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TRANSACT  IONS 


OF  THE 


ROYAL    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY, 
k 


TRANSACTIONS 


OF  THE 


ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


EDITED   BY  THE 

REV.    CHARLES    ROGERS,   LL.D. 

HISTORIOGRAPHER    TO    THE    ROYAL    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY;    FELLOW   OF    THE 

SOCIETY   OF  ANTIQUARIES  OF  SCOTLAND  ;   MEMBER  OF  THE  HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY  OF  QUEBEC  ;    MEMBER  OF  THE   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY   OF 

PENNSYLVANIA  ;   AND  CORRESPONDING  MEMBER  OF  THE 

HISTORICAL  AND   GENEALOGICAL  SOCIETY   OF 

NEW  ENGLAND. 


VOL.  V. 


LONDON 
PRINTED  FOR  THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

1877 


LONDON  : 

J.    AND   W.    RIDER,   PRINTEKS, 
BARTHOLOMEW   CLOSE. 


PREFACE. 


THE  present  volume  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  found  in  its 
contents  not  unworthy  of  its  predecessors.  In  their  efforts 
to  secure  suitable  papers  the  Council  have  been  unremitting  ; 
and  the  interesting  discussions  which  have  occurred  at  the 
monthly  meetings  would  warrant  the  belief  that  the  selec- 
tions made  were  generally  approved.  The  formation  of  a 
Genealogical  Section  will  relieve  the  TRANSACTIONS  from 
memoirs  relating  to  family  history,  and  likewise  extend  the 
breadth  of  the  Society's  labours.  It  is  at  the  same  time 
the  Society's  aim,  apart  from  its  recorded  labours,  to  promote 
a  general  interest  in  historical  inquiries.  The  Council  have 
the  gratification  to  report  that  the  membership  continues 
steadily  to  increase  ;  in  December,  1875,  the  Fellows  on  the 
roll  were  466;  they  are  now  525. 

CHARLES    ROGERS, 

Historiographer. 


SOCIETY'S  ROOMS, 

n,  CHANDOS  STREET,  CAVENDISH  SQUARE,  W., 
January,   1877. 


CONTENTS. 


PREFACE      ........  v 

CONTENTS         ........  vii 

OFFICE-BEARERS  OF  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  FOR  1876 — 77         .  ix 

LIST  OF  FELLOWS  OF  THE  SOCIETY  .....  xi 

SOME  CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  MONARCHICAL  GOVERNMENT. 

By  G.  LAURENCE  GOMME,  Esq.,  F.R.H.S.           ...  i 

JOHN   FOXE"  THE  MARTYROLOGIST  AND  HIS  FAMILY.    By  WILLIAM 

WINTERS,  Esq.,  F.R.H.S.      ......  28 

Dr.  Samuel  Foxe              ......  40 

Simeon  Foxe,  M.D.  .......  6l 

Dr.  Thomas  Foxe             ......  63 

Captain  Robert  Foxe  .  .  .  .  .  .71 

Henry  Wollaston,  of  Waltham  Abbey     ....  75 

Sir  Richard  Willys,  Bart.       .  .  .  .  .  -79 

DOMESTIC  EVERY-DAY  LIFE  AND  MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  IN  THIS 
COUNTRY,  FROM  THE  EARLIEST  PERIOD  TO  THE  END  OF  THE 
LAST  CENTURY.  By  GEORGE  HARRIS,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A., 
F.R.H.S .  -83 

THE  HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM   AND   REALISM.     By 

GUSTAVUS  GEORGE  ZERFFI,  Esq.,  PH.D.,  F.R.S.L.,  F.R.H.S.       .  117 

THE  SIEGE  OF  QUEBEC.    By  SYDNEY  ROBJOHNS,  Esq.,  F.R.H.S.         .  144 

PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF  HAROLD,  THE  LAST  OF  THE 

SAXON  KINGS.     By  WILLIAM  WINTERS,  Esq.,  F.R.H.S.    .           .  173 

The  Genealogy  of  the  God  wine  Family    .             .             .             .  175 

An  Account  of  the  Bayeux  Tapestry  .  .  .  .184 

Wace's  Chronicle  of  the  Norman  Conquest           .             .             .  186 
The  Battle  of  Stamford  Bridge          .            .            .            .            .188 

The  Battle  of  Hastings     .            .            .            .            .            .  190 

The  Burial  of  Harold  at  Waltham  Holy  Cross         .            .  197 

The  Burial  of  Harold's  Tomb      ...  207 

Harold's  Epitaph       .......  208 

The  Discovery  of  Early  Monumental  Remains  in  the  Abbey      .  209 

Harold's  Children      .             ...             .             .             .  213 

The  Coins  of  Harold        .                        ~             .             .             .  214 


V111  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

ON  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  Swiss  FREEDOM,  AND  THE  SCANDI- 
NAVIAN ORIGIN  OF  THE 'LEGEND  OF  WILLIAM  TELL.  By  JAMES 
HEYWOOD,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  F.R.ILS.  .  .  .  .  216 

THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING   IN  IRELAND.     By  JOSEPH  FISHER, 

Esq.,  F.R.H.S.  .......  228 

I.  The  Tanistry  or  Communal  Period      ....  236 

II.  The  Scandinavian  or  Mixed  Period  ....  256 

III.  The  Norman  or  Feudal  Period  ....  264 

IV.  The  Stuart  or  Confiscation  Period  .  .  .  .  288 

HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  CILLY.     By  the  Rev.  A.  H.  WRATISLAW, 

F.R.H.S.     .  .  .  .  .  .  327 

ON  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  HISTORICAL  REPETITION:  A  STUDY  OF 
THE  RELATION  OF  HISTORICAL  TO  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH.  By 
BENJAMIN  W.  RICHARDSON,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  President  of  the  Council 
of  the  Royal  Historical  Society  .....  339 

REHEARSAL  OF  EVENTS  WHICH  OCCURRED  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SCOTLAND 
FROM  1635  TO  1645,  IN  RELATION  TO  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 
Edited  from  a  Contemporary  MS.  By  the  Rev.  CHARLES  ROGERS, 

LL.D.,  F.R.H.S 354 

"A  Litle  yet  True   Rehearsall  of  Severall   Passages   of  Affairs, 
Collected  by  a  Friend  of  Doctor  Alexander's,  at  Aberdeen  "          .       358 

HISTORICAL  NOTICES  OF,  AND  DOCUMENTS  RELATING  TO,  THE 
MONASTERY  OF  ST.  ANTHONY  AT  LEITH.  By  the  Rev.  CHARLES 
ROGERS,  LL.D.,  F.R.H.S.  .  .  .  .  .  .380 

INDEX     .........  413 


ROYAL    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 


THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE  EARL  RUSSELL,  K.G. 


THE  MOST  HON.  THE  MARQUESS  OF  LORNE. 
THE  RIGHT  HON.  THE  EARL  OF  ROSEBERY. 
THE  RIGHT  HON.  LORD  TALBOT  DE  MALAHIDE. 
THE  RIGHT  HON.  LORD  SELBORNE. 
THE  RIGHT  HON.  LORD  DE  BLAQUIERE. 
THE  RIGHT  REV.  THE  BISHOP  OF  CHESTER. 
THE  RIGHT  REV.  THE  BISHOP  OF  LIMERICK. 
SIR  JOHN  LUBBOCK,  BART.,  F.R.S.,  F.L.S. 


B.  W.  RICHARDSON,  ESQ.,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  President  of  Council 

THE  RIGHT  HON.  LORD  RONALD  GOWER. 

PROFESSOR  JOHN  RUSKIN,  LL.D.,  F.R.S. 

JAMES  ANTHONY  FROUDE,  Esq.,  LL.D. 

GEORGE  HARRIS,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  STEWART  ALLAN,  F.S.A.  Scot. 

MAJOR-GENERAL  W.  R.  E.  ALEXANDER. 

JOHN  RAE,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

REV.  GEORGE  R.  BADENOCH,  LL.D. 

THOMAS  SOPWITH,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S. 

JOHN  S.  PHENE,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.G.S. 

REV.  A.  H.  WRATISLAW,  M.A. 

WILLIAM  CRICHTON  HEPBURN,  Esq. 

JAMES  HEYWOOD,  Esq.,  F.R.S. 

GUSTAVUS  GEORGE  ZERFFI,  Ph.D. 

SYDNEY  ROBJOHNS,  Esq. 


Secretarg  anto 

REV.  CHARLES  ROGERS,  LL.D.,  F.S.A.  Scot.,  Grampian  Lodge, 
Forest  Hill,  S.E. 

^Treasurer. 

WILLIAM  HERBAGE,  Esq.,  London  and  South-Western  Bank, 
7,  Fenchurch  Street,  London,  E.G. 

^Librarian. 
W.  E.  POOLE,  Esq.,  ii,  Chandos  St.,  Cavendish  Square,  London,  W. 


LIST    OF    FELLOWS. 


Right  Honourable  Lord  Aberdare. 
W.  Alexander  Abram,  Esq. 

B.  St.  John  Ackers,  Esq. 
Lieut.-Colonel  Edward  Akroyd,  F.  S.  A. 
William  E.  Akroyd,  Esq. 

Arthur  Albright,  Esq. 

Henry     M.     Alexander,     Esq.,     New 

York. 

Maior-General  W.  R.  E.  Alexander. 
Major  -  General    A.     Stewart     Allan, 

F.S.A.  Scot. 
A.  Allen,  Esq. 
Charles  J.  Allen,  Esq. 
Stephen  Merrill  Allen,  Esq. 
Dr.     D.     H.     Altschul,     F.R.G.S., 

M.   Philo.Soc.,  &c. 
J.  R.  W.  Anderson,  Esq. 
Frank  Andrew,  Esq. 
William  Andrews,  Esq. 
William  Annand,  Esq. 
Professor  Charles  E.  Anthon, Honorary. 
H.  S.  Ashbee,  Esq. 
Thomas  Aspden,  Esq. 
Alfred  Aspland,  Esq. 
Josiah  Atwool,  Esq. 

Henry  M'Lauchlan  Backler,  Esq. 

Rev.  G.  R.  Badenoch,  LL.D. 

John  E.  Bailey,  Esq. 

J.  W.  Baines,  Esq. 

Arthur  James  Balfour,  Esq,  M.P. 

C.  W.  Barkley,  Esq. 
John  Barnard,  Esq. 
J.  Barnes,  Esq. 

T.  Squire  Barrett,  Esq. 

Rev.  Joseph  Chadwick   Bates,  M  A., 

F.R.A.S. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Bathurst. 
W.  J.  Beach,  Esq.,  F.R.G  S 
Right   Hon.  the  Earl  of  Beaconsfield, 

Honorary. 
Thomas  Belk,  Esq. 
J.  Carter  Bell,  Esq.,  F.C.S.,  &c. 
Henry  A.  Bellingham,  Esq. 


Major-General  W.  H.  Benham,  Esq. 

C.  Bennett,  Esq.' 

Captain  H.  A.  Bennett. 

Mrs.  Angelo  Bezzi. 

Edward  Bibby,  Esq.,  F.R.G. S. 

L.  Biden,  Esq. 

J.  Binns,  Esq. 

William  Thomas  Black,  Esq. 

William  Harriett  Blanch,  Esq. 

Right  Honourable  Lord  de  Blaquiere. 

A.  Winter-Blyth,  Esq. 

John  J.  Bond,  Esq. 

William  Henry  Booker,  Esq. 

T.  J.  C.  L.  Bordman,  Esq 

Right  Honourable  Lord  Borthwick. 

Lady  Bowring,  Honorary. 

Mark  Boyd,  Esq. 

Rev.  William  Boyd,  LL.D. 

Rev.  J.  Boyes. 

Edmund  Montagu  Boyle,  Esq. 

Thomas  Boynton,  Esq. 

William  Bragge,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 

Rev.     George     Weare     Braikenridge, 

F.S.A.  Scot. 
Mrs.  Woodhouse  Braine. 
Isaac  Braithwaite,  Esq. 
Edward  Herbert  Bramley,  Esq. 
Thomas  Bramley,  Esq. 
J.  Bramley-Moore,  Esq.,  D.L. 
F.  J.  Bramwell,  Esq. 
William  Hutton  Brayshay,  Esq. 
John  A.  Bremner,  Esq. 
Richard  Brewer,  Esq. 
Hon.  and  Rev.  J.  R.  O.  Bridgeman. 
Charles  Bridger,  Esq. 
Thomas  Briggs,  Esq. 
John  Potter  Briscoe,  Esq. 
H.  Brittain,  Esq. 
Major  John  Britten,  R.L.M. 
T.  C.  Brooke,  Esq. 
Barnard  P.  Broomhead,  Esq. 
Cornelius  Brown,  Esq. 
J.  Foster  Brown,  Esq. 
R.  Weir  Brown,  Esq. 


Xll 


LIST   OF   FELLOWS. 


S.  Stanley  Brown,  Esq. 

Edward  Browne,  Esq  ,  W.  S. 

J.  H.  W.  Buck,  Esq. 

Sir    Charles  J.    F.    Bunbury,    Bart., 

F.R.S.     " 

Major-General  Charles  J.  Burgess. 
Joseph  Burrell,  Esq. 
H.  Burton,  Esq. 
John     Hill     Burton,      Esq,     LL.D., 

Honorary. 

Rev.  William  Cadman,   Prebendary  of 

St.  Paul's. 
N.  A.  Calvo,  Esq. 
The  Marquess  de  Campobianco. 
W.  Cann,  Esq. 
John  B.  Cardale, -Esq. 
Thomas  Card  well,  Esq. 
J.  Wilson  Carillon,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 
George  F.  Carnell,  Esq. 
Thomas  Cave,  Esq.,  M.P. 
George  Cawston,  Esq. 
John  Chappell,  Esq. 
The  Lord  Bishop  of  Chester. 
Colonel  Joseph  Lemuel  Chester. 
W.  Chesterman,  Esq. 
David  Chinery,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S.,  £c. 
Henry  B.  K.  Chorley,  Esq. 
Thomas  Chorlton,  Esq. 
Captain  J.  E.  Christie. 
Hyde  Clarke,  Esq.,  D.C.L. 
J.  Cleghorn,  Esq. 
William  Clode,  Esq. 
Thomas  Close,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 
James  C.  Clough,  Esq. 
Ethan  Nelson  Coburn,  Esq. 
James  Edwin-Cole,  Esq. 
Everard    Home    Coleman,    Esq., 

F.R.A.S.,  F.R.G.S. 
William  Job  Collins,  Esq.    ' 
Henry  Collinson,  Esq. 
J.  Monsey  Collyer,  Esq. 
Rev.  Charles  H.  Collyns,  M.A. 
John  Colston,  Esq. 
Rev.  John  Compston. 
Samuel  Compston,  Esq. 
Congress  Library,  Washington,  U.S. 
Eugene  A.  Conwell,  Esq. 
Faithful  Cookson,  Esq. 
John  Corbett,  Esq.,  M.P. 
Samuel  E.  Cottam,  Esq. 
George  Courtauld,  Esq. 
Rev.  Samuel  Cowdy,  LL.D. 
J.  M.  Cowper,  Esq. 
George  R.  Cox,  Esq. 
J.  Charles  Cox,  Esq. 
J.  W.  Crawford,  Esq. 
Joseph  Crawhall,  Esq. 
Henry  W.  E.  Crofton,  Esq. 


James  Croston,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 
Francis  Crowe,  Esq.,  LL.D., F.R.G.S. 
George  Cruikshank,  Esq.,  Honorary. 
Alfred  Crutwell,  Esq.,  F.  G.  S. 
General   the   Hon    Sir   Edward   Cust, 
K.C.H.,  D.C.L. 

John  A.  Dalziel,  Esq. 
J.  W.  Dangar,  Esq. 
Rev.  T.  W.  Davids. 
William  James  Davidson,  Esq. 
Robert  Davies,  Esq. 
J.  N.  C.  Atkins  Davis,  Esq. 
Anthony  Davison,  Esq. 
C.  R.  Davy,  Esq. 
Thomas  Dawson,  Esq. 
Robert  Richardson  Dees,  Esq. 
Captain  Fred.  C.  Denison. 
Rev.  B.  Dickson,  D.D. 
G.  Wingfield  Digby,  Esq. 
Lin  Dillon,  Esq. 
John  Gartside  Dimelow,  Esq. 
James  Dixon,  Esq. 
R.  W.  Dixon,  Esq.,  D.L. 
Edward  C.  Doggett,  Esq. 
Rev.  John  S.  Doxey,  M.A. 
Joseph  Drew,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F'.R.A.S., 
F.G.S. 

Henry  Robert  Eddy,  Esq. 
James  D.  Edgar,  Esq.,  Canada. 
William  Elmslie,  Esq. 
Royle  Entwisle,  Esq. 
William  Erskine,  Esq. 
E.  Bickerton  Evans,  Esq. 
H.  Russell  Evans,  Esq. 
W.  Evans,  Esq. 

William   Farr,    Esq.,    M.D.,    F.R.S., 

Honorary. 

C.  Duffell  Faulkner,  Esq. 
Sir  Joseph  Fayrer,  K.C.S.I., Honorary. 
Charles  R.  Federer,  Esq. 
Robert  Ferguson,  Esq.,  M.P. 
Hamilton  Field,  Esq. 
Joseph  Fisher,  Esq. 
Lieut. -Colonel  H.  Fishwick. 
Edwin  F.  Fitch,  Esq. 
William  Fooks,  Esq.,  B.A. 
John  Rawlinson  Ford,  Esq. 
Colonel  Lane  Fox. 
J.  A.  Froude,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  Honorary. 

Clement  S.  Best  Gardner,  Esq. 

John    Ribton    Garstin,    Esq.,    M.A., 

F.S.A.,  M.R.I.A. 
Alfred  Scott  Gatty,  Esq. 
Henri  Gausseron,  Esq.,  B.A. 


LIST   OF   FELLOWS. 


Xlll 


Alfred    Gliddon,    Esq.,    LL.D., 

Honorary. 

G.  Lawrence  Gomme,  Esq. 
H.  G.  Gotch,  Esq. 
Frederick  Gould,  Esq. 
The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Ronald  Gower. 
J.  Graham,  Esq. 
William  Grain,  Esq. 
H.  Sydney  Grazebrook,  Esq. 
Rev.  A.  L.  Green. 
Thomas  Bowden  Green,  Esq. 
W.  J.  Green,  Esq. 
Frederick  Griffin,  Esq.,  F.A.S.L. 
Richard  Clewin  Griffith,  Esq.,  M.D., 

F.R.G.S.,  &c. 
Dr.  Charles  F.  Grindrod. 
R.  B.  Grindrod,   Esq.,  M.D.,  LL.D., 

&c. 

Alberto  de  Guerrico,  Esq. 
Henry  Guest,  Esq.,  Jun. 
R.  Sandon  Gutteridge,  Esq.,  M.D. 

John  Haddock,  Esq. 

Alderman  S.  C.  Hadley. 

W.  J.  Haggerston,  Esq. 

R.     G.     Haliburton,     Esq.,     Canada, 

Honorary. 

Rev.  Dunbar  Stuart  Halkett,  M.A. 
Hugh  F.  Hall,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
H.  L.  Hammack,  Esq. 
Stephen    Harlowe    Harlowe,    Esq., 

F.G.S. 

George  Harris,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 
William  Fairburn  Hart,  Esq. 
Joseph  Hartley,  Esq. 
J.  Harris  Heal,  Esq. 
Edward  Charley  Healey,  Esq. 
Henry  Healey,  Esq. 
Thomas  Heath,  Esq. 
John    Deakin    Heaton,    Esq.,    M.D., 

F.R.C.P. 

Henry  Heginbotham,  Esq. 
H.  J.  Heighten,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
Dr.  N.  Heinemann. 
William  Henderson,  Esq. 
J.  G.  Hepburn,  Esq. 
William  C.  Hepburn,  Esq. 
William  Herbage,  Esq.,  Treasurer. 
James  Heywood,  Esq.,  F.R.S. 
James  Higgin,  Esq. 
James  Higson,  Esq. 
George  W.  Hill,  Esq. 
John  William  Hill,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Trin. 

Coll.,  Camb. 
William  Hinmers,  Esq. 
Professor  Edward  Hiichcock, honorary. 
A.  S.  Hobson,  Esq. 
Thomas  Hodgkin,  Esq. 
William  Pickering  Hodgson,  Esq. 


Charles  Hood,  Esq.,  F.  R.  S.,  F.  R. A.S., 

F.S.S.,  &c. 

George  N.  Hooper,  Esq. 
J.  Satchell  Hopkins,  Esq. 
F.      J.      Horniman,      Esq.,      F.Z.S., 

F.R.G.S. 

Frederick  Hovenden,  Esq. 
Robert  Hovenden,  Esq. 
Fretwell  M.  Hoyle,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S. 
Edward  Hudson,  Esq. 
William  Hughes,  Esq. 
David  A.  Hume,  Esq. 
William  Hunt,  Esq. 
Henry  Hunter,  Esq. 
Mrs.  Hunting. 
George  Hurst,  Esq. 
Jonathan  Hutchinson,  Esq. 
Robert  Hopwood  Hutchison,  Esq. 
John  Hyde,  Esq.,  F.R.S.L. 

J.  Enkyn  Ingram,  Esq. 

Henry  B.  Jackson,  Esq. 

C.  R.  Jacson,  Esq. 

Ralph  N.  James,  Esq. 

Rev.  T.  James,  F.S.A. 

Walter  Knight  James,  Esq. 

J.  M.  Jeffcott,  Esq. 

Frederick  J.  Jeffrey,  Esq.,  F.G.H.S. 

B.  G.  Jenkins,  Esq. 

Henry  Irwin  Jenkinson,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S. 

Llewellyn  Jewett,  Esq.,  Cor,  Mem. 

Ebenezer  Septimus  Jobson,  Esq. 

Jabez  Johnson,  Esq. 

Charles  E.  Jones,  Esq. 

David  Jones,  Esq. 

Henry  Watson  Jones,  Esq. 

James  Judd,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 

W.  J.  Kaye,  Esq. 

William  Kelly,  Esq. 

H.  A.  B.  Kendrick,  Esq.,  F.C.A.S. 

Frederick  Kent,  Esq. 

C.  B.  Ker,  Esq. 

Abraham  Kidd,  Esq.,  M.D.,  M.R.I.A. 

Rev.  Edward  King,  B.A.,  F.S.A.S. 

Henry  S.  King,  Esq. 

Kelburne  King,  Esq. 

Captain  Samuel  Richardson  Knox. 

J.  A.  Langford,  Esq,,  LL.D. 
William  Lawton,  Esq. 
John  Walter  Lea,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
John  Dunkin  Lee,  Esq. 
William  Lees,  Esq. 
Daniel  Levey,  Esq.,  B.A. 
Right  Rev.  the  Bishop  of  Limerick, 
M.R.I.A. 


XIV 


LIST  OF   FELLOWS. 


Lieut. -Colonel  Edward  Lloyd. 

Rev.  George  Lloyd,  F.S.A. 

R.  A.  T.  Loban,  Esq. 

Samuel  F.  Longstatfe,  Esq. 

Henry  Lonsdale,  Esq. 

The  Most  Honourable  the  Marquess  of 

Lome. 

John  D.  Loverdo,  Esq.,  F.R.S.L. 
Sir  John  Lubbock,  Bart.,  M.P. 
Augustus  W.  H.  Ludemann,  Esq. 
Henry  Lupton,  Esq. 
Thomas  Lyle,  Esq. 
G.  E.  Lyon,  Esq. 

W.  Macandrew,  Esq. 
Patrick  Comyn  Macgregor,  Esq. 
James  Macintosh,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 
Henry  Ramsay  Mackay,  Esq. 
J.  M.  Mackay,  Esq. 
Thomas  R.  Mackay,  Esq. 
Edward  Mackeson,  Esq. 
Alexander  Mackie,  Esq.,  LL.D. 
William  Maclean,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
James  Macpherson,  Esq., 
Robert  Malcomson,  Esq.,  M.A. 
J.  Manuel,  Esq. 
Rev.       Canon      Marsden,      B.D., 

M.R.S.L. 

Claudius  Martin,  Esq. 
James  Maw,  Esq. 
John  Mayball,  Esq. 
John  Thomas  Maybank,  Esq. 
J.  W.  M'Cardie,  Esq.,  of  Newpark. 
Justin  M'Carthy,  Esq. 
Barr   C.   J.   Meadows,     Esq.,     M.D., 

F.A.S.L. 
Sir  James  Meek. 
C.  Meenacshaya,  Esq. 
Herr  Meldahl,  Honorary. 
Laurence  T.  M  'Ewen,  Esq . 
H.  E.  Michelson,  Esq. 
Mrs.  Everett  Millais. 
Joseph  Milligan,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
Rev.  Canon  Milman,  M.A. 
R.  H.  Milward,  Esq. 
C.  M'Niven,  Esq. 

Rev.  Robert  Moffat,  D.D.,  Honorary. 
M.  Moggridge,  Esq. 
William  Molyneux,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
George  Moore,  Esq. 
Benjamin  Moran,  Esq.,  Sec.  of  Ameri- 
can Legation,  Honorary. 
Thomas  Morgan,  Esq. 
George  Moseley,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
John  James  Moss,  Esq. 
John  L.  Motley,  Esq.,  Honorary. 
Miss  Mudie. 
C.  H.  Murray,  Esq. 
James  Murton,  Esq. 


George  W.  Napier,  Esq. 

Captain   Sir  George   Nares,   K.C.B., 

Honorary. 

William  Magson  Nelson,  Esq. 
General  Josiah  Newhall. 
E.  Oakley  Newman,  Esq. 
J.  F.  Nicholls,  Esq.,  Cor.  Mem. 
George  W.  Nichols,  Esq. 
John  Spenser  Noldritt,  Esq. 
G.  M.  Norris,  Esq. 
James  Nowell,  Esq.,  M.R.C.  Lond.  ' 

William  O'Donnaven,  Esq.,  LL.D. 
Robert  Parr  Oglesby,  Esq. 
William  Watkins  Old,  Esq. 
Brian  O'Looney,  Esq.,  M.R.I. A. 

Rev.  J.  Douglas  Page,  A.M. 

P.  S.  Page,  Esq. 

Tito  Pagliardini,  Esq. 

William  Dunkley  Paine,  Esq. 

George  F.  Pardon,  Esq. 

W.  M.  Parker,  Esq. 

Rev.  Thomas  Parkinson. 

Francis  Parkman,  Esq. 

Charles  Edward  Pearce,  Esq. 

John    Samuel    Phene,     Esq.,    LL.D 

F.R.G.S.,  F.G.S. 
J.  Pickering,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S. 
William  Pilcher,  Esq. 
William  J.  D.  Pink,  Esq. 
Mrs.  A.  D.  Pollard. 
C.  H.  Poole,  Esq.,    LL.B.,   F.G.S., 

M.B.A.A. 
Frank  Pooley,  Esq. 
John  Porter,  Esq. 
Lewis  W.  Potts,  Esq. 
Edward  Power,  Esq. 
Charles  H.  Poynton,  Esq. 
John  Prankerd,  Esq.,  F.R.C-S. 
John  P.  Prendergast,  Esq.,  Honorary. 
B.  F.  Prescott,  Esq. 
William  Nicholson  Price,  Esq. 

George  Radford,  Esq.,  A.M. 

John  Rae,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

James  Ramsbotham,  Esq. 

Sir  James  Ramsden. 

Major-General    Sir   Henry   Creswicke 

RawlinsoH,       K.C.B.,       F.R.  S., 

F.R.G.S.,  Honorary. 
Charles  A.  Read,  Esq. 
General  John  Meredith  Read,  LL.D., 

M.R.I.A. 

Arthur  J.  Rich,  Esq. 
Benjamin  B.  Richardson,  Esq.,  M.D., 

F.R.S. 

Charles  Richardson,  Esq. 
George  Gibson  Richardson,  Esq. 


LIST  OF  FELLOWS. 


XV 


John    George    Frederick    Richardson, 

Esq.,  Ph.D.,  F.C.S. 
John  Wigham  Richardson,  Esq. 
William  Rider,  Esq. 
Samuel  Rigby,  Esq. 
George  W.  Rigg,  Esq. 
James  Robb,  Esq. 
Joseph  B.  Robinson,  Esq. 
William  Robinson,  Esq. 
Sydney  Robjohns,  Esq. 
Charles  Roger,  Esq. 
Rev.  Charles   Rogers,  LL.D.,  F.S.A. 

Scot. 

Rev.  Edward  Rogers,  M.A. 
Rev.  William  H.  Rogers,  D.D. 
John  R.  Rollins,  Esq. 
J.  Anderson  Rose,  Esq. 
Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Rosebery. 
W.  H.  Burch  Rosher,  Esq. 
Frederick  Ross,  Esq. 
Lewis  Buttle  Ross,  Esq. 
Charles  Rowley,  Esq. 
Professor  Ruskin.  LL.D.,  F.R.S.E. 
Right  Honourable  Earl  Russell,  K.G. 
Charles  Ryder,  Esq. 
T.  D.  Ryder,  Esq. 
J.  P.  Rylands,  Esq. 
W.  H.  Rylands,  Esq. 
Samuel  Lee  Rymer,  Esq. 

John  Burham  Safford,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 

William  Salmon,  Esq. 

Thomas  Sampson,  Esq. 

Rev.  S.  J.  W.  Sanders,  M.A.,  F.G.S. 

W.  W.  Sanderson,  Esq. 

Philip  Sayle,  Esq.,  LL.D.,  F.S.S. 

Robert  Sayle,  Esq. 

Peter  Schonfeld,  Esq. 

Helmuth  Schwartze,  Esq. 

Simon  T.  Scrope,  Esq. 

Thomas  B.  Seath,  Esq. 

Right  Honourable  Lord  Selborne. 

Isaac  Seligman,  Esq. 

Ernest  Seyd,  Esq.,  F.S.S. 

Colonel  J.  D.  Shakespear,  F.G.S. 

J.  Fox  Sharp,  Esq. 

Rev.  Leonard  Edmund  Shelford. 

Herr  Jon  Sigurdsson,  Honorary. 

J.  Wainhouse  Simpson,  Esq. 

Henry  Duncan  Skrine,  Esq. 

Hubert  Smith,  Esq. 

S.  J.  Smith,  Esq. 

T.  Cozens  Smith,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 

Professor  Walter  Smith. 

W.  Bickford  Smith,  Esq. 

Edward  Solly,  Esq. 

Thomas  Sopwith,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.R.S., 

F.G.S. 
Rev.  Joseph  Sorrell. 


Don  Carlos  E.  Soto. 

Lieut. -Colonel  Thomas  Sowler. 

H.  King  Spark,  Esq. 

Very     Rev.     Dean      Stanley,     D.D., 

Honorary. 

Walmsley  Stanley,  Esq.,  F.R.G.S. 
Joseph  Steele,  Esq. 
J.     Stevenson,     Esq.,      President     of 

the    Historical    Society,    Quebec, 

Honorary. 
W.  Stevenson,  Esq. 
Alderman  Stone. 
J.  B.  Stone,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
H.  Slopes,  Esq.,  F.G.S. 
Edwin  Story,  Esq.,  M.A.,  F.L.S. 
Lieut. -Colonel  W.  Stuart. 
Sir  Edward  .Sullivan,  Bart. 
John  Charles  Swallow,  Esq. 

Right    Honourable     Lord    Talbot    de 

Malahide,  M.R.I. A. 
Thomas  Tapling,  Esq. 
William  M.  Tartt,  Esq.,  F.S.S. 
William  R.  Tate,  Esq. 
George  Taylor,  Esq. 
Rev.  Richard  V.  Taylor,  B.A. 
Rear- Admiral  William  Rogers  Taylor. 
William  Tegg,  Esq. 
Seymour  Teulon,  Esq. 
Rev.  Edmund  Tew,  M.A. 
Christopher  J.  Thomas,  Esq.  . 

James  Thompson,  Esq. 
Alexander  Tod,  Esq. 
Archibald  Travers,  Esq. 
Stephen  Tucker,  Esq.,  Rouge  Croix. 
Thomas  Kellet  Tully,  Esq. 
George   M.    Tweddell,  Esq.,    F.S.A., 

Scot.,  Cor.  Mem. 
Philip  Twells,  Esq.,  M.P. 
Lieut. -General      George      Twemlow, 

R.A. 

John  Symonds  Udal,  Esq. 
R.  G.  Underdown,  Esq. 

M.  Ventura,  Esq. 

G.  V.  Vemon,  Esq.,  F.R.A.S. 

J.  A.  Vincent,  Esq. 

Henry  Wadling,  Esq. 

Cornelius  Walford,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 

Fountaine  Walker,  Esq.,  of  Foyers. 

Rev.  James  Walker. 

Richard  Corker  Walker,  Esq. 

Thos.    F.    W.    Walker,    Esq.,    M.A., 

F.R.G.S. 
John  Wallis,  Esq. 
Edward  Waltham,  Esq. 
Elijah  Walton,  Esq. 


XVI 


LIST   OF   FELLOWS. 


Joseph  Pilkington  Ward,  Esq. 
Townsend  Ward,  Esq.,  Honorary. 
William  Gibson  Ward,  Esq. 
Captain  C.  Warren,  R.  E. 
Robert  Spence  Watson,  Esq.,F.R.G.S. 
William    H.    Weldon,     Esq.,    Rouge. 

Dragon. 

Mrs.  Westerton. 
John  Westwood,  Esq. 
Rev.  F.  Le  Grix  White,  M.A.,  F.G.S. 
George  White,  Esq. 
William  H.  Whitmore,  Esq. 
George  Wike,  Esq. 
T.  R.  Wilkinson,  Esq. 
Rev.  J.  D.  Williams. 
Sparks  Henderson  Williams,  Esq. 
Professor     Daniel     Wilson,      LL.D., 

Honorary. 

Oswald  Wilson,  Esq. 
W.  Winters,  Esq. 
Hon.    Robert  C.    Winthrop,    LL.D., 

Honorary. 


William  Young  Winthrop,  Esq. 
Thomas  A.  Wise,  Esq.,  M.D.,  F.S.A. 

Scot. 

John  Wiseman,  Esq. 
William  Wood,  Esq. 
William  Wood,  Esq.,  S.S.C.,  I.L.S. 
Rev.  Adolphus  F.  Woodford. 
Samuel  Woodhouse,  Esq. 
Ashbel  Woodward,  Esq.,  M.D. 
Richard  Woof,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 
J.  Wormacott,  Esq.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.G.S. 
Professor  Hans  J.  Worsaae,  Honorary. 
Rev.  Albert  Hurt  Wratislaw,  M.A. 
Bryce      McMurdo       Wright,       Esq., 

F.R.G.S. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Wylie. 
Rev.  Charles  J.  Wynne,  M.A.,  Oxon. 

Richard  Yates,  Esq.,  F.S.A. 
Dr.  G.  G.  Zerffi. 


TRANSACTIONS 


OF    THE 


ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


SOME    CONSIDERATIONS    ON    THE   ORIGIN    OF 
MONARCHICAL  GOVERNMENT. 

BY     G.     LAURENCE     GOMME,     ESQ., 
Fellow  of  the  Royal  Historical  Society. 

THERE  is  nothing  more  beneficial  to  the  philosophy  of 
human  thought  than  the  scientific  study  of  human  institu- 
tions. To  know  how  man's  thought  has  grown  to  what  it 
now  is  from  the  rudest  atom  of  intellect  must  be  a  con- 
templation worthy  of  the  greatest  consideration,  and  that  by 
the  greatest  minds.  It  is  only  of  late  years  that  it  has  been 
at  all  possible  to  penetrate  into  the  reality  of  primordial 
society,  whatever  might  have  been  the  extent  of  its  mythical 
existence  ;  and  this  has  been  accomplished  by  the  great 
inductive  sciences.  Comparative  philology  has  led  the  van, 
and  shown  the  track ;  it  only  remains  for  comparative 
jurisprudence  to  hesitate  no  longer  on  the  threshold  of 
its  existence,*  but  to  follow  up  these  indications,  thereby 
bringing  us  nearer  to  our  primeval  ancestors,  in  thought  as 
well  as  history ;  and,  consequently,  nearer  to  ourselves. 

*  "  I  hesitate  to  call  it  comparative  jurisprudence,"  says  Sir  H.  Maine 
in  his  Rede  Lecture  at  Cambridge,  22nd  May,  1875,  "because  if  it  ever 
exists  its  area  will  be  so  much  wider  than  the  field  of  law."  Bolingbroke 
has  predicted  the  position  law  would  hold  among  the  "  sciences  "  when 
men  find  leisure  and  encouragement  to  climb  up  the  vantage  of  science 
instead  of  grovelling  all  their  lives  to  the  little  acts  of  chicane. —  Vide 
"  Bolingbroke's  Letters,"  No.  5. 

B 


2      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Foremost  among  the  institutions  of  mankind,  ancient  as  well 
as  modern,  stands  monarchical  government  ;  and  it  is  to  this, 
in  its  relation  to  primeval  thought,  it  is  now  proposed  to 
direct  attention.  At  first  we  are  able  to  draw  some  line  of 
demarcation  between  the  first  principles,  if  they  may  be  so 
termed,  and  their  after  growth  ;  but  it  very  quickly  vanishes 
before  the  new  elements  gradually  associated  with  them. 
The  attributes  attached  to  the  idea  of  personal  government 
were  originally  derived  from  the  mind  of  the  people  them- 
selves— when,  indeed,  the  "  people  "  had  hardly  earned  that 
term ;  and  though  democracy  is  generally  described  as  the 
popular  form  of  government,  it  was  in  the  popular  imagina- 
tion that  the  sanctity  of  the  throne  and  the  royalty  of  the 
person  of  the  sovereign  first  found  an  origin.*  Their  recogni- 
tion of  this  ideal  chief  was  much  modified,  if,  indeed,  it  did 
not  entirely  vanish,  when  the  circumstances  calling  forth  the 
hero  had  passed  away.  But  those-  who  had  assumed  the 
character  and  partaken  of  the  privileges  of  kingship  were 
not  disposed  to  allow  it  to  be  easily  thrown  aside,  and  it 
became  their  object  to  promulgate  gradually  increasing  ideas 
of  kingly  power,  which  in  its  primitive  state  really  owed  its 
establishment  to  popular  opinion. 

An  instance  of  an  epoch  in  early  thought  with  regard  to 
government  is  shown  when  the  Greeks  transferred  their  word 
kubernan,  to  steer  a  vessel — a  word  in  every  day  use  among 
them — to  the  person  or  persons  entrusted  with  the  direction 
of  public  affairs,  and  restricted  the  term  finally  to  mean  "  to 
rule."-f*  This  is  clearly  an  indication  of  a  decisive  and  dis- 
tinct step  in  Grecian  thought ;  how  it  altered,  how  it  as- 
similated itself  to  new  conceptions,  is  lost  amidst  the  many 
variations  accompanying  the  development  of  Rome  from 

*  Vico  points  out  the  personifying  instinct  as  the  spontaneous  philosophy 
of  man  to  make  himself  the  rule  of  the  universe,  and  to  suppose  every- 
where a  quasi-human  agency.  —  Vide  a  long  and  learned  note  in  Mr. 
Grote's  "  Greece,"  vol.  i.,  page  473,  note  i. 

f  This  is  from  the  Greek  colonists  of  Italy,  who  adopted  the  latter 
interpretation,  and  clothed  it  with  the  Italian  garb  " gubernan?  used  by 
the  Romans,  whence  it  was  adopted  by  ourselves  in  "governor." 


ON   THE   ORIGIN   OF   MONARCHICAL   GOVERNMENT.        3 

these  Grecian  colonists  ;  but  it  is  by  landmarks  like  these 
that  we  are  enabled  to  trace  back  full-grown  ideas  to  primi- 
tive conceptions.  Although  no  record  is  left  of  the  earliest 
tendency  of  man's  thoughts,  it  is  but  natural  to  assume  that 
those  which  first  partook  of  a  homogeneous  character  were 
in  relation  to  his  social  welfare  ;  and  the  most  important,  if 
not  the  firs t  in  point  of  time,  must  have  been  the  germs  which 
ultimately  led  to  the  formation  of  monarchical  government, 
for  truly  may  we  say  with  Carlyle,  "  How  indispensable 
everywhere  is  a  king  in  all  movements  of  men  !"* 

Some  kind  of  government,  call  it  by  what  name  you  will, 
must  have  been  adopted  as  soon  as  social  -existence  began 
to  develop  itself.  Modern  thought  cannot  conceive  a  time 
when  mankind  existed  on  the  earth  without  having  some 
one  to  look  up  to  as  a  superior,  some  higher  power  than  his 
own  unregulated  passions  to  obey.  One  of  the  happiest 
passages  of  Bolingbroke  is  peculiarly  true  here, — "  There  is  a 
strange  distrust  of  human  reason  in  every  human  institution, 
and  this  distrust  is  so  apparent  that  an  habitual  submission  to 
some  authority  or  other  is  forming  in  us  from  our  cradle." 
Whether  the  conceptions  of  modern  philosophy  are  strictly 
applicable  to  the  remote  past  cannot  receive  proof  now : 
among  the  ancients,  Aristotle  perceived  very  clearly  that 
union  in  a  political  society  is  essential  to  human  nature  ;  but 
though  we  cannot  distinctly  trace  opinions  on  this  point 
much  further  back,  it  seems  indeed  to  be  inherent  in  man's 

*  The  memorable  dictum  in  the  "  Iliad"  is  a  heritage  of  early  times. 
"  The  rule  of  many  is  not  a  good  thing  :  let  us  have  one  ruler  only,  one 
king— him  to  whom  Zeus  has  given  the  sceptre  and  the  tutelary  sanc- 
tions." Democracy  was  a  later  Grecian  thought.  Histiaeus,  in  his  speech 
at  the  Council  of  the  lonians  who  guarded  the  bridge  over  the  Ister  for 
Darius,  says,  "  There  is  not  one  of  them  (Grecian  cities)  which  will  not 
prefer  democracy  to  kingly  rule."— "  Herodotus,"  iv.,  cap.  137.  This 
change  of  opinion  is  some  proof  of  the  statement  in  the  text.  Plato 
almost  suggests  my  quotation  from  Carlyle  in  the  question  by  the 
Athenian  to  Cleinias  ("  Laws,"  book  i.),  "  Would  you  not  acknowledge 
that  in  all  gatherings  of  mankind,  of  whatever  sort,  there  ought  to  be  a 
leader  ?  Certainly  I  would." 

t  Letter  to  Lord  Bathurst  on  "  Retirement  and  Study." 


4      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

nature  to  be  governed  ;  for  it  is  seldom  that  even  the  wildest 
dreams  of  fanatics  or  enthusiasts  advocate  the  total  abolition 
of  it.  The  original  people,  a  forest  tribe  of  the  Malay  penin- 
sula, are  noted  by  Dr.  Pickering  ("  Races  of  Man/'  p.  305) 
to  have  neither  king  nor  chief  of  any  kind  ;  but  even  here  we 
find  one  remaining  limb  showing  a  connection  with  the  archaic 
rules  of  civilized  law.  There  is  one  man  among  them  to 
whom  they  refer  all  their  requests  and  complaints,  and  in- 
variably adopt  his  decision  ;  and  in  him  can  be  easily  recog- 
nised a  type  of  the  umpire,  vir  pietate  grams,  endowed  with 
so  much  importance  by  Sir  Henry  Maine  in  his  considera- 
tions on  the  origin  of  justice.*  We  often  meet  with  notices 
of  a  people  possessing  no  laws  (as,  for  instance,  the  Andro- 
phagi  of  Herodotus,  book  xiv.,  cap.  106)  ;  but  Sir  John 
Lubbock's  remark  is  pretty  generally  true,  that  "the  lower 
races  of  man  may  be  said  to  be  deficient  in  any  idea  of  right, 
though  quite  familiar  with  that  of  law  ;"  or,  in  other  words, 
judging  from  the  illustration  that  follows,  which  I  preserve  in 
a  note,t  of  government. 

Though  the  germs  of  monarchical  government  are  in- 
timately connected  with  the  origin  of  law,  there  will  be  no 
necessity  at  this  juncture  to  enter  into  those  abstract  ques- 
tions relating  to  law  and  sovereignty  which  have  occupied  the 
attention  of  analytical  jurists.  The  power  to  enforce  obe- 
dience must  have  existed  before  the  definition  of  any  mode 
which  that  obedience  was  to  adopt — except  that  it  was  to  be 
absolute ;%  and,  as  we  shall  see  afterwards  on  the  extreme 
sterility  of  primitive  thought,  made  very  little  distinction 
among  rules  of  action  that  now  are  widely  divergent. 

*  Vide  Maine's  "  Ancient  Law,"  pp.  376,  377,  and  "  Early  Institutions," 
P.  253. 

f  Lubbock's  "  Primitive  Man,"  p.  269.  "  At  Jenna,"  he  continues, 
"  whenever  a  town  is  deprived  of  its  chief  the  inhabitants  acknowledge 
no  law,  and  until  a  successor  is  appointed  all  labour  is  at  an  end." 

J  Obedience  is  described  in  the  Behistun  inscription  in  these  forcible 
terms, — "  That  which  has  been  said  to  them  by  me,  both  by  day  and  by 
night,  it  has  been  done  by  them."  Compare  speech  of  Megabazus  to 
Darius,  "  Herodotus,"  book  v.,  cap.  22,  where  the  same  expression,  "  by 
day  and  by  night,"  is  used. 


ON    THE  ORIGIN   OF  MONARCHICAL  GOVERNMENT.       5 

The  much-vexed  question  of  the  origin  of  society  may 
perhaps  be  considered  only  a  necessary  commencement  to  an 
inquiry  on  the  origin  of  government.  But  this  is,  and  must 
ever  be,  a  matter  of  pure  conjecture,  which,  as  I  hope  to 
show,  is  not  the  basis  upon  which  these  inquiries  are  made. 
What  Mr.  Fiske  has  termed  cosmic  philosophy  attempts  to 
deal  with  the  subject  of  an  incipient  social  evolution  in  a 
manner  "  entirely  new  in  all  its  features,"  and  on  its  face  it 
bears  a  mark  of  strong  plausibility,  not  wholly  opposed  to 
historical  criticism.  It  is  based  on  certain  causes  and  effects 
arising  from  a  supposed  prolonged  infancy  of  man,  and  forms, 
in  the  author's  opinion,  a  clue  to  the  solution  of  the 
entire  problem  as  to  the  origin  of  the  human  race.  It  recog- 
nises the  important  influence  of  paternal  authority ;  it  bears 
evidence  to  original  family  groupings,  and  a  subsequent  clan 
formation ;  it  can  perceive  feelings  of  hostile  rivalry  arising 
among  different  clans  ;  and  it  almost  points  to  an  extension 
of  paternal  into  patriarchal  chieftainship.  That  eminently 
original  thinker,  Vico,  forcibly  sets  forth  the  strong  mental 
analogy  between  the  early  stages  of  human  society  and  the 
childhood  of  the  individual  ;  and  this  idea  again  finds  an 
echo  amidst  the  researches  forming  the  science  of  religion. 

But  there  is  no  need  for  our  present  purpose  to  anticipate  the 
question  of  man's  social  existence  so  far  back  in  the  great  past 
as  this,  for  it  is  laid  down  by  the  incontrovertible  rules  derived 
from  comparative  jurisprudence,  that  we  may  fairly  treat  the 
stage  at  which  the  family  is  constituted  as  that  at  which 
the  history  of  human  society,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term, 
begins;  and  we  are  justified  in  calling  the  usages  of  that 
stage  the  primitive  institutions  of  society.  That  the  family 
was  the  original  unit  of  society  cannot  reasonably  be  doubted 
in  face  of  all  the  overwhelming  proofs  we  have  of  the  almost 
universal  influence  which  it  has  exercised,  and  still  exercises, 
on  the  social  history  of  man  ;  but  that  many  disturbing  causes 
constantly  upset  its  regularity  of  development  is  of  course 
equally  apparent,  and  it  is  to  this  fact  we  may  ascribe 
one  or  two  instances  of  unregulated  people  to  be  met 


6      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

with  in  the  history  of  ancient  nations.  We  have  an  ex- 
ample in  the  Auseans  of  Herodotus,  who  neither  married 
nor  lived  in  families,  but  dwelt  together  like  the  gregarious 
beasts  (book  iv.,  cap.  180).  Disturbing  causes  are  to  be  dis- 
covered in  each  of  the  three  ethnic  divisions  of  mankind,  but 
not  in  equal  proportions.  The  Turanians  are  the  most  liable 
to  their  influence,  while  the  Aryans  have  presented  to  us, 
even  in  modern  times,  many  customs  undoubtedly  existing 
before  the  separation  ot  man  from  a  common  home. 

It  maybe  as  well  perhaps  to  say  something  as  to  the  guides 
accompanying  us  in  our  investigation,  who,  though  differing 
widely  in  the  character  of  their  researches,  are  uniform  in  the 
results  they  bring  forward.  The  common  origin  of  mankind 
from  our  first  parents  is  but  the  natural  beginning  of  the  for- 
mation of  the  family  ;  and  the  common  origin  of  mankind  is 
a  fact  proved  alike  by  the  historian  and  the  philologist,  the 
naturalist  and  physiologist,  though  there  exist  sections  of  each 
school  who  adopt  a  contrary  theory.  "  The  institutions  of  all 
ancient  nations,"  says  Niebuhr,  "  have  originally  a  great  resem- 
blance to  one  another  ;  but  in  later  times  they  diverge  till  all 
resemblance  disappears.*  It  does  not  follow  from  this,  how- 
ever, that  all  notions  of  the  early  social  existence  of  mankind 
must  necessarily  be  obtained  from  primeval  record.  The 
principles  of  the  comparative  method  gives  a  broader  ground 
work  of  investigation,  but  it  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any 
details  as  to  the  line  of  inquiry  which  this  method  adopts  ;  it 
will  suffice  to  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  societies  develop- 
ing within  historical  times,  and  societies  which  have  not  been 
progressive,  are  conceived  to  be  types  of  that  primitive  state 
of  which  no  direct  record  has  descended  to  modern  times,  and 
therefore  analogies  drawn  from  their  history  may  be  taken  as 
arguments  and  facts  concerning  primeval  society. 

It  will  not  be  an  inapt  illustration  of  this  system  to  quote 

*  "  Ancient  History,"  vol.  i.,  p.  290.  Sir  G.  Wilkinson  also  remarks 
of  Egypt,  that  at  the  most  remote  period  into  which  we  have  been  able  to 
penetrate  civilized  communities  already  existed,  and  society  possessed  all 
the  features  of  later  ages. 


ON    THE  ORIGIN   OF   MONARCHICAL   GOVERNMENT.         7 

the  aphorism  of  Solomon,  that  "nothing  is  new  under  the  sun." 
History  repeats  itself,  not  once  or  twice,  but  over  and  over 
again,  in  a  manner  not  to  be  mistaken,  and  from  this  estab- 
lished axiom  in  the  cycle  of  man's  life  we  get  a  view  of  primi- 
tive society,  not  chronologically  set  out  certainly,  but  arranged 
in  unmistakable  epochs,  contemporary,  so  far  as  events  are 
concerned,  though  not  in  point  of  date.*  Savigny,  in  the 
eloquent  preface  to  his  first  volume,  has  explained  the  object 
and  procedure  of  the  historical  school  of  jurisprudence.  Sir 
Henry  Maine,  in  the  first  chapters  of  his  "Ancient  Law,"  has 
been  a  further  exponent  of  this  method  ;  and  I  am  anxious 
to  travel,  if  possible,  the  same  line  of  inquiry,  in  order  to  elu- 
cidate, by  this  means,  some  of  the  principles  attached  to  the 
origin  of  monarchical  government. 

The  help  which  Sir  Henry  Maine  renders  in  his  work  on 
ancient  law,  though  opening  up  many  new  fields  of  research, 
and  directing,  in  a  great  measure,  the  manner  to  set  about 
our  work,  is  necessarily  limited  in  its  extent.  He  describes 
an  order  of  things  and  a  description  of  thought  relating 
almost  entirely  to  modern  Aryanism  (if  I  may  so  term  it), 
which,  though  stripped  from  the  preponderating  influence 
of  Roman  jurisprudence,  are  not  always  carried  further 
back  than  the  germ  thus  obtained.  This  germ  no  doubt  has 
enabled  researches  to  be  made  for  similar  phenomena  else- 
where, and  has  thus  established  a  primitive  characteristic ; 
but  nearly  all  the  evidence  it  produces  on  the  question  of 
primeval  society  is  derived  from  institutions  and  thoughts 
existing  after  the  establishment  of  the  Roman  legal  system, 
which,  argued  through  the  influence-exerting  medium  of 

*  "  People  ask  what  is  gained  by  comparison.  Why,  all  higher  know- 
ledged  is  gained  by  comparison  and  rests  on  comparison.  If  it  is  said 
that  the  character  of  scientific  research  in  our  age  is  pre-eminently  com- 
parative, this  really  means  that  our  researches  are  now  based  on  the 
widest  evidence  that  can  be  obtained,  on  the  broadest  inductions  that  can 
be  grasped  by  the  human  mind." — (Max  Muller's  "  Science  of  Religion.") 
But  Niebuhr  also  says  truly  that  instances  are  not  arguments,  though  in 
history  of  scarcely  less  force  ;  above  all,  where  the  parallel  they  exhibit  is 
in  the  progressive  development  of  institutions.—"  Rome,"  i.,  p.  345- 


8      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Roman  jurisprudence,  or  interpreted  by  the  type  that 
Roman  society  has  presented,  gives  but  little  elucidation  of 
actual  ante-Romaic  history,  except  by  the  force  of  analogy. 
This  would  be  invaluable  if  we  possessed  nothing  more 
The  Hindoo  village  community  is  not  entirely  divested  of 
these  considerations,  though  much  less  influenced  by  them. 
But  there  exists  a  wonderful  storehouse  of  knowledge  in  the 
discoveries  of  Sir  Henry  Rawlinson  and  others  among  the 
monumental  inscriptions  of  Asia,  which,  though  not  very 
widely  divergent,  present  a  somewhat  purer  view  of  early 
thought  than  when  it  has  been  sifted  through  the  sieve  of 
Roman  influence.  Sir  John  Lubbock,  too,  demands  some 
attention  to  the  claims  of  the  barbarians  of  the  present  time, 
as  well  as  the  barbarians  of  Tacitus,  to  be  considered  as  a 
branch  of  the  once  undivided  human  race,  and  therefore 
capable  of  giving  evidence  for  the  comparison  of  social  institu- 
tions. A  remark  of  Dr.  Pickering  lends  authority  to  this 
claim.  "  If  the  human  family,"  he  says,  ("Races  of  Man,"  p. 
291),  "has  had  a  central  origin  and  has  regularly  and  gradually 
diffused  itself,  followed  by  the  principal  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries, the  history  of  man  would  then  be  inscribed  on  the 
globe  itself ;  and  each  new  revolution  obliterating  more  or  less 
of  the  preceding,  his  primitive  condition  should  be  found  at  the 
furthest  remove  from  the  geographic  centre."  But  though 
quite  acknowledging  the  truth  of  these  arguments,  I  cannot 
imagine  that  Sir  Henry  Maine's  conclusions  would  in  any 
way  be  materially  affected  by  additional  considerations  from 
modern  barbarism  taken  from  the  standpoint  he  adopts.  Sir 
John  Lubbock  seems  to  think  this  would  be  the  case;  but 
those  existing  tribes  which  are  stated  to  differ  in  their  organi- 
zation from  ancient  society  may  have  fallen  lower  than  their 
original  primitiveness,  in  consequence  of  desuetude  and  idle- 
ness,* as  we  may  ascribe  the  same  disturbing  causes  I  have 

*  "In  historical  inquiries,"  says  Niebuhr,  "we  generally  conceive 
things  as  in  a  progressive  development,  and  do  not  take  into  considera- 
tion that  the  course  of  events  often  resembles  a  cycloid.  When  we  see  a 
state  in  the  condition  of  progress  we  imagine  that  during  the  preceding 


ON   THE  ORIGIN    OF  MONARCHICAL  GOVERNMENT.        9 

already  mentioned,  and  consider  them  to  be  the  representa- 
tives of  those  illiterate  branches  of  the  human  family  who 
are  classified  by  Bunsen  as  having  hitherto  taken  no  place  in 
the  history  of  the  world.* 

Another  fertile  source  of  information,  comparative  philo- 
logy, is  the  chief  means  of  directing  the  student  where 
comparative  history  by  itself  would  have  failed  him.  "  A 
history  of  Aryan  civilization  has  been  written  from  the  ar- 
chives of  language,"  says  one  of  the  most  distinguished  and 
learned  scholars  of  this  valuable  science,  "stretching  back  to 
times  far  beyond  the  reach  of  any  documentary  history." 
It  clearly  and  decisively  gives  evidence  on  the  one  import- 
ant point,  round  which  all  the  remaining  portions  of  our 
inquiry  cluster,  namely,  the  common  ancestry  of  races 
and  the  common  ancestry  of  mankind.  "The  millions  of 
people,"  to  use  a  quotation  from  the  same  author  just  re- 
ferred to,  "who  speak  and  have  spoken  for  centuries,  from 
Ceylon  to  Iceland,  in  innumerable  dialects,  shrink  together 
into  one  small  point,  and  are  represented,  as  it  were,  by 
one  patriarchal  individual,  the  first  Aryan,  the  ancestor  of 
the  Aryan  race;  for  on  all  the  Aryan  dialects  there  is  one 
common  stamp, — a  stamp  of  definite  individuality,  and  in- 
telligible only  as  the  work  of  one  creative  genius?  \  It  is 
impossible  to  mistake  the  tendency  of  such  facts  as  these, 
and  the  influence  they  must  have  on  the  elucidation  of  the 
principles  of  personal  government,  only  as  yet  dimly  shadowed 
forth  in  an  incongruous  infancy. 

But  language  teaches  yet  more  during  the  progress  of  our 

period  also  it  was  always  in  a  similar  state  of  advancement,  and  we  over- 
look the  fact  that  a  country  often  makes  a  great  movement  in  advance 
then  goes  backward,  then  rises  again,  and  again  becomes  retrogade." — 
("  Ancient  History,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  97.)  May  we  not  apply  this  to  tribes  as  well 
as  to  nations  ? 

*  Vide  Bunsen's  "  Philosophy  of  Universal  History,"  vol.  i.,  p.  64,  ist 
sect. 

t  Max  Muller's  "Essay  on  Comparative  Mythology,"  "Oxford 
Essays,"  1856. 

%  Max  Muller's  "Turanian  Letter.1' 


10     TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 

investigations.  It  does  not  allow  us  to  penetrate  into  these 
remote  periods  of  time,  show  us  one  grand  fact  as  a  starting- 
point,  and  then  leave  us  to  grope  our  way  to  modern  times  by 
the  help  of  a  vivid  imagination  or  a  too  easy  deduction  of 
speculative  theories.  It  lends  an  important  aid  all  along  our 
line  of  march.  For  instance,  it  is  open  to  proof  that  the  word 
adopted  by  different  nations  as  a  distinctive  title  for  their 
monarch  indicates  the  original  idea  from  whence  the  mon- 
archy sprang,  and  therefore  the  real  characteristic  of  their  re- 
spective chiefs.  That  this  is  not  improbable,  or  even  impossi- 
ble of  proof,  I  think  may  be  shown  from  numerous  historical 
instances  : — The  Greeks  on  settling  in  Africa  appear  to  have 
adopted  many  customs  from  their  barbarous  neighbours.  As 
their  monarchs  took  the  name  of  "  battus,"  the  native  term  for 
king,  so  the  citizens  generally  conformed  to  African  manners 
(Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  Book  iv.,  vol.  iii.,  page  165).  This 
clearly  points  to  an  adoption  of  manners  leading  to  an  alteration 
of  title,  and  solely  from  a  popular  point  of  view  ;  for  Niebuhr 
has  observed  and  illustrated  what  we  must  recognise  as 
truth,  the  magical  power  exercised  by  the  Greek  national 
character  and  language  over  foreign  races  that  came  in  con- 
tact with  them  (Rome,  i,  p.  50).  Again,  when  the  Eupatrids 
of  Athens  formally  abolished  the  name  of  "  king,"  and  substi- 
tuted that  of  archon  or  ruler  (Justin,  ii.,  7),  such  a  change 
undoubtedly  implied  more  than  it  explicitly  asserted.  The 
alteration  of  title  (to  use  the  words  of  Rawlinson  himself) 
would  symbolize,  and  thereby  tend  to  produce,  a  diminution 
of  authority.  ( Vide  Rawlinson's  Essay,  II.,  App.,  book  v. 
Herodotus,  vol.  iii.)  Thus,  though  history  relates  the  monarch's 
views  of  his  title  and  power,  the  science  of  language  will  throw 
some  light  on  the  popular  opinions  which  led  to  the  placing 
of  the  sovereign  power  in  the  hands  of  an  individual.* 

The  first  axiom  to  be  derived  from  these  considerations  is 
that  men  are  first  seen  distributed  in  perfectly  insulated 

*  "  I  conceived  that  by  ascertaining  the  original  meaning  of  the  desig- 
nation of  an  office,  we  should  be  better  enabled  to  form  a  judgment  of  its 
original  duties." — Hampson's  Preface  to  "  Origines  Patricia" 


ON   THE  ORIGIN   OF   MONARCHICAL   GOVERNMENT.      11 

groups,  held  together  by  obedience  to  a  parent  ;*  and  it 
would  be  well  to  first  clearly  understand  this  primitive  unit 
of  society,  which  has  always  existed  in  ancient  history,  and 
tends  to  exist  in  modern,  however  much  it  may  have  been 
absorbed  in  larger  groupings. 

Its  fundamental  principle  of  existence  was  obedience  to  a 
parent.  History  and  analogy  point  out  this  early  power  of  a 
father  over  his  own  household  to  be  despotic  and  supreme. 
Theorists  have  endeavoured  to  picture  a  state  of  nature  as 
beautiful  in  conception  as  it  is  impossible  in  reality,  and  have 
used  this  very  organization  of  family  groups  as  an  argument 
in  favour  of  their  ideal  of  original  civilization  and  happiness 
of  early  mankind.  "  In  the  infancy  of  nations,"  says  Volney 
("Ruins  of  Nature,"  p.  30),  "original  equality,  without  the  aid 
of  convention,  maintained  personal  liberty  and  produced  order 
and  good  manners."  The  modern  school  of  utilitarianism 
adopt  as  a  basis  of  their  reasoning  the  same  idea  of  the  ori- 
ginal equality  of  man.  But  all  history  is  opposed  to  this 
theory,  which  is  altogether  a  much  later  conception,  and 
produced  by  entirely  different  circumstances,  f  Contrast  it 
with  what  we  know  of  the  earliest  formations  of  society — 
Biblical,  Roman,  Hindoo,  and  Sclavonian,  and  there  the  abso- 
lute supremacy  of  the  parent  is  shown  to  extend  in  his 
own  household,  unqualified  and  unquestioned,  even  to  life 
and  death.  The  Institutes  of  Gaius,  perhaps  the  most  per- 
fect body  of  archaic  law  in  existence,  sufficiently  prove,  and 
Sir  Henry  Maine's  valuable  commentaries  sufficiently  explain, 
to  what  an  almost  unprecedented  extent  this  power  was  carried 
among  the  Romans.  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  has  examined 
the  subject  among  the  Egyptians  and  his  views  are  hardly 
less  conclusive ;  while  a  tablet  of  primitive  Accadian  laws 

*  Sir  H.  Maine's  "Ancient  Law," — "According  to  the  laws  of  all 
nations,  and  of  all  times,  the  father  must  be  recognised  as  the  head  of  the 
family." — Savigny,  "  Priv.  Int.  Law,"  xxxvi.,  p.  379. 

f  Rawlinson  alleges  that  it  originated  from  Greek  thought.  Amidst 
the  toils  and  dangers  shared  alike  by  all  in  the  troublous  times  of 
Greece  the  idea  of  political  equality  took  its  rise. — "  Man.  of  Anc.  Hist" 
p.  124. 


12     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

given  in  the  third  volume  of  "  Records  of  the  Past,"  from  a 
translation  by  Mr.  Sayce,  points  decidedly  to  a  rigorous  pa- 
rental power.  Among  the  Greeks,  also,  similar  power  was 
permitted  to  the  fathers,  and  the  Spartans  even  prevented  the 
parent  from  nourishing  his  children  unless  deemed  sufficiently 
healthy  to  bear  the  ills  of  life.  Aristotle,  in  his  general 
theory  of  government,  follows  Plato  in  laying  down  the  posi- 
tion that  the  earliest  sources  of  obedience  and  authority  are 
personal,  exhibiting  themselves  most  perfectly  in  the  type  of 
patwnal  supremacy.  Consult,  again,  the  histories  of  the  savage 
tribes  of  the  present  time,  and  we  have  represented  a  picture 
of  society  which,  placed  side  by  side  with  the  records  of  pre- 
historic times,  indisputably  shows  the  marks  of  an  uncontrol- 
lable despotism.  Even  in  modern  civilized  countries,  though 
the  power  of  the  parent  is  much  modified,  there  still  exist 
undeniable  proofs  of  its  despotic  origin ;  and  in  Russia  a 
married  son  does  not  establish  a  separate  household  as  long  as 
the  head  of  the  family  is  living.*  Language  presents  deci- 
sive evidence  on  this  point :  Grimm  identifies,  arbja  heir,  with 
the  Sclavonic  rab,  slave ;  supposing  that  sons  and  heirs  were 
the  first  natural  slaves.  Sir  Henry  Maine,  indeed,  suggests 
that  many  causes  which  helped  to  mitigate  the  stringency 
of  the  father's  power  do  not  lie  upon  the  face  of  history.  We 
cannot  tell,  he  says,  how  far  natural  affection  may  have 
rendered  it  endurable.  This  no  doubt  explains  away  many 
difficulties  that  appear  to  modern  thought ;  but  the  existence 
and  the  uninterrupted  exercise  of  parental  despotism,  when  ne- 
cessity called  for  it,  must  be  an  undoubted  phase  in  the  history 
of  man's  social  organization.  Natural  affection  would  exert 
itself  where  the  children  are  not  many ;  but  as  Montesquieu 
says,  when  a  great  many  wives  are  taken  the  father  comes  to 
have  such  a  multitude  of  children  that  he  can  hardly  have 
any  affection  for  them,  nor  the  children  for  one  another,  t  It 

*  Vide  Rev.  J.  Long's  "Village  Communities  in  India  and  Russia," 
Appendix  B.  "  Relics  of  the  Patriarchal  System  in  Russia." 

f  Artaxerxes,  for  instance,  put  all  his  children  to  death  for  conspiring 
against  him  (Justin)  ;  and  the  well-known  exercise  of  parental  power  by 


ON  THE   ORIGIN    OF  MONARCHICAL  GOVERNMENT.      13 

is  only  on  such  an  assumption  as  this,  bearing  great  internal 
proof,  as  well  as  indirectly  confirming  the  wonderful  growth 
of  population  among  early  mankind,  that  we  can  comprehend 
the  nature  of  such  proofs  of  the  complete  submission  of  man 
to  the  control  of  one  of  his  own  race ;  and  it  is  the  earliest 
form  of  government  he  is  known  to  have  instituted  or  re- 
cognised. 

I  must  here  mention,  what  I  am  indebted  to  Sir  Henry 
Maine  for  discovering,  that  this  selfsame  unit  of  society  is 
the  only  one  allowed  by  Austin  to  be  an  exception  to  the 
rule  that  sovereignty  is  universal  among  mankind.  But 
family  society  was  to  Austin  only  a  theory,  or  a  fact  but  dimly 
foreshadowed  ;  now  it  has  become  one  of  the  most  important 
discoveries  of  history  that  the  comparative  method  has  brought 
to  light.  I  will  give  the  passage  at  length  as  illustrating 
what  I  have  already  advanced,  and  as  representing  in  lan- 
guage far  more  forcible  than  I  could  use  the  original  com- 
mencement of  personal  sovereignty : — "  Let  us  suppose  that 
a  single  family  of  savages  lives  in  absolute  estrangement  from 
every  other  community.  And  let  us  suppose  that  the  father, 
the  chief  of  the  insulated  family,  receives  habitual  obedience 
from  the  mother  and  children.  Now,  since  it  is  not  a  limb  of 
another  and  larger  community,  the  society  formed  by  the 
parents  and  children  is  clearly  an  independent  society,  and 
since  the  rest  of  its  members  habitually  obey  its  chief,  this 

Brutus  in  executing  his  sons  does  not  indicate  much  natural  affection. 
We  know  it  also  to  be  a  question  of  history  that  some  people  sell  their 
children  for  slaves — the  Moschi  of  Herodotus,  for  instance. 

*  Proofs  from  all  ancient  society  are  not  wanting.  Niebuhr  says  of 
Egypt  that  they  had  only  a  very  small  number  of  names,  and  in  order 
that  in  legal  documents  there  might  be  no  doubt  as  to  the  identity  of 
persons,  they  always  mentioned  the  name  of  the  father.  A  person  is 
described  as  the  son  of  So-and-so,  &c.,  &c. — ("  Anc.  Hist.,"  vol.  i.,  p.  46.) 
"  To  the  present  day,"  says  Wilkinson  ("  Egypt,"  i.,  p.  73),  "  a  son  is  not 
expected  to  sit  in  the  presence  of  his  father  without  express  permission." 
St.  Paul,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  alludes  to  the  peculiarity  of  their 
law  :  "  The  heir  as  long  as  he  is  a  child  differeth  nothing  from  a  servant, 
though  he  be  lord  of  all "  (iv.  i) ;  and  vide  chap.  xx.  of  Crete's  "  Greece." 


14     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

independent  society  would  form  a  society  political,  in  case  the 
number  of  its  members  was  not  extremely  minute.  But 
since  the  number  of  its  members  is  extremely  minute,  it 
would,  I  believe,  be  esteemed  a  society  in  a  state  of  nature ; 
that  is,  a  society  consisting  of  persons  not  in  a  state  of  sub- 
jection. Without  an  application  of  the  terms  which  would 
somewhat  smack  of  the  ridiculous,  we  could  hardly  style  the 
society  'a  society  political  and  independent /  the  imperative 
father  and  chief  '  a  monarch  or  sovereign]  or  the  obedient 
mother  and  children  '  subjects'  " — (Vol.  i.,  page  183.) 

But  this  simple  grouping  of  mankind  could  not  continue  in 
its  integrity ;  for  parental  power  assumed  other  aspects  with 
the  growth  of  ideas  among  mankind.  Long  before  the  com- 
bination of  families  was  allowed  to  grow  into  a  tribe,  long 
before  these  isolated  groups  of  human  beings  thought  of  any 
extensive  alliance  with  each  other,  wrongs  had  been  com- 
mitted, and  the  father  became  judge  ;  religion  had  found  its 
generating  spring,  and  the  father  became  priest.  Yet  parent, 
judge,  and  priest  were  so  essentially  bound  up  together,  that 
government,  law,  and  religion  are  traceable  to  one  common 
origin — the  father  governing  his  children  and  dispensing  justice 
— the  true  dawning  of  religion — between  brother  and  brother. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  next  stage  of  development,  another 
consideration  of  parental  society  (if  the  primitive  state  here 
indicated  may  be  so  termed)  must  be  noticed.  It  arises  from 
some  late  investigations  on  the  subject  of  consanguinity 
among  early  mankind,  and  has  been  touched  upon  by  Sir 
Henry  Maine  in  his  last  work  upon  "  Early  Institutions " 
(Lect  iii.),  which  I  have  already  extensively  used.  Theories, 
especially  when  based  upon  solid  and  firm  foundations,  are 
very  apt  to  become  conventional,  and  using  the  terms  "family," 
"parental,"  would  induce  many  to  suppose  that  parental 
society  must  have  come  into  existence  after  the  establishment 
of  marriage  between  single  pairs.  If  we  consider  the  ancient 
family  from  the  modern  point  of  view  this  would  appear  to  be 
only  a  necessary  conclusion  ;  but  that  it  cannot  be  so  consi- 
dered becomes  apparent  from  the  most  superficial  study,  and 


ON    THE   ORIGIN   OF   MONARCHICAL   GOVERNMENT.      15 

the  internal  evidence  of  man's  progress  does  not  teach  this 
view.  The  study  of  primitive  customs  gives  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  women  did  not  hold  originally  an  equal  position 
with  men,  and  therefore  allowed  themselves  equal  rights  with 
regard  to  forms  of  marriage.  The  so-called  cosmic  philosophy 
presents  us  with  a  theory  from  which  may  be  dimly 
gathered  an  origin  of  marriage  between  pairs  at  a  very  early 
stage  of  human  existence,  and  which  indeed  would  form  also 
a  cause  for  the  formation  of  family  groups.  But  the  position 
here  assigned  to  the  children  is  too  unhistorical,  too  peace- 
fully homelike,  to  be  accepted  at  once,  however  it  may  recom- 
mend itself  to  our  fancy.  "  A  man,"  says  Sir  John  Lubbock, 
"  was  first  regarded  as  merely  related  to  his  family."  And 
what  constituted  this  relation  ?  Not  the  fact  of  being  born  of 
a  certain  mother,  but  being  the  offspring  of  a  man  who  had 
become  powerful  enough  to  undertake  the  duties  of  a  parent, 
to  be  chief  (and  therefore  protector),  judge,  and  priest  of  a 
household  owing  its  very  existence,  and  therefore  its  consti- 
tution, to  this  one  generator.  It  matters  not  whether  we  see 
at  this  early  date  the  dawn  of  that  great  problem  now  vexing 
the  modern  political  arena,  namely,  the  position  and  property 
of  married  women ;  for  whatever  may  be  considered  by  the 
best  scientists  to  have  been  the  most  primitive  form  of 
marriage,  the  one  great  fact  remains  that  the  children  born 
were  considered  to  be  the  offspring  and  property  of  the  chief, 
without  any  reference  to  the  mother  ;  they  held  their  father's 
name,  and  were  considered  to  be  of  his  blood  and  his  genera- 
tion.* This  phase  of  thought  became  stereotyped  to  modern 

*  Of  course  there  are  exceptions  to  be  met  with  even  to  this  almost 
universal  rule.  Herodotus  mentions  that  the  Lycians  had  one  singular 
custom,  in  which  they  differed  from  every  other  nation  in  the  world.  They 
take  the  mother's  and  not  the  father's  name.  -  (Cap.  1 73,  book  i.)  Among 
the  Nairs  of  Malabar  the  institutions  all  incline  to  a  gynocracy,  each  woman 
having  several  husbands,  and  property  passing  through  the  female  line  in 
preference  to  the  male. — (Ibid.,  Rawlinson's  Notes  to  book  iv.)  But  a 
remark  of  Wilkinson  on  the  Egyptians  (vol.  ii.,p.  66)  alludes  no  doubt  to  a 
type  of  the  general  custom  which  the  text  mentions.  The  same  customs 
prevailed  among  the  Egyptians  regarding  children  as  with  Moslems  and 


16     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

times  in  the  custom  of  certain  savage  tribes  of  America  taking 
every  care  of  the  father  at  the  birth  of  a  child,  while  the 
condition  of  the  mother  is  not  thought  to  be  of  any  moment 
It  grew  on  to  further  stages,  to  become  the  most  important 
incentive  which  led  to  the  fiction  of  adoption,  thereby  making 
the  ancient  idea  of  a  family  a  much  more  important  unit  of 
society  than  modern  thought  can  well  conceive  it  to  have 
been.  It  was  the  very  looseness  of  the  marriage  tie,  even  if 
we  can  imagine  any  tie  to  have  existed  at  all,  that  dispelled 
the  important  influence  of  natural  affection,  thereby  making 
adoption  possible  ;  and  these  differences  from  the  modern 
family  formed  the  antidote  to  a  too  restricted  conservation  of 
social  existence,  leading  portions  of  mankind  to  expand  into 
wider  circles,  and  so  allow  the  whole  human  race  to  escape 
a  lukewarm  existence  or  thorough  decadence,  and  ultimately 
direct  us  with  finely  graduated  but  ever  accelerating  steps  to 
modern  civilization. 

But  at  the  very  outset  we  meet  with  a  question  of  con- 
sanguinity which  materially  assists  us  to  understand  this 
extension  of  parental  power  into  its  wider  form.  The  ideas 
as  to  what  the  family  really  was  were  undergoing  a  change  as 
population  began  to  increase  ;  and  on  the  breach  made  in  the 
natural  formation  of  society,  the  institutional  built  up  a 
foundation.  I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  at  length  a  passage 
from  a  letter  from  Mr.  Morgan,  the  American  scholar  already 
alluded  to,  which  appeared  in  Nature,  for  June  3rd,  1875  : 
"  In  prosecuting  my  investigations  one  of  the  questions  to  be 
determined  was  whether  the  systems  of  consanguinity  were 
artificial  or  natural.  If  the  former,  they  are  without  ethno- 
logical value  ;  but  if  natural  systems,  showing  the  relation- 
ships which  actually  existed  when  they  were  respectively 
formed,  then  they  would  possess  immense  value,  because  they 
concerned  and  demonstrated  a  condition  of  ancient  society  of 

other  Eastern  people,  no  distinction  being  made  between  their  offspring 
by  a  wife  or  any  other  woman,  and  all  equally  enjoying  the  right  of 
inheritance,  for  they  considered  a  child  indebted  to  the  father  for  its 
existence,  and  the  mother  to  be  little  more  than  a  nurse." 


ON   THE   ORIGIN   OF   MONARCHICAL   GOVERNMENT.      17 

which  previously  we  had  no  definite  conception.  From  each 
system,  in  such  a  case,  can  be  deduced  with  almost  unerring 
certainty  the  form  of  marriage  and  of  the  family  in  which  it 
originated.  It  was  by  this  course  of  reasoning  that  I  dis- 
covered the  necessary  antecedent  existence  of  the  inter- 
marriage of  brother  and  sister  in  a  group  to  account  for  the 
existence  of  the  Malayan  system  of  consanguinity.  This  fact 
gives  us  the  starting-point  in  which  ancient  society  com- 
mences with  the  proof  that  it  did  so  commence.  Hence  the 
second  member  of  the  sequence  above  named  (Malayan 
system).  This  sequence  on  its  face,  and  these  solutions  in 
express  terms,  treat  these  systems  as  natural  in  every  respect." 
Now  it  was  the  expanding  qualities  of  primitive  thought 
that  extended  natural  groupings  into  institutions.  Nowhere 
is  this  more  clearly  illustrated  than  by  Sir  Henry  Maine,  in 
his  elucidation  of  the  Brehon  notions  of  fosterage.  Con- 
ceiving Irish  society  at  that  time  to  be  only  just  developing 
from  primitiveness,  he  points  out  that  the  association  between 
institutions  arising  from  true  kinship  and  institutions  based  on 
artificial  kinship  (such  as  gossipred,  a  priestly  relation,  and 
fosterage,  a  parental  relation)  is  sometimes  so  strong,  that  the 
emotions  which  they  respectively  call  forth  are  practically 
indistinguishable  ("Early  Institutions,"  p.  247).*  If  we,  there- 
fore, divest  ourselves  of  the  modern  notions  of  natural  family 
consanguinity,  we  can  well  understand  how  parental  power 
assumed  to  itself  characteristics  derived  from  the  elasticity,^ 

*  So  in  Niebuhr's  "  Rome,"  i.,  p.  172,  we  are  told  that  the  obligation  is 
an  essential  characteristic  of  the  gens  (house>;  the  reciprocal  exercise  of 
this  noble  relation  could  not  but  excite  in  the  first  instance  a  feeling  that 
led  them  to  regard  each  other  like  kindred,  and  by  degrees  a  belief  that 
they  were  so.  These  feelings  of  mutual  devotion  between  kinsmen  con- 
stitute the  bright  spots  in  a  dark  age,  remarks  Mr.  Grote  ("  Greece,"  iii., 
p.  116). 

f  We  have  an  instance  of  this  elasticity  in  Egypt.  Perhaps,  in  its 
later  growth,  no  more  exclusive  nation  ever  existed,  owing  to  the  stringency 
of  its  castes,  which  would  admit  no  one  among  them.  Yet  if  we  go  back 
to  their  infancy  we  find  that  the  Libyans,  adopting  the  Egyptian  religion , 
had  become  so  much  like  them  by  this  communion  that  they  were  allowed 
to  enter  their  administrations,  and  soon  grew  to  be  indistinguishable. 

C 


18     TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

because  of  the  meagreness,  of  primitive  thought ;  and  gradually 
became  extended  beyond  the  functions  of  parental  authority 
over  children. 

This  stage  of  society  presents  itself  at  various  successive 
epochs  of  history.     That  it  once  formed  the  most  advanced — 
nay,  the  sole  political  aggregate  of  human  beings,  is  a  conclu- 
sion to  be  inferred  from  the  foregoing  remarks,  though  this 
admits    of    great    modification,    without     the    compass    of 
the  present  paper,  according  to  the  views  taken  as  to  the 
incipient  progress  of  primitive  thought  along  the  line  of  im- 
provement.    Beginnings  are  naturally  slow  compared  with  the 
accelerated   progress   afterwards   made,  and  perhaps  a  pro- 
longed infancy  of  social  thought  may  have  followed  a  pro- 
longed  infancy  of  evolutionary  progress.     At  all  events,  if 
history  does  not  present  a  view  of  the  crystallization  of  family 
society,    it  has  furnished  us  with  retrograde  movements  to 
this   state.     Savage   tribes   may   give   us   specimens   of  the 
former,  though  there  are  no  decided  proofs  of  this  supposi- 
tion ;  but,  for  the  latter,  customary  law  can  be  traced  to  its 
origin  only  by  the  assumed  existence  of  larger  groups,  which 
at  a  later  date  dissolved  into  the  independent  collection  of 
families  forming  the  cultivated  communities  of  the  Teutonic 
and  Hindoo  races.*     This,  at  any  rate,  serves  to  show  the 
conservatism  of  human   thought  when  not  acted    upon   by 
powerful  outward  influences — such  as  those,  for  instance,  that 
again  thrust  forward  the  Teutonic  families,  and  made  them 
combine  to  form  the  leading  empire  of  civilization  and  power 
to  be  found  on  the  pages  of  history. 

I  have  thus  far  endeavoured  to  show  how  parental  society 
came  to  be  extended  from  a  simple  relationship  to  wider  defi- 
nitions ;  and  the  next  step  in  our  line  of  progress  is  the  position 
taken  up  by  the  father  when  the  circle  of  human  community 
expanded  into  its  next  stage,  namely,  that  of  race,f  which, 

*  Maine's  "  Village  Communities,"  p.  156. 

f  Difference  of  race  does  not  necessarily  imply  difference  of  language. 
"  What  we  are  accustomed  to  call  race,"  says  Max  Muller  ("  Turanian 
Letter"),  "may  date  from  a  period  in  the  history  of  the  world  anterior  to 
any  division  of  language." 


ON   THE   ORIGIN   OF   MONARCHICAL   GOVERNMENT.      19 

says  Ewald  ("Lehre  der  Bibel  von  Gott,"  i.,  190),  taken  in  its 
oldest  sense,  is  only  the  expansion  of  the  house.  The  father's 
influence  over  his  own  children,  or  a  household  of  his  own 
creating,  is  natural ;  the  extension  of  this  influence,  as  the 
representative  descendant  of  a  departed  ancestor,  is  institu- 
tional. It  was  the  priestly  character  acquired  by  the  father 
that  became  the  moving  cause  of  this  extended  power,  by 
allowing  the  eldest  son  to  be  the  only  person  capable  of 
taking  upon  himself  the  growing  important  duties  of  priest,* . 
inherent  in  him  as  the  firstborn  of  his  father.f  Round 
this  descendant  from  their  common  ancestor,  gradually 
believed  in  as  their  hero-god,  clustered  the  various  families  ; 
and  thus  we  come  upon  the  dawn  of  clan  society,  with  the 
parent  assuming  the  position  of  "  patriarch." 

The  stronghold  of  parental  society,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
filial  obedience  ;  and  the  stronghold  of  patriarchal  society  was 
that  reverence  for  departed  ancestors  we  find  so  generally 
distributed  among  mankind.  The  interval  between  the  forma- 
tion of  family  groups  in  their  last  and  more  complete  stage  of 
development,  and  the  growth  of  patriarchal  groups,  is  con- 
ceivably so  short  that  it  would  be  difficult  to  say  any  dis- 

*  The  father  of  the  house  might  hold  the  position  of  hereditary 
priest  of  this  often  already  numerous  community  ;  and  how  long  this 
relation  lasted,  especially  among  the  old  shepherd  peoples,  is  sufficiently 
shown  by  the  remembrance  of  the  patriarchs  of  Israel.  The  sometimes 
very  arduous  duties  of  the  sacrifices  were  in  the  same  way  the  lot,  since 
the  oldest  periods,  of  the  eldest  sons,  as  those  most  nearly  bound  and 
ordained  (justified  in  taking  the  office)  :  this  is  a  primevally  old  custom 
of  which  many  traces  remained  down  to  the  time  of  Moses  and  even 
later. — Ewald,  "  Lehre  der  Bibel  von  Gott,"  i.,  190. 

f"  Many  new  sects  or  voluntary  "religious  fraternities  acquired  permanent 
establishment  as  well  as  considerable  influence.  They  were  generally 
under  the  superintendence  of  hereditary  families  of  priests." — (Crete's 
"  Greece,"  i.,  p.  36.)  Priesthoods  were  hereditary  among  the  Jamids  and 
Telliads  of  Elis  ("  Herodotus  "  ix.  33,  34),  the  Talthybiads  of  Lacedaemon 
(viii  134)  and  the  Telinids  of  Gela  in  Sicily  (vii.  153).  Other  writers, 
says  Rawlinson  ("Notes  to  Herodotus,"  vol.  iii.,  bk.  vi.,  cap.  60,  note  7), 
furnish  a  very  much  larger  catalogue  of  priestly  families  (consult 
"  Hist,  de  1'Acad.  des  Inscrip.,"  tome  xxiii.,  p.  51  et  seq.). 


20     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 

turbing  causes  had  as  yet  interfered  with  the  development. 
Patriarchal  society  may  therefore  at  one  time  have  universally 
existed  as  a  distinct  epoch  in  man's  progress  ;  but  what  is 
perhaps  still  better  proof  are  the  many  traces  of  this  social 
union  having  afterwards  dissolved,  with  its  originating  germs 
still  living  in  the  altered  form  ;  to  which  cause,  as  I  have 
already  stated,  Sir  Henry  Maine  traces  the  beginning  of 
much  of  the  customary  law  existing  in  all  societies.  Beyond 
this,  however,  types  only  of  each  system  are  to  be  found, 
though  they  never  entirely  fade  away  from  history,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  always  exercise  an  influence  on  the  subsequent 
stages,  and  mainly  underlie  the  principles  of  all  government, 
individual  or  collegiate,  even  at  the  present  time. 

During  the  infancy  of  mankind,  when  society  was  in  its 
nomadic  state,  and  families  made  regular  marches  to  some 
fresh  pasture  as  soon  as  the  forage  of  a  certain  district  was 
consumed,  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  it  was  almost  unne- 
cessary, even  if  possible,  for  the  patriarch  to  exercise  an 
important  or  powerful  control  over  any  other  but  his  own 
immediate  household.  From  the  considerations  just  given  on 
the  systems  of  consanguinity,  we  can  imagine  the  family  to 
have  been  an  extensive  one,  and  always  capable  of  still  greater 
extension  ,  but  there  was  wanting  that  spirit  of  political  com- 
bination which  produces  the  elements  of  a  nation,  and  we 
only  see  mankind  spreading  themselves  over  the  earth  in 
primitive  family  groups,  each  individual  amenable  first  and 
foremost  to  the  parental  laws,  and  the  parent,  in  his  turn, 
recognising  some  influence  from  a  common  ancestor,  or  his 
representative,  the  existing  head  of  the  family.  In  short, 
they  may  be  conceived  to  be  exactly  in  that  state  of  living 
under  an  absolute  despotism  when,  as  Niebuhr  says,  it  is 
difficult  to  decide  how  far  a  people  could  feel  an  interest  in 
the  supremacy  of  its  own  race  over  that  of  another.*  It  was 
doubtless  this  quiescent  spirit  that  kept  them  from  combining 
against  each  other  too  soon ;  for  distinctions  of  race  must 
very  early,  and  for  a  long  period,  have  been  one  of  the  ele- 
*  Niebuhr's  "Arc.  Hist.,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  98. 


ON   THE  ORIGIN  OF   MONARCHICAL  GOVERNMENT.      21 

ments  of  primitive  society  to  have  produced  those  great  ethnic 
wars,  which,  exceeding  in  fierceness  the  political  wars  of  later 
times,  have  left  no  slight  record  of  their  struggle  to  modern 
times.*  Thucydides  has  said  of  the  Scyths  that  no  single 
nation  could  match  them  if  they  were  but  united  among 
themselves ;  and  doubtless  a  similar  truth  soon  became 
apparent  to  the  struggling  races,  and  was  the  chief  disturbing 
cause  of  this  period. 

But  though  preceding  these  wars  people  were  not  yet  or- 
ganized into  a  nation,  they  undoubtedly  formed  a  series  of 
independent  tribes  or  clans  ;  and,  having  no  territorial  influ- 
ence to  bind  them  together,  naturally  made  a  link-hold  of 
their  romance  of  ancestry  round  which  to  gather.  We  have 
seen  this  ancestry  strengthened  by  the  invigorating  influence 
of  religion,  the  priests  of  which  were  descendants  of  the  hero- 
ancestor.  As  in  the  retrospective  faith  of  a  Greek,  so  among 
mankind  generally  at  this  early  period  the  ideas  of  ancestry 
and  worship  coalesced.  "  Every  association  of  men,"  to  use  the 
words  of  the  Greek  historiari,f  "large  or  small,  in  whom  there 
existed  a  feeling  of  present  union,  traced  back  that  union  to 
some  common  initial  progenitor  ;  and  that  progenitor,  again, 
was  either  the  common  god  whom  they  worshipped,  or  some 
semi-divine  being  closely  allied  to  him."  Yet,  though  believing 
in  the  divine  ancestry  of  their  patriarch,  the  members  of  this 
society  never  once  thought  of  their  chief  as  a  god,  never  once 
let  go  the  connection  he  had  with  them,  and  therefore,  in  asense 
a  common  basis  of  equality.  Even  when  kings,  as  we  know 
them,  had  established  themselves,  they  were  never  able  to 
assume  more  than  a  partial  share  of  divine  nature.  The  Egyp- 
tian king,  whom  Wilkinson  supposes  to  be  the  earliest,  is 
represented  in  the  sculptures  as  making  an  offering  to  himself, 

*  Consult  Max  Muller's  Turanian  Letter  in  Bunsen's  "  Philosophy  of 
Universal  History." 

f  Vide  Grote's  "  Greece,"  vol.  i.,  p.  no. — "  In  early  times  princes  and 
afterwards  the  great  aristocratic  families  traced  their  pedigrees  to  heroes 
and  through  them  to  the  gods,  just  as  the  northern  kings  trace  theirs  to 
Odin." — Niebuhr,  "  Anc.  Hist."  ii.,  p.  169. 


22     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

his  human  doing  homage  to  his  divine  character.  This  shows 
how  the  human  and  divine  natures  were  then  thought  to 
be  distinct  ;  and  the  breach  has  never  been  lessened.* 

The  view  here  taken  is  giving  ancestry  a  wide  and  powerful 
influence,  and  a  primitive  and  primordial  origin ;  but  what 
else  could  have  been  the  tie  that  held  a  race  together,  and  kept 
distinguished,  after  an  ethnical  division,  a  branch  of  one 
family  from  another,  until  other  and  more  important  influences 
appeared  on  the  face  of  history  ?  Climatization  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  it,  no  doubt ;  but  it  could  not  do  all  ;  for  in  the 
progress  of  history  we  hear  of  a  section  of  the  Aryans  being 
surrounded  by  a  Semitic  people  t — race  was  kept  distinguished 
in  all  the  great  Eastern  empires,  e,  g.,  the  satrapies  of  Persia — 
and  within  the  reach  of  modern  observation  intermixture  of 
race  among  the  tribal  Indians  has  taken  place  to  a  large 
extent,  without  destroying  the  nationality.  We  have  only, 
therefore,  to  fall  back  upon  the  custom  (and  it  was  a 
natural  one)  of  observing  the  lineage  of  each  individual 
through  the  parentage  of  his  family  to  the  progenitor  of 
his  race,  which  tacitly  avowed  an  influence,  not  always 
defined,  of  patriarchal  power. 

*  Vide  also  "  Herodotus,"  Rawlinson's  Notes,  vol.  ii.,  cap.  3. 

t  "  In  Western  Asia,  the  cradle  of  the  human  race,"  says  Rawlinson 
("  Herodotus,"  App.  Bk.  i.,  Essay  xi.),  Semitic,  Indo-European,  and 
Tatar  or  Turanian  races,  not  only  divided  among  themselves  this  portion 
of  the  earth's  surface,  but  lay  confused  and  interspersed  upon  it  in  a 
most  remarkable  entanglement." 

"  Some  combined  association  of  individuals,  some  clannism  seems  re- 
quisite to  the  preservation  of  a  language  in  the  midst  of  a  foreign  nation. 
Thus  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  Hebrews  retained  their  language  during 
their  sojourn  in  Egypt." — (Pickering's  "  Races  of  Man,"  p.  287.)  The 
system  of  castes  is  an  evidence  of  the  distinction  of  nationality  on  the 
same  territory.  "  The  Egyptian  division  of  castes  is  very  ancient,  and 
certainly  shows  that  the  country  was  conquered  by  foreigners.  The 
example  of  India  also  shows  that  the  castes  are  the  result  of  conquest, 
and  that  they  represent  different  nationalities," — (Niebuhr's  "  Anc.  Hist.," 
ii.,  p.  65.)  I  may  also  mention,  that  the  detached  territories  under  a 
Persian  satrapy  are  described  by  Heeren  to  be  ethnic  divisions  rather 
than  geographical. —  Vide  also  Rawlinson's  "  Herodotus,"  vol.  ii.,  app. 
iii.,  p.  562. 


ON  "THE   ORIGIN   OF  MONARCHICAL   GOVERNMENT.      23 

Again,  we  can  trace  an  incipient  influence  of  this  power 
which  can  only  have  been  exercised  through  the  tie  of  ancestry 
in  that  community  of  law  whose  basis  and  limit  is  race.  It  is 
only  in  modern  times  that  territorial  law  has  found  an 
existence.  The  laws  of  a  tribe  were  generally  respected 
and  allowed  to  remain  unaltered  of  the  most  tyrannous  of 
conquerors,  even  as  we  now  find  in  the  Turkish  empire.  When 
we  can  trace  the  very  germ  of  all  laws  to  their  origin  as  obe- 
dience to  the  commands  of  a  parent  <3\\<d—principes  erant 
quasi  animate  leges — we  can  perceive  motives  for  ancestry 
beyond  the  vanity  which  dictates  similar  ideas  to  modern 
society. 

If  the  universality  of  this  custom  is  proof  of  its  primi- 
tive origin,  and  inductive  reasoning  would  teach  this  view, 
instances  can  be  multiplied  over  and  over  again  from  the 
early  history  of  almost  every  people.  It  forms  the  funda- 
mental portion  of  Biblical  history,  and  was  the  chief  means 
of  obtaining  a  chronological  datum  for  it.  The  ancient 
Greeks,  as  Niebuhr  tells  us,  had  the  inclination  peculiar  to 
human  nature  to  derive  all  that  exists  from  individual 
persons ;  their  whole  social  existence  was  saturated  with 
this  idea,  and  the  greater  part  of  their  mythology  and 
legends  is  occupied  with  tracing  the  lineage  of  some  tribe 
or  house  to  a  hero  eponymous.  It  formed  in  its  integrity 
the  basis  of  early  Roman  society  ;*  and  afterwards,  by  the 
addition  of  the  legal  fiction  of  adoption,  was  the  -germ  of 
the  later  jurisprudence.  It  is  now  proved  to  have  exten- 
sively existed  among  the  Celtic  tribes  of  primitive  Europe. 
It  ran  through  the  whole  constitution  of  the  Teutonic  inva- 
ders of  Rome,  who,  according  to  Sir  Henry  Maine,  remem- 
bered or  believed  in  the  direct  descent  of  the  families  from 
whom  they  chose  their  chiefs,  from  a  common  ancestor  ;f 

*  Consult  Niebuhr's  "  Hist,  of  Rome,"  vol.  i.  It  would  be  useless  to 
quote  passages,  there  are  so  many  applicable  to  the  question  'of  the 
genealogical  phenomena  of  primitive  history.  But  note  particularly  the 
chapter  on  CEnotrians  and  Pelasgians. 

t  "  Village  Communities,"  p.  145. 


24    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

and  it  still  remains  .a  chief  feature  of  modern  barbarism,* 
— nay,  of  modern  civilization.  To  this  universality  of  opinion 
as  to  ancestry  the  science  of  language  lends  yet  one  more 
proof  in  the  •  derivation  and  application  of  the  word  race. 
What  we  are  accustomed  to  call  race  (I  quote  from  Max 
Midler's  Turanian  letter),  and  what,  as  Humboldt  has  shown, 
should  more  properly  be  called  vanity,  may  date  from  a  period 
in  the  history  of  the  world  anterior  to  any  division  of  lan- 
guage ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  its  first  effects  may  have  been 
felt  long  after  the  confusion  of  speech  had  led  to  the  disper- 
sion of  mankind.  This  gets  rid  of  any  supposed  intimate  con- 
nection between  ethnology  and  philology  ;  and  in  a  note  in  the 
same  work  I  find  that  race  is  derived,  not  from  radix,  as  hitherto 
supposed,  but  from  the  old  German  reiza,  line,  or  lineage. 

But  this  ancestral  influence  was  stiil  wanting  in  one  essential 
to  make  it  all-important.  Among  nomads,  remarks  the 
author  just  quoted,  empires  were  no  sooner  founded  than 
they  were  scattered  again  like  the  sand-clouds  of  the 
desert ;  no  laws,  no  songs,  no  stories  outlived  the  age  of 
their  authors.  Thus  we  see  that  the  institutions  then  exist- 
ing, primitive  and  simple  as  they  were,  were  destitute  of 
solidity ;  and  therefore  the  first  and  most  important,  namely, 
patriarchal  sovereignty,  was  at  this  stage  not  self-com- 
manding like  parental  power.  It  must  have  gained  this 
subsequent  element  by  means  of  territorial  appropriation  ; 
and  it  is  now  that  it  will  assume  more  of  the  aspects  of 
historical  monarchical  government.^ 

*  Schoolcraft,  "  Indian  Tribes"  ii.,  p.  49.  "The  totem  of  the  redskins 
is  a  symbol  of  the  name  of  the  progenitor.  Its  significant  importance  is 
derived  from  the  fact  that  individuals  unhesitatingly  trace  their  lineage 
from  it,  and  families  are  thus  traced  were  expanded  into  bands  or 
tribes."  Lubbock's  "Primitive  Man"  p.  173. 

f  By  territorial  appropriation  I  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  it  became  a 
territorial  sovereignty.  This  was  distinctly  an  offshoot  of  modern  feudal- 
ism. Consult  Sir  H.  Maine's  "  Anc.  Law,"  pp.  103 — 107. 

J  Before  dismissing  the  subject  of  patriarchal  society  I  would 
refer  to  cap.  v.  of  Maine's  "Anc.  Law."  It  gives  some  varied  and 
important  information  on  patriarchal  power,  and  though  relating 


ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF   MONARCHICAL  GOVERNMENT.      25 

Patriarchal  government,  we  know,  did  not  of  itself  imme- 
diately produce  historical  kingdoms.*  The  notions  of  ancestry 
connected  with  it  served,  as  the  mythical  pedigrees  of  Greece 
did,  to  unite  together  special  clans  or  gentes  rather  than  the 
bulk  of  any  community — in  fact  it  produced  the  elements  of  a 
nation  without  the  political  combining  power  so  materially 
associated  with  historical  empires.  As  an  instance  of  how 
little  ancestry  had  to  do  originally  with  territorial  occupation, 
the  country  called  Attica,  which  during  the  historical  ages 
formed  one  social  and  political  aggregate,  was  originally  dis- 
tributed among  various  hereditary  sects — that  is,  a  multitude 
of  persons,  not  necessarily  living  in  the  same  locality,  but  bound 
together  by  an  hereditary  communion,  and  claiming  privileges 
as  well  as  performing  obligations,  founded  upon  the  traditional 
authority  of  a  common  ancestor.f  Such  privileges  and 
obligations  are  still  traceable  in  much  of  the  customary 
law  of  modern  nations  ;  and  Sir  Henry  Maine,  without  any 
reference  to  the  instance  of  Attica,  considers  the  most  plausi- 
ble account  that  can  be  given  of  them  is  that  they  were 
at  the  outset  obligations  of  kinship  sanctioned  by  patri- 
archal authority.^  This  is  proof  that  patriarchal  society  may 
not  only  continue  to  exist  without  necessarily  forming  itself 
into  a  nation,  but  that  it  may,  after  a  long  period  of  non-pro- 
more  particularly  to  Roman  law,  helps  to  obtain  an  enlarged  view 
of  this  state  of  primitive  man.  See  "  Village  Communities,"  pp.  1 1 1,  156. 

*  Professor  Jowett,  in  his  Introduction  to  Plato's  Laws,  p.  Ixiii.,  re- 
marks "that  the  chief  object  of  Plato  in  tracing  the  origin  of  society  is 
to  show  the  point  at  which  regular  government  superseded  the  patriarchal 
authority,  and  laws  common  to  many  families  took  the  place  of  the  old 
customs.  The  laws  were  systematized  by  legislators,  and  new  forms  of 
government  began  to  spring  up."  The  ideality  of  Plato's  mind  would 
suggest  much  that  his  restriction  to  Grecian  history  might  otherwise 
prevent,  but  it  would  not  suggest  enough.  "  The  history  of  the  world," 
says  Max  Miiller,  in  his  essay  on  Comparative  Mythology,  "  has  laid 
open  new  avenues  of  thought,  and  it  has  enriched  our  language  with  a 
word  which  never  passed  the  lips  of  Socrates,  or  Plato,  or  Aristotle — 
mankind." 

t  Vide  Grote's  "  Greece,"  vol.  i.,  p.  264. 

J  "Village  Communities,"  p.  in. 


26   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

gressive  existence,  suddenly  obtain  the  desire  and  the  intel- 
lectuality to  become  a  territorial  empire. 

According  to  the  doctrine  of  Montesquieu,  republicanism 
would  be  the  natural  development  from  paternal  govern- 
ment, the  sons  obtaining  together  the  power  wielded  by  the 
father.  But  history  does  not  thoroughly  coincide  with 
this  view,*  for,  at  its  very  dawn,  government  by  a  single 
person  universally  bursts  upon  our  view ;  and  though  in  many 
cases  other  influences  than  patriarchal  power  may  have  been 
at  work,  we  have  evidence  that  the  law  of  primogeniture  is  an 
heirloom  from  these  times,  and  enabled  the  descendant,  either 
actual  or  representatives  of  a  patriarchal  governor  to  es- 
tablish a  government .  From  this  point  of  view  the  influence 
of  ancestry  and  the  priesthood  of  the  father  may  be  consi- 
dered as  modifications  of  a  regular  development  of  govern- 
ment, though  they  work  in  so  well  with  man's  natural 
instincts,  and  begin  so  early  in  his  history,^  that  we  can 
hardly  distinguish  them  from  a  law  of  nature.  The  Teutonic 
monarchies — perhaps  the  most  perfect  illustration  of  a  pure 
development  from  patriarchal  society — unite  all  the  princi- 
ples of  democracy  with  most  of  the  sentiments  of  ancestral 
faith,  and  invariably  does  the  term  applied  to  the  office  of  the 
personal  ruler,  though  in  many  cases  admitting  a  subsequent 
signification,  come  from  a  root  originally  meaning  "  father." 
One  thing  is  certain,  that  patriarchal  power,  with  all  its  com- 
ponent, or  perhaps  tributary  elements  of  ancestry  and 
sacerdotalism,  has  never  faded  from  the  face  of  history,  from 
the  remotest  ages  of  which  we  can  glean  records  down  to  the 

*  That  is  to  say  as  a  general  rule,  and  among  the  more  powerful  em- 
pires. The  tale  commonly  believed  by  the  Greeks  as  to  the  formation  of 
the  confederacy  of  twelve  cities  into  the  Ionia  of  historic  times  is  based 
upon  the  asserted  rights  and  co-existent  sovereignty  of  the  twelve  sons  of 
Codrus,—  ( Vide  Rawlinson's  "  Herodotus,"  iii.,  App.  bk.  v.,  Essay  2.)  The 
Suliots,  again,  mentioned  by  Niebuhr  ("  Rome,"  i.,  p.  265),  were  actual 
families  descended  from  a  common  stock,  each  under  its  captain,  who 
was  its  judge  and  leader  ;  the  captains  collectively  made  up  a  senate. 

f  Vico  dwells  upon  the  religious  and  poetical  susceptibilities  as  the 
first  to  develop  themselves  in  the  human  mind. 


ON   THE  ORIGIN   OF   MONARCHICAL   GOVERNMENT.      27 

present  time ;    and  in  this  power  can  be  distinctly  seen  the 
germs  of  monarchical  government. 

The  connection  which  monarchical  government  has  with  the 
social  elements  I  have  treated  of,  and  how  the  important  ele- 
ment of  chieftainship  has  been  left  out  of  consideration  by 
writers  on  the  origin  of  society,  I  cannot  further  illustrate 
now  ;  but  I  may  be  permitted  to  express  a  hope  that  I  have 
sufficiently  shown  the  real  interest  and  worth  of  the  subject, 
to  be  enabled  at  a  future  time  to  lay  before  the  Society 
some  additional  researches  which  I  have  partly  made. 
It  is  a  subject  worthy  of  history  ;  worthy  of  the  greatest 
study  and  reflection  ;  and  worthy,  I  hope,  of  showing  what 
the  great  Bunsen  has  taught  in  his  immortal  words — 
"  the  desire  to  fix  in  that  course  called  the  universal  history 
of  mankind  some  landmarks  pointing  out  the  progress  of  our 
race." 


28 


JOHN   FOXE  THE   MARTYROLOGIST 
AND  HIS  FAMILY. 

BY  WILLIAM  WINTERS, 
Fellow   of  the    Royal  Historical   Society. 

FROM  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
down  to  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  several  members 
of  the  Foxe  family,  descendants  of  the  great  martyrologist, 
resided  in  the  parish  of  Waltham  Holy  Cross.*  And  it  is 
asserted  by  several  local  writers  that  the  justly  celebrated 
John  Foxe  himself  resided  in  this  ancient  town,  where 
he  uninterruptedly  pursued  his  literary  labours  during  the 
early  part  of  the  latter  half  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Tradition  even  points  to  the  house  t  in  "  Sun  Street," 
then  called  "  East  Street "  in  which  he  compiled  the 
"  Book  of  Martyrs."  Some  have  supposed  that  John  Foxe 
visited  the  house  of  Mr.  Cressey  in  the  Homeland  with 
Stephen  Gardner  and  Henry  the  Eighth  to  consult  about  the 
king's  divorce  from  Catherine  of  Arragon,  but  that  is  a 
mistake  which  the  writer  has  pleasure  in  correcting.  It  was 
Dr.  Edward  Fox  (afterwards  Bishop  of  Hereford)  that  figured 
in  that  scene,  and  not  the  martyrologist. 

We  find  that  John  Foxe  married  Agnes  Randall  J  February 
3rd,  1547,  and  the  year  following  both  he  and  his  friend 
John  Bale  were  hospitably  entertained  at  the  residence  of 
the  Duchess  of  Richmond,  Monjoy  House,  Knightrider  Street, 

*  Waltham  Holy  Cross  is  the  correct  name  of  the  town,  although  it  is 
more  frequently  called  Waltham  Abbey. 

t  In  the  summer  of  1871  some  necessary  improvements  were  being 
made  in  this  house  when  a  fine  Gothic  chimney-piece  was  discovered.  It 
was  in  an  excellent  state  of  preservation,  consisting  of  Reigate  stone,  six 
feet  in  height  and  five  feet  in  width,  carved  with  various  floral  devices,  and 
coloured  with  vermilion,  green,  and  gold.  Near  the  spring  of  the  arch 
on  the  left  shield  were  the  letters  "  I.V.,"  and  on  the  surface  of  the  arch 
above  the  initial  letters  "  F."  and  "  F.S." 

J  They  were  married  at  Charlecote.  Persons  of  the  name  of  Randall 
possessed  property  at  Waltham  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


JOHN   FOXE.  29 

when  Foxe's  first   work  was    printed    by    Hugh    Singleton. 
Two  years  later  John  Foxe  was  ordained  deacon  at  St.  Paul's, 
by    Bishop    Ridley.      In   1551    he    published    his  "  Chris tus 
Triumphans    Comcedia    Apocalyptica."*      At    this    time     he 
lived  under   the  Duchess  of  Suffolk's  roof  in  the  Barbican. 
Owing  to  the  Marian  persecution  in  1554  he  fled  with  his  wife 
to  Flanders,  and  thence   to   Strasbourg,  where  he  published 
the  first  part  of  his  Ecclesiastical  History.     In  March  of  the 
next  year  he  was  in  England,  and  took  up  his  freedom,  as  we 
gather  from  Mr.  Arber's  newly  published  "  Transcript  of  the 
Stationers'  Register"    (vol.   i.,  p.  33): — "Item,    Recuyd  the 
Vth  of  March  [1555]   of  John  foxe  in  Recompence  of   his 
brakefaste  at  his  makyng  fre  iijs.  iiijd."     According  to  Foxe's 
biographer  there  appears  to  be  a  slight  error  respecting  the 
dates  which  may  not  easily  be  reconciled  ;  Foxe  is  said  to  have 
been  abroad  in  1554  and  15  £5,  and  yet  we  find  him  at  London 
in   the    early    part    of   1555.       He   was   at    Frankfort    the 
same  year,   whence    he    removed    to    Basle    in    November ; 
he  may  possibly  have  returned  to  the  Continent  directly  after 
taking  his  freedom.     He,  however,  remained  in  Basle  till  late 
in   the    year   1559,  when  he  returned  to,  England  with  his 
wife  and  two  children,  a  girl  and  boy  (Samuel),  all  in  great 
distress.     They  were  at  once  admitted  into  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk's mansion,  Christ  Church,  Aldgate.      The  duke  was  his 
patron  and  benefactor.     Early  in    1560  Foxe  was  ordained 
priest  at  St.  Paul's,  London,  but  refused  to  wear  clerical  habits, 
consequently   he  was  enabled    to  preach  in  his   own  order 
quietly   to   the    common   people,  who    heard    him    gladly ; 
by  this  means  also  he   pursued  without  much   molestation 
his    literary    labours,    collecting     materials    from    registers, 
&c.,  for   his    Martyrology.t      The   same   year  we   find   him 

*  A  translation  was  made  by  John  Day,  son  of  the  great  printer,  and 
published  1579. 

f  In  the  "  Stationers'  Register "  the  following  is  recorded  :— 
"  Rychard  Adams  for  Prynting  the  Register  of  all  them  that  ware 

burned  without  lycense  was  fyned  at  Vs Vs.  The  editor 

notes  that  this  compendious  register  in  metre  of  the  Marian  martyrs 
was  written  by  Thomas  Brice,  and  was  doubtless  of  considerable  use 


30     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

preaching  at  Norwich,  where  his  family,  it  is  said, 
remained  three  years ;  he  occasionally  resorted  to  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk's  mansion  with  the  view  of  carrying  on  his  literary 
work.  His  son  Samuel  remarks,  "  From  that  house  he 
travelled  weekly  every  Monday  to  the  printing-house  of  John 
Day.  In  that  my  father's  house  many  days  and  years  and 
infinite  sums  of  money  were  spent  to  accomplish  and  con- 
summate his  English  monuments,  and  many  other  excellent 
works  in  English  and  Latin."  In  1562  John  Foxe  wrote  to 
Archbishop  Parker  seemingly  to  inquire  about  some  materials 
for  his  forthcoming  work  on  the  History  of  the  Church,  and 
early  in  the  next  year,  1563,  the  first  English  edition  of  his 
great  work  was  published.  Ames  gives  "  1562"  as  the  date 
of  the  first  edition  of  "  Acts  and  Monuments,"  but  "  queries 
1563."*  The  British  Museum  copy  of  this  edition  is  im- 
perfect, wanting  the  last  leaf,  whfch  is  supplied  by  a  fac-simile 
(folio,  1563).  The  title  of  this  work  reads  thus  : — "  Actes  and 
Monuments  of  these  latter  and  perillous  dayes,  touching 
matters  of  the  Church  wherein  ar  comprehended  and 
described  the  great  persecutions,  &  horrible  troubles,  that 
haue  bene  wrought  and  practised  by  the  Romishe  Prelates, 
especiallye  in  this  Realme  of  England  and  '  Scotlande, 
from  the  yeare  of  our  Lorde  a  thousande,  vnto  the  tyme 
nowe  present.  Gathered  and  collected  according  to  the  true, 
copies  and  wrytinges  certificatorie,  as  wel  of  the  parties  them- 
selves that  suffered,  as  also  out  of  the  Bishops'  Registers 
which  wer  the  doers  thereof,  by  John  Foxe.  Imprinted  at 
London  by  John  Day,  dwellyng  over  Aldersgate.  Cum 
Priuilegio  Regis  maiestatis."  Ames  observes  that  whether 
John  Day  "was  secretly  or  openly  supported  in  the  cost  and 
trouble  it  must  have  occasioned,  does'not  appear  upon  record." 
The  department  of  art  alone  must  have  been  very  important. 
The  cuts  are  numerous,  and  the  subjects  are  generally  drawn, 
composed,  and  engraved  with  very  considerable  skill.  They 

to  John  Foxe  in  the  preparation  of  the  first  English  edition  of  his  'Acts 
and  Monuments.'" — 1558-9. 

*  Ames,  Typog.  Antiq.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  82. 


JOHN   FOXE   THE   MARTYROLOGIST.  31 

have  a  freedom  and  force  worthy  of  some  of  the  more 
celebrated  foreign  artists,  by  whom  in  all  probability  they 
were  executed.  "  His  'salvo  '  at  the  end  of  his  Latin  preface 
is  a  shield,  which  he  judiciously  uses  to  avert  or  blunt  the 
shafts  of  those  whose  hostility  such  a  publication  must  have 
prepared  him  to  encounter.  The  compiler  wanted  not  a  host 
of  angry,  and  even  in  many  instances  successful  antagonists, 
among  whom  Stapleton,  no  mean  scholar,  led  the  van.  Yet 
Foxe  is  now  read,  and  Stapleton,  even  by  his  own  party,  often 
neglected."  Strype  remarks  that  "great  was  the  expectation 
of  the  book  here  in  England  before  it  came  abroad.  The 
Papists  scurrilously  called  it  '  Foxe's  Golden  Legend.' 
When  it  first  appeared  there  was  extraordinary  fretting  and 
fuming  at  it  through  all  quarters  of  England,  and  even  to 
Louvaine."  It  was  well  received  by  many  as  a  true  record  of 
the  past,  and,  as  a  modern  writer  observes,  the  common 
people  "  loved  the  church  of  their  forefathers  as  they  saw  it 
restored  by  the  queen,  because  of  the  power  which  Foxe  had 
given  them  of  estimating  its  superior  pretensions  to  their 
favour."  In  the  same  year,  1563,  issued  from  the  press  Foxe's 
learned  work  on  the  doctrine  of  the  "  Eucharist,"  dedicated 
to  John  Harding  of  Brazenose  College.  He  also  made  an 
appeal  to  the  public  on  behalf  of  the  poor  sufferers  during  the 
fatal  plague  which  prevailed  in  London  in  the  summer  of  the 
same  year,  when  no  fewer  than  21,530  persons  died  in  the 
city  of  London  alone. 

The  Queen,  to  show  her  appreciation  of  the  "Book  of 
Martyrs,"  presented  Foxe  with  the  canonry  of  Shipton,  in 
Salisbury  Cathedral.  From  the  Register  of  that  cathedral  we 
gather  that  Foxe  was  not  present  at  the  synods  held  there  in 
1564  and  1565,  "  nor/'  says  a  writer,  "  probably  at  the  ensuing 
ones.  He  was  not  present  at  Bishop  Jewell's  visitation  in  June, 
1568."*  In  1 564  and  onward  letters  from  different  persons  were 
addressed  "  to  my  goode  friende  Mr.  Foxe  at  Mr.  Dayes,  ouer 
Aldersgate."  At  this  period  he  appears  to  have  been  in 

*  "Church  Historians,"  Seeley,  vol.  i.,  1870.  Also,  "Book  of  Com- 
positions," Pub.  Rec.  Off. 


32     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

search  of  information  for  the  second  edition  of  his  Martyr- 
ology,  and  we  have  strong  reason  for  believing  that  he  made 
a  tour  to  Waltham  Abbey  (in  1565),  for  in  the  Register  of  the 
parish  we  find  an  entry  which  relates  to  "John  Foxe"  and 
his  two  children,  viz., — 

"  Baptised  Rafe  and  Mary  foxe,  the  sonne  and  dowter  of 
John  foxe,  2Qth  Jennary,  Ano.  Do.  1565." 

One  year  prior  to  this  date  Foxe's  friend,  Sir  Thomas 
Heneage,  Knt,  came  to  reside  at  Copt  Hall,  *  in  the  parish  of 
Waltham,  and  here  it  was,  we  presume,  that  John  Foxe  visited 
Lady  Ann. Heneage  during  her  illness,  as  recorded  by  the  bio- 
grapher of  Foxe  in  the  second  volume  of  the  "Acts  and 
Monuments,"  1641:  "The  Lady  Ann  Hennage,  who  lying 
sick  of  a  violent  Feaver,  when  the  disease  had  so  farre 
increased  that  the  Physitians  had  pronounced  it  deadly, 
Master  Fox  was  called  to  be  present  at  her  ending,  whose 
counsell  and  fidelity  she  had  often  made  use  of  in  matters 

*  Queen  Elizabeth,  on  the  3rd  of  August,  1564,  granted,  by  letters 
patent,  Copt  Hall,  in  the  parish  of  Waltham  Abbey,  to  Sir  Thomas 
Heneage  and  Anne  his  wife,  to  be  held  of  her  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster  by 
the  service  of  a  knight's  fee.  Sir  Thomas  Heneage,  the  son  of  Robert 
Heneage,  Esq.,  was  Knight  of  the  Shire  for  the  county  of  Lincoln  in 
the  Parliament  held  at  Westminster  in  the  8th  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  He 
was  also  captain  of  her  guard,  treasurer  of  her  chamber,  vice-chamber- 
lain of  her  household,  chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  and  one 
of  her  privy  council.  He  was  owner  of  Copt  Hall — at  that  time  the 
noblest  house  in  Essex — and  Brightlingsea,  in  the  same  county,  and 
married  Anne,  daughter  of  Sir  Nicholas  Poyntz,  of  Acton  Poyntz,  co. 
Gloucester,  by  whom  he  had  issue  Elizabeth,  who  became  the  wife  of 
Sir  Moyle  Finch.  Lady  Anne  Heneage  died  November  3Oth,  1594,  and 
Sir  Thomas,  her  husband,  died  I7th  October,  1595,  owning  the  Copt 
Hall  estate,  then  valued  at  £24  6s.  8d.  per  annum.  This  estate  passed 
to  his  daughter  Elizabeth,  wife  of  Sir  Moyle  Finch  ;  who  by  letters 
patent  bearing  date  July  8,  1623,  was  in  1628  created  Viscountess  of 
Maidstone  and  Countess  of  Winchester.  "The  purchase  of  this  peer- 
age raised  at  the  time  much  talk.  The  price  is  said  to  have  been  the 
lady's  fine  seat  at  Copt  Hall  as  a  bribe  to  Lord  Treasurer  Craufield." 
Lionel  Craufield  possessed  the  estate  in  1622,  and  died  August  6,  1645. 


JOHN   FOXE.  33 

appertaining  to  her  soules  health.  After  he  had  performed 
what  he  came  for,  in  reading  prayers,  and  comforting  the  sick 
woman,  with  such  perswasions  as  seemed  good  to  him,  "  Well 
have  you  done  "(said  he),  and  according  to  your  duty,  to  pre- 
pare yourself  for  all  events,  but  know  this  from  me,  that  of 
this  sickness  you  shall  not  dye.  .  .  .  Among  those  that 
stood  by  was  Sir  Moxle  Finch  a  well  known  and  honourable 
knight,  the  ladies  sonne  in  law.  .  .  .  The  lady  recovered  ; 
nor  can  I  in  this  tell  an  untruth,  there  being  many  yet  living, 
uho  could  reprove  me." 

There  appears  to  have  been  only  one  Christian  martyr 
recorded  by  Foxe  as  coming  from  Waltham  Abbey,  and  he 
was  a  smith  of  the  age  of  twenty-four  years.  He  was  first 
charged  with  heresy  by  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Essex, 
then  sent  to  Colchester  Castle,  thence  to  London,  and  was 
burnt  at  Stratford,  in  the  county  of  Essex,  with  twelve  others, 
in  J.une,  1556.  His  name,  trade,  and  place  of  abode  are 
recorded  in  the  first  edition  of  the  "Acts  and  Monuments," 
thus : — "  Milliara  ||JBlUto*lI  has  a  Jmtitjj  of  %  |)&ns{;t  of  Malt* (jam 
Jjolk  rrosse,  ano  of  ijje  aq*  of  24  gearts  or  turnabouts."  The  name 
of  "  Halliwell "  is  variously  spelt  ;  it  occurs  twice  in  the  old 
parish  registers  of  Waltham,  but  is  more  frequently  to  be  met 
with  in  the  Parish  Registers  of  Cheshunt,  Herts,  (an  ad- 
joining parish  to  Waltham). 

In  1571  a  second  edition  of  Foxe's  Acts  and  Monu- 
ments appeared,  "contayning  the  Actes  and  Monumentes 
of  thinges  passed  in  every  Kynges  time  in  this  realm," 
&c.  In  the  "  Stationers'  Register "  is  an  entry  under  date 
1570,  which  is  believed  to  refer  to  the  death  of  one  of  the 
family  :  "  Recevyd  of  Mistres  foxe  for  the  herse  cloth — xijd  " 
Mr.  Arber  writes,  "  May  this  be  taken  as  evidence  of  John 
Foxe's  death  ?  "  Certainly  not  the  martyrologist's,  for  there 
is  an  abundant  proof  that  he  died  in  1587.  In  1570-1  Foxe 
made  his  home  in  "  Grubb  Street,  London."  On  the  2nd  of 
June,  1572,  he  attended  his  patron,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk, 
to  the  place  of  execution,  accompanied  by  Sir  Henry  Lee 
and  Dr.  Nowell,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's.  The  duke  so  much 

D 


34    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

respected  Foxe  that  he  granted  him  an  annuity  of  £20. 
The  next  year  the  works  of  Barnes,  Tyndale,  and  Frith, 
collected  and  edited  by  Foxe,  were  issued  from  the  press. 
In  1576  the  third  edition  of  the  "Book  of  Martyrs"  ap- 
peared, consisting  of  2,008  folios.  We  are  informed  that 
the  martyrologist  still  continued  to  collect  fresh  materials  for 
a  new  and  improved  edition  of  his  work,  as  well  as  attend  to 
the  duties  of  the  ministry.  About  this  time  he  published 
an  excellent  treatise  on  "Justification/'  with  an  address  to 
Osorius,  who  died  in  1580.  In  the  year  1586  his  health 
began  to  decline,  and  this  is  not  surprising  considering  his 
many  arduous  labours.  An  intimation  of  the  fact  is  recorded 
by  his  wife  to  her  son  Samuel,  who  had  lately  returned  home 
from  a  tour  on  the  Continent. 

"  Samuell,  we  have  us  comended  unto  you,  desyringe  the 
Lorde  Jesus  to  blesse  youe.  Conserninge  the  Boucke  which 
you  wryghte  for,  the  Boucke  of  Martyrs,  your  father  wolde 
have  youe  to  wryte  to  the  fellowe  of  Salsberye  to  knowe  yf  he 
wyll  staye  tell  the  Boucke  comme  forthe,  which  is  halfe  dun 
all  redye,  and  wyl  be  better  a  gret  dell ;  and  for  the  cronycle, 
yt  wyll  not  be  longe  before  you  comme  hyther  yourselfe ;  for 
I  promyse  youe  I  have  no  money,  for  I  have  borred  x££  all 
redye ;  and  for  the  boucke  which  youe  wold  haue  of  youre 
father's,  I  cannot  fynde  yt  in  his  stoudye.  As  for  youre  father 
he  is  so  weicke  yt  he  cannot  gooe  into  his  stoudye,  therfore  I 
praye  youe  to  praye  for  him ;  we  wer  with  youre  Aunte 
Randall  for  the  letter  of  attorneye,  and  she  wyll  not  doo  yt 
withowte  her  Brother  Harryes  counsayle,  and  he  is  not  at 
home  as  yet.  But  she  hath  sent  youe  a  Letter.  No  more 
to  youe.  But  the  Lorde  Jesus  blesse  youe  and  us  all. 
Amen.  Your  lovinge  mother. 

"AGGNES  FOXE." 

John  Foxe  adds  a  postscript  to  this  letter  : — 

"Samuell  I  marvell  that  you  were  so  unwyse  to  blabbe 
out  anything  of  ye  bok  of  ye  Apocalypse  to  Doct  Humfrey. 
Such  is  my  weaknes  now,  and  hath  been  thys  moneth,  y1  I 
can  nether  eate,  sleape,  nor  wryte,  nor  goo  up  yett  to  my 


JOHN    FOXE.  35 

study,  whereby  ye  boke  standeth  yett  att  a  stay,  in  prynting. 
The  Lord  knoweth  how  I  shall  goo  forward  eyther  for 
fynyshyng  ye  boke  or  dedication  thereof.  Whereof  I  pray 
you  to  make  no  words  to  any  person.  Pray  to  ye  L.  Jesus 
for  me.  He  graunt  you  hys  blessyng."  *  It  may  have  been 
about  that  period  that  John  Foxe,  as  we  are  told  in  his 
memoir,  spoke  severely  to  his  son  respecting  the  "  foreign 
and  somewhat  fantastical  garb  "  in  which  he  appeared  on  his 
arrival  at  home  from  his  long  absence  abroad.  His  father 
addressed  him  thus: — "  Who  are  you  ?  "  "  Sir,  I  am  your  son, 
Samuel."  "  Oh,  my  son  ! "  said  the  father,  "  what  enemy  of 
thine  hath  taught  thee  so  much  vanity  ?  " 

The  time  had  now  arrived  for  John  Foxe  to  quit  this  scene 
of  mortal  suffering  ;  but  none  of  his  sons  appear  to  have  been 
made  acquainted  with  the  solemn  fact.  And  it  was  Foxe's 
intention  that  they  should  not  be  let  into  this  secret,  that  a 
sight  of  his  physical  sufferings  should  not  augment  their 
sorrows.  It  seems  that  a  short  time  before  his  death  he 
desired  Samuel,  his  son,  to  go  a  three  days'  journey  about 
some  important  matter,  and  his  sons  Simeon  and  Robert  he 
requested  should  not  be  sent  for.  Samuel  records  in 
his  diary  that  "  in  Easter  holidays  my  father  died,"  viz., 
April  1 8th,  1587,  at  his  residence  in  London.  Good  old 
Fuller  notes  that  Foxe  "  was  not  nipt  in  the  bud,  nor 
blasted  in  the  blossom,  nor  blown  down  when  green,  nor 
gathered  when  ripe  ;  but  even  fell  of  his  own  accord,  when 
altogether  withered.  As  for  the  time  of  his  death,  take  it 
from  his  own  epitaph  on  his  monument,  which  for  the 
beauty  thereof  bears  better  proportion  to  the  outward  mean- 
ness than  to  the  inward  merit  of  his  person,  there  entombed 
in  St.  Giles's  Church,  Cripplegate. 


*  Harl.  MSS.,  416,  f.  146. 


36    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 
"CHRISTO   S.    S. 

JOHANNI  FOXO  ECCLESLE  ANGLICANS  MARTYROLOGO 
FIDELISSIMO,  ANTIQUITATIS  HISTORIC^  INDAGATORI 
SAGACISSIMO,  EVANGELIC^  VERITATIS  PROPUGNATORI 
ACERRIMO,  THAUMATURGO  ADMIRABILI  ;  Qui  MARTYRES 
MARIANOS,  TANQUAM  PHCENICES,  EX  CINERIBUS 
REDIVIVOS  PR^STITIT.    PATRI  Suo,  OMNI  PIETATIS 
OFFICIO  IMPRIMIS  COLENDO,  SAMUEL  Foxus,  ILLIUS 
PRIMOGENITUS,   Hoc   MONUMENTUM  POSUIT,  NON  SINE 
LACHRYMIS. 

OBIIT  DIE  18  MENS.  APRIL.  AN.  DOM.  1587. 

JAM  SEPTUAGENARIUS, 
VITA  VIT^E  MORTALIS  EST,  SPES  VIT^E  IMMORTA.LIS." 

Fuller  has  epitomized  the  life  of  Foxe  in  a  few  quaint  and 
pithy  lines,  which  are  as  follow : — 

"  Rare  Fox  (well  furr'd  with  patience)  lived  a  life 
In  's  youthful  age  devoted  unto  strife  ; 
For  the  blind  Papists  of  those  frantic  times 
Esteem'd  his  virtues  as  his  greatest  crimes. 
The  hot  pursuit  of  their  full  crying  hounds 
Forced  him  to  fly  beyond  the  lawless  bounds 
Of  their  hot-scented  malice  :  though  their  skill 
Was  great  in  hunting,  yet  our  Fox  was  still 
Too  crafty  for  them  ;  though  they  ranged  about 
From  place  to  place,  they  could  not  find  him  out : 
And  when  they  saw  their  plots  could  not  prevail 
To  bless  their  noses  with  his  whisking  tail, 
They  howl'd  out  curses,  but  could  not  obtain  ; 
Their  prey  being  fled,  their  curses  proved  in  vain. 
From  whence  I  think  this  proverb  came  at  first,  — 
'  Most  thrives  the  Fox  that  most  of  all  is  curst.' "  * 

John  Foxe's  beloved  wife  Agnes  long  survived  him,t  and  it 
is  believed  that  she  was  buried  in  the  same  church,  from  the 
fact  that  the  Cripplegate  Church  Registers  record  the  burial  of 
"  Mother  Fox,"  April  22nd,  1605. 

*  Fuller's  "  Abel  Redivivus,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  87. 

f  In  1592  Mrs.  Foxe  was  living  in  Grub  Street.     See  Lansd.  MSS.,  819. 


JOHN   FOXE.  37 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  advantage  which  has  been 
realized  by  the  Christian  Church  from  the  writings  of  John 
Foxe,  especially  from  his  "  Book  of  Martyrs,"  which  for  its 
popularity  and  usefulness  may  be  placed  side  by  side  with 
the  universally  accepted  "  Pilgrim's  Progress."  But  no  book 
has  met  with  a  more  fierce  and  merciless  race  of  critics 
than  the  "  Acts  and  Monuments  "  of  the  Church.  The  perse- 
cuting Harpsfield  under  the  name  of  Alan  Cope,  and  Staple- 
ton  were  among  the  martyrologist's  greatest  antagonists.  And 
the  same  spirit  manifests  itself  in  the  writings  of  such  men  as 
Parsons,  Collier,  Milner,  Churton,  Maitland,  Tyler,  Tytler,  and 
a  host  of  others.  While  Foxe  found  himself  surrounded  by 
a  host  of  enemies,  so,  on  the  contrary,  he  enjoyed  the 
company  of  many  friends  who  assisted  him  in  his  work. 
The  learned  Bullinger  who  read  the  Latin  edition  of  1559, 
says  in  a  letter  to  Foxe, — "  I  am  devotedly  attached  to 
you  on  account  of  your  piety  and  learning,  but  chiefly  for 
your  Book  of  Martyrs  of  England."  Strype  remarks  that 
Foxe's  Martyrology  was  of  such  value  to  the  Christian 
readers  and  to  the  service  of  our  religion  reformed,  that  it 
was  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  enjoined  to  be  set  up  in  some 
convenient  place  in  all  the  parish  churches  together  with  the 
Bible,  and  Bishop  Jewel's  defence  of  the  Church  of  England.* 
During  the  tyrannical  government  of  Laud,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  the  "  Book  of  Martyrs  "  was  removed  from  the 
churches.  In  the  churchwardens'  accounts  of  the  parish  of 
Waltham,  under  date  1634-5, we  find  that  this  church  possessed 
a  copy  of  Foxe's  work  in  three  volumes  folio  ;f  but  after  that 
date  no  mention  is  made  of  the  Book  of  Martyrs,  which  proves 
the  truth  of  Laud's  severity.  The  entry  in  the  above  accounts 
runs  thus: — "  1634-5.  Certain  ornaments  and  other  necessaries 
left  in  the  church  wl  Thomas  Dickerson  church  Clarke  as 
followeth.  One  sirplus,  one  ell  of  towen  cloath  to  keep  it  in. 
One  bible,  three  books  of  Marties,  one  booke  of  Mr.  Juewle's 
workes,"  &c.  Before  this  time  "  by  the  seventh  injunction  of 

*  Annals,  Vol.  Ill,,  p.  503. 

t  This  edition  was  published  1632.     Athena  Oxon,  vol.  i.  531. 


38    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Edward  VI.  each  parish  was  ordered  to  purchase  the  Para- 
phrase of  Erasmus  on  the  Gospels,*  to  be  set  in  a  convenient 
place  in  the  church."  In  the  Register  of  Waltham  we  find 
"  Item,  paid  for  half  the  book  called  Paraphrase,  55." 

On  May  6th,  33  Hen.  VIII.,  a  new  impression  of  the  Bible 
was  finished  ;  and  the  king  ordered  by  proclamation  that  all 
curates  and  parishioners  should  set  up  in  every  parish  church 
a  Bible  of  the  greater  volume,  that  the  people  might  read 
therein  before  All  Hallowtide,  under  the  penalty  of  forfeiting 
forty  shillings  a  month  after  that  time.  Burnet  observes 
"  that  Bishop  Bonner,  seeing  the  king  wished  it,  set  up  six 
great  Bibles  in  St.  Paul's,  and  upon  each  of  the  pillars  to 
which  they  were  chained  was  placed  an  exhortation  to  the 
people  to  conduct  themselves  with  all  devotion,  humility,  and 
quietness,  but  not  to  draw  multitudes  about  them,  nor  to  make 
exposition  of  what  they  read,  nor  to  read  aloud,  nor  to  make 
noise  in  time  of  service."  The  people,  it  seems,  came  to  hear 
the  Scriptures  read,  and  such  as  could  read,  and  had  clear 
voices,  came  frequently  with  a  great  number  of  persons  who 
were  anxious  to  listen.  In  the  Cott.  MSS.,  British  Museum,  is 
a  proclamation  in  the  king's  own  hand  against  persons  calling 
each  other  Papist,  and  heretic,  and  also  against  reading  the 
Bible  in  English  aloud  in  churches  during  mass,  but  allowing 
the  congregation  to  read  to  themselves.f  The  "Acts  and 
Monuments "  appear  to  have  given  even  greater  offence  to 
the  Papists  than  the  Bible.  Oldmixon  the  historian  writes, 
"  No  book  ever  gave  such  a  mortal  wound  to  Popery  as  this 
Book  of  Martyrs,"  and  we  believe  it.  The  faithfulness  of 
Foxe  is  attested  by  Archbishop  Parker  in  his  writings  of  1571. 
This  prelate  caused  the  Bible  and  the  Book  of  Martyrs  to  be 
kept  in  halls  and  dining-rooms  of  bishops  and  other  dignitaries. 
There  are  many  testimonies  which  give  weight  and  worth  to 
the  book,  such  as  those  found  in  the  writings  of  Whitgift, 
Grindall,  Camden,  Fuller,  Burnet,  Strype,  Soames,  Smythe, 

*  At  the  dissolution  of  the  Abbey  of  Waltham,  temp.  Hen.  VIII.,  this 
church  possessed  "  two  Gospels  in  the  Saxon  tongue." 
f  See  Ogbourn's  Hist.  Essex,  191. 


JOHN   FOXE.  39 

Jenkyns,  Waldgrave,  and  others.  This  last-mentioned  writer 
observes  that  "  The  convocation  of  the  English  clergy  did 
wisely  when,  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth,  they  enacted  that  every 
parish  church  should  be  furnished  with  a  copy  of  Foxe's 
'  Book  of  Martyrs.'  For — chained,  perchance,*  lest  it  should 
be  lost,  but  unclasped  that  all  who  would  might  read — that 
chronicle  kept  well  in  the  people's  memory  the  character  of 
the  apostasy,  from  which  they  had  been  rescued  at  the  Refor- 
mation. 

The  authorship  of  the  memoir  of  John  Foxe  prefixed  to 
the  volume  of  the  "Acts  and  Monuments,"  in  1641,  is  a  subject 
of  continued  dispute.  Some  have  attributed  it  to  the  pen  of  the 
martyrologist's  eldest  son  Samuel,  and  this  is  probably  cor- 
rect, as  he  knew  most  about  him.  Dr.  Maitland  and  others 
have  opposed  this  idea,  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  Samuel 
Foxe  died  in  1629-30,  and  that  the  memoir  was  not  published 
till  1641.  Yet  this  does  not  affect  the  possibility  of  its  being 
written  by  Samuel,  for  the  author  tells  us  that  "  he  had  written 
it  thirty  years  previously,"  which  would  bring  it  down  to 
1610-11.  And  it  was  written  for  the  writer's  own  satisfaction, 
without  any  view  to  its  being  published.  Moreover,  if  we 
compare  the  Latin  copy  in  Lansd.  MSS.  388  with  the  writings 
of  Samuel  in  Lansd.  MSS.  819  and  679,  we  find  the  hand- 
writing very  similar,  but  in  no  way  agreeing  with  that  of 
Samuel's  brother  Simeon.  The  memoir  having  been  written 
for  private  reading  will  in  some  measure  account  for  the 
writer's  inattention  to  dates  and  other  necessary  matter. 

In  the  Harleian  collection  of  manuscripts  are  many  original 
letters  written  by  several  members  of  the  Foxe  family,  which 
are  very  interesting ;  but  want  of  space  forbids  the  in- 
sertion of  the  major  part  of  them  in  these  pages ;  besides, 
many  of  them  have  already  appeared  in  print.  See  "  Church 
Historians  of  England"  (Seeley). 

*  In  the  church  of  Waltham  Abbey  the  marks  of  the  chain  are  still 
to  be  seen  on  the  pillar  near  the  South  entrance,  where  the  books  were 
fastened  for  people  to  read.  The  Book  of  Martyrs  was  then  called 
"  Monumenta  Martyrum." 


40  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

DR.  SAMUEL  FOXE. 

Dr.  Samuel  Foxe,  the  eldest  son  of  the  martyrologist,  bore 
a  very  conspicuous  part  in  the  parish  of  Waltham  Abbey  (or 
Holy  Cross),  where  he  resided  during  the  greater  portion  of  his 
life.  He  was  born  at  Norwich  on  the  last  night  of  the  year 
1560;  and  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  he  married  Anne 
Leveson,  of  Eastwell,  Kent. 

In  1587,  the  same  year  that  his  father  died,  he  was 
admitted  into  the  service  of  Sir  Thomas  Heneage,  of  Copt 
Hall,*  after  .which  he  went  abroad.  Sir  Thomas  gave  the 
Palace  of  Havering-atte- Bower  into  his  custody,  a  place 
renowned  in  history  as  a  royal  hunting  seat.  This  palace 
Sir  Thomas  received  by  grant  from  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  and  in 
this  splendid  mansion  was  born  Thomas  Foxe,  the  physician, 
February  14,  1591.  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  the  same  year 
presented  Samuel  Foxe  with  the  Clerkship  of  Epping,  an  old 
market  town  near  Waltham  Abbey.  Samuel  Foxe  still  had 
the  charge  of  Havering  Palace,  as  we  find  from  a  letter 
addressed  to  him  from  Sir  Thomas  Heneage  respecting  the 
Queen's  visit  to  that  royal  seat,  which  took  place  on  June  12, 
1594:- 

"  ffoxe,  I  mervayle  much  that  I  haue  not  hearde  any  thinge  from 
you  synce  I  sente  you  wth  my  Ire  to  Mr.  Channcellors  of  the  Exchequr, 
from  whom,  what  order  y°  have  receyved,  or  whether  any  or  none, 
towchinge  Haueringe  howse,  as  yett  I  knowe  not  nowe  for  that  the 
Queene  purposeth  to  be  there  on  the  xij  day  of  the  next  moneth. 
And  that  order  wolde  be  giuen  that  the  howse,  the  garden,  the 
walkes,  and  growndes  there,  should  bee  in  good  sorte  and  well 
trymmed  vp.  I  send  this  express  message  to  will  yo  to  come 
psentlie  vnto  mee  that  I  may  vnderstand  the  defecte  and  give 
order  for  that  busynesse  whereof  ther  wolde  be  espetiall  care  taken. 
At  the  Courte  the  xxij  of  Maye,  1594. 

"  Yor  louinge 

"  Mr-  T.  HENEAGE." 

*  The  Princess  Mary  (afterwards  Queen)  resided  for  some  time  at 
Copt  Hall.  She  writes  to  King  Edward  VI.  from  her  "  poore  howse  at 
Copped  Hall,  igth  August,  1551." 


DR.   SAMUEL  FOXE.  41 

In  this  letter  are  noted  the  names  of  the  places  where  her 
Majesty  visited  in  her  journey  to  Havering,  viz., — 

"  1594  Tewsdaye  ye  28th  of  Maye  from  Greenwich  to  Lambeth  there 

all  night. 

Wednesday  the  29  from  Lambeth  to  Wimbleton  ther  Thurs- 
day &  Friday. 
Saterday  ye  i  of  June  from  Wimb.  to  Osterley  ther  Sonday  & 

Moonday. 
Tewsdaye  the  forth  from  Osterly  to  Hendon  ther  Wednesday 

&  Thursday. 

Friday  the  7th  from  Hendon  to  Barnet. 
Saturday  the  8th  from  Barnet  to  Theobalds  ther  Sonday  & 

Moonday. 

Tewsday  the  n'h  from  Theobalds  to  Lugsborow. 
Wednesdaye  the  twelfthe  to  Havering  ther  Thurs  :  Frid  :  Sat : 

Sunday. 
Moonday  the  1 7th  from  Hauering  to  Claybery,  Mrs-  Warrens, 

ther  Tewsday. 
Wednesday  the   i9th  from  Claybery  to  Tottenham  or  Hakney 

ther  Thursday. 
Saterday  to  Greenwich." — Lansd.  MSS.  819,  fol.  24. 

About  this  time  Samuel  Foxe  settled  down  in  his  quiet  and 
picturesque  homestead  at  Warlies,  Waltham  Abbey. 

In  this  ancient  manse  was  born  John  Foxe,  son  of 
Samuel  (second  of  that  name),  also  Robert  Foxe,  afterwards 
known  as  a  captain  in  the  navy.  Jane  and  Sarah  Foxe  were 
born  there.  This  youngest  daughter  died  June  23,  and  was 
buried  on  the  26th  of  the  same  month  in  "  Waltham  Church, 
by  my  pue  dore." 

In  the  Lansd.  MSS.  819,  fol.  8,  is  a  letter  concerning  Foxe's 
estates  at  Tiverton,  written  by  Rychard  Duck  (or  Duke),  dated 
December  23,  1592  and  addressed  "To  his  lovinge  frynd 
Mr.  Samvell  fox  att  Copthale  or  elsewhear."  In  the  will  of 
Dr.  Samuel  Foxe  dated  at  Warlies,  June  29,  1622,  he 
bequeaths  this  estate  to  his  beloved  wife  Anne,  and  after  her 
death  to  his  eldest  son  Thomas  and  his  heirs.  She  only 
survived  her  husband  about  a  year  and  four  months,  and  was 


42    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

buried  in  Waltham  Church.  To  Robert  was  given  the  sum 
of  £300,  also  his  father's  best  horse,  armour,  and  wearing 
apparel.  To  Thomas,  the  eldest  son,  being  probably  more  of 
a  literary  character  than  Robert,  was  given  the  library  of 
books  and  writings  of  his  father.  No  doubt,  as  Samuel  was 
the  eldest  son  of  John  Foxe,  he  possessed  most  of  his  father's 
MSS.,  which  have  now  found  a  lodgment  in  the  national 
repository  of  learned  curiosities,  the  British  Museum.* 

Strype  writes,  "  I  have  been  conversant  in  what  remaineth  of 
the  papers  of  John  Fox,  communicated  to  me  by  the  favour 
of  my  good  friend  William  Willys  of  Hackney,  Esq.,  among 
which  there  is  a  manuscript  life  of  Cranmer  ;  t  annals  writ  by 
an  Augustine  monk  of  Canterbury,  from  the  year  1532  to 
1538  ;  many  letters  of  Fox,  and  other  learned  men  to  him, 
relating  to  the  affairs  or  afflictions  of  the  Church  in  those 
times  ;  and  abundance  more,  too  long  here  to  be  inserted. 
I  have  had  also  the  use  of  numerous  MSS.  of  ecclesiastical 
affairs  sometime  belonging  to  the  famous  martyrologist  John 
Fox,  and  that  by  the  kindness  of  a  gentleman  that  was 
executor  to  the  said  Fox's  last  descendant  deceased." 

