I shall conclude with a thankefull remembrance of some living Authors to whom this Treatise of Alfred must especially ascribe a part of its being Mr. Bryan Twyne sometimes Fellow of Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford for his learned and laborious work touching the Antiquity of Oxford out of which I excerpted many things conducible to my purpose and to Mr. Noel Sparks Fellow and Greek Lecturer of the same house for his faithfull and carefull collections out of Asser. These and many more I consulted with before I brought it to that contexture and forme wherein it now presents it selfe to publike view And so beseeching the Almighty to direct all our actions for his glory and the common good and to blesse us with true piety towards him unfeigned loyalty to our Soveraigne and Christian charity one towards another I rest Yours howsoever you censure me ROBERT POWELL THE LIFE OF ALFRED OR ALVRED THE light of the Lawes of this vertuous magnanimous Prince drawne from the first and best patterne of all Lawes did not onely minister the occasion of compiling a Treatise to be hereto annexed but a just encouragement with my unworthy and unpolish't Pensil to limbe out the life of him who though he died seven hundred thirty three yeares since doth by the moderne practise and imitation of his Lawes and Government still live To speak sufficiently as one saith of so noble a Prince as Alfred was might require eloquence learning and a large Volume I must truly say that tota vita luctamen all his life was a perpetuall warfare against the enemies either of outward or inward peace men or vices And in this short breviary of his life I intend not any long discourse of the various and troublesome affaires of his twenty eight yeares raigne but what concernes his valour vertue and religion his pious and memorable deeds his orderly in the times of war and disorder course and method of a well disposed government This good King who is stiled by one the Mirror of Princes by another Moses his imitator was the Grand-childe of Egbert who first gave this Kingdome the name of England and the fourth and youngest son of Aethelwolphe by the Lady Ogburgh In his child-hood he was a carefull observer and celebrator of peculiar houres in prayers and service of God and so dextrously studious that he had many Psalmes and Prayers by heart which afterwards being gathered into a booke he did continually night and day carry about with him in his bosome as his inseparable companion and as a supply or provision for the worship of God amidst the manifold changes of those times he was a sedulous frequenter and visitor of holy places Etiam ab infantia orandi eleëmosynam dandi gratia diu in oratione tacita prostratus saith mine Author wherein hee followed his Fathers steps who by reason of his monasticke education under Swithun a Monke whom he afterwards made Bishop of Winton was a man zealously and piously addicted And of all his sonnes Alfred was most heire apparant to his fathers devotion and vertues though not to his Crown and Kingdome When he was not above five yeares old yet senior virtutibus quà m annis Aethelwolphe his father being warned thereto in a dreame by the voice of an Angell Adulphe Rex dilecte Dei quid moraris mitte filium postgenitum c. did upon this vision if it may receive any credite by an honourable Convoy of Swithun Bishop of Winton other Nobles send this blessed youngling to the Bishop of Rome to be anointed King of England certaine it is he was there and was humbly presented by Swithun to Pope Leo the fourth who as if divining and presaging his future fortune and succession to his fathers Crown did in the yeare of Christ eight hundred fifty five annoint him a King in the presence of his Father saith Rossus and it was about the time that Lewis the second succeeded Lotharius in the Empire of Rome Aethelwolphe not many yeares after his return from Rome died and his three elder sonnes Ethelbald Ethelbert and Etheldred successively raigned and dying left the Kingdome distracted by continuall conflicts with the Danes and Alfred having faithfully served his brothers as Viceroy in each of their sevâ—ral raignes survived and in the twenty second yeare of his age and the nineteenth yeare of the Emperour succeeded in his Kingdome in a yeare wherein eight severall battels had beene given to the Danes by the Saxons and himself within one moneth after his Coronation forced into the field by the Pagan Danes at Wilton where the end of the fight was more successefull than the beginning and procured the first truce betweene the Danes and Saxons yet so implacable were those Heathens against this pious Prince that like wilde and savage Boares after many overthrowes they would continually whet their tuskes to give new onsets After this truce about the yeare eight hundred seventy five Halden the Danish King having the fresh supply and aide of Guthrun and other Danish Leaders Viceroyes at least did both by Sea and Land continually exercise this gracious Prince in a defensive warfare but not without some perillous imbroylements he did inforce them to the treatie of a second peace and then more than ever they did before to any they tooke a solemnâ— Oath to depart the Countrey but eft-soones perfidiously violated the same and for further preparation of warre marched with an Armie towards Exeter Alfred approached them in such wise and so fiercely encountred them as that they were enforced to deliver pledges for performance of their former agreement of departure for no oathes would serve to binde the consciences of those lawlesse Miscreants Hence they departed and drew into Mercia and having usurped the government of the Kingdome from the River of Thames forward no termes nor tyes of truce could containe them from continuall incursions and invasions upon this noble Prince under the conduct of Guthrun called by some Gurmund The