Inhabitants are clearly demonstrated from that Nation many old Monuments illustrated and the Commerce with that People as well as the Greeks plainly set forth and Collected out of approved Greek and Latine Authours together with a Chronological History of this Kingdom from the first traditional beginning untill the year of our Lord 800 when the Name of BRITAIN was changed into ENGLAND faithfully Collected out of the best Authours and disposed in a better method than hath hitherto been done with the Antiquities of the Saxons as well as Phoenicians Greeks and Romans Printed in Folio in London in the year 1676 Volume the first I know very well some Learned men have taken great exceptions to this Piece and have affirmed many things in it to be fabulous and I will not contest for the truth of the whole and every part of it but then I will presume to say that I have found good Authority for some of those things which some have pretended Mr. Samms invented and if we are to stay for an History which all the World approves of before we reade one our Lives will end with as little knowledge of past times as of those that are to follow us when we are dead I know any ingenious person who shall reade this piece must reap much satisfaction pleasure and delight from it John Milton who was Latine Secretary to Oliver Cromwell a Learned ingenious but a very factious man wrote the History of Britain that part especially that is called England from the first traditional beginning of it to the Norman Conquest Collected out of the ancientest and best Authours as he saith it was printed 1670 and 1671 in Quarto and in 1678 in Octavo The style and composure of this History is delicate short and perspicuous and it is of the greater value because few of our English Writers begin to any purpose before the Norman Conquest passing over all those times that went before it with a slight hand Doctour John Heyward writ the History of the first Norman Kings William the Conquerour William Rufus and Henry the first he lived in the times of King James and was a Civilian and a very candid true and Learned Writer Samuel Daniel writ the Collection of the History of England where in making some short reflexions on the State of Britain and the Succession of the Saxons he descends to William the Conquerour and the Norman Kings and ends with the Reign of Edward the third Anno Domini 1376. It is written with great brevity and Politeness and his Political and Moral Reflexions are very fine usefull and instructive John Trussel continued this History with the like brevity and truth but not with equal Elegance till the end of the Reign of Richard the third Anno Domini 1484. In that Period or interval of time which Daniel hath written there are two Lives writ by two several Pens the first is the Life of Henry the third writ by that Learned wise and ingenious Gentleman Sir Robert Cotton Knight in a Masculine style with great labour and pains and with a Loyal design The Second is a piece which was lately Printed with this Title the History of the Life Reign and Death of Edward the II King of England and Lord of Ireland with the Rise and Fall of his great Favorites Gaveston and the Spencers written by E. F. in the year 1627 and Printed verbatim from the Original in the year 1680. Who this E. F. was I know not but that he was under the Dominion of a mighty Discontent is apparent by his short Preface to the Reader his first words there are these To out-run those weary hours of a deep and sad Passion my melancholy Pen fell accidentally saith he on this Historical Relation which speaks A King our own though one of the most unfortunate and shews the Pride and fall of his inglorious Minions If this Book was really written when pretended it may be probably conjectured this Male-Content had a mighty Spleen against the then Duke of Buckingham who being baited this year by the Commons in Parliament fell a Sacrifice to popular discontent the year following which with some other things to me unknown might occasion the suppressing this History then and it had been as well if it had never been Printed being partial to the highest degree and designed to encourage rather than suppress Rebellion Sedition and Treason and now why it was raked up out of the Dust and Printed when it was I shall leave the World to guess onely I cannot for bear observing the Authour was more ingenuous than the Publisher not onely because he concealed it but also because he had undoubtedly set down the causes of his discontent in the beginning of his Preface which are omitted in the Print for those weary hours must relate to something before exprest to perfect the nse Within this Period of time belonging to Trussel falls in the Life of Henry the IV th written by Dr. Heyward and also the Life of Edward the IV th written very Elegantly and Prudently by William Habington Esquire and the Life of Richard the third written by George Buck Gent. Francis Bioâ—di and Italian Gentleman and of the Privy Chamber to King Charles the first hath written in the Italian Tongue the Civil Wars between the two Houses of Lancaster and York from King Richard the second to King Henry the VIII th translated Elegantly into English saith Sir Richard Baker by Henry Earl of Monmouth Sir Francis Bacon Viscount St. Albans writ the History of Henry the 7 th in a most Elegant style Edward Lord Herbert of Sherbury hath writ the Life of Henry the Eighth with great Exactness and Accuracy as he was a person of great industry and capacity He was put upon this Work by King Charles the first and consulted all our Records Dr. John Heyward wrote the Life of Edward the VIth very Elegantly and as much of that Prince's Reign and that of Queen Mary was spent in matters of Religion so Dr. Peter Heylin in his Ecclesia Anglicana Restaurata has given a very good account of their two Reigns and also Dr. Gilbert Burnet in his History of the Reformation in two Volumes in Folio which is excellently Epitomized by himself in Octavo Though these two chiefly intend the Ecclesiastical History of those times yet they have carefully intermixt the Civil History also especially Burnet who with his History hath published many Original Records of those times which do purely belong to the Civil History Sir William Dugdale one of the Kings of Arms in England hath writ two Books which he styles the Baronage of England being an excellent History of the Successions of all the noble Families of England which is of excellent use to the well understanding of the English History Sir Richard Baker hath written a Chronicle of the Kings of England from the times of the Romans Government unto the Death of King James to which the Reign of Charles the first
