saith Malmsbury that which I saw perform'd for not long after his Son Roger Possessing his Father's Inheritance was Banish'd by King Henry I. for putting an Officer of the King 's to Death in an head-long fury Malms de Gest. Pont. p. 271. And his Sheriffwick went to Beaumont who Married his Sister Camb. 578. Hugh Earl of Shrewsbury with Hugh Earl of Chester was sent by William Rufus to assail the Welch-men in Anglesey which they perform'd with great cruelty not sparing the Churches For the Earl of Shrewsbury made a Dog-kennel of the Church of St. Fridank laying his Hounds in it for the Night time but in the morning he found them mad But it chanced that Magnus King of Norway came in the mean time to take also the same Island and encountering the Earl of Shrewsbury at Sea shot him in the Eye where only he was unarm'd and the Earl thereupon falling out of the Ship into the Sea was both Slain and Drown'd and dy'd without Issue Girald Camb. Hov. in Ann. 1098. Holl. ib. Cat. EE Shrewsb Geoffrey the 16th Abbot of St. Albans living whilst he was young a Secular Man and teaching at Dunstable did there about the beginning of King Henry I. make a Play of St. Catharine call'd Miracula and for Acting of it did borrow of the Sexton of St. Albans divers Copes that belong'd to the Quire of St. Albans for the Service of God and having used them prophanely in his Play both the House wherein they were and the Copes themselves were the next Night casually Burnt Geoffery for great Grief hereupon gave over the World and by way of a Propitiatory Sacrifice offer'd up himself a Monk in St. Albans where afterward in the Year 1119. viz. 19 or 20. of Henry I. he was made Abbot Lib. MS. de Abbatibus Sti. Albani Madoc ap Meredith Prince of Powis spoiling two Churches in Anglesey and part of the Isle was with all his Men Slain in the return Stow p. 217. Sherbourne in Dorsetshire was made an Episcopal See in the Year 704 or 705. And as the use of the time was with many Curses no doubt against him or them that should violate it or should get or procure it to be alien'd from that Bishoprick St. Oswald who flourish'd 270 Years after fortifi'd those Curses as is reported with divers other bitter imprecations It continu'd peaceably in the Possession of the Bishops till the time of King Stephen then Roger Bishop of that See translated by his Predecessor to Salisbury building three sumptuous Castles one at Sherbourn another at Devizes and the third at Malmsbury the King supposing they might turn to his prejudice sent for the Bishop and took and imprison'd him with some others of his Coat and calling a Council of the Peers and Baronage obtain'd a Statute to this effect That all Towns of Defence Castles and Munitions through England wherein Secular business was went to be exercised should be the King 's and his Barons And that the Church-men and namely the Bishops as Divine Dogs should not cease to bark for the desence and safety of their Sheep and to take diligent heed that the invisible Wolf that malignant Enemy wory not or scatter the Lord's Flock Thus the King obtain'd these Castles that he thirsted after with the Bishop's Person and Treasure beside And being summon'd hereupon to a Synod at Winchester by his Brother Henry Bishop there and Legate of the Pope he sent Albery de Vere Earl of Guisne and Chamberlain of England a Man of excellent Speech and singularly well learned in the Law whom some report to be made Chief Justice of England after the said Roger him I say did the King send to the Synod as his Attorney or Sergeant at Law to defend his Cause which he did with so great Art and Dexterity that nothing was therein determin'd But mark the issue e'er a twelve Month came to an end the Earl Albery de Vere was Slain in London Florileg in Ann. 1140. The King himself within another twelve month taken Prisoner and being deliver'd upon an exchange for the Earl of Glocester spoileth divers Churches by his Flemish Soldiers and buildeth the Nunnery of Wilton into a Castle where the Town is fired about his Ears his Men slain his Sewer Plate and other things taken and himself driven to escape by a shameful Flight He continueth his Wars with unprofitable Success falleth at discord with his Barons and is driven to make Peace with Duke Henry his Adversary His Son Eustace displeased therewith applieth himself to spoil Cambridge-Shire and those parts falleth upon the Lands of the Abby of Bury and carrieth the Corn to his Castles and sitting down to Dinner as he put the first Morsel in his Mouth he fell Mad and dy'd miserably Mat. Par. Ann. 1152. Stow Ann. 1153. In the end he stated the Crown upon the Duke Henry being compell'd thereto and dying had no lawful Issue Male to propagate his Family his Sons of that sort being taken away in his Life time Having spoken of those Curses set of old like Bulwarks about the Castle of Sherbourn to defend it against Sacrilegious Assailants and of the Operation they had in those Ancient Days it falleth very fitly in my way to shew also in what manner they have uttered their venome since that time of old for tho Poison temper'd by an Apothecary with over long keeping will lose its strength yet the Poison that lurketh in the Veins of Curses lawfully imposed is neither wasted nor weakened by Antiquity but oftentimes breaketh forth as violently after many Ages as if they were but of late denounced Like the implicite Curse that devour'd the seven Sons of Saul for breaking the Covenant with the Gibeonites made above Five Hundred Years before their time See therefore a farther Collection touching this matter delivered unto me above three Years since by a Person of great Place and Honour The Castle of Sherbourne was granted to the See of Salisbury by St. Oswel with several bitter Imprecations and Cursings on him or them that should get or procure Sherbourne to be aliened from that See St. Oswel praying that he or they might die Issueless or Unfortunately that should so take it King Stephen was the first that got it from that See after the first Donation Ann. 1139. His Death and his Son 's Dying Mad make it observable Will. Martel King Stephen's Sewer had it who being taken Prisoner gave it for his Ransome Ann. 1142. Reg. 7. Hoved ibid. p. 488. In Edward III. time the Earl of Salisbury had it who dy'd Issueless and not Fortunate Then the Duke of Northumberland had it who was Attainted After the Duke of Somerset had it who was Attainted After the Lord Paget had a Lease from the Bishop who was Attainted After him Sir Walter Rawleigh had it who was Attainted After him the Earl of Somerset had it who was Attainted for Felony The Crown had it Prince Henry had it
Lalale in Ireland left himself as little Land in England as his great Grandfather left to the Monasteries and was I think the first and only Peer of the Realm not having any Land within it by the feudal Law his Barony I doubt if it had been feudal had likewise gone but by the Mercy of God a Noble Gentleman now holds the Stile of it and long may he Having sailed thus far in this Ocean we will advance yet further if it please God to give us a favourable passage and take a view of the Parliament themselves that put the wrackful Sword in the King's Hands The chief whereof was as we have said before that of the 27 Year of his Reign touching smaller Houses and that of 31 touching the greater I have sought the Office of the Clerk of the Upper House of Parliament to see what Lords were present at the passing of the Acts of Dissolution but so ill have they been kept as that the Names of 27 H. 8. were not then to be found and farther since I have not search'd for them The other of 31 H. 8. I did find and doubt not but the most of them were the same which also sate in the Parliament of 27 tho' some of them of 27 were either dead or not present in 31. Those that were present at the passing of the Bill of 31 I have here under mention'd in such order as I therein did find them and will as faithfully as I can attain unto the knowledge of them relate what after hath befaln themselves and their Posterity The Names of the Lords Spiritual who were present in the Parliament upon Friday the 23d of May 31 Hen. VIII being the 15th day of the Parliament when the Bill for assuring the Monasteries c. to the King was pass'd 1. The Lord Cromwell Vicegerent for the King in the Spiritualties and having place thereby both in the Parliament and Convocation-house above the Archbishops was beheaded the 28th of July in the next Year being the 32 of the King Confessing at his death publickly That he had been seduced but died a Papist 2. The Archbishop of Canterbury Tho. Cranmer D. D. was burnt in the Castle-ditch at Oxford 21. March 1556 3 Mary 3. The Archbishop of York Dr. Edw. Lee died 13th of Septemb. 1544. 36 H. 8. 4. The Bishop of London John Stokesley died within 4 Months after viz. 3. Septemb 1539. 5. The Bishop of Durham Cuthbert Tonstal was imprisoned in the Tower all King Edwards time for Religion and depriv'd of his Bishoprick and the same inter alia Sacrilegia non pauca saith Godwin dissolv'd and given to the King by Parliament 7 Edw. VI. but the King being immediately taken away Queen Mary restor'd both it and him An. 1 o. Parl. 2. c. 3. and Queen Elizabeth again depriv'd him and committed him to the Archbishop of Canterbury where he died in July 1559. 6. The Bishop of Winchester Stephen Gardiner was committed to the Tower 30 June 1548 in Edw. VI's time for that he had not declared in his Sermon the day before at Paul's-Cross certain Opinions appointed to him by the Council Two Years after because he approv'd not the Reformation he was depriv'd of his Bishoprick and kept in Prison all King Edward's days but restor'd by Queen Mary He died of the Gout 12. Nov. 1555 being the 3d of her Reign 7. The Bishop of Exeter John Voisey alias Horman had the Education of the King's Daughter the Lady Mary and discontented with the Reformation aliened the Lands of the Bishoprick to Courtiers or made long Leases of them at little Rent leaving scarcely 7 or 8 Mannors of 22 and them also of the least and leased or laden with Pensions Nefandum Sacrilegium saith Godwin Being suspected of the Rebellion of Devonshire about the change of Religion he was put from his Bishoprick but restor'd by Queen Mary and died 1555 Mar. 3. 8. The Bishop of Lincoln John Longland the King's Confessor died 1547 1 Edw. VI. 9. The Bishop of Bath and Wells John Clerk carried and commended in an Oration to the Cardinals the King's Book against Luther with much commendation But being afterwards sent in Ambassage to the Duke of Cleve to shew the reason why the King renounc'd his Marriage with the Lady Ann the Duke's Sister for the reward of his unwelcome Message was poison'd as they said in Germany and returning with much adoe died in England in Febr. 1540 i.e. 32 Hen. 8. 