Scotland take name from that remote Nation but from Mor which in British signifies the Sea as being a Maritime Province as Moravia in Germany took its Name from the River Mora which passes through it Some reject this Story of Marius his Victory but that which William of Malmesbury relates in the Prologue of his third Book De Gestis Pontificum seems no contemptible Evidence for it There is saith he in the City of Lugubalia now Carlile a Dining-Chamber built of Stone and arched with Vaults so that no spiteful force of Tempests nor furioun flame of Fire could ever shake or hurt it the Country is called Cumberland and the people Cumbrians in the forefront thereof this Inscription is to be read MARII VICTORIAE that is To the Victory of MARIVS Here Camden thinks fit to acquaint us how he had learned that another making mention of this Stone saith it was not inscribed Marii Victoriae but Marti Victori that is To Victorious MARS But that this is clearly contrary to Malmesburie's mind his words immediately following shew What is meant by it I am at a stand for unless part of the Cimbrians haply planted themselves here after they had been driven out of Italy by Marius Here Lib. 4. cap. 9. saith Ranulphus Cestrensis in his Polychronicon William of Malmesbury was deceived in thinking the Inscription upon this Stone appertained to Marius the Roman Consul but it is no wonder seeing he had not read the British Book where it is written of King Marius Neither indeed could he have read it in Geffrey's History which was not published when Mulmesbury wrote Cneus Trebellius was the next Lieutenant of Britain that we read of after Salustius Lucullus and after him Julius Severus who being called hence by Adrian to suppress the Jewish Rebellion the Northern Britans with the Picts again entred the Province and so fiercely assailed the Romans and Southern Britans that the Emperour was fain to come in person to their relief by whom the Enemies were repulsed and again forced to betake themselves to their sculking holes and Adrian approving the policy of Tiberius for girding the Empire within moderate bounds withdrew the Limit from Agricola's Fence an hundred Italian Miles as he had done in the East further from Tygris to Euphrates and erected a Wall of Turf for fourscore Italian Miles in length from Gabrosentuns Spartianus in vita Adriani 122. now Gateshead to Carlile which should divide the Barbarians and the Romans asunder strengthned with great Stakes or Piles pitched deep in the ground and fastned together in manner of a Mural or Military mound for defence And then having reformed many things throughout the Island triumphantly returned to Rome and upon his Coin entituled himself The Restorer of Britain The next Lieutenant here was Priscus Licinius whom Adrian afterwards employed in an Expedition against the Jews as appears by an old Inscription In the year of Christ one hundred twenty five dyed Marius the British King to whom succeeded his Son Coelus who kept peace with the Romans and paid them their Tribute as his Father had done In his time the Brigantes confederating with the Northern people made Inrodes into Genunia Paus in Arcad. a Neighbour-Province which Camden thinks should be written Genuthia taking it to be the same with Guinethia or North Wales against whom the Emperour Antoninus Pius by whose Ordinance as many as were in the Roman world became Citizens of Rome sent Lollius Vrbicus Lieutenant into Britain who subdued them and fined them with the loss of a good part of their Territory and driving the Northern Enemies further back enlarged the Bounds of the Roman Province again as far as Agricola's Frontier-Fence between Glotta and Bodotria In vita Antorini Pij building there as Julius Capitolinus saith another Wall of Turfs viz. beyond that of Adrian Seius Saturninus was now Archigubernus of the Navy in Britain as we find in the Digests Lib. 36. but whether by that Title be meant Admiral or Arch-Pilot is questionable In the beginning of the Reign of the Emperour Aurelius the Picts and Caledonians raising new Commotions were quelled by Calpurnius Agricola who succeeded Lollius in the Lieutenantship Coelus having reigned forty years dyed in the Year one Hundred sixty five leaving his Kingdom to his Son Lucius whom the Britans call Lhes and Sirname him Lever Maur that is Great Light because he was the first Christian King of their Nation For having heard of the Miracles wrought by Christ and Christians and particularly of the Emperour's Victory over the Germans obtained by the Prayers of the Christian Legion and observing the Piety and Sanctity of the Lives of those who in Britain professed that Religion he begain to entertain a high and honourable opinion of it Theonus Elvanus and Meduinus lived at this time of whom the first was the first Archbishop of London the other two were employed by the King to Eleutherus or Eleutherius Bishop of Rome to request him to send some able Teachers hither to instruct and Baptize him and his people Radulphus de Baldock and Gisburnensis say that at the receipt of this Message the good Bishop for joy sung the Angels Hymn Gloria in Excelsis The time of this Embassy is much controverted Beda Marianus and Florentius though dissenting in the computation of Years yet agree in this that they refer it to the beginning of Eleutherus which according to Eusebius was in the year one Hundred seventy six in the sixteenth year of the Emperour Aurelius when Aper and Pollio were Consuls Hereupon Faganus and Duvianus are dispatched into Britain who the same year baptized the King and many of his Subjects The Names of these two are strangely varied by Authors the former being called Fugatius Fagatius Fagaunus Foganus Fuganus Euganus and Figinus and Phaganus the other Damianus Dumianus Dunanus Dunianus Dimianus Dimanus Dinnamus Diwanus Divianus Divinianus Derwianus and Donatianus The Britans called them Fagan and Dwywan With these was also Marcellus or Marcellinus afterwards Bishop of Triers and Tongres King Lucius having now received the Faith is reported to have requested the Bishop of Rome to send him a Copy of the Roman Laws whereupon Eleutherus sent him this Letter You have desired us to send you the Laws of Rome and of Caesar which You would use in your Kingdom We may reject the Laws of Rome and of Caesar at all times but in no wise the Law of God Ye have lately by God's mercy received the Law and Faith of Christ in the Kingdom of Britain Ye have with you in your Kingdom both Testaments out of them by God's Grace with the Counsel of your Realm take a Law and by it with God's sufferance govern your Kingdom of Britain For You are God's Vicegerent in your Realm according to the Royal Prophet Psal 24.1 The Earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein and again according to that
Castles and furnished that part of Britain which lyeth against Ireland with Forces in hope of atchieving something upon that Island when he had done with this to which end he gladly received a certain Irish Prince expelled by civil dissension and under colour of kindness retained him till a fit occasion should serve These his proceedings caused the people beyond Glotta and Bodotria to look about them especially the sight of his Navy which he had manned out to search the Creeks and Harbours of their Countrey allarmed them as though now the Secret of their Sea were disclosed and no refuge remained if they were overcome The Caledonians therefore assault his Castles for whose relief the Lieutenant advances dividing his Army into three parts which advantage the Britans quickly spying united their Forces and in the dead of night set upon the ninth Legion which they were likely to have cut off if Agricola had not come seasonably to their assistance notwithstanding which the Caledonians fought valiantly for a good while but were at length overpower'd and driven out of the field About this time a Cohort of the Vsipians levied in Germany and sent over into Britain having slain a Centurion and certain Soldiers among their Maniples and set over them for direction in discipline fled and embarqued themselves in three Galleys compelling the Masters of the Vessels to execute their charge and only one doing his Office the other two being suspected were slain so putting off to Sea they were driven uncertainly hither and thither sometimes landing and skirmishing with the Britans for Booty and were at last reduced to such misery that they were fain to eat one another first the weakest then as the lot lighted Thus having been