'^ ife'
' T t \f'\

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bequest of
WILLL^M LYON PHELPS
YALE 1887

LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL

THE

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN,

THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST

THE YEAR MDCXLVIII.

ENDEaVOUKED
BY THOMAS FULLER, D.D.,
PREBENDARY OF SARUM, &C. Sec.
AUTHOR OF " THE WORTHIES OF ENGLAND," " THE HOLY STATE," " THE
HISTORY OF THE HOLY WAR," " PISGAH SIGHT OF PALESTINE,"
" ABEL REDIVIVUS," &c. &c.

A NEW EDITION.
WITH THE AUTHOB'S CORRECTIONS.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
-VOL. L
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG AND SON, 73, CHEAPSIDE;
R. GRIFFIN AND CO., GLASGOW;
TEGG AND CO., DUBLIN :
ALSO, J. AND S. A. TEGG, SYDNEY AND HOBART TOWN.
18^7.

V.l

London : — Printed by JEwnes Nichols, 46, Hoxton-squai'e.

TO THE READER.

An ingenious gentleman some months since in jest-
earnest advised me to make haste with my History of
the church of England ; " for fear," said he, " lest the
church of England be ended before the History
thereof." This History is now, though late, (all church-work
is slow,) brought with much difficulty to an end.
And, blessed be God 1 the church of England is still
(and long may it be) in being, though disturbed,
distempered, distracted. God help and heal her most
sad condition !
The three first books of this volume were for the
main written in the reign of the late king, as appeareth
by the passages then proper for the government. The
other nine books we made since monarchy was turned
into a state.
May God alone have the glory, and the ingenuous
reader the benefit, of ray endeavours ! which is the
hearty desire of Thy servant in Jesus Christ,
Thomas Fuller.
From my Chamber in Sion College.

THE EDITOR'S PREFACE.

In submitting to the public an account of the principles on -which
the publication of this edition of Fuller's " Church History"
has been conducted, I am but performing a duty which for nearly
thirty years I have imposed upon myself as a matter of conscience,
in all cases in -which any literary responsibility has rested, on me
alone ; and the avo-wal of my extreme reluctance to alter or re
construct the -works of other men, has always been received with
courtesy, and obtained general credence and approval.
In the present -work I have not altered the construction of a
single sentence ; though some enlire paragraphs, evidently -ivritten in
haste, were not formed on the best or most exact models. The
punctuation, on the whole, was so excellent, that I have seldom seen
cause for any substitution. In the many thousand proper names of
men, cities, and countries, the spelling of which was usually uncouth,
defective, and variable, I have followed, as nearly as possible, modem
usage: In the early British, Danish, and Saxon names, I have
commonly adopted the orthography of Tindal in his translation of
Rapin ; while, in the names of churchmen, the accurate Le Neve
has been my principal guide. In those instances in which a single
letter too much or too little had been employed, and in which the
best authorities are somewhat at variance, I have usually suf
fered the words to remain as they were written by the author.
Thus, the Popish biographer Pits has his name occasionally Latin
ized as Pitseus, and in other places, more in accordance with
analogy, Pitzoeus ; and Parsons the Jesuit, in the titles of his own
books, often assumes the name of Persons. On all these points,
and on others, on which, for my own credit's sake as a printer, I
have bestowed much (often ill-appreciated) labour, I claim the
indulgent forbearance of those who may discover any stray fault or
(previously) undetected en-or.
I here subjoin a list of such words as I have changed for others,
their cognates in meaning and derivation : —
.tMathie Into abbacy ; acception, acceptation ; advoutry, adultery ; aferde, afraid ;
aJies, acbes f alarwmed, alarmed ; almorie, almonry j amhuling, ambling j Anglized,
Anglicized j appale, appal ; aypliaMe, applicable ; appreniiship, apprenticeship ; armado,
armada ^ assistance, assistants ', astonied, astonisbed.
.BazVe'ff, bailiff J barreters,hQxyist&vs; begrutch,'bQ^mige', fiejArow, besbrew ; hiskets,
biscuits ; breve, brief ; lucksome, buxom.
Caption, captlonsness ; carvil, carving ', ceased on, seized on ; chaifie, chary ;
champion, champaign ; ehantery priests, chanter priests ; chirurgeon, sm-geon ; chode,
Vol. I. a

