the third what Baronius his opinion of this Authour was appears in these words Any man saith he may easily see how much his mind was exasperated against the Holy Seat except those Reproaches were inserted by the Publisher which if they be taken out or excepted you may call the rest a Golden Commentary it being onely a transcript word for word of the publick Records most admirably put together and consolidated After Matthew Paris I desire Thomas Walsingham his Chronicle may follow he also was a Monk of St. Albans and began his History from Edward the first where the former ends and continues it down to the end of Henry the fifth or the year of Christ 1422. But as whilst we are reading Matthew Paris there is an History of Stephen written by an unknown hand which will amplifie and illustrate the History if taken in so if after the first Book of Walsingham's History about the year 1306 the Life and Death of Edward the Second written by Sir Thomas de la Moore Knight a Servant of that King be also admitted it will enlarge that History As this Authour was dignified with the honour of Knighthood so he deserves no less esteem for his kindness to Posterity express'd by this History which deserves the more credit because he was intimately acquainted with that Prince and served under him in the Wars ADDITIONS As I took in in the end of the last Section an excellent Collection of ancient Latine Historians of the English Nation none of which are mentioned by our Authour so with the Reader 's permission I will here take in another which was printed this year at Oxon under the Title of the first Volume of the ancient Writers of the English affairs The first Authour in it is Ingulfus Croylandensis who though not taken notice of by our Authour was printed before but imperfect he wrote the History of his Monastery and in it relates many things concerning the Kings of England he begins at the year of Christ 626 with Penda King of Mercia and in the former impression it ended with the beginning of the Reign of William the Conquerour but in this latter Edition besides many Gaps in the body of it now supplied from a better Copy his History is continued by himself to the year 1089 which was the third year of William the second or William Rufus as he is commonly called This Authour was the Son of a Courtier of Edward the last King of the Saxon Race and he himself takes notice of some disputes he had in his Infancy with Edgitha the Noble Queen of King Edward he Studied first at Westminster and then at Oxon where he became an excellent Aristotelian Philosopher he was afterwards a Counsellour to William Duke of Normandy by whose good leave he went to Jerusalem in his way at Constantinople he waited upon Alexius the then Emperour and Sophronius the Patriarch returning into Normandy he became a Benedictine Monk and after William Duke of Normandy had Conquered England Ingulfus was made Abbat of Croyland he died in the year 1109 in the time of Henry the first I have transcribed all this out of Vossius onely to shew the Reader how great a man he was and how excellently qualified for an Historian The next Authour in the said Collection is Peter Blesensis his continuation of Ingulfus his History to the year 1117 which was the 17 th year of Henry the first though he mentions some things scatteringly done after that time this continuation is imperfect at the end and therefore the Publisher supposeth it to extend onely to the beginning of the Reign of King Stephen this Authour was not for Learning inferiour to Ingulfus he was first Archdeacon of Bath and afterwards of London and Vicechancellour to the King he wrote about the year 1190 and he died in the year 1200 his Life has been writ by those that published his other Works but this History was never printed before Thus far the Publisher goes in his account of him The next in this new Collection is the Chronicle of Mailros begun as the inscription tells us by the Abbat of Dundraynan from the year 735 and continued by several hands to the year one thousand two hundred and seventy which was the LIV th year of the Reign of Henry the third who this Abbat or who these Continuers were is not certainly known but this Abbie of Mailros from which this Chronicle has its Name was not that ancient Monastery placed upon the Banks of the River Tweed often taken notice of by Venerable Bede which as it seems was destroyed by the Danes who oppressed the Kingdom of Northumberland a great while but of a later date built in the same place by the Scots who under David their King had got possession of it about the year 1136 from whence perhaps a Colony of Monks were sent to Dundraynan in Galloway in Scotland in the year 1152 in which year also that Monastery was founded as this Chronicle bears witness which though for the most part it is very brief yet it affords many things that are worth the knowing especially the Series of the Kings of Scotland as also the Successions of the Princes Nobles Bishop and Abbats in those Northern parts thus far the Publisher In the year 1252 another silly Monk of Mailros began a new Collection in which he would needs bestow an Encomium upon Simon de Montefort the turbulent Earl of Leicester which is not continued for the rest is perhaps done by another hand but concludes with the Death of Henry the third so that there is onely two years added The next is the Chronicle of Burton in the beginning of which with the Reign of King John the Authour who is not known seems to have a design to continue Roger de Hoveden whom yet he calls Hugo and by his example hath collected many of the most memorable passages of that age and though some of them are also set forth by Matthew Paris yet there are many and those not common things which are not to be found either in Paris or any other printed Historian but this and the Authour whoever he was lived in the same time with Matthew Paris and so they two do mutually afford Light each to other and also at the same time bear witness to the same things onely let the Reader take notice we follow the impression of Paris printed at London in 1650 thus far the Publisher it begins Anno 1004 and it ends Anno 1263. The Last which is the continuation of the History of Croyland though in some places imperfect which the Transcriber perhaps observed not yet we saith the Publisher thought fit to add it not onely because the Authour or rather perhaps Authours designed a continuation of Ingulfus and Peter Blesensis but chiefly because the latter end of the Reign of Henry the sixth and the whole Reign of Edward
Inhabitants are clearly demonstrated from that Nation many old Monuments illustrated and the Commerce with that People as well as the Greeks plainly set forth and Collected out of approved Greek and Latine Authours together with a Chronological History of this Kingdom from the first traditional beginning untill the year of our Lord 800 when the Name of BRITAIN was changed into ENGLAND faithfully Collected out of the best Authours and disposed in a better method than hath hitherto been done with the Antiquities of the Saxons as well as Phoenicians Greeks and Romans Printed in Folio in London in the year 1676 Volume the first I know very well some Learned men have taken great exceptions to this Piece and have affirmed many things in it to be fabulous and I will not contest for the truth of the whole and every part of it but then I will presume to say that I have found good Authority for some of those things which some have pretended Mr. Samms invented and if we are to stay for an History which all the World approves of before we reade one our Lives will end with as little knowledge of past times as of those that are to follow us when we are dead I know any ingenious person who shall reade this piece must reap much satisfaction pleasure and delight from it John Milton who was Latine Secretary to Oliver Cromwell a Learned ingenious but a very factious man wrote the History of Britain that part especially that is called England from the first traditional beginning of it to the Norman Conquest Collected out of the ancientest and best Authours as he saith it was printed 1670 and 1671 in Quarto and in 1678 in Octavo The style and composure of this History is delicate short and perspicuous and it is of the greater value because few of our English Writers begin to any purpose before the Norman Conquest passing over all those times that went before it with a slight hand Doctour John Heyward writ the History of the first Norman Kings William the Conquerour William Rufus and Henry the first he lived in the times of King James and was a Civilian and a very candid true and Learned Writer Samuel Daniel writ the Collection of the History of England where in making some short reflexions on the State of Britain and the Succession of the Saxons he descends to William the Conquerour and the Norman Kings and ends with the Reign of Edward the third Anno Domini 1376. It is written with great brevity and Politeness and his Political and Moral Reflexions are very fine usefull and instructive John Trussel continued this History with the like brevity and truth but not with equal Elegance till the end of the Reign of Richard the third Anno Domini 1484. In that Period or interval of time which Daniel hath written there are two Lives writ by two several Pens the first is the Life of Henry the third writ by that Learned wise and ingenious Gentleman Sir Robert Cotton Knight in a Masculine style with great labour and pains and with a Loyal design The Second is a piece which was lately Printed with this Title the History of the Life Reign and Death of Edward the II King of England and Lord of Ireland with the Rise and Fall of his great Favorites Gaveston and the Spencers written by E. F. in the year 1627 and Printed verbatim from the Original in the year 1680. Who this E. F. was I know not but that he was under the Dominion of a mighty Discontent is apparent by his short Preface to the Reader his first words there are these To out-run those weary hours of a deep and sad Passion my melancholy Pen fell accidentally saith he on this Historical Relation which speaks A King our own though one of the most unfortunate and shews the Pride and fall of his inglorious Minions If this Book was really written when pretended it may be probably conjectured this Male-Content had a mighty Spleen against the then Duke of Buckingham who being baited this year by the Commons in Parliament fell a Sacrifice to popular discontent the year following which with some other things to me unknown might occasion the suppressing this History then and it had been as well if it had never been Printed being partial to the highest degree and designed to encourage rather than suppress Rebellion Sedition and Treason and now why it was raked up out of the Dust and Printed when it was I shall leave the World to guess onely I cannot for bear observing the Authour was more ingenuous than the Publisher not onely because he concealed it but also because he had undoubtedly set down the causes of his discontent in the beginning of his Preface which are omitted in the Print for those weary hours must relate to something before exprest to perfect the nse Within this Period of time belonging to Trussel falls in the Life of Henry the IV th written by Dr. Heyward and also the Life of Edward the IV th written very Elegantly and Prudently by William Habington Esquire and the Life of Richard the third written by George Buck Gent. Francis Bioâ—di and Italian Gentleman and of the Privy Chamber to King Charles the first hath written in the Italian Tongue the Civil Wars between the two Houses of Lancaster and York from King Richard the second to King Henry the VIII th translated Elegantly into English saith Sir Richard Baker by Henry Earl of Monmouth Sir Francis Bacon Viscount St. Albans writ the History of Henry the 7 th in a most Elegant style Edward Lord Herbert of Sherbury hath writ the Life of Henry the Eighth with great Exactness and Accuracy as he was a person of great industry and capacity He was put upon this Work by King Charles the first and consulted all our Records Dr. John Heyward wrote the Life of Edward the VIth very Elegantly and as much of that Prince's Reign and that of Queen Mary was spent in matters of Religion so Dr. Peter Heylin in his Ecclesia Anglicana Restaurata has given a very good account of their two Reigns and also Dr. Gilbert Burnet in his History of the Reformation in two Volumes in Folio which is excellently Epitomized by himself in Octavo Though these two chiefly intend the Ecclesiastical History of those times yet they have carefully intermixt the Civil History also especially Burnet who with his History hath published many Original Records of those times which do purely belong to the Civil History Sir William Dugdale one of the Kings of Arms in England hath writ two Books which he styles the Baronage of England being an excellent History of the Successions of all the noble Families of England which is of excellent use to the well understanding of the English History Sir Richard Baker hath written a Chronicle of the Kings of England from the times of the Romans Government unto the Death of King James to which the Reign of Charles the first
much fidelity and industry that he seems to be the onely man amongst all our Writers who hath performed the part of a good Historian and the famous Camden speaks thus of him both the Civil and Church History of England is much in debt to that man He writ in V Books the History of the Actions of the Kings of England from the year of Christ 449 in which the English and Saxons entered Britain to the year 1116 which was the XVI th year of the Reign of Henry the first to which he afterwards added two Books more from the XX th year of that Kings Reign to the 8 th year of King Stephen which was the year of Christ 1143 in which times he Lived There are some who advise the beginning with Jeffery of Monmouth because he begins his History much higher and affirms that one Brutus a great Grandchild of Aeneas and LXVIII Kings besides Reigned here for about one thousand years before Caesar entred Britain but we thought it very fit to pass him by because he seems to write of things that are very obscure and dark by reason of their Great Antiquity and are involved with mere fabulous Stories nor have we done or spoken this upon our own private judgment onely many Learned men having said the same thing before us Neubrigensis who Lived not long after Jeffery of Monmouth speaks thus In our times saith he there Sprung up a certain Writer who to Expiate the faults of the Britains set forth a number of ridiculous inventions extolling their Vertue and Valour with an impudent Vanity above the Macedonians and Romans his Name was Jeffery and he was Nicknamed Arthur because taking the Fables of the ancient Britains concerning Arthur out of their old Romances and encreasing them with his own Additions and giving them the Varnish of the Latine Tongue he Cloathed them with the Honourable Name of an History He also with greater boldness published the fallacious divinations of one Merlin which he hath also improved by his own Additions whilst he turned them into Latine for Authentick Prophecies which were grounded upon unmoveable truth John of Withamsted who flourished in the time of Henry the VI th doth in part agree with William of Newbury According to other Histories saith he which in the judgment of some deserve more Credit this whole process concerning Brute is rather Poetical than Historical and for many causes seems to be founded in fancy rather than in any Reality and Bale confesseth that there are many things in his History which exceed belief and John Twin a diligent searcher out of the British Antiquities calls him the British Homer the Father of Lies but Ponticus Virunnius a very Learned man in the esteem of Vossius who lived above 130 years since and reduced Jeffery's History into an Epitome passing by the fabulous parts of it bestows this Elogy upon him Jeffery of Monmouth was a famous Historian and a Cardinal a man of much Authority with Robert Duke of Gloster Son of Henry II King of England he was a great favourer of his Countrey and Collecting a History of the most ancient times from the Records of their Kings and out of their highest Philosophy he continued the same in an uninterrupted Series from the times of the Trojans That his History is most true will appear from the Custome of the Western Kings which was to have always some with them who should faithfully relate their greatest Actions and John Leland also defends him against Newbury and Polidore Virgil he flourished about the year of Christ 1160 under Henry the II. But however as I said before for these reasons we have passed him by and rather put our Reader upon William of Malmesbury Henry Archdeacon of Huntington follows next who in VIII Books shewing the Origine of our Nation and continuing the History of King Stephen and his Successours goes on to the year 1153 he wrote many other excellent Pieces which would enrich our History but that they lie concealed from the World in Manuscripts in Libraries Polidore Virgil styles him an excellent Historian and John Leland an approved writer he flourished about the year of Christ 1160. William of Newbury beginning with the Death of Henry the first continues the History a little farther to wit to the year 1197 he is a great lover of truth in the opinion of Polydore Virgil but he is sharply reprehended by John Leland because in reprehending Jeffery of Monmouth he kept no mean he flourished about the year of Christ 1220. To Conclude Roger Hoveden deduced our History to the year of Christ 1202 in his Annals which he hath divided into two parts that is to the IV th year of King John's Reign in whose time this Authour flourished An ADDITION There is a passage cited by Mr. Selden concerning this last Authour out of John Leland which I think worth the inserting here Simeon Dunelmensis is to be deservedly reckoned with the principal Monks of his Age He very well understanding that the things which had happened beyond the Severn both by reason of the sloath and negligence of their Writers in the fury of so many Danish Wars and also by the injury of time were so obscured and oppressed that in a short time the memory of them would be lost except the diligence of some Learned man repaired the memory of them by Collecting them together and digesting them into order entered into a serious Consultation with himself how he might prevent this mischief deliberating a long time with himself that which was most necessary and usefull offered it self at last to him which was carefully to search out the remainders of those ancient Libraries which had been Ruined by the Danes c. for the Monks had preserved some fragments of them whilst they fled from the fury of their Enemies c. All these the curious diligence of Simeon sought out found and examined so that his ardent Care had no remission till he had brought the History of the Northumbrian Kingdom from the times of Bede to the Reign of King Stephen the Usurper I design not saith he in this place to write the praises of Simeon his work is immortal and will Live though I say nothing of it onely I would have the Reader take notice that there was one Roger Hoveden a not unlearned man who in the same order with Simeon hath deduced the History from Bede to the Reign of King John whom as I cannot but commend for his History of our Ancestours so I must needs blame him that he rifled the Flowry Meads of Simeon ' s History without ever mentioning his Name the same Leland calls him in another place as Mr. Selden acquaints us a Commendable person with the former exception notwithstanding and Mr. Selden tells us hereupon that many men thought these two works were the same but saith he as it is most certain that R. Hoveden made use of Simeon ' s Annals
