errour in point of Diuinitie these sacred structures howsoeuer consecrated to the seruice of Almighty God could not stand fast nor continue in one and the same state for many ages therefore I thinke it meete and expedient to discouer and lay open to the world the manifold enormities of the professed votaries residing in such religious foundations that it may euidently appeare that it was not the sinnes of the Founders of whose pious intentions we ought to haue a more reuerend opinion that their donations were of no longer continuance but that the delinquencies of the religious Orders themselues were the sole cause of their owne vtter subuersion I may perhaps be sound fault withall because I doe not chorographically and according as Churches stand neare or further remote in one and the same Lath hundred or wapentack emprint and place the Funerall Monuments in this my booke but slip sometimes from one side of a County to another before I emprint and Epitaph To which giue me leaue to make this answer that hauing found one or two ancient Funerall inscriptions or obliterated Sepulchers in this or that Parish Church I haue ridden to ten Parish Churches distant from that and not found one Besides I haue beene taken vp in diuers Churches by the Churchwardens of the Parish and not suffered to write the Epitaphs or to take view of the Monuments as I much desired for that I wanted a Commission which would greatly haue encouraged me and still it would as that of Henry the eight did Iohn Leyland in the prosequution of this businesse I conclude the Epitaphs and Funerall inscriptions in this booke as I finde them engrauen with a cuius anime propitietur Deus or with God pardon his soule which some may say might haue beene as well left out of my booke as they are in many places scraped out of the brasse And I write the Latine in the same manner as I finde it either written or imprinted as capud for caput nichil for nihil and the like as also E vocall for E dipthong dipthongs being but lately come into vse And now I hope that neither the conclusion of the one nor termination of the other will seeme any way offensiue to my intelligent Reader I likewise write the Orthographie of the old English as it comes to my hands and if by the copying out of the same it be any manner of wayes mollified it is much against my will for I hold originalls the best whereby some may obiect the simplicitie of my vnlaboured stile and the rough hewen forme of my writing To which I reply that this my kinde of Argument is incapable of all eloquent speech When I cite Ouid or Lucan I vse those exquisite translations of George Saâ—dys and Thomas May Esquires Some will say that the Epitaphs of London are already printed and true it is that some are especially such as are of later times with which I do not meddle at all onely I set downe those of more antiquitie which haue either beene omitted in the collection or for which I haue some historicall elucidations for the better vnderstanding of the qualities of the parties defunct and interred Hauing had the helps and collections of many my Reader may finde errours in some which hereafter I shall studie to amend intreating in the meane time a fauorable construction Many are the errataes I am afraid which will be found in the printing the greatest I haue met withall I haue amended not doubting but some also of consequence haue escaped mee and for those of lesser note I haue passed them ouer desiring my Reader to correct and pardon Thus curteous Reader submitting my selfe and this worke to thy learned and friendly censure I take my leaue From my House in Clerkenwell Close this 28. of May 1631. Chytraeus Te moneant Lector tot in vno funera libro Tempore quod certo tu quoque funus eris So many burials Reader in one booke Warne thee that one day thou for death must looke A TABLE OF THE DISCOVRSE summed into certaine Chapters or Heads bearing these following Contents The first Chapter Fol. 1. DIscusses and treates of Monuments in generall Chap. 2. fol. 5. Of Funerall Monuments Graues Tombes or Sepulchers of the ancient custome of Burials of Epitaphs and other Funerall Honours Chap. 3. fol. 10. Of Sepulchers answerable to the degree of the person deceased The diuers manner of bearing man and woman to the graue When both sexes began to be borne alike Chap. 4. fol. 12. Of the excessiue expences bestowed vpon Funerals in former times Chap. 5. fol. 18. The reasons wherefore so many haue made their own Sepulchers or Tombes in their life time Of the care that all or most of all men haue of decent buriall The burying of the dead a worke acceptable vnto God A Funerall Hymne of Aurelius Prudentius to the like purpose Chap. 6. fol. 29. Of the care and cost anciently vsed in the preseruing whole and entire the bodies of the dead Strange waies customes and fashions of buriall Chap. 7. fol. 32. Of Cenotaphs Honorarie and Religious of the reuerence attributed to these emptie Monuments Chap. 8. fol. 37. Of the sanctitie ascribed sometimes to ancient Funerall Monuments and of the ardent desire most men haue and euer had to visite the Tombes and Sepulchres of eminent and worthy persons Chap. 9. fol. 42. Of the punishments both by humane lawes and Gods seuere iustice inflicted vpon such malefactors in foregoing ages who violated Sepulchers Of Church-Robbers Chap. 10. fol. 50. Of the rooting vp taking away erazing and defacing of Funerall Monuments in the seuerall raignes of K. Henry the eight and Edward the sixt Of the care Queene Elizabeth of famous memory had for the preseruation of the same Her proclamation in the second yeare of her raigne against breaking or defacing of Monuments of Antiquity being set vp in Churches or other publike places for memory and not for superstition Chap. 11. fol. 57. The conuersion of this our Nation from Paganisine to Christianitie including generally the Foundations of Religious Structures in the same The piety in the primitiue times both of Religious and Lay persons Chap. 12. fol. 66. Of the fall or backsliding as well of Religious Votaries as of Lay people from the foresaid zealous ardour of pietie Chap. 13. fol. 78 Of the abrogation abolition and extinguishment of the Popes supreame and exorbitant authoritie within the King of Englands dominions Chap. 14. fol. 89. The policie vsed by Henry the eight and his Councell in the expelling of the Popes foresaid authoritie out of his dominions Chap. 15. fol. 104. The policie vsed by the King and his Councell for the dissolution and extirpation of Religious foundations and religious orders within this Realme of England and Wales the reformation of religion of Inscriptions in Churches the Kings warrant for the surrender of Religious Houses an information to Queene Elizabeth of the seuerall abuses done vnto the state generall
should be deemed reputed accepted or taken to be Heresie It was also enacted that no manner of appeales should be had prouoked or made out of this Realme or any the Kings dominions to the Bishop of Rome or to the See of Rome in any causes or matters happening to be in contention and hauing their commensement and beginning in any of the Courts within this Realme or within any the Kings dominions of what nature condition or qualitie soeuer they were Vpon this followed another Act restraining the payment of Annates or first-fruits to the Bishop of Rome and of the electing and consecrating of Bishops within this Realme Another Act was made concerning the exoneration of the Kings Subiects from exactions and impositions theretofore paied to the See of Rome and for hauing licences and dispensations within this Realme without suing further for the same in which the Commons assembled complaine to his Maiestie that the subiects of this Realme and other his dominions were greatly decaied and impouerished by intollerable exactions of great summes of money claimed and taken by the Bishop of Rome and the See of Rome as well in pensions censes Peter-pense procurations fruits sutes for prouisions and expeditions of Bulls for Archbishoprickes and Bishopricks and for delegacies of rescripts in causes of contentions and appeales iurisdictions legatiue and also for dispensations licences faculties grants relaxations Writs called Perinde valere rehabitations abolitions and other infinite sorts of Bulls breeues and instruments of sundrie natures names and kindes in great numbers ouer long and tedious here particularly to be inserted It was affirmed in this Parliament that there had been paied to the Pope of Rome onely for Bulls by our English Bishops and other of the kingdome since the fourth of Henry the seuenth to that time threescore thousand pound sterling The next yeare following in a Parliament begun at Westminster the third of Nouember the Pope with all his authoritie was cleane banished this Realme and order taken that he should no more bee called Pope but Bishop of Rome and the King to be taken and reputed as supreme head in earth of the Church of England called Anglicana Ecclesia And that hee their Soueraigne Lord his heires and successours kings of this Realme should haue full power and authoritie from time to time to visit represse redresse reforme order correct restraine and amend all such eâ—rours heresies abuses offences contempts and enormities whatsoeuer they were which by any manner spirituall authoritie or iurisdiction ought or might lawfully bee reformed repressed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended most to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of vertue in Christs religion and for the conseruation of peace vnitie and tranquilitie of this Realme any vsage custome forraine lawes forraine authority prescription or any thing or things to the contrary thereof notwithstanding In this Parliament also were granted to the King and his heires the first-fruits and tenths of all spirituall dignities and promotions His stile of supremacie was further ratified and declared to bee set downe in this forme and manner following in the Latine tongue by these words Henricus octauus Dei gratia Angliae Franciae Hiberniae Rex Fidei defensor in terra Ecclesiae Anglicanae Hibernicae supremum caput In the English tongue by these Henry the eight by the grace of God King of England France and Ireland defendour of the faith and of the Church of England and also of Ireland in earth the supreme head Which stile was enacted to bee vnited and annexed for euer to the imperiall Crowne of this his Highnesse Realme of England Vpon the first expulsion of the Popes authoritie and King Henries vndertaking of the Supremacie the Priests both religious and secular did openly in their Pulpits so farre extoll the Popes iurisdiction and authority that they preferred his lawes before the kings yea and before the holy precepts of God Almighty Whereupon the King sent his mandatory letters to certaine of his Nobilitie and others in especiall office thinking thereby to restraine their seditious false doctrine and exorbitancie And here let me tell you that amongst many letters of important affaires which I found in certaine Chandlers shops of our Parish allotted to light Tobacco pipes and wrap vp peniworths of their commodities all which I gaue to Sir Robert Cotton Knight and Baronet the onely repairer of ruined antiquirie whom I knew the contents therof shewing some passages of former times would preserue them for better vses I happened vpon certaine letters following tending to the same purpose of which I haue already spoken Henry R. By the King RIght trusty and right welbiloued Cousin we grete you well And wher it is commen to our knowlaige that sundry persons aswell religious as seculer Priests and curats in their peroches and dâ—ueâ—se places within this our Realme do dailly asmoche as in them is set foâ—the and extolle the iurisdiction and auctoritie of the Bishop of Rome ortherwyse called Pope sowing their sediciouse pestylent and false doctryne praying for him in the Pulpit and makyng hym a God to the greate deceyte illudyng and seducyng of our subgietts bryngyng them into errors sedicyon and euyll opynyons more preferryng the power lawes and Iurisdictyon of the said Bishop of Rome then the most holly lawes and precepts of almighty God We therfore myndyng not only to prouide for an vnitie and quietnes to be had and contynued among our said subgietts but also greatly couâ—tyng and desyryng them to be brought to a perfectyon and knawlege of the mere veritie and truth and no longer to be seduced nor blynded with any suche superstitiouse and false doctryne of any erthly vsurper of godds lawes will therfore and commaund you that wher and whensoeuer ye shall fynde apperceyve know or heretell of any such sedicious personnes that in suche wise do spreade teche and preache or otherwise set forth any suâ—he opynyons and perniciouse doctryne to the exaltatyon of the power of the bishop of Rome bryngyng therby our subgietts into error gruge and murmuracyon that ye indelaydly doo apprehend and take them or cause them to be apprehended and taken and so commytted to Ward ther to remayne without bayle or mayneprise vntill vpon your aduertisement therof vnto vs or our Councell ye shall know our further pleasure in that behalfe Ye uen vndre our Signet at our Manor of Grenwich the xvii day of Aprill This letter was thus endorsed To our right trusty and welbiloued cousin and Counsellor Th erle of Sussex In Iune or Iuly following these maiesticall commanding Epistles were seconded and made more strong by an Act of Parliament called An Act extinguishing the authoritie of the Bishop of Rome Of which I hold it not amisse to set downe so much as principally tends to the purpose To begin then at the beginning For as much as notwithstanding the good and wholesome lawes ordinances and statutes heretofore made enacted
in you exciteth and serueth you till the vsurped poure of that man of Rome be clene abolished and put out of the hartes of the kyngs subiects And I shall with all my diligence applie my self to thaccomplishment of this his so godly commandement by Goddes grace And for as moche as I haue taken my leue of the Kyng and Quene and tarry for noothing now but only for the instrument called Custodias temporalium I eftsones beseche your mastirship to haue that in your remembraunce whan ye shall next repaire vnto the Court together with a discharge for takyng of any othe of the residentiaries of Sarum which suyrly they will exact of me oneles I bryng some thyng outher from the Kyng his highnes or elles from you his chefe Counsellor for to stopp their mouthes And as for seallyng of new obligacions if itt like you to commande your servaunt to send me them to morow by this brynger I shall seale them and send them to you without any tariaunce by the grace of God who preserue you and prosper you in all your godly purposes and interprises Murtelack the iiii daye of Iuin Yorn owne to comaunde Nic. Sarum But howsoeuer the honour of this act as also of the dissolution of Abbeys be principally attributed to Cromwell and his complotments yet at the same time there was others of the priuie Councell as forward and as able for their singular endowments to conclude a matter of that consequence as euer was Cromwell I meane Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury whose zeale and abilities are generally knowne to all that euer heard of the booke of Martyrs Sir Thomas Audley Knight speaker of the Parliament for his demerits created by Henry the eighth Baron Audley of Walden and also aduanced to the honour of the Chancellorship of England Sir William Pawlet Knight Comptroller of the Kings house who for his wisedome the said King created Lord S. Iohn of Basing and Knight of the Garter whom Edward the sixt made great Master of his houshold President of his Councell and Lord Treasurer of England whom he created Earle of Wiltshire and Marquesse of Winchester to whom Queene Elizabeth committed the keeping of the great Seale Who liued to see one hundred and three persons issue out of his loynes who died at Basing in Hampshire the tenth of March 1571. where hee was honourablie buried when he had liued eightie seuen yeares Another pillar of the State at that time was that wise and iudicious gentleman Sir Richard Rich Lord Chancellour of England vnder King Edward the sixth who in the first yeare of his raigne aduanced him to this office and created him Baron Rich of Leez in Essex These and other more of the Nobilitie had both their hands and heads in this businesse yet Cromwell Audley and Rich were thought to be the onely men who for their religious paines ranne into great obloquie with the common people insomuch that the Commons of Lincolnshire finding themselues fore troubled with this strange alteration and rising in rebellion presented diuers articles of aggrieuances to the Kings Maiestie Amongst the said Articles and demands of Robert Askâ— and his rebellious crew the Commons of Yorkeshire Cumberland Westmerland Northumberland and the countries adiacent at the conference holden at Doncaster betwixt Thomas Duke of Norfolke Generall of the Kings Armie and certaine Commissioners on the partie of the said Captaine Aske and his fellow rebels Thus it was propounded by their Speaker Sir Thomas Hylton Knight The fowrt that Thomas Cromwell nor any of his bande or secte be not at our metinge at Doncastre but abcent themselfe from the Councell Also to haue the Lord Cromwell the Lord Chancellor and Sir Ryc Rich to haue condigne punyshment as subuerters of the gud lawes of the â—eame and ouetemers of the slese secte of theys fals Heretykes first inuenters and brengers of them Likewise Doctor Leyton and Doctor Leâ— who had bene loyned in commission with Cromwell for the visitation of religious Foundations of which hereafter were maliciouslye detracted by this demand of the Commons in the foresaid conference Also that Doctor Lee and Doctor Leyton may haue condigne punyshment for theyr extortions in time of visitation in brybes of some religyous houses x. lib. xx lib. and for other summes besyde horsys vowsens leases vndre Couent Seallys by them taken and other abomynable acts by them committed and done I might haue occasion here to speake of the abrogation of the Popes authoritie of the subuersion of religious foundations of the suppression of religious Votaries and of the reformation of Religion in that neuer-conquered Nation of Scotland where at this time Religion is double refined pure and spotlesse without ceremonie and plaine as a pike staffe without a surplise But I will reserue this narration till I come to speake of the conuersion of Scotland to the Christian faith As also of the Funerall Monuments which are there to be found which will be but a few if Sir Robert Cottons Librarie do not helpe me for by my owne obseruation in the famous maiden-citie of Edenborough and in the Parish Churches of other Townes the Sepulchres of the dead are shamefully abused or quite taken away yea and the Churches themselues with religious houses and other holy places violated demolished or defaced CHAP. XV. The policie vsed by the King and his Councell for the dissolution and extirpation of Religious Foundations and Religious Orders within this Realme of England and Wales The reformation of Religion of Inscriptions in Churches The Kings warrant of the surrender of Religious Houses An information made to Queene Elizabeth of the seuerall abuses done vnto the State generall and Crowne by the corruption of such as were imployed by her Father vpon the suppression of Abbeyes HEnry the eighth hauing as ye haue heard thus setled the Supremacy where he would haue it either by the aduise of politick Cromwell or by the example of proud Wolsey or else of himselfe hee being nothing so scrupulous in conscience nor so stayed in sacred resolutions as was Henry the fourth vpon a greedie desire to enrich his coffers began now to lay plots deuises and proiects for the vtter subuersion of all Abbeyes Priories Nunneries and other religious foundations within this his kingdome of England and Wales and first for an induction to the businesse He put in Commission his seruant Cromwell Thomas Lee and Richard Laiton Doctors of the Ciuill Law Thomas Bedell Deane of Cornwall Thomas Bartlet publike Notarie and others to visit all the foresaid religious Houses and to make inquirie of their Orders Founders values debenters reliques pilgrimages and other Queres but most especially they were to make diligent scrutinie and to learne vijs modis omnibus by all manner of meanes the wicked abuses of those times practised amongst the Fraternitie and Sisterhood of each seuerall Couent Which with their Commission they returned making a shamefull discoueriâ— of the bestiall sensualitie of Monasticke profession This
arriuall here in England and was married to king Ethelbert with these conditions made by her parents That it should be lawfull for her to keepe inuiolable the rites of her Religion and enioy the presence and instructions of her learned Bishop Luitharde whom they appointed to assist and helpe her in matters of her faith She was a woman of vertuous and holy inclination spending much of her time in prayer almes-deeds and other workes of charitie frequenting daily her Oratorie within Saint Martins a Church built in former times by the beleeuing Romanes wherein her reuerend assistant Luitardus vsed also to instruct and exhort the people to newnesse of life and Religion so that by her example and his preaching many of the Kentish Paynims were brought in to beleeue the glad tydings of the Gospell These proceedings with his wiues perswasions wrought so effectually with good king Ethelbert that his heart was softned and his eares already opened to receiue and embrace the doctrine of S. Austine Whereupon some do gather that the happinesse of his and his Subiects conuersion may as well be attributed to Berta and her French attendants as to Austine and his fellow-disciples Of which an old namelesse Rimer very ancient Whan Ethilbert hadde regned bot a yer Sent Awstyn hym to Cristen feyth conuert Thrughe goddys grase as clerly dyd apere Who hadde to wyffe Berta that was advert To Cristen feyth in Fraunce afore convert That helpt therto wyth all hur dylygens As Awstyn dyd wythe all benyvolens She was likewise an earnest parswader and a pertaker with her husband Ethelbert in and for the propagating and erecting of Religion and religious structures as I obserue out of the same Authour Kynge Ethilbert wythe ryall gret expens Gret Mynsters made of hyghe reuyrens In Rochestre and eke in Canterbery For Bysschoppys sees that wer ful necessary Atte London eke sent Pawles edyfyed In whyche so then shuld be the Bysschoppys Se Thus hely Câ—yrch tha Pâ—yns ther fortyfyed Wythe alle kynde thynge that was necessary For sustenauns of the Christyante So dydde hys wyff hur part wythe all hur myght To fortefy the cristen in thâ—yr ryght This blessed Queene died before her husband neare vnto whom he desired to be buried ann 622. for whom this Distich was composed Moribus ornata iacet hic Regina beata Berta Deo grata fuit ac homini peramata Here sometime lay the body of Edbald entombed king of Kent the sonne and heire of the before named Ethelbert by his Queene Berta who began his raigne as wickedly as his father ended his worthily for hee refused to entertaine the doctrine of Christ and polluted himselfe by the marriage of his mother in law his owne fathers second wife but at length being conuerted by Archbishop Lawrence from his idolatrie and incestuous matrimonie hee endeuoured by all meanes possible to propagate and maintaine the state of the Gospell The king of Kent Edbald his furst wyf forsoke And held hym to hys Christendom yat he furst toke And built a Chappell within this Monasterie in honour of Mary the blessed mother of God endowing it with sufficient maintenance wherein after the continuance of 24. yeares raigne hee was buried ann 640. His wife Emma the daughter of Theodebert king of Lorraine was buryed by him Here lieth Ercombert the sonne of the said Edbald king of Kent a religious king who suppressed all the Temples of the heathen Idols and commanded the fast of Lent to be obserued His wife Sexburgh daughter of Anna king of the East Angles was layed by him This King hauing raigned foure and twentie yeares and odde monethes finished his dayes ann 664. Egbert succeeded his father Ercombert and if the murther of his two cosin-Germans had not much blemished his peaceable gouernment he might well haue holden place with the worthiest of the Kentish kings He died in the tenth yeare of his raigne anno 673. and was buried here by his predecessours And so in like manner this Church was honoured with the sepulchres of Lothaire Withred Edelbert and other Kentish kings and also with the shrines of many English Saints whose sacred Reliques as they were then esteemed brought both great veâ—â—ration and bencht to this religâ—ouâ— Structure The first man of eminencie that I finde to haue bâ—ene eâ—shrined in this Abbey was Saint Augustine the first Archbishop of this See of Canterbury a Romane borre and a Monke of Saint Benets order who with others was sent hither out of Italie by Gregory the great Pope of Rome to preach the word of God to this our English nation hee with his fellowes to the number of fourty persons landed in the Isle of Tenet within this County where they were shortly after visited of king Ethelbert But the story is frequent and I shall be often touching vpon it by the way and hiâ— Legend is too long for my intended short discourse therefore I hope the Reader will rest contented with this abbreuiation for both Whils Ethelbert was reignyng kyng of Kent Sainct Austin sent by Gregory of R. bishop Landed in Tenet with Clerkes of his assent And many Monkes to teache the saith I hope That clothed were vnder a blacke cope Whiche in Procession with crosses and Bells came The Latinies syngyng in Iesus his name In the yere of Chryst his incarnacion Fiue hundreth fourescore and sixtene King Ethelbert had in his dominacion Alâ— Kent throughout with greate ioy as was seen Were baptised then in holy water clene To whome Gregory sent Mellito and Iusto With other Clerkes and Doctors many mo Gregory him made Archbishop of Canterbury Of all Englande hiest then Primate And had the Paule with hiest legacye By Gregory sent to him and ordinate Fro London then thus was that tyme translate To Canterbury the sea Metropolitan And London sette as for his suffrigan Saynt Augustine then with helpe of Ethelbert Saynt Augustines made and Christes Church also That Christes Church hight as it was adverte And sacred so by hym and halowed tho For the chiefe Sea Metropolitan so Of all England by Gregory ordinate And Saynt Augustine of all England Primate This man was of an exceeding tall stature well fauoured of a very amiable countenance but of his learning I finde little worthy of remembrance sine doctrina sana docebat saith one ac sine perceptibili lingua ignotae praedicabat genti He died the 26. of May in the thirteenth yeare of his first entrance into England and was buried first without doores neare to the Church of this Monastery because the Church was not finished and afterwards his body was remoued into the North Porch of the said Church in which place fiue of his Successours were likewise interred Vpon the Tombe of this Austine this Epitaph was insculped in Latine thus translated Here resteth the body of Augustine the first Archbishop of Canterbury that was sent into this Land by Saint
principally regarding and tendring the quiet rest prosperite and tranquillite of our Nobles and Commons and their conservacion no lesse then our own directed lately our letters vnto you and other Iustices of our Peace throughout this our Realme conteyning our admonicion and gentill warenyng to haue such speciall regard to the dewties of your offices accordyng to the trust we haue in yow that not only for thymportance it is both vnto vs and our common welth ye shuld see our high dignite of Supremacie of our Church wherwith it hath pleased almighty God by his most certain and vndoubted word to endowe and adorne our auchtorite and Corone imperiall of this our Realme to be set forth and impressed in all our Subiects harts and mynds and to forsee that the mayntenors of the Bisshop of Roomes vsurped and fayned auctorite with all his Papisticall supersticions and abuses wherwith he hath in times past abused the multitud of our subgiects of whose yoke tyranny and skornefull illusion we haue by Gods porveiaunce deliuered this our realme and of other his Satellites whiche secretly did vphold his faction shuld be by yow diligently serched enqwired and tried owt and so broughte to our Iustices to receaue condigne punyshement according to their demerits but also that tale tellers about the cuntriee and spraders of rumours and false inventors of newes to put owr people to feare and stirr them to sedicyon shulde be apprehended and punyshed to the terrible example of others Also that vagabonds and valiant Beggers shal be avoyded and haue worthy corrections And for the same purpose to kepe watches and to see commen Iustice with indifferency and without corrupcion to be obserued and ministred vnto all owr Subgiects like as by the porporte and contents of our said Letters ye may more amplie perceiue We haue thervpon ben credably enformed that sondry of yow haue for a time so well done yowr dewties and endeuoired your selues in fulfilling our admonitions and caused the euill doers to be punyshed according to their demerites that our louing Subgiects haue not ben disquieted of a long season vntill now of late that sum vngracious cankred and maliciouse persons haue taken boldnes to attempt with sondry diuelish persuasions to moue and seduce our trewe subgiects vsing false lies and most vntrewe rumors And amonst them we vnderstand sondry Parsons Vicars and Curats of this our Realme to be chieffe which to bring our people to darkenes of their own perverse mynde not only to blynde our Commons do rede so confusely hemming and hacking the word of God and soche our Iniunctions as we haue lately set forthe that almost no man can vnderstand the trewe meanyng of the said Iniunctions but also secretly haue suborned certeyne spreders of Rumors and false tales in corners which doo interpreat and wrast our trewe meanyng and intention of owr said Iniunctions to an vntrewe sense For wheras we haue ordeyned by owr said Iniunctions for thavoyding of sondry striues processis and contentions risyng vpon aege vpon lineall discents vpon title of Inheritances vpon legittimation or Bastardie and for knowlege whither any person is our subiect borne or no Also for sondry other causes that the names of all childer christened from hensforth with ther birth ther fathers and mothers names and likewise all mariages and burialls with the time and date thereof shuld be registred from time to time in a boke in euery Parish Church surely and safeâ—y to be kept They haue bruted and blowen abrode most falsely and vntrewely that we doo entende to make some new exactions at all christenyngs weddings and burials The whiche in no wise we euer meaned or thought vpon aâ—leging for to fortefy and color there false and manifâ—st lies that therin we go abowt to take away the liberties of the realme For conservacion wherof they fayne that Bisshop Beckett of Canterbury which they haue to fore called Saynt Thomas died for where in dede there was neuer soch thing done nor ment in that time nor sithens For the said Beckett neuer swarved nor contended with owr progenitor Kyng Henry the second but only to lett that those of the Clergie shuld not be punyshed for their offences nor iustyfyed by the Courts and lawes of this Realme but only at the Bisshops pleaser and after the decrees of Roome And the causes why he died was vpon a wilfull reskewe and a fray by him made and begon at Canterbury Which was neuerthelesse afterward alleged to be for soche liberties of the Churche which he contendyd for during his life with tharchbisshop of Yorke chiefly to haue soche priuiledge that no Kyng of England ought euer to be crowned by any other Bisshop but oonly by the Bishops of Canterbury Yea and in case he shuld be absent or fugitiue out of the Realme the Kyng shuld neuer be coroned by any other but constrayned to abide his retorne These and soche other detestable and vnlawfull liberties of the Church nothing concerning the common weale but only the partie of the Clergie the said Thomas Becket most arrogantly desyred and trayterouslye sewyd to haue contrary to the law of this our Realme To the which most false interpretacions and wrasting of our trewe meanyng they haue ioyned such myscheuous lyes and false tales for markyng of catals and like seditious devises wherevpon owr people were lately stirred to sedition and insurrection to ther vtter ruyne and destruction onles almighty God who by his diuine prouidence gaue vnto vs habundance of force as he alwaies dothe vnto rightfull Princes had so with clemencie illumyned vs that where as we with th edge of the swerde and by our lawes might haue ouerthrowen and destroyed them there wyues children and posterite for euer we neuerthelesse as ye can right well remember extended vpon them at that time our benigne and mercifull pardon These miserable and Papisticall superstitious wretches nothing regarding the same nor caring what danger and myschiefe our people shuld incurre haue both raysed the said olde rumors and forged new sedicious tales intendyng asmoche as in them lyeth a new commotion and all to satisfye there cankred harts Wherfore and for the imminent daunger to yow and all our good subgiects and the troble that might ensewe onlesse good and ernest prouision to represse them be taken thervpon We desyre and pray yow and neuerthelesse straytly charge and commaund yow that within the Precinct and lymyts of yowr charge ye shall not only endeuor your self and employ your most diligence to inquyre and fynd owt such cankerd Parsons Vicars and Curats which doo not trewly and substancially declare our said Iniunctions and the very worde of God but momble confusely seying that they be compelled to rede them and bydd ther Parishens neuerthelesse to doo as they did in times past to lyue as ther fathers and that the olde fashion is the best and other crafty sedicious parables But also with your most effectuall vigilancy doo enserche and trie owt such sedicious tale tellers
the King And in case they shall by him or otherwise lerne and knowe that Melanchton is there arryued then his grace wold that the said Haynes and Mount shall in such sort as they be not moche noted resorte vnto him and for the disuading of his continuance there or alteration of his opinion and alluring of him hither to vse suche reasons and persuasions as be before written with suche other as they can further deuise for that purpose To the which Haynes and Mount the Kings pleasure is ye shall deliuer like copies of the said Deanes booke and Bishops Sermons to be shewed vnto the said Melanchton or otherwise vsed as may be most expedient for thachyeuement of the Kings purpose in that behaulfe Ye shall also vnderstande that the kings pleasure is ye shall write to Sir Iohn Wallop and send vnto him therwith like copies willing him in case he shall haue certain knowledge that tharticles be true written in these his letters concernyng the French Kings sending into Germany for the continuance of the Bishop of Romes pretended supremacie to repaire with the said copies to the French King and not only to set the same furth with such reasons as he can deuise in that part shewing how moche it shal be against his honour both to geue himselfe subiect to the said Bishop and moue other to doo the semblable but also to declare vnto him that the Kings highnes remembring his old frendly promises concernyng the mayntenance of his cause and of his procedyngs touching the same cannot thinke it a litle strange that the said French King seing his Maiestie hath in his doings touching the said Bishop of Rome moued neyther his nor any Princes subiects will mâ—ue and styr the Germayns to condescende vpon a contrary opinion both to themselfs and to his grace in this behalfe And that his Maiestie must nedes thinke this Amytie moche touched in that he shuld moue any state or cuntrie to doo that thing whiche is so moche against the Kings highnes and his owne promes vsing all the waies to disuade him from the dishonorable obedience of the said Bishops See mouing him to inclyne to the Kings iust opinion touching the same Finally the Kings pleasure is ye shall write an other letter to the Bishop of Aberden signifying that the Kings Maiestie taketh it very vnkindly that the King his Nephieu wold now embrace without his aduise or counsail being his derest frend and Vncle and now in liege and Amytie with him the mariage of Mounsieur de vandous daughter wherevnto he wold geue non eare at his graces ouerture hertofore made of the same In your seid letter imputing a great negligence therein to the said Bishop and other of his Masters counsail seing their Master sheweth not in the doing therof suche amytie towards the Kings highnes as the frendship betwene them doth require And to make an end his grace will in no wise that Barnes of Haynes shall tarry for any further instruction of the Bishop of Canterbury or any other his grace hauing determyned to sende the same after by Master Almoner and Heth but that he Master Haynes and Mount shal with all possible diligence departe immediatly in post without lenger tarying thenne for this their depeche shal be necessary soo as their abode empeche not the Kings purpose touching the said Melanchton And thus fare youe most hartly well From Langley in moche hast this Monday at iiii of the clocke at after none Your louyng Frends T. Norffolk George Rocâ—ford Also before the beginning of that Parliament wherin the Popes supreme authoritie here in England was abolished these remarkable Inductions following were set downe and commanded by the King and his Councell to be suddenly put in execution First to send for all the Bishops of this realme and speciallie for suche as be nerest to the Courte and to examine them a parte whether they by the law of God can proue and iustifie that he that now is called the Pope of Rome is aboue the generall Counsaile or the generall Counsail aboue him Or whether he hath gyuen vnto him by the law of God any more auctority within the realme then any other foreyn Bishop Item to deuise with all the Bishoppes of this realme to set furth preach and cause to be preched to the Kings people that the said Bishop of Rome called the Pope is not in auctoryte aboue the generall Counsell but the generall Counsell is aboue him and all Bishpos And that he hathe not by Goddes law any more iurisdiction within this realme then an other forraine Bishop being of any other realme hath And that such auctority as he before this hath vsurped within this realme is both against Gods law and also against the generall Counsalles Which vsurpation of auctoritie onely hath growen to him by the sufferance of Prynces of this realme and by none auctority from God Item therefore that order be taken for such as shall preach at Paules Crosse from henceforth shall continually from Sonday to Sonday preach there and also teach and declare to the people that hee that now calleth himselfe Pope nether any of his Predecessours is and were but onely the Bishops of Rome and hath no more authoritie and iurisdiction by Gods law within this realme then any other forraine Bishop hath which is nothing at all And that such authoritie as hee hath claimed heretofore hath been onely by vsurpation and sufferance of Princes of this realme And that the Bishop of London may bee bound to suffer none other to preach at Paules Crosse as hee will answer but such as will preach and set forth the same Item that all the Bishops within this realme bee bound and ordered in the same wise and cause the same to bee preached throughout all their Diocesses Item that a speciall practise be made and a straight commandement giuen to all Prouincialls Ministers and rulers of all the foure Orders of Friers within this realme commanding them to cause the same to be preached by all the Preachers of their religions and through the whole realme Item to practise with all the Friers Obseruants of this realme and to command them to preach likewise or else that they may be stayed and noâ— suffered to preach in no place of the realme Item that euery Abbot Prior and other heads of religious houses within this realme shall in like manner teach their Conuents and brethren to teach and declare the same Item that euery Bishop shall make speciall commandements to euerie Parson Vicar and Curate within his Diocesse to preach and declare to his Parishoners in likewise Item Proclamations to be made throughout the realme containing the whole Act of Appeales And that the same Act may bee impressed transumed and set vp on euery Church doore in England to the intent that no Parson Vicar Curate nor any other of the Kings subiects shall make themselues ignorant thereof Item the Kings prouocations and appellations made from the Bishop
Supreme heed of this Englyshe Churche We yowr Gracys pore and most vnworthy Subiects Francys Priour of yowr Graces Monastery of Saint Andrew the Apostle within yowr Graces Towne of Northampton and the hoole Couent of the same being steryd by the gryffe of owr conscience vnto greate contricion for the manifolde negligence enormytes and abuses of long tyme by vs and other owr predecessours vndre the pretence and shadow of perfyght Religion vsyd and comytted to the greuous displeasure of Almyghty God the craftye decepcion and subtell seduccion of the pure and symple myndys of the good Christian people of this yowr noble Reame knowlegen owr selffes to haue greuously offendyd God and yowr Highnesse owr Soueraign Lord and Founder Aswell in corrupting the conscience of yowr good Christian subiects with vayne superstitious and other vnprofitable ceremonyes the very means and playn induccions to the abominable synne of Idolatry as in omyttyng the execucion of suche deuowte and due observaunces and charitable acts as we were bounâ—den to do by the promises and avowe made by vs and our predecessors vnto Almighty God and to yowr graces most noble progeniâ—ors orygynall Founders of yowr saide Monastery For the which obseruances and dedys of charyte only yowr saide Monastery was indowed with sonâ—ry possessions Iewels ornaments and other goods moueable and vnmoueable by yowr graces saide noble progenitors The revenues of which possessions we the saide Priour and Couent voluntaryly onely by owr prâ—pre conscience compellyd do recognyce neither by vs nor owr predecessors to haue ben emploied accordyng to the origynall intent of the Founders of yowr saide Monastery that is to saie in the pure observaunce of Chrysts Religion accordyng to the devowte rule and doctryne of holy Saint Benedict in vertuose exercyse and study accordyng to owr professyon and avowe ne yett in the charytable sustayning comforting and releiving of the pore people by the kepyng of good and necessary hospitality But as well we as others owr predecessors callyd religiouse persones within yowr said Monastery taking on vs the habite or owtewarde vesture of the saide rule onely to the intent to lead owr liffes in an ydell quyetnes and not in vertuose exercyse in a stately estymacion and not in obedient humylyte haue vndre the shadowe or color of the saide Rule and habite vaynly detestably and also vngodly employed yea rather deuowred the yerely reuenues yssuing and comyng of the saide possessions in contynuall ingurgitacions and farcyngs of owr carayne bodyes and of others the supportâ—res of owr voluptuose and carnall appetyte with other vayne and vngodly expensys to the manyfest subvertion of deuocion and clennes of lyvyng and to the most notable slaunder of Chrysts holy Euangely which in the forme of owr professyon we dyd ostentate and openly advaunte to kepe most exactly withdrawing therby from the symple and pure myndys of yowr graces subiects the onely truth and comfort which they oughte to haue by the true faith of Christe And also the devyne honor and glory onely due to the glorious Maiestye of God Almyghty steryng them with all persuasions ingynes and polyce to dedd Images and counterfett reliques for owr dampnable lucre Which our most horryble abhominacions and execrable persuacions of yowr graces people to detestable errours and our long coueryd Ipocrysie cloked with fayned sanctite We revolving dayly and continually ponderyng in owr sorowfull harts and therby perseyuing the botomlas gulf of euerlastyng fyre redy to devowre vs if persysting in this state of lyvyng we shulde departe from this vncertayn and transytory liffe constrayned by the intollerable anguysh of owr conscience callyd as we trust by the grace of God who wolde haue no man to perysh in synne with harts most contrite and repentante prostrate at the noble feet of yowr most roiall Maiestye most lamentably doo craue of yowr highnes of yowr habundant mercy to grant vnto vs most greuous agaynst God and yowr highnes yowr most gracious perdon for owr saide sondry offences omyssyons and negligences comytted as before by vs is confessyd agaynst yowr hyghnes and yowr most noble progenitors And where yowr hyghnes being supreme hedd immediately next aftre Christe of his Church in this yowr Roialme of England so consequently generall and only reformator of all religious persones there haue full authority to correcte or dyssolue at your graces pleasure and libertye all Couents and Relygious companyes abusyng the Rewles of their profession And moreouer to yowr highnes being owr soueraygn Lord and vndoubted founder of yowr saide Monastery by dissolucion whereof apperteyneth onely the oryginall title and propre inherytance as well of all other goods moueable and vnmoueable to the saide Monastery in any wyse apperteyning or belonging to be dissposed and imployed as to yowr graces most excellent wysdome shall seme expedyent and necessary All which possessyons and goods yowr highnes for our saide offences abuses omyssyons and neglygences being to all men obedyent and by vs playnly confessed now hath and of long tyme past hath hadd iust and lafull cawse to resume into yowr graces hands and possessyon at yowr graces pleasure The resumption wherof yowr highnes neverthelesse licke a most naturall lovyng Prince and clement gouernor ouer vs yowr graces poâ—e and for owr offences most vnworthy subiects hath of long season differred and yet doth in hope and trust of owr voluntary reconciliacion and amendment by yowr graces manyfolde lovyng and gentyll admonyshments shewyd vnto vs by dyuerse and sondry meanys We therfor consyderyng with owr selffes your graces exceedyng goodnes and mercy extended at all tymes vnto vs most miserable trespassers against God and yowr hyghnes For a perfight declaracion of yowr vnfeyned contricion and repentance felyng owr selffes very weeke and vnable to obserue and performe owr aforesaid avowes and promyses made by vs and owr predecessors to God and yowr graces noble progenitors and to imploy the possessyons of yowr saide Monastery accordyng to the fyrst will and intent of the oryginall Founders And to the intent that yowr highnes yowr noble heires and successors with the true Christian people of this yowr graces Roialme of England be not from hensforth estsones abused with such feyned deuocion and deyllysh persuasions vndre the pretext and habyte of Relygion by vs or any other which shulde happen to bear the name of Relygyous within yowr saide Monastery And moreouer that the saide possessyons and goods shulde be no lenger restreyned from a bettyr or more necessary employment Most humble beseechen yowr highnes owr most gracyous soueraign Lord and Founder that it might licke yowr Maiesty for the discharging and exoncrating vs of the most greuous bourden of owr payned consciens to the immynent parell and danger of owr dampnacion that we shuld be in if by persisting in the state that we now rest in we shulde be the lett of a more godly and necessarie imployment graciously to accept owr free gifts withought coercion persuasion or procurement of any creature liuing other then
raised vpon small occasions thought his way would bee much easier if he went onward with the Popes good fauour which he easily obtained for a fee viz. a penny yearely to bee payed to Saint Peter of euerie house in Ireland Edward the third in the 39. yeare of his raigne saith Treuisa the Continuer of Polychronicon ordained that this Tribute of Peter pence should not be from thenceforth any more gathered within this Realme nor any such payment made at Rome But howsoeuer saith Hollinshed in the said yeare this payment was abrogated at this time by King Edward it was after reneâ—ed againe by the Pope and the money was gathered in certaine Shires of this Realme vntill the dayes of king Henry the eighth Parsons and Impropriators of Churches at this day in many places of England are payed this pennie vnder the name of a Smoke pennie This Chapter is growne much longer then I expected Of which an end CHAP. XVIII Of Parishes Bishoprickes Of the power and sanctitie of Bishops and Priests Of Sanctuaries and of the Ecclesâ—asticall state of England and Wales PArochia dicitâ—r locus in quo degit populus alicui Ecclesiae baptismali deputatus certis finibus limitatus A Parish is said to bee a place in which people doe hue assigned to some Christian Church and limited by certaine bounds Euaristus the first Bishop of Rome who suffered martyrdome vnder Traian the Emperour about the yeare of our redemption one hundred and ten ordained Curates and disposed of them to certaine places that they might administer the Sacraments to such people as were committed to their charge and withall he ordained that these Curates should bee nourished and maintained by those people of whose soules they had the cure whereupon they were called Parochi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à prebenco vel à mutua alimentorum praebitione Parochians or Parishioners of the mutuall exhibition and giuing of nourishment one to another the Priest for the soules of his people and the people for the maintenance of their Priest Dionisius that blessed Martyr Bishop of Rome circa ann 266. did attempt to doe the like throughout the whole Christian world appointing by distribution certaine places to which he assigned Ecclesiasticall persons there to administer the Sacraments pray and preach the word and to receiue the tenths of the possessions contained within the limits of the foresaid places Honorius Archiepiscopus Cantuar circa annum à salute reparata 636. Angliam primus in Parochias distribuere cepit Honorius Archbishop of Canterbury about the yeare of our saluation 636. began first to diuide England into Parishes But this opinion is controuerted by a late learned Antiquary and by him plainly approued that Honorius was not the first that made this diuision here in England but that Parishes were diuided and Parish-Churches built long before his time euen in the Primitiue Hierarchie of the Britaineâ— And that in the time of King Arthur about the yeare of our Lord 490 when Dubritius was made Archbishop of South Wales diuers Churches with their endowments of Tithes oblations and other profits were appropriated to him the said Dubritius and his successours And that in those times Churches were built here no doubt can bee made Neither is it to be conceiued how Christianitie could be in any nation saith my Author much ancienter if generally receiued or by any number then Churches or some conuenient houses or other places in the nature of Churches appointed for the exercise of deuotion And expresse mention is made of a Church of which I haue spoken before built in Canterbury in the time of the Romanes to the honour of Saint Martin in which Augustine and his followers when they came first from Rome made their holy assemblies After that the stormes of Diocletians persecution were ouerblowen saith Bede which was circa Ann. 290. the faithfull Christians who in time of danger lay hid in dennes and deserts came forth and shewed themselues abroad renewed their Churches which before were ouerthrowne flat to the ground founded builded and perfited new Temples in honour of the holy Martyrs celebrated holy dayes consecrated the holy mysteries with pure mouth and heart and euery where as it were displayed their ensignes in signe of Conquest Aliquindo Parochia dicitur totus Episcopatus saith one and Parochia etiam Dioecesis Episcopalis dicitur saith another Sometime a Parish is said to be the whole Bishopricke and sometime the Episcopall Diocesse Kenwalch King of the West-Saxons diuided In duas Parochias Praâ—â—nciam the Prouince into two Parishes or Diocesses when as he erected a new Bishopricke at Winchester taken out of the Diocesse of Dorchester a ruinous Towne now in Oxfordshire In the yeare 680. Merciorum Prouincia in quinque Parochias est diuisa The Prouince of Mercia was diuided into fiue Parishes that is into fiue Bishopricks and thus Honorius may be said properly to haue beene the first vnder whom his Prouince was diuided into such Parishes or Bishoprickes Anno Dom. 747. in the raigne of Ethelbald king of the Mercians in a Synod holden at Clouesho it was decreed Vt singuli Episcopi omni anno Parochias suas circumirent That euery Bishop should go about or visit his Parishes once euery yeare And in the first Synod or Conuocation of the English Church holden at Hereford Ann. 670 it was determined Vt nullus Episcoporum Parochiam alterius inuadat sed contentus sit gubernatione creditae sihi plebis That no Bishop should haue ought to do in anothers Parish but bee contented with the charge of the people committed vnto him Kenulph King of the Mercians in his Epistle to Leo the third Bishop of Rome writes Quod contra Canones à Patre Gregorio constitut as auctoritas Dorobernensis Metropolitani in duas scinditur Parochias cuius ditioni duo decim subiacere debent Episcopi That contrary to the Canons of Saint Gregory the iurisdiction of the Metropoliticall See of Canterbury was diuided into two Parishes to whose authoritie twelue Bishops ought to be subiect To which point of his Epistle Leo makes this answer In sacro scrinio nostro reperimus sanctum Gregorium Predecessorem nostrum in integro ipsam Parochiam numero duodecim beato Augustino Archiepiscopo tradidisse Epis copos consecrandos We finde in our sacred Cabinet our Predecessour Saint Gregory to haue giuen and deliuered that Parish to blessed Augustine entire and whole with the number of twelue Bishops by him to bee consecrated These great Parishes or Bishoprickes were not made Diocesses or Iurisdictions together straight from the first budding of Christianitie but in succession of time as the number of Christians did increase and as the true faith was spread abroad For some Churches were vnder the charge of Curates other some of Abbots and of these were made these great Parishes or Bishopricks The dignitie and gouernment of which was appointed to learned and religious
