drew in most of the Princes and Nobles of France to adventure their Persons and much of their estates with him As Robert Fitz Harvay Duke of Orleance the Earls of Britaine Ponthieu Bulloigne Poyctou Maine Nevers Hiesms â—umarl Signior de Tours yea and Martel his enemy Earl of Anjou Indeed it was strange that these great men of France should adventure their lives and Fortunes to add England to Normandy and so great a Crown to a Duke who was too great for them already But where God hath determined alterations in Kingdoms and States all things shall concurr to promote the same The King of France who should have most opposed was now a Child and under the Tutorship of Baldwin Earl of Flanders Duke William's Father in Law and therefore from thence he was sure of furtherance rather than hinderance And to delude the young King he promised faithfully if he conquered England to hold it of the Crown of France as he did his Dutchy of Normandy And to make the Pope his friend he promised him to hold it of the Apostolick See Whereupon the Pope sent him a consecrated Banner an Agnus Dei and one of Saint Peter's haires The Emperour also sent him some Forces under the command of one of the Princes of the Empire And being thus encouraged and furnished within eight months he was ready with a powerful Army at Saint Valery in Normandy to transport himself into England in 896 Ships But now let us see how affairs stood in England King Edward the Confessor being himself without issue had in his lifetime sent into Hungary for his Nephew Edward called the Outlaw the Son of Edmund Ironside intending to make him his Successour to the Crown but he dying soon after his arrival in England King Edward then gave his Son Edgar the name of Etheling or Prince Edgar meaning to design him for his successour but was prevented by death before he had fully established him and Edgar Etheling though he had right yet being young and a stranger here and so wanting power to make good his right Herald the Son of Earl Godwin stept into the Throne and though hereby violating of holy Rights he offended the Clergy yet not any either of the Clergy or Laity durst oppose him as being the most Martiall man in the Kingdom and such an one as the state of the Realm then stood in need of And besides his own worth he had the assistance of Edwin and Marchar the two great Earls of Yorkshire and Chester Indeed King Edward had appointed the Crown sometimes to William Duke of Normandy sometimes to Edgar Etheling and sometimes to this Herald who was now Crowned by Aldred Archbishop of York And being possessed of the Throne he was able to make good his Title yet to make Prince Edgar some part of amends he created him Earl of Oxford And Herald being thus setled carried himself with great valour and Justice for the time he enjoyed it which was but nine months He made all provisions for defence that a politick and active Prince could do The first man that begun to disturb his new Government was his younger Brother Toustaine who in King Edward's Reign being made Governour of Northumberland for his pride and barbarous cruelty was banished the Kingdom and now by reason of his former hatred against his Brother was easily set on by the Duke of Normandy and Baldwin Earl of Flanders who had married his two Daughters to Duke William and Toustaine to assail Herald He first assailed the Isle of Wight and then set upon the coast of Kent from whence he was chased by Herald and forced to withdraw into the North where seeking to land he was thence repulsed by the Earls Marchar and Edwin whose Sister Herald had married Then he craved aid of the Scots and afterwards of Harald Harfager King of Norwey who was excercising Piracy about the Orchades with him he prevailed and so uniting their Forces they landed about Tinmouth and from thence marched into the heart of the kingdom But near Stamford King Herald of England met them with a strong Army and after a long and cruel fight ended the day with victory and the death both of Toustaine and the King of Norway No sooner was this Battel over but with his wearied and broken Forces he was called to a more fatal business in the South For now Duke William of Normandy pretending a right to the English Crown by the Testament of the late King Edward his kinsman upon the advantage of King Herald's being so far off with his Army landed at Pemsey near to Hastings in Sussex and Herald being informed of it gathering together his broken Forces increasing them as much as he could by the way with all possible speed he hasted to give the Duke Battel Duke William as soon as he had landed his men sent his ships away that so they might think of nothing