the Catalogue of Martyrs had a Church here built and dedicated unto him by Milfrid a pety K. of the country wherein when a Bishops See was established it grew to great wealth first through the devout liberality of the Mercians and then of the West Saxons kings for they at length were possessed of this City as may be gathered out of William of Malmesbury where he writeth That Athelistan the West Saxon brought the Lords of Wales in this City of so hard passe that by way of Tribute they were to pay every yeere besides Hounds and Haukes twenty pounds of gold and three hundred pound of silver by weight This Citie as farre as I can reade had never any misfortune unlesse it were in the yeere of our Lord 1055. wherein Gruffith Prince of South Wales and Algar an English man rebelling against King Edward the Confessour after they had put to flight Earle Ralph sacked the Citie destroyed the Cathedrall Church and led away captive Leofgar the Bishop But Harold straightwaies after that hee and daunted their audacious courage fensed it as Floriacensis saith with a broade and high Rampier Hence it is that Malmesbury writeth thus in his treatise of Bishops Hereford is no great Citie and yet by the height of those steepe and upright bankes cast up it sheweth that it hath beene some great thing and as wee reade in the Domesday booke of King William the Conquerour there were in all but an hundered and three men within the Walles and without The Normans afterwards neere the East end of the Church along the side of Wy built a mighty great and strong Castle the worke as some report of Earle Miles which now yeeldeth to Time and runneth to ruine After this they walled the Citie about Bishop Reinelm in the reigne of Henry the First founded that beautifull Cathedrall Church which now we see there whose successours enlarged it by adioyning thereto a proper Colledge for Priests and faire houses for the Prebendaries For besides the Bishop who hath 302. Churches in his Dioecese there are in this Church a Deane two Archdeacons a Chaunter a Chauncellour 2 Treasurer and eight and twenty Prebendaries In the Church I saw in manner no Monuments but the Bishops Tombes And I have heard that Thomas Cantlow the Bishop a man of Noble birth had here a very stately and sumptuous Sepulcher who for his holinesse being canonized a Saint went within a little of surmounting that princely Martyr King Ethelbert such was the opinion of singular pietie and devotion Geographers measure the position or site of this Citie by the Longitude of twenty degrees and foure and twenty scruples and by the Latitude of two and fifty degrees and sixe scruples Wy is not gone full three miles from hence but he intercepteth by the way the river Lug who running downe a maine out of Radnor hils with a still course passeth through the mids of this country from the North-west of the South-east At the first entrance it seeth a farre off Brampton Brian Castle which a famous family named hereof de Brampton wherein the forname was usually Brian held by continuall succession unto the time of King Edward the First but now by the female heires it is come to R. Harleie neere at hand it beholdeth Wigmore in the English Saxons tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repaired in elder times by King Edward the elder afterward fortified by William Earle of Hereford with a Castle in the wast of a ground for so reade we in Domesday booke which was called Marestun in the tenure of Radulph de Mortimer from whom those Mortimers that were afterwards Earles of March lineally descended of whom you may reade more in Radnor-shire Three miles off there is another neighbour Castle called Richards Castle the possession first of the Sayes then of the Mortimers and afterwards of the Talbots by hereditarie succession At length by the heires of Sir Iohn Talbot the inheritance was divided betweene Sir Guarin Archdeacon and Sir Matthew Gurnay Beneath this Castle Nature who no where disporteth her selfe more in shewing wonders then in waters hath brought forth a pretty well which is alwaies full of little bones or as some thinke of small frog-bones although they be from time to time drawne quite out of it whence it is commonly called Bone well And not farre off is placed Croft Castle the possession of that very ancient family of the Crofts Knights who have there now a long time flourished in great and good esteeme Thence passeth Wy to Lemster which also was called Leon Minister and Lions Monastery of a Lyon that appeared to a religious man in a vision as some have dreamed But whereas the Britans call it Lhan Lieni which signifieth a Church of Nunnes and that it is certainely knowne that Merewalc a King of the Mercians built here a Church for Nunnes that afterwards became a Cell belonging to the Monastery of Reading to seeke any other originall of the name than from those Nunnes what were it else but to hunt after the windes Yet there want not some who derive it from Line whereof the best kinde groweth here The greatest name and same that it hath at this day is of the wooll in the territories round about Lemister Ore they call it which setting aside that of Apulia and Tarentum all Europe counteth to be the very best so renowned also it is for Wheat and bread of the Finest floure that Lemster bread and Weabley Ale a towne belonging to the noble Familie D'Eureux are growne unto a common proverbe By reason of these commodities the mercates at Lemster were so frequented that they of Hereford and Worcester complaining that the confluence of people thither impaired their mercates procured that by Royall authoritie the mercat day was changed Now have I nothing more concerning Lemster but that William Breosa Lord of Brecknock when hee revolted from King John did set it on fire and defaced it As for that Webley aforesaid it is situate more within the Country and was the Baronie of the Verdons the first of which house named Bertram de Verdon came into England with the Normans whose posteritie by marriage with an inheretrice of Laceies of Trim in Ireland were for a good while hereditary Constables of Ireland and at last the possessions were by the daughters devolved to the Furnivalls Burghersh Ferrars of Groby Crop-hulls and from the Crop-hulls by the Ferrars of Chartly unto D'Eureux Earles of Essex Neere neighbours unto Webley more Westward are these places Huntingdon Castle the possession in times past of the Bohuns Earles of Hereford and of Essex Kinnersley belonging to the auncient Family De la-bere and Erdsley where the auncient Family of the Baskervills have long inhabited which bred in old time so many worthie Knights who deduce their pedigree from a Neice of Dame Gunora that most famous Lady in Normandy and long agoe flourished in this Country and
Carlile had was Sir Andrew de Harcla whom King Edward the second created Earle that I may speake out of the very originall instrument of his Creation for his laudable good service performed against Thomas Earle of Lancaster and other his abetters in vanquishing the Kings enemies and disloiall subjects in delivering them up into the Kings hands when they were vanquished giâ—t with a sword and created Earle under the honour and name of the Earle of Carlile Who notwithstanding proved a wretched Traitour himselfe unthankfull and disloyally false both to his Prince and country and being afterwards apprehended was with shame and reproach paied duly for the desert of his perfidious ingratitude degraded in this maner first by cutting off his spurres with an hatchet afterwards disgirded of his military Belt then dispoiled of his shooes and gantlets last of all and was drawne hanged beheaded and quartered As for the position of Carlile the Meridian is distant from the utmost line of the West 21. degrees and 31. minutes and elevation of the North pole 54. degrees and 55. minutes and so with these encomiasticall verses of M. I. Ionston Ibid Carlile adue CARLEOLUM Romanis quondam statio tutissima signis Ultimaque Ausonidum meta labosque Ducum Especula laiè vicinos prospicit agros Hic ciet pugnas arcet inde metus Gens acri ingenio studiis asperrima belli Doctaque bellaci fig ere tela manu Scotorum Reges quondam tenuere beati Nunc iterum priscis additur imperiis Quid Romane putas extrema hîc limina mundi Mundum retrò alium surgere nonne vides Sit vidisse satis docuit nam Scotica virtus Immensis animis hîc posuisse modum CARLILE Unto the Romane legions