aboue mentioned is 8803. Here ends the Discourse ANCIENT FVNERALL MONVMENTS WITHIN THE Diocesse of Canterbury The Foundation of Christ-Church in Canterbury CHristian Religion of which I haue spoken before which presently after our blessed Sauiours passion was both preached and planted in this Island by Ioseph of Arimathea and his associates and after that aduanced and increased by Lucius King of the Britaines and his famous Clerkes being darkened ouerclouded and almost totally eclipsed with the contagious smoke arising from such abhominable sacrifices as were offered here vnto strange Idols was againe illumined and recomforted with the glorious beames of religious light by Augustine the Monke and his fellow-labourers in Christs vineyard Which Augustine sent hither from Rome by Gregory the great when he had found such fauour in the sight of King Ethelbert that he might freely preach the Gospell in this his countrey hee chose for assemblie and prayer an old Church in the East part of this Citie which was a long time before builded by the Romanes and hee made thereof by licence of the King a Church for himselfe and his successours dedicating the same to the name of our blessed Sauiour Christ whereof it was alwayes afterward called Christ-Church And by the meanes of the said Pope Gregory hee translated the Metropolitan See from London the Cathedrall Church being then at Saint Peters in Cornhill to this his newly consecrated Church here in Canterbury whereof he was the first Archbishop By these proceedings the prophesie of Merlin was fulfilled which foretold that Christianity should faile and then reuiue againe when the See of London did adorne Canterbury Of which out of an old Manuscript these following Rimes Erchebysshop furste of alle Seynt Austyn was ther But ye Erchcbysshops Se at London was er Tho camme Merlynes word to sothe atten ende Yat ye dignyte of London to Canterbery sholde wende Anothur chyrche in Cantyrbery he lete rere Yat is clupyd Christ Chyrche and now the Se is there Since which time this sacred structure by the pious and exceeding charges of succeeding Archbishops by the deuotion of those dayes made willing to disburse great summes is so raised aloft saith learned Camden to that maiestie and statelinesse that it striketh a sensible impression of Religion in the hearts and mindes of the beholders of which as also of the Citie will it please you reade this Ogdoasticon out of a Manuscript penned by Iohn Iohnston of Aberden sometimes the Kings professour of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of S. Andrewes in Scotland Quae minima in paruo regno pars ante fuisti Facta es Cantiadum regia prima Ducum Quae modica in magno imperio pars ante fuisti Maiorem fecit Pontificalis honor Alterius cum iura locitecum inde tulisti Facta es finitimis imperiosa locis Sponsa tibi Christi si tot cumulauit honores Non iterum huic par sit reddere velle suos To this his Church Austine adioyned a Monastery and dedicated the same to the blessed Trinitie into which Laurence his next Successour brought Benedictine Monkes the head whereof was called a Prior. Which word saith Lambard in his perambulation of Kent howsoeuer it soundeth was indeed but the name of a second Officer because the Bishop himselfe was accounted the very Abbot for in old time the Bishops were for the most part chosen out of such Monasteries and therefore most commonly had their palaces neare adioyning and gouerned there as Abbots By meanes whereof it came to passe that such Abbeyes were greatly enriched and endowed with wealth and possessions insomuch that this Priory at the dissolution being valued at Robin Hoods peniworths was found to be yearly worth besides iurisdiction ouer diueâ—s hundreds as you may finde in the Exchequer booke called Nomina Villarum two thousand foure hundred eightie nine pounds foure shillings nine pence But Henry the eighth saith Camden scattered this wealth heaped vp together in so many ages and dispersed these Monks in lieu of whom he placed in this Church a Deane an Archdeacon Prebendaries twelue and sixe Preachers who in places adioyning round about should teach and preach the word of God The Archbishoprick at this day whose Prouince containeth twentie two Bishoprickes and Diocesse the greatest part of Kent being but valued in the Kings bookes at two thousand eight hundred sixteene pounds seuenteene shillings nine pence Howsoeuer in former times the Archbishop was wont to pay to the Pope at euery income for his first-fruits ten thousand Ducats or Florens and for his Pall fiue thousand euery Ducate being of our Sterling money foure shillings sixe pence And as I finde it in an old Manuscript for Rom-scot or Peter-pence seuen pounds seuenteene shillings Seuentie three Archbishops in a continued traine of Succession haue sitten in this glorious chaire which at this present doth adde grace and honour to George Abbot Doctor of Diuinity sometime Deane of Winchester Master of the Vniuersitie Colledge in Oxford Bishop of Couentry and Lichfield from whence hee was remoued to London and from thence translated to this Metropoliticall seate of Canterbury Who hath bestowed great summes of money in building and endowing of an Hospitall at Guildford in Surrey the Towne wherein he was borne But now to come within the Cathedrall Church which hath beene and still is honoured with the funerall Monuments of many renowned Princes of which although it may iustly vaunt yet was it for nothing else so famous as for the life death sepulcure and Shrine of Thomas Beckâ—t Archbishop of this See by which her estimation was aduanced beyond all reason measure and wonder This Thomas Becket was borne in London his fathers name was Gilbert a Merchant his mothers Mâ—tilda a stranger borne in Syria He was first taught and brought vp by the Prior of Mercon Abbey in Surrey and from thence sent to the Vniuersities of Oxford Paris and Bononia to study the Canon Law vpon his returne he proceeded Doctor of that faculty in Oxford after which as you may haue it in the History of his life written by the right reuerend Father in God Francis Godwin now Bishop of Hereford in short time he was preferred by Theobald Archbishop of this See vnto the Archdeaconry of Canterbury the Prouostship of Beuerley and the Parsonages of Bromfeeld and Saint Mary Hill a Prebend in Paules and another in the Church of Lincolne and withall commended by him so effectually to King Henry the second that he receiued him into the number of his Chaplaines aduanced him to the honour of Lord Chancellour of England and after the death of the said Theobald to this Grace and Primaâ—ie of Canterbury presently after his consecration being yet scarcely warme in his seate vnder colour of defending the rights of his Church hee stubbornly opposed himselfe against his Lord and Soueraigne in all his royall proceedings insomuch that he was constrained to exile him the kingdome Of which you shall
Hospitale Partem Virgulti vulgo du verger inter Hospitale Canonicos attingentis A claustro quod est ante tanuam Ecclesie vsque ad extremitatâ—m muri et redditus ad sustentationem quatuor Canonicorum sacer dotum manentium in decimis de Triciaco Calliaco et de Braya Et centum solidos Parisiensis monete apud villam nouaÌ„ Sancti Georgij annuatim in festo Sancti Remigij persoluendos Vineam etiam et arpentum terre queiacent extra muros predicti loci Sancti Thome sicut corum scripto autentico continetur Ecclesie vestre auctoritate Apostolica confirmamus presertis scripti patrocinio communuimus Statuentes vt nulli omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam nostre confirmationis infringere vel ei ausu temerario contraire Si quis autem hoc attemptare presumpsâ—rit indignationem omnipoteâ—tis Dei et Beatorum Petri et Pauli Apostolorum eius se nouerit incursurum Datum Laterani septimo Kalendas Augusti Pontisicatus nostri anno secundo Annoque Domini Millesimo centesimo octuagesimo nono These donations were afterwards viz. Ann. 1428. augmented by Iohn Duke of Britaine Montefort and Richmund as appeares by his Charter which I haue read Many other religious structures Churches Chappels and Oratories in forraine parts were erected and endowed to the memory of this our English Martyr Neare to the Gallerie of the Louure and adioyning to the Collegiate Church is a prettie faire street which at this day is called La rue de S. Thomas du Louure the streete of S. Thomas at the Louure Richard the first King of England after the surprisall of Acrres instituted an order of Knights which he called The Order of Saint Thomas they held the rule of Saint Augustine and tooke for their Patron the foresaid Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury as you may reade in the Theater of Honour lib. 9. cap. 11. But I stand too long gazing and glossing vpon this imaginarie monument digressing from the breuitie of that method which I haue proposed to my selfe Let me view the sumptuous monument still remaining of Edward surnamed the blacke Prince so by-named not of his colour but of his dreaded acts in battell vpon which this Epitaph is inlayd with brasse Cy gist le noble Prince Mouss Edward aisnez filz du tresnoble Roy Edward tiers iadis Prince d'aquitaine et de Gales Due de Cornwaille et counte de Cesâ—â—e qi morust eâ— la feste de la Trinite qestoit le vni iour de iuyn l'an de grace mil troiscens septante sisine Lalme de qi Dieu eit mercy Amen Tu qi passez oue bouche close Par la ou ce corps repose Entent ce qe te diray Sycome te dire le say Come tu es au tiel fu Tu seras tiel come ie su De la mort ne pensai ie mie Tant come iauoy la vie En tre auoi grand richesse Sont icy sis grand noblesse Terre Mesons et grand tresor Draps chiuaux argent et or Mes ore su ieo poures et chetifs Perfond en la tre gis Ma grand beaute est tout alee Ma char est tout gastee Noult est estroit ma meson En moy na sy verite non Et si ore me veisses Ie ne quide pas qe vous deisses Qe ie eusse onges home este Sy su ie ore tant changee Pur dieu priez au celestien Poy Qe mercy ait de barme de moy Tour ceulx qi pur moy prieront On a dieu maccorderont Dieu les mette en son Paraydis Ou nul ne Poet estre chetifs Thus Englished Here lieth the noble Prince Monsieur Edward the eldest sonne of the thrice noble King Edward the third in former time Prince of Aquitaine and of Wales Duke of Cornwall and Earle of Chester who died on the feast of Trinitie which was the eight day of Iune in the yeare of Grace 1376. To the soule of whom God grant mercy Amen Who so thou be that passeth by Where these corps entombed lie Vnderstand what I shall say As at this time speake I may Such as thou art sometime was I Such as I am such shalt thou be I little thought on th' oure of death So long as I enioyed breath Great riches here I did possesse Whereof I made great noblenesse I had gold siluer wardrobes and Great treasure horses houses land But now a caitife poore am I Deepe in the ground lo here I lie My beautie great is all quite gone My flesh is wasted to the bone My house is narrow now and throng Nothing but Truth comes from my tongue And if ye should see me this day I do not thinke but ye would say That I had neuer beene a man So much altered now I am For Gods sake pray toth'heauenly King That he my soule to heauen would bring All they that pray and make accord For me vnto my God and Lord God place them in his Paradise Wherein no wretched caitife lies The death of this Prince which fortuned in the fourtie and sixth yeare of his age was a heauy losse to the state being a Prince of whom we neuer heard any ill neuer receiued other note then of goodnesse and the noblest performances that magnanimitie and wisedome could euer shew in so much as what praise can bee giuen to veâ—â—ue is due to him The compendious Chronicle of Canterbury written by one Thomas Haselwood a Canon of Leedes speakes more particularly of his militarie atchieuements in these words Edwardus filius Edw. 3. primogenitus Princeps Wallie fortunatissimus miles in bello audacissimus inter validissima bella gesta militaria magnisice ab eodem peracta Iohannem Regem Francie apud Poyteires debellauit pluribus tam nobilibus quam alijs de dicto regno captis interfectis eundem Regem captiuauit ipsum potenter in Augliam ductum Patri suo presentauit Henricum etiam intrusorem Hispanie potentissime in bello deuicit Petrum Hispanie Regem dudum à regno suo expulsum potenti virtute in regnum suum restituit Vnde propter ingentem sibi probitatem actus ipsius triumphales memoratum Principem inter regales Regum memorias dignum duximus commendandum Here lieth the body of Henry the fourth King of England whose Tombe is richly adorned and garnished about with the Armes of all the Christian Princes and most of the greatest Peeres of this kingdome then liuing vpon which I finde no Inscription who died 20. Mar. Anno Dom. 1412. aetat 46. Reg. 14. This King finished his politique and victorious raigne in peace and honour Howsoeuer the iniustice of his first entrance stepping into the seat Royall by the deposition and murder of his lawfull Soueraigne King Richard the second left a dishonourable staine vpon all his actions He aduised his Sonne Henry after him King vpon his death bed to punish the
ordeyne and mak him my Executor of my Testament foreseyd kalling to him soche as him thinkyth in his discrecion that can and will labor to the sonrest spede of my will comprehended in this myn Testament And to fulfill trwly all things foresaid y charge my foreseyd Son vpon my blessyng Wetnessyng my welbelouyd Cousins Thomas Erchbyshop of Caunterbury foreseyde and Edward Duke of Yorke Thomas Bishchop of Duresme Richard the Lord Grey my Chamberlaine Iohn Tiptost myn Treasuror of Englond Iohn Prophete Wardeine of my priuie seale Thomas Erpingham Iohn Norbery Robert Waterton and meny oder being present In witnessyng wherof my priuy Seele be my commaundement is set to this my Testament I yeue at my manere of Grenwich the xxi dey of the moneth of Ianuer the yere of owr Lord M. CCCC.VIII and of our Reigne the tenth He departed this world the twentieth of March as aforesaid some three yeares and odde moneths after the making of this his last Will and Testament in a Chamber belonging to the Abbot of Westminster called Ierusalem hauing beene prophetically foretold that hee should die in Ierusalem The words saith Harding that the King said at his death were of high complaint but nought of repentance of vsurpement of the Realme ne of restorement of right heires to the Crowne Which he thus versifies O Lorde he sayd O God omnipotent Now se I well thy Godhede loueth me That suffered neuer my foes to haue their entent Of myne person in myne aduersitie Ne in myne sicknesse ne in myne infyrmyte But ay hast kept it fro theyr maleuolence And chastised me by thy beneuolence Lorde I thanke the with all my herte With all my soule and my spirites clere This wormes mete this caryon full vnquerte That some tyme thought in world it had no pere This face so foule that leprous doth appere That here afoâ—e I haue had such a pryde To purtray oft in many place full wide Of which right now the porest of this lande Except onâ—y of their benignite Wolde lothe to â—â—oke vpon I vnderstande Of which good Lorde that thou so visyte me A thousande tymes the Lord in Trinyte With all my herte I thanke the and commende Into thyne handes my soule withouten ende And dyed so in fayth and hole creance At Cauntorbury buryed with great reuerence As a kyng shulde be with all kynde of circumstance Besyde the Prynce Edward with grete expence His funerall Exequies were solemnised here in all pompe and state his Sonne Henry the fifth and his Nobilitie being present vpon Trinitie Sonday next following the day of his death The reason as I take it wherefore King Henry made choice of this Church for his buriall place was for that his first wife the Lady Mary one of the daughters and coheires of Vmphrey de Bohun Earle of Hereford Essex and Northampton was here entombed who died before hee came to the Crowne Ann. Dom. 1394. leauing behinde her a glorious and faire renowned issue of children to the comfort of her husband and good of the common-wealth viz. Henry afterwards King of England Thomas Duke of Clarence Iohn Duke of Bedford Humphrey Duke of Glocester Blanch married to William Duke of Bauaria and Emperour and Philip married to Iohn King of Denmarke and Norway Here in the same Sepulchre lies the body of Ioane his second wife daughter of Charles the fifth King of Nauarre who died without issue at Hauering in the bower in the County of Essex the tenth of Iuly Anno Dom. 1437. Reg. H. 6.15 hauing continued widow 24. yeares This Queene endured some troubles in the raigne of her Stepsonne King Henry the fift being charged that shee should by witchcraft or sorcerie seeke the Kings death a capitall offence indeed if the accusation was true vpon which furmise her goods and lands were forfeited by Act of Parliament and shee committed to safe keeping in the Castle of Leedes in Kent and from thence to Pemsey attended onely with nine of her seruants but belike her innocency within a little time deliuered her from imprisonment and she liued a long time after in all princely prosperitie Here betweene her two husbands Iohn Beaufort Marquesse Dorset and Thomas Plantaginet Duke of Clarence Margaret daughter of Thomas and sister and one of the heires to Edmond Holland Earles of Kent lieth gloriously entombed by her first husband she had issue Henry Earle of Somerset Thomas Earle of Perth Iohn and Edmund both Dukes of Somerset Ioane Queene of Scots and Margaret Countesse of Deuonshire she died full of yeares the last of December Ann. Dom. 1440. Iohn her first husband lieth on her left side as appeares by his armes and portraiture for I finde no inscription at all vpon the Monument who was the eldest sonne of Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by his last wife Katherine Swinford and surnamed Beaufort of Beaufort a Castle in Aniou where he was borne He was created first Earle of Somerset and after Marquesse Dorset by Richard the second being but of small meanes to support such a swelling title He made therle of Somerset Marques Of Dorset then Sir Iohn Beaufort that hight Of poore liuelode that was that tyme doubtles But hee was depriued of this title of Marquesse Dorset by Act of Parliament in the first of Henry the fourth his halfe brother for whom afterwards the Commons became earnest petitioners in Parliament for his restitution But he himselfe was altogether vnwilling to be restored to this kinde of newly inuented honour being but begun in the ninth yeare of this Kings raigne and giuen to Robert de Vere his mignion the first stiled Marquesse of England as it is obserued by that most learned Antiquarie and Lawyer Io. Selden Esquire I finde little of him remarkable being belike sore weakened both in power and spirit by the foresaid Parliament whereby with others of the Nobilitie he was reduced to the same estate of honour and fortune which was but weake in which he stood when first Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester was arrested and besides it was not lawfull for him nor any of the rest to giue liueries to retainers or keepe any about him but necessarie seruants Hee died on Palmesonday the 16. of March Ann. Dom. 1409. On her right side is the pourtraiture of her second husband Thomas Duke of Clarence second soune of King Henry the fourth Lord high Steward of England Constable of the Kings Host and Lieutenant Generall of his Armie in France who after his many fortunate euents in warre was the first man that was slaine in the battell of Baugy vpon Easter Eue An. Do. 1420. by one Iohn Swinton a Scot who wounded him in the face with his Launce as he was remounting hauing giuen singular demonstration of his great valour and so threw him to the ground And with him that day were slaine many of exemplarie note besides 4500. common Souldiers This Duke had borne forth his youth
non est mihi crede tacendum Anglorum Primas sub primo culmine primas Qui tennit sedes melius dum sperat in edes Hunc Rex compellit eum de sede repellit Dum Simon Rome supplantat federa Thome Hic Thomas natus Comitis fuit intitulatus Clericus aptatus Doctor de iure creatus Legibus ornatus facundus moringeratus Cam Christo gratus in plebe que magnisicatus O quam preclarus tam purus immaculatus Ad Regale latus tandem fuit illaqueatus Tramite subtili latitans plus vulpe senili Rex studet in sine Thomam prostrare ruine De tribus audistis cum Rex scelus intulit istis Presul adiutor fuit hijs quodammodo tutor Non contra legem sed ab ira flectere Regem Nomine pastoris temptauerat omnibus horis Semper erat talis restat dum spes aliqualis Sicanira mortem poterat saluasse cohortem Rex â—â—lit hoc triste quod Cancellarius iste Tempore quo stabat hos tres constanter amabat Sic procurator pius extitit Mediator Cartas quod Regis habuerunt munere legis Pontificis more summi pro Regis amore Sic pacem mittit mortis gladiumque remittit Hec ita fecisset pactum si Rex tenuisset Sed que iurauit hodie cras verba negauit Cernite pro quali culpa magis in speciali Pontiâ—ici tali sine causa materiali Rex fuit iratus sed altera causa reatus Est plus secreta tunc Rome quando moneta Simonis ex parte Papam concludit in aâ—tâ— Ecce per has causas sub Regis pectore clausas Hec scelus obiecit Thome qui nil male secit Regis fautores super hoc tunc anteriores Fraudibus obtentum concludunt Parliamentum Sic de finali Rex pondere iudiciali Exilio demit Thomam nee amore redemit Sic Pater absque pare quem Rex spoliauit auare Partes ignotas tunc querit habere remotas Sic pius Antistes casus pro tempore tristes Sustinet curam sperat reuocare futuram Christus eum ducat saluet que salute reducat Si vt vterque status sit ei cum laude beatus Vpon his restauration to this his Bishopricke by Henry the fourth Duke of Lancaster the same Author thus writes Iustos laudauit iniustos vituperauit Hos confirmauit hos deprimit hos releuauis Regni primatem crudelem per feritatem Quem Rex explantat Dux ex pietate replantat Henry Chichley Bishop of this See lies here on the North side of the Presbitery in a Tombe built by himselfe in his life time hee was borne at Highamâ—errys in Northamptonshire where he began the foundation of a goodly Colledge and an Hospitall which were finished by his two brethren his Executours Hee was brought vp in New Colledge in Oxford where he proceeded Doctor of Law and where he founded two Colledges one called Bernard Colledge renewed by Sir Thomas White and named Saint Iohns Colledge and all Soules Colledge which yet continueth in the same estate he left it one of the fairest in that Vniuersitie Hee was employed much in embassages by King Henry the fourth who preferred him to the Bishopricke of Saint Dauids where he sate fiue yeares and was then translated hither by his sonne King Henry the fifth He was a man happie enioying alwayes his Princes fauour wealth honour and all kinde of prosperity many yeares wise in gouerning his See worthily bountifull in bestowing his goods to the behoofe of the common-wealth And lastly stout and seuere in due administration of iustice When hee had gouerned this Sec. 29. yeares a longer time then euer any did in fiue hundred yeares before him he died April 12. Ann. 1443. Vpon whose Monument I finde this Epitaph Hic iacet Hen Chicheley L. Doctor quondam Cancellarius Sarum â—ui anno 7. Hen. 4. Regis ad Gregorium Papam 12. in Ambassiata transmissus in Ciuitate Senensi per manus eiusdem Pape in Episcopum Meneuensâ—m consecratus est Hic etiam Henricus anno 2. Hen. 5. Regis in hac sancta Ecclesia in Archiepiscopum postulatus à Ioanne Papa 23. ad eandem translatus qui obijâ— anno Dom. 1443. Mensâ—â— Apr. deâ— 12. Cetus sanctorâ—m 〈…〉 iste precetur Vt Deus ipsorum merâ—â—â—s â—â—bâ— propictetur I finde another more vnlearned Epitaph of him by which he is but little honoured being such an especiall furtherer of learning Pauper eram natus post Primas hic â—â—euatus â—am sum prostratus vermiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 paraius Ecce meum tumulum M. CCCC.XLIII Here lies interred in the Martyrdome an Archbishop very noble and no lesse learned one of the honourable familie of the Staffords sonne saith the Catalogue of Bishops vnto the Earle of Stafford but I finde no such thing in all the Catalogues of Honour a man much fauoured by King Henry the fifth wo preferred him first to the Deanrie of Wells gaue him a Prebend in the Church of Salisbury made him one of his priuie Councell and in the end Treasurer of England And then although this renowned King was taken away by vntimely death yet hee still went forward in the way of promotion and obtained the Bishopricke of Bath and Welles which with great wisedome hee gouerned eighteene yeares from whence he was remoued to this of Canterbury in which he sate almost nine yeares and in the meane time was made Lord Chancellour of England which office hee held eighteene yeares which you shall hardly finde any other man to haue done vntill waxing wearie of so painfull a place he voluntarily resigned it ouer into the Kings hands And about three yeares after that died at Maidstone Iuly 6. Ann. 1452. Vpon a flat marble stone ouer him I finde this consabulatorie Epitaph Quis fuit enuclees quem celas saxeâ— moles Stafford Antistes fuerat dictusque Iohannes Qua sedit sede marmor queso simul ede Pridem Bathonie Regni totius inde Primas egregius Pro presule funde precatus Aureolam gratus huic det de Virgine natus Much more may be read of this Bishop in the booke called Antiquitates Britannicae penned by Mathew Parker Archbishop of this place and in the Catalogue of Bishops by Francis Godwin Bishop of Hereford as also in the Catalogues of the Lords Chancellours and Treasurers of England collected by Francis Thinne In a decent Monument on the South side of the Presbitery Iohn Kempe Archbishop of this See lieth interred who was borne at Wye in this County of Kent brought vp at Oxford in Merton Colledge where hee proceeded Doctor of Law Hee was made first Archdeacon of Durham then Deane of the Arches and Vicar generall vnto the Archbishop Stafford Not long after he was aduanced to the Bishopricke of Rochester remoued thence to Chichester from Chichester to London from London to Yorke from Yorke to Canterbury he was first Cardinall of the title of Saint Balbine
fashion in former times fetched from the French which they call rebus or name-deuises examples of the same are frequent Neare to this Church sometime stood that goodly Abbey founded by Stephen king of England grandchilde to the Conquerour dedicated to Saint Sauiour replenished with blacke Monkes of Cluni valued at the suppression to be well worth according to the fauourable rate of such endowments in those dayes 286. l. 12. s. 6. d. ob yearely such was the charter of his donation Stephanus Rex c. Archiepiscopis Episcopis c. salutem Sciatis me pro salute anime mee Matildis Regine vxoris mee Eustachij filij mei aliorum puerorum meorum antecessorum Regum Anglie dedisse c. Manerium meum de Fauresham ad fundand Abbatiam vnam ibidem ae ordine Monachorum Cluniacensium c. Sciatis etiam quod dedimus ego et Matildis Regina mea Willelmo de Ipra in Escambium pro eodem Manerio de Fauresham Lillechire cum pertinencijs suis de hereditate Regine Teste H. Episcopo Winton fratre meo Rogero Episcopo de London Richardo de Lucy Hen. de Essex c. This king died at Douer of an Iliack passion mixed with his old disease the Emrods Octob. 25. 1154. hauing raigned 18. yeares ten moneths and odde dayes and was buried in this Church of his owne foundation Of which heare these ancient rimes Aftur king Harry euyn Then regnyd king Stevyn The Erlys son Bloys he was truly He wedded Mold the doghter of Mary A good man he was bedeme I trow king Harry was his Eme He regnyd here XUIII yere And to Feuersham in Kent men him bere He deyed without issue truly Then regnyd his cosin Harry Stephen was a most worthy Souldier saith one and wanted nothing to haue made him an excellent king but a iust title but that was wanting The whiche he found whyles he was liuing so And reigned here in much trouble and wo. And had this Realme without any ryght Fro th'emprise Maude that faire Lady bryght And this was the cause that he was driuen perforce to defend his vsurâ—ped authoritie by the sword which must needs procure him the hatred of many who thus speake of him in old English King Stephen his luthenesse withdrew yers a fewe But er Uyer were goo he ganne to wex a shrewe For he wende aboute and robbyd the lond and to grownd broght Then the toune of Wyrcester he brent all to noght But to conclude with the words of a late writer This Stephen was a man so continually in motion saith he that we cannot take his dimension but onely in passing and that but on one side which was warre on the other we neuer saw but a glaunce on him which yet for the most part was such as shewed him to be a very worthy Prince for the gouernment Hee kept his word with the State concerning the relieuement of Tributes and neuer had Subsidy that we finde But which is more remarkable hauing his sword continually out and so many defections and rebellions against him hee neuer put any great man to death Besides it is noted that notwithstanding all these miseries of war there were more Abbeyes built in his raigne then in an 100. yeares before which shewes though the times were bad they were not impious the king himselfe being mente piissimus as he was miles egregius His body rested here in quietnesse vntill the dissolution when for the gaine of the lead wherein it was encoffined it was taken vp and throwne into the next water So vncertaine is man yea greatest Princes of any rest in this world euen after buriall Here sometime likewise lay interred Maud his wife the daughter of Eustace Earle of Bulloigne the brother of Godfrey and Baldwin of Bulloigne kings of Ierusalem by her mother Mary sister to Maud Queene of England wife of Henry her predecessour who dyed at Heueningham Castle in Essex the third of May 1151. Whose Epitaph I found in a namelesse Manuscript Anno milleno C. quinquagenoque primo Quo sua non minuit sed sibi nostra tulit Mâ—thildis selix coniux Stephani quoque Regis Occidit insignis moribus et titulis Cultrix vera Dei cultrix et pauperiei Hic subnixa Deo quo frueretur eo Femina si qua Polos conscendere queque meretur Angelicis manibus diua hec Regina tenetur Eustace the sonne and heire apparant of Stephen and Queene Maud liued not long after his mother for being highly displeased with the agreement betwixt his father and Henry Fitzempresse afterwards king of England by which he was made hopelesse euer to haue the Crowne as his fathers Successour in a fury he departed the Court purposing to raise himselfe by his owne meanes and so marched along destroying the countrey alwayes as he went vntill he came to Saint Edmundsbury where he was honourably receiued of the Monkes of that Monastery But hee came not for meat but money and thereupon vngratefully vrged them for a great summe to set forward his heady designes yet the wiser amongst them vnwilling to be wagers of new warres which though ill for all sorts yet proued euer worst for the Clargie mens possessions denyed his request Wherewith eâ—raged be commanded his owne men to carry their corne and other prouision into his owne Castle situated hard by But being set at dinner the very first morsell he put into his mouth draue him into a Frensie whereof shortly after he dyed His body was brought to this Abbey and here interred by his mother His death happened the tenth day of August 1152. He was married to Constance sister of Lewis the seuenth king of France daughter of king Lewis the Grosse by whom he had no issue In this Abbey saith Robert of Glocester is a pece of ye hely croys which Godfrey Boylon forkyndred had sent to king Stephene Tunstall Hic iacet Margareta filia Iacobi Cromer militis vxor Iohannis Rycils heredis de Elsingham .... qui obiit ... 1496. Sittingborne Here lyeth Iohn Crowmer Esquire and Ione his wife who died Ann. Dom. 1539 .... on whose soules A family of knightly descent and ample reuenues one of which house called William Crowmer Esquire sonne of Sir William Lord Maior of London high Shiriffe of Kent in the fury of Iack Cade and the Kentish and Essex rebells was sacrificed at Mile-end and cut shorter by the head like as the day before they had serued Sir Iames Fienes Lord Say and Sele and Treasurer of England in Cheape-side whose onely daughter this Crowmer had married Whose heads giue me leaue to go a little further pitched vpon high poles were carried by the villaines through the Citie of London who caused their trunklesse faces in spight and mockerie to kisse one the other at euery street-corner as they marched along in this their damnable triumph and
and lastly put out the Almesmen from their houses appointing them xii d. the weeke to each person The Church of this Hospitall is now a preaching place for the French Nation Saint Martins Outwich Ecclesie Rector huius Iohn Breux tumulatus Artibus doctor vermibus esca datus Prebendam quondam cicestrensem retinebat Quem Petronille lux tulit e medio M. C. quater quinquageno nono sociato Sic predotatus vertitur in cinerem Augustine Fryers This religious house was founded in the well meaning deuotion of former times by Humphrey Bohun the fift of that name Earle of Hereford and Essex 1253. and was afterward reedified by Humphrey Bohun the ninth of that name Earle of Hereford and Essex Lord of Brecknocke and Constable of England who died Anno 1361. and was buried in the Quire of this Church This Frierie dedicated to the honour of Saint Augustine was valued vpon the surrender to King Henry the eight to 57 l. 4 s. per annum Here sometime did lie entombed the body of Richard Fitz-Alan the fourth of that name Earle of Arundell and Surrey who with Thomas Duke of Glocester Thomas Earle of Warwicke Henry Earle of Derby afterwards King of England and others combined and sware each to other against Robert Vere Duke of Ireland and Michael de la Pole Duke of Suffolke for abusing and misleading the King for which and some other causes which Richard the second obiected against them some of them were banished others condemned to perpetuall imprisonment and this Richard beheaded on the Tower hill Septemb. Anno 1397. the constancie of whose carriage at his arraignement passage and execution in all which he did not once discolour the honour of his bloud with any degenerous word looke or action encreased the enuy of his death vpon his prosecutors Here likewise lay sumptuously interred Iohn Vere the xii Earle of Oxford and Aubrey his eldest sonne who with Sir Thomas Tudensa knight who was also here buried and others their Councellors either through malice of their enemies or some offence conceiued by King Edward the fourth were attainted by Act of Parliament anno primo Edward 4 and put to Execution vpon the Tower hill the 26 of February 1461. William Lord Berkeley of Berkeley Castle honoured with the tâ—tâ—es of Viscount and Marquesse Berkely Earle of Nottingham and Earle Marshall of England was here inhumed who died Ann. 1492. This William as I had it from my deceased friend Aug. Vincent by his deed dated the third of Nouember Ann. 6. Hen. 7 gaue one hundreâ— pounds to the Prior of this house for two Masses to be said presently and for euer at the Altar of our Lady and Saint Iames. Betweene which Altars the body of his wife Ioan who liued but a few dayes with him and is not at all mentioned in the Catalogues of Honour was buried who was the widow of Sir William Willoughbie before the marriage with the Marquesse And to pray for the prosperous estate of the said Marquesse and of Anne his then wife and of Edward Willoughby Richard Willoughby Anne Beauchampe and Elisabeth Willoughbie with all the issue of the said William and Ioane and especially for the soules health of the said Ioane and of Katherine her mother Duchesse of Norfolke Here sometime lay sumptuously entombed the body of Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham who by the sleights and practises of Cardinall Wolsey fell into displeasure with king Henry the eight and being condemned of high Treason for that among other matters hee had consulted with a Monke or wizard about succession of the Crowne was beheaded on the Tower hill May the 17. 1521. He was a noble Gentleman exceedingly much lamented of good men Of whose death when the Emperour Charles the fifth heard he said that a Butchers dogge meaning the Cardinall a Butchers sonne had deuoured the fairest Buck alluding to the name of Buckingham in all England Here was interred the bodie of Edward the eldest sonne of Edward the blacke Prince by Ioan his wife surnamed the faire Maide of Kent who was borne at Angolesme Ann. 1375. and died at 7. yeares of age Many of the Barons slaine at Barnet-field vpon Easterday 1471. were buried here in the bodie of the Church but now their bodies with these before remembred and the bodies of an hundred more mentioned by Stow of exemplarie note and knights degree are not onely despoiled of all outward funerall ornaments but digged vp out of their Requietories and dwelling houses raised in the place which was appointed for their eternall rest Some part of this Church is at this day yet standing but in that no monument of this kinde is remaining for it is conuerted into a Church for the Duch-Inhabitants of this Citie who in that kinde can hardly brooke any reuerend Antiquitie Saint Botolphs Bishopsgate Hic iacet Cardina vxor Richardi Shoder militis Iohanna filia eorundem ...... 14. April 1471. Sub hoc marmore iacet corpus Iohannis Redman quondam huius Ecclesie Rectoris benemerentissimi qui ab hac luce migrauit tertio die Iulij Ann. Dom. 1523. Neare to this gate if wee giue credit to our owne ancient Chronicles Nennius the sonne of Hely and brother of Lud and Cassibelane kings ouer the warlike Britaines was interred A man of a magnanimous spirit heroicall and valiant Who in the warres betweene Iulius Cesar and the Britaines sought couragiously in defence of his countrey causing Cesar to flie backe with the losse of his sword which Nennius tooke from him in single encounter and with which he slew Labienus Tribune of the Romane Nobilitie But the fifteenth day after this single opposition hee died of a wound receiued at the hands of Cesar in the same conflict the yeare of the worlds creation 3913. before the birth of our alone Sauiour 51. And here as I haue said was entombed with all funerall state and solemnitie and with him the sword which he tooke from Cesar the Emperour as he himselfe commanded Which sword was called Reddeath or rather Readie-death wherewith if any one had beene neuer so little wounded he could neuer escape with life Which you shall haue in such old verse as came to my hands At the north yate of London hii buriede this gud knyght And buriede in hys chest the swerd that was so bryght That he wan of the Emperor wythe grete honor enough That Reddedeth was ycluped whar with he hym slough I buriede wyth hym hit was as in tokneyinge Of hys Proesse that he hit wan of on so heigh a kyng I haue some other of the same subiect but of later times if you will reade them But Neminus brother of Cassybalayne Full manly fought on Iulius tymes twayne With strokes sore ayther on other bette But at the last this Prince syr Iulius Crosea mors his swerde in shelde sette Of the manly worthy Sir Neminus Whiche of manly
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
in Philosophie both naturall and morall in Physicke and the canon Law very eloquent an excellent Preacher and esteemed so profound a Diuine as he was thought meete to be the professour of Diuinity or Doctor of the Chaire in the Vniuersitie of Tholouze For these his good gifts hee was much fauoured of the blacke Prince then of King Richard his sonne who preferred him to the Bishopricke of the Isle of Man from that preferment he was translated to the Archbishopricke of Dublin in Ireland thence to Chichester and lastly to the Archbishopricke of Yorke where he sate not fully three yeares but died the 29. of May 1397. His Epitaph is quite worne or torne away from his monument yet I found it in a Manuscript in Sir Robert Cottons Librarie Hic fuit expertus in quouis iure Robertus De Walbye dictus nunc est sub marmore strictus Sacre Scripture Doctor fuit et geniture Ingenuus medicus Plebis semper amicus Presul Adurensis post hec Archas Dublinensis Hinc Cicestrensis tandem Primus Eborensis Quarto Kalend Iunij migrauit cur sibus anni Milleni ter C. septem nonies quoque deni Vos precor orate quod sint sibi dona beate Cum sanctis vite requiescat et hic sine lite In an old riming Manuscript of the succession of the Archbishops of Yorke I finde thus much of this man Tunc Robertus ordinis Fratris Augustini Ascendit in Cathedram Primatis Paulini Lingua scientificus sâ—rmonis Latini Anno primo proximat vite sue fini De carnis ergastulo Presul euocatur Gleba sui corporu Westminstre humatur Here vnder a marble stone in the Chappell royall lyeth the body of Iohn Waltham Lord Bishop of Salisbury who had beene master of the Rolles keeper of the priuie Seale and Treasurer of England in which office he continued till his death which happened in the yeare 1395. hauing sate bishop 7 yeares and executed the Treasurorship foure yeares King Richard the second loued him entirely and greatly bewailed his death In token whereof hee commanded that hee should be buried here among the Kings hoc anno saith Walshingham viz. in the yeare 1395. obijt Iohannes de Waltham Episcopus Sarum regni Thesaurarius qui tantum Regi complacuerit vt etiam multis licet murmurantibus apud monasterium inter Reges meruit sepulturam He lieth in the pauement vnder a flat marble stone iust beside King Edward the first vpon which his Epitaph was inlayd in brasse with his portraiture in Episcopall robes now defaced and almost quite perished Here lyeth another Bishop here buried but not in so conspicuous and princely a place of the Church as doth Waltham who was likewise by the Kings speciall commandement here inhumed for that he was accounted a very holy and vertuous man namely one Richard de Wendouer Parson of Bromley and Bishop of Rochester who died in the yeare 1250. and in the raigne of King Henry the third Here lieth interred Sir Humfrey Bourchier Lord Cromwell the sonne of Henry Bourchier Earle of Essex by Isabell daughter of Richard Earle of Cambridge and sister to Richard Duke of Yorke who in aide of his kinsman King Edward the fourth was slaine at Barnet field vpon Easter day 1471. And here lieth interred another Humfrey Bourchier who was the sonne and heire of Iohn Bourchier Lord Berners who was also slaine at the same battaile to whose memories this Epitaph yet remaines Hic Pugil ecce iacens Bernet fera bella cupiscens Certat vt Eacides fit saucius vndique miles Vt cecidit vulnus Mars porrigit arma cruore Sparsim tincta rubent dolor en lachrimabilis hora Lumine nempe cadit quo christus morte resurgit Bourchier Humfridus clara propagine dictus Edwardi Regis qui tertius est vocitatus Iohn Domini Berners proles et paruulus heres Quartus et Edwardus belli tenet ecce triumphum Quo perit Humfridus vt Regis vernula verus Cyronomon mense sponse Regis fuit iste Elisabeth sibi sic sua virtus crescit honore Armis conspicuus quondam charusque Britannis Hic fuit Vt celis viuat deposcite votis Here lieth entombed in a slight monument in the wall Thomas Mylling sometime Abbot of this Monastery from whence he was preferred to the Bishopricke of Hereford by King Edward the fourth vnder whom he was of the priuie Councell and was Godfather to Prince Edward his eldest Sonne He was a Monke of this house being but a youth and then went to Oxford where he studied vntill hee proceeded Doctor of Diuinitie in which time he attained good knowledge in the Greeke tongue which in those dayes was geason saith the reuerend Author of the Bishops Catalogue He died in the yeare 1493. Here in an obscure place of this Church lieth the body of Hugoline Chamberlaine to King Edward the Confessor of whom this Storie is written in the life of the said Edward King Edward one afternoone lying in his bed with his curtaines round about him drawne a poore pilfering Courtier came into his Chamber where finding the Kings Casket open which Hugolin had forgotten to shut he tooke out so much money as hee could well carry and went away but insatiable desire brought him againe the second and third time for such a ready prey vntill the King who lay still all this while and would not seeme to see began to speake to him and bade him speedily be packing for he was well if he could see for if Hugoline came and tooke him there he were not onely like to loose all that he had gotten but also to stretch an halter The fellow was no sooner gone but Hugoline came in and finding the Casket open and much money taken away was greatly moued But the king willed him not to be grieued For said he he that hath it hath more need of it then we haue This Hugolin saith M. Camden was buried in the old Chapter house of this Church Vpon whose Monument these sillie verses were engrauen Qui ruis iniuste capit hic Hugoline locus te Laude pia clares quia martyribus nece clareâ— For learning in this kings dayes was so low ebbed in England that betweene Thames and Trent there was scant one found which could vnderstand Latine This passage of the aforesaid pilfery is delineated and wrought in the Hangings about the Quire with the Portraitures of the king Hugolin and the Theefe vnder which are these verses Ecce nimis parca furis manus exit ab archa Celat opus furis pietas non regula iuris Tolle quod habes et fuge Hic iacet Willelmus Bedel Ar. et Cecilia vx eius filia heres Domini Roberti Grene militis ac etiam heres domini Iohannis Cley militis qui quidem Willelmus fuit Thesaurarius Hospitij excellentissimi Principis Margarete nuper Comitisse Richmondie Darbie matris Regis Henrici
septimi nec non Thesaurarius Hospitij reuerendissimi Patris domini huius regni Cancellarij titulo Sancte Cecilie trans Tiberim sacro sancte Romane Ecclesie Presbyteri Cardinalis ordinati Qui quidem Willelmus ob 3. Iulij 1518. Here is an Epitaph cut in Brasse vpon a marble stone now almost worne out which was made to the memory of one Robert Haule Esquire murdered in this Church the manner whereof our Chronicles doe thus briefely relate In the battell of Nazers in Spaine this Robert Haule or Hawley and Iohn Schakell Esquires tooke the Earle of Dene prisoner who deliuered vnto them his sonne and heire as a pledge for assurance of performances Not long after this their Hostage was demanded by Iohn Duke of Lancaster in the Kings name whom they denyed to deliuer for which they were clapt in the Tower from whence escaping here they tooke Sanctuary to whom Sir Raph Ferreis and Sir Alan Buxhull with fifty armed men were secretly sent to doe this mischiefe who finding them at high Masse first drew Schakell by a wile out of the priuiledge of the Church then offering to lay hands on Hawley he manfully resisting with his short sword made them all flie off But in the end he was slaine in the Chancell commending himselfe in his last words to God the reuenger of such iniuries and to the liberty of our holy mother the Church With him was slaine a seruant of his thrust into the backe with a Iauelin and a Monke who intreated for him in respect of the holinesse of the place This wicked act was perpetrated the 11. of August 1378. the second of Richard the second These words following now onely remaining vpon his Monument Me dolus ira furor multorum militis atque ................... ..... in hoc gladijs celebri pietatis asylo Dum leuita Dei sermonis legit ad aram Proh dolor ipse meo Monachorum sanguine vultus Aspersi moriens chorus est mihi testis in evum Et me nunc retinet sacer is locus Haule Robertum Hic quia pestiferos male sensi primitus enses .................. Hic iacet Thomas Ruthal Episcopus Dunelmensis Regis Henrici septimi Secretarius qui obijt 1524. To this short Inscription Godwin in his Catalogue addeth a long story of the life and death of this Bishop Who was borne in Cicester saith he in the County of Glocester and brought vp in Cambridge where he proceeded Doctor of Law He was preferred to the Bishopricke of Durham by King Henry the seuenth after whose death hee was made one of the priuie Councell vnto the young King Henry the eight who esteemed greatly of him for his wisedome and learning and imployed him often in ambassages and other businesses of importance Amongst the rest it pleased the king one time to require him to set downe his iudgement in writing concerning the estate of his kingdome in generall and particularly to enforme him in certaine things by him specified This discourse the Bishop writ very carefully and caused it to be bound in Velime gilt and otherwise adorned in the best manner Now you shall vnderstand that it chanced himselfe about the same time to set downe a note of his owne priuate estate which in goods and ready money amounted to the summe of one hundred thousand pounds This account was written in a paper booke of the same fashion and binding that the other was which was prouided for the king Whereby it happened that the king sending Cardinall Wolsey for the other draught which he had so long before required of him the Bishop mistaking deliuered that which contained an estimate of his owne infinite Treasure This the Cardinall soone espying and willing to doe the Bishop a displeasure deliuered it as he had receiued it vnto the King shewing withall how the Bishop had very happily mistaken himselfe for now quoth he you see where you may at any time command a great masse of money if you need it As soone as the Bishop vnderstood his errour the conceit thereof touched him so neare that within a short spaâ—â— after hee died at his house here in the Strand His intention was to haue repaired the Church of Cicester to haue built Bridges as he had begun that ouer the Riuer of Tyne and to haue done many other deeds of charitie if hee had not beene preuented by death Here lieth the body of Sir William Trussell knight and speaker of that Parliament wherein Edward the second king of England resigned his Diadâ—me and all ensignes of Maiestie to Edward his eldest Sonne This Trussell saith an ancient Author was a Iudge who could fit the house with quirks of Law to colour so lawlesse and treasonable an act as the deposing of a lawfull king And thereupon was chosen in the behalfe of the whole Realme to renounce all homage and obedience to the Lord Edward of Carnarvon his Soueraigne Lord and King The forme of which renunciation was by him the said Trussell pronounced at Kenelworth Castle the 20. of Ianuary 1326. in these disgracefull words which you may finde in Polychronicon I William Trussel in the name of al men of the lond of Engelond and of the Parliament Prolocutor resigne to the Edward the homage that was made to the somtym and from this tym forward now folowyng I defye the and priue the of al royal Powyr and shal neuer be tendant to the as for Kyng aftyr this tyme. The time of this Trussels death I cannot learne Here lieth interred before the Communion Table the body of Richard de Ware or Warren Abbot of this Monastery and sometime Lord Treasurer of England Who going to Rome for his consecration brought from thence certaine workmen and rich Porphery stones whereof and by whom hee made that curious singular rare pauement before the high Altar in which are circulary written in letters of brasse these ten verses following containing a discourse as one saith of the worlds continuance Si Lector posita prudenter cuncta reuoluat Hic finem primi mobilis inveniet Sepes trina canes equos homines super addas Ceruos coruos aquilas immania cete Mundi quodque sequens pereuntis triplicat annos Sphericus Archetypum globus hic monstrat Macrocosmum Christi milleno bis centeno duodeno Cum sexageno subductis quatuor anno Tertius Henricus Rex vrbs Odoricus Abbas Hos compegere Porphyreos lapides With these stones and workmen he did also frame the Shrine of Edward the Confessor with these verses Anno milleno Domini cum septuageno Et bis centeno cum completo quasi deno Hoc opus est factum quod Petrus duxit in actum Romanus ciuis Homo causam noscere si vis Rex fuit Henricus Sancti presentis amicus This Abbot died the second day of December 1283. after he had gouerned this Monastery three and twenty yeares and more Vpon whose grauestone this briefe
