seuenth booke and third chapter Bracton that liued in the time of King Henrie the third in his seconde booke De acquirendo rerum dominio And Bretton that wrate vnder King Edward the first and by his commaundement haue all expresse mention of landes partible amongst the males by vsage of the place and some of them recite the very name of Gauelkind it selfe But most plainely of all an auncient treatise receiued by tradition from the hands of our elders wherof I my self haue one exemplar written out as I suppose in the time of King Edwarde the firste agréeing with the dayly practise of these customes proueth the continuance of them to stande with good lawe and liking And therefore forbearing as néedlesse further testimonie in that behalfe I will descende to the disclosing of the customes them selues not numbring them by order as they lye in that treatise but drawing them foorth as they shall concerne eyther the lande it selfe or the persons that I will orderly speake of that is to say particularly the Lorde and the Tenant The husband and the wife The child and the gardien and so after addition of a fewe other things incident to this purpose I will drawe to an end As touching the land it self in which these customes haue place it is to be vnderstanded that all the landes within this Shyre which be of ancient Socage tenure be also of the nature of Gauelkind For as for the lands holden by auncient tenure of Knights seruice they be at the common lawe are not departible after the order of this custome except certeine which being holden of olde time by Knightes seruice of the Archebishop of Canterbury are neuerthelesse departible as it may appeare by an opinion of the Iudges in the Kings benche .26 H. 8. fol. 4. And that grewe by reason of a graunt made by King Iohn to Hubert the Archebishop the tenor wherof being exemplified out of an auncient roll remayning in the handes of the Reuerende father Mathewe the Archebishop nowe liuing hereafter followeth Ioannes dei gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae Dux Normaniae Aquitaniae comes Andegauen Archiepiscopis Episcopis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Iusticiarijs Vicecomitibus Praepositis ministris omnibus Balliuis fidelibus suis Salutem Sciatis nos concessisse praesenti charta nostra confirmasse venerabili patri nostro ac Chro. Huberto Cantuar. Archiepiscopo successoribus suis in perpetuum quòd liceat eis terras quas homines de feodo Ecclesiae Cantua tenent in Gauelkind conuertere in feoda militū Et quod idem Episcop successores sui eandē in ōnibus potestatē libertatē habeant in perpetuū in homines illos qui terras easdem ita in feodo militum conuersas tenebunt in haeredes eorum quā ipse Archiepiscopus habet successores sui post eum habebunt in alios milites de feodo Ecclesiae Cantuar. in haeredes Et homines illi haeredes eorum eandem omnem libertaetem habeant in perpetuum quam alij milites de feodo Ecclesiae Cantuar. haeredes eorum habent Ita tamen quod nihilominus consuetus redditus denariorum reddatur integre de terris suis sicut prius xenia aueragia alia opera quae fiebāt de terris ijsdem conuertantur in redditum denariorum aequiualentem Et redditus ille reddatur sicut alius redditus denariorum Quare volumus firmiter praecipimus quod quicquid praedictus Archiepiscopus successores sui post eum de terris illis in feodo militum secundum praescriptam formam conuertendis fecerint ratum in perpetuum stabile permaneat Et prohibemus ne quis contrafactum ipsius Archiepiscopi vel successorum suorum in hac parte venire praesumat Teste E. Eliense S. Bathon Episcopis G. filio Petri comite Essex Willmo Marescallo comite de Penbroc Roberto de Harocort Garino filio Geraldi Petro de Stoke Ric. de Reuerus Roberto de Tateshal Datum per manum S. Archid. Willielmi apud Rupem auriual 4. die Maij Anno regni nostri tertio But nowe for as muche as it is disputable whether this Chartre of the King be of sufficient vertue to chaunge the nature of the Gauelkynd lande or no and for that the certaintie of the landes so conuerted into Knight fee dothe not any where that I haue séene appeare saue onely that in the booke of Aide leuied in this Shire Anno. 20. E. 3. it is foure or fiue times noted that certeine landes there be holden in Knights seruice Per nouam licentiam Archiepiscopi I will leaue this and procéede to proue that all the landes of auncient tenure in Knights seruice be subiect to the ordinarie course of discent at the common lawe And that may I as me thinketh sufficiently doe both by the expresse wordes of a note 9. H. 3. in the title of Praescription 63. in Fitzherbert by the resolution of the same Fitzherbert and Norwiche Iustices 26. H. 8. 5. And by plaine recitall in the acte of Parleament made 31. H. 8. Ca. 3. by whiche statute the possessions of certeine Gentlemen there named were deliuered from this customarie discent and incorporated to the common lawe For amongst other things in that acte it is sayde That from thencefoorth such their lands shal be changed from the said custome and shall descend as lands at the common lawe and as other lands being in the said coūtie of Kent which neuer were holden by seruice of Socage but always haue bene holden by Knightes seruice doe descend By whiche wordes it is very euident that the makers of that estatute vnderstoode all landes holden by Knightes seruice to be of their proper nature descendable after the common lawe and that Socage tenure was the only subiect in whiche this our custome of Gauelkynd discent preuailed and helde place But when I thus speake of Socage and Knights fee I must alwayes be vnderstanded to meane of a tenure long since and of auncient time continued and not now newly or lately created for so it may fall out otherwise then is already reported As for example If land aunciently holden by Knights seruice come to the Princes hande who afterwarde giueth the same out againe to a common person to be holden of his Manor of Eastgrenewiche in Socage I suppose that this land notwithstanding the alteratiō of the tenure remaineth descendable to the eldest sonne only as it was before As also in like sorte if landes of auncient Socage seruice come to the crowne and be deliuered out againe to be holden eyther of the Prince in Capite or by Knightes seruice of any Manor I thinke it ought to descende according to the custome notwithstanding that the tenure be altered And if this be true in the graunt of the King him selfe then much lesse sauing the reuerēce due to king Iohns Chartre may the Archebishop by a newe creation of tenure make
finde in a Recorde that Thomas Arundell an other Bishop of the same Sée foūded a Chaunterie at Maidston which whether it be the same that was sometime called the house of the Brothers and but lately conuerted by the Townesmen into a Frée schoole or no I will not boldely affirme but I thinke it rather so then otherwise Of the Bridge I finde no beginning but I suspect that it rose by the Archebishops whiche were not onely owners of the Palaice hard by as you sée but Lords and Patrones of the whole Towne and Church also And thus muche onely of the Town as touching the Riuer of Medwey it séemeth to haue beene so named either because it stood in the midle of the Kentish Kingdome or els for that it ranne midde betwéene the two Bishopricks For the woord Midƿeg signifieth nothing els but the Midway as Middeg dothe noone or Midday onlesse happely some man would rather haue it called Medpoeg bicause of the meddowe that it maketh all along the course of the same This Riuer is increased by the foure principall Brookes that runne into it whereof to beginne at the West the first springeth about Crowherst in Surrey not farre from the head of Darent it falleth to Eton-bridge and taking in the way Heuer Penshreste and Tunbridge ioyneth with the second at Yealding The second ariseth at Blackbrooks in Waterdown forest not fully a mile from Eredge the Lord Aburgennies house and commeth to Beyham to Lamberhirst streete and to a place in Scotney ground called litle Sussex where it méeteth with a small brooke called Beaul that springeth at Tishirst thrée miles of and giueth the name to Beauldbridge from whence they ioyne in iourney to Horsmondon and Merden and there mingling with the third they runne altogether to Yalding The third Brooke taketh beginning aboute Greate Charte and descendeth to Hedcorne Stilebridge and Merden The fourthe and last breaketh out of the ground at Lineham washeth the Castle of Ledes a litle from whence it receaueth the small water of Holingburne in a companie of the same passeth toward Maidstone At whiche place as I thinke the name of Medwey first beginneth the rather bycause it hathe there receaued all his helpes and crossing the Shyre as it were in the midst laboureth from thence in one entier Chanel to finde out the Sea. For otherwise the Riuer it selfe is properly called Egle or Eyle of whiche bothe the Towne of Ailesford and the Castle of Alington or rather Eylington doe take their names If I faile in this deriuation the fault for the firste part is his that made the Chart of this Shyre then the follie is mine that followe him but the trueth notwithstanding is easily to be found out by any man that wil make inuestigation and examine it and our trespasse also herein more veniall for that we go not about to shadowe it Piccendene Hothe commonly but aunciently written Pinenden of Pinian to punishe and so it soundeth the place of Execution or punishment RObert the Duke of Normandie had issue by a Concubine whose name as the Annales of S. Augustine reporte was Harlothe and after whom as I coniecture suche incontinent women haue euer since béen called Harlots thrée Sonnes that is to say William that afterward subdued this Realm Robert that was created Earle of Moretone and Odo that was first consecrated Bishop of Baieux then Earle of Kent and lastly Lieutenaunt or Vicegerent of this whole Realme vnder William his Brother Robert was reputed a man of small courage wisedome and learning and therefore passed his time in gloriously But Odo was found to be of nature so busie gréedie and ambitious that he moued many Tragedies within this Realme and was in the end throwen from the Stage and driuen into Normandie as hereafter in fitte place shal be more amply declared In the meane while for this present place and purpose I finde that during his aboade in Kent he had so incroched vpon the landes and Priuileges of the Archebishopricke of Canterbury and Bishopricke of Rochester that Lanfranc being promoted to that Sée of dignitie and finding the want complained to the King and obteined that with his good pleasure they might make triall of their right with him To the which end also the same King gaue commission to Goisfrid then Bishop of Constance in Normandie to represent his owne person for hearing of the controuersie caused Egelric the Bishop of Chichester an aged man singularly commended for skill in the Lawes and Customes of the Realme to be brought thether in a Wagon for his assistance in Counsell commaunded Haymo the Sheriffe of Kent to summon the whole Countie to giue in euidence and charged Odo his brother to be present at suche time and place as should be notified vnto him Pinnendene Heathe lying almost in the midst of the Shyre and therefore very indifferent for the assembly of the whole Countie was the appointed place and therevnto not onely the whole number of the moste expert men of this Shyre but of sundrie other Countries also came in great frequencie and spent thrée whole dayes in debate of these Bishops controuersies concluding in the end that Lanfranc and the Bishop of Rochester should be restored to the possession of Detling Stoce Preston Danitune and sundry other landes that Odo had withholden And that neyther the Earle of Kent nor the King him selfe had right to claime any thing in any the lands of the Archebishop sauing only these thrée customes whiche concerne the Kings highe waies that leade from one citie to an other that is to say That if any of the Archebishops tenaunts should digge in suche a highe way or fell a trée crosse the same to the hinderaunce of common passage and be taken with the manner or conuinced thereof by Lawe hee should make amendes to the King therefore And likewise when hee did committe bloudsheade manslaughter or any other criminall offence in suche were deprehended doing the fault that the amēds therof belonged to the King also but in this latter case if he were not taken with the manner but departed without pledge taken of him that then the trial and the amends perteined to the Archebishop him self and that the King had not to medle therewith On the otherside also they agréed that the Archebishop had many Priuileges throughout all the Landes of the King and of the Earle as namely the amerciament of bloudshed from suche time as they ceasse to say Alleluia in the Churche seruice till the Octaues of Easter the whiche howe long it is let them sée whiche can turne the Pie and the Portuse and at the least the one half of euerie amerciamēt due for the vnlawfull begetting of children commonly called CySƿite whiche last thing I do the rather note to the end that it may appeare that in those dayes the Bishops had not wholy gotten into their hands the correction of adulterie and fornication whiche of latter times
in setting vp of sumptuous housinge so he spared no coste in garnishing Greenewiche til he had made it a pleasant perfect and Princely Palaice Marie his eldest daughter and after Quéene of the realme was borne in this house Queene Elizabeth his other daughter our most gratious gladsom Gouernour was likewise borne in this house And his deare sonne King Edward a myracle of Princely towardnesse ended his lyfe in the same house One accident more touching this house and then an ende It hapened in the reigne of Queene Marie that the Master of a Ship passing by whilest the court lay there and meaning as the manner aad dutie is with saile and shot to honour the Princes presence vnaduisedly gaue fyre to a peice charged with a pellet in sted of a tampion the which lighting on the Palaice wallranne through one of the priuie lodginges and did no further harme ¶ Blackheathe ADioyninge to Greenewiche lyethe the plaine called of the colour of the soyle Blackheathe the which besides the burthen of the Danishe Camps whereof we spake euen now hath borne thrée seueral rebellious assemblies One in the time of Kinge Richard the second moued as it shal appeare anon in Dartford by Iack Straw whom William Walworth then Mayor of London slowe with his Dagger in Smithfielde in memorie whereof the Citie had geuen them for increase of honour a Dagger to be borne in their shield of armes Iack Cade that counterfeit Mortimer and his fellowes were leaders of the second who passing from hence to London did to death the Lord Say and others in the time of King Henrie the Sixt. These two besides other harmes that vsually accompanie the mutinic and vprore of the common and rascal sort defaced fouly the Records and monuments both of the law and Armourie The parts of Rolles remayning yet halfe brent doo witnesse the one And the Heraldes vnskill comming through the want of their olde Bookes is sufficient testimonie of the other The third insurrection was assembled by Michael Ioseph the black Smith and the Lorde Audley vnder the reigne of Kinge Henrie the Seuenth at whiche time they and their complices receaued their iust deserte the common number of them being slaine and discomfited and the leaders themselues taken drawne and hanged Of this last there remaineth yet to be séene vpon the Heathe the places of the Smithes Tente called commonly his forge And of all thrée the graue hilles of suche as were buried after the ouerthrowe These hillockes in the West Countrie where is no smal store of the like are called Barowes of the olde Englishe word BurgHer whiche signifieth Sepulchres or places of burying which word being a spring of that olde stocke we doe yet reteine aliue The first and last of these commotions were stirred of a griefe that the common people conceaued for the demaund of two subsidies of whiche the one was vnreasonable bycause it was taxed vpon the Polls and exempted none were he neuer so poore The other was vnseasonable for that it was exacted when the heades of the common people were full of Parkin Warber The third and midlemoste grewe vpon a grudge that the people tooke for yeelding vp the Duchie of Angâ—ow and Maynie to the King of Sicil The comming in of whose daughter after that the King would néedes haue her to wife notwithstanding his precontract made with the Earle of Armenac was not so ioyfully embraced by the Citizens of London vpon Blackheathe wearing their red Hoodes Badges and blewe gownes as in sequele the Marriage and whole gouernment it self was knowne to be detested of the countrie Commons by bearing in the same place Harnesse Bowes Billes and other Weapon But bicause I cannot without paine and pitie enter into the consideration of these times and matters I will discourse no farther thereof but crosse ouer the next way to Lesnes and prosequute the rest of the bounds of this Bishopricke Lesnes mistaken as I thinke for LesÆ¿es Leswes whiche signifiethe Pastures I Could easily haue beléeued that the name Lesnes had béen deriued out of the Frenche and that it had béen first imposed at the foundation of the Abbay saying that I finde the place registred in the Booke of Domesday by the very same and none other calling And therfore I am the rather led to thinke that the name is Saxon and there miswritten as many other be by reason that the Normans were the penners of that booke Lesnes for Leswes the word whiche in the Saxon tongue signifieth Pastures and is not as yet vtterly forgotten forasmuche as till this day Pastures be called Lesewes in many places This is my fantasie touching the name wherein if I fayle it forceth not greatly since the matter is no more weightie Concerning the Hystorie of the place only I finde that Richard Lucy a priuie Counselour of the State and chiefe Iustice of the Realme in the time of King Henrie the second founded an Abbay there the temporalties wherof amounted as I finde to seuen poundes sixe Shillings and eight pence But as for the extent of the whole yearely value I haue not learned it Earethe in some olde euidences Eard deriued as I gesse of Aerre Hyðe that is the olde Hauen FOr plaine example that oure Elders before the conquest had their trialles for title of land and other controuersies in each shire before a Iudge then called Alderman or Shyreman of whom there is very frequent mention in the Lawes of our auncestours the Saxons the whiche some yeares since were collected and published in one volume and for assured proofe also that in those dayes they vsed to procéede in suche causes by the oathes of many persons testifying their opinion of his credit that was the first swearer or partie after the manner of our daily experience as in the oath yet in vre and called commonly Wager of Lawe is to be séene I haue made choice of one Hystorie conteining briefly the narration of a thing done at this place by Dunstanc the Archbishop of Canterbury almost a hundreth yeares before the comming of King William the Conquerour A rich man saith the text of Rochester being owner of Cray Earithe Ainesford and Woldham and hauing none issue of his body deuised the same lands by his last wil made in the presence of Dunstane and others to a kinswoman of his owne for life the Remainder of the one halfe thereof after her death to Christes Church at Canterbury and of the other halfe to Saint Androwes of Rochester for euer he died and his wife toke one Leofsun to husband who ouerliuing her reteined the Land as his owne notwithstanding that by the fourme of the deuise his interest was determined by the deathe of his wife Herevpon complaint came to one Wulsie for that time the Scyreman or Iudge of the Countie as the same booke interpreteth it before whome bothe Dunstane the Archebishop the parties them selues sundrie other Bishops and a great multitude of the Lay people