sometimes the surest Station The farthest bound and Captaines toile of that victorious nation From prospect high farre all abroad it lookes to neighbour fields Hence fight and skirmish it maintaines and thence all danger shields People quicke witted fierce in field in martiall feats well seene Expert likewise right skilfully to fight with weapons keene Whilom the Kings of Scots it held whiles their state stood upright And once againe to ancient crowne it now reverts by right What Romane Cesar thinkest thou the world hath here an end And seest thou not another world behind doth yet extend Well maist thou see this and no more for Scotish valour taught Such haughty mindes to gage themselves and here to make default If you now crosse over the river Eden you may see hard by the banke Rowcliffe a little castle erected not long since by the Lords de Dacres for the defence of their Tenants And above it the two rivers Eske and Leven running jointly together enter at one out-gate into the Solway Frith As for Eske he rumbleth down out of Scotland and for certaine miles together confesseth himselfe to bee within the English dominion and entertaineth the river Kirsop where the English and Scottish parted asunder of late not by waters but by mutuall feare one of another having made passing good proofe on both sides of their great valour and prowesse Neere this river Kirsop where is now seene by Nether-By a little village with a few cottages in it where are such strange and great ruines of an ancient City and the name of Eske running before it doth sound so neare that wee may imagine AESICA stood there wherein the Tribune of the first band of the Astures kept watch and ward in old time against the Northren enemies But now dwelleth here the chiefe of the Grayhams family very famous among the Borderers for their martiall disposition and in a wall of his house this Romane inscription is set up in memoriall of Hadrian the Emperour by the Legion surnamed Augusta Secunda IMP. CAES. TRA. HADRIANO AUG LEG II. AUG F. But where the River Lidd and Eske conjoine their streames there was sometimes as I have heard Liddel castle and the Barony of the Estotevils who held lands in Cornage which Earle Ranulph as I read in an old Inquisition gave unto Turgill Brundas But from Estotevill it came hereditarily unto the Wakes and by them unto the Earles of Kent of the blood roiall And John Earle of Kent granted it unto King Edward the third and King Richard the second unto John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster Beyond this river Eske the land for certaine miles together is accounted English ground wherein Solom Mosse became very famous by reason especially of so many of the Scottish Nobility taken there prisoners in the yeere 1543. What time as the Scottish resolute to set upon Sir Thomas Wharton Lord warden of the English marches so soone as they understood that their King had committed the command of the army to Oliver Sincler whom they disdained they conceived such indignation thereat that with their owne shame and losse breaking their arraies in tumultuous manner they made a generall confusion of all which the English beholding from the higher ground forthwith charged violently upon them and put them to flight many they took prisoners who flinging away their weapons yeelded themselves after some few souldiers on both sides slaine into the hands of the English and of the borderers Presently whereupon James the fifth King of Scots was so disjected that weary of his life he died for very sorrow The land thereabout is called Batable ground as one would say Litigious because the English and the Scottish have litigiously contended about it For the inhabitants on both sides as borderers in all other parts are a military kind of men nimble wily alwaies in readines for any service yea and by reason of often skirmishes passing well experienced Leven the other river whereof I spake springing in the limit just of both kingdomes runneth by no memorable place unlesse it be Beucastle as they commonly call it a Castle of the Kings which standing in a wild and solitary country hath beene defended onely by a ward of souldiers But this in publicke records is written Bueth-castle so that the name may seeme to have come from that Bueth who about King Henry the first his dayes after a sort ruled all in this tract Certaine it is that in the reigne of Edward the third it was the patrimony of Sir John of Strivelin a Baron who married the daughter and one of the heires of Adam of Swinborne In the Church now much decaied there is layed for a grave-stone this old inscription translated thither from some other place LEG II. AUG FECIT In the Church-yard there is erected a Crosse about 20. foot high all of one entire foure square stone very artificially cut and engraven but the letters are so worn and gone that they cannot be read But whereas the Crosse is chequy in that manner as the shield of Armes belonging to the family of Vaulx sometime Lords in this tract we may well thinke that it was erected by them More into the South and farther within
hath now partly effected and in some sort over-mastred it A little beneath by Langport a proper market town the Rivers Ivel and Pedred running together make betweene them an Iland called Muchelney that is to say The great Iland wherein are to bee seene the defaced walles and ruines of an old Abbey built by King Athelstane as writers reporr This Pedred commonly named Parret hath his beginning in the verie edge or skirt of the shire southward and holding on a crooked and winding course thorow Crockhorne in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Pedderton to whom it gave the name sometime Pedridan the Roiall seat of King Ina â— which towne now adayes is of none account unlesse it be for the market and Faire there held which Henrie Daubeney obtained of King Henrie the Sixth at this place runneth into Ivel and robbeth him of his name when hee is come downe three miles Eastward and hath bidden farewell to Montacute so termed by the Earle of Moriton brother by the Mothers side to King William the Conquerour who built a Castle upon the verie hill top and at the foot thereof a Priorie because the said hill riseth up by little and little to a sharpe pâ—int for before time it was called Logoresburgh and Biscopeston As for the Castle it came to nothing many yeeres since the stones thereof being had away to the repairing of the Monasterie and other houses Upon the pitch of the said hill there was a Chapell afterwards set and dedicated unto Saint Michael built with arch-worke and an embowed roofe overhead all of stone right artificially to which for halfe a mile wel nere men ascended upon stone-staires which in their ascent fetched a compasse round about the hil But now that the Priorie and chapell both be pulled down the faire and goodly house which Sir Edward Philips Knight and the Kings Sargeant at Law built lately at the hill foote maketh a very beautifull shew This high place Mont-acute hath given surname to that right honourable family of Montacute which had their beginning of Dru the younger Out of which there were foure Earles of Sarisburie the last of them left one daughter onely Alice who by Richard Nevil pare Richard that renowned Earle of Warwick who kept such stirres and made all England to shake also Iohn Nevil Marquesse Montacute who were both slaine at Barnet field in the yeere 1472. Afterward King Henrie the Eighth conferred the title of Lord Montacute upon Henrie Poole sonne of Margaret daughter to George Duke of Clarence that came of the daughter of that Richard Nevill aforesaid Earle of Warwicke and when hee had so done straightwaies made him shorter by the head afterwards Queene Marie advanced Anthonie Browne whose Grandmother was a daughter of Iohn Nevill Marquesse Montacute to the title and honour of Vicount Montacute which his Grandchild Anthonie who succeeded him now honourably enjoyeth And here I must not forget neither Preston sometime the seat of Iohn Sturton younger sonne to the first Lord Sturton one of whose heires was married to Sidenham of Brimton thereby neither Odcombe adjoyning thereto as small a towne as it is seeing it had a Baron of the owne William de Briewer for so was his father named in the Norman-French because he was borne in an heath who being taken up in the new Forrest by King Henrie the Second in a hunting journey prooved a great man and