remnant of those disbanded Atheists mustered up themselves and about the first yeare of his raigne invaded the Countrey of West-saxia and pitched their Tents about Chipnam in Wiltshire where they infested the whole Countrey and so overlaid King Alfred with their united forces that by extremity hee was necessitated to make his recesse into obscure places almost inaccessible for fennes and marshes having nothing of his great Monarchie left unto him but that part of the Kingdome since knowne and distinguished by the Counties of Hampton Wilts and Somerset In this distresse one of his greatest Courts for residence was an Iland now knowne by the name of Athelney in the County of Somerset anciently in the Saxon called Aethelingarg that is Nobilium insula so termed by reason of the Kings abode and the concourse of his Nobles unto him this place is as famous to us for the shelter of Alfred from the Danish pursuit as the Minturnian
comming refused to subscribe to or obey the lawes rules and forme of discipline instituted and prescribed by him for the space of three yeares the controversie was not visibly great but a lurking and intestine hatred which now taking vent made its way with the greater fury and fiercenesse Iamque faces Saxa volant furor arma ministrat it grew so great and dangerous that none could appease it but a Regall Arbiter who being certified of it upon the complaint of Grambald hastens thither to accord the controversie and saith the Author summos labores hausit c. he tooke very great paines with unheard-of patience exactly to heare the differences of each party The summe of the controversie was touching the orders and constitutions of that place long before Grimbalds comming established by Saint Gildas and others and afterwards allowed by Saint German who made six moneths abode there as he tooke his journey to preach against the Pelagian heresie which being deliberately debated on both sides the good Prince accorded the discord and with pious and sweet monitions incessantly exhorted them to joyne together in peace and unity what can be more said of his boundlesse munificence and blessing upon that glorious Garden of Arts and Learning than the suffrage of the place it self doth ascribe unto him Oxonii flores Alured fert iste priores That schooles of learning might not be unfurnished of studious Colleagues hee made a law or decree wherby he straightly charged all the free men of the Kingdome who were owners of two hides of Land at the least being such a portion of land as might be yearely manured by two ploughs That they should keepe and traine up their children to learning until they were fifteen years old and that in the meane time they should diligently instruct them in the knowledge of GOD that they might thereby acquire wisdome and goodnesse For the better promotion of piety he built a stately Monastery at Winchester and upon the occasion before mentioned of his inforced retire into the Isle of Athelney hee there out of a locall gratitude erected an other like religious house and a third for a Nonnery at Shaftisbury in the County of Dorset the prefecture whereof he assigned to Ethelgeda his second daughter the first Abbesse there all which he inriched with large revenewes These and other his edifices by his owne former kinde of structure were most spacious sumptuous and glorious beyond all the platformes and presidents of his ancestors And because To every thing saith Salomon there is a season and a time to every purpose vnder the heaven and jactura temporis preciosissima it was the glory of his first invention to proportion out a certitude of time in all his best and choisest actions The use of Clocks and Watches being not then invented hee cast the naturall day consisting of twenty foure houres into three parts and having solemnely devoted the best and choisest part of his time to the service of God he apportioned the spaces of the day by a great wax light or Tapor which was placed in his Chappell or Oratory divided into three equall distances and measured his time by the burning thereof whereof he had notice by his wax-keeper or officer appointed for that purpose according to this threefold proportion of time he allotted eight hours for prayer studie and writing eight in the service of his body for his sleepe and sustenance and eight in the affaires of his estate which as farre as humane judgement could discerne his infirme body and casualties of that mutable time permit he most accuratly studied to performe and for the better admeasurement of time for his subjects and common people six wax candles were appointed for every twenty foure houres and the use of Lanthornes first invented by him to preserve their due time of burning The prime motive of that invention was upon this ground the Churches then were of so poore and meane a structure that the Candles being set before the Reliques were oftentimes blowne out by the wind which got in not only per ostium ecclesiarum but also per frequentes parietum rimulas insomuch that the ingenious Prince was put to the practise of his dexterity and upon that occasion by an apt composture of thin hornes in wood he taught us the mystery of making a Lanthorne hee also made a Law for contribution of money towards the maintenance of candles And in the league betweene him and Gythrun there were strict and severe Lawes made against those who paid not tythes to the Clergie He was as zealous in inlarging the immunities and priviledges of his Churches as appeares by his sanction de immunitate Templi ca. 2. and by another de sacrarum aedium immunitate cap. 5. By the first any person being guilty of any crime if it did not concern villam Regis or any honorable family hee had the priviledge of refuge to the Temple and of abode there three nights without any disturbance or expulsion By the latter if a man pursued by his enemie did flie to the Temple no