Brytains there they drove out the Picts totally and seated themselves in their places upon which account it was that they not having any persons with whom they might co-inhabit and so participate of their Customes were upon their settlement constrained to create new Customes or else to revive their own for their best security I think them much in an errour who affirm that the Identity of Language betwixt us and Scotland was occasioned from the multitude of the Profugi or such as for the security of their persons fled under the protection of Malcolm Canmoir King of Scotland in the time of William the Conqueror certainly considering the old animosities betwixt the two Nations it would have ill become the curtesie at least the policy of the Scotcâ— King to have received so many English guests a by their number or multitude might have been able to plant their Language among his people so different from their own I must confess that notwithstanding this national enmity some he did receive out of whom he chose his wife Margaret Sister to Edgar Etheling and bestowed Lands upon divers of them A Catalogue of several of them the Bishop of Rosse hath given to us by their Surnames of whom he reckons the families of Calder Lokert Gordon Seaton Lauder Waun Meldron Shaw Lermount Libertoun Straquhin Rettraye Dundas Cockeburne Myrtom Inglis Leslye Cargill Cuilra Mar Menzeis Abercrumy Lindsay Vaus Ramsay Loval Torris Preston Sandelandis Bissat Foullis Wardlou Maxuell c. These are the most and principallest in that account from whom it cannot be rationally expected that that Kingdome should receive a mutation of their * Mr. Sâ—ene under the Title of Scotia saith That King David 〈◊〉 first in the third zier of his Reight Ann Dom. 1126. Be his Charter maid Omnibus Scottis Anglis tam in Scotia quam in Lodoneio constitutis gave to St. Cuthbert and his Moâ—ks in Durhâ—m the Laods of Coldingham c. Language and therefore I shall fix it upon a greater-probability Speed saith that Hengist sent for Octa and Ebissa two principal Captains among the Saxons in Germany who being embarked in forty Pinaces sailed about the Picts Coasts wasting the Isles of Orcades and got many Countreys beyond the Trith Yet this was not a settlement for that it is not probable they fixed here at this time again they had much War with the Saxons when the Kingdome of Northumberland was planted in their neighbourhood which may possibly afford some small Knowledge of the Language one to the other but not enough to confine the Scottish tongue within the Mountains and Highlands of Scotland What I find in the Scottish History written by John Lesley Bishop of Rosse a person of great repute being Embassadour for Mary Queen of Scots in the Court of Queen Elizabeth in England whose book was Printed at Rome in the year of our Lord 1578. is that out of which I shall collect this ensuing Discourse Kenneth the 69th King of Scots who flourished about the year of Christ 840. defeated the Picts near Storling and improving his Victory into Northumberland prosecuted them with Fire and Sword so closely that you shall have it in his own words omnes incolas promiscuè nulla sexus habita ratione obtruncat Picticum nomen propè extinxit Qui autem evasere in Daniam Norvegiamvè alii in Northumbriam se abdiderant and presently after concludes Sic Pictorum Gens post Centesimum supra Millesimum ex quo in Albionem venerat annum tantum non deleta est here we find the Pictish Nation in Scotland almost expired who had very long before this been intruders into this part of the Island and during this Kings life those Lands upon which they had lived were re-occupied by the old Irish or Brittish inhabitants of the Hills who were constrained to live in those mountains and fastnesses during the time the Picts kept possession of the Low-lands and at that time the Scots changed the names of those Regions given unto them by the Picts and their Princes into other different appellations But Kenneth dying in the twentieth year of his Reign and in the 855. year of Christ to him succeeded Donald the fifth who is said to be Germanus Kennethi for Buchanan observes that the Custome of Scotland then was If the Sons of the deceased King were * Minoris aetatis under age they elected the most aged and greatest experienced of that Kings line to be their Prince so that this Donald was chosen into the Marble-Chair which Kenneth his Predecesser had brought from Argile and placed in Scone the same that at this present remaineth as a Relique and a Trophy in the Abbey of Westminster Donald proved very offeminate and vicious and puft up with his felicity so over-flowed with vices that he by them gave the opportunity and occasion of the ruine of that which Kenneth by his valour had atchieved the Picts who all this while lay close in Northumberland understanding his carelessness and loosness istam suae libertatis asserendae occasionem arripientes saith the Bishop cum Auxiliaribus Saxonum Britannorum in Scotiam irrumpunt Donaldus collecto exercitu hostibus prope Jedburgum occurrit initoque prelio illos in fugam compulit Rex nostrique milites victoria infolentes â—cctem sequentem sine excubiis supiâ—t sine ordine sparsi sine disciplina negligentes sine timore stulti in luxu compotationibus consumunt Hostis de hac re certioâ— factus ad omnem occasionem intentus illos media nocte somno vinoque sepulâ—os opprimit interfectisque circiter viginti millibus ipsum Donaldum cum nobilibus domum captivum ducit Denaldus ut se in libertatem assererel omnem regionem inter Strivelingum Cludam amnem inte jectam BRITANNIS SAXONIBUS dedidit annuaeque pecuniae tributi nomine pendendae conditione sese astring it Here I observe that this losâ— that Donald received gave opportunity to the Britains and Saxons their planting