the said Geffrey appointed Walden to bee the principall place and seat of his honour and Earledome for him and his Successours The place where hee built the Abbay had plenty of waters which rising there continually doe runne and never faile Late it is ere the Sunne riseth and shineth there and with the soonest he doth set and carry away his light for that the hilles on both sides stand against it That place now they call Audley End of Sir Thomas Audley Lord Chancellour of England who changed the Abbay into his owne dwelling house This Thomas created by King Henry the Eighth Baron Audley of Walden left one sole daughter and heire Margaret second wife to Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke of whom hee begat Lord Thomas Lord William Lady Elizabeth and Lady Margaret The said Thomas employed in sundry Sea-services with commendation Queene Elizabeth summoned by Writ unto the High Court of Parliament among other Barons of the Realme by the name of Lord Howard of Walden And King James of late girded him with the sword of the Earldome of Suffolke and made him his Chamberlaine who in this place hath begunne a magnificent Building Neere to another house of his at Chesterford there was a Towne of farre greater antiquity hard by Icaldun in the very border of the Shire which now of the old Burgh the rusticall people use to call Burrow Banke where remaine the footings onely of a Towne lying in manner dead and the manifest tract of the very walles Yet will I not say that it was VILLA FAUSTINI which Antonine the Emperour placeth in this Tract and albeit Ingrata haud lati spatia detinet campi Sed rure vero barbaróque laetatur It takes not up large ground that yeelds no gaine But Country like is homely rude and plaine Yet dare not I once dreame that this is that Villa Faustini which in these and other Verses is by that pleasant and conceited Poet Martiall depaincted in his Epigrams The fieldes heere on every side as I said smell sweetly and smile pleasantly with Saffron a commodity brought into England in the time of King Edward the Third This in the moneth of â—uly every third yeere when the heads thereof have been plucked up and after twenty daies spitted or set againe under mould about the end of September they put foorth a whitish blew flower out of the middle whereof there hang three redde fillets of Saffron we call them Chives which are gathered very early in the morning before the Sunne rising and being plucked out of the flower are dried at a soft fire And so great increase commeth heereof that out of every acre of ground there are made fourescore or an hundred pounds weight of Saffron while it is moist which being dried yeeld some tweâ—â—y pound in weight And that which a man would marvell more at the ground which three yeeres together hath borne Saffron will beare aboundance of Barley eighteene yeeres together without any dunging or manuring and then againe beare Saffron as before if the inhabitants there have not misinformed me or I mis-conceived them More into the South is Clavering seated which King Henry the Second gave unto Sir Robert Fits-Roger from whom the family of Evers are issued The posterity of this Sir Roger after they had a long time taken their name of their fathers forename or Christen-name according to that ancient custome as Iohn Fitz-Robert Robert Fitz-Iohn c. afterwards by the commandement of King Edward the First they assumed from hence the name of Clavering But of these I am to speake in Northumberland Stansted Montfichet heere also putteth up the head which I will not passe over in silence considering it hath been the Baronie or habitation in times past of the family De Monte Fisco commonly Mont-fitchet who bare for their Armes three Cheverus Or in a shield Gueles and were reputed men of very great nobility But five of them flourished in right line and at the last three sisters were seized of the inheritance Margaret wife of Hugh De Boleber Aveline wedded to William De Fortibus Earle of Aumarle and Philip wife to Hugh Playz The posterity male of this Hugh flourished within the remembrance of our great Grandfathers and determined in a daughter married to Sir Iohn Howard Knight from whose daughter by Sir George Vere descended the Barons Latimer and the Wingfeldes And a little below is Haslingbury to bee seene the residence of the Barons Morley of whom I shall speake more in Norfolke And close to this standeth an ancient Fort or Military fense thereof named Walbery and more East-ward Barrington Hall where dwelleth that right ancient Family of the Barringtons which in the Raigne of King Stephen the Barons of Montficheâ— enriched with faire possessions and more ennobled their house in our fathers remembrance by matching with one of the daughters and coheires of Sir Henry Pole Lord Montacute sonne of Margaret Countesse of Salisbury descended of the Bloud Royall Neither is Hatfield Regis commonly called of a broad spread Oke Hatfield Brad-Oake to be omitted where Robert Vere Earle of Oxford built a Priory and there lieth entombed crosse-legged with a French inscription wherein he is noted to be first of that name Robert and third Earle of Oxford After the comming of the Normans Mande the Empresse Lady of the English for so shee stiled herselfe created Geffrey De Magnavilla usually called Mandevil son to William by Margaret daughter and heire of Eâ—do the Steward or Shewar the first Earle of Essex that shee might so by her benefits oblige unto her a man both mighty and martiall Who in those troublesome times under King Stephen despoiled of his estate made an end of his owne turbulent life with the sword And hee verily for his wicked deeds as I finde in an old Writer justly incurred the worlds censure and sentence of excommunication in which while hee stood hee was deadly wounded in the head at a little Towne called Burwell When he lay at the point of death ready to give his last gaspe there came by chance certaine Knights Templars who laid upon him the habit of their religious Profession signed with a red Crosse and afterwards when hee was full dead taking him up with them enclosed him within a Coffin of Lead and hunge him upon a tree in the Orchard of Old Temple at London For in a reverent awe of the Church they durst not bury him because he dyed excommunicated After him succeeded Geffry his sonne who was restored by Henry the Second to his fathers honours and Estate for him and his heires but he having no children left them to his brother William who by his wife was also Earle of Albemarle and dyed likewise in his greatest glory issuelesse Some yeares after K. John promoted Geffrey Fitz-Petre Justicer of England a wise and grave Personage unto this honour in consideration of a great masse of
place at this day is called Buxton well which being found by experience holsome for the stomach sinewes and the whole body George Earle of Shrewesbury lately beautified with buildings and so they are begunne againe to bee resorted unto by concourse of the greatest Gentlemen and of the Nobility At which time that most unfortunate Lady Mary Queene of Scots bad farewell unto Buxton with this Distichon by a little change of Caesars Verses concerning Feltria in this wise Buxtona a quae calidae celebrabere nomine lymphae Fortè mihi posthac non adeunda vale Buxton that of great name shalt be for hote and holsome baine Farewell for I perhaps shall not thee ever see againe But that these hote waters were knowne in old time The Port-way or High paved Street named Bath-gate reaching for seven miles together from hence unto Burgh a little Village doth manifestly shew Neere unto this Burgh there standeth upon the top of an hill an old Castle sometimes belonging to the Peverels called The Castle in the Peake and in Latin De Alto Pecco which King Edward the Third together with a Manour and an Honour gave unto his sonne John Duke of Lancaster what time as hee surrendered the Earledome of Richmond into the Kings hands Under which there is a Cave or hole within the ground called saving your reverence The Devils Arse that gapeth with a wide mouth and hath in it many turnings and retyring roomes wherein forsooth Gervase of Tilbury whether for wane of knowing trueth or upon a delight hee had in fabling hath written that a Shepheard saw a very wide and large Country with Riverets and Brookes running heere and there through it and huge Pooles of dead and standing waters Notwithstanding by reason of these and such like fables this Hole is reckoned for one of the wonders of England neither are there wanting the like tales of another Cave but especially of that which is called Elden Hole wherein there is nothing to bee wondred at but that it is of an huge widnesse exceeding steepe and of a mervailous depth But whosoever have written that there should bee certaine tunnels and breathing holes out of which windes doe issue they are much deceived Neither doe these Verses of Alexander Necham which hee wrote as touching the Mervailes of England agree to any of these two holes Est specus Aeolijs ventis obnoxia semper Impetus è gemino maximus ore venit Cogitur injectum velamen adire supernas Partes descensum impedit aura potens A Cave to strong Aeolian windes alwaies enthral'd there is From two-fold tunnell maine great blasts arise and never misse A cloth or garment cast therein by force aloft is sent A mighty breath or powrfull puffe doth hinder all descent But all the memorable matters in this high and rough stony little Country one hath comprised in these foure Verses Mira alto Pecco tria sunt barathrum specus antrum Commoda tot plumbum gramen ovile pecus Tot speciosa simul sunt Castrum Balnea Chatsworth Plura sed occurrunt quae speciosa minùs There are in High Peake Wonders three A deepe Hole Cave and Den Commodities as many bee Lead Grasse and Sheepe in pen. And Beauties three there are withall A Castle Bath Chatsworth With places more yet meet you shall That are of meaner worth To these Wonders may be added a wonderfull Well in the Peake Forest not farre from Buxtons which ordinarily ebbeth and floweth foure times in the space of one houre or thereabout keeping his just Tides and I know not whether Tideswell a Mercate Towne heereby hath his name thereof The Peverels who I have said before were Lords of Nottingham are also reported to have beene Lords of Darby Afterward King Richard the First gave and confirmed unto his brother John the Counties and Castles of Nottingham Lancaster Darby c. with the honours thereto belonging with the honour also of Peverell After him these were Earles of Derby out of the family of Ferrars so far as I am able to gather out of the Registers of Tutbury Merivall and Burton Monasteries William Ferrars sonne to the Daughter and heire of Peverell whom King John with his owne hand as we finde in an ancient Charter invested Earle of Darby William his sonne who bruised with a fall out of his Coach died in the yeere 1254. And this Williams sonne Robert who in the Civill Warre lost this Title and a great estate by forfeiture in such sort as that none of his posterity although they lived in great port and reputation were ever restored to that honor againe But most of this Roberts possessions K. Henry the Third passed over unto Edmund his owne younger son and King Edward the Third I write out of the very originall Record by authority and advise of the Parliament ordained Henry of Lancaster the sonne of Henry Earle of Lancaster Earle of Darby to him and his heires and withall assigned unto him a thousand markes yeerely during the life of his father Henry Earle of Lancaster From that time this Title was united to the line of Lancaster untill King Henry the Seventh bestowed the same upon Thomas Lord Stanley who before had wedded Margaret the Kings mother to him and the heires males of his body He had for his successour his Grandsonne Thomas begotten by George his sonne of Ioan the heire of the Lord Strange of Knocking this Thomas had by the sister of George Earle of Huntingdon Edward the third Earle of this Family highly commended for hospitality and affability who by the Lady Dorothy Daughter to the first Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke begat Henry the fourth Earle efts-once honourably employed who left by Lady Margaret Daughter of Henry Earle of Cumberland Ferdinand and William successively Earles of Darby Ferdinand dyed in strange manner in the flower of his youth leaving by Margaret his Wife Daughter of Sir John Spenser of Althorp three Daughters Anne marryed to Grey Bruges Lord Chandos Francis Wife to Sir Iohn Egerton and Elizabeth Wife to Henry Earle of Huntingdon William the sixth Earle now enjoyeth that Honour having issue by Elizabeth Daughter to Edward late Earle of Oxford ANd thus much of the Counties of Nottingham and Darby of which they inhabited a part who in Bedes time were called Mercij Aquilonares that is The Northern Mercians for that they dwelt beyond the Trent Northward and they held as hee saith The land of seven thousand Families This County holdeth in it Parishes 106. CORNAVII HAving now travailed in order through the Countries of the ancient CORITANI I am to survey the Regions confining which in ancient time the people called CORNABII or CORNAVII inhabited The derivation or Etymologie of whose name let others sift out As for my selfe I could draw the force and signification of that word to this and that diversly but seeing none of them doth aptly answere to the nature of the place or disposition of the people
Sampford archbishop of Dublin In the same yeer the King of Hungary forsaking the Christian faith became an Apostata and when hee had called fraudulently as it were to a Parliament the mightier potentates of his land Miramomelius a puissant Saracene came upon them with 20000. souldiers carrying away with him the King with all the Christians there assembled on the even of Saint John Baptists day as the Christians therefore journied the weather that was cleere and faire turned to be cloudie and suddenly a tempest of haile killed many thousands of the Infidels together The Christians returned to their owne homes and the Apostata King alone went with the Saracenes The Hungarians therefore crowning his sonne King continued in the Catholike faith MCCLXXXIX Tripolis a famous citie was laied even with the ground not without much effusion of Christian blood and that by the Soldan of Babylon who commanded the images of the Saints to bee drawne and dragged at horses tailes in contempt of the name of Christ through the citie newly destroyed MCCXC Inclyta Stirps Regis Sponsis datur ordine legis In lawfull guise by hand and ring Espoused is the Kings off-spring The Lord Gilbert Clare tooke to wife the Ladie Joan a daughter of the Lord King Edward in the Abbey or Covent Church of Westminster and the marriage was solemnely celebrated in the Moneth of May and John the Duke of Brabant his sonne married Margaret the said Kings daughter also in the Church aforesaid in the moneth of July The same yeere the Lord William Vescie was made Justice of Ireland entring upon the office on Saint Martins day Item O Molaghelin King of Meth is slaine MCCXCI Gilbert Clare the sonne of Gilbert and of the Ladie Joan of Acres was borne the 11. day of May in the morning betimes Item there was an armie led into Ulster against O-Hanlon and other Princes hindering the peace by Richard Earle of Ulster and William Vescie Justice of Ireland Item the Ladie Eleanor sometime Queene of England and mother of King Edward died in the feast of St. Iohn Baptist who in the religious habite which she desired led a laudable life for the space of foure yeeres eleven moneths and sixe dayes within the Abbey of Ambresby where she was a professed Nun. Item there resounded certaine rumours in the eares of the Lord Pope Martin on the even of St. Mary Maudlen as touching the Citie Acon in the holy land which was the only refuge of the Christians namely that it was besieged by Milkador the Soldan of Babylon an infinite number of his souldiers and that it had been most fiercely assaulted about fortie daies to wit from the eighth day before the Ides of April unto the fifteene Calends of July At length the wall was plucked down by the Saracens that assaulted it and an infinite number of them entred the Citie many Christians being slaine and some for feare drowned in the sea The Patriarch also with his traine perished in the sea The King of Cypres and Otes Grandison with their companies pitifully escaped by a ship Item granted there was unto the Lord Edward King of England by the Lord Pope Martin the tenth part of all the profits of Ecclesiasticall benefices for seven yeeres in Ireland toward the reliefe of the holy land Item the eldest sonne of the Earle of Clare was borne MCCXCII Edward King of England eftsoones entred Scotland and was elected King of Scotland Lord John Balliol of Galwey obtained the whole kingdome of Scotland in right of inheritance and did homage unto the Lord Edward King of England at New-castle upon Tine on S. Stephens day Florentius Earle of Holland Robert Brus Earle of Carrick John Hastings John Comyn Patrick Dunbar John Vescie Nicolas Soules and William Roos who all of them in that kingdome submitted themselves to the judgement of the Lord King Edward Item a fifteene of all secular mens goods in Ireland was granted unto the soveraign Lord King of England the same to be collected at the feast of S. Michael Item Sir Peter Genevile Knight died Item Rice ap Meredyke was brought to York and there at horses tailes drawne c. MCCXCIII A generall and open war there was at sea against the Normans Item no small number of the Normans by fight at sea was slain by the Barons of the Ports of England and other their co-adjutors between Easter and Whitsuntide For which cause there arose war between England and France whereupon Philip King of France directed his letters of credence unto the King of England that he should make personall appearance at his Parliament to answer unto Questions which the same King would propose unto him whose mandate in this behalf being not fulfilled straightwaies the King of France declaring by the counsell of the French the King of England to be outlawed condemned him Item Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester entred with his wife into Ireland about the feast of S. Luke MCCXCIV William Montefort in the Kings counsell holden at Westminster before the King died sodainly which William was the Dean of S. Pauls in London in whose mouth the Prelates Bishops and Cleargy putting their words which he was to utter and doubting how much the King affected and desired to have of every one of them and willing by him to be certified in whom also the King reposed most trust being returned to the King and making hast before the King to deliver expresly a speech that he had conceived became speechlesse on a sodain and fell downe to the ground and was carried forth by the Kings servants in their armes in piteous manner In regard of which sight that thus happened men strucken with feare gave out these speeches Surely this man hath beene the Agent and Procurator that the Tenths of Ecclesiasticall benefices should bee paied to the King and another author and procurer of a scrutinie made into the fold and flocke of Christ as also of a contribution granted afterward to the King crying against William Item the Citie of Burdeaux with the land of Gascoigne adjoining was occupied or held by the ministers of the King of France conditionally but unjustly and perfidiously detained by the King of France for which cause John Archbishop of Dublin and certaine other Lords of the Nobilitie were sent into Almaine to the King thereof and after they had their dispatch and answer in Tordran the Lord Archbishop being returned into England ended his life upon S. Leodegaries day The bones of which John Sampford were enterred in the Church of Saint Patrick in Dublin the tenth day before the Calends of March. The same yeere there arose debate betweene Lord William Vescy Lord Justice of Ireland for the time being and the Lord John Fitz-Thomas and the said Lord Williliam Vescy crossed the seas into England left Sir William Hay in his stead Justice of Ireland but when both of them were come before the King to fight a combat under an Appeal for treason the foresaid
mother to Edward Courtney the last Earle of Devonshire of that house and on the other side of the quier Iohn de Beaufort Duke of Somerset with his wife Margaret daughter and heire to Sir Iohn Beauchamp of Bletneshoe whose daughter Margaret Countesse of Richmond and mother of King Henry the Seventh a most godly and vertuous Princesse erected a Schoole heere for the training up of youth But now will I turne my pen from the Church to the Towne when the Danes by their crafty devices went about to set the Englishmen together by the eares and would have broken that league and unitie which was betweene King Edward the Elder and his cosen Aethelwald Aethelwald then lusting after the Kingdome and wholly set against his liege Prince fortified this towne as strongly as possibly he could But so soone as Edward came towards him with his forces and pitched his tents at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now called Badbury he fled and conveied himselfe to his confederates the Danes This Badbury is a little hill upon a faire doune scarce two miles off environed about with a triple trench and rampier and had by report in times past a Castle which was the seate of the West-Saxon Kings But now if ever there were any such it lieth so buried in the owne ruines and rubbish that I could see not so much as one token thereof But hard by a sight I had of a village or mannour called Kingston Lacy because together with Winburne it appurtained to the Lacies Earles of Lincolne unto whom by covenant it came from the Earles of Leicester by the meanes of Quincie Earle of Winchester For King Henry the first had given it to Robert Earle of Mellent and of Leicester and at the last both places from the Lacies fell unto the house of Lancaster whose bountie and liberalitie Winburne had good triall of From this Winburne Stoure as it passeth admitteth Alen a little brook over which standeth S. Giles Winburne the habitation of the worshipfull and ancient house of Astleys Knights also Wickhampton the inheritance sometime of the Barons de Maltravers of whom the last in the raigne of Edward the Third left behind him two daughters onely the one wedded unto Iohn de Arundell grandfather to Iohn Earle of Arundell who left unto his posteritie the title of Barons de Maltravers the other wife of Robert Le-Rous and afterwards of Sir Iohn Keines Knight From hence the Stoure passeth on by Canford under which not long ago Iames Lord Montjoy studious in Minerall matters began to make Calcanthum or Vitriol we call it Coperas and to boile Alome And out of which in old time Iohn Earle of Warren to the great disteining of his owne good name and the damage of England tooke as it were by strong hand and carried away as it is to be seene in our Chronicles Dame Alice Lacey the wife of Thomas Earle of Lancaster And now by this time Stoure leaveth Dorsetshire behind him and after hee hath travelled through some part of Hantshire at length taketh up his lodging in the Ocean and yet not before hee hath entertained a pretty river that runneth to Cranburne a place well watered Where in the yeare of Salvation 930. Aelward a noble Gentleman surnamed for his whitenesse Meaw founded a little monasterie which Robert Fitz-Haimon a Norman unto whom fell the possessions of the said Aelward leaving heere one or two Monkes in a cell translated to Theoksbury From whom in order of succession by the Clares Earles of Glocester and Burghs Earles of Ulster it came to Lionell Duke of Clarence and by him to the Crowne But now Cranborne hath his Uicount now Earle of Salisburie whom King Iames for his approved wisedome and worth honored first with the title of Baron or Lord Cecil of Essendon and the next yeare after of Vicount Cranborne South from hence lieth Woodland emparked sometime the seat of the worshipfull family of Filioll the heires whereof were married to Edward Seimor after Duke of Somerset and Willoughby of Wallaton As touching the Earles and Marquesses of this shire King William the Conqueror having now by conquest attained to the Kingdome of England made Osmund that was Earle of Seez in Normandie both Bishop of Sarisbury and afterward also the first Earle of Dorset and his Chancellor highly admiring the godly wisedome of the man and his notable good parts Long after that King Richard the Second in the one and twentieth yeare of his raigne advanced Iohn de Beaufort Iohn of Gaunt his sonne and Earle of Sommerset to be Marquesse Dorset of which dignitie King Henry the Fourth in hatred of Richard the Second deprived him And when as in the high Court of Parliament the Commons of England there assembled who loved him very dearely made earnest intercession that the said dignitie of Marquesse might bee restored unto him hee himselfe distasting this new title and never heard of before those daies utterly refused it And then his younger brother named Thomas Beaufort was created Earle of Dorset who afterward for his warlike prowesse and valour was by King Henrie the Fifth adorned with the title of Duke of Excester and with the Earledome of Harcourt For he valiantly defended Harflew in Normandie against the Frenchmen and in a pitched field encountring the Earle of Armignac put him to flight After he was dead without issue King Henry the Sixth nominated out of the same house of Lancaster Edmund first Earle afterwards Marquesse Dorset and lastly Duke of Somerset whose sonnes being slaine in the civill wars Edward the Fourth when as now the family of Lancaster lay as it were over troden in the dust created Thomas Grey out of the house of Ruthin who was his sonne in law for the King had espoused the mother of the said Grey Marquesse Dorset when in right of his wife he had entred upon a great state and inheritance of the Bonvilles in this country and the territories adjoyning After him succeeded in the same honour Thomas his sonne and Henrie his nephew by the said Thomas who also was created by King Edward the Sixth Duke of Suffolk having wedded Lady Frances daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk and Neece unto King Henry the Eighth by his sister This Duke in Queene Maries daies being put to death for high treason learned too late how dangerous a thing it is to marrie into the bloud royall and to feed ambitious hopes both in himselfe and in others From that time the title of Dorset was bestowed upon none untill King Iames at his first entrance into this Kingdome exalted Thomas Sackvill Baron of Buckhurst and Lord high Treasurer of England a man of rare wisedome and most carefull providence to the honour of Earle of Dorset who ended his life with suddaine death 1608. and left Robert his sonne his successor who deceasing within the yeare left the said honour againe to Richard his hopefull sonne whom he
begot of the Lady Margaret Howard Daughter to the late Duke of Norfolk In this Countie are numbred Parishes 248. BELGAE VPon the North and East side of the Durotriges bordered in times past the Belgae who as it is by the name probable and by authority of writers very likely passed over from the Belgae a people in Gaule into Britaine For those Belgae having their beginning as Caesar according to the information he had from the men of Rhemes of the Germans and in old time being brought over the Rhene finding the sweetnesse and fertility of the place expelled the Gaules and planted themselves there From whence as the same Caesar saith they gat them over into Britaine for to spoile and in warlicke manner to invade the country and were all of them called after the name of those countryes from whence they came where after they had made warre they remained and began to till the grounds But at what time they came hither to dwell it is not certainly knowen unlesse Divitiacus King of the Suessones who flourished before Caesars time brought over the Belgae hither For a great part as well of Gaule as of Britaine he had under him Whence also they were named Belgae it is not sufficiently shewed Hubert Thomas of Liege a great learned man supposed Belgae to be a German word for that the Germans use to call the French and the Italians Wallen as strangers yea and some of them Welgen Iohn Goropius himself a Belgian maintaineth it to be derived of the word Belke which in the Belgicke tongue signifieth wrath or anger as if they would be sooner incensed with choler than others But seeing that the name of the Belgae seemeth not to be sought for out of that tongue which the Germans of the Low-countries use at this day and is almost the same that our English-Saxon language for from the Saxons it came whom Charles the Great brought over into Brabant and Flanders for my part I will in no wise diminish their credit who fetch it forth of the ancient Gaules tongue which remayneth in manner uncorrupt among our Welch-Britans and will have them called Belgae of Pell which in that tongue betokeneth Remote or far off For of all Gaule they were the furthest and as they were furthest from the civill behaviour and humanity of the Roman Province so they were also in situation and seat and the Poet hath shewed that the Morini were the people of all Belgica most remote when he wrote thus Extremique hominum Morini that is The morini of all men furthest But come we now to our Belgae who inhabited far and wide in Somersetshire Wiltshire and the inner parts of Hantshire SOMERSETSHIRE THe Countie of Somerset commonly called Somersetshire is a verie large and wealthy Region the North side whereof the Severne Sea beateth upon the West part confineth with Denshire in the South it bordereth first upon Devonshire and then upon Dorsetshire Eastward upon Wiltshire and North-east upon part of Glocestershire The Soile verie rich yeelding for the most part thereof passing great plentie both of pasture and corne and yet not without stonie hilles Exceeding populous and full of Inhabitants furnished also with commodious havens and ports sufficiently Some thinke it was so called for that the aire there is so mild and summer-like and in that sence the Welch Britans at this day terme it Gladerhaf borrowing that name out of our English tongue And verily howsoever in summer time it is a right summer-like Country yet surely in winter it may worthily be called a winterish Region so wet and weely so miry and moorish it is to the exceeding great trouble and encombrance of those that travell in it But I will beleeve that this name without all question grew from Somerton a famous Towne in ancient time and of all others in the shire most frequented considering that Asserius a writer of great antiquitie calleth this Countie in every place Somertunensis that is Somertunshire In the very first limit of the shire Westward where Ex riseth in a solitarie and hilly moore first appeareth Dulverton a silly market according to the soile and neere unto it was a small religious house of Black-chanons at Barelinch who in latter times acknowledged the Fetyplaces their founders Higher upward on the Severne side where this shire confineth upon Devonshire first we meet with Porlock in the English-Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Watchet in times past Wecedpoort roades both and harbours for ships the which in the yeere 886. were most grievously afflicted by the Danish cruell piracies Betwixt them standeth Dunster Castle upon a flat and low ground enclosed round about with hilles saving to the Sea-ward built by the Moions or Mohuns From whose heires by agreements and compositions it came in the end to the Lutterels A right noble and mightie house this of the Mohuns was for a long time and flourished from the verie Conquerours daies under whose raigne that Castle was built unto the time of King Richard the Second Two Earles there were of this Countie out of that familie as I shall shew hereafter William and Reginald who in the Barons warre lost that honor The Posteritie afterwards were reputed Barons of whom the last named Iohn left three daughters Philip wife to Edward Duke of Yorke Elizabeth wedded to William Montacute Earle of Sarisburie the second of that name and Maud Joyned in marriage to the Lord Strange of Knokin The Mother of which three Ladies as the report goes obtained of her husband so much pasture-ground in Common by the Towne side for the benefit of the Inhabitants as she could goe about in one day barefoot SOMERSETTENSIS Comitatus Vulgo Somersett Shyre Qui â—lim pars fuit BELGARVM Now to returne the river Ivel from hence runneth to ISCHALIS mentioned by Ptolomee now Ivelcester named in the Catalogue of Ninnius if I be not deceived Pontavel Coit for Pont-Ivel Coit that is Ivel bridge in the wood by Florentius of Worcester Givelcester at this day of small account but onely for the antiquitie and the market there kept for peeces of the Roman Caesars or Emperours money of gold brasse and silver are other whiles here digged up That in old time it had been a great towne and on some sides strengthned with a double wall the ruines declare and two towers upon the Bridge About the time of the Normans comming in well peopled it was and much frequented For reckoned there were in it one hundred and seven Burgesses A sure place also in those daies and well fortified for in the yeere of Grace 1088 when the Nobles of England had conspired plotted against King William Rufus to put him downe and set up his brother Robert Duke of Normandie in his Roiall throne Robert Mowbray a warlike man having burnt Bathe forcibly assaulted this towne but with lost labour yet what hee could not doe then long processe of time
Alice his onely daughter being wedded unto Richard Nevill augmented his honour with the title of Earle of Salisburie who siding with the house of Yorke was in the battell fought at Wakefield taken prisoner and beheaded leaving to succeede him Richard his sonne Earle of Warwicke and Salisburie who delighting in dangers and troubles enwrapped his native countrey within new broiles of Civill warre wherein himselfe also left his life The one of his daughters named Isabell was married unto George Duke of Clarence brother to King Edward the Fourth and shee bare him a sonne called Edward Earle of Warwicke who being a very child and innocent was by King Henrie the Seventh beheaded like as his sister Margaret suffered the same death under King Henrie the Eighth An usuall pollicie and practise among suspicious Princes For the securitie of their own persons and their posteritie by one occasion or other that evermore are soone offered and as quickly pickt to make away or keepe under the next of their bloud Anne the other daughter of Richard Nevill Earle of Warwick and Salisburie became wife to Richard Duke of Glocester brother to King Edward the Fourth and brought him a sonne whom his uncle King Edward in the 17. of his reigne created Earle of Salisburie and Richard his father usurping the kingdome made Prince of Wales But he departed this life in his tender yeares about that time that his mother also died not without suspition of poison King Henry the Eighth afterward about the fifth yeare of his raigne in a full Parliament restored and enabled in bloud Margaret daughter to George Duke of Clarence to the name stile title honour and dignitie of Countesse of Salisburie as sister and heire to Edward late Earle of Warwick and Salisburie And about the 31. yeare of the said King she was attainted in Parliament with divers others and beheaded when she was 70. yeares old Since which time that title of honour was discontinued untill in the yeare of our Lord 1605. our Soveraigne Lord King Iames honored therewith S. Robert Cecill second sonne of that Nestor of ours William Cecill upon whom for his singular wisedome great employments in the affaires of State to the good of Prince and Countrey he had bestowed the honorable titles of Baron Cecill of Essendon and Vicount Cranburn Thus much of the Earles of Salisburie Lower still and not far from this Citie is scituate upon Avon Dunctone or Donketon a burrough as they say of great antiquitie and well knowne by reason of the house therein of Beavois of Southampton whom the people have enrolled in the number of their brave worthies for his valour commended so much in rhyme to posteritie This Salisburie is environed round about with open fields and plaines unlesse it be Eastward where lieth hard unto it Clarindon a very large and goodly parke passing fit for the keeping and feeding of wild beasts and adorned in times past with an house of the Kings Of which parke and of the twentie groves inclosed therein Master Michael Maschert Doctor of the Civill lawes hath prettily versified in this wise Nobilis est lucus cervis clausura saronam Propter a claro vertice nomen habet Viginti hinc nemorum partito limite boscis Ambitus est passus mille cuique suus A famous Parke for Stag and Hind neere Salisbury doth lie The name it hath of one faire downe or hill that mounts on hie Within the same stand xx groves enclos'd with severall bound Of which in compasse every one a mile containes in ground Famous is this Clarindon for that heere in the yeare 1164. was made a certaine recognition and record of the customes and liberties of the Kings of England before the Prelates and Peeres of the Kingdome for the avoiding discentions betweene the Clergie Iudges and Barons of the Realme which were called The Constitutions of Clarnidon Of the which so many as the Pope approved have beene set downe in the Tomes of the Councels the rest omitted albeit Thomas Becket then Archbishop of Canterburie and the rest of the Bishops approved them all Heereby is Jvy Church sometime a small Priory where as tradition runneth in our grandfathers remembrance was found a grave and therein a corps of twelve foote and not farre of a stocke of wood hollowed and the concave lined with lead with a booke therein of very thicke parchment all written with Capitall Roman letters But it had lien so long that when the leaves were touched they fouldred to dust S. Thomas Eliot who saw it judged it to be an Historie No doubt hee that so carefully laied it up hoped it should be found and discover somethings memorable to posteritie Toward the North about sixe miles from Salisburie in these plaines before named is to bee seeene a huge and monstrous piece of worke such as Cicero termeth Insanam substructionem For within the circuit of a Ditch there are erected in manner of a Crowne in three rankes or courses one within another certaine mightie and unwrought stones whereof some are 28. foote high and seven foote broad upon the heads of which others like overthwart pieces doe beare and rest crosse-wise with a small tenents and mortescis so as 〈◊〉 le frame seemeth to hang whereof wee call it Stonehenge like as our old 〈◊〉 â—â—rmed it for the greatnesse Chorea Gigantum The Giants Daunce The 〈…〉 whereof such as it is because it could not be so fitly expressed in 〈…〉 caused by the gravers helpe to bee portraied heere underneath as it 〈…〉 weatherbeaten and decaied A. Stones called Corsestones Weighing 12. tunne carrying in height 24. foote in breadth 7. foote in compasse 16. B. Stones named Cronetts of 6. or 7. tunne weight C. A place where mens bones are digged up Our countrie-men reckon this for one of our wonders and miracles And much they marvaile from whence such huge stones were brought considering that in all those quarters bordering thereupon there is hardly to be found any common stone at all for building as also by what meanes they were set up For mine owne part about these points I am not curiously to argue and dispute but rather to lament with much griefe that the Authors of so notable a monument are thus buried in oblivion Yet some there are that thinke them to bee no naturall stones hewne out of the rocke but artificially made of pure sand and by some glewie and unctuous matter knit and incorporate together like as those ancient Trophies or monuments of victorie which I have seene in Yorkshire And what marvaile Read we nor I pray you in Plinie that the sand or dust of Puteoli being covered over with water becommeth forthwith a very stone that the cesternes in Rome of sand digged out of the ground and the strongest kind of lime wrought together grow so hard that they seeme stones indeed and that Statues and images of marble chippings and small grit grow together so compact and firme
menaces and censures were sent out from the Bishop of Rome against these Archbishops For these Monkes were in bodily feare least this would bee their utter undoing and a prejudice unto them in the Elections of the Archbishops Neither were these blustering stormes allaied untill the said Church newly begunne was laid levell with the ground Adjoyning hard to this is the most famous mercate towne and place of trade in all this shire which at this day they call The Burrough of Southwarke in Saxon speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Southworke or building because it standeth South over against London the Suburbs whereof it may seeme in some sort to bee but so large it is and populous that it gives place to few Cities of England having beene as it were a corporation by it selfe it had in our fathers daies Bayliffes but in the reigne of King Edward the Sixth it was annexed to the Citie of London and is at this day taken for a member as it were of it and therefore when wee are come to London wee will speake more at large thereof Beneath this Burrough the Tamis forsaketh Surry the East bound whereof passeth in a manner directly downe from hence Southward neere unto Lagham which had their Parliamentarie Barons called Saint Iohn de Lagham in the reigne of Edward the First whose Inheritance came at length by an heire generall to Iohn Leddiard and some-what lower in the very angle well neere where it bendeth to Southsex and Kent stands Streborow Castle the seate in ancient time of Lord Cobham who of it were called of Sterborow where the issue proceeding from the bodies of Iohn Cobham Lord of Cobham and Cowling and the daughter of Hugh Nevil flourished a long time in glory and dignitie For Reginald Cobham in King Edward the thirds daies being created Knight of the Garter was Admirall of the sea-coasts from Tamis mouth West-ward But Thomas the last male of that line wedded the Lady Anne daughter to Humfrey the Duke of Buckingham of whom he begat one onely daughter named Anne married unto Edward Burgh who derived his pedigree from the Percies and Earles of Athole whose sonne Thomas made by King Henry the Eighth Baron Burgh left a sonne behind him named William And his sonne Thomas a great favourer of learning and Lord Governour of Briell Queeene Elizabeth made Knight of the Garter and Lord Deputy of Ireland where hee honourably ended his life pursuing the rebels As touching Dame Eleanor Cobham descended out of this family the wife of Humfrey Duke of Glocester whose reputation had a flawe I referre you to the English Historie if you please Now are wee to reckon up the Earles of this shire William Rufus King of England made William de Warrena who had married his sister the first Earle of Surrey For in that Charter of his by which hee founded the Priory of Lewis thus wee read Donavi c. that is I have given and granted c. For the life and health of my Lord King William who brought mee into England and for the health of my Lady Queene Mawd my wives mother and for the life and health of my Lord King William her sonne after whose comming into England I made this charter who also created me Earle of Surry c. whose sonne William succeeded and married the daughter of Hugh Earle of Vermandois whereupon his posteritie as some suppose used the Armes of Vermandois vz. Chequy Or and Azure His sonne VVilliam dying in the Holy-land about the yeare 1148. had issue a daughter onely who adorned first William King Stephens sonne and afterward Hamelin the base sonne of Gefferey Plantagenet Earle of Anjou both her husbands with the same title But whereas her former husband died without issue William her sonne by Hamelin was Earle of Surry whose posterie assuming unto them the name of Warrens bare the same title This William espoused the eldest daughter and a coheire of William Marescall Earle of Pembroch the widow of Hugh Bigod who bare unto him Iohn who slew Alan de la Zouch in presence of the Judges of the Realme This Iohn of Alice the daughter of Hugh le Brune halfe sister by the mothers side of King Henry the third begat William who died before his father and hee of Ioan Vere the Earle of Oxfords daughter begat Iohn Posthumus borne after his decease and the last Earle of this house who was stiled as I have seene in the circumscription of his seale Earle of Warren of Surry and of Strathern in Scotland Lord of Bromfield and of Yale and Count-palatine But hee dying without lawfull issue in the twelfth yeare of Edward the thirds raigne Alice his sister and heire wedded unto Edmund Earle of Arundell by her marriage brought this honour of Surrey into the house of Arundells For Richard their sonne who married in the house of Lancaster after his father was wickedly beheaded for siding with his Soveraigne King Edward the Second by the malignant envie of the Queene was both Earle of Arundell and Surrey and left both Earledomes to Richard his sonne who contrary-wise lost his head for siding against his soveraigne King Richard the Second But Thomas his sonne to repaire his fathers dishonour lost his life for his Prince and country in France leaving his sisters his heires for the lands not entailed who were married to Thomas Mowbraie Duke of Norfolke c. to Sir Powland Lenthall and Sir William Beauchampe Lord of Abergeveny After by the Mowbraies the title of Surrey came at length to the Howards Howbeit in the meane while after the execution of Richard Earle of Arundell King Richard the Second bestowed the title of Duke of Surry upon Thomas Holland Earle of Kent which honour he enjoyed not long For while hee combined with others by privie conspiracies to restore the same King Richard to his libertie and kingdome the conspiracie was not carried so secretly but contrary to his expectation brake forth and came to light then fled hee and by the people of Cirencester was intercepted and cut shorter by the head After him Thomas Beaufort Chancellour to the King if we give credit to Thomas Walsingham bare this dignity For in the yeare of our Lord as hee saith 1410. The Lord Thomas Beaufort Earle of Surrey left this world Now let Walsingham in this point make good that which he writeth for in the Kings Records there is no such thing found but onely this that Thomas Beaufort about that time was made Lord Chancellour But certaine it is and that out of the Records of the Kingdome that King Henry the Sixth in the nine and twentie yeare of his raigne created Iohn Mowbray the sonne of Iohn Duke of Norfolke Earle Warren and of Surry And Richard second sonne of King Edward the Fourth having married the heire of Mowbray received all the titles due to the Mowbraies by creation from his father Afterward King Richard the Third having dispatched the
Chamberlaine to King Richard the Third attainted by King Henry the Seventh and slaine in the battaile at Stoke in the quarrell of Lambert that Counterfeit Prince whose sister Fridiswid was Grandmother to Henry the first Lord Norris Hence Windrush hodling on his course watereth Whitney an ancient Towne and before the Normans daies belonging to the Bishops of Winchester to which adjoyneth Coges the chiefe place of the Barony of Arsic the Lords whereof branched out of the family of the Earles of Oxford are utterly extinguished many yeeres agoe Neere unto this the Forest of Witchwood beareth a great breadth and in time past spread farre wider For King Richard the Third disforested the great Territory of Witchwood betweene Woodstocke and Brightstow which Edward the Fourth made to be a Forest as Iohn Rosse of Warwicke witnesseth Isis having received Windrush passeth downe to Einsham in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Manour in times past of the Kings seated among most pleasant medowes which Cuthwulfe the Saxon was the first that tooke from the Britans whom he had hereabout vanquished and long after Aethelmar a Nobleman beautified it with an Abbay the which Aethelred King of England in the yeere of Salvation 1005. confirmed to the Benedictine Monkes and in his confirmation signed the priviledge of the liberty thereof I speake out of the very originall grant as it was written with the signe of the sacred Crosse but now is turned into a private dwelling house and acknowledgeth the Earle of Derby Lord thereof Beneath this Evenlode a little river arising likewise out of Cotteswald speedeth him into Isis which riveret in the very border of the Shire passeth by an ancient Monument standing not farre from his banke to wit certaine huge stones placed in a round circle the common people usually call them Rolle-rich-stones and dreameth that they were sometimes men by a wonderfull Metamorphosis turned into hard stones The draught of them such as it is portrayed long since heere I represent unto your view For without all forme and shape they bee unequall and by long continuance of time much impaired The highest of them all which without the circle looketh into the earth they use to call The King because hee should have beene King of England forsooth if hee had once seene Long Compton a little Towne so called lying beneath and which a man if he goe some few paces forward may see other five standing at the other side touching as it were one another they imagine to have been knights mounted on horse backe and the rest the Army But loe the foresaid Portraiture These would I verily thinke to have beene the Monument of some Victory and haply erected by Rollo the Dane who afterwards conquered Normandie For what time as he with his Danes and Normans troubled England with depredations we read that the Danes joined battaile with the English thereby at Hoche Norton and afterwards fought a second time at Scier stane in Huiccia which also I would deeme to be that Mere-stone standing hard by for a land Marke and parting foure shires For so much doth that Saxon word Scier-stane most plainly import Certainly in an Exchequer booke the Towne adjacent is called Rollen-drich where as it is there specified Turstan le Dispenser held land by Serjeanty of the Kings Dispensary that is to be the Kings Steward As for that Hoch-Norton which I spake of before for the rusticall behaviour of the Inhabitants in the age afore going it grew to be a proverbe when folke would say of one rudely demeaning himselfe and unmaneâ—ly after an Hoggish kinde that hee was borne at Hocknorton This place for no one thing was more famous in old time than for the woefull slaughter of the Englishmen in a foughten field against the Danes under the Raigne of King Edward the Elder Afterwards it became the seat of the Barony of the D' Oilies an honourable and ancient Family of the Norman race of whom the first that came into England was Robert de Oily who for his good and valiant service received of William Conquerour this Towne and many faire possessions whereof hee gave certaine to his sworne brother Roger Ivery which were called the Barony of Saint Valeric But when the said Robert departed this life without issue male his brother Niele succeeded him therein whose sonne Robert the second was founder of Osney Abbay But at length the daughter and heire generall of this house D' Oily was married to Henry Earle of Warwicke and she bare unto him Thomas Earle of Warwicke who dyed without issue in the Raigne of Henry the Third and Margaret who deceased likewise without children abeit shee had two husbands John Marescall and John de Plessetis both of them Earles of Warwicke But then that I may speake in the very words of the Charter of the Grant King Henry the Third granted Hoch-norton and Cudlington unto John de Plessetis which were in times past the possessions of Henry D'Oily and which after the decease of Margaret wife sometime to the foresaid John Earle of Warwicke fell into the kings hand as an Escheat of Normans lands To have and to hold untill the lands of England and Normandy were common Howbeit out of this ancient and famous stocke there remaineth at this day a family of D' Oilies in this shire Evenlode passeth by no memorable thing else but La Bruer now Bruern sometime an Abbay of white Monks and after he hath runne a good long course taketh to him a Brooke neere unto which standeth Woodstocke in the English Saxon language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A woody place where King Etheldred in times past held an assembly of the States of the Kingdome and enacted Lawes Heere is one of the Kings houses full of State and magnificence built by King Henry the First who adjoyned also thereunto a very large Parke compassed round about with a stone wall which John Rosse writeth to have beene the first Parke in England although we read once or twise even in Doomesday Booke these words Parcus silvestris bestiarum in other places In which sense old Varro useth the word Parcus which some thinke to be but a new word But since that Parkes are growne to such a number that there bee more of them in England than are to be found in all Christendome beside so much were our Ancestours ravished with an extraordinary delight of hunting Our Historians report that King Henry the Second being enamoured upon Rosamund Clifford a Damosell so faire so comely and well favoured without comparison that her beauty did put all other women out of the Princes minde in so much as now shee was termed Rosa mundi that is The Rose of the World and for to hide her out of the sight of his jealous Juno the Queene he built a Labyrinth in this house with many inexplicable windings backward and forward Which notwithstanding is no where to be seene at this day The Towne
seeking for moisture get under the ground and men goe a fishing with spades But that in Paphlagonia many and those good fishes are gotten by digging in places nothing watery there is some secret and peculiar reason thereof in Nature and pleasantly wrote Seneca Why should not fishes enter and passe into the land if we passe over the Sea From hence the open shore shooteth out with a great bent and more within land from the sea standeth Ormeskirke a mercate towne well knowne by reason of the sepulture there of the Stanleys Earles of Derby whose chiefe seat Latham is hard by a stately house which they have enlarged continually ever since King Henry the Fourth his dayes what time Sir John Stanley knight father to John Lord deputy of Ireland descended of the same stemme whence the Barons de Audley married the daughter and heire of Sir Thomas Latham a right noble knight who brought to him for her dowrie this faire inheritance with many other possessions And from that time have the Stanleys planted their seat heere of whom Thomas the sonne of Thomas Lord Stanley was by King Henry the seventh created Earle of Derby and had issue by Eleonor Nevill daughter to the Earle of Salisbury George Lord Strange for he had wedded Joan the onely daughter and heire of John Baron Le Strange of Knockin who dying in his fathers life time begat a sonne named Thomas the second Earle of Derby unto whom Anne the daughter of Edward Lord Hastings bare Edward the third Earle of Derby who begat of Dorothea daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolke Henry the fourth Earle who married Margaret daughter of Henry Clifford Earle of Cumberland mother unto Ferdinando the fifth Earle lately deceased and to William now the sixth Earle who succeeded his brother but I forget my selfe now when as I have formerly remembred as much Duglesse a riveret creepeth and stealeth along quietly by this place neere unto which our noble Arthur as Ninnius writeth put the Saxons to flight in a memorable battaile At the head hereof standeth the towne Wiggin called in ancient times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which name I have nothing else to say but that in Lancashire they call buildings and houses Biggins neither of the towne but that it is faire and a Corporation also with a Maior and Burgesses and the parson of the Church as I have learned is Lord of the towne Hard by it Holland sheweth it selfe out of a younger brother whereof that most noble and renowned race of the Hollands Earles of Kent and Dukes also of Surry and Excester fetched both their originall and their sirname But the daughter and heire of the eldest brother who flourished here in knights degree being in the end married into the house of the Lovels brought unto them an addition of possessions with her Armes viz. in a shield Azure florete Argent a Lion rampant gardant Arg. Neere unto the mouth of Duglesse is Merton a very great large poole which emptieth it selfe into this river and then streight waies meeteth with the river Ribell neare his out-let for this is the next river after Mersey that runneth into the sea and hath not yet lost quite his former ancient name for Ptolomee calleth the salt water or arme of the sea here BELLISAMA and we Ribell perhaps by addition of the Saxon word Rhe unto it that signifieth a River This river comming with a quicke and hasty streame out of the hils in Yorke-shire taketh his course first Southward by three exceeding high mountaines Ingleborow hill at the spring head which I wondered at to see how it ascendeth as it were by degrees with a huge and mighty ridge Westward and at the farthest end mounteth up into the aire as if an other hill were set upon the head of it Penigent haply so called of his whitish snowy top for so Pengwin signifieth in the british tongue and he riseth aloft with an huge bulke howbeit not altogether so high as the other But when Ribell commeth into Lancashire for those two stand in Yorke-shire Pendle-hill advanceth it selfe up to the skie with a lofty head and in the very top thereof bringeth forth a peculiar plant which as though it came out of the clowdes they tearme Clowdes-bery But this mountaine is most notorious for the harme that it did not long since to the country lying beneath it by reason of a mighty deale of water gushing out of it as also for an infallible prognostication of raine so often as the top thereof is covered with a mist. Of these hils I have made mention the more willingly both because they are the highest in our Apennine whence commeth this vulgar Rhime Ingleborow Pendle and Penigent Are the highest hils betweene Scotland and Trent As also that the reader may understand as I said before why the highest Alpes were called of the old Gaules Penninae and why the very top of the hils named Pennum and Apennini were of them so tearmed For Pen in the British tongue signifieth the tops of hils By an out corner or parcel of Pendle hill standeth Clithero castle built by the Lacies neere unto Ribell and a neighbour unto it Whaley in the Saxon tongue Walalez famous for the monastery that the said Lacies founded which was translated from Stanlaw in Cheshire hither in the yeere 1296. where in the yeere 798. duke Wade unfortunately gave battaile to Ardulph King of Northumberland at Billangho which is more short called Langho This Ribell no sooner turneth into the West but imparteth his name to a small towne which in our age is called Riblechester where are digged up from time to time so many monuments of Romane antiquity statues peeces of coyn Pillars Piedestals Chapters of pillars heathen altars Marble-stones and inscriptions that the inhabitants may seeme not without cause to have this hobling rhyme so rise in their mouthes It is written upon a wall in Rome Ribchester was as rich as any towne in Christendome And the port high wayes came directly hither raiâ—ed up with eminent cause is one from Yorke another out of the North through Bowland-Forrest a spacious peece of ground which as yet is most evidently to be seene for many miles together But the country folke have so disfigured the inscriptions that although I did see many yet could I scarce read one or two of them At Salesbury hall an house of that ancient family of the Talbots standing neere by I saw the base or foot of a pillar with this inscription DEO MARTI ET VICTORIAE DD. AUGG. ET CC NN In a wall neare unto it there is another great stone infixed shewing in the fore-part Cupid and another little image out of the backe-side or reverse whereof this was exemplified for me but the inscription carrieth no sense with it which because it troubled me a long time I will set down here underneath to see what
