news came he was got into Holland where being no welcome Guest he wandred up and down two or three years like a Fugitive and at Lorain in Brabant ended his life By this time the Lords had got matter enough against the King at least to justifie their Arms and thereupon with an Army of Forty thousand men they came to London where after some debate they were received and some of them went to the Tower to the King to whom after humble Salutations they shewed the Letter which he had written to the Duke of Ireland to levy an Army for their destruction likewise the Letters which the French King had written to him containing a safe Conduct for him to come into France there to do Acts to his own dishonour and the Kingdoms After which upon the Kings Promise that he would come the next day to Westminster to treat further of these matters the Lords departed only at the Kings desire the Earls of Nottingham and Derby stayed all Night but before the King went to bed his Mind was quite altered as to keeping promise with the Lords which they understanding sent peremptorily to him That if be came not according to his Word they would chuse another King who should hearken to the faithful Counsel of his Lords This touched the King to the quick so that the next morning he went met them they declared to him how much it concerned the good of the Kingdom that those Traitors so often spoken of should be removed from the Court To which the King though much against his Will at last condescended and thereupon the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Chichester fled no man knew whether the Bishop of Durham Lord Treasurer Lord Zouch Lord Burrel Lord Beumont and others were expelled the Court and constrained to put in Bail to appear the next Parliament Also cerâ—ain Ladies were expelled the Court as the Lady Poynings the Lady Mouling and others Several other Knights with three of the Kings Chaplains and the Dean of his Chappel were likewise committed to Prison Shortly after the Parliament began called afterward the Parliament that wrought wonders On the first day whereof all the Judges but one were arrested as they sate upon the Bench and sent to the Tower and several Lords and Bishops were impeached But the Lord Chief Justice Tresillian having made his escape was afterward taken and hanged at Tyburn Sir Nicholas Brember was Beheaded with an Axe which he had prepared for the beheading of others after this divers Lords and Knights and among the rest the Steward of the Kings Household were Beheaded on Tower-hill Also all the Judges were condemned to dye but by the Queens Intercession they were only banished the Realm and all their Lands and Estates Confiscated only a small Sallery was allowed them for their support Finally in this Parliament an Oath was required and obtained of the King that he would perform such things as the Lords should Order and this Oath was likewise required of all the People of the Kingdom After this the Duke of Glocester and some other Lords upon discontent conspire to seize upon the King the Dukes of Lancaster 〈◊〉 York and commit them to Prison and all the other Lords of the Kings Council they determined should be drawn and hanged but the King having notice thereof by a Wile he seizeth upon the Duke of Glocester and sends him presently to Callice where he soon after lost his life being smothered with Pillows as some write and divers other Lords are committed to the Tower and soon after the Earl of Arundel is beheaded on Tower-hill and a Parliament being called the King brought it so about that he obtained the whole Power of the Parliament to be conferred upon certain Persons or to any seven or eight of them and these by virtue of this Grant proceeded to conclude upon many things which concerned the whole Parliament to the great prejudice of the State and a dangerous Example in time to come A General Pardon was also granted for all the Kings Subjects but only to Fifty whose names he would not Express but reserved them to himself that when any of the Nobility offended him he might at his Pleasure name him to be one of the number excepted and so keep them still within his danger Also in this Parliament the Judges gave their Opinious That when Articles are propounded by the King to be handled in Parliament if other Articles be handled before those be first determined that it is Treason in them that do it And for the more strengthning the Acts of this Parliament the King purchased the Popes Bulls containing grievous Censures and Curses to those that should break them And now the Heads of the Opposite Faction having lost their Heads and all things as well setled as could be desired the King was secure as thinking himself safe and he had been indeed safe if Time and Fortune were not Actors in Revenge as well as men or rather if a Superiour Power did not interpose whose ways are as secret as himself is invincible About this time it happened that Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk and Henry Duke of Hereford accused each other for speaking words sounding highly to the Kings dishonour whereupon a Combate is agreed upon between them which being ready to be begun the King interposeth and banisheth the Duke of Norfolk for ever and the D of Hereford for six years But soon after several discontented Lords sollicite the D. of Hereford to return into England take the Government upon him they would be ready to assist him who thereupon without much deliberation prepares to come over and landing at Ravenspur in Yorkshire where many Lords Gentlemen and Common people repaired to him to whom he solemnly protests That though some of them had invited him to come to take the Government yet he came only to take possession of the Inheritance descended to him from his Father which King Richard unjustly and contrary to his promise had seized into his hands Hereupon many more Lords join with him and all the Kings Castles are surrendred to him and the Lord Scroop Treasurer of England Sir Henry Bushy and Sir Henry Green being seized were condemned and beheaded for Misgoverning the King and the Realm King Richard was at that time in Ireland busie in suppressing the Rebels and had no notice of the Dukes Arrival in England till six weeks after but hearing of it he sends the Earl of Salisbury before to raise an Army and promiseth to come himself within six days the Earl provides an Army of Forty Thousand men but when the King came not at his time they all disbanded and went away The King coming over and finding how it was fell into despair and secretly the next night gets into Conway Castle The Duke of Hereford now Duke of Lancaster by his Fathers Death sends the Earl of Northumberland to the King that if his Grace would undertake there should be a
haughty mind would no be so pacified for he demanded his Sword also 〈◊〉 which Sir John Newton answered It is the Kings Sword and thou art not worthy to have it neither durst thou 〈◊〉 it of me if there were no more here but thou and I. 〈◊〉 my Faith said Wat Tyler I will never eat till I haâ— thy Head and would thereupon have fallen upoâ— him But at that very Instant William Walworth Loâ—â— Mayor of London a stout Couragious Person accoâ—â— panied with divers Knights and Esquires came 〈◊〉 assist the King to whom he said My Leige it were great shame and such as had never before been heard 〈◊〉 if in such a presence they should permit a Noble Knight 〈◊〉 be shamefully Murdered and that before the face of thâ—â— Severaign therefore he ought to be rescued and Tyler tâ— Rebel to be Arrested The Lord Mayor had no sooner spoke thus but thâ— King though he were very young yet began to takâ— Courage and commanded him to lay hands upon him Walworth being a man of an incomparable Spirit anâ— Courage immediately arrested Tyler with his Mac upon his Head and that in such a manner as he seâ— down at the feet of his Horse and those who attended the King presently encompassed him round thâ— his Companions could not see him and John Caveâ— dish an Esquire of the Kings alighting from his Horse rust his Sword into Tylers Belly Although some â—ite that the Lord Mayor did it with his Dagger many â—hers followed and wounded him in divers places to â—ath and then they drew his body from among the â—ople into St. Bartholomews Hospital The Commons perceiving their Captain to be slain â—yed out Their Captain was Traiterously murdered â—d incouraged one another to fight and revenge his â—eath and bent their Bows Upon which the King 〈◊〉 to them and said What work is this my Men what 〈◊〉 you mean to do Will you shoot at your King Be not â—â—tinous nor concerned for the death of a Traytor and Riâ—ld I am your King I will be your Captain and Leaâ—r follow me into the Field and there you shall have â—hatsoever you desire This the King said for fear in â—eir fury they should fire the Houses in Smithfield â—here there Captain was slain They thereupon followed him intothe open Feild though the Souldiers â—â—at were with him were uncertain whether they â—ould kill the King or whether they would be â—iet and depart peaceably home with the Kings â—harter In the mean time William Walworth the ever reâ—owned Lord Mayor to prosecute his first worthy â—ct which had succeeded so happily went only with â—â—e man with all speed into the City and there beâ—â—n to cry out You good Citizens come to help your â—ing who is in danger to be murdered and succour me â—ur Mayor who am in the same danger or if you will not â—â—lp me yet leave not the King destitute The Citizens who had a great Esteem and Affection or the King no sooner heard this but with a Noble â—nd Loyal forwardness they immediately raised a thouâ—nd Men who being compleatly armed stayed in â—â—e streets for some Commander who with the Lord â—ayor might lead them to the Assistance of the King 〈◊〉 this his great distress when by good chance Sir Robert Knowls a Freeman of the City came at that instant whom they all desired to be their Leader which he willingly accepted and so with the Lord Mayor and some other Knights they were led to the King who with all his Company rejoyced very much at this unexpected Assistance from these brave armed Citizens who all on a sudden incompassed the whole Body of the Commons And here in an instant was a very strange and Remarkable Alteration for the Commons presently threw down their Arms and falling on their knees begg'd Pardon and they who just before boasted that they had the Kings Life in their power were now glad to hide themselves in Caves Ditches and Corn-fields The Knights being desirous of revenge intreated the King that they might be permitted to take off the heads of an hundred or two of them but the King would not grant it but commanded the Charter which they demanded written and sealed to be delivered to them at that time for preventing further mischief as doubting if they were not satisfied the Commons of Essex and Kent might rise again Having got their Charter they departed home The Commons being thus dispersed and gone the King called for the worthy Lord Mayor and with great Honour deservedly Knighted him in the Field and gave him a hundred pound a year in Fee he also Knighted five Aldermen his Brethren girding them about the waste with the Girdle of Knighthood as the manner was in those days but Stow saith it was thus To cause the Person to put a Basenet on his Head and then the King with a Sword in both his Hands to strike him strongly on the Neck And for an Eternal Remembrance of this happy day the King for the Honour of the City granted that a Dagger should be added to the Arms of the City in the right Quarter of the Shield they before this time bearing only a Cross without the Dagger After this the King marched into the City with great Joy and went to His Mother who lodged in the Tower Royal called then the Queens Wardrobe where she had continued two days and nights in great fear and trouble But when she saw the King she was extreamly comforted saying Ah fair Son what great sorrow have I suffered for you this day To whom the King answered Certainly Madam I know it well but now rejoyce and thank God for I have this day recovered mine Inheritance and the Realm of England which I had almost lost Then the Arch-Bishops Head was taken off London Bridge and Wat Tylers set up in the Place Now since some Writers have reported that the Rebel so Valiantly struck down by Sir William Walworth was named Jack Straw and not Wat Tyler it may be necessary to give an Account of the Principal Leaders and Captains of the Commons of whom Wat Tyler was the Cheif as being the first man who judged himself offended there were likewise Jack Straw John Kirkby Allen Thredder Thomas Scot and Ralph Rugg these and divers others were Commanders of the Kentish and Essex men And at the same time there were gathered together to the number of fifty thousand in Suffolk by the incitement of John Wraw a lewd Priest who made one Robert Westbrome take upon him the name of King these fell to destroying Houses but especially those of Lawyers and seizing Sir John Cavendish Lord Cheif Justice of England they beheaded him and set his Head upon the Pillory in St. Edmundsbury The like Commotion of the Commons was at the same time also in Cambridgshire the Isle of Ely and Norfolk conducted by John Litester a Dyer and to countenance their proceedings the more they designed to have brought William Ufford Earl
and Country who had been quiet for 22 years before so all these calamities were imputed to the Misgovernment of this unhappy Prince The Danes perceiving the Hearts of the Subjects to be drawn from their Sovereign landed in Kerâ— with seven Ships spoiling the Country for eleven years together till at last the King by advice of his Lords paid them ten thousand Pounds to depart the Realm This served for the present but they returned year after year and still obliged the King to give them more Money till at last it came to forty thousand Pound a year which emptied the Land of all the Coin and the English were forced to plough and sow while the Danes sate idle and eat the fruit of their Labours abusing also their Wives and Daughters whereupon they were called Lord Danes now Lurdains signifying a Lazy Lubber In this distressed State the King thought of this expedient to be rid of them He sent out Commissions into every City in his Dominions that at an appointed time they should Massacre all the Danes that were amongst them The Day was Novem. 13 1002 his Command was accordingly performed and that with such Rigour that in Oxford the fearful Danes for refuge took into the Church of St. Frideswide as a Sanctuary of venerable Antiquity but they in their fury regarding neither Place nor Person set the Church on fire wherein many Danes were burnt with divers rich Ornaments and the Library utterly defaced At which time it is said King Etheldred himself was in Oxford and had summoned a Parliament both of English and Danes to meet there and afterwards repaired the Ruins the fire had made In this Masfacre the Lady Gunhild Sister to the King of Denmark and a continual Friend to the English with her Husband and Son were slain Upon the News of this Massacre King Swain with a great Navy of Danes lands in several parts in England and carries all before him and other Danes with 94 ships sailed up the River of Thames and besieged London but the Citizens made such valiant Resistance that they forced them to retire however they fell severely upon Essex Kent Sussex and Hampshire These Calamities were seconded with others as fearful for about this time the City was destroyed by Fire whose beauty then chiefly extended from Ludgate Westward for that within the Walls where the heart of the City now is was then neither beautiful nor orderly built To add to these Miserie 's a dreadful Sickness raged in London and most parts of England hitherto anknown in this Kingdom being a burning Fever and the bloody Flux there was also great scarcity by reason of the Murrain and Death of all sorts of Cattel All these Judgments were imputed to the King and his Abettors Dunstan prophecying further woes to the Land after his death though the King made great lamentation for the Murther of his Brother K. Edward for which his Mother beat him so violently with a wax Taper which stood before her that he could never after well endure the sight of a Taper In 1013 K. Swain came again from Denmark landing a great number of Men in the River Humber and conquered all before him till he came to London and presently besieged King Etheldred within it Swain doubted not of carrying the City but the Citizens considering they had their King with them and that London was the Eye of the Land grew very couragious beating the Danes from the Walls and then sallying out slew them on heaps so that King Swain himself was in great danger had he not desperately ran through the midst of his Enemies Swords and by flight escaped marching day and night in great fear till he had got to Bath where Ethelmere Earl of Devonshire and his people submitted to him but this last overthrow and want of Victuals caused him after he had received a sum of Money to hasten into Denmark but returning with greater Strength he met with the English again and utterly defeated them by reason of the treachery of some English who revolted to the Danes So that the whole Kingdom yea Loudon it self was forced to comply with the calamity of the Times wherewith Etheldred being utterly dejected he sent his VVife Emma and his two Sons to his Brother Richard Duke of Normandy and went himself in one of his Ships to the Isle of Wight and afterwards to Normandy to his Brother leaving the Danes sole Lords and Masters of the Realm A while after King Swain coming to St. Edmundbury in Suffolk threatned to burn down the Church unless they would give him a sum of Money having done the like in several other Places which the Iuhabitants refusing to pay he went to disturb the Bones of St. Edmund so called which while he was doing he suddenly cried out saith the Historian that He was struck by St. Edmund with a Sword being then in the midst of his Nobles and no man seeing from whose hand it came and so with great Horror he died three days after and the Danes advanced Ganutus his Son to the Throne Soon after King Etheldred died also and his third Son called Edmund Ironside of his enduring Labour succeeded A great part of the English both feared and favoured Canutus especially the Clergy who at Southampton swore fealty to him But the Londoners stood firm to Prince Edmund and elected him King In revenge whereof Canutus who had besieged the City before the death of King Etheldred caused his Ships to be towed up the Thames to the East side of the Bridge and from the River with a deep Trench encompassed the City shutting up all the Passages in or out of it But the coming of their new King Edmund to their assistance did much encourage them and disheartned the Danes so that they brake up the Seige King Edmnnd having sent a Challenge to Canutus to fight him in single Combat which he neither accepted nor staid at London but sailed down the Thames to the Isle of Shâ—ppey where he wintred with his Navy and in the Spring assailed the West of England where the Danes were routed After this at a place called Sherostan in Worcestershire another Battle was fought where the Danes were like again to have been discomfited which Edrick an English Man perceiving he cut off the Head of a Soldier whose name was Osmearus who was like King Edmund both in Hair and Countenance and shaking his bloody Sword with the gasping Head cried out to the English Army Fly wrethes fly and get away for your King is slain behold here is his Head therefore seek now to save your own Lives Edmund having notice of this treacherous Stratagem hastned to shew himself whose sight so encouraged his Men that they had got a total Victory if night had not prevented them The Soldiers bent their Bows against Dake Edrick and had shot him to death had he not excused the Fact as being mistaken in the Countenance of the Man and desirous to save the blood
are generally appeased with flattery they offered their Swords against any such Claims and took themselves the Oath of Allegiance to Canutus who being a very wise and Politick Prince had never the better opinion of them for their fawning rightfully judging that those who were false to their natural Prince would never be true to him nor his posterity who were Foreigners Canutus being thus freed from all his Opposites was Crowned King of England at London in 1017. by Elstane Archbishop of Canterbury being the second King of Denmark of that name and the first of England and the 34. Monarch of this Land King Canutus dying left the Kingdom of Norway to his eldest Son Swain and England to his youngest called Hardyknute who being at that time in Denmark Harold his elder Brother by a former wife taking advantage of his absence laid claim to the Crown and enjoyed it four years having neither wife nor child After his death the English as well as Danes who had been for Harold thought best to send for Hardyknute and offer him the Crown who soon after came to London in great state and was there proclaimed King of England and crowned He spent his Reign in doing nothing but doing ill For no sooner had he power to command but he ordered the body of his Brother the deceased King Harold to be taken out of his Grave and disgracefully thrown into the River Thames where it remained till a Fisherman found it and buried it in the Churchyard of S. Clement commonly called St. Clement Danes because say some it was the burying-place for that Nation This Hardyknute altogether neglected his Government delighting in nothing but eating and drinking to excess having his Tables spread with fresh Victuals four times every day which caused all manner of Debauchery to reign among his Subjects by his evil example since it is natural for people to imitate the Vices of their Sovereign He died suddenly at the celebration of a Marriage at Lambeth near London for while he was revelling and carousing in the midst of his Cups he suddenly fell down without speech or breath whose loss was little lamented by reason of his Riot and Excess and the severe Taxes he laid upon the People for maintaining his extravagancies yea so far were any from bewailing him that in remembrance of their Freedom from the Danish yoke he being the last King of the Danes the common people for a long time after celebrated the day of his death which was the eighth of June with open Pastimes in the Streets as the Romans formerly kept their Fugalia for chasing out their Kings which time is called Hocktide or Heuxtide signifying a time of Scorning and Contempt which fell upon the Danes by his death Edward the third of that name before the Conquest half-brother to the deceased Hardy-Canute and Son to King Ethelred by Queen Emma his wife succeeded him and was called Edward the Confessor between whom and Godwin Earl of Kent there happened such differences that they raised Forces against each other and fitted out divers Ships King Edward appointed sixty Ships for a Guard to the Thames mouth but Godwin being a man of very great Authority sollicited the People of Kent Sussex and Surrey to his aid and entering the Thames with his Ships invited the Londoners to join with him which they accordingly did though King Edward were in the City so that without resistance his Navy came up with the Tide to the South end of London-bridge and a very great Army attended to aid him on Southwark side The Nobility observing the People to be divided into Parties and one English man ready to destroy another they so prevailed with King Edward and Godwin that they made a Reconciliation between them and Pledges were delivered for the true performance of the Agreement About this time that is in 1047. there fell a very great Snow in January which covered the ground to the middle of March so that most of the Cattle and Fowl perished and the Year following a strange and terrible Earthquake happened which seemed to rend the earth asunder and such Lightnings withall as burnt up the Corn â—rowing in the Fields whereby an extraordinary Dearth and Faâ—ine followed In the Year 1066. William the Conquerour landed at Pemsey in Sussex and immediately sent a Messenger to King Harold at London whereby he claimed no less than the Crown of England upon pretence of a Donation from King Edward deceased and required that Harold should be a Vassal to him The Messenger urged the same with so much confidence that Harold in his fury could hardly forbear though against the Law of Arms to lay violent hands on the Ambassadour And thereupon he returns a threatning Message to William to depart immediately back into Normandy at his utmost peril He then proceeds to muster his Forces which were not so many as he expected though divers Noblemen Gentlemen and others who were inflamed with the love of the Rights and Liberties of their Native Country joined with him to keep out this dangerous Foreigner However King Harold with an undaunted courage led his men into Sussex against the earnest intreaty of his Mother who endeavoured to hinder him and pitching his Tents in a large fair Plain not above seven miles from the Enemy he sent forth his Spies for discovery who being taken by Duke William he ordered that they should view all his Tents and then sent them safely back to Harold They commended Williams clemency and his great strength but told Harold that they thought all his Army were Priests for their Beards were all shaved whereas the use of the English was then to reserve the hair of the upper lip without cutting King Harold replied they were no Priests but men of great courage and valour to his knowledgeâ— he having been formerly in that Country Harold was thereupon persuaded not to venture himself in the Battle but to go on to levy more Souldiers And his Brother told him that William charged him that he had taken an Oath to settle him in the Throne and said he Thou knowest what Oath thine own mouth hath made unto William if it were lawful and thou tookest it willingly withdraw thy self out of the Field lest for thy great sin the whole Army be destroyed for there is no power that can resist God But Harold reproved his Brother for his freedom and disdainfully undervalued the strength of the Normans and seemed to conceive that nothing which he did being a private man could now bind him when he was a Prince Duke William being now come into the Field and both Armies facing each other as ready for Battle to spare the effusion of Christian bloud he sent a Monk as a Mediator for Peace offering Harold either to resign the Kingdom to himself and acknowledge him his Sovereign or to trie the quarrel in single Battle in the sight of both Armies or lastly to stand to the Arbitrement of the Pope who should