10. The Bishop of Ely Thomas Goodrick continu'd from and in 26 Hen. 8. till 1. Maii 1. Mariae 11. The Bishop of Bangor John Salcot alias Capen Abbot of Hide was consecrated 19. Apr. next before this Parliament and translated to Salisbury in August following where it seems he continu'd till Q. Mary's time 12. The Bishop of Salisbury Nic. Shaxton being consecrated 27 Hen 8. was put out July 1539 i. e. 31 Hen. 8. together with Latimer and for the same cause but recanted 13. The Bishop of Worcester Hugh Latimer made 27 Hen. 8. renounc'd his Bishoprick in July 31 of the King and was burnt with Dr. Ridley at Oxon. 16. October 1559. 14. The Bishop of Rochester Nich. Heath made 4. April before this Parliament in 31 Hen. 8. and about 4 Years after translated to Worcester was depos'd by Edw. 6. but made Archbishop of York 1 Mariae afterwards also Chancellor of England 15. The Bishop of Chichester Richard Sampson made June 5. 1536 and 28 Hen. 8. was translated to Lichfield 12. May 1543. To flatter the King he wrote an Apology for his Supremacy yet in the Year of this Parliament 31. he was committed to the Tower for relieving such as were imprison'd for denying it But it seems his Apology was written after this Commitment to recover Favour About 2 Ed. 6. he declared himself for the Pope whom he had written against and so after divers turnings and returnings he died 1554 2 Mar. 16. The Bishop of Norwich William Rugg alias Rupp made 1536 28 Hen. 8. and died 1550 about 4 or 5 Edw. 6. 17. The Bishop of St. David's William Barlow was translated hither from St. Asaph in April 1536 28 Hen. 8. and by King Edw. after to Bath and Wells fled into Germany in Qu. Mary's time and 2 Eliz was made Bishop of Chichester 18. The Bishop of St. Asaph Robert Porpey alias Werbington or Warton was made 2. July 28. Hen. 8. where having sate 18 Years and nequissimo Sacrilegio sold and spoil'd the Lands of the Bishoprick by long Leases he was by Qu. Mary An. 1. translated to Hereford where he sate almost till her death 19. The Bishop of Landaff Rob. Holgate 25. March 1537 28. Hen. S. and in the 36th of his Reign translated to the Archbishoprick of York and by Qu. Mary at her entrance committed to the Tower where within half a Year he was depriv'd 20. The Bishop of Carlisle Rob. Aldrich was elected 18. July 1537 29 Hen. 8. and died 5 Mar.
Issue-Male of his Father and Grandfather failing his Daughter is married to Sir Thomas Savage At the latter end of Q. Mary's days Callis being taken Sir Hugh Paulett took down the Bells of the Church of Jersey and sending them to St. Malo's in Britain 14 of them were drowned at the Entry of the Harbour and at this day it is a By-word in those Parts when a strong â—ast-Wind bloweth there that the Bells of Jersey ring Ex relatione Mri. Bandivell Decani ib. Traveling through Cambridgeshire and passing through a Town there called Anglary I saw certain ruinous Walls which seemed to have been some Monastery hereupon I asked one of the Town if it had not been an Abbey he answered me yes I demanded of him whose it was he said one Mr. Foulkes I asked him further how long he had had it he said his Father a Londoner bought it then I desired to know of him what Children he had the Man answered me none saying further that he had a Son who displeasing him once as he was grafting threw his grafting Knife at his Son and therewith killed him Passing also another time through Suffolk I fell in company of a Gentleman-like Man who by way of Discourse there had been in the Parts we there were about 20 Justices of Peace when he was young and that at the present time there were not above three He named also divers of the Families decayed some in Estate others for want of Issue-Male and some by Misfortune I having a jealous Eye upon it asked if they were not setled upon Church-land he answered me yes as Sir Michael Stanhope at Oxford-Abbey Sir Anthony Wingfield at Leveringham-Abbey both which died one without Issue the other without Issue-Male Sir Anthony Playford at Playford-Abbey Mr. Brown at Lawson-Abbey where he was murthered by his Wife she burnt and her Man hanged Mr. Ford at Batley-Abbey who disinherited his eldest Son c. saying further that that Part was Church-land belonging to the Abbey of St. Edmundsbury and called it St. Ethelreds Liberty 30 Sept. 16 9. In the Sermon of John Bishop of Ely at the Funeral of Dr. Andrews Bishop of Winchester 11 Nov. 1626 at the Church of St. Saviours in Southwark Now before I come to his last End give me leave to tell you that privately he did much find fault and reprove three Sins too common and reigning in this latter Age. 1. Vsury c. 2. Symony c. 3. The third and greatest was Sacrilege which he did abhorr as one principal Cause among many of the foreign and civil Wars in Christendom and Invasion of the Turks wherein even the reformed and otherwise the true Professors and Servants of Christ because they took God's Portion and turned it to publick profane Uses and to private Advancements did suffer just Chastisement and Correction at God's Hand And at home it had been observ'd and he wish'd that some Man would take the pains to collect how many Families that were rais'd by the Spoils of the Church were now vanish'd and the Place thereof knows them no more Of Sacrilege touching Bells It is reported in our Histories and I have spoken of it before in the proper place that King Edgar leading his Army into the parts of Glamorgan for suppressing a Rebellion of the Welshmen some of his Soldiers among other spoil took away the Bell of St. Ellutus and hanged it about an Horse's Neck And it is noted upon this that King Edgar sleeping in the Afternoon saw one in a Vision that smote him on the Breast with a Spear and that thereupon he restored both the Bell and the other spoil yet died within nine days folowing Holl. p. 161. If the Vision be fabulous I maintain it not tho' we have a Precedent for it in the Ecclesiastical Histories about the Death of Julian the Apostate But the Mythology may be that Edgar abounding with Devotion was stricken in Conscience with the Spear of Repentance for this Sacrilege and that notwithstanding his Restitution his Life was taken from him very shortly after I shall make a great Leap from thence to these latter Ages but I can go no further than where Authors and my reading carry me Only for our Fathers times I shall report what I have faithfully received by Tradition When I was a Child I speak of about threescore Years since I heard much talk of the pulling down of Bells in every part of my Country the County of Norfolk then common in Memory And the summ of the Speech usually was that in sending them over Sea some were drown'd in one Haven some in another as at Lyn Wells or Yarmouth I dare not venture upon Particularities for that I then hearing it as a Child regarded it as a Child But the truth of it was lately discover'd by God himself for that in the Year ... he sending such a dead Neipe as they call it as no Man living was known to have seen the like the Sea fell so far back from the Land at Hunstanton that the people going much further to gather Oysters than they had done at any time before they there found a Bell with the Mouth upward sunk into the ground to the very Brim They carried the News thereof to Sir Hamon le Strange Lord of the Town and of Wreck and Sea-rights there who shortly after sought to have weighed up and gained the Bell but the Sea never since going so far back they hitherto could not find the place again This Relation I receiv'd from Sir Hamon le Strange himself being my Brother-in-law Such other Reports I have often in times past heard touching some other parts of that Kingdom but as I said I then regarded them not and will not therefore now speak any thing of them But dining one day at Lambeth with the most Reverend Father in God George the late Archbishop of Canterbury it pleased his Grace in way of Discourse to tell me That being in Scotland and lodging at his first entrance in Dunber he viewed the Church there and understanding that there was never a Bell in the Steeple demanded the reason of the Minister Who not pleas'd with the Question answer'd somewhat scornfully That it was one of the Reformed Churches implying thereby that the Reformed Churches had no Bells Then going to Edinborough he found no Bell in all the City save one only in the Church of St. Andrew and enquiring there also of the reason it was told him That the rest were pull'd down and shipp'd to be carried into the Low-Countries but were all drowned in Leigh Haven Such havock in pulling down Bells and defacing otherwise of Churches had no doubt proceeded furiously throughout all England if Queen Elizabeth in An. 2. of her Reign had not by her Proclamations and course of the Star-Chamber very severely prevented the same At the end of Qu. Mary's days Callis being taken Sir Hugh Paulett pull'd down the Bells of the Churches of Jersey and sending them to
apud Malmes de gest Reg. lib. 1. p. 28. Sed fusiùs apud Baron in An. 745. nu 5. Ceolred King of the Mercians or Midland England was guilty also of spoiling Monasteries and defiling of Nuns and was the first with Osred before named that since the entrance of Austin brake the Privileges granted by the Saxon Kings unto Monasteries and for these sins saith Boniface and the other Bishops in the said Epistle Justo judicio Dei damnati de culmine regali hujus vitae abjecti immaturâ terribili morte praeventi c. For Ceolred as those that were present did testifie being at a great Feast among his Earls that Evil Spirit which before had mov'd him to do such wickedness struck him there with Madness and in that case he dy'd Impenitently the same Year that Osred his fellow in Sacrilege was murder'd viz. An. 716. Epist. praedict Beda in Epit. It seemeth his Line was also extinct Ethelbald the next Successor of Ceolred in the Kingdom of Mercia succeeded him also in his wicked Courses He forbeareth lawfull Marriage but liveth Adulterously with the Nuns and breaking the Privileges of Churches and Monasteries taketh away also their Substance which gave the occasion that Boniface Arch-bishop of Mentz and other German Bishops wrote the foremention'd Epistle unto him desiring him to mend his course and the wrongs he had done which like a good King he willingly did and at a Council holden at Clovesho now call'd Cliff in Kent acknowledging his Sin did also by his Charter restore what he had taken or broken with an Overplus and founded the Monastery of Crowland yet so was the hand of God upon him that in a War unwisely begun he was treacherously Slain by Bartred alias Beornred and the Kingdom by him usurp'd Epist. praedict Stow pag. 88. Bar. 742 nu 16. Celsus Veronensis THat many rare and excellent