as he did of many other written in Latine and Saxon and that he begins where Bede ends as Simeon doth but yet it will appear to any person who shall compare these two together that Hoveden has an innumerable number of things which Simeon hath not and that there are some things again in Simeon which R. Hoveden passed by so that he is not to be esteemed a plagiary in relation to Simeon but rather a very diligent Writer who hath Collected from Simeon and many others who went before him and made out of all a copious single work which is usually done by the best Historians of all Ages When our Authour wrote this method of Reading Histories this Simeon Dunelmensis was not Printed but in the year 1652 this and nine other ancient Historians were first published together and out of Mr. Selden's Prolegomena's to them I have transcribed the passage above which will give the Reader a fuller account of R. Hoveden and at the same time present Simeon Dunelmensis to him as a person worthy of his observation This History begins as the Title tells us after the Death of Bede Anno Domini 732 and it ends Anno Domini 1129 it contains the History of CCCCXXIX years and IV months Joannes Hagustaldensis continued this History XXV years that is from the year 1130 to the year 1154 which was the 19 th and last year of King Stephen's Reign he flourished under Henry the Second and Richard the first he was a very good witness of what he Wrote as Living in or very near those times he represents he was a most excellent and a most diligent Writer as Mr. Selden styles him Richardus Hagustaldensis wrote the IV first years of the Reign of King Stephen which are Printed immediately after the former Ailredus Rievallis Abbas wrote amongst other things a Genealogie of the Kings of England to Henry the Second Radulphus de Diceto Dean of St. Paul's in London wrote an Abbreviation of the Chronicles from the year 589 to the year 1147 where he begins another work which he calls the Images of History which he continues to 1199 or the beginning of King John's Reign Joannes de Brompton wrote a Chronicle from the arrival of Augustine the Monk Anno Christi 588 to the beginning of King John's Reign 1199 which is especially valuable for a Collection and version of the Saxon Laws in Latine made in the time of Edward the third at the least he was an industrious Student as Vossius speaks of him and wrote in the Reign of Edward the third Gervasius Dorobernensis wrote a Chronicle from the year 1112 to the year 1199 which was from the 12 th year of Henry the first to the Death of Richard the first he was made a Monk about the year 1142 he was as Leland saith of him Studious of Antiquities above belief and for that end Collected a vast number of Historians especially of those who accurately handled the British and Saxon affairs till at last he himself entred the Lists and made tryal of his own parts by publishing an excellent Volume in which he deduced the History of the Britains from their Original together with that of the Saxons and the valiant atchievements of the Normans to the Reign of King John thus far Leland of him but whether the beginning of this History is lost I cannot say but we have onely this Printed which I have mentioned of the particular English History Henricus Knighton Leicestrensis wrote a Chronicle of the Events of England as he styles it in his first Book he gives a short account of some Saxon and Norman affairs from the time of Edgar who began his Reign Anno Christi 958 to the Reign of William the Conquerour and then he writes more largely to the year 1395 which was the 19 th year of Richard the Second in whose times this Historian flourished All these Authours were Printed in one body by Cornelius Bee in the year 1652 under the Title of the ten Writers of the English History before which time they were onely Extant in Manuscripts in Libraries and so could not possibly be taken into our Authour's method as I observed before SECT XXIX Asser Menevensis his History commended in what time to be read with the former as also Eadmerus his History Matthew Paris his History Baronius his judgment of him Thomas of Walsingham his Chronicle the actions of King Stephen written by an unknown Authour the Life of Edward the Second by Sir Thomas de la Moore Knight is also to be taken in due time I Must confess those latter Historians do not make any great addition of years to Malmesbury's History yet they will illustrate it and sometimes perhaps make it more full and perfect of this the Reader will have a great Experience if about the year of Christ 849 he take in the Life of Alfred written by Asser Menevensis which History as the famous Camden saith will afford no small pleasure to thy mind nor will it bring less profit than pleasure if whilst the mind is fixed on the Contemplation of those great things you endeavour wholly to conform your self to the imitation and as it were representation of them Asser Menevensis flourished about the year of Christ 910. This great Prince who was the wonder of the age in which he Lived has found many admirers since but none have so well deserved of his Memory as the Learned Sir John Spelman Son of the Great Sir Henry Spelman who wrote the Life of this Alfred King of England in three Books in English which I suppose was never Printed but an Elegant version of it in Latine with very excellent marginal Notes by the Students of Great Hall in Oxon with a great Collection of our Coins and several other great rarities was put out in Folio at the Theatre there in the year 1678 I wish we might yet have the Original English also printed And then if about the year of Christ 1060 the Reader please he may also take in Eadmerus his History which was lately brought to light and illustrated with Notes and excellent Collections by the Learned John Selden a Lawyer of rare Erudition This History contains the Reigns of William the first and second and Henry the first to wit from the year of Christ 1060 to the year 1122 in which time the Authour Lived he was very dear to Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury in those times and died Archbishop of St Andrews in Scotland himself after he had been Abbat of St. Albans in England a preferment in those days of great honour To these the Reader may add that true and faithfull History written by Matthew Paris which beginning with the Coronation of William the Conquerour Anno Christi 1067 is continued by him to the year 1253 and by another as Bale assures us to the year 1273 that is to the Death of Henry
and as Sincerity was the Foundation of all he wrote so his Works are in so great esteem that a very grave and Learned Modern Writer who hath written the Life of Mary Stuard confesseth that he took his Directions for that Work from Camden ' s Annals of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth this Testimony is of the more value because from a prfessed Enemy who deplores Camden's dying an Heretick The Commendations given by the Authour in the end of the last Section to Camden's Annals of Queen Elizabeth are deservedly due to them and much more for he being his Patron as he saith and Founder of the History Lecture in Oxon which our Authour then had he would not break into those Commendations of him which he otherwise would have done lest his gratitude might have seemed to have bribed his Judgment but I believe it is granted by all the Learned World that Camden's Annals is one of the best pieces that hath seen the Light since the reviving of Learning in this Western part of the World and that great Princess had this additional felicity given her from Heaven that as her Reign was long and prosperous and her memory is precious still and ever will be to all English men so she found in Camden a noble learned eloquent ingenious Celebratour of her actions which hath given her a second Life here on Earth in the memories of men which shall last till the Resurrection instate her in the third the last and most perfect Life of consummated Glory but then all this is meant of the Original Latine for the English Version which we now have is a poor mean harsh style and translated not from the Latine neither but from a French translation so that I will ever hope to see an Elegant new Version made upon the Original and in some degree worthy of that great man But to continue down the History one Robert Johnston a Learned Scot hath written an History of the British and much of the French Dutch and German Affairs both Civil and Ecclesiastick in XXII Books from the year 1572 to the year 1628 that is from the first year of King James the VI th of Scotland to the third year of Charles the first of England which History though for thirty years of it parallel with Camden's Annals yet is even there worthy of our serious reading but then he has brought down the English History XXVI years lower than Mr. Camden did I could wish I could give the Reader a better account than I now can of this Authour who is not known to me by any thing but this History of his but all I can now do is to give the account Printed in the Epistle to the Reader before his History which is this in short This Authour in his Life time published the two first of these Books and dedicated them to Charles the first and then went on in writing the rest which he promised the World then how candidly he has acted in these Histories is left to the judgment of the World in the interim this Good man as was fit gives this testimony of himself I have not sold my Fidelity for Money nor engaged it to any man for his favour and as to my stock of ingenuity I submit it intirely to your censure I onely beg my Reader would treat me in Reading with the same equity he desires I should him in Writing for I seek no other recompence for my Labour besides that of Praise and Memory in after times And a little after No Mortal Man can satisfie all the World because some are delighted with Antiquity and the musty expressions of former times mixed with grave and wise Sentences others are onely to be pleas'd with a Laconick brevity concise and dark expressions whilst at the same time others being enemies to all excessive brevity and too great subtilty are onely to be won by an high and sublime style But it is a folly to expect in the Writers of our Age the Perfect Eloquence of Caesar the Brevity of Cato or Salust the Pomp of Tacitus or the Briskness and Height of the Livian Oratory I willingly acknowledge that in this Narrative I have performed nothing that is great or high I have onely represented the British Affairs in necessary words without any paint or fraud and without the suspicion of Favour or Aversion and in short I am so far from all desire of vain-glory and seeking the Applause of Many that I seek no Praise for my ingenuity but industry I am not in love with Glory but studious of truth and desirous of the reward of a good Conscience and a good Name from Posterity In the interim saith the Publisher the Courteous Reader will easily observe how religiously the Authour pursues all those things which are capable to give an Historian credit and which excite the minds of the Reader to Vertue Probity and Prudence And you will easily observe saith he how many things he relates worthy of Knowledge and which will render a Prince fit for the Administration of publick or domestick affairs in Peace or War at home or abroad and a Clergyman prudent in the Administration of Church-Government This Person was no way tainted with that Presbyterian Levin which then infected the Scotch Nation almost generally nor was he poisoned with the Republican Principles of the Age but every where with great prudence discovers the rise of those Men and Principles which afterwards imbroiled and bid fair for the Ruine of these Nations No Man perhaps having better set forth the turbulent behaviour of the Parliaments in the times in which he Wrote The Combinations and secret underminings of the Factious Levites and their disciples the Good Commonwealth-Men as they were styled in that Age. His Style is short and concise but very clear saving that he affects a little too much the use of Greek Words which may make him a little the less intelligible and pleasant to a mere Latin Reader who is not acquainted with the Greek Tongue Dr. George Bates a Learned Physician hath Written the History of our late Rebellion with great Elegance Judgment Brevity and Fidelity to the Deposition of Richard Cromwell May the 7th 1659. in two parts in which he hath excellently described the Methods by which that abominable War was raised and maintained by our Factions the Execrable Murther of Charles the Martyr and the Miseries that followed thereupon and overwhelmed the English Nation Dr. Thomas Skinner another Learned Physician has continued the former till the year 1669. describing the excessive joy of England at the Restitution of Charles the Second of Blessed Memory and the Catastrophies of the Regicides with an Elegance as bright and sparkling as the English exultation was in the day when God so wonderfully turn'd the Captivity of our Israel a day never to be forgotten by Englishmen SECT XXXI Although we have no perfect Body of our English History in Latin Written according
Pyrenean Mountains THe principal Writers of the History of Gallia which the French now possess that I may say nothing of the most ancient Julius Caesar his VII Books of the Gallick War And Hirtius who continues him nor of Appianus his Celirks which belong to this Story are these Gregorius Turonensis Bishop of Tours in his first Book brings down the History from the beginning of the World to the Reign of Theodosius the first in the other nine Books he sets forth the Lives and actions of the Kings of France to his own times and the year of Christ 594 but the XIth Book which is supposed to have been added by Fredegarius ends in the Death of Charles the Great which happened Anno Christi 814. Paulus Aemilius Veronensis a man of a Livian style of whom mention is made above Sect. XXV as Reinerus Reineccius bears witness spent XXX years in the compiling his History of France after the Dissolution of the Roman Dominion and comes down to Philip and Charles his Brother Children of Luis that is from the year 420 to the year 1488 the opinion of J. Lipsius concerning this History is that if a few things were lightly Corrected he would be a person above the Learning of our Age and deserve the Commendations given to ancient Authours and Ludovicus Vivis saith his History is written with more Fidelity and truth than that of Gaguinus who has disclosed and intermixt his own affections in his History Paulus Jovius hath written the Reigns and Lives of Charles the 8th Luis the 12th and Francis the first King of France splendidly and elegantly Arnoldus Ferronius Burdegalensis hath continued the History of Aemilius to Henry the second Philippus Comines of whom mention is made above Sect. the 25th has woven the History of Luis the XIth and Charles the VIIIth his Son in a clear and elegant style and although Jacobus Mejerus avers in many places that he is mistaken yet he is in the judgment of the Learned Vossius a true and a prudent Historian and Johannes Sleidanns gives him this Elogie This Authour is in my judgment the nearest to the ancient Historians of all those that have wrote in or near our times both in prudence and veracity for he lays before us the grave deliberations that passed in the Closets of Princes before they appeared in their Events abroad which very few have attempted to do fewer have been able to do it effectually and even those who could have done it have yet not dared to do it lest they should offend their Princes Johannes Frossardus has splendidly and elegantly written the History of those dreadfull Wars which passed betwixt the English and French from the year 1335 to the year 1400 who deserves the greater faith because he was a follower of the Courts of Kings and Princes especially of Philippa Daughter of the Count of Heynault Queen to Edward the third King of England nor did he relate any thing in his History but what he had seen with his own Eyes or heard from others who had seen them or had the chief Commands in the Wars Johannes Sleidanus hath excerpted the most material passages out of this History and turned them into Latine for it is Originally written in French and Sir John Bouchier Knight translated this intire History into English Enguerus Monstreletus hath continued Frossardus and brought down the French History to the Reign of Luis the XIIth Martinus Longaeus wrote a Commentary in X Books of the actions of Francis I. of Valoise King of France and Stephanus Doletus and Galeacius Capella have written the History of the Wars betwixt Charles the fifth and this Prince for the Dutchy of Milan from the year 1520 to the year 1530 the latter is followed by Gulielmus Paradinus who hath added the story of the succeeding years to the year 1555. A nameless person perhaps Franciscus Hottomanus has written the History of France during the Reigns of Henry the second Francis the second and Charles the IXth Rabutinus hath written the Expedition of Henry the second against Charles the Vth undertaken in the year 1552 on the behalf of the Princes of Germany Eusebius Philadelphus that is Theodorus Beza who by the Cloudiness of this name obscured himself has wrote the History of Charles the IXth and of his Mother Petrus Matthaeus a Lawyer the Royal Historian has writ the History of Henry the IV th King of France and of Navar in VII Books BESIDES these which we have mentioned there are several others which ought to be perused as Carolus Molinaeus who hath writ of the Rise and Progress of the French Kingdom and Monarchy and Hubertus Leonardus of the Origine of the French â—â—tion but then Hunibaldus Francus who has wrote the affairs of the Franks from the Wars of Troy to the times of Clodoneus is to be esteemed of the same nature with Annius his Berosus and the rest of those fabulous Writers in the judgment of the famous Vossius de Hist. lat lib. 2. c. 22. Aimoinus the Monk is to be better thought of who is an excellent Historian as the Authour de Regimine Principatus lib. 3. c. 21. calls him which work is commonly but very falsely ascribed to Aquinas he wrote the actions of the French from the year 420 to the year 826 in V Books for the proof of whose Fidelity these words of his make very much there was another Monk in the same Monastery a Priest and a professed Monk as well as he and his name was Audoaldus he was of the same age and in his Manners and Conversation very like him from whose Mouth we have received what is delivered and much more which we are confident is faithfully related Nor is Joannes Trithemius though a German to be lightly passed by who has writ III Books of the Origine Kings and affairs of France from the year of Christ 433 to the year 1500 which was the III year of Charles the VIII th Nor Nicholaus Gilius who hath Composed the Annals of France Hermannus Comes who writes of their affairs to the year 1525 or Robertus Gaguinus who has deduced their History from the most remote Antiquity to the time of the Expedition of Charles the VIII th into Italy Anno Christi 1493 though he has mixed his own affections with the History as Vivis saith and yet Mejerus is not to be admitted neither who calls him a frivolous Writer which is to be attributed to his disaffection to the French Nation and all their Historians for he saith of them in general the French do not use to relate their actions with more fidelity than they transact them and besides as Mejerus out of his too great affection to his Countrey has delivered many things done in his own times there very partially so in Foreign affairs he is not over much to be Credited Paulus Jovius affirming of