the thinges that I had to remember in Eltham And to make an end of all these be the places whereof I ment to make note in this my Xenagogie and perambulation of Kent the first and only Shyre that I haue described wherin although I haue not spoken of sundrie Towns not inferiour at this present in estimation to a greate many that I haue handled and happely equall with them in antiquitie also yet I think I haue neither pretermitted many that be much worthie of obseruation nor scarcely omitted any that be mentioned in such bookes of Hystorie as be easily to be had and obteined but as for the Feodaries and Tenures of land Genealogies Armes of men Ebbes Floudes Tides of the Sea and Riuers Flattes Barres Hauens such other things although somewhat might haue béen seuerally said concerning eache of them yet haue I wittingly and without touche lept ouer them all Partly for the incertentie partly that I scatter not any séede of dissention and enuie and partely least whilste by disclosing secretes I labour to serue the curiositie of some fewe I either offend many of the sadder sort or deserue euill of the whole estate Nowe therfore I will deliuer you and rest me wishing that some other man of greater profite in reading deapth in iudgement and dexteritie in penning would take in hand to amend the description of this and to adde the residue For as I at the first assayd it to proue my self to prouoke some and to pleasure and profite others So hauing nowe atchieued it according to my slender skill if any man shall like to take this my base metall drawne out of a fewe Sowze into many Sheetes as you sée shall hammar it to some further and finer fashion I wil not only not enuie it but most hartely thanke him and gratulate to our Countrie that so good a tourne benefite And as touching the description of the rest of the Realme knowing by the dealing in this one that it wil be harde for any one man and muche more for my selfe to accomplishe all I can but wishe in like sorte that some one in eache Shyre would make the enterprise for his owne Countrie to the end that by ioyning our pennes and conferring our labours as it were Ex symbolo wée may at the last by the vnion of many parts and papers compact a whole and perfect bodie and Booke of our English antiquities The Customes of Kent ALthough good order would haue borne the rehersall of the Auncient Customes of this Shyre in that generall discourse whiche we had in the beginning as touching the estate of this whole Countie the rather for that it was there shewed by what meanes and policie they were conserued yet least the recitall of the same being of themselues large and manyfolde might haue béene thought too great a Parenthesis or rather an interruption of the Hystorie wherein we were as then but newly entred I thought it better to reserue them for this place to the end that bothe the one and the other might appeare without breache or confusion These Customes therefore being for the most part discrepant from the common lawes of our Realme and annexed to suche landes within this Shyre as beare the name of Gauelkinde are commonly called Gauelkinde Customes for that they preuaile and haue place in landes of Gauelkinde nature In whiche respect it shall not be amisse to shewe for what reason those landes were at the first so termed and why they do yet hitherto continue the name Two coniectures I haue of the reason of this name the one grounded vpon the nature of the discent and inheritance of these landes themselues the other founded vpon the manner of the duetie and seruices that they yeald bothe whiche I will not sticke to recite and yet leaue to eache man frée choice to receaue either or to refuse bothe as it shall best lyke him I gather by Cornelius Tacitus and others that the auncient Germans whose ofspring we be suffred their landes to descend not to the Eldest Sonne alone but to the whole number of their male Children I finde in the 75. Chap. of Canutus law a King of this Realme before the Conquest that after the death of the father his heires shoulde diuide bothe his goods and his landes amongst them Nowe for as muche as all the nexte of the kinred did this inherite together I coniecture that therfore the land was called eyther Gauelkyn in meaning Giueall kyn bycause it was giuen to all the nexte in one line of kinred or Giue all kynd that is to all the male children for kynd in Dutche signifieth yet a male childe Besides this the Welshmen also who but now lately lost this custome doe in their language call this discent Gwele and in their Latine Recordes Lectus progenies gauella of their owne worde Gefeilled whiche signifieth Twyns or suche as be borne together bicause they doe all inherite together and make as it were but one heire and not many And here by the way I cannot omit to shew that they of this our Kentish cuntrey do yet cal their partition of land shifting euen by the very same worde that the lawe of Canutus many yeares since termed it namely Scyftan in Latine Herciscere that is to shift depart or diuide lande My other coniecture is raysed vpon the consideration of the rent and seruices going out of these landes for it is wel knowne that as Knights seruice lande required the presence of the tenant in warfare and battaile abroad So this lande being of Socage tenure cōmaunded his attendance at the ploughe and other the Lordes affaires of husbandry at home the one by manhoode defending his Lords life and person the other by industrie mainteining with rent corne and victuall his estate and familie This rent and customarie payment of works the Saxons called gafol and therof as I think they named the lande that yealded it gafolette or gafolcynd that is to saye lande Letten for rent or of the kinde to yealde rent In this sense I am sure that the rents customes and seruices whiche the tenantes of London pay to their land lords were wont and yet are to be recouered by a writ thereof called Gauellet as by an auncient statute made in the tenthe yeare of King Edward the second intituled Statutum de Gaueleto in London and by dayly experience there it may well appeare Thus much then as concerning the Etymon of this word Gauelkind being said let vs procéed further It hath already appeared how the Kentishmen immediatly after the Conquest obteined the continuation of their customes and it is very manyfest by auncient writers that the same for the more part haue bene in vre and exercise euer since For omitting that which Thomas Spot hath written concerning the same matter for as much as it is already recited at large Glanuile a learned man that flourished in the reigne of king Henrie the second in his
for her endowment and the other to her departed husbande to be bestowed by his executors if he made a testament or by the discrâ—tion of the ordinarie if he died intestate The selfe same order is at this day obserued in the Citie of London and the same in effect was long since vsed throughout the whole Realme For it is euident bothe by the lawe of King Canutus before remembred by Maister Glanuille in his booke Ca. 18. and by the wordes of Magna Carta that the wyfe and Children had their reasonable partes of the goods by the common lawe of the Realme howsoeuer it came to passe at the length that it was admitted for law but in such Countries only where it was continued by daily vsage as it is holden 17. E. 2. and in many other bookes that al the writs in the Register De rationabili parte bonorum Haue mention of the speciall Custome of the Shyre in whiche the part is demaunded But as in déede at this day partition of Chattels is not vsed though in the meane time it hathe not lost the force of common lawe as many thinke through out the whole Realme so is it so far as I can learne vanished quite out of all vre within this Countrie also And therfore séeing the Gardein is deliuered of this charge we also wil leaue to speake further of the goods and come to the partition and custodie of the land of this Infant If a man die seised of landes in Gauelkinde of any estate of inheritance al his Sonnes shal haue equal portioÌ„ if he haue no Sonnes then ought it equally to be diuided amongst his daughters But yet so that the eldest Sonne or Daughter hath by the Custome a preeminence of election and the youngest Sonne or Daughter a preferment in the partition For as of auncient time there ought to be graunted to the eldest the firste choice after the diuision so to the parte of the youngest there ought to be allotted in the diuision that peice of the Mesuage whiche our treatise calleth Astre By whiche word is ment as I coniecture for otherwise I haue not learned either the Hall or chiefe roome of the house either els the well for water or the Southe side of the building For Astre being sounded without s may come of the Latine woord Atrium whiche signifieth a Hall or of Haustrum whiche betokeneth the Bucket of a well or of Austrum the Southe side euery of whiche haue their particular commodities aboue the rest of the house or tenement Or otherwyse if that shal like any man better being sounded with s it may be deduced from the Frenche word Asistre by contraction Astre whiche is as much as a site or situation and with the Article le before it Lestre a Churcheyard or Court about a house But whatsoeuer the woord meane I will not longer labour in it seing that at this day there is no suche regarde made in the partition but only consideration had that the partes them selues be equall and indifferent Now therfore if the Childe be vnder the age of 15. yeres the next Cousin to whoÌ„ the inheritance may not descend shal haue the education order of his body landes vntil suche time as he shall attaine to that age euen as the Gardein in socage at the common law shall kéepe his vntill the warde aspire to fouretéene And in all other things also this customarie Gardein is to be charged and to haue allowance in suche sorte and none other then as the Gardein in socage at the common law is Saue only as it is partly remembred already that he is bothe chargeable to the Heire in accompt for his receipt subiect also to the distresse of the Lord for the same cause Yet doe I not heare that the Lordes take vpon them at this day to committe the custodie of these Infants but that they leaue it altogether to the order of the next of the Kinne the rather belike for that they them selues if they intermedle stande chargeable in default of the abilitie of suche as happely they might credit therewithall So that vpon the whole matter the addes consisteth only in this that Gardein in Socage at the common Lawe shall keepe the land till the Infant be fourtéene yeares of age and Gardein by this custome till he haue attained fully fiftéene whiche diuersitie ariseth not without great reason For whereas the Infant in Socage at the common law cannot make alienation of his land vntill he haue reached to the full age of 21. yeares although he be long before that frée from all wardship The Infant in Socage by this Custome may giue and sell his land so sone as he is crept out of this Custodie And therefore it was expedient at the leaste to adde one yeare to the common Lawe before he should be of power to depart with his inheritance whiche otherwise being vnaduisedly made away might worke his owne impouerishment and ouerthrowe And truly it séemeth to me that the Custome it selfe hath a watchefull eye vpon the same matter in so much as it licenceth him at fiftéene yeares Not to giue his Land for that he might doe for nothing But to giue and sell his Land whiche it meaneth he should not doe without sufficient recompence Suche like interpretation the common Lawe also séemeth to make of this custome both by the opinion of Vauasor 5. H. 7. who said the it was adiudged that a release made by such an Infant was voide by the sentence of the Booke 21. E. 4. 24. where it was said that an infant cannot declare his will vpon such a Feoffment and by the iudgement of Hank 11. H. 4. who also helde that a warrantie or graunt of a reuersion made at suche age was to no purpose at all althoughe a lease with release might happely be good by the Custome bicause that amounteth to a Feoffment And in my simple iudgement it is not fit that this Custome should be construed by equitie for as muche as it standeth not with any equitie to enable an infant of litle discretion and lesse experience to sell his land and not to prouide withal that he should haue Quid pro quo and some reasonable recompence for the same for that were not to defend the Pupill and Fatherles but to lay him wyde open to euery slye deceipt and circumuention In whiche respect I cannot but very well like of their opinion who holde that if an Infant in Gauelkinde at this day will sell at xv yeares of age these thrée things ought of necessitie to concurre if he will haue the sale good and effectuall The firste that he be an heire and not a Purchasour of the land that he departeth withall The second that he haue recompeÌ„ce for it and the third that he do it with liuerie of seison by his owne hand and not by warrant of Attourney nor by any other manner of assurance And these men for proofe
of good reward singular commendation for it You the motioners in the reading shall receiue great pleasure by it the rest of the GentlemeÌ„ of this Realme that of themselfes see what things in their awne couÌ„tries are of gretest fame now by that boke shal know what those things and other things were long agone must needes with great delight receiue it and surely being as he is vnto mee a very deere freende for myne awne parte J meane also God willing vpon some fit occasion with my request to further it The xvj of Aprill 1576. Your Countrey man and very louing friende J W ¶ GVLIELMVS FLETEwodus Vrbis Londinensis Recordator ad candidum Lectorem EN tibi Lector adest series dignissima reruÌ„ Canticolûm si nôsse cupis pia stemmata siue Si tibi sacra placent horum coÌ„mixta prophanis Siue meare libet per compita flumina pontes Seu reserare velis septem diademata regum Cuncta Topographia hac LaÌ„bardus pingit apertè Jngenio rarus grauis arte labore notandus Cuius mellifluo debet nunc Cantia libro Plurima myriades rerum dum ventilat aptè Quas benè si capias habet hic cuÌ„ foenore sorteÌ„ The Saxon Characters and their values Characters values a a b b c c d d e e f f g g h h i i k k l l m m n n o o p p q q r r s s s s t t u u Æ¿ w x x y y z z The abbreuiations Their values and ê§ that ð th þ th à th g ge The pointes Comma which is marked after the common periode thus Periode whiche is here signed as the Greeke interrogatiue thus SVndry faultes gentle Reader haue we vnwillingly coÌ„mitted in this Booke imprinted in the absence of the Authour Of these some do blemish only the beautie of our owne workmanship others do offend against the lawes of Orthographie Some doe shrewdly peruert the sense of the writer and will stay thee others doe vtterly euert his meaning and will muche trouble thee Suche therefore as be most daungerous we haue here set before thine eye beseeching thee to amende them with thine owne pen before thou enter into the Booke The whiche labour we doubt not but thou wilt the more willingly vndertake in this one copie when thou shalt haue rightly weighed what a worke it woulde be for vs to perfourme it in sixe hundreth bookes Pag Lin. Error Correction 2 4 Sctos Scots 7 3 Zenagogus Xenagogus 48 6 bropam Broxam  29 Haniswel Hamswell   Southfrith for Southfrith forest 54  adde Wye to the Scholes there    Richard Agall Richard Argall 56 17 Syr Humfrey Iilbert S. Humfrey Gilbert   adde Iohn French to the names in F. there  57  William Lambade William Lambarde 58  adde S. Walt. Waller to the names in W.  60 27 in Latine into Latine 64 29 Kenulfus Kenulfus   Amend the nuÌ„bers of the. 2. pages folowing nexte after the page 67.  76 1 take out this Malm. Couent  77 13 partly for the. partly by the. 78 5 Æ¿aenEt þaenEt  22 Æ¿aenEt þaenEt 84 20 Leoswine Leoswine 103 27 Symon Barley Symon Burley 108 1 then were appoin that were appointed 109 18 Aulaf Anlaf 110 15 Syphinus Syphnius 112 34 whiche drewe withdrewe 119 1 Dorus. Doris 121 16 kept till keepe till  32 a Captaine a Captiue 122 20 and speede and sped 123 20 Borieux Baieux 124 8 Borieux Baieux 126 5 tenure terrour  28 contained continued 128 32 a newe worke the newe worke 130 2 port sayle portsale  3 crowne landes Crownelandes 131 18 strengthened straightned 135 27 a litle a title 136 12 you knowe of you knowe out of  34 to edifie to deifie 137 22 shriued shryned 142 15 had at Rumney did at Rumney  21 vpon theÌ„ to the laste man. vpon them and slue them to the last maÌ„ 143 16 Badhenham Hadhenham 147 3 to the wood into the wood  13 in a place stronger stronger in a place 150 32 had receiued her had recouered her 155 2 then order then ordered 156 19 Borieux Baieux 159 17 vsed in haue vsed in   After the page 160. amende the numbers of the next eight pages following  161 3 to the very end to the very same end 162 9 landed in Pontein landed in Pontieu  10 angeon poieton angeou poietou  24 and conuerture and couerture 163 15 eight carnes eight Carews 166 18 procured the Pope procured of the Pope 167 18 conteined foure contented foure 169 8 in weald in the weald 174 34 pronounce it of pronounce of 177 10 and in a companie and in the company 178 3 Augustine Augustines 180 15 cydÆ¿itE cyldÆ¿itE 181 10 possession profession 182 29 take out these foure words as it is sure  187 25 if you offer if you offered 190 11 Kemsley towne Kemsley downe 191 18 harted in his harted to his 192 7 preachment after in which after 193 11 exercerentur exercentur 195 2 þƿangcEastsE þƿangcEastrE  15 Thongraster or Thwangraster Thongcaster or Thwangcaster 209 29 the very first their very first   After the page 211. amende the numbers of the two next pages following  214 10 not greatly not greedely 219 8 Kings reward Kings awarde 220 13 on the otherside they on the other side 222 13 church adioyning churches adioyning 228 18 chart of donation charter of donation 229 8 the iustice of the iniustice of 233 31 hath nowe susteined hath susteined 236 6 dissolued the. dissolued there  13 and like the. and let the. 241 22 Claredowne Clarendune 243 19 writeth it twyteth it 244 26 not their manner not the manner 247 6 was giuen then was giuen them 251  in the margine S. Sepulchres S. Stephans 252 29 to maugre his myter race maugre his myter to race 261 26 gotten by patterne gotten by periurie 262 34 with might with night 264 18 sufficiently defended sufficiently defenced 270 5 and yet loste and yet lefte 271 13 recitall of the recitall of  22 Gibmandus Gibmundus 272 2 Alstanns Aelsstanus  15 Gualeramus Gualerannus 273 1 and there it is and there is 276 28 Cadishe Achates 279 16 tythed the number tythed that number 282 25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  33 displeasure receiued displeasure coÌ„ceiued 283 4 pountion pountion  12 pountion pountion 289 2 againe the Britons against the Britons  6 stede of Horse stede of Horsa   In the margine of the page Horstede borne in Horstede barne nere 295 23 lesse worthy lesse worth 296 19 Borieux Baieux 297 13 strengthened straightened 299 29 accomplement accouplement 304 8. 9 debet sull debet 3. sull  15 de Althe de Athle  24 Nedestane Medestane  27 Heyburne Heyhorne 313 19 and. 2. Ric. 2. 316 26 wearinesse warinesse 317 11 as is in as he is in 318 16 put our seales put to our seales 325 12 that number
Kingdome was for a season diuided into twayne that is to say Deira and Bernicia but for as muche as neyther that diuision endured long nor the actes of their Kings were greatly famous I wyll not staye vpon them But to the end it may appeare by what lawes and customes these Kingdomes weare guided for of them also wee must make mention in this historie I will procéede to set foorth the rest of the vse of this chard of the English Heptarchie As eche Countrie therefore hath his propre lawes customes and manners of lyfe so no man ought to doubt but that these peoples being aggregated of so many sundrye Nations had their seuerall rules orders and institutes Howbeit amongst the rest those be moste famous whiche our auncient writers call the Dane law West-Saxon law and Merchen law The first of whiche was brought in by the Danes The second was vsed amongst the west Saxons and the last was exercised in the kingdome of Mercia and yet not so exercised amongst them selues alone but that they spred ouer some partes of the rest of the lande also being eyther embraced for their equitie aboue the rest or cōmaunded by suche the Kings as preuailed aboue others To the Westsaxons law therfore al suche were subiect as inhabited the Kingdomes of Kent Sussex or Westsex The Eastsaxons Estangles and they of the kingdome of Northūberland al whiche were muche mingled with the Danes lyued vnder the Danes lawe They of Mercia had their owne law but not throwout for after some mens opinions the East and Northeparts of it liued after the law of the Danes also Al these lawes King William the Conquerour collected togeather and after a discréet view had by aduice of his counsel allowed some altered others and quite abrogated a great many in place of whiche he established the lawes of Normandie his owne countrey ¶ The description and hystorie of the Shyre of Kent HAuing thus before hand exhibited in generalitie the names scituation and compasse of the Realme the number of the sondrye Nations inhabiting within the same the seuerall lawes languages rites and maners of the peoples the conuersion of the countrie to christianitie the diuisions and lymites of the Kingdomes the beginnings and alterations of Bishoprickes and such other things incident to the whole Order now requireth that I shew in perticular the boundes of eche Shyre and Countie the seuerall Regiments Bishops Sées Lasts Hundrethes Fraunchises Liberties Cities Markets Borroughs Castles Religious houses and Scooles The Portes Hauens Riuers Waters and Bridges And finally the Hilles and dales Parkes and forests whatsoeuer the singularities within euery of the same And bicause not only the Romanes and Saxons that weare conquerours of this Realme but also the Disciples of the Apostle Philip and the messengers of Pope Gregory that were conuerters of the people arriued firste in Kent and for that the same by commoditie of the Riuer of Thamise the chief key of this Iland first openeth it selfe and to the end also that such guests strangers as shal vouchesafe to visite this our Britaine may at their first entry fynde such courtesie and intertainment as frō hencefoorth they ceasse either with Horace to cal vs Hospitibus feros or with others Feroces in Aduenas I wyll be their Zenagogus or guide and first shew them our countrie of Kent the inhabitantes whereof Caesar himselfe in his Commentaries confesseth to be of al others the most full of humanitie and gentlenesse Kent therefore lying in the Southeast Region of this Realme hath on the North the Riuer of Thamise on the East the Sea on the South the Sea and Sussex and on the West Sussex and Survey It extendeth in length from VVicombe in the frontiers of Surrey to Dele at the Sea side fyfty miles And reacheth in bredth from Sandhirst neare Robertsbridge in the edge of Sussex to the Northeast pointe of the I le of Greane almost thirty miles so hath in circuit 150. miles or therabout It is called by Caesar and other auncient writers Cancium and Cancia in latine which name as I make coniecture was framed out of Cainc a woorde that in the language of the Britaines whom Caesar at his arriuall founde inhabiting there signifyeth bowghes or woods and was imposed by reason that this Countrie both at that time and also longe after was in manner wholy ouergrowne with woode as it shall hereafter in fyt place more plainly appeare The Aire in Kent by reason that the Countrye is on sundry partes bordered wyth water is somewhat thicke for which cause as also for that it is scituate nearest to the Sunne risinge and furthest from the Northe pole of any part of the realme it is temperate not so colde by a great deale as Northumberlande and yet in maner as warme as Cornwall The Soile is for the most parte bountifull consisting indifferently of arable pasture meadow and woodland howbeit of these wood occupieth the greatest portion euen till this day except it bee towardes the East which coast is more champaigne then the residue It hathe Corne and Graine common with other Shyres of the Realme as Wheat Rye Barly Oats in good plenty saue onely that in the Wealdish or woody places where of late daies they vsed muche Pomage or Cider for want of Barley now that lacke is more cōmōly supplyed with Oates Neither wanteth Kent such sorts of pulce as the rest of the Realme yeeldeth namely beanes peason tares whiche some reteining the sound of the latine woord Vicia call vetches and which Polydor supposed not to be founde in Ingland The pasture and meadowe is not onely sufficient in proportion to the quantitie of the country it selfe for bréeding but is comparable in fertilitie also to any other that is neare it in so muche that it gayneth by féeding In fertile and fruitfull woodes and trées this country is most floryshing also whether you respecte the maste of oke Béeche Chesten for cattail or the fruit of aples Peares Cherries Ploumes for men for besides great store of oke and béeche it hathe whole woodes that beare Chestnutt a mast if I may so call it and not rather a fruite whereof euen delicate persons disdaine not to féede not commonly séene in other countries But as for Ortchards of Aples and Gardeins of Cheries and those of the most delicious and exquisite kindes that can be no part of the Realme that I know hath them either in such quantitie and number or with such arte and industrie set and planted So that the Kentish man most truely of al other may say with him in Virgil Sunt nobis mitia poma Castaneae molles c. Touching domesticall cattel as horses mares oxen kine and shéepe Kent differeth not muche from others onely this it challengeth as singular that it bringeth forth the largest of stature in eche kinde of them The like wherof also Polydore in his historie