at the hands of King Henry the sixth the title and honour of Earle of Wiltshire to him and to the heires of his body who being Lord Deputy of Ireland as divers others of this race and Lord Treasurer of England standing attainted by King Edward the fourth was straight waies apprehended and beheaded but his brethren John and Thomas likewise proclaimed traytors kept themselves close out of the way John died at Jerusalem without issue Thomas through the speciall favour of King Henry the seventh was in the end restored to his blood who departed this life in the yeere 1515. leaving behinde him two daughters Anne married to Sir Iames de sancto Leodegano called commonly Sellenger and Margaret unto Sir William Bollein who bare unto him Sir Tho. Bollein whom King Henry the eighth created first Viscount Rochfort afterwards Earle of Wiltshire and of Ormond and afterward took Anne Bollein his daughter to wife who brought forth for England Queene Elizabeth a Prince of most happy memory and with all thankfulnesse to be alwaies remembred by the English and Irish. When Thomas Bollein was dead leaving no issue male Sir Pierce Butler a man of great power in Ireland descended of the Earles race whom Henry the eighth had before time created Earle of Osserie attained also to the title of Ormond and left the same unto his sonne James who had issue by the daughter and heire of James Earle of Desmond a sonne named Thomas Earle of Ormond now living whose faith and loyaltie hath been passing well tried and approved in many troubles and dangerous affaires who also hath joined in marriage his only daughter unto Theobald Butler his brothers son whom King James hath advanced lately to the title of Vicount Tullo Whereas some of the Irish and such as would be thought worthy of credit doe affirme that certaine men in this tract are yeerely turned into Wolves surely I suppose it be a meere fable unlesse haply through that malicious humour of predominant unkind Melancholy they be possessed with the malady that the Physicians call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which raiseth and engendereth such like phantasies as that they imagine themselves to bee transformed into Wolves Neither dare I otherwise affirme of those metamorphosed Lycaones in Liveland concerning whom many Writers deliver many and marvellous reports Thus farre as touching the Province of Mounster for the government whereof Queene Elizabeth when shee bethought herselfe most wisely politickly and princely which way she might procure the good and wealth of Ireland ordained a Lord President to be the reformer and punisher of inconsiderate rashnesse the director also and moderator of duty together with one Assistant two learned Lawyers and a Secretary and the first President that shee made was Sir Warham S. Leger Knight a man of great experience in Irish affaires LAGENIA or LEINSTER THe second part of Ireland which the inhabitants call Leighnigh the Britans Lein the English Leinster and Latine writers Lagenia and in the ancient lives of the Saints Lagen lieth all of it on the Sea-side Eastward bounded toward Mounster with the river Neor which notwithstanding in many places it passeth beyond on Connaght side for a good space with Shanon and toward Meath with the peculiar knowne limits The Countrey is fertile and fruitfull the aire most milde and temperate and the people there inhabiting come neerest of all other to the gentle disposition and civill conversation of England their neighbour Iland from whence they are for the most part descended In Ptolomees dayes therein were seated the BRIGANTES MENAPII CAUCI and BLANI and peradventure from these Blani are derived and contracted these later and moderne names Lein Leinigh and Leinster But now it is divided into the Counties of Kilkenny Caterlogh Queenes County Kings County Kildare Weisford and Dublin to say nothing of Wicklo and Fernes which either be already or else are to be laid thereto BRIGANTES or BIRGANTES THe BRIGANTES seeme to have planted themselves betweene the mouth of the river and the confluence of Neor and Barrow which in Ptolomee is called BRIGUS Now because there was an ancient City of the Brigantes in Spaine named BRIGANTIA Florianus del Campo laboureth tooth and naile to fetch these BRIGANTES out of his owne countrey Spaine But if such a conjecture may take place others might with as great probality derive them from the Brigantes of Britaine a nation both neere and also exceeding populous But if that be true which I finde in certaine copies that this people were called BIRGANTES both hee and the other have missed the marke For that these tooke their denomination of the river BIRGUS about which they doe inhabite the very name is almost sufficient to perswade us These BRIGANTES or BIRGANTES whether you will dwelt in the Counties of Kilkenny Ossery and Caterlogh watered all with the river BIRGUS THE COUNTIE OF KILKENNY THe Countie of Kilkenny is bounded West with the countie of Tipperary East with the counties of Weisford and Caterlogh South with the countie of Waterford North with Queenes Countie and Northwest with upper Osserie A countrey that with townes and castles on every side maketh a very goodly shew and for plenty of all things surpasseth the rest Neere unto Osserie the mighty and huge mountaines Sleiew Bloemy which Giraldus calleth Bladinae Montes with their rising toppes mount up to a wonderfull heigth out of the bowels whereof as from their mothers wombe issue the rivers Shour aforenamed Neor and Barrow which running downe in severall chanels before they enter into the Ocean joine hand in hand all together whereupon they in old time tearmed them The three sisters The Neor commonly called also Neure runneth in manner through the midst of Kilkenny county and when it is passed with a forward course by the upper Osserie the first Baron whereof was Barnabas Fitz-Patrick promoted to that honor by King Edward the sixth and hath watered many fortresses on both sides floweth beside Kilkenny which is as much to say as the Cell or Church of Canic which for the sanctimony of his solitary life in this country was highly renowned a proper faire and wealthy Burrough towne this is and far excelling all other midland Boroughs in this Iland divided into the Irish towne and the English towne The Irish towne is as it were the Suburbs and hath in it the said Canicks Church which both gave name unto it and now also affordeth a See unto the Bishop of Osserie But the English towne is nothing so ancient built as I have read by Ranulph the third Earle of Chester and fortified with a wall on the West side by Robert Talbot a Nobleman and with a castle by the Butlers And sure it is that in the division of lands between the daughters of William Mareschal Earle of Penbroch it fell unto the third daughter whom Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester married Somewhat beneath the same Neore standeth a little walled towne named in English Thomas Towne
thither MCCXI. Sir Richard Tuit by the fall of a towre at Alone was crushed and whindred to death This Richard was founder of the Monasterie de Grenard MCCXII The Abbey of Grenard was founded In the same yeere died John Comyn Archbishop of Dublin and was buried within the quire of the Church of the Holy Trinitie who was founder of Saint Patricks Church of Dublin after whom succeeded Henrie Londres who is called Scorch Villeyn by occasion of a certaine act of his for that one day he called his tenants before him to answer by what teâ—nure they held of him And those tenants shewed their deeds and charters but he commanded the charters or deeds of these husbandmen his tenants to be burned and then the Freeholders evermore called him Henrie Scorch-Villein which Henrie Archbishop of Dublin was Justice of Ireland and built Dublin castle MCCXIII William Petit and Petre Messet departed this life This Petre Messet was Baron of Luyn hard by Trym but because he died without heire male the inheritance passed unto three daughters the eldest of whom the Lord Vernail married the second Talbot wedded and the other Lounders espoused and so they parted the inheritance betweene themselves MCCXIX The Citie of Damieta in the Nones of September was about the still time of midnight miraculously wonne so that in the forcing and taking thereof there was not one Christian lost his life In the same yeere died William Mareshal the elder Earle Mareshall and of Pembroch who begat on the daughter of Richard Strongbow Earle of Stroghul five sonnes the name of the first sonne was William the named of the second Walter the name of the third Gilbert the name of the fourth Anselme the name of the fifth Richard who was slaine in the warre of Kildare and everie one of these five sonnes was Earle after their father by succession in their fathers inheritance and none of these had issue wherefore the inheritance went away unto the sisters namely the daughters of their father the first was named Maud Mareschal the second Isabel Clare the third Eva Breos the fourth Johan Mount Chensey the fifth Sibill Countesse Ferrers Hugh Bigod Earle of Norfolk espoused Maud Mareschal he in the right of his wife was Earle Mareschal of England which Hugh begat Raufe Bigod father of John Bigod who was the sonne of the Ladie Bertha Furnival also Isabell Lacie wife to Lord John Fitz-Gefferey and when Hugh Bigod Earle of Norfolke was dead she bare John de Gâ—aren Earle of Surrey and his sister Isabell Albeney Countesse of Arundell Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester espoused Isabel the second sister who between them had issue Richard de Clare Earle of Glocester and she was mother to the Ladie Anise Countesse of Denshire who was mother to Isabel wife of the Lord Robert Brus Earle of Carricke in Scotland and was afterwards King of the same Scotland Of Eva Brus the third sister was begotten Maud who was the mother of the Lord Edmund Mortimer and mother to the Ladie Eve Cauntelow mother of the Ladie Milsond Mohun who was mother of Dame Eleanor mother to the Earle of Hereford The Lord Guarin Mont Chensey espoused Johan Mareschall the fourth sister of whom came Johan Valens Sibyll the Countesse of Ferrers to wit the fourth had issue five daughters the first Agnes Vescie mother to the Lord John and the Lord William Vescie the second Isabel Basset the third Joan Mohun wife to the Lord John Mohun son of the Lord Reginald the fourth Sibyll Mohun wife to Lord Francis Bohun Lord of Midhurst the fifth Eleanor Vaus who was wife unto the Earle of Winchester the sixth Agatha Mortimer wife to the Lord Hugh Mortimer the seventh Maud Kyme Lady of Carbry All these abovesaid as well males as females are of the genealogie of the said William Earle Mareschal MCCXX. The translation of St. Thomas of Canterburie In the same yeere died the Lord Meiler Fitz Henrie founder of the house of Connall who is buried in the Chapter house of the same house MCCXXIV The Castle of Bedford was besieged and the Castle of Trim in Ireland MCCXXV Roger Pippard died And Anno MCCXXVIII died William Pippard sometime Lord of the Salmons-leap There departed likewise Henrie Londres alias Scorch villeyn Archbishop of Dublin and is interred in the Church of the Holy Trinitie at Dublin MCCXXX Henrie King of England gave unto Hubert Burk the Justiceship of Ireland and a third pennie of rent and made him Earle of Kent And afterward the same Hubert was imprisoned and great trouble arose between the King and his subjects because he adhered to strangers more than to his owne naturall people MCCXXXI William Mareschall the younger Earle Mareshall and of Pembroke died who is buried within the Quire of the Friers Preachers in Kilkenny MCCXXXIV Richard Earle Mareshall and of Pembroke or Stroghull on the first day before the Ides of April was wounded in battell upon the plaine of Kildare and some few dayes after died in Kilkenny and there hard by his naturall whole brother to wit William lieth buried within the Quire of Friers Preachers of whom it is thus written Cujus sub fossa Kilkenia continet ossa Whose bones bestow'd in grave so deep Kilkenny towne doth safely keepe MCCXI. Walter Lacie Lord of Meth departed this life in England leaving behind him two daughters his heires whereof Sir Theobald Verdon married the first and Geffery Genevile espoused the second MCCXLII The Castle of Slegah was built by Morice Fitz-Gerald Justice of Ireland King Edward the first marched into Wales with a great army and sent to the said Justice that he would come to him with some forces out of Ireland who accordingly came with the flower of the English in Ireland and Phelin O-Conor who was then King of Conacht in his company and shortly returned with victorie honour Afterward the said Justice preied the countrey Tirconnell and gave a moitie thereof to Cormac Mac-Dermot Mac-Rory and carried with him pledges for the other moitie and left them in the castle of Sleagh Another expedition was made by the said Justice and the English first he came to Sleigagh thence to Hohosserovie Mac Morin the Tuesday after the feast of Peter and Paul and Cormac-Mac-Dermot Mac-Rorie accompanied them At that time O Donnel assembled all Kineoill Conail against them at the ford of Ath-Shany so that hee permitted neither English nor Irish to passe over the ford whereupon the English resolved to send Cormac Mac-Rory O-Conor with a company of horse into the champion Westward and they returned by an higher plaine over the moores Eastward to the ford of Quilvain upon the water Earne so that O-Donnel knew nothing of those companies of horse untill he saw them on that side of the river that he himselfe encamped and when he saw the English at his backe hee encountred them but his army was put to rout Moyls Haghlin O-Donnel commonly called King of Kineoil Conail was slain
well the small number of souldiers that he had by good proofs taught how Petilius paid for his rashnesse he determined with the damage of one towne to save all the rest whole Neither could he bee won by the weeping and pitifull teares of those that besought his aide but he would needs put out the signall of a remove and receive all followers as part of his armie to march along with him As many therefore as weaknesse of sex wearisomnesse of age or pleasantnesse of the place held back were all put to the sword by the enemie The like calamitie befell unto the free towne Verulamium because the Barbarians leaving the castles forts of garrison souldiers made spoile of the richest and fattest and carrying their pillage into some place of safetie as men glad of bootie went on still to such as were of note and mark above the rest And thus to the number of seventie thousand Roman citizens and associats together by true report were knowne to have been slaine in those places before named For there was no taking of prisoners no selling of them nor any other commerce and traffique of war but killing hanging burning and crucifying such haste they made to make havocke of all as if they were to requite the measure they had suffered and anticipate in the meane while all revenge Now by this time Suetonius having with him the fourteenth Legion with the old souldiers of the twentieth the auxiliaries from the parts next adjoyning was well neere ten thousand strong when he resolved to lay aside all further delaies and to trie the chance of a main battel And so he chooseth a place with a narrow entrance like a gullet and enclosed behind with a wood being well assured that he had no enemies but in front and that the plain lay open without feare of ambush The Legionarie souldiers therefore being marshalled in thick rankes and close together with the light armours about them the horsemen were placed on either hand like wings But the Britaine forces came leaping forth all abroad by troupes and companies in such a multitude as never the like else where at any other time and with so fierce courage as that they would needs bring their very wives with them and place them in carts which they had bestowed in the utmost parts of the plaine to be witnesses of the victorie Boodicia having her daughters before her in a chariot ever as she came to any severall nation for it was the custome verily of the Britans to make warre under the conduct of women protested told them that she was come then not as a Lady descended of so noble progenitors to make either Kingdome or riches her quarrell but as one of the common people in revenge of her libertie lost her body sore whipped and her daughters chastitie assailed by uncleane handling That the Romans lust and concupiscence was growne to such a passe that they spared no body no not aged persons nor left their Virgins undefiled How be it the Gods saith she are with us and favor just revenge For the legion that came into the field and durst hazard a battell was cut in pieces the rest are either hidden within campe and hold or else seek meanes to escape by flight so that they will never abide so much as the noise and crie of so many thousands much lesse then their violent charge and close hand fight If then they would weigh with her the power of their armed forces and with all the motives of war resolve they should either to vanquish in that battell or to die for her owne part being but a woman this was her resolution the men might live if they pleased and serve as slaves Neither could Suetonius himselfe in so great an extremitie hold his tongue For although hee presumed and trusted much upon valour yet enterlaced hee exhortations praiers That they should contemne the lowd and vaine threats of the Barbarians Among whom there were more women to be seene than lusty young men Vnwarlike as they were and unarmed they would presently give ground when they came once to feele acknowledge the weapons valour of those cōquerors by whom so often they had bin put to flight For even in many legions a few they bee that carry away the honour of the battell and to their greater glory it would turne if with a small power they won the fame of a whole armie Only this they must remember marshalled close together as they stood first with launcing ther Iavelins and afterwards with the bosses and pikes of their bucklers and with their swords to continue in beating downe and killing them and never to think all the while of any booty for after victory once gotten all would come to their share These words of the Captaine gave such an edge and kindled their courage so the old souldiers also experienced in many battels had so bestirred thēselves and were so ready to let their darts fly that Suetonius assured of the event gave signall of battell And first of all the legion not stirring one foot but keeping the streights of the place aforesaid as a sure defence after that the enemies approching neerer within the just reach of shot had spent all their darts sallied out as it were in pointed battels The auxiliarie souldiers likewise were of the same stomack and the horsemen stretching out their long launces brake what was in their way and made head against them The residue shewed their backs and had much adoe to flie and escape by reason of the carts and waggons placed round about the plaine which had blocked up the passages on every side And the souldiers forbare not the execution so much as of the women the very horses and draught beasts were thrust through with darts which made the heape of dead bodies the greater This was a day of great honour and renowne comparable to the victories of old time for some report that there were slaine few lesse in number than fourescore thousand Britans but of our souldiers there died not all out foure hundred and not many more hurt Boodicia ended her life with poison And Poenius Posthumus campe-Master of the second Legion understanding of this prosperous successe of the fourteenth and twentieth Legions because he had defrauded his owne Legion of the like glorie and contrary to the order of service refused to obey the Captaines commandement thrust himselfe through with his owne sword After this the whole armie being rallied together kept the field still and lay encamped for to end the residue of the warre and Caesar augmented their forces by sending out of Germanie two thousand Legionarie souldiers eight cohorts of auxiliaries and a thousand horsemen by whose comming they of the ninth Legion had their companies supplied and made up with the Legioners The cohorts and cornets of horse were appointed to lodge in new wintering places and all those nations of the enemies
againe unto the English For Edward who in regard of his holinesse was surnamed The Confessor the sonne of Etheldred by his second wife recovered the Crowne and royall Dignitie Now began England to take breath againe but soone after as saith the Poet Mores rebus cessêre secundis Prosperitie perverted manners The Priests were idle drowsie and unlearned the people given to riot and loose life they grew also through rest to be lither discipline lay as it were dead the commonwealth sick as one would say of an infinite sort of vices lay in consumption and pined away but pride above all whose waiting maid is destruction was come to a mightie head And as Gervasius Dorobornensis of that time speaketh They fell so fast to commit wickednesse that to be ignorant of any sinfull crimes was held to be a crime All which most evidently foreshewed destruction The Englishmen of those times as William of Malmesburie writeth went lightly appointed with their garments reaching but to the mid knee their heads shorne their beards shaven but the upper lip uncut where the mustaches grew continually wearing massie bracelets of gold about their armes carrying markes upon their skin pounced in of sundry colours The Clergie contenting themselves with triviall literature could scarsly back and hew out the words of the Sacrament THE NORMANS LIke as in ancient times out of that East coast of Germanie in respect of us which tendeth Northward the Franks first and then the Saxons grievously annoied both France Gaule and Britaine with their depredations so that in the end the one became Lords of Britaine the other of France even so in these later daies ensuing the Danes first and afterward the Normans succeeding in their place from out of the same coast did the like As if it were fatally given unto that tract by the dispose and providence of Almightie God to conceive still and often times to send out of her wombe nations to afflict France and Britaine yea and to establish new Kingdomes therein These Normans were so called of the Northerne quarter or climate from whence they came for Normans be nothing else but Men of the North in which sense also they are named Nordleudi that is a Northerne people for a mixt nation they were of the most valiant Norvegians Suedens and Danes In the time of Charles the Great they practised roving and piracie in such cruell manner about Frisia Belgia England Ireland and France that when the said Charles the Great saw their roving ships in the Mediterranean sea he shed teares abundantly and with a grievous deepe sigh said Heavie I am at the heart that in my life time they durst once come upon this coast and I foresee what mischiefe they will worke hereafter to my posteritie Yea and in the publique Processions and Letanies of Churches this afterwards was added to the rest From the race of Normans Good Lord deliver us They drave the French to that extremitie that King Charles the Bald was forced to give unto Hasting a Norman Arch-pirate the Earledome of Charters for to asswage the mans furie King Charles the Grosse granted unto Godfrey the Norman a part of Neustria with his daughter also in marriage But afterwards by force and armes they seated themselves neere unto the mouth of the river Sein in a country which before time was corruptly called Neustria because it had beene a parcell of Westrasia For so the writers of the middle time named that which the Germans used to call Westen-rijch that is the West-kingdome and doth comprise all that lieth betweene the rivers of Loyre and Seine Which tooke the name of Normandie afterwards of them as it were the region of Northerne men when King Charles the simple had confirmed it unto their Prince Rollo whose Godfather he was at his Baptisme to bee held in Fee by homage and withall bestowed upon him his daughter in marriage At which time as we reade in an old Manuscript belonging to the Monasterie of Angiers Charles surnamed Stultus gave Normandie to Rollo and his daughter Gista with it This Rollo daigned not to kisse the foote of Charles and when his friends about him admonished him to kisse the Kings foote as his homager for the receit of so great a benefit hee answered in the English tongue Ne se by God which they interpret thus NO BY GOD The King then and his Courtiers deriding him and corruptly repeating his speech called him Bigod whereupon the Normans be at this day called Bigodi Hence also peradventure it is that the Frenchmen even still use to call hypocrites and superstitious folke Bigod This Rollo who being baptised received therewith the name of Robert some writers report to have become a Christian but in shew and colour onely others upon good deliberation and in earnest and they adde moreover that hee was warned so to doe by God in a dreame which I pray you give me leave being a man for all this that doateth not upon dreames to relate without suspicion of vanitie from the credit of writers in those daies The report goeth that as he sailed he dreamed he saw himselfe fouly infected with the leprosie but when hee was washed once in a most cleare spring at the foot of an high hill hee recovered and was cleansed thereof and anon climbed up to the top of the said hill This Dreame when he reported a Christian that was a captive in the same ship with him interpreted it in this wise The Leprosie was the impious worship of Idol gods wherewith he was tainted that the spring betokned the holy Laver of Regeneration wherewith being once cleansed he should ascend up the hill that is attaine unto high honor and heaven it selfe This Rollo begat William surnamed Long-espee of the long sword which he used to weare and William begat Richard the first of that name Whose sonne and nephew by his son carrying both his name succeeded after him in the Duchie of Normandie but when Richard the third was dead without issue his brother Robert was Duke in his stead who of his concubine begat that William whom wee commonly name The Conquerour and the Bastard All these were every one for their noble acts atchieved both at home and abroad most renowned Princes Now whiles this William being of ripe yeares ruled Normandie Edward the holy surnamed CONFESSOR King of England and the last of the Saxons line departed out of this world unto his heavenly country to the great misse and losse of his people who being the sonne of Ladie Emma cosen to William and daughter to Richard the first of that name Duke of Normandie whiles hee remained in Normandie banished had promised unto him that he should succeed after him in the Crowne of England But Harold the sonne of Godwin and Great Master or Steward of King Edwards house usurped the Kingdome whom to dispossesse his brother Tosto of one side
left behind him two Sonnes Baldwin and Richard who in order successively were Earles of Denshire and died without issue The honour therefore reverted backe againe to their unkle by their fathers side named William surnamed de Vernon because he was there borne This William begat Baldwin who departed this life before his father yet before his death he had begotten of Margaret daughter to Gwarin Fitz-Gerold Baldwine the third of that name Earle of Denshire This Baldwin had two children to wit Baldwin the last Earle out of this family that died without issue 1261. who changed the Ghryphon clasping and crushing a little beast which mark his Ancestours used in their seale into a Scutcheon or with a Lyon rampant azur and Isabell who being espoused to William de Fortibus Earle of Albemarle bare to him a Sonne named Thomas who died soone after and Avellina a daughter maried to Edmund Earle of Lancaster whom she mightily enriched with the inheritance of her father and died issulesse After some time King Edward the Third by his letter missive onely without any other complement of ceremonies created Hugh Courtney Earle of Devonshire and linked as cousin and next heire to the said Isabel. For he commanded him by vertue of those missives to use that title and by a precept to the high Sheriffe of the Shire commanded he should be so acknowledged Reginald Courtney was the first of this family that came into England brought hither by King Henry the Second and by him advanced with the marriage of the heire of the Baronie of Okchampton for that he procured the marriage betweene the said King and Eleonor his heire of Poictu and Aquitaine But whether hee was branched from the house of Courtney before it was matched in the bloud royall of France or after which our Monks affirme but Du Tillet Keeper of the Records of France doubteth I may say somewhat in another place After the first Earle Hugh succeeded his sonne Hugh whom Edward his Grand-child by Edward his Sonne followed who died before him and when he died he left it to his sonne Hugh and hee likewise to Thomas his sonne who died in the thirtieth and sixth yeare of King Henry the sixth his raigne The said Thomas begat three sonnes namely Thomas Henrie and Iohn whose estate during the heate of those mortall dissensions betweene the houses of Lancaster and Yorke was much tossed and shaken whiles they stood resolutely and stiffely for the Lancastrians Thomas taken at Towton field was beheaded at Yorke Henry his brother and Successour seven yeares after dranke of the same cup at Salisburie And although King Edward the Fourth advanced Sir Humfrey Stafford of Suthwicke to the Earledome of Denshire who within three moneths revolting from King Edward his advancer most ingratefully was apprehended and without processe executed at Bridg water yet Iohn Courtney aforesaid the youngest brother would not leave this title but with his life which hee lost in the battell of Tewksbury For a long time after this family lay in some sort obscured yet under King Henrie the Seventh it reflourished for hee advanced againe Edward Courtney the next heire male unto the honors of his Progenitors He begat William Earle of Devonshire who matched in wedlocke with Katherine daughter to King Edward the Fourth of whom he begat Henry Earle of Devonshire and Marquesse withall of Excester who under King Henry the Eighth lost his head as we have now shewed whose Sonne Edward was restored againe by Queene Mary a most noble young Gentleman and of passing good hope but he died an untimely death at Padua in Italie for the best men as saith Quadrigarius are of least continuance In the fortieth and sixth yeare after his death King Iames gave the honorable title of Earle of Devonshire to Charles Blunt Lord Mountjoy and Lieutenant Generall of Ireland which title he affected as descended from a Cosin and heire of Humfrey Stafford Earle of Devonshire Hee was a worthy personage as well for martiall prowesse and ornaments of learning as for ancient nobilitie of birth for that he had recovered Ireland into the former good estate by driving out the Spaniards and by subduing or enforcing the Rebels to submission Him I say he created Earle of Devonshire him hee heaped with favours and according to the bountifull munificence of a King mightily enriched But within a small while death envied him the fruition both of honour and wealth which hee enjoyed as few yeares as his Predecessour Humfrey Stafford did moneths There be contained in this Countie Parish-Churches 394. DVROTRIGES NExt unto the Danmonians Eastward Ptolomy placeth in his Geographicall tables 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as hee wrote in Greeke who in the Latine copies are written DVROTRIGES The same people were named by the Britaine 's about the yeare of Salvation 890. Dwr-Gwyr as saith mine Authour Asserius Menevensis who lived in that age and was himselfe a Britaine borne The English-Saxons called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like as we at this day call this County the County of Dorset and Dorset-shire That name DVROTRIGES being ancient and meere British may seeme by a very good and probable Etymologie to be derived of DOVR or Dwr which in the British tongue signifieth Water and of Trig that betokeneth an Inhabitant as if a man would say dwellers by the water or Sea-side Neither verily from any other fountaine than from water are we to fetch those names of places in old France or Gaule which used in times past the very same language that our ancient Britans did which either begin with Dur and Dour or doe end in the same As for example DVROCASES DVROCOTTORVM DVRANIVS DORDONIA DVROLORVM DOROMELLVM DIVODVRVM BREVIODVRVM BATAVODVRVM GANODVRVM OCTODVRVM and a number of that sort as well in Gaule as in Britaine As for that English-Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compounded of both tongues British and English it carryeth the same sence and signification that DVROTRIGES doth For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with our old Forefathers like as with the rest of the Germans soundeth as much as to inhabit or dwell upon And therefore they termed mountainers in their language Dun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants of the Chiltern-hilles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dwellers by the river Arow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even as the Germans called the Inhabitants of Woods and Forrests Holt-satten because they dwelt within or among the Woods Neither went our Britans from the reason and meaning of the old name when they termed these DVROTRIGES of whom we now treat Dwr-Gweir that is to say Men bordering on the Maritime or Sea-coast For their country lieth stretched out with a shore full of turnings or windings in and out for a long tract to wit by the space of fiftie miles or there about full upon the British sea from West to East DORSET-SHIRE THe Countie of Dorset as it is on the Northside bounded with
hath now partly effected and in some sort over-mastred it A little beneath by Langport a proper market town the Rivers Ivel and Pedred running together make betweene them an Iland called Muchelney that is to say The great Iland wherein are to bee seene the defaced walles and ruines of an old Abbey built by King Athelstane as writers reporr This Pedred commonly named Parret hath his beginning in the verie edge or skirt of the shire southward and holding on a crooked and winding course thorow Crockhorne in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Pedderton to whom it gave the name sometime Pedridan the Roiall seat of King Ina â— which towne now adayes is of none account unlesse it be for the market and Faire there held which Henrie Daubeney obtained of King Henrie the Sixth at this place runneth into Ivel and robbeth him of his name when hee is come downe three miles Eastward and hath bidden farewell to Montacute so termed by the Earle of Moriton brother by the Mothers side to King William the Conquerour who built a Castle upon the verie hill top and at the foot thereof a Priorie because the said hill riseth up by little and little to a sharpe pâ—int for before time it was called Logoresburgh and Biscopeston As for the Castle it came to nothing many yeeres since the stones thereof being had away to the repairing of the Monasterie and other houses Upon the pitch of the said hill there was a Chapell afterwards set and dedicated unto Saint Michael built with arch-worke and an embowed roofe overhead all of stone right artificially to which for halfe a mile wel nere men ascended upon stone-staires which in their ascent fetched a compasse round about the hil But now that the Priorie and chapell both be pulled down the faire and goodly house which Sir Edward Philips Knight and the Kings Sargeant at Law built lately at the hill foote maketh a very beautifull shew This high place Mont-acute hath given surname to that right honourable family of Montacute which had their beginning of Dru the younger Out of which there were foure Earles of Sarisburie the last of them left one daughter onely Alice who by Richard Nevil pare Richard that renowned Earle of Warwick who kept such stirres and made all England to shake also Iohn Nevil Marquesse Montacute who were both slaine at Barnet field in the yeere 1472. Afterward King Henrie the Eighth conferred the title of Lord Montacute upon Henrie Poole sonne of Margaret daughter to George Duke of Clarence that came of the daughter of that Richard Nevill aforesaid Earle of Warwicke and when hee had so done straightwaies made him shorter by the head afterwards Queene Marie advanced Anthonie Browne whose Grandmother was a daughter of Iohn Nevill Marquesse Montacute to the title and honour of Vicount Montacute which his Grandchild Anthonie who succeeded him now honourably enjoyeth And here I must not forget neither Preston sometime the seat of Iohn Sturton younger sonne to the first Lord Sturton one of whose heires was married to Sidenham of Brimton thereby neither Odcombe adjoyning thereto as small a towne as it is seeing it had a Baron of the owne William de Briewer for so was his father named in the Norman-French because he was borne in an heath who being taken up in the new Forrest by King Henrie the Second in a hunting journey prooved a great man and gratious in the Court as whom King Richard the First highly favored as his minion and all the world embraced and loved grew unto a verie wealthy estate married Beatrix of Vannes widow to Reginald Earle of Cornwall and his daughters for that his sonne died without issue by their marriages brought great possessions to their husbands Breos Wake La-fert and Piercy Under this towne hard by lieth Stoke under Hamden where the Gornaies had their Castle and built a Colledge This familie de Gornaico commonly named Gornay was verie ancient and of good account descended from the same stocke out of which the Warrens Earles of Surrie and the Mortimers are sprung but in the fore-going age it failed and some of their lands descended by the Hamptons to the house of the Newtons Knights who willignly acknowledge themselves to bee come out of Wales and not long since to have beene named Caradocks Neither must I passe over in silence how Matthew Gournay a most famous warriour in the raigne of Edward the Third was buried heere who in the fourescore and sixteenth yeere of his age ended this life when as appeareth by his Epitaph he had fought at the siege of Algizer against the Saracens in the battels of Benamazin Scluse Cressie Ingenos Poictiers and Nazars in Spaine Then Pedred watereth Martocke a litle market Towne which in times past William of Boloigne King Stephens sonne gave unto Faramuse of Boloigne whose sole heire Sibyll was wedded to Ingelraine Fienes from whom descended the Fienes Barons of Dacre and Lords Say and Sele Parret from hence thorow the mire and moorish plaine countrey holding his course Northward passed by Langport a market Towne well frequented and Aulre a Village consisting of a few poore Cottages which seemeth to have beene a Towne of good account for when King Elfred had given the Danes such an overthrow in battell and by strait siege compelled them to yeeld so farre forth that they tooke an oath immediatly to depart out of his dominions and Godrus their King promised to become Christian as writeth Asserius at this very place he with great pompe was Godfather to the said Godrus at the sacred Font. Beneath this place from the West Parret receiveth into it the river Thone which springing farre of in the West part of this Countrey very neere unto Devonshire runneth thorow most rich and pleasant fields passing downe neere Wivelscomb assigned anciently to the Bishops of Bathe and by Wellington which in the time of King Edward the elder was a land of â—ix Manentes what time hee granted it together with Lediard that had twelve Manentes Hides unto the Bishop of Shirburne Now a prettie market Towne it is and graced most by the habitation there of Sir Iohn Popham For vertuous men and such as have so well deserved of their countrey are not to bee passed in silence a man of an ancient worshipfull house and withall a most upright Iusticer and of singular industry who being Lord chiefe Iustice of the Kings Bench administreth his office toward malefactours with such holesome and available severity that England hath beene beholden unto him a long time for a great part of her private peace and home-securitie For thence with a soft streame and gentle fall Thone runneth by Thonton commonly Taunton and giveth it his name A very fine and proper Towne this is indeed and most pleasantly seated in a word one of the eyes of this shire where Ina King
now a little village but sometime King Etheldreds mansion house and for that the Earles of Cornwall were wont to retire themselves and sojourne there it was of good account within view whereof is Castlecombe an old Castle ennobled sometimes by the Lords of it the Walters of Dunstavill men of great renowne in their time out of whose house the Writhosleies Earles of Southampton are descended Petronilla or Parnell daughter and sole heire of the last Walter was wedded unto Robert de Montfore and bare unto him William his Sonne who sold this Castle with the rest of his lands and possessions unto Bartholomew Badilsmer from whom as I have heard it passed to the Scrâ—opes who ever since have held it But now returne we unto the river upon which are seated Leckham the possession of the noble family of the Bainards where pieces of Roman money have oftentimes beene found and Lacocke where the most godly and religious woman Dame Ela Countesse of Salisburie being now a widdow built a Monasterie like as shee did another at Henton in the yeare 1232. to the honour of the blessed Virgin Marie and Saint Bernard in which her selfe devoutly dedicated both her bodie and soule to the service of God Avon from hence shadowed with trees holding on his course not far from Brumham an inhabitation in times past of the Baron Samond or truly De Sancto Amando Saint Amand afterward of the Baintons from them before hee admitteth to him a little rivelet from the East that putteth forth his head neere unto the Castle De Vies Devizes or the Vies Florentius of Worcester calleth it Divisio and Neubergentis Divisae Heretofore a stately place I assure you very strong as well by naturall scituation as by mans hand but through the injurie of time now decaied and defaced This Castle that it might disgrace and put downe all other Castles in England Roger Bishop of Salisburie whom from a poore masse-Priest Fortune had exalted unto the highest authoritie next the King at his excessive charges built But Fortune as one saith hath set no man so high but she threatneth to take from him as much as she hath permitted him to have For King Stephen upon a displeasure wrung from him both this Castle and that also of Shirburne together with all his wealth and riches as great as it was yea and brought the silly old man so low in prison what with hunger and what with other miseries that betweene the feare of death and torments of this life he had neither will to live nor skill to die At which time was handled canvased or rather tossed to and fro this question whether by the Canons and Decrees of Church Bishops might hold Castles or if this be by indulgence tolerated whether they ought not in dangerous and suspected times surrender them up into the Kings hands Avon having received this rivelet to beare him company maketh away westward and straight waies another brook from the South runneth into him which hath given name to the house standing upon it called likewise Barons Brooke which as it afforded habitation in old time to Iohn Pavely Lord of Westburie Hundred so afterwards it gave the title of Baron to Robert Willoughby because by the Chenies hee derived his pedigree from Paveley what time as King Henrie the Seventh advanced him to a Barons dignitie as being high in his favour Steward of his house and appointed by report for a while Admirall Whereupon he used the Helme of a ship for a seale in his ring like as Pompey in times past Governour of the Roman Navie the stemme or Prow thereof in his coines But this family fading as it were and dying in the verie blade quickly came to an end For he left a sonne Robert Lord Brooke who of a former wife begat Edward his sonne that died before his father leaving a daughter married to Sir Foulke Grevil and of a second wife two daughters by whom a great inheritance and rich estate conveied to the Marquesse of Winchester and Lord Montjoy Neere unto this Eastward lieth Edindon in old time Eathandune where King Alfred in as memorable a battell as any time else most fortunately vanquished the bold insolent and outragious Danes and drave them to this hard passe that they swore in a set forme of oath forthwith to depart out of England In which place also William de Edindon Bishop of Winchester whom King Edward highly favoured here borne and taking his name from hence erected a Colledge Bonis hominibus Bon-homes as they called them that is for good men But at the little river aforesaid somewhat higher standeth upon a hill Trubridge sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a sure and trusty bridge But for what cause this name was set upon it it is not for certaine knowne In great name and prosperitie it is in these daies by reason of clothing and sheweth the remaines of a Castle which belongeth to the Duchie of Lancaster and sometime of the Earle of Salisburie Avon thus increased by this rivelet watereth Bradford in the foregoing times Bradanford so named of a broad foard scituate upon the descent or fall of an hill and built all of stone where Kenilwalch King of the West-Britans embrued his sword wiuh bloud in civill warre against Cuthred his neere kinsman Here Avon biddeth Wil-shire farewell and entreth closely into the Countie of Somerset minding to visit the Bathes The West limit of this shire goeth downe directly from hence Southward by Long-leat the dwelling place of the Thins descended from the Bâ—ttevils a verie faire neate and elegant house in a foule soile which although once or twice it hath beene burnt hath risen eftsones more faire Also by Maiden Bradley so called of one of the Inhabitants of Manasses Basset a most noble personage in his time who being her selfe a maiden infected with the leprosie founded an house heere for maidens that were lepers and endowed the same with her owne Patrimonie and Livetide like as her Father before time had thereabout erected a Priorie Likewise by Stourton the seate of the Lords Stourton whom King Henry the Sixth raised to this dignitie after their estaâ—e had beene much bettered in lands and revenues by marriage with the Daughter and heire of the family Le Moigne or Monke of Essex and not of Mohun as some hitherto have beene falsely perswaded and hereupon it is that they have borne for their Crest A Demi-Monke with a whip in his hand The place tooke his name of the River Stour that under this towne walmeth out of sixe fountaines which the Stourtons Lords of the place have brought into their shield sables By Maiden Bradley above said glideth Dever-rill a prettie small Rill so called for that like as Anas in Spaine and Mole in Surrey which tooke their names thereupon it divideth as it were under the ground and a mile off rising up here againe
them have very goodly houses also adjoyning to the Church and all these buildings stand within the close wall severed from the Citie As the Bishop was busied about erecting of Gods house the Citizens likewise for their parts did their best to found the Citie they established their civill government derived rilles and servers of waters into every street and cast a deepe ditch all along that side on which it is not fenced with the running river having obtained licence of Simon the Bishop thus to strengthen and fortifie the same And in such sort grew up this new Salisburie by little an little out of the ruines of old Sorbiodunum that so soone as they by the Kings warrant had turned hither the high-way that leadeth into the West parts it became the second Citie in all this tract passing well inhabited and frequented plentifull of all things especially of fish adorned with a very stately market place wherein standeth their common Hall of timber worke a very beautifull edifice But nothing is there whereof it may so much boast as of Iohn Iowell not long since Bishop there a wonderfull great and deepe Divine a most stout and earnest maintainer of our reformed religion against the adversaries by his learned books Old Sorbiodunum from thence forward decaied more and more and in the raigne of King Henrie the Seventh became utterly desolate so as at this day there remaineth onely a towre or two of the Castle which notwithstanding a long time after the departure of the townesmen from thence was the dwelling house of the Earles of Salisburie and about which in King Edward the Thirds time there arose a memorable controversie and suite For Robert Bishop of Salisburie stirred Milliam Mont acute Earle of Salisburie by vertue of a processe which our Lawyers terme Breve de Recto that is A writ of right for this Castle and hee made answer that hee would defend his right by combat Whereupon at a day appointed the Bishop â—rought forth his champion to the railes or bars of the Lists clâ—d in a white garment reaching downe to his mid-leg upon which he had a mandilian or cassocke garnished with the Bishops Armes at whose heeles followed a Knight carrying a staffe and a page with a shield Immediately after the Earle brought in by the hand his owne champion also arraied in the like apparell accompanied with two Knights bearing white staves Now when these Champions were to enter the Lists commanded they were to withdraw themselves aside that their weapons of both parts might be viewed and they searched whether they had any Amulers or Enchantments about them But all on a suddaine unlooked for came the Kings precept to reprive and defer the matter to a further day that the King might loose thereby none of his right Meane while they grew to this composition That the Earle for the summe of 2500. markes paied and received should yield up all his title and interest in the Castle to the Bishop and his successors for ever This Salisburie had long agoe Earles of that name whose pedigree I will derive somewhat farther off and more truly out of the short reports of Lacock Historie William Conqueror of his bounty liberalitie assigned unto Gualter de Evereaux Earle of Rosmar in Normandie faire lands and large possessions in this shire which he left unto Edward named de Sarisburia a younger sonne borne in England like as to Walter his eldest sonne other lands in Normandie with the Title of Earle of Rosmar whose issue within a while after was extinct That Edward of Sarisburie aforesaid flourished in the twentieth yeere of the Conquerours reigne and is often times barely named in the Indiciarie booke of England without the title of Earle His sonne Walter built a a little monasterie at Bradenstocke and there in his old age tooke him to the habit of a Canon or Regular priest after he had first begotten his sonne Patricke the first Earle of Salisburie upon Sibil de Cadurcis This Patricke I say the first Earle in his returne from his pilgrimage at S. Iames of compostella in Spain in the yeere of our Lord 1169. being slaine by one Guy of Lusigniam left William his sonne to succeede who died in King Richard the first his time His onely daughter Ela through the favour of the said King Richard was married to William Long Espee surnamed so of a long sword that he did usually weare a base sonne of King Henrie the second and her marriage honoured him with the title of Earle and her owne coat of Armes be Azur adorned with sixe Lions Ceux This William had a sonne named likewise William Long-Espee against whom King Henrie the Third conceiving great displeasure for that without licence obtained he was gone to serve in the holy land taking the crosse as they termed it upon him took from him both the title of Earle and also the Castle of Salisburie But he holding still his purpose went into Egypt with S. Lewis King of France and neere unto Damiata which the Christians had wonne carrying a brave and valorous minde fighting manfully among the thickkest troops of his enemies died an honorable and glorious death a little before that holy King was unfortunately taken prisoner His sonne named likewise William lived without the title of Earle and begat one onely daughter Margaret who neverthelesse being reputed Countresse of Salisburie became the wife of Henry Lacy Earle of Lincoln unto whom she bare one only daughter Alice wedded to Thomas Earle of Lancaster Who being attainted King Edward the Second seized upon those possessions which she had granted and demised unto her husband out of which King Edward the Third gave way unto Willam Mont-acute Trowbridg Winterbourn Ambresburie and other Lordships in these words So fully and wholly as the Progenitours of Margaret Countesse of Salisbury at any time held the same And even then hee preferred the said William Mont-acute to be Earle of Salisburie and by the cincture of a sword invested him in the said Earledome This William became Lord of the Isle of Mann and begat two sonnes William who succeeded in his Fathers honour and died without issue having unhappily slaine his onely sonne while he trained him at Tilting and Iohn a Knight who died before his brother leaving behind him a sonne named Iohn Earle of Salisburie whom hee had by Margaret daughter and heire of Thomas de Mont-Hermer who being of an unconstant and changeable nature and plotting the destruction of King Henrie the Fourth was in the yeare of our Lord 1400. killed at Chichester and attainted afterwards of high treason Howbeit his sonne Thomas was fully restored a man worthy to be ranged with the bravest Captaines and Commanders whether you respect paines taking in his affaires industrie in action or expedition in dispatch who lying at the siege before Orleance in France was with a bullet levelled out of a great piece of Ordnance wounded in the yeare 1428. and thereof died
place called Tibury hill and containeth a square field by estimation of ten acres ditched about in some places deeper than other wherein hath beene found tokens of Wells and about which the ploughmen have found squared stones and Roman coines as they report for the place I have not seene This brooke entreth into Test neere Worwhell where Queene Aelfrith built a Monasterie to expiate and make satisfaction for that most foule and heinous fact wherewith so wickedly she had charged her soule by making away King Edward her husbands son as also to wash out the murthering of her former husband Aethelwold a most noble Earle whom King Edgar trained forth hither a hunting and then strake him through with a dart because hee had deluded him in his love secrets and by deceitfull and naughtie meanes prevented him and gotten for himself this same Aelfrith the most beautifull Lady that was in those daies After this Test having taken into it a little river from Wallop or more truly Well-hop that is by interpretation out of our forefathers ancient language A prety well in the side of an hill whereof that right worshipfull familie of the Wallops of Knights degree dwelling hard by tooke name seeketh for BRIGE or BRAGE an ancient towne likewise placed by Antonine nine miles from Sorbiodunum at which distance betweene Salisburie and Winchester he findeth not farre from his banke Broughton a small country towne which if it were not that BRAGE I verily believe it was then utterly destroyed when William of Normandie laid all even with the ground heere abouts to make that forrest before mentioned Then goeth this river to see Rumsey in Saxon speech Rum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A nunnery founded by King Edgar the large Church whereof yet standeth out of the which Mary daughter of King Stephen being there Abbesse and his only heire surviving was conveied secretly by Mathew of Alsace sonne to the Earle of Flanders and to him married But after she had borne to him two daughters was enforced by sentence of the Church to returne hither again according to her vow Thence glideth this water straight into Anton Haven at Arundinis Vadum as Bede called it and interpreteth it himselfe Reedeford but now of the bridge where the foard was named for Redeford Sedbridge where at the first springing up of the English Saxon Church there flourished a Monasterie the Abbat whereof Cymbreth as Bede writeth baptized the two brethren being very little ones of Arvandus the pettie King of Wight even as they were ready to be put to death For when Cedwalla the Saxon set upon the Isle of Wight these small children to save their lives fled to a little town called Ad lapidem and hid themselves there untill at length being betraied they were at Cedwallaes commandement killed If you aske mee what this little towne Ad lapidem should bee I would say it were Stonâ—ham a small village next to Redebridge which the very signification of the name may evidently prove for mee The other river that runneth forth at the East-side of Southhampton may seeme to have beene called Alre For the mercate towne standing upon the banke thereof not farre from ponds out of which it issueth is called Alres-ford that is The foard of Alre This towne to use the words of an old Record of Winchester Kinewalce the religious King instructed in the Sacraments of faith by the Bishop Birinus at the very beginning of Christian religion in this tract with great devotion of heart gave unto the Church of God at Wenta In the yeare of grace 1220. Godfrey Lucy Bishop of Winchester made a new market place heere and called it Novum forum that is New mercate in regard haply of old Alres-ford adjoyning thereto But this new aime continued not long with the people who in the matter of speech carry the greatest stroke Neere heereunto is Tichburne which I must not omit for that it hath given name to a worshipfull and ancient familie Vpon the West banke of this river is scituate the most famous Citie of the British Belgians called by Ptolomee and Antoninus Venta Belgarum by the Britaine 's of Wales even at this day Caer Gwent by the Saxons in old time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine commonly Wintonia and by us in these daies of Winchester Yet there bee some which affirme this to be Venta Simenorum and do grace Bristow with the name of Venta Belgarum But that there were never any Simeni at all in this Island I will prove when I come to the Iceni In the meane season though they should seeke all the townes that Antoninus placeth on every side in the way to or from VENTA BELGARVM as narrowly as Emmots paths yet shall they find nothing for their purpose to make good this their assertion The Etymologie of this name Venta some fetch from Ventus that is Wind others from Vinum that is Wine and some againe from Wina a Bishop who all of them be farre wide and should doe well to pray for better judgement Yet like I rather the opinion of Leland who hath derived it from the British word Guin or Guen that is White so that Caer Guin should signifie as much as the White Citie And why not seing the old Latines named these their Cities Alba longa and Alba regia of whitenesse yea and the Grecians also had their Leuca Leucas and other nations also many places taking name of whitenesse For this Venta like as the other two of the same name to wit VENTA SILVRVM and VENTA ICENORVM are seated all three in a soile that standeth upon chalke and a whitish clay A Citie it was no doubt flourishing even in the Romans times as in which the Emperours of Rome seeme to have had their sacred of houses weaving and embroidering peculiar to their owne persons and uses seeing among all the VENTAS in Britaine it was both the chiefe and also nearest unto Italie For in the booke of Notitiae mention is made of the Procurator Master or Governour Cynegii VENTENSIS or BENTENSIS in Britaine where the onely flowre of Lawyers Iames Cujacius readeth Cynaecii and in his Paratitles upon the Code interpreteth it Sacrum textrinum that is The sacred workhouse or shop of embroidering and weaving And right of his mind is Guidus Pancirolus who writeth that those Gynaecia were instituted for the weaving of the Princes and souldiers garments of Ship-sailes of linnen sheetes or covering and such like cloaths necessarie for the furniture of mansions But Wolfangus Lazius was of opinion that that the Procurator aforesaid had the charge heere of the Emperours dogs And to say truth of all the dogs in Europe ours beare the name in so much as Strabo witnesseth our dogges served as souldiers and the ancient Galles made speciall use of them even in their wars And of all others they were in most request both for those baitings in the Amphitheaters and also in all
