both Naval and Land supplies to his Enemies and entertaining such as run from him took up a resolution to make the Puissance of Rome known to these Islanders which being discovered by Merchants some particular States sent Ambassadors to him promising to put in Pledges and yeild obedience to the Roman Empire Caesar commending their Prudence and exherting them to continue in the same mind sends them back with Comius in their company whom he had made King of Artois giving him instructions to work them to a suller submission and prepare them to give him a quiet admission with his forces into their Countrey Hereupon the British Princes joyn to oppose him of whom Geffrey nameth these Caswallan Androgeus and Tenerantius with Crederus King of Albania Guitellus of Venedotia and Britael of Demetia Lhud as he writes though falsely was dead some years before and therefore is not here mentioned and King Belinus as I said before is only brought in to be his Son's General Caesar having gained what knowledge he could of the British coast from C. Volusenus whom he had sent out to descry it embarques two Legions in eighty Ships of burthen and some Gallies and endeavours to land in Kent Here Dolobellus General to King Belinus as appears by Nennius who calls him his Proconful stood ready to receive him and performed his part so bravely that the noble Roman confessed the terror of such resolute opposition made his Veteran Soldiers forget their wonted valour But in the end they gained the Shore and put the Britans to flight with extraordinary slaughter In Caesar â—â— Caesar is brought in by Julian attributing to himself the honour if it be at all an honour to that person which he suâ—â—ained of being the first that left his Ship and 〈◊〉 Land but this were to make him not understand what became him and he acknowledges it was the Eagle-bearer of the tenth Legion Lib. 4. de bello Galliâ—â—o Caesar marching forwards encamps upon a great Plain supposed to be Barham-Down where he beheld the dispersion and loss of a considerable part of his Flect by the violence of an unexpected storm Comius found not such entertainment as he expected being imprisoned as a Spy by the Britans who were wise enough to perceive that the Romans aimed at more than they should be willing to grant yet finding by the late conflict that there was an apparent inequality in the match between the Roman and Britain Arms and discipline they judged it convenient to make their best termes and submit to which end they dispatcht Ambassadors to him and with them sent back Comius thinking by the one to moderate his anger and by the other in consequence to procure a peace which they obtained the â—aslier by reason of the late Wrack and the approach of Winter yet were enjoyned to deliver Hostages But understanding his want of Horsemen and the losses he had sustamed by the Tempest they took courage again and slew to Arms. About a thousand Horsemen were coming after him in eighteen Ships which being got within view of the Camp were driven by a sudden storm some back to the Gallick coast others upon the Western part of the Island from whence they had much adoe to recover the Continent again and those Ships that were with him fared as ill for the Gallies which were drawn up to the Shore were filled with the Tide and the Ships of burden that lay at Anchor were so shaken with the Tempest that they were almost rendred unserviceable The seventh Legion being sent out to fetch in Corn was set upon by the Britans and in danger of being cut off if Caesar had not seasonably come to the rescue who contenting himself with putting his Enemies to a stand considering it was not now a fit time to offer Battel while his men were scarce recovered of so late a fear only keeps his ground for a while and soon after returns to his Camp The Britans giving themselves out for Victors sent straight to all the neigbouring States for more forces and getting together a great multitude drew towards the Romans but Caesar encouraging his Soldiers received these Guests with a battel before his Camp put them to rout with slaughter and burnt and laid wast all round about Daunted with this ill success they again crave peace which he granted them but withal severely reproved them for their breach of faith and imposed a double number of Hostages to be sent after him into Gaul whither the season of the year required him to hasten so that all his Ships but twelve being by this time made able to abide the Sea by incessant labour of the Soldiers he hoisted sail about midnight and arrived safely with all but eleven Ships of burden upon the Continent these not keeping their course landed at a Port of the Morini who would have put them to the sword in hopes of prey if Caesar hearing of their peril had not sent his Horsemen to fetch them off The Senate advertised of these passages by his Letters decreed a solemn Procession and Supplication of twenty dayes and himself ordering Labienus to chastise the rebellious Morini went to Rome as he used to do every Winter to look after his concernments there About this time died King Belinus having reigned forty years yet did not his death hinder the Britans from celebrating a solemn Festival in Trinovant for joy of Caesar's departure But here fell out an unlucky accident which proved of very ill consequence As the Youth were exercising themselves at Martial sports it chanced that two young Noblemen fell out the one named Hireldas is by Geffrey of Monmouth said to be Nophew to Caswallan the other named Evelinus to Mandubratius Henry of Huntington saith they were their Sons In this quarrel Hireldas was slain by Evelinus whem Caswallan would therefore have had to be put to death but Mandubratius prevailed with his Father Immanuentius to protect him Caswallan thought it too difficult a matter to contest at that time with his Brother in his own Royal City he departs therefore but quickly returns with strong Forces which he had in readiness kills Immanuentius seizes the greatest part of his Kingdom and compells Mandubratius to flee for safety of his life into Gaul Nennius who adhered so saithfully to him in his war against the Romans may seem likely to have sided with him now there being a grudg between him and Immanuentius for going about to change the name of Trinovant to Caer Lud as the * Lib. 1. cap. 10. Monmouth Writer tells us These proceedings of Caswallan allarm'd the Neighbour-States who thereupon took up Arms against him And thus were the Britans embroiled in Civil wars not fearing belike Caesar's return whose hasty departure they looked upon as little better than flight and thought he was as desirous to leave them as they were to have him and therefore all the States but two neglected the sending of their Hostages after him Here now
the Lieutenant's endeavours to have any peace with the Romans Against him therefore Ostorius bends all his Force having given some Cities to a British King named Cogidunus to engage him against those that should raise any disturbances while he was dealing with the Silures Caradock considering how Siluria was hemm'd in between the Severn and the Sea marched into the countrey of the Ordovices who were confederated with him where all the odds were to his own party all the difficulties to his Enemies Ostorius follows and near Clun-castle in Shropshire forced him to a Battel wherein though he and his Britans fought stoutly yet the fortune of Rome prevailed Here his Wife and Daughter were taken Prisoners and some Brothers of his yielded themselves himself escaping to Cartisinandua Queen of the Brigantes was by her command unworthily bound with Irons and delivered to his Enemies in the ninth year of the war and the seventh year of his Reign Which being made known at Rome all desired to see this Warriour who had so long held out against their power Thither he was sent and at his coming the people were assembled as to a solemn spectacle and the Emperour's Guard stood in Arms. First passed his Servants bearing his Trophies won in former Wars next his Brothers Wife and Daughter last of all himself who coming to the Emperour's Tribunal without any manner of dejectedness thus spake to him If my moderation in prosperity had been as great as my Nobility and Fortune was I had come rather a Friend into this City than a Captive neither would you have disdained to receive me with Covenants of Peace being a Prince descended of Noble Ancestors and commanding many Nations My present estate as it is to me dishonourable so to you it is glorious I had Horses Men Armour Wealth no wonder if I was unwilling to lose them If you will reign over all all must obey If I had sooner yielded and been delivered into your hands neither had my Fortune nor your Glory been so renowned and in your severest determining of me both will be quickly buried in oblivion But if you spare me I shall be an Example of your Clemency for ever Caesar moved with the bravery of his Carriage pardoned him with his Wife and Brethren and most probably his Daughter too though forgotten by Tacitus who being unbound did their reverence to the Emperour and the Empress Agrippina Then the Senators being called together discoursed of the Shew and affirmed it to be no less Honourable than when Scipio shewed Syphax or Aemylius Perseus or whosoever else exhibited conquered Kings to the people wherefore the ornaments of a Triumph were decreed to Ostorius This Caradock Sirnamed Frichfras viz. with the strong Arm is in the Book of Triads named First of the Three most valiant Britans the Roman Writers call him Caratacus Caractacus Cataractacus and Catacratus what became of him afterwards I find not but I suppose that he did not long survive his entrance into Rome for else it is likely he would have returned to his Kingdom and in point of Gratitude have restrained his Silures from continuing Hostility against the Romans Caradock had one Brother yet at liberty which was the brave Arviragus who succeeding in the Kingdom soon made the Enemy know that the Britans wanted not a General He took old Caswallan's course to avoid set Battels and to watch for Advantages The Prefect of the Camp with his Legionary Cohorts who were ordered to build Fortresses in the Countrey of the Silures he surprised and killed with eight Centurions and many of the stoutest Soldiers and had cut them all off if speedy Succours had not come from the neighbouring Villages and Castles Shortly after he fell upon the Forragers and routed them and the Troops of Horse that were sent to help them nor could Ostorius stay their flight by sending out some Cohorts lightly appointed till the weighty Legions coming on put a stop to the violence of the Pursuers and made them retreat After this passed divers Skirmishes the Silures omitting no opportunity commanded or without command to assail the Enemy from their Woods and Bogs being strongly incensed at a Report that Claudius was resolved to extinguish their very Name They in thâ—s heat intercepted two Auxiliary Cohorts who were forraging too securely to feed the Avarice of their greedy Prefects and by sending abroad liberal shares of the Spoils and Captives which they took drew other Nations to joyn with them These and some other adverse Accidents so troubled Ostorius that worn out with cares and travels he dyed whom Avitus Didius Gallus succeeded in the Lieutenantship He was dispatched hither in great hast that the Province might not be destitute of a Governour yet could not make such speed but that before his coming the Legion of Manlius Valens had been defeated by the Silures who made large excursions into the Roman Pale till the Lieutenant marching out kept them somewhat more within their own Bounds The Brigantes would willingly have engaged in their Countreys cause against Ostorius at his first coming if their King Venutius could have been induced to own the Quarrrel but he reigning in right of his Wife Cartismandua suffered himself to be wholly guided by her who judging the friendship of the Romans very conducible to her designs restrained the peoples forwardness and made up the breach with Osterius to his full satisfaction But growing weary of her Husband and falling in love with Velocatus who was his Servant and Armour-bearer she abused her marriage-bed and laboured to make the Adulterer King Venutius nettled with these injuries and the intercepting of his Brother and some of his nearest Kindred took Arms against the faithless Queen and brought her to such Exigencies that Didius was fain to send some Cohorts to her Aid by whose help she won a Battel of her Husband and in another conflict Caesius Nasica with his Legion had somewhat the better But Venutius quickly recruited his Forces the people flocking to him apace out of indignation against the Adulteress whose Treachery to him and Caradock had made her generally odious And so stoutly he maintained the War against the Romans that though they rescued Cartismandua from his just vengeance yet he kept possession of the Kingdom in despight of them so that Didius being aged had enough to do to keep up a Defensive War which he was fain to manage by Deputies only building here and there a Fortress further into the Countrey that he might seem to enlarge his Province Nero was now Emperour who but for very shame would have withdrawn his Forces out of Britain To Didius succeeded Verannius who dyed in the first year of his Government having only made a few Inrodes upon the Silures and left a great Boast behind him That if he had lived but two years more he would have conquered all thereby at his death manifesting his vanity though while he lived he had carried a great name of precise