By  "  Foxe's  last  descendant,"  Strype  meant  Sir  Thomas  Fox 
Willys,  Bart,  who  died  a  lunatic  in  1701,  and  by  the  latter's 
"  executor,"  his  cousin  William  Willys,  named  in  the  preface 
of  the  Memorial  of  Cranmer.  The  mother  of  Sir  Thomas 
Fox  Willys  was  Alice,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Thomas  Foxe, 
of  Waltham  Abbey.  J 

In  1628  Samuel  Foxe  writes  from  his  "Cell  at  Warlies,"  §  to 
his  brother  Simeon  Foxe,  a  physician  in  London,  respecting 
the  marriage  portion  of  his  son  Thomas  ;  in  January  of  1629- 
30  he  died,  at  a  good  age ;  and  his  remains  were  buried  in 
the  Abbey  Church  of  Waltham  on  the  i6th  of  the  same 
month.  To  this  church  he  bequeathed  the  sum  of  £5. 
Mr.  William  Lovel  resided  at  Warlies  after  the  death  of 

*  Harl.  MSS.,  416  to  426. 

f  See  Camden  Society  Publications. 

J  See  "  Narratives  of  the  Reformers,"  Camden  Society. 

§  In  this  letter  he  mentions  his  cousin  Isaac  Foxe  of  Lincolnshire. 


DR.   SAMUEL   FOXE.  43 

Samuel  Foxe.  In  the  Register  there  is  an  entry  of  the 
death  of  this  gentleman, — "  1656.  Mr.  Lovel,  Squire,  died  at 
Worleys,  April  28."  After  the  Foxe  family  had  removed 
from  Warlies,  the  estate  was,  early  in  the  last  century, 
occupied  by  Richard  Morgan,  and  in  1760  George  Carter 
resided  there.  His  wife  Julia  was  a  relative  of  the  Willys 
family.  This  lady  erected  a  handsome  monument  of  marble 
in  Waltham  Church  to  the  memory  of  her  father  and  mother  ; 
the  inscription  runs  thus  : — "  To  the  memory  of  James  Spill- 
man,  Esq.,  F.R.S.,  many  years  Director  of  the  Bank  of 
England,  and  a  Commissioner  of  Greenwich  Hospital,  died 
21  November,  1763  ;  and  of  Hester  his  wife,  one  of  the  sisters 
and  co-heiresses  of  Sir  William  Willys,  of  Fen  Ditton,  in  the 
county  of  Cambridge,  who  departed  this  life  August  3rd,  1761. 
This  Monument  was  erected  by  their  only  child  Julia,  wife  of 
George  Carter,  of  Warlies,  in  this  county."  Late  in  the  last 
century  the  estate  of  Warlies  was  held  by  the  daughter  of 
Mr.  George  Carter,  from  whom  it  passed  into  the  possession 
of  William  Banbury,  who  died  June  24th,  1850,  aged  eighty- 
three.  Sir  Thomas  Fowell  Buxton,  Bart.,  is  the  present 
owner  of  the  estate.  This  beautiful  mansion  of  Warlies 
stands  on  low  ground  surrounded  by  an  extensive  park  (250 
acres),  well  studded  with  fine  old  oak  and  elm  trees.  Its 
situation  is  in  the  hamlet  of  Upshire,  about  two  miles  E.  by  N. 
of  the  town  of  Waltham  Abbey. 

An  Account  of  Samuel  Fox,  extracted  from  his  Diary.* 

"  Anno  Dni  1560  in  ye  third  yeare  of  ye  reigne  of  Q.  Elizabeth,  the 
last  daye  of  the  years  being  Newe  years  cue  in  ye  night  I  was  born 
at  Norwiche  wher  I  remained  Anno  1561,  &  62,  untill  I  was  three 
years  old.  From  thennce  I  was  brought  up  to  London ;  my  father 
then  dwelling  at  the  Dukes  House  wher  I  went  to  schole  first  wth 
Mr.  Ruddoke  then  wth  one  Gisborn  &  lastly  wth  Mr.  Heron  & 
Muncaster.f  In  my  infancy  I  can  remember  the  insurrection  in  the 
North,  the  death  of  ye  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  beginning  of  ye  wars  in 

*  Lansd.  MSS.,  679. 

f  He  was  sent  to  Merchant  Taylors'  School.  See  Wilson's  history 
of  that  school. 


44    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

ye  lowe  country ;  the  batayle  fought  by  sea  between  the  great  Turk  & 
ye  Venetians. 

"Being  14  years  of  age  anno  1574  I  was  sent  to  Oxford  wher  I 
was  elected  Demi  in  Magdalen  College  &  so  remained  7  years. 
Anno  1576  I  went  to  France.  Anno  1581  I  was  chosen  probationer 
in  Magdalen  College  and  being  repelled  by  a  contrary  faction  was 
restored  by  the  Queene's 'ters  mandatory.  Anno  1583  on  Ester-daye 
I  went  out  of  England  into  Germany  where  I  studied  at  Lipsia  a 
year.*  Anno  1584  I  went  to  Basilca  in  Helvetia  &  after  a  half  years 
abroad  ther  passed  over  the  Alps  into  Italy  wher  I  remayned  a  year 
£  a  half  &  so  returning  home  through  Fraunce  I  came  into  England 
in  ye  end  of  June  1586.  At  my  return  from  beyond  ye  seas  my 
father  gave  me  the  lease  of  Shipton-under-Wichwood.  Anno  1587 
in  Ester  holydayes  my  father  died,  as  may  more  exactly  appeare  by 
his  monument  erected  by  me  near  his  buriing  place  in  a  wall  of  ye 
chancell  at  St.  Giles  Creplegate.  The  same  yeare  I  tooke  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  at  Oxford.  The  same  yeare  I  was  entertayned  into 
Sir  Thomas  Henneage  service  being  then  made  vicechamberlain. 
Anno  1588  I  was  sent  over  to  Hambrough.  Anno  1589  I  was 
married  to  Ann  Luson  at  Estwell  in  Kent,  in  Sir  Moyle  Finches 
house  being  the  15  of  August  when  were  only  present  Sir  Moyle 
Finch  &  his  Lady  my  Lady  Hennage,  Mr.  Ashworth  &  his  wife,  & 
Mr.  Stubbs  ye  Minister.  Anno  1590  ye  last  daye  of  ye  moneth  & 
year  being  newe  years  eaue  &  the  same  day  30  years  wereon 
myself  was  borne,  was  born  into  this  world  my  leenest  daughter  Ann 
at  Shipton  in  the  parlor  chamber  in  ye  personage  house,  between 
two  &  thre  of  the  clock  in  ye  morning  whos  godfather  was  Sr  Moile 
Finch,  godmothers,  my  Lady  Henneage  &  Mrs.  Barrett.  Hauering 
house. 

"Anno  1590  I  had  my  dawnter,  I  had  also  geuen  me  the  lease  of 
St.  Jeames  in  Corn  well,  of  Kings  College  in  Cambridge  f  I  surrendred 
my  place  in  Magdalen  Coll :  in  Oxford  for  wch  I  had  7  sib  &  a  promise 
of  the  manor  of  Caukett  hall  in  Loueland  wch  I  surrendred  to  Kemp 

*  A  fuller  account  of  this  journey  is  given  by  Foxe  in  another  part  of 
the  MS. 

f  "  A  note  of  the  particulers  of  certen  parcells  of  land,  parcell  of  the 
Mannor  and  Priori  of  St.  James,  neare  the  cittie  of  Exon,  to  be  procured 
from  Mr.  Fox,  Mr.  Vichamberlyn's  man,  whose  intrest  is  for  ]  7  yeres,  to 
begyne  at  Michelmasse  next."— Lansd.  MSS.,  819,  fol.  72. 


DR.   SAMUEL   FOXE.  45 

the  tenant  for  12583. — Burges  of  ye  parliam.  the  keping  of  Clavering 
house. 

"Anno  1591  was  geuen  me  of  my  master  the  receauership  of  the 
highe  Peake  in  Darbyshire  wch  I  sold  Wlm  Crowshlowe  for  golb. 

"  I  bought  beacon  house  of  Richard  Copland  for  50!).  My  Lady 
procured  me  ye  clearkship  of  ye  mercat  at  Epping.  I  had  the  lease 
geuen  me  of  Shepley  &  Burton  in  Northumberland. 

"Anno  1592  I  went  twise  into  Lankashire  about  the  manor  of 
Halton  &  throughe  Westmerland  &  comberland  all  along  the 
middle  merches  to  Barwick  &  into  Scottland." 

Continuation  of  Samuel  Foxe's  Travels  (Lansd.  MSS.  679). 

"  Anno  1583  mense  April  di  Primo  Pasthatis  stilo  veteri.  I  set  out 
of  Lee  in  England  to  pass  for  Germany  wher  entring  into  the  river 
Albis  or  Elu  I  arrived  to  Hamburg  a  cytie  of  ye  Land  of  Saxony 
from  whence  I  trayvayled  through  LVNEBVRG,  BROUNSWIK, 
ASSCANIA,  HALUERSTAT,  HALAND  so  to  LIPSIK  wher  I  remayned 
almost  a  year  visitinge  Juliberg  and  Torga,  ye  year  following  84.  In 
Marche  I  left  Misnia  and  Saxnia  and  passing  through  Thuringia, 
Hassia  ye  Palatinat  of  Rhein  and  Elsatia  into  Heluetia  I  saw  thes 
places.  From  Lipsik  to  Lytsen,  Wissenfelt,  Merspurg,  Namburg, 
Friburg  and  passing  the  river  Sala  we  cam  to  Erford  a  great  and 
ancient  cyty  sumtim  an  vniuersiti  and  so  to  Gotha  wch  was  beseaged 
and  sakked  of  the  Princes  of  Germany.  Isenach  wher  Lutherus  was 
in  exile  calinge  it  his  Pathnms,  Sumsea,  Berga,  Hirstat,  Anle,  Elsfele, 
Rumrode,  Groningburg,  Fridenberg,  Francfort  on  ye  Mayn  wher 
resting  vntil  the  mart  was  out  I  encountred  wth  Mr.  Parnis,  Thornton, 
Osborn  and  others,  merchants  of  England  wth  Mr.  Anthony  Mely 
passing  for  fraunc  wth  Gent  and  Chamberlayn  cominge  out  of  Italy 
and  the  graue  of  Falestein  after  to  Langa,  Arheton,  Tornsteat, 
Bersheam,  Ladeburg  wher  passing  the  river  Neccarus  we  sawe  Spire 
and  parted  vp  the  river  Rheims  to  Edenlie,  Mylburg.  Stolhof  newly 
reedified  Lenctenan,  Bisshofser,  Strasburg  passing  ouer  the  longe 
wodden  bridge  vieuing  the  steple  and  churches  wth  the  diall,  from 
thenc  to  Margelshem  and  Brisak  out  the  Rhein  and  Friburg  in 
Brisgaw  we  cam  to  Basil  wher  I  bourded  wth  Jacob  Grineus,  found 
ther  John  Slead  and  after  Haws  englishe  men  of  Canbrige.  In 
lytle  Basil  in  the  Carthusians  Closter  in  choro  sepultus  jacet  Thomas 
Poltonus  cpiscopus  Vigornensis  objit  1533,  tempore  consitii  Basiliensi 


46    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

eui  ipse  cu.  Episcopo  Rqffensi  intererat.  .Not  far  from  Basil  is  the 
ruings  of  Augusta  Rauracorn  and  at  Turnach  was  a  battle  fought 
betwen  the  swizers  and  the  lions  of  Austria.  Hauing  remayned  at 
Basil  all  the  soramer  I  passed  to  Rheinfeld,  Brug  vpon  Arna 
Kiningsfeld  wher  the  duke  Leopoldus  of  the  house  of  Austria  slayne 
of  the  swize  in  the  battel  fought  bi  Sembach  lieth  buried.  Baden 
vpon  Limat  wher  the  warme  bathes  bee  and  the  whyt  doue 
Wettingen  an  abbey  therby.  Zurich  or  Figurn  vpon  ye  lake  wonder- 
ful pleasant.  Shafhaus  wher  the  Cataracte  of  the  River  Rhein  fall 
by  ye  Castle  Lawsen  Cosnit  or  Constantia  on  the  Boder  sea  or  Lacu 
Podamico  wher  a  councel  was  holden  and  Ihon  Hus  was  burned, 
from  Constantia  ouer  the  lakes  to  Vberlinge  Fullendorf  and  passing 
ouer  the  nuer  Tanan  or  Danubius  we  came  to  Vlma  a  statly  cyty 
wher  restinge  thre  or  foure  dayes  we  sawe  Fuckerorn  hortos,  the 
einlass  wher  they  receaue  the  post  at  nyght,  the  conduct  of  water. 
From  thence  takinge  post  for  Venice  we  passed  by  Latsberg  and  Etall 
a  monastery  and  so  passinge  the  alps  we  came  to  Sea  selt  wher  a 
myracle  is  to  be  scan  of  a  gentleman  wch  desiring  the  preist  to  give 
him  maiorem  hostiam  then  to  the  rest  sunke  and  imprinted  his 
fingers  in  the  alter,  at  last  we  cam  to  Isbruk  or  Anopontem  wher 
Ferdinandus  deepethe  cour  we  saw  also  by  the  way  the  rode  wher 
Maximilianus  primus  set  up  a  crucifix,  from  Isbruke  ouer  the  prenner 
wald  to  Sterteingen,  Brixen,  Kswasen  Botzen,  wher  I  was  endangered 
wth  my  dogg  and  so  by  Newmarket  to  Trent,  from  Trent  to  Augsburg 
49  miles.  From  Trent  to  Castelfranc,  Trensio,  Maiswes,  Magera, 
Venice.  At  Venice  are  My  lord  Prior,  Dr.  Parkins,  Thomas  Cielo 
Th :  Lanclot  Rowlandson,  Nicholas  ye  scot,  Gittry  luter,  Ther  wear 
also  my  L.  Pagat  our  Mr.  Marshal  &  Gile  Gregory  master  of  a  ship. 
From  Venice  I  went  unto  Padua  by  Lucificina  &  so  vp  ye  brenta. 

At  my  cominge  to  Padua  I  found  Englishmen  ther,  Mr.  Griffin, 
Richard  Willoby,  Bruss  Middilton  ;  ther  came  after  Mr.  J.  Wrath,  Mr. 
W.  Cicell,  and  J.  Cycil,  Mr.  George  Talbot  and  Maneinge,  Herson, 
Cokk,  Loke,  Martin  Vere,  Teder  and  Preist,  Dr.  Walker  at  Padua. 
I  lodged  firste  in  Borgo  di  pione,  and  after  by  ye  Bo,  in  Ca  di  ma 
dona  Magdalene  Tedesea.  I  came  to  Padua  ye  13  of  October,  mem. 
ye  19  of  the  same.  At  my  being  ether  I  went  to  Venice  upon 
Assention  day  to  see  the  tresure  and  the  spowsinge  of  the  sea.  At 
my  abode  ther  ther  fell  hayl  upon  magdalen  eaue  of  14  ounces  a 
peace.  Ther  saw  I  also  the  princes  of  Japan.  In  the  same  year 


DR.   SAMUEL  FOXE.  47 

Pope  Gregory  13  died  and  was  suffected.  Cardinal  Montalto  called 
Sixtus  V.  At  the  same  time  died  Nicholas  di  Ponte  duke  of  Venice 
was  suffected  Pasqualis  Cyggonia.  In  Judge  the  bandits  wear  nobled 
&  conte  Pepoli  a  great  ma  of  Bologna  strangled.  The  duke  of  Guise 
rose  agaynst  the  Hugonots. 

Anno  1585  Arundel  taken  at  sea  and  imprisoned.  Westmorland 
died  in  ye  tower  wth  ye  shott  of  a  dog.  Shelly  condemned  of  treason, 
Parry,  Throgmorton  executed.  The  earl  of  Bedford  dyethe  his 
sonne  my  L.  Russel  slayen  upon  ye  Scottishe  borders.  Antwerpe 
beseaged  and  taken  whereupon  the  castel  of  Piacenza  wch  was  before 
in  ye  kings  custodi  was  forwarded  to  ye  duke  of  Parma.  The  Q.  of 
England  taketh  upon  her  ye  protection  of  Holland  &  Zealand. 

August  7  stilo  vet,  died  myne  Vnkle  Thomas  Randall  &  James 
Collins. 

At  my  being  at  Padua  fell  also  the  nage  call  ende  of  the  two  Orsene 
&  of  Corambona  the  wiff  of  Paulo  Gordano. 

Drak  scowreth  the  seas. 

My  Lord  of  Leacester  goeth  into  Holland. 

Pope  Xixtus  maketh  8  cardinals  amonge  ye  rest  -ye  bishop  of 
Padua. 

Anno  1586  After  delivery  of  a  greavous  payne  wch  I  had  in  myne 
eyes  ye  13  of  May  stilo  nouo  I  leaft  Padua  from  whence  I  went  by 
Rodongo  through  ye  Policene  to  Terrara  mil.  50  ;  from  thence  to 
Bologna  30  at  ye  thre  &  twenty  of  Maye  I  went  by  Castelfranc  to 
Modena  m.  20  from  Modena  to  Rubrica  &  Reggio  15  m.  both 
belonginge  to  the  duke  of  Terrara.  From  Reggio  to  Parma  15  m. 
From  Parma  ouer  ye  river  Taro  to  St.  Dom,  15  m.  to  Fiorenzola  & 
Piacenza  20.  to  ye  castel  of  St.  Johan  a  Snadella  18  &  so  to  Vogera 
15  to  Tortona  10  to  Alexandria  12  thes  places  belong  to  ye  Spaniard 
&  have  Spanish  garison.  From  Alexandria  we  came  to  Asti  18  m 
and  so  by  Villa  nona  ad  chert  to  Turin  22  wher  resting  to  see  ye  duke 
of  Sauoia's  court  &  other  places  of  Piermont  as  Saluzzo  Cremanuola 
both  vnder  ye  french  kinge  &  mont  viso  called  mons  vesulus  I  leaft 
afterward  Italy  hauinge  traueled  from  Padua  to  Turin  242  mil.  After 
leuing  my  company  Sr  Carlo  Canale,  Paulo  Emilo  Martini  &  St. 
Francesco  Rocca  thre  gentlemen  of  Saulzo  I  hired  a  Maron  to  pass 
the  alps  into  France.  The  30  day  of  may  from  Turin  to  Rinara  & 
Villanara  &  St.  Ambrosio,  leges  4  by  St.  George  Tuttzole  &  Susa  a 
citie  5  leges  ouer  the  mount  Senis  to  Anneberg  7  by  Samitie,  St.  Jeni, 
St.  Johan,  Allasambra  12,  to  Montmelia  where  the  duke  kepeth  a 


48    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

strong  garison  to  Chamberi  10  1,  the  cheaf  city  of  Sauoia  wher  I  mett 
w**1  Mrs'  Swogo  passing  for  millan  wth  her  children,  at  my  being  at 
Turin  was  honourably  entertayned  ye  Venetian  Ambassador  and 
others  ye  christing  of  Alfonso  ye  dukes  young  sonne,  From  Chambery 
to  tour  du  pain  ouer  ye  mount  Gabelletta  9!  :  &  from  thence  to  Lions 
10  :  the  some  of  leges  57  make  171  m. 

Mount  Senis  deuideth  Pimont  from  Sauoia,  mot.  de  Gabelletta 
Sauoia  from  Daulfinie.  I  came  to  Lions  on  Corpus  Christi  day 
w^  was  ye  5  of  June.  Lions  liethe  vpon  two  fayre  rivers  Rhodanus 
&  Sona.  At  my  coming  into  Fraunce  ther  I  found  so  great  a  dearth 
yl  the  people  died  for  want  of  food  in  every  place  wch  caused  me  to 
hasten  ye  more  from  Lions  to  Terrara  &  Roana,  izl.  wher  meating 
Mr  Cecill  we  bought  a  bote  &  went  down  ye  soire  by  Marsinie, 
Desisa,  Neuers  34!,  La  charitie  &  Jean  George  to  Orleans  37!,  From 
Orleans  by  wagon  to  Charte  &  so  to  paris  34!.  At  paris  my  Lord 
embassador  Sr  p.  Stafford  relieued  me  wth  crowns  whereof  I  was 
destitute  by  the  excessive  dearnes  of  trauayl  in  so  great  a  dearth. 
From  Paris  17th  of  June  by  St  Dennis  to  Pontois  &  so  to  Roan  241 
&  then  to  deape  wher  wayting  for  a  wind  we  took  shep  &  ariued  at 
Rye. 

The  last  will  and  Testament  of  Samuel  Foxe.* 
Anno  Domini  1622  Junij.  29. 

In  nomine  et  omine  sacro  sanct  et  indiuiduas  Trinitatis,  Dei  patri 
et  filij  et  Spiritus  stl  et  cetere  Amen. 

I  Samuell  Fox  of  Warlees  in  the  parish  of  Waltham  holy  cross  in 
the  county  of  Essex  &c  being  in  health  and  right  understanding  at 
the  writing  hereof  (thanked  be  God)  do  ordaine  &  appoint  this  my 
deed  &  act  to  be  my  last  will  &  testament.  In  primis  I  commend  my 
soule  to  almighty  God,  &  my  body  to  a  decent  &  Christian-like 
buriall  at  the  discretion  of  my  executors  w^out  superfluous  &  un- 
necessary exequies.  Item,  I  will  that  all  my  debts  wch  I  shall  dye 
alliable  vnto,  be  satisfied  &  payd,  a  shedule  vvherof  shal  be  God 
willing  heerunto  annexed.  Item,  I  will  &  bequethetobe  distributed 
to  the  poore  inhabitants  of  Shlpton  &  Askot  in  Com.  Oxon.  5lb. 
Item  the  like  sum  of  sib.  to  the  poore  of  Waltham  h.c.  aforesaycl. 
Item  I  will  and  bequeath  to  my  louing  wife  Ann  all  my  landes  free- 
hold &  coppy  duringe  the  term  of  her  naturall  life  provided  &  after 
*  Lands.  MSS.  819,  fol.  32. 


DR.   SAMUEL  FOXE.  49 

her  death  I  will  and  bequeath  all  thos  landes  freehold  &  copiehold 
that  are  now  in  my  owne  tenure  &  occupation  viz.  All  thos  landes 
called  or  known  by  the  name  of  Warlees  wth  ye  appertinances  to- 
gether wth  ye  land  &  appertinances  lieing  at  Pikk  hill  *  belonging 
some  time  to  Woodfords  &  also  thos  fields  &  meadowes  called  Sud- 
fields  &  Sharpsfields  &  Greenes  Grove  wth  all  the  groundes,  wood- 
groundes  &  groueths  housings  orchards  &  gardins  now  in  the  tenure 
of  me  the  sayd  Samuel  &  more  particularly  specyfied  in  theyr  severall 
deeds  &  coppies,  unto  Thomas  Fox  my  eldest  sonne  for  his  life  & 
after  to  the  heyrs  of  his  body  lawefully  begotten,  &  for  lack  of  such 
heyrs  to  my  yonger  sonne  Robert  Fox  &  the  heyrs  of  his  body  law- 
fully begotten  &  for  want  of  such  issue  to  my  two  daughters  Ann 
Botteler  &  Vrsula  Wollaston  &  to  theyr  heyrs  according  to  the 
custome  of  ye  manor. 

Item  I  will  &  bequeth  to  my  yonger  sonne  Robert  Fox  my 
house  &  land  at  ye  parke  gate  wth  all  the  howsinge  barnes  stables 
medowes  pasture  woodes  &  other  appertinances  severally  specified 
in  the  coppy  of  court  roll  sometime  Edward  Greenes  &  nowe  in  the 
tenure  &  occupation  of  Wlm  Scfaggs  for  &  during  ye  life  of  my  sayd 
sonne  Robert  &  after  to  the  heyrs  of  his  body  lawfully  begotten  & 
for  want  of  such  heyrs  to  my  sonne  Thomas  aforsayd  &  his  heyrs  & 
for  want  of  such  issue  to  my  two  daughters  Ann  B.  &  Vrsula  W. 
aforesayd  &  to  theyr  heyrs  according  to  the  custome  of  the  manor 
in  suche  manner  of  entayles.  Furthermore  I  will  &  bequeth  my 
lease  of  Shipton  vnder  Wichewood  in  the  county  of  Oxon  to  the 
payment  of  my  debts  &  the  discharginge  of  suche  legacies  pentions 
&  portions  as  followe  to  be  discharged  by  my  exequtors  out  of  the 
rent  &  profitt  therof  viz. — I  will  &  bequeath  to  my  sonne  Robert 
out  of  the  rent  of  Shipton  Askot,t  Lina  or  Milton  the  sum  of  2olb 
per  annum  to  be  payd  him  by  iolb  every  half  year  at  the  vsuall  feastes 
&  times  of  ye  year  wherein  the  rents  be  payable  during  the  term  of 
his  life.  Further  I  give  &  bequeth  to  the  same  Robert  300  to  be 
paid  him  in  three  yeers  my  debts  being  first  discharged,  by  a  hundred 
pound  a  year.  Item  I  give  &  bequeth  to  my  daughter  Ann  Bot- 

*  The  farm  is  still  tenanted.     It  joins  Warlies  Park. 

t  In  fol.  20  of  the  same  MS.  occurs  the  following  entry  : — "The  ij 
daye  of  October,  Anno  Domini  1593,  Received  of  Mr.  Samuell  foxe  my 
mayster  the  some  of  V£,  for  my  halfe  yeares  wages  due  to  me  at  Mycaell- 
mas  last.  Be  me,  Jhon  Deabant,  curat  of  Ascot. 

E 


50    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

teler  2olb-  Item  I  give  and  bequeth  to  my  daughter  Vrsula  Wollaston 
2olb.     Item  I  give  &  bequeth  to  my  godson  &  grandchild  Edward 
Wollaston  sonne  to  Henry  &  Vrsula  Wollaston  2Olb.     Item  I  give 
and  bequeth  to  my  loving  brother  Dr.  Fox  20lb  thes  last  severall 
summes  to  be  leuied  and  payd  out  of  the  next  sayle  at  felling  Stokly 
Coppice  in  ye  forest  of  Wichwood  belonging  to  the  lease  of  Shipton 
aforesayd.     All  wch  summs  being  payed  my  will  is  yl  my  exequtors 
or  the  suruiuers  of  them  or  after  theyr  departure  the  next  in  order  of 
my  heyrs  as  is  set  downe  before  in  my  succession  for  my  land  shall 
have,  hold,  occupy  &  enjoye  all  the  remaynder  &  time  vnexpired  in 
the  sayd  lease  Prouided  always  that  the  sayd  lease  be  not  alienated 
or  sold  wthout  consent  of  all  parties  that  have  any  interest  or  claime 
therin    by  or  for    any  pention  or  portion  assigned  or  bequethed 
them  in  &  by  this  my  will  &  testament  vntill  the  sayd  pentions  & 
portions  all  of  them  or  euery  of  them  be  fully  &  sufficiently  con- 
tented &  payed  as  is  before  specified  &  sett  downe.     Item  I  will  & 
bequeth  to  my  sonn  Thomas  my  library  of  bookes  &  writinges  &  to 
my  sonne  Robert  my  best  horse  armour  &  apparell.     All  my  other 
goods,  cattle  furniture  stok  &  householdstuff  I  bequeath  to  my  sayd 
wife  prouided  that  she  leave  my  house  at  Warlees  to  my  heyre  fur- 
nished as  it  shall  please  God.  I  leave  it  at  ye  time  of  my  departure. 
Finally  I  do  appoint  &  ordayne  my  loved  wife  Ann  &  my  eldest  son 
Thomas  Fox  my  exequtors  &  my  brother  Simeon  Fox,  Dr.  &  Pro- 
fessor of  Physik  overseer  of  this  my  will  and  testament.     Strayghtly 
charginge  as  well  my  exequtors  as  all  other  that  are  to  have  benefitt 
by  this  my  will  especially  my  children  that  they  presume  not  to 
enterprize  any  suit  of  lawe  troble  or  molestation  one  of  ye  other, 
but  to  abide  the  aduice  councel  &  determination  of  my  sayd  overseers 
theyr  unkle  in  all  and  any  matter  concerning  any  legacy  conteyned 
herein.    And  I  give  alowance  to  him  my  sayd  overseer  of  this  my 
will  for  &  to  the  good  of  my  wife  &  children  in  his  discretion  or 
vpon  aduice  of  councel  learned  in  the  lawes  to  alter,  add,  amend,  any 
matter  of  circumstance  &  form  as  also  to  expound  &  decide  any 
doubt  therein  that  may  bread  controuersy,  the  trewe  meaning  and 
purport  heerof  &  the  good  &  profitt  of  my  wife  &  children  allewaye 
respected    Av-oyp<i<pov,    Sam :    Fox :    Anno   ^Etatis   62    Imminent 
minantq  climaterico  Monenario  septeno.     Quin  uno  Liberationem 
tuam  expecto  Dno.  simul  atq.  Jacob,  Gen  :  49.  18." 


DR.   SAMUEL   FOXE.  51 

Extracts  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Lord's  Court,  Baron 
of  the  Parish  of  Waltham  Holy  Cross,  A.D.  1605-6,  temp. 
James  I. : — 

"  May  28.  2  Jac  :  Samuell  ffox  gent  adm  :  to  a  meadow  called 
Seaffeild  meadow  (intr  apud  Male  1630)  &  to  a 
close  call :  Suffeild. 

"  May  1 6.  6  Jac  :  He  was  adm  :  to  a  meadow  called  Holies  mea- 
dow wth  ij  hedgrowes,  Cont :  1 2  a.  &  to  Pery- 
feild  the  les  cont.  4  a.  7  6  pol :  &  to  a  peece 
lyinge  in  6  pcells  cont.  20  a.  2  r.  33  poles  call : 
Peryfeild  the  great,  woodes,  &  Jolles.  i.  ixs.  id. 

"  May  20.     3  Jac  :  He  was  adm.  to  a  grove  4  a. 

"(May  20.  1 4  Jac :  Wm  Greene  adm:  to  c  ten  lands  Call:  the 
Nobles.) 

"  Junij  20.  3  Jac :  A  Rec :  agt  Samuell  fox  of  a  mess.,  ij  gards 
ij  orch :  60  a.  of  land  20  a.  of  mead  :  20  a.  of 
past :  &  5  a.  of  wood  in  Vpshire  &  Seff.  vouch : 
Wm  Symonds  sen,  &  he  vouch  :  Wm  Symonds 
Jun.  who  vouch,  the  common  vouchee. 

"A  note  of  Doctor  ffox  Cop:  such  as  he  sent  me  by  Mr. 
Wollaston." 

A  Letter  from  Samuel  Foxe  to  his  brother  Simeon  dated  from 
his  "  Cell  at  Warlies,"  Waltham  Abbey,  March  12,  1628.* 

"  Good  brother  see  how  fair  yr  loue  &  my  desire  of  furdering  my 
sonns  proceadings  in  so  laudable  a  course,  hath  transported  me 
beyond  my  owne  resolution  &  all  true  rule  eyther  sconomicall  or 
politick,  to  capitulate  wth  my  child  or  to  make  strangers  vmpires  & 
acquainted  wth  my  particulars  &  designs.  Yet  bycaus  you  hold  it 
expedient  &  I  thinke  it  also  reasonable  in  regard  of  so  fitt  a  match 
&  so  valuable  a  portion  (as  I  hear  is  offered)  that  ther  should  be  a 
manifestation  also  on  our  part  what  we  will  doe  in  counterlieu  therof. 
Take  this  from  me  wch  I  ever  intended  as  God  of  his  blessing  gaue 
him  me  &  made  him  the  first  borne  of  my  streankth  so  am  I  still 
minded  to  settle  my  poor  estate  in  &  upon  him.  viz  My  meaning  is 
after  myne  &  his  mother's  decease,  he  &  his  (if  god  send  issue)  shall 

*  Harl.  MSS.  416,  fol.  222. 


52    TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

succead  in  all  &  also  after  my  decess  be  ioynt-partner  wth  his  mother. 
Excepting  a  smale  copy  hold  (not  worth  the  speaking  of)  at  ye  parke 
gate  &  300^  in  money  &  2o£  annuity  out  of  Shipton  prebend  w°h 
I  intend  to  his  brother  Robert  for  his  better  maintenance  &  can  be 
no  great  empeachment  to  him  considering  ther  will  be  wthin  two  or 
three  yeares  as  much  wood  fellable  what  in  Stokly  Coppises  what  on 
my  ground  heer  in  Essex  (wthout  doing  any  wast)  as  shall  (I  hope) 
defraye  that  slender  exiquity.  And  for  the  cheafest  matter  on  ye 
gentlewomans  behalf  (whom  for  the  woorth  I  heer  of  her  I  much 
esteem).  I  shall  be  contented  to  make  her  a  ioynter  eyther  out  of 
land  or  lease  (as  shall  be  found  most  benficiall  for  her  behoofe  by 
her  frendes)  betwixt  a  hundred  markes  or  100  poundes  ratably  to 
proportion  of  y'  portion  she  shall  bring  wth  her.  And  for  ye  portion 
itself  I  have  given  my  sonne  free  choice  of  his  wife,  so  shall  I  be 
well  contented  without  any  defalcation  that  what  she  bringeth  shal 
redound  wholy  to  theyr  owne  proper  vse  &  employment.  Also  I 
shall  be  contented  my  sonne  continewe  the  same  maintenance  he 
hath  out  of  Shipton  lease  as  formerly.  And  as  I  have  given  way 
already  to  him  in  ye  choice  of  some  tenants  ther  &  haue  giuen  him 
a  tast  of  my  well  meaning  toward  him  in  that  parcell  of  land  wch 
descended  to  vs  from  his  ancestors  in  Lincolnshire  *  by  death  of  my 
cosinn  Isaac  Fox  so  mean  I  likewise  vpon  all  occasions  &  in  matters 
of  the  like  nature  to  be  no  less  forward  in  furdering  his  honest  in- 
deuors  &  not  only  be  a  good  father  but  a  steward  for  him,  As  for  the 
making  of  his  place  in  the  college  &  the  gratuity  he  shall  receaue  at 
ye  giuing  ouer  his  felowship  I  put  it  not  into  account  as  being  his 
owne  peculiar  as  also  his  faculty  out  of  his  education  more  worth 
then  all  I  shall  leaue  him.  Neyther  will  I  putt  into  ye  ballance  (wch 
well  I  might)  the  disburdening  him  of  his  sisters  portions  wch  should 
haue  layne  vpon  him  aboue  a  thousand  pounds  thick,  who  (I  thanke 
god)  ar  so  bestowed  yt  they  shall  be  rather  an  ease  &  a  credit  then 
any  incombrance  to  him.  Nor  yet  ye  payment  in  of  thos  debtes  wch 
I  was  then  forced  to  come  into  for  thos  &  ye  like  respects,  I  thanke 
god  I  have  cleered  all  &  doe  owe  at  this  daye  no  man  anythinge 
saucing  my  loue  &  dare  be  bold  (to  his  praise  only  be  it  spoken 
wthout  vaunt  who  hath  inabled  me)  that  ther  is  not  a  youngman  (his 

*  In  Lands.  MSS.  819,  fol.  72,  is  a  brief  account  of  "The  demayne 
lands  belonginge  unto  the  Manor  and  Lordshipp  of  Swyneshed,  in  the 
countie  of  Lincolne." 


DR.   SAMUEL   FOXE.  53 

equal)  in  this  country  y*  shall  come  to  his  heritage  (homely  though 
it  be)  more  fayrly  &  freer  then  he  shall  doe.  As  for  ye  particulars  & 
valuation  of  my  liuing  I  neither  list  nether  (I  thinke)  do  you  look  for 
y1,  I  should  sett  downe  it  weer  but  a  blazon.  I  had  rather  (when 
the  busines  is  ripe)  they  whom  it  concerneth  should  be  theyr  owne 
surueyors  or  at  lest  take  notice  of  it  by  others  report  then  mine 
owne.  For  I  doubt  not  but  themselves  (being  reasonable  men) 
will  find  it  competent  enough  &  others  will  make  it  more  then  I 
would  have  them.  Such  a  world  it  is  now  that  a  man  maye  do  one 
more  wronge  in  extolling  then  extenuating  his  hauiour.  It  weer 
good  liuing  heer  if  our  liuings  &  meanss  lay  farder  of.  In  regard 
whereof  &  some  other  respects  I  am  to  intreat  you  so  to  dispose  of 
this  brief  as  it  maye  be  to  purpose  &  for  ye  vse  only  for  wch  it  was 
intended.  If  the  preceding  goe  forward  wth  Mr  Farnabe  &  his 
daughter  I  shall  hold  it  and  keep  it  wth  them  as  my  act  and  deed : 
to  other  purposes  I  hold  my  self  disingaged.  Neyther  am  I  yet 
any  way  ielous  of  my  sonne  awful  respect  &  affection  toward  his 
parents  but  as  I  have  no  cause  to  mistrust,  so  would  I  be  loth  to 
give  any  to  tempt  him.  Too  great  a  charge  makes  the  peece  re- 
coy  11  &  benefitts  ar  so  long  gratfull  &  in  request  as  something  is 
still  in  expectancy.  But  I  leaue  all  to  yr  use  &  discreet  managing 
&  my  sonns  hopeful  &  happy  proceeding.  But  especially  to  god's 
best  guiding  wch  is  principall,  the  rest  is  all  accessory.  To  his 
keaping  sr  I  recomend  you  &  my  best  love  to  yr  self.  Fare  you 

well. 

"  Your  assured  louing  brother 

"  SAMUEL  Fox. 

"  From  my  Cell  at  Warlees  this  12  of  March  1628. 

"  I  pray  you  good  brother  send  me  something  to  purge  this 
reumm  &  melancholy,  but  I  must  remember  you  yl  Alces  agreeth 
not  wth  me.  If  this  ter  come  to  you  later  then  you  look  for  & 
the  date  it  beereth  I  am  loth  to  commit  it  to  any  handes  but  such 
as  may  deliuer  it  to  yr  owne.  Fare  well  S.  F." 

This  letter  is  addressed  "To  his  very  louing  brother  Mr. 
Doctor  ffox  at  his  house  in  Carter  Layne,  D.D.,  theire, 
London." 

In  this  Collection  of  Manuscripts  is  an  original  letter  of 


54    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Samuel  Foxe  respecting  the  marriage  of  the  clergy  against  the 
Council  of  Trent. 

Additional  Extracts  from  Samuel  Foxe's  Commonplace 
Book.  Landsdown  MSS.  679. 

This  small  volume  of  153  folios  contains  many  curious  and 
interesting  notes  besides  those  concerning  the  family.  On 
the  first  folio  are  written  these  words,  "  This  was  Samuel  Fox's 
Book,  eldest  son  to  John  Fox  ye  Martyrologist.  And  after 
Dr.  Thomas  Fox  his  son."  Samuel  Foxe  commences  fol.  39  with 
the  entry  of  his  marriage,  and  continues  to  enter  the  births, 
marriages  and  deaths  of  his  family  to  the  year  1626.  His  son 
Thomas  begins  at  fol.  38,  A.D.  1636,  and  finishes  a  year  before 
his  death : — 

"Anno  Dni  1589.  I  maried  Ann  Leueson  at  Estwell  in  Kent,  15 
August  1589.  ^Etatis  mece  29. 

"Anno  1590  vpon  Neweyeres  daye  in  the  morning  between  2  and 
3  of  the  clock  in  the  morning  the  same  daye  30  years  that  I  was 
borne  on,  being  also  fridaye,  was  borne  An.  Fox  at  Shipton  vnder 
Wichwood  in  Oxfordshire.  Christened  by  Sr  Moile  Finche,  My 
Lady  Henneage  &  mrs  Barrett. 

"Anno  1591  vpon  Shroue  Sunday  (Feb  14.)  about  2  of  the  clokk 
in  the  morning  was  borne  Thomas  Fox  at  Hawering  in  the  boure  in 
the  kinges  house  ;  his  godfathers  Sr  Thomas  Henneage  &  Sr  John 
Leueson ;  his  godmother  my  Lady  Finche. 

"  X593-  9th  of  July  being  at  3  of  the  clokk  in  th'  afternoone  was 
born  John  Fox  his  godfathers  Sr  Wlm  Twesendenf  Mr  Willm 
Rowe  f  &  my  Aunt  Mary  Randal  he  died  the  7  daye  of  September 
&  lieth  buried  in  Epping  church. 

*  Sir  William  Twysden,  of  East  Peckham,  married  Anne,  daughter 
of  Sir  Moyle  Finch.  They  had  two  sons,  very  learned  men  ;  the  elder 
was  editor  of  the  " Decent  Scriptores" and  the  other  was  the  celebrated 
Judge  Twysden. 

t  Probably  Sir  William  Rowe,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  34  Elizabeth. 
He  had  estates  at  Epping.  There  was  a  William  Rowe,  of  whom 
O  Rare  Ben  Jonson  sang.  See  Epigrams,  cxxviii.,  "  To  William  Roe." 
According  to  the  poem  Rowe  was  a  traveller.  The  first  four  lines  run 
thus : — 


DR.  SAMUEL  FOXE.  55 

"Anno  1595  ye  21  of  July  being  Moondaye  at  3  of  ye  clock  in 
the  Afternoone  was  borne  Vrsula  Fox  at  Hauering,  christened  by 
mr  Wlm  Loueles ;  my  sister  Diongee  Springe  and  my  sister  Vrsula 
Gresham. 

"Anno  1596  ye  21  of  October  being  Thursdaye  at  nine  of  the 
clokk  in  the  morn  was  borne  John  Fox  the  second  of  that  name 
christened  by  Sr  Robert  Lee*  &  Sr  Francis  Cherry  &  my  sister 
Mary  Leueson  he  was  borne  at  Copt  hall  &  died  the  6  daye  of 
January  at  Hauering  &  lieth  buried  at  Rumford. 

"  Anno  1597  the  5  of  December  at  9  of  ye  clock  in  the  morning 
beinge  Moonday  was  borne  Robert  Fox,  christened  by  Owen  Wood 
deane  of  Armach  t  &  Robert  Hall  \  &  Mrs  Wighan  Buggs. 

"  1599  the  23  of  January  being  Tewsdaye  about  eleven  of  ye  clock 
at  night  was  borne  Jane  Fox  at  Copt  hall,  christened  by  Dr  Dodd,  § 
byshop  of  Meth  &  mrs  Jane  Mondes  &  John  Serll.  She  died  &  was 
buried  in  Epping  church  the  4th  of  February. 

"  Roe,  and  my  joy  to  name,  thou'rt  now  to  go 
Countries  and  climes,  manners  and  men  to  know, 
T'  extract  and  choose  the  best  of  all  these  known, 
And  those  to  turn  to  blood,  and  make  thine  own." 

*  Probably  Robert  Lee,  Sheriff  of  London,  1594. 

f  Owen  Wood  was  of  Jesus  College,  Oxford,  Master  of  Arts  in  1584,, 
and  afterwards  Dean  of  Armagh,  in  Ireland,  March  17,  1596.  He  was 
the  second  son  of  Hugh  Wood,  of  Tallylyn,  in  the  Isle  of  Anglesey — 
second  son  of  William  Wood,  descended  from  Wood  Hall,  in  Lancashire 
— by  his  wife  Jane,  the  daughter  of  Hugh  Prys  ap  Howell>  of  Mossoglen  ; 
descended  paternally  from  Lloworch  ab  Bran,  one  of  the  fifteen  tribes. 
Dean  Wood's  wife  was  Joywan,  daughter  of  Richard  Cledden,  Chaplain 
to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  the  county  of  Middlesex. 
Anthony  A.  Wood  says  that  Owen  Wood  was  made  Dean  of  Armagh  by 
the  favour  of  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  in  whose  treasons  he  was  engaged 
in  1600.  See  "  Fasti  Oxoniensis,"  vol.  ii.,  226. 

J  Robert  Hall,  probably  son  of  Robert  Hall,  Justice  of  the  Peace  in 
Waltham  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  and  grandson  of  Robert  Hall  of  Ely, 
who  was  buried  in  Waltham  June  n,  1579.  The  Justice  of  the  Peace 
was  buried  Sept.  13,  1583.  This  family  of  Halls  resided  at  Claverham- 
bury,  in  the  parish  of  Waltham.  Robert  Hall,  the  friend  of  Dr.  Fox, 
died  here,  and  was  buried  September  8,  1615, — "  Buried  Mr.  Robt.  Hall 
de  Claverbury." 

§  Roger  Dod,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Salop,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Meath, 


56    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

"  1600  the  8  daye  of  August  beinge  fridaye  about  Midnight  was 
borne  Sara  Fox  at  Copt  hall,  christened  by  my  brother  Simeon  Fox 
my  sister  Grisild  Leueson  &  my  Coseun  Sara  Barnes.  She  died  the 
23  of  June  Anno  1608  &  lyethe  beried  in  Waltham  Church  by  my 
pue  dore. 

"Anno  1617.  My  daughter  Vrsula  maried  to  Henry  Wollaston 
ye  29  of  April.  They  borded  wth  me  3  yeares  &  in  Maye  1620  they 
went  to  keepe  house  at  Fishers. 

"  Anno  1620  the  5th  daye  of  October  my  daughter  Ann  was  maried 
to  Christopher  Botteler  Esquire,*  at  Aston  Berry  in  Hartford- 
shire. 

"Anno  Dni.  1621,  the  15  of  June  being  friday  between  6  &  7  of 
y«  clock  afternoon  was  borne  Edward  Wollaston  christened  ye  27  of 
the  same  moneth  My  Lord  Denny  f  &  my  self  being  godfathers  & 
Mrs  Burnhill  god  mother.  At  Waltham  church  Mr  Geoffres  preached 
&  christened  him. 

"  Thomas  Fox  was  this  yeare  Procurator  at  Oxford. 

"Anno  1622  Th.  Fox  was  chosen  Bursar  of  Magdalen  College  in 
Oxf. 

"  Anno  1623  the  i8th  day  of  February  about  5  ol  ye  clock  in  the 
euening  being  tewesday  was  borne  Ann  Wollaston,  christened  ye  2  7 
of  the  same  moneth.  Sr  Wlm  Terre  godfather  &  my  wife  Ann  Fox 
&  Grisild  Louesonf  godmothers.  Note  that  in  this  copulation  of 
yeares,  we  begin  the  year  at  the  Calendss  or  first  daye  &  not 
according  to  the  church  of  Englands  account,  beginning  at  our  Lady 
day  the  25  of  March. 

"  Anno  1624- ye  23  daye  of  March  being  Tewsday  between  3  &  4 
of  the  clock  afternoon  was  borne  Catharine  Bottler  at  Fishers  & 
christened  at  Waltham  ye  8  daye  of  Aprill  following.  Godmothers 
the  Lady  Catherinn  Gerrard  dowager  her  grandmother  by  father's 

*  Christopher  Boteler  was  the  fourth  son  of  Sir  Philip  Boteler,  Knt.,  of 
Watton-at-Stone,  Herts. 

f  Edward  Denny,  second  son  of  Henry  Denny.  This  Edward  was 
born  August  14,  1569,  knighted  in  1589,  Sheriff  of  Herts  1602-3,  sum- 
moned to  Parliament  October  27,  1604,  as  Baron  Denny  of  Waltham, 
and  advanced,  by  patent  24th  of  October,  1626,  to  the  dignity  of  Earl 
of  Norwich.  Died  2oth  December,  1630. 

J  "  Grisild  Leueson  "  was  buried  at  Waltham.  The  Parish  Register 
records  that  "  Misteris  Grisill  levison,  a  mayd  of  80  yeares  of  age,  buried 
Dec.  22,  1648." 


DR.   SAMUEL   FOXE.  57 

side  &  the  Lady  Francis  Botteler  late  wife  of  Sr  Robert  Bottler  god- 
fathers Mr  John  Botteler  &  my  self  her  grandfather. 

"  This  year  Th  :  Fox  was  agayne  Bursar. 

"Anno  1625  the  fifteenth  daye  of  March  being  also  Tewsday  & 
within  compass  of  ye  year  of  ye  birth  of  the  other  childe  Catherin  : 
my  doughter  Ann  Botteler  was  deliuered  of  a  sonne  at  Fishers  in 
Holyfield  about  eleuen  of  ye  clock  before  noone.  He  was  christened 
John.  His  godfather,  John  Botteler  of  Wrathall  his  uncle  by  fathers 
side  &  Dr  Fox  his  great  vncle  by  ye  mother.  His  godmother  & 
grandmother  Ann  Fox ;  he  was  christened  in  the  hous  the  last  day 
March. 

"  This  year  died  King  James  1 7  Martij. 

Anno  Dni.  1626  the  fifteenth  day  of  February  being  Wednesday 
about  fiue  of  ye  clock  at  euen,  and  not  much  before  the  chang  or 
prime  of  the  moone  my  daughter  Ursula  woollaston  was  deliuered  of 
a  boy  christened  at  Waltham  church  ye  23rd  of  Feb.  by  ye  name  of 
Henry  Goships.  Dr  Fox,  Mr  Samuell  Middlemore  and  Msts  Ann 
Boteler,  Substitues  for  y«  Godfathers  Mr  Thomas  Burnhill  and  Tho. 
Fox. 

"Anno  1626  the  22th  day  of  August  beeing  tuesday  about  eleuen 
of  the  clock  before  noone  was  borne  Ann  Boteler  at  Stapleford  in 
Hertfordsheire  and  christened  on  thursday  ye  last  day  of  ye  same 
month,  hir  godfathers  Mr  Nicholas  Boteler  of  Netherhall,  God- 
mothers my  Lady  Ann  Boteler  wife  to  Sr  Jo :  Boteler  of  Woodhall 
and  Vrsula  Wollaston. 

"Anno  1627  ye  3d  day  of  november  beeing  satterday  (in  cro. 
aiarum.)  about  2  of  the  clock  in  the  morning  my  daughter  Ann 
Boteler  was  brought  to  bed  at  Stapleford  of  a  sonn,  christened 
Phillip  :  Godfathers  Phillip  Boteler  vnkle  by  ye  father's  syde,  Tho. 
Fox  vnkell  by  ye  mother's  syde,  and  Mrs  Boteler  wife  to  Mr  Nicholas 
Boteler  of  netherhall  god  mother. 

"Anno  1672,  The  27th  day  of  September  being  tuesday  about  fiue  of 
the  clock  in  the  evening  died  My  Cosen  John  Botteler  att  his  owne 
house  att  Stapleford  in  Hertfordshire  and  he's  buried  at  Watton." 

The  remaining  portion  of  this  diary  appears  to  have  been 
written  by  Dr.  Thomas  Foxe  :— 

"  Laus  Deo. 

"Anno  1636,  22  febuarii  being  Ash  Wednesday  betwixt  eleven  and 
twelve  of  ye  clocke  att  night,  was  borne  Alice  ffoxe  att  Pett  by 


58    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

charing  in  Kent  christened  vppon  ye  5  of  march  by  Mr.  Henry 
Honiwood  *  hir  vncle,  ye  Lady  Honiwood  hir  Grandmother  and 
Mrs  Judith  Shurly  hir  Aunt.  Hanc  In  Deus  meus  protege  sub  a/am, 
mam.  vmbra. 

"Anno  1642,  April  19,  about  2  of  ye  clocke  atte  night  my  uncle 
Doc.  Simeon  ffoxe  died  in  Amen  Corner  by  pater  noster  Rowe,  and 
lies  buried  in  St  Pauls  church  London  att  ye  North  dore  by  Doc. 
Linacer  his  Tomb;  his  funerall  was  uppon  Snt  Marks  day  being  ye  25 
of  ye  moneth. 

"Anno  1646,  may  29,  my  brother  captain  Robert  ffoxe  died  at  my 
sister  Wollaston's  house  in  Waltham  Abby  about  12  att  noone,  and 
lies  buried  in  ye  chancell  nare  ye  Earle  of  Carlisles  seate ;  hee  was 
buried  uppon  ye  31  of  may  1646. 

"  Anno  Dni.  1648  maii  26  my  deare  wife  Ann  Honywood  f  died 
att  my  cosens  Vrsurla  Warner  hir  house  in  Bromly,  whose  body  was 
(in  ye  time  of  ye  rising  in  Kent)  was  carried  to  charing,  and  ther  lies 
buried,  in  memoria  eterna  egunt  justi. 

"LausDeo. 

"Anno  Dni.  1659  feb.  21  my  daughter  Alice  Willis  was  deliuered 
of  a  daughter  about  1 1  of  ye  clock  att  noone  vppon  ye  23  of  ye  same 
moneth,  ye  child  was  christened,  and  called  Ann  ffoxe.  Hir  God- 
father was  my  selfe,  ye  Lady  Willis  of  Ditton  in  Cambridgeshire  and 
sister  Wolleston. 

"Laus  Deo. 

"  Anno  Dni,  1661  June  30  my  daughter  willis  was  delivered  of  a 
boy  about  12  of  ye  clocke  att  night,  vppon  ye  4  day  of  July  the 
child  was  christened  and  called  Thomas  ffoxe  Willis,  the  Godfathers 
was  my  selfe  colonell  Willm  Willis,  ye  Godmother  the  Lady  Henry 
Chishesly.  He  was  bereft  of  his  wits. 

"Anno  1663  this  was  writ  by  Sr.  Rich  Willis."  J 

*  The  son  of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  Honywood.  He  "was  borne 
uppon  Saturday  the  xiiij  of  July,  1593,  at  one  of  ye  clock  in  ye  morning, 
at  Pet,  and  christened  at  Charing  Church  ye  Sonday  following;  my 
sonnes-in-law  Henry  Thomson  and  John  Moyle  godfathers,  and  Mrs. 
Anthony  Deering,  of  Charing  towne,  godmother." 

t  "Anna  Honiwood  was  borne  at  Pett,  in  Charinge,  uppon  Tewesday 
the  26  of  November,  1588,  and  ther  baptized,  my  brother  Richard 
Browne,  Mrs.  Dorrell,  of  Calehill,  and  my  dowghter  Thomson  being 
witnesses."— Nichols'  Top.  et  Gen.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  171. 

it  The  name  and  date  has  been  scratched  out,  and  Dr.  Tho.  Foxe 
inserted  as  the  writer. 


DR.   SAMUEL   FOXE.  59 

Extracts   from   the   Parish   Registers   of  Waltham    Holy 
Cross : — 

"1565  Rafe  and  Mary  foxe  the  sonne  &  dowter  of  John  foxe. 
Jan.  29.     Bapt. 

1569  lawrence  foex buryed  July  5th. 

1588  Thomas  ffoxe  the  sonne  of  Andrewe  ffoxe  Citezen  was  bapt. 
Sept.  15. 

1608  Sara  fox  daughter  to  Mr.  Samwell  fox  buried  ye  26  June. 

1617  Henry  Woollerstone  gent  maried  to  Mss  Ursula  fox  A  prill  29. 

1626  John  Masson  &  Ann  fox.     married  Sept.  3. 

1629-30  Mr  Samell  foxe  was  buried.     January  16. 

1630  Misteris  Ann  foxe  the  wife  of  the  late  decesed  Mr  Samuell 
foxe  was  buried  the  18  day  of  May  1630. 

1646  Captain  Robert  fox  was  Buried  the  30  day  May. 

1659-60  Anne  Fox  daughter  to  Sir  Richard  and  Lady  Alice  Willis. 
Feb.  21. 

1660  William  son  of  Mr.  William  and  Mrs  Grace  Fox  of  St.  Ann 
Aldersgate  London  buried  March  19. 

1662  Dr  Thomas  Fox  buried  in  the  Church  ye  26  Nov. 

1684  Wm  son  of  Rennall  ffox.     Bapt.  Oct.  12. 

1688  Jane  wife  of  Gregory  ffox.    buried  Oct.  2. 

1701  Elizabeth  daughter  of  Christopher  Davenport  Gent.  &  dame 
Ann  ffox  his  wife  buried  July  17. 

1703  Elizabeth  nursed  at  foxes,  buried  July  2. 

1704  Thomas  Elcome  &  Hannah  ffox, — married  May  28. 
1706  A  nursechild  from  foxes — buried  Dec.  20. 

1706-7  John  Oxford  from  foxs — buried — Feb.  i. 
1714  Elizabeth  daughter  of  Daniel  &  Elizabeth  Fox  Bapt.  Nov.  29. 
1721  James  Travers  sonn  of  Daniel  &  Elizabeth  Fox  of  London 
buried  Sept.  24. 

1734  Samuel  Fox  buried.     April  22. 

1749-50  Samuel  Thompson  wid.  &  Mary  Fox.     married  Feb.  4." 

Extracts  from  the  Churchwardens'  Accounts  of  the  Parish 
of  Waltham  Holy  Cross  : — 

"  1630  Recd  for  Mr  foxes  grave  in  the  church  vis.  viii  : 

„      Item  paid  to  Thomas  Burd  for  Kivering  Mr.  ffoxes  grave  Is. 
„      A  note  of  money  Recaived  upon  a  free  gift  in  the  hamblits 


60    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

of  Upshire  and  Hallifilld  the  aforesaid  yeare  in  the  time  of  the  scar- 
citie  and  dearth  of  Corne.     Dockter  ffox  xxs.     Mr.  Bessanoe  *  xxs." 

There  are  also  35  names  appended  as  donors  of  one  shilling 
each. 

Extracts    from    the    Parish    Registers    of    Nazing    (near 
Waltham  Abbey)  :— 

"  1571  Nicholas  Knight  &  Agnes  Fox  married  ye  xrn  of  Sept. 
1572  William  fFoxe  nursechild,  buried  Nov.  7." 
From  Cheshunt  Parish  Register  (near  Waltham  Abbey) : — 
"  1566  The  wife  of  fox,  Buried  Nov.  16." 

From  a  headstone  in  Waltham  Abbey  Churchyard  : — 

"  Sacred  to  the  Memory  of  Mr.  Isaac  Fox,  late  of  the  parish  of 
Enfield,  who  departed  this  life  July  25,  1821.     Aged  51  years. 

"  Adieu  my  wife  and  children  all 
I  yield  to  the  Almighty's  call  ; 
My  children  dear,  pray  love  each  other, 
And  cherish  your  afflicted  mother  ; 
Support  her  in  declining  years, 
Oh  !  sooth  and  catch  the  falling  tears, 
And  may  the  grace  of  God  be  given 
To  sanctify  your  souls  in  heaven. 

"  Also  Ann  Fox,  wife  of  the  above,  who  departed  this  life,  Oct.  i, 
1844,  aged  74  years." 

*  The  Bassano  family  were  noted  for  their  musical  skill. 


61 


SIMEON  FOXE,  M.D. 

Simeon  Foxe,  the  youngest  son  of  the  martyrologist,  was 
born  in  the  house  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  in  the  year  1568. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  elected  to  a  scholarship  at 
King's  College,  Cambridge,  August  24th,  1583,  and  on  the 
same  day  of  the  month,  1586,  he  was  admitted  fellow  of  this 
college.  In  the  next  year  he  took  the  degree  of  B.A.,  and 
M.A.  in  1591.  Bishop  Piers  promised  Simeon  a  prebend,  but 
the  young  medical  student  probably  saw  that  he  was  not 
called  to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  therefore  would  not 
pursue  that  course.  He  resided  for  some  time  with  Arch- 
bishop Whitgift  after  leaving  college,  but  shortly  went  abroad 
with  a  view  to  study  medicine.  Dr.  Munk  has  given  the 
following  account  of  Simeon  Foxe — "  When  applying  himself 
to  the  study  of  medicine  he  travelled  into  Italy,  and  pro- 
ceeded Doctor  of  Medicine  at  Padua.  Returning  home  he 
entered  upon  military  service,  and  was  with  Sir  John  Norris 
and  the  Earl  of  Southampton  in  Ireland  and  the  Netherlands. 
In  the  Netherlands  he  is  said  to  have  been  taken  prisoner,  and 
to  have  been  detained  for  a  time  at  Dunkirk.  He  reached 
London  in  1603,  and  shortly  afterwards  commenced  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  Dr.  Foxe  was  admitted  a  candidate  of  the 
College  of  Physicians,  3<Dth  September,  1605,  and  a  Fellow, 
25th  June,  1608.  He  was  Censor  in  1614,  1620,  1621,  1623, 
1624,  1625,  1631,  1632;  Registrar,  2Oth  November,  1627,  on 
the  death  of  Dr.  Gwinne  ;  Treasurer,  3rd  December,  1629,  on 
Harvey's  resignation  of  that  office  ;  Anatomy  Reader,  1630  ; 
Elect,  22nd  December,  1630,  in  place  of  Dr.  Moundford, 
deceased;  President,  1634,  1635,  1636,  1637,  l638,  1639, 
1640;  Consiliarius,  1641.  He  closed  an  active  and  useful 
life  on  the  2Oth  April,  1642,  and  was  buried  in  St.  Paul's 
on  the  24th  of  the  same  month,  close  to  the  grave  of 
Dr.  Linacre.  By  will  he  bequeathed  to  the  college  £40,  to 
which  his  nephew  added  another  £60,  making  together  ;£ioo. 
On  the  22nd  December,  1656,  the  college,  on  the  proposition 
of  Dr.  Hamey,  unanimously  voted  the  erection  of  a  marble 


62    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

bust  to  his  memory  in  the  Harveian  Museum,  on  the  pedestal 
supporting  which  there  was  engraved,  '  Simeoni  Fox  suo  scepius 
Prcesidi et  Benefactori,  hunc  locum  dedit  Collegium' " * 

Dr.  Foxe  resided  for  some  years  at  Amen  Corner,  Pater- 
noster Row,  London,  and  in  a  professional  way  he  attended 
Dr.  Donne,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  who  died  in  1631.  He  also 
contributed  a  large  sum  of  money  towards  the  erection  of  a 
monument  to  the  memory  of  the  great  "  metaphysical  poet." 
There  are  several  original  letters  of  Dr.  Simeon  Foxe  in  the 
British  Museum, — see  Harl.  MSS.,  416,  fol.  211  ;  417,  fol.  125. 
Some  have  assigned  the  authorship  of  the  Memoir  of  John 
Foxe  to  Simeon,  but  this  is  questionable. 

Simeon  Foxe's  monument  in  St.  Paul's  was  erected  by  his 
nephew,  Dr.  Thomas  Foxe,  physician,  who  also  composed  the 
following  epitaph : — 

"P.M. 

Simeonis  Fox 

Qui  Johannis  Fox  ex  Anna  Randal, 
Uxore,  jam  quinquagenaria,  films  natu  minor 
Quum  Etonse  gymnacio  pueritiae  rudimenta 

Posuisset, 
In  hujus  collegii  socius  merito  ascitus  est. 

Exinde 
Johannis  Cantuariensis  archiep. 

Familiam  honestate  ornavit. 
Peregre  studiorum  causa  profectus, 

Paduse  claruit : 

In  Medicinse  Doctoris  titulo  insignitus 
Syndicique  officio  ibidem  functus, 

Londini 
Symmistarum  sodalitio  quinquennio 

Praesedit. 
Arte,  fide,  probitate  eximius. 

Quo  clariorem 

Vix  habuit  Asclepiadum  schola. 
Animam  Deo  reddidit,  ccelebs  in  terris, 
Sternum  maritandus  in  oelis, 

*  Roll  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  vol.  ii.,  p.  138. 


DR.  THOMAS  FOXE.  63 

JEtatis  suae  an  80.  sal.  humanse  MDCXLII. 
Hoc  votum  solvit  tibi  mcerens  Thomas  Fox 

Ex  fratre  nepos 

Amore  et  officio." 


DR.  THOMAS  FOXE. 

Dr.  Thomas  Foxe,  the  eldest  son  of  Dr.  Samuel  Foxe,  was 
born  at  Havering  Palace,  Feb.  14,  1591.  In  due  course  he 
was  sent  to  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  where  he  was  procura- 
tor in  1621.  The  following  year  he  was  chosen  bursar,  and 
on  June  25,  1623,  was  admitted  a  candidate  of  the  college 
of  Physicians.*  He  was  again  chosen  bursar  the  next  year. 
About  this  time  he  married  Anne  Honeywood,  the  daughter 
of  Robert  and  Elizabeth  Honeywood  of  Charing,  in  Kent,  and 
Markshall,  Essex.  She  was  granddaughter  of  Mrs.  Mary 
(Waters)  Honeywood,  whose  name  is  handed  down  by  the 
biographer  of  the  martyrologist -under  the  following  circum- 
stances. Mrs.  Honeywood  on  one  occasion  was  brought 
into  deep  spiritual  trouble;  she  imagined  that  she  was  pre- 
destinated to  eternal  misery.  In  this  low  state  of  mind 
she  was  visited  by  many  Christian  ministers  of  celebrity, 
who  endeavoured  to  console  her.  Among  these  was  John 
Foxe  the  martyrologist,  whose  counsels  and  reasonings 
appeared,  like  the  rest,  to  be  futile,  for  her  fears  of  end- 
less misery  grew  stronger  and  her  faith  weaker,  till  at  last, 
having  a  drinking-glass  in  her  hand,  she  threw  it  with  great 
violence  to  the  ground,  exclaiming  in  an  agony  of  despair,  "  I 
am  as  surely  damned  as  this  glass  is  broken  ;  "  but  the  glass, 
to  the  surprise  of  those  present,  rebounded  from  the  floor  and 
was  taken  up  entire.  This  glass  is  still  preserved  by  the 
family.  But  even  this  apparently  miraculous  occurrence  made 
no  favourable  alteration,  for  she  continued  in  the  same  mourn- 
ful condition,  "  till  at  last  God  suddenly  shot  comfort  like  light- 
ning into  her  soul,  which,  once  entered,  ever  remained  therein  ; 
so  that  she  led  the  remainder  of  her  life  in  spiritual  gladness." 
*  Harl.  MSS.  416. 


64    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

This  circumstance  she  related  to  Dr.  Thomas  Morton,  Bishop 
of  Durham,  from  whose  mouth  Dr.  Thomas  Fuller  received 
the  account.*  In  the  dining-room  of  Markshall  there  hung 
for  many  years  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Honeywood,  in  the  habit 
of  her  widowhood  with  a  book  in  her  hand,  and  on  her  hat 
inscribed  "^ET ATI S  SU7E  70;"  and  on  the  opposite  side 
"ANO.  DNI.  1597."  A  note  respecting  the  mother  of  Ann 
the  wife  of  Dr.  Foxe  is  worth  a  place  here,  as  it  relates  specially 
to  Waltham  Abbey.  In  the  "  Honeywood  Evidences  "  t  it  is 
stated — 

"  That  my  brother  Anthony  having  perchased  of  Mr.  Randoll  £  a 
copyhowld  tennancy  at  Waltham  in  Essex  howlden  of  SJ  Edward 
Denny  Knight,  by  fyne  uncerteyn,  did  compownd  wth  Sr  Edward 
Denny  for  my  sister's  lief  and  his  owne  for  ye  fyne  of  forty  marks, 
whereof  he  paied  in  hand  lol.  and  gave  his  bond  for  i61.  135.  4d. 
more  ;  and  uppon  tewesday  in  Whitsonweeke  1599  [29  May],  comynge 
to  me  to  myne  howse  in  Hoxton,  he  made  me  acquaynted  wth  ye  same 
and  did  then  offer  me,  that  if  I  would  paye  ye  same  i61. 133.  4d.  unto 
S  Edw.  Denny,§  then  he  would  by  his  wyll  geve  ye  same  howse  and 
lands  unto  my  sonne  Henry  Honiwood,  after  decease  of  my  sister  his 
wife,  and  for  want  of  Henry,  to  Michaell,  or  any  yonger  sonne  of 
myne,  and  to  his  heirss,  affirminge  faithfully,  that  he  would  pforme 
yt,  if  I  would  take  his  worde  for  yt,  and  trust  him  in  yt ;  wch  mony 
I  payd  accordingly  unto  Sr  Edwarde  Denny,  and  took  back  my 
brother's  bond,  ultimo  Maii  1599.  Pd  by  Henrye  Kynge. 

"  Mem.  My  brother  synce  hath  sowld  away  this  coppyhowld  tenemt, 
and  I  am  otherwise  uppon  new  agrem1  satisfyed,  as  in  ye  laste  leafe  of 
this  booke  appearth."  [Fol.  26b.] 

While  Dr.  Thomas  Fox  was  at  college  he  appears  to  have 
been  acquainted  with  Ben  Jonson  the  poet,  Dr.  Prideaux,  and 

*  Fuller's  "  Worthies  of  Kent,"  p.  86. 

f  Nichol's  Top.  et  Gen.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  174. 

J  Probably  a  relative  of  the  Martyrologist  on  his  wife's  side. 

§  Sir  Edward  Denny,  son  of  Sir  Anthony  Denny,  was  buried  in 
Waltham  Church.  The  following  entry  occurs  in  the  parish  register, 
1599 — 1600.  "Sir  Edwarde  Dennye,  Knight,  the  Elder,  was  buried  the 
xiiii  daye  of  feburarii,  Anno  ut  supra."  His  effigy,  in  the  costume  of  the 
period,  lies  under  a  canopy  at  the  south-east  end  of  the  church. 


DR.   THOMAS   FOXE.  65 

other  celebrities.     He  informs  us  of  the  great  success  of  many 
of  his  companions  during  the  year  1619. 

"  We  have  had  a  great  Act  this  year,  eighteen  doctors,  and  sixscore 
masters  of  Arts.  Dr.  Prideaux  is  Vicechancelour  and  poet  Jonson 
was  of  late  created  Master  of  Arts  being  recomended  unto  ye  vni- 
versity  by  ye  Lord  Chamberlaine,  our  chancelour,"  &c. 

The  writer  of  Jonson's  memoir  in  the  Biographia  Britannica 
remarks  that — 

"  In  the  year  1616  Jonson  published  his  works  in  one  folio  volume ; 
and  the  poet  Laureat's  salary  of  a  hundred  marks  per  annum  was 
settled  upon  him  for  life  by  King  James  I.  Crowned  with  these 
honours  by  his  prince,  he  saw  the  most  distinguished  wits  of  his 
time  crowding  his  train  and  courting  his  acquaintance,  and  in  that 
spirit  he  was  invited  to  Christ  Church  in  Oxford  by  Dr.  Corbet,  then 
senior  student  of  that  college.  Our  poet  gladly  accepted  the  invita- 
tion, and  having  passed  some  time  in  cultivating  his  muse  in  that 
delightful  seat,  he  received  an  additional  attestation  of  his  merit  from 
the  university,  who  presented  him  with  the  honorary  degree  of 
Master  of  Arts  at  the  Act  in  1619." 

This  occurred  on  July  19,  according  to  Wood,  who  remarks 
that — 

"  Benjamin  Johnson,  the  father  of  the  English  poets  and  poetry, 
and  the  most  learned  and  judicious  of  the  comedians,  was  then 
actually  created  master  of  arts  in  a  full  house  of  convocation." 

One  of  the  most  interesting  original  letters  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Foxe  in  the  Harleian  collection  is  the  following,  addressed  to 
his  father,  Dr.  Samuel  Foxe  : — 

"  Sir  my  humble  duty  remembred  unto  yourselfe  and  my  mother. 
I  have  thus  long  neglected  to  write  unto  you  expecting  this  bearers 
coming  up  to  London,  my  boy  William  who  shall  waite  uppon  the 
Doctor,  my  request  unto  you  is  that  when  you  come  to  London  you 
would  give  him  good  counsell,  and  be  a  meanss  unto  ye  Doctor  to  use 
him  well. 

F 


66    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

"  Weehavehad  a  great  Act  this  yeare,  eighteen  doctors, and  sixescore 
masters  of  arts.  Dr.  Prideaux  is  vicechancelour,  and  poet  Johnson 
was  of  late  created  Master  of  Arts  being  recomended  unto  ye  vni- 
versity  by  ye  Lord  Chamberlaine,  our  chancelour.  Wee  have  past 
our  election  and  have  chosen  sixe  newe  probationers  for  my  old 
frinds  place  Mr.  Pener  (whose  place  was  void  by  nis  death)  ther  vver 
fiue  seuerall  kings  letters  mandatorie  to  Mr.  Briggenden  being  found 
to  have  bin  married  aboue  this  yeare  space,  was  constrained  honeste 
decedece  before  ye  Act  and  had  noe  gratuity  giue  him  at  ye  election. 
Mr.  Hunson  that  hath  bin  long  madd  hath  nowe  surrendered  his  place, 
but  can  obtain  noe  gratuity.  Mr.  Tobie  Gatbramt  hauing  obtained 
my  father  carpenters  living  hath  made  his  place  ouer  unto  his  brother 
a  demy.  Mr.  Giles  would  have  left  his  place  to  a  stranger  but  being 
crost  in  his  suit  at  last  brought  in  a  demy,  Mr.  Elmes  a  young  man 
being  not  able  to  procure  a  phisitions  place  through  the  peruersnesse 
of  Dor.  Wilkinson  resigned  his  fellowshipp  unto  on  of  Mr.  Drops 
sonnes.  Mr.  German  would  have  giuen  ouer  unto  a  stranger  but 
being  crost  hee  brought  the  Bishop  of  Bristowe  and  ye  L.  Danuers  to 
sue  for  him  but  they  could  not  preuaile,  and  therfore  hee  remains  as 
yet  fellowe  but  as  it  is  thought  hee  will  be  expelled  before  Michael- 
mas. I  am  sorry  I  cannot  heare  from  my  brother  since  my  returne, 
but  I  presume  it  is  multitude  of  businesse  about  his  building  not 
want  of  loue  wch  makes  him  thus  long  to  forbeare  to  write  unto 
whome  as  alsoe  to  my  sister,  and  Aunt  I  desire  hartily  to  be  reco- 
mended, thus  being  in  great  hast  I  leaue  you  to  God's  protection. 
"  Your  most  dutifull  and  obedient  sonne  " 
August  2do  1619.  Thorn,  ffox. 

"  Addressed  to  ye  worth,  my  very  louing  father  Mr.  Samuel  ffox  at 
his  house  in  Waltham  these  bee."  * 

In  this  same  collection  of  MSS.  is  a  draught  of  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Foxe  the  physician  to  a  person  of  high  rank,  probably  Sir 
Thomas  Roe.f  There  is  an  original  letter  of  Sir  Thomas  Roe 

*  Harl.  MSS.  416,  fol.  226. 

f  Probably  Sir  Thomas  Roe,  nephew  of  Sir  John  Roe.  He  was 
knighted  by  James  I.,  and  appointed  ambassador  to  the  Mogul  at  the 
instance  of  the  East  India  Company,  to  whom  he  rendered  valuable 
services  during  the  four  years  he  held  the  appointment.  He  died  in 
1644.  Of  him  Ben  Jonson  sang, — 


DR.   THOMAS   FOXE.  67 

to  Doctor  Foxe,  dated  at  Constantinople,  May  3,  1623, 
giving  some  observations  respecting  the  Turks.  There  is 
a  letter  from  the  Lords  of  the  Privy  Council  to  Dr.  Thomas 
Foxe,  dated  from  Whitehall,  i/th  June,  1639,  f°r  a  donation 
to  assist  the  King,  who  with  an  army  had  proceeded  against 
the  Scots. 

In  the  Lansdowne  MSS.  is  a  letter  respecting  the  assess- 
ment of  Dr.  Thomas  Foxe's  property ;  the  document  bears 
date  January  8th,  1644,  "att  the  Comittee  of  Lords  and 
Comons  for  advance  of  Money."  The  following  letter  in  the 
same  collection  is  a  reply  to  it : — 

"  At  the  Comittee  for  Sequestracons  in  Westm.  die  Mercurij  12 
ffebru.  1644  xx  Carol  Regi. 

"  fforasmuch  as  it  appearss  to  this  Comittee  by  an  order  from  the 
Comittee  of  Lords  and  Comons  for  advance  of  money  at  Haberdd 
Hall  dated  the  last  of  January  past  that  Dr.  ffox  hath  paid  his  xxth  pte 
alsoe  by  a  certificate  from  Comittee  of  Arreares  that  he  hath  paid 
all  his  assessmt  ymposed  uppon  him.  It  is  therefore  ordered  that 
the  sequestracon  of  the  estate  of  the  said  Dr.  ffox  be  taken  off  and 
discharged.  Johem  Jackson  Collector  ibur." 

Dr.  Thomas  Foxe  held  a  great  deal  of  property  in  Waltham 
Abbey,  besides  that  which  his  father  died  possessed  of.  The 
writer  owns  two  MSS.  hitherto  unpublished,  dated  at  Wal- 
tham, 1632,  which  refer  to  this  copyhold  property,  and 
which  may  be  of  sufficient  interest  to  merit  a  place  in  these 
pages.  Mr.  Robinson,  whose  name  is  mentioned  in  the 
document  infra,  was  of  the  same  family  that  resided  at  Cold 
Hall  in  this  parish  ;  the  hall  is  still  standing,  but  is  divided 
into  three  separate  dwelling-houses.  The  houses  referred  to 
in  the  annexed  document  were  situated  in  the  hamlet  of 
Upshire  in  the  parish  of  Waltham  Abbey,  viz., — 

"  Manor  de  Waltham  See.  Crucis.  Decimo  octavo  die  Decembris 
Ao.  Dni  1632. 

"  Thou  hast  begun  well,  Roe,  which  stand  well  to, 
And  I  know  nothing  more  thou  hast  to  do." 


68    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

"  Md.  that  the  day  and  yeare  above  said  Willyam  Robinson  of 
Waltham  holy  crosse  in  the  County  of  Essex  taylor  hath  surrendered 
into  the  hands  of  the  Lord  of  the  manr  of  Waltham  holy  crosse  afore- 
said by  the  hands  of  Henry  Wollaston  gent,  and  John  Smith  two 
customary  tenents  of  the  said  manr  by  the  rod  according  to  the 
Custome  of  the  said  manr.  All  those  his  two  cotages  or  tenements 
situate  in  Vpshire  whiche  manr  aforesaid  one  of  them  in  the  tenure 
and  occupacon  of  the  said  Willyam  Robinson  abutting  vpon  a  greene 
there  called  Sawdres  greene  towards  the  east  and  vpon  a  croft  called 
loules  towards  the  west,  the  other  tenement  or  cottage  now  in  the 
tenure  and  occupacon  of  Christopher  Parsons  of  Waltham  aforesaid 
abutting  upon  ye  said  greene  called  Sawdres  greene  towards  ye  east 
and  upon  a  Croft  called  loules  towards  ye  west  wth  all  ye  gardens, 
orchards,  crofts,  barnes,  stables  and  houses  and  all  other  the  appten- 
ances  to  the  said  tenements  or  any  of  them  belonginge  or  any  wise 
apptaninge  or  there  wh  orwch  any  of  them  used  occupayed  or  misyed 
as  pt  pcell  of  member  of  hem  or  any  of  hem.  To  the  use  and 
behoofe  of  Thomas  ffox  of  Waltham  holy  crosse  afforesaid  esqre  and 
of  his  heires  and  assignees  for  ever. 

"  Willyam  Robinson. 
"  Henry  Wollaston  -\ 
John  Smyth          )  tenents  ffines  jx^- 

Cop.  vs. 
"  Endorsed  Wm  Robinson  his  surrender  to  Doctor  ffox." 

The  following  is  another  copy  of  the  surrender  of  the  same 
property : — 

"  Whearas  William  Robinson  of  Waltham  holie  Crosse  in  the 
countee  of  Essex  Taylor  by  his  surr,  bearinge  date  the  xvmth  daie  of 
December  Ao  Dni  1632  surrendered  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord  of 
the  same  mannor  of  Waltham  by  the  hands  of  Henry  Woolerston  gt 
&  John  Smith  two  customarie  Tents  of  the  said  by  the  rod  and 
according  to  the  Custome  of  the  said  Mannor.  All  those  his  two 
Cottages  or  tenements  in  Upshire  in  the  mannor  aforesaid.  One  of 
them  in  the  tenure  or  occupacon  of  the  said  Wm  Robinson  the  other 
in  the  tenure  or  occupacon  of  Christopher  Parson  wth  the  apptennces 
&c.  To  the  use  and  behoofe  of  Thomas  ffox  of  Waltham  holie  crosse 
aforesaid  esqr  &  of  his  heires  &  Assgs  for  ever  as  by  the  same  sur- 


DR.    THOMAS    FOXE.  69 

render  more  at  large  may  appear.  Now  know  yee  that  the  said 
Thomas  ffox  have  constituted  and  made  Robart  ffox  my  welbeloved 
brother  of  Waltham  aforesaid  Gent,  my  true  and  lawful  Attorney  as 
well  to  receive  for  me  &  in  my  name  &  to  the  use  &  behoofe  of  me 
the  said  Thomas  ffox  my  heires  and  assgs  for  ever  admittance  to 
all  singular  the  pmisses  wth  their  Apptennces  according  to  the  tenor 
efect  &  true  meaneinge  of  the  above  recyted  surrendered,  and  also  to 
surrender  the  same  backe  againe  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord  of  the 
said  Manner  by  the  hands  of  the  steward  or  two  Customarie  tenents 
of  the  same  manner  by  the  rod  &  according  to  the  custom  of  the  said 
Manner.  To  the  use  and  behoofe  of  me  the  said  Thomas  ffox  & 
Ann  my  wife  for  and  dureinge  or  mutureali  lives  and  the  life  of  the 
longer  liver  of  us  &  from  and  after  our  deceasses  then  to  the  use  & 
behoofe  of  the  heires  &  assgs  of  me  the  said  Thomas  ffox  for  ever 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  same  Manner. 

"Tho:ffoxe"* 
"  Signed  and  sealed 
in  the  presence  of  us  francis  Thomas,  Thomas  +  Glinerster  his  mark." 

Dr.  Samuel  Foxe  left  to  the  said  Thomas  his  son  his  lease 
and  tenant-right  of  the  parsonage  of  Shipton, — 

"  Who  enjoyed  by  renewing  above  thirty  years,  and  in  his  time  made 
severall  short  leases  of  the  tythes  of  Shipton  and  Ramsey  to  one 
Thomas  Skay,  yeornan,  who  from  time  to  time  held  the  said  tythes  of 
Shipton  and  Ramsey,  above  twenty  years  being  tied  to  the  very  same 
words  and  covenant  concerning  the  poor's  entertainment,  as  appears  by 
the  leases  plainely,  and  particularly  by  the  lease  made  by  the  saide 
Thomas  Foxe  to  Thomas  Skay,  bearing  date  the  yth  of  June  1660. 
And  here  it  is  observable  that  Thomas  Skay  was  by  all  his  leases  bound 
to  the  very  words  of  entertaining  2  couples  of  poor  people  every  Sunday 
and  festivall  day  at  the  parsonage  house  in  Shipton  still  and  nowhere 
else,  without  the  least  obligation,  of  paying  any  summe  of  money  to 
Ramsey  or  any  other  place  upon  that  account.  On  the  2oth  of  Novem- 
ber 1662,  Doct.  Thomas  Foxe  died,  and  left  his  lease  and  executoriall 
right  of  the  said  parsonage  of  Shipton,  with  all  its  members  and  apper- 

*  An  estate  was  left  in  trust  to  Thomas  Foxe,  Esq.,  for  the  repair  of 
Waltham  Church  ;  the  document  bears  date  Dec.  5,  1637. — Farmer's 
Hist.  Waltham,  p.  163.  (1735.) 


70    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

tinances,  to  his  only  daughter  and  sole  executrix  Dame  Alice  Willys 
wife  to  Sir  Richard  Willys  of  Shipton  in  the  county  of  Oxon,  knt. 
and  bart."  * 

Dr.  Thomas  Foxe  was  buried  in  Waltham  Abbey  Church  on 
the  26th  day  of  the  same  month. 

One  of  Dr.  Foxe's  intimate  friends  in  Waltham  was  James 
Hay,  the  Earl  of  Carlisle,  a  favourite  at  court,  and  the  patron 
of  Dr.  Thomas  Fuller,  to  whom  he  dedicated  his  history  of 
Waltham  (1655),  and  whose  good  feeling  towards  the  earl  is 
exemplified  in  the  latter  part  of  that  history. 

"  The  Abbey  [of  Waltham]  is  now  the  inheritance  of  this  earl's  f 
grandchild  (by  Honora  his  daughter),  James  Hay,  earl  of  Carlsile, 
who  married  Margaret,  daughter  to  Francis,  Earl  of  Bedford,  by  whom 
as  yet  he  hath  no  issue ;  for  the  continuance  of  whose  happiness  my 
prayers  shall  never  be  wanting." 

On  one  occasion  the  earl,  being  pressed  for  money,  wrote 
to  his  friend  Foxe  for  the  loan  of  five  hundred  pounds  for  one 
year,  but  whether  the  money  was  granted  or  not  we  have  not 
yet  discovered.  The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  : — 

"  Dr.  ffoxe 

"  I  heard  you  were  latly  at  Waltham,  and  I  sent  by  Mr.  Olivear 
to  inuite  you  to  dinner  to  my  house,  but  missing  that  opportunity  I 
make  it  my  request  to  you  to  lend  mee  fiue-hundred  pounds  for  one 
yeare  I  shall  give  you  good  security  for  it,  and  acknowledge  it  as  a 
kindnes  done  to 

"  Yr  most  assured  louing  friend 

"  J.  Carlile. 
"May  8  1654." 

This  letter  is  directed — 

"  To  Dr.  ffoxe  at  the  Sign  of  the  Bell  a  Shoomakers  house,  at  the 
lower  End  of  Chancerye  lane  neere  fleetstrete  giue  these."  J 

*  Harl.  MSS.  419,  fol.  171. 

f  Edward  Denny,  Earl  of  Norwich. 

I  Lansd.  MSS.  819,  fol.  46. 


CAPTAIN  ROBERT  FOXE.  71 

This  earl  died  at  his  noble  mansion  near  the  Abbey 
Church  of  Waltham,  and  his  remains  were  committed  to  the 
dust  by  the  old  curate,  Nathaniel  Hatley.  In  the  register  is 
the  following  entry  : — 

"The  right  Honblt  James  Earle  of  Carlile  departed  this  life 
Octobr  30,  and  was  buried  at  the  upper  end  of  the  chancel,  November 
1 5th  Anno  Domini  1 660.  Prczijt  Dominus,  et servus  sequar  N.  Hatley." 


CAPTAIN  ROBERT  FOXE. 

Robert  Foxe,  the  younger  son  of  Dr.  Samuel  Foxe,  was  born 
December  5th,  1597,  at  Copt  Hall — at  least  we  suppose  so 
from  the  fact  that  his  brother  John  was  born  there  the  year 
previous,  and  his  sister  Jane  in  1599.  But  the  entry  of  their 
baptism  does  not  occur  in  the  parish  registers.  Probably 
the  Foxes  being  in  affluent  circumstances,  the  children  were 
christened  privately,  and  so  their  names  were  not  registered. 
At  the  age  of  nineteen  we  find  Robert  located  at  Clifford's 
Inn,  London.  In  the  summer  of  that  year,  1616,  he  writes  to 
his  brother  Thomas,  then  a  Fellow  of  Magdalen  College, 
Oxford,  respecting  the  trial  of  the  Earl  and  Countess  of 
Somerset  at  Westminster,  for  the  murder  of  Sir  Thomas 
Overbuiy,  a  miscellaneous  writer,  born  in  Warwickshire  in 
1581. 

In  1604  Overbury  contracted  an  acquaintance  with  Robert 
Car,  or  Ker — afterwards  Earl  of  Somerset,  a  favourite  of  King 
James  I. — by  whose  influence  he  was  knighted  in  1608.  Sir 
Thomas  Overbury  subsequently  became  the  confidant  of  his 
patron,  and  assisted  him  in  his  intrigues  with  the  Countess  of 
Essex,  when  this  unhappy  lady  had,  by  a  series  of  disgraceful 
acts,  procured  a  divorce  from  her  husband.  Overbury  strenu- 
ously advised  Lord  Rochester  not  to  marry  her ;  this  counsel 
was  immediately  communicated  to  the  lady,  who  from  that 
time  sought  means  to  remove  her  adversary.  An  attempt 
was  made  to  place  him  at  a  distance  by  appointing  him  to  a. 


72    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

foreign  office  ;  but  this  he  refused  to  accept,  and  on  the  ground 
of  disobedience  in  declining  the  king's  service,  he  was  at  once 
arrested  and  made  a  close  prisoner  in  the  Tower,  where  the 
Earl  and  Countess  administered  poison  to  him  in  his  viands, 
and  which  terminated  in  his  death.  Some  considerable  time 
elapsed  before  the  facts  of  the  murder  were  made  public,  when 
the  keeper  of  the  Tower,  with  several  other  persons,  were 
condemned  and  executed.  The  Earl  and  Countess,  however, 
were  convicted  and  condemned,  but  not  executed.  Robert 
Foxe  was  one  of  the  spectators  in  Westminster  Hall  when 
the  case  was  being  tried. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  from  Robert  Foxe  to 
his  brother  Thomas  respecting  the  trial,  &c  : — 

"  Kinde  brother  after  my  very  kinde  commendacons  unto  you  re- 
rnembred,  theis  are  to  lett  you  understand  that  I  haue  receiued  your 
kinde  letters  for  which  I  most  hartily  thanke  you.     1  thank e  you 
alsoe  the  rather  because  I  now  as  alwaies  I  haue  hitherto  found  you 
loue  in  reioycing  at  my  prferment  ;  now  I  ame  I  thanke  God  in  the 
way  as  I  hope  of  preferment  and  I  doubt  not  by  Gods  healpe  but  to 
find  hereafter  like  a  manne  of  my  selfe  in  good  sorte  as  one  should 
bee  of  my  posession.     Concerninge  newes,  heere  is  exceeding  greate 
businesses  in  London  but  I  dout  not  but  you  haue  hearde  of  at 
Oxford  alredy  of  all  or  newes  and  peradventures  somme  more  than  is 
trew.     But  uppon  friday  last  beeinge  the  2ist  day  of  May  was  the 
lady  arained  at  Westminster    but  beeinge  arained  saide  littell  or 
nothinge  and  there  was  attainted  of  nothinge  but  the  death  of  Sir 
Thomas  Overbury.*     The  perticuler  articles  (as  there  were  many)  I 
could  by  noe  meanes  see  although  I  stood  close  by  for  there  were  soe 
meany  in  the  hall  as  I  could  understand  scarse  ouer  a  worde.     The 
next  day  beeing  saterday  the  Earle  was  arained  whoe  stoode  exceed- 
inge  longe  at  the  Barre  w*  manny  greate  examinacions  and  hee 
answered  very  exceedinge  well  to  many  of  them  and  freed  himselfe 
from  many  scandalls  which  would  haue  after  his  death  ye  sondre  per- 
ticuler articles  which  were  proposed  against  him  were  soe  many  yl  hee 
was  forced  to  crave  the  sondre  inditementes  in  writinge  vnto  which 
hee  answered  againe  in  writinge  and  soe  preferred  them  to  ye  lord 

*  A  very  good  portrait  of  this  gentleman  is  preserved  in  Michel's  "  Pro- 
gress of  James  I."     Taken  from  a  rare  print. 


CAPTAIN   ROBERT   FOXE.  73 

Chauncellr  hee  was  not  attainted  of  any  thinge  ellse  but  of  Cude- 
buries  death  soe  theye  stande  untill  tenne  a  clock  at  night,  but  the 
Peares  found  them  both  guilty  and  soe  they  were  condemned  both  to 
be  hanged  and  nowe  stay  the  kinges  pleasure  soe  the  corte  broake 
vpp  and  the  prisoners  were  returned  to  the  place  from  whence  they 
came  ;  this  is  all  the  newes  I  canne  certifie  you  of  to  Certife  you  only 
in  the  truth  but  If  I  chaunce  to  happen  of  their  examinations  I  will 
send  you  them  but  I  ame  loth  to  send  you  worde  of  any  thinge  vntill 
I  know  full  certainely  thereof  because  theire  goe  so  many  flyinge  tales 
abroade  which  are  starke  lyees.  My  sister  Ursula  may  in  towne  one 
Thursday  whoe  certified  mee  that  ye  buildinges  goe  forwarde  a  pace 
and  will  bee  eanded  shortly ;  shee  telleth  mee  that  it  will  doe  werry 
well ;  my  ffather,  mother,  and  aunte  and  sisters  both  are  uery  well  and 
willed  mee  to  commend  there  loues  to  you  when  I  next  writt  unto 
you.  Wee  shall  scarse  finde  another  gammon  of  Bacon  at  ould 
Roberts  now  if  wee  should  comme  thether  half  hungerstarued  nor  a 
good  cheese  cake  nor  any  good  creame  when  my  ould  host  Nicoles 
at  Waltham  Church  gate*  is  deade.  Geasperf  and  many  other 
about  us  are  in  great  troble  for  stealinge  of  deare  my  Lord  doth 
Tyranies  very  exceedinge  much  ouer  them  and  undoeth  many  of  them. 
This  is  all  ye  London  newes  &  Essex  newes  I  canne  certifie  you  of 
and  soe  I  rest  allwayes  as  hether  to  I  haue  I  hope  binne. 

"  Cliffords  June  in  London  this  firste  of  June  an.  1616. 

•  "  Yor  assured  lovinge  brother  to  Commande, 
"  Robert  Fox." 

This  letter  is  addressed  "to  his  very  louinge  brother  Mr.  fox 
fellowe  of  Magdalen  Colledge  in  Oxon  DD.  there  wth  speede." 

Robert  Foxe  eventually  became  captain  in  the  navy.  There 
is  a  letter  in  the  Lansdowne  collection  of  MSS.  from  him  to 
his  brother  Thomas,  written  at  sea  "  from  the  Downes,"  dated 
1 6th  Nov.,  1634,  in  which  the  writer  says  that  he  is  in  charge 
of  a  vessel  just  come  into  the  Downs  from  Spain,  laden  with 
£240,000  in  silver  bars.  He  desires  to  be  remembered  to  his 

*  Probably  host  of  the  "  Cock  Inn,"  near  the  church  now  standing. 
"  Jesper  necoll  married  Jane  bruet"  at  Waltham  Church,  July  4,  1568. 
t  "  Geasper  "  may  have  been  son  of  "  host  Nicoles." 


74    TRANSACTIONS    OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

"  loving  sister,"  to  Miss  Wake,*  "  to  ffishers,  and  Stapleford."t 
In  the  same  collection  there  are  three  or  four  more  letters, 
written  by  Sir  John  Pennington  to  Captain  Robert  Foxe.  The 
first  is  a  commission  from  Admiral  Sir  John  Pennington  to 
Capt.  Robert  Foxe,  of  his  Majesty's  pinnace  the  "  Lion's  First 
Whelp,"  to  seize  the  ships  of  the  Dunkirkers  till  they  shall 
make  satisfaction  to  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  for  certain  fishing 
vessels  that  they  have  unjustly  taken  from  him.  Dated  Nov. 
i,  1638.1  After  this  date  we  find  Foxe  in  command  of  the 
ship  "  Leaghorn," 

"  By  command  from  the  Right  honorble  or  Lord  High  Adm*1  of 
England.  These  are  to  pray  and  require  you  to  looke  out  yarely 
from  tyme  to  tyme  that  noe  Barks  Retches  or  Boats,  Sweepes  for 
Cables,  Anchores,  or  any  other  thinge  sunke  in  this  roade  wthin  his 
Lords  bounds  or  Limitts,  that  is  to  say  further  from  the  shoare  then  a 
horseman  may  ryde  in  at  Lowe  water  &  touch  them  wth  his  lance  but 
such  as  haue  warrants  for  it  vnder  his  said  Lor?5  hand,  and  Scale. 
And  if  you  find  any  transgressinge  herein  you  are  for  the  first  tyme 
to  admonish  them  that  they  doe  it  noe  more  wch  if  after  they  prsume 
to  doe  you  are  to  cause  him  or  them  to  bee  apprehended,  and  kept  in 
safe  custody  till  you  can  acquaint  me  wth  it  if  I  bee  here  or  in  my 
absence  any  other  officer  of  the  fleete  or  such  as  I  shall  depute  in  my 
place,  that  wee  may  give  my  Lord  Admle  knowledge  of  it  &  receive 
his  further  commands  therein,  Heareof  you  may  not  sayle  &  this 
shall  bee  yor  sufficient  warrant  for  the  same  from  aboard  his  mats  shipp 
the  St.  Andrew  in  the  Downes  this  i2th  of  August  1641.  J. 
Pennington. 

"  To  my  very  loveinge  friend  Captaine  Robert  Fox,  Capt.  of  the 
League-home  mrchant."  (Lansd.  MSS.  819.) 

In  another  letter  Sir  John  Pennington  requests  Captain 
Foxe — 

"  To  attend  the  cominge  of  Sir  Robert  Honywood  and  his  lady," 
whome  he  is — 

*  Most  likely  a  branch  of  the  Wake  family,  Lords  of  the  Manor  of 
Waltham. 
f  These  relate  to  the  Wollastones  and  Botelers. 


HENRY   WOLLASTON   OF   WALTHAM   ABBEY.  75 

"  To  receive  aboard  shippe  wth  their  retinue  and  baggage  and  wth  ye 
first  opportunity  of  winde  and  weather  to  transport  them  over  for 
such  parts  of  Holland  as  they  shall  desire,  &c.  Date  September 
ioth  1641." 

On  the  third  of  the  following  month  Sir  John  Pennington 
orders  Captain  Robert  Foxe  to  bring  his  vessel  "  the  Leaghorn," 
up  the  "  River  of  Thames."  The  crew  is  then  paid  off.  There 
are  several  notices  of  Captain  Foxe  in  the  calendar  of  State 
Papers.*  He  died  in  1646,  and  was  buried  in  Waltham 
Church. 


HENRY     WOLLASTON     OF    WALTHAM     ABBEY. 

Henry  Wollaston  of  Waltham  was  a  descendant  of  the 
noble  family  of  Wollaston  of  Shenton  Hall,  co.  Leicester. 
This  family  flourished  in  the  time  of  Edward  III.  at  Wollaston 
in  Staffordshire,  and  in  the  reign  of  the  second  Richard  they 
sold  the  manor  to  the  Aston  family.  This  Henry  was  twice 
married,  —  first  to  Sarah,  daughter  of  William  Burges  of 
Kent  ;  and  second  to  Alice,  widow  of  Mr.  Smith.  His 
son  Henry,  first  of  that  name,  was  buried  at  Waltham  in 
August,  1588,  a  year  memorable  in  history  for  the  defeat  of 
the  Spanish  Armada.  The  second  son,  Henry,  was  a  man  of 
very  high  position  in  Waltham.  He  was  Justice  of  the  Peace 
for  Essex  during  the  reign  of  Charles  the  First  and  Second, 
and  throughout  the  Protectorate.  He  acted  in  lieu  of  the 
clergyman  of  the  parishes  of  Waltham  and  Nazing  in  respect 
to  marriages.  The  parish  registers  show  that  he  married  a 
great  many  couples  from  1653  to  1657,  and  in  some  instances 
the  banns  were  published  three  separate  times  in  the  market- 
place on  market  days.  The  elder  Henry,  though  much 
engaged  in  London  as  a  large  draper  and  alderman  of  the 
city,  frequently  resided  at  Fishers  in  Waltham,  and  was  so 
attached  to  the  town  of  Waltham  that  he  bequeathed  to 

*  Public  Record  Office. 


76    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

the  poor  of  the  parish  the  sum  of  one  shilling  weekly,  which 
was  to  be  spent  in  bread,  and  divided  every  Sunday.  This 
gentleman  died  suddenly  in  his  arm-chair  while  in  the  act  of 
singing  a  psalm  ;  this  occurred  about  the  year  1617.  His  son 
Henry  Wollaston,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  married  Ursula,  the 
daughter  of  Dr.  Samuel  Foxe  of  Warlies,  Waltham  Abbey, 
April  29,  1617.  The  first  three  years  of  their  wedded  life 
were  spent  at  Warlies,  after  which  they  removed  to  Fishers, 
the  homestead  of  the  Wollastons.  They  had  issue  Edward, 
born  1621;  Anne,  1622-3;  Henry,  1625-6;  Ursula,  1628; 
Thomas,  1629  ;  and  Samuel,  1632.  Most  of  the  family,  it 
appears,  were  born  at  Fishers;  the  house  is  still  standing 
on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  green,  midway  between  the 
Nazing  Road  and  "  Pains  Island,"  leading  to  Cheshunt.  Of 
Edward,  the  first  son,  Dr.  Foxe  was  especially  fond,  and  in  his 
will  leaves  him  the  sum  of  £20,  no  small  amount  in  those 
days.  Henry,  the  second  son,  married  Anne,  daughter  of 
Oliver  Boteler,  of  Harold  co.  Beds.  He  was  a  Captain  of  the 
train-bands  in  1664,  and  died  in  1678.  His  remains  were  in- 
terred in  the  Abbey  Church  of  Waltham.  Justice  Wollaston 
the  father  died  in  1669-70,  and  his  beloved  wife  died  the 
following  year.  They  were  buried  in  the  church.  A  fine 
marble  bust  of  Henry  Wollaston  is  still  preserved  in  the  church. 
Francis  Wollaston,  who  died  in  1684,  and  lies  buried  in  the 
same  church,  was  son  of  William  Wollaston  of  Shenton  Hall, 
and  Sheriff  of  Leicester,  a  collateral  branch  of  the  first- 
mentioned  Henry.  William  Wollaston,  the  great  theological 
writer,  author  of  "  The  Religion  of  Nature  Delineated/' 
descended  from  the  same  family.  He  was  born  at  Cotton 
Clanford,  in  Staffordshire,  March  26th,  1659  ;  died  October 
29th,  1724. 


HENRY   WOLLASTON   OF   WALTHAM   ABBEY.  77 


THE  WOLLASTON  FAMILY  OF  WALTHAM  ABBEY. 
(Extracts  from  the  Parish  Register.) 

"  1588.  Henry  Wolliston  the  son  of  Henry  Wolliston  of  London 
buryed,  August  14. 

1606-7.  Thomas  Wooleston  &  Margaret  Colburne  married, 
January  13. 

[1607.  Four  persons  married  by  Justice  Wollaston.] 

1612.  Samwell  Middillmas  &  Sara  Woollarston,  married  Oct.  5. 

1617.  Henry  Woolerstone  gent  maried  to  Mst  Ursula  fox 
Aprill  29. 

1621.  Edward  Woolerstone  son  of  Henry  Woolerstone  also  to 
Ursula  was  baptized,  June  27. 

1622-3.  Ann  Wolleston  daughter  to  hendri  as  also  to  Ursula  his 
wife  Bapt.  Feb  27. 

1625-6.  Henry  Wollerstone  sonn  of  Henry  as  also  Ursular  Bapt. 
Feb.  23. 

1628.  Ursula  Woolerstone  daughter  to  Henry  and  Ursula  Bapt. 
April  17. 

1629.  Thomas  Wollenstone  son  of  Henry  &  Ursula,  Bapt.  Sept.  18. 

1630.  Elizabeth  Wollerstone  daughter  of  Henry  as  also  Ursula, 
Bapt.  Dec.  last  day. 

1632.  Samuel  Wooluerstone  sonn  of  Mr.  Henry  &  Ursula,  Bapt. 
August  30. 

1632.  Thomas  Woolerstone  son  to  Mr.  Henry  Woolerstone,  Buried 
Sept.  3. 

1645.  Memerrandum  that  the  Banes  of  Matrimonie  between  Mr. 
Adam  Edwards  and  Misteris  Ann  Woollaston  ware  three  severall 
times  published  in-  our  Parish  Church  of  Waltham  Abby  without 
contradicktion  and  the  last  time  of  the  publishing  thereof  was  the  20 
day  of  Aprill  1645  and  they  ware  married  one  thursday  the  24  of  the 
same  moneth. 

1648.  Mr.  Rowland  Berisford  &  Misteris  Elizabeth  Wollastone, 
married  Nov.  23. 

1653.  Ed.  Brown  ye  sonn  of  William  Brown  of  the  parish  of  Chig- 
well  in  Essex  and  Margret  Nevel  of  Navestock  in  ye  same  county 
being  asked  in  marriage  three  several  Lords  dayes  in  their  respective 
parishes  were  married  on  the  9  of  Nov.  by  Hen.  Wolleston. 

1655.  Ursula  daughter  to  Mr.  Henry  &  Mrs.  Ann  Wollaston  borne 
at  Harehold  in  Bedfordshire,  Birth.  Sept.  27. 


78    TRANSACTIONS    OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

1656.  The  seacond  child,  but  first  sonn  to  Mr.  Henry  &  Mrs.  Ann 
Wollaston,  Birth,  July  25.  [Henry  Wollaston  married  several 
persons  from  Nov.,  1653,  to  May,  1657.  His  name  is  appended  to 
nearly  every  "  contract  of  marriage  "  entered  in  the  Register  during 
that  period.] 

1658.  Judith  daughter  to  Henry  &  Ann  Wollastone,  buried, 
Sept.  7. 

1660.  Henry  sonn  of  Mr.  Henry  &  Mrs.  Ann  Wollaston,  born 
April  i. 

1660.  Timothie  Robinson  servant  to  Henry  Wollaston  Esq.,  Buried 
August  23. 

1662.  Richard  sonn  to  Captain  Henry  Wollaston  &  to  Ann,  Bapt. 
Dec.  19. 

1665.  Oliver  sonn  to  Capt.  Henry  Wollaston,  Bapt.  April  30. 

1665.  Mr.    Thorne  Wills    Ensign    to    Capt.    Wollaston,   Buried, 
May  14. 

1666.  Thomas  sonn  to  Capt.  Henry  Wollaston,  Bapt.  Nov.  8. 

1668.  A  son  ye  sixth  of  Capt.  Wollaston,  Buried  Dec.  21. 

1669.  John  Bolls  servant  to  Justice  Wollaston,  Buried,  May  18. 
1669-70.  Henry  Wollaston  senior  Esq.  Justice  of  ye  peace  and 

Quorum  many  years,  buried  in  ye  Church  at  the  south-end  of  his  own 
pew,  Feb.  17. 

1670.  Mrs.  Ursula  Wollaston  wid.  Relict  of  Henry  Esq.     Buried 
ye  1 1  April. 

1674.  Richard  son  to  Capt.  Henry  Wollaston  &  of  Mrs.  Ann  buried 
in  ye  Church  of  St.  Giles  in  ye  fields  Midd.,  March  28. 

1678.  Capt.  Henry  Wollaston  buried  in  ye  Church  March  2ist. 

1684.  Francis  son  of  William  Wollaston  of  Shenton  in  county  of 
Leistershire  &  of  Elizabeth  his  wife,  she  being  ye  only  daughter  & 
heir  of  Capt.  Cave  of  Inglesbie  in  ye  same  county  buried  att  ye  south 
end  of  ye  pew  of  Hen.  Wollaston  Esq.  Dec.  6." 

The  Churchwardens'  Accounts  of  Waltham  Abbey  : — 

"  1643-4.  Recd.  off  Mr.  Henry  Woolaston  Esq.  wch  he  had  of  a  man 
that  was  drunk  according  to  the  statute  5s. 

1645-6.  Mem.  Mr.  Wollaston  paies  his  monie  wekely  in  bread 
wch  is  Is.  p.  week  ^2.  12.  o. 

1651-2.  Henry  Wollaston  Esq.  gave  £i  towards  purchasing 
Buckets,  ladders  and  firehooks  for  the  parish."  These  firehooks  were 


SIR   RICHARD   WILLYS,   BART.  79 

kept  in  the  old  Market  house,  and  used  to  pull  off  the  thatch  and 
liles  of  buildings  on  fire." 

Henry  Wollaston's  gift  to  the  Parish  of  Waltham  Abbey. 

Henry  Wollaston,  the  elder,  of  St.  Martin  Ogars,  London, 
draper,  by  his  last  will  and  testament,  dated  November, 
1616,  gave  as  follows  : — 

"  My  will  and  mind  is,  and  I  do  devise  and  appoint  that  my  said 
son  Henry,  and  his  heirs  shall  yearly  for  ever  pay  towards  the  relief 
of  the  poor  of  the  said  parish  of  Waltham  Holy  Cross  the  sum  of 
two  and  fifty  shillings  of  lawful  money  of  England,  to  the  parson  and 
Church- ward  ens  then  for  the  time  being,  for  the  poor,  to  be  bestowed 
by  twelve  pence  every  Sunday  in  Bread.  And  I  do  will  and  devise 
that  the  said  two  and  fifty  shillings  shall  be  issuing  and  paid  out  of 
my  said  lands,  called  FISHERS  *  alias  Salmons ;  and  that  the  said  lands 
shall  be  for  ever  chargeable  with  the  payment  thereof,  to  the  poor  of 
the  said  parish  of  Waltham." 


SIR  RICHARD  WILLYS,  BART,  f 

This  gentleman  married  Alice,  daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Foxe  of  Waltham  Abbey,  grandson  of  the  martyrologist. 
Both  Sir  Richard  Willys  and  his  brother  Sir  Thomas  were 
created  baronets  by  King  Charles  I.,  the  former  in  1646,  the 
latter  in  1641.  Sir  Richard  Willys  was  colonel  of  a  regiment 
of  horse  under  Charles  I.,  Colonel-General  of  the  counties  of 
Lincoln,  Nottingham,  and  Rutland,  and  Governor  of  the  town 
and  castle  of  Newark.  He  had  an  only  son,  Thomas  Fox 
Willys,  born  at  Waltham  Abbey,  on  whose  death  in  1701,  at 
the  age  of  eighty-nine,  the  baronetcy  conferred  upon  his  father 
became  extinct.  Ann  Fox  Willys  was  baptized  at  Waltham, 
February  21,  1659-60.  She  married  Christopher  Davenport, 

*  Situate  in  Holyfield,  in  Waltham,  now  in  the  occupation  of  Mr. 
Green.  It  is  the  property  of  the  Trustees  of  Fuller's  Charity,  London. 

f  The  son  of  Richard  Willys  of  Horningsey  and  Fen  Ditton,  co. 
Cambridge. 


80     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Esq.,  of  New  Inn,  and  had  a  daughter  Elizabeth,  born  in  1701. 
Sir  Richard  Willys  had  a  daughter  born  at  Waltham,  named 
Adeliza, — not  Alice,  as  suggested  by  Burke.  She  was  baptized 
April  9,  1663,  and  died  unmarried.  Sir  Richard  died  in  1690, 
and  was  buried  at  Fen  Ditton,  in  the  county  of  Cambridge- 
shire. Of  the  family  of  Sir  Thomas  Willys  there  were  six 
baronets,  the  last  of  whom  died  in  1732.  William  Willys  of 
Hackney,  to  whom  Strype  was  indebted  for  the  use  of  John 
Foxe's  MSS.  (see  ante),  was  a  Hamburgh  merchant,  the 
youngest  son  of  Sir  Thomas  Willys.  He  died  in  1726. 
The  Willys  family  seats  were  at  Fen  Ditton  and  Waltham 
Abbey. 

The  writer  possesses  a  large  parchment,  endorsed — 

"  The  assignment  of  Sir  Richard  Wyllys  and  dame  Alice  his  wife 
Executrix  of  Mr.  Thomas  Fox  her  father,  to  John  Curranie  Esq. 
November  the  26,  1664,  of  the  lease  of  Mortgage  from  Mr.  Phillip 
Dallow  and  Mr.  Edward  Dallow  to  the  sayd  Thomas  Fox  of  the 
Manor  of  Bitchfield,  &c.,  for  1500^  payd  to  them  by  the  sayd 
Mr.  Curranie." 

This  document  has  two  fine  red  wax  seals,  with  autograph 
of  Sir  Richard  Willys,  and  Alice  his  wife.  The  family  name 
occurs  in  the  Parish  Register  of  Waltham  several  times,  viz., — - 

"1567.  Angnes  Wylles  the  daughter  of  henry  Wylles,  Bapt. 
Maye  16. 

1569.  Henry  Wylles  the  sonne  of  henry  Wylles,  Bapt.  Apryell  22. 

1576.  John  asskwe  and  lone  Willes  married  Jan  vary  22. 

1659-60.  Anne  Fox  daughter  to  Sir  Richard  and  Lady  Alice 
Willis,  Bapt.  Feb.  21. 

1 66 1.  Thomas-Fox  Willis  son  to  Sir  Richard  Willis  Knight  and 
Baronet  as  also  Dame  Alice  his  wife  borne  June  30*. 

1663.  Adeliza  daughter  to  Sr  Rich.  Willis  &  Dame  Alice,  Bapt. 
April  9. 

1682.  Henry  Hucks  servt  to  Sir  Rich.  Willis — Bur.  July  31. 

1798-9.  John  son  of  Richard  Willis,  Bapt.  January  23." 

In  1668  Sir  Richard  Willys  signs,  with  Henry  Wollaston 
the  elder  and  Henry  Wollaston  the  younger,  a  petition  to 


SIR   RICHARD   WILLYS,   BART.  81 

King  Charles  II.  for  leave  to  collect  money  for  the  reparation 
of  Waltham  Abbey  Church,  which  building  was  then  expected 
"  to  fall  to  the  ground."  The  privilege  being  granted  by  the 
monarch,  the  inhabitants  of  Waltham  returned  their  sincere 
thanks  to  his  Majesty.  An  entry  to  this  effect  occurs  in  the 
Churchwardens'  Accounts,  under  date  1668  : — 

"Waltham  Holy  Cross  at  a  vestry  then  holden  February  1668 
upon  publique  notice  given  thereoff  ye  Lords  day  next  before  agreed 
and  concluded  then  and  there  as  follows — Imprimis,  Most  humble 
and  heartie  thanks  wee  render  His  gracious  Majestic  for  granting  a 
Collection  by  way  of  brief  towards  ye  repair  of  our  Parish  Church  &c. 
Richard  Stevens,  Edmond  Goulding.  Richard  Willys,  Hen.  Wollas- 
ton  Jun." 

Bulstrode  states  that  after  the  battle  of  Naseby,  King 
Charles  expressed  a  wish  to  promote  Sir  Richard  Willys  for 
his  valuable  services  as  Governor  of  Newark,  but  Sir  Richard 
refused  taking  any  higher  position,  as  his  means  would  not 
admit  of  it.  The  king,  however,  promised  to  furnish  him 
with  means  according  to  his  office,  but  failed  to  do  so.  The 
above  writer  remarks  that — 

"Sir  Richard  Willis  appeared  much  troubled,  and  excused  his 
taking  the  other  command,  as  a  place  of  too  great  honour,  and  that 
his  fortune  could  not  maintain  him  in  that  employment,  and  said  his 
enemies  would  triumph  in  his  removal.  The  king  told  him  he  would 
take  care  and  provide  for  his  support,  and  so  went  out  of  his  chamber 
to  church,  and  after  his  return,  being  at  dinner,  Prince  Rupert,  Prince 
Maurice,  Lord  Gerard,  and  Sir  Richard  Willis,  with  twenty  officers  of 
the  garrison,  came  into  the  presence-chamber,  where  Sir  Richard 
Willis  addressed  himself  to  the  king,  and  told  him  it  was  the  public 
talk  of  the  town  that  he  was  disgraced,  and  turned  out  from  his 
government,  and  Prince  Rupert  added,  Sir  Richard  Willis  was  to  be 
removed  from  his  government,  for  no  other  fault  but  for  being  his 
friend.  The  Lord  Gerard  said  it  was  a  plot  of  the  Lord  Digby,  who 
was  a  traitorrand  he  would  prove  him  to  be  so.  The  king  was  so  much 
surprised  at  these  extravagant  and  insolent  Discourses,  that  he  rose  from 
dinner  in  great  disorder,  and  retiring  into  his  bedchamber  he  called 
Sir  Richard  Willis  to  follow  him,  who  answered  loudly  that  he  had 

G 


82    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

received  a  public  injury,  and  expected  a  public  satisfaction.  This  so 
provoked  his  Majesty,  that  with  much  greater  indignation  than  ever  he 
was  seen  possessed  with,  he  commanded  them  to  depart  his  presence, 
and  to  come  no  more  into  it;  and  this  with  such  circumstances  in  his 
looks  and  gesture,  as  well  as  words,  that  they  appeared  no  less  con- 
founded, and  departed  the  room,  ashamed  of  what  they  had  done. 
Yet  so  soon  as  they  came  to  the  governor's  house  they  sounded  to 
horse,  intending  to  be  presently  gone,  but  soon  after  they  sent  to  the 
king  for  passes,  who  gave  them  such  as  they  desired,  and  sent  them, 
tod  declared  Collonel  Bellasis  Governor  of  Newark,  but  forgot  at  the 
tome  time  to  have  hanged  up  Sir  Richard  Willis  for  his  insolent 
carriage  towards  his  sovereign."  * 

*  "  Memoirs  and  Reflections  upon  the  government  of  King  Charles  I. 
and  II.,"  vol.  i.,  p.  129. 


83 


DOMESTIC  EVERY-DAY  LIFE,  AND  MANNERS 
AND  CUSTOMS  IN  THIS  COUNTRY,  FROM  THE 
EARLIEST  PERIOD  TO  THE  END  OF  THE  LAST 

CENTURY. 

BY    GEORGE    HARRIS,    ESQ.,    LL.D.,   F.S.A., 

FELLOW  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

I.— THE  ANCIENT  BRITONS. 

IN  the  series  of  papers  on  "  Domestic  Every-day  Life,  and 
Manners  and  Customs  in  the  Ancient  World,"  which  I  have 
had  the  pleasure  of  reading  before  this  Society,*  I  endeavoured 
to  afford  an  insight  into  the  mode  of  living  among  the  people 
of  the  nations  of  old,  more  especially  the  Egyptians,  Greeks, 
Romans,  and  Jews,  commencing  with  those  of  which  we  have 
the  earliest  authentic  records,  and  carrying  the  account  down 
to  the  period  when  Roman  civilization  arrived  at  the  highest 
state  of  perfection  which  it  ever  reached.  I  described  to  you 
"  the  style  of  dress  of  the  people,  their  cities  and  houses,  the 
furniture  which  they  used,  their  mode  of  taking  their  meals, 
their  different  kinds  of  amusements,  their  method  of  travelling 
both  by  land  and  water,  their  professional  and  commercial 
pursuits  and  occupations,  their  arts  and  manufactures,  their 
way  of  carrying  on  war,  their  religious  rites  and  ceremonies, 
and  their  funeral  solemnities."  In  affording  this  account  I 
availed  myself  of  the  records  of  various  kinds  which  the 
people  of  these  several  nations  have  left  behind  them,  including 
not  only  the  productions  of  their  historians,  but  the  various 
national  monuments  which  yet  remain,  the  works  of  art  that 
have  been  preserved,  the  relics  of  ornaments  and  articles  of 

*  "  Royal  Historical  Society  Transactions,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  393;  vol.  Hi.,  p.  i  ; 
vol.  iv.  p.  364. 


84    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

domestic  use  that  have  been  discovered,  and  the  relics  of 
their  cities  and  buildings  which  have  survived  the  shocks  of 
time. 

In  another  series  of  corresponding  papers  I  now  propose  to 
present  to  you  a  sketch  of  the  domestic  every-day  life,  and 
manners  and  customs  of  the  people  of  this  country,  com- 
mencing with  an  account  of  the  earliest  known  inhabitants  of 
our  island,  and  carrying  the  narrative  down  to  the  end  of  the 
last  century.  I  shall  describe  to  you  their  style  of  dress  (when 
they  used  any),  their  cities  and  houses,  the  furniture  which 
they  possessed,  their  mode  of  taking  their  meals,  their  different 
kinds  of  amusements,  the  way  in  which  they  travelled  both  by 
land  and  water,  their  various  professional  and  commercial 
pursuits  and  occupations,  their  arts  and  manufactures,  the 
manner  in  which  they  carried  on  warfare,  the  sort  of  sports 
and  amusements  in  which  they  indulged,  their  religious  rites 
and  ceremonies,  and  their  funeral  solemnities'. 

In  another  paper  which  I  read  before  you  on  the  "  Materials 
for  a  Domestic  History  of  England,"*  I  endeavoured  to  point 
out  and  enumerate,  the  various  materials  which  we  in  this 
country  possess,  that  are  available  for  a  history  of  the  kind 
that  I  have  alluded  to,  particularly  as  regards  the  records  left 
us  of  past  times  in  the  regular  histories  that  have  been  trans- 
mitted to  us,  the  numerous  historical  monuments  yet  re- 
maining, the  chronicles  of  different  periods  which  have  been 
preserved,  the  various  works  of  art  belonging  to  different 
ages  which  still  exist,  the  several  authentic  records  and  legal 
instruments  that  have  been  handed  down, — many  of  them  most 
valuable  for  this  purpose ;  also  household  regulations,  and 
inventories  and  books  of  account,  which  are  often  extremely 
serviceable  in  this  way.  The  records  of  the  Legislature  and  of 
the  courts  of  justice,  which  show  the  sort  of  laws  that  were 
found  necessary  at  different  periods,  and  the  trials  that  took 
place,  also  throw  much  light  on  the  domestic  history  of  the 
period.  Public  journals,  when  they  existed  and  have  been  pre- 
served, are  also  of  the  highest  value  in  this  respect,  as  is  the 

*  "Royal  Historical  Society  Transactions,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  142. 


DOMESTIC  EVERY-DAY  LIFE  IN  THIS  COUNTRY.         85 

private  correspondence  which  was  carried  on,  and  in  which  is 
frequently  recorded  much  that  is  valuable  to  throw  light  on 
every-day  life  at  particular  times  and  in  particular  parts  of 
the  country. 

The  researches  that  have  during  the  last  few  years  been 
made  by  the  Commission  appointed  by  the  Crown  for  inquiry 
into,  and  bringing  to  light,  the  various  manuscripts  and 
documents  of  historical  value  existing  in  this  country — many 
of  which  have  hitherto  been  lying  useless,  and  were  rotting 
away  in  obscurity— have  opened  a  vast  mine  of  wealth  as 
regards  the  information  that  they  afford  respecting  our 
domestic  history  in  ages  bygone,  and  of  which  I  hope  to 
avail  myself  in  the  papers  that  I  am  about  to  present  to  you. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  papers  which  I  read  to  you  on  domestic 
every-day  life  in  the  ancient  world,  I  propose  to  illustrate 
each  one  with  a  series  of  diagrams,*  intended  to  afford  an 
idea  of  some  of  the  principal  objects  described.  These 
pictures  are  obtained  from  very  different  sources.  Some  of 
them,  as  in  the  case  of  the  representation  of  the  group  of 
Ancient  Britons  and  of  their  dwellings,  which  you  see  before 
you  this  evening,  are  mainly  derived  from  descriptions  left  to 
us  by  historians  of  the  time,  who  actually  saw  them.  The 
pictures  of  Druidical  and  other  monuments  are  copied  from 
these  objects  themselves.  Ancient  missals,  which  go  back  as 
far  as  the  Anglo-Saxon  times,  contain  several  very  graphic, 
though  somewhat  rude,  representations  of  the  people  of  that 
period,  and  serve  well  to  exhibit  the  style  of  dress,  and  their 
manner  of  life.  Several  of  the  diagrams  are  copied  from  these 
works,  and  others  from  missals  of  a  later  date,  which  afford  on 
the  whole  the  most  accurate,  effective,  and  faithful  representa- 
tions of  every-day  life  in  those  days  anywhere  to  be  met  with. 
Ancient  buildings  of  different  descriptions,  and  ancient  armour, 
and  domestic  utensils  of  various  kinds,  have  also  afforded 
materials  for  other  illustrations,  as  have  ancient  prints  and 

*  Dr.  Harris  has  deposited  in  the  Society's  archives  a  series  of 
diagrams,  illustrative  both  of  the  present  paper  and  of  his  previous  com- 
munications on  kindred  subjects. — ED. 


86     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

pictures  of  the  ordinary  kind.  Several  of  the  diagrams  are 
copied  from  sketches  which  I  made  on  the  Continent,  of 
objects  which  serve  to  throw  light  on  the  domestic  history  of 
the  period,  which  was  in  many  respects  much  the  same  in  one 
country  that  it  was  in  Bother,  all  being  nearly  on  a  level  in 
point  of  civilization. 

Although,  from  the  mixture  of  different  races,  I  do  not  think 
it  of  much  importance  to  endeavour  to  trace  back  the  genera- 
tion of  particular  families  so  as  to  ascertain  whether  we  have 
ancient  British,  Anglo-Saxon,  Danish,  or  Norman  blood  flow- 
ing in  our  veins ;  yet  there  is  another  kind  of  investigation, 
which  is  both  very  interesting  and  very  instructive  to  pursue, 
somewhat  allied  to  this,  and  which  is  the  tracing  out  of  the 
development  of  peculiar  national  characteristics  thus  early 
exhibited,  and  the  origin  of  the  various  civil  institutions  whose 
foundation  was  laid  in  these  primitive  times.*  Charac- 
teristic traits  are  early  displayed  in  the  history  of  each  nation, 
analogous  to  what  is  the  case  with  regard  to  individual  men. 
Thus  the  courage,  the  generosity,  the  independence,  the  spirit, 
and  the  ingenuity  which  were  exhibited  by  our  rude  fore- 
fathers, may  have  constituted  the  germ  of  the  nobler,  or  rather 
more  perfect  and  cultivated  qualities  of  the  same  kind  which 
at  this  day  distinguish  the  inhabitants  of  this  country.  The 
same  spirit  of  commercial  enterprise  which  animates  us  now, 
was  also  a  marked  feature  in  the  character  of  the  Ancient 
Britons  ;  and  the  habit  of  travelling  about,  and  of  wandering 
abroad  to  explore  new  countries,  so  characteristic  of  English- 
men, we  may  have  derived  from  the  predatory  Saxons  and 
Danes,  whose  blood  is  mingled  with  that  of  our  ancestors  the 
Britons.  In  many  nations — I  might  particularly  instance  the 
Jews,  in  whose  national  character  there  are  very  marked 
features — it  is  curious  and  interesting  to  trace  to  how  large  an 
extent  the  future  character  of  the  nation  accords  with  what  it 
developed  at  the  commencement  of  its  career,  f 

*  "Civilization  considered  as  a  Science,"  &c.    Essence,  p.  30  (Bohn's 
Library  Edition.) 
t  Ibid,,  p.  29. 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN   THIS   COUNTRY.         87 

As  regards  the  civil  institutions  of  this  country,  many  of 
those  which  are  not  only  now  in  use,  but  which  are  the  most 
highly  prized,  had  not  merely  their  type  in  the  early  period  of 
which  I  am  about  to  speak,  but  the  germ  of  these  institutions 
was  then  fully  developed.  I  may  especially  refer  to  that 
boasted  institution,  so  conducive  to  the  liberty  of  this 
country,  and  which  sprung  from  that  love  of  freedom  so 
peculiarly  characteristic  of  the  people  of  this  land,  "  trial  by 
jury."  The  holding  of  free  parliaments  was  an  institution  of 
our  Saxon  ancestors,  and  even  the  mode  of  conveying  property, 
and  the  principles  for  its  regulation,  were  very  similar  to 
those  now  recognised,  and  formed  indeed  their  basis.  It  is 
especially  interesting  to  observe  the  care  taken  in  these  rude 
times  to  promote  the  investigation  of  truth  in  their  proceed- 
ings, the  anxiety  with  which  it  was  sought  out,  and  the  skill 
and  caution  which  they  exercised  in  guarding  against  any 
infringement  on  their  liberties. 

We  may,  indeed,  not  unreasonably  hope  that  the  ultimate 
result  of  the  mixture  of  different  races  of  people  may  have 
been  in  many  respects  to  correct  the  characteristic  defects, 
and  to  develop  the  characteristic  virtues  peculiar  to  each  ; 
and  that  the  rivalry  of  different  institutions  borrowed  from 
various  nations  would,  in  a  corresponding  manner,  tend  to 
advance  and  perfect  each  other. 

We  nevertheless  may  be,  and  I  think  ought  to  feel  grateful 
that  we  were  not  born  in  the  age  that  I  shall  attempt  to 
describe.  And  I  believe  that  you  will  all  agree  with  me  that 
we  are  far  better  off  as  we  are  than  if  we  had  chanced  to  be 
one  of  those  ancestors.  "  St.  Martin's  "  and  "  St.  Giles's  "  were 
then  really  "in  the  fields,"  or  more  probably  in  the  woods. 
Where  we  are  now  assembled  might  have  been  the  haunt  of 
some  wolf  or  other  ferocious  animal.  What  London  itself 
then  was,  I  may,  perhaps,  in  a  future  paper,  attempt  to 
describe  to  you  ;  something  very  different  from  what  it  now 
is,  or  from  any  other  town  or  village  at  present  existing  in 
this  country. 

It  is  not  always  that  we   are   able   to   collect   authentic 


88      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

information  respecting  these  early  times.  There  were  then 
neither  books  nor  newspapers  to  tell  us  anything  about  them; 
and  if  there  had  been  any,  there  was  probably  nobody  in  this 
country  who  could  read  them.  Printing,  indeed,  was  not 
invented  until  long  after  the  period  of  which  I  am  going  to 
speak.  What  books  there  were,  were  written  only  ;  but  none 
of  them  came  to  this  country,  where,  of  course,  they  could  be 
of  no  use.  In  our  day,  the  newspapers  alone  may  serve  for 
materials  to  the  future  historian  of  the  manners  and  customs 
of  these  times,  and  present  an  accurate  diary  of  the  every-day 
life  of  the  nation. 

I  shall  try  to  carry  your  minds  back  to  a  period  of  from 
some  i, 800  to  1,000  years  before  that  in  which  we  are  now 
living ;  and  we  must  endeavour  to  imagine  that  for  the  hour 
we  are  existing  in  those  times,  in  all  respects  so  entirely 
differing  from  our  own. 

It  appears  to  me,  from  a  survey  of  the  different  authorities 
and  arguments  on  the  subject,  that  the  most  probable  and 
satisfactory  conclusion  at  which  we  can  arrive  is,  that  the 
original  population  of  this  island  was  derived  from  the  Gauls, 
or  inhabitants  of  France,  some  of  whom  migrated  hither. 
Certain  romantic  historians  have,  indeed,  claimed  for  our 
primitive  forefathers  the  high  honour  of  being  descended 
from  the  Trojans,  a  colony  of  whom  is  said  to  have  been 
brought  hither  by  a  great-grandson  of  ^Eneas,  after  the  fall 
of  Troy.  It  is  further  asserted  that  the  Trojans,  to  their 
astonishment  no  doubt,  and  possibly  also  to  their  regret, 
found  Britain  inhabited  by  a  race  of  giants,  ruled  over  by  a 
king  who  rejoiced  in  the  high-sounding  name  of  Gogmagog. 
Another  writer  says  that  a  school  was  established  for  instruct- 
ing the  giants  in  the  arts  and  sciences.*  But  the  Gaulish 
origin  of  the  race,  though  perhaps  the  least  romantic,  is  at 
any  rate  the  most  probable,  t  The  word  Britain  is  supposed 
to  have  been  derived  from  some  Celtic  words  meaning  painted 
people.  + 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  118. 
f  Ibid.,  pp.  8,  9.  J  Ibid.,  p.  u. 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE  IN    THIS  COUNTRY.         89 

The  earliest  authentic  account  which  we  obtain  of  this 
country  and  of  its  inhabitants  was,  however,  afforded  to  us 
by  the  Romans  in  the  time  of  Caesar,  who  invaded  Britain 
about  fifty-five  years  before  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era.  He  wrote  a  book  containing  a  description  of 
all  that  he  saw,  and  much '  of  what  I  have  to  tell  you  is 
derived  from  that  very  interesting  work. 

Caesar  observed  of  the  Britons,  "  The  number  of  the  people 
is  countless,  and  their  buildings  are  exceedingly  numerous  ; 
the  number  of  cattle  is  great     ......     They  do  not 

regard  it  lawful  to  eat  the  hare,  the  cock,  or  the  goose.    They, 
however,  breed  them  for  amusement  and  pleasure."* 

According  to  Caesar,  the  people  who  lived  in  Kent  were  the 
most  civilized  among  the  ancient  Britons,  and  most  resembled 
the  Gauls,  or  inhabitants  of  France,  with  whom  we  may 
suppose  they  had  frequent  intercourse. 

Caesar  says  of  the  people  then  inhabiting  this  country,  that 
"  most  of  the  inland  inhabitants  do  not  sow  corn,  but  live  on 
milk  and  flesh,  and  are  clothed  with  skins.  All  the  Britons, 
indeed,  dye  themselves  with  wood,  which  occasions  a  bluish 
colour,  and  thereby  they  have  a  more  terrible  appearance  in 
fights.  They  wear  their  hair  long,  and  have  every  part  of  their 
body  shaved  except  their  head  and  upper  lip.  Ten,  and  even 
twelve  have  wives  common  to  them,  and  particularly  brothers 
among  brothers,  and  parents  among  their  children.  But  if 
there  be  any  issue  by  those  wives,  they  are  reputed  to  be  the 
children  of  those  by  whom  respectively  each  was  first  es- 
poused when  a  virgin."  f 

When  Caesar  invaded  this  country  he  is  supposed  to  have 
sailed  with  his  fleet  from  a  place  now  called  Ouessant,  on  the 
coast  of  France,  nearly  opposite  Deal,  where  it  is  probable 
that  he  landed.  Ouessant  is  about  halfway  between  Calais 
and  Boulogne.  I  have  a  rough  view  of  it  etched  on  copper 
from  a  sketch  which  I  made  on  the  spot  some  years  ago. 
The  remains  of  the  harbour  in  which  Caesar's  fleet  rode  before 

*  Commentaries,  book  v.,  chap.  xii. 
t  Ibid.,  book  v.,  chap.  xiv. 


90      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

sailing  for  England  are  still  to  be  seen,  though  it  is  now 
almost  choked  up  with  sand.  On  an  eminence  above  the 
village  is  an  ancient  encampment,  of  which  you  see  the  out- 
line, and  which  is  thought  by  some  to  have  been  made  by 
Caesar,  and  was  probably  at  all  events  used  by  him  and  his 
soldiers  before  they  went  on  board  the  fleet.  You  obtain  a 
view  of  the  English  coast  in  the  distance,  and  just  perceive 
the  white  cliffs  above  Dover  and  Deal. 

Beyond  Ouessant,  in  the  direction  towards  Boulogne,  which 
is  about  eight  miles  to  the  south,  you  observe  a  long  promon- 
tory or  headland  stretching  into  the  sea.  It  is  to  this  point 
that  the  tunnel  under  the  sea  is  proposed  to  be  carried  from 
Dover,  which  lies  in  the  opening  between  the  two  cliffs  on  the 
English  coast  to  the  north.  Ouessant  was  for  many  years 
the  port  from  which  vessels  sailed  for  England  before  Calais 
was  resorted  to.  I  should  imagine  that  Ouessant  was  given 
up  when  large  vessels  began  to  be  in  use,  as  the  sea  is  very 
shallow  near  the  coast  here,  and  so  ships  started  from  Calais 
instead. 

If  we  could  fancy  ourselves  in  a  boat  on  the  sea,  approach- 
ing our  island  at  this  period,  we  should  observe  the  country 
covered  with  thick  woods,  reaching  down  in  many  places  to 
the  coast.  The  oaks  especially  are  very  fine,  of  great  age, 
and  some  of  them  most  majestic  in  their  appearance.  Here 
and  there  glades  of  grass  appear,  in  parts  of  luxuriant  green ; 
in  other  parts  the  herbage  is  long,  and  rank,  and  withered. 
Winding  avenues  or  paths  are  seen  among  the  trees,  but  are 
almost  darkened  in  some  parts,  owing  to  the  thickness  of  the 
foliage. 

Let  us  land  and  explore  this  interesting  country.  But  who 
are  those  gliding  between  the  trees  ?  They  have  now  come  out 
into  the  open  space,  and  are  looking  about  them,  although 
luckily  they  do  not  see  us.  They  are  more  like  demons  than 
human  creatures  ;  and,  indeed,  it  has  long  been  supposed  that 
Britain  is  haunted  by  such  beings.  These  people  are  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  island.  They  are  of  huge  size,  have  very  little  cloth- 
ing, and  what  they  have  consists  of  the  skins  of  wild  beasts 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY    LIFE   IN    THIS   COUNTRY.         91 

not  more  ferocious  than  themselves.  The  women  sew  these 
skins  together  with  leathern  thongs,  or  fibres  of  vegetables, 
and  bone  needles.  The  skin  of  a  brindled  ox  fastened  with 
thorns  was  a  favourite,  I  may  say  a  fashionable  dress,  among 
the  ladies  of  this  period.  * 

They  wore  also  a  necklace  of  beads,  and  entwined  wild 
flowers  in  their  long  twisted  hair.  Blue  eyes  were  common 
among  this  people,  and  their  expression  was  generally  wild 
and  fierce. 

In  the  diagram  before  you,  you  have  a  representation  of  a 
group  of  them  emerging  from  a  wood,  armed  with  formidable 
weapons,  their  shields  made  of  wicker-work.  They  live  in 
independent  tribes,  and  do  not  offer  a  very  hospitable  recep- 
tion to  those  who  land  on  their  shores  ;  but  who,  as  they  come 
uninvited,  have  no  right  to  be  treated  as  welcome  guests. 
They  are  generally  tall  and  well  made.  The  hair  of  most  of 
them  inclines  to  red  or  yellow,  and  is  usually  turned  back 
upon  the  crown  of  the  head,  and  falls  down  in  bushy 
curls  behind.  Long  hair  in  those  days  was  considered  a 
mark  of  dignity.  Kings  and  nobles  were  accustomed  to  allow 
of  its  growth,  while  persons  of  inferior  rank  were  closely 
clipped. "f*  Men  of  rank,  however,  shaved  the  chin,  but  wore 
immense  tangled  moustachios.  On  their  persons  the  ancient 
Britons  wore  bracelets,  rings,  and  other  ornaments  of  gold, 
silver,  brass,  or  iron,  according  to  the  rank  or  means  of  the 
wearer.J 

The  women  and  children  were  very  fair.  While  travelling 
in  Brittany  I  have  been  much  struck  by  the  fair  complexion 
and  beautiful  oval  faces  of  some  of  the  youths  among  the 
peasantry  of  that  people,  who  are  the  genuine  descendants  of 
the  ancient  Britons,  who  migrated  there  in  shoals  on  the 
invasion  of  this  country  by  the  Saxons,  and  who  have  not 
that  mixture  of  Saxon,  Danish,  and  Norman  blood  possessed 

*  Thompson's  "  Illustrations  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  233. 
f  Sir  F.  Palgrave's  "  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,"  p.  58  ;  "  Pictorial 
History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  128. 

t  Ibid. 


92     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

by  ourselves.  Some  of  the  ancient  Britons  are  said  frequently 
to  have  lived  to  120  years.  This  length  of  days  was  sup- 
posed to  be  owing  to  the  sobriety  and  temperance  as  much 
as,  or  more  than,  to  the  salubrity  of  the  climate.  In  this 
respect  I  fear  that  this  country  has  rather  retrograded  instead 
of  advanced  in  civilization  since  the  time  of  our  rude  and 
savage  ancestors.  The  use  of  clothes  was  at  this  period  scarcely 
known  in  the  island,  so  that  to  all  the  diseases  caused  by 
tight  lacing,  and  other  modern  though  not  less  barbarous 
usages  of  this  sort,  they  were  utter  strangers.  Only  the 
inhabitants  of  the  southern  coasts  wore  any  clothes  at  all  ; 
but  this  portion  of  the  community  were  so  far  in  advance  of 
the  rest  of  the  country  in  civilization,  that  they  covered  them- 
selves in  a  rude  fashion  with  the  skins  of  wild  beasts  killed  in 
the  chase.  And  this  we  are  assured  that  they  did,  not 
because  they  required  to  protect  themselves  against  the  cold, 
but  because  they  wished  to  avoid  giving  offence  to  foreigners 
who  came  here  to  traffic  with  them — the  earliest  instance  on 
record  of  the  national  politeness.  In  order  to  ornament  their 
persons  and  add  to  their  natural  charms,  they  used  to  make 
incisions  in  their  bodies  in  the  shape  of  flowers,  trees,  and 
animals,  as  also  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  which,  with 
the  juice  of  wood,  they  painted  of  a  sky  colour  that  never 
wore  out.*  Thus  early  did  a  taste  for  pictorial  art  display 
itself  among  us. 

But  having  landed  on  the  coast,  let  us  [explore  this  strange 
wild  country,  and  see  if  we  can  contrive  to  make  out  some- 
thing more  about  its  character  and  its  inhabitants.  We  will 
follow  this  winding  path  into  the  thick  wood.  The  road  is 
very  rough,  huge  pieces  of  rock  here  and  there  interrupt  our 
progress;  and  as  we  descend  into  a  valley,  an  extensive  marsh 
or  morass  has  to  be  crossed,  and  a  whole  flock  of  wild-fowl 
are  disturbed  by  our  presence.  A  stag  occasionally  bounds 
across  the  path  before  us,  and  through  an  opening  in  the 
forest  we  see  a  herd  of  deer  feeding  in  a  green  spot  at  a 
distance.  Sturdy  trunks  of  oak  guard  the  path  on  each  side 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  129. 


DOMESTIC  EVERY-DAY  LIFE   IN   THIS  COUNTRY.        93 

of  us,  and  overhead  the  boughs  and  leaves  are  so  thick  as 
sometimes  almost  to  resemble  a  vaulted  roof.  A  wolf  is 
howling  in  the  plain,  and  yonder  an  immense  eagle  is 
hovering  over  some  object  of  prey.  At  the  termination  of 
the  glade  which  we  have  been  following,  there  appears  to 
be  an  open  space  where  the  trees  have  been  cleared  away.  A 
number  of  small  buildings,  which  we  at  first  take  for  pigsties, 
are  clustered  here,  round  in  form,  with  pointed  roofs.  Of 
this  you  have  a  representation  in  another  diagram.  This  is 
an  ancient  British  village.  Our  rude  forefathers  lived  in  the 
woods,  in  huts  of  this  form,  roofed  with  straw  or  osiers,  some 
covered  with  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  others  with  boughs  or 
turf.  Several  they  plastered  over  with  clay,  and  whitewashed 
them  with  a  mixture  prepared  from  chalk.*  The  houses  of 
the  Britons  at  the  period  of  the  Roman  invasion  were  nume- 
rous on  the  southern  coast,  and  were  constructed  of  wood  and 
covered  with  straw.  Some  of  them  were  made  of  poles  and 
wattled  work,  in  the  form  of  a  circle,  with  high  tapering  or 
pointed  roofs.  They  had  usually  one  or  more  lofty  arched 
entrances,  and  the  pictures  of  them  were  not  unlike  the  tin 
canisters  used  by  grocers.  Each  hut  measured  from  about 
ten  to  twenty  feet  in  diameter.-f*  There  is  no  appearance  of 
either  chimneys  or  windows,  but  a  fire  was  made  upon  the 
floor,  for  which  the  woods  of  course  supplied  abundant  fuel. 
To  the  right  of  the  diagram  containing  the  group  of  figures, 
will  be  observed  a  representation  of  an  ancient  British  hut  on 
a  larger  scale  than  those  in  the  other.  The  original  building, 
indeed,  whence  the  picture  was  taken,  was  in  reality  no 
other  than  a  pigsty,  and  that  in  Wales.  If,  however,  it  be 
thought  derogatory  to  our  ancestors  to  suppose  that  they 
lived  in  pigsties,  I  must  in  justice  to  them  explain  that  it 
was  not  they  who  lived  in  pigsties,  but  the  pigs  who  were 
born  in  a  later  age  lived  in  the  houses  which  the  people 
abandoned  as  soon  as  they  got  better  and  larger  dwellings. 
At  the  present  day,  however,  as  I  can  state  from  experience, 

*  Thompson's  "  Illustrations  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  80. 
t  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  98,  99. 


94     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

having  seen  it  with  my  own  eyes,  both  in  Wales  and  in 
Ireland,  the  pigs  very  often  live  in  the  same  houses  with  their 
masters,  and  more  than  this,  eat  out  of  the  same  vessels 
that  the  family  do,  and  in  which  the  poor  pigs  themselves 
will  some  day  or  other  be  served  up  at  table.  In  one  of  the 
pictures  of  a  habitation  of  this  form,  copied  in  the  group  of 
huts  in  the  diagrams  representing  a  view  of  the  country  in  the 
ancient  times,  there  is  a  low  semicircular  wall  in  front  of 
the  building.  This  may,  however,  very  possibly  not  have 
been  erected  when  the  people .  our  ancestors  lived  there,  but 
only  have  been  added  afterwards,  from  a  consideration  of  the 
wandering  propensities  of  the  pig  who  succeeded  to  the 
tenancy. 

The  next  diagram  represents  another  form  of  house  occa- 
sionally in  use  among  the  ancient  Britons,  and  which  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  derived  from  the  Gauls  who  lived  in 
France.  It  is  larger  and  more  commodious  than  the  others, 
being  two  stories  high  ;  but  it  is  only  of  wood,  and  the  roof  is 
thatched.  The  gentleman  in  front  of  it,  who  appears  to  be 
labouring  under  some  excitement,  seems  from  his  costume  to 
be  a  Romanized  Briton  ;  that  is,  a  Briton  who  lived  in  this 
country  after  its  conquest  by  the  Romans,  and  who  adopted 
their  more  civilized  mode  of  dress. 

If  we  can  suppose  ourselves  to  be  now  peeping  inside  one  of 
these  huts,  we  shall  observe  that  some  of  the  seats  placed 
there  rather  resemble  our  modern  chairs,  while  others  are 
composed  only  of  a  block  of  wood.  On  looking  round  the 
room,  we  perceive  the  arms  of  the  family  ranged  along  the 
wall.  There  are,  however,  no  beds  to  be  seen,  and  on  inquiry 
we  are  told  that  the  family  sleep  on  the  floor,  and  use  shaggy 
skins  for  their  bedding.*  The  inhabitants  of  these  not  very 
luxurious  dwellings  had,  however,  one  advantage  over  us  of 
the  present  civilized  age.  They  very  easily  changed  their 
quarters,  without  giving  any  notice  to  quit,  whenever  they 
wished  to  leave  ;  being  generally  instigated  to  take  this 
step  either  by  the  hopes  of  plunder,  or  the  fear  of  being 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  125. 


DOMESTIC    EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN   THIS   COUNTRY.          95 

attacked  by  an  enemy.  The  furniture  which  they  had  to 
move  was  not  very  extensive  or  very  cumbrous  ;  and  probably 
the  whole  of  the  wardrobe,  including  that  of  the  ladies  also, 
was  easily  carried  on  the  husband's  back,  as  were  the  child- 
ren too. 