themselves in the Low-lands the Scots being reforced into the Highlands But concerning the limits and bounds betwixt these and the Scots he gives us a particular account and shews in what parts the one inhabited and in what part the others and informs us that these Angli-Saxones in hujus pugnae memoriam Strivelingi Arcem prius dirutam iterum extruxerunt Fortheam quoque ponte munierunt quopostea in loco crucem tanquam victoriae signum sustulerunt cui ii versus aetatem illam satis redolentes affabrè insculpti sunt Ang los à Stotis separat crux ista remot is Arma hic stant Brutti stant Scoti sub hac cruce tuti Interea Picti qui Scoticae cladis Auctores fuerant tota Albione à Saxonibus praecipites ejiciuntur and to this Buchanan adds that durae conditiones praepositae quas tamen praesens rerum status tolerabiles faciebat vidert ut omni agro qui inter vallum Severi esset Scoti cederent
admit But to run over some more of his Gables That which he discourses of in his 30th page is a For-gavel which is rightly rendred foris Gabulum and is defined to be quasi extra vel praeter Gabulum quod Domino capitali debetur and this corresponds with what before I have said that it was a Rent or a Duty besides over and above or beyond the Original contract or bargain The like is in Mete-gavel which is Cibi Gablum a Rent of meat or food Swine-gavel which is porcorum Gablum a Rent of Swine Werke-gavel and Werke-gabulum which is operis Gablum Hunig-gavel which is Gabulum mellis * For before that Sagar was from the Indies brought among us the use of Honey was frequent instead thereof So that I have observ'd in some very antient Rentals as great a proportion of Honey as there would be required of Sugar to seâ—ve such a Family and much reserved to the King in most Counties as appears by Domâ—sdey Rent Honey of which sort in Domesdey you may find much and in the 60. Law of King Ina we find a bere-gafol which is a Rent of Beer or rather Barley as Mr. Lambard expoundeth it For in some Countries of England and in Scotland they to this day call Barley Beer There is also in the 66. of King Ina's Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of a yard of Land which Mr. Lambard renders to signifie Mercede conductam that is hired for Rent or Wages So is it in the Covenants betwixt King Alured and Guthrun the Dane In the second Article where it is said bu tan ðaem câ—oâ—le de on gafollande rit which Mr. Lambard renders thus Siquidem is Rusticus censum annuum impendens non fuerit which I think in English is provided that that Country-man doth not sit on Rented Land for But in the old English as well as to this day in the present Scotch signifies without or wanting c. There I find gafollande is turned into Census which is as much as I have need to make use of or take notice of In the Laws of King Aethelstan it is thus Æ¿ealisc monnes c. ê§ He ðam cyng gafol-gyldan maeg which is thus Translated Wallus si in eas opes creverit c. ut annuum Regi censum pendat which is if a Welsh-man increaseth so in Riches c. that he can or might yield a yearly Rent to the King Such a one perhaps as we call a Subsidy man or a Man in the King's Books So in the sixth of King Ina's Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is if any one Fights in the House of one that payes Rent and in the 22. of the same King that so often recited Law Æ¿ealH gafolgylda Hund tÆ¿ lftig â—cill which is turned into Latin thus Mr. S. pag. 33. Wallus censum pendens annuum c. in the same sense is the word Gavel-man cited by * Many there are that with Mr. Selden account gafol to signifie several things as tributum c. but not in the least with reference to the Tenure he cites the Aâ—â—ales Anglosaxoas In Bibliotheca Cottoniana Anno 1012. Ãa ê§ gafol gelaest sae frið aþas asporene Æ¿aeson þa to ferde se Here Æ¿ide sÆ¿a He aer gegaderode Æ¿as Ãa bugon to þam cynge of þam Here fif feoÆ¿ertig scypa Him beHeton ê§ Hi Æ¿oldon þysne eard Healoan He Hi fedan sceolde scÆ¿ydon id est Tributo soluto amicitiae juramentis praestitis excrcitus ut ante erat congregatus late dispergitur Maneb vit vero cum Rege ex ipso exercitu quadraginta quinque naves ipsique side datâ promiserunt se Terram hanc dâ—fensuros modo eos aleret vestiret Rex Danorum Rex tunc Swanus crat quorum ita pepigit Ethelredus Utrumque autem praestationis quam diximus genus Danegeld Danegeldum seu Danageldum id est Tributum Danicum dicebatur Seld. Mar. claus l. 2. c. 11. Here we may observe that geld is most properly Tribute though in the former part of this Saxon citation Mr. Selden renders gafol by Tributum and properly it doth signifie a payment Mr. S. which hath no more in signification than one that payes a Rent and relates not at all to the Tenure and I believe if seriously looked into that many of these compounds who have this similitude of sounds do not hold under or by the Tenure of partition which if so here were nomen sine re and this last may be a Term as significant for any one that payes a rent in Cumberland as in Kent In this recited page it is that Mr. S. hath rightly fixed his Gavel for saith he one thing more I have to note before I leave Gable Gavel c. that with Mala it fignifies Rents Services or Customs and in his 35th page he addeth by this time the Reader is satisfied I hope saith he touching the true construction of Gavel Gafol Gable or how ever else he shall chance to find it written in each importing Cens i. e. a Rent either in Money Provision or Works To conclude I am of the same opinion with Mr. S. that these intermixtures and compounds do all hold a reference to gafol Gablum or Gabulum that all of them have one and the same exposition yet that none of them have any relation to the Tenure of partition or to any other Tenure besides the Renting or paying of a Rent for Land c. There