Let therefore the case of Brute remain as it did in Mr. Cambdens daies to be decided by the Senate of Antiquaries and great Clerks to the number of which cited by him namely are Boccace Ludovicus Vives Hadrian Junius Polidore Buchanan Vignier Genebrad Molinaeus Bodine who all reject this story I will now add that famous Antiquary Mr. Selden who askes this Question If the right of Primogeniture invested the eldest Son absolutely in the Kingdom according to the Custome of Troy as it is found in the succession of the Trojan Kings How comes it to pass that this Custome was not brought over into Britain a Question not hitherto fully Answered no not by Mr. Taylour Author of the History of Gavelkind who will have Mr. Selden to be in jest and merriment when he demands upon this account How our Britains claim their descent from the Trojans when as this Question was but sober and rational and hath true reference to the Custome of Troy where the Eldest Son alwaies Inherited the entire Dominion of his Father which by many of the British Kings was not observed Nay this usage of Troy was Religiously observed by the Successors of AEnaeas in the Kingdom of the Latins for when Silvius Posthumus and Iulus contended about the Right of Government Iulus was utterly deposed and invested only with the Priesthood and there was no thoughts of sharing the Kingdom By this it is manifest Mr. Selden had relation to the Custome of Troy and not to any Gavel-kind among the Welch And now I will proceed to the second British King LOCRINE the eldest Son of Brute began his Reign Anno Mundi 2874 over this part of the Island since called England which Portion was allotted to him by the division of his Father as being the fairest parcel of his Empire During his Reign his Brother Albanact was Invaded by Humber King of the Hunns or Scythians and finally by him slain Locrine and Camber raised Forces to revenge the death of their Brother and so marched into the North to seek out Humber and finding him upon the borders of Scotland then called Albania they gave him battle and speedily vanquisht him so as himself and Army after a hot Chase were drowned in a River and from that time the River was named HUMBER In this pursuit he took three fair Ladies the most beautiful of which named Estrild a Scythian Princess he most doted on that notwithstanding a former Contract between him and Guendolaena Corinaeus his Daughter resolved to take this Lady to wife but the power and authority of Corinaeus forced him to lay aside that present Resolution so that marrying Guendolaena nevertheless privately enjoyed his beloved Estrild keeping her in secret during the life of his Father in Law Corinaeus which he performed saith the Count Palatine by the help of a Vault to which under pretence of sacrificing to the Infernal Gods he often resorted No sooner Corinaeus was dead but he owned her for his Queen which so incensed Guendolaena that although Locrine was strengthened by the accession of Cambria upon the death of his Brother yet she goes into Cornwal and by powerful Sollicitations in the behalf of her self and young Son Madan the Cornish are brought to assist her With these Forces she marched again Locrine and in a pitcht Battle nigh the River Stour he is overcome and slain upon this according as she would have it the Kingdom fell to her Son MADAN the Son of Locrine by Guendolaena although a Child yet succeeded his Father Anno Mundi 2894. During his Minority his Mother was made Regent of the Kingdom which she administred with all Justice until the full Age of her Son and after the resignment of her Power she retired into Cornwal This Kings severity in putting the Laws in Execution was esteemed a Tyrant and after he had Reigned forty years he was devoured with Wild Beasts He built Madancaster now Dancaster but Dancaster or Doncaster took its Name as Mr. Cambden supposes from the River Dona upon which it standeth This Madan left two Sons behind him Mempricius and Manlius MEMPRICIUS the eldest Son of Madan began his Reign Anno Mundi 2949 over the whole Island but Manlius his younger Brother rebelled against him To suppress this Rebellion Mempricius signified a desire to Treat with his Brother who consenting to it was treacherously at a meeting Murthered The King having put an end to that trouble wallowed in Ease and Luxury and not content with his Wives and Concubines he falls to horrid Rapes and at last to unnatural Sodomy but in the conclusion of all was slain by wild Beasts after his Government had lasted about twenty years EBRANCKE the Son of Mempricius by his lawful Wife began to Rule Anno Mundi 2969 he had two and twenty Wives of whom he had Issue twenty Sons and thirty Daughters the Eldest of which was named Guales or Gualea These Daughters under the Conduct of their Brothers he sent to Silvius Alba the Eleventh King of Italy and the sixth King of the Latins and this he did because he heard the Sabines would not give their Daughters in Marriage to the Latins What a ridiculous Prolepsis is this of an Action that happened many years after in the daies of Romulus and how without any sense or reason is it ascribed to these Times The Sabines denied their Daughters to that scum of People Romulus by his Asylum had pickt up but why should they do it while the Kingdom of the Latins was in splendour under the Kings of Alba. In making of Silvius Alba the sixth King of the Latins Jeoffery of Monmouth is in the right and now we have a Clue to lead us in to the understanding of this Genealogy of AEnaeas namely he makes the Kings of Alba to succeed lineally from Father to Son and therefore because Silvius Posthumus followed Ascanius in the Kingdom he is ignorantly supposed his Son whereas Iulus was the Son of Ascanius who being deposed by the People Silvius the Son of AEnaeas by Lavinia was advanced to the Crown succeeding Ascanius his half Brother not his Father in the Kingdom By the same Mistake we find in the British History One and twenty Kings from Porrex to Minnegen to be made of a Lineal descent and yet but Ninety two years allowed for all their Reigns so that they begat one another at four or five years old whereas if there be any truth in the Lives of those Kings they ought to have been made Contemporary and to have Ruled different parts of the Island as the Government thereof was found divided in the daies of Julius Caesar when Kent alone had four Princes a little before whose time these KINGS are supposed But to return to Ebrancke After that his Sons had conducted their Sisters under the Conduct of their Brother Assaracus to Silvius Alba being provoked by the Germans they entred that Nation and by the assistance of Silvius Conquered it Some write
Greeks received them from Barbarians more Ancient than themselves Cratylus taught Thucidides to confirm the other Report who tells us a pleasant story How that the fruitfullest parts of Greece often changed its Inhabitants the pleasure and profit of their Seats constantly exposing them to the fury and malice of more potent Enemies and the Traders fore-seeing that they were as liable to expulsion as others had been formerly tilled so much of their Grounds only as served for present necessity neglecting the rest not being willing to go away muttering like those in Virgil Impius haec tà m culta novalia miles habebit Barbarus has segetes en queis consevimus arva Shall the rude Souldier this rich Corn possess See with what care for Rogues our Land we dress They were resolved that the fruits of their Labour should never draw upon them their own Ruine so that all Greece saies he was not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 firmly or fully Inhabited by reason of these continual flittings and removings But Attica through the barrenness of its Soyl being worth no mans Ambiticn or undertaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Was alwaies inhabited by the same men till at last it was so crammed and crowded with its own multitude that the Land it self would scarce contain much less maintain its Inhabitants that they were forct to send Colonies for the ease and relief of the rest into a part of Asia Minor calling it after their own Country Ionia thus far reaches the Graecian sigment But he that can believe that Attica was so well stored with People before Asia the Less had any may as reasonably conclude they were Aborigines i. e. sprung out of the Earth also Strabo out