in  France,  where  vinctus jacuit  hi  summa  inopid,  "he 
was  kept  bound  in  extreme  poverty  ;"  justice  punishing  his  former 
prodigality,*  his  hungry  stomach  being  glad  of  such  reversions 
(could  he  get  them)  which  formerly  the  voider  had  taken  away  at 
his  riotous  installation. 

40.  Scotland  freed  from  the  See  of  York.     A.D.  1474. 

He  was  afterwards  restored  to  his  liberty  and  archbishopric,  but 
never  to  the  cheerfulness  of  his  spirit,  drooping  till  the  day  of  his 
death.  It  added  to  his  sorrow,  that  the  kingdom  of  Scotland,  with 
twelve  suiFragan  bishops  therein,  formerly  subjected  to  his  see,  was 
now  by  pope  Sixtus  V.  freed  from  any  further  dependence  thereon  ; 
St.  Andrew''s  being  advanced  to  an  archbishopric,  and  that  kingdom 
in  ecclesiastical  matters  made  entire  within  itself;  whose  bishops 
formerly  repaired  to  York  for  their  consecration,  not  without  their 
great  danger,  especially  in  times  of  hostility  between  the  two  king- 
doms. In  vain  did  this  Nevill  plead  for  some  compensation  to  be 
given  his  see  in  lieu  of  so  great  a  loss,  or  at  leastwise  that  some 
acknowledgment  should  be  made  of  his  former  jurisdiction  ;  the 
pope  powerfully  ordering  against  it.  Henceforward  no  archbishop 
of  York  meddled  more  with  church-matters  in  Scotland ;  and 
happy  had  it  been  if  no  archbishop  of  Canterbury  had  since  inter- 
ested himself  therein. 

41.  John  Goose,  Martyr. 

About  this  time  .John  Goose,  sole  martyr  in  this  king'^s  reign, 
suffered  at  Tower-Hill.     Let  papists,   who  make  themselves  sport 

•  GonwiN,  ibid. 


524  CHURCH  history  of  Britain.  a.d.  ]474 — 83. 

at  the  simplicity  of  his  name,  remember  how  their  pope  Os  porci 
or  "  Swine''s-Face,"'''  could  change  his  name  into  Sergius  ;  which 
liberty,  if  allowed  here,  would  quickly  mar  their  mirth.  This 
Goose,  when  ready  to  suffer,  desired  meat  from  the  sheriff  which 
ordered  his  execution,  and  had  it  granted  unto  him.  "  I  will  eat," 
saith  he,  "  a  good  competent  dinner,  for  I  shall  pass  a  sharp  shower 
ere  I  come  to  supper."* 

42.    King   Edward  preacheth   his   own  funeral   Sermon. 
A.D.  1482. 

King  Edward,  foreseeing  his  approaching  death,  (who  by  intem- 
perance in  his  diet,  in  some  sort,  digged  his  grave  with  his  own 
teeth,)  caused  his  own  and  wife"'s  kindred  (sadly  privy  to  the 
grudges  betwixt  them)  to  wait  on  him  when  he  lay  very  sick  on  his 
bed.  To  these  he  made  a  passionate  speech,  to  exhort  them  to 
unite,  from  the  profit  of  peace  and  danger  of  discord  ;  and  very 
emphatically  urged  it,  insomuch  that,  seemingly,  they  were  his  con- 
verts, and  in  token  thereof  shook  hands  together,  Avhilst  their  hearts, 
God  knows,  were  far  asunder.  This  speech  I  may  call  "  king 
Edward''s  own  funeral  sermon,  preached  by  himself,"  (and  it  may 
pass  also  for  the  funeral  sermon  of  his  two  sons,  finding  no  other 
obsequies  at  their  burial,)  though  very  little  was  really  thereby 
effected.  Thus  died  king  Edward,  who,  contrary  to  the  ordinary 
observation,  that  "  men  the  older  the  more  covetous,"  (as  indeed 
dying  men''s  hands  grasp  what  is  next,  and  hold  it  hard,)  was 
gripple  in  the  beginning  of  his  reign,  and  more  bountiful  towards 
the  end  thereof. 


SECTION  IV. 

TO  JOHN  FERRAES,  OF  TAMAVORTH  CASTLE, 
ESQUIRE. 

Sir, 

Modest  beggars,  in  London  streets,  commonly 
choose  twilight  to  prefer  their  petitions ;  that  so  they 
may  have  hght  enough  to  discover  him  to  whom  they 
sue,  and  darkness  enough  to  cover  and  conceal  them- 
selves. 

•  Fox's  "  Acts  and  Munuments.''  De  Polyckron. 


1  ttICHi\RD  III.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  525 

This  may  make  you  the  more  to  admire  my  bold- 
ness, who,  in  a  mere  midnight,  (utterly  unknowing 
you,  and  unknown  to  you,)  request  you  to  accept  this 
dedication.  But  know,  Sir,  tliough  I  know  not  your 
face,  I  know  you  are  a  Ferrars,  inclined  by  your 
extraction  to  a  generous  disposition,  as  I  have  found  by 
one  of  your  nearest  relations. 

1.  After  More,  no  more.    1  Richard  III.    A.D.  1483. 

Miserable  king  Edward  V.  •  ought  to  have  succeeded  his 
father  ;  but  alas  !  he  is  ever  pictured  with  a  chasma,  or  "  distance," 
betwixt  his  head  and  the  crown  ;  and,  by  the  practice  of  his  uncle, 
the  duke  of  Gloucester,  chosen  Protector,  (to  protect  him  from  any 
of  his  friends  to  come  near  him,)  was  quickly  made  away,  being  a 
king  in  right,  though  not  in  possession  ;  as  his  uncle  Richard  was  in 
possession,  though  not  in  right.  All  the  passages  whereof  are  so 
elegantly  related  by  Sir  Thomas  More,  that  a  man  shall  get  little 
■who  comes  with  a  fork,  where  Sir  Thomas  hath  gone  with  a  rake 
before  him,  and  by  his  judicious  industry  collected  all  remarkables. 
Only,  as  proper  to  our  employment,  let  us  take  notice  of  the  carriage 
of  the  clergy  in  these  distractions. 

2,  3.  Clergy  complijmg,  not  active.  Shmv's  shameless  Sermon. 
Although  most  of  the  prelates  were  guilty  of  cowardly  compliance 
with  king  Richard,  yet  we  find  none  eminently  active  on  his  side. 
Indeed,  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  employed  to  get  Richard 
duke  of  York  from  his  queen-mother  in  the  sanctuary  in  West- 
minster, and  very  pathetical  he  was  in  the  persuading  her  to  part 
with  him  ;  haply  on  a  point  of  conscience,  as  fearing,  if  denied, 
some  injury  would  be  offered  to  the  prejudice  of  the  church,  and 
therefore  more  willing  himself  to  woo  him  from  her  with  eloquence, 
than  that  others  should  wrest  him  thence  with  violence.  Yet  he  is 
generally  conceived  innocent  herein,  as  not  as  yet  suspecting  any 
fraud  in  the  duke  of  Gloucester ;  except  any  will  say,  that  "  it  was  a 
fault  in  him,  that  so  great  a  statesman  was  no  wiser  than  to  have 
been  deceived  by  his  dissimulation." 