ƿaes Haile Hlaford cynyng wessail Lord King that is to say be merie Lord King wyth which her daliance the King was so delighted that he not onely vouchesafed to pledge her but desired also to perfourm it in the right manner of her owne countrey And therefore he answered as he was taught vnto her againe drinc Haeile drinke merely Which when she had done himselfe tooke the cuppe and pledged her so hartely that from thenceforth he could neuer be in rest vntil he had obtained her to wife litle weighing eyther howe déeply he had endaungered his conscience in matching him selfe with a heathen wooman or how greatly he had hazarded his Crowne by ioyning handes with so mightie a forein Nation At the time of this mariage Hengist labouring by all meanes to bring in his owne Countrie men begged of the King the territories of Kent Essex Midlesex and Suffolke then knowen by other names pretending in woord that he would in consideration thereof kéep out Aurel. Ambrose a competitor of the crowne whose arriual King Vortiger much feared But meaning in déede to make thereby a key to let into the Realme multitudes of Germanes for furtherance of his ambitious desire and purpose which thing in processe of time he brought to passe not onely creating himselfe and his posteritie Kings of a large quarter but also thereby shewing the way and entrie howe others of his nation might follow and doe the like And thus Kent being once againe as I saide reduced into a Kingdome continued in that estate by the space of thrée hundreth thrée score and eight yeares or thereabouts in the handes of fiftéene successours as the moste credible authours do reporte Some others adde Edbert and Alric and so make seuentéene in all whose names doe followe 1. Hengist the first Germane 2. Oesc 3. Occa. 4. Hermenric or Ermenric 5. Ethelbert the first christened 6. Eadbald 7. Erconbert the first that commaunded the obseruation of Lent in this shire 8. Egbert 9. Lothar 10. Eadric After his death Nidred and Wibbard vsurped by the space of seuen yeares and therfore are not registred in the Catalogue of the lawfull Kings 11. Wightred he built Sainct Martines at Douer 12. Edbert added by some 13. Ethelbert 14. Alric added also by some 15. Eadbert Pren or Edelbert Pren. 16. Cuthred 17. Baldred Now although it might here séeme conuenient before I passed any further to disclose suche memorable things as haue chaunced during the reignes of al these forenamed Kings yet for asmuche as my purpose specially is to write a Topographie or description of places and no Chronographie or storie of times although I must now and then vse bothe since the one can not fully be perfourmed without enterlacing the other and for that also I shal haue iust occasion hereafter in the particulars of this Shyre to disclose many of the same I will at this present and that by way of digression only make report of one or two occurrents that happened vnder Ethelbert Eadric two Kings of this countrey This Ethelbert besides that he mightely enlarged the boundes of his owne Kingdome extending the same euen to the riuer of Humber was also the first King amongst the Saxons inhabiting this land that promoted the kingdome of Christ as to whome it pleased almighty God to break the bread of his holy woord and gospel through the ministerie and preaching of Augustine the Moncke that was sent from Rome by Pope Gregorie surnamed the great amongst the Saxons I saide least any man should thinke that eyther the faith of Christe was not heare at all or not so purely preached before the comming of that Augustine For it is past all doubt by the stoaries of all Countries and by the testimonie of Beda him selfe being a Saxon that the Britons embraced the religion of Christ within this Iland many hundreth yeares before Gregories time whether in purer sorte then he sent it hither or no let them iudge that knowe that he was called worthely Pater Caeremoniarum and that may yet sée in Beda and others what trūpery crept into the church of God in his time and by his permission Eadric the other King succéeded in Kent after Lotharius who because he rather reigned by luste then ruled by lawe incurred the hatred of his people and was inuaded by Ceadwalla King of Westsex and Mull his brother whiche entring the countrie and finding no resistance herryed it from the one end to the other not thus contented Ceadwalla in reuenge of his brother Muls death whome the countrie people had cruelly slaine in a house that he had taken for his succour entred this countrie the second time and sleying the people spoiled it without all pitie And yet not satisfied with all this he suffered the quarrell to discend to Ina his successour who ceased not to vnquiet the people of this Shyre till they agréed to pay him 30000. Markes in golde for his desired amendes These be the matters that I had to note in the reignes of these two Kings as for the rest I passe them ouer to their fit titles as things rather perteining to some peculiar places then incident to the body of the whole Shire and will now prosecute the residue In the time of this Baldred that standeth last in the table of the Kings Kent was vnited by King Egbert who last of all chaunged the name of the people and called them Englishmen vnto the Westsaxon Kingdome which in the ende became Ladie and maistres of al the rest of the kingdomes also and it was from thenceforth wholy gouerned after the Westsaxon law as in the Mappe of the tripartite lawes of this Realme hathe appeared vntil suche time as King Alfred first diuided the whole Realme into particular Shires vpon this occasion following The Danes bothe in his time and before had flocked by sea to the coastes of this land in great numbers some times wasting and spoiling with sword and fire wheresoeuer they might arriue and sometymes taking with them greate booties to their Ships without doing any further harme which thing continuing for many yeares togeather caused the husbandmen to abandon their tillage and gaue occasion and hardinesse to euill disposed persons to fall to the like pillage and robberie The whiche the better to cloke their mischief withall feigned them selues to bee Danishe Pirates and would some time come on land in one part and some time in an other driuing great spoyles as the Danes had done to theire shippes before theim The good king Alfred therefore that had merueilously traueiled in repulsing the barbarous Danes espying this outrage and thinking it no lesse the parte of a politique Prince to roote out the noisome subiect then to hold out the forein enemie by aduice of his counsail and by the example of Moses which followed the counsaile of Ietro his father in law diuided the whole Realme into certein parts or Sections being two and thirtie in number as
the Kings fauour their owne power pollicie and possession contemned all other and forgate them selues abusing the simplicitie of the King by euill counsel treading vnder foote the nobilitie by great disdaine and oppressing the common people by insatiable rauine extortion and tirannie So that immediatly and at once they pulled vpon their heades the heauie displeasure of the Prince the immortall hatred of the noble men and the bitter execration and curse of the common sort Whereupon the king for a season banished them the nobles neuer after liked them and the poore people not onely railed vpon them while they liued but also by deuised tales as the manner is laboured to make them hatefull to all posteritie after their death And amongst other things touching Godwyne him selfe they feygned that he was choked at Winchester or Windsore as others say for liers can not lightly agrée with a morsel of bread and that this his land in Kent sonke sodainly into the Sea. Neyther were these things continued in memory by the mouths of the vnlearned people only but committed to writing also by the hands and pens of Monkes Frears and others of the learned sort So that in course of time the matter was past all peraduenture and the things belieued for vndoubted veritie But whatsoeuer hath bene heretofore thought of these matters hauing now iust occasion offered mee to treate of the thing I wil not spare to speake that which I haue red in some credible writers and whiche I doe thinke méete to be beléeued of all indifferent readers Siluester Giraldus in his Itinerarie of Wales and many others doe write that about the end of the reigne of King William Rufus or the beginning of Henrie the first there was a sodaine and mightie inundation of the Sea by the which a great part of Flaunders and of the lowe countries thereabout was drenched and lost so that many of the inhabitants being thereby expulsed from their seates came ouer into England and made suite to the same King Henrie for some place of dwelling within his dominion The King pitying their calamitie and séeing that they might bee profitable to his Realme by instructing his people in the art of clothing wherein at that time they chiefly excelled first placed them about Carlile in the North countrie and afterwarde vpon cause remoued them to Rosse and Hauerford in Wales Now at the same tyme that this happened in Flaunders the like harme was done in sundry places bothe of England and Scotland also as Hector Boethius the Scottishe hystoriographer moste plainly writeth affirming that amongst other this place being sometyme of the possession of the Earle Godwine was then first violently ouerwhelmed with a light sande wherewith it not onely remayneth couered euer since but is become withall Nauium gurges vorago a most dreadfull gulfe and shippe swalower This thing as I cannot but marueil how it hath escaped the penns of our own countrie writers the rather for that some of them liuing about that time haue mention of that harme in the lowe countrie so I sticke not to accept it for assured trueth considering either the auctority of the writer him selfe being a diligent and learned man or the circumstances of the thing that he hathe left written beeing in it selfe both reasonable likely And thus I might wel make an end but because I haue alredy takē occasiō to accuse thē of forgerie which affirme Godwine to haue bene choked at the bourde I trust it shal be no great offence though beside purpose yet for declaration of the trueth to rehearse shortly what some credible storiers haue reported of that matter also And to the end that the trueth may appeare by collation of the diuers reportes I will first shewe what the common opinion and tale of his death is and then afterward what these other men write concerning the same Ealred the Abbat of Ryuauxe who tooke paynes to pen the hystorie of the same King Edwardes whole life and of whom all others as I thinke learned this tale saith that while the King and Godwyne sate at the table accompanied with others of the Nobilitie it chaunced the Cupbearer as he brought wyne to the bourd to slip with the one foote and yet by good strength of his other legge to recouer him self without falling whiche thing the Earle earnestly marking sayde pleasantly that There one brother had wel helped another mary quoth the King so might me mine ne haddest thou bene Earle Godwine casting in his dishe the murder of his brother Alfred which was done to death at Elie by the counsell of Godwine as hereafter in fitte place for it shall appeare Hereat the Earle was sore moued and thinking it more then time to make his purgation tooke a morsell of bread into his hand and praying with great and vehement obtestation that it might choke him if he by any meanes caused the slaughter or consēted thereto he put the bread into his mouth and was immediatly strangled therewithall Some write that this bread was before accursed by Wulstane the holy Bishop of Worcester after a certain manner then vsed called Corsned as in the table to the Saxons lawes is to be séene But this Ealred affirmeth that after the woords spoken by the Earle the King him selfe blessed the bread with the signe of the crosse And therfore these men agrée aswel together as blessing and cursing be one like to another But letting that and them passe heare I beséech you what Alfred of Beuerley a learned man that liued in the time of King Henry the first somewhat before this Abbat Ealred saith touching this matter Godwinus graui morbo ex improuiso percussus ac Regi ad mensam Wyntoniae assidens mutus in ipsa sede declinauit ac postea in camerā Regis a filijs deportatus moritur Quidam autem dicunt c. Godwine being sodainly strickē with a grieuous disease as he sate at the table with the King at Winchester fel down from his stoole and was carried by his sonnes into the Kings chamber where he dyed but some say that he was choked c. And to the same effect writeth Marianus the Scot. Simeon also the Chaunter of Durham whiche liued about the time of this Alfred or rather before him treating of this matter hath these wordes Godwinus graui morbo percussus in ipsa sede declinauit post horas quinque moritur Godwyne being taken with a grieuous disease dropped down from the place where he sate and dyed within fiue houres after Thus these men reporte another manner of his death the one vsing no mention at all of any accursed breade and the other reciting it but as a tale And for the more plaine detection of the deceipt of this Abbat he that wil read the second booke of William Malmes De Regibus shall finde that the occasion and introduction of this matter I meane the slipping of the Kings Cupbearer and the speache that procéeded
Chartre contenting my selfe to yéelde to the conquerour the thankes of other mens benefites séeing those whiche were benefited were wisely contented as the case then stoode to like better of his confirmation or second gift then of King Edwardes first graunt and endowment And to the end that I may proceede in some manner of array I will first shew which Townes were at the beginning taken for the Fiue Portes what others be now reputed in the same number secondly what seruice they ought did in times passed lastly what priuiledges they haue therefore by what persons they haue been gouerned If I should iudge by the commune and rude verse Douer Sandwicus Ry Rum Frigmare ventus I might say that Douer Sandwiche Rie Rumney and Winchelsey for that is Frigmare ventus be the Fiue Portes Againe if I should bee ruled by the Rolle whiche reciteth the Ports that send Barons to the Parleament I muste then adde to these Hastings Hyde for they also haue their Barons as wel as the other and so should I not onely not shewe whiche were the first Fiue but also by addition of two others increase bothe the number and doubtfulnes Leauing the verse therefore for ignorance of the authour and suspition of his authoritie and forsaking the Rolle as not assured of the antiquitie I will flye to Henrie Bracton a man bothe auncient learned and credible which liued vnder King Henrie the third and wrote aboue thrée hundreth yeares since learnedly of the lawes of this Realme He I say in the third booke of his worke and treatise of the Crowne taking in hand to shewe the articles inquirable before the Iustices in Eire or Itinerant as wee called them bycause they vsed to ride from place to place throughout the Realme for administration of iustice setteth foorth a speciall fourme of writtes to bee directed seuerally to the Baylifes of Hastings Hithe Rumney Douer and Sandwiche commaunding them that they should cause twentie and foure of their Barons for so their Burgesses or Townesmen and the Ciâ—â—â—â—ns of London likewise were wont to be termed to appeare before the Kings Iustices at Shipwey in Kent as they accustomed to doe there to enquire of suche pointes as should bee giuen them in charge Whiche done he addeth moreouer that for so muche as there was oftentimes contention betwéene them of the Fiue Portes and the inhabitants of Yarmouth in Norfolke and Donwiche in Suffolke there should be seuerall writtes directed to them also retournable before the same Iustices at the same day and place reciting that where the King had by his former writtes sommoned the Plées of the Fiue Ports to be holden at Shipwey if any of the same townes had cause to complaine of any beeing within the liberties of the saide Portes he should be at Shipwey to propounde against him and there to receaue according to lawe and iustice Thus muche I recite out of Bracton partly to shew that Shipwey was before King Edward the firsts time the place of assembly for the Plees of the Fiue Portes partly to notifie the difference and controuersie that long since was betweene these Portes and those other townes But purposely and chiefely to proue that Hastings and Hithe Douer Rumney and Sandwiche were in Bractons time accompted the Fiue principall hauens or Portes whiche were endowed with priuiledge Neither yet will I deny but that soone after Winchelsey and Rye might be added to the number For I finde in an olde recorde that King Henrie the third tooke into his owne handes for the better defence of the Realme the townes of Winchelsey and Rye whiche belonged before to the Monasterie of Fescampe in Normandie gaue therfore in exchaunge the Manor of Chiltham in Gloucester shyre diuers other landes in Lincolne shyre This he did partly to conceale from the Priors Aliens the intelligence of the secrete affairs of his Realme partly bycause of a great disobedience and excesse that was committed by the inhabitants of Winchelsey against Prince Edward his eldest Sonne And therefore although I can easely be led to thinke that he submitted them for their correction to the order and gouernance of the Fiue Portes yet I stand doubtfull whether he made them partners of their priuiledges or no for that had been a preferment and no punishment but I suspect rather that his Sonne King Edward the first by whose encouragement and aide olde Winchelsey was afterward abandoned and the now Towne buidled was the first that appareiled them wyth that preeminence By this therefore let it appeare that Hastings Douer Hithe Rumney Sandwiche were the first Ports of priuiledge which bycause they were Fiue in numbre bothe at the first gaue and yet continue to all the residue the name of Cinque Portes although not onely Winchelsey and Rye be since that time incorporated with them as principals but diuers other places also for the ease of their charge be crept in as partes lims and members of the same Now therefore somewhat shal be saide as touching the seruices that these Portes of duetie owe and in déed haue done to the Princes wherof the one I meane with what numbre of vessels in what manner of furniture and for howe long season they ought to waite on the King at the Sea vpon theyr owne charges shall partly appeare by that whiche wée shall presently say and partly by that whiche shall follow in Sandwiche and Rumney The other shal be made manifest by examples drawn out of good hystories and bothe shal be testified by the woordes of King Edward the first in his owne Chartre The booke of Domesday before remembred chargeth Douer wyth 20. vessels at the Sea whereof eache to be furnished with one and twentie men for fiftéene dayes together and sayth further that Rumney and Sandwiche aunswered the like seruice But nowe whether this like ought to be vnderstoode of the like altogether bothe in respect of the number and seruice or of the like in respect of seruice according to the proportion of their abilitie onely I may not hereby take vpon me to determine For on the one side if Rumney Sandwiche and the residue should likewise find twentie vessels a péece then as you shall anone sée the fiue Portes were subiect to a greater charge at that time then King Edward the first layd vpon them And on the other side if they were only chargeable after their proportion then know I not howe far to burthen them séeing the Record of Domesday it selfe bindeth them to no certeintie And therfore leauing this as I finde it I must elsewhere make inquisition for more lightsome proofe And firste I will haue recourse to King Edwarde the firste his Chartre in which I read that At ech time that the King passeth ouer the sea the Portes ought to rigge vp fiftie and seuen ships whereof euery one to haue twentie armed souldiers and to mainteine them at their own costes by the space of fifteene
Martins night the Englishe men should all at once set vpon the Danes before they had disgested the surfaite of that drunken solemnitie and so vtterly kyll and destroy them This his commaundement was receaued with suche liking entertained with such secreacie and executed with such spéede and celeritie that the Danes were sodainly in a manner wholly bothe men women and children like the Sonnes in Lawe of Danaus oppressed at once in a night only a fewe escaped by Sea into Denmarke and there made complaint of King Etheldreds boucherie For reuenge whereof Sweyn their King bothe armed his owne people waged forreigne aide and so preparing a houge armie tooke shipping and arriued first here at Sandwiche and after in the Northe Countrie the terrour of whose comming was suche that it caused the Countrie people on all sides to submitte them selues vnto him in so muche that King Etheldred séeing the cause desperate and him selfe destitute fled ouer into Normandie with his wife and children friendes familie After whiche his departure although both he him selfe returned and put Canutus the next King of the Danes to flight and Edmund his Sonne also fought sundrie great battailes with him yet the Danes preuailed so mightely vpon them that thrée of them in succession that is to say Canutus Haroldus and Hardicanutus reigned Kings here in England almoste by the space of thirtie yeares together so muche to the infamous oppression slauery and thraldome of the English Nation that euery Dane was for feare called Lord Dane and had at his commaundement wheresoeuer he became bothe man and wyfe and whatsoeuer else he found in the house At the lengthe God taking pitie vpon the people tooke sodainly away King Hardicanute after whose death the Nobilitie CoÌ„mons of the Realme ioyned so firmely and faithfully both hartes and hands with their naturall and Liege Lord King Edward that the Danes were once againe and for euer expulsed this Countrie in so much that soone after the name Lord Dane being before tyme a woord of great awe and honour grewe to a terme and bywoord of foule despight and reproche being tourned as it yet continueth to Lourdaine besides that euer after the common people in ioye of that deliuerance haue celebrated the annuall day of Hardicanutus deathe with open pastime in the streates calling it euen till this oure time Hoctuesday in steade as I thinke of Hucxtuesdaeg that is to say the skorning or mocking Tuesday And nowe thus muche summarily being saide as concerning the trueth of the Danes being here who ruled in this land almoste thirtie yeares and raged without all rule aboue three hundreth and fiftie I will returne to Sandwiche disclosing therein suche occurrents of the Danishe doings as perteine to my purpose In the yeare eight hundreth fiftie and one after Christ Athelstane the Sonne of Ethelwulfe King of Kent whome Mathewe of Westminster taketh or rather mistaketh for a Bishop fought at the Sea before Sandwiche against a great Nauie of the Danes of whiche he tooke nine vessels discomfited the residue Against another Fléete of the Danes whiche landed at Sandwiche in the yeare one thousand and sixe King Etheldred made this prouision that euerie thrée hundreth and ten Hydes of Land whiche Henrie Huntingdon Mathewe Parise and others expound to be so many plowlands should be charged with the furniture of one ship and euery eight Hydes should finde one iacke and sallet for the defence of the Realme By whiche meane he made redy a mighty nauie to the Sea But what through the iniurie of sudaine tempest and what by the defection of some of his Nobilitie he profited nothing King Canutus also after that he had receaued the the woorse in a fight in Lincolneshyre whiche drewe to his ships that laye in the hauen at Sandwiche there moste barbarously behaued himselfe cutting of the handes and féete of suche as he had taken for hostage and so departed al wrothe and melancholike into Denmarke to repaire his armie The same man at his returne hither tooke land with his power at this towne and so did Hardicanutus his sonne after him Furthermore in the dayes of King Edward the confessour two Princes or rather principall Pirates of the Danes called Lochen and Irlinge landed at Sandwiche and laded their ships with riche spoyle wherewith they crossed ouer the seas to Flaunders and there made money of it At this place landed Lewes the FreÌ„ch Dolphine that ayded the Englishe Nobilitie against King Iohn as we shall hereafter haue cause to shewe more at large Finally in the reigne of King Richard the seconde certeine Frenche ships were taken at the Sea whereof some were fraught with the frame of a timber Castle suche another I suppose as WilliaÌ„ the Conquerour erected at Hastings so soone as he was arriued whiche they also ment to haue planted in some place of this Realme for our anoyaunce but they failed of their purpose for the Engyne being taken from them it was set vp at this Towne vsed to our great safetie and their repulse Eastrye HAuing somewhat to say of Eastrye I trust it shal be no great offence to turne oure eye a little from the shoare and talke of it in our way to Deale It is the name of a Towne and Hundreth within the Last of Sainct Augustines and hath the addition of East for difference sake from Westrye coÌ„monly called Rye nere to Winchelsey in Sussex Mathewe of Westminster maketh report of a murther done at it which because it tendeth much to the declaration of the auncieÌ„t estate of the town I will not sticke to rehearse so shortly as I can After the deathe of Ercombert the seuenth King of Kent Egbert his Sonne succéeded in the kingdome who caused to be vertuously brought vp in his Palaice which was then at this Towne two young Noble men of his own kinred as some say or rather his owne Brethren as William of Malmesbury writethe the one being called Ethelbert and the other Etheldred these Gentlemen so prospered in good learning courtlike manners feates of actiuitie méete for men of their yeares and parentage that on the one side they gaue to all wel disposed persons and louers of vertue great expectation that they would become at the length men worthie of muche estimation and honour and on the other side they drewe vpon them the feare mislyking and vtter hatred of the naughtie wicked and malicious sort Of the whiche nuÌ„ber there was one of the Kings owne houshold called Thunner who as vertue neuer wanteth her enuiers of a certaine diuelishe malice repyning at their laudable increase neuer ceassed to â—lowe into the Kings eare moste vntrue accâ—sations against them And to the end that he might the rather prouoke the King to displeasure he persuaded him of great daunger toward his estate and person by them and for as muche as the common people who more commonly worship the Sunne rising then going downe