his hands as far as the Borders of Scotland and then he divides his Army committing one part to his Brother William Earl of Salisbury who was ordered to fall upon London and with the other he himself goes into Yorkshire where most of the Lords had Estates which he miserably destroys with Fire and Sword The Lords being distressed on every side resolved upon a course neither honourable nor safe yet such as Necessity made appear to be both For they send to Philip K. of France requiring him 〈◊〉 send over his Son Lewis to their aid and promisâ— they would submit themselves to be governed 〈◊〉 him and to take him for their Sovereign 〈◊〉 this mention of the Lords King Philip was as forward as themselves which King John understanding sends again to the Pope requiring him to use 〈◊〉 Authority to stay the King of France from coming Who accordingly sent Cardinal Wallo his Legate who threatned the Great Curse in the Council on all who should join with those Excommunicate persons against King John or should enter upon St. Peters Patrimony But King Philip replied That England was no part of St. Peters Patrimony no King having power of himself to alienate his Kingdom and John especially who being never lawful King had no power to dispose thereof and that it was an Errour and a pernicious Example in the Pope and an itching lust and desire after a new and lawless Dominion His Peers likewise swore by Christs death That they would lose their lives rather than suffer a King of himself or with the consent of a few base Flatterers to give away his Crown and enslave his Nobles especially to the Pope who ought to follow St. Peters steps to win souls and not to meddle with Wars and murthering of mens bodies Now the reason of the Popes claiming England as St. Peters Patrimony was upon the account of the Resignation of King John And though the Pope seemed now so zealous for the Interest of King John yet not above five years before he was as much his Enemy For the King being incensed against the Clergy and endeavouring to rectifie some miscarriages about electing Bishops c. the Pope fearing he would intrench upon his Priviledges used his utmost power against him forbidding Mass to be said for some years Excomâ—â—unicating and Cursing him and giving his King 〈…〉 to the French King and stirring up his â—wn Nobility against him freeing them and all the People from their Allegiance to him So that King John being encompassed with Troubles on every side was compelled to submit to whatever the Pope would command him Nay he was forâ—ed to take off his Crown and kneeling on his knees in the midst of his Barons he surrendred it into the hands of Pandulphus the Legate for the Popes use saying Here I resign up the Crown of the Realm of England to the hands of Pope Innocent the Third and lay myself wholly at his mercy and appointment At whose feet he also laid his Scepter Robes Sword Ring and all the Ensigns of Royalty Pandulphus took the Crown from King John and kept it five days and the King giving then all his Kingdoms to the Pope to be held in Farm from him and his Heirs for evermore the Crown was restored King John engaging to pay 700 Marks a year for England and 300 for Ireland half of it at Easter and half at Whitsuntide as Rent for the said kingdoms But this being done out of force and necessity King Philip it seems no more than his own People did not think it of any value Yea Prince Lewis himself beseeched his Father not to hinder him from that which was none of his gift and for which he was now resolved to spend his bloud and would chuse rather to be excommunicated by the Pope than falsifie his promise to the English Barons For upon their sending their Letters of Allegiance confirmed with the Hands and Seals of all the Lords to implore King Philips favour and to send his Son and desiring his Son to accept of the Crown they received a present supply of French Souldiers upon their delivering up fifty English Gentlemen as Hostages for the true performance of the Contract King Philip therefore having received his Holiâ—â— Message with such scorn and contempt so aâ—â—righted the Legate with his stern countenance that he made all possible haste to be gone as fearing some mischief should be done him And Lewâ— as speedily set forth for England with his Fleeâ— of six hundred Ships and fourscore Boats whereâ— with arriving first in the Isle of Thanet and afterward going to Sandwich the Barons came thither to him and joined with him King Johns great Navy wherewith he intended to oppose him was driven Southward by a sudden Tempest and his Souldiers were generally Mercenaries and more inclined as it appeared afterward to Lewis a Foreign Prince than to him whereupon King John thought fit for the present to forbear Battle and went toward Winchester In the mean time Lewis had liberty to take all places thereabout except Dover Castle which John had committed to the valiant Hubert de Burg. Yet Lewis marcheth forward to London where entering with a solemn Procession and with the incredible applause of all he went into St. Pauls Church and there the Citizens of London took their Oaths of Allegiance to him From whence he passed to Westminister and there the Lords and Barons likewise swore to be true to him he himself likewise swearing to restore to all men their Rights and to recover to the Crown whatsoever had been lost by King John Then he chose Simon Langton who had been lately disgraced by the Pope for his Lord Chancello by whose preaching the Citizens of London and the Lords though they were excommunicated and under the Popes curse did yet celebrate Divine Service and drew on Prince Lewis to do the like Whereupon Wallo the Popes Legate who was now with King John denounced heavy and solemn Curses throughout the kingdome against the Londoners and especially against Lewis and his Chancellour by name But Lewis went from London and passeth over 〈◊〉 the Country without resistance but not withâ—ut infinite outrages committed by his Souldiers which was not in his power to hinder In the â—ean time King John finding his Enemies imployed in the Siege of Dover Castle and likewise â—t Odiam Castle wherein 13 English men onely braved Lewis and his whole Army for 15 days together nay sallied out upon them and taking every man a Prisoner to the great admiration of the French they returned safely back again and afterward delivered up the place upon honourable conditions King John thereupon gathers a Rabble of Rascally people about him with which he over-runs all the Country to the ruining of the Barons Castles and Estates in all places And then marching from Lyn in Norfolk on which place he bestowed his own Sword a gilt Bole and divers large Priviledges in testification of their Loyalty to him
slain and with the execution of eight more though five hundred were found guilty this Insurrection is suppressed It was a custom that upon St. Bartholomews day the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London should go to the Wrestling-place near More-fields where at this time the Prior of St. Johns likewise was to see the sport and a Servant of his being ashamed to be foiled before his Master desired to Wrestle again contrary to custom which the Lord Mayor denied whereupon the Prior fetched Bowmen from Clerkenwel against the Mayor and some slaughter was made the Mayors Cap was shot through with an Arrow yet he would have the sport go on but no Wrestlers came whereupon he said He would stay a while to make Trial of the Citizens respect to him and presently after a great party of them came with Banners displaid and fetched him home in triumph Soon after another Quarrel happened in Holborn between the Gentlemen of the Inns of Chancery and some Citizens in appeasing whereof the Queens Attorney and three more were slain The year after the Apprentices of London upon a very slight occasion fall upon the Foreign Merchants rifling and robbing their houses but the Lord Mayor by his discretion appeased the Tumult punishing some of the Offenders with Death and others by Fine and all things are quieted and appeased The Kings Resloration 1660. The Regicides of Exec at Charingcross The Insurection of Venner c. 1660. As soon as this Parliament was dissolved the Duke sends for the Queen and some others to come out of Scotland But they had raised an Army there and the Duke of York met them with another and at Wakefield Green the Duke is flain with the loss of three thousand of his men and leing dead had his head crowned with a Paper Crown together with many other Circumstances of disgrace However his Son Edward Earl of March prosecutes the Quarrel and puts the Queens Forces to flight which she endeavoured to recruit but some of her Northern Army having robbed the People as they came along the Country saying It was their Bargain to have all the Spoil in every place The Londoners would not suffer any Provision to be sent to them the Commons rising about Cripplegate and stopping the Carts which the Lord Mayor was sending to the Army In the mean time the Earls of March and Warwick having got a considerable Army march to London and were joyfully received there And soon after the Earl of Warwick drawing all his Forces into St. Johns Field by Clerkenwel and having cast them in a Ring he read to them the Agreement of the last Parliament and then demanded Whether they would have King Henry to reign still Who all cryed out No No. Then he asked them Whether they would have the Earl of March Eldest Son of the Duke of York by that Parliament proclaimed King to reign over them Who with great shouting answered Yes Yes Then several Captains and others of the City went to the Earl of March at Baynards Castle to acquaint him what had passed who at first seemed to excuse himself as unable to execute so great a charge but encouraged by the Archbishop of York the Bishops of London and Exeter and the Earl of Warwick he at laft consented to take it upon him and soon after he was generally proclaimed King And here Writers end the Reign of King Henry the sixth though there were several changes For sometimes he was a King and sometimes none yet he was never well setled though he lived twelve years after King Henry was then in the North and raise an Army to oppose Edward but is defeated by the Lord Falconbridge Upon which Henry and his Queen go to Scotland and raise more Forces but are again beaten And now King Edward sits three days together in the Kings Bench in Westminster Hall to hear Causes and regulate Disorders And the Earl of Warwick is sent into France to treat of a Marriage with that Kings daughterâ— but in the mean while the King marries the Lady Elizabeth Gray At which Warwick grows discontented and joins against King Edward and surprizing him takes him Prisoner but he soon made his escape King Henry was taken in disguise and sent to the Tower of London some years before And now Warwick going to France brought a great Army over and proclaimed Edward an Usurper who thereupon endeavoured to raise an Army but could not and therefore fled out of England into the Duke of Burgundies Country and King Henry is taken out of Prison where he had been nine years and again proclaimed King But King Edward by the assistance of the Duke of Burgundy lands an Army in Yorkshire and marches towards London where he was joyfully received And in the year 1471 and the 11 year of his Reign K. Edward made his entry into the City and had King Henry delivered into his hands The Earl of Warwick having notice thereof marcheth with his Army toward St. Albans and King Edward follows him carrying King Henry along with him where the Earl of Warwick and many others are slain and Henries Parry utterly routed And now was the time for King Henry to be delivered out of all his Troubles for the bloudy Duke of Glocester entering the Tower of London where he sound King Henry nothing at all troubled for all his Crosses struck him into the heart with his Dagger and there slew him And now within half a years space we find one Parliament proclaimed Edward an Usurper and Henry a lawful King and another proclaiming Edward a lawful King and Henry an Usurper that we may know there is nothing certain in humane Affairs but uncertainty In the fifth year of King Henry the sixth it rained almost continually from Easter to Michaelmas In his seventh year the Duke of Norfolk was like to have been drowned passing through London Bridge his Barge being set upon the Piles so overwhelmed that thirty persons were drowned and the Duke with others that escaped were fain to be drawn up with Ropes In his seventeenth year was so great a Dearth of Corn that people were glad to make Bread of Fearn roots Next year all the Lions in the Tower died In the thirty third year of his Reign there was a great Blazing Star and there happened a strange sight a monstrous Cock came out of the Sea and in the presence of a multitude of people made a hideous crowing three times beckening toward the North South and West There were also many prodigious Births and in some places it rained bloud About this time the Draw-bridge on London Bridge was made and Leaden Hall was built to be a Storehouse of Grain and Fewel for the poor of the City In the first year of this Kings Reign a Parliament was held at London where the Queen-Mother with the young King in her lap came and sate in the House of Lords In this Kings Reign Printing was first brought into England by William Caxton of
of them were hanged and the â—est to the number of 400 men and 11 women â—yed in Ropes one to another and in their shirts name to Westminster Hall with Halters about their necks and were pardoned In his twenty third â—ear Richard Price a Cook was boiled to death in Smithfield for poisoning divers persons in the Bishop of Winchesters House One Cartnel the Hangman of London and two others were hanged near Clerkenwel for robbing a Booth in Bartholomew Fair. About this time Queen Anne of Bullen was beheaded in the Tower with her Brother and divers other Gentlemen In his fifteenth year after great Rains and Winds there followed so sharp a Frost that many died for cold some lost their fingers some toes and many their nails In his twentieth year there was a great Sweating Sickness which infected all places in the Realm In his thirty sixth year a great Plague was in London so that Michaelmas Term was kept at St. Albans A Priest was set in the Pillory in Cheapside and burnt in both the cheeks with F and A for false Accusing In his thirty fourth year Margaret Dary a Maid-servant was boiled to death in Smithfield for poisoning three Housholds where she lived This year there were four Eclipses of the Sun and three of the Moon King Henry deceased when he had reigned thirty seven years and lived fifty six King Edward the sixth succeeded being but nine years old In his time the Reformation began which King Henry had made way for by renouncing the Popes Supremacy though himself died a Papist Edward was an excellent Religious Prince and ordered the pulling down of all Popish Images and Pictures and it was observed that the very same day that Images were pulled down at London the English obtained a great Victory over the Scots at Muscleborough This King upon a Sermon preached by Bishop Ridley concerning Charity gave three Houses in London to the relief of the Poor For the Fatherless and Beggars children he gave the Gray Fryars now called Christ Church to the lame and diseased persons St. Thomas Hospital in Southwark and St. Bartholomews in West-Smithfield and for vagrant idle persons he gave his house of Bridewell In the second 〈◊〉 of his Reign there was a great Plague in 〈◊〉 St. Anns Church within Aldersgate was 〈◊〉 In his third year Thomas Seymoâ—â— Lord 〈◊〉 and Brother to the Lord Protector 〈◊〉 beheaded on Tower-hill King Edward 〈◊〉 reigned seven years died being but sixte◠〈◊〉 of age And the Lady Jane Gray Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk was proclaimed Queen by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London as being made Heir to the Crown by the last Will of King Edward upon which the Lady Mary flies to Farmingham Castle in Suffolk and there upon her solemn promise and engagement not to alter the Religion established nor to bring in Popery the Gentlemen of that Country and Norfolk joined with her and soon after she obtained the Crown But Queen Mary quickly forgot her Obligation for as soon as she was setled in the Throne she presently removed all the Protestant Bishops and put others in their room and persecuted the Protestants with all manner of cruelty so that in her short Reign of five years and four moneths there suffered upon the account of Religion onely 277 persons of all sorts and ages for there perished by the cruel flames 5 Bishops 21 Divines 8 Gentlemen 84 Artificers 100 Husbandmen Servants and Labourers 26 Wives 20 Widows 9 Virgins 2 Boys and 2 Infants one sprung out of the Mothers Womb as she was burning at the Stake and most unmercifully flung into the fire at the very Birth 64 more in those furious times were persecuted in the Faith whereof 7 were whipt 16 perished in Prison 12 buried in Dunghills and many more lay in captivity condemned who were happily delivered by the glorious entrance of Q. Elizabeth though she her self hardly escaped being imprisoned in the Tower of London every day expecting the tidings of her death her Servants were kept from her and none but Rustical Souldiers about her Nay because a little Boy did but bring her Flowers sometimes in the Tower he was threatned to be whipt if he went any more her Goalers pretending the child brought Letters to her Yea bloudy Bishop Gardiner invented and contrived a Warrant under Queen Maries hand for her Execution which was sent to the Lieutenant of the Tower but the Queen hearing of it denied her having any knowledge of it and threatned Gardiner and some others for their inhumane usage of her Sister whereby she happily escaped In the first year of Queen Maries Reign one Sir Thomas Wiat of Kent put himself into Arms to prevent her marriage with Philip King of Spain as tending to bring England under the Yoak of Spain and to make the Country a Slave to Strangers And divers other Knights and Gentlemen joining with him he marcheth toward London and coming to Charing Cross he was encountered by the Lord Chamberlain and Sir John Gage whom he put to flight but coming to Ludgate he is denied entrance and thinking to retire he heard the Earl of Pembroke with his Forces was behind him at Chaâ—ing Cross upon which being amazed after a little musing he returned toward Temple-Bar and yielded himself to Sir Maurice Berkley and getting upon his Horse behind him went to the Court where expecting the Queens mercy but he was sent to the Tower and soon after beheaded at Tower-hill About this time the Lord Guilford Dudley the Husband of Queen Jane the Duke of Northumberland his Father and likewise Queen Jane and her Father the Duke of Suffolk were beheaded on Tower-hill In her fourth year hot burning Agues and other strange diseases took away many people so as between Octob. 20. and the last of December there died seven Aldermen of London In her fifth year on the last of September fell so great store of Rain that Westminster Hall was full of Water and Boats rowed over Westminster Bridge into Kings street About which time a Blazing Star was seen all times of the night from the sixth to the tenth of March. Queen Mary being dead Queen Elizabeth is proclaimed and brought from Hatfield in Hartfordshire to London where she was received with great Joy She restored and setled the Protestant Reformation though great offers were made her by the Pope if she would become Papist In her first year William Geoffry was whipt from the Marshalsey to Bedlam for publishing that one John More was Jesus Christ which More after he had been well whipt confessed himself to be a couzening knave A terrible tempest of Thunder and Lightning happened at London which fired the lofty Spire of St. Pauls Steeple beginning about the top thereof which was two hundred foot high from the top of the stone Battlements and burnt down to the roof of the Church consuming all the Bells Lead and Timber work In 1564. was a great Frost so that great numbers of
