proceeds from the hardness or impossibility of such an Attempt sure it is the Work was discontinued to this day notwithstanding all the Conveniencies may be alleadged for it for such a Cutt would needs make the Trade to the Archipelago much shorter and safer when all the Cyclades those little Islands or great Rocks might thereby be avoided yet if we compare that Isthmus to this Neck of Land which is supposed to joyn Britain and Gaul what a petty business it was either for the Sea sooner to break it down or for Man to remove it The first Demonstration he gives us is That the Neatherlands not only those parts of Holland and Zealand which at any time by Cutting the Banks may be turned into Sea but great part of Flanders and Brabant which lie so high that they can never be made Sea any more have in former times been Sea and he quoats Hubert Thomas sometimes Secretary unto Frederick Count Palatine of the Rhine who in his description of the Country of Liege saith that the Sea hath come up even to the Walls of Tongres and that there remains to this day great Iron Rings to which the Ships that there sometime Arrived were fastened Now Tongres lies almost an hundred English miles from the Sea having many pleasant and fertile Countries between that and the Sea That these Provinces have formerly been Sea the Eaveness of them are Arguments besides the nature of the Soyl which in Flanders and Brabant is Sandy besides in digging in many places two Fathom deep are found innumerable shells of Sea-fish and in many places great Bones of Fishes which argues those places formerly to have been the Sea-shoar because Shell-fish is naturally bred and nourished in the Flats and Shoar and not in the Deep So that Holland and Zealand must be supposed to have been deep Sea because in none of those Provinces are any Shells found under ground moreover in Brabant there hath been dug up Anchors and when that famous Cut was digged from Brussels unto the River of Rupel at Willebrook begun Anno Christi 1550 and ended Anno 1561 through corn-Corn-lands wood-Wood-lands and Meadows for fifteen English miles an Undertaking that shews the Richness of that City In those daies there was found among other things the Bones or Anatomy of a Sea Elephant the Head of which being reserved Verstegan himself saw Now the cause why those places were Sea and afterwards became Land Verstegan thinks can be no other than this That the Isthmus of Ground between France and England kept up the Northern Seas so that wanting passage they over-flowed those Countries and when they had workt themselves through this Neck of Land they left these Countries dry so that never since they could be over-flown by the Sea I mean those higher places of Flanders and Brabant And that this could not be the Reason I hope to demonstrate by several Arguments He himself does acknowledge that in some Vineyards of Campagne of France a high and Hilly Country many shells of Fishes has been dug up which he attributes to Noah's Flood and why by the same Reason may not those in Flanders and Brabant have the same Originals seeing they lie so deep under ground as two fathoms which argues a great Land-flood that could cover them with so much Earth Neither does the multitude of them in Flanders or the paucity of those dug in the Vineyards any thing alter the case for without doubt the Waters in the Flood could not so easily carry them to the tops of Mountains but that the greater number would stick in the Low Countries as is plain in those Firr Trees which were found in the Neatherlands and in some low Grounds of Lancashire and other parts in England with their Roots to the south and their Heads to the north which Firr-trees never grew on those Grounds naturally as it is a Tree of the Mountains and thrives not but on craggy and barren Hills as the abundance of them in Upper-Germany do witness But supposing those Parts to have been Sea those Iron Rings which they say are yet at Tongres do shew that they have been Sea a great while since this Isthmus was broken down For in the daies of Julius Caesar seventeen Hundred years ago there was no such thing nor any memory of it but the passage from Itium and Gessoriacum into Britain was by Sea Now that Iron Rings exposed to the Weather and Rust should continue for Seventeen hundred years nay this supposed Isthmus in all Reason must have been some Hundreds of years before Caesars time otherwise he would have Recorded so memorable an Action I leave to any Rational man to judge whether it be possible so to be the like may be said of those Anchors found under ground and not unlike of the Sea-fish bones and shells though it is more probable that they being generated in the Sea and preserved in a Ground that retained the natural Saltness of the Waters that flung it up might be preserved longer than Iron which by Moisture quickly rusts and moulders away into its first Natural constitution Earth Besides if this passage of Water through the Isthmus sunk the Sea northward then that Sea which was south of this Isthmus must rise but upon the very Coasts of Sussex and Dorcet-shire which lie south of it the Inhabitants do shew several Marks to which they say the Tide once did rise which upon the Level is very much higher than now it flows and this doth not happen among them only but the whole World over England is full of those Marks and so are other Countries and I think it ariseth from a general decay of Moisture in the Universe and that the Earth continually grows dryer and dryer And although the Sea may be said to gain in some places that is where the Earth fell lower than the Waters and had nothing to preserve it from being Sea but some continued Ridge which by accident kept the Sea out and which as soon gone the Sea broke in yet as to the whole the Land hath gained on the Sea as all parts of the World do evidence Delos was not alwaies visible great part of Egypt was Sea in Homers daies and Venice to this day keeps Marks of the falling of their Waters of which latter Ages have been very sensible nay they have a Tradition among them That the Sea in future times will forsake their City and that then the Government thereof and the City it self must be destroyed But to return to England I my self have examined many Coasts both on the East and West parts of it so that in most places I find there are plain grounds sometimes half a mile sometimes a mile broad which lie between the Sea and some Hills which Hills by their steepness and being broken off seem once to have been washed by the Sea The soyl of those Meadows now lying higher than the Sea do argue much that they were once part of it
which were more commodious for Scituation Carriage and many other respects so it is to be imagined that following those conveniencies they ran out in length far into a Country before they filled the main body of it and so in Germany might proceed down the Rhine and so come into these Western parts long before that vast tract of ground was thoroughly Peopled This is the only Reason that induceth me to believe that this Island had Inhabitants at the first coming of the Phoenicians things being in this condition as to Land Affairs some hundreds of years after the Flood But let us see what success the World had in Shipping in those Primitive Ages In the daies of Solomon about the year after the Flood MCCLXX the Phoenicians were arrived to a great perfection in the art of Navigation they made long Voyages and imported many rich Commodities into those Parts and without doubt the greatest improvement of Shipping proceeded from those quarters which the Gracians themselves cannot dissemble although they give the Honour sometimes to Danaus sometimes to Phoenix and Cadmus whom they will have the Sons of Agenor so making Phoenix the name of a Man which indeed is the name of a Nation and a Nation which in all likelyhood had Shipping far before either Cadmus or Danaus as is gathered by their experience therein in King Solomons daies who lived much about their time But the Gracians who by the AEgyptians were alwaies called Children made it their business to fasten all the great Actions and Inventions of the Ancients upon something of their own Nation and being better able to write than perform great Matters they brought down the original of Arts and Sciences to their own low and pitiful Epocha Of this I shall have more occasion to speak in treating of the Name of Britain wherein their fraud and vanity will be made more evidently to appear Some say that Shipping was first invented in the Red-Sea by King Erithras who is supposed to be Edom others in the Mediterranean at Tyre but however it be the Phoenicians inhabited upon both those Seas and it is most reasonable according to Tibullus Prima Ratem ventis credere docta Tyrus To give them the Honour of Invention who made the greatest progress in it If this conjecture be right concerning King Erithras that he was the first maker of a Ship and was the same with Edom as Scaliger supposes then was Navigation begun in the year after the Flood CCCC or thereabouts and being brought into the Mediterranean by the Phoenicians there began an easie way of transporting of Colonies to all those Seas upon which account we may suppose they were Peopled long before the Inland Countries and all the Islands of the Ionians and all the borders of Greece and Epirus to Italy and Spain on one side and the Shoars of Africa on the other to the Streights received their Inhabitants before the Continent of Europe was half filled with its Inland Colonies Now adding Four hundred years more to the improvement of Navigation to its first beginning and it will be much about the time the Phoenicians entered the Streights about Four hundred years more the Phoenicians had built great Shipping and were accustomed to long and tedious Voyages being hired by King Solomon Now it is that we hear of Danaus and his great Ship Penteconteros or fifty Oars in which he arrived out of AEgypt into Greece which Voyage may be gathered out of an INSCRIPTION upon an old Marble part of which by time is worn out It is thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the Learned Selden rendered to this sence Since the Ship .... came from AEgypt into Greece and was called Penteconteros and the Daughters of Danaus ..... and Helice and Archedice chosen from the rest ..... and sacrificed upon the shoar in Para .... de in Lindus a City of Rhodes MCCXLVII Having premised thus much concerning the general increase of Man-kind the slow progression of Nations and the advantage those People had that lay upon the Midland-Sea above those that travelled by Land I will leave the Phoenicians in the Mediterranean and return to those Nations whom I left on their journey in the Continent of Europe and we shall find them no sooner arrived in these Western parts and well setled but the Phoenicians from the Streights followed them The Reasons which induce me to believe that this Island was Peopled from the Continent rather than from the Phoenicians or Graecians as some have thought and from the Germans rather than the Gauls are these First The Language although it hath many Phoenician and Greek words in it and especially Greek yet the Idiom of it as to the main appears to be Teutonick and those Words they received either with Trading with the former Nations or by the Invasion of the Gaules seem to be much modelled to that Dialect This could not happen by the mixture with the Saxons in after Ages because the Armorican Britains who fled over in the daies of Cassibelan retain the same way of Writing and Pronouncing Secondly That it could not be People from Gaule Caesar methinks makes it evident where he saies That the Inlanders of Britain reported themselves to be Aborigines that is Home-born which they could not have done had they agreed in Language with those Gaules that had seated themselves on the Sea-coast of this Island It would be vanity for any Country to pretend a different original and to want some distinction in Dialect the chief Criterion Thirdly The Judgment of Tacitus in this point is That the Germans planted the most Northern parts of it which he collects from the make of their Limbs and several other Circumstances Add to this what I shall speak of more fully in the Customes of the Britains that what Caesar writes of the manners of the Germans agrees exactly with the description of the Inland Britains The greatest Argument produced to make this Island peopled from Gaul is the confinity of Language between the Ancient Britains and Gauls The Confinity of Language between the Ancient Britains and Gauls proceeds not from their being one Nation but from the Graecians and Phoenicians who Traded to both and the words produced by Mr. Cambden for that purpose I shall shew to be most of them Phoenician some Greek and as for the rest they have little Analogy one with another and that which is may proceed from the Invasion of Britain by the Gauls and the intercourse of Druids in both Nations Now in my Judgment the Phoenicians stand only in Competition with the Germans as for the Greek it is plain as I shall shew they were not in these Seas till some hundreds of years after the Phoenicians Arrival But because the coming of the Phoenicians may by many not thought to be so soon I shall wave them also in this place and proceed to shew who where the first that
those Nations mentioned in this following Mapp of the Ancient WORLD received its name of Old from this People So that to the full understanding of the design of the Mapp the Reader is referred to the following Chapter which explains it But granting that the Cimbri from the Continent might be sooner in this Island than the Phoenicians and the Islanders called themselves Cymri before they were Britains yet do I not think that their sooner Arrival hither proceeded from any advantage by a neck and Isthmus of Land whereby Gallia and this Island have been supposed formerly to have been joyned But because Verstegan is very stiff and resolute in the maintaining of this Opinion insomuch as he fancies to himself he has put it beyond all dispute or question I desire the Readers Patience while I examine all his Arguments some of which he calls Demonstrations wherein if I shall seem more tedious than is necessary let him consider that if this Isthmus were admitted then it would seem beyond dispute but that the Gauls peopled this Nation which for the Reasons before mentioned can not be imagined It seems more glorious for this excellent part of the Earth to have been alwaies a distinct Nation by it self than to be a dependent Member of that Territory to which it hath often given Laws A MAP OF EUROPE Wherein is shown the Progresse of the PHOENICIAN Voiages into the most Considerable parts of it With the Antient names of Countrys Cittys Rivers And Mountaynes of most remarke as they were Originally called by that Nation and afterwards Varyed by the GREEKS All which names for the easier reading are sett down in Latin Characters The name marked with this Asterick x is the Greek the Other the Phoenician and more antient To which is added the Procession of the antient CIMBRI A German Nation through the continent of Europe to the Western Seas Being supposed the first inhabitants of great BRITAIN CHAP. III. The Explication of the Ancient Names of Kingdoms Islands Havens Cities c. as well those expressed in the foregoing Mapp as others which in that narrow Compass could not be set down gathered out of the Phoenician Tongue BY which may be understood how and upon what account most Nations in the World especially those lying upon the Sea received their particular denominations in the first Age namely from some notorious Customes Habits c. of the People Scituation of the Place or such like remarkable Circumstance or otherwise which was most usual from the different Merchandize they afforded to the Phoenicians who were the first and most Eminent Traders of the World and gave Appellations to Places according to their respective Commodities and Manufactures wherein if we do but seriously consider for what particular thing each Country in former time was most especially taken notice of and then apply the Phoenician Name of that thing let it be Custome Scituation Trade or any thing else and we shall find the Phoenician word so exactly agreeing with the nature of the Country so expressed that we must conclude it impossible so constant and general an Harmony between them should happen by chance but rather that the Names were imposed for some peculiar Reason and design And hereby we may plainly see the vanity and fraud of the Greek Nation who having received the names of Places as well as most other things of greater concern from the Phoenicians either new modelled them according to their own Idiom or quite changed them in sound though not signification and then imposed upon the