declamations in a storme onely to his poore Bargeman Amyclas being as then out of all hope or helpe for buriall saue in the bottome of the sea otherwise at another time I do not doubt but that he would haue desired sepulture with all her ceremonies as earnestly as Hector or any one of his nine fellow-worthies For neuer any saith Camden neglected buriall but some sauage nations as Bactrians which cast their dead to the dogs some varlet Philosophers as Diogenes who desired to bee deuoured of fishes some dissolute Courtiers as Macaenas who was wont to say Non tumulum curo sepelit natura relictos I 'm carelesse of a graue Nature her dead will saue As another said De terra interram quaeuis terra Sepulchrum From earth to earth wee go Each earth 's alike graue so Lucius Scipio likewise being ouerthrowne at the battell of Thapsus where hee was Generall fled disguisedly by sea for his owne safety but being driuen by a storme into the Bay of Hippo where Caesars Nauie lay to guard the shores and perceiuing them himselfe and his Barke both lost he stabbed himselfe with his ponyard leapt ouerboard and drowned himselfe in the maine vttering vpon his instant resolution certaine words in disdaine of buriall Thus exquisitely deliuered in verse by my worthy Friend the continuer of Lucans Historicall poeme My course is runne and though this armed hand Shall testifie I could haue di'd by land The Ocean likes me best within the maine Vnknowne for euer Scipio shall remaine O let my floating carcase neuer come To land lest Affricke should bestow a Tombe And to her sonnes in after ages show A Monument of vanquisht Scipio Loath he was that his dead bodie should either suffer despight or receiue fauour from his enemies so that I thinke no otherwise of his imprecations then I do of Caesars These carelesse Mecaenas-like resolutions make so many I beleeue of especiall note amongst us who either vpon a sparing or precise humour are content to commit to the earth their parents wiues children and the nearest vnto them in tenebris with little better than Sepulchra asinorum This office of burying the dead this last dutie done to our deceased friends hath euer had the prime place of commendation by Lucan lib. 18. for that he so solicitously tooke care to giue all funerall dues to the head lesse Trunke of great Pompey cut off by the treachery of the vngratâ—full base Ptolomey vpon whom he is made in the said booke to bestow this Epitaph Here the great Pompey lies so Fortune pleasde To instile this stone whom Caesars selfe would haue Interr'd before he should haue mist a graue And Virgil makes buriall an honour to such as are slaine in battell and so consequently of others Meane while th'vnburied bodies of our mates Ciue wee to graue sole honour after fates Go honour those braue soules with their last dues Who with their bloud purchas'd this land for vs. Toby his burying of the dead was acceptable vnto God as the Angell testifieth And the Lord himselfe being to arise againe the third day commended that good worke of those religious women who poured those pretious ointments with sweete odours vpon his head and body and did it to bury him And the Gospel hath crowned them with immortall praise that tooke downe his bodie from the crosse and gaue it honest and honourable buriall Which signifieth saith S. Augustine that the providence of God extendeth euen vnto the very bodies of the dead for he is pleased with such good deeds and doe build vp the beleefe of the resurrection Where by the way saith he we may learne this profitable lesson how great the reward of almes done vnto the liuing may be since this duty and fauour showne but vnto the dead is not forgotten of God Decent buriall according to the qualitie of the person deceased with attendants of kindred and friends is an honour to the defunct Hezekiah saith the text slept with his fathers and they buried him in the highest sepulchre of the sonnes of Dauid and all Iudah and the inhabitants of Ierusalem did him honour at his death We commend many of vs I am sure doe that good worke of Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester who caused the bones and other reliques of such sacred Princes and sainted Prelates as there had beene buried in that Church and dispersed abroad in seuerall odde corners to bee placed together in seemly monuments vpon the top of the new partition built by himselfe for the same purpose And likewise wee cannot but loue the memory of such who vpon the dissolution and finall destruction of our religious structures caused so many funerall monuments with the bodies therein included to bee remoued into other neighbouring Churches where by all likelihood they may rest in peace and safety vntill the last sound of the Trumpet In the works of Aurelius Prudentius Clemens a Spaniard by birth an ancient Christian Poet and one Qui palmam inter omnes Christianos Poetas obtinuit who flourished about foure hundred yeares after the incarnation of our Lord and Sauiour I finde this Funerall Hymne following of which and not impertinently I may make some vse here in this place translated by Sir Iohn Beaumont Baronet O God the soules pure fiery spring Who different natures wouldst combine That man whom thou to life didst bring By weakenesse may to death decline By thee they both are fram'd aright They by thy hand vnited be And while they ioyne with growing might Both flesh and spirit liue to thee But when diuision them recalls They bend their course to seu'rall ends Into drie earth the body falls The feruent soule to heau'n ascends For all created things at length By slow corruption growing old Must needs forsake compacted strength And disagreeing webs vnfold But thou deare Lord hast meanes prepar'd That death in thine may neuer reigne And hast vndoubted wayes declar'd How members lost may rise againe That while those generous rayes are bound In prison vnder fading things That part may still be stronger found Which from aboue directly springs If man with baser thoughts possest His will in earthly mud shall drowne The soule with such a weight opprest Is by the body carried downe But when she mindfull of her birth Her selfe from vgly spots debarres She lifts her friendly house from earth And beares it with her to the starres See how the emptie bodie lies Where now no liuely soule remaines Yet when short time with swiftnesse flies The height of senses it regaines Those ages shall be soone at hand When kindly heate the bones reuiues And shall the former house command Where liuing bloud it shall infuse Dull carcases to dust now worne Which long in graues corrupted lay Shall to the nimble aire be borne Where soules before haue led the way Hence comes it to adorne the graue With carefull labour men affect The limbes dissolu'd last honour haue And fun'rall Rites with
thousand thirty and seuen the bodie of Pallas the sonne of Euander slaine by Turnus in single combat was found and taken vp in Rome intire and sound in all parts to the great astonishment of the beholders in that it had triumphed so many ages ouer all corruption At his head was found a burning lampe which could not bee extinguisht neither by violence of blast nor by aspersion of liquor Vpon whose tombe this Epitaph following was then found Filius Euandri Pallas quem laurea Turni Militis occidit more suo iacet hic Pallas Euanders sonne by Turnus speare In combate slaine on this wise lieth here Within the Parish of Stepney in Midlesex in Radcliffe field where they take ballast for ships about some fourteene or fifteene yeares agoe there was found two Monuments the one of stone wherein was the bones of a man the other a chest of lead the vpper part being garnished with Scallop shels and a crotister border At the head of the coffin and the foot there were two Iars of a three foot length standing and on the sides a number of bottles of glistering red earth some painted and many great viols of glasse some sixe some eight square hauing a whitish liquour within them Within the chest was the body of a woman as the Chirurgians iudged by the skull On either side of her there was two scepters of Iuory eighteene inches long and on her breast a little figure of Cupid neatly cut in white stone And amongst the bones two printed peeces of Iett with round heads in forme of nailes three inches long It seemeth saith Sir Robert Cotton from whom I had this relation these bodies were burned about the yeare of our Lord 239. being there were â—ound diuers coines of Pupienus Gordian and the Emperours of that time And that one may coniecture by her ornaments that this last body should be some Princes or Propretors wife here in Britaine in the time of the Romane gouernment In the North isle of the Parish-church of Newport painell in Buckinghamshire in the yeare 1619. was found the body of a man whole and perfect laid downe or rather leaning downe North and South all the concauous parts of his body and the hollownesse of euery bone as well ribs as other were filled vp with sollid lead The skull with the lead in it doth weigh thirty pounds and sixe ounces which with the neck-bone and some other bones in like manner full of lead are reserued and kept in a little chest in the said Church neare to the place where the corps were found there to bee showne to strangers as reliques of admiration The rest of all the parts of his body are taken away by Gentlemen neare dwellers or such as take delight in rare Antiquities This I saw Thus you see by the premises how magnificent our Ancients were in the ordering and expenses of Funerals how sumptuous in their houses of death or sepulchres and how carefull to preserue their dead carcases from putrifaction for so much as the soule saith Sandys knowing it selfe by diuine instinct immortall doth desire that the body her beloued companion might enioy as farre forth as may be the like felicity giuing by erecting lofty Monuments and these dues of Funerall all possible eternitie But now iudicious Reader vnderstand that howsoeuer I haue spoken or whatsoeuer I shall speake hereafter of buriall and the ceremonies thereunto belonging yet I speake now out of Saint Augustine and Ludouicus Vtues his Commentor that it is not preiudiciall to a Christian soule to bee forbidden buriall For although the Psalmist complaines as I haue said before how that none would bury the dead bodies of Gods seruants yet this was spoken to intimate their villany which did it rather then their misery which suffered it For though that vnto the eyes of man these acts seeme bloudy and tyrannous yet precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints And our faith holding fast the promise is not so fraile as to thinke that the rauenous beasts can depriue the body of any part to bee wanting in the resurrection where not a haire of the head shall be missing a new restitution of our whole bodies being promised to all of vs in a moment not onely out of the earth alone but euen out of the most secret angles of all the other elements wherein any body is or can bee possibly included A bad death neuer followes a good life for there is nothing that maketh death bad but that estate which followeth death What power then hath the horrour of any kinde of death or the want of buriall to affright their soules that haue led a vertuous life Quo loco quo modo quo tempore fiat haec emigratio quid interest vndique Christi fidelibus â—d coelestia regna patet aditus The familie of the gorgeous rich glutton prepared him a sumptuous funerall vnto the eyes of men but one farre more sumptuous did the ministring Angels prepare for the vlcered begger in the sight of God They bare him not into any Sepulchre of marble but placed him in the bosome of Abraham Lucans Pharsalia the ninth booke speaking of great Pompey who wanted a Tombe tells vs how that his spirit ascended vp to the heauens to which habitation few come that are entombd in rich and sumptuous monuments thus The eternall Spheres his glorious spirit doth hold To which come few with incense buri'd tomb'd in gold And the said Lucan in his seuenth booke speaking of the dead that Caesar forbad should be burned or buried after hee hath brought forth many graue sentences concerning this matter of buriall at length thus concludes speaking as it were passionately vnto Caesar. This anger bootes thee not for t is all one Whether the fire or putrefaction Dissolue them all to Natures bosome go And to themselues their ends the bodies owe. If now these Nations Caesar be not burnd They shall when earth and seas to flames are turnd One fire shall burne the world and with the skie Shall mixe these bones where ere thy soule shall be Their soules shall goe in aire thou shalt not flie Higher nor better in Auernus lie Death frees from fortune Earth receiues againe What euer she brought forth and they obtaine Heauens couerture that haue no vrnes at all So Virgil who appoints a place of punishment in hell for the vnburied yet in Anchises his words he shewes how small the losse of a graue is But to conclude with mine Authour Saint Augustine If the necessaries of mans life as meate and cloathing though they be wanting in great extremitie yet cannot subuert the good mans patience nor draw him from goodnesse how much lesse power shall those things haue which are omitted in the burying of the dead to afflict the soules that are already at quiet in the secret receptacles of the righteous And whereas in the bloudy ouerthrow of many fierce battels in the sacking and subuersion of
alter subianitor Vna femina Matrona sub eadem duodecim alie femine Habeat etiam Magister ad sumptus Hospitalis duos homines honestos ad nutum libitum suum in omnibus negotijs tam propriis quam etiam in negotiis hospitalis sibi seruituros In iuramento Magistri Nullam que dispensationem aduersus aliquod statutum siue ordinationem Hospitalis predicti siue aduersus hoc iuramentum meum aut aliquam eius particulam impetrabo aut impetrari curabo neque ab aliis impetratum vllo modo curabo c. Hec omnia et singula in me recipio hec iureiurando promitto me fideliter obseruaturum sicut me Deus adiuuet et hec sacrosancta eius Euangelia Que omnia singula N. Abbati Westmonast Visitatori predicti Hospitalis spondeo c. incentum libris sterlingorum ad vsum Hospitalis predicti meipsum firmiter obligo c. Regule quedam obseruande Sit Magister continue residens in Hospitali predicto nullumque officium administrationem quarumcunque rerum aut cuiuscunque rei vel sub aliqua persona spirituali aut temporali cuiuscunque dignitatis aut conditionis fuerit acceptabit aut geret neque eiusdem Seruitor Capellanus Officiariusve Nec absit in Hospitalis negotiis vltra quadraginta in aliquo anno Pro singulis diebus necessarie sue absentie in Hospitalis causis habeat pro se duobus sibi Servitoribus tantum tres solidos Magister Hospitalis pro tempore existens habeat sibi vltra vnam Togam siue liberatam suam Pro expensis oris sui siue victus proque vadijs suis quibuscunque alijs necessarijs habeat triginta libras annuatim soluendas per manus suas proprias ad quatuor anni terminos vsuales per equales portiones Nec Magister nec alij portabunt vestes exteriores alterius coloris quam blanei anglice blew interiores possunt esse alterius coloris dummodo non sunt rubei vel alterius leuis coloris Omnes Conductijs exceptis portabunt in dextra parte Pectoris vnam Rosam rubeam amplam ad sex polices in circuitu de filis cericis aureis bene contextam et compactam cum Capicio eiusdem coloris There are diuers other the like ordinances which I omit This Hospitall being valued to dispend 529. l. 15. s. 7. d. ob by yeare was suppressed the tenth of Iune the seuenth of Edward the sixth a little before his death the Beds bedding and other furniture belonging thereunto with seuen hundred Markes of the said Lands by yeare he gaue to the Citizens of London with his house of Bridewell to the furnishing thereof and towards the furnishing of the Hospitall of S. Thomas in Southwarke lately suppressed This Hospitall was againe new founded erected corporated and endowed with lands by Queene Mary the third of Nouember in the fourth of her raigne the Ladies of the Court and Maydens of Honor a thing saith Stow not to be forgotten stored the same of new with beds bedding and other furniture in very ample manner and so it continues The Chappell of this Hospitall serueth now as a Parish Church to the Tenements thereof neare adioyning and others In which are diuers funerall Monuments but few of any Antiquitie Hic iacet Tho. Halsal Leighuieng Episcopus in Basilica Sancti Petri Rome Nationis Anglicorum Penitenciarius summe probitatis vir qui hoc solum post se reliquit Vixit dum vixit bene cui leuus conditor Goannes Douglas Scotus Dunkelheng Presul Patria sua exul 1522. This Bishop translated Virgils Aeneiads into the Scottish language compiled the palace of Honor and diuers other Treatises he fled into England for feare of being questioned in Parliament Here lieth Humphrey Gosling of London Vintnor Of the whyt Hart of this Parish a neghbor Of vertuous behauiour a very good Archer And of honest mirch a good company keeper So well enclyned to poore and rich God send more Goslings to be siâ—h Saint Martins in the fields O ye our frends yat here pas by We beseche yow vs to haue in memory Somtym we were as now be ye In tym to come ye shall be as we Edward Norrys and Ioan his wyff These wer our names whyl we had lyff Of yowr charite for vs to pray A Pater Noster and an Aue to say Of your cherity pray for the soule of Sir Humfrey Forster Knight whos body lyeth buried here in earth vndyr this marblâ—ston which decessyâ— the xviij day of the moneth of September 1500 ......... on whâ—s soule Iesu haue mercy Amen Hic iacet Thomas Barret prenobilis Armiger qui quidem Thomas erat abstractus de Sanctuario beati Petri VVestmonasterij et erudeliter intersectus per manus improrum contra leges Anglie et totius vniuersalis Ecclesie priuilegia et iura Anno Domini 1461. Anno illustrissimi Regis Ed. Quarti post conquâ—stum primo Sub eodem queque maâ—moreo lapide Iohannes Barret eiusdem Thome primogenitus sepelitur qui quidem Iohannes obiit ...... die ...... An .... Of this eminent thrice noble Esquire thus drawne and puld out of the Sanctuarie and cruelly murthered by the hands of wicked people against the Lawes of the land and priuiledges of the holy Church as appeares by this Inscription I haue read thus much following out of a namelesse Manuscript Thomas Barryt Squyr to Kyng Harry the syxt oftentyms imâ—loyd in the French warrys vndre the command of Iohn Duc of Bedford as alsoo Iohn Duc of Norfok beyng aswâ—y trew â—â—ge man to hys Souereygne Lord the Kyng hauyng taken Sanctury at Westmynstre to â—hon the fury of hys and the Kyngs enemys was from thense hayld foorth and lamentably hewyâ— a pâ—ees Abut whilke rym or a lityll before the Lord Skales late in an euenyng entryng a wherry Bott wythe three persoons and wghyng toowards UUestmynstre ther lykwys too haue takyn Sanctury was descryed by a wooman wher anon the wherry men fell on hym murthered hym and cast hys mangyld corps aloud by Sâ—ynt Mary Ouerys The Surname of Barret is at this day of exemplarie note and doth greatly resflourish by that worthy Gentleman Sir Edward Barret Knight Lord Baron of Newburgh Chancelour of the Dutchie of Lancaster and one of his Maiesties most honourable priuy Councell Saint Mary Rounciuall This was an Hospitall by Charing Crosse and a cell to the Priorie and couent of Rounciuall in Nauar in Pampalone Diocesse where a Fraternitie was founded in the 15 of Edward the fourth Hospitall of Saint Iames. This Hospitall was anciently founded by the Citizens of London for fourteene Sisters maidens that were leprous liuing chastly and honestly This Hospitall was surrendred to Henry the eight the 23 of his raigne the Sisters being compounded withall were allowed Pensions for the terme of their liues and the King builded there a goodly mannor house annexing thereunto a Parke The Foundation of the religious