was furnished formerly with Towers and Bulwarks in due distance from each other and the River of Thames with its Ebbing and Flowing had overthrown the Walls and Towers on the Banks thereof whereupon William the Conquerour for the defence of the City which lay open to the Enemy having taken down the second Bulwark in the East part of the Wall toward the Thames built the Great White Tower which hath been since enlarged at several times with buildings adjoining thereto This Tower in the 4th of William Rufus 1092. was much shaken and defaced by a great Tempest of Wind but was again repaired by William Rufus and Henry the first who likewise built a Castle on the South-side thereof toward the Thames intrenching the same round about Historians say of this William Rufus That he challenged the Investiture of Prelates He pilled and shared the People with Tribute especially to spend about the Tower of London and the Great Hall at Westminster The four first Constables or Keepers of the Tower were Othowerus Acolinillus Otto and Jeffry Magnaville Earl of Essex who was also Sheriff of London Middlesex Essex and Hertfordshire He fortified the Tower of London against K. Stephen but the King seizing him at his Court at St. Albans would not discharge him till he had delivered it up together with the Castles of Walden and Plashey in Essex In 1153 the Tower of London and Castle of Windsor were delivered by the King to Richard de Lucie to be safely kept In 1155 Thomas Becket Chancellor to Hen. 2. caused the Flemings to be banished out of England their Castles lately built to be demolished and the Tower of London to be repaired In the 2. of Rich. first 1190. William Longshamp Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor by reason of some difference between him and Earl John the Kings Brother who was in Rebellion inclosed the Tower and Castle of London with an outward Wall of Stone embatailed and likewise caused a deep ditch to be made about the same designing as is aforementioned to have invironed it with the River of Thames This inclosure and Ditch took away some ground from Trinity Church in London which King Edward recompenced And a great quantity of Ground likewise was taken from the City upon this Account yet the Citizens had no recompence nor were offended thereat since it was done with their liking as being for the defence of the City But another Historian saith that in 1239 Hen. 3. Fortified the Tower of London to another Purpose and the Citizens fearing it was intended to their detriment complained to the King who answered That he had not done it to their hurt but saith he I will do from henceforth as my Brother doth in building and fortifying Castles who beareth the name of being wiser than I. But the next year all these Noble Buildings of the Stone Gate and Bulwark were shaken as with an Earthquake and fell down which the King commanded to be again built better than before And in the year 1241. Though the King had bestowed above 12000 Marks in the work yet the Wall and Bulwarks irrecoverably fell down at which the Citizens were very well pleased for they were threatned that when this Wall and Bulwarks were built if any of them should contend for the Liberties of the City they should be Imprisoned therein Yet were they again rebuilt and finished by Edward the 1. and the Bulwark at the West-gate now called the Lyon Tower added the Original of which name and of Lyons in England we read was thus Henry the 1. built the Mannor of Woodflock and walled the Park about with stone seven Miles in compass destroying to that purpose divers Villages Churches and Chappels and this was the first Park in England and as the Record saith He appointed therein besides great store of Deer divers strange beasts to be kept and nourished such as were brought to him from far Countreys as Lyons Leopards Linxes Porpentines and such other for such was his Estimation among Outlandish Princes that few would willingly offend him In the year 1235 we read that Frederick the Emperour sent Henry 3. three Leopards in token of his Regal sheild of Arms wherein they were pictured since which time the Lyons and other Creatures have been kept in a part of this Bulwark now called the Lyons Tower In the 16 of Edward 3. One Lyon One Lyonefs One Leopard and two Cattes Lyons were committed to the custody of Robert Boure Edw. 4. Fortified the Tower of London and inclosed a peice of Ground West from the Lyon Tower upon Tower-bill with brick now called the Bulwark And in the 6th year of his Reign he ordered a Scaffold and Gallows to be set upon the Hill for the Execution of Offenders upon which the L. Mayor and Aldermen complained to the King but were answered That it was not done in Derogation of the Cities Liberties and caused Proclamation to be made thereof accordingly Richard the 3. and Henry the 8. repaired this Tower but in the 2. of Edward 6 1548. Nov. 22. A Frenchman lodging in the round Bulwark between the Westgate and the Postern by setting fire to a Barrel of Gunpowder in the night blew up that Bulwark yet burnt none but himself this Bulwark was soon rebuilt again This west Gate of the Tower is the Principal Gate for receiving and delivering all manner of Carriages and without it there are divers Bulwarks and Gates turning to the North within this Gate to the South is a strong Postern for Passengers by the VVard-house over a Drawbridge which is let down and pull'd up at pleasure Next to this on the South side East-ward is a large VVater-gate commonly called Traytors Gate because some have been carried in that way this Gate is partly under a strong Stone Bridge from the River of Thames Beyond which was a small Postern with a Drawbridge seldom let down but for receiving in some Great Persons Prisoners Further to the East was a Great and strong Gate called the Iron Gate but not usually opened And so much for the Foundation building and repairing of the Tower with the Gates and Posterns There are many Fair Houses within the walls of the Tower wherein the Officers belonging thereto and other Inhabitants live there is also a Chappel In the year 1196 William Fitz Ozbet a Citizen seditiously moving the People to stand up for their Liberties and not to be subject to the Rich and Mighty was taken and brought before the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Tower where he was condemned by the Judges and being drawn thence by the Heels to the Elms in East-Smithfield he was there hanged In 1214. King John writ to Jeffery Magnaville to deliver the Tower of London with the Prisoners Armour and all other things found therein belonging to the King to William Archdeacon of Huntington In the first of Henry 3. 1216. the Tower was delivered to Lewes of Franse and the Barons of England In 1206 Pleas of the
which the Rabble cryed Where is the Traytor who answered I am the Archbishop whom you seek not a Traytor Whereupon they dragged him out of the Chappel to Tower-hill where being incompassed with many Thousands and seeing many drawn swords about his head he said What is it dear Brethren you purpose to do what is mine offence committed against you for which you will kill me you were best take heed that if I be killed who am your Pastor there come not on you the Indignation of the just Revenger or at least for such a fact all England be not put under Interdiction or the Popes Curse But they cried out with a great noise That they did not fear the Interdiction neither did allow the Pope to be above them The Archbishop seeing death at hand spoke them fairly and granting forgiveness to the Executioner he kneeled down and offered his Head to be cut off The Hangman struck him on the neck but not deadly he putting up his hand said Aha it is the hand of God and being struck again before he removed his hand his fingers ends were cut off and part of the Arteries with which he fell down but died not till they had mangled him with eight several strokes in the Neck and Head His body lay two days unburied none daring to do it His Head they cut off and nailing his hood thereon fixt it upon a Pole on London Bridge This Simon Sudbury was eighteen years Bishop of London and being translated to Canterbury he in 1375. repaired the Walls of London from the West-gate which he built to the North-gate which had been destroyed by the Danes before the Conquest of William the Bastard He was at last buried in the Cathedral at Canterbury Sir Robert Hales Lord Treasurer of England suffered with him at the same time a most Valiant Knight and Lord of St. Johns together with John Leg one of the Serjeants at Arms and William Apledore a Franciscan Friar who was the Kings Confessor Many more were beheaded daily for no cause but the pleasure of the Commons for it was pastime to them to take any who were not sworn of their Party and pulling off their Hoods behead them They took 13 Flemings out of the Augustine Friers 17 out of another Church and 32 in the Vintry and beheaded them all And to make a distinction of Flemings they put them to pronounce Bread and Cheese and if they spake it like Brot and Cawse off went their Heads as a sure sign that they were Flemings The King coming according as he was required to Mile-end was much astonished at the madness of the People who with frowning Countenances made the following demands which they presented in writing â—nd would have them confirmed by the Kings Letters Patents 1. That all men should be free from Servitude or Bondage so that from thenceforth there should be no Bondmen 2. That he should Pardon all men of what Estate soever all manner of Actions and Insurrections committed and all Treasons Felonies Transgressions and Extortions by any of them done and to grant them Peace 3. That all men henceforth might be infranchised or made free to buy and sell in every County City Burrough Town Fair Market and other Places within the Realm of England 4. That no Acre of Land holden in Bondage or Service should be holden but for four pence and if it had been held for less in former time it should not now be inhanced These and many other things they required telling the King That he had been ill Governed to that day but for the time forward he must be otherwise governed The King finding himself in danger yeilded hereunto and so desiring a Truce the Essex men returned home Next day the King went to Westminster to visit St. Edwards Shrine and coming back by Westsmithfield he found the place full of Kentishmen to whom he sent word That their Fellows the Essex men were gone home and that if they desired it he would grant them the same Conditions of Peace But their Chief Captain named John or as others say Walter Hilliard alias Tyler being a cunning Fellow answered He desired Peace but upon his own Conditions intending by fair words to have delayed the business till the next day for he designed that Night to have killed the King and the Nobility about him and then to have pâ—â—ndred the City and burnt it But he was wonderfully disappointed in his Pride having refused Conditions of Peace which were sent him in three several Charters three times Upon which the King at last sent Sir John Newton not to Command but to Intreat him to come and discourse with him concerning what he demanded among which one particular was That Wat Tyler desired a Commission to behead all Lawyers Escheators and others whatsoever that were learned in the Law conceiving that afterward all would be managed according to the Humour of the Common People And it is reported that the day before putting his hand to his Lips he had said That before four days came to an end all the Laws of England should proceed from his mouth When Sir John Newton desired Tyler to dispatch him he scornfully answered If thou art so hasty thou mayst go to thy Master for I will come when I please However Sir John Newton followed him slowly on Horseback and by the way a Doublet-maker brought threescore Doublets to the Commons and demanded thirty Marks for them but could have no Money Upon which Wat Tyler told him Friend be quiet thou shalt be well paid before this day be ended keep nigh me and I will be thy Creditor Wat Tyler then set Spurs to his Horse and rid up toward the King coming so near that his Horse touched the Crouper of the Kings to whom he said Sir King seest thou all yonder People Yes truly said the King but why dost thou ask Because said Tyâ—er they are all at my Command and have sworn their Truth and Faith to me to do whatever I bid them In good time replyed the King I believe it well Then said Tyler Believest thou King that these People and as many more that are in London will depart from thee thus without having thy Letters No said the King you shall have them they are ready and shall be delivered to them all Wat Tyler observing Sir John Newton to be near him bearing the Kings Sword was offended saying Thâ— it became him better to be afoot in his presence Thâ— Knight answered stoutly That surely there was no haâ—â— in it since he himself was on Horseback This so iâ— raged Wat that he drew his Dagger and offered 〈◊〉 strike the Knight calling him Traytor Sir John toâ—â— him he lied and drew his Dagger likewise Wat Tylâ— seeming much disturbed at this Indignity attempteâ— before his Rustick Companions to have run upon thâ— Knight whom the King to preserve from the dangeâ— commanded to alight from his Horse and deliver hiâ— Dagger to Wat Tyler But his
in this manner not only our Streets but our Shops and Houses shall never be free from violence and wrong this we neither will nor can endure for it doth not become us And hereupon they approached the Gates with great Fury But the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs having notice hereof came to them and told them That this â—as not Courage but Outrage which they shewed whereby they would procure both danger to themselves and displeasure against the whole City and that though wrong had been done yet they were not the Persons neither was this the way to redress the same Thus partly by perswasion and partly by their Presence and Authority they suppressed the Riot and sent every man home with strict charge to keep the Peace Hitherto there was no great mischeif done and the quarrel might have been ended without any further trouble had not the Bishops stirred in it and kindled the Coals of Contention afresh For the Londoners were at that time not only secretly suspected but openly noted to be Favourers and Followers of Wickliffs Opinions which were contrary to the Pope and Church of Rome and upon that account the Bishops were malicious against them and most of their Actions were interpreted to proceed from other Causes and to tend to worse Purposes than they outwardly seemed to bear yea many accidental matters were charged upon them to be done out of Design and on purpose Whereupon John Waltham Bishop of Salisbury and Lord Treasurer of England made a grievous Complaint against them for this last Attempt to Thomas Arundel Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor alledging That if upon every slight pretence the Citizens should be suffered in this manner to affront the Bishops without reproof or punishment they would endanger not only the Dignity and State but the Liberty of the whole Church also For said he did they not lately take upon them the punishment of Adulteries and other Crimes appertaining to Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction maliciously alledging That either the Bishops and their Officers were infamous for those Vices themselves and did therefore Connive at the same in others Or else by Covetous Commutation and taking of Money did rather set those sins to Sale than endeavour carefully to suppress them Did they not said he rudely and irreverently break open the doors upon the Archbishop of Canterbury and interrupt his Proceedings against John Aston an open Disciple of Wickliff and do we imagine that this is the last Indignity they will offer no certainly nor yet the least for if this boldness and Insolence be not supprest our Authority will soon fall into Contempt and Scorn and will be made a Common Football for every base and unworthy Citizen to kick at Armed with these furious Arguments they went together to King Richard and so incensed him against the Londoners his Mind being before prepared by former Provocations that he was once resolved to have utterly ruined and destroyed the whole City But being perswaded to use more Moderation he in Revenge first caused the Lord Maior Sheriffs and many of the Principal Citizens to be committed to several Prisons the Lord Mayor to Windsor Castle and others to other Places and then seized the Liberties of the City into his hands declaring that no Lord Mayor should for the future be Elected any more but that the King should at his Pleasure appoint a Warden or Governour over the City And this Office was first committed to Sir Edward Darlington who for his kindness toward the City was soon removed and Sir Baldwin Radington put in his place The King was likewise perswaded by Arundel Archbishop of York to remove the Terms and Courts that is the Chancery Exchequer Kings Bench the Hamper Office and the Common-pleas from London to York where they continued from Midsummer 1393. till Christmas next following to the great dammage and loss of the City of London But at last upon the earnest intreaty of the Dukes of Lancaster and Glocester his Uncles the King sent for the Londoners before him to Windsor where having first terrified them with the sight of a great Number of Souldiers he caused all the Priviledges and Charters of the City both old and new to be produced some of which he restored to them and detained others Yet were not the Citizens received fully into favour neither did they recover the Person or Dignity of their Lord Mayor at that time Shortly after the King went to London at whose coming the Citizens turned all their Greif into Joy the Vulgar being without measure in both entertaining him with such joyful Triumphs and Rich Presents as if it had been the day of his Coronation thinking by all these costly preparations to have pacified all former Anger and displeasure against them but they found themselves much deceived there being no Reconciliation to be made without Money for they were not absolutely restored to their Liberties till they had paid Ten Thousand pound to the King as a Fine Thus did the Londoners shew a strange diversity of Disposition in rashly committing an Offence and patiently induring punishment yet upon this Account as soon as the first occasion was offered against King Richard they shewed themselves either his earnest Enemies or faint Friends as by the sequel appears In 1387. King Richard II. held his Feast of Christmas in the Tower of London And in the year 1399 the same King was sent Prisoner to the Tower which being a very remarkable Transaction it may be necessary to give a breif Account thereof Richard the II. was the only Son of a Renowned Father Edward Sirnamed the Black Prince who died before his Father Edward III. and thereupon Richard was by his Grandfather in his Life-time declared to be his Heir and lawful Successor and accordingly after his Death was Crowned King of England at Westminster July 16. 1377. But being of tender age only eleven years old several Persons were commissioned to be his Protectors or Guardians and soon after a Parliament was called at Westminster wherein Alice Peirce the late Kings Concubine was banished and all her Goods Confiscate and two Tenths of the Clergy and two Fifteenths of the Temporality were granted but so as that two Citizens of London William Walworth and John Philpot should receive and keep it to see it bestowed for defence of the Realm At which time Sir Hugh Calverly Deputy of Callice burnt 26 French Ships in the Haven of Bulloigne But one Mercer a Scottish Pyrate came to Scarborough and took divers Ships committing likewise many Outrages and no Order being taken to repel them John Philpot set out a Fleet at his own Charge and encountring him in his own Person took Mercer and all his Ships and returning home instead of being rewarded for his Service he was questioned for presuming to fit out a Navy without Advice of the Kings Council While the King was in his Minority matters were carried indifferent well but in the year 1387 King Richard begins to enter as we
may say upon the Confines of his Destiny His Gracing of undeserving Men and Disgracing of Men deserving if they were not the Causes were at least the occasions of his own Disgracing He was now come to be of full Age to do all himself which was indeed to be of full Age to undo himself for the Errors of his younger years might be excused by inexperience but the faults of the Age he was now of admit of no Apology nor defence And to hasten his destiny the sooner the Evil Counsel which was formerly but whispered in his Ear they now had the Confidence to give him aloud For it was told him That he was under Tuition no longer and therefore not to be controlled as formerly he had been That to be crost of his will by his Subjects was to be their Subject That he is no Soveraign if he be not Absolute By the instigation of such Counsellors as these the King in a Parliament then Assembled fell to expostulate with the Lords asking them What years they thought him to be of who answering That he was somewhat more than one and Twenty Well then said he I am out of your Wardship and expect to enjoy my Kingdom as freely as you your selves at the like years enjoy your Patrimonies But saith our Author his flattering Favourites should have remembred that though the King may not be controlled where he can command yet he may be opposed where he can but demand as now indeed he was For when he demanded a Subsidy toward his Wars He was answered That he needed no Subsidy from his Subjects if he would but call in the debts that the Chancellor owed him and if he were so tender that he could not do that work himself they would do it for him And thereupon charged him with such Crimes that all his Goods were Confiscate and himself adjudged to dye if the King pleased Though others write his Sentence was only to pay twenty Thousand Marks as a Fine and a Thousand pound besides yearly This Chancellor was Michael de la Pool a Merchants Son who was lately made Earl of Suffolk and Lord Chancellor of England who with Robert Vere Earl of Oxford and Marquess of Dublin and some others were King Richards bosom Favourites And upon this Provocation given them they presently study Revenge And thereupon contrive that the Duke of Glocester the Kings Uncle as Principal and other Lords who crossed the Kings Courses should be invited to a supper in London and be there Murdered In the Execution of which Plot the late Lord Mayor Sir Nicholas Brember was deeply concerned but the present Lord Mayor Richard Exton though moved thereto by the King himself utterly refused to do it and thereupon this Design miscarried But notwithstanding these heats and many more which passed in this Parliament yet a Subsidy was at last granted to the King of half a Tenth and half a Fifteenth but with this express Condition that it should not be paid out but by order from the Lords and the Earl of Arundel was to receive it But before this time it was absolutely agreed between both Houses of Parliament That unless the Chancellor were removed they would proceed no further The King having notice hereof sent a Message to the House of Commons that they should send to Eltham where he then lay Forty of their House to declare their Minds to him But upon a Conference between both Houses it was agreed That the Duke of Glocester and Thomas Arundel Bishop of Ely should in the name of the Parliament go to him who coming to the King declared That by an old Statute the King once a year might lawfully summon his Court of Parliament for Reformation of all Enormities and Corruptions within the Realm and further declared That by an Old Ordinance it was likewise Enacted That if the King should absent himself Forty days not being sick the Houses might lawfully break up and return home At which it is reported the King should say Well we perceive our People go about to rise against us and therefore we think we cannot do better then to ask aid of our Cousen the King of France and rather submit our selves to him than to our own Subjects To which the Lords answered They wondred at his Majesties Opinion since the French King was the Ancient Enemy of the Kingdom and he might remember what mischiefs were brought upon the Realm in King Johns time by such Courses By these and the like perswasions the King was induced to come to his Parliament wherein John Fordham Bishop of Durham is discharged of his Office of Treasurer and Michael de la Pool of being Chancellor and others by consent of Parliament put in their places Likewise by Order of Parliament thirteen Lords were appointed under the King to have oversight of the whole Government of the Realm that is the Bishop of Ely Lord Chancellor Bishop of Hereford Lord Treasurer the Abbot of Waltham Lord Privy Seal the Archbishops of Canterbury and York the Dukes of York and Glocester with others but this division of the Government was soon found inconvenient This Parliament also granted to Robert de Vere lately created Duke of Ireland thirty Thousand Marks which the Frenchmen were to give to the heirs of Charles de Bloys upon Condition that before Easter following he should go over into Ireland So desirous were the Lords and Commons to have him removed from the Kings presence But though the King gave way to this Torrent of the Parliament at present yet as soon as they were Dissolved he dissolved likewise all they had done against his Favourites and received them into more Favour than before A while after the Duke of Ireland puts away his lawful Wife who was neer a Kin to the Duke of Glocester and married one of the Queens Maids a Vintners Daughter at which the Duke of Glocester was very much offended which the Duke of Ireland understanding studied how by any means he might dispatch the Duke of Glocester and Easter being now past which was the time appointed for the Duke to go into Ireland the King pretending to go with him to the Seaside went with him unto Wales being attended likewise with Michael de la Pool Robert Tresillian a prime Favourite who was Lord Chief Justice and divers others where they consulted how to dispatch the Duke of Glocester the Earls of Arundel Warwick Darby Nottingham with divers others of that Party The King having remained some time in those Parts had quite forgotten the Voyage of the Duke of Ireland and so brought him back with him again to Nottingham Castle About the same time Robert Tresillian Lord Chief Justice came to Coventry and there Indicted two Thousand Persons The King then called all the High Sheriffs of the Counties before him and demanded what strength they could make for him against the Lords if there should be occasion To which they returned answer That the Common People did so favour