Men and all Nations attributed the fortunate Success of the Turks against the Venetians as the loss of their Island Cubaea the lamentable success of their Expedition of Achaia his last Victory which made his way broader and his enterance easier the Death and Calamity of their Euripus many think and affirm that God of his righteous and just Judgment hath brought upon you for your insolent Taxing and Polling of Holy Things belonging to the Church and your injurious troubling of the Estate of Religion pag. 212. Compilation and Pilling of Holy Things pag. 214. New and unusual Taxing and Tolling of the Church pag. 215. How many Victories Conquests Sports happy Events have you had in these so long Wars since you invented this strange and pestilent Counsel to lay violent Hands on Church Goods and Holy Things dedicated to God which Impiety believe me will not help you one whit in these your great Dangers and extream Necessity pag. 219. That the Captivity of Constantinople was from the discord and departing from the Church of Rome pag. 215. The Pisans Kingdom prosper'd by Sea and Land till they laid wicked and violent Hands on the Church and the Ministers of the high God Ibid. Caesar would not suffer his Sword hung up as a Spoil gotten from him in the Church of Avernia to be pull'd down Vita ejus pag. 219. Mithridates in the Life of Lucullus notably afflicted by Diana pag. 226. Historius Banish'd taken Captive by the barbarous the City burnt over his Head his Life always in danger fell into a most deadly Contagion his Tongue eaten out of his Head with Worms and miserably died Evagr. Hist. lib. 1. pag. 169. Lastly Propound unto your selves the late Example of Philip Maria when he had good Success in all his Affairs and all things fell out with him as well as he could wish At length he gave over himself to such a madness that all fear set apart he challeng'd Church Goods to himself But mark how duly he suffer'd worthy Punishment being wearied with continual Wars he not only lost a great part of his own Dominions his Enemies besieging him even hard unto his Walls but also he suffer'd dangerous and grievous Diseases so that he being blind led a most sorrowful life a long time after But what became of his Empire and by what means his Noble Family is now clear extinguish'd and no Succession left at all it may easily appear to every Man the thing being so fresh in Memory Cels. Veron pag. 241. Frederick II. made Emperor by Innocent III. having taken the Cross against the Christian Enemies even then feared not wickedly to take away the Goods of the Church to employ them profanely but made a Sacrilegious pact with the mighty King of Egypt the Soldan concerning the suppressing of Religion and Religious Houses but he did not long escape the just Vengeance of God for after he had spoil'd many Cities after many Dissensions had with the Church of Rome after he had devour'd many Temples after many most cruel and barbarous Sacrileges having his own Son in a jealousie that he affected the Empire he shut him up in most filthy Dungeons till he dy'd And he feeling the great and grievous censure of the Church as the righteous God had appointed was Strangled by his own Son Manfredus most cursedly Celsus of Verona pag. 289. The Princes of Carraria in like Impiety when they began once wickedly to challenge to themselves the ordering of those things which belong only to the Holy Function by reason of the Pestilent Counsel they had taken very soon after lost the famous City Patavium most strong by Situation and free which was thought almost to be invincible Cels. of Ver. pag. 239 240. Eudo alias Oda Duke of Aquitane not able to resist Charles Martel draweth an excessive Army of Saracens out of Spain unto his aid They being come into France waste all places and burn down the Churches as far as to Poictiers Charles Martel assisted by the Hand of God encountreth them and slayeth three Hundred seventy five Thousand others say three Hundred eighty Thousand of them together with their King Abdyrama losing not above an Hundred and Fifty of his own Men. Then Eudo himself reconcil'd to Charles spoileth the Camp of the Saracens and destroyeth the rest But fighting again with Charles in Gascony loseth both his Dukedom of Aquitane and his Life his Sons also Gaifer and Haimald are overcome and the Saracens wholly beaten out of France Sigeb An. 730 732. Guil. de Nanges Blond 10. Decad. 1. Platin. The Normans under Ragenarius their Captain besides other Sacrileges spoil the Church of St. Germans by Paris and attempting to cut down some of the Firr Beams to repair their Ships three of them attempting it are dasht in pieces Another hewing a Marble Pillar with his Sword to overthrow some part of the Church had his Hand like Jeroboam's dried up and the haft of his Sword stuck so to it as it parted not without the Skin Many were stricken with Blindness and as
but King James would not suffer Prince Charles to have it for the success The Earl of Bristol hath it Received from my Lord Keeper 9th of May 1626. Lodwick Grevil owner of Micletin a Mannor belonging to Ensham Abby in Oxfordshire had two Sons whereof Edward the younger shooting a piece by chance slew his elder Brother and thereby succeeded in the Inheritance Lodwick himself in the ... Year of Eliz. standing mute upon his Arraignment for Poisoning of ... whose Will he had Counterfeited was Press'd to Death Edward afterward Knighted Mortgag'd the Abby to ... Fisher a Skinner of London for a small Sum and growing farther in with him by borrowing and Use upon Use it came at length by Forfeiture and Entanglement to be Fishers absolutely and Sir Edward Grevil having wasted his whole Patrimony and sold some part thereof in Warwickshire to the Lord Treasurer Cranfeild became Bailiff to the Lord Treasurer of the same Land Old Fisher put over the Abby to his Son Sir Edward Fisher who with extreme Suites Bribery c. so consum'd his Estate that he was judged to be Eleven Thousand or Twelve Thousand Pound in Debt and driven to sell his great Lease of Wrongey Blackbury and Grandcourts in Norfolk and yet liveth in fear of Bailiffs c. 12th of Octob. 1644. Ex relat John Wrenham partim Rob. Mordant Mil. Sir Edward Grevil had a Son that breaking his Leg over a Style dy'd his Daughters are one Married to Sir Arthur Ingram to whom he sold the Reversion of his chief Seat Milcote c. and hath a Hundred Pound per Ann. during his Life and the House Circa Ann. Dom. 1142. Stephen and Geffrey Mandevil Earl of Essex being call'd among other of the Nobility to a Council at St. Albans he was there by the King in revenge of a former Injury unduly taken at St. Albans prisoned and could have no liberty till he had delivered the Tower of London and the Castles of Walden and Plessy being thus spoil'd of his Holds he turned his fury upon the Abby of Ramsey it being a place of Security and invading it by force drove out the Monks and placed his Soldiers in their room and Fortified the Church instead of his Castle The Abbot and Monks betook them to their Arms and with all the force they could shot their Curses and Imprecations against him and his Complices thus prepared to his destruction he besieg'd the Castle of Burwel where a Peasant shooting him lightly in the Head with an Arrow contemning the Wound he dy'd of it in Excommunication leaving three Sons Inheriters of that Malediction but of no Lands of their Father the King having seized them Nub. lib. 1. c. 11. Stow. An. 9 Steph. Matth. Westm. Ann. 1143. Hen. Hunting Hist. lib. 8. pag. 393. Arnulph his eldest Son who still maintain'd the Church of Ramsey as a Castle was taken Prisoner by King Stephen striped of all his Inheritance banish'd and dy'd without Issue Hov. in Ann. 1144. Catal. Com. Essex pag. 177. Mat. Par. Ann. 1143. pag. 77. lib. 6. Geffrey Mandevil second Son was restored by King Henry the II. and Married Eustachia the Kings Kinswoman but had no Issue by her William Mandevil the third Son succeeded his Brother and was twice Married but dy'd without Issue Thus the Name and Issue of this Sacrilegious Earl were all extinct and the Inheritance carried to Geffrey Fitz-Peter another Family by the Marriage of Beatrix Say his Sisters Grandchild Now we have related the Fortune of the Earl Mandevil and his Children we must not omit what Nubrigensis reporteth touching two of his Captains the one of his Horse-men the other of his Foot-men both of them cruel Executioners of his Impiety The first had his Brains dash'd out by a fall from his Horse and the other whose Name was Rayner the chief burner and breaker into Churches being passing over Sea with his Wife they were both of them turned out of the Ship into a Boat and so left to Fortune were there Drown'd More of the Story you may see in Nubrigensis lib. 1. c. 11. and Mat. Par. Ann. 1143. About the same time Rob. Marmion a Man of great power in like manner invaded the Church of Coventry and turning out the Monks placed his Soldiers in their room then going to Battle against the E. of Chester he shewed himself in a bravery before both the Armies and having forgotten privy Trenches which himself had made to entrap his Enemies or hinder their approach he fell as he pranced up and down before the Monastery into one of them and breaking his Thigh-Bone could not get out which a Peasant of his Enemies perceiving ran to him and cut of his Head Nub. lib. 1. c. 12. Mat. West Ann. 1143. Hunting lib. 8. p. 393. Mat. Par. 1143. William Albermarl whom I certainly take to be William le Gros Earl of Albermarl that dy'd 25th of Henry II. by the former examples thrust the Regular Priests out of the Church of Belingcon and Fortified it with his Soldiers But by example also of their grievous Punishment it pleased God to touch him with Repentance so that to expiate his Sin he did many Noble Works of Charity both in relieving the Poor abundantly and in Erecting of two if no more worthy Monasteries that of Melsa in the Year 1150. and the other of Torneton where he was Buried in Peace Yet God delighted rather in Obedience than Sacrifice cut off the Line of his Family and transposed his Inheritance by his only Daughter Hawis who was thrice Married to three several Families But in the two first it stuck not at all and but two Descents in the last of them Nub. l. 1. c. 12. Hov. An. 1179. Cat. E. Albermarl King Henry II. in the Year 1192. and the 16th of his Reign being in Normandy and hearing that Thomas of Becket Archbishop of Canterbury after a Peace lately made between them carried things so imperiously in England as there was no living under him growing into an extream Passion used as they say these words In what a miserable State am I that I cannot be quiet in my own Kingdom for one only Priest Is there no Man that will rid me of this Trouble Hereupon or upon what other Motives God knoweth four barbarous Knights Sir Hugh Murvill Sir Will. Tracy Sir Rich. Brittain and Sir Reynold Fitz-Vrs hasting into England slew the Archbishop at Even Song in his Cathedral Church at the very Altar embruing it with his Blood and Brains committing at once this horrible Murder and tripple Sacrilege First in respect of the Person secondly of the Place and thirdly of the Time and Business then in hand Yet Vengeance seized not presently on their Bodies but tormented their Souls upon the rack of Desperation so that neither trusting themselves one with another nor the solitary Woods nor the mantle of Night they fled into several Countries where they all within four Years after as 't is reported died