at the Kings handes The King hearing the complaint ment to make correction of the fault but the Townesmen also had complained themselues to Godwine who determining vnaduisedly to defend his clients and seruauntes opposed himselfe violently against the King his Leige Lord and Maister To bee short the matter waxed within a while so hote betwéene them that either side for maintenance of their cause arraied and conducted a great armie into the field Godwine demaunded of the King that Eustace might be deliuered vnto him the King cōmaunded Godwine that armes laide aside hee would answere his disobedience by order of the Lawe and in the ende Godwine was banished the Realme by the sentence of the King and Nobilitie wherevpon hee and his Sonnes fled ouer the Sea and neuer ceassed to vnquiet the King and spoyle his subiects til they were reconciled to his fauour and restored to their auncient estate and dignitie This towne was so sore wasted with fire soone after the comming in of King William the Conquerour that it was wholly saue onely nine and twentie dwelling houses consumed and brought to ashes And in the time of King Edward the first also whiles two of the Popes Cardinales were here in the treatie of an attonement to be made betwéene England and Fraunce the Frenchemen landed at Douer in a right and burned a great part of the towne and some of the religious buildings So that in those times it was muche empayred by those misfortunes But nowe in our memorie what by decay of the hauen whiche King Henrie the eight to his great charge but that all in vayne sought to restore and what by the ouerthrowe of the religious houses and losse of Calaice it is brought in maner to miserable nakednesse and decaye whiche thing were the lesse to be pitied if it were not accompanyed with the ruine of the Castell it selfe the decay whereof is so much the more grieuous as the fame therof is with our ancient stories aboue al other most blasing glorious The Castell of Douer sayth Lidgate and Rosse was firste builded by Iulius Caesar the Romane Emperour in memorie of whome they of the Castell kept till this day certeine vessels of olde wine and salte whiche they affirme to be the remayne of suche prouision as he brought into it As touching the whiche if they be natural and not sophisticate I suppose them more likely to haue béene of that store whiche Hubert de Burghe layde in there of whome I shall haue cause to say more hereafter But as concerning the building bycause I finde not in Caesar his owne Commentaries mention of any fortification that he made within the Realme I thinke that the more credible reporte whiche ascribeth the foundation to Aruiragus a King of the Britons of whome Iuuenal the Poet hath mention saying to the Emperour Nero in this wise Regem aliquem capies aut de temone Britanno Excidet Aruiragus c. Some King thou shalt a captaine take or els from Bryttishe wayne Shall Aruiragus tumble downe And of whome others write that he founde suche fauour in the eye of Claudius the Emperour that he obtained his daughter to wife But whosoeuer were the authour of this Castell Mathewe Parise writeth that it was accounted in his time which was vnder the reigne of King Henry the third Clauis Repagulum totius Regni the very locke and key of the whole Realme of England And truly it séemeth to me by that which I haue read of King William the Conquerour that he also thought no lesse of it For at suche time as Harold being in Normandie with him whether of purpose or against his will I leaue as I finde it at large made a corporall othe to put him in possession of the Crowne after the death of King Edwarde It was one parcell of his othe that he should deliuer vnto him this castell and the Well within it The same King had no soner ouerthrowne Harolde in the fielde and reduced the Londoners to obedience but foorthwith he marched with his armie towarde Douer as to a place of greatest importaunce and spéede in that iourney as is already declared Not long after whiche time also when he had in his owne opinion peaceably established the gouernment of this Realme and was departed ouer into Normandie of purpose to commit the order of that countrie to Robert his sonne diuers of the shyre of Kent knowing right well howe muche it might annoy him to lose Douer conspired with Eustace the Earle of Boloine for the recouerie and surprise of the same And for the better atchieuing of their desire it was agréed that the Earle should crosse the seas in a night by them appointed at whiche time they woulde not faile with all their force to méete him and so ioyning handes soudainly assayle and enter it They met accordingly and marched by darke night toward the Castell well furnished with scaling ladders but by reason that the watch had discried them they not only fayled of that whiche they intended but also fell into that whiche they neuer feared for the Souldiours within the Castell to whome Odo the Bishop of Borieux and Hughe Mountfort which then were with the King in Normandie had committed the charge thereof kept them selues close and suffered the assaylants to approche the wall and then whiles they disorderly attempted to scale it they set wide open their gates and made a soudaine salie out of the péece and set vpon them with suche furie that they compelled Eustace with a fewe others to returne to his Shippe the reste of his companie béeing eyther slayne by the sworde destroyed by fall from the Clyffe or deuoured by the Sea. The same King also béeing worthely offended with the disobedience auarice and ambition of Odo his bastarde brother whome he had promoted to the Bishopricke of Borieux and to the Earldome of Kent for that he had not onely by rauine and extortion raked together greate masses of Golde and treasure whiche he caused to be grounde into fine pouder and filling therewith dyuers pottes and crockes had sounk them in the bottomes of Riuers intending therwithall to haue purchased the Papacie of Rome But also bycause he refused to render vnto him the Countie of Kent and was suspected for aspiring to the Crowne of this Realme consulted with Lanfranc the Archebishop of Canterburye and a professed enemie to Odo howe hée might safely and without offence to the Ecclesiasticall estate for that hée was a Bishoppe bothe conteyne that treasure within the Realme and also deteyne hys person from going into Italie whether warde he bothe addressed him selfe with all speede and gathered for his trayne great troupes of valiaunt and seruiceable men out of euerie quarter Lanfranc counseled the King to commit him to safe custodie and for his defence armed him with this pretie shift If it be layde to your charge quoth he that you haue layde violent handes vpon a sacred Bishop Say that you
imprisoned not the Bishop of Borieux but the Earle of Kent The King liked well the conceit and causing Odo to be apprehended caste him into prison whence he was not deliuered during al the time of his reigne That done he made diligent inquisitioÌ„ for the hourdes of golde and by feare of torture caused the Bishops seruants to bewray the whole treasure Then also tooke he new order for the gouernement of this Shyre and bycause he was persuaded that nothing within the same was of more importance then Douer Castell he seised it into his handes foorthwith fortified it and chose out a noble maÌ„ called Iohn Fynes of whose prowesse and fidelitie he had made good tryal and committing vnto him not only the custodie thereof but the gouernment of the rest of the Portes also by gift of inheritaunce he named him Constable of Douer and Wardein of the Cinque Portes And to the end that he shoulde be of sufficient abilitie to beare the charge of the defence thereof he gaue him to the number of sixe and fiftie Knightes fees of lande and possession willing him to communicate some partes of that gift to suche other valiaunt and trustie persons as he should best like of for the more sure conseruation of that his most noble and precious péece He accordingly called vnto him eight other worthie Knightes and imparting liberally vnto them of that whiche he had receiued of the King bounde them by tenure of their lande receiued of the King to mainteine one hundreth and twelue souldiours amongest them whiche number he so diuided by monethes of the yeare that fiue and twentie were continually to watche and warde within the Castell for their seuerall stintes of time and all the rest ready at commaundement vpon whatsoeuer necessitie The names of these eight were WilliaÌ„ of Albrance Fulbert of Douer William Arsicke Galfride Peuerell William Maynemouth Robert Porthe Robert Creuequer called in the Latine Records De crepito corde that is Crackt harte And Adam Fitz Williams Eche of al whiche had their seuerall charges in sundry towres turrets bulworks of the castel and were contented of their owne dispence to mainteine and repaire the same in token wherof diuers of them beare the names and titles of these newe chosen Captaines euen till this oure present time And thus Douer being dispatched of a busie Bishop fenced by the Kings appointment furnished fraught and planted with a moste faithfull Constable vigilant Captaines and diligent warders gayned and reteined the opinion and name of a most important commodious and necessarie péece not only with the natiue Princes and Nobilitie of our owne Realme But also with suche foreigne Potentates as had warre and contention with vs in so muche as in sundry troubles ensuing at sundry times afterwarde within this Realme it did plainely appeare that this Castell was the chiefe marke whereat eche man directed his shot For King Stephan in the contention that arose betwéene him and Maude the Empresse for the title of the Crowne thought that no one thing stoode him more in hande then to get the possession of Douer Castell and therfore he neuer ceassed to sollicite Walkelm that theÌ„ had the custodie thereof till he had obteyned it Lewes also the French Dolphine which by the instigatioÌ„ of the Pope inuitating of the Nobilitie inuaded King Iohn vpon such cause as shall hereafter appeare hauing gained partly by tenure partly by surrender of the Barons that were of his faction almost al the Castels and Holdes lying on the Southe parte of the Realme coulde not yet thinke him selfe assured onlesse he had Douer also For his Father Philipe hearing that he had the possession of sundry other strong places and that he wanted Douer Sware by Sainct Iames arme whiche was his accustomed othe that he had not gayned one foote in Englande and therefore he made thither with all his power and besieged it streightly But that noble Captaine Hubert of Borroughe of whome I lately spake whiche was in his time Constable of the Castell Wardein of the Portes Earle of Kent and chiefe Iustice of all Englande defended it with suche couragious coâ—stancie that it was bothe a comforte to the Englishe subiecte and a wonder to the Frenche enemie to beholde it in so muche as I can not worthely impute the deliuerie of this Realme from the perill of forreigne seruitude wherein it then stoode to any one thing so muche as to the magnanimitie of this man Of whome also by the waye I thinke good to tell you this that in his time of Constableship at Douer and by his meanes the seruice of Castlegarde there whiche had contayned as I shewed before from the time of William the Conqueroure was with the assent of King Henrie the thyrde conuerted into a payment of money the lande béeing charged with tenne shillings for euerie Warder that it was bounde to finde and the owners thereby discharged of their personall seruice and attendaunce for euer At whiche time also he caused the same King to release by his frée Chartre the custome of Forrage due to this Castell and that done him selfe instituted newe lawes amongst the watchemen and increased the number of the Warders But nowe to my purpose againe Simon the Earle of Leycester and leader of the Barons warre againste King Henrie the thirde euen at the first wrested the Castell of Douer out of the Kings possession and kéeping the same during all his life vsed to sende thyther as vnto a place of most assuraunce all suche as he had taken prysoners After his ouerthrowe Edwarde then Prince and afterwarde the first King of that name assayled it with all speede and by the ayde of the prisoners within whiche had taken the great towre to his vse obteined it There lefte he prisoned Guy the sonne of this Simon but he escaped sone after by corruption of his kéepers To make an ende the Nobilitie of that time were fully persuaded that bothe the safetie and daunger of the whole Realme consisted in this one Castell And therefore saythe Mathewe Parise at suche time as King Henrie the thirde called ouer from beyonde the Seas his owne brother Richarde then King of the Romanes the Noble men who had him in some Iealouzie would not agrée that he or any of his should once enter within this Castell Not without good cause therfore hath Douer by greate préeminence béene reported the chiefe of the Fiue Portes assigned by lawes of Parleament as a speciall place for passage and eschaunge and by auncient tenure acknowledged for Lady and Maistresse of many Manors To it alwayes some man of great apparaunce is appoynted as Captaine and gouernour To it sundry Gentlmen of the Shyre paye yet money for the auncient duetie of their attendance and seruice And to it sinally the countrey men in all times of trouble haue an especiall eye and regarde As concerning the mayntenaunce of this Castell in fortification and building I finde not
petition exhibited by Richarde then Earle of Arundale and Surrey in whiche the same Earle claimed the office of chiefe Butler and recognised him self ready to perfourme the same Wherevpon foorthwith one Edmund Staplegate exhibited another petition and likewise made his claime to this effect That whereas he the sayde Edmund helde of the King in chiefe the Manor of Bylsington in Kent by the seruice to be his Butler at the Coronation as plainely appeared in the booke of Fées and Sericancies in the Exchequer And whereas also by reason of that tenure the late King Edwarde the thirde had both seised the landes of that petitioner for so much as he was in his minoritie at the time of the death of Edmund Staplegate his father and had also committed the custodie of his body to one Iefferay Chawsier to whō he payde 104. l. for the same he nowe proffered to doe that seruice and praied to be admitted to the office therof with alowance of the fées that belonged therevnto These claimes and the replies also bothe of the Earle and of Staplegate being hearde and considered It was then order partly for the shortnesse of the time whiche would not permit a full examination of the matter and partly bycause that on the Earles side it was proued that his auncestors had béene in possession of that office after the alienation of the Manor of Bylsington whereas on the other part it appeared not that the auncestors of Staplegate had euer executed the same that for the present Coronation the Earle shoulde be receiued and the right of Staplegate and all others shoulde be neuerthelesse to them saued Thus muche of the Manor of Bylsington whiche lyeth here on the right hande I thought méete to impart with you to occupy vs withall in our way to Rumney for as touching the Pryorie that there was althoughe I suppose it to haue begon by the liberalitie of some of the Earles of Arundale yet can I assure you of nothing touching it saue onely of the yearely value whiche you shall finde in the Particular of this shyre amongst the rest of the suppressed houses Rumney called in Saxon Rumen ea that is to say The large watrie place or Marishe It is written in the Records corruptly Rumenal and Romual THE participation of like Priuilege might wel haue moued me to haue placed the Portes together but the purpose of myne order already taken calleth me another way and byndeth me to prosecute them as they lye in order of my iourney There be in Kent therfore two townes of this name the Olde and the New Rumney as touching the latter whereof I minde not to speake hauing not hitherto founde eyther in Recorde or Hystorie any thing pertaining therevnto but that little whiche I haue to say must be of olde Rumney whiche was long since a principal Port and giueth cause of name to the new towne as it selfe first tooke it of the large leuell and territorie of Marishe grounde that is adioyning This Towne sayth the Recorde of Domesday was of the possession of one Robert Rumney and holden of Odo then Bishop of Borieux Earle of Kent and brother to King William the Conquerour in the which the same Robert had thirteene Burgesses who for their seruice at the Sea were acquitted of all exactions and custome◠of charge excepte fellonie breache of the peace and forstalling It was sometyme a good sure and commodious Hauen where many vessels vsed to lye at Roade For Henrie the Archedeacon of Huntingdon maketh report that at suche time as Godwine Earle of Kent and his Sonnes were exiled the Realme vpon suche cause of displeasure as hathe alreadie appeared in Douer they armed vessels to the Sea and sought by disturbing the quiet of the people to compell the King to their reuocation And therfore among sundry other harmes that they did on the Coast of this Shyre they entred the hauen at Rumney and lead away all suche shippes as they found in the Harborow Thomas Becket the Archebishop hauing by froward disobedience and stuborne pertinacitie prouoked King Henrie the second to indignation against him and fearing to abide the triall of ordinarie Iustice at home determined to appeale to the Popes fauour at Rome for whiche purpose he secretly tooke boate at Rumney minding to haue escaped ouer but he was driuen backe by a contrary wynde and so compelled to land againste his will. The vnderstanding of whiche matter so exasperated the King against him that foorthwith he seased his goods and gaue commaundement by his writte to the Sheriffes of all coastes to make arrest of al such as for any cause prouoked to the Pope He caused also his subiectes from twentie yeares of age vpward through out the whole Realme to renounce by othe all wonted obedience to the Sée of Rome and sollicited earnestly the Emperour Frederic and Lewes the Frenche King to haue ioyned with him in deposing Pope Alexander for that he so commonly receaued runnegates and suche as rebelled against their lawfull Princes But suche was eyther the enimitie of Lewes the Frenche King againste King Henrie the second or his dull sight in discerning the profit of the whole Christian common weale that he refused to assist the other twain by meanes whereof both Frederic the Emperour was afterward compelled to yéelde him to the Pope King Henrie the second glad withall submission to reconcile himselfe to the Archebishops fauour Rumney Marshe is famous throughout the Realme as wel for the fertilitie quantitie of the soile leuell as also for the auncient and holesome ordinances there vsed for the preseruation and maintenance of the bankes and walles against the rage of the Sea. It conteineth as by due computation it may appeare 24000. Acres For the taxation of Rumney Marshe onely not accompting Walland Marshe Guilford Marshe c. amounteth to 50. pounds after the rate of one halfe peny the Acre and it is at this day gouerned by certaine lawes made by one Henrie Bathe a Iustice and Commissioner for that purpose in the time of King Henrie the third Of whiche his statutes experience in time hath begotten suche allowance and liking that it was afterward not onely ordered that all the lowe groundes betwéene Tanet in Kent and Pemsey in Sussex should be guided by the same But they are also nowe become a paterne and exemplar to all the like places of the whole Realme to be gouerned by The place is not muche inhabited bycause it is Hyeme malus Aestate molestus Nunquam bonus Euil in Winter grieuous in Sommer and neuer good As Hesiodus the olde Poet somtime saied of the Countrie where his Father dwelt And therefore very reasonable is their conceite whiche doe imagine that Kent hathe thrée steps or degrées of whiche the first say they offereth Wealth without healthe the second giueth bothe Wealth and healthe and the third afoordeth healthe onely and no Wealthe For if a man minding to passe through