is only one thing more left to be considered which may seem to have in it some strength and that is in the 31. page of Mr. S. where he cites this postea per quandam consuetudinem quae vocatur Gavelate usitatam in Comitatu isto viz. Kanc de terris tenementis de Gavelkynde pro redditibus servitiis quae à retro fuerint de eisdem per plures annos devenerunt eaedem terrae in manus cujusdam Abbatis c. Now this consuetudo de Gavelate used in the Lands and Tenements held in Gavelkind seems the one to have relation to the other for Mr. S. in the beginning of that Paragraph tells us that this Gavelate was not a Reut or a Service but betokeneth a Rent or a Service with-held denied or detained causing the Forfeiture of the Tenement to the Lord and whereas that Record saith it was used in that County upon Lands and Tenements held in Gavelkind Sir Edward Coke as Mr. S. himself cites him saith Gaveletum is as much as to say as to cease or let to pay the Rent Breve de Gavelleto in London est Breve de cessavit in Biennium c. pro redditu ibidem quia Tenementa fuerunt indistringibilia So that this Brief lay in London as well as Kent and Minshew in his Dictionary upon the word Gavelet exemplifies it by a Case That if any Tenant in Gavelkind with-hold his Rent and his Services of the Tenement which he holdeth of
and Thule called Britain Fol. 145 Italian partition Fol. 12 13 Juryes Fol. 61 62 63 Juryes among the VVelsh Fol. 64 Jus Angliae both in Socage and Knights-fee Fol. 139 K. KEntish-British Laws not altered by Hengist Fol. 46 Kent invested in Hengist Examined Fol. 37 Kent changes her Gavelkind Fol. 81 Kenneth King of Scots expels the Picts Fol. 163 Kent had four Kings at one time Fol. 45 Kingsland Fol. 44 King Ethelmund ibid King Pibanus of Ergin Fol. 44. 91 Kings Gorvodius Milfrith c. Fol. 45 Kings-Bench Fol. 69 Kindred what it is Fol. 130 131 Knave whence and what Fol. 176 Gods-cnave ibid Knight-service in VVales Fol. 103. 107 Knights-fees descended to the Eldest Fol. 138 Kynd Fol. 27. 130 131. 133 L. Land-scheutan German Tenure Fol. 135 136 137. Land-shifting Landskistan Fol. 136 The Saxon denomination of partition Fol. 143 The proper Kentish appellation Fol. 144 145 Land antiently not valuable Fol. 6. 28 Languages Of Scotland Fol. 76 Saxon English and French Fol. 75 76 English not changed by the Norman Conquest Fol. 75 Welsh the remains of the Gallick and British Fol. 17 Laws of King Edward confirmed by the Normans Fol. 58 59 Lawes-common not written Fol. 69 Law-cases ibid. Laws of England overthrew Norman intruders Fol. 65 Learning of the Druids Fol. 17 Legales homines or Yeomen marg Fol. 63 Lieutenants of the Saxon shores in Britain Fol. 39 Lempster from a Church of Nunns Fol. 44 Lewes in Sussex Fol. 71 Lesley Bishop of Ross in Scotland an Historian Fol. 163 Lewis Island in Scotland hold Gavelkind Fol. 160 Liberty of English-men Fol. 81 Liberi Sokemanni what Fol. 148 Llâ—â— what Fol. 90 Llanfrawtwt a College antiently founded Fol. 90 Llangattock Gafael Meâ—bon ibid Litthfield Chronicle Fol. 58 Loager Loegria Fol. 86 Lonaâ—â— Fol. 87 London a Memorial of Troy Fol. 83 London its Laws very antient Fol. 55 Lower Germany uses Partition Fol. 11 M. MAiles Fol. 120. 133 Mannours or Circuits in Wales antiently Fol. 96 Marquâ—ses Lords Marchers Fol. 42 Mayor whence derived Fol. 49 Menavians understand VVelsh and Irish Fol. 146 Merewoldus a King Fol. 43 Merimnus a King Fol. 44 Mercelin a King ibid. Merchenlaege what Fol. 54 57 Mate-gavel Fol. 118 Mickel-gemote Fol. 65 Military fees Fol. 149 Morgan Fol. 132 133 Monmouthshire Conquered Fol. 93 Mortimer Radulf Fol. 78 Mulcts different in rate in England Fol. 59 Mulmuâ—us Dunwallo British Legisâ—tor Fol. 154 His Laws Translated into Saxon Fol. 54. 154 N. NEifes what antiently Fol. 169 Normans Of their Conquest Fol. 56 57 Of their Alterations ibid. They altered not the English Laws Fol. 57 Of their Laws in Normandy or Neustria ibid. Employed in England before VVilliam the first Fol. 78 Their entring into VVales Fol. 93 Their original from Norway Fol. 58 O. OAth of Allegiance Fol. 55. 61 Oate or Oale-Gavel Fol. 113 Doin what Fol. 174 Ollavintone in Berkshire Fol. 73 Offa's Ditch a limit Fol. 43 Opinions received hardly removed Fol. 1 Ostorius Publius Fol. 34 P. PAganus Pagan what Fol. 168. 175 176 Palatinates Cheshire and Glamorganshire Fol. 94 Pandeborn in Berkshire Fol. 68 Parliament Fol. 65 Parceners per le Custome Fol. 147 148 Partition Used in first Plantations Fol. 6 Used by the Israelites Fol. 8 Antiquity of it by sacred and profane Authority Fol. 9 10 Made use of by Brute to his Sons Fol. 15 16 The Custom of VVales Fol. 28. 103. 156 Among Males and Females Fol. 100 101 Used by the Saxons Fol. 141 142 143 Used by the English Normans Fol. 144 Not in the Term Gavelkind Fol. 147 148 Whether ratione rei aut ratione Terrae Fol. 149 Continued in Wales by Statute Fol. 153 The manner of it among the VVelsh Fol. 156 Pencennedl's or chiefs among the Britains Fol. 23. 97. 132 Jews Fol. 23 Scots Fol. 24 Irish Fol. 97 Pelagian Heresie set against Fol. 90 Penda Pibanus King of Urchenfield Fol. 44. 91 Piben what Fol. 174 Picts They injure and repulse the Britains Fol. 36 The Picts wall ibid. Planters at first the condition of them Fol. 5 Placita what and Pleadings antiently Fol. 68 69 Pleadings in French Fol. 69 Pluntune Fol. 116 Powisland Divided Sub-divided and Parcell'd Fol. 25 26 Polydore Virgil examined Fol. 83 Privileges of Urchenfield Fol. 108. 156 Primogeniture preferred Fol. 82. 