good reward for his labour three things are insignally necessary First That the Order he observe be right and Constant that he be not Confused wandring and desultory in his reading Secondly That he have a clear and good judgment that he may with dexterity Apprehend what he reads and well discern what is to be selected Thirdly There ought to be employed a diligent and exact industry that gathering Stores of all sorts they may be regularly disposed as it were in a Granary we design therefore to divide this dissertation into three general Parts the first of which shall contain the principal Authours which are to be read and shall also shew the Order in which they are to be read the second shall teach who is to be Esteem'd a Competent well qualified reader of History the third shall shew an Excellent way of gathering the fruits of History and Explain the order and method of disposing them into Cells or Store-houses SECT II. What Series of Histories is to be observed and how to be ordered the great intervals of time to be observed an Epocha or Aera what it is how many there is the Floods or inundations in what times they happened the Obscure and Fabulous intervals or periods of time the Olympiads or Historical interval AS to the first of these such a chain Series or Succession of Authours is to be observed in reading as may exactly imitate the intervals of times and the great and general Monarchies The intervals or Periods of times as they relate to History and the memory of Affairs as Censorinus observes out of Varro are three the first from the beginning of mankind to the first Flood which saith he for the ignorance of the things that were done in it is call'd the Obscure Period the second is from the first Flood to the first Olympiad in which because many things are fabulously related it is call'd the Mythick or fabulous interval the third is from the first Olympiad to our times by which he means the times of the Caesars which is call'd the Historick Aera because the things which have been done in it are contained in true Histories These great intervals as you will see are divided or distinguished by several Epochas Now an Epocha is some illustrious beginning in time from whence we number the following times and we observe two sorts of Ephocas the Ecclesiastical and the Civil the first of these are used in the Sacred Scriptures and Church History such as are these which follow from the beginning of the World or the Creation from the inundation or Flood from the building of the tower of Babel or the Confusion of Tongues from the going out of Egypt and the like these that follow are frequently read in Prophane Histories or heathen Authours from the destruction of Troy from the first Olympiad from the Expedition of Cyrus from the passage of Xerxes c. So in this place of Censorinus from the beginning of mankind or the Creation of the World to the Deluge and it is remarkable he styles it the first Flood for History preserves the memory of three great Floods or Deluges The first was the Universal Deluge in the time of the Patriarch Noah of which Moses Writes in the Holy Scriptures which fell in the year of the World 1656. The Second was that of Ogyges in Achaia which destroyed almost all that Province and because it happen'd in the time Ogyges who was then the Founder and King of Elusina he gave name to the time and place of it According to Orosius this fell in the year of the World 2185 in the days of the Patriarch Jacob. The third was the Ducaleon Inundation from him so call'd in whose time an inundation they are the words of Orosius of Waters Consum'd the greatest part of the People of Thessalia very few Escaping by the refuge of the Mountains and Especially in Mount Parnassus about which Ducaleon's Kingdom lay who entertaining them that fled to him in Boats preserved and fed them upon the two heads of Parnassus upon which account he is call'd the repairer of Mankind this Deluge fell in the year of the World 2437 in the time of Cecrops King of the Athenians and about 15 years before the going of the Children of Israel out of Egypt I follow the Computation of Scaliger which I desire the Reader would observe once for all 2. That first Interval which to Varro though a most Learned man seem'd Obscure all Night to us Christians is full of Light and by the Assistence of the Holy Scriptures more bright than the Meridian Sun and we know it contains 1656 years the History of which we have delivered by Moses in a most brief Compendium in the first six Chapters of Genesis nor is there any thing to be found concerning those things that passed before the Deluge in all the Monuments of Learning that are Extant or can be found but onely here 3. The Second Interval from the Deluge to the first Olympiad that is to the first Exercise which every fourth year was Celebrated by the Grecians in honour of Jupiter Olympius and falls in with the XXXIV or XXXV year of the Reign of Uzziah King of Judah contains one thousand five hundred and eighteen years that is from the year of the World 1656 to the year of the World 3174. And this is call'd by Varro and not without just cause the Mythick or fabulous interval because to it belong almost all the Arguments or Subjects of the Poetick Fables For although there are some relations Extant in the Greek Poems and Historians which are a little more ancient than the first Olympiad such as the Trojan War the Expedition of the Argonauts the Histories of Perseus Oedipus Hercules Theseus and some others which for the most part are comprehended by Ovid in his Chronicle yet in truth as Africanus saith all is full of Confusion and disagreement and wants the distinction of years nor is there any thing worth the taking notice of in all the Grecian Monuments which happened in all that long interval which passed betwixt the Trojan War and the first Olympiad consisting of CCCC years and much less is there any thing before the Trojan War worthy of Regard Hence Justin Martyr in his Oration to the Grecians thus bespeaks them You ought to know that nothing is Exactly written by the Grecians before the first Olympiad and Eusebius in his de praparatione Evangelii Chapter the 10th till the Olympiads there is nothing of any certainty written by the Grecians but every thing is confused nor before that time do they at all agree amongst themselves Yet nevertheless we Christians have a certain History of all this Fabulous interval and in what relates to the Church large enough and very clear written by Moses and the Prophets those Pen-men of the Holy Ghost wherein many things are intermixt concerning the Empires and Kingdoms of the Nations and their Actions by the
it from us who in his Book de Methodo cap. 70. Affirms that the famous division of the Kingdoms of the old World into IV Monarchies was built upon the Modern Authority and insipid Conceit of some late Writers But from what has been said it clearly appears to us on the contrary that these IV great Empires were anciently observed and designed of which two flourished successively in Asia and are therefore call'd the Asiatick and for the same reason the two others are call'd the European which succeeded in Europe Vellejus also in the place I have cited above seems to me to prove and confirm both these Names and several Successions of the great Empires in the following times saith he the Empire of Asia was translated from the Assyrians who had held it a thousand and seven hundrd years to the Medes but the truth is it is not worth our while to contend any longer about either the Names or the distinctions of the Monarchies In short then I say that it is most certainly true and incontestably known to all Antiquity that the Assyrians and Chaldeans first and after them the Medes and Persians did heretofore Rule over so great a part of Asia that they might well be call'd the Supreme Monarchs of the World as it was then peopled and the same may be said of the Grecians in their times and much more of the Romans by whom if not the greatest yet certainly the best part not onely of Asia but also of Europe and Africa was Conquered as Histories inform us which made Polybius thus express himself The Romans having forced not onely some considerable parts but almost the whole inhabited World to submit to their Authority and Empire have raised their greatness to such a prodigious height that the present Age may very rationally Extoll their happiness but no succeeding Ages will ever be able to excell them SECT IV. The Rise and duration of the Assyrio Chaldean Empire and also of the Medio-Persian then of the Grecian and lastly the beginning of the Roman Empire before Julius Caesar how many years betwixt that and the times of Charles the Great and from thence to Charles the fifth BUt to go on that first Assyrio-Chaldean Empire for so I am inclin'd to call it was begun by Nimrod who is by some others call'd Belus in the year of the world 1717 or there abouts it continued a very long time that is almost one thousand and seven hundred years for this Empire lasted almost the whole time of Censorinus his second interval and after that too it ran out into the third the Historick interval 238 years It is true as the Learned Scaliger has observed it was not always in the same State of power and greatness but at times was broken and diminished For in the beginning it was of a vast Extent but afterwards the Nations that were subject to it made defections till it was torn into several shreds or parcels the Kings of Assyria giving up themselves to Luxury and thinking of nothing less than Arms and the preservation of their Kingdom but notwithstanding from the first Foundation of it to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus when it was transferred to the Medes and Persians there passed almost 1700 years For though Justinus and Georgius Monachus affirm the Assyrians were Masters of the World but one thousand and three hundred years the latter 1060 years and Diodorus Siculus 1400 years Yet I suppose they are to be understood of the time iu which the Posterity of Nimrod or Ninus Reigned who laid the Foundations of that Empire A. M. 1717 and particularly of Sardanapalus who according to Vellejus was the last that Reigned of XXXIII descents in which till then the Son had succeeded his Father But Phul Belochus and his Posterity first and then Merodach Baladan and his Progeny followed the Family of Ninus and kept up that Monarchy in the Assyrian Nation to Baltazar who was the last of their Kings and perished when Babylon was taken by Cyrus for so Funccius Reinerus Reineccius Viginerius and others do seem to collect out of Scripture But Josephus Scaliger Dionys. Petavius Jaco Capellus and others contend against this and endeavour to prove out of Berosus Megasthenes and Ptolemy that the Death of Baltazar by the treachery of his own Servants whom he had enraged against him by his ill Nature happened about seventeen years before the taking of Babylon by Cyrus So he being slain in the 55th Olympiad one Nabonidus by Nation a Mede call'd by Daniel Darius the Mede by the common consent of the Conspiratours succeeded him and he by the chance of War being overcome by Cyrus King of Persia in the XVII year of his Reign and Babylon taken had his Life and the Government of Carmania given him and so the Empire was translated to the Persians in the second year of the 60 Olympiad and A. M. 3412. 2. It is not therefore difficult from what has been said to shew that the Assyrio-Chaldean Monarchy from its first Rise to that period we have given it lasted almost 1700 years which may also be confirm'd by what Calisthenes the Scholar of Aristotle is said to have related for he following Alexander the Great in his Asiatick Expedition upon the request of his Master after Babylon was taken diligently enquired of those who were skilfull in the Babylonish Antiquities concerning their Astronomical Observations the successions of the Kings of that most ancient Monarchy and of the Number of their years and what ever Chaldean Antiquities or Astronomical Observations he could get he sent them into Greece which Simplicius somewhere avers contained 1903 years 3. The Second Empire call'd the Medio-Persick is said to have lasted from the taking of Babylon by Cyrus to the taking the same City by Alexander the Macedonian Darius Codomanus the tenth and last King of the Persians being Conquered not above 210 years for Alexander entered Babylon in the III year of the 112 Olympiad A. M. 3620. 4. The third Monarchy call'd the Grecian and begun by Alexander the Great after the Conquest of Darius is thought to have lasted to Perseus the Son of Philip the Second King of Macedonia who was overcome by Paulus Aemilius and his Kingdom reduced into a Roman Province which space of time comprehends somewhat more than two hundred and sixty years for Perseus was overcome taken and led in Triumph to Rome by P. Aemilius in the year of the Building of Rome 586 A. M. 3782. and about that time it was that the Roman Empire attained that so much admired Greatness which Polybius hath so much extoll'd in the former Section which yet afterwards encreased but from this time was esteem'd the IV Monarchy for to this time that Aemilius Sura whom we have cited from Paterculus in plain words refers the beginning of its Empire Two Kings Perseus and Antiochus being overcome the Empire of the World saith he was translated to the Romans which Polybius also avers
almost in the same words the Romans having Conquered the Kingdom of Macedonia brought the World under their Dominion yea as the same Polybius acquaints us the Nations submitted in great Numbers to them and made them the Arbitratours of Peace and War betwixt themselves which Florus also confirms for from henceforth saith he the Kings of the World and the Captains People and Nations sought Protection from this City And again Polybius Now it was confess'd by all necessity extorting from them this Declaration that the Romans must for the future be obeyed and their Commands submitted to To conclude Daniel the Prophet States here the beginning of the IVth Monarchy if the Learned Melancthon thinks right whose words are these when Daniel names and depaints the IV th Monarchy he does not begin it onely from Julius Caesar and Augustus but includes the time in which the City of Rome was possess'd of the Empire of the World even before their Civil Wars began And therefore if from hence we compute the time of its duration there is to the time of Julius Caesar 118 years from thence to Constantine the Great 356 years from thence to Augustulus who was forced by Odacrus King of the Heruli to resign the Empire are above 170 years and from thence to Charles the Great 325 years so that from the Conquest of Macedonia to Charles the Great are 978 years and from thence to Charles the V th are 720 years so that from the Overthrow of Perseus to the Reign of Charles the V th there is in all 1688 years SECT V. Why these four were call'd by way of Eminence the Monarchies I Am not Ignorant that many other Dynasties Kingdoms Empires and Commonwealths here and there flourished in the World during the times of the three first Monarchies but especially in the Ages of the first and second as for Example that of the Egyptians Cicyonians Spartans and Aethiopians and others frequent mention of which is made in ancient Historians and we reade that some of them had some times vast Dominions as Sesostris King of Egypt Venit ad occasum mundique extrema Sesostris Et Pharios currus Regum cervicibus egit Who saw the Western Shoars the bound of things And drove his Char'ots o'er the Necks of Kings As Lucan sings and Justin saith Vexoris King of Egypt extended his Empire to Pontus Strabo saith too that Tearchon the Aethiopian led an Army into Europe and Pliny writes that the Aethiopians were great and powerfull to the times of the Trojan Wars and the Reign of Memnon yet that the said IV Monarchies did much excell all these is too well known to need any proof for it is to be observed that we do not call these the IV great Monarchies as if they included all other Regions and Nations but because they were Masters of a great part of the World and had so much power that they could easily Curb and give Laws to all other Princes for therefore did God Erect Monarchies in the World that men might be Governed by Laws Justice and a good Discipline as Melancthon observes SECT VI. How the reading of History is to be begun good Epitomes not to be Condemn'd Synopsis of Histories Chronologers some other Compendiums commended by Name What Authours are principally to be consulted as to Universal History Rawleigh one of the best but the History of the Bible is the most ancient and first of all to be read WHerefore if any man desires to run over with advantage the History of these Monarchies or Empires and in them the History of the World I would advise him to begin with some short Compendium Chronology or Synopsis before he enter that vast Ocean because he may by that means learn at once the series of times and Ages the Successions of Empires and the greatest changes which have happened amongst Mankind and so he may if he please draw in his mind an Exemplar or Idea of the whole body of the Universal History which he may contemplate with ease as it were at once and this too was the advice of Lodovicus Vivis At first saith he choice is to be made of some Authour who begins with the remotest times and brings down from thence the chiefest heads of History in a constant thred to or near our times for although in truth it cannot be denied that Compendiums have some times done much mischief in the World and proved the ruine of some of the best ancient Authours yet we will not therefore despise those Epitomes which are made with reasonable Abreviations if they render the way to an improvement plain and easie For as Infants being led by the hand learn at first to go so I would by all means perswade young men to begin the Study of History with Epitomes and short Histories till the Foundations being well laid in process of time they may approach and try the very Fountains with good advantage It will be therefore usefull to begin with Beurerus his Synopsis or Sleidan's Compendium pendium of the IV great Monarchies which is written as Reineccius expresseth himself concerning it in an Elegant Polite manly Style and which may well be thought to be of the number of those Books which are attended with a long Liv'd Genius or if he please Melancthon's Chronicle which as one Stephanus tells us whoever has not tasted must be a mere Block it being the most Learned and Elegant Epitome of the History of almost the whole World There are other Books of equal worth which may as justly be recommended to the Reader As first Reinerus Reineccius his Syntagma of those Families which in the Monarchies have had the Government A laborious exquisite work by which the Reader being led as it were by the hand into the pleasant Fields of History shall perform his Journey with much the greater Ease Pleasure and Happiness I think also that Jacobus Capellus his Sacred and Exotick History adapted with great diligence to the order of times he being a man of much Learning is by no means to be deprived of its deserved Commendation it being worthy to be read seriously in the very first beginning of the Study of History and which I wish he had brought down to our times for it ends with the Birth of Augustus A. V. C. 696. But Dionysius Petavius a Jesuit has lately writ an excellent piece of the same Nature which he hath styl'd Temporum Rationarium in which the Sacred and Prophane History of all times from the Creation of the World to the year of Christ 1632 is shortly brought down and confirm'd with Chronological Proofs Amongst the more famous Chronologers if the Reader desires to perfect himself in Chronology which will be of Vast Advantage to him besides Capellus and Petavius both which I rank in that order he may reade Funccius Buntingus Helvicus or Sethus Calvitius who in a late Edition