carried round about Britain and lost their Galleys for want of Pilots they were seized by the Suevians and Frisians for Pirats and Rovers and being sold for Slaves fom Master to Master some of them happened into the hands of Romans among whom they grew into a Name by relating their so strange Adventure Agricola increasing his Army with the addition of many Britans more faithful to him than to their Countrey marches up further into Caledonia and on the declining of the Hill Grampius now Grantzbain finds his Enemies lodged to the number of thirty thousand to whom the couragious Youth and even the Old men that were yet vigorous and had gained Renown in former Services daily flocked Galgacus the Son of Liennacus Prince of the Caledonians reckoned in the Book of Triads for the second of the three Illustrious British Heroes was Commander in chief Agricola having sent his Fleet before to distract the Britans by frequent and uncertain Landings and to do them what other mischief they could charged valiantly upon them and was received with equal courage whilst the one side fought for life and liberty the other for honour and conquest The manner of the Fight is excellently described by Tacitus the success in short was this That the Britans after a stout resistance were vanquished with the loss often thousand men and on the Roman part were slain three hundred and forty and among them Aulus Atticus Captain of a Cohort The poor Caledonians after this Overthrow forsake and burn their Habitations and the Roman Scouts meet with nothing but Silence and Desolation The Summer was almost at an end and therefore the Lieutenant brings his victorious Army into the borders of the Horrestians so called for Horeskians or Areskians because dwelling upon the River Eske and receives of them Hostages and commands the Admiral of his Navy to sail about Britain by whom it was first found to be an Island and the Isles of Orkney discovered and sudued Himself with slow Marches to awe the new conquered Nations with the very stay of his Passage disposes his Army into Winter-quarters and the Fleet having finished their Voyage return to the Port which in Tacitus is through frequent Transcriptions corruptly written Trutulensis as Beatus Rhenanus saith for Rhutupensis As Agricola was one of the best Generals of his time in the world so was he also a Prudent and Politick Governour first he reformed his own Family not permitting his Attendants or Followers to sway or meddle in Publick Affairs then the Army by electing Officers not for Bribes or Affection but for Virtue and Merit next he took care for the observing of Equity and corrected all those petty Abuses in the collecting of Tributes and Exactions which are usually more grievous than the Burden it self the people rude and scattered and therefore prone upon every occasion to War he so perswaded as to build Temples Houses and places of publick resort the principal men's children he caused to be educated in the way of Learning and by commending the wits of the Britans above the Gauls made them affect the comptness of the Roman Language then he brought them to imitate the Roman fashions for Attire and so by little and little the incitements and materials of Luxury stately Edifices Baths and sumptuous Banquets grew to be in request among them By these means the Nation was softned and in a manner pleased with their Servitude In all probability if Agricola had continued in his Government he had subdued the whole Island but the Emperour Domitian envying his Glory recalled him sending in his place Salustius Lucullus whom he afterwards put to death because having devised certain Spears or Lances of a new fashion he had called them after his own name Luculleans Soon after as is collected from a Preface of Tacitus to the first of his Histories the Britans freed from the fear of Agricola who was poysoned with the Emperour's privity again betook themselves to Arms at what time the Name of Arviragus was famous at Rome as appears from Juvenal who brings in Fabricius Veiento thus flattering Domitian Regem aliquem capies aut de temone Britanno Excidet Arviragus Some King thou shalt take Captive or shalt make Arviragus his British Throne forsake This valiant King after a long Reign from the time of Claudius to the latter end of Domitian whom Juvenal and Ausonius style Bald Nero dying left his Kingdom to his Son Marius whom the Britans call Meurig By this time the Christian Religion was planted in sundry parts of Britain In the Chronicle attributed to Flavius Dexter and in the Epistle of Hugh a Portugal Bishop to Maurice Archbishop of Bracara we read that St. James the Son of Zebedee came hither and the Fragments ascribed to Helecas Caesar Augustanus tell us that his Mother Salôme and his Father Zebedee whom they confound with Aristobulus were here also This St. James at his return to Jerusalem was put to death by Herod Agrippa Nicephorus Callistus writes that Simon Zelotes called also the Cananite from his Birth-place Eccles. Hist lib. 7. cap. 48. Cana of Galilee came into Britain where he was crucified and buried as Doretheus in his Synopsis and the Greek Menologies have it which latter assign the
The Native Britains are zealous assertors of Brutus and will have him to be the Author of their Stock and Name and therefore spell it with a Y viz. Brytaine it being frequent with them in derivation of words to turn V. into Y their National name in the plural number being written Brytaniaid and the name of Brutus being usually pronounced by them as if it were spelled Brytys Many Learned men explode the whole Narration of Brutus and deny that evâ—â— there was any such man affirming his very â—â—â—th to be the meer product of Geffrey of Monmouth's Brain But hereunto I cannot reasonably assent for though I look upon Geoffrey to have been no faithful Translator but believe him to have inserted a great many Fictions into that little Chronicle which was brought over from Armorica whereby Giraldus Cambrensis was induced to term it a Fabulous History and the Church of Rome thought fit among other Books prohibited to forbid his Writings together with Merlin's Prophesies to be published yet I see no cause why we should reject all of it as commentitious seeing Vennius who lived some Centuries before him speaks of Brutus though doubtfully one while making him the same with Junius the first Consul another time calling him Brito and making him the Son of Sylvius the Son of Ascanius the Son of Aeneas and lastly fetches his discent from Jabath the Grandson of Japheth by his Son Jovan or Javan thus Jabath Jona Baath Isran Esdra Ra Abirt Oth Ecthec Aurthac Ethac Maier Simeon Boib Thoi Ogomun Setherir Alanius Isacion Brito To Brito he adds three Brothers Francus Romanus and Alemanus To Armenon the Brother of Isicion he gives five Sons Gothus Valagothus Gebidus Burgundus Longobardus And to Negno another Brother four Sons Vandalus Saxo Bogarus and Turgus The uncertainty of this and his other Stories he excuses because the great Masters and Doctors of Britaine had no skill in the Antiquities of their Nation and left no memorial in writing confessing that himself had gathered whatsoever he wrote out of the Annals and Chronicles of the Holy Fathers Henry of Huntingdon speaks of Brutus or Bruto in the first and second Books of his History and in his Epistle to Warinus a Briton concerning the Kings of the Brittans And Giraldus himself in that Seventh Chapter of his Description of Wales where he so blames Geffrey yet acknowledgeth Brutus for Founder of the Kingdome of the Brittans And both these were as antient as Geffrey Thaliessin the chief of all the Brittish Poets living in the dayes of Malgon Guineth styles his Countreymen Wedilhion Troia the remnant of Troy And we read in Ammianus that some who after the destruction of Troy fled Lib. 15. possessed themselves of Gaule at that time void and unpeopled meaning but thinly inhabited from whence they might easily pass over hither As Monumethensis himself confesseth that Brutus arrived in Gaule before he came into Britaine To this purpose it were not much amiss to alledge that Verse which goes about under the name of Sibylla wherein they are termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were from Brutus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 'Twixt Bryts and Gauls their Neighbours rich in Gold that much abound The roaring Ocean Sea with blood full filled shall redound Some there are who would have the Britans to come of the Race of the Grecians and Britannia to be