Apology against Edward the first of England about the Year 1300 we assert the Tradition of a wonderful Victory obtain'd by our King Hungus against the Saxons by the Relicts of St. Andrew the Apostle by virtue whereof the Scots first receiv'd the Faith of Christ. To which it is shortly answer'd that every Contradiction does not overturn the Truth of a whole History otherwise we need not be troubled to give any other answer to the Bishop's own Book nor is this pretended to be a Contradiction amongst our Historians for they all agree that King Donald was our first Christian King but in that Apology which is alledg'd to contradict our Histories our Predecessors design'd as most Pleaders do and this Eloquent Author does in his Book to gain their Point at any rate For understanding whereof it is fit to know that King Edward the first having upon the Competition betwixt Bruce and Baliol interpos'd with design to make himself Lord Paramount of Scotland he caus'd his Parliament write to the Pope to whom afterwards he wrote himself in which Letter of his it is pretended that we were Vassals to England as descended from Albanactus the second Son to Brutus 2. Because several of our Kings had become Vassals to his Predecessors in the Times of the British Saxon and Norman Kings To which we answer in our Apology That without debating whether the first Inhabitants of the Isle were descended from Albanactus or his Albanians it is asserted that we came from Spain by Ireland and conquer'd the first Inhabitans for which we cite Beda and so tho they had been Vassals we were free not being lyable to the Conditions of the People we conquer'd and as such fought constantly against the Britons who were forc'd to build Severus's Wall against us And as to any homage made by our Kings it was either for the Three Northen Countries of Cumberland Westmoreland and Northumberland confirm'd to us by the Britons to defend them against the Saxons and thereafter again confirm'd by both Saxons and Britons to assist them against the Danes Or was extorted by force from one or two young Captive Kings upon which heads the Popes had declar'd us free which Bulls Edward himself had robb'd unjustly out of our Treasure with other Records which he could not deny but to cajole the Pope their Judg they insinuate that though they were not Tributaries to his Holiness as England was yet they ought to be protected by the Pope because they had been converted by St. Andrew his Predecessors Brother-german St. Andrew having in Hungus's reign obtain'd for them a Victory over the Saxons and so became subject and subservient to the Pope in having converted the Saxons by Aidan Finan and Colman From this Matter of Fact I observe 1. That we own'd the same origination there that our Historians do to this day and so our Ancestors differ'd not from our Historians much less are they irreconcilable as St. Asaph alleadges 2. That the English acknowledg'd us to be as ancient as the Britons they and we being descended from two Brothers 3. That what we said of St. Andrew must needs be upon design to have oblidg'd the Pope meaning certainly either that we were then first effectually converted to the Church of Rome from the Oriental Observations in which we were very long very obstinate and that Rome consider'd that as the true Conversion or that after that time we first became subject tho not feudatary to the Pope as these forecited words subjoyn'd do insinuate But that our conversion from Paganism was more than 400 Years before the Saxons is positively asserted in that same Apology Nor can this have another meaning for it is undeniable that we were Christians long before the reign of Hungus who reign'd 800 Years after Christ and Colman c. liv'd long before that King Nor was Hungus our King we being only Auxiliaries to him then as King of the Picts after which Apology King Robert the 1st being crown'd and having defeated King Edward at Banock-burn where he gain'd a most signal Victory over the English they then being low made application to the Pope and he having discharg'd us by a formal Interdiction to pursue the Victory into England the Nobility to pacify that Pope and to remove the Interdiction at the desire of the King wrote Letter wherein they own the Antiquity of our Nation and Religion and Royal-Line mentioning when we came from Spain as our Historians do with whom they agree exactly Vt ex antiquorum gestis libris collegimus says the Letter which being prior to Fordon proves that all this was not Fordon's Dream and that our History is well founded on old Records prior to Fordon And lastly it appears that our Kings were not Vassals to England for their Crown but only for these Provinces as my Lord St. Asaph confesses and as I have prov'd in my Treatise of Precedency albeit our Independency was as much controverted of old as our Antiquity is now and I hope that the one will shortly appear as unjust a Pretence as the other is already confest to be From this it appears that there is rather a Harmony than real Contradiction here and that any seeming