gratious in the Court as whom King Richard the First highly favored as his minion and all the world embraced and loved grew unto a verie wealthy estate married Beatrix of Vannes widow to Reginald Earle of Cornwall and his daughters for that his sonne died without issue by their marriages brought great possessions to their husbands Breos Wake La-fert and Piercy Under this towne hard by lieth Stoke under Hamden where the Gornaies had their Castle and built a Colledge This familie de Gornaico commonly named Gornay was verie ancient and of good account descended from the same stocke out of which the Warrens Earles of Surrie and the Mortimers are sprung but in the fore-going age it failed and some of their lands descended by the Hamptons to the house of the Newtons Knights who willignly acknowledge themselves to bee come out of Wales and not long since to have beene named Caradocks Neither must I passe over in silence how Matthew Gournay a most famous warriour in the raigne of Edward the Third was buried heere who in the fourescore and sixteenth yeere of his age ended this life when as appeareth by his Epitaph he had fought at the siege of Algizer against the Saracens in the battels of Benamazin Scluse Cressie Ingenos Poictiers and Nazars in Spaine Then Pedred watereth Martocke a litle market Towne which in times past William of Boloigne King Stephens sonne gave unto Faramuse of Boloigne whose sole heire Sibyll was wedded to Ingelraine Fienes from whom descended the Fienes Barons of Dacre and Lords Say and Sele Parret from hence thorow the mire and moorish plaine countrey holding his course Northward passed by Langport a market Towne well frequented and Aulre a Village consisting of a few poore Cottages which seemeth to have beene a Towne of good account for when King Elfred had given the Danes such an overthrow in battell and by strait siege compelled them to yeeld so farre forth that they tooke an oath immediatly to depart out of his dominions and Godrus their King promised to become Christian as writeth Asserius at this very place he with great pompe was Godfather to the said Godrus at the sacred Font. Beneath this place from the West Parret receiveth into it the river Thone which springing farre of in the West part of this Countrey very neere unto Devonshire runneth thorow most rich and pleasant fields passing downe neere Wivelscomb assigned anciently to the Bishops of Bathe and by Wellington which in the time of King Edward the elder was a land of â—ix Manentes what time hee granted it together with Lediard that had twelve Manentes Hides unto the Bishop of Shirburne Now a prettie market Towne it is and graced most by the habitation there of Sir Iohn Popham For vertuous men and such as have so well deserved of their countrey are not to bee passed in silence a man of an ancient worshipfull house and withall a most upright Iusticer and of singular industry who being Lord chiefe Iustice of the Kings Bench administreth his office toward malefactours with such holesome and available severity that England hath beene beholden unto him a long time for a great part of her private peace and home-securitie For thence with a soft streame and gentle fall Thone runneth by Thonton commonly Taunton and giveth it his name A very fine and proper Towne this is indeed and most pleasantly seated in a word one of the eyes of this shire where Ina King
of the West Saxons built a Castle which Desburgia his wife raced and laid even with the ground after shee had expelled from thence Eadbritch King of the South-Saxons who now had made himselfe Lord thereof and used it as a bridle to keepe the countrey under that he had subdued When Edward the Confessour was King it paid tribute as wee find in the Kings Survey-Booke of England after the rate of fiftie and foure Hides and had in it threescore and three Burgers The Bishop of Winchester held it as Lord and his courts or Pleas were kept heere thrice in the yeere And these Customes appertaine to Taunton Burgherists Theeves Breach of peace hannifare pence of the Hundred and pence of Saint Peter de Circieto thrice in the yeere to hold the Bishops Pleas without warning to goe forth to warfare with the Bishops men The Countrey heere most delectable on every side with greene medowes flourishing with pleasant Gardens and Orchards and replenished with faire Mannour houses wonderfully contenteth the eyes of the beholders And among these houses those of greatest note are these Orchard which had in times past Lords of that name from whom in right of Inheritance it descended unto the Portmans men of Knights degree Hach Beauchamp and Cory Mallet bearing those additions of their Lords For this was the seat of the Mallets that came of the Norman race and from them in short time it fell by the female heire to the Pointzes From among whom in the raigne of Edward the First Hugh was ranged in the rank of Parliament Barons and out of that familie some remaine at this day of great reputation and Knights in their Countrey As for those Beauchamps or de Bello Campo they flourished in high places of honour from the time of King Henrie the Second but especially since that Cecilie de Fortibus which derived her pedigree from the Earles de Ferrarijs and that great Marshall of England William Earle of Pembroke matched in marriage with this familie But in the raigne of Edward the Third the whole inheritance was by the sisters divided betweene Roger de S. Mauro or Seimore I. Meries men of ancient descent and great alliance And hereupon it was that King Henrie the Eight when he had wedded Iane Seimor mother to King Edward the Sixth bestowed upon Edward Seimor her brother the titles of Vicount Beauchamp and Earle of Hertfort whom King Edward the Sixth afterwards honoured first wiâ—h the name of Lord and Baron Seimor to bee annexed to his other titles lest as the King saith in the Patent the name of his mothers familie should bee overshadowed with any other stile and yet afterward created him Duke of Sommerset As you goe from thence where Thone windeth himselfe into Parret it maketh a pretty Iland betweene two rivers called in times past Aethelingey that is The Isle of Nobles now commonly knowen by the name of Athelney a place no lesse famous among us for King Alfreds shrowding himselfe therein what time as the Danes now had brought all into broile then those Marishes of Minturny among the Italians wherein Marius lurked and lay hidden For touching that King an ancient Poet wrote thus Mixta dolori Gaudia semper erant spes semper mixta timori Si modó victor erat ad crastiná bella pavebat Si modó victus erat ad crastina bella parabat Cui vestes sudore jugi cui sica cruore Tincta jugi quantum sit onus regnare probarunt With dolour great his joyes were mixt his hope was joyn'd with dread If now he victour were next day of warres he stood affraid If vanquisht now the morrow next forthwith hee thought it good For to prepare for warre his sword was aye begoard in blood His garments eke with painfull sweat were evermore bestain'd Which well did shew what burden great he bare while that he raign'd And in truth this Isle afforded him a very fit shrowding corner for that by reason of waters partly standing there in plashes and partly resorting reflowing thither which Asserius termed Gronnas Latinizing a Saxon word there is in manner no accesse into it It had sometime a bridge betweene two castles built by Aelfred and a very large grove of Alders full of goates and wild beasts but of firme ground scarce two acres in breadth on which as saith William of Malmesbury whose words these are and not mine hee founded a little Monasterie the whole frame whereof hanged upon foure maine posts pitched fast in the ground with foure round isles of Sphaerick work contrived and brought round about the same Not far from this Isle Parret having received the said river runneth alone swelling with certaine sandy shelfes sometime in his channell by the Hundred of N. Pederton anciently acknowledging the Bluets to have beene Lords thereof who are thought to have brought that name from Bluet in litle Britaine Heere it taketh into him an other river from East to beare him company which openeth it self neere Castle Cary which William Lovell Lord thereof held against K. Stephen in the behalfe of Mawd the Empresse right inheritrix of the Crown of England whose issue male failing in the time of King Edward the Third by heire female it came to