World new Fables of their own instead of the Ancient Original To begin therefore with Europe Asia and Africa the general Divisions of the then known World The Greeks The Phoenicians The Interpretation EUROPA was called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but why this part of the World was named Europa Herodotus their Ancient Historian professeth he knoweth not It is probable it was called by the Phoenicians Ur-appa from whence the Greeks made Europa because of the white Complexions of the Inhabitants above those of Asia and Africa Ur-appa signifies as much as a Country of white Complexions ASIA by the Greeks is said to have taken its name from Asia the Mother of Promethem Asia called so from its Scituation lying between Africk and Europe and its Position is so described by Pliny Mela and Eustathius Asi in the Phoenician Language signifieth the Country Between or in the Middle AFRICA from Afer the Son of Hercules Africa so called from its plenty of Corn and all sorts of Grain for which in all Ages and by all Authors it was highly celebrated Aphrica Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Land of Corn or Ears in the Phoen. Dialect LYBIA so called from Lybia the Daughter of Epaphus Lybia a Dry and Thirsty Country per calidas Lybiae sitientis arenas Lucan Lub Thirsty Dry. SPANIA vulgò Hispania from Pan. Spania so called from the multitude of Rabbats and Conies it produceth insomuch that that Animal was accounted peculiar to that Country Catullus gives the Epithite Cuniculosa to Celtiberia a Province of Spain and the Baleares Islands adjoyning were so much infested with that Vermin that they sued to Augustus for Souldiers to destroy them Spanija a Country of Rabbats or Conies ITALIA from Italus a Calf or Ox of Hercules Called by the Phoenicians Ataria from the exceeding quantities of Pitch it yielded the letters R and L being easie convertible in the Eastern Tongue Old Italy contained no more than the Country of the Brutii or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which word signifieth Black Pitch Itaria a Country of Pitch CALABRIA a Province in Italy called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Pitch Country Called Calabria upon the same account as Old Italy Calab in the Phoenic Tongue Pitch LuSITANIA from Lusus a Companion of Bacchus Had its name from the abundance of Almonds it produced and which were in great quantities thence exported into all Europe Insomuch that in that Country at this day there are many places which take their names from that Fruit as Calmende Castelmendo for Castroalmendro and 2. Almendras signifying Almonds Luz in the Phoenic Tongue signifies an Almond tania is a Greek addition GALATIA which is Gallia called from Galates a Son of Hercules Galatae and Celtae or Gauls so called from their yellow Hair for which Reason they are stiled by the Latins Flavagens and Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a yellow Nation Chalath Chalta or Chelta in the Phoen. tongue Yellow or Saffron coloured for the same reason are they termed by the Hebrews Rhodanim that is Yellow BRITANNIA according to our home Fables from Brutus called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Britannia from its Tynn and Lead-Mines which was exported by the Phoenicians from the west Coasts of Cornwal and the Sylly Islands which were called therefore by the Greeks Cassiterides Bratanac a Country of Tynn ALBION from
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 White or Albion the Gyant From its high Rocks on the Western Coasts where the Phoenicians first Landed called to this day Pens or from the Whiteness of its Shoars Alpin in the Phoenician Tongue is a high Mountain Alben in the same Dialect is White HIBERNIA called also Jerna Had its Name from its Scituation being the last Country Westward further than which the Phoenicians never took Voyages It may be supposed to be called Ibetnae by the Phoenicians from whence came Hibernia likewise Nerne from whence is derived Jerna Iber-nae the last Habitation Aher-nae from which the same Jerna and it is remarkable that till the discovery of these Islands by the Phoenicians there were many places on the west of Africa and Spain that were so named as being then the uttermost Habitation THuLE saith Suidas from Thoulis a King of AEgypt So called from its Dusky and Dark scituation lying in the North. Chule in the Phoenician Tongue is Darkness CALEDONIA a Province of Scotland So called from its Rocky and Mountainous nature so that Mr. Cambden derives it from Kaled Hard in the British Tongue Galebtun in the Phoenician Tongue is as much as a hard Hill Thus have I run cursorily over the Countries of most considerable note passing from Asia and so West-ward to these our Islands It remains now that I return back to shew the same consent and agreement in more private and particular Places which though not so famous as the fore-mentioned yet are sufficiently known by all at this day and were no less frequented by the Phoenicians than the former The Greeks The Phoenicians The Interpretation BALEARES two Islands in the Mediterranean on the Coast of Spain derived by the Greeks from Baleus a Companion of Hercules These Islands were ever Famous as is notoriously known for excellent Slingers upon which account they had their Name from the Phoenicians Bal-jaro a Master at Slinging or an excellent Slinger in the Phoenician CORSICA otherwise Cyrnus so named from Cyrnus a Son of Hercules It received both its Names from the Phoenicians the former from its Woodiness the latter upon the account of its many Promontories shooting on all sides into the Sea upon which Reason AEthicus Orosius Isidorus all three give it the same Epithite of Multis Promontoriis Angulosa c. and for its abounding with Wood whoever reads of the Island cannot but know it Carno or Curno from whence Kúpros a Horn or Promontory in the Phoen. Chorsi from whence Corsica or Corsis signifies a Woody place SARDINIA otherwise Sardo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from Sardus the Son of Hercules This Island received its name from the resemblance it had to the Foot of a Man therefore it was called by the Greeks Ichnusa and Sandaliotis Sarad and Sarda in the Phoenician Tongue signifies the Footstep of a Man MELITE now Malta from the Nymph Melite of whom Hercules begot Hyllus Some bring it from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hony with which it never abounded but it took rather its Name from the Commodiousness of its Scituation and Ports lying exactly in the middle between Tyre and the Streights whither the Phoenicians Trafficked insomuch that upon all Occasions either to Victual or to secure themselves from Tempest or Enemy saith Diodorus in several Places this was a REFUGE to the Phoenicians having within it a Colony of their own Melita in the Phoenician Tongue signifies a Place of Refuge or Sanctuary c. and who knoweth not that many places in the East Countries have their Names upon the same account and we call the Mid-way to the East-Indies The Cape of good Hope at this day GADES called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stephanus Eustathius and Suidas derive it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Neck of the Earth The Streights shut up the Mediterranean as a Fence or Pinfold a little passage only being left and therefore are they called Septum by the Latin and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Gr. Gadir in the Phoen. Tongue signifieth the same as Septum and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ABYLA a Mountain on the Streights it is sometimes written Alyba the Letters transposed Festus witnesseth that this Mountain took its name from the Phoenicians and signifieth in their Tongue as much as a high Hill Abilam vocant Gens Punicorum Mons quod altus Barbaro Ab-illaa in the Phoen. Tongue is a high Mountain so is Al-aba from whence comes the transposition Aliba for Abyla GALPE another Mountain on the Streights answering to Abyla on the side of Spain This Mountain on the West is open like an Urn or Pitcher and so is described by the Scholiast upon Juvenal and by Mela and therefore had it its Name Galpha in the Phoen. is an Urn or Pitcher and in Festus Calparis is a kind of Vessel RHODUS an Island in the Mediterranean derived by the Greeks from Roses which in their Tongue are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It took its Name from the multitude of Serpents it produced upon which very account it was called Ophiusa by the Greeks or an Island of Serpents Rod in the Phoen. Tongue is a Serpent or Dragon CERASTIS which is Cyprus So called from its many Promontories as Stephanus witnesseth Keren in the Phoen. a Horn or Promontory from whence comes Kernaa Kosno and Kurno SICILIA a Scindendo because it was cut off from the Continent It had its Name from the abundance and excellency of its Grapes with which it supplied Africa in former times as witnesseth Diodorus who saith that the Agrigentines once arrived to infinite Wealth by that Trade Segulaia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as a Country of Grapes in the Phoenician Tongue SICANI a People of Sicily They inhabited the South and West part of the Island that Buts upon Africa and these only were properly call'd Sicani and their Country Sicania and that from their Neighbour-hood with the Phoenicians lying next to them Secanim signifies Neighbours so are many People called in the Land of Canaan for their Neighbour-hood to the Jews SYRACUSAE the Metropolis of Sicily It is agreed it took Name from a stinking and unwholsome Marsb upon which it stood called Syraco which by its noisom Vapours oft brought Plagues upon the City Syraco in the Phoen. Tongue signifieth an Evil Savour CHARYBDIS a place much noted for Shipwracks The Waters there run round and make a Gulph insomuch as Seneca writes Hiatu magno profundoque sorbet navigia Chor-obdam in the Phoen. signifies Foramen perditionis a Hole of Destruction as the Eastern Nations express themselves in such cases SCYLLA another Rock that answers Charybdis on the other side of the Sicilian Streight No doubt took its Name upon the same reason as Charybdis Scol in the Phoen. from whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek signifies Destruction AETNA a burning Mountain in Sicily the Greeks give no derivation of it but tell us a fable of the Giant Enceladus who by Jupiter
do conclude that those Promontories and Cliffs were alwaies so and that they were never joyned by any neck or bridge of Land whatsoever Richardus Vitus in his History Lib. 1. saith That the Morini who lived on the French side of these Streights were called so in the Ancient Celtick Language for Mor signifies the SEA Now the great Antiquity of the Celtick Tongue shall be shewn hereafter in a more proper place however thus much appears That from any Name there can be nothing gathered of this Isthmus for these Morini lived on the Sea-coast and not upon the end of the Isthmus Thus much as to the Name of these Streights that they have nothing in them or contiguous to them that can preserve the Memory of any such conjunction of Shoars or violent Separation made by the Sea or dug by the labour of Man a thing easily to be expected considering that less mutations in the World have left some Tradition behind them Certainly such a Breach as this between two such considerable Countries must make more noise in the World when ever it happened than either Sicily or the Isle of Wight which to this day do retain some Memory of being cut off from their Neighbours Let us now consider whether in the Reason of the thing the nature of the Streights themselves the position and similitude of the opposite Soyls themselves and such Arguments are sufficient Inducements to engage any Rational man to believe that Britain was once joyned to Gallia And it is not to be doubted but there has been several mutations and changes in the World before and since Noahs Flood Countries in some parts being swallowed up by Earth-quakes which in these Colder parts of the World are never so violent as to be able to subvert twenty miles of dry Land together and to cast it into the Sea by that force In the Northern Countries we have only experience of some general Tremblings of the Earth and where they extend to any length of Ground bring only fear not distraction on the minds of the Inhabitants For when any Earthquake is united and contracted the most that we experience is the removal of some Church or the walking of some little Hill as it hath been seen often in England when as in Hotter Countries whole Cities have been overturned nay swallowed up and for many miles together Houses shattered and demolished This is very easie to be imagined if we consider the nature of Earth-quakes and from what Cause they proceed being very obvious to any that know and consider the AEolopylae how by heat the Wind and Vapours rarified are forced out in great violence for the force is augmented by the strength of the Heat in its several Sallys So likewise must it be with the Earth which in the Bowels of it having many Concavities that contain Vapours the greater the external Heats are that rarifie those Vapours the stronger force will they have if they can find no vent and passage for as the heat is greater so must the passages likewise be more suffocated stopt and choaked up in dry Countries when as in cold Climates the moisture of the Earth keeps open its pores and admits passages for the Vapours agreeable to its proper nature and natural Constitution From hence it may be concluded that such a Neck of Ground that is presumed to have been between Britain and Gaul of that length and breadth could not by any Earthquake be thrown into the Sea What is alleadged out of Ovid will make nothing material to our purpose He brings Pythagoras whose Soul for many years by Transinigration had passed from one to another and therefore must be wondrous well fraught with the Ocular experience of things we only hear of to speak these words Vidi Ego quod quondam fuerat solidissima tellus Esse fretum vidi factas ex aequore terras I saw what once was solid Earth made Sea And dry Land there where Waters us'd to be This I suppose must have been in those daies of Yore in which he saies of himself Panthoides Euphorbus eram May not a very material Objection be offered and say That he did not really distinguish the times of his Transmigrating to Fish and Flesh and so mistook Earth and Water as he was longer or shorter in the Element But to come to the purpose Verstegan to make way for this Opinion quotes Genesis cap. 14. Omnes hi convenerunt in Vallem sylvestrem quae nunc est Mare Salis All these met together in the Wood Valley which is now the Salt Sea So that saies he many places are now Sea which have been formerly dry Land This may be easily granted where there are Reasons to induce one to believe it As the shallowness of the Sea the position of the Ground as we find to be in the Red Sea part of which to this day and a considerable part too at Low Water lieth like a great Vally and Plain of Sand so that it is made a publick Road for Passengers the Waters lying on both sides of them and this I have heard from one who passed through it himself when he Travelled in those parts And this part might be that Wood Vally Moses speaks of which lying so low might easily by degrees be turned into Sea but that all the Red Sea should once be a Wood Vally the depth of it in many places and the steepness of the Shoars do manifestly contradict it Not to say any thing that this very Text may be understood otherwise viz. Quae nunc est Mare salis may in the Hebrew bear Quae nunc est ad Mare salis It is not to be denied there has been several Changes in the World as Sea turned into Land and Land into Sea although I am perswaded this latter to have happened more rarely as will be shewn hereafter As briefly as I can I shall Answer now Verstegan's Reasons and take them in order as they lie The first Reason he gives for the liklyhood of it Is the nearness of the Land between England and France not exceeding Twenty four miles and how one Shoar is exactly answered with a Shoar of like nature as for Example Dover Clyffs are of Flints and Chalk the opposite shoar between Bullen and Calais is of the same substance I suppose he means Vitsan Dover Clyffs are broken and so are they Again Calais lies upon a Flat and an Eaven shoar so does Sandwich which exactly answers it from England therefore it seems very probable saies he that they were once joyned To Answer this I will not question how and by what Rule he makes his Opposites nor enquire so strictly how the Clyffs correspond one with another for it will happen as the line is laid and places at a distance may be thought to be one against another as fancy leads the string I say that neither the nearness of position of the two Promontories nor the similitude of Soyl are sufficient Arguments to