The  domestic  cattle  were  kept  in  enclosures  near  the  village, 
to  protect  them  from  the  wolves.  The  ancient  Britons  eat 
meat  which  they  obtained  principally  by  hunting.  Some  have 
supposed  that  they  ate  this  raw.  Both  the  woods  and  the 
plains  were  well  stocked  with  game  ;  and  there  were  neither 
preserves  nor  game  laws  to  interfere  with  their  sport.  Roots 
and  leaves  found  in  the  woods  they  also  eat,  and  they  made 
curds  of  milk.  With  regard  to  domestic  poultry,  as  already 
observed,  their  religion  forbade  them  to  eat  of  either  chickens 
or  geese.  Hares  were  also  forbidden.  Fish,  too,  they  never 
used  to  eat,  although  their  seas  and  rivers  abounded  with 
them. 

Those  of  the  ancient  Britons  who  lived  in  the  north  of  the 
island,  were  the  rudest  in  their  modes  of  life,  and  were  the 
most  deficient  in  general  information,  probably  from  having 
less  intercourse  with  strangers  than  those  in  the  south.  The 
former  never  sowed  their  land,  but  lived  upon  the  produce  of 
their  flocks,  and  the  spoils  of  the  chase.  The  boundaries  of 
the  different  lands  and  pasturage  of  the  ancient  Britons  were 
marked  out  by  large,  upright,  single  stones,  numbers  of  which 
are  still  to  be  found  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  and  are 
called  hare  stones.  Of  gardening  it  is  supposed  that  many  of 
the  ancient  Britons  were  entirely  ignorant.  The  Normans, 
indeed,  it  is  believed,  first  taught  the  Britons  the  art  of  garden- 
ing, and  also  how  to  plant  orchards. 

The  British  towns,  or  rather  villages  of  this  period,  were 
very  unlike  any  at  present  in  this  country,  consisting  only  of 
a  confused  parcel  of  huts  placed  at  a  little  distance  from  each 
other,  without  any  order  or  distinction  of  streets,  as  you  see  in 
the  diagram.  They  generally,  as  in  the  drawing  before  us, 
stood  in  the  middle  of  a  thick  wood  or  marsh,  approached  by  a 
labyrinth,  the  avenues  of  which  were  defended  by  slight 


96     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

ramparts  of  earth,*  or  by  the  trees  which  were  felled  to  clear 
the  ground.  The  Britons  had  no  notion  of  joining  their 
houses  in  streets,  each  being  built  at  some  distance  from  the 
other,  and  generally  on  the  banks  of  a  river  in  order  to  obtain 
water,  or  in  woods  that  supplied  forage  for  their  cattle.  The 
most  convenient  place  was  taken  by  the  prince,  the  dwellings 
of  his  subjects  and  the  stalls  for  their  herds  being  erected 
round  him,  whilst  a  ditch  and  a  mound  of  earth  enclosed  the 
whole.t  The  latter  was  made  of  mud  or  felled  trees,  or  pro- 
bably of  both  materials  mixed.  Caesar  highly  complimented 
the  Britons  on  the  skill  which  they  displayed  in  the  fortifica- 
tion of  many  of  their  towns.  Indeed,  these  rude  people  were 
remarked  to  be  not  only  very  quick  in  apprehension,  but  to 
possess  also  considerable  penetration. 

Among  the  Gauls  who  lived  in  France,  and  many  of  whose 
habits  closely  corresponded  with  those  of  the  ancient  Britons, 
Caesar  tells  us  that  husbands  had  the  power  of  life  and  death 
over  their  wives  and  children.  At  the  death  of  a  nobleman, 
if  there  was  any  suspicion  against  his  wives,  they  were  put  to 
the  torture  as  slaves.  If  they  were  thought  guilty,  after  cruel 
torments  they  were  burnt  to  death. 

The  courage  of  the  ancient  Britons  is  said  to  have  been 
very  great,  and  astonished  even  the  mighty  Caesar  himself ; 
who  tells  us  that  they  fought  for  the  most  part  in  chariots 
made,  some  of  wood,  others  of  wicker  work  with  wooden 
wheels,  and  which  were  armed  with  a  sort  of  scythe  project- 
ing from  the  side,  and  whence,  furiously  driving  among 
their  enemies,  they  hurled  their  darts.  You  may  see  a  repre- 
sentation of  a  British  war  chariot  in  another  diagram.  The 
following  is  Caesar's  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the 
ancient  Britons,  our  valiant  ancestors,  carried  on  warfare  in 
their  chariots,  as  taken  verbatim  from  his  description  of 
them : — 

"  Their  mode  of  fighting  with  their  chariots  is  this  : — Firstly, 

*  "Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i,  p.  33. 
f  Thompson's  "  Illustrations  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  81. 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN   THIS  COUNTRY.         97 

they  drive  about  in  all  directions,  and  throw  their  weapons, 
and  generally  break  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  with  the  very 
dread  of  their  horses  and  the  noise  of  their  wheels  ;  and  when 
they  have  worked  themselves  in  between  the  troops  of  horse, 
leap  from  their  chariots  and  engage  on  foot.     The  charioteers 
in  the  meantime    withdraw   some   little   distance   from   the 
battle,  and  so  place  themselves  with  the  chariots  that,  if  their 
masters  are  overpowered  by  the  number  of  the  enemy,  they 
may  have  a  ready  retreat  to  their  own  troops.     Thus  they 
display    in    battle   the   speed   of  horse,   together  with   the 
firmness   of  infantry  ;    and  by  daily  practice   and    exercise 
attain  to  such  expertness  that  they  are  accustomed,  even  on  a 
declining  and  steep  place,  to  slack  their  horses  at  full  speed, 
and  manage  and  turn  them  in  an  instant,  and  run  along  the 
pole,  and  stand  on  the  yoke,  and  thence  betake  themselves 
with  the  greatest  celerity  to  their  chariots  again."  *     In  the 
drawing  last  alluded  to  will  be  also  observed  some  devices 
and    shields   of    wicker-work    in    use    among    the    ancient 
Britons.     Representations  of  rings  and  drinking  vessels  will  be 
seen  as  well,  as  also  of  axe-heads,  and  the  rings  of  bronze, 
gold,  silver,  and  iron,  which  passed  current  for  money.     Speci- 
mens of  this  coin  have  been  occasionally  dug  up.     Some- 
times, as  you  will  perceive  in  the  diagram,  the  form  is  that  of 
a   complete   ring,  in  other   instances  that  of   a  wire  or  bar 
merely  bent  till  the  two  extremities  are  brought  near  to  each 
other.    In  some  cases  the  extremities  are  armed  with  flattened 
knobs,  in  others  they  are  rounded  out  into  cup-like  hollows' 
It  is  to  be  observed  that  in  the  ancient  fresco  paintings  in 
the  tombs  of  Egypt,  coins  of  this  description  are  represented 
as  in  use.     Other  British  coins  were  stamped  with  figures  of 
oxen,  horses,  hogs,  and  sheep,  and  sometimes  a  head  on  the 
reverse  side.     It  has  been  conjectured  that  particular  coins 
served  to  purchase  the  particular  animals  whose  effigies  they 
bore.t     Indeed,  cattle  were  first  of  all  used  as  the  commodi- 
ties for  effecting  exchanges,  hence,  in  Latin,  the  words  pecus 

*  Commentaries,  book  IV.,  chap,  xxxiii. 
f  "Pictorial  History  of  England," vol.  i.,  pp.  no,  in,  114. 
H 


98   TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

and  pecunia,  cattle  and  money,  are  very  nearly  the  same.  The 
swords  and  dirks  of  the  ancient  Britons  were  probably  made 
of  copper,  occasionally  mixed  with  a  little  tin  to  prevent  them 
from  bending.  Heavy  black  stones,  in  which  a  handle  was 
made  to  fit,  served  them  for  maces  and  battle-axes  *  When 
the  ancient  Britons  had  to  deal  with  foes  on  horseback,  they 
left  their  chariots  to  fight  on  foot.  It  is  recorded  by  one 
historian  that  the  object  which  caused  the  greatest  terror  to 
the  Britons  during  Caesar's  invasion,  and  to  which  he  mainly 
owed  his  success,  was  the  sight  of  an  elephant  armed  with 
scales  of  polished  steel,  and  carrying  on  his  back  a  turret 
filled  with  armed  men. 

Some  very  wise  persons  have  tried  to  make  us  believe, 
owing  to  the  occurrence  in  Caesar's  Commentaries  of  the 
words  positis  speculis,  in  reference  to  his  invasion  of  Britain, 
that  the  Romans  actually  brought  telescopes  with  them  in 
order  that  they  might  have  a  look  at  our  primitive  fore- 
fathers before  they  engaged  with  them  in  close  combat  But 
the  real  meaning  of  the  words,  no  doubt,  is  that  they  placed 
sentinels  to  be  on  the  look-out.f  Caesar  tells  us,  in  his  Com- 
mentaries, that  the  Britons  were  getting  in  their  corn  harvest 
when  he  landed  with  his  legions  ;  and  that  an  attempt  being 
made  by  the  invaders  to  carry  off  the  corn,  a  desperate  battle 
ensued. 

The  diagram  already  alluded  to,  as  containing  a  representa- 
tion of  an  ancient  British  village,  is  intended  to  represent  a 
scene  such  as  might  have  been  afforded  in  this  country  at  the 
period  of  which  I  am  now  speaking.  Vast  forests,  principally 
of  oak,  some  of  these  trees  of  great  age,  were  then  spread  over 
the  land.  These  immense  woods  were,  however,  not  merely 
the  abode  and  the  place  of  refuge  of  wolves,  and  bears,  and  deer, 
and  other  wild  animals,  but  all  those  persons  who  had  com- 
mitted any  great  crime  fled  to  them  for  protection,  and  as  a 
place  where  no  one  dared  to  follow  them.  And  there  those 
desperate  characters  lived  by  robbing  travellers,  and  all  who 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  36. 
t  Selden's  "  Table-Talk,"  p.  103.^ 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN    THIS   COUNTRY.          99 

afforded  any  prospect  of  plunder.  Even  persons  who  had 
once  possessed  vast  estates,  but  who  had  forfeited  them  for 
some  offence  against  the  Government,  occasionally  took  to  the 
forest  as  their  residence.* 

In  the  foreground  of  the  diagram,  you  will  observe  a  crom- 
lech, being  a  flat  stone  supported  in  a  horizontal  position  upon 
others  set  perpendicularly  in  the  earth,  which  formed  an  altar 
on  which  the  Druidical  sacrifices  were  offered  up,  and  on. 
which  the  sacred  fire  kept  burning.  The  name  "  cromlech  " 
is  said  to  signify  a  stone  for  bowing  to  or  worshipping.  In 
the  valley  a  large  pool  of  water  stands  half  choked  up  with 
weeds,  but  which  has  since  been  drained,  and  now  forms 
fertile  meadow  land,  with  a  river  winding  through  it.  A 
Druidical  temple  may  be  observed  on  the  edge  of  the  pool ; 
and  on  the  hill  beyond  it,  which  is  covered  with  dense  wood 
except  the  summit,  are  three  large  wicker  figures,  in  which 
the  people  congregated  around  them  are  about  to  burn  their 
victims  in  sacrifice.  One  of  these  idols  is  beginning  to  blaze. 

We  may  calculate  to  some  extent  how  very  different  would 
be  the  general  aspect  of  this  country  at  that  period,  at  any 
given  point,  from  what  it  now  presents  as  regards  its  leading 
landscape  features.  That  mildness,  and  richness,  and  appear- 
ance of  fertility,  which  are  so  characteristic  of  English  scenery 
in  the  present  day,  were  not  then  exhibited  ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  all  was  wild,  and  rugged,  and  without  cultivation. 
There  were  then  no  enclosures  as  at  present,  which  certainly, 
however,  do  not  contribute  to  the  beauty  of  a  landscape  ;  and 
the  gently  sloping  hills  which  are  now  streaked  with  hedge- 
rows, and  covered  with  verdure  or  plots  of  corn,  would  then 
be  clothed  for  the  most  part  in  dense  woods.  The  valleys, 
through  which  gentle  rivers  are  now  winding,  were  then  most 
of  them  swamps  or  morasses,  the  haunts  of  numerous  wild- 
fowl, which  took  shelter  and  made  their  nests  among  the  reeds 
and  osiers,  and  at  times  filled  the  air  with  their  cries  ;  while 
the  forests  abounded  with  deer  and  other  animals  of  the 
chase,  and  also  with  foxes  and  wolves,  and  even  bears.  Per- 

*  "  Companion  to  Charnwood  Fort,"  page  i. 


100     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

haps  the  fairest  and  most  agreeable  notion  of  the  scenery 
presented  in  this  country  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  now 
speaking,  is  afforded  by  some  of  the  wildest  spots  in  the 
forests  and  chases  and  parks  here  and  there  still  to  be  met 
with,  where  the  venerable  and  wide-spreading  oaks  have  been 
allowed  to  arrive  at  their  full  maturity  and  majesty,  and  the 
woods  possess  all  the  richness  and  luxuriance  which  they 
exhibit  in  a  state  of  nature,  with  the  fern,  and  heather,  and 
wild  flowers  springing  up  around  ;  while  rocky  streams  flow 
in  their  course  through  the  landscape,  and  herds  of  deer 
wander  as  in  a  state  of  nature  over  the  vast  tracts  of  green 
turf,  unrestrained  by  enclosures,  and  as  though  the  hand 
of  man  had  never  interfered  to  alter  the  original  character 
of  the  country. 

I  will  also  venture  an  opinion  that  the  best  representatives 
at  the  present  day  of  our  early  British  forefathers,  are  the 
North  American  Indians,  who  doubtless  very  much  resemble 
them  in  their  mode  of  life  and  the  costume  which  they 
assume,  as  also  in  their  wild  predatory  habits,  and  their 
pursuit  and  manner  of  living  upon  different  animals  of  the 
chase.  The  rude  country,  too,  which  they  inhabit,  greatly 
resembles  that  of  England  at  the  time  of  which  I  am  speak- 
ing ;  and  the  dense  and  wide-spread  forests  through  which  they 
roam  correspond  closely  with  those  which  covered  the  face  of 
this  country  during  the  period  of  the  ancient  Britons.  The 
temperature  and  the  climate,  and  also  the  natural  productions 
of  the  country,  in  both  cases  much  resemble  each  other ;  and 
their  condition  in  civilization  being  about  upon  a  par,  the 
resemblance  between  the  two  races  is  drawn  still  nearer 
together. 

In  the  times  of  the  ancient  Britons  but  few  cattle  were  to 
be  seen  in  the  pastures,  as  Tthe  greater  portion  of  those  kept 
for  domestic  use  would  be  in  the  enclosures  near  the  villages, 
where  they  could  be  protected  from  the  attacks  of  wild 
beasts. 

With  respect  to  the  different  trades  and  handiworks  in 
which  our  primitive  forefathers  the  ancient  Britons  excelled, 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN    THIS   COUNTRY.          101 

that  of  basket-making,  or  wicker-work,  has  been  particularly 
alluded  to  by  some  of  the  ancient  writers.  They  also  used 
wicker-work  in  the  construction  of  their  smaller  boats.  Their 
shields,  too,  were  constructed  of  wicker-work,  as  I  have 
already  told  you  ;  and  so  greatly  did  they  excel  in  this  manu- 
facture, that  their  baskets  were  carried  to  Rome,  and  con- 
sidered to  be  great  curiosities. 

The  ancient  Britons  appear  also  to  have  possessed  some 
skill  in  the  manufacture  of  earthenware  articles.  Funeral  urns, 
drinking  cups,  most  frequently  found  with  skeletons,  and 
placed  at  the  head  and  feet,  and  incense  cups,  which  are 
supposed  to  have  been  suspended  over  the  funeral  pile,  have 
been  discovered  among  the  ancient  British  remains.  They 
also  possessed  some  knowledge  of  the  art  of  working  in 
metals  ;  and  moulds  for  spear,  arrow,  and  axe  heads  have 
been  frequently  discovered.  With  the  art  of  dyeing  cloth 
they  were  also  familiar. 

The  southern  part  of  this  island  was,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, in  the  British  times  crossed  in  various  directions  by  four 
great  highways,  many  parts  of  which  are  still  to  be  traced, 
and  are  known  by  the  names  of  the  Fosse,  the  Watling  Street, 
Ermine  Street,  and  the  Ichenild.*  At  any  rate,  lines  of 
communication  in  these  several  directions  were  made  by  the 
Britons  ;  but  it  was  probably  by  the  Romans  that  they  were 
transformed  into  regular  and  firm  roads,  as  they  were  also  by 
them  levelled,  straightened,  and  paved,  so  as  to  adapt  them 
not  only  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  pedestrian  and  carriage 
communication,  but  also  for  the  movement  of  large  bodies  of 
infantry  and  cavalry  in  all  weathers  and  in  all  seasons.f  The 
distances  from  station  to  station  along  the  Roman  roads 
were  marked  in  Roman  miles,  and  they  were  indicated  on  the 
actual  road  by  milestones  regularly  placed  along  the  line. 
Of  these,  the  famous  London  Stone,  still  to  be  seen  against 
the  south  wall  of  St.  Swithin's  Church,  in  Cannon  Street,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  the  first,  or  that  from  which  the  others 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  109. 
Ibid. 


102  TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

were  numbered  along  the  principal  roads,  which  appear  to 
have  proceeded  from  this  point  as  from  a  centre.* 

When  the  Romans  obtained  possession  of  this  island  they 
compelled  the  natives  to  work  in  clearing  away  the  roads  and 
draining  the  marshes,  as  also  in  the  construction  or  comple- 
tion of  the  roads.  This  occupation  was  found  too  fatiguing 
for  the  Roman  soldiers,  and  we  are  told  that  as  many  as 
50,000  of  them  died  in  consequence.  Criminals,  too,  were 
employed  in  labour  of  this  kind,  as  also  in  the  mines.  Arti- 
ficial canals  as  well  as  roads  ar£  supposed  to  have  been 
constructed  in  this  country  by  the  Romans. 

Money  of  a  certain  description,  and  a  very  rude  character, 
appears  to  have  been  in  use  among  the  ancient  Britons.  At 
first  they  seem  to  have  used  pieces  of  bronze  or  iron  of  a 
certain  fixed  weight.  Afterwards  these  coins  were,  as  already 
mentioned,  stamped  with  the  figures  of  'horses,  oxen,  hogs, 
and  sheep  ;  and  some  had  a  head,  apparently  that  of  a  king, 
on  the  other  side.  In  course  of  time,  however,  as  we  have 
seen,  gold  and  silver  were  introduced  as  current  money.  The 
commercial  dealings  of  our  primitive  ancestors  were  not, 
however,  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  very  extensive  or 
very  complicated.  Probably,  like  the  coin  itself,  they  were 
rude  and  simple  ;  and  if  they  enjoyed  but  few  of  the  comforts 
of  civilized  life,  we  have  the  satisfaction  of  reflecting  that,  on 
the  other  hand,  they  escaped  most  of  its  cares. 

Some  of  the  early  inhabitants  of  this  island  appear,  how- 
ever, to  have  carried  on  an  extensive  traffic  with  foreigners. 
And  it  has  even  been  conjectured  that  Britain  was  visited  on 
account  of  its  mines  by  merchants  from  Tyre  and  Sidon. 
Tin,  which  was  very  early  discovered  in  Cornwall,  is  supposed 
to  have  been  used  in  dyeing  cloth  for  which  Tyre  was  particu- 
larly famous.  It  was  also  said  that  the  people  of  the  Land's 
End,  in  Cornwall,  were  much  more  civilized  than  the  rest  of 
their  countrymen  on  account  of  their  frequent  intercourse 
with  foreign  traders.  Gold,  silver,  and  iron,  and  also  corn, 

*  ''  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  no. 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN   THIS  COUNTRY.       103 

cattle,    and   skins,  are   described   among    the   articles   early 
exported  from  this  country.* 

The  British  dogs  were  very  famous,  alike  for  their  size, 
courage,  strength,  fleetness,  and  scent.  Slaves  were  also  ob- 
tained from  Britain  as  they  now  are  from  Africa.  British 
horses  were  highly  esteemed  by  the  Romans  both  for  their 
beauty  and  their  training.  Pearls,  too,  were  very^  early  pro- 
duced in  Britain,  the  colour  of  which  is,  however,  said  to  have 
been  dusky  and  livid ;  but  this  has  been  attributed  to  the 
unskilfulness  of  the  gatherers,  who  did  not  take  the  fish  alive 
from  the  rocks,  but  merely  collected  them  as  the  sea  threw 
them  up  when  they  were  dead.  These  pearls  very  early 
acquired  celebrity,  and  it  has  even  been  reported  that 
Julius  Caesar  was  mainly  led  to  invade  this  island  from  the 
hope  of  enriching  himself  with  its  pearls.  He  was  probably 
aware  also  of  the  lead  and  tin  with  which  the  mines  of  this 
country  abounded,  f  British  oysters  as  well  as  British  pearls 
were  much  prized  by  the  Romans. 

After  the  Romans  had  established  themselves  in  Britain,  it 
is  probable  that  the  commerce  with  this  country  was  much 
extended,  and  that  the  Roman  ships,  which  were  larger  and 
more  commodious  than  the  British,  were  employed  for  this 
purpose.  The  Roman  coinage  became  also  current  in  this 
country,  and  accordingly  numbers  of  Roman  coins  are  con- 
tinually discovered  even  at  this  day.  Gardening  is  said  to 
have  been  introduced  into  this  country  by  the  Romans,  as 
also  the  cultivation  of  the  vine.  The  Romans,  moreover, 
paid  great  attention  to  the  working  of  the  mines,  and  brought 
additional  skill  and  labour  to  be  so  employed.  The  Roman 
conquerors  of  this  island  did  much  in  many  other  respects  for 
its  improvement  and  civilization.  They  introduced  many 
wholesome  laws  and  customs,  taught  the  natives  the  con- 
veniences of  life,  and  instructed  them  in  art,  literature,  and 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  chap.  4. 
t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  26,  106. 
J  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  114,  117. 


104   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

science.  Indeed,  the  country  assumed  a  new  face  under  the 
Romans,  and  looked  as  if  the  light  of  a  new  and  brighter 
day  had  been  let  in  upon  it  Cultivation  of  the  land  was 
improved  and  extended.  Forests  were  cleared  away,  and 
with  this  the  beasts  of  prey  which  inhabited  them  were  hunted 
down.  Roads  to  different  parts  of  the  country  were  con- 
structed, and  in  the  place  of  the  rude  piles  of  huts,  houses 
and  towns  were  erected  in  various  parts  of  the  kingdom.* 
The  Romans  retained  their  sway  in  this  country  for  nearly 
400  years. 

Many  of  the  cities  built  by  the  Romans  in  this  country 
have  since  been  wasted  and  become  desolate.  Silchester  is 
one  of  these.  Corn-fields  and  pastures  cover  the  spot  once 
adorned  with  public  and  private  buildings,  which  are  now 
wholly  destroyed.! 

It  has  been  remarked  that  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that,  but  for  the  subjugation  of  this  country  by  the  arms  of 
Rome,  the  ancient  Britons  would  have  attained  a  condition 
much  superior  to  that  of  their  contemporaries  inhabiting  the 
forests  of  Germany  or  Scandinavia. 

Some  of  the  generals  sent  over  from  Rome  to  govern  this 
country  assumed  the  title  of  Emperors  of  Britain,^  which  has 
been  held  by  several  of  its  sovereigns,  and  is  in  reality  older 
than  that  of  the  title  of  king.  §  Like  some  modern  emperors, 
however,  these  ancient  rulers  of  ours  do  not  appear  to  have 
held  their  sway  by  a  very  firm  tenure.  On  Caesar  com- 
plaining of  a  king  of  Gaul  whose  sovereign  acts  did  not 
quite  satisfy  the  Roman  emperor,  the  king  in  question  justi- 
fied himself  by  asserting  that  it  was  not  he  who  ruled  his 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  137. 

t  Palgrave's  "  History  of  the  Anglo-Saxons." 

I  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  53,  55,  144,  173. 

§  These  lines  were  written  and  this  paper  was  read  some  weeks  before 
the  debate  in  Parliament  occurred  on  the  subject  of  her  Majesty  assuming 
the  title  of  Empress  of  India,  during  which  objection  was  taken  to  the 
title  of  empress  as  a  novelty,  and  altogether  unknown  to  this  country,  and 
as  "un-English." 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN   THIS   COUNTRY.        105 

subjects,  but  his  subjects  who  ruled  him,*  and  that  he  had  to 
obey  them  instead  of  their  obeying  him.  Probably  the  case 
of  this  monarch  was  not  a  very  rare  one. 

When  Caesar  invaded  this  country  he  found  the  general 
intellectual  instruction  of  the  nation  carried  on  by  an  order 
of  persons  called  Druids,  who  constituted  a  body  of  national 
functionaries  entrusted  with  the  superintendence  over  all  the 
departments  of  learning.  They  were  not  merely  their  theo- 
logians and  priests,  but  also  their  lawyers,  who  administered 
justice  and  inflicted  punishment  ;  their  teachers  of  youth, 
their  moral  and  natural  philosophers,  their  astronomers,  their 
mathematicians,  their  architects,  their  musicians,  their  poets 
and  probably  also  their  only  historians,  f  The  Druids  are 
said,  indeed,  to  have  been  acquainted  with  the  magnet  and  the 
compass.  J  They  also  instructed  their  scholars  respecting  the 
heavenly  bodies  and  their  motions.  Caesar  remarked  that 
the  institution  of  Druidism  was  supposed  to  come  originally 
from  Britain,  whence  it  passed  into  Gaul.  It  is  believed, 
indeed,  that  there  were  Druids  remarkable  for  their  learning 
before  the  time  of  Pythagoras,  who  died  about  497  years 
before  the  Christian  era.  And  it  is  asserted  that  even  this 
faith  had  once  purity  in  its  principles  and  the  true  God  for 
its  author,  since  it  must  have  first  been  derived  from  Gomer, 
the  eldest  son  of  Japheth,  and  grandson  of  Noah,  who  is  said 
to  be  the  ancestor  of  the  Gauls,  Britons,  and  all  the  Celtic 
nations.§ 

There  were  also  Druidesses,  or  female  Druids,  who  pro- 
fessed to  work  miracles,  predict  prophecies,  cure  diseases,  and 
raise  storms.  They  moreover  pretended  to  convert  them- 
selves into  different  kinds  of  animals.  They  had  white  hair, 
and  like  the  Druids  wore  a  sort  of  official  costume  on  all 
public  occasions. 

The  Druids  always  communicated  their  instructions  by  word 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  82. 

t  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  59,  119. 

J  Thompson's  "  Illustrations  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  230. 
§  Ibid.,  vol.  i.  p.  23, 


106  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

of  mouth,  though  Caesar  says  that  they  were  acquainted  with 
letters,  and  used  them  on  all  common  occasions.  One 
division  of  their  body  was  called  bards,  who  celebrated  in 
verse  the  praises  of  the  gods  and  heroes  of  the  nation.  Of 
this  order  of  men  I  shall  presently  speak  more  particularly. 
The  Druids  ascribed  important  healing  virtues  to  many  herbs  ; 
but  they  held  that  everything  depended  upon  the  cere- 
monial with  which  they  were  gathered,  the  regulations  re- 
specting which  were  very  minute. 

Caesar  in  his  Commentaries,  *  from  which  I  have  several 
times  quoted,  has  left  us  an  account  of  the  superstitious  rites 
and  religious  sacrifices  performed  by  the  Druids.  At  these 
sacrifices,  one  authority  tells  us,  they  were  so  strict  in 
observing  silence,  that  such  as  were  found  talking  during  the 
ceremony  after  being  three  times  warned  had  part  of  their 
robes  cut  off,  and  were  afterwards  proceeded  against  with  the 
greatest  rigour  ;  such  as  came  last  were  cut  to  pieces.  To  be 
forbidden  to  come  to  these  sacrifices  was  the  severest  punish- 
ment known  to  the  Gauls,  and  such  persons  could  neither 
have  recourse  to  the  law  for  justice,  nor  hold  any  public  ofnce.t 
Human  victims  were  sometimes  crucified  in  the  sacred  groves. 
They  were  also  offered  up  by  the  Druids  in  order  to  appease 
the  supposed  anger  of  their  deities.  |  Figures  of  straw  and 
of  wicker-work  of  immense  size,  which  have  already  been 
alluded  to,  were  constructed,  which,  being  filled  with  living 
men,  were  set  fire  to.  Persons  guilty  of  theft,  robbery,  or 
other  crimes,  were  thus  punished,  by  which  it  was  supposed 
an  atonement  was  made.  Cattle  as  well  as  men  were  some- 
times thus  roasted  together  alive. 

The  oak  was  the  tree  which  was  principally  venerated  by 
the  Druids,  and  they  chose  groves  of  oak  for  their  residence 
and  performed  no  sacred  rites  without  the  leaf  of  that  tree.  § 
Indeed,  the  Supreme  Being  was  worshipped  by  them  under  the 

*  Book  VI.,  chap.  xvi. 

t  Thompson's  "Illustrations  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  i.,  p.  18. 

+  "  Pictorial  History  of  England/'  vol.  i.,  p.  63. 

§  Ibid.,  p.  61. 


DOMESTIC  EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN    THIS   COUNTRY.        107 

form  of  an  oak.  The  Druids  were  accustomed  to  fix  upon  the 
finest  tree  they  could  discover,  and  having  cut  off  its  side 
branches,  they  joined  two  of  them  to  the  highest  part  of  the 
trunk,  so  that  they  extended  like  the  arms  of  a  man.*  The 
youths  of  noble  families  thronged  to  them  for  instruction  in 
the  depths  of  the  forests  or  in  gloomy  caves.  Little  more 
than  a  century  ago  ancient  oaks  were  still  standing  around 
some  of  the  circles  of  stones  set  upright  in  the  earth,  which 
are  supposed  to  have  been  Druidical  temples.f  In  the  centre 
of  these  was  a  flat  stone,  still  called  a  cromlech,  which  was 
used  as  an  altar.  Of  such  there  are  several  remains  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country.  The  oaks  were  very  thickly 
planted,  and  were  watered  by  a  dark  stream  or  fountain,  which 
was  held  sacred.J 

There  ,  are  also  a  great  many  remains  of  Druidical 
temples  in  England,  and  in  Brittany  in  France,  where 
Druidism  at  one  time  prevailed.  The  most  remarkable 
and  extensive  Druidical  temple  in  England  is  that  of 
Stonehenge,  near  Salisbury,  of  which  you  have  a  repre- 
sentation in  the  diagram.  This  building  consists,  as  you 
will  perceive,  of  a  number  of  very  large  oblong  stones  placed 
upright,  with  others  of  the  same  size  laid  across  them.  The 
building  itself  was  of  a  circular  form.  In  one  drawing  of  it, 
supposed  to  represent  it  in  its  early  state,  the  stones  appear  all 
of  them  quite  smooth,  and  the  building  itself  is  perfectly 
regular.  The  stones  now,  however,  are  very  rough,  and  the 
building,  from  several  of  the  stones  having  been  taken  away, 
is  quite  irregular.  Indeed,  its  originally  circular  form  would 
at  present  hardly  be  perceived. 

The  next  of  the  diagrams  represents  Stonehenge  as  it 
appeared  when  a  grand  religious  festival,  accompanied  by  a 
sacrifice  of  human  beings,  was  being  celebrated  there  at  the 
time  to  which  I  have  alluded.  The  figures  of  wicker-work  are 
blazing  away  with  the  victims.  A  long  procession  of  priests 

*  Thompson's  "Illustrations  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  i.  p.  12. 
t  /&'</.,  p.  61. 
J  I6ut.,p.  15. 


108    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

and  priestesses  clothed  in  white  is  approaching  the  temple, 
about  which  crowds  of  people  are  also  collected,  several  of 
them  in  attitudes  of  adoration.  Two  altars  are  blazing  in  the 
immediate  foreground,  near  each  of  which  priests  are  kneeling ; 
a  grove  of  oaks  appears  to  surround  these  altars.  To  the  left 
of  the  picture  some  persons  are  seen  bringing  an  ox  which 
is  about  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice. 

There  is  still  considerable  uncertainty  as  to  the  object  of 
Stonehenge,  and  even  respecting  the  time  of  its  being  erected  ; 
though  the  most  probable  and  the  best  supported  conjecture 
seems  to  me  to  be  that  it  was  a  temple  erected  for  religious 
purposes  under  the  direction  of  the  Druids.  The  earliest 
published  notice  of  Stonehenge  occurs  in  the  writings  of  one 
Nennius,  who  lived  in  the  ninth  century.  He  gives  an  account 
of  the  murder  of  460  British  nobles  at  a  conference  between 
King  Vortigern  and  Hengist,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifth 
century,  at  or  near  the  spot  on  which  Stonehenge  is  situated  ; 
and  he  attributes  the  erection  of  the  monument  to  the  surviving 
Britons,  who  thus  endeavoured  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
that  tragical  event.  Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  who  wrote  in  the 
twelfth  century,  gives  the  same  account  of  its  origin,  but  he 
mentions  a  most  extraordinary  legend  respecting  it,  which  is 
that  supernatural  agency  was  employed  to  remove  the  stones 
from  Kildare,  in  Ireland,  and  place  them  upright  on  Salisbury 
Plain  ;  and  he  adds  that  they  had  been  in  the  first  instance 
conveyed  to  Ireland  from  Africa.  Inigo  Jones,  the  famous 
architect  who  lived  in  the  time  of  James  the  First,  thought 
that  Stonehenge  was  a  Roman  temple.  One  writer  endea- 
voured to  show  that  Stonehenge  was  not  only  erected  before 
the  deluge,  but  that  Adam  himself  actually  superintended  its 
construction  ;  and  he  goes  on  to  argue  that  the  present  dilapi- 
dated condition  of  it  must  have  been  produced  by  the  flood. 
As,  however,  I  have  already  said,  the  best  arguments  lead  to 
the  conclusion  that  it  was  certainly  a  Druidical  temple.  And 
one  writer  has  urged  that  this  is  evident  from  the  language  in 
which  it  was  described,  and  the  great  veneration  in  which  it 
was  held,  by  the  primitive  bards,  those  immediate  descendants 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN   THIS   COUNTRY.       109 

and  avowed  disciples  of  the  British  Druids.  Nevertheless  the 
conclusion  that  Stonehenge  was  a  Druidical  temple  has  been 
strongly  opposed,  and  forcible  arguments  have  been  put  for- 
ward against  this  supposition.  It  is  said  by  one  eminent 
writer  (Rickman)  that  Stonehenge  stands  on  the  Roman 
road,  and  therefore  must  have  been  erected  subsequently  to 
the  construction  of  this  road,  and  long  after  the  times  of  the 
Druids.  On  the  other  hand,  if  this  temple  lay  in  the  direct 
line  of  the  Roman  road,  they  would  not  have  diverged  the  road 
to  avoid  Stonehenge  further  than  was  absolutely  necessary, 
and  might  have  carried  it  close  by.  Possibly,  indeed,  the  road 
in  question  was  originally  British,  made  in  the  time  of  the 
Druids,  and  afterwards,  as  was  sometimes  the  case,  adopted 
and  completed  by  the  Romans.  And  we  may  suppose  that 
to  a  temple  of  such  importance  the  ancient  Britons  would 
construct  a  main  road.  These  objections  do  not,  therefore, 
appear  by  any  means  conclusive  against  Stonehenge  being  a 
Druidical  temple.  It  may  indeed  be  regarded  as  a  proof  of 
the  restoration  of  Druidism  in  this  country  after  the  Romans 
left  it,  and  have  been  erected  at  this  period.  And  there  is  no 
doubt  that  when  the  Saxons  came  many  years  afterwards, 
Druidism  was  the  general  religion  of  the  people. 

I  some  time  ago  visited  what  is  considered  to  be  a  very 
perfect  Druidical  temple,  standing  near  Saumur,  in  France,  of 
which  you  have  a  view,  etched  from  a  rough  sketch  that  I 
made  on  the  spot.  This  building  is  not  nearly  so  large  as 
Stonehenge,  and  the  form  of  it  is  oblong  instead  of  round.  It 
is  of  about  the  dimensions  of  a  moderate-sized  waggon  hovel, 
and  is  closely  walled  in  at  the  sides,  as  well  as  covered  over  at 
the  top  with  large  stones,  which  is  the  more  remarkable  as 
some  writers  have  asserted  that  "  the  Druids  were  of  opinion 
that  it  was  derogatory  to  the  sublimity  and  immensity  of  the 
divine  essence  to  confine  their  adoration  within  walls  and 
under  roofs,  on  which  account  their  temples  were  left  open  at 
the  top  ;  and  they  had  no  other  enclosure  on  the  sides  than 
large  broad  pillars  of  unhewed  stone,  arranged  ovally  or  cir- 


110   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

cularly,  with  a  considerable  space  between  each."  *  I  am 
inclined  myself,  therefore,  to  conjecture  that  this  building  was 
in  reality  not  a  Druidical  temple,  but  a  Druidical  altar  of 
stupendous  size.  It  is,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  now  used  as  a  barn, 
from  which  degradation  I  hope  the  French  Government  may 
be  disposed  to  rescue  it,  and  to  preserve  to  posterity  so  interest- 
ing a  relic. 

Near  Dol,  in  Brittany,  is  a  large  upright  stone  of  the  shape 
of  an  almond,  which  is  supposed  to  mark  the  burial-place  of 
some  person  of  note  among  the  Druids,  and  which  I  also 
visited  some  years  ago.  It  is  now  surmounted  by  a  crucifix. 
The  height  of  it  is  thirty  feet.  Of  this  also  I  made  a  sketch, 
an  etching  taken  from  which  is  before  you. 

The  Druidical  remains  in  various  parts  of  Brittany,  which 
I  have  several  times  visited,  are  indeed  very  extensive  and 
very  interesting.  On  the  plains  of  Carnac,  which  are  near  the 
coast,  stand  the  relics  of  a  Druidical  temple  of  vast  struc- 
ture, extending,  indeed,  some  miles  in  length,  which  consisted 
merely  of  large,  rude,  unhewn  oblong  stones,  placed  upright 
in  rows.  Many  of  these  have  been  removed  and  used  for 
building  purposes,  which  of  course  occasions  great  dilapida- 
tions in  the  original  structure.  The  stones  are  not  nearly  so 
large  as  those  at  Stonehenge,  nor  are  they  placed  one  over 
the  other.  They  do  not  appear  to  be  standing  in  any  order, 
though  in  some  positions  you  may  perceive  that  they  are 
arranged  in  lines,  which  are,  however,  very  much  broken. 
At  Plouharnel,  which  is  near  Carnac,  there  are  some  very  fine 
cromlechs  ;  they  are  of  great  extent,  and  are  entered  by  deep 
passages.  The  earth  is  so  heaped  round  them  as  to  render 
them  now  subterraneous.  They  are  very  perfect,  but  not  so 
large  as  that  near  Saumur.  Near  the  great  Druidical  temple 
which  commences  at  Carnac  is  a  very  large  stone,  nearly 
round,  in  which  are  cut  three  large  indentations,. each  of  the 
shape  and  size  of  the  body  of  a  man,  where  it  is  supposed 
that  the  victims  to  be  offered  in  sacrifice  were  placed  ;  and 

*  Lord  Lyttelton's  "  History  of  England,''  p.  13. 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY    LIFE   IN    THIS   COUNTRY.        Ill 

there  are  channels  cut  in  the  stone  in  the  parts  where  the 
necks  would  fit  in,  for  the  blood  to  flow  down. 

There  are  some  very  large  cromlechs  at  Loch  Maria  Ker, 
which  is  also  on  the  coast  of  Brittany,  about  eight  miles 
from  Carnac,  and  the  stones  placed  horizontally  over  them 
are  of  enormous  size.  Two  of  them  are,  however,  broken 
quite  in  two,  but  it  is  difficult  to  decide  what  force  could  have 
effected  this.  Had  it  been  caused  by  lightning,  probably  the 
whole  stone  would  have  been  shattered  to  atoms.  On  one 
of  the  upright  stones  supporting  the  large  horizontal  one  I 
observed  some  curious  waving  lines  carved,  though  almost 
obscured  by  the  lichens  which  cover  it.  I  afterwards  pro- 
ceeded by  boat  to  explore  the  island  of  Gavr  Innis.  It  is 
surrounded  by  strong  currents,  as  also  by  a  vigorous  whirl- 
pool, so  that  navigation  there  is  somewhat  difficult  and 
dangerous,  and  landing  not  always  to  be  accomplished. 
The  superstitious  still  attribute  these  extraordinary  com- 
motions in  the  sea  round  the  island  to  the  influence  of 
demons.  This  little  island  is  very  rugged  and  barren,  and 
at  a  corner  of  it  is  a  large  tumulus  of  pieces  of  rock  and 
earth,  nearly  overgrown  by  furze  bushes.  On  one  side  of  the 
tumulus  is  a  small  square  opening,  and  you  have  to  proceed 
on  your  hands  and  knees  through  the  entrance  to  the  cave, 
which  gets  wider  as  you  proceed,  and  which  consists  of  a 
very  large  cromlech,  extending  underneath  the  tumulus,  of 
which  you  have  a  representation  in  the  diagram.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  use  candles  to  explore  the  interior,  the  chamber  of 
which  is  spacious  enough  to  enable  any  one  to  stand  upright. 
On  some  of  the  side  stones  supporting  those  covering  the 
cromlech,  I  found  some  curious  carvings,  which  were  no 
doubt  made  by  the  Druids.  They  consist  of  long  waving 
lines,  but  what  they  are  intended  to  represent — whether  ser- 
pents, or  human  figures,  or  Druidical  temples — it  is  impos- 
sible to  determine.  Some  of  the  devices  appear  to  be  meant 
either  for  arrow-heads  or  human  figures.  I  made  several 
sketches  from  them,  hoping  to  meet  with  an  interpreter  to 
these  mysterious  signs.  There  are  two  round  holes  pierced 


112    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

through  one  of  the  stones,  which  are  supposed  to  have  served 
for  tying  victims  there. 

Druidism  appears  to  have  been  established  in  Scotland  as 
well  as  in  England,  and  several  popular  customs  and  super- 
stitions still  survive  there,  as  also  in  England,  which  were  de- 
rived from  that  religion.  The  Druidical  remains  in  that  part 
of  our  island  are  very  numerous.  In  Ireland  it  continued  to 
flourish  until  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century.  A  temple  to 
Minerva  formerly  existed  in  Bath.  In  London  one  to  Diana 
is  said  to  have  occupied  the  very  spot  where  St  Paul's  now 
stands.  In  each  country  Christianity  was  the  means  of 
extinguishing  Druidism  ;  and  in  Ireland  we  are  told  that 
St.  Patrick  was  mainly  instrumental  in  its  extirpation.  But 
even  now,  in  this  country,  some  of  the  practices  of  that  super- 
stition are  kept  alive  in  our  popular  sports  and  pastimes. 
The  ceremonies  of  Allhallow  Mass,  the  bonfires  of  May-day 
and  Midsummer  Eve,  the  virtues  attributed  to  the  mistletoe, 
and  various  other  customs  of  the  villages  and  country  parts 
of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  serve  to  remind  us  of  the 
days  of  Druidism.* 

The  order  of  bards  has  already  been  alluded  to.  I  will 
now  give  you  some  particulars  respecting  them.  The  bards 
of  Gaul  and  Britain  were  for  a  considerable  time  their  only 
historians,  who  noted  down  and  recorded  all  the  events  of 
importance  which  took  place  ;  though  I  expect  that,  like  some 
modern  historians,  they  were  occasionally  a  little  addicted  to 
the  exaggeration  and  embellishment  of  their  narrative.  Most 
of  their  works  are  written  in  a  sort  of  rhyme,  and  no  doubt  the 
information  which  they  contain  is  on  the  whole  of  great  value. 
One  of  these  bards,  by  name  Merlinus  Ambrosius,  who  lived 
about  the  year  480,  is  said  to  have  foretold  the  arrival  and 
conquests  of  the  Saxons.  The  brief  sketch  that  is  preserved 
of  his  biography  will  serve  to  show  you  how  fond  these 
good  people  were  of  the  marvellous.  The  bard  in  question  is 
stated  to  have  been  the  son  of  a  nun  called  Matilda,  and  his 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i. 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN   THIS   COUNTRY.        113 

father  a  supernatural  being  ;  and  it  is  asserted  that  he  at  last 
fell  into  a  magic  slumber.* 

The  court  bard  of  those  times  was  a  domestic  officer,  and 
occupied  the  eighth  place  in  the  Prince's  court.  He  held  his 
land  free,  and  the  Prince  had  to  allow  him  a  horse  and  a 
woollen  robe,  and  the  Queen  a  linen  garment.  If  the  Queen 
desired  a  song,  the  bard  was  to  attend  in  her  chamber.  When 
he  accompanied  the  Prince's  domestic  servants  upon  a  foray 
or  plundering  expedition,  he  was  to  have  an  ox  or  a  cow 
given  to  him  from  the  booty ;  and  while  the  prey  was 
dividing  he  was  to  sing  the  praises  of  the  British  monarchy. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  Steward  or  Disdain  of  the 
court.  His  office  was  to  provide  food  and  drink,  and  also  to 
be  master  of  the  ceremonies  and  taster.  One  of  his  claims 
was  as  much  plain  ale  from  every  cask  as  he  could  reach  with 
his  whole  middle  finger  immersed  ;  spiced  ale  with  the  second 
joint  of  the  same  ;  and  mead  to  the  first  joint.  The  great 
falconer  was  limited  to  three  draughts  of  strong  liquor  at  the 
royal  table,  lest  intoxication  should  lead  him  to  forget  his 
hawks.  The  porter  was  obliged  to  know  the  face  of  every 
person  who  had  a  right  to  be  admitted  to  the  royal  hall,  and 
he  enjoyed  the  privilege,  at  each  of  the  three  great  festivals,  of 
drinking  three  horns  full  of  a  very  pleasant,  and,  I  suspect, 
pretty  strong  beverage,  which  was  somewhat  irreverently 
called  by  the  name  of  "  the  twelve  apostles."t 

Allusion  has  already  been  made  to  the  manner  in  which  the 
ancient  Britons  were  accustomed  to  bury  their  dead,  of 
which  Caesar  has  rendered  us  an  account.  They  appear  to 
have  observed  a  variety  of  modes  in  the  disposition  of  the 
body.  The  earliest  seems  to  have  been  to  place  it  in  a  cist 
with  the  legs  bent  up  towards  the  head.  Daggers  and  drink- 
ing cups  were  placed  with  the  corpse.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, they  laid  it  in  the  grave  at  full  length,  and  spear- 
heads and  lances  and  beads  were  deposited  with  it.  The 

*  Thompson's  "  Illustrations  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  i.,  p.  18. 
f  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  151,  152. 

I 


114    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY- 

remains  of  dogs  and  of  deer  have  also  been  found  with 
human  bones.  In  other  cases  the  body  was  enclosed  in  a 
wooden  coffin,  and  in  some  instances  it  was  burnt.  In  the 
latter  case  the  ashes  were  frequently  deposited  in  an  urn.  In 
Scotland  the  body  was  very  often  laid  in  the  earth  entire,  and 
a  loose  heap  of  stones  raised  over  the  spot.  * 

Although,  as  has  been  stated,  the  ancient  Britons  carried 
on  commercial  traffic  with  the  people  of  other  countries,  it 
does  not  appear  that  they  were  masters  of  any  other  navi- 
gating vessels  than  open  boats,  and  it  is  doubted  whether 
even  these  were  furnished  with  sails.  Their  common 
boat  appears  to  have  been  what  is  still  called  the  Carrach  by 
the  Irish,  and  the  Coracle  by  the  Welsh,  formed  of  osier 
twigs  covered  with  hide.  Another  kind  of  British  boat  seems 
to  have  been  made  out  of  a  single  tree,  like  the  Indian  canoes. 
Several  of  these  have  been  discovered  at  different  times,  some 
in  the  marshes  of  the  river  Medway.  One  was  seven  feet 
long,  and  the  paddle  was  near  it.  Another  of  them  was  so 
well  preserved  as  to  be  used  for  a  boat  for  some  time  after- 
wards.t  No  vessels,  however,  which  could  deserve  to  be 
called  ships  of  war  appear  to  have  been  possessed  by  the 
ancient  Britons.  The  first  voyage  of  discovery  round  Great 
Britain,  when  the  fact  of  its  being  an  island  was  established, 
was  made  about  the  year  84,  by  command  of  one  of  the 
Roman  generals.^  But  it  was  not  until  long  afterwards, 
until  the  reign  of  Alfred  the  Great,  towards  the  end  of  the 
ninth  century,  that  ships  of  war  were  built  in  England,  and  it 
has  been  doubted  if  they  had  even  any  trading  vessels  before 
that  time.§  To  Alfred  England  may  be  said  to  owe  the 
foundation  of  her  navy.  It  was  in  the  year  887,  in  the  sixth 
year  of  his  reign,  that  he  fitted  out  his  first  ships.  Twenty 
years  later  he  built  a  much  larger  fleet.  Some  of  his  ships 
had  sixty  oars,  others  even  more.||  And  in  order  to  encourage 
voyages  by  sea,  a  law  was  some  years  afterwards  made  in  this 

*  "  Pictorial  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  132.     f  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  102. 
J  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  46.        §  Ibid.,  vol.  i.        ||  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  267. 


DOMESTIC   EVERY-DAY   LIFE   IN   THIS   COUNTRY.        115 

country  that  every  merchant  who  should  have  made  three 
voyages  over  the  sea  with  a  ship  and  cargo  of  his  own  should 
have  the  rank  of  a  thane  or  nobleman.  It  will  be  recollected 
that  Dr.  Southey,  in  his  "  Lives  of  the  British  Admirals,"  places 
King  Alfred  at  the  head  of  them  ;  and  his  illustrious  de- 
scendant, our  own  Prince  Alfred,  has  adopted  the  navy 
as  his  profession.  Sandwich  is  supposed  to  have  been 
the  first  British  port  used  for  shipbuilding.*  King  Edgar, 
who  reigned  about  the  year  957,  is  said  to  have  fitted  out, 
great  and  small,  as  many  as  4,000  ships.  Some  have  even 
raised  the  number  to  4,800.  This  fleet  was  distributed 
in  all  the  ports  of  the  kingdom,  and  cruising  incessantly 
round  the  island,  kept  the  pirates  at  a  distance,  and  also  pre- 
vented invasions.  With  regard  to  pirates,  at  this  period  of 
our  history  piracy  was  the  common  resource  of  the  younger 
sons  of  all  the  best  families  in  Denmark,  Sweden,  and 
Norway  ;  and  the  sea  was  regarded  as  a  field  upon  which  a 
bold  adventurer  might  reap  for  himself  both  fame  and  fortune. 
The  coasts  of  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland  were  the  chief 
scenes  of  their  ravages  ;  and  by  these  bold  sea-captains  and 
their  crews  a  great  part  of  England  was  taken  possession  of 
after  the  Romans  had  abandoned  it. 

Here  we  must  for  the  present  take  leave  of  this  interesting 
subject,  having  now  passed  through  the  darkest  period  of  Eng- 
land's history,  when  the  gloom  of  barbarism  hung  over  the  land, 
and  dense  clouds  of  superstition  enveloped  it  all  around. 
Dismal  indeed  was  the  prospect  which  this  country  presented, 
and  widely  contrasting  with  anything  that  now  appears.  These 
people,  however  much  they  may  differ  from  us  in  habit, 
manners,  and  all  other  respects,  were,  nevertheless,  our  fore- 
fathers. The  same  blood  which  animated  them  flows  in  our 
veins,  intermixed  more  or  less  with  that  of  the  successive 
nations  who  have  invaded  this  land.  Their  nature,  wild 
as  that  nature  was,  is  the  same  as  ours,  but  by  civiliza- 
tion it  has  become  tamed  and  humanized.  Their  rude 

*  Thompson's  "  Illustrations  of  Great  Britain,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  229. 


116    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

capacities  have  been  developed  by  cultivation.  Lawless 
passions  have  been  subdued,  generous  emotions  encouraged, 
rude  virtues  matured.  Had  they  lived  in  our  times,  they 
would  have  been  as  civilized  as  the  people  of  the  present 
century.  Had  we  lived  in  their  day,  we  must  equally  with 
them  have  been  the  victims  of,  and  in  all  probability  the  par- 
ticipators in,  their  appalling  superstitions.  However  we  may 
contemn  them,  they  were  only  wild  Englishmen  after  all. 
We  ourselves  are  but  Britons  who  have  been  tamed. 


117 


THE  HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF 
IDEALISM  AND  REALISM. 

BY  GUSTAVUS  GEORGE  ZERFFI,  ESQ.,  Pn.D.,  F.R.S.L., 
FELLOW  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

I. — GREEK  PERIOD. 

"  GENERALIZATIONS  drawn  from  particulars  are  the  jewels  of 
knowledge,  comprehending  great  store  in  a  little  room,"  says 
the  immortal  Locke.  The  more  I  see  of  our  learned  societies, 
the  more  I  study  the  curricula  of  our  different  schools  and 
educational  establishments,  the  more  thoroughly  am  I  con- 
vinced that  we  persistently  neglect  the  study  of  general 
history  from  a  higher  and  a  philosophical  point  of  view ;  in 
fact,  we  appear  scarcely  to  have  attained  the  faculty  to  distin- 
guish between  geography,  archaeology,  genealogy,  biography, 
ethnology,  chronicles,  heraldry,  statistical  reports,  numismatics, 
and  extracts  from  registers.  We  call  everything  that  has 
happened  history,  and  consider  an  old  civic  record,  as  devoid 
of  influence  on  the  destinies  of  humanity  as  the  name,  age, 
occupation,  and  domestic  relations  of  one  of  the  mummies 
under  a  glass  case  in  our  British  Museum,  an  historical  docu- 
ment of  value.  We  are  apt  to  confuse  the  task  of  the 
antiquary  or  of  a  contributor  to  Notes  and  Queries  with 
that  of  the  historian. 

The  historian  undoubtedly  requires  details,  and  cannot  do 
without  them.  But  not  every  collection  of  details  is  history 
in  a  higher  sense.  Conscientious  "  archive-copyists  "  abound 
among  us  to  an  overwhelming  extent.  All  is  historical  de- 
tail ;  there  are  heaps  of  historical  materials,  not  yet  arranged 
into  a  systematic  and  organic  building.  Bricks  and  stones, 
iron  girders,  cross-beams,  cornices,  pillars,  consoles  and 
chimney-pots  are  plentiful.  But  the  architects  are  rare,  and 
it  cannot  be  detrimental  to  our  Society  and  its  future  destiny 


118    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

to  devote  ourselves,  at  least  sometimes,  to  the  constructive 
duties  of  philosophical  historians,  trying  to  trace  laws  in 
isolated  historical  phenomena,  and  thus  using  the  mass  of 
detailed  antiquarian  material  for  some  higher  purpose. 

I  am  the  last  to  look  down  upon  those  who  toil  in  record 
offices  or  copy  old  documents  ;  but  I  certainly  could  wish 
them  to  refrain  from  decrying  those  who  devote  themselves 
to  the  building  up  of  theories  to  further  the  progressive  intel- 
lectual development  of  humanity. 

Universal  history  is  with  us  still  in  its  infancy,  though  we 
were  the  first  to  teach  its  peremptory  necessity  to  other 
nations  who  have  followed  the  hint  thrown  out  by  Boling- 
broke,  and  have  recognised  the  truth  "  that  human  knowledge 
has  only  one  store-house,  history."  I  know  that  it  is  looked 
down  upon  in  our  universities  and  colleges  as  incapable  of  a 
scientific  treatment.  It  is  generally  assumed  that  history  is 
but  an  incomplete  mass  of  more  or  less  verified  incidents. 
But  it  is  history  that  liveson,  as  the  only  true  "  Logos  "  in  the 
intellectual  consciousness  of  humanity.  As  soon  as  education 
had  been  freed  from  the  fetters  of  mediaeval  scholasticism  and 
theology,  it  could  do  no  more  without  history  in  all  its 
ethical,  political,  and  artistic  branches  of  instruction.  Wher- 
ever the  historical  basis  of  tuition  is  neglected  or  ignored,  real 
culture  of  the  mind  is  impossible.  Every  historian  requires 
a  philosophical  mental  training,  so  as  to  be  able  to  grasp 
heterogeneous  facts  in  their  inner  connections,  to  understand 
the  forces  working  in  humanity,  and  to  see  in  the  variegated 
and  complicated  phenomena  of  man's  actions  a  homogeneous 
whole.  Reason  and  imagination  are  equally  acted  upon  by 
the  study  of  universal  history  ;  "  an  historian  who  is  without 
a  philosophical  and  poetical  mind  is  a  poor  historian,"  says 
W.  von  Humboldt.  Leibnitz,  in  pronouncing  the  words  "  le 
present  est  chargt  du  passt  et  gros  de  Vavenir"  laid  down  the 
principle  of  a  new  method  of  treating  history.  For  history  is 
the  record  of  man's  moral  and  intellectual  deeds,  done  under 
certain  conditions,  in  certain  places,  and  at  certain  times,  and 
these  phenomena,  together  with  the  causes  that  produced  them, 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.    119 

make  up  history.  Not  every  action  of  man,  however,  deserves 
to  be  recorded,  but  only  such  as  mark  the  life  of  humanity  in 
its  different  phases  of  progressive  or  sometimes  apparently 
retrogressive  development.  We  have  special  or  pragmatic, 
and  general  or  universal  histories.  There  is  as  wide  a  differ- 
ence between  an  accountant  and  a  mathematician,  an  herbalist 
and  a  botanist,  a  miner  and  a  geologist,  as  there  is  between  a 
biographer  and  an  historian  ;  and  among  the  latter  again, 
special  and  general  historians  are  to  be  distinguished. 

"  All  history,"  as  I  said  in  the  first  paper  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  reading  before  you,  "  is  information  acquired  by  inquiry  ; " 
but  "  universal  history "  is  not  contented  with  the  informa- 
tion acquired  by  means  of  inquiry ;  it  has  a  higher  aim,  and 
endeavours  to  trace  the  causes  of  at  least  the  most  striking 
phenomena,  so  as  to  discover  a  certain  law  in  the  interaction 
of  cause  and  effect  in  the  destinies  of  mankind.  Modern  his- 
torians reject  the  theories  of  chance,  predestination,  or  free 
will,  and  endeavour  to  prove  phenomena  to  be  the  result  of 
man's  self-conscious  or  unconscious  activity  by  means  of  the 
static  or  moral,  and  the  dynamic  or  intellectual  forces  with 
which  he  is  endowed,  and  trace  the  working  of  these  forces 
according  to  physiological  or  psychological  laws,  or  a  combi- 
nation of  both. 

The  theory  of  development  is  altogether  new  in  history. 
Historians  were  content  to  collect  dry  facts  as  they  pre- 
sented themselves  chronologically  in  so-called  state  or  other 
documents ;  or  they  taught  history  under  the  influence  of 
preconceived  facts,  as  is  customary  in  our  schools,  beginning 
with  Biblical  traditions,  treating  ancient  states  according  to 
the  Book  of  Daniel,  as  did  Melanchthon  and  Bossuet  Or  they 
wrote  history,  as  Macaulay  stated  in  his  essay  on  "  Hallam's 
Constitutional  History,"  from  a  party  point  of  view ;  for 
"every  political  sect  has  its  esoteric  and  its -exoteric  school, 
its  abstract  doctrines  for  the  initiated,  its  visible  symbols,  its 
imposing  forms,  its  mythological  fables  for  the  vulgar."  As 
long  as  history  is  written  on  such  principles,  we  shall  be 
obliged  to  do  without  general  historians  in  the  scientific  sense 


120    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

of  the  word.  The  real  historian  has  to  deal  above  all  with 
the  two  sides  of  every  question  ;  he  has  to  divest  himself  of 
his  individual  sympathies  and  antipathies.  He  has  undoubt- 
edly to  exert  his  individual  capacity  to  discern  right  and 
wrong,  truth  and  falsehood  ;  and  though  he  cannot  appeal  like 
the  physicist  to  our  outward  senses  with  mathematical  preci- 
sion, he  may  arouse  our  higher  reasoning  and  imaginative 
faculties.  His  success  in  solving  this  difficult  problem  will 
depend  upon  his  impartiality,  his  unprejudiced  mind,  his  love 
of  justice,  and  his  philosophically  trained  intellect,  freed  from 
all  religious  and  political  prejudices,  so  as  to  prevent  him 
from  becoming  in  the  treatment  of  the  past  either  biassed  or 
one-sided.  Nothing  is  more  detrimental  to  history  than  party 
spirit ;  it  blinds  our  clear  vision,  deadens  our  faculty  of  hear- 
ing, and  makes  us  unjust  towards  those  whom  we  look  upon  as 
adversaries.  This  is  the  reason  why  we  often  treat  best  those 
subjects  that  are  locally  and  chronologically  farthest  removed 
from  our  country  and  times.  Scientific  universal  history 
becomes  the  more  necessary  the  more  the  different  special 
branches  of  science  increase  in  details.  History  has  to  con- 
nect the  apparently  isolated  facts,  to  trace  in  the  discordant 
voices  of  generations  and  their  complicated  actions  union  and 
harmony  ;  for  history  is  the  bright  genius  that  soars  high 
above  particulars  ;  it  is  the  echo  of  man's  most  secret  yearn- 
ings, showing  in  the  various  incidents  of  human  life  the 
common  elements  of  a  universal  brotherhood. 

From  the  very  first  dawn  of  consciousness  man  tried  to  solve 
the  phenomena  surrounding  him  in  two  divergent  ways,  which 
up  to  our  times  have  been  followed  by  two  opposed  parties. 
The  controversy  between  idealists  and  realists,  or  materialists, 
is  as  old  as  man's  power  of  thinking.  The  history  of  man's 
intellectual  development  in  a  wider  sense  is  but  the  struggle 
between  the  two.  To  trace  the  action  and  reaction  of  these 
two  agents  in  human  history  should  be  both  interesting  and 
useful.  It  would  be  presumption  on  my  part  to  attempt  to 
exhaust  this  subject ;  I  intend  only  to  draw  broad  outlines,  to 
suggest  and  to  excite  investigation  or  contradiction. 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.   121 

I  purpose  dividing  my  subject  into  a  series  of  papers,  treat- 
ing of  the  Historical  Development  of  Idealism  and  Realism 
in  four  groups, — Greek,  Roman,  Mediaeval,  and  Modern. 

The  cosmogonies  of  the  East  and  the  Greeks  are  the  foun- 
dation of  all  so-called  science  in  ancient  times.  Man  did  not 
try  at  first  to  explain  the  origin  of  the  universe  and  of  himself 
from  an  ideal  or  material  point  of  view,  and  least  of  all 
scientifically,  but  invoked  the  aid  of  anthropomorphic  world- 
makers — some  kind  of  half-real,  half-spiritual  being  (or 
beings),  who  sifted  like  a  clever  chemist  the  chaotically  mixed 
forces  and  elements,  and  left  them  to  struggle,  to  grow  and 
decay  according  to  chance.  The  creatures,  and  the  earth 
which  they  inhabited,  were  realities  ;  the  Creator  and  his 
working  were  ideal  assumptions,  clad  in  a  more  or  less  realistic 
shape.  With  this  antagonism  the  combat  began.  The  think- 
ing minds  of  antiquity  very  early  opposed  these  assumptions  ; 
they  were  eager  to  find  in  the  chaotic  phenomena  of  nature, 
and  in  man's  actions,  unity,  order,  and  law.  With  this  effort 
to  trace  law  on  one  side,  and  to  assume,  on  the  other,  an  active 
band  of  gods  and  goddesses,  the  action  and  reaction  in  the 
spiritual  destinies  of  mankind  were  set  in  motion. 

The  Greeks  were  undoubtedly  the  first  people  in  whom  this 
struggle  took  an  intelligible  shape  and  form.  I  know  that 
the  Indians  went  through  the  same  phases  of  spiritual  contest. 
The  Vedantic  idealism  engendered  the  Vaiseschika  system  of 
materialism  by  Kanada,  and  Sankhya  tried  to  reconcile  these 
antagonistic  systems.  But  the  Greeks  are  so  much  more 
approachable  by  us,  that  I  hope  not  to  be  accused  of  a  wilful 
omission  in  beginning  with  them. 

The  development  in  all  thinking  nations  with  reference  to 
this  struggle  has  been  the  same,  and,  moreover,  must  be  the 
same.  The  orthodox  priesthood  of  Greece,  representing  the 
ideal  element,  was  not  less  intolerant  than  the  Brahmans  of 
India  or  our  own  mediaeval  Torquemadas.  Thales  of  Miletus 
was  to  them  an  atheist.  Anaxagoras  was  imprisoned,  and 
saved  his  life  by  flight.  Sokrates  had  to  poison  himself. 
Protagoras  had  his  writings  publicly  burnt,  and  had  to  fly 


122    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

from  his  country.  Aristotle  had  to  leave  Athens,  to  spare  it 
the  disgrace  of  again  dishonouring  itself  by  persecuting  a  free- 
thinker Theodorus  was  hated  as  an  unbeliever,  and  Diogenes 
of  Apollonia  had  to  share  his  fate.  So  soon  as  man  became 
conscious  of  his  faculty  of  inquiry  he  used  it,  and  used  it 
either  to  verify  the  origin  of  all  things,  or  to  make  himself 
acquainted  with  the  working  forces  of  nature.  With  the  study 
of  mathematics,  geometry,  and  natural  sciences,  the  first  steps 
towards  civilization  commenced.  The  fact  that  this  movement 
began  with  the  Greeks  in  those  parts  of  their  country  which 
were  in  a  continuous  intercourse  with  Egypt,  Persia,  and 
Phoenicia,  proves  that  they  received  the  germs  of  these  sciences 
from  those  countries.  The  Greeks  had  the  merit  of  bringing 
order,  system,  and  intelligible  form  into  everything  they 
inherited  from  the  East  Their  speculations  concerning  the 
universe  and  its  connection  had  many  shortcomings,  but  they 
were  the  first  to  lay  down  generalizations  in  a  sharp  and 
intelligible  form  ;  they  furnished  us  continually  with  starting- 
points,  which  they  did  not  fix  as  unchangeable,  metaphysical, 
or  theological  truths  ;  they  were  the  first  to  provide  the  world 
with  scientific  deduction.  We  look  down  upon  deduction  as 
a  mere  play  of  individual  opinions,  and  while  we  are  more 
stationary  in  this  very  sphere  of  man's  ideal  activity,  we  strive, 
on  the  other  hand,  towards  a  coarse  materialism,  which 
assumes  that  beyond  ponderables  and  measurables  there  is 
nothing  worth  knowing.  We  ignore  that,  after  all,  our  modern 
mode  of  thinking,  inquiring,  and  inventing  for  practical  pur- 
poses is  but  the  natural  sequence  of  those  old  Greek  philoso- 
phers who  looked  into  the  order  of  things  more  from  a 
deductive  point  of  view,  with  the  often  unconscious  power  of 
intuition  ;  but  they  very  early  tried  to  regulate  not  only 
quantities  and  the  sizes  of  bodies,  but  also  the  subtle  quality 
of  our  mode  of  thinking  and  our  power  of  ratiocination. 

The  Greeks  were,  after  all,  the  first  to  free  our  dim  eyes 
from  the  veil  of  the  miraculous,  the  fabulous,  the  mythical,  and 
the  imaginary.  These  elements  took  their  origin  in  man's 
fantasy  and  in  his  intellectual  power ;  and  it  was  deduction 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.    123 

that  led  to  induction,  it  was  the  idea  that  fixed  the  properties 
of  matter.  "  I  am  a  body,  and  I  think,"  was  the  beginning  of 
the  atomistic  theory.  It  was  Diogenes  of  Apollonia  who  pro- 
pounded the  hypothesis  that  air  is  the  pervading  primitive 
substance,  engendering  order  and  reason.  The  Eleatic  school 
worked  also  in  this  direction.  The  Pythagoreans  recognised 
numbers — but  numbers  of  what  ? — as  the  foundation  of  the 
phenomena  of  nature,  numbers  of  which  the  monad,  forming 
diads,  was  the  origin — of  atoms,  in  fact,  which  was  a  further 
step  to  recognise  in  the  phenomenal  world  the  mysterious  in 
the  visible,  the  complicated  in  the  simple,  the  unknown  in  the 
knowable. 

One  of  the  mightiest  intellects  of  antiquity  was  Demokritos, 
of  whom  we  know  scarcely  more  than  the  sobriquet  "  the 
laughing  philosopher."  It  is  usual  to  nickname  obnoxious 
thinkers,  to  call  them  flippant,  superficial,  or  taunt  them  with 
hiding  their  ignorance  under  satirical  phrases,  because  the 
"  dullards  "  of  all  times  most  hate  the  intellectual  products  of 
those  whom  they  can  least  refute.  It  was  the  immortal  merit 
of  Lord  Bacon  to  have  pointed  out  Demokritos  as  the 
founder  of  real  science.  This  was  the  more  praiseworthy, 
as  Bacon  was  spitefully  unjust  to  Aristotle,  whom  he  dragged 
out  of  his  times  and  circumstances,  and  branded  as  a  pro- 
pounder  of  empty  phrases  and  hollow  knowledge.  Lord 
Bacon  was  not  endowed  with  the  faculty  of  historical  apprecia- 
tion, and  acted  towards  Aristotle  as  many  modern  French  and 
German  philosophers,  who  judge  Bacon  by  the  light  of  modern 
knowledge,  act  towards  himself.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
without  Aristotle  no  Bacon,  and  without  Bacon  no  Cousin, 
Kant,  Hegel,  or  Schoppenhauer  would  have  been  possible. 
Nor  must  we  ignore  that  Demokritos  intellectually  engendered 
Epikurus  ;  and  that  Bacon,  after  humanity  had  passed  through 
the  unavoidable  circle  of  errors  for  nearly  2,000  years,  reaching 
the  transition  point  of  a  more  correct  reasoning,  had  to  begin 
again  where  Demokritos  and  Epikurus  had  left  off. 

The  most  important  principle  laid  down  by  Demokritos 
was,  freely  translated,  "  Do  not  let  us  strive  after  quantity  of 


124    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

knowledge,  but  after  quality  of  understanding."  Demokritos 
opposed  both  Sokrates  and  Plato,  because  they  turned  philo- 
sophy into  mere  verbiage  and  dialectics,  without  having  any 
firmer  foundations  for  their  assertions  than  mere  assumption. 
Both  Sokrates  and  Plato  became  the  props  and  pillars  of 
idealists,  whilst  Demokritos  laid  down  those  principles  which 
served  the  realists  as  a  basis  for  their  investigations. 
Demokritos  laid  down  six  principal  axioms,  and  these  are 
still  the  discussed  points  of  our  latest  philosophical  inquiries 
on  a  scientific  basis.  He  already  acknowledged  that — 

1.  "From  nothing  comes  nothing.      Nothing  that  exists 
can  be  destroyed.     All  changes  are  due  to  combination  and 
separation  of  particles  (atoms  or  molecules)."     Kant  places 
this  principle  as  the  first  analogon  of  experience.     "  Notwith- 
standing all  the  changes  to  which  the  phenomenal  is  subject, 
the  absolute  essence  remains  the  same,  and  its  quantity  can 
neither  increase  nor  decrease  in  nature."    Of  course  so  long  as 
imagination  in  humanity  was  stronger  than  knowledge,  or  the 
logical  mode  of  inquiry  weaker  than  the  tendency  towards 
assuming  causes  which  stood  in  no  relation  to  certain  effects, 
man  argued,  talked,  and  built  up  systems  and  theories  on  the 
origin  of  all  things  and  the  creation  out  of  "  nothing."     This 
gave  rise  to  many  discussions  by  which,  if  truth  did  not  gain, 
our  dialectics  were  at  least  sharpened,  till  we  came  to  the 
conviction  that  inquiry  was  after  all  essential  to  prove  that 
the  combination  and  separation  of  something  real  must  pro- 
duce the  phenomenal  in  the  universe. 

2.  "  Nothing  happens  by  chance.     Every  phenomenon  has 
its  cause,  from  which  it  follows  by  necessity."      This  axiom 
was  already  attributed  to  Leukippos,  but  without  sufficient 
evidence.     It   does  away  with   all  teleology ;   for  the  cause 
(Xoyoc)  is,  according  to  Demokritos,  nothing  but  a  mathemati- 
cal and  mechanical  law,  by  which  the  atoms  are  ruled  in  their 
movements  with  unconditional  necessity.    This  assertion  pro- 
duced the  same  accusation  which  realists  have  to  encounter 
in  our  days.     They  were  taunted  with  elevating  blind  chance 
on  the  tripod  of  deification.     There  are  scarcely  any  more 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.   125 

antagonistic  notions  than  chance  and  necessity,  and  yet  the 
two  are  continually  confounded.  The  notion  of  necessity 
is  clear,  intelligible,  and  fixed  ;  the  notion  of  chance  expresses 
merely  a  relative  vague  notion  ;  it  is  partially  the  negation  of 
an  aim.  Those  who  in  whatever  shape  or  form  ascribe  the 
phenomena  of  nature  to  an  absolute  final  cause,  exclude  chance 
as  distinctly  as  those  who  assume  a  law  of  causation.  The 
idealist  has  an  easier  task  with  his  assumption  of  an  absolute 
final  cause.  Whatever  presents  itself  to  his  astonished  senses 
is  set  down  as  the  result  of  an  incomprehensible  final  cause 
for  a  distinct  anthropomorphic  aim,  and  anything  contradic- 
tory or  unintelligible  in  relation  to  this  aim  is  left  as  a  great 
mystery,  without  which  mankind  could  not  exist  But  this 
never  would  have  led  us  to  knowledge.  Knowledge  begins 
where  mystery  ceases.  This  does  not  eliminate  the  ideal, 
or  altogether  do  away  with  the  mysterious.  Only  the 
mysterious,  instead  of  becoming  something  debatable  and 
apparently  scientific,  becomes  the  merely  unknowable,  and 
the  conviction  that  there  are  unknowables  is  the  highest  gain 
of  science.  The  assumption  of  necessity  and  law  in  nature 
led  to  a  rational  study  of  nature. 

3.  "  Nothing  exists  but  atoms  and  space ;  all  else  is  mere 
opinion."  This  is  the  weak  and  strong  side  of  realism  in  one 
single  statement.  The  phenomena  we  study  in  modern  times 
are  resolved  into  their  smallest  component  parts  which  are 
found  to  be  in  motion.  Thus  only  we  are  enabled  to  explain 
sound,  light,  heat,  electricity,  and  taste.  Athens  entered  a 
protest  against  this  atomistic  principle,  and  tried  to  prove 
that  the  ideal  is  something  separate,  not  only  acted  upon,  but 
freely  acting.  The  bridge  of  union  between  the  acting  and 
acted  upon  was  not  yet  found.  Even  if  we  assume  that 
physicists  may  yet  be  able  to  find  out  a  perfect  theory  of 
"  brain  functions,"  and  distinctly  show  the  mechanical  origin 
and  action  of  sensations,  and  thus  explain  the  most  im- 
portant actions  of  a  living  creature  according  to  a  law  of  con- 
servation of  force,  developed  in  the  brain  under  the  influence 
of  nervous  irritation,  setting  vital  energy  into  motion,  it  will 


126    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

still  remain  an  eternal  mystery  how  the  simplest  sensation 
becomes  that  of  a  certain  subject,  my  own  subjective  sensation, 
and  how  this  my  subjective  impression  corresponds  to  the 
same  phenomenon  produced  in  the  objective  world  beyond 
myself.  Demokritos  answered  the  assertion  of  the  Eleatic 
school,  "  that  all  such  impressions  were  mere  illusions,"  with 
the  counter-assertion  that  this  depended  on  the  quality  of  our 
senses.  "  The  notions  sweet,  bitter,  heat,  cold,  colour,  were 
matters  of  opinion  ;  in  reality,  only  atoms  and  the  empty 
space  existed."  According  to  him  thinking  was  even  of 
greater  importance  than  experience.  His  thinking  was  con- 
stantly reduced  to  observation,  and  saved  him  from  the  error 
into  which  experimentalists  often  fall,  of  arguing  inductively 
from  an  experiment  in  which  they  do  not  succeed,  that  the 
experiments  of  another  which  have  succeeded  cannot  be  right, 
and  that  a  theory  based  on  such  or  such  an  experiment  is 
impossible.  Such  reasoning  leads  to  a  dangerous  dogmatism, 
that  has  often  hindered  the  progressive  development  of 
humanity  for  hundreds,  nay,  thousands  of  years. 

4.  "  The  atoms  are  infinite  in  number  and  infinite  in  form. 
In  eternal  motion  of  falling  through  infinite  space,  the  larger 
that  fall  quicker  strike  the  smaller ;  this  produces  lateral 
motions,  and  the  whirlings  which  thus  arise  are  the  beginnings 
of  worlds.  Innumerable  worlds  are  forming  side  by  side,  and 
others  perish  one  after  the  other."  These  words  are  in  our 
modern  times  far  more  understood  than  they  were  in  ancient 
philosophy.  Epikurus  and  Lucretius  referred  to  them,  though 
Epikurus  did  not  admit  the  infinity  of  atomic  forms.  The 
lateral  motion  of  Demokritos  is  of  great  importance.  He 
certainly  assumed  that  heavier  bodies  fall  quicker  in  empty 
space  than  smaller  ones.  But  he  explained  correctly  the 
beginning  of  rotation  according  to  the  known  laws  of  me- 
chanics. Aristotle  attacked  Demokritos's  theory  about  the 
accelerated  fall  of  the  larger  atoms,  and  Epicurus,  influenced 
by  him,  asserted  his  theory  of  the  deviation  of  atoms  from  a 
centre,  without  being  able  to  prove  his  hypothesis,  or  to 
assign  for  it  a  plausible  reason.  Aristotle  propounded  further, 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.   127 

if  there  were  such  a  thing  as  empty  space  (which  he  did  not 
admit),  all  bodies  must  fall  with  equal  velocity,  as  the 
differences  in  the  swiftness  of  a  fall  were  occasioned  by  the 
vaiying  densities  of  the  mediums  through  which  the  bodies 
fall — say,  water  or  air.  Aristotle  more  or  less  consciously 
arrived  at  results  since  borne  out  by  modern  science.  Epikurus 
advanced  the  same  theory,  but  he  was  terser  in  his  statement. 
Because  no  resistance  of  any  sort  is  possible  in  a  vacuum, 
therefore  all  bodies  must  fall  with  equal  velocity.  This  was 
hypothetically  in  accordance  with  modern  science,  but  only 
hypothetical ly,  as  the  ancients  had  no  correct  knowledge  of 
gravitation,  or  of  the  laws  of  velocity.  Still  Galileo,  un- 
doubtedly aided  by  the  ancients,  was  capable  of  asserting  his 
law  of  the  equal  velocities  of  bodies,  which  could  only  be 
proved  efficaciously  by  means  of  the  air-pump. 

5.  "  The  varieties  of  all  things  depend  upon  the  varieties 
of  their  atoms  in  number,  size,  form,  and  order  of  aggrega- 
tion ;  a  qualitative  distinction  of  the  atoms  does  not  exist. 
The  atoms  have  no  '  inner  conditions,'  they  only  impress  each 
other  through  pressure  and  motion."     This  assertion  reduces 
all  phenomena  to  touch,  and  the  sensation  produced  by  it. 
Materialism  or  realism  turns  thus  into  dead  formalism.     This 
was  already  observed  by  Aristotle.     He  raised  the  forms  in  a 
transcendental  way  into  causes  of  motion,  and  by  this  means 
cut  at  the  very  root  of  the  study  of  nature.     Kant,  in  his 
"  Critic  of  Pure  Reason,"  tried  to  throw  light  on  a  mystery, 
which,  in  spite  of  all  progress  in  natural  sciences,  is  as  incom- 
prehensible as  in  the  times  of  Demokritos.     How  and  when  do 
these  atoms  come  to  subjective  and  objective  consciousness  ? 

6.  "The    soul  (consciousness)   consists  of    fine,    smooth, 
and   round  atoms,  like  those  of  fire.      These  atoms  are  the 
most  mobile  of  all ;  they  interpenetrate  the  whole  body,  and 
in  their  motions  all  phenomena  of  life  arise."     Like  Diogenes 
of   Apollonia,  Demokritos   assumes    the  soul   to  be  special 
matter ;   he  considers  it  an  entity  differing  in  essence  from 
the  atoms  forming  bodies.     This  is  a  theory  which  would  not 
suit  many  of  our  modern   mechanical  realists,  who  do  not 


128     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

admit  of  a  spiritual  element  in  creation.     Demokritos  made 
this  division  and  built  upon  it  his  ethics.     The  soul  is  with 
him  the  essential  is  man.     The  body  is  only  the  vessel  of  the 
soul.     The  soul  is  first  to  be  taken  care  of.      Bodily  beauty 
without  intellect   is  animal.      Demokritos,   is   said,  to  have 
been  the  first  to  assert  a  special  divine  soul  in  the  universe. 
Aristotle  laughed  at  this  "  soul  "  of  Demokritos,  and  compared 
it  to  the  quicksilver  with  which  Daedalus  filled  his  moveable 
wooden  dolls  ;  but  the  assertions  of  Aristotle  that  the  soul 
works  only  through  selection  and  thinking  does  not  solve  the 
mystery  of  the  absolute  entity  of  the  soul.     Selecting  and 
thinking  are  mere  faculties  of  a  force  which  cannot  be  mere 
thinking  and  selecting.     The  savage  or  the  superstitious  may 
both  equally  talk  about  this  superior  faculty  in  man,  but  this 
does  not  scientifically  answer  the  question,  what  is  the  essence 
of  the  "  soul-entity  "?  can  it  and  does  it  exist  without  matter  ? 
Demokritos  did  not  speak  of  a  force  that  created  the  world, 
but  only  of  a  force  that  evolved  itself  in  matter  and  became 
a  phenomenal  entity  through  this  evolution,  manifesting  itself 
in  law.     The  shortcoming  of  the  realists  and  materialists  is 
that  they  stop  suddenly  when  they  trace  in  matter  the  possi- 
bility of  mind,  or  when  they  have  proved  that  mind  is  the 
mere  effect  of  matter,  which  is  its  primitive  and  essential 
cause.     But  with  the  effect,   as  mind,  in  reality  all  higher 
problems  of  history  and  philosophy  begin.     He  who  ventures 
with  so-called  a  priori  conclusions,  originating  in  a  faculty 
of  which  matter  is  an  indispensable  cause,  to  settle  out  of  his 
own  inner  consciousness  the  phenomena  of  nature,  whether 
his  name  be  Plato,  Aristotle,  Descartes,  Butler,  Hegel,  or  Sir 
Wm.    Hamilton,  only  destroys  the  basis  of  real  knowledge, 
which  ought  to  have  facts  for  its  foundation.     Kant  would 
have  sided  with  Demokritos  against  Aristotle  or  any  of  the 
modern  antagonists  of  realism.     Experience  is  the  essential 
basis  of  science  ;    an  Empyrismus,  however,  that  does    not 
become  dogmatic,  but  only  opposes  the  verbiage  and  arrogance 
of  those  who  transcend  the  boundaries  of  reason, —  ignore  its 
limited  faculties,  boast  of  a  knowledge  of  and  insight  into 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.   129 

the  hidden  working  of  forces,  where  real  insight  and  know- 
ledge cease, — who  eternally  confound  the  practical  and  the 
theoretical,  the  material  and  the  ideal,  and  wish  to  cut  the 
thread  of  inquiry  wherever  and  whenever  it  suits  their 
particular  interests.  This  arbitrary  checking  of  the  working 
of  man's  dynamic  (intellectual)  force  of  inquiry  and  progress 
is  in  our  days  not  less  at  work  than  in  the  ancient  classic 
times.  To  make  man  good  and  happy  is  the  aim  of  both 
schools  of  philosophy.  The  question  presents  itself  at  once, 
whether  idealism  or  realism  can  better  attain  this  aim. 
Demokritos  tried  to  solve  the  question  in  restoring  to  man  a 
cheerful  quietism  which  he  can  only  attain  in  becoming  master 
of  all  his  passions.  Moderation,  purity  of  heart,  and  a 
normal  development  of  his  intellectual  capacities,  are  the 
duties  of  every  individual.  Neither  hope  nor  fear  is  required 
to  entice  him  to  be  good,  for  man  has  to  make  himself 
acquainted  with  his  constitution,  and  to  act  in  accordance 
with  the  requirements  of  his  mechanical  organization.  This 
is,  of  course,  a  moral  which  omits  every  impulse  of  our  intel- 
lectual nature  ;  but  after  all,  from  a  practical  point  of  view,  it 
is  not  very  immoral,  and  preferable  to  an  ethic  inducing  men 
to  be  good  by  the  promise  of  reward  or  the  assurance  of 
punishment. 

Sicily  and  Lower  Italy  lived  for  centuries  on  the  crumbs 
that  fell  from  the  intellectual  feasts  given  at  Athens,  the 
central  point  of  philosophy  in  ancient  times.  Goethe  was 
right  to  have  exclaimed,  "  America,  thou  art  happier  than 
the  whole  world,  thou  hast  no  castles  in  ruins,  and  no  basalt." 
Freedom  of  thought  not  depending  on  obsolete  traditions,  a 
great  distance  from  old  places  of  culture,  and  the  influence  of 
ambitious  priests,  with  their  deeply  rooted  authority,  have 
always  acted  beneficially  on  the  transition  period  from  blind 
faith  to  philosophical  inquiry 

The  Pythagorean  school,  though  but  a  disguised  Egyptian 
priesthood,  acted  most  beneficially  through  the  study  of 
mathematics  in  promoting  a  more  correct  appreciation  of  the 
forces  in  nature. 

K 


130    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Xenophanes  from  Asia  Minor,  who  settled  in  Italy,  where  he 
founded  the  Eleatic  school,  inquired  into  the  Pythagorean 
philosophy,  which  propounded  that  everything  was  contained 
in  the  monad  (the  unity),  and  that  everything  was  produced  by 
it.  But  who  made  the  Monad  ?  he  asked,  and  found  this  proposi- 
tion too  obscure,  and  argued  thus: — "If  any  thing  has  been  made 
it  has  been  made  out  of  that  which  was,  or  out  of  that  which 
was  not ;  out  of  that  which  was  not,  it  is  impossible  ;  for  out 
of  nothing,  nothing  can  come.  Out  of  that  which  was,  it  is 
impossible  still,  for  since  it  already  was,  it  could  not  have  been 
made."  He  thus  arrives  at  the  impossibility  of  any  timely 
creation  by  means  of  a  monad,  and  assumes  one  sole  Being — 
eternal,  infinite,  immutable — as  the  essence  of  all  things.  He 
found  fault  with  Homer  and  Hesiod  for  having  endowed  the 
gods  with  human  forms,  voices,  and  manners.  He  objected 
already  to  the  anthropomorphic  conception  of  the  gods,  and 
acknowledged  finite  beings  as  simple  modifications  or  forms  of 
an  infinite  being,  showing  thus  a  strong  leaning  to  pantheism. 
Xenophanes  was  an  idealist,  confining  himself  to  an  inquiry 
into  things  in  themselves  from  a  spiritualistic  point  of  view. 

Heraklitos  and  Empedokles  form  a  school  of  their  own,  and 
were  neither  idealists  nor  realists,  but  tried  to  combine  in  a 
spirit  of  eclecticism  both  elements.  Heraklitos  became,  to  a 
certain  degree,  a  sceptic  through  the  inconsistency  of  his  pre- 
decessors, but  wrapt  his  philosophy  in  a  dangerous  dogmatism. 
He  was  the  founder  of  Greek  Puritanism,  and  looked  down 
upon  this  world  as  "  a  vale  of  tears,"  and  received  the  title  "the 
weeping  philosopher."  He  set  forth  "that  the  universal  and 
divine  reason  was  the  criterion  of  truth  ;  that  which  was 
universally  believed  is  certain,  for  it  is  borrowed  from  that 
common  reason  which  is  universal  and  divine."  Such  phrases 
are  often  heard  in  our  times.  The  sun  must  then  still  move 
and  the  earth  stand  still,  for  it  was  once  the  universal  and 
therefore  divine  belief  of  mankind.  The  Buddhistic  religion, 
according  to  Heraklitos  would  be  the  truest,  for  it  is  more 
generally  acknowledged  than  any  other.  He  also  propounded 
"  that  common  reason  is  but  the  picture  of  the  order  of  the 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.   131 

universe  :  whenever  we  derive  anything  from  it,  we  possess 
truth;  and  if  we  interrogate  only  our  own  individual  under- 
standing, we  fall  into  error''  I  scarcely  need  draw  your 
attention  to  the  fact  that  this  assumption  served  theologians, 
especially  during  the  Middle  Ages,  as  a  means  of  extolling  faith 
and  degrading  reason  or  intellect.  It  served  to  maintain 
universally  accepted  falsehoods  as  truths,  because  believed  in 
by  the  ignorant  masses,  and  to  condemn  in  man  the  use  of  his 
faculty  of  inquiry  as  godless  and  diabolical.  Heraklitos,  how- 
ever, atoned  by  his  death  for  his  idealism  ;  he  fell  a  sacrifice 
to  his  realistic  researches  in  trying  to  explore  the  crater  of 
Etna,  which  proves  that  he  must  not  have  been  quite  sure  of 
his  own  philosophical  principles,  for  if  the  general  belief  had 
been  true,  no  exploration  of  the  crater  on  his  part  would  have 
been  required  ;  the  crater  could  not  have  been  anything  but  the 
infernal  regions  of  Hephaestos,  where  the  thunderbolts  of  Zeus 
were  forged  by  infernal  spirits. 

Empedokles  of  Agrigentum  belonged  to  the  same  school. 
With  him  matter  and  force  were  two  separate  entities.  He  was 
probably  the  first  in  Greece  to  reduce  matter  to  the  four 
primitive  elements,  air,  fire,  water,  and  earth,  held  together  by 
two  fundamental  forces,  love  and  hatred,  acting  in  nature  as 
attraction  and  repulsion :  his  love  and  hatred  did  not  work 
according  to  inherent  laws,  except  the  force  of  assimilation  and 
separation.  Organisms  were,  according  to  him,  the  inci- 
dental products  of  the  fundamental  forces.  First,  plants  were 
formed,  then  animals.  Nature  brought  forth  the  different  or- 
gans singly  ;  eyes  without  faces,  arms  without  bodies,  &c.  In 
the  progressive  development  combinations  took  place,  forming 
bodies  at  random  of  different  shapes.  Nature  tries  all  possible 
combinations  till  it  is  able  to  produce  a  creature  capable  of 
propagating  its  genus. 

These  are  undoubtedly  the  germs  of  the  Schelling-Oken 
and  the  Lamarck-Darwinian  theory  of  descent.  There  is  a 
difference  in  the  two  systems  ;  with  Empedokles  heterogeneous 
elements  combine,  while  according  to  our  modern  philosophers 
the  combinations  are  products  of  differential  successions  of 


132     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

simple  and  homogeneous  forms  for  an  inherent  purpose.  The 
assertion  of  Empedokles  was  a  mere  hypothesis,  while  the 
doctrine  of  Darwin,  based  on  a  quantity  of  facts,  has  become 
a  systematically  proven  theory.  Both  systems,  however, 
account  for  the  mechanical  productions  of  form  through  un- 
limitedly  repeated  acts  of  generation  and  annihilation,  and 
the  survival  of  those  that  have  in  their  accidental  and  relative 
construction  the  power  of  higher  vitality.  Whilst  Demokri- 
tos,  the  realist,  ruled  through  simplicity  and  straightforward- 
ness, Empedokles  surrounded  himself,  through  his  tendency 
to  idealism  and  his  superior  knowledge  of  the  working  forces 
of  nature,  with  an  aureole  of  miraculous  and  supernatural 
powers. 

Matter  stands  in  the  same  relation  to  nature  as  conscious- 
ness to  sensation.  If  we  assume  that  consciousness  is  a 
possibility  without  sensation,  we  commit  the  same  mistake  as 
if  we  were  to  assume  that  the  universe  could  exist  without 
matter. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  entire  works  of  metaphysicians,  or  the 
propounders  of  different  creeds,  and  we  shall  find  that  the 
most  abstruse  descriptions  are  mere  reflections  of  imaginary 
or  real  sensations,  because  sensations  serve  in  their  relative 
harmony  or  discord  to  produce  consciousness.  The  realist 
tries  to  deduce  the  various  phenomena  of  nature  from  their 
material  elements,  while  the  sensualist  deduces  the  whole 
of  his  consciousness  from  sensations.  But  sensations  are 
only  possible  through  outward  impressions.  The  realist  will 
attempt  to  become  acquainted  with  the  effects  of  outward 
nature ;  while  the  sensualist  will  deny  the  possibility  of 
arriving  at  any  certainty,  as  we  have  only  impressions  of 
which  we  become  conscious  :  this  consciousness  is  therefore 
at  the  same  time  the  essence  or  reality  of  all  things,  beyond 
which  we  cannot  go. 

It  is  said  that  Demokritos  once  met  a  porter  in  his  native 
town,  Abdera,  who  was  heaping  up  pieces  of  wood  with  great 
ingenuity.  He  entered  into  a  conversation  with  him,  admired 
his  cleverness  in  arguing,  made  him  his  pupil,  and  this  porter 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.   133 

changed  the  position  of  philosophy  in  its  relation  to  the 
development  of  humanity.  The  porter  was  Protagoras,  the 
first  teacher  of  philosophy  for  money,  and  the  first  sophist. 
He  was  followed  by  Hippias,  Gorgias,  Prodikos,  and  others. 
It  became  the  fashion  to  listen  to  the  teachings  of  these 
masters. 

Mr.  Grote  and  Mr.  Lewes  in  England,  and  Hegel  in  Germany, 
tried  to  save  the  honour,  and  to  vindicate  the  position  of  the 
sophists  in  Greece.      The  sophists  of  this  period  of  Greek 
philosophy  stood  in  the  same  relation  to  real  science  as  our 
metaphysicians  now  do.    They  advanced  it  to  a  certain  degree, 
they  paid  more  attention  to  the  inner  man,  the  subjective  of 
their  own  natures,  than  to  the  objective  phenomena  of  outer 
nature.    The  sophists  were  the  first  antagonists  of  realism 
and  the  founders  of  a  subjective  idealism  which  attained  in 
Sokrates,   Plato,    and  Aristotle    the   highest   climax.      The 
theory  of  Protagoras  stands  as  a  connecting  link  between  the 
two    extreme   parties    into   which    philosophy    was  already 
divided  at  this  early  stage   of  our  historical   development. 
Some  cared  only  for  the  single,  the  individual,  the  detailed, 
the  isolated  facts  ;  others  looked  exclusively  at  the  general. 
Protagoras  united  with  his  sensualism  a  kind  of  relativism  that 
has  been  taken  up  in  later  years  by  Buchner  and  Moleschott  in 
Germany.     "The  statement  that  something  is,  requires  the 
verification  of  how  and  in  what  relation  it  is,  else  nothing  is 
stated, "  says  Protagoras.      Buchner,  in  opposing  the  "  thing 
in  itself,"  asserts  that  "  all  things  only  exist  so  far  as  they 
have  mutual  relations,  without  which    they  mean  nothing." 
Moleschott  goes  farther,  and  propounds  that,  "without  the 
eye  into  which  the  tree  sends  its   rays,  the  tree  does  not 
exist."     Realism  had  one  great  advantage,  that  it  tried  to  tie 
down  the  human  intellect  to  observation  and  experience.     It 
early  found  the  axioms. 

(a)  That  man,  as  such,  is  the  essence  of  all  things, — the 
living  as  far  as  they  are,  and  the  not  living  as  far  as  they  are 
not. 

(/3)  That  opposite  assertions  may  be  equally  true. 


134     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

So  soon  as  we  assume  that  our  consciousness  is  but  the 
result  of  our  sensation,  things  will  assume  a  relative  aspect, 
and  what  is  heat  to  one  man  may  be  cold  to  another 
under  the  same  temperature.  This  would  be  a  negation  of 
the  phenomenal  world  as  such.  But  is  this  so  ?  Sokrates 
already  felt,  that,  besides  mere  impressions  on  our  senses* 
there  must  be  the  impressions  themselves.  The  phenomena 
must  have  an  independent  absolute  reality,  whatever  the  rela- 
tive impressions  producing  consciousness  in  us  might  be.  The 
eternally  same  must  be  different  from  the  eternally  changing- 
Sokrates  sought  to  find  the  solution ;  Plato  was  convinced  that 
he  had  found  it. 

The  theory  of  relativism  had  a  pernicious  influence  on  the 
development  of  ethics  ;  because  if  cold  and  heat  were  merely 
relative  sensations,  good  and  evil  might  also  be  so.  What 
appeared  to  one  virtue,  might  be  vice  to  another.  The  same 
action  that  was  condemned  by  A,  might  be  rewarded  by  B- 
Where  was  a  standard  to  come  from  ?  Pleasure,  according  to 
Aristippus  of  Kyrene,  was  to  be  the  standard  of  morals  j 
according  to  Sokrates,  virtue. 

Aristippus  led  to  the  extremes  of  realism,  and  Sokrates  to 
the  extremes  of  idealism.  Practical  realism  produced  an  indo- 
mitable craving  for  material  acquisitions  and  enjoyments,  and 
was  opposed  very  early  by  the  theoretical  realism  of  those 
who  wished  to  reduce  every  phenomenon  to  its  first  elements  ; 
and  we  may  say  without  fear  of  contradiction  that  the  realists 
of  old,  with  their  earnest  endeavours  to  know  the  essence  of 
things,  have  contributed  far  more  to  the  happiness  and  the 
scientific  progressive  development  of  humanity  than  the 
dreamy  idealists,  who  led  to  self-deception,  spiritual  conceit, 
and  a  refined  immorality,  productive  of  more  harm  than  the 
realists  ever  had  done.  One  great  quality  distinguished  the 
realists,  they  always  tried  to  direct  man  to  the  study  of  Nature 
and  her  phenomena,  and  therefore  carried  with  them  a  certain 
amount  of  experimental  ballast,  which  prevented  them  from 
flying  into  the  regions  of  imagination,  and  losing  their  footing 
altogether  as  rational  beings.  The  idealists,  on  the  other 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.    135 

hand,  who  often  began  with  the  loftiest  d  priori  ideas 
about  God,  the  creation,  the  soul,  virtue,  duty,  &c.,  led  in  the 
course  of  time  to  the  most  realistic  monstrosities  through 
their  dogmatic  hypotheses,  so  soon  as  their  assertions  were 
thought  more  important  than  the  intellect  itself  which  had 
created  their  arbitrary  systems.  It  so  happened  that  of  the 
two  antagonistic  parties,  which  brought  body  and  mind, 
reality  and  ideality,  into  opposition,  the  realists  kept  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  possible,  and  thus  did  less  mischief 
than  the  idealists,  who  pretended  to  know  all  about  the 
unknowable,  acting  one-sidedly  on  man's  mere  emotional, 
ignorant,  sensual  part.  Mystic  hope  and  fear  are  both,  when 
analyzed,  but  sensual  excitements.  To  abstract  man  from  mere 
matter,  and  to  devote  him  to  a  kind  of  imaginary  realism, 
was  the  doing  of  the  idealists,  who  like  the  realists  had  their 
models  among  the  Greeks.  Knowledge  and  progress  were 
never  more  efficaciously  stopped  for  thousands  of  years  than 
through  this  grand  ideal  movement  in  humanity.  And  yet  it 
was  but  a  natural  development  of  our  inborn  forces.  The 
consideration  of  the  mere  static  elements  in  humanity  was  to 
give  way  to  an  exclusive  consideration  of  what  was  dynamic 
in  us. 

The  conflict  was  Titanic,  the  more  so,  as  it  was  the  first 
conscious  outburst  of  man's  ideal  power. 

Sokrates  we  have  to  thank  for  the  phantoms  of  definitions, 
supposing  an  imaginary  congruity  between  words  and  things. 
Plato  followed  with  creating  a  deceptive  method,  trying  to 
support  one  hypothesis  with  another  more  general  one,  and 
asserting  that  we  may  find  in  general  and  ideal  abstractions 
alone  the  greatest  realities.  And  to  Aristotle  we  must 
ascribe  the  jugglery  of  possibilities  and  realizations,  which 
led  to  his  imaginary  system  of  categories,  through  which  he 
assumed  to  have  exhausted  all  real  knowledge. 

Sokrates  considered  virtue  an  entity,  but  we  are  as  ignorant 
of  the  nature  of  this  entity,  even  after  having  gone  through 
all  the  dialogues  of  Plato,  as  we  should  be  of  the  "  philoso- 
pher's stone"  after  a  careful  study  of  the  writings  of  the 


136     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

alchemists.  An  ideal  "  something "  was  thus  opposed  to 
the  utilitarian  doctrine  of  the  realists,  who  assumed  virtue  to 
consist  in  anything  "  useful  to  the  state;  "  which  led  to  Kant's 
exhaustive  and  practical  moral  dictate,  "Act  so,  that  the 
maxims  of  your  actions  may  become  the  principles  of  general 
laws." 

Man  is  the  essence  of  all  things,  as  far  as  matter  in  his 
organization,  and  mind  as  the  effect  of  this  organization,  are 
concerned.  The  individual  man  is  in  his  transitory  state  the 
essence  of  isolated,  detached  phenomena  ;  while  humanity 
in  the  aggregate  is  the  essence  of  the  sum-total  of  these 
isolated  phenomena.  This  would  lead  us  on  the  path  of 
induction  from  particulars  to  generals,  in  opposition  to  the 
Platonic  assumptions  that  led  humanity  on  the  intricate  by- 
ways of  idealism  to  deduction,  starting  with  general,  often 
imaginary  principles,  and  arriving  at  equally  imaginary  par- 
ticulars. To  build  up  the  world  from  an  inner  consciousness 
with  a  culpable  neglect  of  reality,  that  is  of  matter,  was  the 
result  of  the  working  of  the  triad  of  ancient  Greek  philosophy. 
The  importance  of  these  teachings  cannot  be  denied  or  ignored. 
Unconsciously  they  brought  higher  aims  and  aspirations  into 
humanity. 

Sokrates  was  a  man  full  of  physical  and  intellectual  power. 
He  was  stern,  self-denying,  and  without  wants.  Courageous 
in  battle,  enduring  and  patient  in  suffering,  a  good  table  com- 
panion if  required,  otherwise  abstemious  and  frugal.  He  be- 
came master  of  his  passions,  not  because  he  was  free  from  emo- 
tions and  wild  feelings,  but  because  he  practised  the  power  of 
his  intellect,  and  trained  his  great  mind  to  subdue  his  mighty 
sensuality  and  violent  temper.  His  thoughts  and  aims  were 
few,  but  he  concentrated  the  whole  of  his  burning  idealism  on 
those  few  thoughts.  He  was  earnest,  and  this  earnestness 
gave  extraordinary  force  to  his  speech.  His  was  an  apostolic 
and  prophetic  nature,  and  he  tried  to  animate  his  hearers 
with  the  same  glowing  love  that  pervaded  his  spirit.  Pro- 
gressive and  revolutionary  in  his  general  views,  Sokrates  was 
still  in  his  sentiments  and  notions  decidedly  religious  and  not 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.    137 

scientific.  The  Ideological  views  of  nature  which  he  preached 
with  a  glowing  fanaticism,  often  hiding  his  strong  convictions 
behind  a  shield  of  irony,  went  to  prove  the  existence  and 
working  of  the  gods,  trying  to  satisfy  a  want  in  the  tendency 
of  all  teleology  to  make  the  gods  act  and  work  like  man. 
(See  the  dialogue  with  Aristodemus,  Xenophon  Mem.,  i.,  4  ;  or 
Lewes,  vol.  i.,  page  285,  &c.)  That  such  a  man  with  such 
principles  should  have  been  put  to  death  will  not  astonish 
any  student  of  history.  No  pliable  mind,  no  smooth  free- 
thinker, no  cautious  reformer  was  ever  put  to  death,  but  the 
believing  reformers  were  burnt  and  crucified.  Those  who 
felt  the  change  in  the  intellectual  development  of  humanity, 
and  could  not  bring  their  feelings  into  conventional  forms,  fell 
as  sacrifices  to  the  periodical  mental  convulsions  that  threaten 
to  undermine  the  general  state  of  existing  things.  This  was 
the  case  at  the  period  of  Sokrates.  Priests  and  laymen 
felt  it  was  necessary  to  give  the  gods  of  Greece  a  more 
spiritual  and  less  anthropomorphic  nature ;  but  when 
Sokrates  in  spite  of  the  approbation  of  the  Delphic  oracle, 
which  said  that  "  he  was  the  wisest  of  mortals,"  openly 
proclaimed  what  every  one  dimly  felt,  priests  and  people  were 
horrified,  and  accused  him  of  atheism,  though  they  believed 
less  in  the  gods,  in  fact,  were  not  even  capable  of  understanding 
the  lofty  notion  which  Sokrates  had  formed  of  the  God  whom 
he  was  accused  to  have  denied. 

The  great  principle  of  Sokrates  was  self-knowledge,  not  in 
a  material,  but  exceptionally  spiritual  point  of  view.  It  is 
most  interesting  to  trace  in  the  struggle  of  these  times  how 
the  material  "  monad,"  or  atom  of  the  realists,  led  to  the 
spiritual  "  monotheos  "  of  Sokrates.  But  was  the  one  more 
intelligible  than  the  other?  Sokrates  tried  in  the  spirit  of 
modern  times  to  free  the  gods  of  Greece  of  their  coarser 
nature,  and  to  reduce  them  to  the  mere  embodiments  of  the 
forces  of  nature  under  one  supreme  deity.  To  secure  this 
deity  from  any  taint  of  materialism,  he  opposed  the  study  of 
nature  as  leading  to  no  result,  since  the  works  of  God  as  such 
were  perfect  and  complete.  The  same  opposition  is  still  going 


138    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

on  in  many  quarters  in  our  times  against  the  physicists. 
"  After  all,  what  do  they  know  ? "  They  certainly  may  not 
know  what  fire  or  oxygen  is,  but  they  at  least  try  to  know 
the  effects  of  fire,  instead  of  scanning  the  still  more  mysterious 
Creator  of  fire,  of  whom  the  idealists  say  the  realists  know 
nothing.  By  what  means  can  we  recognise  the  greater  Cause 
without  being  able  to  make  ourselves  acquainted  with  the 
essence  of  so  small  an  element  as  fire  ?  What  is  God,  if  we 
are  unable  to  know  what  oxygen  is,  though  we  handle  it, 
separate  it  from  other  elements,  trace  its  working  and  influence 
in  the  air,  on  plants,  animals,  and  man  ?  The  great  advantage 
to  be  derived  from  the  study  of  the  history  of  the  development 
of  certain  phases  in  humanity  is  to  see  how  at  all  times, 
under  all  conditions,  man  tried  principally  to  occupy  himself 
with  "  what  will  least  fit  into  his  brain,"  as  Goethe  says. 

Of  all  the  great  masters  of  this  branch  of  knowledge,  Plato, 
the1  divine  Plato,  was  the  greatest.  He  was  too  much  of  a 
philosophical  poet,  and  too  little  of  a  scientific  philosopher, 
and  was  seized  with  a  kind  of  supernatural  mania.  He 
worked  out  all  the  unintelligible  passages  of  Sokrates,  all  his 
mental  errors,  and  turned  them  methodically  into  so-called 
philosophical  truths,  that  humanity  has  taken  nearly  two 
thousand  years  to  shake  off.  Sokrates  opposed  realism 
because  he  was  afraid  to  see  humanity  drifting  into  the  merely 
sensual  and  material ;  but  he  did  not  altogether  deny  to  man, 
with  his  higher  aspirations,  the  possibility  of  being  virtuous. 
With  Plato  philosophy  was  altogether  removed  from  earth, 
and  made  something  supernatural,  settled,  finished,  like  the 
inspiration  of  a  prophet.  Sokrates  at  least  acknowledged  some- 
times that  he  did  not  know  ;  but  Plato,  like  our  modern 
theologians,  never  knew  when  he  did  not  know,  and  was  never 
more  positive  about  his  knowledge  than  when  he  knew  least. 

Plato  was  the  first  who  in  science  placed  faith  above 
knowledge  ;  and  still  it  was  Plato  who  with  his  mighty  spirit 
of  idealism  brought  more  than  any  other  philosopher  of 
antiquity,  even  than  Aristotle,  the  realistic  schools  of  our 
modern  times  into  existence.  Unconsciously  some  of  our 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.    139 

greatest  realists  start  like  Plato  with  general  assumptions, 
which  they  try  by  degrees,  step  by  step,  to  prove  by  hard 
facts,  turning  thus  ideal  generalizations  into  systematically 
proven  theories.  It  was  Plato  who,  not  contented  with  mere 
definitions  and  words,  attempted  to  give  us  a  clear  notion  of 
genus  and  species,  and  to  subordinate,  to  co-ordinate,  and  to 
super-ordinate  (or  to  superpose)  our  ideas.  He  created  that 
hierarchy  of  thoughts  in  which  the  most  general  and  least 
meaning  was  always  placed  highest.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  it  was  Plato  who  taught  us  first,  that  in  order  to  attain 
knowledge  abstract  generalizations  are  as  indispensable  as 
mere  particular  facts.  The  immortal  mistake  of  Plato,  and 
also  of  Aristotle,  was  that  they  allowed  themselves  to  be  satis- 
fied with  mere  words. 

The  "  logos "  became  omnipotent ;  the  "  logos "  was  the 
origin  of  all  things  ;  the  "  logos  "  turned  out  to  be  God  him- 
self, and  man  as  the  incarnation  of  the  "  logos "  thought 
himself  nothing  less  than  a  god.  The  "  eidos "  or  "  idea  " 
was  the  element  of  which  the  word  was  the  reality.  The 
"eidos"  is  not  visible,  for  everything  visible  is  part  of  the 
mutable  world  of  phenomena.  The  "  eidos  "  has  no  need  of 
space  or  time,  for  the  supernatural  cannot  be  confined  to 
space  and  time.  And  yet  can  there  be  anything  ideal  without 
some  substratum  of  the  real?  Say  the  words  pure,  glorious, 
perfect,  eternal,  and  form  to  yourself  a  notion  of  them  that 
shall  not  affect  the  senses  through  matter  in  one  essence  or 
another  !  It  is  impossible,  and  Plato  found  himself  suddenly 
with  all  his  lofty  abstractions  plunged  in  incomprehensible 
mysticism — the  "sensual-supersensual,"  or  the  "realistic 
idealism," — an  idealism  that  was  often  coarser  in  its  effects 
than  the  most  realistic  materialism.  The  "  eidos  "  is  existing 
above  man,  he  becomes  conscious  of  it  through  his  inborn 
faculty,  reason,  which  reason  stands  to  the  supernatural  in  the 
same  relation  as  the  senses  to  the  sensual.  Senses  and  mind 
were  thus  separated ;  this  separation  in  itself  was  a  mere 
assumption,  and  produced  all  those  misunderstandings  which 
furnish  the  most  important  facts  in  the  intellectual  develop- 


140    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

ment  of  man's  history.     Our  body,  or  the  material  in  us,  has 
no  share  in  our  knowledge  or  our  spiritual  life.     Mind  only  is 
capable    of    understanding    the    "supernatural."      Aristotle 
altogether  separated  "  reason  "  from  the  organization  of  man 
as  a  separate  entity.     Pure  intellect  has  its  own  "  noumena," 
which  in  opposition  to  the  "phenomena"  form  the  objects  of 
higher  knowledge.     But  what  were  these  "noumena?"  mere 
phantoms  of  the  mind.     What  is  our  detached  pure  reason  ? 
a  mere  myth.     Man  without  his  complicated  organization  has 
no  "  reason  "  at  all,  he  can  have  no  notions  of  a  power  which 
can  only  grasp  the  general,  the  abstract,  the  supernatural,  or 
mere  ideas  without  sensations  and  observations.     In  all  the 
Platonic  teachings  the  most  important  element  is  always  the 
"  unknown ; "   and   all  the  grandiloquent  systems  that  took 
their  origin  in  the  Platonic  philosophy  have  served  to  retard 
the  progress  of  humanity  instead  of  advancing  it.     For  Plato 
and  Aristotle  became  for  thousands  of  years  scholastic  incrus- 
tations, checking  every  freer  flow  of  knowledge.    On  the  other 
hand,  Plato   and   Aristotle  were   necessary  elements  in   the 
development  of  humanity.     The  dynamic  force  in  humanity 
will  never  be  contented  with  mere  weights  and  measurements, 
or  with  so-called  practical  results,  having  mere  dry  and  tangible 
facts  for  their  basis.     Our  intellect  will  roam  into  the  infinite, 
grasp  the  impossible,  soar  on  the  wings  of  speculation  above 
mere  matter,  for  we  are  justified  in  doing  this.  It  is  an  inborn 
faculty,  and  as  much  our  nature  as  the  use  of  our  limbs  or 
the  involuntary  functions  of  our  body.     We  must  cultivate 
this  faculty  as  carefully  as  the  mere  study  of  the  multiplication 
table ;  for  the  striving  to  find  union  in  the  variety  of  phe* 
nomena,   whether   natural,  spiritual,  or    historical,   and   the 
tracing  of  definite  laws  in  the  ever-changing  incidents  of  nature 
and  man's  history,  are  the  only  means  to  vivify,  to  nourish 
and  refresh  the  intellectual  capacities  of  man  if  once  in  activity. 
They  lead  him  to  discoveries  and  furnish  him  with  an  ever- 
increasing  amount  of  knowledge. 

As  I  intend  to  lay  before  you  the  further  results  of  my 
studies  on  the  development  of  these  vital  elements  in  the 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.   141 

history  of  mankind,  in  treating  of  the  subject  as  it  presented 
itself  in  Rome  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  as  it  works  in  our 
modern  times,  I  can  be  brief  with  regard  to  Aristotle,  as  I 
shall  have  an  opportunity  to  refer  to  him  more  exhaustively 
in  discussing  scholasticism  during  the  Middle  Ages.  He 
is  said  to  have  been  the  first  physicist.  !He  undoubtedly 
did  something  in  that  direction,  but,  like  Sok rates  and  Plato> 
he  was  too  dogmatic  to  be  of  real  positive  and  not  merely 
negative  service  to  truth  and  progress.  In  conclusion,  I  want 
to  draw  your  attention  to  the  great  mischief  that  was  done  in 
ancient  and  is  done  in  modern  times,  more  especially  in  the 
study  of  history,  by  separating  philosophical  principles  from 
facts,  and  treating  facts  as  isolated  without  due  regard  to 
their  connection  on  general  principles.  This  produces  the 
same  pernicious  effect  as  the  separation  of  natural  science 
from  sound  philosophy. 

Our  intellectual  faculties  are,  to  a  certain  degree,  limited  ; 
who  could  be  audacious  enough  to  deny  this  ?  but  so  are  our 
faculties  to  weigh,  to  measure,  to  experiment,  and  to  investi- 
gate. 

The  philosophic  historian  has  the  same  right  to  his  lofty 
speculations  as  the  physicist  to  his  electric  machines,  the 
geologist  to  his  pieces  of  stone,  the  botanist  to  his  shrubs  and 
blossoms,  or  the  anatomist  to  his  bones,  sinews,  and  nerves. 
What  are  they  all  without  the  connecting  mental  power  of 
the  philosophic  historian,  who  traces,  not  in  isolated,  but  in 
combined  facts,  the  slow  and  gradual  growth  of  man's  capacity 
to  become  a  physicist.  The  partition  wall  that  separated 
thinkers  from  mere  mechanics  or  technical  workers  must  at 
last  fall.  It  can  only  be  destroyed  through  a  diligent  study 
of  history.  Through  history  we  become  convinced  that  the 
theoretical  thinker,  the  metaphysician,  who  grasps  the  ideal, 
is  as  necessary  as  the  practical  experirnentist  who  pretends  to 
deal  only  with  matter,  and  that  idealism  and  realism  are  not 
antagonistic,  but  completing  elements  in  the  progressive 
development  of  humanity.  The  physicist  must  arrive  in  his 
researches  at  certain  points  where  he  finds  no  answer  to  his 


142   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

questions,  where  he  deals,  like  Plato,  with  words.  When  we 
use  such  expressions  as  matter,  force,  vital  energy,  molecules, 
sentient,  emotional,  electricity,  heat,  motion,  and  mind,  we 
use  as  many  metaphysical  notions  as  if  we  were  to  say  in  an 
algebraic  or  geometrical  problem,  a,  b,  c,  or  xy  •y)  z.  When 
the  physicist  is  hard  pressed  and  obliged  to  assert  his  power 
of  mind  over  matter,  he  becomes  at  once  the  most  determined 
metaphysician.  The  latest  writings  of  one  of  our  greatest 
physicists,  (Dubois  Reymond),  try  to  bridge  over  the  chasm 
between  realism  and  idealism.  Realists  may  talk  of 
matter  and  force  or  motion  as  the  origin  of  all  things,  but 
what  is  again  the  "  fons  mechanismi "  that  has  produced 
matter,  and  endows  it  with  motion  and  force  ?  what  is  mind 
itself,  that  under  certain  combinations  becomes  conscious  of 
its  own  self,  and  of  matter,  and  of  force,  acting  according  to 
certain  inherent  laws  ?  What  is  mind,  showing  itself  in  the 
systems  of  science,  in  the  creations  of  art,  in  the  mighty 
poetical  revelations  of  the  few  chosen,  if  man  be  but  a  moving 
and  moved  accumulation  of  molecules,  and  nothing  else, — in 
fact,  a  mechanical  problem  easily  to  be  solved  by  a  physicist  ? 
Without  idealistic  speculation  all  our  knowledge  would  be 
but  a  heap  of  unconnected  rubbish. 

The  a  priori  element  of  speculation  is  as  necessary  as  the 
a  posteriori  result  of  research.  The  most  important  his- 
torical fact  in  the  development  of  idealism  and  realism  is  un- 
doubtedly Darwin's  theory.  It  is  as  influential  as  the 
astronomical  discovery  of  Copernicus,  the  laws  of  Kepler  or 
Newton's  theory  of  gravitation.  It  has  been  attacked  as  gross 
realism,  and  still  the  very  basis  of  Darwin's  theory  of  descent 
is,  as  his  greatest  antagonist,  Agassiz,  has  acknowledged,  an 
ideal  theory,  a  thought  engendered  a  priori.  Yes,  Darwin's 
system  is  based  on  the  purest  efforts  of  our  mental  force,  on 
philosophic  speculation.  Those  idealists  who  express  their 
horror  at  the  tracing  of  law  and  casual  connection  in  the  phe- 
nomena of  nature  may  rightly  be  compared  to  a  poor  hen 
that  has  hatched  duck's  eggs,  and  stands  astonished  at  the 
temerity  of  the  tiny  ducklings  that  take  to  the  water.  Had 


HISTORICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  IDEALISM  AND  REALISM.   143 

they  studied  Kant,  whom  they  misunderstood,  or  Schoppen- 
hauer,  of  whom  they  know  nothing,  or  Demokritos  and 
Lucretius,  whom  they  ignore,  or  Oken  and  Lamarck,  whom 
they  do  not  condescend  to  read,  they  would  see  in  Darwin's 
theory  the  outgrowth,  or,  according  to  his  theory,  the  natural 
development  of  his  powers  of  intellectual  selection. 

We  strive  now  in  all  the  different  branches  of  knowledge 
consciously  or  even  unconsciously,  to  follow  Darwin's  theory ; 
not  to  isolate  phenomena  in  nature,  facts  in  history,  words  in 
languages,  art-forms  in  aesthetics,  diseases  in  medicine  ;  for 
the  more  numerous  the  phenomena  in  nature,  the  more  com- 
plicated the  social  conditions  of  man,  the  more  puzzling  the 
different  languages  in  their  apparently  accidental  formation, 
the  more  grotesque  or  beautiful  the  various  forms  in  art,  and 
the  more  mysterious  the  ravages  of  diseases,  the  more  we 
require  general  principles  in  order  to  explain  facts  and  phe- 
nomena, without  being  obliged  to  resort  to  mere  chance,  or 
any  other  unintelligible,  arbitrary,  and  capricious  first  cause. 

The  safest  guide  through  the  labyrinth  of  ideal  and  real 
phenomena  is  the  study  of  history,  and  we  shall  see  how 
Plato  led  to  Lucretius  and  the  Neo-Platonists,  these  to  the 
realists  and  nominalists,  these  to  Bacon,  and  Bacon  to  Newton, 
down  to  our  own  times,  in  which  realism  and  idealism,  specu- 
lation and  experience,  are  trying  to  form  the  only  possible 
united  basis  of  our  future  scientific  and  historical  progress. 


144 


THE    SIEGE    OF    QUEBEC. 

BY  SYDNEY  ROBJOHNS,  ESQ., 
FELLOW  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

WE  commonly  speak  of  America  as  "  the  New  World,"  and 
deem  its  grand  scenery  a  negative  illustration  of  the  truth 
that  human  association  is  an  essential  quality  in  our  enjoy- 
ment of  natural  loveliness.  And  the  fact  that  we  discover 
Longfellow  at  Bruges,  Washington  Irving  "within  bounds  " 
at  the  Charterhouse,  Motley  at  Dresden,  and  Prescott  at 
Madrid,  gives  colour  to  this  impression  of  prevailing  novelty. 
But  for  all  that,  the  threads  of  history  are  woven  rapidly  on 
that  continent  as  elsewhere,  and  the  tapestry  record — the  warp 
and  woof  of  life — is  unfolded,  with  its  enigmas  and  its 
dramatic  characters  and  situations,  forthe  student's  unravelling 
or  enjoyment.  There  is  in  that  New  World  an  aristocracy 
that  is  not  parvenu,  and  territory  that  is  not  lacking  in  the 
venerable  qualities  of  a  grand  history.  The  discovery  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  river  by  Jacques  Cartier,  the  counterpart  in 
feature  and  in  energy  of  our  own  Sir  Francis  Drake,  his 
sojourn  at  the  Indian  villages  of  Stadacona  and  Hochelaga, 
the  modern  Quebec  and  Montreal,  and  his  erection  of  a  huge 
cross  instead  of  an  ensign  on  the  shores  of  Gasp6,  in  claiming 
the  future  New  France  for  Christ  and  the  king,  are  as  much 
an  old-time  story  as  that  of  the  Spanish  Armada  and  the 
game  of  bowls  on  Plymouth  Hoe.  From  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Ohio,  and  from  Virginia  to  the  great  lakes,  the  land  is  rich  in 
history  and  fruitful  of  romance.  The  exile  from  Grandpr£ 
and  Port  Royal,  and  the  scattering  of  the  Acadian  families 
over  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia,  are  full  of  heart-break  to  us  who  read  the  story  even 
now,  whether  we  gather  it  from  the  page  of  history  or  from 
the  poetic  setting  of  "  Evangeline  " ;  and  the  associations  of 


THE  SIEGE  OF  QUEBEC.  145 

Forefathers  Rock  and  the  Puritan  graveyard,  "  beautiful  for 
situation,"  at  New  Plymouth,  together  with  the  quaint  laws 
and  customs  which  prevailed  in  that  new  England  town,  must 
be  of  interest  to  English-speaking  people  the  wide  world  over. 
In  grandeur  of  situation,  in  antiquity,  and  in  romantic 
association,  the  city  of  Quebec  is  almost  without  a  rival  on 
the  North  American  continent.  It  was,  as  noted  above, 
originally  named  Stadacona,  an  Indian  word  signifying  the 
wing  of  a  bird.  After  the  discovery  of  the  continent  by 
Columbus  in  1492,  and  by  Amerigo  Vespucci  in  1507,  there 
was  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  French  to  enter  the 
country  for  the  twofold  purpose  of  settling  it  and  evangelizing 
the  natives  ;  and  among  the  pioneers  in  the  work  was  Jacques 
Cartier,  a  mariner  of  St.  Malo,  who  received  a  commission 
from  the  king,  Francis  I.,  and  with  two  little  ships  and  120 
men  entered  on  a  new  and  magnificent  field  of  discovery. 
He  made  three  or  four  voyages,  pushing  his  way  as  far  as  the 
modern  city  of  Montreal,  and  established  stations  for  the 
promotion  of  the  "  pelfry,"  that  is,  the  fur  trade.  Intercourse 
with  the  Indians  was  fostered  and  maintained  to  the  period 
of  the  founding  of  the  city  of  Quebec  in  1608,  by  Samuel  de 
Champlain,  and  the  organization  of  a  Trading  Company,  to 
which  was  attached  a  small  band  of  missionaries.  That 
Champlain's  heart  was  as  much  in  the  religious  as  in  the 
commercial  enterprise  is  apparent  in  a  saying  of  his,  namely, 
— "  La  salut  cTune  seule  time  vaut  mieux  que  la  conqu&e  d'un 
empire"  His  expedition  was  accompanied  by  four  Recollets 
(Franciscan  friars),  and  so  early  after  the  founding  of  the  city 
as  1615,  a  conference  was  held  there  to  establish  regular 
worship  and  organize  evangelical  effort  ;  and  one  of  the 
Recollets,  Joseph  de  Caron,  was  deputed  to  go  into  the  interior 
as  a  missionary.  In  connection  with  this  interesting  feature 
the  recent  death  is  noteworthy  of  John  Sunday,  an  Ojibway 
chief,  who  for  forty  years  was  a  Methodist  missionary  among 
his  own  tribe,  and  was  once  presented  to  Queen  Victoria, 
the  present  sovereign  of  his  people.  The  foundation  of  the 
city  was  subsequent  by  only  a  few  years  to  that  of  Jamestown, 


146   TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

an  English  settlement  on  the  Potomac  and  St.  Augustine,  a 
Jesuit  settlement  in  Florida  ;  and  was  prior  to  the  foundation 
of  Manhattan  (New  York)  and  Albany  by  the  Dutch,  and  the 
colonization  of  Massachusetts  by  the  Puritans. 

The  word  Quebec  is  erroneously  supposed  to  have  been 
suggested  by  the  cry  of  Norman  mariners  as  they  ap- 
proached the  promontory,  "  Quel  bee ! "  but  it  is  more  cor- 
rectly traced  to  the  word  Kebbek,  in  the  Algonquin  tongue, 
signifying  a  contraction  of  the  waters  by  points  of  land. 

The  official  position  held  by  Champlain  was  that  of  a 
governor  rather  than  a  factor  ;  but  in  the  course  of  his  long 
Canadian  career  many  changes  were  effected  in  his  status, 
and  in  1620  he  was  confirmed  Lieutenant-Governor,  under 
the  honorary  Viceroyalty  of  the  Duke  de  Montmorency,  the 
godson  of  Henry  IV.,  to  whom  the  rank  had  been  surrendered 
by  Prince  Henry  de  Conde,  and  royal  letters  were  issued  to 
Champlain  by  the  King  Louis  XIII.  In  that  year  he  returned 
to  his  post  on  the  St.  Lawrence,  accompanied  by  his  amiable 
wife,  many  of  his  relations,  and  some  emigrants.  The  advent 
of  Madame  Champlain  was  an  epoch  in  the  history  of 
Canada.  She  was  the  first  lady  to  set  foot  in  the  colony. 
The  daughter  of  a  Huguenot,  M.  Boull^,  who  was  private 
secretary  to  Henry  IV.,  she  was  accomplished,  of  great  ability 
in  adapting  herself  to  circumstances,  and  though  conformed 
to  the  religious  faith  of  her  husband,  which  was  almost  as 
extreme  in  its  exclusiveness  as  that  of  the  Duke  of  Guise's 
"  League,"  she  was  eminently  pious  and  desirous  for  the  true 
spiritual  well-being  of  the  heathen  by  whom  she  was  sur- 
rounded. She  learnt  the  language,  and  beginning  at  the  right 
end,  undertook  the  instruction  of  the  Indian  children.  The 
poetic  tendency  of  the  superstition  of  the  people,  the  fact  that 
a  mirror  was  an  article  of  a  lady's  "  chatelaine/'  and  Madame 
Champlain's  loveliness  of  character  gave  currency  to  the  conceit 
that  she  carried  the  likeness  of  each  one  of  them  in  her  heart. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  preparation  was  made  for  the  erection 
of  religious  houses,  more  settled  quarters  for  the  French 
residents,  and  for  a  fort,  which  was  thereafter  named  the  Fort 


THE  SIEGE  OF  QUEBEC.  147 

St  Louis,  the  residence  and  official  head-quarters  of  many 
governors,  and  the  name  of  which  His  Excellency  the  Earl 
Dufiferin  would  fain  revive  in  a  vice-regal  residence  on  the 
brow  of  the  American  Gibraltar.  About  this  time  also  two  rival 
companies,  which  had  obtained  patents  for  the  prosecution  of 
the  pelfry  trade,  were  amalgamated  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Company  of  Montmorency."  The  progress  of  the  new  settle- 
ment was  slow;  and  in  1624  when  Champlain  returned 
to  France,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  there  were  but  fifty  souls 
left  in  Quebec,  and  these  were  menaced  by  the  Iroquois  and 
subjected  to  much  privation.  Madame  Champlain  remained 
in  France  during  the  rest  of  her  life,  and  on  the  death  of  her 
husband  in  1635  retired  to  an  Ursuline  convent  she  had 
formed,  and  within  that  sanctuary  died  in  1654.  In  1626 
Champlain  was  again  in  Quebec,  and  two  years  later  received 
a  summons  from  Sir  David  Kirkt,  the  English  admiral,  to 
surrender  the  fortress.  With  this  he  refused  to  comply,  but 
finally,  too  weak  to  resist,  he  surrendered  to  the  admiral's 
brothers,  Louis  and  Thomas  Kirkt,  and  for  three  years  the 
English  held  the  command  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Champlain 
was  sent  to  England  and  thence  to  France,  but  he  had  in  his 
wisdom  made  provision  for  those  of  his  countrymen  left  in 
Quebec.  He  obtained  from  the  English  commanders  an 
engagement  to  leave  the  mission-houses  and  the  house  of  the 
widow  Hebert  and  her  son-in-law,  M.  Couillard,  undisturbed. 
This  woman  was  the  relict  of  Louis  Hebert,  whose  name  is 
notable  in  Canadian  history  from  the  accident  of  his  being 
the  first  emigrant  to  that  colony.  He  died  shortly  before  the 
arrival  of  Sir  David  Kirkt,  having  established  a  prosperous 
homestead,  and  left  his  widow  and  daughter,  in  the  event  of  not 
being  disturbed  in  possession  of  the  property,  with  a  com- 
parative competence.  On  the  restoration  of  the  colony  to 
France,  Richelieu,  the  superb  cardinal,  instituted  "  The 
Company  of  the  One  Hundred  Associates,"  a  company  not 
unlike  that  of  the  late  East  India  Company,  and  one  with 
which  lay  practically  the  government  of  the  vast  region, 
embraced  by  the  fur  trade.  That  trade  was  exceedingly- 


148    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

valuable,  realizing  in  one  year,  just  immediately  previous  to 
Champlain's  return  after  the  evacuation  of  Quebec  by  the 
English,  the  vast  sum  of  8,000  pounds  in  money  of  that 
period,  and  it  was  important  that  the  jealousy  with  which  the 
English  were  regarded  in  relation  to  it  should  be  impressed 
on  the  natives  in  favour  of  the  French.  At  a  great  gathering 
of  the  Hurons,  500  of  whom  had  come  down  in  1 50  birch-bark 
canoes  to  dispose  of  their  furs,  Champlain  did  all  in  his  power 
to  conciliate  the  Indians  generally,  and  to  induce  their  action 
in  ousting  the  English  in  the  pelfry  traffic.  In  after  years  the 
tradition  of  French  policy  in  conciliating  the  natives  was  a 
source  of  difficulty  up  to  the  time  when  Pitt  ventured  to  trust 
to  the  neutrality  of  the  Iroquois.  The  speech  of  a  chief  indi- 
cates at  once  Champlain's  influence  over  the  Indians  and  his 
moral  rectitude.  The  chief  said,  "  We  entirely  love  you. 
All  you  say  is  true." 

On  Christmas  Day,  1635,  Champlain,  the  great,  the  good  and 
the  enterprising,  died,  and  his  body  was  laid  under  an  edifice 
designated  "  Champlain's  Chapel."  The  site  of  the  grave 
was  unknown  up  to  1860,  two  centuries  and  a  quarter  after 
his  decease,  when  a  vault  containing  a  coffin  and  human 
bones  was  discovered  in  excavating  for  new  waterworks,  and 
evidence  strongly  favoured  the  conclusion  that  that  was 
the  place  of  sepulture  of  the  distinguished  founder  of  the  city. 

Shortly  before  Champlain's  death,  the  Jesuits,  to  whom 
Champlain  was  attached,  and  to  whom  he  left  his  Canadian  pos- 
sessions, had  displaced  the  gentle  Franciscans,  and  in  1637  the 
College  of  Quebec  was  founded  by  one  of  their  order,  Rem6 
de  Rohaut,  a  priest,  and  a  son  of  the  Marquis  de  Gamanche. 
To  the  work  the  founder  contributed  the  munificent  sum  of 
36,000  livres.  "  The  Jesuit  Relations  "  are  the  record  simply  of 
the  work  of  the  brotherhood  of  Jesus  in  the  colony,  but  they 
are  also  valuable  sources  of  collateral  historic  information 
on  the  subject  of  the  early  days  of  New  France,  and  of  the 
hardship  and  peril  endured  by  the  first  European  settlers. 

The  second  Governor  of  Quebec  was  Montmagny,  whom 
the  Indians,  in  their  symbolic  language,  named  Ononthio,  that 


THE  SIEGE  OF  QUEBEC.  149 

is,  "  mountain  ; "  and  the  king,  his  master,  was  to  them  "  the 
great  mountain,"  a  physical  idea  of  power  suggesting  to  one's 
mind  the  expression  of  "the  everlasting  hills."  He  was  a 
great  and  good  man,  and  his  administration  was  included  in 
what  is  designated  "the  heroic  period  of  New  France." 
During  his  term  of  office  an  institution  for  the  benefit  of  con- 
verted Algonquins  was  founded  at  Sillery,  so  named  from  the 
founder,  a  Knight  of  Malta,  who  had  left  the  dissipation  of 
the  world  and  assumed  the  cowl  of  a  priest  :  the  hospital,  the 
Hotel  Dieu,  was  established  by  a  French  duchess,  one  Madame 
d'Aiguillon,  and  an  Ursuline  school  was  opened  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  French  and  Indian  female  children.  The  last  was 
founded  by  Madame  de  la  Peltrie,  who  herself  undertook  the 
then  dangerous  and  arduous  voyage  of  the  Atlantic,  taking 
with  her  three  nurses  for  the  Hotel  Dieu,  and  three  Ursuline 
sisters  as  teachers  for  the  convent. 

The  Indians  were  continually  a  source  of  anxiety.  A  treaty 
was  proposed  to  Montmagny  by  the  Iroquois  that  he  should 
give  up  to  their  mercy,  that  was,  withdraw  his  protection  from 
the  Hurons  and  the  Algonquins.  Montmagny's  sense  of 
justice  as  well  as  his  perception  of  what  was  politic  prevented 
his  sanction  of  such  a  proposal,  but  it  was  not  in  the  power 
of  the  Europeans  to  preserve  the  distinct  nationality  of  either. 
Harassed  by  the  Iroquois  continually,  they  were  scattered 
over  the  northern  continent  and  lost  as  distinct  tribes.  A  few 
Huron  fugitives  settled  on  the  island  of  Orleans.  In  the 
time  of  the  Governor  Tracy  these  were  removed  for  greater 
security  to  St.  Foye,  or  Foix,  and  later  formed  the  settlement 
of  "  Old  Lorette,"  and  in  1700  that  of  "New  Lorette,"  seven 
miles  from  Quebec,  where  they  yet  remain.  The  writer  of 
this  paper  has  in  his  possession  photographs  of  some  ladies  of 
a  chief's  family  at  Lorette,  and  the  beauty  and  evident  intel- 
ligence of  one  or  two  of  them  indicate  that  they  must  have 
come  of  a  magnificent  race,  or  that  two  centuries  of  civiliza- 
tion has  had  the  effect  of  developing  the  individual  excellence 
in  inverse  ratio  to  the  decline  of  the  nationality. 

The  successive  governors  during  "  the  heroic  period,"  that 


150    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

between    1636    and    1663,    were    Montmagny,    D'Aillebout, 
De  Lausons,  D'Argenson,  D'Avaugour,  and  De  Mesy  ;  and 
the    characteristic    feature    of   their   administration  was  the 
hostility  of  the  Iroquois  to  the  French  occupation.     During 
the  term  of  office  of  Baron  D'Argenson  an  embarrassment 
arose  on  the  arrival  of  a  distinguished  Jesuit,  M.  de  Laval, 
who  had  been  appointed  apostolic  vicar,  with  the  episcopal 
rank  of  Bishop  of  Petraea.     The  Governor  was  a  blunt,  well- 
meaning  old  soldier,   the   ecclesiastic  a  refined,  acute,  and 
polished  scholar  ;  and  the  question  between  them  was  prima- 
rily one  of  Church  and    State,   De  Laval  claiming  official 
precedence.    But  there  was  another  difficulty  at  issue,  in  which 
the  bishop  was  undoubtedly  in  the  right,  that  of  the  traffic  in 
intoxicating  liquor  among  the  Indians — a  difficulty  fairly  met 
of  late  years  in  Canada  by  making  the  supply   of  liquor  to 
Indians,  by  any  means  whatever,  a  legal  offence.     The  effect 
of  spirit  on  these  primitive   people  is  terribly  maddening  ; 
and  it  was  well  that  the  Church  made  an  early  stand  against 
the  traffic.     At  a  period  when  the  colony  was  on  the  brink  of 
ruin,  a  conference  at  Quebec   with  some  of  the  Iroquois — 
Onondagas  and  Cayugas — who  came  with  a  flag  of  truce, 
some    French    prisoners,    and    a   request    for    missionaries, 
initiated   a   more    peaceable    and    prosperous    season.     The 
inhabitants   held  a  meeting,    and  one,  Simon  le  Moyne,  a 
respected  name  in  Quebec  to  this  day  under  the  form  of 
Le  Moine,  "  had  the  honour  to  be  called  upon  to  expose  his 
life."      The    peacemaker    was  a  chief    named  Garakouthie, 
and  the  pledge  he  gave  was  faithfully  maintained.     Other 
tribes  of  "  the  Five  Nations,"  the  Mohawks  and  Oneidas,  were 
troublesome,  not  feeling  themselves  bound  by  the  treaty  of 
the  Onondagas  and  Cayugas  ;  but  the  arrival  of  regular  troops 
and  emigrants  from  France,  combined  with  poverty  and  the 
ravages  of  small-pox  among    the  Indians,  afforded  a  long 
respite  to  the  little  European  community.     The  settled  part 
of  the  colony  was  divided  into  parishes,  and  a  seminary  was 
instituted  at  Quebec  for  the  training  of  youths  for  holy  orders, 
and  to  furnish  cur6s  for  the  parishes. 


THE  SIEGE   OF   QUEBEC  151 

In  1 663,  Louis  XIV. — findingthe  "One  Hundred  Associates" 
unequal  as  a  company  to  administer  the  government — con- 
stituted in  Canada,  as  Queen  Victoria  did  within  late  years 
in  India,  a  royal  government ;  and  from  that  time  forward 
for  a  hundred  years  the  history  is  more  of  Canada  and  less 
of  Quebec.  The  new  constitution  consisted  of  a  supreme 
Council,  including  a  Governor,  Bishop,  Royal  Intendant, 
Attorney-General,  Chief  Clerk,  and  Councillors.  The  Governor 
was  the  representative  of  the  king,  and  directed  all  military 
and  external  affairs,  while  the  Intendant  was  a  domestic 
official  having  charge  of  police,  finance,  and  the  administration 
of  justice.  That  year,  1663,  was  one  of  remarkable  phenomena. 
Earthquakes  were  frequent,  and  there  was  an  almost  total 
eclipse  of  the  sun  ;  but  the  most  startling  occurrences  were 
the  appearance  over  Quebec  of  a  globe  of  fire,  which 
illumined  the  place  at  night  as  with  the  light  of  day,  and  of 
two  mock  suns  with  crowns  of  vaporous  matter.  To  the 
red  men  these  were  portents  of  evil ;  and  they  might  have 
been  so  deemed  by  the  Europeans  could  they  have  foreseen 
the  evil  days  which  were  to  follow.  Through  the  reigns  of 
Louis  XIV.  and  Louis  XV.  the  colony  of  New  France  in- 
creasingly reflected  the  gaiety  and  luxury  of  the  court  at 
Versailles,  until,  100  years  from  the  appearance  of  the  signs 
in  the  heavens  over  the  city  of  Quebec,  the  French  regime 
came  to  an  end  under  the  Treaty  of  Paris  in  1763. 

A  great  event  in  the  history  of  Imperial  Britain  was  the 
capture  of  the  ancient  fortress  of  Quebec.  It  marked  an  era 
in  British  America,  and  was  of  momentous  import  to  the 
Gallic  settler,  the  Anglo-Saxon  colonist,  and  to  the  dusky 
native  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Ohio  river. 

Wandering  over  the  rich  pastures  and  among  the  fruitful 
orchards  which  crown  the  hills  commanding  the  Alleghany 
river  between  Pittsburg  and  Oil  City,  a  few  years  ago,  I  met 
a  young  farmer  on  horseback.  The  trappings  of  the  horse 
seemed  incongruous  with  the  plain  homespun  attire  of  the 
rider.  The  bridle  was  a  cavalry  one,  and,  though  not  as 
bright  and  clean  as  that  of  a  life-guardsman,  it  gave  to  the 


152    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

horse's  fine  head  the  martial  appearance  which  is  much  more 
attractive  than  the  simple  ordinary  equestrian  head-gear. 
The  saddle  also  was  a  military  one,  and  the  rider's  feet  rested 
in  slipper  stirrups  like  an  Arab's,  but  with  the  leather  well 
over  the  front  of  the  irons  to  protect  the  feet  from  entan- 
glement in  going  through  brushwood.  The  youth  had 
served  in  the  recently  preceding  war,  with  the  army  of  the 
Potomac. 

Descending  the  precipitous  hill  side  to  the  river  valley,  there 
was  spread  out  before  me  a  scene  of  exceeding  loveliness.  A 
turn  in  the  rough  pathway  commanded  through  an  opening 
in  the  trees — an  opening  like  that  of  a  gateway  in  a  Devon- 
shire lane — a  broad  reach  of  the  placid  river.  Far  off,  over 
the  fields  and  the  woodlands  of  the  opposite  shore,  the  sun 
was  descending  in  the  cloudless  glory  so  common  in  America 
but  so  rare  in  the  moister  atmosphere  of  the  sea-girt  islands 
of  Britain  ;  and  the  clear,  smooth  and  mirror-like  water  dupli- 
cated the  pale  green,  rosy  yellow  and  the  deep  crimson  of  the 
sky,  but  softened  the  beauty  which  it  could  not  perfectly 
reflect.  Along  the  eastern  shore  the  trees,  gorgeous  in  their 
autumnal  tints,  lent  their  bright  hues  to  the  river,  save  in  the 
darker  recesses  of  the  bank,  where  the  shadows  were  purple, 
grey,  or  deep  sienna. 

The  scene,  is  a  type  of  the  we  alth  and  beauty  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania  and  its  sister  States  of  Virginia  and  Ohio— a 
type  of  the  paradise  which  God  left  them. 

The  horseman,  plucking  an  apple  as  he  rides  along  a  lane 
among  the  orchards,  represents  an  historic  fact — to  wit,  that 
this  tract  of  country,  in  virtue  of  its  being  the  portal  of  the 
great  West,  has  been,  from  the  earliest  European  occupation 
of  the  Continent,  a  theatre  of  war  ;  and  the  city  standing  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Alleghany  and  Monongahela  rivers — 
Pittsburg,  the  manufacturing  metropolis  of  the  United  States 
— is  the  memorial  of  the  English  statesman  under  whose  ad- 
ministration both  the  key  of  the  east  and  the  portal  of  the 
west  were  won  for  Britain  and  the  British. 

The   eighteenth   century  was  pre-eminently  a  period   "of 


THE  SIEGE  OF  QUEBEC.  153 

wars  and  of  rumours  of  wars."  In  Europe,  India,  and 
America  the  English  were  contending  with  the  French,  and 
with  only  indifferent  success.  When  the  century  had  reached 
its  sixth  decade,  however,  a  change  for  the  better  was 
wrought  by  the  instrumentality  which  the  genius  of  Pitt 
directed.  There  is  no  need  to  touch  on  the  political  exigency 
which  made  "  the  Great  Commoner  "  the  virtual  head  of  the 
Government — though  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  was  so  nomi- 
nally.* Sufficient  that  he  was  the  man  of  the  hour  ;  or,  as  he 
himself  said  to  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  "my  lord,  I  am 
sure  that  I  can  save  this  country,  and  that  nobody  else  can  !  " 
The  boast  was  that  of  a  patriot  conscious  of  power  rather  than 
/that  of  a  vain  egotist.  Lavish  of  money,  but  a  niggard  in  patron- 
/  age,  Pitt  removed  every  incapable  officer  in  the  army  and  the 
navy,  and  in  their  places  appointed  men  without  regard  to 
seniority  or  to  political  bias,  some  of  them  of  humble  rank, 
but  who  possessed  ability,  and  were  willing  to  apply  it  without 
slavish  attachment  to  precedent.  His  wisdom  was  quickly 
vindicated  at  Goree,  Guadaloupe,  Ticonderoga,  Niagara,  and 
at  Fort  Louisbourg. 