Contradiction is far less than the real ones betwixt Beda and the Bishop of St. Asaph and the following Contradictions wherein he differs from himself For clearing whereof observe That the Bishop says he questions not the truth of any thing that is said to have been within 800 nay within 1400 Years but so it is that this would bring us to be setled here before the Year 300 after Christ for substract 1400 out of 1684 which is the Year in which the Bishop prints his Book his Lordship can controvert nothing except what was done within 284 Years after Christ And yet he decryes our Historians for saying that we were settl'd here before the Year 503 and denies our being Christians for many Years after the Year 300 and to improve this learn'd Bishop's just Concession I must remark that all our Historians agree that Gregory the great King of Scotland who died Anno 892 added Northumberland to the Merse and having defeated the Britons at Lochmaben he forc'd them to renew their ancient League and to confirm to him the former Right his Predecessors got from them to Cumberland and Westmorland for assisting them against the Picts and Saxons which shews also what great things we could do not only alone without but even against the Picts All which being said by our Historians not only within the 1400 Years but the 800 are not controvertible by the Bishop's concession and therefore I understand not why he asserts that we had nothing but the Kingdom of Argyle before the beating and extirpating of the Picts who gave us their possession beyond Drumalbain Nor can I reconcile how the Bishop asserts all alongst and particularly that the Picts had nothing besouth Grahams-dyke or the
as the chief of these Isles where the Abbot resided the Records were kept and the Kings were buried might probably be called Insula Hiberniae or Hibernia and that Scotia might be the Ordinary name to all that part of the Isle of Britain benorth the River of Clyde so that the going from Hiberniâ or Scotiâ in Britanniam is nothing but the going to the other side of Clyde by which and Graham's-Dyke that part of the Isle was distinguished from the rest as if it had been a distinct Island 4. The great Controversy at that Time being about the keeping of Easter Laurentius Mellitus and Iustus Bishops did write a Letter to us of the following Tenor. Laurentius Mellitus and Justus Bishops Servants of all the Servants of God To our dearest Brethren the Bishops and Abbots through all Scotland Whileas the Apostolick Sea according to the custom it hath observ'd in the rest of the World did send us to preach the Gospel unto the Heathens in these Western Parts and that it happened to us to come into this Isle which is called Britain we held in religious reverence both the Scots and Britons believing that they did walk after the Custom of the Universal Church But after we had known the Britons we judg'd the Scots to be the better minded Yet now we perceive by Dagamus the Bishop who is come hither and by Columbanus the Abbot in France that the Scots differ nothing in their Observations from the Britons for Dagamus being here refused not only to eat with us but even to stay in the same Inn or Lodging Now that this is only applicable to us and not to the Scots in Ireland the Subject doth prove being Exhortatory Letters to conform in the Observation of Easter wherein the British Scots who follow'd Columba differ'd from the Roman Church 2. The Letter is written to the Scots and relates to other Letters written to the Britons in the same Isle and who needed the same Exhortation And it is to be remembred That Vsher generally concludes that where the Scots and Britons are mention'd in Conjunction by Scots there are to be understood the British Scots 3. Camerarius cites Georgius Newton who about the Year 1500 being then Arch-deacon of Dumblain did write the Acts of that Church and relates that he had seen the Antographum of that Letter among the Records of that Church and so it must necessarily have been written to the Scots in Britain else it had not been in the custody of our Church-men and at Dumblain I could produce many other Citations to prove Scotland to have been call'd Hibernia in those Ages but it is sufficient to add to these unanswerable Proofs already produced the authority of the Roman Martyrology wherein Sanetus Beanus is design'd Episcopus Aberdoniae in Hibernia at the 16 of December To which Vardaeus an Irish-man in vita Rumoldi answers That there might have been a place in Ireland call'd Aberdeen because Aber is an Irish word signifying a Marish and there is a Town call'd Doun in Ireland situated near a Marish A pretty Witticism indeed especially as he proposes the Objection and answers the same as you may see upon the Margin But to take off all Debate Beanus is nam'd in our Chartularies as well as Histories as the first Bishop of Aberdeen and the Mortifications granted to him by our King Malcom 2d in the Year 1010 of the Lands of Murthlack Cloveth and Dounmeth are yet extant and his Tomb is yet to be seen in the Cathedral of Aberdeen