they call it a Fesse with a labell of seven as I have seene upon his seales After him succeeded Roger his sonne who bare Gules seven Mascles voided Or but with him that honour vanished and went away seeing he died without issue male For he married the eldest daughter and one of the coheires of Alan Lord of Galloway in Scotland by a former wife in right of whom he was Constable of Scotland He had by her three onely daughters the first married to William de Ferrariis Earle of Derbie the second to Alan de la Zouch the third to Comine Earle of Bucqhanan in Scotland A long time after Hugh le Dispencer having that title bestowed upon him for terme of his life by King Edward the second whose minion he was and only beloved felt together with his sonne what is the consequence of Princes extraordinary favours For both of them envied by most were by the furious rage of the people put cruelly to shamefull death And long it was after this that through the bounty of King Edward the Fourth Lewis of Bruges a Netherland Lord of Gruthuse Prince of Steinhuse c. Who had given him comfort and succour in the Netherlands when hee was fled his native countrey received this honour with Armes resembling those of Roger Quincy in these words Azur a dix Mascles D'or en orm d'un Canton de nostie propre Armes d' Engleterre cestsavour de Goul un Leopard passant d' or armeè d' azur All which after King Edwards death he yeilded up into the hands of Henrie the seventh But lately within our memorie King Edward the sixth honoured Sir William Pawlet Lord Treasurer of England Earle of Wilshire and Lord Saint Iohn of Basing with a new title of Marquesse of Winchester A man prudently pliable to times raised not sodainely but by degrees in Court excessive in vaste informous buildings temperate in all other things full of yeares for he lived nintie seven years and fruitfull in his generation for he saw one hundred and three issued from him by Elizabeth his wife daughter to Sir William Capell Knight And now his grand-child William enjoyeth the said honours For the Geographicall position of Winchester it hath beene observed by former ages to be in longitude two and twenty degrees and in latitude fiftie one From Winchester more Eastward the river Hamble at a great mouth emptieth it selfe into the Ocean Beda calleth it Homelea which as he writeth by the lands of the Intae entreth into Solente for so termeth he that frith our narrow sea that runneth betweene the Isle of Wight and the main land of Britain in which the tides at set houres rushing in with great violence out of the Ocean at both ends and so meeting one another in the midst seemed so strange a matter to our men in old time that they reckoned it among the wonders of Britaine Whereof read heere the very words of Beda The two tides of the Ocean which about Britaine breake out of the vast Northern Ocean daily encounter and fight one against another beyond the mouth of the river Homelea and when they have ended their conflict returne backe from whence they came and runne into the Ocean Into this Frith that little river also sheadeth it selfe which having his head neere Warnford passeth betweene the Forrests of Waltham where the Bishop of Winchester hath a goodly house and of Bere whereby is Wickham a mansion of that ancient family of Vuedal and then by Tichfield sometime a little monasterie founded by Petre de Rupibus Bishop of Winchester where the marriage was solemnized betweene King Henry the sixth and Margaret of Anjou and now the principall seate of the Lord Writheosleies Earles of South-hampton From thence forthwith the shore with curving crookes draweth it selfe in and the Island named Portesey maketh a great creeke within the more inward nooke or corner whereof sometimes flourished Port peris where by report Vespasian landed An haven towne which our Ancestours by a new name called Port-chester not of Porto the Saxon but of the port or haven For Ptolomee tearmeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is THE GREAT HAVEN for the widenesse of it like as that Portus Magnus also in Africk as Plinie witnesseth And verily there remaineth yet a great Castle which hath a faire and spacious prospect into the haven underneath But when as the Ocean by with-drawing it selfe tooke away by little and little the commoditie of the haven the Inhabitants flitted from thence into the Island Portsey adjoyning which taketh in circuit much about fourteene miles being at every full sea floated round about with salt-waters out of which they boile salt and by a bridge that hath a fortresse adjoyning unto it is united to the Continent This Island Athelflede King Eadgars wife had given to the New monasterie of Winchester And in it at the very gullet or mouth where the sea entreth in our fore-fathers built a towne and thereupon named it Portsmouth that is the mouth of the haven A place alwaies in time of warre well frequented otherwise little resort there is to it as beeing more favourable and better affected to Mars and Neptune than to Mercurie that is to warre rather than to traffique A Church it hath of the old building and an Hospitall Gods house they call it founded by Peter de Rupibus Bishop of Winchester Fortified it was with a wall made of timber and the same well covered over with thicke bankes of earth fenced with a platforme also or mount of earth in times past on the North-east nere to the gate and two block-houses at the entry of the haven made of new hewen stone Which being by King Edward the fourth begunne King Henrie the seventh as the Inhabitants report did finish and strengthned the towne with a garrison But in our remembrance Queene ELIZABETH at her great cost and charges so armed it as one would say with new fortifications as that now there is nothing wanting that a man would require in a most strong and fenced place And of the garrison-souldiers some keepe watch and ward both night and day at the gates others upon the towre of the Church who by the ringing or sound of a bell give warning how many horse or foote are comming and by putting forth a banner shew from what quarter they come From hence as the shore fetcheth a compasse and windeth from Portes-bridge wee had the sight of Havant a little mercate towne and hard by it of Wablington a goodly faire house belonging some-times to the Earles of Salisbury but now to the family of the Cottons Knights Before which there lie two Islands the one greater named Haling the other lesse called Thorney of thornes there growing and both of them have their severall parish Church In many places along this shore of the sea-waters flowing up thither is made salt of a palish or greene colour the which by a certaine artificious devise
was built by the Danes but I should rather judge that something was here erected by the Romans and afterwards rased by Saxons and Danes what time as Sueno the Dane ranging and roving this way spoiled and harried the countrey That it was at length reedified under King William the first we know assuredly by Domesday book seeing that it yeeldeth record as even now I noted of eight Hages or Houses destroyed for the Castle Yet William Gemeticensis makes no mention of this Castle when he writeth that William of Normandie having defeited Harold led his armie forthwith to this citie so he termeth it and after he had passed over the Tamis at the ford pitched his tents heere before hee came to London At which time Wigod an Englishman was Lord of Wallengford who had one onely daughter given in marriage to Robert D'Oyley of whom he begat Mawd his sole heire first wedded to Miles Crispin and after his death through the goodnesse and favour of K. Henrie the first married unto Brient called Fitz Count Who being brought up in warlike feates and taking part with Mawde the Empresse most manfully defended this Castle against King Stephen who had raised a fort just over against it at Craumesh and he made it good untill that peace so much wished of all England was concluded in this place and that most grievous dissention about the Crowne betweene K. Stephen and Henrie the Second ended For then the love of God tooke such place in the hearts of the said Brient and his wife that they cast of this fraile and transitorie world and devoted themselves in religious life unto Christ so was this Honour of Wallengford escheated into the Kings hand Which appeareth out of an old Inquisition in the Exchequer by these words To his most beloved Lords the King our soveraigne Lord his Iustices and Barons of the Exchequer the Constable of Wallengford sendeth greeting Know ye that I have made diligent enquiry by the Knights of my Bayliwicke according to a commandement of my Lord the King directed unto me by the Sheriffe and of the Inquisition thus made this is the summe Wigod of Wallengford held the honour of Wallengford in King Harolds time and afterwards in the daies of King William the First He had by his wife a certaine daughter whom he gave in marriage to Robert D'Oyly This Robert begat of her a daughter named Mawd who was his heire Miles Crispin espoused her and had with her the honour aforesaid of Wallengford After the decease of Miles our soveraigne Lord King Henrie the first bestowed the aforesaid Mawd upon Brient Fitz Count who both tooke themselves to a religious life and King Henrie the Second seized the honour into his hand c. Yet afterwards in the time of King Henrie the Third it belonged to the Earles of Chester and then to Richard King of the Romans and Earle of Cornwall who repaired it and unto his sonne Edmond who within the inner Court founded a Collegiate Chappell who dying without issue it fell againe to the Crowne and was annexed to the Dukedome of Cornwall since which time it hath by little and little decaied And verily about the time when that most mortall Plague which followed the conjunction of Saturne and Mars in Capricorne reigned hotely throughout all Europe in the yeare of our Lord 1348. This towne was so dispeopled by reason of continuall mortalitie there that whereas before time it was passing well Inhabited and had twelve Churches in it it can shew now no more than one or two But the cause of this desolation the Inhabitants lay rather upon the bridges of Abbindon and Dorchester whereby London portway was turned from thence From hence Southward the Tamis passeth most mildly betweene very rich and fertile fields on both sides by Moules-ford which K. Henrie the first gave unto Girald Fitz-Walter from whence the Noble family of the Carewes is descended To this house much lands honour and reputation accrewed in Ireland by descent and in England by matching in marriage with right noble families of the Mohuns Dinhams and others Not farre from hence is Aldworth where be certaine tombes and portraictures bigger than the ordinary proportion of men which thereupon the unlearned multitude keepes a wondering at as if they had been Giants whereas indeed they were but of certaine Knights of the Family de la Beche which heere had a Castle and is thought in the raigne of King Edward the Third to have beene extinguished for default of issue male And now at length Tamis meeteth with Kenet which River as I said ere-while watering the South part of this shire at his first entry when he hath left Wiltshire behind him runneth under Hungerford named in old time Ingleford Charnam-street a very small towne and seated in a moist place howbeit it hath given name and title to the honorable family of the Barons of Hungerford which was first raised to greatnesse by Walter Hungerford who under King Henrie the Fifth being Seneschall or Steward of the Kings house was for his warlike prowesse liberally rewarded by the said king and infeoffed in the Castle and Barony of Homet in Normandie To have and to hold unto him and his heires males by homage and service to find the Kings and his heires at the Castle of Roan one Launce with a Fox taile hanging downe thereat which pleasant conceit I thought not a misse to insert here among serious matters The same Walter in the raigne of Henrie the Sixth being high Treasurer of England and created withall Baron Hungerford as well by his singular wisedome as his marriage mith Katherine Peverell descended from the Moels and Courtneys mightily augmented his state His sonne Robert who wedded the daughter and heire of the Lord Botereaux enriched the same house verie much Sir Robert likewise his sonne who matched with Eleanor the daughter and heire of William Molines whereupon he was summoned among the Barons of the Realme by the name of Lord Molines and during the civill warre betweene the two houses of Lancaster and Yorke was beheaded at Newcastle advanced the name not a little His sonne Thomas slaine at Salisbury while his father was living left his onely daughter named Marie whom Edward Lord Hastings tooke to wife with a great and rich Inheritance But Walter brother to the said Thomas begat Edward Hungerford father of that Walter whom King Henrie the Eighth created Baron Hungerford of Heitesbury and condemned him afterwards for a crime not to be spoken of howbeit Queene Marie restored his children unto all his estate save onely the name and title of Barons Not farre from hence Southward is Widehay the seat for a long time of the Baron Saint Amand whose inheritance Gerard Braybrooke entred upon in right of his wife whose eldest Niece by his sonne Gerard named Elizabeth by her marriage brought the same unto William de Beauchamp who being summoned to
the Parliament by the name of William Beauchamp de Saint Amando flourished among other Barons like as his sonne Richard who left no issue lawfully begotten Kenet keeping on his course downward from thence betweene Hemsted Marshall which sometimes was held by the rod of Marshalsee and appertained to the Mareschals of England where S. Thomas Parry Treasurer of Queene Elizabeths houshold built a very proper house and Benham Valence in a Parke so called because it belonged to William de Valencia Earle of Pembroch But Queen Elizabeth gave it to Iohn Baptista Castilion a Piemontes of her privie chamber for faithfull service in her dangers So the river passeth on to that old town Spinae wherof Antonine made mention which retaining still the name is at this day called Spene but now in steed of a towne it is a very little village standing scarce a mile off from Newbury a famous towne that arose and had beginning out of the ruins of it For Newbury with us is as much to say as the Newburgh in respect no doubt of that more ancient place of habitation which is quite decayed and gone and hath left the name also in a peece of Newburie it selfe which is called Spinham Lands And if nothing else yet this verily might prove that Newburie sprang out of Spine because the inhabitants of Newbury acknowledge the village Spene as their mother although in comparison of Spene it be passing faire and goodly as well for buildings as furniture become rich also by clothing and very well seated in a champian plaine having the river Kenet to water it This towne at the time that the Normans conquered England fell to Ernulph de Hesdin Earle of Perch whose successour Thomas Earle of Perch being slaine at the siege of Lincolne the Bishop of Chalons his heire sold it unto William Marescall Earle of Pembroke who also held the Manour of Hempsted hard by whereof I have spoken and his successors also Mareschals of England untill that Roger Bigod for his obstinacie lost his honor and possessions both which notwithstanding by intreaty he obtained againe for his life time Kenet passeth on hence and taketh into him Lamborn a little river which at the head and spring thereof imparteth his name to a small mercate towne that in old time by vertue of King Aelfreds testament belonged unto his cousin Alfrith and afterward to the Fitz Warens who of King Henrie the Third obtained libertie of holding a mercate but now appertaineth unto the Essexes Knights A familie that fetcheth their pedigree from William Essex Vnder-treasurer of England under King Edward the Fourth from those who in times past carried the same surname flourished as men of very great fame in Essex From thence he runneth under Dennington which others call Dunnington a little castle but a fine and proper one situate with a faire prospect upon the brow of a prety hill full of groves and which inwardly for the most part letteth in all the light Built they say it was by Sir Richard de Abberbury Knight who also under it founded for poore people a Gods-house Afterward it was the residence of Chaucer then of the Dela Poles and in our fathers daies of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke Kenet having now finished a long course by Aldermaston which King Henrie the First gave unto Robert Achard From whose posterity by the Delamares it came at length in right of marriage to the Fosters a familie of Knights degree falleth at the last into Tamis presently after it hath with his winding branches compassed a great part of Reading This towne Reading called in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Rhea that is The River or of the British word Redin that signifieth Fearne which groweth heere in great plentie excelleth at this day all other townes of this shire in faire streets and goodly houses for wealth also of the Townsmen and their name in making of cloth although it hath lost the greatest ornaments it had to wit a beautifull Church and a most ancient Castle For this the Danes kept as their hold so Asserius writeth when they made a rampier betweene Kenet and Tamis and into this they retired themselves for safety when at Inglefield a village neere unto it which gave name to an ancient familie they were by King Aethelwolfe discomfited and put to flight But King Henrie the Second so rased it because it was a place of refuge for King Stephens followers that nothing now remaineth of it but the bare name in the next street Nigh whereunto King Henrie the First having plucked downe a little Nunnerie that Queene Alfrith had founded in former times to make satisfaction for her wicked deeds built for Monks a stately and sumptuous Abbay and enriched it with great revenewes Which Prince to speake out of his very Charter of the foundation Because three Abbaies in the Realme of England were in old time for their sinnes destroied to wit Reading Chelseie and Leonminster which a long time were held in Lay mens hands by the advise of the Bishops built a new Monasterie of Reading and gave unto it Reading Chelseie and Leonminster In this Abbay was the founder himselfe King Henrie buried with his wife both vailed and crowned for that shee had beene a Queene and a professed Nunne and with them their daughter Mawde as witnesseth the private Historie of this place although some report that she was enterred at Becc in Normandie This Mawde as well as that Lacedemonian Ladie Lampido whom Plinie maketh mention of was a Kings daughter a Kings wife and a Kings mother that is to say daughter of this Henrie the First King of England wife of Henrie the Fourth Emperour of Almaine and mother to Henrie the Second King of England Concerning which matter have you here a Distichon engraven on her tombe and the same verily in my judgment conceived in some gracious aspect of the Muses Magna ortu majorque viro sed maxima partu Hîc jacet Henrici filia sponsa parens The daughter wife the mother eke of Henrie lieth heere Much blest by birth by marriage more but most by issue deere And well might she be counted greatest by her issue For Henrie the Second her sonne as Iohn of Salisburie who lived in those daies wrote was the best and most vertuous King of Britaine the most fortunate Duke of Normandie and Aquitain and as well for valiant exploits as for excellent vertues highly renowned How courageous how magnificent how wise and modest he was even from his tender yeeres envy it selfe can neither conceale nor dissemble seeing that his acts bee fresh and conspicuous seeing also that he hath extended forward and held on in a continued traine the titles of his vertue from the bounds of Britaine unto the marches of Spaine And in another place of the same King Henrie the Second the most mighty King that ever was of Britaine shewed his
fought with good successe and slew all the valiantest men amongst them Yet did hee little or no good to his native country the Danes evermore renewing their forces still as they were overthrowne like unto that serpent Hydra A little from the fountaines where this river springeth standeth Gatton which now is scarce a small village though in times past it hath beene a famous towne To prove the antiquitie thereof it sheweth Roman coines digged forth of the ground and sendeth unto the Parliament two Burgesses Lower than it is seated Rhie-gat which if a man interpret according to our ancient language is as much as the Rivers course in a vale running out farre into the East called Holmesdale the Inhabitants whereof for that once or twice they vanquished the Danes as they wasted the country are wont in their owne praise to chaunt this Rythme The vale of Holmesdall Never wonne ne never shall This Rhie-gate carrying a greater shew for largenesse than faire buildings hath on the South-side a Parke thicke sette with faire groves wherein the right Noble Charles Earle of Nottingham Baron of Effingham and Lord Admirall of England hath a house where the Earles of Warren and Southrey had founded a prety Monasterie On the East side standeth a Castle mounted aloft now forlorne and for age ready to fall built by the same Earles and of the vale wherein it standeth commonly called Holmecastle under which I saw a wonderfull vault carried under the ground of arch-worke over head hollowed with great labour out of a soft gritte and crombling stone such as the whole hill standeth of These Earles of Warren as wee finde in the Offices or inquisitions held it in chiefe of the King in their Baronie from the conquest of England Hence runneth this river downe by Bechworth Castle for which Sir Thomas Browne obtained of King Henry the Sixth the libertie of holding a Faire For it is the habitation of the Brownes Knights out of which family since our grand-father can remember when Sir Anthony Browne had married Lady Lucie the fourth daughter of Iohn Nevil Marquesse Mont-a-cute Queene Mary honoured his sonnes sonne with the title of Vicount Mont-a-cute Some few miles from hence Westward Effingham sheweth it selfe the possession not long since of William Howard son to that Noble Thomas Duke of Norfolke that triumphed over the Scots who being created by Queene Mary Baron Howard of Effingham made Lord High-Admirall of England was first Lord Chamberlain unto Queene Elizabeth of most happy memorie and then Lord privie Seale whose sonne Charles now flourisheth Lord great Admirall of England whom in the yeare of our Lord 1597. the same Queene Elizabeth honoured also with the title of Earle of Nottingham of whom more in my Annales but now returne we to the river The Mole now being come as farre as Whitehill whereon the Box tree groweth in great plenty at the foote thereof hideth himselfe or rather is swallowed up and thereof the place is called the Swallow but after a mile or two neere unto Letherhed bridge boyling up and breaking forth taketh joy to spring out againe So that the Inhabitants of this tract may boast as well as the Spaniards that they have a bridge which feedeth many flockes of sheepe For this is a common by-word most rife in the Spaniards mouthes as touching the place where their river Anas now called Guadiana hideth himselfe for ten miles together Thus our Mole rising up a fresh hasteneth faire and softly by Stoke Dabernoun so named of the ancient possessors the Dabernouns gentlemen of great good note afterward by inheritance from them the possession of the Lord Bray and by Aesher sometimes a retyring place belonging to the Bishops of Winchester And then very neare Molesey whereunto it giveth name sheddeth himselfe into the Tamis After Tamis hath taken unto him the Mole hee carrieth his streame Northwardly and runneth fast by Kingstone called in times past Moreford as some will have it a very good mercate towne for the bignesse and well frequented well knowne also in old time by reason of a Castle there belonging to the Clares Earles of Glocester Which towne had beginning from a little towne more ancient then it of the same name standing upon a flat ground and subject to the inundation of Tamis In which when England was almost ruinated by the Danish warres Athelstan Edwin and Etheldred were crowned Kings upon an open stage in the Market place and of these Kings heere crowned it came to be named Kingstone as one would say The Kings Towne Tamis now turning his course directly Northward visiteth another place which the Kings chose for themselves sometimes to sojourne at which of the shining brightnesse they call Shene but now it is named Richmond wherein the most mighty Prince King Edward the Third when he had lived sufficiently both to glory and nature died with sorrow that hee conceived for the death of that most valiant and Martiall prince his sonne which sorrow pierced so deepe and stucke so neere him and all England beside that it farre exceeded all comfort And verily at this time if ever else England had a good cause to grieve For within one yeare after it lost the true praise of military prowesse and of accomplished vertue For both of them by bearing their victorious armes throughout all France struke so great a terrour wheresoever they came that as the father might most worthily with King Antiochus carrie the name of Thunder-bolt so his sonne with Pyrrhus deserved to bee named the Eagle Heere also departed Anne wife to King Richard the Second sister of the Emperour Wenzelaus and daughter to the Emperour Charles the fourth who first taught English women the manner of sitting on horsebacke which now is used whereas before time they rode very unseemely astride like as men doe Whose death also her passionate husband tooke so to the heart that he altogether neglected the said house and could not abide it Howbeit King Henry the Fifth readorned it with new buildings and in Shene a pretty village hard by he joyned thereto a little religious house of Carthusian Monks which he called The house of Iesu of Bethelem But in the raigne of Henry the seventh this Princely place was with a woefull sudden fire consumed almost to ashes Howbeit rising up againe forthwith farre more beautifull and glorious as it were a Phaenix out of her owne ashes by the meanes of the same King Henry it tooke this new name Richmond of the title hee bare being Earle of Richmond before he obtained the Crowne of England Scarce had that Noble King Henry the Seventh finished this new worke when in this place he yeilded unto nature and ended his life through whose care vigilancy policy and forecasting wisedome for time to come the State and common-weale of England hath to this day stood established and invincible From hence likewise his sonnes daughter Queene
long inhabited with a warlike people and skilfull sailers well stored with barkes and craies and gained much by fishing which is plentifull along the shore But after that the peere made of timber was at length violently carried away by extreame rage of the sea it hath decaied and the fishing lesse used by the reason of the dangerous landing for they are enforced to worke their vessels to land by a Capstall or Craine In which respect for the bettering of the towne Queene Elizabeth granted a contribution toward the making of a new harbour which was begun but the contribution was quickly converted into private purses and the publike good neglected Neverthelesse both Court the Countrey and Citie of London is served with much fish from thence The whole Rape of Hastings and the Honour was holden by the Earles of Ew commonly called de Augi in Normandie descended from the base sonne of Richard the First Duke of Normandie untill the daies of Alice the heire of the house whom in the reigne of Henrie the Third Ralph de Issodun in France tooke to wife whose posteritie lost a faire patrimonie in England for that as our Lawyers spake in those daies they were Ad fidem Regis Franciae that is under the king of France his allegiance When King Henry the third had seazed their lands into his hands hee granted the Rape of Hastings first to Peter Earle of Savoy then to Prince Edward his sonne and after upon his surrender to Iohn sonne to the Duke of little Britaine upon certaine exchanges of lands pertaining to the Honour of Richmond which Peter Earle of Savoy had made over for the use of the Prince Long time after when the Duke of Britaine had lost their lands in England for adhering to the French King King Henrie the Fourth gave the Rape of Hastings with the Manour of Crowherst Burgwash c. to Sir Iohn Pelham the elder upon whose loialtie wisedome and valour he much relied Before we depart from Hastings as it shall not bee offensive I hope to remember that in the first daies of the Normans there were in this shire great gentlemen surnamed Hastings de Hastings of whom Mathew de Hastings held the Manour of Grenocle in this service that he should find at this haven an oaâ—e when the kings would crosse over the seas so now the honourable house of the Hastings that are Earles of Huntingdon enjoy this title of Hastings For King Edward the Fourth bestowed this title with certaine Royalties as they terme them upon Sir William Hastings his Chamberlaine Who is by Cominaus commended for that having received an yearely pension of Lewis the eleaventh the French King hee could not for any thing bee brought to give unto the French King an acquittance of his owne hand writing I will in no case saith hee that my hand-writing bee seene amongst the accounts of the French Kings Treasure But this man by diving so deepe into the friendship of Kings overwhelmed and drowned himselfe quite For whiles hee spake his minde and reasoned over franckly at a private consultation with the Usurper King Richard the Third all of a sodaine and unlooked for had hee was away and without pleading for himselfe presently made shorter by the head upon the next blocke Neither is this to be passed over in silence that King Henrie the Sixth adorned Sir Thomas Hoo a worthy knight whom hee also chose into the order of the Garter with the title of Baron Hoo and Hastings whose daughters and heires were married to Sir Gefferie Bollen from whence by the mothers side Queene ELIZABETH was descended to Roger Coplie to Iohn Carew Iohn Devenish From thence the shore passing under Farley hill farre seene both by sea and land whereon standeth a solitary Church full bleakly and a beacon is hollowed with an in-winding Bay and upon it standeth Winchelsey which was built in the time of King Edward the Frst when a more ancient towne of the same name in the Saxons tongue called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was quite swallowed up with the rough and raging Ocean in the yeare of our Lord 1250. what time the face of the earth both heere and also in the coast of Kent neere bordering became much changed The situation thereof I will set before your eyes in the very words of Th. Walsingham Situate it is upon a high hill very steepe on that side which either looketh toward the sea or over-looketh the rode where ships lie at anchor Whence it is that the way leading from that part to the haven goeth not streight forward least it should by an over sodaine and downe right descent force those that goe downe to fall headlong or them that goe up to creepe rather with their hands then to walke but lying side-waies it windeth with curving turnes in and out to one side and the other At first it was inclosed with a rampier after-wards with strong wals and scarce beganne it to flourish when it was sacked by the French men and Spaniards and by reason that the sea shrunke backe from it began sodainely as it were to fade and loose the beauty And now only beareth the countenance of a faire towne and hath under it in the levell which the sea relinquished a Castle fortified by Henrie the Eighth and large marshes defended from sea-rages with workes very chargeably By the decay hereof and the benefit of the sea together Rhie opposite unto it and as highly seated began to flourish or rather to reflourish For that in old time it flourished and that William of Ipres Earle of Kent fortified it Ipres Tower now the prison and the immunities or priviledges that it had in common with the Cinque-ports may sufficiently shew But by occasion of the Vicinity of Winchelsey or the shrinking backe of the sea it lay for a good while in former ages unknowne But when Winchelsey decaied and King Edward the Third walled it where the cliffes defended it not it beganne to breath againe and revive and in our fathers daies the sea to make amends aboundantly for the harmes it had done raised with an unusuall tempest so rushed in and insinuated it selfe in forme of a bay that it made a very commodious haven which another tempest also in our daies did not a little helpe Since which time it greatly reflourished with inhabitants buildings fishing and navigation and at this day there is an usuall passage from hence into Normandie yet now it beginneth to complaine that the sea abandoneth it such is the variable and interchangeable course of that element and in part imputeth it that the river Rother is not contained in his channell and so looseth his force to carry away the sands and beach which the sea doth inbeate into the haven Notwithstanding it hath many fishing vessels and serveth London and the Court with varietie of sea-fish Now whether it have the name of Riue a Norman
word which signifieth a strond or Banke I cannot easily say But seeing that in Records it is very often called in Latine Ripa and they who bring fish from hence be termed Ripiers I encline rather this way and would encline more if the Frenchmen used this word for a stroud or shore as Plinius doth Ripa These two townes neither may it seeme impertinent to note it belonged to the Abbey of Fescampe in Normandie But when King Henry the Third perceived that religious men intermingled secretly in matters of State he gave them in exchange for these two Chiltenham and Sclover two Manours in Glocester-shire and other lands adding for the reason that the Abbat and Monkes might not lawfully fight with temporall armes against the enemies of the Crowne Into this haven the River Rother or Rither sheddeth it selfe which issuing forth at Ritheram fieldes for so the Englishmen in ancient times called that towne which wee doe Rotherfield passeth by Burgwash in old time Burghersh which had Lords so surnamed thereof among whom was that Sir Bartholomew Burgwash a mightie man in his time who being approved in most weighty Ambassages and warres in Aquitaine for his wisedome and valour deserved to be created a Baron of the Realme to be admitted into the Order of the Garter at the very first institution even among the Founders thereof and to bee made Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque-ports And his sonne carrying the same fore-name not degenerating from his father lived in high honour and estimation but hee left behind him one daughter and no more issue married into the house of Le Despencer of which there remaineth still a goodly of-spring of Noble personages Echingham next adjoyning had also a Baron named William de Echingham in the time of King Edward the Second whose ancestours were the hereditarie Seneschals of this Rape And their inheritance in the end by the heires females name to the Barons of Windsor and to the Tirwhits Then the Rother dividing his water into three channels passeth under Roberts bridge where Alured de S. Martin in King Henrie the seconds daies founded a Monasterie and so running beside Bodiam a Castle belonging to the ancient Family of the Lewknors built by the Dalegrigs here falleth as I said into the Ocean Now I have passed along the Sea coast of Sussex And as for the mid-land part of the shire I have nothing more to relate thereof unlesse I should recount the woods and forrests lying out faire in length and breadth which are a remnant of the vast wood Anderida Among which to begin at the West those of greatest note are these The forrest of Arundill Saint Leonards forrest Word forrest and not farre off East Gren-sted anciently a parcell of the Barony of Eagle and made a Mercate by King Henry the seventh Ashdowne forrest under which standeth Buckhurst the habitation of the ancient house of the Sackviles out of which race Queene Elizabeth in our daies aduanced Thomas Sackvile her allie by the Bollens a wise Gentleman to be Baron of Buckhurst took him into her Privie Councell admitted him into the most honorable Order of the Garter and made him Lord Treasurer of England whom also of late K. Iames created Earle of Dorset Waterdown forrest where I saw Eridge a lodg of the Lord Abergevenny and by it craggie rocks rising up so thicke as though sporting nature had there purposed a sea Here-by in the very confines of Kent is Groomebridge an habitation of the Wallers whose house there was built by Charles Duke of Orleance father to K. Lewis the 12. of France when he being taken prisoner in the battaile at Agincourt by Richard Waller of this place was here a long time detained prisoner As touching the Earles Sussex had five by the line of Albiney who were likewise called Earles of Arundell but had the third pennie of Sussex as Earles then had The first of them was William D' Albiney the sonne of William Butler to King Henrie the first and Lord of Buckenham in Norfolk who gave for his armes Gules a Lion rampant Or and was called one while Earle of Arundell and another while Earle of Chichester for that in those places he kept his chiefe residence This man of Adeliz the daughter of Godfrey Barbatus Duke of Lorraine and of Brabant Queen Dowager or Widdow of K. Henrie the First begat William the second Earle of Sussex and of Arundell father to William the third Earle unto whom Mabile the sister and one of the heires of the last Raulph Earle of Chester bare William the fourth Earle Hugh the fifth who both died without issue and also foure daughters married unto Sir Robert Yateshall Sir Iohn Fitz-Alan Sir Roger de Somery and Sir Robert de Mount-hault After this the title of Arundell budded forth againe as I said before in the Fitz-Alans but that of Sussex lay hidden and lost unto this our age which hath seene five Ratcliffes descended of the most Noble house of the Fitz-walters that derived their pedigree from the Clares bearing that honour to wit Robert created Earle of Sussex by King Henrie the Eight who wedded Elizabeth daughter of Henry Stafford Earle of Buckingham of whom he begat Henrie the second Earle unto whom Elizabeth the daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk brought forth Thomas who being Lord Chamberlaine to Queene Elizabeth died without issue a most worthy and honourable personage in whose mind were seated joyntly both politike wisedome and martiall prowesse as England and Ireland acknowledged Him succeeded Sir Henrie his brother and after him Robert his onely sonne now in his flower This Province containeth parishes 312. THus farre of Sussex which together with Suth-rey was the habitation of the Regni in the time of the Britaines and afterwards the kingdome of the South-Saxons called in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the two and thirty yeare after the Saxons comming was begun by Ella who as Beda writeth First among the Kings of the English Nation ruled all their Southern Provinces which are severed by the River Humber and the limits adjoyning thereto The first Christian King was Edilwalch baptized in the presence of Wulpher King of Mercia his Godfather and he in signe of adoption gave unto him two Provinces namely the Isle of Wight and the Province of the Meanvari But in the 306. yeare after the beginning of this Kingdome when Aldinius the last King was slaine by Ina King of West-Saxons it came wholly under the Dominion of the West-Saxons CANTIVM NOw am I come to Kent which Countrey although master WILLIAM LAMBARD a man right well endued with excellent learning and as godly vertues hath so lively depainted out in a full volume that his painefull felicitie in that kind bath left little or nothing for others yet according to the project of this worke which I have taken in hand I will runne it over also and
it with King Henrie the Eighth Somewhat lower hard by Darent standeth Lullingstone where there was sometime a Castle the seat of a family of the same name but now of Sir Percival Hart descended from one of the coheires of the Lord Bray Then Darent giveth name unto Darentford commonly Dartford a great mercat towne well frequented and well watered where King Edward the Third built a Nunnery which King Henry the Eighth converted into a house for himselfe and his successours Heere the rivelet Crey anciently called Crecan intermingleth it selfe with Darent when in his short course hee hath imparted his name to five townelets which hee watereth as Saint Mary Crey Pauls Crey Votes-Crey North Crey and Crey-ford in former ages Crecanford where Hengist the Saxon the eighth yeare after his arrivall joyned battaile with the Brittaines and after he had slaine their captaines brought them under with so great a slaughter that afterwards hee never stood in feare of them but established his kingdome quietly in Kent From the river Darent or Dart unto the mouth of Medway the Thames seeth nothing above him but little townes pleasantly seated which to passe over in silence were no prejudice either of their fame or any thing els Yet amongst them is Swans-combe of which I have heretofore spoken of honorable memorie among the Kentish men for obtaining their the continuance of their ancient franchises afterward it was well knowne by the Montceusies men of great Nobility the owners therof who had there Barony here-about And by it Graves-end so called as Master Lambert is my author as the Gereves-end that is the limit of the Gereve or Reve. A towne as well knowne as any other in England for the usuall passage by water betweene it and London since the Abbat of Grace by the tower of London to which it appertained obtained of King Richard the second that the inhabitants of it and Milton onely should transport passengers from thence to London King Henrie the Eighth when he fortified the sea coast raised two Platformes or Block-houses here and two other opposite on Essex side Beyond Graves-end is Shorn held anciently by Sir Roger Northwood by service to carry with other the kings tennants a white ensigne fortie daies at his owne charges when the King warred in Scotland Somewhat more within the land lieth Cobham the habitation for a long time of the Barons of Cobham of whom Iohn Cobham the last of that name founded a Colledge here and a castle at Cowling who left one onely daughter wife to Sir Iohn de la Pole Knight Shee likewise bare but one daughter though married in her time to many husbands But by Sir Reginald Braibrooke onely had shee issue As for her husband Sir Iohn Old Castle whiles hee endeavoured to bring in innovation in religion was both hanged and burnt Ioane her onely daughter by Sir Reginald Braybrooke was wedded unto Thomas Broke of Somersetshire from whom six Lord Cobhams have lineally descended and flourished in honorable reputation untill our time From Graves-end a little country called Ho lying as a demy Island between rivers Thames and Medway stretcheth it selfe into the East and is for situation but unholsome At the entry hereof is Cowling Castle built by Iohn Lord Cobham in a moorish ground and Cliffe a good bigge towne so called of a cliffe upon which it standeth But whether it bee that Clives at Ho so famous in the tender age and infancie of our English Church by reason of a Synode there holden I dare not as others doe affirme considering that in regard of the site it is a place inconvenient for such an assembly and besides that Clives at Hoo seemeth to have beene within the Kingdome of the Mercians As for the river Medweg now called Medway and in the British tongue unlesse I misse of the truth Vaga whereunto afterward was added Med hath his spring head in the wood Anderida which is termed the Weald that is a Wood-land country and taketh up the South-part of this region farre and wide At first whiles it carrieth but a slender streame it receiveth the Eden by Penshurst the seat anciently as it seemeth by the name of Sir Stephen de Penherst who also was called de Penshester a famous Warden of the Cinque ports but now the house of the Sidneies who derive their race from William de Sidney Chamberlaine to King Henrie the second out of which came Sir Henrie Sidney that renowned Lord deputy of Ireland who of the daughter of Iohn Dudley Duke of Northumberland and Earle of Warwicke begat Philip and Robert This Robert Iames our soveraigne King made right honorable first by the title of Baron Sidney of Penshurst and afterwards of Vicount Lisle But Sir Philip whom I cannot passe over in silence beeing the glorious starre of this familie a lively patterne of vertue and the lovely joy of all the learned sort fighting valerously with the enemy before Zutphen in Gelderland died manfully This is that Sidney whom as Gods will was he should be therefore borne into the world even to shew unto our age a sample of ancient vertues so his good pleasure was before any man looked for it to call for him againe and take him out of the world as beeing more worthy of heaven then earth Thus wee may see Perfect vertue sodainely vanisheth out of sight and the best men continue not long Then the river Medway branching it selfe into five streamlets is joyned with as many stone Bridges and thereof giveth the name of Tunbridge to the towne there situate as the towne of Bridges This about King William Rufus his time Richard sonne of Count Gilbert Grandchild to Godfrey Earle of Ewe Lord of Briony obtained in requitall for Briony in Normandie when there had bin long debate about Briony This Richard as William Gemeticensis writeth in recompence for the same castle received in England the towne of Tunbridge for it And the report goeth that the Lowy of Briony was measured round about with a line and with the same line brought into England hee received so much groūd measured out at Tunbridge Shortly after he built here a faire large castle fenced with the river a deepe ditch and strong walles and albeit it is now ruinous and 〈◊〉 Keepe attired with Ivie yet it manifestly sheweth what it was His posteritie who were Earles of Glocester and surnamed De Clare for that they were Lords of Clare in Suffolke built here a priorie for Chanons of Saint Augustines order founded the parish Church which was impropriated to the Knights of Saint Iohn of Hierusalem and compounded about the tenure of the Mannour for which there had beene long suit to hold it of the Archbishop of Canterburie by Knights fee and to be their high Stewards at their inthronizations From these Clares Earles of Glocester it came by an heire generall to Sir Hugh Audley Earle of Glocester and
William who enjoyed it a short time dying also without issue So by Amice the second daughter of the forenamed Earle William married to Richard de Clare Earle of Hertford this Earledome descended to Gilbert her sonne who was stiled Earle of Glocester and Hertford and mightily enriched his house by marrying one of the heires of William Marshall Earle of Pembroch His sonne and successour Richard in the beginning of the Barons warres against king Henry the Third ended his life leaving Gilbert his sonne to succeed him who powerfully and prudently swaied much in the said wars as he inclined to them or the king He obnoxious to King Edward the First surrendred his lands unto him and received them againe by marrying Joane the Kings Daughter sirnamed of Acres in the Holy-land because shee was there borne to his second Wife who bare unto him Gilbert Clare last Earle of Glocester of this sirname slaine in the flower of his youth in Scotland at the battaile of Sterling in the 6. yeare of K. Edward the second Howbeit while this Gilbert the third was in minority Sir Ralph de Mont-hermer who by a secret contract had espoused his mother the Kings daughter for which he incurred the kings high displeasure and a short imprisonment but after reconciled was summoned to Parliaments by the name of Earle of Glocester and Hertford But when Gilbert was out of his minority he was summoned amongst the Barons by the name of Sir Ralph de Mont-hermer as long as he lived which I note more willingly for the rarenesse of the example After the death of Gilbert the third without children Sir Hugh Le De-Spenser commonly named Spenser the younger was by writers called Earle of Glocester because he had married the eldest sister of the said Gilbert the third But after that he was by the Queene and Nobles of the Realme hanged for hatred they bare to K. Edward the 2. whose minion he was Sir Hugh Audley who had matched in marriage with the second sister through the favour of King Edward the Third received this honour After his death King Richard the Second erected this Earledome into a Dukedome and so it had three Dukes and one Earle betweene and unto them all it prooved Equus Sejanus that is Fatall to give them their fall Thomas of Woodstocke youngest sonne to King Edward the Third was the first Duke of Glocester advanced to that high honour by the said King Richard the Second and shortly after by him subverted For when he busily plotted great matters the King tooke order that he should be conveyed secretly in all haste to Calis where with a featherbed cast upon him he was smouthered having before under his owne band confessed as it stands upon Record in the Parliament Rols that he by vertue of a Patent which hee had wrested from the King tooke upon him the Kings regall authority that he came armed into the Kings presence reviled him consulted with learned about renouncing his allegiance and devised to depose the King for which being now dead he was by authority of Parliament attainted and condemned of high Treason When hee was thus dispatched the same King conferred the Title of Earle of Glocester upon Thomas Le De-Spenser in the right of his Great Grand-mother who within a while after sped no better than his great Grand-father Sir Hugh For by King Henry the fourth he was violently displaced shamefully degraded and at Briston by the peoples fury beheaded After some yeares King Henry the Fifth created his brother Humfrey the second Duke of Glocester who stiled himselfe the first yeare of King Henry the Sixth as I have seene in an Instrument of his Humfrey by the Grace of God sonne brother and Uncle to Kings Duke of Glocester Earle of Henault Holland Zeland and Penbroch Lord of Friesland Great Chamberlaine of the Kingdome of England Protector and Defender of the same Kingdome and Church of England A man that had right well deserved of the common wealth and of learning but through the fraudulent practise and malignant envie of the Queene brought to his end at Saint Edmunds Bury The third and last Duke was Richard brother to King Edward the Fourth who afterwards having most wickedly murdred his Nephewes usurped the Kingdome by the name of King Richard the third and after two yeares lost both it and his life in a pitched field finding by experience that power gotten by wicked meanes is never long lasting Concerning this last Duke of Glocester and his first entry to the Crowne give me leave for a while to play the part of an Historiographer which I will speedily give over againe as not well able to act it When this Richard Duke of Glocester being now proclaimed Protector of the Kingdome had under his command his tender two Nephewes Edward the Fifth King of England and Richard Duke of Yorke he retriving after the Kingdome for himselfe by profuse liberality and bounty to very many by passing great gravitie tempered with singular affabilitie by deepe wisdome by ministring justice indifferently and by close devises wonne wholly to him all mens hearts but the Lawyers especially to serve his turne So shortly he effected that in the name of all the States of the Realme there should be exhibited unto him a supplication wherein they most earnestly besought him for the publike Weale of the Kingdome to take upon him the Crowne to uphold his Countrey and the common-weale now shrinking and downe falling not to suffer it to runne headlong into utter desolation by reason that both lawes of nature and the authority of positive lawes and the laudable customes and liberties of England wherein every Englishman is an inheritor were subverted and trampled under foote through civill wars rapines murthers extortions oppressions and all sorts of misery But especially ever since that King Edward the fourth his brother bewitched by sorcerie and amorous potions fell in fancie with Dame Elizabeth Greie widdow whom he married without the assent of his Nobles without solemne publication of Banes secretly in a profane place and not in the face of the Church contrary to the law of Gods Church and commendable custome of the Church of England and which was worse having before time by a precontract espoused Dame Aeleanor Butler daughter to the old Earle of Shrewsburie whereby most sure and certaine it was that the foresaid matrimony was unlawfull and therewith the children of them begotten illegitimate and so unable to inherite or claime the Crowne Moreover considering that George Duke of Clarence the second brother of King Edward the Fourth was by authority of Parliament convicted and attainted of high treason thereupon his children disabled and debarred from all right succession evident it was to every man that Richard himselfe remained the sole and undoubted heire to the Crowne Of whom they assured themselves that being borne in England he would seriously provide for the good of England neither could they make any doubt of his
erected and whose immortall soules in them doe speake to the end that Time might not have power and prevaile against men of worth and the desires of mortall men might be satisfied who do all long to know what their persons and presence were The Earle of Dorset late Chancellor of this Vniversity that he might also leave some memoriall of himselfe hath in the very place dedicated unto Sir Thomas Bodley so passing well deserving of the Learned Common-wealth his representation with this inscription THOMAS SACKUILLUS DORSETTIAE COMES SUMMUS ANGLIAE THESAURARIUS ET HUJUS ACADEMIAE CANCELLARIUS THOMAE BODLEIO EQUITI AURATO QUI BIBLIO THE CAM HANC INSTITUIT HONORIS CAUSSA PIE POSUIT That is THOMAS SACKUIL EARLE OF DORSET LORD HIGH TREASURER OF ENGLAND AND CHANCELOR OF THIS UNIVERSITIE UNTO SIR THOMAS BODLEY KNIGHT WHO INSTITUTED THIS LIBRARY OF A PIOUS MIND ERECTED THIS MONUMENT TO DO HIM HONOUR In the Raigne of Henry the Seventh for the better advancement of learning William Smith Bishop of Lincolne built new out of the ground Brasen Nose College which that good and godly old man Master Alexander Nowell Deane of Saint Paules in London lately augmented with Revenewes and Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester erected likewise that which is named Corpus Christi College and Thomas Wolsey Cardinall of Yorke following their example beganne another where the Monastery of Frideswide stood the most stately and fairest of them all for Professors and 200. Students which Henry the Eighth joyning unto it Canterbury College assigned to a Deane Prebends and Students endowed it with livings and named it Christs Church And the same most puissant Prince with money disbursed out of his owne Treasury ordained both for the Dignity of the City a Bishop and for the ornament and advancement of the University publique Professours Likewise within our remembrance for the furtherance of learning with new and fresh benefits Sir Thomas Pope Knight reared a new Durrham College and Sir Thomas White Knight Citizen and Alderman of London raised Bernard College both which lay buryed in the rubbish They reedified them repaired them with new buildings enriched them with faire lands and gave them new names For the one of them they dedicated to Saint Iohn Baptist and that other to the holy and sacred Trinity Queene Mary also built the common Schooles And now of late Hugh Prise Doctor of the Lawes hath begunne a new College with good speede and happy successe as I wish to the honor of Iesus With these Colleges which are in number 16. and eight Haulls beside all faire and decently built richly endowed and furnished with good Libraries Oxford at this day so flourisheth that it farre surmounteth all other Universities of Christendome And for Living Libraries for so may I well and truely with Eunapius terme great Scholers and learned men for the discipline and teaching of the best Arts and for the politique government of this their republicke of Literature it may give place to none But to what end is all this Oxford needeth no mans commendation the excellency thereof doth so much exceede and if I may use Plinies word superfluit that is Surmounteth Let this suffice to say of Oxford as Pomponius Mela did of Athens Clarior est quà m ut indicari egeat that is More glorious it is of it selfe than that it needeth to bee out shewed But have heere for an upshot and farewell the beginning of Oxford story out of the Proctors booke By the joint testimony of most Chronicles many places in divers Coasts and Climats of the world we read to have flourished at sundry times in the studies of divers sciences But the Vniversity of Oxford is found to be for foundation more ancient for plurality of sciences more generall in profession of the Catholike truth more constant and in multiplicity of Privileges more excellent than all other Schooles that are knowne among the Latines The Mathematicians of this University have observed that this their City is from the Fortunate Islands 22. Degrees and the Arcticke or North Pole elevated 51. Degrees and 50. Scruples high And thus much briefly of my deare Nurse-mother Oxford But when a little beneath Oxford Isis and Cherwell have consociated their waters together within one Chanell Isis then entire of himselfe and with a swifter current runneth Southward to finde Tame whom so long he had sought for And gone he is not forward many miles but behold Tame streaming out of Buckinghamshire meeteth with him who is no sooner entred into this Shire but he giveth name to Tame a Mercate Towne situate very pleasantly among Rivers For Tame passeth hard by the Northside and two Riverers shedding themselves into it compasse the same the one on the East and the other on the West Alexander that liberall Bishop of Lincolne Lord of the place when his prodigall humor in sumptuous building of Castles was of every body privily misliked to wash out that staine as Newbrigensis saith built a little Abbay neere unto the Towne and many yeares after the Quatremans who in the age foregoing were men of great reputation in these parts founded an Hospitall for the sustentation of poore people But both of these are now decayed and quite gone and in stead thereof Sir Iohn Williams Knight whom Queene Mary advanced to the Dignity of a Baron by the Title of Lord William of Tame erected a very faire Schoole and a small Hospitall But this Title soone determined when he left but daughters marryed into the Families of Norris and Wenman From hence Tame runneth downe neere unto Ricot a goodly house which in times past belonged to those Quatremans whose stocke failing to bring forth Males it was devolved at length after many sailes and alienations passed by the Foulers and Herons unto the said Lord Williams and so by his daughter fell to Sir Henry Lord Norris whom Queene Elizabeth made Baron Norris of Ricot a man of good marke in regard of his noble birth and parentage for he descended from the Lovells who were neere allied by kinred unto the greatest houses in England but most renowned for that right valiant and warlike Progeny of his as the Netherlands Portugall little Bretagne and Ireland can witnesse At the length Tame by Haseley where sometimes the names of Barentines flourished as at Cholgrave commeth to Dorchester by Bede termed Civitas Dorcinia by Leland Hydropolis a name devised by his owne conceit yet fit enough considering that Dour in the British tongue signifieth water That this Towne was in old time inhabited by Romanes their coined peeces of money oftentimes turned up doe imply and our Chronicles record that it was for a long time much frequented by reason of a Bishops See which Birinus the Apostle of the West-Saxons appointed to be there For when hee had baptised Cinigilse a pety King of the West-Saxons unto whom Oswald King of Northumberland was Godfather both these Kings as saith Bede gave this City unto the same Bishop