man might take him away à nemine abstrahitor by the space of seven dayes if hee were able to live for hunger viam vinon apperuerit other and great immunities the King there granteth to the Church but with this caution unicuique templo religiose ab Episcopo consecrato hanc pacem concedimus c. Every Church must be first haliowed by the Bishop before it could be capable of such a freedome whence a grave and learned Civilian observes upon that Law ca. 5. that the Patron or Founder might bring the stones and the workeman put the materials together and make it a house but the Bishop made it a Church till then nothing was but the breathlesse body of a Temple the soule being yet to come from the diviner influence of the Diocesan As this Princely piety did inlarge it selfe in maintenance of the rites and ceremonies of the Church the necessary and divine dues and duties to the Altar Tithes being the just alimony of the painefull ministery as also in the immunitis of Gods houses so was it munificently extended to the needfull supportations of those consecrated bodies the materiall temples themselves It was not long ere he cured and closed up those parietum rimulas the crannies and chinks of those crackt and crazed houses with the expence of his owne estate About Anno 892. Not without long seizing and many doubtfull skirmishes he recovered the Citie of London out of the hands of the Danes restored it to its former liberties repaired the ruines and committed the custody thereof to Ethelred Duke of Mercia who maried the Lady Elfed his eldest daughter And doubtlesse the Churches in London and elsewhere had a principall interest in his pious and prudent provision for restauration and reparation And if the first fabrick of the Temple of St. Paul which was about 210.
THE LIFE OF ALFRED OR ALVRED The first Institutor of subordinate government in this Kingdome and Refounder of the Vniversity of OXFORD Together with a Parallell of our Soveraigne Lord K. CHARLES untill this yeare 1634. By ROBERT POVVELL of Wels one of the Society of New-Inne Printed by Richard Badger for Thomas Alchorn and are to be sold at the signe of the green-Dragon in Pauls Church-yard 1634. REVERENDISSIMO IN CHRISTO PATRI AC DOMIno Gualtero permissione divina Winton Episcopo Sacrae Periscelidis Praesuli Domino suo honoratissimo Reverendissime Antistes INter publicas privatas rerum anxietates per suffuratas ansam arripui horas opusculum de antiquis legibus subdelegatis in hoc regno regendi formulis ab Alvredo olim praeillustri Angliae principe institutis ad Mosaicam moderno tempori deductis imitationem elucubrandi non citiùs opus istud peregissem honoratissimo juris perito examine suo trutinanduÌ„ devovissem cum magnum me incessit desiderium in illius celeberrimi regis vitam virtutes gesta penitius inscrutandi quae omnia quidem accuratiùs perpendenti tantum mihi in delitiis erant ut variis sparsim Chronographis reperta in unum colligere fasciculum non pertaesum fuerit in illius adimplendi conatu sic unda supervenit undae mirae torrentis instar in animum meum de serenissimo nostro Carolo rege ipsius cum Saxonico illo antecessore suo aequiparabili fere in omnibus assimilatione meditationes inciderunt eò magis mirae quod tunc temporis insignissimus ille Aetoniae praepositus multas earundem licet longè concinniori disertiori idiomatis contextu in plausibus votis suis ad Regem è Scotia reducem dilucidè pertextuisset aetate hac calamorum typorum prurigine laboranti cum non deerint haud dicam histriomastiges insolentes insensati Regis legis ecclesiae Episcoporum totius ditionis hujus gubernationis mastiges licèt ipsissimis ipsi flagellis pereant non iniquum mihi cum nos non nobis solùm natos esse meminerim hoc minutulum meum in rei-publicae gazophylacium Regis legis ergo immittere visum est Ad opellam istam de legibus quod attinet quantùm naturalem subditorum erga sacram Regis Majestatem obedientiam quantum innatam Coronae regalis praeeminentiam nec non veterum consuetudinum novissimorum decretorum scientiam explicatura quantùm denique emolumenti ad rerum gerendarum subordinationeÌ„ allatura videatur consultissimos appellare judices fas sit interim ad nobile par Principum sacrorum redeam quis de talibus talia qualia perrarò ulla produxit aetas silendo praeter ire queat Etenim ut alibi in Alfredum dicitur quae delectatio major quam clarorum virorum studia res gestas mores vitas ortus obitus tanquam tabulas bene pictas quotidie intueri Quis fructus uberior quam qui ex istiusmodi rerum lectione percipiatur Non alium hoc aggrediendo mihi finem destinaveraÌ„ quaÌ„m ut incomparabilia omnium in ijâ—â— praesertim in Alf. nostro superstite bonorum insignia quasi totidem exemplaria imitationis commodè singulis accommodentur qualis haec micula mea prae grandioribus apud vulgus hominum estimanda videatur non multùm interest modo dominationis vestrae cui omnia quicquid me penes immò meipsum debeo patrocinio cum omni humilitate dicari digneris Intimis igitur à te praesul Reverende votis contendo ut hujus officii pignoris dedicationem acceptare non pigeat quo ingenti favore fretus alterum istud de legibus reipublicae utilitati devotum quorum intererit prius consultis alacrius exhibiturus sum Deus optimus maximus dignitatem vestram in ecclesiae et regni ornamentum et adjumentum diu incolumem praestet et annorum plenitudine transacta aeterna beatitudine in altissimis coronet Dominationi vestrae omni observantiae officio studio fide devinctissimus Servulus ROB POVELLUS The Preface HISTORY is the Herauld of Antiquity and the life of time and well deserves Cicero his appellation Magistram vitae it preserves and presents unto our understanding and knowledge in the booke of nature as it were in a Synoptick glasse the life and light of the boundlesse and beautifull theatre of the whole world the heavens the elements the glorious lights the nature of al herbs and plants