whencesoeuer he come or for what offence or cause it be either for his refuge into the said holy place he be assured of his life liberty and limbes And ouer this I forbid vnder the paine of euerlasting damnation that no Minister of mine or of my Successours intermeddle them with any the goods lands or possessions of the said persons taking the said Sanctuary for I haue taken their goods and liuelode into my speciall protection and therefore I grant to euery each of them in as much as my terrestriall power may suffice all manner freedome of ioyous liberty and whosoeuer presumes or doth contrary to this my Grant I will he lose his name worship dignitie and power And that with the great traytor Iudas that betrayed our Sauiour he be in the euerlasting fire of hell And I will and ordaine that this my grant endure as long as there remaineth in England either loue or dread of Christian name King Edward the third built in the little Sanctuarie a Clochard of stone and timber and placed therein three bells for the vse of Saint Stephens Chappell About the biggest Bell was engrauen or cast in the mettall these words King Edward made mee thirtie thousand weight and three Take mee downe and wey mee and more you shall fynd mee But these Bells being to be taken downe in the raigne of King Henry the eight one writes vnderneath with a coale But Henry the eight will bait me of my weight In the Steeple of the great Church in the Citie of Roane in Normandy is one great Bell with the like Inscription Ie suis George de Ambios Qui trente cinque mille pois Mes lui qui me pesera Trente six mill me trouera I am George of Ambois Thirtie five thousand in pois But he that shall weigh me Thirtie six thousand shall find mee One lately hauing taken view of the Sepulchres of so many Kings Nobles and other eminent persons interred in this Abbey of Westminster made these rimes following which he called A Memento for Mortalitie Mortalitie behold and feare What a change of flesh is here Thinke how many royall bones Sleepe within this heape of stones Hence remou'd from beds of ease Daintie â—are and what might please Fretted roofes and costlie showes To a roofe that flats the nose Which proclaimes all flesh is grasse How the worlds faire Glories passe That there is no trust in Health In youth in age in Greatnesse wealth For if such could haue repriu'd Those had beene immortall liu'd Know from this the worlds a snare How that greatnesse is but care How all pleasures are but paine And how short they do remaine For here they lye had Realmes and Lands That now want strength to stirre their hands Where from their pulpits seel'd with dust They preach In Greatnesse is no trust Here 's an Aker sowne indeed With the richest royall seed That the earth did ere sucke in Since the first man dy'd for sin Here the bones of birth haue cry'd Though Gods they were as men haue dy'd Here are sands ignoble things Dropt from the ruin'd sides of Kings With whom the poore mans earth being showne The difference is not easily knowne Her 's a world of pompe and state Forgotten dead disconsolate Thinke then this Sithe that mowes downe kings Exempts no meaner mortall things Then bid the wanton Lady tread Amid these mazes of the dead And these truly vnderstood More shall coole and quench the blood Then her many sports a day And her nightly wanton play Bid her paint till day of doome To this fauour she must come Bid the Merchant gather wealth The vsurer exact by stealth The proud man beate it from his thought Yet to this shape all must be brought Chappell of our Lady in the Piew Neare vnto the Chappell of Saint Stephen was sometime a smaller Chappell called our Lady of the Piew but by whom first founded I cannot finde To this Lady great offerings were vsed to be made Richard the second after the ouerthrow of Wat. Tilar as I haue read and other the Rebels in the fourth of his raigne went to Westminster and there giuing thankes to God for his victory made his offering in this Chappell By the negligence of a Scholler forgetting to put forth the Lights of this Chappell the Image of our Lady richly decked with Iewels precious stones Pearles and Rings more then any Ieweller saith he could iudge the price was with all the apparell and ornaments belonging thereunto as also the Chappell it selfe burnt to ashes It was againe reedified by Antony Widâ—uile Earle Riuers Lord Scales Vncle and Gouernour to the Prince of Wales that should haue beene King Edward the fifth Who was vniustly beheaded at Pomfret by the procurement of Richard Crook-backe Duke of Glocester then Lord Protectour the 13. of Iune 1483. Saint Margaret in Westminster Adioyning on the North side of the Abbey standeth Saint Margarets the Parish Church of the Citie of Westminster reedified for the most in the raigne of King Edward the fourth especially the South Isle from the piety of the Lady Marye Billing and her second husband Sir Thomas Billing chief Iustice of England in that Kings time Whose Monument with that to the memorie of her first husband William Cotton Esquire I haue here expressed Here lieth Dame Mary Bylling late wife to Sir Thomas Bylling Knight chiefe Iustice of England and to William Coton and Thomas Lacy which Mary died the 14 day of March in the yeare of our Lord God 1499. Blessed Lady c. haue mercy c. Ant Mary gratia plena on me haue mercy on me haue mercy Ecce ancila dom Fiat 〈…〉 secund uerbu tuuÌ„ 〈…〉 〈…〉 The inheritance of this Lady was the Lordship of Connington in Huntingtonshire The seate once of Turketell the Dane Earle of the East Angles who inuited ouer Swain King of Denmarke to inuade this kingdome He exiâ—'d with most of his Nation by Saint Edmond the Confessor This his seate with other his large possessions were giuen by the same King to Walthâ—oâ— Earle of Northumberland and Huntington to whom the first William gaue in marriage the Lady Iudithe his sisters daughter This Lordship with the Earledome of Huntington by the marriage of Mary that Earles daughter to Dauid the sonne of the first Malcolme King of Scots and the holy Margaret his wife Neece to Edward the King Confessor Grandchilde to Edmond surnamed Ironside King of the English Saxons and sister and heire to Edgar surnamed Ethelinge by which marriage the Stemme Royall of the Saxons became vnited into the bloud Royall of the Scottish Kings in whose male lyne that Earldome and this Lordship continued vntill Isabell the daughter and heire of Dauid Earle of Huntington and brother to Malcome William and Alexander successiue Kings of that kingdome brought them both by her marriage to Robert de Brus into that family She leauing the iust clayme of the Crowne of Scotland to Robert her eldest sonne whose sonne
and hooked at the ends with two hookes of iron and so to cast them into a place called the Blacke deepes at the Thames mouth whereby they should neuer rise vp or be any more seene To which effect I haue seene their Epitaph written by Thomas Stanley Bishop of Man Parson of Winwicke and Wigan in Lancashire who â—lourished in the seuerall raignes of King Henry the eight Edward the sixt Queene Mary and Queene Elizabeth thus it runs in his Lancashire rimes In Londons Toure in one plase or anoder Interryd lay Kyng Edward and his Broder Who by there wicked Eme were guyltles sleyne And basely beryd yet tooke vp ageyne And cast into the blacke deepes at Tems mouth Now whether wreckt or tost from North to South Their reliques are it recks not ther soules rest In Heu'n amangst Gods children euer blest They weren murdered in Iuly 1483. Edward being thirteene yeres old and Richard about some two yeres yonger The iust iudgement of God seuerely reuenged the murther of these innocent Princes vpon the malefactors For first to begin with the Ministers Miles Forrest at Saint Martins peece-meale rotted away Sir Iames Tirrilâ— died at Tower hill for treason committed against Henry the seuenth Dighton indeed saith my Author who liued in those times walketh on aliue in good possibility to be hanged ere he die liuing at Calleis no lesse distained and hated then pointed at of all King Richard himselfe was slaine in the field hacked and hewed of his enemies hands harried on a horse backe naked being dead his haire in despite torne and tugged like a curre dogge And the mischiefe that he tooke was within lesse then three yeares of the mischiefe that he did and yet all the meane time spent in much paine and trouble outward and much feare anguish and sorrow within For I haue heard by credible report of his Chamberlaine that after this abhominable deed done he neuer was quiet in his minde he neuer thought himselfe sure for where he went abroad his eyes euer whirled about his body was priuily fenced his hand was euer on his dagger his countenance and manner was like one euer ready to strike againe he tooke ill rest a nights lay long waking and musing sore wearied with care and watch rather slumbred then slept troubled with fearefull dreames sodainly some times start vp leapt out of his bed and ran about the chambers so was his restlesse heart continually tossed and tumbled with the tedious impression and stormy remembrance of his execrable murthers Persius makes an imprecation to Iupiter that hee would punish Kings committing such horride actions with this horrour of conscience thus Great Father of the gods when cruell lust Touch'd with inflaming venome moues th' vniust Corrupted disposition of fierce Kings To act unworthy and vnkingly things Punish them onely thus Let them but see Faire vertue and their lost felicitie Then shall their bowels yearne and they shall crie In secret and waxe pale and pine and die But here enough of King Richard vntill I come to Leicester and there to the place of his buriall Chelsey On the south side of the Quire of this Church vnder a plaine Monument lieth the body of Sir Thomas More Lord Chancelor of England beheaded on the Tower hill for denying of the Kings Supremacie the sixt of Iuly 1535. Ouer his Tombe is an Inscription vpon the wall made by himselfe a little after he gaue ouer his Office of being Chancelour now hardly to be read Thomas Morus vrbe Londinensi familia non celebri sed honesta natus in literis vtcumque versatus quum causas aliquot Iuuenis egisset in forâ— et in vrbe sua pro Shyreâ—o ius dixisset ab inuictissimo Rege Henrico viii cui vni Regum omnium gloria prius inaudita contigit vt Fidei defensor qualem et gladio et calamo se vere prestitit merito vocaretur adscitus in Aulam est delectusque in concilium et creatus Eques Proquestor primum post cancellarius Lancastrie tandem Anglie miro principis fauore factus est Sed interim in publico Regni Senatu lectus est Orator Populi preterea Legatus Regis nonnunquam fuit alias alibi postremo vero Cameraci comes collega iunctus principi Legationis Cuthberto Tunstallo tum Londinensi mox Dunelmensi Episcopo quo viro vix habet orbis hodie quicquam eruditius prudentius melius Ibi inter summos Christiani orbis Monarchas rursus refecta federa redditamque mundo diu desideratam pacem et letissimus vidit et Legatus intersuit Quam superi Pacem firment faxint que perennem In hoc officiorum vel honorum cursu quum ita versaretur vt neque Princeps optimus operam eius improbaret neque nobilibus esset inuisus neque iniucundus populo furibus autem Homicidis Hereticisque molestus Pater eius tandem Ioannes Morus Eques in eum Iudicum ordinem a Principe cooptatus qui Regius Confessus vocatur homo ciuilis innocens mitis misericors eqâ—us integer annis quidem grauis sed corpore plusquam pro etate viuido postquam eo productam sibi vidit vitam vt filium videret Anglie Cancellarium satis in terra iam se moratum ratus lubens migrauit in celum At filius defuncto patre cui quamdiu superarat comparatus inuenis ipse quoque sibi videbatur amissam iam Patrem requirens editos ex se liberos quatuor ac nepotes vndecim respiciens apud animum suum cepit persenescere Auxit hunc affectum animi subsequuta velut adpetentis senâ—â— signum pectoris valetudo deterior Itaque mortalium harum rerum satur quam rem à puero semper optauerat vt vltimos vite sue annos obtineret liberos quibus huâ—us vite negotijs paulatim se subducens futuram posset immortalitatem meditari eam rem tandem sic ceptis annuat Deus indulgentissimi Principis incomparabili beneficio resignatis honoribus impetrauit Atque hoc Sepulchrum sibi quod mortis eam nunquam cessantis adrepere commonefaceret translatis huc prioris vxâ— ris ossibus extruendum curauit Quod ne superstes frustra sibi secerit neue ingruentem trepidus horreat sed desiderio Christi lubens oppetat mortemque vt sibi non omnino mortem sed tanuam vite felicioris inveniat precibus eum Lector optime spirantem precor defunctumque prosequere Sir Thomas More hauing remoued the body of his first wife Ioane to this place intended for his owne buriall composed this Epitaph to her memory which I haue read Clara Thome iacet hic Ioanna vxorcula Mori Qui tumulum Alicie hunc destino quoque tibi Vna mihi dedit hoc coniuncta virentibus unnis Me vocet vt puer trina puella Patrem Altera priuignis que gloria rara Nouerce est Tam pia quam gnatis vix fuit vlla suis. Altera
holy Saints the reliques of blessed Martyrs and the very places of their martyrdome did kindle in times past no small heate of diuine charitie in the mindes of our first Christian Saxon Kings which made Offa the glorious King of the Mercians to recall himselfe from the trace of bloudy warres in great deuotion to goe to Rome and to obtaine of Pope Adrian the first the canonyzation of this martyr Alban in honour of whom the first to our Lord Iesus Christ he founded this monastery about the yeere 795. the Church whereof still remaineth which for bignesse beautie and antiquity is to be had in admiration in the very place where the foresaid Alban suffered his martyrdome He endowed this his gâ—odly fabricke with sufficient reuenues for the maintenance of one hundred blacke Monkes Benedictins and caused the reliques of his new Saint to be taken vp and put in a shrine adorned with gold and pretious stones of inestimable value which was further enriched by his sonne Egfrid and many other succeeding Kings and Princes but now at this day nothing is remaining of this rich Shrine saue a marble stone to couer his sacred Ashes ouer against which on the wall these verses are lately depicted onely to tell vs that such a man there was to whose memory a Shrine was erected Renowned Alban knight first Martyr of this land By Dioclesian lost his life through bloudy hand Who made him soueraigne Lord high Steward of this Isle And Prince of Britaine knights to dignifie his stile He veritie embrac't and Verulam forsooke And in this very place his martyrdome he tooke Now hath he his reward he liues with Christ aboue For he aboue all things Christ and his truth did loue Here Offa Mercians King did Albans bones enshrine So all things were dispos'd by prouidence diuine Nought but this marble stone of Albans Shrine is left The worke of all forme else hath changing time bereft I haue read in an old Mss. in Sir Robert Cottons Librarie that this following was anciently the Inscription vpon his Shrine Here lieth interred the body of Saint Alban a Citizen of old Verulam of whom this towne tooke denomination and from the ruines of which Citie this Towne did arise He was the first Martyr of England and suffered his martyrdome the xx day of Iune in the yeare of mans redemption 293. Vnder a curious and costly funerall monument here in the Quire lyeth interred the body of Vmfrey Plantaginet surnamed the Good fourth sonne of King Henry the fourth By the grace of God for so begins his stile by Charter sonne brother and vncle of Kings Duke of Glocester Earle of Henault Holland Zeland and Pembroke Lord of Friseland great Chamberlaine of England Protector and defender of the Church and kingdome of England Thus great thus glorious by birth creation and marriage was hee in his honourable titles and Princely attributes but farre more great and illustrious in his vertuous endowments and inward qualities But in his praise may it please you reade learned Clarentieux in his tract of Suffolke where he writes of the Abbey of Bury these are his words That father of his countrey Vmfrey Duke of Glocester a due obseruer of Iustice and one who had furnished his noble wit with the better and deeper kinde of Studies after he had vnder King Henry the sixth gouerned the kingdome fiue and twenty yeares with great commendations so that neither good men had cause to complaine of nor enuill to finde fault with was here in Saint Sauiours Hospitall brought to his 〈◊〉 by the spightfull enuie of Margaret of Lorain who was wife to Henâ—â— the â—ixâ—h his Nephew But his death was the stroke of an euill Angell 〈…〉 ent to punish England and to roote out all her Nobles Fidior in regno regi duce non â—uit isâ—o Plusue fide stabilis aut maior amator honoris Saith the Abbot of this house Io. Whethamsted yet for all this was he arrested of high Treason in the yeare 1446. and within few dayes after strangled to death without any triall Some say he died for sorrow because hee might not come to his answer Hee built the Diuinitie Schoole in Oxford and was an especiall benefactour to this Abbey Here is an Epitaph pensild on the wall neare to his Tombe to the same effect with an Item of the miracle which he wrought vpon the blinde imposture The story is frequent Hic iacet Vmphredus Duxille Glocestrius olim Henrici Regis Protector fraudis ineptae Detector dum ficta notat miracula caeci Lumen erat Patriae columen venerabile Regni Pacis amans Musisque fauens melioribus vnde Gratum opus Oxonio quae nunc scola sacra refulget Invida sed mulier regno Regi sibi nequam Abstulit hunc humili vix hoc dignata Sepulchro Invidia rumpente tamen post funera viuit Vnder a large marble stone thus inscribed lieth Iohn Stoke an Abbot of This Church Hic iacet oblitus Stoke stans velut ardua quercus Semper in adversis perstitit intrepidus Wallingford Prior hic gregis huius pastor Abbas Donet ei requiem celsa dei pietas Celica regna bone mihi dentur queso Patrone Penas compesse requiem da virgula Iesse Me precor Amphibale soluens ad sidera sume This Abbot as it is in this Epitaph and in the golden Register of this house was a stout defender of the lands and liberties of his Church hee adorned Duke Vmfreys Tombe hee gaue money by his Will to make a new bell which after his owne name was called Iohn and also to new glase the Cloisters Sibi igitur saith the booke ea sit merces que dari solet illis qui ad honorem sue Ecclesie laudabilia student opera in temporibus suis. Vir crucis Christi tumulo iacet inclitus isti Carcere de tristi saluetur sanguine Christi Armacrucis sumpsit intrando Religionem Mundum contempsit propter celi regionem Hic studuit claustri Pondus sufferre laboris In stadio studij brauium percepit honoris Flatus fortune grandes patiens tolerabat Gaudia tristitia equalilance librabat Nil aduersa timens nec multum prospera curans Se medio tenuit per ferrea tempora durans Omni gestura constans nil triste timebat Omni pressura Christo laudes referebat Armis Iustitie cinctus deitatis amore Hostibus Ecclesie restitit in facie Ad tumulum Proceres mors impia transferet omnes Vt puerilis amor defluit omnis honor I finde this Inscription following vpon a faire marble vnder the pourtraiture of one of the Abbots who modestly thus suppresseth his name Hic quidem terra tegitur Peccato soluens debitum Cuius nomen non impositum In libro vitae sit inscriptum Hic iacet Dominus Michael quondam Abbas huius Monasterij Bachalaureus in Theol. qui obiit pridie Idus Aprilis Ann. M.ccc xlii Michael Abbas
vestimentorum asperitate disciplinarum que assiduitate corpus suum extenuauit vt fere simul cum Iob sanctissimo pelli sue consumptis carnibus os suum adhereret Et hec talis tantaque sublata est et hec omnia simul Migrauit autem ad illum qui sibi fructuum decimas persolui voluit qui etiam Decalogum constituit mandatorum Miseremini igitur nostri miseremini nostri saltem vos amici nostri et vobis miseris compatiamini fluentes lacrimas per orationum suffragia desiccantes quia pium est saluberrimum pro defunctis exorare vt à peccatis solvantur Subuenite igitur benigni Monachi subuenite venerabiles Canonici vos sancte virgines in conspectu Altissimi preces bostias offerentes vt ipsius pie misercatur qui abstergit omnem lacrimam ab oculis Sanctorum quatenus que ei macule de terrenis contagijs adheserunt remissionis eius remedio deleantur Amen To this Supplication the religious of all houses answer in this forme Titulus Ecclesie Apostolorum Petri Pauli sancte Osithe Virginis Matris de Chich. Anima Domine Lucie Priorisse de Hengeham et anime omnium sidelium defunctorum per Dei miserecordiam requiescant in pace Amen Concedimus ei commune beneficium Ecclesie nostre Oranimus pro vestris orate pro nostris Some againe do answer thus Preter autem commune beneficium et orationes communes Ecclesie nostre concedimus ei ab vnoquoque Sacerdote vnam Missam inferioris ordinis vnum Psalterium et diem ipsius obitus in Martyrilogio nostro annotari fecimus All concluding euer with Oranimus pro vestris orate pro nostris Vnder the picture of the Crucifix the blessed Virgine and vpon her portraiture drawne vpon her Tombe these nicking nice allusiue verses were cut and engrauen Crux bona crux digna lignum super omnia ligna Me tibi consigna redimens a peste maligna Stella Maris candoris ebur speculum Paradysi Fons venie vite ianua Virgo vale Hec Virgo vite mitis super astra locatur Et sic Lucie lux sine fine datur Transijt ad superos venerabilis hec Monialis Vix succedit ei virtutum munere talis Luci lucie prece lux mediente Marie Luceat eterna quia floruit vt rosa verna Ad lucem Lucia venit sine fine manentem Et sic quem coluit patrem videt omnipotentem Tres tibi gemmate lucent Lucia coronâ— Insuper aurate dic lector qua rationâ— Mater virgo tamen Martir fuit ergo inu Amen Cernat ad examen districti Iudicis Amen Subueniant anime Lucie celica queque Ad quorum laudes dapsilis vrna fâ—it Sible Heueningham In this Parish Church sometime stood a Tombe arched ouer and engrauen to the likenesse of Hawkes flying in a wood which was raised to the remembrance of Sir Iohn Hawkewood knight borne in this village the sonne of Gilbert Hawkewood Tanner bound an apprentice to a Tailor in the Citie of London from whence he was prest in the seruice of King Edward the third in the warres of France Of whom for his admired valour he was honoured with the order of knighthood and in the like regard of his notable demerits Barnabie the warlicke brother of Galeasius Lord of Millaine father to Iohn the first Duke of Millaine gaue him his daughter Domnia in marriage by whom he had a sonne named Iohn borne in Italie made knight and naturalized in the seuenth yeare of King Hon. the fourth as I haue it out of a Manuscript in these words Iohannes silius Iohannis Haukewood Miles natus in partibus Italie factus indigena Ann. viii Hen. iiij mater eius nata in partibus transmarinis The Florentines in testimony of his surpassing valour and singular faithfull seruice to their state adorned him with the statue of a man of armes and a sumptuous Monument wherein his ashes remaine honoured at this present day The Italian writers both Historians and Poets resound his worthie acts with full mouth But for my part to vse M. Camdens words it may suffice to adde vnto the rest these foure verses of Iulius Feroldus Hawkwood Anglorum decus et decus addite genti Italicae Italico praesidiumque solo Vt tumuli quondam Florentia sic simulacri Virtutem Iouius donat honore tuam The glorie prime of Englishmen then of Italians bold O Hawkwood and to Italie a sure defensiue hold Thy vertue Florence honored sometime with costly Graue And Iouius adornes the same now with a Statue braue He died an aged man in the yeare of our redemption 1394. and in the eighteenth of King Richard the second His friends here in England who erected for him the foresaid Monument in this Church which were Robert Rokeden senior Robert Rokeden iunior and Iohn Coe founded here also for him a Chantrie and another in the Priorie of Heningham Castle to pray for his soule and the soules of Iohn Oliuer and Thomas Newenton Esquires his militarie companions Chesterford Here ly the bodyes of William Holden and Agnes his wyf whych William dyed ... 1532. on whos sowlys and al Christian sowlys ... Here ly William Holden and Katherin his wyf ...... 1524. This familie as I was told is now extinct here is an old ruinous house still remaining called Holdens Saffron Walden So called of the great plentie of Saffron growing in the fields round about the Towne a commoditie brought into England in the time of King Edward the third But I digresse and am quite off my Subiect being out of the Parish Church wherein Sir Thomas Audley knight of the Garter Baron Audley of this Towne sometime Sergeant at Law Attourney of the Duchie of Lancaster and Lord Chancellour of England lieth entombed with this seeli Epitaph The stroke of deaths ineuitable dart Hath now alas of life bereft the hart Of Sir Thomas Audley of the Garter knight Later Chancellor of England vnder our Prince of might Henry the eight worthie of high renowne And made by him Lord Audley of this Towne Obijt vltimo Aprilu Ann. Dom. 1544. Henrici 36. Cancelleriatus sui 13. aetatis 56. Haue mercy good Lord on the soul of Thomas Holden That hit may rest wyth God good neyghbors say Amen He gave the new Organs wheron hys name is set For bycause only yee shold not hym forget In yowr good preyers to God he took hys wey On thowsand fyve hundryd and eleuin in Nouembyr the fourth dey Hic iacet his stratus West Matheus tumulatus Qui fuit hic gratus vicarius ciueque natus M. Dominiter C .... terris sit remeatus Huic ...... existit propiciatus Of yowr cherite prey for the soulys of Ion Nichols Alys Ione Alys and Ione his wyfs Iohannes Pater Noster miserere nobis Alisia Fili redemptor mundi miserere nobis Ioanna Spiritus sancte miserere nobis Alisia Sancta
men To tell the worlds full strength what creatures liued then When in her height of youth the lustie fruitfull earth Brought forth her big-lim'd brood euen Gyants in their birth Neere to Showbery in Rochford Hundred are certaine hils in which the bodies of the Danes there discomfited and slaine in the raigne of Edmund Ironside lie buried in Essex What way saith Camden in Essex this country looketh toward Cambridgeshire Barklow sheweth itselfe well knowne now by reason of foure little hils or Burries cast vp by mans hand such as in old time were wont to be raised as Tombes for Souldiers slaine whose reliques were not easie to be found But when a fifth and sixth of them were not long since digged downe three troughes of stone were found and in them broken bones of men as I was informed The country people say that they were reared after a field there fought against the Danes for Dane wort which with bloud-red berries commeth vp here plenteously they still call by no other name then Danes-bloud of the number of Danes that there were slaine verily beleeuing that it bloometh from their bloud The parish Church of Ashdown or Assandun giues buriall to the slaughtered bodies of many braue English Souldiers for Edmund sirnamed Ironside King of England hauing fought sixe battels with the Danes within the compasse of one yeare in which at the beginning hee had the better putting them euer to rout plaied here in this place his last prize where he was so defeyted by the meanes of false Edrick his counsell that he lost the flower of the English Nobilitie In memoriall of which Battell king Canutus the Danish Conquerour built this Church at such time when as vpon remorse and repentance for the bloud which he had shed he erected Chappels in what part soeuer he had foughten any field and shed Christian bloud Of which my old Rimer Robert of Glocester Knute moche louyd Engâ—ysshmen and the loud thertoo And holy Chyrche susteyned as hym ought to doo And restoryd Abbeyes stroyed that wer befor And Chyrches lette arere that allwer forlor And Chyrches now he lette arere in stedests most thar Where he had Battayles doo and men yslaw ar As vpon Asshedonne and about ther Al for the soulygs of hem that sleyne ther were Certaine small hillocks are remayning neare to this Church at this day out of which haue beene digged the bones of men Armour and the water chaines of horse bridles as the Inhabitants told me Claudius the Emperour saith S Danyel had the honour of taking the whole Isle of Britaine to the Romane Empire which though thus wonne was not till a long time after ouercome For now the Britaines vnderstanding the misery of their dissociation how their submission brought but the more oppression colleague themselues against the Romanes taking their occasion vpon the outrages committed on the person and state of Queene Vaodicia or Boudicea widow of Prasutagus king of the Icenians the Inhabitants of Norfolke Suffolke Cambridge and Huntingtonshires a great and rich Prince who at his death had left Nero his heire and two daughters hoping thereby to free his house from iniuries But it fell out contrary for no sooner was he dead but his kingdome was spoiled by the Cenâ—urions his house ransackt by slaues his wife beaten and his daughters rauished Besides the chiefe men of the Icenians as if all the region had beene giuen in prey were rest of their goods and the kings kinsmen esteemed as captiues with which contumely and feare of greater mischiefe they conspire with the Trinobants the Inhabitants of Midlesex and Essex and others not yet inured to seruitude to resume their liberty And first set vpon the Garrisons of the Veteran Souldiers whom they most hated defeited the ninth Legion whereof they slew all the foote forced Cercalis the Legat and leader to flight and put to the sword seuenty thousand Romanes and associates inhabiting this municipall Towne Comolodunum now Maldon as also London and Verulam before Suetonius the Gouernour of the Prouince could assemble the rest of the dispersed forces to make head against their armie conducted by Vaodicia who with her two daughter brought into the field to moue compassion and reuenge incites them to that noble and manly worke of liberty Which to recouer she protests to hold her selfe there but as one of the vulgar without weighing her great honour and birth resolued to winne or dye Many of their wiues were likewise there to be spectatours and incouragers of their husbands valour But in the end Suetonius got the victory with the slaughter of fourescore thousand Britaines of the Romanes onely foure hundred were slaine and not many moe hurt saith Tacitus lib. Annal. 14. ca. 11. Vaodicia seeing the ouerthrow of her Army was notwithstanding vnuanquished in her owne Noble Spirit and scorning to be a spectacle in their Triumphs or a vassall to their wills after the example of Cleopatra she made an end of her miseries and life by poyson She was affoarded honorable buriall and so were the rest of her vanquished Armie there slaine according to their qualitie neare vnto the places where the battell was strucken BISHOPS OF LONDON CANONIZED SAINTS MEllitus the first Bishop of this See after the remouall of the Archbishopricke to Canterbury had a shrine erected to his honour in this Church as I haue touched before In his time and partly by his instigation this Cathedrall Church was built by Ethelbert King of Kent He was consecrated Bishop of London by Saint Austin Archbishop of Canterbury the yeare 604. In the gouernment whereof hee continued nineteene yeares in which time and about the fourth yeare of his consecration he went to Rome to conferre with Boniface the Pope about diuers things and was by him honourably entertained A yeare or two after his returne died both Ethelbert King of Kent as also Sebert of the East Angles whom he had conuerted to the Christian Faith King Sebert left behinde him three wicked sonnes that being neuer baptized came notwithstanding one day into the Church at Communion time and asked the Bishop what hee meant that hee deliuered not of that same fiâ—e bread vnto them as he was wont to their father Sebert and did yet vnto the rest of the people He answered that if they would be washed in the water of life as he was and the rest of the people there present then would he deliuer vnto them of this bread also but otherwise neither was it lawfull for him to deliuer nor them to receiue it This notwithstanding they would haue enforced him and when they could not preuaile were so enraged as they expelled him their dominions hardly holding their hands from doing him violence at that time Hee being thus exiled went first vnto Laurence Archbishop of Canterbury and finding him in little better case then himselfe was at London departed into France together with Iustus Bishop of Rochester Being
iustly preuaile against the winde and easily cease these temporall flames and obtaine that they should neuer hurt him nor his See more of him before in Canterbury After the death of Mellitus the Church of London was long without a Pastor euen vntill that Segebert the sonne of Segebert surnamed the little obtaining the Kingdome of the East Saxons by the perswasion of Oswin King of Northumberland became a Christian and procured Ceada a vertuous and godly Priest to be consecrate Bishop of his country which was done in the holy Iland neere to Barwicke by Finan Bishop of Durham from whence he returned to this his Diocesse and began with more authoritie to perfect the worke hee had already begun erecting in diuers places Churches making Priests and Deacons who in preaching baptising might assist him especially in the Cities of Ithancester Tileburg the one standing vpon the Thames the other vpon a branch thereof called Pant in which two places diuers newly assembling together christened he instructed them after the rules of religious persons as farre as their tender capacity could then conceiue And hereby way of digression let me speake somewhat of this small hamlet of Tilbury in ancient time the seat of the Bishops of London and no question in those daies when as Bishop Cedda by baptisme ingraâ—ted the East Saxons in the Church of Christ a prettie faire citie howsoeuer it consisteth now onely of a few cottages much honoured by that famous religious and fortunate great Commander in the warres Sir Horace Vere Knight Lord Vere of Tilbury Of whom and of his elder brother Sir Francis Vere Knight deceased and honourably buried like as hee was an expert and valiant warriour in the Abbey of Westminster a late Poet hath thus written Then liu'd those valiant Veres both men of great command In our imployments long whose either Marshall hand Reacht at the highest wreath it from the top to get Which on the proudest head Fame yet had euer set But to returne this man of God Cedda hauing at first and last continued a long time in these countries preaching the word of life by which hee made a great haruest vnto Christ went downe into his owne countrie of Northumberland which he oftentimes vsed to visite where he builded a Monasterie at Lestinghen wherein he died and was buried of whom no more vntill I come to speake of that Foundation saue onely these verses following ....... Now London place doth take Which had those of whom time Saints worthily did make As Cedda Brother to that reuerend Bishop Chad At Lichfield in those times his famous seat that had Is Sainted for that See amongst our reuerend men From London though at length remoou'd to Lestingen A Monastery which then richly he had begun Erconwald the sonne of Offa King of the East Saxons and the fourth Bishop of this Diocesse was likewise as I haue already spoken canonized of whom venerable Bede thus writes At that time saith he when Sebba and Sigher ruled the East Saxons the Archbishop which was Theodore appointed ouer them Erconwald to be their Bishop in the Citie of London the life and conuersation of which man both before he was Bishop and after was reported and taken for most holy as also euen yet the signes and tokens of heauenly vertues and miracles doe well declare For vntill this day his Horse-licter being kept and reserued by his Schollers wherein he was wont to be carried when hee was sicke and weake doth daily cure such as haue agues or are diseased any otherwise And not onely the sicke persons that are put vnder or laid by the Horse-licter to be so healed but also the chippes and pieces that are cut off from it and brought to sicke folkes are wont to bring them speedie remedie This and many other the miracles wrought by him if wee may beleeue Capgraue was the cause of his canonization questionlesse he was a deuout and vertuous man and bestowed his patrimony in the building of two Monasteries one for Monkes at Chertsey in Surrey another for Nunnes at Barking in Essex of which before Thus much then here for a conclusion as followeth Him Erkenwald ensues th' East English Offa's sonne His Fathers Kingly Court who for a Crosiar fled Whose workes such fame him wonne for holinesse that dead Time him enshrin'd in Pauls the mother of that See Which with reuenues large and priuiledges he Had wondrously endow'd to goodnesse so affected That he those Abbeyes great from his owne power erected At Chertsey neere to Thames and Barking famous long Theodred Bishop of the Diocesse may challenge a place in this my Kalender for that he was sirnamed the Good pro praerogatiua virtutum for the preheminence of his vertues saith Malmesbury lib. 2. de Pontif. Anglor he flourished about the yeare 900. he was buried vnder a high tombe by the window of the vault going downe into S. Faiths Church Of Egwulfe and his Shrine I haue already written all that I know Richard Fitz-neale had his Shrine in S. Pauls Church but vpon what ground or for what reason he was thus much honoured I doe not learne He was the sonne of Nigellus or Neale Bishop of Ely and was made Treasurer of England by the purchase of his father the foresaid Nigellus Richardus filius Nigelli Episcopi Eliens pro quo Nigellus pater emit officium Thesaurij a Rege auaro pro Quadragint Marcis pro quibus pecunijs Nigellus pater spoliauit Ecclesiam Eliens Thesauro suo et ornamentis This purchase was made when as the King Henry the second went to the wars of Tolous It is further written in the booke of Ely that this Richard Fitz-neale after the buriall of Nigellus his father being also an enemy to the Church of Ely as his father had beene before made hast to passe ouer the Seas to King Henry the second fearing that some euill would be prepared against him if the Church should haue sent any thither before him At whose comming to the King he accused the Monkes of Ely of many things and did therewith so edge the King against them that the King sending into England charged by Wunnecus one of his Chaplaines that the Prior of Ely should be deposed and the Monkes with all their goods to be proscribed and banished This man being Treasurer to King Henry the second the treasure of the said Henry the second at his death came vnto one hundred thousand markes notwithstanding the excessiue charges of the King many waies This Richard being Bishop of London by the name of Richard the third and the Kings Treasurer was chosen for the gouernement of this See in the yeare of our redemption one thousand one hundred eighty and nine being the first yeare of King Richard the first and was consecrated Bishop at Lambeth by Baldwine Archbishop of Canterbury in the yeare of Christ one thousand one hundred ninety he died the
Nottingham Yorke and Northumberland where without respect of age or sexe they laid all wast and left the Land whence they departed like to a desolate wildernesse From thence they came with the like furie into Edmunds territories and sacked Thetford a frequent citie in those daies but hee not able to withstand their violence fled into â—his Castle at Framingham wherein he was of them besieged and lastly taken in a village then called Heglisdune of a wood bearing the same name or rather yeelded himselfe to their torments to saue more christian bloud for it is recorded that because of his most constant Faith and profession those Pagans first beat him with bats then scourged him with whips he still calling vpon the name of Iesus for rage whereof they bound to a stake and with their arrowes shot him to death and cutting off his head contemptuously threw it into a bush after he had raigned ouer the East Angles the space of sixteene yeares Camden out of Abbo Floriacensis saith that the bloudy Danes hauing bound this most christian King to a tree for that he would not renounce christianity shot him with sharpe arrowes all his body ouer augmenting the paines of his torment with continuall piercing him with arrow after arrow and thus inflicted wound vpon wound so long as one arrow could stand by another as a Poet of midle time versified of him I am loca vulneribus desunt nec dum furiofis Tela sed hyberna grandine plura volant Though now no place was left for wound yet arrowes did not faile These surious wretches still they flie thicker then winter haile His body and head after the Danes were departed were buried at the same royall Towne as Abbo termes it where Sigebert the East Anglean King and one of his predecessors at his establishing of Christianity built a Church and where afterwards in honour of him was built another most spatious and of a wonderfull frame of Timber and the name of the Towne vpon that occasion of his buriall called vnto this day Saint Edmundsbury This Church and place to speake more fully to that which I haue written before Suenus the Pagan Danish King in impiety and fury burned to ashes But when his sonne Canute or Knute had made conquest of this Land and gotten possession of the English Crowne terrified and afrighted as saith the Legend with a vision of the seeming Saint Edmund in a religious deuotion to expiate his Fathers sacriledge built it anew most sumptuously enriched this place with Charters and Gifts and offered his owne Crowne vpon the Martyrs Tombe of whom for a conclusion take these verses following Vtque cruore suo Gallos Dionisius ornat Grecos Demetrius gloria quisque suiâ— Sic nos Edmundus nulli virtute secundus Lux patet patrie gloria magna sue Sceptra manum Diadema capud sua purpura corpus Ornat ei sed plus vincula mucro cruor The 20. day of Nouember in our Calender was kept holy in remembrance of this King and Martyr Puer Robertus apud Sanctum Edmundum a Iudeis fuit Martirazatus 4. Id. Iunij An. 1179. et illic sepultus Alanus Comes Britannie obijt An. 1093. his iacet ad hostium australe Sancti Edmundi ex eod lib. de chateris This Allan here buried or as some will haue it in the monastery of Rhedon sirnamed the Red or Fergaunt was the sonne of Eudo Earle of Britaine and entred England with William the Conquerour his Father in Law To whom the said Conquerour gaue the honour and County of Edwyn within the County and Prouince of Yorke by his Charter in these words I William sirnamed Bastard King of England giue and grant to thee my Nephew Allan Earle of Britaine and to thy heyres for euer all those Villages Townes and Lands which were late in possession of Earle Edwin in Yorkeshire with knights fees Churches and other liberties and customes as freely and honourably as the said Edwyn held them Giuen at the siege before Yorke Alban being a man of an high spirit and desirous to gouerne the Prouince entirely which he had receiued built a strong Castle by Gillingham a village which he possessed by which he might defend himselfe not onely against the English who were spoiled of their goods and lands but also against the fury and inuasions of the Danes When the worke was finished he gaue it the name of Richmond of purpose either for the greatnesse and magnificence of the place or for some Castle in little Britaine of the same name Here sometimes vnder a goodly Monument in the Quire of this Abbey Church lay interred the body of Thomas surnamed of Brotherton the place of his birth the fifth sonne of Edward the first after the Conquest king of England by Margaret his second wife the eldest daughter of Philip king of France surnamed the Hardy He was created Earle of Norfolke and made Earle Marshall of England by his halfe brother King Edward the second which Earledomes Roger Bigod the last of that surname Earle of Norfolke and Earle Marshall leauing no issue left to the disposition of the king his Father This Earle died in the yeare of our redemption 1338. Here lay buried the body of Thomas Beauford sonne of Iohn of Gaunt begotten of the Lady Katherine Swyneford his third wife who by King Henry the fourth was made Admirall then Captaine of Calis and afterwards Lord Chancellour of England He was created by the said King Earle of Perch in Normandy and Earle of Dorlet in England And lastly in the fourth yeare of King Henry the fifth he was created Duke of Exceter and made knight of the order of the Garter He had the leading of the Rereward at the battell of Agincourt and the gouernment of king Henry the sixth appointed to that office by the foresaid Henry the fifth on his death-bed He valiantly defended Harflew in Normandy whereof he was gouernour against the Frenchmen and in a pitched field encountring the Earle of Armiguar put him to flight He died at his House of East Greenwich in Kent vpon Newyeares day the fifth of Henry the sixth for whom all England mourned saith Milles The body of Mary Queene of France widow of Lewis the twelfth daughâ—er of King Henry the 7. and sister to king Henry the eight was here in this Abbey Church entombed After the death of Lewis with whom she liued not long shee married that Martiall and pompous Gentleman Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke She died on Midsomer Eeue 1533. Iohn Boon Abbot of this Monasterie had his tombe and interrement here in this Church who died in the beginning of February in the ninth yeare of the raigne of king Edward the fourth as appeares by the said kings Conged'eslire or permission royall to the Prior and Couent of this House to make choise of another Abbot as followeth Edwardus Dei gratia Rex Anglie Francie
Stâ—w Annal. The finall dissoluâ—â—â—â— of Pâ—â—ories Aliens Aelphege Archbishop of Canterbury Caâ—graut in vita Elphege Ditmaâ— Marâ—â—◠〈◊〉 The Friery aâ— Greenwich Lamb. peramb. The Priory Weeuer and Ioane his wiâ—e The Popes Bul to the Staple Merchants for a portable Altâ—r and a Masse-priest Their Priest Confessour The forme of an Absolution The definition of a Merchant What Pedlers are Staple whar Burialls at Otford Alrick king of Kent Bartilmew the Saint at Otfâ—rd and his offering A part of Saint Tho Beckets 〈◊〉 Burials in Holmes Dalâ— M. Drayton Polyol Song 18. Io. Sariâ—â—â—r de Nugis Curial li. 6 ca 18. Camd. in Kent The Gentrie of Kent The Yeomanry of Kent The conclusion of this Diocesse Lamb. Godwin Lamb. Camd. Midlesex * Yorke * Other Speed Midlesex In Midlesex Albions England Chap. 14. The foundation of Saint Pauls Church Diploma Regis Ethelberti In Arch. Turris Lond. Cartae antiqua A. Sebba king of the East-Saxons Lib. 4. cap. 11. Etheldred king of England surnamed The Vnready Will. Malms Rob. Glocest. * they i Lib 6 cap. â— â—ib 1â— ca â—lt * Etheldred Erkenwald Bishop of Lond. De gestis Pontif. lib. 2. Beda lib. 4. ca. 6. Harpsfeeld Secul 7. cap. 13. Eustace de Fauconbridge Bishop of Lond. In bib Cott. Henry de Wingham Bishop of London Mat. Paris Lib. Mon. de Wauerley in bib Cott. Rager the black Bishop of London Rob. Braybrooke Bishop of London Rob. Fitz-Hugh Bishop of London Thomas Kempe Bishop of London Brian Twyn Antiq. Acad. Ox. Iohn Stokesley Bishop of London William Bishop of London Charta London Fulke Basset Bishop of London Mat. 〈◊〉 Paris In bib Cott. Io. Chishull Bishop of Lond. Mat. Westm. Rich. Newport Bishop of London Raph Baldocke Bishop of London Godwin Catal. Stow. Annal. Fran. Thinne Rob. Glocest. Michaell Northbrooke Bishop of London In Arch. Turris Lond. Rich. Clifford Bishop of London Godwin Catal. Richard Fitz-Iames Bishop of London Godwin de Praesul Ang. Iohn of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Blanch Duchesse of Lancaster Fabian Constance Duchesse of Lancaster Vpodigma Neust. Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne In bib Cott. Vincent Catal. Lib. Moâ— de Whalley Laurence Allerthorp Lord Treasurer * Francis Thinne In Arch. Turris Lond. Sir Simon Burley knight of the Garter Stow. Annal. In Arch. Turris Lond. Sir Raph Hengham chiefe Iustice of the Kings Bench. Iudges fined for briberie and extortion Stow. Annal. Fulke Louell Archdeacon of Colchester Io. Boys Nich. Rikkell and Isabell their wife William Worsley Deane of this Church .... Odeâ—y Canon of this Church Iohn Colet Deane of this Church Cent. 5. William Liâ—â— the first Master of Paulâ— Schoole Bale Cent. 5. Tho. Linakâ—r phisition and his vale Tho. de Eure Deane of Pauli Tho. Wynterburne Deane of Pauls Reymund Pilgrim Canon Rich. Pleâ—â—ys Canon William Harington Secretary Apostolicall Si◠〈…〉 Lord 〈◊〉 In Arch. Turrâ—â— Lond. In Arch. Turris Lond. Suruay Rich. Piriton Archdeacon of Colchester Margaret Countesse of Shrewsbury Râ—maines Romaines The foundation 〈…〉 Peâ—â—y Canons Polyol 1. Song â—â—land ad Cyg Cant. Brute King of great Britaine Gildas Cambrius Hard. in viâ— Bruti * forth * â—he * an hauâ—â— â—owne * thither * there The body of a boy found in Saint Bâ—nâ—is Church-yard by Pauls Whaâ—fe enshrined afterwards in this Church who was martyred by the Iewes Stow. Annal. 〈◊〉 Paris 〈◊〉 codem Pardon Church-yard Thomas More Deane of Pauls Dance of Pauls Chappell in Pardâ— Church yard Gilbert Becket Portgraue of London Stow Sur. in Faring Ward Chappel at the North doore of Paulâ— Charnell-house with our Ladies Chappell Sir Hen. Barton Sir George Mirfin knightâ— Rob Barton Bell-house in Pauls Church-yard Holmes Colledge Adam de Bury Lord Maior Anne Duchesse of Bedford Poultneys Chappell Sir Iohn Poultney Iesus Chappell Sir Alan Boxhul knight of the Garter Shrines in S. Pauls Ex. Mss. in bib Cot. Camd. in Mid. Dierius alij Sir Hen. Spelman Gloss. liâ— C. Regist. lib. 3. Epist. 14. Cardinals of S. Paul 〈…〉 Church William Wâ—st Canon and Cardinall Iohn Good Chanâ—er of the Bale William Lily Lud King of the Britaines Io. Harding Now the Bishop of Londons house saith Harding Rob. Glocest. Cadwallo K. of the Britaines Geâ—â—â—ay Mon. Harding Iohn Benson and Anne his wife The foundation of Christ-Church or the Friers Minorites Margaret the â— wife of King Ed. 1. â—â—gist Frat. Miâ— Mss. in bib Câ—t The foundation of the blacke 〈◊〉 in vita R K. 〈◊〉 chiâ—piscopi Suruey of London Elizabeth Countesse of Northampton Margaret Hatfâ—eld Katherine Riplingham Her Will Tho. Riplingham His Will Agnes Milborne Nicholas Faringdon Lord Maior The Foundation of S. Martins In Arch turris London Lib. S. Martin Stow Sur. Iohn Pemberton Vpon a Table in the north Isle A Table in the Quiâ—e Deus Diabolus Vita Mors. Coelum Infâ—rnum Ioan the wife of Baron Thorp Stow Annal. William Brecke-speare Robbert Traps Agnes and Ioan his wiues Robert Agnes Ioan. Ioice Frankland An Inscription â—nder the portraiture of Queene Elizabeth Io. Brokitwell Michael Forlace and Mary his wife Mary Pawson Sir Hen. Weâ—â—eâ— knight and his wife Ioan. Sir Iohn Woodcocke Lord Maior The head of Iames the 4. king of Scotland Stow. Annal. Suruay Lond. Lib. Monasterij de Whalley in Com. Lanc. Io. Lesle in vil Iac. 4. Remaines pa. 371. The mount of Flodden * De corpore enim nondum compertum est Inscâ—iptâ— the waâ—â— Shanke bone of 28. inches long Camâ—en in Cornwall * In Cornwall Râ—b Glocest. * saith * wiâ—h Gogmagog the last Giant Camd. in Essex Selden in his Illuâ—â—râ—tions Polyol Song 1. Tho. Morsted Giles Dewes Iohn Burton 〈◊〉 Ienet his 〈◊〉 â—holl Moore Doctor of Law â—nd Agnes his brothers wife Sir Godfrey Bullen Lord Maior Catal. of honouâ— Tho. Bullen Iohn Pickering and 〈◊〉 his wife Tho. Cressly and Agnes his wife The foundation of the Collegiate Chappell at Guild-hall Hollins Speed Hist. Foundation of Mercers Chappell Stow. Iames Butler Earle of Ormond and Ioane his wife Thomas Butler Earle of Ormond Camden in the County of Tipperary Ireland Becket was borne neere to this Church here he had a shrine and his picture ouer the Chappell dore Iohn Rich. Stow Suruay Ambrose Cressacre Iohn Peris and Margaret his wife Raph Tilney and Ioan his wife Yarford Io. Allen Lord Maior Stow Suruay Iohn Couentrie Lord Maior Fabian Stow Annal. Stow Suruay Vnder the Statue of K. Ed. the sixt vpon the Standard in Cheape Tho. Knowles Lord Maior and Ioane his wife Tho. Knowles Ioan Spenser Walter Lempster 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 Simon Street Agnes his wife Will. Goldhirst and Margaret his wife Stephen Spilman Sheriffe of London Ric. Grey Sheriffe of London R. Marlow Lord Maior Corpus Christi play Ric. Hill Master or Sergeant of the kings câ—ller Sir Charles Blunt knight Lord Mountioy Camd. in Shrop. Camd. in Darbishire Rob. Dalusse Baâ—her and Alice his wife Io Micolt and Ioan his wife Raph Astry Lord Maior Margery and Margaret his wiues
VERA EFFIGIES IOHANNIS WEEVER AETATIS SVAE 55. ANNO 1631. Lanchashire gaue him breath And Cambridge education His studies are of Death Of Heauen his meditation Stipendium peccati Mors. Gratia Dei vita aeterna per Dm. N. I. Chr. Primus Adam de terra terrenus Secundus Adam Dominus de Coelo Vt in Adamo omnes moriuntur Ita in Christo omnes viuificabuntur Hic iacet Sunt nisi praemissi quos perijsse putas Mors haec reparatio vitae est ANCIENT FVNERALL MONVMENTS WITH IN THE vnited Monarchie of Great Britaine Ireland and the Ilands adiacent with the dissolued Monasteries therein contained their Founders and what eminent persons haue beene in the same interred As also the Death and buriall of certaine of the Bloud Roiall the Nobilitie and Gentrie of these Kingdomes entombed in forraine Nations with other matters mentioned in the insuing Title Composed by the Trauels and Studie of Iohn Weeuer Spe labor leuis London Printed by Tho HARPER M.DC.XXXI And are to be sold in Little Britayne by Laurence Sadler at the signe of the Golden Lion T. Cecill sculp ANCIENT FVNERALL MONVMENTS WITHIN THE VNITED MONARCHIE OF GREAT Britaine Ireland and the Islands adiacent with the dissolued Monasteries therein contained their Founders and what eminent Persons haue beene in the same interred AS ALSO THE DEATH AND BVRIALL OF CERTAINE OF THE Bloud Royall the Nobilitie and Gentrie of these Kingdomes entombed in forraine Nations A worke reuiuing the dead memory of the Royall Progenie the Nobilitie Gentrie and Communaltie of these his Maiesties Dominions Intermixed and illustrated with variety of Historicall obseruations annotations and briefe notes extracted out of approued Authors infallible Records Lieger Bookes Charters Rolls old Manuscripts and the Collections of iudicious Antiquaries Whereunto is prefixed a Discourse of Funerall Monuments Of the Foundation and fall of Religious Houses Of Religious Orders Of the Ecclesiasticall estate of England And of other occurrences touched vpon by the way in the whole passage of these intended labours Composed by the Studie and Trauels of IOHN WEEVER Spe labor leuis LONDON Printed by THOMAS HARPER 1631. And are to be sold by Laurence Sadler at the signe of the Golden Lion in little Britaine TO THE SACRED AND IMPERIALL MAIESTIE OF OVR DREAD SOVERAIGNE THE MOST MAGNIFICENT ILLVSTRIOVS AND PVISSANT MONARCH CHARLES BY THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE OF GREAT BRITAINE FRANCE IRELAND AND MANY ILANDS KING THE MOST POWERFVLL PROTECTOR OF THE FAITH THE MOST ROYALL PATRON PRESERVER AND FOSTERER OF THE VNDOVBTED RELIGION OF IESVS CHRIST THE PATTERNE OF TRVE PIETIE AND IVSTICE AND THE PRESIDENT OF ALL PRINCELY VERTVES HIS HIGHNESSE MOST LOWLY AND MOST LOYALL SVBIECT IOHN WEEVER IN ALL HVMILITY CONSECRATETH THESE HIS LABOVRS THOVGH FARRE VNWORTHY THE VIEW OF SO RESPLENDANT A GREATNESSE THE AVTHOR TO THE READER HAuing seene iudicious Reader how carefully in other Kingdomes the Monuments of the dead are preserued and their Inscriptions or Epitaphs registred in their Church-Bookes and hauing read the Epitaphs of Italy France Germany and other Nations collected and put in print by the paines of Schraderus Chytraeus Swertius and other forraine Writers And also knowing withall how barbarously within these his Maiesties Dominions they are to the shame of our time broken downe and vtterly almost all ruinated their brasen Inscriptions erazed torne away and pilfered by which inhumane deformidable act the honourable memory of many vertuous and noble persons deceased is extinguished and the true vnderstanding of diuers Families in these Realmes who haue descended of these worthy persons aforesaid is so darkened as the true course of their inheritance is thereby partly interrupted grieuing at this vnsufferable iniurie offered as well to the liuing as the dead out of the respect I bore to venerable Antiquity and the due regard to continue the remembrance of the defunct to future posteritie I determined with my selfe to collect such memorials of the deceased as were remaining as yet vndefaced as also to reuiue the memories of eminent worthy persons entombed or interred either in Parish or in Abbey Churches howsoeuer some of their Sepulchres are at this day no where to be discerned neither their bones and ashie remaines in any place to bee gathered Whereupon with painefull expences which might haue beene well spared perhaps you will say I trauailed ouer the most parts of all England and some part of Scotland I collected the Funerall Inscriptions of all the Cathedrall Churches of the one and in some of the other and euer by the way gathered such as I found in Parochiall Churches I likewise tooke view of many ancient Monuments not inscribed demanding of the Church officers or others the inhabitants for whom such and such Tombes or Sepulchres were made and erected which was told me according to that truth which was deliuered vnto them by tradition after all this scrutinie finding so few or none at all in many Churches time the malignitie of wicked people and our English profane tenacitie hauing quite taken them away for lucre sake I was altogether discouraged to proceede any further in this my laborious and expencefull enterprise vntill I came casually into the acquaintance of my deare deceased friend Augustine Vincent Esquire Windsor Herald keeper of the Records in the Tower who perswaded me to goe forward as I had begun and withall gaue me many Church-Collections with diuers memorable Notes and Copies of Records gathered by himselfe and others and by his meanes I had free accesse to the Heralds Office to write out such antiquities as I could there finde for my purpose But aboue all I am most bound to loue the foresaid Vincents memory for that he made me knowne to that honourable Gentleman Sir Robert Cotton Knight and Baronet who forthwith apprehending the scope and drift of this my Argument his generous disposition being alwaies ready to afford his best furtherance to other mens industrious labours gaue me his able directions and withall lent me out of his inestimable Librarie such Bookes and Manuscripts as were most fitting for my vse But alas this worthy repairer of eating-times ruines this Philadelphus in preseruing old Monuments and ancient Records this Magazin this Treasurie this Store-house of Antiquities Sir Robert Cotton is now lately deceased whose excellent good parts are well conceiued in a Funerall Elegie which hath happily come into my hands and which I thinke fitting here to be inserted Viro clarissimo Roberto Cottono ab antiqua Regum prosapia oriundo Epicedium Qualis Homerus erat cuius de fonte furores Sacros hauserunt veteresque nouique Poetae Talis eras nostros inter Cottone Britannos Rerum explorator veterum Ciuilia iura Regni Magnatum molimina munia Regum Et populi nexus faustos diuortia saeua Nauigia et merces castra artes religiones Nummos structuras chartas solennia verba Et quic quid bello faceret vel pace triumphos Callebat dextrè nemo magis omnis ab illo Et tua