the Pestane Rose surpasse Her eyes gemmes of great cost Her haire the Lilies fresh and white Her necke the hoary frost And as she runnes her haire all wet She doth behind her cast Which waving thus she kembeth slick And layeth even at last Lo Isis sudainly out of The Waves so mild doth shew His lovely face his eies withall Glitter with golden hew As they from dropping visage send Their beames the fields throughout Whiles one anothers neck with armes Displayd they clip about Full sweetly he doth Tama kisse Whom he hath wish'd so long A thousand kisses twixt them twain Doe now resound among With clasping close their armes wax pale Their lips their hearts linke fast To nuptiall chamber thus they both Jointly descend at last Where CONCORD with religious FAITH Together both ymet Knit up the knot of wedlock sure With words in forme yset And now the pipes of thyrled box On every side resound The water Nymphes the Dryades The wanton Satyrs round About the place disport and dance The measures cunningly Whiles on the grasse they foote it fine In rounds as merily The Birds heerewith in every wood Melodiously doe sing And ECHO her redoubled notes In mirth strives forth to ring All things now laugh the fields rejoice The CVPIDS as they fly Amid the aire on bridled birds Clap hands right pleasantly BRITONA hand-fast-maker shee All clad in Laurell green Play 's on the Harp what ever acts Our auncestours have seene Shee sings how BRITANNY from all The world divided was When Nereus with victorious Sea Through cloven rocks did passe And why it was that Hercules When he arrived heere Upon our coast and tasted once The mudlesse TAMIS cleere Did Neptun's sonne high Albion Vanquish in bloudy fight And with an haile-like storme of stones Kild him in field out-right And when Vlysses hither came What Altars sacred were By him How Brute with Corinae His trusty friend and fere Went foorth into the Western parts And how that Caesar he When he had sought and found turn'd back With feare from Britannie And after some few verses interposed This said then Tame and Isis both In love and name both one Hight Tamisis more joy's therein And hastning to be gone Ariseth up and leaping out With hastfull hot desire Advanceth forth his streame and seekes The Ocean main his sire From Dorchester Tamis goeth to Benson in old time Bensingston which Marian calleth Villam Regiam that is The Kings towne and reporteth That Ceaulin tooke it from the Britans in the yeere of our Lord 572. and that the West-Saxons kept the possession of it 200. yeeres after For then Offa the King of Mercians thinking it would be for his commoditie and honor both that they should have nothing on this side the river wonne it and subjected it to him But at this day it goeth for a village onely and hath a house of the Kings hard by sometime a faire place but now running exceedingly to ruine as being not very wholsome by reason of the foggy aire and mists arising from a standing water adjoyning This house of certaine Elmes called Ewelme but commonly New-Elme was built by William de la pole Duke of Suffolke who having taken to Wife Alice the onely daughter of Thomas Chaucer had by her faire lands heereabout as elsewhere and beside this house he erected also a faire Church wherein the said Alice lieth buried and a proper Hospitall But Iohn Earle of Lincolne his Grand child who by King Richard the Third had beene declared heire apparent to the Crowne overthrew in some sort the happie estate of this Family For whiles he plotted and projected seditiously to rebell against King Henry the seventh he was attainted and slaine in the battell at Stoke and Edmund his brother being for like cause attainted the possessions became Câ—owne-land Then King Henrie the Eighth made this house an Honour by laying unto it certaine Manours and Wallingford among others which before had a long time belonged unto the Dukes of Cornewall The Tamis from hence having fetched a great compasse about windeth in manner backe againe into himselfe enclosing within it the Hundred of Henley mounting high with Hills and beset with thicke Woods which some doe thinke the ANCALITES that yeelded themselves unto Caesars protection did inhabite Here is â—ix-brâ—nd and Stonor ancient Possessions of the Families of Stonores who since the time of King Edward the Third when Sir Iohn Stonore was chiefe Justice in the Common-pleas flourished with great alliance and faire revenues untill they were transferred by an Heire generall to Sir Adrian Fortescue unhappily attainted whose daughter Heire to her mother was married to the first Baron Wenâ—worth Next neighbour hereunto is Pus-hull which the Family of D'oily held by yeelding yeerely to the King a Table-cloth of three shillings price or three shillings for all service Under this Southward standeth Greies Rotherfield a house which in times past Walter Grey the Archbishop of Yorke gave freely unto William Grey his Nephew the Inheritance whereof by the Baron of D'Eincourt was devolved upon the Lovels Now it is the dwelling house of Sir William Knolles Treasurer of the Kings House whom Iames our King for his faithfull service performed unto Queene Elizabeth and to be performed unto himselfe advanced to the honourable title of Baron Knolles of Rotherfield Nere unto it Henley upon Tamis in old time called Hanleganz sheweth it selfe in the very confines of the shires The Inhabitants whereof be for the most part Watermen who make their chiefest gaine by carrying downe in their Barges wood and Corne to London neither can it make report of any greater antiquity than that in times past the Molinies were Lords thereof from whom by the Hungerfords who procured unto the towne of King Henry the Sixth the liberty of holding two faires it came by right of Inheritance unto the honourable house of the Hastings And where now the Tamis hath a wooden Bridge over it they say in times past there stood one of stone arched But whether this Bridge were here that Dio writeth the Romans passed over when they pursued the Britans along this tract who below had swom over the river hard it is for a man to say From Henley the Chiltern-bils hold on with a continued ridge running Northward and divide this Country from Buckinghamshire at the foote whereof stand many small townes among which these two are of greatest note Watlington a little mercate towne belonging sometime to Robert D' Oily and Shirburne a prety Castle of the Quatremans in times past but now the habitation of the Chamberlans descended out of the house of the Earles of Tankervill who having beene long agoe Chamberlains of Normandy their Posterity relinquishing that old name of Tankervills became surnamed Chamberlans of the Office which their ancestours bare To omit Edgar Algar and other English Saxons officiall Earles of Oxford Since after the Conquest the title of
first age of the Normans seeing that in the Raigne of King Edward the Confessour as we read in William Conquerours Domesday booke it discharged it selfe for one Hide and no more and had but six and twenty Burgesses As for the Towne it is seated upon a low ground but the River Ouse very commodious for Mils encircleth it about save onely on the North side The Castle standing in the middest raised upon an hill cast up whereof no Reliques in manner are now to bee seene divideth the Towne as it were in twaine The greater part of the Towne beareth North wherein standeth the Towne-house the other toward the South is the lesse wherein is the Church and that of no great antiquity but in it was the Shrine of S. Rumald a child who being borne in Kings-Sutton a Village thereby was canonized by our forefathers for a childe-Saint and much famed with many miracles From hence Ouse hasteneth faire and softly into the North and more Eastward from the River neere unto the woods ye have a sight of Whaddon the habitation in times past of the Giffords who were by Inheritance keepers of Whaddon Chase under the Earle of Vlster and from whom it came to the Pigots who passed it away by saile and alienation There standeth now a house of the warlike Family of the Greys Barons of Wilton who held the Manour neere adjoyning named Acton by Serjeanty of keeping one Gerfalcon of their Soveraigne Lord the King Whereupon that Family of the Greys hath for their Badge or Cognisance a Falcon Sejant upon a Glove Not farre from hence is Thorâ—ton an habitation of the Tirelles and Saulden where is a faire and lovely house built by Sir Iohn Fortescue a right honourable knight and deeply learned withall who for his wisdome was Chauncellor of the Exchequer and Dutchy of Lancaster and of the Privie Counsell to Queene Elizabeth and king Iames. On the other side of the River and not farre from the banke stand neighbour-like Stow a house of the Family of Temple Leckhamsted an habitation of the Greenwaies Lillinstone likewise the seat of the ancient Family De-Hairell commonly called Dairell and Luffeld where in times past was founded a Monastery by Robert Earle of Leicester but by reason that the Monkes were all consumed with the plague the house was utterly left desolate Somewhat higher on the South side of the River upon the very banke standeth Stony-Stratford a Towne of all the rest most frequented named so of Stones The Street way and a Fourd For the houses are built of a certaine rough stone which is digged forth in great abundance at Caversham hard by and it standeth upon the publike Street commonly called Watlingstreet which was a Militarie high way made by the Romanes and is evidently to be seene yet beyond the Towne with the banke or causey thereof and hath a fourd but now nothing shalow and hardly passable The Towne is of good bignesse and sheweth two Churches and in the mids a Crosse though it be none of the fairest erected in memoriall of Queene Aeleonor of Spaine wife to Edward the First with the Armes of England Castile and Leon c. also of the Earldome of Ponthieu whereof she was heire And where sometimes there had been a Fourd the River Ousâ— hath a stone bridge over it which keepeth in the River that was wont when it swelled with winter flouds to breake out and overflow the fields with great violence But upon the banke of the other side which riseth somewhat higher the Towne sometime stood as the inhabitants themselves report And there hard by is Pasham a place so called of passing over the River so that it may seeme in times past to have been that passage which King Edward the Elder kept against the Danes whiles he fortified Torcester But this passage or Ferry became quite forlet after that the Bridge was built at Stony-Stratford Now if I should guesse that LACTORODVM which Antonine the Emperour mentioneth stood heere beside the situation upon the Militarie Highway of the Romanes and the distance from other places the signification also of the olde name LACTORODVM fetched out of the British language maketh for me and favoureth my conjecture Which name accordeth passing well with this new English name For both names in both languages were imposed of Stone and Fourd From hence Ouse runneth hard by Wolverton anciently Woluerington the seat of an ancient familie so surnamed whose lands are named in Records The Baronie of Wulverington from whom it came to the house of the Longvilles of ancient descent in these parts and by Newport Painell which tooke that name of Sir Fulcoà Painell the Lord thereof and was from him devolved to the Barons Someries of Dudley who heere had their Castle Then by Terringham which gave both name and habitation to a worshipfull house and of great antiquity it goeth to Oulney a meetly good mercate towne This farre and a little further reacheth the County of Buckingham by Vse the limit and bound thereof The first Earle of Buckingham so farre as hitherto I could observe was Walter surnamed Giffard sonne to Osbern de Bolebec a man of great name and reputation among the Normans Who in a Charter of King Henrie the First is cited among the witnesses thereto by the name of Earle of Buckingham After him followed his sonne bearing the same name who in the booke of Abbingdon Abbay is called Earle Walter the younger and died issuelesse in the yeere 1164. Afterward in the reigne of Henry the Second that famous Richard Strangbow Earle of Pembroch called Conquerour of Ireland who derived his descent from the sister and heir of Walter Giffard the second in certaine publique instruments bare this title Then for a long time after lay this title as it were out of use and quite lost untill that in the yeere 1377. King Richard the Second conferred this honor upon his Unkle Thomas of Woodstock of whom I have already spoken among the Dukes of Glocester Of this Thamas his daughter married unto Edmund Earle of Stafford was borne Humfrey Earle of Stafford created Duke of Buckingham with an invidious precedence before all Dukes of England by King Henry the Sixt in whose quarrell he spent his life fighting most valiantly in the battaile at Northampton After him succeeded his Graund-child Henry by his Sonne Humfrey who made way for King Richard the Third the usurper unto the Kingdome and streightwaies practised to depose him for that he would not restore unto him the inheritance of the Bohuns by hereditarie right belonging unto him but hee being intercepted lost his head for it and found but all too late that Tyrants very often hew downe the staires and steps whereby they ascended His sonne Edward being restored againe through speciall favour of King Henry the Seventh by the wicked slights and practises of Cardinall Wolsey fell into disgrace with King Henry the Eighth and being condemned of high treason
minde that this Ithancester was that OTHONA where a Band of the Fortenses with their Captaine in the declination of the Romane Empire kept their station or Guard under the Comes or Lieutenant of the Saxon-shore against the depredations of the Saxon Rovers For the altering of OTHONA to ITHANA is no hard straining and the situation thereof upon a Creeke into which many Rivers are discharged was for this purpose very fit and commodious and yet heere remaineth a huge ruine of a thicke Wall whereby many Romane Coines have beene found It seemeth not amisse to set downe how King Edward the Confessour graunted by a briefe Charter the keeping of this Hundred to Ranulph Peperking which I will willingly heere annex to the end that wee who sift every pricke and accent of the law may see the upright simplicity and plaine dealing of that age And thus goeth the tenour of it as it was taken forth of the Kings Records in the Exchequer but by often exemplifying and copying it out some words are mollified and made more familiar Iche Edward Koning Have given of my Forrest the keeping Of the Hundred of Chelmer and Dancing To Randolph Peperking and to his kindling With heorte and hinde doe and bocke Hare and Foxe Cat and Brocke Wild Fowell with his flocke Partrich Fesant hen and Fesant cocke With green and wilde stob and stocke To kepen and to yemen by all her might Both by day and eke by night And Hounds for to hold Good and swift and bolde Four Greahounds and six racches For Hare and Foxe and wild Cattes And therefore ich made him my booke Witnesse the Bishop Wolston And booke ylered many on And Swein of Essex our Brother And teken him many other And our Stiward Howelin That by sought me for him This was the plaine dealing trueth and simplicity of that age which used to make all their assurances whatsoever in a few lines and with a few gilt Crosses For before the comming in of the Normans as wee read in Ingulphus writings Obligatory were made firme with golden Crosses and other small signes or markes but the Normans began the making of such Bils and Obligations with a Print or Seale in wax set to with every ones speciall Signet under the expresse entituling of three or foure Witnesses Before time many houses and land thereto passed by grant and bargaine without script Charter or Deede onely with the Landlords sword or helmet with his horne or cup. Yea and many Tenements were demised with a spurre or horse-cury-combe with a bowe and some with an arrow In the Creeke of Blackwater which as I said closeth the North side of this Hundred and is stored with those dainty Oysters which wee call Walfleot Oysters their run two Rivers that water a great part of the Shire Chelmer and Froshwell The River Chelmer flowing out of the inner part of the country which is woody runneth downe first by Thaxted a little Mercate Towne seated very pleasantly upon an high rising hill also by Tiltey where Maurice Fitz-Gilbert founded in times past a small Abbay unto Estanues ad Turrim now Eston which noble Gentleman sirnamed De Lovaine inhabited as descended from Godfrey of Lovaine brother to Henry the Sixth of that name Duke of Brabant who being sent hither to keepe the Honor of Eye his posterity flourished among the Peeres of this Realme to the time of King Edward the Third when the heire generall was married into the house of Bourchier Thence it glideth downe to Dunmow of old time called Dunmawg and in the Tax booke of England Dunmaw a Towne pleasantly situate upon an hill with a prety gentle fall Where one Juga founded a Priory in the yeare 1111. But William Bainard of whom Juga held thus we finde it written in the private history of this Church the Village of little Dunmow by felony lost his Barony and King Henry the First gave it to Robert the sonne of Richard sonne to Gislebert Earle of Clare and to his heires with the honour of Bainards Castle in London which Robert at that time was King Henries Sewar These be the very words of the Author neither doe I thinke it lawfull for me to alter or reforme them otherwise than they are although there be in them some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a putting or mistaking of one time for another a thing that we meet with otherwhiles in the best Historiographers For there had not beene as then any Earle of Clare in the family of Clare Now let us for a while digresse and goe aside a little on either hand from the River Not farre from hence is Plaisy seated so called in French of Pleasing in times past named Estre the habitation both in the last yeeres of the English Saxons and also afterwards of the great Constables of England as witnesseth Ely booke At this towne the first William Mandevill Earle of Essex beganne a Castle and two Princes of great authority Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester and Earle of Essex who founded heere a College and Iohn Holland Earle of Huntingdon brother to King Richard the Second by the mothers side deprived of lost honorable title of Duke of Excester when they could not keepe a meane betweene froward stubbernesse and servile obsequiousnesse found thence their subversion For Thomas upon his rash and head-strong contumacy was on a sudden violently carryed from hence to Calice and there smothered and John for a seditious conspiracy was beheaded in this place by King Henry the Fourth that hee might seeme to have beene justly punished by way of satisfaction for the said Thomas of Woodstocke of whose death hee was thought to bee the principall practiser and procurer From thence passeth Chelmer downe not farre from Leez a little Abbay of old time founded by the Gernons which at this day is the chiefe seat of the Barons Rich who acknowledge themselves for this dignity beholden to Richard Rich a most wise and judicious person Lord Chancellor of England under King Edward the Sixth who in the first yeere of his raigne created him Baron Rich. A little beneath standeth Hatfield Peverell so denominated of Randulph Peverell the owner thereof who had to wife a Lady of incomparable beauty in those daies the daughter of Ingelricke a man of great nobility among the English-Saxons This Lady founded heere a College which now is in manner quite plucked downe and in a window of the Church whereof there remaineth still a small part lyeth entombed She bare unto her husband William Peverell Castellane of Dover Sir Payne Peverell Lord of Brun in the County of Cambridge and unto King William the Conquerour whose Paramore shee was William Peverell Lord of Nottingham But now returne we to Chelmer which by this time speedeth it selfe to Chelmerford commonly Chensford where by the distance of the place from CAMALODUNUM it may seeme that old CANONIUM sometimes stood This is a good bigge Towne situate in the
Edward the Thirds sonne who after hee had married a wife out of that house was entituled by his father Duke of Clarence For he of this place with a fuller sound than that of Clare was stiled Duke of Clarence like as before him the sonnes of Earle Gislebert and their successors were hence surnamed De Clare and called Earles of Clare Who died at Languvill in Italy after he had by a second marriage matched with a Daughter of Galâ—acius Vicount of Millain and in the Collegiat Church here lieth interred as also Ioan Acres daughter to King Edward the first married to Gislebert de Clare Earle of Glocester Here peradventure the Readers may looke that I should set downe the Earles of Clare so denominated of this place and the Dukes of Clarence considering they have beene alwayes in this Realme of right honorable reputation and verily so will I doe in few words for their satisfaction in this behalfe Richard the sonne of Gislebert Earle of Augy in Normandy served in the warres under King William when hee entred England and by him was endowed with the Townes of Clare and Tunbridge This Gislebert begat foure sonnes namely Gislebert Roger Walter and Robert from whom the Fitz-walters are descended Gislebert by the daughter of the Earle of Cleremont had issue Richard who succeeded him Gislebert of whom came that Noble Richard Earle of Pembroch and Conquerour of Ireland and Walter Richard the first begotten sonne was slaine by the Welshmen and left behinde him two sonnes Gilbert and Roger. Gilbert in King Stephens dayes was Earle of Herford howbeit both he and his Successours are more often and commonly called Earles of Clare of this their principall seat and habitation yea and so many times they wrote themselves After him dying without issue succeeded his brother Roger whose sonne Richard tooke to wife Amice the daughter and one of the Heires to William Earle of Glocester in right of whom his posterity were Earles of Glocester And those you may see in their due place But when at length their issue male failed Leonel Third sonne of King Edward the Third who had married Elizabeth the Daughter and sole Heire of William de Burgh Earle of Vlster begotten of the Bodie of Elizabeth Clare was by his Father honoured with this new Title Duke of Clarence But when as hee had but one onely Daughter named Phillippa wife to Edmund Mortimer Earle of March King Henry the Fourth created Thomas his owne yonger sonne Duke of Clarence who being withall Earle of Albemarle High Steward of England and Governour of Normandy and having no lawfull issue was slaine in Anjou by the violent assault of Scots and French A long time after king Edward the Fourth bestowed this honour upon his owne brother George whom after grievous enmity and bitter hatred hee had received againe into favour and yet at the last made an end of him in prison causing him as the report currently goeth to be drowned in a Butte of Malmesey A thing naturally engraffed in men that whom they have feared and with whom they have contended in matter of life those they hate for ever though they be their naturall brethren From Clare by Long-Melford a very faire Almes-house lately built by that good man Sir William Cordal Knight and Maister of the Rolls Stour passeth on and commeth to Sudbury that is to say the South-Burgh and runneth in manner round about it which men suppose to have beene in old time the chiefe towne of this Shire and to have taken this name in regard of Norwich that is The Northren Towne Neither would it take it well at this day to be counted much inferiour to the Townes adjoyning for it is populous and wealthy by reason of Clothing there and hath for the chiefe Magistrate a Major who every yeare is chosen out of seaven Aldermen Not farre from hence distant is Edwardeston a Towne of no great name at this day but yet in times past it had Lords therein dwelling of passing great Honour of the surname of Mont-chensie out of which Family Sir Guarin Montchensie married the daughter and one of the heires of that mighty William Marescall Earle of Pembroch and of her begat a daughter named Ioan who unto the stile of her Husband William de Valentia of the family of Lusignie in France brought and adjoyned the title of Earle of Penbroch But the said Sir Guarin Mont-chensy as he was a right honourable person so he was a man exceeding wealthy in so much as in those dayes they accounted him the most potent Baron and the rich Crassus of England For his last will and testament amounted unto two hundred thousand Markes no small wealth as the standard was then From a younger brother or cadet of this house of Montchensie issued by an heire generall the Family of the Waldgraves who have long flourished in Knightly degree at Smalebridge neerer to Stoure as another Family of great account in elder ages at Buers which was thereof surnamed A few miles from hence Stour is enlarged with Breton a small Brooke at one of whose heads is seene Bretenham a very slender little towne where fcarce remaineth any shew at all of any great building and yet both the neere resemblance and the signification of the name partly induced me to thinke it to be that COMBRETONIUM whereof Antonine the Emperour made mention in this tract For like as Bretenham in English signifieth an Habitation or Mansion place by Breton so Combretonium in British or Welsh betokeneth a Valley or a place lying somewhat low by Breton But this in Peutegerius his Table is falsly named COMVETRONUM and ADCOVECIN Somewhat Eastward from hence is Nettlested seene of whence was Sir Thomas Wentworth whom King Henry the Eighth adorned with the title of Baron Wentworth and neere thereto is Offion that is to say The towne of Offa King of the Mercians where upon a clay Hill lie the ruines of an ancient Castle which they say Offa built after he had wickedly murdered Aethelbert King of the East-Angles and usurped his Kingdome But to returne to the River Breton Upon another brooke that joyneth therewith standeth Lancham a pretty Mercat and neere it the Manour of Burnt-Elleie whereunto King Henry the Third granted a Mercate at the request of Sir Henry Shelton Lord thereof whose posterity a long time heere flourished Hadley in the Saxons language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is watered with the same brooke a towne of good note in these dayes for making of Clothes and in old time much mentioned by our Historians because Guthrum or Gormo the Dane was heere buried For when Aelfred brought him to this passe that he became Christian and was baptized hee assigned unto him these countries of the East-Angles that he might to use the words of mine Author cherish them by right of inheritance under the Allegiance of a King
beside Grafton which now is reputed an Honor of the Kings but in times past was the seat of the Family de Widdevil out of which came Richard a man highly renowned for his vertue and valour who for that he tooke to wife Iaquet the widow of John Duke of Bedford and daughter to Peter of Luxenburgh Earle of Saint Paul without the Kings licence was by King Henry the Sixth fined at a thousand pounds of our money Yet afterwards he advanced the same Richard to the honorable Title of Baron Widdevil de Rivers With whose daughter Dame Elizabeth King Edward the Fourth secretly contracted marriage and verily hee was the first of all our Kings since the Conquest that married his subject But thereby he drew upon himselfe and his wives kinsfolke a world of troubles as yee may see in our Histories The said Richard Widdevil Lord of Rivers Grafton and de la Mote by king Edward the Fourth now his son in Law was erected these be the very words out of the Charter of his creation to be Earle Rivers by cincture of the sword To have unto him and his heires with the Fee of 20. pounds by the hands of the Sheriffe of Northampton And soone after he was with exceeding great honour ordained High Constable of England I speake out of the kings Patent it selfe To occupy manage and execute that Office either by himselfe or by sufficient Deputies for terme of life receiving yearely two hundred pounds out of the Exchequer with full power and authority to take examinations and to proceede in Causes of and concerning the crime of high Treason or the occasion thereof also to heare examine and in due time to determine the causes and businesses aforesaid with all and singular matters arising from them incident to them or conjoyned therewith even summarily and in any place whatsoever below without noise or formall order of Iudgement onely upon sight of the Truth of the fact and with the Kings hand and power if it shall be thought meete in our behalfe without all appeale Moreover about that time he was made Lord Treasurer of England But he having enjoyed these honours a small while was soone after in the quarrell of the king his sonne in Law aforesaid taken in the battaile at Edgcote and beheaded And albeit in his sonnes this offspring as it were halfe dead tooke an end what time as Anthony Earle Rivers was by Richard the third made shorter by the head Richard also and his other brethren dead without issue yet from the daughters there did spred forth most faire and fruitfull branches For out of them flowred the royall Race and line of England the Marquesses of Dorset the Earles of Essex Earles of Arundel Earles of Worcester Earles of Derby the last Duke of Buckingham and Barons of Stafford Just behinde Grafton lieth Sacy Forrest stored with Deere and fit for game More Eastward the Country all over is besprinkled with Villages and little Townes among which these are of greatest name Blisworth the habitation of the Wakes descended from that honorable race of the Barons of Wake and Estotevile Pateshull which gave name to the most worshipfull family in times past of the Pateshuls Greenes-Norton so named of the Greenes men in the fore-going age right famous for their wealth But it was called in foretime if I be not deceived Norton Dany which those Greenes held by knights service as also a moity of Asheby Mares in this County by service To lift up their right hand toward the King upon Christmas-day every yeare wheresoever the King shall bee in England Also Wardon an Hundred which had Lords descended from Sir Guy of Reinbudcourt a Norman whose inheritance came by the Folliots to Guiscard Leddet whose Daughter Christian bare unto her husband Henry de Braibrooke many children yet Guiscard the eldest of them tooke to him the sirname of Leddet from his mother But shortly after those faire lands and possessions were by the females parted betweene William and Iohn both Latimers of Corby From Iohn the Griphins in this Shire and from William those Latimers Barons of good antiquity in York-shire deduced their Descent Higher into the Country Northward is the head of the River Aufona for Avon in the British tongue is a generall name of all Rivers which the people dwelling thereby call Nen and from the West side of the Shire holdeth on his course with many reaches of his bankes after a sort through the middle part of this Shire and all the way along it doth comfortable service A notable River I assure you and if I have any sight into these matters fortified in times past with garisons by the Romans For when as that part of Britain on this side the River was now in Claudius the Emperors time brought subject to the Romane government so as the Inhabitants thereof were called Socij Romanorum that is the Romans consorts or associates and the Britans dwelling beyond the river oftentimes invaded this their country and with great violence made incursions and spoiled much when as also that the Associates themselves who could better endure the Romans commands than brooke their vices other whiles conspired with those on the further side of the River P. Ostorius as saith Tacitus cinctos castris Antonaem Aufonas I would reade if I might be so bold Sabrinam cohibere parat that is if I understand the place a right Hee by placing Forts and Garisons hard by the Rivers Antonae or Aufona rather and Severn determined to restraine and keepe in those Britans on the further side and these that were Provincials and associates from conjoyning their forces together and helping one another against the Romans Now what River this ANTONA should be no man is able to tell Lipsius the very Phoebus of our age hath either driven away this mist or else verily a cloud hath dimmed mine eye-sight He pointeth with his finger to Northampton and I am of opinion that this word Antona is closely crept into Tacitus in stead of Aufona on which Northampton standeth For the very navill heart and middle of England is counted to be nere unto it where out of one hill spring three great Rivers running divers wayes Cherwell into the South Leame Westward which as it maketh speed to Severn is straight wayes received by a second Aufon and this Aufona or Nen Eastward Of which these two Aufons so crosse England overthwart that whosoever comes out of the North parts of the Island must of necessity passe over one of these twaine When Ostorius therefore had fortified Severne and these two Aufons he had no cause to feare any danger out of Wales or the North parts to befall unto his people either Romans or associates who at that time had reduced the nerest and next part of the Island onely into the forme of a Province as else where Tacitus himselfe witnesseth Some of these Forts of Ostorius his making may those great fortifications and
Domaine of King William After the Normans time it valiantly withstood the Siege layed unto it by the Barons when they disquieted and troubled the whole Realme with injurious wrongs and slaughters being maliciously bent against King John for private causes which notwithstanding they so cloked with pretenses of Religion and the common good that they tearmed themselves The Army of God and the holy Church at which time they say that Trench and Rampire was made which they call Hunshil but it stood not out with like successe against Henry the third their lawfull King as it did against these rebels for when those Barons being nuzzelled up in sedition and rebellion from hence displaied their banners and sounded the battaile against him he made a breach through the Wall and soone wonne it by assault After this diverse times like as before the kings held their Parliaments here because it standeth very nere in the midst of England and in the yeere after Christ was borne 1460. here was a wofull and bloody field fought wherein such was the civill division of England in it selfe Richard Nevil Earle of Warwick after many a noble man slaine led away captive that most unhappy king Henry the Sixth in a piteous spectacle who was now the second time taken prisoner by his subjects To conclude the Longitude of Northampton our Mathematicians have described by 22. degrees and 29. scruples and the Latitude by 52. degrees and 13. scruples From hence Nen maketh haste away by Castle Ashby where Henry L. Compton began to build a faire sightly house close unto which lieth Yardley Hastings so named of the Hastings sometimes â—arles of Pembroch unto whom it belonged And to turne a little aside I may not omit Horton when as king Henry the Eighth created Sir W. Par Lord thereof unckle and Chamberlaine to Queene Catharin Par Baron Par of Horton which honor shortly vanished with him when he left only daughters who were married into the families of Tresham and Lane But to returne Nen goeth forward to Mercat Wellingborow in old time Wedlingborough and Wodlingborough made a mercat by K. John at the suit of the Monks of Crowland where there runneth into it a Riveret comming downe by Rushton and Newton belonging to the Treshams by Geddington also where the King had a Castle and where there remaineth yet a Crosse erected in the honour of Queene Aeleonor wife to King Edward the First by Boughton the seat of the Montacutes Knights by Kettering a Mercat Towne well frequented neere unto which standeth Rouwell much talked of for the horse Faire there kept by Burton likewise the Barony if I mistake not the name of Alane de Dinant For king Henry the First gave unto him a Barony of that name in this Shire for that in single fight he had slaine the French Kings Champion at Gizors and by Harrouden the Lord whereof named Sir Nicolas Vaulx Captaine of Guines in Picardy king Henry the Eighth created Baron Vaulx of Harrouden From hence goeth the Aufon or Nen to Higham a Towne in times past of the Peverels and after by them of the Ferrers from whom it is named Higham Ferrers who had heere also their Castle the ruines and rubbish whereof are yet seene nere unto the Church But the excellent ornament of this place was Henry Chicheley Archbishop of Canterbury who built All-soules College in Oxford and another here wherein he placed Secular Clerkes and Prebendaries and withall an Hospitall for the poore Then runneth it by Addington the possession in old time of the Veres and by Thorpston commonly called Thrapston belonging likewise to them and over against it Draiton the house in the foregoing age of Sir H. Greene but afterwards by his daughter of John and Edward Staffords Earles of Wiltshire but now the habitation of the Lord Mordaunt unto whom it descended hereditarily from those Greenes noble Gentlemen and of right great name in this Country in their time Then runneth it in manner round about a proper little Towne which it giveth name unto Oundale they now call it corruptly in stead of Avondale where there is nothing worth sight but a faire Church and a free Schoole for the instruction of children and an Almeshouse for poore people founded by Sir William Laxton sometime Major of London Neere adjoyning to this stands Barnewell a little Castle which now of late Sir Edward Mont-acute of the ancient family of the Mont-acutes as may be collected by his Armes hath repaired and beautified with new buildings In times past it was the possession of Berengary le Moigne that is Monke and not as some thinke of Berengary of Touraine the great Clerke whose opinion of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper was condemned in a Synode of an hundred and thirteene Bishops assembled by the Bishop of Rome After this it passeth on by Fotheringhay Castle environed on every side with most pleasant medowes which in the Raigne of Henry the Third when the strong holds encouraged the Lords and Nobles to revolt William Earle of Aumarl surprised upon the sodaine and laied all the Country about waste as Mathew of Paris recordeth At which time it belonged unto the Earles of Huntingdon who were of the royall Race of Scotland A good while after King Edward the Third assigned it as it were for an inheritance or appennage as the French tearme it unto his sonne Edmund of Langley Duke of Yorke who reedified the Castle and made the highest fortification or Keepe thereof in forme of an horse-fetter which both of it selfe and with a Faulcon in it was his Devise or Emprese as implying that hee was locked up from all great hope as a younger brother His sonne Edward Duke of Yorke in the second yeere of Henry the Fift his Raigne and in the yeere of Christ 1415. as appeareth by an inscription there in rude and barbarous Verses founded a passing faire Collegiat Church wherein himselfe when he was slaine in the battaile at Agâ—ncourt as also Richard Duke of Yorke his brothers sonne who lost his life at Wakefield and his wife Cecily Nevil had stately and sumptuous Tombes which were profanely subverted together with the upper part of the Church in King Edward the Sixth his time Yet in memoriall of them Queene Elizabeth comming thither commanded two Monuments to be erected in the nether part of the Church that now standeth which notwithstanding such was their pinching and sparing that had the charge of this worke are thought scarce beseeming so great Princes descending from Kings and from whom Kings of England are descended The forme of the Keepe beforesaid built like a fetter-locke occasioneth mee to digresse a little and I hope with your pardon when the gravest Authours in as small matters have done the like Edmund of Langley Duke of Yorke who built that Keepe and garnished the glasse-windowes there with Fetter-lockes when hee saw his sons being young scholers gazing upon the
Castle named Humel before time into a Monastery called Finisheved Their issue male failed about two hundred yeares since but of their heires the eldest was wedded unto Sir Iohn Goldington the second to Sir Laurence Pabenham and the third to Sir William Bernak all right worthy Knights Heere also is to bee seene Apthorp the seat of a most worthy knight Sir Anthony Mildmay whose father Sir Walter Mildmay late one of Queene Elizabeths Privie Counsell for his vertue wisdome piety and bounty to learning and learned men by founding Emanuel College in Cambridge hath worthily deserved to bee registred among the best men in this our age Hard by standeth Thornhaugh sometimes belonging to the Family De Sancto Medardo contracted into Semarâ— and now to the right honorable Sir William Russell sonne to Francis Earle of Bedford descended from Semare whom King James for his vertues and faithfull service in Ireland whiles hee was Lord Deputy there advanced to the Dignity of Baron Russell of Thornhaugh Neither is the Towne Welledon to bee passed over in silence considering that it went in old time for a Barony which by Mawde the Daughter and heire of Geffrey de Ridell who together with King Henry the First his sonne was drowned did descend to Richard Basset sonne of Ralph Basset Lord Justice of England in whose race it continued unto King Henry the Fourth his dayes For then by the females it accrued to the Kneveis and Alesburies Welland being past Haringworth goeth to visit Colliweston where Lady Margaret Countesse of Richmond King Henry the Seaventh his mother built a goodly faire and stately house Under which the neighbour inhabitants use to digge great plenty of sclate stones for their buildings From whence Wittering Heath a plaine runneth out farre into the East wherein the people there dwelling report that the Danes long since were discomfited in a memorable battaile and put to flight Now by this time is Welland come to Burghley whereof the most prudent and right honorable Councellour Sir William Cecil Lord high Treasurer of England yea a singular treasure and supporter of the same received the Title of Baron Burghley for his great good deserts at the hands of Queene Elizabeth Which Title hee adorned with the lustre of his vertues and beautified this place with magnificent sumptuous buildings adjoyning thereto a large Parke encompassed about with a stone wall of a great circuite Beneath it there are ancient Quarries of stone at Bernack out of which the Abbayes of Peterburgh and of Ramsey were built For heere to write the very words out of the History of Ramsey The toyling strength of the Quarriers is often tried and held to worke yet ever still there remaineth worke for them behinde wherein they being refreshed betweene whiles with rest may bee exercised and kept in ure And thus wee reade in the Charter of king Edward the Confessour In consideration of foure thousand Eeles in Lent the Monkes of Ramsey shall have out of the Territory of Saint Peter so much square astiler stone as they need at Berneck and of rough building stone for wals at Burch Under Berneck that high-way made by the Romanes which the neighbour Inhabitants of the breadth that it carrieth call The forty foot-way from Caster to Stanford cutteth and divideth this Shire and is to bee seene with an high Causey especially by the little Wood of Bernack where it hath a Beacon set upon the very ridge and so runneth forth along by Burghley Park wall toward Stanford Some five miles hence Welland running downe by Maxey Castle belonging sometime to the noble house of Wake and by Peag-Kirk where in the Primitive Church of the English Nation Pega an holy woman who gave name to that place and sister of Saint Guthlak with other Nuns and devout virgins by their life and example gave good documents of piety and chastity commeth to the Fennes so often mentioned And for as much as the banke on the South side thereof is in many places neglected the River lieth sore upon the lands thereabout with great detriment and thus being put out of his owne Chanell that before time went by Spalding he entreth closely into Nen or Aufon and over-chargeth it exceedingly Now the lesse Avon which is the other of the limits as I said of this shire Northward but serveth for a limit onely about five or six miles in length breaking out of the ground at Avon-well by Naseby neere by the Spring-head of Welland runneth Westward by Suleby sometimes an Abbay of Black-Monkes and by Stanford upon Avon the habitation of the Caves Family out of which there is spread a notable off-spring with many branches in all that Tract adjoyning also by Lilborne the seate in times past of the Canvilles Which that it hath beene in old time a Mansion place or Station of the Romans I am induced to thinke by the site thereof hard by one of their Port-waies by the ancient Trenches there and a little piked hill cast up into which when of late dayes some digged in hope of old hid treasure in stead of gold they found coles And when this river being as yet but small is once gone under Dowbridge it leaveth Northampton-shire and entreth Warwick-shire By those coles digged forth from under the said hill what if I should conjecture that this hill was raised up for a limit or bound-marke seeing Siculus Flaccus writeth that either ashes or coles or pot-sherds or broken glasses or bones halfe burnt or lime or plaster were wont to be put under land-markes and limits and S. Augustine writeth thus of coles Is it not a wonderfull thing saith hee whereas considering Coles be so brickle that with the least blow they breake with the least crushing they are crushed yet no time bee it never so long conquereth them in so much as they that pitch Land-markes and limits were wont to couch them underneath to convince any litigious fellow whatsoever that should come never so long time after and avouch that a limit was not there pitched And so much the rather incline I to this my conjecture because they that have written of limits doe write that certaine hillockes or piles of earth which they termed Botontines were set in limits so that I suppose most of these mounts and round hils which we every where see and call Burrowes were for this purpose raised and that ashes coles pot-sherds c. may be found under them if they were digged downe a good depth into the earth The first Earle that this County had to my knowledge was Waldeof sonne of that warlike Siward who being also Earle of Huntingdon for his disloyall treachery unto William the Conquerour lost his head leaving two daughters onely behinde him by Iudith the Conquerours Niece by a sister of his mothers side Simon de Saint Liz being scornfully rejected by Iudith the mother for that hee was lame-legged married Mawd
of Rome and religious men was not onely in his life time most grievously troubled but also one and forty yeeres after his death his dead Corps was cruelly handled being by warrant from the Councell of Siena turned out of his grave and openly burned Neither is it to be forgotten that neere to this Towne is a spring so cold that within a short time it turneth strawes and stickes into stones From that Bensford bridge the foresaid old High way goeth on to High-crosse so called for that thereabout stood sometime a Crosse in stead of which is erected now a very high post with props and supporters thereto The neighbours there dwelling reported unto me that the two principall High-waies of England did here cut one another overthwart and that there stood a most flourishing City there named Cleycester which had a Senate of Aldermen in it and that Cleybrooke almost a mile off was part of it also that on both sides of the way there lay under the furrowes of the corne fields great foundations and ground workes of foure square stone also that peeces of Roman money were very often turned up with the Plough although above the ground as the Poet saith Etiam ipsae periere ruinae that is Even the very ruines are perished and gone These presumptions together with the distance of this place from BANNAVENTA or Wedon which agreeth just and withall the said Bridge leading hitherward called Bensford are inducements unto me to thinke verily that the station BENNONES or VENONES was heere which Antonine the Emperour placeth next beyond BANNAVENTA especially seeing that Antonine sheweth how the way divided it selfe heere into two parts which also goeth commonly currant For Northeastward where the way lieth to Lincolne the Fosse way leadeth directly to RATAE and to VERNOMETUM of which I will speake anon and toward the Northwest Watlingstreet goeth as streight into Wales by MANVESSEDUM whereof I shall write in his due place in Warwick-shire Higher yet neere the same streetside standeth Hinkley which had for Lord of it Hugh Grantmaismill a Norman high Steward or Seneschall of England during the Raignes of king William Rufus and Henry the First The said Hugh had two daughters Parnell given in marriage to Robert Blanch-mains so called of his faire white hands Earle of Leicester together with the High-Stewardship of England and Alice wedded to Roger Bigot Verily at the East end of the Church there are to be seene Trenches and Rampires yea and a Mount cast up to an eminent height which the inhabitants say was Hughes Castle Three miles hence standeth Bosworth an ancient Mercat Towne which liberty together with the Faire S. Richard Harecourt obtained for it at the hands of king Edward the First Under this towne in our great grandfathers daies the kingdome of England lay hazarded upon the chance of one battaile For Henry Earle of Richmond with a small power encountred there in pitched field king Richard the Third who had by most wicked meanes usurped the kingdome and whiles he resolved to die the more valiantly fighting for the liberty of his country with his followers and friends the more happy successe he had and so overcame and slew the Usurper and then being with joyfull acclamations proclaimed King in the very mids of slaughtered bodies round about he freed England by his happy valour from the rule of a Tyrant and by his wisdome refreshed and setled it being sore disquieted with long civill dissentions Whereupon Bernard Andreas of Tholous a Poet living in those daies in an Ode dedicated unto King Henry the Seventh as touching the Rose his Devise writ these Verses such as they are Ecce nunc omnes posuere venti Murmuris praeter Zephyrum tepentem Hic Rosas nutrit nitidósque flores Veris amoeni Behold now all the windes are laid But Zephyrus that blowes full warme The Rose and faire spring-floures in mead He keepeth fresh and doth no harme Other memorable things there are none by this Street unlesse it bee Ashby de la Zouch that lyeth a good way off a most pleasant Lordship now of the Earles of Huntingdon but belonging in times past to the noble Family De la Zouch who descended from Alan Vicount of Rohan in Little Britaine and Constantia his wife daughter to Conan le Grosse Earle of Britaine and Maude his wife the naturall daughter of Henry the First Of this house Alane De la Zouch married one of the heires of Roger Quincy Earle of Winchester and in her right came to a faire inheritance in this Country But when hee had judicially sued John Earle of Warren who chose rather to try the Title by the sword point than by point of Law he was slaine by him even in Westminster Hall in the yeere of our Lord 1269. and some yeeres after the daughters and heires of his grand sonne transferred this inheritance by their marriages into the Families of the Saint Maures of Castle Cary and the Hollands Yet their father first bestowed this Ashby upon Sir Richard Mortimer of Richards Castle his cozin whose younger issue thereupon tooke the sirname of Zouch and were Lords of Ashby But from Eudo a younger sonne of Alane who was slaine in Westminster Hall the Lords Zouch of Harringworth branched out and have beene for many Descents Barons of the Realme Afterward in processe of time Ashby came to the Hastings who built a faire large and stately house there and Sir William Hastings procured unto the Towne the liberty of a Faire in the time of King Henry the Sixth Here I may not passe over the next neighbour Cole-Overton now a seat of the Beaumontes descended from Sir Thomas Beaumont Lord of Bachevill in Normandy brother to the first Vicount This place hath a Cole prefixed for the forename which Sir Thomas as some write was hee who was slaine manfully fighting at such time as the French recovered Paris from the English in the time of King Henry the Sixth This place of the pit-coles being of the nature of hardned Bitumen which are digged up to the profit of the Lord in so great a number that they serve sufficiently for fewell to the neighbour Dwellers round about farre and neere I said before that the River Soar did cut this Shire in the middle which springing not farre from this Street and encreased with many small rils and Brookes of running water going a long Northward with a gentle streame passeth under the West and North side of the cheife Towne or City of this County which in Writers is called Lege-Cestria Leogora Legeo cester and Leicester This Towne maketh an evident faire shew both of great antiquity and good building In the yeere 680. when Sexwulph at the commandement of King Etheldred divided the kingdome of the Mercians into Bishoprickes hee placed in this an Episcopall See and was himselfe the first Bishop that sat there but a few yeeres after when the See was translated to
we may see in the Histories whether by celestiall influence or other hidden causes I leave to the learned But so farre as I could hitherto reade it did never set foote in England before that time Besides these places before named of great name and marke wee must not overpasse neither Melton Mowbray neere unto this Burton a Mercate Towne bearing name of the Mowbraies sometime Lords thereof wherein is nothing more worth the seeing than a faire Church nor Skeffington standing farther off which as it hath given name to a worshipfull Family so againe it hath received worship and credit from the same The River that watereth this part of the Shire is by the Inhabitants about it called the Wreken along which upon resemblance of the name I have sought VERNOMETUM but in vaine This Wreken gathereth a strong streame by many lively Brookes resorting unto it whereof one passeth by Wimondham an ancient habitation of a younger branch of the house of the Lords Barkleis well encreased by an heire of Dela-Laund and so on by Melton Mowbray before mentioned by Kirkby Bellers where there was a Priory having that addition of the Bellers a respective rich and noble Family in their time by Brokesby a seat now of the Villiers of an old Norman race and descended from an heire of Bellers which Brokesby imparted formerly the sirname to the Brokesbies of especiall antiquity in these parts Then the Wreken speedeth by Ratcliffe high mounted upon a cliffe and within few miles conjoyneth it selfe to Soar neere unto Mont-Soar-hill before mentioned Whatsoever of this Shire lieth beyond the Wreken Northward is not so frequently inhabited and part of it is called the Wold as being hilly without wood wherein Dalby a seat of the old Family of the Noels of whom I shall speake elsewhere and Waltham on the Wold a meane Mercat are most notable Through this part as I have beene enformed passeth the Fosse-way made by the Romans from Lewing Bridge by Segrave which gave sirname to the honourable Family often mentioned and the Lodge on the Wold toward the Vale of Bever but the Tract thereof as yet I know not This Shire hath beene more famous from time to time by reason of the Earles thereof have beene very renowned And seeing it had under the Saxons government Earles by inheritance I will first reckon them up in order as Thomas Talbot a skilfull Antiquary hath delivered me a note of them out of the kings Records In the time of Aethelbald King of the Mercians and in the yeere of our Redemption 716. Leofrick was Earle of Leicester whom there succeeded in direct line Algar the first Algar the second Leofrick the second Leofstane Leofrick the third buried in Coventry Algar the third who had issue two sonnes Aeadwin Earle of March Morkar Earle of Northumberland and a daughter named Lucy first married to Ivon Talboys of Anjou afterwards to Roger of Romara who begat of her William of Romara Earle of Lincolne Now when as the issue male of this Saxon Family failed and the name of the Saxons was troden as it were under foot Robert Beaumont a Norman Lord of Pont Audomar and Earle of Mellent after that Simon an officiary Earle of Leicester was dead obtained his Earledome in the yeere of our Lord 1102. at the bountifull hand of King Henry the First which Robert A man for skill and knowledge excellent faire spoken subtile wise and witty and by nature wily who while hee lived in high and glorious estate an other Earle carried away his wife from him whereupon in his old age being much troubled in minde he fell into deepe melancholy After him succeeded from father to sonne three Roberts the first sirnamed Bossu because hee was crook-backed who after he had rebelled against King Henry the First weary of his loose irregular life became a Chanon Regular the second sirnamed Blanch-maines of his lily-white-hands who sided with the young King against King Henry the Second and dyed in the expedition of King Richard the First to the Holy Land the third sirnamed Fitz-Parnell because his mother was Parnels daughter and one of the heires to Hugh Grant-maismill the last in whose right hee was Seneschall or Steward of England and died issuelesse in the time of King John A few yeeres after Simon Montfort descended from a base sonne of Robert King of France who had married the sister of Robert Fitz-Parnell enjoyed this honour But after that hee and his were expelled in the yeere 1200. as wholy devoted to the French Ranulph Earle of Chester attained unto this Dignity not in right of inheritance but by his Princes favour Howbeit afterwards Simon Montfort sonne of the foresaid Simon obtained this honour when Almarik his eldest brother surrendred up his right before King Henry the Third This Simon stood in so gracious favour with King Henry the Third that hee called him home againe out of France when he was banished heaped upon him great wealth admitted him unto the Earledome of Leicester granted to him the Stewardship of England and to honour him the more gave him his owne sister in marriage But hee thus over-heaped with honourable benefits when he had no meanes to requite them such is the perverse wilfulnesse of men beganne hatefully to maligne him yea and did most wickedly molest the good King having so well deserved making himselfe Ringleader to the rebellious Barons and with them raising horrible tempests of civill warre in which himselfe also at length was overthrowne and slaine As for his Honours and Possessions King Henry the Third gave and graunted them to Edmund his owne younger sonne Earle of Lancaster So afterward this honour lay as it were obscured among the Titles of the house of Lancaster and Mawde the daughter of Henry Duke of Lancaster being married to Henry Duke of Bavaria Earle of Henault Holland Zeland c. added unto his other Titles this of Earle of Leicester also For in the Charter dated the five and thirty yeere of King Edward the Third hee is in plaine termes stiled William Earle of Henhault and of Leicester yea and as we finde in the Inquisition made Anno 36. of the said King Edward the Third shee by the name of Dutchesse of Bavaria held the Castle Manour and Honour of Leicester After whose decease without issue that honour reverted to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster who had wedded Blanch the other sister of Mawde From which time it became united to the House of Lancaster untill in our remembrance it reflourished in L. Robert Dudley who was by Queene Elizabeth girt with the sword of the Earledome of Leicester and extraordinarily favoured whereupon the States Generall of the united Provinces in their great troubles chose him triumphantly for their absolute Governour and soone after as contemptuously rejected him reserving all Soveraignty to themselves But after a short time he passed out of this transitory life