of Hecataeus asfirms That the lones came out of Asia into Greece which Opinion is probable enough for why might not Javan impart his Name to that Province or part of Asia Minor which is called Ionia as well as he did afterwards to that part of Greece which is generally known by the name of Attica Most Greek Authors bring the Name of Ionia from this Ion which we in favour to their Memory shall not be much against supposing we may have leave to conjecture that Ion himself took name from Javan it being a Custome observable in the Histories of all times to retain the ancient Name of a Fore-father in some the principal of his Issue Others have supposed they were derived from the AEgyptians grounding that Supposition upon the nearness and similitude of signification between Sais and Athene in Greece and that they were formerly Colonies from Sais a City of AEgypt scituated near one of the Mouths of Nile is concluded on from the Identity of many Customes common as well to the Saitae as the Athenians For as the Athenians distinguished their People by three divisions viz. into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Nobility 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Pcasants and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mechanicks in like manner also did the AEgyptians the Athenian ' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were totally addicted to the search of Learning and Wisdome and therefore being had in great estimation by the People we may compare them to the AEgyptian Priests nay some of the chief Families in Athens had the Priesthood by Succession as Eumolphidae Ceryces Cynidae the Geomori who had Lands assigned them for the maintenance of the War are not unlike them in AEgypt who hold Possessions on these terms viz. to provide Souldiers when need should require to fight The Demiurgi resemble those Plebeians who skilful in some Art did set-out their Labour to daily hire and Herodotus is of opinion that they had their Religion from the AEgyptians although it is stiffly denyed by Plutarch the Reader who according to his inclination may make choice of which Opinion he pleases but the first is the most probable and best received But that which detracts much from the Antiquity of the Athenians is that CECROPS the first King and Founder of Athens who according to St. Augustine was contemporary with Moses was the first that reduced the Greeks living before like Savages or Brutes without Law or Religion into a form of a Body Politick He first advised them to offer up Sacrifices to Jupiter and divided the People into four Tribes taught them to dwell together civilly in Villages the People of Attica before being ignorant of the benefit of Societies and Corporations Afterwards Theseus collected the People of Attica into a Body and incorporated them into the City of Athens which he had beautified and enlarged but at first Greece was inhabited by Villages and not by Towns Athens was governed by this Cecrops and his Successors by no other Title than that of KING for the space of Four hundred years and upwards till the time of Codrus who in the Wars against the Dorienses being advertised by the Oracle that his Enemies should come off Conquerers if they did not kill the Athenian King for the honour of his Country and safety of his People put himself into the habit of a Common Beggar and entered the Enemies Camp where he behaved himself so strangly that they were forct at last to kill him But when the Dorienses understood what they had done they were so discouraged that they dismist their Army in haste and so departed homewards The Athenians resenting this noble and generous Action of their King so highly they thought no Man in the Commonwealth nay not his own Son worthy to succeed him as King resolving that as he had proved himself to be the best of Kings so they in honour to his Memory would make him the last intimating that all Royal Qualifications departed with him therefore laying aside Monarchy they constituted Princes for term of life differing from Kings only in this That the one claimed by the right of Succession the other by Election and favour of the People The first of these Archontes or Princes was Medon Son of the late King Codrus and these ruled Athens three hundred and sixteen years After this they chose a Governour in whom resided the chief Authority for ten years only expecting Justice and Moderation from his hands who at the end of Ten years was to become a Private man and consequently upon any Injury or Affront committed was liable to the power and severity of his Successors Seven of these Decennial Governours only ruled Athens which compleats Threescore and ten years then the Government became Annual the City being Governed by Majors or Burg-Masters and this form of Government was not only disturbed and shaken but quite dasht in pieces by Pisistratus in or about the time of Solon for he having calculated his Laws purely for the Meridian of Democracy and made it his business afterwards to put the Supream Authority into the hands of the People to which the People of Athens ever had a natural inclination he not only in his own time saw his Laws violated as
were called Quaesitores Parricidii But in time the hearing of these Publick or Capital Causes was confirmed and transferred unto certain Magistrates who continued in their Office a whole year Others had their Office no longer than they sat in Judgment which were for distinctions sake called Praetores Quaesitores and their Causes Quaestiones perpetuae because in their Causes there was one set form of giving Judgment constantly used whereas in Private and Civil causes the Praetor yearly changed the form by hanging up new Fdicts and Laws by which he intended to administer Justice that year to the People for as the Causes were different so were the signs and distinctions of their Courts a Spear erected denoting the Nisi Prius Court and a Sword hung out in token of that which related to the sentence of Life and Death The Praetor Urbanus was wont at the entrance into his Office to collect a set form of Administration of Justice out of the former Laws and Edicts of other Praetors according to which he would distribute Justice all the year following And lest the People might be ignorant of the contents thereof he caused it to be hung up in publick view This form of Justice was termed Edictum because he did thereby forbid or command something to be done This Edict being delivered out the administration of Justice consisted in the use of one of these three words Do Dico Addico he is said Dare actionem when he grants an Action or Writ against any man Dicere jus when he passeth Judgment on him Addicere res aut personas as when he in the Court doth see and allow the delivery of the thing or the Person on which Judgment is passed The form of Addiction was thus After Judgment had been pronounced in Court the Party which prevailed laid his hand on the thing or person against which Sentence was pronounced using this form of words Hunc ego hominem five hanc rem ex jure Quiritium meum esse dico then did the Lord Chief Justice Addicere i. e. approve the challenge and grant a present possession But these forms and waies of proceeding being uncertain and the Law it self unknown to most of the Roman Commonalty as lying for the most part in the Breast of the Praetor to avoid this incontroulable power and the infinite disadvantages that daily ensued Three men were deputed by the Senate to go to Athens and other Greek Cities to make a collection of what Laws they thought convenient by which they were resolved the City should be governed At their return the Consuls were deposed and the Government of the Common-wealth put into the hands of Ten Men all of Consular dignity to whose wisdom and Integrity was referr'd the new modelling of the Laws contained in the Ten Tables having power of curtailing what was superfluous and unnecessary and of interpreting any thing that was dark or obscure and of adding any thing where they found a necessity or occasion From the addition of two Tables they were called the Laws of the twelve Tables the Fountain from whence the Civil Law proceeded These Men were allowed the same Ensigns of Majesty and the same power and Authority as the Consuls formerly had as of calling together the Senate ratifying and confirming their Decrees and managing the chief business of State