and Crowne by the corruption of such as were imployed by her Father vpon the suppression of Abbeyes Chap. 16. fol. 127. The time of the institution of Religious Orders their seuerall Names and Authors and the infinite increase of their Fraternities and Sisterhoods Chap. 17. fol. 157. Of the sundry wayes and meanes by which Religious Votaries and others of the Clergie enriched themselues and other Churches of Pardons Pilgrimages and Romescot Chap. 18. fol. 176. Of Parishes Bishoprickes Sanctuaries and of the Ecclesiasticall estate of England and Wales Errata IN the Epistle to the Reader in the Elegie of Sir Robert Cotton reade Wigornia Page 16. line 33 reade of p. 20. l. 10. r. home p. 53. l. 26. r. of money ead l. 27. r. of any p. 62. l. 6. r. Chilperick p. 76. l. 20. r. laicis p. 128. l. 32 r. Mysteries p. 136. l. 34. r. Bernard p. 16. l. 23. r. read p. 163. l. 25. r. And. p. 172. l 18. r. leuti p. 180. l. 9. r. haue had omitted p. 235. l. 8. r. of p. 247. l. 17. r. vt p. 273. l. 4. 81. l. p. 273. l 16. r. Totehill p. 284. l. 24. the number of Constables mistaken p. 295. two halfelines transposed p. 301. l. 1. r. him omitted p. 336. l. 17. r. iuuate p. 418. l. 36. r. Tudenham p. 425. in omitted twice p. 429. l 30. r. obijt p. 496. l. 4. r. Edward pa. ead l. 25. r. Wesenham pa. 597. Essex before West Ham omitted A TABLE OR INDEX OF PROPER NAMES AND OTHER OCCVRRENCES CONTAINED IN THIS BOOKE OF ANCIENT FVNERALL MONVMENTS A ABberbury 141 Abbot Archbishop 198 Abbot of S. Bennets hangd 819 Abell 771 Absolution anciently 341 Acres Ioan 734.737 740 Acton 611 Adrian Pope 152.175 578. Abbâ—t 251 Agalmare 301 Aylwood 699 â—ylâ—ffe 645 647 Aylmer 802.114 Ayremâ—n Bishop 791 Ayremin Priest 79 7â—2 Alâ—n Earle of Britain 725 Saint Albans exâ—mâ—ed from the Iurisdictâ—on of Lincolne 559 Alâ—eâ—y Earle of Arundell 809 8â—0 811 860 Albin 585 Albion 375.380 â—lbred 752 Albuger 290 â—lâ—ock 780 Alderham 533 Aldâ—rtâ—n 654 Alexander Bishop 794 Alexander 256 Alexander Sergeant at Law 536 Alefe 282 Alegh 33â— Alenâ— 603 Albrighton 381 Alford 680 Algar 550 Alisander 3â—1 Alkmond 724 Allen 401 Alerthorp 367 Allingtonâ— 546 Alphege 326 Alrick King 344 Altar portable 340 Alâ—wicke Bishop 869 Ampe 732 Amphibalus 552.585 Anna King of the East Angles his religions daughters 242.760.761.768 Anne Dutchesse of Bedford 371 Anne Bullen Queene beheaded 514 Anne Queene 473 477 Anne Dutchesse of Exceter 425 Annabull 552 Anco 570 Anchorites 150 Andrew 275 Anglesford 317 Ansered 762 Anselme Archbish. â—16 Sainted 302 Anstell 546 Aparre 109 Apulton 759 Apulderfield 27â— 280 Appleton 826.335 Aquila Richerius 570 571 Archbishops of Canterbury Sainted 298 Archbishops of London 414 Archer 528 Arderne 811 Arfastus Bishop 785. His ignorance ibid. His death and buriall 8â—7 Argentein 545.546 805 Arnold 445 Arsne 389 Athington 54 Arundell Steeple 2â—6 Arundell 411.635.647.756 Arundell Bishop 444 Arundell Archbishop 225 284 Aruiragus King 58 59 Aslake 763 Aske 103 Ashby 72.422.590 756 Ashwell 671 674. â—75 Ashbornham 138 Assheton 267.268 Aâ—ker 801.804 Aspall 779 Astall 327 Astley 435.695 60â— Astry 406 581 Athelstane King 181 Atholl Countesse 213 Atkinson 676.680 Atte 206 Atlea â—4â— Atte â—eese 274 Arte Capâ—ll 271 Atterbury 11â— Atticor 336 Attlee 731 Attewood 4â—â— Auditor whaâ— 53â— Audley Earle of Glocester 3â—â— Audley Lord Chancelor â—14 427 Audley Lord 859 Audley 8â—6 Audley End â—26 Auelyn 8â—4 Auelyn Countesse of Lancaster 17â— Augustus Caesar â—â—â— Aunâ—esham 5â—â— Austin Archbishop 242 29â— misnumbred 298 Austin â—ishop of Hippo 132. Hâ—s Eâ—pitaph ibid. Austin 721 Axenham 115 B BA 266 Babington 114 Babthorp 570 Bacon 476 583.812.813.804.82â— Baconthorp 7â—7 738.813 Badelesmere 238.617 â—88 Badewe 641 Bagot 323 Bayly 700 44â— Baynard Lord 631.632 Baysbury 542 Baysham 389 Bakewell 429 Ball a pseudoprophert 745. His wicked spirits 746 Baldocke Bishop 363 Baldwin King 278 Ballard 640 Balyoll K. 460 Balâ—oll 213 Bamme 316 Banknot 334 Banyard 805 Baynard Lord 631 Bansher 780 Babthorp Raph 579 Baptizing in Riuers 309 Barnes 89.432.416 Barre 290.291 Barloe 548 Barnet Bishop 72 Barret Lord Baton of Newburgh 447 Barret ibid. Barret 278 misnumbred for 280. Bartlet 104 Bartlot 440 Bartelote 423 Barry 296.297.190 Barking 486 Barkham 362 Barker 672.675.680 Barons slaine at Barnet field 419 Barton 379.439.293.501.516 Barington 605.631 Barentine 601 Barnake 651 Barners or Berners 656.657 Barney 784 Bardesley Lord 750. misnumbred Barmingham ibid. Batly 110 Bardolphes noble Barons 812.861 Barnardiston 733.734 Barnaby 781 Bassa 260 Basset Lord 542 Basset Bishop 363 Basset 356.830 Basing 421 Battayl 696 Battailes 317.344 345.704.705.706.707.708.458 Bateman Bishop 869 Batifford 780 Bauld sive Bawde a family of note 602 Baxter 823 Beauchampe 419.797.661.742.658 329 Beauchampe Lord 477.371 Beauchampe Earle of Warwick 372.380 Beaumont Lord 700.782 Beaumont 25.621.822.325.335 Beaufort Marquesse 211. Duke of Exeter 726 Beaufort 794. alibi Beaufiz or Beaufies 316 Beauueys Bishop 429.607.762 Beck Bishop 805.869 Becket Archbishop 87.199.303.307 344.548.744.789.400.204 Becket 378 Beckley â—64 Bedel 197 104.504.48â— Bedford 612 Bedingfield 784 Bederenden 331 Bee 807 Begebury 272 Belhouse 863 Bellamy 782 De Bello Rob. 256 Bellemont sirnamed Fitzpernell E. of Leicester 260 Bellingham 114 Bells 633.122 great Bell at Westminster 491. at Douer 268. Iesus Bells 378 Benhall 805.826 A Benefice for dogs meat 273 Benson 387 Benaker 682 Benolt king of Armes 33 516 72.675 679 BeneÌ„t of Norfolke 804 Boniuet 320 Berdefield 656 Berford 524 Bernard 138.827 Berney 827.826.859 Bernwell 581 Berry 543.805.680 Berkley Lo 213.214.335 Berkley Marquesle 419 Berta Queene 241 Bert 721 Berty Lord 327 Berton 807 Bettenham 2â—4 Best 274 Beulled 580 Beuill 157 Biggs 238 Biglon 641 Bigot Earle 752.766.828.829 830 Billing 493.498 Billington 535.824 Billet 674.679 Billingsworth 230 Bird 531 Birked ibid. Bishop what 178 Bishops canonized 298.710 â—68 Bishops seats anciently 720 A Bishop stangely buried ibid. Byseley 675 Byseworth 576 Bladud King 517.518 Bladwell 779 Blake 581 Blackmore 633 Black Will or Will Slaughter 520 Blanch Dutchesse of Lancaster 365 Blechenden 267 Blennerhasset 821 Blewet Bishop 70 Blund 734.816.766 Blount 526.427.805 Blount Charles Earle of Deuonshire Blount Mountloy Lord Mountloy Blount William Lord Mountloy Blount Walter 405 Bloys 486 Blomuill 596 Blooer 286 Blundeuill Bishop 869 Bockon 296 Bocham 633 Bocher 814 Boerell 751 Bodley 692.361 Bohuns Earles 210.418.638.541.388.626 Bokenham 817 865 Bokill 720 Bolton 434 Bolbeck 615.654 Boleyn Bolen or Bullen 398.798.799.864.606.514 Bomsted or Bumpsted 763.784 Boniface Archbishop 285 Boniface Bishop of Menâ—z 67 Bonefellow 824 Bonehard Laind 394 Bonvill 412 Boner 116 Bonevant 333 Borne 805.257 5â—5 Borrell 551.751 Borough king at armes 687 Borgeris 282 Borham 762 Boon Abbot 726 Booth Bishop 444 Booth 445.781 Bootes 416 Boswell 796.797 Botill 431 Boteler or Butler 282 747.751.400.401.7â—8.544.805.606 Bottold 750 Bourchler Earle 628.229 Bourchier 237.323.543.619.705.815.830 Bourchier Archbishop 229.324 Bowsers Bell 630 Bourne 279 Bowrman 395 Bowes 784.388 Bowles Bishop
not die Wholly nor shall my best part buried lie Within my Graue And Martial lib. 10. Ep. 2. thus speakes of bookes and writings Reader my wealth whom when to me Rome gaue Nought greater to bestow quoth she I haue By him ingratefull Lethe thou shalt flie And in thy better part shalt neuer die Wilde fig-trees rend Messalla's marbles off Chrispus halfe horses the bold Carters scoffe Writings no age can wrong nor theeuing hand Deathlesse alone those monuments will stand My books are read in euery place And when Licinius and Messalla's high Rich marble Towers in ruin'd dust shall lie I shall be read and strangers euerie where Shall to their farthest homes my verses beare And in another Ep. thus much of his bookes 'T is not the Citie onely doth approue My muse or idle eares my verses loue The rough Centurion where cold frosts orespread The Scythian fields in warre my books are read My lines are sung in Britaine farre remote And yet my emptie purse perceiues it not What deathlesse numbers from my penne would flow What warres would my Pierian Trumpet blow If as Augustus now againe doth liue So Rome to me would a Mecaenas giue In like manner Ouid giues an endlesse date to himselfe and to his Metamorphosis in these words Iamque opus exegi c. And now the worke is ended which Ioues rage Nor Fire nor Sword shall raze nor eating Age Come when it will my Death 's vncertaine houre Which onely of my bodie hath a power Yet shall my better part transcend the skie And my immortall name shall neuer die For where-soere the Romane Eagles spread Their conquering wings I shall of all be read And if wee Prophets truly can diuine I in my liuing Fame shall euer shine S. Ierom in like manner in one of his Epistles writeth of the perpetuity of a funerall Elegie which he made himselfe to the deare memorie of his beloued Fabiola who was buried in the citie of Bethlem not because the said Elegie was cut or engrauen upon her Sepulchre but for that he had written it down in one of his volumes according to these his own words following Exegi monimentum tuum aere perennius quod nulla destruere possit vetustas incîdi Eulogium Sepulchro tuo quod huic volumini subdidi vt quocunque noster Sermo peruenerit te laudatam te in Bethlem conditaÌ„ Lector agnoscat Varus Tribune of Rome hath beene and will be longer remembred by Martials Epigram lib. 10. ep 26. then euer hee could haue beene by any funerall monument which is lately made thus to speake English Varus which as Romes Tribune didst command An hundred men renown'd in Aegypt land Now as a stranger Ghost thou dost remaine On Nilus shore promisd to Rome in vaine We could not dew with teares thy dying face Nor thy said funerall flames with odours grace Yet in my verse eterniz'd shalt thou bee Of that false Egypt cannot cousen thee Thus Lucan lib. 9. of his owne verse and Caesars victorie at Pharsalia O great and sacred worke of poesy Thou freest from fate and giu'st eternity To mortall wights but Caesar enuy not Their liuing names if Romane Muses ought May promise thee whilest Homer's honoured By future times shalt thou and I bee read No age shall vs with darke oblivion staine But our Pharsalia euer shall remaine Bookes then and the Muses workes are of all monuments the most permanent for of all things else there is a vicissitude a change both of cities and nations as we may thus reade in Ouids Metamorphosis lib. 15. For this wee see in all is generall Some nations gather strength and others fall Troy rich and powerfull which so proudly stood That could for ten yeares spend such streames of bloud For buildings onely her old ruines showes For riches Tombes which slaughtered fires inclose Sparta Mycenae were of Greece the flowers So Cecrops citie and Amphions Towres Now glorious Sparta lies vpon the ground Lofty Mycenae hardly to be found Of Oedipus his Thebes what now remaines Or of Pandions Athens but their names Thebes Babell Rome these proud heauen daring wonders Loe vnder ground in dust and ashes lie For earthly kingdomes euen as men doe die Bellay in his ruines of Rome translated by Spenser makes this demonstration or shew of that citie to the strange countrey man or traueller Thou stranger which for Rome in Rome here seekest And nought of Rome in Rome perceiu'st at all These same old walls old arches which thou seest Old palaces is that which Rome men call Behold what wreake what ruine and what wa st And how that she which with her mighty power Tam'd all the world hath tam'd her selfe at last The prey of Time which all things doth deuoure Rome now of Rome is the onely funerall And onely Rome of Rome hath victorie Ne ought saue Tyber hastning to his fall Remaines of all O worlds inconstancie That which is firme doth flit and fall away And that is flitting doth abide and stay It is a vanitie for a man to thinke to perpetuate his name and memory by strange and costly great Edifices for Not sumptuous Pyramids to skies vpreard Nor Elean Ioues proud Fane which heauen compeerd Nor the rich fortune of Mausoleus Tombe Are priuiledg'd from deaths extreamest doome Or fire or stormes their glories do abate Or by age shaken fall with their owne waight We haue many examples here in England of the small continuance as I may so call it of magnificent strong buildings by the sudden fall of our religious houses of which a late namelesse versifier hath thus written What sacred structures did our Elders build Wherein Religion gorgeously sat deckt Now all throwne downe Religion exild Made Brothell-houses had in base respect Or ruind so that to the viewers eye In their owne ruines they intombed lie The marble vrnes of their so zealous Founders Are digged up and turn'd to sordid vses Their bodies are quite cast out of their bounders Lie vnâ—interr'd O greater what abuse is Yet in this later age we now liue in This barbarous act is neither shame nor sinne Of walls towres castles crosses forts rampiers townes cities and such like monuments here in great Britaine which by age warres or the malignitie of the times are defaced ruined or utterly subuerted you may reade in learned Camden onely thus much out of famous Spenser personating the Genius of Verlame or Verulam sometimes a citie neare to S. Albons I was that Citie which the garland wore Of Britaines pride deliuered vnto me By Romane victors which it wonne of yore Though nought at all but ruines now I bee And lie in mine owne ashes as ye see Verlame I was what bootes it that I was Sith now I am but weeds and wastfull grasse Another English muse now liuing vnder the name of Watling one of the foure imperiall high wayes sings thus of the ruines of this citie Thou saw'st when Verlam once her head
worthie being slaine in battell neare to Baschama and there buried Simon sent to take the bones of his brother Ionathan I will vse the words of the Text And they buried him in Modin his fathers city And all Israel bewailed him with great lamentation and mourned for him verie long And Simon made vpon the Sepulcher of his father and his brethren a building high to looke vnto of hewne stone behinde and before And set vp seuen pillars vpon it one against another for his father his mother and foure brethren And set great pillars round about them and set armes upon the pillars for a perpetuall memorie and carued ships beside the armes that they might be seene of men sailing in the sea In like manner the Romanes notwithstanding their second law of the twelue Tables did sometime entombe their dead within the Citie but that was but seldome for the bones and ashes of Trajan the Emperour were put into a golden vrne and set in the Market-place vpon the top of a pillar of one whole peece being one hundred and fourty foot high And Galbaes bodie long neglected saith Tacitus and in the darke despightfully intreated Argius his Steward one of his principall bondmen buried with small ceremonie in his priuate garden But this was not vsuall amongst them Hospinian lib. 3. cap. 1. out of Durandus Vlpian and other Authours giues this reason wherefore both the Iewes and Gentiles vsed to burie their dead without the gates of Townes and Cities It was a custome in times of old saith he that men and women were buried in their owne priuate houses or within their owne priuate gardens but afterwards for the noysome savour and contagious stinke of the dead carkases so interred it was enacted That all burials should bee without Townes and Cities in some conuenient place appointed for that purpose And howsoeuer that this order was obserued by the Gentiles upon this reason onely Scilicet vt in vrbibus mundicies seruaretur aer minus inficeretur ex cadauerum putrescentium faetore Yet the true Christians and such as by their liuely faith were adopted the children of God had a further mysterie in this their manner of interments for by the carriage and buriall of their dead corps without their citie walls they did publikely confirme and witnesse that the parties deceased were gone out of this world to bee made free denizons of another citie namely Heauen there to remaine with the blessed Saints in eternall happinesse This order or custome of buriall without cities continued amongst the Christians vntill the time of Gregory the great for as then the Monkes Friers and Priests saith my foresaid Authour began to offer sacrifice for the soules departed so that for their more easie and greater profit they procured first that the places of sepulture should bee adioyning vnto their Churches and afterwards they got licence to burie within Churches Vpon this reason out of the said Gregory 13. q. cap. 2. Cum grauia peccata non deprimunt saith hee tunc prodest mortuis si in Ecclesijs sepeliantur quia eorum proximi quoties ad eadem sacra loca veniunt suorumque sepulturam aspiciunt recordantur pro eis Domino preces fundunt Antiquitus tantum extra vrbem in coemiterijs hominū corpora sepeliebantur pace Ecclesiae data intra vrbes ad Templorum limina postea etiam in ipsis templis sepeliri mos inualuit Constantinus in porticu Templi Apostolorum Constantinopoli Honorius in porticu Templi S. Petri Romae eius vxor intra idem Templum sepulti sunt Anciently the bodies of the dead were buried onely without cities in Coemiteries or sleeping places vntill the resurrection as the word signifies but persecution being ended and peace giuen to the Christian Church the manner grew in vse to burie within Cities at the entrance into their sacred temples yea and afterwards in the verie Churches themselues Constantine was buried in the porch of the Apostles in Constantinople Honorius in the porch of S. Peter in Rome and his wife the Empresse within the said Church But to come nearer home Austine the first Archbishop of Canterbury sent hither by the foresaid Gregory was interred in the porch of Saint Peter and Paul commonly called Saint Austins neare vnto Canterbury a religious house of his owne foundation and together with him sixe other Archbishops who next succeeded him whose reliques afterwards were remoued into the Abbey Church of which I shall speake hereafter Cuthbert or Cudbright th' eleuenth Archbishop of that Province obtained from the Pope a dispensation for the making of Coemiteries or Churchyards within Townes and Cities whereas here in England vntill his time within the walls thereof none were buried These following are the words in the Appendix to the booke of Rochester a Mss. in Sir Robert Cottons Librarie Cutbertus Archiepiscopus Cant. xi ab Augustino cum Romae videret plures intra Ciuitates sepeliri rogauit Papam ut sibi liceret Coemiteria facere quod Papa annuit reuersus itaque coemiteria vbique in Anglia fieri constituit This order of buriall being thus begun here in England it likewise followed that Graue-stones were made and Tombes erected with inscriptions engrauen upon them to continue the remembrance of the parties deceased to succeeding ages and these were called Epitaphs now an Epitaph is a superscription either in verse or prose or an astrict pithie Diagram writ carued or engrauen vpon the tombe graue or sepulchre of the defunct briefly declaring and that sometimes with a kinde of commiseration the name the age the deserts the dignities the state the praises both of body and minde the good or bad fortunes in the life and the manner and time of the death of the person therein interred Of all funerall honours saith Camden Epitaphs haue alwayes beene most respectiue for in them loue was shewed to the deceased memorie was continued to posteritie friends were comforted and the Reader pu◠in minde of humane frailtie and indeed the frequent visiting and aduised reuiewing of the Tombes and monuments of the dead but without all touch of superstition with the often reading serious perusall and diligent meditation of wise and religious Epitaphs or inscriptions found vpon the tombes or monuments of persons of approued vertue merit and honour is a great motiue to bring us to repentance The invention of Epitaphs proceeded from the presage or forefeeling of immortalitie implanted in all men naturally and is referred to the Schollers of Linus the Theban Poet who flourished about the yeare of the world 2700 who first bewailed this Linus their master when he was slaine in dolefull verses then called of him Aelina afterward Epitaphia for that they were first song at burialls after engraued vpon the sepulchres Funerall monuments then of costly workmanship with curious engrauen Epitaphs were called Sepulchra id est semipulchra halfe faire and beautifull the externall part or superficies thereof being gloriously beautified and adorned and hauing
in their Pontificals with Tapers burning denounced the senâ—tence of Excommunication in this forme By the authoritie of Almighty God the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost and of the glorious mother of God and perpetuall Virgin Mary of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and of all Apostles and of all Martyrs of blessed Edward king of England and of all the Saints of heauen we excommunicate accurse and from the benefits of our holy mother the Church we sequester all those that hereafter willingly and maliciously depraue or spoile the Church of her right And all those that by any craâ—t or wilinesse do violate breake diminish or change the Church liberties and free customes contained in the Charters of the common liberties c. But I speake here of such sacrilegious persons as do rob and bereaue the Church of her treasure and sacred ornaments a sinne of such onely which do misprise and contemne Religion a sinne which hath beene by the very Pagans obserued neuer to escape vnpunished Cum oppidum Tolosanum in terra Gallia Quintus Cepio Consul diripuâ—sset multumque auri in eius oppidi templis furisset quisquis ex ea direptione aurum attigit misero cruciabilique exitu perijt Quintus Cepio with his company hauing taken and spoiled the Towne or Citie of Tholouse in France entred forcibly into the holy Temples out of which sacrilegiously hee tooke to the quantitie of one hundred and ten thousand markes in gold and fiue hundred millions of marks in siluer but euery man of them which were guilty of that robbery with all their kindred and families died within that yeare and not aboue one of them did carry so much as one piece thereof home to his owne house This treasure of Tholouse was a part of the Delphian riches For Brennus the brother of Belinus king of great Britaine Captaine of the Gaules brake open the Temple of Apollo at Delphos for the riches and the gold therein which had beene offered to the Gods which hee committed to publike spoile The most part whereof was conuaid by the Tectosages a people of the West part of Narbon to this city of Tholouse but presently vpon this sacriledge and contempt of the Gods the most of his armie which consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand footmen and fifteene thousand horsemen were discomfited and slaine and hee so furiously possessed that hee slue himselfe with his owne hands quis enim laesos impune putaret Esse deos For who could thinke the Gods thus wronged Their punishment would be prolonged Virgil makes these Church-robbers these contemners of Religion to bee more miserably then others tormented in hell Phlegyas miserrimus omnes Admonet magna testatur voce per vmbras Discite iustitiam moniti non temnere Diuos Phlegyas most of misers all Amongst those caytiues darke and loud with voice to them doth rore Learne Iustice now by this and Gods aboue despise no more This Phlegyas king of the Lapithes a people dwelling in a part of Thessalie hauing done infinite dammages in Greece surprizing many Townes and Cities became in the end so ouer weening and foolish bold that hee sacked the foresaid Temple of Apollo in Delphos and slue Philamon that cunning Harper the sonne of Apollo who brought an armed power to rescue his fathers oracle Vpon which sacriledge and contempt of the gods all the countrey of the Phlegyans was vtterly ruinated with an earthquake and flaming arrowes shot from heauen which killed most of the people and the few that remained died of the plague and for this high handed offence their foresaid king is still plagued in hell Which verses of Virgil to that purpose thus paraphrastically translated will it please you to reade ouer againe Phlegias king most wretched in that place Forewarneth all of his great misery And as sad witnesse of his pitious case In those dimme shades he cries out wofully Learne to doe Iustice and by my contempt Of the high Gods do you like fate preuent Histories affoard infinite examples of this kinde in all sorts of Religions yea Christian kings and other Potentates in all ages haue misprised the true onely all-sauing God by the sacrilegious taking away of the rights riches and ornaments of holy Church yet it hath beene obserued that they seldome or neuer escaped scotfree as the sequele of this worke will shew Seuere punishments haue formerly beene inflicted vpon Church robbers of the meaner ranke by the strictnesse of our Lawes here in England For an instance in the twentieth yeare of Edward the fourth on the 22. day of February fiue notable malefactors were put to death at London for robbing of Churches and other places especially the collegiate Church of Saint Martins le grand in London for the which three of them were drawne to the Tower-hill and there hanged and burnt the other two were pressed to death Wee haue not heard of the hanging of any such Church robbers in these our dayes for Sublata causa tollitur effectus the cause taken or if you will stolne away the effect will consequently cease For what man will venture a turne at the Gallows for a little small siluer chalice a beaten-out pulpit cushion an ore-worne Communion-cloth and a course Surplisse these are all the riches and ornaments of the most of our Churches and these are more by the Surplisse then by some of the Parishioners may bee thought perhaps fitting to be allowed such is now the sleight regard we haue of the decent setting forth of sacred Religion Of which a late writer Sacred Religion mother of forme and feare How gorgeously sometimes dost thou sit deckt What pompous vestments do we make thee weare What stately piles we prodigall erect How sweet perfum'd thou art how shining cleare How solemnly obseru'd with what respect Another time all plaine and quite threed-bare Thou must haue all within and nought without Sit poorely without light disrobd no care Of outward grace to amuze the poore deuout Powerlesse vnfollowed scarcely men can spare Three necessarie rites to set thee out Either truth goodnesse vertue are not still The selfe same which they are and alwayes one But alter to the proiect of our will Or we our actions make them wait vpon Putting them in the liuery of our skill And cast them off againe when we haue done CHAP. X. Of the rooting vp taking away erazing and defacing of Funerall Monuments in the reignes of King Henry the eighth and Edward the sixth Of the care Queene Elizabeth of famous memory had for the preseruation of the same Her Proclamation in the second of her raigne against defacing of Monuments TOward the latter end of the raigne of Henry the eight and throughout the whole raigne of Edward the sixth and in the beginning of Queene Elizabeth certaine persons of euery County were put in authority to pull downe and cast out of all Churches Roodes grauen Images Shrines with their
reedification of the thing broken as to the said Iustices shall seeme meete vsing therein the aduise of the Ordinary and if neede shall bee the aduise also of her Maiesties Councell in her Starre-chamber And for such as bee already spoiled in any Church or Chappell now standing Her Maiestie chargeth and commandeth all Archbishops Bishops and other Ordinaries or Ecclesiasticall persons which haue authoritie to visit the Churches or Chappels to inquire by presentments of the Curates Churchwardens and certaine of the Parishoners what manner of spoiles haue beene made sithens the beginning of her Maiesties raigne of such Monuments and by whom and if the persons be liuing how able they be to repaire and reedifie the same and thereupon to conuent the same persons and to enioyne them vnder paine of Excommunication to repaire the same by a conuenient day or otherwise as the cause shall further require to notifie the same to her Maiesties Councell in the Starre-chamber at Westminster And if any such shall be found and conuicted thereof noâ— able to repaire the same that then they bee enioyned to doe open peâ—ance two or three times in the Church as to the qualitie of the crime and partâ—â— belongeth vnder like paine of Excommunication And if the partie that offended bee dead and the executours of the Will left hauing sufficient in their hands vnadministred and the offence notorious The Ordinary of the place shall also enioyne them to repaire or reedifie the same vpon like or any other conuenient paine to bee deuised by the said Ordinary And when the offendour cannot be presented if it be in any Cathedrall or Collegiate Church which hath any reuenue belonging to it that is not particularly allotted to the sustentation of any person certaine or otherwise but that it may remaine in discretion of the gouernour thereof to bestow the same vpon any other charitable deed as mending of high-wayes or such like her Maiestie enioyneth and straightly chargeth the gouernours and companies of euery such Church to employ such parcels of the said sums of any as any wise may be spared vpon the speedy repaire or reedification of money such Monuments so defaced or spoiled as agreeable to the originall as the same conueniently may be And where the couetousnesse of certaine persons is such that as Patrons of Churches or owners of the personages impropriated or by some other colour or pretence they do perswade with the Parson and Parishioners to take or throw downe the Bels of Churches and Chappels and the lead of the same conuerting the same to their priuate gaine and to the spoiles of the said places and make such like alterations as thereby they seeke a slanderous desolation of the places of prayer Her Maiestie to whom in the right of the Crowne by the ordinance of Almighty God and by the Lawes of this Realme the defence and protection of the Church 〈◊〉 this Realme belongeth doth expresly forbid any manner of person to taâ—e away any Bels or lead of any Church or Chappell vnder paine of imprisonment during her Maiesties pleasure and such further fine for the contempt as shall be thought meete And her Maiestie chargeth all Bishops and Ordinaries to enquire of all such contempts done from the beginning of her Maiesties raigne and to enioyne the persons offending to repaire the same within a conuenient time And of their doings in this behalfe to certifie her Maiesties priuie Councell or the Councell in the Starre-chamber at Westminster that order may be taken herein Yeuen at Windsor the xix of September the second yeare of her Maiesties raigne God saue the Queene Imprinted at London in Pauls Churchyard by Richard Iugge and Iohn Cawood Printers to the Queenes Maiestie Cum priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis This Proclamation was seconded by another to the same purpose in the fourteenth yeare of her Maiesties raigne charging the Iustices of her Assise to prouide seuere remedie both for the punishment and reformation thereof But these Proclamations tooke small effect for much what about this time there sprung vp a contagious broode of Scismatickes who if they might haue had their wills would not onely haue robbed our Churches of all their ornaments and riches but also haue laid them lâ—uell with the ground choosing rather to exercise their deuotions and publish their erronious doctrines in some emptie barne in the woods or common fields then in these Churches which they held to be polluted with the abhominations of the whore of Babylon Besides about that time these foresaid wilfull Sectaries did penne print and spread abroad certaine seditious Pamphlets as still they doe against our booke of Common Prayer against all Ecclesiasticall gouernment and against all the rites and ceremonies vsed in this our orthodoxall Church of England inuenting out of their owne corkie braines a new certaine noâ—orme of Liturgie to themselues thereby to bring into the Church all disorder and confusion These Renegadoes are at this day diuided and subdiuided into as many seuerall Sects as there be seuerall Trades in the greatest Market-towne As into Brownists Barowists Martinists Prophesiers Solifidians Famelists rigid Precisians Disciplinarians Iudaicall Thraskists c. and into a rable numberlesse In the three and thirtieth yeare of Queene Elizabeth the sixteenth day of Iuly in the morning Edmund Coppinger and Henry Arthington repaired to one Walkers house neare vnto Broken warfe of London where conferring with one of their Sect named William Hacket of Owndale in the County of Northampton Yeoman they offered to anoint him king But Hacket taking Coppinger by the hand said You shall not need for I haue beene already anointed in heauen by the holy Ghost himselfe Then Coppinger asked him what his pleasure was to be done Go your way both said he and tell them in the citie that Christ Iesus is come with his fanne in his hand to iudge the earth And if any man aske you where he is tell them he lies at Walkers house by Broken-wharfe and if they will not beleeue it let them come and kill me if they can for as truely as Christ Iesus is in heauen so truely is he come to iudge the world Then Coppinger said it should be done forthwith and thereupon went forward and Arthington followed but ere he could get downe the staires Coppinger â—ad begun below in the house to proclaime newes from heauen of exceeding great mercy that Christ Iesus was come c. with whom Arthiâ—â—â—on also cried the same words aloude following him along the streets from thence by Warling-street and Old Change toward Cheape they both adding beyond their commission Repent England repent After they had both thus come with a mightie concourse of common multituâ—e with an vniforme cry into Cheape neare vnto the Grosse and there finding the throng and prease of people to increase about them in such sort aâ— they could not well passe further nor be conueniently heard of them all as they desired they got them vp into an emptie pease cart
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
Regis Ed. 3. Ann. 24. that William Fox Parson of Lee neare Gainsborough Iohn Fox and Thomas of Lingeston Friers Minors of that Couent in Lincolne were indited before Gilbert Vmfreuill and other Iustices in partibus de Lindesey apud Twhancaster die Sabbati post festum sâ—ncti Iohannis Baptiste in the said yeare for that they came to Bradholme a Nunnery in the County of Nottingham the eighteenth of the Kal. of February and then and there rapuerunt abduxerunt inde contra pacem Domini Regis quandam Monialem nomine Margaretam de Euernigham Sororem dicte Domus exeuntes eam habit Religionis induentes eam Rob. virid secular ac etiam diuersa bona ad valenc quadragint solid Violently tooke and forcibly from thence carried away against the peace of their Soueraigne Lord the King a certaine Nunne by name Margaret de Euernigham a sister of the said house stripping her quite out of her religious habit and putting vpon her a greene Gowne Robe or Garment of the secular fashion and also diuers goods to the value of forty shillings In this Kings raigne Robert Longland a secular Priest borne in Shropshire at Mortimers Câ—liberie writ bitter inuectiues against the Prelates and all religious orders in those dayes as you may reade throughout this book which he calls The vision of Piers Plowman Presently after in the raigne of Richard the second Iohn Gower flourished who in his booke called Vox clamantis cries out against the Clergie-men of his time first Quod Christi scholam dogmatizant eius contrarium operantur 2 Quod potentiores alijs existunt 3 Quod carnalia appetentes vltra modum delicatè vinunt 4 Quod lucris terrenis inhiant honore Prelacie gaudent non vt prosint sed vt presint Episcopatum desiderant Quod legibus positiâ—is quae quamuis ad cultum anime necessarie non sunt infinitas tamen constitutiones quasi quotidie ad eorum lucrum nobis grauiter imponâ—â—t Quod bona temporalia possidentes spiritualia omittunt Quod Christus pacem suis discipulis dedit reliquit sed Prelati propter bona terrena guerras contra Christianos legibus suis positiuis instituunt prosequuntur Quod cleri sunt bellicosi Quod scribunt docent ea quae sunt pacis sed in contrarium ea quae sunt belli procurant Quod nomen sanctum sibi presumunt appropriant tamen sibi terrena nec alijs inde participando ex caritate subueniunt Quod intrant Ecclesiam per Symoniam Quod honores non onera Prelacie plures affectant quo magis in Ecclesia cessant virtutes vitia multipliciter accrescunt Quod Rectores in curis residentes cuâ—â—s tamen negligentes venationibus praecipue voluptatibus penitus intendunt Quod Presbyteri sine curis siue stipendarij non propter mundiciâ—m ordinis honestatem sed proptâ—r mundi otia gradum Presbyteratus appetunt assumunt Much more he speakes against the abuses and vices of Church-men as also against the lewd liues of the Schollars in Cambridge and Oxford which he calls the Churches plants concluding thus his third book Sic quia stat cecus morum sine lumine clerus Erramus Laici nos sine luce vagi In his fourth booke hee speakes of Monkes and all other religious Orders Quod contra primi ordinis statuta abstinentie virtutem linquunt delicias sibi corporales multipliciter assumunt Ripping vp their faults in particular Chaucer who was contemporarie and companion with Gower in the Plowmans tale the Romant of the Rose and in his Treatise which hee intitles lacke Vpland writes as much or more against the pride couetousnesse insatiable luxurie hypocrisie blinde ignorance and variable discord amongst the Church-men and all other our English votaries As also how rude and vnskilfull they were in matters and principles of our Christian institutions to whose workes now commonly in print I referre my Reader for further satisfaction In a Parliament holden at Westminster the eleuenth yeare of King Henry the fourth the lower house exhibited a Bill to the King and the Lords of the vpper house in effect as followeth To the most excellent Lord our King and to all the Nobles in this present Parliament assembled your faithfull Commons doe humbly signifie that our Soueraigne Lord the King might haue of the temporall possessions lands and reuenues which are lewdly spent consumed and wasted by the Bishops Abbats and Priors within this Realme so much in value as would suffice to finde and sustaine one hundred and fifty Earles one thousand and fiue hundred Knights sixe thousand and two hundred Esquiers and one hundred Hospitals more then now be But this Petition of spoiling the Church of England of her goodly patrimonies which the pietie and wisedome of so many former ages had congested was by the King who was bound by oath and reason to preserue the flourishing estate of the Church so much detested that for this their proposition he denied all other their requests and commanded them that from thenceforth they should not presume to intermeddle with any such matter This King as also his sonne and grandchilde were wondrous indulgent to the Clergie although they were daily disquieted with the bellowing of the Popes Prouisorie Bulls For Henry the fifth was so deuour and seruiceable to the Church of Rome and her Chaplaines that he was called of many the Prince of Priests And Henry the sixth surnamed the holy wa an obedient childe and no lesse nay more obsequious to the See Apostolicall then any of his predecessours howsoeuer I finde that once he reiected the Popes Bull concerning the restoring of the Temporalities of the Bishoppricke of Ely And now giue me leaue a little to digresse speaking somewhat by the way of the denomination of this word Bulla and why the Bishops of Rome call their leaden Seales by which they confirme their writings Bulls This word Bulla was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est à Consilio of councell For that anciently a golden Bull broach or ornament round and hollow within was vsually fastened about the necks or breasts of young children and semblablie to all their pictures signifying thereby that their render vnbridled age ought to be gouerned by the graue councell and good aduise of others of more maturitie in yeares And from hence the Bishops of Rome borrowed the name for their leaden Seales vpon one part of which the name of the Pope is to be read on the other the head of Saint Paul on the right side of the Crosse and of Saint Peter on the left are to bee seene Honoris tamen non praelationis gratia factitatum hoc ab Ecclesia Nam quanquam S. Petrus sit Princeps Apostolici ordinis tamen Ecclesia voluit eos indiscretae esse excellentiae But this was done of the Church saith my Author in regard of honour not of preheminence For although
Saint Peter be the head of the Apostolike Order yet the Church will haue them to be of an vndistinct excellence Now the Popes per liter as suas bullatas Regi directas did preferre whom they pleased and how they pleased to any Ecclesiasticall promotion here in England One example for all Innocent the seuenth by his Bull preferred Richard Fleming first to the Bishopricke of Lincolne then to the Archbishopricke of Yorke and lastly driue him backe againe by his roaring Bull to his first preferment of Lincolne All which this King thus ratifies Cum nuper summus Pontifex Richardum tunc Episcopum Lincoln a vinculo quo eidem Ecclesie tenebatur absolnerit ad Ecclesiam Ebor transtulerit Nec non à vinculo quo eidem Ecclesie Ebor. cui tunc preerat tenebatur absoluit ipsum ad prefat Lincoln Ecclesiam duxerit restituend transferand ipsumque in Episcopum Ecclesie Lincoln prefecerit Rex fidelitatem cepit ipsius Episcopi restituit ei temporalia Teste Rege apud West 3. Augusti Such was the absolute authority of the Pope whose name saith a namelesse Author was neuer Peter except you grant Saint Peter to bee one and the first howsoeuer many of them haue had that name giuen vnto them in baptisme the reason whereof is thus diliuered Nemo ex omnibus Romanorum Pontificibus Petri nomen sibi assumpsit etsi nonnulli in Baptismate ita nominati ex quadam erga Apostolorum Principem reuerentia Now let me returne this Digression being much longer then I expected as also this Chapter which I will conclude as briefly as I may in the meane while take this short story which I finde in the fourth part of Sir Edward Cokes reports Act. de Scandalis The Abbot of S. Albons commanded his seruant to go into the Towne or some place neare adioyning and to desire a certaine mans wife to come vnto him with whom he said he had an earnest desire to talke The seruant obeyed and like a good trustie Roger performed his Masters commandement in bringing the woman to his priuate chamber Now so soone as the Abbot and the wife were together the seruant well knowing his masters minde withdrew himselfe out of the way and left them together alone in the chamber The Abbot then began to accoast the wise telling her first that her array was meane poore and grosse array to which she answered That her array was according to her small abilitie and the abilitie of her husband The Abbot knowing in what most of women take the greatest delight told her that if she would be ruled by him she should haue as good array to weare as the best woman in the Parish where shee dwelt and so began to sollicite her chastitie The woman giuing no eare to his libidinous motions the Abbot assaulted her with struglings and baudy embracings thinking to get that by force which hee could not obtaine by faire meanes But she still resisted all his encounters promises and perswasions by which he detained her in his chamber a long time against her will The husband hauing notice of this abuse offered to his wife began to talke of the matter and said that he would haue an Action of false imprisonment against the Abbot for detaining his wife against her will so long in his chamber The Abbot hearing of this adding one sinne to another did sue the innocent poore husband in the Ecclesiasticall Court vpon an Action of defamation because forsooth the husband had giuen out and published abroad that my Lord Abbot would haue made his wife a dishonest woman The matter being opened in the Court the husband had a Prohibition c. This cunning sinne amongst other their crimes was vsually put in practise by the Church-men of other countries witnesse Francis Petrarch Archdeacon of Parma in Italy in one of his Epistles sine titulo to his namelesse friend wherein he anatomises the Romane Clergie Thus translated Here Venus with her wanton toyes Is honour'd with base bauds and boyes Adulterie whoredome and incest Is honour'd here among the best And counted but for sports and playes Euen with our Prelats of these dayes The wife is rauish'd from her spouse And to the Papall seat she bowes The poore goâ—d man must leaue the Towne Such ordinances are set downe And when her belâ—â—e riseth hie By Cardiâ—als who with her lie The husband must not dare complaine But take his wife with childe againe And dangerous it was for a Lay-man in Iohn Gowers dayes to accuse any of the Clergie with a matter of truth As you may perceiue by the sequele Hoc dicit clerus quod quamuis crimine plenus Sit non est laici ponere crimenei Alter alterius cleri peccata fauore Excusat quod in hijs stat sine lege reus Non occusari vult à caliis tamen illos Accusat que sibi libera frena petit Libera sunt ideo peccata placentia Clero Sit nisi quod Laici iura ferantur ibi Presbiter insipiens populum facit insipientem Et mala multa parit qui bona pauca sapit Chaucer writes of the same Mennes wiues they wollen hold And though that they been right sorye To speake they shull not bee so bold For sompning to the Consistory And make hem saie mouth I lie Though they it sawe with her iye His Lemman holden openly No man so hardy to aske why They â—aine to no man that it longeth To reproue them though they erre Sir Thomas Moore reports how in this kings dayes a poore man found a Priest ouer-familiar with his wife and because hee spake it abroad and could not proue it the Priest sued him before the Bishops Officiall for defamation where the poore man in paine of cursing was commanded that in his Parish Church he should vpon the Sonday stand vp and say Mouth thou liest Whereupon for fulfilling of his penance vp was the poore soule set in a pew that the people might wonder at him and heare what hee said and there all aloud when he had rehearsed what he had reported by the Priest then he set his hands on his mouth and said Mouth thou liest And by and by thereupon he set his hands vpon both his eyes and said But eyne by the Masse ye lie not a whit Abbots and Priours in these dayes did ouer-awe all sorts of lay-people yea the greatest Potentates which made Edward the fourth write thus to the Priour of Lewes in Sussex more like a poore petitioner then a great Prince concerning a matter wherein the Prior and Couent went about to cosin his seruant Vincent Deare and welbeloued in God we greet you well and wher we been enformyd yat many yeres past by yowr letters endentyd vndre yowr Couuent Seal grauntyd to owr trusty and welbelowed servant Iohn Vincent Esquyr fader to owr ryght welbelowed seruant Bryan Vincent certain of yowr londes and rentes within yowr Lordshyp of Conesburgh to
and established by the kings Highnesse our most gratious souereigne Lord and by the whole consent of the high Court of Parliament for the extirpation abolition and extinguishment out of this Realme and other his graces dominions seigniories and countries of the pretended power and vsurped authoritie of the Bishop of Rome by some called the Pope vsed within the same or elsewhere concerning the same realme dominions segniories or countries whiâ—h did obfuscat and wrest Gods holy word and Testament a long season from the spirituall and true meaning thereof to his worldly and carnall affections as pompe glory auarice ambition and tyrannie couering and shadowing the same with his humane and politike deuises traditions and inuentions set forth to promote and stablish his onely dominion both vpon the soules and also the bodies and goods of all Christian people excluding Christ out of his kingdome and rule of mans soule as much as hee may and all other temporall Kings and Princes out of their dominions which they ought to haue by Gods law vpon the bodies and goods of their subiects whereby he did not onely rob the Kings Maiestie being onely the supreme head of this his Realme of England immediately vnder God of his honour right and preheminence due vnto him by the law of God but spoiled his Realme yearely of innumerable treasure and with the losse of the same deceiued the Kings louing and obedient subiects perswading to them by his lawes buls and other his deceiuable meanes such dreames vanities and fantasies as by the same many of them were seduced and conâ—ueied vnto superstitious and erroneous opinions So that the Kings Maiestie the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and the Commons in this Realme being ouer-wearied and fatigated with the experience of the infinite abhominations and mischiefes proceeding of his impostures and craftily colouring of his deceits to the great dammages of soules bodies and goods were forced of necessitie for the publike weale of this Realme to exclude that forraine pretended iurisdiction and authoritie vsed and vsurped within this Realme and to deuise such remedies for their reliefe in the same as doth not onely redound to the honour of God the high praise and aduancement of the Kings Maiestie and of his Realme but also to the great and inestimable vtilitie of the same And notwithstanding the said wholesome lawes so made and heretofore established yet it is common to the knowledge of the Kings highnesse and also to diuerse and many his loâ—uing faithfull and obedient subiects how that diuers seditious and contentious persons being imps of the said Bishop of Rome and his See and in heart members of his pretended Monarchie doe in corners and elsewhere as they dare whisper inculke preach and perswade and from time to time instill into the eares and heads of the poore simple and vnlettered people the aduancement and continuance of the said Bishops feined and pretended authoritie pretending the same to haue his ground and originall of Gods law whereby the opinions of many bee suspended their iudgements corrupted and deceiued and diuersitie in opinions augmented and increased to the great displeasure of almighty God the high discontentation of our said most dread soueraigne Lord and the interruption of the vnitie loue charitie concord and agreement that ought to bee in a Christian Region and congregation For auoiding whereof and repression of the follies of such seditious persons as be the meanes and authours of such inconueniences Be it enacted ordained and established by the King our soueraigne Lord and the Lords spirituall and temporall and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authoritie of the same that if any person or persons dwelling demurring inhabiting or resiant within this Realme or within any other the Kings dominions seigniories or countries or the marches of the same or elsewhere within or vnder his obeizance and power of what estate dignitie preheminence order degree or condition soeuer hee or they bee after the last day of Iuly which shall bee in the yeare of our Lord God 1536. shall by writiâ—g ciâ—ering printing preachâ—ing or teaching deed or act obstinately or maliciously hold or stâ—nd with to extoll set foorth maintaine or defend the authoritie iurisdiction or power of the Bishop of Rome or of his See heretofore claimed vsed or vsurped within this Realme or in any dominion or countrey being or within or vnder the Kings power or obeisance or by any presence obstinately or maliciously inuent any thing for the extolling aduancement setting forth maintenance or defence of the same or any part thereof or by any pretence obstinately or maliciously attribute any manner of iurisdiction authoritie or preheminence to the said See of Rome or to any Bishop of the same See for the time being within this Realme or in any the Kings dominions and countries That then euery such person or persons so doing or offending their aiders assistants comfortors abettors procurers maintainers fautors counsellours conceilours and euery of them being thereof lawfully conuicted according to the Lawes of this Realme for euery such default and offence shall incurre and runne into the dangers penalties paines and forfeitures ordeined and prouided by the statute of Prouision and Premunire made in the sixteenth yeare of the reigne of the noble and valiant Prince King Richard the second against such as attempt procure or make prouision to the See of Rome or elsewhere for any thing or things to the derogation or contrarie to the Prerogatiue royall or iurisdiction of the Crowne and dignitie of this Realme King Henry still hearing of the murmuring of his Subiects vpon the enacting of this Statute writes againe to his principall magistrates in euery countrey in this manner following Henry R. By the King TRusty and welbeloued we grete yow well And wheras heretofore as ye know both vpon most iust and vertuouse fowndacions grownded vpon the lawes of Almighty God and holy Scripture And also by the deliberate aduice consultacion consent and agreement aswell of the Bishops and Clergie as by the Nobles and Commons temporall of this owr realme assembled in owr high Court of Parliament and by auctorite of the same the abuses of the Bisshop of Rome his auctorite and iurisdiction of long time vsurped against vs haue been not onely vtterly extirped abolished and secluded but also the same owr Nobles and Commons both of the Clergie and Temporalty by an other seuerall Acte and vpon like fundacion for the publike weale of this our realme haue vnited knytte and annexed to vs and the Crowne imperiall of this our realme the title dignitie and stile of Supreme hed in erthe immediatly vndre God of the Church of England as vndoubtedly euermore we haue ben which thing also the said Bisshops and Clergie particularly in their Conuocacions haue holly and entyrely consented recognised ratifyed confirmed and approued authentiquely in wryting both by their speciall othes profession and wryting vnder their Signes and Seales so vtterly reuouncyng all other othes