make demaunde of his right to the Crowne of Fraunce first quieted Scotland by force then entered amitie with his neighbours of Holland Seland and Brabant and lastly fortifying at this place for defence of the Thamise made expedition by Sea and lande againste the Frenche King and moued warre that had long continuaunce wherin neuerthelesse after sundry discomfitures giuen before Sluse Cressey Calaice and Poitiers he was in the ende right honourably satisfied During this building William of Wickam surnamed Perot a man not so plentifully endowed with good learning as aboundantly stored with Ecclesiasticall liuing for he had nine hundreth poundes of yearely reuenue fourtéene yeares together and was afterwarde by degrées aduaunced to the kéeping firste of the priuie and then of the broade Seale was Surueyour of the kings workes whiche is the very cause as I coniecture that some haue ascribed to him the thanke of the building it selfe This platforme was repayred by King Henrie the eight at suche time as he raised Blockhouses along the Sea coastes for the causes already rehearsed in Dele Of Quinborowe Leland sayth thus Castrum Regius editum recipit Burgus fulmina dira insulanos Tutos seruat ab impetu vel omni A Castle highe and thundring shot At Quinbrought is nowe plaste Whiche keepeth safe the Ilanders From euery spoyle and waste The name is fallen as you sée by deprauation of speache from Kingesborowe to Quinborowe howbeit the Etymologie is yet conserued both in our ancient hystories in the style of the Court or Lawday there I may adde that in memorie of the first name the Ferrie or passage from the I le to the maine lande is yet called The Kings ferrie also Feuersham in Saxon fafresHam AS it is very likely that the Towne of Feuersham receiued the chiefe nourishment of her increase from the Religious house So there is no doubt but that the place was somewhat of price long time before the building of that Abbay there For it is to be séene that King Ethelstane helde a Parleament and enacted certeine lawes at Feuersham about sixe hundreth and fortie yeares agoe at which time I thinke it was some Manor house belonging to the Prince the rather for that afterwarde King William the Conquerour to whose handes at length it came amongst other thinges gaue the aduowson of the Church to the Abbay of S. Augustines and the Manor it self to a Normane in recompence of seruice But what time king Stephan had in purpose to build the Abbay he recouered the Manor againe by exchaunge made with one William de Ipre the founder of Boxley for Lillychurch and raysing there a stately Monasterie the temporalties whereof did amount to a hundred fiftie fiue poundes he stored it with Cluniake Monkes This house was firste honoured with the buriall of Adelicia the Quéene his wife Then with the Sepulture of Eustachius his only sonne and shortly after him selfe also was there interred by them I reade none other thing worthy remembraunce touching this place Saue that in the reigne of King Iohn there brake out a great controuersie betwéene him and the Monkes of S. Augustines touching the right of the Patronage of the Churche of Feuersham For notwithstanding that King William the Conquerour had giuen it to the Abbay as appeareth before yet there wanted not some of whiche number Hubert the Archebishop was one that whispered King Iohn in the eare that the right of the Aduouson was deuoluted vnto him which thing he beléeuing presented a Clarke to the Churche and besides commaunded by his writ that his presentée should be admitted The Abbat on the other side withstoode him for the more sure enioying of his possession not onely eiected the Kings Clarke but also sent thither diuers of his Monkers to kéepe the Church by strong hand When the King vnderstoode of that he commaunded the Sheriffe of the Shyre to leuie the power of his countie and to restore his presentée Which commaundement the officer endeuoured to put in execution accordingly But suche was the courage of these holy hoorsons that before the Shefiffe coulde bring it to passe he was driuen to winne the Churche by assault in the which he hurt and wounded diuers of them and drewe and haled the reste out of the doores by the haire and héeles Nowe it chaunced that at the same time Iohn the Cardinall of Sainct Stephans the Popes Legate into Scotland passed through this Realme to whome as he soiourned at Canterbury the Monks made their mone and he againe both incouraged them to sende their Pryor to Rome for remedie furnished them with his own Letters in commendation of their cause In whiche amongst other things he tolde the holy father Innocentius plainly that if he would suffer Monkes to be thus intreated the Apostolique authoritie wold soone after be set at nought not only in England but in al other countries also Here vpon the Pope sent out his commission for the vnderstanding of the matter but the Monks being now better aduised tooke a shorter way and sending to the King two hundreth marks in a purse and a faire Palfrey for his owne sadle they bothe obteyned at his handes resâ—itution of their right also wan him to become from thencefoorth their good Lord and Patrone But here I praye you consider with me whether these men be more likely to haue béen brought vp in the Schole of Christe and Paule his Apostle who teach Ne resistatis malo vincatis bono malum Or rather to haue drawne their diuinitie out of Terence Comedie where the counsell is Malumus nos prospicere quam hunc vlcisci accepta iniuria yea and out of the worste point of all Tullies Philosophie where he permitteth Lacessitis iniuria inferre vim iniuriam seing they be so ready not of euen ground onely but before hande not to aunswere but to offer force and violence euen to Kings and Princes themselues I wis they might haue taken a better lesson out of Terence him selfe who aduiseth wise men Consilio omnia prius experiri quam armis and therefore I pitie their beating so muche the lesse But by this and suche other Monkishe partes of theirs you may sée Quid otium cibus faciat alienus Genlade and Gladmouthe BEda hathe mention of a water in Kent running by Reculuers whiche he calleth Genlade This name was afterward sounded Yenlade by the same misrule that geard is nowe Yard geoc Yoke gyld Yeeld gemen Yeomen and suche other Henrie of Huntingdon also reporteth that King Edward the Sonne of Alfred builded at Gladmouth This place I coniecture to haue stoode at the mouthe of that Riuer and thereof to haue béene called first Genlademouthe and afâ—erward by contraction and corruption of speach Glademouthe For to compound the name of a Towne out of the mouthe of a Riuer adioining was most familiar with our auncestours as the name Exmouthe was framed out of the Riuer Ex Dartmouthe of the water
may yet sée in the booke of Domesday it self which notwithstanding that it was written within a few yeares after the arriual of the Conquerour yet being penned by Normans it reteineth very few letters of the Saxon Alphabet Thus farre by occasion of the water Stoure in Suffolke as touching the course of our owne Riuer of the same caling which bothe giueth the present name of Stourey Stouremouthe and the olde name to Canterbury also I will referre you wholy to the Map of this Shyre VVingham BEsides the statelie and Princelike Palaices at Canterbury Maidstone Otford Knoll Croyden and Lamb-hythe which the Archbishops of this Shyre kept in their handes bothe to perfourme their set solemnities of housekeping and to soiourne at with their whole traines when they traueiled toward the Court and Parleament or remained for busines about the same they had also of auncient time diuers other Manor houses of lesse cost and capacitie planted in diuers partes of this Countrie in whiche they vsed to breathe themselues after their great feasts and affaires finished and to lodge at when they trauailed the Countrie to make their visitations Of this number amongst other were Foorde Charte Charing Charteham Tenham and this our Wingham at the whiche Baldwyne the Archebishop in the Reigne of King Henrie the second lay at suche time as he had contention with his couent of Christes Church for making a Chappell at Hakington as in fitte place you shall finde more largely disclosed In the meane season I will only tel you that as the Annales of Saint Augustines reporte when two of his Monkes came to this house on horsbacke in great hast to serue the processe of that suite vpon him he receiued the Processe dutifully but he caused them to dismount and to walke home on foote faire and softly At this house also King Edward the first rested for a seasō with Robert of Winchelsey then newly made Archebishop whilest he tooke order for the defence of the Sea Coastes charging bothe the spiritualtie and commons with horse and armour according to the quantities of their liuelyhoodes and possessions And here was he aduertised that one of his familie called Syr Thomas Turbeuille whom hee had sent into Gascoine with commission was fallen into the hands of the French King his enemie and imprisoned in Paris and that for his deliuerance he had conspired with the Frenche King and promised to betraie the King his maister wherevpon king Edward caused suche diligent watche to be laide for him that he was taken and suche speedie and seuere iustice to be executed vpon him that he was foorthwith condemned drawen thorowe London and hanged on liue Of this man a Poet of that age alluding to his name made this verse folowing and some other Turbat tranquilla clam Thomas Turbida Villa c. Our things now in tranquillitie Thom. Turbuill troubleth priuilie It is no small token of the auncient estimation of this place that it giuethe the name to the whole hundrethe in whiche it is situate for that is moste vsuall bothe in this Shyre and elswhere that the whole territorie be it Lathe Wapentake or Hundreth most commonly beareth the name of some one place moste notable and excelling other within the same at the time of the name imposed although happely at this day some other place doe muche excéede it To make an end here was sometime a religious College the gouernour whereof was called a Prouost whiche I suppose to haue béene founded by some of the Archebishops and I finde to haue béene valued at fourescore and foure pounds of yearely reuenue Watling streete in Saxon ƿeatlingastrete of one Weatle whome the printed booke of Mat. West calleth vntruly Wading KIng Molmutius the Brittish Solō first Law maker decréed amongst other things that such as were found praying in the Temple labouring at the plough or trauailing in the highe waies should not be impeached by any officer but that they should enioy peaceable fréedome and libertie bothe for their goods persons But forasmuche as he had not in his life time described those wayes that he would haue thus priuileged great contention arose after his death which wayes should be taken for highe and royall and whiche not and therefore Belinus his Sonne and successor to cease all controuersie limited in certaine foure especiall highe wayes whereof the first was called Erming-streete and lead after the opinion of some from South-hampton to S. Dauids in Wales or as others write to Carlile in the Northe the second was named Fosseway and extended from Cathnes in the North of Scotland to Totnes a cape of Cornewall The third Ikeneled or as others write it Rekeneld and reached from East to West as Huntingdon affirmeth but as others will from Tinmouth to S. Dauides whiche is from Northeast to Southwest Watlingstreete where we nowe are was the fourth and it beganne at Douer after the opinion of Ralfe Higden passed through the midst of Kent crossed the Thamise at the West end of London howbeit others to whom I rather incline thinke that it ranne through London and there left the name to Watlingstreet there frō thēce to S. Albons Dūstable Stretford Towcester Lilburne Wrecken thence ouer the riuer of Seuerne to Stretton so through the midst of Wales to Cardigan and to the banke of the Irishe Sea. And this is the common and receyued opinion although in deede there be diuers touching the firste beginning and description of this way But Simon the Chaunter of Durham and he that made the continuation to the Hystorie of Asserus Meneuensis both very good authours ascribe bothe the beginning and the name also of this way to the sonnes of a Saxon King whome they called Weatle which their opinion as I doe not greatly receiue bycause I finde not that name Weatle in any Catalogue of the Kings that I haue seene So will I not rashely reiecte it for the estimation that I otherwise reteine of the writers them selues But doe leaue the Reader to his frée choice to take or leaue the one or the other And as there is difference concerning the first beginning and name of this way So al agrée not in the trace and true course of the same For Henrie the Archedeacon of Huntingdon affirmeth that it stretched from Douer to Chester And this Simon reporteth that it extended it selfe from the East Sea to the West Whiche third and laste opinion may well inough stand eyther with the firste or the seconde But nowe as touching this priuilege graunted by Molmutius althoughe it continue not altogether in the same plight yet some shadowe thereof remaineth euen to this daye as by the lawes of King Edward the Confessour whiche confirmed the protection of the foure wayes by name and by the Statute of Marlbridge whiche forbiddeth distresses to be taken in any the Kings highe wayes or common stréetes and by the Statute called Articuli Cleri whiche commaundeth that such as
King for many pointes of great enormitie and especially for the treason whiche he had imagined with certaine Earles and Noble men to the end that they should displace the King from the seate of his Kingdome and place his sonne Edward in his throne and cast the Father into perpetuall prison and when he could not deny the things obiected against him being stroken with an incredible feare and falling downe prostrate vpon the earth at the Kings feete that he might deserue to obtaine his fauour with weeping and wayling he submitted himselfe wholly to the Kings pleasure thus was that proude most hateful man to God brought lowe and humbled the whiche defiled throughout all England with the breath of his mouthe like an harlot the state of the Priesthode and Clergie and exercised intollerable tyrannie ouer the people and he whiche before writing vnto the King refused in his letters for pride to call him his Lord nowe being humbled both acknowledgethe and calleth him his Lord and King being made obedient and to serue him with great deuotion but yet against his will. Againe when as in the same yeare he was cited to appeare at Rome vpon complaint that he had wastfully spoyled the goods of his Churche and came to the Court to sue for licence to passe ouer the Seas the King as soone as he came to his presence and had moued his suite caused the presence chamber dore to be set wide open willed the standers by to giue eare and spake a loude to the Bishop in this manner as the same author reporteth Licentiam transfretandi quam a nobis postulare venisti libenter tibi concedimus reuertendi autem licentiam nullam damus memores doli ac proditionis quas in Parlemento Lincolniae cum Baronibus nostris in Regiam machinatus es Maiestatem cuius rei litera signo tuo sigillata testis est testimonium perhibet contra te euidenter Sed propter amorē beati Thomae Martyris Ecclesiae cui praees reuerentiam vindictam hucusque distulimus reseruantes eam Papae qui nostras iniurias vlciscetur vtpote speramus A protectione vero nostra te prorsus excludimus omnem gratiam negantes miserecordiam quia re vera semper immisericors fuisti Cumque Wintoniensis Episcopus pro eo intercederet Archiepiscopum Dominum suum esse diceret Rex affirmauit se omnium Praelatorum regni Regem Dominum esse principalem Wee willingly graunt you licence to passe ouer the Seas according as you are come to desire but to retourne again we giue you no licence at al being mindfull of the deceit and treason whiche you did practise with our Barons against our Kingly Maiestie in the Parleament at Lincolne of the whiche thing your letter signed with your owne seale is a witnes and euidētly giueth testimonie against you Howbeit for the loue of Saint Thomas the Martyr and for the reuerence of the Church ouer the which you are set we haue hither to differred the reuēge reseruing it to the Pope which as we hope wil make reuenge of our iniuries But we vtterly exclude you frō our protectiō denying you all grace mercy because in dede you haue alwais ben an vnmerciful mā And whē as the Bishop of Winchester made intercession for him said that the Archbishop was his Lord the King affirmed that he himself was the King and cheif Lord of al the Prelats of the Realm This I haue exemplified the more at large bothe to the end that you may sée how great a traitour to his Prince howe vnmercifull a tyrant to the Common people and howe foule a blemishe to the Ecclesiasticall order this Bishop was quite contrary to that which M. Polydore affirmeth of him and also that you may vnderstand what authoritie King Edward the first in plaine termes chalenged ouer his Cleargie not such as Anselme offered King William Rufus when he tooke Canterbury of his gifte saying Summo pontifici debeo obedientiam tibi consilium I owe my obedience to the highe Bishop and my counsel to you But suche as a true subiect oweth to his Liege King and lawful souereigne and suche as differeth no more from that which we at this day attribute to our Prince then Principalis Dominus and supremus Gubernator do varie in sunder And yet beholde the madnes of the time after the deathe of this Bishop the common people forsoothe resorted to his tumbe and would néedes haue made a Sainct of him had not the Sepulchre béen defaced and their follie staied by publique ordinance Chilham Castle in Saxon Cyleham that is the colde dwelling IN the allotment of Landes for the defence of Douer Castle whereof we haue before spoken Chilham fell to Fulbert of Douer who in consideration thereof vndertooke to finde at his owne charge fiftéene able Souldiours whereof thrée should warde in the Castle euery moneth by the space of 20. wéeks in the yeare I suspect that it came afterwardes to the possession of the Archebishop For I remember that I once read that King Iohn came thither to treate with Stephan Langton the Archebishop for reconciliation to be had betweene them Wye the word in Brittish signifieth an Egge WHat time king William the Conquerour endowed his Abbay of Battel in Sussex he gaue thervnto amongst other his Manour of Wye conteining at that time seuen hydes or ploughe landes and being before that time of the Demeasnes of the Crowne The Chronicles of Battell Abbay affirme that there were sometimes two and twentie Hundrethes subiect to the iurisdiction of this Towne whiche if it be true then as farre as I can reache by coniecture the territorie of Wye was the very same in compasse that nowe the Last of Screy or Sherwinhope describeth that is to say the fift part of this whole Shyre consisting of two and twentie Hundrethes in number The same King graunted to his Monks of Battel wrek of the Sea falling vpon Dengemarishe a portion of Wye and willed further by his Chart of donation that if any fish called a Craspeis that is Crasse pisse a great or royall fishe as whales or suche other which by the Lawe of Prerogatiue perteined to the King himselfe should happen to be taken there that the Monkes should haue it wholly And if it fortuned to arriue in any other mans land lying betwene Horsmede and Withburn that yet the Monkes should enioy the whole tongue and two third partes of the rest of the body Nowe in the Reigne of King Henrie his Sonne it fortuned that a shippe laden with the Kings owne goods was wrecked within the precinct of this libertie which his Officers would haue taken and saued to his vse but Geffray then Abbat of Battell withstoode them that so stoutly that the matter by complaint came to the Kings owne hearing who to make knowen how muche he valued his fathers graunt yéelded the matter wholy into the Abbats owne courtesie The same Storie