and all creatures whatsoever both of sea and land yea even subterraneous things treasured up in the bosome and bowels of the earth the variety of all precious gems and all minerall bodies and materials whatsoever and not onely the life light of this great universe but of all persons and actions memorable and worthy to be recorded either for imitation of good or eschewing of evill ever since the world it selfe had its first created light it presents our first Parents in their innocence and naked purity and after their fall in their sinfull robes of figleaves Noah in the Arke the type of the Church militant and afterwards uncovered in his Tent. It brings to our memories the gracious and godly government of David Iehosaphat Ezechias and many other blessed Kings and on the contrary the tyrannicall and cruell oppressions of Pharaoh Astyages and Herod and many others with their wofull and exemplary punishments the lives of good and bad subjects an undermining Ziba and a faithfull Mephibosheth a proud Haman and a loyall Mordecai an incorrupted Naaman and a bribing Gehazi in a word a Pharisaicall Thraso and a penitent Publican it presents unto us from the mouth of God by the hand of Moses the Law of God or the deca logue proceeding from the eternall wisdome and rule of justice in God by which as by a Rule or Levell all the counsels and consultations all the actions and enterprises of men are to bee directed and squared This great Mistresse hath two eyes and by them she surveyes the whole world Topographie and Chronology and exact knowledge of places and of times which like the Cynosura are able to guide and conduct every studious reader in the vast Ocean of the affaires of the world unto the haven of true knowledge History is either universall describing the whole fabricke of the world or generall containing a national or provinciall description Quae mores hominum cognovit urbes or speciall comprehending the lives and actions of particular Princes or persons this last I shall walke in To be versed in the knowledge of forreigne Countries and affaires and to be a stranger at home were great folly and a way to forget the legiance and obedience which wee owe to our Soveraigne and his Lawes Vnder the service of that great Commandresse that yeelds subjection to none but eternity it selfe I shall humbly presume to present unto the world for the glory of our English Nation such a Prince as Constantine the
great Emperour of Rome who rescued the Christians of his time from the persecution would have owned and honoured for a Compeere if he had lived in his time Alfred or as some name him Aelfred or Alvred the 23. King of the West-Saxons and the first Monarch of England who not only rescued and defended his Christian Subjects from Pagan persecutions but was the Author of reconciling and adopting a Danish King and many Nobles and others to the Christian faith To the Christian and Courteous READER THere are who will expect from mee some reasons why I inter minores minimus should adventure the laboures of my shallow and slender judgement upon a Subject so Princely and Paramount Let such accept some few for many In that degree of profession and imployment in the Common lawes of this kingdome which I now injoy have done these twenty five yeares I had ever a desire to improve my knowledge not only by traditionall and ordinarie rules of practice but by a more exact inquirie Petere fontes potius quà m rivulos to looke into the antiquities and originall grounds of those lawes wherewith I was to deale My first incouragement therein I received by versing in a learned worke compiled and published Anno 1609. by Master Iohn Skeny a great Senator and privy Counsellor in Scotland to our late blessed Soveraigne of famous memory KING Iames intituled Regiam Majestatem c. with his marginall annotations touching the Concordance of the divine law the lawes of this land and the latter Parliamentary lawes of Scotland which ministred an occasion unto me to bestow some stolne houres amidst many distracting businesses in the studie of our Brittish Saxon and English histories wherein I observe notwithstanding the many and often permutations of State and government in the time of the heptarchie as also before and after a constant observation of the fundamentall rules of our Nationall lawes in Tanto though not in Toto and I tooke no meane felicity therein heartily wishing that they were not so much neglected and undervalued as they are by many who are more conversant in Turkish and other forraigne histories than in our owne in sua republica hospites in aliena Gives Aliens at home and Citizens abroad From the studie of those lawes I learned that the bodie of the common weale subsisteth by an ancient monarchicall government and that the KING is Vicarius Dei and Caput reipublicae GODS Vicegerent and the head of the Common-wealth The members which make up the structure of our Republike are the LORDS spirituall and temporall and the commons the common-wealth hath an interest in every mans actions In praemium or paenam either to reward the good or to punish the bad actions of men crimes of omission or commission Interest rei-publicae ne quis re sua malè utatur It hath such a power over the actions and estates of men that no man must abuse or mis-imploy the talent of his minde body or meanes And by the rules of contraries Every man must well and rightly order and imploy them for the aid and defence of the head and of that great body Master Crompton in the dedication of his learned Irenarcha rendereth this motive for the publication of that book For that saith hee the body of the Common-wealth doth consist of divers parts and every member ought to indevour himselfe according to his calling for the maintenance thereof I have studied how I might put my poore talent into the treasury for the more safe conservation of that body The same reason raised up