they took the Phoenician Name and translated it into a word of their own agreeing with it either in signification or sound The latter of which waies was the most ingenious because by so doing they preserved something of the true Original which will appear plainly in the fore-going Mapp of the Ancient WORLD I have collected for that purpose Thus from Cham they made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Copher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nahal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brat-anac 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like and had they done no otherwise certainly the Original of names of Places had not been so obscure But we may find that in other Countries they were not so sincere as when they changed some material Letter and then placed some fable or other of their own Invention for the derivation of that Country as making the Phoenician Itaria or the Country of Pitch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so derived it from a Calf so Borsa became 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aschenas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goghasan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the like upon all which some ridiculous story or other depends But the greatest falsification was when they understood the sence and meaning of a Phoenician Name they translated it into a word of their own Language agreeing in signification but not sound thus Gomet they made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Noammon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brat-anac the Countries of Tynn Cassiterides The Phoenicians therefore being the first Traders from them are the Names of this Island ALBION and BRITANNIA to be derived and that it may appear more evidently I will first prove by sufficient Authors that they first Traded hither and that very early In the second place from several Arguments drawn from the Greek Writers themselves Lastly from the foot-steps of their Language as likewise their Customes and Religions setled in this ISLAND of all which I shall make manifest in their Order THE first discovery of this ISLAND as may be gathered by Ancient Histories was by the Phoenicians some say by Hercules others by Himiclo who was sent with a Fleet through the Streights to discover the Western Seas which he did as Fuller reports by the help of the Load-stone which he will needs have the Carthaginians to have known and to have kept as a great Secret But as their Voyages by Sea were so Famous and many it gave occasion to Fuller to think that they exceeded other Nations by the vertue of this Secret so have we seen by what Motives he was mistaken for because this Stone was called Heraclea he imagined the Name might be given it from HERCULES in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not from Heraclea a City in Magnesia from whence also it was called MAGNES by the Latins because saies he it would have then been called Heracleotis not Heraclea not considering or at least dissembling if it was to be derived from HERCULES it ought to be rather from the Greek Hercules than the Phoenician because the Greek Hercules was in Lydia and resided about Omphal where he might find this Stone for Magnesia is part of Lydia I presume it will never be granted that such a Secret so useful and advantagious for Mankind if it was known to the Phoenicians could ever have been lost For granting that some Arts once known to Mankind have been by time forgotten yet we shall alwaies find that they rather concerned the pleasure and luxury of Man than his real profit and which were supplied by others with greater ease and no less delight However it be we shall find that the Phoenicians were the first that discovered these ISLANDS long before the First Olympiad The beginning of which according to the Julian Account was Anno 3938 from the Year of the World 3256 from the Temple c. 263. as I shall prove by and by Strabo in his third Book writes thus First of all the Phoenicians Traded thither meaning the Cassiterides now called the Isles of Scilly not divulging this Voyage to any and he reckons up the Commodities of the Country Tynn Lead and Skins which they exchanged for Salt Earthen-Pots and Brazen-ware and Pliny writes That Lead was first brought into Greece out of those Islands by Midacritus And although these ISLANDS were not yet known to the Graecians by reason the Phoenicians kept them so private yet Herodotus makes mention of them in these words I know not saies he the Islands CASSITERIDES from whence comes all our Tynn for the Graecians bought their Tynn and Lead either immediately from the Phoenicians or the Veneti or from the Narbonienses to whom it was brought by Land as Diodorus in his fifth Book witnesseth a Journey of Thirty daies so that t is plain they had only heard of the Islands from whence those Commodities came and had never seen them Mr. Cambden himself Learnedly proves that these Cassiterides were the Scilly Islands by their scituation described by Solinus Diodorus and Enstathius and also by the Mines of Tynn and Lead which are not found in any but in these BRITISH Islands Ortelius makes the CASSITERIDES to be those Islands including Cornwal and Devonshire and that England and Ireland were called by the Ancients CASSITERIDES of which I shall speak more at large anon Now because these Islands were the first of all BRITAIN as they were so called that were discovered by the Phoenicians lying exactly against Spain on which Coast it is supposed the first Adventurers in those Seas would sail it will not be amiss to give an exact account of them That these Islands of Scilly were the Cassiterides of the Ancients FIrst We have the Authority of Strabo as to their Position full opposite to the Artebri that is Gallitia in Spain those Islands Northwards are discovered which are called CASSITERIDES placed after a manner in the same Clime with Britain This Description cannot suit with any other Islands in the West Sea for the Asores bare westward of Gallitia in Spain when the Cassiterides are said to be northward so that the Asores cannot be they neither are the Asores near the Eighth Climate which is the vttermost Climate of the South parts of England and so could not be said by Strabo to be almost in the same Climate In another place Strabo saies That the Sea between Spain and the Cassiterides is broader than that which lieth between the Cassiterides and Britain so that Olivarius his Opinion is cut off who makes them Cysarga for Cysarga lieth on the Spanish Coasts almost close upon the Continent Next to him we have the Opinion of Solinus in these words The Cassiterides look towards the Coasts of Celtiberia Now the Asores look no more towards that Coast or bear no more upon it than they do upon the Coast of Asrick and as for Cysarga lying upon Spain it cannot be proper to say it looks towards it for that term in Geography is used to Places that have some
places at once but finding greater resistance than he expected altered his resolution hoping to reduce them by want of Provisions so that beleaguring the Town on all sides with great impatience expected a surrender The Garrison by a private Messenger signifying their mind to Brute by way of Requests for speedy Assistance not being able to answer them with Forces had recourse to Policy swearing Anacletus whom he had taken Prisoner to be faithful to him By the means of this Guide he marched by Night and in the dark sets upon Pandrasus in his Trenches which Enterprize took such good effect that the King himself was made his Captive The excellent luck of this our HERO was attended with an honourable Peace the Conditions of which are very observable in that they were advantagious for Brute only as I find no Consideration for the Kings satisfaction The Articles were these That Brute should marry Innogen the Kings Daughter and in consideration of her Dower should have a Fleet given him with liberty to transport all such as would be willing to follow his Fortunes without the least let or molestation from the Graecians It is no wonder that we find not Antigonus included in these Articles because it may be supposed he desired not Liberty for who would not desire to follow so Happy a man as Brute the Darling of Fortune who could make those Terms with a Prince and yet as Mr. Hollinshead saith never toucht the Prerogative of his Kingdom BRUTE with his Wife Innogen embarks and after two daies and one nights sail arrived at an Island called Leogetia or Lergetia for Authors differ Where this Island should be let Geography it self speak I am ignorant but here it was that Brute first learnt to bend his Knee and prostrating himself before the Oracle of Diana he desired her to assign him some place for a fixt Habitation in these words Diva Potens nemorum terrestria jura resolve Dic certam sedem quâ te Venerabor in avum Goddess of Woods Terrestrial Rights foretel Assign some place where I may happy dwell The GODDESS Answer BRUTE sub occasum solis trans Gallica Regna Insula in Oceano est habitata Gigantibus olim Ilanc pete namque tibi sedes erit illa Perennis Hic de Prole tuâ Reges nascentur ipsis Totius terrae subditus Orbis erit BRUTE in the West beyond the Gallick Land An Isle of Old by Giants held doth lie Go seek this out for to thy Trojan Band This is the place design'd by Destiny Here from thy Loyns shall Kings proceed and they Over all Nations shall their Scepter sway This was delivered to him in a Dream and I doubt for no other will it be taken but hoysing up his Sails passes the Streights of Gibraltar and Coasting on the Right hand see the luck of it he met with another Company of Trojans led thither by Antenor lying upon the Tyrrhen Sea Mr. Hollinshead corrects this mistake in the British History and will needs have it the Pyraenean Sea But what had Antenor to do in the Ocean in the West of Spain We read in History that he brought his Colony to the Tyrrhen but never to the Pyraenean Sea so that here we find the late fortunate Brutus with some Magick or other brought back again through the Streights and cast into the very mouths of his Enemies even upon the Coast of Italy to answer for the death of his Father or else some other misdemeanour Notwithstanding this Geography we must suppose him on the Coast of Spain where he meets with Corinaeus the present Captain of these dispersed Trojans who understanding Brute to be of the same Nation with himself a Man of great Spirit and the Master of so powerful a Nation makes Propositions of uniting to him which Brute g'adly received so that joyning Forces they proceed together in seeking out new Adventures and after thirty daies sail Brute with his new Confederates entred the River Ligeris in Aquitain Goffarius was King of this Country Sirnamed Pictus descended of the Agathyrses a Painted Nation and some hold that this Country from hence was called Poictou and that part of Britain was named pight-Pight-land upon the same account of Painting Goffarius being informed of the Landing of these Strangers sent some of his Officers to learn their Numbers and to observe their Motions who meeting with two hundred of the Trojans that went a Hunting with their Leader Corinaeus there happened a dispute between them insomuch that Imbert the Captain of the Gauls shot an Arrow at Corinaeus which proved the engagement of a terrible Battle and Corinaeus to require him with one slash clave his Head asunder upon which Accident followed a Victory to the Trojans Goffarius by this time had mustered up his Forces and resolved to revenge this Insolence committed on his Subjects Fortune seconded not his Attempt for Brute with the assistance of Corinaeus defeated all his Army and forced his security by flight It seems these two Overthrows did but whet the Revenge of Goffarius and so with new Forces sets again upon the Trojans over-powring them in Numbers for it is said he had Thirty for One and at last constrained them to take refuge in their Camp where he olosely besieged them with his whole Army Brute and Corinaeus by private Messages resolved to set upon him on both sides at one instant whereupon Corinaeus with three hundred Men lying in Covert all night charged the next Morning the Gauls then Brute seconds him with a brisk Sally and here again Goffarius is defeated yet not without great slaughter on both sides Brute in this Battle lost his Nephew Turinus a valiant Youth in honour of whom he built Turonium now called Towres and in Revenge harasses the Country of Goffarius and with Fire and Sword prosecutes his Victory Goffarius being thus expelled his Kingdom sollicited his Neighbour Princes to undertake his quarrel and now all Gaul was united against the Common Enemy which Brute understanding calls a Council of War where it was finally concluded That upon the account of their great Losses received in the former Encounter they should not prosecute Goffarius any further considering more especially it was beside their main design this not being the Country allotted them by the Oracle so that collecting all their Forces they embarked making as must haste as they could to the Promised Island where after a few daies sayl they arrived at the Haven now called Totness The time of Brutes Landing is supposed about the Year of the World 2887 and after the Universal Flood 1231. The Count Palatine places it in the Year 2855 and Mr. Hollinshead 2850 and after the destruction of Troy 66 but of the great difference in Calculations I have treated already and once for all it may be said That a true and just Chronology cannot be expected till the coming of Julius Caesar. Brute having at last through many dangers and difficulties attained
the long wished for Island he Lands his Trojans and marches up into the Country to take possession Joyful was he to see the pleasant prospect of so large a Dominion and blest the Gods that they gave him so glorious a Reward for all his labours But all things were not so well as he imagined for from the Clyffs and craggy Rocks he began to perceive mighty Giants arising This sight he communicated to Corinaeus who at first was much surprized at the Object but at last they both pluckt up their wonted Spirits and with a few Trojans valiantly assailed these Monsters In a few Conflicts they found not their Weapons to want success so that they soon convinced these Goliahs that no strength or vastness of Limbs was able to resist a Trojan Puissance Corinaeus after several general Engagements had a longing desire to enter into a nearer trial of skill with some one of them Gogmagog undertakes him and a day of wrestling was appointed and attended with great expectation The Giant at his first grapling by a close-Hug breaks a Rib of Corinaeus but sorely paid for it by the fall Corinaeus gave him from the Clyff of Dover to his utter destruction which from hence is said afterwards to be called Cwymp y Cawr or the fall of the Giant This was a good Omen of the Trojans further success and Corinaeus for this piece of service was rewarded with the Principality of Cornwal Brute by degrees destroyed the whole Race of these Giants and quietly possessing the Island the first work he undertook was the building of a City which he called Troy-novant now London In this City he kept his Royal Court ordaining and enacting that from henceforth the whole Island should be called after his Name BRITAIN and so the Inhabitants Britains Being at the point of Death in the fifteenth year of his Reign and the four and twentieth of his Arrival he divided his Kingdom to his three Sons To Locrinus he bequeathed that part now called ENGLAND To Camber WALES To Albanact SCOTLAND and so called it after his name Albania Brute in that sickness is supposed to have died and was buried in his new City TROY Novant but the particular place where was never yet discovered by any and I much question whether it ever will SOME OBSERVATIONS UPON THIS History of Brute IT is not material whether this story of BRUTE be to be referred to Jeoffery of Monmouth Henry of Huntington or Segibertus Gemblasensis a French-man who lived an hundred years before Jeoffery and treats of Brute and his Trojans Arrival into Gaul and his passage into Britain For if Segibertus or any other Person had the name of Brute before Jeoffery and some particular Actions of such a Prince yet the composing of his Genealogy the methodizing the Circumstances of his Life the Timing of his Entrance the Succession of his Line depends all upon the Credit of Jeoffery and the truth of his Translation and so was esteemed in the daies in which he lived and put forth his History For how long a Trojan Original might be in these parts or how long Britannia might be derived from Brutus is not the