Nicolas de S. Maure a Baron of a distinct familie from that which was a few lines before mentioned and shortly after about the time of Henrie the Fift by an heire female againe to the Lord Zouches of Harringworth as a moitie of the lands of Lord Zouch of Ashby de la Zouch came before by coheires to the house of this S. Maures But when the Lord Zouch was attainted by K. Henrie the Seventh for assisting King Richard the Third this Castle was given by the K. to Robert Willoughby Lord Brooke as his lands at Bridge-water to the Lord Daubency and then hee was restored in bloud From Castle Cary this water passeth by Lites-Cary to bee remembred in respect of the late owner Thomas Lyte a gentleman studious of all good knowledge and so to Somerton the Shire towne in times past as which gave the name thereto A Castle it had of the West Saxon Kings which Ethelbald King of Mercia forcing a breach through the wals sieged and kept But now time hath gotten the mastry of it so as that there is no apparance at all thereof and the very Towne it selfe would have much a doe to keepe that name were it not for a Faire of oxen and other beasts which is kept there from Palme-Sunday untill the midst of Iune with much resort of people for that the countrimen all there about are very great Grasiers breeders and feeders of cattell No sooner hath Parret entertained this river but he speeds him apace toward a great and populous towne commonly called Bridg-water and is thought to have taken that name of the Bridge and water there but the old records and evidences gaine say this opinion wherein it is
South gates Ophiuchus enwrapped with a serpent two mens heads with curled haire within the cope of the wall a hare running and annexed thereto upon a stone in letters standing overthwart VLIA ILIA A naked man laying hand as it were upon a souldier within the battlement also of the wall two lying along kissing and clipping one another a footeman with a sword brandishing and bearing out his shield a footeman with a speare and upon a stone with letters standing overthwart III. VSA. IS VXSC. And Medusaes head with haires all Snakes Along the said river of Avon which now is heere the bound between this shire and Glocestershire upon the banke Westward we have a sight of Cainsham so name of one Keina a most devout and holy British virgine who as the credulous age before-time perswaded many transformed serpents into stones because there be found there in Stone quarries such strange workes of nature when she is disposed to disport herselfe For I have seene a stone brought from hence resembling a serpent winding round in manner of a wreath the head whereof being somewhat unperfect bare up in the Circumference thereof and the end of the taile tooke up the centre within But most of these are headlesse In the fields neere adjoyning and other places beside is found Percepier an hearbe peculiar unto England Bitter it is in taste and hath a biting sharpenesse withall it never groweth above a span high and commeth up all the yeare long of it selfe small leavy flowers of a greenish hew it beares without any stalke at all Which herbe mightily and speedily provoketh urine and of it the distilled water serveth for great use as P. Paena in his Animadversions or Commentaries of Plants hath noted Scarce five miles from this place the river Avon passeth through the midst of Bristow in Welch-British Caer oder Nant Badon that is The Citie Oder in the Vale of Badon In the Catalogue of ancient Cities Caer Brito In Saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is A bright or shining place But such as have called it Venta Belgarum have deceived both themselves and others This Citie standing partly in Somerset and partly in Glocester-shires is not to be reputed belonging either to this or that having Magistrates of the owne by it selfe and being of it selfe entire and a County incorporate Scituate it is somewhat high betweene Avon and the little river Frome sufficiently defended with rivers and fortifications together For environed it was sometime with a double wall So faire to behold by reason of buildings as well publike as private that it is fully correspondent to the name of Bright stow With common Sewes or Sinks they call them Goutes so made to run under the ground for the conveiance and washing away of all filth that for cleanlinesse and holesomnesse a man would not desire more whereupon there is no use heere of carts so well furnished with all things necessarie for a mans life so populous and well inhabited withall that next after London and Yorke it may of all Cities in England justly challenge the chiefe place For the mutuall entercourse of trafficke and the commodious haven which admitteth in ships under saile into the very bosome of the Citie hath drawne people of many countries thither For the Avon so often as the Moone declineth downeward from the meridian point and passeth by the opposite line unto it so swelleth with the tide from the Ocean that it raiseth up the ships there riding and lying in the oze 11. or 12. elles afloat in water And the Citizens themselves are rich Merchants and trafficke all over Europe yea and make Voyages at sea so farre as into the most remote parts of America But when and by whom it was built it is hard to say Old it seemeth not to be for as much as in all those spoiles and sackages that the Danes made there is no mention of it in our Historians And verily mine opinion is that it first grew up to some name when the English-Saxons Empire was much declining seeing that it is no where named before the yeare of our Lord 1063 when Harold as Florentinus of Worcester writeth embarqued himselfe and his armie and put to sea from Bristow to Wales In the first yeares of the Normans Berton a mannor adjoyning And Bristow paid unto the King as we find in the booke of Domesday 110. markes of silver and the Burgers said that Bishop G. hath 33. markes and one marke of Gold After this Robert Bishop of Constance that plotted seditious practises against King William Rufus chose it for the seate-towne of the whole warre fortified it being then but a small Citie with that inner wall as I take it which at this day is in part standing But a few yeares after the circuit thereof was every way enlarged For on the South Radcliffe wherein there stood some small houses under the Citie side is by a stone bridge with houses on each hand built upon it more like a streete than a bridge joyned to the Citie enclosed within a wall and the Inhabitants thereof enfranchised Citizens yea hospitals in every quarter thereof for the benefit of poore people and faire Parish-Churches to the glorie of God were erected The most beautifull of all which by farre is S. Maries of Radcliffe without the walles into which there is a stately ascent upon many staires so large withall so finely and curiously wrought with an arched roofe over head of stone artificially embowed a steeple also of an exceeding height that all the Parish-Churches in England which hetherto I have seene in my judgement it surpasseth many degrees In it William Cannings the founder hath two faire monuments upon the one lieth his image portraied in an Aldermans roabe For five times he had beene Major of this Citie upon the other his image likewise in sacerdotall habite for that in this old age hee tooke the orders of priesthood and was Deane of that colledge which himselfe instituted at Westburie There is hard by another Church also which they call the Temple the lanterne or tower whereof when the bell rings shaketh to and fro so as it hath cloven and divided it selfe from the rest of the building and made such a chinke from the bottome to the top as it gapeth the bredth of three fingers and both shutteth and openeth whensoever the bell is rung And heere I must not overpasse in silence S. Stephens Church the tower steeple whereof being of a mightie heighth one Shipward alias Barstable a Citizen and Merchant within the memorie of our grandfathers right sumptuously and artificially built From the East-side also the North augmented it was with a number of edifices enclosed within a wall and fenced with the river Frome which having runne by the wall side gently falleth into the Avon and yieldeth a dainty harbour for ships with a wharfe convenient for the shipping and unlading of Merchandise in and out they call it the Kay