some courage in me to enterprise that work which is mentioned in the precedent nuncupation I had no sooner finished and devoted that to the view and examination of an honourable person eminently learned in the lawes but my meditations fell amaine upon the lives lawes and memorable actions of our Royall paire of peerelesse Princes and especially of our Brittish Alfred and afterwards perusing that most accurate and learned worke of Sir Henrie Wootton Provost of Eaton Colledge for the gratulation of his Majesties happy returne from Scotland It bred a wonder in me that two Subjects the one noble the other plebeian should at one and the same time as neare as may be conjectured concord for most things in their meditations upon the noble acts and deeds of their most glorious Soveraigne It seemes to me a strong argument to prevent the sinister conceits and criticke opinions of those who will bee too censorious upon my publishing of this worke and amongst them some of my owne calling who never had their breeding in any Innes of Court or Chauncery such I must passe by with the Poet Carpere nostra voles potes hinc jam lector abire Quo libet I heare some already censure me for writing some part of the life of our renowned Monarch in his life time two presidents instar multorum shall serve to vindicate me therein Asser who wrote the life of Alfred whilst he lived And our ever honoured Cambden who wrote part of the life of blessed Queene Elizabeth before her death I shall adde a reason that sithhence by nature wee are apt to imitate the worst things dociles imitandis Turpibus pravis omnes sumus It is most expedient that the lives of good and gracious Princes being gods on earth should be set forth unto their people as specula a super-eminent watch-Tower whom their subjects every where might behold afar off and learne to obey their supreme power and as speculum a mirrour wherin they might gaze on and strive to imitate their Soveraigne in vertue and goodnesse Two points in my Parallell I heare are already quarrelled with One concerning genuflexion at the saving name of IESVS the Canonicall discipline of our Church ratified by regall authority injoynes it and I will obey it and if there were no such injunction my conscience would warrant me to doe it with freedome from Idolatry The other concerning recreations on the Lords day after the end of Evening prayer for which I refer the Reader to the late translated worke of the reverend Divine Dr. Prideux In either of these I have not presumed to use any arguments neither needed I for then I should have walked ultra crepidam and needlesse it is to argue or dispute for that which authority hath commanded and most insufferable insolence to speake or write against it know good Reader that I have learned the fifth Commandement which teacheth us that subjection must attend on superiority and commands not onely a naturall obedience from children to parents but a civill obedience from subjects to their Prince who is Pater Patriae and to all subordinate Ministers and Magistrates under him How can any man thinke himselfe religious who will contemptuously violate that Commandement not onely in not obeying the Ordinances and Edicts of their Christian King but in oppugning them and perverting others from yeelding obedience to them Let this suffice for matter of apologie
incense of his prayers to the Throne of Heaven which course he constantly observed in the silent houres of night and at all seasons aswell in the times of prosperity and victorious successe as also in all adverse and doubtfull variations of war or State or afflictions of sicknesse and infirmity of body in all which he had his vicissitude of participation He was the first lettered Prince in this Kingdome since it had its nomination of England and had the happinesse to be disciplined under the care of Plegmundus a man of excellent learning and eminent parts who was borne in Mercia and from the solitary life of an Eremite in the Island of Chester called to be a Tutor to this noble Prince who at that time found the number of Learned men to bee so scarce and few by reason of the continuall devastations of warres which are alwayes incompatible with lawes and literature as that with incessant sighs and groanes he would not daily cease to bemone the want of such men and with assiduity of earnest prayers to implore a supply from that Omnipotent w th soone gave a gratious issue to his desires for not many moneths after his inauguration to the Kingdome he obtained the comfortable service and attendance of Withfrithus called by some Werefridus who was consecrated Bishop of Worcester on Whitsunday 872. And for his singular learning was had in high estimation by King Alfred and by his command translated the dialogues of S. Gregorie out of the Latine into the Saxon or English dialect he wanted not all the helpes advise and instructions of Plegmundus his Tutor who was afterwards Anno 889. consecrated Archbishop of Canterburie Those he consulted with night and day taking sweet comfort aswell in their discourses as in their lectures and rehearsals of many learned books and workes and never thought himselfe happy longer than he had the fruition of their or such like pleasing companies by meanes whereof he attained the knowledge of most bookes and ability to understand them by himselfe without any of their interpretacions his regall desire of Arts and learning rested not at home but extended it selfe by messages and Embassages beyond the Seas for men of the most exquisit learning that could be heard of out of France he obtained Grimbald and Scotus men famous in their times for their great singular learning out of the remotest parts of Wales he sent for Asser who wrote his life and divers others of like parts he drew from other places Asser as himselfe affirmeth abode with the King in his Court by the space of eight moneths before