Saint Peter and be yeelded up without delay for ever unto the Abbot and to the Monkes there serving God yet King William the Conquerour cancelled and made voide this Testament who reserving a great part of it to himselfe divided the rest betweene Countesse Iudith whose daughter was married to David King of Scots Robert Mallet Oger Gislebert of Gaunt Earle Hugh Aubrey the Clerk and others And unto Westminster first he left the Tithes afterwards the Church onely of Okeham and parcels thereunto appertaining This County hath not had many Earles The first Earle of Rutland was Edward the first begotten Sonne of Edmund of Langley Duke of Yorke created by King Richard the Second upon a singular favour that he cast unto him during his Fathers life and afterwards by the same King advanced to the honour of Duke of Aumarle This young man wickedly projected with others a practise to make away King Henry the Fourth and streight waies with like levity discovered the same But after his Fathers death being Duke of Yorke lost his life fighting couragiously amid the thickest troupes of his enemies in the battaile of Agincourt Long time after there succeeded in this Honour Edward the little young Sonne of Richard Duke of Yorke and he together with his Father during those deadly broiles of civill warre was slaine in the battaile fought at Wakefield Many yeeres after King Henry the Eighth raised up Sir Thomas Mannours to be Earle of Rutland who in right of his Grand-mother Aeleonor was possessed of a goodly and faire inheritance of the Barons Roos lying in the countries round about and elsewhere In his roome succeeded his Sonne Henry and after him likewise Edward his Sonne unto whom if I should say nothing else that commendation of the Poet was most aptly and truly appliable Nomen virtutibus aequat Nec sinit ingenium nobilitate premi His name so great with vertues good he matcheth equally Nor suffreth wit smuthring to lie under Nobility But he by over hasty and untimely death being received into Heaven left this dignity unto John his Brother who also departing this life within a while hath for his successor Roger his Sonne answerable in all points to his ancient and right noble parentage This small Shire hath Parish Churches 48. LINCOLNIAE Comitatus vbi olim insederunt CORITANI LINCOLNE-SHIRE VPon Rutland on the East side confineth the County of LINCOLNE called by the English-Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Normans Nicol-shire after their comming into the Land with some transposition of letters but usually LINCOLNE-SHIRE A very large Country as reaching almost threescore miles in length and carrying in some places above thirty miles in bredth passing kinde for yeeld of Corne and feeding of Cattaile well furnished and set out with a great number of Townes and watered with many Rivers Upon the Eastside where it bendeth outward with a brow fetching a great compasse the German Ocean beateth on the shore Northward it recheth to Humber an arme of the sea on the West side it butteth upon Nottingham-shire and on the South it is severed from Northampton-shire by the River Welland This whole Shire is divided into three parts whereof one is called Holland a second Kesteven and the third Lindsey Holland which Ingulph termeth Holland lyeth to the sea and like unto that Holland in Germanie it is so throughly wet in most places with waters that a mans foote is ready to sinke into it and as one standeth upon it the ground will shake and quake under his feet and thence it may seeme to have taken the name unlesse a man would with Ingulph say that Holland is the right name and the same imposed upon it of Hay which our Progenitours broadly called Hoy. This part throughout beareth upon that ebbing and flowing arme of the Sea which Ptolomee calleth METARIS instead of Maltraith and wee at this day The Washes A very large arme this is and passing well knowne at every tide and high sea covered all over with water but when the sea ebbeth and the tide is past a man may passe over it as on dry land but yet not without danger Which King John learned with his losse For whilest he journied this way when he warred upon the rebellious Barons the waters suddenly brake in upon him so that at Fosse-dyke and Welstream he lost all his carriage and princely furniture as Matthew of Westminster writeth This Country which the Ocean hath laied to the land as the Inhabitants beleeve by sands heaped and cast together they it terme Silt is assailed on the one side with the said Ocean sea and in the other with a mighty confluence of waters from out of the higher countries in such sort that all the Winter quarter the people of the country are faine to keepe watch and ward continually and hardly with all the bankes and dammes that they make against the waters are able to defend themselves from the great violence and outrage thereof The ground bringeth forth but small store of corne but plenty of grasse and is replenished abundantly with fish and water-fowle The Soile throughout is so soft that they use their Horses unshod neither shall you meet so much as with a little stone there that hath not beene brought thither from other places neverthelesse there bee most beautifull Churches standing there built of foure square stone Certaine it is that the sea aforetime had entred farther up into the Country and that appeareth by those bankes formerly raised against the waterwaves then in-rushing which are now two miles off from the shore as also by the hils neere Sutterton which they call Salt-Hils But of fresh water there is exceeding great want in all places neither have they any at all but raine water and that in pits which if they be of any great depth presently become brackish if shallow they dry up as soone Neither are there Quicksands wanting which have a wonderfull force to draw to them and to hold fast as both Shepheards and their poore Sheepe also finde other whiles not without danger This Holland or Hoiland whether you will is divided into two parts The Lower and the Higher The Lower hath in it soule and slabby quavemires yea and most troublesome Fennes which the very Inhabitants themselves for all their stilts cannot stalke through And considering that it lieth very low and flat fenced it is of the one side against the Ocean on the other from those waters which overwhelme the upper part of the Isle of Ely with mighty piles and huge bankes opposed against the same Of which Southybanke is of greatest name which least it should have a breach made through it with that infinite masse of water that falleth from the South part when the Rivers swell and all is overflowne by inundation the people watch with great care and much feare as against a dangerous enemy And yet for the draining away of this water the neighbour Inhabitants at the common charges
that in our Britaine Tallhin Glan-lhin and Lhinlithquo are townes by lakes sides This Citie it selfe being large well inhabited and frequented standeth upon the side of an hill where Witham bendeth his course Eastward and being divided with three small chanels watereth the lower part of the Citie That the ancient LINDUM of the Britans stood on the very top of the hill which had a very hard ascent up to it and reached out beyond the gate called Newport the expresse tokens of a rampier and deepe ditches which are yet very evident doe plainely shew In this City Vortimer that warlike Britan who many a time discomfited the Saxons and put them to flight ended his daies and was heere contrary to his owne commandement buried For he was in a full and assured hope perswaded that if he were enterred in the sea shore his very ghost was able to protect the Britans from the Saxons as writeth Ninius the disciple of Elvodugus But the English Saxons after they had rased this old Lindum first possessed themselves of the South side of the hill at the foot whereof they built as it seemeth the gate yet standing compiled of vast stones and with the ruines of that more ancient Towne fortified it Afterwards they went downe lower to the river side built in a place that was called Wickanford and walled it about on that side which is not fensed by the River At which time as saith Bede Paulinus preached the Word of God unto the Province of Lindsey and first of all converted unto the Lord the Governour or Provost of Lincolne City whose name was Blecca with his family In which very City hee built also a Church of goodly stone worke the roofe whereof being either fallen for want of repaire or cast downe by the violent hand of enemies the walles are seene standing to this day After this the Danes wonne it by assault once or twice First those troupes of spoiling mates out of whose hands King Edmund Ironside wrested it by force then Canutus from whom Aetheldred regained it when upon his returne out of Normandy he valiantly forced Canutus to abandon the towne and beyond all hope recovered England which before was lost In the Raigne of Edward the Confessour there were in it as Domesday booke recordeth a thousand and seventy Mansions with lodgings to give entertainment and twelve Lage men having Sac and Soc. But in the Normans time as saith William of Malmesbury It was one of the best peopled Cities of England and a place of traffique and merchandise for all commers by sea and land and as the same Domesday booke saith there were at that time counted and taxed in this City 900. Burgesses and many Mansions were laied waste 166. for the Castle and other 74. without the precinct of the Castle not through the oppression of the Sheriffe and his Ministers but by reason of mishap poverty and casualty by fire The said King William the Conqueror for the strengthning of it and terrour of the Citizens raised a passing large and strong Castle upon the brow of the hill and almost at the very same time Remigius Bishop of Dorchester for to give credit and ornament thereto translated hither his Episcopall seat from Dorchester which was in the most remote corner of his Dioecesse and a small Towne And when by this time that Church which Paulinus had built was quite gone to decay the same Remigius having purchased certaine houses with grounds lying unto them in the very highest place of the City neere unto the Castle as Henry of Huntingdon saith mounting up aloft with high and stately towres built in a strong place a strong Church in a faire plot a faire Church and dedicated it to the Virgin of Virgins notwithstanding the Archbishop of Yorke was enraged thereat who chalenged to himselfe the propriety of the soile and in it ordained 44. Prebendaries Which Church afterwards being sorely defaced with fire as he saith Alexander that most bountiful Bishop of Lincolne repaired with skilfull artificiall workemanship Of whom William of Malmesbury reporteth because for his little low stature hee was a dwarfe among men his minde laboured to rise aloft and shew it selfe to the world with outward workes And as concerning his bounty a Poet of that time among other things wrote thus Qui dare festinans gratis ne danda rogentur Quod nondum dederat nondum se credit habere Who hastening frankly for to give for feare that folke should crave He never thought that he had that which yet he never gave Besides these two Bishops already mentioned Robert Bloet who sat there before Alexander R. de Beaumeis Hugh a Burgundian and their Successours by little and little brought this Church which could not bee one Bishops worke to the stately magnificence that now it carryeth Certes as it is built it is all throughout not onely most sumptuous but also passing beautifull and that with rare and singular workmanship but especially that fore-front at the West end which in a sort ravisheth and allureth the eyes of all that come toward it In this Church although there bee divers Monuments of Bishops and others yet these onely seeme memorable That of Copper wherein the bowels of that right noble and vertuous Queene Aeleonor wife to King Edward the First are bestowed who died at Hardby in this Shire as also these following wherein lye interred Sir Nicolas Cantlow one or two of the Family of Burghersh Lady Catherine Swinford the third wife of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster and mother of the house of Somerset with whom lyeth buryed Joan her daughter second wife to Raulph Nevill the first Earle of Westmerland who enriched her husband with many happy children The Bishops Diocesse of Lincolne not content with those streit limits wherewith the Bishops of Sidnacester who had Episcopall jurisdiction over this shire contented themselves in the Primitive Church of the English Nation conteined under it so many countries as that the greatnesse thereof was burdenous unto it And although King Henry the Second tooke out of it the Province of Ely and King Henry the Eighth the Bishopricks of Peterbourgh and of Oxford yet still at this day it is counted the greatest Diocesse by farre of all England both for jurisdiction and number of shires and the Bishop hath in his Diocesse one thousand two hundred forty seven Parish Churches Many and great Bishops since Remigius his time have governed this See whom to reckon up is no part of my purpose For I will not insist either upon Robert Bloet from whom King William Rufus wrung 50000. pounds for securing his title in the very City of Lincolne it selfe which was found defective nor upon that prodigall and profuse Alexander who in exceeding stately buildings was so excessively delighted ne yet upon Hugh the Burgundian Canonized a Saint whose corps King John with his Nobles and friends about him to performe as mine author saith a dutifull service to God and that holy
Romanists But this See few yeeres after was removed againe to Lichfield yet so as that one and the selfe same Bishop carried the name both of Lichfield and of Coventry The first Lord of this City so farre as I can learne was this Leofricke who being very much offended and angry with the Citizens oppressed them with most heavie tributes which he would remit upon no other condition at the earnest suite of his wife Godiva unlesse she would herselfe ride on horse-backe naked through the greatest and most inhabited street of the City which she did in deed and was so covered with her faire long haire that if we may beleeve the common sort shee was seene of no body and thus shee did set free her Citizens of Coventry from many payments for ever From Leofricke it came into the hands of the Earles of Chester by Lucie his sonne Algars daughter for shee had beene married to Ranulph the first of that name and the third Earle of Chester out of this line who granted unto Coventrey the same liberties that Lincolne had and gave a great part of the City unto the Monkes the rest and Chilmore which is the Lords Manour hard by the City hee reserved to himselfe and to his heires After whose death when for want of issue male the inheritance was divided betweene the sisters Coventry came at length mediately by the Earles of Arundell unto Roger Mont-hault whose grand sonne Robert passed over all his right for default of issue male of his body begotten unto Queene Isabel mother to King Edward the Third To have and to hold during the whole life of the Queene herselfe and after her decease to remaine unto Iohn of Eltham the said Kings brother and to the heires of his body begotten and for default the remainder to Edward King of England c. For thus is it to be seene in the Fine in the second yeere of King Edward the Third Now the said John of Eltham was afterwards created Earle of Cornwall and this place became annexed to the Earldome of Cornwall From which time it hath flourished in great state Kings have bestowed sundry immunities upon it and King Edward the Third especially who permitted them to chuse a Major and two Bailiffes and to build and embattle a Wall about it also king Henry the Sixth who laying unto it certaine small Townes adjoyning granted That it should bee an entire County corporate by it selfe the very words of the Charter runne in that sort in deed and name and distinct from the County of Warwicke At which time in lieu of Bailiffes he ordained two Sheriffes and the Citizens beganne to fortifie their City with a most strong Wall wherein are beautifull Gates and at one of them called Gosford Gate there hangeth to bee seene a mighty great Shield bone of a wilde Bore which any man would thinke that either Guy of Warwicke or else Diana of the Forest Arden slew in hunting when he had turned up with his snout that great pit or pond which at this day is called Swansewell but Swinsewell in times past as the authority of ancient Charters doe proove As touching the Longitude of this City it is 25. Degrees and 52. Scruples and for the Latitude it is 52. Degrees and 25. Scruples Thus much of Coventrey yet have you not all this of me but willingly to acknowledge by whom I have profited of Henry Ferrars of Baddesley a man both for parentage and for knowledge of antiquity very commendable and my especiall friend who both in this place and also elsewhere hath at all times courteously shewed me the right way when I was out and from his candle as it were hath lightned mine Neere unto Coventrey North-west ward are placed Ausley Castle the habitation in times past of the Hastings who were Lords of Abergavenney and Brand the dwelling place in old time of the Verdons Eastward standeth Caloughdon commonly Caledon the ancient seat of the Lords Segrave from whom it descended to the Barons of Berkley by one of the daughters of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolke These Segraves since the time that Stephen was Lord chiefe Justice of England flourished in the honorable estate of Barons became possessed of the Chaucombes Inheritance whose Armes also they bare viz. A Lion rampant Argent crowned Or in a Shield Sable But John the last of them married Margaret Dutchesse of Northfolke Daughter of Thomas Brotherton and begat Elizabeth a daughter who brought into the Family of the Mowbraies the Dignity of Marshall of England and Title of Duke of Norfolke Brinklâ— also is not farre from hence where stood an ancient Castle of the Mowbraies to which many possessions and faire lands thereabout belonged But the very rubbish of this Castle time hath quite consumed as Combe Abbay is scant now apparent which the Camvills and Mowbraies endowed with possessions and out of the ruines and reliques whereof a faire house of the Lord Haringtons in this very place is now raised As you goe East-ward you meet anon with Cester-Over whereof I spake incidently before belonging to the Grevills neere unto which the High port-way Watling-street dividing this shire Northward from Leicester-shire runneth on forward by High-crosse whereof also I have already written neere unto Nun-Eaton which in ancient time was named Eaton But when Amice wife to Robert Bossu Earle of Leicester as Henry Knighton writeth had founded a Monastery of Nunnes wherein her selfe also became professed it began of those Nunnes to be called Nun-Eaton And famous it was in the former ages by reason of those religious Virgines holinesse who devoting themselves continually to prayers gave example of good life A little from this there flourished sometimes Astley-Castle the principall seate of the Familie of Astley out of which flourished Barons in the time of King Edward the First Second and Third the heire whereof in the end was the second wedded Wife of Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin from whom came the Greies Marquesses of Dorset some of whom were enterred in a most fine and faire Collegiat Church which Thomas Lord Astley founded with a Deane and Secular Chanons Somewhat higher hard by Watling street for so with the common people wee call the High-way made by the Romanes where as the riuer Anker hath a stone bridge over it stood MANDVESSEDUM a very ancient towne mentioned by Antonine the Emperour which being not altogether deprived of that name is now called Mancester and in Ninnius his Catalogue Caer Mancegued Which name considering there is a stone-quarry hard by I may ghesse was imposed upon it of the stones digged forth and hewed out of it For out of the Glossaries of the British tongue we finde that Main in the British language signified a Stone and Fosswad in the Provinciall tongue to digge out which being joyned together may seeme very expressely to import that ancient name MANDVESSEDUM But what how great or how faire soever it hath been
in old time a very small village it is at this day containing in it scarce foureteene dwelling houses and those but little ones and hath no monument of antiquitie to shew beside an ancient mount which they call Old-burie For on the one side Atherstone a mercate towne of good resort where there stood a Church of Augustine Friers now turned into a Chappell which neverthelesse acknowledgeth Mancester Church for her mother and Nun-Eaton on the other side by their vicinity have left it bare and empty Close unto Atherstone standeth Mery-Vale where Robert Ferrars erected a Monastery to God and the blessed Virgin Mary wherein himselfe enwrapped in an Oxe-hide for a shrouding sheet was interred Beyond these Northeastward is Pollesworth where Modwena an Irish Virgin of whom there went so great a fame for her holy life built a religious house for Nuns which R. Marmion a Noble man repaired who had his Castle hard by at Stippershull Neere unto this place also there flourished in the Saxons daies a towne that now is almost quite gone called then SECANDUNUM and at this day Seckinton where Aethelbald King of the Mercians in civill warre about the yeere of our Lord 749. was stabbed to death by Beared and soone after Offa slew Beared so that as by bloudy meanes he invaded the Kingdome of Mercia he likewise lost the same suddainely It remaineth now that we reckon up the Earles of Warwick for to passe over Guare Morind Guy of Warwick of whose actes all England resoundeth and others of that stampe whom pregnant wits have at one birth bred and brought forth into the world Henry the sonne of Roger de Beau-mont and brother to Robert Earle of Mellent was the first Earle descended of Normans bloud who had married Margaret the daughter of Ernulph de Hesdin Earle of Perch a most mighty and puissant man Out of this Family there bare this Honourable title Roger the sonne of Henry William the sonne of Roger who died in the thirtieth yeere of King Henry the Second Walleran his brother Henry the sonne of Walleran Thomas his sonne who deceased without issue in the sixe and twentieth yeere of King Henry the Third leaving behinde him Margery his sister who being Countesse of Warwicke and barraine departed this life yet her two husbands first Iohn Mareschal then John de Plessetis or Plessey in their wives right and through their Princes favour mounted up to the Honourable dignitie of Earles of Warwicke Now when these were departed without any issue by that Margery Waller and Uncle unto the said Margery succeeded them After whom dying also childlesse his sister Alice enjoyed the inheritance Afterwards her sonne William called Malduit and Manduit of Hanslap who left this world and had no children Then Isabell the said William Malduits sister being bestowed in marriage upon William de Beauchamp Lord of Elmesly brought the Earledome of Warwicke into the Familie of the Beauchamps who if I deceive not my selfe for that they came of a daughter of Ursus de Abtot gave the Beare for their cognisance and left it to their posteritie Out of this house there flourished sixe Earles and one Duke William the sonne of Isabell John Guy Thomas Thomas the younger Richard and Henry unto whom King Henry the Sixth graunted this preheminence and prerogative without any precedent to be the first and chiefe Earle of England and to carry this stile Henricus Praecomes totius Anglia Comes Warwici that is Henry chiefe Earle of all England and Earle of Warwicke he nominated him also King of the Isle of Wight and afterwards created him Duke of Warwicke and by these expresse words of his Parent graunted That he should take his place in Parliaments and elsewhere next unto the Duke of Norfolke and before the Duke of Buckingham One onely daughter he had named Anne whom in the Inquisitions wee finde entituled Countesse of Warwicke and shee died a child After her succeeded Richard Nevill who had married Anne sister to the said Duke of Warwicke a man of an undaunted courage but wavering and untrustie the very tennisse-ball in some sort of fortune who although he were no King was above Kings as who deposed King Henry the Sixth a most bountifull Prince to him from his regall dignitie placed Edward the Fourth in the royall throne and afterwards put him downe too restored Henry the Sixth againe to the Kingdome enwrapped England within the most wofull and lamentable flames of civill warre which himselfe at the length hardly quenched with his owne bloud After his death Anne his Wife by Act of Parliament was excluded and debarred from all her lands for ever and his two daughters heires to him and heires apparant to their mother being married to George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Glocester were enabled to enjoy all the said lands in such wise as if the said Anne their mother were naturally dead Whereupon the name stile and title of Earle of Warwicke and Sarisbury was graunted to George Duke of Clarence who soone after was unnaturally dispatched by a sweet death in a Butte of Malvesey by his suspicious brother King Edward the Fourth His young sonne Edward was stiled Earle of Warwicke and being but a very child was beheaded by King Henry the Seventh to secure himselfe and his posteritie The death of this Edward our Ancestors accounted to be the full period and finall end of the long lasting warre betweene the two royall houses of Lancaster and Yorke Wherein as they reckoned from the twenty eight yeere of Henry the Sixth unto this being the fifteenth of Henry the Seventh there were thirteene fields fought three Kings of England one Prince of Wales twelve Dukes one Marques eighteene Earles with one Vicont and twenty three Barons besides Knights and Gentlemen lost their lives From the death of this young Earle of Warwicke this title lay asleepe which King Henry the Eighth feared as a fire-brand of the State by reason of the combustion which that Richard Nevill that whip-king as some tearmed him had raised untill that King Edward the Sixth conferred it upon Iohn Dudley that derived his pedigree from the Beauchamps who like unto that Richard abovesaid going about in Queene Maries daies to turne and translate Scepters at his pleasure for his Traiterous deepe ambition lost his head But his sonnes first Iohn when his father was now Duke of Northumberland by a courteous custome usually received held this title for a while and afterwards Ambrose a most worthy personage both for warlike prowesse and sweetnesse of nature through the fauour of Queene Elizabeth received in our remembrance the Honour of Earle of Warwick to him and his heires males and for defect of them to Robert his brother and the heires males of his body lawfully begotten This Honour Ambrose bare with great commendation and died without children in the yeere one thousand five hundred eighty nine shortly after his brother Robert Earle of Leicester
afterward this honor at the hands of King Henry the Fifth Who shortly after in the French war lost his life at the siege of Meaux in Brye leaving one onely daughter married to Sir Edward Nevill from whom descended the late Lords of Abergevenny Afterward King Henry the Sixth created John Tiptoft Earle of Worcester But when he presently taking part with King Edward the Fourth had applied himselfe in a preposterous obsequiousnesse to the humor of the said King and being made Constable of England plaied the part as it were of the butcher in the cruell execution of diverse men of qualitie himselfe when as King Henry the Sixth was now repossessed of the crowne came to the blocke Howbeit his sonne Edward recovered that honor when King Edward recovered his Kingdome But after that this Edward died without issue and the inheritance became divided among the sisters of the said John Tiptoft Earle of Worcester of whom one was married to the Lord Roo◠another to Sir Edmund Ingoldesthorpe and the third to the Lord Dudley Sir Charles Somerset base sonne to Henry Duke of Somerset Lord Herbert and Lord Chamberlaine to King Henry the Eighth was by him created Earle of Worcester After whom succeeded in lineall descent Henry William and Edward who now flourisheth and among other laudable parts of vertue and Nobility highly favoureth the studies of good literature There are in this Shire Parishes 152. STAFFORDIAE COMITATVS PARS olim Cornauiorum STAFFORD-SHIRE THE third Region of the old CORNAVII now called STAFFORD-SHIRE in the English Saxons Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Inhabitants whereof because they dwelt in the middest of England are in Bede termed Angli Mediterranei that is Midland Englishmen having on the East Warwick-shire and Darby-shire on the South side Worcester-shire and Westward Shropp-shire bordering upon it reacheth from South to North in forme of a Lozeng broader in the middest and growing narrower at the ends The North part is full of Hilles and so lesse fruitfull the middle being watered with the River Trent is more plentifull clad with Woods and embroidered gallantly with Corne fields and medowes as is the South part likewise which hath Coles also digged out of the earth and mines of Iron But whether more for their commodity or hinderance I leave to the Inhabitants who doe or shall best understand it In the South part in the very confines with Worcester-shire upon the River Stour standeth Stourton Castle sometimes belonging to the Earles of Warwicke the natall place of Cardinall Pole and then Dudley Castle towreth up upon an hill built and named so of one Dudo or Dodo an English Saxon about the yeere of our Salvation 700. In King William the Conquerours daies as we finde in his Domesday Booke William Fitz-Ausculph possessed it afterwards it fell to Noble men sirnamed Somery and by an heire generall of them to Sir Richard Sutton knight descended from the Suttons of Nottingham-shire whose Posterity commonly called from that time Lords of Dudley but summoned to Parliament first by King Henry the Sixth grew up to a right honourable Family Under this lyeth Pensueth Chace in former times better stored with game wherein are many Cole-pits in which as they reported to mee there continueth a fire begunne by a candle long since through the negligence of a grover or digger The smoke of this fire and sometime the flame is seene but the savour oftener smelt and other the like places were shewed unto mee not farre off North-West ward upon the Confines of Shropp-shire I saw Pateshull a seat of the Astleies descended from honourable Progenitours and Wrotesley an habitation of a Race of Gentlemen so sirnamed out of which Sir Hugh Wrotesley for his approoved valour was chosen by King Edward the Third Knight of the Garter at the first institution and so accounted one of the founders of the said honourable Order Next after this the memorable places that wee meet with in this Tract more inwardly are these Chellington a faire house and Manour of the ancient Family of the Giffards which in the Raigne of Henry the Second Peter Corbuchin gave to Peter Giffard upon whom also Richard Strongbow that Conquerour of Ireland bestowed in free gift Tachmelin and other Possessions in Ireland Theoten hall which is by interpretation The habitation of Heathens or Pagans at this day Tetnall embrued with Danish bloud in the yeere 911. by King Edward the Elder in a bloudy Battaile Ulfrunes Hampton so called of Wulfruna a most godly and devout woman who enriched the Towne called before simply Hampton with a religious House and for Wulfrunes Hampton it is corruptly called Wulver Hampton The greatest name and note whereof ariseth by the Church there annexed to the Warden or Deane and Prebendaries of Windsor Weadsbury in these dayes Weddsborrow fortified in old time by Aethelfled Lady of the Mercians and Walshall a Mercate Towne none of the meanest Neere unto which the River Tame carryeth his streame which rising not farre off for certaine miles wandereth through the East part of this Shire seeking after Trent neere unto Draiton Basset the seat of the Bassets who springing out from Turstan Lord of this place in the Raigne of Henry the First branched forth into a great and notable Family For from hence as from a stocke flourished the Bassets of Welleden of Wiccomb of Sapcot of Cheddle and others But of this of Draiton Raulph was the last who being a right renowned Baron had marryed the sister of John Montfort Duke of Britaine and in the Raigne of Richard the Second died without issue Then Tame passing through the Bridge at Falkesley over which an ancient high way of the Romanes went runneth hard under Tamworth in the Saxon Tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marianus calleth it Tamawordia a Towne so placed in the Confines of the two Shires that the one part which belonged sometime to the Marmions is counted of Warwick-shire the other which pertained to the Hastings of Stafford-shire As for the name it is taken from Tame the Riuer running beside it and of the English Saxon word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth a Barton Court or Ferme-house and also an Holme or River Island or any place environed with water seeing that Keyserwert and Bomelswert in Germanie betoken as much as Caesars Isle and Bomels Isle Whiles the Mercians Kingdome stood in state this was a place of their Kings resiance and as we finde in the Lieger Booke of Worcester a Towne of very great resort and passing well frequented Afterward when in the Danes Warre it was much decaied Aethelfled Lady of Mercia repaired and brought it againe to the former state also Edith King Eadgars Sister who refusing Marriage for the opinion that went of her for holinesse was registred in the roll of Saints founded heere a little house for Nunnes and veiled Virgins which after some yeeres was translated to
with this Greeke Inscription 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is THE EMPEROUR CAESAR LUCIUS SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS PERTINAX And in the Reverse an Horseman with a Trophaee erected before him but the letters not legible save under him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Of the Elaians which kinde of great peeces the Italians call Medaglionj and were extraordinary coines not for common use but coined by the Emperours either to bee distributed by the way of Largesse in triumphes or to bee sent for tokens to men well deserving or else by free Cities to the glory and memory of good Princes What name this place anciently had is hard to be found but it seemeth to have beene the Port and landing place for Venta Silurum when as it is but two miles from it Then Throgoy a little River neere unto Caldecot entereth into the Severn Sea where we saw the wall of a Castle that belonged to the High Constables of England and was holden by the service of Constableship of England Hard by are seene Wondy and Penbow the seates in times past of the noble Family of Saint Maur now corruptly named Seimor For G. Mareshall Earle of Pembrock about the yeere of our Lord 1240. was bound for the winning of Wondy out of the Welsh mens hands to aide William Seimor From him descended Roger de Saint Maur Knight who married one of the heires of I. Beauchamp of Hach a very noble Baron who derived his Pedegree from Sibyl Heire unto William Mareshall that most puissant Earle of Pembrock from William Ferrars Earle of Darby from Hugh de Vivon and William Mallet men in times past most highly renowned The Nobility of all these and of others besides as may be evidently shewed hath met together in that right honourable personage Edward Saint Maur or Seimor now Earle of Hartford a singular favourer of vertue and good learning worthy in that behalfe to be honoured and commended to posterity Beneath this lyeth spred for many miles together a Mersh they call it the Moore which when I lately revised this worke suffered a lamentable losse For when the Severn Sea at a spring Tide in the change of the Moone what being driven backe for three dayes together with a South-West Winde and what with a very strong pirry from the sea troubling it swelled and raged so high that with surging billowes it came rolling and in-rushing amaine upon this Tract lying so low as also upon the like flats in Somerset-shire over against it that it overflowed all subverted houses and drowned a number of beasts and some people withall Where this Mersh Coast bearing out by little and little runneth forth into the sea in the very point thereof standeth Goldclyffe aloft that is as Giralaus saith A Golden Cliffe so called because the stones there of a golden colour by reverberation of the Sunne shining full upon them glitter with a wonderfull brightnesse neither can I bee easily perswaded saith hee that Nature hath given this brightnesse in vaine unto the stones and that there should bee a flower heere without fruite were there any man that would search into the Veines there and using the direction of Art enter in the inmost and secretest bowels of the Earth Neere to this place there remaine the Reliques of a Priory that acknowledge those of Chandos for their founders and Patron Passing thence by the Merish Country we came to the mouth of the River Isca which the Britans name Usk and Wijsk and some Writers terme it Osca This River as it runneth through the middest as I said before of this County floweth hard by three Townes of especiall antiquity The first in the limite of the Shire North-West Antonine the Emperour calleth GOBANIUM at the very meeting of Uske and Geveny whereof it had the name and even at this day keeping the ancient name as it were safe and sound is tearmed Aber-Gevenny and short Aber-genny which signifieth the confluents of Gevenny or Gobanny Fortified it is with Wals and a Castle which as saith Giraldus of all the Castles in Wales hath beene most defamed and stained with the foule note of treason First by William Earle Miles his sonne afterwards by William Breos for both of them after they had trained thither under a pretense of friendship certain of the Nobles and chiefe Gentlemen of Wales with promise of safe conduct villanously slew them But they escaped not the just judgement and vengeance of God For William Breos after he had beene stripped of all his goods and lost his wife and some of his children who were famished to death died in banishment the other William being brained with a stone whiles Breulais Castle was on fire suffered in the end due punishment for his wicked deserts The first Lord to my knowledge of Aber Gevenny was one Sir Hameline Balun who made Brien of Wallingford or Brient de L'isle called also the Fitz-Count his heire He having built heere a Lazarhouse for his two sonnes that were Lepres ordained Walter the sonne of Miles Earle of Hereford heire of the greatest part of his inheritance After him succeeded his brother Henry slaine by the Welshmen who seized upon his lands which the Kings Lieutenants and Captaines could not defend without great perill and danger By a sister of this Henry it descended to the Breoses and from them in right of marriage by the Cantelowes to the Hastings which Hastings being Earles of Pembrock enjoyed it for divers descents and John Hastings having then no childe borne devised both it and the Earledome of Pembrock as much as in him lay to his cosin Sir William Beauchamp conditionally that he should beare his Armes And when the last Hastings ended his life issuelesse Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin being found his Heire passed over the Barony of Aber-gevenny to the said William Beauchamp who was summoned afterward to Parliament by the name of W. Beauchamp de Abergevenny Hee entailed the said Barony reserving an estate to himselfe and his wife and to the lawfull issue male of their bodies and for default of such issue to his brother Thomas Beauchamp Earle of Warwick and his heires males This William Beauchamp Lord of Abergevenny had a sonne named Richard who for his martiall valour was created Earle of Worcester and slaine in the French warres leaving one onely daughter whom Sir Edward Nevill tooke to wife Since which time the Nevils have enjoyed the honorable title of the Barons of Abergevenny howbeit the Castle was by vertue of the entaile aforesaid detained from them a long time The fourth Baron of this house dying in our remembrance left one onely daughter Mary married to Sir Thomas Fane Knight betwixt whom being the heire generall and Edward Nevill the next heire male unto whom by a will and the same ratified by authority of the Parliament the Castle of Abergevenny and the greatest part
goeth on forward to Shropp-shire That MEDIOLANUM a Towne of the Ordovices which both Antonine the Emperour and Ptolomee speake of stood in this Shire I am in a manner perswaded upon probability The footings whereof I have sought after with all diligence but little or nothing have I found of it For time consumeth the very carcasses even of Cities Yet if we may ground any conjecture upon the situation seeing the Townes which Antonine placeth on either side be so well knowne to wit BONIUM now Bangor by Dee on the one side and RUTUNIUM now Rowton Castle on the other side for he setteth it twelve Italian miles distant from this and from the other twenty The lines of Position if I may so tearme them or of the distance rather doe cut one another crosse betweene Matrafall and Lan-vethlin which are scarce three miles asunder and shew as it were demonstratively the site of our Mediolanum For this cannot chuse but bee an infallible way to finde out the situation of a third place by two others that are knowne when as there are neither hils interposed nor any troublous turnings of the wayes As for this Matrafall which standeth five miles Westward from Severn although it bee now but a bare name was sometime the regall seat of the Princes of Powis which may bee an argument of the antiquity thereof and the same much spoken of by Writers who record that after the Princes had once forsaken it Robert Vipont an Englishman built a Castle But Lan-vethlin that is Vethlius Church being a little Mercate Towne although it be somewhat farther off from the crosse-meeting of the said lines yet commeth it farre neerer in resemblance of name to Mediolanum For of Methlin by the propriety of the British tongue is made Vethlin like as of Caer-Merden is come Caer Verden and of Ar-mon Arvon Neither doth Methlin more jarre and disagree in sound from Mediolanum than either Millano in Italie Le Million in Xantoigne or Methlen in the Lowcountries which Cities no man doubteth were all in times past knowne by the name of Mediolanum Which of these conjectures commeth neerer to the truth judge you for me it is enough to give my guesse If I should say that either Duke Medus or Prince Olanus built this Mediolanum of ours and those Cities of the same name in Gaule or that whiles they were a building Sus mediatim Lanata that is That a Sow halfe fleeced with wooll was digged up might I not be thought thinke you to catch at Clouds and fish for Nifles Yet notwithstanding the Italians write as much of their Mediolanum But seeing that most true it is that these Cities were built by nations of the same language and that the Gaules and Britans spake all one language I have prooved already it is probable enough that for one and the same cause they had also one and the same denomination Howbeit this our Mediolanum in nothing so farre as I know agreeth with that of Italie unlesse it be that both of them are seated upon a plaine betweene two riverets and a learned Italian derived the name of their Mediolanum hence because it is a Citie standing in the middest betweene Lanas that is little rivers according to his owne interpretation But this may seeme overmuch of MEDIOLANUM which I have sought heere and about Alcester not farre off This Countie hath adorned no Earle with the name title and Honour thereof untill of late our Soveraigne King James created Philip Herbert second Sonne of Henry Earle of Penbroke by Mary Sidney for the singular love and affectionate favour toward him and for the great hope that he conceived of his vertues both Baron Herbert of Shurland and also Earle of Montgomery upon one and the same day at Greenwich in the yeere 1605. But the Princes of Powis descended from the third Sonne of Rotherike the great held this shire with others in a perpetuall line of succession although Roger and Hugh of Montgomery had encroched upon some part thereof untill the daies of King Edward the Second For then Oen ap Gruffin ap Guenwinwyn the last Lord of Powis of the British bloud for the name of Prince had long before been worne out of use left one onely daughter named Hawise whom Sir Iohn Charleton an English man the Kings Valect married and in right of his wife was by King Edward the Second made Lord of Powise who as I have seene in very many places gaue for his Armes a Lion Geules Rampant in a shield Or which he received from his wifes Progenitours Of his posterity there were foure males that bare this Honorable title untill that in Edward the succession of males had an end for he the said Edward begat of Aeleonor the daughter and one of the heires of Thomas Holland Earle of Kent Iane Wife to Sir Iohn Grey Knight and Joice married unto Iohn Lord Tiptoft from whom the Barons of Dudley and others derive their descent The said Sir Iohn Grey for his martiall prowesse and by the bountifull fauour of King Henry the Fifth received the Earledome of Tanquervill in Normandie to have unto him and his heires males by delivering one Bassinet at the Castle of Roan every yeere on Saint Georges day This John had a sonne named Henrie Lord of Powis in whose race the title of Powis with the Honour thereof continued untill Edward Grey died well neere in our time leaving no issue lawfully begotten This Shire hath Parishes 47. MERIONITH Comitatus olim pars ORDOVICVM MERIONETH-SHIRE FFrom the backeside of Montgomery-shire MERIONETH-SHIRE in British Sire-Verioneth in Latine Mervinia and as Giraldus calleth it Terra filiorum Canaeni that is Canaens sonnes Land reacheth to that crooked Bay I spake of and to the maine Sea which on the West side beateth so sore upon it that it is verily thought to have carryed away by violence some part thereof Southward for certaine miles together it is severed from Cardigan-shire by the river Dovy on the North it boundeth upon Caer-narvon and Denbigh-shires As for the in-land part it so riseth with mountaines standing one by another in plumps that as Giraldus saith it is the roughest and most unpleasant Country to see to in all Wales For it hath in it mountaines of a wonderfull height yet narrow and passing sharpe at the top in manner of a needle and those verily not scattering heere and there one but standing very thicke together and so even in height that Shepheards talking together or railing one at another on the tops of them if haply they appoint the field to encounter and meet together they can hardly doe it from morning till night But let the Reader heerein relie upon Giraldus credit Great flockes of Sheepe graze all over these mountaines neither are they in danger of Wolves who were thought then to have beene ridde quite out of all England and Wales when King Eadgar imposed upon Ludwall Prince of these
were erected unto them We worship saith he The heads of great Rivers and the sudden breaking forth of an huge River out of an hidden and secret place hath Altars consecrated unto it Againe All waters as Servius Honoratus saith had their severall Nymphs to take the rule and protection of them Moreover in a Wall of the Church is fastened this broken and unperfect Inscription RUM CAES. AUG ANTONINI ET VERI JOVI DILECTI CAECILIUS PRAEF COH But in the very Church it selfe whiles I sought diligently for monuments of Romane Antiquity I found nothing but the Image in stone all armed of Sir Adam Midleton who seemeth to have flourished under King Edward the First and whose posterity remaineth yet in the Country heereby at Stubbam More beneath standeth Otley a Towne of the Archbishops of Yorke but it hath nothing memorable unlesse it bee one high and hard craggy cliffe called Chevin under which it is situate For the ridge of an hill the Britans terme Chevin whence I may conjecture that that continued ridge of mountaines in France where in old time they spake the same language that Britans did was called Gevenna and Gebenna After this Wherf runneth hard by with his bankes on both sides reared up and consisting of that Limestone which maketh grounds fat and fertile where I saw Harewood Castle of good strength which by the alteration of times hath often changed his Lords Long since it belonged to the Curcies but by Alice an inheritrice it came to Warin Fitz-Gerold who had taken her to wife whose daughter Margerie and one of his heires being endowed with a very great estate of living was first married unto Baldwin de Ripariis the Earles sonne of Devon-shire who dyed before his father afterwards to Folque de Brent by the beneficiall favour of King John for his approved service in pilling polling and spoiling most cruelly But when at length Isabell de Ripariis Countesse of Devon-shire departed this life without issue This Castle fell unto Robert de L'isle the sonne of Warin as unto her cozin in bloud and one of her heires in the end by those of Aldborrough it descended to the â—ithers as I am enformed by Francis Thinn who very diligently and judiciously hath a long time hunted after Pedigree antiquities Neither is Gawthorp adjoyning hereby to be concealed in silence when as the ancient Family of Gascoignes descended out of Gascoigne in France as it seemeth hath made it famous both with their vertue and Antiquity From hence runneth Wherf hard by Wetherby a Mercate Towne of good note which hath no antiquity at all to shew but a place only beneath it they call it usually now Saint Helens Fourd where the high Roman street crossed over the river From thence he passeth downe by Tadcaster a very little towne yet I cannot but thinke as well by the distance from other places as by the nature of the soile and by the name that it was CALCARIA For it is about nine Italian miles from Yorke according as Antonine hath set CALCARIA Also the limestone which is the very soader and binder of all morter and hardly elsewhere in this tract to be found heere is digged up in great plenty and vented as farre as to Yorke and the whole Country bordering round about for use in building Considering then that the said Lime was by the Britans and Saxons in old time and is by the Northren Englishmen called after the Roman name Calc For that imperious City Rome imposed not their yoke onely but their language also upon the subdued Nations seeing also that in the Code of Theodosius those bee tearmed Calcarienses who are the burners of limestone it may not seeme absurd if the Etymology of the name be fetched from Calx that is Chalke or Lime even as Chalcis of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is brasse Ammon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Sand Pteleon of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Elmes and Calcaria a City of Cliveland haply of Calx that is Lime tooke their names especially seeing that Bede calleth it also Calca-cester Where he reporteth that Heina the first woman in this Country that put on the Vaile and religious habite of a Nunne retyred her selfe apart to this City and therein made her abode Moreover an Hill neere to the Towne is called Kelc-bar in which there lieth couched somewhat of the ancient name Neither are there other arguments wanting to prove the antiquity thereof For to say nothing how it is situate upon a port high way there be peeces of the Roman Emperours money oftentimes digged up and the tokens of the Trenches and Bankes that compassed it about the plot also where an old Castle stood yet remaining out of the reliques whereof not many yeeres agoe was a Bridge built which when Wherf is once passed under he becommeth more still and so gently intermingleth his water with Ouse And verily a thing it is in my judgement to be wondered at That Wherf being encreased with so many waters in Summer time runneth so shallow under this Bridge that one comming hither about Midsommer when he saw it pretily and merrily versified thus Nil Tadcaster habet Musis vel carmine dignum Praeter magnificè structum sine flumine pontem Nought hath Tadcaster worth my Muse and that my verse deserv's Unlesse a faire Bridge stately built the which no river serv's But had he come in Winter time he should have seene the Bridge so great as it was scarce able to receive so much water But naturall Philosophers know full well that both Welles and rivers according to the seasons and the heat or cold without or within do decrease or encrease accordingly Whereupon in his returne he finding here durt for dust and full currant water under the Bridge recanted with these verses Quae Tadcaster erat sine flumine pulvere plena Nunc habet immensum fluvium pro pulvere lutum Somewhat higher Nid a muddy river runneth downe well beset with woods on either side out of the bottome of Craven hils first by Niderdale a vale unto which it giveth name and from thence carrieth his streame by Rippley a Mercate Towne where the Inglebeys a Family of great antiquity flourished in good reputation Afterwards with his deepe chanell hee fenseth Gnaresburg commonly called Knarsborow Castle situate upon a most ragged and rough Rocke whence also it hath the name which Serle de Burgh Unkle by the fathers side to Eustace Vescy built as the tradition holdeth Afterward it became the seate of the Estoteviles and now is counted part of the lands belonging to the Dutchy of Lancaster Under it there is a well in which the waters spring not up out of the veines of the earth but distill and trickle downe dropping from the rockes hanging over it whence they call it Dropping well into which what wood soever is put
this house of housen all About the same time also the Citizens fensed the City round about with new walles and many towres and bulwarkes set orderly in divers places yea and ordained very good and holsome lawes for the governement thereof King Richard the Second granted it to bee a County incorporate by it selfe and King Richard the Third beganne to repaire the Castle And that nothing might be wanting King Henry the Eighth within the memory of our fathers appointed heere a Councell not unlike to the Parliaments in France for to decide and determine the causes and controversies of these North parts according to equity and conscience which consisteth of a Lord President certaine Counsellers at the Princes pleasure a Secretary and under Officers As touching the Longitude of Yorke our Mathematicians have described it to be two and twenty Degrees and twenty five Scruples the Latitude 54. degrees and 10. scruples Hitherto have we treated of the West part of this shire and of Yorke City which is reckoned neither in the one part nor the other but enjoyeth peculiar liberties and hath jurisdiction over the Territory adjoyning on the West side Which they call the Liberty of Ansty others the Ancienty of the Antiquity but other have derived it very probably from the Dutch word Anstossen which betokeneth limits And now for a conclusion have heere what Master John Jonston of Aberden hath but a while since written in verse of Yorke Praesidet extremis Arctoae finibus orae Urbs vetus in veteri facta subinde nova Romanis Aquilis quondam Ducibúsque superba Quam post barbarica diripuere manus Pictus atrox Scotus Danus Normannus Anglus Fulmina in hanc Martis detonuere sui Post diras rerum clades tótque aspera fata Blandiùs aspirans aura serena subit LONDINUM caput est regni urbs prima Britanni EBORACUM à primâ jure secunda venit In parts remote of Northren tract there stands as soveraine A City old but yet of old eftsoones made new againe Whilom of Romane Legions and Captaines proud it was But since by forces barbarous sacked and spoil'd alasse The Picts so fierce the Scots and Danes Normans and Englishmen 'Gainst it their bolts of dreadfull war have thundred now and then Yet after sundry bitter blasts and many a cursed clap A milder gale of peacefull daies hath brought it better hap Of British Kingdome LONDON is chiefe seat and principall And unto it there goes by right Yorke City next of all Ouse now leaving Yorke being otherwhiles disquieted and troubled with that whirling encounter of contrary waters and forceable eddies which some call Higra runneth downe through Bishops Thorpe called Saint Andrewes Thorpe before that Walter Grey Archbishop of Yorke purchased it with ready money and to prevent the Kings Officers who are wont rigorously to seize upon Bishops Temporalties when the See is vacant gave it to the Deane and Chapter of Yorke with this condition that they should alwayes yeeld it to his Successours Of whom Richard Le Sicrope Archbishop of Yorke a man of a firy spirit and ready to entertaine rebellion was condemned in this very place of high Treason by King Henry the Fourth against whom he had raised an insurrection Afterward Cawood a Castle of the Archbishops standeth upon the same River which King Athelstan as I have read gave unto the Church Just against which on the other side of the River lyeth Ricall where Harald Haardread arrived with a great Fleet of Danes Then Ouse passeth hard by Selby a little Towne well peopled and of good resort where King Henry the First was borne and where his father King William the First built a faire Abbay in memory of Saint German who happily confuted that venemous Pelagian Heresie which oftentimes as the Serpent Hydra grew to an head againe in Britaine The Abbats of this Church as also of Saint Maries in Yorke were the onely Abbats in the North parts that had place in the Parliament house And so Ouse at length speedeth away to Humber leaving first Escricke a seat of the Lascelles sometimes to be remembred for that King James advanced Sir Thomas Knivet the owner thereof Lord Knivet to the honour of Baron Knivet of Escricke in the yeere 1607. And afterward passing by Drax a little Village famous long since for a Monastery founded there by Sir William Painell and whereas William of Newburgh writeth Philip of Tollevilla had a Castle most strongly fensed with Rivers Woods and Marishes about it which he confident upon the courage of his followers and his provision of victuals and armour defended against King Stephen untill it was wonne by assault EBORACENSIS Comitatus ovius Incolae olin Brigantes appellabantur pars Orientalis vulgo EAST RIDING EAST-RIDING EAST-RIDING the second part of this Region wherein Ptolomee placed the PARISI lyeth Eastward from Yorke On the North side and the West it is bounded with the River Darwent that runneth downe with a winding course on the South with the Salt water of Humber and on the East with the German Ocean Upon the Sea side and along Darwent the Soile is meetly good and fertile But in the mids it is nothing else but an heape of Hilles rising up on high which they call Yorkes wold Darwent springing not farre from the shore first taketh his way Westward then hee windeth into the South by Aiton and Malton whereof because they belong to the North part of the Shire I will speake in due place No sooner is hee entred into this Quarter but downe hee runneth not farre from the ruines of the old Castle Montferrant The Lords whereof were in times past the Fossards men of noble parentage and wealthy withall But when William Fossard Ward to the King being committed unto William le Grosse Earle of Aumarle as to his Guardian and now come to his yeeres abused his sister the Earle in wreckfull displeasure for this fact of his laid this Castle even with the ground and forced the young Gentleman to forsake his Country Howbeit after the Earles death he recovered his inheritance againe and left one onely daughter behinde him who being marryed unto R. de Torneham bare a daughter marryed to Peter de Mauley whose heires and successours being bettered in their estate by this inheritance of the Fossards became great and honourable Barons Not farre from hence is situate upon the River side Kirkham as one would say of Church-place For a Priory of Chanons was there founded by Walter Espec a man of high place and calling by whose daughter a great estate accrewed to the family of the Lord Rosses Then but somewhat lower Darwent had a City of his owne name which Antonine the Emperour calleth DERVENTIO and placeth it seven miles from YORKE The booke of Notices maketh mention of a Captaine over the Company Derventiensis under the Generall of Britaine that resided in it and in the Saxons Empire it seemeth to have beene
