alienated or dispos'd otherwise then by their Orders Which last Request was grounded upon two Reasons 1. To render the Irish more desperate by cutting off all hopes of ever recovering their Estates again 2. To incourage all that would take up Arms under their Commission to hope that they might be stated in them as many of them since have And lastly that none might under pretence of arming against the Irish raise any Forces to allarm them wherein they were so cautelous that they would not consent that the King who earnestly desired it should go himself in Person This unexpected breach upon him gave him the second Provocation to make another breach upon them for being well assured that the Five Members were the great Botefeus that kept in the fire he caus'd a Charge of High Treason to be drawn up against them upon the Articles following 1. As having indeavour'd the Subversion of the Kingdom and Laws 2. The depriving him of his Legal to set up an Arbitrary Power 3. To have indeavour'd to alienate his good Peoples Affections from him by divers false Scandals 4. To have attempted to corrupt his Army 5. To have invited a Forreign Power to Invade the Kingdom 6. To have design'd the Subversion of the very Rights and Beings of Parliament 7. To have raised and countenanced Tumults to over-awe him and the Parliament 8. To have trayteroâ—sly conspired to leavy and actually had leavy'd War against him The next day after these Articles were exhibited he himself went in Person to the House of Commons to demand Justice But this as it was like the breaking into an Hornets Nest so the confus'd buzze that followed him to the Court Gates shew'd how dangerous an Undertaking he had past The tumultuous Citizens keeping him awake with continued Complaints of decay of Trade of the danger of Popish designs and the general Fears arising from his †Having â—â—â—â—ed â—ome â—â—anon to be â—râ—ught to prevent the forcing open of his Gates Fortifying of Whitehall as they call'd it the Invasion of the House of Commons the Restraint of the Five Members c. shewing by the Insolence of their Deportment that there wanted nothing to blow up the Government but to give Fire to the Train that was already laid What Tempestuous Weather it was like to prove at Westminster the whole City being already thus overshadow'd with a Cloud oâ— Popular discontent was easie to foretell and accordingly his Majesty thought fit to remove into the clearer Air of Hampton Court whence he return'd the Parliament a very gracious Message assuring them That if they would digest all the Grievances of the Kingdom into one Body he would so far redress them that as he said he would not only equal but exceed the most Indulgent Princes that ever this Nation had But this Condescention of his contributed much to the increasing their Insolence as soft Medicines do cause proud Flesh for as they found he gave ground they press'd the more upon him sending him word That the only Catholicon to cure the growing Distemper was to deliver up the Militia into their hands That of London and the Tower he did not long dispute with them and that of the Country he was content to part with so as their Power were confined within some limited time but they having past the bounds of modesty in asking could not contain themselves within any moderation of acceptance but rejecting all his Concessions proceeded to take the Power he would have given without tarrying for any Confirmation and resolving to magnifie their own Cause rather then his Grace they possessed themselves of the Fleet the trust whereof they committed to the Earl of Northumberland a Person that rather honoured their Cause then was honoured by it But because it was a preposterous thing to provide for War before there was any Cause given to fear a breach of the Peace much more to fly to Arms before there was any prospect of an Enemy they resolved to Treat with him no longer least he should be too hard for them and undeceive the inconstant Multitude not yet sufficâ—ently hardned with Envy or Ignorance From this time therefore they began downright to quarrel with him taking occasion from the late Impeachment of their Members the Information against whom though it were with-drawn and quash'd and the prosecution wholly declined yet they would abate nothing of their Resentment of it being as they alledged a Reflection upon the whole House that they required the Informers might be deliver'd up to them and at the same time they would not allow the dishonour of having any of their Members accus'd they sent a personal Accusation against the King himself Charging him 1. To have attempted the Incensing the late Northern Army against them 2. To have been the Author of all the Troubles of Scotland 3. To have under-hand promoted the Irish Rebellion 4. To have sent away the Lord Digby but a little before in order to the bringing over Forreign Forces to invade the Kingdom malitiously affirming That the Popes Nuntio had been very earnest with his privity in soliciting the Kings of France and Spain to send over Eight thousand men to his Assistance Having thus spit in his Face it could not be expected he should not return it with a blow upon which both sides arm'd They vote him guilty of a breach of the Trust repos'd in him by his People making it contrary to his Oath to defend himself and tending as they said to the dissolution of his Government He to requite them set forth a general Declaration wherein he took notice of all their bold Proceedings which he said he expected to break out into all Disloyal practises and forasmuch as they had already most preposterously declar'd for him against himself as indeed they did thereby to betray well-meaning People into Rebellion he forbid all his Loving Subjects to be any wayes aiding or abetting to them in those their trayterous Attempts to bring on a Civil War and by no means to leavy any Forces or contribute any thing to such Leavies contrary to the known * 1 Ed. 1. 2 Ed. 3. 11 R. 2. Laws without express Licence from him Here the two great Interests IMPERIUM LIBERTAS res olim insociabiles saith †Vit. Agricolae The beginning of the War Tacitus began to Incounter each other like those two unruly Elements of Fire and Water neither of which yielding to one another whilst the one proscrib'd by a Divine t'other by a natural Right begat so horrible a Confusion that the Cause on either side seem'd better in the Pretension then the Prosecution Those who stood up for the Plebiscitum professing only to defend their just Proprieties made use of all Advantages that time or sufferance had intitled them to and as men that at the same time they drew their Swords had slung away the Scabards scorning Pardon as they hated Peace foâ—low'd Providence as their expression was thorow all Dangers and