miserable Fugitives saith the Story pa. 79 80. Dom. Touching their Issue I find that Fitz-Vrs fled into Ireland and I heard there that the Wild-Irish and Rebellious Family of Mac-Mahunde in the North Parts is of that Lineage The Family of another of them is at this Day prosecuted with a Fable if it be so that continueth the Memory of this Impiety for in Gloucestershire it is yet reported that wheresoever any of them Travelleth the Wind is commonly in their Faces The Quadripartite History call'd Quadrilogus printed at Paris An. 1495. saith The Murderers after this Horrible Fact rode that Night to a Manour of the Archbishops named there corruptly Sumantingues forty Miles Leucas distant from Canterbury lib. 3. c. 20. and that being Men of great Possessions active Soldiers and in the strength of their Age yet now they became like Men beside themselves stupid amaz'd and distracted repenting entirely of what they had done and for Penance took their way to the Holy-Land But Sir Will. Tracy being come to the City of Cossantia in Sicily and lingring there fell into an horrible Disease so that the parts of his Body rotted whilst he lived and his Flesh being dissolved by the Putrefaction himself did by piece-meal pull it off and cast it away leaving the Sinews and Bones apparent In this misery this wretched Murderer as it was testified by the Bishop of that City who was then his Confessor ended his Days but very penitently His other Complices lived not long after for all the four Murderers were taken away within three Years after the Fact committed Dicti Libri lib. 4. c. 71. RICHARD I. IT appeareth by a MS. Copy of Mat. Paris which I have wanting much of that which is Published and having much which the Published wanteth that King Richard I. had spoiled some Church of the Chalice and Treasure and that it was thereupon conceived that the revengeful Hand of God pursued him to his Death First by tickling his covetous Mind with the report of hidden Treasure found by one Vidomer a Viscount of Britain in France which he the King claim'd to belong to him by his Prerogative And then in stirring him to raise War against the Viscount for it and to besiege him in the Castle and Town of Chalus in the Countrey of Limosin whither the Viscount was fled and had carried the Treasure as it were to train the King to that fatal place importing the name of a Chalice But here it so fell out that the King being repelled in his Assault and surveying the Ground for undermining the Town-Walls one Peter Basil struck him in the left Arm or about the Shoulder with a Quarrel from a Cross-Bow out of the Castle The King little regarding his Wound pursued the Siege so as within twelve Days he took the Town and found little Treasure in it But his Wound in the mean time â—estering deprived him of his Life April 9. in the tenth Year of his Reign being about 44 Years old Hereupon a Satyrist of that time wrote this tart Dystichon related in the MS. Mat. Par. Christe tui Chalicis praedo fit praeda Chalucis Aere brevi rejicis qui tulit aera Crucis i. e. He that did prey upon thy Chalices Is now a prey unto the Chaluces And thou O Christ rejectest him as Dross That robb'd thee of the Treasure of thy Cross. King Edward I. Anno Regni 23. took all the Priories Aliens and their Goods into his Hands allowing every Monk 18 d. a Week reserving the overplus to his Treasury and Wars And in Anno 1295. Regni ejusdem caused all the Monasteries in England to be search'd and the Money in them to be brought up to London He also seiz'd into his Hands all the Lay-Fees because they refused to pay to him such a Tax as he demanded Stow in dicto An. p. 317. Mat. Westm. in An. 1296. saith it was a fifth part of their Revenues And for that being prohibited by the Council of Lions upon pain of ... they refused he seiz'd all their Lands and Goods as well of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Robert Winchelsea as other and put them out of his Protection c. Godwin p. 148. Presently after this the King's Forces were overthrown in Gascony Mat. Westm. p. 408. And tho' he prosper'd in his Wars against Scotland and wholly subdued it yet shortly after Rob. le Bruce recovered it from him and overthrew his Son Edward II. with a mighty Army at Burnocksbourne from whence escaping by flight he after suffer'd great Afflictions and Calamities by means of his own Wife and Barons and was at last Deposed Imprisoned and Murther'd Giraldus Cambrensis a good Author reporteth that one Hur Chaplain to William de Bruce a great Lord in Wales in the time of King John of his Chapel of St. Nicholas in the Castle of Aberhodni did Dream in a Night that one bid him tell his Lord that had taken away the Land given in Alms to that Chapel and presumed to detain it that Hoc aufert fiscus quod non accipit Christus Dabis impio Militi quod non vis dare Sacerdoti The King's Exchequer shall take that from thee that thou wilt not suffer Christ to enjoy and the impious Soldier that which thou wilt not permit unto the Priest The Words are St. Austin's in Serm. de Temp. spoken against them that invade Tithes and Church Rights and that which is there threatned against them saith Giraldus hapned most certainly in a very short time to this With-holder Vidimus quippe nostris diebus c. For we have seen saith he in our own Days and found certainly by undoubted verity that Princes and great Men Usurpers of Ecclesiastical Possessions and chiefly by name King H. II. Reigning in our time and tainted above others with this Vice a little Leven corrupting the whole Lump and new Evils falling thereby daily upon them to have consum'd all their whole Treasure giving that unto the hired Soldiers which they ought to have given unto the Priest He mentioneth not what it was particularly that hapned to Bruce but commiserating him as a singular good Man runneth out into a long Commendation both of him and his Wife The rest therefore of this Tragedy I must supply out of Mat. Par. who in An. 1209. reporteth thus That King John doubting the Fidelity of his Nobles sent a Troop of Soldiers to require of them their Sons or Nephews or near Kinsmen for Hostages Coming to Will Bruce's and demanding his Sons the Lady Maud his Wife in the humor of a Woman preventing her Husband said I will deliver no Sons of mine to your King John for that he beastly Murdered his Nephew Arthur whom he ought to have preserved Honourably Her Husband reproved her and offer'd to submit himself to the Tryal of his Peers if he had offended the King but that would not serve The King understanding it sent his Soldiers in all haste a privily as he could to
apprehend Will. de Bruce and his whole Family but he having Intelligence of it fled with his Wife Children and Kinsmen into Ireland whither the King coming afterward besieged his Wife and his Son William with his Wife in a Munition in Methe and having taken them they privily escaped to the Island of May where being again recovered and brought unto him he now bound them surely and sent them to Windsor-Castlâ— and there by his Commandment they all died miserably famished William himself the Father escaping into France died also shortly after and was buried at Paris leaving all according to St. Austin's Words to the King's Extortioners pag. 218 221. What Reax King John kept among Churches is generally well known Yet I find not that either he destroyed or profaned any of them otherwise than by rifling of their Wealth and persecuting the Clergy as his Enemies To say truth they were not his Friends But the last Riot that he committed among them was in Suffolk and Norfolk as he brought his Army that way to waste the Lands of the Barons his Enemies and to pass by the Town of Lyn which stood faithful to him when the most of England had forsaken him into the North parts Having lodg'd there to his great Content and taking his Journey Spoliis onustus opimis over the Washes when he came upon the Sands of Wellstream a great part of his Sacrilegious Army with the Spoils he had taken and his Treasure Plate Jewels Horses and Carriages were all drowned So that it was judg'd saith the History to be a punishment by God that the Spoil which had been gotten and taken out of Churches should perish and be lost by such means together with the Spoilers Stow reporteth That the Earth opened in the midst of the Waves on the Marsties and the Whirlpit of the deep so swallowed up both Men and Horses that none escaped to bring King John Tidings For he with his Army going before escap'd more happily than Pharaoh but very narrowly with his Life especially if it were any Happiness to live in that miserable Condition he was now brought to having lost his Treasure and Fortunes at the very time wherein above all other he had most need of them as flying from his Enemy Lewis the Dauphin of France call'd in by his Subjects to take the Crown and possessing peaceably the City and Tower of London the Cities of Canterbury and Winchester with all the Castles of Kent except Dover which could not hold out and all the Barons in a manner with the Citizens of London and Winchester having sworn him Fealty and done him Homage as also the King of Scots for the Lands he held of the King of England who likewise had subdued all Northumberland except Barnard-Castle to him If after all this I say it were any Happiness to live yet enjoy'd he that miserable Happiness but a very short time for whether by Poyson given him at Swinsted-Abbey as the common report is or by a Surfeit taken with eating Peaches accompany'd with an intolerable Grief for his Losses as others deliver it he died about five or six Days after at Newark-Castle and wanting all civil Lamentation was presently so spoil'd by his Servants who fled every Man his way as they left nothing worth the Carriage to cover his dead Carcass Discite O Reges sacratae parcere turbae Robert Fitz-Walter so great a Baron in the time of King John that Mat. Paris saith of him Cui vix aliquis Comes in Anglia tum temporis potuit comparari was a grievous Enemy to the Monastery of