head Yet others are of opinion that this name arrived in this Island with the English out of Angloen in Denmarke the ancient seat of the English nation for there is a towne called Flemsburg and that the Englishmen from hence called it so like as the Gaules as Livie witnesseth tearmed Mediolanum that is Millan in Italiâ— after the name of Mediolanum in Gaule which they had left behinde them For there is a little village in this Promontory named Flamborrough where an other notable house of the Constables had anciently their seat which some doe derive from the Lacies Constables of Chester Beeing in these parts I could learne nothing for all the enquirie that I made as touching the bournes commonly called Vipseys which as Walter of Heminburgh hath recorded flow every other yeere out of blinde springs and runne with a forcible and violent streame toward the sea nere unto this Promontory Yet take here with you that which William Newbrigensis who was borne neare that place writeth of them Those famous waters which commonly are called Vipseys rise out of the earth from many sources not continually but every second yeere and being growne unto a great bourn runne downe by the lower grounds into the sea Which when they are dry it is a good signe for their breaking out and flowing is said to bee an infallible token portending some dearth to ensue From thence the shore is drawne in whereby there runneth forth into the sea a certaine shelfe or slang like unto an out-thrust tongue such as Englishmen in old time termed a File whereupon the little village there Filey tooke name and more within the land you see Flixton where in King Athelstanes time was built an Hospitall for the defence thus word for word it is recorded of way-faring people passing that way from Wolves least they should be devoured Whereby it appeareth for certaine that in those daies Wolves made foule worke in this Tract which now are no where to be seene in England no not in the very marches toward Scotland and yet within Scotland there be numbers of them in most places This little territory or Seigniory of Holdernesse King William the First gave to Drugh Buerer a Fleming upon whom also he had bestowed his Niece in marriage whom when hee had made away by poison and thereupon fled to save himselfe hee had to succeed him Stephen the sonne of Odo Lord of Aulbemarle in Normandy who was descended from the Earles of Champaigne whom King William the First because hee was his Nephew by the halfe sister of the mothers side as they write made Earle of Aulbemarle whose posterity in England retained the Title although Aulbemarle be a place in Normandy His successour was William sirnamed Le Grosse whose onely daughter Avis was marryed to three husbands one after another namely to William Magnavill Earle of Essex to Baldwine De Beton and William Forts or de Fortibus by this last husband onely shee had issue William who also had a sonne named William His onely daughter Avelin being the wedded wife of Edmund Crouchbacke Earle of Lancaster dyed without children And so as wee reade in the booke of Meaux Abbay for default of heires the Earldome of Aulbemarle and honour of Holdernesse were seized into the Kings hands Howbeit in the ages ensuing King Richard the Second created Thomas of Woodstocke his Unkle and afterwards Edward Plantagenet Earle of Rutland the Duke of Yorkes sonne Duke of Aulbemarle in his fathers life time likewise King Henry the Fourth made his owne sonne Thomas Duke of Clarence and Earle of Aulbemarle which Title King Henry the Sixth afterward added unto the stile of Richard Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke for the greater augmentation of his honour EBORACENSIS Comiâ—aâ—us pars Septentrionalis vulgo NORTH RIDING NORTH-RIDING SCarce two miles above Flamborrough-head beginneth the NORTH-RIDING or the North part of this Country which affronting the other parts and beginning at the Sea is stretched out Westward and carrieth a very long Tract with it though not so broad for threescore miles together even as farre as to Westmorland limited on the one side with Derwent and for a while with the River Ure on the other side with Tees running all along it which on the North Coast separateth it from the Bishopricke of Durrham And very fitly may this part bee divided into Blackamore Cliveland Northallverton-shire and Richmond-shire That which lyeth East and bendeth toward the Sea is called Blackamore that is The blacke moorish land For it is mountanous and craggy The Sea coast thereof hath Scarborrough Castle for the greatest ornament a very goodly and famous thing in old time called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A Burgh upon the Scar or steepe Rocke The description whereof have heere out of William of Newburgh his History A Rocke of a wonderfull height and bignesse which by reason of steepe cragges and cliffes almost on every side is unaccessible beareth into the Sea wherewith it is all compassed about save onely a certaine streight in manner of a gullet which yeeldeth accesse and openeth into the West having in the toppe a very faire greene and large Plaine containing about threescore acres of ground or rather more a little Well also of fresh water springing out of a stony Rocke In the foresaid gullet or passage which a man shall have much adoe to ascend up unto standeth a stately and Princelike Towre and beneath the said passage beginneth the City or Towre spreading two sides South and North but having the sore part Westward and verily it is fensed afront with a wall of the owne but on the East fortified with the rocke of the Castle and both the sides thereof are watered with the Sea This place William Le Grosse Earle of Aulbemarle and Holdernesse viewing well and seeing it to bee a convenient plot for to build a Castle upon helping Nature forward with a very costly worke closed the whole plaine of the Rocke with a Wall and built a Towre in the very streight of the passage which being in processe of time fallen downe King Henry the Second caused to bee built in the same place a great and goodly Castle after hee had now brought under the Nobles of England who during the loose government of King Stephen had consumed the lands of the Crowne but especially amongst others that William abovesaid of Aulbemarle who had in this Tract ruled and reigned like a King and possessed himselfe of this place as his owne Touching the most project boldnesse of Thomas Stafford who to the end hee might overthrow himselfe with great attempts with a few Frenchmen surprised this Castle of a sudden in Queene Maries Raigne and held it for two daies together I neede not to speake ne yet of Sherleis a Gentleman of France who having accompanied him was judicially endited and convict of high treason albeit he was a forrainer because hee had done against
named Percies From thence Rhie carrieth with him the streames of many a brooke into Derwent which watereth in this vale Malton a Market towne well knowne and frequented for corne horses fish and implements of husbandry where are to be seene the foundations of an old Castle belonging as I have heard say in old time to the Vescies Barons in these parts of great estate and honor Their pedigree as appeareth evidently by the Kings records is derived from William Tyson who being Lord of Malton and of Alnewicke in Northumberland was slain in the battaile at Hastings against the Normans Whose onely daughter was given in marriage to Ivo de Vescy a Norman and hee left behind him his only daughter likewise named Beatrice with whō Eustach the son of Fitz Iohn with one eie contracted marriage who in the raigne of Stephen founded the religious houses at Malton and Watton For his second wife daughter to William Constable of Chester was Ladie of Watton William the sonne of Eustach by Beatrice being ripped out of his mothers wombe assumed unto him the name of Vescy and the Armes a Cross-floury Argent in a shield Gueles This William begat of Beatrice daughter to Robert Estotevill of Knaresburg two sonnes Eustach de Vescy who tooke to wife Margaret daughter to William King of the Scots and Sir Warin de Vescy Lord of Knapton As for Eustach father hee was of William who begat John that died without issue and William so renowned for his exploits in Ireland and these changed the Armes of their house into a shield Or with a crosse Sables But William after that his legitimate sonne John died in the warre of Wales granted unto King Edward certaine lands in Ireland that his illegitimate sonne William surnamed of Kildare might inherit his fathers estate And hee ordained Anthony Bec Bishop of Durrham his feofie in trust to the use of his sonne but he was scarce trusty as touching Alnewic Eltham in Kent and other lands which he is reported to have conveied indirectly to his owne use This illegitimate sonne young Vescy was slaine in the Battaile of Sterling in Scotland And at length the title fell backe unto the line of the Attons considering that Margaret the only daughter of Sir Gwarin Vescy was wedded unto Gilbert de Atton But heereof enough if not too much and of it I have spoken before Neere unto this vale there flourished two famous Abbaies Newborrough unto which we are indebted for William of Newborrough a learned and diligent writer of the English Historie now the habitation of the worshipfull family of Bellasise descended out of the Bishopricke of Durrham and Bellelanda commonly Biland both founded and endowed by Robert Mowbray This family of the Mowbraies was for power nobility and wealth comparable to any other and possessed very faire lands with the Castles of Slingesby Threske and others in this Tract The originall of this race if you desire to understand I will compendiously set it downe When Roger de Mowbray Earle of Northumberland and R. de Grunde-beofe for their disloialtie were dissezed of all their possessions King Henry the First bestowed a great part thereof upon Nigell or Niele de Albenie of the same family that the Albeneis Earles of Arundell were descended a man of very high birth in Normandie who had bin Bowbearer to King William Rufus and so enriched him thereby that he held in England 140. Knights fees and in Normandie 120. He commanded also that Roger his sonne should assume the name of Mowbray from whom flowred out the Mowbraies Earles of Nottingham and Dukes of Norfolke To these Mowbraies also belonged in times past Gilling Castle standing hard by but now unto that ancient and worshipfull family which of their faire bush of haire got their name Fairfax For Fax in the old English tongue signifieth haires or the haire of the head whereupon our progenitours called a Comet or blasing starre A Faxed starre like as a place whereof I have spoken before Haly-fax of holy haires Then beneath these Southward lieth Calaterium Nemus commonly called The Forest of Galtres shaded in some places with trees in other some a wet flat full of moist and moorish quavemires very notorious in these daies by reason of a solemne horse running wherein the horse that outrunneth the rest hath for his prise a little golden bell It is almost incredible what a multitude of people conflow hither from all parts to these games and what great wagers are laid on the horses heads for their swift running In this Forest standeth Creac which Egfrid King of Northumberland in the yeer 684 gave with three miles round about unto Saint Cuthbert by whom it came to the Church of Durrham Scarce foure miles hence is situate most pleasantly among little woods and groves Sherry-Hutton a very proper Castle built by Sir Bertrand Bulmer and reedified by Raulph Nevil the first Earle of Westmorland Neere unto which standeth Hinderskell a little Castle built by the Barons of Greystocke which others call Hunderd-skell of a number of fountaines that spring up and rise there Behind the hilles Westward where the country spreadeth it selfe out againe into a more fresh and plaine champion lieth Alverton-shire commonly called Northallerton-shire a little countrie watered with the riveret Wiske and taking the name of Northalverton a towne sometime called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is nothing else but a long broad street howbeit having in it on S. Bartholomewes day the greatest Faire of Kine and Oxen and of most resort that ever I saw in all my life King William Rufus gave this with the territory adjoining unto the Church of Durrham to the Bishops of which See it is very much beholden For William Comin who by force held the Bishopricke of Durrham built the Castle there and granted it unto his nephew which now is in manner quite decaied and gone The Bishops likewise his successors granted unto it certaine liberties and immunities For in the Booke of Durrham we read that Hugh Pudsey Bishop of Durrham fortified the towne having obtained licence of the King that among those unlawfull castles which by Commandement were then destroyed in many places of England this onely should have the priviledge to stand still which notwithstanding the King commanded afterward to be layd even with the ground Hard by this was that field foughten which they commonly call the Battaile of the Standard in which David King of Scots who with his unexampled cruelty had made this country almost a wildernesse was after so great a slaughter of his people put to flight that then and never before our countrimen thought they were fully revenged For that indeed came to passe in this battaile which Raulfe the Bishop said when before the battaile in an oration he encouraged the English to fight A confused multitude untrained is an impediment to it selfe in prosperous successe to hurt others and in adverse
clawbackes BRITANNICUS even when the Britans would have elected an Emperour against him And then it may seeme was this Statue of his set up when he prizing himselfe more than a man proceeded to that folly that he gave commandement he should be called The Romane Hercules Iupiters sonne For hee was portraied in the habite of Hercules and his right hand armed with a club under which there lay as I have heard such a mangled Inscription as this broken heere and there with voide places betweene the draught whereof was badly taken out and before I came hither was utterly spoiled CAESARI AUGUSTO MARCI AURELII FILIO SEN IONIS AMPLISSIMI VENTS PIUS This was to be seene in Nappa an house built with turrets and the chiefe seat of the Medcalfs thought to be at this day the greatest family for multitude of the same name in all England for I have heard that Sir Christopher Medcalfe knight and the top of this kinred beeing of late high-Sheriffe of the shire accompanied with three hundred men of the same house all on horsback and in a livery met and received the Justices of Assizes and so brought them to Yorke From hence runneth Vre downe a maine full of Creifishes ever since Sir Christopher Medcalfe in our remembrance brought that kinde of fish hither out of the South part of England and betweene two rockes whereof the place is named Att-scarre it runneth head long downe not far from Bolton a stately Castle the ancient seat of the Barons Scrops and which Richard Lord le Scrope and Chancellour of England under king Richard the Second built with exceeding great coste and now bending his course Eastward commeth to Midelham the honour whereof as wee reade in the Genealogie or Pedegree of the Nevils Alan Earle of Richmond bestowed upon his younger brother Rinebald with all the lands which before their comming belonged to Gilpatrick the Dane His nephew by his sonne Raulph named Robert Fitz-Raulph had all Wentsedale also by gift of Conan Earle of Britaine and of Richmond and at Midleham raised a most strong Castle His sonne Ranulph erected a little Abbay for Chanons at Coverham called now short Corham in Coverdale whose sonne Raulph had a daughter named Mary who being wedded to Robert Lord Nevill with this marriage translated this very faire and large inheritance as her portion into the family of Nevils Which Robert Nevill having had many children by his wife was taken in adultery unknowne and by the husband of the adulteresse being for revenge berest of his genitours shortly after dyed with extremity of paine Then Ure after it hath passed a few miles forward watereth Iervis or Iorvalle Abbay of Cistertians founded first at Fo rs and after translated hither by Stephen Earle of Britaine and Richmond but now wholly ruinated and after that Masham which was the possession of the Scropes of Masham who as they sprung from the stocke of the Scropes of Bolton so they were by marriages ingraffed againe into the same On the other side of this River but more inward standeth Snath the principall house of the Barons Latimer who derived their noble descent from George Nevill younger sonne of Raulph Nevill the first Earle of Westmorland and he received this Title of honour from king Henry the Sixth when as the ancienter house of the Latimers expired in a female and so by a continued succession they have flourished unto these our daies when for default of male issue of the last Baron Latimer that goodly and rich inheritance was divided among his daughters marryed into the families of the Percies Cecils D'anvers and Cornwallis Neither are there any other places in this part of the shire worth the naming that Ure runneth by unlesse it bee Tanfeld the habitation in times past of the Gernegans knights from whom it descended to the Marmions the last of whom left for his heire Amice second wife to John Lord Grey of Rotherfeld by whom he had two sonnes John that assumed the sirname of Marmion and died issuelesse and Robert who left behinde him one onely daughter and sole heire Elizabeth wife to Sir Henry Fitz-Hugh a noble Baron After this Ure entertaineth the River Swale so called as Th. Spot writeth of his swiftnesse selfe into it with a maine and violent streame which Swale runneth downe Eastward out of the West Mountaines also scarce five miles above the head of Ure a River reputed very sacred amongst the ancient English for that in it when the English Saxons first embraced Christianity there were in one day baptized with festivall joy by Paulinus the Archbishop of Yorke above tenne thousand men besides women and little children This Swale passeth downe along an open Vale of good largenesse which of it is called Swal-dale having good plenty of grasse but as great want of wood first by Marrick where there stood an Abbay built by the Askes men in old time of great name also by Mask a place full of lead ore Then runneth it through Richmond the chiefe towne of the Country having but a small circuit of walles but yet by reason of the Suburbs lying out in length at three Gates well peopled and frequented Which Alan the first Earle thereof built reposing small trust in Gilling a place or Manour house of his hard by to withstand the violence of the Danes and English whom the Normans had despoiled of their inheritance and hee adorned it with this name as one would say The rich Mount he fensed it with a wall and a most strong Castle which being set upon a rocke from an high looketh downe to Swale that with a mighty rumbling noise rusheth rather than runneth among the stones For the said house or Manour place of Gilling was more holy in regard of devout religion than sure and strong for any fortification it had ever since that therein Beda calleth it Gethling Oswy King of Northumberland being entertained guest-wise was by his hoste forelaid and murthered for the expiation whereof the said Monastery was built highly accounted of among our ancestours More Northward Ravenswath Castle sheweth it selfe compassed with a good large wall but now fallen which was the seat of the Barons named Fitz-Hugh extracted from the ancient line of the English Nation who were Lords of the place before the Normans Conquest and lived in great name unto King Henry the Seventh his daies enriched with faire possessions by marriage with the heires of the noble houses of Furneaux and Marmion which came at last by the females unto the Fienes Lords Dacres in the South and to the Parrs Three miles beneath Richmond Swale runneth by that ancient City which Ptolomee and Antonine call CATURACTONIUM and CATARRACTON but Bede Catarractan and in another place the Village neere unto Catarracta whereupon I suppose it had the name of Catarracta that is a Fludfall or water-fall considering hard by there
have beene discovered lying along So that it may be thought when the ground lay neglected and the chanels were not skoured in those open and flat Valleies for riverets and Brookes to passe away but the water-lades stopped up either through negligence or depopulation that then all the grounds that lay lower than others became such boggy plots as we call Mosses or else standing Meeres Which if it bee true wee neede not mervaile that so many trees in the like places every where throughout England but in this shire especially lie overwhelmed and as it were buried For when their rootes were loosened through over much moisture the trees could not chuse but fall and in such soft ground sinke and bee quite swallowed up They that dwell thereabouts assay and try with poles and spits where they lie hidden and when they light upon them marke the place digge them out and use them for fire wood For they burne cleere and give light as well as torch wood which haply is by reason of a bituminous and clammy fat earth wherein they lye whence the common sort take them for Firres which notwithstanding Caesar denieth to have growne in Britaine I know it is an opinion currant with the most that these trees overturned with the force of waters have lien ever since Noahs Floud when the World was drowned and so much the rather because they are elsewhere digged out of very high places and yet they deny not but those high grounds are very marish and waterish Such mighty trees also are found oftentimes in Holland a Country of Germany which the learned men there suppose were either undermined by waves working into the shore or by windes driven forward and brought unto those lower and moist places where they setled and sunke downe But let the curious company of Philosophers search into these matters to whom I commend them and to their further inquirie whether there are not Subterranean trees growing under earth as well as plants and other Creatures After Chatmosse Holcroft sheweth it selfe which as it afforded the seat so it gave the name also to that right ancient family of the Holcrofts whose estate in old time was much amended by marriage with one of the heires of Culchit a place seated hard by which Gilbert de Culchit held Of the Fee of Almaricke Butler as hee himselfe did of the Earle of Ferrars in King Henry the Third his time Whose eldest daughter and heire when Richard Fitz-Hugh of Hindley had married he assumed to himselfe the name of Culchith like as his brother Thomas who wedded the second daughter was of the possession called Holcroft another also by the same reason was named de Peasfalong and a fourth de Riseley Which I note that the Reader may understand how our Ancestours as they were in other things constant and grave so in leaving and taking up names out of their possessions they were as vaine and variable as might bee But even in other parts of England also this was in old time a thing in usuall practise Heere lie there round about every way little Townes which as throughout this whole County and Cheshire and other Northren parts as they imparted their names to worshipfull houses so they to have their Lords even unto these daies men of the very same name with them As for example Aston of Aston Atherton of Atherton Tillesley of Tillesley Standish of Standish Bold of Bold Hesket of Hesket Worthington of Worthington Torbec of Torbec c. And an endlesse peece of worke it were to name them one by one neither is it any part of my purpose to reckon up all families of name and worship but to take a view and survey of the more ancient places And as vertue and wealth laied the foundations of these and such like Families in these North Countries and elsewhere that I may speake it once for all and provident moderation with simplicity standing contented with their owne estate both preserved and encreased them So in the South part of England riotous expense and superfluity usurious contracts voluptuous and vicious life together with indirect courses and crafty dealings have in short space utterly overthrowne most flourishing houses in so much as men complaine that the offspring of the ancient Gentry hath now a long time faded But Families as plants have their times of encreasing and decreasing I and overpassing this will follow on with the course of Mersey which now by this time runneth downe by Warrington a Towne knowne by reason of the Lords thereof sirnamed Butlers who obtained of King Edward the First the liberty of a Mercate for it From which Northward Winwicke is not farre distant a place among other fat Benefices of England of greatest name in the upmost part of the Church whereof are read these rude Verses engraven in an old Character concerning King Oswald Hic locus Oswalde quondam placuit tibi valde Northanhumbrorum fuer as Rex nuncque Polorum Regna tenes loco passus Marcelde vocato This place sometime thee pleased well Oswald King thou hadst beene once of Northumberland Thou sufferedst in a place Marcelde call'd Thy Kingdome now is heaven that aye doth stand From Warrington the River Mâ—rsey spreading abroad and straightwaies drawing in himselfe againe with a wide and open outlet very commodious for merchandise entreth into the Irish Sea where Litherpoole called in the elder ages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commonly Lirpoole is seated so named as it is thought of the water spreading it selfe in manner of a Poole whence there is a convenient passage over into Ireland and much frequented and in that respect more notorious than for any Antiquity For there is no mention extant thereof any where in ancient Writers but that Roger of Poictiers who was Lord as they spake in those dayes of the Honour of Lancaster built a Castle heere Whereof the worthy family of the Molineaux Knights have had the custody now a long time whose chiefe seat is hard by at Sefion which the said Roger of Poictiers gave unto Vivian de Molineaux shortly after the first entry of the Normans For all that Territory betweene the two Rivers Ribel and Mersey the same Roger held as appeareth evidently by the authenticall Record of Domesday booke Neere unto Seston Alt a little River seeketh a way into the Sea and when hee hath found it giveth name to a small Village Attmouth standing by and hath Ferneby neere unto it wherein the moist and mossie soile turffes are digged up which serve the inhabitants for fewell and candle light Under the said turfes there is a certaine dead and blackish water upon which there swimmeth I wot not what unctuous matter and in it swimme little fishes that are caught by the diggers of turfe So that wee may say there bee fishes digged heere out of the earth no lesse than about Heraclea and Tiâ—s in Pontus And no mervaile seeing that in such watery places fishes otherwhiles
when his first wife Avelina daughter and heire to William de Fortibus Earle of Albemarle was dead issuelesse who neverthelesse in her Will had made him her heire married Blanch of Artois of the roiall family of France to his second wife and by her had Thomas Henry and John that died an infant Thomas was the second Earle of Lancaster who tooke to wife Alice the onely daughter and heire of Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne who by her deed passed over unto the house of Lancaster her owne inheritance and her mothers that which belonged to the family of Long Espee who were Earles of Salisbury like as her father the said Henry Lacy had made the like conveiance before of his owne lands in case Alice should dye without issue as it afterward happened But this Thomas for behaving himselfe insolently toward his soveraigne Edward the second and still supplying fewell to civill warres being taken prisoner in the field lost his head leaving no issue Howbeit when this sentence of death pronounced against him was afterwards by authority of Parliament reversed because hee had not his tryall by his Peeres according to the Law and great Charter his brother Henry succeeded after him in all his possessions and honours Hee also was advanced in estate by his wife Maude daughter and sole heire of Sir Patricke Chaworth who brought unto him not onely her owne patrimony but also great inheritances in Wales of Mauric of London and of Siward from whom she descended This Henry left behind him Henry his onely sonne whom King Edward the third from an Earle raised unto the honour of a Duke and he was second man of all our Nobility which received the name of Duke But hee having no issue male departed this life leaving behind him two daughters Maude and Blanch betweene whom the inheritance was divided Maud was married to William of Bavaria who was Earle of Holland Zeland Frisland Henault and in his wives right of Leicester And when as she deceased without children John of Gaunt so called because hee was borne at Gaunt in Flanders fourth sonne of King Edward the third who had married Blanch the other daughter of Henry aforesaid entred upon the whole inheritance and now being for wealth equivalent to many Kings and created withall by his father Duke of Lancaster he obtained also at his hands great roialties for hee having related what noble service he had performed to his countrey at home and abroad in the warres preferred the County of Lancaster to the dignity of a County Palatine by his letters Patent the tenour whereof runneth in this wise Wee have granted for us and our heires unto our foresaid sonne that he may have for tearme of his life his Chancery within the County of Lancaster and his writs to be sealed under his own seale to be appointed for the office of the Chancellour also Iustices of his owne as well to hold Plees of the Crowne as also other plees whatsoever touching common Law also the hearing and deciding of the same yea and the making of all executions whatsoever by vertue of their owne writs and officers there Moreover all other liberties and Roialties whatsoever to a County Palatine belonging as freely and in as ample maner as the Earle of Chester within the same County of Chester is known to have c. Neither was he Duke of Lancaster onely but also by his marriage with Constance the daughter of Peter King of Leon and Castile hee for a time was stiled by the name of King of Leon and of Castile But by a composition he gave this over and in the thirteenth yeere of King Richard the Second by consent of Parliament was created Duke of Aquitaine to have and hold the same for tearme of life of the King of England as King of France but to the universall dislike of Aquitaine repining and affirming that their Seigniory was inseparably annexed to the Crowne of England At which time his stile ranne thus Iohn sonne to the King of England Duke of Aquitaine and of Lancaster Earle of Derby Lincolne and Leicester and high Steward of England After him Henry of Bollinbroke his sonne succeeded in the Dukedome of Lancaster who when hee had dispossessed Richard the second and obtained the Kingdom of England he considering that being now King he could not beare the title of Duke of Lancaster and unwilling that the said title should be discontinued ordained by assent of Parliament that Henry his eldest sonne should enjoy the same and be stiled Prince of Wales Duke of Aquitain Lancaster and Cornwall and Earle of Chester and also that the liberties and franchises of the Dutchy of Lancaster should remaine to his said sonne severed from the Crowne of England and to make better assurance to himselfe his heires and successours in these inheritances by authority of Parliament he ordained in these words We not willing that our said inheritance or the liberties of the same by occasion of this present assumption upon us of our regall state dignity should be in any thing changed transferred diminished or impaired will that the same our inheritance with the foresaid rights and liberties thereof be kept continued and held fully and wholly to us our said heires in the said Charters specified in the same maner and forme condition and state as they descended and came unto us and also with all and every such liberties and franchises and other priviledges commodities and profits whatsoever in which our Lord and father whiles he lived had and held it for terme of his own life by the grant of Richard late King And by the tenour of these presents of our own certaine knowledge with the consent of this our present Parliament we grant declare decree and ordaine for us and our heires that as well our Dutchy of Lancaster as all other things and every one Counties Honours Castles Manours Fees or Inheritances Advocations Possessions Annuities and Seignories whatsoever descended unto us before the obtaining of our Regall dignity howsoever wheresoever by right of inheritance in service or in reversion or any way whatsoever remaine for ever to us and our said heires specified in the Charters abovesaid in forme aforesaid After this K. Henry the fifth by authority of Parliament dissevered from the crown and annexed unto this Dutchy a very great and large inheritance which had descended unto him in right of his mother Dame Mary who was daughter and one of the heires of Humfrey Bohun Earle of Hereford In this forme and estate it remained under Henry the fifth and Henry the sixth but King Edward the fourth in the first yeere of his reigne when hee had in Parliament attainted and forfeited Henry the sixth appropriated it as they use to speake unto the Crowne that is to say unto himselfe and his heires Kings of England From which King Henry the seventh notwithstanding forthwith separated And so it continueth having severall officers namely A Chancellor
Romane high-way goeth straight into the West by Whinfield a large Parke shaded with trees hard by BROVONIACUM standing twentie Italian miles or seventeene English miles from VERTERAE as Antonine hath set it who also hath called it Brovocum like as the book of Notices Broconiacum which specifieth that a companie or band of Defensors had here their abode The beautie and buildings of this towne although time hath consumed yet the name remaineth almost untouched for we call it Brogham Here the river Eimot flowing out of a great lake for a good space dividing this shire from Cumberland receiveth the river Loder into it neere unto the spring head whereof hard by Shape in times past Hepe a little monasterie built by Thomas the sonne of Gospatrick sonne of Orms there is a Well or Fountaine which after the manner of Euripus ebbeth and floweth many times in a day also there be huge stones in forme of Pyramides some 9. foot high and fourteene foot thick ranged directly as it were in a row for a mile in length with equall distance almost betweene which may seeme to have beene pitched and erected for to continue the memoriall of some act there atchieved but what the same was by the injurie of time it is quite forgotten Hard by Loder there is a place bearing the same name which like as Stricland neere unto it hath imparted their names to families of ancient gentrie and worship Somewhat above where Loder and Eimot meet in one chanell in the yeere of our Lord 1602. there was a stone gotten out of the ground erected in the honour of Constantine the Great with these words IMP. C. VAL. CONSTANTINO PIENT AUG When Eimot hath served a good while for a limit betweene this shire and Cumberland neere unto Isan-parles a rocke full well knowne unto the neighbour inhabitants whereunto nature hath left difficult passage and there framed sundry caves and thosefull of winding crankes a place of safe refuge in time of danger hee lodgeth himselfe after some few miles both with his owne streame and with the waters of other rivers also in Eden so soone as he hath entertained Blencarne a brook that boundeth this county on Cumberland side Neere unto which I have heard there be the strange ruines of an old Castle the people call them the hanging walls of Marcantoniby that is of Marke Antony as they would have it As for such as have borne the title of Westmorland the first Lord to my knowledge was Robert de Vipont who bare Guels sixe Annulets Or in his coat armour For King John gave unto him the balliwicke and revenues of Westmorland by the service of foure Knights whereupon the Cliffords his successors untill our daies held the office of the Sherifdome of Westmorland For Robert de Vipont the last of that name left behind him only two daughters Isabel wife to Roger Lord Clifford and Idonea married unto Sir Roger Leybourne Long time after K. Richard the second created Ralph Nevill of Raby the first Earle of Westmorland a man of the greatest and most ancient birth of English nobility as descended from Ucthred Earl of Northumberland whose heires successively by his former wife Margaret daughter to the Earle of Stafford flourished in that honour untill that Charles by his wilfull stomack and wicked conspiracy casting off his allegeance to Q. Elizabeth and covering treason under the mantle of religion most shamefully dishonoured that most noble house and foully steined his owne reputation by actuall rebellion in the yeere 1599. Whereupon hee fled into the Low countries led a miserable life and died as miserably The said first Earle to note so much incidently by his second wife Catharine daughter to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster had so faire issue and the name of Nevill thereby so greatly multiplied that almost at one and the same time there flourished out beside the Earle of Westmorland an Earle of Salisbury an Earle of Warwicke an Earle of Kent Marquesse Montacute a Duke of Bedford Lord Latimer and Lord Abergevenny all Nevils In this shire are conteined Parishes 26. CVMBRIA Sive CVMBERLANDIA Quae olim pars Brigantum CUMBER-LAND WEstward Northward from Westmorland lieth CUMBERLAND the utmost region this way of the realme of England as that which on the North side boundeth upon Scotland on the South side and the West the Irish sea beateth upon it and Eastward above Westmorland it butteth upon Northumberland It tooke the name of the inhabitants who were the true and naturall Britans and called themselves in their owne language Kumbri and Kambri For the Histories testifie that the Britans remained here a long time maugre the English Saxons howsoever they stormed thereat yea and Marianus himselfe recordeth as much who tearmed this countrey Cumbrorum terram that is Thâ— land of the Cumbri or Britans to say nothing of the places that everie where here beare British names as Caer-Luel Caer-dronoc Pen-rith Pen-rodoc c. which most evidently declare the same and as cleerly prove mine assertion The country although it be somewhat with the coldest as lying farre North and seemeth as rough by reason of hills yet for the varietie thereof it smileth upon the beholders and giveth contentment to as many as travaile it For after the rockes bunching out the mountaines standing thicke together rich of metall mines and betweene them great meeres stored with all kindes of wilde foule you come to prettie hills good for pastorage and well replenished with flockes of sheepe beneath which againe you meet with goodly plaines spreading out a great way yeelding come sufficiently Besides all this the Ocean driving and dashing upon the shore affoordeth plentie of excellent good fish and upbraideth as it were the inhabitants thereabouts with their negligence for that they practise fishing no more than they doe The South part of this shire is called Copeland and Coupland for that it beareth up the head aloft with sharpe edged and pointed hills which the Britans tearme Copa or as others would have it named Copeland as one would say Coperland of rich mines of copper therein In this part at the very mouth of the river Duden whereby it is severed apart from Lancashire standeth Millum Castle belonging to the ancient house of the Hodlestones from whence as the shore fetcheth about with a bent Northward two rivers very commodiously enclose within them Ravenglasse a station or roade for ships where also as I have learned were to be â—eene Roman inscriptions some will have it called in old time Aven-glasse as one would say the blew river and they talke much of King Eueling that here had his Court and royall palace One of these rivers named Eske springeth up at the foot of Hard-knot an high steepe mountaine in the top whereof were discovered of late huge stones and foundations of a castle not without great wonder considering it is so steep and upright that one can hardly ascend up to it
here in Gordian the Emperours time as appeareth evidently by these inscriptions which I saw hard by I O M. ALA AUG OB RTUT APPEL CUI PRAEEST TIB. CL. TIB. F. P IN G N JUSTINUS PRAEF FUSCIANO II SILANO II COS. DM MABLI NIVSSEC VNDVS EQUIS ALE AUG STE STIP This votive altar also of a rude stone was erected for the happie health of the Emperour Gordian the third and his wife Furia Sabina Tranquilla and their whole family by the troup of horsemen surnamed Augusta Gordiana when Aemilius Chrispinus a native of Africa governed the same under Nonnius Philippus Lievtenant generall of Britaine in the yeere of Christ 243. as appeareth by the Consuls therein specified I O M PRO SALUTE IMPERATORIS M. ANTONI GORDIANI P. F. INVICTI AUG ET SABINIAE TUR IAE TRANQUILE CONJUGI EJUS TO TA QUE DOMU DIVIN EORUM A LA AUG GORDIA OB VIRTUTEM APPELLATA POSUIT CUI PRAEEST AEMILIUS CRISPINUS PRAEF EQQ. NATUS IN PRO AFRICA DE TUIDRO SUB CUR NONNII PH LIPPI LEG AUG PROPRETO ATTICO ET PRETEXTATO COSS. From hence also were altars brought which are erected in the high way by Wigton in the sides whereof are to bee seene a drinking cup or mazar a footlesse pot a mallet a boll c. all vessels appertaining to sacrifice But time hath so worn out the letters that nothing can be read And not farre from hence just by the high street way there was digged up a long rude stone in manner of a columne which we saw at Thoresby with this inscription to the honour of Philip the Emperour and his sonne who flourished about the yeere of our Lord 248. IMP CAES. M. JUL PHILIPPO PIO FELI CI AUG ET M. JUL. PHI LIPPO NOBILIS SIMO CAES TR. P. COS This also with others Oswald Dikes a learned minister of Gods word copied out for me and now is to be seene in the house of T. Dikes Gentleman at Wardal DEO SANCTO BELA TUCADRO AURELIUS DIATOVA ARAE X VOTO POSUIT LL. MM. Likewise another such like altar to a private tutelar God of the place was there found with this unperfect inscription DEO CE AIIO AUR M RTI. ET MS ERURACIO PRO SE ET SUIS V.S. LL. M. Besides an infinite number of pety images statues of horsemen Aegles Lions Ganimedes and many other monuments of antiquity which are daily discovered Something higher a little promontory shooteth out and a great frith or arme of the Sea lieth under it being now the common limit confining England and Scotland serving in times past to make a separation betweene the Romane Province and the Picts Upon this standeth that ancient town BLATUM-BULGIUM happily of Butch a Britaine word that signifieth a separation from which as from the most remote place and the limit of the Roman province Antonine the Emperour beginneth his journies through Britaine The inhabitants at this day call it Bulnesse and as small a village as it is yet hath it a pile and in token of the antiquity thereof besides the tracts of streets ruinous walls and an haven now stopped up with mud there led a paved high-way from hence along the sea-shore as farre as to Elen Borrough if we may relie upon the report of the by-dwellers Beyond this a mile as is to bee seene by the foundations at a nepe tide beganne that WALL the most renowned worke of the Romanes which was the bound in times past of the Romane province raised of purpose to seclude and keepe out the barbarous nations that in this tract were evermore barking and baying as an ancient writer saith about the Roman Empire I marvailed at first why they built here so great fortifications considering that for eight miles or thereabout there lieth opposite a very great frith and arme of the sea but now I understand that at every ebbe the water is so low that the borderers and beast-stealers may easily wade over That the form of these shores hath bin changed it doth evidently appeare by the tree roots covered over with sand a good way off from the shore which oftentimes at a low ebbe are discovered with the windes I know not whether I may relate here which the inhabitants reported concerning trees without boughes under the ground oftentimes found out here in the mosses by the direction of dew in summer for they have observed that the dew never standeth on that ground under which they lye By the same Frith more within the land standeth Drumbough Castle belonging of later time to the Lords of Dacre a station in times past of the Romans Some will have it to have beene EXPLORATORUM CASTRA notwithstanding the distance utterly controuleth it There was also another station of the Romans beside it which now being changed into a new name is called Burgh upon Sands whence the territory adjoyning is named the Barony of Burgh the which R. Meschines Lord of Cumberland gave unto Robert de Trivers but from him it came to the Morvils the last of which house named Hugh left behind him a daughter who by her second husband Thomas de Molton had issue Thomas Molton Lord of this place whose sonne Thomas by marriage with the heire of Hubert de Vaulx adjoyned Gilles-land to his possessions which in the end were devolved all unto Ranulph Dacre who married M. the heire of Moulton But for no one thing was this little Burgh upon Sands more famous than that King Edward the first that triumphant Conquerour of his enemies was here taken out of this world by untimely death A right noble and worthy Prince to whom God proportioned most princely presence and personage as a right worthy seat to entertaine so heroicall a minde For hee not onely in regard of fortitude and wisedome but also for a beautifull and a personall presence was in all points answerable to the height of royall majesty whom fortune also in the very prime and flowre of his age inured to many a warre and exercised in most dangerous troubles of the State whiles she framed and fitted him for the Empire of Britain which he being once crowned King managed and governed in such wise that having subdued the Welsh and vanquished the Scots hee may most justly bee counted the second ornament of Great Britaine Under this Burgh within the very Frith where the salt water ebbeth and floweth the Englishmen and Scotish by report of the inhabitants fought with their fleets at full Sea and also with their horsemen and footmen at the ebbe A thing which may seeme no lesse marvellous than that which Plinie hath reported not without wonder of the like place in Caramania This arme of the sea both nations call Solway Frith of Solway a towne in Scotland standing upon it But Ptolomee more truely tearmeth it ITUNA For Eden that notable river which wandreth through Westmorland and the inner parts of this shire
of Anguish in Scotland in the reign of K. Edward the first and left that honour to his posterity But Eleanor daughter to the sister and heire of the last Earle was married at length into the family of Talebois and afterward this castle by the Princes bountifull gift came to the Duke of Bedford But to retire to the Wall Beyond Saint Oswalds there are seene in the wall the foundations of two sorts which they call Castle-steeds then a place named Portgate where there stood a gate in the wall as may appeare by the word that in both languages importeth as much Beneath this more within the country is Halton-Hall where flourisheth the family of the Carnabies in great name for their antiquity and military prowesse neere unto which is seated Aidon castle sometimes part of the Barony of that Hugh Balliol before named But for as much as many places about the wall carry this name Aidon and the very same signifieth a Militare Wing or a troupe of horsemen in the British tongue of which sort there were many wings placed along the Wall as plainely appeareth by the booke of Notices in their stations I would have the reader throughly to consider whether this name was not thereupon imposed upon these places like as Leon upon those townes where the Legions had their standing campe Well hard by there was digged up the fragment of an antique stone wherein is the expresse portrait or image of a man lying in bed leaning upon his left hand and with the right touching his right knee with these inscriptions NORICI AN. XXX ESSOIRUS MAGNUS FRATER EJUS DUPL. ALAE SABINIANAE M. MARI US VELLI ALONG US A QUI SHANC POSUIT V. S. L. M. Then the river Pont having his spring head more outwardly and running downe neere to Fenwick-Hall the dwelling house of the worthy and martiall family of the Fenwickes for certaine miles together gardeth the wall and upon his banke had for a defence in garison the first Cohort of the Cornavii at a place called PONS AELII built as it seemeth by Aelius Hadrianus the Emperor now called Pont-eland at which King Henry the third in the yeere 1244. concluded a peace and neere unto this the first Cohort of the Tungri had their abode at Borwick which in the Notice of Provinces is called BORCOVICUS From Port-gate the wall runneth along to Waltowne which seeing the signification accordeth so well with the name and that it standeth twelve miles from the East sea I beleeve verily it is the same royall town which Bede called ADMURUM wherein Segbert King of the East Saxons was by the hands of Finanus baptized and received into the Church of Christ. Neere unto this was a fortification called Old Winchester I would gladly take it to be that VINDOLANA which that Booke of Notice so often cited recordeth to have beene the Frontier-station in times past of the fourth Cohort of the Gaules And then have yee Rouchester where we beheld very plainly the expresse footings in form four square of a garison Castle that joined hard to the wall Neere unto it Headon sheweth it selfe which was part of the Barony of Sir Hugh de Bolebec who fetched his descent by his mother from the noble Barons of Mont-Fichet and had issue none but daughters matched in wedlock with Ralph Lord Greistock I. Lovel Huntercomb and Corbet Now where the wall and Tine almost meet together New-Castle sheweth it selfe gloriously the very eye of all the townes in these parts ennobled by a notable haven which Tine maketh being of that depth that it beareth very tall ships and so defendenth them that they can neither easily bee tossed with tempests nor driven upon shallowes and shelves It is situate on the rising of an hill very uneven upon the North-banke of the river which hath a passing faire bridge over it On the left hand whereof standeth the Castle after that a steepe and upright pitch of an hill riseth on the right hand you have the Mercat place and the better part of the City in regard of faire buildings From whence the ascent is not easie to the upper part which is larger by farre It is adorned with soure Churches and fortified with most strong walls that have eight gates in them with many towres what it was in old time it is not knowne I would soone deeme it to have beene GABROSENTUM considering that Gates-head the suburbe as it were thereof doth in the owne proper signification expresse that British name Gabrosentum derived from Goates as hath been said before The Notice also of Provinces placeth Gabrosentum and the second Cohort of the Thracians in it within the range of the wall And most certaine it is that both the Rampier and the Wall went through this City and at Pandon gate there remaineth as it is thought one of the turrets of that wall Surely for workmanship and fashion it is different from the other Moreover whereas it was named before the Conquest Monk-chester because it was as it seemeth in the possession of Monkes this addition Chester which signifieth a place fortified implyeth that it was anciently a place of strength But after the Conquest of the New castle which Robert the sonne of William the Conqueror built out of the ground it got this new name New-castle and by little and little encreased marveilously in wealth partly by entercourse of trafficke with the Germans and partly by carrying out sea-coales wherewith this country aboundeth both into forraine Countries and also into other parts of England In the reigne of Edward the first a rich man chanced to bee haled way prisoner by the Scottish out of the middle of the towne who after hee had ransomed himselfe with a great summe of money began with all speed to fortifie the same and the rest of the inhabitants moved by his example finished the worke and compassed it with faire strong walls Since which time it hath with security avoided the force and threats of the enemies and robbers which swarmed all over the country and withall fell to trading merchandise so freshly that for quick commerce wealth it became in very flourishing estate in which regard King Richard the second granted that a sword should bee carried before the Maior and King Henry the sixth made it a County incorporate by it selfe It is distant from the first Meridian or West line 21. degrees and 30. minutes and from the Aequinoctiall line toward the North pole 34. degrees and 57. minutes As touching the suburbs of Gateshead which is conjoyned to New-castle with a faire bridge over the river and appertaineth to the Bishops of Durham I have already written Now in regard of the site of New-castle and the abundance of sea-cole vented thence unto which a great part of England and the Low Countries of Germanie are beholden for their good fires read these verses of Master John Ionston out of his Poem of the Cities of
Britaine NOVUM CASTRUM Rupe sedens celsa rerum aut miracula spectat Naturae aut solers distrahit illa aliis Sedibus aethereis quid frustra quaeritis ignem Hunc alit hunc terrae suscitatista sinu Non illum torvo terras qui turbine terret Sed qui animam terris datque animos animis Eliquat hic ferrum as hic aurum ductile fundit Quos non auri illex conciet umbra animos Quin aiunt auro permutat bruta metalla Alchimus hunc igitur praedicat esse deum Si deus est ceu tu dictas divine Magister Haec quot alit quot alit Scotia nostra deos NEVV-CASTLE Seated upon high rocke shee sees dame Natures wonders strange Or else to others wittily doth vent them for exchange In vaine why seeke yee fire to fetch from heaven to serve your turne The ground here either keeps it close or quickly makes it burne Not that which folke with stony flash or whirlewind grim affrights But giveth life to earthly things and mindes to living wights This melteth iron brasse and gold so pliable and soft What mindes th'allective shade of gold stirres not nor sets aloft Nay more than so men say it doth dull metals change to gold To say therefore he is a God our Alchymists are bold If God he be as thou giv'st out Great Master of thy word How many Gods then doth this place and our Scotland afford Scarce three miles hence for I over passe Gosseford which was the Barony in old time of Richard Sur-Teis who came up under King Henry the first and lived in great honour standeth a village named Walls-end The very signification of the name sheweth that this was a station of the second Cohort of Thraciens which in the booke of Notices is called VINDOBALA in Antonine VINDOMORA for it may seeme that in the provinciall language of the Britans as the latter of them betokened The Walls-end so the former the Rampiers-end considering that long since they tearmed a Wall Mur and a Rampire Bal Val and Gual Neither is it credible that the Rampire or Wall reached any farther seeing that beyond this place there are no tokens thereof and Tine being now very neere unto the Ocean with his exceeding deepe channell ferveth in stead of a most strong sense Yet some there be who thinke that the rampire and not the wall went as farre as to the very mouth of Tine which is called Tinmouth and stifly affirm that it was termed Pen-bal-crag that is the head of the rampire in the rocke whom I will not contradict But I durst almost avouch that this was in the Romanes time TUNNOCâ—LLUM seeing that Tunnocellum soundeth as much as the Promontory of Tunn or Tine where the first Cohort Aelia Classica enrolled as it is probable by the very name by Aelius Hadrianus the Emperour was in pay for sea service For the Romans had certaine light Foists or Pinnaces tearmed Lusoria upon the rivers in the marches as well to represse the outrodes of them that dwelt there by as to quit them with like inrodes as we may see in the books of Theodosius his Code under the title de Lusoriis Danubii that is touching The pinnaces of the river Danow Under the Saxons Heptarchy it was called Tunna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not of Tunna the Abbot as Bede writeth but doubtlesse of the river and a little Monastery it had which was oftentimes risted by the Danes But now it is called Tinmouth Castle and takes great glory in a stately and strong castle which as an ancient writer saith on the East and North side iâ— unpossible to be entered by reason of a mighty high rocke over the sea and in other places such is the height of it that it needs but small defence Whereupon Robert Mowbray Earle of Northumberland made choice of it for his strongest hold when hee rebelled against King William Rufus But as commonly it falleth out with rebels he had but ill successe who being forthwith very streightly besieged withdrew himselfe into a monastery hard by which was counted a Sanctuary and therefore not to bee forced and broken neverthelesse he was drawne out thence and kept a long time close prisoner in misery a just reward for his so perfidious treachery Now must I coast along the shore On the back side of the Promontory on which Tinmouth is situate next unto Seton which under King Henry the third was part of the Barony Dela-vall Seghill sheweth it selfe called in old time SEGEDUNUM a station of the third Cohort of the Lergi by the wall or Rampire and verily SEGEDUNUM in British is all one with Seghill in English Some few miles from hence the shore maketh roome for the river Blith to fall into the sea which river watering Belsey belonging in times past to the Midletons and Ogle a Castle of the Barons Ogle is here together with the river Pont discharged into the sea These Ogles from the very beginning of Edward the fourth his reigne flourished in the dignity of Barons enriched by marrying the heires of Sir Berthram Bothall of Alan Heton and of Alexander Kirkby The issue male of these Barons went out lately and expired in Cuthbert the seventh Baron of that house who begat two daughters Joan married to Edward Talbot a younger sonne of George Earle of Shrewsbury and Katharine wife to Sir Charles Cavendish Knight A little higher the river Wents-beck is swallowed up of the Ocean it runneth beside Mitford which King John and his Rutars set on fire when in most grievous manner they over-ranne these Countries That age called forraine and willing souldiers Rutars whom Falques de Brent and Walter Buc brought out of the Low-Countries and from other parts to aide King John Brent a wilde madbraine was at length banished out of the Realme But Buc a more staid man after hee had done the King stout service had given unto him by the King possessions in Yorkeshire and Northamptonshire and his race flourished there untill that John Buc was attainted under King Henry the seventh whose great grand-son is Sir George Buc knight a man well learned of great reading and Master of the Kings Revels who for I take pleasure to professe by whom I have profited hath observed many things in history and gently imparted the same to me This was sometimes the Barony of William Berthram whose issue male soone had an end in Roger his grand-sonne and his three daughters inheritrices were bestowed in marriage upon Sir Norman Darcy T. Penbury and William of Elmeley From thence Wents-beck passeth through Morpeth a famous little towne For on the North banke of the river is the towne situate and on the South banke standeth the Church and the Castle by it upon a shady hill beset with trees which together with the town came from Sir Roger Mâ—rley whose Barony it was unto the Lords of Greistock and so from them