of Rome vnto the generall Councell may also be transumed impressed published and set vp on euery Church-doore in England to the intent that if any censures should be fulminate against the king or his realme that then it may appeare to all the world that the censures be of none effect considering that the king hath already and also before any censures promulged both prouoked and appealed Item like transumpts to bee made and sent into all other realmes and dominions and specially into Flanders concerning the kings said prouocations and appellations to the intent falsehood iniquitie malice and iniustice of the Bishop of Rome may thereby appeare to all the world And also to the intent that all the world may know that the Kings highnes standing vnder those appeales no censures can preuaile neither take any effect against him and his realme Item a letter to be conceiued from all the Nobles as well Spirituall as Temporall of this Realme vnto the Bishop of Rome declaring the wrongs iniuries and vsurpations vsed against the kings highnes and this realme Item to send exploratours and espies into Scotland and to see and perceiue their practises and what they intend there And whether they will confederate themselues with any other outward Princes Item to send letters for that purpose to the Earle of Northumberland my Lord Daves and Sir Thomas Clyfford Item certaine discreete and graue persons to bee appointed to repaire into the parts of Germany to practise and conclude some lege or amitie with the Princes and Potentates of Germany that is to say the King of Pole Iohn of Hungary the Duke of Saxony the Duke of Bauyere Duke Fredericke the Landegraue Van Hesse the Bishop of Magous Bishop of Treuers the Bishop of Collene and other the Potentates of Germany and also to ensearch of what inclination the said Princes and Potentates be of towards the King and this realme Item like practise to be made and practised with the Cities of Lubeke Danske Hambourgh Bromeswicke and all other the steads of the Haunse Tuâ—onyk and to ensearch of what inclination they bee towards the King and this realme Item like practise to be made and practised with the Cities of Norimbourgh and Aughsbrough Item to remember the Merchants aduenturers haunting the dominions of Braband and to speake with them Item to set order and establishment of the Princes Dowagers house with all celeritie and also of my Lady Maryes house To these or some of these purposes the King dispatched messengers to all his Embassadours and Agents beyond seas hauing before that sent the Duke of Norfolke Viscount Rocheford Sir William Pawlet afterwards Marquesse of Winchester and others to the Pope the Emperour and the French King being all three together at Nice He also caused his Secretarie to write in this manner to Iames the fifth King of Scotland Moste excellent myghtye and victorious Prynce Pleâ—sâ—th your Magestie that by the commaundment of my most dread Lord and Soueraigne Kyng of England your graces moste dere Vncle I haue in charge vndre commyssion certeyn specyall maters concernyng his highnes pleasure secreatly to be signyfyed vnto your grace wherein not only as a naturall Cousyne of your royall consanguinity but as a moste loueing Father entierly tendryng your worthye honor no lesse desirous hereof then regardyng his owne peculyer prosperyte vnfaynedly accomptyng your graces aduancement his moste conformable consolacion In consideracyon whereof sith it hath so pleasyd God of his infynyte fauour to revele vnto his highnes as well by studyous endeuor of good letters as by erudyte consultacyon of famous estemyde Clerke Also by long attempted experience ensearchyng truyth chyeflye in Christs doctryne who saith Iohn the fourteenth Ego sum veritas now clerely to perceive the thrall captyvyte vndre the vsurpyd power of the Busshop of Rome and his vngodly lawes Wherein his highnes and other many of his noble progenitors were moste wyckedly abusyde to their intollerable calamity and excedyng molestacion of their Subiects ouer whom God had yeuon them auctoryte and gouernaunce to rule as by all storyes of the olde testament and informacyon of the new playnely apperith Which groundly knowen to his highnes wisshith lykewise the same to be persuadyd vnto your grace wherby your honorable renoune and royall auctoryte shuld be moche enlargyd with no lesse felycitye of soule pryncipally to be regardyd then with aboundant comoditie of riches and vnfayned obeysaunce of faythfull Subiects ferr from the comeberous calamyte of the Popysshe myserable molestacyon What more intollerable calamyte may ther be to a Christian Prynce than vniustlye to be defeatyd of his righteous iurisdiction within his realme to be a King by name and not indede to be a ruler without regyment ouer his owne liege people what more greuous molestacion can chaunce to true harted Subiects than to be seuerâ—d from the alliegiaunce due to their naturall Soueraigne ther annoyntyd King grauntyd by Gods lawes and to become servile slaues to a foreyn Potentat vsurpyng to reigne ouer them agaynste the lawe of God as by the violent tyrannye of the Bushop of Rome hathe many yeres hitherto bene practysed throughout all regions to the ruynous desolacyon of the hole Christentie what Realme is ther but that the Busâ—shop of Rome hath planted therein his kingdome and established his regiment after soche a subtiell way that he and his craâ—tye creatures were obeyd of Prynces to whome of dutye they ought to haue bene subiect 1. Pet. 2. siue Regi tanquam praecellenti c. of whome all Romayn Busshops haue presumyd to be successors but not folowers contrarye to his example Qui non venit ministrari sed ministrare In all Realmes the Popisshe practise hath had soche confederacye of false forsworne factious and trayterous Titinylks vntrue to ther Soueraigne that nothyng was so secreatly in counsaill of any Prynce but forthwith it was caried by relacion to the Popes care And if ought were attemptyd agaynste his owne person or any crookyd creature of his creation in restraynyng of ther extortionate claymes as ther was nothyng but they claymed to haue auctoryte vpon incontynent they bouncyd out their thunderbolts and currsyng fulminations with soche intollerable force of vnmercyfull crudelyte that they made the greatiste personages of the world to trymble and quake for feare For by the negligente soufferaunce of Prynces thrughe dâ—faute of knowlege of Goddes worde the Popisshe pride was so haught his auctoryte so preemynent his power so puisaunte his strengthe so myghtye his displeasure so daungerous his Tyrrannye so terrible that scarse any durst resiste to coutrevaill none was able Example of many excellente Prynces as Iohn the furst and Henry the second of gracyous memory Kings of England here in their liffe times moste cruelly vexyd and after there disseas by forged leasyngs and slaunderous ympechements mysreportyd and faulselye belied with dispitfull dishonor of ther excellent progenye After like fasshion the victorious Emperor Lodovicus enterprysing
England should not be named or called from henceforth Prior of Saint Iohns of Ierusalem in England but by his proper name of William Weston Knight without further addition touching the said Religion And that likewise Sir Iohn Rauson knight being then Prior of Kilmainam in Ireland should not bee called or named from thenceforth Prior of Kilmainam in Ireland but onely by his proper name of Iohn Rauson knight without farther addition And that none of the Brethren or Confriers of the said Religion within this Realme of England and Land of Ireland should bee called Knights of the Rhodes or knights of Saint Iohns but by their owne proper Christian names and surnames of their parents without any other additions And furthermore it was enacted vnder a great penaltie that they should not weare about their necks in or vpon any apparell of their bodies any chaine with a Ierusalem Crosse or any other signe marke or token theretoâ—fore vsed and deuised for the knowledge of the said Religion and that they should not make any congregations chapiters or assemblies touching the same Religion or maintaine support vse or defend any liberties franchises or priuiledges theretofore granted to the said Religion by the authoritie of the Bishop of Rome or of the See of the same Lastly it was granted by the authoritie of the said Parliament that the Kings Maiestie his heires and successors should haue and enioy their said mansion house in the Parish aforesaid within the County of Midlesex and also the Hospitall of Kilmainam in Ireland with all their appurtenances for euer Yet it was prouided by the said Act that Sir William Weston and Sir Iohn Rauson Priors as also some other of the Confriers should haue a certaine annuall pension during their liues with some reasonable proportion of their owne proper goods And this was done saith the words in the statute by the agreement and assent of the Kings most excellent goodnes Sir William Weston had giuen vnto him one thousand pound of annuall rent or pension Sir Iohn Rauson fiue hundred Markes Clement West Confrier two hundred pound Thomas Pemberton fourescore pound Gyles Russell one hundred pound George Ailmer one hundred pound Iohn Sutton two hundred pound Edward Bellingham an hundred pound Edward Browne fifty pound Edmund Husse an hundred Markes Ambrose Caue an hundred Markes Thomas Copledyke fifty pound Cuthbert Leighton threescore pound Richard Broke an hundred Markes Henry Poole two hundred Markes William Tyrell thirty pound Iohn Rauson Confrier two hundred Markes To Anthony Rogers Oswald Massingberd Iames Husse Thomas Thornell Nicholas Hopton Philip Babington Henry Gerard Dunstan Nudegate Nicholas Lambert and Dauid Gonson being Confriers professed and hauing no certaine liuing was giuen ten pound a peece of yearely pension And if any proâ—esâ—ed in the said Religion were negligently forgotten or omitted out of that present Act for lacke of knowledge of their names yet it was ordered by the same that they should haue such honest conuenient and reasonable yearly pension and portion of goods as should please the Kings Maiestie to limit and appoint And by the said Act Ioâ—n Mableston Subprior of this Hospitall in England William Ermested Master of the Temple of London Walter Lymsey and Iohn Winter Chapleines were authorized to receiue and enioy during their naturaâ—l liues all such mansion houses stipends and wages in as large and ample manner as euer they did before the sitting of that Parliament What other pensions were giuen or how much the value in money was of the yearely profits of these foure last remembred I do not reade But the annuities or pensions appointed to the said two knights and the Confriers amounted to the summe of two thousand eight hundred and seuenty pound the yeare issuing out of the lands to this Hospitall appertaining And I finde that at the very same time of the dissolution of this Fraternitie certaine lusts and Tourneaments being holden at Westminster wherein the challengers against all commers were Sir Iohn Dudley Sir Thomas Seymor Sir Thomas Poinings Sir George Carew knights Antony Kingston and Richard Cromwell Esquires To each one of which for a reward of their valiantnesse the King gaue an hundred Markes of yearely reuenues and an house to dwell in and both of them to them and their heires for euer out of the lands and liuings belonging to this Hospitall Of such a large extensure were her possessions And much what after this manner the rest of the Manors honors lands tenements rents and reuersions were bestowed and likewise at that time vpon small considerations the scite and lands of all other Monasteries were begged bought and alienated by such who respected their owne profit aboue the seruice of Almighty God Albeit it was then declared saith Camden that such religious places being of most pious intent consecrated to the glory of God might haue beene according to the Canons of the Church bestowed in exhibition and almes for Gods Ministers reliefe of the poore redemption of captiues and repairing of Churches All Monasteries being thus suppressed it followed that vnder a faire pretence of rooting out of superstition all Chanteries Colledges and Hospitals were likewise by Act of Parliament left to the dispose and pleasure of the King And all these Monuments aforesaid of our forefathers pietie and deuotion to the honour of God the propagation of Christian saith and good learning and also for the reliefe and maintenance of the poore and impotent if without offence I may speake the truth All these I say for the most part were shortly after to wit within the remainder of his raigne and the short time of his Sonnes King Edward the sixth euery where pulled downe their reuenues sold and made a way and those goods and riches which the Christian pietie of our English Nation had consecrated vnto God since they first professed Christianity were in a moment as it were dispersed and to the displeasure of no man be it spoken profaned Thus haue you seene by degrees the fatall and finall period of Abbeyes Priories and such like religious Structures with the casting out to the wide world of aâ—l their religious Votaries chiefly occasioned by their owne abhominable crying sinnes more then by any other secondarie meanes as plainly doth appeare by the premisses All which Queene Mary attempted to haue restored to their pristine estate and former glory But all in vaine for these religious Ediâ—ices with the lands and possessions thereunto belonging were so infringed alienated and transferred that neither the power of Maiestie nor the force of Parliament could reduce them againe to the proper vse for which by the Founders they were intended Howsoeuer she being a Prince more zealous then poliâ—â—keâ— resigned and confirmed by Parliament to God and holy Church all those Ecclesiasticall reuenues which by the authoritie of that high Court in the time of her father King Henry had beene annexed to the Crowne to the great diminution and impouerishing of the same And
ad eâ—â—dem manusque ad conseruationemeius dein promptiâ—s porrigentes adiutrices quo ex inde dono celestis gratie conspexerint se ibidem vherius refertos de omni potentis Dei miserecordia B B. Petri Pauli Apostolorum eius autoritate conâ—isi omnibus vere penitentibus confesâ—is contritis quâ— diâ— Ascensionis Domini nostri Iesu Christi a vespera Vigilie ipsius vâ—que ad vesperam eiusdem diei dictam S. Ia. C. Ecclesiam deuote visitauerint annuatim et manus adeius conseruationem porâ—exerint adiutrices plenam omnium suorum peccatorum absolutionem concedimus Insâ—per per septem dies dictum festum sequentes et quolibet ipsorum dierum de iniunctis ipsorum penitenâ—ijs septimam partem miserecorditer in Domino relaxamus presentibus perpetuis temporibus duraturis Nulli ergo hominum liceat â—anc nostram concessionis et relaxationis paginam infringere vel ei ausu temerario contraire Sâ— quis antem hoc attemptare presumpserit indignationem omnipotentis Dei et B B. Petriet Pauli Apostolorum se incursurum nouerit atque in extremo indicio districti Iudicis ira crudeliter permulctari Dat. R. apud S. P. Id. M. Pontisicaâ—us nostri anno Testes A. Episcopus P. G. Episcopus S. E. S. Eâ—statij presbiter Cardinalis c. Against an Altar Si quis Missam ad hoc Altare fieri curabit plenariam peccatorum remissionem consequetur Si vero pro defuncti alicuius anima ad idem Altare legatur Missa statim in ipso actu et celebratione Misse anima defuncti ex purgatorio in celum ascendet et seruabitur Nihil certius Neare to the place where reliques were kept such a like Inscription was either painted insculpt or written vpon a table hanging vpon some pillar or other of the Church Hic sacra sanctarum si nomina reliquiarum Lector seâ—re velis docet hoc te charta fidelis De Christi cuna que virga refloruit vna Coelo manna datum paranymphi manna beatum Mensa gerens cenam turbamque cibans duodenam Claudâ—tur cista chlamys inconsutilis ista Sanguine Baptiste pariter locis omnibus iste Est sacer magni sudaria continet agni The reliques kept in the Church being all thus reckoned they were concluded much what after this manner Horum reliquijs constat locus iste celebris Hinc multorum possemus nomina quorum Dicere si in tabula locus illis esset in ista Nos meritis horum redeamus ad alta polorum Inscriptions neare and vpon Bells Bels in time of Poperie were baptised they were anointed oleo chrismatis they were exorcized they were blest by the Bishop these and other ceremonies ended it was verily beleeued that they had power to driue the deuill out of the aire to make him quake and tremble to make him at the sound thereof flie Tanquam ante crucis vexillum that they had power to calme stormes and tempests to make faire weather to extinguish sudden fires to recreate euen the dead and the like And as you may reade in the Romane Pontificals they had the name of some Saint or other giuen 〈◊〉 them in their Baptisme I will bring in for example the Bells of the Parish Church of Winington in Bedfordshire whose names are cast about the verge of euery one in particular with these riming Hexameters Nomina Campanis hec indita sunt quoque nostris 1. Hoc signum Petri pulsatur nomine Christi 2. Nomen Magdalene Campana sonat melodie 3. Sit nomen Domini benedictum semper in euum 4. Musa Raphaelis sonat auribus Immanuelis 5. Sum Rosa pulsata mundi que Maria vocata Vpon or within the steeple these verses following or others to the same effect were either engrauen in brasse cut in the stone or painted within on the wall En ego campana nunquam denuncio vana Laudo Deum verum plebem voco congrego clerum Defunctos plango viuos voco fulmina frango Vox mea vox vite voco vos ad sacra venite Sanctos collando tonitrus fugo funera claudo Or these Funera plango fulgura frango Sabbatha pango Excito lentos dissipo ventos paco cruentos For the power of holy water sprinkled vpon the people vpon their entrance into the Church these Inscriptions Huius aque tactus depellet Demonis actus Asperget vos Deus cum omnibus sanctis suis ad vitam eternam Sex operantur aqua benedicta Cor mundat Accidiam fugat venalia tollit Auget opeâ—â— remouetque hostem phantasmata pellit Organs Pulpits Portals Crosses Candlesticks Roods Crucifixes and what else of that kinde were likewise thus inscribed all which with the rest were erazed scraped cut out or taken away by the Commissioners and instead of them certaine sentences of the holy Scripture appointed to be painted or dispensild in euery Church Thus iudicious Reader thou maiest by this Chapter vnderstand how by Gods diuine prouidence and the depth of state pollicie first of all the authoritie of the Pope here in England was abrogated the Supremacie of the Church in our Kings inuested Abbeyes and all other such like religious houses subuerted Superstition and Idolatrie rooted out and suppressed and how this kingdome from all Papall infection cleared and with the Sunne shine of the Gospell enlightned the true worship of the euerliuing God was established Which onely true worship that it may continue in our Church without Schismes rents and diuisions vnto the end of the world let vs all with vnanimous consent both of heart and voice pray vnto him who is Truth it selfe and the Authour of all vnitie peace and concord Now gentle Reader giue me leaue to adde vnto this Chapter howsoeuer thou wilt say perhaps it is too long already the copie of the Kings Warrant to Commissioners to take the surrender of Religious houses as also a copie of an Information to Queene Elizabeth of the frauds and corruption of such so imployed by her Father being in my iudgement coincident with the Contents of the same Thus the Warrant speakes Henry c. To or trustie c. Forasmoche as we vnderstand that the Monastery of ...... is at this presente in soche state as the same is neither vsed to the honour of God nor to the benefyte of our comon welth we let you wit that therfore being mynded to take the same into our owne hand for a better purpose like as we doubt but the head of the same will be contented to make his surrender accordyngly we for the spesyall truste and confydence that we haue in your fidelytye wisdomes and discrecions haue and by these presents doo authorise name assygne and appoynt yow that ymmediatly reparyng to the sayd howse ye shall receyve of the sayd Head such a wryting vnder the Couent seale as to yowr discrecions shall seeme requisite meete and conuenient for the due surrender to our vse of the same and thervpon take
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
repaire to â—ee instructed in good literature and in the Catholicke faith lest that any thing in the English Church might be sinâ—steâ—ly expounded contrary to the vniuersall vnitie and so being established in the orthodoxall and right receiued Faith they might returne backe againe into their owne countrey For the doctrine and Schooles of the English Nation since the time of Archbishop Austin had beene interdicted by diuers Romish Bishops for certaine heresies which daily appeared after the comming in of the Saxons into Britaine by reason of the commixture of the misbeleeuing wicked Pagans with the Christians of holy conuersation Hee also caused a Church to be erected neare to the foresaid house or Colledge which he dedicated to the honour of the blessed Virgine Mary in which such of the English as came to Rome might celebrate dâ—uine Seruice and that therein if any of the said English there happened to depart this world they might be inâ—erred And all these that they might for euer be more firmly corroborated it was ordained by a generall decree throughout all the kingdome of the West-Saxons that in euerie familie one pennie should be yearely collected and sent ouer to blessed Saint Peter and the Church of Rome which in English Saxons was called Romescot that the English there abiding migâ—t by that meane haue sufficient to liue vpon Thus â—aâ—re Mathew of Westminsteâ— surnamed the Flower-gatherer The which in substance is thus deliuerâ—d by a late writer yet in a different manner He meaning Ina instituted also a certaine yearely payment to the See of Rome enioyning euery one of his Subiects that possesâ—ed in his house of one kinde of goods to the value of twentie pence that he should pay a pâ—ny to the Pope yearely vpon Lammas day which at that time was contributed vnder the name of the Kings Almes but afterwards was called and challenged by the name of Peter-pence Another of the same gift by the said King hath these times He gaue to Rome eche yere The Rome pence thorrow West sex all about Perpetually to be well payd and clere For vnto Rome he went without all doubt After the example and with the like zeale of Ina Offa the most magnificent king of the Mercias in great deuotion went also to Rome and made euery house within his territories subiect to this payment of Romescot Ossa gaue through Mers the Rome penny Vnto the Church of Rome Afterwards about the yeare eight hundred and fiftie this tribute was confirmed and made further payable throughout all England For Ethelwolfe as then being sole Monarch of the Englishmen hauing beene sometimes for certaine yeares as Haneden and Brampton write Bishop of Winchester remembring his Ecclesiasticke profession and ordaining first that tithes and lands due to holy Church should be free from all tributes and Regall seruices in the nineteenth yeare of his raigne with the like deuotion of the two former kings went in pilgrimage taking with him his youngest sonne Alfred or Elfred to the foresaid chiefe Citie of the Romanes where he was both honourablie receiued and entertained by the Bishop of Rome and the whole Senate for the space of one yeare and vpwards in which time he rebuilt the English Schoole before remembred which lately had beene almost quite consumed with fire And in lieu of his kinde entertainment confirmed the former grant of Peter-pence causing it to bee payed throughout all his Dominions and further couenanted to pay yearely to Rome three hundred Markes thus to be employed one hundred to Saint Peters Church another hundred to Saint Pauls light and the third to the Pope a Saint that euermore will haue his share to the entent saith one that no Englishmen should doe penance in bounds as he saw some do before his face This Athilwolfe to Rome toke his way In pilgramage with him his sonne Aelfrede To Peter and Pole he graunted infenitife The Rome pence of all Englond As Flores saith as I con vnderstond Saith Harding cap. 105. And further to confirme the premisses may it please you to trouble your patience in the reading of these following hard rimes transcribed out of a namelesse old Author Adelwolfe his sonne att Chester his cite For al hys kyngs and Barons of estate Sent forth anone at hys parlament to be Whycheatte Chester was than preordynate To whyche al cam both Kyngs Duks and Prelat And odar al of honor or Empryse Hym for to do obeysaunce and servysse anon to Roome he went In pylgrymage wythe hooly good entent Wher he was so abydyng full too yer In hooly lyff and full perfactyon In ryall wyse as to a pryns afer And to the Pope wythe ful affectyon Hys comonyng ay had at hys electyon He gaue to Peter lyght And to Sent Poule whaâ— is ful gret repayr Too thowsand mark of Venyse gold ful ryght For sustenaunce of the Chyrches ryght He Busschopp was in hys Fadars day And for defaut of heyr was crownyd kyng Wharfor whan he hys lond in good aray Fre of servysse had set above all thyng He grauntyd tythe of all hys lond ofspryng Tyll thre persones dwelling in vnyte Why charr on God dwellyng in Trynite And Roome pens he graunte vnto the Pope Perpetuelly to haue of al Englond So perfytt was hys mynd who couth hit grope In al goodnes growndyd I vndyrstond Thrugh al hys myght in al hys noble lond The Pece he kepte and in his Se iudicyall The common Law among hys peple all Edgar king of England made sharpe constitutions for the payment of this Tribute And it was one of the lawes of Edward the Confessour that euery householder which had triginta denariatas viuae pecuniae in domo sua de proprio suo Thirtie pence of ready money or of any kinde of cattell in his house of his owne proper should by the Law of the English giue a pennie to Saint Peter and by the Law of the Danes halfe a marke which pennie was to be demanded at or vpon the feast of Saint Peter and Paul and to be collected before the feast of Saint Peter ad vincula and not to be deferred to any further day And if any withheld the payment thereof any longer time complaint was to be made to the Kings Officers for that this penny was the Kings Almes And that the partie so offending should hee constrained by iustice to make payment thereof on paine of forfeiting his goods Now if any man had more dwelling houses then one hee was to pay onely for that house where he should happen to be resiant at the said feast of Saint Peter and Paul Henry the second vpon his conquest of Ireland imposed this tribute vpon that kingdome onely to curry fauour with the Pope who as then was Adrian the fourth called before his inthronization Nicholas Breakespeare borne at Abbots Langley in Hertfordshire For hee saith Speed in the life of the said Henry knowing how great and dangerous tumults the Popes had
men which did diligently ouersee like good Shepheards the flocks committed to their charge and these were called Bishops Episcopus Grece latine speculator interpretatur speculari enim debet mores vitia populi sibi subiecti intendere ad eorum salutem A Bishop both in Greeke and Latine signifies a beholder or a Scoute watch for he ought to behold and ouersee the manners conditions and vices of the people liuing vnder his gouernment and to vse the best meanes hee can for their soules health Homer calls Hector suum Episcopum because he was precipuus Troiae inspector et propugnator the chiefe ouerseer and defender of the Citie of Troy Nihil in hoc seculo excellentius sacerdotibus nihil sublimius Episcopis reperiri potest Nothing in this age more excelling then Priests nothing more sublime and high then Bishops can be found Honor et sublimitas Episcopalis nullis poterit comparationibus adaequari The Episcopall honour and dignitie can be equalled by no comparisons Esto subiectus Pontifici tuo et quasi parentem animae tuae ama Be subiect to thy Bishop and loue him as the father and nourisher of thy soule Nihil est in bac vita et maxime hoc tempore difficilius laboriosius et periculosius Episcopi aut Presbyteri officio sed apud Deum nihil beatius si eo modo militetur quo noster Imperator iubet Nothing in this life and specially at this time more difficult laborious and perillous then the office of a Bishop or Priest but before Almightie God no office more blessed if they fight and make warre after the same manner as they bee commanded by their Captaine our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ. Omnis Pontifex saith Saint Paul ex hominibus assumptus pro hominibus constituitur in ijs qui sunt ad Deum vt offerat dona et sacrificia pro peccatis Euery Bishop or high Priest is taken from among the men and is ordained for men in things pertaining to God that hee may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sinnes They are Gods labourers Gods husbandrie and Gods buildings Let a man so thinke of them as of the Ministers of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God What is more pleasant saith William the Monke of Malmesbury in his Prologue to the Acts of our English Bishops then to rehearse the praise of our ancient Bishops that thou mayest know the deeds of them of whom thou hast receiued the rudiments of Faith and the incitements to a godly life No nation of the world saith Capgraue in the Prologue to his Catalogue of English Saints hath from the beginning beene so blest with holy learned and religious Bishops as England whose sanctitie did so shine that all which saw them and their good workes assuredly knew that they were the seed to whom God had imparted his blessings their conuersation and studie being alwayes about heauenly matters As the rod of Aaron did bud and blossome and bring forth ripe Almonds so the Church and Ministery of England by the meanes of our reuerend Bishops as of Gods sacred instruments did and still doth prosper flourish and bring forth fruits of righteousnesse to the glorie of God and comfort of all true Christian hearts Now before I conclude this point giue me leaue to speake a little further of the first institution of Bishops out of the booke of a namelesse Author written in Latine about three hundred yeares since translated into English by one William Marshall and imprinted at London by one Robert Wyer Ann. 1535 in the 27. of King Henry the eighth the booke is called The Defence of Peace After the tymes of the Apostles the nombre of Preestes beyng notablye augmented and increased saith he to avoyde sclaundre and occasyon of offendynge any man and to avoyde scisme and dyvysion the Preestes chose one among themselues which shulde dyrecte and ordre the other as touchynge to the exercysynge of the Ecclesiasticall offyce or service and the dystrybutyng of the oblacyons and the dysposynge and orderynge of other thyngs in the most conuenient maner leste yf euery man myght do this thinge after his owne pleasure as he lest himselfe the good ordre and servyce of the Churches myght be troubled by the reason of the dyuerse affeccions of men This Preeste whiche was so elected and chosen to ordre and rule the other Preestes by the custome and vsed maner of speakynge of them that came afterwards was onely called a Bysshop or ouerseer because not onely he was ouerloker of the Christen people for whiche cause all other Preests also were called Ouerseers in the Prymatyne Church but also because he had the ouersyght of the other Preestes Howsoeuer saith he in the same Chapter in the essentyall and inseparable auctoryte and dygnyte of Preesthood the Bysshops have no preheminence aboue other Preestes but onely in auctoryte accydentall being that the Bishop by the provydence of God is chosen vpon the former reason to have the rule and gouernment of the Clergie within his Diocesse For in the power and auctoryte of makyng and admynystryng the Sacraments and performing of other duties belonginge meerely to the Preesthood all Preestes saith he have all one auctoryte in kynde neyther the Bysshop of Rome or any other Bysshop hath this auctoryte any whyt more largely than any other hath who euer he be beynge called a symple or pryvate Preest And therfore it is to be mervayled wherfore some men do stryve styffely and frowardly affyrmynge yet no thynge reasonably that the Pope of Rome hath more large power of the keyes geuen to hym of Chryste than hath other Preestes seing that this cannot be proued by the holy Scrypture but rather the contrary For whiche thyngs to go on with my Author more euidently to be seene and perceyved you ought to vnderstande and knowe that these two wordes Presbyter and Episcopus that is to saye Preest or senyour and Bysshop were both of one sygnyfycacion and betokened all one thynge in the Prymatyue Church albeit they were put to sygnyfy one thynge of diuers propertyes for Presbyter was a name gyven to them of age which is as moche to saye as a Senyour or Elder And Episcopus was a name gyuen of cure or charge vpon other and is as moche to say as an ouerloker according to that of Saynt Iherom in a certayne Epystle to Euandre who sayth thus Presbyter and Episcopus the one is a name of age the other of dygnyte These dignified priests I meane Bishops euer since the Conquest their chiefe seate or chaire in Cities and their Churches haue euer since the sunne-shine of the Gospell beene called Cathedrall and in respect they were more spatious then other inferiour Parish Churches they were tearmed Basilicae of which will it please you heare Camden speake These greater Churches saith hee when the sauing light of Christ shone vpon the world
Northampt. Rutlande Northampt. 107. l. 7. s. Null 308. 10. 4. Roffen 358. l. 3. s. 7. d. q. Lanc. Roffen 34. l. 13. s. nul 92. 2. 0. 0. 0. Sarum 1367. l. 11. s. 8. d. Wiltes Berks. Wiltes 70. l 12. s. 2. d. Berkâ— 71. l. 12. s. q. Sarum 70. l. 11. s. 8. d. ob 47. 395. 12. 3. 2. 2. Winton 3885. l. 3. s. 3. d. ob q 2491. l. 9. s. 8. d. ob 2793. l. 4. s. 7. d. q. q. Southampt Surrey Winton 67. l. 15. s. 2. d. ob Surrey 91. l. 3. s. 6. d. ob nul 353. 14. 10. 5. 1. Wigorn. 1049. l. 17. s. 3. d. ob q. Wigorn. Warwicke Wigorn. 58. l. 9. s. 11. d. nul 195. vltra 12. Capell in Euâ—sham 1. 8. 1. 2. Domus Religios Hospital Collegia Cantarie Libe Capelle Valores Decanatum Decima Cleri 13. 2. 3. 17. nul 336.14 s 10. d. 52. 5. 11. 87 102. l. 1117. l. 13. s. ob 10. 3. 1. 17. 100. l. 255. l. 8. s. 16. 4. 6. 41. 100. l. 520. l. 16. s. 8. d 5. 1. 1. 14. 100. l. 222. l. 14 s. 6. d. ob q. 19. 8. 2. 84. 204. l. 10. s. 901. l. 6. d. ob 25. 4. 3. 32. 199. l. 13. s. 9. d. 846. l. 12. d. 20. 4. 2. 47. 133. l. 6. s. 8. d. 228. l. Memorandum That vnder the title of Benefices in euery Diocesse is contained in figures two numbers The first doth shew how many be of 30. l. in her Maiesties Records and vnder 40 l. The other number how many be of 40. l. value and vpwards And vnder those figures be other figures which do shew how many of them be Vicarages As for example in the title of Benefices in Bathe and Welles you haue 380. Benefices of them there is 14. of 30. l. value and vnder 40. l. and 5. of 40. l. value and vpwards And of those of 30. l. value there are 6. Vicarages and of those of 40. l. 1. Vicarage as may appeare by the figures and so of the rest Summe totall of all the promotions Spirituall at the Taxation of the first fruits and Tenths viz. Â Â Â Â Archbishopricks and Bishop 0021. Â Â Â Deanries 0011. Â Â Â Archdeaconries 0060. Â Â Â Dignities and Prebends in Cathedrall Churches 0394. Â Â Â Benefices 8803. Â Â Â Religious Houses 0605. Â Â Â Hospitalls 0110. Â Â Â Colledges 0096. Â Â Â Chauntries and free Chappels 2374. Â Â Â Sum. Totalis 12474. Â Â Â The yearely value of all the said Promotions according to the Rate and Taxation of the first fruits and tenths amounteth by estimation to 330180. l. 10. s. 0â— d. Â The yearely tenth of the Cleargie amounteth by estimation to 015041. 01. 02. ob q. The yearely value of the Clergies Liuings according to the said Tenth is 150410. 12 00 Â Of the which sum of 450410 l. 12. s. defaulke for the yearly value of the Bishoprickes of Chestre Oxford Peeterburgh Bristoll and Gloucester Not parcell of the Taxation of first fruits and tenths the summe of 1888. l. 13. s. 4. d. q. and then remaineth 1480511. l. 12 s. q. To the which adde for the yearly value of the possessions of the Colledges in both the Vniuersities and the Colledges of Windsor Eaton New Colledge by Winchester and Woluerhampton the summe of 10568. l. 8. s. 4. d ob Parcell of the taxation of first-fruites viz. â— for the possessions of the Colledges in Cambridge 2762. l. 19. s. ob in Oxford 4693. l. 17. s. ob Windsore 1396. l. 17. s. 1. d. q. Eaton 996. l. 12. s. q. New Colledge 628. l. 13. s. 6. d. and Woluerhampton 89. l. 9.8 d. and then the summe is 159080. 00 04 ob q. So there hath been taken from the possessions of the Clergie sithence the dissolution of Religious Houses Colledges and Chauntries hitherto in value by estimation parcell of the said 320180. l. 10. s. to temporall vses 161100. 09 07 q. After the dissolution of the Religious Houses Henry the eighth erected these sixe Bishopricks to wit Westminster Chester Peterburgh Oxford Bristow and Gloucester whereof the fiue last are in esse And at the same time he erected also these Cathedrall Churches hereafter mentioned wherein he founded a Deane and the number of Prebends following viz. Cantuarien 12. Winton 12. Wigorn. 10. Cestren 06. Peterburgh 06. Oxon. 06. Elien 08. Gloucestre 06. Bristoll 06. Carlioll 04. Dunelm 12. Roffen 06. Norwicen 06. The yearely value of the said Cathedral Churches newly erected with the Collegiate Churches of Windsore Westminster and Woluerhampton ouer and besides the petticanons and other inferiour Ministers amounteth by estimation 5942. 08. 02. Â So the yearely value of the Clergies Liuing together with the said summe of 150410. l. 12. s. ouer and besides the Colledges in the Vniuersities and of Eaton and New Colledge aforesaid amounteth by estimation to 156253. 00. 02. Â There are Parsonages appropriate in England according to my collection whereof there be Vicarages endowed ouer and besides diuerse Personages whereof there is no endowment of Vicarages viz. 003236. 00. Â Â All which Parsonages of right belonging to the Altar and should bee the proper liuing of â—he Clergie a few onely excepted which belong to Bishopricks Cathedral Churches and the Colledges before mentioned remaine in the Laities hands which if you esteeme one with another after 40 l. amount to the sum of 129440 00 00 Â Besides all this if search and examination were made throughout England it would bee found that the most part of the best Liuings remaining in the possession of the Clergie in euery Diocesse either by Leases confirmed corrupt Aduousanes or by the iniquitie of Patrons and vnlearned Ministers remaine also in the Laities hands The first summe vnder euery Bishopricke is the originall value at the taxation of first-fruits and tenths the other summe is the value now remaining of Record for the payment of first-fruites Sithence the taxation of first-fruits and tenthes there hath been taken from Bishopprickes in value with 140 l. for the decay of the faculties viz. 06894 04 09 Â There are Parsonages to the number of 41 made appropriate sithence the taxation of first-fruites and tenths which amount to the yearely value of viz. 01663 14 09 q. The Colledge of Llandewy breeuie in the Diocesse of S. Dauids hauing a Chauntership and 13 Prebends was lately taken away amounting to the summe of 00148 05 09 Â Memorandum that the tenth of the Clergy in some Diocesses as London Chichester Hereford Worcester and others is more then is expressed in the title of Tenth for there the tenth is set downe as it is chargeable to her Maiestie the rest is allowed in lieu of certaine Lands taken away from the Bishopprickes Canterbury and Elie haue the tenth allowed wholly sauing that Canterbury yeeldeth an account of 9. l. 2. s. 1. d. The number of Benefices as is
and 〈…〉 was for integritie euen admirable and so was his learning as his works â—et exâ—ant do testifie Now because his Epitaph is either worne out or was euer wanting I will be so bold as borrow one for him from one of his owne name which I haue read vpon a Monument in Parma in Italie Hic iacet Anselmus post mortem viuere certus Cantuar. Archiepus que omni bonitate refertus Vir sobrius castus vir vitans vndique fastus Vir gremijs plenis largus largitor egenis Vir bene politus sagax doctus ernditus Dogmata maturusque inter contagia purus An Domini Mil. cent que nono que die quoque meâ—sis April vicesimo vno Mortis hunc enecat ensis In the south part of Saint Thomas Chappell in a marble Tombe ioyning to the wall lieth the body of Theobald Archbishop of this See Who was chosen to that Grace by the Suffragan Bishops of his owne Prouince in a Conuocation held at London he was a Benedictine Monke and Abbot of Becco a man of no great learning but of so gentle and sweet behauiour being very wise withall as hee was greatly esteemed of high and low Kings Nobles and Commons yet howsoeuer he was of an affable milde nature and faire demeanure his patience was so greatly moned vpon good occasion that he interposed the Popes authoritie with whom the King was made a partie so farre as that his goods and Temporalties were twice confiscate seised into the Kingâ— hands and himselfe once banished the kingdome which so netled him that like a tall fellow Nam laesa patientia fit furor he interdicted King Stephen and the whole Realme and taking aduantage of the time which was wondrous troublesome came home and liued in Norfolke till by the intercession of certaine Bishops hee was restored After which hee grew into great fauour with the said King and was the chiefe meanes of concluding that finall peace at Wallingford betweene him and Maud the Empresse Shortly after which King Stephen died and Henry surnamed Fitz empresse sonne of Geffrey Plantaginet and Maud the Empresse succeeded him in the Regalitie vnder whom this Bishop passed the rest of his dayes quietly in great fauour and estimation and died Ann. 1160. when he had sat Archbishop 22. yeares Perceiuing his end to approach he made his Will and gaue all his goods to the poore or other like good vses Of whom this Epitaph was made Hic iacet Theobaldus Cantuar. Archiepiscopus ob morum placabilitatem at que constantiam Hen. 2. valde gratiosus affabilis veridicus prudens amicus sirmus in omnes liberalis in pauperes munificus Qui sue tandem senectut is languide vite pertesus anteactam vitam morti persoluit Ann. Dom. 1160. cum 22. annis sedisset Anima eius requiescat in pace Amen I finde one Richard for I finde no further of his name Archbishop of this chaire to be here interred in our Ladies Chappell sometime a Benedictine Monkâ— Prior of the Monasterie of Saint Martins in Douer a man very liberaâ—l gentle and wise for hee so handled the matter that in all his time he neuer was at odds or out either with the Pope or King The Pope he entertained with often gifts and money the Kings fauour he retained by yeelding and conforming himselfe to his pleasure This man continued in his gouernment about the space of ten or eleuen yeares In all which time there happened not any thing of him worthie of memorie except the controuersie stirre and tumult betweene him and the Archbishop of Yorke for primacie and the ordaining of three Archdeacons for his Diocesse which euer before his time was content with one An ill husband hee was for his Church if wee may beleeue this my old Authour This Richard saith he was a man of great Religion and also of great wit in his temporall gouernance but in defending of his freedome of holy Church and punishment of excesse and misbeleeuers to simple and slow which is partly approued by the sequele if the report of his end and death may passe for current truth how that being a sleepe at his Manor of Wrotham there seemed to come vnto him a certaine terrible Personage demanding of him who he was whereunto when for feare the Archbishop answered nothing Thou art he said the other that hast destroyed the goods of the Church and I will destroy thee from off the face of the earth which hauing said he vanished away In the morning the Bishop taking his iourney toward Rochester related this fearfull vision unto a friend of his by the way which he had no sooner told then that hee was taken suddenly with a great cold and stiffenesse in his limbes so that they had much adoe to get him so farre as Halling a house belonging to the Bishop of Rochester where he tooke his bed and being horribly tormented with the Chollick and other griefes gaue vp the ghost the next night following saue one the 16. of Feb. Ann. 1184. obijs saith one 14. Kal. Martij feria sexta necte Ann. 11. ab electione sua cuius corpus in Ecclesia Christi Cant. in oratorio sancte Marie 22. Kal. Martij die Sabbati est honorifice Sepultus In the South wall of this Church lieth the body of Hubert Walter or Walter Hubert for such a transmutation of the name I finde to bee vsed who was borne at West-Derham in Norfolke and brought vp vnder Raynulph de Glanfeld chiefe Iustice of England The first preferment hee obtained was the Deanrie of Yorke thence hee was called by King Richard the first vnto the Bishopricke of Salisbury Whom he attended in all that long and dangerous voyage into the holy Land as a Commander or Colonell of some English forces by whose valour and his owne he performed admirable seruice at the siege and surrender of Acon and other fortified places for which and for his discreete handling the matter in procuring 250000. Markes of the Clergie for the ransome of his Master King Richard the said King knew not how to heape honours sufficient vpon him so that at one time he was Archbishop the Popes Legate Lord Chancelor Lord chiefe Iustice and high immediate Gouernour vnder him of all his Dominions both in Wales and England he was much blamed and peraduenture not vnworthily for vndertaking so many great offices For Pluribus intentus minor est ad singula sensus howsoeuer neuer any man vsed his authoritie and power more moderately faithfull and loyall he was euer to his Prince louing and very careâ—uâ—l of his countrey in which he caused many excellent Decrees and Lawes to be established His house keeping was such as the expence thereof was thought to be little inferiour to the Kings hee built a Monasterie at Durham the place of his birth began another at Wulferhampton encompâ—ssed the Tower of
Omnem hominem qui secundum Deum viuit remunerari à Deo sperat optat oportet vt puris precibus consensum hilariter ex animo prebeat Quoniam certum est tanto facilius ea que ipse à domino poposcerit consequi posse quanto ipse libentius Deo aliquid concesserit Quocirca ego Ethelbertus Rex Cantie cum consensu venerabilis Archiepiscopi Augustini ac Principum meorum do concedo in honorem Sancti Petri aliquam partem terre inris mei que iacet in oriente ciuitatis Dorobernie ita duntaxat vt monasterium ibi construatur â—es quam supra memoraui in potestate Abbatis sit qui ibi sucris ordinatus 〈◊〉 adinro precipio in nomine Domini Dei omnipotentis qui est omnium Rex Iudex iustus vt presata terra subscripta donatione sempiternaliter sit confirmata ita vt nec mihi nec alicui successorum meorum Regum ant Principum siue cuiuslibet conditionis dignitatibus Ecclesiasticis gradibus de ea aliquid fraudare liceat Si quis vero de hac donatione aliquid imminuere ant irritum facere tentauerit sit in presenti seperatus à sancta communione corporis sanguinis Christi in die Iuditij ob meritum malitie sue à consortio Sanctorum omnium segregatus Dorobernie Anno ab incarnatione Christi Sexcentesimo qâ—into Indictione octaua Ego Ethelbertus Rex Cantie sana mente integroque consilio donationem meaâ—â— signo sancte Crucis propria 〈◊〉 nu roboraui conâ—irmanique Austin did also confirme and strengthen King Ethelberts donation by his owne Bull or charter and exempted this Abbey from all Archiepiscopall iurisdiction Varijsque reliquijs Diuorum quas Roma auexerat ornaâ—il Inter quas suit pars inconsutilis Domini tunicae et virge Aaron And enriched it with diuers reliques of Saints which hee had brought with him from Rome amongst which was a part of Christs seamelesse Cote and of Aarons Rod. And here by the way obserue that Austin sealed his deeds or charters bulla plumbea with a leaden Bull which many ages afterwards Richard Archbishop of Canterbury went about to infringe and infirme Quod is signandi modus Romanis Pontificibus proprius esset Because that manner of signing was proper to the Bishops of Rome About which time Philip Earle of â—landers sent ouer into England the like Bull of a certaine Bishop by which he and the Bishops before him vsed to seale their writings The reuenues of this Monasterie were augmented by King Edgar of which will it please you reade his Charter In nomine Trino diuino Regi regâ—anti in perpetuum Domino Deo Sabaoth cui patent cuncta penetralia cordis ei corporis c. Ego Eadgarus Rex Anglorum do et concedo Sancto Augusti o Anglorum Apostolo et Fraâ—◠〈◊〉 in illo sancto Cenobio conuersantibus terram quatuor aratrorum que nominatur Plumstede Hanc ergo terram â—um consensu Archiepiscopi Dunstant optimatumque meorum libenti animo concedo pro redemptione anime mee vt cam teneant perhenniterque habeant Si quis vero heredum Successorumquâ— meorum hanc meam donationem seruare vel amplificare staduerit seruetur ei benedictio sempiterna Si autem sit quod non optamus quod alicuius Persone Homo diabolica temeritate insligatus surreperit qui vel hanc meam donationem infringere in aliquo temptauerit Sciaâ— se ante Tribunal summi et eterni Iudicis rationem esseredditurum â—isi ante digna et placabili satisfacti one Deo et sancto Augustino Fratribusque emendare voluerit Ego Edgarus Anglorum Monarchus hoc donum roboraui Ego Dunstanus Archiepiscopus consensi c. These lands being taken away by Earle Godwin and giuen to his sonne Tostic were restored backe againe to this Abbey by the Conquerour Whose letters patents ranne in this forme In nomine sancte et indiuidue Trinitatis patris et silij et spiritus sancti Ego Wilhelmus Dei gracia Rex Anglorum statum Ecclâ—siarum Regne mei corroborans et vacillata hactenus in melius confirmans atque iniuste ablata restituens Concedo et annuo sancto Augustino et Fratribus suo Cenobio commorantibus terram que dicitur Plumstede Hanc terram à prâ—memorato Sancto Augustino et Fratribus loci antiquitus possessam Godwynus comes fraude et vi iniuste abstulerat et suo filio Tostit dederat quam tamen Rex Edwardus postea Sancto reddiderat sit varijs euentibus possessa ablata restituta neiam vlterius calumpnie pateat aut cuiusquam querimonia à Cenobio Sancti Augustini supradictam villam auferat inde Cyrographum hoc confirmo vt cam habeant tencant possideant Monachi Sancti Augustini in perpetuum Si quis antem huic nostre authoritati contrarius boc violare presumpserit eterna maledictionis dampnatione se mulctandum nouerit et regie vindicte subiâ—cebit Ego Wilhelmus gratia Dei Rex Angloram hanc cartam confirmo et meis firmandam committo Ego Odo Archiepiscopus Baiocensis Calumpniam quam in ipsa terra habebam relinquo et lubens subscribo Ego Wilhelmus Londonens Episcopus subscribo c. But this Abbey was endowed with ample reuenues by many others so that being valued at the dissolution like the rest of all such religious foundations at a fauourable and farre vnder-rate it amounted to bee yearely worth 1412. l. 4. s. 7 d. ob q. It was surrendred 4. Decemb. 29. Hen. 8. Saint Austine replenished this house with blacke Monkes Benedictines and ordained it to be the place of Sepulture for the kings of Kent for himselfe and all succeeding Archbishops The first king here interred was the foresaid Ethelbert who after hee had gloriously raigned the space of 56. yeares and had enlarged the frontiers of his Empire as farre as the great Riuer Humber entred into the eternall blisse of the kingdome on heauen The yeare of our redemption 616. and in the 13 yeare after he had receiued the Christian faith As I finde it in this old Manuscript Ethelbert cleped the hely king of Kent In the yer of grace six hundryd and sixtene Deide and of Christendome the xxi y wene Six and fifty Wynter he had regnyd her And aftur Edbald hys son regne gan ther. He was buried on the North side of the Church vpon whose Monument this Epitaph was engrauen Rex Ethelbertus hic clauditur in Polyandro Fana pians certe Christo meat absque Meandâ—â— King Ethelbert lieth here closde in this Polyander For building Churches sure he goes to Christ without Meander Berta his wife was here likewise interred who was the daughter of Chilperick king of France who was grandchilde to Clouis the first Christian king of that famous nation this woman was conuerted to Christianity before she came out of her owne countrey and before Austins