138 Price Sir John his defens Hist Brit. Fol. 84 Pride-gavel what Fol. 112 113 Primogeniture in Scotland wâ—y Fol. 166 R. Read-gavel Fol. 119 Reguli or petty Kings Fol. 15 45 Regulus and Rex Fol. 42 Referrees of Howel-dha what they did Fol. 155 Relief Fol. 108 Rents reserved Fol. 7 Rent how to be understood Fol. 115 116 Rents several sorts Fol. 117 Rented Land what antiently called Fol. 119 Rhandir what Fol. 96 Rodeley in Gloucestershire Fol. 112 Roderic the Great Fol. 24 Rogerus Deus salvet Dominas Fol. 177 Rochborn in Hampshire Fol. 66 Roturier of France Fol. 11 95 Rowena Hengist's Daughter Fol. 39 41 Roman Empire parted Fol. 87 88 Romans Altered not the British Laws or Customs Fol. 29 Greedy of Conquests Fol. 30 Their proceedings in the Conquests of Judaea Fol. 30 Of Greece ibid. Of Britain Fol. 30 31 They used words of the British Language Fol. 31 Set up a false Will for the Emperour Fol. 32 The effects of it Fol. 32 33 They desert Britain Fol. 35 S. Saisson and Saisnaeg how to be understood Fol. 86 Saxons They Co-inhabit with the Britains Fol. 37 They defended the Picts wall Fol. 38 Whether they extirpated the Britains or no ibid. They break their Article with the Britains Fol. 38 Their Piracies Fol. 41 They fail in their trust Fol. 42 They expell'd not the Britains Fol. 47 They borrowed many British words Fol. 48 49 They used British Laws and Customs Fol. 49 They intermix their Saxon with British Fol. 50 Their Laws provide for the British Inhabitants Fol. 50 51 52 They used Partition of Lands Fol. 141 Their Nobility who and what Fol. 70 Concerning their Characters Fol. 76 They wrote Latin antiently in Roman Letters Fol. 76 They change their forms of Fighting Fol. 77 Sand-gavel what Fol. 113 Sealing and signing of Charters Fol. 72 73 Serjeanty Grand and Petit Fol. 171 Servi what antiently Fol. 169. 172 Servitude not in England Fol. 81 Scotish Language Fol. 76 Scot and Lot what Fol. 78 Scotland Fol. 87 Scotish-Socage-Land Fol. 159 160 Scotish with their Language had the Saxon Customs Fol. 161 Scotish tongue before William the Conquerour ibid. Scots receive the English temp Willielmi primi Fol. 162 Scotish Tongue when first received Fol. 162 163 Scotish bounds in Scotland Fol. 165 Sherborn against Warren Fol. 65 Shires not antiently in VVales Fol. 94 Soc and Sac what Fol. 177 178 179 Socage Land changed Fol. 139 Socage Land antiently partible Fol. 89 139 Spersold in Berkshire Fol. 73 Surnames when first used Fol. 176 177 Sute and Doom in Urchenfield Fol. 111 Swyddog a Magistrate in Welsh Fol. 93 173 Swine-gavel what Fol. 115
which Mr. Campden makes a jest saying of Caesar quos ille uâ— Reges de vicisse videatur Reges vocat cum tantum Regâ—li fuerint vel melioris no aenobiles Hence I collect that these Reguli were a constitution at least a Custome antiently among the Britains that Guoronged was a Regulus of Kent and that Vortiger did probably bestow no more upon Hengist than the said Honour or Command of or rather in Kent whether it was under the Title of King Count Regulus or Lieutenant it doth not much matter for the Breaches which the Saâ—â—ons afterwards made upon the Britains were such as gave them liberry to take to themselves what Titles and what of other mens Titles it pleased them Hengist had this Dominion or Province not by Conquest or force but assigned unto him by way of remuneration from King Vortiger for his good service against the Picts or else to preserve and engage him to and in his service and having no more than the like Authority as Guorongus immediately before possessed he could not have any colour or Power by that gift to drive out the Britains from their Possessions or so much as infringe their Customes such an Act would much mis-become the interest of Vortiger to suffer or consent that his people should be delivered up to the spoyl and slavery of the Saxons his very restauration I before spake of is a strong argument against that opinion for what protection could the Britains have expected from him that had supposing the Story true joyned with strangers their Enemies in the dispossossion destruction of his own people and Subjects the same Improbability do I impose upon the alteration of Customes I might aske ad quem finem to what end should he alter their Laws and Customs we must look upon Hengist as an Exile out of his own Countrey who me-thinks could not but be ' contented to find himself and his setled in a way of livelihood in honour and plenty rather than venture to put all to Hazard by needless conrests so that I believe Hengist found this custome in dispute among others used by the antient Britains and intermedled not therewith and this especially for that I look upon it as a true and genuine Stemm of the Customes and Usages of the Original Planters remaining here unaltered through these two grand revolutions of Roman and Saxon Power But a little more to cleer it let us consider the State and Condition of this Nation in their turmoyles with the Saxons and examine whether the Britains were totally extirpated from such places in other parts of this Nation where they did spread their conquering Armes I think by comparing the sense of Histories together it will appear probable that where the Saxons are reported to have constrained the Britains into the Angles of this Island the Optimates and military men were they for the most part that were so forced when as the Agricolae and Villani never moved but as well as they could and according to opportunities made the best conditions they could for themselves with the Conquering Saxons So I find in the * In the little History published by Mr. Whcelock found with the Saxon M S. of Bede writing of the setling of the Kingdome of the West Saxons it is thus Recorded that Cerdic and Ciaric his Son six years after they Landed in Britain Invaded that Province Æ¿aerdn ða aerestan Cyningas þe Æ¿est Seaxena land on Æ¿ealum geeodan i.e. iique erant primi Reges qui Occidentalium Saxonum Regnum INTER WALDOS perdomueraâ— Cities of Excester and Hereford that the Saxons there first placed in Garrison were