obserueth a thing touching Wreck or rather Varech as the custome of Normandie from whēce it came calleth it not vnworthy the recital that is that of auncient time if a ship were cast on shoare torne with tempest and were not repaired by suche as escaped on liue within a certaine time that then this was taken for Wreck and so vsed along the coast But Henrie the first sayth the booke disliking the iustice of that custome ordeyned that if from thēcefoorth any one thing being within the vessell arriued on liue then the ship and goods should not be seised for wrecke This decrée had force during all his reigne and ought of congruence to haue endured for euer Howbeit after his death the owners of lande on the Sea shoare shewing themselues more carefull of their owne gaine then pitifull of other mens calamities returned to the olde manner Which their vnmerciful couetise as I suppose prouoked king Edward the first by the statute that we call Westminster the first to make restitution of King Henries lawe whiche euen to this daye remayneth in force thoughe not altogether so heauie against poore men afflicted by misfortune of the Sea as that former vsage was yet in déede neyther so easie as Christian charitie would nor so indifferent as the lawes of other countries do afford And therfore I will leaue it as a thing worthy amongst other of reformation when God shall giue time There was at this place a College valued in the Recordes at ninetie thrée pounds of yearely reuenue In whiche king Edward the seconde after the buriall of his father and before his owne Coronation helde the solemnitie of a whole Christmas Motindene of Mod and dene ' that is the proude valley a name imposed as I thinke for the fertilitie I Haue not hitherto foūd any thing touching the house of Motindene in Hetcorne saue onely that the heade therof was called Minister and that the house it selfe was of the yearely value of sixtie poundes Neyther would I haue aforded it so much as paper or place here but only that you might vnderstande with what number of buildings varietie of sectes and plentie of possessions Poperie was in olde time prouided for and furnished No corner almoste without some religious house or other Their suites and orders were hardly to be numbred and as for their landes and reuenues it was a world to beholde them I finde that the yerely extent of the clere value of the Religious liuings within this Shyre amounted to fiue thousande poundes Bishoprickes Benefices Friaries Chaunteries and Sainctes offerings not accounted whiche thing also I doe the rather note to the ende that you may sée howe iuste cause is giuen vs bothe to wonder at the hoate zeale of our auncestours in their spirituall fornication and to lament the coldenesse of our owne charitie towardes the maintenaunce of the true spouse of Iesus Christ For if euer nowe moste truly is that verefied which the Poet long since sayde Probitas laudatur alget Canterbury is called in Saxon Cātparabyrig that is to say The citie or court of the men of Kent whiche also agreeth with the Brittishe worde Caer Kent signifying the Citie of Kent It is termed in Latine diuersly of some Doruernum and Daruernum of others Durouernum of some Dorobernia and of some Dorobrinia All whiche names Leland coniectureth to proceede eyther of the Riuer called Stowr as we haue shewed or else of the Brittishe worde Dour whiche signifieth water bycause the countrey thereaboutes is plentuously stored therwith One other late writer taketh it to be called Daruernum as if it were Dour ar guerne that is the water neare the Fenne or Marish TO the ende that confusion auoyded eche thing may appeare in his proper place it shal not be amisse to part the treatise of this Citie into twaine whereof the firste shall conteine the beginning increase and declination of the Citie it selfe The seconde shal set foorth the erection and ouerthrowe of the Religious houses and buildings within the same The authour of the Brittishe storie affirmeth that one Rudhurdibras or as some copies write it Lud Rudibras a King of the Britons almost nine hundreth yeares before the Incarnation of Christ builded a Citie whiche he called Carlem or as Henrie of Huntingdon in his recitall of the cient Brittishe Cities nameth it Caer Kent that is to say the Citie or rather the chiefe Citie of Kent For in the processe of the same Hystorie it appeareth in déed that at suche time as Vortiger King of the Brittons intertained the Saxon Captaines Hengist and Horsa he soiourned at Canterbury the heade Citie of all that countrie and that prerogatiue it reteined in the time of the Saxons them selues also For by the testimonie of Beda and Mathewe of Westminster it was when Augustine arriued in Kent Caput Imperij Regis Ethelberti the chiefe place in all the dominion of King Ethelbert To this Augustine the sade King gaue after a manner as I coniecture the Lordship or royaltie of the same citie For I reade as I haue before shewed that he gaue him his owne Palaice and builded another for him selfe at Reculuer and it is to be séene in the auncient Saxon lawes that of olde time the Archebishops had their Coynage within the Citie I finde also in the booke of Domesday that King Edwarde the Confessour had onely one and fiftie Burgesses whiche yealded him rent within this Citie and two hundreth and twelue other persons owing him suite and that the Castle of Canterbury and the residue of the inhabitauntes were subiecte to the Bishop and the Religious houses Howbeit the Bishops were neuer absolute owners hereof till the time of King William Rufus who as the Annales of Sainct Augustine say Dedit ciuitatem Cantuariae Anselmo ex solido quam Lanfrancus tenuerat ex beneficio This Citie since the vnion of the Kentishe kingdome to the West Saxon hath béene chiefly maynteined by two things Firste by the residence and hospitalitie of the Archebishop and Religious persons and then by the liberalitie and expence of such as either gadded to S. Thomas for helpe and deuotion or trauailed towardes the Sea side for their priuate affaires and businesse Amongst the Bishops Theodore a Grecian borne and the seuenth and last of those that came out of Italy Lanfranc the first Norman aduaunced by the Conquerour and Simon Sudburie that liued vnder King Edward the thirde haue béene the most beneficiall vnto it Of the whiche Theodore by licence of Vitelianus then Pope founded within the Citie a Schole or College wherein he placed Professours of all the liberall Sciences which also was the very paterne to the schole that Sigbert the King of Eastangle afterwarde builded but whether that were at Cambridge or at some other place besides within his kingdome I leaue to Doctour Caius of Cambridge and Maister Key of Oxforde to be disputed and to indifferent Readers to be adiudged The Reuerend father Mathew
the first yeares of King Henrie the seconds Reigne the Clergie of the Realme had committed aboue a hundreth seuerall murthers vpon his subiectes as it was infourmed him for remedie of whiche outrage the King by assent of his Nobilitie and Bishops of whiche number Thomas Becket himself was one tooke order at Claredowne that if any Clerke from thencefoorth committed felonie or treason he should first be degraded and afterward deliuered to the Lay power there to receaue as to his offence belonged Not long after it chaunced one Philip Broic a Chanon of Bedford to be apprehended for murther and to be brought before the temporal iustice where he not only shewed no remorse of the wicked fact but also in hope of Ecclesiasticall exemption gaue very euill language to the Iudge the Iudge complained therof to the King the Chanon belike made meanes to the Archebishop For the King no sooner endeuoured to put his Lawe in execution but the Archebishop bothe forgetfull of hâ—s duetie to God and his Prince and vnmindefull of his owne oth set him selfe against it affirming plainly that he neither could ne would suffer it Hereupon the Prince waxed wrothe and by litle and litle his indignation so kindeled by matter that the obstinacie of the Bishop daily ministred that in the end it was to hote for Becket to abide it Then speedeth he himself to Rome and poureth into the Holy Fathers bosome complaint of moste grieuous oppression extended against the Clergie The Popes Holynesse sory to discourage so good a Souldiour as the Bishop was and withal lothe to loose so mightie a friend as King Henrie was by letters and Legates praieth commaundethe persuadethe and threatneth reconciliation and attonement whiche after great a doe by the meanes of the Frenche King and other his instruments was in a sort brought to passe Then Thomas Becket retourneth with the Kings fauour into the Realme from whence he had six yeares before departed without licence and therefore without or rather against Lawe and immediately séeketh to reuenge himself vpon suche the Bishops as had in his absence assisted the king Whiche when the King being then in Normandie vnderstoode it chaunced him in greate griefe of minde to caste out some woordes that gaue occasion and hardines to Reginald Bere William Tracy Hughe Moruill Richard Bryton foure of his Gentlemen to addresse themselues for his reuenge These foure therefore passed the Seas came to Canterbury found out the Bishop followed him into his Churchâ— and vpon the Staires of the same did him very cruelty and dispitefully to deathe This shortly is the chiefe substance and circumstance of all this Tragedie drawne out of our owne Countriemen and Thomas his fauourers howsoeuer otherwise Erasmus led by some sinister information hathe reported it as shall hereafter appeare in Otford Wherein as I can not on the one side allowe this murther executed not by any publique Minister of Iustice but by a priuate and iniurious arme So on the other side I report me to al indifferent Godly Readers whether suche a lyfe deserued not suche a death and whether these Popishe Parasites that haue painted foorth his prayses make not themselues thereby parteners of all his pride and wilfull rebellion I might here rest long vpon diuerse other thinges concerning the King and this Archebishop namely how that he suffered the King to holde his stirup twise in one day in Normandie but in Prato Proditorum as Mathewe Parise very pretely writeth it Howe the King came with bare and bléeding féete to Canterbury to purge himselfe of the murther Howe he bared his body to the Monkes of this house and receaued of euery Religious Person there foure or fiue stripes in whiche selfe yeare by the way their whole churche was consumed with fire and some other matters besides which make manifestly for the proofe of great presumption in the Clergie and of vile abiection of the Princes of those dayes But bicause that I am fearefull that I growe to long I will leaue Saint Thomas him selfe and after a fewe woordes more of this Churche step ouer to Saint Augustines After Thomas this Church found thrée especiall mainteiners of the building William Courtney which by his Testament bequeathed one thousand Markes towards the amendment of the bodie of the Church the walles and the Cloister Thomas Arundel which erected one of the Bell Towers gaue fiue Belles and Christened them after the Popish manner And Henrie Chicheley who both repaired the librarie with books and building and did great cost vpon one of the Bell Towers also Nowe to Saint Augustines Augustine hauing thus established a Sée for him selfe and his successours obteined further of King Ethelbert for the better furtherance of the seruice that he had in hand a Churche that then stoode betwéene the walles of the Citie and S. Martines wherein the King himselfe vsed before to make his prayers and offer sacrifice to his Idoles This Church he purged from Prophane abuse name as they say and dedicated it to the seruice of God and to the honour of Saint Pancrace Neither ceassed he thus but shortly after intreated the same King to build a Monasterie in the soyle adioyning whiche he also appointed to the honour of Saint Peter and Saint Paule and placed Monkes therein This Monasterie in memorie of his benefite lost the first name and was euer after called Saint Augustines Nowe whereas the true meaning bothe of the King and Augustine was that this Church for so much as bothe then and long after it was not their manner to burie their dead within the walles of any Citie a thing forbidden of olde by the law of the twelue tables should be from thencefoorth a common Sepulchre to all their successours as well in the Kingdome as in the Archebishopricke yet suche was the fauour of the Bishops folowing Augustine towards their own church that in the processe of time Saint Augustines was defrauded of the Sepultures bothe of the one the other For in Brightwaldes dayes the buriall of the Kings was taken from it and Cuthbert the Archebishop in his life begged of King Eadbert that for the aduauncement of Sainct Iohns a newe Churche that he had erected for that purpose and for the execution of iudgements by the Ordale and whiche was afterwarde fired with the flame of Christes Churche wherevnto it was neare adioyning the Bishops also might from thencefoorth be buryed there And for the more suretie to attaine that his desire he tooke order in his life by othe of all his Couent that they shoulde suffer his corps to lye thrée dayes in the grounde after his death before any Bell shoulde be rong or other open solemnitie vsed that might notifie his departure to the Monkes of S. Augustines Onely Ieanbright the fourtéenth Bishop whom other copies cal Lambright was conueyed to the grounde at Sainct Augustines by this occasion After the death of Bregwine the Archebishop this Ieanbright then being Abbat of
so vsed the matter that he obteined iudgemēt for his part but he for all that neuer had execution by reasō that he died in his returne toward home yet you may here sée by the way that in those dayes there was no Lawe in England to rule the proude Prelacie withall no not so muche as in things méere Lay and temporall To be short the same King Hērie not long before the battel at Lewes in Sussex burned the Citie of Rochester and tooke this Castle by a soudaine surprise wherein he found amongst other the Countesse of Gloucester But it was not long before he stored the Castle with men of warre and restored the Ladie to her former libertie There was somtime neare to this Castle a Pryorie whereof the Earles of Gloucester and their Heires were reputed the first Authors and Patrones And in our memorie there was erected a faire Frée Schoole by the honest liberalitie of Syr Androw Iudde a Citizen and Maior of London whiche submitted the same to the order and ouersight of the company of Skinners there whereof himselfe had béene a member Round about the Towne of Tunbridge lyeth a territorie or compasse of ground commonly called the Lowy but written in the auncient Recordes and Hystories Pencata or Lenga and being in déede a French League of ground whiche as I finde in the Chronicles of Normandie was allotted at the first vpon this occasion following There was in Normandie a Towne and land therevnto adioyning called Bryonnie whiche was of the auncient possession of the Dukedome and had continually remained in the handes of the Dukes there till suche time as Richard the second Duke of that name gaue it amongst other Landes to Godfrey his natural brother for his aduauncement in liuing This Godfrey enioyed it all his lyfe and left it to one Gislebert his Sonne whiche happely was Gilbert the Capitain of Tunbridge Castle of whom we had mention before who also held it so long as he liued But after the death of Gislebert Robert the Duke of Normandie and Eldest Sonne to King William the Conquerour beeing earnestly laboured to bestowe it vpon on Robert Earle Mellent whose ofspring were sometimes Earles of Leycester within this Realme seazed it into his owne hands pretending to vnite it to the Dukedome againe But when Richard the Sonne of Gislebert vnderstoode of this he put to his claime and making his title by a long continued possession euen from Godfrey his graundfather so encountred the suite of Earle Mellent that to stoppe Richards mouthe withall it was by the deuice of the Earle and by the mediation of Duke Robert which he made to his Brother William Rufus brought to passe that Richard should receaue in recompence the Town of Tunbridge in England and so much land about it as Bryonnie it selfe conteined in circuit And to the end that the indifferencie of the dealing might appeare and his full satisfaction be wrought they caused Bryonnie and the land about it to be measured with a line whiche they afterward brought ouer with them into England and applying the same to Tunbridge and the land adioyning laide him out the very like in quantitie in so much that long time after it was a common and receaued opinion in Normandie that the Leagues of Bryonnie and Tunbridge were all one in measure and compasse This together with the Towne and Castle came at the length as you haue séene to the handes of the Earles of Gloucester betwéene whome and the Archebishops of Canterbury there arose oftentimes contention bothe for the limits of this league and for the preeminence of their priuileges At the last Boniface the Archebishop next but one in succession after Richard of whome we spake before and Richard the Earle and Heire to Gilbert agréed in the reigne of King Henrie the third vpon a perambulatiō to be made betwéene them and so the strife for their boundes was brought to an end But as touching their priuileges and iurisdiction in the place it fell out by inquisition in the time of King Edward following that the Archebishop had nothing to do within the league that the Earle had returne of writtes creation of certain Officers an especiall sessions in Eire c most of whiche things the Towne hath not these many yeares enioyed But yet it was agréed after the perambulation so made betwéene Boniface and the Earle Richard that the Earle and his heires should holde the Manors of Tunbridge Vielston Horsmund Melyton and Pettys of the Archebishop and his successours by the seruice of 4. Knightes fées and to be highe Stewardes and highe Butlers to the Archebishops at the great feast of their inthronizations taking for their seruice in the Stewardship seuē competent Robes of Scarlet thirtie gallons of wyne thirtie pound of waxe for his light liuery of Hay and Oates for fourescore Horse by two nights the dishes and salt which should stand before the Archebishops in that Feast and at their departure the dyet of thrée days at the costes of the Archbishops at foure of their next Manors by the foure quarters of Kent wheresoeuer they would Ad minuendum sanguinem So that they repaired thither but with fiftie Horses only And taking also for the Office of Butlership other seuen like Robes 20 Gallons of wyne fiftie pound of waxe like liuery for thréescore Horses by two nights the cuppe wherewith the Archebishops should be serued all the emptie hogsheads of drinke and for sixe tunne of wyne so many as should be dronke vnder the barre also The Articles of whiche their composition were afterward accordingly perfourmed firste betwéene Gilbert Earle of Gloucester and Robert Winchelsey the Archebishop next betwéene the same Earle and the Archebishop Reignoldes Then betwéene Hughe Audley the Earle of Gloucester and the Archebishop Iohn Stratford After that betwéene the Earle of Stafford to whome the Lordship of Tunbridge at the length came and Simon Sudbury Archebishop in that Sée and lastly betwéene William Warham the Archebishop and Edward the late Duke of Buckingham who also executed the Stewardship in his owne person and the Butlership by his deputie Syr Thomas Burgher Knight the whole pompe and Ceremonie whereof I haue séen at greater length set forth and described then is méete for this time place to be recounted Asherst in Saxon Acsehyrst that is the Wood consisting of Ashes IN the Southwest corner of this Shyre towarde the confines of Sussex and Surrey lyeth Asherst a place now a daies so obscure for it is but a Towne of two houses that it is not worthy the visiting but yet in olde time so glorious for a Roode that it had of rare propertie that many vouchsafed to bestowe bothe their labour and money vpon it It was beaten forsooth into the heades of the common people as what thing was so absurde which the Clergie coulde not then make the world to beleeue that the Roode or Crucifix of this church did by certaine incrementes continually
appeared all by appointment at Eareth and there in the presence of their whole assembly Dunstane taking a crosse in his hand made a corporal oath vpon the booke of the Ecclesiastical lawes vnto the Shyreman whiche then tooke it to the Kings vse bicause Leofsun himselfe refused to receaue it and affirmed that the right of these landes was to Christes Churche and to Saint Androwes For ratification and credit of which his othe a thousand other persons chosen out of East and West Kent Eastsex Midlesex and Sussex tooke their othes also vpon the Crosse after him And thus by this manner of iudgement Christes Churche and Saint Androwes were brought into possession Leofsun vtterly reiected for euer The towne of Eareth is an ancient corporatiō but whether it hath béen at any time of greater accōpt I finde not therfore hauing alreadie declared in maner whatsoeuer it hathe note woorthie I will set down this one thing and leaue it Toward the latter end of the reigne of King Henrie the sixt there were taken at this Towne foure very great and rare fishes of whiche one was then named to be Mors Marina another a sword fishe and the rest were supposed to be Whales Crayforde in Saxon Creccanford that is the Ford or passage ouer the water Crecca now called Cray AFter the death of Horsa of whome we haue spoken in Ailesford before The Saxons made his brother Hengist their only King and leader And he minding foorthwith to shewe himselfe woorthie of his newely attayned Honour and willing to supplie in himselfe the defect of his deceased Brother pursued the Britons fiercely and gaue them sundrie great encounters in diuers of whiche although he sped doubtfully yet at the last méeting with them at Crayford he slewe foure of their chief capitaines and so discomfited the whole number that the Britons quite abandoned this Countrie and with great feare fled to London before him After this fight the Britons not only neuer inuaded Hengist as Ralfe Higden writeth but fled him like fire as the Saxon Hystorie reporteth so that euen then and not before it might truely be saide that he had gained the possession of the Kentish Kingdome The place is named of the water Cray whiche beginning at Orpington vntruely so termed for Dorpendun whiche signifieth the head or spring of the Hille water runneth by Saint Marie Cray Poules Cray Fotescray and Crayford to all whiche it likewise giueth name and commeth at length to Dartford where it mingleth with the Riuer Darent and so openeth into the Thamise Dartforde in Saxon Derentford in latine Derenti vadūtit signifieth the ford or passage ouer the Riuer Derent NOw be we retourned into Mesopotamia for so me thinketh that this countrie lying betwene the Riuers of Darent and Medwey may wel be termed And here you must call to minde that whiche you heard in Rochester before namely that King Iohn wan the Castle of Rochester from William Dalbyney through the faint heart and cowardize of Robert Fitzwalter whom the Nobilitie had sent of purpose to rescue it now the place so requiring you shal vnderstand the whole maner of the thing and how it hapned The Noble men that mainteined the warre against King Iohn vnderstanding that he laide siege to the Castle at Rochester and fearing that William Dalbiney or Dalbinet the Capitaine thereof could not long defend it without supplie of suche thinges as he wanted and they could not well minister determined to giue some aduenture to raise the siege And for that purpose made Robert Fitzwalter generall of a greate armie This man when he came to Dartford mette with a Gentleman of the order of the Temple of whō he demaunded sundrie questions for intelligence of the numbre of the Kings campe Who finding him to be afraide tolde him of set purpose that the Kings armie was muche greater then his whereas in déede his power was thrise so bigge as the Kings Here vpon Robert being with this false terrour stricken into an excéeding great feare whose companion is flight as Homer well saithe without further inquisition sought to saue him selfe by the swiftnes of his féete and so through fainte heart left Rochester to the vttermost aduenture If King Iohn had followed I thinke it would haue become of him as it sometime chaunced of a certaine white liuered man who hearing great praise of Hercules strengthe forthwith conueyed himself into a caue and when he had spied him by chaunce passing that way he died out of hand for extreame feare I read that in the time of King Henrie the third Frederic the Emperour sent hither the Archebishop of Colein accompanied with sundrie Noble personages to demaunde Isabell the Kings sister to be giuen him in marriage the whiche for asmuche as the Embassadours liked the young Ladie well was after suche a solemnization as in absence may be perfourmed married vnto him at this Towne and then deliuered to the Orators to be caried ouer Whereby I make coniecture that although there be not in storie mention of any great building at Dartford before the time of the Abbay whiche was raised long after this marriage yet there was some faire house of the Kings or of some others euen at this time there For otherwise I knowe not howe to make it a méete place for so honourable an appointment But leauing all coniecture certaine it is that afterward King Edward the third founded there a faire Monasterie for women which at the general dissolution was founde to be woorth thrée hundreth and eightie pounds by yeare and of whiche King Henrie the eight not without great cost made a fit house for himselfe and his successours The same King Edward the third at one time in his returne from Fraunce proclaimed a generall Torneament or Iustes to be holden at Dartford whiche he and his Nobles perfourmed moste honourablie This manner of exercise beeing then vsed not at the Tilte as I thinke but at Randon and in the open field was accompted so daungerous to the persons hauing to do therein that sundrie Popes had forbidden it by decrée and the Kings of this Realme before King Stephan would not suffer it to be frequēted within their land so that suche as for exercise of that feate in armes were desirous to proue themselues were driuen to passe ouer the Seas and to performe it in some indifferent place in a forreigne Countrie But afterward King Stephan in his time permitted it and then after him King Richard the firste not only allowed it but also encouraged his Nobilitie to vse it And so by litle and litle the danger being sufficiently prouided for and the men waxing expert it grewe in the time of the Kings that followed especially in the reigne af this Edward the third to a moste pleasaunt vsuall and familiar pastime But to returne to Dartford againe The first motiue of the rebellious assembly of the Common people of this Shyre