continual being in arms surnam'd Iron-sides was so sensible of that he was forc'd to compound with an Enemy that afterwards took from him the whole by the same Power he compell'd him to let go the half however in two Descents after the English Line took place again in the Person of XVI date of accession 1042 EDWARD surnam'd the Confessor who proving regardless of Posterity tempted Providence to take no care of him whereby his Steward thought himself obliged amongst other things committed to his Charge to take that of the Crown which was the famous XVII date of accession 1065 HAROLD Son of Godwyn Earl of Kent who putting the undoubted Heir besides his Right taught the Norman how to disseize him who with his death put the period to the English Monarchy that reckoning from Engist by all Historians accompted the first King had lasted Six hundred and twenty years EGBERT date of accession 800 THIS was he that may be said to be the first of all the English whom Fortune declar'd to be her Heir having beaten up the Seven Crowns of his Predecessors into one Diadem to fit his Head To them she gave only Title to part but to him the Dominion of the whole Isle Nature agreeing to fit his Parts to the proportion of his Preferment For as he was young and hardy so he was temperate and discreet noble by Birth descended from Ingill Brother to Ine the Magnificent but nobler by his Bounty which had purchas'd him so universal an Affection that his Predecessor Bithrick suspecting the danger of his Vertues made them so far his Crimes as to give him a fair pretense to banish him by which means all his good Qualities came to be so refin'd breathing in a purer Air then that of his native Soil as leaves it yet in doubt Whether he were any whit less beholding to Providence then Nature his Afflictions contributing so much to his Experience his Experience to his Wisdom and his Wisdom to his Fame that they seem'd like so many steps fitly plac'd together by which he might ascend the Throne He serv'd the Emperour Charles the Great in that great Expedition of his into Italy which took up all the time of his banishment and there he so well govern'd himself that he return'd with a Testimonial of his fitness to govern others The Tyrant Bithrick who had expuls'd him finding when it was too late that by driving him further from his Country he had brought him nearer to the Affections of his Country-men especially those of the Vulgar sort who first pity then praise men in distress and not seldom by their Opinion make up the want in Merit and where there is no want add so great a Weight that 't is not in the power of Humane Policy to turn the Scale Yet he did not think fit to return till after Bithrick's death as judging it more danger then honor to serve one under whom 't was a Crime to be Victorious and Capital to be otherwise Besides he thought it greater to let Honour seek him then for him to seek it knowing that Necessity if not Choice would move his Country-men to call him home being begirt with potent Neighbours that wanted nothing but a Circulation of Intelligence to subvert them totally So much were they discouraged by their Fears from without and their Discontents within Neither miss'd he of the Invitation he look'd for being receiv'd with so universal Satisfaction that it appear'd he was their Lord before he became their Soveraign In this confidence he took up the Sword before the Scepter to the end his Title might be written in the blood of his Enemies the number whereof were more then those of his Subjects The first that wrestled with him were the sturdy Cornish who being laid on their backs by a trick they understood not The next that came on were the Welch their Allies who though they rather gave him Trouble then War yet he thought it worth the going in Person against them and pâ—rsu'd them so faâ— as made it appear it was more their dishonour then his that they were not totally subdued by him The next that fell under the power of his Arms was the haughty Northumber for both he and the disdainful Mercian dreading his growing Greatness burst with swelling This gave him leisure to look towards Kent the only considerable Foe left whose King flying into Essex like a spark of Fire into another mans House ruin'd that by the same way he had undone his own Kingdom That Prince taking a pattern of Cowardize from him to quit that as t'other had done his Kingdom so that Egbert whilst he pursued one conquer'd two of the Heptarchs This success inlarg'd his Dominions so wide that he began to bear himself up with an universal Obedience being no less Elevated with the prospect of his Power then Hercules after he had subdued the many headed Monster with the contemplation of his Fortune to manifest which he turn'd the Name of BRITAIN so venerable for its Age having been the only Appellation of this Isle for near 1800 years before into that of ENGLAND the Country from whence his Ancestors came A Vanity so displeasing to Providence that it set up the same Nemesis which had been so Instrumental to his Country-men in the destruction of the Britains to face about upon him and his Successors whose Necks it broke down the same Stairs by which they ascended setting up a People to be the dire Executioners of her Justice that were of their own Lineage spoke the same Language and had drove them our once before from those Possessions to which they had much better right then to any thing here This was the Dane which though they got not much in this Kings reign yet they so nipt the glory of his Conquest by beating down the Blossoms of his Reputation that he liv'd not to see the Fruit he expected being forc'd to divide before he had firmly united and cut his own Kingdom into two again Giving that of Kent to his younger Son Ethelbert not without a seeming Injury to his elder Son Ethelwolph that being the most fertile though the lesser this the most incumbred though the greater yet herein his Wisdom appears to have equall'd his Power in that he made both Kings but left but one Soveraign ETHELWOLPH date of accession 837 THIS St. Ethelwolph or as he is vulgarly call'd St. Adulph was at the time of his Fathers death a Deacon Hoveden says a Bishop and so much addicted to Devotion more then Action that he accepted the Government rather out of necessity then choice refusing to be crown'd as long as he could resist the importunity of his Friends or suffer the Insolence of his Enemies being at last made a King as it were in his own defence as well as the Kingdoms But no sooner had the loud Acclamations of his over joy'd People awaken'd his Lyon-like Dulness but rouzing up himself he confronted the Common Foe with
year there but the taking only one Town and besieging another which upon notice of the Disorders at home that a wise man might easily have foreseen and prevented he quit with no less disorder leaving the whole Action with as much precipitation as he took it up insomuch that his Wife and Sister that accompanied him and all their Attendants and Officers were forc'd to shift for themselves and get home as they could which Inconsideration of his met with that pitiful Event before mention'd to redeem him from which his People were fain to strain themselves beyond their abilities Lay-men and Clergy parting with a fourth part of their Real and a tenth of their Personal Estate all not being sufficient to make up his Ransome till they pawn'd and sold their very Chalices and Church Ornaments Being thus as it were un-king'd and expos'd naked to the Vulgar stript of his Honour as well as Treasure he thought himself not secure of the fai h and reverence due to his birth by any other way but a Recoronation which being as extraordinary as the rest of his Actions for he 's the first we meet with twice crown'd was notwithstanding the poverty of the Nation that had paid in two years time no less then jj hundred thousand Marks of Silver the vastness of which Sum may be guess'd at by the Standard of those Times when twenty pence was more then a Crown now perform'd with that solemnity as shew'd he had the same mind though not the same purse as when he began his great Adventures After this he fitted out a Fleet of 100 Sail of Ships to carry him into Normandy to chastize