following Books we deliver the History of what passed throughout the World to the Death of Alexander the Great Thus far the Sicilian But alas the five Books which follow his fifth Book which he stiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Book of Isles because in it he treats of the Islands are to the deplorable injury of ancient History perished For in them was contain'd all the Oriental Antiquities which might have afforded much light to the Old Testament as the Learned Josephus Scaliger observes We should think this great Loss the less if Theopompus Euphorus Callisthenes Timaeus and the rest from whom Diodorus had with incredible industry compiled those five Books were still Extant Concerning which you may Consult Vossius his piece of the Greek Historians We cannot deny but some have blamed the Sicilian for those five Books that are Extant which we have recommended as first to be read and amongst them Lodovicus Vivis who admires how Pliny could say that Diodorus was the first of the Grecians who left off Trifling when saith he there is nothing more Idle But we reply that Learned Censor did not well consider that Diodorus himself owns that the History of those times was mixt with many Fables and delivered very variously by the Ancients but he was content to relate what seem'd most agreeable to Truth and yet at last he did not desire they should be taken for solid Truths but that he thought it was better to have the best knowledge we could of those Ancient times than to be altogether ignorant of them as Gerardus Joh. Vossius a man of a peircing judgment has well observed in his second Book of the Greek Historians chap. the second In the defect therefore of those Authours we have mentioned and to repair as well as we may the loss sustain'd in the former Books of the Sicilian helps are to be fetched in from Eusebius his Chronicon where we shall find many Antiquities pointed at from Plutarch's Theseus Licurgus and Solon from Pausanius his description of ancient Greece from the first Book of Orosius and especially from the Prophetick History in which onely are all those things that happened after the Death of Sardanapalus which are of certain and undoubted Faith to be found concerning the Assyrians and Chaldeans even to the beginning of the Medio-Persian Empire and a little farther and no where else amongst the Ancients if you except Josephus his Antiquities is there any thing to be found concerning these times and the Jewish State then for he indeed there treats of their State too from the times in which the Scriptures end to the XIII th year of the Reign of Domitius Caesar and LVI th year of his own Life But of Josephus we shall discourse more at large in his proper place there may also be many things worth the taking notice of observed in Diogenes Laertius his Lives of the Philosophers which will Embelish the History of the first Monarchy Especially the History of the last Century of it in which the VII wise men of Greece flourished and that famous man Pythagoras and many others whose Lives Laertius wrote in that Golden Book as H. Stephen in that most usefull Book and more valuable than Gold as the most Learned Vossius doubts not to call it SECT VIII Where Herodotus began his History and where he Ended it his Commendation in what time he flourished the Rise of the Second Monarchy the Contents of the several Books of Herodotus why the Names of the IX Muses were given them from what Authours his History may be inriched or illustrated HErodotus the Father of the Heathen History begins where the Prophetick History ends which is owing to the Goodness and Providence of God that as it were in the self same moment where the History of the Bible Concludes Herodotus Halicarnassensis should begin his For when the Prophets in the Holy Scriptures had related what seemed more worthy of the care of the Holy Ghost from the beginning of the World to Cyrus Herodotus beginning with Gyges King of Lydia Contemporary with Hezechias and Manassa Kings of Judah about the year of the World 3238 about CL years before Cyrus his Reign in Persia immediately descends to CYRUS the Great Founder of the Medio-Persian Empire and so deduceth the History of the Medes and Persians in a smooth Style which flowes like a quiet and pleasant River as Cicero in his Orator expresses it well to the time of the wretched flight of Xerxes out of Greece Which happened in the Second year of the LXXV Olympiad in the year of the World 3471. in which time Herodotus flourished and lived to the beginning of the Peloponnesian War Which Dionysius his Countrey-man relates in these words Herodotus Halicarnassaeus being born a little before the Persian Expedition lived till the Peloponnesian War That is from the first year of the LXXIV Olympiad to the Second year of the LXXXVII Olympiad for so the Great Scaliger computes his Age making him to have Lived precisely the space of XIII Olympiads that is LII years For so long Lived the sweetest Muse of Jonica as he calls him and then goes on thus He is the most ancient Writer in Prose who is now Extant the Treasury of the Grecian and Barbarian Antiquities an Authour never to be out of the hands of the Learned nor to be touched by the half Learned the Pedagogues and the Apes of Learning But however Herodotus might live somewhat longer yet it is sure he brought not his History beyond the times of Xerxes He has contained in Nine Books which he distinguished by the Names of the Nine Muses a continued History of CCXXXIV years Will you have the Contents of his several Books I will give you them shortly In his first Book besides what he relates of Gyges and the succeeding Kings of Lydia to Croesus of the ancient Jonia of the manners of the Persians Babylonians and some others he gives an Elegant account of the Birth of Cyrus the Authour of the Medio-Persian Monarchy and then of his Miraculous Preservation of his Education and Actions In his Second Book he describes all Egypt to the Life declares the Customs of the Egyptians and Commemorates the Succession of their Kings In his third Book he weaves the History of Cambyses and of Smerdis the Mage which simulated Cyrus and so Reigned VII Months and Explicates the fraud and the Discovery Then he subjoyns the Election of Darius Histaspis and then enumerates the Provinces of the Persian Empire and gives an account of the taking of Babylon by the faithfull industry of Zopirus in the praises of whom he ends it In his fourth Book he presents us with an exact Description of Scythia to which he adds the unfortunate Expedition of Darius against the Scythians and there we reade the History of the Mynians and the City of Cyrene built by them in Libya and the Description of the People of those
represents the ancient State of Greece from the times of the Expedition of the Argonauts and the Trojan War and comparing the greatness of the Peloponnesian War with all those that had preceded it and explaining the causes pretences and occasions of it he Premiseth the History of those fifty years which interven'd betwixt the flight of Xerxes and the beginning of this War without ever going on that account from his intended Subject But if the Reader desires a full and perfect History of these fifty years before he goes any farther in Thucydides let him in this place take in the Lives of Themistocles Aristides Pausanias and Cimon written by Platarch or Cornelius Nepos And the XI th and XII th Books of Diodorus Siculus and the second and third Books of Justin which all belong to this place and then let him proceed in Thucydides who in his second Book enters upon the description of that War in the first place telling us the time when it began and unfolding the method of the whole work and shewing who were the incendiaries and who began the War then follows the Oration made by the Laconian King to his Souldiers his commendation both of the Authority and Eloquence of Pericles and his Description of the dreadfull Plague at Athens then he Celebrates the worth of Phormion the Athenian General and their Naval Victories and commorates the Surrender of Potidea the Siege of the Plutenses and the ineffectual Expedition of the Thracians against Perdicca King of Macedonia and so entertains us with the History of the three first years of the War In the III Book are contained the affairs of the three next years of that War that is the defection of the Mitylenaeans and the other Lesbians to the Lacedemonians which being again reduced by the Athenian Forces there follows an illustrious Consultation concerning the punishing of them and the cruelty of Pachetis the Athenian Commander is observed the City of Platea taken and raced to the Ground the Sedition of the Cortyreans described the Seeds of the Sicilian War disclos'd the improsperous Battel of Demosthenes against the Aetolians and his more prosperous Engagement with the Ambracians In the IV th Book are read the fortifying the Pylus the Siege and the taking it and the manner of the defence the Victory against and taking the Spartan Nobility the fortunate actions of Brasida a famous Lacedemonian Commander in Thrace and these make up the History of the next three years The V th Book comprehends the History of almost seven years that is the Battel betwixt Brasida the Spartan Commander and Cleon the Athenian at Amphipolis a City of Thrace wherein both the Generals were Slain and paid for their restless disturbances then the various Leagues and Combinations of the two parties all weak and uncertain the foolish and mad stubbornness of the great men the sad effect of which follows In the beginning of the VI th Book the Authour makes a description of the ancient Sicily and gives an account of some part of their former Story Then the pretences of the Sicilian War and some Noble Consultations about it are propos'd Nicia opposing and Alcibiades promoting and perswading to it then he remembers some Prodigies which preceded that War the defection of Alcibiades to the Lacedemonians and some things which happened in Sicilia soon after the Arrival of the Athenian Fleet which things happened in the XVII th year of this War In the VII th Book Michalessus a City of Boeotia is taken by the Thracians who exercise there great Cruelties then the Authour prosecutes the Sicilian War which fell out very unfortunately for the Athenians and brought a grievous loss upon them the Commanders Demosthenes and Nicias being both taken and slain against the will of Gylippus to whom they rendred themselves These things were acted in the XVIII th and XIX th years of the Peloponnesian War In the VIII th Book he gives an account of the defection of the Athenian Confederates to the Lacedemonians their Enemies upon the News of this Overthrow and the League betwixt the Spartans and the Persian Governours of the Asian Provinces after this the Democracy of the Athenians is changed into an Olygarchy of forty men which is again soon after dissolved Lastly Thrasybulus and Thrasylus two Athenian Captains after a dubious Sea Fight at Abidus beat the Lacedemonian Fleet and their Leader Mindarus this Victory was obtain'd in the II year of the XCII Olympiad in the XXI year of this War in the Summer time where Thucydides his History ends Anno Mundi 3539. With Thucydides are the Lives of Pericles Alcibiades Chabrias Thrasybulus and Nicias written by Plutarch and C. Nepos to be read and the XIII th Book of Diodorus Siculus the IV th and V th of Justin and the first Book of Orosius Chapters the XIV th and XV th by all which the History may be somewhat enlarged and inriched SECT X. Of Xenophon his Praise and Elogies when and in what order he is to be read he gives us the History of XLVIII years which may be enlarged from Plutarch Justin and Diodorus Siculus THe thread of Thucydides his Story is continued by Xenophon who for the sweetness of his Style is call'd the Attick Muse and the Attick Bee by whose mouth also the Muses are said to have spoken as Cicero informs us in his Oratour He was famous about 410 years before the Birth of our Saviour there is an High encomium of Xenophon extant in Dion Chrysostome in his Oration concerning the Exercise of the Art of Speaking where with great ingenuity he recommends the reading of him averring amongst other things that the reading of him alone was sufficient to make a man a Politician nor is that which is related of him by Diogenes Laertius in the end of his Life the least part of his praise that Thucydides his Books being then unknown falling into his hands when he might with facility have supprest them he took care to publish them by which Act of his every man may know what Honour he deserved from those who have an esteem for the Grecian Eloquence or History and the Modern Criticks have not fail'd to give him equal Commendations Xenophon saith Lipsius in his History is a pleasant and faithfull or at least a cautious prudent Writer from which yet you may rather draw civil Prudence than that he seems to have intended it And yet Christoph. Colerus saith Civil Prudence is certainly the principal Vertue in the writings of Xenophon it sparkles strangely in his Institution of Cyrus and the Relation of his Expedition against Artaxerxes in which Xenophon discovers how great a Commander he himself was therefore let Xenophon be the Looking-glass of Kings and Princes the Viaticum as Homer was to Alexander the Great of Emperours The Glory saith Vossius of Xenophon was threefold for I will take no notice of his Eloquence he was a Philosopher an Historian and a
good Commander the truth is he left the Profession of Philosophy and wrote his History when he was a Commander I shall omit that Elegant piece of his concerning the Institution of Cyrus because it belongs to the foregoing times of which Herodotus wrote nor is it as is supposed penned as a true History but as a representation of a just Empire or Government yet Scipio Africanus that admired Personage had so great an Esteem for this Piece that he never went without it about him but to return he Composed the History of his own times in seven Books the two first of which are to be read immediately after Thucydides because they contain the residue of the Peloponnesian War and where Thucydides ends there Xenophon as it were carrying on the Web begins and relates what passed betwixt the Athenians and Lacedemonians after that Naval Victory that was obtained at Abidus by Thrasybulus against Mindarus in the 2 year of the 92 Olympiad of which we have spoken before to the taking of Athens by Lysander in the 4 th year of the 93 Olympiad and in these Books here and there he represents some of the Medio-Persian affairs as how the Medes rebell'd against Darius King of Persia and afterwards submitted again to his Empire how Cyrus the younger Son of Darius went to his Father who was then sick in the Higher Asia having first sent money to Lysander for the use of the War against the Athenians how Darius Nothus Died and Artaxerxes Mnemon his Elder Son became his Successour In the end of the second Book he gives an account of the suppressing the XXX Tyrants who had raged for two years at Athens by Thrasybulus and also the Peace and Act of Oblivion which was confirmed by the Athenians amongst themselves by an Oath by which an end was put to the Peloponnesian War which Thucydides calls the most memorable War that had ever happened and the longest and so in truth it was for it was prolonged to the XXVII th or XXVIII th year as is manifested by Xenophon these things are contained as I said in the two first Books of the Grecian History of Xenophon which being read the Reader may pass to his seven Books of the Expedition of Cyrus the younger against Artaxerxes Mnemon his Elder Brother written by Xenophon also in which we have an account how Cyrus gathered Grecian Forces and went up with them against his Brother How he fought and was Slain then how the Grecian Captains were Massacred after the Fight contrary to the Faith given and how Xenophon who followed Cyrus in this Expedition after his Death was chosen General by the Grecian Souldiers and had the felicity to conduct them from the very heart of Persia though continually assaulted by the Barbarians and harassed with other miseries and inconveniencies into their own Countrey in the first year of the 95 Olympiad When the Reader has finished these he may then proceed to the rest of the Grecian History in which the affairs both of the Grecians and Persians are continued to the Mantinensian Battel in which the Thebans beat the Lacedemonians under the Conduct of Epaminondas who whilst he perform'd the parts not onely of a Commander but private Souldier being grievously wounded died soon after and with him the Glory and power of the Theban Common-wealth Expired in the second year of the 104 Olympiad So that the Son of Gryllus will furnish the Reader with an Elegant and rich History of the affairs of XLVIII years but this the Reader may enlarge and enrich too if as in reading Thucydides he took in Plutarch's Pericles Nicias and Alcibiades so here he take in the Lives of Lysander Agesilaus Artaxerxes Thrasybulus Chabrias Conon and Datames written by Plutarch and Nepos for all these flourished in that interval of time which is represented by Thucydides and Xenophon and afford a considerable addition to the Histories of those times the IV th V th and VI th Books of Justin and the XIII th XIV th and XV th Books of Diodorus Siculus belong to the same times and as to Diodorus he is the next Authour I shall commend to the Reader SECT XI The fair Elogie of Diodorus Siculus that he travelled over several Countries before he writ his History He continues the History of Xenophon about the end of his XV th Book then he gives an account of the actions of Philip King of Macedonia in his XVI th and from thence passeth to Alexander the Great and describes the Rise of the third Monarchy FOr though Diodorus Siculus is some centuries of years younger than Xenophon as who flourished in the times of Julius Caesar and Augustus about the CLXXXIII Olympiad yet in this our Series of Authours I desire he may immediately follow Xenophon being not one of the many but a celebrated Writer and so expert in Antiquities that Greece can scarce shew another that is his Equal which Judgment may be confirm'd by the Elogie which a Learned Divine of our Countrey a Reverend Bishop and excellently versed in this and all other sorts of Learning is pleased to bestow upon this Authour Diodorus Siculus saith he is an excellent Authour who with great Fidelity Immense Labour and a rare both diligence and ingenuity has collected an Historical Library as Justin Martyr calls it in which he has represented his own and the Studies of other men being the great reporter of humane Actions but as Diodorus himself stiles it the Common Treasury of things and an harmless or safe Mistress or Teacher of what is Usefull and Good Our Reverend Bishop might well call it an Immense Labour for he spent XXX years as he himself confesseth in writing this History travelling in the mean time over several Countries to inform himself running through many Dangers as usually happens Diodorus also does rightly stile it a Common Treasury of things for we have in his first five Books the Antiquities and Transactions of the Egyptians Assyrians Libyans Persians Grecians and other Nations before the Trojan War as we have noted above the five following Books that is from the V th to the XI th are lost but from the beginning of the XI th to the XVI th we have the History of the times written by Thucydides and Xenophon as I have already said written in a continued thread but then in the end of the XV th Book he seems to design a Continuation of Xenophon's History for he speaks expresly thus in the end of the second year of the 104 Olympiad In this year saith he Xenophon the Athenian concludes his Grecian History with the death of Epimanondas and so the Sicilian passeth to the III year of the same Olympiad in which he briefly unfolds the Story of the War of Artaxerxes with the Rebel Persians and Egyptians and the rest of the great Atchievements of Agesilaus together with the Deaths both of Agesilaus and Artaxerxes to whom Ochus succeeded in the Kingdom