Nevertheless but one at a time took this Power upon him the others in the mean while differing little from private Men. The People at first were so in love with this Decem-Viral way of Governing that they willingly diminished and abated their own Priviledges to advance the Credit and Honour of their new laid Greatness These Ten abrogated the Statute of Appeal made by Valerius Publicola to the Judgment of the People and they not much grumbling at it expected that the Greatness they allowed them in Majesty would be sufficiently recompenced by the happiness and infinite advantages they should receive from the Justice and Moderation of their Government But they now they had gotten the Reins in their hands began to contrive how to make that Government perpetual which before was but Annual They agreed among themselves that every one should take upon him the grandeur and Authority of a Consul intending by Cruelty and Oppression to force the People into a certain fear and dread of their Authority rather than by Mild usage to let them fall gently and by degrees in love with their own Slavery and bondage 'T is strange that they having all formerly proved good Consuls should when they came to be good Lawyers prove such ill Governours For they instead of Instructing the People by their Laws by their insolent Oppression and Incontinency gave occasion daily of their Complaint and Murmur making the Law rather a share than a help or ease to the People as hath often appeared to the grief of other Nations in successive Ages punishing the faults of the Commonalty which for the most part proceeded from Necessity by the same Laws they desended the extravagances of their own Passions These Oppressions and Injuries were patiently endured by the People but Appius Claudius a Man of a bolder and wickeder Nature than the rest lusting after the fair but vertuous Verginia whom according to the Law 't was below him to marry and purposing to leave no kind of means unattempted for the enjoyment of his Love and the more speedier easing of his tormented mind resolved not reflecting upon Tarquinus his fate to have recourse to strength and Authority where the interposition of Love was ineffectual hoping by the Law to justifie his Rape as well as his other Brethren had sormerly their Oppressions and Wrongs This his project proved very unsuccessful for the Father of the Lady though of a low Degree yet of a great and generous Spirit killed his Daughter in an open assembly to secure her Honour This last fault of Appius was so unparallel'd an Indiginity that 't was like a great spot of Oyl upon Cloth which seems to have diffused and spread it self abroad to that degree of inhumanity and ugliness that they lookt upon the Ravisher rather as a Monster then a Man Appius was forced through shame and fear of the fury and anger of the Multitude to be his own Executioner in Person his Companions in the Government on the same account quitting their Offices also This was the second time that in the Honour of the Female Sex they changed the form and manner of their Polity The Consuls after this were restored to Soveraignty again and although the storm seemed to have ceased yet the Waters kept on rowling still for not withstanding the People had fully satisfied themselves for the asfront put upon Verginia and the deposing the rest yet now as their Courage was elevated and their Party strong they were resolved to petition the Fathers to lay aside all distinctions of Marriage making it lawful for the Nobility and Commonalty to marry with one another if the Parties could
myrck kvedium enn fyrer Wytrum Monnum Lifthvedenn ad yrkia og Semia huor Ithret sem ei throtnandi Uants Brunner seerer fornar kienningar og feeder ee uyat till kvedskaparius ollum merkiskalldum et hana Bilia med Idne grunda og giegnd tettrivid hafa huer eff hunernen sit Naffn hloted hefer Edda is an Art which out of the most ancient Mythology of ingenious Men and Names variously found out teacheth the use and exercise of the Norwegian Poesie which to the Vulgar is obscure to the Wise pleasant to hear and artificial which like a Fountain continually running suggests Old words and daily creates New for the benefit of Rythmical writing to all good Poets who can with judgment use it And Saxo Grammaticus thus in brief describes it Edda est Mythologia Poetica veterum Islandorum It was composed above six hundred years ago and as to the main is in much credit with the chiefest and most authentick of our Historians To begin then with this EDDA concerning the Expedition of WODEN out of Asia Oden haffde Spadem og so kona hauns og aff theim Uisendum faun hann thad ad Naffn hauns munde uppe bera hellski Norduralfu heim stus og tygnad umm framm Alla Konga Fyrer tha sok fysest hanu ad Byria fetd sina aff Curckflande og hafde med sier myken fiolda Lids Buga menn oc Gamla karla og konur og hoffou med seit marga Gersemelega hlute en huet sem their for yfer land that bar agyeete myked af theim Sagt so their thottu lykare Gudum enn Monnum og their gefa ei Stad ferd Sinne fyrr cim their koma Nordue thad land et nuer Itallad Sar land that dualde Odenn langa bryd og eignadest Byda thad laud. Sem Odenn hafde Skipt thui lande med Sonum sinum tha Birlade hann ferd Syna Nordur og kom ithad lande er their kalla Reidgotoland og esgnadest ithuilande alt thader hann vild eog sette that till Landradanda sonn finu et skioldur hiel hanns son var fridleifur thaduun er su eettkommen er Skioidungar veita thad erudana Kongar oc thad heiter nu Iotland er tha var kall ad Reidgotaland 〈◊〉 thad for hann Nordut that sem nu heitter Suythiod that var sa Kongur er Biliffe er Neffudur enn er hann spyt till ferda theitta Asiae Manna er Efer voru kailader for hand mote theinn og Baud ad Odenn stilde slyke valid hafa thans Ryke sem han vilde sialfur sa Cyme filgde ferd theirra ad huar sem their duoldust i Londum tha var thar ar og fridur og truda aller ad their veere thesz Radande thui thad Sau Menn ad their voru Olyker odrum Monnum theim er their 〈◊〉 du sted ad 〈◊〉 og wite thar chotte Odenn goder Landkofter ogkaug 〈◊〉 that Borgar stad sem ut heiter Sigtun Chad vat aff-hanns Naffue og gaff sier Kongdom og kalladest Sydanni Niordur og thui fiimst Striffad freede Bokum ad Niordur hafe heited hiim fyrste Saga Kongur er thad till thess ad Odenn hefur 〈◊〉 thar Goffgastur Oden Skipade that hoffdingium i tha lyking sem vered haffde i Croja sette Colff hofudmen i Stadnum ad deema Lomoslog 〈◊〉 Skypade hann Riettum ollum sem fyrr 〈◊〉 vered i Croja og Cyrkyar voru vaner Thus rendred out of Rossenius his Translation This Oden was a Magician as likewise his Wife whereby he foreknew that his Name should be celebrated above all Kings in the North. For which cause be began his Journey from Turkland taking along vast Treasures of Silver and Gold and Precious things Through what Countries soever they passed they were highly cried up as seeming Gods rather than Men thus they staid not till they came into the land of the North now called Saxony where for many years Odin lived and possessed the whole Country about so that in the Division to his Sons he gave to Vegdeggus East Saxony to Begdegus 〈◊〉 to Siggo Francia himself went into another Country which was then called Reidgotoiand where he did whatever pleased him Over this Country he set his Son Skiold of whom was born Fridleit whose Posterity was named Skioli dungar or the Off spring of Skiold from which Stem the Kings of Denmark descended This Reidgotolandia is now called Jutlandia Farther he removed his Seat to the place now called Suithiod where Gylfus was then King who when he heard of the coming of these Asiaticks whom the Edda calls Asae he went out and met them profering Odin what part soever he would take of his Empire For so great fortune attended these Asians that wheresoever they aboded Peace and Prosperity flourished and every one was fully perswaded that these Blessings proceeded from them for this especially affected their minds that for knowledge beauty strength and singular shape of Body they never had seen the like Odin perceived this Land was pleasant and fertile therefore he chose a place to build a City on which at this day according to his or rather his Sons name is called Sigtunum where exercising Kingly Authority he called himself Niord wherefore in the Annals of the Ancients it is found that the first King of the Suevi was called Niord because