the Rebellions of his Brother John who incouraged by the King of France the constant Enemy of England had during his absence depos'd his Vice-roy Long-champ and forc'd him to lay down his Legatine Cross to take up that of the holy War and had put himself in so good forwardness to depose him too having brought the People to swear a Conditional Fealty to him that there wanted nothing to give him possession of the Crown which was before secur'd in Reversion but the consent of the Emperor to whom there was offer'd a Bribe of 150 thousand Marks to detain him or 1000 pounds a Month as long as he kept him Prisoner But such was the power of the Mother who was alwaies a fast Friend to the younger Brother and had indeed a greater share in the Government of the elder then consisted with the weakness of her own or the dignity of his Sex that she made them Friends and obtained an Indempnity for all the Faults committed during Longchamp's Reign who indeed was more a King then his Master so that his Indignation being wholly diverted upon the French King he began a new War that was like to prove more chargeable then the old which he had so lately ended To maintain which he had new Projections for raising Money but Providence having determin'd to put an end to his Ambition and Avarice offer'd a fatal Occasion by the discovery of some Treasure-trove out of which the Discoverer the Viscount Lymoges voluntarily tendring him a part tempted him to claim the whole and so eager was he of the Prey that being deny'd he besieg'd the Castle of Challons where he conceiv'd 't was hid from whence by a fatal Arrow shot from the hand of one whose Father and two Brothers he had kill'd with his own hand he was unexpectedly slain leaving no Issue either of his Body or Mind that the World took notice off excepting his three Daughters before mention'd father'd on him by the Priest by the disposal of which though it were but in jest we may see what he was in earnest For he bestow'd his daughter Pride on the Knights Templars his daughter Drunkenness on the Cestercian Monks and his Daughter Leachery he left to the Clergy in general which quickness of his as it savour'd of Irreligion so it made good that in him which makes all things else ill the comprehensive Vice of Ingratitude the Clergy being the only men to whom he was indebted for his Honour Wealth and Liberty but the unkindness he shew'd to them living was sufficiently requited to him dead by one of the same function who reflecting upon the Place where he receiv'd his fatal wound shot an Arrow at him that pierc'd deeper then that which slew him Christe tui Calicis Praedo fit praeda Calucis This mounted him on the wings of Fame but that unexpected height was attended with a fatal Giddiness which turn'd to such a kind of Frenzy as render'd him incapable of all advice So that intoxicated with the fumes of his Power he committed many outrages not sparing his own Brother Jeoffry Arch-bishop of York who using the freedom of a Brother in reprehending his Exorbitances had all his Estate taken from him and confiscated a whole year before he could recover it again by the help of all his Friends The Earl of Chester fair'd yet worse who was banish'd upon the like accompt of being too faithful a Counsellor Neither did the Lord Fitz-Walter suffer less then either because he would not consent to prostitute his fair Daughter Matilda to his Lust And whether he shew'd any foul play to his Nephew Arthur after he was his Prisoner is not certain who surviving his Imprisonment but a few dayes gave the World cause to think he was not treated as so near a Kinsman but as a Competitor and that which confirm'd this Opinion was the Judgment from Heaven that attended it for from that time he grew very visibly unprosperous loosing not only his ancient Patrimony the Dutchy of * Which his Ancestors had hâ—ld in despight of all the power â—f France and the rest of their potent Neighbours above 300 years Normandy and that as strangely as t'other did his life but with it all the rest of his Possessions on that side the Water all taken from him in less then a years space not so much by force of Arms as by process of Law whiles the King of France proceeded against him as an Offender rather then as an Enemy And to aggravate that by other Losses seeming less but perhaps greater he near about the same time not only lost his two great Supporters Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury and Fitz-Peter his Lord Chief Justice as wise and faithful Counsellors as any Prince ever had but her that was the Bridle of his Intemperance his Indulgent Mother Elinor a prudent Woman of a high and waking Spirit and therefore a most affectionate Promoter of his because it tended to the supporting of her own Greatness These stayes being gone he prov'd like a mounted Paper Kite when the string breaks which holds it down for taking an extravagant flight he fell afterwards as that usually doth for want of due weight to keep it steddy and being no less sensible of the shame then the loss instead of taking revenge on his Foes he fell upon
his Friends charging all his misfortunes upon disloyalty of the Earls and Barons that refus'd him aid whom therefore he fin'd first the seventh part of their Goods after that the thirteenth part of all their Moveables and not content with the aid of their Purses forced them at last with the hazard of their Persons to attend him in the prosecution of a no less chargeable then disadvantageous War where the recovery of part of his own indangered the total loss of their own Estates This as it was grievous to the Subject in general so more particularly to the Nobility being most of them descended out of Normandy and by his ill management shut out of their ancient Inheritances there had no other satisfaction for their Losses but by improving what was left here who finding themselves thus doubly damnified were inraged to that degree that using a Martial freedom sutable to the necessity of that stimulation by which they were urg'd they began to recollect all the wrongs done them by his Grandfather Father and Brother and to shew they were in earnest insisted upon renewing the great Charter of their Liberties neither were they unprovided of Arguments or Arms this contumacy of theirs being countenanced by the sullen Retirement of his own Brother Jeoffry the Archbishop who chose rather to cast himself into voluntary Exilement then submit any longer to his Tyranny In vain now demands he Pledges of their Faith whilst they believed him himself to have none Sending to the Lord Bruce for his Son to be deliver'd as an Hostage to him he receiv'd an answer from the Mother which it seems exprest the affections if not the sense of the Father That they would not commit their Son to his keeping who was so ill a keeper of his own Brothers Son which rash return cost him afterward his Estate her her life with the loss of two for the saving one only Child a Revenge so fully executed that it could meet with no counterbuff but what must come from Heaven Here began the breach that disjoynted the whole frame of his Government the King resolving to keep what by advantage of time and sâ—fferance he had got the Barons continuing as obstinately bent to recover what their Predecessors had so tamely lost Both sides prepare for War and whilst they face and parle like men loath to ingage yet scorning to quit their Cause either alike confident to hope the best and not unlike active to prevent the worst a new