Chapter of the Gruterian Edition he will find the History intire from the Conquest of Perseus King of the Macedonians to the XVI th year of the Reign of Tiberius Caesar and he may all along as he pleases joyn the Lives I have mentioned above in their order with Vellejus to enlarge the History and so he may pass on to the Writers of the Caesarian times The Authour having in the end of the XVIII th Section made onely a short mention of Appianus Alexandrinus I think it not amiss here to give somewhat a larger account of him because there is an excellent Version of his Works in English whereas Dion Cassius to my knowledge was never translated into our Language Henry Stephens in his Dedicatory Epistle before Appianus calls him the Companion of Dion Cassius and saith that these two were of great use to all those who desired to know the flourishing times of the Roman Common-wealth and to understand many passages in Cicero and others concerning the State of the Roman Republick for those Latine Historians who have come down to us cannot so well satisfie their Thirst as Dion and Appianus but if they do not leave their Reader wholly Thirsty yet we cannot deny but he will remain very unsatisfied And a little after saith he I shall mention another thing in which he is the Companion of Dion that is he relates not a few things that concern the change of the Roman State and the institution of their Princes and there is one thing in which he excells Dion and all the other Historians which is his ascribing those miseries which are attributed by all the rest to Fortune to the Providence of God thus far that Learned man speaks of him Vossius saith he writ the Roman History in XXIV Books beginning at Aeneas and the taking of Troy but with great brevity till the times of Romulus and then he wrote more accurately of all the succeeding times till Augustus adding some things here and there to the Reign of Trajan but then the manner of his dividing his Works and the Titles and Arguments of his Books may be best Learned saith he from Photius and from his own Preface of this vast work we have now extant nothing but his Punick Syrian Parthian Mithridatick Iberian and Illyrian Wars and 5 Books of the Civil Wars of the Romans and a fragment of the Celtick or German War Henry Stephens prefers him also before Dion Cassius and all the rest of the Historians because he reduced his History into certain Classes that though the whole was a Roman History yet the variety of the Titles which he placed before each Book seemed to promise the Reader a kind of new Subject and by that hope alured him to proceed not to mention saith he how much more easily any thing sought after may be found in this method of Writing in this Appianus has been very ingeniously imitated by Dr. Howell in his late Learned Universal History Photius gives this account of Appianus his History of the Civil Wars of the Romans these things are saith he contained in them first the Wars betwixt Marius and Sylla then those betwixt Pompey and Julius Caesar who contended against each other and fought many great Battels till fortune favouring Caesar Pompey turn'd his back and fled then the Wars of Antonius and Octavius Caesar who was afterwards call'd Augustus against the Murtherers of the first Caesar in which many of the greatest Romans were contrary to all Laws and Justice proscribed and Murthered then the Wars betwixt Antonius and Augustus themselves who had several sharp Fights to the destruction of great Armies till at last Victory smiling upon Augustus Antonius fled into Egypt having lost his Army and there Murthered himself which being the last Book of the Civil Wars shews also how Augustus took in Egypt and the Common-wealth of Rome became a Monarchy under Augustus He gives us also this account of the Authour Appianus was by Birth an Alexandrian and at first a Pleader of Causes at Rome afterwards he was a Praefect or Governour of some Provinces under the Emperours his Style is moderate and restrain'd but as far as is possible he is a lover of truth and an exact relatour of Military Discipline apt to put Life into the desponding Souldiery and to appease them when enraged and well able to describe and imitate any passion He flourished in the Reigns of Trajan and Adrian thus far Photius speaks of him That which prevailed upon me chiefly to insert this Addition in this place was Appianus his History of the Civil Wars in V Books written with great Clearness Elegance and Accurateness In which beginning with the Gracchian Sedition about the Agrarian Laws A. V. C. 622 or there abouts and continuing it down through all the various Seditions and Civil Wars of the Romans to the Death of Pompey the younger Anno V. C. 718. which was but five years before the fatal Battel of Actium and Augustus his settlement in the Empire a story that is not writ at large and intirely by any other but this Authour and Dion Cassius and is one of the best Supplements that is extant of the last Books in the end of Livy and one of the best Introductions too to the History of the Caesars and is one of the most lively Representations that is to be found in any History of the disorders of Common-wealths and the miseries that attend great changes in Governments and so of great use in this our unsetled Age. It is certain this History has lost its end for Photius gives an account that it reached much lower down in his times than it doth now ☞ There is now in the Press an excellent History of these times written Originally in French but made English wherein all these Greek and Latine Historians which have related the History of this great change in the Roman State are reduced into one Elegant body Intituled the History of the first and second Triumvirate Printed for Charles Brome SECT XXI The History of the Caesars is first to be fetched from Suetonius and Tacitus the great Honour shewn to both of them by the testimonies of very Learned men the judgment of the most famous Criticks concerning Tacitus various or rather contrary Light afforded both to Suetonius and Tacitus by Dion Cassius AS to the Writers of the Caesarian times let the Reader begin with Suetonius Tranquillus a most correct and candid Writer as Vopiscus stiles him He flourished under Trajan and Adrian Anno Christi 127 and was Secretary to Trajan he was an intimate friend to Pliny Secundus and he deserved his esteem being as Pliny saith in a Letter to Trajan an honest sincere Learned man And thence I conclude that the Testimonies of the later Criticks concerning him are true as that of Ludovicus Vivis Suetonius is the most diligent and impartial of all the Greek or Latine Writers he seems to me to have written
Monuments of those Princes and Countries and yet he Writes as if he had been present and leaves not the least place for doubt So what he might with facility have most truly Written the Affairs of Italy those he would not Write truly and what he would have Written so those he could not thus far Bodinus of him And Melchior Canus saith He was too violent both in his Love and Hatred and because he was a lover of Money he was a slave to it in the very Writing of his History And yet if we may credit Justus Lipsius he is to be commended and Read for the manifold and various series of things which he has regularly and clearly reduced into the body of an History The famous President Jacobus Augustus Thuanus follows him who is without dispute the Prince of the Historians of this Age. He has delineated a General History of the World from the year 1545 to the year 1608. in a most excellent style which is since continued to the year 1618. by himself in a later Edition SECT XXVI The Writers of some very excellent Particular Histories commended as Guicciardin Paulus Aemilius Philip Comines whose great Elogies are remembred Meteranus Chromerus also and Bembus recommended I Am not ignorant that there are many other Authours who have with their Pens delineated the Histories of particular Nations or Persons as well Ancient as Modern who in their times do well deserve to be read and amongst them I will first name Francis Guicciardin who treats of the affairs of Italy in his own times a wise and understanding Writer who is able to make his Readers such as Lipsius saith he is free and true and biass'd with no affections except that of hatred which he seems often to discover against the Duke of Urbine Bodinus is also very large in his Commendations of Guicciardin and that not without good reason for in Writing History he hath excelled all his equals in the judgment of grave men And I know not saith he whether I may not say the same thing as to the more ancient Historians for where any thing that seems inexplicable falls under deliberation he shews an admirable subtilty in his discourse and every where sprinkles grave Sentences like Salt And a little after there is in him a strange study to find out the Truth for he affirms nothing rashly but backs every thing he saith with necessary Arguments he is reported to have transcribed the Letters Decrees Leagues and Speeches out of the very Fountains and Originals and to conclude he was so exact an inquirer into Things Places and Persons that it is said he took a view of all the Cities great Towns and Rivers of Italy and which I think most material saith he carefully examined all the publick Monuments This great Man flourished about the year of Christ 1530. his History was Translated into English many years since by a very great Man Paulus Aemilius Veronensis flourished in the same Age of our Great Grandfathers about the year of Christ 1530. who beginning with the first Kings of France Wrote the History of France for above 1000 years with a Laconick brevity He is said to have spent XXX years in this excellent Work by which he acquired to himself a great Name He is in the opinion of Gerardus Johannes Vossius an Elegant and a curious Writer and Justus Lipsius bestows an high commendation upon him in these words He saith he that I may express the thing shortly is the onely man amongst the latter Historians who observed the true and ancient way of writing Historys and steadily pursued it his style is Learned Nervous Close and inclining to subtilty and finesses fixing and leaving ever something in the mind of a serious Reader he often mixeth Sentences and wise Expressions he is a diligent searcher and a severe judge of things nor is there any Writer in our Age more free from passions A little before P. Aemilius lived Philip Comines who writ so well of the actions of Luis the XI th King of France as Justus Lipsius feared not to compare him with any one of the ancient Historians It is incredible saith he how clearly this man saw all things and looked through them he discovers the most concealed Councils and delivers salutary and rare Precepts for our instruction and that in a diffused way after the manner of Polybius The famous Parisian President Jac. Augustus Thuanus hath left an excellent Testimony to Posterity of Comines his History in the History of Luis the XI th writ by that prudent Knight Philip Comines as I cannot deny that there are many precepts of Prudence so no man can deny but there are many Examples of a disingenuous mind and therefore no way befitting the Majesty of a King Comines flourished about the year of Christ 1490. Emanuel Meteranus wrote the History of the Low Countries Chromerus the History of Poland Petrus Bembus that of Venice and others have written the Histories of other particular Countries which are worth the reading but I design not to express them all as indeed who can or if I could who could reade them all but I have made it my business to propose especially to my younger Hearers a thread of Histories disposed in such a right order as he may from it learn the distinct Changes and Varieties of times and the Series of the great Transactions that have passed in the World down to our own Age. SECT XXVII A transition to the British History how the Reader ought to prepare himself for the reading of it in what order he shall go on Camden's Britannia and Selden's Analecta are first to be read George Lilly his Chronicle the Compendium of the British History BUt that we may not be thought wholly ignorant and negligent of our own History whilst we search into that of other Nations it is convenient to give some account of the British Writers and to annex it by way of supplement to the former Catalogue and to point out at the same time in what order they are to be read for I have no small confidence I shall thereby more oblige our University Youth than by the other that is by shewing a more certain and shorter way to the knowledge of our British History as you see I have already done in relation to the Universal History for who is there that doth not esteem it a shamefull thing to be thought a Stranger in his own City a Foreigner in his own Countrey As for me what M. Cicero said once of the Latine Poets to the Romans I should with much greater confidence apply to English men as to the Histories of Britain None can seem Learned to me who is ignorant of what is our own In truth to search out the great Actions of other Countries and in the mean time despise our own is a certain sign either of a most Lazy inactivity or of a soft and unmanly
delicacy for though that which Sir Henry Savil the great and eternally to be remembred Ornament of our University saith is most certainly true and confirmed not onely by his but by the Testimony also of Mr. John Selden the Lawyer a man not onely excellently versed in History but in all other sorts of ancient Learning that there was never yet any man who hath written an intire body of our History with that fidelity and dignity as became the greatness of the Subject yet the former of these confesseth that we have some particular parts of our History which are not ill written in former Ages and the latter Mr. Selden acknowledgeth and commendeth some others as written exceedingly well in this last Age. But be this as it will I shall with the greatest confidence assert that there are many noble Actions and things that are worthy of our Contemplation and Observation which will occur in the reading of the greatest part of our Histories this then is the order which I should recommend for the reading of our British History to the Studious in it First Let our Student begin with the famous Sir William Camden's Britannia in which besides a most accurate description of the whole Island he will find briefly represented the History of the first Inhabitants and an account given of the Origine of the Name the Manners of the Britains the History of the Romans in Britain and many other things infinitely worth our knowledge collected not out of mere fictions and fables which none but a vain man would write nor any but an ignorant man believe as he expresseth himself but out of the most sincere and uncorrupted Monuments of Antiquity my advice therefore is that this Book or rather treasury should in the very first place be most diligently perused nor will it be amiss here to call in the assistence of Mr. Selden's two Books of Collections of the Antiquities of the Britains and English either of which Books consists of eight Chapters in which he has collected what doth most properly belong to the ancient Civil Administration of that part of Great Britain which is now call'd England and in which he has most excellently described both from Ancient and Modern Writers our publick Transactions both Civil and Sacred and our State Catastrophes to William the Conquerour and then according to the method proposed by us in the beginning of our course of History the Reader may be pleased to reade over George Lilly's Chronicle or short Enumeration of the Kings and Princes who by the changes of Fortune in diverse and succeeding times have been possessed of the Empire of Britain or those Commentaries which J. Theodorus Clain Printed of the affairs of Great Britain in the year MDCIII under the Title of a Compendium of the British History which is Elegantly form'd and written An Addition to the former Section Besides these mentioned by the Authour Daniel Langhorn a Learned Divine now Living in the year 1673 published in Latine a short account of the Antiquities of Albion and the Origine of the Britains Scots Danes and English Saxons to the year 449 in which the English first Arrived in Great Britain with a short Chronicle of the Kings of the Picts in which is an excellent account of those times in which Britain was a part of the Roman Empire The same Authour in the year 1679 Published a Chronicle of the Saxon Kings from Hengist the first King of that Race to the end of the Heptarchy or the year 819 in which he has given an account of all their Actions Wars Civil and Sacred affairs together with a Catalogue of the Kings and their Pedigrees cut in Copper in this History he hath reduced into one body all the ancient Saxon Historians and represented them truly in their own Phrases and then promised also a Continuation of this History which is much desired by Learned men In the year 1670 Robert Sheringham Fellow of Caies College in Cambridge Published an History of the Origine of the English Nation in which their Migrations and various Seats and part also of their Actions are inquired into from the confusion of Tongues and the dispersion of the Nations thereupon till the time of their arrival in Britain in which some things are explain'd also concerning their ancient Religion Sacred Rites and their opinions of the immortality of the Soul after Death with an account of the Origine of the Britains in this piece are many curious Antiquities searched for in the most ancient Saxon German and Danish Authours and an excellent account given of them which will both invite and reward the Reader 's pains Lambertus Silvius a Learned Foreigner in the year 1652 Published in Latine an excellent Compendium of the English History from the arrival of the Saxons to the year 1648 where he ends it with the deplorable Murther of Charles the first he is exceeding short in his accounts of the Saxon Kings but at the Conquest he dilates himself and writes the Lives of our Kings very Elegantly and with great brevity Of more ancient times Gildas Sapiens who is the most ancient Writer of this Island Writ a piece of the Destruction of the Britains by the Saxons which is infinitely worth the reading he Lived in the times of Justinian and he was Born in the year of Christ 493 as Vossius makes it appear from his own Works Mathaeus Westmonasteriensis who flourished about the year of Christ 1376 has left a short Chronicle from the beginning of the World to the year 1037. Florentius Bravonius a Monk of Worcester who Lived about the year of Christ 1119 in the Reign of Henry the first wrote a History from the Creation to the year 1118 which was the year before his Death which is the more to be esteemed because the ancient Anglio Saxon Annals are inserted in it in their proper places as Vossius acquaints us either or both these Authours will very much contribute to the understanding of the History of the Saxon Kings before the Conquest SECT XXVIII Gulielmus Malmesburiensis Savil's judgment of him and also Camden's where he begins and ends his History Galfredus Monumethensis why passed by The censures of William of Newberry John of Withamsted Bales and John Twin Virunnius differs from all these Huntington follows Malmesbury and Hovedaen him BUt if the Reader had rather begin with the more ancient Writers of our History immediately after Camden's Britannia and Selden's Analecta in my judgment William of Malmesbury deserves to be first admitted because the fidelity of his Relations and maturity of his Judgment have set him above all the rest And this is also the Testimony of the Noble and Learned Sir H. Savil concerning him William of Malmesbury saith he was a man exquisitely Learned for the age in which he Lived and hath compiled the History of about seven hundred years with so