Odin was the most glorious although others held the Kingdom before him In the City Sigtun he constituted Twelve of the Chief Citizens in imitation of Troy as Conservators of the Laws and to execute Justice after the Customes of Turkland From this Constitution of WODEN saith Mr. Sheringham whereby he ordained Twelve of the principal Citizens as preservers of the Law and to give their Judgment or Verdict for so the words import proceeded perhaps that Custome among us never to be enough praised whereby to Twelve good Freeholders called by us a Jury is trusted the whole weight of Justice and Determination of all Causes both of Life and Estate but this by way of digression Another narration of the Progress of WODEN agreeing with that of the Edda is taken out of an Ancient Norway Chronicle the Author of it as Stephanius thinks was Sturlaeson a Writer of good account and credit the whole story is too large to set down I shall only mention what more particularly relates to the present purpose It is thus That part of Asia looking to the East which is bounded by the River Tanais had formerly for its Metropolis a City named Asgard wherein Ruled with great Authority a mighty Hero named OTHIN to twelve of the chief Senatours who excell'd in Piety and Wisdom and therefore were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diar i. e. Gods or Divine Persons and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drotuar i. e. Lords he gave power to order Religious affairs and Ceremonies and to hear and determine Civil Causes and Suits This Othin had two Brothers the Elder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ue the younger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Uelir or Uuli These two upon the absence of Othin at any time managed the whole State Upon
to Southampton The fourth Hekencldis-street or Kikeneldis-street which goeth forth by Worcester Wickham Bermingham Leichfield Darby Chester-field and by York to Tinmouth By this time Brennus had got so sar into favour with Seginus the Duke of Armorica that he married his Daughter and by the consent of his Nobles in case he failed of Issue-Male the same Duke was admitted Heir of the Crown and not long after by the death of the said Prince he was accordingly received as their lawful Prince all States of the Realm swearing Fealty to him Being now in the possession of a Kingdom Brennus raiseth a powerful Army and Lands in Britain intending to revenge the wrongs done him by his Brother Belyn And now was it that both Armies were ready to give Battle when their Mother Conwenna interposed as a Mediatress between them and by her many tears and powerful perswasions brought them to a Friendly accord so that embracing each other they were heartily Reconciled to the exceeding joy of all Spectators After their Arrival at Troy-Novant they consulted which way best to employ their Armies where the motion was made by Brennus and accepted by Belinus to joyn Forces and undertake the Conquest of all Gallia which Enterprize was attended with a Fortune beyond expectation For they did not only Conquer all Gallia but Italy and great part of Germany also and in the end sacked Rome it self where some say Brennus lost his life others that he survived that great and general Overthrow Some make Belinus a Partner with him in his Greatness others say he went not into Gallia with him or if he did that he soon returned leaving the management of all those Forreign employments to the Conduct of his Brother Brennus whom we will leave to the Histories of the Romans as if so be this were the same Brennus that sackt Rome to receive what Fate in most probability is assigned to him Vitus maketh him to have killed himself at his Repulse before Delphos BELYN now absolute Monarch of Britain sets himself to the beautifying of his Dominions He built Caerleon upon Uske called from thence Caer Uske and Caer Huth where he placed an Arch-Flamen He also adorned Troy-novant with a Gate called to this day Belings-Gate on the top of which he caused a Tower to be made and at the Basis or Foundation thereof an Harbour for Ships to Ride in He is said to be the first Founder of the Tower of London After he had Reigned two and twenty years he died being the first of all the British Kings whose Corps was consumed in a Funeral-pile and his Ashes carefully gathered in a Brazen some say a Golden Urne and preserved on the highest Pinnacle of the Gate or Arch he had built as some think for that purpose GURGUINT Sir-named Brabtruc according to others Barbarous i. e. the Red-beard the English Chronicle calleth him Corinbratus and was the Son of Belyn and succeeded him Anno Mundi 1596. In his daies the Danes refused the payment of their Tribute whereupon he sailed into Denmark and by sorce of Arms obliging them to renew their Treaty received Homage of their Kings and Chief Nobility then Embarked again for Britain In his Return he met with a Fleet of thirty Sail about the Isle of Orkney these he Encounter'd and having taken their Captain Bartholoin or Partholoin he demanded of him what he was and the reasons of his Adventures into those Parts Partholoin answers That He and his Followers were named Balences or Basclenses and were Exiles of Spain and banished their Country with their Wives and Children and thereupon struck out to Sea to seek out an Habitation It is said the King gave them Ireland being a place not then Peopled After his Arrival into Britain the King made it his business to establish and confirm the Laws of his Ancestors and in his Reign that Famous University of Cambridge was Founded by Cantaber Brother of Bartholin This King also built Caer-werith or Lancaster Caer-Peris or Porchester in Hampshire the Seat of a Flamen and Caer-Gaurvie now Warwick where he was buried after he had reigned nineteen years GUINTELINUS or Guintellus the Son of Gurguint was Crowned King Anno Mundi 3615 He was a Prince learned prudent and of singular Justice and Moderation and that which conduceth more to the Glory of his Reign was that he was blest with a Lady with no less Endowments and Excellencies her names was Martia From this Lady that Law called Mathehelage or Marchenelaghe had its beginning and Name translated by King Alphred out of the British into the Saxon Tongue Mr. Hollinshead wonders and admires at Providence that two such wise Princes should come at once to the management of the Kingdom especially at a time when so many Civil Discords were reigning But I find none of these Civil Discords reigning either in his own his Fathers Grandfathers or Great-Grandfathers daies 'T is true Belyn had War with his Brother but in a few years it was wholly ended to the great satisfaction of them both Where then are these Civil Discords Indeed Polidore Virgil out of his great Providence placeth this King before his Great-Grandfather which I suppose he did for the wonderful wisdom of this Prince and his Wife whom he thought best able to end the Civil dissensions caused by the Pentarchy and therefore where Polidore admires the wonderful Providence of God we ought to take him as applauding his own Invention for never before him was ever such an Invention made for the stating of the British Kings But Mr. Hollinshead who followeth on the Received course of the Succession ought not to complain of Civil Discords in this Kings Reign because they had been long since ended And this I take notice of more especially because I find the same Errour in other Authors who have written after Polidore which was grounded from the delight of their own Fancies rather than to deliver the truth exactly down to the People This King Reigned twenty six years and was Interr'd at Troy-Novant now London SICILIUS the second and Son of Guintolin being about seven years of Age was received as King under the Regency of his Mother Martia Anno Mundi 3641 and it seemeth that those Laws called Martiae were exacted by this Queen during the Minority of her Son rather than in the life of her Husband The Count Palatine will have this King to have reigned fifteen years alone but it is generally thought he Governed not above fifteen in all seven under the Tuition of his Mother and eight after his full Age and having given the signs of a hopeful Prince he was suddenly snatcht out of this World by Death and then the Government fell to KIMARUS the Son of Sicilius who began his Reign over Britain A. M. 3656 and being of a wild and ungoverned disposition as given up to all manner of Lusts and Exorbitances was kill'd in the Woods in his pursuit after his game of Hunting some say by