and now the remembrance of these oversights is not more unpleasant to any man than my self and the rather because I have no means left either to recompence the injuries which I have done or to testifie to the World my reformed Affections which experience and stayedness of years had already corrected and would daily have framed to more perfection But whether all the Imputations wherewith I am charged be True either in Substance or in such Quality as they are laid or whether being True they are so heinous as to force these Extremities or whether any other Prince especially in the heat of Youth and in the space of twenty two years the time of my unfortunate Reign doth not sometimes either for advantage or upon displeasure in as deep manner grieve some particular Subject I will not now examine It helpeth not to use any Defence neither is it to any purpose to complain there is left no room for the one nor pity for the other and therefore I refer it to the Judgment of God and your less distempered Considerations I accuse no man I blame no Fortune I complain of nothing I have no pleasure in such vain and needless comforts if I had minded to have stood upon Terms I know I have Great Favourers abroad and I hope some Friends at home who would have been ready yea very forward on my behalf to have begun a bloody and doubtful War but I esteem not my Dignity at so high a Rate or Value as to venture the loss of so much English Bloud and the wasting and desolation of such a flourishing Kingdom as this might have occasioned Therefore that the Common-wealth may rather rise by my fall than I stand by the ruin thereof I willingly yeild to your desires and am here come to dispossess my self of all publick Authority and Title and to make it free and lawful for you to create for your King Henry Duke of Lancaster my Cosen German whom I know to be as worthy to take that Place as I see you willing to give it to him Then he read openly the form of his Resignation which discharged his Subjects from all Oathes and Fealty c. to which the King subscribed and was sworn After which he delivered with his own hands the Crown the Scepter and the Robe to the Duke of Lancaster wishing him more happiness therewith than ever he enjoyed desiring him and the rest to permit him to live safely in a private and obscure life and not altogether forget he had been their King Upon October 13. following the Duke of Lancaster was Crowned King by the Name of Henry the Fourth and King Richard was removed to Pomfret Castle but some of the Lords being discontented with Henry used many endeavours to restore Richard again which caused great Wars and Rebellions and occasioned such Melancholy in King Henry that sitting one time at his Table he sighing said Have I no faithful Friend who will deliver me from him that will be my Death This Speech was especially noted by one Sir Piers of Exton who presently with eight Persons in his Company came to Pomfret commanding the Esquire who was Taster to King Richard to be so no more whereat the King marvelling asked him the Reason Sir said he I am otherwise commanded by Sir Piers of Exton who is newly come from King Henry when King Richard heard that word he took the Carving-knife in his hand and strook the Esquire lightly on the head saying The Devil take Henry of Lancaster and thee together and with that word Sir Piers entred the Chamber with eight armed men every one having a Bill in his hand King Richard perceiving this put the Table from him and stepping to the foremost man wrested the Bill out of his hands and slew four of those that thus came to assault him Sir Piers lept to the Chair where King Richard used to sit whilst the rest chased him about the Chamber at last being forced to the place where Sir Piers was he with a stroak of his Pole-Ax upon his head felled him down and so ended his miserable life It is said that at the point of his death the King gathered some Spirit and with a faint and feeble voice groaned forth these words My Great Grandfnther King Edward the II. was in this manner deposed imprisoned and Murdered by which means my Granfather King Edward the III. obtained the Crown and now is the punishment of that injnry poured upon his next Successor well this may be just for me to suffer but not Right for you to do Your King for a time may rejoyce at my Death and enjoy his desire but let him qualifie his pleasures with Expectation of the same Justice for God who measureth all our Actions by the malice of our Minds will not suffer this to go unpunished Sir Piers having thus slain the King wept bitterly and a great part of this prophetical Speech came to pass in a short time after King Richard thus dead his Body was imbalmed and covered with Lead all save his Face and then brought to London where it lay in St. Pauls Church three days unburied that all might see he was dead And this was the end of this unfortunate Prince in which there was a wonderful Concurrence of Fortune in behalf of King Henry and against Richard but when all is done there is no resisting the Decree of Heaven but since that is unknown to us and perhaps but Conditional we shall be manifest Traytors to our selves if we use not our uttermost endeavours to divert it so that it may be truly said Richard lost his Crown more by his own fault than the Treason of any other After this long diversion let us now return to the Tower of London In 1458 there were Justs and Turnaments in the Tower In 1478. The Duke of Clarence was drowned in a Butt of Malmsey within the Tower Elizabeth Wife to King Henry 7. Dyed in the Tower in Child-bed 1502. In the year 1512 the Chappel in the High White Tower was burnt Queen Ann Bullein was beheaded in the Tower 1541 and a little after Katherine Howard both Wives to Henry the Eight In the year 1546 a strange accident happened in the Tower for one Foxly who was Potmaker for the Mint falling a sleep could not be awakened by pinching beating or burning for fourteen days at which time he awaked as fresh as the first day he began to sleep In King Henry the Eights time the Tower was often full of Prisoners and among others Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellor of England who was kept close Prisoner and at last they took from him all his Books whereupon he shut up his Prison Windows and lived in Darkness and being asked the reason he answered it is time to shut up Shop when the Wares are all gone At his first entrance into the Tower the Gentleman Porter demanded his Fee which is the upper Garment whereupon Sr. Thomas pulled off his Cap to
give it him but that not sufficing he pulled out an handfull of Angels and gave him a good many a Knight that was in his Company telling him that he was glad to see him have so many Angels Yes answered he I love to carry my Friends always about me Not long after the Lady Jane was beheaded there and upon the Scaffold she made a most ingenious Speech full of Pity That she came thither to serve for an Example to Posterity that Innocence cannot be any Protection against Greatness and that she was come thither not for aspiring to a Crown but for refusing one when it was offered her In King James his time there was no Blood spilt in the Tower or upon Towerhill only Sir Gervase Elways was hanged there when he was Lieutenant about the Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury and one remarkable passage there was in his Speech upon the Ladder That being in the Low-Countreys and much addicted to Gaming he made a serious wish that if ever he played more above such a sum he might be hanged but he Violated the Oath and so the just Judgment of Heaven fell upon him according to his words The Earl of Castle haven in the year 1631 was brought from the Tower to be Executed for Horrid Crimes and divers others since have been Executed there as the Earl of Strafford Arch-Bishop Laud and many more This stately Tower serves not only for a Goal to detain Prisoners but for many other uses it is a strong Fort or Citadel which secures both City and River It is the Treasury of the Jewels and Ornaments of the Crown It conserves all the Old Records of the Courts of Justice at Westminster it is the place for the Royal Mint and the Coynage of Gold and Silver it is the chief Magazine and Armory of the whole Land for Martial Engines and Provision and there only is the Brahe or Rack usually called the Duke of Exeters Daughter because he was the first Inventor of it and Lastly it is a great Ornament by the situation of it both to the River and City This City hath had divers other Towns besides one at the North End of London-Bridge which is now utterly demolished and the other at the South End which hath suffered many Accidents of Fireing and otherwise and was still repaired at the charge of the City Upon this Gate the Heads of Traytors are commonly placed and some there are thereon at this day Historians mention two Castles that were built in the West part of the City one called the Castle of Montfiquet built by a Lord of that name which is now demolished and the Black Fryers rose up instead of it the other called Baynards Castle from one Baynard whose Family long enjoyed it and after that Robert Fitz-Walter who was called Banner Bearer of the City of London and had great Priviledges This Castle fell afterwards to the Earl of March who was Crowned there by the Title of Edward the Fourth to whom this City always stuck very close but in the Seventh Year of his Reign many of the greatest men in London were accused of High Treason and divers Aldermen whereof they were acquitted yet did they forfeit their Goods to the value of Forty Thousand Marks and among them Sr. Thomas Cook formerly Lord Mayor without Hawkins were committed to the Tower neither could be discharged without paying Eight Thousand Marks to the King Henry the Seventh repaired Baynards Castle and rid through the City in State with all the Knights of the Garter from the Tower to St. Paul's Church where they heard Mass and Lodged that Night at Baynards Castle Queen Mary was likewise proclaimed at Baynards Castle though the Lady Jane had been proclaimed a little before There was also another Tower or Castle near Baynards Castle but there is now no sign of it remaining And another in the place where Bridewell now stands which being demolished yet there was a Royal Palace left where the Kings of England kept their Courts and King John summoned a Parliament there and afterwards Henry the Eight repaired it and made it much more stately for the entertainment of his Nephew Charles the Fift Emperour and King of Spain who in the year 1522 was Magnificently Treated there There was another Tower called the Tower Royal where King Stephen kept his Court Barbican was likewise another Tower There was another called Sernes Tower in Bucklersbury where we read Edward the III. kept his Court and gave it afterward to his free Chappel of St. Stephens in Westminster now called Henry the sevenths Chappel who spent fourteen thousand pound in building of it and about the same time he built a Great Ship which cost just so much Thus much for the Towers and Castles of London CHAP. IV. The Rivers Wells Conduits Ditches and Bridges c. in and about this City IN former times before William the Conquerour and long after the City was watered besides the famous River of Thames in the South with the River of Wells as it was then called and in the West with a water called Walbrook running through the midst of the City into the River of Thames There was also another Water which ran within the City through Langbourn Ward watering that part in the East There were three Principal Fountains or Wells in the other Suburbs that is Holywell Clements Well and Clarkes Well and near to the last were divers other Wells as Skinners Well Fogs Well Todewell and Radwell all which flowing into the River afore-mentioned much increased the stream and gave it the name of Wells It is recorded that in West-Smithfield there was a Pool called Horse-pool and another in the Parish of St. Giles Besides which they had in divers streets and Lanes of the City fair Wells and fresh Springs by which the City was served with sweet Water and many Conduits were built in divers Streets which continued till the dreadful Fire in 1666. Since which time for the Conveniency and enlargement of the Streets and likewise by reason of the new River Water contrived by Sir Hugh Middleton most of these Conduits are taken down and removed For Queen Elizabeth having before granted to the Citizens of London by Act of Parliament Liberty for cutting and conveying a River from any part of Middlesex or Hertfordshire to the City of London with a limitation of Ten years time her life ended before any would undertake it whereupon the like Act was passed by King James but without Date of time and when all others refused it Sir Hugh Middleton undertook to bring a River from Chadwell and Amwell to the Northside of London near Islington where he built a large Cistern to receive it This work was begun Feb. 20. 1608 and in the five years space was fully accomplished though with great difficulty by reason of the difference and unevenness of the Ground the depth of the River in some places being Thirty Foot and in other places the water is carryed
removed to the Bridge-house and it 's recorded that all the Revenues belonging to to London-Bridge in King Henry VII time amounted to 8 15 l. 17 s. 2d a year by which we may partly guess at the Incomes of this Bridge and what vast increase is made of it by this time But this noble Bridge like other earthly things hath suffered many disasters since for some years after the finishing thereof that is 1212. on the 10th of July at Night the Burrough of Southwark and St. Mary Overies Church being on fire and a multitude of People passing the Bridge either to quench or gaze upon it on a sudden the North part of it by the blowing of the South wind was set on fire and when the People would have returned they were stopped by the Fire and as they stayed in a consternation the South end of the Bridge sell on fire so that the People thronging between two raging Fires expected present death whereupon there came many Boats and Vessels to save them into which the multitude rushed so unadvisedly that the boats being thereby sunk they were all drowned above Three thousand Persons being destroyed by the Fire and Water part of whose Bodies were found half burned besides those burnt to Ashes which could not be found In 1282. after a great Frost and deep Snow five Arches of London-Bridge were carried away In 1289. the Bridge was so much decayed that People were afraid to go over it but by a subsidy granted it was repaired In 1595. on St. George's Day there was a great Justing on London-Bridge between David Earl of Crawford of Scotland and the Lord Wells of England which shews that the Bridge was then only coaped in but not built with Houses as it is now The next year Novem. 30. the young Queen Isabel Wife to Richard II. commonly called the little Queen for she was but 8 years old was brought from Kenington over the Bridge to the Tower of London such a muâ—â—itude of People went upon the Bridge to see her that nine Persons were crouded to death among the rest the Pâ—â—or of Tiptree in Essex and an ancient Matron in Cornhill In 1633 there happened a great Fire on London Bridge but was again repaired In the dreadful Fire 1666 a great part of the North Buildings of the Bridge were burnt down but are wholly rebuilt with much Advantage To conclude this Bridge for admirable Workmanship vastness of Foundation and Dimensions and for stately Houses and rich Shops built thereon surpasseth all others in Europe it hath nineteen Arches founded in a deep River made of square Stone sixty Foot in height and Thirty in breadth distant 20 foot one from another joined together with Vaults and Cellars and built as some say upon Ozy soft ground being Eight hundred Foot in length and 30 foot broad and a Draw-bridge almost in the middle Besides this noble Bridge there are others belong to the City as three stately Bridges of Stone built since 1666 over Fleet Ditch and also Holborn Bridge the Ditch being enlarged cleansed and fenced of each side with Stone and Rails and Store-Houses for Coals on each side it is likewise freed from Houses for twenty Foot on each side and made exceeding handsome to the great charge of this City there were likewise some small Bridges over the Town Ditch but now it is arched over with Brick and doth no where appear being paved even with the Street CHAP. V. The Government of the City of London THE Civil Government of this City is not as it is in Rome Paris Madrid Vienna and other Cities by a chief Magistrate or some noble Man set over it as it was here in the time of the Romans when the chief Magistrate was called the Prefect of London or in the time of the Saxons when he was called the Portrieve Custos or Guardian and sometimes Provost of London but after the coming in of the Normans the cheif Magistrate was called Bailive from the French or Commissarie one that hath a Commission to govern and there were sometimes two Bailiffs of London till Rich. I. 1189. changed the name of Bailiff into Mayor which hath held ever since The Mayor is a Citizen chosen every year by the Citizens evcept when their Priviledges and Franchises have been taken from them as in the time of Henry III. Edward I. and King Charles II. The Mayor tho' always a Citizen or Tradesman hath been of such high repute that in writing and speaking to him the Title of Lord is prefixt as to Noble Men Bishops or Judges and of late to the Mayor of York or some of the highest Officers of the Realm he is likewise usually Knighted his Table and also the two Sheriffs is open to all that are of any Quality but so well furnished that it is always fit to receive the greatest Subject in England nay it is recorded that a Lord Mayor of London feasted four Kings at once at his Table His Officers are eight of them Esquires by their places that is the Sword-bearer the Common Hunt who keeps a Kennel of Hounds for the Lord Mayor's Recreation the Common Cryer and four Water-Bailiffs there is also the Coroner three Sergeants Carvers three Serjeants of the Chamber a Serjeant of the Channel four Yeomen of the Water-side one Under Bailiff two Yeomen of the Chamber three Meal Weighers two Yeomen of the Wood Wharfs most of which have their Servants allowed them and Liveries for themselves The State of the Lord Mayor appears when he goes abroad which is usually on Horseback with rich Caparisons himself always in long Robes either of Scarlet richly surred People or Puke with a Chain of Gold about his Neck many Officers walking before and on all sides of him but espâ—cially on the 29th of October when he goes 〈◊〉 Westminster in his Barge with the Aldermen attended by all his Officers and the Liverymen of the several Companies in their stately Barges with their Arms Colours and Streamers and having in the Exchequer Chamber before the Judges taken his Oath to be true to the King and Government he returns in like manner to Guild-hall that is the Great Hall of Guilds oâ— Incorporated Confraternities where is prepared a sumptuous Dinner the Kings Queens Noblemen and Persons of Honour have of late years been pleased to dine there with him with the Forreign Ambassadors and all the Judges This great Magistrate upon the Death of the King is said to be the Prime Person in England and therefore when King James was invited to come and take the Crown of England Robert Loe then Lord Mayor of London subscribed in the first place before the great Officers of the Crown and the Nobility he is usually chosen on Michaelmas day out of 26 Aldermen all Wealthy Men. His Authority reaches over all this great City part of the Suburbs and likewise to the River of Thames with power to punish all that annoy the Stream Banks or Fish only the safety