as he did of many other written in Latine and Saxon and that he begins where Bede ends as Simeon doth but yet it will appear to any person who shall compare these two together that Hoveden has an innumerable number of things which Simeon hath not and that there are some things again in Simeon which R. Hoveden passed by so that he is not to be esteemed a plagiary in relation to Simeon but rather a very diligent Writer who hath Collected from Simeon and many others who went before him and made out of all a copious single work which is usually done by the best Historians of all Ages When our Authour wrote this method of Reading Histories this Simeon Dunelmensis was not Printed but in the year 1652 this and nine other ancient Historians were first published together and out of Mr. Selden's Prolegomena's to them I have transcribed the passage above which will give the Reader a fuller account of R. Hoveden and at the same time present Simeon Dunelmensis to him as a person worthy of his observation This History begins as the Title tells us after the Death of Bede Anno Domini 732 and it ends Anno Domini 1129 it contains the History of CCCCXXIX years and IV months Joannes Hagustaldensis continued this History XXV years that is from the year 1130 to the year 1154 which was the 19 th and last year of King Stephen's Reign he flourished under Henry the Second and Richard the first he was a very good witness of what he Wrote as Living in or very near those times he represents he was a most excellent and a most diligent Writer as Mr. Selden styles him Richardus Hagustaldensis wrote the IV first years of the Reign of King Stephen which are Printed immediately after the former Ailredus Rievallis Abbas wrote amongst other things a Genealogie of the Kings of England to Henry the Second Radulphus de Diceto Dean of St. Paul's in London wrote an Abbreviation of the Chronicles from the year 589 to the year 1147 where he begins another work which he calls the Images of History which he continues to 1199 or the beginning of King John's Reign Joannes de Brompton wrote a Chronicle from the arrival of Augustine the Monk Anno Christi 588 to the beginning of King John's Reign 1199 which is especially valuable for a Collection and version of the Saxon Laws in Latine made in the time of Edward the third at the least he was an industrious Student as Vossius speaks of him and wrote in the Reign of Edward the third Gervasius Dorobernensis wrote a Chronicle from the year 1112 to the year 1199 which was from the 12 th year of Henry the first to the Death of Richard the first he was made a Monk about the year 1142 he was as Leland saith of him Studious of Antiquities above belief and for that end Collected a vast number of Historians especially of those who accurately handled the British and Saxon affairs till at last he himself entred the Lists and made tryal of his own parts by publishing an excellent Volume in which he deduced the History of the Britains from their Original together with that of the Saxons and the valiant atchievements of the Normans to the Reign of King John thus far Leland of him but whether the beginning of this History is lost I cannot say but we have onely this Printed which I have mentioned of the particular English History Henricus Knighton Leicestrensis wrote a Chronicle of the Events of England as he styles it in his first Book he gives a short account of some Saxon and Norman affairs from the time of Edgar who began his Reign Anno Christi 958 to the Reign of William the Conquerour and then he writes more largely to the year 1395 which was the 19 th year of Richard the Second in whose times this Historian flourished All these Authours were Printed in one body by Cornelius Bee in the year 1652 under the Title of the ten Writers of the English History before which time they were onely Extant in Manuscripts in Libraries and so could not possibly be taken into our Authour's method as I observed before SECT XXIX Asser Menevensis his History commended in what time to be read with the former as also Eadmerus his History Matthew Paris his History Baronius his judgment of him Thomas of Walsingham his Chronicle the actions of King Stephen written by an unknown Authour the Life of Edward the Second by Sir Thomas de la Moore Knight is also to be taken in due time I Must confess those latter Historians do not make any great addition of years to Malmesbury's History yet they will illustrate it and sometimes perhaps make it more full and perfect of this the Reader will have a great Experience if about the year of Christ 849 he take in the Life of Alfred written by Asser Menevensis which History as the famous Camden saith will afford no small pleasure to thy mind nor will it bring less profit than pleasure if whilst the mind is fixed on the Contemplation of those great things you endeavour wholly to conform your self to the imitation and as it were representation of them Asser Menevensis flourished about the year of Christ 910. This great Prince who was the wonder of the age in which he Lived has found many admirers since but none have so well deserved of his Memory as the Learned Sir John Spelman Son of the Great Sir Henry Spelman who wrote the Life of this Alfred King of England in three Books in English which I suppose was never Printed but an Elegant version of it in Latine with very excellent marginal Notes by the Students of Great Hall in Oxon with a great Collection of our Coins and several other great rarities was put out in Folio at the Theatre there in the year 1678 I wish we might yet have the Original English also printed And then if about the year of Christ 1060 the Reader please he may also take in Eadmerus his History which was lately brought to light and illustrated with Notes and excellent Collections by the Learned John Selden a Lawyer of rare Erudition This History contains the Reigns of William the first and second and Henry the first to wit from the year of Christ 1060 to the year 1122 in which time the Authour Lived he was very dear to Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury in those times and died Archbishop of St Andrews in Scotland himself after he had been Abbat of St. Albans in England a preferment in those days of great honour To these the Reader may add that true and faithfull History written by Matthew Paris which beginning with the Coronation of William the Conquerour Anno Christi 1067 is continued by him to the year 1253 and by another as Bale assures us to the year 1273 that is to the Death of Henry