thing in question but this was the custome of Ancient times to derive Nations from some particular Persons even amongst the Greeks and Romans and was an old Vanity of the World to refer their beginning to some Divine HERO To make this pretended Brute to be a Trojan and to fasten him upon a Genealogy contrary to the truth of those Histories from which that Genealogy is fetcht and upon whose Credit it depends is the thing for which Brutes History is chiefly condemned Segibertus Gemblasensis might have the same design in deriving his Britain in France from Brutus as the Britains might derive their Britannia I do not deny but Jeoffery of Monmouth might have several hints of Brutus nay a British History of him but it will not justifie the Fiction neither can the multitude of Authors in or about that time take away from the Credit of Ancienter Historiographers as Caesar Tacitus Gildas Ninius and as many as wrote twelve hundred years since who make no mention of any such Person more than that do profess by all their Enquiry they could learn nothing of the Britains concerning their Original so that whatever Original is pretended nevertheless the story of the Trojan Brute and all the Legend of his life seems to be brought into the World not long before those times as appears by Mr. Cambden and Speed nay Mr. Sheringham of late in his Vindication of this story in one place ingeniously confesses That these Tales might be invented and so intruded upon the Vulgar But where ever the story of Brute is to be told the Character of it and the Compiler ought never to be omitted It is the saying of William of Newborough who lived in the Age of Geoffery ap Arthur of Monmouth and writes thus of him In these our daies saith he a certain Writer is risen who deviseth foolish Fictions of the Britains he hath to Name Geoffery and a little after With how little shame and with what great confidence doth he frame his Lies About the same time was Francio invented for the Francks Scota Pharaolis Daughter for the Scots Hiberus for the Irish Danus for the Danes Brabo for the Brabanders Gothus for the Goths Saxo for the Saxons and is Brutus for the Britains any thing truer who can think it Scriverius in his Preface to the Antiquitics of Ancient Batavia falls severely upon Jeoffery of Monmouth and gives his History the name of Groote grove lange dicke taste lijck ende unbeschaemte logen that is A most impudent Lie a great one a heavy one a long thick one which like the AEgyptian Darkness was so palpable it might be felt Never had a Lie so many dimensions given it before nor so much substance ascribed to it Well fare Brute and his Trojans above all stories this carries the Honour of the day That which gave some Authority to this Fiction was the use King Edward the first made of it in vindicating his Title to Scotland against the pretence of Pope Boniface and the Church of Rome who laid claim to that Kingdom by Ancient Right as part of St. Peters Patrimony and that Churches Demesne This Action of the King stampt some Character upon this late Invention and the Judgment of so wise a Prince in favour of Brute in a matter of so high a Concern brought this new Embrio into some credit in the World It will not be amiss therefore to examine the whole Circumstances of this debate between the King Pope and Barons of this Realm King Edward having made a considerable progress towards the Conquest of Scotland and being there in Person receives a Prohibition from the Pope who was backt on by the French King to proceed any further in that business until he had proved his Title at Rome to which place the
the Off-spring of AEnaeas or the Reliques of Troy if he could make out their Title to that Original by any other means than Brute THE CHRONICLE AND HISTORY OF Ancient Britain CHAP. XII SILVIUS the First King of BRITAIN who descended from the Kings of ALBA and not from BRUTE SILVIUS the first King of Britain is supposed to descend from the Kings of Alba and to have forsaken his Country under one of those two great Revolutions of State the former of which was caused by the Usurpation of Amulius upon his Brother Numitor the latter by the vindication of Numitor's Right by his Nephews Romulus and Remus The truth is Silvius seems rather to proceed from Amulius than Numitor upon the account that Numitor's Issue was destroyed by Amulius and his Daughter Ilia made a Vestal Nun so that none of Numitor's Male-Issue surviving this Silvius appears the Son of Amulius who upon the deprivation of his Father might seek out new Fortunes The Reasons that make this seem probable to me are these 1. The Intercourse of the British Histories mentioned between the Kings of Alba and Britain and that very Intercourse must needs be about this time by the very Circumstances produced by those Histories themselves For by their own confession it was in those daies when the Sabines denied their Daughters in Marriage to the House of AEnaeas which happened not according to the Roman Histories till the daies of Romulus and Remus 2. There hath been such an Intercourse between both Nations that they seem to allow it who have derived Britain from a Country in Italy of the same Name as in Polybius and other Authors is seen 3. The time of Silvius his Reign salleth about the Greeks first coming into Britain namely about the daies of Pythagoras at the beginning of the Historical Age nigh the first Olympiad Then it is that we find Silvius mentioned in the British Histories just upon the dissolution of the Line of the Alba Kings called SILVII 4. It is probable the Family of AEnaeas might by Ancient Tradition be delivered down to Govern this Island in Ancient times which Tradition by BRUTE cannot possibly be made out nor so likely by any King as this SILVIUS 5. We find that the Transmigration of the Soul was taught by the Druids of this Island insomuch that Lipsius saith That he knoweth not whether they learnt it of Pythagoras or he of them Now Pythagoras lived by the consent of most Writers not long after those daies of Silvius if not equal with him for who in things of so vast a distance can calculate Time exactly 6. There are many words in the British Language taken notice of which in great reason seem to be derived from the Kingdom of the Latins and shew from thence their Original which words were out of use before Julius Caesars time and so could not be introduced by him The Old Latins called Deformed persons Meriones the Cambro-Britains at this day do call ugly and Rustick Women Metrtones The Old Latins call Deceit Falla the Cambro-Britains Faell The Old Latins called a Great eater Glutton and Gluvia the Cambro-Britains Glwth The Old Latins called a Dug Ruma the Cambro-Britains Rhumen The Old Latins called the Chief Magistrate of the Osci Meddix and with the Cambro-Britains Meddu signifieth to be in Authority and Power The Old Latins called a Fool Dalivus the Cambro-Britains say Delff a stupid Fellow The Old Latins said Clueo I hear the Cambro-Britains call Hearing Clyn and to hear Clywed to which are added many Ancient Names of the Old Latins which have some signification in the British Clodius Clod Praise Drusus Drws a Door Sylla Syllu to See Celius Celu to Hide Cornelius Cornel a Corner Marcus March a Horse Silanus Silyn an Off-spring Cinna Cynne or Cynnew to Burn. The Names of Women Mammea Man Mother Livia Lliw Colour and many more which are left to the Britains to find out who best understand their own Language The Introduction of all which words into Britain cannot so well be attributed to Brutus had there ever been such a Person as to this Silvius upon the account that Brute was not so long in Italy to learn the Latin Tongue neither can the Latin Tongue be supposed to have been in those daies as most Learned persons do think any other than a Dialect of the Greek which mixing afterwards with the Sabins and Etruscans became to be the Original of that Tongue afterwards most in use in Italy so that Brute being excluded none can be found so likely as Silvius to be the Introducer of it into Britain 7. Seventhly and lastly The Cassiterides we find are called Scilly Islands whether from the first Arrival of this Prince which may be supposed in those parts upon the account of Trade or from the Rock Sylla upon the Coast of Italy is uncertain but the former Opinion seems most likely so that I shall conclude seeing that the time doth very well accord of the Expulsion of Silvius Amulius and the Landing of this Silvius in Britain and seeing an Alliance between the two Kingdoms of Alba and Britain is absurdly imagined before this time and with great Reason may be referred hither for seeing Varro's Historical Age now beginneth and some Records of the Greeks remain relating to these daies I will venture to begin the Historical Age with Silvius not condemning all the Traditions of the Britains about AEnaeas and Troy nor yet justifying every thing in those Histories of the following Kings But this I will say That many things in them contained may be Truth although Fabulously written For about this time as I said before the Grecians began to keep Records and much about the same time began their Voyages into Britain as may be seen in the fore-going Antiquities This King SILVIUS in the British History is also named SILIUS Nothing is Recorded of his fifteen years Reign but Brawls and Tumults and Harding calls him also Sicilius and the Son of Gurgust when as others make him his Brother which difference demonstrates the Line of Brute but loosly fastned about this place SICILIUS his Son then did succeed In whose time each man did other oppress The Law and Peace was exil'd so indeed That Civil wars and slaughter of Men express Was in every part of the Land without redress And Murtherers foul through all his Land daily Without redress or any other remedy Most agree that this King reigned nine and forty years some say but two a vast difference and not econcileable unless the distinction of Entrance and Conquest be allowed But of this I shall say no more but proceed to his Cozin Jago JAGO Cozin to Silvius although in all likelyhood not akin at all this being a Phoenician name began his Reign in the year of the World 3336 and died of a Lethargy without Issue after he had reigned twenty eight years leaving nothing memorable behind him but his Tyranny KINIMAGUS or Kimmacus according to most
that his Souldiers were on an unknown Coast their hands full their heavy bodies laden with Armour that at the same time they were to jump from their Ships stand among the Waves and engage the Enemy and on the other side that the Britains were on the dry ground or else in very shallow Water that they were light Armed and quick Motioned that they were acquainted with the shoars and their Horses accustomed to that kind of Duty yet all this seemeth to be confessing rather than excusing a Defeat The Romans being to encounter with all these Difficulties but especially with the undaunted Courage of the Britains and being gauled with this unusual manner of Fighting stood as men absolutely astonished not knowing which way to turn themselves until Caesar seeing them beginning flatly to yield to the impression of the Enemy draws off his Long-boats and Gallies from his Ships of Burthen and orders them to be placed against the open flank of the Enemy The very sight of this kind of Shipping amazed the Britains the swiftness of their motion and the number and ratling of the Oars but as on the other side they were exceeding surprizing to the Britains so they struck no less Courage and Resolution into the daunted Romans But the first impressions being over notwithstanding the force and greatness of their Gallies with which as being strongly workt by the multitude of Oars the Britains were almost overwhelmed yet left they not off still manfully to defend their Country and expose their Chariots and naked Bodies to the Ships and Armour of their Enemies Caesar finding that by plain Force he was not able to attain the Landing orders his Engines and Slings to be set up in all his Gallies and that they should be plaid against the open side of the Enemy And now whole showers of Stones and Darts were discharged upon the naked Britains and the Roman Ships something cleared of their close Engagers The Britains notwithstanding all these dangers did not quit their ground but with the loss of their lives and although the thick shot falling round about the Roman Fleet made them stand at a Bay yet durst not their Enemies venture to quit their Vessels fearing as is reported the depth of the Sea but more probably the re-advancement of the Enemy as soon as their Engines should leave working In this general Consternation of the Romans an Ensign-bearer of the tenth Legion having first invoked the Gods that what he intended might succeed to the good of his Legion breaks out into these words Fellow Souldiers desert if you please your Ensign and betray it to the Enemy I for my part will perform my Duty to the Common-wealth and my General having thus said with a loud voice he jumps into the Sea and advancing the Eagle he marcheth upon the Enemy The Souldiers began to recollect their Spirits and exhorting one another not to suffer the disgrace of loosing their Standard with one consent followed their resolute Leader Others incited by their Example do the like and now in several Bodies they advance to the Enemy Here began a terrible fight on both sides wherein the Romans received great damages partly for want of sure footing and partly because in eagerness to rescue their Ensign they observed no Order every one out of his Ship advancing to that standard that was next to him On the other hand the Britains managed their Advantages with great prudence and Resolution Where they saw the Enemy boggled either in the Depths or the Sands they presently assaulted them cuting them off in all Parties and wheresoever they perceived any few making up to their Standards driving furiously between they intercepted their passage and with ease dispatcht them Others there were who attempted the main Body which was gathering about the Standard and with their Darts very much anoyed them which Caesar perceiving he commanded all his Boats and Shallops to be filled with Souldiers and where he saw any distressed he received them into his protection By this means the Foot were all dis-embarkt and having got into some Order they made up to the Shoar where after a sharp dispute the wearied Britains were put to flight or rather retired having observed by the disburthening of all the Ships that the Romans had no Horse to follow them which indeed proved true by reason that through negligence they did not or by contrary Winds could not arrive so speedily as they were ordered This proved a great vexation to Caesar who never used to get Victories by halves and this is the first time we ever find him complaining against his Fortune The BRITAINS send for PEACE but upon an Accident to the ROMAN Fleet change Counsels THE Britains for what cause is uncertain but probably from Divisions in themselves and a Roman Party crept in amongst them send Embassadours to Caesar to Treat of Peace promising to give what Hostages he should demand and to submit to his disposal With these Embassadours Comius of Arras also returns whom I said before was sent by Caesar into Britain him after his Landing the Britains had apprehended as a Spie and having understood his Order had laden with Irons And now to ingratiate themselves with Caesar they send him back laying the envy of his Imprisonment upon the Common Rout and desiring that if in yeilding to the Multitude they had done imprudently they might obtain pardon for their Errour Caesar complaining that of their own accords having sent to him on the Continent for Peace they should give the first occasion of War was willing nevertheless to take their Acknowledgments and accept their Excuse but demands Hostages some whereof were immediately sent others that were to be fetcht higher in the Country they promised should be ready in a few daies The mean while the People being dis-banded and sent home the adjoyning Princes met together and submitted themselves and their States to Caesar at his Camp which is supposed to have been at Barham-Down The Peace thus Concluded an Accident happened that put the Britains upon new Counsels The eighteen Ships which transported the Horse being loosed from the Harbour with a small Gale in four daies sail came in sight of the Island and might be descried from the Camp when of a sudden a Tempest arising dispersed them some being cast back to the Port from whence they came others driven West-ward of the Island But finding no safety in those parts nor being able to ride at Anchor in such high Seas were forced at night to make for the Continent and as Orosius saith most of them perished The same night it happened the Moon being Full at which time the Floods are highest that unawares to the Romans the Spring-tide filled and covered those Gallies which had been haled on shoar and which were intended to serve for the transporting of the Army On the other hand the Ships of Burthen that lay off at Anchor were sorely shattered by the Tempest the Romans all the while