but either Victory or Death Then going himself on land his foot slipt and he fell down which some of his company took for an ill signe No said he I have by this taken possession of this Land Many attempts were made to compound the difference between Herald and William but Herald would hearken to none presuming of success and judging it a disgrace to capitulate for that which was his own And when one of his Brothers called Gyrth intreated him to consider what a fearful thing it was to break an Oath which he had so solemnly sworn Herald judged that nothing which he had done being a private man could be of force to him being now a Prince Anno Christi 1066. October the fourteenth being also Herald's Birthday and his Soldiers thinking to honour him thereby having spent the night in revelling and drinking whereas the Dukes men spent it in quietness and devotion they joyned Battel the Kentish men being placed in the Front as by antient custom was their due and King Herald with his Londoners leading the main Battel where though the number of their Armies was not much unequall each of them having above sixty thousand men yet was there great odds in the expertness of the Souldiers and more in their weapons For the Duke had with him all the flower of France and Flanders whereas King Herald had lost his best men in the late fight and for weapons the Normans had long Bowes which then were not in use among the English it 's no marvel then though the Normans got the Victory And though Herald lost his life yet he lost not his credit and the English shewed no less valour though they were Conquered than the other did in Conquering For King Herald like an expert General had ordered his men in so firme a Body that no power of the Normans could disorder their ranks till Duke Wìlliam used this Stratagem He made his men to retire and to counterfeit flight by which meanes he drew the English on upon an
he overcame Herald The Abbey of Selby in Yorkshire And a third near London called Saint Saviours He founded also the Priory of Saint Nicholas at Exeter and gave great Priviledges to Saint Martins Le Grand in London In Normandy he founded an Abby at Caen and he gave to the Church of Saint Stephens there two Mannors in Dorsetshire one in Devonshire an other in Essex much Land in Bark shire some in Norfolk an house in Woodstreet London with many Avowsions of Churches In his time Saint Pauls Church being burnt down Maurice Bishop of London began this which is now standing A work so admirable and stupendious that many thought it would never have been finished Towards the building of the East end of it the King gave the choice Stones of his Castle in the West end of the City in which place afterwards was founded a Monastery of Black Friers And after the death of Maurice Richard his next successor gave all the Rents of his Bishoprick towards the building of this Church yet the finishing of it was left to his successors About the same time William Bishop of Durham founded University Colledge in Oxford In the twentieth year of his Reign their happened so great a fire in London that from the West Gate to the East Gate it consumed all the Houses and Churches at which time as was said before Pauls Church was burnt down Burning Feavers also consumed the People Murrains devoured an infinite number of Cattel great Rains and Floods destroyed the Fruites of the Earth whence ensued a great Famine and by them the Hills were so softned and undermined that some of them fell and overwhelmed the Neighbouring Villages Tame Fowls as Hens Geese Peacocks c. fled into the Woods and Forests and turned wild Odo the Kings Brother Bishop of Bayeux hoping to obtain the Popedom had heaped up vast Treasures for the purchasing of it But as he was about to begin his journey he was seized upon by the King and imprisoned and his House being searched there were found such heaps of Gold as caused admiration in all that saw it and many of his Bags were drawn out of Rivers where they were laid full of Gold beaten to Powder King William wanting mony seized upon the Plate Jewels and Treasure within all the Monastries in England Pretending that the Rebels had conveyed their Riches into these Religous Houses as into Sanctuaries and priviledged places to defraud him thereof He made also all Bishopricks and Abbyes that held Baronies alwayes free before to contribute to his Wars and other occasions We left King William sick at Roan occasioned partly by heat and partly by the leap of his Horse which brake the inward Rim of his Belly And perceiving his approaching Death he made his Will wherein he commanded that all his Treasure should be distributed to Churches Ministers