the fourth are contained in this Chronicle which are not in any of our own Latine Historians which have hitherto been printed it begins Anno 1149 and it ends 1486 which was the second year of Henry the 7 th This last Authour belongs to the next Section where the Reader will find our Authour for want of Historians of our own Nation turning his Reader over to Polydore Virgil from the Reign of Henry the 5 th to the Reign of Richard the third much of which chasme this last Authour hath supplied but yet I would not part him from the rest but onely give the Reader this hint to what times he belongs SECT XXX Walsingham's Hypodigma Neustriae or his History of Normandy and the other Writers concerning that Dukedom not to be neglected and amongst them Odoricus Vitalis of principal note the History of England from the Reign of Henry the 5 th to that of Richard the third to be fetched from Polydore Virgil. The opinion of our Noble S. H. Savil concerning him observable Sir Thomas Moor Knight Lord Chancellor of England wrote the Reign of Richard the third F. Lord Bacon Viscount of Verulam that of Henry the 7 th the Reigns of Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th and Queen Mary Francis Goodwin Lord Bishop of Landaff wrote by way of Annals as Will Camden did that of Queen Elizabeth also THe Reader having dispatched the Chronicle of Walsingham may in the next place pursue his Hypodigma Neustriae his History of Normandy which will render the former Histories more clear and complete it containing a perfect account of the Story of that Dukedom from Rollo the first Duke of it to the 4 th year of Henry the 5 th who in the year 1416 forced Normandy after it had been Ravished and Alienated CCXX years from the English to return to its due Allegiance to the English Crown nor let the Reader think I give him this advice rashly for as it is rightly observed by the Learned Mr. Selden the ancient affairs of the Normans are so implicated and twisted with ours that if a man consider seriously of our own he cannot pass by theirs without sloath and ignorance Now Andraeas Duchenius in the year 1619 put out several Writers of the Norman History and amongst them Odericus Vitalis a Countreyman of ours who was born at Attingham in the County of Salop is the principal he wrote 13 Books of Church History the first and second of which contain the Martial Actions of the Normans in France England and Apulia in Italy to the year 1141 which was the 6 th year of the Reign of King Stephen about which time this Authour flourished But to return to our English History after Walsingham's Chronicle which as I said in the last Section ends in Henry the 5 th if our Reader thinks to find any one of our Nation who hath written our History in Latine from this time of Henry the 5 th to the Reign of Richard the third he will be much deceived except perhaps some Manuscript lies concealed in the recesses of some Libraries Consecrated to Antiquities which have not as yet seen the publick Light Therefore I will recommend to my Hearers a History which may be had that is one of the Published Authours and may be come by now here had been a vast Gap of almost LXX years if Polydore Virgil had not prevented it which in so great a scarcity of our own Authours the Studious Historian will not unwillingly take in for although as the noble Sir Henry Savil writes of him he was an Italian and a Stranger to our affairs and which is yet more never employed in any publick Station and of no great natural either Judgment or Ingenuity and although in delivering our History he has often mistaken things and passed over in silence many things worthy to be known yea has too often imbraced things that are false instead of truth and so left us a very faulty History Yet I should conceive this happened for the most part where he describes the times of Henry the VIII th for besides that he was ignorant of our Tongue he must of necessity not know many things that were then Transacted and it is highly probable he writ some things in favour of Queen Mary otherwise than he knew they were but this is not to be suspected of the former times Let our Reader therefore take the History of the two Henrys the V th and the VI th and of the two Edwards the IV th and the V th from Polydore Virgil the Reign of Richard the third who immediately follows these was written by the famous Sir Thomas Moor Knight Lord Chancellour of England who flourished about the year 1533 in the Reign of Henry the 8 th but the Learned Vossius thinks the Work imperfect because as he largely describes by what Villanies he ascended the Throne so he doth not tell us how he afterwards administred the Government and even that part which we have seems to have wanted the Authour's last hand and the Elegance of the Latine of his other Works do much exceed that of this Work Henry VIIth succeeded Richard the third whose Life and Reign was not long since represented to us by the most noble Viscount Verulam so happily and so fully that if he hath not excelled the best Historians he yet at least equall'd them this Work was first written in English but has since been turned into Latine as the preliminary Epistle to the Book call'd Gustavus saith After this let the Reader peruse the Annals of the most Reverend Bishop F. Goodwin in which the Reigns of Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th and Queen Mary are described with a great and commendable brevity Lastly the famous William Camden the Founder of the place I now enjoy and my Patron wrote the Annals of the Actions of Queen Elizabeth in England and Ireland which Queen was the most glorious and prosperous Queen that ever swayed a Sceptre for this Elogy was bestowed long since upon her by Anna Attestina the Mother of the Guises as Thuanus saith Let our Reader in the next place diligently reade this History and then tell me whether it be not comparable to the best of the ancient Annals and that with Justice and truth An ADDITION Another great man of the French Nation speaks thus of Camden although it be very natural to men to speak too advantageously of their Native Countries and that this inclination hath wrap'd some Historians to an offence against the Purity of History yet it cannot be denyed but William Camden has writ that of England with so much fidelity that he may justly claim a place amongst the most sincere Historians of the last Ages and a little after being made King at Arms the XXXIX year of the Queens Reign he made very curious Collections of all those things which he judged worthy of or usefull to an History