great cost vpon it that he might be thought rather to haue raised a new house in the place then to haue repayred the olde for he left nothing of the firste worke but onely the walles of a hall and a chapell Thus farre out of Erasmus Wherein first by the waye you may espie the reason that moued King Henrie the eight to take that house by exchaunge from the Archebishop namely bicause Warham not contented to continue it a plaine house fit to withdrawe him selfe vnto for contemplation and prayer had so magnificently enlarged the same that it was nowe become méete to make a Palaice for a Kings habitation and pleasure But let vs come to our matter You sée here that Erasmus maketh this house the matter and motiue of all the contention that was betwéene the King and the Archebishop whiche if it be so then haue not I faythfully dealt in laying the cause thereof to be suche as appeareth in Canterbury before and consequently I haue too too much abused the Reader But for a short aunswere hereto I do eftsoones auowe that not onely William of Newburgh Roger Houeden and Mat. Parise whome chiefly I haue followed in this storie and which al were eyther meÌ„ liuing when the matter was in hande or borne immediatly after do plainely testifie with me that the ordinaunces made at Clarendune were the very subiect and motiue of all that strife but also the whole number of our hystoriens following yea and the very authours of the Quadriloge it selfe or song of foure parts for they yealde a concent though it be without Harmonie do all with one pen and mouth acknowledge the same Amongst the râ—ste Polydore sheweth him selfe excéeding angry with some that had blowne abroad some such like sound of the cause of this great hurley burley for he sayth plainely that they were Amentiae pleni qui deblaterabant Thomam conseruandarum possessionum causà tantum iniuriarum accepisse starke madde which babbled that Thomas did receiue so many iniuries for sauing of his possessions But for all this to the ende that it may fully appeare bothe that Erasmus hath said somwhat and also from whence as I suppose this thing was mistaken I praye you heare the Quadriloge or storie of his life it self for that onely shall suffice to close vp the matter It appeareth by the authors of that worke that after suche time as the King and the Bishop had long contended and that with great heate about the Statutes of Clarendune that the Bishop vpon great offence taken had made thrée seuerall attempts to crosse the Seas towarde the Pope and was alwayes by contrarie winde repulsed and driuen to the lande againe The King in his iust indignation sought by all possible meanes to bridle his immoderate peuishnesse therefore first resumed into his owne handes al such honors and castles of his own as he had committed to the Bishops custodie TheÌ„ called he an assembly of al his Nobilitie bishops to NorthaÌ„pton castle where before them all he first charged Thomas with .500 l. that he had long before lent him for the repaiment wherof he ther coÌ„pelled him to giue fiue seueral sureties This done he called him to an account for .30000 Markes receiued of the reuenues of the crown during the time that he was Chancelour Now whiles the Archbishop was much troubled with this matter sometime denying to yeald any account at al somtime crauing respite to make a resolute aunswere but alwayes delaying the time and meditating howe to shifte the place there commeth on a time into his lodging the Bishops of London and Chichester who finding him at supper sayde vnto him worde for worde of the Quadriloge as followeth that is That they had founde out a way for peace and when the Archebishop had required vnder what forme they answered There is a question for money betweene you and the King If therefore you will assigne vnto the King your two Manors Otford and Wingham in the name of a pledge we beleue that he being therwith pacified will not only resigne you the Manors againe and forgiue you the money but also a great deale the sooner receiue you to his fauour To this the Archebishop replied The manor of Heche was somtime belonging to the Church of Canterburie as I haue hard which the King now hath in demeane And albeit that the only challenge of the thing is sufficient cause to haue it restored to the Church of Canterbury yet I do not loke that it will be doone in these times Neuerthelesse rather then I wil renounce the right which the church of Canterbury is sayd to haue in that Manor either for the appeasing of any trouble whatsoeuer or for recouerie of the Kings fauour I will offer this head of mine and touched it to any hazarde or daunger what soeuer it be The Bishops being angrie with this weÌ„t out from him and tolde the King of all and his indignation was sore kindled with it Thus muche out of the Quadriloge faithfully translated Nowe vpon the whole matter it appeareth first that the quarell was for the lawes of Clarendùne whiche yet depended and then that euen as a fire being once kindled the flame séeketh all about and imbraceth whatsoeuer it findeth in the way So the King being offended with the rebellion of this Bishop left no stone vntaken vp that might be hurled at him therefore brought in against him bothe debts accompts and whatsoeuer other meanes of annoyaunce Moreouer that this matter of Otford and Wingham for as you nowe sée it was not Otford alone was not at all tossed betwéene the King and the Archebishop but only moued by the pacifiers these two Bishops as a méete meane of reconciliation in their owne opinion and iudgement or if it may be thought that they were sent and suborned by the King himselfe with that deuise yet is it manifest that the right of the houses themselues were not desired but onely that they might remaine as a paine till the account were audited Neither if the gifte of this house would haue made an end of the strife doth it by and by followe that the contention was moued at the first about it And therfore as on the one side you may sée that Erasmus his reporte is but matter of Preface and no Gospell So yet on the other side it is euident that of such and so lustie a stomacke was this Archebishop that if former cause had not béene yet he could haue found in his hart to fall out with his Prince for this or a smaller matter For what would he not aduenture for a Manor or twaine in lawfull possession that would not sticke to hazard his head before he would release that right whiche he thought he had to a piece of land and that but only by hearesay or supposition But it is more theÌ„ time to make an end and therefore leauing Thomas and his house in the bottome let vs climbe the Hill
to his tenants any alteration of this olde custome and manner For as the pleading is Quod terrae praedictae sunt de tenura natura de Gauelkind euen so the trueth is that the present tenure onely guideth not the discent but that the tenure and the nature together do gouerne it And therefore as on the one side the custome can not attache or take holde of that which was not before in nature subiect to the custome that is to say accustomably departed So on the other side the practise of the custome long time cōtinued may not be interrupted by a bare alteration of the tenure And this is not my fantasie but the resolution of all the Iustices as Iudge Dalison him selfe hath left reported 4. 5. Philippi Mariae And also of the court 26. H. 8. 5. where it was affirmed that if a man being seised of Gauelkind lande holden in Socage make a gift in tayle create a tenure in Knights seruice that yet this land must descend after the custome as it did before the chaunge of the tenure Moreouer as the chaunge of the tenure can not preuaile against this custome So neither the continuance of a contrary vsage may alter this prescription For it is holden 16. E. 2. Praescription 52. in Fitzherbert that albeit the eldest sonne onely hath and that for manye discentes together entered into Gauelkynde lande and occupyed it without any contradiction of the younger brothers that yet the lande remayneth partible betwéene them when so euer they will put to theyr claime Againste whiche assertion that whiche is sayde 10. H. 3. in the title of Praescription 64. namely of the issue taken thus Si terra illa fuit partita nec ne is not greatly forceable For althoughe it be so that the lande were neuer departed in déede yet if it remayne partible in nature it may be departed when so euer occasion shall be ministred And therefore euen in the forme of pleading vsed at this day Quod terra illa a toto tempore c. partibilis fuit partita it is plainly taken that the worde partibilis onely is of substaunce and that the worde partita is but a word of forme and not materiall or trauersable at all Yea so inseparable is this custome from the lande in whiche it obteyneth that a contrarie discent continued in the case of the Crowne it selfe can not hinder but that after such time as the lande shall resorte agayne to a common person the former inueterate custome shall gouerne it As for the purpose Landes of Gauelkynde nature come to the Quéenes handes by purchase or by eschete as holden of her Manor of A. Nowe after her deathe all her sonnes shall inherite and diuide them But if they come to her by forfayture in Treason or by gifte in Parleament so that her grace is seised of them in Iure Coronae then her eldest sonne onely whiche shall be King after her shall inioye them In whiche case althoughe those landes whiche the eldest sonne being King did possesse doe come to his eldest sonne after him being King also and so from one to another by sundry discents Yet the opinion of Syr Anthonie Browne was 7. Elizab. that if at any time after the same landes be graunted to a common person they shall reuolte to their former nature of Gauelkynde and be partible amongst his heyres males notwithstanding that they haue runne a contrarie course in diuers the discentes of the Kings before But muche lesse maye the vnitie of possession in the Lorde frustrate the custome of Gauelkynde discent as it may appeare 14. H. 4. in the long Recordare Only therefore these two cases I doubt of concerning this point and therevpon iudge them méete to be inquired of That is to say first if a tenancie in Gauelkynd eschete to the Lord by reason of a Ceasser as hereafter it shall appeare that it may or if it be graunted vnto the Lord by the tenant without any reseruation which Lord holdeth ouer by fee of Haubert or by Serieancie both which I take to be Knights seruice whether now this tenancy be partible amongst the heires males of the Lord or no. For the auncient treatise of the Kentishe Customes so determineth but I wote not whether experience so alloweth The other dout is this if it be so that any whole towne or village in Kent hath not at any time that can be shewed bene acquainted with the exercise of Gauelkynde discent whether yet the custome of Gauelkinde shal haue place there or no. Towarde the resolution of which later ambiguitie it shal tende somwhat to shew how farre this custome extendeth it self within this our countrey It is commonly taken therefore that the custome of Gauelkind is generall and spreadeth it selfe throughout the whole Shyre into all landes subiect by auncient tenure vnto the same such places only excepted where it is altered by acte of Parleament And therfore 5. E. 4. 18. and. 14. H. 4. 8. it is sayd that the custome of Gauelkind is as it were a cōmon law in Kent And the booke 22. E. 4. 19. affirmeth that in demaunding Gauelkind lande a man shall not néede to prescribe in certeine and to shew That the Towne Borowe or Citie where the landes be is an auncient towne borowe or citie and that the custome hath bene there time out of mynd that the lands within the same towne borow or citie shuld descend to al the heires males c. But that is sufficient inoughe to shewe the custome at large and to say That the land lyeth in Kent and that all the landes there be of the nature of Gauelkynde For a writte of partition of Landes in Gauelkinde saithe Maister Litleton shal be as generall as if the landes were at the Common lawe although the declaration ought specially to conteine mention of the Custome of the Countrie This vniuersalitie therefore considered as also the straite bonde whereby the custome is so inseperably knit to the land as in manner nothing but an acte of Parleament can clearely disseuer them I sée not how any Citie Towne or Borowe can be exempted for the only default of putting the Custome in vre more then the Eldest Sonne in the case before may for the like reason prescribe against his yonger Brethren But here before I conclude this part I thinke good first to make Maister Litletons aunswere to suche as happely wil demaund what reason this custome of Gauelkinde discent hathe thus to diuide land amongst al the Males contrarie to the manner of the whole Realme besides The younger sonnes saith he be as good gentlemen as the Elder they being alike deare to theyr cōmon auncestor from whom they claim haue so much the more néede of their friendes helpe as through their minoritie they be lesse able then the elder Brother to help them selues secondly to put you in remembrance also of the statute of Praerogatina Regis Ca. 16. Where it
is said that Faeminae non participabunt cum Masculis The Females shall not diuide with the Males whiche is to be vnderstoode of such as be in equall degrée of kinred as Brother and Sisters c. For if a man haue issue thrée Sonnes the Eldest haue issue a daughter dye in the lyfe of his Father and the Father dyeth In this case it is holden that the daughter shall ioyne with the two other Brethren her Vncles for that she is not in equall degrée with them as her Father was whose heire she neuerthelesse must be of necessitie And nowe thus muche being spoken touching the name tenure nature generalitie necessitie reason and order of Gauelkinde it is woorthie the labour to shew of what qualitie the Rents Remainders Conditions Vouchers Actions and such other things of the which some be issuing out of these landes some be annexed vnto them and some be raised by reason of them shal be In whiche behalfe it may generally be said that some of them shal ensue the nature of the Land and some shal kéepe the same course that common Lawe hathe appointed But in particular it is to be vnderstoode that if a Rent be graunted in Fée out of Gauelkinde land it shal descend to all the Males as the land it self shall do And Ald. and Chart. in 7. E. 3. were of opinion that albeit a tenancie be of Gauelkinde nature yet the rent seruice by whiche that tenancie is holden might well be descendable at the common Lawe The like shal be of a Remainder of Gauelkinde land for if it be tayled to the Heires Males they altogether shall inherite it as Fitzherb Norwiche two Iustices thought 26. H. 8. 8. But that is to be vnderstoode of a discent only for if landes of Gauelkind nature be leassed for life the Remainder to the righte Heires of I. at Stile Which hath issue foure Sonnes dieth after the Leassée for life dieth nowe the Eldest Sonne onely of I. at Stile shall haue this land for he is right Heire and that is a good name of purchase 37. H. 8. Done. 42. en Maister Brook But if the lands had béen giuen to I. at Stile for life the remainder to his next Heire Male this had béen an estate taile in I. S. himselfe and then the Land as I take it should haue discended to all his Sonnes in so muche as in that case the wordes next Heire Male be not a name of purchase Howbeit it was greatly doubted 3. 4. Phil. Mariae as Iustice Dalison reporteth if a remainder be deuised by Testament Proximo haeredi masculo whether in that case the Eldest Brother only shall haue it in so muche as in the vnderstanding of the Lawe whiche is a Iudge ouer all Customes he is the next Heire Male and therefore inquire of it As touching Vouchers it appeareth 11. E. 3. that all the Heires in Gauelkind shal be vouched for the warrantie of their auncestour and not the eldest only But the opinion of Maister Litleton and of the Iustices 22. E. 4. is clearely that the Eldest Sonne only shal be rebutted or barred by the warrantie of the auncestour To be short the Eldest Sonne only shall entrée for the breach of a condition but the rest of the Brethren shal be ioyned with him in suing a writte of Attaint to refourme a false verdit or errour to reuerse an erronious iudgement And they all shal be charged for the debte of their auncestour if so be that they all haue Assetz in their handes But if the eldest only haue Assetz remaining and the residue haue aliened their partes then he only shal be charged after the minde of the Book 11. E. 3. Det. 7. And this also for this part at this time shal suffise Now a word or twain touching the trial of right in this Gauelkind land then forward to the rest of my purpose There be at the cōmō law two sorts of trial in a writ of Right by Battaile and by the Graund Assise of the which two this Custome excludeth the one altereth the other For Battail it admitteth not at al the Graund assise it receaueth not by the election of 4. Knights but of 4. Tenants in Gauelkind as it may be read in the auncient treatise of the Customes of this Countrie But whē I speake of the treatise of the Customes you must know I mean not the which was lately imprinted but an other with much more faith diligēce long since exemplified a Copie wherof you shal finde at the end of this Booke For not only in this part the wordes Ne soient prises per battail be cleane omitted in the imprinted Booke but in sundrie other places also the wordes be mangled the sentences be curtailed and the meaning is obscured as by conferrence of the variations it may to any skilfull reader moste easily appeare But all that I will referre to the sight and iudgement of suche as will searche and examine it and retourning to my purpose shewe you what belongeth to the Lorde of this Gauelkinde land by reason of this Custome And for bicause the Prince is chiefe Lorde of all the Realme as of whome all landes within the same be either mediatly or immediatly holden let vs first sée what right by reason of this custome belongeth vnto him If Tenant in Fée simple of Landes in Gauelkinde commit fellonie and suffer the iudgement of death therfore the Prince shall haue all his Chattels for a forfaiture But as touching the Land he shall neither haue the Eschete of it though it be immediatly holden of him self nor the Day Yeare and Wast if it be holden of any other For in that case the Heire notwithstanding the offence of his auncestour shall enter immediatly enioye the landes after the same Customes and seruices by whiche they were before holden in assurance whereof it is commonly saide The Father to the Boughe The Sonne to the Ploughe But this rule holdeth in case of Felonie and of murder only and in case not of treason at all And it holdeth also in case where the offendour is iustified by order of Law and not where he withdraweth himselfe after the faulte committed and will not abide his lawfull triall For if suche a one absent himselfe after proclamation made for him in the Countie and be outlawed or otherwise if he take Sanctuarie and doe abiure the Realme then shall his Heire reape no benefite by this Custome but the Prince or the Lorde shall take their forfaiture in suche degrée as if the Landes were at the common lawe Whiche thing is apparant both by the Booke 8. E. 2. abridged by Maister Fitzherbert in his title of prescription 50. And by 22. E. 3. fol. Where it is saide that this Custome shall not be construed by equitie but by a straight and literal interpretation And also by the plaine rehersal of the saide treatise of