aloft did reare Which in her cinders now lies sadly buried here With Alabaster Tuch and Porphery adornd When welneare in her pride great Troinouant she scornd Likewise vpon this forgotten Citie a namelesse late writer hath made this Epitaph Stay thy foot that passest by Here is wonder to descry Churches that interr'd the dead Here themselues are sepulchred Houses where men slept and wak't Here in ashes vnder-rak't In a word to allude Here is corne where once Troy stood Or more fully home to haue Here 's a Citie in a graue Reader wonder thinke it then Cities thus would die like men And yet wonder thinke it none Many Cities thus are gone But I will conclude this Chapter with these two stanzaes following taken out of Spensers poeme aforesaid speaking of the vanity of such Princes who Absolon like thinke to gaine a perpetuitie after death by erecting of pillars and such like monuments to keepe their names in remembrance when as it is onely the Muses works which giue unto man immortality In vaine do earthly Princes then in vaine Seeke with Pyramides to heauen aspired Or huge Colosses built with costly paine Or brasen pillars neuer to bee fired Or Shrines made of the metall most desired To make their memories for euer liue For how can mortall immortalitie giue For deeds doe die how euer nobly done And thoughts of men doe in themselues decay But wise words taught in numbers for to runne Recorded by the Muses liue for aye Ne may with storming showres be washt away Ne bitter breathing windes with harmfull blast Nor age nor enuie shall them euer wast CHAP. II. Of Funerall Monuments Graues Tombes or Sepulchres Of the ancient custome of burialls Of Epitaphs and other funerall honours NOw to speake properly of a Monument as it is here in this my ensuing Treatise vnderstood it is a receptacle or sepulchre purposely made erected or built to receiue a dead corps and to preserue the same from violation Nam monumentum Sepulchri est quod causa muniendi eius loci factum sit in quo corpus impositum sit vnde Monumentum quasi munimentum dicitur And indeed these Funerall Monuments in foregoing ages were very fittingly called muniments in that they did defend and fence the corps of the defunct which otherwise might haue beene pulled out of their graues by the sauage brutishnesse of wilde beasts for as then none were buried in Townes or Cities but either in the fields along the high way side to put passengers in minde that they were like those so interred mortall vpon the top or at the feet of mountaines Apud maiores saith Seruiuâ— lib. xi Aeneid aut sub montibus aut in ipsis montibus sepeliebantur vnde natum est vt super cadauera aut pyramides fierent aut ingentes collocarentur columnae The Romanes were forbidden by this the second Law of their twelue Tables Hominem mortuum in vrbe ne sepelito neve vrito to bury or burne any within any Towne or Citie For the ancient custome of buriall amongst the Iewes wee reade that Abraham was buried with Sara his wife in the caue of Machpelah in the field of Ephron Gen. cap. 25. And Vzziah king of Iuda slept with his fathers and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the buriall which pertained to the kings 2. Chron. cap. 26. The sepulchre of Lazarus was without the citie of Bethania and so was that of Ioseph without Ierusalem Sandys in the relation of his long iourney tells us that hee was shewed the Tombe of the Prophet Samuel as also the Sepulchre of the seuen brethren who were tortured to death by Antiochus fenced about with a pile of stones square flat and solid both of them being on the top of two mountaines neare vnto the citie of Emmaus and in the vineyards on the North-west side of the said citie sundry places of buriall hewne out of the maine rocke amongst the rest one called the Sepulchre of the Prophets And those Egyptian lofty proud Pyramids the barbarous wonders of vaine cost so vniuersally celebrated being the Regall sepulchres of the Ptolomees were erected farre out of all cities as the said Traueller tells vs who did see so much of the ruines thereof as time hath not deuoured The Athenians buried such as were slaine in battell and other honourable personages in a place without the Citie called Ceramnicus So here in England the interments of the dead were anciently farre out of all Townes and Cities either on the ridges of hills or vpon spatious plaines fortified or fenced about with obelisks pointed stones Pyramids pillars or such like monuments for example Englands wonder vpon Salisbury-plaine called Stonehenge the sepulchre of so many Britaines who by the treachery of the Saxons were slaine there at a parley That of Wada the Saxon Duke neare to Whitby in Yorkshire and those of Cartigerne the Britaine and Horsa the Saxon neare to Ailesford in Kent It was a thing vsuall among our old Saxon ancestours saith Verstegan as by Tacitus it also seemeth to haue beene among the other Germans that the dead bodies of such as were slaine in the field and buried in the fields were not layed in graues but lying upon the ground were couered ouer with turnes clods or sods of earth And the more in reputation the persons had beene the greater and higher were the turnes raised ouer their bodies and this some vsed to call Byriging some Beorging and some Buriging of the dead which wee now call berying or burying of the dead which properly is a shrowding or an hiding of the dead bodie in the earth Of these kinde of funerall monuments you haue many vpon Salisbury-plaine out of which the bones of bodies thus inhum'd are oftentimes digged vp which the Inhabitants thereabout call Beries Baroes and some Burrowes which accordeth with the same fence of Byrighs Beorghs or Burghs From whence the names of diuerse Townes and Cities are originally deriued Places first so called hauing beene with walls of turfe or clods of earth fenced about for men to bee shrowded in as in forts or Castles Reutha King of that neuer-conquered terrible fierce Nation of the Scots who flourished about they eare of the world 3784. and before the birth of our blessed Sauiour one hundred eightie and seven yeares ordained That such Noblemen which had atchieued any notable exploit in defence of their countrey should bee had in perpetuall memorie and buried in solemne wise in sepulchres aloft vpon hills or mountaines vpon which were set so many Obelisks pillars or long-pointed stones as they had slaine enemies in the warres Whereof some remaine saith Hector Boethius in the life of the said King there to be seene euen to this day Sepulchres of this stately kinde of structure for persons of eminent ranke and qualitie were sometimes howsoeuer erected within the cities for wee reade in the first booke of the Maccabees Chap. 13. that Ionathan the valiant brother to Iudas the
most respected to supply their wants to serue their delights and attend vpon them in the lower shades The expressâ— of such a funerall fire wherein the body of Archemorus was consumed is thus set downe by Statius the Theban in his sixth booke translated by Sandys Neuer were ashes with more wealth repleate Gems crackle siluer melts gold drops with heate Embroidered robes consume Okes fatned by The iuyce of sweet Assyrian drugs flame hie Fyer'd honey and pale saffron hisse full boules Of wine pour'd on and goblets gladding soules Of blacke bloud and snatcht milke The Greeke Kings then With Guidons trail'd on earth led forth their men In seuen troupes in each troupe an hundred Knights Circling the sad pile with sinister rites Who choke the flame with dust Thrice it they round Their weapons clash foure times a horrid sound Strucke armours raisde as oft the Seruants beate Their bared breasts with out-cries Heards of Neate And beasts halfe slaine another wastfull fire Deuoures c. With the like solemnitie or farre greater the funerals of Patroclus were performed by Achilles for with him were burned oxen sheepe dogges horses and twelue stout and valiant sonnes of noble Troians Achilles pulls off the haire off his head and casts it into the flame and besides institutes certaine Funerall Games to the honour of his slaine friend the glory of the Greekish Nation Patroclus which is recorded by Homer in the 23. booke of his Iliads of which this is the argument Achilles orders iusts of Obsequies For his Patroclus and doth sacrifice Twelue Troian Princes most lou'd hounds and horse And other offering to the honoured corse He institutes besides a Funerall Game Where Diomed for horse-race wins the same For foot Vlysses other otherwise Striue and obtaine and end the Exequies They vsed to quench these funerall fires with red wine and gathering the bones together to include them in vrnes which they placed in or vpon some sumptuous rich Monument erected for that purpose as you may reade in the sixth booke of Virgils Aenâ—iads in the funeralls of Misenus most liuely thus expressed I will vse Phaers Translation the Troians all in solemne guise Did waile Misenus corps and gaue to him their last outcries First cut in culpons great and fat of sappe with pitch among A stately pile they build with timber trees and Cypresse strong That dead mens treasure is his gorgeous armes also they set Some brought the water warme and Cauldrons boyling out they set The body cold they wash and precious ointments on they poure Lamenting loud is made then close his limbes in bed or floore They crouch with weeping teares and purple weedes on him they throw His robes his harne is bright and ensignes all that men may know In mourning sort some heaue on shoulders high the mighty Beere A dolefull seruice sad as children doe their father deere Behinde them holding brands then flame vprising broad doth spread And oiles and dainties cast and Frankincence the fire doth feed When falne his cinders were and longer blase did not endure His reliques and remaines of dust with wine they washed pure Then Choriney his bones in brasen coffin bright did close And sprinkling water pure about his mates three times he goes And drops of sacred dew with Oliue-palmes on them did shake And compasse blest them all and sentence last he sadly spake To fields of ioy thy soule and endlesse rest we doe betake But good Aeneas then right huge in height his Tombe did rere And gaue the Lord his Armes his Ore and Trumpet fixed there On mountaine neare the skies that of Misenus beares the name And euerlasting shall from world to world retaine the same Many more ceremonies were obserued in the magnificent ordering of both kindes of Funeralls as well of such as were buried in the earth as of these burned in these costly piles of wood The custome of burning the dead bodies continued among the Romanes but vntill the time of the Antonine Emperours An Do 200. or thereabouts then they began to burie againe in the earth Manutius de log Rom. fol 125.126 They had at these burials suborned counterfeit hired mourners which were women of the loudest voices who betimes in the morning did meere at appointed places and then cried out mainly beating of their breasts tearing their haire their faces and garments ioyning therewith the prayers of the defunct from the houre of his natiuitie vnto the houre of his dissolution still keeping time with the melancholicke musicke This is a custome obserued at this day in some parts of Ireland but aboue all Nations the Iewes are best skilled in these lamentations being Fruitfull in teares teares that still ready stand To sally forth and but expect command Amongst these women there was euer an old aged Beldam called Praefica quasi in hoc ipso manus praefecta a superintendent aboue all the rest of the mourners who with a loud voice did pronounce these words I licet or Ire licet as much to say He must needs depart and when the dead corps were lain in the graue and all ceremonies finished she deliuerd the last adieu in this manner Vale vale vale nos te ordine quo natura permiserit cuncti sequemur Adieu Adieu Adieu wee must follow thee according as the course of nature shall permit vs. The manner of these lamentings saith George Sandys in his Journall may of old appeare by this ironicall personating of a father following the exequies of his sonne introducted by Lucian in these words O my sweet sonne thou art lost thou art dead dead before thy day and hast left mee behinde of men the most miserable Not experienced in the pleasures of a wife the comforts of children warfare husbandrie nor attained to maturitie Henceforth O my sonne thou shalt not eate nor loue nor bee drunke amongst thy equalls They had likewise their Libitinarij and those many in number which were the prouiders of all things necessarie for the Funeralls and their Pollinctores which were those that anointed embalmed and inuested the defunct with mirrhe aloes salt honey waxe sweet odours pretious oyles perfumed sereclothes fine Aromaticke Sindon and the like The mourners were exceeding many of which I haue partly spoken before with Trumpeters and Musitians of all sorts most dolefully sounding and warbling forth their lamentable notes the corps of the defunct being garded and attended vpon with troupes of horsemen which was accounted an extraordinarie kinde of honour done to the deceased then last of all Funerall Games Bonefires of most pretious woods Orations magnificent sumptuous and most royall feasts and banquets were ordained But these excessiue charges these superfluous and impertinent costs of funerall expenses were by certaine Lawes restrained both by the Romans and Grecians and funerall charges proportioned according to the worthinesse of the person deceased and his meanes answerable to the valuation of his yearely reuenues or the generall estimate of his substance In like manner
obliuion Absolon in his life time erected a pillar to retaine the memory of his name in that his issue male failed Will you heare the Text. Now Absolon in his life-time had taken and reared him vp a pillar which is in the Kings dale for hee said I haue no sonne to keepe my name in remembrance and hee called the pillar after his owne name and it is called vnto this day Absolons place This pillar which Absolon intended for the place of his sepulture hewne and framed out of the rocke or growing stone is to bee seene at this day saith Sandys all entire and of a goodly fabricke But to returne euery man like Absolon desires a perpetuity after death by these monuments or by other meanes according to that of Tertullian in his booke De Testimonio animae Quis non hodie saith hee memoriae post mortem frequentandae ita studet vt vel literaturae operibus vel simplici laude morum vel ipsorum sepulchrorum ambitione nomen suum seruet These that in their life time do thus build their owne sepulchres and take care in the ceremonious disposing of their funeralls would no question lay this charge vpon those which they must of necessity trust in the performance of their Wills and Testaments and employ their last dayes and houres in more heauenly designes if they did not oftentimes see in their course of life that as well heires as executours interre both the honour and memory of the defunct together with his corps perfidiously forgetting their fidelity to the deceased Of which will it please you reade this old inscription depicted vpon a wall within S. Edmunds Church in Lumbard-street London Man the behovyth oft to haue yis in mind Yat thow geueth wyth yin hond yat sall thow fynd For widowes be sloful and chyldren beth vnkynd Executors beth couetos and kep al yat yey fynd If eny body esk wher the deddys goodys becam Yey ansquer So God me help and halidam he died a poor man Yink on yis Io. Gower in his additions to his booke called Vox clamantis hath these verses contra mortuorum Executores much what to the same effect Dicunt Scripture memorare nouissima vite Pauper ab hoc mundo transiet omnis homo Dat Fortuna status varios Natura sed omnes Fine suo claudit cunctaque morte rapit Post mortem pauci qui nunc reputantur amici Sunt memores anime sis memor ipse tue Da dum tempus habes tibi propria sit manus heres Auferet hoc nemo quod dabis ipse Deo Vpon these and the like considerations they vsed as they now doe to inscribe or engraue these kinde of monuments with certaine sentences to this effect Fallax saepe fides testataque vota peribunt Constitues tumulum si sapis ipse tuum Or thus Certa dies nulli mors certa incerta sequentum Cura locet tumulum qui sapit ipse sibi Concluding most commonly with these words Viuus fecit Viuus faciendum curauit Viuus sibi posuit Se vino fecit Viuus hoc sibi fecit monumentum and the like