and the Poor appointing to each their several portions His Dukedom of Normandy he left to his eldest Son Robert to whom he had formerly given it His Kingdom of England he left to his second Son William And Henry his youngest Son surnamed Beauclark hearing himself neglected by his Father with tears said And what Father do you give me the King answered Five thousand pounds of Silver out of my Treasury But replied he what shall I do with the Treasure if I want an Habitation His Father answered Be patient my son and comfort thyself in God suffer quietly thy Elder Brothers to go before thee Robert shall have Normandy and William England but thou in time shalt have intirely all the honour that I have gotten and shalt excell thy Brethren in Riches and Power His Son William he sent away into England and by him Letters to Archbishop Lanfranc His Prisoners he commanded to be set at liberty and then dyed September the ninth in the fifty sixth year of his Dutchy the twenty first of his Kingdom and the sixty fourth of his age Anno Christi 1087. No sooner had this late Glorious Princes Soul left his Body but his Dead Corps was presently abandoned by his chiefest Followers who posted away every one to defend his own whilst his menial Servants despoiled him of his Armor Vessels Apparel and all princely furniture leaving his Dead Body naked upon the floor where it lay stinking till one Harluins a poor Country Knight at his own cost undertook to cary it to Caen unto Saint Stevens Church formerly founded by this King At his entrance into Caen the Monks came forth to meet him But at the very instant a sudden fire happening presently invaded a great part of the City whereupon his Hearse was forsaken by all every one applying himself to help to quench the fire After which being carried to Church and the Stone Coffin set ready which was to receive the Body one Ascelinus Fitz-Arthur stood up and forbad the burial saying This very place was the floor of my Fathers House which this dead Duke violently took from him and here upon part of my Inheritance founded this Church This ground therefore I challenge and in Gods behalf forbid that the Body of my Despoiler he covered in my Earth neither shall it be interred within the precincts of my right Whereupon they were forced to compound with him for a present sum of money and for one hundred pound weight of Silver afterwards to be paid and so the Exequies went forward But when the Corps came to be laid into the Tomb it proved too litle and the belly being pressed and not bowelled brake and with an intollerable stink so offended the by-standers that with great amazement they all hasted away and the poor Monks were left to shuffle up the Burial who also were glad when they gat to their Cells He was of an indifferent stature of a comly person of a good presence till his corpulency increasing with age made him unweildy of so strong a constitution that he was never sick till a litle before his Death His strength such that few men could draw his Bow Of wit ready and very Politick In Speech Eloquent Resolute in attempts In hazards valiant A great Souldier and very successful His Charters of an other tenour and very brief as may appear by one that run thus 1 William the third year of my Reign Give to thee Norman Hunter to me that art both leese and Deer The Hop and the Hopton and all the Bounds up and down Under Earth to Hell above the Earth to Heaven From me and mine to thee and thine As good and as faire as ever they mine wear To witness that this is sooth I bite the whitewax with my Tooth Before Jugg Maud and Marjery and my youngest Son Henry For a Bow and a broad Arrow when I come to hunt upon Yarrow His only wife was Mathilda or Maud Daughter to Baldwin the fifth surnamed the Gentle Earl of Flanders by whom he had Robert surnamed Curtois or Short Thighs who
succeeded his Father in the Dutchy of Normandy whereof he was dispossessed by his Brother Henry King of England at the Battel of Ednarchbray Anno. 1106. where being taken Prisoner his eyes were put out and he was sent to the Castle of Cardiff in Wales and after twenty years imprisonment died there William the elder surnamed Miser who in the right of Queen Maud was Earl of Flanders who died six years before his Father Richard was born in Normandy and as he was hunting in the new Forrest whilst he was young was slain by a Stag. William surnamed Rufus who succeeded his Father in the Kingdom of England Henry surnamed Beau-clerk or the Fine Schollar who after his Brothers Death came to be King of England and Duke of Normandy Cicily his eldest Daughter was by her Father made a Nun and afterwards was chosen Abbess in the