Gentry of Rome of restoring the Tarquin's and that his own Sons had a hand in it he brought them to the Market-place where they were publickly whipt and asterwards to the Block where they lost their Heads It was not lawful for any Person to sue for the Consulship till he had first past through successively the Offices of Quaestor Aedile and Praetor and arrived to the forty third year of his Age that is past the extravagances of Youth and free from the infirmities of Old Age the greatest concerns of Peace and War depending solely on their management The Romans had alwaies so great a respect and honour for this place of Dignity by vertue of which their Empire was enlarged their Liberties strongly upheld that to encrease the Majesty of it changed the Ancient date of things which before was ab Urbe condit à in favour of them into L. AE T. V. Consulibus viz. John Anoaks and John Astiles being Consuls The Ensigns of their Office was the Sella Eburnea the Ivory Chair which was carried about in a Charriot where the Consul sate administring justice The great Gown of State called Trabea was worn first by their Kings asterwards by the Consuls Lastly twelve Lictors or Serjeants which went before one Consul one Month the second another with bundles of Rods in their hands and Axes bound up in the middle the one gently to correct small offenders the other to lop off from Humane society those that were otherwise incurable These Consuls had power of stopping any proceedings in the Senate as may be seen by Ambitious Lentulus who passionately desired Africa then the seat of the War and of Glory for his Province threatning the Senate that unless he had his will he would have nothing to pass in the House In the time of Sedition or any sudden danger from abroad they chose a Dictator to whom was committed an Arbitrary Power and different in nothing from a KING but in Name and the continuance of six months in the Office From him lay no appeal to the People twenty four Lictors went before him as if they intended by the greatness and Majesty of his Authority he should affright the Seditious into their wonted Obedience and having no equal to dispute his Commands the consequence of equality in Arms may be learnt from the fate of Paulus AEmitius and Ter. Varro at the Battle of Cannae might by the suddenness of his directions prevent the Storm before it grew too blustering and violent or if it did he might be in a better capacity of opposing it the strength of an Army consisting in the Union of their Forces under one Commander Besides the opinions of a Senate or an Assembly commonly are very inconstant great diversity and mutability arising from such numbers or from the wranglings of two adverse Factions we seldom finding any such irresolutions in a single Person From hence and from their sending single Persons as Governours of their Provinces however the Senate and wiser sort of the People dissembled we may conclude on their approbation of Monarchy as the fittest form of Government to expel danger and enlarge their Dominions although their Judgments were perverted and blinded by Ambition Passion being most commonly stronger than Reason for in Aristocratical and Democratical Common-wealths most Men are capable of a share in the Government which under Monarchy was impossible for them to attain to And we may easily see how much they esteemed Monarchy in the latter Ages Viz. their Government of Great Britain by Vice-Roy's not in the Name of the Senate but Emperours in possession From the root of the Consulship sprung those two great branches of the Censorship and Praetorship the Consuls in whose Power they were formerly included being for the most part employed in the Wars were forced to confer them on other persons for the regulation of Manners and distribution of Justice at home The Censors took cognizance of all Ill-manners they had power to degrade both Senatour and Roman-Knight from the Honour of their constituted Order and remove the People in case they deserved it from a more honourable Tribe to a less from whence they were called the Masters of Manners Besides these things they also took care of all Publick-works as mending High-waies Bridges and Water-courses the reparations of Temples and several other Buildings If any man encroached upon the Streets High-waies or other places that were in use for the Publick good the Censors compell'd him to make satisfaction for the injury committed They had also the letting out of Lands Customes and other Publick Revenues to Farm so that most of the Citizens of Rome were beholding to this Office as maintaining themselves by some of the Trades thereunto belonging and this was no small help to preserve the Dignity of the Senate the Commonalty being obnoxious to the Censors which were alwaies of that Order and careful to uphold the Reputation thereof They also took notice of those that mis behaved themselves in the Wars or went about to discourage any of the Souldiers after any notable defeat Thus we see Marcus Attilius Regulus and P. Furius Philus called L. Caecilius Metellus to an account for that after the Battle of Cannae he held discourse with some of his Companions about flying beyond the Seas as if Rome and all Italy had been no better than lost They also pronounced Infamous those that having brought to Rome the Message of their Fellows made Prisoners at Cannae returned not back to Hannibal as they were bound by Oath but thought themselves thereof sufficiently discharged in that they had stepped back once into his Camp with pretence of taking better notice of the Captives Names as also all those that had not served in the Wars after the term the Law appoints In their keeping was the Censual-Roll or Doomsday-Book wherein was the true Estate and value of what every Man was worth that the People might be the better Governed and the easier distinguisht They continued in their Office five years and yet if one of them died his place was lookt upon as ominous yea dangerous to the Common-wealth one of the Censors dying that very year that Rome was sackt and almost destroyed by the fury of the Gauls There were two Praetors or Lord Chief Justices the one for judging and examining matters between Citizen and Citizen whom they called Praetor Urbanus the other for adjusting the Controversies of Strangers and was termed Praetor Peregrinus and Praetor Minor but afterwards Law-suits increasing there were many more added to the former who were to sit in the Court of Life and Death The two Chief Praetors took notice of all matters concerning Equity and Wrong between Man and Man and under them the Centum Viri but especially all Crimes Capital as Treason Murther buying of Voices for the obtaining of Magistracy c. which were at first heard by the Kings and Consuls and afterwards by certain Persons appointed by the People for that purpose who
but the only Argument to prove this a British Monument is Catigern's Tomb who fell in a Battle against Horsa where the Tomb only differs from this in bigness and as being fixed without Mortises and Tenons as we have it expressed by Mr. Cambden in his description of Kent wherein he sets down several other things worthy of observation relating to that Country THE CONTINUATION OF THE British KINGS In the Daies of the SAXONS TO Aurelius Ambrosius succeeded his Brother UTER PENDRAGON a Prince nothing inferiour to him either in Valour or Fortune he is reported a Roman but the greatest demonstration we have of his being so was that whilest he lived he not only buoyed up the sinking genius of Britain by his own Vertues but had also freed this ISLE from a troublesome Intruder as the Saxon in all probability was like to prove had not Divine providence preordained to the contrary si Pergama dextra Defendi potuisse etiam hac defensa fuisset Before he came to the Crown he was sent by Aurelius who then lay sick to oppose Pascentius Vortigern's second Son a Man likely to prove a dangerous Enemy as pretending to the Crown and at that time in conjunction with another malevolent Planet GILLAMARE King of Ireland Against these Uter prudently made all the haste he could with resolution upon the first opportunity to give them Battle lest this new Pretender through length of time might steal away the