St. Alban and prosecuting it with many Injuries did among others besiege the Priory of Binham in Norfolk a Cell of St. Albans as if it were a Castle and constrain'd the Monks there to extream Famine for that John the Abbot of St. Albans had removed Thomas the Prior of Binham and put another in his room without the assent of the said Robert who was Patron of the Priory and a singular Friend of Thomas The Complaint hereof being brought to the King he presently sent Forces to remove and apprehend the Besiegers but they having notice thereof departed Mat. Paris wondreth at the Revengeful wrath of which thereupon fell on Robert Fitz-Walter From that time saith he he never wanted manifest pursuit of Enemies or the afflictions of Infirmities All that he had is Confiscate and during the Life of King John he liv'd in Exile and Vagrant suffering great Adversities and Misfortunes And tho'King Hen. III. granted Peace to all yet did he never recover fully his Favour but died Dishonourable and Infamous Thus Mat. Paris in Vita Joh. Abbat S. Albani xxi MS. Falcasius de Brent a Valiant and Powerful Baron that on the part of King John grievously afflicted the Barons his Adversaries and all England beside pulled down the Church of St. Paul at Bedford to have the Stones and Materials thereof for the Building and Fortifying his Castle of Bedford He fell afterward in the ... Year of Hen. III. to be Fined before the Justices Itinerant at Dunstable a 100 l. a-piece for thirty forcible Entries and Disseissins made by him upon divers Men in all at 3000 l. Upon this he attempted by his Brethren and Followers to have taken the Justices sitting in Court and to imprison them in his Castle at Bedford But they all save Henry de Braybrock escaped him they Imprison'd and his Wife complaining thereon to the King and Parliament then sitting at Northampton they all set all other Business a-part and with all the Power they could make went and besieged the Castle which was to the utmost admirably defended against them and to the extream loss of the Assailants Yet by raising a Wooden-Tower close by it which they call Malvicine it was at length taken the Justice delivered 24 hang'd and his Brethren Himself being escap'd lost all his Possessions and whatsoever else he had But for the great Service he had done King John his Life upon his submission was pardon'd and he banished yet Vengeance still pursued him for he died by Poyson I must not forget a memorable Relation which Matthew Paris further maketh touching this matter The Abbess of Helnestene hearing that Falcasius had pull'd down St. Paul's Church to build his Castle caus'd the Sword which was in the Hand of the Image of St. Paul to be taken out of it and would not suffer it to be restor'd till now that he had so worthily reveng'd himself Whereupon one writ thus Perdidit in mense Falco tam fervidus ense Omne sub saevo quicquid quaesivit ab aevo The fierce Sir Falco ere one Month was run Lost all the Wealth that in his Life he won William Earl of Pembroke sirnam'd The great Earl Marshal Tutor of King Henry 3. took by force of War two Mannors belonging to the Church and Bishoprick of Fernes in Ireland The Bishop a Godly Man requir'd Restitution and failing of it
excommunicated the Earl who little regarded it The Earl so dieth the Bishop cometh into England and reneweth his Suit to Earl William his Son and Heir obtaining to have the King his Mediator but prevail'd not for Earl William and his Brethren answer'd That their Father did the Bishop no wrong having gotten the Mannors by right of War The Bishop in the agony of his Spirit reneweth the Curse against their Father and them and said That the Lord had cast it grievously upon Earl William as is written in the Psalm In a Generation his Name shall be put out and his Sons shall be Vagabonds as touching the Blessing promis'd by the Lord of Encrease and multiply Earl William the Father at the time of his Death and Burial which was in the New Temple at London 17. Kal. Apr. 1219. and 4 Hen. 3. left 5 Sons and as many Daughters Earl William the eldest Son first married Alice the Daughter and Heir of Baldwin Earl of Albermarle c. After Eleanor Daughter of King John and died without Issue 6. Apr. 1231. 15 Hen. 3. Earl Richard the second Brother succeeded he married the Lady Gervasia and was slain in Ireland 18 Hen. 3. leaving no Issue Earl Gilbert the 3d Brother succeeded He married Margaret Daughter of William King of Scots and was kill'd by his own Horse at a Tornement at Hartford 21 Hen. 3. 1241. leaving no Issue Earl Walter the fourth Brother succeeded He married Margaret Daughter and Co-heir of Robert Lord Quiney and died at London 6. Dec. 1245. 30 Hen. 3. or as others report the 24. Nov. and was buried at Tinterne leaving no Issue Earl Anselm the youngest was at the death of his Brother Walter Dean of Salisbury but admitted to be Earl of Pembroke and Marshal and in haste married Maud the Daughter of Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford that he yet at last might propagate the most noble Family But Non est consilium contra Dominum for he died within 18 or 24 days after his Brother before he was actually possess'd of his County Thus according to the Malediction of the Bishop the Name of those great Earls Marshal was utterly extinct all the five Brethren being married and dying Childless within 15 Years Matt. Par. An. 1219 1245. p. 292 665 alibi King Edw. 1. in the zeal of his Religion his Father yet living took the Cross upon him and went to assist the Christians in the Wars of Jerusalem The Pope in recompence of his Charges granted unto him in the second Year of his Reign he being return'd the tenth part of all Ecclesiastical Benefices of the Kingdom for one Year and the like to his Brother Edmond for another But afterwards the King forgetting his old Devotion in the 11th Year of his Reign seiz'd all the Treasure of the Tenths collected for that purpose and laid up in divers places of the Kingdom and breaking open the Locks caus'd it to be brought unto him and employ'd it to his own use Stow. This taste of things separate to God drew him on to a further Appetite In the 23d Year of his Reign he took into his hands all the Priories Aliens throughout the Kingdom committing them as Charles Martel of old had done in France to Officers under him and allowing every Monk 18d a Week retain'd the rest for the charge of his War as he did also the Pensions going out of those Houses to the greater Monasteries beyond the Seas Yet obtain'd he further in the same Parliament of the Clergy and Religious Persons a Subsidy of half their Goods to the value of 100000l whereof the Abby of Bury paid 655 l. 11d q. Stow ib. p. 316. King Ed. l. being in great want by his subduing Scotland about the end of the 23th Year of his Reign caused all the Monasteries of England to be search'd and the Money found in them to be brought to London Wals. pa. 65. Cax l. 7. c. 39. Shortly after in the 24th Year of his Reign at a Parliament at St. Edmundsbury he required a Subsidy which the Laity granted But the Clergy pretending that Pope Boniface at the same time had forbidden upon pain of Excommunication that either Secular Princes should impose Tallages upon the Church-men or that Church-men should pay any they refus'd to supply the King's Necessity and having day to advise better on the matter till the next Parliament at London shortly after they persisted in the same mind Whereupon the King put them out of his Protection so that being robb'd and spoil'd by lewd persons without remedy to redeem the King's Favour the Archbishop of York and many of the Bishops laid down a fifth part of all their Goods in their Churches and some by other courses satisfy'd the King's desire and so recover'd his Protection But all the Monasteries within the Province of Canterbury were seiz'd into the King's hands and Wardens appointed in them to minister to the Monks and Religious Persons therein only what must be had of necessity taking all other Monies and Surplusage to the King's use So that the Abbots and Priors were glad to follow the Court and to repair their Error with the fourth part of their Goods The Archbishop of Canterbury after all this fearing the Pope's Excommunication continu'd in his refusal lost all he had was forsaken of his Servants forbidden to be receiv'd either in any Monastery or without and rested in the House of a poor Man only with one Priest and one Clerk How these Courses were censur'd in foro coeli is not in me to judge nor will I pry into the Ark of God's Secrets But see what followeth in the Story King Edward having with great Triumph subdu'd Scotland and taken the King Prisoner did at this present peaceably enjoy that Kingdom and govern'd it by his own Officers But e're three Months came to an end Wil. Wallis began such a Rebellion there as put all in hazard and in fine it was so reviv'd by Robert le Bruce the King 's natural Subject that at length he overthrew the King's Armies slew and beat out his Officers and without all recovery gain'd the Kingdom to himself and his Posterity King Edward attempting the recovery died at the entrance of Scotland His Son Edward II. pursuing his Father's intent with one of the greatest Armies that ever was raised by the English was miserably beaten and put to flight hardly escaping in his own person All his Life after full of Tumult not only his Nobles but his very Wife his Enemy abandoned of his Subjects turn'd out of his Kingdom imprison'd and traiterously murther'd In all which the Curse which his Father upon his Death-bed laid upon him if he should break the Precepts he gave him had no doubt a cooperation for he observ'd none of them Touching the pulling of Lands from the Church all have not always been of one mind For tho' the makers of the Statute of Mortmaine did truly think that the