his returne to Wales in which time he constantly read divers bookes unto him for saith he it was his custome both night and day amidst all other impediments both of mind and bodie to be ever versed in reading books himselfe or hearing them read by others and tooke a great felicity to translate bookes especially meetre into the vulgar then Saxon tongue and commanded others to do the like wherby he acquired such perfection therein as that the Art of Poësie was much honoured by ascribing to him the title of Poet. This religious Monarch out of his immoderate thirst of the Artes and liberall Sciences modestly conceiving the want thereof in himselfe to be more than it was did apply the greater care for the education of his children In which charge Asser being recalled from Wales had the principal imployment and was vouchsafed the name of Schoolemaster to his children being two sonnes and three daughters by his one and only Queene No lesse tender was he in the trayning up and tutoring of the children of his Nobility under the same masters and in the same method of discipline For the perpetuall propagation of learning he revived and repaired the old and erected and endowed new Schooles and Colledges as so many seed plots and nurseries of Religion and vertue Some write that he did first institute the Vniversity of Oxford the institution of that famous Achademie was doubtlesse long before but if vivification and redemption from oblivion and ruine be proportionable to a worke of creation it is not a graine in the ballance who should deserve the greatest honour of that renowned Seminary either the first founder or Alfred the refounder For amidst the many mournefull demolitions of stately monuments by the Danish and Saxon warres Oxford had her deplorable part and sufferance in the exile of her Muses in her houses and structures All by warres laid wast and even with the dust little or nothing left to demonstrate what her former beauty had beene save onely the Monasterie of S. Frideswide For repairing the wasts and spoiles of that sacred place Alfred bestirres himselfe and there for the studies of Divinity Philosophy and other Artes did raise up the fabrick of three magnificent Colledges then called by the name of his schooles one for divinity another for Philosophy and a third for Grammer one of which three is now knowne by the name of Vniversity Colledge In this revived Seminary he designed and appointed severall Readers and Professors to whom hee allotted large and liberall stipends The first divinity reader was Neote the second sonne of his father by his Queene Iudith daughter of Charles the bald Emperour and King of France whom he married upon his second returne from Rome a man of admired learning to whose forwardnes and direction in the reëdification of this ancient Nursery that place did owe a special part of her being Asser as propense and zealous to his power in advising and furthering the perfection of that worke was the Grammar and Rhetoricke reader hither hee sent Aethelward his second son and first and last child who was borne about An. 880. And thereby gave example to al the greatest Nobles of his Kingdome to send their sons thither and to honour their education with the company of the young Prince This worke of restitution was begun saith one An. Dom. 874. And doubtlesse it could not be presently finished and furnished the government thereof began to flourish betweene the yeares 882. 883 about which time Grimbald was made in the presence of that victorious Prince the first Chancellor of that Vniversity to make this worke more absolute he obtained the grant of many priviledges unto the schollers of this place from Martin the second Pope of Rome which he confirmed with his own grant of many honourable infranchisements and immunities From the same Pope he obtained a relaxation of all tribute to the Saxon schoole at Rome As hee was every way royall and magnificent in this ever blessed act of restauration so he was studious in the preservation therof in peace and concord a great dissension and perillous about the yeare 886 arose amongst the schollers the parties in this faction were Grimbald and such learned men as he brought thither with him and the old schollers who had their abode there at the time of Grimbalds
yeares after his raigne consumed with fire with no small part of the Citie could speake for it selfe it would not be silent of his magnificent bounty The revenewes of his Kingdome he was as studious to husband as his time which that he might the better ascertaine and know his own which is the best part of thrift confine his expences unto the provent of his estate he enjoyned a generall survey of the kingdome to bee made and certified unto him and that with the particulars of his whole estate to be deduced into a booke which he committed to safe custodie within his treasury at Winchester The one halfe of his wealth he faithfully devoutly resolved to bestow in the service of him whom he ever served but to avoid the guilt of violating that caution of sacred Scripture Si recte offeras recte autem non dividas peccas He studied discreely to divide what he did religiously devote Therefore by a holy and divine direction of all the income of his annuall revenew he caused a twofold division to be made wherof one part for divine the other part for secular affaires 1 That part for Gods service he commands a quadruple subdivision to bee exactly and carefully made The first part whereof was to bee distributed to the poore of each nation wherin his hand was ever open to cast his bread upon the waters his bounty and almes-deeds were not circumscribed at home but liberally dispersed abroad and not onely to those of his owne and neighbouring nations but to others of forreigne and remote parts as if hee should have therein said Tros Tiriusque mihi nullo discrimine habetur In the yeare 888 hee sent by