11 EDITOE S PREFACE. t
chidden ; coarse, corpse ; dint, clinch ; commune, comtnon ; consort, concert ; corrastve,
corrosive ; cowardness, cowardliness ; cranie. cranny ; creeple, cripple.
Bamosell, damsel ; deceipts, deceits ; demeans, domains, demesnes ; despight, despite j
dirige, dirge ; diurnal, jom-nal.
Epigrammist, epigrammatist ; extempory, extemporary.
Pained, feigned ¦,fiea, to flay ;flowen, flown ¦,fornace, furnace •,forthward, forward.
Gantlop, gantlet ; gate, gait ; gauled, galled ; gentile, genteel, gentle ; girting, girding ;
granat, garnet ; grutch, grudge.
Harraged, harassed ; heremite, hei-mit ; heraults, heralds ; higheth, hieth ; hoggojrd,
hog-herd ; hospital, hospitable ; hollow, halloo ; hurted., did hiirt ; huswife, hoiisewife.
/, ay ;' ties, aisles ; impe, imp ; immergent, emergent ; impatible, impassible ; impos-
iourie, imposture ; influent, influential ; ingenious, ingenuous, et vice versd ; intituleth,
entitleth ; intrado, entrata.
Jeat, jet ; justicer, a justice.
Kembed, combed ; iephalical, oephalieal ; known in, laiowing in.
Lagge, lag ; lanthorn, lantern ; lay, lie ; lieger-hooh, ledger-book.
Margent, margin ; mjwish, marsh ; metal, mettle ; mistris, mistress ; moe, more ;
moneths, months ; muting, mutinying.
Neb, nib ; nother, neither ; Kouxled, mirsed.
Paradoxal, paradoxical ; parwmore, paramour ; paunage, pannage ; phansie, fancy ;
pregaged, pre-engaged ; prolling, prowling ; puUein, poiiltry ; pursevant, pursuivant ;
pustle, pustule.
Quire, choir, ,
Ranipai^ing, rampiring ; redouib, redouble ; redoivn, redound ; rode, rood ; Jlomixsed,
Romanized ; roomihyer, roomier ; ru^in, ruflian ; rythmer, rhymester.
Salvages, savages ; satyres, satyrs ; scalled head, scald head ; scar, scare ; scited,
situated ; scrued, screwed ; sensing, censing ; servial, servile ; shewen, shown ; shiprack,
shipwreck ; shrodely, shrewdly ; shuffing, shoving ; sithence, since ; sir-loyne, sir-loin ;
slenting, slanting ; slovenness, slovenliness ; sodain, stidden ; sodom^iry, sodomy ;
sometiTnes, some time ; souihsayers, soothsayers ; sowne, swoon; spate-bone, spade-bone;
ift-icA, (the preterite,) struck, stricken; straightly, straitly; strawed, strewed; stroke,
strook, struck ; succours, suckers ; sumners, summoners ', synonymas, synonymous ;
sprongen, sprung ; sungen, sung.
Teastie, testy ; tenents, tenets ; then, than ; throughly, thoroughly ; thorouiout,
throughout ; tole, toll ; twnder, tinder ; tyring-house, tiring-house.
Understanden, understanded, understood; upholster, upholsterer.
Vastel-bread, wast el-bread ; van-currier, avant-courier ; velam^, vellum; vicaridges,
vicarages ; vindicative, vindictive.
JVagary, waggery ; wrach, to rack (stretch) ; wrastle, wrestle ; torecltt, wreaked ;
to wete, to wit.
I also subjoin a collection of the principal words, which, for
various reasons, I have retained, though they are seldom employed
in modern writing : —
Abrood, (brooding,) accomptant, adulced, advoke, alonely, amatorious, apostated,
apprecation, approprying, tbi-ee a-clock, arreared, (erected,) attaintm-e, aiithenticness,
avowance. Beholding, (this word FuUer uses after the manner of a Greek aorist tense'
for / am now and always beholden,) to bemad, besteaded, as the preterite of bestead'
Black-Moor. Chequered, cheveril, (flexible,) chops, (exchanges,) co-arctated, compt'
compUces, convened, coparceny, cor-rivahty,curtallize. Decession, decoring, (adorning)
defalk, detectable, discede, disherison, disorderliness, duncical, to depart with (to
pm with power,) to delate, dimted. Easoons, embarren, ensealing, evangel, exomations,
exscnbe, extirp. Farced, (stuffed,) to fend, flow in fitters, (in fritters,) frank-ahnonage,
* This occurs but once, vol. iii. p. 52, line 2.