Some erected their sepulchres whilst they were liuing concluding their inscriptions thus Sibi coniugi Sibi coniugi Liberis Sibi posteris And some that would not haue their wiues heires nor any other entombed therein thus Hoc monumentum heredes non sequuntur Or thus Rogo per deos superos inferosque ossa nostra ne violes This care of buriall moued Augustus Caesar to build his funerall monument in the sixth yeare of his Consulship for himselfe and the succeeding Emperours The like reason moued Hadrian to build his Tombe or Sepulchre neare vnto the bridge Aelium for the Mausoleum of Augustus was full as Xiphilinus writes in the life of Hadrian And to bring you this honie example the like consideration moued King Henry the seuenth in the eighteenth yeare of his raigne to build that glorious faire Chappell at Westminster for an house of buriall for himselfe his children and such onely of the bloud-royall as should descend from his Ioynes forbidding that any other of what degree or qualitie soeâ—uer should euer be interred in that sacred mould as appeares by his last Will and Testament Saint Augustine saith that the Funerals of the righteous in the times of old were performed with a zealous care their burials celebrated and their Monuments prouided in their life time Great hath been the care of buriall saith Camden euer since the first times insomuch that Fathers would lay charges vpon their children concerning the buriall and translating of their bodies euery one being desirous to returne in Sepulchra maiorum into the sepulchres of their Ancestours Iacob at his death charged his sonne Ioseph to carry his body into the sepulchre of his fathers And Ioseph himselfe commanded his brethren that they should remember and tell their posâ—eritie that when they went away into the land of promise they should carry his bones thither with them Abraham Isaac Iacob Sarah Rebecca Leah and Ioseph were buried together in one Sepulchre The kings of Aegypt accustomed to awe their subiects by threatning to depriue them of buriall And it was a penaltie of the law amongst the Romanes He that doth this or that let him be cast forth vnburied and so in the declamations He that forsakes his parents in their necessities let him be cast forth vnburied An Homicide let him be cast forth vnburied And so speakes Cicero to the peoples humour for Milo when hee affirmes his carcase to be more wretched because it wanted the solemne rites of funerall Commanders in warres vsed to terrifie their enemies with the want of buriall according to this speech of Hector in the fifteenth booke of Homers Iliads Then Hector cri'd out take no spoile but rush on to the fleete From whose assault for spoile nor flight if any man I meete He meetes his death nor in the fire of holy funerall His brothers nor his sisters hands shall cast within our wall His lothed body but without the throtes of dogs shall graue His manlesse limbes The people of Israel crying vnto God against the barbarous tyranny of the Babylonians who spoiled Gods inheritance polluted his Temple destroyed his religion and murdered his chosen Nation amongst other calamities thus they complaine for the want of sepulture The dead bodies of thy seruants haue they giuen to be meat vnto fowles of the heauen and the flesh of thy Saints vnto the beasts of the earth Their bloud haue they shed like waters round about Ierusalem and there was none to bury them God commands Elias to tell Iezebel that for her wickednesse the dogs should eate vp her flesh in the field of Iesreel and that her carcase should be as doung vpon the ground in the said field of Iesreel so that none should say this is Iezebel The seduced Prophet because he
disobeyed the mouth of the Lord was reproued by him who was the occasion of his errour as hee had it in commandement from God and withall told that his carcase should not come vnto the sepulcher of his Fathers Esay speaking in derision of the death and sepulture of the king of Babylon which was not with his Fathers for that his tyranny was so much abhorred thus noteth his vnhappinesse All the kings of the nations euen they all sleepe in glorie euery one in his owne house But thou art cast out of thy graue like an abhominable branch like the rayment of those that are slaine and thrust through with a sword which go downe to the stones of the pit as a carcase troden vnder feet Thou shalt not be ioyned with them in the graue Ieremie the Prophet speaking against the breakers of Gods sacred couenants brings in most commonly the want of buriall as a punishment for such their hainous offences as followeth Thus saith the Lord I will euen giue them into the hands of their enemies and into the hands of them that seeke their life and their dead bodies shall bee for meat vnto the fowles of the heauen and to the beasts of the earth And prophesying against Iehoakim he is inspired with these words Thus saith the Lord against Iehoakim the sonne of Iosiah king of Iuda they shall not lament him saying Ah my brother or ah sister neither shall they mourne for him saying Ah Lord or ah his glory He shall be buried as an asse is buried not honourably saith the Margent among his fathers euen drawne and cast forth without the gates of Ierusalem In other places of his prophesie thus They shall die of deaths and diseases they shall not bee lamented neither shall they be buried but they shall be as doung vpon the earth They shall be cast out in the streets of Ierusalem because of the famine and the sword and there shall be none to burie them both they and their wiues their sonnes and their daughters for I will poure their wickednesse vpon them Thus saith the Lord of hosts I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of them that seeke their liues and their carcases will I giue to bee meate for the fowles of the heauen and to the beasts of the field We haue diuers examples of this nature in the holy Scriptures But let vs go no further then to the lawes of our owne Nation by which the subiect is kept in awfull obedience Hee that commits treason is adiudged by our Lawes to bee hanged drawne and quartered and his diuided limbes to be set vpon poles in some eminent place within some great Market-towne or Citie He that commits that crying sinne of murther is vsually hanged vp in chaines so to continue vntill his bodie be consumed at or neare the place where the fact was perpetrated Such as are found guilty of other criminall causes as Burglarie Felonie or the like after a little hanging are cut downe and indeed buried but seldome in Christian mould as we say nor in the sepulchres of their fathers except their fathers had their graues made neare or vnder the gallowes And we vse to bury such as lay violent hands vpon themselues in or neare to the high wayes with a stake thrust through their bodies to terrifie all passengers by that so infamous and reproachfull a buriall not to make such their finall passage out of this present world The feare of not hauing buriall or hauing of ignominious and dishonourable buriall hath euer affrighted the brauest spirits of the world this feare made the dying Mezentius make this request to his enemy Aeneas No ill in death not so came I to sight Nor made my Lausus such a match One right Afford if pitie stoope tâ—a vanqâ—sht foe Interre mâ— corps Much hate of mine I know Surrounds me Dead from that fear'd furie saue And lay me with my sonne both in one graue This feare made the faire-helm'd Hector as Homer calls him being readie to combat with Ajax Telamon to propound this couenant Amongst you all whose breast includes the most expulsiue minde Let him stand forth as Combatant by all the rest design'd Before whome thus I call high Ioue to witnesse of our strife If he with home-thrust-iron can reacâ— th'exposure of my life Spoiling my armes let him at will conuay them to his tent But let my body be renurn'd that Troys two-stept descent Mâ—y â—â—see it in the funerall pile if I can slaughter him Apollo honouring me so much I 'le spoile his conquered limbe And beare his armes to Ilion where in Apollos Shrine I 'le hang them as my Trophies due his body I 'le resigne To â—e disposed by his friends in flamie Funeralls And hâ—nour'd with erected Tombe where Hellespontus fals Into Aegaeum and doth reach euen to your nauall rode That when our beings in the earth shall hide their period Suruiuers sailing the blacke sea may thus his name renew This is his Monument whose bloud long since did fates imbrew Whom passing farre in fortitude illustrate Hector slew This shall posteritie report and my fame neuer die Cicero in his second booke De gloria makes Aiax glorious in armes to intreate Hector that if it were his fortune to be vanquisht by him so renowned an enemy he would affoord his body worthie and honourable buriall and that his Tombe to succeeding ages might thus speake to all passengers Hic situs est vitae iampridem lumina linquens Cui quondam Hectoreo perculsus concidit ense Fabitur haec aliquis mea semper gloria vines Here he lies depriu'd of light Slaine by Hectors sword in fight Some one will euer tell this story So endlesse shall be Aiax glory Achilles hauing giuen Hector his deaths wound insulted ouer him as it is in the two and twentieth booke of Homers Iliads thus And now the dogs and fowles in â—oulest vse Shall teare thee vp thy corse expos'd to all the Greekes abuse To whom Hector makes his dying request on this manner He fainting said let me implore euen by thy knees and soule And thy great parents doe not see a cruelty so foule Inflicted on me brasse and gold receiue at any rate And quit my person that the Peeres and Ladies of our State May tombe it Thus you see how much the most heroicall spirits desir'd the honour of sepulture with the performance of all funerall rites howsoeuer Lucan in his fifth booke of the Pharsalian warres makes Iulius Caesar being as then in danger to be drowned to expostulate with the Gods and in a boasting manner to contemne all funerall exequies Concluding thus O Gods I craue No Funerall let the seas vtmost waue Keepe my torne carcase let me want a Tombe And funerall pile whilest look't for still to come Into all Lands I am and euer fear'd But this was but one of Caesars rodamantadoes or thundring
pompe are deckt The custome is to spread abroad White linens grac'd with splendour pure Sabaean myrrhe on bodies strow'd Preserues them from decay secure The hollow stones by caruers wrought Which in faire Monuments are laid Declare that pledges thither brought Are not to death but sleepe conuay'd The pious Christians thus ordaine Beleeuing with a prudent eye That those shall rise and liue againe Who now in freezing slumbers lie He that the dead dispers'd in fields In pitie hides with heapes of molds To his Almighty Sauiour yeelds A worke which he with ioy beholds The same Law warnes vs all to grone Whom one seuere condition ties And in anothers death to mone All fun'rals as of our allies That reuerend man in goodnesse bred Who blest Tobias did beget Preferr'd the buriall of the dead Before his meate though ready set He while the seruants waiting stand Forsakes the cups the dishes leaues And digges a graue with speedy hand Which with the bones his teares receiues Rewards from heau'n tâ—is worke requite No slender price is here repaid God cleares the eyes that saw no light While fishes gall on them is laid Then the Creatour would descry How farre from reason they are led Who sharpe and bitter things apply To soules on which new light is spred He also taught that to no wight The heau'nly kingdome can be seene Till vext with wounds and darksome night He in the worlds rough waues â—ath beene The curse of death a blessing findes Because by this tormenting woe Steepe wayes lie plaine to spotlesse mindes Who to the Starres by sâ—rrowes goe The bodies which long perisht lay Returne to liue in better yeares That vnion neuer shall decay Where after death new warmth appeares The face where now pale colour dwels Whence foule infection shall arise The flowers in splendour then excels When bloud the skinne with beauty dies No age by Times imperious law With enuious prints the forehead dimmes No drought no leannesse then can draw The moisture from the withered limbes Diseases which the body eate Infected with oppressing paines In midst of torments then shall sweate Imprison'd in a thousand chaines The conquering flesh immortall growes Beholding from the skies aboue The endlesse groning of her foes For sorrowes which from them did moue Why are vndecent howlings mixt By liuing men in such a case Why are decreâ—s so sweetly fixt Reprou'd with discontented face Let all complaints and murmures faile Ye tender mothers stay your teares Let none their children deare bewaile For life renew'd in death appeares So buried seeds though drie and dead Againe with smiling greennesse spring And from the hollow furrowes bred Attempt new eares of corne to bring Earth take this man with kinde embrace In thy soft bosome him conceiue For humane members here I place And genâ—rous parts in trust I leaue This house the soule her guest once felt Which from the Makers mouth proceeds Here sometime feruent wisedome dwelt Which Christ the Prince of wisedome breeds A cou'ring for this body make The Author neuer will forget His works nor will those lookes forsake In which he hath his picture set For when the course of time is past And all our hopes fulfil'd shall be Thou op'ning must restore at last The limbes in shape which now we see Nor if long age with powerfull reigne Shall turne the bones to scatter'd dust And onely ashes shall retaine In compasse of an handfull thrust Nor if swift flouds or strong command Of windes through emptie aire haue tost The members with the flying sand Yet man is neuer fully lost O God while mortall bodies are Recall'd by thee and form'd againe What happie seat wilt thou prepare Where spotlesse soules may safe remaine In Abrahams bosome they shall lie Like Lazarus whose flowry crowne The rich man doth farre off espie While him sharpe fiery torments drowne Thy words O Sauiour we respect Whose triumph driues blacke death to losse When in thy steps thou wouldst direct The Thiefe thy fellow on the Crosse. The faithfull see a shining way Whose length to Paradise extends This can them to those trees conuay Lost by the Serpents cunning ends To Thee I pray most certaine Guide O let this soule which thee obay'd In her faire birth-place pure abide From which she banisht long hath stray'd While we vpon the couer'd bones Sweet Violets and leaues will throw The title and the cold hard stones Shall with our liquid odours flow CHAP. VI. Of the care and cost anciently vsed in the preseruing whole and entire the bodies of the dead Strange wayes customes and fashions of buriall AS in former times the most of all Nations were ardently desirous of decent buriall so Histories doe shew that the Ancients and namely the Egyptians were no lesse carefull and curious to preserue whole and entire the bodies of the dead laid within their Sepulchres and to keepe them from putrifaction so much as they could possible which they did by this meanes So soone as any one amongst them especially of exemplary note was dead they would draw out the braines of the defunct at the nostrils with an instrument of iron replenishing the same with preseruatiue spices then cutting vp the belly with an Aethiopian stone called Laigne and extracting the bowels they cleansed the inside with wine and stuffing the same with a composition of Cassia myrrhe and other odours closed it againe The like the poorer sort of people effected with Bitumen as the inside of their skuls and bellies yet testifie saith Sandvs lib. 2 who saw such their strange embalmed bodies fetcht from the lake of Asphaltis in Iury. So did they by the iuyce of Cedars which by the extreame bitternesse and siâ—catiue qualitie not onely subdued forthwith the cause of interiour corruption but hath to this day a continuance of aboue three thousand yeares preserued them vncorrupted Within their bellies besides their odorous compositions they enclosed certaine painted papers and strange shapes of their Gods in little models of stone or mettall this done they wrapt the bodie with linen in multitudes of folds besmeared with gumme in manner of a seare-cloth swathled with bands of the same staining their breasts with Hierogliphycall characters and so laid them downe in such vaults as did belong to euery mans particular familie Camerar in his Hist. Meditations saith That the Ancients fixed nailes of brasse within their dead bodies knowing well that brasse is a mettal very solid and lasting in which qualitie both Horace and Virgil do commend it that it keepeth a long time from rust and corruption and that it is endued with a particular vertue against putrifaction And not long since saith he there was found in a certaine wood neare to Nuremburgh very ancient Tombes and amongst the bones of the dead nailes and buckles of brasse It is reported by Fulgosus and other forraigne Authours as also by our owne countrey-men William of Malmesbury and Matthew of Westminster that in the yeare of Grace one