accident parted them by presenting a new Enemy which made the War give place as it were to a single Combat The Pope not allowing the King the Priviledge of Nominating a Successor to the deceased Arch-Bishop of Canterbury he makes a Truce I cannot call it a Peace with his Domestick Adversaries to try his Fortune with his Forreign Foe The Contest was not like that of Jacob and Esau who should be born first but like that of Caesar and Pompey who should be uppermost Now as desire of Rule brought these two great Champions into the List so the confidence each other had in his strength and skill to handle his Weapon made them unreconcileable The Pope made the first Pass who threatning to interdict the Kingdom was answer'd with a Menace of confiscating all the Lands of the Clergy and banishing their Persons The second Thrust given by his Holiness was a Threat of Excommunication of the Kings Person To this he returned that he would utterly disavow his Authority Thus far they were upon the even Terms and as it were hit for hit upon the next Pass they closed and as men desperately bent either maked good his Charge The Pope shuts up the Church doors the King those of the Cloysters the first took away all the Sacraments leaving the dead to bury the dead without Priest Prayer or Procession The last seized on all the Ecclesiastical Revenues and disposed them into Lay-hands Whilst they were thus in close grapple the King of France appeared as second to the Triple Crown Had the Barons then stept in as second to their King they had not only made good their own Honour as well as his but probably had secur'd the Liberties they contended for without any force there being more to be hoped for from this Kings Generosity then his Justice but which was most degenerous and leaves a stain upon their memory never to be washed off they finding him thus overlaid turn'd all their points upon his back poyson'd with the venome of the most opprobrious Calumnies that ever Majesty suffer'd under the Infamy of being not only a Tyrant but an Infidel all which he was fain to bear with more Constancy of Mind then Fortune But as we see a wild Boar when beaten out of breath chuses rather to dye upon the Spears of the Hunters then to be wearied by the Dogs so his Rancor turning into disdain he yielded to his Nobler Enemies and chose rather then not have his Revenge upon them whom he thought God and Nature had put under his dispose to humble himself to the Church hoping as 't is thought by their Keys to unlock the Rebels Power but over-acting his Revenge he stoop'd so low that the Crown fell from his Head which the Popes Legate taking up kept three dayes before he thought fit to restore it verifying thereby the Prediction of a poor innocent Hermite who foretold that there should be no King of England which however it was true yet being in some sense untrue too 't was in the Prerogative of him who never spar'd where he could shed Blood to make his own Interpretation which cost the poor Prophet his Life The Barons finding him thus incens'd and seeing how to make good his Revenge he had quit his Soveraignty they resolv'd to quit their Allegiance to make good their Security intending to call in the Dolphin of France and swear Fealty to him whilst the Common People were left to their Election whether to take the wrong King that promis'd to do them Right or the right King that persisted to do them so much wrong who as little understanding the Principles of Religion as the dictates of Reason the Bonds of Command and Obedience that should hold them together seem'd so wholly slackned that there was upon the Matter no other Tye on them then that of their Interest which sway'd them variously according to the divers Measures they took of it But as there are many Ligaments in a State that bind it so fast together that 't is a hard thing to dissolve them altogether unless by an universal concurrence of Causes that produce a general alteration thereof it being seldom seen of what temper soever Kings are but that they find under the greatest desertion imaginable a very considerable Party to stand by them upon the accompt of Affection or Ambition Honour or Conscience so this King the first of England we find put to this streight had yet many Members of Note and Power besides his chief
Majesty which might preserve the Reverence due to it and accordingly he not only purged and prepar'd the great Pagan Temples for the Service and Honour of Religion but erected many particular Seminaries quae Christianae pietatis extitere primordia saith Polidor endowing them at his own proper costs and charges amongst the rest I take that of Bangor to be as the first so perhaps the (q) Containing no less then 300 Monks greatest Monastery that ever was I say not in this Isle only but in any part of the World whose Foundation was layd so deep that none of the Emperors in the Century following who for the most part prov'd bloody Persecutors could undermine it The Religious continuing safe in the peaceful Exercise of their Devotions till the Entrance of those cursed Pagans the Saxons who sacrificed them all in one day But as he was the first Christian so he was unhappily the last King of this Class who dying without Heir or Successor left his Orphan Country not only dispairing of future Liberty but subjected to all the present miseries a dejected people could suffer under the Oppression of a greedy proud and cruel Nation who kept faith with them no longer then till they could find an Opportunity to do otherwise being not content to command their Purses without they dispos'd of their Persons also forcing them to serve in their ambitious Quarrels abroad and to follow the Fortune of their several Factions through all the disadvantages that attended the injustice of their Arms till wasted wearied to that degree as rendred them unable to defend themselves they were necessitated to implore aid from those who under colour of coming as Auxiliaries prov'd of all others the most fatal Enemies taking their Country from them and from their Country its name THE SECOND DYNASTY OF ROMANS OF ROMANS THE Romans as most other Nations were a People mixt Party per Pale half Latins and half Sabins and so equally Incorporated that the one gave name to the place they liv'd in t'other to the People they liv'd with Rome was the name of the City Quirites the appellation of the Citizens Some say the City was in the first place call'd (a) Aug. de Civit Dei Febris after the name of Febra the mother of Mars Others suppose the Antient name to be (b) Solinus Valentia but (c) Pier. Hieroglyph lib. 36. Pierrius affirms from the testimony of Gergithias that the primitive name was Cephalon a Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caput a name saith he occasionally given to it out of respect to a mans head of incredible magnitude that was found at the digging up the foundation of the Capitol or rather Prophetically given as believing it would be the head City of the World There are who affirm it had (d) Erithraeus ind Virg. l. 11. three names the first Soveraign which was that of Romethe the Second Sacred which was (e) Plut. Vit. Romuli calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Floreâ— Anthusa as much as to say Flourishing the third was Secret as having never been publish'd by any man saith (f) Pliny lib. 3. Cap. 5. Pliny but once by Valerius Soranus who for his bold Impiety for so it was then Esteem'd was presently put to death the Romans superstitiously believing as all