and the first 13 years of Charles the second were added by one Mr. Edward Phillips which ends with the Coronation of that Prince being the 23d of April 1661. The former Sir William Dugdale as is supposed hath writ a short account of the late troubles of England wherein all the proceedings of the Rebellion are excellently laid together James Heath Gent. hath also written the History of the same times very well as it is said to the Restitution of Charles the second continued since to the year 1675 by J. Phillips William Sanderson hath written not onely the Reigns of Queen Mary of Scotland and King James but also another piece which he calls a complete History of the Life and Reign of King Charles the first from his Cradle to his Grave but as this was written and published during our horrid Confusions here in England and before his late Majesty's Restitution so there are many things in it as it is said which will need amendment The truth is there hath been never a good History writ since Camden's Annals of our affairs that ever yet came to my knowledge nor perhaps have the times been such as to bear one that of Tacitus is considerable the prosperous and unfortunate Events of the ancient People of Rome are delivered by great Writers in the times of Augustus there was no want of generous Pens till they were supprest by the rising flattery of the times the accounts of Tiberius Caligula Claudius and Nero whilst these Princes flourished were out of fear false and after they were gone whilst the hatred of men was fresh were as much too sharp from which considerations I resolved saith he to deliver a few and those of the last Actions of Augustus when the flattery he hints at began and then the Reign of Tiberius and the rest without Anger or affection as having by reason of the distance of the time had no concern with any of them I need not make any application nor will the case bear one But yet I should have excepted one Historian and that is Johnstonius but though he did not publish his History in his Life and so by that and putting it into such hands as Printed it beyond the Seas secured his History from all suspicion of a necessitated Compliance yet then he being a Stranger to our English Laws and Constitutions has committed some faults which an English man would have easily avoided and speaks too contemptuously of some of our Greatest Lawyers whom he styles every where Leguleii as if they had been some little snarling Countrey Attornies If now our Reader desires a short course of English History he may begin with Milton first then take Daniel and Trussel and then Sir Francis Bacon's Henry the 7 th and Bishop Godwin's Annals which will bring him down to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth where Camden's Annals such as they now are in English fall in and for the rest he may take his Choice according to his fancy There is an excellent Catalogue of the Historians of England in Baker's Chronicle which the Reader may Consult too if he please MANTISSA OR An Addition Concerning the Historians of particular Nations as well Ancient as Modern by Nicholas Horseman ARTICLE I. The design and method of this Appendix in what order we should proceed in relation to particular Historians the principal Writers of each Countrey are to be selected the Historians of the latter Ages compared with the more Ancient THus far our Authour Mr. Deg. Wheare has proceeded concerning the Civil History and was just now going to lead his Reader to the Church History and yet we will presume to stop him here a small time and I will not despair neither of obtaining an easie pardon for this my unseasonable interposition from those who desire to run through a perfect Collection of Historians especially if they shall be sensible that these Endeavours of ours may in any degree promote their Studies The Roman Empire long since sinking under its own weight and being at last torn in pieces and divided each distinct Nation began to rely upon its own Forces and administred its own affairs both at home and abroad and from thence the particular Histories of particular Nations have sprung up which our Authour hath left untouched and unsaluted the British onely excepted and this Field I will presume to Reap by adding here an Appendix concerning the Histories of those Nations who are now possest of some part of the ancient Roman Empire or were never subject to it in which we will represent or at least inartificially describe those ancient and Modern Writers who have illustrated the affairs and Actions of the more considerable people by their Pens 'T is not indeed our purpose to seek curiously after and name all these Historians as indeed who can pretend to know them or solicitously to digest and accurately treat of them which is a very troublesome business and above our Abilities But I think it reasonable here to advise all the lovers of History in the very entrance of the Work that they should begin with the Antiquities of their own Countries as for instance the Britains with the British and so proceed to those of other Countries and in the first place to those Nations which have had frequent Leagues Wars or Commerce with their own And it will also be very advantageous to chuse some principal Authour who may seem to excell all other in writing the History of that Countrey as in the German History Lambertus Schafnaburgensis in the Austrian History Lazius in the Hungarian Bonfinius in the Gothick Jornandes in the History of Denmark Saxo Grammaticus in the Sclavonian Helmoldus in the Longobardian Paulus Diaconus in the Polonian Chromerus in the Prussian Stella in the Bohemian Aeneas Sylvius in that of Switzars Simlerus in the Burgundian Heuterus in that of Saxony Crantzius in the Bavarian Aventinus in the Flandrian Mejerus in the Dutch Grotius in the French P. Aemylius in the Spanish Mariana and so for the rest But here our Reader of the Barbarian History may be pleased to understand that the Authours for the most part with which he is now to Converse do sink very much beneath the Eloquence of those of the greater Nations the Greeks and Romans and that they are very much inferiour both in Ability and Dignity to those who with their Pens have adorn'd the Stories of those once potent People not onely in many other things but especially in the purity of their Styles for in the darkness of that decrepit Age they use a style which by reason of the Barbarity and harshness of it cannot but offend those whose Ears have been used to a terse and delicate phrase and the Historians of those times which affected Elegance chose to imitate those of the middle Ages Eutropius Paulus Diaconus Orosius and the like who were as remote from the Roman Eloquence as they were from the times in which it flourished rather