Clergy had so disproportionable a share by way of excess in the Lands of the Kingdom yet when in 17 Edw. II. it came to the point that the Order of the Templars for their wickedness was overthrown the Parliament then wherein many of those no doubt that made the Statute of Mortmain were present would not give the Lands and Possessions of the Templars to the King or the Lords of whom they were holden but ordain'd that they should go to the Order of the Hospital of St. John's of Jerusalem then lately erected for the defence of Christendom and the Christian Religion Edward le Bruce brother to Robert le Bruce King of Scots invadeth the North parts of Ireland with 6000 Men and accompanied with many great persons of the Nobility conquer'd the Earldom of Ulster gave the English many overthrows and prevail'd so victoriously that he caus'd himself to be crown'd King of Ireland His Soldiers in the mean time burn Churches and Abbies with the People whom they found in the same sparing neither Man Woman nor Child And most wickedly entring into other Churches spoil'd and defac'd the same of all such Tombs Monuments Plate Copies and other Ornaments as they found there He thus prevailing and the Irish much revolting to him the Archbishop of Armagh blesseth and encourageth the English Army against him Whereupon they joyn'd battle overthrew the whole Power of the Scots slew 2000 of their Men and amongst them this their King Edward le Bruce himself King Edw. III. to begin his Wars with France in An. 1337. taketh all the Treasure that was laid up in the Churches throughout England for the defence of the Holy Land Speed p. 190. And whereas there were anciently in England many Cells and Houses of Religion 110 they were counted and more belonging to greater Monasteries beyond the Seas fraught with Aliens and Strangers especially French-men and those of the Orders of Clunis and Cistertien King Edward III. at his entry into his French Wars An. 1337 Regni 12. partly fearing that they might hold intelligence with his Enemies but seeking chiefly to have their Wealth toward the payment of his Soldiers confiscated their Goods and Possessions letting their Priories and Lands to farm for Rent and selling some of them right out to others of his Subjects Yet like a Noble and Religious Prince touch'd with remorse when the Wars were ended viz. An. 1361 regni 35. he granted them all save those few that he had put away back again unto them by his Letters Patents as freely as they had formerly enjoy'd them And divers of those that were purchas'd by his Subjects were by them new-founded and given back to Religious Uses This act of the King 's was a precedent of singular Piety yet was it but a lame Offering not an Holocaust He gave back the Possessions but he retain'd the Profits which he had taken for 23 Years Speed p. 211. King John whom they so much condemn did more than this if he had done it as willingly He restor'd the Lands with the Damages But let not this good King want the charitable Commendation due unto his Piety though having dipt his Hands in this We be driven by the course of our Argument to observe what after befell to him and his Off-spring There be some things saith ... are sweet in the Mouth but bitter in the Belly pleasant at the beginning but woful in the end If these Priories and their Churches were of that nature the sequel verifies the Proverb The middle part of the King's Life was most fortunate and victorious yea all the while that these things were in his Hands even as if God had bless'd him as he did Obed-Edom 1 Sam. 6. 10. whilst the Ark was in his House and had the King then dy'd he had been a most glorious pattern of earthly Felicity But the Wheel turn'd and his Oriental Fortunes became Occidental The Peace he had concluded with France for the solace of his Age brake out again into an unfortunate War Many of his Subjects there rebell Gascony in effect is lost Afflictions at home fall upon him in sequence his Son Lionel Duke of Clarence dieth without Issue-male and when he had greatest need of his renowned Son the Prince of Wales miracle of Chivalry and the Anchor of his Kingdom him even then did God take from him his Court and Nobles discontented and in Faction himself and all things much misgovern'd by his Son the Duke of Lancaster and others of that part who by the Parliament are therefore remov'd from him and by him recall'd notwithstanding to the grief of all the Kingdom Thus he dieth leaving his unweildy Scepters to the feeble Arms of a Child of Eleven Years old King Richard II. whose lamentable History for the honour of Kings is best unspoken of But so unfortunate he was among his other Calamities that he was not only deposed by his unnatural Subjects but imprison'd and murther'd dying without Issue and leaving an Usurper possessor of his Kingdoms which kindled such Fuel of Dissention as consum'd almost all the Royal Line and Ancient Nobility of the Kingdom by the Civil War between the Houses of York and Lancaster To return to the Restitution made by King Edw. III. of the Priories-Alien An Historian termeth it A rare Example of a just King it being seldom seen that Princes let go any thing whereon they have once fasten'd But this King having made a Door in this manner into the freedom and possession of the Church all the Power he had either ordinarily or by Prerogative could not now so shut it up but that this Precedent would for ever after be a Key to open it at the pleasure of Posterity which was well seen not long after For in the Parliament An. 9. of King Richard II. The Knights and Burgesses with some of the Nobility being in a great rage as John Stow saith against the Clergy for that William Courtney the Archbishop would not suffer them to be charged in Subsidy by the Laity exhibited a Petition to the King that the Temporalities might be taken from them saying That they were grown to such Pride that it was Charity and Alms to take them from them to compell them thereby to be more meek and humble And so near the Parliament-men thought themselves the point of their desire that one promised himself thus much of this Monastery another so much of another Monastery And I heard saith Tho. Walsingham one of the Knights deeply swear that of the Abbey of St. Albans he would have a thousand Marks by the Year of the Temporalities But the King hearing the inordinate crying out on the one side and the just defence on the other deny'd his consent and commanded the Bill to be cancell'd Stow p. 479. Two valiant Esquires John Shakel and Robert Hauley having taken the Earl of Dene Prisoner at the Battel of Nazers in Spain and receiv'd his Son Hostage for performing Conditions between
at Noon Then the storm being ended the Irish by Boats fetch'd them to their Houses and reliev'd them It is said That Sir John Arundel lost in this storm besides his Life 52 Suits of very rich Apparel much princely stuff with his great Horse and other Horses and things of price to the value of Ten thousand Marks and twenty five other ships which followed him with Men Horses and other Provision all perishing with him Touching the residue not guilty of this Out-rage and Sacrilege Sir Thomas Piercy Sir Hugh Calverley Sir William Elmham and the rest of the Army they were far and near dispers'd on the Seas with the same dangers but it pleased God to preserve them Yet as soon as the storm was ended a new Misfortune fell upon Sir Tho. Piercy for being weak and weather-beaten with all his Company a Spanish Man of War now setteth upon him singled from the rest of the Navy and drives him to bestir himself as he could which he did so happily as at last he took the Spaniard and bringing him home brought also the occasion of double Joy one for his safety the other for his victory And then pawning that ship for 100 l. he presently furnish'd himself forth again and with as great Joy arriv'd safely at Brest whereof he was one of the Captains with Sir Hugh Calverly and thus supply'd that charge also very fortunately Sir Hugh Calverley also and Sir William Elmham with the rest of those Ships return'd safely into other parts and by the great Mercy of God lost not either Man Horse or any other thing in all this so furious a Tempest All this is much largerly related by Tho. Walsingham in An. 1379 p. 231. seq Though the Attempts of Rebels and Traitors be usually suppress'd by the Power of the Prince yet that notorious Rebel Wat Tyler and his Confederates prevail'd so against King Richard II. that neither his the King's Authority nor the Power of the Kingdom could resist them insomuch as they became Lords of the City and Tower of London and had the King himself so far in their disposition as they got him to come and go to do and forbear when and what they requir'd But after they had spoil'd and burnt the Monastery of St. John's of Jerusalem beheaded the Archbishop of Canterbury and done some other acts of Sacrilege their Fortune quickly chang'd and their Captain Wat Tyler being in the greatest height of his Glory with his Army behind him to do what he commanded and the King fearfully before him not able to resist was upon the sudden wounded and surpriz'd by the Mayor of London his prosperous Success over-turn'd and both he and they whom an Army could not earst subdue are now by the Act of a single Man utterly broken and discomfited and justly brought to their deserved Execution Holinshed and Stow in 4 Rich. II. CHAP. VI. The Attempt and Project upon the Lands of the Clergy in the Time of Henry IV. disappointed BY that Time King Henry IV. was come to the Crown the Clergy of England had passed the Meridian of their greatness and were onward in their declination For the People now left to admire them as before they had done and by little and little to fall off from them in every Place being most distracted though not wholly led away by the prime Lectures Sermons and Pamphlets of them that laboured for an alteration in Religion The Commons also of Parliament which usually do breath the Spirit of the People not only envied their greatness but thought it against reason that those whom the Laity had raised fed and fatted by their Alms and Liberality should use such rigorous Jurisdiction so they accounted it over their Patrons and Founders and against Religion also that they who had devoted themselves to Spiritual contemplation should be so much intangled with the Secular affairs But above all that they who laboured not in the Common-wealth nor were the hundredth part of the People should possess as great a Portion almost of the Kingdom as the whole Body of the Laity For an Estimate hereof had been taken anciently by the Knight's Fees of the Kingdom which in Edward I. Time were found to be 67000 and that 28000 of them were in the Clergy's hands So that they had gotten well towards one half of the Knight's Fees of the Kingdom and had not the Statutes of Mortmain come in their way they were like enough in a short time to have had the better part Yet did not the Statutes otherwise hinder them but that with the King's Licence they daily obtained great accessions and might by the Time of King Henry IV. be thought probably enough to have half the Kingdom amongst them if not more considering that out of that part which remained to the Laity they had after a manner a tenth part by way of Tithe and besides that an inestimable Revenue by way of Altarage Offerings Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Church-Duties Gifts Legacies c. The Parliament therefore 6 Henry IV. called the Laymen's Parliament that all Lawyers were shut out of it casting a malevolent Eye hereon did not seek by a Moderate course a Reformation but as may be observed in other cases to cure a great