other Gentiles did at that time that the good fortune of their City was involv'd in the name the discovery whereof by the help of some Charms might be a means to Rob them of their Tutelar Gods and therefore to shew that this name was not so much as to be enquir'd after they made the Image of the Goddess Angerona the presentative of the Genius of their City with a (g) As Mussurius Sabinus Varro and others testifie Muffler on her mouth to shew that she might not speak Something of the same conceit was questionless the cause that Posterity is left at such a loss in seeking after the right name of this Isle of Ours which seems to be rather conceal'd by the Druides than unknown to them when Caesar could neither by flattery or force extort the truth from them Fabius Pictor tells us yet of another name that Rome had to wit Amarillis so call'd from Amaris a Trench to convey water for that after they had Sacrific'd to Vectumnius upon the overflow of the Argean Sea by Tyber the water return'd to his own Chanel and thence by Aquaducts was conveyed to the City Thus it remains uncertain what the Original not to say principal name of this great City was and more uncertain when it took that name Some fetch the Aera thereof Ab A. M. 2389. others looking back to the year 2336. But most of the Vulgar Chronologers go no further than the year 3211. Some will have it call'd Rome from Roma Daughter of Italus King of the Aborigines Others from Romanessa better known by the name of Saturn Some again impute the honour to Romanus Son of Ulisses and Circe and there are who contend for Romus the Son of Ematheon sent by Dyomede from Troy but the Vulgar Tradition favours Romulus which yet Plutarch that wrote his life acknowledges not making him their Patronimick who was by Birth a Bastard and no otherwise a King than by Treachery having laid the foundation of his greatness in the Blood of his Brother and slain his Uncle to make way for his Grand-father Thus these Romans that would be esteem'd the most glorious People in the World had this in Common with the most Barbarous and obscure Nations that they came from such Springs as running under ground were not discoverable in many Ages after their first Rice insomuch that they who would trace their Originals as far as they themselves could wish or their Poets Feign must stop at last at the Non ultra of the utmost bounds of Nature where the rest of the Universe stands equal with them in all points Now as Rome had its Sacred Name so had it also its Sacred Number compâ—ehended in that name which answering to the Influences of those Constellations with which the Genius of their Nation kept Intelligence actuated all their great designs and undertakings For as the Britains were principally if not wholly swaid by the Number Six as all Nations in the World by some one number or another so were they by that of Seven which being of all other most like the Geometrical Square may be said to be the most proper figure of Regulation Seven Letters in the (h) Anthusa Mystical or Sacred name of their City before mention'd as many in that of Romulus their supposed Founder who as Livy tells us alter'd his mind seven times touching the place where he would have it Founded and at last plac'd it upon seven Hills afterwards he divided his Principality into seven Tribes four Local and three National and when he came to distinguish betwixt the Nobility and the Populacy he differenc'd them by seven
were well pleas'd to see one appointed to rule over them that had some of their own blood in his veins I know not it so fell out that there was no great occasion of Action so that those that write his Life have chose rather to transmit to us a Character of his Person than set down any Constat of his Government leaving us by the excellency of his temper to guess at that of the times who though he was himself no Christian and which was more Colleague with one that was a great persecutor of them did not only this good that he did them no hurt but was so far a positive benefactor to them as to permit if not incourage the open profession of their Faith Testified by many notable works of piety that were rear'd under his permission giving the World a true measure of his own by what he took of others vertue in that excellent Apothegm of his That whosoever was false to his God could not be true to his Prince This benign clemency of his being crowned with this blessing above all the Emperours that were before him that he only died a dry death and with this above all that came after him to be so superlatively belov'd that he seem'd to live even after he was dead the Britains endeavouring to eternize his memory by preserving his ashes in a Cell that was for many hundred years after fam'd for a burning Lamp made as some think of liquid Gold artificially dissolv'd into an unctious substance which not without great wonder or perhaps a miracle continued its light even to latter Ages to denote to posterity to whom they were first beholding for that sacred light which hath continued ever since whereof his own Son was the first profest adorer Being now Lord of no less than one hundred and twenty Provinces each large enough to make a Kingdom he reduc'd them into fourteen Diocesses as he call'd them seven of which were in the East seven in the West These were under the Government of four particular Presidents the first intitul'd Praefectus Pratorio Italia who had under him Rome Italy and Africk The second call'd Praefectus Praetorio Galliarum had under him France Spain and Britain The third stil'd Praefectus Praetorio Orientis had Egypt the Orient properly so call'd Asia Pontus and Thrace The fourth was Praefectus Praetorio Illyrici who had Illyricum Macedon and Dacia Every one of these Praeiects had particular Governours of Cities under them which were stil'd Defensores Civitatum and in every City where they resided was a Bishop and answerable to the Governours of Provinces or Vicars-General there were appointed Metropolitans and for every Diocess where the Praetor kept his Court there was a Primate residing from whom there could be no Appeal The Emperour himself stil'd himself Defensor fidei having in him both the Temporal and Spiritual Power his Imperial residence was at Bizantium in Thrace from him called Constantinople which being so remote from the Western Provinces that it left them under a sensible declination of their wealth and glory he neither could settle the incertain obedience of those that own'd him nor check the insolence of those that did not but was forc'd to trust all to the fortune and fortitude of his Lieutenants who regarding their own interests more than his honour so fought against all revolters as to leave a continued necessity of fighting as long as there was any thing left to make War for But amongst those that took his absence most to heart were those of Britain who finding themselves unsufferably opprest by Pacatianus who was appointed Deputy here to the Praefect of Gallia before-mentioned set up a Governour of their own whereof he had no sooner notice but to make some shew of honouring them with a particular regard as the Countrey to which he was indebted if not for his (c) Hen. Hunting hist lib. 1. in Cistit Harding Chron. c. 63. f. 50. own yet for the birth of his honour he sent over to them his eldest Son Constantine whom he had declar'd Caesar to whom upon the division he made afterwards of the whole betwixt his three Sons he bequeathed this Isle with the addition of France Spain