Affections of the unstable Britains and he himself bring his own Credit in question by delaying the Engagement insomuch that the one being actuated by his own natural fierceness from whence termed UTER the other spurr'd on by Ambition the Fight for a long time stood doubtful but in the end Pascentius and his Irish Associates were slain ill defending their claim to that which their Fathers before them held by as bad a Title Aurelius being dead and himself freed from all Competitors in the Kingdom he began to have an eye upon the proceedings of the Saxons For understanding how Esk and Occa Hengist's Sons had harrassed and spoiled the Country as far as the City of York with all the speed therefore imaginable he wade after these Free-Booters and as suddenly defeated them taking the two Brethren prisoners A good natured Prince without doubt that spared the Lives of those that were by piece-meal stealing his Kingdom and whose Father but a little before had sacrificed 300 of his Nobility In this Prince his time landed Kerdic the Saxon a new Enemy sierce and hardy who notwithstanding all opposition Pendragon could make daily discomsited the Britains and gained Territories large enough for himself and his Followers Now whether this happened whilst he was doting on the fair Dutchess of Cornwall and so could not spare time to attend their Motions sure it is we read that the Britains to recover what they had lost set upon the Saxons under the Conduct of Natanleod or Nazeleod a certain King of Britain but were sufficiently routed by Kerdic and his Saxons from whence the place in Hantshire as far as Kerdicsford now Chardford was called of old Nazaleod Now some and not improbably suppose this Nazeleod to be the right name of Uter Pendragon who for the terrour of his eagerness in fight became more known by the Sir name of Uter signifying in the Welch Tongue dreadful as Edward was termed the Black Prince for the same Reason We shall speak nothing here of his lying with Igren Dutchess of Cornwall nor how by the art of Merlyn he was made so like the Duke of Cornwall that neither the Dutchess nor Servants could perceive the cheat contenting our selves since it cannot be helped that from that adulterous Bed the vertuous Prince Arthur sprang ARTHUR after the death of Pendragon his Son Arthur by the Dutchess of Cornwall was advanced to the Throne being then not above fifteen years old early he came by his honour and as early troubles the usual Concomitants of it overtook him but on purpose as it seems to make him more glorious For Lotho King of the Picts and Gouran King of the Scots having married Anna and Alda the Sisters of Uter laid claim to the Crown in right of their Wives These had Justice on their side and Arthur eleven points of the Law Possession and a good Sword to make it good they often backt their Pretences with a good Army and were as often defeated by this young Prince yet not so throughly but that they held him in Plea all his life-time upon occasions assisting the Saxon against him and at Cambula in Cornwall saith Leland this British Hector encountering Mordred Lotho's Son slew him outright and received of him his own deaths wound Ninnius reports that he over-threw the Saxons in twelve great Battels but with what credit I know not Kerdic the Saxon during all the time of Arthurs Reign continually gained ground of him and possest himself of Somerset and Hantshire in defyance of all the opposition he could make against him but after the fight at Mount Badon the Saxons are said to have sate down quietly for a good while after which those restless Spirits would scarce have done had they not stood in fear of an Army more powerful than their own Therefore we may with some Reason believe he gave the Saxons some considerable defeat and might with all probability have eased the Kingdom of that troublesom Enemy had not his generous Spirit been almost consumed and over-wearied by their continual Supplys Fame has done no Prince more Injury than this for by representing him so far beyond all proportion she has made him Monstrous and by her over-fond talking hath made Posterity suspect with some reason whether there ever was any such Person The Bards styled him IMPERATOR BRITANNIAE GALLIAE GERMANIAE DACIAE now who can believe that he should ramble so far to purchase new Countreys especially with the blood of his own People that could not defend his own against the Enemy at home Caradoc relates that Melvas King of that Country which is now called Somerset detained from him his wife Guenever in the Town of Glaston for the space of a whole year and afterwards restored her at the desire of Gildas not by any compulsion or force that Arthur could make against him If this be true then Arthur seems to be a very unlikely Man to run-over Germany that could not chastise the affront of a little Prince of Somerset that had so much defiled his Bed Now the greatest Argument we have to prove there was ever such a Man as ARTHUR is this King HENRY the Second whilest he was at Pembroke diligently hearkning to a Welch Bard that was singing the notable Exploits of King ARTHUR and taking particular notice of the place of his Burial the Song designing it to be in the Churchyard of Glastonbury and that betwixt two Pyramids commanded for his further satisfaction that they should dig thereabouts When they came some
seven foot deep they found an huge broad Stone with a Leaden-Cross fastened to it and on that side that lay downward in rude Letters was written this Inscription HIC JACET SEPULTUS INCLYTUS REX ARTURIUS IN INSULA AVALONIA And digging nine foot deeper his Body was found in the Trunk of a Tree the Bones of a great bigness and in his Skull were perceived ten wounds the last very great and plainly seen By him also lay GUINEVER his Queen seeming perfect and whole till it was toucht then appearing to be nothing but Dust but the Restorer of Stonehenge with more probability hath found her Tomb at Ambresbury Among other Sepulchres saies he found at the said Monastery it is worthy Memory that about the beginning of this Century one of them hewn out of a firm Stone and placed in the middle of a Wall was opened having upon its coverture rude Letters of massie Gold to this purpose R. G. A. C. 600. Thus Interpreted Regina Guinevera Arturi Conjux The Bones within which Scpulchre were all firm fair yellow coloured Hair about the Skull a supposed piece of the Liver near upon the bigness of a Wall-nut very dry and hard and together therewith were found several Royal habiliments as Jewels Veils Scarfs c. retaining even till then their proper Colours All which were afterwards very choicely kept in the Collection of the Right Honourable EDWARD then Earl of Hertford and of the aforesaid Gold divers Rings were made and worn by his Lordships principal Officers Concerning which Tomb is supposed by the same Author to be the Sepulchre of Queen GUINEVER Wife of King ARTHUR especially the letters R. G. c. viz. Regina Guinevera c. and the date Anno Christi 600 if rightly Copied agreeing with the time of her death Besides Leyland affirms that several Writers make mention she took upon her a Nuns Veil at Ambresbury died and was there buried unto which he gives so much credit that whatever Giraldus Cambrensis delivers to the contrary he will by no means allow either her Body to be afterwards translated from Ambresbury or at any time buried by her Husband King ARTHUR at Glastonbury Unto Leyland's Reasons for her Interrment at Ambresbury Mr. Cambden it seems inclines also because wholly silent of her Sepulchre discovered any where else though at large sets down the Circumstances of her Husbands Body it being found at Glastonbury for had Mr. Cambden found any thing inducing him to believe her Body had been together with his there found he would never certainly have concealed it from Posterity Constantine the IV. THis CONSTANTINE according to some Writers after the death of Prince Arthur Reigned as a Tyrant over Cornwal and Devonshire at the same time with Aurelius Conanus Vortipor and Malgo but according to others by the appointment of Arthur a little before his death he succeeded him alone in the Kingdom the Britains unanimously ratifiing the choice as expecting mighty things from the Person their admired Champion had pitched upon for their Governour But as many private Persons who were before good Subjects have proved but bad Kings