onely the Soulders who permitted the Britains in quietness to live among them and so probably retaining their Lands to follow their Tillage and Trades till an ensuing Peace inclined all to settlement for otherwise it had not been possible for so many Saxon Armies as were necessarily to be employed at one and the same time throughout this Island for the erecting of seven Kingdomes underseven several Generals or Kings to have subsisted had the Countrey Britains I say deserted their Ploughs and dwellings and desisted from their Agriculture neither could so many Villages be so well replenished by the Saxons only in so short a time had not the Britains made their abode and stay in rhem as we may plainly perceive they were by those antient donations of several of the first Heptarchical Kings in which are recited oftentimes the British names of the incolae of several Villages for the fuller understanding whereof I referr the desirous Reader to the most antient donations to Glastenbury made publike by the Collections in Monasticon Anglicanum And I believe my affirmation grounded upon so much probability that notwithstanding the setling of the English Speech so Generally the greatest part of the Inhabitants of England at this day were it possible exactly to derive their pedegrees from those elder times would prove to be Britains take also into this number such that by the time the Saxons had made their Conquests here had from the Romans been made Emeriti having procured a writ of ease from the Wars and by this time were ennaturaliz'd Britains and seldome do we find or hear that an invading Army did out-number the people of an invaded Countrey neither is it probable that the Saxons as soon as they had made way through much opposition to attain their desires would turn Husbandmen and Grasiers considering the Britains never surceased their claimes nor were weary of infesting them pertinaciously endeavouring to re-gain their losses I rather believe they got themselves into possession of those Villages and Towns that they had thus wrested from the Britains and such of them as had not Spirits by Armes to defend their Country against them they kept to be Instruments of attaining their ends in relation to those necessary ingredients of War viz. Money and Victuals And the multitude of words and those of great singificancy which the Saxons borrowed of the Britains do as so many arguments confirm my thoughts in this point There was not probably a continuation of the British denomination of Officers and Offices Bright from the British word Brith which signifies their Waddecolour which was a lightblew Minsh without the acceptation of the British prudence in founding of them from them it is that to this day the Chief Magistrate of a City is called Meyr not derived from Major Greater but from the British word Miret which is custodire to keep and preserve So Edlin which Mr. Somners expounds to signifie Nobilis splendidus inclytus a word found also in the High and Low Dutch very familiarly yet Docter Davies tells us whence they borrowed it and that it is derived from Ed and Llin which signifies haeres or linea Regis and till I occasionally met with it in his laborious Dictionary I confess my self to have been much troubled to have found it in the Laws of Howel-Dha where it
whereas there is no more in it than the plain acquisition or getting of this Realm of England after his pretences from King Edward the Confessour were made known as in the following Tract appears by the constraint and force that Harald put him unto to get his Settlement by Battel with him which word of Conquest is to this day familiarly used in Scotland to signifie Land purchased and Mr. John Skene saith upon the word that Conquestus signifies Lands quhilk ony person acquiris possessis privato jure vel singulari titulo velâ—ti donatione vel singulari aliquo contractu Quhilk is conform to the Civil Law ubi quae stus dicitur lucrum quod ex Emptione venditione locatione conductione vel generaliter ex opera cu jus descendit l. coiri 7. cum seq ff pro Socio and further writing of Lands so purchased concludes Conquestus dicitur ratione primi conquestoris cum transmittitur ad ejus haeredem exuit naturam conquestus induit naturam haereditatis Norman Conquest concerning which also we have so great a plenty of Writers that they almost extinguish the Truth with their Comments and Conceits all the alterations imaginable are father'd upon this revolution and summ'd up by Mr. Samuel Daniel in these words I come to write of a time meaning this Norman affair wherein the State of England received an alteration of Laws Customs Fashions manner of Living Language Writing with new forms of Fights Fortifications Buildings and generally an innovation in most things but Religion I make choice of this Paragraph of so Elegant an Author as Mr. Daniel who hath deserved very well from the Common-wealth of Learning for his ingenuous Observations to examine the particulars of this great mutation so generally imagined which enumeration will also afford us the method of our Discourse concerning that which hapned to the English at that time and first of all concerning the Alteration of our Laws which is the principal matter of our enquiry of which among many Mr. Camden himself hath thus written Victor Gulielmus in victoriae quasi Trophaeum antiquatis pro maximâ parte Anglorum legibus Normanniae consuetudines induxit causasque Gallicè disceptari jussit Yet presently adds propositis igitur legibus Anglicanis Merchenlage Danelage Westsaxenlage quasdam reprobavit quasdam autem approbans transmarinas Neustriae leges quae ad Regni pacem tuendam efficacissimae videbantur adjecit But to evince this let us have recourse as near as we can to the Authors that were of that Age and