the fourth are contained in this Chronicle which are not in any of our own Latine Historians which have hitherto been printed it begins Anno 1149 and it ends 1486 which was the second year of Henry the 7 th This last Authour belongs to the next Section where the Reader will find our Authour for want of Historians of our own Nation turning his Reader over to Polydore Virgil from the Reign of Henry the 5 th to the Reign of Richard the third much of which chasme this last Authour hath supplied but yet I would not part him from the rest but onely give the Reader this hint to what times he belongs SECT XXX Walsingham's Hypodigma Neustriae or his History of Normandy and the other Writers concerning that Dukedom not to be neglected and amongst them Odoricus Vitalis of principal note the History of England from the Reign of Henry the 5 th to that of Richard the third to be fetched from Polydore Virgil. The opinion of our Noble S. H. Savil concerning him observable Sir Thomas Moor Knight Lord Chancellor of England wrote the Reign of Richard the third F. Lord Bacon Viscount of Verulam that of Henry the 7 th the Reigns of Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th and Queen Mary Francis Goodwin Lord Bishop of Landaff wrote by way of Annals as Will Camden did that of Queen Elizabeth also THe Reader having dispatched the Chronicle of Walsingham may in the next place pursue his Hypodigma Neustriae his History of Normandy which will render the former Histories more clear and complete it containing a perfect account of the Story of that Dukedom from Rollo the first Duke of it to the 4 th year of Henry the 5 th who in the year 1416 forced Normandy after it had been Ravished and Alienated CCXX years from the English to return to its due Allegiance to the English Crown nor let the Reader think I give him this advice rashly for as it is rightly observed by the Learned Mr. Selden the ancient affairs of the Normans are so implicated and twisted with ours that if a man consider seriously of our own he cannot pass by theirs without sloath and ignorance Now Andraeas Duchenius in the year 1619 put out several Writers of the Norman History and amongst them Odericus Vitalis a Countreyman of ours who was born at Attingham in the County of Salop is the principal he wrote 13 Books of Church History the first and second of which contain the Martial Actions of the Normans in France England and Apulia in Italy to the year 1141 which was the 6 th year of the Reign of King Stephen about which time this Authour flourished But to return to our English History after Walsingham's Chronicle which as I said in the last Section ends in Henry the 5 th if our Reader thinks to find any one of our Nation who hath written our History in Latine from this time of Henry the 5 th to the Reign of Richard the third he will be much deceived except perhaps some Manuscript lies concealed in the recesses of some Libraries Consecrated to Antiquities which have not as yet seen the publick Light Therefore I will recommend to my Hearers a History which may be had that is one of the Published Authours and may be come by now here had been a vast Gap of almost LXX years if Polydore Virgil had not prevented it which in so great a scarcity of our own Authours the Studious Historian will not unwillingly take in for although as the noble Sir Henry Savil writes of him he was an Italian and a Stranger to our affairs and which is yet more never employed in any publick Station and of no great natural either Judgment or Ingenuity and although in delivering our History he has often mistaken things and passed over in silence many things worthy to be known yea has too often imbraced things that are false instead of truth and so left us a very faulty History Yet I should conceive this happened for the most part where he describes the times of Henry the VIII th for besides that he was ignorant of our Tongue he must of necessity not know many things that were then Transacted and it is highly probable he writ some things in favour of Queen Mary otherwise than he knew they were but this is not to be suspected of the former times Let our Reader therefore take the History of the two Henrys the V th and the VI th and of the two Edwards the IV th and the V th from Polydore Virgil the Reign of Richard the third who immediately follows these was written by the famous Sir Thomas Moor Knight Lord Chancellour of England who flourished about the year 1533 in the Reign of Henry the 8 th but the Learned Vossius thinks the Work imperfect because as he largely describes by what Villanies he ascended the Throne so he doth not tell us how he afterwards administred the Government and even that part which we have seems to have wanted the Authour's last hand and the Elegance of the Latine of his other Works do much exceed that of this Work Henry VIIth succeeded Richard the third whose Life and Reign was not long since represented to us by the most noble Viscount Verulam so happily and so fully that if he hath not excelled the best Historians he yet at least equall'd them this Work was first written in English but has since been turned into Latine as the preliminary Epistle to the Book call'd Gustavus saith After this let the Reader peruse the Annals of the most Reverend Bishop F. Goodwin in which the Reigns of Henry the VIII th Edward the VI th and Queen Mary are described with a great and commendable brevity Lastly the famous William Camden the Founder of the place I now enjoy and my Patron wrote the Annals of the Actions of Queen Elizabeth in England and Ireland which Queen was the most glorious and prosperous Queen that ever swayed a Sceptre for this Elogy was bestowed long since upon her by Anna Attestina the Mother of the Guises as Thuanus saith Let our Reader in the next place diligently reade this History and then tell me whether it be not comparable to the best of the ancient Annals and that with Justice and truth An ADDITION Another great man of the French Nation speaks thus of Camden although it be very natural to men to speak too advantageously of their Native Countries and that this inclination hath wrap'd some Historians to an offence against the Purity of History yet it cannot be denyed but William Camden has writ that of England with so much fidelity that he may justly claim a place amongst the most sincere Historians of the last Ages and a little after being made King at Arms the XXXIX year of the Queens Reign he made very curious Collections of all those things which he judged worthy of or usefull to an History
and the first 13 years of Charles the second were added by one Mr. Edward Phillips which ends with the Coronation of that Prince being the 23d of April 1661. The former Sir William Dugdale as is supposed hath writ a short account of the late troubles of England wherein all the proceedings of the Rebellion are excellently laid together James Heath Gent. hath also written the History of the same times very well as it is said to the Restitution of Charles the second continued since to the year 1675 by J. Phillips William Sanderson hath written not onely the Reigns of Queen Mary of Scotland and King James but also another piece which he calls a complete History of the Life and Reign of King Charles the first from his Cradle to his Grave but as this was written and published during our horrid Confusions here in England and before his late Majesty's Restitution so there are many things in it as it is said which will need amendment The truth is there hath been never a good History writ since Camden's Annals of our affairs that ever yet came to my knowledge nor perhaps have the times been such as to bear one that of Tacitus is considerable the prosperous and unfortunate Events of the ancient People of Rome are delivered by great Writers in the times of Augustus there was no want of generous Pens till they were supprest by the rising flattery of the times the accounts of Tiberius Caligula Claudius and Nero whilst these Princes flourished were out of fear false and after they were gone whilst the hatred of men was fresh were as much too sharp from which considerations I resolved saith he to deliver a few and those of the last Actions of Augustus when the flattery he hints at began and then the Reign of Tiberius and the rest without Anger or affection as having by reason of the distance of the time had no concern with any of them I need not make any application nor will the case bear one But yet I should have excepted one Historian and that is Johnstonius but though he did not publish his History in his Life and so by that and putting it into such hands as Printed it beyond the Seas secured his History from all suspicion of a necessitated Compliance yet then he being a Stranger to our English Laws and Constitutions has committed some faults which an English man would have easily avoided and speaks too contemptuously of some of our Greatest Lawyers whom he styles every where Leguleii as if they had been some little snarling Countrey Attornies If now our Reader desires a short course of English History he may begin with Milton first then take Daniel and Trussel and then Sir Francis Bacon's Henry the 7 th and Bishop Godwin's Annals which will bring him down to the Reign of Queen Elizabeth where Camden's Annals such as they now are in English fall in and for the rest he may take his Choice according to his fancy There is an excellent Catalogue of the Historians of England in Baker's Chronicle which the Reader may Consult too if he please MANTISSA OR An Addition Concerning the Historians of particular Nations as well Ancient as Modern by Nicholas Horseman ARTICLE I. The design and method of this Appendix in what order we should proceed in relation to particular Historians the principal Writers of each Countrey are to be selected the Historians of the latter Ages compared with the more Ancient THus far our Authour Mr. Deg. Wheare has proceeded concerning the Civil History and was just now going to lead his Reader to the Church History and yet we will presume to stop him here a small time and I will not despair neither of obtaining an easie pardon for this my unseasonable interposition from those who desire to run through a perfect Collection of Historians especially if they shall be sensible that these Endeavours of ours may in any degree promote their Studies The Roman Empire long since sinking under its own weight and being at last torn in pieces and divided each distinct Nation began to rely upon its own Forces and administred its own affairs both at home and abroad and from thence the particular Histories of particular Nations have sprung up which our Authour hath left untouched and unsaluted the British onely excepted and this Field I will presume to Reap by adding here an Appendix concerning the Histories of those Nations who are now possest of some part of the ancient Roman Empire or were never subject to it in which we will represent or at least inartificially describe those ancient and Modern Writers who have illustrated the affairs and Actions of the more considerable people by their Pens 'T is not indeed our purpose to seek curiously after and name all these Historians as indeed who can pretend to know them or solicitously to digest and accurately treat of them which is a very troublesome business and above our Abilities But I think it reasonable here to advise all the lovers of History in the very entrance of the Work that they should begin with the Antiquities of their own Countries as for instance the Britains with the British and so proceed to those of other Countries and in the first place to those Nations which have had frequent Leagues Wars or Commerce with their own And it will also be very advantageous to chuse some principal Authour who may seem to excell all other in writing the History of that Countrey as in the German History Lambertus Schafnaburgensis in the Austrian History Lazius in the Hungarian Bonfinius in the Gothick Jornandes in the History of Denmark Saxo Grammaticus in the Sclavonian Helmoldus in the Longobardian Paulus Diaconus in the Polonian Chromerus in the Prussian Stella in the Bohemian Aeneas Sylvius in that of Switzars Simlerus in the Burgundian Heuterus in that of Saxony Crantzius in the Bavarian Aventinus in the Flandrian Mejerus in the Dutch Grotius in the French P. Aemylius in the Spanish Mariana and so for the rest But here our Reader of the Barbarian History may be pleased to understand that the Authours for the most part with which he is now to Converse do sink very much beneath the Eloquence of those of the greater Nations the Greeks and Romans and that they are very much inferiour both in Ability and Dignity to those who with their Pens have adorn'd the Stories of those once potent People not onely in many other things but especially in the purity of their Styles for in the darkness of that decrepit Age they use a style which by reason of the Barbarity and harshness of it cannot but offend those whose Ears have been used to a terse and delicate phrase and the Historians of those times which affected Elegance chose to imitate those of the middle Ages Eutropius Paulus Diaconus Orosius and the like who were as remote from the Roman Eloquence as they were from the times in which it flourished rather
than Caesar Salust Livy and the rest of the great Princes of the Senate of Historians in which the native Vigour and Spirit of the Roman Language exerts it self and in truth there are not many who aimed at the perfections of those middle Writers and they are yet more scarce who have attain'd to that degree of perfection and yet they are not to be persecuted or reprehended for this neither because they fell into this Misfortune more by the necessities of the times in which they Lived than by their own faults which is enough to bespeak their Pardon with all candid Readers In ancient Coins we regard the Weight and the Matter much more than the Neatness of the Stamp and so in those Authours which have been depressed by the iniquity of their times and thereby disabled from shewing their Vertues we ought rather to consider the weight and excellence of the things they have delivered than the brightness or sweetness of Discourse what Cicero said of the Philosophers if they bring with them Eloquence it is not to be despised but if they have it not it is not mightily to be desired is by us to be applied to an Historian But as to those who Wrote after the reviving of Learning and the restitution of the Just esteem of Eloquence as there is a Circulation of all things they I say have more illustrated History and treated it according to its Dignity so that the following Ages have many Historians which if I should presume to compare with the Ancient Writers I should not be destitute of the suffrage of the Greatest men for men of no mean Learning have heretofore thought that Guicciardin Comines and Aemilius were so far from being inferiour to Livy Salust and Tacitus that they might contest the Precedence with them ARTICLE II. The Historians of the Germans and of all those people which live betwixt the Alpes and the Baltick Sea and the Rhine and the Weissell to which is joyned the History of the Goths Vandals Hunnes Herulans Switzars Lombards Polonians Muscovites Danes and Swedes WE have a small piece of Tacitus of the Situation Manners and People of the Ancient Germans and it is resonable that we should believe he understood the affairs of those People very well because he was employed as a Souldier in the Wars against them and was Governour of the Low Countries under Hadrian the Emperour and he in his Annals frequently takes notice of the German affairs and especially of the Expedition of Caesar Germanicus and the Victory he obtained against Arminius General of the Châ—ruscians now call'd Mansfelders but there is none of those Historians which are now Extant which hath so largely described tâ—e Battel in which Arminius routed and totally destroyed Quintilius Varus and his Army as Dion Cassius in his LVIth Book Ammianus Marcellinus also who was a Souldier under Constantius and Julianus the Roman Emperours takes notice of many things concerning the Franks Alemans and other German Nations which are very true and worthy to be known Huldericus Mutius Hugwaldus who lived about the year of Christ 1551 Wrote XXXI Books of the Origine of the Germans their Manners Customs Laws and memorable Actions in Peace and War from their first beginning to the year of Christ 1539 which he collected out of their best Authours Conradus a Liechtenaw Abbas Urspergensis Wrote a Chronicle from Belus the first King of the Assyrians to the IXth year of Frederick the second that is to the year of Christ 1229 who in the affairs of others is very short but in what concerns the Germans in his own times and those that went just before him he is much larger and has as Vossius saith many things that may be read with great advantage Gaspar Hedio continued the latter from the year 1230 to the year 1537 adding many memorable things omitted by Urspergensis and besides this Continuation he also Wrote a German Chronicle Lambertus Schafnaburgensis who flourished about the year of Christ 1077 Wrote one Volume of the History of Germany which he brought down to the year 1077 which as Trithemius expresseth himself is very well and pleasantly done and Justus Lipsius saith of this and Rodoricus Toletanus that they are as Good as that Age could possibly afford but the Commendation of the Learned Joseph Scaliger in his piece de Emendatione temporum is very illustrious in truth saith he I admire the Purity of this man's style and the exactness of his Computation in so barbarous an Age which is so great that he might put the Chronologers of our times to the blush if they had any sense of these things Nor will I conceal the censure of Melancthon I have not seen saith he any Writer of the German History that hath Written with greater industry though he hath also put in some private things which are unworthy of the knowledge of Posterity upon which account and for that his Fidelity is suspected in some things pertaining to the Controversie between Henry the 4th and Gregory the 7th he has been censured by some others A certain Monk of Erfurd has brought down the last named Authour to the year 1472 and has also Written an History of the Landgraves of Duringer the principal Town of which is Erfurd Marianus a Scot by Nation but a Monk of Fuld in Germany an Elegant Writer for the times as Sigebertus saith of him produced a Chronicle to his own times that is to the year 1073 in three Books which Dodechinus afterwards continued to the year 1200. Otto Frisingensis of Freising in Noricum and not of Friseland as Aeneas Sylvius insinuates descended of an imperial Family has Written a Chronicle from the beginning of the World to the times of Frederick the first that is to the year of Christ 1146 in VII Books for the VIIIth is not an History but a Dissertation concerning Antichrist the Resurrection of the Dead the end of the World and the last Judgment which is continued by an ancient Authour to the year 1210 and the same Otto Wrote the Life of Frederick the first his Cousin or Nephew Sirnamed Aenobarbus by the Command and Encouragement of this Prince in II Books which Radevicus another Writer by adding two Books more brought down to the year 1160. This Otto though he was Uncle to this Emperour Frederick yet that Relation did no way prejudice the truth as Aeneas Sylvius saith who was afterwards Pope by the Name of Pius Luitiprandus Ticinensis beginning from Arnolphus Emperour of Germany and the year 891 in which the Saracens took Frassinel a small Town upon the River Po in Italy Wrote in six Books the History of the principal Transactions of his own times in Europe in many of which he himself was present which ends Anno Christi 963. He was a privy Counsellour to Berengarius the second King of Italy and falling into his