by his onely daughter to the Earles of Stafford who were afterward Dukes of Buckingham from them by attainder to the Crowne It hath in latter ages beene beholden to Sir Andrew Iude of London for a faire free-Schoole and to Iohn Wilford for a causey toward London Three miles directly South from hence in the very limit of Sussex and neere Frant I saw in a white-sandy ground divers vastie craggie stones of strange formes whereof two of the greatest stand so close together and yet severed with so straight a line as you would thinke they had beene sawed asunder and Nature when she reared these might seeme sportingly to have thought of a Sea But to returne to the River From Tunbridge Medway passeth by Haudelo from whence came that Iohn Haudelo who happily marrying the heire of the Lord Burnell had issue by her a sonne who was called Nicholas summoned to Parliament among the Barons by the name of Burnell Then Medway increased with another water called Twist which twisteth about and insulateth a large plot of good ground runneth on not farre from Mereworth where stands a faire Castle like house which from the Earles of Arundell came unto the Nevils Lords of Abergevennie and Le Despencer whose heire in the right line is Marie Ladie Fane unto whom and her heires King Iames in the first Parliament that he held restored gave and granted c. the name stile title honour and dignitie of Baronesse le Despencer that her heires successively should be Barons le Despencer for ever Now by this time Medway having received a rivelet that looseth it selfe under ground and riseth againe at Loose serving thirteene fulling-mills hastneth to Maidstone which seeing the Saxons called it Medwegston 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I beleeve verily it is the same VAGNIACAE which Antonine the Emperor mentioneth and Ninnius in his Catalogue of cities calleth corruply Caer Megwad for Medwag Neither verily doth the account of distance disagree From Noviomagus one way and Durobrovis another whereof I shall treat anone Under the latter Emperours as is to be seene in Peutegerus his table lately set out by M. Velserus it is named MADVS Thus as yeeres by litlte and little turne about so names likewise by little and little become changed A large faire and sweet towne this is and populous for the faire stone bridge it hath been beholding to the Archbishops of Canterbury Among whom to grace this place at the confluence of the waters Boniface of Savoy built a a small Colledge Iohn Vfford raised a palace for himselfe and successors which Simon Islip encreased and betweene them which it standeth in plight William Courtney erected a faire Collegiat Church in which he so great a Prelate and so high borne lieth lowly entombed One of the two common Gaoles or prisons of the whole County is here appointed And it hath beene endowed with sundrie priviledges by King Edward the sixt incorporated by the name of Major and Iurates all which in short time they lost by favouring rebels But Queene Elizabeth amply restored them and their Major whereas anciently they had a Portgreve for their head Magistrate This I note because this Greve is an ancient Saxon word and as yet among the Germans signifieth a Ruler as Markegrave Reingrave Landgrave c. Here a little beneath Maidstone Eastward a prety rivelet joyneth with Medway springing first at Leneham which towne by probable conjecture is the very same that Antonine the Emperour calleth DVROLENVM written amisse in some copies DVROLEVUM For Durolenum in the British language is as much to say as The water Lenum And besides the remaines of the name the distance also from DVROVENVM and DVROBROVIS proveth this to be Durolenum to say nothing of the scituation therof neere unto that high rode way of the Romans which in old time as Higden of Chester doth write led from Dover through the midst of Kent Hard by at Bocton Malherb hath dwelt a long time the family of the Wottons out of which in our remembrance flourished both Nicolas Wotton Doct. of the lawes who being of the Privy counsell to K. Henry the Eight K. Edward the sixth Q. Mary and Q. Elizabeth sent in Embassage nine times to forreine Princes and thrice chosen a Committè about peace between the English French and Scottish lived a goodly time and ran a long race in this life with great commendation of piety and wisedome and also Sir Edward Wotton whom for his approved wisedome in waightie affaires Q. Elizabeth made Controller of her house and K. Iames created Baron Wotton of Merlay Here under is Vlcomb anciently a mansiō of the family De sancto Leodegario corruptly called Sentleger Sellenger Motinden where Sir R. Rockesly descended from Kriol and Crevecur built a house who held lands at Seaton by serjeantie to be Vantrarius Regis when the K. goeth into Gascoin donec perusus fuerit pari solutarum pretii 4. d. which as they that understand Law Latin for I do not translate that he should be the Kings fore-foot-man until he had worn out a paire of shooes prized 4. d. Neither hath this river any other memorable thing nere to it but Leeds Castle built by the noble Crevequers who in ancient charters are named de Crevequer De crepito corde afterwards it was the unfortunate seat of Bartholomew L. Baldismer who perfidiously fortified it against K. EDVVARD the second who had freely given it him and after that payed the due price of his disloyaltie upon the gallowes The whole matter you may reade here if you list out of a briefe historie penned by Thomas de la More a gentleman that lived at the same time and which of late I did publish in print In the yeare 1521. Queene Isabel came to the Castle of Leeds about the feast of Saint Michael minding there to lodge all night but was not permitted to enter in The King offended hereat as taking it to be done in contempt of him called certaine of the neighbour inhabitants out of Essex and London and commanded them to lay siege unto the Castle Now there held the Castle at that time Bartholomew de Baldismer who having left therein his wife and sonnes was gone himselfe with the rest of the Barons to overthrow the Hughs de Spencer Meane-while when they that were inclosed within despaired of their lives the Barons with their associats came as farre as Kingston and by the mediation of the Bishops of Canterbury and London together with the Earle of Pembroch requested that the King would remove his siege promising to deliver up the Castle into the Kings hand after the next Parliament But the King considering well that the besieged could not long hold out nor make resistance being highly displeased angred at their cōtumacy would not give eare to the Barons petitions And when they had turned their journey another way hee afterward forced the Castle with no
effusion of Britanes bloud When the Romane Empire was at length come to an end in Britane Vortigern the Britane gave to the Saxons who kept him prisoner for his ransome this Country with others as Ninnius writeth and it had his peculiar Kings for a long time together but such as held by homage sometimes of the Kentish Kings sometimes of the Mercians Among whom Sebert in the yeere 603. was the first that became a Christian and Suthred the last King who being vanquished by Egbert in the yeere 804. left the Kingdome unto the West-Saxons But heereof elsewhere more largely Now let us survey the very Country MIDDLE SEX OLIMA TRINOBANTIBVS habitata MIDLE-SEX MIDLE-SEX taketh name of the Middle-Saxons because the Inhabitants thereof were in the middest betweene East-Saxons West-Saxons South-Saxons and those whom that age called Mercians It is severed from Buckingham-shire by the River Cole which the Britans called Co on the West-side from Hertford-shire on the North-side by a knowne crooked limite from Essex on the East with the River Lea from Surrey and Kent on the South by the Tamis It being comprised within short Bounds lyeth out in length where it is longest twenty miles and in the narrowest place it is scant twelve miles over For aire passing temperate and for Soile fertile with sumptuous houses and prety Townes on all sides pleasantly beautified and every where offereth to the view many things memorable By the River Cole where it entreth first into this Shire wee saw Breakespeare an ancient house belonging to a Family so sirnamed out of which came Pope Hadrian the Fourth of whom erewhile I spake then Haresfeld in old time Herefelle the possession in King William the Conquerours daies of Richard the sonne of Counte Gislebert More Southward