seriously weigh what they deliver unto us concerning this matter Mr. Selden our of the Litchfield Chronicle cited also by my very much Honoured friend and incourager Sir Roger Twysden introduceth these words Anno Gulielmus Regni sui Quarto apud Londonias consilio Baronum suorum fecit summoniri per universos Angliae comitatus omnes nobiles sapientes sua lege eruditos ut eorum leges consuetudines audiret Et licet idem Rex Willielmus leges Northfolktae Suffolkiae Grantbrigiae Deirae ubi quondam maxima pars Danorum Norwegiensium inhabitabant prius magis approbaverat eas per totum Regnum observari praeceperat pro eo quod omnes Antecessores ejâ—s fere omnes Barones Normanniae Norwegenses extitissent quod de Norwegia olim venissent Sed postea ad preces communitatis Anglorum Rex adquievit qui deprecati sunt quatenus permitteret sibi leges proprias consuetudines antiquas habere in quibus vixerant patres eorum ipsi in eis nati nutriti sunt scilicet leges Sancti Regis Edwardi ex illo die magna authoritate veneratae per universum Regnum corroboratae conservatae sunt praecaeteris Regni legibus leges Regis Edwardi Unde per praeceptum Regis Willielmi electi sunt de singulis totius Angliae Comitatibus Duodecim Viri sapientiores quibus jurejurando injunctum fuit coram Rege Willielmo ut quoad possent recto tramite neque ad Dexteram neque ad Sinistram declinantes legum suarum consuetu inum sancita patefacerent nil praetermittentes nil addentes nil praevaricando mutantes Alderedus autem Eboracensis Episcopus Hugo Londoniensis Episcopus per praeceptum Regis scripserunt propriis manibus omnia quae praedicti jurati dixerunt c. Ingulphus Crolandensis also who was Chaplain to this King William and being himself somewhat concerned in this affair and so the more to be believed as an Agent writes a little more plainly than the last did thus Attuli saith he eadem vice mecum Lundoniis in meum Monasterium leges aequissimi Regis Ewardi quas Dominus meus inclytus Rex Willielmus autenticas esse perpetuas per totum Regnum Angliae inviolabilitérque tenendas sub poenis gravissimis proclamarat suis justiciariis commendârat eodem idiomate quo editae sunt ne per ignorantiam contingat nos vel nostros aliquando in nostrum grave periculum contraire offendere ausu temerario Regiam Majestatem ac in ejus censuras rigidissimas improvidum pedem ferre contentas saepius in eisdem hoc modo and the Title of those Laws is this Ces sont les leis les Custumes que li Reis William grantut à tut le peuple de Engleterre apres le Conquest de la Terre Iceles meismes que le Reis Edward sun Cosin tint devant lui which is in English these are the Laws and Customs which King William granted to all the people of England after the Conquest of the Land and are the same which King Edward his Cousin did hold before him And the like account given by the Litchfield Chronicle is found in the Laws of King Edward which though from him receiving the Denomination yet probably were Transcripts of a Date since the Norman Conquest for that in them is found an express of the Norman Settlement of them in which is also an account of the difference of the Rate of Mulcâ—s betwixt the Saxons and Danis or Norwegians and because of the â—â—ar relation the Normans had to the Danes it is said that King William made choice of those Laws and would have had them put in Execution as the Law of England Quippe cum aliarum legibus Nationum Brytonum scilicet Anglorum Pictorum Scotorum praeponderassent he praised and liked of this Dane-laege best onely this observe if it be worth taking notice of that not onely the British Laws come into the account but also they are set in the first place But King Williams desigment had this Effect and Issue for taking that resolution it is said Quo audito mox universi compatriotae regni qui leges edixerant tristes effecti unanimiter deprecati sunt quatenus permitteret sibi leges proprias consuetudines antiquas habere in quibus vix runt patres eorum ipsi in eis nati nutriti sunt
order their own Lands and Tenements one part they kept in their own hands and in them stately Houses and Castles were erected and made for their Habitation and defence of their Persons and the Realm also Forests and Parks were made there for the Pleasures Solace and Delight some were of a round Building of Stone for the most part Built upon a round pile of Earth either Natural but most commonly Cast up by man's Industry others upon a small rising or a plain Ground seldome more Capacious than to receive about twenty or thirty Men and were made rather to preserve the Persons and Goods of the Owners and his Servants and Tenants than to endure a long Siege of which sort there are many in Ireland because of their Antient intestine feuds but more upon the English and Scotish Borders many of which I have seen but with this difference as I said before that those the English did antiently Build were round and these for the most part square with one round Tower at one of the Angles both sorts of which were antiently called Fortalices and seldome made use of for Habitation because I find their mean dwelling Houses were made commonly under it or very near adjoyning to it And I discern a difference made betwixt those for Habitation and those I spake of that were only for a Safe-guard against sudden Inroads and Incursions for in Domesdey Book in the Survey of Erdisley in Herefordshire it is there recorded that ibi est domus defensabilis that is to say there is a dwelling House fortified which is now called the Castle of Erdisley and was Builded because of its Vicinity to the Welsh Borders and was intended by that Denomination to signifie more than one of those small Casties or Fortalices I lately spoke of these were the Strengths and Fortifications of those times most frequently in use I