many Townes and Cities the bodies of the Christians haue wanted the rites and ceremonies of buriall it was neither fault in the liuing that could not performe them nor hurt to the dead that could not feele them Yet notwithstanding all this which I haue spoken the bodies of the dead are not to be contemned and cast away especially of the righteous and faithfull which the holy Ghost hath vsed as Organs and instruments vnto all good works for if the garment or ring of ones father be so much the more esteemed of his posterity by how much they held him dearer in their affection then are not our bodies to bee despised being wee weare them more neare vnto our selues then any attire whatsoeuer CHAP. VII Of Cenotaphs Honorarie and religious Of the reuerence attributed to these emptie Monuments A Cenotaph is an emptie Funerall Monument or Tombe erected for the honour of the dead wherein neither the corps nor reliques of any defunct are deposited in imitation of which our Hearses here in England are set vp in Churches during the continuance of a yeare or for the space of certaine moneths Octauia the sister of Augustus buried her sonne young Marcellus that should haue beene heire in the Empire with sixe hundred Cenotaphs or hearses and gaue to Virgil more then fiue thousand French crownes in reward for the writing of sixe and twentie Hexameters in her sonnes commendation all which you may haue for nothing in the latter end of the sixth booke of his Aeneidos These Cenotaphs were of two sorts they were made either to the memory of such as were buried in some other remote funerall monument or to such which had no buriall at all The first kinde of these Cenotaphs are called by Suetonius in the life of Claudius Honorarie tombes erected Honoris vel memoriae gratia Such as the souldiers made to the memorie of Drusus neare vpon the riuer of Rhine howsoeuer his body was carried to Rome and there interred in Campo Martio Alexander Seuerus slaine by the treacherie of certaine seditious French souldiers about the yeare of grace 238 An Emperour saith Sir Thomas Eliot who translated his story out of Greeke whose death all Rome lamented all good men bewailed all the world repented whom the Senate deified noble fame renowned all wise men honoured noble writers commended had his Cenotaph erected in France neare vnto the place where he was slaine but his body was carried to Rome and there interred vnder a most rich magnificent sepulchre as Lampridius affirmes Septimius Seuerus the Romane Emperour died in Yorke in the yeare of mans saluation 212. out of which Citie his corps were carried forth to the funerall fire by the sixth Legion of his souldiers called Victrix after the militarie fashion committed to the flames and honoured with iusts and Turneaments in a place neare beneath the Citie Westward where is to be seene a great mount of earth raised vp as for his Cenotaph But his ashes being bestowed in a little golden pot or vessell of the Porpherite-stone were carried to Rome and shrined there in the Monument of the Antonines Constantine or Constantius the younger sonne to Constantine the Great who is supposed to be the builder of Silcester in Hampshire died at Mopsuestia in Cilicia and was interred in Constantinople in the Sepulchre of his Ancestours Yet he had a Cenotaph or emptie monument built to his memory in the said now-ruined Citie of Silcester And many there were that in honour and remembrance of them had such monuments built about which the souldiers were wont yearely to iust and keepe solemne Turneaments in honour of the dead The second kinde of Cenotaphs were made Religionis causa to the memory of such whose carcases or dispersed reliques were in no wise to bee found for example of such as perished by shipwracke of such as were slaine cut mangled and hew'd apeeces in battell or of such that died in forraine nations whose burials were vnknowne For in ancient times it was thought that the Ghost of the defunct could not rest in any place quietly before the body had decent buriall or the performance thereof in as ample manner as could possibly be imagined Aeneas as it is fained by the helpe of Sibylla Cumea descending into hell found Palinurus his shipmaster drownd not long before among many more wandring about the lake of Styx because his body was vnburied which kinde of punishment is thus related by the Prophetesse Phaers translation This prease that here thou seest beene people dead not laid in graue A pitious rable poore that no reliefe nor comfort haue This Boate-man Charon is And those whom now this water beares Are bodies put in ground with worship due of weeping teares Nor from these fearfull bankes nor riuers hoarce they passage get Till vnder earth in graues their bodies bones at rest are set An hundred yeares they walke and round about these shores they houe And then at last full glad to further pooles they do remoue Then after this she puts him in comfort with hope of Exequies and honorable buriall thus Since whan O Palinure both all this madnesse come on thee Wouldst thou the Limbo-lake and dolefull flouds vntombed see Vnbidden from this banke doest thou indeed to scape intend Seeke neuer Gods eternall doome with speech to thinke to bend Yet take with thee Aeneas word and comfort thus thy fall For they that border next vnto that mount and Cities all By tâ—kens great from heauen shall be compelld thy bones to take And tombe they shall thee build and solemne seruice shall thee make And Palinurus name for euermore the place shall keepe This spoken from his heauy heart his cares abating creepe And sorrowes partly shranke and glad on earth his name he knew Vlysses at the commandement of Circes went downe into the lower shades where he met with his companion or fellow-traueller Elpenor who desired of him buriall with the ceremonies thereof as also a Sepulchre which Vlysses granted and erected to his memory a Cenotaph Doe not depart from hence and leaue me thus Vnmournd vnburied lest neglected I Bring on thy selfe th incensed Deitie I know that saiâ—d from hence thy ship must touch On th' Isle Aeaea where vouchsafe thus much Good King that landed thou wilt instantly Bestow on me thy royall memory And on the foamie shore a Sepulchre Erect to me that after times may heare Of one so haplesse Let me these implore And fixe vpon my Sepulchre the Ore With which aliue I shooke the aged Seas And had of friends the deare societies To these inania busta or vacua Sepulchra the friends of the defunct would yearely repaire and there offer sacrifice vpon Altars erected neare to the Cenotaph for that purpose calling vpon the spirit ghost or Manes of him to whose memory the Cenotaph was made by which ceremony they imagined that the body of the party deceased would lie some where or other at reâ—â— and his
France and as some will haue it of all Europe farre greater fairer built and better scituate then London And who would not visit Rome if abilities of bodie and meanes were all-sufficient his occasions would permit and that with safety hee might it being a citie Laudandis pretiosior ruinis Euen made more honourable By ruines memorable As Mountaigne writes and as I my selfe being there did also obserue A Citie whose ruine is glorious with renowne and swolne with glory for low-leuelled as she lieth and euen in the Tombe of her glory yet for all this she reserueth the liuely image and regardfull markes of Empire And aboue the rest who would not ardently desire to see Ierusalem that holy Citie with the sepulchre hauing heard or read the sacred Scriptures or such historicall Authours as haue written of the same Considering then that the most of men do earnestly desire Vlysses like Qui mores hominum multorum vidit vrbes to see ancient great cities obseruing euer their gouernment with the manners of the Inhabitants either flourishing quite fallen downe or partly ruined So all men a snifling conuenticle or companie of proud Sectaries excepted are as greedily affected to view the sacred Sepulchres of worthie famous personages yea and the very places where such haue beene interred although no Funerall Monument at all bee there remaining to continue their memories This desire made Alexander the great in his Asian expedition go to visit the Tombe of Achilles which he couered with flowres and ranne naked about it as then the custome was in funeralls sacrificing to the ghost of his kinsman whom he reputed most happy that had such a Trumpet as Homer to resound his vertues and weeping ouer the Tombe complained that he was not so fortunate as to haue a man that could so well publish his praises as Homer had done those of Achilles The sight of all the far-fam'd Antiquities of Egypt did not so much deâ—â—ght Caesar as the sight of the Tombe of Alexander Caesar in Aegypt fearelesse walkes and sees Their Temples Tombes and fam'd Antiquitie afterwards in the booke he goes from thence To Alexandria crown'd with confidence then goes heâ— The stately Temple of th' old God to see Which speakes the ancient Macedonian greatness But there delighted with no obiects sweetnesse Not with their gold nor Gods maiesticke dresse Nor loftie Citie walls with greedinesse Into the burying vault goes Caesar downe There Macedonian Philips mad-braind sonne The prosperous Thiefe lyes buried whom iust 〈◊〉 Slew in the worlds reuenge Augustus his successour Emperour of Rome went with the like desire or more to see the said Tombe of Alexander And not contented with the bare sight of the Sepulchre Corpus Alexandri inspexit idque attrectauit ita vt nasi quoque ita enim fertur particulam aliquam fregerit he would needs looke into the Tombe and behold the body of the worlds terrour Alexander which hee so feelingly handled that hee broke a little part of Alexanders Nose as it is reported But to come to our selues What concourse of people come daily to view the liuely Statues and stately Monuments in Westminster Abbey wherein the sacred ashes of so many of the Lords anointed beside other great Potentates are entombed A sight which brings delight and admiration and strikes a religious apprehension into the mindes of the beholders We desire likewise to behold the mournfull ruines of other religions houses although their goodly faire structures bee altogether destroyed their tombes battered downe and the bodies of their dead cast out of their coffins for that that very earth which did sometimes couer the corps of the defunct puts vs in minde of our mortalitie and consequently brings vs to vnfained repentance What numbers of Citizens and others at this very time go to Lesnes Abbey in Kent to see some few coffins there lately found in her ruines wherein are the remaines of such as haue beene there anciently interred of which when I come to speake of her Foundation Neither can we passe by but with yearning hearts looke vpon that fatned soile the fertile seed-plot of the Church which in former times hath beene sprinkled with the bloud blackt with the cinders and strawne with the ashes of those blessed Saints who for the profession of the Gospell by sword fire and fagot haue suffered most cruell martyrdome giuing reuerence and honour to their memories because by their sufferings true Religion was propagated and all idolatrie demolished which we may lawfully do as vnto Gods chiefe champions standing vnto death for the truth And as vnto men whom God hath aduanced into the society of his Angels in heauen giuing also thanks at these Martyrs and Saints solemne feasts to God for their victories endeauouring the attainment of such crownes and glories as they haue already attained with other religious performances due vnto them as ornaments of their memories Prouided alwayes that we do not intermiâ—e out deuotions with superstitious adoration CHAP. IX Of the punishments both by humane Iawes and Gods seuere iustice â—â—flicted vpon such malefactors in foregoing ages who violated Sepulchers Of Church-robbers THose â—in foregoing ages which did violate misuse or distaine tombes graues sepulchers or any of these funerall Monuments were punished richer with death perpetuall exile condemnation to the mines banishment for a time payment of money forfeiture of goods losse of members or the like according to the qualitie of the person and circumstance of the fact To begin with the Clergie â— Priest found guiltie of this execrable act being so much more odious by how much his place was reputed more honourable and religious was degraded from his Priesthood his goods set to open sale and forfeited and himselfe condemned to perpetuall banishment If a man of eminent place of great riches ranke and qualitie did with an aimed hand despoile any Tombe or Sepulchre Latronis more after the manner of an high-way robber that man by the Law was put to execution if vnaimed then the Iudge did send him to the Mines or to banishment or punish him with some pecuniarie muâ—ct to the value most commonly of halfe his goods and branded him with eternall infamie If a Seruant or a man of meane fortunes was knowne to pull downe or deface any funerall Monument without his masters priuitie hee was condemned to the Mines if hee had beene vrged thereunto by his master then he was adiudged for a time to be banished if he did digge vp and draw out of the graue the body or bones of the defunct then his iudgement was death If any man did deface or cut away any part of the Effigies or representation of the defunct caru'd engrauen or embost vpon any graue-stone tombe or sepulchre that man by the law was to lose his hand Whosoeuer in the repairing of any ruinous decayed Sepulchre did any way vndecently touch the body of the dead person therein laid downe to his eternall rest that party so offending
Abbey of Rufford I finde these verses following of the constant sufferings of certaine virgine martyrs Quid de virginibus dignum loquere aspice fidem Fides ob veram sert mala multa sidem Huic ardens lectus solidum subuertere fidem Nec mors ipsa potest cui Deus ardor inest Tecla fer as Agathes Ergastula vulnera vicit Margarita truces virgo Lucia duces Balnea Cecilie feruentia nil nocuere Agneti nocuit flamma furorque nichil Nil etas nil mundus eis nil obfuit hostis Cuncta domant superant infima summa tenent His ornamentis fulget Domus Omnipotentis But I will conclude this Chapter with the words of Camden speaking of the Monasticall life and profession The profession of this Monasticall life saith he began when Pagan Tyrants enraged against Christians pursued them with bloudy persecutions For then good deuout men that they might serue God in more safety and security withdrew themselues into the vast wildernesses of Egypt and not as the Painims are wont with open mouth to giue it out for to enwrap themselues willingly in more miseries because they would not be in miserie Where they scattered themselues among mountaines and desarts liuing in caues and little cells here and there in holy meditations At first solitary and alone whereupon in Greeke they were called Monachi that is Monkes but after they thought it better as the sociable nature of mankinde required to meete together at certaine times to serue God and at length they began to cohabite and liue together for mutuall comfort rather then like wilde beasts to walke vp and downe in the desarts Their profession was to pray and by the labour of their owne hands to get liuing for themselues and maintenance for the poore and withall they vowed pouerty obedience and chastitie Athanasius first brought this kinde of Monkes consisting of lay-men into the West-Church Whereunto after that Saint Austen in Afrike Saint Martin in France and Congell one of the Colledge of Bangor in Britaine and Ireland had adioyned the function of regular Clergie It is incredible how farre and wide they spread how many and how great Coenobies were built for them so called of their communion of life as also Monasteries for that they kept still a certaine shew of solitarie liuing and in those dayes none were more sacred and holy then they and accordingly they were reputed considering how by their prayers to God by their example doctrine labour and industrie they did exceeding much good not onely to themselues but also to all mankinde But as the world grew worse and worse so those their holy manners as one said rebus cessere secundis that is Gaue backward in time of prosperitie But of the pietie of religious professours in the Primitiue times of the sanctitie of British and Saxon Kings of their Queenes and issue royall as also of other persons of exemplarie zeale and holy conuersation I doe speake hereafter in particular as I come to the places of their interments CHAP. XII Of the fall or backsliding as well of religious persons as of lay-people from the foresaid zealous ardour of pietie THis heate of deuotion which I haue spoken of continued not long in this Island For as the Clergie and other religious orders grew rich in faire buildings proud furniture and ample reuenues so they daily increased in all kindes of disorders which was no sooner perceiued but put in practise by the Laitie our kings declined from their former sanctitie and which the worst was after their examples many others especially of the Nobilitie did follow their licentious traces Examples of Princes being alwayes of greater force then other lawes to induce the people to good or to euill Nam haec conditio Principum vt quicquid faciant praecipere videantur To proue as much as I haue spoken In the yeare of Grace 747 Cuthbert Archbishop of Canterbury by the counsell of Boniface Bishop of Mentz called a Conuocation at Cliffe beside Rochester to reforme the manifold enormities wherewith the Church of England at that time was ouergrowne Our kings forsaking the companie of their owne wiues in those dayes delighted altogether in harlots which were for the most part Nunnes The rest of the Nobilitie following their example trode also the same trace The Bishops likewise and other of the Clergie that should haue beene a meanes of the reforming these faults in others were themselues no lesse faultie spending their times either in contentions and brables or else in luxurie and voluptuousnesse hauing no care of study and seldome or neuer preaching Whereby it came to passe that the whole land was ouerwhelmed with a most darke and palpable mist of ignorance and polluted with all kinde of wickednesse and impietie in all sorts of people In which Conuocation after long consultation with those his Bishops or Suffraganes and the rest of the Clergie which were holden in greatest esteeme for their learning in number thirtie for the reformation of these horrible abuses endeauouring thereby like a good Pastour to turne away the wrath of God which seemed to hang ouer this land and to threaten those plagues which not long after fell vpon it when the Danes inuaded the same Edgar surnamed the peaceable King of England in the yeare 969. called together his Bishops and other of his Clergie to whom hee made this or the like Oration as followeth Forsomuch as our Lord hath magnified his mercy to worke with vs it is meete most reuerend Fathers that with worthy workes we answer his innumerable benefits for neither by our owne sword possesse we the earth and our owne armes hath not saued vs but his right hand and his holy arme for that he hath beene pleased with vs. Meete therefore it is that we submit both our selues and our soules to him that hath put all things vnder our feet and that we diligently labour that they whom he hath made subiect vnto vs may bee made subiect vnto his lawes And truly it is my part to rule the Laitie with the law of equitie to doe iust iudgement betwixt man and his neighbours to punish Church-robbers to represse rebels to deliuer the weake from the hands of his stronger the poore and needie from them that spoile them And it also belongeth to my care to haue consideration to the health quietnesse or peace of the Ministers of the Church the flocke of Monkes the companies of Virgines and to prouide the things needfull for them The examining of whose manners belongeth vnto you if they liue chastly if they behaue themselues honestly towards them which bee abroad if in diuine seruice they bee carefull if in teaching the people diligent if in feeding sober if moderate in apparell if in iudgement they be discreet If you had cured these things by prudent scrutinie by your licence I speake O reuerend Fathers such horrible and abhominable things of the Clerkes had not come to our eares I omit