Vxbridge anciently Woxbridge a Towne of later time built and full of Innes stretcheth out in length Beneath which is Draiton reedified by the Barons Paget Colham which from the Barons Le Strange came to the Earles of Darby and Stanwell ever since the Normans comming in unto our fathers dayes the habitation of the Family of Windesore And not farre from hence Cole after it hath made certaine scattering medow Islands at two small mouthes falleth into Tamis Along the side whereof as a Germane Poet in this our age pretily versified Tot campos Sylvas tot regia tecta tot hortos Artifici dextrâ excultos tot vidimus arces Ut nunc Ausonio Tamisis cum Tybride certet So many fields and pleasant woods so many princely Bowres And Palaces we saw besides so many stately Towres So many gardens trimly dress'd by curious hand which are That now with Romane Tyberis the Tamis may well compare At the very first entrance Stanes in the Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 offereth it selfe to our sight where Tamis hath a woodden Bridge over it This name it tooke of a meere-stone heere in times past set up to marke out the jurisdiction that the City of London hath in the River Neere unto this stone is that most famous Medow Runingmead commonly called Renimed in which the Baronage of England assembled in great number in the yeere 1215. to exact their Liberties of King John Whereof in the marriage of Tame and Isis the Poet wrote thus speaking of the Tamis that runneth hard by Subluit hic pratum quod dixit Renimed Anglus Quo sedere duces armis annÃsque verendi Regis Joannis cuperent qui vertere sceptrum Edwardi Sancti dum leges juráque vellent Principe contempto tenebroso è carcere duci Hinc sonnere tubae plusquam civilia bella Venit hinc refugus nostras Lodovicus in orat Hence runnes it hard by Medow greene in English RENIMED Where close in counsell sat the Lords as well for armour dred As ancient yeeres right reverend who sought their soveraigne King John to depose from regall Throne Whiles that they ment to bring Contemning Prince S. Edwards lawes and liberties againe Inure which had long time forlet a quite forgotten laine Hence more than civill Warres aloud the trumpets ganne to sound Hence Lewis of France who soone retir'd set foot on English ground From thence it passeth by Coway-stakes at Lalam where we said that Caesar crossed over the Tamis and the Britans fensed the banke and Fourd against him with stakes whereof it had the name Tamis passing downe from thence seeth above it Harrow the highest hill of all this Country under which Southward there lie for a long way together exceeding rich and fruitfull fields especially about Heston a small Village that yeeldeth so fine floure for manchet that a long time it hath served for the Kings mouth Within a little of it is Hanworth where stands a prety house of the Kings which King Henry the Eighth tooke exceeding delight in as being a retiring place for his solace and voluptuous pleasure Afterwards it runneth hard by Hampton Court a royall Palace of the Kings a worke in truth of admirable magnificence built out of the ground by Thomas Wolsey Cardinall in ostentation of his riches when for very pride being otherwise a most prudent man hee was not able to mannage his minde But it was made an Honour enlarged and finished by King Henry the Eighth so amply as it containeth within it five severall inner Courts passing large environed with very faire buildings wrought right curiously and goodly to behold Of which Leland writeth thus Est locus insolito rerum splendore superbus Alluitúrque vaga Tamisini fluminis unda Nomine ab antiquo jam tempore dictus Avona Hîc Rex Henricus taleis Octavius aedes Erexit qualeis toto Sol aureus orbe Non vidit A stately place for rare and glorious shew There is which Tamis with wandring streame doth dowsse Times past by name of Avon men it knew Heere Henry the Eigth of that name built an house So sumptuous as that on such an one Seeke through the World the bright Sunne never shone And another in the Nuptiall Poeme of Tame and Isis. Alluit Hamptonam celebrem quae laxior urbis Mentitur formam spacijs hanc condidit aulam Purpureus pater ille gravis gravis ille sacerdos Wolsaeus fortuna favos cui â—elle repletos Obtulit heu tandem foriunae dona dolores He runnes by HAMPTON which for spacious seat Seemes City-like Of this faire Courtly Hall First founder was a Priest and Prelate great Wolsey that grave and glorious Cardinall Fortune on him had pour'd her gifts full fast But Fortunes Blisse Alas prov'd Bale at last And now with a winding reach the River bendeth his course Northward by Gistleworth for so was that called in old time which now is Thistleworth Where sometime stood the Palace of Richard King of Romans and Earle of Cornwall which the Londoners in a tumultuous broile burnt to the ground From hence Sion sheweth it selfe a little Monastery so named of the most holy Mount Sion
Which King Henry the Fifth when he had expelled thence the Monkes aliens built for religious Virgins to the honor of our Saviour the Virgine Mary and Saint Briget of Sion like as he founded another on the Rivers side over against it for the Carthusian Monkes named Jesu of Bethelem In this Sion hee appointed to the Glory of God so many Nunnes Priests and lay brethren divided a part within their severall wals as were in number equall to Christ his Apostles and Disciples upon whom when he had bestowed sufficient living he provided by a law that contenting themselves therewith they should take no more of any man but what overplus soever remained of their yearely revenew they should bestow it upon the poore But after that in our forefathers time those religious Votaries were cast out and it became a retiring house of the Duke of Somerset who plucked downe the Church and there began a new house Under this the small water Brent issueth into the Tamis which springing out of a Pond vulgarly called Brouns-well for Brentwell that is in old English Frog-well passeth downe betweene Hendon which Archbishop Dunstan borne for the advancement of Monkes purchased for some few golde Bizantines which were Imperiall peeces of Gold coined at Bizantium or Constantinople and gave to the Monks of Saint Peter of Westminster and Hamsted-hils from whence you have a most pleasant prospect to the most beautifull City of London and the lovely Country about it Over which the ancient Roman military way led to Verulam or Saint Albans by Edge-worth and not by High-gate as now which new way was opened by the Bishops of London about some 300. yeares since But to returne Brent into whom all the small Rillets of these parts resort runneth on by Brentstreat an Hamlet to whom it imparted his name watereth Hanger-wood Hanwell Oisterly Parke where Sir Thomas Gresham built a faire large house and so neere his fall into the Tamis giveth name to Brentford a faire throughfaire and frequent Mercat Neere which in the yeare 1116. King Edmond sirnamed Ironside so fiercely charged upon the Danes whom hee compelled by force to retire from the Siege of London that as fast as their horses could make way they fled not without their great losse From Stanes hitherto all that lyeth betweene London highway which goeth through Hounslow and the Tamis was called the Forrest or Warren of Stanes untill that King Henry the Third as in his Charter we reade Disforrested and diswarened it Then by the Tamis side is Fulham in the English Saxon tongue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The place of Fowles the greatest credit and honour whereof is the Bishop of Londons house standing there conveniently not farre from the City albeit not so healthfully Also Chelsey so named of a shelfe of Sand in the River Tamis as some suppose but in Records it is named Chelche-hith a place garnished with faire and stately houses by King Henry the Eighth by William Powlet the first Marquesse of Winchester and by others But LONDON the Epitome or Breviary of all Britaine the seat of the British Empire and the Kings of Englands Chamber so much overtoppeth all these as according to the Poet Inter viburna Cupressâ—s that is the Cypresse-tree amongst the Viornes Tacitus Ptolomee and Antonine call it LONDINIUM and LONGIDINIUM Ammianus LUNDINUM and AUGUSTA Stephen in his Cities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Britans Lundayn the old Saxons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Strangers Londra