Franks and Batavians was hereat so surprised that flying up and down like a mad-man he lighted upon Marcus Aurelius Asclepiodotus Grand Seneschal of the Praetorium and not staying for the coming up of all his Forces only with the Accessaries of his Treason and his mercenary Germans and those not marshalled in good order desperately began the Battel in which his Army was routed and himself slain having first cast off his Purple Robe his body being hardly found among the dead Carcasses The slaughter fell heavy upon the Barbarians of whom such as escaped hasted to London designing to sack it and so take their flight but part of the Roman Army which in the Mist had been sever'd at Sea from the rest coming thither at the same time put them to the Sword with their Commander Livius Gallus at a place near a Rivulet which from him was called Gallbrook now Wallbrook Thus was Britain restored to the Romans after it had been withheld for ten years space by the two Usurpers And because so many Tyrants had from the time of the Emperour Galienus born sway in Britain therefore Porphyrius the Philosopher who lived in those dayes termed it A fertile Province of Tyrants And here by the way it will not be amiss to observe that this Porophyrius is the first and ancientest Writer that makes mention of the Scots which he doth in his very next words as his contemporary the Oratour Eumenius is the first that mentions the Pictis As for Geffrey's narration of Bassianus Carausius Allectus Asclepiodotus and Coelus I do not hold it worth the reciting as being contrary to the truth of all History and Chronology This Asclepiodotus had been Consul with Afranius Hannibalianus in the year two hundred ninety two of whom Vopiscus speaks with Honour in his Lives of Aurelianus and Probus Constantius leaving him to govern Britain departed hence to war against the Almans whom he overcame with the slaughter of sixty thousand of their men In the year three Hundred and three while Asclepiodotus ruled here the tenth Persecution began in the month of March wherein this Land which had escaped all the former bore a great share Here on the two and twentieth day of June suffered Alban the Protomartyr of this Island and the Soldier Heraclius who being appointed for his Executioner preferred death before the employment This Alban was by Birth a Britan by Descent a Roman of a Noble Family and of great Authority whose dwelling at Verulam and dying near it did much ennoble that City The place where he dyed was called Derswold and Holmhurst where now stands a noted Mercate Town which bears his Name His Death is said to have been accompanied with divers Miracles and particularly Gildas tells us That by his Prayers he made a way through the River for himself and a thousand others to pass over dry-footed This River now named Colne passing by Colnebroke a Mercate Town runneth into Thames of which Gildas therefore accounted it an Arm and called it by the name of Tamisis The men which followed Alban through the River soon after laid down their lives for the same cause among those that suffered with Amphibalus On the first of July suffered Aaron and Julius Citizens of Caerleon upon Vske and on the sixteenth of September the forementioned Amphibalus a famous Doctor of the Monastery of Caermarden but born at Caerleon by whom Alban was converted after whose death he fled to the borders of Wales whither he was followed by a great many Christian Verulamians to the number of nine hundred ninety nine But a party of Soldiers were sent to bring them and their Instructor back who quickly seizing their prey in their return put the Verulamians to death by the way at Lichfield and bringing Amphibalus with nine others of his Companions to a place called Redburn about three Miles from St. Albans there cruelly slew them at which time about a Thousand more of the same City of Verulam declaring themselves to be Christians were likewise Martyred with them On the next day being the seventeenth of September here suffered Socrates and Steven of whom the latter is conceived to be that Steven whose name we meet with in the Catalogue of the Archbishops of London which if we take for granted we may then suppose that Socrates might be Archbishop of York seeing we find his Name placed before Stevens in the Roman Martyrology and others But if Steven was Archbishop of London there can be then but little time allotted to his Successor Augulius whom some call Augurius Augulus and Agulinus For we find that he also suffered Martyrdom here on the seventh day of February following About the same time Nicolas a British Bishop suffered and was buried at Peblis in Lauden near the Monastery of Meilros where in the Reign of King Alexander the Third was sound an Urn of Stone with Ashes and Bones of a man's body which seemed to have been torn piece-meal Some three or four paces off was found a stately Cross in a certain Coffer of Stone on which Coffer was engraven this Inscription Locus sancii Nicholai Episcopi The place of St. Nicholas a Bishop In this place King Alexander built a Church and gave it to the Monks of the Holy Trinity Dempster would have this Nicholas to be a Scot but alledgeth no Authority for his opinion and it is as well known for evidence of the contrary that Lauden in the time of this Persecution was in the possession of the Britans as that Dempster is a notorious Hagiocleptes Melior or Melorus and many others were then invested with the Crown of Martyrdom in this Island But in the year three Hundred and four the Emperours Diocletian and Maximian freely resigned to Galerius and Constantius which latter presently put an end to the Persecution in Britain Gaul and Spain though in the other parts of the Empire under Galerius and his Caesars it lasted eight years longer In the East that renowned Soldier St. George was martyred about the beginning of this Persecution He was born in Cappadocia of Christian Parents and after the death of his Father was carried by his Mother into Palestine whereof she was a Native and Heiress to a great Estate there which upon her decease fell to him For his valour and good Service in the Persian War he was first made a Military Tribune and afterwards a Count Imperial and was in high esteem with Dioclesian and Galerius till they set up their Edict at Nicomedia against the Christians For then our George coming thither could not contain himself but moved with Zeal and pious Courage tore it down and putting off his Military Habiliments and making Doal of all his Substance to the Poor on the third Session of the Senate when the Imperial Decree was to be confirmed he boldly avouched himself to be a Christian And when neither by allurements nor threatnings he could be drawn to renounce his Religion after sundry cruel Torments which he
Land was Brutain call'd from Brute's own name One Woman caus'd the Trojan Warr whose name Was Helen Dardan Prince of noble fame Was Ancestor to Brute first British King From whom the Stemmes of British Princes spring No small question is raised about his Father Sylvius whom Monumethensis will have to be the Son of Ascanius supposing probably that after the difference between Julus and his Uncle the Son of Lavinia was reconciled whereby Sylvius Postbumus was adjudged to succeed his deceased Brother and the Pontificate being the next degree of Honour to the Kingly Dignity was assigned to Julus He in respect to the King and to ingratiate himself with the Albans among whom the name of Sylvius was in great request as Virgil in his Sixth Book of his Aeneads denotes Sylvius Albanum nomen the fair Daughter of Tyrrhus the chief Herd-master to King Latinus being also named Sylvia might assume that name for his praenomen and for a straiter linking of their Friendship married the Neece as Geffrey saith of Queen Lavinia Some conceive Sylvius the Father of Brutus to be the same with Posthumus and Son to Aeneas really but to Ascanius adoptively which opinion cannot be admitted because he after about Nine and twenty years Reign dyed a natural death which our British Historians deny of the other making him to be slain by his mistaking Son so that their relation would better agree with Sylvius Aeneas the Son of Posthumus of whose immature death there is some shew of a conjecture out of * Aen. 6. Virgil who makes a doubt whether he ever attained to be King Sylvius Aeneas paritèr pietate vel armis Egregius sin unquam regnandam acceperit Albam Aeneas Sylvius renown'd for Arms and Piety If e're of Alba he attain the Royal Monarchy And * Met. 15. Ovid favours this leaving him out of his Catalogue of Alban Kings and making Latinus the immediate Successour to Posthumus Successit Sylvius illi Quo satus antiquo tenuit repetita Latinus Nomina cum Sceptro Sylvius succeeds whose Son upholds with fame The old Latinus 's Scepter and his name And if Sylvius Posthumus were also named Ascanius as well as his Elder Brother which Livy seems to hint in the beginning of his * Pec. 1. History then may Brutus be this way too the Grandson of Ascanius and being banished for his Parricide leave his Brother Latinus to succeed his Grandfather in the Kingdome Though I am not ignorant that others understand Virgil speaking in that place of Sylvius Aeneas not to mean that he dyed before his Father but that it was very long before regained his right which his usurping Guardian had withheld from him And in leed as Livy saith who can positively determine about things so ancient As concerning the Original of this People Learned Cambden proves them to be descended from the Gauls by solid Arguments drawn from their agreement in Religion Customes and Language their vicinity their very name For they did most generally as still they do call themselves Kumero Cymro and Kumeri and a British Woman Kumeraes and their Tongue it self Kumeraeg And hence we have the names of Cambri and Cambria Cumbri and Cumbria which proves them a stock of the famous Cimbrians who were the same with the Gauls being one Nation called by two names So * Dâ— Pâ—â—coâ—sul Cicero speaking of Marius saith that he repressed the Armies of the Gaules etring in great numbers into Italy when yet Historiographers witness that they were Cimbrians and Lucan calls the Fellow that was hired to kill Marius a Cimbrian whom Livy and others affirm to have been a Gaule