would be to their greater Honour if with a small Power they should win the fame of a whole Army withal he ordered them that they should keep close and first with their heavy Darts gall the Britains afterwards press upon them with their Swords and Pikes in their Shields and follow the slaughter in a Body well wedged together That they should not scatter and disperse for Plunder but that after the Victory every thing would be their own The Souldiers received these Exhortations of their General with such alacrity that the Legionaries began already to try their Arms and sit themselves for the engagement and they shewed such great handiness in it having been experienced thereto in many Battles that Suetonius perceiving their Joy and Readiness was even certain of the event and so gave the signal for the Onset And first of all the Legion which for some time had kept its ground and been defended by the narrowness of the place as a sure Fortification at last watching its opportunity when the Britains had spent their Darts at random and were advancing to a nearer engagement they prest in upon them in a close Body after the nature of a Wedge and so worked themselves into the Enemies Battle that they soon broke and dispersed it And now the same resolution was found in the Auxiliary Forces and the Horse with their long Spears flung down all that came near them and brake in pieces some Parties who stood yet united Now the Britains began to betake themselves to flight but were hindred by the multitude of their own Charriots which had blockt up the passage for their Retreat so that they yielded their necks to the slaughter which was so great that it is reported fourscore thousand died upon that small spot of ground Neither did the Romans in their Rage spare any for even the Women and Cattle served to make up the heap of dead Carkasses And all this was performed on the Roman side with the loss only of four hundred and as many more wounded Boadicia after the fatal Defeat of so great an Army which is reckoned no less than two hundred and thirty thousand ended her daies with Poyson or as others say sickned out of Grief and died To war this QVEEN doth with her Daughters moue She for her Wisdom followed They for Loue What Roman force Such joined powers could quell Before so murdering Charmes whole Legions fell Thrice happy Princess had she rescued So Her Daughters honour and her Countrys too But they being ravish't made her vnderstand T is harder Beauty to secure then Land Yet her Example teaching them to dye Virtue the roome of Honour did Supply SHE is described by the Greek Historian of stature bigg and tall of a Grim and sternvisage but withal modest and chearful a rough and hoarse voice her Hair of a bright Yellow hanging in Tresses to her very skirts about her Neck she had a Chain of Gold and was apparelled in a loose Garment of changable Colours wearing a Kirtle there under very thick plated in her hand she carried a Spear she was highly devoted to ANDATE the Goddess of Victory and seemed much to triumph in her self for in her address to that Female Deity she used these expressions I being a Woman adore thee O ANDATE a Woman The same Historian likewise delivers the manner of the Fight otherwise and that the Victory was not obtained with so little difficulty but that the Britains would have renewed the Battle had not the death of their Queen discouraged them but I rather follow the report of Tacitus who wrote next to these times and who may be supposed to have truer intelligence in that some Circumstances of her life relating to the British Affairs engaged him to more particular Enquiries after them The death of Boadicia was attended on the Roman side with that of Paenius Posthumus Camp-Master of the second Legion who having expected to have heard of the ruine of Suetonius and the defeat of his two Legions being informed on the contrary of their great success fell upon his Sword and so by a Roman death in some measure attoned for the breach of Roman discipline in not obeying his general Pardon and by this means he escaped the punishment that might have followed and delivered himself from the Clamours of his Legion whom by his cautious Counsels he had defrauded of part of his glory Thus was the Island by one Battle restored again to the Romans which by the absence of Suetonius in the Isle of Anglesey had been well nigh lost but neither yet could the Britains think of totally submitting but many of them who were principally involved in the guilt of this Revolt and who feared the vindicative nature of the Roman General which begun already to appear stood out in a posture of defence Suetonius to make an end of this War kept the Field and by removing his Tents as he saw occasion continually awed the Britains And now Nero sent unto him new Supplies out of Germany two thousand Legionary Souldiers and Auxiliary Cohorts and one thousand Horse by whose coming they of the ninth Legion had their Companies made up and compleated with heavy Armed Souldiers The Cohorts and other Troops were lodged in new Winter Quarters and those Nations who continued in open Hostility or in doubtful Allegiance were prosecuted with Fire and Sword But nothing so much afflicted the Britains as Famine having generally neglected the tilling of the Ground and employed all hands in carrying on the War hoping by the Defeat of the Romans to have served themselves of their Provisions Nevertheless many Warlike Nations could not be brought to any Compliance but were encouraged to stand out for that they had heard of great Clashings between Suetonius and the new Procurator Julius Classicianus who was sent to succeed Catus in that employment This Classicianus had entertained some grudges against the General and preferred his private Resentments before the Publick good He gave out That a New Governour was to be expected who should be void of Rancour and not hurried on with the pride and insolence of a Conquerour one that should with more Clemency and less Partiality consult the condition of the Conquered And it is certain that Suetonius though other waies a Worthy person carried himself too Imperiously over the Britains and revenging the Injuries which he thought done to himself by their Revolt oftentimes went beyond the bounds of Justice or Moderation He writ Letters also to Rome in which he signified That no end of the War was to be expected unless Suetonius was removed and ascribed all the Losses received to his ill Conduct and his good success not his well management but the Fortune of the Common-wealth To compose these Differences between the Lieutenant and Procurator and to view the State of Britain Nero sent Polycletus his Free-man hoping by his Authority not only to put an end to the Dissension but to compose
defended but rather kept Prisoner by the Ocean And here I must call to mind how delightful and easie was the good fortune of former Princes who ruled the Common-wealth with Praise who although sitting at Rome themselves yet had the Triumphs and Sir-names of such Nations given them as their Captains subdued Fronto therefore not second to any but in the first rank of Roman Eloquence yielded to Antoninus the Emperour the Glory of finishing the British Wars although he sitting at home in his Palace in the City of Rome had committed the Conduct and success of that Affair to the management of his Captains for he confesseth That the Emperour guiding as it were the Helm of the Ship deserved the Honour of the whole course But You most Invincible Emperour though your Imperial Dignity required no more have not been only Director of this War both by Sea and Land but a present Actor and Engager therein and by Your Personal Example and Resolution the Victory was wholly atchieved For so soon as you embarked at Sluice you immediately infused Life and Spirit into their hearts who as yet had not ventured to sail out of the River Saine insomuch that those Captains who lay lingring in expectation of Calmer Seas and fair Weather now cried to have the Sails hoised up the Anchors weighed and were impatient in prosecuting their Voyage despising all tokens that seemed to fore-bode their Ruine and so in a Rainy and tempestuous day with a cross Wind they set out But what was he that feared to commit himself to Sea were the same never so unquiet when you were once under sail and set forward one voice and exhortation was among them all as is reported when they heard you launched forth What do we doubt Why do we stay He is now loosed from Land He is forward in his way and perhaps is already got over All hands to work we will thorough and venture the dangers at Sea yet what Dangers are to be feared since we follow the Emperour Neither did the opinion of your good Fortune deceive them for as by their Report we understand at that very time there fell such a thick Mist and Fogg upon the Seas that the Enemies Navy scouting about the Isle of Wight lost their expectations and your Ships passed unseen Neither did the Rebels keep the Seas although not able to resist you at Land But now that the same invincible Army fighting under your Ensigns and Name immediately on its landing set fire to its own Ships what induced them to it but only the perswasion of your Divine assistance or what other Reason prevailed with them to leave no Refuge if need were for flight nor to fear the doubtful chance of War seeing that in Battle good and ill successes have their Common lots but that by contemplation of your former Fortune they certainly concluded what would follow and were fully assured of Victory to be obtained There were no sufficient Forces at that present with them no mighty or puissant strength of the Romans but they had only the consideration of that unspeakable Fortune and Success which was derived to You from the Heavens above For whensoever Battle is offered to make full account of Victory before-hand dependeth not on the Courage and assurance of the Souldiers but the extraordinary felicity of the General But what meant the Ring-leader of that lawless Faction to quit the shoars which he possessed Why did he forsake both his Fleet and the Haven But that Most Invincible Emperour he stood in fear of your coming whose Sails he beheld advancing to wards him and therefore whatever happened he chose rather to try his Fortune with your Captains than endure the force of your Highness presence Ah mad man That understood not that whithersoever he fled the power of your Divine Majesty was present and in all places where your Countenance and Banner are had in reverence He fled indeed from your presence and fell into the hands of your People of You was he overcome of your Armies was he opprest To be short he was brought into such Terrour that continually looking behind him as it were fearing you at his back like one out of his wits and amazed he knew not which way to turn him he was hurried to his destruction neither ordering his Men to battle nor Marshalling such power as he had about him of the Old Abettors only of that Conspiracy and the barbarous Hirelings like one forgetful of those great Preparations he had made he ran headlong to his ruine And in your felicity most Noble Emperour the Common-wealth had this good fortune included that though the Victory was gained in behalf of the Roman Empire yet scarce a Roman perished in the obtaining it For as I hear those Hills and Vallies were covered with none but the Carkasses of Rebels all that were found were either of the barbarous Nations or drest up in their counterfeit shapes and Apparel glistering with their long yellow Hairs but now with wounds gashes and blood deformed lying in sundry postures as the pangs of death surprized them and as they drew in their maimed limbs and mangled parts Among these the chief Ring-leader of the Thieves was found who had cast off those Robes which in his life time he had usurped and dishonoured being scarcely covered with one piece of Apparel whereby he might be known so near were his words likely to prove true which he uttered before his death That he would not have it known how he died Thus Most Invincible Emperour so great a Victory was appointed to You by the consent of the immortal Gods over all the Enemies you assailed but especially the Franks for those your Souldiers also which as before I have said held not their right Course by reason of the Mist at Sea were now come to the City of London where they made great slaughter through all the Streets of those Outlandish Hirelings who having escaped the Battle intended with the Pillage of that City to secure themselves by flight But now being thus slain by your Souldiers the Subjects of your Province were rescued from further danger and took pleasure in the execution of their Enemies O what a manifest Victory was this worthy of innumerable Triumphs by which Victory Britain is restored to the Empire by which Victory the Nation of the Franks is utterly destroyed and by which many other Nations found Accessories in that impious Conspiracy are reduced to Obedience To conclude the Seas are cleared and brought to perpetual quiet and security Glory You therefore Most Invincible Emperour for that you have as it were got another WORLD and in restoring to the Roman Greatness the glory of the SEA Conquest have added to the Empire an Element greater than the Earth to wit the Main Ocean You have put an end to that War Invincible Emperour that seemed to threaten all Provinces and might have spread abroad and burst out in a flame as wide as the Ocean
extendeth or the Mediterranean Gulf doth reach Neither are we ignorant although through fear of You that Infection spread through the bowels of Britain only and proceeded no farther with what rage it might have advanced it self elsewhere if it could have been assured of means to have ranged abroad so far as it desired for it was bounded in by no border of Mountain or River which by Garrisons appointed may be guarded and defended but was as free as the Ships themselves and might notwithstanding we have your Valour and Fortune to relieve us be continually at our elbows to affright us so far as either Sea reacheth or Wind bloweth For that incredible boldness and undeserved success of a few silly Captive Franks in the daies of PROBUS the Emperour came to our remembrance who conveying away certain Vessels from the Coast of Pontus wasted both Greece and Asia and not without great hurt and damage coasting upon Lybia at length took the City Saragose in Sicily a Port-Town in times past highly renowned for Victories at Sea and afterwards passing the Streights of Gibraltar came into the Ocean and so with the Fortunate success of many rash and presumptuous Attempts plainly shewed that nothing can be safe from the desperate boldness of Pirates wherever Ships can touch and have success So therefore by this Your Victory not Britain alone is delivered from Bondage but to all Nations safety is restored which might by the use of the Seas come to as great Perils in time of War as to gain of Commodities in time of Peace Now Spain to pass over the Coast of Gallia with her shoars almost in sight is in security Now Italy now Africk now all Nations even to the Fens of Maeotis are void of perpetual Cares neither are they less joyful the fear of Danger being taken away which to feel as yet necessity had not brought them but they rejoyce so much the more for this that by the direction of Your providence and the powerful concurrence of Your fortune so great a combination of Sea-men is broken their quarters beat up and Britain it self which had given harbour and protection to so long a Conspiracy was made sensible at last of your Victory by her restitution to peace and quietness Not without good cause therefore immediately when You her long wished Revenger and Deliverer was arrived Your Majesty was met with great Triumph and the Britains full of unspeakable Joy ran forth and presented themselves before you with their Wives and Children adoring not only your self whom they esteemed as one descended from Heaven but even the sails and tacklings of that Ship which had brought your Divine Presence on their Shoars And as soon as You had set foot on Land they were ready to prostrate themselves before you that you might as it were walk over the Necks of them who desired you above all things to do it Nor was it a wonder they were so Joyful seeing after their miserable Captivity so many years continued after so long abusing their Wives and the enslaving of their Children at length were they reitored to Liberty