The  condition  of  the  colony  of  New  France  under  Louis 
XV.  expedited  its  transfer  to  Anglo-Saxon  rule.  The  corrup- 
tion, rapacity  and  luxury,  of  the  official  class  was  only  equalled 
by  the  servility  and  degradation  of  the  habitants.  From  Cape 
Breton,  along  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  great  lakes  to  the 
valley  of  the  Ohio,  New  France  was  one  marked  contrast  to 
the  prosperous  colony  of  New  England.  On  the  one  side 
tillers  of  the  soil  forced  from  their  labours  to  military  service ; 
the  scanty  produce  of  the  country  purchased  by  Government 
contractors  at  a  mere  fractional  price  of  its  real  value ;  and 
freedom  crushed  by  an  unsuitable  application  of  the  feudal 
system.  On  the  other  hand,  a  militia  drawn  with  due  regard 
to  the  requirements  of  the  country ;  commercial  equity  ob- 
served between  the  Government  and  subjects ;  and  a  people 
withal  who  had  been  gently  nurtured  to  a  sense  of  independ- 

*  Dr.  Miles  and  Mr.  Me.  Mullen,  historians  of  Canada,  both  fall  into  the  error 
of  implying  that  Pitt  was  the  first  Lord  of  the  Treasury. 


154  TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

ence,  and    political    and  religious  freedom — freedom  which 
they  claimed  to  the  fullest  extent  a  few  years  afterwards. 

The  Governor  of  Canada,  in  1759,  the  date  of  the  siege, 
was  the  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  the  son  of  a  former  and 
a  worthy  governor,  a  man  without  the  strength  and  cha- 
racter necessary  to  cope  with  the  corruption  by  which 
he  was  surrounded ;  indeed,  reared  under  the  pernicious 
influence  of  the  court  at  home,  he  was  only  too  ready 
to  aid,  at  least  tacitly,  the  brilliant  profligacy  which  reflected 
French  royalty  at  the  seat  of  Government  in  Montreal. 
But  the  central  figure  in  the  Government,  and  the  man  who 
most  fully  illustrated  the  evil  in  high  places,  was  Francois 
Bigot,  the  thirtieth  and  last  intendant  of  New  France.  This 
official,  handsome,  valorous,  graceful  in  deportment,  energetic, 
a  lover  of  display,  a  gamester  and  unscrupulous,  formed  about 
him  a  court  as  vicious  as  if  the  beautiful  Ninon  herself  had 
bestowed  upon  him  the  favour  of  her  presence.  The  star 
which  brightened  Bigot's  house  at  Quebec  was  Madame  Pean, 
the  wife  of  a  subordinate.  This  woman,  who  held  the  intend- 
ant in  bondage  to  herself,  was  young,  vivacious,  full  of  spirit, 
ladylike  in  demeanour,  gay  and  amusing  in  conversation,  and 
very  beautiful.  It  was  in  her  favour  alone  that  employment 
or  preferment  could  be  found  ;  and  so  capriciously  did  she 
exercise  her  power  that  neither  ignorance  nor  mean  birth  and 
station  were  obstacles  to  her  good-will.  Servants,  lackeys, 
and  men  of  low  degree  consequently  rose  in  the  service  of  the 
State,  and  the  famine-stricken  people  suffered  still  further 
under  the 'rapacity  and  arbitrary  rule  of  these  creatures.  Play 
was  high  at  Government  House  in  Montreal,  but  gambling 
was  reckless  at  the  intendant's  court  at  Quebec.  Of  course 
Bigot  trafficked  in  commercial  monopolies — that  was  no  more 
a  novelty  then  than  it  is  obsolete  now.  With  an  income  by 
no  means  adequate  to  his  high  station  nor  commensurate  with 
the  expenditure  in  which  his  extravagance  involved  him,  he 
rendered  his  name  for  ever  execrable  by  his  frauds,  his 
extortions,  and  his  tyranny.  Sitting  by  the  side  of  the  beau- 
tiful Madame  Pean,  with  from  ten  to  forty  gamblers  at  the 


THE  SIEGE  OF  QUEBEC.  155 

same  hazard  table,  he  would  set  off  a  loss  of  two  hundred 
thousand  francs  by  selling  to  his  Government  an  English 
prize  ship,  which  had  cost  him  800,000,  for  a  couple  of  mil- 
lions. 

The  intendant's  palace,  the  ruins  of  which  remain  to  this 
day,  was  an  edifice  remarkable  for  its  great  dimensions,  its 
magnificence,  and  its  ornamental  grounds.  A  distinguished 
French  writer,  in  speaking  of  it  directs  a  sneer  against  Bigot  in  a 
happy  play  of  words.  Louis  XIV.,  on  the  advice  of  his  In- 
tendant  De  Meulles,  squandered  vast  sums  for  the  erection 
of  a^stately  palace  where  "  la  justice  fran9aise  se  rendait  et 
plus  tard,  sous  Bigot,  elle  se  vendait." 

It  was  no  wonder  that  under  this  administration,  of  which 
Bigot  was  an  illustration  and  ordinary  representative,  the 
people,  oppressed  by  a  feudal  land  tenure,  dishonest  public 
servants,  and  knavish  trade  monopolies,  looked  longingly 
towards  the  prosperous  homesteads  of  New  England  ;  towards 
those  who  were  enjoying  the  success  which  had  come  from 
intelligent  self-government,  industry,  and  a  love  of  justice  as 
between  man  and  man  :  no  wonder  either  that  national  energy 
was  paralyzed  by  the  disease  which  fed  on  the  heart  of  the 
country,  as  that  disease  was  personified  by  the  French  officials 
and  their  ignoble  favourites. 

Amid  the  darkness  of  the  time,  Montcalm,  the  French  com- 
mander-in-chief,  shines  as  a  man  of  nobility,  courage,  self- 
sacrifice,  and  fidelity. 

In  military  matters  previously  to  Pitt's  becoming  Secretary 
of  State,  the  French  had  shown  activity  and  foresight,  the 
English  indecision  and  delay.  New  York  State  was  in 
jeopardy ;  the  English  had  been  driven  from  the  Ohio  and 
the  great  lakes ;  the  British  frontiers  were  beset  by  scalp- 
seeking  savages  in  the  employment  of  the  French ;  and  the 
trade  of  the  West  found  its  outlet  by  the  St.  Lawrence  instead 
of  the  Hudson.  The  recall  of  Lord  Loudan,  an  incapable 
officer,  was  due  as  much  to  the  discretion  of  the  minister  as 
to  the  indignant  protest  of  the  public  ;  and  it  would  have  been 
well  if  his  junior,  Abercromby,  had  been  recalled  at  the  same 


time.  A  favourable  turn  of  affairs  in  1758  was  indicated  by 
the  evacuation  of  Fort  Duquesne,  the  present  city  of  Pittsburg, 
on  the  approach  of  Forbes,  with  whom  was  George  Washing- 
ton, and  the  flight  of  the  French  commandant  down  the  river 
to  the  friendly  settlements  of  the  Mississippi ;  and  by  the 
capture  of  Frontenac,  the  present  city  of  Kingston,  the  most 
important  fortress  and  harbour  after  Halifax  and  Quebec,  by 
Bradstreet,  an  able  and  valorous  officer  of  Abercromby's 
brigade. 

The  new  appointments  included  Colonel  Amherst,  who  was 
gazetted  major-general  and  commander-in-chief  of  the 
American  army,  and  Whitmore,  Lawrence,  and  Wolfe  as 
Brigadier-Generals.  The  last-named  was  but  thirty-one  years 
of  age,  though  he  had  seen  eighteen  years'  service,  but  he  fully 
vindicated  Pitt's  confidence  in  his  ability  and  bravery,  and 
justified  his  appointment  to  a  high  and  responsible  command. 
With  Admiral  Boscawen  he  invested  and  stormed  Fort  Louis- 
bourg,*  compelled  the  surrender  thereof  by  De  Drucour, 
and  captured  immense  stores  of  provisions  and  ammunition, 
and  eleven  stand  of  colours.  These  latter  were  ultimately  laid 
at  the  feet  of  the  king  at  Kensington  Palace,  and  then  taken 
with  great  ceremony  to  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  "  amid  the  roar  of 
guns  and  kettledrums,"  wrote  Lord  Macaulay,  "  and  the  shouts 
of  an  immense  multitude."  The  capture  of  Louisbourg  closed 
Canada  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  ;  the  occupation  of  Fort 
Duquesne  gained  the  friendship  of  the  West  Country  Indians, 
and  interrupted  the  communication  between  Canada  and 
Louisiana  ;  and  these  two,  combined  with  Bradstreet's  victory 
at  Frontenac,  won  for  that  British  that  territory  the  possession 
of  which  had  been  the  original  occasion  of  the  war.  The  year 
1759  was  to  see  ^e  crowning  victory  of  all  in  the  conquest  of 

*  Of  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's  ignorance  many  anecdotes  remain.  "  Oh, 
yes,  yes,  to  be  sure,  Annapolis  must  be  defended — troops  must  be 
sent  to  Annapolis.  Pray  where  is  Annapolis  ? "  "  Cape  Breton  an 
island!  wonderful!  show  it  me  in  the  map.  So  it  is,  sure  enough. 
My  dear  sir,  you  always  bring  us  good  news .  I  must  go  and  tell  the  king 
that  Cape  Breton  is  an  island."— Macaulay' s Essays. 


THE   SIEGE   OF   QUEBEC.  157 

the  fortress  of  Quebec,  and  the  consequent  capture  of 
Montreal  and  the  subjugation  of  the  entire  province  of  Canada. 
The  new  year  was  dark  and  gloomy  to  the  French.  Neglected 
tillage  and  the  sustenance  of  large  armies  had  tried  the 
country  sorely,  and  gaunt  and  hollow-eyed  famine  stalked 
through  the  land.  Horseflesh  was  eaten  by  the  troops  at 
Montreal  and  Quebec. 

The  unfavourable  turn  in  the  affairs  of  New  France  had 
come  ;  and  a  Council  of  War  was  convened  at  Montreal.  Mont- 
calm  was  appointed  to  the  command  at  Quebec  ;  Bourle- 
maque  was  to  go  to  Ticonderoga  to  prevent  the  advance  of 
the  British  under  Amherst  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  ;  and 
De  la  Corne  was  sent  westward  to  prevent  a  descent  from 
Frontenac,  Oswego,  or  elsewhere  by  the  St.  Lawrence  river. 

On  a  night  in  June  of  that  year  there  flared  from  Father 
Point — where  now  is  an  electric  telegraph  station  which 
heralds  the  royal  mail  steamers — the  beacon  fire  which, 
repeated  from  point  to  point  and  shore  to  shore  of  the  great 
estuary,  signalled  to  Quebec  that  the  English  fleet  was  in  the 
offing.  And  if  that  telegraph  could  have  been  more  explicit 
it  might  have  added  that  on  board  the  flag-ship  was  a  youth 
terribly  in  earnest,  one  who  was  at  once  soldier  and  saint ; 
and  America  has  afforded  not  a  few  instances  of  men  who, 
adding  to  the  qualities  of  obedience  and  aggression  that  of 
integrity  towards  God,  have  proved  that,  while  bloodshed 
might  be  incidental  to  their  progress,  victory  was  certain. 

The  approach  to  Quebec,  a  port  700  miles  from  the  sea, 
the  ancient  Indian  village  of  Stadacona  is  perhaps  one  of  the 
finest  scenes  in  the  world. 

As  the  ship  moves  up  the  broad  waters,  the  promontory  on 
which  the  city  stands  is  seen  rising  boldly  against  the  horizon. 
On  the  crest  are  the  citadel  and  upper  town  ;  below  is  the 
lower  town.  The  streets  of  the  latter  are  narrow,  some  of 
them  so  much  so  that  Monsieur  Lemoine  compares  them  to 
Alpine  passes  ;  and  many  follow  the  line  of  the  original 
Indian  trails  which  wound  to  the  upper  town.  The  gabled 
roofs  and  spires  are  high-pitched,  and  these,  covered  with 


158  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

tinned  iron,  glisten  in  the  sunlight  like  burnished  silver,  or 
like  "  the  eye  of  polished  brass."  Over  the  port  bow  on  the 
south  is  the  St.  Lawrence  river  and  Point  Levi,  the  latter  a 
depot  of  the  Grand  Trunk  Railway  and  the  disembarkation 
stage  of  ocean  steamers  ;  on  the  starboard,  to  the  north  of  the 
city,  is  the  river  St.  Charles  ;  and  to  the  north  of  that  again 
the  pine-clad  mainland,  dotted  by  the  white  houses  of  the 
villages  of  Charlesbourg  and  Beauport,  extending  to  the 
Montmorency  river  and  the  far-off  highlands  of  the  Saguenay. 
Opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Montmorency  is  the  island  of 
Orleans,  and  from  the  deck,  as  the  vessel  passes  through  the 
North  Channel,  may  be  seen  the  magnificent  falls  of  the 
Montmorency,  where  the  immense  volume  of  waters  make  a 
leap  of  300  feet. 

In  June,  1759,  as  we  have  said,  came  to  this  grand  theatre 
of  war  the  fleet  of  his  Britannic  Majesty — fifty  ships  of  the 
line,  under  Admirals  Saunders,  Holmes,  and  Durell.  These 
were  the  transports  of  upwards  of  9,000  soldiers  and  marines, 
commanded  by  Wolfe  and  his  junior  officers,  Monckton, 
Townshend,  and  Murray.  For  eleven  weary  weeks  they 
lingered  here,  finally  accomplishing  their  mission  in  a  fight 
which  lasted  only  fifteen  minutes. 

Under  date  of  June  27th,  one  chronicler  writes  laconi- 
cally,— 

«  27th. — Weighed  with  a  fair  wind,  came  to  anchor  opposite  the 
Isle  of  Orleans,  about  three  leagues  from  Quebec.  The  whole  army 
landed.  A  violent  gale  of  wind  and  rain,  which  did  great  damage  to 
many  of  the  transports  ;  they  lost  above  ninety  anchors  and  cables. 
A  ranger  killed  and  scalped,  and  a  stake  drove  through  his  body. 
The  whole  army  encampt" 

Wolfe's  head-quarters  and  the  base  of  operations  were  fixed 
at  the  Island  of  Orleans,  with  Monckton's  brigade  on  the 
south  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence  at  Point  Levis,  from  which  the 
French  were  first  driven,  and  where  batteries  and  redoubts 
were  erected  ;  and  with  Townshend's  on  the  north  shore,  east 
of  the  Montmorency  river. 


THE  SIEGE  OF  QUEBEC.  159 

Quebec  itself  was  deemed  impregnable.  The  promontory, 
with  its  crest  then  bristling  with  cannon,  terminates  abruptly 
and  precipitously  ;  and  thence  the  high  ground  extends  for 
some  miles  westward  above  the  valleys  of  the  two  rivers,  away 
toward  Sillery  and  Cape  Rouge,  the  banks  on  either  side 
being  steep  declivities.  Immediately  behind  the  city  westward 
are  the  Plains  of  Abraham. 

The  point  of  defence,  therefore,  appeared  not  to  be  the  city, 
but  the  strip  of  northern  mainland  from  the  St.  Charles  to  the 
Montmorency ;  and  it  was  there  that  the  French  force  was 
concentrated.  The  Governor,  the  Intendant,  and  Montcalm, 
the  commander-in-chief,  had  their  head-quarters  at  Beauport. 
Between  the  last  and  the  others,  his  confreres,  there  was  but 
little  kindly  sympathy. 

Bougainville,  one  of  the  French  generals,  took  up  his 
quarters  with  3,000  men  at  Cape  Rouge  to  prevent  an  im- 
probable attack  in  the  rear  of  Quebec  by  a  force  landing 
under  the  almost  unscalable  declivities  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
shore  ;  and  so  improbable  did  he  deem  the  contingency  that 
he  ultimately  permitted  that  which  he  was  sent  there  to 
frustrate. 

Access  to  the  channel  of  the  St.  Charles  was  rendered  impos- 
sible by  the  formation  of  a  boom  across  the  inlet,  guarded  by 
cannon-mounted  hulks.  Above  the  boom  was  a  bridge  of  boats 
for  communication  between  the  city  and  the  French  head- 
quarters. 

As  soon  as  the  bombardment  commenced  from  the  men-of- 
war  and  the  batteries  at  Point  Levis  the  condition  of  the  city 
became  pitiable.  The  lower  town,  occupying  the  alluvial  flats 
at  the  base  of  the  promontory,  and  which  then,  as  now,  was 
crowded  with  houses,  commercial,  municipal,  ecclesiastical,  and 
domestic,  suffered  first ;  and  falling  ruins  and  devastating  fires 
were  of  hourly  occurrence.  Panet,  in  his  jqurnal  of  the  siege, 
says  that  the  lower  town  was  nothing  but  a  heap  of  smoking 
ruins,  and  by  the  8th  of  August  it  was  a  brasier — a  fierce 
conflagration.  This  date  was  fatal  to  the  well-being  of 
Quebec.  Such  of  the  people  as  could  do  so,  especially  women 


160   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

and  children,  moved  off  to  the  more  merciful  woods,  to  live  in 
huts  and  caves  as  best  they  might ;  taking  with  them  their 
cattle,  and  subsisting  chiefly  on  flesh  and  milk,  but  without 
bread.  And  all  the  time,  there  across  the  water  at  Beauport 
the  cards  shuffled  and  the  dice  rattled,  a  kingdom  for  a 
stake. 

The  moving  of  the  English  squadron  in  those  comparatively 
unknown  waters  and  among  the  shallows  to  meet  the  exigencies 
of  the  siege,  was  a  work  of  great  difficulty;  and  many  "jolly 
tars/'  afterwards  famous  in  history,  there  showed  the  mettle 
they  were  of.  Such  were  young  Jervis,  the  future  Lord  St. 
Vincent ;  Robinson,  the  subsequent  Edinburgh  professor  and 
the  coadjutor  of  Watt  the  engineer ;  Palliser,  afterwards 
Admiral  Sir  Hugh  Palliser  ;  and  last,  but  not  least,  James  Cook, 
the  great  circumnavigator.  There  is  a  simple  record  of  a  boat 
going  to  sound  between  the  island  and  the  mainland  with  a 
lieutenant  on  'board,  who  sounded  the  narrow  pass  between 
the  island  and  the  enemy's  encampment,  and  was  cut  off 
by  forty  or  fifty  Indians  in  birch-bark  canoes,  who  carried  off 
one  sailor  who  was  wounded.  The  lieutenant  and  the  rest 
escaped.  This  lieutenant  was  James  Cook,  and  he  saved  his 
life  by  just  a  boat's  length,  for  as  he  went  out  of  the  bows  to 
the  friendly  shelter  of  the  English  pickets,  the  Indians 
scrambled  in  at  the  stern.  He  was  reserved  for  a  great  and 
useful  career,  and  his  tawny  pursuers  had  to  content  themselves 
with  a  man-of-war's  boat  instead  of  a  mariner's  scalp.  He  it 
was  too  who  placed  buoys  along  the  shallows  to  which  refer- 
ence is  made  hereafter. 

The  first  attempted  battle  was  "  the  fight  of  Beauport 
flats."  Like  his  great  rival,  Wolfe  deemed  that  the  scene  of 
the  struggle  for  the  capture  of  the  city  and  the  acquisition  of 
Canada  for  the  King  of  England  would  be  on  the  northern 
shore  where  the  French  were  encamped.  The  advantage  of 
the  French  position  was  in  its  almost  impregnability.  It  was 
fortified  by  batteries,  entrenchments,  and  the  rest :  in  the  rear 
it  was  open  to  the  country  for  the  supply  of  the  Commissariat : 
it  was  edged  by  shallows  which  prevented  the  approach  of 


THE   SIEGE  OF   QUEBEC.  161 

ships  of  heavy  tonnage  ;  and  the  facilities  for  the  disembarka- 
tion of  troops  from  boats  were  few. 

However,  Wolfe  judged  there  was  no  alternative,  and 
decided  to  draw  the  enemy  into  aggressive  as  well  as  defensive 
action  if  possible.  Near  the  mouth  of  the  Montmorency  river, 
the  boundary  between  the  French  army  and  Townshend's 
Brigade,  the  water  was  shallow,  and  fordable  at  low  tide. 
Cannon  were  placed  on  the  English  side,  low  down  by  the 
shore,  and  on  an  eminence  which  commanded  the  outlet.  The 
first  object  of  attack  on  the  French  side  was  a  rival  battery. 

On  the  last  day  of  July,  when  the  sun  was  near  the  zenith, 
the  Centurion,  a  fine  man-of-war  of  sixty  guns,  moved  slowly 
from  her  division,  anchored  over  against  the  Beauport  flats, 
and  began  the  cannonade  of  the  French  encampment,  adding 
the  report  of  her  fire  to  the  boom  of  the  guns  which  came  over 
the  water  from  Point  Levis.  Two  small  vessels,  also  armed, 
ran  into  the  shallows,  and  as  the  tide  receded  became  stranded. 
Then  a  thousand  boats  and  barges  plied  as  fast  as  strong  arms 
could  row ;  and,  amid  the  din  and  smoke  and  roar  of  the 
bombardment,  dropped  the  troops  in  the  shallows  to  wade 
to  shore  in  battalions  over  the  rough  and  rocky  beach.  The 
Grenadiers  and  the  6oth  Royal  Americans  were  the  first  to 
land,  and  they  should  have  formed  in  columns,  and  have 
waited  for  the  main  body,  then  preparing  to  cross  the  ford,  to 
follow  and  support  them  ;  but  the  blood  of  the  veterans  and 
the  young  bush  fighters  was  up,  and  the  French  having  vacated 
their  battery  and  retired  behind  the  entrenchments,  these 
foremost  men,  not  even  waiting  to  form,  rushed  madly  and  in 
confusion  forward  to  within  range  of  the  enemy.  With  what 
result  can  easily  be  imagined.  Men  and  officers  fell  before 
the  scathing  fire ;  while  some,  scrambling  over  the  dead  and 
dying,  beat  a  retreat  to  the  landing-place,  where  Monckton's 
division  was  drawn  up  in  admirable  order,  waiting  the  word 
of  command  to  march.  Wolfe  ordered  the  impetuous  and 
unruly  remnant  of  the  attack  to  retire  to  the  rear  and  form  in 
columns,  as  they  should  have  done  at  first ;  but  the  mischief 
was  complete,  and  the  design  of  an  open  battle  had  to  be 

M 


162   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

abandoned.  The  gathering  darkness,  the  rising  tide,  the  surge 
angrily  beating  on  the  rocky  shore,  the  breaking  storm-clouds, 
all  warned  the  troops  away.  And  so  the  lumbering  Centurion 
returned  to  her  division,  the  stranded  vessels  were  blown  up, 
and  the  troops  retired  to  the  darkness  of  their  camps  and  to 
the  gloom  of  conscious  failure.  An  historian  who  was 
present  before  Quebec  gives  a  corresponding  account  of  the 
engagement. 

"  July  $isf. — About  twelve  o'clock  the  Centurion,  a  6o-gun  ship» 
came  down  at  high  water  with  two  transports,  which  last  were  laid 
ashore  opposite  the  enemies'  batteries.  A  cannonading  began  from  our 
encampment  at  Montmorency  on  the  enemies'  lines,  and  from  the 
shipping  on  their  batteries ;  the  Grenadiers  of  the  army,  with  two 
battalions  of  Monckton's  brigade,  and  a  detachment  of  200  men  of 
the  znd  battalion  of  Royal  Americans,  were  ranged  in  boats  ready  to 
push  ashore  at  low  water.  The  five  regiments  here  were  under 
arms.  The  enemies'  fire  from  their  batteries  on  the  beach  did  con- 
siderable damage  to  the  boats ;  they  wounded  several  officers,  and 
killed  and  wounded  a  good  many  men.  About  five  o'clock  the 
Grenadiers  landed,  and  the  troops  followed  ;  we  marched  across 
the  Falls,  viz.,  Townshend's  brigade,  Otway's,  Anstruther's  regiments 
with  the  Light  Infantry,  who  first  had  reconnoitred  the  ford  and 
found  no  enemy  there.  On  our  march  a  heavy  clap  of  thunder 
brought  on  a  violent  shower  of  rain  with  a  high  wind  directly  in  our 
faces,  which  retarded  the  part  of  the  army  from  this  place  for  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour ;  when  all  cleared  up,  it  appeared  the  Grenadiers 
marched  before  the  rain  and  took  possession  of  a  battery  and  a  re- 
doubt on  the  beach  ;  but  the  heavy  fire  from  the  entrenchments  on 
the  top  of  the  hill  obliged  them  to  retire.  The  rain  had  made  it 
impossible  to  mount  the  hill,  or  rather  precipice,  in  the  face  of  their 
lines,  on  which  the  General  ordered  a  retreat.  The  enemy  cannonaded 
us  in  our  retreat,  but  with  little  damage.  The  two  armed  transports 
were  set  on  fire.  We  lost  in  the  whole  action  about  thirty  officers, 
one  only  of  whom  killed  on  the  spot,  and  400  men  killed  and 
wounded.  The  impetuosity  of  the  Grenadiers  and  their  not  waiting 
for  orders,  it  seems,  in  the  opinion  of  the  General,  occasioned  our 
repulse." 

There  was  much  in  the  misadventure  of  "  the  fight  of  Beau- 


THE   SIEGE   OF   QUEBEC.  163 

port  flats  "  to  damp  the  ardour  of  the  most  sanguine  nature  : 
and  to  that  was  now  added  the  illness  of  the  man  in  whom  the 
confidence  of  the  army  was  centred,  that  of  General  Wolfe. 
There  in  his  tent  on  the  Island  of  Orleans  he  lay  battling  with 
fever  ;  and  though  may  be  anxious  thoughts  of  the  old  home 
and  the  dear  ones  there,  and  a  presentiment  of  that  purer 
home  to  which  he  would  attain,  albeit  by  a  blood-stained  field, 
would  obtrude  themselves,  his  active  brain  was  planning  a 
change  of  the  order  of  attack.  While  yet  too  feeble  to  join 
their  debate,  he  assembled  his  officers  to  consider  the  situation, 
and  to  advise  with  them  on  the  future  course  of  action.  With- 
out faltering — to  their  honour  be  it  spoken — he  and  they 
faced  the  seemingly  impossible,  and  with  what  crowning  result 
we  shall  discover. 

As  we  have  said,  Bougainville  was  quartered  at  Cape  Rouge  : 
and  at  Sillery  he  had  planted  a  four-gun  battery  in  anticipa- 
tion of  that  remote  contingency  which  had  framed  itself  as  an 
immediate  probability  in  the  minds  of  the  officers  in  conference 
on  the  Island  of  Orleans.  Immediately  after  the  conference 
a  great  activity  marked  the  operations  of  the  English.  Under 
cover  of  the  darkness  of  night,  Admiral  Holmes  with  General 
Murray  and  1,200  men  moved  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  menacing 
the  ammunition  and  provision  stores  at  Point  aux  Trembles. 
While  here  they  were  met  by  the  cheering  news  derived  from 
some  prisoners  whom  they  took,  with  a  great  number  of  cattle, 
that  Niagara  had  fallen,  and  that  Amherst,  having  captured 
Crown  Point,  had  moved  down  on  Bourlemagne  at  Isle  aux 
Noix,  and  might  be  expected  to  effect  a  junction  with  the 
army  before  Quebec.  This  last  was  accompanied  by  the  in- 
formation that  two  of  Amherst's  officers  and  four  Indians  had 
been  intercepted,  and  were  prisoners  on  board  a  frigate  up  the 
river.  The  news  flew  from  ship  to  ship  and  tent  to  tent ;  and 
the  continuous  cannonade  from  Point  Levis  sounded,  in  the 
ears  of  the  now  hopeful  soldiery,  like  a  minute  gun  over  the 
fall  of  the  ancient  fortress  before  them. 

On  a  day  of  that  eventful  year  there  carne  to  England  two 
despatches,  under  date  of  September  2  and  September  20, 


164   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

from  Wolfe  and  Townshend  respectively,  the  one  speaking 
of  what  might  be,  the  other  of  what  had  been  ;  the  latter 
conveying  to  an  anxious  public  the  at  once  sad  and  joyful 
intelligence  that  he  who  had  planned  wisely  had  accomplished 
successfully,  but  in  accomplishing  had  died.  A  day  of 
glorious  memory  !  of  sadness  for  the  loss  of  the  great  and 
good  James  Wolfe — of  triumph  over  the  acquisition  of  the 
future  Dominion  of  Canada. 

On  the  night  of  September  I2th  Montcalm  was  at  Beauport. 
Shots  were  heard  far  up  the  St.  Lawrence,  beyond  Quebec, 
away  towards  Sillery ;  but  these  troubled  not  the  gallant 
Frenchman,  for  an  expected  convoy  of  provisions  from  Cape 
Rouge  would  account  for  them  :  but  that  which  did  trouble 
the  watches  of  that  night  was  something  gentler  than  cannon 
or  musket  shot — the  gurgling  of  water  against  the  gunwales 
of  boats,  the  grating  in  the  rowlocks,  and  the  ceaseless  splashing 
of  oars.  And  anon  there  loomed  in  the  dim  light  the  mag- 
nified forms  of  frigates  and  sloops  of  war  taking  up  their  line 
beyond  the  shallows,  as  if  to  cover  the  disembarkation  of  troops 
as  soon  as  the  sun  gilded  the  horizon  ;  and  all  through  that 
night  boats  and  barges  innumerable,  freighted  with  sailors  and 
marines,  stole  from  Point  Levis  and  from  the  Island  of  Orleans 
to  the  shallows  by  Beauport.  All  predicted  a  bloody  day, 
but  not  there,  Montcalm  !  not  a  second  disaster  at  the  same 
unlucky  spot ! 

As  the  sun  trellised  with  gold  the  pines  beyond  the 
Saguenay,  and  tipped  with  dazzling  brightness  the  curved 
crest  of  the  Montmorency  Falls,  a  horseman  might  have  been 
seen  at  full  gallop  along  the  road  from  Beauport  to  Quebec, 
the  rider  flushed  and  excited,  the  horse  covered  with  foam, 
bleeding  from  spur  wounds,  and  his  mettle  tested  to  the 
utmost,  for  on  endurance  of  rider  and  of  steed  peradventure 
hung  the  issue  of  a  battle  and  the  government  of  a  king. 
On  they  flew,  the  horse  warming  to  his  work,  and  answering 
his  master's  knee  rather  than  the  bit,  over  the  bridge  of  boats, 
through  the  city,  out  into  the  country,  along  the  St.  Foix  road, 
still  at  a  breakneck  pace,  with  despatches  to  Cape  Rouge. 


THE   SIEGE   OF   QUEBEC.  165 

And  along  that  same  Beauport  road  from  the  French 
trenches  there  followed  other  riders,  striving  as  it  would  seem 
to  overtake  and  outride  that  former  one  ;  but  these  were  gayer 
in  their  attire,  accoutrements,  and  trappings,  and  the  serious 
cast  of  their  faces  bespoke  a  heavier  responsibility  than  that 
of  aides-de-camp  or  orderlies.  The  first  of  the  group  was 
Montcalm,  and  with  him  was  his  staff.  They,  too,  passed 
over  the  bridge  of  boats  through  the  city,  and  as  they  reached 
the  plains  the  sun  rose  higher  to  mark  a  blood-red  day  in  the 
annals  of  British  America. 

The  English  general's  ruse  to  gain  time  had  succeeded, 
and  the  deception  of  his  worthy  rival — and  he,  too,  as 
watchful  as  the  son  of  Arestor,  "  the  all-seeing  " — was  com- 
plete ;  and  as  the  boats,  filled  with  sailors  and  marines, 
thronged  the  Beauport  shallows  in  the  early  morning,  waiting 
apparently  for  break  of  day  and  the  receding  tide  to 
again  attempt  the  French  entrenchments,  men-of-war  were 
taking  up  their  positions  near  Sillery,  and  barges  filled  with 
soldiers  were  crowding  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  point  on 
which  Wolfe  had  determined  for  a  landing-place,  a  cove  to 
which  he  bequeathed  his  name.  In  the  deep  darkness  imme- 
diately preceding  the  dawn,  Wolfe,  Monckton,  and  Murray, 
with  about  1,600  men,  landed  and  scrambled  as  best  they 
could,  and  as  quickly  as  the  dislodged  loose  earth  and  stones 
would  permit,  up  the  steep  declivity.  The  hill  was  almost 
perpendicular,  and  the  attempt  was  therefore  unsuspected  by 
the  French,  who  had  there  posted  a  captain's  guard  only. 
When  the  alarm  was  given,  the  enemy  fired  from  the  hill  and 
bushes  on  the  boats,  doing  some  damage.  Bougainville  and 
his  3,000  men  were  probably  lost  in  slumber,  dreaming  least 
of  all  of  that  silent  body  of  men  marching  up  to  his  four-gun 
battery  at  Sillery.  This  was  captured  and  occupied  by  a 
small  detachment ;  a  six-pounder  was  dragged  by  sheer 
strength  and  with  difficulty  from  the  place  of  disembarkation  ; 
some  of  the  aforetime  impetuous  6oth  Royal  Americans  were 
left  in  charge  of  the  cove ;  and  by  about  eight  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  September  the  I3th  nearly  5,000  British  troops 


166   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

occupied  a  safe  position  on  the  high  ground,  and  formed  in 
ranks  ready  for  the  word  of  command.  "  Then,"  as  one  of  the 
chroniclers  simply  says,  "  we  faced  to  the  right,  and  marched 
by  files  towards  the  town  till  we  came  to  the  plains  of 
Abraham." 

Eastward  of  the  plains  lay  the  city  of  Quebec  and  the 
French  army — a  mixed  crowd,  but  over  7,000  strong  ;  to  the 
north,  the  St.  Charles'  river  and  a  fringe  of  bush  ;  to  the 
south,  the  St.  Lawrence,  with  its  steep  declivities  ;  and  to  the 
west,  the  British  army  drawn  up  in  line — Murray  in  the  centre, 
and  Townshend  and  Monckton  to  his  left  and  right  respec- 
tively. The  line  of  Montcalm's  troops  formed  an  obtuse  angle, 
with  their  rear  towards  the  city  and  the  St.  Charles.  The 
bush  on  the  north  covered  Indian  and  Canadian  sharp- 
shooters ;  and  to  protect  his  left  flank  from  these  Townshend 
wheeled  three  battalions  to  face  the  north,  and  occupied  a  few 
houses  standing  there,  which  afforded  good  cover.  Across 
the  field  of  battle  were  two  main  thoroughfares — the  St.  Foix 
and  the  St.  Louis  roads. 

The  battle  began  with  a  slight  repulse  to  the  English.  The 
light  infantry  deploying  across  the  plains  were  met  by  French 
skirmishers  and  Indians,  advancing  among  bushes  and  little 
hillocks,  and  driven  back  on  their  supports,  causing  temporary 
confusion  in  the  front  line.  The  preliminary  desultory  fire 
and  skirmishing  proceeding  between  the  two  armies  to  the 
advantage  of  the  French,  Montcalm  drew  troops  from  his 
right  and  centre  to  strengthen  the  left  wing,  that  overlooking 
the  St.  Lawrence,  for  it  was  on  his  left  wing,  and  by  attacking 
the  British  right,  that  he  depended  for  success.  Amid  the 
smoke  which  now  beclouded  the  field,  and  the  excitement 
consequent  on  the  first  repulse,  Wolfe  walked  along  the 
disorderly  front  line,  his  wrist  bandaged  with  a  handkerchief 
to  stanch  a  bleeding  wound,  uttering  words  of  encourage- 
ment, assurance,  and  command.  The  effect  of  the  presence 
and  words  of  their  idol  was  electrical,  and  the  red-coats  fell 
into  the  ranks  and  shouldered  their  muskets  as  if  on  parade 
or  at  a  birthday  review,  and  as  if  the  smoke  were  from  blank 


THE   SIEGE   OF   QUEBEC.  167 

cartridges.  There  they  stood,  while  onward  came  the  French 
steadily  and  quickly,  and  firing  as  they  came.  It  was  a  ter- 
rible moment,  and  a  severe  test  of  courage,  discipline,  endur- 
ance and  pluck  ;  but  not  a  musket  was  raised,  not  a  man 
moved  to  the  "  present,"  until  the  enemy,  still  pressing  their 
serried  ranks  forward,  came  within  forty  paces  ;  when,  as  the 
word  of  command  ran  along  the  line,  the  sure,  certain,  and 
deadly  fire  broke.  Then  the  previously  immobile  and  com- 
pact British  columns  moved  forward,  Wolfe  at  the  head  of 
the  Grenadiers  and  the  28th  regiment,  the  same  corps  whose 
grim  veterans  and  laughing  youths,  as  they  appeared  at 
Quatre  Bras,  has  been  immortalized  by  Miss  Thompson  in 
her  last  Royal  Academy  picture.  The  French  left  wing,  the 
strength  of  the  army,  faltered,  broke,  and  then  fled  towards 
the  city.  Montcalm  behaved  splendidly  in  seeking  to  rally 
the  retreating  host,  but  without  avail.  Onward  came  those 
terrible  columns,  with  their  general  still  in  the  front,  but 
faltering  now,  for  he  carried  a  bullet  which  had  inflicted  a 
mortal  wound.  The  French  centre  wing  stood,  but  only  to 
cover  the  retreat  of  either  wing,  and  so  secure  the  retreat  of 
the  whole  army.  The  right  wing  rushed  to  the  St.  Charles' 
river,  and  to  the  St.  John's  Gate  leading  to  the  city ;  and  at 
this  latter  there  was  a  conflict  for  the  passage  between  these 
and  fugitives  from  the  left.  The  centre  held  together  as  long 
as  might  be,  but  nearer  and  nearer  came  that  scarlet  line — 
Grenadiers,  the  28th,  and  the  rest, — but  not  that  one 
whose  genius  and  whose  prowess  had  effected  the  victory. 
Struck  by  a  third  ball,  and  this  time  in  the  breast,  his  face 
towards  Quebec,  he  fell  ;  and  strong  arms,  as  gentle  as 
woman's,  lifted  the  hero  and  carried  him  to  the  spot  where 
now  a  monument  rises  to  his  glorious  memory — a  column  as 
radiant  in  its  record  of  patriotism  as  ever  graced  an  English- 
won  battle-field.  The  fight  was  yet  at  its  hottest  as  they 
bore  him  thence,  and  the  ominous  words  of  flight  reached 
his  ear.  As  they  laid  him  down  they  told  him  it  was  the 
French  who  fled.  "  What,  already  ?  "  said  he  ;  "  now  God  be 
praised,  I  shall  die  in  peace;"  and  he  died  as  only  a  hero  can. 


168   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Almost  his  last  words,  like  those  of  the  noble  General  Brock, 
who  fell  in  like  manner  half  a  century  afterwards  on  the 
bloody  heights  of  Queenston,  within  sound  of  Niagara's  falls, 
— almost  his  last  words  were  a  command,  namely,  for  Colonel 
Burton  to  cut  off  the  retreat  at  the  bridge  of  boats.  Mont- 
calm,  too,  was  wounded,  but  held  bravely  on,  as  if,  in  his 
own  despairing  phrase,  he  would  fain  be  buried  amid  the 
ruins  of  the  colony  he  had  defended  so  well  ;•  and  by  the  force 
of  his  example  and  the  firmness  of  his  deportment  he  sought* 
too  vainly,  to  arrest  the  retreat  so  ignominiously  begun.  The 
advance  of  the  British,  however,  now  at  a  quicker  pace  and 
with  redoubled  fire,  could  not  be  checked  ;  and  as  the  "  red- 
coats "  prepared  for  the  charge  with  sword  and  bayonet,  a 
panic  seized  the  enemy ;  the  attempt  at  a  second  formation 
of  the  broken  centre  wing,  failed  ;  a  brief  stand  at  St.  John's 
Gate,  and  then  the  whole  army  beat  a  precipitate  retreat  to 
the  St.  Charles  and  to  the  city.  The  British  captured  one 
field  piece,  and  with  this  and  the  six-pounder  they  had 
brought  with  them  they  hailed  grapeshot  on  the  disorderly 
and  running  crowd. 

As  the  French  retreated,  Bougainville,  with  his  3,000  men, 
advanced  from  the  west — advanced  only  to  again  retire  to 
beyond  Cape  Rouge.  And  as  the  day  closed  Townshend 
gathered  the  troops  together  on  the  plains,  and  gave  them 
the  first  intimation  that  their  general  was  dead. 

Montcalm  died  the  following  morning  at  the  General  Hos- 
pital, which  building  was  taken  possession  of  by  Townshend 
just  at  the  hour  of  the  decease,  and  the  respect  paid  to  the 
remains-  of  a  gallant  foe  was  characteristic  of  the  soldiers, 
whose  earliest  employment  after  the  victory  of  the  plains  was 
to  minister  to  the  necessities  of  the  starving  people  of  the  city. 

Moncktonwas  severely  wounded,  and  the  command  devolved 
on  Townshend  and  Murray  ;  and  these  hastened  to  secure  the 
victory  gained,  and  to  prepare  for  the  next  step.  This  was 
an  easier  one  than  they  had  anticipated.  There  has  since 
been  much  talk  of  what  the  French  Governor,  Bougainville, 
and  the  rest,  might  have  done  in  re-organizing  the  army  and 


THE   SIEGE  OF   QUEBEC.  169 

saving  Canada  ;  but  this  remains,  that  M.  de  Ramezay,  the 
officer  in  charge  at  Beauport,  deemed  the  situation  hopeless. 

On  the  i /th  of  the  month,  therefore,  an  officer  presented 
himself  at  the  English  head-quarters,  bearing  a  flag  of  truce  ; 
and  on  the  i8th  the  Articles  of  Capitulation  were  signed  by 
Admiral  Saunders,  Townshend,  and  Ramezay. 

The  day  after  the  battle  the  following  address  was  issued 
by  General  Townshend  to  the  army  : — 

"  Camp  before  Quebeck,  Friday,  \^th  Sept. — The  Genl.  officers 
remaining  fit  to  act  take  ye  earliest  opportunity  to  express  ye  praise 
which  is  due  to  the  conduct  and  bravery  of  ye  troops  ;  and  ye  victory 
which  attended  it  sufficiently  proves  ye  superiority  which  this  army 
has  over  any  number  of  such  troops  as  they  engag'd  yesterday. 
They  wish  the  person  who  lately  command'd  them  had  survived  so 
glorious  a  day,  and  had  this  day  been  able  to  give  the  troops  their 
just  encomium.  The  fatigues  which  the  troops  will  be  oblig'd  to 
undergo  to  reap  the  advantage  of  this  victory  will  be  supported  with 
a  true  spirit,  as  this  seems  to  be  the  period  which  will  determine  in 
all  probability  our  American  labours. 

"  The  troops  are  to  receive  a  gill  of  rum  per  day,  and  will  receive 
fresh  provisions  the  day  after  to-morrow. 

"  The  regts.  and  corps  to  give  in  returns  of  ye  killed  and  wounded 
yesterday  and  ye  strength  of  their  corps.  The  pioneers  of  the 
different  regts.  to  bury  ye  dead  ;  the  corps  are  to  send  all  their  tools 
not  immed'y  in  use  to  the  Artillery  park.  All  French  papers  or 
letters  found  are  desir'd  to  be  sent  to  headquarters.  No  soldier  to 
presume  to  strole  beyond  the  outposts.  Arms  that  cannot  be  drawn 
are  to  be  fired  into  the  swamp  near  headquarters.  The  Admiral 
has  promised  ye  continuance  of  all  ye  assistance  which  ye  Naval 
service  can  spare  to  ease  ye  troops  of  ye  fatigues  which  ye  further 
operations  will  require  of  us.  Genl.  Townshend  has  ye  satisfaction 
to  acquaint  the  troops  yt  Genl.  Monckton's  wound  is  not  dan- 
gerous." 

The  closing  scene  in  this  stirring  drama  was  occupied  by 
two  men-of-war.  The  one,  a  frigate,  we  see  drifting  before 
a  storm  along  the  coast  of  New  Brunswick,  and  under  stress 
of  weather  finding  shelter  in  the  hitherto  unknown  river,  the 
Miramichi,  an  Indian  name  which,  being  interpreted,  means 


170   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

"  The  Happy  Retreat," — a  type  of  rest  after  life's  fitful  dream. 
On  board  that  frigate  lay  all  that  was  mortal  of  James  Wolfe. 

The  other  royal  ship  slowly  and,  as  it  were,  sadly  passed 
down  the  great  river  amid  drifting  ice,  and  vanished  in  the 
dim  distance  towards  Anticosti.  On  board  of  her  was  a 
king's  messenger  with  despatches  to  Versailles,  to  announce 
that  the  last  die  was  cast — the  last  trick  turned,  that  political 
corruption  and  court  favouritism  had  wrought  their  inevitable 
results,  and  that  the  French  regime  was  for  ever  ended  on  the 
shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  those  shores  which  had  been  so 
proudly  won  by  the  great  Jacques  Cartier  long  years  before, 
and  held  by  him  in  the  name  of  Christ  for  his  Catholic 
Majesty  the  King  of  France. 

At  either  end  of  the  north  transept  of  Westminster  Abbey 
are  reared  two  lofty  monuments — fit  tributes  to  the  memory 
of  General  Wolfe,  and  Pitt,  Earl  of  Chatham.  But  at  either 
extremity  of  an  aforetime  British  colony  stand  nobler  records 
of  noble  deeds — Quebec,  the  key  of  the  East  ;  Pittsburg,  the 
portal  of  the  West.  The  conquest  of  New  France  was  fol- 
lowed by  results  in  the  history  of  civilization  with  which  no 
chimerical  dream  of  prophet  or  of  statesman  can  compare. 
Renewed  interest  in  the  soil,  a  sense  of  security  in  property, 
the  rapid  development  of  the  country's  vast  resources,  and 
conditions  which  made  labour  sweet,  all  tended  to  the  creation 
of  that  Greater  Britain  of  to-day — a  creation  which,  stretching 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  from  Georgian  Bay 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  far  exceeds  the  wildest  prevision 
of  the  great  French  discoverer,  as  he  wintered  there  hard  by 
the  Indian  village  of  Stadacona,  under  the  cold,  bright  blue 
sky  of  day,  and  the  rosy  aurora  radiance  of  night  If  to  the 
hardihood  of  the  discoverer  and  the  prowess  of  a  soldier  be 
added  the  gift  of  the  seer,  that  giant  hill, — 

"  The  landmark  to  the  double  tide 
That  purpling  rolls  on  either  side, 
As  if  their  waters  chafed  to  meet, 
Yet  pause  and  crouch  beneath  her  feet." 


THE    SIEGE   OF   QUEBEC.  171 

that  hill  must  have  been  to  him,  as  it  must  have  been  to  the 
later  soldier  who  died  there,  less  a  fortress  than  a  symbol :  a 
type  of  the  future  invincible,  the  all-absorbing  and  bound- 
lessly wealthy  empire  ;  the  empire  of  an  English-speaking 
people,  whose  king — whatever  their  local  form  of  government — 
should  be  the  creation  of  the  voice  of  the  people,  and  whose 
people's  voice  should  be,  in  its  truth  and  majesty,  the  voice 
of  God. 

The  following  lines  on  the  death  of  General  Wolfe  appeared 
in  1760,  and  are  noteworthy  less  as  a  meritorious  tribute  to  a 
great  man's  memory  than  as  indicating  the  popular  ignorance 
of  the  time  in  all  extra-insular  matters.  No  mention  is  made 
of  the  grand  scene  of  his  death,  nor  of  the  dramatic  events 
incidental  thereto ;  and  their  insertion  here  can  therefore  be 
excused  only  on  the  ground  of  their  reflection  of  the  general 
esteem  and  prevailing  admiration  felt  by  the  people  of  England 
immediately  sequential  on  the  event. 

"  Amidst  these  loud  acclaims  which  rend  the  sky, 
What  means  the  startling  tear — the  deep-felt  sigh  ? 
Wolfe  is  no  more — a  name  by  all  approv'd, 
By  princes  favour'd,  by  the  people  lov'd. 

Was  it  for  this  he  left  his  native  land, 
A  savage  race  to  seek,  and  barb'rous  strand  ? 
Eager  his  sov'reign's  orders  to  obey, 
For  this,  with  speed,  to  cut  the  liquid  way  ? 
Coolly,  for  this,  unnumber'd  dangers  dar'd, 
And  the  same  toil,  the  chief,  the  soldier  shar'd. 
For  this,  judicious  form'd  the  glorious  plan, 
Which  prov'd  the  hero,  prov'd,  too  plain,  the  man. 
Alas  !  too  plain  :  in  yon  remorseless  grave 
There  view  the  wise,  the  generous,  and  the  brave ! 

No  more  the  trumpet's  kindling  sound  shall  warm 
That  breast  to  war  ! — no  more  the  battle  charm  ! 
The  soldier,  fir'd  by  him,  shall  catch  no  more 
The  glorious  flame.     Alas  !  his  race  is  o'er. 
Yet  for  a  moment  hold  the  closing  tomb  ! 
Think,  for  his  country  pleas'd  to  meet  his  doom  ; 


For  her,  the  foes  superior  force  withstood, 
And  dy'd  the  soil  he  conquer'd  with  his  blood. 

But  how  shall  Britain  her  regard  express  ? — 
How  charm  the  mother's  grief,  the  fair's  distress  ? 
Bootless  alas  !  it  nought  avails  to  tell, 
In  life  though  early,  ripe  in  fame  he  fell : 
No  charm  the  fair's,  the  mother's  grief  can  heal ! 
Their  cure  alone  from  time's  slow  hand  must  steal. 

For  thee,  brave  man  !  mix'd  with  the  private  woe, 
In  grateful  streams  a  country's  tears  shall  flow ; 
Proud  to  applaud  unsullied  worth  like  thine, 
Each  feeling  heart,  each  generous  muse,  shall  join. 
To  thee  shall  rise  the  monumental  pile  : 
(Sacred  thy  name  while  lasts  Britannia's  isle,) 
To  children  yet  unborn  their  sires  shall  tell 
How  greatly  Wolfe  design'd — how  bravely  fell. 
In  peace  he  died,  and  glorious  shall  he  rise 
(For  surely  worth  like  his  must  gain  the  skies !) ; 
Laurels  unfading  here  shall  grace  his  tomb, 
Immortal  bliss  await  in  worlds  to  come." 


173 


PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF 
HAROLD,  THE  LAST  OF  THE  SAXON  KINGS. 

BY  WILLIAM  WINTERS,  ESQ., 

FELLOW   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

THERE  is  a  singular  story  accompanying  the  eventful  life  of 
Godwine,  the  father  of  Harold,*  which  is  given  by  Mr.  Free- 
man as  gathered  from  the  "  half-mythical  "  chronicles  of  Ralph 
the  Black,  a  writer  who  flourished  early  in  the  thirteenth 
century.  He  tells  us  how  Cnut  in  a  jealous  fit  sent  Godwine 
to  Denmark  with  letters,  requesting  those  officials  to  whom 
they  were  addressed  to  cut  off  the  bearer's  head  ;  but  Godwine 
was  too  shrewd  for  his  master,  and  like  the  "  messenger  of 
Pausanias "  read  the  letter  by  the  way — "  expalluit  novus 
Urias"  which  let  him  into  the  light  of  the  awful  secret.  The 
legend  goes  on  to  show  how,  naturally  enough,  he  recovered 
himself,  and  cleverly  substituted  other  letters,  which  bore  a 
different  burden,  directing  the  Danes  to  show  great  kindness 
to  him,  as  he  was  a  regent,  and  to  give  him  the  king's  sister 
in  marriage.  The  scheme  appeared  to  answer,  for  all  was 
satisfactorily  carried  out ;  and  Cnut  is  said  to  have  put  the 
best  face  upon  the  matter  ;  he  received  Godwine  as  a  brother, 
and  gave  him  the  rank  of  "  consul. "t  A  writer  of  the  eleventh 
century  speaks  very  contemptuously  of  Godwine  and  his 
family,  prompted  probably  by  his  great  dislike  to  Harold, 
i.  e.,  "  The  numerous  progeny  of  Earl  Godwine  was  daily 
waxing  stronger  and  stronger  upon  the  earth."  J 

Harold  the  Second,  and   last  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  kings, 
was  son  of  Godwine,  or  "  Gudin,"  Earl  of  Kent,  by  his  wife 

*  See  Michel's  "  Chroniques  Anglo-Normandes,"  vol.  ii. 
f  Hist.  Norman  Conq.,  vol.  i.,  p.  724  (ed.  1870).     Freeman. 
J  Ingulph's  Chronicles  (Bohn's  Ed.). 


174  TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Gytha,  sister  of  Ulfjarl.  Godwine  makes  his  first  appearance 
in  the  history  of  our  country  in  the  reign  of  Canute,  just 
before  the  close  of  the  tenth  century.  He  was,  without  doubt, 
of  Saxon  origin,  as  he  is  called  "  a  child  of  Sussex,"  being 
the  son  of  Wulfnoth  and  grandson  of  Ethelmaer.  This 
"child  of  Sussex,"  however,  may  mean  "a  peasant."  Ralph 
the  Black,  or,  as  he  is  usually  called,  Radulphus  Niger, 
records  that  Godwine  was  the  son  of  a  herdsman  or  cowherd, 
"films  bubulci"*  brought  up  by  Canute.  But  how  the  son 
of  a  Saxon  herdsman  came  to  be  brought  up  by  Canute  is 
explained  by  Turner  in  his  translations  from  the  Knytlinga 
Saga,  which  shows  Godwine  to  have  been  the  son  of  Ulfnadr, 
a  man  of  poor  and  humble  circumstances,  probably  the  same 
name  with  Wulfnoth,  and  to  have  owed  his  high  position  at 
the  court  of  Canute  to  a  service  which  he  rendered  to  Ulfr, 
son  of  Sprakalegs,  one  of  the  great  and  noble  captains  of  that 
Danish  conqueror  who,  having  lost  himself  in  a  wood  after 
the  battle  of  Skorstein,  between  Canute  and  Edmund,  some- 
times called  " Sceorstan"  accidentally  fell  in  with  Godwin,  or 
"  Gudin,"  as  he  was  then  called,  driving  his  father's  herd  of 
cattle,  and  by  him  was  conducted  in  safety  to  the  cottage  of 
Ulfnadr,  and  thence  to  the  camp  of  Canute.  For  this 
act  Jarl  at  once  placed  Godwine  on  a  lofty  seat,  and  had  him 
treated  with  the  respect  which  his  own  child  might  have 
claimed.  His  attachment  continued  toward  Godwine  so  far  as 
afterwards  to  marry  him  to  Gyda,  or  Gytha,  his  sister  ;  and 
to  oblige  Ulfr,  as  the  story  goes,  Canute  in  due  time  raised 
Godwine  to  the  dignity  of  Jarl.t  Godwine  is  said  to  have 
been  a  handsome  man,  of  good  address,  and  fluent  of  speech, 
which  qualifications  speedily  brought  him  into  high  repute. 

*  Cotton  Lib.  Vespasian,  D.  10,  f.  27. 
t  Turner's  Hist.  Eng.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  333. 


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176  TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  Gytha  was  the  mother  of  all 
those  sons  and  daughters  of  Godwine  who  played  such  a 
memorable  part  in  the  history  of  our  country.  The  fullest 
list  of  Godwine's  sons  is  that  given  by  William  of  Malmes- 
bury,*  who  is  highly  spoken  of  by  Archbishop  Usher,  as  "the 
chief  of  our  historians."  Malmesbury,  however,  appears  to 
have  been  unacquainted  with  the  name  of  Godwine's  second 
wife  ;  this  deficiency  has  been  supplied  by  Dr.  Giles. 
Gunhild,  Harold's  sister,  is  not  mentioned  by  Malmesbury  ; 
her  name  occurs  in  the  Exon  Domesday,!  "  Gunnilla  filia 
Comitis  Godwini."  Mr.  Freeman  mentions  a  third  daughter, 
named  ^Elfgifu,  who  appears  in  Domesday  144  b.  Swegen 
is  considered  to  be  the  eldest  son,  and  Harold  next.  It  is 
not  quite  clear  who  followed  Harold,  probably  Tostig. 
Wulfnoth  was  the  youngest ;  all  the  rest  of  the  sons  were 
created  earls  but  himself.  Harold,  whose  career  in  life  has 
placed  him  at  the  head  of  his  brethren,  now  steps  forward  % 
as  Earl  of  the  East  Angles. 

To  borrow  the  language  of  the  above  able  writer,  we  may 
now  say  that  we  have  "  reached  the  first  appearance  of  the 
illustrious  man  round  whom  the  main  interest  of  this  history 
will  henceforth  centre."  Harold  was  "the  hero  and  the 
martyr  of  our  native  freedom,"  one  whom  England  must 
naturally  ever  hold  in  the  highest  esteem.  "  To  his  first  great 
government,  a  trying  elevation  indeed  for  one  in  the  full  vigour 
of  youth  and  passion,  he  was  apparently  raised  about  three 
years  after  the  election  of  Eadward,  when  he  himself  could 
not  have  passed  his  twenty-fourth  year.  While  still  young 
he  saw  somewhat  of  the  fluctuations  of  human  affairs,  and  he 
seems  to  have  learned  wisdom  from  experience.  Still  there 
must  have  been  in  him  from  the  beginning  the  germ  of  those 
great  qualities  which  shone  forth  so  conspicuously  in  his  later 
career.  The  praises  of  the  great  earl  sounded  forth  in  the 

*  William  of  Malmesbury,  Bohn's  Ed.,  p.  222. 

f  Vide  pp.  96,  99. 

I  A.D.  1045. 


PASSAGES   IN   THE  LIFE  AND   REIGN   OF   HAROLD.      177 

latest  specimen  of  the  native  minstrelsy  of  Teutonic 
England."* 

The  remarkable  skill  and  agility  in  the  use  of  arms  placed 
Harold  on  an  equal  with  the  swift  "  light-armed  Briton,"  and 
made  him  more  than  a  match  for  his  Norwegian  opposers ; 
and  his  courage  and  strength  enabled  him  for  a  long  time  to 
stand  proof  against  the  deadly  arrows  of  the  Normans.  As  a 
ruler  in  civil  matters  he  is  thought  to  have  been  even  more  re- 
markable. We  are  told  that  as  soon  as  he  possessed  the  reins 
of  government  he  vigorously  strove,  as  the  chronicler  asserts, 
"  to  revoke  unjust  laws  and  establish  good  ones ; "  and, 
as  another  writer  of  a  later  date  remarks,  "  the  greevous 
custumes  and  taxes  which  his  predecessors  had  raised  he 
abolished,  whilst  the  ordinarie  wages  of  his  servants  and  men 
of  warre  he  increased."  Harold  is  mentioned  as  being  the 
protector  of  the  churches  of  his  day,  besides  showing  a 
humane  feeling  towards  not  only  good  men,  but  even  to 
malefactors,  and  to  disturbers  of  the  countiy's  peace.f  We 
have  every  proof  of  Harold's  great  liberality  when  our 
attention  is  drawn  to  his  magnificent  foundation  at  Waltham 
Abbey,  which  is  a  monument  "  not  more  of  his  liberality 
than  of  his  wisdom."  He  was  also  a  liberal  benefactor  to  the 
church  of  Peterborough,  and  by  his  advice  King  Eadward 
issued  a  grant  to  the  church  of  Abingdon.  To  found  a  secular 
college  like  that  of  Waltham  at  a  period  "  when  all  the  world 
seemed  mad  after  monks,"  and  when  the  nobles  of  the  land 
aimed  to  outvie  each  other  in  adorning  the  so-called 
"  religious  houses "  with  splendid  gifts,  exhibits  great  in- 
dependence of  spirit  and  vigour  of  mind. 

The  circumstances  connected  with  the  foundation  of  Walt- 
ham  show  that  Harold  was  not  actuated  by  superstition 
altogether,  or  dread,  nor  was  it  a  display  "of  reckless 
bounty,"  but  as  Mr.  Freeman  justly  remarks,  it  was  "the 
deliberate  deed  of  a  man  who  felt  the  responsibilities  of  lofty 
rank  and  boundless  wealth,  and  who  earnestly  sought  the 

*  "  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  32. 
t  Journal  of  the  Archaeological  Association,  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  159. 

N 


178   TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

welfare  of  his  church  and  nation  in  all  things."  The  same 
able  writer  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  story  of  Eadgyth  Swannes- 
hals,  or  Swan-necked,  Harold's  beloved  consort  She  was 
the  last  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  queens,  and  was  surnamed  "  the 
Fair."  It  is  believed  by  this  marriage  Harold  healed  up 
the  breach  made  between  him  and  his  northern  subjects. 
The  great  researches  of  Sir  Henry  Ellis  and  other  antiquaries 
lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  touching  instance  of  woman's 
tender  and  devoted  love — the  verification  of  Harold's  mangled 
body  among  the  slain  at  Hastings,  generally  attributed  to  his 
paramour, — 'belongs  rather  to  Queen  Eadgyth,  his  disconsolate 
widow.*  The  appellation  of  "  mistress  "  usually  given  to 
Eadgyth,t  or  Ealdgyth,  has  unhesitatingly  been  dispensed 
with  for  that  of  "queen,"  on  the  ground  of  Sir  Henry  Ellis's 
opinion  (Introd.  to  Domesday,  ii.,  p.,  79)  that  she  was  no  other 
than  the  daughter  of  Earl  ^Efgar,  and  widow  of  Griffith,  Prince 
of  Wales,  after  whose  death  she  became,  as  we  have  said,  the 
wife  of  Harold-!  It  will  be  well  here  to  relate  the  chief 
incidents  shown  in  the  life  of  Harold  by  the  Anglo-Saxon 
chronicler.  In  A.D.  1046-9  Harold  opposes  his  brother 
Swegen  ;  1049,  ne  removes  the  body  of  Bib'rn  to  Winchester  ; 
1050,  cited  before  the  "  Witenagemot,"  or  a  meeting  of  wise 
men.  Some  interpret  the  word  witan,  to  know,  and  gemoth, 
an  assembly.  It  was  a  name  given  to  an  assembly  of  wise 
men  who  constituted  the  great  national  council  or  parliament 
among  our  Anglo-Saxon  ancestors  ;  consisting  of  the  nobles, 
or  the  largest  landholders,  and  the  principal  ecclesiastics. 
The  powers  of  this  council  were  very  extensive.  1051-2, 
Harold  withdraws  to  Bristol,  and  thence  to  Ireland ; 
sails  with  his  father  to  London,  and  is  reinstated  in  his 
possessions.  In  1053  his  father  dies,  and  he  attends  the 
funeral,  succeeds  to  his  father's  earldom  ;  1055,  makes  his 
peace  with  Earl  ^Elfgar,  and  the  next  year  makes  peace  with 


Strickland's  ''  Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England,"  vol.  L,  p.  8. 
She  is  called  in  the  Cott.  MSS.,  Julius  D.,  vi.,  cap.  21,  "  Editha 
tomen,  Swannes-hals" 
See  Lappenberg,  "  Under  the  Anglo-Saxon  Kings,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  302. 


PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF  HAROLD.      179 

Griffith,  King  of  North  Wales  ;  1063,  he  reduces  Wales,  and 
the  following  year  treats  with  Morkere  ;  1065,  he  orders  a 
hunting-seat  for  King  Eadward  at  Portskewet,  and  strives  to 
reconcile  Earl  Tostig  and  the  Northumbrians ;  1066,  he  is 
chosen  King  of  England,  collects  an  army  to  oppose  Tostig 
and  William  of  Normandy,  defeats  Harold  Hardrada  and 
Tostig  at  Stamford  Bridge,  and  at  last  is  slain  at  Hastings.* 
For  several  months  Harold  occupied  the  throne  of  England 
in  peace.  His  accession,  no  doubt,  took  place  with  the  general 
assent  of  the  public ;  the  nobility,  with  few  exceptions,  and 
the  bishops,  with  scarcely  any,  declared  themselves  the 
authors  and  supporters  of  his  progress,  and  the  acquiescence 
of  the  nation  appeared  complete.  Florence  of  Worcester,  a 
trustworthy  writer  of  the  Middle  Ages,  informs  us  that  Harold 
reigned  nine  months  and  nine  days, — "  Regnavit  autem 
Haroldus  mensibus  ix.  et  diebus  totidem."  And  reckoning 
from  the  death  of  Eadward,  which  took  place  on  Thursday, 
January  5th,  to  Saturday,  October  I4th,  1066,  the  day  of  his 
own  death,  this  statement  seems  to  be  correct.  An  able 
writer  has  justly  observed  that  the  reason  why  Harold  has 
been  so  far  ignored  by  some  historians  may  be  attributed  to 
the  shortness  of  his  reign.  In  fact,  by  them,  remarks  the  writer, 
this  monarch  "is  scarcely  included  among  our  sovereigns." 
The  right  of  Harold  to  the  throne  of  England  has  long 
been  a  subject  of  discussion ;  and  there  is,  perhaps,  no 
greater  event  in  the  annals  of  our  country  in  which  the  truth 
is  more  difficult  to  be  elicited  than  in  the  transaction  between 
Harold  and  William  in  the  lifetime  of  Eadward.t  This 
monarch,  as  he  drew  near  his  end,  saw  the  increasing  power 
of  Harold,  and  doubtless  was  not  without  some  grave  thoughts 
that  the  kingdom  which  he  had  governed  would  at  his  death 
be  exposed  to  great  commotion,  on  account  of  the  rival 
powers  then  existing.  There  appear  to  have  been  four 
claimants  to  the  crown  of  England  at  the  death  of  the 
Confessor — i.e.,  his  cousin,  William  of  Normandy  ;  his  brother- 

*  "  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle"  (by  Thorpe),  vol.  ii.,  p.  280.  London  :  1861 
f  Turner's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  374. 


180   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

in-law,  Harold  ;  Eadward  the  Outlaw,  the  son  of  Eadmund 
Ironside,  who  had  been  sent  for  by  the  king  as  early  as  1057 
respecting  the  crown,  but  he  died  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
England  ;  and  Eadgar,  who  is  said  to  have  been  too  young  in 
1066  to  be  elected  king.  Each  of  these,  no  doubt,  founded 
his  pretensions  upon  the  real  or  supposed  devise  of  the  late 
king.  But  if  kindred  had  any  weight,  Eadgar  probably  had 
the  most  right  to  the  throne,  being  the  son  of  ^Etheling, 
although  he  was  not  entitled  to  the  same  constitutional 
preference  as  his  father,  but  in  some  respects  he  was  a  more 
promising  candidate  than  his  father.*  Palgrave  tells  us  that 
Eadgar  ^theling  was  the  son  of  Eadward  the  Outlaw,  a  lineal 
descendant  of  Ironside,  and  the  only  male  left  of  the  house  of 
Cerdic.f  The  Anglo-Saxon  chronicler  states  that  "Archbishop 
Ealdred  and  the  townsmen  of  London  would  have  Eadgar 
child  for  king,  as  was  indeed  his  natural  right ;  and  Eadwine 
and  Morkere  promised  him  that  they  would  fight  with  him, 
but  as  it  ever  should  be  the  forwarder,  so  was  it  ever,  from 
day  to  day,  slower  and  worse,  as  at  the  end  it  all  went."  The 
early  writers  speak  unhesitatingly  that  Eadward,  on  his 
death-bed,  had  appointed  Harold  to  be  his  successor.  Turner 
the  historian  says,  "  I  am  much  inclined  to  believe  this 
report,  not  only  on  the  testimony  of  the  English  writers,  but 
because  its  truth  is  acknowledged  by  the  enemies  of  Harold." 
One  of  them  notes  that  Harold  was  a  cunning  and  crafty 
man,  understanding  that — 

"  'Tis  always  bad  fixt  measures  to  defer ;" 

And  that  as  soon  as  the  king  was  buried  he  (Harold)  extorted 
an  oath  of  fealty  from  the  nobles,  and  placed  the  crown  on 
his  own  head.J  Other  early  writers  give  a  more  feasible 
account  how  that  after  the  interment  of  Eadward,  the  "  vice- 
roy," or  "vice-king,"  Harold,  whom  the  king  had  previously 
appointed  his  successor,  was  elevated  to  the  throne  by  all  the 

*  "  History  of  Normandy  and  England,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  295. 
f  "  History  of  the  Norman  Conquest."  vol.  ii.,  p.  425. 
\  "  Matthew  of  Westminster,"  vol.  i.,  p.  556.   See  Roger  of  Wend  over's 
''  Flowers  of  History,"  vol.  i.,  p.  326,  and  Ingulph's  Chronicle. 


PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF  HAROLD.      181 

chief  men  of  England,*  and  was  consecrated  the  same  day 
with  great  ceremony  by  either  Stigand  or  by  Aldred,  Arch- 
bishop of  York.f  Harold  had,  no  doubt,  obtained  great 
favour  with  the  Saxons  during  his  course  of  action  ;  for  as 
early  as  the  time  of  Harthacnut  he  was  in  possession  of  con- 
siderable power  ;  and  in  striking  contrast  with  the  other  sons 
of  the  great  and  popular  Earl  Godwine,  in  his  government  of 
East  Anglia,  and  afterwards  of  Wessex,  he  was  just,  kind,  and 
considerate.  £  The  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle  tells  of  the 
death  of  Eadward  and  the  promotion  of  Harold  to  the  throne, 
in  the  most  exalted  strains  of  the  period,  but  which  may 
now  appear  weak  and  fulsome.  The  story  finishes  thus  : — 

"  Harold  himself,  a  noble  earl, 
He  in  all  times  faithfully  obeyed  His  lord 
By  words  and  deeds,  nor  aught  neglected 
Of  what  was  needful  to  his  sovereign  king." 

When  the  important  news  of  King  Eadward's  death  and  the 
coronation  of  Harold  reached  the  ears  of  William  of  Nor- 
mandy, he  was  sporting  in  the  park  at  Rouen  ;  and  it  is  said 
that  the  bow  dropped  from  his  hand.  Apropos  are  the  words 
of  Johnson  here  : — "  No  plays  have  oftener  filled  the  eyes 
with  tears,  and  the  breast  with  palpitation,  than  those  which 
are  variegated  with  interludes  of  mirth."  The  duke  $tood  a 
few  moments  wrapt  as  it  were  in  thought,  then  threw  himself 
into  a  boat,  and  crossing  the  Seine,  entered  his  palace,  and 
afterwards  called  his  barons  to  council.  By  their  advice  he 
sent  to  request  Harold  to  perform  his  engagements  and  resign 
his  crown.  The  reply  was  such  as  might  be  expected ; 

*  Ordericus  Vitalis  affirms  that  Harold  was  crowned  by  Stigand,  and 
that  he  usurped  the  English  throne.  But  the  Harl.  Miscellany  states 
that  Stigand  refused  to  perform  the  ceremony.  The  Bayeux  tapestry 
exhibits  Stigand,  and  not  Aldred,  performing  the  office  of  crowning 
Harold,  which  was  no  doubt  correct,  as  we  find  that  on  the  accession  of 
William  to  the  throne  of  England,  Stigand  is  cast  into  prison,  and  libe- 
rated only  by  death. 

t  Simon  of  Durham,  "  History  of  Kings,"  p.  544.  Hovenden's  Annals, 
and  "  Florence  of  Worcester's  Chronicle." 

J  Journal  of  A  rcha;o  logical  Association,  vol.  xxiii.  p.  158. 


182  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Harold  refused  to  comply  to  such  orders,  and  boldly  defied 
the  great  Norman  powers.  Forthwith  William  summoned  a 
parliament  of  his  barons  bold  at  Lillebonne,  and  though  the 
nature  of  their  tenures  did  not  oblige  them  to  cross  the  sea  in 
the  service  of  their  liege  lord,  they  agreed,  at  the  impulsion 
of  Fitz-Osborn,  surnamed  the  Bold,  to  aid  in  the  conquest  of 
England.  Promises  of  rich  rewards  were  made  by  the  duke 
to  stimulate  them  to  exertion ;  and  promises  to  the  like  effect 
were  held  out  to  the  flower  of  the  chivalry  of  Anjou,  Brittany, 
and  Poitou,  if  they  would  do  their  very  best  to  support  the 
standard  of  William.  And  the  Pope,  it  appears,  when  applied 
to,  readily  condemned  Harold  on  the  ground  of  perjury,  and 
sent  the  duke  a  banner  and  a  ring,  with  a  pressing  letter 
stipulating  for  a  more  punctual  payment  of  Peter's  pence — a 
tax  annually  levied  on  every  house  granted  to  the  Holy  See 
by  King  Ethelwulf*  "  Thus,"  says  Fuller,  "  the  Pope  would 
not  be  so  bad  a  carver  as  to  cut  all  away  to  others,  and 
reserve  no  corner  to  himself." 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  charges  brought  against 
Harold  by  the  Pope  and  the  Duke  of  Normandy  with  respect 
to  his  legitimate  right  to  the  crown  of  England,  Harold  no 
doubt  had  as  good  a  claim  to  it  as  the  rest  of  his  rivals,  taking 
all  things  into  consideration,  and  here  it  seems  necessary  to 
cull  from  a  mass  of  weighty  evidence  those  important  facts 
which  establish  the  justness  of  Harold's  right  to  be  the  sole 
monarch  of  this  favoured  isle.t  "  The  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle" 
(p.  189  as  before  quoted)  is  favourable  to  Harold,  the  one 
nominated  by  Eadward  to  be  his  successor  : — "  And  Harold 
eorl'  feng  to  tham  rice,  swa  swa  se  cyng  hit  him  genthe  and 
carl  Harold  took  the  kingdom,  as  the  king  gave  it  to  him." 

*    Keightley's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.  p.  67. 

f  Harold,  although  he  had  many  friends,  yet  was  surrounded  by  a 
number  of  enemies  who  did  not  always  express  the  truth  in  their  arguments 
against  him.  He  has  been  charged  with  acting  unfriendly  towards  his 
brother,  but  the  Cott.  MS.  of  the  Saxon  Chron.  is  strongly  in  his  favour. 
"There  was  a  great  gemot  at  Oxford, and  there  was  Harold  the  Earl, and 
would  work  a  reconciliation,  if  he  might ;  but  he  could  not."  See  "Journal 
of  Arch.,"  vol.  xxiii.,  p.  161. 


PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN   OF   HAROLD.      183 

Florence  of  Worcester,  who  died  1 1 18,  says  : — "  Haroldus  God- 
wini  dticis  filius  quern  rex  ante  suam  decessionem  regni  suc- 
cessorem  elegerat."  The  legend  of  Waltham  says  : — " Post 
obitum  itaque  sanctissimi  regis,  comes  Haroldus  unanimi  om- 
nium consensu  in  regem  elegitur"  (MSS.  Cotton. Julius,  D.  vi.). 
But  as  Harold  was  crowned  on  the  same  day  that  Eadward 
was  buried,  it  may  be  said  that  there  was  not  a  sufficient  time 
allowed  to  obtain  their  consent.  This  objection  is  removed 
by  what  is  stated  in  Ailred's  life  of  Eadward,  that  that  prince, 
being  about  to  consecrate  Westminster  Abbey,  which  he  had 
built,  did  so  at  a  period  when  "  Anglorum  tota  nobilitas  ad 
regis  curiam  debuit  convenire"  and  that  the  solemnity  was 
begun — "  Convenientibus  in  unum  episcopis  cunctisque  regni 
firoceribus."  The  great  national  council  was,  therefore, 
assembled  at  a  period  of  Ead ward's  death  and  Harold's  coro- 
nation.* Sir  Alexander  Malet,  B.A.,  in  his  metrical  version 
of  "Wace's  Chronicle  of  the  Norman  Conquest,"  confirms 
the  right  of  Harold  to  the  throne  of  England,  which  right 
he  should  possess  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  life  : — 

"  Here  gather'd  before  thee  this  day,  we  demand 

That  Harold  be  chosen  as  king  of  the  land." 
******* 

Then  Harold  stood  forward,  and  said,  "What  was  done 
By  thee  in  foretime,  sire,  regard  as  foregone. 
God  forbid  I  e'er  crave  other  guerdon  as  mine, 
Save  to  rule  by  thy  grant  o'er  the  land  that  is  thirte. " 
Then  answered  the  king,  "  Harold,  so  shall  it  be^. 
But  death's  in  the  gift,  as  I  well  can  foresee.''^ 

It  is  quite  possible  that  Duke  William  had  nothing  more 
than  a  verbal  grant  from  Eadward  to  entitle  him  to  be  King 
of  England,  any  more  than  Harold.  William  of  Malmesbury 
asserts  that  William  claimed  the  kingdom  on  the  ground  that 
Eadward,  by  the  advice  of  Archbishop  Stigand  and  of  the 
Earls  of  God  wine  and  Siward,  had  granted  it  to  him,  and  had 

*  Cochrane's  Foreign  Quarterly  Review,  1835,  P-  311- 
f  Master  Wace  his  Chronicle  of  the  "  Conquest  of  England  "  (Ed.  1860 
pp.  20,  22). 


184  TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

sent  the  son  and  nephew  of  Godwine  to  Normandy  as  sureties 
of  the  grant.  Dr.  Giles  affirms  that  this  statement  "is  from 
W.  Pictaviensis,  who  puts  it  in  the  mouth  of  the  conqueror, 
but  it  is  evidently  false  ;  for  Godwine  died  A.D.  1053,  Siward 
A.D.  1055,  and  in  1054  we  find  Ead ward  the  Confessor  sending 
for  his  nephew  from  Hungary,  to  make  him  his  successor  in 
the  kingdom,  who  accordingly  arrives  in  A.D.  1057,  and  dies 
almost  immediately  after.  He  could  not,  therefore  have  made 
the  settlement  as  here  asserted."  Harold  in  the  tapestry  is 
represented  as  making  oath  to  duke  William,  by  which  oath 
it  is  said  the  duke  claimed  his  right  to  the  English  throne. 
In  another  part  of  the  tapestry  occur  the  words — "  Hie  dedit 
arma  Willelm  Haraldo"  "  Here  William  gave  arms  to  Harold." 
Ordericus  Vitalis  informs  us  that  Duke  William  presented 
Harold  with  arms  and  horses,  "  in  contradiction  to  Wace,  who 
in  the  Roman  de  Ron,  laid  the  scene  of  the  presentation  of 
arms  at  Avranches,  when  William  was  on  his  march  to 
Brittany." 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  BAYEUX  TAPESTRY. 

The  celebrated  tapestry  of  Bayeux  which  illustrates  so 
much  of  the  famous  history  of  the  Norman  Conquest,  con- 
sists of  a  web  of  linen  nearly  19  inches  in  breadth  and  214  feet 
in  length  ;  the  memorable  expedition  from  the  embassy  of 
Harold  to  the  Norman  court  in  1065,13  successfully  depicted. 
There  are  exhibited  also  several  hundred  figures  of  men, 
horses,  beasts,  birds,  trees,  castles,  houses,  and  churches,  with 
inscriptions  over  them  explanatory  of  their  meaning  and 
history.  The  stitches,  if  they  may  be  so  called,  are  threads 
laid  side  by  side  and  bound  down  at  intervals  by  cross  stitches 
or  fastenings  upon  the  said  linen  or  cloth  ;  the  parts  intended 
to  represent  flesh  are  untouched  by  the  needle.  The  colours 
are  generally  faded  on  bluish  green,  crimson,  and  pink.  The 
finest  copy  that  has  ever  been  taken  of  the  Bayeux  Tapestry 
will  be  found  in  the  South  Kensington  Museum.  There  is  a 
good  copy  in  the  "  Vetusta  Monumenta,"  drawn  many  years  ago 
by  Stothard.  The  translators  of  "  Master  Wace  his  Chronicle," 


PASSAGES   IN   THE   LIFE  AND   REIGN   OF   HAROLD.     185 

have  given  a  number  of  illustrations  from  this  tapestry 
similar  to  those  given  by  Mr.  Stothard  in  1819.  With  regard 
to  these  illustrations  it  is  conjectured  that  Wace  must  have 
seen  the  Bayeux  tapestry  before  or  at  the  time  of  writing  his 
poem.  This  supposition  is  supported  by  the  fact  of  his  having 
held  an  ecclesiastical  dignity  in  the  chapel  of  the  Bayeux 
Cathedral.  This  "Worsted  Chronicle  "  is  set  down  by  some 
persons  as  the  work  of  Matilda  of  Flanders,  queen  of  William 
the  Conqueror,  but  upon  investigation  it  is  found  to  be  neither 
the  work  of  the  first  nor  the  second  Matilda  ;  it  was  executed 
by  order  of  Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  "  uterine  "  brother  of  the 
Conqueror,  "  who  alone  had  the  power  to  deposit  and  display 
the  representation  of  a  subject  from  profane  history  in  a  sacred 
edifice."  Hume  has  attributed  the  work  to  the  third  Empress 
Matilda,  daughter  of  Henry  I.  Odo  is  said  by  Thorpe  to  be 
the  son  of  Arlette  by  her  husband  Herluin  de  Conteville.  He 
was  contemporary  with  Harold  and  William,  and  is  mentioned 
as  bishop  in  1066.*  This  bishop  appears  in  effigy  on  the 
tapestry  on  horseback  clad  in  armour,  holding  a  club  with 
which  as  the  inscription  states,  "  he  encouraged  the  youths." 

Harold  at  his  coronation  is  seen  seated  on  his  throne, 
listening  apparently  with  great  attention  to  two  messengers 
who  no  doubt  had  some  important  matter  to  communicate  to 
him.  Some  have  suggested  that  these  messengers  brought 
the  news  of  the  landing  of  his  brother  Tostig  and  the 
Norwegians.  Others  more  justly  conjecture  that  the  two  men 
represent  Duke  William's  ambassadors  who  were  sent  to  ex- 
postulate with  Harold  on  his  claiming  the  crown  of  England. 
The  words  above  the  throne  are — "  Here  sits  Harold,  King  of 
the  English. — Stigand,  Archbishop."  Harold  holds  a  sceptre, 
and  in  his  left  a  globe  surmounted  by  a  cross.  On  his  left  is 
Stigand,  who  is  said  to  have  crowned  him  in  defiance  of  the 
Pope's  interdiction,  and  for  which  act  he  afterwards  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  William.  The  early  writers,  at  least  several 
of  them,  affirm  that  Harold  was  crowned  by  Aldred,  Archbishop 
of  York. 

*  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  vol.  ii.,  p,  107. 


186   TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

WAGE'S  CHRONICLE  OF  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST. 

Master  Wace,  as  he  is  called,  was  born  in  tne  isle  of 
Jersey  early  in  the  twelfth  century,  lived  in  the  reign  of  three 
Henries,  and  died  in  England  circa  A.D.  1184.  It  is  said  that 
he  was  educated  at  Caen,  and  proceeded  thence  to  the 
dominion  of  the  king  of  France,  returning  again  to  Caen, 
where  he  began  to  write  "  romanz."  In  1155  he  finished  his 
"  Roman  de  Brut."  (See  transcript  Cott  MSS.,  Vit.  A.  X., 
fol.  19.)  King  Henry  the  Second,  the  great  patron  of  the 
church  of  Waltham,  was  Wace's  principal  patron.  Wace 
obtained  by  royal  favour  the  prebend  of  Bayeux  Cathedral 
as  a  reward  of  his  literary  labour.  Here  he  had  doubtless 
full  command  of  the  wonderful  Bayeux  tapestry.  He  held 
this  office,  we  are  told,  for  nearly  twenty  years.  In  1160, 
Wace,  having  gleaned  sufficient  from  the  tapestry,  finished 
his  masterly  Chronicle  of  the  Norman  Conquest.  This  is  an 
invaluable  record  regarding  the  history  of  the  times  and  the 
burial  of  Harold  at  "  Varham  "  (Waltham).  He  appears  to 
have  gathered  much  information  respecting  the  Conquest 
from  old  men  who  are  said  to  have  seen  the  comet  of 
1066 : — 

"  I  have  seen  and  conversed  with  old  men  in  my  time, 
Who  beheld  the  said  star ;  men  in  their  prime."  * 

The  biographer  of  Wace  says  that  he  "  wrote  at  a  period 
when  the  desire  for  more  accessible  sources  of  information 
than  those  afforded  by  the  monkish  chroniclers  began  to  be 
felt,  but  while  the  habit  of  listening  to  the  troubadour  was 
still  prevalent.  His  work  is  then  to  be  considered  as  a 
remarkable  monument,  marking  as  it  does  a  period  of 
literary  transition,  produced  by  a  clerk  or  Churchman,  but 
in  the  vulgar  tongue  and  in  reality  a  tribute  or  concession 
to  the  growing  spirit  of  inquiry  of  his  age. 

"  As  regards  the  literary  value  of  Wace's  poem,  competent 
judges  have  pronounced  that  it  is  not  deficient  in  delicacy  of 
feeling  or  elegance  of  expression  ;  but  the  obsolete  language 

*  See  Malet's  Translation  of  Wace's  Chronicle  (1860). 


PASSAGES  IN   THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF  HAROLD.      187 

in  which  it  is  written  enables  few  to  form  an  opinion  of  either 
quality."*  The  public  are  indebted  to  Sir  Alexander  Malet, 
Bart.,  B.A.,  for  his  splendid  translation  of  the  Chronicle  into 
English  rhyme,  published  in  1860,  from  which  much  of  the 
above  on  Wace  is  taken.  Mr.  Edgar  Taylor  gave  a  prose 
translation  in  1837  (8vo.),  published  by  Pickering  ;  this  is  also 
a  valuable  book.  Both  these  works  are  illustrated  from  the 
Bayeux  tapestry. 

The  best  existing  transcript  of  Wace's  Chronicle  of  the 
Norman  Conquest  is  preserved  in  the  royal  collection  of  MSS., 
British  Museum.-}*  The  date  of  this  MS.  is  put  down  by 
good  authority  as  A.D.  1200;  it  formerly  belonged  to  the 
library  of  Battle  Abbey,  for  which  it  is  said  to  have  been 
made.  "  Liber  Abbatriae  Sanqti  Martini  de  Bello  "  is  written 
on  one  of  the  folios.  The  Chronicle  is  supposed  "  to  com- 
memorate the  deeds,  the  sayings,  and  manners  of  our 
ancestors,  to  tell  the  felonies  of  felons  and  the  baronage  of 
barons,"  &c.  In  fol.  271  of  this  MS.  the  writer  states 
clearly  that  the  body  of  Harold  was  carried  to  Waltham,  and 

there  buried : — 

"  Li  reis  herant  en  fu  portez, 
A  WAICHAN,  fu  enterrez, 
Mais  jo  ne  sai  qui  le  uporta, 
Ne  jo  ne  sai  qui  lenterra." 

On  the  24th  of  April,  A.D.  1066,  a  great  comet  appeared  in 
the  heavens,  "which,"  says  Ingulph,  "portended  the  great 
changes  which  were  about  to  take  place  in  the  country." 
The  old  Leonine  couplet  given  by  Roger  Hovenden  has  been 
rendered  thus : — 

"  In  the  year  one  thousand  and  sixty-six, 
A  comet  all  England's  gaze  did  fix."J 

A  Norman  writer  describes  it  as  having  three  tails  ;  and  the 
Anglo-Saxon  chronicler  says  that  "  there  was  over  all  England 

0  "  Conquest  of  England,"  translated  into  rhyme  by  Sir  Alexander 
Malet,  Bart.,  B.A.     (Bell  and  Daldy,  1860,  4to.) 
t  Reg.  iv.,  c.  xi. 
J  Ingulph's  "  History  of  Croyland,"  p.  138.     Bohn's  Ed. 


188    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

such  a  token  seen  in  the  heavens  as  no  man  ever  saw  before. 
Some  men  said  it  was  cometa,  the  star,  which  some  men  called 
the  haired  star,  and  it  appeared  first  on  the  eve  of  Litania 
Major,  the  8th  before  the  Kalends  of  May  [24th  April],  and 
so  shone  seven  nights."  Whether  this  comet  appeared,  as 
was  the  belief  of  that  superstitious  age,  to  indicate  war  and 
carnage  is  very  questionable.  However,  war  and  bloodshed 
speedily  followed.  The  tapestry  exhibits  the  comet  and  the 
great  consternation  which  it  caused  among  the  people.  Isti 
mirant  stdld,  "They  marvel  at  the  star."  On  the  right 
sits  Harold,  listening,  as  some  suppose,  to  the  intelligence 
communicated  by  the  messenger  sent  to  report  the  landing 
of  Tostig  and  the  Norwegians.  Others  think  that  it  is 
intended  to  represent  that  which  has  already  been  stated 
with  reference  to  Harold  and  William.  See  Guillaume  de 
Jumi&ges,  Matt  West.,  Tib.  B.  i.,  Cott.  MSS.,  and  "  Journal  of 
the  Archaeological  Association,"  vol.  xxiii. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  STAMFORD  BRIDGE. 

It  appears  that  just  before  the  king  had  measured  his  strength 
with  the  Normans  he  was  called  upon  to  defend  himself 
from  the  attacks  of  Tostig,  or  Tosti,  his  younger  brother, 
and  the  Norwegian  army.  Tostig  had  been  created  Earl  of 
Northumberland  by  Edward  the  Confessor,  but  was  ejected 
by  the  inhabitants,  who  would  not  tolerate  the  tyranny  of 
his  government.  Upon  the  accession  of  Harold,  Tostig,  now 
an  exile,  resolved  to  gratify  his  revenge  by  attacking  England  ; 
and  being  connected  in  marriage  with  Duke  William,  he 
made  an  offer  of  his  services  to  that  prince,  which,  of  course, 
were  readily  accepted.  William  immediately  placed  him  as 
head  of  the  great  fleet  which  was  manned  with  Flemings, 
and  which,  in  the  month  of  April,  1066,  appeared  off  the 
Isle  of  Wight,  where  he  landed,  and  after  having  ravaged 
the  coast  and  supplied  himself  with  necessaries,  he  proceeded 
toward  the  port  of  Sandwich.  By  this  time  Harold 
was  in  London,  and  had  made  great  preparations  to  oppose 
the  Norman  invaders.  He  despatched  at  once  a  naval  force 


PASSAGES  IN   THE  LIFE  AND   REIGN  OF   HAROLD.    189 

of  some  power,  besides  a  formidable  troop  of  horses  to  defend 
the  Kentish  coast.*  As  soon  as  Tostig  heard  of  Harold's  army 
approaching  he  made  a  hasty  retreat  from  Sandwich,  with  a 
view  to  return  to  Normandy,  but  the  wind  proving  unfavour- 
able he  was  obliged  to  enter  the  river   Humber ;  there  he 
speedily  disembarked,  and  ravaged  its  banks  on  each  side. 
Here  he  was  attacked  by  the  Earls  Edwin  and  Morcar,  and 
was  compelled  to  fly  with  only  twelve  out  of  sixty  ships  with 
which   he   had   entered   the   river.     Tostig   at  this  juncture 
solicited  the  aid  of  Svend,  King  of  Denmark,  but  was  refused. 
However,  Malcolm  Canmore,  King  of  Scotland,  received  him, 
and  with  whom  he  stayed  during  the  summer.     The  refugee 
then  applied  to  Harold  Hardrada,  son  of  Sigurd,  King  of 
Norway,  for   assistance,  and   was  successful,  but  eventually 
became  the  vassal  of  this  monarch  by  promising  him  half  of 
the  island  which  he  had  been  attempting  to  invade.     After 
these  transactions  the  Norwegian  king  arrived  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Tyne  with  a  powerful  fleet  of  more  than  500  great 
ships.     Tostig  united  with  the  king's  fleet  according  to  pre- 
vious arrangements,  and  they  both  landed  their  troops  at  a 
place  called  Richall.     As  soon  as  Harold  heard  of  this  he 
marched  with  great  speed  towards  Northumbria,  but  before 
he  had  arrived  the  two  valiant  brothers,  Edwin  and  Morcar, 
at  the  head  of  a  large  army,  fought  a  severe  battle  with  the 
Norwegians  on  the  northern  bank  of  the  river  Ouse  at  Fulford, 
near  York.t    This  occurred  on  Wednesday,  September  20, 
1066,  being  the  eve  of  the  feast  of  St.  Matthew  the  Apostle. 
The  25  th  day  of  September,  1066,  we  are  told  was  fine,  and 
the  sun  shone  as  bright  as  in  midsummer.     The  Norwegians 
had  now  landed  on  the  field  with  the  expectation  of  receiving 
the  hostages  from  York,  and  were  firm  in  the  confidence  of 
victory.     They  laid  their  armour  aside  and  took  only  their 
swords,  spears,  shields,  and  helmets  ;    some  had  bows  and 
arrows,   and   all   were   extremely  merry. J     The   Rev.  F.  H. 
Arnold,  M. A,  tells  us  that  the  Norwegians  "  were  flushed 

*  Cochrane's  Quarterly  Review,  1835,  p.  312. 
t  Florence  of  Worcester  Chronicle,  p.  169.  +  Heimskringler. 


190     TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

with  success,  and  fancied  that  the  cloud  of  dust  raised  by  the 
approaching  Saxons  was  caused  by  the  men  of  York,  whom 
they  were  awaiting  ;  a  line  of  steel  soon  betokened  the  van- 
guard of  an  army." 

Tostig  after  this  was  speedily  killed,  and  the  Norwegians 
renewing  the  contest  for  the  third  time  were  defeated  with 
great  slaughter.  Heaps  of  bleached  bones  remained  long 
after,  a  memorial  to  the  passer  by  of  the  terrible  conflict 
Harold  treated  the  Norwegians  with  much  clemency.*  Not- 
withstanding the  complete  victory  gained  by  Harold,  he 
allowed  Hardrada's  sons,  Olaf  and  Paul,  Earl  of  the  Isle  of 
Orkney,  who  had  been  sent  with  part  of  the  army  to  guard 
the  ships,  to  return  to  their  own  country  with  twenty  ships 
and  the  remnant  of  their  army,  having  first  received  from  them 
their  hostages  and  oaths  for  their  future  good  behaviour.t 
Henry  of  Huntingdon  records  that  the  whole  army  were 
either  slaughtered,  or  taken  prisoners  and  burnt.  Wendover 
says  that  after  the  battle,  Harold,  King  of  England,  appro- 
priated to  his  own  use  the  booty  and  spoils  without  allowing 
any  one  to  share  with  him,  which  so  disgusted  his  army  that 
they  unanimously  forsook  him.  J  Most  of  the  early  writers  are 
silent  on  this  point.  Rapin  thought  that  in  this  particular 
"  Harold  deviated  from  his  usual  generosity."  This  is  no  doubt 
correct.  Having  thus  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  earlier 
and  perhaps  less  known  part  of  Harold's  career,  it  will  be  well 
to  hasten  to  notice  the  great  and  decisive  battle  of  Hastings, 
in  which  the  noble  monarch  terminated  his  life. 

THE  BATTLE  OF  HASTINGS. 

On  the  1 3th  day  of  October,  A.D.  1066,  while  Harold 
was  rejoicing  in  the  victory  over  the  Norwegians  which  he 
had  but  just  gained,  a  horseman,  §  who  had  ridden  day  and 
night  from  Hastings,  brought  him  intelligence  of  the  landing 

*  Roger  Hovenden  states  that  Hardrada,  or  Harfager,  and  Tostig  were 
slain  "  with  the  edge  of  the  sword." 

t  Roger  de  Hovenden  Annals,  and  Florence  of  Worcester . 
J  "  Flowers  of  History,  vol.  i.,  p.  327."  §  A  THANE  of  Sussex. 


PASSAGES  IN   THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN   OF  HAROLD.     191 

and  strength  of  the  invading  army.  Harold  is  said  to  have 
been  at  York  when  he  received  the  news,  but  it  appears  from 
the  best  authority  that  he  had  left  York  some  little  time,  and 
was  staying  at  Waltham  when  he  received  the  mournful  intel- 
ligence;* and  this  statement  cannot  be  entirely  disregarded, 
as  there  is  early  documentary  evidence  to  prove  that  he  rested  at 
Waltham  the  night  before  the  battle,  in  a  house  which  he 
himself  had  founded  a  short  time  previously,  and  where  he 
offered  up  his  orisons,  and  vowed  that  if  he  should  be  spared 
to  return  with  victory,  he  would  greatly  enlarge  the  posses- 
sion of  that  establishment,  for  he  was  hurried  into  a  position 
at  the  death  of  Edward  which  left  him  no  time  to  carry  out 
his  previous  intentions  respecting  Waltham — the  spot  which 
he  had  chosen  for  the  "scene  of  his  scanty  relaxations." 
When  Harold  left  Waltham — never  more  to  return  alive — the 
two  canons,  Osgod  and  Ailric,  accompanied  him,  by  command 
of  the  dean  and  chapter  of  the  house  of  Waltham,  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  back  his  body  should  he  be  slain  in 
battle,  t  "  Master  Wace,"  in  his  early  chronicle,  has  given  a 
verbal  description  of  the  fight  on  the  field  of  Senlac,  which  is 
now  printed  and  illustrated  with  many  striking  features  of 
the  great  contest  from  the  Bayeux  tapestry,  as  stated  ante. 
Harold,  it  appears,  conducted  his  journey  with  too  much 
haste  for  his  own  interest,  for  when  he  arrived  near  the  shores 
of  Sussex,he  had  been  joined  by  not  more  than  half  his  army 
(see  Cott.  MSS.  Jul.  D.  VI.  c.  xx.).  But  his  hope  was  that  the 
rapidity  of  his  forced  marches  would  enable  him  to  surprise 
his  enemies  on  the  night  of  the  I3th  of  October,  or 
early  on  the  ensuing  morning  of  the  fatal  day.  The  Nor- 
mans were  not  aware  of  his  approach  ;  and  so  little  did  they 
anticipate  it  that  a  considerable  troop  had  been  despatched 
from  the  camp  to  collect  provisions.  Notice  of  it,  however, 
reached  William  in  time  to  defeat  King  Harold's  projects. 
Harold  had  materially  weakened  his  land  forces  by  sending 
many  of  his  best  men  to  man  a  fleet  of  700  vessels,  with  a 
view  to  hinder  the  duke's  escape  by  water.  This,  however, 

*  See  "  Legend  of  Waltham,"  Cott.  MSS. 
t  "De  Inventions  Sanctae  Crucis"  (Stubbs),  xviii. 


192    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

proved  to  be  a  great  mistake  of  Harold's,  for  the  fleet  had  but 
little  influence  on  the  impending  conflict.  Prudence,  it  seems, 
would  have  counselled  him  to  open  a  passage  on  the 
sea  for  his  enemies'  retreat.*  Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux, 
and  Constance,  the  half-brother  of  William,  assisted  by  a 
numerous  band  of  ecclesiastics,  administered  the  sacrament  of 
which  the  Norman  Duke  William  partook.  In  the  morning 
the  Bishop  addressed  the  army,  but  in  the  midst  of  his  speech 
he  was  interrupted  by  William  Fitz  Osborn,  who  admonished 
him  to  prepare  for  battle.  He  armed  himself  in  such 
haste,  that  before  he  was  aware  of  his  error,  he  had  reversed 
his  breastplate.  This  circumstance  was  looked  upon  by  some 
as  a  favourable  omen,  observing  that  the  time  had  come  when 
the  dukedom  should  be  converted  into  a  kingdom.  To  add 
confidence  to  his  soldiers,  he  reminded  them  of  the  justice  of 
his  cause,  and  hung  round  his  neck  the  relic  upon  which 
Harold  had  sworn  to  secure  England  for  him.f  The  Normans 
had  a  decided  superiority  over  the  English  in  the  number  and 
equipment  of  their  cavalry,  and  in  the  possession  of  a  body 
of  experienced  archers. J  Harold  had  sent  out  spies  to  in- 
spect the  invading  forces,  and  William,  it  is  said,  knew  so  well 
his  strength  and  the  good  appointment  of  his  army,  that  he 
concealed  nothing  from  the  spies,  but  caused  them  to  be  well 
feasted  and  to  be  led  through  his  encampment.  On  their 
return  to  Harold  they  magnified  what  they  had  seen,  and 
added  that  the  faces  of  the  Normans  were  close  shaven,  by 
which  they  resembled  an  army  of  warlike  priests.  Harold  is 
said  to  have  laughed  at  the  idea,  but  remarked  that  the 

*  Turner's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  406. 

t  This  refers  to  a  trick  of  William,  related  by  Hume  : — "  In  order  to 
render  the  oath  more  obligatory,  William  employed  an  artifice  well  suited 
to  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  age.  He  secretly  conveyed  under 
the  altar  on  which  Harold  agreed  to  swear,  the  relics'of  some  of  the  most 
revered  martyrs.  And  when  Harold  had  taken  the  oath,  he  showed  him 
the  relics,  and  admonished  him  to  observe  religiously  an  engagement 
which  had  been  ratified  by  so  tremendous  a  sanction."  See  Matt. 
Westminster. 

t  The  Cott.  MSS.,  Jul.  D.  6,  f.  101,  show  that  the  Norman  army  was 
four  times  as  numerous  as  that  of  Harold. 


PASSAGES   IN    THE   LIFE   AND   REIGN   OF   HAROLD.     193 

priests  would  prove  formidable  soldiers.  The  English  did 
not  shave  the  upper  lip,  but  suffered  the  hair  to  grow,  which 
had  been  a  national  custom  with  the  early  Britons.* 

Harold  and  his  army  occupied  the  hill-top  at  Senlac,  after- 
wards called  Battle,  and  there  it  is  said  spent  the  night 
in  festivity  ;f  but  the  Normans  who  rested  on  the  eminence 
opposite  passed  the  night  in  devotion.  Harold's  men  for  the 
greater  part  were  armed  very  imperfectly;  some  had  battle- 
axes,  in  the  use  of  which  they  were  very  expert ;  and  others 
were  armed  with  such  inefficient  weapons  as  clubs,  slings,  and 
even  pitchforks.  The  king  observed  the  deficiency  of  his 
own  troops  in  number,  and  so  was  careful  to  place  them  in 
a  position  where  the  superiority  of  the  enemy's  cavalry  would 
be  comparatively  useless.  They  were  disposed  upon  the 
summit  of  an  eminence,  which  upon  every  side  presented  an 
abrupt  ascent  to  the  attack  of  the  Normans,  and  yet  was 
capacious  enough  to  afford  room  for  the  whole  of  the  English 
army,  formed  as  it  was  into  one  compact  body.  The  English 
infantry  were  arranged  by  Harold  into  an  impenetrable 
wedge.  Their  shields  covered  their  bodies,  their  arms  wielded 
the  battle-axe.  Harold,  whose  courage  was  equal  to  his 
dignity,  quitted  his  horse  to  share  the  dangers  of  the  battle  on 
foot.  His  brothers,  Leofwin  and  Gurth  ("the  men  of  Kent " 
claimed  by  ancient  privilege  the  honour  of  standing  in  the 
front  rank,  and  of  commencing  the  battle),  accompanied  him ; 
and  his  banner,  in  which  the  figure  of  a  man  in  combat,  woven 
sumptuously  with  gold  and  jewels,  shone  conspicuous  to  his 
troops,  was  implanted  near  him.t  The  battle  was  commenced 
by  Taillefer,  one  of  the  minstrels  who  had  obtained  from 
William  the  honour  of  striking  the  first  blow,  and  who  ad- 
vanced upon  a  noble  steed,  singing  as  he  went  the  romance  of 

*  See  William  of  Malmesbury,  and  Julius  Caesar's  "Gallic  War,"  lib. 
v.  c.  p.  14. 

f  "  Wees-heal  "  and  "  Drink-heal "  resounded  from  their  tents ;  "  the 
wine-cups  passed  gaily  round  by  the  smoky  blaze  of  the  red  watch-fires, 
while  the  ballad  of  ribald  mirth  was  loudly  sung  by  the  carousers."  Pal- 
grave's  "  History  of  Normandy,"  vol.  iii.  p.  313. 

J  Turner's  "  History  of  England." 

O 


194   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Rolland  and  Charlemagne  and  Oliver,and  the  heroes  who  fell  at 
Roncesvalles.  The  infantry  and  archers  by  whom  the  combat 
had  been  commenced  were  driven  back  in  confusion  by  a  tre- 
mendous volley  of  stones  and  javelins  thrown  from  a  consider- 
able eminence.  And  in  spite  of  the  exertions  of  Duke  William 
and  of  the  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  the  first  line,  in  which  were  the 
Bretons  and  the  mercenary  soldiers,  wavered  and  fled.*  Thus 
the  battle  raged  for  some  time  with  the  utmost  violence  on 
both  sides.  At  length  the  duke,  perceiving  that  large  bodies 
from  the  enemy  had  broken  their  ranks  in  pursuit  of  his 
flying  troops,  rode  up  to  the  fugitives  and  checked  their 
retreat,  loudly  threatening  them  and  striking  with  his  lance. 
Taking  off  his  helmet  and  exposing  his  naked  head,  he 
shouted,  "  See,  I  am  here,  I  am  still  living,  and  by  God's  help 
I  shall  yet  have  the  victory !  "  The  courage  of  the  fugitives 
was  quickly  restored  by  the  gallant  manner  and  bold  speech 
of  the  duke,  and  intercepting  some  thousands  of  their  pursuers 
they  cut  them  down  in  a  moment.  In  this  manner  the 
Normans  twice  again  pretending  to  'retreat,  and  when  they 
were  followed  by  the  English  suddenly  wheeling  their  horses, 
cut  their  pursuers  off  from  the  main  body,  surrounded  and 
slew  them.  The  ranks  of  the  English  were  much  thinned  by 
these  dangerous  feints,  through  which  they  fell  separated 
from  each  other ;  so  that  when  thousands  were  thus 
slaughtered  the  Normans  attacked  the  survivors  with  still 
greater  vigour.f  Then  the  ranks  met  ;  a  cloud  of  arrows 
carried  death  among  them ;  the  clang  of  sword-strokes 
followed  ;  helmets  gleamed  and  weapons  clashed.  But 
Harold  had  formed  his  whole  army  in  close  column,  making 
a  rampart  which  the  Normans  could  not  penetrate.^  The 
English  banner  still  proudly  waved  over  a  numerous  body  of 
the  flower  of  the  army,  who  every  moment  expected  that  a 
reinforcement  of  their  countrymen  would  arrive  and  inspire 
them  with  fresh  vigour. 

*  Cochrane,  Foreign  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  i.,  pp.  317,  319. 

t "  Ordericus  Vitalis,"  vol.  i.,  p.  484. 
+  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  "  Chronicles/' p.  212. 


PASSAGES   IN   THE   LIFE  AND   REIGN   OF   HAROLD.     195 

As  Eustace,  Earl  of  Boulogne,  turned  round  to  the  duke 
and  advised  him  to  leave  the  field,  an  arrow  struck  him 
between  the  shoulders,  and  he  was  carried  from  the  field 
as  it  seemed  mortally  wounded.  The  contest  now  was  terrible; 
William  directed  his  archers  not  to  shoot  horizontally  at  the 
English,  but  to  discharge  their  arrows  sharply  upwards  to  the 
sky.  These  fell  with  fatal  effect  on  the  more  distant  troops. 
The  random  shots  descended  like  impetuous  hail,  and  one  of 
them  pierced  the  gallant  Harold  in  the  eye.  A  furious 
charge  of  the  Normans  increased  the  disorder  which  the 
wounded  king  must  have  occasioned.  His  pain  was  great, 
and  he  was  mortally  wounded.  As  the  evening  closed  one  of 
the  combatants  had  the  brutality  to  strike  into  his  thigh  after 
he  was  dead,  for  which  William  with  nobler  feelings  disgraced 
him  on  the  field.* 

The  papal  banner  was  by  the  Normans  directly  planted 
where  that  of  Harold  had  stood,  and  the  English  standard 
was  sent  as  an  offering  from  William  to  the  Pope.  Baker 
observes  that  William  that  day  fought  so  valiantly  that  he 
had  three  horses  killed  under  him.  But  Harold  showed  no  less 
valour  in  killing  many  Normans  with  his  own  hands.  "  Till 
at  last  King  Harold,  being  struck  into  the  brains  with  an 
arrow,  fell  down  dead  ;  upon  whose  falling  a  base  Norman 
soldier  cut  off  one  of  his  thighs  while  he  was  yet  breathing, 
which  Duke  William  hearing  was  so  much  offended  that  he 
caused  the  soldier  to  be  disarmed,  and  with  shame  cashiered." 

The  death  of  Harold,  as  caused  by  an  arrow  piercing 
his  eye,  is  confirmed  by  Master  Wace,  the  Norman  chronicler  ; 
Englished  by  Sir  Alex.  Malet  :— 

"  Thus  acting,  their  arrows  were  all  upwards  sent, 
And  downward  came  pouring  in  vengeful  descent ; 
Heads  and  faces  were  wounded,  and  eyes  were  put  out, 
They  durst  not  look  upward,  or  turn  them  about, 
Nor  lift  up  their  Vizors,  so  thick  fell  the  Show'r, 
Like  Rain,  Tempest  driv'n  by  wind  in  its  Pow'r. 

*  "  Turner's  "  History  of  England,"  vol.  i.,  p.  414. 


196      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Then  it  chanc'd  that  an  Arrow  which  fell  from  on  high, 

Smote  Harold  the  king, — and  put  out  his  right  eye, 

In  His  agony  wrenching  the  Point  from  the  wound, 

He  broke  short  the  shaft, — which  he  dashed  to  the  ground, 

O'ercome  with  keen  anguish,  His  body  all  bent, 

His  Head  wrack'd  with  pain,  on  His  Buckler  He  leant ; 

So  the  English  oft  said,  and  the  Normans  still  say, 

That  the  shaft  was  well  shot  which  was  shot  on  that  day ; 

For  they  deem'd  that  the  Archer  had  done  a  proud  thing 

Whose  Arrow  had  put  out  the  Eye  of  their  King." 

Strutt  has  illustrated  the  scene  of  conflict  thus : — on  the 
right  is  seen  the  Norman  duke  mounted  on  his  horse,  trapped 
with  his  arms ;  whilst  on  the  other  side  the  unfortunate 
Harold  is  falling  from  his  horse,  having  just  received  his  death- 
wound.  The  illuminator  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Edward  I. 
did  not  attend  to  the  dress  and  custom  of  the  times  which  he 
meant  to  represent ;  for  the  armour,  banners,  &c.,  which  are 
delineated  in  the  original  plate  were  used  in  the  era  in  which 
he  lived,  and  not  in  the  time  of  the  Conquest.  In  the  Bayeux 
tapestry  Harold  is  represented  as  an  armed  man  fallen  dead, 
his  battle-axe  flying  from  him  ("Here  Harold  king  was 
slain").  Another  soldier  is  leaning  forward  on  horseback, 
and  wounding  his  thigh  with  a  sword. 

First  among  the  noble  barons  present  at  this  remarkable 
battle  were  Eustace  Count  de  Boulogne,  William  son  of 
Richard  Count  de  Evreux,  Geoffrey  son  of  Robert  Count  de 
Montague,  William  Fitz  Osborn,  Robert  son  of  Robert  de 
Beaumont,  a  novice  in  arms,  Aimer,  Viscount  de  Thonars, 
Earl  Hugh,  the  constable,  Walter  Gifford,  and  Ralph  Toni, 
Hugh  de  Grant-mesnil,  William  de  Warenne,  and  many  other 
knights,  illustrious  for  their  military  achievements,  and  whose 
names  merit  a  record  in  the  annals  of  history  among  the 
most  famous  warriors.* 

Harold  fell  on  St.  Calixtus'  Day  ;  "  Heu  !  Ipsemet  cecidit 
crepusculi  tempore"  says  Florence,  of  Worcester,  at  the  coming 
on  of  the  twilight  before  the  darkness  of  the  Norman  century 

*  "  Ordericus  Vitalis, "  vol.  i.  p.  484. 


PASSAGES   IN   THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN   OF   HAROLD.    197 

fell  on  the  ill-fated  English.*  "This  was  a  fatal  day  to 
England,"  says  William  of  Malmesbury,  "  a  melancholy  havoc 
of  our  dear  country  through  its  change  of  masters.  For  it 
had  long  since  adopted  the  manners  of  the  Angles,  which  had 
been  very  various  according  to  the  times."  f  Long  after  the 
day  of  this  fatal  conflict  patriotic  superstition  believed  that  its 
bloody  traces  were  still  to  be  seen  on  the  ground  which  had 
drunk  the  blood  of  the  warriors  of  their  country.  These 
traces  are  said  to  have  been  shown  on  the  heights  to  the  N.W. 
of  Hastings,  when  a  little  rain  had  moistened  the  soil.J 

The  Norman  conqueror,  after  gaining  possession  of  the 
battle-field  passed  the  night  in  a  tent  which  he  had  caused  to 
be  erected  on  the  spot ;  and  where,  immediately  after,  he 
commanded  a  sacred  edifice  to  be  built  in  commemoration  of 
the  remarkable  event.  This  he  afterwards  adorned  with  a 
variety  of  presents,  and  gave  it  the  expressive  title  of  "  Battle 
Abbey."  But  this  building,  with  other  contemporary  relics 
recording  the  great  battle  of  Hastings,  has  fallen  a  prey  to 
the  devouring  elements  of  time.  William  was,  in  a  measure, 
prevented  from  executing  his  intentions  respecting  Battle 
Abbey  by  death.  § 

The  arms  inserted  infra  were  discovered  in  an  initial  A, 
in  Matthew  Paris's  Chronicle.  The  shield  of  Harold  is  intro- 
duced between  the  columns  of  text,  but  reversed  to  betoken 
his  death  ;  vide  "  Paris  Historia  Anglorum  "  (Madden),  p.  7). 
The  shield  of  arms  of  the  Conqueror,  i.e.,  gules,  three  lionsor 
leopards  passant  gardant  or.  That  borne  by  Harold  ;  azure, 
a  lion  rampant. 

THE  BURIAL  OF  HAROLD  AT  WALTHAM  HOLY  CROSS. 

The  place  of  sepulture  of  this  great  monarch  is  a  subject 
much  controverted  in  the  present  day,  and  there  are  many 
who  appear  to  be  entirely  opposed  to  the  most  authentic 

*"  De  Inventione  Sanctae  Crucis  "  (Stubbs),  18. 
f  Vide  W.  Malmesbury,  p.  278. 
+  "  Chronicles  of  England  "  (Raymond),  p.  xxvii. 
§ "  Chronicles  of  Battle  Abbey  "  (Lower),  p.  13. 


198    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

version  of  the  story.  The  writer  has  lived  many  years  on  the 
very  verge  of  where  history  and  tradition  point  as  the  burial- 
place  of  the  last  of  the  Saxon  kings,  and  he  has  long  laboured 
to  confirm,  from  documentary  and  other  sources,  the  truth  of 
what  he  firmly  maintains,  —  that  Harold  was  buried  at 
Waltham.  However,  some  persons  have  entirely  rejected  the 
authority  of  Malmesbury,  Wendover,  Matthew  of  West- 
minster, Wace,  Higden,  and  a  host  of  other  later  authors,  for 
the  fabulous  story  which  was  current  in  the  twelfth  century, 
i.  e.,  that  Harold  escaped  from  the  field  of  Senlac,  "pierced 
with  many  wounds,  and  with  the  loss  of  his  left  eye  ;  and  that 
he  ended  his  days  piously  and  virtuously  as  an  anchorite  at 
Chester."*  Both  Knighton  and  Brompton  quote  the  same 
legend.  William  Pictaviensis,  chaplain  of  the  Conqueror, 
asserts  that  William  refused  the  body  to  his  mother,  who 
offered  its  weight  in  goldf  for  it,  ordering  it  to  be  buried  on 
the  sea-coast.  In  the  Harl.  MS.  3/76,]:  Gurth,  the  brother  of 
Harold,  is  said  to  have  escaped  alive ;  he  is  represented,  in 
his  interview  with  King  Henry  the  Second,  to  have  spoken 
mysteriously  respecting  Harold,  and  to  have  declared  that  the 
body  of  that  prince  was  not  at  Waltham.  Sir  Henry  Ellis, 
quoting  this  MS.,  justly  observes  that  the  whole  was,  as  we 
shall  see  presently,  the  fabrication  of  one  of  the  secular  canons 
who  were  ejected  in  I  \TJ.\  And  it  is  singular,  as  Mr.  Freeman 
notes,  that  some  of  the  contemporary  English  writers  are 
silent  on  the  more  important  points  associated  with  Harold's 
funeral.  "  England  and  her  king,"  says  this  accurate  historian, 
"had  fallen,  and  they  cared  not  to  dwell  on  the  details  of 
sorrow.  Not  a  word  as  to  Harold's  burial  is  to  be  found  in 
the  Saxon  Chronicle,  not  a  word  in  our  English-hearted 
Florence.  The  English  biographer  of  Edward,  whose  precious 
work  has  just  been  given  to  the  world  by  the  Master  of  the 
Rolls,  does  not  even  tell  us  in  direct  terms  that  Harold  ever 
died  or  ever  reigned  ;  from  him  we  ask  in  vain  for  the  burying- 

*  Giraldus  Cambrensis.     (This  Mr.  Freeman  calls  "  a  wretched  fable.") 

t  Eleven  thousand  pounds.    See  Maseres,  in  his  "  Gesta  Guillelmi." 
J  See  Vita  Haroldi.  §  Note,  Malmesbury,  p.  235.     (Stevenson.) 


PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF  HAROLD.     199 

place  of  the  second  Judas  Maccabaeus."*  In  the  Vita  Haroldi 
Harold  is  represented  as  having  been  found  on  the  field  of 
battle,  among  the  dead  and  dying,  by  a  Saracen  woman,  who 
concealed  him  at  Winchester  for  two  years.  It  then  sends 
him  on  a  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem  and  brings  him  back  to 
England  to  spend  a  long  life  in  retirement  and  austere  peni- 
tence.f  This  Life  of  Harold,  says  Professor  Stubbs,  is  "a 
curious  but  entirely  untrustworthy  legend,"  written  apparently 
to  prove  that  the  great  king  was  not  buried  at  Waltham.J  If 
we  ask  the  monk  of  Malmesbury  respecting  the  body  of 
Harold,  we  are  told  that  William  surrendered  it  "to  Githa 
(Harold's  mother),  with  the  view  of  its  being  interred  at 
Waltham.  Pictavensis  informs  us  that  a  body,  of  which  the 
features  were  undistinguishable,  but  supposed  from  certain 
tokens  to  be  that  of  Harold,  was  found  between  the  corpses 
of  his  brothers  Gurth  and  Leofwine,  and  that  William  caused 
this  corpse  to  be  interred  in  the  sands  of  the  sea-shore,  saying, 
"  Let  him  guard  the  coast  which  he  so  madly  occupied  ;"  nor 
was  the  king  tempted  by  the  gift  of  the  sorrowing  mother,  or 
touched  by  her  tears. 

William  of  Malmesbury,  says  Mr.  Freeman,  "  does  not 
write  in  the  interest  of  Waltham  or  of  England.  He  is  a 
thoroughly  independent  witness  ;  so,  I  may  add,  are  Wace 
and  his  brother  minstrels.  So  early  and  so  extensive  a  fabri- 
cation as  their  narratives  would  imply  seems  to  me  quite  out 
of  the  question.  The  most  probable  solution  seems  to  be  that 
Harold  was  first,  by  William's  order,  buried  under  a  cairn, 
'  aggere  sub  lapidum,'  on  the  shore  of  Sussex,  and  was  after- 
wards more  solemnly  interred  in  the  minster  at  Waltham. 
The  original  order  fell  in  alike  with  the  passion  and  with  the 
policy  of  the  Conqueror  ;  it  suited  him  to  brand  the  perjurer, 
the  excommunicate,  the  despiser  of  the  holy  relics,  with  eveiy 
possible  mark  of  ignominy.  But  a  season  did  come  when 
William  might  well  be  disposed  to  yield  to  gentler  counsels." 

*  Transactions  of  the  Essex  Archaeological  Society,  vol.  ii.,  p.  34. 
•f  "  Odericus  Vitalis,"  vol.  i.,  p.  487.     (Bohn.) 

1  "  De  Inventione  Sanctae  Crucis,"  p.  xxx. 
§  Palgrave's  "  History  of  Normandy  and  England,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  320. 


200    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

The  abbot  of  Hyde  and  his  twelve  monks  made  a  fruitless 
search  for  the  body  of  the  fallen  king.  Osegod  and  Ailric,  * 
two  of  the  canons  of  Waltham  who  watched  the  battle,  were 
engaged  in  the  same  pursuit,  but  their  efforts  were  without 
effect.  "  The  find  "  was  in  reserve  for  Eadgyth  Swanneshals 
(Edith-with-the-swan's-neck),  Harold's  wife,  or  "  old  love," 
who  readily  distinguished  the  mutilated  corpse  among  the 
loathsome  heaps  of  the  unburied,  from  certain  marks  upon  it 
well  known  to  her.  This  body,  as  being  that  of  Harold's,  was 
brought  to  Waltham,  and  there  entombed  at  the  east  end  of 
the  choir,  with  great  honour  and  solemnity,  many  Norman 
nobles  assisting  in  the  requiem.  Robert  of  Gloucester,  a 
monk  living  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Evesham,  records  the 
fact  in  his  famous  Chronicle  : — 

metier  foot  ijgt  gone  foil  gerne  ftgm  fcgggote, 
meggagerg,  &  largelgrfje  Ijgm  beto  of  fyer  tfjgnge, 
grante  ijgre  gone  6otig  anertfje  fcor  to  forgnge, 

gt  gmte  tjgr  fcagtt  gnou  fogtfjoete  ntgftgnge  foaraore, 
&a  tfjat  gt  toaa  fcorn  fjgre  fcoiilj  gret  fjonour  g  fiore, 
2Eo  t^e  fjaus  of  ^ffiialtam,  &  sbrogt  amrtfje  t^ete, 
In  tlje  fjolj  rotiE  Cfjgrrije,  t^at  fje  let  Jg^  gulf  rm." 

The  historian  Speed,  quoting  from  the  Cottonian  MSS., 
says, — 

"  The  mother  of  the  slain  king  did  not  so  well  moderate  her 
womanlypassions  as  to  receive  either  comfort  orcounsell  of  her  friends, 
the  dead  body  of  her  sonne  shee  greatly  desired,  and  to  that  end 
she  send  to  the  conqueror  two  sage  brethren  of  his  abbey  at  Waltham, 
who  had  accompanied  him  to  his  unfortunate  expedition.  Their 
names  (as  I  find  them  recorded  in  an  olde  manuscript)  were  Osegod 
and  Ailric,  whose  message  to  the  conqueror,  not  without  abundance 
of  tears,  and  feare,  is  there  set  downe  in  the  tenour  as  followeth  : — 
'  Noble  duke,  and  ere  long  to  be  a  most  great  and  mightie  king ; 
we  thy  most  humble  servants,  destitute  of  all  comfort  (as  we  would 
we  were  also  of  life),  are  come  to  thee  as  sent  from  our  brethren 
whom  this  dead  king  hath  placed  in  the  monastery  of  Waltham,  to 
attend  the  issue  of  the  late  dreadfull  battaile  (wherein  God  favouring 

*  Ailric  was  a  childemaister  or  schoolmaster  of  the  abbey,  appointed 
by  Harold. 


PASSAGES   IN  THE    LIFE  AND   REIGN   OF  HAROLD.    201 

thy  quarrell,  he  is  now  taken  away,  and  dead,  which  was  our  greatest 
comforter,  and  by  whose  onely  bountifull  goodnesse,  we  were  relieved 
and  maintained,  whom  hee  had  placed  to  serve  God  in  that  church. 
Wherefore  wee  most  humbly  request  thee  (now  our  dread  Lord  by 
that  gracious  favour  which  the  Lord  of  lords  hath  showed  unto  thee, 
and  for  the  reliefe  of  their  soules  who  in  this  quarrell  have  ended  their 
dayes,)  that  it  may  be  lawfull  for  us  by  thy  good  leave,  safely  to  take 
and  carry  away  with  us  the  dead  body  of  the  king,  the  founder  and 
builder  of  our  church  and  monasterie ;  as  also  the  bodies  of  such 
others,  as  who,  for  the  reverence  of  him,  and  for  his  sake,  desired  also 
to  be  buried  with  us,  that  the  state  of  our  Church  by  their  helpe 
strengthened  may  be  the  stronger  and  indure  the  firmer.'  With  whose 
so  humble  a  request  and  abund  tearss,  the  victorious  and  worthy 
duke  moned  and  answered.  '  Your  king  (said  he),  unmindful  of  his 
faith,  although  he  have  for  the  present  endured  the  worthy  punish- 
ment of  his  fault,  yet  hath  he  not  therefore  deserved  to  want  the 
honour  of  a  sepulchre  or  to  lie  unburied  were  it,  but  that  he  died  a 
king  howsoever  he  came  by  the  kingdom,  my  purpose  is  for  the 
reverence  of  him,  and  for  the  health  of  them  who  having  left  their 
wives  and  possessions  have  here  a  church  and  a  monastery,  with  an 
hundred  monkes  to  pray  for  them  for  ever ;  and  the  same  Church 
to  bury  your  king  above  the  rest,  with  all  honour  into  so  great  a 
prince,  and  for  his  sake  to  endow  the  same  with  great  reverences  ; ' 
with  which  his  courteous  speech  and  promises  the  two  religious 
fathers  comforted  and  encouraged  again  replied, '  Not  so,  noble  duke, 
but  grant  this  thy  seruants  most  humble  request,  that  we  may,  for 
God,  by  thy  leave  receive  the  dead  body  of  our  founder,  and  to  bury 
it  in  the  place  which  himself  in  his  lifetime  appointed,  that  wee 
cheered  with  the  presence  of  his  body  may  thereof  take  comfort,  and 
that  his  tomb  may  be  unto  our  successors  a  perpetuall  monument 
of  his  remembrance.'  The  duke,  as  he  was  of  disposition  gracious 
and  inclined  to  mercy,  forthwith  granted  their  desires."  * 

In  order  to  confirm  the  truth  of  the  above,  the  writer  deems 
it  expedient  to  cite  Wace  and  other  early  chroniclers.  The 
Waltham  manuscript  "  De  Inventione  Sanctce  Crucis"  contains 
the  detailed  account  of  the  two  canons,  how  they  were  sent 
to  watch  the  progress  of  the  battle,  and  how  they  searched 
for  the  mangled  body  of  Harold  (ante).  Wace  says,  (see  the 

*   Vide  "  Speed's  History  of  Great  Britain,"  p.  409. 


202   TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

edition  of    1837)  "King   Harold  was  carried  and  buried  at 
Varham  (Waltham)  but  I  know  not  who  buried  him." 

"Li  Reis  Heraut  fu  enterrez, 
E  a  Varham  fu  enterrez." 

Which  is  Englished  thus — 

"  King  Harold  himself  (though  I  know  not  by  whom) 
To  Waltham  was  carry'd  and  laid  in  the  tomb." 

A.  le  Prevost,  commenting  on  the  mode  in  which  the  body 
of  Harold  was  disposed  of,  remarks*  on  the  difference  of  terms 
employed  by  William  of  Poitiers  and  Ordericus  Vitalis  in  nar- 
rating the  same  event.  M.  le  Prevost  observes  that,  according 
to  William  of  Poitiers,  the  conqueror  after  much  entreaty 
refused  to  give  up  the  body  to  Harold's  mother,  and  granted 
it  to  William  Malet.  Ordericus  Vitalis  says  that  the  body  was 
handed  over  (traditus  est]  to  Malet.  Monsieur  A.  le  Prevost 
says  he  prefers  the  phrase  of  Ordericus  Vitalis,  not  seeing  any 
motive  arising  from  particular  relations  ({' rapports  particulars"} 
between  Harold  and  William  Malet  to  induce  the  latter  to 
make  the  demand  implied  by  the  term  "  granted,"  employed 
by  William  of  Poitiers.  M.  le  Prevost,  however,  adopts  (says 
the  translator  of  Wace)  the  prevailing  tradition  that  Harold's 
body  was  confided  to  Malet,  and  also  that  the  interment 
was  at  Waltham :  founding  his  belief  on  the  concurrent 
testimony  of  William  of  Malmesbury,  and  the  Cott.  MS. 
Jul.  D.,  vi.,  of  Waltham  in  the  British  Museum.  The  editor  of 
Wace  considers  the  reason  to  be  a  simple  one,  why  the  body  of 
Harold  should  be  granted  to  Malet.  On  one  hand  Malet  was 
uncle  to  Harold's  queen  Alditha,  and  on  the  other  he  was 
related  to  William  of  Normandy  by  his  marriage  with  Hesilia 
Crespin."  t  Benoit  de  St.  More  writes  in  confirmation  of  this 
that  the  body  of  Harold  was  granted  "  to  W.  Malet,  at  his 
earnest  prayer,  with  permission  to  bury  it  where  he  pleased." 
The  anonymous  continuer  of  Bede's  Chronicle  says, — 

*  See  M.  Pluquet's  ed.,  vol.  ii.  pp.  205,  6. 

f  See  Master  Wace's  "Conquest  of  England"  (Malet,  1860,  410), 
Appendix  I. 


PASSAGES  IN   THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF  HAROLD.      203 

"  Corpus  Heroldi,  matri  petenti  sine  pretio  misit,  licet  ilia  per  legates 
multum  obtulisset.  Acceptum  itaque  apud  Waltham  sepelivit :  quant 
ipse  Ecclesiam  ex  proprio  constructam  in  honore  sanctce  crucis  Canonicis 
inplevcrat?  Hygden  follows  in  the  wake  : — "  Corpus  Haroldi  matri 
ejus  id  deposcenti,  sine  pretiis  misif,  quod  ipsa  apud  Waltham 
Monasterium  Canonicorum  quod  ipse  fundaverat  sepelivit"  This  is 
confirmed  in  volume  three  of  the  "  Eulogium  (Historiarum  sive 
Temporis)  :  Chronicon  ab  orbe  condito  usque  ad  annum  Domini 
M.CCC.LXVr'  (p.  38). 

The  same  has  been  recorded  by  Johannes  de  Oxenedes  in  his 
Chronica  (edited  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis,  p.  38).  "  Corpus  vero 
Haraldi  apud  Waltham  sepultus  est,  in  ecclesia  quam  ipse  ex 
proprio  construxerat."  A  poet  of  the  thirteenth  century 
writes  (4635)  — 

"  Through  the  prayer  of  his  mother, 
The  body  was  carried  on  a  bier  ; 
At  Waltham  it  is  placed  in  the  tomb 
For  he  was  founder  of  the  house."  * 

An  early  work,  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Peter,  of 
Ickham,  relates, — 

"  Le  rei  Harald  cant  il  fust  counte  fist  le  eglise  de  la  Sainte  Croiz  de 
Waltham  hu  son  cars  fu  porte  a  pres  la  bataille,  par  le  grant  le  due 
Willame a  la priere sa  mere" 

TRANSLATION. 

King  Harold  when  he  was  earl  built  the  church  of  St.  Cross,  at 
Waltham,  whither  his  body  was  carried  after  the  battle,  by  the  favour 
of  Duke  William  to  his  mother's  prayer."f 

See  also  Chronica  Monasterii  S.  Albani, — "  Anno  Gratice 
Millesimo  sexagesimo  sexto,  Haraldus  filius  Godwyni,  die  sexto 
Januarii,  seipsum  apud  Westmonasterium  Coronavit,  qui,  in 
octavo-decimo  die  Octobris  in  bello  occisus,  apud  Waltham  juxta 
Londonias  tumulatur.\  (See  Malmesbury,  ii.,  420.)  Et  jacet 
sepultus  in  ecclesia  canonicorum  quam  ipse  fundaverat  apud 

*  Lives  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  &c.,  Ed.  by  H.  R.  Luard,  (M.A.),  p.  309 
(1858). 

t  "  Le  Livere  de  Reis  de  Brittaine"  (Glover),  p.  136. 

J  Rishanger,  Chron.  Mon.  S.  Albani.  Chronica  et  Annales  (Riley), 
P-  427- 


204    TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Waltham*  In  the  Annales  de  Wintonia,  edited  by  Luard,  p. 
27,  we  have  Harold  after  the  battle  quo  sepulto  apud  Wautham 
(Waltham).  Roger  Wendover,  well  known  as  the  author  of 
"  The  Flowers  of  History,"  who  flourished  in  the  reign  of  King 
John,  affirms  that  Harold's  mother  requested  the  body  of  her 
son,  and  William  sent  it  to  her  without  a  ransom.  The 
Chronicle  written  by  Fabyan  in  the  latter  end  of  the  fifteenth 
century  remarks, — 

"  Thus  whan  Harolde  hadde  ruled  the  lande,  &c.,  he  was  slayne 
and  was  buryed  at  the  monastery  of  the  Holy  Crosse  of  Waltham, 
which  he  before  had  founded  and  sette  therein  chanons  and  gave 
vnto  them  fayre  possessyons.  And  here  endeth  for  a  tyme  ye  blod  of 
Saxons." 

Strutt,  quoting  from  an  old  work,  notes,  "  Harold  lies  buried 
at  Waltham/'f  Dr.  T.  Fuller  says,  "  Let  not  therefore  the 
village  of  Harold  on  the  north  side  of  Ouse,  near  Bedford, 
(properly  Harewood  or  Harelswood,  on  vulgar  groundless 
tradition),  contest  with  Waltham  for  this  king's  interment."  | 
The  early  biographer  of  Harold  (and  monk  of  Waltham)  "  is 
driven,"  says  Mr.  Freeman, — 

'  to  a  very  lame  device  indeed.  He  had  to  reconcile  his  beloved 
fiction  of  Harold's  escape  with  the  tradition  of  his  abbey  which 
boasted  of  Harold's  tomb.  He  is  therefore  driven  to  suppose  that 
Eadyth  found,'  and  the  chapter  of  Waltham  buried — a  wrong,  an 
intruding  supposititious  carcase,  which  down  to  his  own  time  had 
usurped  the  sepulchral  honours  of  the  last  of  the  Saxon  kings.  Now 
this  kind  of  stuff  is  simply  abominable.  It  is  neither  history,  nor 
romance,  nor  criticism,  nor  anything  else,  but  simply  a  cock-and-bull 
story  of  the  poorest  kind."  "  To  reconcile  the  details  of  the  story 
of  the  *  De  Inventione '  with  the  narrative  of  William  of  Poiton  and 
the  Carmen  is  quite  impossible.  The  mission  of  Osgod  and 
Ailric,  and  the  intervention  of  Eadyth,  at  once  become  mythical. 
Pure  invention  they  probably  are  not ;  the  story  has  that  local  and 
personal  circumstantiality  which  seems  to  imply  some  groundwork 

*  "  Annales  de  Bermundeseia  "  (Luard),  p.  424. 

f  See  "  Regal  and  Ecclesiastical  Antiquities  of  England,"  p.  6. 

J  "  History  of  Waltham,"  p.  259.  (Ed.  1840.) 


PASSAGES  IN   THE  LIFE  AND   REIGN.  OF  HAROLD.     205 

of  truth.  Indeed  the  fact  mentioned  by  William  of  Poiton  that 
Harold  was  '  quibusdam  signis  nequaquam  facie,  recognitus]  curiously 
enough  agrees  with  the  Waltham  tale  of  Eadyth.  But  that  tale  as 
a  whole  cannot  stand  ;  the  search  and  discovery  by  Eadyth  and  the 
two  canons  clearly  did  not  lead  to  an  immediate  burial  at  Waltham. 
But  that  Harold  was,  after  all,  really  buried  in  his  own  minster  I  am 
strongly  inclined  to  believe.  If  he  was  not,  how  did  the  tale  arise  ?  A 
tomb  of  Harold  was  one  which  there  was  very  little  temptation  to  forge. 
"  Harold  was  not  an  acknowledged  saint,  whose  burial-place  would 
be  a  profitable  place  of  pilgrimage.  In  the  days  of  the  Conquest 
any  attempt  of  the  kind  would  have  been  put  down  with  a  strong 
hand.  When  the  tomb  of  Waltheof  at  Croyland  became  the  scene 
of  miracle  and  pilgrimage,  the  Conqueror  acted  as  vigorously  as  the 
more  recent  French  potentate — 

'  De  par  le  Roi,  defense  a  Dieu 
De  faire  miracle  en  ce  lieu.' 

"  An  imaginary  tomb  of  Harold  could  only  have  been  set  up  from 
motives  strongly  tinged  with  political  feeling,  which  would  have  at 
once  kindled  the  wrath  of  the  Norman  Government.  In  later  times, 
when  Norman  fiction  had  had  its  own  way,  when  Harold's  name  had 
been  effectually  branded  as  perjurer  and  usurper,  such  a  fabrication 
would  have  been  still  less  likely.  But  we  need  not  inquire  into  this, 
as  Malmesbury  shows  that  it  was  currently  believed  in  the  first  half  of 
the  twelfth  century  that  Harold  was  buried  at  Waltham."  * 

Much  bf  interest  on  Harold's  burial  will  be  found  in 
the  works  of  Camden,  Rapin,  Thoyras,  Rastell,  Tyrrell, 
Keighley,  Turner,  Lingard,  Hume,  Stow,  and  others. 
The  critical  remarks  on  Lappenberg's  "  History  of  England," 
given  in  the  Quarterly  Review  for  1835,  are  well  worthy  of 
a  place  here  in  extensis,  likewise  the  MS.  ballad  quoted  by 
the  late  Dr.  Beattie  on  the  Battle  of  Hastings  and  burial  of 
Harold,  but  space  forbids.  (See  "History  of  Castles  and 
Abbeys.") 

Although  little  dependence  as  a  rule  can  be  placed  on 
the  unlimited  licence  which  all  poets  exercise  as  regard 
style  and  colour  of  character,  yet  from  the  more  sober  and 
less  sentimental  accounts  already  given  on  the  burial  of  Eng- 

*  "  Transactions  of  the  Essex  Archaeological  Society,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  36. 


206   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

land's  great  king,  there  is  really  good  ground  for  the  belief  that 
his  remains  were  interred  within  the  precincts  of  the  church 
of  Waltham,  "  which  he  let  himself  rear."  Yet  at  the  present 
day  it  is  by  no  means  easy  to  determine  the  exact  spot  of  his 
first  or  last  interment  It  is  possible  that  during  the  several 
alterations  which  took  place  in  the  abbey  church  from  the 
Norman  conquest  to  the  accession  of  King  Henry  the  Second, 
the  body  of  Harold  may  have  been  removed  from  its 
original  position.  The  writer  in  the  "  De  Inventione,"  specifies 
that  the  tomb  of  Harold  was  near  the  high  altar,  and  "  at  the 
translation  of  whose  body  for  the  third  time,  according  as  the 
state  of  the  building  of  the  church  was  such  as  to  admit  it,  or 
the  devotion  of  the  brethren  showing  reverence  to  the  body 
demanded  it,  I  can  just  remember  to  have  been  present 
myself."* 

"  This  Kyng  Herolde  at  Waltham,  which  he  found 
Of  foure  score  chanons,  full  fayer  was  buryed 
At  [the]  hye  aulter,  and  as  a  kyng  was  crownde, 
All  yf  he  were  intrusor  notifyed, 
And  in  batayl  slayne  and  victoryed 
Of  gentylnesse  the  Conquerour  had  so, 
All  yf  he  were  afore  his  mortal  fo." 

Historians  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  have 
come  to  the  conclusion — on  the  statement  made  by  Dr. 
Fuller — that  Harold  "  was  buried  where  now  (1655)  the  Earl 
of  Carlisle's  t  leaden  fountain  in  his  garden,  then  probably  the 
end  of  the  choir,  or  rather  some  eastern  chapel  beyond  it;  his 
tomb  of  plain  but  rich  grey  marble,  with  what  seemeth  a 
cross-floree  (but  much  descanted  on  with  art)  upon  the  same, 
supported  with  pillarets,  one  pedestal  whereof  I  have  in  my 
house."  %  There  is  still  preserved  in  the  north  aisle  of  the 
church  a  coffin-shaped  stone  of  very  early  date  ;  on  the  centre 
is  a  cross  in  relief,  nearly  the  full  length  and  width  of  slab. 

*  "  De  Inventione  Sanctae  Crucis."  p.  31  (Stubbs). 
f  James  Hay,  who  attended  James  I.  from  Scotland  on  his  accession 
to  the  throne. 


PASSAGES  IN   THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN   OF  HAROLD.     207 

This  stone  measures  six  feet  nine  inches  in  length,  thirteen 
inches  wide  at  the  feet,  and  much  wider  at  the  head  ;  it  is  not 
early  enough  for  Harold,  although  some  might  suppose  it  to 
have  been  the  one  described  by  Fuller.  The  stone  which 
Fuller  says  was  in  "  my  .house,"  and  purporting  to  be  a  portion 
of  Harold's  tomb,  is  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  William 
Robert  Clark,  of  Waltham  Abbey. 


THE  BURIAL  OF  HAROLD'S  TOMB. 

Some  persons  have  thought  that  the  fragment  of  ironstone 
or  Purbeck  marble  in  question  is  not  from  Harold's  tomb,  but 
simph*  a  part  of  the  Earl's  fountain  ;  no  doubt  it  formed  an 
ornamental  part  of  the  fountain  ;  but  Fuller  knew  its  history 
too  well  to  suppose  that  it  was  carved  on  purpose  for  his 
worthy  patron's  garden  fountain.  Mr.  Farmer,  nearly  one 
hundred  years  later,  says  this  fragment  "I  have  now  (1735) 
in  my  house."  It  is  "  a  curious  face  or  bust  of  grey  marble 
which  by  tradition  always  was,  and  is  to  this  day  esteemed  to 
be  part  of  King  Harold's  tomb.  This  old  townsman  (author 
of  "  History  of  Waltham  Abbey,"  &c.),  says  respecting  Harold, 
"  It  is  without  dispute  that  he  was  buried  in  the  garden  under 
a  leaden  fountain,  where  now  there  is  a  bowling-green,  which 
formerly  belonged  to  the  Earl  of  Carlisle."  *  We  come 
nearer  to  the  supposed  spot  where  Harold  was  buried  as 
described  by  Taylor — 

"  In  Waltham  Abbey  on  St.  Agnes'  Eve 
A  stately  corpse  lay  stretched  upon  a  bier. 
The  arms  were  cross'd  upon  the  breast ;  the  face, 
Uncover'd  by  the  taper's  trembling  light, 
Show'd  dimly  the  pale  majesty  severe 
Of  him  whom  death,  and  not  the  Norman  Duke 
Had  conquered  ;  him  the  noblest  and  the  last 
Of  Saxon  kings  ;  save  one  the  noblest  he  ; 
The  last  of  all."  f 

*  "  History  of  Waltham  "  (Farmer,  1735,  8vo). 
^Edinburgh  Review,  vol.lxxxix.,p.358.  Taylor's  "  Eve  of  the  Conquest." 


208     TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Both  history  and  tradition  determine  the  sacred  place  as 
being  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  from  the  east  end  of 
the  church,  the  place  of  sepulture  of  ecclesiastics  and  men 
of  high  repute  in  the  Middle  Ages.  If  in  a  direct  line  from 
the  great  centre  aisle  of  the  church,  it  would  suggest  the 
probability  of  the  tomb  being  near  the  grave  of  Mr.  Jessop 
or  that  of  Col.  S.  C.  Edenborough,  J.P.  All  that  part  of 
the  churchyard  on  which  stood  the  ancient  choir  of  Harold's 
church,  and  now  called  "  the  new  ground,"  was  evidently 
used  as  a  garden-  by  the  Earl  of  Carlisle  and  Sir  Edward 
Denny,  temp,  James  I.  and  Charles  I.  It  was  first  used  as  a 
common  burial-ground  early  in  the  present  century,  by  grant 
of  Sir  William  Wake,  Bart.,  the  then  lord  of  the  manor, 
because  the  parishioners  had  not  sufficient  room  in  the  old 
churchyard  for  interments. 


HAROLD'S  EPITAPH. 

WEAVER  gives  half  a  dozen  lines  "  of  barbarous  Latin," 
expressive  of  the  two  words,  Harold  infelix.  These  are  taken 
from  the  Harl.  MSS.,  3776,  which  once  belonged  to  the 
Abbey  :— 

"  Heu  cadis  hoste  fero,  Rex,  a  Duce  Rege  future, 
Par  paris  in  gladio,  Milite  et  valido. 
Firmini  justi  lux  est  tibi,  luce  Calixti; 
Pronior  hinc  superas,  hinc  superatus  eras. 
Ergo  tibi  requiem  deposcat  utrumq. ;  perennem, 
Sicque  precetur  eum,  quod  colit  omne  Deum." 

Farmer  has  rendered  the  words  thus  : — 

"  A  fierce  foe  thee  slew,  thou  a  king,  he  a  king  in  view, 
Both  peers,  both  peerless,  both  feared,  and  both  fearless ; 
That  sad  day  was  mixed  by  Firmin  and  Calixt ; 
Th'  one  helpt  thee  to  vanquish,  t'other  made  thee  languish, 
Both  now  for  thee  pray,  and  thy  requiem  say, 
So  let  good  men  all  to  God  for  thee  call." 


PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF  HAROLD.    209 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  EARLY  MONUMENTAL  REMAINS  IN 
THE  ABBEY. 

SOME  very  interesting  particulars  relative  to  the  remains  of 
"Harold  (as  Farmer  suggests)  are  given  by  Fuller  in  his 
"  Worthies  of  England."*  According  to  the  account  given  by 
Thomas  Smith  (an  old  inhabitant  of  Waltham,  who  died 
1 6th  June,  1604),  a  stone  coffin  of  considerable  antiquity  was 
discovered  near  the  foundations  of  the  Abbey  Church,  late  in 
the  sixteenth  century.  Fuller  gives  the  account  as  follows  : — 
"  The  ensuing  relation  written  by  the  pen  of  Master  Thomas 
Smith,  of  Sewardstone,  in  the  parish  of  Waltham  Abbey,  a 
discreet  person  not  long  since  deceased  :  '  It  so  fell  out  that  I 
served  Sir  Edward  Denny  (towards  the  latter  end  of  the  reign 
of  Queen  Elizabeth  of  blessed  memory),  who  lived  in  the 
abbey  of  Waltham  Cross,  in  the  county  of  Essex,  which  at 
that  time  lay  in  ruinous  heaps ;  and  then  Sir  Edward  began 
slowly  now  and  then  to  make  even  and  re-edify  some  of  that 
chaos.  In  doing  whereof,  Tomkins,  his  gardener,  came  to 
discover  (among  other  things)  a  fair  marble  stone,  the  cover 
of  a  tomb  hewed  out  in  hard  stone.  This  cover  with  some 
help  he  removed  from  off  the  tomb,  which  having  done,  there 
appeared  to  the  view  of  the  gardener  and  Master  Baker,  t 
minister  of  the  town  (who  died  long  since),  and  to  myself,  and 
Master  Henry  Knagg*  (Sir  Edward's  Bailiff)  the  anatomy 
of  a  man  lying  in  the  tomb  above  said,  only  the  bones 
remaining,  bone  to  his  bone,  not  one  bone  dislocated.  In 
observation  whereof  we  wondered  to  see  the  bones  still 
remaining  in  such  due  order,  and  no  dust  or  other  filth 
besides  them  to  be  seen  in  the  tomb.  We  could  not  conceive 
that  it  had  been  an  anatomy  of  bones  only,  laid  at  first 
in  to  tomb.  Yet  if  it  had  been  the  whole  carcass  of  a  man, 
what  became  of  his  flesh  and  entrails  ?  For  (as  I  have  said 
above),  the  tomb  was  clean  from  all  filth  and  dust  besides 

*  Vide  p.  320. 
f  Curate  of  Waltham.     Died  April  24,  1604. 