Athelmus Bishop of Winton much treasure of his owne together with a large collection of his well disposed subjects unto Marianus then Pope of Rome consigning a portion thereof to be conveyed to Hierusalem Another time by Sigelmus Bishop of Sherborne a large Almes or offering of his owne into India there was scarce any Countrey where the poore had not a portion of his bounty 2 The second part was allotted to his Monasteries for the support and maintenance of them 3 The third part was sequestred and appropriated for the benefit and indowment of his great Schoole or Academie at Oxford which hee had stored with many Students 4 The fourth he laid aside as a portion for all the bordering Monasteries in Saxonie and Mercia and in some yeares to releeve and repaire severall Churches by turnes in Brittaine Fraunce Ireland and other places The other moytie of his estate he did wholly addict to the service of the secular affaires which he carefully commanded to bee tripartited 1 Whereof the first part was yearely conferred on those of his military imployment whom he highly esteemed as also upon his meniall officers and Ministers who garded his person and guided his Court and being lifted into a trinall Company each of them wayted a moneth by turnes and then had two moneths recession for their ease and disâ—â—â—ch of their owne affairâ—â— 2 Tâ—â— second part on the Masters and Workemen of his Fabrickes whom he had in great numbers procured selected and sent for out of many nations The third portion he reserved for reliefe of strangers whom the deserved fame of his vertue goodnesse and bountie drew out of all parts to admire him and whether they sought and asked it or not to bee partakers of his liberall largesse which to every one according to their dignitie and desert hee did aboundantly dispose In all this if vertue and piety were hereditary hee might justly challenge a descent therof from Aethelwolphe his father a Prince more affected to devotion than Action who being a Subdeacon was by the dispensation of Pope Leo afterwards made King and gave the tenth of his kingdomes tribute with exemption of regall service to maintaine the ministery of God and his Church And in his last journey to Rome did confirme the pay of peeterpence to Leo IIIIth then Pope of Rome and his successours to the end that no Englishman should do pennance in bonds Adde unto Alfreds then unmatchable pietie his royall gratitude which ingratitude being the worst of vices is the best of vertues Asser makes ample relation of his munificence to him after his eight moneths abode in his Court yet with his excuse Non ideo se dedisse parva illa quòd sequenti tempore nollet dare majora which promise hee made good shortly after in bestowing the Bishopricke of Sherborne upon him in the yeare 873. His old Host of Athelnry hee afterwards well requited by advancing him to the Bishoprick of Winchester Anno Christi 879. He was not so carefull in apportioning his estate and time as he was in disposing the local government of his now setled Monarchie the league betweene him and Guthrun being so firmely established and before he could not doe it he did all things stato statuto tempore a president for all Princes yea and for all persons in imitation of Iethro his councell to Moses He was the first that reduced this confused Kingdome into an orderly rule of subordinate government And observing the old rule of Divide impera did divide this land into Shires hundreds and tythings respectively appointing the prepositure of them to severall Officers and Ministers now called Sherifs Constables and Tythingmen But no government could bee without Lawes and herein Moses is still his ensample who having first selected his wisemen and placed such to be rulers over thousands hundreds fifties and tens then and not before Iura dabat populo hee gave laws to the people froÌ„ the mouth of eternity it self Alfred with a religious majesty begins his Lawes Loquutus est Dominus ad Mosem hos sermones cites all the decalogue and then proceeds with the Lawes comprised in the 21 22 and part of the 23 Chapters of Exodus all which and the confirmation of these with the Lawes of King Inus and other his Ancestors I have elsewhere at large expressed He caused a booke containing Decreta judiciorum collected by King Ethelbert to bee written in the Saxon characters which the injury of times hath utterly suppressed Lawes without execution are but Vmbratiles cloudes without raigne shadowes without substance hee was therefore prepared jus sacere as well as jus dicere He was not sparing to administer justice and to dispose of affaires of most weight in his owne person Taediosus or districtus examinandae in judiciis veritatis arbiter existebat hoc maximè propter pauperum curam qui in toto regno praeter illum solum nullos aut paucissimos habebant jutores he was a most solicitous umpire in examining the equity and verity of judicatory proceedings and that principally for the cause of the poore who besides him alone had none or very few advocates or assistants he was the Patron and protector of Widdowes and Orphanes As