and some part of Germany as the best Inheritance he could leave to him The hopes conceived of him at his Election were very great nor was the beginning of his Undertakings unsuitable to that Expectation For in the first place he clear'd himself of all his homebred Enemies the Picts who though they gave him rather a trouble then a War yet were more terrible then a Nobler Enemy in that they were not only ravenous but restless like Fleas which though they sting not as Bees have yet venome enough to make those insensible wounds they give very visible and having secur'd the Country against them he carryed the War beyond the Seas with so good success that it was not long ere he spread his Wings from the Rhine to the Mediterranean And having fix'd his Imperial Seat at Arles which after his own Name was thereupon call'd Constantina he gave the Government of Spain to his eldest Son Constance with the Title of Caesar making his second Son Julian stil'd thereupon Nobilissimus Lord Lieutenant of Britain whilst he kept France in his own hands Thus far Fortune seem'd to give consent to the Peoples choice of this man but as those who arrive at unusual heights grow giddy and fearful of falling not being able to look down the Precipice over which they stand so hapned it to him who however made great for his courage was by his Greatness made so very a Coward that upon the first report of the Emperour Honorius his advance against him he profer'd to submit to Mercy basely excusing his Arrogance by an Apology that betray'd his Ignorance pretending he was compell'd by his Country-men to take that honour upon him by which pretended innocence as he shew'd himself more guilty so he instructed Honorius what he ought to do by shewing him what he might do or rather by what he might do betraying what he fear'd he would do to him who accordingly first took the Diadem from his Head and then his Head from his Shoulders and having a little before surpriz'd his Son Constance in his return from that Court he sent Victorinus into Britain to apprehend the other Son Julian who finding the Picts had been aforehand having not only kill'd the young Springal but over-run the Country beyond any seeming possibility of being beat out again did not only retire himself but by the advice of Gallio his Lieutenant General drew off every one of his Country-men out of the Isle not leaving so much as one Family if we may credit Gildas of all the vast numbers that had been planted here for the space of near five hundred years whereby the Britains were left in so great distress that for fifty years after they liv'd the lives of Beasts rather then Men in
that all Motions were actuated by his Command and Countenance who could not be idle at the Stem whilst his Subjects were so busie in the middle part of the Weather-beaten Vessel and perhaps 't was not without great Reason as things then stood that he reserv'd himself for Victories of a deeper Dye the Oppositions he had hitherto met with being like flying Clouds that rather portended a Storm then made one Nature and Providence conspiring to make him happy by a kind of unhappiness whilst by the shortness of his Reign not exceeding five years they took from him those greater Occasions of danger which carried with them so much Glory to his Successor ETHELRED date of accession 863 EThelberts Sun being set in a Cloud behold a more refulgent rising in his room the heat of whose Rayes kindled new Courage and Affection in each English Breast This was perhaps that only Prince that seem'd to have been as well fitted for the Times he liv'd in as the People he liv'd with at least he was the first that taught them the right use of Necessity which is a Vertue if well improv'd that like Powder imprison'd in the womb of a Rock which makes its way as soon as fired quickens its execution by resistance Harder it was for him to get up an Army together then being up to lay down his Arms this appears by those Nine set Battels he sought in One year with so various success that while the Enemy routed him he pursu'd them keeping his Circulation like a hunted Hare which follows the Dogs upon the same Trail that they pursue her The first Volley discharg'd upon him was by the two furious Danes Hungar and Hubba men of that Ambition that to be equall'd to him in Title as they were in Force they stiled themselves Kings as well as he and as Fortune was not wanting to them so neither were they to her attending her motions with such undaunted Resolution and improving her Favours with such incredible diligence that they neither stoop'd at petty Victories nor stopt at petty Repulses but pressing forward with obstinate boldness pierc'd through the Bowels of Mercia as far as Nottingham here King Ethelred fell upon them and forc'd them to Retreat but it was so slowly as if they had designedly gone back to seek a more convenient place to fight as afterwards they did getting this Reputation by not being beaten though they did not beat him that the Stake still remain'd undispos'd betwixt them The next year they came over Humber whose red Banks look'd as if they had been dy'd with the blood of those that weâ—e slain in opposing their Passage thence directing their Course towaâ—ds East-Anglia the Country that lay most convenient to receive their Recruits they there made a grand Holocaust to their Idol Gods delighted it seems with humane Sacrifices and amongst the rest of their abominable Offerings presented the Crowned Head of that holy Martyr St. Edmond then King of that Province whose fall so shook the whole Isle that it made every English heart tremble with fear or desire of Revenge Religion being now at stake as well as Liberty each side prepared for slaughter success swell'd the number of the Pagans as dispair increas'd that of the Christians both Armies oppressed as it were with their Multitudes divided into two Battalions but having so little room to fight in that they were forc'd to charge through each other the right Wings of both were routed those that pursu'd return'd and led by equal Courage and like Destiny began which hath rarely been seen another Battel upon the same day and that so much more dreadful then the former by how much it lasted till either side were so weakned or wearied that neither could fly away Here Ethelred perform'd Wonders worthy the admiration of a greater part of the World then he could ever hope to be Master of gaining indeed the Victory but at a price more valuable then any gain the loss of his own life however he departed into the other World with the same Majesty he rul'd in this being attended by no less then two Kings one on each side of him and at his feet lay dead nine Earls and two hundred Barons and round about them at further distance such a Mountain of common Carcasses as if design'd by Destiny for a Monument to which no other Kings could pretend but such as sell like him his Countries Sacrifice and his own ELFRID date of accession 873 NO sooner was Ethelred fall'n but Elfrid stept in to take up his Sword and Scepter as one alike entituled to his Trouble as his Glory who however he was the last in Succession was first in Ordination of all King Ethelwolphs Children being anointed King by Pope Leo before he had a Kingdom and which was more in the presence of his Father in the life time of two elder Brothers and in his own Minority A strange Riddle to Ambition which knows no greater punishment then to be so near a Crown in Title and so far distant in point of Right as he was But the