210  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

bones.  This,  when  we  had  all  observed,  I  told  them  that  if 
they  did  but  touch  and  part  thereof  that  all  would  fall  asunder 
for  I  had  only  heard  somewhat  formally  of  the  like  accident. 
Trial  was  made,  and  so  it  came  to  pass.  For  my  own  part  I 
am  persuaded  that  the  flesh  of  this  anatomy  to  us  became 
invisible  so  likewise  would  the  bones  have  been  in  some 
longer  continuance  of  time.  Oh  !  what  is  man  then,  which 
vanisheth  thus  away  like  unto  smoke  or  vapour  and  is  no 
more  seen  ?  Whosoever  thou  art  that  shall  read  this  passage 
thou  mayest  find  cause  of  humility  sufficient.' " 

Farmer  considers  this  coffin  to  have  been  that  of  Harold's 
But  Gough,  the  great  antiquary,  has  done  his  best  to  overturn 
all  that  has  been  written  respecting  the  remains  of  the  great 
Saxon  king  being  discovered  at  Waltham.  He  criticises  the 
words  of  Fuller  (ante)  in  the  following  manner : — "  The 
different  accounts  of  the  tomb  ascribed  to  Harold  at  Waltham 
Abbey  serve  but  to  increase  the  suspicion  that  it  was  that  of 
some  religious  of  the  house.  Fuller  says,  '  It  was  of  plain  but 
rich  grey  marble,  with  what  seemed  a  cross  fleury,  but  much 
descanted,  by  art  upon  the  same.'  By  his  Pillorets,  '  one 
pedestal  whereof  he  had  in  his  house,'  it  should  seem  to  have 
been  a  coffin-fashioned  monument  raised  from  the  ground, 
a  circumstance  not  unusual  at  that  time.  Such  perhaps  are 
represented  on  the  tomb  of  Henry  I.,  fourth  Duke  of  Lovain 
and  Brabant,  1235,  in  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Lovain  ;  and  such 
occur  among  ourselves,  particularly  in  a  north  chapel  at 
Southwell,  and  the  tomb  of  Archbishop  Sewal  at  York,  1258. 
The  situation  of  the  tomb  assigned  by  Fuller,  then  probably 
the  east  end  of  the  choir,  or  rather  some  eastern  chapel 
beyond  it,'  is  not  favourable  to  his  appropriation  of  the  tomb, 
being  neither  the  place  for  founders  or  benefactors,  nor  kings  ; 
but  rather  some  lady  chapel,  or  continuation  of  the  choir 
eastward.  Such  a  coffin  with  a  cross  rather  betone  was  found, 
1787,  in  the  north  wall  of  the  choir,  with  a  leaden  coffin 
shorter  than  it  by  eleven  inches  within  it."* 

The  same  writer,  speaking  of  the  fragment  of  stone  carving 
*  Cough's  "  Funeral  Monuments,"  vol.  ii.,  part  i.,  p.  105. 


PASSAGES   IN   THE   LIFE  AND   REIGN    OF   HAROLD.     211 

connected  with  the  Earl  of  Carlisle's  fountain,  remarks  that 
"  the  fragments  in  question  were  accompanied  with  a  pedestal 
of  the  same  marble,  about  fourteen  inches  square  and  nineteen 
high,  having  on  two  of  the  sides  two  lions  rampant  against 
a  wheatsheaf,  the  crest  of  Cecil,  and  other  ornaments  ;  on  the 
other  two  sides,  and  through  one  of  the  corners  a  hole,  as  for 
a  pipe.  From  the  particulars  of  the  cross  flueri  one  might 
refer  the  coffin  to  an  abbot." 

In  1786  a  coffin  of  Purbeck  marble  was  discovered  in  the 
foundation  of  the  north  pillars  of  the  choir.  It  measured 
seven  feet  and  a  half  long  by  two  feet  five  inches  wide  at  the 
head,  and  nineteen  and  a  half  at  the  feet,  three  inches  and  a 
half  thick,  and  eleven  deep,  shaped  at  the  shoulders.  Within 
it  lay  a  shell  of  thin  sheet  lead  shaped  to  the  body,  the  feet 
turning  up,  and  over  the  face  a  cross  faintly  marked  on  the 
head.  As  soon  as  the  lead  was  opened  the  corpse,  which 
before  was  perfectly  whole,  fell  to  pieces.  The  lid  of  the 
stone  coffin  was  six  inches  thick,  carved  with  a  cross  boton£. 
The  distance  at  which  this  coffin  lay  from  the  present  east 
wall  of  the  church  (the  north  pillar  of  the  centre  tower)  is 
about  260  feet,  so  that  allowing  the  tower  to  have  been  thirty 
feet  square,  the  length  of  the  choir  will  have  measured  230 
feet.  The  fragments  of  the  skeleton  and  leaden  wrapper  were 
gradually  taken  away  by  the  spectators,  notwithstanding,  says 
Gough,  the  resolution  of  placing  both  them  and  the  stone  in 
the  church. 

The  history  in  brief  of  this  remarkable  piece  of  stone  will  no 
doubt  be  interesting  to  many  local  readers.  For  a  century  or 
more  after  the  dissolution  of  the  monastery  this  ancient  relic 
served  as  an  ornament  in  the  abbey  gardens  belonging  to  the 
Denny  family  (1655).  Dr.  Thomas  Fuller,  the  famous  historian 
and  curate  of  Waltham,  possessed  it  for  some  time,  and 
possibly  he  may  have  left  it  in  the  parsonage-house  when  he. 
removed  from  the  town.  Dr.  Uvedale,  master  of  the  grammar 
school  at  Enfield  (in  1670),  saw  it  at  "  Waltham  Mill ;  "  that 
is,  it  was  no  doubt  placed  near  the  corn  mill  adjoining  the 
abbey,  for  we  find  it  inserted  in  the  wall  at  the  entrance  of 


212    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

the  underground  passage  near  the  church.  John  Farmer,  the 
historian  of  this  parish,  possessed  it  in  1735,  and  it  was  fixed 
in  the  wall  of  his  house  on  the  "  Bank,"  in  Highbridge  Street* 
In  1768  it  found  its  way  to  the  great  hall  of  the  old  Abbey 
House.  This  house  was  destroyed  by  fire  late  in  the  last 
century,  but  the  relic  was  preserved.  Gough,  the  antiquary, 
who  was  always  on  the  look-out  for  fragments  of  the  kind, 
possessed  it.  In  1780  he  tells  us  that  he  received  it  by  favour 
of  Sir  William  Wake,  baronet.  The  fragment,  however,  more 
than  half  a  century  since  found  its  way  back  to  Waltham 
Abbey,  and  has  been  in  the  possession  of  W.  R.  Clark,  Esq.,  of 
this  parish,  for  upwards  of  forty  years.  It  has  the  appearance 
of  dark  ironstone,  extremely  hard,  and  has  suffered  from  very 
rough  usage  at  some  early  period. 

Mr.  Gough,  the  antiquary,  had  another  interesting  relic 
belonging  to  this  abbey,  namely,  the  monumental  brass  from 
the  tomb  of  one  of  the  Waltham  abbots,  but  what  became  of 
it  afterwards  is  not  known. 

Within  the  communion  rails  is  the  tomb  of  an  abbot  of 
some  antiquity.  It  was  once  adorned  with  a  fine  monumental 
brass,  which  has  long  been  missing  ;  probably  that  possessed 
by  the  antiquary  Gough  is  the  identical  one.  Round  the 
verge  of  this  incised  slab  is  an  inscription  in  Lombardic 
characters,  but  so  worn  and  disfigured  that  no  one  can 
decipher  its  meaning.  Another  stone  adjoining  it,  and  partly 
hid  by  the  rails,  bears  the  following  inscription  : — 

"  Hie  Haroldi  in  Ccenobio 
Carnis  Resurrectionem. 
Expectat  Jacobus  Raphael 
Gallus 
Demum  Scotus,  demum  Anglus, 

Denique  nihil. 
Anno  aetat,  70 

Obit  Mar.  30  Anno  1686. 


*  Years  ago  the  houses  in  Highbridge  Street,  called  the  "Bank,"  stood 
much  higher  than  the  road,  and  a  ditch  ran  along  in  front  of  them. 


PASSAGES   IN   THE   LIFE  AND   REIGN   OF   HAROLD.     213 

The  epitaph  may  be  Englished  thus  : — 
"  Here  in  Harold's  tomb 
James  Raphael ; 

A  Frenchman, 
Claimed  both  by  Scotland  and  England 

But  now  nothing. 

Awaits  the  resurrection  of  the  body.... 
Died  March  30,  1686, 
In  the  7oth  year  of  his  age."* 

There  are  but  few  representations  of  Harold  besides  those 
on  the  Bayeux  tapestry  and  his  coins.  A  portrait  of  the 
monarch  may  be  seen  in  an  illuminated  MS.  Prayer  Book, 
written  in  England  about  the  eleventh  century.  It  is  given 
in  Montfaucon's  "Antiquities"  and  Ogbourn's  "Hist.  Essex." 
Harold  is  sitting  on  his  throne,  holding  in  his  right  hand  a 
military  banner,  and  in  his  left  a  sceptre  surmounted  by  a 
dove.  On  each  side  of  the  throne  is  a  stand,  on  which  lies  a 
book  open,  and  near  each  stand  or  lectern  an  angel  or  saint 
with  his  hand  elevated,  is  bestowing  the  benediction.  Dr. 
Fuller  states  that  a  "picture  of  King  Harold  in  glass  was 
lately  to  be  seen  in  the  north  window  of  the  church,  till  ten 
years  since  some  barbarous  hand  beat  it  down,  under  the 
notion  of  superstition.  Surely,  had  such  ignorant  persons 
been  employed  in  the  days  of  Hezekiah  to  purge  the  temple 
from  the  former  idolatry,  under  the  pretence  thereof  they 
would  have  rended  off  the  lily-work  from  the  pillars,  and  the 
lions,  oxen,  and  cherubim  from  the  bases  of  brass.  However, 
there  is  still  a  place  called  Harold's  Park  in  our  parish  (of 
Waltham)  by  him  so  denominated."  It  appears  that  in  1642 
the  churchwardens'  account-book  suffered  much  by  "  the 
soldiers,"  a  note  to  the  effect  is  written  on  the  margin.  Several 
leaves  are  torn  out.  Probably  about  this  time  Harold's 
picture  was  destroyed. 

HAROLD'S  CHILDREN. 

The  offspring  of  Harold  claim  our  attention  in  these  pages. 
Their  names  are  mentioned  in  the  preceding  narrative.  His 

*  The  parish  register  records  the  burial  of  James  Raphael,  April  ist,  1686. 


214  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

sons  were  Godwine,  Eadmund,  Magnus,  and  Ulf,  or  Wulf, 
his  daughters  Gytha  and  Gunhild.  It  is  generally  believed 
that  these  four  sons  and  two  daughters  were  the  issue  of 
Eadgyth  Swanneshals.  Not  one  of  the  family  appears  to  have 
been  exalted  to  anything  like  the  position  of  their  father. 
Godwine  held  two  lordships  in  Somerset,  and  his  name  is 
recorded  in  Domesday  together  with  Eadmund  and  Magnus. 
The  two  last-named  are  less  known  in  history  than  even 
Godwine,  on  account  of  their  being  but  youths  when  their 
father  died.  Ulf  or  Wulf  was  imprisoned  in  Normandy,  and 
afterwards  released  by  the  Conqueror  on  his  death-bed. 
Much  more  is  said  of  this  individual  of  a  very  conjectural 
nature.  Gunhild,  it  is  said,  was  cured  of  sickness  by  St.  Wulf- 
stan  ;  this  story  is  told  by  several  early  writers,  but  when  and 
in  what  way  we  are  not  in  a  position  to  say.  Gunhild  is 
supposed  to  have  held  seven  hides  of  land  in  Sussex  of 
Harold.  Gytha  married  Waldimar,  King  of  Holingard,  by 
whom  she  had  a  son  named  Harold,  from  whose  daughters, 
Malfrid  and  Ingibiorg,  most  of  the  kings  of  the  north 
appear  to  have  sprung.* 

THE  COINS  OF  HAROLD. 

Harold's  coins  are  said  to  be  numerous,  considering  the 
shortness  of  his  reign.  Nearly  one  hundred  varieties  of 
moneyers'  names  have  been  found  upon  them ;  and  he  seems  to 
be  the  only  king  who  could  always  spell  the  word  right.  The 
correctness  of  the  appropriation  of  his  coins  is  unquestionable 
from  the  close  resemblance  of  the  head  to  that  of  the 
Conqueror,  and  from  circumstances  of  their  having  been  twice 
found  in  lots  which  contained  no  other  coins  except  those  of 
Edward  the  Confessor  and  William  the  Conqueror.f 

The  penny  of  Harold  bears  on  the  reverse  the  mint  and 
the  moneyer,  and  the  type  always  consists  of  the  word 
"PAX,"  written  across  the  field;  obv.,  HAROLD  REX  ANGL. 

*  See  Freeman's  "  Norman  Conquest." 
f  "  Silver  Coins  "  (Hawkins),  p.  74. 


PASSAGES  IN  THE  LIFE  AND  REIGN  OF  HAROLD.      215 

Bearded  bust  with  a  ducal  cap  to  the  left ;  before,  a  sceptre  ; 
rev.  SNAEBEORN  ON  EON  (Exeter)  ?  And  across  the  field, 
a  tablet  inscribed,  PAX.  The  inner  circle  and  the  tablet  com- 
posed of  rows  of  dots  or  pellets.*  How  this  singular  word 
came  to  be  placed  on  the  reverse  of  this  king,  as  also  on  that 
of  Edward  the  Confessor,  William  I.,  and  Henry  I.,  and  of  no 
other,  may  be  a  matter  of  curious  speculation  to  the  antiquary. 
The  opinion  of  Sir  Andrew  Fountaine  in  Hick's  "Thesaurus," 
and  of  Mr.  Walker  in  Camden's  "  Britannia,"  who  concur  in 
attributing  to  the  son  of  Canute  the  pennies  of  Harold  with 
PAX  on  the  reverse,  is  now  generally  deemed  erroneous.t  On 
one  of  the  coins  the  head  is  to  the  right  with  sceptre ;  the 
word  PAX  on  the  reverse  is  written  retrograde.  Harold's 
coins  weigh  something  less  than  22  gr. 

*  Akerman's  "  Numismatic  Manual,"  p.  253. 
t '.'  Archasologia,"  vol.  iv.,  p.  359. 


216 


ON  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  SWISS  FREEDOM, 

AND  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  ORIGIN  OF  THE 

LEGEND  OF  WILLIAM  TELL. 

BY  JAMES  HEYWOOD,  ESQ.,  F.R.S., 
FELLOW  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

FREEDOM  in  Europe  made  a  considerable  advance  in  the 
thirteenth  century.  An  interregnum  occurred  in  Germany 
from  1250  to  1273,  and  during  that  interval  the  King  of  Hun- 
gary and  the  Count  of  Holland  entirely  freed  themselves  from 
the  homage  which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  to  the 
German  Emperor.  The  Hanseatic  League  was  formed  at  the 
same  period  between  the  cities  of  Lubeck,  Cologne,  Brunswick, 
and  Dantzic,  for  their  mutual  defence  against  the  encroach- 
ments of  great  lords,,  and  these  towns  were  afterwards  joined 
by  eighty  others.  Liberty  was  purchased  for  a  sum  of  money 
by  the  cities  of  Lombardy,  and  duly  confirmed  to  those  im- 
portant centres  of  mediaeval  civilization. 

In  Switzerland  at  that  time  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts 
bordering  on  the  lake  of  the  four  cantons  were  emerging  from 
a  state  of  feudal  vassalage  to  neighbouring  nobles,  and  were 
also  struggling  against  the  encroachments  of  powerful  local 
ecclesiastical  institutions,  which  possessed  the  privilege  of 
immunity  from  taxation. 

The  convent  of  Zurich  had  much  influence  in  the  canton  of 
Uri ;  the  monastery  of  Einsiedeln,  in  the  canton  of  Schwyz, 
possessed  large  estates  ;  and  the  convent  of  Steinen,  in  the 
same  canton,  constantly  quarrelled  with  the  peasants  of  its 
vicinity. 

A  large  Swiss  landed  property  belonged  to  the  house  of 
Hapsburg.  Its  chief,  the  Count  of  Hapsburg,  was  landgrave 
of  Argovia,  and  had  rights  of  high  jurisdiction  in  the  districts 


ON   THE   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   SWISS   FREEDOM.       217 

of  Uri,  Schwyz,  and  Unterwalden.  He  became  Emperor  of 
Germany  in  1273,  and  after  the  conquest  of  Austria  he  in- 
vested his  eldest  son  Albert  with  the  Duchy  of  Austria. 

Adolphus,  Count  of  Nassau,  was  elected  King  of  the  Romans, 
a  title  which  signified  that  the  electors  intended  him  to  succeed 
after  a  vacancy  to  the  empire  of  Germany.  King  Adolphus 
gave  the  Schwyzers  a  charter,  and  issued  a  similar  document 
for  the  inhabitants  of  Uri.  In  1292  Adolphus  was  raised  to 
the  imperial  throne,  and  was  shortly  afterwards  deposed  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Mayence  ;  the  electors  then  appointed 
Albert,  Duke  of  Austria,  to  be  King  of  the  Romans.  A  battle 
between  the  forces  of  Albert  and  Adolphus  ensued,  in  which 
the  two  rivals  met  in  single  combat,  and  Adolphus  was  killed. 
In  1303  Albert  became  Emperor  of  Germany.  His  policy  in 
Switzerland  was  to  protect  the  monastic  institutions  against 
the  peasants.  As  an  instance  of  his  power,  it  may  be  men- 
tioned that  he  obliged  the  inhabitants  of  Schwyz  to  give 
compensation  for  damages  to  the  convent  of  Schennis  by 
fire  and  robbery. 

Dr.  Huber,  of  the  University  of  Innspruck,  in  his  able 
pamphlet  on  the  forest  cantons,  gives  the  following  names  of 
bailiffs  in  those  districts  at  the  commencement  of  the  four- 
teenth century  : — 

The  noble  Werner  de  Attinghausen  acted  as  bailiff  of  Uri 
in  1294,  in  1301,  and  in  1308  (the  nth  November),  so  that 
probably  no  interruption  of  his  office  had  taken  place  after  he 
had  succeeded  to  the  knight  Arnold  de  Silenen.  In  1302  King 
Albert  issued  an  order  to  the  bailiff  Werner  de  Attinghausen, 
not  to  molest  the  convent  of  Wettingen  and  its  people,  in  Uri, 
in  the  enjoyment  of  their  ancient  privileges.  Hence  at  that 
time  there  was  no  other  representative  of  imperial  power 
in  the  district  of  Uri  but  Attinghausen. 

Under  Albert  a  Staufacher  appears  to  have  been  bailiff  in 
the  district  of  Schwyz ;  and  the  two  communities  of  Obwalden 
and  Nidwalden  were  united,  with  the  name  of  Unterwalden  ; 
in  Albert's  reign  the  bailiff  of  the  united  district  was  Rudolph 
de  Edisried. 


218  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Dr.  Huber  observes  that  as  the  Hapsburgs,  in  their  capacity 
as  counts  or  bailiffs,  had  high  jurisdiction  over  nearly  all  the 
inhabitants  of  the  land,  whether  freemen  or  people  belonging 
to  the  Church,  the  amalgamation  of  the  different  classes  into 
one  confederacy  was  thereby  facilitated. 

On  the  ist  May,  1308,  the  Emperor  Albert  was  murdered 
by  his  nephew,  John.  He  was  succeeded  by  Count  Henry  of 
Luxemburg,  with  the  title  of  Henry  VII. 

The  new  Emperor,  Henry  VII.,  confirmed  the  previous 
charters  of  Frederic«II.  and  King  Adolphus,  for  Uri  and 
Schwyz,  and  placed  Unterwalden  by  a  charter  in  a  similarly 
independent  position.  He  appointed  Count  Werner  de 
Homberg  to  be  his  bailiff  and  administrator,  but  this  officer 
was  recalled  before  the  end  of  a  year.  Probably  the  forest 
cantons  were  then  placed  under  the  governor  of  the  lands 
south  of  the  Rhine,  Count  Rudolph  of  Hapsburg-Laufenburg, 
who  was  succeeded  by  Count  Eberhard  of  Biirglen. 

Unterwalden  joined  the  league  with  Schwyz  and  Uri. 

In  1313  the  Emperor  Henry  VII.  died.  During  his  reign 
the  forest  cantons  had  been  left  to  themselves.  The  commu- 
nity of  Uri  peaceably  adjusted  its  disputes  with  the  Abbess  of 
Zurich,  on  account  of  the  taxation  of  her  immediate  posses- 
sions, and  arranged  with  the  monastery  of  Engelberg  about 
their  interests  connected  with  the  Alps. 

Convents  and  monasteries  in  Schwyz  seem  to  have  given 
the  inhabitants  great  trouble.  In  the  case  of  the  convent  of 
Steinen,  the  Schwyzers  took  no  notice  of  the  monastic  immu- 
nity from  taxation,  and  the  Schwyz  bailiff  seized  a  horse 
belonging  to  the  convent  as  a  pledge  for  a  tax  which  the  nuns 
of  Steinen  had  refused  to  pay.  Anna,  consort  of  Rudolph, 
the  king  of  the  Romans,  in  1273  ordered  this  horse  to  be 
restored  to  the  convent ;  and  Rudolph,  becoming  Emperor, 
declared  the  convent  of  Steinen  to  be  under  his  protection. 

A  league  was  formed  early  in  1291,  after  the  death  of 
Rudolph,  between  the  people  of  Uri,  Schwyz,  and  Nidwalden, 
with  whom,  in  October  of  the  same  year,  Zurich  became  asso- 
ciated. Schwyz  became  the  moving  power  of  the  confederacy. 


ON  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  SWISS  FREEDOM.        219 

The  death  of  the  Emperor  Albert  in  May,  1308,  and  the 
favour  of  his  successor,  Henry  VII.,  encouraged  the  Schwyzers 
to  enter  on  a  violent  course  of  action  against  the  monastery 
of  Einsiedeln.  They  turned  the  people  of  the  monastery  out 
of  its  estates,  and  made  inroads,  accompanied  with  murder 
and  robbery,  into  the  monastic  territory.  Three  times  the 
Schwyzers  in  armed  bands  attacked  the  monastery  and 
plundered  its  cellars. 

During  the  interregnum  which  followed  Henry's  death  in 
1313,  Twelfth-night  was  selected  by  the  Schwyzers  for  a 
night  attack  on  the  monastery  ;  the  doors  were  broken  open, 
wine  was  drunk,  and  the  church  was  robbed.  Holy  vessels 
were  destroyed,  the  bones  of  the  saints  were  torn  from  their 
tombs  and  trampled  under  foot,  and  the  consecrated  wafers 
were  strewn  on  the  ground. 

At  daybreak  the  Schwyzers  returned  home  with  their 
booty,  and  with  the  cattle  which  they  had  found.  They  also 
took  with  them  the  monks  and  their  servants  as  prisoners  ; 
but  on  the  way  they  gave  the  servants  freedom  for  a  ransom, 
and  detained  the  monks  for  twelve  weeks,  when  they  allowed 
them  to  be  set  at  liberty  on  the  intercession  of  the  knight 
Liitold  of  Regensberg,  and  of  the  Counts  of  Hapsburg  and 
Toggenburg,  who  promised  not  to  do  any  harm  to  the 
Schwyzers  on  account  of  the  imprisonment. 

Fortunately  for  the  Schwyzers,  the  electors  of  a  new 
emperor  were  divided  in  their  choice.  Part  of  the  electors 
chose  Duke  Frederic  of  Austria,  and  another  portion  nomi- 
nated Duke  Louis  of  Bavaria. 

In  the  war  which  followed  these  divided  counsels,  Louis  of 
Bavaria  rejoiced  to  find  in  the  forest  cantons  a  powerful  ally 
within  the  Austrian  territory ;  and  when  the  Abbot  of  Ein- 
siedeln had  excommunicated  the  Schwyzers,  Louis  released 
them  from  the  ban  of  the  empire,  and  persuaded  his  powerful 
partisan,  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  to  promise  absolution 
from  the  sentence  of  the  Church. 

A  breach  was  inevitable  with  Austria,  when  the  Swiss  con- 
federates had  openly  sided  with  Louis.  An  Austrian  army 


220    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

under  Duke  Leopold,  brother  of  Frederic,  on  Nov.  I5th; 
1318,  entered  the  defiles  between  the  Lake  of  Algeri  and 
the  Mountain  of  Morgarten. 

The  Austrian  soldiers  were  about  to  climb  that  narrow 
mountain  road,  when  suddenly  loose  stones  and  trunks  of 
trees  were  rolled  on  the  closely  thronged  cavalry,  by  a 
division  of  peasants  arranged  on  the  side  of  the  acclivities- 
The  knights  had  no  firm  position  on  the  hard  frozen  ground 
and  were  completely  unable  to  resist ;  whilst  the  peasants,  pro- 
vided with  pointed  nails  on  the  heels  of  their  shoes,  advanced 
with  the  greatest  security.  Their  halberds,  swung  by  strong 
arms,  shattered  the  firmest  armour,  and  beat  everything  down. 
Many  of  the  Austrians  threw  themselves  into  the  lake,  and 
the  flower  of  Leopold's  knighthood  lay  dead  on  the  ground. 

The  victory  of  the  confederates  was  celebrated  in  a  devout 
manner  ;  the  free  Swiss  ascribed  the  honour  to  God,  and  re- 
solved to  celebrate  the  day  as  a  religious  festival  dedicated 
to  the  Virgin  Mary.  A  new  league  was  formed  among  the 
confederate  cantons,  and  a  truce  was  concluded  with  the 
Duke  of  Austria. 

Gradually  the  people  of  the  forest  cantons  became  free 
from  every  control  except  the  authority  of  the  German 
empire. 

One  of  the  eye-witnesses  of  Duke  Leopold's  return  to 
Winterthur,  after  the  battle  of  Morgarten,  was  John  of 
Winterthur,  the  oldest  Swiss  writer  on  the  insurrection  of 
the  forest  cantons.  He  became  a  monk,  and  in  1340 
commenced  a  chronicle  which  extended  from  the  time  of 
Frederick  II.  to  1348,  and  has  become  a  primary  source  of 
information  for  that  period  of  Swiss  history. 

This  monkish  chronicler  was  a  contemporary  and  near 
neighbour  of  the  Schwyzers  of  that  time  ;  he  is  very  diffuse 
respecting  the  battle  of  Morgarten  and  the  events  connected 
therewith,  but  altogether  silent  as  to  any  magistrate  being 
sent  to,  or  murdered  in,  the  forest  cantons,  as  well  as  with  respect 
to  any  individual  of  the  name  of  Tell  ;  and  he  makes  no 
allusion  to  any  "  shot "  at  an  apple  on  a  boy's  head. 


ON   THE   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   SWISS   FREEDOM,  221 

Another  contemporary  historian,  the  abbot  John  of  Victring, 
near  Klagenfurt,  one  of  the  confidants  of  Duke  John  II.  of 
Austria,  gave  a  matter-of-fact  description  of  the  state  of 
affairs  in  1315,  and  although  one  of  the  best  informed  men  of 
his  time,  made  no  mention  either  of  the  expulsion  of  magis- 
strates  or  bailiffs,  or  of  Tell's  exploits. 

In  1420,  Conrad  Justinger,  who  had  been  nine  years  city 
secretary  in  Berne,  undertook  a  chronicle,  at  the  request  of  the 
town  council  of  Berne,  showing  that  Uri  belonged  to  the 
convent  of  Zurich,  and  that  Schwyz  and  Unterwalden  were 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  counts  of  Hapsburg  ;  he  clearly 
distinguished  the  first  revolt  from  the  second,  which  led  to  the 
battle  of  Morgarten ;  and  he  traced  the  two  insurrections  to 
the  unjustifiable  demands  and  excesses  of  the  bailiffs  and 
their  officials. 

Yet  this  well-informed  chronicler,  a  citizen  of  a  town  allied 
with  the  three  forest  cantons,  and  therefore  a  representative  of 
anti-Austrian  views  and  traditions,  mentions  neither  William 
Tell  nor  the  assassination  of  any  magistrates. 

Another  chronicle,  narrating  events  between  1240  and 
1462,  was  compiled  at  a  somewhat  later  period  by  one  or 
more  members  of  the  noble  family  of  Klingenberg  of 
Thurgovia,  and  is  equally  silent  about  either  the  violence  of 
the  bailiff  in  the  forest  cantons  or  about  William  Tell. 

Melchior  Russ,  clerk  of  the  Tribunal  of  Lucerne,  in  1482 
compiled  a  '•'  confederate  chronicle,"  in  which  he  states  that 
William  Tell  had  been  ordered  by  the  bailiff  of  the  district  to 
shoot  an  apple  from  off  his  own  son's  head,  under  menace  of 
being  put  to  death  if  he  should  fail  in  the  attempt ;  and  he  adds, 
"  You  will  learn  from  a  song  what  occurred  in  that  respect." 

The  chronicle  of  the  white  book  (compiled  1467 — 1476) 
narrates  the  story  of  William  Tell,  and  doubtless  formed  a 
basis  for  the  "  chronicle  of  the  confederacy,"  completed  in  1507 
by  Petermann  Etterlin,  secretary  of  the  Tribunal  of  Lucerne. 

Dr.  Huber,  of  the  University  of  Innspruck,  in  his  able 
pamphlet  on  the  forest  cantons  and  on  William  Tell,  observes 
that  from  the  song  mentioned  by  Russ  the  narrative  was 


222   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

derived  of  Tell's  imprisonment  and  Gessler's  overthrow,  as 
there  is  both  in  Russ  and  in  other  chronicles  "  a  certain 
resonance  of  metrical  compositions/'  The  most  ancient  song 
known  at  present  relating  to  Tell  does  not  date  earlier  than 

1477- 

No  authority,  either  written  or  oral,  of  more  ancient  date 
than  the  end  of  the  third  quarter  of  the  fifteenth  century  can 
be  produced  as  a  base  for  the  tradition  of  Tell,  a  legend  at 
that  time  relating  to  events  at  least  a  century  and  a  half  old. 

The  archives  of  the  canton  of  Uri  have  been  carefully 
examined  by  .Kopp,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  if  a 
family  named  "Tell"  ever  existed  in  that  canton,  but  there  is 
no  trace  of  any  "  Tell  "  in  Uri  before  the  end  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  the  name  of  William,  or  "  Wilhelm,"  is  very 
seldom  seen  in  German-Swiss  documents  of  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries  ;  that  name  even  up  to  the  present  time 
having  never  become  an  ordinary  or  popular  Christian  name 
in  the  three  forest  cantons.  It  occurs,  however,  in  the  English 
archery  ballad  of  "  William  of  Cloudesly." 

With  respect  to  Switzerland,  historical  criticism  proves  that 
there  is  no  Swiss  foundation  for  the  shot  at  an  apple  attributed 
to  William  Tell,  nor  had  such  a  legend  any  influence  on  the 
gradual  establishment  of  the  independence  of  the  forest  cantons. 

More  extended  research  shows  that  legends  of  wonderful 
feats  of  archery  similar  to  the  story  introduced  into  Switzer- 
land had  been  previously  narrated  in  other  countries. 

Among  the  "  curious  myths  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  Mr.  S. 
Baring  Gould,  M.A.,  mentions  a  Persian  poet,  Farid  Uddin 
Attar,  born  in  1 1 19,  who  had  described  a  king  shooting  an 
apple  from  off  the  head  of  a  beloved  page ;  and  in  his  poem 
called  "  The  Language  of  Birds,"  it  is  stated  that  the  boy  died 
of  fright,  although  the  arrow  had  not  even  grazed  his  skin. 

Saxo  Grammaticus,  towards  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century, 
at  the  request  of  Archbishop  Absolon  of  Lund,  compiled  a 
Danish  history,  which,  according  to  Professor  Huber  of 
Innspruck,  was  replete,  in  its  more  ancient  portions,  with  tra- 
ditions and  legendary  fables. 


ON   THE   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   SWISS   FREEDOM.        223 

Professor  Huber  mentions  from  this  Danish  work  that  a 
great  banquet  was  given  by  King  Harold  of  the  blue  teeth 
(who  reigned  A.D.  935 — 985),  at  which  one  of  the  royal 
archers,  Toko,  boasted  that  he  was  so  skilful,  that  at  the  first 
shot  he  would  pierce  the  smallest  apple  that  could  be  placed 
on  a  stick. 

The  king,  hearing  of  this,  ordered  that  the  vaunting  bow- 
man's own  son  should  bear  the  apple,  with  the  understanding 
that  if  the  first  shot  proved  unsuccessful,  Toko's  own  head 
should  answer  for  so  absurd  a  self-glorification. 

Nothing  daunted,  Toko  exhorted  his  son  to  stand  motion- 
less, took  three  arrows  from  his  quiver,  and  with  the  first 
arrow  succeeded  in  safely  accomplishing  the  feat.  On  being 
asked  by  the  king  why  he  had  taken  several  arrows  from  the 
case,  as  only  one  could  be  shot  off,  Toko  replied, — 

"  In  order  to  revenge  on  yourself  by  the  sharp  points  of  the 
other  two  the  failure  of  the  first." 

Harold  became  some  time  after  outrageously  cruel,  and 
oppressed  his  subjects  with  excessive  imposts,  until  the 
people  rose  against  him,  and  placed  his  son  Sweyn  on  the 
throne — the  tyrant  himself  having  been  mortally  wounded  in 
a  forest  thicket  by  the  archer  Toko. 

When  Christianity  was  introduced  into  Norway,  tradition 
relates  that  King  Olave  Trygvason  (995  — 1000)  endeavoured 
to  convert  Eindridi  Ildbreidt,  one  of  his  governors,  to  the 
new  religion,  and  induced  him  to  consent  to  be  baptized  .in 
the  event  of  his  being  overcome  by  the  king  in  the  three  arts 
of  swimming,  shooting  with  the  bow,  and  in  certain  per- 
formances with  short  knives. 

As  Eindridi  was  regarded  as  a  more  skilful  bowman  than 
the  king,  the  latter  proposed  that  they  should  shoot  at  a 
chessman  placed  on  the  head  of  a  boy  greatly  beloved  by 
Eindridi. 

The  king  hit  the  mark,  but  his  arrow  grazed  the  boy's 
forehead  and  made  it  bleed.  Thereupon  Eindridi,  at  the 
request  of  the  mother  and  sister  of  the  boy,  refrained  from 
aiming  at  the  same  object,  and  avowed  himself  conquered. 


224  TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Old  northern  legends  narrate  a  similar  command  given  by 
the  Norwegian  king,  Harold  Hardradi,  who  paid  a  visit  to 
Aslak,  the  governor  of  Torg  Island  and  challenged  his  son 
Fleming  to  a  contest  in  archery.  The  youth  possessed  re- 
markable skill,  and  the  king  ordered  him,  under  penalty  of 
death,  to  shoot  at  a  hazel-nut  placed  on  the  head  of  his 
brother  Biorn,  and  the  feat  was  successfully  performed. 
Fleming  requested  the  king  to  place  himself  alongside  of 
Biorn,  an  invitation  which  was  declined. 

When  Harold  invaded  England  in  1066,  Fleming  sided 
with  the  English  natives,  and  so  well  designated  by  an  arrow- 
shot,  the  place  where  the  king  was  standing,  that  another 
archer  was  able  to  recognise  the  monarch,  and  mortally  to 
wound  the  royal  invader. 

An  Icelandic  legend,  written  in  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  termed  the  "  Wilkina  Saga,"  describes  a  King 
Nidung  as  desirous  of  ascertaining  whether  a  bowman  Eigill 
was  as  skilful  as  had  been  reported  ;  so  he  had  an  apple 
placed  on  the  head  of  Eigill's  son,  a  child  of  only  three  years 
old,  and  he  ordered  the  father  to  shoot  one  shot  at  the  apple. 
Eigill  took  out  three  arrows,  feathered  them,  laid  one  across 
the  string,  and  pierced  the  apple  in  the  core.  On  being  asked 
why  he  had  taken  out  three  arrows,  as  he  was  only  allowed  to 
shoot  one,  he  answered, — 

"  My  lord,  I  will  not  lie  to  thee  ;  if  I  had  hit  the  boy,  these 
two  arrows  would  have  found  their  way  to  thee." 

This  reply  was  taken  in  good  part  by  the  king,  who  de- 
clared to  all  present  that  the  man  had  spoken  justly. 

At  Stormarn,  in  Holstein,  a  story  was  formerly  current  that 
in  the  time  of  King  Christian  I.,  a  rich  man,  Fleming  Wulf, 
dwelt  in  the  parish  of  Wewel's-flet,  who  was  the  captain  and 
leader  of  the  march  when  the  people  of  that  district  rebelled 
against  their  sovereign.  Being  defeated  and  brought  as  a 
captive  into  the  presence  of  the  king,  who  knew  his  prisoner 
to  be  a  skilful  archer,  Wulf  received  the  royal  order  to  shoot 
an  apple  from  his  own  son's  head,  the  king  promising  to  be 
merciful  if  the  shot  proved  successful. 


ON  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  SWISS  FREEDOM.  225 

Wulf,  compelled  to  obey,  sent  for  his  bow  and  his  son,  and 
safely  performed  the  exploit.  He  had,  however,  placed  a 
second  arrow  in  his  mouth,  and  on  being  asked  for  an  ex- 
planation, stated  that  if  the  boy  had  been  injured  he  would 
have  aimed  that  arrow  at  the  king  himself.  This  reply  drew 
down  the  royal  displeasure  on  Wulf,  who  was  obliged  to  take 
to  flight. 

In  the  legend  current  in  the  Faroe  Islands  King  Harold 
had  heard  of  the  prowess  of  Geyti,  a  son  of  Aslak,  and  he 
bids  the  young  archer  shoot  a  hazel-nut  from  off  his  brother's 
head.  Geyti  consents,  and  invites  the  king  into  the  forest  to 
witness  his  dexterity. 

"  On  the  string  the  shaft  he  laid, 

And  God  hath  heard  his  prayer  ; 
He  shot  the  little  nut  away, 
Nor  hurt  the  lad  a  hair." 

The  king  on  the  following  day  inquires, — 

"  List  thee,  Geyti,  Aslak's  son, 

And  truly  tell  to  me, 
Wherefore  hadst  thou  arrows  twain 
In  the  wood  yes'treen  with  thee  ?  " 

and  the  bowman  replies, — 

"  Therefore  had  I  arrows  twain, 

Yestreen  in  th'  wood  with  me, 

Had  I  but  hurt  my  brother  dear, 

The  other  had  pierced  thee."  * 

In  England  the  success  of  a  skilful  archer  in  shooting  an 
apple  on  his  son's  head  is  described  in  the  old  ballad  of 
Adam  Bell,  Clym  of  the  Clough,  and  William  of  Cloudesley.f 
These  three  Anglo-Saxon  foresters  had  infringed  the  severe 
Norman  game  laws,  and  after  various  acts  of  violence,  they 

*  Gould's  "  Curious  Myths  of  the  Middle  Ages,"  p.  1 14.     (Rivingtons, 
London.) 
f  Percy,  "  Reliques  of  Ancient  English  Poetry." 


226   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

submitted  themselves  to  the  king  and  were  pardoned  at  the 
queen's  intercession.  William  of  Cloudesley  proved  his  skill 
by  shooting  an  apple  on  his  own  son's  head,  at  a  distance  of 
1 20  paces,  in  the  royal  presence  ;  and  the  king  exclaimed, 
"  God  preserve  me  from  ever  serving  as  an  aim  to  thee  !  "  He 
admitted  Cloudesley  and  his  brethren  in  arms  into  the  royal 
archer  guard. 

Near  the  Rhine  a  similar  tradition  prevails,  the  hero,  accord- 
ding  to  Professor  Huber,  being  Puncher,  of  Rorbach,  in  the 
bishopric  of  Worms.  Puncher  was  compelled  to  shoot  at  a  small 
coin  called  a  denar,  placed  on  his  own  son's  head,  and  he  had  a 
second  arrow  in  reserve,  with  which  he  declared  that  he  had 
intended  to  kill  his  oppressor,  if  the  boy,  "at  the  instigation  of 
the  devil,"  should  have  perished  by  the  first  arrow. 

Thus  in  Denmark,  Norway,  Iceland,  Holstein,  the  Faroe 
Islands,  England,  Rhineland,  and  Switzerland — all  eight 
countries  more  or  less  of  Scandinavian  origin — the  legend  had 
been  known  to  the  inhabitants.  The  form  of  a  song  was  the 
favourite  mode  of  preserving  the  recollection  of  the  brave 
archer,  and  without  doubt  such  a  song  found  its  way  into 
Switzerland. 

Inquiries  into  local  records  afford  no  historical  basis  for  the 
Swiss  myth.  Kopp  has  shown  that  no  Hermann  Gessler 
existed  in  the  forest  cantons  at  the  period,  and  that  the  name 
of  Tell  did  not  occur  in  any  record  of  Uri  in  the  fourteenth 
or  fifteenth  century. 

According  to  Kopp,  the  narratives  relating  to  Tell  are  not 
proved  sufficiently  to  remove  these  accounts  from  the  twi- 
light of  tradition  into  the  noonday  of  historical  certainty. 

Mr.  George  de  Wyss,  of  Zurich,  is  mentioned  by  Dr.  Huber 
as  one  of  the  principal  contributors  to  the  elucidation  of  the 
ancient  condition  of  Switzerland.  The  deeds  of  a  people  and  of 
a  Government,  in  the  opinion  of  M.  de  Wyss,  must  take  the 
place  of  dramatic  feats,  and  districts  instead  of  individuals 
must  be  the  centres  of  popular  advancement. 

A  shorter  history  of  Switzerland  is  recommended  by  M.  de 
Wyss,  and  the  advice  so  given  is  now  followed  by  a  recent 


ON   THE   ESTABLISHMENT   OF   SWISS   FREEDOM.  227 

Swiss  history  in  French  being  published  without  any  reference 
to  William  Tell.  The  course  of  Swiss  national  independence 
flows  on  uncoloured  by  any  Scandinavian  legend. 

Morgarten  in  1315  was  succeeded  by  the  battle  of  Laupen 
in  1339,  and  the  crowning  victory  of  Sempach  in  1386  ;  and 
Arnold  of  Winkelried,  the  hero  of  Sempach,  is  remembered  by 
all  true  patriots,  as  one  of  the  bravest  men  whose  names  are 
recorded  on  the  pages  of  Swiss  history. 


228 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND. 

BY  JOSEPH  FISHER,  ESQ. 
FELLOW  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

IN  the  paper  which  I  read  last  year  upon  the  History  of 
Landholding  in  England,  I  described  the  principles  which  un- 
derlie the  distribution  of  land  among  the  aboriginal  inhabitants, 
the  primal  occupiers  of  the  soil.  It  is  not  necessary  that  I 
should  now  dwell  at  much  length  upon  that  portion  of  the 
subject.  I  would,  however,  refer  to  two  authorities  which  have 
weight  in  relation  to  the  allotment  of  lands. 

Sir  William  Blackstone  says,  vol.  ii.,  p.  3, — 

"  By  the  law  of  nature  and  reason  he  who  first  began  to  use  the 
land  acquired  therein  a  kind  of  transient  possession,  that  lasted  as 
long  as  he  was  using  it  and  no  longer ;  or  to  speak  with  greater  pre- 
cision, the  right  of  possession  continued  for  the  same  time  as  the  act 
of  possession  lasted.  But  there  is  no  foundation  in  nature  or  natural 
law  why  a  set  of  words  upon  parchment  should  convey  the  dominion 
of  land ;  why  a  son  should  have  a  right  to  exclude  his  fellow-crea- 
tures from  a  determinate  spot  of  ground  because  his  father  had  done 
so  before  him." 

A  more  recent  writer,  Kenelm  E.  Digby  ("  History  of  the 
Law  of  Real  Property,"  p.  3),  says, — 

"  However  its  origin  is  to  be  accounted  for,  this  idea  as  to  pro- 
perty in  land  is  nearly  universal  in  primitive  communities.  The 
land  is  regarded  as  the  property  of  the  community  at  large,  and  indi- 
viduals as  a  general  rule  have  only  temporary  rights  of  possession  or 
enjoyment  upon  the  lands  of  the  community.  The  land  is  public 
land — agerpublicus, — folc-land,  or  land  of  the  people.  Dealing  with 
folc-land  is  the  most  important  of  the  functions  of  the  chief  of  the 
community  in  time  of  peace.  In  dealing  with  it  he  always  acts,  not 
as  supreme  landowner,  but  as  the  head  of  the  community,  in  con- 
junction with  the  leaders  of  the  second  rank." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       229 

My  inquiries — I  can  hardly  call  them  studies — led  me  some 
years  ago  to  attempt  a  sketch  of  the  changes  in  the  system  of 
landholding  in  the  various  countries  of  Europe;  since  then  abler 
minds  have  worked  in  the  same  field.  As  I  pursued  my  in- 
quiries I  thought  the  systems  fell  into  groups,  and  that  the 
similarity  was  mainly  owing  to  race  ;  identical  institutions  are 
traceable  among  kindred  races.  The  necessities  of  humanity 
were  similarly  expressed.  Land  is  the  sustainer  of  life. 
In  the  language  of  the  "Senchus  Mor"  it  is  "perpetual  man." 
Hence  arose  the  need  of  appropriating  a  portion  to  every  man, 
who  would  otherwise  owe  his  life  to  him  who  possessed  the 
land  and  supplied  him  with  food. 

Time  is  a  solvent ;  the  increase  of  population,  the  division  of 
labour,  the  growth  of  exchange  of  products,  led  to  some  changes. 
The  necessities  of  conquest  set  aside  primeval  ideas.  The 
stronger  lived  upon  the  labour  of  the  weaker.  Invaders  carried 
their  customs  with  them,  and  abnormal  systems  were  sub- 
merged in  the  deluge.  The  same  usage  will  sometimes  be 
found  in  two  or  more  countries,  but  if  the  matter  is  followed  up 
it  will  be  found  to  proceed  from  the  same  cause.  The  metayer 
system  of  parts  of  France  and  Italy  is  clearly  traceable  to 
the  inroads  of  the  Burgundians  ;  they  formed  two  armies, 
one  of  which  settled  in  France,  the  other  in  Italy,  and  under 
the  name  of  Hospitalities,  or  payments  from  the  farming  occu- 
pants of  the  conquered  lands,  exacted  a  stated  annual  portion 
of  the  produce  of  the  land  ;  hence  the  word  metayer,  to  measure. 

My  inquiries  led  me  to  group  the  land  systems ;  there  are 
the  Celtic,  the  Gothic,  some  prefer  using  the  term  Teutonic, 
but  the  Teutons  were  not  one  of  the  ancient  races ;  the 
Scandinavian,  the  Sclavonian,  the  Mongolian  or  Scythic,  and 
those  of  the  peninsulas,  Turkey,  Spain,  and  Italy,  which  have 
been  more  frequently  overrun  than  the  northern  parts  of 
Europe,  and  to  whose  inhabitants  older  historians  apply  the 
term  Scythic,  but  the  inhabitants  of  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean should  not  be  confounded  with  the  Scythians  of 
Northern  Asia. 

The  diffusion  of  men  consequent  upon  the  confusion  of 


230  TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

tongues  led  the  sons  of  Japheth  *  to  settle  in  Europe,  while 
those  of  Shem  and  Ham  took  Asia  and  Africa.  The  seven 
sons  of  Japheth  were  Corner,  from  whom  the  Celts  are  de- 
scended ;  Magog,  the  Mongols  or  Scythians ;  Madai,  the 
Sclaves  ;  Tubal,  the  Goths  ;  Tims,  the  Scandinavians  ;  Javan 
and  Mesliecli,  the  inhabitants  of  the  isles  of  Greece,  Turkey, 
Italy,  and  Spain,t  who  were  called  Scythians,  but  must  not  be 
confounded  with  the  Mongols,  or  Magode,  who  are  traced  by 
Josephus  to  Magog. 

Some  recent  writers  overlook  the  most  ancient  and  trust- 
worthy of  histories,  and  prefer  the  writings  of  Herodotus  or 
Strabo  to  those  of  Moses.  The  latter  are,  in  my  opinion, 
more  authentic,  and  tell  us  that  the  descendants  of  Noah 
peopled  the  whole  earth.  The  new  theory  of  develop- 
ment, which  is  pushed  very  far,  not  only  with  regard  to  the 
origin  of  the  human  race,  but  to  the  origin  of  institutions, 

*  Gen.  x.  2 — 5  :  "  The  sons  of  Japheth ;  Corner,  and  Magog,  and 
Madai,  and  Javan,  and  Tubal,  and  Meshech,  and  Tiras.  And  the  sons 
of  Corner;  Ashkenaz,  and  Riphath,  and  Togarmah.  And  the  sons  of 
Javan  ;  Elishah,  and  Tarshish,  Kittim,  and  Dodanim.  By  these  were 
the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  divided  in  their  lands ;  every  one  after  his  tongue, 
after  their  families,  in  their  nations." 

j-  The  Israelites  and  the  Jews  continued  to  apply  to  the  races  inhabiting 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  the  names  of  their  ancestors.  Thus 
Isaiah,  chap,  xxiii.,  in  predicting  the  fall  of  Tyre,  says,  "  Howl,  ye  ships 
of  Tarshish;  for  it  is  laid  waste,  so  that  there  is  no  house,  no  entering 
in  from  the  land  of  Chtttim"  And  again,  chap.  Ixvi.  19,  "  I  will  send 
those  that  escape  unto  the  nations,  to  Tarshish,  Pul,  and  Lud,  that  draw 
the  bow,  to  Ttibal,  and  Javan,  to  the  isles  afar  off."  This  was 
written  about  1,700  years  after  the  deluge,  but  it  shows  that  the  Jews  of 
that  day  preserved  the  nomenclature  of  a  bygone  age,  and  attributed  the 
settlement  of  the  Mediterranean  to  the  sons  of  Japheth,  three  of  whom  are 
stated  by  name  in  the  latter  passage.  Ezekiel,  speaking  of  Tyre  (chap, 
xxvii.),  writes,  "  Tarshish  was  thy  merchant  by  reason  of  the  multitude  of 
all  kinds  of  riches ;  with  silver,  iron,  tin,  and  lead,  they  traded  in  thy 
fairs.  Javan,  Tubal,  and  Meshech,  they  were  thy  merchants  :  they 
traded  the  persons  of  men  and  vessels  of  brass  in  thy  market.  They 
of  the  house  of  Togarmah  traded  in  thy  fairs  with  horses  and  horsemen 
and  mules.  The  men  of  Dedan  \_Dodanim~\  were  thy  merchants  ;  many 
isles  were  the  merchandise  of  thine  hand." 


THE    HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.        231 

traces  man  to  the  monkey ;  those  who  advocate  this  theory 
have  never  shown  when  the  power  of  developing  monkeys 
into  men,  if  it  ever  existed,  ceased.  If  it  existed  it  would 
continue ;  and  unless  they  can  produce  a  man-monkey,  or  a 
monkey-man,  they  fail  to  prove  that  a  monkey  ever  developed 
into  a  man,  and  leave  the  Biblical  narrative  intact. 

Language  and  institutions  have  followed  the  path  of 
conquest.  Mr.  Latham,  one  of  the  most  painstaking  writers 
of  philology,  asks  ("  Elements  of  Philology/'  p.  611), — 

"  Has  the  Sanskrit  reached  India  from  Europe,  or  have  the 
Lithuania,  the  Slavonic,  the  Latin,  the  Greek,  and  the  German, 
reached  Europe  from  India  ?  If  historical  evidence  be  wanting,  the 
&  priori  presumption  must  be  considered.  I  submit  history  is  silent, 
and  that  the  presumptions  are  in  favour  of  the  smaller  class  having 
been  deduced  from  the  area  of  the  larger,  rather  than  vice  versa. 
If  so,  the  situs  of  the  Sanskrit  is  on  the  eastern  or  south-eastern 
frontier  of  the  Lithuanic,  and  its  origin  is  European."  He  adds,  "  A 
mile  is  a  mile,  and  a  league  a  league,  from  whatever  end  it  is  measured ; 
and  it  is  no  further  from  the  Danube  to  the  Indus  than  from  the 
Indus  to  the  Danube.  .  .  .  The  fact  of  a  language  being  not 
only  projected,  so  to  say,  to  another  region,  but  entirely  lost  in  its 
own,  is  anything  but  unique.  There  is  no  English  in  Germany. 
A  better  example,  however,  is  found  in  the  Magyar  of  Hungary,  of 
which  no  trace  is  to  be  found  within  some  700  miles  of  its  present 
area.  Yet  the  Magyar  is  not  twelve  hundred  years  old  in  Europe." 

The  absence  of  English  from  Germany,  is  quite  in  harmony 
with  my  assertions  that  the  Anglo-Saxons  were  Scandinavian, 
and  that  there  was  a  complete  migration  of  the  Jutes,  the 
Angles,  and  the  Saxons,  from  the  north  of  the  Elbe  into 
England,  in  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries. 

Looking  at  settlements  from  a  philological  point  of  view, 
it  appears  that  the  use  of  duplicate  words  is  evidence  of 
conquest;  that  such  words  as  omnipotent,  almighty, 
omniscient,  all-seeing,  ox,  beef,  sheep,  mutton,  bear  the  impress 
of  two  races,  the  conqueror  and  the  conquered.  Institutions 
bear  the  same  imprint,  though  it  is  more  difficult  to  separate 
their  component  parts  than  it  is  to  follow  the  stream  of 


232  TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

language  ;  but  if  we  could  follow  back  the  branch  to  the 
trunk,  we  should  arrive  at  the  point  of  separation,  which 
is  also  the  point  of  union. 

Herodotus  gives  the  Celts  the  large  domains  of  Central 
Europe  north  of  the  Danube,  extending  from  the  Black 
Sea  to  the  ocean.  There  has  been  a  westward  movement  of 
ancient  races ;  the  Mongols  have  possessed  themselves  of 
parts  of  the  land  of  the  Scandinavians  and  the  Sclaves,  the 
Scandinavians,  of  some  of  those  of  the  Celts,  the  Sclaves  have 
taken  those  of  the  Goths,  the  Goths  have  swarmed  over  into 
Celtic  possessions,  and  also  into  the  peninsulas  of  Italy  and 
Spain  ;  while  the  Turks,  the  only  Asiatic  rulers  in  Europe, 
have  held  for  several  centuries  part  of  the  domains  of  the 
Southern  Scythians.  I  have  depicted  upon  maps  of  Europe 
the  location  of  these  races,  in  ancient  and  in  the  present  time, 
and  may  perhaps  publish  them  and  the  result  of  my  re- 
searches at  some  future  time. 

My  present  task  is  to  deal  with  that  portion  of  the  Celtic 
race  which  settled  in  Ireland,  and  where,  being  out  of  the  high 
road  of  invasion,  the  ancient  institutions  remained  uneffaced 
long  after  they  had  disappeared  elsewhere.  The  general 
characteristic  of  the  Celts  was  an  unwarlike  disposition  ; 
being  the  original  occupiers  of  fertile  regions,  they  spread 
westward,  yet  found  nothing  to  war  with,  hence  there  was  an 
absence  of  any  domineering  or  defensive  organization.  Their 
institutions  appear  to  have  been  expressed  in  the  cry  of 
Celtic  France  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  "  Equality, 
Liberty,  Fraternity."  The  descendants  of  Gomer,  the  parent 
of  the  Celts,  broke  up  into  separate  families,  each  governed 
by  a  patriarch;  disintegration  was  followed  by  integration,  the 
family  grew  into  the  clan,  sept,  or  tribe  which  was  the  joint 
owner  of  the  land  occupied  by  the  progenitor,  with  a 
life  possession  to  each  of  his  descendants.  There  was  a 
distinct  limitation  of  the  lands  to  the  whole  of  his  descendants, 
not  to  one  portion  to  the  detriment  of  others,  each  gene- 
ration had  the  power  of  apportionment  for  life,  and  hence  a 
dissimilarity  in  the  size  of  the  possessions.  The  lands  be- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.        233 

longed  to  the  Commune,  the  primal  owners,  but  were  appor- 
tioned to  the  individuals  composing  the  Commune,  according 
to  their  age  and  worthiness.  This  arrangement  relates,  how- 
ever, solely  to  land  which  was  created  for  the  use  of  man,  and 
did  not  affect  chattels,  which  being  the  products  of  each 
man's  industry,  or  the  result  of  his  self-denial,  were  his 
property  and  at  his  own  disposal. 

The  necessity  of  combined  action  for  defensive  purposes 
led  to  the  union  of  tribes  under  a  common  chief,  but  each 
preserved  its  own  leader  and  usages,  and  hence,, arose  what  is 
called  "Customary  laws."  These  were  at  various  times  col- 
lected and  written  down,  and  form  the  basis  of  the  Brehon 
code,  from  the  Brehons  or  judges  who  were  instructed  in  and 
administered  it.  The  land  system  is  called  Tanistry,  from  the 
Tanist,  an  officer  elected  to  succeed  the  chieftain,  whose  main 
office  was  to  divide  the  land  of  the  tribe  among  the  living 
members  thereof;  he  was,  in  fact,  a  trustee  and  heir  to  the  land 
of  each  of  the  sept  or  clan,  and  made  such  a  division  as 
suited  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  I  shall  hereafter  de- 
scribe that  process  in  detail. 

Ireland  appears  to  have  become  known  to  the  Greeks  about 
200  years  B.C.;  they  gave  it  the  title  of  "  Juveonei ;  "  Caesar 
calls  it  "  Hibernia,"  and  says  it  was  about  half  the  size  of 
England.  Ptolemy  gives  a  map  of  Ireland,  which  is  superior 
in  accuracy  to  that  of  Scotland.  The  Belgae  had  colonized 
the  eastern  coasts  of  England  about  two  centuries  before 
Caesar's  invasion.  It  is  supposed  that  they  settled  in  Ireland, 
where  they  were  called  Firbolgs  ;  the  Romans  called  them 
Scuti,  and  the  land  Scota,  by  which  name  it  was  known  in 
Europe  until  the  twelfth  century. 

Hume,  who  evidently  considered  the  Gauls  and  Irish  were 
Celts,  writes  (Essay  xi.  vol.  ii.  p.  463), — 

"  We  are  informed  by  Caesar  that  the  Gauls  had  no  fixed  property 
in  land,  but  that  the  chieftains,  when  any  death  happened  in  a 
family,  made  a  new  division  of  all  the  land  among  the  several 
members  of  the  family.  This  is  the  custom  of  tanistry  which  so 
long  prevailed  in  Ireland." 


234  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Tacitus,  who  wrote  A.D.  78,  says  of  Ireland, — 

"  The  soil  and  climate,  and  the  disposition  and  habits  of  the 
people,  differ  not  much  from  Britain  ;  the  approaches  to  the  country 
and  its  ports  are  better  known  through  the  commercial  intercourse 
of  merchantmen." 

This  implies  a  state  greatly  in  advance  of  that  which  pre- 
vailed either  in  Gaul  or  Britain. 

The  Psalter  of  Cashel  asserts  that  Milesius,  who  had  thirty- 
two  sons,  of  whom  eight  arrived  in  Ireland,  landed  in  that 
country  1,300  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ.  Amongst  the 
successors  of  the  sons  of  Milesius,  were  Heber-Heremon  and 
Ish,  and  Gadelas,  from  Gawth  Del,  a  lover  of  learning  ;  of 
these  kings  it  is  said, — 

"  A  hundred  and  ninety-seven  years  complete 
The  Tuatha  ah  Danaus,  a  famous  colony 
The  Irish  sceptre  swayed." 

The  most  celebrated  of  these  monarchs  was  Ollamb  Fodhla, 
who  reigned  A.M.  3082.  Keating,  the  historian,  says, — 

"  He  summoned  his  principal  nobility,  his  Druids,  the  poets,  and 
historiographers  to  meet  him  in  a  full  assembly  at  Tara  once  in  every 
three  years,  to  revise  the  body  of  the  established  laws,  and  to  change 
or  correct  them  as  the  exigence  of  affairs  required  ;  in  testimony  of 
this  I  shall  produce  the  following  verses  of  great  antiquity,  and  to 
be  found  in  writings  of  good  authority : — 

"  The  learned  Ollamb  Fodhla  first  ordained 
The  great  assembly  where  nobles  met, 
And  priests,  and  poets,  and  philosophers, 
To  make  new  laws  and  to  correct  the  old, 
And  to  advance  the  honour  of  the  country.'" 

Plowden  ("Historical  Review  of  Ireland,"  p.  15)  thus 
describes  the  assemblage  of  the  Irish  chapters  in  the  reign  of 
Ollamb  Fodlah:— 

"  Under  him  was  instituted  the  great  Fes  at  Tramor  or  Tarah, 
which  was,  in  fact,  a  triennial  convention  of  the  States  or  Parliament, 
the  members  of  which  consisted  of  Druids  and  other  learned  men 
who  represented  the  people  in  that  assembly.  Thus  the  monarch 
and  the  provincial  and  other  kings  who  had  the  executive  power  in 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.        235 

their  hands  on  one  side,  and  the  philosophers  and  priests,  together 
with  the  deputies  of  the  people  on  the  other,  formed  the  whole  of 
the  ancient  legislature.  They  particularly  devoted  themselves  to  the 
examination  and  settlement  of  the  historical  antiquities  and  annals 
of  the  kingdom;  they  were  rehearsed  and  privately  inspected  by  a 
select  committee  of  the  most  learned  members.  When  they  had 
passed  the  approbation  of  the  assembly  they  were  transcribed 
into  the  authentic  chronicle  of  the  nation,  which  was  called  the 
register  or  Psalter  of  Tara/i." 

The  seats  of  the  members  of  the  great  council  were 
indicated  by  hanging  their  coats  of  arms  on  the  wall  over 
them,  thus  evincing  a  complete  knowledge  of  heraldry. 

The  Brehon  Code  dates  as  far  back  as  the  reign  of  Ollamb 
Fodhla,  850  B.C.,  and  existed  unbroken  until  the  invasion  of 
Henry  II.,  1171  A.D.,  a  period  of  over  two  thousand  years.  It 
continued  to  be  the  law  of  that  portion  of  Ireland  not  under 
English  rule  until  1603,  when  it  was  abolished  by  resolutions 
of  the  Irish  judges.  Ollamb  Fodhla  was  a  contemporary  of 
Hezekiah  king  of  Judah.  The  codification  of  the  Irish  laws 
took  place  before  the  Median  kingdom  arose,  before  the 
Grecian  republics  were  formed,  before  Rome  was  founded. 
Being  based  upon  principles  of  natural  justice,  and  suited  to 
the  requirements  of  humanity,  it  survived  the  fall  of  these 
greater  states,  and  was  displaced  to  make  room  for  a  system 
which  does  not  possess  the  same  advantages,  but  gives  the 
control  of  the  land  to  a  small  class,  and  leaves  the  mass  of 
the  people  to  struggle  for  its  possession. 

The  history  of  landholding  in  Ireland  possesses  an 
additional  attraction,  it  throws  light  upon  the  earlier  in- 
stitutions of  the  Celtic  race.  The  Irish  were  not  an 
unmixed  race.  The  pre-Christian  period  of  Irish  history 
is  marked  with  traces  of  an  invasion  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean, most  probably  of  a  Semitic  character,  and  the  post- 
Christian  period  has  distinct  traces  of  evangelization  direct 
from  Syria.  Those  problems  in  stone,  the  Irish  round 
towers,  which  have  excited  the  curiosity  and  study  of  so 
many  learned  men,  without  affording  a  tangible  solution,  have 


236  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

always  appeared  to  me  to  be  of  Semitic  origin.  The  poetic 
remains  of  Irish  history  point  to  an  invasion  of  Ireland  from 
Egypt,  on  the  expulsion  of  the  dynasty  when  "  a  king  arose 
who  knew  not  Joseph."  The  milder  climate  of  the  East 
permitted  the  unroofed  existence  of  the  sacred  fires,  which 
in  the  humid  climate  of  Ireland  required  some  covering ; 
the  round  towers,  from  their  elevation,  would  display  the 
sacred  gleams  to  large  districts.  The  introduction  of  Christi- 
anity naturally  led  to  the  erection  of  the  church  in  proximity 
to  the  round  tower,  and  in  some  cases  to  its  use  as  a  belfry. 
The  abrasions  from  the  friction  of  a  rope  or  chain  on  some 
of  the  window-sills  prove  that  there  was  a  rude  adaptation  of 
an  existing  edifice  to  more  modern  requirements. 

The  land  system  of  the  earlier  Irish  race  is  described  by 
the  term  TANISTRY.  It  is  derived  from  the  office  of  the 
Tanist,  whose  duty  was  to  divide  the  land  of  the  sept  or 
tribe  among  the  members.  The  tribe  selected  the  tanist, 
who  succeeded  to  the  chiefry  upon  the  death  of  the  chief. 
I  shall  have  to  refer  to  his  mode  of  election  and  duties 
further  on,  but  it  may  be  convenient  to  divide  the  subject 
into  the  following  : — 

ist  The  Tanistry,  or  Communal. 

2nd.  The   Scandinavian,  or  Mixed. 

3rd.  The  Norman,  or  Feudal. 

4th.  The   Stuart,  or  Confiscation. 

5th.  The  Hanoverian,  or  Unsettled. 

6th.  The  Present. 

PART  I.— THE  TANISTRY  OR  COMMUNAL  PERIOD. 

The  term  tanistry  was  applied  to  a  system  of  landholding 
in  which  the  land  belonged  to  the  commune  while  possession 
was  given  to  the  individual.  It  took  its  name  from  the  Tanist, 
who  was  next  in  point  of  rank  and  influence  to  the  chieftain,  and 
succeeded  to  the  vacant  chiefry.  He  was  elected  by  the  sept 
or  lineage,  and  was  the  distributor  of  its  lands.  The 
Tanistry  system,  though  communal,  inasmuch  as  no  man  held 
the  land  in  severalty,  differed  in  many  respects  from  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.          237 

village  communities  of  Russia  and  India.  It  approached  very 
nearly  to  that  of  New  Zealand.  The  ancient  Irish  law  tracts, 
to  which  I  shall  hereafter  call  your  attention,  neither  enact 
nor  describe  it.  The  system  appears  to  have  been  antecedent 
to  any  written  law,  and  to  have  been  recognised  as  an  existing 
institution  in  the  same  way  that  customs  in  England  prove 
common  law  rights  which  rest  upon  the  lex  non  scripta. 

The  descriptions  which  we  possess  of  this  system  are  com- 
paratively modern,  and  they  are  written  by  strangers,  Edmund 
Spenser  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  Sir  John  Davis 
in  that  of  James  I.  The  latter  filled  the  office  of  attorney- 
general,  and  both  looked  upon  the  Irish  Tanistry  system  as 
uncouth  and  barbarous. 

The  customs  of  the  Irish  people,  as  described  by  Spenser 
and  Davis,  must  have  been  more  or  less  tinged  by  the  inter- 
mixture of  Scandinavian,  Norman,  or  feudal  ideas,  from  con- 
tact with  the  Easterlings,  the  Danes,  and  the  Anglo-Norman 
invaders,  who  had  partly  occupied  or  ruled  the  country  for 
several  hundred  years  before  Spenser.  Yet  its  inherent 
vitality,  and  its  thorough  adaptation  to  the  wants  of  humanity, 
preserved  it  intact.  The  author  of  "  The  Faerie  Queen  " 
was  an  Irish  landholder,  resident  on  the  borders  of  the  counties 
Cork  and  Waterford.  In  his  "View  of  Ireland,"  he  thus 
describes  the  system  of  tanistry  which  existed  at  that  time  : — 

"  There  be  many  wide  counties  in  Ireland  which  the  laws  °f 
England  were  never  established  in,  nor  any  acknowledgment  of  sub- 
jection made,  and  also  even  those  which  are  subdued  and  seem  to 
acknowledge  subjection,  yet  the  same  Brehon  law  is  practised 
amongst  themselves  by  reason  that  dwelling  as  they  do,  whole  nations 
and  septs  of  the  Irish  together,  without  any  Englishman  among  them, 
the  Irish  say  that  their  ancestors  had  no  estate  in  any  lands,  seign- 
ories,  or  hereditaments,  longer  than  during  their  own  lives,  as  they 
allege,  for  all  the  Irish  do  hold  their  land  by  tanistry,  which  is  (say 
they)  no  more  but  personal  estate  for  his  lifetime,  that  is  tanist,  by 
reason  that  he  is  admitted  thereunto  by  election  of  the  country. 

"  It  is  a  custom  among  all  the  Irish  that  presently  after  the  death 
of  any  of  their  chief  lords  or  captains  they  do  presently  assemble 
themselves  to  a  place  generally  appointed  and  known  unto  them,  to 


238  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

choose  another  in  his  stead,  when  they  do  nominate  and  elect  for  the 
most  part  not  the  eldest  son,  nor  any  of  the  children  of  the  lord 
deceased,  but  the  next  to  him  of  blood  that  is  the  eldest  and  worthiest, 
as  commonly  the  next  brother  unto  him  if  he  have  any,  or  the  next 
cousin,  or  so  forth,  as  any  elder  in  that  kindred  or  sept,  and  then  next 
to  him  do  they  choose  the  next  of  the  blood  to  be  tanist,  who  shall 
next  succeed  him  in  the  said  captaincy  if  he  live  thereunto. 

"  They  use  to  place  him  that  shall  be  their  chieftain  upon  a  stone 
always  reserved  for  that  purpose,  and  placed  commonly  upon  a  hill, 
in  some  of  which  I  have  seen  formed  and  engraven  a  foot,  which 
they  say  is  the  measure  of  their  first  captain's  foot,  wherein  he  stand- 
ing receives  an  oath  to  preserve  all  the  ancient  former  customs  in- 
violable, and  to  deliver  up  the  succession  peaceably  to  his  tanist,  and 
then  hath  a  wand  delivered  unto  him  by  some  whose  proper  office 
that  is ;  after  which  descending'  from  the  stone  he  turneth  himself 
round,  thrice  forward  and  thrice  backward. 

"  For  when  their  captain  dieth,  if  the  seignory  should  descend  to 
his  child,  and  he  perhaps  an  infant,  another  might  peradventure  step 
in  between  and  thrust  him  out  with  a  strong  hand.  The  tanist  is 
always  ready  known,  if  it  should  happen  the  captain  suddenly  to  die,, 
or  to  be  slain  in  battle,  or  to  be  out  of  the  country  to  defend  and 
keep  it  from  all  doubts  and  dangers.  For  which  cause  the  tanist 
hath  also  a  share  of  the  country  allotted  to  him,  and  certain  cuttings 
and  spendings  upon  all  the  inhabitants  under  the  lord." 

It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  this  description  of  the 
inauguration  of  the  tanist,  the  object  of  his  appointment,  and 
the  duties  he  was  expected  to  perform,  is  from  the  pen  of  an 
Englishman,  and  written  in  the  latter  portion  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  after  an  interval  of  several  hundred  years  from  the 
landing  of  Henry  II.,  which  event  followed  three  centuries  of 
struggle  against  the  Danes  and  Easterlings. 

A  few  years  later,  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  Sir  John  Davis,  also  an  Englishman,  who  occupied 
the  position  of  attorney-general  to  James  I.,  and  who  looked  on 
the  existing  system  as  a  lawyer,  wrote  thus  ("Reports," p.  134): — 

"  First,  it  is  to  be  known  that  the  land  possessed  by  the  mere 
Irish  were  divided  into  several  territories  or  counties,  and  the 
inhabitants  of  every  Irish  county  were  divided  into  septs  or  lineages. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.          239 

Second,  in  every  Irish  territory  there  was  a  lord  or  chieftain,  and 
a  tanisty  who  was  his  successor  apparent;  and  of  every  Irish  sept 
or  lineage  there  was  also  a  chief,  who  was  called  Cean  Finny  (Cean 
Fini).    Third,  all  possession  within  these  Irish  territories  ran  always 
in    the    course    of    tanistry,  or  in  course    of  gavelkind.      Every 
seignory  or  chiefry,  with  the  portion  of  land  which  passed  with  it, 
went  without  partition  to  the  tanist,  who  always  came  in  by  election  or 
strong  hand,  and  not  by  descent ;  but  all  the  inferior  tenancies  were 
partible  between  the  males  in  gavelkind.    Yet  the  estate  the  lord 
had  in  chiefry,  or  the  inferior  tenants  had  in  gavelkind,  was  not  an 
estate  of  inheritance,   but   of  temporary  or  transitory  possession. 
For  as  the  next  heir  to  the  lord  or  chieftain  was  not  to  inherit  the 
chiefry,  but  the  eldest  and  worthiest  of  the  sept,  who  was  often 
removed  or  expelled  by  another  who  was  more  active  and  strong 
than  he,  so  the  lands  of  the  nature  of  gavelkind  were  not  partible 
among  the  next  heirs  male  of  him  who  died  seised,  but  among  the 
sept  in  this  manner : — The  Caen  finny  or  chief  of  a  sept  (who  was 
commonly  the  most  ancient  of  the  sept),  made  all  the  partitions  at 
his  discretion ;  and  after  the  death  of  any  ter-tenant,  who  had  a 
competent  portion  of  land,  assembled  the  sept,  and  having  thrown  all 
their  possessions  into  hotchpot,  made  a  new  partition  of  all,  in  which 
partition  he  did  not  assign  to  the  son  of  him  who  died  the  portion 
his  father  had,  but  he  allotted  to  each  of  the  sept  according  to  his 
seniority  the  better  or  greater  portion ;  these  portions  or  purparties 
being  so  allotted  or  assigned  were  possessed  and   enjoyed  accord- 
ingly until  a  new  partition  was  made,  which  at  the  discretion  or  will 
of  the  Caen  finny  was  to  be  made  on  the  death  of  each  inferior  tenant." 

The  great  difference  between  gavelkind  and  tanistry*  lay  in 
this, — the  former,  gavelkind,  divided  a  man's  land  between  his 
sons,  each  of  whom  thereby  acquired  as  large  an  estate  in  his 
separate  portion  as  his  father  had,  and  on  his  death  it  was 
again  divided  between  the  sons  of  each  of  them,  it  being 
essentially  a  division  per  stirpes.  The  latter,  tanistry,  did  not 
give  a  man's  land  to  his  sons,  it  reverted  to  the  sept,  and  each 
of  the  sons  got  a  portion  of  the  lands  of  the  sept,  but  it  was 
only  a  life  enjoyment.  Under  gavelkind  there  was  ownership 
in  severalty,  which  did  not  exist  under  tanistry. 

*  The  proper  term  would  be  Gablcach  cime. 


240   TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

The  tanistry  system  seems  to  have  been  based  upon  the 
idea  expressed  in  Sir  John  Davis's  description,  lineage;  the 
land  had  been  the  possession  of  some  remote  ancestor  and  all 
his  lineage  were  provided  for  out  of  it.  The  Caen  finny  and 
tanist  appear  to  have  held  the  same  office,  and  its  main 
function  was  the  equitable  division  of  the  land  among  the 
lineage  of  the  far-away  original  chieftain.  It  may  sound 
trite  to  say  that  even  now  every  man  has  only  a  life  possession  or 
life  estate,  for  all  love  to  think  that  they  can  exercise  a  sort 
of  ownership  over  their  lands  after  death  has  put  them  out  of 
possession.  This  right  had  no  place  in  the  tanistry  system,  a 
man  enjoyed  the  land  allotted  to  him  while  he  lived,  but  when 
he  died  the  living  dealt  with  it  as  they  deemed  best  for  their 
own  interests. 

But  this  system  went  further.  "  Land  was  to  them  perpetual 
man,"  the  staple  of  his  existence,  therefore  every  one  of  the 
lineage  possessed  his  share  for  life.  The  lands  of  the  chief  did 
not  descend  to  his  children,  they  with  his  office  went  to  the 
tanist,  the  lands  of  the  tanist  to  his  successor.  All  the  other 
lands  of  the  sept  were  divided  among  the  members  ;  there 
was  no  tenancy  in  the  sense  in  which  we  use  the  word ;  there 
was  no  rent,  no.  eviction,  none  of  the  powers  claimed  under 
the  feudal  system  by  the  tenants  in  fee. 

This  system  of  tanistry  was  essentially  republican  in  its 
character,  the  land  vested  in  the  people,  not  in  the  Crown ; 
its  division  was  arranged  by  the  elected  officer  of  the  sept  or 
lineage ;  all  its  members  were  joint  owners  of  the  common 
estate,  which  was  strictly  settled  in  tail  to  the  whole  of  the 
lineage.  No  man  could  sell  the  inheritance  of  his  children, 
and  there  were  neither  landlords  nor  tenants.  The  two 
administrative  officers,  the  chief  and  the  tanist,  had  their 
own  official  demesnes,  which  did  not  descend  to  their  children, 
but  went  like  church  land,  or  clerical  income,  to  him  who 
succeeded  to  the  office. 

A  system  so  unique  differs  in  many  respects  from  that 
of  any  of  the  more  ancient  semi-civilized  nations.  The 
Egyptians  appear  to  have  owned  their  land  in  severalty,  for 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       241 

they  sold  it  to  Joseph  for  Pharaoh.  The  Israelites,  though 
prevented  from  selling  their  land  in  perpetuity,  could  mort- 
gage it  until  the  year  of  jubilee.  The  tribal  lands  could  not 
leave  the  tribe,  they  descended  to  the  children  or  next  of  kin. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  both  recognised  ownership  in 
severalty.  The  tanistry  system,  which  reached  back  to  a 
period  more  remote  than  the  foundation  of  Rome,  appears  to 
have  arisen  simultaneously  over  the  entire  island,  and  to  have 
existed,  notwithstanding  many  isolated  invasions,  until  it  was 
partially  displaced  by  the  landing  of  the  Anglo-Normans,  and 
was  wholly  abrogated,  not  by  legislation,  but  by  a  ;legal 
decision  in  the  reign  of  James  I. 

Professor  Sullivan's  introduction  to  O'Curry's  Essays 
describes  the  division  of  the  Irish  people  into  classes.  I  have 
endeavoured  to  condense  his  statement  thus  : — In  Ireland,  as 
in  every  other  part  of  Europe,  we  can  trace  the  existence  of 
the  two  great  classes,  the  free  and  the  unfree.  .  Amongst  the 
free  there  were  privileged  classes  called  A  ires :  there  were  two 
classes  of  Aires,  those  who  possessed  land,  or  Deis,  who  were 
called  Flaths,  and  those  who  possessed  cows  or  other  cattle, 
who  were  called  Bo  A  ires.  The  class  of  tribesmen  called  Ceiles 
were  divided  into  two  categories,  the  Saer  or  free  Ceiles,  and 
the  Daer  or  base  Ceiles ;  an  ancient  manuscript,  H.  3,  18, 
T.C.D.,  p.  1 19,  says,  "  It  is  competent  for  a  man  never  to 
accept  base  wages  from  any  man  unless  it  be  his  own  will  to 
do  so,  and  it  is  competent  for  him  not  to  receive  Saerratk 
(free  wages)  from  any  one  but  a  king,  but  he  is  not  entitled 
to  refuse  the  free  wages  of  his  king.  Every  man  in  the 
Tuath  is  bound  to  receive  wages  of  a  Rig  Tuatha" 

All  Ceiles,  whether  free  or  base,  had  certain  definite  rights 
in  the  territory,  and  had  the  right  to  have  a  habitation  and 
the  usufruct  of  the  land.  The  free  Ceiles  paid  Bes  Tigt,  or 
house  tribute,  the  base  Ceiles,  Biatid.  If  a  Flath  exacted 
more  Biatid,  &c.,  than  he  was  legally  entitled  to,  he  was 
bound  to  recompense  his  Ceile  by  additional  wages.  The 
Saer  Ceile  formed  the  body-guard  of  the  chief.  The  Daer 
Ceiles  sometimes  received  benefices  of  land.  In  a  lower 

R 

f 


242  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

position  in  the  social  scale  were  the  Bothacks  or  cotters,  the 
Leu  Cluthes  or  house  servants,  and  the  Fueders  or  strangers, 
outdoor  labourers  ;  the  latter  were  Saer  Fueder,  free  labourers, 
and  Daer  Fueder  or  base,  servile  labourers.  The  Daer  Fueders 
became  tenants  from  year  to  year,  but  if  they  served  for  three 
generations  they  acquired  rights  to  the  possession  of  land. 
The  Flath  could  have  Bothacks  or  Fueders  of  any  class  on  his 
land.  The  Ceiles  alone  had  political  rights,  that  is,  a  definite 
position  in  the  tribe  or  Tuath.  The  Bo  Aire,  if  wealthy, 
became  a  Flath.  It  is  obvious  that  the  main  distinction  lay 
between  the  "  lineage,"  the  members  of  the  family,  and 
strangers  who  had  either  been  captured  in  battle,  been  pur- 
chased as  slaves  in  England,  or  come  amongst  the  sept  in 
search  of  fortune.  The  Ceiles  appear  to  have  been  part  of 
the  "lineage,"  and  as  such  entitled  to  greater  privileges  than 
captives,  slaves  or  aliens.  This  view  is  borne  out  by  one  of 
the  mostimportant  ancient  Irish  documents,  the  Crith  Gablach; 
it  is  in  the  form  of  question  and  answer  ;  it  relates  to  the  classes 
of  society,  and  their  privileges  among  the  ancient  Irish.  It 
commences, — 

"  What  is  Crith  Gablach  ? — Answer  :  The  thing  which  the  man  of  a  tribe  accu- 
mulates for  his  benefit  in  the  territory  till  he  is  admitted  to  the  rank  of  the  legiti- 
mate possessors  of  the  territory  ;  or  other  increase  by  which  distinction  is  given  to 
the  grades  of  the  people." 

There  is  here  an  evident  distinction  between  the  "  man  of  the 
tribe/'  the  lineage,  and  strangers.  It  will  be  seen  he  should 
prove  his  worthiness  by  increasing  the  wealth  of  the  tribe,  and 
was  then  placed  by  the  tanist  among  "  the  legitimate  pos- 
sessors of  the  territory,"  or  receive  other  distinction.  The 
grades  of  the  people  were  "a  Fer-Midbe,  a  Bo-Aire, 
an  Aire  Dessa,  an  Aire  Tuise,  an  Aire  Forgaill,  and  a  Ri. 
They  were  ennobled  by  the  possession  of  Deis-land,  which 
was  in  the  award  of  the  tanist,  and  they  ranked  in  the  tribe 
and  out  of  it,  according  to  the  rank  which  they  won.  The 
Tanose  Righ  (tanest  of  a  king)  was  so  called  because  he  was 
elected  by  the  whole  territory.  The  seven  occupations  in  law 
of  a  King  were — Sunday,  ale-drinking,  for  he  is  not  a  lawful 
Flath  who  does  not  distribute  ale  every  Sunday.  Monday, 


THE   HISTORY  OF   LANDHOLDING  IN    IRELAND.        243 

at  legislative  government  of  the  tribe  ;  Tuesday,  at  chess  ; 
Wednesday,  seeing  greyhounds  coursing  ;  Thursday,  the  plea- 
sures of  love  ;  Friday,  at  horse-racing ;  Saturday,  at  judg- 
ment. 

The  Flat/i  could  either  work  his  land  with  Fueders,  or  let  it 
to  Ceiles,  but  as  his  own  holding  terminated  with  his  life,  the 
lettings  were  usually  of  short  duration.  Any  buildings  be- 
came the  property  of  the  Flath  at  a  valuation,  but  if  evicted 
before  the  expiration  of  the  term,  the  occupier  was  entitled  to 
his  buildings,  and  if  evicted  without  cause  he  was  entitled  to 
his  rent  as  well  as  his  house.  Village  land  let  for  the  purpose 
of  growing  a  manured  crop  reverted  to  the  owner  at  the  end 
of  the  term  ;  if  no  term  was  specified  the  hirer  of  the  land  was 
entitled  to  its  possession,  until  he  had  exhausted  the  manure. 
With  reference  to  the  quantity  of  land  attached  to  a  dwelling- 
house  he  says  (p.  xxxix.) 

"  The  Norse  Bo" I  and  By  appear  to  be  synonymous ;  at  least  there 
is  no  doubt  that  By  originally  was  a  mansion  or  principal  farmhouse, 
including,  of  course,  sufficient  land  to  keep  a  family  in  independence. 
In  Ireland  this  appears  to  have  been  the  quantity  of  land  sufficient 
to  graze  twenty-one  cows  or  three  cumals,  the  legal  qualification  of  a 
Bo  Aire  of  the  lowest  class,  that  is,  of  a  free  man  having  political 
rights,  and  in  addition  a  certain  quantity  of  forest,  and  sufficient 
meadow  land  to  provide  winter  fodder.  The  following  curious  Irish 
entry  in  the  Book  of  Armagh  appears  to  represent  such  a  typical 
homestead  : — "  Cummen  and  Brethan  purchased  Ochter-u-Achid  with 
its  appurtenances,  both  wood  and  plain  and  meadow,  together  with 
its  habitation  and  its  garden." 

The  annals  of  the  Four  Masters,  a  work  of  some  authority, 
informs  us  that  gold  was  smelted  in  Ireland  and  made  into 
cups,  brooches,  &c.,  as  early  as  354  B.C.,  that  cloths  were  dyed. 
Each  rank  was  known  by  the  number  of  colours  in  their 
garments,  kings  wearing  six  colours,  while  the  peasantry  were 
obliged  to  wear  a  dress  of  one  colour.  Rings  and  chains  were 
worn  by  the  kings  and  chieftains. 

The  Irish  Seisreach  was  the  extent  of  land  which  occupied 
one  plough,  and  represented  the  ploughland  or  carracute  of 


244   TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

England,  and  the  Saxon  "hide  of  land."  According  to  a 
curious  poem  attributed  to  the  antediluvian  Fuitan,  but  which 
belongs  in  substance,  though  not  in  language,  to  about  the 
sixth  or  seventh  century,  has  been  published  by  Professor 
O'Curry  in  his  tract  on  the  battle  of  Moylena,  there  were  in 
Ireland  184  Trincha  Ceds ;  5,520  Baile  BiatacJis\  22,080 
Caethranehadhs  or  quarters  ;  and  66,240  Siesreachs,  or  plough- 
lands,  which  would  be  equal  to  132,480  Ballyboes,  or  habita- 
tions of  freeholders,  or  7,948,800  Irish  acres,  the  remainder, 
5,000,000  acres,  being  bog  or  mountain.  At  present  there  are 
325  Baronies,  and  62,205  townlands,  the  average  acreage  of 
the  latter  being  324*6  acres. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  assemblage  of  the  legislators 
by  Ollamb  Fodhla,  and  to  the  collection  of  the  laws  made  by 
him  ;  they  are  called  the  Psalter  of  Tar  a.  Irish  records 
also  refers  to  the  Psalter  of  CasJiel.  The  annals  of  the  Four 
Masters  inform  us  that  in  A.D.  266  Cormac  collected  the  laws  and 
formed  them  into  a  book  known  as  the  Psalter  of  Teamhair. 
It  contained  a  survey  of  the  land  of  Ireland,  and  articles 
relating  to  Irish  laws,  genealogy,  history,  topography,  &c.,  and 
at  a  late  period,  at  the  suggestion  of  St.  Patrick,  the  laws  were 
again  collected,  and  the  SeancJtus  and  Feanchus,  (i.  <?.,  history 
and  law),  now  called  Senchus  Mor,  or  Cain  Phadrig  (Patricks) 
law,  was  compiled.  It  was  esteemed  of  such  authority  that 
no  individual  Brehon  dared  to  abrogate  it.  This  collection 
of  laws,  though  more  recent  than  the  others  I  have  named, 
possesses  great  antiquity,  and  was  compiled  before  either  the 
Justinian  or  the  Theodosian  codes. 

The  work  of  the  several  assemblies  appears  to  have  been 
one  of  compilation  or  collection,  rather  than  of  legislation, 
and  in  this  there  is  a  close  resemblance  to  the  theocracy  of  the 
Israelites,  who  received  a  heaven-given  law  with  strict  injunc- 
tions to  observe  its  dictates,'but  neither  judges,  priests,  nor,  kings 
were  authorized  to  alter  its  conditions.  There  was  no  such 
thing  as  a  Re-form  Bill ;  \hQform  of  its  enactments,  its  require- 
ments, and  its  penalties  were  prescribed,  and  there  was  there- 
fore no  need  of  re-forming  them.  Legislation  in  Ireland 


THE   HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.        245 

appears  to  have  been  tribal,  and  to  have  rested  upon  patri- 
archal institutions  ;  the  system  would  be  properly  described  by 
the  words  "  customary  law."  The  collection  or  codification 
which  took  place  tended  to  secure  uniformity  over  the  whole 
country,  but  the  highest  officer,  the  Rig  Tuatka,  or  king,  was 
neither  endowed  with  the  right  of  legislation  nor  the  power  to 
enforce  the  laws.  These  privileges  appertained  to  the  sept  or 
tribe  which  acted  through  its  elected  officers,  the  chieftain  and 
tanist.  The  laws  were  expounded  and  explained  by  the 
Brehons,  who  appear  to  have  possessed  functions  similar  to 
those  of  the  courts  of  equity,  in  applying  to  a  new  class  of 
incidents  the  principles  of  existing  legislation. 

Much  jealousy  existed  as  to  the  ownership  of  these  ancient 
psalters.  They  were  preserved  with  the  most  watchful  care, 
and  classed  among  the  choicest  treasures.*  The  more  recent 

*  AN  ANCIENT  PSALTER.— Fac-similes  of  Irish  national  MSS.  are  at 
present  being  selected  and  edited  by  Mr.  Gilbert,  of  the  Public  Record 
Office  of  Ireland.  The  first  part  of  the  collection,  which  will  be  one  of 
profound  interest  to  Irish  scholars,  is  nearly  completed.  We  learn  from 
a  report  just  issued,  that  among  the  documents,  fac-similes  of  which  have 
been  prepared,  is  a  Latin  psalter  styled  "  Cathach,"  or  the  "  Fighter."  It 
is  ascribed  to  the  hand  of  St.  Columba,  who  made  lona  famous,  and 
receives  its  name  from  the  antique  metal  casket  in  which  it  is  preserved. 
The  legend  is  that,  while  sojourning  with  St.  Finnen,  in  Ulster,  he 
borrowed  this  psalter,  and  "copied  it  furtively  in  his  church,  with  the  aid 
of  miraculous  light,  in  the  night-time."  Finnen  claimed  the  copy  as  his 
property,  but  Columba  did  not  recognise  his  right,  and  King  Diarmid  was 
appealed  to.  His  Majesty  decided  "  that  as  to  every  cow  belongs  her 
calf,  so  to  every  book  belongs  its  copy."  Columba  did  not  see  the  force 
of  his  analogical  reasoning,  and  kept  the  treasure.  The  psalter  was 
preserved  as  a  sacred  heirloom  among  his  kindred  the  O'Donels,  who 
ruled  in  the  most  western  part  of  the  north  of  Ireland,  styled  Tir  Conaill, 
or  the  land  of  Conaill,  from  their  progenitor  of  that  name,  and  now  known 
as  Donegal.  The  present  casket  was  made  towards  the  eleventh  century 
by  the  direction  of  Cathbar  O'Donell,  head  of  the  clan.  It  was  long 
believed  that  if  the  Cathach  was  borne  thrice  before  battle  on  the  breast 
of  a  sinless  cleric  round  the  troops  of  the  O'Donels,  victory  would  be 
secured  to  them  in  a  just  cause.  "  To  open  the  Cathach,"  says  the  report, 
"  was  thought  unlawful,  and  would,  it  was  thought,  be  followed  by  death 
and  disasters  among  the  O'Donels."  It  ultimately  came  into  the  posses- 
sion  of  Daniel  O'Donel,  who  raised  a  regiment  in  Ireland  for  James  II,» 


246      TRANSACTIONS    OF  THE   ROYAL     HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

of  these  law  tracts  is  the  Senchus  Mor.  Its  text  and  a 
translation  has  been  published  by  the  commissioners  appointed 
in  1852.  It  has  formed  the  basis  of  Sir  Henry  Maine's  justly 
celebrated  essay  on  ancient  institutions ;  it  is  said  to  have 
been  compiled  by  nine  eminent  men,  a  treble  trinity,  Kings, 
Brehons,  and  Prelates  :  King  Laighaire,  King  Daire,  King 
Core  ;  Rossa,  Duththack,  Fergus  ;  St.  Benignus,  St.  Patrick, 
and  St.  Caernech.  It  is  not  my  object  to  give  you  any  de- 
scription of  this  body  of  ancient  Irish  law,  I  only  mean  to  deal 
with  that  portion  relating  to  landholding.  As  I  have  already 
remarked,  these  law  tracts  do  not  either  give  or  define  the 
possession  of  land,  nor  do  they  allude  to  any  rent  except  that 
which  is  called  "  food  rent,"  to  which  I  shall  presently  refer. 

The  transcripts  were  made  by  the  late  Dr.  O'Donovan  and 
the  late  Professor  O'Curry,  from  law  tracts  in  the  Irish  lan- 
guage in  the  libraries  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  of  the  Royal 
Irish  Academy,  of  the  British  Museum,  and  in  the  Bodleian 
Library  at  Oxford.  The  transcripts  made  by  Dr.  O'Donovan 
extend  to  nine  volumes,  comprising  2,491  pages,  and  the  tran- 
scripts made  by  Professor  O'Currey  are  contained  in  eight 
volumes,  extending  to  2,906  pages.  They  did  not  live  to 
revise  and  complete  their  translations.  The  preliminary  trans- 
lation executed  by  Dr.  O'Donovan  is  contained  in  twelve 
volumes,  and  the  preliminary  translation  executed  by  Pro- 
fessor O'Curry  in  thirteen  volumes. 

They  are  now  in  course  of  publication  under  the  title  of  the 
Senchus  Mor,  the  great  laws.  Sir  Henry  Maine  says  of 
them, — 

"The  Senchus  Mor,  the  great  book  of  the  ancient  laws,  was 
doubtless  a  most  precious  possession  of  the  law  school  or  family  to 

and  afterwards  became  a  brigadier  in  the  French  service.  It  remained  on 
the  Continent  until  1802,  when  it  was  transferred  to  Sir  Hugh  O'Donel,  of 
Newport,  in  the  county  of  Mayo.  In  1814  his  widow  began  proceedings 
in  Chancery  against  Ulster  King  of  Arms,  for  having  opened  the 
Cathach  without  permission.  The  manuscript,  it  is  said,  now  consists  of 
fifty-eight  leaves  of  vellum,  many  of  which  at  the  commencement  are 
damaged. 


THE  HISTORY   OF  LANDHOLDING    IN   IRELAND.  247 

which  it  belonged,  and  its  owners  have  joined  to  it  a  preface  in 
which  a  semi-divine  authority  is  boldly  claimed  for  it.  Odhran,  the 
charioteer  of  St.  Patrick — so  says  the  preface, — had  been  killed,  and 
the  question  arose  whether  Nuada  the  slayer  should  die,  or  whether 
the  saint  was  bound  by  his  own  principles  to  unconditional  forgive- 
ness. St.  Patrick  did  not  decide  the  point  himself.  The  narrator, 
in  true  professional  spirit,  tells  us  that  he  set  the  precedent  according 
to  which  a  stranger  from  beyond  the  sea  always  selects  a  legal 
adviser.  He  chose  to  go  according  to  the  judgment  of  the  royal 
poet  of  the  men  of  Erin,  Duththach  Mac  na  Lugair,  and  he  *  blessed 
the  mouth '  of  Duththach.  A  poem,  doubtless  of  much  antiquity 
and  celebrity,  is  then  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  arbitrator,  and  by 
the  judgment  in  it  Nuada  is  to  die ;  but  he  ascends  straight  into 
heaven  through  the  intercession  of  St.  Patrick.  Then  King  Laighaire 
said,  '  It  is  necessary  for  you,  O  men  of  Erin,  that  every  other  law 
should  be  settled  and  arranged  as  well  as  this.'  '  It  is  better  to  do 
so,'  said  Patrick.  It  was  then  Duththach  was  ordered  to  exhibit  all 
the  judgments  and  all  the  poetry  of  Ireland,  and  every  law  which  pre- 
vailed among  the  men  of  Erin.  .  .  .  This  is  the  Cain  Patraic, 
and  no  human  Brehon  of  the  Gaidhil  is  able  to  abrogate  anything 
found  in  the  Senchus  Mor." 

The  manuscript  from  which  the  "  Senchus  Mor  "  is  trans- 
lated and  published  contains  the  following  touching  note : — 

"  One  thousand  three  hundred  two-and-forty  years  from  the  birth 
of  Christ  till  this  night ;  and  this  is  the  second  year  since  the  coming 
of  the  plague  into  Ireland.  I  have  written  this  in  the  twentieth  year 
of  my  age.  I  am  Hugh,  son  of  Conor  M'Egrim,  and  whoever  reads 
it,  let  him  offer  a  prayer  of  mercy  for  my  soul.  This  is  Christmas 
night.  I  place  myself  under  the  protection  of  the  King  of  heaven 
and  earth,  beseeching  Him  that  He  will  bring  me  and  my  friends 
safe  through  the  plague.  Hugh  wrote  this  in  his  father's  own  book 
in  the  year  of  the  great  plague." 

Another  of  the  manuscripts  containing  Irish  law  tracts  has 
the  following  entry : — 

"  This  is  the  eve  of  the  great  festival  of  Mary,  and  it  grieves  me 
that  Donough  O'Brien  is  in  danger  of  death  from  the  son  of  the  Earl 
of  Ormond,  and  it  is  a  wonder  to  me  that  Cuirbre  is  courting  council 
from  Connor.  The  Park  is  my  residence.  Magnus  for  Domhnall 
and  himself  travelling,  Eiri  A.D.  1567." 


248  TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

These  laws  treat  of  the  mode  of  recovering  debts,  and  give 
the  law  of  distress  at  considerable  length,  but  they  do  not 
recite  the  origin  of  the  division  of  land  among  tribes,  or  the 
subdivision  among  the  members  of  the  sept.  There  was,  as 
I  have  already.stated,  no  such  relation  as  landlord  and  tenant, 
and  I  am  informed  that  there  is  not  a  word  in  the  Irish  lan- 
guage which  can  fairly  be  translated  to  mean  the  Saxon 
derivative,  "a  holding"  or  the  Latin  derivative,  tenure  or 
tenement.  The  absence  of  any  such  words  in  the  language  is 
an  indication  that  the  Irish  institutions  only  recognised  one 
estate  in  land  ;  in  this  it  was  in  harmony  with  the  institutions 
of  the  more  ancient  systems.  The  creation  of  two  estates,  the 
ownership  or  guast-ownership,  and  the  estate  of  use,  was  the 
invention  of  the  Romans,  and  was  adopted  by  those  countries 
whose  systems  were  moulded  upon  the  jurisprudence  of 
Rome. 

I  do  not  find  in  the  "  Senchus  Mor  "  distinct  indications  as 
to  the  mode  of  distributing  chattels,  yet  I  am  disposed  to 
adopt  Sir  John  Davis's  view,  that  they  went  in  gavelkind ;  but 
it  seems  that  some  men  had  cattle  without  land,  while  others 
had  land  without  cattle  ;  or  the  expression  may  be  qualified  by 
saying  that  one  man  had  land  in  excess  of  his  stock,  while 
another  had  stock  in  excess  of  his  land.  Hence  arose  a  sort  of 
partnership,  and  the  Brehon  code  deals  at  length  with  the  cir- 
cumstances arising  from  one  man  using  the  stock  of  another. 
These  laws  appear  under  two  distinct  heads,  Cain  Saerrath 
and  Cain  Aigillue:  the  former,  as  I  am  informed,  means 
honour  or  personal  relations,  and  the  latter,  "  tribute  or  fine," 
and  "  forfeit."  I  am  assured  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  Irish 
words  to  justify  the  translation  which  appears  in  the  preface 
as  well  as  in  the  margin,  Saer-stock  tenure  and  Daer-stock 
tenure.  The  addition  of  the  word  "tenure"  conveys  an  in- 
correct idea,  and  the  writers  of  the  preface,  as  well  as  Sir 
Henry  Maine,  who  has  adopted  their  views,  have  applied  the 
word  "  tenure  "  to  the  land  and  not  to  the  stock.  There  was 
undoubtedly  a  "  holding "  of  the  cattle,  as  they  were  rented 
or  hired,  but  there  was  no  claim  upon  the  land  in  consequence 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.  249 

of  these  relations.  The  writers  of  the  preface  to  vol.  ii.,  p.  49, 
thus  describe  the  law  : — 

"  In  *  Saer  '-stock  tenure  the  chief  gave  the  stock  without  requir- 
ing any  security  from  the  tenant.  He  gave  it  in  consideration  of 
receiving  an  annual  return  for  seven  years  of  one-third  of  the  value  of 
the  stock  given.  The  chief  might  claim  this  return  in  the  form  of 
manual  labour  at  the  time  of  the  erection  of  his  '  dun '  fort,  or  of  the 
reaping  of  his  harvest ;  or  if  the  chief  did  not  need  manual  labour,  he 
might  require  the  '  saer  '-stock  tenant  to  attend  him  in  a  military  ex- 
pedition, and  to  send  a  man  to  do  homage  to  him  at  the  payment  of 
rent." 

This  passage  would  read  quite  as  well  if  the  word  "  tenure  " 
in  the  first  line  and  tenant  near  the  end  were  omitted :  they 
suggest  ideas  with  regard  to  the  land  quite  at  variance  with 
the  Brehon  code.  The  stockholder  held  the  stock,  he  was 
tenant  of  the  stock,  and  paid  rent  or  tribute  for  the  stock,  but 
none  of  these  capacities  affected  his  ownership  of  his  lands. 

The  preface  to  vol.  ii.  of  the  "  Senchus  Mor,"  p.  1.,  adds, — 

"  The  principal  Irish  tenure  appears  to  have  been  '  daer  '-stock 
tenure,  into  which  the  tenant  entered  by  choice,  and  in  which  he 
was  required  to  give  security  for  the  stock  he  used.  From  the 
optional  nature  of  the  tenure,  the  law  respecting  it  was  called  '  Cain 
Aigillue,'  that  is,  the  '  Cain '  law  of  options  in  tenure.  The  securities 
given  were  called  '  Giallna '  securities,  to  distinguish  them  from  kins- 
men's securities The  '  Cain  Aigillue '  contains  traces  of 

very  careful  provisions  for  guarding  against  the  arbitrary  termination 
by  either  chief  or  tenant  of '  daer  '-stock  tenure  when  once  entered 
into." 

The  laws  appear  to  be  based  upon  the  principle  of  making 
the  stock  borrower  pay  the  stock  lender  double  food-rent  for 
the  year  if  he  returned  the  stock  without  the  consent  of  the 
lender,  inasmuch  as  he  might  not  have  grazing-ground  for  the 
stock  so  returned.  If  the  stock  lender  recalled  his  stock  the 
borrower  was  entitled  to  one-third  of  it,  and  was  exempted 
from  payment  of  his  honour  price  ;  otherwise  his  land  might 
lie  idle. 

These  arrangements  did  not  in  any  way  affect  that  which 
we  understand  by  the  word  "  tenure,"  that  is,  a  man's  farm, 


250  TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

but  they  related  solely  to  cattle,  which  we  consider  a 
chattel.  It  has  appeared  necessary  to  devote  some  space  to 
this  subject,  inasmuch  as  that  usually  acute  writer  Sir  Henry 
Maine  has  accepted  the  word  "  tenure  "  in  its  modern  inter- 
pretation, and  has  built  up  a  theory  under  which  the  Irish 
chief  "  developed  "  into  a  feudal  baron.  I  can  find  nothing  in 
the  Brehon  laws  to  warrant  this  theory  of  social  Darwinism, 
and  believe  further  study  will  show  that  the  Cain  Saerrath 
and  the  Cain  Aigillue  relate  solely  to  what  we  now  call  chat- 
tels, and  did  not  in  any  way  affect  what  we  now  call  the 
freehold,  the  possession  of  the  land. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  Senchus  Mor  at  all  contradictory 
of  the  statements  made  by  Spenser  and  Sir  John  Davis,  that 
the  tanistry  system  gave  every  member  of  the  sept  or  tribe 
the  life  ownership  of  a  portion  of  its  lands ;  that  the  official 
lands  attached  to  the  position  of  Chieftain  and  Tanist  were 
not  divisible,  but  partook  of  the  nature  of  a  benefice  ;  they 
went  whole  and  undivided  to  the  successor  to  the  office,  and 
I  can  find  nothing  to  warrant  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by 
Sir  Henry  Maine,  that  the  chieftain  could  give  strangers  the 
lands  of  the  sept.  Fosterage  was  a  portion  of  the  tanistry 
system,  and  those  who  were  adopted  by  the  sept  shared  in 
its  responsibilities  and  enjoyed  a  portion  of  the  lands.  The 
chieftain  and  tanist  each  enjoyed  his  lands  for  his  own 
life,  and  therefore  they  had  no  power  of  giving  them  away ; 
they  were  tilled  by  the  Fueders  or  Bothacks. 

After  the  Norman  invasion,  and  during  the  unsettled  state 
of  the  country,  the  chieftains  may  have  imitated  the  example 
of  the  Norman  barons,  and  striven  to  make  for  themselves  a 
title  similar  to  that  imported  into  Ireland  by  the  strangers, 
but  I  doubt  if  anything  of  this  kind  existed  while  the  Brehon 
code  was  in  full  force,  before  the  invasion  of  the  Danes  and 
the  Normans. 

The  early  Norman  and  English  settlers  denounced  the 
tanistry  system  as  barbarous  and  uncivilized,  and  acted 
towards  it  in  the  same  manner  as  the  English  of  recent  times 
have  acted  towards  the  Hindoo  and  New  Zealand  land 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.        251 

systems  ;  in  the  former  they  have  looked  upon  the  Zemindar, 
and  in  the  latter  the  chieftain,  as  enjoying  the  same  rights  as 
the  feudal  baron.  The  English  in  both  these  countries 
have  done  the  same  injustice  to  the  inferior  owners  which 
their  forefathers  did  to  the  inferior  members  of  the  Irish  sept 
or  tribe.  Mr.  Thornton,  a  writer  whose  very  able  works 
deserve  the  serious  consideration  of  our  statesmen  and  legis- 
lators, has  shown  the  manner  in  which  the  estate  of  the  ryots 
was,  by  mistaken  legislation,  transferred  to  a  class  who  were 
mere  tax-gatherers ;  and  thus  in  India  as  in  Ireland  the 
sympathies  of  the  mass  of  the  people  was  estranged  from 
British  rule,  the  people  regarded,  the  invaders  as  spoliators, 
who  had  not  only  assumed  the  government,  but  deprived 
them  of  their  rights.  As  I  shall  have  to  speak  hereafter  of 
these  changes  I  shall  not  dwell  on  them  now ;  but  before  I 
close  this  portion  of  my  subject  would  like  to  give  you  some 
idea  of  the  state  of  Ireland  when  the  unmixed  tanistry  system 
prevailed.  It  was  refined  and  elevated  by  the  introduction  of 
Christianity,  but  was  broken  in  upon  by  the  incursion  of  the 
Danes. 

The  earliest  missionaries  are  dubious.  The  Irish  traced 
their  Christianity  through  Irenaeus  to  St.  John,  thus  carrying 
back  their  faith  to  the  Holy  Land ;  the  bull  of  Pope 
Clementine  to  Palladius,  who  visited  Ireland  before  the  landing 
of  St.  Patrick,  authorizes  him  to  visit  "our  brethren  in  Christ 
in  Ireland,"  thus  asserting  the  previous  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity. But  it  must  have  been  confined  to  special  districts, 
for  there  appears  to  have  been  a  wide  field  for  the  labours  of 
St.  Patrick.  It  has,  however,  been  a  puzzle  to  learned  men 
to  discover  how  so  many  of  the  rites  of  the  Eastern  or  Greek 
Church  were  implanted  or  existed  in  Ireland  for  many 
centuries.  It  is  said,  "  If  St.  Patrick  was  the  real  founder 
of  Irish  Christianity,  and  was  connected  with  the  Latin 
Church,  how  does  it  come  to  pass  that  the  Irish  Church 
corresponded  in  its  formulae  with  the  Greek  Church,  and  why 
did  it  teach  its  rites  in  Scotland,  England,  and  France  ?"  I 
cannot  solve  this  difficulty,  but  it  seems  to  imply  a  settled 


252     TRANSACTIONS    OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

church  with  established  formulae  before  St.  Patrick's  visit,  and 
it  is  quite  clear  he  did  not  disturb  these  usages,  and  that 
they  continued  for  centuries  after  his  death. 

It  had  been  the  custom  to  misrepresent  this  system  of  land- 
holding,  and  to  describe  it  as  barbarous  and  inequitable,  but 
more  recent  inquirers,  on  the  Continent  as  well  as  in  England 
are  beginning  to  take  a  different  view,  and  to  recognise  the  equity 
and  humanity  of  the  Brehon  code.    It  may  not  be  out  of  place 
to  glance  at  the  history  of  Ireland  to  ascertain  what  was  the 
effect  of  the  tanistry  system,  and  of  the  laws  regulating  the 
possession  of  the  soil.      Land  is  a  bond  of  union.  Its  produce 
satisfies  man's    physical  wants.     Its  distribution  is  the  basis 
of   legislation.      During    the    existence  of  tanistry,  Ireland 
was  the  ark,  in  which  the  knowledge  of  the  Western  world 
rode  secure  amid  the  turmoil  of  the   Gothic   invasion.       It 
was  the  school  of  learning  for  Western  Europe.     King  Alfred 
was  educated  in  Ireland,  and  it  furnished  the  first  masters  to 
the  Universities  of  Paris  and  Padua.      The  scholastic  insti- 
tutions of  Bangor,  in  the  county  Down,  and  Lismore,  in  the 
county  Waterford,  educated   thousands   of  pupils.      Bangor 
alone  is  reported  to  have  had  five  thousand  students.     The 
Irish  missionaries  visited  and  settled  in  the  south  of  Scotland, 
the  north  of  England,  in  France,  and  in  Switzerland,  where 
the  memory  of  an  Irish  scholar  is  perpetuated  in  the  name  of 
St.  Gall.     Ireland    gave  bishops  to  Northumberland  and  to 
Germany,  and  she  then  received  from  Europe  the  title  of  "the 
Isle  of  Saints."     One  of  her  learned  sons,  Donatus,  who  suc- 
ceeded   Albinus   as   head   of  the   college  at   Padua   in   the 
ninth   century,   left   a   Latin  description  of  Ireland  at   that 
time : — 

"Far  westward  lies  an  isle  of  ancient  fame, 
By  nature  blessed,  and  Scotia  is  her  name, 
Enrolled  in  books ;  exhaustless  is  her  store 
Of  veiny  silver  and  of  golden  ore ; 
Her  fruitful  soil  for  ever  teems  with  wealth, 
With  gems  her  waters,  and  her  air  with  health ; 
Her  verdant  fields  with  milk  and  honey  flow, 
Her  woolly  fleeces  vie  with  virgin  snow; 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING   IN   IRELAND.          253 

Her  waving  furrows  float  with  bearded  corn, 

And  arms  and  arts  her  envied  sons  adorn. 

No  savage  bear  with  lawless  fury  roves, 

No  rav'ning  lion  through  her  sacred  groves, 

No  poison  there  infests,  no  scaly  snake 

Creeps  through  the  grass,  nor  frogs  annoy  the  lake ; 

An  island  worthy  of  its  pious  race, 

In  war  triumphant,  and  unmatched  in  peace." 

The  venerable  Bede,  in  his  history,  tells  of  the  munificence 
and  liberality  of  the  Irish.  He  says, — 

"These  visitors  were  most  willingly  received  by  the  Scots  [thus  he  terms  the 
Irish],  who  maintained  them  at  their  own  charge,  supplied  them  with  books, 
and  became  their  teachers  without  fee  or  reward. " 

This  passage  of  Bede  should  never  be  quoted  without  a 
recollection  of  the  comment  presented  by  Lord  Lyttleton, 
who  styles  it  "  a  most  honourable  testimony,  not  only  to  the 
learning,  but  likewise  to  the  hospitality  and  bounty  of  the 
Irish  nation." 

John  Sulgen,  son  of  Sulgen  who  was  Bishop  of  St.  David's 
in  the  year  1070,  thus  describes  the  condition  of  Ireland,  and 
their  bounty  towards  strangers.  He  thus  wrote  in  the  life  of 
his  father : — 

"  With  ardent  love  for  learning  Sulgen  sought 

The  school  in  which  his  fathers  had  been  taught ; 

To  Ireland's  sacred  isle  he  bent  his  way, 

Where  science  beamed  with  bright  and  glorious  ray. 

But  lo  !  an  unforeseen  impediment 

His  journey  interrupted  as  he  went ; 

For  sailing  toward  the  country  where  abode 

The  people  famous  in  the  word  of  God, 

His  bark,  by  adverse  winds  and  tempests  tossed, 

Was  forced  to  enter  on  another  coast ; 

And  thus  the  Albanian  [Scotch]   coast  the  traveller  gained, 

And  there  for  five  successive  years  remained. 
****** 

At  length  arriving  on  the  Scottish  [Irish]  soil, 
He  soon  applies  himself  to  studious  toil. 
The  Holy  Scriptures  now  his  thoughts  engage, 
And  much  he  ponders  o'er  the  oft-read  page, 
Exploring  carefully  the  secret  mine 
Of  precious  treasure  in  the  law  divine  ; 


254  TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Till  thirteen  years  of  diligence  and  pain 
Had  made  him  affluent  in  heavenly  gains, 
And  stored  his  ample  mind  with  rich  supplies 
Of  costly  goods  and  sacred  merchandise  ; 
Then,  having  gained  a  literary  name, 
In  high  respect  for  learning,  home  he  came, 
His  gathered  store  and  golden  gains  to  share 
Among  admiring  friends  and  followers  there." 
The  late  Rev.  Arthur  West  Haddan,  in  an  article  upon  the 
Scots  (Irish)  on  the  Continent,  which  will  well  repay  perusal, 
speaks  of  the  race  of  scholars,  who  from  the  sixth  to  the 
tenth   century   went    forth    from    Bangor    and    Lindisfarne 
upholding     Greek    learning     and    philosophic     speculation, 
asserting  the  freedom  of  the  will,  believing  in  the  existence 
of  the  Antipodes,  by  far  the  best  astronomers  of  their  time, 
who  well  nigh  anticipated  the  theory  of  Copernicus.      This 
remarkable  and  interesting  school  followed   in  the  wake  of 
St.  Columbanus  forming  into  famous  societies  at  Luxeuil,  St. 
Gall,  and  Bobbio,  and  branching  off  into  minor  foundations  at 
Reichenau,  Disentis,  Remiremont,  Lure,  Jouarre,  Faremoutier, 
Lagny,  Hautvillers,  Moutier-en-Der,  Fontenelle,  and  Jumieges. 
Mr.  Haddon  says  of  Ireland  : 

"  In  the  gradual  development  of  the  Papal  power  she  remained  in 
her  isolation  a  standing  proof  of  the  novelty  of  theories  unknown  to 
the  Church  in  earlier  times,  a  living  instance  of  what  had  formerly 
been  held  for  truth,  an  island  not  absorbed  by  the  rising  waters  of  the 
Papacy,  until,  indeed,  the  twelfth  century." 

A  curious  though  well-authenticated  discussion  as  to  the 
position  of  the  Irish  Church  occurred  at  the  Council  of 
Constance,  A.D.  1414  : — 

"  There  was  an  ancient  custom  in  those  councils  of  voting  by  'Nations, 
as  it  was  called.  Four  'nations'  were  acknowledged — viz.,  France,  Spain, 
Germany,  and  Italy.  These  'nations'  were  not  'kingdoms.'  Each  was 
a  collection  of  several  independent  kingdoms.  They  had  the  lists  ;  and 
they  found  that  each  'nation'  comprised  six  or  eight  kingdoms,  whose 
governments  were  independent  of  each  other.  At  the  Council  of  Constance, 
which  was  held  A.D.  1414,  the  King  of  England  claimed  that  the  English 
should  be  acknowledged  as  a  separate  'nation,'  having  a  vote  of  their 
own  in  the  council.  The  King  of  France  was  very  jealous  at  this,  and 
ordered  his  ambassadors  to  protest  against  it  in  the  council;  their 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.      255 

protest  is  given  in  the  appendix  of  the  council  to  which  he  had  referred. 
The  ambassadors  insisted  that  England  had  always  been  reckoned  part 
of  the  German  'nation'  in  all  general  councils;  and  they  maintained 
that  it  ought  to  be  so  still,  for,  as  England  had  only  twenty-five  bishops, 
it  was  absurd  that  so  few  should  have  a  separate  vote  in  the  council. 
The  ambassadors  of  the  English  king  were  heard  in  reply,  and  they  did 
not  deny  either  of  the  above  statements ;  but  they  said,  in  answer  to  the 
fewness  of  their  bishops,  that  the  Irish,  who  had  sixty  dioceses,  were 
united  with  them  in  the  'Anglican  nation,'  and  taking  in  the  Welsh,  and 
some  Scotch  bishops  who  joined  with  them,  there  were  no  bishops 
altogether.  And  in  answer  to  the  statement  that  England  had  always 
been  counted  part  of  the  German  nation,  and  not  a  nation  in  itself,  they 
did  not  deny  it ;  on  the  contrary,  they  seemed  to  admit  that  this  was  true ; 
but  then  they  quoted  St.  Albert  the  Great  and  Bartholomaeus  as  follows : — 
'  That  the  whole  world  being  divided  into  three  parts,  viz.,  Asia,  Africa, 
and  Europe ;  Europe  is  divided  into  four  kingdoms — first,  the  Roman ; 
secondly,  the  Constantinopolitan  ;  third,  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  which 
is  now  translated  to  the  English;  and  the  fourth,  the  kingdom  of 
Spain.  From  which  it  appears  that  the  King  of  England  and  his  kingdom 
are  of  the  most  eminent  and  the  most  ancient  kings  and  kingdoms  of  all 
Europe,  which  prerogative  the  kingdom  of  France  cannot  obtain.'  Such 
was  the  defence  of  the  ambassadors  of  England.  They  did  not  rest  their 
claim  upon  the  rights  of  England  itself,  but  on  her  inheriting  the  ancient 
rights  of  Ireland;  and  thus  England  obtained  dignity  in  Europe  and 
influence  in  Christendom  by  her  union  with  Ireland.  For  this  defence 
having  been  heard  by  the  Council  of  Constance,  they  decided  that 
England  and  Ireland  united  should  vote  and  rank  as  a  separate  nation, 
thus  giving  them  an  influence  in  the  council  which  the  King  of  France 
sought  to  prevent,  and  which  would  have  been  wholly  lost  if  England 
had  stood  alone-  As  an  appropriate  acknowledgment  of  their  obligation 
to  Ireland,  the  'Anglican  nation'  was  thoroughly  represented  in  that 
council  by  'Patrick,  Bishop  of  Cork.'" 

I  have  endeavoured  as  briefly  as  possible  to  convey  a  cor- 
rect idea  of  the  land  system  of  this  period,  which  comprised 
nearly  eighteen  centuries,  and  during  the  latter  portion  Ireland 
was  renowned  for  its  learning  and  civilization.  The  Irish 
people  naturally  revert  to  this  portion  of  their  history  with 
pride  and  satisfaction,  and  later  writers,  both  English  and 
foreign,  are  disposed  to  do  justice  to  the  humanity  and  excel- 
lence of  the  Brehon  code  of  laws  and  the  tanistry  system  of 
landholding. 


256    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

PART  II. — THE  SCANDINAVIAN  OR  MIXED  PERIOD. 

THE  comparatively  peaceful  and  prosperous  state  of  Ireland 
which  existed  under  the  Tanistry  system  of  landholding,  the 
Brehon  social  code,  and  the  sway  of  Christianity,  was  broken 
in  upon  by  the  incursions  of  the  Scandinavian  sea  robbers. 
They  were  called  Esterlings  or  Ostmen,  and  also  Galls,  or 
foreigners.  Their  piratical  expeditions  commenced  about 
the  end  of  the  eighth  century,  and  whilst  they  infested 
England  and  France,  Ireland  did  not  escape.  Their  first 
invasions  were  made  in  small  parties,  for  the  sake  of  plunder, 
and  they  were  frequently  repulsed.  By  degrees  the  invaders, 
either  by  force  or  treaty,  obtained  some  small  settlements. 
The  Irish,  though  too  prone  to  predatory  incursions,  had  no 
national  armament,  no  united  force  to  meet  the  disciplined 
hosts  thrown  upon  their  shores.  Ireland  had  enjoyed  such  a 
state  of  peace,  that  there  were  no  fortified  places,  no  baronial 
residences  ;  and  hence  it  was  easily  overrun  and  ravaged. 
But  the  people  rallied,  and  waged  a  not  unequal  war  with  the 
invaders,  who  failed  to  establish  a  dynasty  in  Ireland,  though 
they  did  so  in  Normandy  and  England.  The  aboriginal 
English  succumbed  to  the  Anglo-Saxon,  but  the  Irish 
resisted  and  defeated  the  Danes. 

The  first  shocks  of  their  invasion  fell  with  great  seventy 
upon  a  people  without  central  government,  none  of  whose 
chieftains  could  bring  into  the  field  a  force  numerically  equal 
to  that  of  the  invaders  ;  they  were  defeated  in  detail.  The  Irish 
chieftain  and  the  Tanist  were  both  elected  by  the  sept  which 
spontaneously  upheld  their  authority  ;  therefore  there  was  no 
need  of  the  feudal  castle  with  its  band  of  armed  men.  The 
services  of  the  tribes  were  not  compulsory.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  thane,  or  earls,  surrounded  their  dwellings  with  a 
moat  or  ditch,  they  were  approached  by  a  drawbridge,  they 
were  protected  with  a  portcullis  and  gates,  they  were  furnished 
with  armed  men,  and  from  the  lofty  keep  the  watchman 
gazed  with  unwearied  eye  over  the  country  in  order  to  detect 
the  approach  of  a  foe  and  give  timely  warning  of  danger. 


THE   HISTORY   OF   LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND        257 

The  Celtic  chieftain  needed  none  of  these  safeguards.  The 
clans  might  have  wars  with  neighbouring  or  other  clans,  and 
might  engage  in  warlike  expeditions,  but  the  rights  of 
individuals  became  so  merged  in  the  general  interests  of  the* 
clan  as  not  to  produce  the  evils  which  arose  from  the 
arbitrary  rule  of  petty  chiefs.  This  comparative  confidence 
had  its  own  peculiar  evil ;  the  country  was  unprotected,  and 
when  invaded,  either  by  the  Danes  or  the  Normans,  there 
were  few  fortified  places  to  retard  their  march. 

The  rapidity  with  which  these  invaders  overspread  the 
nation  is  attributed  by  Sir  John  Davis  to  the  absence  of 
castles  and  fortified  places.  He  wrote, — 

"  Though  the  Irishry  be  a  nation  of  great  antiquity,  and  wanted 
neither  wit  nor  valour,  and  though  they  have  received  the  Christian 
faith  above  1,200  years  since,  and  were  lovers  of  poetry,  music,  and 
all  kinds  of  learning,  and  were  possessed  of  a  land  in  all  things 
necessary  for  the  civil  life  of  man,  yet,  strange  to  be  related,  they  did 
never  build  any  houses  of  brick  or  stone,  some  few  poor  religious 
houses  excepted,  before  the  reign  of  King  Henry  II.,  though  they  were 
lords  of  the  Irish  many  hundred  years  before  and  since  the  conquest 
attempted  by  the  English.  Albeit  when  they  saw  us  build  castles 
upon  their  borders,  they  erected  some  few  piles  for  the  captains  of  the 
country,  yet  I  dare  boldly  say  that  never  any  particular  person, 
either  before  or  since,  did  build  any  brick  or  stone  houses  for  his 
private  habitation,  but  such  as  have  lately  obtained  estates  accord- 
ing to  the  course  of  the  law  of  England.  Neither  did  any  of  them 
in  all  time  plant  any  garden  or  orchard,  settle  villages  or  towns,  or 
make  any  provision  for  posterity." 

We  have  here  the  picture  of  a  nation  enjoying  all  that  con- 
tributes either  to  the  wants  or  luxuries  of  life,  and  yet  in  the 
enjoyment  of  laws  which  promoted  such  commutative  justice 
that  at  a  period  when  nearly  the  whole  of  Northern  Europe 
was  studded  with  fortified  castles,  the  residences  of  spoilers 
and  oppressors,  the  Irish  people  enjoyed  their  "poetry,  music, 
and  all  kinds  of  learning;"  they  "possessed  all  things  neces- 
sary for  the  civil  life  of  man,"  and  yet  were  free  from  the 
continued  apprehension  that  some  neighbouring  lord  would 

S 


258    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

swoop  from  his  eyrie,  and  seizing  their  lamb  in  his 
powerful  talons,  bear  it  to  his  hold.  The  debauch  and  riot 
which  disgraced  the  baronial  hall,  and  debased  alike  the 
knight  and  the  man-at-arms,  were  unknown  amid  the  purer 
life  of  the  Celts,  who,  actuated  by  nobler  purposes,  cultivated 
their  own  minds  and  then  became  missionaries,  carrying  to 
the  outer  world  the  sublime  truths  of  Christianity  and 
philosophy. 

In  the  year  A.D.  795  the  first  attack  of  the  Danes  upon  the 
coast  of  Ireland  was  made.  They  laid  waste  the  island  of 
Rathlin,  off  the  coast  of  Antrim.  In  798  they  attacked  the 
coast  of  Ulster,  and  in  802  set  fire  to  the  monastery  of  lona, 
and  destroyed  many  of  the  monks.  In  807  they  effected  a 
landing  in  Ireland,  and  penetrated  as  far  as  Roscommon, 
which  they  then  destroyed,  laying  waste  the  surrounding 
country.  The  French  annals  inform  us  that  in  A.D.  812  : — 

"  The  fleet  of  the  Normans  having  attacked  Ireland  (the  island 
of  the  Scots),  after  a  battle  had  been  fought  with  the  Scots,  and  no 
small  part  of  the  Normans  killed,  returned  home  in  disgraceful 
flight." 

Father  Walsh  thus  expresses  his  sorrow  at  the  devastation 
of  the  Danes  : — 

"  There  was  no  monarch  in  Ireland  now  (the  ninth  century)  but 
the  saddest  interregnum  ever  any  Christian  people  had  or  heathen 
enemies  could  wish.  No  more  king  over  the  people  but  that 
barbarous  heathen  Turgesius.  No  more  now  the  island  of  saints,  nor 
mart  of  literature.  No  more  Beauchun  (Bangor)  to  be  seen,  but  in 
ashes  now  a  second  time,  all  the  holy  monks  thereof  murdered  by  the 
cruel  Danes,  and  buried  under  its  rubbish.  No  more  the  monastery 
of  Fionbaur,  at  Cork,  at  which  700  conventual  monks,  and  together 
with  them  seventeen  bishops,  at  one  time  wholly  devoted  themselves 
to  a  contemplative  life.  No  more  that  wonderful  cloister  of  all  for 
angelical  visions  and  communications  under  St.  Mochada,  at  Ruthin 
first,  and  then  at  Lismore,  containing  no  fewer  than  100  of  the  most 
remarkable  monks  for  sanctity  that  have  ever  been  of  any  age  or 
nation.  No  more  the  celebrated  cells  of  Maghbile,  or  any  at  all  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       259 

so  many  holy  places  echoing  forth  continually  the  praises  of  God. 
No  more  the  renowned  schools  of  Dundaleagthghlus,  Armagh, 
Lismore,  or  Cashel.  No  more  a  university,  or  academy,  or  college 
of  learning  in  all  the  land,  nor  foreigners  coming  to  admire  or  study 
in  them." 

These  cruelties  of  Turgisius  were  avenged  by  Olchoban 
Mac  Knee,  who  was  at  first  Abbot  and  Bishop  of  Emly,  but 
was  afterwards  raised  to  the  throne  of  Cashel  or  Munster. 
In  846  Emly  was  invaded,  and  the  residence  of  the  bishop 
attacked.  This  roused  the  spirit  of  the  warlike  bishop,  who 
attacked  and  defeated  Turgisius.  The  cruel  chieftain  gathered 
his  adherents  and  again  attacked  and  expelled  the  Primate, 
Foraina,  and  his  clergy,  and  burned  the  place.  He  was 
attacked  by  Melsiachlin,  King  of  Ireland,  and  defeated  and 
killed.  Colgan  says  that  during  the  several  invasions  of  the 
Danes,  Armagh  was  six  times  plundered,  twice  laid  waste,  and 
thirteen  times  burned.  Kells  was  five  times  ravaged  and 
thirteen  times  burned.  Kildare  was  ravaged  fourteen  times 
and  burned  ten  times ;  Clomacnoise  was  burned  eleven  times 
and  plundered  twenty-three  times  ;  and  Cork  was  ravaged  five 
times  and  set  fire  to  seven  times. 

In  853  the  Norwegian  Prince  Amlave  (whose  name  is  also 
written  Olaff  or  Auliffe)  came  to  Ireland,  accompanied  by  his 
brothers  Sitiu  and  Ivar.  One  of  them  built  Dublin,  another 
Limerick,  and  the  third  Waterford.  They  became  converts 
to  Christianity,  and  Olaff,  or  Saint  Olaff,  gives  his  name  to 
one  of  the  parishes  and  a  church  in  the  city  of  Waterford. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century  the  power  of  the 
Danes  received  a  check.  Flan  Sivima  was  then  King  of 
Ireland  ;  he  repeatedly  defeated  the  Danes.  The  uncultivated 
lands  began  to  be  tilled  again,  and  Christianity  dared  to  show 
its  face  once  more,  and  the  seminaries  of  learning  began  to 
flourish  with  new  vigour.  Cormac,  King  of  Munster,  collected 
and  compiled  the  Irish  historical  records,  which  are  known  as 
the  Psalter  of  Cishel,  and  built  the  beautiful  small  church  on 
the  Rock  of  Cashel  called  Cormac's  Chapel.  In  his  reign  the 
Northmen  or  Danes  returned,  and  after  his  death  they 


260     TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 

attacked  Ireland  with  fresh  vigour.  Waterford,  Cork,  Lismore, 
and  Agaboe  first  felt  their  fury.  They  again  spread  misery 
and  desolation  through  various  parts  of  the  isle.  During  this 
century  the  war  between  the  Irish  and  the  Danes  was  waged 
with  varying  success,  until  at  length  they  were  defeated  by 
Brian  Boroimhe  at  the  battle  of  Clontarf  in  1014,  at  which  he 
and  his  son  Morogh,  and  his  grandson  Turiogh,  were  slain. 
Churches,  schools,  and  other  religious  establishments  were 
erected  and  rebuilt,  roads  and  bridges  were  constructed  through 
the  country,  and  the  public  highways  put  into  repair.  The 
lands,  too,  which  had  been  usurped  by  the  Danes  were 
restored  to  their  original  proprietors,  the  pagan  foreigners 
being  expelled  from  them. 

The  necessity  of  defending  themselves  from  foreign  invasion 
led  to  changes  in  the  social  system  of  the  Irish,  and  to  the 
disturbance  of  that  order  which  prevailed  for  centuries.  Force 
was  required  to  repel  force ;  hence  organisms  arose  quite 
foreign  to  its  ancient  institutions.  The  existence  of  armed 
disciplined  bodies  which  sprung  from  invasion  fostered  ambi- 
tion that  led  to  schemes  of  conquest  and  disorder.  Those 
who  had  taken  up  arms  to  defend  their  rights  became  them- 
selves aggressors.  There  was  no  sufficiently  strong  central 
authority  to  repress  violence  ;  hence  disorder  and  confusion 
prevailed  to  a  greater  extent  than  formerly. 

The  presence  of  the  foreign  element  acted  like  a  cancer  in  the 
system,  and  led  to  the  further  interference  of  strangers,  and 
unhappily  the  religious  element  played  an  important  part  in 
these  transactions  and  aggravated  the  evil.  The  Irish  Church 
maintained  a  semi-independent  existence,  and  enjoyed  until 
the  twelfth  century  a  ritual  almost  identical  with  the  Eastern 
or  Greek  Church.  The  invaders,  however,  having  an  affinity  to 
the  Normans,  placed  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the  Latin 
Church.  When  William  of  Normandy  secured  the  English 
throne  he  thrust  aside  the  Saxon  prelates,  and  placed  Lanfranc, 
an  Italian,  in  the  see  of  Canterbury.  The  Danish  settlers  in 
Ireland,  being  of  the  same  race  as  the  Normans,  seized  upon 
the  opportunity  of  winning  for  themselves  foreign  aid.  The 


THE   HISTORY  OF   LANDHOLDING   IN   IRELAND.       261 

cities  of  Dublin,  Limerick,  and  Waterford  almost  simultaneously 
elected  bishops,  but,  instead  of  having  them  consecrated  in 
Ireland  or  in  connection  with  the  Irish  Church,  they  sent  them 
to  England,  and  thus  established  an  Episcopacy  in  Ireland, 
not  in  connection  with  the  Irish  Church,  and  giving  the  see  of 
Canterbury  a  pre-eminence  over  Armagh.  Patrick,  who  was 
chosen  Bishop  of  Dublin  in  1074,  went  to  England  to  be  con- 
secrated by  Lanfranc,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  made 
the  following  profession  of  obedience  : — 

"  Whoever  presides  over  others  ought  not  to  scorn  to  be  subject  to 
others,  but  rather  make  it  his  study  humbly  to  render  in  God's  name 
to  his  superiors  the  obedience  which  he  expects  from  those  placed 
under  him.  On  this  account  I,  Patrick,  elected  prelate  to  govern 
Dublin,  the  metropolis  of  Ireland,  do  offer  thee,  reverend  father 
Lanfranc,  Primate  of  Britain  and  Archbishop  of  the  Holy  Church  of 
Canterbury,  this  charter  of  my  profession ;  and  I  promise  to  obey 
thee  and  thy  successors  in  all  things  appertaining  to  the  Christian 
religion." 

The  submission  of  even  a  portion  of  the  people  in  Ireland 
to  the  rule  of  the  Norman  tempted  William  I.  to  invade 
Ireland,  but  death  prevented  the  fulfilment  of  his  intentions 
and  delayed  that  event. 

The  period  of  Danish  irruptions  was,  however,  like  the 
seedtime,  in  which,  amid  apparent  defeat,  the  ploughshare 
and  the  harrow  tore  the  social  system  asunder  and  spread 
seeds  destined  to  affect  the  entire  system.  Nor  were  other 
influences  wanting.  The  Irish  Church  held,  on  various  points, 
dogmas  more  in  accordance  with  the  Greek  than  the  Latin 
Church,  and  some  historians  assert  that  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  Pontiff  was  not  as  implicitly  acknowledged  as  in  other 
parts  of  Western  Europe.  In  Northumberland  and  in  France 
the  Irish  missionaries  were  denounced  for  holding  views  dif- 
ferent from  those  of  the  Latin  Church.  The  Irish  arch- 
bishops did  go  to  Rome  for  the  pallia.  Indeed,  Cardinal 
Barnabo  goes  so  far  as  to  declare  that  the  Irish,  at  this  period, 
were  schismatics.  Some  of  the  Irish  ecclesiastics,  who  derived 
their  orders  from  Canterbury,  were  desirous  of  securing  greater 


262   TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

apparent  uniformity  ;  and  one  eminent  prelate  died  in  Swit- 
zerland on  his  second  visit  to  Rome  to  promote  this  object. 
These  negotiations  led  to  the  visit  of  Cardinal  Papire,  or 
Papeson,  who  came  to  Ireland  as  Legate  in  1148,  and  in  1151 
summoned  a  council  of  3,000  ecclesiastics,  and  four  palls  were 
solemnly  received  from  the  Pope  by  the  Archbishops  of 
Armagh,  Dublin,  Cashel,  and  Tuam.  At  the  same  time  the 
celebration  of  Easter  was  adjusted  according  to  the  usage  of 
the  Latin  Church.  This  was  the  natural  outcome  of  the 
election  of  bishops  by  the  Danes  and  their  consecration  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Unfortunately,  at  this  junc- 
ture, the  pontifical  tiara  graced  the  brows  of  the  only  English- 
man (Nicholas  Brakespeare)  who  ever  filled  the  highest  office 
in  that  Church,  and  some  historians  assert  that  he  went  so  far 
as  to  confer  the  sovereignty  of  Ireland  upon  the  English 
monarch.  I  have  seen  what  purports  to  be  the  Bull  of  Pope 
Adrian  IV.,  in  which  he  claims  that  all  the  islands  upon  which 
"  Christ,  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  hath  shone,  belong,  of 
right,  to  the  see  of  St.  Peter's,"  and  proceeds  to  give  Ireland 
to  Henry  II.,  on  condition  that  he  would  "  establish  the  rights 
of  the  Holy  Roman  Church  and  pay  Peter's  pence."  Adrian 
IV.  was  elected  Pope  in  the  same  year  (1154)  that  Henry  II. 
succeeded  to  the  kingdom;  the  Papal  Bull  is  dated  1155.  Its 
authenticity  is  denied  by  some  later  Catholic  writers,  who 
say,  even  if  it  were  issued,  it  became  inoperative,  according  to 
canon  law,  as  it  was  not  acted  upon  within  a  year ;  but  older 
authorities  admit  its  authenticity  and  validity.  Matthew  of 
Westminster,  an  ancient  writer,  says  : — 

"  About  the  same  time,  Henry,  King  of  England,  sending  solemn 
ambassadors  to  Rome,  requested  Adrian  (who  had  recently  been 
made  Pope,  and  whose  favour  he  confidently  hoped  to  obtain  as 
being  an  Englishman)  that  he  would  license  his  entering  Ireland  in 
a  hostile  manner,  and  allow  him  to  subdue  that  country  and  bring 
back  its  beastly  inhabitants  to  holding  the  faith  of  Christ  in  a  more 
seeming  manner,  and  induce  them  to  become  more  dutiful  children 
of  the  Church  of  Rome,  exterminating  the  monsters  of  iniquity  that 
were  to  be  found  in  the  country,  which  request  the  Pope  graciously 


THE   HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       263 

complied  with,  and  sent  the  monarch  the  following  letter,  granting 
the  sanction  desired." 

Then  follows  the  letter. 

Cardinal  Pole,  in  a  speech  to  Parliament  in  the  reign  of 
Queen  Mary,  1554,  said  : — 

"  That  as  Adrian  was  an  Englishman,  the  tendency  to  add  to  the 
power  and  dominion  of  England  made  him  willingly  accede  to  the 
request  made  by  Henry's  ambassadors." 

Matthew  of  Westminster  adds  : — 

"  King  Henry,  therefore,  towards  Michaelmas  (of  the  same  year, 
1155),  held  a  Parliament  in  Winchester,  in  which  he  treated  with 
his  nobles  concerning  the  conquest  of  Ireland;  but  because  the 
thing  was  opposed  to  the  wishes  of  his  mother  the  Empress  (Matilda), 
that  expedition  was  put  off  to  another  time." 

Henry  became  occupied  with  his  continental  dominions, 
and  became  embroiled  in  the  feud  with  the  Church  which 
eventuated  in  the  murder  of  St.  Thomas-a-Becket  (the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury).  These  events  delayed  the  projected 
invasion.  The  Irish  kings  and  chiefs  were  aware  of  Henry's 
intentions,  and  their  knowledge  may  have  brought  about  the 
events  which  subsequently  took  place.  No  great  pretence 
could  be  assigned  for  such  an  invasion  as  Henry  contem- 
plated. Ireland  was  entirely  independent,  and  except  upon 
religious  grounds  there  was  not  a  pretext  for  such  an  outrage 
upon  her  nationality,  but  events  were  hurrying  forward  which 
led  to  the  ultimate  subversion  of  her  institutions  and  the 
destruction  of  her  independence. 

The  Scandinavian  incursions  did  not,  as  far  as  I  can 
discover,  make  any  alteration  in  the  system  of  land-holding. 
They  ravaged  and  destroyed,  but  did  not  attempt  to  build 
up,  and,  with  the  exception  of  some  seaports  and  cities,  they 
do  not  appear  to  have  acquired  permanent  territorial  rights. 
The  Irish  Septs,  with  their  Chieftains  and  Tanists,  continued 
to  own  the  land,  and  the  Brehon  Code  was  their  legal 
system. 


264  TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

PART  III. — THE  NORMAN  OR  FEUDAL  PERIOD. 

IT  happens  not  infrequently  in  political  affairs  that  events 
of  an  apparently  secondary  character  tend  to  promote 
primary  objects  unattainable  by  direct  means.  The  oppo- 
sition of  the  queen  mother,  the  Empress  Matilda,  the 
indifference  of  the  English  nobles,  and  the  feud  with  the 
Church,  seemed  to  have  put  an  end  to  Henry's  ambition  to 
add  Ireland  to  his  other  dominions ;  but  an  event  in  no  way 
connected  with  the  main  design  brought  about  that  which 
had  seemed  improbable  and  remote.  Dermod  MacMorrough, 
King  of  Leinster,  whose  tyrannical,  profligate,  and  inhuman 
disposition  made  him  an  object  of  terror  and  hatred  to  almost 
every  one  who  knew  him,  had  provoked  the  vengeance  of 
Roderick  O'Connor,  Kingof  Ireland,  who  expelled  him  from  his 
dominions,  A.D.  1167,  in  consequence  of  his  violent  abduction  of 
the  wife  of  Tiernan  O'Ruarc.  This  Irish  version  of  the  Iliad,  led 
Dermod,  whose  immediate  dependants  had  deserted  him  in  the 
hour  of  his  distress,  to  seek  the  aid  of  Henry.  That  monarch 
was  in  France,  and  Dermod  followed  him,  claiming  his  aid, 
and  promising  that  if  he  would  restore  him  to  his  kingdom  he 
would  become  Henry's  vassal.  Dermod  was  not  king  of 
Ireland,  he  was  one  of  the  subordinate  kings,  and  having 
been  guilty  of  crime,  was  lawfully  expelled  from  his  do- 
minions. If  he  became  vassal  to  Henry,  that  monarch  would 
— supposing  he  legally  stepped  into  Dermod's  position — have 
been  subordinate  to  the  King  of  Ireland.  But  Henry,  how- 
ever desirous  of  reaching  the  object  of  his  ambition,  was 
personally  unable  to  accompany  Dermod  to  Ireland.  Wish- 
ing to  avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  of  gaining  a  footing 
for  the  English  in  Ireland,  he  gave  Dermod  the  following 
letter  :— 

"  Henry,  King  of  England,  Duke  of  Normandy,  Aquitane,  Earl  of 

Anjou,  &c. 
"  Unto  all  his  subjects,  English,  Normans,  Welsh,  and  Scots,  and  to  all 

nations  and  people  being  his  subjects,  greeting, 
"  Whereas  Dermod,  Prince  of  Leinster,  most  wrongfully  (as  he  in- 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING   IN   IRELAND.       265 

formeth)  banished  out  of  his  own  country  craved  our  aid,  therefore 
for  so  much  as  we  have  received  him  into  our  protection,  grace,  and 
favour,  whosoever  within  our  nation,  subject  unto  our  command,  will 
aid  and  help  him  whom  we  have  embraced  as  our  trusty  friend  for 
the  recovery  of  his  lands,  let  him  be  assured  of  our  favour  and  licence 
in  that  behalf." 

This  document  proves  that  Dermod  only  claimed  to  be 
"  Prince  of  Leinster,"  and  the  aid  to  be  given  him  was  "for 
the  recovery  of  his  land''  Notwithstanding  Henry's  letters  of 
license,  Dermod  did  not  for  several  months  succeed  in 
obtaining  succour.  At  length  he  prevailed  on  Richard,  Earl 
of  Pembroke,  generally  called  Strongbow,  to  espouse  his 
cause,  by  promising  him  his  daughter  Effa  or  Eva  in  marriage, 
and  with  her  the  inheritance  of  the  princedom.  This  bait 
was  swallowed  by  Pembroke.  According  to  Irish  law, 
the  princedom  was  an  elective  office,  which  Dermod  could 
not  bestow.  Strongbow  secured  the  aid  of  Robert  Fitz- 
stephen  and  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  Hervey  of  Mountmorris, 
and  Maurice  de  Prendergast,  on  condition  of  ceding  to 
them  the  town  of  Wexford  with  a  large  adjacent  territory  as 
soon  as  by  their  assistance  he  could  be  reinstated  in  his 
rights.  The  invasion  of  Ireland  was,  therefore,  the  act  of 
private  adventurers ;  and  as  Dermod  could  not  legally  give 
them  more  than  he  possessed  himself,  the  gifts  were  liable 
to  all  Dermod's  obligations  in  relation  to  the  lands.  Fitz- 
stephen  and  Fitzgerald  landed  in  1170  with  390  men. 
Strongbow  with  Raymond  le  Gross  followed,  and  landed  in 
Waterford  23rd  August,  1170.  Leinster  was  overrun,  Dublin 
was  captured,  and  Dermod  was  restored  to  his  princedom, 
which  he  did  not  long  enjoy,  his  death  taking  place  in  May, 
1171.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  ever  performed  the  act  of 
vassalage,  or  that  Henry,  as  his  superior,  bestowed  the  order 
of  investiture,  which  was  part  of  the  feudal  system.  Strong- 
bow  assumed  the  principality  of  Leinster  as  the  dower  of 
his  wife;  this,  though  consonant  with  English  feudal  law, 
was  contrary  to  the  Brehon  Code,  and,  had  right  pre- 
vailed, Strongbow's  claims,  and  those  of  his  followers,  were 


266     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

subject  to  the  obligations  of  that  code,  as  they  represented 
Dermod. 