But  of  the  inferior  clergy,  Dr.  Shaw,  a  popular  preacher,  made 
himself  infamous  to  all  posterity.  His  sermon  at  St.  Paul's  Cross 
had  nothing  but  the  text  (and  that  in  the  Apocrypha)*  good 
therein  ;  as  consisting  of  two  parts,  defaming  of  the  dead,  and 
flattering  of  the  living ;  making  king  Edward  far  worse  than  he  was, 

•  Ecclesiasticus  xsiii.  25.     Spuria  vitulamina  non  agent  radices  altas. 


526  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1484. 

and  duke  Richard  far  better  than  ever  he  wovdd  be.  He  made 
king  Edward  IV.  and  the  duke  of  Clarence,  both  to  be  bastards, 
and  duke  Richard  only  right  begotten  ;  so  proclaiming  Cicely  his 
mother  (still  surviving)  for  a  whore ;  all  being  done  by  secret 
instructions  from  duke  Richard  himself,  who  hereby  gave  a  worse 
wound  to  his  mother's  credit,  than  that  which  at  his  birth  he  caused 
to  her  body,  being  (as  it  is  commonly  reported)  cut  out  from  her. 
With  Shaw  we  may  couple  another  brawling  cur  of  the  same  litter, 
Pynkney,  the  Provincial  of  the  Augustinian  Friars,  Avho  in  the  same 
place  used  so  loud  adulation,  he  lost  his  credit,  conscience,  and  voice, 
all  together.  These  two  were  all  (and  they  too  many)  of  the  clergy 
whom  I  find  actively  engaging  on  his  party,  whilst  multitudes  of  the 
laity  sided  with  him.  So  that,  through  the  popularity  of  the  duke 
of  Buckingham,  the  law-learning  of  Catesby,  the  city-interest  of 
Shaw,  (then  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  brother  to  the  preacher,) 
the  rugged  rigour  of  Ratcliffe,  and  the  assistance  of  other  instru- 
ments in  their  several  spheres,  the  queen ''s  kindred  were  killed, 
the  lord  Hastings  murdered,  king  Edward  and  his  brother 
imprisoned,  and  at  last  Richard  duke  of  Gloucester  elected  king  of 
England. 

4.   The  sumptuous  Coronation  of  King  Richard. 

His  coronation  was  performed  with  more  pomp  than  any  of  his 
predecessors  ;  as  if  he  intended  with  the  glory  thereof  so  to  dazzle 
vulgar  eyes,  that  they  should  not  be  able  to  see  the  shame  of 
his  usurpation.  Indeed,  some  of  our  English  kings,  who  by 
undoubted  right  succeeded  to  the  crown,  accounted  their  coronation 
but  a  matter  of  course,  (which  did  not  make  but  manifest  them  to 
be  kings,)  and  so  less  curious  in  the  pompous  celebration  thereof. 
But  this  usurper  apprehended  this  ceremony  more  substantial,  and 
therefore  was  most  punctual  in  the  observation  of  it,  causing  all  the 
nobility,  who  held  lands  in  grand  sovereignty,  to  do  their  service  in 
state  ;  amongst  whom  Richard  Dimock,  Esquire,  hereditary  Cham- 
pion by  tenure,  with  a  safe  piece  of  valour,  (having  so  many  to 
back  him,)  cast  down  his  gauntlet,  challenging  any  that  durst  oppose 
the  title  of  king  Richard  ;  and,  for  aught  I  do  know  to  the  contrary, 
he  afterwards  made  his  challenge  good  in  Bosworth-field.  And, 
because  "sure  bind,  sure  find,"  he  is  said,  and  his  queen,  to  be 
crowned  again  in  York  with  great  solemnity. 

5.  King  Edward  and  his  Brother  stifled. 

Soon  after  followed  the  murder  of  king  Edward  and  his  brother 
Richard  duke  of  York.  It  was  high  time  they  should  set,  when 
another  already   was  risen  in   the  throne.      By  a  bloody-bloodless 


2  RICHARD  III,  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV,  52/ 

death  they  were  stifled  with  pillows,  and  then  obscurely  buried. 
The  uncertainty  of  their  interment  gave  the  advantage  to  Perkin 
Warbeck  afterwards  to  counterfeit  Richard  duke  of  York  ;  so  like 
unto  him  in  age,  carriage,  stature,  feature,  favour,  that  he  wanted 
nothing  but  success  to  make  him,  who  did  but  personate  duke 
Richard,  to  pass  current  for  the  person  of  duke  Richard. 

C,  7-  Kitig  Richard  va'mlij  endeavoureth  to  ingratiate  himself 
by  making  good  Laws  ;  as  also  by  building  of  Monasteries. 
A.D.  1484. 

After  this  bloody  act,  king  Richard  endeavoured  to  render  him- 
self popular :  First,  by  making  good  laws  in  that  sole  parliament 
kept  in  his  reign.  Benevolence,  (malevolence,)  which  formerly 
the  subjects  unwillingly-willing  had  paid  to  tlieir  sovereign, — 
power,  where  it  requests,  commands  ;  it  not  being  so  much  thank- 
worthy to  grant,  as  dangerous  to  deny  it, — he  retrenched,  and 
reduced  to  be  granted  only  in  parliament.  He  regulated  tradino-, 
which  the  Lombards  and  other  foreigners  had  much  engrossed,  to 
the  detriment  of  the  English  nation.  Now,  although  all  people 
carry  much  of  their  love  and  loyalty  in  their  purses,  yet  all  this 
Avould  not  ingratiate  this  usurper  with  them,  the  dullest  nostrils 
resenting  it  done,  not  for  love  of  virtue,  but  his  own  security. 
And  that  affects  none  which  all  palpably  discover  to  be  affected. 