at length made Romans at length refreshed with the true light of the Imperial Rule and Government For besides the same of your Clemency and Goodness which was sounded forth by all Nations in Your Countenance Caesar they visibly read the Characters of all Vertues in your Face Gravity in your Eyes Mildness in your Ruddy complexion Bashfulness in your words Justice all which things as by Regard they acknowledged so with shouts of Joy they signified aloud To You they bound themselves by Vow to You they bound their Children yea and to your Children they devoted all the posterity of their Race and Off-spring We truly O perpetual Parents and Lords of Mankind implore this of the Immortal Gods with most earnest supplication and hearty prayer That our Children and their Children and such as shall spring from their Loyns for ever may be dedicated unto You and to those whom you now bring up or shall bring up bereafter For what greater happiness can we wish to them that shall succeed us than to be made partakers of that Felicity which at present we our selves enjoy The Roman Common-wealth doth now intirely possess in Peace and Union whatever formerly at sundry times and in scattered parcels belonged to it and that huge and vast Power which with its own burthen was sunk and riven asunder is now again closely compacted and joyned together by the sure ligaments of the Imperial Government For there is no part of the Earth or Region under Heaven but is either quieted by Fear subdued by Force or else won by Clemency Is there any thing else remaining behind to which the power and ambition of Man can extend beyond the Ocean what is there more than Britain which is so recovered by You that those Nations also adjoyning to it are subject to your Commands There is no occasion to invite you further except the ends of the Ocean which Nature forbiddeth should be sought for All is Yours Most Invincible Princes that is accounted worthy of you hence it proceedeth that you may equally provide for all since all is in your Majesties possession And therefore as heretofore Most Excellent Emperour DIOCLESIAN by Your appointment Asia supplied the Desert places of Thracia with Inhabitants transplanted thither as afterwards Most Excellent Emperour MAXIMIAN by Your orders the Franks at length brought to a pleasant subjection and reduced to Laws have Peopled and manured the empty possessions of the Nervians and the Neighbourhood of Trier so now by your Victories Invincible Constantius Caesar whatsoever lay vacant about Amiens Beavois Trois and Langres begins to flourish with Inhabitants of sundry Nations Moreover Your most loyal City of Autun for whose sake I have a peculiar cause to rejoyce by means of this glorious Victory in Britain hath received many and divers Artificers of whom these Provinces abounded and now by their Workmanship the same City riseth up by repairing her ancient Houses and restoring her publick Buildings and Temples so that now she accounteth her Ancient and friendly Incorporation with Rome renewed with advantage and that she hath You for her Founder SOME OBSERVATIONS Out of the fore-going PANEGYRICK THis is the sum and substance of that Panegyrick inticuled to MAXIMIAN out of which the History of the Wars against Carausius and Alectus is gathered I need not repeat those several Expressions therein which evidently set forth the considerable Power of this Nation united together though under Usurpers their dreadful Preparations by Sea which not only gave Alarums to Spain Gallia and Africk but even to Italy it self and as far as the Mediterranean extended The subduing of these Rebels was esteemed a Victory in which the power and strength of the whole Empire was engaged and that action of Constantius in firing of his Ships at his landing plainly shewed that he reckoned himself fighting for the last stake So
ignorant of the diversity of Actions which as I said proceeded from diversities of AEra's I will set them down distinctly according to the most Authentick Historians Bede and his Followers reckon the years thus In the thirty first year of Theodosius the Younger and of Christ 430 the Britains craved assistance but in vain of AEtius the third time Consul Thus Bede But here may be enquired which is the principal AEra by which this account is made If it be the year of Christ 430 then the difference will be whether Theodosius began his Reign in the year 399 or 407 which are eight years difference The AEra therefore must be brought from Theodosius his Reign for Bede supposeth him to have begun his Reign in the year 399 and in some Copies of Ninnius there is a note of Computation adjoyned which Mr. Cambden saith taketh away all scruples and clears all doubts which maketh the beginning of his Reign to have been Anno 407. Again if you make the chief AEra of this Computation to be AEtius third time Consul the difference is greater and we must now seek out the time from the Kalendars of the Councels and we shall find that the third Consulship of AEtius fell out to be in the thirty ninth year of the said Theodosius which should be according to Bede in the year 439 and yet in that account is made after the Birth of Christ 446 and supposeth Theodosius to begin his Reign according to the Computation in Ninnius in the year 407 whereas according to Bede it should be in the year 399. Thus much as to Bedes first Account next he saith Under Valentinian the Third German once or twice came into Britain and led an Army of Britains against the Picts and Scots Here the Computations must be made of Valentinian the Emperour and German The time of Valentinian after Theodosius is uncertain yet of necessity must be after the year 446 according to Bede and yet German by approved Authors as Mr. Cambden relates died in the year of Grace 435. Ninnius writeth that German returned into his own Country after the death of Vortigern Now considering that Vortigern called in the Saxons and Bede saith That in the first year of Martianus and the year of our Lord 449 the Nation of the English Saxons arrived in Britain how is it possible that German dying in the year 435 could return into his Country after the death of Vortigern who called in the Saxons in the year 449 and lived many years after In the year of Christ 433 Prosper Tyro who then lived writeth That Britain after sundry overthrows was brought in subjection to the Saxons Thus we see one Computation draweth us back whilest another setteth us forward whilest some reckon from Christ some from Theodosius some from AEtius some from Valentinian and Martianus and others from German But it will not be here amiss among the rest of the Computations to set down that which is adjoyned in some Copies in Ninnius From the Consulship of the two Gemini Fusius and Rubellius unto Stilico the Consul are reckoned 373 years From Stilico unto Valentinian the Son of Placidia and to the Reign of Vortigern 28 years From the Reign of Vortigern to the discord of Gintoline and Ambrose are 12 years which Battle is Guoloppum that is Cathquoloph Vortigern held the Kingdom when Theodosius and Valentinian were Consuls and in the fourth year of his Reign the Saxons came into Britain and were entertained by Vortigern when Felix and Taurus were Consuls From the year wherein the Saxons came into Britain and were received by Vortigern unto Decius Valerianus are 69 years By this Account the coming of the Saxons into Britain was in the twenty first year of Theodosius the Younger in the year of our Lord 428 and this saith Mr. Cambden cometh nearest to the Computation of Bede But I have rather followed the received Opinion calculated from the Consulship of AEtius who in Gildas is called AEgitius and in another Copy AEquitius than by so far setting back the time upon too much nicety to differ from all other Historians Having shewn the manner occasion and time how the Saxons first entred this Nation it will now be necessary to relate by what craft and policy HENGIST their General at last attained to be King and Governour of Kent which place at first was intentionally assigned him in Trust and for his more honourable Reception or at least better encouragement in using his utmost endeavour to carry on the War against Vortigern's Enemies But during the time his Souldiers had so Couragiously acted in his absence as to deserve Reputation he secretly managed his Interest at home providing them greater supplies as occasion should offer and gathering a greater Body together upon notice given him speedily embarked with his Brother Horsus and observe the luck of it that no sooner they appeared in BRITAIN but were received with great joy by King Vortigern who at that time was much infested with the Inroads of the Picts and Scots After his Reception the King gave him little or no rest for the present in his new Territories till he had received further proofs of his Valour and Conduct in quelling the rage and fury of his inveterate Enemies The Battles with these Picts the Saxons maintained to their great honour and reputation yet some Historians will not believe that ever King Vortigern was a Man of so weak a Judgment so earnestly to urge so crafty and powerful a Nation as the Saxons then were to his assistance but that at first they came by chance into the Island according to an ancient Custome among the English Saxons a People in Germany as it was also at first among other Nations that when in multitudes a People so increased that their own Country was not able to contain them by an especial Edict of their Prince a set number was chosen out to cast Lots how many for that year were to depart the Land and seek out new employments in the Wars of other Nations For so hath it been conjectured of these that they came out of their own Country into Britain to offer themselves to serve in their Wars for meer want of employment and sufficient maintenance at home which was the first occasion given for their Arrival into this Land Hengist by this time having gained a considerable Interest among the Britains and more especially perceiving that the King wholly depended upon his Valour and Conduct takes his advantage in considering the best and surest means how he might speedily advance his greater Promotion not only during his own life but his Heirs and Successours after him in order to which Polidore Virgil saith That he fenced a Country round about with which he was only entrusted afterwards planted Garrisons in such places as seemed best to him for his advantage The King not yet perceiving the shower of Misfortune with black Clouds threatning him takes
a Saxon they call Dle Sassen and that this kind of Weapon was generally used by the Getes from whom the Saxons are derived shall be proved Statius testifying the same in these Verses Quo Macetae sua gesta citent quo turbine contum Sauromates falcemque Getae Pontanus to prove more evidently that the Saxons had their Name from this sort of Sword recordeth That Saxony in its ancient Arms bears two SEAXES or HANGERS Cross-wise which saith he is an undoubted proof of their denomination And ERKENWYN King of the East Saxons gave for his Arms three hand SEAXES Argent in a field Gules and that this was not unusual for Nations to be named after their particular Weapons Verstegan proveth at large upon this Subject and the same I have shewn in another place wherein are treated the Causes and Reasons of the names of most Countries in the Ancient World Mr. Cambden in his description of Cornwal tells us That in Wales there was sound in the Earth in digging for Tynn Spear-heads Axes and Swords of Brass meaning I suppose these SEAXES wrapped up in Linnen the like was found in other places beyond Sea this may testifie of what Mettal their Weapons were made but not of their fashion but of that I have sufficiently spoke already And he further saith That it is evident the Greeks and Cimbrians and consequently the Ancient Britains by the Monuments and Testimonies of ancient Writers used Brass Weapons although less prejudicial in the wounding the Body than that of other Mettals in respect of its healing quality which he attributes to their harmless nature in the choice of it more than any other whose Opinion I absolutely contradict apprehending it rather from the plenty of the Mettal or else for the estimable value they had for it above any other and not from a healing quality for they being a People ambitious of Conquest they desired doubtless all opportunity of usurpation and mischief to bring about their ends and desires Thus much for the name of the SAXONS The next People are the ANGLES THEY are of the same Original with the former and the reason of their Name is diversly given Saxo Grammaticus fetcheth it from Angulus the Brother of Dan and Son of Humblus whom others call Humilus Others from Queen Angela but these Fables need no refutation Geropius Becanus deriveth it from Angelen or Anglen a Fish-hook and saith that the Saxons arrogated this Name to themselves because living on the Sea-coasts nothing passed on the Waters but was drawn and hookt in by them But this Erymology as it savoureth of fancy more than truth so doth it carry in it self its own confutation for the Angli or Angili were so called long before they came to the Sea-coasts even when they were an Inland-people as shall be shewn more fully in the sequel The next Opinion which seemeth to carry more right and hath hitherto been most generally received is that they took name from ANGULUS that is an Angle or Corner their ancient Country about Sleswick being a narrow Isthmus lying upon the Baltick Sea Of this mind is Mr. Sheringham though afterwards he contradicts himself and Verstegan writes thus The word Eng in the ancient Teutonick signifieth Narrow or Streight and sometimes a Nook and if any ask a Dutch-man how he calleth a narrow Country he would answer Engeland or England such a Country saith he is Old England in Denmark from whence our English Ancestors proceeded being a Neck of Land and such also is our present ENGLAND running out in length and growing narrower at both ends To prove this Opinion Bede is quoted who writeth That the ANGLES came out of that Country which is called Angulus and is reported from that time to lie waste between the Provinces of the Saxons and Juites and Mr. Cambden sheweth That between Juitland and Holsatia the Ancient Country of the Saxons there is a little Province in the Kingdom of Dania termed at this day Angle beneath the City Flemsburg upon the River Sly upon which Sleswick is scituated which Lindebergius in his Epistles calleth Little Anglia and Ethelwardus an ancient Saxon Writer hath this description of it Old Anglia lieth between the Saxons and Giots they have a Capital Town which in the Saxon Tongue is called Sleswick by the Danes Haithby From this Country saith Mr. Cambden they passed into the Inland-parts of Germany even as far as Italy and left their Name to several places as Engleheim the native Country of Charles the Great Ingolstad Engleburg Englerute in Germany and Angleria in Italy Thus we see the the progress of the ANGLES set down from Angulus or Anglia in Denmark into Germany Southward by Mr. Cambden and others the contrary whereof is true as shall manifestly be shewn For as it is not to be denied but that our English Ancestors came from this Province into Britain yet that they received their Name originally from it call it Angulus or Angle or Old England which you please and so carried it into Germany cannot in reason be supposed upon the following account First because the name of Angli or Angili was known in the World long before they had possession of this Country when they were an Inland-People living far within the Continent which being true makes it evident that the ANGLI gave name to this Province and not the Province to them To put this out of dispute it is to be observed that Tacitus and after him Ptolomy who first wrote of the Angli or Angili make them an Inland-People and part of the Suevians Ptolomy divideth the Suevians into three Nations the Longobardi Semnones and Angili Now the Suevians were a Nation who never continued above a year in one place but as Caesar Strabo and other Authors witness continually ranged up and down still seeking out new Habitations roving therefore through Germany that part of them called English Suevians gave names to the forementioned Places Ingolstad Engleburg c. and at length after the daies of Ptolomy passed into the Cimbrick Chersoness a Province whereof they accordingly gave the denomination of Angulus or Angel For in the daies of Ptolomy in that part of Denmark wherein Bede and Ethelward place the Angli we read of no such People there and Ptolomy himself in those very Provinces reckoned the Inhabitants by these Names the Chali Cobandi Sabalingii and Sigulones and setteth down the Angli far enough from hence among the Suevians in the Mediterranean parts of Germany Add to this that most Authors bring their Original from Westphalia where Engern standeth and others have thought it probable they might primitively proceed from Pomerania where the Town Angloen flourisheth These considerations moved Cisner to think that the Angli Suevi mentioned in Ptolomy and the Angli Saxones so called by Bede and Ethelwerd were not the same People because the former were certainly an Inland-Nation and a branch of the Suevians the latter