Henry  became  jealous  of  the  rising  power  of  Earl  Strong- 
bow,  and  he  addressed  the  following  inhibition  to  the 
English  in  Ireland  : — 

"  We,  Henry,  &c.,  &c.,  forbid  and  inhibit  that  from  henceforth  no 
ship  from  any  place  in  our  dominion  shall  traffic  or  pass  into  Ireland, 
and  likewise  charge  that  all  our  subjects  upon  their  duty  and  allegi- 
ance which  are  there  shall  return  from  thence  to  England  before 
Easter  next  following,  upon  pain  of  forfeiture  of  all  their  lands,  and 
the  person  so  disobeying  to  be  banished  from  our  land  and  exiled 
for  ever." 

Strongbow,  who  did  not  wish  to  lose  his  English  possessions, 
or  to  exchange  them  for  those  he  acquired  in  Ireland,  sent 
the  following  reply  by  Sir  Raymond  le  Gros  to  Henry. 

"  Most  puissant  Prince,  my  dread  Sovereign,  I  came  into  this  land 
with  your  Majesty's  leave  and  favour  (as  far  as  I  remember)  to  aid 
your  servant  Dermod  MacMorrough ;  what  I  have  won  with  the  sword, 
what  was  given  me,  I  give  you ;  I  am  yours,  life  and  living  at  your 
command." 

This  answer  appeased  Henry ;  the  Earl  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  English  and  native  forces.  But  Henry  was 
not  satisfied  with  this  acknowledgment  of  his  position.  He 
called  his  vassals  around  him  and  fitted  out  an  expedition ; 
and  in  October,  1171,  he  landed  at  Waterford  with  5°° 
knights  and  4,000  men-at-arms. 

Roger  of  Hovenden,  a  contemporary  historian,  gives  the 
following  account  of  Henry's  proceedings  in  Ireland  : — 

"  On  the  next  day  after  the  coming  of  the  King  of  England  to 
Ireland,  namely,  on  Monday,  October  the  i8th,  the  festival  of  St. 
Luke  the  Evangelist,  he  and  all  his  armies  proceeded  to  Waterford, 
an  Episcopal  city.  And  there  he  found  William  Fitz-Adholm,  his 
brother,  and  Robert  Fitz-Reinard,  and  certain  others  of  his  own 
family,  whom  he  sent  on  before  him  from  England.  And  there  he 
stayed  fifteen  days  (until  there  had  come  to  him  the  kings  and  nobles 
of  the  country).  And  there  came  to  him,  by  his  own  order,  the  King 
of  Cork  and  the  King  of  Limerick  and  the  King  of  Ossy  and  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING   IN   IRELAND.       267 

King  of  Meath,  and  Reginald  of  Waterford,  and  almost  all  the 
princes  of  Ireland  except  the  King  of  Connaught,  who  said  that  he 
was  of  right  the  lord  of  all  Ireland.  The  King  of  England,  how- 
ever, could  not  by  any  possibility  attempt  to  crush  him  in  war  at 
that  wintry  season,  in  consequence  of  the  flooded  state  of  the 
country  and  the  rugged  mountains  and  desert  wolds  that  lay  between 
them.  Moreover  there  came  to  the  King  of  England  in  the  place 
above  mentioned  all  the  archbishops,  bishops,  and  abbots  of  all  Ireland, 
and  they  received  him  for  king  and  lord  of  Ireland,  swearing  fealty 
to  him  and  his  heirs,  and  the  power  of  reigning  over  them  for  ever, 
and  thereupon  they  gave  him  their  papers  [in  the  form  of  deeds  with 
seals  attached],  and  after  the  example  set  them  by  the  clergy  the 
aforesaid  kings  and  princes  of  Ireland  did  in  like  manner  receive 
Henry,  King  of  England,  for  lord  and  king  of  Ireland,  and  became 
his  men,  and  swore  fealty  to  him  and  to  his  heirs  against  all  men." 

Henry  left  Waterford  for  Dublin  on  the  2nd  November, 
1171,  and  arrived  in  that  city  on  the  nth  November.  He 
remained  in  Ireland  until  the  i/th  April,  1172.  No  battle 
was  fought  while  he  was  in  the  country.  He  was  received  by 
the  Irish  princes  more  as  a  protector  and  patron  than  an 
enemy.  .  Henry  assumed  the  title  of  Lord  of  Ireland,  and 
departed  without  striking  one  blow,  or  building  one  castle,  or 
planting  one  garrison.  Such  was  the  conquest  of  Ireland  by 
Henry  II.,  which  was  as  unjustifiable  as  it  was  inefficient. 

Sir  John  Davis,  Attorney-General  in  the  time  of  James  I., 
thus  describes  the  excursion  of  Henry  II.  into  Ireland  : — 

"  He  departed  out  of  Ireland  without  striking  one  blow,  or  building 
one  castle,  or  planting  one  garrison  among  the  Irish ;  neither  left  he 
behind  him  one  true  subject  more  than  those  he  found  there  at  his 
coming  over,  which  were  only  the  English  adventurers  spoken  of 
before  who  had  gained  the  port  towns  in  Leinster  and  Munster,  and 
possessed  some  slopes  of  land  thereunto  adjoining,  partly  by  Strong- 
bow's  alliance  with  the  Lord  of  Leinster  and  partly  by  plain  invasion 
and  conquest.  The  part  of  this  island  which  was  occupied  by  the 
adventurers,  consisting  of  a  small  district  round  Dublin,  and  some 
ports  along  the  south  and  east  coasts,  was  taken  under  the  direct 
dominion  of  the  King  of  England,  placed  under  the  feudal  law,  and 


268     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

organized  on  the  feudal  system;  the  rest  remained  in  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  native  chiefs  and  under  the  Brehon  or  Irish  law." 

Roderic  O'Connor,  King  of  Ireland,  who  had  expelled 
Dermod  for  his  conduct  towards  O'Ruarc,  Prince  of  Breffrey, 
refused  at  first  to  acknowledge  Henry's  sovereignty,  but  in 
1175,  four  years  later,  he  entered  into  a  treaty  with  Henry, 
which  commences  in  the  following  manner  : — 

"  This  is  the  final  treaty  agreed  to  at  Windsor  on  the  octaves  of 
St.  Michael's  Day,  in  the  year  of  grace  1175,  between  our  Lord  Henry, 
son  of  the  Empress  Matilda,  King  of  England,  and  Roderic,  King 
of  Connaught,  through  the  agency  of  Catholicus,  Archbishop  of 
Tuam,  and  Cantordes,  Abbot  of  St.  Brendan,  and  Master  Laurence, 
Chancellor  of  the  King  of  Connaught. 

"  To  wit,  that  the  King  of  England  grants  to  the  aforesaid 
Roderic  his  liegeman,  King  of  Connaught,  so  long  as  he 
faithfully  serves  him,  that  he  shall  be  a  king  holding  under 
him  and  ready  to  serve  him  as  his  own  man,  and  that  he  is 
to  retain  possession  of  his  present  territories,  as  firmly  and 
peaceably  as  he  held  them  before  that  our  lord  the  King  of  England 
came  into  Ireland,  paying  him  tribute  ;  and  that  he  is  to  have  under 
his  superintendence  and  jurisdiction  the  whole  of  the  remaining  part 
of  the  land  and  its  inhabitants,  so  as  that  they  shall  pay  their  tribute 
in  full  to  the  King  of  England  through  his  hand  ;  and  that  they  shall 
still  enjoy  their  own  rights,  and  that  the  present  holders  shall  continue 
to  hold  in  peace,  so  long  as  they  remain  faithful  to  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, and  pay  him  faithfully  and  in  full  their  tribute  and  other  dues 
which  they  owe  him  through  the  hand  of  the  King  of  Connaught, 
saving  in  all  things  the  privilege  and  honour  of  our  lord  the  King  of 
England  and  his  '  own '  [/.  e.,  the  rights,  &c.,  of  King  Roderic]." 

The  tribute  consisted  of  one  hide  for  every  tenth  head  of 
cattle  killed  in  Ireland.  The  king  reserved  to  himself  Dublin 
and  its  appurtenances,  all  Meath  and  Leinster,  besides 
Waterford  and  Dungarvan,  which  had  been  the  territories  of 
Dermod,  King  of  Leinster. 

Roderic  was  King  of  Ireland,  and  the  treaty  proves  that 
Henry  limited  his  claims  to  that  part  of  the  land  of  Ireland 
of  which  Dermod  MacMorrough  was  prince,  and  even  in 


THE   HISTORY  OF   LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.        269 

that  portion  Henry  did  not  acquire  any  rights  not  possessed 
by  Dermod,  and  the  inferior  estates  of  the  chiefs  and 
members  of  the  clans  were  not  disturbed  by  the  proffered 
vassalage.  The  tribute  levied  on  the  rest  of  Ireland  was  a 
sort  of  black  mail  to  avert  injury,  but  the  fact  that  Henry 
never  visited  Connaught  or  acquired  possession  of  the  land  was 
pleaded  in  an  action  in  Galway,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I., 
when  the  jury  found  that  Henry  had  not  acquired  these 
lands. 

Ireland  was,  according  to  the  Multifinan  MSS.,  divided  as 
follows  for  fiscal  purposes  : — 

Munster  70  cantreds,  2,100  town  lands,  16  800  carracutes. 
Leinster  31  „  930  „  7,400 

Connaught  30        „  900  „  7,200          „ 

Ulster          35        „          1,050  „  8,400 

Meath          18        „  540  „  4,320          „ 


Total      184  5,520  „  44,120, 

Each  carracutewas  about  120  acres,  and  this  would  make 
the  grazing  land  5,254,400  acres  ;  the  area  under  tillage  in  1875 
was  5, 332,81 3  acres  ;  the  number  of  cattle  then  was  1,656,000; 
in  1848  it  was  1,435,291.  The  tribute  paid  by  Roderic 
O'Connor  would  make  the  number  of  cattle  in  Connaught 
270,000,  in  1841  it  was  298,877.  One  of  the  reasons  which 
conduced  to  Henry's  ready  reception  by  the  Irish  princes  was 
the  hope  that  it  would  tend  to  secure  better  order  and  tran- 
quillity in  the  realm.  Radulphus  de  Diceto,  Dean  of  London, 
who  flourished  under  King  John,  A.D.  1 197,  says  : — 

"  When  the  people  of  Ireland  saw  how  wholly  the  mind  of  the 
King  of  England  was  set  upon  promoting  and  establishing  peace,  he 
being  one  that  neither  countenanced  evil  deeds  by  indulgent  treat- 
ment, nor  issued  hasty  sentence  of  death  against  any  man  summoned 
by  his  edict,  they  came  to  him  suing  for  peace." 

Jan.  1 1 72  Henry  convened  the  Council  of  Cashel,  of  which 
Giraldus  Cambrensis  observes  : — 


270     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

"  While  the  island  was  therefore  thus  silent  in  the  presence  of  the 
king,  enjoying  a  tranquil  calm,  the  monarch,  wisely  influenced  by  a 
strong  desire  to  magnify  the  honour  of  God's  church  and  the  worship 
of  Christ  in  those  parts,  summoned  a  council  of  the  entire  clergy  of 
Ireland  to  meet  at  Cashel." 

Amongst  the   enactments  are  those  for  the   payment  of 
tithes,  the   honouring  of  churches  with  due  devotion,  and 
constant  attendance  at  them,  labouring  by  every  means  to 
reduce  the  state  of  the  Church  to  the  model  of  the  Church  of 
England.     Some  time  after  this  council,  King  Henry  sent  to 
Rome  to  Pope  Alexander  III.  a  copy  of  the  decrees  passed 
at  it  and  a  copy  of  the  deeds  of  submission  to  himself,  as 
king  and  lord  of  the  newly-acquired  island  which  he  had 
received  from  the  archbishops  and  bishops,  and  the  pontiff 
"by  his  apostolic  authority  confirmed  to  him  and  to  his  heirs 
the  kingdom  of  Ireland  according  to  the  form  of  the  deeds  of 
the  archbishops  and  bishops  of  Ireland."     Pope  Alexander 
wrote  three  letters,  all  bearing  date  the  2Oth  September,  1 172, 
one  addressed  to  the  prelates  of  Ireland,  another  to  Henry 
II.,  and  another  to  the  Irish  nobles.     The  first  is  addressed 
to  Christian,  Bishop  of  Lismore,  legate  of  the  apostolic  see, 
Galasius,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  and  the  archbishops  and 
bishops  of  Ireland.      He  tells  them  that  he  is  thankful  to 
God  for  granting  to  Henry  such  a  noble  victory  and  triumph, 
and  urges  them  to  be  very  zealous  in  supporting  a  monarch 
who  was  so  "magnificent  a  personage  and  so  truly  devout  a 
son  of  the  Church,"  and  that  they  should  assist  him  to  the 
best  of  their  power  in  retaining  possession  of  the  country,  and 
if  any  of  the  kings,  princes,  or  other  people  of  the  country 
should  attempt  to  act  in  opposition  to  the  oath  of  fealty  they 
had  made  to  King  Henry,  they,  the  bishops  of  the  Church, 
were  first  to  admonish  him  concerning  his  offence,  and  then, 
if  their  admonition  were  unheeded,  to   visit   him   with  the 
terrors  of  ecclesiastical  censure.     "  Be  sure,"  says  he,  "  that 
you  execute  our  commands  with  diligence  and  earnestness, 
that  as  the  aforesaid  king,  like  a  good  Catholic  and  truly 
Christian  prince,  is  stated  to  have  paid  to  us  a  pious  and 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       271 

benign  attention  in  restoring  you,  as  well  the  tithes  as  the 
other  ecclesiastical  dues,  so  you  likewise  may  yourselves 
maintain,  and  as  far  as  in  you  lies,  procure  that  others  shall 
maintain  whatever  privileges  appertain  to  the  king's  dignity." 
The  letter  to  King  Henry  praises  him  for  his  efforts  to  extend 
the  power  of  the  Church ;  he  asks  the  king  "  to  preserve  to  us 
in  the  aforesaid  land  the  rights  of  St.  Peter ;  and,  even  if  the 
said  Church  have  no  such  jurisdiction  there,  that  your  Highness 
should  assign  and  appoint  it  for  her."  In  the  third  letter  to 
the  Irish  princes,  he  tells  them  how  happy  he  had  been  to 
learn  that  they  had  wisely  submitted  to  such  a  potent  and 
magnificent  king  as  their  sovereign  lord  ;  a  circumstance  that 
promised  their  country,  as  he  tells  them,  much  greater  peace, 
tranquillity,  and  improvement,  and  he  exhorts  them  to  be 
good  subjects  of  King  Henry,  and  to  observe  carefully  the 
fealty  and  allegiance  which  they  had  promised  on  their 
oath  to  that  prince. 

In  1177  Henry  II.,  having  obtained  license  from  Pope 
Alexander  III.,  appointed  his  son  John,  King  of  Ireland  in 
the  presence  of  the  bishops  and  peers,  and  in  1186  Pope 
Urban  sent  over  two  legates  into  Ireland  to  crown  John,  the 
king's  son,  there. 

The  relative  value  of  Ireland  and  England  in  the  reign 
of  King  John  may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  when  that 
miserable  king  by  an  instrument  or  charter  granted  to 
Innocent  III.  and  his  successors  the  whole  kingdom  of 
England  and  the  whole  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  took  back 
an  estate  thereof  by  an  instrument  sealed  with  a  seal  of 
lead,  he  undertook  to  pay  700  marks  a  year  for  England  and 
300  marks  a  year  for  Ireland.  Ireland  was  then  in  point 
of  inhabited  houses  considered  to  be  to  England  in  the  ratio 
of  two  to  seven.  Ireland  at  the  present  day  is  to  England  in 
point  of  income  as  one  to  fourteen,  though  the  population 
is  about  in  the  ratio  of  one  to  four.  The  recently  pub- 
lished State  papers,  1171  to  1251,  do  not  contain  any 
grant  of  land  in  Ireland  during  the  reign  of  Henry  II. 
Many  were  made  in  the  reign  of  King  John.  The  first,  July 


272      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

16,  1199,  was  made  to  the  Knights  Templars.  It  was  followed 
by  two  grants  to  Walter  Cross,  one  of  the  two  islands  of 
Asmudesty  and  Clere,  for  which  the  King  received  forty 
marks  and  the  service  of  one  and  a-half  knight's  fee,  the 
second  gave  one  knight's  fee  at  Karventhi  and  Kalke,  two 
knights'  fees  at  Kildeyn  in  the  cantred  of  Huhene,  and  of 
five  burgages  within  the  walls  of  Limerick.  Sept.  6  of  same 
year  there  is  a  grant  to  Hamon  de  Valoignes  of  the  two 
cantreds  of  Hochenel  in  the  land  of  Limerick  to  hold  of  the 
King  by  the  service  of  ten  knights,  and  the  same  date  a  grant 
to  Thomas  Fitzmaurice  of  five  knights'  fees  in  the  fee  of 
Eleuri  and  cantred  of  Fontunel,  and  of  five  knights'  fees  in 
the  fee  of  Huamerith  in  Thomond,  on  the  river  Shannon,  and  a 
burgage  near  the  bridge  on  the  left  within  the  walls  of 
Limerick.  The  same  date  there  is  a  grant  to  William  de  Naas, 
of  the  castle  of  Karaketel,  with  five  knights'  fees  in  the 
fee  of  Syachmedth  and  cantred  of  Huhene  and  also  of  a 
burgage  within  the  walls  of  Limerick.  The  same  date  a 
grant  to  William  de  Burgh  of  Aspatria,  of  the  rest  of  the 
cantred  of  Fontunel,  remaining  in  the  king's  hands,  by  the 
service  of  three  knights'  fees.  The  same  date  of  a  grant  to 
Lambekin  Fitzwilliam  of  a  fee  of  five  knights  in  the  cantred 
of  Hueme,  and  a  burgage  within  the  walls  of  Limerick,  and 
the  same  day  a  grant  to  Robert  Seignel  of  one  knight's  fee 
Chonchuherdechan^  in  the  fee  of  Huerthern,  and  a  further 
grant  of  four  burgages  within  the  walls  of  Limerick. 

Sept.  1 2,  same  year,  there  are  grants  to  Elyas  Fitz-Norman, 
of  the  vill  or  adlongport,  on  the  river  Sur,  to  Humphrey  of 
Tekeull  of  Kilduna,  with  three  circumjacent  knights'  fees 
and  a  burgage  in  Limerick. 

Sept.  12.  Grant  to  Milo  de  Brit  of  twelve  carracutes  of 
land  at  Long  in  the  fee  of  Othohel  and  cantred  of  Huheme. 
Then  follow  at  intervals  grants  to  Gerald  Fitzmaurice, 
Geoffrey  Fitzrobert,  John  de  Gray,  Hugh  Hose,  William 
de  Burgh,  the  Knights  Hospitallers,  Meyler  Fitzhenry,  to 
the  Cistercian  monks,  to  Thomas  Abbot  of  Glendalough, 
to  the  abbey  and  monks  of  Blessed  Mary,  in  Mayo,  to 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       273 

Geoffrey  de  Costentus,  Geoffrey  de  Marisco,  Richard  de  Felder, 
and  many  others.  In  most  cases  a  fine  was  paid  to  the  king 
as  well  as  the  knights'  service.  Thus  I  find,  Jan.  12,  1200, 
William  de  Breonne  gives  the  king  5,000  marks  tha  the  may 
have  the  honour  of  Limerick.  The  king  retains  in  his 
demesne  the  city  of  Limerick,  the  gift  of  all  bishoprics 
and  abbeys  and  all  royalties,  the  cantred  of  the  Ostmen  and 
the  Holy  Isle,  and  the  tenements  and  service  of  William  de 
Burgh,  three  cantreds  in  Cork  to  hold  by  the  service  of  ten 
knights.  To  Philip  de  Prendergast  of  forty  knights'  fees,  of 
which  fifteen  were  between  Cork  and  Insovenoch.  To 
William  Marshall,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  of  his  land  in  Leinster, 
to  hold  by  service  of  100  knights.  To  Murad  O'Brien  of 
cantred  in  Thomond,  and  to  Richard  de  Burgh  of  all  the 
land  of  Connaught  which  William  his  father  held  of  the 
King. 

One  of  the  early  English  settlers  affords  an  instance  of  the 
way  in  which  they  were  disposed  to  act  towards  the  occupiers. 
Henry  de  Londres  was  not  only  Archbishop  of  Dublin  and 
Papal  Legate,  but  he  was  also  Justiciary,  an  office  equivalent 
to  that  of  Lord  Lieutenant.  After  his  instalment  as  arch- 
bishop (1212)  he  summoned  all  the  tenants  and  farmers  of 
the  see  to  appear  before  him  on  a  day  appointed,  and  to  bring 
with  them  such  evidences  and  writings  as  they  enjoyed  their 
holdings  by.  The  tenants,  at  the  stated  time,  presented 
themselves,  and  showed  their  evidences  to  their  landlord, 
"  mistrusting  nothing ; "  but  before  their  faces,  on  a  sudden, 
he  cast  them  all  into  a  fire  secretly  prepared.  This  fact 
amazed  some  that  they  became  silent,  and  moved  others  to  a 
strong  choler  and  furious  rage  that  they  regarded  neither 
place  nor  person,  but  broke  into  irreverent  speeches : 
" Thou  an  archbishop !  nay,  thou  art  a  scorch-villain" 
Another  drew  his  weapon,  and  said,  "As  good  for  me  to 
kill  as  be  killed,  for  when  my  evidences  are  burned 
and  my  living  taken  away  from  me  I  am  killed."  The  arch- 
bishop, seeing  this  tumult  and  imminent  danger,  went  out  at 
a  back  door ;  his  chaplains,  registers,  and  summoners  were 

T 


274     TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

well  beaten,  and  some  of  them  left  for  dead.  They  threatened 
to  fire  the  house  over  the  bishop's  head  ;  some  means  were 
taken  to  pacify  their  outrage,  with  fair  promises  that  all  here- 
after should  be  to  their  own  content  :  upon  this  they  departed. 
See  Ware's  "Annals  of  Ireland." 

King  John,  as  well  as  his  son,  Henry  III.,  attempted  to  in- 
troduce English  laws  into  Ireland,  but  their  policy  was  frus- 
trated by  the  barons,  who  preferred  leaving  the  native  Irish 
to  be  governed  by  their  own  laws  and  customs,  which,  being 
framed  for  a  peaceful,  contented  people,  gave  more  power  to 
the  strangers  to  persecute  and  oppress  them  ;  for,  as  the 
King's  courts  were  not  open  to  the  Irish,  who  continued  to  be 
governed  by  the  Brehon  Code,  the  Normans  could,  if  the  blood 
of  a  relative  was  shed,  plead  that  he  was  only  an  Irishman, 
and  thus  be  secured  from  human  vengeance.  The  unfortunate 
inhabitants,  perceiving  the  advantage  to  be  derived  from  Eng- 
lish laws,  petitioned  Edward  I.  to  admit  them  to  the  protec- 
tion of  British  law,  and  offered  him  a  purse  containing  8,000 
marks  as  an  acknowledgment  in  return  for  the  desired  benefit. 
Twice  they  urged  the  appeal,  and  twice  the  king  received  it 
into  favourable  consideration,  but  evil  influences  prevailed, 
and  the  heartless  rulers  of  Ireland  succeeded  in  defeating  the 
good  intentions  of  the  King  and  the  just  claims  of  an  op- 
pressed people,  and  in  1315  "Donald  O'Neyl,  King  of 
Ulster  and  rightful  successor  to  the  throne  of  all  Ireland,  and 
the  princes  and  nobles  of  the  said  land,  as  well  as  the  Irish 
people,"  addressed  Pope  John  XXII.  They  say, — 

"That  Pope  Adrian,  an  Englishman,  at  the  false  suggestion  of 
Henry  II.  made  over  to  him  the  dominion  of  our  realm,"  they  say, 
"  we  were  despoiled  of  our  royal  honour  without  any  offence  of  ours, 
and  handed  over  to  be  lacerated  by  teeth  more  cruel  than  those  of 
any  wild  beasts."  "  For  since  that  time  when  the  English,  upon 
occasion  of  the  grant  aforesaid,  under  the  mask  of  a  kind  of  outward 
sanctity  and  religion,  wickedly  crossed  the  borders  of  our  realm,  they 
have  endeavoured  with  all  their  might,  and  with  every  act  of  treachery 
they  could  employ,  to  exterminate  and  completely  to  eradicate  our 
people  from  the  country,  and  by  means  of  low  crafty  scheming  they 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       275 

have  so  far  prevailed  against  us,  that  expelling  us  violently,  without 
regard  to  the  authority  of  any  superior,  from  our  spacious  habitations 
and  patrimonial  inheritance,  they  have  forced  us  to  repair,  in  the 
hopes  of  saving  our  lives,  to  mountainous,  woody,  swampy,  and 
barren  spots  ;  and  exerting  themselves  to  the  utmost  of  their  power 
to  drive  us  from  them,  and  to  seize  upon  every  part  of  our  native  soil 
for  themselves,  contrary  to  all  right ;  falsely  asserting,  in  the  extreme 
frenzy  which  blinds  them,  that  we  have  no  right  to  any  free 
dwelling-place  in  Ireland,  but  that  the  whole  property  of  the 
said  country  belongs  entirely  of  right  to  themselves." 

The  document  goes  on  to  expose  the  treatment  which  the 
Irish  received,  and  begs  the  Pope  to  appoint  Edward  Bruce 
to  be  king  over  them,  and  prayed  that,  out  of  a  regard  to 
justice  and  public  tranquillity,  the  Pope  would  "forbid  the 
King  of  England  and  our  adversaries  to  molest  us  for  the  future ; 
or,  at  least,  kindly  vouchsafe  to  execute  for  us  upon  them  the  due 
requirements  of  justice."  The  Pope,  on  receiving  this  appeal, 
addressed  a  remonstrance  to  King  Edward,  in  which  he  re- 
minds him  that  God  hears  the  groans  of  the  oppressed,  and 
urges  the  expediency  and  advantage  which  would  arise  to  the 
king  from  his  looking  into  the  wrongs  of  the  Irish  and  grant- 
ing them  redress,  so  as  to  cut  off  all  occasion  of  just  com- 
plaint. 

The  Irish  princes  and  nobles  also  complained  to  Pope  John 
XXII.  of  the  exclusion  of  Irishmen  from  positions  in  the 
Church,  and  referred  to  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Kilkenny, 
which  totally  excluded  all  Irishmen  from  ordination  or  ad- 
mission into  the  religious  bodies. 

The  inhabitants  were  classified  by  the  Duke  of  York,  in 
his  despatches  to  Richard  II.,  as  follows  : — 

"  ist.  Liegemen,  or  good  subjects.  2nd.  Irish  enemies  who  had 
never  submitted  to  the  government,  and  who  were,  indeed,  in  a  state 
of  almost  constant  warfare  with  it.  3rd.  Rebels,  who,  from  being 
subjects  by  birth  and  submission,  had  taken  up  arms  against  the 
State,  or  at  least  renounced  English  laws  and  institutions." 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  III.  the  rights  of  ladies  with  regard 


276    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

to  the  succession  to  land  became  the  subject  of  legislation, 
and  an  Act  was  passed  (14  Henry  III.)  which  says, — 

"  Henry,  King  of  England  and  Lord  of  Ireland,  &c.,  &c.  Certain 
knights  of  Ireland  have  made  application  to  the  king  respecting  the 
descent  of  land  to  sisters  in  Ireland,  whether  the  younger  sisters 
should  do  homage  to  the  elder  sister  or  to  the  king.  The  reply  was, 
that  by  the  custom  of  England  they  held  as  co-partners,  and  each 
should  do  homage  to  the  king ;  and  it  enacts  that  this  custom  shall  be 
proclaimed  throughout  our  dominion  of  Ireland,  to  be  straitly  kept." 

The  sovereign  tried  to  check  the  lawlessness  of  the  English 
settlers  and  the  king's  officers ;  but  as  their  object  was  to 
obtain  the  lands  of  the  Irish  people,  the  statutes  of  the 
sovereign  became  a  dead  letter.  The  i/th  Ed.  II.,  A.D.  1323, 
enacts, — 

"  i.  That  the  king's  officers  shall  not  purchase  lands  in  Ireland 
without  licence  j  and  if  any  do  the  contrary,  it  shall  forfeit  to  the  king 
and  his  heirs. 

"  2.  That  they  shall  not  by  colour  of  their  offices  take  victuals  of 
any  person  against  his  will. 

"  3.  That  they  shall  not  arrest  ships  or  other  goods  of  strangers  or 
our  own  people,  but  that  all  merchants  and  others  may  carry  their 
corn  and  other  victuals  and  merchandises  forth  of  our  realm  of 
Ireland  into  our  realm  of  England,  and  unto  our  land  of  Wales, 
under  penalty  of  double  damages,  and  shall  also  be  grievously 
punished  by  us." 

Edward  IV.  sought  to  break  down  the  existence  of  the 
clan  or  sept,  which,  as  joint  owner  of  the  land  of  the  tribe, 
continued  to  maintain  its  existence,  and  a  law  was  passed  in 
the  fifth  year  of  his  reign,  which  sought  to  abolish  the  clan 
names.  It  enacted, — 

"  That  the  Irish  dwelling  amongst  the  English  in  the  counties  of 
Dublin,  Moth  (Meath),  Urul  (Louth  and  Monaghan),  and  Kildare, 
should  no  longer  be  called  by  the  name  of  their  sept  or  nation,  but 
each  one  should  take  upon  himself  a  several  surname,  either  of  his 
trade  or  faculty,  or  of  some  quality  of  his  body  or  mind,  or  of  the 
place  where  he  dwelt,  so  as  every  one  to  be  distinguished  from  the 
other." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       277 

It  is  not  my  object  to  write  a  history  of  Ireland,  or  to  give 
any  account  of  the  unhappy  incidents  which  arose  from  the 
weakening  of  the  ancient  system  of  laws  and  the  absence  of  a 
competent  jurisdiction.  Sir  John  Davis,  whose  leanings 
were  towards  the  English,  observes, — 

"  Though  Henry  II.  had  the  title  of  sovereign  and  lord  over  the 
Irish,  yet  did  he  not  put  those  things  in  execution  which  are  the  true 
marks  of  sovereignty.  For  to  give  laws  unto  a  people ;  to  institute 
magistrates  and  officers  over  them;  to  punish  and  pardon  male- 
factors ;  to  have  sole  authority  of  making  war  and  peace,  and  the 
like,  are  true  marks  of  sovereignty,  which  King  Henry  II.  had  not  in 
the  Irish  countries ;  but  the  Irish  lords  did  still  retain  all  these  pre- 
rogatives to  themselves ;  for  they  governed  their  people  by  the 
Brehon  law;  they  made  their  own  magistrates  and  officers,  they 
pardoned  and  punished  all  malefactors  within  their  several  countries  ; 
they  made  war  and  peace  one  with  another  without  controlment,  and 
this  they  did  not  only  during  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  but  afterwards 
in  all  times,  even  until  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth." 

The  only  object  of  the  English  appears  to  have  been  to 
acquire  territories  for  themselves,  and  few  crossed  to  Ireland 
except  rude  and  barbarous  warriors.  The  English  adventurers 
and  colonies  planted  took  land  from  the  Irish,  yet  they,  as  well 
as  the  Irish,  strove  to  be  independent  of  the  Crown,  and  rose 
frequently  in  rebellion.  In  this  state  of  disturbance  many  of 
the  Irish  were  anxious  to  obtain  the  protection  of  English 
laws.  The  Brehon  Code  did  not  impose  capital  punishment, 
and  if  an  Englishman  murdered  one  of  the  mere  Irish  he 
claimed  to  be  tried  by  Brehon  law ;  while,  if  an  Irishman 
murdered  an  Englishman,  it  was  avenged  with  the  utmost 
rigour. 

"  As  long  as  they  (the  Irish)  were  out  of  the  protection  of  English 
law,"  says  Sir  John  Davis,  "  so  as  every  Englishman  might  oppress, 
spoil,  and  kill  them  without  controlment,  how  was  it  possible  they 
should  be  other  than  outlaws  and  enemies  to  the  crown  of  England  ? 
If  the  king  would  not  admit  them  to  the  condition  of  subjects,  how 
could  they  learn  to  acknowledge  and  obey  him  as  their  sovereign  ? 
When  they  might  not  converse  or  commerce  with  any  civil  men,  no 


278     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

enter  into  any  town  or  city  without  peril  of  their  lives,  whither  should 
they  fly  but  into  woods  and  mountains,  and  there  live  in  a  wild  and 
barbarous  manner  ?  For,  in  a  word,  the  English  would  neither  in 
peace  govern  them  by  law,  nor  in  war  root  them  out  by  the  sword ; 
must  they  not  needs  be  pricks  in  their  eyes  and  thorns  in  their  sides 
till  the  world's  end?" 

Where  such  a  writer  as  Sir  John  Davis  speaks  of  rooting 
out  an  entire  people  with  the  sword,  we  may  easily  fancy  the 
feeling  that  actuated  more  ignorant  and  barbarous  men. 
The  object  of  the  adventurers  was  to  acquire  the  lands  of 
the  Irish ;  they  were  harassed  and  tormented.  Maurice 
Fitzthomas,  of  Desmond,  began  that  system  of  extorting 
coin  and  livery,  called  in  the  old  statutes  a  damnable  custom, 
the  imposing  and  taking  of  which  was  made  high  treason. 

"  Besides,"  says  Davis,  "  the  English  colonies  being  dispersed  in 
every  province  of  this  kingdom,  were  enforced  to  keep  continual 
guards  upon  the  borders  and  marshes  round  about  them,  which 
guards  consisting  of  idle  soldiers  were  likewise  imposed  as  a  continual 
burthen  upon  the  poor  English  freeholder  and  tenants,  the  great 
English  lords  and  captains  had  power  to  impose  this  charge  when 
and  where  they  pleased ;  many  of  the  poor  freeholders  were  glad  to 
give  unto  these  lords  a  great  part  of  their  lands  to  hold  the  rest  free 
from  that  extortion  ;  and  many  others,  not  being  able  to  endure  that 
intolerable  oppression,  did  utterly  quit  their  freeholds  and  returned  to 
England.  By  these  means  the  English  colonies  grew  poor  and  weak, 
though  the  English  lords  grew  rich  and  mighty ;  for  they  placed  Irish 
tenants  upon  the  lands  relinquished  by  the  English,  upon  them  they 
levied  all  Irish  exactions,  with  them  they  married  and  fostered,  and 
made  gossips ;  so  as  within  one  age  the  English,  both  lords  and  free- 
holders, became  degenerate  and  mere  Irish  in  their  language,  in  their 
apparel,  in  their  arms  and  manner  of  fighting,  and  all  other  customs 
of  life  whatsoever." 

This  sad  picture  shows  how  a  noble  people,  intelligent  and 
highly  cultivated,  sunk  under  tyranny  and  oppression. 

One  of  the  Lord  Deputies,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII., 
gives  the  following  picture  of  that  portion  in  the  possession 
of  the  English : — 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       279 

"The  Pale  is  overrun  with  thieves  and  robbers.  The  soldiers 
so  beggarly  that  they  could  not  live  without  oppressing  the  subjects. 
Leinster  was  harassed  by  the  Tooles,  Burns,  &c.,  but  especially  the 
county  of  Kilkenny  was  almost  desolate.  Munster,  by  the  dissen- 
sions between  the  Earls  of  Desmond  and  Ormond,  was  almost  ruined. 
Connaught  was  almost  wasted  by  the  feuds  between  the  Earl  of 
Clanricarde  and  McWilliam  Oughton,  and  Ulster  was  in  open 
rebellion  with  Shan  O'NeiL" 

One  of  the  State  Papers  addressed  to  King  Henry  VIII. 
about  the  year  1515,  thus  describes  the  land  of  Ireland, — 

"  If  the  land  of  Ireland  were  put  once  in  order,  it  would  be  none 
other  than  a  very  paradise,  delicious,  of  all  pleasaunce  in  respect  and 
regard  of  any  other  land  in  this  world.  Inasmuch  as  there  was  never 
stranger  or  alien  person,  small  or  great,  who  would  avoid  therefrom 
by  his  will,  notwithstanding  the  misorder,  if  he  might  have  the 
means  to  dwell  therein.  How  much  more  would  be  his  desire  to 
dwell  therein  if  the  land  were  once  put  in  order." 

The  putting  in  order  which  appears  to  be  contemplated  was 
the  handing  over  to  the  English  settlers  the  land  of  the  Irish 
owners.  The  history  of  land  in  Ireland  is  almost  an  unvary- 
ing tale  of  spoliation. 

Absence  from  Ireland  was  sufficient  to  forfeit  lands  held  in 
that  country.  The  condition  upon  which  these  lands  were  held 
implied  residence,  for  it  was  found  necessary,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VI.,*  to  pass  an  Act  by  which  such  lands  would  not  be 
forfeited  in  cases  in  which  the  person  was  employed  upon 
the  king's  business. 

*  The  25th  Henry  VI.,  cap.  2,  and  2$th  Henry  VI.,  cap.  9,  runs  thus, 
"  Also  it  is  ordained  and  agreed  that  if  any  of  the  King's  liegemen  or 
officers  of  his  land  of  Ireland  be  out  of  said  land  of  Ireland  by  the  com- 
mandment of  the  King  or  his  Heirs,  Lieutenants,  their  Deputies,  Justices, 
or  the  King's  Council  of  Ireland,  that  their  lands,  Tenements,  Rents, 
Benefices,  or  Offices,  or  other  possessions  whatsoever  by  their  said 
absence  shall  not  be  seized  or  taken  into  the  King'shands  or  his  heirs,  nor 
their  offices  void;  and  if  so  fortune  that  any  of  the  said  officers  be  taken 
by  pirates  or  any  other  ill-doers  or  enemies,  that  they,  at  their  return 
may  occupy  their  said  offices,  notwithstanding  any  grant  or  gift  of  the  said 
offices  made  to  any  other  person  in  their  absence,  and  if  any  service  or 
gift  be  made  to  the  contrary,  the  same  shall  be  void  and  holden  for  none." 


280    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

The  English  settlers,  the  descendants  of  the  Roman  barons, 
became  less  and  less  civilized,  and  they  were  described  in  the 
language  Hibernus  ipsis  Hiberniores,  i.  e.,  more  Irish  than  the 
Irish  themselves.  Rapine,  injustice,  and  spoliation  were  the 
rule  of  these  lords ;  and  suffering,  misery,  and  destitution  the 
lot  of  the  Irish  people,  who  were  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  the 
mild  laws  of  the  Brehon  code,  which  were  unequal  to  control 
Norman  violence,  and  who  did  not  receive  the  compensating 
advantage  of  the  English  common  law ;  and  the  difficulties 
of  the  Irish  were  aggravated  by  an  enactment  which  made  the 
head  of  the  sept  answerable  for  every  one  of  the  sept,  and  bound 
him  to  produce  him  when  charged  with  treason,  felony,  or  any 
other  heinous  crime ;  thus  the  innocent  were  made  to  suffer 
with  the  guilty,  and  the  lands  of  the  whole  sept  were  liable  to 
fine  for  the  non-jurisdiction  of  one  of  the  real  or  supposed 
members  of  the  sept.  They  were  punished  without  trial, 
judgment  preceded  inquiry,  and  innocence  and  guilt  were 
confounded  in  indiscriminate  retribution. 

Henry  VIII.  altered  the  title  borne  by  his  predecessors, 
and  by  an  Act  passed  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  reign,  that 
monarch  took  "  for  himself,  his  heirs  and  successors,  the  style 
and  title  of  King  of  Ireland."  The  Act  provided  that  "  the 
king  shall  enjoy  that  style  and  title  and  all  other  royal  pre- 
eminences, prerogatives,  and  dignities,  as  are  united  and 
annexed  to  the  imperial  crown  and  realm  of  England."  Yet 
the  Irish  asserted  their  rights  to  their  land,  for  Spencer 
relates : — 

"  That  the  Irish  have  always  preserved  their  own  law,  which  is  the 
Brehon  law,  and  that  at  the  Parliament  held  by  Sir  Anthony  St. 
Leger,  Lord  Deputy  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  the  Irish  lords  in 
acknowledging  Henry  for  their  sovereign  reserved  unto  themselves 
all  their  former  titles,  tenures,  privileges,  and  seigniories  invalidate, 
and  that  their  ancestors  had  no  estate  in  any  lands,  seigniories,  or 
hereditaments  longer  than  during  their  own  lives,  for  all  the  Irish 
da  hold  their  land  by  tanistry,  which  is  no  more  but  a  personal  estate 
for  his  life,  that  is  tanist,  by  reason  that  he  is  admitted  thereunto  by 
the  election  of  the  country." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       281 

Henry  VIII.  appears  to  have  grappled  very  resolutely 
with  one  of  the  evils  of  English  rule — the  non-residence  of  the 
nobles.  This,  though  the  subject  of  previous  legislation,  was 
not  enforced  with  vigour,  but  an  Act  in  relation  thereto  was 
passed  in  the  twenty-eighth  of  his  reign,  which  is  so  quaint  in 
its  language,  and  so  descriptive  of  the  state  of  Ireland,  that  I 
quote  its  preamble  at  length.  It  declares, — 

28th  Henry  VIII.,  c.  3. — Forasmuch  as  it  is  notorious  and  manifest  that 
this  the  King's  land  of  Ireland  heretofore  being  inhabited,  and  in  due 
obedience  and  subjection  to  the  King's  most  noble  progenitors,  Kings 
of  England,  who  in  those  days  in  right  of  the  crown  of  England  had 
great  possessions,  rents,  and  profits  within  the  same  land,  hath  prin- 
cipally grown  into  ruin,  desolation,  rebellion,  and  decay,  by  occasion  that 
great  dominions,  lands,  and  possessions  within  the  same  land  as  well  by 
the  King's  grants  as  by  course  of  inheritance  and  otherwise  descended 
to  noblemen  of  the  realm  of  England,  and  especially  the  lands  and 
dominions  of  the  earldoms  in  Ulster  and  Leinster,  who  having  the  same 
both  they  and  their  heirs  by  process  of  time  devising  within  the  said  realm 
of  England,  and  not  providing  for  the  good  order  and  surety  of  the  same 
their  possessions  there,'in  their  absence  and  by  their  negligences  suffered 
those  of  the  wild  Irishmen,  being  mortal  and  natural  enemies  to  the 
Kings  of  England  and  English  dominion,  to  enter  and  hold  the  same 
without  resistance,  the  conquest  and  winning  thereof  in  the  beginning  not 
only  cost  the  king's  said  noble  progenitors  charges  inestimable,  but  also 
those  to  whom  the  said  lands  were  given,  then  and  many  years  after 
abiding  within  said  land  nobly  defended  the  same  against  all  the  King's 
said  enemies,  and  also  kept  the  same  in  such  tranquillity  and  good  order 
as  the  Kings  of  England  had  due  subjection  of  the  inhabitants  there,  the 
laws  obeyed  and  of  their  revenues  and  regularities  were  duly  answered, 
as  in  any  other  where  within  the  realm  of  England,  and  after  the  gift  or 
descent  of  the  said  lands,  possessions,  and  dominions  to  the  persons 
aforesaid,  they  and  their  heirs  absented  themselves  out  of  the  said  land 
of  Ireland  dwelling  within  the  realm  of  England,  not  pondering  nor  regard- 
ing the  presentation  thereof,  the  towns,  castles,  and  garrisons  appertain- 
ing unto  them  fell  in  ruin  and  decay,  and  the  English  inhabitants  there, 
in  default  of  defence  and  justice  and  by  compulsion  of  those  of  Ireland 
were  exiled,  whereby  the  said  king's  progenitors  lost  as  well  their  dominions 
and  subjections  there,  as  also  their  revenues  and  profits  and  their  said 
enemies  by  re-adopting  or  attaining  the  said  lands,  dominions,  and  posses- 
sions were  elevated  into  great  dominion,  power,  strength,  and  puissafflfee 
for  the  suppressing  of  the  residue  of  the  king's  subjects  of  this  land  which 
they  daily  ever  since  have  attempted,  whereby  they  from  time  to  time 


282    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

usurped  and  encroached  upon  the  king's  dominions,  which  hath  been  the 
principal  cause  of  the  miserable  estate  wherein  it  is  at  the  present  time, 
and  those  lands  and  dominions  by  negligence  and  in  default  of  the  very 
inheritors,  after  this  manner  lost  may  be  good  example  to  the  King's 
majestic  now  being  intending  the  reformation  of  this  land,  to  foresee  and 
prevent  that  the  like  shall  not  ensue  hereafter.  It  enacts  that  the  lands 
of  Thomas  Harvard,  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  Lord  Berkely,  his  co-partner 
in  Carlow,  Old  Ross,  and  other  manors  ;  those  of  George  Talbot,  Earl  of 
Waterford  and  Salop  in  Wexford,  and  the  heirs  general  of  the  Earl  of 
Ormonde  ;  the  Abbot  of  Furness  ;  the  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's,  Bristovv  ; 
the  Prior  of  Chad  Church,  Canterbury  ;  the  Prior  of  Lanthony  ;  the  Prior 
of  Cartmel ;  the  Abbot  of  Kentisham  ;  the  Abbot  and  Prior  of  Oswy ;  the 
Abbot  and  Prior  of  Bath,  and  the  Master  of  St.  Thomas  Acres,  should 
forfeit  their  lands  to  the  king,  saving  the  right  of  all  such  as  dwell  in  the 
land  except  those  named,  and  saving  also  the  right  of  John  Barnewall, 
Lord  Trimleton,  and  Patrick  Barnevale. 

Mr.  Smith,  in  his  work  on  the  Irish,  alludes  to  the  following 
curious  circumstance.  He  says  (p.  100),— 

"In  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  when  the  septs  of  O' More  and 
O'Connell  were  attainted,  the  septs  pleaded  that  the  chieftain  could 
not  by  attainder  forfeit  the  septs'  lands,  which  he  had  never  possessed. 
It  would  perhaps  have  been  difficult  at  that  time  in  the  case  of  any 
of  the  great  forfeitures  to  meet  this  plea.  A  feeling  that  the  land 
was  still  theirs,  and  that  they  were  unjustly  kept  out  of  their  posses- 
sions, seems  long  to  have  survived  these  vast  confiscations  in  the 
minds  of  the  native  proprietors." 

This  shows  that  the  system  of  Tanistry  was  continued  in 
Ireland,  and  that  the  obligation  imposed  upon  the  sept  and 
Crown  were  quite  different  from  those  which  existed  between 
liegeman  and  lord  under  the  feudal  system.  The  latter  was 
a  mutual  tie  of  dependence  and  support ;  while  the  chief  of 
the  sept  was  merely  an  elected  officer,  and  did  not  possess 
the  land  of  the  clan. 

A  review  of  the  four  centuries  that  elapsed  from  the  landing 
of  the  English  to  the  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth  leaves 
upon  the  mind  the  impression  of  evil  unmitigated  by  a  single 
tint  of  good.  The  landing  of  the  English  cannot  be  elevated 
into  the  ranks  of  conquest,  inasmuch  as  it  took  place  upon  the 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       283 

invitation  of  a  wicked  prince,  to  reinstate  him  in  the 
dominions  from  which  he  had  been  evicted  for  his  crimes. 
The  English  monarch  accepted  a  subordinate  position  as  an 
Irish  Prince  or  chieftain,  and  despoiled  his  own  subjects. 
The  acquisition  of  part  of  Ireland  added  no  lustre  or  strength 
to  the  English  Crown  ;  on  the  contrary,  like  all  great 
crimes,  it  brought  its  own  punishment,  and  was  a  source  of 
weakness.  It  opened  a  field  for  truculent  English  nobles, 
who,  uncurbed  by  the  sovereign,  waged  petty  wars  with  the 
Irish  for  the  purpose  of  despoiling  them  of  their  lands.  The 
Barons  became  rebels.  The  Irish  became  disorganised,  the 
clans  were  forced  into  a  warlike  position  quite  foreign  to  the 
genius  of  the  Brehon  code,  in  defence  of  their  possessions,  and 
the  chiefs  placed  at  the  head  of  armed  forces  imitated  the 
evil  example  of  the  English  barons,  and  tried  to  acquire  the 
hereditary  right  over  the  joint  property  of  the  sept.'  Two 
systems  of  jurisprudence  prevailed,  yet  neither  had  the  full 
support  of  the  administrative  power  of  the  Crown.  The 
Irish  were  refused  the  advantages  of  education,  and  for- 
bidden to  minister  in  the  Church.  The  object  of  the 
governors  was  spoliation  ;  the  adventurers  lusted  for  the  pos- 
session of  the  lands  of  Ireland  ;  and  as  there  could  be  neither 
rebellion  nor  forfeiture  where  there  was  neither  authority  nor 
obligation,  the  Norman  invaders  resorted  to  brute  force; 
" lauv  lander  enaughter"  " the  strong  hand  uppermost," 
became  the  motto  of  one  of  the  most  influential  of  the 
English  families,  and  swayed  the  policy  of  all  the  others.  To 
this  was  superadded  the  bitterness  of  religious  strife,  the 
aid  of  foreign  power  was  evoked  by  the  rebellious  English 
subjects  of  the  Queen.  The  Desmonds,  the  Geraldines,  and 
the  De  Burghos  rose  against  the  Crown,  and  sought  not  only 
the  aid  of  the  more  powerful  Irish  chieftains,  such  as  the 
O'Neils,  but  also  that  of  Spain.  An  army  landed  in  the 
south,  and  it  required  20,000  English  troops  to  subdue 
Ireland.  The  Crown  seized  upon  the  lands  of  its  own 
subjects,  and  Elizabeth  rewarded  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
Edmund  Spencer,  and  others  by  the  gift  of  forfeited  lands- 


284     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

But  the  Irish  executive  did  not  wish  for  order  or  peace, 
and  one  of  Elizabeth's  ministers  is  stated  by  Lascelles,  in 
Res gestos  Anglorum  in  Hibernia,  to  have  said, — 

"  Should  we  exert  ourselves  in  reducing  this  country  to  English 
order  and  civility  it  must  soon  acquire  power,  wealth,  and  consequence. 
The  inhabitants  will  thus  be  alienated  from  England  ;  they  will  either 
cast  themselves  into  the  arms  of  some  foreign  power,  or  perhaps  cast 
themselves  into  a  separate  and  independent  state.  Let  us  rather 
connive  at  their  disorders ;  for  a  weak  and  disordered  people  can 
never  succeed  in  detaching  themselves  from  the  crown  of  England." 

True  policy  would  have  suggested  a  different  mode  of  pro- 
ceeding. Elizabeth's  favourite  scheme  was  that  of  repeopling 
it  by  an  English  colony  ;  she  issued  letters  to  every  county 
in  England,  encouraging  younger  brothers  to  become  under- 
takers in  a  plantation  of  Ireland.  The  forfeited  lands  of  the 
Desmonds  were  574,628  acres,  of  which  244,080  were  granted 
to  the  undertakers,  and  the  remainder  were  restored  to  such 
of  the  former  possessors  as  had  been  pardoned,  and  leases 
were  made  to  the  native  Irish  tenantry  ;  thus  those  whom 
Elizabeth  wished  to  settle  in  Ireland  defeated  her  intention, 
and  instead  of  resident  proprietors  they  became  absentee 
middlemen." 

Four  Acts,  the  nth,  I3th,  2/th,  and  28th  of  Elizabeth,  were 
passed  for  the  purpose  of  confiscating  the  lands  of  the  O'Neil 
in  Ulster,  those  of  the  Knight  of  the  Valley  in  Munster,  of  the 
White  Knight  in  Munster,  and  of  Viscount  Baltinglass  and 
the  Desmonds  in  Leinster. 

Spenser,  who  lived  for  some  years  in  Ireland,  thus  speaks 
of  the  country  : — 

"  And  sure  it  is  yet  a  most  beautiful  and  sweet  country  as  any  under 
heaven ;  being  stored  throughout  with  many  goodly  rivers,  replenished 
with  all  sort  of  fish  most  abundantly;  sprinkled  with  many  very 
sweet  islands  and  goodly  lakes  like  little  inland  seas,  that  will  carry 
even  shippes  upon  their  waters,  adorned  with  goodly  wood,  even  fit 
for  building  houses  and  shippes,  so  commodiously,  as  that  if  some 
princes  in  the  world  had  them,  they  would  soon  hope  to  be  lords  of 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       285 

the  sea  and  ere  long  of  all  the  world  ;  also  full  of  good  ports  and 
havens,  opening  upon  England,  as  inviting  us  to  come  unto  them,  to 
see  what  excellent  commodities  that  country  can  afford ;  besides  the 
soil  itself  most  fertile,  fit  to  yield  all  kind  of  fruit  that  shall  be  com- 
mitted thereto,  and  lastly,  the  heavens  most  mild  and  temperate,  though 
somewhat  more  moist  in  the  parts  towards  the  west." 

Ireland  was  invaded  by  the  English  for  the  avowed  purpose 
of  improving  the  condition  of  the  people  of  the  country  ;  it 
had  been  held  for  about  four  hundred  years,  and  let  us  ask, 
what  was  its  condition  ?  what  were  the  benefits  it  received  ? 
The  principal  witness  I  shall  produce  is  an  Englishman,  the 
gentle  author  of  the  "  Faerie  Queene,"  who  by  the  gift  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  became  an  Irish  settler,  and  resided  for  many  years 
upon  the  borders  of  the  counties  of  Cork  and  Waterford.  He 
says : — 

"Notwithstanding  that  the  same  was  a  most  rich  and  plentiful 
country,  yet  they  were  brought  to  such  wretchedness  as  that  any 
stony  heart  would  rise  at  the  same.  Out  of  every  corner  of  the 
woods  and  glens  they  came  creeping  forth  upon  their  hands,  for  their 
legs  would  not  carry  them  ;  they  looked  like  anatomies  of  death  ; 
they  spake  like  ghosts  crying  out  of  their  graves ;  they  did  eat  the 
dead  carrions,  happy  when  they  could  find  them,  yea,  and  one  another 
soon  after,  insomuch  as  the  very  carcases  they  spared  not  to  scrape 
out  of  their  graves ;  and  if  they  found  a  plot  of  watercresses  or 
shamrocks,  there  they  flocked  as  to  a  feast  for  a  time,  yet  not  able 
to  continue  there  withal,  so  that  in  short  space  there  was  none  almost 
left,  and  a  most  populous  and  plentiful  country  suddenly  left  void  of 
man  or  beast." 

Nothing  can  be  more  sad  than  this  picture  of  the  state  of 
Ireland.  The  same  writer  in  1596  added, — 

"  There  have  been  divers  good  plots  devised  and  wise  counsels 
cast  already,  about  the  reformation  of  that  realm  of  Ireland.  But 
they  say  it  is  the  fatal  destiny  of  that  land,  that  no  purposes 
whatsoever  which  are  meant  for  good  will  prosper  or  take  good 
effect." 

Spenser  thus  recommends  husbandry  : — 


286    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

"  Because  by  husbandry,  which  supplieth  unto  us  all  things  necessary 
for  food,  whereby  we  cheerfully  live,  therefore  it  is  to  be  first  provided 
for.  The  first  thing,  therefore,  we  ought  to  draw  these  new  tithing 
men  to  ought  to  be  husbandry.  First,  because  it  is  the  most  easy  to 
be  learned,  needing  only  the  labour  of  the  body,  next,  because  it 
is  most  natural ;  and  lastly,  because  it  is  the  enemy  to  war  and  most 
hateth  unquietness;  as  the  poet  saith, — 

*    *    *    "  Bella  execrata  colonis  ;  " 

for  husbandly,  being  the  nurse  of  thrift  and  the  daughter  of  industries 
and  labour,  detesteth  all  that  may  work  her  scath,  and  destroy  the 
travail  of  her  hand,  whose  hope  is  all  her  lives,  comfort  unto  the 
plough." 

As  to  the  increase  of  cattle  in  Ireland  he  says, — 

"  I  would,  therefore,  wish  that  there  were  some  ordinance  made 
amongst  them,  that  whosoever  keepeth  twenty  kine  should  keep  a 
plough  going,  for  otherwise  all  men  would  fall  to  pasturage  and  none 
to  husbandry,  which  is  a  great  cause  of  the  dearth  now  in  England, 
and  a  cause  of  the  usual  stealths  in  Ireland,  For  look  into  all 
countries  that  live  in  such  sort  by  keeping  of  cattle,  and  you  shall 
find  that  they  are  both  very  barbarous  and  uncivil,  and  also  greatly 
given  to  war.  The  Tartarians,  the  Muscovites,  the  Norwegians,the 
Goths,  the  Armenians,  and  many  others  do  witness  the  same,  and 
therefore,  since  now  we  purpose  to  draw  the  just  from  desire  of  war 
and  tumult,  to  the  love  of  peace  and  civility,  it  is  expedient  to  abridge 
their  great  custom  of  herding,  and  to  augment  their  trade  of  tillage 
and  husbandry." 

The  State  Papers  describe  the  condition  of  Ireland  in  the 
following  language  (vol.  ii.,  p.  14)  : — 

"  What  common  folk  in  all  the  world  is  so  poor,  so  feeble,  so  evil 
beseen  in  town  and  field,  so  bestial,  so  greatly  oppressed  and  trodden 
under  foot,  fares  so  evil  with  so  great  misery,  and  with  so  wretched 
life  as  the  common  folk  of  Ireland  ?  What  pity  is  here  wherewith 
to  report !  there  is  no  tongue  that  can  tell,  no  person  can  write.  It 
passeth  far  the  orators  and  Muses  all  to  show  the  order  of  the  nobles, 
and  how  cruel  they  entreat  the  poor  common  people.  What 
danger  it  is  to  the  king  against  God  to  suffer  his  land,  whereof  he 


THE   HISTORY   OF   LANDHOLDING   IN   IRELAND.        287 

bears  the  charge  and  the  cure  temporal,  to  be  in  the  said  misorder 
so  long  without  remedy !  It  were  more  honour  to  surrender  his 
claim  thereto,  and  make  no  longer  prosecution  thereof,  than  to  suffer 
his  poor  subjects  always  to  be  so  oppressed,  and  all  the  nobles  of 
the  land  to  be  at  war  within  themselves,  always  shedding  of  Christian 
blood  without  remedy.  The  herd  must  account  for  his  fold,  and  the 
king  for  his." 

The  effect  of  the  injustice  which  had  been  perpetrated  and 
heaped  up  with  continuous  and  increasing  violence  upon  the 
Irish  people  was  most  deplorable.  The  dissemination  of  their 
property  embittered  their  minds,  and  drove  them  into  hostility 
to  government.  The  refusal  to  admit  the  Irish  to  holy  orders 
deprived  the  Church  of  the  power  and  influence  which  it 
might  have  used  to  repress  injustice  and  to  soften  the  lot  of 
those  who  were  exposed  to  it.  The  constantly  recurring 
rebellions  of  the  Anglo-Norman  nobles,  who  threw  off  the 
power  of  the  Crown  and  assumed  the  title  and  state  of 
princes,  the  wars  between  the  Desmonds,  Geraldines,  and 
Butlers,  tended  to  create  and  aggravate  the  confusion.  The 
consequence  of  ill  treatment  was  the  degradation  of  the  native 
race,  it  became  demoralized  and  degraded.  I  cannot  do 
better  to  illustrate  their  position  than  quote  the  words  of 
Edmund  Burke,  who  wrote, — 

"  To  render  men  patient  under  the  deprivation  of  all  the  rights  of 
human  nature,  everything  which  could  give  them  a  knowledge  or 
feeling  of  those  rights,  was  nationally  forbidden.  To  render  humanity 
fit  to  be  insulted,  it  was  fit  that  it  should  be  degraded." 

Elizabeth  had  a  long  and  most  severe  struggle  to  establish 
her  authority  in  Ireland,  and  at  the  end  of  a  war  of  upwards 
of  seven  years'  duration,  in  which  as  many  as  20,000  English 
troops  were  engaged,  a  final  capitulation  was  agreed  upon, 
but  she  did  not  live  to  see  it  perfected  ;  it  was  signed  a  few 
days  after  her  death.  The  country,  worn  out  with  this  long 
and  tedious  war,  was  at  length  prostrate  at  the  foot  of  the 
sovereign.  The  Plantagenets  left  to  a  new  dynasty  the  duty 


288    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

of  reconstruction  and  restoration,  and  we  shall  see  how  that 
trust  was  fulfilled. 


PART  IV. — THE  STUART  OR  CONFISCATION  PERIOD. 

AFTER  the  rebellion  and  assassination  of  Shane  O'Neil,  1568, 
his  estates  and  those  of  his  adherents,  being  most  of  the 
seignories  and  counties  of  Ulster,  were  confiscated  by  the  nth 
Elizabeth,  c.  i.,  1569,  and  vested  in  the  Crown.  The  lands 
were  given  to  English  adventurers,  but  they  found  it  impos- 
sible to  hold  their  ground  against  the  original  inhabitants.  In 
1588  O'Neill,  the  Earl  of  Tyrone,  and  other  lords  of  Ulster, 
entered  into  a  combination  to  defend  their  lands  and  religion. 
This  war  lasted  fifteen  years,  and  terminated  in  1603.  No 
cruelties  were  spared  by  the  Lord  Deputy  Mountjoy  to  put 
them  down.  He  made  incursions  on  all  sides,  spoiled  the 
corn,  burnt  all  the  houses  and  villages,  and  the  people  were 
reduced  to  live  like  wild  beasts.  Ireland,  which  had  a  popula- 
tion of  two  millions,  was  reduced  to  one-half.  "  The  multi- 
tude," says  Sir  John  Davis,  "  being  brayed  as  it  were  in  a 
mortar  with  sword,  famine,  and  pestilence  together,  submitted 
to  the  English  Government."  All  commodities  had  risen  in 
value:  wheat  had  advanced  from  363.  to  i8os.  per  quarter; 
oatmeal,  from  53.  to  22s.  per  barrel,  and  other  things  in  pro- 
portion. The  submission  in  1603  led  to  the  settlement  of 
Ulster  by  James  I. 

In  1586  the  large  estates  of  the  Earl  of  Desmond  in  the 
counties  Cork,  Limerick,  Kerry,  Waterford,  Tipperary,  and 
Dublin,  comprising  524,628  acres  (statute  measure),  were 
escheated,  not  for  any  overt  act  of  treason,  but  on  account  of 
his  quarrels  with  the  Earl  of  Ormonde.  These  large  posses- 
sions were  a  strong  temptation  to  the  Irish  governors,  but 
they  found  some  difficulty  in  passing  a  bill  of  attainder.  A 
claim  was  also  set  up  by  the  Crown  to  the  whole  of  Connaught 
and  the  county  Clare,  and  an  arrangement  was  made  with 
the  Lord  Deputy,  Sir  John  Perrott,  that  the  lords  and  gentle- 
men of  that  district  should  surrender  them  to  the  Crown 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       289 

and  receive  back,  Royal  Letters  Patent  The  surrenders  were 
not  enrolled,  and  the  patents  were  not  delivered.  James  I. 
issued  a  commission  to  receive  the  surrenders  and  re-convey 
the  estates,  by  new  patents,  to  the  lords  and  gentry,  they 
paying  £3,000  for  their  enrolment  in  chancery.  Though  the 
money  was  duly  paid  the  enrolment  was  not  made,  and  the 
king  claimed  the  land.  The  titles  were  pronounced  defective, 
and  the  whole  district  was  adjudged  to  vest  in  the  Crown. 
This  unfortunately  resulted  either  from  the  negligence  or 
wicked  design  of  the  officials,  based,  as  Carte  observes,  "  on 
a  mere  nicety  of  law  which  ought  to  be  tenderly  made  use  of 
in  derogation  of  the  faith  and  honour  of  the  king's  broad 
seal."  The  lords  and  gentry  put  no  faith  in  the  king's  sense 
of  equity  ;  they  appealed  to  his  necessities,  offered  double 
their  annual  compositions,  and  to  pay  a  fine  of  £10,000.  The 
proposal  was  entertained,  and  the  western  scheme  of  planta- 
tion was  suspended. 

The  jurors  were  coerced  or  bribed  into  finding  for  the 
Crown.  The  judges  and  law  officers  were  rewarded.  Sir 
Arthur  Chichester  got  large  possessions  in  Ulster,  which  remain 
in  his  "family  to  the  present  day,  his  descendant,  the  Marquis 
of  Donegal,  having  large  estates  in  Ulster.  Sir  John  Davis 
was  rewarded  with  a  grant  of  4,000  acres  in  the  same  province. 
"  No  means  of  industry,"  says  Leland,  "  or  devices  of  craft 
were  left  untried,  and  there  are  not  wanting  proofs  of  the 
most  iniquitous  practices  of  hardened  cruelty  or  vile  perjury 
and  scandalous  subornation,  employed  to  despoil  the  fair  and 
unoffending  proprietor  of  his  inheritance." 

"Where  no  grant  appeared,  or  descent  or  conveyance  in 
pursuance  of  it  could  be  proved  (says  Carte),  the  land  was 
immediately  adjudged  to  belong  to  the  Crown.  All  grants 
taken  from  the  Crown  since  1st  Edward  II.  till  loth  Henry 
VIII.  had  been  resumed  by  Parliament,  and  the  lands  of  all 
absentees,  and  of  all  that  were  driven  out  by  the  Irish,  were,  by 
various  acts,  vested  again  in  the  Crown.  .  .  .  Nor  did 
even  later  grants  afford  full  security ;  for  if  there  was  any 
former  grant  in  being,  at  the  time  they  were  made,  or  if  the 

u 


290    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

patents  passed  in  Ireland  were  not  exactly  agreeable  to  the 
fiat,  and  both  of  these  to  the  king's  original  warrant  trans- 
mitted from  England — in  short,  if  there  was  any  defect  in  ex- 
pressing the  tenure,  or  any  mistake  in  point  of  form,  there 
was  an  end  of  the  grant  and  the  estate  under  it." 

The  following  statutes,  confiscating  lands  in  Ireland,  were 
passed  : — 

Philip  and  Mary,  3  and  4,  cap.  i.,  ii.     Disposing  of  Leix  and  Offaly. 

„  „  cap.  iii.     Divers  and  sundry  waste  grounds 

into  shire  grounds. 
Elizabeth,  2,  cap.  vii.     Restitution    of    the    hospital    of 

St.  John's. 

„  3,  cap.  iii.     Lands  of  Christopher  Eustace. 

„  n,  cap.  i.    Attainder  of  Shane  O'Neile. 

„  „  cap.  iii.     Thomas  Knight  of  the  Valley. 

„  Sep.  4,  cap.  ii.     Restoring  the  Earl  of  Kildare. 

„  cap.  viii.    Attainder  of  Sir  Oswalde  Massing- 

bred. 
„  12,  cap.  v.     Attainder     of    all    indicted    for 

treason,  from  April  i,  1569,  to 

April  i,  1571. 

„  Sep.  2,  cap.  v.    John  Fitzgerald,  the  White  Knight. 

„  27,  cap.  i.    Attainder  of  James  Eustace. 

„  28,  cap.  vii.    Attainder  of   Earl  of  Desmond. 

Attainder  of  John  Browne  and 

others. 

Mr.  H.  C.  Hamilton,  F.S.A.,  Assistant  Keeper  of  the  Public 
Records,  in  the  introduction  to  the  Calendar  of  State  Papers, 
1509— 1573,  says:— 

"  The  power  of  the  English  in  Ireland  had  so  much  decreased  in 
Henry  VII. 's  time  that  the  old  Irish  system  of  government  in  clans  or 
separate  small  nations  had  revived  and  was  in  full  force  throughout  the 
greater  part  of  the  land.  Of  this  government  and  its  workings  we 
have  the  best  and  most  ample  accounts  in  these  papers.  The  wars 
of  Henry  VIII.,  Mary,  and  Elizabeth,  reveal  the  whole  strength  and 
weakness  of  the  system,  and  show  how  the  superior  combination  of 
the  English,  supported  by  continual  supplies  of  men  and  money  from 
home,  prevailed  over  the  craft  and  daring  of  the  native  chiefs  and 
favourite  generalissimos." 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       291 

In  the  arguments  in  the  case  of  Tanistry,  5th  James  I.,  it  was 
alleged  "that  King  John  only  made  twelve  counties  in  Leinster 
and  Munster,  viz.,  Dublin,  Meath,  Uriel,  Kildare,  Cather- 
lough,  Kilkenny,  Wexford,  Waterford,  Cork,  Kerry,  Limerick, 
and  Tipperary.  But  the  other  provinces  and  territories  of 
this  kingdom,  which  are  now  divided  into  twenty-one  counties 
at  large,  being  then  inhabited  for  the  greater  part  by  the  mere 
Irish,  were  out  of  the  limits  of  shire  ground  for  the  space  of 
300  years  after  the  making  of  the  first  twelve  counties,  and 
therefore  it  was  impossible  that  the  common  law  of  England 
could  be  executed  in  these  counties  and  territories :  for  the 
law  cannot  be  put  in  execution  where  the  king's  writs  cannot 
run,  but  where  there  is  a  county  and  a  sheriff,  or  other  mem- 
ber of  the  law,  to  serve  and  return  the  king's  writs." 

It  was  further  urged  that  if  a  conqueror  receives  any  of  the 
native  inhabitants  into  his  protection,  and  avoweth  them  for 
his  subjects,  and  permitteth  them  to  continue  their  possessions 
and  remain  at  peace  and  allegiance,  their  heirs  shall  be  ad- 
judged in  by  good  title  without  grant  or  confirmation  of  the 
conqueror.  The  example  of  the  Norman  conqueror  and  that 
of  Wales  were  instanced  as  proving  the  legality  of  pre-existing 
customs  and  rights,  and  it  was  urged  that  James  I.,  by 
special  proclamation  in  the  third  year  of  his  reign,  declared 
and  published  that  he  received  all  the  natives  of  Ireland 
into  his  royal  protection,  by  which  it  was  clearly  resolved 
that  the  common  law  of  England  was  thereby  established 
universally  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland.  The  common  law  of 
England,  however,  recognises  existing  customs,  and,  should 
have  legalized  tanistry. 

English  Sovereigns  and  statesmen  appear  to  have  felt  that 
the  Irish  chieftains  who  had  never  held  their  lands  from  the 
Crown,  owed  it  no  fealty.  Many  descendants  of  English 
settlers  intermarried  into  Irish  families,  and  adopted  the 
Tanistry  system.  An  effort  to  substitute  holdings  under  the 
Crown  for  the  Irish  system  was  made  by  the  xii.  Elizabeth, 
cap.  5  ;  it  enables  "  the  pretended  lords,  gentlemen,  and  free- 
holders of  the  Irishry  and  degenerated  men  of  English  name, 


292    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

holding  their  land  by  Irish  custom,  to  surrender  their  lands  to 
the  Queen,  and  of  taking  estates  by  letters  patent,  which  shall 
be  good  and  effectual  in  the  law,  against  all  persons  except 
those  who  have  estate,  title,  or  right  to  the  said  lands  by  the 
due  course  of  the  common  law." 

In  1604  Sir  Arthur  Chichester  was  appointed  deputy,  and, 
says  Lascelles, — 

"A  Commission  of  GRACE  was  issued  under  the  great  seal  of 
England,  empowering  the  chief  governor  to  accept  surrenders  of 
those  Irish  lords  who  held  of  old  on  precarious  tenure.  Many 
embraced  this  opportunity  of  converting  their  tenure  for  life  into  one 
of  fee,  which  should  descend  to  their  children.  Others  dreaded  the 
legal  consequences  of  their  late  treason,  and  were  impatient  to 
receive  their  possessions  by  a  new  investiture.  So  that  this  commis- 
sion instantly  produced  a  general  surrender  of  lands.  No  chieftaincies 
were  now  granted  by  letters  patent ;  no  officers  of  justice  to  be 
stationed,  or  to  exercise  an  Irish  seigniory.  The  lord  by  his  new 
patent  was  to  be  invested  only  with  the  lands  found  to  be  in  his 
immediate  possession  as  a  domain.  His  followers  were  to  be  con- 
firmed by  the  king  in  their  subordinate  tenures  on  condition  only  of 
paying  the  lord  the  stated  rent,  in  place  of  all  uncertain  Irish  exac- 
tions. Building,  planting,  cultivation,  and  civilization  were  to  follow 
in  the  train  of  these  regulations.  The  trading  towns,  were  induced  to 
follow  the  example  of  the  lords ;  they  surrendered  their  old  and 
accepted  new  charters  with  such  regulations  and  privileges  as  tended 
to  keep  them  in  subjection  to  the  Crown." 

"King  James  I.,"  says  Plowden,  pp.  100,  101,  "in  order  more 
effectually  to  secure  the  full  dominion  both  of  the  Irish  and  their 
property,  published  a  proclamation,  which  is  usually  called  the  Com- 
mission of  Grace,  for  securing  the  subjects  of  Ireland  against  all  claims 
of  the  Crown.  The  chief  governor  was  thereby  empowered  to  accept 
the  surrender  of  those  Irish  lords  who  still  held  their  estates  or  pos- 
sessions by  the  old  tenure  of  tanistry  or  gavelkind,  and  to  regrant 
them  in  fee  simple  according  to  the  English  law,  thus  converting 
the  estates  for  life  of  the  chieftains  into  estates  in  fee  simple.  For 
this  there  were  two  obvious  reasons  of  State  policy :  the  first  was  that 
in  case  of  forfeiture  the  whole  would  become  vested  in  the  Crown  by 
the  attainder  of  the  forfeiting  person ;  whereas  if  by  the  old  tenure 
of  tanistry  they  remained  tenants  for  life,  the  estates  could  only  in 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       293 

such  cases  be  forfeited  to  the  Crown  for  the  life  of  the  forfeiting 
person,  and  would  be  saved  to  all  remainder  men,  which  by  the  old 
Brehon  tenure  were  in  fact  the  whole  sept.  The  second  reason  was, 
that  by  vesting  the  fee  simple  in  the  chief,  which  by  the  course  of 
English  law  made  it  descendable  to  his  eldest  son  or  heir-at-law,  it 
excluded  the  sept  from  the  reversionary  distributive  rights  of  gavel- 
kind  upon  the  death  of  the  tenant  for  life,  and  thus  detached  the 
septs  from  that  common  bond  of  interest  and  union  with  their  chief 
which  gave  them  firmness,  consistency,  and  consequence,  and  neces- 
sarily threw  them  thus  disjointed  more  immediately  under  the  power 
of  the  sovereign,  by  leaving  only  one  freeholder  or  tenant  to  the 
Crown  in  each  sept.  The  new  grants  to  the  lords  were  limited  to  the 
lands  in  their  actual  possession,  and  those  lands  which  any  of  his 
followers  held  on  very  precarious  Irish  tenures  of  the  chief  were  con- 
firmed to  the  mesne  tenant,  also  in  fee,  upon  paying  to  the  lord  a 
certain  rent,  equivalent  to  the  lord's  beneficial  interest  in  the  services 
or  tenure  of  his  tenant.  Thus  was  the  whole  landed  interest  of 
Ireland  new  modelled,  and  the  example  of  these  new  patentees  of 
the  Crown  was  followed  by  many  trading  towns  and  corporations 
throughout  the  kingdom :  they  surrendered  their  old  and  accepted 
new  charters  from  the  Crown." 

Travelling  was  difficult  in  those  days,  and  there  was  too 
little  disposition  to  preserve  the  rights  of  the  inferior  holders 
or  ter-tenants.  The  chieftain  went  through  the  ceremony  of 
surrendering  the  estate  of  the  clan'  or  sept,  yet  he  was  only 
joint  owner  with  others,  and  got  a  new  title  to  the  whole 
estate.  He  would  not  immediately  proceed  to  enforce  his 
new  seigniorial  rights,  and  the  occupants,  finding  no  change  in 
their  treatment,  regarded  the  patent  as  a  confirmation  of 
their  existing  rights,  which  entitled  them  to  the  possession  of 
the  land  subject  to  the  payment  of  tribute.  Hence  arose 
the  claim  for  tenant  right,  which  is  a  continuing  assertion  of 
the  ancient  right  of  the  occupiers.  The  existence  of  patents 
gave  the  Crown  increased  rights  of  forfeiture,  and  we  shall 
presently  see  how  they  were  exercised,  and  in  the  change  of 
superiors  the  rights  of  inferiors  were  further  disregarded,  and 
those  who  were  the  real  owners  of  the  land  were  reduced  to 
tenancy  or  serfdom. 


294    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Any  proprietary  claims  by  the  inferior  members  of  the 
sept  were,  however,  rudely  set  aside,  not  by  legislation,  but 
by  a  resolution  of  the  judges,  in  regard  to  which,  Professor 
Sullivan,  in  the  introduction  to  O' Curry's  Lectures,  says  : — 

"  In  Ireland  all  the  Irish  customs  were  set  aside  by  a  judgment 
given  in  the  year  1605,  which  more  than  any  other  measure,  not 
excepting  the  repeated  confiscations,  injured  the  country,  and  gave 
rise  to  most  of  the  present  evils  of  the  Irish  land  system." 

These  resolutions  are  reported  by  Sir  John  Davis,  and  as 
they  are  very  important  I  give  them  in  extensis ;  but  I 
cannot  find  that  the  case  was  argued  before  the  court,  or  that 
there  was  either  plaintiff  or  defendant. 

Hill,  iii.  Jacobi,  reported  by  Sir  John  Davis, — 

"  The  resolution  _of  the  judges  touching  the  Irish  custom  of  gavel- 
kind. 

"  First  be  it  known  that  the  lands  possessed  by  the  meet  Irish 
within  this  realm  were  divided  into  several  territories  and  countries, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  every  Irish  county  were  divided  into  several 
septs  or  lineages. 

"  Secondly,  in  every  Irish  territory  there  was  a  lord  or  chieftain, 
and  a  tanist  who  was  his  successor  apparent.  And  of  every  Irish 
sept  or  lineage  there  was  also  a  chief  who  was  called  a  canfinny,  or 
caput  cognationis. 

"  Thirdly,  all  the  possessions  within  these  Irish  territories  (before 
the  common  law  of  England  was  established  in  this  realm  as  it  now 
is)  ran  always  either  in  course  of  tanistry  or  in  course  of  gavelkind. 
Every  seigniory  or  chiefry,  with  the  portion  of  land  which  passed  with 
it,  went  without  partition  to  the  tanist,  who  always  came  in  by  election 
or  strong  hand,  and  not  by  descent ;  but  all  the  inferior  tenancies 
were  partible  between  males  in  gavelkind.  Yet  the  estate  which  the 
lord  had  in  his  chiefry,  or  which  the  inferior  tenants  had  in  gavelkind, 
was  not  an  estate  of  inheritance,  but  a  temporary  or  transitory 
possession.  For,  as  the  next  heir  of  the  lord  or  chieftain  was  not  to 
inherit  the  chiefry,  but  the  oldest  and  worthiest  of  the  sept  (as  is 
shown  in  the  case  of  tanistry\  who  was  often  removed  and  expelled 
by  another  who  was  more  active  and  strong  than  he,  so  the  lands  of 
the  nature  of  gavelkind  were  not  partible  among  the  next  heirs  male 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       295 

of  him  who  died  seised,  but  among  all  the  males  of  his  sep  t,  inthis 
manner : — The  canfinny,  or  chief  of  a  sept  (who  was  commonly  the 
most  ancient  of  the  sept),  made  all  partitioners  at  discretion ;  and 
after  the  death  of  any  ter-tenant,  who  had  a  competent  portion  of 
land,  assembled  all  the  sept,  and,  having  thrown  all  their  possessions 
into  hotchpot,  made  a  new  partition  of  all ;  in  which  partition  he 
did  not  assign  to  the  son  of  him  who  had  died  the  portion  which  his 
father  had,  but  he  allotted  to  each  of  the  sept,  according  to  his 
seniority,  the  better  or  greater  portion.  These  portions  or  purpar- 
ties,  being  so  allotted  and  assigned,  were  possessed  and  enjoyed 
accordingly,  until  a  new  partition  was  made,  which,  at  the  discretion 
or  will  of  the  canfinny,  was  to  be  made  on  the  death  of  each  inferior 
tenant,  and  so,  by  reason  of  these  frequent  transmissions  and  re- 
movals, or  translations  of  the  tenants  from  one  portion  to  another, 
all  the  possessions  were  uncertain;  and  the  uncertainty  of  the 
possessions  was  the  very  cause  that  no  civil  habitations  were  erected, 
no  enclosure  or  improvement  was  made  of  the  land  in  the  Irish 
countries  where  the  custom  of  gavelkind  was  in  use,  especially  in 
Ulster,  which  seemed  to  be  all  one  wilderness  before  the  new  plan- 
tation made  by  the  English  undertakers  there ;  and  this  was  the 
fruit  of  this  Irish  gavelkind." 

"  Also  by  this  Irish  custom  of  gavelkind,  bastards  had  their 
portions  with  the  legitimate,  and  wives  were  utterly  excluded  of 
dower,  and  daughters  were  not  inheritable,  although  their  father  had 
died  without  issue  male.  So  that  this  custom  differed  from  the 
custom  of  gavelkind  in  Kent,  in  four  points." 

"  For,  i,  by  the  custom  of  Kent  the  land  of  the  nature  and  tenure 
of  gavelkind  is  partible  among  the  "next  heirs,  males  only ;  and  such 
co-parceners,  after  partition,  have  a  certain  estate  of  inheritance  in 
all  their  portions." 

"  2.  The  bastards  are  not  admitted  to  inherit  equally  with  the 
legitimate  sons." 

"  3.  The  wife  of  every  tenant  in  gavelkind  is  endowable  of  a 
moiety." 

"  4.  In  default  of  males,  the  heirs  female  inherit,  and  therefore 
the  custom  of  gavelkind  used  in  Kent  hath  been  always  allowed 
and  approved  of  as  good  and  lawful  custom  by  the  law  of  England." 

"  But  this  Irish  custom  of  gavelkind  was  agreeable  in  several  of 
these  points  to  the  custom  of  gavelkind  which  was  in  use  in  North 


296     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Wales,  which  custom  was  reproved  and  reformed  by  the  stat.  of 
Rutland,  made  12  Ed.  I.  See  the  stat.  of  34  H.  VIII.,  c.  28,  where 
the  custom  of  gavelkind  in  Wales  is  utterly  abolished,  and  divers 
other  usages  resembling  other  customs  of  the  Irish." 

"  For  these  reasons,  and  because  all  the  said  Irish  counties  and 
the  inhabitants  of  them  from  henceforward  were  to  be  governed  by 
the  rules  of  the  common  law  of  England,  it  was  resolved  and 
declared  by  all  the  judges,  that  the  said  Irish  custom  of  gavelkind, 
was  void  in  law,  not  only  for  the  inconvenience  and  the  unreason- 
ableness of  it,  but  because  it  was  a  mere  personal  custom,  and  could 
not  alter  the  descent  of  inheritance." 

"  And  therefore  all  the  lands  in  these  Irish  counties  were  now 
adjudged  to  descend  according  to  the  course  of  common  law,  and  that 
the  wives  should  be  endowed,  and  the  daughters  should  he  inherit- 
able to  these  lands,  notwithstanding  this  Irish  custom  or  usage." 

"  And  where  the  wives  of  Irish  lords  or  chieftains  claim  to  have 
sole  property  in  a  certain  portion  of  goods  during  the  coverture,  with 
power  to  dispose  of  such  goods  without  the  assent  of  their  husbands, 
it  was  resolved  and  declared  by  all  the  judges  that  the  property  of 
such  goods  should  be  adjudged  to  be  in  the  husbands  and  not  in  the 
wives,  as  the  common  law  is  in  such  cases." 

This  resolution  of  the  judges,  by  the  special  order  of  the 
lord  deputy,  was  registered  amongst  the  Acts  of  Council ;  but 
then  this  provision  was  added  to  it,  "  that,  if  any  of  the  meer 
Irish  had  possessed  and  engaged  any  portion  of  land  by  this 
custom  of  Irish  gavelkind,  before  the  commencement  of  the 
reign  of  our  lord  the  king  who  now  is,  he  should  not  be 
disturbed  in  his  possession,  but  should  be  continued  and  estab- 
lished in  it.  But  that  after  the  commencement  of  his  Majesty's 
reign  all  such  lands  should  be  adjudged  to  descend  to  him 
by  common  law,  and  should  be  adjudged  from  henceforward 
possessed  and  enjoyed  accordingly." 

This  resolution  or  decision,  fairly  carried  out,  would  have 
given  each  member  of  the  sept  the  estate  in  fee  of  the  land 
which  he  held  at  the  commencement  of  the  reign  of  James  I., 
it  would  have  remained  in  his  family  and  become  an  estate 
of  inheritance,  thereby  effecting  in  Ireland  a  change  very 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       297 

similar  to  that  which  took  place  in  France,  Switzerland,  "and 
Belgium,  whereby  the  lands  owned  in  common  became 
possessions  in  severalty,  and  a  class,  most  useful  to  the  com- 
munity, who  are  now  called  peasant  proprietors,  was  created, 
but  this  breaking  up  of  the  lands  in  Ireland  did  not  suit  the 
designs  of  the  English  adventurers,  who  wished  to  have  them 
in  large  lots,  that  they  might  be  forfeited  and  re-granted. 
It  is  now  almost  impossible  to  trace  the  means  by  which  the 
decision  of  the  Irish  judges  was  defeated,  but  it  is  apparent 
that  it  gave  every  one  of  the  ter-tenants  an  estate  in  fee 
of  the  lands  in  his  possession. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  America,  Australia,  and 
India  did  not  then  offer  fields  for  the  settlement  of  English 
adventurers,  while  Ireland  was  looked  upon  as  the  almost 
only  place  for  their  migration.  The  existence  of  a  large 
number  of  small  estates  would  not  have  suited  the  views  of 
these  adventurers,  who  desired  large  possessions,  and  found 
them  more  accessible  when  in  few  hands. 

In  1604  Sir  John  Davis  wrote  to  Cecil  about  the  state  of 
the  Church,  and  we  may  judge  from  it  of  the  anarchy  of 
other  holdings : — 

"  There  are  ten  archbishops,  and  under  them  are,  or  should  be, 
twenty  bishops  at  least.  The  Churchmen  for  the  most  part 
throughout  the  kingdom  are  mere  idols  and  ciphers,  and  such 
as  cannot  read,  if  they  should  stand  in  need  of  the  benefit 
of  their  clergy;  and  yet  most  of  those  whereof  many  be 
serving  men  and  some  horse  boys  are  not  without  two  or 
three  benefices  apiece,  for  the  Court  of  Faculties  doth  qualify  all 
manner  of  persons,  and  dispense  with  all  manner  of  non-residence 
and  pluralities.  For  an  example  of  pluralities  the  Archbishop  of 
Cashel  is  worthy  to  be  remembered,  having  now  in  his  hands  four 
bishoprics,  Cashel,  Waterford,  Lismore,  and  Emly,  and  threescore 
and  seventeen  spiritual  livings  besides.  Should  corrupt  his  lordship 
too  much  if  he  should  tell  him  how  they  disinherit  these  churches  by 
long  leases,  there  being  no  such  laws  here  as  in  England  to  restrain 
them.  But  what  is  the  effect  of  these  abuses  ?  The  churches  are 
ruined  and  fallen  down  to  the  ground  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom. 


298    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

There  is  no  divine  service,  no  christening  of  children,  no  receiving 
the  sacrament,  no  Christian  meeting  or  assembly ;  no,  not  once  in  the 
year :  in  a  word,  no  more  demonstration  of  religion  than  amongst 
Tartars  or  cannibals." 

In  another  letter  to  the  same  statesman  he  says — 

"  If  justice  be  well  and  soundly  executed  here  but  for  two  or  three 
years  the  kingdom  will  grow  rich  and  happy,  and  in  good  faith  he 
thinks  loyal,  and  will  no  more,  like  the  lean  cow  in  Pharaoh's  dream, 
devour  the  fat  of  the  happy  realm  of  England." 

A  case  immediately  affecting  the  question  of  tanistry  was 
brought  before  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  in  Hilary  Term, 
in  the  5th  of  James  I.  It  is  reported  by  Sir  John  Davis  as 
follows  : — 

"  In  Ejectione  Firmae,  bet-.veen  Murrough  MacBryan,  plaintiff, 
and  Cahir  O'Callaghan  (ancestor  of  Lord  Lismore),  defendant,  on 
general  issue  joined,  the  jury  found  a  special  verdict  to  this  effect, 
viz.,  that  the  castle  of  Dromineen,  where  the  entry  and  ejectment 
is  supposed  to  be  made,  lie  within  a  certain  place  or  precinct  of 
land  called  Publi-Callaghan,  otherwise  O'Callaghan's  country,  within 
the  county  of  Cork,  and  time  out  of  mind  have  been  of  the  tenure 
and  nature  of  tanistry;  and  that  in  all  lands  of  the  tenure  and  nature 
of  tanistry  within  Publi-Callaghan  aforesaid,  such  custom  hath  been 
used  and  approved  time  out  of  mind,  viz.,  that  when  any  person  died 
seised  of  any  castles,  manors,  land,  or  tenements  of  the  nature  and 
tenure  aforesaid,  then  such  castles,  manors,  lands,  and  tenements 
ought  to  descend,  and  have  time  out  of  mind  used  to  descend,  seniori 
et  dignissimo  vero  sanguinis  et  cognominis  of  such  person  who  so  died 
seised ;  and  that  the  daughter  or  daughters  of  such  person  so  dying 
seised,  from  time  out  of  mind,  were  not  inheritable  of  such  lands  or 
tenements  or  any  part  of  them. 

"The  jury  further  find  that  Donough  MacTeige  O'Callaghan, 
chief  of  his  name,  was  seised  of  the  seigniory  or  chieftainship  of 
Publi-Callaghan,  and  of  the  lands  aforesaid,  according  to  the  custom 
and  course  of  tanistry;  and  being  so  seised  had  issue  Conogher 
O'Callaghan;  Conogher  had  issue  Teige  and  Eleanor;  Teige  had 
issue  Donough  MacTeige  the  younger ;  Eleanor  was  married  to  Arl 
O'Keeffe ;  Conogher  and  Teige,  his  son,  died  in  the  life  of  Donough 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       299 

MacTeige  the  elder ;  afterwards  the  said  Donough  MacTeige  the 
elder  by  feoffment,  according  to  the  course  of  common  law,  executes 
an  estate  to  Donough  MacTeige  the  younger,  and  to  the  heirs  male 
of  his  body,  remainder  to  the  right  heirs  of  the  feoffor.  Donough 
MacTeige  the  elder  died,  and  Donough  MacTeige  the  younger  died 
without  issue  male  ;  after  whose  death  another  Conogher  O'Callaghan, 
being  the  oldest  and  most  worthy  of  the  blood  and  surname  of 
O'Callaghan,  entered  into  the  land  whereto  and  claimed  to  hold  it 
as  lord  and  chieftain  of  Publi-Callaghan,  according  to  the  course  of 
tanistry,  and  was  thereof  seised  proest  lex  postuliz, 

"  And  they  further  find  that  the  said  Conogher  being  so  seised  sur- 
rendered the  said  land  and  all  his  estate,  right,  title,  and  interest  in 
it  to  Queen  Elizabeth ;  on  which  the  said  queen,  in  consideration 
of  the  said  surrender,  regranted  the  said  land  to  the  said  Conogher 
and  his  heirs,  who  entered  and  enfeoifed  one  Fagan,  who  enfeoffed 
Bryan  MacOwen,  the  lessor  of  the  plaintiff. 

"And  they  lastly  find  that  Arl  O'Keeffe  and  Eleanor  his  wife 
died,  and  after  their  death  Manus  O'Keeffe  entered  and  enfeoffed 
Cahir  O'Callaghan,  the  defendant,  who  entered  and  ejected  the  lessee 
of  Bryan  MacOwen,  and  upon  all  this  matter  the  jurors  pray  the 
advice  of  the  court,  &c. 

"  Upon  which  one  main  question  ariseth,  viz.,  whether  the  title  of 
the  heir  at  common  law,  which  the  defendant  hath,  or  the  title  of  the 
tanist,  which  estate  the  lessor  of  the  plaintiff  hath,  should  be  pre- 
ferred as  this  case  is.  And  in  the  discussion  of  this  question  three 
principal  points  were  moved  and  argued. 

"  i  st.  Whether  the  said  custom  of  tanistry  was  void  or  not  in  itself, 
or  otherwise  abolished  by  the  introduction  of  the  common  law  of 
England  ? 

"  2nd.  Admitting  that  it  was  a  good  custom,  and  not  abolished  by 
the  common  law,  whether  it  be  discontinued  and  destroyed  by  the 
feoffment,  which  created  and  limited  an  estate  tail  in  the  land,  ac- 
cording to  the  course  of  the  common  law,  so  as  that  it  shall  not  be 
reduced  to  the  course  of  tanistry,  when  the  estate  tail  is  deter- 
mined ? 

"  3rd.  Whether  Conogher  O'Callaghan,  who  entered  as  tanist 
after  the  estate  tail  determined,  gained  a  better  estate  by  his  surrender 
to  Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  re-grant  made  to  him  by  letters  patent  ? ' 

The   arguments   in   this   case  were  very  lengthened   and 


300    TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

curious.  It  depended  in  the  King's  Bench  for  the  space  of 
three  or  four  years,  and  was  argued  several  times,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  Justices  resolved  : — 

"That  as  Donough  MacTeague  held  as  tanist,  which  was  not 
an  estate  in  common  law,  the  re-grant  by  Queen  Elizabeth  in 
consideration  of  the  surrender  of  such  estate  was  void  in  law,  and 
that  Queen  Elizabeth  shall  not  be  said  to  be  in  actual  possession 
of  the  land  by  reason  of  the  first  conquest,  as  it  did  not  appear 
by  some  reason  that  the  conqueror  had  appropriated  to  him- 
self as  a  parcel  of  his  proper  estate,  and  Sir  James  Ley,  chief 
justice,  had  laid  down  that  if  the  conqueror  receiveth  any  natives 
into  his  protection,  and  avoweth  them  to  be  his  subjects,  and 
permitteth  them  to  continue  their  possessions  and  remain  in  his 
peace  and  allegiance,  their  heirs  shall  be  adjudged  in  by  good  title 
without  grant  or  confirmation  by  the  conqueror,  and  shall  enjoy  their 
land  according  to  the  rules  of  law  which  the  conqueror  hath  allowed 
or  established :  but  afterwards,  Sir  Humphrey  Winch  being  chief 
justice,  the  parties,  with  leave  of  the  court,  came  to  an  agreement  by 
which  a  reasonable  division  was  made  of  this  territory  amongst  them ; 
in  which  division  the  castle  and  land  in  question  amongst  others  were 
allotted  to  Cahir  O'Callaghan,  the  defendant;  and  now,  besides 
their  mutual  assurance,  they  have  obtained  several  grants  from  the 
king,  by  virtue  of  a  commission  for  strengthening  defective  titles." 

The  main  fact  of  interest  is  the  finding  of  the  jury  that 
the  custom  of  tanistry  had  existed  time  out  of  mind  in  this 
district,  and  that  all  the  lands  had  time  out  of  mind  descended 
seniori  et  dignissimo  vero  sanguinis  et  cognominis  of  the 
person  who  had  died  so  seised.  It  was,  therefore,  a  custom 
at  common  law,  and  as  such  could  only  be  altered  or  set 
aside  by  statute  law. 

In  1612  James  I.  proceeded  to  the  settlement  of  the 
O'Neil  estate  in  Ulster,  and  we  have  three  Acts  of  Parlia- 
ment of  that  year  relating  to  the  forfeiture  in  the  north  of 
Ireland ;  but  the  most  important  incident  of  this  reign 
occurred  in  the  following  year,  when  the  flight  of  Tyrone, 
and  the  insurrection  of  Sir  Cahir  O'Dogherty,  led  to  the 
confiscation  of  their  land,  amounting  to  500,000  acres,  in 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.      301 

Donegal,  Tyrone,  Derry,  Fermanagh,  Cavan,  and  Armagh, 
and  enabled  James  to  try  his  plan  of  a  plantation.  Three 
classes  of  settlers  were  encouraged, — undertakers,  servitors, 
and  the  old  inhabitants.  The  first  class  was  confined  solely  to 
the  British  and  Scotch ;  the  second  were  permitted  to  take  their 
tenants  from  Ireland  or  Britain,  provided  they  were  not  recu- 
sant, and  the  third  were  permitted  to  retain  their  old  reli- 
gion, and  to  take  the  oath  of  supremacy.  The  undertakers 
were  entrusted  with  the  places  of  most  strength,  the  servitors 
the  stations  of  most  danger,  and  the  third  class  the  open  country. 
The  properties  were  to  consist  of  three  classes  :  ist,  2,000  acres  ; 
2nd,  1,500  acres  ;  and  3rd,  1,000  acres  ;  one-half  the  escheated 
lands  were  to  consist  of  the  smallest  class,  and  the  other 
half  divided  between  the  two  larger  classes.  Their  estates 
were  limited  to  them  and  to  their  heirs.  The  undertakers 
got  2,000  acres,  which  they  held  of  the  king  in  capite;  the 
servitors  1,500  acres,  which  they  held  by  knight's  service,  and 
the  third  1,000  acres,  which  were  held  in  common  socage  ; 
all  were  to  reside  upon  the  lands  and  build  upon  them.  The 
undertakers  were  to  keep  in  their  own  hands  a  demesne  of 
600  acres ;  to  have  four  fee  farmers  of  1 20  acres  each,  six 
leaseholders  of  100  acres  each,  and  on  the  rest  eight  families 
of  husbandmen,  artificers,  and  cottagers,  and  the  others  lay 
under  like  obligations  proportionately.  No  lease  was  to  be 
less  than  twenty-one  years  or  three  lives.  In  order  to  assist 
the  scheme  James  I.  created  200  baronets,  who  each  paid  a 
sum  sufficient  to  maintain  thirty  men  in  Ulster  for  three  years 
at  8d.  per  day.  Such  was  the  general  scheme  of  this  planta- 
tion. It  was  found  difficult  to  obtain  British  tenants.  Build- 
ings were  slowly  erected,  the  lands  were  let  to  the  old  natives, 
who  offered  higher  rents,  and  the  conditions  of  residence  were 
not  complied  with ;  and  Sir  John  Davis,  who  was  attorney- 
general  in  this  reign,  thus  speaks  of  the  English  system  of 
government : — 

"  They  persuaded  the  King  of  England  that  it  was  unfit  to  com- 
municate the  laws  of  England  to  the  Irish,  that  it  was  the  best  policy 
to  hold  them  as  aliens  and  enemies,  and  to  prosecute  them  with  con- 


302    TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

tinual  war.  Hereby  they  obtained  another  royal  prerogative  and 
power,  which  was  to  make  war  and  peace  at  their  own  pleasure,  in 
every  part  of  the  kingdom,  which  gave  them  an  absolute  command 
over  the  bodies,  lands,  and  goods  of  the  English  subjects  here." 

One  of  the  objects  which  James  I.  had  in  view  in  the 
settlement  of  Ulster,  /.  e.,  the  formation  of  an  independent 
yeomanry  with  perpetuity  of  tenure,  was  defeated  by  the  con- 
duct of  the  patentees,  and  in  1615  a  commission  was  sent 
over  from  England  to  inquire  to  what  extent  the  articles 
which  prohibited  the  undertakers  from  devising  any  portion 
of  their  lands  at  will,  and  enjoined  them  to  make  to  their 
tenants  certain  estates  for  life,  for  years,  in  tail,  or  in  fee 
simple,  at  fixed  rents,  had  been  observed.  Sir  Nicholas 
Pynmer,  one  of  the  commissioners,  reported  that  in  many 
cases  the  articles  had  been  broken  and  no  estates  granted  by 
the  undertakers.  This  report  was  shortly  after  followed  by 
an  information,  filed  in  the  Star  Chamber  A.D.  1637,  against 
the  Irish  Society  and  some  of  the  London  companies,  the  re- 
sult of  which  was  a  judgment  of  forfeiture  against  the  com- 
panies because  they  had  not  complied  with  the  plantation 
articles,  but  let  their  lands  to  the  highest  bidders,  without 
conditions  of  improvement  and  without  a  fixed  tenure  or  a 
certain  rent.  The  companies,  though  disregarding  the  latter 
of  the  articles,  were  forced  to  treat  their  tenants  according  to 
their  spirit,  and  it  was  held  that,  as  the  company  could  only 
grant  an  estate  in  perpetuity,  the  tenant  had  obtained  such 
an  estate,  even  though  there  was  no  deed  to  prove  it,  and 
hence  arose  the  custom  of  "  Ulster  Tenant  Right,"  which  is  a 
legitimate  and  legal  deduction  from  the  articles  granted  to 
the  undertakers,  who  were  properly  regarded  as  having  given 
their  tenants  that  fixity  of  tenure  which  they  were  bound  to 
give.  Under  this  construction  of  the  patents,  land  held  with- 
out lease  passed  from  tenant  to  tenant  as  if  it  were  assigned 
by  deed,  and  men  acquired  the  title  without  lease  which  the 
original  articles  meant  them  to  derive  under  deeds. 

The  success  of  the  Ulster  plantations  encouraged  James  to 
attempt  the  same  elsewhere.  Sixty-six  thousand^  acres  be- 


THE   HISTORY  OF   LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.        303 

tween  the  rivers  Arklow  and  the  Slade,  which  were  for  ages 
possessed  by  the  Irish  septs,  were  found  by  inquisition  to  vest 
in  the  Crown  ;  and  385,000  acres  in  Leitrim,  Longford,  West- 
meath,  and  King's  and  Queen's  Counties.  It  was  found  that 
some  parts  were  possessed  anciently  by  English  settlers,  who, 
in  the  disorders  of  the  kingdom,  had  been  expelled  by  the 
natives  ;  other  land  appeared  to  be  forfeited  by  rebellion,  and 
these  lands,  as  the  lands  of  absentees,  vested  in  the  Crown. 
Old  titles  were  invalidated  :  jurors  that  would  not  find  for  the 
Crown  were  fined  and  punished.  If  the  slightest  informality 
were  found  in  the  letters  patent  the  lands  were  seised  by  the 
king,  who  thought  thereby  to  increase  his  income.  In  several 
grants  reservations  of  rent  had  been  made  to  the  Crown, 
which  for  ages  were  not  put  in  force  ;  all  such  rents  were 
now  demanded,  or  acquittances  for  the  same,  and  when  they 
were  not  produced  the  lands  were  forfeited. 

In  order  to  exemplify  the  manner  in  which  the  property 
of  Irish  owners  was  dealt  with  in  the  time  of  James  L,  we 
make  the  following  extract  from  Carte's  Life  of  the  Duke  of 
Ormonde,  vol.  i.,  pp.  27,  28  :— 

"  One  case  in  truth  was  very  extraordinary,  and  contains  in  it  such 
a  scene  of  iniquity  and  cruelty  that,  considered  in  all  its  circum- 
stances, it  is  scarce  to  be  paralleled  in  the  history  of  any  age  or  any 
country.  Pheagh  MacHugh  Byrne,  lord  of  the  Byrne  territory,  now 
called  Ranelagh,  in  the  county  Wicklow,  being  killed  in  arms  towards 
the  latter  end  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  she  by  her  letters  to 
Loftus  and  Gardiner,  then  lords  justices,  directed  letters  patent  to  be 
made  out  for  Phelim  MacPheagh,  his  eldest  son,  to  have  to  him  and 
his  heirs  the  county  and  lands  of  which  his  father  Pheagh  MacHugh 
died  seised. 

"  King  James  coming  to  the  crown  not  long  after,  did  in  the 
beginning  of  his  reign  give  like  directions  for  passing  the  said  inherit- 
ance to  Phelim.  This,  Sir  Richard  Graham,  an  old  officer  of  the 
army,  endeavoured  to  obstruct,  and  in  order  thereto  sent  out  a  com- 
mission directed  to  Sir  William  Parsons  and  others  to  inquire  into 
the  said  lands,  and  upon  the  inquisition  it  was  found  that  they  were  the 
inheritance  of  Pheagh  MacHugh  Byrne,  father  to  Phelim,  and  were 


304    TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

then  in  Phelim  MacPheagh's  possession.  King  James,  therefore, 
by  a  second  letter  directed  that  Ranelagh,  and  all  the  lands  whereof 
Phelim  MacPheagh  and  Brian  his  son  were  then  seised  should 
be  passed  to  them  and  their  heirs  by  letters  patent,  in  consequence 
whereof  another  office  was  taken,  in  which  the  lands  were 
found  as  in  the  former.  The  first  office  was  not  yet  filed,  Sir  Richard 
Graham  having  opposed  it,  and  by  his  interest  and  the  credit  of  a 
general  book  which  he  produced,  got  possession  of  part  of  Phelim' s 
lands  by  virtue  of  a  warrant  from  the  Lord  Deputy.  Sir  James  Fitz- 
Piers  Fitzgerald  attempted  likewise  to  get  another  part  of  them 
passed  to  him  upon  the  like  authority,  but  Bryan,  the  son  in  whose 
possession  they  were,  complaining  at  the  council-table,  Sir  James's 
patent  was  stayed." 

Carte  describes  the  subsequent  proceedings,  but  we  must 
condense  the  facts.  Bryan  petitioned  the  king  against  Sir 
Richard  Graham,  and  the  case  was  remitted  to  the  Council 
Board  which  examined  the  matter,  and  Sir  Richard  Graham 
was  summoned  to  England.  A  commission  of  four  gentlemen 
were  then  appointed  to  examine  the  matter,  and  Graham, 
finding  that  the  final  determination  was  likely  to  go  against 
him,  adopted  the  expedient  of  alleging  that  these  lands 
belonged  to  the  king,  and  that  neither  Byrne  nor  himself 
had  any  right.  James,  always  glad  to  get  estates  into  his 
possession  from  defective  titles,  issued  a  new  commission  to 
Sir  William  Parsons  and  others  to  inquire  into  the  title, 
Bryan's  patron,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  had  just  gone  to 
Spain,  and  another  patron,  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  died  sud- 
denly, and  his  enemies,  taking  advantage  of  it,  Sir  William 
Parsons  got  the  Lord  Deputy's  warrant  to  the  Sheriff  of 
Wicklow  to  put  him  out  of  the  part  Phelim  enjoyed,  and  Sir 
William  Parsons  and  Lord  Esmond  divided  these  lands 
between  them.  Bryan  maintained  his  right  to  the  lands, 
and  he  and  his  brother  were  arrested  by  the  conspirators  and 
imprisoned  on  I3th  March,  1625,  in  Dublin  Castle.  Informa- 
tions were  sent  to  two  grand  juries  at  Carlow,  who  did  not 
find  the  bills,  and  they  were  prosecuted  in  the  Star  Chamber 
and  fined.  The  two  brothers  were  kept  close  prisoners  until 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       305 

2Oth  of  August,  when  Turlogh  was  enlarged  upon  parole,  and 
Bryan  allowed  the  liberty  of  the  house.  He  was  set  at 
liberty  on  Christmas  Eve.  As  they  continued  their  appeal 
for  their  lands,  a  new  prosecution  was  set  on  foot,  and  on 
Nov.  2,  1627,  they  were  sent  to  Dublin  in  irons  and  com- 
mitted to  jail,  and  Phelim  and  his  five  sons  were  sent  to  trial 
at  Wicklow.  Sir  James  Fitz-Piers  Fitzgerald,  an  enemy  of 
theirs,  and  who  had  part  of  their  estates,  though  having  no 
property  in  Wicklow,  was  foreman.  The  Lord  Chief  Justice, 
upon  sight  of  the  evidence,  expressed  a  doubt  whether  the 
jury  would  credit  it,  upon  which  Sir  Henry  Billing  pressed 
him  to  sign  the  bill,  and  said  he  would  undertake  that  the 
jury  should  find  it.  The  jury  were  the  friends  or  allies  of 
Lord  Esmond,  Sir  William  Parsons  and  others,  who  had  an 
interest  in  Byrne's  estate,  and  the  grand  jury  found  the  bill. 
The  friends  of  the  persecuted  gentlemen  petitioned  the  king, 
and  a  commission  was  sent  over  to  inquire  into  the  affair, 
which  consisted  of  the  Lord  Primate,  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
the  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  and  Sir 
Arthur  Savage.  It  sat  in  November  and  December,  1628. 
When  the  foul  conspiracy  against  the  Byrnes  was  made 
apparent  they  were  restored  to  their  liberty,  though  not  to 
their  estate,  a  considerable  part  having,  during  their  imprison- 
ment, passed  to  Sir  William  Parsons,  under  letters  patent, 
dated  the  4th  of  August,  4  Car.  I. 

When  James  ascended  the  throne  of  England,  Lord  Bacon 
addressed  him  in  the  following  language : — "  You  have  found 
what  Ireland  barbarous  has  proved ;  beware  of  Ireland 
civilized."  The  policy  he  inaugurated  was  adapted  to  retard 
or  prevent  the  civilization  of  Ireland.  His  deputies  and  repre- 
sentatives, greedy  for  the  possessions  of  the  people,  lashed 
them  into  rebellion,  and  then  seized  upon  their  land  because 
they  resisted.  They  thus  became  possessed  of  the  land  of 
the  oppressed. 

The  example  set  by  James  and  his  deputy,  Chichester, 
was  followed  in  the  reign  of  his  unfortunate  son,  and  by  his 
able  but  unscrupulous  ministers.  Charles  I.  not  having  the 

x 


306     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

means  of  paying  his  troops,  and  being  anxious  to  increase 
their  number,  caused  them  to  be  quartered  on  several 
counties  and  towns  in  Ireland,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were 
expected  to  supply  them  with  clothes,  provisions,  and  other 
necessaries  for  three  months  at  each  place  in  turn.  Lord 
Falkland,  the  deputy,  recommended  a  cheerful  submission, 
and  promised  \ha\.  graces  should  be  granted  by  his  Majesty  as 
a  compensation.  The  principal  nobility  and  gentry  assembled, 
and  offered  a  contribution  of  £40,000  a  year  for  three  years, 
on  certain  terms,  among  which  the  subjects  were  secured  in 
the  possession  of  their  lands  by  a  limitation  of  the  king's 
title  to  sixty  antecedent  years,  and  a  renunciation  of  all  claims 
of  an  earlier  period.  The  inhabitants  of  Connaught  were 
admitted  to  secure  their  titles  from  future  litigation  by  a 
new  enrolment  of  their  patents,  and  a  parliament  was  to  be 
summoned  for  a  confirmation  of  their  several  estates  to  all 
the  proprietors  and  their  heirs. 

Charles  accepted  the  money,  but  he  trifled  with  the  latter 
condition ;  Lord  Falkland,  who  made  the  promise,  was 
recalled,  and  Wentworth  was  appointed.  Soon  after  his  arrival 
in  Ireland  he  determined  to  subvert  the  title  of  every  estate 
in  Connaught,  which  had  been  principally  granted  by  the 
commission  of  defective  titles  in  the  previous  reign.  He 
ordered  inquisitions  as  to  title  to  take  place  in  each  county 
in  that  province,  and  attended  these  inquisitions,  accompanied 
by  a  force  sufficient  to  overawe  the  jurors.  Those  of  Ros- 
common  and  Leitrim  were  so  much  intimidated  that  they 
found  for  the  Crown  ;  those  of  Mayo  and  Sligo  followed  the 
example.  The  jurors  of  Galway  were  privately  encouraged 
by  Ulric  de  Burgo,  Earl  of  Clanricarde,  who  was  a  favourite 
with  Charles  and  resided  at  the  English  court,  to  resist  the 
designs  of  the  lord  deputy,  and  at  the  inquisition  in  1635 
they  found  the  following  curious  verdict : — "  That  the  acqui- 
sition of  Connaught  by  Henry  II.  was  not  a  conquest,  but  a 
submission  of  the  inhabitants  ;  and  that  the  grant  of  Roderic 
was  barely  a  composition,  whereby  the  king  had  only 
dominion,  and  not  the  property  in  the  land."  The  lord 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       307 

deputy  was  enraged  at  this  decision,  he  fined  the  sheriff 
;£i,ooo  for  summoning  such  jurors,  and  bound  them  to 
appear  to  answer  for  their  offence  in  the  Castle  Chamber, 
Dublin,  where  each  of  them  was  fined  ,£4,000,  and  sentenced 
to  imprisonment  until  the  fine  was  paid.  Some  of  them 
died  in  prison.  A  fresh  inquisition  was  held,  when  the 
jurors  were  more  submissive,  and  found  for  the  Crown. 
Ulric  de  Burgo  used  his  influence  to  procure  the  release  of 
the  obstinate  jurors,  and  some  of  them  were  set  at  liberty. 

The  lord  deputy's  scheme  of  plantation  was  abandoned, 
and  the  inhabitants  were  confirmed  in  their  property. 

The  litigation  which  ensued  upon  the  schemes  of  Went- 
worth  led  to  a  remarkable  trial,  and  subsequently  to  the 
publication  of  Sir  Henry  Spelman's  treatise  on  feuds. 
The  case  affected  the  property  of  Lord  Dilton,  and  in  the 
preface  to  Spelman  on  feuds  it  is  thus  described  : — 

"  The  several  manors  and  estates  within  the  counties  Roscommon, 
Sligo,  Mayo,  and  Galway,  in  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  being 
unsettled  as  to  their  titles,  King  James  I.,  by  commission  dated  2nd 
March,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  did  authorize  certain  com- 
missioners by  letters  patent  to  make  grants  of  the  said  lands  and 
manors  to  their  respective  owners,  whereupon  several  letters  patent 
to  that  effect  passed  under  his  Majesty's  Great  Seal  by  virtue  of 
the  said  commission  for  the  strengthening  of  titles  that  might 
otherwise  seem  defective.  And  afterwards,  in  the  reign  of  King 
Charles  I.,  upon  an  inquiry  into  his  Majesty's  title  to  the  county  of 
Mayo,  there  was  an  Act  of  State  published  commanding  all  those 
who  held  any  land  by  letters  patent  from  the  Crown  to  produce 
them  for  enrolment  thereof  before  the  Lord  Deputy  and  Council  by 
a  certain  day,  to  the  end  that  they  might  be  secured  in  the  quiet 
possession  of  their  estates,  in  case  the  said  letters  were  allowed  by 
that  board  to  be  good  and  effectual  in  law. 

"  In  pursuance  of  this  order,  several  letters  patent  were  produced, 
and  particularly  the  Lord  Viscount  Dillon's,  which,  upon  the  perusal 
and  consideration  thereof  by  his  Majesty's  Council,  were  thought  to 
be  void  in  law,  and  therefore  it  was  ordered  by  the  Lord  Deputy  and 
Council  that  the  doubt  arising  upon  the  letters  patent  should  be 
drawn  into  a  case,  and  that  case  should  be  openly  argued  in  the 


308      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

Council  Board.  The  case  was  drawn  up  in  these  words :  '  King 
James,  by  commission  under  the  Great  Seal,  dated  the  2nd  day 
of  March,  in  the  fourth  year  of  his  reign,  did  authorize  certain 
commissioners  to  grant  the  manor  of  Dale,  by  letters  patent  under 
the  Great  Seal  of  this  kingdom,  to  A.  and  his  heirs,  and  there  is  no 
duration  given  in  the  said  commission  touching  the  tenure  to  be 
reserved.  There  are  letters  patent  by  colour  of  the  said  commis- 
sion passed  unto  A.  and  his  heirs  to  hold  by  knight's  service  as  of 
his  Majesty's  castle  in  Dublin.  It  was  asked  whether  the  deficiency 
of  the  tenure  did  so  far  affect  the  grant  as  wholly  to  destroy  the 
letters  patent,  or  whether  the  letters  patent  might  be  good  as  to  the 
land,  and  void  only  as  to  the  tenure  ?  The  question  was  argued 
several  days  in  the  year  1637,  and  the  court  had  to  inquire  what  the 
reservation  of  tenure  is  to  the  grant  ?  whether  it  be  a  part  of  the 
grant  and  the  modus  concessionis,  or  whether  it  be  a  distinct  thing 
and  aliud  from  the  grant?  For,'  it  was  said,  'if  the  reserva- 
tion of  the  tenure  and  the  grant  of  the  land  be  aliud  and  aliened, 
two  distinct  things  in  the  consideration  of  the  whole  grant  made, 
and  the  authority  given  by  the  commission  for  the  making  thereof, 
then  the  patent  may  be  void  as  to  tenure,  and  yet  good  for  the  grant 
of  the  land.  But  if  the  reservation  of  the  tenure  be  incident  unto 
the  authority  and  included  within  it,  and  the  reservation  of  the 
tenure  and  the  grant  of  the  land  make  up  but  one  entire  grant,  so 
that  the  one  is  part  of  the  other,  and  the  reservation  of  the  tenure 
be  modus  concessionis,  then  the  granting  of  the  land  reserving  a 
diverse  or  contrary  tenure  to  that  which  their  (nude)  authority  did 
warrant  them  to  reserve  in  doing  of  idem  alio  modo,  and  so  the  whole 
act  is  void." 

Those  who  pleaded  for  the  validity  of  the  letters  patent  as 
to  the  lands,  and  their  being  void  only  as  to  tenure,  urged 
among  other  arguments  that  tenure  in  capite  was  brought  into 
England  by  the  Conquest,  but  grants  were  by  common  law, 
and  therefore  grants  being  more  ancient  than  tenure,  the 
tenure  must  of  necessity  be  aliud  from  the  thing  granted. 

This  led  the  court  to  a  consideration  of  the  question  as  to 
Saxon  tenures : — 

"  It  was  argued  that  those  called  Thanis  Majores  or  Thanis  Regis 
were  the  king's  immediate  tenants  of  lands  which  they  held  by 


THE   HISTORY  OF  LANDIIOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       309 

personal  service,  as  of  the  king's  person  by  grand  seigniority  or 
knight's  service  in  capite.  The  land  so  held  was,  it  was  said,  in  those 
times  called  Thaneland,  as  land  holden  in  locage  was  called  Reve- 
land  so  frequently  in  the  Doomsday  Book.  After  the  Norman  con- 
quest the  title  of  Thane  and  Thaneland  gave  place  to  Baron  and 
Barony ',  and  the  possessions  of  the  abbots  and  bishops,  which  under 
the  Saxons  were  free  from  all  secular  services,  were  made  subject  to 
knight's  service  in  capite,  but  these  possessions  were  converted  into 
baronies,  while  thanelands  were  held  by  that  tenure  as  before.  The 
king's  thane  was  a  tenant  in  capite,  and  the  middle  thane  a  tenant 
by  knight's  service.  It  was  contended  also  that  reliefs  for  earls  and 
thanes  were  in  existence  and  proved  by  the  laws  of  Edward  the 
Confessor;  that  wardships  were  also  in  use  both  in  England  and 
Scotland  before  the  Norman  conquest.  The  judges,  therefore,  after 
full  argument,  held  that  feudal  tenures  existed  in  England  before  the 
Norman  conquest." 

This  contradicted  the  assertions  made  by  Sir  Henry 
Spelman  in  his  Glossary,  wherein  he  described  feuds  as 
having  come  into  use  with  the  Conquest.  It  led  him  into 
a  fuller  examination  of  the  question,  and  to  his  writing  his 
celebrated  treatise  upon  Feuds. 

The  question  raised  was, — 

"  Whether  the  said  letters  patent  be  void  on  the  whole  or  only  as  to 
the  tenure." 

The  case  was  argued  on  several  days,  first  by  Nicholas 
Plunket  for  Lord  Dillon,  and  Serjeant  Catlor  for  the  king,  and 
because  it  was  a  case  of  great  weight  and  importance  it  was 
delivered  unto  the  judges,  and  they  were  required  by  the 
Lord  Deputy  and  Council  to  consider  it,  and  to  return  their 
resolution  touching  it ;  but  they  not  agreeing  in  opinion,  it 
was  thought  necessary  for  public  satisfaction  that  it  should 
be  argued  solemnly  by  them  all ;  and  consequently,  in  Trinity 
Term,  the  case  was  argued  before  the  judges,  who  held  by 
a  majority  vtfive  to  two, — 

"i.  That  the  commissioners  by  the  commission  (the  Commis- 
sion of  Grace)  have  a  good  and  legal  and  sufficient  power  and 
authority  to  grant. 


310      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY- 

"  2.  That  all  letters  patent  made  upon  this  commission  in  which 
they  have  pursued  their  authority  are  good  and  effectual  in  law 
where  they  have  either  reserved  an  express  tenure  by  knight's 
service  in  capite,  or  no  tenure,  for  then  the  law  implies  a  tenure  in 
cafite. 

"  3.  But  where  the  commissioners  reserve  a  mean  tenure  the  whole 
patent  is  void." 

They  give  seven  grounds  for  this  decision,  being  principally 
that  they  have  exceeded  their  authority.  For  these  reasons 
they  did  resolve — 

"  That  this  express  reservation  (knight's  service)  of  a  mean  tenure 
tends  to  the  destruction  of  the  whole  patent,  and  makes  it  void  in 
law,  both  as  to  the  lands  and  to  the  tenure." 

The  council  board  on  the  I3th  July,  1637,  issued  a  pro- 
clamation declaring  the  said  letters  patent  to  be  wholly 
void  in  law,  and  disallowing  all  such  letters  patent  for  any 
lands,  tenements,  or  hereditaments  in  any  of  the  counties 
Roscommon,  Sligo,  Galway,  or  the  county  of  the  town  of 
Galway. 

These  proceedings  naturally  created  wide-spread  disaffec- 
tion. A  parliament  was  convened  in  1634,  but  great  care  was 
taken  in  the  nomination  of  the  sheriffs,  and  in  the  procuring 
of  the  return  of  Government  candidates.  Wentworth  then 
succeeded  in  voting  the  supplies,  but  he  prevented  the 
passing  of  the  graces,  and  he  further  succeeded  in  inducing 
them  to  assure  the  king  that  he  was  not  bound,  either  in 
justice,  honour,  or  conscience,  to  perform  the  solemn  promise 
he  had  made.  His  theory  was  that  the  king's  Irish  subjects 
had  forfeited  the  rights  of  men  and  citizens.  An  ancient  State 
paper,  which  describes  the  heads  of  the  causes  which  moved 
the  Irish  to  take  arms  in  1641,  says,  "  Many  of  the  natives  were 
expelled  out  of  their  possessions,  and  as  many  hanged  by 
martial  law  without  any  cause  and  against  the  law  of  the  realm, 
and  many  destroyed  and  made  away  by  sinister  means  and 
practices." 

The  parliament  from  which  so  much  was   expected  was 


THE   HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       311 

prorogued  without  passing  the  bills,  and  the  hopes  of  the 
king's  Irish  subjects  were  extinguished.  Their  earnest 
respectful  remonstrances  had  been  continuously  spurned,  and 
they  were  driven  to  desperation.  "  Half  the  realm  was  found 
to  belong  to  his  Majesty,  as  his  ancient  demesnes  and  inherit- 
ance, upon  old,  feigned  titles  of  300  years  past  by  juries 
against  law,  their  evidence,  and  conscience,  who  were  corrupted 
to  find  the  said  titles,  upon  promise  of  part  of  the  lands  so 
found  for  the  king  or  other  rewards  ;  or  else  drawn  thereto  by 
threats  of  the  judges  in  the  circuit,  or  heavy  fines,  mulcts,  and 
censures  of  pillory,  sty-marking,  and  other  cruel  and  unusual 
punishments." 

The  banner  of  revolt  was  hoisted  :  the  people  of  Ulster, 
driven  from  their  homes  to  starve  in  woods  and  forests,  swept 
like  a  torrent  over  the  plains  which  belonged  to  them,  and  in 
one  week  O'Neil  was  at  the  head  of  30,000  men.  The  lords 
and  gentlemen  of  the  Pale,  who  were  mostly  of  English  descent, 
repaired  in  great  numbers  to  Dublin,  and  applied  to  the 
Government  for  arms  and  authority  to  array  themselves  on  the 
side  of  the  Crown,  but  their  application  was  insultingly  refused, 
and  they  were  ordered  by  proclamation  bearing  date  October 
28,  1641,  to  leave  Dublin  within  twenty-four  hours.  They 
were  forced  into  revolt.  The  Lords  Justices  Dorlase  and 
Parsons  justified  their  conduct  by  declaring,  "  The  more  rebels, 
the  more  confiscation."  Extensive  forfeitures  were  the  principal 
object  of  the  chief  governors  and  their  friends.  "Whatever 
were  their  professions,  the  only  danger  they  really  apprehended 
was  that  of  a  speedy  suppression  of  the  rebels."  Troops  arrived 
from  England  and  Scotland.  The  English  Parliament,  with  the 
reluctant  consent  of  the  king,  passed  an  Act  (the  Act  of  Sub- 
scription of  Charles  I.)  reserving  2,500,000  acres  of  arable 
meadow  and  pasture  land  in  Ireland,  out  of  10,000,000  assumed 
to  have  been  already  forfeited  by  the  insurgents  as  security  for 
money  advanced  in  England  for  the  expenses  of  the  war. 
The  orders  of  the  lords  in  council  to  the  army  were  "  to  wound, 
kill,  slay,  and  destroy  all  the  rebels  and  their  adherents  and 
relievers,  and  burn,  spoil,  waste,  consume,  and  destroy,  and 


312      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

demolish  all  places,  towns,  and  houses  where  the  rebels  were 
or  have  been  relieved  or  harboured,  and  all  the  corn  and  hay 
there,  and  to  kill  and  destroy  all  the  men  there  inhabiting 
able  to  bear  arms."  In  the  execution  of  these  orders  the 
Lords  Justices  declare  that  the  soldiers  murdered  all  persons 
promiscuously,  not  sparing  the  women,  and  sometimes  not  the 
children. 

The  downfall  of  Stafford  led  to  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee of  the  Irish  Lords  and  Commons,  who  demanded  the 
graces  as  a  settlement  of  the  land  question.  The  delay  of 
Charles  in  acceding  to  their  wishes  alienated  them  from  the 
monarch,  and  the  committee  entered  into  correspondence  with 
the  leaders  of  the  disaffected  portion  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ment. The  Marquis  of  Ormonde  was  appointed  Lord  Deputy, 
and  became  leader  of  the  Irish  royalists,  who  adhered  to  the 
cause  of  Charles  with  greater  fidelity  than  could  have  been 
expected  from  their  previous  ill-treatment.  Yet  the  mass  of 
the  Irish  people  who  had  been  deprived  of  their  possessions 
by  the  displacement  of  the  tanistry  system  of  landholding 
were  disaffected  to  the  royal  cause.  A  large  section  of  them, 
guided  by  the  advice  of  the  papal  nuncio,  refused  a  hearty  co- 
operation, and  this  naturally  embarrassed  the  king's  forces. 
Ormonde  held  most  of  the  fortified  places  in  Ireland ;  Dublin, 
Derry,and  Belfast  were  the  only  strongholds  of  the  Parliament. 
The  success  of  Ormonde  induced  the  Parliament  to  appoint 
Cromwell  Lord  Deputy,  and  he  was  accompanied  to  Ireland 
by  a  considerable  army.  He  completely  broke  the  power  of 
the  royalists.  The  sack  of  Drogheda  was  a  fearful  exhibition 
of  his  power ;  he  showed  no  mercy.  Other  fortresses  were 
captured,  the  garrisons  were  put  to  the  sword,  and  whole  cities 
were  left  unpeopled. 

Cromwell's  success  was  followed  by  the  expatriation  of 
30,000  to  40,000  able-bodied  men,  who  might  have  been  very 
troublesome  had  they  remained  at  home.  They  entered  the 
service  of  foreign  states,  and  formed  the  celebrated  Irish 
Brigade,  which  was  recruited  by  a  further  expatriation  in  the 
reign  of  William  III.  The  gallant  conduct  of  the  Irish 
\ 


THE   HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       313 

at  the  battle  of  Dettingen  led  George  III.  to  exclaim, 
"Accursed  be  the  laws  which  have  deprived  me  of  such 
subjects!"  Cromwell  forced  the  families  of  those  who  had 
entered  foreign  service  on  board  ship,  and  carried  them  to 
the  West  Indies.  The  numbers  are  variously  estimated  at 
from  6,000  to  100,000.  Four  Parliamentary  Commissioners 
were  named  to  govern  Ireland.  Their  courts  were  called 
"  Cromwell's  slaughterhouses.''  The  cry  was  for  blood,  and 
they  came  as  sheep  to  the  slaughter.  The  next  act  was  to 
banish  all  "  the  Irish"  into  Connaught  and  Clare.  The  object 
was  to  leave  the  other  three  provinces  to  English  and  Scotch 
settlers.  The  design  being  to  obtain  the  land  by  the  first 
Act  of  Settlement,  the  forfeiture  of  two-thirds  of  their  estates 
had  been  pronounced  against  those  who  had  borne  arms 
against  the  Parliament  of  England  or  their  forces,  and  one- 
third  against  those  who  had  resided  in  Ireland  any  time  from 
Oct  i,  1649,  to  Nov.  i,  1650,  and  had  not  been  in  the  actual 
service  of  Parliament,  or  supported  its  interests.  By  the 
second  Act  of  Settlement  it  was  provided  that  all  persons 
claiming  under  the  former  qualification  should  get  not  a 
portion  of  their  land,  but  an  equal  area  at  the  west  of  the 
Shannon  in  Connaught  or  Clare. 

These  vast  appropriations  enabled  that  ambitious  soldier  to 
disband  an  army  of  which  he  was  afraid ;  to  remove  from 
England  the  extreme  Puritans,  who  might  have  been  unruly, 
and  to  divert  their  attention  from  his  policy  to  that  of  those 
whom  they  displaced.  The  land  so  seized  upon  provided  a  fund 
from  which  he  was  able  to  discharge  their  arrears  of  pay 
without  raising  taxes,  which  might  prove  obnoxious.  The 
animosity  which  first  showed  itself  against  the  queen  of 
Charles  I.  found  ample  vent  in  Ireland  against  her  co- 
religionists. Cromwell  issued  in  1652  debentures  in  the 
following  form : — 

"  All  lawful  deductions  made,  there  remaineth  due  from  the  Com- 
monwealth to  ,  his  executors,  administrators,  and  assigns, 
until  the  date  hereof,  the  sum  of  ,  which  sum  is  to  be 
satisfied  out  of  the  rebels'  lands,  houses,  tenements,  and  heredita- 


314     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

ments  in  Ireland,  in  the  disposal  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Eng- 
land. 
"  Dated  the        day  of        165—." 

These  debentures  bear  upon  their  face  a  falsehood  ;  the 
Irish  were  not  rebels  against  the  English  Parliament.     They 
had  not  forfeited  their  lands  by  rebellion,  inasmuch  as  they 
owed  it  no  allegiance.     To  carry  out  the  iniquitous  designs 
of  the  regicides,  it   was  necessary  that  they  should  get  rid 
of  their  own  army.     They  lacked    the  means  of  payment, 
and  provided  it  out  of  the  lands  of  the  Irish.     Courts  were 
established  in  Dublin  and  Athlone  for  the   determining  of 
claims  which  should   be   made  ;   a  limited    time    only   was 
allowed.    Four  Commissioners  of  Parliament  were  sent  over, — 
Edmund  Ludlow,  Miles  Corbet,  John  Jones,  and  John  Weaver. 
The  Irish  were  driven  across  the  Shannon,  and  confined  within 
its  limits  by  a  chain  of  garrisons.  The  adventurers  accepted  as  a 
full  satisfaction  the  moiety  of  the  forfeited  lands  in  nine  principal 
counties.     A  revenue  was  reserved  for  disabled  soldiers,  and 
for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  had  fallen  in  the 
parliamentary  service  (except  a  part  of  the  lands  of  bishops, 
and    of  deans   and   chapters,  granted  to  the    University  of 
Dublin);  these,  with  the  forfeited  lands  in  the  counties   of 
Dublin,  Kildare,  Carlow,  and  Cork,  remained  unappropriated, 
and  were  reserved  by  Parliament  for   future  disposal.      In 
1653    the  debentures    were    sold  freely  and  openly  for  43. 
and  5s.   per  pound;  and  2OS.  of  debentures,  one  place  with 
another,  did  purchase  two  acres  of  land,  at  which  rate  all  the 
land  of  Ireland,  estimated  at  8,000,000  of  profitable   acres, 
might  have  been  had  for  £1,000,000,  which  in   1641  had  been 
worth  above  £8,000,000. 

Dr.  (afterwards  Sir  William)  Petty  arrived  in  Waterford  in 
1652  as  physician  to  the  army  in  Ireland.  On  the  nth  of 
December,  1654,  he  obtained  a  contract  from  the  Government 
for  admeasuring  the  forfeited  lands  intended  for  Cromwell's 
soldiers  at  the  rate  of  £7  33.  4d.  per  1,000  acres.  By  this 
contract  he  gained  £9,000,  and  he  afterwards  got  £900  more 
for  a  survey  of  the  adventurers'  lands.  Through  these  means 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.       315 

and  his  private  savings  he  realized  about  ;£i  3,000,  with  which 
sum  he  bought  up  soldiers'  debentures,  and  acquired  large 
portions  of  forfeited  lands  intended  for  them.  When  subse- 
quently accused  of  having  obtained  his  vast  estates  through 
undue  influences,  he  defended  himself  by  explaining,  as  he 
afterwards  stated  in  his  will,  that  he  had  "raised  about 
.£13,000  in  ready  money  at  a  time  when,  without  art,  interest, 
or  authority,  men  bought  as  much  land  for  los.  in  real  money 
as  in  this  year,  1685,  yields  los.  per  annum  above  quit 
rents." 

To  such  an  extent  was  the  removal  of  the  people  of  some 
districts  carried,  that  Sir  William  Petty  states, — 

"  The  people  of  Tipperary  have  more  universally  obeyed  the 
order  of  transportation  than  other  counties  generally  had  done;  that 
county  became  so  uninhabited  and  waste  that  it  was  impossible  to 
find  means  to  do  the  work  tolerably  well." 

An  order  which  was  made  in  the  Privy  Council  during  the 
Protectorate  proves  the  extent  of  the  depopulation.  It  runs 
thus : — 

"  Whereas  Mr.  Henry  Pain,  late  one  of  the  Commissioners  of 
Revenue  at  Clonmel,  hath  informed  us  that  the  transplantation  hath 
been  so  effectually  carried  on  in  the  county  of  Tipperary,  and 
especially  in  the  barony  of  Eliogarty,  that  no  inhabitant  of  the  Irish 
nation  that  knows  the  country  is  left  in  the  barony,  which  may  be  a 
great  prejudice  to  the  Commonwealth,  for  want  of  information  of  the 
bounds  of  the  respective  territories  and  the  lands  therein  upon 
admeasurement ;  it  is  therefore  ordered  that  it  be  referred  to  the 
Commissioners  of  Loughrea  to  consider  if  four  fit  and  knowing 
persons  of  the  Irish  nation,  lately  removed  out  of  the  barony  into 
Connaught,  and  to  return  them  with  their  families  to  reside  in  or  near 
their  old  habitations,  for  the  due  information  of  the  surveyors 
appointed  of  the  respective  bounds  of  each  parcel  of  land  admeasur- 
able,  and  to  continue  there  until  further  order. 

"  Dublin,  20  December,  1654. 

"THOMAS  HERBERT, 

"  Clerk  of  the  Council." 

An  almost  complete  transplantation  of  the  people  of  Tip- 


316      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

perary  into  Connaught  took  place.  The  new  settlers  were 
not  secure  as  to  their  title,  and  many  of  them  obtained  forced 
conveyances  and  re-leases  from  the  former  proprietors. 
Clarendon,  in  his  life,  says, — 

"  What  should  they  do  ?  iThey  could  not  be  permitted  to  go  out 
of  this  precinct  to  shift  for  themselves  elsewhere ;  and  without  their 
assignment  in  Connaught  they  must  starve  there  as  many  did  die 
every  day  of  the  famine.  In  this  deplorable  condition  and  under  this 
consternation  they  found  themselves  obliged  to  accept  or  submit  to 
the  hardest  conditions,  and  so  signed  such  conveyances  and  re-leases 
as  were  prepared  for  them." 

The  war  of  extermination  was  carried  to  such  a  fearful  ex- 
tent that  it  was  made  lawful  for  any  of  the  English  settlers  to 
kill  any  Irish  person,  man,  woman,  or  child,  that  was  found 
east  of  the  Shannon,  and  the  common  expression  of  these 
murderers  towards  their  victims  was,  "  To  hell  or  Connaught 
with  you ! "  Humanity  recoils  and  shudders  at  the  fearful 
atrocities  which  were  committed,  and  history  has  no  blacker 
page  than  that  which  records  the  sufferings  inflicted  upon  Ire- 
land during  the  Protectorate. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  population  of  Ireland  very 
seriously  diminished.  Sir  William  Petty  estimated  the  loss  of 
population  between  1641  and  1682  at  504,000,  and  Clarendon 
tells  us, — 

"  That  there  was  a  large  tract  of  land  even  to  the  half  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Connaught  that  was  separated  from  the  rest  of  Ireland  by  a 
long  and  large  moor,  and  which  by  plague  and  many  massacres  remained 
almost  desolate ;  into  this  space  and  circuit  of  land  they  required  the 
Irish  to  retire  by  such  a  day,  under  the  penalty  of  death,  and  all  who 
should  after  that  time  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  kingdom,  man, 
woman,  or  child,  should  be  killed  by  anybody  who  saw  or  met 
them." 

Sir  William  Petty,  in  1672,  estimated  the  population   of 
Ireland  at  about  a  million  one  hundred  thousand  persons. 
Colonel  Lawrence,  an  eye-witness,  writes  : — 

"About   the  year   1652-1653,  the  plague  and  famine  had  so 


THE  HISTORY  OF  LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.      317 

swept  away  whole  countries  that  a  man  might  travel  twenty  or 
thirty  miles  without  seeing  a  living  creature,  either  man,  beast,  or 
bird,  they  being  all  dead  or  having  quitted  the  desolate  places.  Our 
soldiers  would  tell  stories  of  where  they  saw  a  smoke  by  day  or  fire 
or  candle  by  night,  and  when  we  did  meet  with  two  or  three  poor 
cabins,  none  but  very  aged  men,  women,  and  children  (and  those 
with  the  prophet  might  have  complained,  'We  are  become  as  a 
bottle  in  the  smoke,  our  skin  is  black  as  an  oven  because  of  the 
terrible  famine')  were  found  in  them." 

The  restoration  of  Charles  II.  was  seized  upon  by  his  sup- 
porters as  the  signal  for  resuming  their  estates  ;  those  who 
had  been  deprived  of  their  lands  returned  and  repossessed 
themselves  of  their  patrimonies  by  force  even  before  the  king 
was  proclaimed.  This  rashness  was  represented  as  a  new  re- 
bellion, and  the  Cromwellian  settlers,  alarmed  for  their  posses- 
sions, procured  an  Act  of  indemnity  before  the  king  landed, 
which  excluded  all  those  who  thus  tried  to  regain  their  lands. 
It  was  so  worded  as  to  amount  to  the  exclusion  of  the  whole 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  party.  On  the  king's  arrival  in 
London  he  issued  a  proclamation  commanding  the  continuance 
of  undisturbed  possession  to  adventurers  and  soldiers  of  all 
manors,  houses,  and  lands  as  they  then  held  until  legally 
invested,  or  his  Majesty,  with  the  advice  of  Parliament,  should 
take  further  measures  in  these  affairs.  At  length,  after  much 
delay,  on  a  calculation  formed  by  the  Earl  of  Orrery,  Sir  John 
Clotworthy,  and  Sir  Arthur  Mervyn,  it  was  found  that,  besides 
the  land  possessed  by  the  soldiers,  enough  remained  to  com- 
pensate all  the  innocent  or  meritorious  Irish,  and  Charles  pub- 
lished his  famous  declaration  for  the  settlement  of  the  king- 
dom. 

By  this  declaration  the  adventurers  were  to  be  confirmed  in 
the  lands  possessed  by  them  on  the  7th  May,  1659,  according 
to  the  Acts  made  in  the  previous  reign,  which  they  were  to 
hold  in  fee  and  common  socage,  and  all  deficiencies  were  to 
be  satisfied  before  May,  1660.  With  the  exception  of  eccle- 
siastical lands  and  some  other  provisoes,  the  soldiers  were 
confirmed  in  the  lands  allotted  for  their  pay,  which  they  were 


318      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

to  hold  by  knights'  service  in  capite ;  officers  who  had  served 
before  June,  1649,  were  to  receive  I2s.  6d.  in  the  pound  by 
estates  and  other  securities.  Protestants,  unless  they  had 
been  in  rebellion  or  had  taken  decrees  for  land  in  Connaught 
or  Clare,  were  to  be  restored  to  their  lands.  Innocent  Catho- 
lics were  restored  to  their  estates,  and  Catholics  who  submitted 
and  adhered  to  the  peace  of  1648  were  to  be  restored  to  their 
ancient  properties  upon  the  reprisal  of  those  who  held  them. 
This  declaration  of  settlement  gave  little  satisfaction  to  any 
party.  The  Royalist  officers  received  but  little  more  than 
half  their  pay,  and  the  ancient  landholders,  who  had  suffered 
for  the  royal  cause  and  were  in  a  state  of  poverty,  were  ex- 
cluded from  their  estates  until  they  could  repay  those  who 
had  been  quartered  upon  them  by  Cromwell.  The  commis- 
sioners appointed  to  carry  the  declaration  of  settlement  into 
effect  were  partial  to  the  soldiers  and  adventurers,  and  threw 
much  difficulty  in  the  way  of  the  Catholic  proprietors,  who 
tried  to  establish  their  innocence.  The  Parliament  which  was 
convened  in  1661  to  confirm  the  Act  of  Settlement  was  mainly 
elected  by  those  in  illegal  possession  of  the  estates.  It  tried 
by  statute  to  exclude  the  Catholics,  many  of  whom  claimed 
the  property  from  Parliament.  An  inquiry  was  instituted  by 
the  House  of  Lords,  which  revealed  many  malpractices  by 
the  commissioners.  Widows  were  deprived  of  their  jointures, 
orders  of  the  king  for  the  restitution  of  particular  persons 
were  eluded ;  the  Lords  resolved  to  address  the  king  to 
revoke  the  illegal  grants  made  by  the  commissioners,  and  a 
deputation  waited  on  Charles  in  London  claiming  redress. 

The  Irish  Cromwellians  accepted  the  restoration  without 
much  difficulty,  but  they  kept  a  firm  grasp  on  their  lands. 
After  a  long  struggle  of  controversy,  bribery,  and  intrigue  on 
the  part  of  the  claimants,  and  wavering  and  irresolution  on 
the  part  of  the  Government,  the  Puritans  carried  the  day  and 
kept  their  lands.  The  Acts  of  Settlement  and  explanation 
which  closed  the  question  of  proprietorship,  having  been 
called  the  great  charter  of  this  party,  they  decided  the  title 
to  the  lands ;  yet,  for  many  years  after  this  time,  a  great  part 


THE  HISTORY  OF   LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       319 

of  the  land  of  Ireland  continued  to  be  held  by  forcible  and 
disputed  possession. 

Petty's  Political  Anatomy  of  Ireland  contains  the  following  information 
relating  to  this  period  : — 
Area  of  Ireland        .....  10,500,000  acres. 

Rivers,  loughs,  &c.          .  .  .     1,500,000 

Unprofitable  land  .  .  .     1,500,000 

Arable  and  pasture          .  .  .     7,500,000 


1641.  Belonging  to   Papists   and   seques- 
tered Protestants          .            .            .  5,200,000 
To  the  Church         .            .    •                     .  300,000 
Protestants    planted    by    Elizabeth    and 

James    .....  2,000,000 

Restored  to  twenty-six  who  proved  of  good 

affection            ....  40,000 

The  Duke  of  Ormonde        .            .            .  130,000 

Lord  Inchiqun,  Lord  Roscommon,  &c.     .  40,000 


10,500,000 


7,500,000 


Innocent  Papists 
The  Church 
Duke  of  York 


1,200,000 

20,000 
1 20,000 


To  Letterers  &  Innocent  Irishmen  60,000 
To  Papists  per  proviso  Colkin         360,000 


1,340,000 


Left  in  the  common  stock  . 
To  adventurers 

Soldiers  seised 

To  forty-nine  officers 

To  Protestants  per  proviso 

Upon  transplantation  decrees 
Restored  to  mortgagees 


420,000 

80,000 
390,000 

280,000 
270,000 

700,000 
100,000 
800,000 


470,000 
1,440,000 


550,000 


Of  lands  seised  by  usurpers  the 

Papists  have  recovered  .  2,340,000 
New  Protestants  and  churches 

additional  .  .  .  2,400,000 

Of  a  more  indifferent  nature  460,000 


5,200,000 


5,200,000 


320      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 


7,500,000  acres  good 
1,500,000     „     coarse 

9,000,000  acres,  worth  . 
Quit  and  Crown  rents  .  . 

Tithes 

Benefit  of  leases  and  tenants'  improvements 
Landlords 


£  90,000 
162,000 
216,000 
432,000 


He  divides  : — 

The  landlords'  share  of  this    .            .  .         ,£432,000 
2,520,000  acres  gained  by  the  Rebel- 
lion  .....  £144,000 
Adventurers  and  soldiers       .            .  108,000 
Soldiers  alone ....  86,400 

£338,400 

The  King  gained  : — 

Augmented  the  Church,  the  Duke  of  York  and  others 
Paid  adventurers  and  officers  .... 