And out of Plutarch's Errours Reinerius Reineccius averreth That the Gauls and Cimbrians used the same Language And hereunto Appian in his Illyricks gives his suffrage The Celts or Gauls saith he whom they call Cimbrians And as all other Nations fetch their first Original from Asia so do these from the Asiatick Cimmerians the posterity of Gomer the Son of Japhet from whom also as Josephus and Zonaras report the ancient Gaules were called Gemari Gomeraei and Gomeritae from whence the name of Kumeri is easily deduced Mr. Humfrey Lhuyd in his short Description of Britain conceives these Kumeri or Kymri to be those very Cimbrians who so terribly endangered the state-of Rome and finding in the Book of Triads that one Irpus of Scandia by subtlety under pretence of Kindred and Honour to be atchieved induced a great number of Britans to assist him in his Enterprise who never returned home again he concludes it probable that the British Kymri passed over into the Danish Chersonesse whereby it came to be termed Cimbrica and after some Exploits there joyning with the neighbouring Teutons and afterward with the Ambrens a people of Gaule made sharp Warre upon the Romans vanquished Papyrius Scaurus Manlius Silanus and Caepio and were at length with much difficulty overcome by Marius and Catulus After which the remainders of the Cimbrians and Teutons seem to have retired to the Chersonesse These Ambrons who aided the Cimbrians in this Warre were a people so mischievously addicted to Spoyl and Rapine that in Tract of time the word Ambro came to be commonly used to signifie a Devourer as Isidore long ago hath told us whence John Caius his mistake in thinking that Gildas joyns these Ambrons with the Picts and Scots when he speaks of their second vastation of his Countrey saying that they came aesi Ambrones Lupi like Ambrones Wolves is very obvious it being clear that by Ambrones Lupi he meant devouring Wolves in which sense Geffrey of Monmouth termeth the Saxons also Ambrones Mr. Lhuyd to strengthen his opinion produces Plutarch's testimony in his life of Marius that it was not known whence the Cimbrians came onely that it was from a far Countrey and that like clouds they issued into France and Italy with the Teutons tacitely inferring a likelyhood that they might come from this Island And to this he adds divers other Arguments drawn from the agreement of that people with the Britans in Language and names of their Kings and their Customes as their neglecting of Gold and Silver their Reverence towards Women and Priests their sacrificing men to Mercury their Shields Armour and Swords and the very shape of their Bodies Nor was this the first time that the Britans made Warr upon the Romans if we may believe the relation of the British History and the constant Tradition of that people concerning Brennus Sir John Price in his Defence of the British History is offended with Polydore Virgill for saying that the Insular Britans had both their Name and Original from the Britans of Armorica and will not allow that any Britans were before the time of Constantine the Great Yet Pomponius Laetus saith That they were descended from the Armorican Cities And Pliny among the Maritime people over against Britain near the County of Bullen reckoneth the Britans from whom a Haven of the
escaped from the City and the Battel sled to the City of Veij and afterwards under the conduct of Camillus who before was banished to Ardea but now made Dictator relieved those Senators which still held out the Capitol who compelled by famine had newly bought their lives and were paying the Gold Brennus had received the greatest part when Camillus came upon him and worsting him in a tumultuary skirmish forced him to quit Rome and following the Enemy fought a pitcht battel with him eight miles off in the Gabine Way where after a sharp dispute the Romans prevailed and the valiant Brennus with all his Gauls and Britans lost their lives upon the spot not one escaping as Livy writes Dec. 1. lib. 5. to carry the news Here was most of the Gold regained the rest being a long time after recovered by Livius Drusus Propraetor of Gallia Cisalpina Suâ—t in Tib. which at the first appearance of the Dictator had been sent away for Tuscany where the Gauls had then divers Colonics with some Troops to guard it who hearing the loss of their Companions entred into the Service of the Tyrant Dionysius Belinus had better fortune and subdued Pannonia where he settled the Gauls and most of his Britans married his Daughter Cambra a warlike Lady to Antenor King of the Sicambrians and returning home with Honour died in peace Next to him reigned his Son Gorguntius who slew the Danish King and conquered his countrey because he refused to pay the promised Tribute Then Guiteline Son to Gorguntius and Husband to the Learned Queen Martia Sisillius Son to Guiteline Chiomarus Son to Sisillius Danius Brother to Chiomarus and Morindus Son to Danius by his Concubine Tangustella by whom the King of the Morini invading this Land was overthrown and slain This victory he used cruelly putting all to the Sword that were taken Morindus is said to have aided the King of Orkney against Basanus King of the Sicambrians but lastly adventuring to fight singly with a Sea-monster he was devoured by it the Monster dying presently after of the wounds he had given it After his death the Kingdom was divided between his five Sons Gorbonian Archigallo Elidurus Eugenius and Peridurus Of these Gorbonian a just Prince dyed peaceably and was succeeded by his Son Regin Archigallo for Tyranny was expelled by his Nobles who gave his Kingdom to his Brother Elidurus through whose intercession he was restored and reigned afterwards very nobly parting his Principality at his death between his two Sons Morgan and Eneon But Elidurus found not the same kindness from his other two Brothers who took him prisoner and shared his Province between them till Eugenius dying first and then Peridurus he again recovered his Kingdom and left it to his Son Gerontius Edwal the Son of Eugenius or Owen and Runo the Son of Peridurus succeeded their Fathers like wise in their Provinces Thus was Britain cantoned into sundry parcels besides that the Descendents of those Princes who acknowledged the Soveraignty of Dunvallo and his Successors hitherto now renounced all manner of Subordination Which caused Tacitus to write of the Britans thus In vita Agric Heretofore they were governed by Kings now they are drawn by petty Princes into Partialities and Factions After Gerontius reigned his Son Cadellus for the British History takes no notice of the Posterity of the other Princes Then followed Coelus the Son of Cadellus Porrex the Son of Coelus Cherinus the Son of Porrex whose three Sons shared their Father's Inheritance between them Their names were Fulgentius Eldadus and Androgeus To this last succeeded his Son Vrianus after whom reigned these Kings in a direct line from Father to Son Flind Clidacus Clotenus Gorguntius Merianus Bladud Capys Owen and Sisillius who made another partition between his two Sons Blegâ—red and Archivallo Eldon the Son of Archivallo ruled after his Father and then followed in a lineal Succession Redion Rodericus Sawyl sirnamed Penissel Pyrrhus Caporius Gilquellus sirnamed Minocanus and Belinus he by his valour much enlarged his Hereditary Dominions for which he was entitled The Great For this is that B. M. Beli Maur so famous among the Cambrian Genealogists He had three Sons whom in his old age for he lived till the first coming of Caesar he assumed as Partners in his Kingdom assigning each of them a Province with Regal Authority and Title Immanuentius had the Trinobantes and was Sirnamed Lhud that is to fay Russet or Tawny it being usual with the Britans both ancient and modern to impose Names and Sirnames from colours Caswallan had the Cattieuchlani and is by Dion Cassius called Suellan corruptly for Cassuellan And indeed it is very likely that the same causes which lost us so many Books of that excellent Author might make some corruptions in them that were left unless we shall think Suellan or Swallan was his true name Cas being a Praeaddition taken from the Cassii the chief Sept of the Cattieuchlani as Cattimarus Teutobochus and Decebalus had the beginnings of their Names from the Catti Teutâ—nes and Daci though afterwards the name of Swallan grew out of use and Caswallan was used in its stead in honour of this Prince Nennius I conceive had Kent and might be the Father of Cyngetorix Carvilius Taximagulus and Segonax These three Princes acknowledged a subordination to their Father Belinus whom Geffrey of Monmouth will have to be dead some years before the Romans arrived here vainly esteeming it a disparagement to Lhud to reign under his Father and aiming to give Caswallan the entire honour of managing all the war from the first beginning and therefore makes that Belinus which then lived to be Caswallan's General and Counsellor not his Father contrary to Nonnius who expresly termes him King of the Britans And Henry of Huntington will needs have him to be his Brother and Cambden takes him for Caswallan himself contrary to the Cambrian Genealogists who all consent that he was his Father Thus far have we waded through the Maeandrian Intrigues of Antiquity from Samothes obtruding nothing upon the Reader 's belief of this that we have taken either from Annius of Viterbo or Geffrey of Monmouth though both those Authors have been followed and owned by some Learned men Neither is there any thing herein more incongruous or incredible than what the Greek and Roman Writers have delivered concerning the Originals of their Nations which things are yet allowed a place in many Authentick Historians and Chronologers What follows comes from the hands of more approved Authors In the year of the World's Creation Three Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety five according to the common Computation Pompey and Crassus being Consuls the second time Calus Julius Caesar having now by Conquests over-run Gaul out of an innate desire of Glory allured also as Suetonius saith with hope of Pearls which as he was informed were ingendred and gathered in the Creeks of the British Sea and being incensed against the Britans for sending