that place he conuerted vnto the faith of Christ Sebert king of the East Saxons Of which this Stanza out of Harding Then Austin made Peter a clerke deuoute Of Saynt Austines th'abbot religious And made Mellito as Bede clerly hath note Of London then byshoppe full vertuous A Clerke that was then beneuolous Who then conuerted of Essex the king Sebert And all his land baptised with holy herte But the wicked sonnes of this good King Sebert expelled Mellitus out of their dominions from whence he trauelled into France and there stayed for a time vntill he was commanded by Archbishop Laureâ—ce to retâ—â—ne and looke to his flocke He was a man noble by birth but much more noble for the excellencie of his minde an eloquent speaker and therefore aâ—â—siuely called of some Mellifluous exceeding carefull of his charge despising the world and neuer caring for any thing but heauen and heauenly things hauing beene sicke a long time of the Gowt hee died Aprill 24. ann 624. and was buried beside his predecessour Vpon whose Tombe this Epitaph was engrauen Summus Pontificum flos tertius et mel apricum Hac titulis clara redoles Mellite sub arca Laudibus eternis te predicat vrbs Dorouernis Cui simul ardenti restas virtute potenti Presently vpon the death of Mellitus Iustus then Bishop of Rochester was preferred to this Archbishopricke He was a Romane borne the disciple of Gregory the great by whom he was sent ouer into England to preach the Gospell He was a Monke after the order of Saint Benet Vir tantae integritatis vi iusti nomine non tam gentilicio quam propter virtatem honorandus censeretur Which his vertue as also his learning are both highly commended by Pope Boniface the fourth to whom as to his deared beloued Brother he sendeth greeting He died Nouemb. 10. ann 634. was buried by his predecessour and canonized a Saint and Confessor But heare his Epitaph Istud habet bustum meritis cognomine Iustum Quarto iure datus cui cessit Pontificatus Pro meritis Iusti sancta grauitate venusti Gratia diuinam diuina dat his medicinam Honorius a reuerend learned man borne in the same Citie brought vp vnder the same Master and one of the same order with Iustus succeeded him in his pontificall Gouernment During the time he sate which was somewhat aboue twentie yeares amongst other things hee appointed diuers Bishops to diuers countries and diuided his Prouince into Parishes of which I haue spoken before that so he might appoint particular Ministers or Priests to particular congregations In his time the Pelagian heresie began to spring vp againe in Scotland but by his exhortatorie diuine Epistles to the Clergie of that kingdome he so dealt that the poysonous infection of that contagious heresie spread not farre neither continued any long time He died Februar 28. Ann. 653. and was laid with his predecessours This was his Epitaph Quintus honor memori versu memoraris Honori Digna sepultura quam non teret vlla Litura Ardet in obscuro tua lux vibramine puro Hec scelus omne premit fugat vmbras nubila demit One Frithona famous for his learning and vertuous life being elected Archbishop vpon the day of his consecration changed his name for Deus dedit or Adeodatus He was the first Englishman that gouerned this See which charge he attended carefully the space of sixe yeares and dyed Iuly â—4 Ann. 664. being the very same day that Ercombert the king of Kent dyed he was the last Bishop buried in the Church-porch Such was his Epitaph Alme Deus Dedit cui sexta vâ—catio cedit Signas hunc lipidem lapidi 〈…〉 eâ—dem Prodit ab hac vrna 〈…〉 aâ—urna Quâ— melioratur quic 〈…〉 graâ—atur Theodore a Grecian Saint Pauls 〈…〉 borne in Tharsus succeeded Deus deâ—it He was sixtâ—e sixe yearâ—â— of age before he vndertooke the charge of this Archbishopricke in 〈◊〉 hee continued two yeares three moneths twenty seuâ—n dayes vntill 〈…〉 which happened Sept. 29. anno 690 A man hee was to omit particulars worthy of perpetuall remembrance for his singular vertues vnder whom the Church of England receiued much comfort and encrease in spirituall matters Hee was exceeâ—dingly well learned both in profane and holy literature hee would often visit the countrey of the Englishmen all ouer and teach them the wayeâ— and pathes of good life Hee was the first Archbishop vnto whom all the whole Church of the English Nation did yeeld and consent to submit themselues Hee writ many learned bookes mentioned by Bâ—â—e hee was the seuenth Archbishop of whom these verses were written vpon the wall in Latine now translated thus into English Seuen Patriarchs of England Primates seuen Seuen Rectors and seuen Babaurers in heven Seuen Cesterns pure of life seuen Lamps of light Seuen Palmes and of this Realme seuen Crownes full bright Seuen Starres are here interr'd in vault below These verses were common to aâ—l these seuen pillars of the English Church for so they are called yet euery one as you haue read had his particular Epitaph and this following went curiant for Theodore thus Englished by the Translatour of venerable Bede A worthie Prelate lyeth here fast closed in this graue To whom the name of Theodore the Greekes most iustly gaue With title right the soueraigntie hauing of each degree Christs flock he fed with true doctrine as all men do well see His soule was set at libertie that lumpish lumpe of clay Dissolued when September had put nineteene dayes away And coueting their fellowship that liue a godly life Is companied with Angels high voyd of all care and strife Brithwald called like others allusiuely Bright world Abbot of Reculuer some two yeares after the decease of Theodore was elected and consecrated Archbishop by one Godwin Metropolitan of France He was a man very well learned both in Diuinitie and humanitie and very skilfull both in Ecclesiasticall and Monasticall orders censures and disciplines but farre inferiour in all vnto his predecessour He continued Archbishop in this fâ—â—med seuen and thirtie yeares sixe moneths fourteene dayes a longer time then euer any did either before or since and dyed Ianuar. 9. ann 731. and was buried in this Abbey Church because the Porch was already filled with the dead bodies of his predecessours for whom this Epitaph was 〈◊〉 and engrauen vpon his Monument Stat sua laus feretro Brithwaldus stat sua metro Sed minor est metri laus omnis laude feretri Laude frequentandus pater hic glorificandus Si prâ—ce slectatur dat ei qui danda precatur Tatwin a man very religious and no lesse learned succeeded Brithwald soone after whose consecration great controuersie arose betweene him and the Archbishop of Yorke about the Primacie wherein Tatwin preuailed Who hauing sate onely three yeares died Iuly the last day An. Dom. 735. and
was buried here in the Church by his predecessour To whose memory this Epitaph was cut vpon the stone coffin Pontificis glebe Taâ—wini Cantia prebe Thura decus laudes cuius dogmate gandes Huâ—us doctrina carnisti menâ—e ferina Et per cuâ— Christi peâ— tare iugum dedicisâ—i Here sometime lay interred the body of Nothelme Archbishop who for that he well and wisely gouerned his See was called Noble helme 〈◊〉 was borne in London and was one of the Priests of Saint Pauls a great louer of venerable antiquitie he was and one to whom Bede acknowledgâ—th himselfe to be much beholding for diuers matters which vpon his â—â—port he inserted into his Ecclesiasticall History He died October 17. An. 74â— His Epitaph was after this manner Hac scrobe Nothelmus iacet Archiepiscopus almus Cuius vita bono non est indigna patrono Cunctis iste bonus par in bonitate Patronus Protegit hic iustos vigili munimine Custos Cutbert Archbishop of Canterbury not long before this time had procured of king Eadbert that the bodies of all the Archbishops which were to succeed should not bee buried at Saint Augustines as they had beene heretofore but at Christ-Church and so according to his desire the â—uneralls of himselfe and his successour Bregwin were there solemnised and their bodies therein interred The Monkes of Saint Austins tooke the matter hainously to haue the buriall of their Archbishops discontinued and began to make complaint vnto the Pope But Christ-Church men were so farre from fearing the Pope for the same Pope had confirmed their priuiledges but a little before at the sute of Bregwin that they chose one Lambert or Iainbert Abbot of Saint Augustines for their Archbishop assuring themselues he would be now as earnest a defender of their liberties as heretofore he had beene an oppugner in the behalfe of Saint Augustines But they found it otherwise for perceiuing his end to approach he tooke order to be buried in Sâ—â—nt 〈◊〉 but he was the last of all the Archbishops there in 〈…〉 Archbishop â—7 yeares and liued ninetie foure his funeralls were 〈…〉 pompe and celebritie and his body honourablie entombed here in 〈◊〉 Chapter-house Vpon which this Epitaph was engrauen Gemma Sacerdotum 〈…〉 remotum Clauditur hac fossa 〈…〉 â—ssa Sub hac molecinis 〈…〉 â—inis Incola nunc celi populo 〈◊〉 â—ideli I finde some Epitaphs to the memory of sundrie Abbots of this Monastery and first of the first Abbot one Peter a Priest who was chosen to this place by Saint Augustine as I haue said before This man was sent Legat into France by king Ethelbert and in his returne for England was drowned in a Crecke called Amflete his body was taken vp and buried after a homely manner of the inhabitants of that countrey yet afterwards remoued from thence and honourably interred in the Towâ—e of Bulleyâ—e in a place of Saint Maries Church conuenient for so worthy a person For whom a Monument was erected within this Abbey bearing this Inscription Quem notat hunc metrum meritis nomine Petrum Abbas egregius primus Laris extitit huius Dum semel hic transit mare ventus in vrbe remansit Bolonia celebris virtutibus est iâ—i crebris He was drowned about the yeare 614. My old Anonimall Manuscrip speakes of this first Abbot to the like effect Than Austyn mad Peter the cheffe Prelat Of an Abbey now callyd seynt Ausâ—yns In Canterbery of whiche denominat He was Abbot as sent Bede dyffyns Who aftar as he to Fraunce was sent fro thens On embassyat was drownyd on the se And beryed at Boleyne wyth solempnite Whar grete vertue God for hym shewyth Full ofte as ther playnly ys recordyd And to thys dey yet alwey renewyth So hoâ—e he was wythe Crist myserecordyd And wyth his seynts trewly euer concordyd As seyâ—t Bede seythe ryght in his dyaloge Amonge the seynts is put in Cathologe Iohn a monke of this house and the third man of note which came ouer with Austin was elected Abbot of this house and receiued benediction at the hands of Archbishop Laurence He died Ann. 618. and was buried here in our Ladies Chappell and this was his Epitaph Omnibus est annis pietas recitanda Iohannis Culmine celsa nimis pâ—tribusque simillima primis Vir probus mitis fuâ—â— hic si fare velitis Integer mundus sapâ—ens Abbasque secundus Ruffinian was here interred by his predecessour Iohn who dyed Ann. 626. Pausa patris sani patet istec Ruffiniani Abbatis terni quo frenditur hostis Auerni Gratiosus succeeded Ruffinian in his holy gouernment a man gracious saith mine Author with God and all good men And so ended his worldly pilgrimage Ann. 640. Hic Abbas quartus Gratiosus contulit artus Cuius adest pausa miti spiramine clausa Petronius was sacred to this Ecclesiasticall dignitie by Archbishop Honorius Ann. 640. and died Ann. 654. Abbas Petronius bonitatis odore refertus Subiectos docuit vitiorum sorde pianit Nathaniel vir probitate decoratus and absolute in all perfections was consecrated Abbot here in his owne Church by Archbishop Deus-dedit which he laudably gouerned thirteene yeares and died Ann. 667. Spiritus in celis Abbatis Nathanielis Nos faciat memores Patres memorare vâ—litis Adrian borne in Africa Abbot first of the Monastery of Niridia neare vnto Naples a man wondrous well learned in the holy Scriptures throughly instructed both in Monasticall discipline and Ecclesiasticall gouernment very skilfull of the Greeke and Latine tongues and withall very expert in the liberall Sciences of Astronomie and Musicke who together with â—heodore brought first of all in the tunes and notes of singing in the Church which for a little time was onely vsed and knowne here in Kent but afterwards learned and practised through all the Churches of England by the meanes of reuerend Bishop Wilfride who brought from Kent Iames and Stephen two Musitians the first Masters of song in the Churches of the kingdome of Northumberland But to descend to more particulars The Archbishopricke of Canterbury was offered to this Adrian by Vitâ—llâ—am the Pope that excellent Musitian who wrote the Ecclesiasticall Canon and first brought singing and Organs into the Church which hee refused to vndertake preferring a Monke of his acquaintance namely Theodore spoken of before to the same place in whose companie hee trauelled into England and had the companie and helpe of this Adrian in all things hee went about to effect within England Hee was consecrated Abbot of this Monastery by the said Theodore in the gouernment of which he continued nine and thirtie yeares In which time hee obtained many priuiledges of Theodatus the Pope for his Abbey as also of Oswin king of the Deirians He dyed honae memoriae senex a reuerend old man of good and perfect remembrance ann 708. and was honourablie
the Chapter house with this Epitaph vpon his Monument En paruus Abbas hic parua clauditur arca In gestis magnus maior nec erat Patriarcha Willelmus Druleg illustri dignus honore Conuentum claustri qui multo rexit amore Pro dilectoris anima tui dulciter ora Sancti Augustini conuentus qualibet hora. I finde little or indeed nothing at all of such Abbots as succeeded little Drulege sauing their names thus recorded Iohn Deueniche the 57. Thomas Colwell 58. Michaell Peckham 59. William Wâ—ld 60. Thomas Hunden 61. Marcellus Dandlyon 62. Iohn Hawlherst 63. George Pensherst 64. Iacob Seuenoke 65. William Selling 66. Iohn Dunster 67. Iohn Dygon 68. Thomas Hampton 69. and Iohn Essex 70. So that by this account there hath beene more Archbishops of Christ-Church then Abbots of Saint Austins by the number of three reckoning those sixe Bishops which haue beene since the dissolution The Abbot of this house was euer a Baron of the Parliament In S. Anns Chappell within the Church of this Monastery lay sometime buried the body of Iulian the daughter and heire of Sir Thomas Lâ—yborne knight The widow saith Vincent of Iohn Lord Hastings of Aburgaueny and mother of Lawrence Hasting Earle of Pembroke and after that wife of William de Clinton Earle of Huntington and Lord high Admirall of England who dyed about the yeare 1350. But of all these and thousands more here interred whose names I cannot learne not one bone at this time lies neare another nor one stone almost of the whole fabricke stands vpon another therefore I will take my leaue of this Abbey with these words of a late writer This Monasterie saith he as all the rest did came to her fatall period in the dayes of king Henry the eight whose vncouered walls stood so long languishing in time and stormes of weather that daily increased the aspect of her ruines till now lastly they are made subiect to other publicke vses and the whole tract of that most goodly foundation in the same place no where appearing Onely Ethelberts Tower in memorie and honour of the man as yet hath escaped the verdict and sentence of destruction whose beauty though much de faced and ouerworne will witnesse to succeeding ages the magnificence of the whole when all stood compleate in their glory together The reuenues yearely of this house were in the Exchequer 1412. l. 4. s. 7. d. ob q. it was surrendred 4. Decemb. 29. H. 8. At Harbaldowne not farre from this Monastery Archbishop Lanâ—rank built an Hospâ—tall and dedicated the same to the honour of Saint Iohn to the which he annexed a Priorie of blacke Canons valued both together at the dissolution to 266. l. 4 s. 5. d. ob of yearely reuenue it was ordained for the lame and diseased which as yet is not altogether suppressed although much abated as I heare of her annuall possessions In which house was reserued the vpper leather of an old shoe which had beene worne as they gaue it out by Saint Thomas Becket this shoe as a sacred Relique was offered to all passengers to kisse faire set in copper and christall Hackington commonly called S. Stephens by Cant. This Church in former times was honoured with the sepulture of Lora or Lorâ—atta Countesse of Leicester daughter of William Lord Brews of Brember in Suffex and wife of Robert de Beâ—lemont surnamed Fitzpâ—rnell Earle of Leicester and Lord high Steward of England a most honourable Lady who hauing abandoned all worldly pleasures sequestred her selfe wholly from the world to serue God deuoutly in this place who dyed about the yeare 1219. The manor and Towne of Elham was her inheritance Hic iacet Dominus Iohannes Gower nuper Vicarius istius Ecclesie qui obijt Decemb. 27. 1457. Cuius anâ—â—e Hic iacet Dominus Iohannes â—â—ne quondam Vicarius istius Ecclesie qui obijt 8. Aug. 1457. Cuius anime pâ—â—pittetur altissimus Sir Christopher Hales and Sir Roger Manwood lie here fairely entomâ—ed of whom hereafter according to my method But I must not let passe seuen almes houses here built by the said Sir Roger Manwood chiefe Baron of the Exchequer ann 1573. for aged honest poore folkes which he endowed with a yearely allowance of foure pounds in money bread and fewell for euery one of those almes-men It was called S. Stephens fâ—r that the image of Saint Stephen standing where the garden now is belonging to Sir Manwoods great house was sought vnto by many pilgrimes Reculuer At the vpper end of the South isle in this Church I saw a Monument of an antique forme mounted with two spires Wherein as the Inhabitants haue it by tradition the body of one Ethelbert a Saxon king who had his pallace royall here in Reculuer lieth entombed and the Anuals of Canterbury affirme as much And true it is that Ethelbert the first and first Christian king built here a Princely mansion for himselfe and his successours wherein diuers of the Kentish kings sometimes kept their courtly residence But whether he be this Ethelbert the second or Ethelbert surnamed Pren that lieth here interred it is not much materiall for they both dyed without any memorable act either of themselues or their kingdomes affaires and so dyed Cuthred and Baldred their next successours and the last kings of Kent Which kingdome erected by Hengist the yeare of mans happinesse 455. continued her gouernment 372. and ended her glory in the yeare 827. being made a Prouince to the West-saxons Egbert or Egbright the seuenth king of Kent in succession after Hengist gaue to one Bassa an English Saxon some land here in Reculuer whereupon he built him a Minster or a Monastery whereof Brightwald afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury was the first Abbot so that of this man and the Minster the poore Townes men may make great vaunts Here lyeth ..... Sandwey Esquire and â—oane his wife who dyed 1437. Hen. sex 16. Hic iacet Dominus Thomas .... qui ob ..... Vos qui transitis Thomam deslere velitis Per me nunc scitis quid prodest gloria ditis Minster in the Isle of Tenet Here in this Church lyeth a Lady entombed in a Monument vpreared after a strange fashion inscribed with a Saxon-like character Ici gist Edile de Shornerepust Dame del espire I thinke her name was rather Thorne then Shorne one letter being mistaken for another in the engrauing My reason is this for that in this Parish there is a place called Thorne Neare vnto this Monument lie three flat Tombe-stones vnder which as I coniecture by the effigies vpon them three vailed Nunnes of the Saxon Nobilitie and of S. Mildreds Monasterie lye interred but the Inscriptions are gone Which Monasterie was founded vpon this occasion Egbert king of Kent aspiring to the Crowne by the traiterous murder of his two young Nephewes Ethelred and Ethelbert to pacifie Domneua sister to the said murdered Princes
and immediate heire to the kingdome promised with an oath to giue her whatsoeuer shee would demand This deuoute Lady begged so much ground to build a religious house vpon as a tame Deâ—re which she kept would runne ouer at a breath one Thunnor or Thymur one of his councell and his assistant in the foresaid murder standing by blamed him of inconsideration for that hee would vpon the vncertaine course of a Deere depart to his certaine losse with any part of so good a Soile Which words he had no sooner spoken saith the booke of Saint Augustine but that the earth immediately opened and swallowed him vp Well the King and the Lady proceeded in their bargaine and the Hynde ranne ouer fourty and eight Ploughâ—lands before she returned This do nation the king confirmed by his Charters which I haue read in the booke of S. Austins to the infringers whereof he added this fearefull curse Si cui vero hec largicio displicet vel si quis quod absit hanc donationem telo ductus Diaboli quoquo ingenio infringere temptauerit Iram Dei omnium Sanctorum maledicta incurrat et subita morte intereat sicut predictus Deo odibilis Thimur interijt percutiatque cum Deus amentia cecitate ac furore mâ—ntis omnique tempore columpnam maledictionis Dei sustineat non sit qui eum liberet nisi penitus resipiscit digna satisfactione satisfaciat And further of this and the race of the Hynde these lame rymes Dompneue letam Thanatos fert Insula metam Seruet iter Cerue ...... nesit .... proterue Cultor siue sator huius mete violator Cum Thunor atra metit inde Barathra petit Hauing erected her Monasterie which she dedicated to the blessed Virgine Mary and to the name and honour of her two murdered Brethren in which â—he placed seuentie veyled Nunnes She departed out of this world about the yeare of our redemption 765. and was buried in the Church of her owne foundation It is said by some that when Thunnor had giuen his wicked command to king Egbert his horse 〈◊〉 presentâ—y a curuetinâ— cast him off his backe and broke his necke and that be 〈◊〉 buried in the Isle of Tenet vnder a great heape of stones which the inhabitanâ—â— to this day call Thunniclan Mildred the daughter of Domâ—â—â—a and Mâ—rwald a Prince of West-Mercia succeeded in her mothers plâ—â—â— â—n which shee continued a long time dyed in the raigne of King 〈◊〉 was interred by her mother and afterwards canonized a Saint 〈◊〉 the Mercian king confirmed by his charter to this Mildred and her Couent the custome of the ships which arriued in the publicke Port of London as appeares by his charter Caâ—utus king of England gaue by his Charter the body of this Mildred with the lands belonging to this Priory to the Abbey of S. Austins in these words Notum sit omnibus c. me dedisse Augustino fratribus eiusdem Monasterij corpus beate Mildrede gloriose Virginis cum tâ—ta terra sua infra in sulam ac Iâ—anet extra cum omnibus consâ—etudinibus suis. The yeare 10 0 her body was translated by Abbot Elstan as I haue said before and after that by his Successour Wulfrike to another place of the Church Her reliques were laid in a leaden coffin whereupon this Epitaph was insculped Clauditur hoc saxo Mildreda sacerrima virgo Cuius nos procibus adiuuet ipse Deus The bodies of the most esteemed godly in former ages tooke the least rest in their graues for they were still remoued and their bodies clattered together from one place to another as it doth and will appeare both by the premisses and sequele of this my Treatise You haue read before how often the body of Saint Augustine was tost from porch to pillar and besides his Reliques were diuided and subdiuided into certaine vessels For the day after the solemnitie of Prior Marisco before remembred vpon the finding out of his Stone-coffin there was found vnlooked for a Lead of seuen foot long hauing this Inscription Hic habetur pars ossium cineris beati Augustini Anglorum Apostoli qui olim missus à beato Gregorio gentem Anglicam ad fidem Christi conuertit cuius preciosum capud ossa maiora Guido Abbas honorifice transtulit sicut tabula plumbea cum eisdem ossibus posita indicat But Henry the eight made an end of all this vnnecessarie trouble and charges by remouing once for all as well Reliques as Religious houses Now to returne Ethelinga the third Prioresse of this house seeing the Church builded by her predecessour Domneua not capable to containe so many holy Virgins built another Temple farre more sumptuous then the first which was consecrated by Archbishop Cuthbert to the honour of S. Peter and Paul She dyed ann 751. and was buried in her owne new Church Sexburga saith the booke of Saint Augustine the daughter of Anna king of the East Angles the wife of Ercombert the mother of Egbert and â—othaire all kings of Kent after the death of her husband tooke vpon her the habite of a Nunne and was admitted and consecrated Prioresse of this place by Archbishop Cuthbert In her time those furious Beare-whelps Hungar and Hubba Nam vt fertur filij fuere cuiusdam vrsi qui illos contra naturam de filia cuiusdam Regis generabat two Danish Pagans with a fierce armie first inuaded this kingdome She dyed about the yeare 797. and was buried in this new Church Capgraue saith at Ely Seberitha was the first Votarie admitted and consecrated Lady Prioresse of this house by Ethelard Archbishop of Canterbury who was no sooner well setled in her gouernment then that the Danes came backe againe and in their sauage furie ouerwhelmed the Island of Tenet destroyed and vtterly demolished this Monasterie and her with her holy Sisters inclosed in secret caues for feare of the enemie they found out and burned them all to ashes Capgraue a Kentish man borne reporteth that Eadburgh the daughter of good king Ethelbert by his vertuous Queene Berta was brought vp a Nunne in this Monasterie vnder the foundresse Domneua that she succeeded Mildred in the Monasticall gouernment that shee was buried here in this Church and that long after her reliques the chiefe and most frequent way in those times to enrich any new built Church were remoued by Lanfrank Archbishop of Canterbury to the Church of Harbaldowne of his owne foundation and there had in great veneration But Camden to whom I must needs giue more credit speaking of S. Eadburghs Well at Liming in this Tract will haue her to be the first veiled Nunne in all England And that she liued here in a Monastery of her owne building that here shee dyed and here at Lyming was buried saith Speed that she was surnamed Tace a fit name for a woman and that she had beene the wife of
great Commander in the warres which by some English wit was happily imitated and ingeniously applyed to the honour of this our worthy chiefetaine Sir Philip written vpon a Tablet and fastened to a pillar in S. Pauls Church London the place of his buriall as the sequele will more plainly shew La France et le Piemont les cieux et les Arts Les Soldats et le Mondeont fait comme six parts De ce grand Bonniuet cor vne si grand chose Dedant vn seul tombeau ne pouuoit estre enclose La France en a le corps que elle aurit esleue Le Piemont a le ceur qu'il auoit esprouue Les cieux en ont l'esprit et les Arts la memoire Les Soldats le regret et le monde la gloire In English as followeth France and Piemont the Heauens and the Arts The Souldiers and the world haue made sixe parts Of Great Bonniuet for who will suppose That onely one Tombe can this man enclose France hath his body which she bred and well loued Piemont his heart which his valour had proued The Heauens haue his soule the Arts haue his Fame The Souldiers the griefe the world his good name A briefe Epitaph vpon the death of that most valiant and perfect honorable Gentleman Sir Philip Sidney knight late Gouernour of Flushing in Zealand who receiued his deaths wound at a battell neare Zutphen in Gelderland the 22. day of September and dyed at Arnhem the 16. day of October 86. Whose Funeralls were performed and his body interred within this Cathedrall Church of Saint Paul in London the 16. day of February next following in the yeare of our Lord God 1586. England Netherland the Heauens and the Arts The Souldiers and the world haue made sixe parts Of noble Sidney For who will suppose That a small heape of stones can Sidney enclose England hath his body for she it fed Netherland his bloud in her defence shed The Heauens haue his soule the Arts haue his Fame The Souldiers the griefe the world his good Name These Elegies also following penned in the praise of the said Philip by our late Soueraigne Lord King Iames that sole Monarch of many Nations giue a glorious lustre to his Heroicke actions In Philippi Sidnaei interitum Illustrissimi Scotorum Regis Carmen Armipotens cui ius in fortia pectora Mauors Tu Dea quae cerebrum perrumpere digna Tonantis Tuque adeo biiugae proles Latonia râ—pis Gloria deciduae cingunt quam collibus artes Duc tecum et querula Sidnai funera voce Plangite nam vester fuerat Sidnaeus alumnus Quid genus et proauos et spem floremque iuuentae Immaturo obitu raptum sine fine retexo Heu frustra queror heu rapuit Mors omnia secum Et nihil ex tanto nunc est Heroe superstes Praeterquam decus et nomen virtute paratum Doctaque Sidneas testantia Carmina laudes The same translated by the said King Thou mighty Mars the Lord of Souldiers braue And thou Minerve that dois in wit excell And thou Apollo who dois knowledge haue Of euery art that from Parnassus fell With all your Sisters that th aire on do dwell Lament for him who duely seru'd you all Whome in you wisely all your arts did mell Bewaile I say his vnexpected fall I neede not in remembrance for to call His race his youth the hope had of him ay Since that in him doth cruell Death appall Both manhood wit and learning euery way But yet he doth in bed of Honor rest And euermore of him shall liue the best Eiusdem Regis in Eundem Hexasticon Vidit et exanimem tristis Cytheraea Philippum Fleuit et hunc Martem credidit esse suum Eripuit digitis gemmas colloque monile Mars iterum nunquam ceu placitura foret Mortuus humana qui lusit imagine Diuam Quid faceret iam si viueret ille rogo In English When Venus sad saw Philip Sidney slaine She wept supposing Mars that he had bin From fingers Rings and from her necke the chaine She pluckt away as if Mars nere againe She ment to please In that forme he was in Dead and yet could a Goddesse thus beguile What had he done if he had liu'd this while Tunbridge In this ruinous Church which like the Caâ—tle carries with it a shew of venerable antiquitie I finde no funerall Monument of elder times remarkable in the north window onely are depicted the pourtraitures of the Lord Hugh Stafford kneeling in his coate-armour and his Bow-bearer Thomas Bradlaine by him with this inscription Orate pro animabus Domini Hugonis Stafford et Thome Bradlaine Arcuar .... This Hugh Lord Stafford afterwards Earle of Buckingham was Lord of this Mannor of Tunbridge by his grandmother Margaret the onely daughter and heire of Sir Hugh Audley Earle of Glocester of whom hereafter when I come to Stone in Staffordshire the place of his buriall Neare to the ruinous walls of the Castâ—â—â—stood a Priory pleasantly seated which in the shipwracke of such religious structures was dasht all a peeces founded by Richard de Clare Earle of Gloucester about the yeare 1241. for Canons of Saint Augustines order and consecrated to S. Mary Magdalen Which Priory was valued by the Commissioners at the suppression to be yearely worth 169. l. 10. s. 3. d. This Richard the founder dyed at Emmersfield in the Mannor-house of Iohn Lord Crioil here in Kent 14. Iulij Ann. 1262. his bowels were buried at Canterbury his body at Tewxbury and his heart here in his owne Church at Tunbridge Hee was Vir nobilis et omni laude dignus To whose euerlasting praise this Epitaph was composed Hic pudor Hippoliti Paridis gena sensus Vlissis Aeneae pietas Hectoris ira iacet Chaste Hippolite and Paris faire Vlisses wise and slie Aeneas kinde fierce Hector here ioyntly entombed lye Here sometime lay entombed the bodies of Hugh de Audley second sonne of Nicholas Lord Audley of Hâ—leigh Castle in the County of Stafford who was created Earle of Gloucester by king Edward the third and by the marriage of Margaret second daughter of Gilbert de Clare Earle of Glocester surnamed the red and sister and coheire to Gilbert the last Earle of that surname Lord of Tunbridge This Hugh dyed the tenth of Nouember 1347. Ann. 21. Ed. 3. I finde little of him remarkable saue his good fortunes being a younger brother to marry so great an inheritrix and to be exalted to such titles of honour His wife Margaret first married to Pierce Gaueston Earle of Cornwall dyed before him in the yeare of our Lord 1342. the 13. day of Aprill They were both together sumptuously entombed by Margaret their daughter the onely heire of her parents wife to Raph de Stafford Earle of Stafford The said Raph de Stafford and Margaret his wife were here likewise entombed at the feet of their father and
Io. Stow Ann. 1369. She ordained for her husband and her selfe a solemne Obit to bee kept yearely in this Church where the Maior being present at the Masse with the Sheriffes Chamberlaine and Swordbearer should offer each of them a pennie and the Maior to take vp twentie shillings the Sheriffes either of them a Marke the Chamberlaine ten shillings and the Sword-bearer sixe shillings eight pence and euery other of the Maiors officers there present two and twenty pence a peece the which Obyte saith Fabian to this day is holden She also founded foure Chantrees in this Church for the soules of her selfe and her husband and was greatly beneficiall vnto the Deane and Canons His second wife Constance died in the yeare 1395. whom hee solemnly and Princely interred by his first wife Blanch. She was saith Walsingham mulier super feminas innocens deuota A Lady aboue Ladies innocent deuout and zealous Of his third wife Katherine when I come to Lincolne Minster where she lieth entombed Henry Lacy Earle of Lincolne lieth here entombed in the new worke which was of his owne foundation vnder a goodly Monument with his armed pourtraiture crosse-legged as one that had professed his vttermost endeauour for defence of the holy Land Hee was stiled Earle of Lincolne Baron of Halton Constable of Chester Lord of Pomfret Blackburnshire Ros in Wales and Rowennocke Hee was Protectour of England whilest King Edward the second was in Scotland and Viceroy sometime in the Duchie of Aquitaine Vir illustris in consilio strenuus in omni guerra prelio Princeps militie in Anglia in omni regno ornatissimus saith the booke of Dunmow By his first wife Margaret daughter and heire of William Longspee grandchilde of William Longspee Earle of Salisbury he had two sonnes Edmund drowned in a Well in Denbeigh Castle and Iohn who died young both of them dead before their father And one daughter named Alice married to Thomas Plantaginet Earle of Lancaster He died at his house now called Lincolnes Inne in Chancerie-lane London Feb. the fifth 1310. being threescore yeares of age as I haue it out of the booke of Whalley in these words Iste Henricus Comes Lincol. obijt Anno etat is lx Ann. Domini M. CCC X. in festo Sancte Agathe Martyris circa gallicinium In the same Chappell dedicated to S. Dunstan lieth Laurence Allerthorp sometimes Canon of this Church and Lord Treasurer of England with this Inscription Hic iacet Laurentius Allerthorp quondam Thesaurarius Anglie Canonicus Stagiarius istius Ecclesie qui migrauit ex hoc seculo mens Iulij die 21. 1406. This Allerthorp being a man of no more eminencie in the Church then a Canon resident was neuer thought of or not beleeued by the Collector of the Lord Treasurers to haue ascended to such an honour so that he lies here in a darksome roome as a sacrifice to obliuion small notice taken of him except by some few of the Churchmen Now giue mee leaue to tell you by way of digression that howsoeuer this Allerthorp was but one of the Canons resident yet he was solely the one and had most or all the reuenues of the rest in his hands for as the Records of this Church doe approue those thirtie Canons vpon the primarie institution called Canons Regular because they led a regular life and were perpetually resident and afterwards liuing abroad and neglecting the businesse of their Church became to be called Canons secular contenting themselues with the title of Canon and some prebend assigned vnto them Which annexing of lands to the Prebendarie was not till a long time after the first foundation whereupon Pope Lucius by his Bull ordained that the Canons non-resident should not partake of the profits of the lands assigned to the common affaires of the Church but onely such as were resident the diuision of the Churches lands hauing beene made before in the time of the Conquerour and this Laurence Allerthorp at and before the time of his Treasurship was solus residentiarius and had the whole reuenue of the rest at his owne disposing by way of Option as it is called in the Lieger booke But of this enough if not too much Then to conclude howsoeuer this Allerthorp be altogether excluded out of the Treatise of the Treasurers and Sir Iohn Northberie knight keeper of the priuie Garderobe in the Tower said to be Lord Treasurer in the first second and third of king Henry the fourth in which time the said Allerthorp should enioy that office or not at all Yet these words in his Patent together with this Epitaph do approue him to haue beene adorned with the honourable Office of a solicitous Lord Treasurer Laurentius de Allerthorp Clericus habet officium Thesaurarij Anglie quamdiu T.R. apud W. 31. Maij. 9. pars pat 2. Hen. 4. membrana 14. Hic requiescit Simon Burly Banerettus quinque Portuum prefectus Ordinis Garterij Miles Ricardo 2. Consiliarius longe charissimus connubio sibi coniunctas habuit ex amplissimis familijs duas vxores alteram Staffordie alteram Baronis de Roos filiam Verum difficillimo illo tempore cum inter Anglie Proceres omnia sub iuuene Principe simultatibus agitarentur in tantum nonnullorum odium incurrit vt Parlamentaria authoritate capite plecteretur Anno Dom. 1388. Posteri autem eadem postea authoritate sub Rege Henrico quarto sunt restituti Edward the blacke Prince tooke such affection to this Sir Simon Burley for his valour wisedome and true seruice that he committed to his gouernance his onely sonne then liuing Richard of Burdeux who being afterwards king of England by the name of Richard the second aduanced him to high honours offices and promotions and nothing was done in matters of State without his appointment and direction Thus hee continued alwayes loyall to his Soueraigne Lord the king yet liued in the hatred of the Peeres of the Land as also of the common people for that he leaned to the partie of Robert de Veere Earle of Oxford Duke of Ireland and the kings fauorite and was an oppressour of the poore Commons insomuch that by the sentence of that Parliament which wrought wonders An. 11. Ric. secundi hee was condemned of treason and beheaded on the Tower hill as in the Inscription He was first Vicechamberlaine to king Richard who made him Constable of Douer Castle and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports deliuering the keyes of the said Castle to the said Simon in signe of possession so much would he grace him with his presence thus recorded Simon de Burley Miles subcamerarius Regis haebt officium Constabularij Castri Douer custodie 5. Portuum ad totam vitam suam sicut Robertus de Assheton Chr. iam defunctus nuper habuit Rex super hoc ipso Simoni in dicto Castro in presenti existens claues tradidit in signum possessionis earundem
be no Bishops or that the Deacons be not Priests and Bishops but for that their first institution was such some to carrie the titles of Bishops others of Priests and some of Deacons The Cardinalls which are Bishops sit neare vnto the Pope when hee doth celebrate Festiuall dayes The Cardinalls Priests assist him when he saith Masse and the Deacons attire him and serue him at the Altar They haue there their Colledge whereof the Pope is head the number of them hath not beene certaine in our dayes at this time there are about sixty and eight although we find that in former ages they were but twelue after the example of the Apostles They assemble themselues together once or twice a weeke as affaires of importance come to their considerations and this their assemblie is called the Consistory where they treat or at least they ought to treat of all things which belong vnto the faith and Religion to the peace of Christians and to the preseruation of the temporall estate of the Church I finde nothing of Cardinalls vntill the dayes of Gregory the Great Quo tempore Episcopi indifferenter Cardinales faciebant et Papa Cardinales in Episcopos promouebat Yet some are of opinion that the first beginning of Cardinals was in the time of Pontianus the Pope which was circa Ann. 231. and Marcellus after him circa Ann. 304. ordained fifteene or rather twenty fiue Cardinals in the Citie of Rome propter Baptismata et sepulturas hominum And when as first these Cardinals were instituted in the Romane Church Pauperculi erant Romae in suis titulis habitantes They were poore and necessitous liuing at Rome in their owne titles And Gregory the Great in one of his Epistles to Maximian the Bishop of Syracusa writes the like of the pouertie of one Felix a Deacon Cardinall For whose sustentation he thus prouides Sustentationem eius pietatis intuitu prouidentes in tua Ecclesia Syracusana eum prenidimus cardinandùm c. siue vt officium Diaconatus expleat se certe vt solae eiusdem officij pro sustentanda paupertate sua commoda consequatur Howsoeuer then that the Cardinals of Rome at this day doe abound in all affluence of riches and like stately Cedars looke ouer the smaller sprigs of the Clergie yet considering the Primitiue times our Cardinals of Saint Pauls are not to be contemned for their meane competencie of liuely hood hauing sufficient to maintaine their reuerent comportment Of whom giue me leaue to speake a little out of the Records of the Church The Church of Saint Paul had before the time of the Conquerour two Cardinalls which office still continues They are chosen by the Deane and Chapter out of the number of the twelue petty Canons and are called Cardinales chori the Cardinals of the Quire Horum officium est circumspicere quotidie notare omnia in choro delicta peccata c. Their office is to take notice of the absence or neglect of all the Quire and weekely to render accompt thereof to the Deane and Chapter Hi duo etiam Cardinales Ministris Ecclesie Seruis eorum â—um sanis tâ—m egrotis Ecclesiastica ministrant Sacramenta These two Cardinals doe minister Ecclesiasticall Sacraments to the Ministers of the Church and their seruants as well to the healthfull as to the sicke Conâ—essiones audiant penitentias iniungant salutares Mortuos postremâ— conuenientibus tradunt Sepulturis They heare Confessions and appoint comfortable Penance and lastly they commit the dead to conuenient Sepulture Not any Cathedrall Church in England hath Cardinals excepting this neither doe I finde any beyond Seas to be dignified with this title sauing the Churches of Rome Rauenna Aquileia Millaine Pisa Beneuentana in Italy and Compostella in Spaine These Cardinals haue the best preheminence in the Quire aboue all next to the Subdeane and the best Stalls But at the length let me descend into Saint Faiths and to the Graue-stone of my Canon and Cardinall William West Saint Faiths Church Hic homo Catholicus Willelmus West tumulatur Pauli Canonicus Minor Ecclesie vocitatur Qui fuerat Cardinalis bonus atque sodalis M. Sexageno quater C. ter vno pleno Augusti denoque die ruit ille sereno Perpetuis annis memores estote Iohannis Good Succentoris Cardinalisque minoris Canonici cuius ope ..... huius Hic ... colitur per hunc Elemosinatur Distribui Tutor fuit pueris que minorum Collegij custos dum vixit canonicorum Hinc migrat M.C quater L.X. que Decembris eterna Virgo Dei mater prestet sibi regna superna Willelmi Lili seruus Christique minister Hic locus est illi fuit artibus ipse magister M. Domini C quater semel L. ter V lege frater X bis cum quinis M. Adar est bonus sibi finis Saint Martins Ludgate Our old English writers affirme that Lud King of the Britains whom they make to be the repairer or new builder of London was buried much what about this place of which these rimes following With Walles faire and Towres fresh about His Citee great of Troynouant full faire Full well he made and battelled throughout And Palays faire for Roialles to appeare Amending other defectyue and vnfaire From London stone to his Palays royall That now Ludgate is knowne ouer all Betweene London stone and Ludgate forth right That called was then for his name Ludstone He made men buyld that London then so hight His Palays faire then made he then anone With toures high both of lyme and stone Beside Ludgate and his Temple there thereby His God to serue and him to glorifye When he had reigned by fourty yere all out He died so and in his temple faire Entombed was with stories all about By another Author more ancient it is thus exprest Walls he let make all aboute and yates vp and doun And aftyr Lud that was his name he cluped it Ludstoun The heyest yat of ye toun yat yut stant ther and is He let hit clupie Ludgate after his owe name iwis He let him tho he was ded burye at thulk yate Theruore yut after him men clupeth it Ludgate The Britaines record that Cadwallo called the Valiant King of the Britaines after he had raigned in great honour the space of 48 yeeres died in peace the 12 of Nouember An. 677. and was buried in this place Whose Image great and terrible triumphantly riding on horse-backe being artificially cast in brasse the Britaines placed here vpon Ludgate to the further feare and terrour of the Saxons the greatnesse of which King is thus further exprest King Cadwall reyned full hele againe In Britayne land as prime without pere Aboue English as Lord Souerayne Ouer Saxons Scottes and Peights clere And English also as clere did appere A little more of this noble King Cadwall out of my old Author Robert of Gloucester When Cadewall
lieth buried He died Ann. Dom. 1450. Here lieth Giles Dewes who sometime was seruant to king Henry the 7. and king Hen. the 8. Clerke of their Libraries and Schoolemaster for the French tongue to Prince Arthur and to the Lady Mary Who died 1535. Saint Michael Bassishaw or Bassingshall Iohn Burton lyeth vnder here Sometimes of London Citizen and Mercer And Ienet his wife with their progeny Been turned to erth as ye may see Frends free what so yee bee Prey for vs we you prey As you see vs in this degree So shall you be another dey He deceased in the yeere 1460. he was a great benefactor to the building of this Church as appeareth by his marke placed throughout the whole roofe of the Quire and middle Isle of the Church Huc ades atque tuis metire viator ocellis Quam breuis inclusos illigat vrna duos Vt modo tu vir fuit hic hec femina quondam Nunc gelidi pars est huius vterque soli Nomen Abel More erat cognomen Exoniensum Cesarij Doctor iuris in vrbe fuit Agnes alterius nomen coniuxque Iohannis More fuit huius Abel qui modo frater erat Vt cupis ergo tibi faciant post funera viui Has modo tute breues quisquis es ede preces Hic Abel primo hic Agnes releuetur ab Agno Qui prius agnino sanguine lauit oues Obijt Abel 1486. Agnes 1499. quorum animabus Saint Lawrence in the Iewrie Hic incineratur corpus quondam Gaulfridi Bulleyn ciuis merceri Maioris London qui ab hac luce migrauit An. Dom. 1463. cuius anime pax sit perpetua This Sir Geffray or Godfrey Bullen Lord Maior of London was the Sonne of Geffrey Bullen of Salle or Saull in Norfolke Esquire Hee married Anne the eldest daughter and coheire of Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastings by whom he had issue Sir William Bullen of Blickling in Norfolke Knight fâ—ther to Thomas Bullen Viscount Rochford Earle of Wilshire who was father to Anne Bullen Marchionesse of Penbroke the second wife of King Henry the eight and the happy mother of our late Soueraigne Elizabeth Queene of England with all thankefulnesse euer to bee remembred This Lord Maior gaue to poore house holders in London 1000 l and 200 l to the like vse in Norfolke besides many liberall gifts to Prisons Hospitals and lazar houses Hic iacet Thomas Bulleyn de comitatu Norfolcie Armiger qui obijt vltimo die mensis Aprilis An. Dom. 147â— cuius The honorable Merchant Ion Pickering And Elisabyth lie vndyr this ston Of the English merchant Venturers vndyr the kyng In the Martis beyond See gouernor was this Ion Thirty yeere and more that roome he did manteyn To his honor and worschip and died in Nouembyr The xxix day Mcccc fourty and eyght certeyn Who 's soul and al Christians for cherite remembyr Hic Thomas Cressey London mercerus humatur Et Agnes Coniux sua postea suppeditatur M. Domini C quater his x. annoque secundo Sexta luce Iunij iâ—it hic de .... mundo Guild Hall Chappell This Chappell or Colledge of our Lady Mary Magdalen and of all Saints was founded about the yeere 1299. by Peter Fanclore saith Stow Adam Francis and Henry Frowike whose reuenew was much augmented by K. Richard the second K. Henry the sixt and diuers citizens of London so that at the suppression it was endowed with sufficient maintenance for a Custos seauen Chaplaines three Clarkes and foure Quiristers at which time it was valued at xii l xviij s ix d per an Here haue beene many Tombes and marble stones inlaid with brasse whose inscriptions and portraitures are all either worne out with time torne out or quite defaced onely this Epitaph remaining En Thomas Frances pius hic qui lustra per octo Custos extiterat iacet semper requiescat ob Mar. 4. 1488. Ouer the doore of the Councell Chamber in Guild hall was and yet is as I thinke this Distich Carolus Henricus Viuant Defensor vterque Henricus Fidei Carolus Ecclesie Long prosperity To Charles and Henry Princes most puissant The one of the Faith The other of the Church Chosen defendant These verses were depicted here and in other places about this Citie the yeare 1514. when Charles the fift Emperour was here in England to shew in what golden bands of loue these two potent Monarches were enlinked for that amongst other couenants then concluded and confirmed betwixt them by corporall Oathes one was that the Emperour promised to stay for and take to wife the young Princesse Lady Mary King Henries then onely daughter afterwards Queene of England Why the Titles defender of the Church and Faith were attributed vnto these two Princes is vulgarlie knowne because Charles chosen Emperour to purchase the Popes fauour directed forth a solemne Writ of Outlawry against Martin Luther who then had giuen a great blow to the Papall Crowne And King Henry likewise was renowned in Rome for writing a booke against the said Luther vnderpropping the tottering or downe-cast countenance of the Popes Pardons which Luther shrewdly had shaken The Pope therefore to shew himselfe a kinde Father vnto these his sonnes gaue them these Titles which were in truth none other then the same which they sware vnto when the Crownes of their Empires were first set vpon their heads The Hospitall of Saint Tho. of Acars or Mercers Chappell This Hospitall was founded by Thomas Fitz-theobald de Heili and Agnes his wife Sister to Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury in the raigne of Henry the second and dedicated to Saint Thomas of Acon or Acars in the holy land They gaue to the Master and Brethren of this house the lands with the appurtenances that sometimes were Gilbert Beckets father to the said Thomas in the which he was born there to make a Church This Hospitall was valued at the suppression to dispend yeerely 277 l. 3 s. 4 d. it was surrendred the 30 of Henry the 8. the 21 of October and was since purchased by the Mercers by meanes of Sir Richard Gresham Here lyeth entombed Iames Butler Earle of Ormond and Dame Ioane his wife he died Anno Dom. 1428. and she 1430. Hic iacet Thomas filius Iacobi comitis Ormundie ac fratris Iacobi comitis Wilts Ormundie qui quidem Thomas obijt secundo die 1515 anno regni Regis Henrici Octaui 37. cuius The Ancestors of these Earles saith learned Camden were in old time the Butlers an honourable office in Ireland and from thence came this Surname Le Boteler or Butler imposed vpon them and certaine it is that they were linked in most neere alliance vnto Saint Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury as who deriue their descent from his sister which was a great motiue to make them choose this place for their buriall and that after he was murdered they were