come lastly to speak of their Buildings in which there was something of an advantagious or at least an honourable change by the difference that was in the Mode of them I must confess the Norman manner was very noble and magnificent which by their Churches may be observed for the Saxons made theirs with Descents into them the Normans with Ascents the first made their Lights small and mean the second made them high and large these made their Arches stately with heights proportionable the others had their Arches and Coverings low and made their Walls of so great a thickness that they were a great Dammage and Impediment to the pleasure of their Lights when the Normans made use of no greater thickness or breadth in their Walls than would but well serve to bear their Height and Covering In the antient form of the Saxons before mentioned I have observed several Churches and pieces of other Architecture their entrances especially in their West-ends by Descents inwardly with Arches formed to correspond with those gradual Declensions and Steps all which shortning towards the greatest Door at the bottom of the Stairs over which for the most part was a finishing of a Semicircular piece of Gothick work and together made a kind of an artificial Perspective I have hitherto endeavoured in this tract to make it appear that for the space of 1700. years past we received no considerable Mutations or Alterations in our Laws and Customs That this our Tenure the subject of our present Discourse hath had the fortune to continue here from our British aborigines the first Planters of our Isle through those several changes and revolutions of Affairs and Governments that have hapned to it since that time and although in this Discourse preceding I may be thought to have walked a little beside the path yet I am perswaded I have not missed the way but kept and preserv'd the Goal in my eye Those alterations that are now found as to the general usage of this Tenure which was the Super-eminent custom of this Nation proceed not at all from any Enforcement or Coercion by reason of any of these forementioned Intrusions or Conquests but clearly by the consent and desire of the Proprietors and Persons therein concerned for in the County of Kent where Mr. S. saith this Tenure did generally over-spread there I say in the time of Hen. 8. several Lordships were discharged of this Tenure by Act of Parliament I have not all this while pleaded for the settlement or goodness of the Tenure to be used in this Age where Lands are well Peopled and fully Inhabited for it would be the destruction both of Lands and Linage but my business hath been to enquire into the state of the question the true Original Etymology and Use thereof The people of England by degrees have inextricated themselves from much servitude in their Customs and are now instated into a great privilege of Liberty and more particularly from those heavy pressures of Villenage the Slavery of which Custom hath received its Deaths wound in favorem libertatis for Sir Edward Coke out of Fortescue hath this note Impius Crudelis judicandus qui libertati non favet and gives this as the reason of it Angliae jura in omni casu dant favorem libertati the sense of Liberty was of so great force and power and the favour due unto it according to Law and Right of so great respect that those and the like pressures have received change and alteration and by the same power and equity joyned with the consent of the Proprietors it is so come to pass also that this our Gavelkind in most places of England is turned into the preference of Primogeniture for the preservation of Houses and Lands the next Chapter shall enquire though it seems to return far back whether we have any ground to believe that the CHAP. V. Trojan Brytains used the Tenure of Partition I Could not pass by without taking notice of a Marginal question that Mr. S. makes in pag. 54. and it is this By the way saith he how do our Britains claim descent from the Trojans Sith with them the eldest Son by Prerogative of primogeniture Monopolized the whole Inheritance I know not what Authors Mr. S. hath met with that he affirms so positively with our Britains the eldest Son did Monopolize all if his Sith with them relates to the Trojans I have nothing then left to answer to it nor do I think it worth the while to concern my self therein believing that neither Dares Phrygius nor Dictys Cretensis nor Homer nor any other pretended Trojan writer did intermeddle in the relation of Descent But I am perswaded it must have reference to the Brytains and that to them it is that he saith Sith with them the eldest Son Monopolizeth c. and notwithstanding I have some inducements to believe that Mr. S. asketh the question how our Britains claim Descent from the Trojans in Merriment and Jest yet in their defence to that very question there may so much be said which will carry a greater probability than any