of the Common Law â—ow kept at Wallingford-House The next thing considerable is the Collegiate Church called Westminster-Abby or St. Peters It was â—aised out of the ruins of a Temple formerly dedicated to Apollo wherein there is King Henry VII's Chappel a magnificent and curious Edifice beautified with the stately Tombs of the Kings and Queens of England and many other Persons of Honour and Renown are buried in this Church and here the Kings of England are commonly crowned Then there is Somerset-house a large and stately â—tructure belonging to the King Northumberland house York-house now turned into Streets and Buildings the new Exchange stored with variety of Shops and Goods the Statue of K. Charles I. lately erected at Charing cross Salisbury-house now a fine Street the Savoy Arundel-house Bedford-house and divers other Places worth observing The Limits of Westminster end at Temple-Bar and there the bounds of London begin Westminfter is so mightily enlarged by the building of St. James's Fields and the adjaceat Places into stately large Streets that it is thought to be as big again as formerly To conclude London is the Epitome of England the Seat of the Brittish Empire the Chamber of the King the chiefest Emporium or Town of Trade in the World and to describe all things in it worthy to be known would make a Volume The City of London with the Suburbs and parts adjacent is from Lime-house to the end of Tothill street in Westminster East and West above 7500 Geometrical Paces or 7 English Miles and an half and from the further end of Blackman-street in Southwark to the end of Shoreditch North and South 2500 Paces or two Miles and an half Historical Remarks OF LONDON and WESTMINSTER PART II. ENgland in the time of the Saxons was divided into an Heptarchy or seven Kingdoms in the year of Christ 527. One of these Kingdoms contained Essex and Middlesex and continued about 281 years during the Reign of 14 Kings The third of whom was Sebert who built the Cathedral of St. Paul which had formerly been the Temple of Diana The ninth King was Sebba who after thirty years peaceable Reign relinquished the Crown and took upon him a Religions Habit in the Monastery of St. Paul where dying his Body was intombed in a Coffiâ— of Gray Marble and stood in the North Wall of the Chancel of the Church till the Fire in 1666. About 872. the Danes invaded this Kingdom and got into London making great spoil upon which King Elfred who then reigned compounded with them allowing them a great quantity of Land to secure the rest from Plunder and Ruine for we find these words in the end of the Laws published by this King Let the Bounds of our Dominion stretch from the River Thames and from thence to the Vale of Lea even unto the head of the same Water and so forth straight unto Bedford and finally going along by the River of Ouse let them end at Watling-street But the Danes ufurped daily upon other places so that King Elfred was many times forced to hide himself in the Fens and Marshes and with his small Company to live by Fishing Fowling and Hunting Wild Beasts for Food and being one time entertained alone in a Country man's house disguised in very mean attire as he was sitting by the Fire a Cake was baking on the Hearth before him but the King being intent in trimming his Bow and Arrows the Country woman coming in and seeing the Cake burn she furiously took the Bow from him and checking him as her Slave said Thou Fellow dost thou see the Bread burn before thy Face and wilt thou not turn it and yet mayest be glad to eat it before it be half baked Little suspecting him to be the man that used to be treated with more dainty Food This King more minding the Benefit of his Subjects than the Majesty of State disguised himself in the habit of a common Fidler and went in Person to the Danes Camp who lay wallowing in Wantonuess and Security and being a skilful Musician and a Poet he addded his Voice thereto singing Songs of the Valour of the Danes whereby he had admittance to the Company and Banquets of their chief Commanders and Princes and observing their carelesness and understanding their Designs he returns to his poor disconsolate Soldiers and tells them how easie it was to surprize their Enemies and thereby recover their ruined Country who immediately fell upon the Danes in their Camp and made a very great slaughter and pursuing their Victory they beat them in all Places and at last followed them to London from whence all the Danes fled The Inhabitants were very glad to see the Face of their King and he restored the City to its former Liberty and Splendor again the Danes making their escape by shipping into France In 982 the Danes again invade England and destroy all Places near the Shore Etheldred was then King whose elder Brother called the Martyr was treacherously murdered by his Mother-in-Law for the King being a hunting in the Isle of Purbeck went alone out of kindness to 〈◊〉 his Mother-in-Law and Brother who dwelt hard by where this cruel Woman out of ambition to bring her Son to the Crown caused one to run him into the back with a Knife as he was drinking a Glass of Wine on Horseback at his departing who feeling himself hurt set spurs to his Horse thinking to get to his Company but the Wound being mortal and he fainting through loss of Blood fell from his Horse and one Foot being entangled in the Stirrup he was dragged up and down through the Woods and afterward found dead and was buried at the Minster in Shaftsbury Etheldred was then crowned King by Dunstan Arch Bishop of Canterbury who at his Coronation denounced the wrath of God against him in these Words Because saith he thou hast aspired to the Crown by the death of thy Brother whom thy Mother hath murdered therefore hear the Word of the Lord The Sword shall not depart from thy House but shall furiously rage all the days of thy Life killing all thy Seed till such time as thy Kingdom shall be given to a People whose Customs and Language the Nation thou now governest know not Neither shall thy sin the sin of thy Mother nor the sins of those men who were Partakers of her Councils and Instruments of her wicked Designs be expiated and appeased but by long and most severe Vengeance Which Prediction was seconded by Prodigies for it is said that a Cloud of Blood and Fire appeared after his Coronation and miserable Calamities fell upon him and his House This King was neither forward nor fortunate in any of his undertakings so that he was called The Vuready he spent his Youth in debauchery his middle Age in carelesness and neglect of his Government maintaining Dissentions amongst his own Subjects and his latter end in resisting the blood thirsty Danes who made continual Destruction of his People
wear the English Crown But Harold being destinated to destruction would neither accept the counsels of his Friends nor the offers of his Enemies but referred the decision to Heaven saying That it should be tried the next day with more Swords than one Next day was the 14 of October which upon a credulous Errour he always held to be fortunate to him it being his Birth-day and therefore he greatly desired to engage in fight His Souldiers likewise dreaming of nothing but Spoil and Victory and that their heads should be crowned with Lawrel spent the preceding night in all manner of Jollity Banquetting Revelling and Noise whereas on the contrary the Normans wisely and seriously considering the great importance of the work they were to engage in applied themselves to their Prayers and Vows for the safety of their Army and its victorious sucâ—ess And in the morning as soon as it was light they were all in Battle Aray and ready prepared to fight Harold likewise with all expedition marshalled his Souldiers placing the Kentish men in the Van according to an ancient custom with their heavy Axes and Halberts the Londoners and the Middlesex men were in that Squadron which he himself and his Brother led The Normans advancing forward discharged a fierce Volley of Arrows like a Tempestuous Hail which was a kind of Weapon the English never understood and therefore thought their Enemies had been in the midst of them already Soon after the Battle began in earnest King Harold like an expert General had placed his men in so firm a Body that no force of the Normans could disorder their Ranks till Duke William used a stratagem commanding his men to sound a Retreat and counterfeit flight though he still kept them in good order The English supposing the Normans to have been fled and themselves Masters of the Field carelesly broke their ranks when suddenly the Normans came on again and fell upon them before they could put themselves in a posture of defence whereby multitudes of them were slain on every side not being able to make head again Yet did not the English leave the Field but resolved rather to maintain their honour in Arms and casting themselves into a Round they preferred dying for their Country rather than to forsake the Standard of their King and thereupon encouraging one another they made resistance for a long time but showers of Arrows like a mighty storm falling among them one of them most fatally and unhappily for the English Nation wounded King Harold into the Brains through the left Eye so that falling from his Horse he was slain under his own Standard and an Ambush of Horsemen cut many others to pieces Duke William fought so valiantly that he had this day three Horses slain under him and King Harold shewed no less courage in killing many Normans with his own hands The Mother of Harold named Thyra offered a great sum of mony for the Kings body which falling among such a multitude it being reckoned that there died about threescore thousand men that day it could by no means be found for it was despoiled of all its Royal Ornaments by the plundering Souldiers so that King Harold lying stript wounded bemangled and gored in his bloud could not be known from another man till a Lady named Editha was sent for who for her extraordinary beauty was called Swans Neck she having been very familiar with him before he was King knew some secret mark in his body by which she discovered him After which the Duke freely delivered it to his Mother and it was buried in Waltham Abby This Battle was fought October 14. 1066. a doleful day of destruction to the English when the Royal bloud of the Saxons perished who first divided this Land into seven Kingdoms and afterwards made of them one glorious Monarchy not inferiour to any in Europe and whose Kings for Valour and Magnanimity were ranked with the greatest in the World But the over-ruling providence of Heaven which sets up and pulls down at pleasure was pleased at this time for the sins of the English or some other cause unknown to us to put the Scepter into the hands of another Family and another Nation Morcar and Edwin Brethren to the unfortunate Queen escaped by night out of the Râ—â—le and came to London where consulting with the rest of the Lords they began to revive their hopes and posted Messengers from thence to raise new Forces And because the English were struck into a dreadful astonishment at the news of this great â—oss they to keep them from despair sent them Word That the chance of War was uncertain the number of the English yet many and there were Commanders enough left to try another Battle Alfred Archbishop of York being President of the Assembly very couragiously and prudently advised â—hat they should immediately proclaim and crown Edgar Atheling the true Heir for their King to which the Londoners and divers Sea Captains agreed But the Queens brethren and likewise the Earls of Yorkshire and Cheshire being themselves â—mbitious of the Crown though their Country was in such a deplorable condition hindered this wise and noble design In the twentieth Year of William the Conqueâ—our there happened so great a Fire in London â—hat from the West Gate to the East it consumed Houses and Churches all the way and among the â—est St. Pauls as much as was combustible was â—urnt to ashes and most of the principal Cities in England were much damaged by Fire Other great calamities likewise happened as Burning Fevers Murrains upon Cattle abundance of Rain and Water-flouds insomuch that the Hills seemed to â—e softned to the very foundation and with their â—all overwhelmed many Villages there was likewise such a dearth in London and England that â—en eat Horses Cats Dogs and mans flesh In 1077. upon Palm Sunday about Noon a blaâ—ing Star appeared nigh the Sun yea which is â—â—range tame Fowls such as Hens Geese Peaâ—cks and the like fled into Forests and Woods becaâ—â—â— wild There was likewise a great Forst which lasted from the middle of November to the midst of March There was also a greaâ— Wind on Christmas day accompanied with a terrible Earthquake This King William seized all the Lands between Barnee and London-stone which belonged to the Abby of St. Albans and also all the Treasure Chalices and Shrines of all the Abbies and Monasteries in England He likewise laid great Taxes upon the Land and caused an exact Survey to be taken of the whole Kingdom so that he knew the value of all the Rents and Profits of the Lands and likewise of all Cities Towns Villages Hamlets Monasteries and Religious Houses causing all the People in England to be numbred and their names taken with an account what every one could spend in the Year After which be exacted fix shillings upon every hide of Land which amounted to a vast sum of money The Book which contained this Actual Survey was called by the English
Doomsday-book and is kepâ— to this day in the Kings Exchequer at Westminster Yet he was kind to the Londoners suffering then to enjoy their Rights and Priviledges which the had in Edward the Confessors time by the procurement of William Bishop of London who waâ— buried in St. Pauls Church and this Epitaph pâ—â— upon his Grave-stone in Latine and English To William a man famous in wisdom and holiness of life who first with St. Edward the King and Confessor being familiar of late preferred to be Bishop of London and not long after for his prudence anâ— sincere fidelity admitted to be of Council with 〈◊〉 most victorious Prince William King of England of that name the first who obtained of the same greâ— and large Priviledges to this famous City The Senâ— and Citizens of London of him having well deserâ—ave made this He continued Bishop twenty Years â—nd died in the Year after Christs Nativity 1070. These Marble Monuments to thee Thy Citizens assign Rewards O Father far unfit To those deserts of thine Thee unto them a faithful Friend Thy London People found And to this Town of no small weight A stay both sure and sound Their Liberties restor'd to them By means of thee have been Their publick weal by means of thee Large Gifts have felt and found The Riches Stock and Beauty brave One hour hath them supprest Yet these thy Vertues and good deeds With us for ever rest The Lord Mayor of London and Aldermen upon the day of his coming into his Office used â—ll of late days to walk round the Grave-stone â—f this Bishop in remembrance of their former Priviledges obtained by him And there was â—n Inscription fastned to a Pillar near his Grave â—ntituled The Recital of a most worthy Prelates Reâ—embrance which was erected at the charge of Sir Edward Barkham Lord Mayor 1622. which speaks thus to the Walkers in S. Pauls Walkers whosoe're you be If it prove your chance to see Vpon a solemn Scarlet day The City Senate pass this way Their grateful memory to shew Which they the Reverend ashes owe Of Bishop Norman here inhum'd By which this City hath assum'd Large Priviledges those obtain'd By him when Conquerour William reign'd This being by Barkhams thank ful mind renew'd Call it The Monument of Gratitude King William brought with him from Roan in Normandy certain Jews whose posterity inhabiting in London and several other chief Cities they were accused that they used to steal Christian male children from their Neighbours which they would circumcise crown with thorns whip torture and crucifie in mockery despite and scorâ— of our Lord Jesus Christ William Rufus his Son appointed a Disputation to be held in London between the Christians and the Jews but before the day came the Jewâ— brought the King a present to the end they might be heard impartially The K. received their gift encouraging them to quit themselves like menâ— and swore by S. Lukes face his usual Oath Theâ— of they prevailed in Disputation he would himself turâ— Jew and be of their Religion A young Jew was as that time converted to the Christian Faith whose father being much troubled at it he presented thâ— King with threescore Marks intreating him tâ— perswade his son to return to his Judaisin where upon the King sent for his son and commandeâ— him without more ado to return to the Religioâ— of his Nation But the young man answered Hâ— wondred His Majesty would use such words for beinâ— a Christian he should rather perswade him to Christiâ—nity with which answer the King was so confourâ—ded that he commanded the young man out of hâ— presence But his father finding the King could do no good upon his son required his money aâ— gain Nay saith the King I have taken pains enough for it and yet that thou mayest see how kindly I will deal you shall have one half and you cannot in conscience deny me the other half and so dismist him And now we are Treating of the Jews it may not be amiss to add all at once what we read concerning them in this City In the year 1235. the 19 of H. 3. seven Jews were brought before the King at Westminster who had stolen a Boy and kept him private from the sight of any but their own Nation for a whole year and had circumcised him intending also to have crucified him at the solemnity of Easter as they themselves confest before the K. upon which they were convicted and their bodies and goods remained at the Kings pleasure In the 39 of this K. Nov. 22. 102 Jews were brought from Lincoln to Westminster and there accused for crucifying a child of 8 years old named Hugh These Jews were upon examination sent to the Tower of London the murther being discovered by the diligent search of the Mother of the child Upon which eighteen of them were hanged and the other remained long in Prison In the Reign of Henry 2. the number of the Jews throughout England was very great yet whereforever they dwelt they were commanded not to bury their dead any where but in London which being many times inconvenient to bring dead bodies from remote Places the K. gave them liberty to bury in the same place where they lived In 1189. at the Coronation of R. 1. Son of H. 2. at Westminster a great disaster befel the Jews for King Richard not favoring them as his Father had done had given a strict charge that no Jew should be spectator of the solemnity yet several Jews as though it had been the Crowning of King Herod would needs be pressing in and the Officers appointed refusing they should enter there arose a Quarrel which proceeded from words to blows whereby many Jews were hurt and some slain and thereupon a report was suddenly spread abroad that the King had commanded to have all the Jews destroyed upon which it is incredible what rifling there was in an instant of the Jews Houses and cutting their throats and though the King fignified by publick Declaration that he was highly displeased with what was done yet there was no quieting of the multitude till next day and many of the Mutineers were afterward punished by the Law In the Reign of King John 1202. Great sums of money were exacted and gathered from the Jews among whom there was one who would not pay the money charged upon him till the King caused one of his great Teeth to be pulled out every day for seven days together upon which he was at last compelled to give the King Ten Thousand Marks of silver that no more might be pulled out since he had but one left in his head K. Henry 3. being very profuse was brought so low for want of money that he was forced to borrow nay almost beg it of his Subjects but the Jews who were ever exposed to his will felt the weight of his necessities and one Abraham a Jew in London being found a Delinquent was constrained to redeem himself for
700 Marks And Aaron another Jew protested the K since his last being in France had taken from him at several times 30000 Marks of Silven beside 200 Marks of Gold given to the Queen At another time this King Henry squeez'd a sum out of the Jews and then let them out to farm to his brother Richard for a considerable sum which he payd him and he was to make what more of them he could He likewise built a Church for Converted Jews in London It happened about this time that a Jew fell into an House of Office upon Saturday and would not be taken out that day because it was the Jews Sabbath Whereupon the Earl of Gloucester said He should not then be taken out on the Sunday because it was the Christian Sabbath So that when Monday came he was taken out dead In the 7. of Edward the First the Jews at Northampton crucified a Christian Boy upon Good-fryday but did not throughly kill him for which fact many Jews at London were after Easter drawn at the horse tails and hanged The same year King Edward called in all the old money and coined new because it had been much clipped and defaced by the Jews for which 297 were at one time executed in London And in the eighteenth year of his Reign all the Jews were banished out of London and England there being at that time above fifteen thousand in the kingdom who had all their Goods seized and confiscate to the Kings use and onely so much money left them as would bear their charges out of the kingdom But before this he ordained that the Jews should wear a Mark or Cognizance upon their upper Garments whereby to be known and restrained their excessive taking of Usury In the Year 1656. several Proposals were made to Oliver Cromwel by Manasseh Ben Israel a Jewish Merchant in behalf of the Hebrew Nation for their free admission to trade and exercise their Religion in England and a Conference was held about it several days at Whitehall by divers Members of the Council and certain Ministers of the most eminent then in esteem and many arguments were urged some for and others against their admission but those that were against it so far prevailed that the Proposals took no effect And so much concerning the Jews To return now to the series of the Story King William Rufus was taxed with great Prodigality because when his Chamberlain brought him a new pair of Hose he asked what they cost and was told three shillings Away base Fellow quoth he are these beseeming a King Bring me a pair of a Mark. His Chamberlain went and bringing him another pair not so good as the former and telling him they cost a Mark I marry saith the King these are something like and was better satisfied with hearing what they cost than with seeing what they were worth and yet this was no disrepute to his wisdom for to say truth it is no defect of wisdom in a King not to know what his clothes are worth And though the Monks that writ in those times charge this King with covetousness yet by the following instance it doth not appear For when two Monks came to Court and offered large gifts to out-vie each other in obtaining an Abbots place lately dead a third Monk who was very sober and mean in attire came with them and stood by whom the King asked what he would give to be Abbot Nothing said the Monk for I entered my Profession to be poor and have hitherto little esteemed the Pomp and Riches of the World Then thou art the man replied the King and art more worthy to he their Abbot for thy Poverty than they for their Presents and conferring the place upon him checked the others But however there arose a great difference between him and Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury because he required the Bishop to give him a Thousand Marks for preferring him to that See which Anselm refused to give as judging it no less Simony to give after the preferment than before but yet afterward offering five hundred pound the King refused to accept it as being worth he said five times as much Whereupon Anselm told him Your Grace may have me and all that is mine to serve your turn in a friendly manner but in the way of servitude and bondage you shall neither have me nor mine Which-words so angred the King that they could never after be reconciled And Anselm often threatning to go to Rome the King told him plainly He would not thrust him out of the Realm but if he would go without his leave he would keep him out during his pleasure and besides he should carry nothing out of the Kingdom with him Yet Anselm ventured it and the King performed it for William Walwerst was sent to rifle him of all he had in his passage to Sea neither was he suffered to return as long as the King lived during all which time the King took the Profits of his Bishoprick to his own use This King enlarged the Tower of London and compassed it with new Walls he also built the great Hall at Westminster being 270 foot in length and 74 in breadth but thinking it too little he intended to have built another Hall which should have reached from the Thames to Kingstreet In the fourth Year of his Reign on St. Lukes day so great a Tempest of Wind happened that above six hundred Houses in London were thrown down therewith and the Roof of S. Mary le Bow Church in Cheapside was blown off which with the Beams were carried into the Air a great height and in the fall six of the Beams being 27 foot long were driven so deep into the Ground the streets not being then paved with stone that not above four foot remained in sight and yet stood in such rank and order as the Workman had placed them on the Church In the ninth Year of his Reign a blazing Star appeared with two Bushes or Tails and other Stars seemed to shoot darts at each other The last of his Reign the Sea breaking over its Banks destroyed a multitude of People and overwhelmed the lands sometime of Earl Goodwin in Kent which are yet called Goodwins Sands There was likewise a Well that cast out bloud instead of water for 15 days together and great flames of fire were seen at divers times and places All which Prodigies seemed to foretel the Kings death approaching for having kept his Christmas at Gloucester his Easter at Winchester and his Whitsuntide at Westminster notwithstanding he was forewarned by many signs of some great disaster as his own dream the night before wherein it seemed to him that the Veins of his arms were burst and abundance of blood streaming on the floor And of a certain Monk who dreamed that he saw the King gnaw the Image of a Crucifix with his Teeth and that as he was about to bite away the Legs of it the Crucifix with his feet spurn'd him