much fidelity and industry that he seems to be the onely man amongst all our Writers who hath performed the part of a good Historian and the famous Camden speaks thus of him both the Civil and Church History of England is much in debt to that man He writ in V Books the History of the Actions of the Kings of England from the year of Christ 449 in which the English and Saxons entered Britain to the year 1116 which was the XVI th year of the Reign of Henry the first to which he afterwards added two Books more from the XX th year of that Kings Reign to the 8 th year of King Stephen which was the year of Christ 1143 in which times he Lived There are some who advise the beginning with Jeffery of Monmouth because he begins his History much higher and affirms that one Brutus a great Grandchild of Aeneas and LXVIII Kings besides Reigned here for about one thousand years before Caesar entred Britain but we thought it very fit to pass him by because he seems to write of things that are very obscure and dark by reason of their Great Antiquity and are involved with mere fabulous Stories nor have we done or spoken this upon our own private judgment onely many Learned men having said the same thing before us Neubrigensis who Lived not long after Jeffery of Monmouth speaks thus In our times saith he there Sprung up a certain Writer who to Expiate the faults of the Britains set forth a number of ridiculous inventions extolling their Vertue and Valour with an impudent Vanity above the Macedonians and Romans his Name was Jeffery and he was Nicknamed Arthur because taking the Fables of the ancient Britains concerning Arthur out of their old Romances and encreasing them with his own Additions and giving them the Varnish of the Latine Tongue he Cloathed them with the Honourable Name of an History He also with greater boldness published the fallacious divinations of one Merlin which he hath also improved by his own Additions whilst he turned them into Latine for Authentick Prophecies which were grounded upon unmoveable truth John of Withamsted who flourished in the time of Henry the VI th doth in part agree with William of Newbury According to other Histories saith he which in the judgment of some deserve more Credit this whole process concerning Brute is rather Poetical than Historical and for many causes seems to be founded in fancy rather than in any Reality and Bale confesseth that there are many things in his History which exceed belief and John Twin a diligent searcher out of the British Antiquities calls him the British Homer the Father of Lies but Ponticus Virunnius a very Learned man in the esteem of Vossius who lived above 130 years since and reduced Jeffery's History into an Epitome passing by the fabulous parts of it bestows this Elogy upon him Jeffery of Monmouth was a famous Historian and a Cardinal a man of much Authority with Robert Duke of Gloster Son of Henry II King of England he was a great favourer of his Countrey and Collecting a History of the most ancient times from the Records of their Kings and out of their highest Philosophy he continued the same in an uninterrupted Series from the times of the Trojans That his History is most true will appear from the Custome of the Western Kings which was to have always some with them who should faithfully relate their greatest Actions and John Leland also defends him against Newbury and Polidore Virgil he flourished about the year of Christ 1160 under Henry the II. But however as I said before for these reasons we have passed him by and rather put our Reader upon William of Malmesbury Henry Archdeacon of Huntington follows next who in VIII Books shewing the Origine of our Nation and continuing the History of King Stephen and his Successours goes on to the year 1153 he wrote many other excellent Pieces which would enrich our History but that they lie concealed from the World in Manuscripts in Libraries Polidore Virgil styles him an excellent Historian and John Leland an approved writer he flourished about the year of Christ 1160. William of Newbury beginning with the Death of Henry the first continues the History a little farther to wit to the year 1197 he is a great lover of truth in the opinion of Polydore Virgil but he is sharply reprehended by John Leland because in reprehending Jeffery of Monmouth he kept no mean he flourished about the year of Christ 1220. To Conclude Roger Hoveden deduced our History to the year of Christ 1202 in his Annals which he hath divided into two parts that is to the IV th year of King John's Reign in whose time this Authour flourished An ADDITION There is a passage cited by Mr. Selden concerning this last Authour out of John Leland which I think worth the inserting here Simeon Dunelmensis is to be deservedly reckoned with the principal Monks of his Age He very well understanding that the things which had happened beyond the Severn both by reason of the sloath and negligence of their Writers in the fury of so many Danish Wars and also by the injury of time were so obscured and oppressed that in a short time the memory of them would be lost except the diligence of some Learned man repaired the memory of them by Collecting them together and digesting them into order entered into a serious Consultation with himself how he might prevent this mischief deliberating a long time with himself that which was most necessary and usefull offered it self at last to him which was carefully to search out the remainders of those ancient Libraries which had been Ruined by the Danes c. for the Monks had preserved some fragments of them whilst they fled from the fury of their Enemies c. All these the curious diligence of Simeon sought out found and examined so that his ardent Care had no remission till he had brought the History of the Northumbrian Kingdom from the times of Bede to the Reign of King Stephen the Usurper I design not saith he in this place to write the praises of Simeon his work is immortal and will Live though I say nothing of it onely I would have the Reader take notice that there was one Roger Hoveden a not unlearned man who in the same order with Simeon hath deduced the History from Bede to the Reign of King John whom as I cannot but commend for his History of our Ancestours so I must needs blame him that he rifled the Flowry Meads of Simeon ' s History without ever mentioning his Name the same Leland calls him in another place as Mr. Selden acquaints us a Commendable person with the former exception notwithstanding and Mr. Selden tells us hereupon that many men thought these two works were the same but saith he as it is most certain that R. Hoveden made use of Simeon ' s Annals