Next  he  endeavoured  to  work  himself  into  their  good-will,  by 
erecting  and  endowing  of  religious  houses  ;  so  to  plausiblelize  him- 
self, especially  among  the  clergy.  Thus  he  built  one  far  north,  at 
Middleham,  and  a  college  in  the  parish  of  Alhallows-Barking,*hard 
by  the  Tower,  as  if  he  intended,  by  the  vicinity  thereof,  to  expiate 
those  many  murders  which  he  therein  had  committed.  Besides,  he 
for  his  time  dis-forested  Whichwood  in  Oxford shi re, -f-  (then  far 
more  extended  than  in  our  age.)  which  his  brother  Edward  had 
made  forest,  to  the  great  grievance  of  the  country  thereabouts.  Yet 
all  would  not  do  ;  the  people  being  more  patient  for  an  injury  done 
by  king  Edward,  than  thankful  for  the  favour  this  Richard 
bestowed  upon  them.  He  is  said  also  to  have  given  to  Queen's 
College  in  Cambridge  five  hundred  marks  of  yearly  rent  ;J  though 
at  this  time,  I  believe,  the  college  receives  as  little  benefit  by  the 
grant,  as  Richard  had  right  to  grant  it.  For,  it  was  not  issued  out 
of  his  own  purse,  but  given  out  of  the  lands  of  his  enemy, — the 
unjustly-proscribed  earl  of  Oxford  ;  who,  being  restored  by  Henry 
VII.  made  a  resumption  thereof. 

"  Stow's  "Survej'of  Loudon,'  in  Tower-street  Ward.  f  Camden's  Brit,  in 

Oxfordshire,  page  374,  out  of  John  Rouse.  X  Stow  in  his  "Annals,"  piige  4J'0. 


52ft  CHURCH    HISTOUY    OF    BRITAIN.  A.D.  1480. 

8.  Art  hath  done  more  for  King  Richard,  than  ever  Nature  did. 

Duke  Richard  was  low  in  stature,  crook-backed,  with  one  shoul- 
der higher  than  the  other,  having  a  prominent  gobber-tooth,  a 
■warlike  countenance  which  well  enough  became  a  soldier.  Yet  a 
modern  author,*  in  a  book  by  him  lately  set  forth,  eveneth  his 
shoulders,  smootheth  his  back,  planeth  his  .^teeth,  maketh  him  in 
all  points  a  comely  and  beautiful  person.  Nor  stoppeth  he  here  ; 
but,  proceeding  from  his  naturals  to  his  morals,  maketh  him  as 
virtuous  as  handsome,  which  in  some  sense  may  be  allowed  to  be 
true  ;  concealing  most,  denying  some,  defending  others,  of  his 
foulest  facts,  wherewith  in  all  ages  since  he  standeth  charged  on 
record.  For  mine  own  part,  I  confess  it  no  heresy  to  maintain  a 
paradox  in  history,  nor  am  I  such  an  enemy  to  wit  as  not  to  allow 
it  leave  harmlessly  to  disport  itself,  for  its  own  content,  and  the 
delight  of  others.  Thus  Cardan  hath  written  his  Encomium 
Neronis ;  and  others  (best  husbandmen  who  can  improve  the 
barrenest  ground  !)  have  by  art  endeavoured  to  piaise  as  impro- 
bable subjects.  But  when  men  shall  do  it  cordially,  in  sober  sad- 
ness, to  pervert  people's  judgments,  and  therein  go  against  all 
received  records,  I  say,  singularity  is  the  least  fault  can  be  laid  to 
such  men"'s  charge.  Besides,  there  are  some  birds,  "sea-pics "by 
name,  who  cannot  rise  except  it  be  by  flying  against  the  wind,  as 
some  hope  to  achieve  their  advancement  by  being  contrary  and 
paradoxical  in  judgment  to  all  before  them. 

9,  10.   The  Request  of  the  Duke  of  Buckingham  denied. 
Buckingham  surprised  and  beheaded. 

Soon  after  followed  the  execution  of  the  duke  of  Buckingham, 
king  Richard's  grand  engineer,  or  master  of  the  fabric  of  his  pre- 
ferment. The  occasion  thus  :  The  duke  requested-required  of 
king  Richard  (as  confident  that  his  merits  were  incapable  of  a 
denial)  the  earldom  of  Hereford,  and  the  hereditary  constableship 
of  England,  laying  title  to  them  by  descent.  Well  did  he  ask 
both  together,  which  would  be  granted  both  together.  For  the 
earldom  of  Hereford  was  an  Abishag,  concubine  to  the  former  kings 
of  England,  which  had  long  lien  in  the  crown,  (whilst  in  the 
Lancastrian  line,)  so  embraced  and  interlaced  therewith  that  it  was 
difficult  to  dissever  them.  And  the  affecting  thereof  proved  as 
fatal  to  Buckingham,  as  the  desiring  of  the  other  was  to  Adonijah, 
being  interpreted  in  both  an  ambition  of  the  kingdom.  The 
liereditary  constableship  was  conceived  too  unlimited  a  power  to  be 
trusted  to  a  subject,  lest   he  should  make  more  disorder  than  he 

•  George  Bqck,  Esq.  a  claw -back  to  Crook-back. 


3  RICHARD   III.  ROOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  51^9 

sliould  mend  therewith  ;  so  that,  in  fine,  both  in  effect  were  denied 
unto  him. 

Buckingham  storms  thereat :  Shall  a  coronet  be  denied  him,  by 
him  on  whom  he  had  conferred  a  crown  ?  Yet,  what  anger  soever 
boiled  in  his  heart,  none  ran  over  in  his  mouth,  pretending  very 
fair  in  his  behaviour.  But,  hard  it  is  to  halt  before  a  cripple,  and 
dissemble  before  king  Richard.  The  duke  withdraws  to  Brecknock 
in  Wales,  with  his  prisoner,  bishop  Morton  of  Ely,  (committed  unto 
him  by  the  king  on  some  distaste,)  who  tampered  with  him  about 
the  marriage  of  Henry  earl  of  Richmond,  with  the  eldest  daughter 
of  king  Edward  IV.  The  duke  carried  himself  so  open  therein, 
that,  surprised  by  king  Richard,  his  head  was  divorced  from  his 
body  before  this  marriage  was  completed. 

11,  12.  Morton  Make-Peace.   Mr.  Prynne  charged  for  charging 
Bishop  Morton  with  Treason. 

More  cunning  was  bishop  Morton  to  get  himself  over  into 
France,  there  to  contrive  the  union  of  the  two  Houses  of  York  and 
Lancaster.  If  "  blessed  be  the  peace-makers,"  be  pronounced  of 
such  as  reconcile  party  and  party  ;  how  much  more  must  it  be  true 
of  his  memory, — the  happy  instrument  to  unite  those  Houses,  to  the 
saving  of  the  effusion  of  so  much  blood  !  Some  will  say,  "  It  was 
a  design  obvious  to  every  capacity,  to  make  such  an  union."  But, 
we  all  know,  when  a  thing  is  done,  then  it  is  easy  for  any  to  do  it. 
Besides,  it  is  one  thing  for  men  in  their  brains  barely  and 
notionally  to  apprehend  a  project ;  and  another,  as  our  Morton 
did,  to  elect  proportionable  means,  and,  by  the  vigorous  prosecution 
thereof,  really  to  effect  it. 