deduced from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a term given by them to their Finances and Revenues of which opinion are Cooper and Eliot And truly * Lib. 6. de Bello Gall. Caesar sayes that he found the Greek letters to be in use with them And it is evident that their Language hath a greater affinity with the Greek than almost any other hath Diodorus Siculus saith of them Lib. 5. cap. 8 That they used Chariots in fight as the report goes of the ancient Grecians at the Trojan Warre But all that they say to prove them sprung from Greece may serve as well to make good their original from the Trojans who were themselves a Colony of the Grecians transported by Teucer out of Creet into Phrygia Certain it is out of Homer and others that the Trojans had Greek names and their manner of fighting was the same Nor is it at all likely that in so short a space as the Reign of Seven Kings they should quite forgoe the Language and Customes of their Ancestors though the Britans might well undergo a great alteration in both for so long it was ere the Romans knew them As for the Altar erected in Caledonia with an Inscription of Greek letters mentioned by Solinus it may seem to be the work of some Grecian that came with these Trojans from Chaonia or some other Greek Travellers in honour of Vlysses as a great Navigator by which means Vlyssippo too now Lisbon in Portugal seems to have gotten its name I confess it does not appear to me an irrefragable Argument against the so long received Tradition of Brutus that no Roman Historian speaks of him since we find in them but a slender account of those times wherein he must be supposed to have lived and little more than the bare names of the Alban Kings which more directly appertained to them And for those who wrote after the entry of the Romans into Britain much of their Writings is lost as of Tacitus Suetonius Dion Cassius and others which might have made something for this purpose Nor is there any great weight in the objection of some others That the name of Brutus is not so ancient as the time of this British King since Nennius calls him Brito of which name Hyginus Polyhistor mentions a Centaure or Thessalian and other Greek Writers speak of a Nymph named Britona and Britomartis But when the Romans came to be Lords of the World the Britans ambitious to claim Kindred with them and to ingratiate themselves with them might possibly vary the Greek name of this Prince into the Roman name of Brutus differing little from it in their pronuntiation And seeing it is manifest that even the most unlearned and barbarous Nations have preserved the memory of some of their old Heroes especially of the Founders without Greek or Roman Authors why may we not allow our Britans their Brito or Brutus though we do not admit the whole Bed-roll of Kings recited in the Monmouth History It seems the old English Saxons believed him to be the Founder of the British Kingdome as these Verses out of an old Saxon Manuscript in Trinity Colledge Library in Cambridge shew Of alle for one Æ¿iman In Comm. ad Bedae Hist Eccl. lib. 1. Ãat Heleine Æ¿as icleped þorn is bataille furst bigan On Heyman Æ¿as þorn er bifor ðh at icleped Æ¿as Dardan Of him com þorn e gode Bruigt þat Æ¿as ðh e furst man Ãat loverd Æ¿as in Engeland asc ich eu telle can And again After Bruit his oÆ¿e name he cleped hit Brutaine The
the former being taken only for the Northern men as the latter was for the Southern of that Kingdom At which time they who dwelt on the other side of Drum Albin in a rougher and more defensible country not mixing with the Picts but preserving themselves a distinct State began to be named Attiscots and with the Picts and Scots grievously annoyed the Britains that lived under the Roman Government till at length the Scots out of Ireland coming up Dunbritton Frith and being received and assisted by the Picts so far gained upon them that they were fain to incorporate with them and pass into their Name becoming members of the Scottish Kingdom as their Neighbours were of the Pictish By these Nations was Britain peopled which falling afterwards into the hands of the Romans was by them had in no small estimation as it deserved for it enjoyes so kind and temperate an Air that the Summers are not excessive hot and the Winters are very mild the Soil so exceeding fruitful that Orpheus reported it to be the very seat of Ceres thus speaking of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lo here the stately Halls of Ceres Queen And others have taken these Islands to be the Fortunate Isles so much celebrated by the Antients From hence the Romans used to send into Germany yearly a Fleet of eight hundred vessels bigger than Barges laden with Corn for maintenance of their Armies Abundantly stored it is with Corn Fruits and Cattel full of Mines and veins of Metal accommodated with brave Rivers full of divers sorts of excellent Fishes and with secure and capacious Havens the ambient Sea contributing a moderate warmth to it and serving it with great variety of Fishes too besides a kind of Pearl mentioned by King Juba Pliny Marcellinus and Beda the desire of which as Suetonius saith was one of the inducements that made Caesar take his Voyage hither who causing a Brest-plate to be made of them dedicated it to Venus Genitrix as from whom he derived his descent And St. Origen affirms the British Pearls to be the best next to those that are bred in the Red Sea or found among the Indians Indeed it was the very Barn Garner and Store-house for victuals of the Western Empire which made the Oratour in his Panegyrick to Constantius Chlorus terme the detention of it by Carausius and Alectus so great a damage to the Commonwealth And here I should run higher in the just praise of my Dear Country but that I conceive it more proper for a Choragrapher than an Historian Sextus Rufus who lived in the beginning of the first Valentinian's Reign tells us in his Breviary that Britain so much of it as was under the Romans was divided into four Provinces viz. Britannia prima being all the South-coast which of one side lieth between the British Sea and the River Thames with the Severn Sea on the other side so named because it lay nighest to Rome Wales in the largest extent from the River Severn and the Irish Sea made up Britannia secunda so called because it lay remoter off Maxima Casariensis extending from Humber to Glotta and Bodetria was so named because it was the largest and the middle Country between Thames and Humber was called Flavia from the Emperour Constantine's Praenomen Flavius But when in the time of this Valentinian and his Brother Valens the Northern people had seised part of Maxima Caesariensis from Glotta and Bodotria now called the Friths of Dunbritton and Edenborough to the River Tine Theodosius Father to the Emperour Theodosius recovered it and named it Valentia in honour of the Emperours by whom it was made a distinct Province of it self To which we may adde the Country inhabited by the Caledonians and Attiscots making up six Provinces in all Septimius Severus had formerly divided Britain into two parts the Higher which was the neerer and the Lower which was the remoter and before the comming of the Romans it was divided into three parts Loegria now England Albania Scotland Cambria Wales at what time they were so overgrown with Idolatry that they in a manner equalled the Egyptians for multitude of Deities worshipping Andate or Andraste Camulus Bellotucadrus Viterinus Magontus and others besides that it is likely that they also adored the Idols of the Gauls Teutates Hesus and Tharanis seeing both these Nations had one and the same Theology of the famous Druids For these were to the Gauls and Britans Divines Philosophers and Lawyers as the Bards were their Prophets Poets and Historians These last embalmed the memories of the Antients in Rhiming Verses which looked both backwards in their Relations and forward in their Predictions so that their Confidence meeting with the Credulity of others advanced their wild conjectures to the reputation of Prophesies The Druids taught one Chief and Supreme Deity over all the other Idols holding also the Immortality of the Soul yet with the Pythagorean errour of Transmigration but restrained only to Humane Bodies though whther they had it from Phythagoras or he from them be questioned by Lipsius Their chief Deity was Dis Pater He that desires to know more of them may consult Caesar Strabo Diodorus Siculus Lucan Pomponius Mela Pliny Ammianus Marcellinus Lactantius Eusebius de