same Providence that made him a King before he had a Kingdom resolv'd it seems after he had the Kingdom to make him no King again for he was no sooner in the Throne ere he was laid upon the Ground and forc'd after the fighting seven almost equal Battels to give up a part to secure the rest of his Dominions and at last to retire almost out of his Kingdom but wholly out of himself being reduc'd to such extremity that for self preservation he was necessitated to personate a common Minstrel and under that disguise was lost till he found tâ—e opportunity to recover that from Fame which Fortune had denied him by sending so many of his Enemies to tâ—e dead who believed him not alive that there were not enough left to defend that Sacred * Called the Reafan Banner in which they fondly supposed the Fate of their Nation to be wrapt up And now having all that became him as a Souldier after twenty seven years War in all which time he seem'd to fight rather for Life then Honour he resolved to lose no opportunity of performing such Noble acts of Peace as might draw his Subjects by his own example to the study of Arts as well as Arms In order whereunto he took the whole Frame of his Government asunder which he made up again like a Master-workman better then it was before thereby preventing all those Insolencies and Disorders which are the natural effects of turbulent Times the Commotions of War like those of the Sea which rouls and runs high a long time after the Storm is over being such as commonly end in Ryots and Rapine giving security to the whole by fixing every individual Person throughout his Kingdom within such known Limits of Shires Hundreds and Tythings is made them answerable to the Law in case of breach of Faith of Peace by mutual obligations each for other
wherein his Clemency so interpos'd betwixt his Wisdom and his Power that it is hard to judge whether he rul'd more by Awe Art or Affection tying them to no Rule or Order which he did not with more severity impose upon himself So that what Martiaâ— sayes of Fronto may be applyed to him That he was Clarum Militiae Togâ—que decus there being that harmony in his natural Constitution as inclined him to that gentle Science of Musick which as it served him to good purpose in his utmost extremity so it brought him to such a strict habit in keeping of Time that to make himself sure of every moment of his whole life he divided the Day into three equal spaces allowing the first to the business of Devotion the second to the care of Nature and the third to that of his State of each of which he was so excellent a manager that he is not undeservedly placed in the first rank of the Conditores of this Nation And if he were not the first Founder of Oxford which cannot be conceiv'd without apparent injury to the memory of his Grandfather whom the Annals of Winchester commemorate as the greatest Patron that ever the Muses had there yet we cannot deny him the glory of being one of those great Patrons or Foster-fathers whereof there were many almost in all Ages from the very time of the Britains whose beneficence Alexander Necam celebrates with much gratitude who nourisht up Learning and learned Men and gave Incouragement to all those who studied knowledge And this he did in such unsetled and disorderly Times when he had much ado to bear up himself with all the helps he had from the Wisdom and Courage of all about him the Troubles of his Reign being so incessant like one continued Storm that he was as is said before once forc'd to quit the Stearn another time to cut the Cable and never enjoy'd so much tranquillity as to be able to put out all his Sayls so that it was esteem'd a great good luck that he was not wreckt since he could not reach his Port which doubtless he owed to the Faith of his People the universality of whose Affections supply'd the defects of his Power being as superstitious in the confidence of his good Fortunes as Caesars Souldiers are said to have been of his who never thought themselves in danger while he was safe nor ever thought him the less safe for being in the midst of danger Who would not follow him into the Field Who cannot chuse but conquer though he yield Whose Sword cut deep yet was his wit more keen Some Fence ' gainst that but this did wound unseen To thee is due great Elfrid double praise To thee we bring the Laurel and the Bays Master of Arts and Arms. Apollo so Sometimes did use his Harp sometimes his Bow And from the other Gods got this Renown To reconcile the Gauntlet to the Gown But who did e're with the same Sword like thee Execute Justice and the Enemy Keep up at once the Law of Arms and Peace And from the Camp issue out Writs of Ease EDWARD THE ELDER date of accession 900 AS Elfrid was thought to be dead long after he was living so long after he was dead he seem'd to live still in the Person of this his Son Edward who was so like him that he might rather have been call'd Elfrid the Younger then Edward the Elder being so immediate a Successor to his Vertues as well as his Titles that 't was not discernable whether the Peoples grief or joy was greater out of the apprehensions they had of the loss of the one or the hopes conceived by the fruition of the other In Learning he was his Fathers Inferiour in Courage his Equal but in Fortune his Superiour For however he was attach'd on all sides by tumultuary Troops of Danes who by this time were grown very numerous and were a People of that stomach and patience that they grew greater by being lessned and which is strange to tell prosper'd by being beaten yet he acquitted himself so well of them that they got no more Ground from him than what might be allowed them for their Graves which they purchas'd at the price of their blood and measur'd out by the length of their Swords However the first provocation he had to arm was from his own flesh and blood an Enemy so much more dangerous for that he had something of his own Nature in him this was Ethelward the Son of Ethelbert his Fathers second Brother who having been declar'd Clyto which amongst the Saxons was as much as Caesar amongst the Romans that is to say the Heir Apparent he thought it not so much an Injury to be put besides the Right of Succession by his two Uncles as an Indignity to be disappointed by a Cosin who however surnam'd the Elder was in truth the Younger of the two aâ—d perhaps according to the Rule of those times had the weaker-Title This spark of Indignation being kindled in his Breast was quickly blown into a Flame and wanting not matter to nourish it was easily kept up at its height by other mens discontents as well as his own who urging him to arm without due consideration of King Edwards Possession Power and Reputation all great Check-mates to Rebellion brought him and themselves under a necessity of craving help from the common Enemy who having no other way but by this division to preserve themselves intire readily accorded to acknowledge him King Upon this the two Rivals meeting at a place call'd St. Edmunds-Ditch gave Battel to each other where King Edward got the Victory but lost the day the Battel being so equally poys'd that it not being known which had the better either side was suppos'd to have the worst of it King Edward lost the greater number of men King Ethelward the most considerable for both himself and the Danish General his Colleague were slain their Bodies lying conceal'd under such vast heaps of the English that their dishonour seems to be cancell'd by those that conquer'd them Upon this there was a Truce concluded with the Dane I cannot call it a Peace since the shortness of it made it seem no more then a Repose to take breath to fight again during this Cessation Fame partial to the English had so divuâ—g'd the loss of the Enemy that the Countess of Mercia Sister to King Edward and as nearly related to him in Fortune as in Blood arm'd her self like another Zenobia and fell upon those that were nearest her Country who by the death of two great Princes Cowilph and Healidine gave her Brother time to refresh his tired Forces But he as doubting his Sword might rust if it were put up into the Sheath bloody pursu'd his Successes with so indefatigable a Rage that all those of East-Anglia dreading the Consequences of being conquer'd compounded for their own Lives by giving up that of their King chusing rather to be disloyal than