A  modern  writer,  in  his  voluminous  book,  which  he  hath  entitled, 
*'  The  Rebellions,  Treasons,  Conspiracies,  antimonarchical  Prac- 
tices, &c.  of  the  English  Prelates,"  to  swell  his  number,  chargeth 
this  bishop  Morton  with  treason  against  king  Richard  III.  But, 
is  it  treason  for  one,  in  favour  of  the  true  heir,  to  oppose  an  usurper 
in  title,  and  tyrant  in  practice  ?  Surely  unbiassed  judgments  behold 
Morton  herein  under  a  better  notion.  Had  this  bishop  been  active 
on  king  Richard's  side,  how  would  the  same  author  have  proclaimed 
him  for  a  traitor  against  king  Henry  VII.  !  Thus  I  see  an  inevi- 
table necessity,  that  Morton  must  be  a  traitor,  whatsoever  he  did  ; 
and  can  observe,  that  no  practice  will  please  Avhich  cometh  from  one 
whose  person  or  profession  is  distasted. 

13.  Earl  Henry  landeth  at  Milford- Haven.     A.D.  1485. 

But  king  Richard's  cruelties  had  so  tired  out  Divine  patience, 
that  his  punishment  could  be  no  longer  deferred.     Henry  earl  of 
Vol.  I.  MM 


530  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN.  AD.  1486. 

Richmond  lands  with  a  handful  of  men  at  Milford-Haven  ;  a 
landing-place  politically  chosen,  near  Pembroke,  the  place  of  his 
nativity,  in  the  heart  of  his  countrymen  and  kinsmen  the  Welsh, 
(his  grandfather  Owen-ap-Theodore,  alias  Tuthar,  having  thence 
his  extraction,)  and  far  from  London,  the  magazine  of  king 
Richard''s  might.  From  Milford  the  earl  marched  north-east, 
through  the  bowels  of  Wales  ;  and  both  his  army,  and  the  fame 
thereof,  crevit  eundo,  "  grew  by  going."  Many  old  prophecies 
(the  people  about  Leicester  will  load  a  stranger  with  them)  were 
fulfilled  in  him,  and  this  amongst  the  rest  may  be  remembered : — It 
was  foretold,  that,  in  a  great  battle,  which  was  to  be  fought  near 
Leicester,  whosoever  should  shoot  the  arrow  first,  should  have  the 
victory.  This  most  understood,  that  the  archer  in  the  fight  which 
should  first  let  loose  should  gain  the  day  to  his  side.  When, 
behold,  the  earl  of  Richmond,  bending  his  march  out  of  Wales,  to 
the  middle  of  England,  first  passed  Arrow,  a  rivulet  in  the  confines 
of  Worcester  and  Warwickshire,  and  accordingly  proved  victorious. 
For  into  Leicestershire  he  came,  and  in  the  navel  thereof  is  met  by 
king  Richard,  and  next  morning  both  sides  determine  to  try  their 
fortunes  in  fight.  This  night  the  earl  had  sweet  and  quiet  rest, 
whilst  king  Richard's  guilty  conscience  was  frighted  with  hideous 
dreams  and  fanciful  apparitions  ;  as  no  wonder  if  no  pillow  could 
give  him  quiet  sleep  who  with  a  pillow  had  so  lately  smothered 
his  lord  and  master. 

14.   The  Battle  of  Bosworth. 

The  battle  is  called  "the  battle  of  Bosworth,"  (though  fought 
full  three  miles  from  the  town,*  and  nearer  other  country  villages,) 
because  Bosworth  is  the  next  town  of  note  thereunto.  The  earFs 
army  fell  far  short  of  the  king's  in  number  and  arms  ;  equalled  it  in 
courage,  exceeded  it  in  cause  and  success.  Indeed,  the  king's  army 
was  hollow  at  the  heart,  many  marching  in  his  main  battle  who  were 
much  suspected,  (and  therefore  purposely  placed  there  to  secure 
them  from  flying  out,)  and  fought  as  unwilling  to  overcome.  Yet 
the  scales  of  victory  seemed  for  a  long  time  so  equal,  that  an  exact 
eye  could  not  discern  on  which  side  the  beam  did  break.  At  last 
the  coming  in  of  Sir  William  Stanley,  with  three  thousand  fresh 
men,  decided  the  controversy  on  the  earPs  side.  King  Richard 
fighting  valiantly,  (so  his  friends  ;  desperately,  say  his  foes,)  fell  in 
the  midst  of  his  enemies,  and  his  corpse  were  disgracefully  carried 
to  Leicester,  without  a  rag  to  cover  his  nakedness  ;  as  if  no  modest 
usage  was  due  to  him  when  dead  who  had  been  so  shameless  in  his 
cruelty  Avhen  alive.     The  crown   ornamental,  being  found  on   his 

•  Burton  in  his  "  Description  of  Leicestershire." 


2  HENRY   VII.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  531 

head,  was  removed  to  the  carFs,  and  he  crowned  in  the  field,  and 
Te  Deum  was  solemnly  sung  by  the  whole  army. 

15.  Henry   the   Seventh's    six-fold    Title   to   the   Crown. 
1  Henry  VII. 

Soon  after  king  Henry  married  the  lady  Elizabeth,  eldest  daugh- 
ter unto  king  Edward  TV.  whereby  those  roses,  which  formerly  with 
their  prickles  had  rent  each  other,  Avere  united  together.  Yea,  six- 
fold was  king  Henry's  title  to  the  crown.  First.  Conquest. 
Secondly.  Military  election  ;  the  soldiers  crying  out  in  the  field, 
*'  King  Henry  !  king  Henry  !"  Thirdly.  Parliamentary  authority, 
which  settled  the  crown  on  him  and  his  heirs.  Fourthly.  Papal 
confirmation  ;  his  Holiness,  forsooth,  concurring  with  his  religious 
compliment.  Fifthly.  Descent  from  the  House  of  Lancaster.  But 
that,  all  know,  was  but  the  back-door  to  the  crown,  and  this  Henry 
came  in  but  by  a  window  to  that  back-door,  (there  being  some 
bastardy  in  his  pedigree,)  but  that  was  salved  by  post-legitimation. 
Sixthly.  Marriage  of  king  Edward's  daughter  :  the  first  and  last  being 
worth  all  the  rest.  Thus  had  he  six  strings  to  his  bow,  but  com- 
monly he  let  five  hang  by,  and  only  made  use  of  that  one,  which, 
for  the  present,  he  perceived  was  most  for  his  own  advantage.  Yet, 
for  all  these  his  titles,  this  politic  prince  thought  fit  to  have  his 
person  well  secured,  and  was  the  first  king  of  England  who  had  a 
standing  guard  to  attend  him. 

16,  17-   The  Death  of  Archbishop  Bourchier.      John  Morton 
succeeded  him.     A.D.  1486. 