Praeparatione Evangelicâ and the Comedy Aulularia of Pseudo-Plautus with Otho Heurnius Camden and Selden Under the Romans Britain was at first accounted a Presidial Province and appropriate to the Caesars as being annexed to the Roman Empire after the division of Provinces ordained by Augustus and had Propraetors of their own The Emperour Septimius Severus having overcome and slain Clodius Albinus divided it into two Prefectures mentioned before of the Higher and the Lower But Constantine the Great made an alteration of Government both here and throughout the Empire which I think fit to set down out of Mr. Camden He ordained four Prefects of the Praetorium viz. of the East of Illyricum of Italy and of Gaul two Masters of the Souldiers or Commanders of the Forces the one of Footmen the other of Horsemen in the West whom they termed Praesentales For Civil Government there ruled Britain the Prefect of the Praetorium or Grand Seneschal of Gaul and under him the Vicar-General of Britain who was his Vice-gerent and honoured with the Title of Spectabilis that is Notable or Remarkable Him obeyed respectively to the number of the Provinces viz. in the time when the Book called Notitia Imperii was written two Consular Deputies in Maxima Caesariensis and Valentia and three Presidents in the other three Provinces who had the hearing of Civil and Criminal causes For Military Affairs there ruled the Commander of the Footmen in the West at whose disposition were the Count of Britain the Count of the Saxon Coast and the Duke of Britain each styled Spectabilis The Count of Britain seemeth to have ruled the inland parts of the Island keeping his residence in the South who had with him seven Companies of Foot and
former Engagement Yet he still retaining his affection to the Captive Lady who was very beautiful kept her and her two Companions in a Cave till the death of Chorinaeus and then repudiating Guendolena married Estrildis But this injury was not long unpunished for the rejected Queen returning into Danmonia levied an Army wherewith she gave Battel to her wanton Husband in Worcestershire by the River Stour and victoriously slew him Estrildis here taken was thrown into the River Severne and drowned with her Daughter Habren which she had by Locrinus Madan the Son of Locrinus and Guendolena being under age his Mother governed for him as Guardian fifteen years and then retiring to a private life dyed within a short space whereupon the King gave Danmonia to his Uncle Camber After Madan reigned his Son Mempricius who murdered his Brother Manlius then Eboracus or Ebrauc the Son of Mempricius Brute Sirnamed Green-shield the Son of Ebrauc Leil the Son of Brute Rudibras the Son of Leil Bladud the Son of Rudibras and Leir the Son of Bladud This Leir had only three Daughters Gonerilla married to Maglanus Prince of Albania descended from Albanactus Ragana married to Henninus Prince of Danmonia descended from Camber and Cordella married to Aganippus a Gaulish Prince descended from one of those twelve with whom Brutus fought which twelve after the death of Galates the Son of Wolfheim Sichinger had made themselves absolute in their several Provinces each of them assuming the Name and Title of King as likewise did the German Princes after the death of Celtes Aganippus restored King Leir who had been expelled by his other Sons in Law and he in requital at his death left his Kingdom to Cordella which she ruled worthily while her Husband lived but after being taken and imprisoned by her Nephews she killed her self The Kingdom must now be divided into two parts whereof the Southern is allotted to Cuneda the Son of Henninus and all North of Humber to Morgan the Son of Maglanus which Agreement held not long for Morgan not satisfied with his moiety falls out with his Cousin who overcomes and kills him thereby getting the whole which he leaves to his Son Râ—â—aâ—â— To him succeeded his two Sons one after the other first Gorgustus then Sisillius and after him Jago Son or Grandson to Gorgustus Chinimarchus the Son of Sisillius and Gorbodugus the Son of Chinimarchus whose two Sons contended for the Kingdom but Ferrea finding himself the weaker fled into Gaule whence returning with such forces as he had procured of Suardus one of the Kings there he was slain in battel by his Brother Porrex who yet enjoyed not the fruits of his victory being in revenge hereof cruelly murdered as he slept in his Tent by Queen Videnia the Mother of them both assisted in that bloudy design by her Maids This plunged Britain into Civil Wars and turned the Monarchy into a Pentarchy under the Governments of Pinnar King of Loegria Rudaue King of Cambria Stater King of Albania Jevan King of Northumbria and Cloten King of Cornwall whose Father Chinimarchus was son to Prydain and Grandson to Aedhmaur the son of King Gorgustus Dunvallo Molmutius the son of Cloten reduced the Land to a Monarchical State again subduing all his Competitors but Jevan or Owen as some call him who terrified by the death of the rest submitted himself yet the generous Conquerour suffered their Sons to hold under him part of what their Fathers had enjoyed He is said to be the first that wore a Crown of Gold here His sons Belinus and Brennus parted the Island between them after their Fathers death the Southern moiety with the Soveraignty being assigned to Belinus as the Elder and the Northern to Brennus whom Cenulphus King of the Morini invaded to his own hurt being vanquished and chased home with shame Brennus herewith puffed up would no longer stand to the first Agreement but by the advice of some flattering Incendiaries sailed to the King of Norway and obtaining his Daughter in Marriage with a strong Army to make war upon his Brother who being informed of his design had seized his Principality into his own hands The King of Denmark a former lover of the Norwegian Princess armes all his power and meets this bold Britan upon the Sea where in the heat of the fight a sudden Tempest severs and scatters the Fleets The Danish King having luckily seized the Ship wherein was his beloved Lady was with two others making four Ships in all cast upon the British Shore and there taken and delivered to Belinus while his Fleet made shift to get home and Brennus with his Navy was driven upon the Gallick Coasts nor was it long ere he crossed over to Northumbria and fought with his Brother in the Forrest of Galtres but losing the day and all his Ships but one fled to Seginus King of the Senones and Allobroges Belinus now treats with his Danish Prisoner who swearing to become his Liegeman and pay a yearly Tribute and leaving Hostages for performance is dismissed with his Lady Brennus in this time had so far gained the love of Seginus that he bestowed upon him his only Daughter and dying shortly after left all to him so that he thought himself able to deal with his Brother and getting leave of his Neighbour-Princes to conduct his Soldiers through their Countreys transported them into Britain where the two Brothers being ready to encounter one another were reconciled by their mother Convenna They therefore fall to consulting how they should dispose of those multitudes of Warriours that were raised and brought together on both sides and resolve to purchase Renown by conquering forreign Nations Passing into Gaul they easily induced these people to joyn with them in their Enterprises being thereto encouraged by the former prosperous successes of Sigovesus in Germany and Pannonia and of Belâ—â—vesus and Elitovius in Italy Having now greatly increased their numbers and strength it was judged sit to divide their Forces and part asunder Brennus enters Italy having Aruns an inhabitant of Clusium for his Guide over the Alps and at his instigation besiegeth that City Aruns did this because he could not otherwise be revenged upon Lucumo a potent Citizen who had abused his Wife The Clusines crave help of the Romans who send three Sons of Marcus Fabius Ambustus to Brennus to try if fair words might avail any thing in the behalf of their Friends But these hot-spirited Youths taking offence at the Answer they received forgot the duties of Mediators and Ambassadors and encouraging the besieged to make a Sally put themselves in the head of their Troops in which Action Quintus one of the Brothers slew a great Commander of the Gauls This was a violation of the Law of Nations for which Brennus having in vain demanded their persons of the Senate marches towards Rome and takes the City having first defeated their Army near the place where the River Allia runs into Tibur They that