near Oatlands still Nennius ascribes this to Dolobellus chief Commander now under Caswallan as he had been under his Father before But all was spoiled by Traiterous Fugitives and discovered to Caesar who sending over a party of Horse first ordered his Foot to follow which they resolutely performed wading up to the neck with such speed and violence and fell on so boldly that they soon put the amazed Britans to slight whom Polyaenus falsly reports to have been frightned at the sight of an Elephant with a Turret upon his back Caswallan now despairing of success by open force resolves to try if he can weary out his Enemy and therefore retaining with him only four thousand Charioteers he attends the motions of the Romans By the advantage he had in the knowledge of the Countrey he saved himself from being forced to fight and as often as their Horsemen went forth and strayed out in the fields for Forrage or Booty he sent out his Chariots upon them from the Woods who slaughtering some and terrifying others made them afraid to range abroad and Caesar himself was induced to give strict command that none should part from the Legions who in all their march had nothing left them in their way but empty Fields and Houses which they spoil'd and burnt the Cattel being before driven away by the Britans In the mean time the Trinobantes submit to Caesar requesting him to send their Prince Mandubratius to them and to protect him against Caswallan's violence Of them Caesar required and received forty Hostages and Corn for his Army and therewith sent Mandubratius to them The Cenimagni Segontiaci Ancalites Bibroci and Cassij follow their example and yield to Caesar who learns by the last that Caswallan's chief Town supposed to be Vernlam was not far off Thither he speeds and assaults it in two several places the Britans soon quitting it of whom many were taken in their flight and put to the sword In Kent Cyngetorix Carrilius Taximagulus and Segonax by Caswallan's orders assail the Roman Camp but were repulsed by those that were left to guard it who in a Sally did good execution upon them and took Cyngetorix Prisoner Caswallan after so many losses finding himself basely deserted by the other States by means of Comius of Artois sought and obtained at Caesar's hands a Peace upon these termes That he should pay a certain Tribute yearly and no wayes molest Mandubratius or the Trinobantes and that Hostages should be given for the performance which was accordingly done And thus the Victor having spent almost all the Summer here with a great number of Captives returns into Gaul being forced to transport his Army at two several passages by reason of the loss of Ships which the forementioned Storm had caused After this Caswallan whom Caesar calls Cassivellaunus reigned seven years and dyed in peace having reigned in all nineteen years eleven with his Father as likewise did Lhud and eight after his death Mandubratius is by Beda called Androgorius by Orosius and Monumethensis Andregeus and is in the Book of Triads reckoned the first of the Three most infamous persons that Britain ever bred as who was not content to have recovered his own but also procured by his insinuating solicitations the submission of those other Cities which ruined all the brave endeavours of his Heroick Uncle for his Countreys liberty who as Caesar tells us was Maximè permotus defectione Civitatum Most of all troubled with the Revolt of the States The Monmouth Writer makes this Androgeus in stead of Comius the procurer of his Uncles peace and the valiant Scaeva to be his Son and one of the thirty Hostages abating ten of the true number whereas the Traitor Bericus of whom anon had been a sitter Son for such a Father and Scaeva by better Authors appears to be a Roman and to have been in Caesar's Service before the delivery of those Hostages Then he tells us that Androgeus forsook his Principality and went with Caesar to Rome which is evinced to be false by the injunction laid upon Caswallan not to meddle with him His Brother Tenevantius was of a more publick spirit and would not seek to revenge the wrongs done to his Family by the enslaving of his Countrey but joyned with his Uncle against the common Enemy whereby he so won upon him that dying issueless he left him his Kingdom which was enlarged by the accession of the Province of the Trinobantes upon the death of Mandubratius who also had no Children This King withheld the Tribute whereupon Augustus about twenty years after Julius Caesar's last Invasion resolved upon an Expedition hither rather than put up such a contempt from a Countrey of little note in those dayes but being come into Ganl he there heard news of the Revolt of the Pannonians which diverted him for that time Seven years after he was coming again but finding Gaul in an unsettled condition he accepted the offers of the British Ambassadors who promised Obedience and Satisfaction for the Tribute detained But upon fail of payment he the next year prepared for a third Expedition which to prevent the Britans again send Ambassadors to him who coming to Rome offered Gifts in the Capitol and sacrificed to the Roman Gods swore him Fealty in the Temple of Mars agreeing to pay Tolls and Customs for all Wares which they transported into other parts and paid him their Tribute By this obsequious address Augustus was pacified not being over-ambitious to catch at all opportunities of enlarging his Empire which he thought was already great enough as likewise did his Successor Tiberius To Tenevantius after twenty three years Reign succeded his Son Cunoheline Augustus was now in peace with all the world a fit time for our Saviour the Prince of Peace to be born in at whose very Birth the Devil's Oracles began to cease For about this time that mighty Emperour consulting the Oracle about his Successor received this Answer as Suidas saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An Hebrew Child whom the Blest Gods adore Hath bid me leave these Shrines and pack to Hell So that of Oracle I can no more In Silence leave our Altar and sarewell Hereupon at his coming home he in the Capitol erected an Altar and therâ—â—n in Captial 〈◊〉 caused this Inseription to be engraven HAEC EST AKAPKIMO-GENITI DEI This is the Altar of the First-begetten Son of God In Tiberius his time the Britans kept very fair correspondence with the Romans as may be gathered out of Tacitus from their friendly sending back to Germanious â— then warring in Germany such of his Soldiers as had been cast upon their Coasts Caligula intended to invade them but that by his shittle head sudden repentance and foolish attempts against Germany it came to nothing Yet he came on as far as Batavia where Adminius the Son of Cunobeline being for some offence banished by his Father was with those few that
Royal Prophet Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest wickedness Ps 45.7 therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows And again according to the same Royal Prophet Ps 72.1 Give the King thy Judgments O God c. for he said not the Judgments nor the Righteousness of Caesar For the King's Sons are the Christian Nations and people of the Realm who live and abide in the Kingdom under your Protection and Peace according to the Gospel Mat. 23.37 even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings The Nations and people of Britain are your people whom however divided you ought to gather into one to reclaim to Concord and Peace and the Faith and Law of Christ and to the Holy Church to cherish maintain or to lead by hand protect govern and always defend them from injurious and malitious Folks and from their Enemies Eccl. 10.16 Wo to the Kingdom whose King is a Child and whose Princes eat in the morning I do not term a King a Child for Infant-age but for Folly Iniquity and Madness according to the Royal Prophet Ps 55.23 Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their dayes By Eating we understand Gluttony by Gluttony Luxury by Luxury all filthy perverse and wicked things according to King Solomon Into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin Rex dicitur à Regendo non à Regno A King hath his name from his Ruling not from his Kingdom As long as you govern well you shall be a King which if you do not the Name of King will not be evidenced in you and you will lose that Name which God forbid Almighty God grant you so to govern the Kingdom of Britain that you may reign for ever with him whose Vicegerent you are in the said Realm This Letter was written in the year one Hundred seventy nine when the Emperour Commodus was Consul with Vespronius and is to be seen in Lambard's Archaeonomia Printed at London in the years 1560 and 1644 among Edward the Confessor's Laws and in a Copy of our old Laws written in Edward the fourths time now kept in Sr. John Cotton's famous Library and likewise in an Ancient Manuscript Chronicle called Brutus and Breton William Harrison hath inserted it into his description of Britain Lib. 1. c. 9. having translated it into English out of sundry ancient Copies Theon Bishop of London is said to have built St. Peter's Church in Cornhil London with the help of Ciranus the King 's Cup-bearer which Lucius liberally endowed and made it to be the Episcopal Sea for the Diocess of London But Fagan and Dwywan not confining their endeavours only to Lucius his Kingdom converted the greatest part of Britain with the assistance of Elvan and Medwin of whom the former had been made a Bishop at Rome the other a Doctor as Johannes Tinmuthensis and Capgrave in the life of Dubricius and an old Tract concerning the first state of the Church of Landaffe assirm meaning Presbyter or Priest as I suppose by Doctor for the title of Doctor doth not appear to have been so ancient in the Church in the sence wherein it hath been since used Divers other Bishopricks are reported to have been erected about this time as York Carleon upon Vske Winchester Gloucester Congresbury Landaffe and other places Philippus Berterius and Archbishop Vsher of Armagh take York to have been the Metropolis of Britain at that time as being a Roman Colony and honoured with the Emperour's Palace and the Praetorium of Britain in regard whereof Spartianus terms it by way of Excellency In vita Severi The City And in the Council of Arles Eborius of York subscribed before Restitutus of London He that in the year one Thousand four hundred and sixty wrote the History of the Archbishops of York makes Fagan the first Archbishop of that Sea but Harrison in his description of Britain saith Lib. 1. cap. 7. that one Theodosius was Bishop there in the time of Lucius who might be so indeed in the latter end of Lucius his Reign after Fagan's death The Church of Winchester being finished in the fifth year of Lucius his Conversion viz. in the year one Hundred and eighty was then Dedicated by Fagan and Dwywan at which time also one Devotus was made Abbot of the Monastery which the King had founded for certain Monks professing the Egyptian Rule of St. Mark And about the same time was also founded the renowned Abbey of Bangor And now the Northern men are up in arms again and passing Lollius his Fence were come as far as Adrian's Wall which they broke down putting most of the Soldiers that defended it with their commander to the sword and entring the Province wasted and spoiled it at their pleasure against whom Vlpius Marcelius was sent who valiantly beat them back to their own homes and governed the country with such same and reputation that the Emperour Commodus whose Vices were as notorious as his Lieutenant's Virtues fearing the growth of his Credit with the Romans in an envious mood sent him Letters of Discharge After his departure the Army which he had kept in excellent Discipline fell to mutinying and civil Dissensions the Officers abusing and defrauding the common Soldiers whereupon fifteen Hundred of them went to Rome and complained against the Emperour's grand Favourite Perennis as the cause of those and many other distempers in the State for which he was put to death Yet did not this compliance so appease the British Army but that they would have set up another Emperour and Helvins Pertinax who here succeeded in the Lieutenancy endeavouring to suppress their insolency by severe means provoked them to an Insurrection in which divers were slain and himself left for dead whereupon he was glad for his own safety to get himself revoked In his place came Clodius Albinus who so worthily demeaned himself that Commodus either for fear or favour honoured him with the Title of Caesar which yet he accepted not but upon a false report of the Emperour's death having in a set speech discovered himself to be better affected to the old Government of the Senate and Consuls than to Monarchical Empire he was commanded to resign to Junius Severus But Pertinax suceeding Commodus was not long after murdered by the Praetorian Guards who sold the Empire to Didius Julianus who enjoyed his Purchase but a very little time being soon after slain by Septimius Severus This Emperour to keep Albinus who during the late Broils had made bold to keep his place from attempting any thing against him during his Wars with Pescennius Niger created him his Caesar which he now accepted as having a greater esteem for him than for Commodus But Niger being defeated and slain Severus falls to practising the death of his new Caesar and therein failing proclaims him Traitour and publick Enemy and comes in person