formula vivendi ministrorum Dei it goes with an inprimis praecipimus Dei ut ministri constitutam vivendi formulam curent observent That the Ministers of God should observe a regular forme of living and certainly it was meant by that Law as well in their habit and vestiture as in their condition and gesture doth not the parallell hold in our times witnesse the prudent care of the severall Bishops within their Diocesses by his Highnesse gratious and provident directions that the Ministers in their lives and conversations might bee lights and examples to others and by their Clericall and conformable habites they might with respect to their callings bee distinguished from others God hath his proper day and time for the more especiall and peculiar advancement of his worship And albeit his Highnes Ecclesiasticall lawes are armed with competent power to redresse the transgressing of either yet hee hath given a liberty for unsheathing the sword of his secular justice to propugne and maintaine that selected day and time There were good Laws made before the Conquest one by King Alf. De ijs qui die dominico sua negotia agunt for repressing under a great mulcte all servile and prophane workes upon the Lords day no speciall law of that subject were ever since made but in the time of our Alf. in whose first Parliament the first Law enacted was for punishing abuses committed on that day and in the second and last Parliament the first Law made was for further reformation of the breaches profanations of that day by Carriers and others And whereas his Highnesse pursuing the example of his deare Father directed by the primitive practice of former times for the ease and comfort of his well deserving people hath by his Princely declaration vouchsafed a liberty to his subjects concerning lawfull sports to be used that day without impediment or neglect of Divine Service prohibiting the same to all wilfull and negligent Recusants that shall not resort to their owne Parish Churches to heare Divine Service before their going to the said recreations this gratious indulgence hath of late disquieted the spirits of some unquiet humorists But let the consequence bee discreetly weighed and all men will perceive a double benefit arise thereby for the propagation of Gods service 1. In incouraging the younger sort of people who are most subject to desire of recreations with more alacrity to frequent their Church that they might injoy their harmelesse pastime 2. In retaining the Parishioners to the discipline of their owne Pastors from stragling abroad to other mens Cures a thing too frequent and most perillous to conformity As the service of God hath its principall dependance on devout prayer so the devotion of prayer is quickned and much improved by fasting and abstinence at times prefixed by the Lawes which may be termed Gods time Alfred made a Law de jejunijs Liber si indictum jejunium cibo sumpto dissolverit mulcta ipsa legis violatae paena plectitor c. A Free-man for the violation of a Fast was to pay a penalty some say five markes a servant to be beaten or to redeeme it with monie His Majesty ever since his raigne hath had a most watchfull eye by orders and Proclamations yearely published to revive and command the due execution of his Lawes made against eating and selling of flesh in Lent and other times prohibited and finding that divers Officers and Ministers were remisse in the punishing and prevention of such abuses did by a strict edict command all his people that his Lawes should be duely executed upon all that should offend either in eating or venting of flesh at times inhibited or not fasting upon the dayes by his Lawes appointed God hath also a name which must not bee taken in vaine our Soveraigne for his pious observation of that may bee proposed for imitation to all the Princes and people of the world no rash oathes nor temerous execrations breathe out of his sacred mouth and that saving Name by which God ownes our redemption is had in high esteeme with him It is said of K. Alfred that God sometimes permitâ—ed his adversaries an insultation over him ut sciret saith mine Author unum esse omnium Dominum cui curvatur omne genu that hee might know that there was one IESVS CHRIST to whom all knees should bow It is Gods precept or rather protestation Isay 45. ver 23. In memet ipso juravi I have sworne by my selfe the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousnesse and shall not returne Vnto me every knee shall bow it is the practise of our Church and still may it continue Ad nomen Iesu curvetur omne genu Let every knee bow at the name of Iesus As God hath his dayes and times so his Places Churches and sacred Oratories for his adoration and invocation of his great Name the wisdome and munificent piety of ancient times hath within this Island erected such stately and magnificent Churches as doe far surpasse all other places in the Christian world were it not then great pitie that such famous fabricks should by the injury of times bee suffered to moulder away and be demolished for want of timely reparations And here let mee pause a while and admire his Highnesse tender zeale for supporting the Houses and Temples of GOD and his beginning with that goodly and glorious structure which was first begunne in our Kingdome and dedicated to St. Paul the great threshing-floore of thâ—s Dominion purchased and erected by the pious Davids of former Ages and consecrated for a Temple to the GOD of Iacob and herein his Majesty doth inherit his Fathers Royall intentions It is said of London That it is Camera Regis Cor reipublicae tanquam Epitome totius regni The Kings chamber the heart of the Common-wealth and as it were a Summary of the whole kingdome What shall I then terme this holy place which is the very center of that imperiall chamber but Sanctum Sanctornm the Mother-church of the whole land where all publike benedictions are first rendred all apprecations for blessings and all deprecations of publike calamities are resounded and ecchoed out unto the eares of Heaven Twice hath his Highnesse vouchsafed his presence at severall Auditories in that place Once as a glorious Starre that followeth the Sun He attended his Royall Father about thirteene yeares since to heare a holy and a powerfull embassage on the behalfe of that Ancient Temple delivered by the mouth and meditations of a learned Prelate upon a foundation laid a Text chosen out of a Kingly Prophet Psalme 102. VER 13. Thou shalt arise and have mercie upon Syon for the time to favour her yea the set time is come VER 14. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof And in such an assemblie was it that to use his owne words Hee