force and myght vigorous The swerde he brought away oute of the felde As Iulius it set faste in his shelde Through whiche stroke Sir Neminus then died And buried was at the North gate certayne Of London then where now is edified London Citee royall of all Britayne Thus this worthy knyght in his graue befayne Crosea mors his swerde layd by his syde Whiche he brought from Iulius that tyde By the testimonie of Iohn Bale this his manly prowesse was embellisht and adorned with all good literature who affirmeth that he writ an excellent Historie of the originall pedigree and progresse of his owne Nation Of yowr cherite sey a Pater Noster and an Ave For the soul of William Pratte somtym of Pekerle On whos soul Iesu haue mercy Saint Helens This was the Church to the Nunnerie founded first by William Basing Deane of Pauls who lieth here buried about the yeare 1212. and afterwards by another William Basing one of the Sheriffes of London in the second yeare of Edward the second augmented both in building and reuenue For which he is also holden to bee a Founder This religious house was dedicated to the honour of Saint Helen and replenished with blacke Nunnes There was a partition betwixt the Nunnes Church and the Parish-Church but now the whole Church belongeth to the Parish It was surrendred the 25. of Nouember the 30. of Henry the 8. being valued at 314. l. 2. s. 6. d. of yearely reuenues Orate pro animabus Iohannis Crosby Militis Ald. atque tempore vite Maioris Staple ville Caleis Agnetis vxoris sue ac Thome Richardi Iohannis Iohannis Margarete Iohanne liberorum eiusdem Iohannis Crosby militis ille obiit 1475 illa 1466. quorum animabus propitietur Deus This Crosby was Sheriffe of London the yeare 1470. He was the builder of Crosby house He gaue fiue hundred Markes towards the reforming of this Church which was bestowed saith Stow with the better As appeareth by his Armes both in the stone-worke roofe of timber and glasing it is a fable said of him to be named Crosby of being found by a Crosse. Not long after the second foundation of this house by William Basing the second I finde one Henry Gloucester Citizen and Goldsmith of London descended by the mothers side from the second Founder to be here interred approued by his last Will and Testament written in the Latine tongue which was vsuall in former times with which for forme and Antiquities sake I thinke it not much amisse to acquaint my Reader In nomine patris silij Spiritus sancti Amen Ego Henricus de Gloucestre ciuis Aurifaber London condo Testamentum meum in hunc modum Lego corpus meum ad sepeliendum apud Sanctam Elenam London vbi priorissa et conuentus eiusdem domus ibidem eligere voluerint Item lego Elisabeth filie mee Moniali eiusdem domus Sancte Elene sex solid Item lego Priorisse et Conuentui Sancte Elene vndecim Marcas Argenti annuatim ad inueniend duos Capellanos Diuina celebrare in eadem Ecclesia Sancte Elene pro anima mea et anima Margarete quondam vxoris mee ac pro animabus Willeâ—mi patris mei et Willelme matris mee sil Thome de Basings fratris Willelmi de Basings Fundatoris c. Residuum vero lego ad sustentationem Iohannis filij mei Et si idem Iohannes filius meus sine prole obierit integre remaneat Iohanne filie mee et heredibus de corpore suo legitime procreatis Item lego Elisabeth silie me duas Schopas ahenas Item lego Iohanne Adynet nepte mee quinque solidos Dat. et act London die Iouis prox post festum Sancti Andree Apostoli Ann. Dom. 1332. Reg. Regis Ed. 3.6 Probatum fuit hoc presens Testamentum xv Kal. Ianuarij Ann. Dom. 1332. Ann. 6. Ed. 3. Saint Trinities in Leaden-Hall This Chappell was first built by Simon Eyre before remembred who left liuelihood to the Drapers sufficient and withall a charge That they should within one yeare after his decease establish perpetually a Master or Warden fiue secular Priests sixe Clarkes and two Queristers to sing daily diuine Seruice by note in the same for euer which was neuer performed Not long after this in the yeare 1466. Ed. 4.6 William Rouse Iohn Râ—sby and Thomas Ashby Priests founded a Fraternitie in the same Chappell dedicated to the blessed Trinitie for threescore Priests some of which euery Market day in the forenoone did celebrate diuine Seruice to such Market people as would repaire to prayer The Priory of christ-Christ-Church by Aldgate This Priory was founded by Matilda Queene wife to Henry the first the yeare 1108. for Canons Regular The first Prior hereof was one Norman and he was the first Canon Regular in all England This house was founded saith Stow in the Parishes of Mary Magdalene S. Michael Saint Katherine and the holy Trinitie All which are now but one Parish of Christ-Church in old time called Holy Roode Parish She gaue vnto this Church and those that serued God therein the Port of Aldgate and â—he Soke thereunto belonging with two parts of her rent which she receiued out of the Citie of Exceter It became in processe of time rich in lands and ornaments and passed all the Priories in London This Priory was surrendred to the king in the moneth of Iuly 1532. The Canons were sent to other houses of their owne order and the said Priory with the appurtenances King Henry gaue to Sir Thomas Audley Baron Audley of Walden and Lord Chancellour of England which came by marriage of the Lord Audleies daughter and heire vnto Thomas not long since Duke of Norfolke and was then called the Dukes place The Monuments which sometimes were in this Church are set downe by that laborious Antiquarie Io Stow in his Suruay Saint Dunstans in the East Clausus in hoc tumulo Gulielmus Payne requiescit Quem sacer edituum fouerat iste locus Clarum cui virtus Ars et cui Musica nomen Edwardi quarti Regis in Ede dabat Si tibi sit pietas Tumuli si cura viator Hoc optesilli quod cupis ipse tibi Ob. 1508. Here lieth Clement Towne .... 1540. ... whos obiit shall for euer be observyd in this church and his Masse alwayes vpon the day followyng whos soul and his two wyfs souls Elisabeth and Elisabeth and al their chyldrens souls Iesus take to his glorious mercy Amen Saint Olaues Hart street Qu. A. D. T. D. P. os nguis irus risti ulcedine auit H S M Ch M L As I was so be ye as I am you shall be What I gaue that I haue what I spent that I had Thus I count all my cost what I left that I lost Within this parish was a Friery or Brotherhood founded by Raph Hosiar and William Sabernes Anno 1298. These Friers by their order were called Fratres sanctae crucis Brethren of
laid his foundation 137â— His death was much lamented by the King the Nobilitie and commons of all England for with singular commendations hee had for a long time serued vnder Edward the third in the French warres and was employed by him vpon seuerall Embasies and his truth and good councell was euer much auailable to the whole state of the kingdome His obsequies were performed with great solemnity King Edward the third and all his children with the greatest Prelates and Lord Barons of the kingdome being there present His wife Margaret was here entombed with him by whom he had issue Thomas Manye who in his youth was drowned in a Well at Detford in Kent and Anne then his onely daughter and heire married to Iohn Lord Hastings Earle of Penbroke Margaret Lady Manye saith Iohn Stow here interred yet the Catalogue of Honour will haue her to be buried in the Minories died the 24. of March 1399. she was the onely daughter of Thomas of Brotherton Earle of Norfolke and Marshall of England second sonne of King Edward the first and her fathers onely heire after the death of her brother Edward which happened in the same yeare that his father departed the world She was for the greatnesse of her birth her large reuenewes and wealth created Dutchesse of Norfolke for terme of life she had beene first married to Iohn Lord Segraue and her last husband was the foresaid Sir Walter Manny Here sometime was interred the body of Philip Morgan Doctor of Law Chancelour of Normandy and Bishop of Ely a very wise man who with great commendations gouerned that See nine yeeres sixe moneths and foure daies and departed this life at Bishops-Hatfield October 25. 1434. Many funerall monuments were in this Church as you may finde them mentioned in the Suruay of London This religious house is now turned into an Hospitall consisting of a Master a Preacher a Free-Schoole with a Master and an Vsher fourescore decaied gentlemen Souldiers and forty schollers maintained with sufficient cloathing meate drinke lodging and wages besides Officers and Ministers to attend vpon them all so that the whole number now in the house with the attendants is one hundred and fourescore The greatest gift that euer at any time in England no Abbey at the first foundation thereof excepted or therewith to bee compared being the gift of one man onely whose name was Thomas Sutton of Castle Campes in the County of Cambridge Esquire borne at Knaith in the County of Lincolne who liued to the age of 79 yeares and deceased the 12. day of December 1611. somewhat before this his famous Foundation was fully accomplished Great Saint Bartholomewes This Priorie was founded by one Rahere a pleasant conceited wittie gentleman and a Courtier in the raigne of King Henry the first which he dedicated to the honour of God and Saint Bartholomew and placed therein blacke Canons or Canons regular himselfe became their first Prior his foundation was confirmed in these words Henricus Rex c. Sciatis me concessisse presenti carta me confirmasse Ecclesie beati Bartholomei London que est Dominica Capella mea et canonicis dominicis in ea Domino seruientibus quod sint ab omni subiectione terrena seruitute liberi vt sic aliqua Ecclesia in tota Anglia magis libera c. dat per manum nostram apud Winton 15 Iunij Anno reg 37. Here he died and was here buried in a faire monument renewed by Prior Bolton which Bolton was the last Prior of this house a great builder and repairer of the Priorie and the Parish Church and of diuers lodgings belonging to the same as also of new he builded the Mannor of Canonbury now called Canbury at Islington which belonged to the Canons of this house This Bolton and the rest of his brethren were portraied vpon a Table sometimes hanging in this Church now it is in Sir Robert Cottons Librarie holding vp their hands to the Crucifixe vnder whom these verses were depensiâ—d Gulielmo Bolton precibus succurrite vestris Qualis erat pater hic Domus hec cetera monstrant He died at his Parsonage house at Harrow vpon the hill as I haue it by relation the fourth of Edward the sixt and was there interred He surrendred vp this his Priorie the 30 of Henry the 8. which was then valued at 757 l. 8 s. 4 d. ob q. by yeere Here sometime lay entombed the body of Roger Walden Bishop of London Neuer had any man better experience of the variable vncertaintie of worldly felicity then he for from the estate of a very poore man he was suddenly raised to be Treasurer of England hauing beene first Secretarie to the King Deane of Yorke and Treasurer of the towne of Calis and then made Archbishop of Canterbury which honour he enioyed not past two yeares but was remoued from the same and forced to leade a priuate life a long time At last being once more lift vp to the honour of this Bishopricke of London he left this present life within the compasse of the yeere following Of this man thus writeth Thomas Walsingham who liued in those times and much what to the same effect I will vse his owne language Anno 1406. Dominus Rogerus de Waldene debitum Naturae soluit qui varia fortuna vectus expertus est sub breui tempore Quam sit inconstans incerta volubilis ipsa Errans instabilis vaga quae dum stare putatur Occidit et falso mutatur gaudia vultu Nempe ex pauperculo factus est Regni Thesaurarius and so proceeds on forwards with his story Vpon his monument this Epitaph was inlayd in brasse Hic iacet Rogerus de Walden Episcopus Londinens qui cum in vtraque fortuna plurimuÌ„ laborauit ex hac vita migrauit 2 die Nouem an dom 1406 Vir cultor verus Domini iacet intra Rogerus Walden Fortuna cus nunquam steterat vna Nunc requiem tumuli Deus omnipotens dedit illi Gaudet et in celis plaudet vbi quisque fidelis He denied his preferment to the Bishoppricke of London being preferred vnto him by the Pope saying that he would not accept of it from any but from the king As I finde thus recorded in the Tower Cum summus Pontifex nuper prouidisset Rogero Walden de Ecclesia Cathedral London prefatus tamen Rogerus dominicum beneficium sine Regis assensu et licentia acceptare noluit nec vult ni presenti Rex concedit eidem Rogero licentiam quod ipse tanquam verus Pastor et Episcopus dicte Ecclesie Cathedralis eandem ecclesiam capere valeat et acceptare T. R. apud W. 24. Iunij Little Saint Bartholomewes This Hospitall for the poore and diseased was founded by the forenamed Rahere Prior of great Saint Bartholomewes to be gouerned by a Master and eight Brethren being Priests for the Church and foure Sisters to see the poore
dyed M. ccccc.xxxi Cheston Quem tegit iste lapis Radcliffe cognomine functus .... et in cineres vertitur vnde fuit Icy gist Damoselle Iohanne clay que trespassa l'an de Grace M. cccc.le xxii iour Octobre iour Saint M. lun Euesque Here sometime stood a little Nunnery I know not by whom founded but thus it is confirmed in the Catal. of religious houses Henr. Rex Anglie Dominus Hibernie Dux Normannie Aquitanie et comes Angedauie c. Shestrehunt Monial totam terram Dom. ten cum pertinentijs suts que canonicis de cathele c. quos amoueri fecimus dat apud West xi Aug. Anno Regni nostri xxiiii This Nunnery was valued in the Exchequer to be yeerely worth twenty seuen pound sixe shillings eight pence This village is called in old Writings Chesthunte Shestrehunte and Norden saith cur non Chestin Castanetum of Chesnut Trees Bishops Hatfield This Church is much honoured by the Sepulture of that prudent great Statesman Robert Baron Cecill Earle of Salisbury Lord Treasurer of England father of William Lord Cecill Earle of Salisbury one of the honourable priuy Councell now liuing Anno 1630. and keeping royall hospitality at his Mansion house hereunto adioyning which sometimes did belong to the Bishops of Ely whereupon it was named Bishops Hatfield Of Robert this Earle here interred I shall speake more when I come to let downe his Epitaph Harding Hic iacent Wilielmus Seabroke qui obijt 2 April 1462. et Ioana vxor eius ...... quorum ... Orate pro animabus Mathei Cressy et Iohanne vxoris eius quondam filie Edmundi Peryent Ar. et Anne dicti Mathei vxoris quondam filie Thome Vernon Armigeri que Iohanna obijt xxix Nouemb. M. cccc.lxxviii Hic iacent Wilielmus Anabul et Isabella vxor eius qui quidem Wilielmus obiit 4 die Octob. 1456. Saint Albans Abbey I thinke it not much amisse to speake a little of this Protomartyr of England Saint Alban whose reliques lie here interred to whose name and for his eternall commemoration both this Towne and Monastery werâ— built and consecrated He was a Citizen and a Knight of that famous Citie Verulam which stood hereby beyond the little riuer who giuing entertainement at his own house to Amphibalus a Christian and one of the Clergie was by him his guest conuerted from Paganisme to the true profession of Iesus Christ and when Dioclesian who made Maximian his companion in the Empire went about by exquisite torments to wipe Christian Religion quite out of the memory of men was the first in Britaine that with inuincible constancie and resolution suffered death for Christ his sake of which persecution â—s also of his Martyrdome my often alledged Author Robert of Glocester shall tell you in his old verse Two Emperors of Rome wer on Dioclesian And anoder hys felaw that het Maximian And wer both at on tym the on in the Este ende The oder in the west of the world alle cristendom to shende For the luther Maximian westwarde hider soughte And christen men that he fonde to strang deth he broughte Churchen he pulde a doun ther ne moste non stonde And al the bokes that he myghte fynde in eny londe He wolde late berne echon amydde the heygh strete And the christenmen asle and non alyue lete Such God was yvor vpon cristendom Such persecucion as ther was hadde ther be non For yunâ—a monethe ther wer seuentene thou send and mo I martred for our Lordes Loue nas ther a grete wo Wyth oute oder grete halwen that hii heold longe in torment As Seynt Cristene and Seynt Feye and also Seynt Uincent Fabian and Sebastian and othur as men rede That heold faste in the fey and hadde non drede And among men of this londe ther wer many on I martred at thulke tym Seint Albon was on He was the furste Martir of Brutayn that com Muche was the shome men dude in Christendom Undyr this Luther Emperor Another not so ancient hath it thus The Emperour Dioclesyan Into Britayne then sent Maximian This Maximian to surname Hercelius A Tyraunte false that Christente anoyed Through all Britayne of werke malicious The christoned folke felly and sore destroyed And thus the people with him foule accloyed Religyous men the Prests and Clerkes all Wemen with chylde and bedred folkes all Chyldren soukyng vpon the mothers pappis The mothers also withouten any pytee And chyldren all in their mothers lappis The crepyls eke and all the christentee He killed and slewe with full grete cruelte The Churches brent all bokes or ornaments Bellys reliquys that to the Churche appendes He slew that tyme and martyred Saint Albone Now when neither perswasions nor cruell torments could make him forsake the true faith such was the sentence of his death as I finde it in a legend of his passion and martyrdome which to giue your palate variety I will set downe in such English as I haue in the said Legend or Agon In the tyme of the Emperoure Dioclesyan Albone Lorde of Uerolamye Prynce of Knyghts and Stewarde of all Brutayne durynge his lif hath despysyd Iubyter and Apollyn oure Goddes and to them hath doo derogacyon and disworschyp wherfor by the Lawe he is iudged to be deed by the honde of somme knyght and the body to be buried in the same place where his heed shal be smyten of and his sepulture to be made worshcipfully for thonoure of knyghthode wherof he was Prynce and also the crosse whych he bare and Sklauin that he ware shold be buried wyth hym and his body to be closyd in a Cheste of leed and so layed in his sepulture This sentence hath the Lawe ordeyned by cause he hath renyed our principall Goddes His iudgement being giuen after this manner he was brought from the Citie Veralam to this his place of execution which as then was an hill in a wood called Holme-hurst where at one stroke his head was smitten off But his Executioner saith venerable Bede had short ioy of his wicked deede for his eyes fell to the ground with the head of the holy Martyr of which will you heare another writer Thousands of torments when he had endur'd for Christ his sake At length he died by dome thus giuen his head away to take The Tortor proudly did the feat but cleere he went not quit That holy Martyr lost his head this cruell wretch his sight He suffered martyrdome in the yeare of Christ saith Stow 293. the twentieth day of Iune saith Bede howsoeuer the two and twentieth day of the same moneth was appointed by the Church to be kept holy to his memory as we haue it in our English Calender Many Miracles are said to be wrought by this sacred Martyr both liuing and dead but I will leaue them for that they will be thought incredulous in this age and come to the foundation of this Abbey The Sepulchres of
siluer of great value gilt diuers Scottish reliques Timber to repaire the Quire and one hundred pound in money Quid fuit est et erit cur non homo discere querit Spuma fuit fumus est putrida fiet humus 28 Abbot Richard endued with all kindes of learning both morall and diuine suffered great tribulation in his time in the defence of the rights of his church He gaue a clocke to the same the like of it was not in England 29 Of Michael the Abbot I haue spoken before 30 Vpon the death of Michael Thomas the Prior of Tinmouth was preferred to this monasterie he sustained innumerable crosses and perturbations during the time of his being at Tinmouth as also here at Saint Albanes yet brought all to a prosperous end and adorned his church more richly then any one of his Predecessors the particular gifts that he gaue to the same cost him aboue foure thousand pound Est Abbas Thomas tumulo presente reclusus Qui vite tempus sanctos expendit in vsus 31 The next Abbot was Iohn Moot qui multa fecit diebus suis memoranda saith my Author of whom this Epitaph M. C. quater vint quint. Claudis heic membra Ioannis Qui dignis laudibus veteranis occidit annis Intus confratres bene rexit post fuit Abbas Constans vt Iosua Zelans legem vt Hâ—lias Simplicitas vite qua noscitur esse columbe Simonis et Iude pie pastor cras rapuit te Omnem patratum Christus purgando reatum Nobis sublatum te munâ—ret his sociatum 32 William his next successour was vir suis in temporibus tam deo delectus quam hominibus and performed many great workes of pietie Hee died about the yeare 1434. for whom I finde this Epitaph Conditus his recubat fatali sorte Guilelmus Albani Pastor qui gregis aptus erat Reperit illustrem celesti munere famam Quam nequit in tanto mors abolere viro 33 But now I come to Iohn of Whethamstede a village in this shire plentifull in wheate wherein the said Iohn was borne and thereupon had his denomination who was Abbot of this house in the raigne of Henry the sixt a man much renowned for his due desert of learning for his godly life and conuersation for his pleasant disposition and for the charges he was at and the meanes he made to adorne and enrich his Church and monastery Out of a Manuscript in Sir Robert Cotâ—ons rich Librarie intituled Gesta paucula Abbatis Iohannis Sexti I collected thus much of his particular actions Iohn the sixt Abbot of this house of that christian name that he might outwardly shew saith the booke how inwardly hee loued the beautie of the house of God and how much he desired to decke and embellish the habitation of the most holy first hee caused our Ladies chappell to bee new trimmed and curiously depicted with stories out of the sacred word vpon the south side whereof these verses were curiously depensed in gold Dulce pluit Manna partum dum protulit Anna Dulcius ancilla dum Christus creuit in illa Vpon the north side these Flos Campi dicta tibi questio ...... puella Floris habens picta venerari fronde capella In the roofe about the picture of the Lambe Inter oues Aries regat vt sine cornibus agnus Vnder the picture of the Eagle Inter aues Aquila veluti sine felle columba He built a little Chappell in the south part of the Church for his owne buriall place in which vnder certaine pictures in the windowes he caused these verses to be inscribed Propicij Patres compassiue quoque matres Orat vt oretis sua quod sit pausa quietis Vester adoptatus hic filius intumulatus The north part of his Church being somewhat darke hee caused new windowes to be made and glazed to make it appeare more light and glorious and in the glasse vnder the images of certaine heathen Philosophers which had testified of the incarnation of Iesus Christ these Hexameters were inscribed Istac qui graderis hos testes si memoreris Credere vim poteris proles Deus est mulieris Vnder the picture of Ioseph of Arimathia in another window Ad Britones ivi postquam Christum sepeliui Glasconiam veni Britones docui requieui Vnder the pictures of the foure Doctors of the Church Bina per hec paria fidei quod gignit alumpna Firma stat Ecclesia quadra fulcita columpna And that he might further illuminate his Church he caused a faire large window to be made anew in the West end of the said North Isle Vpon the erection of which these rimes were composed In patria boree quo plus durabilis in se Fertur petra fore factor fuit ipse fenestre Que nunc erigitur in ea quoque parte locatur Totius Ecclesie que fertur clarior esse Eius occiduam bene ditat lumine finem He made a reuerend kinde of imbroidered vesture for himselfe and his successours to vse when they were to enter into their Sanctum Sanctorum he made a new Miter and a Pastorall staffe Vpon which this metre was carued Postquam sex annis benedixit dextra Iohannis Wethamsted pepulum fecerat hunc baculum For the vse and honour of the holy Altar he made a Chalice of pure gold a paire of siluer censers a paire of siluer Basons gilt Vpon which were engrauen the similitudes of a Lambe and an Eagle with these riming verses Peluis post latices vt lota manus veniales Conficiat calices prius annuat Agnus Ales. Vpon the pictures of Christ the blessed Virgine Saint Alban and the sacred Host as they were to be carried in the Cloister or into the Towne he caused diuers verses to be written to bring the people into a reuerend regard of the same Vt Iesus mater noster simul Prothomartyr Acetu populi deberent plus venerari Instituit varia quibus veneratio dicta Creuit Ecclesie cultus fuit amplior in se. Of all his pious acts which he performed for the ornament of his Church thus much is written briefly in the same booke In cappis casulis Albis simul tunicellis Inque bonis alijs varijs magis ac preciosis Precessit patres pater hic cunctos preeuntes Plus coluit que Deum cur recolamus eum In like manner hee trimmed vp his Monasterie with curious painted imageries and diuers inscriptions in golden letters In his owne lodgings Dote licet multa tua sit species bene culta Mos nisi nubat ei dos simplicis est speciei Ortus magnorum quamuis sis stirpe deorum Iunge tibi morem facis ortum nobiliorem Inter eos quos fama deos in honore leuavit Sors famulos mors discipulos in sine probauit In the walke betwixt the Hall and the Abbots Chamber Hec in regnante duo sunt contraria valde Sedis apex primus probitatis spiritus ymus Sis Dux munificus sis prudens
in hys lusty age Owr Lord list cal to hys mercy and grase Benign and curteys free withoutyn rage And Sqwire with the Duc of Clarence he was The eyghtenth dey of Iun deth did him embrase The yer from Crists incarnatioon A thowsand fowr hundryd seuenty and oon Hic iacent Iohannes Dentwel .... Christiana vxor ... 1388. Here lyeth William Warner and Ioan his wyf Whych William dyed .... 1531. and Ioan 1588. on whos sowls Here vndyr this marble ston Lyeth Lucas Goodyer departyd and gon It pleasyd the Lord God in Octobre the tenth day She being in chyldbed decessyd withoutyn nay And Edmond her liffe sonne lyeth her by On whos sowlys Iesu have mercy 1547. Here lyeth Raph Stepney Esquyre the first Lord of the Lordshyp of this Towne of Aldenham and Patron of this Church Who dyed 3. Decemb. 1544. on whos sowl Iesu haue mercy Amen In the South wall of this Church the proportion of two weemen lye cut in stone who as I haue it by relation were two Sisters here entombed the builders of this Church and coheires to this Lordship which at their deaths gaue the said Lordship to the Abbey and Couent of Westminster Here is now the seate of that right honourable Lord Sir Edward Carey knight Baron of Falkland lately Lord Deputie of Ireland Some of which familie lie here fairely entombed South Mimmes A seat of a worshipfull familie of the Coningesbies saith Camden descended to them by Frowick from the Knolles ancient possessors thereof In the Belfrey of this Church is a goodly marble stone inlay'd all ouer with brasse vnder which one of the Frowicks lieth interred A gentleman who made his recreations for the good of his neighbours as appeares by his Epitaph composed by Iohn Wethamsted Abbot of S. Albans aforesaid Hic iacet Thomas Frowick Armig. qui obiit 17. Mens Februar 1448. Elisabetha vxor eius que ob 1400 ac pueri eorundem quorum animabus propitietur altissimus Amen Qui iacet hic stratus Thomas Frowick vocitatus Moribus et natu victu gestu moderatu Vir generosus erat generosaque gesta colebat Nam quod amare solent generosi plusque frequentant Aucupium volucrum venaticumque serarum Mâ—ltum dilexit vulpes foueis spoliauit Ax Taxos caueis breuiter quecunque propinquis Intulerant dampâ—a pro posse fugauerat ipsa Inter eos etiam si litis cerneret vnquam Accendi faculas medians extinxâ—rat ipsas Fecerat et pacem Cur nunc pacis sibi pausam Det Deus et requiem que semper permanet Amen Standon In the Quire of this Church lieth entombed the body of Sir Raph Sadleir the last knight Banneret of England priuye Counsellor to three Princes A man so aduanced saith Camden for his great Seruices and stayed wisdome Hee was brought vp vnder politicke great Cromwell Earle of Essex as appeares by the prose and verse engrauen vpon his Monument who when he came to mans estate employed him as his Secretary But Henry the eight conceiued so good an opinion of his discreet comportement and ingenious pregnancie that he tooke him from the seruice of the sayd Cromwell about the twentie and sixt yeare of his raigne made him his principall Secretary and vsed his aduice in matters of greatest trust and importance especially in the affaires and passages betwixt the two Realmes of England and Scotland He continued his loue towards him to the end of his life and for the speciall trust and confidence hee had in his approued wisedome and fidelitie together with the Earle of Arundell the Earle of Essex and others he made choise of him for the ayding and assisting of the Executors of his last Will and Testament by which his last Will the copie whereof I haue in my custody he gaue him two hundred pounds as a Legacie In the first of Edward the sixt hee was chosen Treasurer for the Armie sent into Scotland vnder the conduct of Edward Duke of Somerset Protector and Iohn Earle of Warwicke where in the battell of Musselborrow he shewed great manhood and prowesse His great diligence saith Hollinshead in bringing the scattered troopes into order and ready forwardnesse in the fray did worthily merit no small commendacions After which Battle he with Sir Francis Brian Captaine of the light horsemen and Sir Raph Vane Captaine of all the horsemen were honoured for their valiant good seruice with the dignitie of Knights Bannerets In the tenth yeare of the raigne of Queene Elisabeth hee was preferred and aduanced by her to the Chancellourship of the Dutchie of Lancaster But his honours and offices are most succinctly engrauen vpon his goodly Tombe in these Hexameters Radulphus Sadlier titulum sortitus Equestrem Principibus tribus arcanis a sensibus vnus Auspiciis sum Cromwelli deductus in Aulam Henrici octaui quem Secretarius omni Officio colui Regique gregique fidelis Vexillarum Equitem me Musselburgia vidit Edwardus sextus Scotiam cum frangeret armis Ducatu Lancastrensi sublime Tribunal Cancellarius ascendi quod pondus honoris Elisabetha meae posuit diadema senectae Explesset Natura suas gloria partes Maturus facili decerpor ab arbore fructus Obijt Ann. Dom. 1587. 29. Elis. aetatis 80. His Motto Servire Deo sapere His sonne and heire Sir Thomas Sadleir knight lieth interred by him of whom in another place for I haue already come nearer to these times then I determined the father of Raph Sadleir Esquire that bountifull good House-keeper now liuing Ann. 1630. Neare vnto the faire builded mansion house of the said Raph Sadleir some time stood a little religious fabricke of Austine Friers but by whom founded or how endowed I doe not finde It was a cell to the Priory of Clare in Suffolke some part of which cell is standing at this day Here lyeth Syr William Coffyn knyght somtym of the privy Chamber to king Henry the eight and master of the Horse to Quene hygh Steward of the liberty and Mannour of Stondon Who dyed viii of December M. cccccxxxviii Here lyeth Iohn Iseley somtym Alderman of London Who dyed .... M. cccclxxiiii and Iohn his sonn who dyed the same yere Here lyeth Iohn Curteys Stockfishmonger of London Who dyed the the xxiiii of September M. cccclxv Here lyeth Phillep Astley Esquyre who dyed the xiiii of Iuly in the yere M. cccc .... He had foure wiues Lettis Margaret Elisab and Alice Digswell Hic iacent Iohannes Perient Armiger pro corpore Regis Richardi secundi et Penerarius eiusdem Regis Et Armiger Regis Henrici quarti Et Armiger etiam Regis Henrici quinti Et Magister Equitum Iohanne filie Regis Nauarr et Regine Anglie qui obiit ........ et Iohanna vxor eius quondam capitalis Domicilla ...... que obijt xxiiij Aprilis Ann. Domini M ccccxv ...... This Inscription here engrauen to the memory of such a remarkeable man being Squire for the Body
are quite defaced I read in an old Manuscript thus much of the Baudes there buried and in other places sometimes Lords of the Towne and Patrons of the Church Anno Domini 1174. Sir Symon de Baud or Bauld Knight died in the holy land Anno 1189. Nich. Bauld Knight died in Gallicia in Spaine Anno 1216. Sir Walter Bauld died at Coringham Anno 1270. Sir William Bauld died at Coringham Anno 1310. Sir Walter Bauld died at Coringham Anno 1343. Sir William Bauld died at Coringham Anno 1346. Sir Iohn le Bauld died in Gascoigne Anno 1375. Sir William Bauld died at Hadham Parua Anno 1420. on the feast of Saint Bartholomew died Thomas Bauld or Bawde the first Esquire at little Hadham Anno 1449. Tho. Bawde the second Esquier died at little Hadham Anno 1500. Mens Iunij obijt Dominus Thomas Bawd miles obijt apud London cuius anime propitietur deus Anno 1550. obijt Iohannes Baud Ar. apud Coringham This ancient familie of the Bawdes Stow saith as he had read out of an ancient deed gaue vnto the Deane and Chapter of Pauls vpon the day of the conuersion of Saint Paul a good Doe and vpon the feast of the commemoration of Saint Paul a fat Bucke in consideration of twenty two Acres of land by them granted within their Mannor of Westley in Essex to be inclosed into their Parke of Coringham Sir William Baud about the third of Edward the first was the first that granted this deed which was confirmed by his sonne Walter and others of his line This Bucke and Doe were brought vpon the said festiuall daies at the houres of Procession and thorow the Procession to the high Altar the manner of it is reported by Stow who partly as he saith saw it thus On the feast day of the commemoration of Saint Paul the Bucke being brought vp to the steps of the high Altar in Pauls Church at the houre of Procession the Deane and Chapter being apparelled in Coapes and Vestments with Garlands of Roses on their heads they sent the body of the Bucke to baking and had the head fixed on a Pole borne before the Crosse in their Procession vntill they issued out of the West dore where the Keeper that brought it blowed the death of the Bucke and then the Horners that were about the Citie presently answered him in like manner For the which paines they had each man of the Deane and Chapter foure pence in money and their dinner and the Keeper that brought it was allowed during his abode there for that seruice meate drinke and lodging at the Deane and Chapters charges and fiue shillings in money at his going away together with a loafe of bread hauing the picture of Saint Paul vpon it c. There was belonging to the Church of Saint Paul for both the daies two speciall Sutes of Vestments the one embrodered with Buckes the other with Does both giuen by the said Bauds Baud is the surname saith Verstegan of a worshipfull familie in England and of a Marquesse in Germany anciently written Bade and the letter D vsed of our Ancestors in composition as th so the right name is Bathe and so this family might be tooke the name of some office belonging to the Bathe at the time of the Coronation of some King when as the Knights of the Bathe are wont to be made Ralegh Here is a monument in this Church which makes a shew of great antiquity but who should be therein entombed I could not certainly learne some of the Inhabitants say that one of the ancient house of the Alens other say that it was made for one of the familie of the Essexes who were Lords of this towne and noble Barons of England both before and since the Conquest Swein de Essex the sonne of Robert who was the sonne of Winmarke Baron of Ralegh built the ruined Castle in this towne in the raigne of Edward the Confessor whom the King calleth Brother in this his Charter to Ranulph Peperking Iche Edward Koning Haue geuen of my Forest the keping Of the hundred of Chelmer and Dancing To Randolph Peperking and to his kindling Wyth Heorte and Hynde Doe and Bocke Hare and Foxe Catt and Brocke Wylde fowel with his flocke Partrich Fesant hen and Fesant cocke With greene and wylde stob and stocke To kepen and to yemen by al her might Both by day and eke by night And hounds for to hold Good and swift and bolde Foure Greyhounds and sixe Racches For Hare and Foxe and wilde Cattes And therefore iche made him my booke Witnes the Bishop Wolston And booke ylered many on And Swein of Essex our brother And teken him many other And owr steward Howelin That by sought me for him This forme of Grants was vsed both before and after this Kings time for example I King Aâ—helstane geues to Paullane Odhiam and Rodhiam Al 's guid and al 's faire Al 's euyr yay myne waire And yarto witnes Mawd my wyff And William the Conquerour gaue certaine lands by the like deede to one Pauline Roydon the coppie whereof was found in the Registers Office at Glocester which I had from my deare deceased friend Aug. Vincent which is almost all one with that to the Norman Hunter collected by Iohn Stow out of an old Chronicle in the Librarie at Richmond I William Kyng the thurd yere of my reigne Geue to the Paulyn Roydon Hope and Hopetowne With all the bounds both vp and downe From heuen to yerth from yerth to hel For the and thyn ther to dwel As truly as this Kyng right is myn For a crossebow and an arrow When I sal com to hunt on Yarrow And in teken that this thing is sooth I bit the whyt wax with my tooth Befor Megg Mawd and Margery And my thurd Sonne Herry Such was the good meaning of great men in those daies that a few words did make a firme bargaine but to returne from whence I haue digressed Orate pro anima Wilielmi Talburgh quondam Rectoris istius Ecclesie qui obijt apud London in Parochia Sancti Petri apud Cornhil 5. Decemb. 1420. Es testis Christe quod non iacet hic lapis iste Corpus vt ornetur sed spiritus vt memoretur Hinc tu qui transis magnus medius puer an sis Pro me sunde preces quia sic mihi fit venie spes Orate pro anima venerabilis viri Richardi Lincolne Theologie professor is buius Ecclesie Rectoris qui obiit 29. Iulii 1492. Talis eris qui calce teris mea busta pedestris Qualis ego iaceo vermiculosus homo Orate pro anima Willelmi Sutton nuper Valecti corone domini Regis Iohanne vxoris eius qui ob 1428. Valetti saith learned Selden was vsed for young heires or young gentlemen or attendants And Valectus or Valettus to tell you once for all saith Camden was in those daies viz.
tempore Ed. 3. an honourable title as well in France as in England but afterward applied vnto Seruants and Groomes whereupon when the Gentrie reiected it by changing the name they began to be called Gentlemen of the Bedchamber Orate pro animabus Iohannis Barrington et l homasine vxoris eius qui quidem Iohannes obiit 8. die mens Nouemb. 1416. et Thomasina obiit 15. Septemb. 1420. Quorum animabus Ryding from Ralegh towards Rochford I happened to haue the good companie of a gentleman of this countrey who by the way shewed me a little hill which he called the Kings Hill and told me of a strange customarie Court of long continuance there yearely kept the next Wednesday after Michaelmas day in the night vpon the first cockcrowing without any kinde of light saue such as the heauens will affoard The Steward of the Court writes onely with coales and calleth all such as are bound to appeare with as low a voice as possiblie he may giuing no notice when he goeth to execute his office Howsoeuer he that giues not an answer is deeply amerced which seruile attendance said he was imposed at the first vpon certaine Tenants of diuers Mannors hereabouts for conspiring in this place at such an vnseasonable time to raise a commotion The title of the Entrie of the Court hee had in memory and writ it downe for me when we came to Rochford Thus it runnes in obscure barbarous rimes Curia de Domino Rege dicta sine Lege Tenta est ibidem per eiusdem consâ—etudinem Anteortum solis luceat nisi polus Seneschallus solus scribit nisi colis Clamat clam pro Rege in Curia sine lege Et qui non cito venerit citius penitebit Si venerit cum lumine errat in regimine Et dum sunt sine lumine capti sunt in crimine Curia sine cura iurata de iniuria Tenta die Mercurij prox post festum Sancti Michaelis Thus much haue I spoken of a Lawlesse Court for which I haue neither law nor reason For I am sure that this discourse is impertinent and quite from the subiect to which I haue tied my selfe to treat of Yet I hope these lines will not seeme much vnpleasing for my Reader to peruse when his minde is ouercharged with dull heauie and vncomfortable Epitaphs Rochford I am looking for some Monument or other in this Church to the memorie of some one of the Lords of ancient Nobilitie to which this Towne gaue the Surname of Rochford as now it giues the title of Viscount Rochford to that truly honourable and right worthie gentleman Henry Cary Lord Hunsden and Earle of Douer Pris pur Anne Snokeshall fille Iohn filol de Landmare qe gist ici Dieu de salme eit pite et mercy qe ob iour de Seynt Valentin â—an Iâ—su crist M. ccc.lxxxxvi Of your cherite prey for the sowl of Rose Crymvill wyf of Richard Crymvill Which Rose desesyd viii April M. cccccxxiiii on her sowl Iesu haue mercy Hic iacet Maria Dilcock que obiit xiiii die Decembris Ann. Dom. M. Vc. Cuius anime .... The Tower and the Steeple of this Church was built from the ground as the inhabitants by tradition affirme by Richard Lord Rich Baron of Leez and Chancellour of England A most prudent and iudicious Statesman a singular treasure and supporter of the kingdome who for his great good deserts receiued the office of Chancellour of England at the hands of King Edward the sixth Howsoeuer the Armes of the Butlers Earles of Ormond whose inheritance this Towne was in times past are cut in some places on the stone Robert Lord Rich and Earle of Warwicke lately deceased founded here sixe Almes houses for fiue poore impotent men and an aged woman But here let me conclude what I haue spoken of this towne with the words of Camden More inward saith he is Rochford placed that hath giuen name to this Hundred now it belongeth to the now Earles of Warwicke Barons Rich and in old time it had Lords of great nobility surnamed thereof whose inheritance came at length to Butler Earle of Ormond and Wiltshire and from them to Sir Thomas Bullen whom King Henry the eight created Viscount Rochford and afterward Earle of Wiltshire out of whose progenie sprung that most gratious Queene Elizabeth and the Barons of Hunsdon Pritlewell Swein de Essex before remembred built here a Priory for blacke Monkes which he dedicated to the blessed Virgine Mary Which was much augmented by others and holden to be a cell to the Priory of Lewes vntill the yeare 1518. when as a great contention arose betweene the two Houses insomuch that Iohn Prior de Pritlewel noluit soluere vnam Marcam Priori de Lewes nomine subiectionis This house was valued at the suppression to be worth 194 l. 14. s. 3. d. ob yearely Hic iacet Magister Iohannes Lucas Theologie Bacchalaureus quondam vicarius istius Ecclesie Parochialis qui ob 16. Ian. 1477. Cuius anime Prey for the sowl of Iohn Cock the younger and Margaret his wyff Whych Io. dyed ...... 1522. Her vndyr this Grauston lyth beryed Richard Bowrd ... Marchant of Callys .... dyed ... 1432. Vnder this inscription these words are engrauen in a trewe Loues knot Quod servaui perdidi quod expendi habui Quod donaui habui quod negaui perdidi Stangate Here sometime stood a small Priory built by the Predecessours of the Prior of Lewes about what time I cannot learne valued to bee yearely worth 43. l. 8. s. 6. d. Saint Osithes Whose ancient name was Chich now growne out of vse by reason of Osith the virgine of royall parentage who being wholly deuoted to the seruice of God was here stabbed to death by the Danish pyrates in the yeare 653 in the moneth of October And being by our Ancestours honoured for a Saint Richard de Beaveyes Bishop of London in her memoriall built here a religious house of Regular Chanons about the yeare 1120. in the raigne of King Henry the first His grant I haue read in the Records of the Tower beginning thus Richardus Dei gratia London Episcopus c. Salutem Sciatis quod ego dedi Ecclesie Sancte Osithe virginis de Ciz ecclesias de Sudemenestra et de Clachentona cum omnibus que ad illas pertinent c. King Henry confirmes and augments this donation by his Charter dated at Roan in the nineteenth yeare of his raigne And many others so added to the reuenues of this Monastery that at the time of the suppression it was valued at 758. pound fiue shillings eight pence This Bishop the founder was diuers times about to resigne his Bishopricke that he might become a regular Canon in this his owne new built Monasterie and that the rather because being taken with an irrecouerable Palsie he well knew his time to be
Bell on which is cast a peece of coine of siluer of King Edward the fourth it was giuen by one of the Countesses of Essex as one may partly gather by an old Inscription vpon it is the Bowsers knot Tiltey Here sometime stood a Monastery founded by Maurice Fitz-Gilbert before remembred not long after the Conquest which he dedicated to the honour of the Virgine Mary and therein placed white Monkes of the Cistertian order The donations to this religious house are confirmed in the Records of the Tower Cart. Antiq. lit S. The valuation of it at the suppression was 177. l. 9 s. 4. d. This Monasterie is not altogether ruinous in the little Church whereof I found these Funerall Inscriptions following Bruntingthorpe neare to Leicester hath long beene the habitation of the ancient familie of Dannet saith Master Burton who beareth sable Guttee Argent a Canton Ermine one of which familie lieth here interred with this Epitaph Hic iacet sepultus cum coniuge Maria Gerardus Dannet de Bruntingthorp in Com Lecestr Ar. serenissimi Regis Henrici octaui Consiliarius qui obijt Anno Christi M. ccccc.xx mensis Maij quarto The armes afore blazoned are ouer the Monument of this Councellour to king Henry Abbas famosus bonus viuendo probatus In Thakley natus qui iacet hic tumulatus Thomas dictatus qui Christo sit sociatus Rite gubernauit istumque locum peramauit Great Easton Orate .... Willelmi Moigne Ar .... qui obiit .... M.ccc.v This William Moigne or Monke held this Mannor of Easton ad montem for so it was anciently called with Winterborne and Maston in the Countie of Wilts by seruice of being Clarke of the Kings Kitchin and keeper of his Lardarie tempore Coronationis Hatfield Brad-oke So called saith Camden of a broad spread Oake in which Towne Robert de Vere the third Earle of Oxford and great Chamberlaine of England founded a Priorie for blacke Monkes About the beginning of the raigne of King Henry the third valued at the suppression at 157. l. 3. s. 2. d. ob per annum which Priory Aubrey de Vere the third of that Christian name Earle of Oxford enfeoffed with the Tithes of this Towne and to the instrument of his donation he affixed by a harpe string as a labell to the bottome of the parchment a short blacke hafted knife like vnto an old halfe penny whitle instead of a Seale These are the words in his Grant Per istum cultellum Albericus de Vere tertius feoffauit Prioratum et Conventum de Hatfeeld Regis alas Brodoke cum omnibus decimis in villa predicta Habend c. a festo Assumptionis beate Marie virginis in puram perpetuam Eleemosinam c. Of this old manner of signing and sealing of deeds you may read Lambard in his perambulation of Kent pag. 318. This Robert was first entombed in the Church of his owne foundation and at the dissolution remoued into the Quire of this Parish Church where he lieth crosse-legged with this inscription now almost worne out Sire Robert de Veer le premier count de Oxenford le tierz git ci Dieux del alme si luy plest sace merci Oi pur lame priera xl iors de pardonn anera Pater Noster Sir Robert Vere the first and third Earle of Oxford lieth here God if he please have mercy of his soule whosoeuer shall pray for his soule shall obtaine fourty dayes Pardon He died in the yeare 1221. Hic iacent Thomas Barington Ar. Anna vxor eius qui quidem Thomas obijt v. Aprilis M. cccc lxxij Anna obiit proximo die sequenti Quorum animabus propitietur Altissimus At Barington Hall within this Parish saith that learned delineator of Great Britaine M. Camden dwelleth that right ancient familie of the Baringtons which in the raigne of King Stephen the Barons of Montfitchet inriched with faire possessions since which time this house is much enobled by the marriage of Sir Thomas Barington knight with Winifred the daughter and coheire of Sir Henry Pole knight Lord Montague sonne of Margaret Plantaginet Countesse of Salisbury descended of the bloud royall being the daughter of George Duke of Clarence Great Dunmow Exoretis miserecordiam Dei pro anima Walteri Bigod Armigeri qui obijt 17. die mens Mar. 1397. Simon de Regham iadis Parson de Dunmow gist icy Dieu de son alme eit mercy Amen Of yowr cherite prey for the sowls of Iohn Ienone Esquyr somtym on of the Common Pleas of Westmynstre and Alys his wyff Whych Iohn dyed xvii Septembyr M. Vc.xlii Little Dunmow Iuga the wife of one Baynard a Nobleman that came in with the Conquerour the builder of Baynards Castle in London founded the Priority in this village in the beginning of the raigne of Henry Beauclerke and entreated Mauricius Bishop of London to dedicate the Church to the honour of the virgine Mary to which the same day she gaue halfe a Hide of land Her sonne and heire Geffrey Baynard placed blacke Chanons therein by the consent of Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury This house was valued at the suppression to be yearely worth 173. l. 2. s. 4. d. The Church of this monastery is as yet standing in the Quire whereof betweene two pillars lieth the body of Matilda the faire entombed who was the daughter of Robert Fitz-water the most valiant knight of England About the yeare 1213. saith the booke of Dunmow there arose a great discord betwixt king Iohn and his Barons because of Matilda surnamed the faire daughter of Robert Fitz-water whom the King vnlawfully loued but could not obtaine her nor her fathers consent thereunto Whereupon and for other like causes ensued warre through the whole Realme The king banished the said Fitz-water amongst other and caused his Castle called Baynard and other his houses to be spoiled Which being done he sent a messenger vnto Matilda the faire about his old Suit in Loue Et quia noluit consentire toxicauit eam And because she would not agree to his wicked motion the messenger poisoned a boiled or potched Egge against she was hungrie and gaue it vnto her whereof she died the yeare 1213. In the yeare following after her death her banished father was restored to the kings fauour vpon this occasion It happened in the yeare 1214. king Iohn being then in France with a great armie that a truce was taken betwixt the two Kings of England and France for the terme of fiue yeares and a riuer or arme of the Sea being betwixt either host there was a knight in the English host that cried to them of the other side willing some one of their knights to come and iust a course or two with him Wherupon without stay Robert Fitz-water being on the French part made himselfe ready ferried ouer got on horseback and shewed himself ready to the face of
l. 10. s. 8. d. per annum Pleshy This Collegiate Church was founded by Thomas of Woodstocke Duke of Glocester for Canons regular which was valued in the Kings bookes to be yearely worth one hundred thirty nine pounds three shillings ten pence The vpper part of which Church within these few yeares was taken downe and as I was told in the Towne the Parishioners being either vnwilling or vnable to repaire the decayes carried away the materials which were employed to other vses This part of the Church was adorned and beautified with diuers rich funerall Monuments which were hammered a peeces bestowed and diuided according to the discretion of the Inhabitants Vpon one of the parts of a dismembred Monument carelesly cast here and there in the body of the Church I found these words Here lyeth Iohn Holland Erle of Exceter Erle of Huntington and Chamberleyne of England Who dyed ....... This Iohn was halfe brother to King Richard the second and Duke of Exceter From which dignitie he was deposed by Act of Parliament in the first yeare of King Henry the fourth whose sister he had married and in the same yeare beheaded in this Towne for a seditious conspiracie saith Camden and in the very place where the Duke of Glocester was arrested by King Richard which was in the base court of the Castle of Pleshie now quite ruined that he might seeme saith he to haue beene iustly punished by way of satisfaction for the foresaid Duke of Glocester of whose death he was thought to be the principall procurer He was beheaded the third day after the Epiphanie 1399. 1. Hen. 4. Vpon a broken peece of a faire marble stone reared to the side of a pillar whereupon were the pictures in brasse of an armed knight and his Lady this ensuing disticke was engrauen Militis o miserere tui miserere Parentum Alme deus regnis gaudeat ille tuis Vnder this stone if Tradition may go for truth Sir Edward Holland Earle of Mortaigne sonne of the foresaid Iohn Holland beheaded with his Lady were entombed Orate pro anima Iohannis Scot primi Magistri huius Collegij qui obijt primo die Ianuar. M. cccc.x Qui me psalmasti miserere mei Qui me pretioso tuo sanguine redimisti miserere mei Qui me ad Christianitatem vocasti miserere mei Here lyeth Robert Frevyt a man letterd sowndyt For hys sowl and for all christine sey a Pater Noster and an Ave. But I shall forget the Founder Thomas of Woodstocke the sixth sonne of King Edward the third and Vncle to King Richard who was taken by force from this his Castle of Plessy by Thomas Mowbray Earle Marshall and conuayed to Callis where he was smothered vnder a Featherbed 1397. His body was afterwards conueyed with all funerall pompe into England and buried here in this Church of his owne foundation in a goodly sepulchre prouided by himselfe in his life time Whose reliques were afterwards remoued and laid vnder a marble inlaid with brasse in the Kings Chappell at Westminster In which Church Elianor his wife of whom I haue spoken before lieth entombed with this French inscription who after the death of her husband became a Nunne in the Abbey of Barking within this County Cy gist Aleonore de Bohun aysue fille et vn des heirs l'hounrable seignour Mons. Humfrey de Bohun Counte de Hereford d'Essex et de Northampton et Constable d'Engleterre Femme a puissant et noble prince Tho. de Woodstock Fitz a tresexcellent et tre puisant seignour Edward Roi d'Engleterre puis le Conquest tiers Duc de Glocestre Counte d'Essexie et de Buchingham et Constable d'Engleterre quemorust le tierz iour a'October ban du grace 1399. de gi aisme Dieux face mercy Amen But againe to returne to the Duke her husband touching whose life and death with the manner thereof thus writeth Gower in his booke called Vox clamantis O quam Fortuna stabilis non permanet una Exemplum cujus stat in ordine carminis hujus Rex agit et Cygnus patitur de Corde benignus Ille prostratus non est de Rege levatus Ad Plessye captus tunc est velut Hostia raptus Rex jubet arma geri nec eo voluit misereri Cum Sponsa nati lugent quasi morti gravati Plusque Lupo sevit Rex dummodo Femina flevit Nil pietas munit quem tunc manus invida punit Rex stetit obliquus nec erat tunc unus amicus O Regale genus Princeps quasi pauper egenus Turpiter attractus jacet et sine iure subactus Sunt ibi Fautores Regis de sorte Priores Qui Cygnum pendent vbi captum ducere tendent Sic ducendo ducem perdit sine lumine lucem Anglia que tota tenebrescit luce remota Trans mare natavit regnum qui semper amavit Flent centum mille quia Cygnus preterit ille Calisij portus petit unde dolus latet ortus Error quem Regis genuit putredine legis Carcere conclusus subito fuit ille reclusus Nescit quo fine sit vite sive ruine Tunc Rex elatum sumpsit quasi Falco volatum Vnde suas gentes perdit Custode carentes A little after follow these verses touching the deniall of buriall to bee granted vnto him among the rest of his honourable and royall Ancestors Sic nece devictum sic corpus ab hoste relictum Clam de conclavi susceperat Anglia navi Per mare regreditur corpus nec adhuc sepelitur Namque sepulturam defendit Rex sibi puram Desuper a latere patris loca justa tenere Dummodo quesivit vix bassa sepulchra subivit Of the manner of his death these three verses following Hen quam tortorum quidam de sorte malorum Sic Ducis electi plumarum pondere lecti Corpus quassatum jugulant que necant jugulatum Such was the end of this royall Prince sonne to a King and vncle to a King who by our writers is discommended in this that he was euer repining against the King in all things whatsoeuer he wished to haue forward Erat enim vir ferocissimus precipitis ingenij as Polidor censures him a most fierce man and of an headlong wit who thinking still that those times wherein he had mastred the King were nothing changed though the King was aboue thirty yeeares old forbare not roughlie not so much to admonish as to check and schoole his Soueraigne Hatfield Peuerell So denominated of one Randolph Peuerell the owner thereof to whom Edward the Confessor was very munificent for that hee had married his kinswoman the daughter of Ingelrick a man of great Nobilitie among the English Saxons A Lady of that admirable beautie that with her lookes she conquered the Conquerour William who desired nothing more then to be her prisoner in Armes which to effect hee begins to expresse a kinde of loue to the remembrance of