pardon and as many karynes and on the oon side of the Chirche ther is a sacryfice that is at Seynt Iohn Baptist aulter and there is the table that our Lord ete att vpon Mandy Thurrysday And also the tables of stone with the x Commandementys that our Lorde yaf to Moyses vpon the mount of Synai And ther ys a iiii square of the v barley loues and of the twoo fishes and also there is our ladyes keuyrchef Item in that same Chirche on the hygh aulter be the hedys of seynt Peter and Poule and the hed of Zacharie the Prophet fader of S. Iohn Baptist wyth dyuers odyr reliquys Item in the same Chirchyard stondith a chapel that ys callid Sanctum Sanctorum there is the face of our Lord there may ye haue xiiii M. yere of pardon and as many karynes Whan the Emperour Constantyne was christened tho spake he to Pope Siluestre In that that I have geuen my hous to the wurschip of god graunt you mekely his grace to all them that willingly come to this towne Thoo answerd Pope Siluestre our Lord Ihu Criste that by his gret mercy hath purged you of your gret lazarye he mut purge alle them that visityth this Chyrch of all her synne and of all other penance He that woll not beleue this may goo to seynt Latrynes before the quyer dore and there he may see in a marbill all that is wryten here From seynt Iohns day vnto Scrouetyd all this pardon is doubled and fro Scrouetide vnto Ester the pardon is threfolde double Blessyd is he that may deserve to have this pardon And in the same chapel abouesaid may come noo weemen Item aboue that chapel on the lefre syde ar stoppys which sometyme ware at Iherusalem and who so goth op tho steppys on his knees he deliuerith o soul out of Purgatory Item in the Chirch of Seynt Eustace you may have relyse and pardon of all synne And he that is shreuen and repentant of his sinne he hath a M. yere pardon and as many karynes My Author hauing spoken of the Indulgences and priuiledges granted to these principall Churches and the great benefit which deuout pilgrimes receiue which come to visit these sacred structures and highly reuerence the holy reliques therein contained he proceeds in this place according to his promise to giue his Reader knowledge what a karyne is A karyne saith he is too goo wulward vii yere Item to fasten bred and watter the Fryday vii yere Item in vii yere not too slepe oon nyght there he slepith a nother Item in vii yere not to com vndir noo couered place but yf it bee to here Masse in the Chirch dore or porche Item in vii yere nott to ete nor drynke out of noo vessel but in the same that he made hys avow in Item he that fulfillyth all thes poyntis vii yere duryng doth and wynnethe a karyne that ys to sey a Lentdum Thus may a man haue at Rome as he concludes gret pardon and Soul helth blessyd ben thoos pepull and yn good tyme borne that reslayyeth thes graces and well kepith them Of the which pardon and grace our Lord Ihesu Cryst mot grant to euery good Crysten man Amen Then follow the Indulgences granted to other lower Churches in Rome but by these you may imagine the rest And by both iudge of the Pardon 's granted by seuerall Popes to the Cathedrall Conuentuall and Parochiall Churches of England And thinke what concourse of pilgrimes and other people daily visited the foresaid Churches which will hereafter appeare within each seuerall Diocesse And here giue me leaue a little to speake of a certaine generall Pardon or Indulgence granted by Alexander the sixth Bishop of Rome to this Realme of England By which he enriched himselfe and the Church-Ministers and emptied the purses of many of the Kings subiects Towards the latter end of the yeare one thousand fiue hundred being the yeare of Iubile so called for that it is the yeare of ioy or deliuerance the foresaid Bishop of Rome sent hither to King Henry the seuenth one Iasper Powe or Pons a Spaniard a man of excellent learning and most ciuill behauiour to distribute the Heauenly Grace as hee termed it to all such as letted by any forcible impediment could not come to Rome that yeare to the Iubile which was there celebrated The Articles contained in the Bul of this great Pardon or Heauenly Grace were as followeth The Articles of the Bulle of the holy Iubiley of full remissyon and gret ioy graunted to the Relme of Englond Wales Irelond Gernesey and Garnesey and other places vndre the subiection of oure Soueraygne Lord King Henry the seuenth to be distributyd accordyng to the trew meanyng of our holy Fader vnto the Kyngs Subiects Ower most holye Fader the Pope Goddes Vicar in erthe of hys holye and gracyous disposycion faderla beholdyng the hole flok of christen peple comitted to hys cure and charge daylie studyeth diligently the helth and welfar of yowr sowles And in as moche as in his holynes prouydeth for all soche perelles and ieoperdies as may fall to the same by grauntyng of gret Indulgence and remishyon of synnes and trespasses Where as the holye yere of grace now of late passyd that ys to say the yere of remishyon of all synnes ye yere of ioye and gladnes was celebrate devowtely and solenly keped by grete and infenite nombre of Cristen pepull in the Cowrte of Rome Ower saide most holie Fader the Pope as well consideryng the infenite nombre of cristen peple bothe spyrituall and temporall which was desirous to haue had the sayd remishyon and Grace and wold haue visetted the sayd Cowrte of Rome saue only that they were lette eyther by sikenesse feblenesse pouerte long distance and gret ieoperdie or besines and charges of spirituall or temporall occupacions or at that tyme purposed not to optaine and perchase the sayd Grace and now be in will and desire to haue the same As willyng and effectually desiring to prouyde and withstond the most cruell purpose and infenyte malice of our most cruell enemyes of our cristen feithe the Turks whiche continually studieth and gretely inforceth hymselfe with alle hys myght and strenght to subuert and vtterly destroye the holye Religion of our Souerayne Criste. As it is nott vnknowen how now of late the sayd most cruell enemy hath opteyned and goten with grete myght and power many and dyuers grete citees and castles As Modon Neopoâ—ton and Corona with many oder Townes and possessions which was than in the dominatyon and possession of cristen peple And most cruelly hath sleyne and â—estroyed infenite nombre of cristen peple withowt mercy or pite bothe by water and by londe Seeyng and consideryng his Holynes that he of hymselfe is not sufficyent ne of power to resiste and withstonde the forsayd gret malyces and porposes without the ayde and helpe of cristen peple Hath statuâ—ed ordeyned and graunted of his Pastorall power
Tuesday the yeare 1220. his venerable body receiued the glory and renowne of translation in the fiftieth yeare after his passion But to returne It is said that these foure knights despairing to obtaine the Kings pardon wandred vp and downe for a time like vagabonds and runagates vpon the earth being hstefull to all their kindred as well as to their countreymen vntill at length they resolued to go a pilgrimage to Rome where Pope Alexander the third enioyned them this penance which was to trauell to Ierusalem and there to liue as penitenciall conuertites in the blacke mountaine where they finished their dayes and were buried in Jerusalem before the doore of the Temple for whom this inscription was framed Hic iacent miseri qui martirizauerunt beatum Thomam Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem Of these foure Knights which murdered this Archbishop and of the three Bishops which conspired together against him I found these Hexaâ—iâ—ers in an old Manuscript in Sir Robert Cottons Library Quatuor hij proceres Reginaldus Filius Vrsi Hugo de Morvilla Willelmus que Tracensis 〈◊〉 Brito Thomam necuere beatum Hij tres Gâ—lfridus qui primus Eliacensis Gilbertus Foliot qui Presul Londoniensis Amborum complex Sarum Presul Iocelinus Aduersus Thomam conspirauere beatum The body of this murdered Bishop was buried first in the vndercrost of the Church but shortly after it was taken vp and laid in a most sumptuous Shrine in the East end at the charges of Stephen Langton his successour being matriculated by the Pope a glorious Saint and Martyr To this new shrined Martyr people of all degrees and from all parts flocked in pilgrimage as Chaucer thus hath it in his Prologue to his Canterbury tales fro euery shires end Of Englond to Canterbury they wend The holy blisfull Martir for to seeke That hem hath holpen wher they were seke They loaded the Shrine with such large offerings that the Church did all round about abound with more then Princely riches whose meanest part was pure gold garnished with many precious stones Whereof the cheesest was a Regall of France or a rich gemme offered by King Lewis who asked and obtained you may be sure he buying it so deare that no passenger betwixt Douer and Whitesand should perish by shipwracke Such pressing there was to touch him and such creeping and kneeling to his Tombe that the prints of their deuotion in the marble stones remaine to this day Euery pillar resounding the miracles of this reputed Martyr and the Church it selfe dedicated to Christ forced to giue place to the name of Saint Thomas His bloud was as then almost matched in vertue with our blessed Sauiours and his old shoe deuoutly kissed by all passengers The building of this shrine is thus briefly described by that painfull Antiquarie Io. Stow. It was built saith he about a mans height all of stone then vpward of Timber plaine within the which was a chest of iron containing the bones of Thomas Becket Skull and all with the wound of his death and the peece cut out of his skull laid in the same wound The timber worke of this Shrine on the out side was couered with plates of gold damasked and embossed with wires of gold garnished with broches images Angels chaines precious stones and great orient pearles the spoile of which Shrine in gold and iewels of an inestimable value silled two great chests one of which sixe or eight strong men could do no more then conuey out of the Church all which was taken to the Kings vse and the bones of Saint Thomas by commandement of the Lord Cromwell were then and there burnt all to ashes Which was in September the yeare 1538. Hen. 8.30 Diuers Epitaphs were composed to the memory of this much honoured Martyr expressing the cause time and place of his martyrdome For example Annus Millenus centenus septuagenus Primus erat Primas quo ruit ense Thomas Pro Christi sponsa Christi sub tempore Christi In Templo Christi verus amatâ—r obit Quis moritur Presul Cur pro grege qualiter Ense Quando natali Quis locus ara Dei Quinta dies Natalis erat Flos orbis ab orbe Carpitur et fructus incipit esse Poli. Henricus natus Matildis regna tenebat Sub quo Sacratus Thomas mucrone cadebat This Anthem was likewise made to his honour Tu per Thome sanguinem quem pro te impendit Fac nos Christe scandere quo Thomas asâ—endit For the bloud of Thomas which he for thee did spend Grant vs Christ to clime where Thomas did ascend The Pope writ to the Clergie of England to make a new Holiday for this late Martyr an extract or clause whereof followeâ—h Wee admonish you all and by the authoritie which wee retevne doe straightly charge you that you celebrate the day of the suffering of the blessed man Thomas the glorious Martyr sometime Archbishop of Canterbury euery yeare in most solemne sort and that with deuout prayers ye endeuour your selues to purchase forgiuenesse of sinnes that he which for Christs sake suffered banishment in this life and martyrdome in death by constancie of vertue through continuall supplication of faithfull people may make intercession for you to God The tenor of these letters were scarcely read but euery man with a loud voice began to recite and sing Te Deum laudamus Furthermore because his Suffragans had not exhibited due reuerence to him their father either in time of his banishment or at his returne from the same but rather persecuted him that they might openly confesse their errour and wickednesse to all men they made this Collect. Be fauourable good Lord to our supplication and prayer that we which acknowledge our selues guilty of iniquitie may be deliuered by the intercession of Thomas thy blessed Martyr and Bishop Amen This Collect was likewise vsed by the Couent of S. Albons and other Religious Votaries vpon the day of his martyrdome Robert the first Earle of Dreux and the fourth sonne of Lewis the grosse King of France laid the foundation of a Collegiate Church to the honour of this supposed holy Martyr called S. Thomas du Louure in Paris the reuenues whereof were augmented by his wife Agnes Countesse of Bray and confirmed by the Bull of Clement the third Bishop of Rome in these termes Clemens Episcopus seruus seruorum Dei Dilectis filijs Canonicis Ecclesie sancti Thome de Louurea salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem Iustis peâ—entsum desiderijs facilem nos conuenit prebere consensum et vota que à rationis tramite non discordant effâ—ctu prosequente complere Ea propter dilecti in Domino silij precibus inclinati nobilis femine Comitisse Braye possessiones et redditus à Roberto Comiâ—e quondam marito suo ab ipsa et liberis eius in â—lecmosynam Ecclesie vestre conâ—essos Scilicet Curiam in qua erant edificata stabula vt ibi construeretur
Edwin king of Northumberland Sandwich Before the generall suppression here was a religious house of white Friers Carmelites founded by one Henry Cowfeld an Almaine Ann. 1272. and an Hospitall founded by Thomas Rabyng William Swanne Clerkes Iohn Goddard and Richard Long. In a booke of this order of Carmes written by Iohn Bale of which I haue spoken in the prefixed discourse I finde the Foundation of this Religious structure as also certaine Epitaphs made to the memorie of diuers of the Fraternitie therein interred in this manner following Anno Domini M.CC.LXXII fundatus erat Conuentus Sandwici per Henricum Cowfeld de Alemania Epitaphium Magistri Fratris Thome Legatt qui obijt Anno Domini M. CCCCIX Carmelita Thomas Legatt qui Theologie Doctor erat quondam conditur hoc lapide Epitaphium Fratris Thome Hadlow Hic Prior iste Hadlow nunc hoc sub marmore tectus Turmas celicolas adeat nostra prece vectus M.C. quater X. sepâ—eno transijt anno Huic deciâ—o sexto Septembris lumina nexo Magister Frater Willelmus Becklee hic sepultus cum hoc Epitaphio Nunc me petra tenet saxoque includor in isto Et lacerum vermes laniant nunc vndique corpus Quid mihi diuicie quid alta palacia prosunt Cum mihi sufficiat paruo quo marmore claudor Quam fastus quam pompa leuis quam gloria mundi Sit breuis fragilis humana potencia quam sit Collige ab exemplo qui transis perlege posco Obijt Ann Dom. M. CCCC.XXXVIII Epitaphium Magistri Iohannis Sandwich huius Conuentus Prioris perquam amabilis Subiacet huic Tumbe deuotus mente Iohannes De Sandwich dictus huiusce Prior que domus Mille quadringentos tres annos congere lumen Quindecimam Iunij sumite tempus habes Quo sors superna rapuit de corpore vitam Fundito queso preces vt sit ei requies Epitaphium Fratris Dionisij Plumcooper Cuspide lethisera mors que premit impia cuncta Mole sub hac gelià a clausit ossa viri Qui rogitat nomen cognomen postulat ipsum Hoc Dionisius est Plumcooper illud erat Mollibus hic annis Carmeli dulcis alumnus Extitit placide Pacis amator erat Ad canos veniens nature iura reliquit Mors dedit lassis artubus hic requiem Valedicit mundo xx Febr. Ann. Dom. MCCCC LXXXI Ann. 1563. Sir Roger Manwood before remembred natiue of this place founded here a free Schoole which hee endowed with fourty pounds of yearely reuenue Right famous in former times saith Camden was the Citie of Richborow whereof now nothing remaines saue certaine walls of a Castie of rough flint and Britane brickes in forme of a Quadrant Ouer the entrie whereof is the head of Queene Berta as some say grauen in stone the wife of King Ethelbert who here had a royall pallace The Romanes had their Presidents or Prouosts who had the gouernment of this Citie of which I finde but onely two to haue beene here interred namely Flauius Sanctius and Claudius Contentus the one ruling with all peace the other liuing in all riches and prosperitie whose memories are thus preserued by the Poet Ausonius Militiam nullo qui turbine sedulus egit Praeside letatus quae Rhutupinus ager His martiall seruice he discharg'd with care without all strife And Rutupin reioyc'd in him whilst there he was in life The same Authour setteth forth likewise in a lamentable funerall verse in the praise of Claudius Contentus whom he calls Vnkle who being ouertaken with death left behinde him vnto strangers a mighty great stocke of money which he had put out to vsury among the Britaines and increased by interest Et patruos Elegia meos reminiscere cantus Contentum tellus quem Rhutupina tegit My dolefull Muse now call to minde the songs of Vnkle mine Contentus who enterred lyes within mould Rutupine Ashe-Church In this Church are many ancient Monuments of worthy Gentlemen namely Sir ... Goshalls Sir ... Leuericks who lye crosse-legged as knights of Ierusalem One of the Septvaus with a collar of S S about his necke his wifes portraiture vpon the same Tombe diuers of the surname of Saint Nicholas of the Harslets and others all without Inscriptions sauing two and those shamefully defaced Claus. 25. Hen. 6. Memb. 30. 1446. Christian S. Nicholas Lady Prioresse of the Minories without Algate was daughter and heire of Nicholas S. Nicholas of S. Nicholas in Thanet and Thomas S. Nicholas is named in the same Record Hic iacet .... Clitherow Ar. ..... vxor eius silia Iohannis Oldcastell qui obijt ..... Pray for the sowle of Ioane Keriell Ye frends all that forth ypasse In endlesse lyff perpetuall That god it grant mercy and grase Roger Clitherow her fader was Tho erth to erth of kynd returne Pray that her sowle to lyff may come The name of Kiriell hath beene of great note and antiquity within this County Sir Nicholas Kiriell flourished in the raigne of King Richard the second and Sir Thomas Kiriell beheaded with the Lord Bouvile the day after the second battell at Saint Albons in the raigne of King Henry the sixth or slaine in the battell according to Iohn Harding ..... The Lords of the North Southward came To Sainct Albones vpon the fasting gang eue Wher then thei slewe the Lord Bouvile â—eue And Sir Thomas Kyriell also of Kent With mekell folke that pitee was to se. Sibbertswood In this Church are some ancient Monuments but now without Inscriptions erected to the memory of the Philipots or Philpots a familie which hath resided here a long time at Vpton Court within this Parish of which name and family was that renowned Lord Maior of London Sir Iohn Philpot knighted in the field by King Richard the second together with Sir William Wallworth then Maior and other Aldermen for the good seruice they performed against Watt Tylar and his complices Rebels of Kent and Essex This Sir Iohn gaue to the City certaine lands for the finding of thirteene poore people for euer It is likewise remembred of him to his eternall honour that Ann. 2. R. 2. he manned forth a Fleete at his owne charges to scoure the narrow Seas of such Scottish French and Spanish Pyrats as had done much villany by their often incursions to many of our English Ports and Harbours with which he not onely guarded both water and Land from their intollerable violences but also tooke their prime Captaine one Iohn Mercer a Scot with all his whole Nauie consisting of fifteene Spanish ships all being fraught with very rich commodities Which memorable atchieuement as it was right worthily applauded extolled and admired of all the faithfull Commonaltie so was it most wrongfully vnderualued enuied and drawne into question by some of the slothfull Nobilitie Ikham In this Church I saw an old Monument vpon