Thomas  Bourchier  cardinal,  and  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  had 
the  honour  first  to  marry,  then  to  crown,  king  Henry  and  the  lady 
Elizabeth.  And  then,  having  sat  in  a  short  synod  at  London, 
(wherein  the  clergy  presented  their  new  king  with  a  tenth,)  quietly 
ended  his  life,  having  sat  in  his  see  two-and-thirty  years.  He  gave 
a  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  to  the  university  of  Cambridge,  which 
was  joined  with  another  hundred  pounds  which  Mr.  Billingforth, 
master  of  Bennet  college,  had  some  years  before  given  to  the  said 
university;  and  this  joint  stock  was  put  into  a  chest,  called  at  this 
day,  "  the  chest  of  Billingforth  and  Bourchier  ;""  and  treasurers  are 
every  year  chosen  for  the  safe  keeping  thereof. 

John  Morton,  born,  say  some,  at  Bear,  but  more  truly  at  St. 
Andrew's-Milbourne,  in  Dorsetshire,  (where  a  worshipful  family  of 
his  name  and  lineage  remain  at  this  day,)  succeeded  him  in  the  see 
at  Canterbury.  He  was  formerly  bishop  of  Ely,  and  appointed  by 
Edward  IV.  one  of  the  executors  of  his  will,  and  on  that  account  hated 
ofking  Richard  III.  the  executioner  thereof.     He  was,  as  aforesaid, 

2  M  2 


5S2  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIN,  A.  D.  1486 9. 

imprisoned,  because  he  would  not  betray  his  trust,  fled  into  France, 
returned,  and  justly  advanced  by  king  Henry,  first  to  be  chancellor 
of  England,  and  then  to  be  archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

18.  ^  Gifl  not  worth  the  taking. 

Now  began  the  pope  to  be  very  busy,  by  his  officers,  to  collect 
vast  sums  of  money  in  England,  presuming  at  the  king's  connivance 
thereat,  whom  he  had  lately  gratified  with  a  needless  dispensation  to 
legitimate  his  marriage  with  the  lady  Elizabeth,  his  cousin  so  far  off 
it  would  half  pose  a  herald  to  recover  their  kindred.     For, 

EDWARD    THE    THIRD,    ON    PHILIPPA    HIS    QUEEN,    BEGAT 

1.  Lionel  duke   of  Clarence  ;   who,  on  Elizabeth  his  lady,  begat 

2.  Philippa  ;   on  wdiom   Edward   Mortimer,  earl  of  March,   begat 

3.  Roger  earl  of  March  ;  who  on begat  4.  Anne,  on  whom 

Richard  Plantagenet,  duke  of  York,  begat  5.  Edward  IV.  king  of 
England ;  who,  on  Elizabeth  Woodvile,  begat  6.  Elizabeth  his 
eldest  daughter ;   who  was  married  unto  Henry  VII. 

EDWARD    THE    THIRD,    ON    PHILIPPA    HIS    QUEEN,    BEGAT 

1.  John  of  Gaunt,  duke  of  Lancaster;  who  of  Catherine 
Swinford,  begat  2.  John   de  Beaufort,  duke  of  Somerset ;   who  on 

begat    3.  John    Beaufort,   duke    of    Somerset ;    who    on 

Margaret  Beauchamp,  begat  4.  Margaret ;  on  whom  Edmund 
Tudor,  earl  of  Richmond,  begat  5.  Henry  earl  of  Richmond,  after- 
wards (seventh  of  that  name)  king  of  England,  who  married 
Elizabeth,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Edward  IV. 

Neither  law,  divine  or  civil,  forbade  marriage  at  this  distance  ; 
but  the  pope  would  be  over-officious,  both  to  oblige  the  king,  and 
interest  himself ;  as  if  no  princes  could  well  be  married  except  the 
pope  had  a  finger  in  joining  their  hands  together  ! 

19.  Exorhitancies  of  Sanctuaries   retrenched.     ^.Z>.  1487. 

More  material  to  the  king  was  the  help  of  his  Holiness  to  regu- 
late the  exorbitancies  of  abused  sanctuaries.  In  this  age,  could  an 
offender  get  such  a  house  over  his  head,  he  accounted  himself 
instantly  innocent,  though  not  in  conscience,  yet  as  to  outward 
punishment ;  the  king's  enemies,  once  sanctuaried,  daring  him  no 
less  than  the  Jebusites  in  their  strong  fort  of  Sion  defied  David, 
"Thou  shalt  not  come  in  hither,"  2  Sam.  v.  6.  The  pope,  there- 
fore, in  favour  of  the  king,  and,  indeed,  of  equity  itself,  ordered: 
1.  That  if  any  sanctuary-man  did,  by  might  or  otherwise,  get  out  of 
sanctuary  privily,  and  commit  mischief  and  trespass,  and  then  come 
in  again,  he  should  lose   the   benefit  of  sanctuary  for  ever  after.     2. 


5   HENRY  VII.  BOOK.    IV.       CENT.    XV.  533 

That,  howsoever  the  person  of  the  sanctuavy-man  was  protected  from 
his  creditors,  yet  his  goods  out  of  sanctuary  should  not.  3.  That  if 
any  took  sanctuary  for  cause  of  treason,  the  king  might  appoint  him 
keepers  to  look  to  him  in  sanctuary.*  Surely,  had  the  king  been 
pleased  to  interpose  his  own  power,  he  might  have  reformed  these 
abuses  ;  but  he  thought  fitter  to  make  use  of  the  pope's  spiritual 
artillery  against  these  spiritual  castles  of  rebellion,  that  he  might  not 
seem  to  intrench  on  their  lawful  privileges,  having  formerly,  at  least 
in  pretence,  appeared  a  great  patron  of  sanctuaries,  and  a  severe 
punisher  of  the  unjust  infringers  thereof.  On  which  account  this 
king  (who  was  never  uxorious  husband,  nor  over-dutiful  son-in-law) 
confined  the  queen-dowager,  his  wife"'s  mother,  to  a  religious  house 
in  Bermondsey,  because  three  years  since  she  had  surrendered  her 
two  daughters  out  of  the  sanctuary  at  Westminster,  to  Richard  duke 
of  York. 

20.  Two  Synods  at  London.      A.  D.  1488. 

A  synod  Avas  holden  by  archbishop  Morton  at  London  ;  wherein 
the  luxury  of  the  London  clergy  -f*  in  clothes,  (that  city  always 
the  staple  of  bravery,)  Avith  their  frecpienting  of  taverns,  was  for- 
bidden ;  such  preachers  also  were  punished,  who  with  popular 
applause  inveighed  against  bishops  in  their  absence.  The  next  year 
also  a  synod  was  called,  but  little  therein  effected,  but  vast  sums  of 
money  granted  by  the  clergy  to  the  king. 