to Henrie Earle of Lancaster who being descended of ancient bloud and renowned for his martiall prowesse was rewarded also by King Edward the third with faire possessions in Scotland created Earle of North-humberland by King Richard the second on the day of his Coronation and much enriched by his second wife Dame Maud Lucie although by her hee had no issue upon a fine levied unto her that hee should beare quarterly the Armes of the Lucies with his owne and lived in great honour confidence and favour with King Richard the second Yet full badly hee requited him againe for all his singular good demerits For in his adversitie hee forsooke him and made way for Henrie the fourth to the kingdome who made him Constable of England and bestowed upon him the Isle of Man against whom within a while hee feeling the corrosive and secret pricke of conscience for that King Richard by his meanes was unjustly deposed and besides taking at the heart indignantly that Edmund Mortimer Earle of March the true and undoubted heire of the Kingdome and his neere ally was neglected in prison hee conceived inward enmity grievously complaining and charging him with perjury that whereas hee had solemnly sworne to him and others that hee would not challenge the Crowne but onely his owne inheritance and that King Richard should be governed during his life by the good advice of the Peeres of the realme he to the contrary had by imprisonment and terror of death enforced him to resigne his Crown and usurped the same by the concurrence of his faction horribly murthering the said K. and defrauding Edmund Mortimer Earle of March of his lawfull right to the Crown whom he had suffered to languish long in prison under Owen Glendour reputing those traitours who with their owne money had procured his enlargement After the publication of these complaints he confident in the promises of his confederates who yet failed him sent his brother Thomas Earle of Worcester and his courageous sonne Henry surnamed Hot-Spurre with a power of men against the King who both lost their lives at the battaile of Shrewesbury Whereupon he was proclaimed traitour and attainted but shortly after by a kind of connivency received againe into the Kings favour unto whom he was a terrour yea and restored to all his lands and goods save onely the Isle of Man which the King resumed into his owne hands Howbeit within a while after being now become popular and over forward to entertaine new designes and having procured the Scots to bandy and joyne with him in armes himselfe in person entred with banner displayed into the field against the King as an Usurper and on a sudden at Barrhammore in a tumultuary skirmish in the yeere 1408. was discomfited and slaine by Thomas Rokesby the high Sheriffe of Yorke-shire Eleven yeeres after Henry this mans nephew by his sonne Henry Hot-Spur whose mother was Elizabeth daughter to Edmund Mortimer the elder Earle of March by Philippa the daughter of Leonel Duke of Clarence was restored in bloud and inheritance by authority of Parliament in the time of King Henry the fifth which Henry Percie whiles he stoutly maintained King Henry the sixth his part against the house of Yorke was slaine at the battell of Saint Albans like as his sonne Henry the third Earle of Northumberland who married Aelenor the daughter of Richard Lord Poinings Brian and Fitz-Pain in the same quarrell lost his life in the battaile at Towton in the yeere 1461. The house of Lancaster being now kept under and downe the wind and the Percies with it troden under foot King Edward the fourth made Iohn Nevill Lord Montacute Earle of Northumberland but he after a while surrendred this title into the Kings hands and was created by him Marquesse Montacute After this Henry Percy the sonne of Henry Percy aforesaid recovering the favour of King Edward the fourth obtained restitution in bloud and hereditaments who in the reigne of Henry the seventh was slaine by the countrey people that about a certaine levie of money exacted by an Act of Parliament rose up against the Collectours and Assessours thereof After him succeeded Henry Percy the fifth Earle whose sonne Henry by a daughter and Coheire of Sir Robert Spenser and Eleanor the daughter likewise and Coheire of Edmund Beaufort Duke of Somerset was the sixth Earle who having no children and his brother Thomas being executed for taking armes against King Henry the eighth in the first difference about Religion as if now that family had beene at a finall end for ever prodigally gave away a great part of that most goodly inheritance unto the King and others Some few yeeres after Sir Iohn Dudley Earle of Warwick got to himselfe the title of Duke of Northumberland by the name of Iohn Earl of Warwick Marshal of England Vicount Lisle Baron Somery Basset and Ties Lord of Dudley Great Master and Steward of the Kings house when as in the tender age of King Edward the sixth the Chieftaines and leaders of the factions shared titles of honour among themselves their fautors and followers This was that Duke of Northumberland who for the time like unto a tempestuous whirlewind began to shake and teare the publicke peace of the state whiles he with vast ambition plotted and practised to exclude Mary and Elizabeth the daughters of King Henry the eighth from their lawfull right of succession and to set the Emperiall Crowne upon Lady Jane Grey his daughter in law being seconded therein by the great Lawyers who are alwaies forward enough to humour and sooth up those that bee in highest place For which being attainted of high treason he lost his head and at his execution embraced and publikely professed Popery which long before either seriously or colorably for his own advantage he had renounced When he was gone Queene Mary restored Thomas Percy nephew unto Henry the sixth Earle by his brother Thomas unto his bloud and by a new Patent created him first Baron Percy and anon Earle of Northumberland to himselfe and the heires males of his body and for default thereof to his brother Henry and his heires males But this Thomas the seventh Earle for his treason to Prince and country under maske of restoring the Romish religion againe lost both life and dignity in the yeere 1572. Yet through the singular favour and bounty of Queen Elizabeth according to that Patent of Queene Mary his brother Henry succeeded after him as the eighth Earle who in the yeere 1585. ended his dayes in prison and had for his successor Henry his sonne by Katherin the eldest daughter and one of the heires of John Nevill Lord Latimer the ninth Earle of Northumberland of this family Parishes in Northumberland about 46. SCOTLAND SCOTIA Regnum SCOTLAND NOw am I come to SCOTLAND and willingly I assure you will I enter into it but withall lightly passe over it For I remember well that said saw In places not well knowne lesse while wee must stay
runneth out far and wide toward the West between the sea and Dunbritain Frith or Clyds-forth yet so indented and hollowed with nookes and creekes that here and there it is drawne into a narrow roome and then againe in the verie utmost skirt it openeth and spreadeth it selfe broad at more libertie whereupon some have called it the CHERSOMESUS that is The Biland of the NOVANTES But at this day their countrey containeth Galloway Carick Kyle and Cunningham Galloway in the Latine Writers of the middle time Gaelwallia and Gallovidia so called of the Irish who in times past dwelt there and terme themselves short in their owne language Gael is a countrey rising up everie where with bills that are better for feeding of cattell than bearing of corne the inhabitants practice fishing as well within the sea lying round about them as in little rivers and the Loches or meeres in everie place standing full of water at the foot of the hills out of which in September they take in Weeles and Weere-ners an incredible number of most sweet and favourite eeles whereby the make no lesse gain than others do by their little nagges which for being well limmed fast knit and strongly made for to endure travaile are much in request and bought from hence Among these the first place that offereth itselfe by the river DEA mentioned in Prolomee which keeping the name still full and whole they call d ee is Kircoubright the most commodious port of this coast the second Stewartie of Scotland which belongeth also to the Maxwels then Cardines a sort set upon a craggie and high rocke by the river Fleet and fensed with strong walls Neere unto it the river Ken corruptly read in Ptolomee IENA runneth into the sea after it is Wigton an haven towne with a narrow entrance unto it between the two rivers Bluidnoo and Crea which also is counted a Sheriffdome over which Agnew is Sheriffe In times past it had for Earle Archibald Douglasse renowned in the French warre and at this day by the favour of King James the sixth John Lord Fleming who deriveth his pedegree from the ancient Earles of Wigton Neere unto this Ptolomee placed the Citie LEUCOPIBIA which I know not to say truth where to seeke Yet the place requireth that it should be that Episcopall seat of Ninian which Bede calleth Candida Casa and the English and Scottish in the verie same sense whit-berne what say you then if Ptolomee after his manner translated that name in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is white-houses in stead whereof the Transcribers have thrust upon us Leucopibia which the Britans tearmed Candida Casa In this place Ninia or Ninian the Britan an holy man the first that instructed the South-Picts in Christian saith in the reigne of the Emperour Theodofius the younger had his seat and built a Church consecrated to the memorie of Saint Martin after a manner unusuall among the Britans as Bede saith who wrote that the English in his time held this country and when the number of the faithfull Christians multiplied an Episcopall See was erected at this Candida Casa A little higher there is a Bi-land having the sea insinuating it selfe on both sides with two Bayes that by a narrow neck it is adjoined to the firme land and this is properly called CHERSONESUS and PROMONTORIUM NOVANTUM commonly the Mull of Galloway Beyond this Northward there is a Bay taking a great compasse and full of Ilands into which very many rivers on everie side doe out-lade themselves But first of all from the verie cape or top of the Promontarie is ABRAVANUS which being set little out of his own place is so called of Ptolomee for Aber-Ruanus that is The mouth of Ruan For at this day that river is named Rian and the lake out of which it floweth Logh-Rian exceeding full of Herrings and Stone-fishes This Galloway had in times past Princes and Lords over it of whom the first recorded in Chronicles was Fergus in the reigne of Henrie the first King of England who gave for his Armes A Lion rampant Arg crowned Or in a shield Azur who after many troubles that he had stirred was driven to this exigent by King Malcolm that he gave his sonne Ucthred to the King for an hostage and himselfe wearie of this world tooke the habit of a Chanon at Holy Rood house in Edenburgh As for Ucthred Gilbert his younger brother tooke him prisoner in battaile and when hee had cut out his tongue and plucked his eyes forth of his head he cruelly bereaved him both of life and inheritance But within some few yeeres when Gilbert was dead Ucthreds sonne recovered his fathers inheritance who of a sister of William Morvill Constable of Scotland begat Alan Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland This Alan by Margaret the eldest daughter of David Earle of Huntingdon had Dervolgilda wife to Iohn Balliol and the mother of John Balliol King of Scotland who contended with Robert Brus for the Kingdome of Scotland and by a former wife as it seemeth hee had Helen married to Roger Quincy Earle of Winchester who thereby was Constable of Scotland like as William Ferrars of Groby the Nephew of the said Roger by a daughter and one of the heires But these Englishmen soone lost their inheritance in Scotland as also the dignitie of Constable which the Comnins Earles of Bucquan descended likewise from a daughter of Roger Quincie obtained until it was translated unto the Earls of Arroll But the title of the Lords of Galloway fell afterward to the family of the Douglasses CARRICTA CARRICT NOw followeth Carrict upon Dunbritain Frith faire to be seene with fresh pastures supplyed both by land and sea with commodities abundantly In this province Ptolomee placed RERIGONIUM a Creeke and RERIGONIUM a Towne For which BERIGONIUM is read in a verie ancient copie of Ptolomee printed at Rome in the yeere 1480. so that wee cannot but verily thinke it was that which now is called Bargeney A Lord it hath out of the family of the Kennedies which came forth of Ireland in the reigne of Robert Brus and is in this tract of high birth spread into many branches and of great power The chiefe of which linage is Earle of Cassile for this is the name of a Castle wherein he dwelleth by the river Dun upon the banke whereof he hath also another Castle named Dunnur and he is the hereditarie Bailiffe of this Countrey For this Carrict together with Kyle and Cunningham are counted the three Baillerries of Scotland because they that governe these with an ordinarie power and jurisdiction are called Ballives by a tearme that came up in the middle times and among the Greeks Sicilians and Frenchmen signifieth a Conservatour or Protector But in the age aforegoing Carrict had Earles for to say nothing of Gilberts of Galloway sonne unto whom King William gave all Carrict to bee possessed for
world for fishfull streame renown'd Refresheth all the neighbour fields that lye about it round But Glascow beautie is to Cluyd and grace to countries nye And by the streames that flow from thence all places fructifie Along the hithermore banke of Cluid yeth the Baronie of Reinfraw so called of the principall towne which may seeme to bee RANDVARA in Ptolomee by the river Cathcart that hath the Baron of Cathcart dwelling upon it carrying the same surname and of ancient nobilitie neere unto which for this little province can shew a goodly breed of nobilitie there border Cruikston the seat in times past of the Lords of Darley from whom by right of marriage it came to the Earles of Lennox whence Henrie the Father of King James the sixth was called Lord Darly Halkead the habitation of the Barons of Ros descended originally from English blood as who fetch their pedegree from that Robert Ros of Warke who long since left England and came under the alleageance of the King of Scots Pasley sometimes a famous Monasterie founded by Alexander the second of that name high Steward of Scotland which for a gorgeous Church and rich furniture was inferiour to few but now by the beneficiall favour of King James the sixth it yeeldeth both dwelling place and title of Baron to Lord Claud Hamilton a younger sonne of Duke Chasteu Herald and Sempill the Lord whereof Baron Sempill by ancient right is Sheriffe of this Baronie But the title of Baron of Reinfraw by a peculiar priviledge doth appertaine unto the Prince of Scotland LENNOX ALong the other banke of Cluyd above Glascow runneth forth Levinia or LENNOX Northward among a number of hills close couched one by another having that name of the river Levin which Ptolomee calleth LELANONIUS and runneth into Cluyd out of Logh Lomund which spreadeth it selfe here under the mountaines twenty miles long and eight miles broad passing well stored with varietie of fish but most especially with a peculiar fish that is to be found no where else they call it Pollac as also with Ilands concerning which manie fables have beene forged and those riâ—e among the common people As touching an Iland here that floateth and waveth too and fro I list not to make question thereof For what should let but that a lighter bodie and spongeous withall in manner of a pumice stone may swimme above the water and Plinie writeth how in the Lake Vadimon there be Ilands full of grasse and covered over with rushes and reeds that float up and downe But I leave it unto them that dwell neerer unto this place and better know the nature of this Lake whether this old Distichon of our Necham be true or no Ditatur fluviis Albania saxea ligna Dat Lomund multa frigiditate potens With rivers Scotland is enrich'd and Lomund there a Lake So cold of nature is that stickes it quickly stones doth make Round about the edge of this Lake there bee fishers cottages but nothing else memorable unlesse it be Kilmoronoc a proper fine house of the Earles of Cassiles on the East side of it which hath a most pleasant prospect into the said Lake But at the confluence where Levin emptieth it selfe out of the Lake into Cluyd standeth the old Citie called Al-Cluyd Bede noteth that it signified in whose language I know not as much as The rocke Cluyd True it is that Ar-Cluyd signifieth in the British tongue upon Cluyd or upon the rocke and Cluyd in ancient English sounded the same that a Rocke The succeeding posteritie called this place Dunbritton that is The Britans towne and corruptly by a certaine transposition of letters Dunbarton because the Britans held it longest against the Scots Picts and Saxons For it is the strongest of all the castles in Scotland by naturall situation towring upon a rough craggie and two-headed rocke at the verie meeting of the rivers in a greene plaine In one of the tops or heads abovesaid there standeth up a loftie watch-tower or Keep on the other which is the lower there are sundrie strong bulwarks Betweene these two tops on the North side it hath one onely ascent by which hardly one by one can passe up and that with a labour by grees or steps cut out aslope travers the rocke In steed of ditches on the West side serveth the river Levin on the South Cluyd and on the East a boggie flat which at everie tide is wholly covered over with waters and on the North side the verie upright steepenesse of the place is a most sufficient defence Certain remaines of the Britans presuming of the naturall strength of this place and their owne manhood who as Gildas writeth gat themselves a place of refuge in high mountaines and hills steep and naturally fensed as it were with rampires and ditches in most thick woods and forrests in rockes also of the sea stood out and defended themselves here after the Romans departure for three hundred yeeres in the midst of their enemies For in Bedes time as himself writeth it was the best fortified citie of the Britans But in the yeere 756. Eadbert King of Northumberland and Oeng King of the Picts with their joint forces enclosed it round about by siege and brought it to such a desperate extremitie that it was rendred unto them by composition Of this place the territorie round about it is called the Sherifdome of Dunbarton and hath had the Earles of Lennox this long time for their Sheriffes by birth-right and inheritance As touching the Earles of Lennox themselves to omit those of more ancient and obscure times there was one Duncane Earle of Lennox in the reigne of Robert the second who died and left none but daughters behinde him Of whom one was married to Alan Steward descended from Robert a younger sonne of Walter the second of that name High Steward of Scotland and brother likewise to Alexander Steward the second from whom the noblest and royall race of Scotland hath beene propagated This surname Steward was given unto that most noble family in regard of the honourable office of the Stewardshippe of the kingdome as who had the charge of the Kings revenues The said Alan had issue John Earle of Lennox and Robert Captain of that companie of Scottishmen at Armes which Charles the sixth K. of France first instituted in lieu of some recompence unto the Scottish nation which by their valour had deserved passing well of the kingdom of France who also by the same Prince for his vertues sake was endowed with the Seigniorie of Aubigny in Auvergne John had a sonne named Matthew Earle of Lennox who wedded the daughter of James Hamilton by Marion daughter to King James the second on whom he begat John Earle of Lennox hee taking armes to deliver King James the fifth out of the hands of the Douglasses and the Hamiltons was slaine by the Earle of Arran his Unkle on the mothers side This John was
extended it selfe in old time farre and wide everie way in these parts As for the places herein they are of no great account but the Earles thereof are very memorable Thomas a younger sonne of Rolland of Galloway was in his wives right Earle of Athol whose sonne Patricke was by the Bissets his concurrents murdered in feud at Hadington in his bed-chamber and forthwith the whole house wherein hee lodged burnt that it might be supposed he perished by casualtie of fire In the Earldome there succeeded David Hastings who had married the aunt by the mothers side of Patricke whose sonne that David surnamed of Strathbogie may seeme to be who a little after in the reigne of Henrie the third King of England being Earle of Athol married one of the daughters and heires of Richard base sonne to John King of England and had with her a verie goodly inheritance in England She bare unto him two sonnes John Earle of Athol who being of a variable disposition and untrustie was hanged up aloft on a gallowes fiftie foot high and David Earle of Athol unto whom by marriage with one of the daughters and heires of John Comin of Badzenoth by one of the heires of Aumar de Valence Earle of Penbroch there fell great lands and possessions His sonne David who under King Edward the second was otherwhiles amongst English Earles summoned to the Parliaments in England and under King Edward Balliol made Lord Lievtenant Generall of Scotland was vanquished by the valerous prowesse of Andrew de Murray and slaine in battaile within the Forrest of Kelblen in the yeere of our Lord 1335. And his sonne David left two young daughters only Elizabeth wedded unto Sir Thomas Percie from whom the Barons of Burrough are descended and Philip married to Sir Thomas Halsham an English Knight Then fell the title of Athol unto that Walter Stewart sonne to King Robert the second who cruelly murdered James the first King of Scotland and for this execrable crueltie suffered most condigne punishment accordingly in so much as Aeneas Sylvius Embassadour at that time in Scotland from Pope Eugenius the fourth gave out this speech That hee could not tell whether hee should give them greater commendations that revenged the Kings death or brand them with sharper censure of condemnation that distained themselves with so hainous a parricide After some few yeeres passed betweene this honour was granted unto John Stewart of the family of Lorne the sonne of James surnamed The Black Knight by Joan the widow of King James the first daughter to John Earle of Somerset and Niece to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster whose posteritie at this day enjoy the same Tau bearing now a bigger streame by receiving Almund unto him holdeth on his course to Dunkelden adorned by King David with an Episcopall See Most writers grounding upon the signification of that word suppose it to be a towne of the Caledonians and interpret it The Mount or hill of Hazeles as who would have that name given unto it of the Hazel trees in the wood Caledonia From hence the Tau goeth forward by the carkasse of Berth a little desolate Citie remembring well enough what a great losse and calamitie hee brought upon it in times past when with an extraordinarie swelling flood hee surrounded all the fields layed the goodly standing corne along on the ground and carried headlong away with him this poore Citie with the Kings childe and infant in his cradle and the inhabitants therein In steed whereof in a more commodious place King William builded Perth which straightwaies became so wealthy that Necham who lived in that age versified of it in this manner Transis ample Tai per rura per oppida per Perth Regnum sustentant istius urbis opes By villages by townes by Perth thou runn'st great Tay amaine The riches of this Citie Perth doth all the realme sustaine But the posteritie ensuing called it of a Church founded in honour of Saint John Saint Iohns towne and the English whiles the warres were hot betweene the Bruses and the Balliols fortified it with great bulwarks which the Scots afterwards for the most part overthrew and dismantled it themselves Howbeit it is a proper pretie Citie pleasantly seated betweene two Greenes and for all that some of the Churches be destroyed yet a goodly shew it maketh ranged and set out in such an uniforme maner that in everie severall street almost there dwell severall artificers by themselves and the river Tau bringeth up with the tide sea commodities by lighters whereupon J. Jonston so often now by me cited writeth thus PERTHUM Propter aquas Tai liquidas amoena vineta Obtinet in medio regna superba solo Nobilium quondam regum clarissima sedes Pulchra situ pinguis germine dives agri Finitimis dat jura locis moremque modumque Huic dare laus illis haec meruisse dari Sola inter patrias incincta est moenibus urbes Hostibus assiduis ne vaga praeda foret Quanta virûm virtus dextrae quae praemia nôrunt Cimber Saxo ferox genus Hectoridum Felix laude novâ felix quoque laude vetustâ Perge recens priscum perpetuare decus PERTH Neere to the waters cleere of Tay and pleasant plaines all greene In middle ground betweene them stands Perth proudly like a Queene Of noble Kings the stately seat and palace once it was Faire for the site and rich with all for spring of corne and grasse To neighbour places all it doth lawes customes fashions give Her praise to give theirs to deserve the same for to receive Of all the Cities in these parts walled alone is she Lest she to foes continuall a scambling prey might be What Knights she bred and what rewards they won to knighthood due Danes Saxons fierce bold Britans eke the Trojans off-spring knew Happie for praises old happie for praises new of late New as thou art thine honour old strive to perpetuate And now of late King James the sixth hath erected it to the title of an Earldome having created James Baron Dromund Earle of Perth Unto Perth these places are neere neighbours Methven which Margaret an English Ladie widow unto King James the fourth purchased with readie money for her third husband Henrie Steward descended of the royall blood and for his heires and withall obtained of her sonne King James the fifth for him the dignitie of a Baron More beneath is Rethuen a castle of the Rethuens whose name is of damned memorie considering that the three states of the kingdome hath ordained that whosoever were of that name should forgoe the same and take unto them a new after that the Rethuens brethren in a most cursed and horrible conspiracie had complotted to murder their soveraigne King James the sixth who had created William their father Earle of Gourie and afterward beheaded him being lawfully convicted when he would insolently prescribe lawes to his soveraigne But of men
standing in a docke neere the Tamis to the outside of the keele whereof a number of such little birds without life and feathers stuck close Yet would I gladly thinke that the generation of these birds was not out of the logges of wood but from the very Ocean which the Poets tearmed the Father of all things A mightie masse likewise of Amber as bigge as the bodie of an horse was not many yeeres since cast upon this shore The learned call it Succinum Glessum and Chryso-Electrum and Sotacus supposed that it was a certaine juice or liquor which distilleth out of trees in Britain and runneth downe into the sea and is therein hardned Tacitus also was of the same opinion when he wrote thus I can verily beleeve that like as there be trees in the secret and inward parts of the East which sweat out frankincense and balme so in the Ilands and other countries of the West there bee woods and groves of a more fattie and firme substance which melting by the hot beames of the Sunne approching so neere runneth into the sea hard by and by force of tempest floateth up to the shores against it But Serapio and the Philosophers of later times write that it ariseth out of a certain clammie and bituminous earth under the sea and by the sea side and that the billowes and tempests cast up part thereof a land and fishes devoure the rest But I digresse extravagantly I will into my way againe and since I acknowledge my fault let my confession purchase pardon In the reigne of King Alexander the second Alexander Comin rose up to the honour of Earle of Buquhan who married the daughter and one of the heires of Roger de Quincie Earle of Winchester in England and his Niece by a sonne brought the same title unto Henrie de Beaumont her husband for he in King Edward the third his daies had his place in the Parliament of England by the name of Earl of Buquhan Afterwards Alexander Stewart sonne to King Robert the second was Earle of this place unto whom succeeded John a younger sonne of Robert Duke of Albanie who arriving in France with seven thousand Scottishmen to aide Charles the seventh King of France bare himselfe valiantly and performed singular good service against the Englishmen and that with so great commendation as having victoriously slaine Thomas Duke of Clarence brother to Henrie the fifth King of England at Baugie and discomfited the English he was made Constable of France But in the third yeere following when the fortune of warre turned hee with other most valiant Knights to wit Archibald Douglasse Earle of Wigton and Duke of Touraine c. was vanquished at Vernoil by the English and there slain Whom notwithstanding as that Poet said aeternum memorabit Gallia cives Grata suos titulos quae dedit tumulos France thankfully will ay recount as citizens of her owne On whom both titles glorious and tombes she hath bestowne Certes whereas under the K.K. Charles the sixth and seventh France was preserved and Aquitain recovered by thrusting out the English the Frenchmen cannot chuse but acknowledge themselves much beholden to the fidelitie and fortitude of the Scottish But afterwards King James the first gave the Earldome of Buquhan unto George of Dunbar moved thereto upon pitie and commiseration because hee had deprived him before of the Earldom of March by authority of Parliament for his fathers crime and not long after James the sonne of James Stewart of Lorn surnamed the Black Knight whom he had by Q. Joan sister to the Duke of Somerset and widdow to King James the first obtained this honour and left it to his posteritie but for default not long since of heires male it came by a daughter married to Robert Douglas a younger brother of Douglas of Lochlevin to the family of the Douglasses From Buquhan as the shore bendeth backward and turneth full into the North lieth Boena and Bamff a small Sherifdome also Ajuza a little territorie of no especiall account and Rothamay castle the dwelling place of the Barons of Salton surnamed Abernethy Beneath these lieth Strath-bolgy that is the vale by Bolgy the habitation in times past of the Earls of Athol who of it assumed their surname but now the principall seat of Marquesse Huntly For this title K. James the sixth conferred upon George Gordon Earle Huntly Lord Gordon and Badzeneth a man of great honour and reputation for his ancient noblenesse of birth and the multitude of his dependants and followers whose ancesters descended from the Setons by Parliamentarie authoritie took the name of Gordon when as Sir Alexander Seton had taken to wife the daughter of Sir Iohn Gordon Knight by whom he had a large and rich inheritance and received the honour of the Earle of Huntly at the hands of King James the second in the yeere 1449. MORAVIA or MURRAY THe VACOMAGI remembred by Ptolomee anciently inhabited on the further side of Crantz-baine-mountain which as it were in a continued range by hills hanging one by another driveth out his ridge with many a winding as far as to Murray frith where now lieth Murray in Latin Moravia celebrated for the fertilitie pleasant site and commoditie of fruitfull trees By this Province Spey a famous river maketh his issue into the sea wherein he lodgeth when hee hath watered Rothes Castle whence the family of the Lesleys tooke the title of Earle ever since that K. James the second conferred the honour of Earle of Rothes upon Sir George Lesley Concerning this Spey our Poet Necham hath thus written Spey loca mutantis praeceps agitator arenae Inconstans certas nescit habere vias Officium lintris corbis subit hunc regit audax Cursus labentis nauta fluenta sequens Spey raising heaps of sand amaine that shift oft times their place Inconstant he doth change eftsoones and keeps no certaine race A panier serves here for a boat some ventrous swaine it guides Who followeth still the rivers course while downe the streame it glides The river LOXA mentioned by Ptolomee which now is called Losse hideth himselfe in the sea hard by neere unto which Elgina appeareth in which and in Forres adjoining I. of Dunbar of Cumnock descended from the stock of the Earles of March hath his jurisdiction as Sheriff by inheritance But where it is now readie to enter into the sea he findeth a more plaine and soft soile and spreadeth abroad into a Meere full of swans wherein the herbe Olorina plentifully groweth hee hath Spiny Castle standing upon it whereof now the first Baron is Alexander of the linage of the Lindseys like as Kinlosse also a neighbour by sometime a famous Monasterie some call it Kill-flos of certaine flowers miraculously there springing up on a sudden when the carkase of King Duff murdred and hidden in the same place was found hath also for the Lord thereof Edward Brus M. of the Rolls in
England of the Kings Majesties Privie Counsell whom King James the sixth created Baron Brus of Kinlosse Thus much for the shore More inward where now standeth Bean Castle thought to bee BANATIA that Ptolomee mentioneth there was found in the yeere 1460. a vessell of marble artificially engraven and full of Roman coine Hard by is Nardin or Narne an hereditable Sherifdome of the Cambels of Lorne where there stood within a Biland a fortresse of a mightie heighth built with wonderfull bulwarks and in times past defended by the Danish forces against the Scottish A little off is Logh-Nesse a very great Lake as reaching out 23. miles in length the Water whereof is so warme that even in this cold and frozen climate it never freezeth from which by a verie small Isthim or partition of hils the Logh Lutea or Louthea which by Aber letteth it selfe forth into the West sea is divided Neere unto these Loghs there stood in old time two notable fortifications the one named Innernesse the other Innerlothea according to the names of the said Loghs Innernes hath for Sheriffe thereof by right of inheritance the Marquesse Huntly who is of great command hereabout But have here what M. Jonston hath written jointly of these two INNERNESSUS INNERLOTHEA Imperii veteris duo propugnacula quondam Primâ—que regali moenia structa manu Turribus oppositis adverso in limine spectat Haec Zephyrum Solis illa orientis equos Amnibus hinc atque hinc cincta utraque piscibus amnes Faecundi haec portu perpete tuta patet Haec fuit at jacet heu jam nunc sine nomine tellus Hospita quae Regum est hospita facta feris Altera spirat adhuc tenuis sufflamina vitae Quae dabit fati turbine victa manus Dic ubi nunc Carthago potens ubi Martia Roma Trojáque immensae ditis opes Asiae Quid mireris enim mortalia cedere fatis Corpora cùm videas oppida posse mori INNERNESSE AND INNERLOTHEA Two mightie forts and holds these were in ancient kingdomes daies The first wall'd fences as they say that hand of Kings did raise Affront with towres oppos'd they stand for one of them regards The Westerne winde but th' other looks the Sun-rising towards On both sides they their rivers have and rivers full of fish One hath an haven frequented aye and safe as heart can wish Such was it once but now alas to wast and desart fields Is turn'd and that which lodged Kings to wild beasts harbour yeelds The other yet draw's breath though deepe and shewes that it doth live But over match'd to destinie at length doth bucklers give What 's now become of Carthage great where is that martiall Rome Where Troy of wealthie Asia the riches all and some No marvaile now that mortall wights to death be subject why Because you plainly see that Townes and Cities great may dye Under the reigne of Robert Brus Thomas Randolph his sisters sonne who in his Countries behalfe undertooke exceeding great paines and most grievous quarrels was highly renowned by the title of Earle of Murray Under King Robert the Second John of Dunbarre tooke to wife the Kings daughter to make amends for her devirgination received this Earldome of Murray with her in marriage Under King James the second William Creichton Chancelour of the Realme and Archebald Douglas grew to great variance and eagre contention about this Earledome when as against the lawes and ancient customes Douglas who had married the younger daughter of James of Dunbar Earle of Murray was preferred to the Earldom before Creighton who had wedded the elder and that through the powerfull authoritie that William Earle Douglasse had with the King which was so great that he advanced not onely him to the Earldom of Murray but also another brother to the Earldome of Ormund and made two cousins of his Earles the one of Angus and the other of Morton But this greatnesse of his not to be trusted upon because it was excessive turned soone after to his owne confusion Under King James the fifth his own brother whom he appointed his Vicegerent in the government of the Kingdome enjoied this honour and within our remembrance James the base sonne of King James the fifth received this honour of Queene Mary his sister but he requited her basely when conspiring with some few of the Nobilitie he deposed her from her Royall estate and kingdome a foule president and prejudiciall to all Kings and Princes Which notwithstanding was revenged for shortly after hee was shot through with a bullet His onely daughter brought this title unto her husband Sir James Stewart of Downe who was also of the blood royall from the Dukes of Albany who being slain by his concurrents left his sonne James to succeed him in this honour LOQHUABRE WHatsoever beyond the Nesse bendeth to the West coast and adjoineth to the Lake Aber is thereupon called Loghuabre that is in the ancient tongue of the Britans The mouth of the Lakes as what lieth toward the North is commonly called Rosse Loqhuabre is full of fresh pastures and woods neither is without yron mines but not so free in yeeld of corne but for most fishfull pooles and rivers scarce inferiour to any country thereabout At Logh-Lothey Innerlothey fensed with a fort and well frequented with Merchants was of great name and importance in times past but being razed by the piracies and warres of Danes and Norwegians it hath lien for these many ages so forlet that there remaineth scarce any shew of it which those verses that I alledged even now doe imply Loqhuabre hath had so farre as I have read no Earles but about the yeere of our salvation 1050. there was a Thane over it of great fame and much spoken of named Banqhuo whom Macbeth the bastard when with murder bloodshed he had usurped the crowne being fearfull and suspicious caused to bee made away for that he had learned by a Prophesie of certaine wise women that his posteritie when the line of Macbeth was expired and extinct should one day obtaine the Kingdome and by a long successive descent reigne in Scotland Which verily hath fallen out accordingly For Fleanch the sonne of Banqhuo who unknowne in the darke escaped the traines laid for him â—led into Wales where for a time hee kept himselfe close and having taken to wife Nesta the daughter of Griffith ap Lewellin Prince of North-wales begat Walter who returning into Scotland with so great fame of his fortitude repressed the rebellion of the Ilanders and with as great wisdome managed the Kings revenewes in this tract that the King made him Seneschall whom they commonly call Stewart of the whole Kingdome of Scotland Whereupon this name of Office imposed the surname Stewart unto his posteritie who spreading throughout all parts of Scotland into a number of noble branches after many honours heaped upon them have flourished a long
time and from out of them three hundred yeeres agoe and thirtie Robert Stewart by Marjorie his mother daughter to King Robert Brus obtained the Kingdome of Scotland and now lately James Stewart of that name the sixth King of Scots by Margaret his great grandmother daughter to King Henrie the seventh the divine power of that most high and almightie Ruler of the world so disposing is ascended with the generall applause of all nations to the height of Monarchicall majestie over all Britaine and the Isles adjacent ROSSIA THe Province ROSSE so called by an old Scottish word which some interpret to be a Promontorie others a Biland was inhabited by the people named CANTAE which terme in effect implieth as much in the time of Ptolomee This extendeth it selfe so wide and large that it reacheth from the one sea to the other What way it beareth upon the Vergivian or Western Ocean by reason of huge swelling mountaines advancing their heads aloft and many woods among them it is full of stagges roe buckes fallow Deere and wilde foule but where it butteth upon the German sea it is more lovely bedect with corne fields and pastures and withall much more civill In the very first entrance into it Ardmanoch no small territorie whereof the second sonnes of the Kings of Scotland beare the title riseth up with high mountaines that are most trustie preservers of snow As touching their height some have reported unto me strange wonders and yet the ancient Geometers have written that neither the depth of sea nor height of hills exceed by the plumbe line ten stadia that is one mile and a quarter Which notwithstanding they that have beheld Tenariffe amongst the Canarie Ilands which is fifteene leagues high and sailed withall the Ocean neere unto them will in no wise admit for truth In this part standeth Lovet Castle and the Baronie of the worthy family of the Frasers whom for their singular good service for the Scottish kingdome King James the second accepted into the ranke of Barons and whom the Clan-Ranalds a most bloodie generation in a quarrell and braule between them had wholly destroied every mothers sonne but that by the providence of God fourescore of the principall persons of this family left their wives at home all great with child who being delivered of so many sonnes renewed the house and multiplied the name againe But at Nesse mouth there flourished sometimes Chanonrie so called of a rich Colledge of Chanons whiles the Ecclesiasticall state stood in prosperitie in which there is erected a See for the Bishop of Rosse Hard by is placed Cromartie where Urqhuart a Gentleman of noble birth by hereditarie right from his ancestours ministreth justice as Sheriffe to this Sheriffdome and this is so commodious and safe an harbour for any fleet be it never so great that both Sailers and Geographers name it PORTUS-SALUTIS that is The Haven of safetie Above it is LITTUS ALTUM whereof Ptolomee maketh mention called now as it seemeth Tarbarth for there indeed the shore riseth to a great height enclosed on the one side with Cromer a most secure and safe haven and on the other with CELNIUS now Killian the river and thus much of the places toward the East Ocean Into the west sea the river LONGUS mentioned in Ptolomee at this day named Lough Longus runneth then the CERONES anciently dwelt where now is Assinshire a countrey much mangled with many inlets and armes of the sea in bosoming it selfe with manifold commodities As for the Earls of Rosse it is full of difficulty to set them down in order successively out of writers About foure hundred yeers past we read that Ferqhuard flourished enjoied this title But for default of issue male it came by a daughter to Walter Lesley who for his noble feats of armes courageously atchieved under Lewis the Emperour was worthily named The Noble Knight he begat Alexander Earle of Rosse and a daughter married unto Donald Lord of the Islands Hebrides This Alexander had issue one onely daughter who made over by her deed all her owne title and right unto Robert Duke of Albany whereat the said Donald of the Islands being highly enchafed and repining stiled himselfe in the reigne of James the third King of the Islands and Earle of Rosse having with fire and sword laied waste his native country far neere At length the said K. James the third by authoritie of Parliament in the yeere 1476. annexed the Earldome of Rosse to the crowne so as it might not be lawfull for his successours to alienate by any meanes from the crowne either the Earldome it selfe or any parcell thereof or by any device to grant the same unto any person save onely to the Kings second sonnes lawfully borne whence it is that Charles the Kings second sonne Duke of York at this day holdeth an enjoieth the title of Earle of Rosse SUTHERLAND BEyond Rosse Sutherland looketh toward the East Ocean a land more meet to breed cattell than to beare corne wherein there be hills of white marble a wonderfull thing in this so cold a climate but of no use almost considering excesse in building and that vain ostentation of riches is not yet reached to these remote regions Here is Dunrobin a castle of very great name the principall seat of the ancient Earles of Sutherland descended if I be not deceived out of the family of Murray Among whom one William under King Robert Brus is most famous who married the sister of the whole blood to K. David and had by her a son whom the said David declared heire apparant of the crown and compelled his Nobles to sweare unto him alleageance but he within a little after departed without issue and the Earldome in the end came by a daughter and heire hereditarily unto A. Gordon one of the line of the Earles of Huntly CATHANES HIgher lieth CATHANES butting full upon the said East sea bending inward with a number of creakes and compasses which the waves as it were indent In which dwelt in Ptolomees time the CATINI but written falsly in some copies CARINI among whom the selfe same Ptolomee placeth the river Ila which may seem to be the Wifle at this day The inhabitants of this province raised their greatest gaine and revenues by grazing and raising of cattell and by fishing The chiefe castle therein is called Girnego in which the Earls of Catnesse for the most part make their abode The Bishops sea is in Dornock a little meane town otherwise where also King James the fourth appointed the Sheriffe of Catnesse to reside or else at Wik as occasions should require for the administration of justice The Earles of Catnesse in ancient times were also Earles of the Orcades but at last they became distinct and by the eldest daughter of one Malise given in marriage to William Seincler the Kings Pantler his heires successively came to be Earls of Catnesse
namely the Warrens Her-berts Colbies Mores and Leicesters amongst the Irish septs of O-Conor unto whom a great part hereof in old time belonged Mac-Coghlan O-Maily Fox and others stand stoutly in defence of the lands wonne by their ancestors and left unto them Now these naturall Irish inhabitants grumble and complaine that their livings and patrimonies have beene taken from them and no other lands assigned and set out for them to live in Hence it is that taking hold of every occasion to make uprores they put the English dwelling among them to much trouble ever and anon yea and oftentimes in revengefull minds festered and poisoned with hostile hatred they breake out furiously into open and actuall rebellions THE COUNTY OF KILDAR OVer against these all along Eastward affronteth the county of Kildar a most rich and plentifull country concerning the pastures whereof Giraldus Cambrensis useth these verses of Virgill Et quantum longis carpunt armenta diebus Exiguâ tantâ—m gelidus ros nocte reponit And looke how much when daies are long the beasts by grasing eat So much cold dewes make good againe by night when 't is not great The chiefe and head towne of the shire is Kildar much honoured and graced in the first infancy of the Irish Church by reason of Saint Brigid a Virgin right venerable and highly esteemed of for her devotion and virginity I meane not that Brigid which about 240. yeeres agoe erected that order of the sisters or Nunnes of Saint Brigid namely that within one Monastery both Monkes and Maidens should live divided asunder by walls and suffered onely one to see another but another Brigid of greater antiquity by farre as who was a Disciple of Saint Patricke of great fame and renowne throughout Ireland England and Scotland Whose miracles and fire never going out but kept by Nunnes as it were in that secret Sanctuary of Vesta and of the ashes that never encrease are mentioned by writers This Kildar is adorned with an Episcopall See named in the Popes letters in old time Episcopatus Darensis After the entrance of the English into Ireland it was the habitation of Richard Earle of Pembroch then of William Mareschall his sonne in law that married his daughter Earle of Penbroch likewise by whose fourth daughter Sibyll it came to William Ferrars Earle of Derby and by his daughter likewise begotten of her unto William Lord Vescy whose sonne William Vescy Lord chiefe Justice of Ireland standing in termes of disfavour and disgrace with King Edward the First for certain quarrels arising between him and John the sonne of Thomas Fitz-Girald and being bereft of his only sonne lawfully begotten granted and surrendred Kildare and other his lands in Ireland unto the King so that he might enfeoffe his base sonne surnamed De Kildare in his other lands in England And a little while after the said John sonne of Thomas Fitz-Girald whose ancesters descended from Girald Windesor Castellan of Pembroch had with passing great valour performed most painefull service in the conquest of this Iland was by Edward the second King of England endowed with the castle and towne of Kildar together with the title and name of Earle of Kildar These Fitz-Giralds or as they now tearme them the Giraldines are a right noble family and for their exploits highly renowned by whose valour as one said The Englishmen both kept the sea coasts of Wales and also forced and won the walls of Ireland And verily this house of Kildare flourished a long time without taint of honour and name as which never bare armes against their Prince untill that Thomas Fitz-Girald the sonne of Girald Fitz-Girald Earle of Kildare and Lord Deputy of Ireland under King Henry the eighth hearing that his father sent for into England and accused for misgoverning Ireland was put to death upon this light and false rumour unadvisedly and rashly carried away with the heat of youth put himselfe into armes against Prince and countrey solicited the Emperour Charles the fifth to enter and seize upon Ireland wasted the land farre and neere with fire and sword laid siege to Dublin and killed the Archbishop thereof For which outrages shortly after he with five of his unkles were hanged when his father for very sorrow was dead before Howbeit Queene Mary restored the family unto their blood and full estate when shee advanced Girald brother unto the aforesaid Thomas to bee Earle of Kildare and Baron of Offaly He ended this life about the yeere 1558. His eldest son Girald died before his father leaving one onely daughter married to Sir Robert Digby Henry his second sonne succeeded who when he had by his wife L. Francis daughter to Charles Earle of Nottingham only two daughters William the third son succeeded in the Earledome who was drowned in passing into Ireland in the yeere 1599. having no issue And then the title of Earle of Kildare came to Girald Fitz-Girald sonne to Edward their Unkle who was restored to his blood in linage to make title by descent lineall or collaterall from his father and brother and all his ancestours any attaindour or corruption of blood to the contrary notwithstanding There be also in this County these places of better note than the rest Naas a mercate towne Athie upon the river Barrow Mainoth a castle belonging to the Earles of Kildare and a towne unto which King Edward the first in favour of Girald Fitz-Moris granted a mercate and Faire Castle Martin the chiefe seat of the family of Fitz-Eustace which descending from the Poers in the County of Waterford for their valour received the honour of a Parliament-Barons bestowed upon Rowland Fitz-Eustace by King Edward the fourth together with the Manour of Port-lester and the title of Vicount Baltinglas at the hands of King Henry the eighth which dignities with a faire patrimony Rowland Fitz-Eustace seduced by the religious pretext unto rebellion and flying his countrey lost by attaindour under Queene Elizabeth The families here remaining besides the Giraldines that be of higher birth above others fetch their descent also out of England namely the Ougans De-la Hides Ailmers Washes Boisels Whites Suttons c. As for the Giants dance which they talke of that Merlin by art magick translated out of this territorie unto Salisbury plaine as also of that most bloody battell which shall be one day betweene the English and the Irish at Molleaghmast I willingly leave unto the credulous lovers of fabulous antiquity and the vaine beleevers of prophesies For my purpose is not to give fond tales the telling These bee the midland counties of Leinster now are we to goe unto those by the sea side THE COUNTY OF WEISFORD BEneath that mouth at which Barrow Neore and Shoure the sister-like rivers having embraced one another and joyned hands are laid up in the Ocean there sheweth it selfe Eastward in a Promontorie where the shore fetcheth a compasse round the County of Weisford or Wexford In Irish County Reogh where Ptolomee in
either by dint of sword conquered or by surrender gat the whole into his owne hands and was the first that was stiled Earle of Ulster but when his great exploits and fortunate archievements had wrought him such envie that through his owne vertues and other mens vices he was banished out of the Realme Hugh Lacy the second sonne of Hugh Lacy Lord of Meth who had commandement to pursue him by force and armes was by King John appointed his successour being created Earle of Ulster by the sword of which honour notwithstanding the same King afterward deprived him for his tumultuous insolency and hee was in the end received into favour againe But for the sounder testimony hereof it were good to exemplifie the same word for word out of the records of Ireland Hugh de Lacy sometime Earle of Ulster held all Ulster exempt and separate from all other counties whatsoever of the Kings of England in chiefe by service of three Knights so often as the Kings service was proclaimed and be held all Pleas in his owne Court that pertaine to a Iustice and Sheriffe and held a Court of Chancery of his own c. And afterward all Ulster came into the hands of our Soveraigne Lord K. Iohn by the forfeiture of the foresaid Hugh unto whom after that K. Henry the third demised it for terme of the said Hughs life And when Hugh was deceased Walter de Burgo did that service unto Lord Edward K. Henries son Lord of Ireland before he was King And the same Lord Edward feoffed the aforesaid Walter in the said land of Ulster to have and to hold unto the same Walter and to his heires by the service aforesaid as freely and wholly as the above named Hugh de Lacy held it excepting the advowsons of Cathedrall Churches and the demesne of the same also the Pleas of the Crowne to wit Rape Forstall Firing and Treasure Trouve which our soveraigne Lord K. Edward retained to himselfe and his heires This Walter de Burgo who was Lord of Conaght and Earle of Ulster begat of the only daughter of Hugh de Lacy Richard Earle of Ulster who after hee had endured many troubles and calamities died in the yeere 1326. Richard had issue Iohn de Burgo who departed this life before his father having begotten upon Elizabeth sister and one of the heires of Gilbert Clare Earle of Glocester William who succeeded after his grandfather This William being slain by his own men when he was young left behind him a little daughter his only child who being married unto Leonell Duke of Clarence bare one daughter likewise the wife of Edmund Mortimer Earle of March by whom the Earledome of Ulster and Seigniory of Conaght came unto the Mortimers and from them together with the kingdome of England unto the house of Yorke and afterward Edward the fourth King of England adjoined it unto the Kings Domaine or Crowne land And when as at the same time England was divided into sides and factions whiles the civill warre grew hot and the English that abode here returned out of Ulster into England to follow the factions O-Neal and others of Irish blood seized these countries into their own hands and brought them to such wildnesse and savage barbarisme as it exceeded In so much as this province which in times past paied a mighty masse of money unto their Earles scarcely ever since yeelded any coin at all unto the Kings of England And verily in no one thing whatsoever pardon this my over-boldnesse have the Kings of England beene more defective in piety and policie than that they have for these so many ages seen so slightly to this Province yea and to all Ireland in the propagation of religion establishing the weale publike and reducing the life of the inhabitants to civility whether it was for carelesse neglect sparing or a fore-cast of dammage or some reason of state I am not able to say But that the same may be no longer thus neglected it seemeth of it selfe by good right to importune most earnestly being an Iland so great so neere a neigbour so fruitfull in soile so rich in pastures more than credible beset with so many woods enriched with so many mineralls if they were searched watered with so many rivers environed with so many havens lying so fit and commodious for failing into most wealthy countries and thereby like to bee for impost and custome very profitable and to conclude breeding and rearing men so abundantly as it doth who considering either their mindes or their bodies might be of singular emploiment for all duties and functions as well of warre as of peace if they were wrought and conformed to orderly civility I Intimated even now that I would speak touching the O-Neals who carried themselves as Lords of Ulster and I promised not long since a friend of mine that I would write of their rebellions raised in our age And verily I will performe my promise to his Manes whom whiles he lived I observed with all respect and being now in heaven I will not forget Thus much onely I will promise by way of Preface that I have compendiously collected these matters out of my Annales and here conjoined them which there are severed and divided according to their severall times and withall that whatsoever I shall write is not upon uncertaine rumours but gathered summarily from out oâ— their owne hand writings who managed those affaires and were present in the actions And this will I doe with so sincere an affection to the truth and so uncorrupt fidelity that I doubt not but I shall have thanks at their hands who love the truth and desire to understand the late affaires of Ireland and not incurre the blame of any unlesse they be such as having done ill take it not well if themselves be accordingly censured THE O-NEALES AND THEIR REBELLIONS IN OUR TIME TO say nothing of that GREAT NEALE who ruled by force and armes in Ulster and a great part of Ireland before the comming of Saint Patricke nor of those in the middle times who were but of meane note and memoriall to speake of this family after the arrivall of the English in Ireland lay close and obscure in remote lurking corners unlesse it were when Edward Brus brother to Robert King of Scotland named himselfe King of Ireland For then in a troublesome time Dovenald O-Neale started and rowsed himselfe out of his lurking holes and in his missives unto the Pope used this title in his stile Dovenald O-Neale King of Ulster and in right of inheritance the undoubted heire of all Ireland But after these stirres and troubles were laid this new King soone vanished away and Dovenalds posterity pluckt in their hornes and hid their heads untill that whiles England was all in a combustion kindled by the furious firebrands of civill warres betweene the houses of Yorke and Lancaster for the Imperiall Crowne those English that served and lived here abandoning Ulster and