excess by an extreme defect and at one blow to take from the Clergy all their Temporalities This was propounded to the King by Sir John Cheiney their Speaker who in former time had been himself a Deacon and lapping then some of the Milk of the Church found it so sweet as he now would eat of the Breasts that gave it He inforced this proposition with all the Rhetorick and Power he had and tickled so the Ears of the King that if the Archbishop of Canterbury had not that day stood like Moses in the gap the evils that succeeded might even then have fallen upon the Clergy But the Archbishop declaring that the Commons sought thereby their own enriching knowing well that they should be sharers in this Royal prey assured the King that as he and his Predecessors Edward III. and Richard II. had by the Counsel of the Commons confiscated the Goods and Lands of the Cells or Monasteries that the Frenchmen and Normans did possess in England being worth many thousands of Gold and was not that day the richer thereby half a Mark so if he should now which God forbid fulfill their wicked desire he should not be one Farthing the richer the next Year following This demonstrative and prophetical Speech pronounced with great vehemency by the Archbishop it so wrought upon the Heart of the King that he professed he would leave the Church in better State than he found it rather than in worse And thus that Hideous Cloud of Confusion which hung over the Head of the Clergy vapoured suddenly at this time into nothing Yet did it lay the Train that Henry V. did make a sore Eruption and in Henry VIIIth's Time blew up at the Monasteries The event of which
flowed into it by Act of Parliament the next year following being the 33d of his Reign to the Number one and other of But as the Red-sea by the miraculous Hand of God was once dried up so was this Sea of Wealth by the wastfull Hand of this Prince immediately so dried up as the very next year viz. Regni 34. the Parliament was drawn again to grant him a great Subsidy for in the Statute-book it is so stiled and this not serving his turn he was yet driven not only to enhance his Gold and Silver-money in Anno 36 but against the Honour of a Prince to coin base Money and when all this served not his turn in the very same year to exact a Benevolence of his Subjects to their grievous Discontent Perceiving therefore that nothing could fill the gulf of his effusion and that there was now a just cause of great expence by reason of his Wars at Bulloign and in France they granted him in the 37th Year 2 Subsidies at once and four Fifteens and for a Corollary all the Colleges Free-Chapels Chantries Hospitals c. before-mentioned in Number 2374. upon confidence that he should dispose them as he promised solemnly in the Parliament to the Glory of God who in truth for ought that I can hear had little part thereof The next year was his fatal Period otherwise it was much to be feared that Deans and Chapters if not Bishopricks which have been long levelled at had been his next design for he took a very good Say of them by exchanging Lands with them before the Dissolution giving them rackt Lands and small things for goodly Manners and Lordships and also Impropriations for their solid Patrimony in finable Lands like the exchange that Palamedes made with Glaucus much thereby encreasing his own Revenues as he took 72 from York besides other Lands Tenements Advowsons Patronages c. in the 37th of his Reign which are mentioned particularly in the Statute 37. Henry VIII cap. 16. He took also 30 and above as I remember in the 27th Year from the Bishop of Norwich whom he left not that I can learn one Foot of the goodly Possessions of his Church save the Palace at Norwich and how many I know not in the 37th Year also from the Bishop of London I speak not of his prodigal Hand in the Blood of his Subjects which no doubt much alienated the Hearts of them from him But God in these eleven Years space visited him with 5 or 6 Rebellions In Lincolnshire Anno 28 and 3 one after another in Yorkshire Anno 33 one in Somersetshire Anno 29 and again in Yorkshire Anno 33. And though Rebellions and Insurrections are not to be defended yet they discover unto us what the displeasure and dislike was of the common People for spoiling the Revenues of the Church whereby they were great losers the Clergy being mercifull Landlords and bountifull Benefactors to all Men by their great Hospitality and Works of Charity Thus much touching his own Fortunes accompanying the Wealth and Treasure gotten by him as we have declared by confiscating the Monasteries wherein the prophetical Speech that the Archbishop of Canterbury used in the Parliament 6. Henry IV. seemeth performed That the King should not be one farthing the richer the next Year following II. What happened to the King's Children and Posterity Touching his Children and Posterity after the time that he entered into these Courses he had two Sons and three Daughters whereof one of each kind died Infants the other three succeeding in the Crown without Posterity His base Son the Duke of Richmond died also without Issue and as the Issue of Nebuchodonosor was extinct and his Kingdom given to another Nation the 68th Year after he had rifled the Temple of Jerusalem and taken away the holy Vessels so about the same period that King Henry VIII began to sack the Monasteries with their Churches and things dedicated to God was his whole Issue extinct Male and Female base and legitimate and his Kingdom transferred to another Nation and therein to another Royal Family which is now His Majesty's singular happiness that had no hand in the like depredation of the Monasteries and Churches of that Kingdom there committed by the tumultuous if not rebellious Subjects Contrary as it seems to the good liking of our late Sovereign King James who as is reported said that if he had found the Monasteries standing he would not have pulled them down not meaning to continue them in their superstitious Uses but to employ them as Chorah's censers to some godly purposes Wherein most piously he declared himself both in restoring as I hear some Bishopricks and divers Appropriations in Scotland and also by moving the Universities of England to do the like as by his gracious Letter doth appear which shall here following be expressed in the end So his Grandfather King James the 4th of Scotland when he was solicited by Sir Ralph Sadler then Embassador from King Henry to augment his Estate by taking into his Hands the Abbies James refus'd saying What need I take them into mine Hands when I may have any thing I require of them And if there be Abuses in them I will reform them for there be a great many good Which was a wise answer and if King Henry had done the like here he might have had an immense and ample Revenue out of the Monasteries and old Bishopricks while they enjoyed their Lands being a third part of the Kingdom as appears by Doomsday-Book by way of First-fruits Tenths Pensions and Corrodies yearly that he should never have needed at any time to ask one Subsidy of his Subjects To return where we left off having spoken of the extinguishment of the Issue of King Henry whereof the immortally renown'd Princess Queen Elizabeth was the golden period Let us cast our Eyes upon the principal Agents and Contrivers of this Business III. What happen'd to the Principal Agents The Lord Cromwel was conceived to be the principal mover and prosecutor thereof both before and in the Parliament of 27 and 37 Hen. VIII and for his good service impenso impendendo upon the 18th of April before the beginning of the Parliament of 31 which was on the last of the Month he was created Earl of Essex and his Son Gregory made Lord Cromwell yet e're the Year was past from the end of the Parliament of 31 he fell wholly into the King's Displeasure and in July 32 he was attainted and beheaded professing at his Death that he had been seduc'd and dy'd a Catholick His Son Gregory Lord Cromwell being as I said made a Baron in the life time of his Father and invested with divers great Possessions of the Church supported that new risen Family from utter ruine but his Grandchild Edward Lord Cromwell wasting the whole Inheritance sold the head of his Barony Oukham in Rutlandshire and exchanging some of the rest all that remained with the E. of Devonshire for
1555. Concerning the Bishops it doth not appear how they gave their Voices but it may well be suppos'd that divers of them were against a total suppression and seeing in other Acts it is recorded after that when a Bill was granted with an unanimous consent of all parties none dissenting that then it was past Nemine dissentiente yet it is not so recorded upon this but although many might dissent and that publickly yet there was a major part of Temporal Lords present and so carried it by Voices It is testify'd of Bishop Latimer that he much desir'd that two or three Abbies of the greater sort might be preserv'd in every Shire for pious and charitable Uses Which was a wise and godly motion and perhaps the occasion that the King did convert some in part to good purposes Yet the Desolation was so universal that Jo. Bale doth much lament the loss and spoil of Books and Libraries in his Epistle upon Leland's Journal Leland being imploy'd by the King to survey and preserve the choicest Books in their Libraries If there had been in every Shire of England saith Bale but one solemn Library to the preservation of those Noble Works and Preferment of good Learning in our Posterity it had been yet somewhat but to destroy all without consideration it is and will be unto England for ever a most horrible Infamy amongst the grave Seniors of other Nations Adding further that they who got and purchased the Religious Houses at the Dissolution of them took the Libraries as part of the Bargain and Booty reserving of those Library Books some to serve their Jakes some to scour their Candlesticks and some to rub their Boots some they sold to the Grocers and Soap-sellers and some they sent over Sea to the Book-binders not in small numbers but at times whole Ship-fulls to the wondering of foreign Nations And after he also addeth I know a Merchant-man which all this time shall be nameless that bought the Contents of two noble Libraries for 40s a piece a shame it is to be spoken this stuff hath he occasioned instead of Grey Paper by the space of more than these ten Years and yet he hath enough for many Years to come a prodigious Example is this and to be abhorred of all men who love their Nation as they should do And well he might exclaim a prodigious Example it being a most wicked and detestable injury to Religion and Learning Yet thus are Men often transported with Passion in the heat of Reformation and fiery Zeal without Wisdom