EDITOK S PKEFACE. Ill
Gaged,* the gingles, gingling, gremials, gree, gripple. Harry, (harass,) hiike. Inculked,
imposti-esses, (female impostors,) imposti-ix, infamed, innodated. Jocidary. Kin, as an
adjective. Lapped, lashing out, licourish, liegeanoe, lieger, longsomeness, loobily.
Minutary, (momentary,) misoclere, (a hater of the Clergy,) mortisation, mumming.
Ne, nimiety, nimmed, nustled. Orderable. Palliate, (as an adjective,) plausiblelize,
posthume, postposing, postposed, (placed after,) precedential, predie, propriety, (as
property,) privado, proventions, publickuess, pursy, Rampires, to rap, to rape, rashed up,
_ renderable, renting (rending), restauration. Sacring, (consecrating,) to sag aside,
(shake, stagger,) sewer, (a serving-man,) shent, shive, (a slice,) shiver, siftener, skrine,
snibbed, sopiting, spinster, (one who spins,) squeasy, a stale, stayedness, supportation.
Tailed, (fined,) tang, tolled out, (decoyed,) tomring, tottad, ti-indills. Ure. Volant.
Winched. '
Nearly one-third portion of the words in both these lists occur in
public documents, or in extracts from early authors, who flourished
prior to the commencement of the seventeenth century. For the
remaining two-thirds Fuller is himself accountable : yet even these
he does not uniformly write as they are here exhibited, but he
occasionally differs from himself, in better accordance with modern
usage. A few of these words may be considered as mere misprints ;
and of other obsolete words (such as predie, mumming, tomring,
tottad) it would not be difficult to give the correct interpretation,
by comparison of similar phraseology in contemporary writings, were
not such an occupation rather the oiEce of a professed lexicographer,
than of an unassuming editor, who, currente calamo, may be allowed
occasionally to throw out some of those remarks which naturally
suggest themselves in the course of his professional reading.
It is the imperative duty of every one concerned in the republica
tion of any of our standard old authors, to retain as many of the
sterling English words, whether of Saxon or Latin extraction, as can be
understood without much difficulty by general readers, and to give an
honest account of all such slight alterations made in others as are
deemed necessary. Among the educated portion of the community a
strong and laudable desire exists to investigate the original sources
and ancient construction of our language, and to trace the various
changes which it has subsequently undergone : to such persons these
lists furnish the proper materials for that useful and interesting study.
The passive participle I have commonly found to be accurately
formed ; took is the principal exception, which I have uniformly
changed into taken. The genitive case of nouns was, in many pas
sages, constructed ou the clumsy plan of circumlocution which,
more than a century ago, became obsolete, and which I have in this
work always discarded. Thus, for such phraseology as " the end of
king James his reign,'''' I have substituted " the end of king Jame^s
reign:'' The author always employs corpse as a plural noun -when-
• This word occurs only once, vol. ii. p, 113 ; and its signification cannot easily be
determined, though it seems to bear that of enga.ged, as " induced, di-awn away," &c,
a 2