houses lands and tenements Ann. Reg. 35. as by his patents may appeare in effect as followeth Edward by the grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland and of Aquitaine to all by these presents c. Although the Priory of Montacute in the County of Somerset by reason of the warres betweene vs and France with all the lands tenements fees aduowsons together with the goods and cattels belonging to the same hath beene of late taken into our hands and by vs farmed and rented forth as appeareth by diuers patents Now therefore since peace is betwixt vs and the noble Prince our most deare brother the king of France we for the honour of God and holy Church restore to the said Prior the Priory with all the lands tenements fees aduowsons and whatsoeuer else belonging to the same to hold the same in as free manner as they held it before And withall forgiue and release all arrerages of Rents which might bee due vnto vs by reason of any former grants In witnesse c. the sixth of February the 35. yeare of our raigne The like letters of restitution all the rest of the houses of Aliens had through England all which were cleane suppressed and vtterly dissolued by king Henry the fifth and their lands giuen by him and his sonne Henry the sixth to Colledges of learned men and to other Monasteries Greenwich This Parish Church is consecrated to the honour of Saint Aelphege sometime Archbishop of Canterbury who suffered martyrdome much-what about the same place where it now standeth Which Aelpâ—ege boâ—ne of great parentage brought vp in good learning preferred first to the Bishopricke of Winchester then to this of Canterbury a man admired for his strict manner of life and holy exhortations by both which hee conâ—uerted many vnto Christ was cruelly put to death by the Danish Pagans with many exquisite torments in the yeare of our Lord a thousand and twelue Of which in William Malmesbury Camden and the Catalogue of Bishops you may reade more at large It was long before these bloudy executioners would suffer his bodie to bee committed to the earth after the manner of Christian decencie yet at length that fauour was obtained and his body here first buried from whence within a short time after his reliques were remoued to Saint Pauls London and from thence at the commandement of king Knute to Canterbury He was canonized and the 19. day of Aprill allowed for celebration of his memory Some write that like another Stephen he was stoned to death that like him he prayed for his enemies and that Turkill generall of those Danes was conuerted to the faith at the sight of his constant martyrdome Here sometime stood an house of obseruant Friers which came hither about the latter end of the raigne of King Edward the fourth at whose hands they obtained a Chantrie with a little Chappell of the holy Crosse a place yet extant in the Towne and king Henry the seuenth builded for them an house adioyning to the Pallace which is there yet to be seene Here in this Towne was another Monastery of Friers Minorites and Aliens founded by King Edward the third and the foresaid Iohn Norbury which as Lewsham did belonged to the Abbot of Gaunt in Flaunders vntill such time as King Henry the fifth seising into his hands by occasion of warre all the lands of the Priors Aliens as I haue touched before bestowed this together with the Mannor of Lewsham and many other lands also vpon the Priory of Chartrehouse Monkes of Shene which hee had then newly erected to which it remayned vntill the time of the raigne of king Henry the eight who annexed it to the Crowne Depeford Orate pro anima ..... Weuer ..... Mercatoris et Maioris Stapul ville Calcis qui ob ..... Februar ... et pro .... Ioanne vx eius qui ob .... Martin the fifth Bishop of Rome granted by this Bull to these Staple Merchants in this Weeuers Maioralty at their earnest request an itinerarie or portable Aulter which they were to take with them to what place soeuer they trauelled to make any time of aboad and withall gaue them licence to elect a Priest to say Masse administer the Sacraments to heare their confessions to enioyne them penance and to giue them absolution as the cause should require The forme of which I hold it not much amisse here to set downe as I found it in an old Manuscript without name or date in the Earle of Exceters Librarie Martinus Episcopus Seruus Seruorum Dei dilectis filijs Maiori et eius locum tenenti ac Constabulario ceterisque Principalibus Societatis Mercatorum lanarum Stapule Anglie Salutem et Apostolicam benedictionem Sincere deuotionis affectus quem ad nos et Romanam geritis Ecclesiam non indigne meretur vt petitionibus vestris illis presertim quos ex deuotionis feruore prodire conspicimus quantum cum Deo possumus fauorabiliter animamus Hinc est quod nos vestris deuotis supplicationibus inclinati vt liceat vobis et posteris vestris Maiori et eius locum tenenti ac Constabulario nec non Principalibus societatis Mercatorum lanarum Stapule Anglie ac vestrum ac eorundem posterorum cuilibet habere Altare portatile cum debita reuerentia et honore Super quo in villa Calestie seu alibi etiam in transmarinis seu cismarinis partibus vbi pro tempore vos vel aliquem vestrum esse vel declinare et huiusmodi Stapulum lanarum teneri contigerit in locis ad hoc congruâ—ntibus et honestis positis per proprium vel alium Sacerdotem ydoneum Missas et alia diuina officia sine iuris alieni preiudicio in vestra et ipsorum ac aliorum Mercatorum dicte Societatis ibidem pro tempore presentium Nec non vestrorum et eorundem Posterorum ac Mercatorum familiarium presentia facere celebrari vobis et predictis posteris tenore presentium indulgemus Nulli ergo omnino homini liceat hanc paginam nostre concessionis infringere vel ei ausu temerario contraire Si quis autem hoc attemptare presumpserit indignationem omnipotentis Dei et beatorum Petri et Pauli Apostolorum eius se nouerit incursurum Dat. Mant. 3. Non. Nouemb. Pontificatus nostri Ann. primo By another Bull dated the same yeare and his Apostolicall authoritie he giues them free election of their Confessour the Priest The words are Aliquem ydoneum et discretum presbyterum eligere confessorem indulgemus qui quotiens vobis fuerit oportunum confessionibus vestris diligenter auditis pro commissis debitam vobis absolutionem impendat et iniungat penitentiam salutarem nisi forsan talia fuerint c. propter que sedes Apostolica c. Nulli ergo omnino hominum c. Dat. c. In English We fauourably yeeld to your deuout and pious supplications and we giue
Brute farre by West beyond the Gallike land is found An Isle which with the ocean seas inclosed is about Where Giants dwelt sometime but now is desart ground Most meet where thou maiest plant thy selfe with all thy rout Make thitherwards with speed for there thou shalt finde out An euer-during seat and Troy shall rise anew Vnto thy race of whom shall kings be borne no doubt That with their mighty power the world shall whole subdew Brute was no sooner awaked then that he related this his dreame or vision to such of his companie as he thought requisite to be acquainted with such a matter of importance after great reioycing and ceremonious thanksgiuing they ioyntly resolued to seeke out this fortunate Island and so returned to their ships with great ioy and gladnesse as men put in comfort to finde out the wished seats for their firme and sure habitations prophesied and promised vnto them by the Oracle not long after Per varios casus per tot discrimina rerum Passing through many dangers by sea by land 'mongst strangers They landed at Totnes in Deuonshire about the yeare of the world 2855. and before Christs natiuitie 1108. Of which M. Drayton Polyol Song 1. Mye Britaine-sounding Brute when with his puissant fleete At Totnesse first he toucht Brute hauing taken a view of this Island and destroyed all such as stood against him commanded that the Isle should be called Brutaine which before was called Albion peopled with gyants and the inhabitants thereof Britaines or Brutaines allusiuely after his owne name Within a short time after his arriuall he laid the foundation of a Citie which he named Troynouant or new Troy now London vpon a plot of ground lying on the North side of the riuer of Thames which he built in remembrance of that noble City of Troy from whence hee and his people were descended as also to bee the seat Royall and chiefe Chamber of his imperiall kingdome He also built a Temple to the honour of his Pagan Gods and Goddesses Which stood by coniecture in the same place where now this Cathedrall Church of Saint Paul is erected in which idolatrous Archflamen he bequeathed his body to be buried Here in his new Citie when he had established certaine lawes teaching his people to liue after a ciuill order and fashion also to build townes and villages to worship the Gods to till and plow the earth to weare apparrell to anoint and trimme their bodies and to be short to liue after an humane manner and had holden the regiment of this kingdome right nobly the space of twenty and foure yeares hee departed the world Hauing parted his dominions into three parts amongst his three sonnes Locrine Camber and Albanact with condition that the two younger brethren should hold of the eldest and to him doe homage and fealtie Brute tooke shippe and arriued in Albion Where Diane said should been his habitation And when he came the coasts of it vpon He was full glad and made great exultacion And afterwards vpon the alteration of the name of Albion the building of London the establishing of his lawes the diuision of his Empire as also of his death and buriall the same Author hath these verses This Brutus thus was king in regalite And after his name he called this Ile Briteyn And all his menne by that same egalite He called Briteynes as croniclers all saine So was the name of this ilke Albion All sette on side in Kalandes of a change And putte awaye with great confusion And Briteyn hight so furth by new exchange After Brutus The citee great of Troynouaunt so faire He buylded then on Thamys for his delite Vnto the North for his dwellyng and for his most repaire Whiche is to saie in our language perfite New Troy In whiche throughout his peace and law he sette Whiche been the floures of all regalite With out whiche but if thei twoo be mette There may no Prince hold principalite Ne endure long in worthy dignite For if those twoo be nought vpholden than What is a kyng more worth then his liege man This kyng Brute kepte well this Isle in peace And sette his lawes of Troye with orders rites And consuetudes that might the land encreace Such as in Troye was most profittes Vnto the folke and the common profettes He made theim wryten for long rememory To rule the Isle by theim perpetually His menne he did rewarde full royally With lands and rentes that with hym suffred pain And Troynouaunt he made full specially An Archflaume his sea Cathedrall certain A Temple thereof Apolyne to opteyne By Troyane lawe of all such dignite As Archbyshop hath now in his degre This kyng Brutus made people faste to tylle The land aboute in places both farre and nere And sowe with sede and get them corne full wele To liue vpon and haue the sustenaunce clere And so in fields both farre and nere By his wysdome and his sapience He sette the lande in all suffycience And as the fate of death doth assigne That nedes he muste his ghoost awaye relees To his goddas Dyane he did resigne His corps to be buryed withouten lees In the Temple of Apolline to encreace His soule amonge the goddes euerychone After his merites tronized high in trone It is said saith Sir Edward Coke to the Reader of the third part of his Reports that Brutus the first king of this land as soone as hee had setled himselfe in his kingdome for the safe and peaceable gouernment of his people wrote a booke in the Greeke tongue calling it The Lawes of the Britanes and he collected the same out of the Lawes of the Troianes Brute died after the Creation 2806. yeares before the Incarnation 1103. Samuel then Iudge of Israel Robert of Glocester my old Mss. hath these rimes touching some passages in this History of Brute Brute wende fory in ye lond and espied vp and doun For to seche a fair plas to mak an heued toun He com and fond vpe Temese a place fair ynough A good contre and plenteuous and yuder his herte drough Yat shippes out of eche londe myght bryng good ywys Yer he rerd hys chefe toun yat London cleped ys Yet so ne cleped he it nought but for honour and ioye Yat he from Troie comen was he cleped it new Troye Bruit yis ilke noble Prince Sones had thre By his wyff Ignogent noble men and fre Locryn and Camber and Albanack also Atte last diede Brut. Yo thys was ydo Aftur yat he com into Engelond ye xxiiii yere I buryed he was at London yat he lette furst arere Thus much of king Brute as the brute of him goes and as the vulgar receiued opinion is the maine points of his story being brought into queâ—stion by many of our learned authenticall writers The Conquerour William brought with him from Roane in Normandy certaine Iewes whose posterity here inhabiting within the prime Cities of the kingdome