disfavour fled to Otton I. and at Franckford Wrote this History as he saith himself lib. 5. cap. 14. Beatus Rhenanus Published III Books of the German affairs excellently Composed Johannes Aventinus Wrote X Books under the Title of Germany illustrated and also the Annals of the Bavarians from the Flood to the year of Christ 1460 in VII Books how ill Baronius thought of this Authour appears To. 9. Ad Annum 772. Georgius Fabricius Chemnicensis Wrote the History of Great Germany and of all Saxony in two Books and to Conclude MAR QU ARDUS FREHERUS first put out in one Volume some very excellent German Historians which before were unknown ARTICLE III. The Historians of Austria FRanciscus Guillimannus Wrote VII Books of the ancient and true Origine of the House of Austria he flourished about the year of Christ 1500. Wolfangus Lazius of Vienna has comprehended the History of Austria in IV Books Gerhardus de Reo and Conradus Decius have Written Annals also of Austria there is Extant too a Chronicle of the Dukes of Bavaria and Suevia written by an uncertain Authour and to these may be added the Austriades of Richardus Bartolinus Perusinus in XII Books which concern the Wars between the Dukes of Bavaria and the Princes of the Palatinate which was illustrated with Notes by Jacobus Spigelius Selestadiensis ARTICLE IV. The Historians of the Hunnes and Hungarians JOhannes de Thwroz or Turocius so call'd from the Province of Thwrocz wrote a Chronicle of the Hungarian affairs from the very rise of that Nation under Attila their first King to the Coronation of Matthias which was in the year of Christ 1464 of this Authour Trithemius Writes thus Johannes Thuroth a Pannonian was a man excellently acquainted with and well exercised in Civil Literature and not ignorant in Divine knowledge of an exalted Ingenuity and a clear Eloquence this Authour lived Anno Christi 1494. Johannes Bonfinius Composed an Elegant History of the Kings of Hungary in four Decades and an half that is in XLV Books which reacheth to the Death of Matthias Hunniades and the beginning of Vladislaus or the year 1495 which he began at the Command of Matthias Bonfinius flourished about the year of Christ 1496. Petrus Ranzanus Wrote Indexes as he calls them of the Hungarian Transactions of which Joh. Sambucus who first rescued them from the Dust and Darkness in which they lay and Published them to the World writes thus It seems the ways of Writing Histories heretofore were very various this Authour having some Indexes of the Kings of Hungary given him at Vienna by Beatrix extracted out of the same Records from which Bonfinius described his he so well deduced and illustrated them that he is in nothing inferiour to the best Writers of the Hungarian History for in this brevity he has Comprehended what ever is required to render an History Elegant and usefull and he is the more valuable also that whereas there are some Gaps and mistakes by the faults of the Transcribers in Bonfinius his History we may here find directions for the rectifying all these Erratas and be assisted at the same time in searching out the sincere and perfect truth thus far Sambucus Philip Callimachus Experiens wrote an History of the Life and Reign of Vladislaus King of Poland and Hungary so elegantly and exactly that Paulus Jovius did not scruple to say of it that in his judgment it excell'd all that had been Written of that kind since Cornelius Tacitus through so many Ages as have since followed this Authour flourished Anno Christi 1490. Melchior Soiterus and Petrus Bizarrus have Written the History of the Hungarian Wars ARTICLE V. The Historians of the Goths Danes Sclavonians and Swedes PRocopius has Written III Books of the Gothick Wars and Agathias the Smyrnean V Books both of them in Greek and in Latine Jornandes the Bishop of the Goths who reduced into II Books the History of Aurelius Casiodorus who was Secretary to Theodoricus King of the Goths and Wrote a Gothick History in XII Books Isidorus Hispalensis Composed an History of the Origine of the Goths and of the Kingdom of the Sueves and Vandals Johannes Magnus a Bishop of Sweden wrote a History also of all the Kings of the Goths and Swedes Leon Aretinus Composed also an History of the Goths but which affords nothing more than what Procopius hath written so that he seems to be no more than his Paraphrast but he is more remarkable for another thing that is that be was the first Person who restored and communicated the Greek Tongue and Learning after it had lain several Ages oppressed and troden down by the tyranny of the insolent Barbarians as P. Jovius writes of him in his Elogies he flourished Anno Christi 1420. Hieronymus Rubeus wrote of the Goths and Lombards Saxo Grammaticus has deduced an History of Denmark from the utmost Antiquity down to his own times that is to Canutus the VI th and Waldemarus his Brother the Grandchildren of Saint Canutus that is almost to the year of Christ 1200. All he hath Written is not to be admitted hand over head without Examination yet neither is he so great a Fabler as some have fansied who have no esteem on that account for him amongst whom is Goropius Becanus which is the less worth our wonder because he himself doth not write so much Paradoxes as impossibilities as to Saxo's style the Elegance of it is so great saith the Learned Vossius that it exceeded the Capacity of the Age he lived in yea it is equal to many of the ancient Writers and to most of ours he flourished about the year of Christ 1220. Idacius his Chronicle of Denmark is from the times of Theodosius the Great to the year of Christ 400. Johannes Boterus and Erpoldus Lindenbruch have written accounts of the Kings of Denmark and in the year 1596 Plantin Printed a Compendious History of the Kings of Denmark to Christian the IV th Gaspar Ens wrote Commentaries concerning the Wars of Denmark both by Sea and Land in the Reign of Frederick the second containing the most memorable Dithmarsick and Swedish War The Learned Johannes Meursius hath comprehended in III Books the Reigns of Christian the first John his Son and Christian the second his Grandchild that is from the year of Christ 1448 to the year 1523. Albertus Crantzius hath Written an History of the Vandals in XIV Books and a Chronicle of the other Northern Nations as the Danes Norwegians Swedes which is call'd Gothia and Scandia he begins at the times of Charles the Great and comes down to the year 1504 he flourished to the year 1517 in which he Died. Gerardus Geldenhaurius writes thus of him He has almost onely seemed to me to deserve the Name of an Historian because he wrote the Transactions of his own times truely freely and for the good
of Posterity and others as Fabricius c. have as much commended his industry Nicholaus Marescalcus wrote of the Heruli and Vandals Helmoldus a Sclavonian Presbyter wrote the History of the Sclavonians Saxons and the adjoyning Nations from the year 800 or thereabouts when they were converted to Christianity by the care of Charles the Great to the year 1168 about which time Helmoldus flourished as he saith himself in his Preface viz. about the times of Barbarossa And there Arnoldus the Abbat of Lubeck begins who begins his Preface with these words Because Helmoldus a Priest of Blessed memory was not able to bring his History of the Vocation and Submission of the Sclavonians and the Lives of those Bishops at whose instance the Churches of these Countries were Founded to such End and Conclusion as he desired and intended we therefore with the assistence of God have resolved to pursue that Work and accordingly he brought his supplement to the times of Otto the IV th under whom he lived the Learned Vossius speaks thus of this Arnoldus in the Sclavonian affairs he deserves Credit but not in what he wrote concerning the French Sicilians and Grecians in whose affairs it is much better to consult others who have made it their business to treat of them ARTICLE VI. The Historians of the Lombards now call'd the Dutchy of Milan PAulus Warnefridus a Deacon of Aquileja wrote VI Books of the affairs of the Lombards he was Chancellour to Desiderius King of the Longobards of whom Sigebertus Chap. 61. writes this He wrote the History of the Vinnuli who were afterwards called Lombards in an excellent and copious Style Raph. Volaterranus is much mistaken who takes this Warnefridus to be a different person from the Deacon of Aquileja he flourished about the year of Christ 780. Hieron Rubeus wrote also of the Goths and Lombards A Monk of Padua whose name is not known has comprehended in III Books the Transactions of his own times in Lombardy and the Marquisate of Tarvisina he begins Anno Christi 1207 in which Azo Marquis of Este was by the Monticuculli cast out of Verona and he comes down to the year 1270 in which the Christian Princes passing into Africa took Carthage and besieged Tunis Flavius Blondus who was privy Counsellour to several Popes and who had the honour to have his Works Epitomized by Pius another of the Popes wrote of the affairs of the Lombards in his VII Books of the illustrating of Italy as almost all other Italian Writers ARTICLE VII The Historians of the Polanders and Borussians MArtinus Chromerus Composed XXX Books of the Origine and Actions of the Polanders and in the first X Books as he saith in his Proem he has described the Rise and Infancy of that Nation under Barbarous and Idolatrous Dukes then the flower of its Youth under Christian Kings and then its diseased and Crazy Constitution which resembles a State Sickness under several and those disagreeing Princes after the Monarchy was destroyed He wrote II Books also of the Situation People Manners Magistrates and Government of the Kingdom of Poland Chromerus flourished Anno Christi 1552. Alexander Gaguinus wrote also an History of Poland from Lechus the first Duke of that Nation to Henry of Voloise Joh. Decius wrote one Book of the Antiquities of Poland and of the Family of the Jagellons and of the Reign of King Sigismund Math. Michovius wrote a Chronicle of the Kingdom of Poland from the first rise of that Nation to the year 1504 in IV Books he is somewhat more Barbarous and Chromerus more Polite Michovius flourished about the year of Christ 1540. Joannes â—uglossus who is sometimes styled Longinus Bishop of Leopold who under Casimirus the third King of Poland was employed in many great Embassages and was also Praeceptor to this Princes Children has wrote a Chronicle of Poland to the year 1480 in which this great man Died Philippus Callimachus hath writ a History of the Wars of the Poles against the Turks he lived Anno Christi 1508. Erasmus Stella a Libanothan writ II Books of the Antiquities of the Borussians which he dedicated to Frederick Duke of Saxony the first of which treats of the old inhabitants thereof and of their Propagation Names and Manners the latter of their ancient Kings and of their Succession he professeth to follow the Annals of Borussia Jornandes his History of the Goths Helmoldus his History of the Sclavonians and Albertus Magnus who travelled over Borussia and others ARTICLE VIII The Historians of the Bohemians Switzars or Helvetians and Saxons COsmus a Deacon of the Church of Prague in his Chronicle of Bohemia which he has written in III Books represents the Origine of that People and the actions of their ancient Dukes to Wartislaus who was created King of Bohemia by the Emperour Henry the IV th Anno Christi 1086. Dubravius also deduceth their History from their first Original to Ferdinand the Emperour in XXXIII Books he comes down to the year 1558 and was a very Learned and ingenious Person The History of Aeneas Sylvius comes down to the year 1458 that is to Frederick the third in which year the Authour was Elected Pope by the name Pius the second he writes the Succession of all their Dukes or Kings to Poigebrach but in the business of the Hussites and what happened under the Emperour Sigismund he is much more large and diffused Charles King of Bohemia who was after Emperour and the IV th of that Name wrote a Commentary of his own Life Franciscus Guillimanus wrote V Books of the Antiquites and Actions of the Switzars Henricus Suizerus in his Chronicle of Switzerland gave an account of their affairs to his own times Josias Simlerus wrote of their League and Commonwealth and also of their affairs from Rudolphus to Charles the Vth. Wernerus Rolevinckius wrote III Books of the ancient Seat of the Saxons that is of Westphalia their Manners Vertues and Commendations Witikindus a Saxon Wrote III Books of the Actions of the Saxons and Albertus Crantzius wrote the History of Saxony in XIII Books to his own times he died in the year 1504 this is continued by an unknown hand David Chytreus in his Chronicle of Saxony and the Northern Nations begins a little higher at the year 1500 and ends with the year 1599 which is continued by Georgius Fabricius in his Saxony illustrated in II Books to the year 1606 Johannes Garzo wrote of the affairs of Saxony Thuringia and Misnia Rein. Reineccius of the Family and actions of the Palatines of Saxony Cyriacus Spangenbergius wrote a Saxon Chronicle and Sebastiau Boisselinterus wrote of the Siege of Magdeburgh ARTICLE IX The Historians of the Celti or Gauls and French under which Name we include all those people who live betwixt the Rhine and both the Seas and the Alpes and
him that in the affairs of Italy he does blunder and mistake so strangely that those who did not regard the Elegance of his style were apt to be much incensed against him There are also several Authours who have written of the Expeditions of the French Nation into the East and of the Kingdom Erected by them in Jerusalem almost all which the Learned Jacobus Bongarsius has collected together and rescued from the Moths and Dust of the Libraries in which they before lurked by publishing them after he had with great study and pains Corrected them of these the first is Robertus a Monk who wrote the History of Jerusalem A nameless Italian who wrote the Actions of the French and others at Jerusalem in which actions he was present and therefore deserves the greater Credit Baldericus Aurelianensis who wrote the History of the same V years with the last named Italian that is from the year 1095 to the year 1100 and Raimundus de Agiles Canon of Le Puy wrote the History of the same time Albertus Steward of the Church of Dax who wrote XII Books from the beginning of the Expedition of Godfry of Bulloin and other Princes to the second year of King Balduin the Second and so has as Vossius saith accurately written the History of XXIV years after him follows Fulcherius Carnotensis who writes from the beginning of that Expedition to the year 1124 and Gauterus Cancellarius who described what passed at Antioch where he was present after these comes William Archbishop of Tyre the Prince of all these Historians a man of no vulgar Learning pleasant above what that Age afforded as the Learned Bongarsius saith of him He wrote in XXIII Books beginning at the year 1095 and ending at 1180 the â—istory of LXXXIV years of what ever had passed in the Holy Land and in all Syria which the Bishop of Accon his Suffragan continued and thus far of the French Historians ARTICLE X. The Historians of the Dutch and Flandrians c. THere is scarce any thing delivered concerning the Flandrians worthy of Credit before the year 445 from which time Mejerus begins his Annals of Flanders which he has included in XVII Books in which he hath also given a large account of the Earls of Flanders from Lydericus Harlebacanus who flourished about the year 800. to Charles the Hardy Duke of Burgundy's Death in the year 1476. Hadrianus Barlandus hath compiled a Chronicle of the Dukes of Brabant from Pipin the first Duke of that Province Grandchild of Caroloman Son of Braban the third Prince of Brabant before this Province had the name or title of a Dukedom given it to Charles the Vth Emperour of Germany the Son of Philip. Jacobus Marchantius hath written IV. Books of the Memorable affairs of Flanders Aemundus hath Writ of the Dukes of Burgundy from the Trojan War to Charles the Vth. Beisscllus also of the Actions of the Flandrians and of late Olivarius Uredus J. C. Brugensis has with infinite study and labour written the Flandrian Genealogies and the History of the Earls of Flanders Hadrianus Junius his Batavia unfolds the History of the Dutch Nation the Antiquities of their Island their Origine Manners and many other things belonging to their History Noviomagus his History of Holland gives an account of their Princes from Bato their first King to Charles the Vth Emperour and to Charles of Gelders Nor is Gerhardus Geldenhaurius to be omitted who hath drawn an History of Holland with an Appendix concerning the most ancient Nobility Kings and Actions of the Germans Johannes Isaacus Pontanus Historian to the King of Denmark and State of Gelders by the command of the States hath Written an History of that Province from their beginning to the year 1581 which is a vast Work Ubo Emmius and Winsemius have both written the History of Frisland and Jacobus Revius that of Daventry Ludovicus Guicciardinus hath written a brief History of all the Transactions of Europe especially what relates to the Low-Countries from the year 1529 to the year 1560 that is from the Peace of Cambray betwixt Charles the Vth Emperour of Germany and Francis the First King of France This last Age hath afforded several most elegant Writers of the Dutch History as first Johannes Meursius who in X. Books hath writ the Life of William Prince of Orange and the Transactions of those Countries during all his time to the end of the Government of Ludovicus Requesenius that is from the year 1550 to the year 1576 and in another Work in IV. Books the beginning of the Low-Country-War or Six years Government of Ferdinand Duke de Alva to which he added a Vth Book in which is the History of the Truce Famianns Strada who in XX. Books wrote the History of those Wars from the Resignation of Charles the Vth that is from the year 1558 to the year 1590. Hugo Grotius who wrote V. Books of the Annals of Holland and XVIII Books of History in which he hath given an Account of all the Affairs of the Low-Countries from the departure of Philip the Second into Spain to the Truce that is from the year 1566 to the year 1609. ARTICLE XI The Historians of Spain THe Writers of Spanish History may perhaps not unfitly be ranked according to the four different ages of that Kingdom So the Infancy of Spain is lightly touched by Pomponius Mela who was a Native of Spain The youth of Spain as I may call it which was under the Roman and Gothick Dominion is described by Tacitus Dion Vopiscus Suetonius Appianus in his Iberica Procopius Eusebius and some others It began to arrive at Manhood in that Age in which it began to shake off the yoke of the Moors in which War 700 years were spent this then may be call'd the time of their Manhood And then their Ripest Age began under the Reign of Ferdinando the Catholick who expelled the Moors out of the whole Kingdom of Spain the most of those Writers I shall here mention Wrote of this last and the preceding Age. Isidorus Pacensis who is supposed to be the Authour of the Chronicle of Spain of whom Vasaeus Wrote thus rigidly in the Fourth Chapter of his Chronicle Isidorus Bishop of Badajoz or Baxagus Wrote a Chronicle of Spain whose Chronicle if that which bears this name be his I should rather call a Monster than a Chronicle he Writes so prodigiously ill and rather in the Gothish than Latine Tongue Rodericus Ximenes Archbishop of Toledo acquired much Glory by IX Books which he wrote of the Spanish History which he brought down to the times of Ferdinand the third the censure of Rodericus Sanctius is that the style of it is short but very pleasant and the Learned Lipsius saith it is as good as it was possible it could be in such an Age and Mariana gives him high Commendations in several places nor will I