Monastery built by her father in Caen. Constance his second Daughter was first married to Allain Earle of Little Britaine who was afterwards by King William made Earl of Richmond Alice his third Daughter was married to Steven Earl of Bloys Gundred his fourth Daughter was married to William Warren who was the first Earl of Surry in England Ella his fifth Daughter some say she dyed young Margeret his youngest Daughter who was contracted to Alphonso King of Galicia in Spain but dyed before the marriage was consummated There was one Randolph Peverel to whom Edward the Confessor was very bountifull because he had married his kinswoman the Daughter of Ingelrick a man of great Nobility among the English Saxons A Lady of that admirable beauty that with her looks she conquered the Conquerour William who desired nothing more than to be her Prisoner in Armes which to effect he begins to express a kind of love to the remembrance of her deceased Father Ingelrick enriching the Colledge of Martins Le Grand in London first founded by him and her Uncle Edward Then he honours and advances her two Brethren William Peverel Castellane or keeper of Dover Castle and Payne Peverel Baron of Bourn in Cambridgshire the Founder of Barnwell Abbey and Standard-bearer to Robert Duke of Normandy in the Holy War against the Infidels He prefers her kindred and Friends He sollicites her by the Messengers of the Devils Bedchamber his fly Enchanting Bawdes and comes sometimes himself like Jupiter in a Golden shower Thus by these forcible demonstrations of his love and unavoidable allurements especially from a King she was brought at length to his unlawfull Bed unto whom she bare a Son named William who was Lord of Nottingham and Founder of Lenton Abby The Lady his Mother touched with remorse of Conscience for her sin to expiate her guilt for such was the Doctrine taught in those dayes founded a College in Hatfield Peverel in Essex wherein setting apart all worldly imployments she spent the remainder of her dayes King William having once setled himself in the Kingdom divided a great part of it among his followers To Allen surnamed the Red Earl of Britain who came into England with him and was his Son in Law he gave the Honour and County of Edwin within the Province of York by his Charter in these words I William surnamed the Bastard King of England give and grant to thee my Nephew Allen Earl of Britain and to thy Heirs for ever all those Villages Towns and Lands which were late in the possession of Earl Edwin in Yorkshire with Knights Fees Churches and other liberties and customes as freely and as honourably as the said Edwin held them Given at the siege before York FINIS His Pedigree * or Rolls His Birth and Parentage He is made Duke of Normandy and commited to the French King He comes into Normandy His troubles by Competitors The King of France against him New troubles Treason against him A special Providence He retires to the French King His Valour and Victory His meekness His new troubles He recovers his Towns His Valour A new Conspiracy He calls a Parlament His Marriage He is envied by the French King who invades his Country The French beaten The King of France invades his Country again and is again beaten The King of France dies He goes into England His preparations His Policy His subtilty The affairs in England Herald made King An. 1066. His prudence and policy His opposition and successe His victory Duke William comes into England His policy The Battel between him and Herald Their mutual valour Herald slain Englands sins Duke Williams victory His Progress The English submit to him A stout Abbot He comes to London Is received with Joy His Coronation No Conquerour His Prudence The Kentish mens Policy * or Fitz-Osburne King William goes into Normandy Returns into England His Prudence and Policy The English rebel * or Malcolâ—â— He built 4 Castles Troubles out of Ireland In the West and North. England invaded by the Danes and Scots York burnt King William goes against them Woful devastations The King Conquers New discontents Ely taken King William's clemency Peace with Scotland A new Conspiracy Discovered Prevented His son Robert rebels Is reconciled to his Father New-Castle built Quarrels with France The French King jeers him His reveng His sickness The Tower built England surveied Dooms-day Book New forrest made Remarkable Judgments The Laws in French Bishops Power abated His houshold Provision The Charter of London renewed Bishops Sees Changed his works of Piety Pauls Church burnt and reedified Great Judgments He despoiles the Monasseries His last VVill. His Death Vanity of Vanties His Charecter His Wife His Sons His Daugters