the Composer of this and other like Saxon Genealogies had an eye to that of Moses or no I will not determine but if they had as many think and probably Aventinus among the rest then what Aventinus writes concerning Tuisco that he is found in the hidden Mysteries of Moses is not so great an absurdity as Mr. Sheringham would have it Another Argument used by Mr. Sheringham against the story of Tuisco is that if he were the Son of Noah Noah must needs have spoke the Cimbrian Tongue or Teutonick for from thence must Tuisco be fetcht not from the Hebrew forasmuch as it cannot be so much as written in the Hebrew because that Language hath no such dipthong as Ui now whether ui in Tuisco be a diphthong or no I will not dispute but I am sure it may be written equivolently in the Hebrew as thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And whether Noah spake or writ that Language which we now call Hebrew or the Cimbrian let those argue who love to dwell altogether on the daies of Noah I am sure Scaliger Vossius Gratius and the common consent of the Criticks make the Hebrew Character of no higher date than the daies of Esdra and as for Noahs speaking of Teutonick if we believe Geropius Becanus Physitian to Mary Queen of Hungary and Regent of the Netherlands not only he but Adam himself before him spake it and he supposeth it the only Original Language And if we give credit to Verstegan he was resolute and serious in this opinion as likewise Abraham Ortelius his Follower So that to confute the story of Tuisco by these and such like Arguments is nothing else but to destroy one fable by setting up another in the room of it That there was such a Man by name Tuisco or something like it whom the Germans had in special veneration and adored as a God none can deny who have read Caesar and Tacitus probably he was the same Tuet or Mercury of whom we spake in the Antiquity of the Britains who was supposed the Interpreter of the Gods and from him the word Tuisten signifying to Interpret might proceed and Cuisto an Interpreter by a Teutonick termination and he himself might be called after the manner of the same dialect Tuisto an Interpreter instead of Tuet taking his name from his Office for that he was called Tuet likewise the name of Tuesday doth import but whether he were that God or no or some of Woden's Captains deified is not much material seeing he hath left behind him in authentick History little or nothing to intitle him to the founding of so great a Nation as the Germans But that he was the Son of Noah or his Grandchild and that he came into Germany an hundred thirty odd years after the Flood when it is manifest that the Confusion of Languages was not till the year three hundred moreover that in twenty five years he not only Peopled that whole tract of ground but establisht divers Kingdoms and Principalities is so impossible that were it the true Berosus that told us and not Annius that makes him speak it we could not give credit to so vain a Report without derogating from Sacred Authority and denying Reason it self so that leaving Tuisco and his Followers to their Imaginary progress I shall begin with those Leaders of our Nation which are of more modern and therefore a much truer account whose Actions Customes and Constitutions are not yet fully antiquated in their Posterity and for which our Ancestours according to the Customes of those times did worthily place them in the number of their Gods The first news we hear of our Ancestours as far as may be gathered from any tolerable Authority was their progress under the Conduct of ERICK King of the Getes or Jutes who led them from Scanzia first into the neighbouring Islands called by them Wettalaheyde afterwards into those Countries named since Denmark and Swedeland And in this the general stream of Northern Writers concur Johannes Magnus the Arch-Bishop of Upsall Saxo Grammaticus Cranzius An Ancient Chronicle written in the Gothick Tongue and after the Custome of that Age in Rithme thus describeth it ERICK Iagh war forste koning Gotland redh Co bodde fugen Skane eller Wetalaheed Iagh lat them forste byggia och uptagha Cybor them Skatta Gothem alla dagha Chesse Dyar hette Wettalaheyde alla Som nu mau Sailand Moon Fiwn Laland och Falster Kalla First Lord of Gothland I King ERICK was None then did Skane or Wettalaheed possess 'T was I those Countries to my Empire drew And made their Tribute to the Ooths a due And then the Composer goeth on in his own Person This Prince held Wettalaheed which Countries all We Zeland Moon Fin Laland Falster call In other Verses much after the same strain and according to the manner of those times he pretends to give the Chronology of this Kings Reign and placeth him as high as Sarug Great-Grandfather to Abraham but notwithstanding the fabulousness of so high a Calculation the Tradition it self hath bore so great weight in the Northern Countries that upon the account of this very Erick the Kings of Swedeland have claimed Right to the Crown of Denmark as Successours to him but whether their Claim under him is grounded on better foundations than the Title of King Edward the first under Brute to the Crown of Scotland countenanced likewise by Act of Parliament I will not venture to determine certain it is that the pretensions of the Swede by this Title as well as of Edward by the other have added much to the Authority of both stories and are sufficient to bear out an Historian at least in the mentioning of them About the time of this Erick it is supposed that the Getes under his Command from their roving and wandring condition were called Vandals or Wandals and the Country afterwards named Holsatia Vandalin or the Country of the Vandals Wettalaheed in the Getick Tongue signifieth a Land or Lands watered all about Now in the Saxon Dialect the signification of Wett is Plain and Hide is Land which sheweth the concordance of both Languages as likewise opposite to Wettalaheed in Gothland is another place called Bravallaheed Johannes Magnus in Latin calleth it Campus Bravelinus which in Saxon and Getick is as much as a fair or brave Country Likewise Gothland in Ancient time was called Gutegutland that is good Gothland from its great fertility but not as Mr. Sheringham thinks from Good good Land This Erick may be supposed to have been so called by the Ancient Jutes from Ear which denoteth in their Tongue Honour and Ryc a Country as much as to say after their manner the Honour of his Country or from Ryc Riches so that his Name importeth Rich and Honourable for the Saxons called Riches Rycdome or Rycness The second Progress of the Getes was under BERIG if he be not the same with Erick as I shrewdly suspect
myrck kvedium enn fyrer Wytrum Monnum Lifthvedenn ad yrkia og Semia huor Ithret sem ei throtnandi Uants Brunner seerer fornar kienningar og feeder ee uyat till kvedskaparius ollum merkiskalldum et hana Bilia med Idne grunda og giegnd tettrivid hafa huer eff hunernen sit Naffn hloted hefer Edda is an Art which out of the most ancient Mythology of ingenious Men and Names variously found out teacheth the use and exercise of the Norwegian Poesie which to the Vulgar is obscure to the Wise pleasant to hear and artificial which like a Fountain continually running suggests Old words and daily creates New for the benefit of Rythmical writing to all good Poets who can with judgment use it And Saxo Grammaticus thus in brief describes it Edda est Mythologia Poetica veterum Islandorum It was composed above six hundred years ago and as to the main is in much credit with the chiefest and most authentick of our Historians To begin then with this EDDA concerning the Expedition of WODEN out of Asia Oden haffde Spadem og so kona hauns og aff theim Uisendum faun hann thad ad Naffn hauns munde uppe bera hellski Norduralfu heim stus og tygnad umm framm Alla Konga Fyrer tha sok fysest hanu ad Byria fetd sina aff Curckflande og hafde med sier myken fiolda Lids Buga menn oc Gamla karla og konur og hoffou med seit marga Gersemelega hlute en huet sem their for yfer land that bar agyeete myked af theim Sagt so their thottu lykare Gudum enn Monnum og their gefa ei Stad ferd Sinne fyrr cim their koma Nordue thad land et nuer Itallad Sar land that dualde Odenn langa bryd og eignadest Byda thad laud. Sem Odenn hafde Skipt thui lande med Sonum sinum tha Birlade hann ferd Syna Nordur og kom ithad lande er their kalla Reidgotoland og esgnadest ithuilande alt thader hann vild eog sette that till Landradanda sonn finu et skioldur hiel hanns son var fridleifur thaduun er su eettkommen er Skioidungar veita thad erudana Kongar oc thad heiter nu Iotland er tha var kall ad Reidgotaland 〈◊〉 thad for hann Nordut that sem nu heitter Suythiod that var sa Kongur er Biliffe er Neffudur enn er hann spyt till ferda theitta Asiae Manna er Efer voru kailader for hand mote theinn og Baud ad Odenn stilde slyke valid hafa thans Ryke sem han vilde sialfur sa Cyme filgde ferd theirra ad huar sem their duoldust i Londum tha var thar ar og fridur og truda aller ad their veere thesz Radande thui thad Sau Menn ad their voru Olyker odrum Monnum theim er their 〈◊〉 du sted ad 〈◊〉 og wite thar chotte Odenn goder Landkofter ogkaug 〈◊〉 that Borgar stad sem ut heiter Sigtun Chad vat aff-hanns Naffue og gaff sier Kongdom og kalladest Sydanni Niordur og thui fiimst Striffad freede Bokum ad Niordur hafe heited hiim fyrste Saga Kongur er thad till thess ad Odenn hefur 〈◊〉 thar Goffgastur Oden Skipade that hoffdingium i tha lyking sem vered haffde i Croja sette Colff hofudmen i Stadnum ad deema Lomoslog 〈◊〉 Skypade hann Riettum ollum sem fyrr 〈◊〉 vered i Croja og Cyrkyar voru vaner Thus rendred out of Rossenius his Translation This Oden was a Magician as likewise his Wife whereby he foreknew that his Name should be celebrated above all Kings in the North. For which cause be began his Journey from Turkland taking along vast Treasures of Silver and Gold and Precious things Through what Countries soever they passed they were highly cried up as seeming Gods rather than Men thus they staid not till they came into the land of the North now called Saxony where for many years Odin lived and possessed the whole Country about so that in the Division to his Sons he gave to Vegdeggus East Saxony to Begdegus 〈◊〉 to Siggo Francia himself went into another Country which was then called Reidgotoiand where he did whatever pleased him Over this Country he set his Son Skiold of whom was born Fridleit whose Posterity was named Skioli dungar or the Off spring of Skiold from which Stem the Kings of Denmark descended This Reidgotolandia is now called Jutlandia Farther he removed his Seat to the place now called Suithiod where Gylfus was then King who when he heard of the coming of these Asiaticks whom the Edda calls Asae he went out and met them profering Odin what part soever he would take of his Empire For so great fortune attended these Asians that wheresoever they aboded Peace and Prosperity flourished and every one was fully perswaded that these Blessings proceeded from them for this especially affected their minds that for knowledge beauty strength and singular shape of Body they never had seen the like Odin perceived this Land was pleasant and fertile therefore he chose a place to build a City on which at this day according to his or rather his Sons name is called Sigtunum where exercising Kingly Authority he called himself Niord wherefore in the Annals of the Ancients it is found that the first King of the Suevi was called Niord because Odin was the most glorious although others held the Kingdom before him In the City Sigtun he constituted Twelve of the Chief Citizens in imitation of Troy as Conservators of the Laws and to execute Justice after the Customes of Turkland From this Constitution of WODEN saith Mr. Sheringham whereby he ordained Twelve of the principal Citizens as preservers of the Law and to give their Judgment or Verdict for so the words import proceeded perhaps that Custome among us never to be enough praised whereby to Twelve good Freeholders called by us a Jury is trusted the whole weight of Justice and Determination of all Causes both of Life and Estate but this by way of digression Another narration of the Progress of WODEN agreeing with that of the Edda is taken out of an Ancient Norway Chronicle the Author of it as Stephanius thinks was Sturlaeson a Writer of good account and credit the whole story is too large to set down I shall only mention what more particularly relates to the present purpose It is thus That part of Asia looking to the East which is bounded by the River Tanais had formerly for its Metropolis a City named Asgard wherein Ruled with great Authority a mighty Hero named OTHIN to twelve of the chief Senatours who excell'd in Piety and Wisdom and therefore were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diar i. e. Gods or Divine Persons and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drotuar i. e. Lords he gave power to order Religious affairs and Ceremonies and to hear and determine Civil Causes and Suits This Othin had two Brothers the Elder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ue the younger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Uelir or Uuli These two upon the absence of Othin at any time managed the whole State Upon
lessened and judging withal that Superiority was due to him not only from that but other Kingdoms from the priority of time wherein Kent was settled taking up Arms began to invade his Neighbours and by open claim to assert the Right of an universal Monarchy But not well weighing the strength of his Neighbours and measuring his own Power rather by the number of his Levies than the goodness of his Men by long peace unaccustomed to War he was miserably baffled by Keaulin King of the West-Saxons an old experienced Souldier who with Cutha his Son leading an Army trained up in Wars and well fledged with Victories obtained against the Britains twice defeated him and at last drove him into his own Territories The first place of Battel is not mentioned that which seemeth to be the last was at Wiphandun wherein two Kentish Earls Oslave and Cnebban lost their lives And this is the first War the Saxons had among themselves since their entring the Island Ethelbert taught by these defeats that the success of War depends not on the eagerness of desire to conquer but the steady management of the means referred the repairing of his losses to a more convenient time and the event proved accordingly for being come to riper years and Keaulin his grand Opposer removed by death in a short time he stretched his Empire over the most considerable parts of the Island all the Kingdoms on this side Humber either by force or composition being brought entire under his obedience And he is worthily reckoned the sixth Monarch of the English men Thus grown great he takes to wife Bertha the French King Chilperick's Daughter whom St. Gregory as will appear in his Epistle writ to her calls Adelberga she was a Christian and by Covenant of Marriage was to enjoy the exercise of her Religion to that end she brought over with her Letard a Bishop under whose care and instructions he daily exercised the Christian Profession The King as yet and all his People continued in the worship of the Saxon Idolatry and whether by the negligence of Letard who perhaps contented himself in the freedom of private devotion or that the King taken up in Wars had not the leasure to examine into their Faith or lastly that God in his infinite wisdom reserved the Conversion of our Nation to other hands certain it is that neither the example of the Queen nor the preaching of Letard have left any tokens or Records of effects proportionable to such advantages as might be expected from an open and sincere Profession St. Gregory in one of his Epistles following highly taxes the negligence of the French Clergy in not taking care of the Saxons Cenversion and Bede out of Gildas laies it to the charge of the British But in what capacity as to Life and Manners they were in to perform so charitable an office take out of Gildas himself as it is most elegantly translated by Mr. Milton Nothing better were the Clergy but at the same pass or rather worse than when the Saxons came first in unlearned unapprehensive yet impudent subtle Prowlers Pastors in name but indeed Wolves intent upon all occasions not to