Mountains and Woods better known to him than to the Romans he made such stout resistance that the Emperour in this Caledonian War lost no less than sifty thousand men Yet did not Severus desist though for age and weakness he was fain to be carried in a Litter till he had marched to the furthest part of the Island In which Expedition he worsted his Enemies in all conflicts and at last flew Fulgentius whose Successor Argetocoxus such for peace and obtained it upon condition That all the Countrey between the two Fences of Adrian and Lollius should be yielded back to the Romans from whom it had been lately gained During this peace the Empress Julia discoursing with the wife of Argetocoxus Sarcastically scoffed at the loosness of the British Ladies who thereat incensed made her this brisk Reply Much better do we British women fulfil the work of Nature than you Romans we with the best men accustom openly you with the basest commit private Adulteries Severus having thus tamed the Northern men builds a strong Wall where Adrian had formerly made his of Turf fortified as Orosius saith with a deep Trench and between certain spaces many Towers or Battlements This Wall was from his Name called by the Britans Guall Sever and Mur Sever stretching in length eighty two Italian Miles which Number being set down in Figures bysome Italian Writers thus LXXXII hath been variously corrupted and altered through the negligence of Transcribers while some for L. the Quinquagenary numeral have put down C. the Centenary making CXXXII Miles whereas the Land is nothing near so broad in that place and others have wholly left out the L. shrinking this place of Ground to XXXII Miles which number agrees neither with this place nor that of Lollius his Fence being far too short for this and too large for the other Severus now assumes the Title of Britannicus Maximus and at York where that Oracle of the Law Papinianus sat to minister Justice he and Bassianus being consuked in a case or question of Right gave forth their Imperial Constitution De Rei Vindicatione But the Northern people ever impatient and unquiet soon took occasion to break the Peace against whom the Emperour sent out his Army with command to spare neither Sex nor Age but to put all to the sword and so having in some sort repressed this Commotion worn out with the toils and labours of War and with trouble and grief for the unreclaimable misdemeanour of his Sons especially the Elder who had attempted to kill him he ended his life at York in the year two Hundred and Eleven whose Body was bestowed in a Funeral Fire at a place beneath that City westward near to Ackham where is to be seen a great Mount of Earth raised up which of him is named SEVER's Hill His Eldest Son Bassianus whom he had by his first wife Martia succeeded in the Empire who concluding peace with the Northern people took Hostages of them and departed out of Britain His Step-mother Julia he incestuously married and having cruelly murdered his Brother Geta and many of the Noblest Romans was himself after a Tyrannical Reign of six years slain in Mesopotamia by the conspiracy of his Successor Ma rinus In the out-land parts which lay beyond the Wall the Roman Soldiers built themselves Stations which they fortified and furnished with all necessaries and when Alexander Severus came to be Emperour he gave as Lampridius saith to the Captains and Soldiers of the Marches as well in Britain as in the other parts of the Empire these Grounds and Lands which were won from the Enemies so that they should be their propriety if their Heirs served as Soldiers and that they should never return to any private men concluding that they would go to the Wars more willingly and take the better care if they should defend their own peculiar Possessions And this Mr. Camden looks upon as the beginning of Feuds This good Emperour Alexander was afterwards slain in his Pavilion at Sicila a Suburbial Village to the City of Mentz by Julius Maximinus who succeeded him Under the Emperour Gordianus we find by the Inscription of an Altar-stone dedicated to the Honour of that Emperour and his wife Furia Sabina Tranquilla that Nonius Philippus governed here as Pro-Praetor In the time of Valerianas we read that Mello a Britan whom some call Mallonius Melanius and Meloninus going to Rome to pay the British Tribute was there converted by Pope Steven the First and in the year two Hundred filty six made Bishop of Roan in Normandy which Church he governed for many years Of the thirty Tyrants which usurped the Imperial Title against Galienus five took upon them that Style and Power in Gaul which were Posthumus Lollianus Victorinus Marius and Tetricus These likewise bore sway in Britain as their Coins here found do testifie The first of these to tye Coelus to his interest and party permitted him to assume the name of King This Caelus Sirnamed Godebog was the Son of Teguanus and was lineally descended from Aflech one of the Sons of King Lhud He was a man of great power and repute among the Britans and began his Reign in the year two Hundred sixty two as Hollinshed Cooper Powel and Isacson tell us and reigned twenty seven years Some will have his Kingdom to have been in that part of the Land which is now called Essex and Colchester to be denominated from him others place it in Ordovicia where he had great possessions by his wife Stradwen Daughter and Heiress to Cadwan a potent man in those parts Tetricus the last of the sorenamed Usurpers not enduring the insolency of his mutinous Army and warned by the violent deaths of his Predecessors submitted himself to the Emperour Aurelianus by whom he was made Corrector of Italy Britain then returned to the obedience of the Roman Empire at what time Constantius Chlorus serving here under Aurelianus married Helena the Daughter of King Coelus and of her begat the Famous Constantine In the time of Probus those two Monsters of Drunkenness and Leachery Bonosus and Proculus of whom the former was a Britan by descent seized this Island together with Gaul and Spain but being overcome paid their lives for their Ambition Then Victorinus Maurus the Emperour's Favourite procured the Government of Britain for a Friend of his who was no sooner come hither but he rebelled whereupon the same Victorinus to free himself from suspicion of Treachery came over to him pretending that he fled from the Emperour and being entertained by the Usurper slew him in the night and returned which put an end to that Revolt This Tyrant is by some conceived to be that Claudius Cornelius Laelianus whose Coins are found in this Island and no where else About this time Probus gave leave to the Spaniards Gauls and Britans to plant Vines or make Wine and to keep the people in better subjection sent over some Companies of Vandals hither who seem to
endured with undaunted resolution Sentence was pronounced against him That he should be drawn through the City and beheaded which was accordingly performed upon the three and twentieth of April in the year three Hundred and three in which year as I said before out of Eusebius the Persecution began and therefore I cannot assent to them who place his death in the year two Hundred and ninety Of this George I understand Eusebius to speak Hist Eccl. lib. 8. cap. 5. where he saith Presently one of those who were not obscure but most glorious as they are reputed according to the excellencies of this world as soon as the Edict against the Churches was published at Nicomedia moved with zeal and fervent faith took down and rent the Writing as profane and impious which was set up in an open and publick place when two Emperours meaning the Emperour and his Caesar were in the City and even he who of all the rest was most honoured and chief of the Four But he who first behaved himself thus worthily suffered likewise those punishments which in all likelihood attended one that had dared to do such an Action and manifested an undejected and undaunted Spirit to the very last Thus far Eusebius His Body was afterwards by his Servant conveyed back to Palestine and interred at a City called Lydda and Diospolii now St. Georges near Ramah He is reported by his constancy at his suffering and by private Reasonings and Conferences to have converted many and among the rest Vincentius who was Martyred in Spain That George suffered where the Emperour kept his Court is agreed by all which sufficiently proves that neither Lydda nor Ramah was the place as some deceived by his Burial at the former have written but Nicomediae where all the Histories of those times aver that Diocletian usually resided The Arians to procure the reputation of Saintship to their George the Alexandrian Bishop confounded him and our Martyr into one composing a mixt Legend of their Acts and Sufferings stuffed with such sottish forgeries of Saint Athanasius whom they make a Magician and Alexandra the wife of Dacianus and such like that Pope Gelasius though fit to reject it with others of the same nature as Apocryphal but that he might not be misinterpreted to deny the being of those Saints whose Legends he condemned he thus concludes his Canon Yet notwithstanding this we with the Church devoutly reverence all those Martyrs and their glorious sufferings ' which are better known to God than men Yet did not this Censure though past with the advice of above seventy Prelates hinder succeeding Writers from inserting those Fopperies into their Relations of this Saint whereby some as Calvin Chemnitius c. have been induced to think that there was never such a man Others De Idol Rom. lib. 1. cap. 5. of whom Dr. Reynolds is the most considerable have really believed him to be the same with George of Alexandria though he confesseth that in his opinion Gelasius did believe him to be a Holy Martyr which he could not surely think of the Arian George whose death was but an hundred and thirty years or thereabouts before his Papacy too scant a time to have his impieties and villanies forgotten Amm. Marcel lib. 22. Neither was the Arian George a Cappadocian as this Martyr was which Dr. Reynolds goes about to prove but a Cilician born at a Town of that Province called Epiphania in a Fullers House but dwelling in Cappadocia when the Emperour Constantius the Younger appointed him to be Bishop of Alexandria many years after the other George's Martyrdom By Dacianus the Legendaries mean Galerius Caesar a Native of Dacia who had that Denomination from his Countrey as the Emperour Adrianus had his Name from Adria a Town of Italy whence his Family came and Diocletian from Dioclea in Dalmatia where he was born They call him King of the Persians in regard of his great victories over that people from whom he won five Provinces and was in a fair way as we find in Aurelius Victor to have subdued the whole Kingdom if Diocletian had not recalled him The Fable of George killing a Dragon to save a Virgin 's life seems to be taken from the Poetical Fiction of Persens and Andromeda though it may not unfitly be judged Emblematical if by the Virgin we understand his Soul and by the Dragon the Devil the one preserved the other conquered by his Christian Magnanimity and constant perseverance His name is commemorated in the Martyrologies of Greece and Rome and many ancient Authors his Relicks reverenced and Churches erected and dedicated to his memory in several Lands I have spoken the more of this Martyr that it may appear to the world that the Kings and the Nation of England who for some Ages have had a peculiar respect for this Saint whom they chose for Patron of the most Noble Order of the Garter have not bestowed all this Honour either upon a Heretick or a meer Chimoera Bouchet in his Annals of Aquitain writes That Helena the Daughter of King Cloel so he calls Coel brought Constantius two other Sons besides Constantine and that the youngest named Lucius having slain the Elder was by his Father banished out of Britain and condemned to a Monastical life Embarking therefore with divers Priests and Religious men he crossed over to Poictou where at a place from him called Lucionum now Lusson he founded an Abbey and a Church in honour of the Virgin Mary This he relates out of an old Hymn of that Church But seeing no Ancient approved Author mentions any other Son of Helena's besides Constantine I rather think this Lucius to be the same with him who preached to the Rhaetians and Bavarians since all the Writers of his Acts agree that he preached in Gaul before he entred into Germany Gaul had been much depopulated by the frequent irruptions of the Barbarous people whereupon Constantius as he had translated many of the Franks to manure the Grounds about Langres Rad. Niger Lib. Triedum Rheimes Troyes and Amiens thought fit to draw a Colony of Britans into Armorica which was transported thither under the command of Conan the Son of King Coel whom his Sister the Divorced Princess Helena accompanied In the year three Hundred and five the Picts raised some Commotions here which brought the Emperour over who gave them an Overthrow but was constrained by sickness to return to York where he dyed in the year three Hundred and six and was buried at Caer Seiont near Caernarvon which place was in honour of him called also Caer Custeint Nenn. whose Body being found there in the year one Thousand two hundred and eighty Mat. Westm was by King Edward's command Honourably interred in the Church of Caernarâ—â—â—â— To him succeeded the Noble Constantine worthily Sirnamed The Great who happily came Post from Rome to Boloigne just as his Father was setting Sail his last time hither as we find