named Lloigria or Lloiger now differenced from the other parts by the name of England Saison that is to say Saxons who together with the Jutes a third sort of Provincials that assisted in the Conquest of this part of Brytanny are now under the single Title of English-men these Twmri also call the Speech generally spoken in England Saisnaeg that is to say the Saxon tongue Somewhat doubtlesly there is of extraordinary reason in these names of distinction and difference of Cambria Loigria and Albania in case we could recover it but I am afraid the truth in this point is lost for the Denomination of places from the names of men as it is an old and fond conceit so I think it an ill one * As itis remarked by Sir J. B. and may be worth the Enquiry and for my part I had rather believe that Brytannia is derived from the Greek word BRYTON which signifies Vinum Hordeaceum that Brytish Ale a Drink how Con-natural and antiently peculiar to the Inhabitants of this Island will be now needless to Discourse than that London is the refined Issue of Luds-town or England of Hengists-land or Scotland from one Captain Scoto But this antient Triplicite division whether the effect of Brutes partition or no I will not maintain yet it is recorded by the same Pens as give us our History of Trojanism and may serve very well in answer to Mr. S's Jocular question since his question is a question taken for granted Neither will I averr or much insist upon that action of Constantine the Great who beingâ—â— Brytain and so probably experienced in the British Customs that he upon this ground or custom of partition used among the Brytains his Country-men did Divide the then intire Roman Empire between his two Sons by him I say this division and partition was made be the reasons or grounds of it what they will and upon this Division were differenced and distinguished by the Appellations of the Eastern and Western Empires which afterwards again returning into a single Person came to Theodosius whom * Procop. Bel. Vandalic l. 1. c. 1. Procopius calls a most just Prince and a great Souldier he had two Sons who after his Death succeeded in the Empire Arcadius the Elder in the Eastern and Honorius in the Western Empires which is said to have been done according to the former division viz. That which the Emperour Constantine had made so that the use or custom of partition in Empire as well as in private mens Lands is of great Antiquity I proceed now to shew that there is CHAP. VI. Gavelkind in other places of the Kingdome of England besides Kent in the Principality of Wales Gavel used in denominations of places how used among the Welsh of the word Llan of the Normans invasion of the Territory of Wales the use of Gavell in the division of that Territory and exposition thereof in the Welsh Vocabulary Mr. S. is much given to think that this Tenure of Gavelkind is a singular appurtenance to the County of Kent For in the first page of his book as the Theam of his discourse he layes down this position that Gavelkind is a property of that eminent singularity in the Kentishmens possessions so generally in a manner from great antiquity over-spreading that County as England this day cannot shew her fellow in that particular and in his 54th page For other Country-mens communicating with us of Kent in the Tenure I conceive saith he it first came up by imitation of our example in Ireland especially and amongst the Welsh-men in whose Vocabulary or Dictionary the word is sought in vain as it is also in that old statute which concernâ— them viz. Statutum Walliae To evince this besides the knowledge of several other places in England that have this Tenure eminently unto this day somewhat that Mr. S. himself doth confess in his Tract will help to cleer the contrary as in particular where he testifies pag. 48. that Socage Land in general and by the nature of it is capable of partition and by Custome may be and in many places extra Cantium is partible Now so it is that there is no County in England but have Lands held in Socage Tenure and upon that reason are capable of partition but more especially in Wales where the word is in use among them and more to a just and proper signification than in any other place or by any other Language as I shall shew anon But Mr. S. from its very denomination under the notion of it I mean would perswade us to a belief of its singularity in Kent which I cannot admit for notwithstanding he hath not found any Lands in any other place to pass under that denomination because saith he the Land in any deeds or conveyances hath not any appellations of Gavelkind yet I say use and custome hath still inviolably retained it and the manner of its partition is in several places known under the very Title of Gavelkind There are names of places that are compounded of the word in controversie only to be found among the Welsh the antient Proprietors of this Land from whose Language I shall make it my design to derive its Origine and shall begin with this part first because very much of certainty in antiquity is to be drawn from the retained names of place which if seriously remarked will afford us a great light to History There is a Village or Parish in Monmuthshire that adjoyns to the Territory of Urchinfield in the County of Hereford called to this day Llangattok feibon afel which if any one attempts to read to a Welshman let him be sure to pronounce the single f like a V consonant and then to be read by this power Chlangattok vybon avel but the common denomination thereof without the variation proper to the Welsh Tongue is Llangattok gafael meibon Llan or as it is rendred by our English writers to express the idiomatism of the British Lhan and Chlan signifies a Religious dedication or locus sacer and Doctor Davies in his Cambro-british Dictionary upon the same word saith that vulgò sumitur pro fano templo sed potius existimo he addeth significare coemeterium vel aream Templi Let it be either Church or Church-yard it doth intimate a Religious dedication and notwithstanding there are at this day many places that have the praefix of Llan unto them where no Church is to be found yet if searched into and traced to their foundation will discover some such appropriation and intendment So I find in the forem ntioned Region of Urchenfield a certain Parish called Hen-Ilan commonly Hentland which in the English Tongue signifies the Old-Church and in certain Paâ—â—ures belonging to a Farm in that Parish there is a place which to this day is called Llanfrawtwr which is as much as to say The Church or Convent of the Brethren the Site whereof was upon a small hill not half a mile distant