Andrewes Scotland to the same effect and greatly in this kings commendation Iacobus 4. Rex 105. Anno mundi 5459. An. Christi 1489. Ã conditu Regni 1819. 1. Tristia fata gemens genitoris ferrea gestat Baltea haec luctus dat monimenta sui Margaris Angla datur thalamis Hinc Anglica sceptra Debentur fatis Sexte Iacobe tuis Pax regnis redit et pleno Bona copia cornu Et blandum adspirans aura secunda fauet Rursus ad arma vocat laetis sors invida rebus Tueda vbi finitimam gurgite sulcat humum Flos Procerum Patriaeque simul Pater optimus vna Sorte ruunt Heu sors semper acerba bonis Quod si animis orsisque tuis Sors aequa fuisset Imperij Fines vltima terra daret 2. Desine Pyramidum moles ac Mausolea Sollicitus vacuum surrigere ad tumulum Illum Fama vehens late circumsona Olympo Aequat Pro tumulo maximus orbis erit Much more might be said of this magnanimous and high-spirited king of Scotland which I shall further enlarge when I come to Richmond the place no doubt of his buriall Iohn Casy of this Parish whose dwelling was In the North corner house as to Lad-lane you pas For better knowledge the name it hath now Is called and knowne by the name of the Plow Out of that house yeerely did geeve Twenty shillings to the poore their neede to releeue Which money the Tenant must yeerelie pay To the Parson and Church wardens on Saint Thomas day The heire of that house Thomas Bowrman by name Hath since by his deed confirmed the same Whose loue to the poore doth thereby appeare And after his death shall liue many a yeare Therefore in your life do good while yee may That when meagre death shall take yee away You may liue like fam'd as Casy and Bowrman For he that doth well shall neuer be a poore man Saint Mary Aldermanbury In the Cloister about this Churchyard hanged and fastened to a post is the shanke-bone of a man wondrous great and large in length 28. inches and a halfe of assise with the pourtraiture of a Giant-like person vpon a Table with this Inscription In wise mens sight I seeme not strange Although some friends of Pan will scorne From time to time all shapes will change Full well appeares since the first-borne Deride not that which nought offends Let reason rule strong men haue beene As Sampson tall loe death all ends In Stories past may well be seene If you trust our Stories you must beleeue that Giants or men of vaste bodily composture inhabited this our Island in former times Of whom one Hauillan a Poet who flourished aboue foure hundred yeares since wrote pleasantly in this wise thus translated out of the Latine tongue There Gyants whilome dwelt whose clothes were skins of beasts Whose drinke was bloud whose cups to serue for vse at feasts Were made of hollow wood whose beds were bushie thornes And Lodgings rockie caues to shelter them from stormes Their chambers craggie rocks their hunting found them meat To rauish and to kill to them was pleasure great Their violence was rule with rage and furie led They rusht into the fight and fought hand ouer head Their bodies were interr'd behinde some bush or brake To beare such monstrous wights the earth did grone and quake These pesterd most the Westerne tract more feare made thee agast O Cornwall vtmost doore that art to let in Zephyrus blast And the vulgar receiued opinion is that Brute vpon his first arriuall in Kent was encountred with diuers strong and mightie Giants Of which an Author of reuerend good antiquitie thus writeth as also of the wrastling betwixt Corineus and Gogmagog Ther was a Geant het Gogmagog yat was gret and strong For aboute ane twenty fet men seiy yat he was long A good oke he wolde braye a doun as hit small yerde were And bere hit forth in his hond ye folke all to a fere He com wiy xx Geants and assayllede Brute faste Brut wiy his power hem slough echon atte laste Alle but Gogmagog for hym ne slough he nought For he sholde wiy Corneus wrastle by hys thought In a word my Author makes Corineus to get the vpper hand of Gogmagog and to cast him headlong from one of the rocks not farre from Douer which for a long time was called the fall or leape of Gogmagog and afterwards the fall of Douer And this Gogmagog saith he was the last of that monstrous generation Raph the Monke of Coggeshall who wrote aboue three hundred yeares ago saith that in king Richards time on the sea shore at a Village in Essex called Eadulphnesse were found two teeth of a certaine Giant of such an huge bignesse that two hundred such teeth as men haue now a dayes might be cut out of them These saw I at Goggeshall quoth he and not without wondring And such another Giant-like thing I wot not what saith Camden was in the beginning of Queene Elizabeths raigne digged vp by R. Candish a Gentleman neare to this place Vpon which thus he doth further comment I do not denie saith he but that there haue beene men that for their huge bodies and firme strength were wondrous to behold whom God as Saint Austin saith would haue to liue vpon the earth thereby to teach vs that neither beauty of bodie nor talenesse of stature are to bee accounted simplie good things seeing they be common as well to Infidels as to the godly Yet may we very well thinke that which Suetonius hath written namely that the huge limmes of monstrous Sea-creatures elsewhere and in this kingdome also were commonly said and taken to haue beene Giants bones Another iudicious Antiquarie of these times doth also thus illustrate this point I could thinke saith hee that there now are some as great statures as for the most part haue beene and that Giants were but of a somewhat more then vulgar excellence in body and martiall performance If you obiect the finding of great bones which measured by proportion largely exceed our times I first answer that in some singulars as Monsters rather then naturall such proofe hath beene but that now and of ancient time the eyes iudgement in such like hath beene and is subiect to much imposture mistaking bones of huge beasts for humane Claudius brought ouer his Elephants hither and perhaps Iulius Cesar some for I haue read that he terriblie frighted the Britons with sight of one at Coway Stakes when he passed ouer Thames and so may you bee deceiued But more of Giants hereafter Saint Olaues Iewrie Thomas Morsted gist ici Dieu de salme eit merci Amen This man was Chirurgian to three kings Henry the fourth the fifth and the sixth in the yeare 1436. He was Sheriffe of London he built a faire new Isle to the enlargement of this Church on the North side thereof wherein he
fyue hundryd and eighteen yere Inscriptions in the Stilliard the house sometime of the German-Merchants Haec domus est laeta semper bonitate repleta Hic Pax hic requies hic gaudia semper honesta Item Aurum blanditiae pater est natusque doloris Qui caret hoc maeret qui tenet hic metuit Item Qui bonis parere recusat quasi vitato fumo in flammam incidit Saint Mary Bothaw .......... Chich .... vocitatus ..... Robertus omni bonitate refertus Bauperibus largus pius extitit ad mala tardus Moribus ornatus iacet istic intumulatus Corpore procerus his Maior arte Grocerus Anno milleno C quater x quater anno ............. This Robert Chichley was Lord Maior An. 1422. hee appointed by his Testament that on his birth day acompetent dinner should be ordained for 2400 poore men housholders of this city euery man to haue two pence in money Saint Michaels Crooked lane Here lieth entombed in a Chappell of his owne foundation Sir William Walworth Knight Lord Maior of London whose manfull prowesse against that arch-Rebell VVat Tyler and his confederates is much commended in our English Chronicles his monument was shamefully defaced in the raigne of King Edward the sixt as many others were but since it was renewed by the Fishmongers he died Anno 1383. as appeareth by this Epitaph Here vnder lyth a man of Fame William Walworth callyd by name Fishmonger he was in life time here And twise Lord Maior as in bookes appere Who with courage stout and manly might Slew Wat Tyler in King Richards sight For which act done and trew entent The King made him Knight incontinent And gaue him armes as here you see To declare his fact and Chiualrie He left this life the yere of our God Thirteene hundryd fourescore and three od Iohn Philpot Nicholas Brember and Robert Launde Aldermen were knighted with him the same day To this Maior the King gaue 100 pound land yeerely and to each of the other 40 pound land by yeare to them and their heires for euer He founded a Colledge to this parish Church for a Master and nine Priests or Chaplaines Worthy Iohn Louekin Stockfishmonger of London here is leyd Four times of this City Lord Maior hee was if truth be seyd Twise he was by election of Citizens then being And twise by the commandment of his good Lord the King Cheef Founder of this Church in his life time was he Such louers of the common-welth too few ther be Of August the fourth thirteene hundryth sixty and eyght His flesh to Erth his soul to God went streyght Sir William Walworth was an apprentice to this Iohn Louekin Here lyeth wrapt in clay The body of William VVray I haue no more to say Saint Laurence Poultney This Church was increased with a Chappell of Iesus by one Thomas Cole for a Master and a Chaplaine the which Chappell and Parish-Church was made a Colledge of Iesus and of Corpus Christi for a Master and seuen Chaplaines by Iohn Poultney Maior and was confirmed by Edward the third in the twentieth of his raigne So that of him it was called Saint Laurence Poultney in Candlewickstreet This Colledge was valued at 79. l. 17. s. 11. d. per ann and surrendred in the raigne of Ed. the sixth The thrice honourable Lord Robert Radcliffe the first earle of Sussex of that name and Henry Radcliffe his sonne and heire as of his possessions so of his honours were first interred in this Collegiate Church whose relique were afterwards remoued to Boreham in Essex Saint Mary Abchurch Hac gradiens fortis tua lingua precando laboret Esto memor mortis dum virtus vivida floret Dum vita fueris quid agas circumspice mente Nam tu talis eris qualis concido repente Corpora Gilberti Melites celat lapis iste Eius vxoris Christine quos cape Christe Saint Mary Colechurch So called of one Cole the builder thereof King Henry the fourth granted licence to William Marshall and others to found a brotherhood of S. Katherine in this Church to the helpe of Gods seruice because Thomas Becket and S. Edmund Archbishops of Canterbury were baptised herein Alhallowes Barking On the North side of this Church was sometime builded a faire Chappell founded by king Richard the first and much augmented by king Edward the first Edward the fourth gaue licence to his cosin Iohn Lord Tiptost Earle of Worcester to found here a Brotherhood for a Master and Brethren And he gaue to the Custos of that Fraternitie the advowsion of the Parish Church of Stretham in Surrey with all the members and appurtenances the Priory of Totingbeck and a part of the Priory of Okeborne in Wiltshire both Priors Aliens and appointed it to be called the Kings Chantrie In Capella beate Marie de Barking king Richard the third founded herein a Colledge of Priests and reedified the decayed structure Great concourse of people came hither to our Lady of Barking a pilgrimage vntill the Colledge was suppressed and pulled downe in the second of Edward the sixth and the ground whereupon it stood imployed as a Garden plot Many funerall Monuments are yet remaining in this Parish Church which you may reade in the Suruay of this Citie Saint Mary Wolnoth Here lieth Sir Iohn Arundell knight of the Bath and knight Baneret Receiuor of the Duchy ....... Grey daughter to the Lord Marquese Dorset who died 8. Febr. the 36. of the reigne of king Hen. the 8. This Sir Iohn Arundell was of the house of Lanherne in Cornwall a family of great respect in that county Of which I shall haue further occasion to speake when I come to Saint Columbs where this mans Ancestors lye entombed The Christian name of his wife with time worne or torne out of the brasse was Elianor the third daughter of Thomas Grey Marquesse Dorset halfe brother by the mother to Edward the fifth by Cicely daughter and heire of William Bonvile Lord Harrington Quid caro letatur cum vermibus esca paratur Terre terra datur Caro nascitur moriatur Orate pro anima Simonis Eyre ......................................... vnder this defaced Monument Simon Eyre the sonne of Iohn Eyre of Brandon in Suffolk lieth interred He was Lord Maior in the yeare 1445. Hee built Leaden Hall for a common Granary for the Citie and a faire large Chappell on the East side of the Quadrant ouer the Porch whereof was painted Dextra Domini exaltauit me And on the North wall Honorandus famosus Mercator Symon Eyre huius operis Fundator He gaue 5000. l. and aboue the poore Maids marriages and did many other works of charitie Hee died the 18. day of September 1459. Saint Nicholas Acons O ye dere frendys whych sall here aftyr be Of yowr deuotion plese ye to remembyr Me Richard Payne which of this noble cite Somtym whylst I liud was
who inuaded his Territories in his absence whilst he was prosecuting the warres in Ireland and returned from that battell a triumphant Conquâ—rour Vnder another Monument lieth the body of Gilbert Marshall Earle of Penbroke and Marshall of England Lord of Longevile in Normandy Leinster in Ireland and of Chepstow Strighull and Caerwent in Wales This Potent Peere of the Realme saith Mathew Paris in Ann. 1241. proclaimed a Turnament in scorne of the kings authoritie whereby such disports were forbidden to be holden at Hertford in the County of Hertford to which place when many both of the Nobilitie and Gentrie were assembled it happened that himselfe running by the flinging of his horse was cast out of his sadle and the horse gaue him such a blow on the breast that he died the same day being the fifth of the Kalends of Iuly 1241. as aforesaid His bowels were interred in the Abbey Church in the Towne of Hertford with the bowels of one Sir Robert de Say knight a gallant gentleman slaine in the same exercise These kinde of Iusts or Turnaments were brought in with king Stephen and practised in many places of England in such an outragious manner and with such slaughter of Gentlemen that to suppresse such an heathenish disport it was decreed by Parliament that whosoeuer therein were slaine should want Christian buriall and their heires be disinherited Hic requiescit ..... R ... Ep .... Quondam Visitator generalis ordinis Milicie Templi in Anglia in Francia in Italia .... This was a fragment of a funeralâ— Inscription insculped vpon one of these crosse-legged Monuments as I found it amongst other Collections by one studious in Antiquities in Sir Robert Cottons voluminous Librarie which he proues by the pedegree of the said Lord Rosses to haue beene made to the memory of one Robert Rosse a Templer who died about the yeare 1245. and gaue to the Templars his Mannor of Ribston William Plantaginet the fifth sonne of king Henry the third lieth here interred who died in his childhood about the yeare 1256. En Iacobus templo Bayle requiescit in isto Qui fuerat gratus medio Templo sociatus Cui Deus esto pius eius miserando reatus Vitam mutauit in mensis fine secundi M. C. quater que dato Lxx quater annumerato Cui sit solamen Christus dic protinus Amen Robertus iacet hic Thorne quem Bristollia quondam Pretoris merito legit ad officium Huic etinim semper magne Respublica cure Charior cunctis Patria duitijs Ferre inopi auxilium tristes componere lites Dulce huic consilio quosque iuuare fuit Qui pius exaudis miserorum vota precesque Christe huic in celis des regione locum Orate pro anima Richardi Wye socij comititiui interioris Templi ob 9. Mar. 1519. Cuius anime Domine secundum delictum meum noli me iudicare Deprecor maiestatem tuam vt tu deleas iniquitatem meam Ecce quid eris Hic iacet Willelmus Langham quondam custos huius Templi qui obijt ......... 1437. Tu prope qui transis nec dicis aueto resiste Auribus et corde hec mea dicta tene Sum quod eris quod es ipse fui derisor amare Mortis dum licuit pace manente frui Sed veniente nece postquam sum raptus amicis Atque meis famulis orba ...... domus Me contexit humo deplorauit que iacentem Inque meos cineres vltima dona dedit Vnde mei vultus corrosit terra nitorem Queque fuit forme ......... Ergo Deum pro me cum pura mente precare Vt mihi perpetua pace frui tribuat Et quicunque rogat pro me comportet in vnum Vt mecum meneat in regione Poli. William Burgh iadis Clerk de Chancelleri Gist icy Dieu de s'alme eyt mercy Amen Saint Clement Danes So called because Harold surnamed Harefoot for his swift footmanship king of England of the Danish line and other Danes were here buried This Harold was the base sonne of king Canut by his concubine Alice of Woluerhampton in Staffordshire a Shoomakers daughter His body was first buried at Westminster but afterwards Hardicanut the lawfull sonne of Canut being king commanded his body to bee digged out of the earth and to be throwne into the Thames where it was by a Fisherman taken vp and buried in this Churchyard He died at Oxford 1040. hauing raigned three yeares and eight moneths Hic iacet .... Iohannes Arundell .... Episcopus Exon. qui ob die mens Maij 15 ... 1503. This maymed Inscription would tell vs thus much that Iohn Arundell descended of the ancient and most worshipfull house of the Arundels of Lanherne in Cornwall Bishop of Exceter lieth here vnder interred who died March 15. 1503. Hic iacet corpus venerabilis .... Io ..... Booth Legum Bacalaureus Episcopus Exon ..... ob primo April 1478. This Bishop gouerned his Church wondrous well and builded as some suppose the Bishops See in the Quire but being weary of the great troubles which were in his countrey betweene king Edward the fourth and the Earle of Warwicke he remoued from thence to his house of Horsleigh in Hampshire where he died Orate pro anima Willelmi Booth militis fratris Episcopi Exon. qui ob 6. April 1478. Hic iacet Edmundus Arnold postremus Aprilis Quem dolor heu rapuit tristis atroxque dies Istius Ecclesie Rector meritissimus olim Et summus Mâ—dice Doctor in arte fuit Non Ipocrate minor erat nec doctior vllus Non Opifex mirum vincit Apollo virum M. D. deme ter .x. semel v. Christi anno Cui vitam Medicus det sine sine Deus Sauoy So called of Peter Earle of Sauoy the first builder thereof which being ouerthrowne by the Rebels of Kent it was againe raised and beautifully rebuilded by king Henry the seuenth for an Hospitall and dedicated to the honour of Saint Iohn Baptist for which he purchased lands for the reliefe of an hundred poore people Of which you may reade this Inscription engrauen ouer the Gate towards the Street 1505. Hospitium hoc inopi Turbe Sauoia vocatum Septimus Henricus fundauit ab imo solo Henry the seuenth to his merite and honor This Hospitall foundyd pore people to socor Many officers ordinances orders and rules were appointed by the Founder for the better gouernment of this Hospitall some of which I haue read briefly extracted out of the Grand Charter viz. Per nomen Magistri et Capellanorum Hospitalis Henrici Regis Anglie septimi de Savoy Duo Presbiteri seculares conductitij Duo homines seculares honesti ac literati quorum alter Subsacrista alter Subhospitalarius Quatuor homines honesti qui Alteriste vocentur Quinque alij honesti homines viz. 1. Clericus Coquine 2. Panetarius 3. Coquus 4. Ortulanus 5. Ianitor Duo alij alter subcoquus