reuenues Richard Cordelion his sonne confirmes the gift and exchange of the Canons made by his father by his Charter to be read in the Tower in these words Richardus Dei gratia c. Inde est quod sicut Pater noster mutationem Canonicorum secularium institutionem Canonicorum regularium fecit in Ecclesia de Waltham eis quasdam non as possessiones et veteres concessit confirmauit Sic nos laudabiliter virorum commutationem in prefata Ecclesia factam nostra autem approbamus Et pro salute predicti Patris nostri et Matris nostre et Fratrum nostrorum et pro salute omnium fidelium constitutionem Canonicorum Regularium in eadem Ecclesia factam donationes possessiones nouas que a Patre nostro eis facte sunt presenti carta nostra confirmamus Dat. c. Henry the third encreased much their reuenues with Faires and Markets a Faire here for seuen dayes and at Epping a Market euery Monday and a Faire for three dayes So by the munificence of these Kings their Successours and Subiects this Abbey at the generall suruey and surrender was valued at Robin Hoods pennieworths to dispend yearely 900. pounds foure shillings and foure pence The Catalogue of religious houses saith 1079. l. 12. s. and a pennie The Church of this Monastery hath escaped the hammers of destruction and with a venerable aspect sheweth vnto vs the magnitude of the rest of this religious Structure Herein Harold made his vowes and prayers for victorie when hee marched against the Norman Conquerour In which battell by the shot of an arrow through the left eye into his braines he was slaine the 14. of October being Saturday 1066. hauing raigned nine moneths and odde dayes whose body by the mediation of his mother Githa and two religious men of this Abbey being obtained of the Conquerour howsoeuer at the first by him denyed affirming that buriall was not fit for him whose ambition had beene the cause of so many funeralls was conueyed with great lamentation by his said mother Githa and a small deiected remainder of the English Nobilitie to this his owne Church and herein solemnly interred vpon whose Monument this Epitaph was engrauen Heu cadis hosle sero Rex a Duce Rege sutaro Par paris gladio milite valido Firmini iusti lux est tibi luce Calixti Pronior hinc superas hinc superatus eras Ergo tibi requiem deposcat vtrumque perennem Sicque precetur eum quod colit omne Deum A fierce foe thee slew thou a King he king in view Both Peeres both Peerelesse both fear'd and both fearlesse That sad day was mixt by Firmin and Calixt Th' one helpt thee to vanquish t'other made thee languish Both now for thee pray and thy Requiem say So let good men all to God for the call Girth and Leofwin his two brethren lost their liues likewise vnder Harolds Banner which was brondet saith Robert of Glocester with sygur of a man fyghtyng biset al about wyth gold and preciosse stons which Baner aftur the Bataile Duc William sent to the Pope in tokne of the victory Whose bodyes were in like manner brought to this Church and here entombed It is said that Girthe not holding it best to hazard the Kindome of England at one cast signified to the King that the successe of warre was doubtfull that victory was rather swayed by fortune then by valour that aduised delay was most important in martiall affaires and if so bee brother said hee you haue plighted your faith to the Duke retire your selfe for no force can serue against a mans owne conscience God will reuenge the violation of an oath you may reserue your selfe to giue them a new encounter which will be more to their terrour As for me if you will commit the charge to me I will performe both the part of a kinde brother and a couragious Leader For being cleare in conscience I shall sell my life or discomfit your enemy with more felicitie But the King not liking his speech answered I will neuer turne my back with dishonour to the Norman neither can I in any sort digest the reproach of a base minde well then be it so said some discontented of the company let him beare the brunt that hath giuen the occasion This Harold is much commended for his courteous affabilitie gentle deportment Iustice and warlike prowesse in nothing blame worthy saue that in the opinion of his owne valour he addicted himselfe wholly to his owne resolutions neglecting the wise deliberations of his best friends and Councellors And that his courage could neuer stoope to be lower then a King For which he is taxed to be an impious man falsely aspiring to the Crowne by vsurpation Of which my old Author with whom I will conclude hath these rimes Harold the falls Erle tho Sent Edward ded ley Hym selue let corone King thulk self dey Falsliche Richard the first king of England for his matchlesse valour surnamed Cordelion or Lions-heart is by some of our old English writers said to haue slaine a Lion and by the pulling out of his heart to haue gained that attribute or denomination the truth is that Hugh Nevill a gentleman of noble linage one of King Richards speciall familiars is recorded to haue slaine a Lion in the holy Land driuing first an arrow into his breast and then running him thorow with his sword whereupon this Hexameter was made Viribus Hugonis vires periere Leonis The strength of Hugh a Lion slue Which atchiuement belike was transferred from the man to the master and the story applied to the by-name of K. Richard This Hugh was high Iustice Gardian or Prothoforester of England He died about the sixt of King Henry the third being full of yeeres corpus eius saith Paris in Ecclesia de Waltam nobili Sarchophago marmoreo et in sculpto traditur sepulturae and his body was buried in this Church of Waltham vnder a noble engrauen marble Sepulchre Iohn Nevill his sonne non ultimus inter Angliae nobiles patris sui pedetentim sequens vestigia and the sonne and heire as well of his vertues as reuenues and offices being accused by one Robert Passelew a man of eminent authoritie vnder King Henry the third of diuers transgressions or omissions in the Forrest Lawes committed by him by his conniuencie or sufferance in this Forrest of Waltham and other the Kings Forrests Parks and Chaces was adiudged to pay a Fine of two thousand markes and ignominiouslie to be cast out of his offices which he tooke so to heart that not long after languishing away with sorrow he breathed out his afflicted spirit in Iuly 1245. at his Mannor of Whelperfield from whence he was conueyed to this Abbey and here honourably entombed by his father I finde in Registro Cartarum Abbatie de Waltam that these two Nevils were great benefactors to
peicked after a strange fashion and a paire of Challices of course mettall lying vpon his breast the which was thought to be one of the Bishops of Donwiche but when they touched and stirred the same dead body it fell and went all to powder and dust And although these aforesaid three old Churches were not sumptuous great very faire after the manner fashion of Cathedral Churches now vsed yet it seemeth they might serue in those daies very well for it plainely appeareth in the book of the description of England and in the title of Bishoprickes and their Sees the thirteenth chapter whereas these words following are said Take heede for in the beginning of holy Church in England Bishops ordained and had their Sees in low places and simple that were conueniable and meete for contemplation and deuotion c. But in King William the Conquerours time by doome of Law Canon it was otherwise ordained that Bishops should remoue and come out of small townes and to haue their Sees in great Cities By meanes whereof it seemeth that the towne of Donwiche being then greatly decayed and also then likely more and more to decay as it hath done indeed from a great citie as some doe say or at the least from a very great ancient Towne to a little small Towne the Bishops seat of Donwich was remoued from Donwich to Elmham and Thetford and afterward to the Citie of Norwich whereas it yet remaineth There was a Mint in Dunwich for one Master Holliday told mee that he had a grote whose superscription on the one side was Ciuitas Donwic Diuers other things he told me of to make it a citie The Treatise is much longer but enough is already deliuered The succession of the Bishops of Dunwich is set downe by Bishop Godwin to which I refer my Reader The foundation of the Blacke Friers in Dunwich This religious Structure was founded by Sir Roger de Holishe Knight of the order you haue heard before of the time dedication value or surrender I finde not any thing Persons of note buried in the Church of this Monastery were as followeth Sir Roger de Holishe Knight the foresaid founder Sir Raufe Vfford and Dame Ione his wife Sir Henry Laxiffeld Knight Dame Ione de Harâ—ile Dame Ada Crauene Dame Ione Weyland Sister of the Earle of Suffolke Iohn Weyland and Ione his wife Thomas sonne of Richard Brews Knight Dame Alice wife of Sir Walter Hardishall Sir Walkin Hardesfield Austin Valeyus Raph Wingfeld Knight Richard Bokyll of Leston and Alice and Alice his wiues Sir Henry Harnold Knight and Fryer The grey Friers of Dunwich was founded first by Richard Fitz-Iohn and Alice his wife and after by King Henry the third of which I haue no further knowledge Herein lay interred the bodies of Sir Robert Valence the Heart of Dame Hawise Ponyngs Dame Ideu of Ylketishall Sir Peter Mellis and Dame Anne his wife Dame Dunne his mother Iohn Francans and Margaret his wife Dame Bert of Furniuall .... Austin of Cales and Ione his wife Iohn Falleyâ— and Beatrix his wife Augustine his sonne .... Wilexâ—es Sir Hubert Dernford Katherine wife of William Phellip Margaret wife of Richard Phellip Peter Codum I had the notes of these buried in these Monasteries as also of diuers other Monasteries in Suffolke and Norfolke out of the painefull collections of William le Neue Esquire Yorke Herauld truely copied out of the ancient originals thereof remaining in his custody Bury Saint Edmunds or Saint Edmundsbury This Town seemeth saith Camden to haue been of famous memory considering that when Christian Religion began to spring vp in this tract king Sigebert here founded a Church and it was called Villam Regiam that is a royall towne But after that the people had translated hither the body of Edmund that most christian King whom the Danes with exquisite torments had put to death and built in honour of him a very great Church wrought with a wonderfull frame of timber it began to be called Edmundi Burgus commonly Saint Edmundsbury and more shortly Bury But especially since that King Canutus for to expiate the sacrilegious impietie of his Father Suenus against this Church being often affrighted with a vision of the seeming-ghost of Saint Edmund built it againe of a new worke enriched it offered his owne Crowne vnto the holy Martyr brought vnto it Monkes with their Abbot and gaue vnto it many faire and large Mannors and among other things the Towne it selfe full and whole ouer which the Monkes themselues by their Seneschall had rule and iurisdiction Thus Knuts Charter began In nomine Poliarchie Iesu Christi saluatoris Ego Knut Rex totius Albionis Insule aliarumque nationum plurimarum in Cathedra regali promotus cum concilio decreto Archiepiscoporum Episcoporum Abbatum Comitum aliorumque omnium fidelium meorum elegisanciendum perpeti stabilimento ab omnibus confirmandum vt Monasterium quod Budrices Yurthe nuncupatur sit per omne euum Monachorum gregibus deputatum ad inhabitandum c. After a long recitall of his many donations corroborations priuiledges and confirmations of former grants he ends with an Additament of fish and fishing Huic libertati concedo additamentum scilicet maritimos pisces qui mihi contingere debent annualiter per Thelonei lucrum et Piscationem quam Vlskitel habuit in Pilla et omnia iura c. These gifts to this Abbey as to the most of all others were finally concluded with a fearefull curse to the infringers thereof and a blessing to all such that did any way better her ample endowments the Charter is signed with the marke which is the crosse and the consent of thirty and fiue witnesses of which a few as followeth ✚ Ego Knut Rex c. hoc priuilegium iussi componere compositum cum signo Dominice crucis confirmando impressi ✚ Ego Aelgifa Regina omni alacritate mentis hoc confirmaui ✚ Ego Wulsâ—anus Archiepiscopus consensi ✚ Ego Adelnodus confirmaâ—i c. After Knut one Haruey the Sacrist comming of the Norman bloud compassed the Burgh round about with a wall whereof there remaine still some few reliques and Abbot Newport walled the Abbey The Bishop of Rome endowed it with very great immunities and among other things granted That the said place should be subiect to no Bishop in any matter and in matters lawfull to depend vpon the pleasure and direction of the Archbishop which is yet obserued at this day And now by this time the Monkes abounding in wealth erected a new Church of a sumptuous and stately building enlarging it euery day more then other with new workes and whiles they laid the Foundation of a new Chappell in the raigne of Edward the first There were found as Euersden a Monke of this place writeth the walles of a certaine old Church built round so as that the Altar stood as it were in the mids
for his sapience In citees all he held well vnitees Greate Iustes ay and ioyous tournements Of Lords and knightes he made great assemblees Through all the lande by his wise regimentes They purposed hole by their common assentes To croune hym kyng of all great Italy Within halfe a yere for his good gouernaly But Stow out of Paulus Iouius writes more fully of this marriage In the moneth of Aprill saith he Leonell Duke of Clarence with a chosen companie of the English Nobilitie went towards Millaine there to marrie with Violentis the daughter of Galeasius the second of that name Duke of Millaine at whose comming to Millaine such abundance of treasure was in most bounteous manner spent in making most sumptuous feasts setting forth stately sights and honouring with rare gifts aboue two hundred Englishmen which accompanied his sonne in law as it seemed to surpasse the greatnesse of most wealthie Princes for in the banquet whereat Francis Petrarch was present amongst the chiefest guests there were aboue thirtie courses of seruice at the table and betwixt euery course as many presents of wondrous price intermixed all which Iohn Galeasius chiefe of the choise youth bringing to the table did offer to Leonell There were in one onely course seuenty goodly horses adorned with silke and siluer furniture and in the other siluer vessells Falcons hounds armour for horses costly coates of mayle breast plates glistering of massie steele helmets and corselets decked with costly crestes apparell distinct with costly Iewells souldiers girdles and lastly certaine gemmes by curious Art set in gold and of purple and cloth of gold for mens apparell in great abundance And such was the sumptuousnesse of that banquet that the meates which were brought from the table would sufficiently haue serued ten thousand men But not long after Leonell liuing with his new wife whilest after the manner of his owne countrey as forgetting or not regarding his change of ayre he addicted himselfe ouer-much to vntimely banquetings spent and consumed with a lingring sicknesse died at Alba Pompeia called also Languvill in the Marquisat of Mont-ferrat in Piemont on the Vigill of Saint Luke the Euangelist 1368. in the two and fortieth yeare of his fathers raigne First he was buried saith Camden in the Annalls of Ireland in the Citie of Papie hard by Saint Augustine the Doctor and afterward enterred at Clare in the Couent Church of Austin Friers in England He had issue onely by his first wife one daughter named Philip. Of which you may reade before in the printed copie of the parchment Roll and in the Chronicle of Iohn Harding as followeth His wife was dedde and at Clare was buried And none heire he had but his doughter faire Philip that hight as Cronicles specified Whom quene Philip cristened for his heire Tharchbishop of Yorke for his compeire Hir godmother also of Warwyk the countesse A Lady was of all greate worthynes And in another place Chyldren had he noone but Philip heire By Elizabeth his first wyfe which the kyng Edward maryed to Edmond Mortymer Th erle of Marche that was his warde full yyng Who gate on hir Roger their derelynge Philip the onely daughter of Leonel Plantagenet Duke of Clarence saith Milles agreeing with the former yet going a little further was married vnto Edmund Mortimer Earle of March vpon whom the said Edmund begot Roger and Roger Anne who being married vnto Richard Earle of Cambridge thereby transported the right of the kingdome vnto the House of Yorke I finde in my notes of Burialls in Monasteries that these persons following were also interred in this Priory Church Richard Earl of Clare whom some will haue to bee Founder Dame Alice Spencer Sir Iohn Beauchamp knight Iohn Newborne Esquire who amongst others brought the body of the foresaid Leonell Duke of Clarence into England Iohn Wiborough William Golderich William Capell and Eleanor his wife The Lady Margaret Scroope daughter of .... Westmerland Iohn Kempe Esquire Robert Butterwyke Esquire Ione Candishe daughter of Clopton Dame Eleanor Wynkepery Stoke Clare Here at Stoke adioyning to Clare was a Colledge founded by one of the Mortimers Earle of March valued in the kings bookes to bee yearely worth three hundred twenty foure pounds foure shillings penny halfe penny In this Colledge was entombed the body of Sir Edmund Mortimer the last Earle of March and Vlster of that house Lord of Wigmore Trim Clare and Conaught the Grandchilde of that Edmund Earle of March who married the daughter and onely heire of Leonell Duke of Clarence as it is in the Roll. This Edmund saith Camden in regard of his royall bloud and right to the Crowne stood greatly suspected to Henry the fourth who had vsurped the kingdome and by him was first exposed vnto dangers in so much as he was taken in a battell fought at Pelale in Wales by Owen Glendowr a Rebell and afterward whereas the Percies purposed to aduance his right he was conueyed into Ireland kept almost twenty yeares prisoner in the Castle of Trim suffering all miseries incident to Princes of the bloud while they lye open to euery suspicion and there through extreame griefe ended his dayes the nineteenth day of Ianuary 1424. in the third yeare of the raigne of Henry the sixth Of the foresaid battell his taking and miserable imprisonment thus much out of Harding as followeth Syr Edmonde then Mortimer warred sore Vpon Owen and did hym mekyll tene But at laste Owen laye hym before Where in batell they faught as well was sene Where Owen toke hym prisoner as then full kene With mekell folke on eyther syde slayne And set Edmonde in prysone and great payne He wrote vnto the kyng for great socoure For he had made with Owen his fynaunce To whom the kyng wold graunt then no fauoure Ne nought he wold then make him cheuesaunce For to comforte his foes disobeysaunce Wherfore he laye in fetters and sore prisone For none payment of his great raunsone Here also lay buried the bodies of Sir Thomas Grey knight and his first wife Luce the wife of Walter Clopton Sir Thomas Clopton and Ade his wife Sudbury Saint Gregories In this Church I saw a marble stone some foure yards long and two broad sometimes inlayd all ouer with brasse vnder which the Inhabitants say that Simon Theobold alias Sudbury lyeth interred which may bee true for howsoeuer he hath his Tombe in the Cathedrall Church at Canterbury of which he was Archbishop as I haue written before yet that may be perhaps onely his Cenotaph or honorarie funerall Monument This Simon built whilest hee was Bishop of London the Chappell or vpper end of the Church where this spatious Grauestone lies couched As appeares by this Inscription in the glasse window Orate pro Domino Symone Thepold alias Sudbury qui istam Capellam fundauit Anno Domini M. cccclxv in commemoracione omnium animarum dedicat dat consecrat In
for ioy of his departure out of this life with merry hearts doe leape and celebrate a solemne feast at Easter At whose death the flouds ceased and the distemperature of the aire had an end and in one word the common sort truely and heartily praise the onely sonne of God Well when this Iustice now dead was once fast folded within a sheet and Coffin of lead the foresaid Countesse with his treasure not worthy to be bestowed among such holy reliques in horrible griefe of heart conueied him ouer into England there to be enterred Orate pro ... Roberti Lambe Alicie Lambe ...... ..... Lambe ...... These Lambes haue beene speciall benefactors to this Church being sometimes men of faire possessions in this parish as I was told their names with the pictures of Lambes are depensild in many places of the woodworke and feeling of the Church Hic iacent Symon Brooke et Emota Margareta et Alicia vxores eius qui quidem Symon obijt 12. octob 1488. An ancient Familie these Brookes were in this parish now extinct as I haue it by relation Orate pro bono statu Christopheri Willoughby Armigeri Margerie vxoris eius this is in a glasse window of the Church Campsey or Camesey This was a Nunnery not farre from Vfford founded by one Theobald and consecrated to the honour of the Virgin Mary which was valued at the suppression to be yearely worth in Lands one hundred eighty and two pounds nine shillings fiue pence These Nunnes were of the order of S. Clare and called Minoresses Maud who was first married to William Lord Burgh Earle of Vlster and after to Raph de Vfford chiefe Iustice of Ireland repenting her selfe belike of her own and her last husbands delinquences committed in Ireland of which I haue spoken before obtained licence of King Edward the third by the procuration of her brother Henry Earle of Lancaster to found a Chantrie in this monastery of fiue Chaplaines secular Priests to pray and sing Masse for the soules of the said William de Burgh and Raph de Vfford whose body was here interred such is the Charter of the Foundation Edwardus c. Sciatis quod 16 die Octobris Anno regni nostri 21. ad requisitionem dilecti consanguinei et fidelis nostri Hen. Com. Lancastrie nec non Matildis comitisse Vltonie consanguinee sororis eiusdem comitis c. dederimus et consesserimus prefate comitisse quod ipsa quondam cantariam quinque capellanorum quorum vnum custodem eiusdem cantarie duxerit nominand in capella virginis gloriose infra Ecclesiam Monasterij siue prioratus monialium de campese diuina celebrar ad laudem Dei dicte virginis matris eius pro salute que Willelmi de Burgh quondam comitis Vltonie primi ac Radulphi de Vfford secundi et virorum suorum Cuius quidem Radulphi corpus in eadem capella quiescit humatum c. Test. meipso apud West c. Letheringham In the parish Church and in the Church of the little Priory adioyning are diuers Tombes and grauestones to the memory of that noble and ancient Family of the Wingfields all of which are fouly defaced This Priory was founded by sir Iohn Boynet of the dedication order or time I am altogether ignorant it was valued at twenty sixe pounds eighteene shillings fiue pence of yearely commings in The Wingfelds here buried were these Sir Robert Wingfeld Lord of Letheringham Sir Robert Wingfeld and Elizabeth Gousall his wife Sir Iohn Wingfeld and Elisabeth his wife Sir Thomas Wingfeld Sir Robert Wingfeld and Elisabeth Russell his wife obijt Robertus 1409. Thomas Wingfeld and Margaret his wife Richard Wingfeld Anne and Mary Inscriptions vpon the monuments of the Wingfelds partly remaining are these which follow Hic iacet tumulatus Dominus Willelmus Wingfeld Miles Dominus istius ville patronus istius Ecclesie qui ob primo die Iulij 1398. Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Hic iacet Willelmus VVingfeld Armig. et Katherina vxor eius .... Dominus et patronus Quorum ... Hic iacet Dominus Robertus VVingfeld miles et Elisabetha vxor eius qui quidem Robertus obijt 3. die Maij 1409. Quorum animabus .... Amen Hic iacet Dominus ...... Wingfild miles quondam Dominus de Letheringham Here is also an ancient faire Tombe very fouly defaced whereupon this fragment of an Inscription following is onely remaining ..... Elizabethe Arundel Ducisse Norfol. Iohannis Paulet militis qui quidem Iohannes obijt x Maij M. cccclxxxi ...... ac Domina Elizabetha Wingfeld vxor predicti Iohannis filia ..... Sir Antony Wingfield of Letheringham Knight sonne and heire of Sir Iohn liued in the raignes of King Henry the eight and Edward the sixth in the 31. of Hen. the 8. he was Captaine of the Guard He was Controller of Edward the sixth his House and of the priuie Councell to King Henry the eight and Edward the sixth and Knight of the Garter Hee died ..... he married Elisabeth daughter and coheire of Sir George Veere Knight and of Margaret his wife the daughter of Sir William Stafford Hee was Vice-chamberlaine to King Henry the eight and together with the Earles of Arundell and Essex and others appointed to be ayding and assisting with his aduise and counsell the Executours of the said Kings last Will and Testament A copie whereof I haue in my custody By which his will he giues to the said Sir Antony two hundred pounds In the Priorie Church here at Letheringham diuers of the ancient familie of the Nantons lie buried Of whom out of their pedegree I haue these notes following Master William Smart affirmeth that he hath seene â—n ancient Euidence dated before the Conquest of England wherein the Nantons are named who saith they were written by the name of Nawnton Roger Awston reporteth that Nawnton came in with the Conquerour and that he hath seene Records of the same who for seruice done had then giuen him in marriage a great inheritrix It is reported that Nawntons lands were at that time 700. markes per annum These Nauntons are Patrons of the Church of Alderton in this County as appeares by this Epitaph there Here lieth Henry Naunton Esquire late Patron of this Church and Tristram Naunton both sonnes of William Naunton Esquire and of Elisabeth his wife and Elisabeth wife to the said Henry daughter of Euerard Asheby Esquire and Elisabeth daughter to the said Henry Naunton and Elisabeth Asheby Patruus ignotus Genetrix vix nota sororque Occumbunt sequeris tu mihi sancte Pater Chara Domus terras fugitis neque sic me fugitis Vos sequar in caelos ..... Patri Patruo Matri Sororulae charissimis Posui fleuique Robertus Naunton 1600. Now Sir Robert Naunton knight one of his Maiesties most Honourable priuie Councell and master of the Court of Wardes and Liueries Of which
dwarfe to death saith my foresaid Author Much more might bee said of this little-great man but I am called for my selfe to the Presse and to speake more then I haue done in the praise of little men I may be thought to flatter my selfe He died in the yeare 1346. in the twentieth of the raigne of King Edward the third I read in a booke of the order of Carmelites of which Fraternitie he was one as also Prouinciall of them all throughout all England penned by Iohn Bale before his conuersion a part of an Eulogium composed to the memory of this Baconthorpe which may serue for an Epitaph Thus. Iohannes de Bachonethorpe Doctor resolutus Carmelita Hic Bachone fuit Iohannes natus in vrbe Anglica quo felix terra priore fuit Parisio dulces hausit de fonte liquores Post tamenin patrio claruit ipse solo Exposuit libros Petri sed sanccius esse Est ratus in quartum peruigilare librum Fecit Aristotelem clarum inclitumque legenti Dans Testamentum clarius omne navum .......... Vpon a faire marble stone in the Quire this Inscription following is engrauen in brasse Hic iaces corpus Willelmi Boleyn militis qui obijt x. Octobris Anno Dom. M. ccccc.v Cuius anime propitietur Deus Amen Let it be the greatest honour to this noble deceased Knight for that he was great Grandfather to the most renowned and victorious Princesse Elizabeth late Queene of England which will best appeare by the Light of Great Britaine learned Camden in his Introduction to the History which he writ of her long and prosperous raigne beginning as followeth The Linage and descent of Elizabeth Queene of England saith he was by her Fathers side truly Royall for daughter she was to King Henry the eight grand daughter to Henry the seuenth and great grand-daughter to Ed the fourth By the Mothers side her descent was not so high howbeit noble it was and spread abroad by many and great Alliances throughout England and Ireland Her great grand-fathers father was Ieffrey Bolen a man of Noble birth in Norfolke Lord Maior of the Citie of London in the yeare 1457. and at the same time honoured with the dignitie of Knighthood An vpright honest man of such estimation that Thomas Lord Hoo and Hastings Knight of the Order of Saint George gaue him his daughter and one of his heires to wife and of such wealth as he matched his daughters into the Noble houses of the Cheineys Heydons and Fortescues left his sonne a goodly inheritance and bequeathed a thousand pounds of English money to bee bestowed vpon the poore in the Citie of London and two hundred in Norfolke This mans sonne William Bolen was chosen amongst eighteene most choice Knights of the Bath at the Coronation of King Richard the third to whom Thomas Earle of Ormond who was in such fauour with the Kings of England that hee alone of all the Nobleman of Ireland had his place and voice in the Parliaments of England and aboue the Barons of England also gaue his daughter and one of his heires in marriage By her besides daughters married to Shelton Calthorp Clere and Sackvill men of great wealth and noble descent and other children hee begat Thomas Bolen whom being a young man Thomas Howard Earle of Surry who was afterward Duke of Norfolke a man much renowned for his worthie seruice and atchiuements in the warres chose to be his sonne in law giuing vnto him his daughter Elizabeth in marriage and Henry the eight after he had performed one or two very honourable Embasies made him first Treasurer of his Houshold Knight of the Order of Saint George and Viscount Rochford and afterwards Earle of Wiltshire and Ormond and made him Lord Keeper of the priuie Seale This Thomas among other children begat Anne Bolen who in her tender yeares being sent into France attended on Mary of England wife to Lewis the twelfth and then on Claudia of Britaine wife to Francis the first and after she was dead on Margaret of Alencon who with the first fauoured the Protestants Religion springing vp in France Being returned into England and admitted amongst the Queenes Maides of Honour and being twenty two yeares of age King Henry in the thirtie eight yeare of his age did for her modestie â—empered with French pleasantnesse fall deeply in loue with and tooke her to wife by whom he had issue Elizabeth aforesaid Queene of England Thome Presbyteri ..... lapis iste retentum Funus habet .... qui sumptu dedit hoc pauimentum Anno milleno quater et C septuageno Octauo Stephani liquit terrestria festo Vt celi detur requies sibi quisque precetur En iacet hic stratus Helby Thomas vocitatus Saluet eum Christus tribuens sibi gaudia lucis Vnder this ston Ligs Iohn Knapton Who died iust The twenty eight of August M. ... xc and on Of thys Chyrch Peti-Canon Vnder the picture of Saint Peter is portraied the Sea a Ship Nets and Fishes with this distichon Ecclesiam pro naue rego mihi climata mundi Sunt mare Scripture Retia piscis homo The figures of the Sunne and Moone are painted here vpon the Frontispiece of the Clocke to whom the Clocke comparatiuely seemes to speake in this Hexastich vpon the same place likewise depicted Horas significo cunctas quas Phebe diebus Quas solet atque tua pallida nocte Soror Nec magis errarem Rector mihi si foret idem Vos qui et queque regit motibus astra suis. Tempora nam recte designo si mihi doctus Custos assiduam conferat artis opem In English Phoebus I tell all th' houres and all as right As thou or thy pale Sister day and night Nor I no more then you in ought should erre If he ruld mee who guides you and each starre For times I rightly tell to me of 's Art If my learnd keeper will his helpe impart In imitation of this it may bee that Thomas Scot in his Philomythie makes a Clocke to compare with a Diall and the difference to be partly decided by the Wethercocke of which a little although not much to the purpose I confesse Vpon a Church or steeples side neere hand A goodly Clocke of curious worke did stand Which ouerpaysde with lead or out of frame Did time miscall and euery houre misname The Diall hearing this aloud gan crye Kind neighbour Clocke your glib tongue tels a lye Reforme your errour for my Gnomon saith You gad too fast and misse an houres faith Foole quoth the Clocke reforme thy selfe by me The fault may rather in thy Gnomon be Had'st thou told euer truth to what end then Was I plac'd here by th' art of cunning men The Weathercocke vpon the steeple standing And with his sharpe eye all about commanding Heard their contention wild them to appeale To him the chiefe of all that common weale Told them that he was
the Monthaults and the Mowbrays which now after long languishing as it were by reason of old age hath giuen vp the ghost In the Porch of this Parish Church is a Grauestone vnder which say the inhabitants which I haue heard sworne by others Isabell Queene of England the wife of Edward the Second lieth interred vpon the Grauestone are two words onely remaining which make the country people so thinke of the matter which are .... Isabelle Regine .... now by these the case is made plaine to any than can distinguish between the Cases Nominatiue and Genitiue that this stone was laid to perpetuate the remembrance of some one of that Queenes seruants Flytham This was a Nunnery and a Cell to Walsingham of yearely value threescore and two pound ten shillings sixe pence halfe penny Yngham This was a Priory of blacke Monkes Benedictines a Cell to Saint Albans founded by the Ancestours of Sir Oliuer Yngham knight consecrated to the honour of the blessed Virgin Mary valued at seuenty foure pounds two shillings seuen pence halfe penny Herein lay buried Sir Miles Stapleton and Ione his wife the daughter and heire of Sir Oliuer Yngham Sir Miles sonne of the said Miles and Ela his wife the daughter of Vfford Sir Brian Stapleton sonne of the second sir Miles and his wife daughter of the Lord Bardolfe Sir Miles sonne of sir Brian and Dame Katherin his wife daughter of sir Pots and after married to sir Thomas Sackuile which are likewise here buried Dame Ione Plase daughter of sir Miles Stapleton Dame Ela Perpoint which had two husbands .... Edmond Stapleton and his wife daughter of Clyfton Sir Roger Boys and his wife Linne Linne saith Leland sometimes a famous Hauen there as the Church stands now was anciently without faile an Abbey for the graues of many religious persons as yet appeare in the Church and the lodgings of the Abbey are now conuerted into the Archdeacons house This Monastery I imagine to haue beene the house of the Carmelites founded by the Lord Bardolfe Lord Scales and Sir Iohn Wingenhall Anno 1269. the dedication nor the value thereof I doe not finde The blacke Friers was founded by Thomas Gedney and the white Friers by Thomas de Feltsham and thus much is the little of them which I haue learned Here was an Hospitall dedicated to Saint Iohn valued at seuen pounds sixe shillings and eleuen pence Here I haue no Inscriptions of antiquitie Loddon This Church was built by Iames Hobart knight one of the priuie Councell to King Henry the Seuenth who lieth here buried as I haue it by relation of whom and of the Familie will it please you reade what learned Camden writes The riuer Yare saith he receiueth a brooke which passeth by nothing memorable but Halles-hall and that onely memorable for his ancient owner Sir Iames Hobart Atturney generall and of the priâ—ie Councell to King Henry the seuenth by him dubbed knight at such time as he created Henry his sonne Prince of Wales who by building from the ground the faire Church at Loddon being his parish Church Saint Oliues bridge ouer Waueney that diuideth Norfolke and Suffolke the Cawsey thereby and other workes of piety deserued well of the Church his country and the common weale and planted three houses of his owne issue out of the second wherof Sir Henry Hobart likewise Atturney Generall to King Iames is lineally descended The foresaid Sir Henry Hobart knight and Baronet was aduanced by the said King the sixteenth of October in the eleuenth yeare of his raigne to be Lord chiefe Iustice of the Common pleas in which office hee died the twenty sixt day of December the first yeare of the raigne of our gracious Soueraigne King Charles magna Reipub. iactura a great losse to the weale publike as Sir Henry Spelman writes Here lieth Margaret the wife of Sir Iames Hobart who died Anno 1494. as I haue it out of certaine funerall Notes Yarmouth This Towne is beautified with a spatious faire Church hauing a wondrous high Spire Steeple built by Herbert the first Bishop of Norwich in the raigne of William Rufus All the funerall Monuments of antiquitie in this Church are vtterly defaced Inscription nor Epitaph now remaining except that this may passe current for one Elyn Benaker mercy dooth craue God on her Sowl mercy more haue In the three and twentieth yeare of King Edward the Third happened a most grieuous and lamentable Plague in this Towne which brought within the compasse of one yeare seauen thousand fiftie and two persons to their graues the which is witnessed by an ancient Latin Chronographicall Table hanging vp in the Church The Parsonage which was yearely worth before the sicknesse seuen hundred Markes was afterwards scarse worth forty pound by yeare The bodies of all the dead were buried in the Church and Church-yard and in such and such places of the same as the Townesmen can shew you at this day The Priory of Carmelites or white Friers Was Founded by King Edward the first Anno Domini 1278. herein lay buried Dame Maud wife of Sir Laurence Huntingdon who died 1300. Sir Iohn de Monte Acuto obijt 1392. Nicholas Castle Esquire who died 1309. and Elisabeth his wife these are all I finde here to haue beene buried and this is all that I can speake of this religious house The blacke Friers was founded by Godfrey Pelegren and Thomas Falstolfe The Grey Friers by William Gerbrigge Neare to this Towne was a Colledge of Saint Iohn Baptist first founded by Robert de Castre after by Iohn Falstolfe Esquire Father to Sir Iohn Falstolfe that Martiall Knight who had a faire seat at Caster and who was Knight of the Garter in the raigne of Henry the sixth Thomas Talbot sometimees keeper of the Records in the Tower did collect out of an old Calender in a Missale the names of certaine eminent persons for the soules of whom the Religious Votaries in and about Yarmouth were bound to pray the most of which number were buried in the Parish Church and in their Monasteries as followeth Margaret the wife of Sir Iohn Falstolfe daughter of Sir Iohn Holbroke knight Iohn Fastolfe and Ione his wife Richard Alexander William Thomas Robert Fastolfs Clarence Fastolfe the wife of Sir Robert Ilketishale Knight who dyed 1393. William Ilketishale their sonne Parson of Hesingham who dyed the Ides of December 1412. Iohn Falstolfe Doctor of Diuinitie a Frier Preacher Richard Falstolfe an Augustine Frier with many more of that ancient and noble Familie Godfrey Pelegren aforesaid and his wife Thomas the sonne of Sir Thomas Bowet Knight Ione the daughter of Iohn Wilshire wife to Robert Cromer Registred and buried in the Augustine Friers these William de Vfford Earle of Suffolke who dyed 15. Feb. 1382. Michaell and Michaell de la Pole Earles of Suffolke Sir Thomas Hengraue Knight of
heare a peece out of Harding in the life of Henry the second He exiled then Thomas of Cauntorbury Out of Englande and many of his alliaunce For cause of his rebellious gouernaunce And as he came fro Rome by Fraunce awaye With language fel he prayede the Kyng that daye The poyntes to mende And now if you will giue me leaue a little to digresse I will tell you a tale beleeue it as you lift reported by the said Thomas Becket himselfe how that being in banishment our blessed Lady gaue him a golden Eagle full of precious ointment inclosed in a stone vessell commanding him to preserue it foretelling withall that the kings of England which should be therewith anointed should be strong champions and stout defendours of the Church that they should be bountifull benigne and fortunate and that they should peaceably recouer such lands or territories as had beene before lost by their predecessours so long as they had this Eagle with the viall or sacred vessell in their custody telling him withall that hee should bee a Martyr This vision happened to him forsooth at Sens in France in the Nunnes Church consecrated to Saint Columbe in which Citie hee found Pope Alexander the third a man like himselfe of an ambitious and turbulent â—ierie spirit into whose bosome saith Hollinshead he emptied whole cart-loads of complaints and grieuances like a contumacious rebell against his soueraigne Lord excommunicating and cursing with bell booke and candle all that did any way adhere vnto the kings partie But now to returne to the words by which hee did expresse his strange and incredible apparition which I will set downe in the same language as I found them anciently written in the Lieger booke of the Abbey of Whalley in Lanchishire Thus he begins Quando ego Thomas Cantuar. Archiepiscopus exul ab Anglia fugie bam ad Franciam veni ad Papam Alex. qui tunc Senonis erat vt ei ostenderem malas consuetudines abusiones quas Rex Anglie in Ecclesiam in troducebat Quadam nocte cum essem in Ecclesia Sancte Columbe in Monial rogaui Reginam Virginum vt daret Regi Anglie et hered propositum et voluntatem emendandi se erga Ecclesiam et quod Christus pro sua miserecordia ampliori dilectione ipsum faceret diligere Ecclesiam Statim apparuit mihi beata Virgo habens in pectore istam aquilam auream siue lapideam accipiens Aquilam de pectore suo ampullam includit Aquilam cum Ampulla in manu mea posuit et hec verba per ordinem dixit Ista est vnctio per quam Reges Anglie debent inungi non isti qui modo sunt regnant regnabunt quia maligni sunt propter peccata sua multa amiserunt amitterent Sunt autem Reges Anglie futuri qui inungerentur vnctione benigni pugiles Ecclesie erunt Nam isti terram amissam à parentibus pacisice recuperabunt donec Aquilam cum Ampulla habeant Est autem Rex Anglorum futurus qui primo mungeretur vnctione ista qui terram amissam à parentibus scilicet Normanniam Aquitaniam recuperabit sine vi Rex iste erit maximus inter Reges est ille qui edificabit multas Ecclesias in terra sancta fugabit omnes Paganos de Babilon in â—adem Ecclesias ediâ—icabit plures quotiescunque Rex portabit Aquilam in pectore victoriam habebit de inimicis suis regnum eius semper augmentabituâ— tu autem es Martyr futurus Tunc rogaui beatam Virginem vt ostenderet mihi vbi custodirem tam preciosum Sanctuarium que dixit mihi est vir in ciuitate isla Willielmus Monachus Sancti Cipriani Pictauie eiectus iniuste ab Abbate suo de Abbachia sua qui rogat Papam vt Abbatem suum compellat vt eum in Abbachiam suam reducat trade sibi Aquilam cum Ampulla vt eam ad Ciuitatem Pictauie portet et in Ecclesia Sancti Gregorij que est iuxta Ecclesiam Sancti Hillarij eam abscondat in capite Ecclesie versus occidentem sub lapide magno ibi inuenietur in tempore oportuno et erit vnctio Regum Anglorum Henry the first Duke of Lancaster vnder Edward the third in the warres of France had it deliuered to him by an holy man say they which found it by reuelation But of this enough if not too much This Archbishop Becket being recalled from exile and restored to his former honours and reuenewes carried himselfe more obstinately then before perturbing the whole State with curses and excommunications in maintaining of Ecclesiasticall liberties as he pretended but most of all this kinde of dealing grieued the King who cursed the time that euer he made him Archbishop Which is thus explained in old rimes For which the King was with him sore displeased That then he sayd had I had men that ment Myne honeste I were not thus diseased With such a Clerk thus greeued and vneased It happened amongst other foure Knights to be present at this speech of the King namely Reynald Fitzâ—vrse Hugh Moruill William Tracy and Richard Briton who gathered thereby that they should do a deed very acceptable vnto him if they killed the Archbishop Whereupon without either warrant or priuitie of their Soueraigne they posted into England came with their swords drawne into this his owne Church and therein most barbarously murdered him with many blowes vpon Tuesday the 28. of December Ann. Dom. 1170. as saith Mat. Paris who in the same place obserues that many remarkable occurrences behappened this Martyr euer vpon the Tuesday more then vpon any other day in the weeke Mars secundum poetas saith he Deus belli nuncupatur vita Sancti Thome secundum illud Iob vita hominis militia est super terram tota suit contra hostem bellicosa passus fuit die Martis et translatus die Martis Die Martis sederunt Principes aduersus eum apud Northampton Die Martis actus est in exilium Die Martis apparuit ei Dominus apud Pontiniacum dicens Thoma Thoma Ecclesia mea glorificabitur in sanguine tuo Et die Martis reuersus est ab exilio Martyrij palmam die Martis est adeptus Et Die Martis Anno 1220. venerabile eius corpus gloriam translationis suscepit anno 50. post passionem eius In English as followeth Mars according to the Poets is called the God of warre the life of Saint Thomas according to that of Iob the life of man is a warfare vpon earth was a continuall conflict against the enemy vpon the Tuesday he suffered vpon Tuesday he was translated vpon Tuesday the Peeres of the Land sat in councell against him at Northampton Vpon Tuesday he was banished vpon Tuesday the Lord appeared to him at Pontiniacke saying Thomas Thomas my Church shall be glorified in thy bloud Vpon Tuesday he returned from exile vpon Tuesday he got the palme or reward of Martyrdome and vpon
Iordan Briset hauing first founded the Priory of Nunnes here by Clerkenwell as aforesaid bought of the said Nunnes ten Acres of ground giuing them for the said ten Acres twenty Acres of land in his Lordship of Willinghale or Wellinghall in Kent Vpon which ground lying neare vnto the said Priory hee laid the foundation of a religious structure for the knights Hospitalers of S. Iohn of Ierusalem These following are the words out of the Register booke of the Deedes of the said house written by one Iohn Stilling-fleete a brother of the house circa ann 1434. to the end that their benefactors names being knowne they may be daily remembred in their prayers Iordanus Briset Baro tempore regis Hen. primi circa an Dom. 110. fundauit domum ac Hospitale S. Iohns de Clerkenwel Hic etiam erat Fundator domus Monialium de Clerkenwel ac ab eis emit decem acras terre super quas dictum Hospitale ac domum fundauit pro illis decem acris terre dedit illis Monialibus viginti acras terre in Dominico suo de Willinghale in com Cant. c. In ye yere of Criste as I haue the words out of an old Mss 1185. ye vj. Ides of Merche ye dominical lettre being F ye Chyrche of ye Hospitall of S Iohns Ierusalem was dedicatyd to ye honor of S. Iohn Baptiste by ye worschypfull fader Araclius Patriarke of ye resurrection of Christe ye sam dey was dedycatyd ye hygh Altrâ— and ye Altre of S. Iohn Euangelist by ye sam Patryarke The said Heraclius in the same yeare dedicated the Church of the new Temple as hereafter is spoken Within a short time this Hospitall began to flourish for infinite were the donations of all sorts of people to this Fraternitie as in the Beadroul of their benefactors is specified but aboue all their Benefactors they held themselues most bound to Roger de Mowbray whose liberalitie to their order was so great that by a common consent in their chapiter they made a decree that himselfe might remit and pardon any of the Brotherhood whomsoeuer in case he had trespassed against any of the statutes and ordinances of their order confessing and acknowledging withall his offence and errour And also the knights of this order granted in token of thankefulnesse to Iohn de Mowbray Lord of the Isle of Axholme the successour of the foresaid Roger that himselfe and his successours in euery of their couents assemblies as well in England as beyond seas should be receiued entertained alwaies in the second place next to the King Thus through the bounty both of Princes priuate persons they rose to so high an estate and great riches that after a sort saith Camden they wallowed in wealth for they had about the yeere of our Lord 1240. within christendome nineteene thousand Lordships or Manours like as the Templars nine thousand the reuenewes and rents whereof fell afterwards also to these Hospitallers And this estate of theirs growne to so great an height made way for them to as great honours so as the Priore of this house was reputed the prime Baron of the land being able with fulnesse abundance of all things to maintaine an honourable port And thus they flourished for many yeeres in Lordly pompe vntill a Parliament begun the 18. of April 1540. Anno 32. Henry 8. their corporation was vtterly dissolued the King allowing to euery one of them onely a certaine annuall pension during their liues as you may reade in the Annals of England The value of this foundation in the Kings bookes was 3385 l. 19 s. 8 d. of ancient yeerely rent This Priory Church and house was preserued from spoile or downe pulling so long as Henry the 8 raigned but in the 3 of King Ed. the sixt the Church for the most part with the great Bell-tower a most curious piece of workemanship grauen gilt and enameld to the great beautifying of the Citie saith Stow was vndermined and blowne vp with Gun-powder the stone whereof was imployed in building of the Lord Protectors house in in the Strand The Charter-house Sir Walter Manny Knight of the Garter Lord of the towne of Manny in the Dioces of Cambrey beyond the seas in that raging pestilence in the 23 of King Ed. the 3. when Churches Church-yards in London might not suffice to bury the dead purchased a piece of ground in this place called Spitle croft containing 13 acres and a Rodd and caused the same to bee enclosed for burials and dedicated by Raph Stratford Bishop of London in which place and in the same yeere more then 50000 persons were buried in regard of such a multitude here interred he caused a Chappell here to be builded wherein Offerings were made and Masses said for the soules of so many Christians departed And afterwards about the yeere 1371. he caused here to be founded an house of Carthusian Monkes which he called the Salutation which house at the dissolution was valued to be yeerely worth sixe hundred forty two pounds foure pence halfe penny Iohn Stow saith that he had read this Inscription following fixed on a stone crosse sometime standing in the Charter-house Church yard Anno Domini M. ccc.xl.ix Regnante magna pestilentia consecratum fuit hoc Cemiterium in quo infra septa presentis Monasterij sepulta fuerunt mortuorum Corpora plusquam quinquaginta millia preter alia multa abhinc vsque ad presens quorum animabus propitietur Deus Amen This inscription vpon the foresaid Stone Crosse as also the relation before was taken out from the words of his charter the substance whereof followeth Walterus Dns. de Many c. cum nuper pestilentia esset tam grandis viâ—lenta in ciuitate London quod Cemiteria Ecclesiae ciuitatis non possunt sufficere pro sepultura a personarum in eadem pestilentia discedentia nos moti pietate habentes respectum c. Purchased 13. acres of land without Smithfield Barres in a place called Spitle croft and now called new Church-Haw for the buriall of the persons aforesaid and haue caused the place to be blessed by Raph then Bishop of London in which place plus quam Quinquaginta millia personarum de dicta pestilentia morientium sepulti fuere And there for our Ladies sake wee founded a Chappel of the holy order of the Cartusians made there a Monastery by consent of the Prior or Cartuse Maior in Sauoy c. for the health of King Edward the third and Dame Margaret his wife Hijs Testibus Iohn Hastings of Penbroke Humfrey Bohun of Hereford Edmund Mortymer of Marâ—h and William de Monteacuto of Sarum Earles Iohn de Barnes Maior of London William de Walworth and Robert de Gayton Sheriffes Dat apud London 20 Martij Anno Regni Reg. Ed. 3.45 Sir Walter Manny or de Manie the foresaid Founder was buried here in his owne Church who deceased in the same yeere that he