The Temporal Lords present in Parliament 23 Maii 31 Hen. VIII 1. Thomas Lord Audley of Walden Lord Chancellour died without Issue-male 30. Apr. 1544 3 â…š Hen. 8. Margaret his sole Daughter and Heir being first marry'd to Henry Dudley Son of John Duke of Northumberland slain at St. Quintins without Issue Anno 1557. After a second Wife to Thomas Duke of Norfolk who was beheaded in June 1572. By him she had Issue Thomas created by King James Lord Howard of Walden and after Earl of Suffolk and made Lord Treasurer but put out of his place and fined in the Star-Chamber termino ... Anno ... for miscarriage thereof and grievously afflicted by the wicked and odious practices of his Daughter Frances first marry'd to the Earl of Essex then divorc'd and marry'd to the Earl of Somerset and they both attainted and adjudg'd to death for the murther of Sir Thomas Overbury 2. The Duke of Norfolk at that time viz. in both Parliaments of 31 and 27 was Thomas Howard the third Duke of that renowned Family who suffering the spight of Fortune was upon the 12th of December in the 28th of the King committed to the Tower with his magnanimous Son and Heir apparent Henry Earl of Surrey Upon being first arraign'd and attainted the King lying on his Death-bed caused him to be beheaded 19. Jan. and deceasing himself on the 28th of the same Month left the sorrowfull Duke in Prison where he remained as I take it till Queen Mary set him at liberty to go against Wyat and being nothing fortunate in that imployment the Earl of Pembroke was put in his room and had the glory of the Service Thomas Howard Son of Henry Earl of Surrey beheaded and Grandchild of the last Duke was restor'd by Q. Mary and made the 4th Duke of Norfolk but affecting Marriage with the Qu. of Scots was heretofore attainted and beheaded in June 1572. Philip his eldest Son was in right of his Mother and by conveyance of the Castle and Honour of Arundel unto him Earl of Arundel and after restor'd in Blood 23d of Eliz. yet byfate of his Noble Family after long imprisonment and Attainder died in the Tower where his most honourable Son after restitution to his Earldom and other Dignities with a reinvesting of the great Office of Earl Marshal of England but now by God's Blessing and his own singular Wisdom hath gotten the upper hand of Fortune and is likely to leave it to a temperate and virtuous Son 3. The Duke of Suffolk both in this Parliament and in that of 27 was Charles Brandon and tho' he was not present at the passing of the Bill yet being a principal Parliament-man the King's Brother by Marriage and his minion in Affection it is very credible that he was a very great advancer of the business He had four Wives no Issue by the first a base Daughter and another by a second born in Wedlock A Son Henry that was Earl of Lincoln by his 3d Wife the King's Sister and Qu. of France and two Daughters and two Sons Henry and Charles by his fourth Wife His Son Henry Earl of Lincoln died without Issue in the life time of his Father the Duke His other Son Henry was Duke of Suffolk after his Father but both he and his Brother Charles died together of the Sweating Sickness the 14th of July 1551 without Issue Frances his eldest Daughter by the Qu. of France was married to Henry Grey Marquess of Dorset who in her Father's Title was created Duke of Suffolk and was beheaded the 23d of Febr. 1 Mariae leaving no Issue by a former Wife but three Daughters by this Frances whereof Jane marry'd to the Lord Guilford Dudley together with her Husband were beheaded without Issue 1 Mar. Catharine his second Daughter was marry'd to the Lord Herbert and divorced Mary the 3d Daughter was marry'd to Martin Reyes a Groom-porter as I have heard and died without Issue 4. The Marquess of Dorset in this Parliament of 31 H. 8. was Henry Grey that married Frances the eldest Daughter of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk by the Qu. of France King Henry's Sister he had Issue by her a Son and 3 Daughters His Son Henry Lord Harrington died before him without Issue The Lady Jane eldest Daughter as we said before was married to the Lord Guilford Dudley and together with her Husband was beheaded Catharine his second Daughter ... Mary the
Mr. Gossald bought the Abby of Mr. Benson and lest it to his Wife in Jointure Mr. Henry Gossald of Ireland his Son and Heir sold the Reversion to Sir Thomas Holland and goeth into Ireland Mr. Nicholas Timperley bought it of Sir Tho. Holland Malsingham-Abby not in the Tax It was Sir Tho. Gresham's who died as was said suddenly in his Kitchin without Issue-male His Daughter and Heir was married to Sir William Read who had this Abby Sir Tho. Read his eldest Son married Mildred Daughter of Sir Tho. Cecil after Earl of Exeter and died without Issue Sir Francis Read his 2d Son an unthrift lived much in the Gaol if he died not there The Daughter of Sir William was married to Sir Michael Stanhope who died without Issue-male Jane the eldest Daughter of Sir Michael married to Sir William is out of her Wits and Sir William her Husband in sore danger of his life about the slaughter of 6 or 7 Men tumultuously kill'd at Elizabeth the younger of his Daughters and Heirs married to the Lord Barkley is out of her Wits Flitcham-Abby Sir Tho. Hollis had it and was by report at Dinner taken out of it in Execution for Debt by the Sheriff and his Goods sold whereof my Father bought some Much suit there was about it between one Payne and him or his Heir but the matter being at length reserr'd to the Duke of Norfolk he bought both their Titles He the Duke had it and was attainted and beheaded and it then came to the Crown King James gave it in Fee Farm to my Lord of Suffolk who was fined in the Star-Chamber and put out of Treasure-ship and suffer'd much Affliction by the Attainder of the Lady Francis Countess of Somerset his Daughter and of her Husband the Earl My Lord Cooke bought it of the Earl of Suffolk and bought out the Fee-Farm from King James He was put out of the place of Ch. Justice of the King's Bench fell into great Displeasure of the King and hath been laded with Afflictions proceeding chiefly from his own Wife who liveth from him in Separation His eldest Son Sir Robert having been married many Years hath yet no Issue His Daughter the Lady Vicountess of Purbeck the Fable of the Time and her Husband a Lunatick Wendling Wendling-Abby differ'd from all the rest of this Circuit for it was not dissolv'd by the Statute or by the Act of Hen. 8. but before that time by Cardinal Wolsey and was one of the 40 small Monasteries that Pope Clement the 7th gave him licence to suppress for the Erection of his 2 Colleges Christ-Church in Oxon and another at Ipswich The Cardinal employed 5 Persons especially in this business whereof one was slain by another of those his Companions that other was hanged for the Fact the third drowned himself in a Well the fourth being a Man of good Wealth in those days fell within three years after so poor that he begg'd till his Death the fifth Dr. Allen promoted to a Bishoprick in Ireland was there cruelly maimed The Cardinal himself fell out of favour with the King and Kingdom and condemned in a praemunire lost all his Offices Honours Goods and Estate and being called into further danger died for grief by the way not without suspicion of poisoning himself The Pope who gave the Licence was by the Duke of Bourbon's Army driven out of his City of Rome it cruelly sack'd and himself besieg'd in the Castle of St. Angelo taken Prisoner scorned and put to Ransom And after all this was at last as some affirm poison'd with certain of his Cardinals and Friends by the Fume of a Torch prepared for that purpose Stow in Anno Dom. Bale 18. 6. Besides all these Mr. Tho. Cromwell who then was but Servant to the Cardinal having a principal hand in the Destruction of these Monasteries given to his Master had also a principal share in this Tragedy for tho' he were after promoted to great Honours yet in the end he was thrown out of them all convicted of Treason attainted and beheaded as in other places heretofore we have more fully related Now we come nearer to and particularly to this Abbey wherein as also in others of that Nature in Corporations and Bodies Politick that are the Seminaries of the Church little attention is to be expected yet see what happened to their Tenants and Farmers profanely abusing the consecrate places thereof The Cardinal did grant it to his Coll. at Christ-Church in Oxon and to whom they first leased it I do not yet find but Mr. Tho. Hogan of Bradenham that was Sheriff of Norfolk Eliz. died in his Sheriffship and not long after him his Son Mr. Hen. Hogan leaving his Son and Heir very young who attaining near to his full Age and falling sick acknowledged a fine upon his Death-Bed to the use of his Mother the Lady Caesar that now is and his half Sisters and dying without reversing it did by that means cut off his Heirs at common Law and was the last of his Father's House in that Inheritance This begat great Suits in the Star-Chamber Chancery and Parliament it self The Lease is since come to Mr. Hamon Nor did the Colleges for which these Monasteries were suppressed by the Cardinal and which he meant to make so glorious come to good effect for that of Ipswich was pulled down and the other of Christ-Church was never finished as also neither that of King's College in Cambridge rising out of the Ruins of the Priory's Aliens Coxford Abbey al Ratha Abbey Coxford Abbey after the Dissolution came to the Duke of Norfolk who was beheaded 2d June 1572 Eliz. 14. The Queen then granted it to Edw. Earl of Oxon who wasted all his Patrimony Sir Roger Townsend then bought it who had Issue Sir Jo. Townsend and Sir Robert Townsend Sir Robert died without Issue Sir Jo. had Issue Sir Robert the Bar. and Stanhope and Ann married to Joh. Spelman he falling into a Quarrel with Sir Matthew Brown of Beach-North Castle in Surrey each of them slew other in a Duel 1 Jac. Stanhope Townsend wounded mortally by in a Duel in the Low Countries came into England and died at London Sir Roger the Bar. intending to build a goodly House at Rainham and to fetch Stone for the same from Coxford Abbey by advice of Sir Nathanael Bacon his Grandfather began to demolish the Church there which till then was standing and beginning with the Steeple the first Stone as 't is said in the fall brake a Man's Leg which somewhat amazed them yet contemning such Advertisement they proceeded in the Work and overthrowing the Steeple it fell upon a House by and breaking it down slew in it one Mr. Seller that lay lame in it of a broken Leg gotten at Foot-ball others having saved themselves by Fright and Flight Sir Roger having digged the Cellering of his new House and raised the Walls with some of the