Gained  on  usual  revenue  of  above      .... 

Or  at  fifteen  years'  purchase  £1,200,000  gained,  the  year's 
value,  &c.,  worth      ...... 

Freed  himself  of  the  articles  with  the  Irish  of  1648. 


Population  : — Papists 

Non-Papists 
English    . 
Scots 
Irish 


800,000) 

300,000  3  I'100'000 

200,000 

100,000 

800,000     1,100,000 


£900,000 


—    £900,000 


£770,000 

670,000 
80,000 

300,000 


Houses  : — 160,000  without  chimneys 

24,000,  i  chimney,  at  £5  .  £120,000 

6,800,    2  to    3  chimneys,  at  £      40  272,000 

5,600,    4  „    6        „           „  100  560,000 

2,500,    7  „    9        „           „  300  750.000 

700,  10  „  12        „           „  600  420,000 

400,  13  „  20        „           „  1,000  400,000 

20  transcendental  houses  .  78,000 


2,200,000 


Cattle,  6,000,000,  or  equivalents  in  horses  and  sheep 

Exports  from  Ireland  . 

Absentees'  rents,  &c.  ..... 

Cattle  exports  . 

The  whole  substance  of  Ireland  was  worth    . 

The  customs  revenue  exceeded 


£2,600,000 

3,000,000 

£500,000 

£200,000 

140,000 

£16,000,000 

£32,000 


THE   HISTORY   OF   LANDHOLDING   IN    IRELAND.        321 

The  defeat  of  James  II.  and  his  flight  from  Ireland  led  to 
a  reversal  of  his  policy,  but  his  troops,  after  a  gallant  contest 
with  the  veterans  of  William  III.,  made  terms  with  him. 
The  Treaty  of  Limerick,  which  should  have  formed  the  basis  of 
future  legislation,  contained  a  provision  that  the  Irish  should 
enjoy  the  same  privilege  in  the  exercise  of  religion  as  they 
had  done  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  and  that  they  should  be 
reinstated  in  their  properties,  real  and  personal,  and  in  all 
their  rights,  titles,  and  privileges,  on  taking  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  King  William.  The  Irish  Parliament  of  1695 
annulled  the  Act  of  James  II.,  and  confirmed  and  explained 
the  Act  of  Settlement.  Large  forfeitures  were  made,  and 
William,  who,  from  the  insufficiency  of  the  parliamentary 
supplies,  was  unable  to  reward  his  dependants,  adopted  the 
Cromwellian  plan,  and  made  seventy-six  grants  out  of  the 
Irish  forfeited  estates.  Eight  of  these  grants  were  as 
follows : — 

135,820  acres  to  Lord  Woodstock  (van  Bentinck). 

108,633  »  Earl  of  Albemarle  (van  Keppel). 

95,649  „  Countess  of  Orkney  (Miss  Eliz.  Villiers). 

49,517  „  Lord  Romney  (Sidney). 

39,871  „  Earl  of  Rochford  (de  Zuleistan). 

36,148  „  Earl  of  Gal  way  (de  Ravigney). 

30,512  „  Marquis  de  Pursai. 

26,480  „  Earl  of  Athlone  (de  Ginkel). 

522,630 

The  Parliament  were  offended  at  this  Act  of  Prerogative, 
and  the  English  Commons  charged  the  king  with  a  Breach  of 
promise  in  not  having  left  the  forfeitures  to  the  disposal  of 
Parliament  for  the  discharge  of  the  public  debts.  It  passed 
an  Act  for  sending  seven  commissioners  to  inquire  into  the 
value  of  the  confiscated  estates,  and  the  reason  of  their 
alienation,  and  upon  the  report  of  these  commissioners,  "The 
Act  of  Resumption"  (n  &  12  Will.  Ill,  c.  2,  Engl.)  was 
passed,  A.D.  1700;  it  avoided  all  royal  grants  of  land  made 
after  the  I3th  February,  1788,  and  directed  an  absolute  sale 

Y 


322      TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

of  all  Irish  estates  which  had  belonged  to  James  II.  or  his 
adherents.  The  English  Commons  were  so  aware  of  the 
violence  of  their  act  that  they  voted,  contrary  to  constitutional 
rights,  that  no  petition  should  be  recorded  against  it.  Yet 
petitions  were  sent  in  large  numbers,  and  the  trustees  were 
charged  with  injustice  and  venality.  The  granted  lands, 
which  were  valued  at  ;£i, 500,000,  hardly  realized  one-third  of 
that  sum. 

A  more  recent  authority,  who  can  hardly  be  accused  of 
partiality  to  the  Irish — Lord  Chancellor  Fitzgibbon  (Earl  of 
Clare) — in  a  speech  made  in  1799,  said, — 

"  After  the  expulsion  of  James  II.  from  the  throne  of  England,  the 
old  inhabitants  made  a  final  effort  for  the  recovery  of  their  ancient 
power,  in  which  they  were  once  more  defeated  by  an  English  army, 
and  the  slender  relics  of  Irish  possession  became  the  subject  of  fresh 
confiscation.  From  the  report  made  by  the  commissioners  appointed 
by  the  Parliament  of  England  in  1698,  it  appears  that  the  Irish 
subjects  outlawed  for  the  rebellion  of  1688  amounted  to  3,978,  and 
that  their  Irish  possessions,  as  far  as  could  be  computed,  were  of  the 
value  of  ^210,623,  comprising  1,670,792  acres.  This  fund  was  sold, 
under  the  authority  of  an  English  Act  of  Parliament,  to  defray  the 
expenses  incurred  by  England  in  reducing  the  rebels  of  1688,  and  the 
sale  introduced  into  Ireland  a  new  set  of  adventurers.  It  is  a  very 
curious  and  important  speculation  to  look  back  to  the  forfeitures  of 
Ireland  incurred  in  the  last  century.  The  superficial  contents  of  the 
island  are  calculated  at  11,042,682  acres.  Let  us  now  examine  the 
state  of  the  forefeitures. 

In  the  reign  of  James  I.  the  whole  of  the  province 

of  IJlster  was  confiscated,  containing  .     2,836,837  acres. 

Let  out  by  the  Court  of  Claims  at  the  Restoration     7,800,000     „ 

Forfeitures  of  1688         ....     1,060,792      „ 


Total        .  .  .  11,697,629     „ 

So  that  the  whole  of  your  island  has  been  confiscated,  with  the 
exception  of  the  estates  of  four  or  six  families  of  English  blood,  some 
of  whom  had  been  attainted  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  but 
recovered  their  possessions  before  Tyrone's  rebellion,  and  had  the 
good  fortune  to  escape  the  pillage  of  the  English  republic  inflicted 


THE  HISTORY   OF  LANDHOLDING  IN  IRELAND.       323 

by  Cromwell ;  and  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  the  island  has  been 
confiscated  twice  or  perhaps  thrice  in  the  course  of  a  century.  The 
situation,  therefore,  of  the  Irish  nation  at  the  Revolution  stands  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  the  inhabited  world.  If  the  wars  of 
England  carried  on  here  from  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  had  been  waged 
against  a  foreign  enemy,  the  inhabitants  would  have  retained  their 
possessions  under  the  established  law  of  civilized  nations,  and  their 
country  have  been  annexed  as  a  province  to  the  British  Empire." 

Some  of  the  laws  affecting  land  were  most  injurious ;  that, 
for  example,  which  enacted  that  no  Papist  should  have  a 
horse  of  greater  value  than  £5,  so  deteriorated  the  breed  of 
horses  that  an  enactment,  8  Anne,  c.  in.,  s.  34,  was  passed  as 
follows  : — 

"  And  whereas  by  the  laws  of  this  land  Papists  are  not  qualified  to 
keep  any  horse,  mare,  or  gelding  of  above  ^5  value,  which  has  been 
found  prejudicial  so  far  forth  as  the  same  relates  to  stud  mares,  be  it 
enacted  that  no  stud  mare  kept  for  breeding  only,  nor  stallion  kept 
as  such,  and  for  no  other  use,  shall  be  deemed  or  taken  to  be  within 
the  intention  of  the  Act  entitled,  '  An  Act  for  better  securing  the 
Government  by  disarming  the  Papists,'  but  that  every  Papist,  and 
reputed  Papist,  may  keep  such  stud  mares  and  stallions  notwith- 
standing the  said  Act,  or  any  law  to  the  contrary,  and  the  breed  or 
produce  thereof  under  the  age  of  five  years,  and  not  otherwise." 

The  law  which  prevented  "  Papists  "  having  any  greater 
tenure  than  thirty  years,  where  the  rent  reserved  was  less 
than  two-thirds  of  the  value,  was  calculated  to  prevent 
any  improvement  in  their  condition  or  in  the  system  of 
agriculture.  This  policy  was  the  result  of  the  abnormal 
relations  of  two  classes — the  plunderers  and  the  plundered, 
the  owner  and  the  occupier.  The  former,  possessed  of  political 
power  and  supported  by  the  armies  of  England,  enacted 
oppressive  and  restrictive  laws ;  the  statute-book  and  the  con- 
current testimony  of  all  authorities  prove  that  it  was  their 
stern  resolve  that  the  mass  of  the  people  should  be  denied  all 
interest  in  the  lands  which  they  cultivated,  and  be  condemned 
to  live  on  the  coarsest  food,  and  reside  in  habitations  unfit  for 


324      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

human  beings,  while  the  utmost  rent  was  wrung  from  them. 
'Dean  Swift,  writing  in  1729,  says, — 

"  Upon  determination  of  all  leases  made  before  the  year  1690,  a 
gentleman  thinks  he  has  but  indifferently  improved  his  estate  if  he 
has  only  doubled  his  rent  roll.  Leases  are  granted  but  for  a  small 
term  of  years,  tenants  are  tied  down  to  harsh  conditions,  and  dis- 
couraged from  cultivating  the  land  they  occupy  to  the  best  advantage 
by  the  certainty  they  have  of  the  rent  being  raised  on  the  expiration 
of  their  leases,  proportionate  to  the  improvements  they  shall  make. 
Thus  it  is  that  honest  industry  is  depressed,  and  the  farmer  is  a  slave 
to  the  landlord." 

The  complaint  made  by  Dean  Swift  is  in  effect  that  the 
labour  or  the  representative  of  the  labour  of  the  tenant  became 
without  any  compensation  the  property  of  the  landlord,  and 
that  he  who  expended  his  labour  and  capital  upon  the  land 
was  compelled  to  pay  another  man  for  the  property  which  he 
by  his  industry  and  labour  had  created. 

I  shall  conclude  the  history  of  this  period,  and  the 
description  of  the  effects  of  these  laws,  with  the  following 
extract  from  the  writings  of  Edmund  Burke  : — 

"  The  laws,"  says  he,  "  have  disabled  three-fourths  of  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Ireland  from  acquiring  any  estate  of  inheritance  for  life,  or 
for  years,  or  any  charge  whatsoever  on  which  two-thirds  of  the  im- 
proved yearly  value  is  not  reserved  for  thirty  years.  This  confine- 
ment of  landed  property  to  one  set  of  hands,  and  preventing  its  free 
circulation  through  the  community,  is  a  most  leading  article  of  ill 
policy ;  because  it  is  one  of  the  most  capital  discouragements  to  all 
industry  which  may  be  employed  on  the  lasting  improvement  of  the 
soil,  or  in  any  way  conversant  about  land.  A  tenure  of  thirty  years 
is  evidently  no  tenure  upon  which  to  build,  to  plant,  to  raise  enclo- 
sures, to  change  the  nature  of  the  ground,  to  make  any  new 
experiment  which  might  improve  agriculture,  or  to  do  anything 
more  than  what  may  answer  the  immediate  and  momentary  calls  of 
rent  to  the  landlord,  and  leave  subsistence  to  the  tenant  and  his 
family.  Confine  a  man  to  momentary  possession,  and  you  at  once 
cut  off  that  laudable  avarice  which  every  wise  state  has  cherished  as 
one  of  the  first  principles  of  its  greatness.  Allow  a  man  but  a  tern- 


THE   HISTORY   OF   LANDHOLDING  IN   IRELAND.        325 

porary  possession,  lay  it  down  as  a  maxim  that  he  never  can  have 
any  other,  and  you  immediately  and  infallibly  turn  him  to  temporary 
enjoyments ;  and  these  enjoyments  are  never  the  pleasures  of  labour 
and  free  industry,  and  whose  quality  it  is  to  famish  the  present  hours, 
and  squander  all  upon  prospect  and  futurity ;  they  are,  on  the 
contrary,  those  of  a  thoughtless,  loitering,  and  dissipated  life.  The 
people  must  be  inevitably  disposed  to  such  pernicious  habits  merely 
from  the  short  duration  of  their  tenure  which  the  law  has  allowed. 
But  it  is  not  enough  that  industry  is  checked  by  the  confinement  of 
its  views,  it  is  further  discouraged  by  the  limitation  of  its  own  direct 
object,  profit.  This  is  a  regulation  extremely  worthy  of  our  atten- 
tion, as  it  is  not  a  consequential,  but  a  direct  discouragement  to 
amelioration,  as  directly  as  if  the  law  had  said  in  direct  terms,  *  Thou 
shalt  not  improve.'  But  we  have  an  additional  argument  to  demon- 
strate the  ill  policy  of  denying  the  occupiers  of  land  any  ;  solid 
property  in  it.  Ireland  is  a  country  wholly  unplanted.  The  farms 
have  neither  dwelling-houses  nor  good  offices;  nor  are  the  lands, 
almost  anywhere,  provided  with  fences  and  communications ;  in  a 
word,  in  a  very  unimproved  state.  The  landowner  there  never  takes 
upon  him,  as  is  usual  in  this  kingdom,  to  supply  all  these  con- 
veniences, and  to  set  down  his  tenant  in  what  may  be  called  a  com- 
pletely furnished  farm.  If  the  tenant  will  not  do  it,  it  is  never  done. 
This  circumstance  shows  how  miserably  and  peculiarly  impolitic  it 
has  been  in  Ireland  to  tie  down  the  body  of  the  tenantry  to  short  and 
unprofitable  tenures.  A  finished  and  furnished  house  will  be  taken 
for  any  tenure,  however  short ;  if  the  repair  lies  on  the  owner,  the 
shorter  the  better.  But  no  one  will  take  one,  not  only  unfurnished, 
but  half  built,  but  upon  a  term  which  on  calculation  will  answer  with 
profit  all  his  charges.  It  is  on  this  principle  that  the  Romans  estab- 
lished their  Emphyteosis,  or  fee  farm ;  for  although  they  extended 
the  ordinary  term  of  location  only  to  nine  years,  yet  they  encouraged 
a  more  permanent  letting  to  farms,  with  the  condition  of  improve- 
ment, as  well  as  annual  payment  on  the  part  of  the  tenant,  where  the 
land  had  been  rough  and  neglected ;  and  therefore  invented  this 
species  of  ingrafted  holding  in  the  latter  times,  when  property  came 
to  be  worse  distributed  by  falling  into  a  few  hands." 

The  laws  to  which  Mr.  Burke  referred  in  this  passage  were 
those  which  were  enacted  in  the  reign  of  the  last  of  the  Stuart 
monarchs.  The  first  of  this  race  abolished  the  tanistry  system, 


326       TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

which  gave  each  man  a  life  interest  in  a  certain  portion  of 
the  soil,  and  so  forfeited  large  districts.  His  successors 
followed  in  the  path  of  spoliation  ;  a  new  class  of  owners  came 
into  possession,  whose  laws  prevented  the  improvement  of  the 
land,  and  thus  lessened  the  supply  of  food,  and  diminished 
the  population.  The  tide  of  confiscation  ebbed  and  flowed 
during  these  reigns,  but  in  so  doing  the  native  possessors  were 
almost  entirely  swept  away. 


327 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  CILLY. 

BY  THE  REV.   A.  H.  WRATISLAW, 
FELLOW  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

IT  is  often  the  province  of  the  historian  to  trace  the  progress 
of  small  states,  and  observe  their  gradual  transformation  into 
large  ones.  It  often  also  devolves  upon  him  to  notice  the 
decay  of  large  states  and  their  gradual  reduction  to  insignifi- 
cant principalities,  if  not  their  total  annihilation.  The  growth 
of  the  margravate  of  Brandenburg  into  the  mighty  kingdom  of 
Prussia,  and  finally  into  the  great  German  Empire  of  the  pre- 
sent day,  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  former;  while  the 
dissolution  of  the  great  duchy  of  Burgundy  and  its  gradual 
absorption  is  one  of  the  latter,  although  some  portion  of  it 
has  reconstituted  itself  in  the  small  but  prosperous  kingdom 
of  Belgium.  But  what  I  propose  to  bring  before  the  Society 
falls  under  neither  of  these  heads,  but  is  the  brief  history  of  a 
power  which  might  have  had  a  career  like  that  of  Branden- 
burg or  Austria,  but  the  course  of  which  was  simply  cut  short 
by  the  failure  of  its  dynasty  in  the  very  meridian  of  success 
and  prosperity. 

By  a  charter  given  in  the  year  1362,  at  Briinn,  in  Moravia, 
the  Emperor  Charles  IV.,  of  his  imperial  power  in  the  empire, 
and  with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of  the  Austrian  princes, 
as  especial  lords  in  Styria  and  Carinthia,  promoted  Ulric  and 
Hermann,  barons  of  Sonneck,  to  the  rank  of  counts  of  the 
empire,  and  that  to  the  county  of  Cilly,  in  Southern  Styria, 
in  a  district  inhabited,  not  by  Germans,  but  by  Slovenians. 
The  frontiers  of  this  county  comprehended  large  estates  lying 
on  both  sides  of  the  river  Save,  where  the  boundary  line  now 
runs  between  Styria  and  Carinthia,  and  the  seat  of  government 
was  in  the  upper  and  lower  castles  of  Cilly  and  the  town  of 


328      TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Cilly.  On  the  Hungarian  side  the  frontier  ran  from 
Rohatetz  to  a  castle  called  Ostravitz,  pretty  nearly  where  the 
boundary  line  is  now  drawn  between  Carinthia  and  Croatia. 

The  Emperor  Sigismund  espoused  Barbara,  the  daughter 
of  Count  Hermann,  and  bestowed  still  higher  marks  of  favour 
on  the  Cilly  family.  By  a  charter  given  at  Prague  in  1436 
he  confirmed  the  grant  made  by  his  father,  Charles  IV.,  and 
also  improved  the  position  of  the  Counts  of  Cilly  by  pro- 
moting them  to  the  dignity  of  prince-counts,  and  that  not 
only  with  respect  to  the  Cilly  estates,  but  also  with  respect  to 
the  counties  of  Ortemburg  and  Sternberg  in  Carinthia,  which 
had  escheated  to  him.  And  thus  he  constituted  them  inde- 
pendent rulers  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  Austrian  princes, 
who  were  not  even  consulted  on  the  subject.  Besides  this, 
Sigismund,  as  King  of  Hungary,  granted  them  the  county  of 
Zagoria  and  the  town  of  Chakovetz,  so  that  they  wrote  them- 
selves "  By  the  grace  of  God  Counts  of  Cilly,  Ortemburg,  and 
Zagoria  (Ciliae,  Ortemburgae,  et  Zagoriae  Comites)." 

Count  Hermann  had  three  sons, — Frederic,  Hermann,  and 
Louis  ;  and  among  his  daughters  was,  as  already  mentioned, 
Barbara,  the  wife  of  the  Emperor  Sigismund.  To  the  especial 
use  of  his  eldest  son,  Frederic,  he  assigned  the  castles  of 
Gurkfeld,  Mayhau,  and  Rudolfswort,  on  the  Carniolan,  and 
those  of  Kreffen  and  Sannabar,  and  apparently  that  of 
Steinschnock,  on  the  Croatian  side  of  his  territories.  Frederic 
resided  at  the  castle  of  Kreffen,  as  the  chief  fortress  of  the 
whole  of  Zagoria.  His  second  son  Hermann  had  a  daughter 
Margaret,  who  married  Count  Hermann  of  Montfort,  then 
possessor  by  mortgage  of  the  castle  of  Pfannberg.  The  last 
Count  of  Ortemburg  made  the  third  son,  Louis,  his  heir. 

The  firstborn  son  of  Count  Frederic,  Ulric,  a  man  of  great 
prominence  in  the  times  of  King  Ladislaus  Postumus,  was 
appointed  Viceroy  of  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia  in  1438  by 
King  Albert,  the  Austrian  prince  who  was  elected  King  of 
Bohemia  on  December  27,  1437,  and  who  died  in  1439. 
Ulric  married  Catherine,  daughter  of  George  Brankovitch, 
Prince  of  Servia,  thus  becoming  brother-in-law  of  Sultan 


HISTORY   OF   THE   COUNTY   OF   CILLY.  329 

Amurath,  who  had  another  daughter  of  Brankovitch  to  wife. 
By  Catherine,  Ulric  had  one  son  and  two  daughters,  who  all 
died  young. 

The  exceptional  position  which  the  Emperor  Sigismund 
had  granted  the  Counts  of  Cilly  in  the  lands  of  the  Austrian 
princes  without  their  consent  became  after  his  death  the 
cause  of  bitter  quarrels,  nay,  even  of  open  war  between  Count 
Frederic  of  Cilly  and  Frederic  IV.  of  Austria.  Old  Count 
Hermann,  Frederic's  father  and  Ulric's  grandfather,  had 
indeed  surrendered  to  the  Austrian  princes,  without  recom- 
pence,  four  castles  which  he  held  either  in  his  own  right  or  by 
right  of  mortgage  ;  but  that  was  not  sufficient  to  extinguish 
the  grudge  excited  by  the  elevation  of  the  house  of  Cilly. 
Neither  was  Frederic  IV.  a  man  to  put  up  tamely  with  this 
elevation,  although  King  Albert  himself  had  raised  no  objec- 
tion against  it,  requiring  as  he  did  the  services  of  young  Ulric 
in  Bohemia. 

As  early  as  the  year  1439,  and  probably  in  the  autumn,  this 
grudge  passed  into  open  war,  the  result  of  which  was  greatly 
affected  by  the  general  selected  by  Frederic  of  Cilly  to  lead  his 
army.  A  poor  Bohemian  squire,named  John  Vitovetz,  presented 
himself  some  time  in  that  year  at  the  court  of  Frederic  of  Cilly, 
with  three  servants  on  horseback,  desiring  to  take  service  with 
him,  engaged  as  he  then  was  in  war  with  Frederic  of  Austria. 
His  talents  werequickly  recognised,  and  his  services  made  use  of 
in  responsible  positions.  The  first  castle  taken  by  the  aid  of 
Vitovetz  was  that  of  Burg,  not  quite  five  English  miles  from 
the  town  of  Cilly  ;  this  was  razed  to  its  foundations.  The 
second  was  Blankenstein,  the  third  Erkerstein,  and  the  fourth 
Pbltschach  ;  and  lastly,  two  towers,  one  near  Neuenburg,  and 
the  other  near  Miihlstatten. 

In  the  autumn  Count  Frederic  sent  Vitovetz  from  the 
castle  of  Kreffen  to  the  town  of  Nassenfuss,  then  occupied  by 
the  Bishop  of  Gurk,  a  favourite  of  Frederic  of  Austria,  who 
had  just  been  elected  King  of  the  Romans.  On  the  march 
Vitovetz  ascertained  that  his  adversaries  were  posted  by  a 
fish-pond  below  Steydeck,  and  were  engaged  in  what  we 


330       TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

should  call  dragging  it.  He  surprised  them  thus  engaged, 
routed  them,  and  took  their  commander,  Dirnbacher,  prisoner, 
who,  with  others,  was  kept  imprisoned  in  a  tower  at  Kreffen 
for  fully  three  years. 

After  the  death  of  Albert,  King  of  Bohemia  and  Hungary, 
in  1439,  Hungary  was  divided  into  two  factions, — one  the 
Austrian  party,  holding  with  Ladislaus  Postumus,  the  posthu- 
mous son  of  King  Albert,  the  other  the  Polish  party,  which 
supported  the  pretensions  of  Wladislaw  of  Poland.  The 
Counts  of  Cilly  took  the  side  of  their  relative,  Ladislaus 
Postumus,  the  grandson  of  Barbara  of  Cilly  and  the  Emperor 
Sigismund.  War  between  the  parties  was  unavoidable,  and 
lasted  the  whole  of  the  year  1440,  into  the  year  1441.  Ulric, 
Count  of  Cilly,  was  young  Ladislaus  Postumus's  representative 
and  commander  at  Raab  in  Hungary,  and  as  he  was  on  his 
way  to  the  widowed  Queen  Elizabeth  at  Presburg,  he  was 
attacked  by  the  men  of  Wladislaw  of  Poland,  taken  prisoner, 
and  conveyed  to  Buda,  but  released  on  parole. 

Meanwhile  the  Hungarian  leader,  Banfy,  had  penetrated  as 
far  as  Sannabar,  and  encamped  near  this  castle,  which  be- 
longed to  the  Counts  of  Cilly.  Vitovetz  found  him  with  a 
waggon  fortress  in  the  neighbourhood  of  an  extensive  morass. 
He  attacked  the  Hungarians  with  such  vigour  that  they  beat 
a  hasty  retreat  into  their  fortress  ;  but  Vitovetz  forced  his 
way  in  along  with  them,  and  gained  a  complete  victory  in  the 
midst  of  the  waggons.  Many  of  the  Hungarians  galloped  on 
horseback  in  flight  into  the  morass,  and  there  perished  miser- 
ably. Others  were  taken  prisoners,  as  well  as  tents,  artillery, 
waggons,  gold  and  silver  plate,  money,  and  many  other  things. 
Five  hundred  well-equipped  horses  fell  to  the  lot  of  the 
victorious  general.  Among  the  prisoners  was  Paul,  Duke  of 
Lindau,  who  afterwards  became  King  Ladislaus  Postumus's 
High  Steward.  This  battle  took  place  on  March  I,  1441. 

Vitovetz  marched  on  with  the  army  of  Cilly  in  the  direction 
of  Raab,  and  met  King  Wladislaw  of  Poland  in  the  plains  near 
Sabaria  ;  but,  instead  of  a  battle,  a  compromise  was  negotiated 
by  the  two  Counts  of  Cilly.  It  was  agreed  that  Count  Ulric 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  CILLY.  331 

should  be  released  from  his  parole,  and  that  the  prisoners 
taken  in  the  war,  on  both  sides,  should  be  set  at  liberty. 

Wladislaw  of  Poland  perished  in  1444,  in  the  battle  of 
Varna  against  the  Turks,  and  his  faction  in  Hungary  was 
compelled  to  accept  Ladislaus  Postumus,  or,  as  the  Cilly 
Chronicle  calls  him,  "  Lasslawn,"  for  king.  He  was  under  the 
guardianship  of  Frederic  of  Austria,  King  of  the  Romans,  to 
whom  the  Hungarians,  in  September,  1444,  sent  a  formal 
embassy,  desiring  that  he  might  be  delivered  up  to  them. 
Count  Ulric  of  Cilly,  who  was  much  thought  of  by  the  king, 
exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  in  favour  of  the  boy's  being 
sent  to  Hungary ;  but  the  M'hole  negotiation  was  shipwrecked 
on  certain  preliminary  conditions  demanded  by  Frederic. 
The  Count  of  Cilly,  dreaming  of  the  dignity  of  regent,  which 
he  expected  to  hold  during  the  minority  of  Ladislaus  in 
Hungary,  and  seeing  the  success  of  his  exertions  in  council, 
determined  to  compel  the  Hungarians  to  accept  him  as  king 
by  force. 

The  time  was  favourable  for  such  a  course.  John  Hunyadi, 
so  celebrated  for  his  victories  over  the  Turks,  was  just  then 
on  his  march  against  Drakul,  the  ruler  of  Wallachia.  Ulric 
therefore  ordered  his  general,  Vitovetz,  to  invade  Croatia  and 
attack  Matka-ban,  who  held  the  bishopric  of  Agram,  the 
priory  of  Vran,  and  the  Castle  of  St.  George,  besides  other 
lands  and  fortresses  in  Croatia.  The  fortune  of  war  was 
favourable  to  Vitovetz.  By  the  end  of  the  year  1445  he  had 
taken  the  Castle  of  St.  George,  and  not  less  than  six  others, 
besides  getting  possession  of  everything  belonging  to  the 
bishopric  and  the  priory.  At  the  taking  of  the  Castle  of 
Peckern,  Janus-ban,  Matka-ban's  brother,  was  killed  by  an 
arrow ;  at  Chrastovetz  two  knights,  high  in  the  Hungarian 
army,  were  killed  together  by  a  single  cannon  shot.  But 
Vitovetz — like  Ziska,  at  the  Castle  of  Rabi — lost  an  eye 
before  Chrastovetz,  by  a  shot  from  a  hand-gun.  As  the 
Counts  of  Cilly  had  previously  obtained  the  great  Castle  of 
Medved-grad  (Bear  Castle),  by  exchange  for  Seyllenburg,  they 
now  became  complete  masters  of  the  district  of  Agram,  so 


332       TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

that  Count  Ulric  appointed  a  priest  named  Benedict,  Bishop 
of  Agram,  and  after  him  another,  Dr.  Balthazar,  who  main- 
tained himself  there  until  the  death  of  Ulric. 

Intelligence  of  these  events  reached  John  Hunyadi  while 
still  on  Wallachian  ground.  But,  however  desirous  he  might 
have  been  of  taking  vengeance  on  the  Count  of  Cilly,  he  was 
obliged  to  defer  his  intentions  to  another  time,  his  army,  on 
account  of  the  approach  of  winter,  disbanding  itself  after  the 
Wallachian  campaign,  and  the  men  returning  to  their  homes. 
But  before  he  obtained  the  position  of  Regent  of  Hungary  in 
the  name  and  stead  of  King  Ladislaus  Postumus  (to  which 
he  was  elected  in  May,  1446),  he  made  a  destructive  inroad 
into  the  county  of  Cilly,  in  order  to  avenge  himself  upon  the 
count.  But  here,  too,  Vitovetz,  with  his  trusty  soldiers,  re- 
sisted him  successfully,  so  far  as  his  inferior  forces  allowed, 
exhibiting  therein  no  small  sagacity  and  military  skill.  The 
army  that  Hunyadi  had  assembled  numbered  15,000  men, 
Hungarians  and  Wallachians.  This  large  force  marched  over 
the  Drave  into  Croatia  with  the  intention  of  recovering  the 
castles  which  the  Count  of  Cilly  had  taken  and  garrisoned  in 
the  preceding  year.  The  Castle  of  St.  George  was  first  taken, 
after  which  Hunyadi  led  his  army  before  Varazdin,  which  was 
then  unfortified,  except  by  a  single  tower,  built  by  Ulric  at 
one  corner.  Unable  to  take  the  tower,  and  not  desiring  the 
delay  of  a  regular  siege,  the  Hungarians  set  the  town  on  fire 
and  hastened  into  the  county  of  Cilly,  where  they  sat  down 
before  the  town  of  Wendish  Feistritz.  Vitovetz's  tactics  were 
to  provide  all  strong  places  with  garrisons,  while  he  himself, 
with  a  small  body  of  from  sixty  to  eighty  horsemen,  kept  on 
the  rear  of  Hunyadi's  troops  in  the  open  field,  in  order  to 
ascertain  their  plans.  As  soon  as  he  found  their  aim  to  be 
Feistritz  he  outstripped  them,  and  arrived  in  the  town  before 
they  arrived  before  it.  The  first  assault  of  the  Hungarians, 
which  they  made  on  the  town  the  week  after  Palm  Sunday, 
was  repulsed  on  all  four  sides.  A  fire  broke  out  in  the  town, 
said  to  have  been  kindled  by  a  soldier,  who  was  a  born  Hun- 
garian. The  Hungarians  imagined  that  Vitovetz  wanted  to 


HISTORY   OF   THE   COUNTY   OF   CILLY.  333 

escape  from  the  town  under  cover  of  the  conflagration,  and 
surrounded  it  on  all  sides.  Finding  that  nobody  attempted 
to  quit  the  town,  they  delivered  a  second  assault.  The  de- 
fenders, having  burning  houses  in  their  rear  and  the  enemy  in 
front,  were  only  able  to  post  themselves  between  a  palisade 
and  the  wall  with  which  the  town  was  surrounded,  and  there 
await  the  enemy.  The  Hungarians  succeeded  in  forcing  their 
way  as  far  as  the  moat,  but  after  a  sharp  struggle  were  com- 
pelled to  retreat  a  second  time.  Hunyadi,  seeing  that  he 
could  not  take  the  town  by  a  coup  de  main,  sent  his  nephew, 
Szekelyi,  with  about  1,000  men,  to  the  town  of  Cilly, 
but  he  was  able  to  effect  but  little,  and  returned  to 
Feistritz  after  burning  a  few  houses  and  farm  buildings  in 
the  suburbs. 

It  would  seem  that  the  spring  floods  running  from  the  moun- 
tains into  the  Drave  compelled  Hunyadi  to  leave  Feistritz 
and  hasten  to  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river.  He  made  an 
armistice  for  a  few  days  with  Vitovetz  and  hurried  over  the 
river,  but  lost  a  good  many  men  and  horses  in  the  passage, 
and  others  were  intercepted  before  they  were  able  to  cross. 
Vitovetz  himself,  observing  that  Hunyadi  was  anxious  to  get 
to  the  town  of  Ptuj,  anticipated  him  there  also,  and  prevented 
his  entrance.  The  Hungarians  proceeded  onwards  between 
the  Drave  and  Muhr,  ravaging  the  Cilly  estates,  until  after  a 
slight  skirmish  near  Chakovetz  they  recrossed  the  Drave  and 
reached  the  village  of  Koprivnitz,  whence  they  made  forays 
and  did  all  the  harm  they  could  to  Ulric's  property.  Nor  was 
it  till  Vitovetz  followed  them  thither  himself,  posted  himself 
with  his  army  near  the  lower  of  Rasinje,  about  five  English 
miles  from  Koprivnitz,  and  made  ready  for  a  pitched  battle 
with  them,  that  they  withdrew  thence  and  returned  to  Hun- 
gary, whence  they  had  come.  On  this  campaign  Hunyadi 
did  not  fail  to  inform  the  count  that  he,  the  count,  was  the 
guilty  cause  of  all  this  mischief,  in  that,  when  he  invaded 
Hungary  the  preceding  year,  he  had  done  it  without  a  defiance 
and  without  notice, — conduct  which  the  Hungarians  had  not 
expected  from  him,  as  it  was  the  proper  thing  to  issue  a 


334       TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

defiance  *  before  war.  It  is  gratifying  to  find  that  a  reconcilia- 
tion took  place  between  Count  Cilly  and  Hunyadi,  dated 
March  21,  1456,  not  long  before  the  great  Hungarian  hero's 
death,  which  took  place  suddenly  of  the  plague  at  Belgrade 
on  August  nth  of  the  same  year. 

In  the  year  1454,  on  the  eve  of  St.  Margaret,  died  old 
Count  Frederic,  Ulric's  father,  and  on  the  selfsame  day  Ulric's 
army  suffered  a  defeat  from  Toman,  Count  of  Croatia,  who 
had  made  himself  master  of  several  castles  belonging  to  the 
Cilly  family  in  the  valley  of  the  river  Kerka,  and  in  particular 
of  that  of  Osterwitz.  Count  Ulric  without  delay  sent  John 
Vitovetz,  who  had  not  been  with  the  defeated  army,f  to 
humble  Toman.  Toman  soon  surrendered  both  Osterwitz 
and  another  unnamed  castle,  both  belonging  to  the  Croato- 
Dalmatian  Banat. 

Two  years  afterwards  (November  9,  1456)  Count  Ulric, 
who  succeeded  the  great  Hunyadi  as  King  Ladislaus  Postu- 
mus's  captain-general  in  Hungary,  was  assassinated  by  his 
rival,  young  Ladislaw  Hunyadi,  eldest  son  of  the  hero,  at 
Belgrade  in  Servia. 

This  event  took  place  on  the  following  wise.  After  the 
death  of  the  great  Hunyadi,  King  Ladislaus  Postumus  was 
compelled  by  both  military  and  political  reasons  to  hasten 
from  Vienna  into  Hungary  with  all  possible  speed.  A  diet 
was  summoned  at  Futak,  which  was  but  sparsely  attended  by 
the  Hungarian  nobles,  and  at  which  Ladislaw  Hunyadi  refused 
to  present  himself,  unless  he  were  assured  by  a  document 
under  the  royal  sign-manual  that  the  account  due  from  his 
deceased  father  would  not  be  demanded  from  him.  At  length 
he  appeared,  and  was  received  with  every  mark  of  honour 
and  friendship.  He  promised  within  a  given  time  to  surrender 
into  the  king's  hands  not  only  Belgrade,  but  all  his  castles, 
and  requested  to  be  again  accepted  as  a  son  by  Count  Cilly 

*  What  the  Germans  call  a  "  Fehdebrief." 

f  It  is  plain  from  the  whole  tenor  of  the  narrative  in  the  Cilly 
Chronicle  that  the  wording  ought  to  run — "  Und  bey  der  ersten  Reiss  da 
das  Volk  wardt  niedergelegt,  ist  J.  Wittobetz  nit  (not  mif)  beygewesen." 


HISTORY  OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  CILLY.  335 

according  to  the  terms  of  'the  deed  of  reconciliation  with  his 
deceased  father.  This  engagement  was  renewed  at  the  solici- 
tation of  the  king,  and  confirmed  not  only  by  an  oath,  but 
by  the  solemn  reception  of  the  eucharist  by  both  parties.  The 
reconciliation  appeared  so  complete,  and  confidence  so  entire, 
that  the  king  and  Count  Cilly  determined  to  proceed  to  Bel- 
grade, although  it  was  still  in  the  power  of  the  Hunyadis ;  it 
being  said  that  the  garrison  of  the  fortress  was  as  devoted  to 
the  king  as  its  lords  themselves. 

The   king   landed   at   Belgrade  with  his   army    and    the 
Crusaders,  making  up  altogether  44,000  men  in  103  ships,  on 
the  evening  of  November  10,  and  was  welcomed  on  the  bank 
of  the   river  with  the   highest  honours.     At  his  side  were 
Count  Cilly,  Duke  Otto  of  Bavaria,  the  Bohemian  Lords  of 
Rosenberg  and  Sternberg,  the  young  Count  of  Gorz,  Count 
Frangipan,  and  many  other  nobles.    As  soon  as  he  had  ridden 
into  the  fort  with  his  suite,  the  gate  was  hastily  closed  behind 
him,  and  entrance  denied  to  all  Germans  and  Bohemians  who 
refused  to  lay  aside  their  weapons.     Endeavours  were  made 
to  calm  the  terrified  king  by  assuring  him  that  an  ancient  law 
forbade  armed  men,  not  belonging  to  the  garrison,  to  be 
allowed  to  enter  a  border  fortress.     But  Count  Cilly 's  fore- 
boding of  evil  was  soon  fulfilled.     He  attended  mass  on  the 
following  morning,  and  was  several  times  summoned  during 
the  service  to  a  consultation  which  was  to  be  held  in  Count 
Ladislaw's  room.     At  length  he  appeared  unarmed,  but  with 
his   corselet   under  his   clothes.     Behind  him   came    Count 
Gregory  Frangipan,  and  Kaplir  of  Sniewitz,  a  noble  Bohe- 
mian youth,  sixteen  years  old.     Being   received   by  young 
Hunyadi  with  a  kind  of  reproof,  and  perceiving  the  danger 
threatening  him  in  the  whole  bearing  of  the  friends  of  the 
latter,  he  drew  Frangipan's  sword,  and  boldly  commenced  the 
struggle.     He  wounded  Hunyadi  and  three  Hungarian  lords, 
but  was  then  struck  down  and  slain,  and  his  head  cut  off  after 
his  death  by  Szilagyi.    Frangipan  and  Kaplir,  who  endeavoured 
to  protect  him,  were  both  wounded.     During  the  tumult  and 
outcry  that  arose  the  garrison  disarmed  and  robbed  all  the 


336      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

German  and  Bohemian  lords  and  nobles  that  had  entered  the 
fortress  with  the  king,  nor  did  they  spare  Duke  Otto  himself. 
The  king  was  kept  under  ward  in  a  room  apart,  and  told  that 
Cilly  had  begun  the  fray,  and  paid  for  his  wickedness  as  he 
deserved :  the  king  himself  had  nothing  to  fear,  but  would 
now  rule  freely,  liberated  from  his  traitorous  guide,  and  all  the 
Hungarians  would  obey  his  commands.  The  army  was  dis- 
banded, and  the  king  was  kept  a  fortnight  in  a  kind  of  respect- 
ful custody  by  Ladislaw  Hunyadi,  after  which  he  was  released, 
declared  himself  of  age  at  Ofen,  and  took  the  opportunity  of 
a  tournament  to  arrest,  condemn,  and  behead  Ladislaw  Hun- 
yadi (March  1-5  and  16,  1457),  and  also  eventually  carried  off 
Mathias  Hunyadi,  afterwards  the  celebrated  King  of  Hungary, 
Mathias  Corvinus,  a  captive  to  Vienna. 

With  Ulric  the  family  of  the  Counts  of  Cilly  died  out,  and 
no  other  member  of  it  remained  but  his  widow  Catherine. 
Five  banners  waved  over  the  bier  of  this  powerful  man  when 
his  remains  were  brought  for  burial  in  the  monastery  at  Cilly, — 
the  banners  of  Cilly,  Ortemburg,  Sonneck,  and  Zagoria,  and  a 
black  mourning  banner.  And  there  was  great  weeping  and 
wailing  when  it  was  cried  over  the  grave,  "  Cilly !  and  Cilly 
never  more  ! "  ("  Cilli !  und  nimmermeyr  Cilli  !  "). 

Scarcely  was  the  count  laid  in  his  grave,  when  numerous 
claimants  appeared  with  stronger  or  weaker  pretensions  to 
what  he  left  behind  him.  First  was  the  Emperor  Frederic, 
who  claimed  all  the  lordships  and  castles  in  Styria,  Carinthia, 
and  Carniola  ;  second,  King  Ladislaus  Postumus  of  Hungary, 
to  whom  the  deceased  count  had  intended  to  bequeath  his 
estates  ;  third,  Prince  Sigismund  of  Austria,  who  claimed 
the  county  of  Ortemburg ;  and  fourth,  Count  John  of  Gorz, 
who  produced  ancient  reciprocal  agreements  respecting  in- 
heritance with  the  Cilly  family.  Others  also  claimed  portions 
of  the  Cilly  property,  but  none  of  the  claimants  paid  the 
slightest  regard  to  the  widow.  She,  however,  and  the  "  coun- 
cillors, burggraves,  and  servants  "  of  her  late  husband,  formed 
a  league  for  defence,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Vitovetz,  to 
whom  Count  Ulric  had  given  the  Castle  of  Greben  in  inherit- 


HISTORY   OF   THE  COUNTY   OF   CILLY.  337 

ance,  and  that  of  Sternberg  in  Carinthia  for  life.  He  had 
also  made  him  his  "  viceban  "  in  the  "  Wendish  "  *  territories. 

After  the  death  of  Ulric,  King  Ladislaus  appointed  Vitovetz 
Ulric's  successor  in  the  Slavonian  Banat,  as  appears  from  a 
document  dated  March  24,  1457,  in  which  Vitovetz  engaged 
to  enter  into  the  service  of  the  Emperor  Frederic,  provided 
he  was  released  from  his  duties  by  King  Ladislaus,  "  whose 
ban  he  was  in  the  Wendish  lands."  So  far,  however,  was 
Ladislaus  from  giving  him  the  required  release,  that  he 
ordered  him  to  commence  hostilities  against  the  Emperor  at 
once,  which  he  did  with  such  effect,  that  on  April  2Qth,  1457, 
he  captured  the  Emperor's  whole  suite  in  the  town  of  Cilly. 
But  on  November  23rd,  1457,  King  Ladislaus  died,  and 
nothing  remained  for  the  widowed  countess  but  to  make  the 
best  agreement  she  could  with  the  Emperor  Frederic,  with 
whom  she  came  to  terms  on  December  I5th,  1457,  the 
Emperor  obtaining  all  the  Cilly  castles  in  Carniola,  Styria, 
and  Carinthia,  while  she  was  left  unmolested  in  possession  of 
those  in  Hungary  and  Croatia. 

The  Emperor  also  came  to  terms  with  Vitovetz  soon  after 
the  election  of  Mathias  Hunyadi,  surnamed  Corvinus,  to  the 
Hungarian  throne,  and  it  is  supposed  that  it  was  greatly  due 
to  the  aid  of  Vitovetz  that  he  defeated  Mathias  and  his 
adherents  in  the  battle  of  Kbrmend,  on  April  7th,  1459. 

In  December,  1459,  Count  John  of  Gorz  declared  war 
against  the  Emperor  on  account  of  his  claims  to  portions  of 
the  Cilly  estates,  and  took  the  town  of  Drauburg,  in  Carinthia, 
and  two  castles  in  its  neighbourhood,  as  well  as  Goldenstein 
and  Ruffenstein,  finally  sitting  down  before  Ortemburg.  The 
Emperor  spared  neither  pains  nor  money  to  engage  Vitovetz 
in  his  service,  and  that  able  commander  soon  reduced  the 
Count  of  Gorz  to  terms,  taking  from  him  all  his  late  acquisi- 
tions and  also  his  previous  rightful  possessions  in  Carinthia. 
In  recompence  Vitovetz  was  made  Count  of  Zagoria  by 
letters  patent,  dated  March  22nd,  1460.  Vitovetz  also 

*  "Wendish"  signifies  much  the  same  as  Slavonic. 
Z 


338      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

obtained  all  but  one  of  the  castles  previously  held  by  the 
widowed  countess,  making  her  compensation  in  money,  and 
she  settled  with  her  property  in  the  city  of  Ragusa,  receiving 
also  an  annual  income  from  her  sole  remaining  castle. 

Vitovetz  thus  became  under  the  Emperor  possessor  of  a 
great  portion  of  the  domains  of  the  Counts  of  Cilly,  along 
with  the  arms  of  Sternberg  and  Cilly.  As  the  Cilly  Chronicler 
says,  "  John  Wittebetz  thereafter  became  powerful,  and  wrote 
himself  Joan,  Count  in  Zagoria,  and  Ban  in  the  Wendish 
lands."  After  the  year  1463  nothing  further  is  heard  of  him, 
although  in  1477  n's  widow  is  known  to  have  been  in  posses- 
sion of  all  his  estates. 

Such  is  a  brief  account  of  the  rise  and  disappearance  of  the 
county  of  Cilly,  which  for  a  time  was  certainly  one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  prosperous  of  the  smaller  states  in  Europe, 
and  which,  had  not  its  line  died  out,  might  have  had  a  very 
conspicuous  future  before  it.* 

*  The  writer  acknowledges  his  special  obligations  to  an  article  in  the 
Czasopis  of  the  Bohemian  Museum  by  Herm.  Jireczek,  intituled  "Jan 
Vitorec,  valecznik  czeskjr." 


339 


ON  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  HISTORICAL  REPE- 
TITION :  A  STUDY  OF  THE  RELATION  OF 
HISTORICAL  TO  SCIENTIFIC  RESEARCH. 

BY  BENJAMIN  W.  RICHARDSON,  M.D.,  F.R.S., 
PRESIDENT  OF  THE  COUNCIL  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

DlONYSlUS  of  Halicarnassus  tells  us  that  History  is  "  Philo- 
sophy teaching  by  examples."  Of  all  the  definitions  of  his- 
tory, this,  one  of  the  oldest,  is  probably  one  of  the  best.  It 
is  assuredly  the  best  in  a  scientific  point  of  view,  since  it 
places  history  in  the  true  light  of  a  natural  science.  It  is  as 
though  it  said  history  is  the  record  of  phenomena  which  occur 
and  which  recur,  so  that  an  example  is  set  which  may  be  ac- 
cepted and  remembered  as  something  that  will  be  seen  again 
and  recognised  again  like  other  and  more  obviously  mechani- 
cal examples  of  natural  processes. 

Lord  Bacon  conveys  in  other  words  the  same  thought  when 
he  says  "  history  treads  the  earth  performing  the  office  of  a 
guide  rather  than  of  a  light."  He  means,  I  take  it,  to  tell  us 
in  this  definition  that  history  is  a  series  of  examples  or  signs 
by  which  we  are  led  on  in  natural  course  to  know  what  are 
the  whole  phenomena  of  the  living  moving  force  or  light  that 
produces  the  phenomena.  Frederic  Schlegel  expresses  the 
same  thought,  yet  once  more  in  different  terms,  when  he  says 
"  the  historian  is  a  prophet  with  his  head  turned  backwards  : " 
by  which  he  suggests  that  the  man  who  has  read  history 
thoroughly  has  seen  the  phenomena  recorded  in  history  so 
frequently,  he  is  able  to  foresee  the  recurrence  of  the  pheno- 
mena or  the  circumstances  under  which  they  will  recur. 

More  forcibly  still  the  same  view  is  maintained,  but  pro- 
bably not  originated  even  by  him,  in  the  words  of  the  writer 


340      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

of  that  most  wonderful  of  all  wonderful  essays,  the  Book  of 
Ecclesiastes ;  a  book  which,  to  my  mind,  is  the  unsurpassed 
of  all  that  is  in  literature  :  a  book  of  science  of  the  most  lucid 
character ;  a  book  of  metaphysics  of  the  most  subtle  discrimi- 
nation ;  a  book  of  philosophy  taught  by  examples  of  the  pro- 
foundest  wisdom.  And  thus  its  writer  speaks  : — "  The  thing 
that  hath  been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be  ;  and  that  which  is 
done  is  that  which  shall  be  done :'  and  there  is  no  new  thing 
under  the  sun." 

The  selfsame  thought  is  conveyed  in  the  common  saying, — 
"  History  repeats  itself." 

I  have  quoted  the  statements  of  those  who  rank  highest  of 
the  highest  in  authority ;  but  it  is  also  open  for  me  to  make 
reference  to  yet  another  authority,  which,  though  in  detail 
lower,  is,  in  combination,  the  source  of  the  very  authorities 
classed  as  the  highest.  I  refer  to  what  we  may  call  the  ex- 
perience of  intellectual  mankind.  Whatever  may  be  the  secret 
origin  of  the  experience,  it  is  certain  that  in  proportion  as  the 
animal  man  surpasses  the  lower  animal,  and  rises,  by  intellectual 
superiority,  into  the  light  of  knowledge,  and  into  that  applica- 
tion of  knowledge  which  we  call  wisdom,  he  becomes  more 
conscious  without  any  professed  special  historical  learning, — I 
mean  historical  learning  according  to  the  common  acceptation 
of  the  term, — he  becomes  more  conscious  of  the  impression  that, 
whatever  new  thing  is  brought  forth,  it  is  in  some  sense  accord- 
ing to  the  order  of  nature.  A  something  which  he  is  prepared 
for  if  not  familiarized  with.  A  something  that  he  accepts  as 
if  it  were  old,  or  as  if  it  had  been  done  before  or  had  been 
thought  of  before.  To  him  it  is  no  surprise.  The  ignorant 
only  are  subject  to  wonder.  There  exists,  in  fact,  amongst 
the  intellectual  a  mental  preparation  for  accepting  what  is 
called  the  repetition  of  history. 

Before  we  can  discuss  the  phenomenon  of  repetition  it  is 
necessary  to  see  clearly  what  are  the  elements  of  history.  In  our 
day  we  have  come  too  exclusively  to  confine  the  word  history 
to  what  is  technically  called  civil  history,  that  form  which 
Bacon  defines  as  the  "  works  and  acts  of  men;"  while  natural 


ON  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  HISTORICAL  REPETITION.     341 

history,  which  the  same  author  defines  as  "the  natural  records, 
the  works  and  acts  of  nature,"  is  put  aside  as  if  the  adjective 
rather  than  the  noun  expressed  what  ought  to  be  understood. 
This  is  a  mistake  of  the  first  order.  The  two  histories  are 
one  and  inseparable,  and  their  combination  under  one  pro- 
fessorship, as  in  the  chair  of  civil  and  natural  history  in 
the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  for  example,  though  it  be  an 
imperfect  mode  of  expressing  the  unity,  is  an  improvement 
on  the  system  of  division  and  distinction  which  now  passes 
current. 

On  the  supposition  that  civil  and  natural  history  are  one, 
the  term  historical  repetition  is  at  once  admissible  and  under- 
standable, because  no  one  disputes  that  the  phenomena  of 
natural  history,  of  night  and  day,  of  storm  and  calm,  of 
seasons,  of  birth  and  death,  and  such  like,  are  repeating  his- 
tories. These  phenomena  a  man  can  contemplate  and  calcu- 
late apart  from  the  phenomena  he  himself  produces.  The 
great  question  is,  are  the  works  and  acts  of  men  of  the  same 
order  ?  Is  the  course  of  a  famiJy  or  race  as  definite  as  that 
of  a  planet  ?  Are  human  affairs  conducted  in  a  manner  that 
subjects  them  to  recurrence  independently  of  the  man  ?  Is 
the  will  of  man,  seemingly  so  independent,  no  more  than  a 
will  within  a  will  ?  Is  it  directed  from  without  ?  Is  it  as 
definitely  under  natural  law  and  ordinance  as  those  movements 
which  are  so  obviously  under  external  governance  ?  In  a  word, 
are  the  works  and  acts  which  make  the  civil  history  of  the 
world  under  fixed  law  as  recurring  phenomena  ?  Is  it  the  fact 
that  "  the  thing  which  hath  been  is  that  which  shall  be  ;  and 
that  which  is  done  is  that  which  shall  be  done  "  ? 

From  my  own  observations  I  gather  that  there  are  three 
schools  of  thought  on  these  questions.  There  is  a  school, 
and  this  includes  probably  the  greater  part  of  those  who  are 
called  pure  historians,  which  studies  the  civil  history,  the 
works  and  acts  of  man,  apart  altogether  from  natural  history. 
To  this  school  man  stands  forth  as  an  independency,  an  in- 
strument of  self-government,  an  instrument  of  self-improve- 
ment in  the  fullest  degree.  Man  is  set  free  from  Nature  ;  he  is 


342      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

above  Nature.  He  may  control  her,  defy  her.  The  supreme  will 
which  ordained  the  material  universe,  and  which  also  ordained 
man,  established  in  its  divine  wisdom  two  orders  of  power. 
The  one  the  motion  of  inanimated  matter,  mighty  and  per- 
sistent, governed  by  laws  out  of  the  hand  of  man.  The  other 
the  motion  of  animated  matter,  of  matter  endowed  with  self- 
action,  responsible  to  itself ;  standing  apart  from  inanimated 
moving  matter,  and  seeing  it  move,  yet  declaring  it  dead ;  study- 
ing the  movements  of  such  dead  matter,  and  formulating 
them  in  pages  of  science,  yet  feeling  itself  distinct  and  super- 
endowed  ;  reading  a  history  of  the  movements  of  the  unani- 
mated  matter,  and  calling  the  record  natural  history  ;  reading 
a  history  of  the  movements  of  animated  matter,  and  calling 
that  civil  history  ;  speaking  of  the  unanimated  distinctly  as 
nature,  of  the  animated  distinctly  as  man. 

To  this  school  of  thought  the  idea  of  historical  repetition 
is,  of  a  necessity,  a  chimera.  Why  should  history  repeat  itself? 
Man  increases,  and  as  he  increases  progresses.  Man  is  free  to 
improve  in  the  future,  why  should  he  fall  back  on  the  past  ? 
If  it  be  that  some  facts  suggest  repetition,  the  facts  are  due 
to  the  circumstance  that  the  man  has  continued  too  long  in- 
active in  that  particular  matter  of  improvement.  He  repeats 
when  and  where  he  might  improve,  or  he  continues  a  practice 
or  an  act  because  it  pleases  him  to  do  so;  because,  in  fact,  he 
likes  to  continue  it.  This  school  of  thought  is  strong  in  its 
beliefs ;  and  civil  history,  as  a  special  branch  of  learning,  is 
founded  upon  it.  It  is  strong  because  it  is  satisfactory  to  the 
pride  of  man.  It  adds  to  him  a  principle,  a  spirit  beyond 
that  which  belongs  to  the  inanimate  matter  he  sees  in  motion 
around  him.  He  is  no  mere  cloud  to  be  wafted  by  the  four 
winds,  to  be  driven  into  fantastic  form,  to  be  dissolved  in  tears 
of  rain,  or  to  be  riven  as  by  passion  of  lightning  or  clash  of 
thunder  into  nothingness.  No  !  These  phenomena  pass  away 
and  repeat  themselves.  He  exists !  He  can  govern  even  that 
angry  cloud,  and  make  its  passionate  fire  obey  his  behests. 

There  is  another  school,  to  which  the  majority  of  educated 
mankind  belongs,  which,  on  the  whole,  is  content  to  accept 


ON  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  HISTORICAL  REPETITION.     343 

the  teaching  of  the  civil  historian  as  above  stated,  but  which 
accepts  the  teaching  with  a  qualification.  It  sees  so  many 
instances  of  strange  repetitions  of  work  and  act  in  the  history 
of  man,  it  is  fain  to  believe  in  some  stranger  and  more 
singular  power,  by  which,  independently  of  the  human  will, 
some  works  and  acts  are  repeated.  For  much  that  man  does 
he  is  master  of  the  doing ;  but  not  for  all.  He  is  sometimes 
impelled  to  repeat  what  has  been  done.  There  is  a  law  of 
coincidences,  say  the  followers  of  this  school,  which  they 
believe,  but  do  not  attempt  to  explain  ;  some  midway  con- 
nection between  the  repetitions  of  nature  and  the  free-will  of 
man. 

There  is  a  third  school,  including  mostly  students  of  natural 
history  ;  a  very  ancient  and  at  all  times,  so  far,  a  very  small 
and  select  school,  which  thinks  it  can  trace  everything  back  to 
natural  law.  This  school  holds  that  men  are  deceived  when  they 
consider  their  works  and  acts  are  supernatural,  or  out  of  the 
range  of  ordinary  natural  governance.  It  says  that  a 
superior  intelligence  surveying  all  human  work  would  detect 
that  such  work,  like  that  of  external  nature,  is  after  a  fixed 
rule  with  periods  of  recurrence. 

These  historians  see  in  civil  as  in  natural  history  nothing 
but  repetition.  To  them  history,  universal  and  concrete,  is- 
ever  repeating  itself.  Foremost  of  the  school  was  he  who 
wrote,  "  The  thing  that  hath  been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be ; 
and  that  which  is  done,  it  is  that  which  shall  be  done  :  and 
there  is  no  new  thing  under  the  sun." 

Between  the  first  and  the  last  of  these  schools  of  thought 
the  world  of  intelligence  has  been  divided  from  the  first 
periods  of  enlightenment.  The  contending  views  colour  every 
act,  every  science,  every  social  phase,  every  religion.  The 
aesthetic  joy  of  the  ancient  Greek,  the  melancholic  determi- 
nation of  the  Jew,  are  representative  extremes  of  these 
schools.  The  religious  ardour  which,  upholding  good  works, 
places  salvation  in  the  power  of  the  unsaved  ;  and  the  equally 
religious  fervour  which,  prohibiting  boasting,  makes  salvation 
an  act  of  grace  and  places  the  act  amongst  the  events  that 


344      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

are  predestined  and  out  of  the  reach  of  the  will  of  the 
recipient,  are  the  representative  extremes  of  these  two  schools 
of  thought. 

On  the  whole,  the  contentions  of  argument  on  these  debat- 
able subjects  have  been  carried  out  by  the  advocates  of  the 
first  and  third  of  the  schools  of  thought,  both  of  which,  in  a 
numerical  sense,  have  ever  been  a  minor  part  of  mankind. 
The  masses  have  belonged  to  those  who,  caring  less  for 
logical  precision  than  for  peace  of  mind  and  influence,  have 
adopted  something  from  each  of  the  extreme  schools,  and 
stood  between  them.  The  history  of  the  Church  of  Rome  is 
a  signal  illustration  of  this  position.  Extolling  the  doctrine 
of  good  works  to  the  actual  canonization  of  man,  and  making 
it  dogmatically  clear  that  human  advancement  to  perfection  is 
progressive  and  dependent  on  individual  perfection  wrought 
out  by  the  human  will,  this  church  declares,  at  the  same  time, 
at  every  possible  opportunity,  the  changelessness  of  history? 
and  that  "  as  it  was  in  the  beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall 
be,  world  without  end."  The  grand  division  of  the  Church  by 
which  it  was  once  broken  occurred  at  this  weak  point  in  its 
doctrine,  and  would  occur  again  if  the  added  dogma  that  the 
Church  is  an  instrument  guided  from  without  by  definite 
rules  and  by  virtue  of  a  power  it  cannot  control,  but 
which  always  guides  it  in  the  right,  were  not  applied  as  a 
philosophical  support.  A  support  borrowed  from  that  school 
of  natural  historians  which  sees  all  men  as  instruments  working 
out  blindly  to  themselves  the  fixed  and  predestined  order  of 
nature. 

In  its  scientific  aspect  the  truth  of  the  theory  of  historical 
repetition  as  a  necessary  occurrence,  and  as  a  definite  occur- 
rence, turns  altogether  on  the  questions  whether  natural  and 
civil  history,  i.e.,  the  acts  and  works  of  nature  and  the  acts  and 
works  of  man,  are  or  are  not  the  same.  If  they  be  the  same, 
then  every  repetition  of  history  is  a  part  of  a  design  or  system 
which,  being  fixed,  may  be  discovered  so  that  the  future  history 
of  man  may  be  foretold  in  a  way  as  wonderful  yet  not  more 
wonderful  than  the  foretelling  of  eclipses  to  a  world  innocent 


ON   THE   PHENOMENA  OF   HISTORICAL   REPETITION.     345 

of  mathematical  calculation.  If  they  be  not  the  same,  then 
the  most  striking  repetitions  of  history  are  due  either  to 
accidents,  or  to  the  resolutions  of  men  that  they  shall  be 
repetitions  ;  as  when  on  the  stage  we  present  to  an  audience 
a  moving  and  living  picture  of  something  that  once  has  been, 
and  that  now,  for  the  moment,  by  the  order  of  the  human 
will,  is  presented  again. 

We  might  cast  the  theory  of  historical  repetition  to  the 
winds,  in  its  relation  to  civil  history,  if  the  event  of  it  merely 
rested  on  accident,  or  on  the  resolution  of  man  that  it  should 
be.  Is  there  historical  repetition  as  a  part  of  a  natural 
system,  in  the  working  of  which  we  are  the  instruments,  and 
over  which  we  have  no  actual  control  ?  Is  it  true  that  "  the 
thing  which  hath  been,  it  is  that  which  shall  be;  and  that  which 
is  done  is  that  which  shall  be  done"? 

I  propose  to  devote  a  few  moments  to  look  at  the  assumed 
affirmatives  of  this  argument. 

In  the  history  of  man,  when  he  is  considered  as  part  of  the 
universe,  when  in  himself  the  natural  and  civil  life  are  so  com- 
bined that  they  become  inseparable,  the  phenomenon  of  repeti- 
tion is  simple  enough  and  certain  enough.  The  birth  of  man^ 
his  appearance  on  the  planet  as  a  distinct  existence,  is  a 
sufficient  illustration  of  the  phenomenon.  Equally  distinct 
and  repeatedly  distinct  is  the  death  of  the  man.  The  death 
may  seem  to  be  varied  in  detail  of  mode  and  form,  but  it  is 
essentially  one  phenomenon,  occurring  always,  as  we  discover 
when  it  is  traced  carefully  to  its  intimate  nature,  from  the 
same  order  of  act  and  process.  Again  in  the  most  refined 
construction  of  the  man  history  is  repeated.  His  qualities  of 
mind,  his  muscular  movement,  his  colour,  his  physique,  are 
repetitions  sometimes  so  close  that  the  least  observant  are 
obliged  to  read  them,  and  are  never  so  absent  but  that  the 
observant  are  able  to  read  them. 

In  this  repetition  of  historical  fact  we  touch  at  once  the  so- 
called  civil  history  of  the  world,  that  history  which  is  demon- 
strated by  man  in  his  acts  and  his  works.  If  he  be,  as  he 
certainly  is,  influenced  by  agencies  which  were  in  action  and 


346      TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

in  work  before  he  was  born,  and  which  are  inevitably  repeated 
through  time,  it  is  hard  to  deny  that  in  civil  as  in  natural 
affairs  history  repeats  itself.  That  "  the  thing  that  hath  been  is 
that  which  shall  be ;  and  that  which  is  done  is  that  which  shall 
be  done." 

When  from  these  repeated  qualities  we  come  to  the  man 
himself,  we  see  the  repetition  in  those  of  his  acts  which  make 
his  history,  and  by  multiplication  of  himself  into  the  world, 
all  history.  The  phenomena  of  sleeping  and  waking,  on 
which  his  whole  existence,  as  an  active  agency,  depends,  is  a 
repetition  as  steady  as  almost  any  of  the  repeated  phenomena 
of  the  movements  of  what  is  accepted  as  unanimated  matter. 
A  view  has  recently  been  enunciated  that  in  respect  to  sleeping 
and  waking,  there  are  two  definite  periods  in  the  twenty- 
four  hours  in  which  sleep  and  wakefulness  naturally  fall ;  a 
period  extending  from  eight  in  the  evening  to  four  in  the 
morning  for  sleep  ;  and  a  period  extending  from  four  in  the 
morning  until  eight  in  the  evening  for  wakefulness  ;  and  that 
these  changes  in  the  times  named  are  like  the  ebb  and  flow  of 
a  tide  in  their  regularity  and  order.  To  my  sense  as  a  phy- 
sician this  theory  is  in  accord  with  all  I  have  observed.  But 
whether  it  be  strictly  correct  or  not  it  nearly  defines  the  limits 
of  two  processes  which  are  to  all  intents  repetitions  of  the 
history  of  man ;  processes  which  are  so  connected  with  his 
acts  and  works,  they  may  be  considered  the  bases  of  his  civil 
historical  life  ;  processes  that  are  so  connected  with  his  civil 
historical  life,  that  changed  in  the  same  man,  the  character  of 
his  career  would  also  be  changed,  so  as  to  represent  the 
condition  under  which  it  was  developed  and  carried  out. 

The  history  of  man  is  rigorously  repeated  in  those  acts  and 
works  which  depend  on  the  possession  of  special  organic  parts 
or  structures.  Here  the  refinement  of  the  repetition  is  such 
that  nothing  short  of  constant  familiarity  with  it  could  fail  to 
make  it  the  most  striking  of  demonstrations.  Take  for  a  single 
and  sufficient  example  the  repeated  phenomena  of  particular 
singing  voices,  the  soprano,  the  mezzo-soprano,  the  contralto, 
the  tenor,  the  baritone,  the  bass.  In  studying  these  voices,  so 


ON  THE   PHENOMENA  OF  HISTORICAL  REPETITION.    347 

definitely  arranged  by  historical  repetition  of  a  natural  kind, 
the  skilful  musician  constructs  the  whole  of  that  part  of  civil 
human  history  that  is  written  in  song.  He  could  not,  indeed, 
write  out  of  this  rule  of  repetition,  tried  he  ever  so  earnestly. 

It  may  with  great  fairness  be  said  that  in  these  illustrations 
we  are  dealing  after  all  with  the  accredited  phenomena  of 
natural  history,  the  repetition  of  which  no  one  denies,  and  the 
effects  of  which,  in  an  indirect  manner,  on  civil  history  no  one 
wishes  to  deny.  I  feel  we  may  go  a  step  further  than  this  out- 
post. To  my  mind  we  may  take  also  fairly  into  our  argument 
the  genius  out  of  which  all  civil  history  in  its  practical  de- 
clarations is  prepared.  The  distinguishing  peculiarity  of 
genius  is  that  it  is  impelled  to  its  action  in  the  person  through 
whom  it  is  developed.  I  cannot  doubt  there  have  been  some 
men  of  genius  so  strongly  impelled  as  to  be  themselves  aware 
of  the  impulse ;  themselves  conscious  that,  in  the  supreme 
order  and  design  of  nature,  they  were  instruments  for  unfold- 
ing the  design  ;  that  they  lived  not  for  themselves,  but  for 
other  and  irresistible  intents.  In  saying  this  I  do  not  mean 
to  imply  that  such  persons  were  specially  picked  out  at  a 
special  time  by  some  interfering  superior  governing  hand  for 
a  special  purpose  or  necessity,  but  that  they  came  in  natural 
undisturbed  order  of  coming,  in  due  time  and  probably  in  re- 
volution of  fixed  duration,  i.  e.,  in  a  psychical  circle  of  time. 
In  other  words,  they  were  repetitions  of  the  same  qualities  of 
men,  and  were  repeated  because  they  came  into  the  time  and 
order  of  repetition. 

Again,  it  is  difficult  not  to  believe  that  universal  genius 
by  particular  methods  is  repeated  in  particular  epochs, — now 
by  genius  for  abstract  research,  anon  for  applied  research  ; 
mechanics  ;  now  for  poetry,  anon  for  art.  At  the  present 
moment  we  are  passing  through  a  phase  of  applied  research, 
derived  from  the  last  marvellous  century,  and  are  repeating 
what  has  been  the  mind  of  preceding  similar  psychical  periods. 
Sometimes  we  repeat  in  actual  detail,  innocent  in  the  act  of  what 
has  been  done.  Sometimes  we  repeat  in  detail  not  what  has 
perhaps  precisely  been  done,  but  what  has  been  conceived  and, 


348      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

owing  to  the  briefness  of  the  period  of  applied  research,  left 
undone. 

History  is  a  perfect  mine  of  wealth  of  these  facts  when  the 
mode  of  looking  for  them  is  once  explained.  Let  me  give  an 
illustration  of  a  rather  striking  character  bearing  upon  one  of 
the  most  startling  of  mechanical  researches  of  this  mechanical 
time. 

A  modern  genius  told  us  not  long  ago  a  fact  at  which  the 
masses  wondered.  Into  an  empty  sphere  of  glass  Mr.  Crookes 
inserted  light  discs  of  matter,  and  by  bringing  the  sunbeam 
to  bear  on  these  lightly  suspended  masses,  in  direct  or  in- 
direct form,  he  made  those  discs  revolve.  This  is  not  the  place 
to  enter  into  the  cause  of  such  developed  motion.  Suffice  it 
for  me  to  say  that  the  observation,  on  Mr.  Crookes'  part  per- 
fectly original,  is  one  that  through  the  future  must  always  excite 
an  interest  of  the  first  order.  If  it  be  lost  it  will  revive  again. 
So  much  for  this  invention  as  an  independent  modern  example 
of  human  skill.  What  to  us  is  of  special  interest  at  the  pre- 
sent moment,  is  the  fact  that  this  invention  has  been  lost,  and 
is  now  found  again.  "  The  thing  which  hath  been,  it  is  that 
which  shall  be  ;  and  that  which  is  done  is  that  which  shall  be 
done."  In  this  invention  we  see  called  up  again  the  crystal 
sphere  of  Archimedes  ;  the  sphere  and  cylinder,  the  figure  of 
which  Cicero,  when  Quaestor  of  Syracuse,  many  years  after 
the  death  of  Archimedes,  discovered  depicted  on  the  tomb 
of  the  immortal  mechanician  :  a  tomb  then  so  forgotten  that 
men  with  scythes  must  needs  clear  the  way  that  the  anti- 
quarian Quaestor  might  approach  the  shrine. 

The  spherical  cylinder  of  Archimedes  stands  side  by  side 
with  that  of  Crookes.  Within  it  both  scientists  placed 
small  bodies  that  by  some  wonderful  extraneous  power  re- 
volved ;  and  so  revolved  that  men  of  old  and  of  our  time  might 
say, — whether  rightly  or  wrongly  I  do  not  declare, — that  they 
see  in  the  little  sphere  the  model  of  the  great,  of  the  earth  and 
the  sister  planets  moving  round  the  central  sun. 

"In  sphczram  Archimedis"  affords  a  veritable  text  on  which 
the  poet  Claudian,  penning  the  subjoined  poem,  makes  Jove 


ON   THE  PHENOMENA  OF   HISTORICAL  REPETITION.     349 

himself  look  down  with  admiration  to  behold  the  mortals 
copying  his  plans  and  casting  the  designs  of  the  gods  into 
mortal  mould. 

IN  SPH^ERAM  ARCHIMEDIS. 

Jupiter  in  parvo  cum  cerneret  aethera  vitro, 

Risit,  et  ad  Superos  talia  dicta  dedit : 

Huccine  mortalis  progressa  potentia  curae  ? 

Jam  meus  in  fragili  luditur  orbe  labor. 

Jura  poli,  rerumque  fidem,  legesque  Deorum, 

Ecce  Syracosius  transtulit  arte  senex. 

Inclusus  variis  famulatur  spiritus  astris, 

Et  vivum  certis  motibus  urget  opus. 

Percurrit  proprium  mentitus  Signifer  annum, 

Et  simulata  novo  Cynthia  mense  redit. 

Jamque  suum  volvens  audax  industria  mundum 

Gaudet,  et  humana  sidera  mente  regit. 

Quid  falso  insontem  tonitru  Salmonea  miror  ? 

Aemula  naturae  parva  reperta  manus. 

A  poem  which  I  venture  to  translate  as  follows  : — 
When  Jupiter  beheld  the  ethereal  air 
Enclosed  within  a  little  glass,  he  laughed, 
And  to  the  gods,  in  such  like  words,  exclaimed. 
"  What !  has  it  come  that  mortals  by  their  skill 
Have  so  progressed  that  in  their  fragile  world 
My  labour  is  a  passing  sport  for  them  ? 
See  you  that  Syracusian — an  old  man, 
Claiming  on  earth  the  very  rights  of  heaven, 
Laws  of  the  gods,  and  principles  of  things! 
The  spirit  he  infuses  in  his  sphere 
Waits  on  his  various  stars,  and  gives  to  them 
A  living  motion,  fixed  by  certain  time. 
The  counterfeited  zodiac  runs  on 
In  proper  yearly  course  :  and  Cynthia, 
In  a  new  month,  with  mocking  step,  returns. 
And  now  the  audacious  industry,  entranced 
With  its  revolving  worlds,  must  rule  the  stars, 
A  human  mind  govern  celestial  fires. 


350     TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY, 

Why  do  I  wonder  at  Salmoneus 
And  his  false  thunder  ?    He  is  innocent ! 
When  a  small  hand  dares  to  proclaim  itself 
The  rival  hand  of  nature  ! 

In  other  works,  or  if  not  in  actual  works,  in  words  of  genius,  the 
story  of  historical  repetition  is  equally  told.  Homer  dismisses 
his  loving  hero,  telling  his  wife  the  self-same  philosophy  as  we 
have  described  to-night.  The  term  of  all  the  race  on  earth  is 
fixed,  nothing,  not  even  life,  is  antedated,  though  an  enemy  be 
at  the  door.  Virgil  depicts  the  pendant  earth  in  space, — "Aspici 
convexo  nutantem pondere  mundum" — as  clearly  as  ever  astro- 
nomer royal  drew  it  on  his  chart,  Isaiah  tells  of  the  period 
when  the  infant  shall  not  die  from  neglect,  but  when  every 
man  shall  fulfil  his  allotted  period  on  earth,  like  a  modern 
sanitary  scholar.  Epicurus  discusses  the  theory  of  atoms, 
and  denying  to  the  atom  the  soul  or  spirit  which  others  had 
ascribed  to  it,  proclaims  the  materialistic  school  which  is  at 
this  very  hour  struggling,  so  hopelessly,  to  raise  its  head. 

Shakespeare  knows,  not  less  clearly  than  Newton,  that  the 
centre  of  attraction — 

"  Is  as  the  very  centre  of  the  earth, 
Drawing  all  things  to  it." 

Milton,  in  the  battles  of  the  angels,  invents  engines  of  war 
which  an  Armstrong  may  reduce  to  matter,  but  cannot 
excel  in  conception  of  power. 

I  need  pursue  this  illustration  no  further.  You  who  know 
biographical  history  so  well  will  find  in  your  memories  a  book 
of  such  remembrances.  It  will  proclaim  to  you  on  every 
page  as  you  read  it  that  the  soul  of  genius  lives,  in  its  repeated 
appearances,  as  itself  and  as  nothing  else  ;  as  a  light  passing 
through  the  mental  firmament :  as  a  comet  passing  through 
the  terrestrial  sphere. 

We  touch  the  most  refined  part  of  our  study  when  we  deal 
with  the  phenomena  of  historical  repetition  through  the 
exalted  shadow  of  genius.  We  touch  the  grosser,  and  there- 
fore the  more  obvious  part,  when  we  descend  to  those  lower 


ON  THE  PHENOMENA  OF   HISTORICAL  REPETITION.   351 

phases  of  human  history,  which  are  demonstrated  in  the 
instincts  and  passions.  Through  these  repetition  is  ever  being 
manifested.  In  the  lower  animals  the  repetition  is  so  steady 
that  their  works  and  acts  left  uncontrolled  may  be  practically 
measured  as  pure  problems  of  calculable  natural  history.  In 
men  of  lowest  animal  construction  the  repetition  through  the 
passions  is  as  perfectly  obvious.  And  all  the  phenomena  of 
passion, — of  love,  of  hate,  of  greed,  of  fear,  of  lust,  of  pride, 
of  rage, — are  presented  with  a  regularity  which  makes  the 
grand  result  of  them  in  their  worst  phase,  the  crime  that 
results  from  them,  a  measurable  quantity  from  year  to  year 
and  age  to  age.  So  great  crimes,  great  massacres,  great 
murders,  great  thefts,  repeat  themselves,  as  great  virtues 
repeat  themselves,  and  as  great  revivals  do,  in  science,  art, 
learning,  and  religion. 

From  its  application  to  the  acts  and  works  of  man  the 
law  of  historical  repetition  extends  to  the  accidents  in  which 
he  is  involved,  but  in  the  production  of  which  he  plays 
no  voluntary  part.  To  that  condition  of  mental  aberra- 
tion to  which  we  give  the  general  name  of  insanity  the  rule 
applies  with  full  force.  Each  form  of  this  disease  is  an 
historical  repetition.  The  same  rule  is  in  force  in  respect  to 
common  diseases.  I  can  find  no  such  thing  as  a  new 
disease.  I  can  find  no  evidence  that  any  one  disease  has 
been  uprooted.  Long  intervals  of  time  elapse  sometimes 
between  the  occurrences  of  a  particular  disease,  but  the  recur- 
rences areonly  a  matter  of  time,  and  are  governed,  as  it  would 
seem,  by  some  unknown  but  definite  law.  The  periodicity  of 
disease,  indeed,  is  one  of  the  strongest  of  evidences  of  the 
rule  of  historical  repetition. 

If,  then,  all  the  mere  natural  acts  of  life  are  historical  repe- 
titions ;  if  the  vital  organic  acts  are  the  same  ;  if  the  acts 
which  distinguish  men  in  their  artistic  lives  are  the  same  ;  if 
genius  be  a  repetition  ;  if  the  products  of  the  passions  be  a 
series  of  repeated  acts  ;  if  the  accidents  by  which  we  are 
affected,  and  the  morbid  not  less  than  the  healthy  states  of 
the  body  come  in  periodically  recurring  order  : — Then  the  fact 


352        TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

that  history  repeats  itself  stands  forth   as  an  ultimate  fact 
that  must  be  accepted,  though  it  may  be  beyond  solution. 

The  mind  of  man  has  not  rested  at  the  discovery  of  the 
phenomenon.  It  has  endeavoured  to  solve  it.  It  has  been 
argued  that  all  history  is  developed,  according  to  physical 
conditions,  and  that  each  age,  each  race,  each  family,  is 
moulded  into  its  state  and  historical  character  by  the  nature  of 
the  forces  and  materials  through  which  it  is  moved  and  served. 
I  believe  it  to  be  true  that  much  of  the  history  of  a  people  is 
dependent  on  the  character  of  the  natural  foundation  on  which 
the  people  has  been  constructed  and  on  which  it  survives. 
But  this  theory  does  not  explain  the  recurrence  of  those  mani- 
festations of  repetition  which  stand  quite  apart  from  corre- 
sponding conditions,  and  which  unite  men  who  are  separated 
by  ages  of  time,  by  differences  of  language,  by  every  possible 
variety  of  social  condition. 

The  simpler  view  seems  to  me  to  be  that  a  certain 
number  of  elementary  types  of  men  exist, — moulds  of  men 
if  I  may  so  say, — and  that  these  types,  so  long  as  they  remain 
permanent  on  the  earth,  reappear  in  regular  order  of  time. 
Practically,  the  same  men  live  again,  and  think  the  same 
again,  and  do  the  same  again. 

This  hypothesis  explains  the  facts,  but  of  itself  it  is  not  a 
sufficient  explanation.  To  carry  it  to  its  end  it  is  necessary 
to  conceive  another  mode  of  connection  between  man  and  the 
force  we  call  will,  than  has  yet  found  common  accepta- 
tion. If  will  be  an  educt  proceeding  from  the  organization 
of  the  man,  then  the  theory  is  untenable,  the  whole  theory 
of  historical  repetition  is  a  fable,  and  the  pure  materialistic 
reasoners  have  their  way  untrammelled  by  arguments  of 
science.  But  suppose  that  the  force  which  we  call  will  is  not 
produced  by  us.  Suppose  that  it  exists  as  light  and  other 
heavenly  forces  do  outside  ourselves,  and  acts  through  us 
according  to  our  animal  cast  and  condition,  then  the  theory 
of  types  explains  all  the  phenomena.  Then  we  are  moved 
to  action  by  a  power  that  is  indeed  higher  than  ourselves : 
then  the  mere  organized  part  of  ourselves,  the  instrument,  the 


ON   THE   PHENOMENA  OF   HISTORICAL   REPETITION.    353 

body,  a  compound  instrument  of  many  parts,  is  after  all  the 
mere  instrument,  beautiful  but  destructible,  renewable  but 
mortal. 

This  theory  has  one  more  advantage  above  all  others 
important.  It  links  universality  of  law,  even  in  history,  with 
human  progress.  It  assails  none  of  the  most  cherished  beliefs 
of  a  principle  connected  with  animal  life,  yet  acting  as  a  dis- 
tinctive spirit  through  men.  Lastly,  it  explains  the  differ- 
ences between  men  of  different  constructions,  between  man 
and  animals  of  lower  types,  and  between  the  lower  animals 
themselves. 

I  am  not  so  vain  as  to  falsify  my  argument  by  putting 
forward  the  hypotheses  I  have  advanced.as  new.  In  argument, 
as  in  fact,  "  there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun."  I  have  no 
doubt  the  same  hypotheses  have  been  adduced  many  times 
and  again  ;  and,  if  they  have  not  been  adduced,  I  am  sure  they 
have  been  conceived.  It  has  occurred  to  me  simply,  that  by 
bringing  them  forward  on  the  occasion  of  the  opening  of 
a  new  session  of  the  Royal  Historical  Society,  I  might 
revive  a  note  that,  at  all  events,  has  long  time  past  been 
silent,  and  thereby  elicit  from  you  a  deeper  and  more  certain 
sound. 


AA 


354 


REHEARSAL  OF  EVENTS  WHICH  OCCURRED  IN 
THE  NORTH  OF  SCOTLAND  FROM  1635  TO  1645, 
IN  RELATION  TO  THE  NATIONAL  COVENANT. 

EDITED  FROM  A  CONTEMPORARY  MS. 

BY     THE     REV.     CHARLES     ROGERS,     LL.D., 
FELLOW  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

A  BELIEF  in  his  divine  right,  with  the  acceptance  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud's  doctrine  that  the  concomitant  of  religious 
unity  was  uniformity  in  worship,  led  Charles  I.  to  provoke 
those  hostilities  which  brought  him  to  the  scaffold.  At  the 
Reformation  the  Scottish  Church  adopted  the  Genevan 
system  of  government,  which  dispensed  with  bishops  and  a 
liturgy.  Upon  it  James  VI.  ingrafted  a  modified  episcopacy, 
and  Charles  determined  to  complete  its  uniformity  with  the 
Anglican  establishment  by  forcing  on  it  canons  and  a  liturgy. 
According  to  royal  order,  a  service-book,  prepared  by  Laud 
and  others,  was,  as  a  commencement,  used  in  St.  Giles" 
Church,  Edinburgh,  on  the  morning  of  Sunday,  the  23rd 
July,  1637.  Archbishop  Spotswood,  Chancellor  of  the  king- 
dom, occupied  the  throne  ;  the  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  David 
Lindsay,  sat  in  the  pulpit ;  and  Dr.  James  Hannay,  Dean  of 
Edinburgh,  presided  at  the  reading  desk.  As  the  last  com- 
menced to  read  from  the  service-book,  murmurs  of  disappro- 
bation became  audible.  A  female  who  sat  near  the?  com- 
munion table  rose  from  her  stool,  which  she  threw  violently 
against  the  pulpit.  General  confusion  ensued,  and  the  bishops, 
unable  to  restore  order,  left  the  church.  The  country  was 
aroused,  and  petitions  against  the  service-book  were  forwarded 
to  the  king  from  every  town  and  hamlet.  Then  followed  the 
Tables,  or  Committees,  which  met  at  Edinburgh.  Under  the 
direction  of  these  bodies  was  prepared  and  issued  a  public 


REHEARSAL   OF   EVENTS.  355 

declaration  or  bond,  known  as  the  National  Covenant.  In  this 
instrument  the  subscribers  bound  themselves  "  to  adhere  unto 
and  defend  the  true  religion,  forbearing  the  practice  of  all 
novations  already  introduced  in  the  matters  of  the  worship  of 
God,  or  approbation  of  the  corruptions  of  the  public  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  or  civil  places,  or  power  of  churchmen, 
till  they  be  tried  and  allowed  in  free  assemblies  and  in  parlia- 
ment." They  further  declared  as  follows  :  "  We  have  no 
intention  or  desire  to  attempt  anything  that  may  turn  to 
the  dishonour  of  God,  or  to  the  diminution  of  the  king's  great- 
ness or  authority,  but,  on  the  contrary,  we  promise  and  swear 
that  we  shall,  to  the  uttermost  of  our  power,  with  our  means 
and  lives,  stand  to  the  defence  of  our  dread  Sovereign, 
his  person  and  authority,  in  the  defence  and  preservation 
of  the  aforesaid  true  religion,  liberties,  and  laws  of  the 
kingdom." 

The  National  Covenant  was  on  the  28th  February,  1638, 
publicly  subscribed  in  the  Greyfriars  Church,  Edinburgh.  In 
that  city  about  sixty  thousand  persons  from  different  dis- 
tricts of  the  country  had  congregated,  and  the  enthusiasm  was 
enormous.  As  the  king  had  ceased  to  summon  Parliaments, 
and  had  prohibited  the  Church  from  meeting  in  general 
assembly,  a  combination  in  defence  of  liberty,  religious  and 
civil,  had  become  a  national  necessity.  This  combination  was 
secured  by  means  of  the  Covenant,  and  its  general  acceptance 
at  once  paralyzed  the  monarch  in  his  attempt  to  govern  Scot- 
land arbitrarily. 

In  certain  districts,  especially  in  the  north,  the  Covenanters 
were  less  popular  than  the  king.  At  Aberdeen  the  deputies 
who  brought  thither  the  Covenant  were  vigorously  resisted. 
Of  the  proceedings  attending  the  occasion,  and  of  events  arising 
therefrom,  circumstantial  relations  have  been  preserved  in  two 
well-known  contemporary  narratives,  Spalding's  "  Memorable 
Transactions,"  and  Mr.  James  Gordon's  "  Scots  Affairs."  To 
these  is  added  the  present  "Rehearsal,"  which,  though  not 
unknown  to  modern  writers,  is  now  for  the  first  time  printed. 
The  "Rehearsal"  forms  part  of  the  MSS.  of  Robert  Mylne, 


356     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

preserved  in  the  Advocates  Library.  The  folio  volume,  which 
contains  it,  is  on  the  title-page  thus  inscribed,  "  Sir  Ludovick 
Steuart,  of  Kirkhill,  Advocat,  his  collectiones.  He  was 
great-grandfather  to  Lady  Margaret  Cuninghame,  Countess 
of  Lauderdale.  With  several  valuable  additiones  of  Bulls, 
Charters,  etc.,  efter  page  351  :  all  preceding  that  page  being 
Sir  Lewis'  collectiones,  and  the  rest  out  of  the  valuable  col- 
lectiones of  Mr.  Richard  Hay,  channon  regular  of  the  Abbey 
of  St.  Geneve  in  Paris,  France,  and  pryor  of  St.  Peirmont — 
a  most  worthie  gentleman  of  Scots  extraction — well  known 
by  his  admirable  collectiones.  Ex  manuscriptis  Roberti 
Mylne,  Scribae." 

As  the  "Rehearsal"  commences  at  page  420  of  the  MS. 
folio,  it  must  have  been  transcribed  from  the  collections  of 
Canon  Hay,  which  follow  page  351.  The  writer  is  described 
"as  a  friend  of  Dr.  Alexander's  at  Aberdeen."  In  1645  there 
were  resident  at  Aberdeen  three  persons  of  some  prominence, 
John,  Richard,  and  Alexander  Alexander.  Along  with  the 
magistrates  and  others,  these  persons  met  at  Aberdeen  on  the 
7th  March,  1645,  to  concert  measures  whereby  the  Marquis  of 
Montrose  might  be  induced  not  to  bring  into  the  place  his 
army,  which  was  then  encamped  in  the  vicinity.  Four  com- 
missioners were  appointed  to  wait  upon  the  Marquis,  one  of 
whom  was  "  Mr.  John  Alexander."  *  This  gentleman  is,  in 
the  Burgh  Records,  described  as  "  advocate  in  Edinburgh/' 
and  is  represented  as  petitioning  the  Town  Council  to  grant 
him  a  portion  of  ground,  which  George  Jamesone,  his  father- 
in-law,  had  held  in  life  rent."f*  He  was  one  of  the  three  hus- 
bands of  Mary,  daughter  and  heiress  of  George  Jamesone,  the 
eminent  painter.  His  son,  Cosmo  Alexander,  attained  emi- 
nence as  an  engraver  ;  and  his  grandson,  John  Alexander,  was 
the  celebrated  painter. 

Mr.  John  Alexander  was  probably  that  "Doctor  Alex- 
ander "  whose  "  friend  "  is  said  to  have  composed  the  "  Re- 
hearsal." The  designation  of  "Doctor"  may  have  been 

*  Records  of  Burgh  of  Aberdeen,  p.  43.  t  Ibid,  p.  40 


REHEARSAL  OF  EVENTS.  357 

granted  him  by  one  of  the  colleges  at  Aberdeen  in  tribute  to 
his  professional  learning.  Along  with  others  of  the  name  at 
Aberdeen,  he  was  related  to  the  family  of  Alexander  of  Menstry 
which  produced  the  celebrated  poet  and  statesman,  Sir  William 
Alexander,  Earl  of  Stirling.  On  the  8th  August,  1672, 
Alexander  Alexander,  bailie  in  Aberdeen,  was  admitted  an 
honorary  burgess  of  Stirling;*  of  that  town,  the  Earl  of 
Stirling,  and  his  sons,t  were  honorary  burgesses,  while  several 
members  of  his  family  traded  in  the  place.  To  the  connexion 
subsisting  between  the  author  of  the  "  Rehearsal "  and 
"  Doctor  Alexander,"  we  doubtless  owe  the  information,  sup- 
plied by  our  chronicler,  and  which  is  not  to  be  found  else- 
where, that  two  sons  of  the  Earl  of  Stirling  accompanied 
John  Gordon,  Lord  Aboyne,  when  in  1639  he  sailed  into 
the  roads  at  Aberdeen  with  three  ships  of  war  to  resist  the 
upholders  of  the  Covenant.  Though  the  Earl  of  Stirling  was 
much  attached  to  the  king,  and  had  secretly  aided  the  intro- 
duction of  episcopacy  in  the  Scottish  Church,  he  was  un- 
desirous  of  openly  breaking  with  the  Presbyterians,  and 
hence  was  careful  to  conceal  that  his  sons  were  actually  in 
arms  for  their  discomfiture. 

As  the  author  of  the  "  Rehearsal "  conceals  his  name,  and 
is  known  only  as  "  a  friend  of  Doctor  Alexander's,"  it  would 
seem  that,  like  the  Earl  of  Stirling,  he  had  avoided  giving 
offence  to  either  of  the  ecclesiastical  parties.  Like  the  Earl, 
too,  he  was  a  keen  partisan  of  royalty,  and  a  secret  upholder 
of  prelatic  worship.  Not  improbably  Doctor  Alexander  was 
himself  the  chronicler. 

By  Canon  Hay,  or  a  former  transcriber  of  the  MS.,  the 
writer  is  described  as  having  "  collected  "  his  facts,  but  the 
chronicler  himself  intimates,  with  reference  to  certain  occur- 
rences in  the  year  1638,  that  he  was  "  both  ane  eye  and  ear 

*  Burgh  Records  of  Stirling. 

t  Henry  and  John,  the  third  and  fourth  sons  of  Lord  Stirling.  His  two, 
elder  sons,  William  Lord  Alexander  and  Sir  Antony  Alexander,  died 
prior  to  Lord  Aboyne's  cruise ;  the  latter  on  the-  I7th  September,  16374, 
and  the  former  on  the  i8th  May,  1638. 


358      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

witnes  to  them."  This  declaration  should,  we  think,  extend 
to  all  the  events  set  forth  as  occurring  at  Aberdeen  from 
1638  to  1640. 

In  estimating  the  narrative  historically,  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  chronicler  is  an  acknowledged  partisan — one 
who  entertained  a  strong  hostility  towards  those  whose 
doings  he  is  at  pains  to  record.  Of  the  chroniclers  of  the 
period,  the  majority  espouse  the  opposite  side,  and  it  is  well 
that  both  parties  should  be  heard.  The  utterances  of  bigotry 
help  in  determining  the  spirit  and  character  of  an  age. 
During  the  sixteenth  century  Scottish  ecclesiastics  and  others 
inveighed  fiercely  at  each  other. 

Though  concealing  his  identity,  the  author  of  the  "  Re- 
hearsal "  had  evidently  intended  a  publication,  for  he  addresses 
himself  to  "  the  reader."  But  he  did  not  intend  to  mislead  by 
any  affected  neutrality.  Referring  to  two  eclipses  of  the  sun 
and  two  of  the  moon  which  took  place  in  1639,  he  adds, 
"  The  fifth  eclipse  was  that  of  the  glory  and  liberty  of  Scot- 
land by  the  overflowing  flood  of  the  Covenant."  He  affirms 
that  the  Parliament  of  1639  decreed  that  its  military  leader, 
Major-General  Monro,  should  plant  the  Covenant  with  an 
army  composed  of  "adulterers,  drunkards,  and  thieves,"  to  be 
nominated  by  the  parochial  clergy,  and  that  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  same  year  resolved  to  imprison  the  persons 
and  wreck  the  houses  of  all  bishops  who  did  not  conform. 
Notwithstanding  these  and  other  extravagances,  the  "  Re- 
hearsal "  forms  a  record  not  without  considerable  value  to  the 
annalist  and  the  historian. 


A  LITLE  YET  TRUE  REHEARSALL  OF  SEVERALL  PASSAGES 
OF  AFFAIRS,  COLLECTED  BY  A  FRIEND  OF  DOCTOR 
ALEXANDER'S,  AT  ABERDEEN. 

In  the  year  of  God  1635  there  was  no  matter  of  great  im- 
portance that  did  fall  out  except  the  death  of  Patrick  Forbes, 
Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  the  28th  March,  who  had  a  great  buriall. 
In  his  tyme  printing  first  begane  in  Aberdein,  the  bridges  of 


REHEARSAL   OF   EVENTS.  359 

Dee  and  Don  were  repaired,  the  two  colledges  were  amplified, 
the  bulhvork  fortified,  all  the  streets  calsied,  the  Tolbooth 
steiple  built,  the  back  house  built,  the  great  bell  refounded, 
twelve  cannons  brought  home  to  the  castell  hill,  the  great 
calsie  mouth  taken  up  and  calsied  new,  the  Trinitie  Hospitall 
builded  be  the  crafts  and  their  patron,  Mr.  William  Guild — 
Sir  Paule  Meinzies  being  provost  at  this  tyme.  In  this  year, 
about  the  beginning  of  January,  ther  came  on  ane  great 
storme  of  snowe,  and  did  continue  till  the  midst  of  Lentron,* 
for  vpon  the  seavinth  day  of  March  people  wes  crosseing  the 
river  of  Dee  upon  the  ice.  This  winter  the  most  pairt  of  the 
sheep  of  Scotland  died  by  reason  of  the  great  storme  of  snow. 

In  the  year  1636  many  things  did  fall  out.  But  yl  year  y1" 
were  seaven  ships  and  barks  caried  out  of  the  harbour  to  the 
sea,  and  all  were  lost,  amongst  whom  yr  was  a  ship  full  of 
souldiers.  This  fell  out  at  the  tyme  of  Cowan  fair  in  October. 
ThePuritanes  this  year,  who  afterward  wes  called  Covenanters, 
had  some  quiet  meittings. 

In  the  year  1637  there  is  not  any  thing  remarkable  worthy 
of  the  speaking  except  those  Puritanes  who  were  sitting  in 
some  quiet  places  at  their  meitting  about  the  matter  of  the 
Covenant  [which]  in  tyme  and  place  shall  be  set  down.  In 
the  year  1638  ther  is  much  to  be  wrytten  and  farr  more 
spoken,  for  this  year  the  Covenant  was  subscryved  at  Edinr, 
to  the  great  mischeife  of  all  Scotland,  England,  and  also 
Ireland.  The  ringleaders  were  the  Earle  of  Argyle,  the 
Earle  of  Rothes,  the  Earle  of  Montrose,  the  Lord  Loudon, 
the  Earl  of  Louthian,  Sir  George  Stirling  of  Keir,  Sir  Wm. 
Douglas  of  Cavers,  Sir  Henry  Wood  of  Bonnytoun,  John 
Smith,  the  Provost  of  Edinr,  Mr.  Robert  Barcklay,  Provost  of 
Irvine ;  Mr.  Alexr.  Henderson,  Mr.  David  Dickson,  Mr. 
Andrew  Cant,  Mr.  Robert  Douglas,  Mr.  Andrew  Ramsay, 
Mr.  Rollock,  with  many  more  of  the  nobilitie,  barrons  and 
ministers  and  burgers  of  evry  citie.  These  men  forsaid  and 
many  more  having  subscryved  the  said  Covenant,  they  broke 
up  the  meitting,  and  every  ane  of  them  went  to  his  own  home 
*  Spring  :  the  time  of  Lent. 


360      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

to  sie  how  many  he  could  deceave  with  it, — for  they  rode  and 
ran  throughout  Scotland  in  such  ane  intyceing  way  that  the 
lyke  wes  never  read  of.  For  that  year  there  came  of  that 
Covenant,  factiones  to  Aberdein,  the  Earle  of  Montrose  (who 
afterwards  repented  all  that  work),  the  Lord  Arhuthnot,  the 
Laird  of  Morphie,  the  Laird  of  Dune,*  with  the  Laird  of  Leyesrf* 
and  many  other  barrens  and  gentlemen,  with  Mr.  Andrew  Cant, 
Mr.  David  Dickson,  Master  Alexr  Henderson,  ministers.  These 
men,  because  they  could  not  get  entress  to  our  church  to  preach, 
they  went  to  the  Earle  of  Marshall,!  his  close  on  the  castle 
gaite,  and  preached  three  sermons  upon  Sunday  (about  the 
end  of  July),  where  they  had  such  intyceing  sermons  for  the 
common  people  that  after  ages  will  not  beleive  it.  I  was 
both  ane  eye  and  ear  witnes  to  them,  for  at  that  tyme  they 
were  so  cryed  up  and  dotted  on  that  the  laird  of  Leyes  (vther- 
wayes  ane  wyse  man)  did  cary  Mr.  Andrew  Cant  his  books  ; 
yet  at  that  time  there  wes  but  very  few  that  subscryved — but 
only  fourtein  men.  Their  names  are  Provost  Lesley,  ane 
ring  leader,  but  afterwards  he  did  repent  it,  as  shall  be  declared 
in  tyme  and  place ;  Alexander  J affray,  Alexander  Burnet, 
Andrew  Burnet,  elder,  with  some  others,  but  not  of  great 
qualitie,  for  at  this  time,  good  reader,  thou  shalt  understand 
that  there  were  worthy  preachers  in  Aberdein  as  Brittain  could 
afford.  Ther  names  were  Mr.  Robert  Barren, §  Mr.  James 
Sibbald,||  Mr.  Alexr  Ross.H  Mr.  Wm.  Guild**  was  lyke  the 

*  John  Erskine  of  Dun.        f  Sir  Thomas  Burnet  of  Leys,  Baronet. 

J  William,  seventh  Earl  Marischal. 

§  Mr,  Robert  Barron,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Marischal  College, 
Aberdeen,  and  subsequently  bishop-elect  of  Orkney. 

||  Mr.  James  Sibbald,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Aberdeen,  was  deposed 
by  the  General  Assembly,  for  preaching  Arminianism  and  refusing  to 
subscribe  the  Covenant. 

Tf  Mr.  Alexander  Ross  was  minister  of  the  third  charge  of  Aberdeen  ; 
he  eagerly  opposed  subscription  to  the  Covenant,  and  corresponded  on 
the  subject  with  Archbishop  Laud. 

**  Mr.  William  Guild,  minister  of  the  second  charge,  Aberdeen,  sub- 
scribed the  Covenant  with  limitations.  He  became  Principal  of  King's 
College,  Aberdeen,  in  1640. 


REHEARSAL   OF   EVENTS.  361 

weather  cock.  He  did  returne  at  the  first  sermon  that  ever 
he  heard  of  the  Covenant.  Lykewyse  in  Old  Aberdein  ther 
wes  Mr.  John  Forbes,*  laird  of  Corse,  a  man  of  singular  good 
life,  and  Mr.  Alexr  Scroggie.f  Thir  men  forsaid  had  many 
disputs  with  the  Covenanters,  for  they  wrote  amongst  others, 
to  witt,  thes  plyes,  replyes,  duplyes,  triplyes,  and  quadruplyes.J 
But  in  all  thes  disputs  the  Covenanters  came  so  short  to  the 
ministers  of  Aberdein,  as  ane  gramarier  §  to  a  divyne. 
After  this  they  went  through  all  the  north  with  thir  barrens 
afoirsaid,  and  many  more  that  joyned  with  them,  through 
Murray,  Ross,  Sutherland,  and  Caithnes,  making  the  people 
beleive  that  the  king  was  to  bring  in  poperie  and  the  mass, 
and  that  the  king  wes  to  take  the  kirklands  or  abbacie  ||  land 
from  them  that  had  them  in  heretage,  quhilk  were  all  manifest 
lyes. — This  year  these  new  Covenanters  did  nothing  but 
persuade  the  people  to  subscryve  that  Covenant.  About  the 
end  of  August  the  king  sent  the  Covenant  that  wes  sub- 
scryved,  in  his  father  King  James'  tyme,  in  the  year  1580, 
1581,  to  the  Marquis  of  Huntly,  when  he  came  to  Aberdein, 
and  caused  it  to  be  read  publictlie  at  the  cross,  and  many 
noblemen  and  barrens  and  people  of  all  ranks  subscryved 
it.  Ther  came  at  that  tyme  the  Lord  Frazer,  the  Lord 
Forbes,  the  Lord  Crichton,  with  ane  number  of  barrens  of 
the  Covenant  syde,  and  took  protestation  against  the  king's 

*  John  Forbes,  D.D.,  was  some  time  Professor  of  Divinity  in  King's 
College  ;  he  was  afterwards  minister  of  Greyfriars  Church,  Aberdeen. 

f  Mr.  Alexander  Scrogie,  minister  of  Old  Machar,  vigorously  opposed 
the  Covenant,  and  on  this  account  was  deposed  by  the  General  Assembly 
in  1640.  He  afterwards  offered  to  subscribe  it. 

J  To  the  "  Replys  and  Duplies,"  against  the  Covenant,  Mr.  James 
Sibbald,  of  Aberdein,  was  a  prominent  contributor. 

§  A  teacher  of  grammar  or  schoolmaster. 

||  By  the  counsel  of  Sir  John  Scott,  director  of  the  chancery,  Charles  I. 
contemplated,  early  in  his  reign,  to  assume  possession  of  the  church  lands 
in  Scotland,  in  virtue  of  his  prerogative.  The  proposal  producing  much 
discontent,  was  departed  from ;  but  the  holders  of  church  lands  ceased  to 
entertain  any  confidence  in  the  throne,  a  circumstance  which  naturally 
tended  to  the  general  acceptance  of  the  Covenant  and  the  downfall  of  the 
monarch. 


862   TRANSACTIONS   OF     THE    ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

covenant,  for  after  this  matters  did  ly  very  calme  till  the  nixt 
year,  except  their  ploting  against  the  king  and  his  pairtie. 
This  year  wes  ane  very  dry  year,  for  about  the  end  of 
August  all  the  cornes  in  Scotland  were  within  the  yeards. 

In  the  year  1639  thes  Covenanters  forsaid  in  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  rinding  that  the  conspiracie  was  drawen  up  (I 
should  have  said  drawen  out),  begane  to  hold  their  meittings, 
which  at  that  time  were  called  Comitties,  did  raise  horsemen 
and  footmen  throughout  all  the  north,  south,  and  west 
countries,  for  at  this  tyme  there  wes  ane  called  Generall 
Lesley,  of  obscure  birth  ane  bastard,*  being  brought  up 
in  the  King  of  Sweden's  armie  in  Germany ;  ane  other 
called  David  Lesly,  son  to  the  Lord  Lindores.  Thir  men 
being  for  the  Covenant,  took  the  guiding  of  the  army  that 
wes  raised  in  Scotland,  and  led  their  army  through  all 
Scotland,  forceing  men  to  subscryve,  so  at  length  they 
came  to  Aberdein  accompanyed  with  the  shyres  that  did 
ly  nearest  the  north :  to  witt,  the  shyres  of  Stirling, 
Clackmanan,  Perth,  Fyfe,  Angus,  Mearnes,  and  all  their 
associates  in  the  north,  about  the  number  of  ten  thousand 
men.  (This  winter  was  the  fairest  that  was  in  Scotland  this 
many  years.)  This  army  came  to  the  Bridge  of  Dee  in  the 
midst  of  March,  and  set  ther  camp  on  the  Tulloch  hill  the 
first  night ;  on  the  morrow  they  led  their  army  through 
Aberdein  in  such  a  grandour — that  wes  admirable  bot  for  no 
other  purpose  bot  to  terrific  the  inhabitants  therof,  and  then 
went  to  the  links  where  the  Earle  of  Marshall  Forbes,  Frazer, 
Crichton,  and  all  the  northern  barrons  mett  there  with  their 
forces  of  horse  and  foot.  And  all  thes  men  came  for  no  other 
purpose  or  intention  bot  to  plunder  Aberdein  becaus  they 
wold  not  goe  on  in  the  wars  of  the  Covenant  with  them. 
After  this  they  marched  to  Kintoir  to  sie  if  they  could  take 
the  Marquis  of  Huntlie,  who  was  lying  at  Inverury  with  a 
small  pairty  for  the  king.  But  the  Marquis  of  Huntlie  not 

*  General  Alexander  Leslie,  latterly  Earl  of  Leven,  was  not  of  illegi- 
timate birth.  He  was  son  of  Captain  George  Leslie  of  Balgonie,  by  his 
wife  Anne,  daughter  of  Stewart  of  Ballechun. 


REHEARSAL   OF   EVENTS.  363 

having  order  from  the  king  to  fight  with  them,  nor  of  himselfe 
desyreous  of  blood,  did  parlie  with  Generall  Lesley,  and  after 
dismissed  his  forces.  But  Lesley  not  keeping  condition  to 
the  said  Marquis,  sent  him  to  Edinburgh,  where  he  was  put 
in  the  castle,  and  remained  till  Junij  that  the  king  came  to 
Berwick  and  pacified  the  troubles  in  Scotland  for  that  year 
(as  after  shall  be  declared  in  its  own  tyme  and  place).  When 
the  army  went  to  Kintoir,  as  wes  befoir  declared,  there  wes 
two  thousand  of  their  best  men  brought  into  Aberdein  upon 
frie  quarter  and  to  cast  in  our  ditches,  for  in  the  begining  of 
this  year  there  was  one  Collonell  Wm  Johnstoun,  son  to 
Robert  Johnstoun,  Laird  of  Crimon,*  who  wes  weill  ex- 
perienced in  warlike  affairs,  being  born  in  Aberdein,  and 
fearing  the  danger  and  thinking  to  have  gotten  supplie  from 
the  king  out  of  England,  did  draw  ane  ditch  about  the  toun. 
The  spring  tyme  being  very  fair,  the  people  of  Aberdein  was 
so  willing  that  within  twentie  dayes  they  did  cast  out  all  the 
ditches.  This  two  thousand  men  forsaid  forced  the  tounes 
people  to  cast  them  all  in  againe.  At  this  tyme  many  of  the 
speciall  men  of  Aberdeen  left  it  and  went  to  Holland,  and 
for  England,  and  some  of  our  ministers,  specially  Mr.  Robert 
Barren,  who  dyed  at  Berwick. 

All  this  tyme  Argyle  brought  doun  all  his  lairds  and  out- 
laws out  of  his  Africa  to  Aberdein,  who  were  the  first 
plunderers  in  Scotland.  The  Libians  in  Africa  were  not  so 
savage  as  they  in  all  things  they  took  but  especiallie  iron 
work,  for  indeid  afterwards  they  gott  their  fill  at  Inverlochie 
(as  sail  be  declared  in  its  own  tyme).  When  Generall 
Lesley  and  his  army  had  over-rune  all  the  north  of  Scotland 
because  they  wold  not  joyne  in  the  Covenant  with  them,  they 
returned  to  the  south  againe  loaded  with  spoyle  and  plunder, 
especiallie  the  Dundie  men,  who  wes  so  furiously  set  against 
Aberdein,  that  if  they  had  gotten  way  they  thought  it  good 
service  to  have  killed  every  creature  in  it.  But,  thanks  be  to 
God,  they  were  disappointed,  for  the  drink  they  had  brewin 

*  Robert  Johnstone,  of  Crimond,  was  Provost  of  Aberdeen  ("  Gordon's 
Scots  Affairs,"  ii.,  257). 


364     TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

for  Aberdein,  they  did  drink  of  it  themselves,  as  hereafter 
shall  be  declared.  Generall  Lesley  having  dismissed  his 
northland  army,  he  raised  all  Scotland  beyond  the  Forth 
river  from  east  to  west,  and  marched  to  Dunselaw,  and  there 
set  doun  his  camp  and  lay  waiting  the  king's  coming  from 
England,  being  about  the  number  of  30,000  men.  They  were 
so  furiously  set  for  the  Covenant  that  every  man  ran  willingly 
of  his  own  accord. 

The  king  all  this  tyme  marching  with  his  army  at  length 
came  to  Berwick  in  Junij,  not  to  enter  in  blood  bot  to  sie  if 
he  could  get  matters  settled  in  a  calme  way.  But  nothing 
could  work  with  the  Scots  except  they  gott  all  their  will, 
quhich  in  end  they  gott.  The  king  seing  nothing  wold  move 
them  to  peace,  he  drew  out  his  forces  to  the  feild,  quhilk  wold 
have  bein  about  20,000  weill  furnished  men,  for  first  he  put 
furth  the  Earle  of  Holland,  they  [took  the]  way  to  Kelso  with 
4,000  horsemen  to  cross  the  river  and  come  doun  to  try  the 
Scots.  But  he  not  being  honest,  or  ane  coward,  was  resisted 
be  Collonell  Monro,  who  had  with  him  1,200  footmen,  being 
set  at  the  back  of  ane  long  dyke  and  gave  him  ane  volley  of 
shot*  befoir  he  came  within  halfe  ane  myle,  turned  his  horse 
head  againe  and  came  back  to  the  king  to  the  army,  and 
reported  that  east  and  west  of  Scotland  wes  full  of  men. 
This  strucke  such  ane  fear  in  the  hearts  of  the  king's  army 
that  within  ane  night  or  two,  many  of  them  stole  away,  so 
the  king  seing  nothing  to  content  the  Scots  bot  blood,  or 
them  to  have  their  wills,  commissioners  wes  set  out  on  both 
sydes.  But  nothing  to  the  purpose  quhilk  wes  upon  the  18 
of  Junij.  So  at  length  the  king  gave  them  all  their  desyre  and 
dismissed  his  army,  and  the  Scots  returned  to  their  severall 
dwellings.  In  this  meane  tyme,  when  the  king  wes  at 
Berwick,  the  Marquis  of  Hamilton  wes  put  forth  to  the  sea 
with  ane  fleit  of  ships  and  10,000  men  weill  appointed  to  land 
in  Fyfe.  But  he,  delaying  the  tyme  to  sie  what  the  king 
wold  doe,  landit  not  his  men,  but  keeped  them  in  the  ships 

*  This  "  volley,"  in  connection  with  the  affair  of  Dunse  Law,  is  omitted 
by  contemporary  chroniclers. 


REHEARSAL  OF   EVENTS.  365 

untill  many  wes  sick  and  some  dyed.  Ther  wes  at  that  tyme 
sundrie  noblemen  and  officers  of  Scots  men,  who  being  grieved 
at  the  Marquis  of  Hamiltoun,  that  wold  not  land  his  men  nor 
act  any  thing,  and  they  being  suspicious  he  not  being  honest 
in  the  king's  business,  left  him  and  came  to  the  Road  of 
Aberdein  with  three  war  ships.  And  they  rode  there  till  they 
saw  occasion  to  land,  as  after  shall  be  declared.  The  names 
of  these  were  James  Gordon,  Lord  of  Aboyne,  second  son  to 
the  Marquis  of  Huntly,  the  Earle  of  Glencairne,  two  sons  of 
the  Earle  of  Strivling,  the  lord  of  Tillibairne,  with  two  sons 
of  the  laird  of  Drums,  elder  and  younger,  the  laird  of  Federet, 
and  many  of  Aberdein's  men,  who  had  fled  away  in  March. 
Among  whom  wes  William  Cuthbert  and  Collonell  Gune,  ane 
Stranaver  man  borne,*  Captaine  Nathaniell  Gordon,  two 
Captaines  James  Gordon,  one  of  them  called  Tineleg,  loseing 
his  leg  in  England,  with  some  ministers  who  afterwards 
turned  vehement  for  the  Covenant.  Now  we  returne  to  our 
affairs  in  the  north  cuntry.  After  that  Generall  Lesley  had 
broken  condition  to  the  Marquis  of  Huntley  and  carried  him 
prisoner  to  Edinburgh,  the  rest  of  the  northland  Covenanters 
did  begine  to  insult  the  king's  pairtie,  that  in  some  quiet 
places  remained  behind  Huntley.  The  leader  of  the  Cove- 
nant faction  was  the  Earle  of  Marshal ;  how  being  he  wes 
long  in  puting  his  hand  to  it,  yet  he  turned  more  cruell  than 
any  who  was  in  at  the  begining.  The  lord  Eraser,  the  lord 
Crichtoun,  the  lord  Forbes,  the  laird  of  Towie,  the  laird  of 
Delgettie,  the  laird  of  Cragivar  (that  famous  oppressor), — 
they,  I  say,  with  all  their  followers,  but  especiallie  the  Buchan 
men,  with  the  laird  of  Ludquharne,  did  convein  at  the  toun  of 
Turreffe,  and  thinking  to  goe  through  the  land  as  Generall 

*  Colonel  Gun  was  son  of  John  Gun  Robson,  and  was  a  kinsman  of 
the  Earl  of  Sutherland  ;  he  was  born  at  Westergarthie  in  Sutherland. 
In  1639  he  was  knighted  at  Berwick  by  Charles  I.,  and  was  subsequently 
appointed  a  gentleman  of  the  king's  bedchamber.  He  early  attained 
distinction  in  the  German  wars,  and  having  returned  to  Germany,  was 
promoted  as  major-general  and  constituted  a  baron  of  the  empire.— 
Gordon's  "  Scots  Affairs,"  ii.,  266,  note. 


366      TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE  TROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Lesley  did,  was  surprysed  by  ane  pairtie  of  the  king's.  The 
leaders  therof  being  the  lairds  of  Bamfe,  Haddo,  Gight,  Park, 
Collonell  Johnstoun,  with  diverse  others,  came  to  the  toun  of 
Turreffe  be  the  break  of  day,  and  having  beset  the  toun 
befoir  they  were  aware  of,  gave  the  Covenanters  a  charge, 
who  all  fled  without  stroak  of  sword.*  This  was  about  the 
begining  of  May.  The  most  pairt  of  all  the  comons  of 
Buchan  did  cast  their  armes  from  them,  yet  many  being 
taken  with  little  blood,  were  sent  to  their  homes,  being 
sworne  not  to  ryse  in  that  cause  againe.  But  never  one  word 
performed  when  occasion  offered,  because  the  ministers  gave 
them  a  pardon  for  all  others  against  the  Covenant.  After  this 
the  king's  pairtie  did  convein  more  forces  ;  then  they  marched 
towards  Inverurie,  and  came  to  Aberdein,  and  resting  there 
two  dayes,  they  marched  southward.  The  shyres  of  Mearnes 
and  Angus,  not  able  to  encounter  them,  agreed  upon  thes 
termes,  that  the  king's  pairtie  should  march  to  their  dwellings, 
and  the  Covenant  pairtie  swear  not  to  come  north  againe. 
But  never  ane  word  keeped  ;  for  as  soon  as  the  king's  pairtie 
was  dismissed  the  other  pairtie  conveined.  To  witt,  the 
Covenanters  from  all  quarters  of  the  countrie,  and  came  to 
Aberdein,  about  6,000  men,  the  Earle  of  Montrose  being  the 
Generall,  accompanyed  with  the  Earle  of  Marshal,  the  Lord 
Fraser,  and  all  the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  and  comons  in 
Angus  and  Stormond.  The  Earle  of  Athole  and  all  his  men, 
with  all  the  power  of  the  Covenanters  of  the  north,  and  being 
in  Aberdein  alwayes  upon  frie  quarters,  did  put  in  all  their 
horse  amongst  the  young  bear  and  destroyed  it  all,  and 
marching  from  Aberdein  they  went  to  Gight,  and  laid  seige 
to  the  house,  but  prevailed  nothing  against  it,  for  in  the  mean 
tyme  there  came  from  the  Marquis  of  Hamiltoun  the  men 
befoir  spoken  of,  to  witt,  Glencairne,  the  Lord  of  Aboyne,  the 
Lord  of  Tillibairne,and  the  rest  of  the  foir-named  persons.  They, 
I  say,  coming  to  the  road  of  Aberdein  with  two  ships  of  war 

*  This  is  a  very  imperfect  account  of  the  affair  of  Turriff.  See 
Gordon's  "  Scots  Affairs,"  256 — 259,  and  Spalding's  "  Memorials,"  ed. 
1829,  p.  112. 


REHEARSAL   OF  EVENTS.  367 

and  a  Collonel,  did  strick  such  ane  fear  and  terror  in  the 
hearts  of  the  Covenanters  that  they  all  forsook  the  Castle  of 
Gight  and  marched  back  to  Aberdein  within  three  days, 
leaving  nothing  behind  them  but  the  dolefull-spectacle  of  their 
plundering  foresaid.  The  Athole  men,  hearing  of  the  king's 
ships  comeing  to  Aberdein,  marched  home  the  nearest  way 
through  the  countrie,  for  the  most  part  of  them  was  for  the 
king  in  their  hearts.  The  rest  of  Montrose's  army  comeing  to 
Aberdein  rested  one  night,  but  on  the  morrow  they  were 
stroak  with  such  a  panick  in  their  hearts  that  they  fled  south 
without  any  kind  of  order,  for  the  Earle  of  Montrose's  colores 
wes  sein  caryed  out  at  .Provost  Jaffrey's,  his  back  yeat,  without 
a  man  to  guard  them.  After  their  departure,  the  Lord  of 
Aboyne,  with  the  rest  of  the  noblemen  and  captaines  and 
gentlemen  landit,  and  went  to  Straboggie,  his  father's  dwelling, 
and  there  met  with  his  friends  and  others,  who  were  for  the 
king,  and  did  raise  all  the  power  they  could,  seing  the  fruit  of 
the  Covenant  did  repent  and  joyne  with  the  king's  pairtie, 
and  marched  to  Aberdein,  where  the  toun  joyned  to  them  300 
of  the  gallantest  young  men  in  the  citie.  They  might  have 
raised  many  more,  bot  many  had  turned  to  the  Covenant. 
The  lord  of  Aboyne  being  generall,  had  his  rendezvous  at 
Muthill  in  the  Mearnes,  at  the  laird  of  Leye's  castell,  being 
about  6,000  men.  and  from  thence  marched  to  Megrahill 
above  the  toun  of  Cowie.  And  there  the  army  being  drawn 
up  in  battell  array,  Collonel  Gune  being  commander  of  the 
foot,  and  Collonel  Johnstoun  of  the  horse,  this  Collonel  Gune, 
being  a  traitor,  led  the  foot  army  befoir  the  face  of  the 
enemie's  cannon,  the  enemy  being  camped  in  Stonhyve,  and 
having  with  them  twelve  feild  pieces  and  tuo  cartows,  their 
bullets  weying  thirty-two  pounds  weight.  These  cartows  bullets 
lighted  among  the  Lord  Aboyne's  highland  men,  and  they 
not  being  accustomed  with  the  noyse  of  the  canons,  retired 
back.  By  no  means  could  they  be  got  into  any  order  againe, 
bot  all  went  home  with  the  countrie  cattell  and  sheep,  for  it 
is  their  custome  to  spoyll  when  they  goe  home  from  battell. 
The  Lord  of  Aboyne  with  the  rest  of  his  army  retired  back 


368     TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

to  Aberdein,  where  all  the  Strathbogie  foot  men  went  home 
and  there  remained  nor  wald  move — but  a  few  barrens  and 
gentlemen,  who  were  horsemen.  This  shameful  runing  away 
at  Megrahill*  was  upon  the  15  day  of  Junij.  The  Covenant 
pairty  of  the  south  seing  them  rune  away  without  any  skaith 
receavit,  took  such  courage  and  came  to  the  Bridge  of  Dee 
upon  Tuesday  thereafter,  the  18  day  of  Junij,  being  in 
number  about  4,000  men.  The  toun  of  Aberdein,  seing 
themselves  left  of  all  the  king's  pairtie,  except  the  Lord  of 
Aboyne  and  some  few  horsemen,  and  knowing  the  hatred 
the  Covenanters  had  to  them,  the  citie  went  to  the  said 
Bridge  of  Dee  very  couragiously,  about  500  men,  Collonell 
Johnstoun,  their  commander,  with  two  little  feild  pieces,  and 
having  gotten  possession  of  the  bridge,  withstood  the  Cove- 
nanters, who  had  ther  fourteen  cannons,  and  defended  the 
said  bridge  most  stoutlie  untill,  unfortunatly,  Collonell 
Johnstoun  receaved  ane  great  stroak  with  the  cannon  bullet 
on  the  knee,  who,  not  being  able  to  stand,  was  forced  to  retire 
himselfe  from  the  bridge,  and  Nathaniell  Gordon  entred  his 
place,  and  acted  his  pairt  worthilie,  while  in  the  end  Aberdein's 
men  being  few  in  number  and  the  other  pairty  many,  and 
strong  by  reason  of  their  great  cannon  and  the  loss  of  Collonell 
Johnstoun,  and  ane  unhappie  bullet  coming  from  one  of  the 
cartows  killed  the  Laird  of  Pitmedden,f  the  rest  of  the  horse- 
men being  terrified  hereat  fled,  being  still  suspicious  of 
Collonell  Gun,  he  drawing  up  the  horsmen  still  in  the  face  of 
the  enemy.  They  had  intelligence  what  they  were,  and  seing 
to  be  but  few,  gave  such  an  assault  to  the  bridge,  that  they 
wan  it,  John  Midletoun  being  their  captaine,  for  this  was  the 
first  exployt  that  ever  he  did.J  The  bridge  being  wone, 
every  man  made  releife  for  himselfe  as  he  could  doe  best. 

*  For  a  detailed  account  of  the  skirmish  at  Meagre,  near  Stonehaven, 
see  Gordon's  "  Scots  Affairs,"  ii.,  272 — 4. 

f  John  Seton  of  Pitmedden. 

J  John  Middleton  afterwards  deserted  the  popular  cause,  and  attached 
himself  to  the  king's  party,  when  he  was  created  Earl  of  Middleton.  On 
account  of  malversation,  he  was  latterly  deprived  of  his  public  offices. 


REHEARSAL   OF   EVENTS.  369 

Upon  the  Covenant  syde  ther  were  divers  killed,  whom  they 
buried  in  the  mosses  beyond  the  bridge,  among  the  rest 
Mr.  Andrew  Ramsay,*  brother  to  the  Laird  of  Bomaine 
[Balmain].  On  the  king's  syde  ther  was  but  few  killed, 
but  divers  hurt  and  wounded.  The  Covenant  pairtie,  after 
the  bridge  was  wone,  marched  directlie  to  Aberdein,  the 
people  being  afraied  the  most  pairt  fled,  Montrose  and 
Marshal  being  possest  of  the  toun.  Be  Marshal,  his  perswasion 
was  myndful  to  have  plundered  it,  and  then  to  have  set  it  on 
fire.  But  Montrose,  being  a  nobler  spirit,  wold  in  no  terms  let 
burne  it,  bot  both  was  willing  to  have  plundered  it  if  tyme 
had  served,  for  the  day  being  far  spent  and  drawing  toward 
night,  they  quited  the  toun  that  night  and  marched  to  the 
links.  And  in  the  morning  the  noblemen  and  barons  and 
lairds  and  leaders  [intended]  to  have  fallen  upon  the  best 
houses  and  then  given  all  the  rest  of  the  spoyle  to  the 
souldiers.  But  the  Almighty  God,  ordering  all  things  as  it 
pleaseth  Him,  did  change  the  course  another  way,  for  upon 
the  morrow  about  two  hours  there  came  to  the  road  one  John 
Straquhan.f  with  orders  from  the  king  that  they  should  cease 
from  that  cruell  persute  of  theirs  against  his  pairtie  in  the 
north.  Lykewayes  did  show  the  aggriement  betwixt  the 
king  and  the  Covenanters  at  Dunselaw.  This  army  at  Aber- 
dein, seing  themselves  dissapoynted  of  their  intention,  forced 
the  toun  to  give  them  10,000  merks  Scots  to  fill  their  purses. £ 
Ther  was  at  this  tyme  in  the  Covenant  army  one  William 
Erskine,  brother  to  the  laird  of  Pittodrie,  one  of  the  cruellest 
oppressors  that  ever  was  read  of,  especiallie  against  Aberdein's 

*  According  to  Mr.  James  Gordon,  Captain  Andrew  Ramsay  was  killed 
by  John  Gordon,  of  Inshstomock,  "with  a  marked  shot."— Gordon's 
"  Scots  Affairs,"  ii.,  279. 

f  John  Strachan,  son  of  a  sea-captain  at  Aberdein,  was  an  officer  in 
the  Royal  Navy  ;  he  zealously  attached  himself  to  the  royal  cause.  He 
was  employed  by  the  king  in  several  important  services  both  on  sea  and 
land.—  Spalding's  Memorials,  passim. 

I  By  Mr.  James  Gordon  the  skirmish  at  the  Bridge  of  Dee  is  circum. 
stantially  described.—"  Scots  Affairs,"  ii.,  276 — 283. 

B  B 


370     TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

men ;  but  God,  who  takes  a  course  with  such  men,  did  so 
with  this  man,  for  Mr.  Andrew  Ramsay  forsaid,  being  brought 
to  Aberdein,  was  buried  upon  the  morrow  after  the  wining  of 
the  bridge.  The  church  yaird  being  set  full  of  musqueteirs  to 
shoot  when  he  was  to  be  interred,  a  bullet  sent  be  God  did 
knock  out  this  Erskine's  brains,  and  this  was  the  end  of  that 
cruell  oppressor.*  The  army  for  the  Covenant  marching 
home  left  nothing  be  the  way,  but  as  a  speat  did  cary  all  with 
them.  This  wes  the  planting  of  the  Covenant  that  year  in 
Scotland. 

This  year,  Feberwarij,  the  Marquis  of  Huntley  had  a  meit- 
ting  of  all  the  men  that  was  for  the  king  in  the  north.  About 
5,000  gallant  horsmen  did  march  to  the  toun  of  Turreffe,  for 
at  this  tyme  the  Earle  of  Montros,  with  ane  pairtie  of  the 
Covenant,  was  in  that  toun,  but  Huntley,  not  having  orders 
from  the  king,  dismissed  that  pairtie,  not  acting  any  thing 
worth  the  speaking  of.  This  year  the  Covenanters  .  having 
departed  home  from  Dunselaw,  and  the  king  returning  to 
London  with  sundrie  noblemen  of  Scotland,  who  had  bein 
prisoners  in  Edinburgh,  did  begin  to  hold  their  committies  in 
divers  places  concerning  the  propagating  of  the  Covenant. 

They  ordained  ane  General  Assemblie  of  the  Kirk  to  be 
holden  at  Glasgow  in  August.  The  Assemblie  being  con- 
veined,  it  was  ordained  that  all  bishops  within  the  kingdome 
of  Scotland  that  wold  not  quit  their  charges  should  be 
summarly  excommunicat,  and  then  to  be  apprehendit  and  put 
in  prison,  and  their  dwellings  to  be  plundered  and  casten  doun. 
In  this  Assembly  it  was  ordained  that  if  ane  kirkman  did 
speak  any  thing  against  their  proceidings  he  should  be 
summarly  excommunicat  before  his  own  face.  This  wes  the 
affairs  of  Scotland  this  year. — In  this  year  there  wes  four 
eclipses,  two  of  the  sun  and  two  of  the  moon.  The  fifth 
eclipse  was  the  glory  and  liberty  of  our  kingdom  of  Scotland, 
by  the  overflowing  flood  of  the  Covenant.  In  the  end  of  this 

*  William  Erskine  was  unpopular,  and  was  no  doubt  shot  by  an 
enemy.  William  Anderson,  a  goldsmith,  was  charged  with  his  murder, 
but  was  acquitted. — Gordon's  "  Scots  Affairs,"  ii.,  282. 


REHEARSAL   OF   EVENTS.  371 

year  the  Committee  of  Estates  did  hold  their  meitting  at 
Edinburgh,  where  they  did  choose  Mr.  Robert  Monro,  ane 
Ross  man,  borne  to  be  comander  of  ane  partie,  and  gave  him 
the  styll  of  Major-Generall,*  and  to  list  ane  regiment  of  men, 
to  witt,  sex  or  eight  out  of  every  parish,  and  thes  wes 
adulterers,  furnicators,  theives,  murderers,  drunkards,  Sabbath- 
breakers,  who  were  given  up  be  the  minister  of  every  parish, 
and  these  were  to  plant  the  Covenant  through  Scotland. 

1640. — In  the  beginning  of  this  year  the  forsaid  Covenanters, 
having  all  things  under  their  feet,  did  hold  their  comittees 
without  any  interuptione,  and  did  sett  this  Major-Generall 
Monro  in  great  pomp,  and  he,  thinking  no  less  of  himselfe, 
did  hold  his  rendezvous  about  Haddingtoun,  Edinburgh,  and 
Glasgow,  and  some  other  places  where  the  ministers  and  the 
heritors  of  the  parishes  did  bring  or  send  the  foirnamed 
persons,  and  being  conveined  to  the  generall  rendezvous  at 
Musselburgh,  did  march  towards  the  north,  and  at  length 
came  to  Aberdein  in  the  end  of  the  month  of  May,  and  there 
did  quarter  his  men,  being  about  800.  There  they  did  remaine 
till  the  end  of  Junij  ;  until  grass  and  corn  were  grown  up  in 
the  end  of  Junij  ;  he  plundered  Aberdein  of  all  the  armes 
that  wes  within  it,  forcing  every  man  to  swear  what  he  had, 
and  then  taking  a  number  of  Aberdein  men  with  him  he  came 
to  the  laird  of  Drums  Castell,  and  there  did  lay  ane  seidge  to 
it  His  own  tennants  defendit  the  castell  stoutly  for  three  or 
four  dayes  ;  bot  in  the  end  they  were  forced  to  surrender  and 
leave  all  their  armes  behind  them,  and  Monro  did  put  in  ane 
garrison  therein.!  After  that  returning  to  Aberdein,  resting 
his  men  some  few  dayes,  he  upon  ane  Sunday  at  night  drew 

*  Colonel  Robert  Monro  was  a  distinguished  officer  in  the  army  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  Recalled  by  Charles  I.,  he  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  Covenanters,  and  accepted  a  command  on  their  behalf.  He  after- 
wards held  an  important  command  in  Ireland.  His  "  Expedition  "  in 
Sweden,  a  folio  volume  published  in  1657,  suggested  to  Sir  Walter  Scott 
the  character  of  Dugald  Dalgetty. 

f  The  siege  of  Drum  Castle,  the  residence  of  Sir  Alexander  Irvine,  is 
described  by  Mr.  James  Gordon  more  circumstantially.  Sir  Alexander 
Irvine  was  absent  at  the  time  of  the  siege. — "  Scots  Affairs,"  iii,,  197. 


372    TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 

orth  his  whole  men  out  of  the  toun,  and  took  all  the  poor 
abourers'  horses,  went  to  Strathbogie  and  Enzie,  and  to 
Auchindoun,  and  plundered  all  that  land,  except  such  as  fled 
or  escaped  to  the  highlands  or  hifls.  Nevertheless  he  did  fyne 
all  the  free  holders  and  woodsetters  of  the  name  of  Gordon, 
and  others,  who  had  been  for  the  king  the  year  befoir.  After 
this  he  crossed  the  river  of  Spey  to  Spynie,  the  Bishop  of 
Murray,  his  residence,*  and  deceaving  the  porter,  got  entrance, 
when  he  took  the  bishop  and  all  his  treasure,  and  carried  him 
south,  prisoner.  After  the  taking  of  the  bishop,  he  went  to 
Ross,  his  own  countrie.  His  friends  gave  him  200  High- 
landers to  help  to  plant  the  Covenant,  and  then  returning 
southward  he  came  to  Banffe,  where  he  set  his  camp  in  the 
midst  of  the  Earle  of  Airlie,  his  corns,  and  destroyed  them  all, 
and  did  cast  doun  the  lord  of  Banffe's  palace.f  Good  reader, 
all  this  tyme  he  was  accompanyed  with  the  Forbess,  Frazers, 
the  Lord  Crichton,  the  Earl  of  Marshal,  and  all  his  friends, 
and  all  the  Covenanters  of  the  north.  After  he  had  waisted 
all  the  Earle  of  Airlie's  and  the  Lord  of  Banffe's  lands,  he 
marched  south  and  came  to  Aberdein,  and  there  remained 
untill  he  forced  the  merchants  to  give  him  so  many  elns  J  of 
lining  and  small  hardin  as  wold  be  shirts  for  his  souldiers,  not 
paying  any  thing  for  it,  except  the  publics  bond.  Thus,  when 
he  had  exacted  so  great  soumes  of  money  from  these  barrons 
and  frie  holders  that  had  been  for  the  king,  and  disarmed  all 

*  Spynie  Castle  was  the  official  residence  of  Mr.  John  Guthrie,  Bishop 
of  Moray,  who  had  declined  to  obey  the  sentence  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  1638,  depriving  him  of  office.  His  expulsion  from  Spynie  Castle  by 
Major-General  Monro,  at  the  instance  of  the  Church,  took  place  on  the 
1 6th  July,  1640;  he  was  subsequently  imprisoned  at  Edinburgh.  He 
latterly  purchased  the  estate  of  Guthrie,  in  the  county  of  Forfar. — "  Fasti. 
Eccl.,  Scot,"  iii.,  451. 

t  The  owner  of  Banff  Palace  was  Sir  George  Ogilvy.  Mr.  James 
Gordon  presents  a  circumstantial  account  of  Monro's  defacement  of  the 
palace,  and  of  the  beautiful  gardens  attached  to  it.  According  to  Gordon, 
Charles  I.,  in  1641,  presented  to  Sir  George  Ogilvie  10,000  marks  to 
repair  his  loss. — "  History  of  Scots  Affairs,"  iii.,  253. 


REHEARSAL  OF   EVENTS.  373 

Aberdein,  he  marched  south,  and  came  to  the  Merse,  where 
he  quartered  all  that  winter.  This  was  Collonell  Monro,  his 
doings  all  that  year  in  the  north. — The  ministers  this  year,  in 
the  end  of  July,  did  hold  a  General  Assemblie  in  Aberdein 
within  the  Greyfrier  Kirk.  Mr.  Andrew  Ramsay,  minister  of 
Edinburgh,  being  chosen  Moderator,  did  depose  the  ministers 
of  New  and  Old  Aberdein,  worthie  learned  men  as  wes  in  the 
isle  of  Brittaine,  men  of  good  lyfe,  because  they  wold  not  goe 
in  that  furie  of  the  Covenant.  Ther  names  were  Mr.  James 
Sibbald,  Mr.  Alexander  Scrogie,*  Mr.  John  Forbes,  laird  of 
Corse,  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Old  Aberdein,  with  many 
ministers  in  the  countrie.  There  wes  given  in  that  Assemblie 
great  complaints  against  the  Laird  of  Leckie,  in  Striveling- 
shire,  for  keeping  his  night  meittings,  called  at  that  tyme  the 
Familie  of  Love,f  because  there  wes  foull  pranks  played  at  it 
amongst  young  men  and  young  women.  Ther  wes  orders 
given  out  at  this  Assemblie  to  excommunicate  every  man, 
both  kirk  men  and  laiks,  who  wold  not  subscribe  the  Covenant 
and  that  sumarlie.  It  was  ordained  lykewayes  that  the  bishops 
dwelling  in  Old  Aberdein  should  be  plundered  and  casten 
doun,  quhilk  was  performed  shortly  be  the  Lord  Forbes  and 
his  friends.  Nevertheless  the  Bishop  at  that  tyme  called  Mr. 
Adam  Ballantine,  ane  aged  man  and  of  ane  good  lyfe,  being 
halfe  brother  to  the  Lord  Forbes  be  the  mother  ;  they  who 
should  have  bein  his  friends  were  the  men  did  first  put  hand 
on  him,  and  seized  on  all  his  house  and  plenishing.  Escaping 
himselfe,  he  lived  quietlie  in  ane  husbandman's  house  in  the 
Boyne,  untill  Monro  and  his  souldiers  wes  gone  south, 
and  then  the  poor  Bishop  went  to  England,  where  he 

*  See  supra. 

t  These  nocturnal  meetings  for  devotional  exercises  were  conducted 
in  Stirlingshire,  and  throughout  the  west  of  Scotland.  Certain  irregu^ 
larities  connected  with  them  were  reported  to  the  General  Assembly  by 
Mr.  Henry  Guthrie,  minister  of  Stirling,  and  it  was  ordered  that  the 
meetings  should  cease.  The  promoters  were  chiefly  remarkable  for  their 
opposition  to  set  forms  of  prayer. — Gordon's  "  Scots  Affairs,"  iii.,  222+ 
223. 


374    TRANSACTIONS    OF     THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 

died.*  The  ministers  who  were  for  the  Covenant  did  then  cry 
out  that  he  that  wold  not  come  into  that  blessed  work  of 
Reformation  was  assuredly  damned  in  hell.  This  was  the 
affairs  of  the  kirk  that  year. 

In  the  month  of  Junij  the  Estates  of  Scotland,  so  called  for 
the  tyme,  did  raise  ane  levie  of  men  throughout  all  Scotland, 
the  fourth  man  to  goe  to  England  against  the  king  ;  neverthe- 
less he  giving  them  all  contentment.  The  year  befoir  old 
Lesley  being  chosen  their  Generall,  David  Lesley  his  Lieue- 
tennant  Generall,  the  Earl  of  Callander  and  the  Lieuetennent 
Generall,  Sir  James  Lumsden  Major  Generall,  with  many 
nobles  and  barons  of  Scotland,  did  meit  at  Kelso,  or  near  by 
and  marched  forward  to  England,  and  many  ministers  with 
them  crying  for  fighting  untill  they  came  to  Newburne,^ 
where  the  king  had  a  pairtie  lying.  The  king's  pairtie,  not 
suspecting  the  Scots  army  to  have  come  so  soon,  was  surprised, 
and  diverse  killed  and  many  taken  prisoners,  among  whom 
the  lord  Digbie. 

OBSERVATIONS  IN  THE  YEAR  1644. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  year  the  Marquis  of  Huntley  did 
convein  the  pairtie  that  was  for  the  king  in  the  north,  and  in 
the  month  of  March  came  to  Aberdein  with  all  his  friends  of 
the  name  of  Gordon  (I  mean  the  Gordons  of  the  north).  As 
for  the  Gordons  in  Galloway,!  they  were  upon  the  Covenant 

*  Adam  Bellenden,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen,  was  a  correspondent  of  Arch- 
bishop Laud  ;  he  was  excommunicated  by  the  General  Assembly  of  1638, 
and  left  Aberdeen  in  March,  1639.  In  1641,  he  received  a  pension  of 
;£ioo  from  Charles  I.,  and  in  1642  was,  under  a  different  name,  instituted 
rector  of  Portlock,  Somersetshire.  He  died  in  1647. — "  Fasti  Eccl.  Scot.," 
iii.,  885. 

+  Newburn  is  situated  five  miles  to  the  north-west  of  Newcastle.  At 
the  battle  fought  here  in  August,  1640,  the  Scottish  Parliamentary  army, 
under  Major-General  Leslie,  defeated  the  king's  forces  under  command  of 
Lord  Con  way. 

J  Alexander  Gordon,  of  Earlston,  in  Galloway,  strenuously  opposed 
in  Parliament  the  measures  of  Charles  I.  for  the  establishment  of  episco- 
pacy in  Scotland ;  he  was  fined  500  marks  for  not  conforming  to  the 
liturgy.  He  died  in  1653. 


REHEARSAL  OF  EVENTS.  375 

syde.  And  there  the  Marquis  of  Huntley  did  ly  in  Aberdein 
till  near  the  end  of  Appryll,  desyreing  the  rest  of  the  countrie 
to  ryse  and  joyne  with  him.  But  they  being  blinded  in  the 
great  work  of  the  Covenant,  wold  not  rise  nor  joyne  with  him, 
for  at  this  tyme  the  Covenant  wes  so  much  respected  that  he 
might  have  spoken  as  weill  against  the  scripture  as  against  it. 
In  the  moneth  of  Apryll  the  Estates  of  Parliament  (as  they 
were  called  then)  did  raise  ane  great  army  in  the  south,  the 
Marquis  of  Argyle  being  their  Generall,  with  the  Lord  Burley 
'the  Earle  of  Lothian  and  ane  regiment  of  men  that  came  out 
of  Falkland,  who  at  that  time  were  called  Louthian  Kers  regi- 
ment and  marching  towards  the  north.  The  first  salutation  they 
gave  they  spoyled  the  Laird  of  Drum's  hous,*  with  all  his 
lands  and  tenements,  religion  being  the  cloak  of  all — for  at 
this  tyme  the  Laird  of  Drum  younger  had  married  ane 
daughter  of  the  Marquis  of  Huntley's,  being  the  Marquis  of 
Argyle's  sister's  daughter,  yet  for  all  that  nothing  could  con- 
tent him  bot  he  wold  plunder,  in  caice  that  he  wold  not  sub- 
scryve  the  Covenant.  But  Christ  gave  never  his  disciples 
such  order  to  plant  religion  with  pick  and  musquet.  After 
this,  in  the  beginning  of  May,  Argyle  came  to  Aberdein, 
where  all  his  forces  did  meit — to  witt,  the  Fyffemen,  Perth, 
Angus,  and  Mearnes  men,  and  there  he  did  hold  his  Comittees, 
and  called  in  all  the  gentry  and  free  holders  of  the  north,  and 
made  them  pay  soundly  for  their  standing  out  against  the 
Covenant  and  the  Estates,  and  for  rysing  with  the  Marquis  of 
Huntley  in  the  king's  cause,  and  get  caution  they  should  not 
doe  the  lyke  in  tymes  to  come.  Now  all  this  tyme,  good 
reader,  thou  shall  understand  that  that  Covenant,  or  rather 
the  men  for  the  Covenant,  did  alwayes  quarter  frie  upon 
Aberdein,  for  the  most  part  of  Aberdein  at  this  tyme  wes 
against  the  Covenant,  and  were  called  Anti-Covenanters. 
Having  ended  their  comittees  upon  Aberdein  expenses,  they 

*  Sir  Alexander  Irvine,  of  Drum,  was  absent  on  the  occasion  of 
Argyle's  hostile  visit.  Having  permitted  his  wife  and  the  household  to 
withdraw,  Argyle  ordered  the  mansion  to  be  wrecked,  which  was  effected 
by  Irish  soldiers.— Spalding's  "  Troubles,"  ed.  1829,  406. 