surprised by the craft of the Saxons set his full purpose to driue them out and from the seuenth yeare after their first entrance for twentie yeares continuance fought many battailes with them and foure of them with great puissance in the open field in the first whereof they departed with like fortune and losse of the Generals brethren Horsa and Latigern in the other three the Britaines went away with victory and so long vntill Vortimer was taken away by fatall death It is recorded of him that after he had vanquished the Saxons and dispossessed them of all their footing in the Continent yea and often assailed them in the Isle of Tannet the Church of Christianitie being ruinated by the Pagan marriage of Rowena with his Brother as aforesaid that he restored the Christian Religion as then sorely decaied and new built the Churches that his enemies the misbeleeuing Saxons had destroied It is also reported by Nennius of Bangor in the historie of his countrie that after his last victorie ouer the Saxons he caused his monument to be erected at the entrance into Tanet and in the same place of that great ouerthrow which by the said Author is called Lapis Tituli of vs the Stonar where for certaine it seemes hath beene an hauen In this monument hee commanded his body to be buried to the further terror of the Saxons that in beholding this his Trophie their spirits might be daunted at the remembrance of their great ouerthrow As Scipio Africanus conceited the like who commanded his Sepulchre to be so set that it might ouerlooke Africa supposing that his very Tombe would be a terror to the Carthaginians But how that desire of Vortimer was performed I finde not saith a late writer but rather the contrarie for an old Manuscript I haue that confidently affirmeth him to be buried in London which agreeth with these old Rimes of my reuerend Monke of Glocester Aftur his deth he badde anon his body yat me nome And bury hit at an hauene wher ye hethen men vp come In a Tombe swithe an heigh yat me myght hit fer yse That hii for drede of yat syght ayen hom sholde fle Hare was herte to hem whan he wolde hit hadde Drede of his body dede as they aliue hadde Ther was deol and Soâ—we enogh tho this man was ded As natheles me buryed him nought ther as yat he ked For hit was but of a will as hii hem bethoughte In London wythe gret honor that body an erthe broughte Harding hath it thus In a pyller of brasse he laid on hyght At the gate where Saxons had landed afore He bad his men for also farre as he myght Hym se he truste they wolde not nerre come thore But neuerthelesse they letted not therfore But buried hym at Troynouant Citee As he them bade with all solempnitee The vncertaine buriall of Edward and Richard the sonnes of King Edward the fourth Edward the eldest sonne of King Edward the fourth by Queene Elizabeth his wife say our English Writers was borne in the Sanctuary at Westminster the fourth of Nouember and yeare of grace 1470. being the tenth of his fathers raigne at that time expulsed the Realme by the powerfull Earle of Warwicke but fortune being changed and the father restored the sonne in Iuly following the sixe and twentieth day 1471. was created Prince of Wales and Earle of Chester and afterwards vpon the eight of Iuly in the 19 yeare of his said fathers raign he was by Letters Patents dated at Esthamsted further honoured with the Earledomes of Penbroke and March He was proclaimed King but neuer crowned yet had not the ambitious hand of his Vncle beene defiled in his innocent bloud hee might haue worne the Diadem many yeares whereas he bare the title of King no longer then two moneths and eighteene daies Richard surnamed of Shrewsbury because he was there borne the second sonne of Edward the fourth by his wife Elizabeth as aforesaid was affianced in his infancie to Anne the onely daughter and heire of Iohn Lord Mowbray Duke of Norfolke hee was honoured by the titles of Duke of Norfolke Earle Warren Earle Marshall and Nottingham also Lord Baron of Mowbray Segraue and of Gower as Milles will haue it but inioying neither wife title or his owne life long was with his brother murthered in the Tower of London and in the prison of that Tower which vpon that most sinfull deed is euer since called the bloudy Tower their bodies as yet vnknowne where to haue buriall The storie of whose death and supposed interment extracted out of authenticall Authors is thus deliuered by Iohn Speed Prince Edward and his brother saith hee were both shut vp in the Tower and all attendants remoued from them onely one called Blacke-Will or William Slaughter excepted who was set to serue them and to see them sure After which time the Prince neuer tied his points nor cared for himselfe but with that yong Babe his brother lingred with thought and heauinesse till their traiterous deaths deliuered them out of that wretchednesse for the execution whereof Sir Iames Tirrill appointed Miles Forrest a fellow fleshed in murther before time to whom he ioyned one Iohn Dighton his horse-keeper a bigge broad square knaue About midnight all others being remoued from them this Miles Forrest and Iohn Dighton came into the Chamber and suddenly wrapped vp the sely children in the Bed-clothes where they lay keeping by force the featherbed and pillowes hard vpon their mouthes that they were therein smothered to death and gaue vp to God their innocent soules into the ioyes of heauen leauing their bodies vnto the Tormentors dead in the bed which after these monstrous wretches perceiued first by the strugling with the paines of death and after long lying still to bee thorowly dispatched they laid their bodies naked out vpon the bed and then fetched Sir Iames Tirrill their instigator to see them who caused these murtherers to bury them at the staires foot somewhat deepe in the ground vnder a great heape of stones Then roâ—e Sir Iames in haste to the King vnto whom he shewed the manner of their death and place of buriall which newes was so welcome to his wicked heart as hee greatly reioyced and with great thankes dubbed as some hold this his mercilesse Instrument Knight But the place of their buriall he liked not saying that vile corner should not containe the bodies of those Princes his Nephewes and commanded them a better place for buriall because they were the Sons of a King Whereupon the Priest of the Tower tooke vp their bodies and secretly interred them in such a place which by the occasion of his death could neuer since come to light The continuer of Iohn Harding tels vs from the report of others that King Richard caused Sir Robert Brakenburies Priest to close their dead corpes in lead and so to put them in a coffin full of holes
actiue strong family of the Cornwailes hath these words Vpon the riuer Temd saith hee is seene Burford which from Theodoricke Saie and his posteritie came vnto Robert Mortimer and from his posteritie likewise vnto Sir Geffrey Cornwaile who deriued his descent from Richard Earle of Cornwall and king of the Almaines and his race euen to these dayes hath flourished vnder the name of Barons of Burford but not in the dignitie of Parliamentarie Barons whereas it is holden of the King for to finde fiue men for the Armie of Wales and by seruice of a Baronie But more of these Cornwalls when I come to the vsuall place of their buriall for this Gentleman was casually here interred dying here in this Towne as hee passed from London into his owne countrey Here lyeth Henry Gosse and Alice his wif ..... 1485. Al yow this way by me sal pas Considyr what I am and who I was Bird I was first Iohn by name Here in Acton Preest and Parson of the same Fifty yere and three gouerne did I here And fynisht my liff in the two and fortyth yere Aftyr a thowsand ccccc of owr Lords first commyng In erth me to redeme by sore peyne sufferyng And now I haue peyd the stipend of this lyff Yeldyng my flesh to wormes wythout eny stryff For my soul intercede that glory it may opteyne Where with the blessyd Trinity eternally it may reyne And for yow ageyn prey by whos cherite I am relevyd To sweet Iesu with whos blood I am redemyd Hendon Hic iacet Iohannes de Brent Armiger .... obiit .... An. Dom. 1467. These Brents were Gentlemen of ample possessions in this tract whose chiefe residence was in Brentstreet hereunto adioyning from whom saith Norden that street tooke her denomination As also the little Brooke of Brent which giueth name to Brentford now called Brainford The most remarkable man of this Surname was one Falcatius or Falke de Brent who for his matchlesse prowesse and all-daring forwardnesse was so beloued of king Iohn that he gaue him in marriage Margaret the daughter of Warrin Fitz-Gerald his Chamberlaine late the wife of Baldwin de Riuers sonne of William Earle of Deuon and Exceter A match thought farre vnfit for such a man but the King would haue it so Whereupon this was written Lex connectit cos amor concordia lecti Sed Lex qualis amor qualis concordia qualis Lex exlex amor exosus concordia discors This Fowke liued in the like grace and fauour with king Hen. the third for by his fierie valour the said king got the victorie at Lincolne against Lewis the sonne of the second Philip king of France and his owne rebellious Barons But not long after looking ouer much vpon the height of his Fortunes and remembring too often his former good Seruices to the State he presuming vpon his Soueraignes lenitie committed many horrible outrages for which after pardon of his life hardly obtained he was adiudged to perpetuall banishment in which he ended his dayes at Rome in extreme miserie and was there buried most ignobly Ann. 1226. Hic iacet Thomas Iacob et Iohanna vxor eius qui quidem Tho. ob 1441. Iohanna .... 1400. Here lyeth Iohn Downmeer and Ioan his wyf Who 's soulys Iesu pardon ..... 1515. Hic iacet Petrus Goldesbrough ciuis et Aurifaber London qui obijt 1422. ....... Sancte Petre Pastor pro me precor esto rogator Finchley Vpon the North wall of this Church the last Will and Testament of one Thomas Sanny is hung vp thus written in a table In Dei nomine Amen Anno Domini 1509. primo anno Henrici octaui octauo die mens Nouembris I Thomas Sanny of the Estende in Finchley in the County of Midlesex whol in mynd and sick of Body do mak my last wyl and testament in form folowyng First I bequeth my soul to almyghty God to owr Lady and to al the Seynts in hevyn And my body to be buryd in the Churchyard of our Lady of Finchley Item I wil after the deth of my wyff the hous callyd Fordis and Stockwoodfeeld shallen whyl the world lastyth pay out of the seyd hous and lands forty shillyng yerly to Preests to syng for my soul my Moders soul my wyffs soul my chyldren my kyndred soulys and al Christian soulys and a nobil to the reparacion of the seyd hous and dispose to hygh ways and to pore peple or in oder good dedes of cherite And also I wil that the Chirch wardens fal yerly see this donne for euer Item I wil that this be grauyn in a ston of Marbull that al men may see hit as in my wil mor playnly doth appere Iesu mercy Lady help Here lieth entombed the body of Sir Thomas Frowicke knight Lord chiefe Iustice of the Common Pleas. The circumscription about his Monument is defaced and gone In the Catalogue I finde thus much Thomas Frowick miles constitutus erat Iusticiarius de Banco xxx die mens Septembris Ann. xviii Hen. vii et obijt xvii die mens Octobris Anno M. CCCCC VI et XXII Hen. VII Adioyning to this is another marble thus inscribed Ioan la Feme Thomas de Frowicke gist icy Et le dit Thomas Pense de giser aueque luy Hic iacet Thomas Aldenham Armig. et Chirurgus illustriss Principis Henrici sexti qui obiit 1431. Hadley Of yowr .... pray ... sowl of Iohn Goodyere Esquyre and Ione his wyff which .... died ... 1504. whos sowls To the honour of Sir Henry Goodyer of Polesworth a knight memorable for his vertues saith Camden an affectionate friend of his made this Tetrastich An ill yeare of a Goodyer vs bereft Who gon to God much lacke of him here left Full of good gifts of body and of minde Wise comely learned eloquent and kinde Enfield ..... Iocosa quondam silia et vna heredum .... Domini Powes ac etiam silia et vna heredum Domine Marchie ..... et vxor famosissimo militi ...... Tipâ—ofte .... dic Septemb. ..... 1446. Cuius anime et omnium fidelium defunctorum IHC pro sua sanctissima passione misereatur To make this time-eaten Inscription somewhat more plaine I finde this Iocosa to haue beene the daughter and coheire of Edward Charleton Lord Powys in Wales married to Iohn Lord Tiptoft father of Iohn Lord Tiptoft first of that surname Earle of Worcester who liued here at Enfield house built by himselfe or some of his Ancestors Harnsey Iesu Chryst Maryes Sonn Have mercy on the soul of Iohn Skeuington An ancient familie resyding at Brumfield neare adioyning Edmundton Here lieth interred vnder a seemelie Tombe without Inscription the body of Peter Fabell as the report goes vpon whom this fable was fathered that he by his wittie deuises beguiled the deuill belike he was some ingenious conceited gentleman who did vse some
he that is sufficiently mine Of two I haue the one is common to all my race yea and also to others There is a family at Paris and another at Montpellier called Montaigne another in Brittany and one in Zantoigne surnamed de la Montaigne The remouing of one only sillable may so confound our webbe as I shall haue a share in their glory and they perhaps a part of my shame And my Ancestors haue heretofore beene surnamed Heigham or Hyquem a surname which also belongs to a house well knowne in England Here is another Tombe on the South side of the Chancell vpon which is the pourtraiture of Sir VVilliam Butts in his complete armour kneeling his sword by his side his spurres his helmet at his feet His Lady by him kneeling hauing her coat-armour Here are the coats of Butts and Bacon quartered vpon the Tombe Arwerton saith Camden in Suffolke the house long since of the Family of the Bacoâ—s who held this Mannor and Brome by conducting all the footmen of Suffolke and Norfolke from S. Edmunds-dike in the warres of Wales These Bacons haue at this day their residence at Culfurth in Suffolke a goodly house erected by Sir Nicholas Bacon knight the first Baronet sonne vnto that Sir Nicholas Bacon Knight Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England who for his singular wisedome and most sound iudgement was right worthily esteemed one of the two supporters of this kingdome in his time Who lieth entombed in S. Pauls with his two wiues Who died An. 1578. You may reade this Inscription vpon the said Monument Hic Nicolaum ne Baconem conditum Existima illum tam diu Britannici Regni secundum columen exitium Malis Bonis Asylum caeca quem non extulit Ad hunc honorem sors sed aequitas fides Doctrina pietas vnica prudentia Neu morte raptum crede quia vnica breui Vita perennes emerit duas agit Vitam secundam caelites inter animus Fama implet orbem vita quae illi tertia est Hac positum in Ara est corpus olim animi domus Ara dicata sempiternae Memoriae No lesse worthie of praise for his many excellent good parts was his sonne who followed the fathers steps I meane Sir Francis Bacon knight Lord Verulam Viscount Saint Alban and Lord Chancellour of England lately deceased Snoring Here vnder a faire Tombe lieth the daughter of Sir Iohn Heydon who married one of the Heninghams These Heydons are an ancient race of Knights degree Orate pro animabus Radulphi Shelton militis Domine Alicie vxoris eius filie Thome de Vnedal Militis qui quidem Radulphus obiit xxv die Aprilis Anno M. ccccxxiiii Blackney A famous religious house of Carmelite Friers in this late age aforegoing built and endowed by Sir Robert de Roos or Rosse Sir Robert Bacon and Sir Iohn Bret Knights about the yeare 1321. out of which came Iohn Baconthorpe of whom I haue spoken somewhat before And now here giue me leaue to speake a little more which I had omitted our of Camden A man saith he in that age of such varietie and depth withall of excellent learning that he was had in exceeding great admiration among the Italians and commonly called the Resolute Doctor Whence it is that Paulus Pansa thus writeth of him If thy minde stand to enter into the secret power of the Almighty and most mercifull God no man hath written of his Essence more exactly If any man desireth to learne the causes of things or the effects of Nature if he wish to know the sundrie motions of heauen and the contrary qualities of the Elements this man offereth himselfe as a storehouse to furnish him The armour of Christian Religion of better proofe and defence then those of Vulcans making against the Iewes this resolute Doctor alone hath deliuered Sculthorpe Orate pro anima Henrici Vnton qui obijt Anno Millesimo cccxx Statton Saint Michaels Orate pro anima Iohannis Cowal quondam Rectoris istius Ecclesie quiistam Cancellam de nouo fieri fecit Anno Domini M. cccclxxxvii pro quibus tenetur orare .... Stratton Saint Mary Orate pro animabus Iohannis Bocher Margarete vxoris eius quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Orate pro anima Thome Drake qui obijt Anno Domini 1490. Orate pro animabus Iohannis Waith Margerie vxoris eius qui Iohannes obijt xviii die mensis Februar Anno Domini M. cccclxxxx Quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen Bunwell Of your charity pray for the soul of Iohn Darosse and Margaret his wyffe on whos souls Ihesu haue mercy Amen Tybenham Orate pro anima Iohannis Avelyn quondam vicarij istius Ecclesie qui obijt xxviii die Decembris anno M. cccccvii Cuius ..... Orate pro anima Iacobi Glouer quondam Vicarii istius Ecclesie Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Orate pro animabus Roberti Buxton Cristiane Agnetis vxorum eius qui quidem Robertus obiit anno Domini M. cccccxxviii Quorum animabus propitietur altissimus Here lieth likewise vnder a faire Grauestone Iohn Buxton sonne and heire of Robert aforesaid who married Margaret Warner by whom he had issue two sonnes and two daughters Annos spirauit octoginta quatuor euen to our times Of whom more hereafter North Walsham Orate pro anima Willelmi Roys qui obiit x. die Kalend. Martii M. cccc Ashwelthorp Hic iacet Isabella que fuit vxor Philippi Tylney Armigeri vna filiarum heredum Edmundi Thorp Militis Domine Iohanne quondam Domine de Scales consortis sue que obiit decimo die mensis Nouembris anno Domini M. ccccxxxvi Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Iane Knyvet resteth here the only heire by right Of the Lord Berners that Sir Iohn Bourcher hight Twenty yeres and thre a wydoos life she ledd Alwayes keping howse where rich and pore were fedd Gentell iust quyet voyd of debate and stryfe Euer doying good Lo thus she ledd her life Euen to the Graue where Erth on Erth doth ly On whos soul God graunt of his abundant mercy The xvii of February M.D.lxi. Spikesworth or Spixford Orate pro animabus Iohannis Styward et Margarete vxoris eius Orate pro anima Georgii Linsted qui obiit in festo Assumptionis beate Marie anno Domini M.D.xvii Orate pro anima Willelmi Davy quondam Ciuis Norwic. Vinter et huins Ecclesie spiritualis benefactor Orate pro anima Margarete Thorne nuper vxoris Thome Thorne que obiit tertio die Septembris 1544. South-acre In the Chancell vnder the South wall lieth entombed Sir Roger Harsicke Knight the sonne and heire of Iohn who liued in the eight yeare of King Henry the fifth and in the twenty ninth of Henry the sixth in whom the issue male ended leauing his inheritance to his two daughters Sir Alexander Harsick