saith in his brief Commentaries there were extant in his time very ancient British Rhymes if he mistake him not for another Gerontius that was Prince of Danmonia many years after this man's time Upon the surrendry of Arles Constantius goes against Jovinus whom he overcomes and drives out of the countrey In his room up starts his Brother Sebastian whom Constantius soon defeated and slew together with his Complices Salustius and Rusticus Next he conducts his Forces into Spain against Maximus whom with like success he vanquishes and takes Prisoner but after a short time dismisses him as one who had not aspired to that usurpation through his own ambition but was only made a Stale to the Politick ends of his Advancers Those Britans that came over with Constantine when the War was ended never went home but joyned themselves with their Brethren in Armorica Procop. de bello Vand. lib. 1. Bed lib. 1. cap. 11. yet did not the Romans at all look after the recovery of Britain as Procopius and Bede with others tell us having still work enough nearer home And for some time indeed the Britans defended themselves pretty well but in the year four hundred and eighteen their old Enemies assailed them so fiercely doing so much mischief both by Sea and Land and threatning more that the residue of those Romans who had planted themselves here thought it their wisest and safest course to remove into Gaul Annal. Saxon Athelward lib. 1. hiding for hast under ground great part of their Treasure which was never after found Gildas stiles this Invasion which lasted some years A Trampling under foot a most cruell Infestation and Depression and calls it the First accounting all their former Hostilities as nothing in comparison of this and those that ensued the Picts he terms here a Transmarine Nation because parted from the rest of Britain in a manner by two Armes of the Sea now named the Friths of Edenborough and Dunbritton The Britans thus overpower'd and oppressed send Ambassadors to the Emperour Honorius and humbly beseech him with pittious prayers and promises of perpetual Subjection and Loyal Obedience for the future to succour them in this their distress whereupon in the year four hundred twenty two a Legion strongly provided for the War was by Aetius General of the Forces in Gaul dispatched hither who encountring with the Enemies and killing a huge number of them drove them out of the Province and by so bloody a victory delivered their Friends and Subjects from imminent peril Then they ordered them to build across the Island between the aforesaid Friths of Edenborough and Dunbritton from Abercorne to Kirk Patrick as Lollius and Cerausius had done before a Wall which being made with Garrisons of Soldiers might be a terror to their Foes and a safeguard to themselves But the Romans being recalled to be employed against other Enemies could not stay to see the work done so that it being made without fit Directors by the common people and unreasonable Rout not so much of Stone as of Turs proved to little purpose This year the two forementioned Usurpers Maximus and Jovinus going about to raise new Stirs with the assistance of the Barbarous Nations were taken in Spain by Castinus and Boniface who sent them into Italy where they served to adorn the Trinmph of the Emperour Honorius About this time flourished two famous British Bishops Fastidius and Ninianus of whom the former wrote to one Fatalis a worthy Book concerning Christian Life as some Copies of Gennadius have it or as others concerning Christian Faith and another of continuing in the state of Widowhood the other converted the Southern Picts inhabiting between Forth and Grantzbain and was the first Bishop of Candida Casa now Whitleerne in Galloway where he built a Church of Stone which as Joannes Tinmuthensis saith was the first Church of Stone in Britain and in Ireland he founded a large Monastery at a place called Cluayn Coner both he and his Brother Plebeias were Canonized for Saints In the year four hundred twenty five the Picts and Scots knowing that the Romans were returned home again invaded the Britans breaking down the Rampire and all other Fences committing all sorts of cruelty and sending out their Piratick Vessels robbed and ransackt their Coasts in a miserable manner The Britans therefore again send suppliant Ambassadors to entreat the Romans in meer commiseration of their case and for their own Honour once more to relieve them Whereupon Aetius by the Emperour Valentinian's command in the year four hundred twenty six sends over another Legion under the conduct of Gallio of Ravenna wo forthwith marched against those spoiling Enemies and giving them a notable Overthrow chased them home with a terrible slaughter After this Exploit the Romans declare to the Britans That the present condition of the Empire would not permit them to take any more such troublesome Journeys and therefore they must resolve to defend themselves and not be afraid of Nations no wayes more valiant than they if by sloth and idleness they did not weaken themselves So giving Manful Exhortations to a Fearful People and teaching them to make and handle Arms they together with the Inhabitants at the common charge of all and with the private additional helps of many built a Wall of Stone from Sea to Sea in the same place where as Bede and others say Bed lib. 5. cap. 12. Severus built his Wall and on those Shores which used to be most infested with Pirats they erected Watch-Towers in divers places at convenient distances and beyond the Wall they fortified up and down Stations for Soldiers as was done in Severus his time And so the Romans never to return again bid adieu to the Britans and the year following Gallio who had done this Service Mavortius and Sinnox were sent into Africk against Boniface in which War the two former lost their lives the same year by the treachery of their companion Sinnox who himself received the just reward of a Traitor from the hands of Boniface being by him put to death In the year four hundred twenty nine Presp Florentius and Dionysius being then Consuls Agricola the Pelagian the Son of Severianus a Pelagian Bishop comes into Britain and here diffuses the contagion of his pestilent opinion against whom the British Clergy more Pious than Learned in those calamitous times knowing his Doctrine to be Heretical and yet not able to confute him crave aid of the Gallick Bishops whom Pope Celestine at the Suit of Palladius a Deacon of Rome excites to help their British Brethren in this exigence Whereupon a Council is assembled wherein German Bishop of Auxerre and Lupus Bishop of Troyes men famous for their Learning and Sanctity are assigned to the work These crossing the Sea in the dead of Winter had a very stormy passage which was attributed to Evil Spirits and at their arrival found a great deal of hurt had been done here in a short
Severity Suetonius Paulinus followed him a Commander of as high a reputation as any of his time whose beginnings proved so successful that they emboldned him to attempt the Conquest of Anglesey which was a very populous Isle and the primary Seat of the Druids who encouraged the people to make a stout resistance notwithstanding which the Romans prevailed but before they could settle their new Conquest they were necessitated to return for suppression of a dangerous Insurrection Prasutagus King of the Iceni dying about this time according to the flattering custom of that Age left Caesar his Heir with his own two Daughters thinking it a very politick course to secure his Family from future injuries but his intendment was basely frustrated for under colour to oversee and take possession of the Emperours new Inheritance his Kingdom House and Wealth which was very great became a prey to Centurions and greedy Officers the chief of the people were disseised of their Estates his Kinsmen reputed as Slaves his Daughters defloured and his Wife Boadicia whipt Hereupon the Iceni solicit the other Britans who had matter enough of complaint too especially the Trinobantes who had suffered the like indignities from the Colony of Camalodunum to joyn with them for redress of their common wrongs and to lay hold on the present opportunity of the Lieutenant's absence in the Isle of Anglesey Thus all on a sudden they flee to arms under the conduct of Queen Boadicia whom Tacitus calls a Lady of the Royal Blood whereby it should seem that Prasutagus attained the Kingdom by marrying her The Romans were warned of the approaching danger by sundry Prodigies yet were not able to prevent it The angry Virago having amassed a numerous Army hastens to her Revenge which they of Camalodunum fearing sent to the Procurator Catus Decianus for aid who would not or could not spare them above two hundred men and those ill armed who stood the Colony in little stead for the Britans took the Town and sackt it putting all to the sword and destroyed the Temple that had been erected in honour of Divus Claudius together with the Priests named Sodales Augustales Petilius Cerealis hastning to the rescue with the ninth Legion was met by the way and defeated the Foot all cut off himself with the Horse escaped to the Camp and saved themselves within the Fortifications Suetonius hearing of these things marched straight to London which he intended to make the Seat of War But considering the paucity of his numbers and the disastrous rashness of Cerealis he changed his resolution and notwithstanding the cryes and prayers of the Inhabitants quitted the place which was presently taken and sackt by the Britans as also was Verolamium above seventy thousand Roman Citizens and Associates perishing in this Commotion Decianus whose Exactions had been a grand incentive to these stirs was fled into Gaul as a place of greater safety But the Lientenant having gotten together about ten thousand men and chosen a very advantageous place for his purpose resolved now to try the issue of a Battel wherein the Britans were overthrown with the loss of eighty thousand men Cerealis and his Horsemen had their share in the honour of this Victory which made some amends for their former miscarriage But Paenius Posthumus Camp-Master of the second Legion having contrary to the discipline of War disobeyed when he was sent for and thereby defrauded his Soldiers of their parts of Glory in this success for very grief and shame slew himself The Britans intended as Dion saith to give another Battel if they had not been hindred by the death of Boadicia who made her self away by poyson Yet Caesar thought fit to augment his Forces by sending