iv ebitok's preface.
ever it signifies " a dead body." On three occasions he has used
this mode of address, « Mr. Huis, esquire ; " which, being peculiar
to an age anterior to his, I have here preserved.
My reluctance to engage in alterations, how plausible soever they
may at first appear, will be seen in my retaining such words as
" under-towers," which, in connection with " towed," occurs in vol.
iii, page 102, as the interpretation of oTnjpeTai ; though my classical
lecollections do not afford a single example of that Greek word, or
its cognates, designating towing-paths or the act of towing, as used by
the ancients ; and though the same word is found in a subsequent
page, (vol. iii. p. 308,) bearing its legitimate meaning o?under-rowers.
— I have also preserved the curious phrase, " on the brink of the
brink of the precipice," (vol. i. p. 198,) and similar expressions, which
in any other -writer I should have considered as useless tautology,
or an error of the press. But, entertaining a fear lest some very
recondite wit might be concealed from common observation under
such phrases, I have allowed them to hold their accustomed station
in the text. — In a note, (vol. iii. page 458,) the word semnably is
found, quoted from Fuller's " Appeal of injured Innocence." I
have not altered it ; for though, at the first glance, it may appear to
be a misprint for semblably, yet I considered, as one of the newly-
coined words, of which our lively author was no slight' contributor
ii)to the common treasury of that age, semnably might claim quite
as plausible an origin as many others, from the Greek adverb
<nix,va>s, " solemnly," " with all gravity."
In certain rare instances of defective composition, I have ventured
to add a single explanatory word ; but the reader will always find it
distinguished from the text by its enclosure within crotchets [thus J.
The twenty-five passages which Fuller specified as errata, at the
close of his " History," are here corrected ; as well as nearly the
same number, pointed out in his " Appeal," as acknowledged
errors. Of the copies of his " Church History " which I have used
in this reprint, one proves to be what he calls " an amended copy ;"
that is, it contains about twenty of his additional emendations,
which, on comparing the corresponding pages of the two editions
with each other, bear evidence of having been made while the several
sheets in which they occur were at press, and before the whole im
pression was completed. Had I collected from his " Worthies "
the many corrections which he wishes to be made in this " History,"
I should have expended my labour to no good purpose ; as those who
peruse that posthumous work would thus have been deprived of half
of that charm which Fuller imparts, by the witty and original
method of varying his notes when singing his own peccavi.
At the conclusion of the work, I must confess, that, were I called
upon to superintend the printing of another edition, I should con-

editor's preface.

sider it my duty, after giving due notice of it in the preface, to sub
stitute the relative who or that, for " which " when applied to per
sons ; though the almost indiscriminate use of all the three relatives
in such application was the common practice of that age. Another
alteration also I should conceive it to be a part of my duty to effect ;
— by preventing this generally very correct writer from transgressing
the rules of grammar, especially in his hasty mode of yoking a verb
in the singular number with two or more nouns in the nominative
case. In these two particulars I should be borne out by the
sanction of the author himself, who, in his Appeal of injured Inno
cence, observes : — " All faults committed are not discovered. All
faults which are discovered are not confessed. Such as the printer
deemeth small he leaveth to be amended by the direction of the
sense, and discretion of the reader, according to the common speech,
that the reader ought to be better than Ms book:''
Of notes, in elucidation or correction of the text, I have been very
sparing. Had I subjoined them to every passage which I deemed to
be incorrect, the work would have been extended to an inconvenient
size, without any corresponding advantage to the reader. Burnet
and Strype have pointed out several inaccuracies ; the latter espe
cially, who lived in times of greater tranquillity, has collated some of
those public documents which first appeared in Fuller, and freed
them from the faults which must always attach to a hurried perusal
and a hasty transcription ; — the circumscribed leisure and flitting op
portunities of our author "having prevented him from bestowing the
care and caution which in such cases are indispensable requisites.
To me, indeed, the matter of highest wonder is, that the points are,
comparatively, so few on which subsequent historians show him to
have been mistaken : and, after all the collateral aids which he
received, I give him full credit for that compass and strength of
memory for which he is celebrated in English story, and which in
this extensive work must have been severely taxed. One excellence
I claim as distinguishing my own thinly-sprinkled annotations, —
that, strongly expressed as my private opinions have formerly be;en
on many affairs connected with Church and State, which yet I have
found little reason to retract or modify, the world will here discover
no traces of them ; but I have left Fuller completely at liberty to
give his own version of doctrines, ceremonies, and public occurrences,
and to reason on them from his own principles. We are plentifully
furnished with other conflicting views and arguments on the same sub
jects ; and every man of ordinary intelligence is philosopher enough
to know, that by an impartial investigation of these contradictory
data, truth is frequently elicited, and arrant falsehood Exposed.
In the preceding Address to the Reader, the author informs us,
that the first three books of his Church History were, " for the main,