pass by the opinion of Johannes Gerundensis in the History of Spain Trogus Pompejus Orosius and Isidorus Hispalensis are worthy of great esteem Roder of Toledo is tolerable the rest are mere Dreams The last cited Authour Johannes Margarinus Bishop of Girona wrote an History of Spain in X Books from the Arrival of Hercules to the Reigns of Arcadius and Honorius the Children of Theodosius the Elder in the times of which Princes the Goths entred Spain he styles it the omitted History of Spain because in it he relates what had been omitted by the Writers of the latter Ages Johannes Mariana has writ the History of Spain from the first times of it to the Ruine of the Moors in XX Books which in X Books more is continued to the Death of King Ferdinand that is to the year 1516. Franciscus Tarapha brings down an History of Spain to Charles the V th Rodericus Sanctius Palentinus who was Chaplain and Counsellour to Henry the IV th King of Castile and Leon hath consigned to paper in a very great Volume an uninterrupted History of Spain down to his own times that is to the year 1467 concerning whom and two other more ancient Historians of that Nation Luca Tudiensis and Rod. Ximenius Alph. Garsias a Rhetorician of Alcala an University in Spain gives this judgment because they did not seek to please the Ears of men but to inrich the memories and judgments of Posterity as they sought not after pleasing Language so neither have they entertained their Readers with trifles and falsehoods Marineus Siculus wrote an History of the memorable affairs of Spain in XXII Books which ends in Charles the 5 th Laurentius Valla wrote the Reign of Ferdinand King of Aragon in III Books but as P. Jovius justly thought he wrote this work in such a style as no man can conceive that it was penn'd by him who gave the precepts of Latine Elegance to others and you may there find several other things concerning this Historian Carolus Verardus who flourished under Innocent the VIII th about the year 1484 wrote the History of the Conquest of the Kingdom of Granada and the History of Andaluzia Hieronymus Conestagius wrote the History of the Union of Portugal to the Kingdom of Castile in X Books in which he gives an account of the State of that Nation from the time in which Sebastian the first passed with a vast Fleet into Africa to fight against the Moors to the times when it was by the Conduct of Philip the second united to the rest of the Spanish Provinces Damianus à Goes has writ the actions of the Portuges in the Indies Aelius Antonius Nebrissensis hath written the History of the affairs under Ferdinando and Elizabeth in XX Books and he hath also writ the War of NAVAR in II Books Vasaeus in his Chronicle of Spain Chap. 4 th saith it is an History worthy of so great a man and he is commended by Erasmus as a man of various Learning and that deservedly there is also an high Commendation given him by Alphonsus Garsia in the Book which he wrote of the Learned men and Universities of Spain to these may be added Hieronymus Osorius a Polite Writer of the memorable things of Spain Johannes Brucellus of the Spanish War in V Books and Florianus Ocampus who by the Command of Charles the V th published a general Chronicle of Spain the rest I omit ARTICLE XII The Historians of the Turks and Arabians who heretofore were possessed of the Dominions of Africa Syria Persia and Spain and are commonly call'd Saracens THe History of the Saracens is to be sought in Harmannus Dalmata Leo Africus Robert the Monk William of Tyre and Benedictus de Accoltis a famous Elogie upon whom is Extant in Lilius Gyraldus his second Dialogue of the Poets of his time and in those other Authours which we have mentioned above when we discoursed of those Historians who had given an account of the affairs of the French in the East Caelius Aug. Curio wrote also an History of the Saracens in III Books and he also wrote a particular History of the Kingdom of Morocho Erected by the Saracens in Barbary There are several who have given accounts of the Origine of the Turks for there it is fit to begin the reading of their History as Baptista Egnatius Theodorus Gaza and Andrea Combinus Martinus Barletius in his Chronicle has excellently described the Origine of the Turks their Princes Emperours Wars Victories Military Discipline c. And he hath also writ the Life and Actions of George Castriot who by Amurath for the greatness of his actions was Sirnamed Scanderbeg very elegantly in XIII Books whose fidelity will appear from that passage in his Preface I have saith he committed to writing what hath been related to me by my Ancestours and by some others who were present and saw what passed Laonicus Chalcocondylas an Athenian wrote an History of the Turks in X Books he is the onely Grecian Historian who wrote since the barbarous Turks possessed themselves of Constantinople with any applause he flourished in the end of the fourteenth Century about the year of Christ 1490 he begins from Ottoman the Son of Orthogul who began his Reign about the year of Christ 1300 and he ends in the year 1363 in which Mahomet the II stoutly repell'd the invasion made upon him by Mathias King of Hungaria and the Venetians Johannes Leunclavius also hath collected and published an History of the Musulmen out of their own Monuments with great industry in XVIII Books about the year 1560. Paulus Jovius ought here to be taken in too who has accurately and elegantly represented their affairs especially from the XII th to the XVII th Book and again from the XXXII to the XXXVII th Book of whom the Authour writes above Sect. 25. Henricus Pantaleon has collected an History of all the memorable Expeditions both by Sea and Land which have been undertaken for 600 years by the Christians in Asia Africa and Europe against the barbarous Saracens Arabians and Turks to the year 1581 to which you may add Reinerus Reineccius his Oriental History Martinus Stella hath written concerning the Wars of the Turks in Hungaria Petrus Bizarus hath written of the War made by Solyman against Maximilian the Emperour Melchior Soiterus hath writ the War made upon the Turks by Charles the V th and Ferdinand his Brother Nicholaus Honnigerus hath writ of Solyman the XII th and Selym the XIII th Emperour of the Turks against the Christians Ubertus Folietta hath writ the Siege of Malta and of several Expeditions into Africa and also of the War in Cyprus betwixt the Turks and the Venetians Ubio Esinus and Caelius Cec. Curio have also both of them writ of the Cyprian War and the latter of them of the Siege of Maltha too the taking and Sacking of Constantinople
by the Turks in the year 1453 is represented by Leonardus Chiensis Bishop Mitylaen and Godefridus Langus Philippus Callimachus Experiens has writ two elegant Books of the Sack of Varne in Mysia which happened IX years before that of Constantinople Johannes Eutropius wrote the War made by Charles the V th upon Tunis and his Expedition into Africa is written by Christoph. Claudius Stella Henricus Penia hath writ the War betwixt Ismael Sophy of Persia and Selym Anno 1514. Nor is it difficult to learn many things for the clearing and enlarging on the Turkish History from the 14 Books of Epistles concerning the Turks and their affairs collected by Nicholaus Reusnerus and the elegant Epistles of Augerius Busbequius concerning his Ambassage in Turky ARTICLE XIII The Historians of the Tartars Muscovits and Sarmatians HAitonius the Nephew of a King of Armenia and a Souldier many years in his own Countrey became afterwards a Monk in the Island of Cyprus as he tells us himself Chap. 46. and at length came into France where about the year of Christ 1307 by the Command of Clement the V th he describ'd the Empire of the Tartarians in Asia and the other Eastern Kingdoms The first Emperour of the Tartars was Changius Cham about the year 1200 the V th from him was Chobitas as Haiton calls him or Cublai the great Cham. This Princes Court and a very large Empire belonging to him in the Indies and all the Eastern Countries is largely described by Marcus Paulus Venetus in his second and third Book of the Oriental Kingdoms and the Empire of the Tartars who is an Authour worthy of great Credit this Cublai was father of Timuri Lechi who is commonly call'd Tamerlan who shut up Bajazet the Emperour of the Turks in an Iron Cage In the Books which Matthias a Michou wrote of the Asian and European Tartars is contain'd a short History of the Tartars and Muscovites Matinus Proniovius wrote an History of the Tartars and Johannes Leunclavius wrote of the Wars of the Muscovites against their Neighbour Nations Paulus Oderbonius wrote the Life of John Basilides Duke of Muscovy very elegantly Reinoldus Hidenstein wrote a Commentary in VI Books of the War of Muscovy made by Stephen King of Poland Bredenbrachius wrote the War of Livonia in which the Muscovites destroyed and dessolated the whole Province of Torpate Paulus Jovius Novocomensis wrote of the Embassies of the Muscovites and Sigismundus Liberius wrote Commentaries of their affairs ARTICLE XIV The History of Aethiopia India almost all Africa and most of the new World or America THe History of Aethiopia is to be fetch'd from Johannes Bohemus Damianus a Goes Franciscus Alvaresius and Ludovicus Romanus Patritius which last hath writ VII Books of the Navigation of Aethiopia Egypt both the Arabias and the Indies Johannes Maerus Santineus hath wrote an Indian History in III Books Nicholaus Godignus hath also writ an Aethiopick History Ludovicus Vartomannus when he had travell'd Aethiopia Egypt Arabia Persia Syria and the East-Indies wrote all his Travels in VI Books Leo Afer a Moore but born in Spain and first a Mahometan and afterwards a Christian when he had travelled almost all Africa Asia the less and a great part of Europe was taken and given to Leo the X th where he translated into the Italian Tongue what he had with incredible labour and industry collected and written in the Arabian concerning the people of Africa and their Manners Laws Customs and the Description of that Countrey which Johannes Florianus afterwards translated into Latine this Authour will therefore serve instead of all others for the African Story and yet if the Reader be so pleased he may add to him P. Jovius and Alvaresius Grotius Laet Hornius and some others have Learnedly written of the Origine of the People of America but then in order to the attainment of a perfect History of the Americans the Voiages of Christopher Columbus Aloysius Cadamustus Cortesius Novius Benzo Lyrius Gomarus and others are to be perused which have been described by several Writers Gonsalus Ferdinandus Oviedus is so Learned a Writer of the History of the new World that Cardanus thinks him the onely Authour amongst the Historians of our Age who deserves to be compared with the Ancients And in general the Transactions of both the East and West-Indies China Japan Magellan c. may be known from the Navigations of the Portuges Hollanders English Spaniards to whom the Jesuites may be added as Petrus Maffaeus Johannes Acosta Mart. Martinus and others who ought yet to be read with great caution because they are excessively taken up in seting forth the Miracles and Martyrdoms of their new Saints ARTICLE XV. The Historians of some great Cities BEsides those Historians which have given us accounts of particular Nations there are some others who have made it their business to describe the affairs of some particular Cities and our design here is to give you the Names of those that have written the Stories of the most eminent Cities because it is not possible to reckon or reade all VENICE Petrus Bembus has written an History of Venice in XII Books by the order of the Council of Ten as he saith in the beginning of it with the highest degree both of elegance and truth and though Justus Lipsius the Prince of all the Criticks has made a short Invective against his Style yet in another place he excuseth his sharpness as having been transported on that occasion a little too far and the Learned Heinsius saith Bembus was the onely Historian of that Age who wrote pure Latine and which was then the propriety of the Italians his style is unmix'd and genuine neither painted with false Colours nor fantastically adorned The affairs of the Venetians are also comprehended by M. Antonius Sabellicus in XXXIII Books and in a short Chronicle by And. Dandulus a Duke of Venice of whom Petrarcha Blondus and others have made mention with commendations Petrus Justinianus hath deduced the History of this City from the building of it to the year 1575 and to these may be added Johannes Baptista Egnatius Petrus Marcellus a Venetian Janotius the Cardinal Contarenus Blondus and Moccenicus GENOVA Isaacus de Voragine has described the History of Genova to the year 1296 which Georgius Stella hath continued to the year 1422 Johannes Stella to the year 1435 Cephanus begins at the year 1488 and continues it to the year 1514 Parthenopaeus begins 1527 and ends Anno 1541 to which may be added Petrus Bizarus his History of Genova Ubertus Folietta Paulus Interjanus and Jacobus Bracellius PADOVA Gulielmus Cortusius began an History of this City but Albigretus his Kinsman was the finisher of it of whom P. Vergerius speaks thus Cortusius in writing neglected that Elegance which it was not in his power to attain to Bonus Patavinus wrote the History of Padova from its building to the
and his Nation He begins his History from Ottoman the Son of Orthogulis who began to Reign about the year of Christ MCCC which he has compos'd in X. Books and in it he has comprised the Story of the Eastern Church and Empire And he continues it not onely to the year MCCCCLIII in which Constantinople was taken by Mahomet but also as Vossius assures us to the year 1463. in which this Mahomet the IId stoutly defended himself against Matthias King of Hungary and the Venetians who invaded his Kingdom And Vossius saith also Blasius Vigenerius of Bourbon put out this History in French with Notes which was Printed at Paris in the year 1620. SECT XL. Blondus Foroliviensis may supply the want of the Greek Writers as to the Church History with some others Sigebertus Gemblacensis The opinion of Cardinal Bellarmine concerning him Robertus the Abbat continues Sigebert to the year 1210. The Hirshavan Chronicle to the year 1370. and the Additions to that Chronicle to the last Century The Cosmodromus of Gobelinus Person where to be Read its commendation In the stead of it may be read Albertus Crantzius his Metropolis into which many things are transcribed out of the Cosmodromus and the History brought down from the times of Charles the Great to the year 1504. Nauclerus also may supply this defect And that the Reader may avoid Repetitions he may begin with the middle generations of the Second Tome Johannes Sleidanus wrote Ecclesiastical Commentaries from the year 1517. to the year 1556. which are continued to the year 1609. by Caspar Lundorp THe Authours I have given account of in the three last Sections have written altogether of the Eastern affairs and do scarcely at all touch the state of the Western Church This defect may be supplied out of Blondus Foroliviensis who will serve in stead of many who has as is above observed comprehended in his Decads an intire and continued series of affairs from the declension of the Empire and the year of Christ CCCCVII to the year MCCCC and what he wants the following Authours will make good And in the first place I shall begin with Sigebert a Monk of Gemblours a celebrated Abbey in Brabant who was famous about the year of Christ MXCIV. he begins his Chronicle in the year CCCLXXXI that is a little before the end of the Tripartite History and continues it to the year M. C. XIII Bellarmine accuseth him of bearing ill-will to Gregory the VII th Pope of Rome out of a great affection to Henry the IV th Emperour of Germany and perhaps he might favour the Emperour the Cardinal goes higher and reproacheth him for Lying in his account of the death of that Pope but how truely let the Cardinal Answer for himself Robertus Abbat of Mons continued Sigebertus his Chronicle to the year MCCX and the Hirshavan Chronicle of Trithemius to the year MCCCLXX and to conclude the Paraleipomena or Additions of the Abbat of Ursperg brought down this Story to our Age almost Or if these do not please the Reader we can furnish him with other which deserve as well to be read as these And the first in this set shall be Gobelinus Person an Authour not to be despised in the opinion of Learned Men who wrote an Universal Chronicle which he call'd the Cosmodromus in which he has given an account both of the Civil and Sacred or Church History from the Creation of the World to the year of Christ 1418. in which time Sigismund the Son of Charles the IV th was Emperour He divided his whole Work into six Ages and it appears in every one of them that according to the capacity of the times in which he liv'd he was a person of no vulgar either learning or diligence and study in the searching out of what pertains to History But if the Reader be not willing to give himself the trouble of a repetition of what passed before the Birth of Christ when he comes to this Authour he may begin with the VI th Age which takes its Rise at the Nativity of our Lord. And if he is not at all pleased with this Authour he may then pass on to Albertus Crantzius who wrote an History which he stiles the Metropolis or an Ecclesiastical History of the Churches built or restor'd in the times of Charles the Great In the Writing of which History he made great use of Gobelinus his Cosmodromus and transcribd sometime intire Pages out of it into his own work which was afterwards done by many others as the Learned Vossius bears witness Crantzius begins at the times of Charles the Great and goes on to the year MDIV. Johannes Nauclerus also a Noble Schwaben wrote a Chronicle in two Tomes from the beginning of the World to the year MD. the first Volume contains LXIII Generations that is all the Generations of the Old Testament the second Volume with the Appendixes comprehends in LII Generations all those of the New Testament And before this Work was published Philip Melancthon partly by new Methodizing and partly by encreasing and changing it made it much the more desired and the more usefull and delightfull also when it came out And here too the Reader may begin with the second Volume or from the Middle Generations of the second Volume if he be desirous to avoid the repetition of those things which he had before read in other Authours Johannes Sleidanus also in the memory of our Fathers wrote Commentaries concerning the state of Religion from the year MDXVII to the year MDLVI wherein is the History of the Rise of the Reformation throughout all Christendom which is continued in III. Volumes by Caspar Lundorpius to the year MDCIX SECT XLI Venerable Bede and Usuardus are by no means to be neglected nor the Writers of the Lives of the Popes of Rome as Anastasius Bibliothecarius and Bartholomaeus Platina their great Elogies Onuphrius corrected and continued Platina to the year 1566. Sigonius interwove the affairs of the Church with his Civil Histories and so deserves to be esteem'd a Church Historian the Elogies of Sigonius and Onuphrius BEsides these there are extant not a few other Historians which are not less to be valued than those we have mention'd Amongst which in the first place I reckon Venerable Bede our Countrey-man who wrote Annals from the beginning of the World to the Reign of Leo Iconomachus in whose times he flourished Anno 730. when this diligent and pious Writer comes near his times he gives a larger account of affairs than in the former Ages Usuardus a Monk of Fuld in Germany but a Frenchman by birth and the Scholar of Allwin our Countreyman by the command of Charles the Great put out a Martyrologie in which he described the Lives of the Confessours and other Saints in few words and this is now extant to the no small advantage of