the Customes it selfe And in this behalfe also some haue doubted whether the Brother or Vncle shall haue the aduantage of this Custome bicause the wordes thereof extend to the Sonne only but let vs procéede There belongeth moreouer due by the Tenant to each common person being his Lord of Land in Gauelkind Suite to his Court the oathe of fidelitie and the true doing and payment of all accustomed Rents Dueties and Seruices Also if the Tenant dye leauing his Heire within the age of fiftéene yeares the Lorde hathe authoritie to committe the nouriture of the body and the custodie of the goods and landes of the infant to the next of the kinred to whome the inheritance cannot descend But as neither the Lorde ought to take any thing for the custody neither to tender to the Heire any marriage at all So must he take good héede that he credit not the custodie to any person that shall not be able to answere therefore For if the Heire at his full age of fifteene yeares shall come to the Lordes Court and demaunde his inheritance although the Lord may distreine the Gardien to yeelde his accompt as it appeareth 18. E. 2. Auowrie 220. Yet in defaulte of his abilitie the Lord himselfe and his Heires remaine charged to the Heire for the the same Furthermore if the Tenant shall withdrawe from the Lord his due rents and seruices the custome of this Countrie giueth to the Lorde a speciall and solemne kinde of Cessauit and that after this manner The Lord after suche a Cessing ought by award of his thrée wéekes Courte to séeke from Courte to Court vntill the fourth Court in the presence of good witnesse whether any distresse may be found vpon the Tenement or No And if he can finde none then at the fourth Courte it shal be awarded that he shall take the Tenement into his handes as a distresse or pledge for the Rent and seruices withdrawne and that he shall deteine it one yeare and a day without manuring it within whiche time if the tenant come and make agréement with the Lord for his arrerage he shall enter into his tenement againe but if he come not within that space then at the next Countie Courte the Lord ought openly to declare all that his former procéeding to the end that it may be notorious which being done at his owne Courte next following the saide Countie it shal be finally awarded that he may enter into that Tenement and manure it as his proper demeane And that the forfaiture due to the Lord for this ceasser of his Tenant was fiue pounds at the least besides the arrerages it doeth well appeare by the olde Kentishe by word recited in the often remembred treatise of these Customes Neg he syth seald and Neg he syth geld And fiue pound for the were er he become healder That is to say Hathe he not since any thing giuen nor hathe he not sence any thing payd Then let him pay fiue pound for his were before he become tenant or holder againe But some copies haue the first verse thus Nigond sithe seld and nigon sithe gelde That is Let him nine times pay and nine times repay And here by the way it is to be noted that this word were in olde time signified the value or price of a mans lyfe estimation or countenance For before the Conquest each man in the Realme was valued at a certain sūme of money hauing regarde to his degrée condition and woorthinesse as is more at large shewed in the Table to the translation of the Saxon lawes wherevnto for this purpose I will send you This custome of Cessauit is set foorth in the treatise of Customes and hathe béene allowed of as Maister Frowike 21. H. 7. 15. reported in time passed but whether it be also at this day put in vre I cannot certainely affirme But nowe as these aduantages arise to the Lorde from his Tenant So on the other side the Lord also ought to suffer his Tenant to enioy the benefite of such customes as make for his auaile And therefore first he ought to let him alien his land at his owne pleasure without suing to him for licence He ought also to be contented with one suite to his Court for one tenement althoughe the same happen to be diuided amongst many of verie right also he ought to admit an Essoine if any be cast for the Tenant whether it be in a cause of Plainte or for common suite to his Courte And lastlie he may not exacte of him any manner of othe other then that of Fidelitie whiche groweth due by reason of his Tenure And thus leauing the Lorde and his Tenant let vs come to the husband and the wife and first shew what courtesie the husband shal finde by order of this custome after the death of his wife that was seised of landes of Gauelkind tenure and then what benefite the wife may haue after the decease of her Husband dying seased of Landes of the same kinde and nature The Husband saith our treatise of Gauelkind Custome shall haue the one halfe of suche Gauelkind land wherein his wife had estate of inheritance whether he had issue by her or no And shall holde the same during so long time as he wil kéepe him selfe widower and vnmarried For if he marrie he looseth all Neither may he committe any waste more then Tenant by the courtesie at the common lawe may So that one way namely in that he shall haue his wiues land for lyfe thoughe he neuer had issue by her this our Custome is more courteous then the common lawe but an other way I meane in that he shall haue but the one halfe and that with a prohibition of second marriage it is losse beneficiall Howsoeuer it be it holdeth place and is put in practise at this day The wyfe likewyse after the death of her Husband shall haue for her lyfe the one moitie of all such landes of Gauelkind tenure whereof her Husband was seised of any estate of inheritance during the couerture betwéene them Of whiche Custome also though it excéede common measure the common lawe of the Realm bearing alwaies speciall fauour to Dower hath euermore euen hitherto shewed good allowance Neuerthelesse as tenant by the courtesie after this Custome had his cōditiōs annexed so tenant in Dower by the same Custome wanteth not some conditions following her estate One that she may not marrie at all an other that she must take diligent héede that she be not found with Childe begottē in fornicatiō For in either case she must loose her Dower But yet so that lawful matrimonie is by a meane contrarie to the Apostolique permission vtterly forbidden And the sinne of secret Lecherie according to the Popishe Paradoxe Si non caste tamen caute is in a sorte borne and abidden Seing that by this custome she forfeiteth not in this later case vnlesse the childe be borne and heard to crye and
that of the countrey people assembled by hue and crye For then sayth the custome Se that his wende Se his lende But corruptly for in true Saxon letters it stādeth thus Se þat Hire ƿende Se Hire lende That is to say He that dothe turne or wende her Let him also giue vnto her or lende her And thus the custome making like estimation of both the cases depriueth her of her liuing as well for honest marriage as for filthy fornication In whiche behalfe as I must néedes confesse that the later condition hath reason bycause it tendeth though not fully to the correction of sinne and wickednesse So yet dare I affirme that the former is not onely not reasonable but meerely leud and irreligious also For although the Ethnickes did so much magnifie wydowhood that as Valerius reciteth Faeminas quae vno matrimonio contentae erant corona pudicitiae honorabant and although that the common law also being directed by the Popishe Clergie whiche therin followed the errour of Ierome dothe in another case by the name of Bigamie dislike of a womans seconde marriage Yet Sainct Paule sayth plainely Mulier si dormierit maritus eius libera est vt cui vult nubat modò in Domino But yet for all this séeing that our treatise of vsages reciteth it séeing also that common experience of the countrey approueth it and that the common lawe of the Realme as it may be read Praerogatiua Regis Cap. 16. 2. H. 3. in Praescription 59. admitteth it let vs also for this place and purpose be cōtented to number it amongst our customes and so procéed with the residue It appeareth by that whiche is already sayde that the common lawe and this custome differ in two things concerning Dower One in that the common lawe giueth but a thirde parte whereas the custome vouchsafeth the halfe Another in that this custome giueth conditionally whereas the gifte of the common lawe is frée and absolute Nowe therefore there remaine to be shewed certeine other pointes wherein they varie also As if the husband commit Felonie at the common law his wife hath lost her title of Dower but by the custome of this countrey she shall not loose her Dower for the faulte of her husbande but only in suche case where the heire shall loose his inheritance for the offence of his father Which thing is manifest both by the treatise of our Kentishe customes and by the opinion of the Court 8. H. 3. Praescription 60. At the common lawe also the wife shall be endowed of a possession in lawe but as me thinketh she shall haue no Dower by this custome but onely of suche landes whereof her husband was actually and really seised For the wordes be Des tenements dount son Baron morust seiset et vestu which word vestu being cleane omitted in the imprinted booke inforceth a possession in déede and not in lawe only And therefore if landes in Gauelkinde descend to a married man whiche dyeth before he make his entrie into the same inquire whether it be the manner to endowe his wife therof or no for vse is the only Oracle that in this case I can sende you vnto Againe at the common law a woman shal be endowed of a faire or of any such other profit But for as muche as the wordes of this customarie Dower be terres tenements and for that all customes shall finde a literall and streight interpretatiō the opinion of Maister Parkins is that no Dower lyeth of a faire by this custome Furthermore if the wife recouer her Dower at the common law she ought of necessitie to be endowed by metes and boundes But in Dower after this custome sayth the same authour she may very well be endowed of a moitie to be holden in common with the heire that inioyeth the other half Lastly this custome besides Dower of the one halfe of the husbandes lande prouideth Dower of the moitie of suche goods also as he dyed possessed of if he had no children and of the thirde part though he leaue issue wheras the common lawe at the least in common practise at this day hath no consideration of any suche endowmēt These then be the differences betwéene the common lawe of the Realme and the particular custome of this countrey concerning Dower the comparison whereof and whether sort of Dower is more beneficiall I will not now attempt and much lesse take vpō me to determine least I my selfe might séeme rashly to preiudicate in another thing wherin I most gladly desire to be iudged by other men namely whether a woman intituled to Dower in Gauelkind may waine her Dower of the moitie after this custome and bring her action to be endowed of the thirde at the common lawe and so exempt her selfe from all danger of these customarie conditions or no The Resolution of whiche doubte will depend chiefly vpon comparison whether it be more aduauntage to her to haue the thirde at the common lawe absolutely or the moitie by the custome conditionally For if the Dower at the common law be better for her then it séemeth reasonable that she should stande to the worse whiche is the custome euen as tenant by the curtesie must take the moitie that the custome giueth and not aske the whole as Common lawe appointeth And yet thereto it may be replyed that the cases be not like for so muche as that of Dower is much more to be fauoured I my selfe once heard two reuerend Iudges of opinion that the woman was at libertie to aske her Dower of the Thirde or of the Moitie But bycause it was vttered by them in a passage of soudaine speache and not spoken vpon studied argument I will not vse the authoritie of their names to get the matter credite with all but leaue it at large to be better inquired of After the husbande and the wife there followeth next in order of our diuision the childe and his Gardein whom also since they be Relatiues as the other be and that their interests carrie a mutuall and Reciproquè eye eche hauing respect to other we will likewise couple together in one treatise And bycause the custome was wont to commit the custodie not of the landes only as the common lawe doth but of the goods and chattels also we will first shewe what portion of goods did growe to the childe by the death of his parent The manner of this countrey somtime was as it appeareth by our olde treatise that after the funeralles of the deade man perfourmed and his debts discharged the goods should be diuided into thrée equall portions if he lefte any lawfull issue behinde him of whiche three one parte was alotted to the deade for performance of his legacies another to the children for their education and the thirde to the wife for her sustentation and maintenance But if he had no children left on liue then was the diuision into two partes onely of whiche the one belonged to the wife
of the first and second point of their assertion doe builde vpon the wordes of our written Custome where it is saide Del heure que ceux heirs de Gauelkinde soient ou ount passe lage de 15. ans list a eux lour terres tenementes Doner Vender in whiche the wordes Ceux Heires doe restraine the Infant that commeth in by Purchase And Doner Vender in the copulatiue for so they lye in déede though the imprinted booke haue thē disiunctiuely doe of necessitie implye a recompence for as muche as Vendere cannot be Sine precio And for maintenance of the third matter they haue on their part besides the common vsage of their owne Countrie the common lawe of the whole Realme also which expoundeth the word Doner to meane a Feoffment as I haue before shewed and whiche not onely disaloweth of any gifte made by an infant but also punisheth the taker in trespas vnlesse he haue it by liuerie from the infantes owne handes Thus haue I runne ouer suche customes as by meane of this Gauelkinde tenure doe apperteine eyther to the Lorde or the Tenant the husbande or the wife the childe or the Gardein To these I will adde as I promised confusedly a fewe other things of the whiche some belong generally to the Kentishe man throughout the whole Shyre Some to the inhabitants of some particular quarter of the countrie and some to the tenants in Gauelkinde onely and to none other It appeareth by claime made in our auncient treatise that the bodyes of all Kentishe persons be of frée condition whiche also is confessed to be true .30 E. 1. in the title of Villenage 46. in Fitzherbert Where it is holden sufficient for a man to auoide the obiection of bondage to say that his father was borne in the Shyre of Kent But whether it will serue in that case to saye that him selfe was borne in Kent I haue knowne it for good reason doubted It séemeth by the same treatise that suche persons as helde none other lande then of Gauelkinde nature be not bounde to appeare vpon Sommons before the Iustices in Eire otherwise then by their Borsholder and foure others of the Borowe a fewe places only excepted The like to this Priuilege is inioyed at this day in the Sherifes Lathe where many whole Borowes be excused by the onely apparance of a Borsholder and two foure or sixe other of the inhabitants Furthermore I haue read in a case of a written report at large of .16 E. 2. whiche also is partly abridged by Fitzherbert in his title of Praescription that it was tried by verdite that no man ought to haue commen in landes of Gauelkinde Howbeit the contrarie is well knowne at this day and that in many places The same booke sayeth that the vsage in Gauelkind is that a man maye lawfully inchase or driue out into the highe way to their aduenture the beastes of any other person that he shal finde doing damage in his land and that he is not compellable to impounde them which custome séemeth to me directly against the rule of the common lawe But yet it is practised till this present daye The Parleament 15. H. 6. 3. minding to amplifie the Priuileges of Gauelkinde graunted to the tenants of that lande exemption in Attaints in suche sort as the inhabitants of auncient demeane and of the Fiue Ports before had But within thrée yeares after vpon the complaint of some of the Gentz of the Countrie whiche infourmed the Parleament house that there was not in the whole Shyre aboue the number of 30 or 40. persons that helde to the value of 20. li. land out of Gauelkinde who in default of others and by reason of that exemption were continually molested by returnes in Attaintes that Acte was vtterly repealed The Satute .14 H. 8. Cap. 6. giueth libertie to euery man hauing high way through his Land in the Weald that is worne déepe and incommodious for passage to lay out an other way in some suche other place of his land as shal be thought méete by the viewe of two Iustices of the Peace and twelue other men of wisedome and discretion Finally the generall Lawe made 35. H. 8. 17. For the preseruation of Copies woodes thorough out the Realme maketh plaine exception of all woodes within this Weald vnlesse it be of suche as be common Thus muche concerning the customes of this oure Countrie I thought good to discourse not so cunningly I confesse as the matter required nor so amplie as the argument would beare for so to doe it asketh more art and iudgement then I haue attained But yet sufficiently I truste for vnderstanding the olde treatise that handleth them and summarily inough for comprehending in manner whatsoeuer the common or Statute lawe of the Realme hath litterally touching them whiche is as muche as I desired Now therefore to the end that neither any man be further bound to this my discourse vpon these customes then shal be warranted by the Customes thēselues neither yet the same customes be henceforth so corruptly caried about as hitherto they haue béene but that they may at the length be restored to their auncient light and integritie I will set downe a true and iust transcript of the very text of them takē out of an auncient and faire written roll that was giuen to me by Maister George Multon my Father in lawe and whiche some time belonged to Baron Hales of this Countrie I wil adioyne also mine owne interpretation in the English not of any purpose to binde the learned vnto it but of a desire to infourme the vnlearned by it Kent Ces These sount are les the vsages vsages les and custumes customes les the ques which le the comunaute comunalty de of Kent Kent cleiment claimeth auer to haue en in the tenementz Tenements de of Gauylekende Gauelkinde e en in gentz the men of Gauilekendeys Gauelkind * allowes en Eire Iohn de allowed in Eire before Iohn of Berewike Berwike e sos compagnions and his cōpanions Iustices the Iustices en in Eire Eire en in Kent Kent le the 21. 21. an yeare le of Roy Ed. fitz le Roy Henrie * Cestascauoir que toutes les King E. the Sonne of King Henrie * That is to say that all the cors bodies de of Kenteys Kentishe seyent men frācz be free auxi aswell come as les the autres other fraūz free bodies cors of Dengleterre England Et que ilz ne duiuent le eschetour le Roy And that they ought not the Eschetor of the King to elire chuse ne nor vnkes euer en in nul any temps time ne fesoint mes le Roy prengne ou did they But the King shall take or face prendre tiel come luy plerra de ceo qui soit cause to be taken suche an one as it shall please him to serue him mistier a luy seruir Et
at the Sea. The College The value of the Religious houses in this Shyre The Citie when it began The olde Schole at Canterbury The decay of Canterbury and other places Continuall contention betweene the two great houses in Canterbury Christes-Churche in Canterbury Thomas Becket the Archbishop his hystorie Saint Augustines The deade in old time were buried out of the Cities Popishe braules S. Maries in Canterbury The Saints and Reliques at CaÌ„terbury S. August Thomas Becket had two heads S. Gregories in Canterbury S. Laurenceâ— Hospitall S Iames Hospitall S. Sepulchers White friars S. Mildredâ— The Bishops Palaice S. Martines was a Bishops See. S. Sepulchres by CaÌ„terbury The Monkes coÌ„tend with the Archbishop and do preuaile The vanitie of Man and the subtilty of the Deuill be the cause of Idolatrie Saint Thomas Beckets Relique The olde manner of nameing men Maude the Empresse true Heire to the Crowne Bartholmew Badelesmere Thomas Colpeper The Pryory at Leeds By what meanes the Archebishops chair came to 〈…〉 The Deanrie of shorâ—ham A Popishe myracle Monkes contend for the electioÌ„ of the Bishop SaÌ„int Cuthbertes feast why holdeÌ„ double Bishops Sees are translated from Villages to Cities The Catalogue of Rochester Bishops The Harborowe of the Nauie Royall The benefites that God hathe giuen this Realme in the Reigne oâ— Queene Elizabeth A barbarous crueltie executed vpon Straungers Excessiue drinking and how it came into England Great troupes of seruing men came in with the Normanes The cause of the Conquest of Enlande Harold the King. The vncurtesie of the English natioÌ„ toward straungers Busyris was a tirant that sacrificed straungers and was therefore slaine by Hercules Our Lady the Rode of ChethaÌ„ Gillingham Horsted borne in Ailesford Hengist Horsa two famous Capitaines A religious Skirmish betwene the Monkes of Rochester and the Brethren of Stroude Friendsbury clubbes Eslingham Appropriations of benefices The Citie The Castle S. Andrews Church in Rochester Priests had wiues in England of olde time Saint William of Rochester Saint Bartholmewes Hospitall Rochester Bridge both the olde the newe Syr Robert Knolles a valiant Capitaine The Hospitall The beginning of this scoffing by word Kentishe tailes Angle Queene Many kinges at once in Kent The olde manner of Signing Sealing of deedes Fernham The Danes compelled to take the Thamise The Danes are chased from Otforde Earle Edrie an infamus traytour A noble example of Kinge Edmunde Ironside The names of Townes ending in ing The Abbay The Solaces of Solâ— life The Castle The Cleargie was law lesse The Pryorie at Tun-Bridge The Low the of Tunbridge 42. H. 3. The Archebishop hath an Earle to his Butler The Rooâ—â— of Asherst was a growing Idole The masters of the nauie Royal. Alphey the Archbishop was cruelly slaine A popish minde 32. Shyres in England Great suÌ„mâ— of money paied to the Danes The Priorie of Shene The frierie The Palaice The rebellion of Iack Straw The rebellion of Iack Cade The rebellion of the black smith Lord Richard Lucy The ancient manner of the triall of right to Landes Wager of Lawe Hengist Horsa The beginning of the Kentishe Kingdome Orpenton the course of Cray water Mesopotamia signifieth a couÌ„try encompassed with riuers Rochester castle beseiged Princes may wooe by picture and marye by proctor The Abbay The old maner of Tourneament The occasion of Iacke Strawes his rebellion The courâ—â— of the riuer of Derent The name of Portreue whereof it commeth The name of Sherife London had a Portreue The office of a Reue. A learned age in which priestes had more latine theÌ„ english and yet almost no latine at all The order of this description The Manour The church of S. Hildeferthe The auncient forme of a Testament The auncient estate of a Gentleman and by what meanes gentle was obteyned in the olde time The degres of Freemen Earl Thein and Churle Alderman ShiremaÌ„ c were names of offices Wisdom is more profitable when it is ioyned with riches Merchandize and Husbandrie 1. The worship of many Gods. Saint Edith and her offering The olde newe Romanes agre in many points of religion S. Thomas Beckets spiteful miracles S. Bartilmew of Otford and his offering The Palaice at Otford Cardinall Morton Erasmus doth misreporte the cause of the contention between the King and Thomas Becket The Manor of WinghaÌ„ Reigate Castle in Surrey The Schole and Almes house The Town The name Gauelkind wherof it arose To shift laÌ„d is an olde terme The antiquitie of Gauelkind custome The diuisioÌ„ of this discourse What lands be of Gauel kind nature Some Knight fee is Gauelkinde Auncient Knight fee is not of the nature of Gauelkynd The change of Gauelkind tenure is no chaÌ„ge of the nature of Gauelkind A contrarie vsage changeth not the nature of Gauelkinde HeaHbeorg in Saxon is a high defence and the customs of NormaÌ„die that cal fieâ—e or fee de Haubert whiche oweth to defend the laÌ„d by full armes that is by horse haubert target sword or helme and it consisteth of 300. acres of land which is the same as I suppose that we called a whole Knights fee * The custome of Gauelkind is vniuersall in Kent The reason of Gauelkinde Custome What thinges shal ensue the nature of the land Rent Remainder Voucher Condition Attaint and Error No battail nor graund Assise in gauelkinde Forfaiture in Felonie Cessauit in Gauelkind Tenant by the Courtesie Tenant in Dâ—wer The difference betweene coÌ„mon Lawe and Custome therin Dower of chattels Partition of chattels Partition of chattels London Partition of Gauelkinde lands Astrâ— what it meaneth Gardein after the cusâ—ome Sale is at 15. yearâ—â— Sale good at 15. yeares No villains in Kent Apparance Câ—men Chase and driue out Attaint Chaunging of wayes Goppies These wordes betweene the starres were taken out of an other olde copie Free men Esechator Giue and sell landes without licence Plede by writte or pleinte Appeare by Borsholder No eschete for felonie but of goods only Dower of the one half Flying for felony causeth forfeiture Partition amoÌ„gst the heirs males The Astre Curt in other copies One suite for all the parceners Partition of goods Custodie of the heire in Gauelkind Sale at xv yeres of age Dower of the one half Forfaiture of Dower Tenant by the courtesie of the one halfe The discent of Gauelkind changed Forfaiture by Ceslauit or Gâ—uelate No oathe but for fealtie Essoignes No battail nor graunâ— assise in Guelkinde landes A Table conteining the principall places and matters handeled in this Booke A Angles or Englishmen Page 2 Archebishopricke of Canterbury Page 62 Archebishops contend for the primacie Page 65 Archebishops all named Page 70 Armour Page 112. 211. Apledore Page 146. 162 Aile or Eile a Riuer Page 177. Correction of adulterie Page 180. Appropriations Page 292 Ailesforde Page 321. Asheherst Page 333. Adington Page 258. Aldington Page 149. B Brytones or Welshmen Page 1. 12. Borsholder what he is Page 22 Bridges of stone Page