and Londres the inhabitants London Fabulous writers Troja nova that is New Troy Dinas Belin that is Belins City and Caer Lud of King Lud whom they write to have reedified it and given it the name But these few names and originall derivations together with Erasmus his conjecture who deriveth it from Lindum a City in the Isle Rhodes I willingly leave to such as well like it For mine owne part seeing that Caesar and Strabo doe write that the ancient Britains called those Woods and groves by the names of Cities and Townes which they had fenced with trees cast downe and plashed to stoppe up all passage seeing also I have understood that such woods or groves are in the British tongue named Llâ—wn I encline a little to the opinion that London thence tooke name as one would say by way of excellency The City or A City thicke of trees But if heerein I faile of the truth let me with good leave give my conjecture and heere would I have no man to charge me with inconstancy while I disport in conjecture that whence it had the fame thence also it tooke the name even from ships which the Britains in their language call Lhong so that Londinum may seeme to sound as much as a ship-Rode or City of ships For the Britains tearme a City Dinas whence the Latines have fetched their Dinum And hence it is that elsewhere it is called LONGIDINIUM and in the funerall song or Dump of a most ancient British Bard Lhong-porth that is an harbour or haven of ships and by this very terme Bononia or Bolen in France which Ptolomee calleth Gessoriacum Navale in the British Glossarie is named Bolung-long For many Cities have drawne their names from Ships as Naupactus Naustathmos Nauplia Navalia Augusti c. But of these none hath better right to assume unto it the name of a Ship-Rode or Haven than our London For in regard of both Elements most blessed and happy it is as being situate in a rich and fertile Soile abounding with plentifull store of all things and on the gentle ascent and rising of an hill hard by the Tamis side the most milde Merchant as one would say of all things that the World doth yeeld which swelling at certaine set houres with the Ocean-tides by his safe and deepe chanell able to entertaine the greatest Ships that bee daily bringeth in so great riches from all parts that it striveth at this day with the Mart-townes of Christendome for the second prise and affoordeth a most sure and beautifull Roade for shipping A man would say that seeth the shipping there that it is as it were a very Wood of trees disbranched to make glades and let in light So shaded it is with masts and failes Who was the first founder is by long time growne out of knowledge and in truth very few Cities there are that know their own first founders considering they grew up to their greatnesse by little and little But as other Cities so this of ours fathereth her originall upon the Trojanes as verily beleeving that Brutus the Nephew in the third descent of Great Aeneas was the builder thereof But whosoever founded it the happy and fortunate estate thereof hath given good proofe that built it was in a good houre and marked for life and long continuance And that it is for antiquity honourable Ammianus Marcellinus giveth us to understand who called it in his times and that was 1200. yeares
this City as Ptolomee Antonine and the ancient Coine of Septimius Geta doe prove by which it appeareth for certaine that this City also was a Colony For in the reverse or back-side thereof standeth this Inscription COL DIUANA LEG XX. VICTRIX But to testifie the Romanes magnificence there are remaining indeed at this day very few tokens beside pavements of foure square checker worke howbeit in the former ages it presented many which Ranulph a Monke of this City shall tell you out of his Polychronicon in these his owne words There be waies heere under the ground vaulted marveilously with stone worke chambers having arched roofes over head huge stones engraven with the names of ancient men heere also are sometimes digged up peeces of money coined by Julius Caesar and other famous persons and stumped with their inscriptions Likewise Roger of Chester in his Policraticon When I behold saith he the ground worke of buildings in the streetes laid with monstrous big stones it seemeth that it hath beene founded by the painfull labour of Romans or Giants rather than by the sweat of Britans This City built in forme of a quadrant foure square is enclosed with a wall that taketh up more than two miles in compasse and hath eleven parishes But that of S. Johns without the Northgate was the fairest being a stately and solemne building as appeareth by the remaines wherein were anciently Prebendaries and as some write the Bishops See Neere unto the River standeth the Castle upon a rocky hill built by the Earles where the Courts Palatine and the Assises as they call them are kept twice a yeere The houses are very faire built and along the chiefe streets are galleries or walking places they call them Rowes having shops on both sides through which a man may walke dry from one end unto the other But it hath not continued evermore in one tenor of prosperity First it was rased by Egfrid King of Northumberland then by the Danes yet reedified againe by Aedelfled Lady of the Mercians and soone after it saw King Eadgar in magnificent maner triumphing over the British Princes For sitting himselfe in a Barge at the fore-decke Kennadie King of the Scots Malcoline King of Cumberland Macon King of Mann and of the Islands with all the Princes of Wales brought to doe homage and like watermen working at the Ore rowed him along the River Dee in a triumphant shew to his great glory and joy of the beholders Certaine yeeres after and namely about the yeere of our Redemption 1094. when as in a devour and religious emulation as one saith Princes strove avie That Cathedrall Churches and Minsters should bee erected in a more decent and seemely forme and when as Christendome rouzed as it were her selfe and casting away her old habiliments did put on every where the bright and white robe of Churches Hugh the first of the Norman bloud that was Earle of Chester repaired the Church which Earle Loefrick had formerly founded in honour of the Virgin Saint Werburga and by the advise of Anselm whom he had procured to come out of Normandy granted the same unto Monkes And now it is notorious for the Tombe of Henry the Fourth Emperour of Almaine who as they say gave over his Empire and lived heere an Eremits life and for the Bishops See therein established Which See immediately after the Normans Conquest Peter Bishop of Lichfield translated from Lichfield hither but when it was brought to Coventry and from thence into the ancient seat againe West-Chester lay a long time berest of this Episcopall Dignity untill in our fathers dayes King Henry the Eighth having thrust out the Monkes ordeined Prebendaries and restored a Bishopagaine under whom for his Dioecesse he appointed this County Lancashire Richmond c. and appointed the same to be within the Province of the Archbishop of Yorke But returne wee now to matters of greater antiquity When as now the said Cathedrall Church was built the Earles that were of the Normans line fortified the City both with Walles and Castle For as the Bishop held of the King that which belongeth to his Bishopricke these are the words of Domesday booke made by King William the Conquerour so the Earles with their men held of the King wholly all the rest of the City It paid Geld or Tribute for fifty hides and foure hundred and thirty and one houses were thus Geldable and seven Mint-masters When the King himselfe in person came thither every Carrucata yeelded unto him two hundred Hestas and one turn full of Ale and one Rusca of butyr And in the same place for the reedification of the City wall and the bridge the Provost gave warning by an edict that out of every hide in the County one man should come and looke whose man came not his Lord or Master was sined in forty shillings to the King and the Earle If I should particulate the scufflings and skirmishes heere about betweene the Welsh and the English in the beginning of the Normans time their inrodes and outrodes the often scarfires of the Suburbs of Hanbrid beyond the Bridge whereupon the Welshmen call it Treboeth that is The burnt towne as also the Wall made there of Welshmens skuls that went a great length I should seeme to forget my selfe and