committing it to the keeping of the O-Neals returned home to follow the factions For then Henry O-Neal the sonne of Oen or Eugenius O-Neal espoused the daughter of Thomas Earle of Kildare and his son Con-More that is Con the great married the daughter of Girald Earle of Kildare his mothers brother These supported by the powerfull authority of the Earles of Kildare who verily for many yeeres were Deputies of Ireland carried their heads aloft tyrannizing cruelly upon the people transported with the insolent spirit of pride disdained all the titles of Prince Duke Marquesse and Earles in comparison of the name of O-Neal Con the sonne of Con surnamed Bacco because hee halted succeeded his father in the dignity of O-Neale who cursed all his posterity in case they either learned to speake English or sowed wheat or built houses being sore affraid left by these inducements the English might bee allured to enter againe into their Lands and possessions often saying that language bred conversation and consequenly their confusion that wheat gave sustenance with like effect and by building they should doe but as the crow doth make her nest to be beaten out by the hawke When as the greatnesse of this Con O-Neale became very much suspected of King Henry the Eight and the Kings power having now troden under foot the familie of Kildare in whose rebellion O-Neale had engaged himselfe deepe grew dreadfull to O-Neale also into England he comes and there renouncing the name of O-Neale put his whole estate into the Kings hands which within a while after was granted againe by letters Patent under the great seale of England to hold as in fee together with the title of the Earle of Tir-Oen to him and to Matthew his false reputed sonne and to the heires of their bodies lawfully begotten And Matthew at the same time was created Baron of Dunganon This Matthew being taken untill he was fifteene yeeres old for the sonne of a blacksmith in Dundalk was by the said Smiths wife whom Con had sometime kept as his concubine tendred unto Con as his owne sonne and hee accepting him for his owne sonne in deed rejected John Shan they call him with the rest whom he had begotten on his owne lawfull wife Hereupon Shan seeing a bastard preferred before him so much made of and highly honoured suddenly set his heart wholly against his father and withall burned in such hatred with most bitter malice against Matthew that hee murdered him out of the way and so plagued and vexed his father with injurious indignities whiles he went about to deprive him of his Seigniorie disseized him of his dwelling house and stript him out of all he had that the old man for very thought and griefe of heart pined away and died Straightwayes Shan being chosen proclaimed and inaugured O-Neal by an old shooe cast over his head seized upon his fathers inheritance and with all diligence sought after the sonnes of Matthew that he might be secured from them but they were fled and gone Howbeit Brian the eldest sonne not long after was slaine by Mac-Donel Totan one of the O-Neals race suborned as some give it out by Shan to doe that feat Hugh and Cormack by the meanes and helpe of the English escaped and yet remaine alive Shan having thus gotten all into his owne hands as hee was a man cruell and barbarous began to exercise excessive cruelty over the great men of Ulster and made his vaunt that Mac-Gennys Mac-Guyr Mac-Mahon O Reali O-Hanlon O Cahan Mac-Brien O Hagan O Quin Mac-Canna Mac-Carton and all the Mac-Donels the Galloglasses were his subjects and vassels And when as Sir Henry Sidney Justice for the time being in the absence of the Earle of Sussex Lord Deputy expostulated with him about these points he answered that hee the undoubted and lawfull sonne and heire of Con O-Neale as being borne of his lawfull wife had entred upon his fathers inheritance that Matthew was a Blacke-Smiths sonne of Dundalke and by the said Smith begotten and borne after his mariage with Alison his Wife yet craftily obtruded upon Con as his son thereby to intervert another way and to alienate the inheritance and honour of O-Neale which howsoever he would endure yet none besides of the Sept of O-Neals would ever beare and digest As for the letters Patent of King Henry the eighth they were of no validity considering that Con had no right in that hee surrendred into the Kings hands longer than his owne life neither could he surrender up the same without the consent of the Nobles and people of Ulster by whom hee had beene elected O-Neale Neither were such Patents of any force unlesse there were an undoubted heire apparent of the family authentically signified before by inquisition and the oath of twelve men which in this matter was never certified Also that himselfe was by law both of God and man the true heire as being the first begotten sonne of his father lawfully borne in wedlocke that with the generall assent and consent of Peeres and people he was chosen declared and proclaimed O-Neale according to the ancient law of Tanistry whereby a man at his full yeeres is to be preferred before a boy and an uncle before that nephew whose grandfather survived the father neither had he arrogated unto himselfe any authority over the Peeres or Nobles of Ulster other than his ancesters as hee was able to prove by plaine proofes produced had exercised in times past out of minde most rightfully Howbeit soone after he outraged and overthrew O-Raily in the field tooke Callagh O-Donell Lord of Tir-Conell prisoner and cast him with his children into prison carried away his wife on whom hee begat children in adultery seized upon his fortresses lands and goods and bare himselfe as absolute King of all Ulster But so soone as Thomas Earle of Sussex the Lord Deputy came with a power into the field for to abate this insolency of his hee was strangely terrified and by the perswasion of Girald Earle of Kildare whom Queene Mary had restored to his former estate came into England unto Queene Elizabeth cast himselfe prostrate at her feet in all submissive and humble maner and being received with all curtesie after he had promised his allegeance returned home and for a while in his feeding and apparell conformed himself to all kind of civility he assailed the Scottish and drave them quite out of Ulster slew Iames Mac-Conell their leader kept himself and all his people in good order and the poorer sort he carefully protected from wrongs Howbeit he tyrannized most cruelly and insolently over the Nobility who when they had craved aid of the L. Deputy for to represse his intolerable violence he thereupon growing more outrageous in furious maner with fire and sword drave Mac-Guir Lord of Fermanagh who underhand had accused him out of house and home set fire upon the Metropolitane Church of Armach and burnt it yea and laied siege unto Dundalik
were torne and tormented at Carlele the rest hanged upon jebbits Item upon St. Patricks day there was taken prisoner in Ireland Mac-Nochi with his two sonnes neere unto New castle by Thomas Sueterby and there Lorran Oboni a most strong thiefe was beheaded MCCCVII The third day preceding the Calends of Aprill was Marcord Ballagh beheaded neere unto Marton by Sir David Caunton a doughtie Knight and soon after was Adam Dan slaine Also a defeature and bloodie slaughter fell upon the English in Connaght by Oscheles on Philip and Iacob the Apostles day Item the preading Brigants of Offaly pulled down the Castle of Cashill and upon the Vigill of the translation of Saint Thomas they burnt the towne of Ly and besieged the Castle but soone after they were removed by Iohn Fitz-Thomas and Edward Botiller Item Edward King of England departed this life after whom succeeded in the kingdome his sonne Edward who most solemnly buried his father at Westminster with great reverence and honour Item the Lord Edward the younger took to wife the Ladie Isabel daughter of the French King in St. Maries Church at Bologne and shortly after they were both crowned in the Church of Westminster Item the Templars in the parts beyond sea being condemned as it was said of a certaine heresie were apprehended and imprisoned by the Popes Mandat In England likewise they were all taken the morrow after the feast of the Epiphany Also in Ireland they were arrested the morrow after the feast of the Purification and laid up in prison MCCCVIII The second day before the Ides of April died Sir Peter or Piers Bermingham a noble vanquisher of the Irish. Item on the fourth day before the Ides of May was burnt the Castle of Kenir and certaine warders in it slaine by William Mac-Balthor and Cnygnismi Othothiles and his abetters More on the sixt day preceding the Ides of June Lord Iohn Wogan Justice of Ireland was defeated with his armie neere Glyndelory where were slaine Iohn called Hogelyn Iohn Northon Iohn Breton with many other Also the sixteenth day going before the Calends of July were burnt Dolovan Tobyr and other townes and villages bordering upon them by the foresaid malefactors Item in England shortly after was holden a great Parliament at London wherein arose a dissension and in manner a mortall conflict betweene the King and the Barons occasioned by Piers Gaveston who was banished out of the kingdome of England the morrow after the feast of Saint John Baptist his Nativitie and he passed over sea into Ireland about the feast of the Saints Quirita and Julita together with his wife and sister the Countesse of Glocester and came to Dublin with great pomp and there made his abode Moreover William Mac-Baltor a strong thiefe and an Incendiarie was condemned and had judgement in the Court of the Lord the King in Dublin before the chiefe Justice Lord John Wogan upon the twelfth day preceding the Calends of September and was drawne at horses tailes unto the gallowes and there hanged according to his deserts Item in the same yeere there was erected a certaine cisterne of marble to receive water from the conduict head in the Citie of Dublin such an one as never was there before by the dispose and providence of Master John Decer then Maior of the Citie of Dublin who of his owne money defraied the charges for the building thereof and the same John a little before the time caused a certaine bridge to be made beyond the river Aven-Liffy neere unto the Priorie of St. Wolstan also the Chappell of Saint Maâ—ie to the Friers Minours and there lieth he buried the Chappell likewise of Saint Marie to the Hospitall of Saint Johns in Dublin c. Item the same John Decer was very beneficiall to the Covent of the Friers Preachers in Dublin to wit in making one Columne of stone in the Church and giving one great broad altar-stone with the ornaments thereto belonging More upon the sixth day of the weeke hee entertained the Friers and tabled them at his owne charges thus say Elders to the younger in regard of charitie More in the Autumne Lord Iohn Wogan sailed over the sea unto the Parliament of England in whose place the Lord William Burke was made Custos of Ireland Item the same yeere in the Vigill of Simon and Jude the Apostles day the Lord Roger Mortimer arrived in Ireland with his wedded wife the right heire of Meth the daughter of the Lord Peter sonne of Sir Gefferie Genevil they entred I say into Ireland and took seisin of Meth Sir Gefferie Genevil yeelding unto them and entring into the order of the Friers Preachers at Trym the morrow after the day of St. Edward the Archbishop Also Dermot Odympoy was slaine at Tully by the servants of Sir Peter or Piers Gaveston More Richard Burgo or Burk Earle of Ulster kept a great feast at Whitsontide in Trym and dubbed Walter Lacie and Hugh Lacie Knights And on the even of the Assumption the Earle of Ulster came against Piers Gaveston Earle of Cornwall at Tradag And at the same time he went backe againe and tooke his passage into Scotland Item in the same yeere Maud the Earle of Ulsters daughter sailed over into England to contract marriage with the Earle of Glocester and soone after within one moneth the Earle and she espoused one the other Also Maurice Caunton slew Richard Talon and the Roches killed the foresaid Maurice Item Sir David Caunton is hanged at Dublin Item Odo the sonne of Catholl O-Conghir slew Odo O-Conghir King of Connaght Item Athi is burnt by the Irish. MCCCIX Piers Gaveston subdued the O-Brynnes Irishmen and re-edified the new Castle of Mackingham and the Castle of Kemny he cut downe and cleansed the Pas betweene Kemny Castle and Glyndelaugh mawgre the Irish and so departed and offered in the Church of Saint Kimny The same yeere Lord Piers Gaveston passed the seas over into England on the Vigil of S. John Baptists Nativitie Item the wife of the Earle of Ulsters sonne daughter unto the Earle of Glocester upon the 15. day of October arrived in Ireland Also on Christmas even the Earle of Ulster returned out of England and landed at the Port of Tradagh More on the feast of the purification of the blessed Virgin Mary Sir John Bonevile neere unto the towne of Arstoll was slain by Sir Arnold Pover and his complices and buried at Athy in the Church of the Friers Preachers Item a Parliament was held at Kilkenny in the Outas of the purification of the blessed Virgin Mary by the Earle of Ulster and John Wogan Lord Justice of Ireland and other Lords wherein was appeased great discord risen betweene certaine Lords of Ireland and many Provisoes in maner of Statutes were ordained commodious and profitable to the land of Ireland if they had been observed Item shortly after that time returned Sir Edmund Botiller out of England who there at London was before Knighted Item there crossed the
and reigned thirty yeeres In the third yeere of his reigne the people of Dublin sent for him and created him King of Dublin against whom Mure-card King of Ireland raised war and encamping himselfe before the Citie which is called Coridelis sent his halfe brother by the mothers side Osibeley with three thousand men of armes to Dublin who was by Godred and the Dublinians slaine and all the rest put to flight These exploits atchieved Godred returned to Man began to use tyranny and turned Noblemen out of their inheritances whereof one called Thorsin Oters Son mightier than the rest came to Sumerled and made Dubgall Sumerleds son King of the Ilands subduing unto him many Ilands When Godred had intelligence of these things by one Paul he prepared a navie and setteth forward to meet with Sumerled who was comming with a fleet of 80. saile And in the yeere 1156. there was a battell fought at sea on Twelfe day at night and after many a man slaine on both sides the next day after they grew to a pacification and divided among themselves the kingdome of the Ilands and so it became two severall kingdomes from that very day unto this present time And this was the cause of the overthrow of the kingdome of the Isles since time that Sumerleds son seized upon it MCLVIII Sumerled came to Man with a fleet of 53. saile put Godred to flight wasted the Iland Godred then crossed over to Norway to seek for aid against Sumerled MCLXIV Sumerled gathered together a fleet of 1060. ships and arrived at Rhinfrin coveting to subdue all Scotland But by the just judgement of God hee was vanquished by a few together with his sonne and an infinite number of people there slain The same yeere there was a field fought at Ramsae betweene Reginald brother of Godred and them of Man and by the deceitfull practice of a certaine Earle those of Man were put to flight Then Reginald began to reigne and on the fourth day after came Godred upon him out of Norway with a great multitude of armed men and tooke his brother Reginald whom he bereft both of his eyes and of his genitall members The same yeere died Malcolm King of Scotland and his brother William succeeded him in the kingdome MCLXVI Two Comets or blazing stars appeared before Sun-rising in the Moneth of August the one in the South the other in the North. MCLXXI Richard Earle of Penbrock sailed over into Ireland and subdued Develin with a great part of Ireland MCLXXVI John Curey conquered Ulster and Vivian Legate of the Apostolicke Sea came into Man and caused King Godred to bee lawfully espoused unto his wife Phingola daughter of Mac-Lotlen son to Murkartac King of Ireland to wit the mother of Olave then three yeers old Sylvan the Abbat married them unto whom the very same day Godred gave a piece of land at Miriscoge where he built a Monastery but at length the ground was together with the Monkes granted to the Abbey of Russin Reginald sonne to Eac-Marcat one of the royall blood comming into Man with a great band of men in the Kings absence at the first conflict put to flight certain warders that kept the shore and killed about 30. men Afterwards the Manksmen gathering their forces together the same day slew him and almost all his company MCLXXXIII O-Fogolt was Sheriffe of Man MCLXXXV There fell out to be an Eclipse of the Sun on Saint Philip and Jacobs day MCLXXXVII On the fourth Ides of November died Godred King of the Ilands and the next Summer was his body translated to the Isle of Hy. He left behind him three sonnes Reginald Olave and Tvar In his life he ordained his sonne Olave to be his heire because hee onely was borne in lawfull wedlock But the people of Man seeing that Olave was now scarce ten yeeres old sent for Reginald out of the Iles and set him up for their King MCLXXXVIII Reginald Godreds son began to raigne over the Ilands and Murchard a man of great power throughout all the kingdome of the Iles was slaine MCXCII A battell was fought betweene Reginald and Engus the sonnes of Sumerled but Engus won the victory The same yeere was the Abbey of Russin translated to Dufglas but after foure yeeres the Monks returned to Russin MCCIII Michael Bishop of the Isles died at Fontans after whom succeeded Nicolas MCCIV. Hugh Lacy came with an army into Ulster and gave John Curcy battell tooke him prisoner and conquered Ulster Afterward hee set John at liberty who came to King Reginald and he honourably entertained him because he was his brother in law for John Curcy had taken to wife Affrica Godreds daughter who founded the Abbey of S. Mary de Iugo Domini and was there buried MCCV. John Curcy and Reginald King of the Iles having entred into Ulster with one hundred ships in the haven which is called Stranford slackly besieged the fortresse of Rath but Walter Lacy comming upon them with an army put them to flight after this Curcy never recovered his land MCCX Engus Sumerleds son was with three of his sonnes slaine John King of England at the same time brought a navie of 500. saile to Ireland subdued it who sending a certaine Earle named Fulk unto Man in one fortnight and a day wholly in a manner wasted it and taking hostages returned thence into their country King Reginald and his Nobles were not in Man MCCXVII Nicolas Bishop of the Ilands departed this life and was buried in Ulster within the house of Benchor after whom succeeded Reginald Here I thinke good to write somewhat againe of Olave and Reginald Brethren REginald gave unto his brother Olave the I le called Lodhus which is said to be larger than the rest of the Ilands but slenderly inhabited because it stands much upon mountaines is stony besides and almost all unfit for tillage The inhabitants thereof live for the most part by hunting and fishing Olave therfore went to possesse himselfe of this Iland and dwelt in it leading a poore life And when he saw it would not suffice to maintaine himselfe and his army he came boldly unto his brother Reginald who then made his abode in the Ilands and spake unto him in this maner Brother saith hee my Soveraigne Lord the King thou knowest that the kingdome of the Ilands belonged unto me by inheritance but since the Lord hath elected thee to sway the Scepter thereof I envie thee not nor take it grievously that thou art exalted to that royall dignity Now thus much I heartily beseech thee that thou wouldest provide me some portion of land in the Iles wherein I may live honestly according to mine estate for the Iland Lodhus which thou gavest unto me is not sufficient to sustaine me Reginald his brother after he had given him the hearing said he would take counsell upon the point and the morrow after when Olave was sent for and came in place to parley of the matter Reginald commandeth
676 b Denbigh made a shire 677 e Depford 326 c Depenbach 603 c Deping 534 c Derlington 737 d Derwen a river 752 d Derwent a river 553 b Derwent fells 767 a Deorhirst 360 a Deorham or Derham 364 Dercoma 20 Derechel 21 Dereham 482 a Derchefu 21 Dert a river 201 d Dertinton 201 â— Dertmore 201 d Dertmouth 202 c Despencer a noble family 322 b Hugh le Despencer 267 c Despensers Barons 636 a Devi a river 258 Devy Bishop of Saint Davids 226 Deverril why so called 245 Dewsborrough 693 a Devonshire Earles 207 c Despotae 164 Dianaes chamber 426 a Digbies an ancient race 525 e Sir Everard Digby 525 f Alane de Dinant Baron of Burton 510 a Dimetae 647 Dimocks a worshipfull familie 535 f. 541 c Dimocks the Kings champions 541 c Dilston a town 808 b Dinevor Castle 649 â— Dinleys or Dingleys a familie 578 b Dishmarch 690 e Ditches or fore-senses in Cambridge shire 490 a Dinhams a family 395 f. 207 b or Dinants Aul. Didius Lievtenant in Britain 48 Dicalidones or Deucalidones rather why so called 117 Dignities ecclesiasticall how many in England 161 Diamonds in Cornwall 186 Diamonds or Diamants neere Bristoll 239 a. b Dictum 669 f Diganwy ibid. Diocesses under every severall Bishop 160 161 Disce or Dis a towne 472 e Distentâ—ns Gentlemen 766 f Disart Castle 680 b Dive a family 399 â— De Divisis a Monastery 513 e Division of Countries threefold 154 Divils or Devilsburne a river 808 b Divils or Devils dike 459 490 c Divils or Devils 609 c Divils or Devils bolts 701 b Divona 17 Divitiacus a mighty Prince 34 Dobuni 354. whence so named ibid. Dodo or Dudo an English Saxon 581 359 c Dod of S. Quintins a writer 142 Dodington 607 e Dogs of Britaine 263 d. 126. of Scotland S. Dogmael or S. Tehwell 654 d D'oilyes of Hoch Horton Barons 375 b Dologethle 665 e Dolphins 164 Doomesday booke 153 Domitian tormented with envie 61 Don or Dune a river 689 d S Donats Castle 643 e Dor a river 176 d Dormceaster 501 e Dormers knights 395 f. 396 a Dornford 501 e K. Dorne his pence 212 b Dorchester 384 b. 212 c Dorsetshire 209 Dorset Marquesses and Earles 217 c Dotterell a bird 443 c Dove or dow a river 587 b Dover 344 b Dover Castle ibid. Dovy a river 665 Dowbridge upon Watlingstreet 408 d Dowgate or dourgate in London 423 e Downes 313 d Downham 494 c Draicot a towne in Staffordshire and a family 587 e Dragons in Banners 195 Sir Francis Drake 200 e. where born ibid. his navigation ibid. Draiton 419 c Draiton in Shropshire 594 b Draiton Beauchamp 394 f Draiton Basset 581 f Draiton in Northamptonshire 510 b Drax a village 707 e Driby a towne and family 542 c Driffield 711 d Droit-wich or Durtwich 574 e Dropping well 700 a Druidae 4 12 13 14 the Etymologie of their name 14 Druidae in Britain did service in war 49. they held one God 68 Druidae seated in Anglesey 671 d Drumbough castle 775 c Druries a family 461 e Drystocke 325 e Duddensand 754 f Dudden a river 581 c Ambrose Dudley Earle of Warwicke 571 a Iohn Dudley Earle of Warwicke beheaded ibid. Dudleys 280 e Iohn Dudley duke of Northumberland his stile and demeanor 821 e f Rob. Dudley Earle of Leicester 524 b Dulcitius a redoubted captaine 80 Dulverton 220 c Duina first Bishop of Lichfield 585 d Duglesse a riveret 749 c Dun a notorious theefe 402 d Dunbriton frith 56 Dunham 610 c Dunmaw 444 e Dunnington 521 f. 567 c Dunstable 402 a. the crosse there ibid. Dunster castle 220 d Dunstan Abbot 227 d Dunstan putteth downe married Priests 576 b. 243 d Dunstaburg 813 e Dunsley 718 d Dunseavill 243 Dunum 21 247 Dunwich 466 c. a Bishops See ibid. Dunus Sinus 718 d Iohn Duns alias Scotus 814 b Durobrivae 501 e Dur and Dour beginnings and terminations of places what they signifie 209 d Durham citie 739 e Durham Colledge in Oxford founded 381 f. reedified 383 Durham Bishopricke a County Palatine 736 a Dursley 364 c Durance an house of the Wroths 437 e Durocobrivae 413 e Durnovaria what it signifieth 212 â— Durosiponte 491 d Durotriges whence derived 209 Dû what colour 26 Dutton a place and worthy family 602 f Dwr 20 Dux Britanniae 76 Dux or Duke what title of honor 164. under a Count or Comes ib. Dux and Comes the same ibid. Dux or Duke a title of charge ib. a title of honour 165 Dukes investure or creation ibid. Dukes hereditary ibid. E EAdburga a Lady professed religions 395 c Eadburton a towne ibid. Eadelmton or Edmunton 437 d King Eadgar stiled Monarch of whole Albion his triumph 605 b K. Eadgar the peaceable 130 a Eadred stiled King of Great Britain 139 a Ealburg 701 e Ealdermen 164 Ealphage a learned Priest married 201 b Ealpheg Archbishop of Canterbury executed 326 d Earle what title of honour 165 Earles by office 502 c Earles or Eorles hereditary 166 Earles how created ibid. Earle Apostolicall 239 e Earle Imperiall ibid. Earles Coln 450 d Earles dike 714 d Earth 155 Earth turning wood into stone 401 e Earth a rampier in Cornwall 189 Easton Nesse 467 a East-riding 709 East-Angles 456 458 Eaton in Bedfordshire 401 a Earth by divers occasions altered 1 Eatons what they be 63 Eaye 467 f Saint Ebba an holy virgin 743 a Ebchester ib. Ebissa 128 Eboracum or Eburacum that is Yorke why so called 702 d Eccles 478 e Eccleshall 584 c Ecclesiasticall livings hereditarie 595 f Echingham Baron 320 Eclipses of the Sunne in Aries disasterous to Shrewsbury 598 a Edelfleda or Elfleda a noble Ladie 610 d Eden a river 776 760 c Edenborgh frith 56 Edgecombs 193 Edge an hill 561 b Edgar Eathling or Aethling 146 Edindon 244 e Edith virgin a Saint 582 b Edith King Eadgars daughter 246 d Edith a Lady professed 395 c Edmund of Langley his devise and presage 510 Edmund Crouchbacke King of Sicily deluded by the Pope 756 b K. Edmunds martyrdome 467 Saint Edmund a most Christian King and martyr 460 c S. Edmunds liberty 459 c S. Edmunds bury ibid. S. Edmunds dike 490 f Edmund King of England piteously slaine 364 a K. Edmund Ironside 143 Edmund of Woodstocke Earle of Kent 353 a Edrick Streona 595 d Edrick Sylvaticus 624 e K. Edward the Confessour where borne 377 a Edward Confessour 143 b Edward Earle of Warwicke beheaded 670 e Edward the First King of England his praises 776 a Edwardston 463 a K. Edward the Second entombed 361 a. murdered 363 b K. Edward the Third his vertues 297 d. a most renowned Prince 278 Edwin the Prince made away by his brother Athelstan 213 e Egbert calleth his kingdom England 138. vanquisheth the Danes 143 Effingham 296 f Egelricke a wealthy Bishop of Durham 742 Egertons whence descended 603 Egleston 736 e Egremond an arch-rebell 724 d Egremont castle 766 a The Eight 360 b Eimot a river 762
Surrey Iohn Holland Earle of Huntingdon late Duke of Excester Iohn Montacute Earle of Salisbury Thomas de Spenser Earle of Glocester and others who being by him dispoiled of their honors and maligning his usurpation conspired to take away his life and here by the townesmen intercepted were some of them slaine outright and others beheaded The river Churne when it hath left Circester behinde him six miles neere to Dounamveny an ancient seate of the Hungerfords joyneth with Isis. For ISIS commonly called Ouse that it might bee by originall of Glocester-shire hath his head there and with lively springs floweth out of the South border of this shire nere unto Torleton an upland Village not farre from that famous Port-way called the Fosse This is that Isis which afterwards entertaineth Tame and by a compound word is called Tamisis Soveraigne as it were of all the Britain Rivers in Britaine of which a man may well and truely say as ancient Writers did of Euphrates in the East part of the World that it doth both Sow and Water the best part of Britaine The poeticall description of whose Source or first head I have heere put downe out of a Poem entituled The Marriage of Tame and Isis which whether you admit or omit it skilleth but little Lanigeros quà lata greges Cotswaldia pascit Crescit in colles faciles visura Dobunos Haud procul à Fossa longo spelunca recessu Cernitur abrupti surgente crepidine clivi Cujus inauratis resplendent limina tophis Atria tegit ebur tectúmque Gagate Britanno Emicat alterno solidantur pumice postes Materiam sed vincit opus cedúntque labori Artifici tophus pumex ebur atque Gagates Pingitur hinc vitrei moder atrix Cynthia regni Passibus obliquis volventia sydera lustrans Oceano tellus conjuncta marita marito Illinc caelatur fraternáque flumina Ganges Nilus Amazonius tractúsque binominis Istri Vicini Rheni sed his intermicat auro Vellere Phrixaeâ— dives redimitáque spicis Clara triumphatis erecta BRITANNIA Gallis c. Vndoso hîc solio residet regnator aquarum ISIS fluminea qui majestate verendus Caeruleo gremio â—esupinat prodigus urnam Intonsos crines iâ—vis arundine cinctus Cornua cana liquâ—nt fluitantia lumina lymphis Dispergunt lucem propexa in pectore barba Tota madet toto distillant corpore guttae Et salientis aquae prorumpunt undique venae Pisciculi liquidis penetralibus undique ludunt Plurimus cygnus niveis argenteus alis Pervolitat circum c. Where Cotswald spred abroad doth lie and feed faire flocks of sheepe And Dobunes for to see in downes ariseth nothing steepe Within a nouke along not much the Fosse and it betweene Just at the rising of a banke upright a Cave is seene Whereof the entry glistereth with soft stones richly guilt The Haull is seel'd with Ivory the roufe aloft ybuilt Of Geat the best that Britaine yeelds The pillers very strong With Pumish laid each other course are raised all along The stuffe full faire yet Art doth it surpasse and to the feate Of Artisan give place the gold stones Yv'ry and Geat Heere painted is the Moone that rules the Sea like Chrystall Glasse As she through rolling Signes above with traverse course doth passe And there againe enchaced are both land and Ocean wide Conjoyn'd as man and wife in one with Rivers great beside Like brethren all as Ganges rich strange Nilus Tanais Yea and the course of Ister large which double named is Of Rhene also a neighbour streame And heere bedight in gold Among them glitt'reth Britanny with riches manifold Of golden fleece a Coronet of Wheat-eares she doth weare And for her triumph over France her head aloft doth reare c. In waving Throne heere sits the King of waters all and some ISIS who in that Majestie which Rivers doth become All rev'rend from his watchet lap powr's forth his streame amaine With weed and reed his haires tuckt up that grow both long and plaine His hoary hornes distilling runne with water stand his eyes And shoot from them a lustre farre his kembed beard likewise Downe to the brest wet-through doth reach his body drops againe All over and on every side breakes out some water veine In secret watrish room 's within the little fishes play And many a silver Swan besides his white wings doth display And flutter round about c. As touching the Earles of Glocester some there be who have thrust upon us one William Fitz-Eustace for the first Earle who this was I have not yet found and I verily beleeve hee is yet unborne But that which I have found I will not conceale from the Reader About the comming in of the Normans wee reade that one Bithricke an English Saxon was Lord of Glocester whom Maud wife to William Conquerour upon a secret rankor and hatred conceived against him for his contempt of her beauty for Bithrick had before time refused to marry her troubled and molested most maliciously And when shee had at length cast him in Prison Robert Fitz-Haimon Lord of Corboile in Normandy was by the King endowed with his possessions who in a battaile having received a wound with the push of a pike upon the temples of his head had his wits crackt therewith and survived a good while after as a man bestraught and madde His daughter Mabil whom others name Sibill Robert the base sonne of King Henry the First by the intercession of his father obtained for his wife but not before he had made him Earle of Glocester This is hee who is called commonly by Writers The Consull of Glocester A man of an haughty valorous minde and undaunted heart as any one in that age and who being never dejected with any adversity wanne great praise for his fidelity and worthy exploits in the behalfe of his sister Maude the Empresse against Stephen then usurping the Crowne of England This honourable Title left he unto his son William who dejected with comfortlesse griefe when death had deprived him of his onely son and heire assured his estate with his eldest daughter to Iohn son to King Henry the Second with certaine provisoes for his other daughters Yet his three daughters brought this Earldome into as many families For Iohn when he had obtained the Kingdome repudiated her upon pretenses as well that she was barren as that they were within prohibited degrees of consanguinity and reserving the Castle of Bristow to himselfe after some time passed over his repudiated wife with the Honor of Glocester to Geffrey Mandevil son of Geffrey Fitz Peter Earle of Essex for 20000. markes who thus over-marrying himselfe was greatly impoverished and wounded in Tournament died soone after issuelesse and she being remarried to Hubert of Burgh died immediately Then K. Iohn upon an exchange granted the Earldome of Glocester to Almary Earle of Eureux son to the eldest daughter of the foresaid E.
that the place tooke that name of later time by farre from Guy Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke and certaine it is that Richard Beauchamp Earle of Warwicke built Saint Margarets Chappell heere and erected a mighty and giantlike statue of stone resembling the said Guy Avon now runneth downe from Warwicke with a fuller streame by Charle-cot the habitation of the renowned ancient family of the Lucies knights which place long agoe descended hereditarily to them from the Charlecots who upon a pious and devout minde founded a religious House at Thellisford for entertainment of poore folke and Pilgrims For that little River was called Thelley which by Compton Murdacke the possession sometime of the Murdackes and now of the Vernaies Knights and by this Thellisford goeth into Avon which within a while runneth hard by Stratford a proper little mercate towne beholden for all the beauty that it hath to two men there bred and brought up namely John of Stratford Archbishop of Canterbury who built the Church and Sir Hugh Clopton Major of London who over Avon made a stone Bridge supported with foureteene Arches not without exceeding great expenses This Hugh was a younger brother out of that ancient family which from Clopton a Manour adjoyning borrowed this sirname since the time that Walter de Cocksfeld called Knight Mareschall setled and planted both himselfe and his successours at Clopton The inheritance of these Cloptons is in our time descended to two sisters coheires the one of which is married to Sir George Carew knight Vice chamberlaine to our most gracious Lady Queen Anne whom King James hath entituled Baron Carew of Clopton and whom I am the more willing to name with honour in this respect if there were none other for that hee is a most affectionate lover of venerable antiquity Neither seeth Avon any other memorable thing upon his bankes but Bitford a Mercate Towne and some Country Villages being now ready to enter into Worcester-shire Now let us enter into the Woodland which beyond the River Avon spreadeth it selfe Northward much larger in compasse than the Feldon and is for the most part thicke set with Woods and yet not without pastures corne fields and sundry mines of Iron This part as it is at this day called Woodland so also it was in old time knowne by a more ancient name Arden but in the selfesame sense and signification as I thinke For it seemeth that Arden among the ancient Britans and Gaules signified a Wood considering that we see a very great Wood in France named ARDEN a Towne in Flanders hard by another Wood called Ardenburg and that famous Wood or Forest in England by a clipped word likewise cleped DEN to say nothing of that DIANA which in the ancient inscriptions of Gaule is sirnamed ARDVVENA and ARDOINA that is if I doe not mis-conceive Of the Wood and was the same Diana which in the inscriptions of Italy went under the name of NEMORENSIS Of this Forest Turkill of Arden who flourished heere in all honour under King Henry the First tooke his name and his offspring which was of great worship and reputation spred very much over all England for many yeeres successively ensuing In the West side of this Country the River Arrow maketh haste to joyne himselfe in society with Avon by Studly Castle belonging sometime to John the sonne of Corbutio But whether this River Arrow tooke name of swiftnesse as Tigris in Mesopotamia for Arrow with us like as Tigris among the Persians betokeneth a shaft or contrariwise of the still streame and slow course which Ar in the old French and British Tongue implied let other men looke who have better observed the nature of this River Upon this River standeth Coughton the principall mansion house of the Throckmortons a family of Knights degree which being spred into a number of faire branches and fruitfull of fine wits flourished in this tract especially ever since they matched in marriage with the daughter and heire of Speney Not farre from hence is Ousley which also was in ancient time well knowne by the Lords thereof the Butlers Barons of Wem from whom it was devolved hereditarily to the Ferrars of Ousley Whose inheritance within a short time was divided betweene John Lord of Greistocke and Sir Raulph Nevill Beneath it upon Arrow standeth Beauchamps-Court so named of Baron Beauchamp of Powicke from whom by the onely daughter of Edward Willoughbey sonne to Robert Willoughbey Baron Broke it came to Sir Foulque Grevill a right worshipfull person both for his Knights degree and for kinde courtesie whose only sonne carrying likewise the same name hath consecrated himselfe so to true Vertue and Nobility that in nobility of minde he farre surmounteth his parentage and unto whom for his exceeding great deserts toward me although my heart is not able either to expresse or render condigne thankfulnesse yet in speech will I ever render thankes and in silence acknowledge my selfe most deepely endebted Under this Towne there runneth into Arrow the River Alâ—e which holding on his course through the woods passeth under Henley a prety mercate towne a Castle joyning whereunto belonged the Family of the Mont-forts being Noblemen of great name which for the pleasant situation among the Woods they called by a French name Bell-desert but this together with the ruines is now buried quite and scant to be seene at all These were descended not from the Almarian Family of the Mont-sorts of France but from Turstan de Bastanberg a Norman whose inheritance passed away at length by the daughters unto the Barons of Sudley and to the Frevills In the very place where Arrow and this Alne doe meete together we saw Aulcester by Matthew Paris called and that more rightly Allencester which the inhabitants affirme to have beene a most famous and ancient Towne and thereupon they will have the name to be Ouldcester This as we reade in an old Inquisition was a Frank-burogh of our Lord King Henry the First and the same King gave that Burogh to Robert Corbet for his service and when the said Robert died it came by descent to Sir William of Botereux and to Sir Peter Fitz-Herbert and when William of Botereux dyed the moity of that Burogh fell by descent into the hand of Sir Reginald of Botereux as to the heire who now holdeth it and when Peter Fitz-Herbert died that moity descended into the hand of Herbert the sonne of Peter which Herbert gave it to Sir Robert de Chaundoys But now it is decaied and of a very great Towne become a small Mercate of wares and trade Howbeit exceeding much frequented for the Corne Faire there holden This hath for a neere neighbour Arrow according to the name of the River whose Lord Thomas Burdet for his dependance upon George Duke of Clarence words unadvisedly uttered and hardly construed through the iniquity of the time lost his life But by his grand daughter
married to Edward Conway brother to Sir Hugh Conway of Wales a gracious favourite of King Henry the Seventh the knightly Family of the Conwaies have ever since flourished and laudably followed the profession of Armes But East from the river and higher among the Woods which now begin to grow thin stand these townes under named Wroxhall where Hugh de Hatton founded a little Priory Badesley belonging in times past to the Clintons now to the Ferrars Also Balshall sometimes a Commandery of the Templars which Roger de Mowbray gave unto them whose liberality to the order of Templars was so great that by a common consent in their Chapiter they made a decree that himselfe might remit and pardon any of the brotherhood whomsoever in case hee had trespassed against the statutes and ordinances of that Order and did withall before him acknowledge the crime yea and the Knights of the Order of Saint Iohn of Ierusalem unto whom the Templars possessions in England were assigned over for our Ancestours in those daies held it a deadly sinne to prophane things consecrated to God granted in token of thankfulnesse unto Iohn Mowbray of Axholme the successour of the foresaid Roger that himselfe and his successours in every of their Covents and assemblies should be received and entertained alwaies in the second place next unto the King More North-east where wilde Brookes meeting together make a broad poole among the Parkes and so soone as they are kept in with bankes runne in a Chanell is seated Kenelworth in times past commonly called Kenelworde but corruptly Killingworth and of it taketh name a most ample beautifull and strong Castle encompassed all about with Parkes which neither Kenulph nor Kenelm ne yet Keneglise built as some doe dreame but Geffrey Clinton Chamberlaine unto King Henry the First and his sonne with him as may be shewed by good evidences when he had founded there before a Church for Chanons Regular But Henry his Nephew in the second degree having no issue sold it unto King Henry the Third who gave it in franke marriage to Simon Montfort Earle of Leicester together with his sister Aeleonor And soone after when enmity was kindled betweene the King and Earle Simon and hee slaine in the bloody warres which he had raised upon faire pretexts against his Soveraigne it endured six moneths fiege and in the end was surrendred up to the king aforesaid who annexed this Castle as an inheritance to Edmund his sonne Earle of Lancaster At which time there went out and was proclaimed from hence an Edict which our Lawyers use to call Dictum de Kenelworth whereby it was enacted That whosoever had tooke Armes against the King should pay every one of them five yeeres rent of their lands c. A severe yet a good and wholsome course without effusion of bloud against rebellious subjects who compassing the destruction of the State built all their hopes upon nothing else but dissentions But this Castle through the bountifull munificence of Queene Elizabeth was given and granted to Robert Dudleie Earle of Leicester who to repaire and adorne it spared for no coste in so much as if a man consider either the gallant building or the large Parkes it would scorne as it were to be ranged in a third place amongst the Castles in England Next after this to keepe on the journey that my selfe made I saw Solyhill but in it setting aside the Church there is nothing worth sight Then Bremicham full of Inhabitants and resounding with hammers and anvils for the most of them are Smiths The lower part thereof standeth very waterish the upper riseth with faire buildings for the credite and praise whereof I may not reckon this in the last place that the Noble and martiall Family of the Bremichams Earles of Louth c. in Ireland fetched their originall and name from hence Then in the utmost skirt of this Shire North-westward Sutton Colfield standing in a woody and on a churlish hard Soile glorieth of John Voisy Bishop of Excester there borne and bred who in the Raigne of king Henry the Eighth when this little Towne had lien a great while as dead raised it up againe with buildings priviledges and a Grammar Schoole As I went downe from hence Southward I came to Coleshull a Towne sometime of the Clintons and to Maxstocke Castle neighbouring to it which acknowledged by a continuall line of hereditary succession for his Lords the Limseies who were also Lords of Wolverley the Odingsells that came out of Flanders and the Clitons men of greatest worth and worship in their times Lower yet in the mids of this Woodland standeth Coventrey so called as we take it of a Covent of Monkes considering that we terme in our tongue such a brotherhood a Covent and Coven and it is oftentimes in our Histories and Pontificall Decrees named Coventria as for example in this one passage Vel non est compos sui Episcopus Conventrensis vel nimis videtur à se scientiam repulisse Yet there be that would have this name to be taken from that little Brooke that runneth within the City at this day called Shirburn and in an ancient Charter of the Priory is written Cuentford Well whence so ever it was so called in the foregoing age growing wealthy by clothing and making of Caps it was the onely Mart and City of trade in all these parts frequented also and peopled more than ordinarily a midland place as being a City very commodiously seated large sweet and neat fortified with strong Walles and set out with right goodly houses among which there rise up on high two Churches of rare workmanship standing one hard by the other and matched as it were as concurrents the one consecrated to the Holy Trinity the other to Saint Michael Yet hath it nothing within it that one would say is of great antiquity And the most ancient monument of all as it may seeme was the Monastery or Priory the ruines whereof I saw neere unto those Churches which Priory king Canutus founded first for religious Nunnes who when they were within a while after throwne out in the yeere 1043 Leofricke Earle of the Mercians enlarged and in manner built anew with so great a shew and bravery of gold and silver these be the very words of William Malmesbury that the wals seemed too narrow for to receive the treasure of the Church and the coste bestowed there was wonderfull to as many as beheld it for out of one beame were scraped 50. Markes of silver And he endowed it with so great livings that Robert de Limseie Bishop of Lichfield and Chester translated his See hither as it were to the golden sand of Lydia to the end for so writeth the said Malmesbury that out of the very treasure of the Church hee might by stealth convey wherewith to fill the Kings hand wherewith to avoid the Popes businesse and wherewith to satisfie the greedinesse of the
or Band of the Exploratores with their Captaine kept their station heere under the dispose of the Generall of Britaine as appeareth for certaine out of the NOTICE of Provinces where it is named LAVATRES But whereas such Bathes as these were called also in Latine Lavacra some Criticke no doubt will pronounce that this place was named LAVATRAE in stead of LAVACRA yet would I rather have it take the name of a little river running neere by which as I heare say is called Laver. As for the later name Bowes considering the old Towne was heere burnt downe to the ground as the inhabitants with one voice doe report I would thinke it grew upon that occasion For that which is burnt with fire the Britans still at this day doe terme Boeth and by the same word the Suburbes of Chester beyond the River Dee which the Englishmen call Hanbridge the Britans or Welshmen name Treboeth that is The burnt Towne because in a tumult of the Welshmen it was consumed with fire Heere beginneth to rise that high hilly and solitary Country exposed to winde and raine which because it is stony is called in our native language Stane more All heere round about is nothing but a wilde Desert unlesse it bee an homely Hostelry or Inne in the very middest thereof called The Spitle on Stane more for to entertaine waifaring persons and neere to it is a fragment of a Crosse which wee call Rerecrosse the Scots Reicrosse as one would say The Kings Crosse. Which Crosse Hector Boetius the Scottish Writer recordeth to have beene erected as a meere stone confining England and Scotland what time as King William the Conquerour granted Cumberland unto the Scots on this condition that they should hold it of him as his Tenants and not attempt any thing prejudiciall or hurtfull to the Crowne of England And a little lower upon the Romanes high street there stood a little Fort of the Romans built foure square which at this day they call Maiden-Castle From whence as the borderers reported the said High way went with many windings in and out as farre as to Caer Vorran in Northumberland There have beene divers Earles of Richmond according as the Princes favour enclined and those out of divers families whom I will notwithstanding set downe as exactly and truely as I can in their right order The first Earles were out of the house of little Britaine in France whose descent is confusedly intricate amongst their owne Writers for that there were two principall Earles at once one of Haulte Britaine and another of Base Britaine for many yeeres and every one of their children had their part in Gavell kinde and were stiled Earles of Britaine without distinction But of these the first Earle of Richmond according to our Writers and Records was Alane sirnamed Feregaunt that is The Red sonne of Hoel Earle of Britaine descended from Hawise great Aunt to William Conquerour who gave this Country unto him by name of the lands of Earle Eadwin in Yorke-shire and withall bestowed his daughter upon him by whom he had no issue He built Richmond Castle as is before specified to defend himselfe from disinherited and outlawed Englishmen in those parts and dying left Britaine to his sonne Conan Le Grosse by a second wife But Alane the Blacke sonne of Eudo sonne of Geffrey Earle of Britaine and Hawise aforesaid succeeded in Richmond and he having no childe lest it to Stephen his brother This Stephen begat Alan sirnamed Le Savage his sonne and successour who assisted king Stephen against Maude the Empresse in the battaile at Lincolne and married Bertha one of the heires of Conan Le Grosse Earle of Hault Britaine by whom hee had Conan Le Petit Earle of both Britaine 's by hereditary right as well as of Richmond Hee by the assistance of King Henrie the Second of England dispossessed Endo Vicount of Porhoet his Father in Lawe who usurped the Title of Britaine in right of the said Bertha his Wife and ended his life leaving onely one daughter Constance by Margaret sister to Malcolne king of the Scots Geffrey third Sonne to King Henry the Second of England was advanced by his Father to the marriage of the said Constance whereby hee was Earle of Britaine and Richmond and begat of her Arthur who succeeded him and as the French write was made away by King Iohn his Unkle True it is indeed that for this cause the French called King Iohn into question as Duke of Normandy And notwithstanding he was absent and not heard once to plead neither confessing ought nor convicted yet by a definitive sentence they condemned him and awarded from him Normandy and his hereditary possessions in France Albeit himselfe had promised under safe conduct to appeare in personally at Paris there to make answere as touching the death of Arthur who as a Liege subject had bound himselfe by oath to bee true and loyall unto him and yet started backe from his allegeance raised a rebellion and was taken prisoner in battaile At which time this question was debated whether the Peeres of France might give judgement of a King annointed and therefore superiour considering that a greater dignity drowneth the lesser and now one and the same person was both King of England and Duke of Normandy But whither doe I digresse After Arthur these succeeded orderly in the Earldome of Richmond Guy Vicount of Thovars unto whom the foresaid Constance was secondly married Ranulph the third Earle of Chester the third husband of the said Constance Peter of Dreux descended from the bloud royall of France who wedded Alice the onely daughter of Constance by her husband abovenamed Guy Then upon dislike of the house of Britaine Peter of Savoy Unkle by the mothers side unto Eleonor the wife of king Henry the Third was made Earle of Richmond who for feare of the Nobles and Commons of England that murmured against strangers preferred to honours in England voluntarily surrendred up this Honour which was restored to Iohn Earle of Britaine sonne to Peter of Dreux After whom succeeded Iohn his sonne the first Duke of Britaine who wedded Beatrice daughter to Henry the Third King of England Whose sonne Arthur was Duke of Britaine and as some write Earle of Richmond Certes John of Britaine his younger brother immediately after the fathers death bare this honourable Title And he added unto the ancient Armes of Drewx with the Canton of Britaine the Lions of England in Bordeur Hee was Guardian of Scotland under King Edward the Second and there taken and detained prisoner for three yeeres space and dyed at length without issue in the Raigne of Edward the Third And John Duke of Britaine his nephew the sonne of Arthur succeeded in this Earledome After his decease without children when there was hote contention about the Dutchy of Britaine betweene John Earle of Montfort of the halfe bloud and Joane his brothers daughter and heire
of the whole bloud marryed to Charles of Bloys King Edward the Third affecting the said John Earle of Montfort and to strengthen his owne party in France favoured the Title of the said John Earle of Montfort for that he was a man and neerer in degree and therefore seemed to have better right and to bee preferred before his Niece to whom the Parliament of France had adjudged it and which is more for that he sware fealty to him as King of France for the Dutchy of Britaine In these respects he granted the Earldome of Richmond unto the said Iohn untill he might recover his owne possessions in France which being soone after recovered by aide of the English the said King bestowed it upon Iohn of Gaunt his sonne And he afterward surrendred it againe into the King his fathers hands for other possessions Who forthwith created Iohn Earle of Montfort Duke of Britaine sirnamed The valiant Earle of Richmond unto whom hee had given his daughter to wife that thereby hee might more surely oblige unto him a warlique person and then ill affected to the French But in the fourth yeere of Richard the Second he by authority of the Parliament forfaited his Earldome because he adhered unto the French King against England howbeit hee kept still the bare Title and left it unto his posterity But the possession was granted to Dame Ioane of Britaine his sister and the widdow of Ralph Lord Basset of Draiton After her decease first Ralph Nevill Earle of Westmorland had the Castle and Earldome of Richmond for the tearme of his owne life by the gift of King Henry the Fourth And after him Iohn Duke of Bedford Then king Henry the Sixth conferred the Title of Earle of Richmond upon Edmund of Hadham his halfe brother by the mothers side with this speciall and peculiar prerogative To take his place in Parliament next unto Dukes After him succeeded Henry his sonne who was King of England by the name of Henry the Seventh But during his exile George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Glocester received the Signiory of Richmond but not the Title from their brother king Edward the Fourth Last of all Henry the base sonne of king Henry the Eighth was by his father invested Duke of Richmond who departed this life without issue 1535. As for Sir Thomas Grey who was made Baron of Richmount by king Henry the Sixth was not Lord of this Richmond but of a place in Bedfordshire called Rugemound and Richmount Greies There are contained in this Shire Parishes 104. beside Chappels BISHOPRICK OF DVRHAM THe Bishopricke of Durham or Duresme bordering on the North side upon Yorke-shire is shaped in fashion of a triangle the utmost angle whereof is made up toward the West where the Northren limit and the Spring-head of Tees doe meete One of the sides which lieth Southward is bounded in with the continued course of the river Tees running downe along by it the other that looketh Northward is limited first with a short line from the utmost point to the river Derwent then with Derwent it selfe untill it hath taken unto it Chopwell a little river and afterward with the river Tine The Sea coast fashioneth out the Base of the Triangle which lieth Eastward and the German Ocean with a mighty roaring and forcible violence beareth thereupon On that part where it gathereth narrow to the Westerne angle the fields are naked and barren the woods very thin the hills bare without grasse but not without mynes of iron As for the Vallies they are reasonably grassie and that high hill which I termed the Apennine of England cutteth in twain this angle But on the East part or Base of the Triangle as also on both sides the ground being well manured is very fruitful and the increase yeeldeth good recompence for the husbandmans toile it is also well garnished with meddowes pastures and corn-fields beset everywhere with townes and yeelding plenty of Sea coale which in many places we use for fewell Some will have this coale to be an earthy black Bitumen others to be Gagates and some againe the Lâ—pis Thracius all which that great Philosopher in Minerals George Agricola hath prooved to be one and the same thing Surely this of ours is nothing else but Bitumen or a clammy kind of cley hardned with heat under the earth and so throughly concocted For it yeeldeth the smell of Bitumen and if water bee sprinkled upon it it burneth more vehemently and the cleerer but whether it may bee quenched with oile I have not yet tried And if the Stone called Obsidianus be in our country I would take that to bee it which is found in other places of England and commonly called Canole cole For it is hard bright light and somewhat easie to be cloven piece meale into flakes and being once kindled it burneth very quickly But let us leave these matters to those that search more deeply into Natures closets All this country with other territories also thereto adjoyning the Monasticall writers tearme the Land or Patrimonie of Saint Cuthbert For so they called whatsoever belonged to the Church of Durham whereof S. Cuthbert was the Patron who in the primitive state of the English Church being Bishop of Lindefarn led all his life in such holinesse and so sincerely that he was enrolled among the English Saints Our kings also and Peeres of the Realme because they verily perswaded themselves that he was their Tutelar Saint and Protectour against the Scots went not onely in Pilgrimage with devotion to visite his body which they beleeved to have continued still found and uncorrupt but also gave very large possessions to this Church and endowed the same with many immunities King Edgfride bestowed upon Cuthbert himselfe whiles he lived great revenewes in the very City of Yorke and Creake also whereof I spake and the City Luguballia as wee reade in the History of Durham King Aelfred and Guthrun the Dane whom hee made Lieutenant of Northumberland gave afterwards all the Lands betweene the Rivers Were and Tine unto Cuthbert and to those who ministred in his Church to have and to hold for ever as their rightfull Possession These bee the very words in effect of an ancient Booke whence they might have sufficient maintenance to live upon and not be pinched with poverty over and besides they ordeined his Church to bee a safe Sanctuary for all fugitives that whosoever for any cause fled unto his Corps should have peaceable being for 37. daies and the same liberty never for any occasion to bee infringed or denyed Edward and Athelstan Kings Knute also or Canutus the Dane who came on his bare feete to Cuthberts Tombe not onely confirmed but enlarged also these liberties In like manner King William the Conquerour since whose time it hath alwayes beene deemed a County Palatine yea and some of the Bishops as Counts Palatine have engraven in their seales a Knight or man at armes in compleat harnesse sitting