21.  Italians  good  at  getting  and  holding.      A.D.  1489. 

John  Gigles  an  Italian,  about  this  time  employed  by  the  pope, 
got  an  infinite  mass  of  money,  having  power  from  the  pope  to 
absolve  people  from  usury,  simony,  theft,  manslaughter,  fornication, 
adultery,  and  all  crimes  whatsoever,  saving  smiting  of  the  clergy, 
and  conspiring  against  the  pope;  and  some  few  cases  reserved  alone  to 
his  Holiness.  This  Gigles  gat  for  himself  the  rich  bishopric  of  Wor- 
cester ;  yea,  we  observe,  that  in  that  see  a  team  of  four  Italians 
followed  each  other:  1.  John  Gigles  :  2.  Silvester  Gigles  :  3.  Julius 
de  Medicis,  afterwards  Clement  VII.  4.  Hieronymus  de  Negutiisij: 
[Ghinucei].  Thus  as  weeds  in  a  garden,  once  got  in,  hardly  got 
out,  as  sowing  themselves ;  so  these  Italians,  having  planted  them- 
selves in  that  rich  place,  were  never  gotten  out,  (pleading,  as  it 
were,  prescription  of  almost  forty  years'  possession,)  till  the  power 
of  the  pope  was  partly  banished  England,  and  then  Hugh  Latimer 
Avas  placed  in  the  bishopric. 

•  Lord  Venilam  in  Henry  VII.  page  39.         f  ^Intiq.  Brit,  page  298.         J  Godwin 
in  his  "  Catalogue  of  the  Bishops  of  Norwich,''  page  520. 


534  CHURCH    HISTORY    OB     BRITAIN.  A.D,  1494. 

22.  Rochester  Bridge  repaired  hy  Pardons.  A.  D.  1494. 
Archbishop  Morton,  as  one  much  meriting  from  the  pope,  was  not 
only  honoured  with  a  carclinafs  hat,  of  the  title  of  St.  Anastatius,  but 
also  privileged  from  his  Holiness  to  visit  all  places  formerly  exempt 
from  archi-episcopal  jurisdiction  ;  empowering  him  also  to  dispense 
his  pardons  where  he  saw  just  cause.  Hereupon,  Rochester  Bridge 
being  broken  down,  Morton,  to  appear  a  pontife.v  indeed,  bestowed 
remission  from  purgatory  for  all  sins  whatsoever  committed  within 
the  compass  of  forty  days,  to  such  as  should  bountifully  contribute 
to  the  building  thereof.* 

23.  The  King  desired  King  Henry,  then  the  sixths  to  he  sainted. 
The  king  had  more  than  a  month''s  mind  (keeping  seven  years  in 
that  humour)  to  procure  the  pope  to  canonize  king  Henry  VI.  for  a 
gaint.  For,  English  saint-kings,  so  frequent  before  the  Conquest, 
were  grown  great  dainties  since  that  time.  France  lately  had  her 
king  Saint  Lewis,  and  why  should  not  England  receive  the  like 
favour,  being  no  less  beneficial  to  the  church  of  Rome  ?  Nor 
could  the  unhappiness  of  our  king  Henry  (because  deposed  from  his 
throne)  be  any  just  bar  to  his  saintship,  seeing  generally  God''s  best 
servants  arc  most  subject  to  the  sharpest  afflictions.  His  canonizing 
would  add  much  lustre  to  the  line  of  Lancaster,  which  made  his 
kinsman  and  mediate  successor  king  Henry  VII.  so  desirous  thereof. 
Besides,  well  might  he  be  made  a  saint  who  had  been  a  prophet. 
For  when  the  Avars  between  Lancaster  and  York  first  began,  Henry 
VI.  beholding  this  Henry  VII.  then  but  a  boy,  playing  in  the 
court,  said  to  the  standers-by,  "  See,  this  youth  one  day  will  quietly 
enjoy  what  we  at  this  time  so  much  fight  about."  This  made  the 
king  with  much  importunity  to  tender  this  his  request  unto  the 
pope  ;  a  request  the  more  reasonable,  because  it  was  Avell  nigh  forty 
years  since  the  death  of  that  Henry,  so  that  only  the  skeletons 
of  his  virtues  remained  in  men^s  memories,  the  flesh  and  cor- 
ruption (as  one  may  say)  of  his  faults  being  quite  consumed  and 
forgotten. 

24,  25.   The  Requisites  to  a  Canonization.     These  applied 
to  King  Henry  VI. 

Pope  Alexander  VI.  instead  of  granting  his  request,  acquainted 
him  with  the  requisites  belonging  to  the  making  of  a  saint.  First. 
That  to  confer  that  honour,  (the  greatest  on  earth,)  was  only  in  the 
power  of  the  pope,  the  proper  judge  of  men's  merits  therein. 
Secondly.  That  saints  were  not  to  be  multiplied  but  on  just 
motions,  lest  commonness  should  cause  their  contempt.     Thirdly. 

•  Jntiq.  Brit,  page  298, 


10  HENRY  Vir.  BOOK    IV,       CENT.    XV.  5S5 

That  his  life  must  be  exemplary  holy,  by  the  testimony  of  credible 
■witnesses.  Fourthly.  That  such  must  attest  the  truth  of  real 
miracles  wrought  by  him  after  death.  Fifthly.  That  very  great 
was  the  cost  thereof,  because  all  chanters,  choristers,  parafrenarii,* 
bell-ringers,  (not  the  least  clapper  in  the  steeple  wagging,  except 
money  was  tied  to  the  end  of  the  rope,)  with  all  the  officers  of  the 
church  of  St.  Peter,  together  with  the  commissaries  and  notaries 
of  the  court,  with  all  the  officers  of  the  pope's  bed-chamber,  to  the 
very  locksmiths,  ought  to  have  their  several  fees  of  such  canonization  : 
adding,  that  the  total  sum  would  amount  to  fifteen  hundred  ducats 
of  gold.-f-  TantcB  molis  erat  Romanum  condere  sanctum !  con- 
cluding with  that  which  made  the  charges  (though  not  infinite) 
indefinite, — that  the  costs  were  to  be  multiplied  secundum  canoni- 
zati  pote?itiam,  "  according  to  the  power  or  dignity  of  the  person 
to  be  canonized."  And  certain  it  was,  the  court  of  Rome  would 
not  behold  this  Henry  VI.  in  the  notion  he  died  in  as  a  poor  pri- 
soner, but  as  he  lived  a  king,  so  long  as  he  had  this  Henry  his 
kinsman  to  pay  for  the  same. 

Most  of  these  requisites  met  in  king  Henry  VI.  in  a  competent 
measure.  First.  The  holiness  of  his  life  was  confessed  by  all ;  save 
that  some  sullen  persons  suggested  that  his  simplicity  was  above  his 
sanctity,  and  his  life  pious  not  so  much  out  of  hatred  as  ignorance 
of  badness.  As  for  miracles,  there  was  no  want  of  them,  if  credible 
persons  might  be  believed,  two  of  whose  miracles  it  will  not  be 
amiss  to  recite. 