escaped from the City and the Battel sled to the City of Veij and afterwards under the conduct of Camillus who before was banished to Ardea but now made Dictator relieved those Senators which still held out the Capitol who compelled by famine had newly bought their lives and were paying the Gold Brennus had received the greatest part when Camillus came upon him and worsting him in a tumultuary skirmish forced him to quit Rome and following the Enemy fought a pitcht battel with him eight miles off in the Gabine Way where after a sharp dispute the Romans prevailed and the valiant Brennus with all his Gauls and Britans lost their lives upon the spot not one escaping as Livy writes Dec. 1. lib. 5. to carry the news Here was most of the Gold regained the rest being a long time after recovered by Livius Drusus Propraetor of Gallia Cisalpina Suâ—t in Tib. which at the first appearance of the Dictator had been sent away for Tuscany where the Gauls had then divers Colonics with some Troops to guard it who hearing the loss of their Companions entred into the Service of the Tyrant Dionysius Belinus had better fortune and subdued Pannonia where he settled the Gauls and most of his Britans married his Daughter Cambra a warlike Lady to Antenor King of the Sicambrians and returning home with Honour died in peace Next to him reigned his Son Gorguntius who slew the Danish King and conquered his countrey because he refused to pay the promised Tribute Then Guiteline Son to Gorguntius and Husband to the Learned Queen Martia Sisillius Son to Guiteline Chiomarus Son to Sisillius Danius Brother to Chiomarus and Morindus Son to Danius by his Concubine Tangustella by whom the King of the Morini invading this Land was overthrown and slain This victory he used cruelly putting all to the Sword that were taken Morindus is said to have aided the King of Orkney against Basanus King of the Sicambrians but lastly adventuring to fight singly with a Sea-monster he was devoured by it the Monster dying presently after of the wounds he had given it After his death the Kingdom was divided between his five Sons Gorbonian Archigallo Elidurus Eugenius and Peridurus Of these Gorbonian a just Prince dyed peaceably and was succeeded by his Son Regin Archigallo for Tyranny was expelled by his Nobles who gave his Kingdom to his Brother Elidurus through whose intercession he was restored and reigned afterwards very nobly parting his Principality at his death between his two Sons Morgan and Eneon But Elidurus found not the same kindness from his other two Brothers who took him prisoner and shared his Province between them till Eugenius dying first and then Peridurus he again recovered his Kingdom and left it to his Son Gerontius Edwal the Son of Eugenius or Owen and Runo the Son of Peridurus succeeded their Fathers like wise in their Provinces Thus was Britain cantoned into sundry parcels besides that the Descendents of those Princes who acknowledged the Soveraignty of Dunvallo and his Successors hitherto now renounced all manner of Subordination Which caused Tacitus to write of the Britans thus In vita Agric Heretofore they were governed by Kings now they are drawn by petty Princes into Partialities and Factions After Gerontius reigned his Son Cadellus for the British History takes no notice of the Posterity of the other Princes Then followed Coelus the Son of Cadellus Porrex the Son of Coelus Cherinus the Son of Porrex whose three Sons shared their Father's Inheritance between them Their names were Fulgentius Eldadus and Androgeus To this last succeeded his Son Vrianus after whom reigned these Kings in a direct line from Father to Son Flind Clidacus Clotenus Gorguntius Merianus Bladud Capys Owen and Sisillius who made another partition between his two Sons Blegâ—red and Archivallo Eldon the Son of Archivallo ruled after his Father and then followed in a lineal Succession Redion Rodericus Sawyl sirnamed Penissel Pyrrhus Caporius Gilquellus sirnamed Minocanus and Belinus he by his valour much enlarged his Hereditary Dominions for which he was entitled The Great For this is that B. M. Beli Maur so famous among the Cambrian Genealogists He had three Sons whom in his old age for he lived till the first coming of Caesar he assumed as Partners in his Kingdom assigning each of them a Province with Regal Authority and Title Immanuentius had the Trinobantes and was Sirnamed Lhud that is to fay Russet or Tawny it being usual with the Britans both ancient and modern to impose Names and Sirnames from colours Caswallan had the Cattieuchlani and is by Dion Cassius called Suellan corruptly for Cassuellan And indeed it is very likely that the same causes which lost us so many Books of that excellent Author might make some corruptions in them that were left unless we shall think Suellan or Swallan was his true name Cas being a Praeaddition taken from the Cassii the chief Sept of the Cattieuchlani as Cattimarus Teutobochus and Decebalus had the beginnings of their Names from the Catti Teutâ—nes and Daci though afterwards the name of Swallan grew out of use and Caswallan was used in its stead in honour of this Prince Nennius I conceive had Kent and might be the Father of Cyngetorix Carvilius Taximagulus and Segonax These three Princes acknowledged a subordination to their Father Belinus whom Geffrey of Monmouth will have to be dead some years before the Romans arrived here vainly esteeming it a disparagement to Lhud to reign under his Father and aiming to give Caswallan the entire honour of managing all the war from the first beginning and therefore makes that Belinus which then lived to be Caswallan's General and Counsellor not his Father contrary to Nonnius who expresly termes him King of the Britans And Henry of Huntington will needs have him to be his Brother and Cambden takes him for Caswallan himself contrary to the Cambrian Genealogists who all consent that he was his Father Thus far have we waded through the Maeandrian Intrigues of Antiquity from Samothes obtruding nothing upon the Reader 's belief of this that we have taken either from Annius of Viterbo or Geffrey of Monmouth though both those Authors have been followed and owned by some Learned men Neither is there any thing herein more incongruous or incredible than what the Greek and Roman Writers have delivered concerning the Originals of their Nations which things are yet allowed a place in many Authentick Historians and Chronologers What follows comes from the hands of more approved Authors In the year of the World's Creation Three Thousand Eight Hundred Ninety five according to the common Computation Pompey and Crassus being Consuls the second time Calus Julius Caesar having now by Conquests over-run Gaul out of an innate desire of Glory allured also as Suetonius saith with hope of Pearls which as he was informed were ingendred and gathered in the Creeks of the British Sea and being incensed against the Britans for sending
Royal Prophet Thou lovest Righteousness and hatest wickedness Ps 45.7 therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oyl of gladness above thy fellows And again according to the same Royal Prophet Ps 72.1 Give the King thy Judgments O God c. for he said not the Judgments nor the Righteousness of Caesar For the King's Sons are the Christian Nations and people of the Realm who live and abide in the Kingdom under your Protection and Peace according to the Gospel Mat. 23.37 even as a Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings The Nations and people of Britain are your people whom however divided you ought to gather into one to reclaim to Concord and Peace and the Faith and Law of Christ and to the Holy Church to cherish maintain or to lead by hand protect govern and always defend them from injurious and malitious Folks and from their Enemies Eccl. 10.16 Wo to the Kingdom whose King is a Child and whose Princes eat in the morning I do not term a King a Child for Infant-age but for Folly Iniquity and Madness according to the Royal Prophet Ps 55.23 Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their dayes By Eating we understand Gluttony by Gluttony Luxury by Luxury all filthy perverse and wicked things according to King Solomon Into a malicious Soul Wisdom shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin Rex dicitur à Regendo non à Regno A King hath his name from his Ruling not from his Kingdom As long as you govern well you shall be a King which if you do not the Name of King will not be evidenced in