vi editor's preface.
written in the reign of the late king. [Charles I.] The other J^J
we made since Monarchy was turned into a State. ¦— -f
books are here enumerated, while only eleven will be found in
present edition; but those who purchase and peruse these tnree
volumes, when taught to reckon "the History of the University ot
Cambridge "as the «w#!!A book, will be inclined to deter to tne
iudgment which bishop Nicolson thus reluctantly pronounces:
" Thomas Fuller was pleased to annex his History of the University
of Cambridge to that of the Churches of Great Britain ; and most
people think they ought not to be separated."" * In composing his
Church History, he adopted the plan of recording in chronological
order the founders, benefactors, and celebrated men of the various
colleges in Oxford ; and repeatedly directs his readers to his History
of Cambridge for the corresponding information respecting the foun
dations, benefactions, and eminent persons of the latter University,
of which he was himself a member ; and to his alma mater he
proved to be a dutiful son, rendering to her all due honour and
respect. But this Church History cannot be considered complete until
Fuller's " Appeal of injured Innocence " is joined with it as the
thirteenth book. It is a folio volume, comprising 280 closely-printed
pages, and its entire title is: " The Appeal of injured Innocence, unto
the religious, learned, and ingenuous Reader ; in a Controversy be
twixt the Animadvertor Dr, Peter Heylin, and the Author Thomas
Fuller." It was published in the year prior to the Restoration ;
and in it the multifarious acquirements and wonderful intellectual
resources of Fuller are displayed to better advantage, perhaps, than
in any or all of his former productions. Highly as I am reputed to
venerate his antagonist, Peter Heylin, that staunch and sturdy
royalist, I feel no hesitation in pronouncing Fuller the victor in this
contest ; not only from the general justness of his cause, but also for
that which exalts him as a man and a Christian — his playful wit,
ingenuous candour, almost unfailing good-humour, and remarkable
moderation. The " Appeal " is known to very few of our ecclesias
tical historians ; though, as a regular and clever reply to Heylin's
severe and discursive Examen Historicum, it incidentally affords d
multitude of curious historical illustrations, especially in reference to
those eventful times in which both of them had been sufferers.
In the preface to the proposed additional volume, comprising
the " History of Cambridge," and the " Appeal," I shall offer
some remarks on bishop Nicolson's satirical exposure of our
author, to several parts of which I cannot subscribe ; but, in
passing, I take particular exceptions against that which represents
• English Historical Library, f.\5i. Second Edition. 171-1.