26.  A  Brace  of  Miracles  wrought  by  King  Henry  VI. 

Thomas  Fuller,  a  very  honest  man,:J:  living  at  Hammersmith,  near 
London,  had  a  hard  hap  accidentally  to  light  into  the  company  of 
one  who  had  stolen  and  driven  away  cattle,  with  whom,  though 
wholly  innocent,  he  was  taken,  arraigned,  condemned,  and  executed. 
When  on  the  gallows,  blessed  king  Henry  (loving  justice  when 
alive,  and  willing  to  preserve  innocence  after  death)  appeared  unto 
him,  so  ordering  the  matter  that  the  halter  did  not  strangle  him. 
For  having  hung  a  whole  hour,  and  been  taken  down  to  be  buried, 
he  was  found  alive  ;  for  which  favour  he  repaired  to  the  tomb  of 
king  Henry  at  Chertsey,  (as  he  was  bound  to  do  no  less,)  and  there 
presented  his  humble  and  hearty  thanks  unto  him  for  his  deliverance. 
The  very  same  accident,  mutatis  mutandis,  of  place  and  persons, 

"  Fuller  left  a  chasm  in  the  text,  and  placed  this  word  in  a  note,  thus :  "  The  Latin  is 
para/renarii,"  a  minor  species  of  ecclesiastical  officers  with  whose  duties  he  was  e\'i- 
deutl}-  imacquainted.  The  error  seems  to  me  to  lie  in  the  transcriber  of  the  Latin  original, 
who  mistook  this  word  for  ceroferarii,  "  torch-bearers,"  who  are  generally  conjoined  with 
the  chanting-men,  bell-ringers,  &c. — Edit.  \  Anliq,  Brit.  \i.  299.  t  Harpsfield 
///*/.  Enlcsiastica  sccculo  dcctmo  ijuin/o,  p.  646. 


5'36  CHURCH     HISTORY    OF     BRITAIN.  A.D.  1494 — 8. 

with  some  addition  about  the  apparition  of  the  virgin  Mary,  hap- 
pened to  Richard  Boyes,  dwelling  within  a  mile  of  Bath,  the  story 
so  like,  all  may  believe  them  equally  true. 

Al]  the  premisses  required  to  a  saint  appearing  in  some  moderate 
proportion  in  Henry  VI.  especially  if  charitably  interpreted,  (saints 
themselves  need  some  favom*  to  be  afforded  them,)  it  was  the  general 
expectation  that  he  should  be  suddenly  canonized.  But  pope  Alex- 
ander VI.  delayed,  and  in  effect  denied  king  Henry's  desire  herein  ; 
yea,  Julius  his  next  successor  of  continuance  (not  to  mention  the 
short-lived  Pius  III.)  continued  as  sturdy  in  his  denial. 

27.  Reasons  why  King  Henry  VI.  was  not  sainted. 
Men  variously  conjecture  why  the  pope  in  effect  should  deny  to 
canonize  king  Henry  VI.  A  witty  but  tart  reason  is  rendered  by  a 
noble  pen,*  "  because  the  pope  would  put  a  difference  betwixt  a 
Saint  and  an  Innocent."  But  others  conceive  king  Henry  not 
so  simple  himself,  his  parts  only  seeming  the  lower,  being  over- 
topped with  a  high-spirited  queen.  More  probable  it  is  what  another 
saith,-f-  that  seeing  king  Henry  held  the  crown  by  a  false  title  from 
the  true  heir  thereof,  the  pope  could  not  with  so  good  credit  fasten 
a  saintship  on  his  memory.  But  our  great  antiquary  |  resolvetli  all 
in  the  pope's  covetousness,  I?i  causa  fuit  Pontificis  avaritia, 
demanding  more  than  thrifty  king  Henry  VI.  would  allow;  who  at  last 
contented  himself,  by  the  pope's  leave  hardly  obtained,  to  remove  his 
corpse  from  Chertsey  in  Surrey,  where  it  was  obscurely  interred,  to 
Windsor  Chapel,  a  place  of  greater  reputation.  Thus  he  whom 
authors  have  observed  twice  crowned,  twice  deposed,  twice  buried  ; 
the  best  was,  though  he  was  not  canonized,  yet  there  was  plenty  of 
popish  saints  beside  him,  Avherewith  the  Calendar  is  so  overstocked 
that,  for  want  of  room,  they  justle^ one  another. 

28.  Archbishop  Morton  procureth  the  Sainting  of  Aiiselm. 
A.D.  1497. 

But  the  saintship  of  Anselm  archbishop  of  Canterbury  was  pro- 
cured on  cheaper  terms  ;  though  it  cost  archbishop  Morton  much 
money,  who  procured  the  same.  Indeed,  Anselm  being  alteriiis 
orhis  papa,  "  the  pope  of  the  English  world,"  (as  the  archbishop  of 
Canterbury  was  termed,)  no  wonder  if  one  pope,  upon  reasonable 
terms,  did  this  courtesy  for  another.  Besides,  great  was  the  merit 
of  Anselm  to  the  church  of  Rome,  (little  whereof  goes  far  to  obtain 
a  canonization,)  seeing  he  was  the  champion  and  confessor  of  the 
pope's  cause  about  investing  of  bishops,  against  two  kings  succes- 
sively,— William  Rufus  and  king  Henry  I. 

*  The  Lord  Bacon.  ]  See  Ur.  Habington    in  the   Life  of  Edward  IV. 

X  Camden's  Brit,  in  Sim-e}-. 


14  HENRY   VII.  ROOK    IV.       CENT.    XV,  5*37 

29,30,31.    The  King's  Carriage  to  the  Pope:    severe  to  the 
vicious  Clergij.     Sad  to  he  the  King''s  Convert.     A.  D.  1498. 

Observable  was  the  carriage  of  king  Henry  towards  the  pope,  the 
clergy,  and  the  poor  Lollards.  To  the  pope  he  was  submissive,  not 
servile  ;  his  devotion  being  seldom  without  design,  so  using  his 
Holiness  that  he  seldom  stooped  down  to  him  in  any  low  reverence, 
but  with  the  same  gesture  he  took  up  something  in  order  to  his 
OAvn  ends. 

To  the  clergy  of  desert  he  was  very  respectful,  trusting  and 
employing  them  in  state-affairs,  more  than  his  nobility.  To  the 
dissolute  and  vicious  clergy  he  was  justly  severe,  and  pared  their 
privdeges,  ordaining  that  "  clerks  convict  should  be  burned  in  the 
hand  ;"*  both  that  they  might  taste  a  corporal  punishment,  and 
carry  a  brand  of  infamy.  But  for  this  good  act  the  king  himself 
was  afterwards  branded,  by  mock-king  Perkin's  proclamation,  for 
an  execrable  breaker  of  the  rights  of  holy  church.  He  also  made  a 
law,-f-  that  begging  scholars,  though  clerks,  should  be  reputed  vaga- 
bonds, without  they  show  the  letters  of  the  chancellor  of  the  univer- 
sity from  whence  he  saith  he  cometh. 