you and you will lose that Name which God forbid Almighty God grant you so to govern the Kingdom of Britain that you may reign for ever with him whose Vicegerent you are in the said Realm This Letter was written in the year one Hundred seventy nine when the Emperour Commodus was Consul with Vespronius and is to be seen in Lambard's Archaeonomia Printed at London in the years 1560 and 1644 among Edward the Confessor's Laws and in a Copy of our old Laws written in Edward the fourths time now kept in Sr. John Cotton's famous Library and likewise in an Ancient Manuscript Chronicle called Brutus and Breton William Harrison hath inserted it into his description of Britain Lib. 1. c. 9. having translated it into English out of sundry ancient Copies Theon Bishop of London is said to have built St. Peter's Church in Cornhil London with the help of Ciranus the King 's Cup-bearer which Lucius liberally endowed and made it to be the Episcopal Sea for the Diocess of London But Fagan and Dwywan not confining their endeavours only to Lucius his Kingdom converted the greatest part of Britain with the assistance of Elvan and Medwin of whom the former had been made a Bishop at Rome the other a Doctor as Johannes Tinmuthensis and Capgrave in the life of Dubricius and an old Tract concerning the first state of the Church of Landaffe assirm meaning Presbyter or Priest as I suppose by Doctor for the title of Doctor doth not appear to have been so ancient in the Church in the sence wherein it hath been since used Divers other Bishopricks are reported to have been erected about this time as York Carleon upon Vske Winchester Gloucester Congresbury Landaffe and other places Philippus Berterius and Archbishop Vsher of Armagh take York to have been the Metropolis of Britain at that time as being a Roman Colony and honoured with the Emperour's Palace and the Praetorium of Britain in regard whereof Spartianus terms it by way of Excellency In vita Severi The City And in the Council of Arles Eborius of York subscribed before Restitutus of London He that in the year one Thousand four hundred and sixty wrote the History of the Archbishops of York makes Fagan the first Archbishop of that Sea but Harrison in his description of Britain saith Lib. 1. cap. 7. that one Theodosius was Bishop there in the time of Lucius who might be so indeed in the latter end of Lucius his Reign after Fagan's death The Church of Winchester being finished in the fifth year of Lucius his Conversion viz. in the year one Hundred and eighty was then Dedicated by Fagan and Dwywan at which time also one Devotus was made Abbot of the Monastery which the King had founded for certain Monks professing the Egyptian Rule of St. Mark And about the same time was also founded the renowned Abbey of Bangor And now the Northern men are up in arms again and passing Lollius his Fence were come as far as Adrian's Wall which they broke down putting most of the Soldiers that defended it with their commander to the sword and entring the Province wasted and spoiled it at their pleasure against whom Vlpius Marcelius was sent who valiantly beat them back to their own homes and governed the country with such same and reputation that the Emperour Commodus whose Vices were as notorious as his Lieutenant's Virtues fearing the growth of his Credit with the Romans in an envious mood sent him Letters of Discharge After his departure the Army which he had kept in excellent Discipline fell to mutinying and civil Dissensions the Officers abusing and defrauding the common Soldiers whereupon fifteen Hundred of them went to Rome and complained against the Emperour's grand Favourite Perennis as the cause of those and many other distempers in the State for which he was put to death Yet did not this compliance so appease the British Army but that they would have set up another Emperour and Helvins Pertinax who here succeeded in the Lieutenancy endeavouring to suppress their insolency by severe means provoked them to an Insurrection in which divers were slain and himself left for dead whereupon he was glad for his own safety to get himself revoked In his place came Clodius Albinus who so worthily demeaned himself that Commodus either for fear or favour honoured him with the Title of Caesar which yet he accepted not but upon a false report of the Emperour's death having in a set speech discovered himself to be better affected to the old Government of the Senate and Consuls than to Monarchical Empire he was commanded to resign to Junius Severus But Pertinax suceeding Commodus was not long after murdered by the Praetorian Guards who sold the Empire to Didius Julianus who enjoyed his Purchase but a very little time being soon after slain by Septimius Severus This Emperour to keep Albinus who during the late Broils had made bold to keep his place from attempting any thing against him during his Wars with Pescennius Niger created him his Caesar which he now accepted as having a greater esteem for him than for Commodus But Niger being defeated and slain Severus falls to practising the death of his new Caesar and therein failing proclaims him Traitour and publick Enemy and comes in person
against him with the strength of the Empire Albinus hereupon bestirs himself and encreasing his Army with the Flower of the British Youth crosses over into Gaul where near Lyons a Battel was fought between them in which at first Albinus had the better but was at last overthrown and killed his Head being sent to Rome by the Conquerour as a token of the Victory After which Severus divided the Roman Province here into two Prefectures of which the Southern part was termed the Higher and the Northern was termed the Lower About the beginning of Albinus his Government here Fagan and Dwywan went to Glastonbury where they found nothing but ruine and desolation for the Hermits who took care of the Church were all dead long ago This Church they repaired and placed there twelve of their Associates procuring King Lucius to confirm to them and their Successors by Charter the Donation of such Lands as had been given by his three Predecessors to Joseph and his Companions Nine years they are said to have spent in this place and then having visited their Converts and confirmed them in the Faith to have deceased in Britain where divers Churches were afterwards erected and consecrated to their memory After Theon's death Elvan was Bishop of London and is said to have built a Library adjoyning to his Cathedral and to have converted many of the Druids to Christianity King Lucius having built St. Peter's Church at Westminster St. Maries at Dover and a Church at Canterbury which was afterwards called St. Martins dyed and was buried in the Cathedral of Gloucester as Geffrey saith in the year two Hundred and eight as Hollinshed out of ancient Writers tells us having reigned three and forty years according to the Author of the Genealogicon de Gestis Anglorum I know there is great difference in Writers about the time of his Reign and Conversion which I conceive was partly occasioned through the variety of Computations of the years both of Christ's Nativity and Passion As for his Reign some allot him but twelve years as Caxton Bale Grafton Stow and Basing stochius too short a space by far for the many memorable works done in his time others allow him seventy seven years as Matthew Westminster the Chronicle of Salisbury and the Pensile-Table of St. Peter's Church in London but these then take from the years of his Predecessors and make his Great Grandfather Arviragus and his Grandfather Marius to be dead before Domitian's time They generally give him the Character of a Religious and Munificent Prince and say that he did very liberally give Possessions and Territories to Churches and Church-men which he confirmed to them by Charters and that he priviledged Churches and Churchyards to be Sanctuaries and places of Refuge for such Offenders as fled to them He was the first Europaean King that we read of who received the Christian Faith and Britain the first Land in which it was by Publick Authority professed A high and singular Honour for our Country and which next to Divine Providence is in a great measure to be ascribed to the clemency of the Emperour Aurelius to the Christians upon his miraculous victory over the Germans Some with a manifest Antichronisme confound this King with Lucius the Apostle of the Rhetians and Bavarians but Achilles Cassarus in his description of Augspurg as we have him in Munster's Cosmography and Archbishop Vsher of Armagh Cap. 