the third what Baronius his opinion of this Authour was appears in these words Any man saith he may easily see how much his mind was exasperated against the Holy Seat except those Reproaches were inserted by the Publisher which if they be taken out or excepted you may call the rest a Golden Commentary it being onely a transcript word for word of the publick Records most admirably put together and consolidated After Matthew Paris I desire Thomas Walsingham his Chronicle may follow he also was a Monk of St. Albans and began his History from Edward the first where the former ends and continues it down to the end of Henry the fifth or the year of Christ 1422. But as whilst we are reading Matthew Paris there is an History of Stephen written by an unknown hand which will amplifie and illustrate the History if taken in so if after the first Book of Walsingham's History about the year 1306 the Life and Death of Edward the Second written by Sir Thomas de la Moore Knight a Servant of that King be also admitted it will enlarge that History As this Authour was dignified with the honour of Knighthood so he deserves no less esteem for his kindness to Posterity express'd by this History which deserves the more credit because he was intimately acquainted with that Prince and served under him in the Wars ADDITIONS As I took in in the end of the last Section an excellent Collection of ancient Latine Historians of the English Nation none of which are mentioned by our Authour so with the Reader 's permission I will here take in another which was printed this year at Oxon under the Title of the first Volume of the ancient Writers of the English affairs The first Authour in it is Ingulfus Croylandensis who though not taken notice of by our Authour was printed before but imperfect he wrote the History of his Monastery and in it relates many things concerning the Kings of England he begins at the year of Christ 626 with Penda King of Mercia and in the former impression it ended with the beginning of the Reign of William the Conquerour but in this latter Edition besides many Gaps in the body of it now supplied from a better Copy his History is continued by himself to the year 1089 which was the third year of William the second or William Rufus as he is commonly called This Authour was the Son of a Courtier of Edward the last King of the Saxon Race and he himself takes notice of some disputes he had in his Infancy with Edgitha the Noble Queen of King Edward he Studied first at Westminster and then at Oxon where he became an excellent Aristotelian Philosopher he was afterwards a Counsellour to William Duke of Normandy by whose good leave he went to Jerusalem in his way at Constantinople he waited upon Alexius the then Emperour and Sophronius the Patriarch returning into Normandy he became a Benedictine Monk and after William Duke of Normandy had Conquered England Ingulfus was made Abbat of Croyland he died in the year 1109 in the time of Henry the first I have transcribed all this out of Vossius onely to shew the Reader how great a man he was and how excellently qualified for an Historian The next Authour in the said Collection is Peter Blesensis his continuation of Ingulfus his History to the year 1117 which was the 17 th year of Henry the first though he mentions some things scatteringly done after that time this continuation is imperfect at the end and therefore the Publisher supposeth it to extend onely to the beginning of the Reign of King Stephen this Authour was not for Learning inferiour to Ingulfus he was first Archdeacon of Bath and afterwards of London and Vicechancellour to the King he wrote about the year 1190 and he died in the year 1200 his Life has been writ by those that published his other Works but this History was never printed before Thus far the Publisher goes in his account of him The next in this new Collection is the Chronicle of Mailros begun as the inscription tells us by the Abbat of Dundraynan from the year 735 and continued by several hands to the year one thousand two hundred and seventy which was the LIV th year of the Reign of Henry the third who this Abbat or who these Continuers were is not certainly known but this Abbie of Mailros from which this Chronicle has its Name was not that ancient Monastery placed upon the Banks of the River Tweed often taken notice of by Venerable Bede which as it seems was destroyed by the Danes who oppressed the Kingdom of Northumberland a great while but of a later date built in the same place by the Scots who under David their King had got possession of it about the year 1136 from whence perhaps a Colony of Monks were sent to Dundraynan in Galloway in Scotland in the year 1152 in which year also that Monastery was founded as this Chronicle bears witness which though for the most part it is very brief yet it affords many things that are worth the knowing especially the Series of the Kings of Scotland as also the Successions of the Princes Nobles Bishop and Abbats in those Northern parts thus far the Publisher In the year 1252 another silly Monk of Mailros began a new Collection in which he would needs bestow an Encomium upon Simon de Montefort the turbulent Earl of Leicester which is not continued for the rest is perhaps done by another hand but concludes with the Death of Henry the third so that there is onely two years added The next is the Chronicle of Burton in the beginning of which with the Reign of King John the Authour who is not known seems to have a design to continue Roger de Hoveden whom yet he calls Hugo and by his example hath collected many of the most memorable passages of that age and though some of them are also set forth by Matthew Paris yet there are many and those not common things which are not to be found either in Paris or any other printed Historian but this and the Authour whoever he was lived in the same time with Matthew Paris and so they two do mutually afford Light each to other and also at the same time bear witness to the same things onely let the Reader take notice we follow the impression of Paris printed at London in 1650 thus far the Publisher it begins Anno 1004 and it ends Anno 1263. The Last which is the continuation of the History of Croyland though in some places imperfect which the Transcriber perhaps observed not yet we saith the Publisher thought fit to add it not onely because the Authour or rather perhaps Authours designed a continuation of Ingulfus and Peter Blesensis but chiefly because the latter end of the Reign of Henry the sixth and the whole Reign of Edward