at the Postern Door of the Church To the former Passages I must also add That albeit our Country was promiscuously call'd Scotia and Hibernia as has been prov'd yet Scotia even in that Time was the more frequent Name of our Country and which to keep close to Beda appears for when he speaks of the Isle Hy to which the former Citations chiefly relate and which was the place of our Country in which his History being Ecclesiastick is chiefly concern'd as being then one of if not the most famous Monastery in the Western World he expresses it to be in Scotia as where he tells That Ceollach of the Nation of the Scots leaving his Bishoprick in England returned to Hy where the Scots had their chief Monastery And thereafter he tells That the same Ceollach having left his Bishoprick return'd to Scotland And the same Beda writing of Adamnanus calls him Abbot and Presbyter of the Monks that are in the Monastery of Hy. And mentioning the same Adamnanus he tells that he returned to Scotland after his Embassy in England And how can it be denied that Hy is in Scotland since Beda calls it Scotland and says That it belong'd to Britain and is by all Geographers nam'd one of our Hebrides and lies locally within our Country and was one of the first places which we planted and far remoter from Ireland than Kintire and others of our Islands and in which our Kings were buried and our Records kept To conclude this Proposition I shall add these Reflections 1. That it is not so easy for the Bishop of St. Asaph to explicate himself as to these Passages concerning Scotia and Scoti and to make them signifie Ireland and Irish since the 500 Year as before for admitting that the Terms were anciently applicable to Ireland and that the Scots when mention'd here were but by Invasion from Ireland Yet it being acknowledg'd that after the Year 500 we were settled here It follows that when Scotia and Scoti are mention'd in relation to British affairs and in conjuction with the Inhabitans of Britain they must be understood of us and our Country 2. Beda mentioning our Country to be call'd Scotia as well as Hibernia from Columba's Time to his own it is not only an evidence that it was so call'd in that Time but that the Name had not been then first given otherwise he could not have been ignorant of the Change nor would he have failed to remark it so that we may reasonably conclude in his sense the Name of Scotia is as ancient in Britain as the Time he mentions the Settlement Wars and Religion of the Scots there 3. It is evident That the Bp of St. Asaph's Proposition is faulty viz. That when we settled here after the Year 500 our Kingdom was call'd Argyle or Dalrieda for if this had been true this name being so recent could not but have been noticed and used by Gildas and Beda and yet it is never so much as once mention'd by either of them tho Beda upon the occasion of the Monastery of Hy or Icolm-kill and of the Bishops sent thence to England doth frequently mention the Names Hibernia and Scotia and that St. Asaph doth not controvert but that these Bishops were sent from our Isle of Icolm-kill to England 4. We may observe how warrantable Arch-bishop Vsher's Position repeated by the Bishop of St. Asaph
Kingdoms and to show how they succeed to all who ever pretended to Monarchy in any of them As to the British part of the Isle Aurelius Ambrosius was by common consent chosen sole Prince of all the Britons And he had no other Succession save two Daughters Anna married to the King of the Picts and Ada married to the King of the Scots Mordredus King of the Picts Grand-child to the foresaid Aurelius finding himself debarr'd from the Succession of the British Crown employ'd the Scots who fought for him against the Britons But the Britons having called in the Saxons after a bloody Battel both Parties were forced to withdraw and the King of the Picts was induc'd to desist from his Pretentions at that time But thereafter Hungus King of the Picts and the direct Heir of the same Mordredus and consequently of Ambrosius King of the Britons gave his Sister Fergusiana to Achaius King of the Scots and in her Right Alpin King of Scotland succeeded both to the British and Pictish Crowns Hungus having died without any Children Kenneth the 2d Son to Alpin was forc'd to conquer the Picts who refus'd unjustly to receive him as their lawful King Our Kings are likewise Lineal Heirs of the Danish-Race who were Kings of England for 27 or as others say 29 Years they being the only Lineal Successors of Canutus King of the Danes in Britain for Margaret Wife to King Malcolm the 3d was Sister to Edgar which Edgar was Grand-child to St. Edward who was Brother to Hardiknut Son to Canutus After this the Kingdom of England return'd to the old Stock in King Edward's Time to whom succeeded Edgar whose Sister the pious Queen Margaret married King Malcolm the 3d of Scotland by whom he came to have right to the Crown of England there being none extant of the old Royal-Saxon-Line besides her self And with her came very many of the Nobility who fled from William the