after they came to the Crown So it fared with this Constantine who being more conceited of his Power than knowing in the waies of Governing grew on a sudden so intollerably proud that he slighted his Enemies contemned his Friends and measured Justice by the length and strength of his own Sword Possibly he had found the inconvenience of it sooner had not the Pictish War broke out which diverted the minds of his incensed Britains another way For the Picts hearing that after the death of Arthur Constantine was made King appeared with an Army in favour of the Sons of Mordred Arthur's Nephews to settle them in their Right But these he happily routed chasing his two Rivals with their Governours taking Sanctuary the one in Winchester the other in London to the very Altar but the sacred Reverence of the place stopt not his fury for he slew them there with their two Governours without any consideration of the tenderness of their years or holiness of the place Gildas sharply inveighs against this Prince for his Adultery forsaking his lawful Wife and for his Perjury c. lastly for murthering these two Children Yet these being the Sons of the false Mordred who had created his predecessour Arthur so much trouble all his life time by his frequent Rebellions and at last gave him his deaths wound seems a little to take away from the Cruelty of the Action After he had Reigned about four years he was slain by his Kinsman Aurelius Conanus and Interr'd at Stone-henge by his Ancestour Uter Pendragon After the death of Constantine there appeared three Pretenders to the Crown at once AURELIUS CONANUS Lord of North-Wales VORTIPOR Lord of South-Wales and MALGO CONANUS as Gildas stiles him Dragon of the Isles Every one of these usurping the Title of KING of BRITAIN though too weak to defend themselves and it from the swelling Greatness of the Victorious Saxons Most Historians make them to have reigned successively but they seem to me to have been petty Kings at one and the same time for by the reprehensions of Gildas 't is plain that those Princes lived all at one and the same time unto whom he spake personally which could not be had such successions of years past as is laid down by those Historians Besides 't is said that Aurelius Conanus was a Prince of a Noble heart free and liberal but given much to the maintenance of strife and discord among his People which in my mind will best be understood of his difference with his two Competitours Vortipor and Malgo and their Subjects which indeed were his also as taking upon him the stile of KING of BRITAIN especially if we consider he had watchful Neighbours about him who were willing to take the greatest advantage over him they could Gildas in his Invectives terms Vortipor the unworthy Son of a good King as Manasses was to Ezechias Now this good King cannot be Aurelius Conanus who is reprehended for his Vicious life by him as much as any and consequently Vortipor was none of his Son so that how he came to succeed him in the Kingdom as their Historians pretend can scarce be made out What great Actions these three Kings did during their Reign or what good qualities they were indued with is not hitherto known there 's but a very slender account of them in the Rolls of Fame which may make us suspect they were guilty of very few and those scarce worth the committing to posterity In Gildas and other Histories we may find a large Catalogue of their bad ones CARETICUS BY this time the SAXONS had fixt themselves secure enough in Britain none of the British KINGS being able utterly to dispossess them through the continual Supplies they received out of Germany of their new Acquisitions yet this Prince something revived the decaying Spirit of the Britains by
his Reasons measured the truth of all Religions by Worldly success for he was angry that his Gods had not advanced him to the King's favour above others was the first that gave his consent offering himself to the King as the fittest Instrument to destroy those Idols whose worship he himself had so much promoted After this Paulinus had free liberty openly to preach the Gospel and the King with his Sons born to him of his first wife Quenburga with a great part of his Nobility and People renounced their Idolatry and were baptized The King with his Family in St. Peter's Church at York which he had hastily erected of Timber and the People for their number near the Rivers of Glevie in the Province of Bernicia and Swale in the Province of Deira After the Conversion of Northumberland Paulinus dispersed the seeds of Faith amongst them of Lindsey a Province in Lincolnshire First he converted Blecca Governour of the City of Lincoln and his Family where he built a Church curiously wrought of stone which was very much decayed in Bede's time Neither was Edwin any less careful to set forward the Conversion of the English by assisting Paulinus and by his perswading Eorpwald the Son of Redwald to embrace the Faith who soon after was slain by one Richert his own Countryman Pope Honorius after he had heard of the Conversion of the Northumbers sent to Paulinus a Confirmation of his being Archbishop of York withal exhortatory Letters to Edwin to perswade him to continue firmly in the Faith he professed the stile and substance of which Epistle as much as relates to him was this Bishop Honorius servant of the Servants of God To Edwin King of the English Greeting THe integrity of your Christianity is so warmed through the zeal of Faith towards the worship of the Omnipotent Creatour that it casts a lustre every where and is talkt of over all the World so that we with you may abundantly enjoy the reward of your labour for then you may account your selves Kings when having been informed of your King and Creatour by a true and Orthodox preaching you believe in God by worshipping him sincerely and paying to him as much as the weakness of your condition will permit the unseigned devotion of your minds For what else are we to offer up to our God but that per severing in good actions and confessing him to be the Authour of Mankind we make haste to worship him and to pay our vows unto him And therefore Most excellent Son we exhort you as is meet with a Fatherly love that since the Divine pity has vouch safed to call you to his Grace you would endeavour with a careful mind and by continual praying to preserve it that he who in this present World has brought you free from all Errour to the knowledge of his Name would prepare for you the Mansions of the heavenly Country After King Edwin had Reigned seventeen years Cadwallo King of the Britains rose up against him who being assisted by Penda the Merolan who envied Edwin's Greatness after a terrible battel at Heithfield slew this great King and his Son Osfrid This Edwin was renowned for his justice and moderation and the great care he took to help and ease his poor Subjects For in his time any one might travel safely all over his Dominions even from Sea to Sea and for the benefit of the wayfaring Man he commanded Iron-dishes should be fastned to every Fountain for conveniency of Travellers to drink Neither was he unmindful of his own Grandure having a Royal Banner alwaies carried before him He was buried in St. Peter's Church at Streanshal afterwards called Whitby His Queen Ethelburga with her Children and Paulinus fled into Kent to her Brother Eadbald who kindly received his Sister and her Children and made Paulinus Bishop of Rochester in which See he ended his daies and to which at his death he bequeathed the Pall which he had received for York Ethelburga afterwards spent her daies in a Monastery of Nuns built by her self near the Sea-side at a place called Lymming The Issue of King Edwin by Quinburga his first wife Daughter of Creda King of Mercia but Bede faith of Ceorl is this Osfrid the eldest Son of King Edwin was slain with his Father he and his Son Iffy had been both baptized by Paulinus Iffy after the death of his Father for fear of Oswald was conveyed into France where he died in his Childhood Edfrid second Son of Edwin for fear of Oswald fled to Penda King of Mercia and was barbarously murthered by him He left Issue Hererik of whom and his wife Bertswith descended Hilda the famous Abbess of Streanshalch and Hereswith wife of Ethelhere King of the East Angles And the Issue of the said Edwin by Ethelburg his second wife Daughter of Ethelbert King of Kent is Ethelme who died young and