and as Sincerity was the Foundation of all he wrote so his Works are in so great esteem that a very grave and Learned Modern Writer who hath written the Life of Mary Stuard confesseth that he took his Directions for that Work from Camden ' s Annals of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth this Testimony is of the more value because from a prfessed Enemy who deplores Camden's dying an Heretick The Commendations given by the Authour in the end of the last Section to Camden's Annals of Queen Elizabeth are deservedly due to them and much more for he being his Patron as he saith and Founder of the History Lecture in Oxon which our Authour then had he would not break into those Commendations of him which he otherwise would have done lest his gratitude might have seemed to have bribed his Judgment but I believe it is granted by all the Learned World that Camden's Annals is one of the best pieces that hath seen the Light since the reviving of Learning in this Western part of the World and that great Princess had this additional felicity given her from Heaven that as her Reign was long and prosperous and her memory is precious still and ever will be to all English men so she found in Camden a noble learned eloquent ingenious Celebratour of her actions which hath given her a second Life here on Earth in the memories of men which shall last till the Resurrection instate her in the third the last and most perfect Life of consummated Glory but then all this is meant of the Original Latine for the English Version which we now have is a poor mean harsh style and translated not from the Latine neither but from a French translation so that I will ever hope to see an Elegant new Version made upon the Original and in some degree worthy of that great man But to continue down the History one Robert Johnston a Learned Scot hath written an History of the British and much of the French Dutch and German Affairs both Civil and Ecclesiastick in XXII Books from the year 1572 to the year 1628 that is from the first year of King James the VI th of Scotland to the third year of Charles the first of England which History though for thirty years of it parallel with Camden's Annals yet is even there worthy of our serious reading but then he has brought down the English History XXVI years lower than Mr. Camden did I could wish I could give the Reader a better account than I now can of this Authour who is not known to me by any thing but this History of his but all I can now do is to give the account Printed in the Epistle to the Reader before his History which is this in short This Authour in his Life time published the two first of these Books and dedicated them to Charles the first and then went on in writing the rest which he promised the World then how candidly he has acted in these Histories is left to the judgment of the World in the interim this Good man as was fit gives this testimony of himself I have not sold my Fidelity for Money nor engaged it to any man for his favour and as to my stock of ingenuity I submit it intirely to your censure I onely beg my Reader would treat me in Reading with the same equity he desires I should him in Writing for I seek no other recompence for my Labour besides that of Praise and Memory in after times And a little after No Mortal Man can satisfie all the World because some are delighted with Antiquity and the musty expressions of former times mixed with grave and wise Sentences others are onely to be pleas'd with a Laconick brevity concise and dark expressions whilst at the same time others being enemies to all excessive brevity and too great subtilty are onely to be won by an high and sublime style But it is a folly to expect in the Writers of our Age the Perfect Eloquence of Caesar the Brevity of Cato or Salust the Pomp of Tacitus or the Briskness and Height of the Livian Oratory I willingly acknowledge that in this Narrative I have performed nothing that is great or high I have onely represented the British Affairs in necessary words without any paint or fraud and without the suspicion of Favour or Aversion and in short I am so far from all desire of vain-glory and seeking the Applause of Many that I seek no Praise for my ingenuity but industry I am not in love with Glory but studious of truth and desirous of the reward of a good Conscience and a good Name from Posterity In the interim saith the Publisher the Courteous Reader will easily observe how religiously the Authour pursues all those things which are capable to give an Historian credit and which excite the minds of the Reader to Vertue Probity and Prudence And you will easily observe saith he how many things he relates worthy of Knowledge and which will render a Prince fit for the Administration of publick or domestick affairs in Peace or War at home or abroad and a Clergyman prudent in the Administration of Church-Government This Person was no way tainted with that Presbyterian Levin which then infected the Scotch Nation almost generally nor was he poisoned with the Republican Principles of the Age but every where with great prudence discovers the rise of those Men and Principles which afterwards imbroiled and bid fair for the Ruine of these Nations No Man perhaps having better set forth the turbulent behaviour of the Parliaments in the times in which he Wrote The Combinations and secret underminings of the Factious Levites and their disciples the Good Commonwealth-Men as they were styled in that Age. His Style is short and concise but very clear saving that he affects a little too much the use of Greek Words which may make him a little the less intelligible and pleasant to a mere Latin Reader who is not acquainted with the Greek Tongue Dr. George Bates a Learned Physician hath Written the History of our late Rebellion with great Elegance Judgment Brevity and Fidelity to the Deposition of Richard Cromwell May the 7th 1659. in two parts in which he hath excellently described the Methods by which that abominable War was raised and maintained by our Factions the Execrable Murther of Charles the Martyr and the Miseries that followed thereupon and overwhelmed the English Nation Dr. Thomas Skinner another Learned Physician has continued the former till the year 1669. describing the excessive joy of England at the Restitution of Charles the Second of Blessed Memory and the Catastrophies of the Regicides with an Elegance as bright and sparkling as the English exultation was in the day when God so wonderfully turn'd the Captivity of our Israel a day never to be forgotten by Englishmen SECT XXXI Although we have no perfect Body of our English History in Latin Written according