6. in his Treatise De Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Primordiis do judiciously distinguish the one from the other Again others in opposition to a whole cloud of Eminent Witnesses make him a meer Larva denying that ever there was any such King because Britain was then subject to the Romans But these do not consider that it was customary with the Romans to permit Kings to reign in several Countreys which they had subdued as in Judaea Herod in Cilicia Tarcondemus in Cappadocia Archelaus in Pontus Polemon in Mauritania Juba and here in Britain Cogidunus and that even at this time the Emperour Lucius Verus having finished the Parthian War did as Julius Capitolinus saith distribute Kingdoms to Kings and Provincial Governments to his Counts I do not fondly suppose that he was King of all Britain as Geffrey would perswade us nor yet of the greater part of it but I rather think that after Arviragus was driven out of Siluria by Frontinus and out of Ordovicia by Agricola the Province of the Belgae with part of the Province of the Dobuni might upon his submission be granted to him as places not so difficult to be reconquered if he or his Successors should revolt being an open Champaine Countrey of easie access and surrounded in a manner with Roman Garrisons That Arviragus Marius Coelus and Lucius bore some sway in this part of the Island I am the rather inclined to believe because I read of their Sepulture at Gloucester and their Bounty to Glastonbury besides the last King's Liberality to Winchester and Congresbury all which places stand within this Territory Neither did Lucius restrain his Beneficence within the limits of his own Kingdom but piously extended it to several other parts of Britain where Christianity had taken any footing This we find written of him by Bale Lucium pium Coeli filium unicum Romanorum fautorem Caesaris Marci Antonini Veri tum benevolentiâ tum autoritate Britannis post patrem imperâsse That Lucius the Godly the onely Son of Coelus a friend to the Romans by the favour and authority of the Emperour Marcus Antoninus Verus reigned over the Britains And Archbishop Vsher in his Primordia saith Cap. 3. that there were found here in England two ancient pieces of Coin one of Silver which was in the keeping of M. Josephus Hollandus the other of Gold which himself saw among the Cimelia in Sr. Robert Cotton's Library stamped with the effigies of a Christian King as appeared by the Cross upon which these three Letters LVC were inscribed In the mean time Virius Lupus was so overmatched by the Maeatae and Caledonians that he was constrained to buy his Peace and the liberty of some Prisoners with great Sums of Money but understanding that Severus had now ended his other Wars he sends him an account of the British Affairs who thereupon taking with him his two Sons Bassianus and Geta sets forward with a mighty Army to revenge his Lieutenant's disgrace he arrives in Britain in the same year that Lucius dyed and finding divers Competitors striving to succeed him puts an end to the Conquest by laying the Kingdom to the Higher Province The Northern people terrified with his coming crave peace but in vain whereupon the Prince of the Caledonians whom Fordon Boetius and Lesley call Fulgentius though Geffrey names him Fulgenius and saith that he was Brother to Martia the first wife of Severus sails over to Scandia to procure a fresh Supply of Picts with which and his own Subjects and Confederates by the advantage of Loughs Bogs Mears
Mountains and Woods better known to him than to the Romans he made such stout resistance that the Emperour in this Caledonian War lost no less than sifty thousand men Yet did not Severus desist though for age and weakness he was fain to be carried in a Litter till he had marched to the furthest part of the Island In which Expedition he worsted his Enemies in all conflicts and at last flew Fulgentius whose Successor Argetocoxus such for peace and obtained it upon condition That all the Countrey between the two Fences of Adrian and Lollius should be yielded back to the Romans from whom it had been lately gained During this peace the Empress Julia discoursing with the wife of Argetocoxus Sarcastically scoffed at the loosness of the British Ladies who thereat incensed made her this brisk Reply Much better do we British women fulfil the work of Nature than you Romans we with the best men accustom openly you with the basest commit private Adulteries Severus having thus tamed the Northern men builds a strong Wall where Adrian had formerly made his of Turf fortified as Orosius saith with a deep Trench and between certain spaces many Towers or Battlements This Wall was from his Name called by the Britans Guall Sever and Mur Sever stretching in length eighty two Italian Miles which Number being set down in Figures bysome Italian Writers thus LXXXII hath been variously corrupted and altered through the negligence of Transcribers while some for L. the Quinquagenary numeral have put down C. the Centenary making CXXXII Miles whereas the Land is nothing near so broad in that place and others have wholly left out the L. shrinking this place of Ground to XXXII Miles which number agrees neither with this place nor that of Lollius his Fence being far too short for this and too large for the other Severus now assumes the Title of Britannicus Maximus and at York where that Oracle of the Law Papinianus sat to minister Justice he and Bassianus being consuked in a case or question of Right gave forth their Imperial Constitution De Rei Vindicatione But the Northern people ever impatient and unquiet soon took occasion to break the Peace against whom the Emperour sent out his Army with command to spare neither Sex nor Age but to put all to the sword and so having in some sort repressed this Commotion worn out with the toils and labours of War and with trouble and grief for the unreclaimable misdemeanour of his Sons especially the Elder who had attempted to kill him he ended his life at York in the year two Hundred and Eleven whose Body was bestowed in a Funeral Fire at a place beneath that City westward near to Ackham where is to be seen a great Mount of Earth raised up which of him is named SEVER's Hill His Eldest Son Bassianus whom he had by his first wife Martia succeeded in the Empire who concluding peace with the Northern people took Hostages of them and departed out of Britain His Step-mother Julia he incestuously married and having cruelly murdered his Brother Geta and many of the Noblest Romans was himself after a Tyrannical Reign of six years slain in Mesopotamia by the conspiracy of his Successor Ma rinus In the out-land parts which lay beyond the Wall the Roman Soldiers built themselves Stations which they fortified and furnished with all necessaries and when Alexander Severus came to be Emperour he gave as Lampridius saith to the Captains and Soldiers of the Marches as well in Britain as in the other parts of the Empire these Grounds and Lands which were won from the Enemies so that they should be their propriety if their Heirs served as Soldiers and that they should never return to any private men concluding that they would go to the Wars more willingly and take the better care if they should defend their own peculiar Possessions And this Mr. Camden looks upon as the beginning of Feuds This good Emperour Alexander was afterwards slain in his Pavilion at Sicila a Suburbial Village to the City of Mentz by Julius Maximinus who succeeded him Under the Emperour Gordianus we find by the Inscription of an Altar-stone dedicated to the Honour of that Emperour and his wife Furia Sabina Tranquilla that Nonius Philippus governed here as Pro-Praetor In the time of Valerianas we read that Mello a Britan whom some call Mallonius Melanius and Meloninus going to Rome to pay the British Tribute was there converted by Pope Steven the First and in the year two Hundred filty six made Bishop of Roan in Normandy which Church he governed for many years Of the thirty Tyrants which usurped the Imperial Title against Galienus five took upon them that Style and Power in Gaul which were Posthumus Lollianus Victorinus Marius and Tetricus These likewise bore sway in Britain as their Coins here found do testifie The first of these to tye Coelus to his interest and party permitted him to assume the name of King This Caelus Sirnamed Godebog was the Son of Teguanus and was lineally descended from Aflech one of the Sons of King Lhud He was a man of great power and repute among the Britans and began his Reign