not long after he had received Baptism and was buried in St. Peter's Church in York Uskfrea was conveyed into Kent and afterwards into France with Iffy his half Brother with whom also he died and was buried Eanfled the elder Daughter was married to Oswy King of Northumberland Ethelred the younger died an Infant after he had received baptism and was buried with her brother Ethelm OSRIC EANFRITH AFter the death of Edwin the Kingdom of Northumberland became divided as in former times each rightful Heir seizing his part OSRIC the Son of Alfrid Edwin's Uncle by profession a Christian and baptized by Paulinus Reigned in Deira and EANFRITH the Son of Edilfrid the Wild in Bernicia He had been conveyed into Scotland with his two Brothers Oswald and Oswin and there with others of the Nobility had been baptized and instructed in the Christian Faith But now these two Kings having each of them a Crown turned Apostates from the Church and fell again to their old Religion and Idolatry But divine Vengeance soon followed at their heels for in less than the compass of a year they were both destroyed one by the force the other by the fraud and treachery of Cadwallo the manner whereof is thus related in Bede as likewise the succeeding Calamities in Northumberland caused by the tyranny and oppression of the Conquerour Cadwallader the British King the Summer following slew them both and though by force and violence sufficiently wicked yet the vengeance was by them deserved OSRIC was surprized with his whole Army and in a City of his own besieged and there finally with all his Forces destroyed After which the Conquerour entring Northumberland brought all under his power using his victory not with the moderation of a King but the pride and insolence of a merciless Tyrant laying wide desolation wherever he came EANFRITH the other King coming to him to beg his peace was barbarously put to death This year saith he is counted to this day hateful and unfortunate both for the Apostasie of these English Kings as the fury and tyranny of the British wherefore
He that shall put out an Oxes eye shall pay five pence a Cows one shilling Of yearly Barley every Season shall be given 6 pound c. Here wanteth something Of a yoke of Oxen borrowed If a Boor shall hire a yoke of Oxen and hath Corn enough he shall pay the whole hire with Corn but if he want sufficient Corn he shall pay half in Corn and half in other goods Of Church Dues Every one shall pay his Church-dues at that place where he resided in the midst of winter Of him of whom Pledg is required If at any time a Pledg is required of a person accused and he hath not to lay down in pledg before his cause is heard and another will lay down pledg for him upon condition that the other may be in his custody till he receiveth his goods laid down for him and the second time the accused be forced to give Pledg and the party that first engaged will not again be security and so his cause fall it shall not be restored to the Surety what he laid down in the first cause Of the departure of a Boor keeper of the Peace A Boor that is keeper of the Peace if he leaves his house and goes to another place to dwell in he shall have power to carry with him his Overseer his Smith and a Nurse Of them who possess Lands He that possesseth 20 hides of land and is going to another place shall leave behind him 12 hides ready sown he that holdeth 10 shall sow six hides he that hath 3 hides and is a departing shall leave half an one sown If any one hath hired Roods of land of the Lord and hath plowed them and the Lord not content with the rent and service requireth more work and duty than was bargained for the Tenant shall not be bound to hold on those conditions unless the Lord give him an House neither shall he be prohibited plowing Of a Boor keeper of the Peace banished If a Boor keeper of the Peace shall be banished for any misdemeanour his house shall not be a refuge for him Of Wool A sheep shall not be sheared until Midsummer or the Fleece shall be redeemed with two pence Of the estimation of Men. Out of the estimation of the head of a Man that whilst he lived is valued at 200 s. there shall be substracted 30 s. to recompence his death to the Lord out of the estimation of the head of a Man valued at 600 s. 80 shall be substracted out of the estimation of the head valued at 1200 shillings an hundred and twenty shillings shall be substracted Of Maintenance to be allowed Out of 10 hides of land for maintenance shall be given 10 fats of Hony 300 loaves 12 gallons of Welch-Ale 30 gallons of small Ale 2 grown Oxen or 10 Weathers 10 Geese 20 Hens 10 Cheeses 1 gallon of Butter 5 Salmons 20 pound of Fodder and an hundred Eeles Of estimation by the head If any one be required to pay to the valuation of his head and being about to swear confesseth what in words before he denied nothing shall be demanded of him for penalty before he pay the whole value of his head Of a Robber that hath been Amerced the price of his head and is taken A Robber having been punished the price of his head and taken if he escape the same day the intire penalty shall not be again required if he was taken about night but if theft was committed before the foregoing night they shall pay who took him before as they can agree with the King or his Justices Of a Welch Servant killing a free English man If a Welch Servant shall kill an English man his Master shall deliver him into the hands of the Lord or the dead man's Relations or redeem him with 60 s. But if he will not part with mony let him free his Servant and let the friends of the slain sue for the value of his life If the freed Servant hath friends that will uphold his cause if not let him look to himself It is not required of a Free-man to pay with Servants unless he will redeem with a price the penalty of Capital enmity nor for a Servant to pay with Free-men Of things stolen and found with another Goods stolen and found with another if if he that vents them being called to an account will not take upon him the goods or the sale of them and yet confesseth that he sold some other goods to the party then it is the part of the Buyer to confirm by oath that he sold those very goods and no other Of the death of a God-father or God-son If any one kill a God-son or his God-father let him pay the same to the Relations as he doth to the Lord to satisfie for his death and his payment for the proportion of the value of the slain is to be more or less according as if payment were to be made to a Lord for his Servant But if the dead party the King received at the Font let satisfaction be made to him as well as to the Relations But if his life was taken away by a Relation substraction must be made of the mony to be paid to the God-father as it useth to be done when mony is paid to the Master for the death of his Servant If a Bishop's Son be killed let the penalty be half BUt this King INA is more especially celebrated by the Monkish Writers of those times for a great favourer of a Monastick life and a supporter of its Interest as well by his own profession of the same as by large Revenues and great Priviledges granted to its maintenance and honour But the chief of all his works was his stately Church at Glastenbury a place so renowned for its ancient Sanctity as being the first Seat of Christianity in this Island that our Ancestors called it The first Land of God The first Land of Saints in Britain The beginning and foundation of all Religion in Britain The Tomb of Saints The Mother of Saints The Church founded and built by the Lord's Disciples In the first planting of Faith in this Island there had been built as hath been shewn in the foregoing History by Joseph of Arimathea Philip or some of their Disciples a little Cell or Chappel for the exercise of Religion by those Primitive Apostles This being by this time decayed was afterwards repaired or rather a new one built in the same ground by Devi Bishop of St. Davids which also exposed to ruine was again kept up at the cost and charges of twelve Men coming from the North. But now NIA having well settled his Kingdom demolished that ruinous building and in the room of it erected a most stately and magnificent Church dedicating it to CHRIST and his two Apostles Peter and Paul guilding it throughout with gold and silver after a most sumptuous manner Upon the highest coping thereof he caused to be written in large Characters