down to the Ground and that as he lay on the ground there came out of his Mouth a flame of fire with abundance of smoke this last being told the King he made a jest of it saying Well a Monk he is and he can dream only as Monks do that is for gain Go give him an hundred shillings lest he think he hath dreamed unprofitably But though he had these warnings yet the day after Lammas he would needs go a hunting in the New Forrest yet something resenting the many Presages he stayd within all the forenoon About dinner time an Artificer came and brought him six Crossbow Arrows very strong and sharp four whereof he kept himself and the other Two he delivered to S. Walter Tyrell a Knight of Normandy his Bow-bearer saying Here Tyrell take you two for you know how to shoot them to purpose And so having at dinner drank more berally than his custom as it were in contempt of Prodigies and Presages he rides out in the New Forest where S. Walter Tyrell shooting at a Deer the arrow glanced against a Tree or as some say grazed upon the back of the Deer and flying forward struck the King in the breast who hastily breaking off so much as stuck in his body with one onely groan fell down and dyed of which sudden mischance his followers having notice most of them went away and those that remained with much ado got his body put into a Colliers Cart which being drawn with one lean Horse through a very foul dirty way the Cart broke and there lay the Spectacle of worldly Glory all besmeared with his own bloud and filthyly bedaubed with mire till he was conveyed to Winchester where he was buried under a plain Marble stone in the Cathedral King Henry the 1. his brother and the youngest son of William the Conquerour succeeded him though his elder brother Robert Duke of Normandy was living which caused great Wars and disturbance In his time Anseâ—m Archbishop of Canterbury being returned called a Council of the Bishops at London wherein he offended both the King and Clergy for he excommunicated all married Priests half the Clergy of England at that time being either married or the Sons of Married Priests and depending upon the Popes assistance he deprived many great Prelats of their Promotions because they were invested in them by the King but they refused to resign them since they had them by the donation of their Soveraign upon which Anselm thinking himself much wronged appealed to the Pope and went to Rome in Person soon after The King likewise sent Herbere Bishop of Norwich and Robert Bishop of Litchfield Privy Counsellors and William Warwast his Procurator as Ambassadors to Rome and the last being a Clergyman of a bold and daring Spirit He in debating his Soveraigns cause before the Pope and Cardinals with threatning Language and Countenance avouched That the King his Master would not lose his Right in the Investitures of the Church though he lost his Kingdom Whereto Pope Paschal being upon his own dunghill as stoutly answered If thou sayest the King will not lose his donation of Churches for the loss of his Kingdom Know thou for certain that before God I will not suffer him to to enjoy them without punishment and will venture my head thereupon But notwithstanding these great words against the King yet the degraded Abbots were restored again through the Clemency of the Papal See which is never wanting to any as long as The White and Red make intercession for them as the Monks own words were at that time A while after Cardinal Cremensis came into England from the Pope and calling a Council in London upon the Birth day of the Blessed Virgin he made a solemn Oration in praise of Virginity and Chastity and a terrible Invective against the Married Priests affirming it to be no less than professed Adultery And to amplifie their sin the more he shewed what great Impiety it was to rise from the Bed of unlawful Lust for so he termed chast Marriage and with polluted hands to touch the Sacrament of the Body of Christ yet but the very night following this holy Cardinal was found in Bed with a common Whore having himself consecrated the Host that very day so that he returned to Rome with much shame and but little success in the intended matter Yea Anselm himself the most earnest in favour of single life did not it seems die a Virgin for else he would never in his writings make such lamentations for the loss thereof Yet Anselm afterward called another Council at Westminster where it was ordained That Priests should no longer be suffered to have Wives and that there should be no more selling and buying men in England they being then sold like Horses or Oxen. Yet King Henry afterward suffered Priests to have Wives for Fines or rather took Fines of them whether they had Wives or no because they might have them if they would Duke Robert his Brother having sound that force would not prevail to settle him in his Right to the Kingdom he himself comes over to King Henry referring both his Dukedom and himself and all differences and debates to his will and pleasure but King Henry scarce vouchsafed to speak to him or at least to make him an answer but in a sullen humour turned away and so left him Which scornful usage put the Duke into such Indignation that he resolved upon Revenge and returning into Normandy raiseth a great Army But Henry knowing Robert to be a Souldier and considering his own Estate called his Lords together to London and there tickled their cars with this pleasing Speech My Friends faithful Counsellors and Native Country men You know all undoubtedly that my Brother Robert was elected and called by God himself to be the fortunate King of Jerusalem and how unfortunately or rather insolently he refused that sacred Estate whereby he is now most justly reprobated of God You also know by many other experiments his Pride and Arrogancy for being a man of a war like bumour he is not onely impatient of Peace but also earnestly desireth to trample upon you as men of object and contemptible dispositions and upbraid you for idle Drones Belly-gods and what not But I your King am naturally inclined to be both humble and peaceable and take delight in nothing more than in doing you good and to maintain your Tranquillity and ancient Liberty as I have often sworn unto you and meekly and willingly to yield my self to your advices whereby I may circumspectly govern you as a clement Prince And to that end even now will I confirm if your Wisdoms think fit your over-worn and undermined Charters and will corroborate them most firmly with a new Oath and Ratification In the mean time all the Laws which the holy King Edward by Gods inspiring did establish I do here command to be inviolably observed hereby to move you to adhere stedfastly unto me in chearfully
him for their Sovereign and so upon St. Stephens day 1135. he was crowned King at Westminster and to ingratiate himself be eased the People of divers Taxes and Impositions Yet Stephen was no sooner set in his Chair of State but David King of Scots enters England with an Army to defend the right of Maud but he was soon compounded with and so was Geoffrey Duke of Anjou Mauds husband Soon after Maud her self comes into England and was received by some Persons for Queen and Stephen hearing that some of her Forces had besieged Lincoln goes thither where his Army was overthrown and himself taken Prisoner and carried to Maud who committed him to Bristol Castle And being flusht with this success she takes her journey toward London and was there received joyfully as well as in other places where Matilda wife of King Stephen made humble suit to her for the Liberty of her Husband and that he might be suffered onely to live a private life The Londoners likewise having received her into the City as their Queen thought now as Subjects usually do with new Princes they might have what they would reasonably ask and therefore humbly besought her that the severe Laws imposed upon them by her Father might be remitted and those of King Edward might wholly be in force But she rejected both these Petitions some say out of Pride others out of mistaken Policy as thinking it most safe to act matters of importance not upon intreaty but freely and to govern the Subject with severity rather than mildness But those harsh and insulting Answers she gave them were at that time very unseasonable and though they might have been more proper in a setled Government yet in this her green and unstable estate they gave a stop to the Current of all her Fortunes For Matilda finding by this how high the Empresses pulses beat sent to her son Eustace to raise Forces in Kent since their suits must be onely obtained by the Sword The Nobles likewise who set up King Stephen finding themselves slighted and the Londoners being as much discontented as they join with them and contrive how to seize upon the Empress in the City and so redeem King Stephen to whom their affections were firm Of which Maud having notice fled secretly out of London and went to Oxford and from thence sent strict command that King Stephen should be laid in Irons and narrowly watched and fed with very mean Commons and sending to David King of Scots for assistance they laid fiege to Winchester Matilda King Stephens wife hearing of this she with her Son Eustace and the assistance of the Londoners came presently to the relief of the place where a fierce Battle was fought and Matilda's Party prevailed and the Empress Maud to make her escape was fain to be laid upon a Horse back like a dead Corps and so conveyed to Glocester But Earl Robert her Brother disdaining to flie was taken Prisoner and used more hardly by Queen Matilda for her Husband King Stephens sake but a while after whether by agreement or connivance both Stephen and Robert also made their escape out of Prison King Stephen being at liberty seeks out the Empress to requite the kindness she had she wed him in Prison and hearing her to be at Oxford he follows her thither and lays siege to the Town and brought the Empress to such distress that she had now no way to save her self but by flight But being a Woman whose Sex hath often deceived wise men she resolved once more to over-reach her Enemy by Craft since she could not do it by Force For it being a very cold Winter the River Thames that runs by the Walls of Oxford was very hard frozen and at the same time a deep Snow covered the ground Maud takes the advantage thereof and clothing her self and four of her company in white linen garments to deceive the eyes of the Centinel she goes secretly in the night out of a Postern Gate and passing the frozen River ran on foot through Ice and Snow Ditches and Vallies for five miles together till she came to Abington the falling Snow beating in their faces all the way and there taking Horse the same night got into Wallingford Castle But though Maud escaped this present danger vet it left such an Impression of fear upon her that she never after had a mind to appear upon the Stage of War but left the prosecution of it to her son Henry who was now about sixteen years of Age. And not long after Eustace King Stephens only son died and being left destitute of Issue to succeed him he was the more easily drawn to conditions of Peace and so it was at last concluded that Stephen should hold the kingdom of England and adopt Henry as his Heir to succeed him This Agreement thus made and confirmed by Parliament Henry accounted King Stephen ever after as his Father and Stephen Henry as his son and well he might if it be true which some write that Maud his Mother when a Battle was to be fought between King Stephen and her son went privately to him asking him How he could find in his heart to fight against him that was his own Son Could he forget the familiarity he had with her in her Widowhood But however it was King Stephen and Henry continued in mutual love and concord as long as they lived together In the eighth year of King Stephen a Synod was held in London by Henry Bishop of Winchester where it was decreed that whosoever should lay violent hands upon any Clergy-man should not be forgiven but by the Pope himself and from this time forward Clergy-men were exempt from the power of the Civil Magistrate In this Kings time there appeared two Children a Boy and a Girl clad in Green in a Stuff unknown of a strange Language and of a strange Diet the Boy being baptized died shortly after but the Girl lived to be an old Woman and being asked from whence they were she answered They were of the Land of St. Martin where there are Christian Churches erected but that no Sun did ever rise unto them but where that Land is or how she came hither she her self knew not This Story is related by many very credible Historians and if true we may thereby learn that there are other parts of the World than those which to us are known In the fifteenth year of this King the River of Thames was so frozen at London that Horse and Cart passed over upon the Ice In his time likewise lived Johannes 〈◊〉 Temporibus of whom it is recorded that he lived Three hundred Sixty one years he was one of Charlemain the Emperours Guard and died in the Reign of Conradus the Third 1139. After the death of King Stephen Henry Duke of Anfou succeeded according to Agreement by the Title of King Henry the Second and was crowned at Westminster in the Year 1155. This King had very much vexation from
John took notice of this but since it would serve his present purpose he let it pass knowing that his turn once served he could afterward carve out what Title he pleased and so upon Ascension day 1199. he was crowned King at Westminster But Constantia the Mother of Arthur applies her self to Lewis the French King on behalf of her son who promised his assistance but yet afterwards a Peace was made between King John and Lewis After which King John being at leisure gave himself wholly up to pleasure and committed many extravagancies which so far disobliged some of his Lords that they joined with the French King to assist Prince Arthur but King John coming upon them unawares routed their Forces and took Arthur Prisoner who died soon after The Death of whom and also of Geoffry Fitz-Peter who while the King lived kept him in some awe left the King at full liberty to his own wild desires For at the first hearing of Geoffries death he swore By the Feet of God that now at length he was King of England and with great rejoicing said to some Lords about him Now when this man comes into Hell let him salute the Archbishop Hubert whom certainly he shall find there After this the Lords of the Realm having often required their Ancient Rights and Liberties and finding nothing but delusions they would no longer endure to be abused but meeting together they consider of some remedy and conclude to go to the King themselves in person and make their demands producing likewise a Charter which had been granted in Henry the First 's time Whereupon coming to the King after Christmas lying then in the New Temple in London and acquainting him with their demands he answers That within a few days he will give them satisfaction and causeth the Bishops of Canterbury and Ely and William Maâ—sha Earl of Glocester to pass their words for him that it should be performed But the King never intending to do as he said falls presently to raise Souldiers which the Lords understanding they all did the like and going to the Bishop of Canterbury they deliver him a Copy of their demands and require the Kings Answer who shewed it to the King with a Message of their Resolutions That if he did not presently seal the Charter then delivered to him they would compel him thereto with forcible entrance into all his Possessions The King being highly offended asked Why they did not also require his Kingdom these their demands being grounded on no colour of Reason and then swore a great Oath That be would die before he would enslave himself to them by such Concessions The Lords by this answer knowing what they must trust to appointed Robert Fitzwater to be their General whom they stiled The Marshal of Gods Army and Holy Church Then they besieged Northampton and Bedford and the Governour of the last being a Confederate delivered it up to them But the Londoners displeased with the King for burthening them with Taxes not onely admitted them but invited them to enter the City by night The Lords having now this key of the Land at their dispose sent such threatning Letters and Messages abroad that they drew most of the Nobility from the King who being at Windsor providing an Army And having notice thereof and that the Londoners were joined with them he thought good to proceed rather by Fraud than Force and thereupon sends to the Lords That if they would come to him to Windsor he would grant their demands The Lords coming thither but in a Military manner for they durst not trust his word the King saluted them all kindly and promised to give them satisfaction in all they demanded And so in a Meadow between Windsor and Stanes called Running Mead and afterward Council Mead he freely consented to confirm their former Liberties contained in Magna Charta and Charta Forestae and likewise that there should be Twenty five Peers Elected who should have a sway in the Government and whose commands all the rest of the Barons were bound by Oath to obey and he was contented some grave Personages should be chosen to see it performed But the next day when it should be done the King goes privately the night before to Southampton and from thence to the Isle of Wight where advising with his Council It was concluded he should send to the Pope to acquaint him with this Mutiny of the Lords and require his help while the King in the mean time lived skulking up and down in corners that no man might know where to find him or which is worse as some write roving about and Practising pyracy And now the Lords begin to suspect fraud when shortly after the Kings Messengers who were Walter and John Bishops of Worcester and Norwich return with the Popes Decree whereby the Barons Charter was by definitive Sentence cancelled and made void and the King and Barons accursed if either of them observed the Composition This Decree the King after he had staid three Moneths in the Isle of Wight coming back to Windsor acquaints the Lords with but they accusing the Messenger for falsly informing the Pope and the Pope also for making a Decree without hearing of both sides betake themselves to Arms and swear by the holy Altar to be revenged for this injurious dealing The Ting finding the Lords nothing moved upon the Popes Decree sends again to him to acquaint him with it who being mightily incensed to have his Decree so slighted adjudgeth the Lords to be Enemies of Religion and gives power to Peter Bishop of Winchester and the Abbot 〈◊〉 Râ—dding to Excommunicate them Whereby a 〈…〉 a Child in England K. Willi Rufus Kild in Hunting 〈…〉 k to Wind 〈…〉 they ac 〈…〉 the Pope 〈…〉 without 〈…〉 to Arms 〈…〉 for 〈…〉 〈…〉 moved up 〈…〉 to ac 〈…〉 incensed 〈…〉 the 〈…〉 power 〈…〉 Abbot o◠〈…〉 hereby al◠〈…〉 with the City of 〈◊〉 〈…〉 still stand on these 〈…〉 London scorning and defying the Popes 〈…〉 and Decreeing that neither themselves 〈…〉 Londoners should observe them nor the 〈…〉 dare to denounce them alledging That it 〈…〉 to the Pope to deal in Temporal Affairs 〈…〉 Peter received power of our Saviour onely in 〈…〉 matters and why should the Roman 〈…〉 coverousness extend it self hither to us 〈…〉 have Bishops to do to intermedale in Wars 〈◊〉 are Constantines Successors not St. Peters â—â—om as they represent not in good actions so neither do they in authority Fie upon such mercenary Rascals who having little knowledge of Ingenuity or Art being 〈◊〉 wretched Vsurers and Simoniacks that they would dare by their Excommunications to domineer 〈◊〉 the World O how unlike they are to St. Peter 〈◊〉 have usurped St. Peters Chair With these Remonstrances the Lords went on â—olvedly in their course In the mean time King 〈◊〉 with the assistance of some Forces which 〈◊〉 had hired beyond Sea had within half a year 〈◊〉 all the Castles of the Barons into
you have already an account After the death of King John his eldest Son Henry being not above ten years old succeeded him and was therefore very unfit to govern in such a distracted time when a great part of the kingdom had sworn Allegiance to Prince Lewis However upon October 8. 1216. he was crowned at Glocester by the name of Henry the Third where besides the usual Oath taken by all Kings he did Homage also to the Church of Rome and to Pope Innocent for the kingdoms of England and Ireland and promised the true payment of the Thousand Marks a year which his Father had granted to the Church of Rome And then William Marshal Earl of Pembroke was by general consent made Protector of the Realm during the Kings Minority In the mean time Lewis who thought himself sure of the kingdom by the death of King John now hearing of the solemn Crowning of the young King with such unanimous consent he begins to grow jealous of the English Lords who indeed had some conflicts in their minds whom they should obey they thought it great ingratitude to forsake Prince Lewis whom they themselves had invited to come and yet it seemed extream disloyalty to stand in opposition to Henry their innocent natural Soveraign but the discovery of Viscount Melun that Lewis intended to extirpate all the English Nobility and the curse of Wallo the Popes Legate against all who should join with Lewis with divers other reasons caused the principal of them to shrink from Lewis and join with King Henry as thinking no obligation so great as Allegiance many others staid with Lewis as thinking none greater than an Oath And now Prince Lewis fearing that his enemies having gotten an head should likewise gather a head and draw more Forces together staying himself in London sent his Lieutenant with an Army of Twenty thousand to take in what Towns he could get some of which they took with small resistance but William Earl of Pembroke the Protector coming against them with an Army utterly routed Lewis and took most of the Lords that adhered to him Prisoners and though his Father Philip sent him more Forces yet they were defeated at Sea so that Lewis upon payment of some monies and other conditions returned into France and King Henry took an Oath and for him the Popes Legate Wallo and the Protector That he would restore to the Barons of the Realm and other his Subjects all their Rights and Priviledges for which the discord began between the late King and his People And afterward he confirmed the two Charters of Magna Charta and Charta Forestae granted by his Father King John In the Tenth year of King Henries Reign and the nineteenth of his Age he claimed to take the Government upon himself and no longer to be under a Protector after which there presently appeared the difference between a Prince that is ruled by good counsel and one that will do all of his own will and take no Advice For thirteen years he was ruled by a Protector and then all passed as it were in a calm without noise or clamour but as soon as he took upon him the Government storms and tumults presently arose neither was there any quietness with the Subject nor himself nothing but Grievances all the long time of his Reign For as soon as he was crowned again he presently cancels and annuls the Charter of the Forests as granted in his Nonage and therefore not bound to observe it and then makes a new Seal forcing all that had Grants by the former to renew them whereby he got abundance of money After which he goes over into France to recover his Rights there to which purpose he raises great sums of money from the Londoners for Redemption of their Liberties About which time Constantine Fitz-Arnulf a Citizen of London upon a tumult which arose in the City at a Wrestling which he purposely appointed endeavoured to set up Lewis again and in the heat of the disturbance he traiterously cried out Mountjoy Mountjoy God for us and our Lord Lewis And though the Lord Mayor who was a very discreet person earnestly persuaded them to be quiet yet Constantine by his seditious Orations had made the people incapable of good counsel so that there was little hope of appeasing them The Lord Chief Justice having notice hereof presently raised Forces and entered the Tower of London and sent for the principal men of the City to come before him who all disclaimed their being concerned therein and charged Fitz Arnulph to be the chief Author thereof But he resolutely answered That he had not done so much therein as he ought Whereupon he was condemned to die together with the Crier who published the Proclamation and his Nephew and was accordingly executed though when he saw the Halter about his neck he offered Fifteen thousand Marks for the saving of his life This Execution being done without noise or the knowledge of the Londoners the Lord Chief Justice comes into the City and apprehending several who where guilty of this Tumult he causeth their hands and feet to be cut off for a terrour to the rest and then set them at liberty The King likewise deposed several of the Magistrates but afterwards finding that the baser sort of People onely were concerned in the Disorder he thereupon was reconciled to the City About this time an Execrable Impostor was brought before the Archbishop of Canterbury who observing how easily the People were deluded in those times of Darkness and Superstition he impudently caused himself to be wounded in his hands feet and sides that by the resemblance of these bloudy Impressions he might be acknowledged for their very Saviour who was thereupon deservedly immured up between four Walls and with him a wretched Woman who pretended to be Mary the Mother of this Christ and some say another who called her self Mary Magdalene this punishment being thought fittest for such Miscreants as Monsters too impious and unworthy to die by Humane hands though it is very remarkable that this man should have such a severe judgment at Oxford and yet St. Francis who was guilty of the same Imposture as to the wounds of Christ though not the name should soon after be canonized at Rome for the chief of Saints and perhaps if this Monster had been at Rome he had been likewise Sainted and if Saint Francis had been at Oxford he had been immured King Henry returning from France brought over many French men with him which he puts in places of Trust and Profit and removes and fines his old Officers The Lords could no longer endure so many indignities to see themselves slighted and Strangers advanced their Persons likewise exposed to danger and their Estates to ruine for which they could find no remedy but the Kings confirming their Charter of Liberties wherein it is strange to see upon what different grounds the King and the Lords went It seems the King thought that to