Pyrenean Mountains THe principal Writers of the History of Gallia which the French now possess that I may say nothing of the most ancient Julius Caesar his VII Books of the Gallick War And Hirtius who continues him nor of Appianus his Celirks which belong to this Story are these Gregorius Turonensis Bishop of Tours in his first Book brings down the History from the beginning of the World to the Reign of Theodosius the first in the other nine Books he sets forth the Lives and actions of the Kings of France to his own times and the year of Christ 594 but the XIth Book which is supposed to have been added by Fredegarius ends in the Death of Charles the Great which happened Anno Christi 814. Paulus Aemilius Veronensis a man of a Livian style of whom mention is made above Sect. XXV as Reinerus Reineccius bears witness spent XXX years in the compiling his History of France after the Dissolution of the Roman Dominion and comes down to Philip and Charles his Brother Children of Luis that is from the year 420 to the year 1488 the opinion of J. Lipsius concerning this History is that if a few things were lightly Corrected he would be a person above the Learning of our Age and deserve the Commendations given to ancient Authours and Ludovicus Vivis saith his History is written with more Fidelity and truth than that of Gaguinus who has disclosed and intermixt his own affections in his History Paulus Jovius hath written the Reigns and Lives of Charles the 8th Luis the 12th and Francis the first King of France splendidly and elegantly Arnoldus Ferronius Burdegalensis hath continued the History of Aemilius to Henry the second Philippus Comines of whom mention is made above Sect. the 25th has woven the History of Luis the XIth and Charles the VIIIth his Son in a clear and elegant style and although Jacobus Mejerus avers in many places that he is mistaken yet he is in the judgment of the Learned Vossius a true and a prudent Historian and Johannes Sleidanns gives him this Elogie This Authour is in my judgment the nearest to the ancient Historians of all those that have wrote in or near our times both in prudence and veracity for he lays before us the grave deliberations that passed in the Closets of Princes before they appeared in their Events abroad which very few have attempted to do fewer have been able to do it effectually and even those who could have done it have yet not dared to do it lest they should offend their Princes Johannes Frossardus has splendidly and elegantly written the History of those dreadfull Wars which passed betwixt the English and French from the year 1335 to the year 1400 who deserves the greater faith because he was a follower of the Courts of Kings and Princes especially of Philippa Daughter of the Count of Heynault Queen to Edward the third King of England nor did he relate any thing in his History but what he had seen with his own Eyes or heard from others who had seen them or had the chief Commands in the Wars Johannes Sleidanus hath excerpted the most material passages out of this History and turned them into Latine for it is Originally written in French and Sir John Bouchier Knight translated this intire History into English Enguerus Monstreletus hath continued Frossardus and brought down the French History to the Reign of Luis the XIIth Martinus Longaeus wrote a Commentary in X Books of the actions of Francis I. of Valoise King of France and Stephanus Doletus and Galeacius Capella have written the History of the Wars betwixt Charles the fifth and this Prince for the Dutchy of Milan from the year 1520 to the year 1530 the latter is followed by Gulielmus Paradinus who hath added the story of the succeeding years to the year 1555. A nameless person perhaps Franciscus Hottomanus has written the History of France during the Reigns of Henry the second Francis the second and Charles the IXth Rabutinus hath written the Expedition of Henry the second against Charles the Vth undertaken in the year 1552 on the behalf of the Princes of Germany Eusebius Philadelphus that is Theodorus Beza who by the Cloudiness of this name obscured himself has wrote the History of Charles the IXth and of his Mother Petrus Matthaeus a Lawyer the Royal Historian has writ the History of Henry the IV th King of France and of Navar in VII Books BESIDES these which we have mentioned there are several others which ought to be perused as Carolus Molinaeus who hath writ of the Rise and Progress of the French Kingdom and Monarchy and Hubertus Leonardus of the Origine of the French â—â—tion but then Hunibaldus Francus who has wrote the affairs of the Franks from the Wars of Troy to the times of Clodoneus is to be esteemed of the same nature with Annius his Berosus and the rest of those fabulous Writers in the judgment of the famous Vossius de Hist. lat lib. 2. c. 22. Aimoinus the Monk is to be better thought of who is an excellent Historian as the Authour de Regimine Principatus lib. 3. c. 21. calls him which work is commonly but very falsely ascribed to Aquinas he wrote the actions of the French from the year 420 to the year 826 in V Books for the proof of whose Fidelity these words of his make very much there was another Monk in the same Monastery a Priest and a professed Monk as well as he and his name was Audoaldus he was of the same age and in his Manners and Conversation very like him from whose Mouth we have received what is delivered and much more which we are confident is faithfully related Nor is Joannes Trithemius though a German to be lightly passed by who has writ III Books of the Origine Kings and affairs of France from the year of Christ 433 to the year 1500 which was the III year of Charles the VIII th Nor Nicholaus Gilius who hath Composed the Annals of France Hermannus Comes who writes of their affairs to the year 1525 or Robertus Gaguinus who has deduced their History from the most remote Antiquity to the time of the Expedition of Charles the VIII th into Italy Anno Christi 1493 though he has mixed his own affections with the History as Vivis saith and yet Mejerus is not to be admitted neither who calls him a frivolous Writer which is to be attributed to his disaffection to the French Nation and all their Historians for he saith of them in general the French do not use to relate their actions with more fidelity than they transact them and besides as Mejerus out of his too great affection to his Countrey has delivered many things done in his own times there very partially so in Foreign affairs he is not over much to be Credited Paulus Jovius affirming of