feed the flock but to pamper and well line themselves not called but seizing on the Ministry as a Trade not as a Spiritual charge teaching the People not by sound Doctrine but by evil Example usurping the Chair of Peter but through the blindness of their own Worldly lusts they stumble upon the Seat of Judas deadly haters of truth broachers of lies looking on the poor Christian with eyes of pride and contempt but sawning on the wickedest Rich men without shame great promoters of other mens Alms with their set exhortations but themselves contributing ever least slightly touching the many vices of the Age but preaching without end their own grievances as done to Christ seeking after preferments and degrees in the Church more than after heaven and so gained make it their whole study how to keep them by any tyranny Yet lest they should be thought things of no use in their eminent places they have their nicities and trivial points to keep in awe the superstitious Multitude But in true saving knowledge leave them still as gross and stupid as themselves bunglers at the Scripture nay forbidding and silencing them that know but in Worldly matters practiced Cunning jhisters in that only art and symony Great Clerks and Masters bearing their heads high but their thoughts object and low He taxes them also as gluttonous incontinent and daily drunkards And what shouldst thou expect from these poor Laity So he goes on These beasts all belly shall these amend thee who are themselves laborious in evil doings shalt thou see with their eyes who see right forward nothing but gain leave them rather as bids our Saviour left ye fall both blindfold into the same perdition Are all thus Perhaps not all or not so grossly But what availed it Eli to be himself blameless while he connived at others that were abominable Who of them hath been envied for his better life who of them hath hated to consort with these or withstood their entring the Ministery or endeavoured zealously their casting out Yet some of these perhaps by others are legended for great Saints This was the state of the Church among the Britains scarce likely to convert others who were so much perverted among themselves but whether or no they were in a condition among so much hostility to preach the Gospel of Peace supposing they had men well-meaning thereunto amongst them in a thing so far distant is not easily determinable Certain it is that the Conqueror with less prejudice receives Religion from any than the persons conquered And this might be the cause that notwithstanding the Christian Faith shone round about yet the intire Conversion of the Saxons is owing to the See of Rome which at that time was possessed by GREGORY afterwards Sirnamed the Great and for his upright behaviour in this and other like occasions worthily Cannoniz'd for a Saint Now the first occasions of this great work and the methods by which it proceeded because it hath been of so high concern to our Nation as which still bears influence among us I shall not stick more particularly to relate out of faithful Historians and Ancient Records yet extant The Original motives which induced Gregory to this great undertaking Venerable Bede thus relates as he received it down by tradition The Report goeth that on a certain day when upon the coming of Merchants lately arrived great store of Wares was brought together into the Market-place at Rome for to be sold and many Chapinen flocked together for to buy Gregory also himself among others came thither and saw with other things Boyes set to sale for Bodies fair and white of Countenance sweet and amiable having the Hair also of their head as lovely and beautiful whom when he wistly beheld he demanded as they say from what Country or Land they
half of Housekeepers But after the Thief is once in the King's Goal he shall not have the liberty of purging himself Of a Thief-slayer He that shall slay a Thief shall make oath he slew him for his Theft only but nevertheless he shall not be exempted from all payment to his friends Of stolen Flesh. He that shall find stolen Flesh and hide it it shall be lawful for him if he so dare to depose by oath it is his own but the Informer shall have his reward Of a Country Boor detected of Theft A Country Boor often arraigned for Theft if he be afterwards convicted shall have his hand or foot cut off Of a King's Villain A King's Villain 's oath is valued to 60 hides of Land and if he be a Housekeeper the estimation of his head is 1200 shillings Of a Forraigner A Forraigner or Stranger if he wander in the Woods and neither make a noise with his mouth or wind a horn as a Thief he is to be judged to death or ransom And if any one demand of the slayer the estimation of the slain party the slayer may by oath make out that he kill'd him as a Thief and then he shall be free from any payment either to the friends of the party or his Lord But if he hide the thing and the fault be afterwards discovered by that conceslment he hath put it in the power of the slain party's friends by oath to acquit the dead from all guilt Of a Villain that committeth Theft If thy Villain steal admonish thy Sureties if thou hast any to make satisfaction if thou hast none thou must thy self make bare restitution and abate him nothing Of a Stranger slain If any one kill a Stranger the King shall have two parts of the estimation of his life and the third his Children or Relations if he hath no Relations the King shall have half and his Companion half In the same manner an Abbot or Abbess if it be their concerns shall divide with the King A Welch man paying yearly scot shall be valued at 120 shillings his Son at an 100 a Servant sometimes 60 sometimes 50 shillings a Welchman shall buy off a whipping for 12 § a Welchman possessing five hydes of Land is to be valued at 600 shillings Of one that hath lost his Freedom If any English man that hath lost his Freedom afterwards steal he shall be hanged on the Gallows and no recompence made to his Lord if any one kill such a man he shall make no recompence on that account to his friend unless he redeem him within a twelve month Of Buyers in the Land If a Buyer buy any thing among the people he shall have witness of it for if any thing stolen shall be found with him that he bought not with sufficient testimony he shall purge himself by oath according to the value of the thing that he neither stole it or was privy to the stealing of it otherwise he shall pay 36 shillings Of an Infant exposed For the breeding up of an Infant exposed the first year shall be given 6 shillings the second year 12 the third year 30 afterwards according to his worth Of the apprehendidg of Thieves He that apprehends a Thief shall have 10 shillings and the King the Thief and his Relations shall give their Oath not to rescue him But if the Thief shall obstinately resist or flie for it he shall be counted guilty of the fact but if he will free himself he may do it according to the proportion of the value of the thing and the greatness of the penalty Of him that hath Children in private He that hath Children in private and concealeth them if they are killed shall not have the value of their heads but it shall go to his Lord or the King Of him that lendeth Weapons He that lendeth a Sword to another man's Servant and he kill himself he shall pay the third part of the value of him if he lend a Spear he shall pay half but if an Horse he shall pay to a penny what the Servant's head was valued at Of him that shall entertain a Runagate If a Boor shall be accused to have given food to a Runaway he shall purge himself of it according to the value of his own head which if he cannot then he shall pay the value of his own and the Fugitive's head Of him that shall buy a Woman If any one buy a Woman and performeth not the bargain he shall give the mony it self and pay as much more and nevertheless suffer such penalties as if he had violated his security Of a Boor that possesseth Land A Welch man that holdeth a whole hyde of Land shall be valued at 120 shillings his head if he hath but half a hyde at 80 if none at all 60. Of a Welch man the King's Querry If a Welch man the King's Querry is able to carry a Message the value of his head shall be 200 shillings Of Man-slaughter If any one shall be present at Man-slaughter he shall purge himself according to the estimation of his own head or the head of him that is slain and if the valuation of his head be 200 shillings he shall pay 50 shillings the same Law shall be to them of the Nobility Of a Robber slain He that killeth a Robber shall depose by oath that he slew him as a thief flying and shall evidence it to his friends by the oaths of men not housekeepers but if he conceal the fact and it be afterwards found out he shall pay the valuation of the dead party If any one be arraigned for other mens goods and shall deny the possession of them by an oath beforehand taken and shall not fear again to swear to it let him give oath according to the greatness of the penalty and the value of the things But if he refuse such an Oath let him suffer the double penalty of perjury Of him that shall suffer a Thief to escape If any one apprehend a Thief or have him in custody and suffer him to escape or conceal his theft he shall pay the price of his head If it be a Noble man he shall lose his Lieutenantship or Shreivalty unless the King pardon him Of a Boor accused If a Boor often accused of theft shall by selling or any other way be discovered his hand or foot shall be cut off Of Children begot in lawful marriage A husband after he hath begotten Children of his wife dying the mother shall have the Children to breed up and six shillings for their maintenance in the summer a Cow and in the winter an Ox but the next of kin shall keep the Firstlings of the Cattel till the Children come to age Of him that shall depart from his Master without leave He that shall depart from his Master without leave and put himself into another Service shall return from whence he fled and pay his Master 60 shillings Of a Boor's field adjoyning
were brought Answer was made that they came out of the Isle of Britain the People whereof were as well-favoured to see unto Then he asked again whether those Islanders were Christians or enshared still with the Errors of Paganisin To which it was answered they were Painims but he fetching a long deep sigh from his very heart root Alas for pity quoth he that the foul Fiend and Father of Darkness should be Lord of so bright and lightsom faces and that they who carried such grace in their Countenances should be void of the inward Grace in their hearts and souls Once again he desired to understand by what name their Nation was known They made answer that they were called Angli And well may they be so named quoth he for Angel-like faces they have and meet it is that such should be fellow-heirs with Angels in Heaven But what is the name of that Province from whence these were brought Answer was made that the Inhabitants of the said Province were called DEIRI Deiri quoth he they are indeed De irâ eruti that is delivered from anger and wrath and called to the mercy of Christ. How call you the King of that Province saith he Answer was made that his name was Aelle Then he alluding to the name said that Allelu-jah should be sung in those Parts to the praise of GOD the Creator Coming therefore to the Bishop of the Roman and Apostolical See for himself as yet was not made Bishop he intreated that some Ministers of the Word should be sent into the English Nation by whose means it might be Converted to Christ and even himself was ready to undertake the performance of this work with the help of God in case it would please the Apostolical Pope that it should be so BENEDICT who then sate in the Chair of Rome readily heard and joyfully embraced so charitable a motion and Gregory encouraged by the leave of that Pope undertakes the Journey himself but he was not gone far but the Roman Citizens who for his holiness of Life and sincerity of Doctrine looked on him as their chiefest stay and comfort by earnest supplications and passionate requests obtained his Revocation who thus put by his so much desired enterprize nevertheless continued his ardent endeavors for this great work of Conversion which he had means to perfect afterwards when for his great Merit he was advanced to a higher capacity of acting For after the death of BONIFACE being chosen his Successor he pitcht upon Augustine for his chief Instrument in this work a Man of whose endowments for such a Ministry he was sufficiently satisfied as having together with an Austere sanctity of life the spirit and courage of an Apostle and whom by preferment he had nearly engaged to himself having made him Provost of his own Monastery at Rome Augustine thus qualified sets on for his Journey but the Monks who were to attend him and over whom he was created Abbot whether by the disswasions of others who represented the danger of their Journey or discouraged by their own Fears draw off from the enterprize and send back Augustine in the name of all to desire Gregory to release them from a Mission which was likely to be not only dangerous but ineffectual as to a Nation fierce and barbarous and a Language they understood not And this is the occasion of the following Epistle wherein Gregory encourages them to proceed in the work of Conversion which I have set down and many others because they shew the unwearied diligence and vigilant care of that great Pastor to remove all Obstacles that might hinder and to improve all Advantages to help on so necessary and charitable an undertaking THE British EPISTLES OF GREGORY the GREAT GREGORY Bishop servant of the Servants of GOD To the Servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. He exhorts those that go from Britain to be terrified with no difficulties whatsoever but bring to perfection what they had happily begun BEcause it is better not to begin good things than after they are begun negligently to give them over it concerns you my Dearest Children with God's assistance to endeavour an accomplishing that Good work which lately you have undertaken neither let the tediousness of your Journey or the tongues of Evil men any waies affright you but with all vehemency and zeal put an end to those things God being your guide which you have already begun knowing that the greatness of your Labours shall be attended with eternal glory In all things humbly obey Augustine your Governour at his return whom we have made Abbot over you knowing how abundantly it will profit your own Souls If any thing shall be compleated by you according to his advice Almighty GOD protect you with his Grace and grant that I may see the fruits of our labour in an Eternal Country And although I cannot labour with you yet I hope I shall be rewarded together with you because I am willing to labour * God have you safe in his keeping my Beloved Children Given the tenth of the Kalends of August our Lord Mauritius Tiberius Augustus being Emperour in the fourteenth year after the Consulship of the said Lord the thirteenth year Indiction the fourteenth i. e. in the year of our Lord 596. Observations upon this Epistle Those things in the preceding Epistle which follow this mark * I find not in the old Gregorian Register but are annexed here by us according to the Copy of that Epistle in Bedes Eccl. Hist. lib. 1. cap. 23. The Author of the Register hath every where omitted the Inscription of these Dates to the great damage and injury of the Curious Searchers of Antiquity In Bede there follows another Epistle of Gregory the Great not found in the Register The Reverend Pope sent Letters saies he by the same Persons meaning Augustine and his Companions to Etherius Archbishop of Arles that he would courtcously entertain Augustine going for Britain of which this is the stile GREGORY servant of the Servants of GOD To our most Reverend and Holy Brother and fellow Bishop Etherius That he would courteously receive Augustine and his Companions ALthough Priests having Charity pleasing to God need not the commendation of any other Religious person yet because time hath fitly presented it self we have taken care to send our Letters to your Brotherhood signifying that we have sent thither Augustine the servant of God and Bearer of these Presents with other servants of God for the benefit of Souls whom 't is very necessary your Holiness should readily assist with a Sacerdotal care and speedily afford him what comforts you can and that you may the willinglier favour him we have enjoyned him particularly to declare the cause of his Journey hoping that that being known you would for God's sake seriously endeavour the business requiring it their benefit and welfare Gregory the Great To Candidus the Priest going to the Patrimony of Gaul To whose care he commends the Patrimony