Charity is in the sighâ— of God Several poor people plucked the ears of Corn while they were green in the common Fields meerly to keep themselves from starving at which the Owners being much offended desired the Priest of the Parish to curse and excommunicate them all the next Sunday but one in the Company adjured the Priest in the Name of God to exempt his Corn from the Sentence saying That it pleased him well that the Poor being pinched with Famine had taken his Corn and so commended what was left to the blessing of God The Priest being compelled by the importunity of the others had no sooner begun the Sentence but a sudden Tempest of Thunder Lightning Wind Hail and Rain interrupted him whereby all the Corn-fields thereabout were laid waste and destroyed as if they had been trodden under foot with Cart and Horses yea no kind of Fowl nor Beast would feed upon it But this honest tender-hearted man found all his Corn and Ground though mingled among theirs altogether untouched and without the least harm Awhile after the K calls another Parl. at London in order to the raising of more mony having tried before to borrow of the Londoners and found them to incline to the Lords To this Parliament the Lords come armed for their own defence and make Richard the Kings Brother Spokesman wherein they aggravate his breach of promise since neither were Strangers removed from about him but taken more into favour than before Nor was the former money disposed of according to appointment but the King made bold to make use of it at his own pleasure the Earl of Provence the Young Queens Father and Simon Montford a new Favourite and a French man born now made Earl of Leicester having a good share of the money collected they acquaint him also with all the rest of the disorders of the kingdom The King was so moved at this their Remonstrance that taking his Oath to refer the matter to divers grave men of the kingdom Articles were drawn sealed and publickly set up to the view of all And soon after the Earl of March solicites the King to make another journey into France whereupon he calls a Parliament at London and demands Aid which was not onely opposed but an account required of all the Taxations hitherto given with an absolute denial of any more Upon which the King comes to the Parliament in Person earnestly and indeed humbly craving their Aid for this once But all prevailed not for they had made a Vow to the contrary and the King is driven to get what he can of particular men of whom partly by Gift and partly by Loan he gets so much that he carries over with him thirty Barrels of Sterling money This Expedition had no better success than the former for after a whole years stay the King was forced to make a dishonourable Truce with the French and upon his return home he laid new Exactions on the Jews and the Londoners In the next Parliament at Westminster enquiry was made how much money the Pope had yearly out of England and it was found to be annually threescore thousand Marks which was more than the Revenue of the Crown which the King ordered an account to be taken of and sent it to the Council at Lyons This so vexed the Pope that he said It is time to make an end with the Emperour with whom he was then at variance that we may crush these petty Kings for the Dragon once appeased or destroyed these lesser Snakes will soon be trodden down Upon which it was absolutely ordained that the Pope should have no more money out of England But the King being of an irresolute and wavering nature and afraid of Threats soon gave over and the Pope continued his former Rapine The King had now abundance of Grandees come to see him from Foreign parts and having called a Parliament at London he is sharply taxed for his Expences and severely reprehended for his breach of promise having vowed and declared in his Charter never more to injure the State again also for his violent taking up Provisions of Wax Silk Robes and especially of Wine contrary to the will of the Seller and many other Grievances they complain of All which the King hears patiently in hope of obtaining Supplies which yet they would not give and thereupon the Parliament is prorogued till Midsummer following and the King growing more furious than before it was then dissolved in discontent But the Parliament not supplying him he is advised to supply his wants with sale of his Plate and Jewels of the Crown being told That though they were sold yet they would revert again to him And having with great loss received money for them he asked who had bought them Answer is made The City of London That City said he is an inexhaustible Gulph if Octavius Treasure were to besold they would surely buy it In his two and fortieth year another Parliament is held which by some was called Insanum Parliamentum the Mad Parliament because at this Parliament the Lords came with great Retinues of armed men and many things were enacted contrary to the Kings Prerogative And now to vex the City the King commands a Fair to be kept at Westminster forbidding under great penalties all exercise of Merchandize within London for fifteen days But this Novelty came to nothing for the inconvenience of the place as it was then and the foulness of the Weather brought more damage to the Traders than benefit At Christmas likewise he demands New-years-gifts of the Londoners and shortly after writes unto them his Letters imperiously commanding them to aid him with money and thereby gets twenty thousand pound of them for which the next year he craves pardon of them But notwithstanding his continual taking up of all Provisions for his house without money yet he lessens his House-keeping in no honourable manner Now seeing he could get nothing of the States assembled in Parliament he sends or writes to every Nobleman in particular declaring his Poverty and how he was bound by Charter in a debt of thirty thousand pound to those of Burdeaux and Gascoign who otherwise would not have suffered him to come back to England But failing of any relief from the Temporal Lords he addresseth his Letters to the Bishops of whom he finds as little relief yet by much importunity and his own presence he got an hundred pound of the Abbot of Ramsey but the Abbot of Burrough had the confidence to deny him though the King told him It was more charity to give money to him than to a Beggar that went from door to door The Abbot of St. Albans was yet more kind and gave him threescore Marks to such lowness did did the profuseness of this indigent King bring him But now the Lords assemble again at London and press him with his promise that the Lord Chief Justice Châ—ncellor and Treasurer should be appointed by the General Council of
and though the Earl of Glocester by his revolt from the Barons and joining with the Prince had greatly furthered this good work and had caused the King to enjoy a happy peace yet was this Earl so little trusted that he found neither favour nor reward but was much slighted and had but cold entertainment at Court which he highly resented and meditated revenge In this fury he came headlong into the City of London and complaining of his ill usage the common people flockt in Troops about him and daringly committed many notorious outrages within the City forgetting the great Calamity they had lately suffered and what favours they had received From thence they went to the Kings Palace at Westminster which they most barbarously rifled spoiled and ransacked This might have produced another Civil War but the Tumult was in a little time dispersed and the Prince again interposed himself an earnest Mediator between the King and all the Offenders and procured a large and free pardon for the Earl of Glocester whereby all things were again appeased and quieted After which the Earl of Glocester and Prince Edward went into the Holy Land where he continued till after the death of his Father It is observed of this King Henry the third that he was never constant in his love nor his hate for he never had so great a Favourite but he cast him off with disgrace nor so great an Enemy whom he received not into favour An example of both which Qualities was seen in his carriage to Hubert de Burgh who was for a time the greatest Favourite yet cast out afterward in miserable disgrace and then no man held in greater hatred yet received afterward into Grace again And it is strange to read what Crimes this Hubert was charged with at his Arraignment and especially one That to dissuade a great Lady from marrying with the King he had said The King was a squint-eyed Fool and a kind of Leper deceitful perjured more faint-hearted than a Woman and utterly unfit for any Ladies Company For which and other crimes laid to his charge in the Kings Bench where the King himself was present he was adjudged to have his Lands Confiscate and to be deprived of his Title of Earl yet after all he was restored to his Estate again and suffered to live quiet There is likewise an instance of his Timorousness in the following passage The King being in his Barge on the Thames on a sudden the Air grew dark and there followed a terrible Shower with Thunder and Lightning of which the King being impatient commanded himself to be put to Land at the next Stairs which was Durham-house where Simon Montford Earl of Leicester lived which the Earl having notice of came to wait on the King saying Sir Why are you afraid the Tempest is now past Whereunto the King with a stern look replied I fear Thunder and Lightning extreamly but by the head of God I fear thee more than all the Thunder and Lightning in the World Whereto the Earl answered My Leige it is injurious and incredible that you should stand so much in fear of me who have been always loyal both to you and your Kingdom whereas you ought to fear your Enemies even those that destroy the Realm and abuse your Majesty with bad Counsels In this Kings Reign the two great Charters of Magna Charta and Charta de Forestae were ratified and confirmed The Pleas of the Crown were likewise pleaded in the Tower of London All Wears in the Thames were in this Kings time ordered to be pulled up and destroyed Also the Citizens of London were allowed by Charter to pass Toll-free through England and to have free liberty of Hunting about London they had likewise licence to have and use a Common Seal It was also ordained that no Sheriff of London should continue in his Office longer than one Yearâ— whereas before they continued many and the City were allowed to present their Mayor to the Barons of the Exchequer to be sworn who before was presented to the King where-ever he were In the 32 year of his Reign the Wharf in London called Queen-Hith was farmed to the Citizens for fifty pounds a year which is scarce now worth fifteen This King caused a Chest of Gold to be made for laying up the Reliques of King Edward the Confessor in the Church of Westminster Hubert de Burgh Earl of Kent was buried in the Church of the Friars Preachers in London to which Church he gave his Pallace at Westminster which afterward the Archbishop of York bought and made it his Inn then commonly called York Place and now Whitchall In the thirteenth year of this King there were great Thunders and Lightnings which burnt many houses and slew both Men and Beasts In his 15. year upon S. Pauls day when Roger Wiger Bishop of London was at Mass at S. Pauls the Sky suddenly grew dark and such a terrible Thunder-clap sell upon the Church that it was shaken as if it would have fallen and so great a flash of Lightning came out of a dark Cloud that all the Church seemed to be on fire so that all the people ran out of the Church and fell on the ground with astonishment In 1233. five Suns were seen at one time together after which followed so great a Dearth that people were forced to eat Horse-flesh and Barks of Trees and in London twenty thousand were starved for want of Bread In 1236. the River of Thames overflowed the Banks so that in the great Pallace at Westminster men rowed with Boats in the midst of the Hall In 1240. many strange Fishes came ashore and among others forty Sea Bulls and one of a huge bigness passed through London Bridge unhurt till he came to the Kings House at Moreclack where he was killed In 1263. the Thames again overflowed the Banks about Lambeth and drowned Houses and Fields for the space of six Miles And the same Year there was a Blazing Star seen for three Moneths In 1264. seven hundred Jews were slain in London their Goods spoiled and their Synagogue defaced because one Jew would have forced a Christian to have paid above two pence a Week for the use of twenty shillings In 1268. there happened a great quarrel between the Goldsmiths and Taylors of London which occasioned much mischief to be done and many men were slain for which Riot twelve of the Ringleaders were hanged In 1269. the River of Thames was so hard frozen from the last of November to Gandlemas that men and Beasts passed over from Lambeth to Westminster and Goods were brought from Sandwich and other Port Towns by Land In 1271. the Steeple of Bow in Cheapside fell down and slew many people both Men and Women About the same time a Child was born near London who is reported at two years old to have cured all Diseases And at Greenwich near London a Lamb was yeaned which had two perfect bodies and but one head King
and odious to the Lords and the People as the other was for they inclined the King to a lewd and wanton course of life among Whores and Concubines and to forsake the company of his modest and vertuous Queen which made him a Scorn to Foreign Princes and hateful in the sight of all honest men yet the King in despight of his Lords supported the Spencers in whatever they did Whereupon the Lords rise in Arms and the King likewise raiseth Forces where a great Battle was fought and the Barons were overthrown and after the Fight two and twenty of the Lords were beheaded which increased the pride and insolence of the Spencers Yet the Queen who fled to Germany soon after returned accompanied with 300 Knights and select men at Arms with whom the Lords and the Londoners joined and seizing upon the Spencers the Father who was fourscore and ten years old was cruelly executed having his heart pulled out and his body left hanging on the Gallows while he was alive and the Son with the King himself were imprisoned and soon after young Spencer was drawn hanged and quartered his Head set upon London Bridge and his four Quarters bestowed in several Cities Then was a Parliament called wherein it was agreed to depose the King and set up his Son which he because they threatned to exclude both him and his Son and set up a King of another Race consented to And thereupon the Bishop of Hereford and other Commissioners came and sate at a place appointed to take his Resignation and the King coming forth in mourning Robes upon a sudden fell down in a swound and could hardly be recovered After which the Bishop of Hereford declared the cause of their coming To which the King answered That as he much grieved his People should be so hardened against him as utterly to reject him so iâ— was some comfort to him that they would yet receive his Son to be their Sovereign Whereupon Sir William Trussel Speaker of the Parliament in the name of the whole kingdom renounced Homage to the King in these words I William Trussel in the name of all the Men of the Land of England and of all the Parliament Procurator do resign to thee Edward the Homage that was made to thee sometimes and from this time forward now following I defie thee and deprive thee of all Royal Power and I shall never be tendant to thee as for King after this time Not long after this King was murthered by Sir John Matravers and Thomas Gourney by thrusting an hot Spit up his Fundament into his Bowels after he had reigned nineteen Years and 6 months 1327. In the eighth year of his reign was so great a Dearth that Horses and Dogs were eaten and Thieves in Prison pulled in pieces those that were newly brought in amongst them and eat them half alive Which continuing three years in the end brought such a Pestilence that the living scarce sufficed to bury the dead In this Kings time digging the Foundation of a Work about St. Pauls were found above an hundred Heads of Oxen and Kine which confirmed the opinions that of old time it had been the Temple of Jupiter and that there was the Sacrifice of Beasts Edward of Windsor eldest Son of King Edward the second by the order of Parliament upon his Fathers Resignation was proclaimed King of England Jan. 25. 1327. and soon after a Parliament was called wherein Edmund Earl of Kent the Kings Uncle is accused for intending to restore his Brother upon which he was condemned and brought to the Scaffold but was so generally beloved of the People that he stood there from one of the Clock till five in the Afternoon before any Executioner could be found to do the Office till at last a silly Wretch in the Marshalsey was gotten to cut off his head But the authors of his death escaped not long themselves for in the third year of the Kings Reign another Parliament is holden wherein the Queen hath all her great Jointure taken from her and is put to her Pension of a thousand pound a Year and her self confined to a Castle where she remained the rest of her days no fewer than thirty years Time long enough to convince her that her being the daughter of a King the wife of a King and the mother of a King were glorious Titles but all not worth the Liberty of a mean Estate And Roger Mortimer her great Minion and Favourite lately created Earl of the Marches of Wales was seized on this manner The King taking others with him went secretly one night by Torch-light through a private way under ground till they came to the Queens chamber where leaving the King without some of them went in and found the Queen with Mortimer ready to go to bed and laying hands on him they brought him out after whom the Queen followed crying Good Son good Son take pity upon the gentle Mortimer suspecting her Son had been amongst them This way was taken to apprehend him to prevent Tumult he having no less than ninescore Knights and Gentlemen besides other meaner Servants about him continually Being thus seized he is committed to the Tower and accused of divers crimes and amongst the rest that he had been too familiar with the Queen by whom she was thought to be with child Of which Articles he was found guilty and condemned and thereupon is drawn and hanged at the common Gallows at the Elms now called Tyburn where his body remained two days an opprobrious spectacle to all beholders This King Edward the third was a victorious Prince and with the assistance of his Son Edward called the Black Prince won many considerable Victories against the French and Scetch taking both their Kings prisoners who were committed to the Tower of London This King instituted the Order of the Garter upon what cause is uncertain the common opinion is that a Garter of his own Queen or as some say of the Countess of Salisbury slipping off in a dance King Edward stooped and took it up whereat some of his Lords that were present smiling as at an amorous action he seriously said It should not be long ere sovereign honour were done to that Garter Whereupon he added that French Motto Honi soit qui maly pense Evil to him that evil thinks therein checking his Lords sinister suspicion In the fourth year of his Reign the Sea Banks were overflown through all England but especially in the River Thames so that all the Cattle and Beasts near thereunto were drowned There was likewise found a Serpent having two heads and two faces like a Woman one face drest after the new fashion and another like the old with Wings like a Bat and men and women perished in divers places by Lightning and Thunder Fiends Devils and Apparitions were likewise seen by men and spoke to them as they travelled At this time upon the Petition of the Londoners an Act was made that no common Whore