Recruits out of Germany whereby the ninth Legion was again supplied Virtue never wants Detractors and so Suetonius having done such eminent Services for the Emperour was yet through the calumnies of Julius Classicianus who succeeded Decianus in the Procuratorship and upon the loss of some few Gallies upon the Shore and the Gally-slaves in them discharged from his Lieutenantship though Polycletus Nero's Freed-man who was sent to take an account of the business could find nothing of any consequence against him but that he was too severe to the Conquered which his Accusers said obstructed the Settlement of the Province Petronius Turpilianus succeeded him who only kept things as he found them whom Trebellius Maximus followed Against him Roscius Caelius Lieutenant of the twentieth Legion raised such a Mutiny that finding his interest in the Army too weak to master him he repaired with his Friends and Followers to Vitellius in Germany and followed him in his Enterprises having obliged him formerly by fending over eight thousand men to Hordeonius Flaccus for his Service In the mean time Britain was governed by the Lieutenants of the Legions among whom Roscius Caelius as the boldest bore the greatest sway Vectius Bolanus was sent by Vitellius to succeed Trebellius in whose time nothing memorable passed All this while Venutius with his Brigantes and the Silures held out who had not joyned with Boadicia as either looking upon himself as slighted by her or else disliking her womanish and impotent way of management Him I conceive to be the same whom others call Arviragus and his intercepted Brother to be Caradock and Cartismandua to be Genissa whom Geffrey of Monmouth will have to be the Daughter of Claudius possibly by Adoption But Vespasian coming to the Empire sent hither Petilius Cerealis in the room of Bolanus who sought many Battels with Venutius and some bloody conquering or wasting the greatest part of the Brigantes and his Successour Julius Frontinus was so successful against the Silures that he forced them to acknowledge the Sovereignty of the Roman Empire About this time Roderick King of the Picts came from Scandia to Ireland and by the Scots there inhabiting was directed to Albania where he and his men were willingly received by the Caledonians who then expected to be invaded by the Romans and therefore looked upon these new-come Guests as a seasonable Succour and found their Assistance very useful in the ensuing War Julius Agricola followed Frontinus who at his first arrival was entertained with unwelcome Tidings for the Ordovices had defeated a Squadron of Horse which lay in their Borders with such a slaughter that very few escaped But this was cruelly revenged by the new Lieutenant who marching thither massacred the greatest part of the Nation then invaded and conquered the Isle of Mona or Anglesey After which Agricola turning his Forces Northward made the rest of the Brigantes who remained unvanquished by Cerealis give Hostages and admit Garrisons as likewise did the Maeatae to which they were induced by the generosity of his Demeanour as well as the power of his Arms. That narrow partition of ground from Glotta to Bodotria now the Friths of Dunbritton and Edenborough which divides the Maeatae from the Caledonians and Attiscots he fortified with Garrisons and
in Eumenius and an old Historian published with Ammianus Marcellinus by Henricus Valesius His Father when he was made Caesar to assure Galerius of his fraternal love had put this his Son to him to be trained up in Martial Discipline out of his Stepmother Theodora's sight But he discerning him to be of a great a spiring soul exposed him to continual perils wherein he so behaved himself that he always came off with Honour This made his envious Guardian cause him to be the more narrowly observed resolving either by policy or force ever to detain him in his power Constantine perceiving himself to be in some sort a prisoner determined to take the first opportunity for his Escape so that when Maximinus and Severus were made Caesars by Galerius which was according to Eusebius his Chronicle in the year preceding the death of Constantius he knowing himself as worthy of that Dignity as they procured a feigned permission to return to his Father And coming to Rome took Post there and maimed all the Post-horses by the way till he got out of Italy to prevent the pursuit of Severus Caesar whom he understood to have private Instructions from Galerius to apprehend him Coming safe to Constantius he was by him before his Embarquing declared Caesar the same year as Aurelius Victor saith He staid behind to govern Gaul in his Fathers absence but hearing that he lay sick at York he hasted thither to see him who upon his death-bed appointed him to succeed him not without the envy of his Brothers who csteemed him as the Son of a British Princess not so nobly born as themselves whose Mother was a Roman Emperour's Daughter-in-law Which stuck so deep in the stomach of his ungracious Nephew Julian that he was not ashamed to style the Empress Helena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anaughty and mean woman and Zosimus terms her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A shameful Mother and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An unworthy woman who was not the lawful wife of Constantius the falseness of which appears in that he was forced to put her away in order to his marriage with Theodora And both Jews and Gentiles by way of reproach called her Stabularia or Hostess because she so devoutly sought out that Inn and Stable at Bethlehem where Christ was born and there founded a Church which gave occasion to that fabulous report of her keeping an Hostelry at Drepanum in Bithynia But her Heroick Son was so far from being ashamed of his Mother that he declared her Augusta and at Triers she had a stately Palace for her residence while he kept his Imperial Court there which retaining her Name long time after caused the Abbot Berengosius and others to imagine her a Native of that City Constantine pursuing the Relicks of the Pictish War soon brought the Enemy to terms of Submission and then crossed the Sea to Gaul where the next year he married Fausta the Daughter of the late Emperour Maximian by whom he was then declared Augustus which Title he had forborn till that time Octavius Lord of the Evissaei people inhabiting part of the Counties of Monmouth and Hereford which from them took the name of Ewias leaguing himself with the Northern men rose up in Rebellion here against whom the Emperour sent back his Uncle Traherne who happened at that time to be with him upon some business between whom near Winchester was sought a Battel in which the British King was put to the worst and compelled to flee into the Countrey of the Brigantes where the greatest part of the Roman Army lay to oppose the Picts and their Allies The Rebel following him thither presuming much upon the strength and power of his Confederates where another Battel was fought in which Traherne and the Romans prevailed who pursued Octavius so eagerly that they forced him to quit the Land and sail to Scandia leaving orders with his Friends to contrive some means for dispatching the King which was quickly effected for Traherne thinking himself secure rode out of London with a small Retinue and was intercepted by the Lord of Verulam who with an hundred men lay in Ambush for him and slew him in the year three hundred and eleven when he had reigned two and twenty years Hereof Octavius was immediately advertised who hastning his return and getting his Complices together became very strong but Constantine coming against him in person the same year subdued him and upon his submission suffered him to hold some part of Cambria with the Title of King under him Eusebius speaks of this Exploit saying That Constantine after he had furnished his Army with mild and modest Instructions of piety Euseb de vita Constantin lib. 1. cap. 4. invaded Britain that he might likewise reform those who dwell environed round about with the waves of the Ocean bounding the Sun's setting as it were with his Coasts And in another place Cap. 19. He passed over to the Britans enclosed on every side within the Banks of the Ocean whom when he had overcome he began to compass in his mind other parts of the world that he might come in time to succour those that wanted his help After this he overcame and killed Maxentius and Licinius and established Christian Religion throughout the Roman Empire He caused the Council of Arles to be assembled in the year three hundred and fourteen about the Donatists to which Eborius Bishop of York Restitutus Bishop of London Adelphius Bishop of Colchester Sacerdos a Presbyter and Arminius a Deacon repaired out of Britain and subscribed He also called the Famous Nicene Council against the Arians in the year three hundred twenty five whereat some of the British Clergy were present and held with the Orthodox men In his time the Government of Propraetors or Lieutenants ceased in Britain in stead whereof succeeded Vice-gerents or Vicars General of whom Pacatianus was the first In the year three hundred thirty seven dyed the Emperour Constantine the Great and Singular Ornament of this his Native Countrey in respect whereof the Panegyrist crieth out Panegyric 3. O Fortunate Britain and more happy now than all other Lands that hadst the first sight of Constantinus Caesar But Livineius will not allow this Honour to Britain and tells us That this passage only imports that he was here made Caesar whereas we have already shewed out of Aurelius Victor that he was made Caesar the same year with Maximinus and Severus when he came to his Father in Gaul just as he was embarquing for Britain Lib. 7. c. 19. which is acknowledged by Nicephorus Ad that those two were made Caesars the year before the death of Constantius is expresly affirmed by Eusebius in his Chronicle Lib. 4. c. 53. who likewise in his life of this Emperour deduceth his Reign from that year saying that he reigned two and thirty years wanting some odd months and dayes For if he had computed his Reign from his Fathers death which was on the
twenty fifth of July in the year three hundred and six he could have reckoned but thirty years nine months and twenty eight dayes to the twenty second day of May in the year three hundred thirty seven at which time Constantine died Besides the Panegyrist speaks of his ennobling this Land by his Birth where he saith to him of his Father Liberavit ille Britannias servitute tu etiam nobiles illic oriendo fecisti He freed Britain from Servitude Thou madest it also Noble by being Born there For I know not how to render Oriendo better than by Being Born and the Grammarians will tell us that Orior and Oriundus which comes from it import Birth and Descent Yet others from the mistaken words of Julius Firmicus Julius Fir mic mathes lib. cap. 4. conceive him to be born at Naisus in Illyricum not considering that Firmicus speaks of Constantius the Son of Constantine who was also styled Maximus and born in Illyricum as appears by Julian his Cousin and Successor And Lipsius misled by a corrupted Copy of Firmicus in stead of Naisus reads Tarsus and placeth it in Bithynia Orat. 1. iâ— laudem Coâ—â—stantii near Drepanum where Nicephorus reports this Emperour to be born in the time of Diocletian whereas the Age of Constantine according to all approved Writers proves him to be born in the Reign of Aurelianus Britain was his Birth-place in Gaul he was made Caesar in Britain he was invested with the Purple Robe and the Imperial Dignity though he modestly abstained from the Title of Augustus till at his Marriage in Gaul it was conferred upon him by his Father-in-Law He re-edified Byzantium in Thrace for the conveniency of its situation and Drepanum in Bithynia in honour of the Martyr Latcianus there buried calling the former from his own name Constantinopolis and the latter from his Mothers Helenopolis