Conquerour after he conquer'd England and with whom King Malcolm would not make Peace till such of them as resolved to return were restored to their Estates The next Royal-Race which flourished in England was the Norman and to that Race our Kings succeeded thus The Line of William the Conqueror was branch'd out in the Houses of Lancaster and York To the House of Lancaster they succeed as Heirs by the marriage betwixt Ioan Daughter to the Duke of Somerset and undoubted Successor of the Family of Lancaster And to both Lancaster and York they succeed by being Heirs to Henry the 7th in whom these Successions were again happily reconcil'd he having married Elizabeth eldest Daughter to Edward the 4th who had transferred the Succession of the Crown from the House of Lancaster to that of York or at least had united the two in one For clearing whereof it is fit to know that Henry the 7th had only four Children Arthur Henry Margaret and Mary Arthur and Henry dying without Succession the Right of the Crown was certainly devolv'd upon the Children of Margaret the Daughter who did bear King Iames the 5th in a first Marriage with King Iames the 4th and Margaret Dowglas by a second Marriage with the Earl of Angus which Margaret being married to Matthew Earl of Lenox had two Sons the eldest whereof was Henry who thereafter married Queen Mary Daughter to King Iames the 5th and begot upon her King Iames the 6th and thus King Iames the 6th was upon all sides Heir to William the Conquerour and to Henry the 7th The Histories also of both Nations confess that our King is the undoubted Successor of the Blood-Royal of Wales for Walter Stuart from whom our Kings are descended was Grand-Child to the King of Wales by his Daughter who married Fleanchus Son to Banqhuo and Henry the 7th to whom King Iames the 6th was the true Successor was also the righteous Heir of Cadwallader the last Prince of Wales The Histories both of Scotland and Ireland do acknowledg that our Kings are undoubtedly descended from the Royal Race of the Kings of Ireland and all the debate that can be is only whether they be desended from King Ferquhard Father to King Fergus the first or from Eeric Father to King Fergus the second or from some other Irish Kings as Vsher pretends From all which I may draw two Conclusions First that God has from an extraordinary kindness to those Kingdoms lodged in the Person of our present Soveraign King Iames the 7th whom GOD Almighty long preseve all those opposite and different Rights by which our Peace might have been formerly disturb'd 2. That His Majesty who now Reigns has deriv'd from His Royal Ancestors a just and legal Right by Law to all those Crowns without needing to found upon the Right of Conquest so that the very endeavour to exclude him from all those Legal Rights by Arbitrary Insolence under a Mask of Law was the height of Injustice as well as Imprudence FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by RICHARD CHISWELL FOLIO SPeed's Maps and Geography of Great Britain and Ireland and of Foreign Parts Dr. Cave's Lives of the Primitive Fathers in 2 Vol. Dr. Cary's Chronological Account of Ancient Time Bp Wilkins real Character or Philosophical Language Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity Guillim's Display of Heraldry with large Additions Dr. Burnet's History of the Reformation of the Church of England in 2 Vol. Account of the Confessions and Prayers of the Murderers of Esquire Thynn Burlace's History of the Irish Rebellion Herodoti Historia Gr. Lat. cum variis Lect. The Laws of this Realm concerning Jesuits Seminary Priests Recusants the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance explained by divers Judgments and Resolutions of the Iudges with other Observations thereupon By William Cawley Esq Sanford's Genealogical Hist. of the Kings of England Modern Reports of select Cases in the reign of King Charles the 2d Sir Tho. Murray's Collection of the Laws of Scotland Dr. Towerson's Explication on the Creed the Commandments and Lord's Prayer in 3 Vol. The History of the Island of CEYLON in the East-Indies Illustrated with Copper Figures and an exact Map of the Island By Capt. Robert Knox a Captive there near 20 Years QVARTO DR Littleton's Dictionary Latin and English Bp Nicholson on the Church-Catechism History of the late Wars of new-New-England Atwell's Faithful Surveyer Mr. Iohn Cave's seven occasional Sermons Dr. Crawford's Serious Expostulation with the Whigs in Scotland Dr. Parker's Demonstration of the Divine Authothority of the Law of Nature and the Christian Religion Mr. Hook's new Philosophical Collections Bibliotheca Norfolciana OCTAVO BIshop Wilkin's Natural Religion His Fifteen Sermons Mr. Tanner's Primordia Or the Rise and Growth of the first Church of God described Lord Hollis's Vindication of the Judicature of the House of Peers in the Case of Skinner Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Appeals Jurisdiction of the House of Peers in case of Impositions Letters about the Bishops Votes in Capital Cases Spaniards Conspiracy against