To  the  Lollards  (so  were  God's  people  nicknamed)  he  was  more 
cruel  than  his  predecessors  ;  for  he  not  only  in  the  beginning  of  his 
reign  connived  at  the  cruel  persecutions  which  John  Halse,  bishop 
of  Coventry  and  Lichfield,  raised  against  them,  but,  towards  the 
end  of  his  reign,  appeared  in  his  person  very  bloody  unto  them,  if 
the  story  be  true  which  is  very  lamely  delivered  unto  us  : — There 
was  in  Canterbury  an  old  priest  so  resolute  in  Wickliffe"'s  opinions, 
that  none  of  the  clergy  there  could  convince  him  of  the  contrary. 
The  king,  casually  coming  thither  in  the  month  of  May,  undertook 
the  priest  himself,  though  we  never  read  before  of  his  majesty's  dis- 
puting, save  when  he  disputed  Bosworth-field  with  king  Richard 
IIL  The  king,  by  what  arguments  we  know  not,  converted  this 
priest,  and  then  presently  gave  order  he  should  be  burned  ;  which 
was  done  accordingly.;!:  Surely,  there  was  more  in  the  matter  than 
what  appeared  in  the  record,  or  else  one  may  boldly  say,  that  if 
the  king's  converts  had  no  better  encouragement,  this  was  the  first 
he  made,  and  the  last  he  was  ever  likely  to  make. 

32.  Needless  Cruelty. 

Two  most  needless  pieces  of  cruelty  were  committed  at  this  time  : 

The   one,  an  aged  old  man   burnt  in  Smithfield  :  The  other,  one 

Joan  Baughton,  widow  ;  which  seemeth  a  woman  of  some  quality, 

as  mother  to  the  lady  Young,  (who  was  afterwards  martyred,)  she, 

"  Lord  \'ebulam  iu  Henry  VII.  page  GQ.  1  "  Statutess"  widccimo  Henry  VII. 

cap.  2.  t  Fox's  "  Acts  and  Monuments,"  page  .556. 


538  CHURCH    HISTORY    OF    BRITAIK.  A.D.  1498 500. 

being  fourscore  years  of  age,*  was  burned  for  an  heretic,  posting  her 
to  the  stake  wliich  was  going  to  the  grave. 

33.   The  Founding  of  Brasen-nose  College. 

William  Smith,  sometimes  Fellow  of  Pembroke-Hall  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  bishop  of  Lincoln,  this  year  began  the  foundation  of 
Brasen-nose  college  in  Oxford  :  I  meet  not  with  any  satisfactory 
reason  why  so  called,  save  the  fancy  of  the  founder.  Except  any 
will  say,  "  It  was  so  named,  because  built  where  anciently  Brasen- 
nose-hall  stood  ;"  though  this  does  not  so  much  resolve  the 
question  as  put  it  a  degree  further  off.  But  when  such  who  cavil  at 
the  name  build  a  college,  it  shall  be  left  at  their  free  liberty  to  call 
it  according  to  their  own  pleasure.  This  bishop  lived  not  to  finish 
his  intentions,  and  therefore  after  his  death  Richard  Sutton,  Esq. 
took  upon  him  to  perfect  the  same,  and  accomplished  it  accord- 
ingly. 

Principals,  —  Matthew  Smith,  John  Hawarden,  Thomas 
Blanchard,  Richard  Harris,  Alexander  Noel,  Thomas  Singleton, 
Samuel  Ratcliffe,  Thomas  Yate,  Daniel  Greenwood. 

Bishops. — Richard  Barnes,  bishop  of  Durham. 

Benefactors.  —  William  Clifton,  William  Porter,  John 
Elton,  alias  Baker ;  Humphrey  Ogle,  Edward  Darby,  John  Clay- 
mond,  John  Williamson,  Brian  Higden,  Alexander  Noel,  Joyce 
Frankland,  Richard  Harper,  Sir  John  Port,  John  lord  Mordant, 
John  Barneston,  George  Palin. 

Learned  Men.  —  Richard  Caldwell,  doctor  of  physic  and 
founder  of  a  surgery-lecture  in  London  ;-f-  Robert  Bolton,  a  famous 
preacher. 

So  that  at  this  present  the  college  is  much  beautified  with  build- 
ings and  ornaments  ;  for  the  perfecting  whereof,  great  sums  have 
been  expended  within  these  few  last  years  ;  maintaining  a  Principal, 
twenty  Fellows,  beside  Scholars,  Officers,  and  Servants  of  the 
foundation,  in  all  amounting,  anno  1034,  to  one  hundred  eighty- 
six. 

Cheshire-men,  whose  county  is  called  nohilitatis  altrioc^  and 
those  of  Lancashire,  (most  commendable  oh  honitatem  hahitu- 
dinis  et  decorem  aspectus^)  are  in  this  college  most  proper  for 
preferment. 

34.   The  Death  of  Archbishop  Morton.     A.D.  1500. 
John  Morton  cardinal   and  archbishop   of  Canterbury  deceased. 
Many  condemned  him   in   his  life  for  acting  and   putting  the  king 

•   Fox's    "  Acts   and    Monuments,"    page    556.  f  Camden's    Elizabeth    in 

unno  1586. 


16  HENRY  VII.  BOOK    IV.       CENT.    XV.  5J30 

forward  to  be  burdensome  to  his  subjects  with  his  taxes ;  but  his 
innocence  appeared  after  his  death, — that  he  rather  tempered  the 
king''s  covetousness  than  otherwise.  He  was  a  learned  man,  and 
had  a  fair  library,  (rebussed  with  more  in  text  and  tun  under  it,) 
partly  remaining  in  the  possession  of  the  late  earl  of  Arundel.  I 
find  him  in  the  catalogue  of  the  benefactors  of  St.  John's  college 
in  Cambridge ;  understand  it,  by  his  executors,  otherwise  the  first 
brick  of  that  house  was  laid  nine  years  after  the  archbishop''s  death. 
Now,  as  this  was  a  sad  year  to  Canterbury,  wherein  their  good  arch- 
bishop departed,  so  was  it  a  joyful  year  at  Rome  for  the  coming-in 
of  that  jubilee  which  brought  men  and  money  there.  Yet  many 
went  to  Rome  in  effect,  which  stayed  in  England,  by  commuting 
their  journey  into  money,  which  was  equally  meritorious,  the  pope'*s 
officers  being  come  over  to  receive  the  same. 


END    OF    FIRST    VOLUME. 


London  : — Printed  by  James  Nichols,  46,  Hoxton  Square. 


9 


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The  church  history  of  Britain  ;  from  the 


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