in the year two Hundred sixty two as Hollinshed Cooper Powel and Isacson tell us and reigned twenty seven years Some will have his Kingdom to have been in that part of the Land which is now called Essex and Colchester to be denominated from him others place it in Ordovicia where he had great possessions by his wife Stradwen Daughter and Heiress to Cadwan a potent man in those parts Tetricus the last of the sorenamed Usurpers not enduring the insolency of his mutinous Army and warned by the violent deaths of his Predecessors submitted himself to the Emperour Aurelianus by whom he was made Corrector of Italy Britain then returned to the obedience of the Roman Empire at what time Constantius Chlorus serving here under Aurelianus married Helena the Daughter of King Coelus and of her begat the Famous Constantine In the time of Probus those two Monsters of Drunkenness and Leachery Bonosus and Proculus of whom the former was a Britan by descent seized this Island together with Gaul and Spain but being overcome paid their lives for their Ambition Then Victorinus Maurus the Emperour's Favourite procured the Government of Britain for a Friend of his who was no sooner come hither but he rebelled whereupon the same Victorinus to free himself from suspicion of Treachery came over to him pretending that he fled from the Emperour and being entertained by the Usurper slew him in the night and returned which put an end to that Revolt This Tyrant is by some conceived to be that Claudius Cornelius Laelianus whose Coins are found in this Island and no where else About this time Probus gave leave to the Spaniards Gauls and Britans to plant Vines or make Wine and to keep the people in better subjection sent over some Companies of Vandals hither who seem to
endured with undaunted resolution Sentence was pronounced against him That he should be drawn through the City and beheaded which was accordingly performed upon the three and twentieth of April in the year three Hundred and three in which year as I said before out of Eusebius the Persecution began and therefore I cannot assent to them who place his death in the year two Hundred and ninety Of this George I understand Eusebius to speak Hist Eccl. lib. 8. cap. 5. where he saith Presently one of those who were not obscure but most glorious as they are reputed according to the excellencies of this world as soon as the Edict against the Churches was published at Nicomedia moved with zeal and fervent faith took down and rent the Writing as profane and impious which was set up in an open and publick place when two Emperours meaning the Emperour and his Caesar were in the City and even he who of all the rest was most honoured and chief of the Four But he who first behaved himself thus worthily suffered likewise those punishments which in all likelihood attended one that had dared to do such an Action and manifested an undejected and undaunted Spirit to the very last Thus far Eusebius His Body was afterwards by his Servant conveyed back to Palestine and interred at a City called Lydda and Diospolii now St. Georges near Ramah He is reported by his constancy at his suffering and by private Reasonings and Conferences to have converted many and among the rest Vincentius who was Martyred in Spain That George suffered where the Emperour kept his Court is agreed by all which sufficiently proves that neither Lydda nor Ramah was the place as some deceived by his Burial at the former have written but Nicomediae where all the Histories of those times aver that Diocletian usually resided The Arians to procure the reputation of Saintship to their George the Alexandrian Bishop confounded him and our Martyr into one composing a mixt Legend of their Acts and Sufferings stuffed with such sottish forgeries of Saint Athanasius whom they make a Magician and Alexandra the wife of Dacianus and such like that Pope Gelasius though fit to reject it with others of the same nature as Apocryphal but that he might not be misinterpreted to deny the being of those Saints whose Legends he condemned he thus concludes his Canon Yet notwithstanding this we with the Church devoutly reverence all those Martyrs and their glorious sufferings ' which are better known to God than men Yet did not this Censure though past with the advice of above seventy Prelates hinder succeeding Writers from inserting those Fopperies into their Relations of this Saint whereby some as Calvin Chemnitius c. have been induced to think that there was never such a man Others De Idol Rom. lib. 1. cap. 5. of whom Dr. Reynolds is the most considerable have really believed him to be the same with George of Alexandria though he confesseth that in his opinion Gelasius did believe him to be a Holy Martyr which he could not surely think of the Arian George whose death was but an hundred and thirty years or thereabouts before his Papacy too scant a time to have his impieties and villanies forgotten Amm. Marcel lib. 22. Neither was the Arian George a Cappadocian as this Martyr was which Dr. Reynolds goes about to prove but a Cilician born at a Town of that Province called Epiphania in a Fullers House but dwelling in Cappadocia when the Emperour Constantius the Younger appointed him to be Bishop of Alexandria many years after the other George's Martyrdom By Dacianus the Legendaries mean Galerius Caesar a Native of Dacia who had that Denomination from his Countrey as the Emperour Adrianus had his Name from Adria a Town of Italy whence his Family came and Diocletian from Dioclea in Dalmatia where he was born They call him King of the Persians in regard of his great victories over that people from whom he won five Provinces and was in a fair way as we find in Aurelius Victor to have subdued the whole Kingdom if Diocletian had not recalled him The Fable of George killing a Dragon to save a Virgin 's life seems to be taken from the Poetical Fiction of Persens and Andromeda though it may not unfitly be judged Emblematical if by the Virgin we understand his Soul and by the Dragon the Devil the one preserved the other conquered by his Christian Magnanimity and constant perseverance His name is commemorated in the Martyrologies of Greece and Rome and many ancient Authors his Relicks reverenced and Churches erected and dedicated to his memory in several Lands I have spoken the more of this Martyr that it may appear to the world that the Kings and the Nation of England who for some Ages have had a peculiar respect for this Saint whom they chose for Patron of the most Noble Order of the Garter have not bestowed all this Honour either upon a Heretick or a meer Chimoera Bouchet in his Annals of Aquitain writes That Helena the Daughter of King Cloel so he calls Coel brought Constantius two other Sons besides Constantine and that the youngest named Lucius having slain the Elder was by his Father banished out of Britain and condemned to a Monastical life Embarking therefore with divers Priests and Religious men he crossed over to Poictou where at a place from him called Lucionum now Lusson he founded an Abbey and a Church in honour of the Virgin Mary This he relates out of an old Hymn of that Church But seeing no Ancient approved Author mentions any other Son of Helena's besides Constantine I rather think this Lucius to be the same with him who preached to the Rhaetians and Bavarians since all the Writers of his Acts agree that he preached in Gaul before he entred into Germany Gaul had been much depopulated by the frequent irruptions of the Barbarous people whereupon Constantius as he had translated many of the Franks to manure the Grounds about Langres Rad. Niger Lib. Triedum Rheimes Troyes and Amiens thought fit to draw a Colony of Britans into Armorica which was transported thither under the command of Conan the Son of King Coel whom his Sister the Divorced Princess Helena accompanied In the year three Hundred and five the Picts raised some Commotions here which brought the Emperour over who gave them an Overthrow but was constrained by sickness to return to York where he dyed in the year three Hundred and six and was buried at Caer Seiont near Caernarvon which place was in honour of him called also Caer Custeint Nenn. whose Body being found there in the year one Thousand two hundred and eighty Mat. Westm was by King Edward's command Honourably interred in the Church of Caernarâ—â—â—â— To him succeeded the Noble Constantine worthily Sirnamed The Great who happily came Post from Rome to Boloigne just as his Father was setting Sail his last time hither as we find