of action takes the measure of his hopes from that of their fears and whilst they judg'd it hard to repress them because they were thus divided he took that advantage to break them like single sticks as he found them lye scatter'd one from the other who had they been united under one Bond could not have been so easily confounded After which he heal'd the wounds he gave them by gentle Lenitives relaxing their Tributes remitting their Priviledges and indulging them to that degree as never any King before him did by which means he prevail'd with the very same men to carry the War into Normandy whereby wounding his Brother Robert with the very Arrows taken out of his own Quiver and the same which he had directed against him it appears how much he had the better of him in point of Understanding as well as of Power This breach with the elder gave him the first occasion of breaking with his younger Brother for having a strong Army on foot Duke Robert after his having concluded a dishonourable Peace with him desir'd his aid in reducing the Castle of Mount St. Michael detain'd from him by Prince Henry who being not paid the money he had lent him to carry on the War against King William for Robert had pawn'd to him the Country of Constantine but afterwards took it away again seiz'd upon this Castle in hope by the help of some Britains he had hired to serve him for his Money to have done himself right but Robert made this advantage of the dis-advantage King William had brought upon him to ingage him in reducing t'other unhappy Prince that doing a kindness to one lost both his Brothers the one taking offence at his demand t'other at the Occasion whereby both set upon him at once and besieging him forty dayes brought him to the point of yeilding but the same evil Spirit that first divided them to do more mischief did this good to unite them again working upon the good Nature of Duke Robert and the ill Nature of King William the same effect for upon his Submission William to be revenged on Robert for having entertain'd his Competitor Atheling judg'd Henry to be satisfied his Debt by a day certain out of those very Lands which the other had assign'd to Atheling for a Pension upon which Robert's pity turn'd immediately into spight and when Henry came for his Money he clap'd him up in Prison and kept him in Duress till he releas'd the Debt Henry complaining of this Injustice to the King of France his Brother William being then return'd into England was by him put into Arms again and by the surprizing the Castle of Damfront recover'd back most of his Security with all the Country of Passais besides Robert hereupon pleads that King William had fail'd of paying him in certain Sums of Money due by promise to satisfie Henry and that by reason of this failure he could not perform with him and to satisfie himself for the Damages done him by this pretended breach of Williams he fell upon King William's Castles This drew him over the second time whether to right Prince Henry or himself was not declar'd who putting on a Vizard of Indignation to afright Duke Robert as if he had intended nothing less then the Conquest of all Normandy sends back into England for an Army of 30000 to joyn with those Forces he had there by the fame whereof having done more then perhaps any body could with the men themselves if they had arriv'd he sent private Orders to his General being then at the Water-side to dismiss every man that would lay down ten shillings by which queint trick of State never practised before he rais'd so great a Sum as not only serv'd to pay the King of France his Bribe for not assisting his Brother Robert and to defray his own present charge but in effect to purchase all Normandy which thereupon was Mortgaged to him by Robert to furnish himself for that great Expedition of recovering the Holy Land from the Infidels An Undertaking politickly recommended by Urban the Second to all such Princes as he fear'd or had a mind to fool as so meritorious a work that it was indeed as he represented the matter a kind of taking Heaven by Violence whereby he so wrought upon the easie Faith of that Active and Ignorant Age that without any great difficulty he prevail'd with them to cast themselves under a voluntary Ostracisme whilst himself and those that were Parties in that holy Cheat imbarazed in a Contest with the Emperor about Superiority were deliver'd from the men of Power and Credit they most suspected to take part with him and by the purchase of their Estates and Seigniories greatly inriched the Church af erward King William thus happily rid of his elder Brother who as I said before had pawn'd his own Land to recover that for the Church was at leisure to return home to make even all reckonings with his elder Enemy the King of Scots by whose death and his Sons both kill'd in the act of Invasion he made himself so far Master of their Country as to compel them to accept a King from him who having serv'd him in his Wars and being for that Service prefer'd by him they durst not yet refuse though they might reasonably expect he would be alwayes at his Devotion This made the King of France so jealous of his growing Greatness that to prevent his coming over Sea again he tamper'd with the discontented Norman Nobility to set up Stephen E. of Albemarle his Fathers Sisters Son upon what pretence of Right appears not but he whose manner 't was to meet danger and not tarry till it found him out prevented the Conspiracy by seizing on the chief Conspirators Mowbray d'Ou and d'Alveric who being the first Examples of his Severity were so cruelly treated that if any men could be said to be murther'd by the Sword of Justice they were but the Ill of this Severity had that good effect that this first Instance of his Cruelty made it the last occasion to him to shew it so that from that time all War ceasing he betook himself to the pleasures of Peace And now deeming himself most secure he met with an unavoidable I cannot say unexpected Fate for like Caesar his Parallel he had sufficient warning of it both by his own and his Friends Dreams the night before the Nature whereof was such as he could not but contemn it because he could not understand it and having never been daunted by his Enemies he was asham'd to seem now afraid of himself however the perplexity of his thoughts disorder'd him so far that in despight of his natural Courage which was perhaps as great as ever any mans was he could not find in his heart to go out all the morning of that day he was kill'd and at Dinner which argued some failure of his Spirits he drank more freely then his usual custome was that accelerated his Fate