no reports should cause any disaffection toward him But as soon as this young King was Crowned at Westminster he like king Saul seemed to have a new heart given him and became another man than he was before For calling his old Companions and brethren in evil before him he strictly charged them not to come within Ten miles of the Court till they had given proof of their Reformation And to prevent their proceding in ill courses he gave every one of them a sufficient allowance Immediately after a Parliament was called at Westminster where a Subsidy was granted without asking and the Commons began to harp upon the old string of taking away the Lands of the Clergy which the Bishops fearing the Kings inclination endeavoured to divert by shewing him the great Right he had to the Crown of France which they made so plainly appear that he alters his Arms and quarters the Flower de Luces like the King of France But to do it fairly he sends Ambassadors to Charles the sixth King of France Requiring him in a Peacable manner to surrender the Crown of France The Ambassadors had five hundred Horse to attend them and were at first honourably received and Treated by the Court of France but when their Message was known their Entertainment was soon altered and the Dauphin who managed the Affairs of State during the Kings sickness about this time sent a Tun of Tennis Balls to K. Henry in derision of his Youth as fitter to play with them than to manage Arms. Which King Henry took in such scorn that he promised with an Oath It should not be long before he would toss such iron Balls among them that the best Arms of France should not be able to hold a Racket to return them And accordingly he went with an Army into France and utterly routed the French Army at Agincourt though they were 6 times as many as the English killing about nine thousand of them and taking fifteen hundred prisoners and on the English part not above six hundred were slain in all In the beginning of his Reign the followers of Wickliff greatly encreased of whom Sir John Old-Castle was chief who by marriage came to be Lord Cobham and in great favour with the King But being accused in a Synod of London for maintaining Wickliffs Doctrine the King sent for him and persuaded him to submit to the censure of the Church who told the King he onely owed subjection to his Majesty and for others he would stand for the Truth against them with his life Upon which he was cited to appear in the Bishops Court which he refusing was condemned by a Synod for an Heretick in which Synod the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury caused it to be ordained That the Holy Scriptures ought not to be translated into the English Tongue But mark the Judgment of God that fell upon his own Tongue whose roots and blade shortly after as it is recorded grew so big in his mouth and throat that he could neither speak nor swallow down meat but in horrour lay languishing till at last starved by Famine so died After this Sir John Oldcastle was taken and he Sir Roger Acton and twenty eight more were executed at S. Giles in the Fields and in Smithfield for Heresie and all the Prisons in and about London were filled with his Followers In the third year of this Kings Reign on Candlemas day seven Dolphins came up the River of Thames whereof four were taken This King had such command in France that their own Chronicles testifie in the Court of Chancery in Paris all things were sealed with the Seal of King Henry of England In the second year of his Reign Moregate near Colemanstreet was first made by Thomas Fawkener Mayor of London who caused the Water of this City to be turned into the Thames in Walbrook by making Grates in divers places King Henry the fifth died the thirty fifth year of his age and the ninth of his Reign leaving his Son Henry to enjoy his Crown who was but eight months old when his Father died yet by the Duke of Bedford Regent of France is proclaimed King of England and France at Paris and at nine years old was crowned King there receiving the Oaths and Fealty of all the French Nobility This King was very weak in Judgment and was ruled onely by his Queen which occasioned him very great trouble for they used his Authority for the destruction of the Duke of Glocester and several other persons who were much beloved of the People About which time the Duke of York began to whisper his Right to the Crown as descended from Philippa Daughter and Heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence Elder Brother to John of Gaunt and Great Grandfather to the present King Henry the sixth and it was privately discoursed That King Henry was of a weak capacity and easily abused and the Queen who was near to the French Queen was of a malignant spirit and bloudily ambitious the Privy Council is wise enough yet not honest enough regarding more their own pravate profit than the publick good and that through their neglect all France was lost and that God would not bless the usurped Possession of King Henry With these suggestions the Kentish men seemed to be taken which being observed by an Instrument of the Duke of York one Mortimer he takes opportunity to tell the People That if they will be ruled by him he will shew them the way to make a thorough Reformation and prevent the Taxes that are upon every slight occasion laid upon them These promises of Reformation and Freedom so wrought with the People that they drew to a Head and make Mortimer otherwise called Jack Cade their Leader who stiled himself Captain Mendall with whom they came to Black-heath and lay thereabout a Moneth sending for whom and what he pleased He then presents the complaint of the Commons to the Parliament who sent them to the Privy Council but they explode them as frivolous and charge the Authors to be presumptuous Rebels and thereupon the King raiseth an Army and brings them to Greenwich but the Lords could get no Followers to fight against them who fought onely for Reformation of Abuses and for punishment of such Traitors as they said the Lord Say was The Lord Say is hereupon committed to the Tower and the King and Queen retire to London whom Cade follows and comes to Southwark where he Quarters his men and next morning marcheth to London Bridge where he caused his Followers to cut the Rope of the Draw-bridge no resistance being made against him and so in good order marched up to London-Stone upon which he strook his Sword saying Now is Mortimer Lord of London He then sent for the Lord Say out of the Tower and cut off his head at the Standard in Cheapside and also the head of Sir James Cromer High-Sheriff of Kent but upon the Kings General Pardon his Followers leave him and he is soon after
London Mercer who first practised the same in the Abby of Westminstor 1471. This King Henry lost his Kingdom when he had reigned thirty eight years six months and odd days The day after he was murdered he was brought to St. Pauls Church in an open Coffin bare-faced where he bled and from thence carried to Black Fryars where he also bled and lastly was buried at Windsor In the first year of King Edward the fourth Walter Walker Grocer living in Cheapside was beheaded for speaking some words against King Edward In his fourth year there was a great Pestilence and the Thames was frozen over In his 14 year John Grose was burnt on Tower-hill for Religion The same year King Edward in his Progress hunting in Sir Thomas Burdels Park slew many Deer and among the rest a white Buck which Sir Thomas hearing of wished the Bucks head horns and all in his belly who moved the King to kill him Upon which words he was condemned to die and being drawn from the Tower of London to Tyburn was there beheaded Next year George D. of Clarence K. Ed. Brother was drowned in the Tower in a But of Malmsey In his twenty second year some Thieves for Robbery in St. Martins le Grand were drawn to Tower-hill and there hanged and burnt and others were pressed to death In this Kings time Richard Rawson one of the Sheriffs of London caused a House to be built at St. Mary Spittle for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen to hear Sermons in the Easter Holy-days King Edward the fourth being dead his eldest Son Edward not above eleven years old was proclaimed King but never crowned for the Duke of Glocester hearing of his Brothers death comes to London and having gotten the King and his Brother the Duke of York into his hands sends them to the Tower and murders the Lord Hatings who was true to Edward and then endeavours to prove the two children of Edward Illegitimate whereby he at last attained the Crown by the name of Richard the third and afterwards persuades Sir James Tyril to murder the two young Princes in the Tower who getting two other Villains as bad as himself they come to the childrens chamber in the night and suddenly wrapping them up in their cloths and keeping down by force the Feather-bed and Pillows hard upon their mouths so stifled them that their breath being gone they surrendred up their innocent souls and when the Murtherers perceived first by their strugling with the pains of death and then by their long lying still that they were throughly dead they laid their bodies out and then called Sir James Tyril to see them who presently caused their bodies to be buried under the Stairs But these Murderers came all to miserable ends and King Richard himself after this abominable Fact never had a quiet mind but was troubled with fearful dreams and would sometimes start out of his bed and run about the chamber in a great fright as if all the Furies in Hell were about him as he did the night before the Battle at Bosworth Field where he was slain by King Henry the seventh who succeeded to the Crown King Richard took away from Jane Shore one of King Edwards Concubines all her Goods to the value of above 3000 Marks and afterward caused her to do Pennance before the Cross for her Incontinency with a Taper in her hand when though undressed yet she appeared so fair and lovely and likewise so modest that many who hated her course of life yet pitied her course usage since she used all the favour she had with King Edward to the good of many but never to the hurt of any And truly she had cause to complain against Richard for being so severe for her offending against the seventh Commandment onely when he did no pennance for offending heavily against all Ten. But perhaps he got some Good Fellow to be his Confessor After Richard called Crook-back was slain Henry the seventh was proclaimed King In whose time were made several general Laws as that for admitting poor people to sue in Forma Pauperis without paying Fees to Attorney Counsellor or Clerk Another that no person that shall assist by Arms or otherwise the King in being shall ever after be impeached thereof or attainted by course of Law or act of Parliament and that if any such Act of Attainder did happen to 〈◊〉 made it should be void and of none effect In his fifth year it was ordained by Parliament that the Mayor of London should have the conservation oâ— the River of Thames from Stanes-bridge to the Waters of Yeudale and Medway In his seventeenth year John Shaw Lord Mayor of London caused his Brethren the Aldermen to ride from Guildhall to the Water-side when he went to Westminster to be presented to the Exchequer He also causeâ— Kitchins and other Conveniences to be built it Guild-hall This King was the first that ordaine a Company of tall proper men to be Yeomen 〈◊〉 the Guard and to attend the person of the King to whom he appointed a Livery and a Captaâ—â— over them In his eighteenth year King Heâ—â—â— himself being Free of the Tailors Company 〈◊〉 divers Kings before had been namely Richard tâ— second Henry the fourth fifth and sixth Edwarâ— the fourth and Richard the third as also eleveâ— Dukes twenty eight Earls and forty eight Lord He therefore now gave them the name of Mâ—â—chant-Taylors as an honourable Title to end 〈◊〉 for ever The 22 of August 1485. the very day King Henâ— got the Victory over King Richard a great Fiâ— happened in Bredstreet London in which was burnt the Parson of St. Mildreds and one person more In his tenth year in digging a new Foundation in the Church of St. Mary-hill in London the body of Alice Hackny who had been buried 175 years before was found whole of skin and the joints of her arms pliable the Corps was kept above ground four days without annoyance and then buried again In his twelfth year on St. Bartholomews day there fell Hail-stones measured twelve Inches about The great Tempest which drove King Philip of Spain into England blew down the Golden Eagle from the Spire of St. Pauls and in the fall it fell upon the sign of the Black Eagle in St. Pauls Church-yard where the School-house now is and broke it down This King was frugal from his Youth the City of London was his Paradice for what good fortune soever befel him he thought he enjoyed it nor till he acquainted them with it His Parliament was his Oracle for in all matters of Importance he would ask their advice yea he put his Prerogative many times into their hands After he had lived fifty two years and reigned twenty three years he died April 22. 1508. Henry the eighth his only Son succeeded him In the ninth year of his reign on May Eve there was an Insurrection of the Young men and Apprentices of London against Foreigners for which Riot several
people went over the Thames and played thereon from London Bridge to Westminster On the third of January it begun to thaw and on the fifth no Ice was to be seen In the twentieth year of her Reign a Blazing Star was seen with a long stream About this time one Simon Pembroke of Southwark being suspected to be a Conjurer was ordered to appear in St. Mary Overies Church which he did and leaning his head against a Pew the Proctor lifted up his head and found him dead and ratling in the throat and being searched several Devilish Books of Conjuration were found about him In her thirty fifth year there was so great a drougth that not only the Fields but the Springs themselves were dried up and many Cattle died every where for want of water The River of Thames likewise failed so that a Horse-man might ride over at London Bridge In her thirty sixth year was a great Plague in London and the Suburbs whereof died 17890. besides the Lord Mayor and three Aldermen About this time Edmund Coppinger and Henry Arthington Gentlemen came into Cheapside and there in a Cart proclaimed as they said News from Heaven that one William Hacket represented Christ by partaking of his glorified Body and that they were the two Prophets one of Mercy the other of Judgment sent of God to help him in this great work These men were apprehended and Hacket was arraigned and found guilty of speaking divers false and traiterous words against the Queen and to have raced and defaced her Pictures thrusting an iron Instrument into the place of the heart and brest for which he was brought from Newgate to Cheapside and being moved to ask God and their Queen forgiveness he fell to cursing and railing against the Queen and made a blasphemous Prayer against the divine Majesty of God and was therefore hanged and quartered Coppinger starved himself wilfully in Bridewel and Arthington made a Recantation In the forty third year of her Reign Robert Devereux Earl of Essex assisted by divers Noblemen and Gentlemen entered the City of London in Warlike manner at Temple Bar crying For the Queen till they came to the Sheriffs House in Fanchurch-street who finding himself not Master of his own house escaped out at a Back-door and went to the Lord Mayor And Essex finding the Citizens in Arms against him endeavoured to fortifie his own House but hearing that some great Guns were sent for to beat it down he surrendred himself and was sent to the Tower where he was afterward beheaded but might have kept his head longer on had he not been betrayed by the Lady Walsingham to whom after his condemnation he sent a Ring which the Queen had given him in token that she would stand by him in any danger the Lady delivered not this Ring but being a little after upon her Death-bed she desired to speak with the Queen to whom having disburthened her conscience the Queen flung away in extream rage and fury and never enjoyed her self well after that time but would often break out into a passion and wring her hands crying O Essex Essex and died not long after After her death King James succeeded in the third year of whose Reign was contrived the Powder Treason Plot for which Sir Edward Digby Robert Winter Graunt and Bates were drawn hanged and quartered at the West end of St. Pauls and Winter Keys Rookwood and Fawks at the Parliament Yard at Westminster A while after the King attended with divers Lords dined with the Lord Mayor Sir John Watts who after dinner presented his Majesty with a Purse of Gold desiring he would please to be made Free of the Company of Clothworkers to which the King consented and calling to the Master of the Company he said Stone Give me thy hand I am now a Clothworker and in token of my special favour to this Fraternity I do here give to this Company a Brace of Bueks yearly for ever at the Election of Master and Wardens And a Moneth after the King and the Prince dined at Merchant Taylors Hall where the Prince was made Free of that Company and had likewise a Purse of Gold presented him by the Master In 1609. the New Exchange being newly finished was first opened and named by King James Brittains Burse In 1612. Edward Wightman was burnt for an Heretick and one Legat burnt in Smithfield for an Arian In 1615. Sir Thomas Overbury was poisoned in the Tower for which the the Earl of Somerset and his Lady were arraigned and condemned and Sir Gervase Elvis Lieutenant of the Tower Mistris Turner and divers others executed In 1618. the famous Sir Walter Rawleigh was beheaded in the New Pallace Yard Westminster Next year Queen Anne died at Hampton Court In 1623. a Popish Priest being at Mass in Black Fryars in an Upper Room it fell down and many were killed and hurt In 1625. King James died having reigned 22. years King Charles his Son succeeded him and was married to Henrietta Maria of France In his first year was a great Plague whereof there died in London 35417. In 1628. Doctor Lamb was murdered in the streets of London for which the City was fined six thousand pound the same year John Felton was hanged at Tyburn for murdering the Duke of Buckingham In 1633. the King and Queen were magnificently entertained at Guild-hall In 1640 the Long Parliament began and in 1642. Posts and Chains were ordered to be set up in the City But having already given a particular account of all Passages in this Kings Reign and till the Restoration of his present Majesty King Charles the second in a little Book called The Wars of England Scotland and Ireland I shall omit repeating any thing here but shall onely add That in the year 1659. General Monk marching from Scotland came to London and after having pulled down the Gates and Portcullises of the City by Order of the Remnant of the Long Parliament he afterwards grew dissatisfied at their proceedings and going into the City was received with Bonfires and soon after that Parliament was dissolved and his Majesty happily restored May 29. 1660. In October following several of the Regicides of the late King were executed at Charing Cross that is Harrison Carew Cook Scot Hugh Peters Clement Scroop Jones and Hacket and Axtel at Tyburn In January one Venner a Wine Cooper and some others of Enthusiastick Principles made an Insurrection in London their Leader persuading them that one should chase a thousand They first marched to St. Thomas Apostles and from thence to Bishopsgate Whitecross-street and from thence they went to Highgate and Canewood And three days after they came again into the City being not above thirty or forty in number but armed with Blunderbusses and Headpieces and the Trained-bands and some of the Kings Guards fell upon them and routed them about five or six of them were killed others fled and the rest were taken Prisoners Their Word it is said was THE
QVARTERS VPON THE GATES meaning of those Regicides that were executed a while before whose Quarters were put upon the Gates of the City Venner and nineteen of his Accomplices were arraigned and condemned and he and several of them executed in divers parts of the City The Tryall of the L. Stafford in W. Hall His Execution on Tower hill A La high Steward BB The Peerâ—m the Rabes CC The commons D The Iudges E The Prisoner E The KJ Box G the Managers of 〈◊〉 H. the Evidenâ—â— Not many days before the Lord Howard of Escrick was committed prisoner to the Tower of London upon an Information of High Treason and upon June 20. he was brought up to the Kings Bench Bar and by his Counsel moved that he might put in Bail for his Appearance but it was denied him and he remanded back to Prison FINIS ADVERTISEMENT â—e are lately published two very useful and necessary Books both which are sold by Nath. Crouch at the Bell next to Kemps Coffee House in Exchange Alley over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil I. The Wars in England Scotland and Ireland or AN impartial account of all the Battles Sieges and other remarkable Transactions Revolutions and Accidents which have happened from the beginning of the Reign of K. Charles I. in 1625. to his Majesties happy Restoration 1660. And among other particulars the Debates and Proceedings in the four first Parliaments of K. Charles I. with their Dissolutions The Siege of Rochel the Petition of Right The Muther of the D. of Buckingham by Felton The Tumults at Edinburgh in Scotland upon Reading the Common-Prayer The Et caetera Oath The cursed Plots and Designs of the Jesuites and other Papists for imbroiling these three Kingdoms The Insurrection of the Apprentices and Seamen and their assaulting Archbishop Lauds house at Lambeth Remarques on the Trial of the E. of Strafford and his last Speech The horrid and bloudy Rebellion of the Papists in Ireland and their murthering above two hundred thousand Protestants in 1641. The Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom with the Kings Answer thereunto The proceedings about the five impeached Members An account of the Parliament at Oxford January 22. 1643. with their Proceedings and Dissolution An Abstract of the Fights between the King and Parliament The death of A. B. Laud Mr. Chaloner and Tomkins Sir John Hotham Sir Alexander Carew D. Hamilton E. of Holland L. Capel and others The Illegal Trial of K. Charles I. at large with his last Speech at his Suffering Jan. 30. 1648. Together with the most considerable matters which happened till the Year 1660. Illustrated with Pictures of several remarkable Accidents curiously engraven on Copper Plates By R. Burton Price 1 s. II. THe Protestant Instructed wherein 〈…〉 derable Errors of the Papists are 〈…〉 〈◊〉 Protestant Religion is vindicated from 〈◊〉 Novelty 2. The Image of Antichrist or the Vsurâ—â—â—â—on of the Pope and Church of Rome over Kings Emperours in several Examples of the Tyranny 〈◊〉 Pope over K. Henry II. K. John and others 3. Tâ— Cruelties and Persecutions of the Papists against the Waldenses in Piedmont Bohemia Germany Poland Lithuania and France with an account of the bloody Massacre at Paris and the terrible Sieges of Sancerre and Rochel 4. The Cruelties of the Papists in Italy Spain Portugal and the Low-Countries with a Relation of the Original practices and cruel tortures of the Spanish Inquisition 5. The persecution of the Protestants in Scotland and the bloody Maslacre in Ireland in the year 1641. with a Prophecy thereof by James Usher Archbishop of Armagh forty years before it came to pass which exactly fell out 6. The Persecutions of the Protestants in England for near six hundred years with their Plots and Conspiracies against the Life of Queen Elisabeth likewise the Spanish Invasion the Gunpowder-Treason the Burning of London the late Horrid Popish Plot and the Murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey 7 Plain and easie Directions for Spelling and Reading of English with all necessary Rules for Reading the English Tongue more useful than any other Book of this kind 8. Gods Judgments upon 〈◊〉 Persecutors discovered in some eminent Ex-examples 9 A Prayer of king Edward VI. a while â—fore his death against Popery 10 A Speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elizabeth to her Army at Tilbury-Camp 〈◊〉 Spanish Invasion 1588. Concluding with 〈◊〉 and Graces The whole being illustrated with 〈◊〉 Pictures curiously engraven in Copper descriâ—â—â—â— variety of torments and cruelties exercised 〈…〉 Protestants in most Countries in 〈…〉 B.D. Price 1 s.