And as William of Malmesbury saith he planted a Colony of Britans which had served him in his Wars in Armarica which I conceive to be that Army mentioned in the Book of Triads that went forth under the conduct of Caswallan the younger and Gueno and Guavar and sate down in Aquitain whereof the Britans accounted Armorica to be a part both this and Conan's forementioned Army are said to have consisted of one and twenty thousand men apiece By his Concubine Minervina he had a Son named Crispus whom he put to death and by his wise Fansta he had three Sons Constantinus Constantius and Constans among whom he divided his Empire In this division Britain with Gaul and Spain fell to Constantinus who as Eldest Brother expected a larger share and finding himself disappointed invaded the Territories of his Brother Constans by whose Captains he was trained into an Ambush and slain near Aquileia when he had reigned three years His Provinces were presently seized by Constans who having overcome the Franks in a great Battel Liban in Basilico crossed over into Britain as Libanius writes with his Brother Constantius in the Winter-time and quieted some stirs here 343. Julius Firmic de Error profan Releg c. 29. Whereupon Julius Firmicus not the Pagan Astrologer but the Christian speaks thus to them Ye have in Winter-time subdued under your Oars the swelling and raging Billows of the British Ocean the waves now of the Sea unto this time hardly known to us have trembled and the Britains were afraid to see the unexpected face of the Emperour What would ye more the very Elements as vanquished have given place to your Virtues This Voyage was in the year four Hundred forty three and four years after Constans caused a Council to convene at Sardica at which some British Bishops were present and gave their suffrages for Paulus and Athanasius against the Arians At this time Gratianus Father to the Emperours Valentinian and Valens was General of all the Military Forces in Britain who was Sirnamed Funarius because in his youth going about with a Rope to sell five Soldiers that set upon him were not able to wrest it from him In the year three hundred and fifty Constans was slain by the Traiterous Conspiracy of Magnentius Sirnamed Taporus the Son of a Britain but born in Gaul among the Laeti who usurped the Western Empire and after three years inauspicious Reign being vanquished by Constantius he slew himself to avoid the Conqueror's Justice After this victory strict Enquiry is made for his Abettors and among the rest that suffered Gratianus Funarius who had now quitted all publick employment and betook himself to a private life was sined in the confiscation and loss of his Goods because he was reported to have lodged the Tyrant and given him entertainment For the like purpose Paulus a Notary Sirnamed Catena from his craft in linking matters together Amm. Marcel lib. 14. was sent into Britain to discover and apprehend the Favourers of Magnentius who violently seized upon the Fortunes and Estates of many spoiling and undoing a great number imprisoning such as were free-born and grieving their bodies with Bonds and bruising some of them with Manacles and all by patching together many false Accriminations against them Which gave such distaste to Martinus the Vice-gerent here an honest upright man that having in vain entreated him not to ruine such innocent persons he threatned to depart the Land hoping this malicious Inquisitor might for fear thereof be induced to surcease his cruel proceedings But Paulus supposing that hereby his Trade was empaired converted his spight against the Vice-gerent himself whom he drew in to have his part in the common perils and went very near to bring him also prisoner bound with Tribunes and several others to the Emperours Privy Counsel Whereat Martinus was so incensed that he assailed him with his Dagger but failing to wound him mortally stabbed himself and Paulus fearing to stay any longer in an enraged Province now destitute of a Governour hasted away carrying over with him a great company in chains of whom some were dragg'd and tortured some proscribed and outlawed some banished and others suffered punishment by the sword And now Constantius being sole Monarch resolves to promote the interest of Arianism and to that end in the year three hundred fifty nine summons a Council to meet at Ariminum upon the Emperour's charges which was resused by the Gaulish and British Bishops only three of the British for meer poverty accepted it judging it not so blameable to live upon the Prince's Cost as to burden any private Purse though the other Bishops had offered to contribute to them Here though the Arians got some advantage by the Emperour's power and the violence of his Prefect Taurus and the subtle Policies of the two Heretical Bishops Valens and Vrsacius yet did the Western Provinces and particularly Britain continue free from that Herefie long after as Athanasius and the other Bishops of Egypt and Lybia testisie in their Letter to the Emperour Jovianus concerning the Nicene Creed In the year three
sends an Ambassador to Honorius requesting to be held excused for suffering the Purple to be forcibly put upon him by the Soldiers who knowing nothing as yet of the death of his Kinsmen in hopes of saving their lives sent him of free gift the Imperial Robe To confirm this Agreement and to excuse the deaths of Didymius and Verenianus Constantine dispatches another Ambassador named Jovius who told the Emperour that they were slain by the Soldiers without the privity of Constantine and against his will But finding Honorius highly incensed at it he advised him that considering the present posture of Assairs he should remit his anger against Constantine for what was past remedy promising that if he would give him leave to repair to his Master and inform him of the state of Italy he would return to his assistance with the Forces of Gaul Spain and Britain and upon this assurance he was safely disinist For Strlico's design to make away the young Theod sius and thereby to get the Eastern Empire for his Son Eucherius being discovered he was put to death by the command of Honorius whereupon Alarick the Goth who feared none but him entred Italy again which Expedition proved so much the more prosperous to him than the former that he took and spoiled Rome and many other Cities so that the Emperour stood in great need of help against him In Gaul Constantine holding his condition now secure becomes supine and negligent giving himself over to Gluttony and Belly-chear His Son Constans he sends back into Spain who taking with him one Justus to be General of his Army there gave thereby such offence to Gerontius that he set up one of his friends named Maximus for Emperour at Tarracon and excited the Vandals and other Barbarous people in Gaul to break their league with Constantine who was too weak for them in this conjuncture the greatest part of his Forces being in Spain and siding with his Enemies This advantage was espyed and taken by the Nations beyond the Rhine who hereupon cruelly afflicted several parts of Gaul with their incursions and the Maritime Cities of Britain with their Piracies Which when Constantine could not redress the Britans addressed themselves to Honorius and craved aid of him But he having his hands full of the Gothick War advises them to take courage and defend themselves and by his Letter acquits them of their subjection to the Roman Empire They therefore thus discharged took Arms and defended themselves as well as they could whose example was quickly followed by the Britans of Armorica At the same time the Franks crossing the Rhine took the Imperial City of Triers and the Vandals Sueves and Alans passed over the Pirenaean Hills and joyning with the Forces which Constans had left there in Garrison entred Spain Constantine now declares his Son Constans Augustus and Associate in the Empire and displacing Apollinaris from his Praetorian Prefecture bestows it upon another Ellobichus or Allobichus a man of great power and trust with Honorius upon some distaste privily invites Constantine into Italy who passing the Alps marched to Verona and was ready to cross the Po when news was brought him of the sudden death of Ellobichus upon which he returned back to Arles where he kept his residence having caused that City to be called after his own name Constantina and ordained that the Assemblies for Assizes of seven Provinces should be there held Honorius being hereof advertised as he returned from a journey immediately alighted to give God thanks for so great a deliverance from an unsuspected Domestick Conspiratour And now he had leisure to think of revenge against Constantine since his greatest Enemy Alarick King of the Goths was also lately dead at Consentia In the mean time Gerontius leaving Maximus in Spain marches for Gaul whereupon Constantine orders his Son Constans to stay at Vienna while he sends Edobichus to the Franks and Almans for aid But Gerontius takes Vienna by Assault and kills Constans and from thence conducts his Forces against Constantine himself and layes Siege to Arles Thither comes Constantius General for the Emperour Honorius and sits down before the City too At whose coming Gerontius finding that many of his Soldiers deserted him and fearing a general Revolt in case of longer stay there broke up his Leaguer and hasted for Spain with those that would follow him in such sort as little differed from plain flight The remainder of his Army went over to Constantius who hearing that Edobichus was advancing against him sent his Lieutenant General Vlphilas and part of his Army before with orders to conceal themselves in some convenient place while their Enemy passed by himself follows marching directly against Edobichus between whom was fought a cruel Battel but in the end Edobichus being charged by Constantius before and by Vlphilas behind was with great slaughter defeated and in this distress flees to an ancient friend of his named Ecdicius whom he had many ways obliged formerly Ecdicius receives him with a feigned kindness and in the night cuts off his head which he presents to Constantius in hopes of being well rewarded for it But when he would have stayed in the Camp the worthy General commanded him to depart as detesting the sight of him who had been perfidious to a deserving friend This success so discouraged Constantine that to save his life he turn'd Priest when he had reigned four years and so Arles after a Siege of four months was surrendred Constantine being taken with his Son Julian whom he had named Nobilissimus was sent into Italy and near the River Mincius beheaded by the order of Honorius in the year four hundred and eleven In the mean time Jovinus who commanded in Gaul under Constantine drawing together all the Forces of that Countrey with strong supplies of Franks Burgundians and Alans in stead of endeavouring the relief of his Master sets up for himself and puts on the Imperial Robes at Auverne which added to the dejection of the Besieged in Arles and hastened their yielding In Spain Gerontius after his shameful return grew into such contempt with the Soldiers that they beset his house in the night where with the help of his friend Alanus and a few Servants he defended himself stoutly and slew above three hundred of them and when his Darts and other weapons were spent he might at last have escaped at a private door as his Servants did but not enduring to leave his wife Nonnichia whom he entirely loved to the violence of enraged Mutineers he first cut off the head of his dear friend Alanus then of his own Wife Nonnichia at the earnest entreaty of them both who loved him so affectionately that they would not survive him Last of all he turns his sword against himself but missing the mortal place finishes his work with his Poniard more fortunate in his friend than Edobichus though less deserving it for his Disloyalty Of the death of this Gerontius Mr. Humfrey Lhoyd