editor s preface. vu
Fuller eager in his pursuit of drollery, * " without staying to inquire
whether a pretty story have any foundation in truth or not." On
the contrary, I have uniformly found him to be tenacious in ascer
taining the truth of the facts which he narrates, and pouring floods
of ridicule upon such as were deficient in that essential qualification.
As to the drollery and witticisms with which the work abounds,
such a style of -writing ecclesiastical history is at first sight some
what startling, and repugnant to the ideas which are usually enter
tained concerning the appropriate gravity of the Historic Muse ;
and yet, whether viewed as natural, or assumed for the occasion, its
effect on that age was most admirable. Palled and perverted as the
public taste had become, through the bitter and (in many instances)
gloomy writings of contending parties in politics and religion during
the preceding fifteen years, I doubt whether the people would have
endured any narrative of ecclesiastical affairs, especially of those
which so nearly concerned that generation, in a strain more stately
and dignified than that which is here employed. The honest and
witty Tom Fuller may seem to have procured, from "the powers which
then were," a roving license or dispensation ; and was permitted to
give utterance to some strong sentiments, which less-favoured indi
viduals durst scarcely own to have found a lodgment within their
breasts. Natural strokes of humour are of perpetual recurrence,
the allusions in which occasionally amount to the most stringent
sarcasm ; and when applied (apparently at hap-hazard) to the crying
enormities of those times, inculcated great moral lessons, which,
though capable (in our view) of being less exceptionably conveyed,
¦would not then have been so graciously received.
At the close of his long objurgation, however, the good bishop
evinces an inclination to soften some of his sweeping censures on
the author of this Church History : — " If- it were possible to refine
it well, the work would be of good use ; since there are in it some
things of moment, hardly to be had elsewhere, which may often
illustrate dark passages in more serious writers. These are not to
be despised, wliere his authorities are cited and appear credible."
The subjoined brief and fair description of Fuller's principal
works is copied from Winstanley's England^s Worthies: —
" His writings are very facetious, and (where he is careful) judicious.
His Pisgah Sight is the exactest ; his Holy War and State, the
• The same levity of expression and indiscriminate dashes of wit were pointed out
to him by Heylin as culpable blemishes; who in this respect was himself an offender in
kind though not in degree. But FuUer seems to have been so utterly unconscious of
any exuberance of broad humour within his breast, as to repel the charge, and chaUenge
his adversary, in the foUowing style :— " But let him at leism-e produce the most Ught
and ludicrous story in aU my book, and here I stand ready to paraUel it with sfi Ught
(I wiU not say in the Animadvertor, but) in as grave authors as ever put pen to paper."
— jippeal of injured Innocence,