376       TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

marched  north  to  Kellie  in  Buchan,  the  Laird  of  Haddo,  Sir 
John  Gordon,  his  dwelling,  who  at  this  tyme  was  keeping  out 
his  hous.  Argyle  and  his  forces  laying  ane  seige  to  the 
castle,  it  was  stoutly  defendit.  In  the  end  they  came  to  ane 
parley ;  the  conditions  wes  that  he  should  not  ryse  against 
the  Covenant.  The  man  being  of  ane  stout  spirit  came  out 
be  perswasion  of  the  Earle  of  Marshal,  and  some  of  the  name 
of  Forbes,  his  near  kinsmen,  was  deceitfully  betrayed,  against 
all  reason,  and  being  taken  prisoner  after  he  had  rendered,  he 
was  disarmed,  and  all  his  men,  who  with  the  most  pairt  of  the 
specialls  was  conveyed  to  Aberdein  with  ane  guard,  and  from 
thence  to  Edinburgh,  where,  in  the  month  of  Junij,  this  Sir 
John  Gordon  of  Haddo,  with  ane  Maxwell,  Provost  of 
Dumfreiss,  for  giving  quartering  to  ane  pairtie  of  Englishmen 
that  was  for  the  king,  were  both  beheaded.*  Our  ministers  at 
this  tyme  were  Mr.  Andrew  Cant-f-  and  Mr.  John  Row,:}:  who 
did  still  cry  for  blood  and  scaffold  work.  The  Marquis  of 
Huntley  in  the  month  of  Apryll,  as  was  befoir  declared,  lifted 
his  small  army  when  he  went  the  length  of  Rothiemay,§  and 
dismissed  them  ;  and  he  being  so  hardly  persewed,  was  forced 

*  Sir  John  Gordon  capitulated  unconditionally  to  the  Marquis  of 
Argyle  on  the  8th  May,  1644.  He  was  some  time  imprisoned  in  the 
western  portion  of  St.  Giles  cathedral,  Edinburgh,  and  on  the  igth 
July  was  beheaded  with  the  instrument  called  "  the  Maiden." 

t  Mr.  Andrew  Cant  was  translated  from  Newbattle  to  Aberdeen  in 
1641.  A  zealous  upholder  of  the  Covenant,  he  energetically  resisted 
those  who  were  opposed  to  it.  He  incurred  much  personal  hostility 
through  a  natural  warmth  of  temper,  which  he  was  not  careful  to  sup- 
press. From  his  alleged  insincerity,  or  whining  manner,  the  term  cant  is 
said  to  be  derived.  He  died  in  1663. — "  Fasti  Eccl.  Scot.,"  iii..  463. 

+  A  learned  divine,  Mr.  John  Row,  was  successively  schoolmaster  of 
Kirkcaldy  and  master  of  the  grammar  school  at  Perth.  In  1641  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  ministers  of  Aberdeen.  Keenly  attaching  himself 
to  the  cause  of  the  Covenanters,  he  incurred  considerable  odium,  and 
was  obliged  to  seek  temporary  refuge  in  the  castle  of  Dunnottar.  He 
subsequently  joined  the  Independents.  Latterly  he  became  principal  of 
King's  College,  Aberdeen  ;  he  died  about  the  year]  1672. — Fasti  Eccl. 
Scot.,  iii.,  471. 

§  A  parish  in  the  county  of  Banff. 


REHEARSAL  OF   EVENTS.  377 

to  take  the  sea  in  a  boat  and  flee  to  Stranaver,*  where  he  re- 
mained ane  year  and  more.  His  eldest  son  at  this  time,  who 
was  called  George  Lord  Gordon,  did  not  countenance  his 
father  nor  the  king's  pairtie,  but  withdrew  himselfe  out  of  his 
father's  way,  and  was  thought  to  be  for  the  Covenant,  bot  was 
not  for  it,  as  shall  be  declared  in  tyme  and  place.f  This  year 
the  comittee  men  went  through  the  countrie  and  made  men 
subscryve  bands  called  the  Blind  Band,J  bot  especiallie  those 
that  had  bein  for  the  king's  pairtie.  The  exactors  of  these 
moneys  wes  Wm  Earl  Marshal,  and  that  famous  man  the  laird 
of  Cragievar,§  with  the  Lord  Burley,  who  was  at  that  tyme 
Governour  of  Aberdein  ||  and  of  the  north.  The  first  of  Sep- 
tember, 1644,  the  battell  of  Tippermuir,  fought  betwixt  the 
Marquis  of  Montrose  and  the  Covenanters,  where  Montrose 
obtained  the  victorie,  and  killed  of  the  Covenanters  1,500 
men,U  the  most  pairt  of  them  being  Fyfe  men.  The  threteinth 
of  September,  1644,  the  battell  of  Aberdein,  foughten  betwixt 

*  Strath naver  is  a  large  and  interesting  valley  in  Sutherlandshire. 

t  When,  in  1643,  his  father  and  his  younger  brother,  Lord  Aboyne, 
stood  out  against  the  Covenant,  Lord  Gordon  adhered  to  the  Estates  ;  in 
September,  1644,  he  joined  Argyle,  who  was  his  mother's  brother.  He 
subsequently  deserted  the  Covenanters,  and  attached  himself  to  Montrose. 
He  fell  in  the  battle  of  Alford  on  the  2nd  July,  1645. 

£  "  A  band  [bond]  devised  by  the  Estates,  commonly  called  the  Blind 
Band,  which  every  wealthy  honest  man  within  Edinburgh,  or  coming  to 
Edinburgh,  were  urged  to  subscribe,  and  ordained  by  the  estates  to  be 
subscribed  through  all  Scotland,  whereby  ilk  man  was  compelled  to  sub- 
scribe the  samen,  obliging  him  to  contribute  to  the  good  cause  such  a 
certain  sum  of  money  equivalent  to  his  estate,  and  to  the  contentment  of 
these  persons,  the  presenters  of  the  Blind  Band,  and  no  otherwise,  at 
such  days  and  places  as  was  therein  contained.1' — Spalding's  "History of 
the  Troubles,"  ed.  1829,  p.  379. 

§  Sir  William  Forbes,  of  Craigievar,  was  a  vehement  supporter  of  the 
Covenanters  ;  but  before  his  death  he  is  said  to  have  disapproved  their 
proceedings,  and  to  have  formed  a  resolution  of  espousing  the  royal 
cause. 

||  Lord  Balfour  of  Burleigh. 

^[  The  success  of  Montrose  in  this  engagement  was  complete,  for  he 
vanquished  his  opponents  without  sustaining  the  loss  of  one  man. 


378   TRANSACTIONS   OF    THE    ROYAL    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY. 

Montrose  and  the  Covenanters,  where  Montrose  obtained  the 
victory,  and  killed  of  the  Covenanters  520  men,  and  an  180 
of  Aberdein  men.  The  leaders  of  the  Covenant  army  wes 
the  lord  of  Burley,  Provost  Lesley,*  the  Lord  Fraser,t  the 
Master  of  Forbes,!  Ludovick  Gordon,  son  to  the  Marquis  of 
Huntley,§  the  laird  of  Boyne,||  and  the  laird  of  Cragivar,  that 
famous  man. 

About  the  end  of  October,  1644,  the  Marquis  of  Argyle, 
with  the  Earle  of  Louthian,  came  to  Fyvie,  and  beleagured 
Montrose  within  the  wood  thereof,  where  there  wes  divers 
killed  on  Argyle's  syde.  Among  these  wes  Alexander  Keith, 
brother  to  the  Earle  Marshal.  After  this  Montrose  went  to 
Strathbogie,  and  there  wes  diverse  skirmishes.  After  that 
Montrose  marcht  from  Strathbogie  and  went  to  Auchendoun, 
and  from  that  to  Badyenock,  and  from  that  to  Atholl, 
and  from  Atholl  he  went  to  Argyll,  where  he  keeped  his 
winter  quarters.  Argyle  seing  he  could  get  no  advantage, 
left  off  his  persute  and  returned  to  the  south,  for  Argyle  had 
at  this  tyme  in  his  army  1,500  horsemen  and  5,000  footmen, 
besydes  the  countrie  gentles  where  he  marched  through  the 
countrie. 

The  2nd  Feberwarij,  1645,  the  battle  of  Inverlochie,  foughten 
betuixt  Montrose  and  Argyle,  where  Montrose  obtained  the 
victory,  and  killed  to  Argyll  about  1,600  men,  among  whom 
wes  the  Laird  of  Auchinbreck,  with  many  specialls  of  the 
name  of  Campbell — Argyle  all  the  tyme  being  sitting  in  ane 
boat  vpon  the  loch  beholding  the  battell,  where  Thomas 
Ogilvie,  son  to  the  Earle  of  Airlie,  was  killed  on  Montrose's 
syde. 

About  the  end  of  March,   1645,  Colonell  John   Hurrie^f 

*  Sir  Patrick  Leslie,  Provost  of  Aberdeen,  was  a  zealous  Covenanter. 

t  Andrew,  second  Lord  Fraser. 

J  Alexander,  Master  of  Forbes,  afterwards  tenth  Lord  Forbes. 

§  Ludovick  or  Lewis  Gordon,  second  son  of  the  second  Marquis  of 
Huntly,  succeeded  his  father,  in  1649,  as  third  Marquis. 

||  Ogilvie. 

^  The  actual  name  of  this  leader  of  the  Covenanting  army  was  Urrie  ; 
it  was  called  Hurrie  by  a  corruption. 


REHEARSAL   OF   EVENTS.  379 

surprized  ane  pairtie  of  Montrose's  men  lying  in  Aberdein, 
where  there  wes  but  few  slaine,  but  withall  they  spoylled  the 
toun,  where  they  got  entres  and  murdered  ane  gallant  man 
called  Donald  Ferquharson,  of  Menaltrie,thecheifeofthatclane. 

The  nynth  of  May,  1645,  the  battle  of  Auldern  was  foughten 
betuixt  the  Marquis  of  Montrose  and  Colonel  John  Hurrie, 
the  Earle  of  Sutherland,  the  Earle  of  Seaforth,  with  all  the 
gentry  of  Ross  and  Murray,  with  Colonel  Racket's  regiment 
of  horse,  Louthian  Kers  regiment  of  foot,  the  laird  of  Buchan's 
regiment,  with  all  the  powers  of  Frasers,  Rosses  being  about 
8,000  men,  Montrose  pairtie  not  exceeding  3,000  men,  where 
there  was  ane  great  slaughter  on  Colonel  Hurrie  his  pairtie, 
and  if  the  toun  of  Inverness  had  not  bein  fortified,  few  or 
none  had  escaped. 

On  the  2d  July,  1645,  the  battle  of  Alford  was  foughten 
betuixt  the  Marquis  of  Montrose  and  General  Major  Baillie,* 
when  Baillie  lost  the  battell  with  ane  great  slaughter.  The 
most  pairt  of  the  foot  wes  killed.  Ther  leader  was  brother 
to  the  Earle  of  Ca'silis,  ane  man  of  huge  stature,  the  Lord  of 
Balcarras  being  leader  of  the  horse.  On  Montrose  syde  was 
killed  Lord  George  Gordon,  eldest  son  to  the  Marquis  of 
Huntley,  the  Laird  of  Buchollie,  the  laird  of  Miltoune,  of 
Keith,  with  some  others  of  good  qualitie. 

The  1 5th  of  August,  1645,  the  battell  of  Kilsyth,  foughten 
betuixt  Montrose  and  all  the  nobilitie  of  the  Covenanters, 
where  Montrose  obtained  the  victory,  the  Covenanters  being 
about  12,000  men,  but  Montrose  not  exceiding  4,000  men. 

The  1 3th  day  of  September,  1645,  the  battell  of  Philiphaugh, 
foughten  betuixt  Montrose  and  David  Lesley,  Livetennant- 
General  of  the  Scots  Army  in  England,  where  he  brought  all 
the  horse  and  dragouns  of  the  Scots  Army,  and  defeated 
Montrose.  There  wes  gieat  slaughter  on  both  sydes,  but 
especially  on  Lesley  his  syde ;  on  Montrose  side  it  wes  after 
his  men  had  rendered  in  battell,  Lesley  did  put  them  all  to 
the  sword. 

*  General  Major  William  Baillie  was  of  the  family  of  Baillie  of 
Lamington. 


380 


HISTORICAL    NOTICES    OF,    AND    DOCUMENTS 

RELATING    TO,    THE    MONASTERY    OF 

ST.    ANTHONY  AT   LEITH. 

BY   THE    REV.    CHARLES    ROGERS,    LL.D., 
FELLOW  OF  THE  ROYAL  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

THE  patriarch  of  monks,  St.  Anthony,  is  one  of  the  most 
notable  saints  in  the  Romish  calendar.  He  was  born  A.D. 
251,  at  Coma,  or  Great  Heracleopolis,  in  Upper  Egypt.  His 
parents,  who  were  Christians,  kept  him  at  home,  fearing  that 
through  bad  example  his  manners  might  be  tainted.  When 
he  was  under  twenty  his  parents  died,  leaving  him  and  an 
only  sister,  as  their  inheritance,  an  estate,  in  extent  equal  to 
a  hundred  and  twenty  British  acres.*  Imperfectly  instructed 
in  sacred  knowledge,  Anthony  was  influenced  by  a  strong 
religious  enthusiasm.  Inducing  his  sister  to  concur  with  him, 
he  disposed  of  their  inheritance,  in  the  belief  that  he  was  thereby 
fulfilling  the  divine  command.  The  money  which  he  received 
for  his  land  he  distributed  among  the  poor,  and  adopted  the 
life  of  an  ascetic.  He  did  not  eat  before  sunset,  and  often 
fasted  for  two  and  three  days  together.  He  subsisted  on 
bread,,  salt  and  water,  abstained  from  washing  his  body, 
and  clothed  himself  in  a  coarse  shirt  of  hair. 

For  a  time  Anthony  cherished  monachism  in  his  native 
village  ;  he  subsequently  withdrew  to  the  desert,  abandoning 
human  society.  In  A.D.  285  he  crossed  the  eastern  branch  of 
the  Nile,  and  established  his  abode  in  the  ruin  of  an  old 
castle  on  the  top  of  the  mountains,  where  for  twenty  years 
he  indulged  a  rigorous  seclusion.  In  A.D.  305  he  abandoned 
his  retreat  at  the  request  of  a  number  of  persons,  who,  resorting 
to  him  for  advice,  desired  to  live  under  his  direction.  He 

*  Butler's  "  Lives  of  the  Saints,"  Dublin,  1853,  i.,  73—78. 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  381 

now  founded  the  monastery  of  Faium,  a  group  of  isolated 
cells  near  Memphis  and  Arsinoe.  In  the  year  311,  during 
the  persecution  of  Maximian,  he  proceeded  to  Alexandria  to 
testify  his  faith,  and,  if  needful,  to  seal  his  testimony 
with  his  blood.  Having  escaped  martyrdom  he  returned  to 
his  solitude,  and  penetrating  into  the  desert,  found  lodgment 
on  a  hill  about  a  day's  journey  from  the  Red  Sea.  There  he 
was  discovered  by  admiring  disciples,  who  affectionately 
solicited  his  return.  Having  piously  exhorted  them,  he 
returned  to  his  seclusion. 

Anthony  died  on  the  i/th  January,  356,  at  the  re- 
markable age  of  104  years.  The  year  before  his  death  he 
performed  a  journey  to  Alexandria,  to  preach  against  the 
Arians.  At  Alexandria  he  had  interviews  with  Athanasius, 
who  became  his  biographer.*  Among  the  temptations  of 
St.  Anthony,  related  by  Athanasius,  are  these : — Satan 
tried,  by  bemuddling  his  thoughts,  to  divert  him  from  be- 
coming a  monk.  The  arch-enemy  next  appeared  to  him  in 
the  likeness  of  a  beautiful  woman,  but  without  disturbing 
him.  Indignant  at  defeat,  the  tempter  fell  upon  him  at 
night  with  a  multitude  of  fiends,  and  he  was  found  in  the 
morning  apparently  dead.  The  fiends  at  another  time 
assumed  the  shapes  of  wild  beasts,  and  so  tortured  him,  that 
he  experienced  severe  pain.  But  he  upbraided  and  taunted 
them,  and  while  they  gnashed  their  teeth,  a  light  shone  into 
his  cell  from  the  roof,  on  which  the  devils  became  speechless. 

Before  his  death  St.  Anthony  was  throughout  the  valley 
of  the  Nile  celebrated  for  his  religious  devotedness.  His 
memoirs,  by  Athanasius,  are  commended  by  Gregory 
Nazianzen,  and  also  by  Chrysostom.  A  record  of  his 
alleged  miracles  is  preserved  in  the  "  Acta  Sanctorum  "  of 
the  Bollandists.  The  i/th  of  January  was,  as  the  day  of  his 
death,  observed  as  a  festival  by  the  Eastern  and  Western 

*  "  Of  the  Life  of  St.  Anthony,"  by  Athanasius,  a  translation  is  contained 
in  Whiston's  "  Collections  of  Ancient  Monuments,"  1713,  8vo.,  pp.  143 — 
196. 


382    TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

churches.  He  was  regarded  as  patron  and  protector  of  the 
lower  animals,  especially  of  swine ;  and  in  his  pictures  is 
represented  as  having  a  pig  for  his  page,  probably  on  account 
of  his  having  lived  on  roots  in  common  with  the  hogs  of  the 
desert. 

St.  Anthony's  body  was  buried  in  secret  by  two  of  his 
disciples,  and  the  place  of  his  sepulchre  was  believed  to  be 
unknown.  But  in  the  year  561,  during  the  reign  of  Justinian, 
his  body  was  alleged  to  be  discovered,  and  having  been 
carried  to  Alexandria,  it  was  there  deposited  in  the  church  of 
St.  John  the  Baptist.  In  A.D.  635  it  was  removed  to  Con- 
stantinople, where  it  remained  till  the  year  1070,  when  one 
Joselin,  of  the  House  of  Poictiers,  transported  the  remains  to 
Vienne,  in  Dauphiny,  where  he  placed  them  in  the  church  La 
Motte  S.  Didier.  In  1089  a  kind  of  erysipelas  or  contagious 
leprosy,  which  visited  various  districts  of  Europe,  proved 
especially  fatal  in  the  province  of  Dauphiny.  Prayers  were 
offered  in  the  church  of  La  Motte  S.  Didier,  before  the  relics 
of  St.  Anthony,  and  as  the  distemper  ceased,  the  result  was 
ascribed  to  the  saint's  influence.  The  distemper  was  now 
styled  St.  Anthony's  fire,  and  in  the  year  1095  the  order  of 
Hospitallers  of  St.  Anthony  was  instituted  by  Gaston  and 
Girom,  two  noblemen  of  Vienne.  Pope  Boniface  VIII.  after- 
wards converted  the  Benedictine  priory  at  La  Motte  into  an 
abbey,  bestowing  on  the  members  the  rank  of  canons  regular 
of  St.  Austin,  and  constituting  the  abbot  chief  or  general  of 
the  order.*  The  monks  of  St.  Anthony  wore  a  cassock,  a 
patience,  a  plaited  cloak,  and  a  black  hood,  and  displayed  a 
tau  cross  of  blue  on  their  left  breast. 

In  compliment  to  the  memory  of  their  patron,  the  monks 
of  St.  Anthony  were  noted  for  rearing  pigs.  According  to 
Suger,  in  his  life  of  Louis  le  Gros,  quoted  by  Neander  in  his 
life  of  St.  Bernard,  Prince  Philip,  having  been  killed  in  1131, 
consequent  on  a  hog  having  in  one  of  the  faubourgs  of  Paris 
caused  him  to  be  thrown  from  his  horse,  an  edict  was  issued 

*  Butler's  "  Lives  of  the  Saints,"  ed.  1853,  i.,  73,  78. 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  383 

prohibiting  swine  being  kept  in  the  streets  ;  but  the  monks 
of  St.  Anthony,  offering  a  remonstrance,  were  permitted  to 
continue  the  practice,  on  the  condition  of  placing  a  bell  round 
the  neck  of  each  pig. 

Guyot  de  Provins,  a  writer  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
remarks  that  the  pigs  of  the  order  brought  them  5,000  silver 
marks  yearly,  and  that  there  was  not  a  town  or  castle  in 
France  where  they  were  not  fed.* 

Stow,  in  his  history  of  London,  mentions  a  custom  which 
in  his  time  prevailed  in  the  London  markets.  "Theofficers 
of  this  city,"  he  writes,  "  did  divers  times  take  from  the  market 
people  pigs,  starved,  or  otherwise  unwholesome  for  man's 
sustenance ;  these  they  did  slit  in  the  ear.  One  of  the 
proctors  of  St.  Anthony's  Hospital  tied  a  bell  about  the  neck 
of  each,  and  let  it  feed  upon  the  dunghills.  No  one  would 
hurt  or  take  it  up ;  but  if  any  one  gave  it  bread  or  other 
feeding,  such  it  would  know,  watch  for,  and  daily  follow 
whining  till  it  had  something  given  it ;  whereupon  was  raised 
a  proverb, — such  a  one  will  follow  such  a  one,  and  whine  as 
if  it  were  an  Anthony  pig." 

The  rites  of  St.  Anthony  are  still  observed  in  Catholic 
countries.  At  Rome,  on  St.  Anthony's  Day,  a  religious  service, 
called  the  benediction  of  beasts,  is  performed  yearly  in  a 
church  dedicated  to  the  saint  near  Santa  Maria  Maggiore 
The  ceremony  continues  several  days,  all  having  animals 
sending  them  to  obtain  the  pontifical  blessing  at  St.  Anthony's 
shrine.  A  similar  custom  prevails  at  Madrid  and  other 
places. 

Prior  to  the  Reformation,  the  friars  of  St.  Anthony  went 
about  begging,  and  threatened  to  inflict  the  "  sacred  fire,"  or 
erysipelas,  upon  those  who  refused  their  demands.  To  avoid 
the  hazard,  superstitious  persons  presented  them  with 
a  fat  hog  annually.  Pope  Paul  III.,  at  the  entreaty  of  certain 
ecclesiastics,  sought  to  abolish  this  system  of  importunity,  but 
the  abuse  continued.  St.  Anthony  was  represented  in  pic- 

*  "  Gordon's  Monasticon,"  pp.  282, 283. 


384   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

tures  with  a  fire  kindled  at  his  side,  to  indicate  his  power 
in  delivering  from  the  "  sacred  fire."  In  Italy  the  pea- 
santry and  others  believed  that  he  preserved  houses  from 
taking  fire,  and  so  invoked  his  aid  in  preserving  their 
dwellings.* 

The  monastery  of  St.  Anthony  at  Leith  was  the  only 
house  belonging  to  the  order  in  Scotland.  It  stood  near  the 
present  parish  church  of  South  Leith  on  the  west  side  of  the 
alley  known  as  St.  Anthony's  wynd,  and  was  there  erected  in 
1430  by  Sir  Robert  Logan,  of  Restalrig,  and  confirmed  in  the 
same  year  by  Henry  Wardlaw,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews.-j- 

At  first  the  members  did  not  live  very  peaceably  together,  as 
appears  from  a  charter  of  Humbertus,  general  of  the  order  at 
Vienne.t  To  the  institution  various  churches  were  annexed; 
one  of  which,  the  church  of  Liston,  was  claimed  by  the 
chapter  of  St.  Andrews.  A  hot  dispute  arose,  which  was 
terminated  by  Michael  Gray,  the  Preceptor  of  the  monastery, 
executing  a  deed  renouncing  possession  of  the  church  in 
favour  of  the  chapter  of  St.  Andrews.  The  instrument  of 
renunciation  is  in  these  terms  : — 

"  Nos  frater  Michael  Gray  preceptor  domus  hospitalis  Almi  con- 
fessoris  bead  Antonii  prope  villam  de  Leith  Sancti  Andree  diocesis 
procurator  a  venerabili  patre  domino  Abbate  Vienensi,  sui  cum  con- 
sensu  capituli  generalis  dicti  loci  et  omnium  sibi  pertinentium  infra 
Regum  Scotie  specialiter  deputatus  ex  certis  et  evidentibus  causis 
animum  nostrum  ad  hoc  commoventibus  de  consensu  comfratrum  nos- 
trorum  loci  nostri  suprascripti  matura  deliberatione  prehabita  vnioni 
et  annexation!  ecclesie  parochialis  de  Lyston  nobis  et  nostro  loco 
prelibato  per  sanctissimum  in  Christo  patrem  et  dominum  nostrum 
dominum  Eugenium  papam  quartum  graciose  factis  et  concessis 
juri  lid  et  cause  et  omnibus  inde  secuds  tenore  presentium  integre 
renunciamus.  In  cujus  rei  testimonium  hanc  nostram  presentem 

*  Emillianne's  "  Monastic  Orders,"  p.  127. 

f  Fundatio  prima  eiusdem  capelle  Sancti  Anthonii  per  Robertum 
Logan  de  Restalrig  et  ab  eodem  Henrico  (Wardlaw)  Episcopo  (Sancti 
Andree)  confirmata  1430.— MS.  in  Advocates'  Library,  34,  3,  12  fol.  11. 

+  Spottiswoode's  "Religious  Houses,"  p.  243. 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  385 

renunciation  em  manu  nostra  propria  scripsimus  et  pro  majori  rei 
evidencia  sigillo  nostro  communi  sigillanimus  in  capitulo  ecclesie 
cathedralis  sancti  Andree  et  presentia  totius  capituli  decimo  octavo 
die  mensis  Martii  anno  Domini  millesimo  CCCCmo  xlvt0.* 

TRANSLATION. 

We,  brother  Michael  Gray,  Preceptor  of  the  house  of  the  hospital 
of  the  holy  confessor  Saint  Anthony,  near  the  town  of  Leith,  in  the 
Diocese  of  St.  Andrews,  Procurator  specially  deputed  by  a  venerable 
father  the  Lord  Abbot  of  Vienne,  with  consent  of  his  General 
Chapter  of  the  said  place,  and  of  all  belonging  to  it  within  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland,  from  certain  and  evident  causes  moving  our 
mind  to  that  effect,  and  with  consent  of  our  confreres  of  our  place 
above  written  ;  after  mature  deliberation,  have  by  the  tenor  of  these 
presents  wholly  renounced  the  union  and  annexation  of  the  parish 
church  of  Lyston,  graciously  made  and  granted  to  us  and  our  place 
foresaid  by  the  most  holy  father  in  Christ, and  our  lord,  Pope  Eugenius 
Fourth,  with  plea  of  law  and  all  that  may  follow  thereon  :  In  witness 
whereof,  we  have  written  this  our  present  renunciation  with  our  own 
hand,  and  for  greater  evidence  of  the  fact  have  sealed  (it)  with  our 
common  seal,  in  the  chapter  of  the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Andrews, 
and  in  presence  of  the  whole  chapter,  the  i8th  day  of  March,  1445. 

In  1446,  James  Kennedy,  Bishop  of  St.  Andrews,  con- 
firmed to  the  institution  the  parish  church  of  Hailes,  in 
Haddingtonshire,  which  had  belonged  to  the  monks  of 
Holyrood.  In  1482,  Sir  Alexander  Haliday,  as  preceptor 
of  the  monastery,  was  heard  before  the  auditors  in  Parliament 
respecting  the  teinds,  rents,  and  other  rights  of  the  church  of 
Hailes. 

To  the  preceptor  and  canons  of  the  monastery,  William 
Crichton,  Chancellor  of  Scotland,  granted  in  1448  the 
lands  of  Abbeyhill,  near  Edinburgh.f  In  1488,  a  chaplaincy 
in  connection  with  the  monastery  was  founded  by  Thomas 
Turing,  a  burgess  of  Edinburgh,  for  the  maintenance  of  which 

*  Original  Charter,  Advocates  Library,  15,  i,  18  fol.  19,  No.  35. 
t  Edinb.  Com.,  Reg.,  iii.  55. 

CC 


386   TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

he  granted  lands  at  Leith  to  the  value  of  ten  pounds  yearly. 
The  grant  was  confirmed  by  James  IV.  on  the  i/th  January, 
1488-9. 

In  addition  to  their  ordinary  revenues  the  canons  were 
entitled  to  a  Scottish  quart  out  of  every  tun  of  wine  received 
at  Leith.  In  concert  with  the  magistrates  and  corporation 
of  Edinburgh,  they  regulated  the  distribution  of  wine  received 
at  the  port.  On  the  i8th  October,  1520,  the  Town  Council 
of  Edinburgh  framed  the  following  regulations,  named  in 
the  register,  "  Statuta  Vini :  " — 

"  The  quhilk  day,  it  is  statute  and  ordanit  be  the  provest  baillies 
counsale  and  confraternitie  of  Sanct  Anthone  that  James  Prestoun, 
Jhone  Adamesoun  younger,  Andro  Dicksoun,  Thomas  Cuke,  with 
the  maister  of  the  facultie,  pas  fra  this  tyme  furth  quhare  ony 
strangear  cummis  with  wyne  of  their  awin  aventur  and  by  the  haill  hoip 
of  the  same  wynes,  or  samekle  as  plesis  thame,  and  mak  competent 
price  thairof,  and  that  the  samyn  wyne  be  ewinlie  dividit  and  delt 
amangis  the  haill  confraternitie  and  tavernaris  of  this  toun  of  the 
samyn  price  as  beis  maid  first  be  thame,  efter  the  forme  of  their  auld 
actis,  and  quhen  the  saidis  strangearis  makis  thair  said  entres  of  the 
saidis  wynis  in  the  townis  buikes,  that  the  personis  aboue  written 
forgather  with  the  saidis  strangearis  and  mak  the  price  of  thair  said 
wyne  within  this  town  of  Edinburgh  and  nocht  in  Leith  ;  and  that 
nane  of  the  tavernaris  wyffis,  nor  wemen  seruandis,  pas  to  Leith  in 
tyme  to  cum  till  waill,  sey,  or  by  ony  wynis,  under  the  pane  of  the 
vnlaw  contenit  in  the  auld  actis  maid  thairvpoun  of  befoir ;  and 
thir  personis  aboue  written  till  haue  for  thair  labouris  viij.  d.  of  ilk 
towne  wyne,  and  ordanis  that  all  the  nychtbouris  and  tavernaris  that 
hes  brocht  vp  ony  wyne  fra  Leith  of  their  last  schippis  vnmaid  and 
tabillit  as  said  is,  that  the  samyn  be  had  done  agane  to  Leith  incon- 
tinent, thair  to  be  tabillit  amangis  the  laif  of  the  wyne  ewinlie 
delt  amangis  the  saidis  confraternitie  and  tavernaris  as  is  aboue 
written,  vnder  the  pane  contenit  in  the  auld  actis  of  Sanct  Anthone."| 

William  Morton  was  appointed  preceptor  of  St.  Anthony's 
on  the  iQth  February,  1492.  Alexander  Crawfurd  was 

*  Town  Council  Records  of  Edinburgh.  f  Ibid. 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  387 

preceptor  in  1510;  and  on  the  3rd  August,  1513,  Pope  Leo  X. 
issued  a  bull,  confirming  to  Richard  Thomson,  one  of  the 
canons,  the  office  of  sacristan*  of  the  house,  to  which  he  had 
been  nominated  by  the  prior  and  chapter.  In  this  bull, 
Pope  Leo  enjoins  that  the  prior  shall  grant  to  the  said 
Richard  Thomson  the  yearly  salary  of  fifty  marks  Scots  for 
life,  the  same  to  be  paid  either  to  himself,  or  to  collectors 
appointed  by  him,  out  of  the  returns  of  orchard  fruit  and 
other  revenues  of  the  house.  The  Pope  further  granted  him  the 
value  of  an  Alexandrian  talent,fwith  emoluments  arising  from 
the  granting  of  dispensations,  also  special  power  to  absolve 
"  from  excommunication,  suspension,  interdict,  or  other  cen- 
sure, penalty,  or  sentence  of  the  Church,  any  man  whatever 
for  sins  both  ordinary  and  extraordinary."  Should  his  salary 
be  unpaid  for  thirty  days  after  becoming  due,  the  Pope 
stipulated  that  the  prior  and  chapter  should  be  deprived  of 
water  till  the  debt  was  discharged  ;  and  should  six  months 
further  elapse  without  payment,  that  the  prior  should  suffer 
deprivation.  The  Pope  insisted  finally  that  if  the  com- 
mands of  the  holy  see  were  not  fully  obeyed,  the  prior  and 
chapter  should  be  wholly  debarred  from  indulgences,  no 
man  having  power  to  grant  them  absolution,  and  even  the 
prayers  of  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul  not  availing  on  their 
behalf. 

Friar  Thomson  was  subsequently  promoted  as  preceptor  of 
the  monastery.  He  is  styled  "  Sir  Richard  Thomson,  Pre- 
ceptor of  St.  Anton,"  in  a  sasine  granted  by  him  on  the 
5th  December,  1519,  to  John  Innes  and  his  spouse,  Margaret 
Lundie. 

Mr.  Matthew  Forrester  is  designated  "  Preceptor  of  St 
Anton's"  in  a  sasine  granted  to  him  in  1552  by  the  magis- 
trates of  Edinburgh,  of  an  annual  rent  of  five  marks,  pay- 
able out  of  a  tenement  situated  at  Bass  Wynd. 

*  The  sacristan  had  charge  of  the  sacred  utensils  and  vestments,  and 
was  bound  to  protect  the  churchyard  from  the  intrusion  of  animals  :  he 
possessed  the  sole  privilege  of  sleeping  in  the  church. 

f  A  sum  of  very  indefinite  value. 


388   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

In  the  Inventory  of  Deeds,  belonging  to  the  Trinity  House 
at  Leith,  is  enumerated — "  ane  charter  granted  be  Matthew 
Forrester,  in  favour  of  the  foresaide  mariners  of  Leith,  of  the 
said  lande  on  ye  hospital  bankes,  and  for  undercallit  ye 
groundes  lying  in  Leith  ;  .  .  .  also  said  yard. — Dated 
26  Julii,  1567.  Sealit  and  subscrivit  be  the  said  Mat.  For- 
rester, Prebendar  of  S.  Antoine,  near  Leith." 

The  monks  of  St.  Anthony  seem  to  have  been  equally 
obnoxious  to  the  Reformers,  as  were  the  members  of  other 
monastic  orders.  In  his  "  Satire  of  the  Three  Estates "  Sir 
David  Lyndsay  puts  these  lines  into  the  mouth  of  "  the 
Pardoner,"— - 

"  The  gruntill  of  Sanct  Antonis  sow, 

Quhilk  buir  his  haly  bell ; 
Quha  ever  he  be  heiris  this  bell  clinck, 
Gif  me  ane  ducat  for  till  drink, 

He  sail  never  gang  to  hell, 
Without  he  be  of  Beliell  borne  ; 
Maisters,  trow  ye  that  this  be  scorne  ! 

Cum  win  this  Pardonn,  cum." 

In  Bagimont's  Roll,  in  the  reign  of  James  V.,  St.  Anthony's 
monastery  was  taxed  at  £6  135.  4d.  ;  the  income  was  at  the 
Reformation  valued  at  .£211  153.  6d.  At  the  Reformation 
the  revenues  were  partially  bestowed  on  the  town  council  of 
Leith.  On  the  loth  June,  1572,  James  VI.,  with  consent 
of  the  Regent  Mar,  granted  to  the  town  council  "  all  lands, 
tenements,  grants,  and  annual  rents  belonging  to  any  chap- 
lainries  founded  within  any  kirk,  chapell,  or  college  within 
the  town  of  Leith."  In  1592  the  monastery  was  finally  dis- 
solved, and  Mr.  John  Hay,  clerk  of  session,  received  a 
royal  grant  of  "  the  preceptory  of  St.  Anton's  "  and  "  site 
thereof,"  including  four  acres  of  land,  with  the  parsonage 
teinds  of  the  lands  of  Redhalls,  Collintoun,  Oxengains,  and 
half  the  lands  of  Cornistown,  and  the  vicarage  of  the  parish 
of  Hailes,  and  of  other  annual  rents  which  had  belonged  to 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  389 

the  institution.  Of  this  grant  a  feu-farm  was,  by  Mr.  John 
Hay,  conveyed  to  his  brother  Daniel,  and  Margaret  Purdie, 
his  wife,  on  the  5th  March  of  the  same  year,  and  on  the  26th 
February,  1593,  the  grant  was  confirmed. 

On  the  loth  August,  1596,  Mr.  John  Hay  and  his  brother 
Daniel  resigned  their  lands  into  the  hands  of  the  king  in 
favour  of  the  Kirk-session  of  Leith  for  behoof  of  an  hospital 
which  was  designated  as  King  James's.  At  the  same  time, 
and  for  the  like  purpose,  the  town  council  of  Leith  resigned 
in  favour  of  the  Kirk-session  their  portion  of  the  lands- 
These  resignations  were  followed  by  a  charter  under  the 
great  seal,  dated  23rd  September,  1796,  conveying  the 
entire  lands  and  revenues  of  the  monastery  to  the  Kirk- 
session. 

By  the  Kirk-session  of  Leith  the  lands  of  St.  Anthony's 
Yard  were  in  February,  1606,  conveyed  in  feu-farm  to  Mr. 
Jeremiah  Lindsay,  of  Dinyne ;  the  wine  privilege  being 
commuted  in  a  payment  of  money.  On  the  igth  November, 
1638,  the  Kirk-session  records  contain  the  following  entry  : — 
"  The  sessioune  has  ordainit  the  wyne  vintners  in  Leith  to 
paye  thair  imposts  of  the  wyne  to  oure  sessioune,  or  other- 
wise to  be  convenit  befoir  the  kirkis  ;  and  then  they  sail  pay 
thair  imposts  as  we  ordain." 

The  wine  impost  became  a  part  of  the  ordinary  parish 
revenues,  and  under  sanction  of  the  Kirk-session,  an 
official  styled  the  Baron  Bailie  of  St.  Anthony  exercised  a 
considerable  jurisdiction  at  the  ports  of  Leith  and  Newhaven  ; 
he  held  court  at  will,  and  gave  judgment  without  appeal. 
The  office  continued  till  1833,  when  it  was  abrogated  by  the 
Burgh  Reform  Act.  The  last  Baron  Bailie  of  St. 
Anthony's  was  Thomas  Barker.* 

On  the  tower  of  the  monastery  French  artillery  was 
placed  during  the  conflict  of  1560.  At  the  siege  of  Leith,  in 
1569,  the  church  was  partially  demolished ;  it  was  adopted 
as  King  James's  Hospital  in  1614.  A  portion  of  the  struc- 

*  Gordon's  Monasticon,  pp.  283-4. 


390   TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

ture  which  remains,  consisting  of  the  doorways  and  part  of 
an  arch,  is  represented  in  the  accompanying  engraving. 


REMAINS  OF  ST.    ANTHONY'S   MONASTERY. 

On  the  common  seal  of  the  monastery  St.  Anthony  appeared 
under  a  canopy  in  a  hermit's  gown,  and  having  at  his  right 
foot  a  wild  pig  with  a  bell  on  its  neck.  On  the  circumfer- 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  SEAL. 


ence    was     the    legend     5.     Commune    Preceptorie    Sancti 
Anthonii  prope  Lecht.      The  seal,  which  is  preserved  in   the 


ST.   ANTHONY'S   MONASTERY   AT   LEITH.  391 

Advocates    Library,    is    represented    in    the   accompanying 
engraving. 

Associated  with  the  monastery  were  a  chapel  and  hermit- 
age in  the  King's  Park,  Edinburgh.  Resting  on  the  summit 
of  a  crag  to  the  north  of  Arthur's  Seat,  and  overlooking  St. 
Margaret's  Loch,  the  ruin  of  St.  Anthony's  Chapel  is  still  a 
conspicuous  object.  By  Maitland,  in  his  "  History  of  Edin- 
burgh,"* it  is  thus  described  : — 

"  It  is  in  length  43!  feet,  in  breadth  18  feet,  and  the  same  in 
height.  At  the  west  end  is  a  tower  19  feet  square,  but  of  what 
height  at  first  I  cannot  ascertain,  though  by  the  form  of  what  is 
standing  I  take  to  have  been  about  40  feet.  The  area  of  the  chapel 
is  in  length  32  feet,  and  the  breadth  of  12  feet,  and  height  of  14  feet. 
It  has  two  arched  doorways,  and  two  windows  on  each  side  of  the 
same  form,  with  a  handsome  Gothic  roof  of  three  compartments.  In 
the  southern  wall,  near  the  altar,  is  a  small  arched  niche,  wherein 
was  put  the  holy  water,  and  another  opposite  of  large  dimensions, 
which  was  strongly  fortified  for  keeping  the  pix  with  the  consecrated 
bread.  Beside,  by  the  door  and  arch  on  the  inside,  I  imagine  there 
must  have  been  an  outing  from  the  west ;  and  the  room  over  the 
said  arch  I  take  to  have  been  the  vestiary,  ascended  to  by  a  ladder 
and  a  few  steps  above  the  said  arch.  And  without,  in  the  wall  at 
the  eastern  end,  was  a  handsome  stone  seat.  The  chapel  appears 
to  have  been  enclosed  with  a  stone  wall,  extending  from  the 
western  precipice  of  the  hill,  along  the  southern  side  and  eastern  end, 
to  the  northern  precipice  of  the  hill." 

About  twenty-seven  feet  south-west  from  the  chapel  are 
situated  the  remains  of  St.  Anthony's  hermitage,  which 
Maitland  has  thus  described  : — 

"  It  is  of  the  length  of  16  feet  8  inches,  12  feet  8  inches  in  breadth, 
and  1 1  feet  in  height.  The  eastern  end  and  south-eastern  corner 
are  built  on  the  rock,  which  rises  within  2  feet  of  the  roof  or  stone 
arch  which  covers  it ;  it  appears  to  have  had  two  doors  near  the  south- 
western and  north-eastern  corners,  of  the  height  of  5  feet,  and  width 
of  2  feet,  without  the  least  appearance  of  a  window,  though  probably 
there  was  in  the  western  end,  but  demolished  with  the  gable,  and  m 
the  inside  of  the  eastern  end,  two  bolles  or  cupboards." 

Maitland's  "  History  of  Edinburgh,"  pp.  152-3. 


392   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Referring  to  St.  Anthony's  hermitage,  Amot,  in  his  "  His- 
tory of  Edinburgh,"*  remarks  eloquently,  "  Sequestered  from 
the  rest  of  mankind,  these  holy  hermits  might  there  dedicate 
their  lives  to  devotion.  The  barrenness  of  the  rock  might 
teach  them  humility  and  mortification,  the  lofty  site  and  ex- 
tensive prospect  would  dispose  the  mind  to  contemplation, 
and  looking  down  upon  the  royal  palace  beneath,t  they  might 
compare  the  tranquillity  of  their  own  situation,  preparing  their 
minds  for  that  scene  of  everlasting  serenity  which  they  ex- 
pected hereafter,  with  the  storms  which  assailed  the  court 
amidst  a  tumultuous  and  barbarous  people." 

At  the  base  of  the  eminence  which  supports  the  hermitage 
and  chapel  is  the  well  of  St.  Margaret,  anciently  reputed  for 
its  healing  virtues.  Probably  the  celebrity  of  the  fountain 
suggested  the  construction  of  those  sacred  edifices.  In  the 
lament  of  Lady  Barbara  Erskine  for  the  cruel  desertion  of 
her  lord,  James,  Marquis  of  Douglas,]:  the  well  is  noticed 
in  these  lines  : — 

"  St.  Anton's  well  shall  be  my  drink 

Since  my  true  love  has  forsaken  me." 

From  their  elevated  hermitage  or  chapel  the  brethren  of  St. 
Anthony  could  discover  the  ships  of  commerce  entering  the 
port  of  Leith,  and  could  hail  and  bless  the  mariners'  return, 
expecting  to  receive  in  acknowledgment  a  share  of  those 
secular  gifts  which  generous  seamen  love  to  bestow  on  those 
interested  in  their  affairs.  In  the  engraving  on  the  opposite 
page  is  represented  the  chapel  of  St.  Anthony  in  its  present 
aspects. 

In  the  Advocates  Library  is  preserved  a  thin  octavo  volume 
in  vellum,  of  twenty-one  leaves,  entitled  "  The  Rental  Buke 
of  Sanct  Anthoni's  and  Newhaven."  It  contains  no  entries 
relating  to  the  secular  property  of  the  monastery,  but 

*  Amot's  "  History  of  Edinburgh,"  p.  256. 
t  The  Palace  of  Holyrood. 

J  The   pathetic  song  from  which  these  lines  are  quoted,  beginning 
"  O  waly  waly,"  belongs  to  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITII.  393 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  CHAPEL. 

presents  certain  forms  of  prayer,  and  other  instruments 
relating  to  its  spiritual  concerns  and  ordinary  administra- 
tion. The  following  prayer  is  at  the  commencement  of  the 
volume  inscribed  on  parchment : — 

"  Suscipiat  vos  omnipotens  pater  vnigenitusque  dei  films 
sanctusque  spiritus  precibus  beate  Marie  semper  virginis 
gloriosi  patroni  nostri  et  totius  curie  celestis  exercitus  omni- 
umque  sanctorum  apostelorum  martyrorum  confessorum 
atque  virginum  et  omnium  electorum  suorum  qui  sibi  pla- 
cuerunt  ab  initio  mundi ;  et  dirigat  actus  vestros  in  bene 
placito  sue  voluntatis  concedatque  vobis  gratiam  bene 
vivendi,  vitam  corrigendi,  et  in  bonis  operibus  vsque  in  finem 
perseverandi.  Et  nos  licet  indigni  concedamus  vobis  in 
vita  pariter  et  in  morte  participationem  omnium  missarum 
omnium  orationum  omnium  suffragiorum  bonorumque  cete- 
rorum  spiritualium  que  in  nostris  collegiis  fiunt  et  per  ordinem 
nostrum  in  totius  mundi  partibus  domino  concedente  fient 
in  futurum  et  sicut  hodie  caritas  fraternitatis  vos  vel  vobis 
conjungit  in  terris  ita  ineffabiliter  Dei  pietas  vos  vel  vobis 
conjungere  dignetur  in  coelis  qui  cum  Deo  Patre  et  Sancto 
Spiritu." 


394   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

TRANSLATION. 

May  the  Almighty  Father,  and  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit,  hear  you,  through  the  prayers  of  the  ever-blessed 
Virgin  Mary,  our  glorious  patron,  and  the  whole  host  of  the  heavenly 
courts,  and  all  the  holy  apostles,  martyrs,  confessors  of  the  faith, 
virgins,  and  all  His  elect,  whom  He  has  from  the  beginning  of  the 
world  chosen  to  Himself.  May  He  direct  your  actions  according 
to  the  good  pleasure  of  His  will;  and  grant  unto  you  grace  to 
live  honestly,  amending  your  lives  and  continuing  in  good  works 
to  the  end.  It  is  permitted  to  us  to  grant  you  power  over  the  spiritual 
life  and  death  of  the  wicked ;  and  a  share  in  all  the  masses,  prayers, 
and  supplications  of  the  good;  and  in  all  other  religious  duties 
performed  in  the  institutions  of  our  order ;  and  which  in  all  time 
coming  shall  be  performed,  God  willing,  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 
And  as  to-day  brotherly  love  unites  you  on  earth,  so  may  the  dis- 
charge of  your  spiritual  duties  toward  God  render  you  worthy  to  be 
united  in  heaven  to  Him,  who  with  God  the  Father  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  ...  [is  to  be  worshipped  and  glorified]. 

"Sequitur  Litera  Confraternitatis. 

"  Complures  summi  pontifices  et  novissimo  sanctissimus 
dominus  noster  dominus  Clemens  papa  modernus  indulcerint 
et  cohfirmaverint  omnibus  vtriusque  sexus  confratribus  seu 
consororibus  Confraternitatis  Sancti  Anthonii  abbatis  vt 
eligere  possint  idoneum  confessorem  secularem  vel  cujusvis 
ordinis  regularem  qui  eos  in  casibus  sedi  apostolice  non 
reservatis  bis  singulis  annis  in  vita  absolvere  penitenciam 
salutatem  injungere  votaque  cumque  majoribus  exceptis  in 
alia  pietatis  opera  committere.  Et  in  reservatis  sedi  apostolice 
casibus  semel  in  capite  anni  vel  infra  annum  eundem  et 
toties  quoties  in  mortis  articulo  absolutionem  plenariam 
cum  assuetione  quatuor  millium  sexcentorum  et  sexaginta 
annorum  indulgentiarum  singulis  annis  in  vita  ac  participa- 
tione  omnium  stationum  sancte  romane  ecclesie  peregrina- 
tionum  et  omnium  suffragiorum  militantis  ecclesie  et  quod 
ipsi  confratres  nisi  nominatim  fuerunt  excommunicati  aut 
publici  vsurarii  in  locis  interdictis  sepeliri  omniaque  officia 
divina  in  eisdem  locis  januis  apertis  campanis  pulsatis  die 


ST.  ANTHONY'S   MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  395 

obitus  eorum  ob  reverentiam  sancti  Anthonii  licite  celebrare 
valeant. 

"Ea  propter  nos  Ricardum  Thomsoun  preceptorem  pre- 
ceptorie  sancti  Anthonii  de  Leith  ;  attendentem  devotionem 
erga  nostram  religionem  et  quia  de  bonis  suis  sicut  pre- 
missum  est  in  supportationem  domus  nostre  contribuerint 
merito  confraternitati  nostre  ascribi  prefatis  privilegiis 
gaudere  presencium  tenore  declaramus.  Datum  sub  sigillo 
confraternitatis  nostre  die  mensis. 

"Anno  domini  m°  ve  vicesimo  sexto." 

TRANSLATION. 

[Be  it  known  to  all  hereby  that]  .  .  .  many  most  reverend 
princes  of  the  Church,  and  recently,  our  present  Most  Reverend  Lord 
Pope  Clement,  have  granted  and  confirmed  to  all  the  members  of 
either  sex,  brethren  or  sisters,  of  the  community  of  the  Abbey  of 
St.  Anthony,  power  to  elect  a  fit  confessor,  either  secular  or  professed 
member  of  any  order  whatever,  who,  in  all  cases  not  specially  reserved 
to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Apostolic  See,  might  twice  a  year  have 
power  to  grant  absolution;  to  exhort  to  repentance  and  salutary 
vows,  and,  the  more  important  cases  excepted,  to  engage  in  other 
pious  works.  And  in  cases  reserved  to  the  Apostolic  See,  once  at 
the  commencement  of  the  year,  or  within  the  year,  and  as  often  as 
any  are  at  the  point  of  death,  grant  full  absolution,  according  to  the 
custom  of  4,660  years,  and  grant  yearly  during  life  a  share  in  the 
indulgences  and  all  the  feasts  and  pilgrimages  of  the  Holy  Roman 
Church,  and  in  all  the  prayers  of  the  church  militant.  Moreover, 
that  the  brethren  themselves,  unless  excommunicated  by  name,  or 
public  usurers,  should  not  be  buried  in  forbidden  ground  ;  and  that 
they  be  empowered  to  perform  all  their  religious  duties  in  these 
same  places,  with  open  gates  and  tolling  of  bells,  on  the  day  of  their 
death,  in  honour  of  St.  Anthony. 

Wherefore  we,  by  these  presents,  do  declare  that  Richard 
Thomson,  Prior  of  the  Priory  of  St.  Anthony  at  Leith,  rejoices  in 
the  privileges  aforementioned,  as  one  who  has  displayed  zeal  for  our 
religion  in  so  much  as  he  has  contributed  of  his  goods  as  is  permitted 
to  the  support  of  our  house  ;  and  that  he  is  deservedly  enrolled  as  a 
member  of  our  community. 


396     TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE  ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

Given  under  the  seal  of  our  fraternity  on  the  day  of  the  month 
of  ,  in  the  year  A.D.  1526. 

"  Sequitur  forma  absolucionis. 

"  Dominus  noster  lesus  Christus  pro  sua  magna  pietate  et 
sua  acerbissima  passione  cui  proprium  est  absolvere  te  vel 
vos  absolvat.  Et  ego  te  absolve  auctoritate  mihi  concessa  de 
omnibus  peccatis  tuis  concessis  contritis  et  oblitis  et  de  iis 
etiam  pro  quibus  sedis  apostolica  merito  esset  consuluenda, 
In  nomine  Patris  et  Filii  et  Spiritus  Sancti.  Amen. 
"Jesus  maria." 

TRANSLATION. 
FORM  OF  ABSOLUTION. 

Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  out  of  His  great  love,  and  for  the  sake  of 
His  bitter  sufferings,  to  whom  of  right  it  belongs  to  absolve  sins, 
absolve  thee  (or  ye)  ;  and  I,  in  virtue  of  the  power  granted  to  me, 
absolve  thee  from  all  thy  sins  confessed ;  repented  and  forgotten ; 
and  from  those  sins  also  concerning  which  the  Apostolic  See  should 
be  properly  consulted.  In  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Amen. 

"  Ad  faciendum  aquam  benedictam  pro  animalibus. 

"  Adductorium  nostrum  in  nomine  domini  qui  fecit  coelum 
et  terrain. 

"  Exorcise  te,  creature  salis,  per  Deum  vivum  per  deum 
verum  per  deum  sanctum,  per  deum  totius  creature  vt  officiaris 
sel  exorcisatum  in  salutem  animalium  ad  evacuandum  et  expel- 
lendum  inimicum  omnem  virtutem  putredinis  et  morbum 
animalium  sive  pecorum  que  necessitatibus  humanis  donare 
dignatus  es  vt  possint  salva  ad  vsus  nostros  perficere  domini 
nostri  Jesu  Christi  per  quern  creata  sunt  et  perficiuntur 
vniversa  secula  per  ignem.  Amen." 

TRANSLATION. 

For  making  holy  water  for  animals. — Our  aid  is  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  who  made  heaven  and  earth. 

I  exorcise  thee,  creature  of  salt,  by  the  living  God,  by  the  true 
God,  by  the  holy  God,  by  the  God  of  all  created  things,  that  thou 
mayest  become  exorcised  salt  for  the  preservation  of  animals,  for  the 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  397 

evacuation  and  expulsion  of  every  hurtful  germ  of  corruption  and 
disease,  in  animals,  or  in  the  cattle  Thou  hast  deigned  to  give  lo 
human  necessity,  to  the  end  that  these  may  become  healthy  for  our 
use.  (In  the  name)  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  whole 
universe  was  created,  and  is  perfected  through  fire.  Amen. 

"  Sequitur  exorzisimus  aque 

"  Exorcise  te,  creature  aque,  in  nomine  Dei  patris  omnipo- 
tentis  et  in  nomine  Jesu  Christi  filii  ejus  et  in  virtutem 
Spiritus  Sancti  vt  omnis  immundus  spiritus  et  incursus 
sathane  separetur  et  expellatur  a  tenebris  aque  ;  exorcisata 
ad  purgandum  omnem  morbum  animalium  atque  omne 
fantasma  inimici  et  ipsum  inimicum  eradicare  et  explan- 
tare  valeas  per  virtutem  domini  nostri  Jesu  Christi  per- 
quem  creata  sunt  et  perfkientur  vniversa  secula  per  ignem. 
Amen. 

"  Hie  ponatur  salis  in  aqua. 

"  Hsec  commixtio  salis  et  aque  per  virtutem  domini  nostri 
Jesu  Christi  animalibus  salubritas  fiat.  In  nomine  patris  et 
filii  et  spiritus  sancti.  Amen. 

"Vox  domini  super  aquas  deus  maiestatis  intonuit,  dominus 
super  aquas  multas.  Homines  et  jumenta  salus  domine 
quemadmodum  multiplicasti  maiestatem  tuam  deus  vere. 
Aperies  tu  manum  tuam  et  imples  omne  animal  benedictione 
Dominus  vobiscum.  Et  cum  spiritu  tuo.  Oremus. 

"Deus  Invisibilis  et  Inestimabilis  per  cuncta  tua  pietas 
diffusa  est ;  per  sanctum  nomen  tuum  supplices  deprecamur  vt 
huic  creature  salis  et  aque  »J<  benedictionem  et  pietatem  tuum 
invisibili  operatione  infundas  vt  animalia  que  necessitatibus 
humanis  dignatus  es  largiri  cum  ex  eadem  acciperintvel  aspersa 
fuerint  haec»J<  benedictio  et  sanctificacio  redant  illesa.  Amen. 

"  Benedictus  Deus  qui  dat  omnibus  affluenter  et  non  impro- 
perat.  Servo  totam  contulit  graciam  vt  et  sanitatem  restauraret 
et  spiritibus  imperaret  immundis.  Ora  pro  nobis  beate  pater 
vt  dominus  esset  protector.  Oremus. 

"Deus  qui  concedis  obtentui  beati  Anthonii  confessoris  hri 
atque  Abbatis  morbidum  ignem  extingui  et  membris  refri- 


398     TRANSACTIONS  OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

geria  praestari,  fac  nos  propitius  ipsius  meritis  et  precibus, 
a  Gehenne  ignis  incendiis  liberates  integros  mente  et  corpora 
tibi  fejiciter  in  gloria  presentari.  Per  dominum  nostrum 
Christum." 

TRANSLATION. 

The  Exorcism  of  Water. 

I  exorcise  thee,  creature  of  water,  in  the  name  of  God  the 
Father  Almighty,  and  Jesus  Christ  His  Son,  and  by  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  that  every  unclean  spirit  and  Satanic  influence  may  be 
separated  and  expelled  from  the  depths  of  the  water;  that  being 
thus  exorcised,  thou  mightest  have  power  to  purge  away  every  disease 
of  animals,  and  wholly  expel  and  eradicate  every  apparition  of  the 
fiend,  and  the  fiend  himself,  by  the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
by  whom  the  whole  universe  was  created  and  perfected  through 
fire.  Amen. 

Here  let  the  salt  be  put  into  the  water. 

May  this  intermixture  of  salt  and  water  become  healthful  to 
animals,  by  the  power  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  name  of 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  Amen. 

The  voice  of  the  Lord  is  upon  the  waters;  the  God  of  glory 
thundereth,  the  Lord  is  upon  many  waters. — Psa.  xxix.  3. 

Thou,  O  Lord,  art  the  safety  of  men  and  of  beasts,  so  that  Thou, 
the  true  God,  dost  greatly  multiply  Thy  glory.  Thou  shalt  open  Thy 
hand,  and  shalt  satisfy  every  thing  living  with  Thy  blessing.  The 
Lord  be  with  thee,  and  with  thy  spirit. 

Let  us  pray. 

O  God,  invisible  and  incomprehensible,  Thy  love  is  everywhere 
diffused.  We  humbly  beseech  Thee,  for  Thy  name's  sake,  that 
Thou  wouldst  bestow  Thy  blessing  »J«  and  favour  by  invisible  agency 
on  this  creature  of  salt  and  water,  so  that  when  the  animals,  which 
Thou  hast  freely  given  to  human  need,  shall  receive  of  the  same,  or 
be  sprinkled  therewith,  this  blessing  »J<  and  consecration  may  restore 
them  to  soundness.  Amen. 

Blessed  (be)  God,  who  giveth  unto  all  abundantly  and  hasteneth 
not  (to  mark  iniquity),  He  hath  bestowed  His  grace  on  His  servant, 
that  He  might  restore  health  and  have  command  over  unclean  spirits. 
Pray  for  us,  O  Blessed  Father,  that  the  Lord  may  be  our  protector. 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  399 

Let  us  pray. 

O  God,  who  didst  grant,  at  the  prayer  of  the  blessed  Anthony^ 
Thy  servant  and  abbot,  that  the  fire  of  fever  should  be  extinguished, 
and  coolness  restored  to  the  limbs,  mercifully  grant  that  we  by  his 
merits  and  prayers  may  be  delivered  from  the  flaming  fires  of  hell, 
and  happily  presented  to  Thee  whole  and  safe  in  body  and  in  mind, 
in  glory.  For  the  sake  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 

"  Receptio  Confratrum  et  Consororum. 

"Primo,  oportet  quod  pateant  istam  confraternitatem  amore 
Dei  beate  Marie  et  beati  Anthonii. 

"  Secundo,  oportet  quod  sint  obligati  pro  fidelitate  ordinis  sic 
quod  nunquam  deberent  scire  neque  audire  malum  quod 
revelarent  et  quod  custodirent  secreta  revelata  eis. 

"  Tertio,  quod  orarent  pro  fratribus  et  sororibus  secundum 
quod  ipsi  tenentur  pro  eis  orare. 

"  Quarto,  quod  sint  dispositi  dare  omni  anno  elemosinam 
suam,  tenentur.  Et  in  vltimis  diebus  qui  credent  mori 
si  contingat  eis  addicere  pro  suffragiis  fiendis  quod  citius 
nobis  darent  quam  aliis  propter  quod  sumus  quotidiel 
obligati  pro  eiis  orare.  Et  mittent  nobis  diem  obitus  suorum 
vt  poterimus  dare  placebo  et  dirigere  cum  missa  de 
requie.  Ad  ista  tenentur  obligari  quae  sunt  suprascripta." 

TRANSLATION. 

FORM  OF  RECEPTION  OF  BRETHREN  OR  SISTERS. 

Firstly. — It  is  expedient  that  they  enter  this  community  from  love 
of  God,  the  blessed  Virgin,  and  the  blessed  Anthony. 

Secondly. — It  is  expedient  that  they  be  bound  by  an  oath  of  fidelity 
to  the  order ;  so  that  they  should  never  know  or  hear  any  evil  thing 
to  reveal  it ;  but  should  keep  inviolable  all  secrets  revealed  to  them. 

Thirdly. — That  they  should  pray  for  the  brethren  and  sisters, 
according  as  they  are,  by  vow,  bound  to  pray  for  them. 

Fourthly. — That  they  be  bound  to  give  yearly  in  charity  what  they 
may  be  willing  (to  bestow). — That  any  who,  being  at  the  close  of 
life  and  believing  themselves  dying,  bequeath  anything  for  prayers 


400   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL  .HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

to  be  offered  for  them,  should  give  it  more  readily  to  us  than  to 
others,  as  we  are  bound  to  pray  for  them  daily.  And  that  notice  be 
given  on  the  day  of  their  death,  so  that  we  might  repeat  a  "  Placebo," 
and  conduct  their  funeral  rites  with  a  mass.  That  they  be  bound  to 
observe  what  is  written  above. 

"  Ista  sunt  retributiones  quas  haberent  qui  confraternezan- 
tur  in  ordine  sancti  Anthonii. 

"  Primo  propter  meritum  fraternitatis  quam  cito  sunt  fratres, 
vel  sorores  habent  mille  annos  indulgentiarum.  Secundo 
habebunt  partem  omnium  missarum  celebratarum  in  toto 
ordine  sic  quod  omnes  alii  religiosi  tenentur  pro  eis  sicut  et 
nos  ipsi  et  eiis.  Item  si  contingat  ecclesiam  vel  semitorium 
eorum  interdici  ratione  fraternitatis  omnia  sacramenta  eccle- 
siastica  ministrabuntur ;  hoc  est  dictu  ecclesie  aperiantur  et 
campane  pulsentur  et  sepulture  tradentur  eiis.  Item  septem 
partem  de  penitenciis  vobis  injunctis  erunt  dimissi,  offensio 
patrum  et  matrum  in  violentia  iniectam  manum  sibi.  Item 
dies  jejuniorum  et  festinitatum  male  conservatorum  erunt 
dimissi,  &c.  ||  Item  semel  in  vita  et  toties  quoties  in  articulo 
mortis  habeant  potestatem  plenariam  papale  elegendum  con- 
fessorem  ad  confitendum  de  omnibus  peccatis  eorum.  Item 
sint  participatores  omnium  orationum  jejuniorum,  vniversa- 
liorum  sufifragiorum,  et  stationum  dedicationum  ecclesiorum 
meritorum  romanorum  et  indulgeniiarum  earundem,  &c." 

TRANSLATION. 

These  are  the  Rewards  which  they  shall  enjoy  who  become 
brethren  of  the  order  of  St.  Anthony. 

Firstly. — Because  of  the  merits  of  the  brotherhood,  they  who  are 
presently  brethren  or  sisters  have  a  thousand  years'  indulgence. 

Secondly. — They  shall  have  a  share  in  all  the  prayers  offered  by  the 
whole  order  ;  and  likewise  that  all  other  brethren  be  bound  to  pray 
for  them,  as  we  for  others.  Moreover,  should  it  happen  that  their 
church  or  sanctuary  be  put  under  the  ban,  in  respect  to  the  brethren, 
all  the  rites  of  the  church  shall  be  duly  administered  :  that  is  to  say, 
the  churches  shall  be  opened  (for  them) ;  the  bells  tolled,  and  burial 
granted  to  them.  Likewise,  of  the  penitential  offerings  prescribed,  a 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  401 

seventh  part  shall  be  remitted  to  you;  (to  wit,)  offences  against 
parents,  for  laying  violent  hands  on  one's  self  (suicide),  and  for  breaking 
the  fast  days  and  feast  days  appointed  by  the  church ;  likewise, 
also,  once  during  life,  and  as  often  at  the  point  of  death,  (the  members 
of  the  fraternity)  shall  enjoy  plenary  power  from  the  Pope  to  elect 
a  confessor,  for  the  purpose  of  confessing  all  their  sins.  Moreover, 
also,  they  shall  be  partakers  in  all  the  sermons,  fasts,  and  offerings 
everywhere,  in  general  confessions  (stationes),  dedications  of  churches, 
and  all  advantages  and  indulgences  of  the  Catholic  Church. 


"  Officium   Confraternitatis. 

"Suscipimus  Deus  majestatem  tuam  in  medio  templi  tui 
secundum  majestatem  tuam  deus  sit  et  laus  tua  in  finis  terre 
Justitiae  plena  est  dextera  tua.  Psalmus,  Misere  mei  deus  ; 
psalmus,  Magnus  dominus ;  psalmus,  ecce  quam  bonum  ;  Kirie- 
leysoun  Christe  eleysoun,  Kirieleysoun  Pater  noster.  Et  ne 
nos.  Oremus  Deum. 

"  Ista  fraternitas  sit  acceptabilis  deo  beate  Marie  virgine 
et  beato  Anthonio.  Salvum  fac  servum  tuum  et  servos 
tuos,  deus  meus,  sperantes  in  te  Mitte  eiis,  domine,  auxilium 
de  sancto  et  de  Syon  tuere  eiis,  Nihil  proficiat  inimicus 
in  eiis  et  films  iniquitatis  non  nocere  eiis.  Domine  ex- 
audi  orationem  meam  ;  et  clamor  meus  ad  te  veniat. 
Oremus. 

"  Suscipiat  vos  deus  pater  in  numero  fidelium  suorum  scilicet 
indigni  suscipimus  te  vel  vos  in  orationibus  nostris;  et  conce- 
dat  vobis  gratiam  bene  vivendi  et  justiciam  bene  perseverendi 
et  sicut  nos  hodie  caritas  fraternitatis  conjungere  in  terris  ita 
divina  pietas  nos  conjungere  dignetur  in  ccelis  per  Christum 
dominum. 

"  Deus  qui  concedisti,  obtentui  beati  Anthonii  (vt  supra)  \_hic 
iniunctis  manibus  eorum  dicetur  eis\  Suscipimus  te  in  fratrem 
et  damus  tibi  nostram  societatem  ;  facimus  te  participem  in 
omnibus  oracionibus  bonis  operibus  et  suffragiis  nostris  in 
eternum.  \Et  tune  osculentur  in  fine]  Oremus." 

DD 


402   TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

TRANSLATION. 

THE  OFFICES  AND  DUTIES  OF  THE  FRATERNITY, 
OR  FORM  OF  WORSHIP. 

We  worship  Thy  glorious  name,  O  God,  in  the  midst  of  Thy 
temple.  According  to  Thy  majesty,  O  God,  let  Thy  praise  be  in 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  Thy  right  hand  is  full  of  justice. 

The   Psalm — "Have   mercy  upon  me,  O    God"  (Miserere  mei 

Deus,  li.). 

„       „        "  Great  is  the  Lord,"  &c.  (Magnus  Dominus,  xlviii.). 
„       „        "  Behold,    how    good,"    &c.    (Ecce   quam   bonum, 

cxxxiiL). 

"Kyrie   eleison" — (Lord,  be  merciful),  "Christe  eleison"  (Christ 
have  mercy.)    "  Kyrie  eleison."     (Lord,  be  merciful). 
"  Pater  noster"— (Our  Father). 
The  Psalm—"  Not  unto  us,"  &c.  (Et  ne  nos,  cxv.). 

Let  us  pray  to  God. 

That  this  fraternity  be  acceptable  to  God,  to  the  blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  and  to  the  blessed  Anthony.  Save  Thy  servant,  and  Thy 
servants,  O  God,  who  put  their  trust  in  Thee.  Send  them  help  from 
out  Thy  sanctuary,  O  Lord,  and  protection  from  Zion.  Let  not  the 
enemy  prevail  against  them,  nor  the  son  of  iniquity  hurt  them.  O 
Lord,  hear  my  prayer,  and  let  my  cry  ascend  to  Thee. 

Let  us  pray. 

May  God  the  Father  receive  you  into  the  number  of  His  faith- 
ful, as  we,  though  unworthy,  receive  you  into  our  prayers ;  and  may 
He  grant  you  grace  to  live  righteously,  and  persevere  in  well-doing, 
and  as  to-day  brotherly  love  unites  us  on  earth,  so  may  divine  love 
unite  us  hereafter  in  heaven,  through  Christ  our  Lord. 

O  God,  who  didst  grant  the  humble  entreaty  of  the  blessed 
Anthony  (as  before). 

Then  follows  this,  spoken  at  the  laying  on  of  hands. 

We  receive  thee  as  a  brother,  and  admit  thee  to  our  society, 
and  make  thee  partaker  on  all  occasions  in  our  good  works  and 
prayers  for  ever. 

Then  finally  they  shall  give  him  the  kiss  of  peace. 

Let  us  pray. 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.          403 

Jtis.statuet  and  ordanit  in  our  scheptour  for  sindri  resonabil 
causis  that .  the  saulis  of  thaim  that  has  gevin  zeirlie 
perpetuall  rent  to  this  abbay  and  hospitall  of  Sanct  Antonis 
besyd  Leith  or  has  augmentit  Goddis  seruice  be  fundacion,  or 
ony  vther  vays  has  gevyn  substanciously  of  thair  gudis  to  the 
byggyn  reparacion  and  vphaldyng  of  the  forsaid  Abbay  and 
place,  that  thai  be  prayit  for  ylk  Sunday  till  the  day  of  dome. 
And  in  speciall  oppynly  thar  namys  expremyt  als  weil  the 
quhik  as  the  deid.  That  mair  abundantly  thai  may  resaif  the 
suffragyis  prayer  and  power  of  the  ordour  with  the  Indulgens 
prayer  and  pardonys  grantit  and  gevyn  be  the  sege  of  Rome 
at  the  reverence  of  God  Almychty,  the  glorious  Virgyn  and  of 
our  holy  Fader  and  patron  Sanct  Anthon. 

[Then  follows  a  list  of  the  principal  benefactors  of  the  Monastery, 
for  whom  masses  were  to  be  offered.  The  list  is  as  under : — ] 

In  the  fyrst  for  Kyng  James,  ye  first  and  Quhen  Jane,  his 
spous  yair  predecessouris  and  successourys.* 

For  James  Kennedy,  bischop  of  Sanct  Andros,  his 
predecessourys  and  successouris.'f* 

For  Schir  Robert  Logan,  of  Restalrig,|  knycht,  our  fown- 
dour,  and  dame  Katryne,  his  spous,  thar  predecessouris  and 
successouris. 

*  James  I.  of  Scotland  was  born  in  1394,  and  after  a  captivity  of  nine- 
teen years  in  England,  commenced  his  actual  reign  in  1424.  He  was 
murdered  on  the  2oth  February,  1437.  He  married  the  Lady  Joanna 
Beaufort,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Somerset.  The  monastery  of  St. 
Anthony  was  founded  under  the  sanction  of  James  I. 

t  Bishop  James  Kennedy,  of  St.  Andrews,  an  early  promoter  of  St. 
Anthony's  monastery,  was  a  liberal  and  distinguished  prelate.  He  founded 
St.  Salvator's  College,  St.  Andrews,  and  in  the  minority  of  James  III.  was 
chief  administrator  of  public  affairs.  He  died  on  the  loth  May,  1466, 
aged  sixty.  His  mother,  the  Countess  of  Angus,  was  a  daughter  of 
Robert  III. 

£  Sir  Robert  Logan,  of  Restalrig,  was  founder  of  the  monastery.  He, 
or  his  father,  Sir  Robert  Logan,  married  a  daughter  of  Robert  II.  by  his 
queen  Euphemia  Ross. 


404   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

For  William  Mudy,  bischop  of  Caitnes,*  and  Gilbert 
Mudy. 

For  Schir  James  Logane,^  knycht,  and  Dame  Jane,  his 
spous,  and  yair  successouris. 

For  Master  Johne  Gray,  parson  of  Lifton. 

For  Master  Adam  of  Mongamry,  parson  of  Dunkell. 

For  Laurence,  of  Bawlon,  and  Jonat,  his  spous. 

For  Schir  William  Crethton,  lord  of  that  Ilk,  and  his  spous. 

For  Thomas  Turyng,  and  Alison,  his  spous. 

For  Maister  Robert  Steill,  person  of  Dolphynton. 

For  Schir  Johne  of  Crawfurd,  and  Schir  William  of  Craw- 
furd. 

For  Gregory  Logane,  and  Margret,  his  spous. 

For  Johne  Alyson,  and  Cristiane,  his  spous. 

For  William,  of  Strathauchan,  and  Elizabeth,  his  spous.J 

For  Alward  Ysbrand,  and  Agnes,  his  spous. 

For  Thomas  Armonar,  and  Marion,  his  spous. 

For  Andro  Matheson,  and  his  spous. 

For  Jhone  Lambe,  and  Cristiane,  his  spous. 

For  William  Logane,  of  Coitfeild,  and  Annabell,  his  spous. 

For  Patrik  Logane,  of  Coitfeild,  and  Jonat,  his  spous. 

For  Archbald  Hepburn,  in  Hadington,  and  his  spous. 

For  William  of  Clunes,  and  Jonat,  his  spous. 

For  Johne,  of  Lau,  and  Elizabeth,  his  spous. 

For  James  of  Ross,  and  Agnes,  his  spous. 

For  Maister  David  Monypenny,§  Rector  of  Sanctandros'. 

For,  Michel,  of  Chalmur,  and  Jonat,  his  spous. 

*  William  Mudie  was  Bishop  of  Caithness  in  1455. 

f  Sir  James  Logan  was  probably  the  son  and  successor  of  Sir  Robert 
Logan,  founder  of  the  monastery. 

J  A  branch  of  the  house  of  Strachan.  or  Strathauchin,  of  that  ilk,  and 
afterwards  of  Thornton,  were  early  settlers  in  Edinburgh.  During  the 
fifteenth  century  Vincent  Strathauchin  was  a  deputy  clerk  of  the  city. 
John  Strathauchin  is  named  in  1463  as  renting  from  the  corporation  a  shop 
or  booth.— Btirgh  Records  of  Edinburgh. 

§  In  121 1  Ricardusde  Monypenny  obtained  the  lands  of  Pitmilly,  Fife- 
shire,  which  are  still  in  possession  of  the  family.  Master  David  Mony- 
penny, rector  of  St.  Andrews,  was  doubtless  a  member  of  this  sept. 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  405 

For  Dauid  Quhit,  and  Jonat,  his  spous. 

For  William  Morthoson,  Jonat  and  Agnes,  his  spousys. 

For  Edward  Logane. 

For  Laurence  Bertraham,  and  Anot,  his  spous. 

For  Thomas  Bell,  and  Katerine  Bertraham,  his  spous. 

For  James  Wilson — for  Johne  Cant. 

For  Elene  Clerk,  ye  spous  of 

For  Johne  Curig,  procuratour  of  Sanct  Anthonys. 

For  Dene  Alexander  Crawfurd,  preceptor  of  Sanct 
Anthon's. 

For  Johne  Matheson,  in  Broith,  and  Alison,  his  spous. 

For  Walter  Buschart,  and  Marion,  his  spous. 

For  Johne  Lawson,  and  Margret  Cokburn,  his  spous. 

For  Elizabeth  Lawson,  spous  of  ye  Laird  of  Waraston. 

For  Dene  Richard  Thomson,  preceptor  of  Sanct  Anthony. 

For  William  Claperton,  and  Elizabeth  Lummesdan,  his 
spous. 

For  Johne  Culross,  and  Jonat  Lyndesay,  his  spous. 

[Here  follows  the  obituary,  each  day  of  the  week  being 
denoted  by  the  letters  a,  b,  c,  d,  e,  f,  andg.  The  following 
entries  occur  : — ] 

JANUARIUS. 

Obitus  Jacobi  Ross,  anno  domini  m°cccc°lxx. 

MARTIUS. 

(6th.)  Obitus  domini  Roberti  Logane,  militis  donatoris 
fundi  preceptorie  Sanct  Anthonis,  prope  Leith,  anno  domini 
m°cccc°xxxix°. 

(12.)  Obitus  Patricis  Logane,  anno  domini  m°cccclxi. 
(iQth.)  Obitus  Johannis  Lambe,  anno  domini  m°cccclxvi. 

APRILIS. 

(3rd.)  Obitus  Agnetis  Berton,  anno  m°vciii. 
Obitus  Johannis  Curry,  anno  mVxili. 
Obitus  Annabelle  Strathauchyn,  anno  domini  m°cccclxvii. 

MAY. 

(4th.)  Obitus  Johannis  Cant  et  Helene  Clerk,  ejus  spose 
qui  obiit,  anno  domini  mVxxviij0. 


406   TRANSACTIONS   OF  THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

(nth.)  Obitus  David  Quhit,  burgensis  de  Edinburgh,  anno 
m°ccccclxxxxix. 

(iQth.)  Obitus  Laurencii  Bawlon,  et  conjugis  cjus  anno 
m°cccc0lmo. 

Obitus  Johannis  Law,  anno  m°cccclvij°. 

JUNIUS. 

(24th.)  Obitus  Alardi  Ysbrand  et  Agnetis  Joffray  vxoris 
ejus,  anno  m°cccclxij. 

JULIUS. 

(ist.)  Obitus  Willelmi  Clunes  et  Jonete  conjugis  ejus  anno 
m°cccclij. 

AUGUSTUS, 

(i2th.)  Obitus  Laurencii  Bertrem,  et  Anote,  spose  sue 
anno  m°vc. 

SEPTEMBER. 

Obitus  Johannis  Allanson  et  conjugis  ejus  anno  m°cccc 
quarto. 

Obitus  Johannis  Dudyngston,  anno  m°cccclxvi.  Obitus 
Willelmi  Morthoson,  anno  m°ccccxciij. 

OCTOBER. 

Obitus  Jonete  Morthoson,  anno  m°cccclxxxv. 

Obitus  Thome  Armonar  et  conjugis  ejus  anno  m°cccclx. 

NOVEMBER. 

Obitus  Elene  Clerk,  anno  m°cccc°lxxxxix. 
Obitus     Waited     Buchart   et    Mariote,    spose   sue,    anno 
m°vcxxi. 

Obitus  domini  Johannis  Crawfurd,  anno  m°ccccxli. 

DECEMBER. 

Obitus  Eduardi  Logane. 

Obitus  Thome  Bell,  anno  domini  ccccxcix. 

The  following  Inventory  of  documents  connected  with  the 
dissolved  monastery  of  St.  Anthony  was  prepared  by  some 
unknown  person  connected  with  the  Kirk-session  or  incor- 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  407 

porated  trades  at  Leith,  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century.* 

Inventar  of  the  Writes  and  Securities  belonging  to  the  Kirk 
Session  of  South  Leith,  which  are  pairtly  in  their  own  Charter 
Cheast,  and  pairtly  in  the  Charter  Cheast  kept  by  the  four 
Incorporations  of  Leith,  digested  into  some  order  and  method, 
and  beginning  with  the  rights  of  the  preceptory  of  St.  Anton's. 

No.  i.  An  Oblidgement  by  friar  Michaell  Gray,  Master  of  the 
Hospital  of  St.  Anton's  near  Leith,  with  consent  of  his  brethren  of 
the  convent,  in  favors  of  William  of  Clunes  of  Leith,  and  Janet  his 
Wife,  whereby  in  consideration  that  the  said  William  and  Janet,  had 
freely  given  to  God  and  St.  Anton's,  their  Tenement  with  the  perti- 
nents lying  in  the  town  of  Leith,  the  preceptor  oblidges  him  and 
his  successors  to  say  Masses  for  the  souls  of  the  donors,  and  to 
receive  them  into  their  Hospital,  in  manner  and  upon  the  provisions 
therein  mentioned.  It  also  contains  a  reservation  of  an  annualrent 
of  half  ane  merk  each  one,  to  William  and  his  wife,  and  ane  other 
to  Gregory  Logan  and  others.  This  Oblidgement  is  dated  the 
27th  day  of  February  1444.  Sealed  with  St.  Anton's  seal. 

2nd.  Ane  Charter  granted  by  William  Creighton,  Chancelor  of 
Scotland,  with  consent  of  James  Creighton  of  Frendraught  his  eldest 
son  and  apparent  heir,  in  favors  of  the  preceptor  of  St.  Anton's  near 
Leith  and  Convent  of  the  same,  and  their  successors,  of  his  lands  with 
the  pertinents,  lying  in  the  town  of  Leith,  on  the  east  syde  of  the 
water  thereof,  in  the  barony  of  Restalrig  and  sheriffdom  of  Edin- 
burgh, betwixt  the  lands  of  umquhil  John  Pittendreich,  on  the  east, 
and  the  high  way  on  the  west ;  the  lands  of  Sir  John  Winton,  parson 
.of  Pennycuik  on  the  south  and  the  common  shear  on  the  north 
pairts,  on  payment  of  eleven  merks  yearly  with  a  sufficient  chamber 
within  the  territory  and  mansion  of  St.  Anton's,  for  the  sustentation 
of  an  Chaiplain.  This  Charter  is  dated  the  i6th  day  of  May  1448. 

3rd.  Charter  of  confirmation  under  the  great  seal,  confirming  the 
foresaid  charter  of  mortification — this  charter  of  confirmation  is 
dated  the  2Qth  day  of  September  1451  years. 

4th.  Ane  Charter  granted  by  Elizabeth  Lauder,  daughter  and  one  of 
the  heirs  of  umquhil  George  Lauder,  in  favors  of  the  Master  and 
Convent  of  the  place  of  St.  Anton's  near  Leith,  of  an  annual  rent  of 

*  General  Hutton's  Collections,  vol.  v..  Advocates  Library. 


408   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

four  shillings  Scots  yearly  to  be  uplifted  furth  of  ane  land  lying  in 
the  burgh  of  Edinburgh,  under  the  castell  wall  betwixt  the 
land  of  David  Whytehead,  on  the  east,  and  the  land  of  William 
Rhein  on  the  west.  This  charter  is  dated  the  isth  day  of  December 
1491,  and  is  sealed  with  the  granter's  seall,  and  bears  also  to  be 
sealled  with  the  baillies  seall,  in  token  of  his  giveing  infeftment 

5th.  Commission  by  the  Pope  to  William  Mourton,  preceptor  of 
St.  Anton's  near  Leith  in  Scotland,  constituting  him  preceptor  of  the 
said  preceptory,  and  procurator  general  for  managing  the  said 
preceptory,  and  in  gathering  the  revenue  thereof,  and  containing 
several  other  clauses  and  priviledges  dated  at  Rome  the  ipth  day 
of  February  1492.  As  also  another  parchment  bearing  particular 
regulations  with  regard  to  the  apparel  and  ceremonial  observances  of 
the  brethren. 

6th.  An  patent  or  commission  By  Pope  Leo  to  Richard  Thomson 
conferring  the  priviledge  of  the  said  House  or  Hospital  dated  the 
3d  August  1513  and  the  first  year  of  Leo's  popedom. 

7th.  An  Agreement  under  form  of  instrument  betwixt  John  Barton 
elder,  indweller  in  Leith  on  the  one  pairt,  and  Sir  Alexander  Craw- 
furd  preceptor  of  the  house  of  St.  Anton's  near  Leith,  on  the  other 
pairt,  by  which  John  Barton  did  resigne  his  annualment  of  four 
merks  which  he  held  of  St.  Anton's,  out  of  John  Dicksoa's  houses  in 
Leith,  in  the  hands  of  the  said  preceptor  ad  perpetuam  remanentiam, 
for  which  the  preceptors  of  St.  Anton's  were  to  infeft  the  said  John 
and  his  heirs  in  an  rent  of  fourteen  shilling  to  be  uplifted  furth  of 
another  tenement  of  land  lying  in  Leith.  This  Agreement  is  dated 
the  i3th  day  of  May,  1510.  Jasper  Main  notar  thereto. 

8th.  Instrument  of  Seasine  given  by  Sir  Richard  Thomson,  pre- 
ceptor of  St.  Anton's  propriis  manibus  to  John  Innis  and  Margaret 
Lundie  his  spouse  of  an  annual  rent  of  four  merks  Scots  yearly  to  be 
uplifted  out  of  Laurance  Barton's  tenement  of  land  lying  in  Leith, 
betwixt  the  lands  of  St.  Anton's,  on  the  east,  the  croft  or  land  of 
John  Mathieson  on  the  west,  the  land  of  John  Logan  on  the  south, 
and  the  land  of  umquhil  George  Chaplain  on  the  north  pairts.  This 
Seasine  is  dated  the  5th  day  of  December  1519 — John  Thomson, 
notar  thereto.  Sealled  with  St.  Anton's  seall. 

gth.  Charter  by  the  said  Sir  Richard  Thomson,  preceptor  of 
St.  Anton's  to  the  said  John  Innis  and  Margaret  Lundie  his  spouse  of 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITI-I.  409 

the  foresaid  annual  rent  of  four  merks  to  be  uplifted  out  of  the  said 
Laurence  Barton's  land,  dated  the  yth  day  of  December  1519.  Sub- 
scribed by  the  preceptor  and  some  of  the  friars  and  sealed  with  the 
common  seall  of  the  preceptory. 

loth.  Instrument  of  Seasine  given  by  Sir  Richard  Thomson,  pre- 
ceptor of  St.  Anton's  to  Elizabeth  Lawson,  daughter  and  heir  of 
umquhil  John  Lawson,  of  ane  land,  fallen  and  ruinous,  belonging  of 
old  to  John  Lawson  and  Margaret  Cockburn  his  spouse,  lying  in 
the  town  of  Leith,  on  the  south  syde  of  the  water  thereof,  barony 
of  Restalrig  and  sheriffdome  of  Edinburgh,  betwixt  other  land 
of  the  said  umquhil  John  Lawson  on  the  east,  and  the  high  way 
called  the  hill  on  the  west ;  the  land  of  George  Knightson  on  the 
south,  and  the  land  of  Walter  Whyte  on  the  north,  and  of  ane  rent  of 
three  pounds  twelve  shillings  Scots,  to  be  uplifted  out  of  the  foresaid 
lands  of  umquhile  Walter  Whyte,  betwixt  the  foresaid  land  of  umquhill 
John  Lawson  on  the  east  and  south,  the  shoar  on  the  north,  and 
the  common  way  called  the  hill,  on  the  west,  with  a  resignation 
ad  remanentiam  of  the  said  land,  and  annualrent  by  the  said  Eliza- 
beth Lawson  with  consent  of  Andrew  her  husband,  in  the  hands  of 
the  said  Preceptor  of  St.  Anton's  to  be  upon  by  him  and  his 
successors  at  pleasure.  This  Seasine  is  dated  the  i4th  day  of 
November  1523,  John  Thomson  notar  thereto. 

nth.  Instrument  of  Resignation  by  John  Mathieson,  in  the  hands 
of  the  preceptor  of  St.  Anton's,  ad  perpetuam  remanentiam  of  an 
annual  rent  of  ten  shillings  Scots,  to  be  uplifted  out  of  some  lands 
in  Leith  ;  but  both  the  date  of  this  instrument  and  resignation  of  the 
lands  are  torn  away ;  John  Jackson  is  notar  thereto  and  there  is  a 
seall  appended  to  it. 

1 2th.  An  Charter  granted  by  King  James  the  6th,  with  consent  of 
the  Earle  of  Marr  then  Regent,  to  the  Baillies,  Councill  and  Com- 
munity of  the  town  of  Leith,  and  their  successors  for  ever  of  all  lands, 
tenements,  fruits  and  annual  rents,  belonging  to  any  chaplainrys, 
founded  within  any  kirk,  chapell  or  college  within  the  town  of 
Leith.  This  Charter  is  dated  the  loth  day  of  June  1572. 

1 3th.  Copie  of  an  signature,  granted  by  king  James  the  6th  in 
favors  of  Mr.  John  Hay,  one  of  the  ordinary  Clerks  of  Session,  of  the 
preceptory  of  St.  Anton's,  and  of  the  place  or  ground,  where  the  kirk 
of  the  said  preceptory  of  St.  Anton's  stood,  and  of  all  lands,  tene- 
ments, rents,  annual  rents  which  belonged  thereto  (except  the  manse 


410   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

and  four  aikers  of  land  for  the  gleib  conform  to  Act  of  Parliament) 
and  also  of  all  and  sundry  parsonage  teynds  of  the  lands  of  Reid- 
halls,  Collingtoun,  Oxengains,  and  half  lands  of  Cornistoun,  which 
lykewise  pertained  to  the  said  preceptory,  with  the  vicarage  of  the 
haill  paroch  of  Hailles,  and  of  certain  tenements  and  annualrents, 
mentioned  in  the  said  gift,  which  also  formerly  belonged  to  the  said 
preceptory,  by  which  signature  the  foresaid  preceptory  and  benefice 
thereof  is  dissolved  and  suppressed.  And  it  is  ordained  that  there 
should  never  thereafter  any  successor  or  preceptor  be  provided 
to  the  said  preceptory,  and  benefice  thereof,  and  the  vassals 
to  hold  of  the  said  Mr.  John  Hay.  This  paper  is  so  worn  that  it 
cannot  be  all  read,  and  it  wants  the  end  whereby  the  date  cannot  be 
known,  but  it  seems  to  have  been  dated  in  the  year  1592,  and  this 
paper  is  thought  to  be  the  same  with  the  copy  of  Mr.  John  Hays 
gift  of  St.  Anton's,  copied  out  of  Mr.  William  Chalmers  his  book  in 
anno  1633. 

1 4th.  Charter  of  feu  farm  granted  by  the  said  Mr.  John  Hay  to 
Daniell  Hay  his  brother  and  Margaret  Purdie  his  spouse  of  all  and 
haill  that  place  or  ground  on  which  the  kirk  of  the  preceptory  of 
St.  Anton's  near  the  town  of  Leith  of  old  stood,  with  the  kirk  yard, 
mansion  houses,  biggings,  yards,  orchards  and  haill  pertinents  to  be 
holden  of  the  granter,  in  feu  farm  for  payment  of  half  an  merk  yearly. 
This  Charter  is  dated  the  fifth  day  of  March  1592. 

1 5th.  Instrument  of  Seasine  following  thereupon  of  the  same  date, 
Mr.  George  Tod,  notar  thereto. 

1 6th.  Charter  of  confirmation  under  the  great  seal  of  the  foresaid 
feu  farm.  Charter  dated  the  26th  day  of  February  1593. 

1 7th.  Two  Instruments  of  Resignation  by  the  said  Mr.  John  Hay, 
and  Daniell  Hay  his  brother,  of  the  foresaid  Preceptory  of  St.  Anton's 
with  the  place  or  ground  where  it  stood,  and  of  severall  lands  tene- 
ments and  annual  rents,  belonging  thereto,  in  the  hands  of  King 
James  6th,  in  favor  of  the  ministers,  elders,  and  deacons  of  the  Kirk 
Session  of  Leith,  and  their  successors  in  office,  in  name  and  behalf 
of  the  poor  of  the  Hospital  of  Leith  present  and  to  come.  These 
two  instruments  are  dated  the  nth  day  of  August  1596 — David 
Maysie  notar  thereto. 

1 8th.  Instrument  of  Resignation  by  the  Baillies,  Council  and 
Community  of  the  town  of  Leith,  in  the  hands  of  King  James  the  6th 
of  all  lands,  tenements,  rents  annual  rents  belonging  to  any  chaplainrys, 


ST.  ANTHONY'S  MONASTERY  AT  LEITH.  411 

prebendarys  founded  within  the  town  of  Leith,  in  favor  of  the 
ministers,  elders  and  deacons  of  the  kirk  of  Leith  and  their  suc- 
cessors in  office,  in  name  and  behalf  of  the  poor  of  the  Hospital 
there  of  present  and  to  come — This  instrument  is  dated  the  nth  day 
of  August  1596.  Mr.  David  Maysie  notar  thereto. 

igth.  An  Charter  under  the  great  seallby  King  James  the  sixth,  to 
the  minister,  elders  and  deacons  of  the  Kirk  Session  of  Leith,  and 
their  successors  in  office,  in  name  and  behalf  of  the  poor  of  the  Hos- 
pital of  the  same,  present  and  to  come,  of  all  and  sundry  lands,  tene- 
ments and  annual  rents,  which  pertained  to  whatsomever  chaplainrys, 
vicarages  within  the  towns  of  Leith  and  Restalrig  and  of  the  place  or 
ground  where  the  Kirk  of  St.  Anton's  formerly  stood,  and  annual 
rents  and  others  belonging  to  the  said  Preceptory.  This  Charter  is 
dated  the  23rd  day  of  September  1596  and  bears  to  proceed  upon  the 
resignation  of  Mr.  John  and  Daniell  Hays. 

20th.  Precept  of  Seasine  under  the  quarter  seall  relative  thereto, 
and  of  the  same  date  therewith. 

2ist.  Instrument  of  Seasine  following  thereupon,  in  favor  of  the 
said  minister,  elders  and  deacons  dated  the  27th  day  of  November, 
1596,  Patrick  Glassfoord,  notar  thereto. 

22nd.  Assignation  by  the  said  Mr.  John  Hay  to  the  said  ministers 
and  elders  of  Leith,  of  the  byrunne  rents  and  duties  of  the  foresaid 
lands  of  St.  Anton's  dated  the  8th  day  of  October  1596,  which  assig- 
nation relates  to  a  disposition  and  procuratory  of  resignation, 
granted  by  the  said  Mr.  John  Hay,  to  the  said  Kirk  Session,  of  the 
foresaid  lands  of  St.  Anton's. 

23id.  An  Decreet  conform  at  the  instance  of  the  ministers,  elders 
and  deacons  of  the  Kirk  Session  of  Leith,  against  all  and  sundry 
feuars,  tenants  and  possessors  of  any  lands,  tenements,  annual  rents 
belonging  to  St.  Anton's,  or  any  chaplainrys,  prebendarys  within  the 
towns  of  Leith  and  Restalrig  for  the  and  year  1597  and  in 
all  time  coming.  This  decreet  is  sealled  the  day  of  J597; 

it  is  obtained  before  the  Lords  of  Session.  The  extract  is  under  the 
hand  of  Sir  John  Skene,  Clerk  Register,  and  it  proceeds  on  the  charter 
above  mentioned. 

24th.  Letters  of  Horning  raised  thereupon  of  the  same  date  with 
the  decreet,  subscribed  by  Alexander  Lantie;  signeted  the  i2th  day 
of  December  1606.  Registrat  at  Edinburgh  the  4th  day  of  January 
1609 — the  executions  are  lost. 


412   TRANSACTIONS   OF   THE   ROYAL   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY. 

25th.  Contract  of  feu  farm  betwixt  the  ministers,  elders  and 
deacons  of  the  Kirk  Session  of  Leith,  preceptors  of  St.  Anton's, 
heritable  proprietors  of  the  wind  mill,  kiln  houses  and  pertinents 
thereof  diged  in  the  yard  called  St.  Anton's  yard,  lying  upon  the  west 
pairt  of  the  town  of  Leith,  on  the  one  pairt,  and  Mr.  Jeremiah 
Lindsay  of  Dinyne  on  the  other  part,  whereby  the  Session  dispones 
to  him  in  feu  farm  the  said  wind  mill,  kiln  and  houses  thereof,  for 
payment  of  four  pennys  Scots  yearly.  This  contract  is  dated  the  last 
day  of  February  1606. 


413 


INDEX. 


ABBEYHILL,  lands  of,  385 
A-Becket,  Thomas,  263 
Abraham,  Plains  of,  159,   164 — 169 
Act  of  Indemnity,  317 
Prerogative,  321 

—  Resumption,  321 

"  Acts  and  Monuments,  the,  "  of  Foxe, 

30-34,  37-39 

Acts  of  Confiscation,   290 
Edward  II.,  276 

—  Edward  IV.,  276 

Elizabeth,  284,  291,  292 

—  Henry  II.,  266 

—  Henry  III.,  276 

—  Henry  VI.,  279 

Henry  VIII.,  281,  282 

James  I  ,  291 

Settlement,  313,  317,318,  321 

Acts  relating  to  absenteeism,  279,  281, 

282 

Adoption,  custom  of,  17 
Aelfgiva,  176 
Agram,  Makta-ban,  Bishop  of,  331 

,  Balthazar,  Bishop  of,    332 

,  Benedict,  Bishop  of,  332 

,  Conquest  of,  by  John  Vitovetz, 

33.1,  332 

Ailric,  canon  of  Waltham,  191,  200 
Aires,  Irish  Freemen,  241,  242 
Airlie,  Earl  of,  372 
Aldgate,  John  Foxe's  house  in,  29,  30 
Aldred,  Archbishop,  181,  185 
Alexander,    Bailie  Alexander,  of  Aber- 
deen, 356,  357 
—    Cosmo,  of  Aberdeen,  356 

Dr.  John,  of  Aberdeen,  356,  357 

Henry,  357,  365 

—  III.,  Pope,  270,  271 

—  John,  357,  365 

—  Richard,  of  Aberdeen,  356 

Sir  Antony,  357 

—  William,  Lord  Alexander,'  357 

William,   of   Menstry,    Earl    of 

Stirling,  357 

Alfgar,  Earl,  178 


Alford,  battle  of,  379 

Amherst,  General,  156,  163 

Amurath,   Sultan,  329 

Ancestry,  influence  of,  23,  24 

Anna,  Queen  of  the  Romans,  218 

Arbuthnot,   Lord,  360 

Archimedes,  the  sphere  of,  345 — 350 

Argyle,  Earl  of,  359,  363,  375,  378 

Arlotte,   mother  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, 185 

Arundel,  Lord,  47 

Ashworth,  William,  44 

Askew,  John,  80 

Assignation,  bond  of,  80 

Athanasius,  381 

Athole,  Earl  of,  366 

Attinghausen,  Werner  de,  217 

Auchinbreck,   Laird  of,  378 

Auldearn,  battle  of,  379 

Austria,  Leopold,  Duke  of,  220 

,  Albert,    Duke    of,    Emperor    of 

Germany,  217 — 219,  328,  330 
— ,  Frederic,  Duke  of,  219 

Authority,  parental,  12 — 14,  19 

Bagimont's  Roll,  388 

Baillie,  Major-General  William,  379 

Ball,  John,  28 

Baltinglass,  Viscount.  284 

Banbury,  William,  43 

Banfy,  Hungarian  General,  330 

Barclay,    Robert,    Provost    of    Irvine, 

359 

Bards,  ancient  British,  112,  113 

Barker,  Thomas,  389 

Barnabo,  Cardinal,  261 

Barnes,  Sarah,  56 

Barnewall,  John,  282 

,   Patrick,  283 

Baron-Bailies  of  St.  Anthony,  389 

Baronets  of  Ulster,  301 

Barrett,  Mrs.,  34,  54 

Barren,  Rev.  Robert,  Bishop  of  Ork- 
ney, 360,  363 

Bassano,  Mr.,  60 


414 


INDEX. 


Battle  Abbey,  197 

Bavaria,  Louis,  Duke  of,  219 

— ,  Otto,  Duke  of,  335 
Beaufort,     Lady    Joanna,     Queen    of 

James  I.,  403 

Beaumont,  Robert  de,  196 
Beauport  Flats,  battle  of,  160-162 
Bede,  the  Venerable,  253 
Bedford,   Francis,  Earl  of,  7° 
Bellasis,  Colonel,  82 
Bellenden,  Adam,  Bishop  of  Aberdeen, 

373,  374 

Bentinck,  Lord  Woodstock,  321 
Beresford,  Rowland,  77 
Berkely,  Lord,  282 
Bigot,    Francis,     Intendant     of    New 

France,  154,  155 
Billing,  Sir  Henry,  305 
Blackstone,  Sir  William,  228 
Bolingbroke's  Letters,  I 
Bollandists,  "Ada  Sanctorum"  of  the, 

38i 

''Bond,  the  Blind,"  377 
Boniface  VIII.,  Pope,  382 
Bonner,   Bishop,  38 
Boroimhe,  Brian,  King  of  Ireland,  260 
Boscawen,  Admiral,   156- 
Botteler,  Anne,  57,  76 

— ,  Catherine,  56 

— ,  Christopher,  56 

— ,  John,  57 
,  John,  of  Wrathall,  57 

— ,  John,  of  Stapleford,  57 

— ,  Lady  Frances,   57 

— ,  Nicholas,  of  Netherhall,  57 

— ,  Oliver,  76 

— ,  Philip,  57 

— ,  Sir  John,  of  Woodhall,  57 

— ,  Sir  Philip,  of  Watton-at-Stone,  56 
-,  Sir  Robert,  57 


Bouganville,    General,    159,   163,    164, 

168 

Bourlemagne.  General,    157,  163 
Bradstreet,  General,  156 
Brakespeare,     Nicholas    (Pope  Adrian 

IV.),  262,  263 
Brankovich,  George,    Prince  of  Servia, 

328 

,  Catherine,  328,  329 

Brehon  Code,   the,   233,   235,  274,  277, 

280 

Brice,  Thomas,  29 
Bridge  of  Dee,  action  of,  368,  369 
Brigade,  the  Irish,  312,  313 
Britain,  early  settlers  of,  88 

— ,  origin  of  name,  88 
Britons,  ancient,  dress  of,  91,  92 

,  burial  customs  of,  113,  114 

,  coins  of  97,  102 


Britons,  domestic  life  and  manners  of, 

83-116 
,  dwellings  of,  93,  94 

— ,  mode  of  fighting,  96,  97 

— ,  trade  of,  102,  114,  115 

,  villages  of,  95,  96,  98,  99 

Brock,  General,  168 
Brown,  Edward,  77 

— ,  William,  77 
Browne,  Richard,  58 
Bruce,  Edward,  275 
Bruet,  Jane,  73 
Bullinger,  37 
Bulstrode's,  Memoirs,  &c.,  of  Charles  I., 

82,  83 

Burges,  Sarah,  75 
Burglen,  Eberhard  of,  218 
Burial  of  Harold  II.  at  Waltham,  197- 

207 
Burke,  Edmund,  on   Irish  Land  Laws, 

324,  325 

Burleigh,  Lord  Balfour  of,  375,  377,  378 
Burnet,   Sir   Thomas  of  Leys,    Bart., 

360,  367 

,  Alexander,  360 

-,  Andrew,  360 


Burnhill,  Mrx,  56 
— ,  Thomas,  57 
Buxton,  Sir  William  Fowell,  43 

Caen-finny,  The,  239,  240,  294,  295 
Caesar's,  Julius,  description  of  Britain, 

89,  90,  96-98,  105,  106 
Callander,  Earl  of,  374 
Canordes,  Abbot  of  St.  Brendan,  268 
Cant,  Rev.  Andrew,  359,  360,  376 
Canute,  173,  174 

Car,  Robert,  Earl  of  Somerset,  71,  72 
Caron,  Joseph,  145 
Carte's  "  Life    of  Duke  of  Ormond," 

30.3,  3°4 

Cartier,  Jacques,  144,  145 
Carter,  George,  43 
Cashel,  Council  of,  269,  270 
Caste,  22 

Catherine  of  Ara<*on,  28 
Catholicus,  Archbishop  of  Tuam,  268 
Cave,  Elizabeth,  of  Inglesbie,  78 
Cecil,  J.,  46 

— ,  Mr.W.,  46,  48 
Ceiles  ;  Irish  Clansmen,  241,  242 
Celts,  Early  landholding  system  of,  232, 

233 

Ceremonies,  extant,  derived  from  Druid- 
ism,  112 

Champlain,  Samuel  de,  145 — 148 
Chapel   of    St.    Anthony,    Edinburgh, 

391,  392 
Charles  I.,  Scottish  campaign  of,  364 


INDEX. 


415 


Charles    IV.,    Emperor    of  Germany, 

327,  328 
Charters  of   Sir  William   Crichton,  of 

Ilk,  407 
James   Crichton,  of  Frendraught, 

407 
Elizabeth  Lauder,  407 

—  Sir  Richard  Thomson,  Preceptor 

of  St.  Anton's,  Leith,  408,  409 
—  James  VI.,  409-411 
•  John  Hay,  410 


Chattels,   Law  of,  among   early  Irish, 

248—250 

Cherry,  Sir  William,  55 
Chichester,  Sir  Arthur,  280,  292 
Children,  position  of,  in  primitive  socie- 
ties,  12,  15,  1 6 
Chisheshly,  Lady  Henry,  58 
Christian  I.  of  Denmark,  224 
"  Christ  Triumphant,"  a  sacred  drama, 

by  Foxe,  29 
Chronicle,  Bede's,  202,  203 

— ,  The,  of  St.  Alban's,  203,  204 
Chrysostom,  381 
Church,  The   Irish,  under  the  Stuarts, 

297 
,    The    Irish,    at    the    Conquest, 

260 — 262 
Cilly   Barbara  of,  327,  330 

Frederic,    Count   of,    328,    329, 


334 


Hermann,  Count  of,  327-329 

Louis,  Count  of,  328 

Margaret  of,  328 

The  Counts  of,  327-338 

Ulric,  Count  of,   327-331,   334- 

336 

Clanricarde,  Earl  of,  279,  306,  307 

Cledden,  Richard,  55 
— ,  Jovian,  55 

Clontarf,  Battle  of,  260 

Clotworthy,  Sir  John,  317 

"  Clym  of  the  Clough,"  225 

Coinage,  The,  of  Harold  II.,  214,  215 

Colburne,  Margaret,  77 

Colleges,  Early  Irish,  252 

Commonplace  Book,  the,  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Fox,  54-57 

,  Dr.  Thomas  Fox,  57,   58 

Commission   to  William  Morton,  pre- 
ceptor of  St.  Anton's,  Leith,  408 

of   Pope    Leo    X.   to     Richard 

Thomson,  408 

Company,  the,  of  One  Hundred  Asso- 
ciates, 147,  151 

of  Montmorency,  147 

Conde,  Henri  de,  146 

Confiscation  of  the  Ranelagh  Estates, 
303—305 


Constance,  brother  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, 192 
,  Council  of,  Irish  bishop  at,  254., 

255 

Conway,  Lord,  374 
Cook,  Captain  James,  160 
Copland,  Richard,  45 
Coracles,  114 
Corambona,  Vittoria,  47 
Corbet,  Dr.,  65 
-,  Miles,  314 


Costentus,  Geoffrey  de,  273 

Covenant,  The  Scottish  National,  355, 

359,  360—379 

Cranfield,  Lionel,  Lord  Treasurer,  32 
Crawfurd,  Sir  Alexander,  386,  405 
— ,  Sir  John,  404,  406 

,  Sir  William,  404 

Crespin,  Hesilia,  202 
Crichton,  Lord,  361,  362,  365,  372 
— ,    William,  Lord,    Chancellor    of 
Scotland,  385,  404,  407 
Cromlechs,  99,  no 
Cromwell,  Oliver,  312,  314 
Cross,  Walter,  272 
Crown  Point,  Capture  of,  163 
Cuninghame,  Lady  Margaret,  Countess 

of  Lauderdale,  356 
Curranie,  John,  80 

Customs,  social,  among  the  Auseans,  6 
Egyptians  13,   15,  16 
Maiays,  4,   17 
Nairs  of  Malabar,  15 
North  American  Indians,  23,  24 
Pelasgians,  23 
Romans,  17 

Daer-stock,  Law  of,  249 

D'Aigullon,  Madame,  149 

D' Aillebout,  Governor  of  Quebec,  1 50 

Dalgettie,  Laird  of,  365 

Dallow,  Edward,  80 

Philip,  80 

Danish  invasions  of  Ireland,  258-260 

Danvers,  Lord,  66 

D'Argenson,  Baron,  Governor  of  Que- 
bec, 150 

D'Avangour,  Governor  of  Quebec,  150 

Davenport,  Christopher,  59,  79 

Elizabeth,  80 

Davis,  Sir  John,  "  Reports,"  23-79, 
257,  267,  268,  277—279,  288,  289, 

294,  297.  301 
Day,  John,  29—31 
Debentures,  Cromwell's,  313,  314 
De  Breonne,  William,  273 
De  Brito,  Milo,  272 
De  Burgh,  Richard,  273 

— ,  William,  of  Aspatria,  272 


416 


INDEX. 


De  Conteville,  Herluin,  185 

De  Felder,  Richard,  273 

De  Gray,  John,  272 

De  la  Corne,  General,  157 

De  Laval,  Apostolic  Vicar,  1 50 

De  Lausons,  Governor  of  Quebec,  150 

De   Londres,    Henry,    Archbishop    of 

Dublin,  273,  274 

De  Mesy,  Governor  of  Quebec,  1 50 
De  Meulles,  Intendant  of  New  France, 

155 

De  Naas,  William,  272 

Denny,  Sir  Edward,  Earl  of  Norwich, 

56,  64,  208,  209 

,  Henry,  56 

,   Sir  Antony,  64 

Dering,  Mrs.  Antony,  58 
Desmond,  Earl  of,  279,  288,  290 
De  Thouars,  Aymer,  Viscount,  196 
Diary,  The,  of  Dr.  Samuel  Fox,  43—48 

,  Dr.  Thomas  Fox,  57,  58 

Diceto,  Radulphus  de,  269 
Dickson,  Rev.  David,  359,  360 
Digby,  Kenelm,  228 

— ,  Lord,  81,  374 

Dillon,  Viscount,  Case  of,  307  -310 
Dodd,  Dr.  Roger,  Bishop  of  Meath,  55 
Donatus,  of  Padua,  252,  253 
Donegal,  Marquis  of,  289 
Donne,  Dr.,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  62 
Dorlase,  Chief  Justice,  311 
Dorrell,  Mrs.,  58 
Douglas,  Sir  William,  of  Cavers,  359 

— ,  Rev.  Robert,  359 
Drake,  Francis,  47. 
Drakul,  ruler  of  Wallachia,  331 
Drogheda,  Sack  of,  312 
Druidism,  105,  106 
Drum  Castle,  Siege  of,  371 
Dublin,  Patrick,  Bishop  of,  261 
Dunse  Law,  Action  of,  364 
Duquesne,  Fort,  capture  of,  156 
Durrell,  Admiral,  158 

Edgar  Atheling,  180 

Edisried,  Rodolph  de,  217 

Edith,  Swan-necked,  Queen  of  Harold 

II.,  178—200,  214 
Edmund  Ironside,  174,  180 

— ,  son  of  Harold  II.,  175,  214 
Edward  the  Confessor,  176—181 

,  I-,  274 

,  the  Outlaw,  180 

Edwards,  Adam,  77 

Edwin,  Earl,  180,  189 

Einsiedln,  Abbot  of,  219 

Elcome,  Thomas,  59 

Eleatic    school    of   Greek  philosophy, 

13° 


Elizabeth,  Queen,  31,  32,  40,  41,  282 — 
284,  287,  288 

,  Queen  of  Bohemia,  330 

Elizabethan  settlements  in  Ireland,  284 
Erskine,  John,  of  Dun,  360 

,  Lady  Barbara,  392 

— — ,  William,  369,  370 
Epitaph  of  Harold  II.,  208 
Esmond,  Lord,  304,  305 
Essex,  Earl  of,  55 

-,  Countess  of,  71,  72 


Ethelmaer,  174,  175 

Etterlin,  Petermann,  221 

Europe,   Early  settlement    of,    Biblical 

account,  230 
Eustace,  Christopher,  290 

,  Count  of  Boulogne,  195,  196 

,  James,  290 

Fabyan's,  Chronicle,  204 

Faioum,   Monastery  of,  381 

Falkland,  Lord,  306 

Farmer,  John,  208,  212 

Farquharson,  Donald,  of  Monaltrie,  379 

Feistritz,  siege    of,  by  Hunyadi,  332, 

333 

Fire,  St.  Anthony's,  382 — 384 
Finch,  Sir  Moyle,  32,  33,  44,  54 

,  Anne,  54 

Fiscal  division  of  Ireland  by  Henry  II., 

269 

Fitz-Adholm,  William,  266 
Fitzgerald,  Sir  William  Fitzpiers,  304, 

305 
,  John,  290 

— ,  Maurice,  265 
Fitzgibbon,  Lord    Chancellor,  Earl  01 

Clare,  322 

Fitzhenry,  Meyler,  272 
Fitzmaurice,  Gerald,  272 

— ,  Thomas,  272 
Fitznorman,  Elyas,  272 
Fitz-Osborn,  William,  Norman  baron, 

182,   192,  196 
Fitz-Reinard,  Robert,  266 
Fitz-Stephen,  Robert,  265 
Fitz-Thomas,    Maurice,   of    Desmond, 

278 

Fitzwilliam,  Lambekin,  272 
Flaths,  Irish  landholders,  241,  242,  243 
Florence   of    Worcester,  chronicle  of, 

179.  !83>  190,  196 
Forbes,  Alexander,  Master  of,  378 

— ,  Lord,  361,  362,  365.  372,  373 
,    Patrick,   Bishop    of    Aberdeen, 

358,  373 

,  Rev.  John,  D.D.,  of  Corse,  361 

— ,  Sir  William,  of  Craigievar,  365, 
377 


INDEX. 


417 


Forfeiture  of  lands  in  Ireland,  313-322 
Forrester,  Matthew,  387,  388 
Fosterage,  custom  of,  among  the  early 

Irish,  250 
"Four  Masters,  Annals  of  the,"  243, 

244 
Fox,  Agnes,  60 

.Alice,  42,  57-59,  78,80 

,  Andrew,  59 

,  Ann,  44,  49,  54,  56>  59 

,  Captain  Robert,  35,  41,  42,  49, 

50,  55,  58,  59,  69,  7I-85 
-,  Daniel,  59 


,  Dr.,  60 

,  Dr.  Edward,  Bishop  of  Hereford, 

28 
,  Dr.  Samuel,   of  Warlies,  29,  34, 

35.  39,  4°-6o,  76 
,  Dr.  Simeon,   35,   39,  42,  50,  51, 

55,  57,  58-6i,  63 

— ,  Dr.   Thomas,  40-42,  49,  50,  54, 

5».  57,  59,  62-71 

,  Elizabeth,  59 

,  Gregory,  59 

,  Hannah,  59 

,  Isaac,  60 

,  James,  59 

Jane,  41,55,  71 

,  John,  33,  41,  54,  55,  71 

— ,  John,    the  Martyrologist,    28-39, 

59,  62,  63 

,  works  of,  29-34 

,  Lawrence,  59 

,  Mary,  32,  59 

,  Ralph,  32,  59 

,  Reynold,  59 

,  Samuel,  59 

,  Sarah,  41,  56,  59 

,  Thomas,  59 

-,  Ursula,  49,  50,  55-57,  59,  73,  76, 

78 

,  William,  59,  60 

Frangipan,  Count  Gregory,  335 
Fraternity,     the,     of    St.     Anthony's 

Monastery,  Leith — 
,  benefactors  of,  403-405 

,  dress  of,  382 

,  form  of  worship,  401,  402 

,  form  of  admission,  399-401 

,  forms  of  absolution,  396-399 

,  obituary  of,  405,  406 

,  patent  of,  394,  395 

,  possessions  of,  384,  386,  388 

,  preceptors  of,  384-388 

,  privileges  of,  386 

,  rules  of,  399,  400 

Frazer,  Lord,  361,  362,  365,  366,  372, 
378 


Frederic  IV.,  of  Austria,  329,  331,  336, 

337 
Freemen   and  serfs    among  the  Irish, 

241 

Frontenac,  Fort,  capture  of,  156 
Ftteders,  Irish  labourers,  242,  243,  250 
Fuller,  Dr.  Thomas,  36,  64,  70,  211 

Galasius,  Bishop  of  Armagh,  270 

Gardner,  Bishop  Stephen,  28 

Garth,  brother  of  Harold  II.,  175,  193, 

198,  199 

Gavelkind,  a  land  system,  239,  295 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  108 
Geoffreys,  Rev.  Mr.,  56 
Gerrard,  Lady  Catherine,  56 

,  Lord,  8 1 

Gessler,  Hermann,  226 
Gifford,  Walter,   196 
Ginkel,  Earl  of  Athlone,  321 
Glencairn,  Earl  of,  365,  366 
Glendalough,  Thomas,  Abbot  of,  272 
Godwin,  Earl  of  Kent,   173-176,   184, 

192 
Gordon,  Alexander  of  Earlston,  374 

,  Captain  James,  365 

-• — ,  Captain  Nathaniel,  365,  368 

,  George,  Lord,  377,  379 

,  James,  Lord  Aboyne,  365-367 

,  James,  "Scots  Affairs, "355 


,  John,  of  Inchstomock,  369 

,  John,  Lord  Aboyne,  357 

,  Laird  of  Gight,  366 

,  Ludovick,  378 

,  Sir  John,  of  Haddo,  376 

Gorz,  Count  John,  335,  337 

Gospels,  paraphrase  of,  by  Erasmus,  38 

Government,  municipal,  of  Quebec,  151 

,  patriarchal,  25 

Graham,  Sir  Richard,  303-305 
Grandpre,  settlement  of,  144 
Grantmesnil,  Hugh  de,  196 
Grants  of   land   in    Ireland,  271-273, 

321,  322 

Gray,    Michael,  Preceptor  of  St.  An- 
thony's Monastery,  Leith,  384,  386 

,  Obligation  of,  407 

Greene,  Edward,  49 

•,  William,  51 
Gregory,  Nazianzan,  381 

XIII.,  Pope,  47 

resham,  Mrs.  Ursula,  55 

riffith,  King  of  Wales,  178 

rineus,  Jacob,  45 

uild,  Rev.   Principal   William,    359^. 

360 

unhild,  175,  176,  214 

unn,  Colonel,  365,  367,  368 
EE 


418 


INDEX. 


Guthrie,  Rev.  Henry,  of  Stirling,  373 

,  Rev.  John,  Bishop  of  Moray,  372 

Gwinne,  Dr.,  61 
Gynocracy,  15 
Gytha,  174,  176,214 

Racket,  Colonel,  379 
Hailes,  church  lands  of,  385 
Haliday,  Sir  Alexander,  Preceptor  of  St. 

Anthony's  Monastery,  Leith,  385 
Hall,  Robert,;. P.,  55 
Haliiwell,  William,  of  Waltham,  23 
Hamilton,  Marquis  of,  364-366 
Hapsburg,  Counts  of,  216-219 
Harald    Hardrada,   King   of  Norway, 

179,  1 88,  224 

Harding,  John,  of  Brazenose,  31 
Harold  II.,  last  Saxon  king,  173-215 
— -,  "Bluetooth,"  223 

,  grandson  of  Harold  II.,  214 

Harvey,  Dr.,  61 

Hastings,  battle  of,  190197 

Hatley,  Rev.  Nathaniel,   of  Waltham, 

71 

Havering  Palace,  40,  41 
Hay,  Daniel,  389,  410,  411 

,  Honora,  7° 

,  James,  Earl   of    Carlisle,  70,  71, 

206-208 
-,  John,  Clerk  of  Session,  388,  389, 


409-411 

— — ,  Richard,  Canon  of  St.  Geneve, 
356,  735 

Hebert,  Louis,  147 

Henderson,  Rev.  Alexander,  359,  360 

Heneage,  Anne,  32,  33,  44,  54 

,  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Winches- 
ter, 32,  44,  54 

,  Robert,  32 

,  Sir  Thomas,  of  Copt  Hall,  32, 

40,  44,  54 

Heniy  II.,  letters  of,  264,  266 

II,  262-271 

— —  ,  treaty  with  King  Roderic,  268 

- — VIII,  28,  278-281 

,  of  Huntingdon,  190 

Hervey,  of  Mountmorris,  265 

Higden,  Ralph,  chronicler,  203 

Historical  Repetition,  329 — 353 

"  History  of  the  Church"  by  Fox,  29, 
30 

Holland,  Earl  of,  364 

Holmes,  Admiral,  158,  163 

Homberg,  Wernerde,  218 

Honywood,  Anna,  58,  63,  69 

-,  Antony,  64 

,  Elizabeth,  58,  63 

,  Henry,  58,  64 

-- »  Lady,  58 


Honywood,  Mary,  63,  64 

,  Michael,  64 

,  Robert,  58,  63 

Hospitalities ;  a  form  of  tribute,  229 
Hovenden,  Roger,  186,  190,  266 
Howard,  Thomas,  Duke  of  Norfolk,  282 
Ho  well,  Hugh,  ap  Prys,  of  Mossoglen, 

55 

,  Jane,  55 

,  Llowarch,  ap  Bran,  55 

Huber,  Dr.,  Swiss  historian,  217,  218, 

221,  222,  226 
Humbertus,    Augustinian    General    at 

Vienne,  384 
Humphrey,  Dr.,  34 
Huntly,    Marquis    of,    361-363,    370, 

375-378 
Hunyadi,  John,  the  Great,  331-334 

,  Ladislaw,  the  Younger,  334-336 

,  Mathias  Coryinus,  336,  337 

Idealism  and  Realism;  their  historical 
development  among  the  Greeks,  117- 

143 

Ingibiorg,    granddaughter    of  Harold 

II.,  214 

Ingulph,  chronicle  of,  187 
Innes,  John,  387 
Innocent  III.,  Pope,  271 
Inventory  of  Documents  connected  with 

St.  Anthony's  Monastery,   at  Leith, 

406-412 

Inverlochy,  battle  of,  378 
lona,  destruction  of  by  the  Danes,  258 
Ireland,  depopulation  of,  313-316 

early  missions  in,  251-254 

early  notices  of,  233-235 

Norman  conquest  of,  264-269 

settlements  in  under  the  Stuarts, 

288,  300-303 

under  the  Stuarts,  303,  304,  306] 

-^—   under  the  Tudors,  279-288 
Irenseus,  the  founder  of  Christianity  in 

Ireland,  251 
Irvine,  Sir  Alexander,  of  Drum,  371, 

375 
Isle  aux  Noix,  163 

Jaffray,  Alexander,  360,  367 
James  I.,  321,  403 

-  II.,  305 
Jamesone,  George,  painter,  356 

,  Mary,  356 

Jamestown,  settlement  of,  145,  146 

Japan,  Envoys  of,  at  Venice,  46 

Jervis,  Sir  John,  160 

Jewell,  Bishop,  31,  37 

John,  King,  271,  274 

,  XXIII.,  Pope,  274,  27"? 


INDEX. 


419 


Johnstone,  Colonel  William,  363,  367, 
368 

,  Robert,  of  Crimoiid,  363 

Jones,  John,  Irish  Commissioner,  314 
Jonson,  Ben,  64-66 
Joscelin,  of  Poictiers,  382 
Justinger,  Conrad,  221 

Kaplir  of  Sniewitz,  335 

Keith,  William,  Earl  Marischal,  360, 

362,  366,  369,  372,  377 
Kennedy,      James,     Bishop      of     St. 

Andrews,  385,  403 
Keppel,  Earl  of  Albemarle,  321 
Kildare,  Earl  of,  290 
Kilkenny,  Council  of,  275 
Kilsyth,  battle  of,  379 
Kirkt,  Louis,  147 

— ,  Sir  David,  147 

— ,  Thomas,  147 

Klingenberg,  family  of  Thurgovia,  221 
Knight,  Nicholas,  60 
Kormend,  battle  of,  337 

Ladislaus,    Postumus,   King  of    Hun- 
gary, 328,  331,  334-337 

La  Motte   St.    Didier,    Church   of,   at 
Vienne,  382 

Land,    early   divisions  of,    among   the 
Irish,  44 

Landholding,   history    of,    in    Ireland, 
228 — 326 

,  confiscation  in  Ireland,  288-326 

,  feudal,  in  Ireland,  264-288 

,   Scandinavian,    in    Ireland,   256- 

263 

-,  systems  of,  in  Ireland,  236-326 

— ,  Tanistry     System     in      Ireland, 

236-255 

Lane,  Dr.  Carter,  53 
Lanfranc,  260 
Lascelles,    Res    Gesta     Anglorum    in 

Hibernia,  284,  292 
Latham,  Mr.,  "Elements  of  Philology," 

231 

Laud,  Archbishop,  360 
Laupen,  battle  of,  227 
Lawrence,  Colonel,  316,  317 
Laws  affecting  Irish  Papists,  323-326 
League,  Hanseatic,  216 
Leckie,  Laird  of,  373 
Lee,  Sir  Henry,  33 

— ,  Sir  Robert,  55 
Le  Gros,  Sir  Raymond,  265,  266 
Leicester,  Lord,  47 
Le  Moine,  Simon,  150 
Leofwine,  brother  of  Harold  II.,  175, 

193.  199 
Leo  X,  Pope,  Bull  of,  387 


Lesley,   Captain  George,  of   Balgonie, 
3^,  374 

,     General    Alexander,     Earl    of 

Leven,  362-366,  374 

— ,  General  David,  362,  374,  379 

,  Lord  Lindores,  362 

,    Sir   Patrick,   Provost  of    Aber- 
deen, 360,  378 
Letters  of  Agnes  Foxe,  34 

,  Admiral  Pennington,  74,  75 

,  Captain  Robert  Fox,  72,  73 

— ,  James  Hay,  Earl  of  Carlisle,  70 

,  Sir  Thomas  Heneage,  40 

,  Dr.  Samuel  Foxe,  51-53 

,  Dr.  Thomas  Foxe,  65 

— ,  John  Foxe,  34,  35 
Leveson,  Anne,  40-42,  44,  48,  50,  54, 

56,  57 
— — ,  Grisel,  56 

— ,  Mary,  55 

— ,  Sir  J  ohn,  54 
Ley,  Sir  James,  Chief  Justice  of  Ireland, 

300 

Lmacre,  Dr.  Thomas,  58,  61 
Lindsay,   Jeremiah,    of    Dinyne,  389, 

412 
Lismore,  Christian,  Bishop  of,  270 

— ,  college  of,  252,  260 
Logan,  Katherine,  403 

— ,  Edward,  405 

,  Gregory,  404 

,  Patrick,  of  Coitfield,  404,  405 

— ,  Sir  James,  of  Restalrig,  404 

— ,   Sir   Robert,   of  Restalrig,    384, 

403,  405 

,  William,  of  Coitfield,  404 

Lorette,  Canadian  settlement  of,  149 
Lothian,  Earl  of,  359,  374,  378 
Loudon,  Lord,  359 
Louisbourg,  Fort,  capture  of,  156 
Lou  vain,  Henry,  Duke  of,  210 
Lovel,  William,  42,  43,  55 
Ludlow,  Edmund,  314 
Ludquharn,  Laird  of,  365 
Lumsden,  Sir  James,  374 
Lundie,  Margaret,  387 
Luxemburg,  Henry  of,  218,  219 
Lyndesay,  Sir  David,  388 

Magnus,  son  of  Harold  II.,  175,  214 
Maine,  Sir   Henry,   I,  4,  7,   14,  246- 

248,  250 

Malcolm,  Canmohr,  189 
Malet,  Sir  Alexander,  183,  187 

,  William,  202 

Malfred,  granddaughter  of  Harold.  II, 

214 

Marisco,  Geoffrey  de,  273 
Marshall,  William,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  273 


420 


INDEX. 


Mary,  Queen  of  England,  46 
Masere's  "  Gesta  Gullelmi,"  196 
Massingbred,  Sir  Oswald,  290 
Masson,  John,  59 
Matilda  of  Flanders,  185 
Maximian,  Roman  Emperor,  381 
Maxwell,  Provost  of  Dumfries,  376 
.  Megra-hill,  battle  of,  367,  368, 
Menzies,  Sir  Paul,  359 
Merlinus,  Ambrosius,  112,  113 
Mervyn,  Sir  Arthur,  317 
Middlemas,  Samuel,  77 
Middlemore,  Samuel,  57 
Middleton,  Bruce,  46 

,  John,  Earl  of,  368 

Milesius,  founder  of  Irish  Monarchy 

234 

Milton,  Laird  of,  379 
Monarchical  Government,  origin  of,  1-4 
Monastery  of  St.    Anthony,  at  Leith, 

account  of,  380-412 
Monckton,  General,  158,  161,  162,  164, 

1 66,  1 68 

Mondes,  Mrs.  Jane,  55 
Monro,  Major-General,  358,  364,  371- 

373 
Montaigne,  Geoffrey  de,  196 

,  Robert,  Count  de,  196 

Montcalm,  Marquis  de,   155,  157-169 
Montfort,  Count  Hermann  of,  328 
Montmagny,  Governor  of  Quebec,  148, 

149 
Montmorency,  Ducde,  146 

,  River,    158,    159,     161,   162 

Montrose,   Marquis  of,  356,  359,  366- 

370,  377-379 

Monypenny,  Master  David,  Rector  of 
St.  Andrews,  404 

,  Ricardus  de,   of  Pitmilly,  404 

Moodie,  William,  Bishop  of  Caithness, 
404 

Morgan,  Richard,  43 

Morgarten,  battle  of,  220 

Morkere,  Earl,  179,  1 80,  189 

Morphie  (Graham)  Laird  of,  360 

Morton,  Dr.  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Dur- 
ham, 64 

,  William,  Preceptor  of  St. 

Anthony's  Monastery,  Leith,  386 

Mountford,  Dr.,  61 

Mountjoy,  Lord,  288 

Moyle,  John,  58 

Munk,  Dr.,  6 1 

Murray,  General,  158,  163,  165,  166, 
1 68 

Mylne  MSS.,  the,  355,  356 

Nassau,  Adolf,  Count  of,  217 
Nazing,  parish  records  of,  60 


Nennius,  early  British  historian,  108 

Neville,  Margaret,  77 

Newburn,  battle  of,  374 

Niagara,  Fort,  capture  of,  163 

Nicoll,  Jasper,  73 

Norris,  Sir  John,  61 

Nowell,  Dr.,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  33 

O'Brian,  Murad,  273 

,  Phelim,  303—305 

O'Callaghan,  Cahir,  298 — 300 
O'Connor,    Roderic,   King  of  Ireland, 

264,  268,  269 

O'Currey,  Professor,  241,  244,  246 
Odo,  Bishop  of  Bayeux,  185,  192,  194 
O'Dogherty,  Sir  Cahir,  300 
O'Donnell,  Cathbar,  245 

,  Daniel,  245 

,  Sir  Hugh,  of  Newport,  246 

O'Donnovan,  Dr.,  246 
Ogilvie,  Laird  of  Boyne,  378 

,  Thomas,  Lord,  378 

Ogilvy,  Sir  George,  of  Banff,  366,  372 
Olaf,  son  of  Harold  Hardrada,  190 

>  Tryggvasson,  223,  259 

Ollambh  Fodhla,   Code  of,  234,    235, 

244 
O'Neill,  Donald,  274,  275 

,  Earl  of  Tyrone,  288 

,  Shane,  279,  288,  290 

Ordericus  Vitalis,  181,  184,  202 ' 
Orleans,  Isle  of,  149,  158,  163,  164 
Ormond,  Earl  of,  279,  282,  288 

,  Marquis  of,  312 

Orrery,  Earl  of,  317 
Ortemburg,  county  of,  327 
O'Ruarc,  Prince  of  Breffrey,  268 
Osgood,  Canon  of  Waltham,  191,  200 
Ouessant,  89,  90 
Oughton,  Macwilliam,  279 
Overbury,  Sir  Thomas,  71,  72 

Paget,  Lord,  46 

Palladius,  apostle  of  Ireland,  251 

Palliser,  Sir  Hugh,  160 

Papeson,  Cardinal,  262 

Park,  Laird  of,  366 

Parker,  Archbishop,  38 

Parkins,  Dr.,  46 

Parsons,  Christopher,  68 

,  Sir  William,  303-305,  311 

Paul  III.,  Pope,  383 

,  son  of  Harald  Hardrada,  190 

Pean,  Madame,  154 
Pearl-fisheries  in  ancient  Britain,  103 
Peckern,  action  of,  331 
Peltrie,  Madame  de  la,  149 
Pembroke,  Richard,  Earl  of,  265 
Pennington,  Admiral  Sir  John,  74 


INDEX. 


421 


Perrot,  Sir  John,  288 

Peter,  of  Ickham,  203 

Petty,  Sir  William,  314-316,  319 

Philiphaugh,  battle  of,  379 

Philology,    comparative,   as  a  guide  to 

history,  9,  10 
Philosophy,  principal  leaders   of  early 

Greek,  121-124 

,  principles  of  early  Greek,  124-128 

Piers,  Bishop,  61 

Pigs,  St.  Anthony's,  382,  383,  388 

Plato,  138-140 

Plunket,  Nicholas,  309 

Point  aux  Trembles,  163 

Levis,  158,  161,  163,  164 

Poitou  (Pictaviensis),  William  of,  198, 

199,  202 

Pole,  Cardinal,  263 
Polton,  Thomas,  45 
Port  Royal,  144 

Poyntz,  Sir  Nicholas,  of  Acton  Park,  32 
Prendergast,  Maurice  de,  265 

— ,  Philip  de,  273 
Prideaux,  Dr.,  64-66 
Priesthood,  hereditary,  19 
Prior,  Lord,  46 
Privy  Council,  order  of,  315 
Provins,  Guy  de,  383 
Psalter,  the,  of  Cashel,  234,  244,  259 

,  Columba,  245,  246 

,  Tara,  235,  244 

,  Teamhair,  244 

Purdie,  Margaret,  389 
Puritanism,  Greek,  130,  131 
Pursai,  Marquis  de,  321 
Pynmer,  Sir  Nicholas,  302 

Quebec,  early  history  of,  144-148 

,  governors  of,  146-150 

,  origin  of  name,  146 

,  Jesuit  college  of,  148 

,  siege  of,    157-172;   Journal    of 

siege,  159 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  283 

Ralph,   the  Black  (Radulphus  Niger), 

»73.  174 

Ramezay,  Madame,   169 
Ramsay,  Captain  Andrew,  369 

— ,  Rev.  Andrew,  359,  373 
Randall,  Agnes,  28,  34,  36 
,  Anne,  62,  64 

— ,  Henry,  34 

,  Mary,  54 

,  Thomas,  47 

Raphael,  James,  a  Frenchman,  buried 

in  Harold  II.  's  tomb  at  Waltham, 

212,  213 

Ravigney,  Earl  of  Gal  way,  321 


Rebellion,  the  Irish,  of  1641,  310-312 
Recollets,  the,  a  Franciscan  order,  145 
Regensberg,  Liitold  of,  219 
Reginald,  of  Waterford,  267 
Register,  Stationers',  29,  33,  43 

,  Metrical,  of  Marian  martyrs,  29 

"  Rehearsal  of  Events,  the,"  354-379 
"Relations,    the  Jesuit,"  an  historical 

record,   148 
Remains,  Druidical,  in  England,  107-109 

— ,  in  France,   109-111 
"  Rental  Buke  of  Sanct   Anthoni's  and 

Newhaven,"  392 

Renunciation,  Document  of,  384,  385 
Resignation,  Instruments  of,  408-411 
Richard,  Count  of  Evreux,  196 

—  II.,  275 

Richmond,  Duchess  of,  28 
Ridley,  Bishop,  29 

Rig  Tuatha,  or  Irish  King,  242, 243,  245 
Roads,  Roman,  in  Britain,  101,  102 
Robert,  of  Gloucester,  chronicler,  200 
Robinson,  Professor,  160 
,  Timothy,  78 

— ,  William,  of  CoddHall,  67-69 
Roe,  Sir  John,  66 

— ,  Sir  Thomas,  66,  67 
Rohaut,  Reme  de,  148 
Rollock,  Rev.  Mr.,  359 
Rosenberg,  Count  of,  335 
Ross,  Euphemia,  Queen  of  Robert  III. , 

403 

— ,  Rev.  Alexander,  360 
Rothes,  Earl  of,  359 
Rowe,  Sir  William,  54,  55 
Rowlandson,  Lancelot,  46 
Row,  Rev.  John,  376 
Russ,  Melchior,  221,  222 

Saer-stock,  law  of,  248,  249 
Sannabar,  action  of,  330 
Sasine,  Instruments  of,  408,  409,  411 
Saunders,  Admiral,  158,  169 
Saxo  Grammaticus,  222,  223 
Sceorstan,  battle  of,   174 
Scholars,  early  Irish,  252 

,  societies  of,  254 

School,  Merchant  Taylors',  43 

Scott,  Sir  John,  361 

Scrogie,  Rev.  Alexander,  361,  373 

Seaforth,  Earl  of,  379 

Searle,  John,  55 

Seignel,  Robert,  272 

Seisreach,    the   Irish   "  hide  of  land," 

243,  244 

Sempach,  battle  of,  227 
"Seticlius  Mor,"   St.    Patrick's  Code, 

229,  244,  246-250 
Senlac,  position  of,  193 


•422 


INDEX. 


Seton,  John,  of  Pitmedden,  368 
Settlements,  Dutch,  in  America,  146 
Sherly,  Mrs.  Judith,  58 
Shipton,  canonry  of,  31 

,    lease  of,  69,  70 

Sibbald,  Rev.  James,  360,  361,  373 
Sidney,  Lord  Romney,  321 
Sigismund,  Emperor  of  Germany,  328, 

336 

Sigurd,  King  of  Norway,  189 
Silenen,  Arnold  de,  217 
Sillery,  M.,  Knight  of  Malta,  149 
Singleton,  Hugh,  29 
Sixtus  V.,  Pope,  47. 
Skay,  Thomas,  69 
Smith,  Alice,  75 

,  John,  68 

Society,  origin  of,  5,  II,  20,  21 

Socrates,  134-138 

Sonneck,  Barbara,  of,  328 

— —  Hermann,  Baron  of,  and  Count  of 

Cilly,  327 
,  Ulric,   Baron    of,    and  Count  of 

Cilly,  327 

Sophists,  the,  132,  133 
Southampton,  Earl  of,  6l 
Spakling's  "  Memorable  Transactions,'' 

358 

Spelman,  Sir  Henry,  307-309 
Spenser,  Edmund,  "View  of  Ireland," 

237,  238,  280,  283-286 
Spillmart,  James,  F.  R.  S.,  43 

,  Julia,  43  ' 

Springe,  Mrs.,  55 

St.  Anthony,  380-382 

St.  Columbanus,  254 

St.  Gall,  apostle  of  Switzerland,  252 

St.  Leger,  Sir  Anthony,  280 

St.  Patrick,  251 

Stafford,  Sir  P.,  48 

Stamford,  battle  of,  179,  188-190 

Staufacher,  Bailiff  of  Schwytz,  217 

Sternberg,  Count  of,  335 

Stewart,  Ann,  of  Ballechun,  362 

,  Sir  Ludovic,  of  Kirkhill,  356 

Steydeck,  action  of,  329,  330 
Stigand,  Archbishop,  181,  183,  185 
Stirling,  Sir  George,  of  Keir,  359 
Strachan,  John,  369 
Strathauchin,  Annabel,  405 

,  John,  4^4 

,  Viscount,  404 

— •— ,  William  of,  404 

Succession,  Female,  in  Ireland,  276 

Suffolk,  Duchess  of,  29 

Suger,  Abbe,  382 

Sulgen,  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  253 

,  John,  Descr.ption  of  Ireland,  253, 

254 


Surrender,  Instrument  of,  67-69 

Sutherland,  Earl  of,  379 

Sweyn,  brother  of  Harold  II.,  175,  176 

,  King  of  Denmark,  189 

Swift,  Dean,  324 

Szekelyi,  nephew  of  Hunyadi,  333 

Taillefer,  193,  194 
Talbot,  George,  46 

,  George,  Earl  of  Waterford,  282 

Tanistry,  system  of,  233,  236-255,  282, 

291-296,  300 

Tapestry,  the  Bayeux,  184,  185 
Taylor,  Robert,  poet,  207 
Tell,  William,  foreign  myths  of,  222-226 

-,  family  of,  222 

Tenure  in  capite,  308-310 

Terry,  Sir  William,  56 

Thompson,  Henry,  58 

Thomson,    Richard,    Sacristan   of    St. 

Anthony's   Monastery,    Leith,    387, 

400,  408,  409 

Throgmorton's  Conspiracy,  47 
Tippermuir,  battle  of,  377,  378 
Toggenburg,  Counts  of,  219 
Toman,  Count  of  Croatia,  334 
Tomb  of  Harold  II.,  207,  208 
Tombstone  Inscriptions,  60,  62,  63 
Toni,  Ralph  de,  196 
Tostig,  brother  of  Harold  II.,  175,  176, 

179,  188-190 
Townshend,   General,    158,    161,    162, 

165,  1 66,  1 68,  169 
Tracy,  Governor  of  Quebec,  149 
Treatise  on  the  Eucharist,  by  Foxe,  31 

— ,  on  Justification,  by  Foxe,  34 
Trimleton,  Lord,  282 
Tullibardine,  Lord,  365,  366 
Turgesius,  Danish  Chief,  258,  259 
Turing,  Thomas,  385 
Turreff,  town  of,  366 
Twysden,  Judge,  54 

— ,  Sir  William,  54 
Twysden's  "Decem  Script  ores,"  54 

Ulf,  Sprakalegr,  174,  175 
— ,  son  of  Harold  II.,  175,  214 

Ulster,  Baronets  of,  307 
— ,  Settlement  of,  288,  300 

,  Tenant  Rights,  302 

Urban,  Pope,  271 

Urrie,  Colonel  John,  378,  379 

Uvedale,  Dr.,  211 

Valoignes,  Hamonde,  272 

Vaudreuil,  Marquis  de,  154 

Vere,  Martin,  46 

Vico,  2,  5 

Victring,  Abbot,  John  of,  221 


INDEX. 


423 


Villiers,  Elizabeth,  Countess  of  Orkney, 
321 

ViniStatuta,  386,  389      . 

Vita  Haroldi,  198,  199 

Vitovetz,  John,  Bohemian  partisan,  ex- 
ploits of,  329-334,  337,  338 

Wace's  Chronicle  of  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, 183,  184,  186-188 

,  "Roman  de  Brut,"  1 86 

— ,  "  Roman  de  Ron,"  184 
Wake,  Miss,  74"  ' 
Waldemar,  King  of  Holingard,    175, 

214 

Walker,  Dr.,  46 

Waltham  Abbey,  177,  186,  187,  190, 
191,  197-203 

,  churchwardens'  accounts  of,  59, 

60,  78,  8 1 

,  Foxe's  house  at,  28 

,  MS.,  the,  201,  206 

,  parish  records  of,  32,  37,  38,  59, 

77,  78,  80 
Waltheof,  Earl,  205 
Wardlaw,      Henry,     Bishop     of    St. 

Andrews,  384 
Warenne,  William  de,  196 
Warlies,  estate  of,  41-43 
Warner,  Ursula,  58 
Washington,  George,  156 
Weaver,  John,  Irish  Commissioner,  314 
Well,  St.  Margaret's,  392 
Wendover,  Roger  of,  190,  204 
Wentworth,  Sir  Thomas,  Earl  of  Straf- 

ford,  306,  310,  312 
Wilkina  Saga,  the,  224 
Wilkinson,  Dr.,  66 

William,  Duke  of  Normandy,  179, 
181-184,  188,  191-198 

,  Evreux,  196 

,  HI.,  321 

,  Malmesbury,  174,  183,  197,  199 

Willoughby,  Richard,  46 

Wills,  the,  of  Samuel  Fox,  48-50 

,  of  Henry  Wollaston,  79 

,  Thorne,  78 

Willys,  Agnes,  80 
,  Adeliza,  80 


Willys,  Anne  Fox,  58,  59,  79,  80 

; Colonel  William,  58 

Henry,  80 

Hester,  43 

lone,  80 

John,  80 

Lady  Alice  (see  Foxe,  Alice) 

Lady,  of  Ditton,  58 . 

—  Richard,  of  Ditton,  79 

Sir  Richard,  58,  59,  70,  79-82 

Sir  Thomas,  79,  80 

—  Sir  Thomas-Fox,  42,  58,  79,  80 

Sir  William,  43 

William,  of  Hackney,  42,  80 


"Winch,  Sir  Humphrey,   Chief  Justice 

of  Ireland,  300 
Winkelried,  Arnold  de,  227 
Winterthur,  John  of,  220 
Wladislaw,  King  of  Poland,  330,  331 
Wolfe,  General,  156,  158-172 
Wollaston,  Edward,  50,  56,  76,  77 
,  Henry,  of  Fishers,  50,  56,  57,  59, 

68,  75-81 

,  Anne,  56,  76,  77 

,  Elizabeth,  77 

,  Francis,  76,  78 

,  Judith,  78 

,  Oliver,  78 

,  Richard,  78 

— ,  Samuel,  76,  77 

,  Sarah,  77 

,  Thomas,  76-78      .  ..' 

,  Ursula,  76,  77 

— ,  William,  76,  78 
Wollastons,  the,  of  Shenton,  75 

— ,  the,  of  Waltham,  77-79 
Wood,  Owen,  Dean  of  Armagh,  55 
,  Hugh,  of  Tallylyn,  55 

— ,  Sir  Henry,  of  Bonnington,  359 

,  William,  of  Woodhall,  55 

Wulfnoth,  brother  of  Harold  II.,  174- 

I76 
Wyss,  George  de,  226 

Ysbrand,  Alward,  404,  406 

Zagoria,  county  of,  328 
Zulistan,  Earl  of  Rochford,  321 


ERRATA. 

Page  47,  line  7,  for  dog,  read  dag. 

,,      47,  „   IS,  „   "age  call,  „  tragical 

»      53,  »>  *7,  »i    awful,  „  lawful. 

»»      53,  >>  3°,  „   alces,  ,,  aloes. 

„      58,  ,,   I7»  „   egunt,  ,,  agunt. 

,,    280,  ,,     i,  „    Roman,  ,,  Norman. 

,,    280,  ,,     3,  „   Hibernus,  „  Hibernis. 

,,    282,  ,,     7,  ,,    Harvard  „  Howard. 

>,    3O2,  ,,  23,  ,,   latter,  ,,  letter. 

,,    307,  ,,   15,  „    Dilton,  ,,  Dillon. 

„    312,  „     8,  „    Stafford,  „  Strafford. 


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