thrust my sicle into the Historians Harvest But ever since the said time hath Chester notably flourished and King Henry the Seventh made it a County by it selfe incorporate Neither wanteth any thing there that may be required in a most flourishing City but that the Ocean being offended and angry as it were at certaine Mills in the very chanell of the River Dee hath by little withdrawne himselfe back and affoordeth not unto the City the commodity of an Haven as heretofore The Longitude of this place is twenty Degrees and three and twenty Scruples the Latitude three and fifty Degrees and eleven Scruples If you desire to know more touching this City have here these reports out of Lucian that Monke abovesaid who lived almost five hundred yeeres agoe First it is to bee considered that Chester is built as a City the site whereof inviteth and allureth the eye which being situate in the West parts of Britaine was in time past a place of receipt to the Legions comming a farre off to repose themselves and served sufficiently to keepe the Keies as I may say of Ireland for the Romanes to preserve the limite of their Empire For being opposite to the North-East part of Ireland it openeth way for passage of ships and Mariners with spread saile passing not often but continually to and fro as also for the commodities of sundry sorts of Merchandise And whiles it casteth an eye forward into the East it looketh toward not onely the See of Rome and the Emperor thereof but the whole world also so that it standeth forth as a kenning place to the view of eyes that there may bee knowne valiant exploites and
of the lands was fallen there was great competition for the title of Abergevenny argued in the High Court of Parliament in the second yeere of King James and their severall claimes debated seven severall daies by the learned Counsell of both parts before the Lords of the Parliament Yet when as the question of precise right in law was not sufficiently cleered but both of them in regard of the nobility and honor of their family were thought of every one right worthy of honorable title and whereas it appeared evidently by most certaine proofes that the title as well of the Barony of Abergevenny as of Le Despenser appertained hereditarily to this Family The Lords humbly and earnestly besought the King that both parties might be ennobled by way of restitution who graciously assented thereunto Hereupon the Lord Chancellour proposed unto the Lords first whether the heire male should have the title of Abergevenny or the heire female and the most voices carried it that the title of the Barony of Abergevenny should bee restored unto the heire male And when he propounded secondly whether the title of the Barony Le Despenser should bee restored unto the female they all with one accord gave their full consent Which being declared unto the King he confirmed their determination with his gracious approbation and royall assent Then was Edward Nevill by the Kings Writ called unto the Parliament by the name of Baron Abergavenney and in his Parliament Robes betweene two Barons as the manner is brought into the house and placed in his seat above the Baron Audley And at the very same time were the letters Patents read whereby the King restored erected preferred c. Mary Fane to the state degree title stile name honour and dignity of Baronesse Le-Despenser To have and to hold the foresaid state and unto the above named Mary and her heires and that her heires successively should bee Barons Le-Despenser c. And upon a new question mooved unto whether the Barony of Abergavenney or the Barony Le-Despenser the priority of place was due The Lords referred this point to the Commissioners for the Office of the Earle Mareschall of England who after mature deliberation and weighing of the matter gave definitive sentence for the Barony Le-Despenser set downe under their hands and signed with their seales which was read before the Lords of the Parliament and by order from them entered into the Journall Booke out of which I have summarily thus much exemplified John Hastings for I have no reason to passe it over in silence held this Castle by homage Wardship and marriage when it hapned as wee reade in the Inquisition and if there should chance any warre betweene the King of England and the Prince of Wales hee was to keepe the Country of Over-went at his owne charges in the best manner he can for his owne commodity the Kings behoofe and the Realme of Englands defense The second little City which Antonine named BURRIUM and setteth downe twelve miles from Gobannium standeth where the River Birthin and Uske meete in one streame The Britans at this day by transposing of the letters call it Brunebegy for Burenbegy and Caer Uske Giraldus tearmeth it Castrum Oscae that is The Castle of Uske and we Englishmen Uske At this day it can shew nothing but the ruines of a large and strong Castle situate most pleasantly betweene the River Uske and Oilwy a Riveret which beneath it runneth from the East by Ragland a faire house of the Earle of Worcesters built Castle-like The third City which Antonine nameth ISCA and LEGIO SECUNDA is on the other side of Uske twelve Italian miles just distant from BURRIUM as hee hath put it downe The Britans call it Caer Leon and Caer LEON ar Uske that is The City of the Legion upon Uske of the second Legion Augusta which also is called Britannica Secunda This Legion being ordained by the Emperour Augustus and translated by Claudius out of Germany into Britaine under the conduct of Vespasian being ready at his command when he aspired to bee Emperour and which procured the Legions in Britaine to take his part was heere at last placed in Garison by Julius Frontinus as it seemeth against the Silures How great this ISCA was in those dayes listen unto our Girald out of his Booke called Itinerarium Cambriae who thus describeth it out of the ruines It was an ancient and Authenticke City excellently well built in old time by the Romanes with bricke Walles Heere may a man see many footings of the antique nobility and dignity it had mighty and huge Palaces with golden pinacles in times past resembling the proud statelinesse of the Romanes for that it had beene found first by Romane Princes and beautified with goodly buildings There may you behold a giant-like Towre notable and brave baines the remaines of Temples and Theatres all compassed in with faire walles which are partly yet standing There may one finde in every place as well within the circuit of the Wall as without houses under ground water pipes and Vaults within the earth and that which you will count among all the rest worth observation you may see every where hoâ—e houses made wondrous artificially breathing forth heate very closely at certaine narrow Tunnels in the sides Heere lye enterred two noble Protomartyrs of greater Britaine and next after Alban and Amphibalus the very principall heere crowned with Martyrdome namely Julius and Aaron and both of them had in this City a goodly Church dedicated unto them For in antient times there had beene three passing faire Churches in this City One of Julius the Martyr beautified with a chaire of Nunnes devoted to the service of God A second founded in the name of blessed Aaron his companion and ennobled with an excellent Order of Chanons Amphibalus also the Teacher of Saint Alban and a faithfull informer of him unto faith was borne heere The site of the City is excellent upon the River Oske able to beare a prety Vessell at an high water from the Sea and the City is fairely furnished with woods and medowes heere it was that the Romane Embassadours repaired unto the famous Court of that great King Arthur Where Dubritius also resigned the Archiepiscopall honour unto David of Menevia when the Metropolitane See was translated from hence to Menevia Thus much out of Giraldus But for the avouching and confirming of the Antiquity of this place I thinke it not impertinent to adjoyne heere those antique Inscriptions lately digged forth of the ground which the right reverend Father in God Francis Godwin Bishop of Landaffe a passing great lover of venerable Antiquity and of all good Literature hath of his courtesie imparted unto me In the yeere 1602. in a medow adjoyning there was found by ditchers a certaine image of a personage girt and short trussed bearing a quiver but head hands and feet were broken off upon a pavement of square tile in checker