viii EDITOil's PREFACE.
wittiest ; his Chwch History, the unhappiest,— written in such a
time when he could not do the truth right with safety, nor wrong
with honour ; and his Worthies, not finished at his death, the most.
imperfect. As for his other works, he that shall but read Fuller s
name unto them will not think them otherwise but worthy of tliat^
praise and respect which the whole nation afforded unto the author.
This commendation is noble, but well deserved ; and is the more
valuable, coming as it does from one who accounted himself a High-.
Churchman, and Fuller a low one. The remark respecting the
difficulty under which he laboured to " do the truth right," is man
fully met by Fuller himself in the following passage and others in
his Appeal :— " I did not attemper my History to the palate of the
government, so as to sweeten it with any falsehood ; but I made it
palatable thus far forth as not to give a wilful disgust to those in
present power, and procure danger to myself by using any over-salt,
tart, or bitter expression, — ^better forborne than inserted, without
any prejudice to the truth."
What higher praise was ever bestowed on any of our old authors,
by one capable of forming a correct judgment, than the following
eloquent effusion, warm from the generous heart of the lamented
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ? It is a note written with his own
hand, at the end of his copy of the Church History, and very appro
priately forms a part of his interesting Literary Bemains.
" Next to Shakspeare I am not certain whether Thomas Fuller,
beyond all other writers, does not excite in me the sense and emotion
of the marvellous ; — the degree in which any given faculty or
combination of faculties is possessed and manifested, so far sur
passing what one would have thought possible in a single mind, as
to give one's admiration the flavour and quality of wonder ! Wit
was the stuff and substance of Fuller's intellect. It was the element,
the earthen base, the material which he worked in ; and this very
circumstance has defrauded him of his due praise for the practical
wisdom of the thoughts, for the beauty and variety of the truths,
into which he shaped the stuff. Fuller was incomparably the most
sensible, the least prejudiced, great man of an age that boasted a
galaxy of great men. He is a very voluminous writer, and yet, in
all his numerous volumes on so many different subjects, it is scarcely
too much to say, that you will hardly flnd a page in which some one
sentence out of every three does not deserve to be quoted for itself
as motto or as maxim."
To offer any criticism in abatement of this just encomium would,
I feel, be useless verbiage : I leave it, therefore, as the best intro
duction to the perusal of my author.
•46, HoxTON-SauARE, JAMES NICHOLS.
October Uth, 1837.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.
SECTION I. CENTURY I.
A.D. 37—76.
Thb doleful case of the Pagan Britons — Their principal idols — The office
and employment of the Druids — The powerful practices of the bards
on tbe people — The first preaching of the Gospel in Britain — Causes
which hastened the conversion of Britain, before other kingdoms
which lay nearer to Palestine — St. Peter falsely reported to have
preached in Britain — St. James, St. Paul,- St. Simon, and St. Aristo-
bulus, preachers in Britain — Claudia, notwithstanding Parsons's excep
tions, might be a British Christian — Parsons's objection to the contrary
answered — The coming of Joseph of Arimathea into Britain — The
history full of dross when brought to the touch — The platform of the
most ancient church in Christendom — Difference about the place of
Joseph's burial — The budding hawthorn nigh Glastonbury attributed
to Joseph's holiness — Different opinions of men concerning it — The
subject of the question taken away — The conclusion of this century.
Pages 5 — \7. SECTION II. CENTURY II.
A.D. 105— 187l
Taurinus no bishop of York — Difference of authors concerning the time of
king Lucius's conversion — The history of king Lucius not disproved
by the dissension of authors concerning the time thereof — Lucius
might be a British king under the Roman monarchy — Lucius sendeth
to the bishop of Rome to be instructed in Christianity — This transla
tion of the letter of Eleutherius is transcribed out of bishop Godwin,
in his catalogue of bishops. There is some variety between this and
that of Mr. Pox — A preparative for the examining the truth of this
letter  King Lucius baptized — J. Monmouth's fiction of flamens and
arch-flamens — A gross mistake — Pagan temples in Britain converted
to Christian churches — The bounty of king Lucius to Cambridge —
Several churches founded by king Lucius — Two Luciuses confounded
into one. Pages IS — 26.
SECTION III. CENTURY III.
A.D. 201.
The death, burial, and epitaph of king Lucius— The Christian faith from
the first preaching thereof ever continued in Britain— Two fathers to
Vol. I. A

U CONTENTS.
be believed before two children— The judgment of the Magdeburgenses
in this point— Want of work no fault of the workman— Reason why so
little left of this age— Conclusion of this century. Pages 27 — 29.
SECTION IV. CENTURY IV.
A.D. 303—390.
First persecution in Britain under Diocletian — Alb an, the British St.
Stephen, how a citizen of Rome — The manner of Alban's conversion
— The miraculous martyrdom of Alhan — A new spring of water at
Alban's summons appears in the top of a hill — Amphibalus. Differ
ence about his name — The cruel manner of his martyrdom — Vain
fancies concerning the stake of Amphibalus — The martyrdom of
another thousand Britons variously reported — Several places pretend
to, and contend for, the same martyrdom — The imperfect history of
these times — The cause of the great silence of the primitive times —
Constantius Chlorus gives the Christians peace — He dieth at York, as
is witnessed by Hieronymus, in Chronica, and Eutropius, Hist. lib. 18
— Worth the scrutiny to clear Constantine a Briton by birth — The
main argument to prove the point — Answers to the objections of the
contrary party — Mr. Fox defended against the cavils of Verstegan —
Three cities contend "for Constantine born in them — Peace and pros
perity restored to the church by Constantine — The appearance of the
British iu foreign councils — Britain beginneth to be tainted with
Arianism — Maximus, usurping the empire, expelleth the Scots out of
Britain — Britain in France, when conquered, and why so called —
Maximus slain in his march towards Italy — Frequent pilgrimages of
the Britons to Jerusalem, whilst St. Keby lived quietly in Anglesey.
Pages 30—46.
SECTION V. CENTURY V,
A.D. 401—496.
Pelagius, a Briton by birth — Pelagius no doctor of Cambridge, but a mon£
of Bangor— The principal errors of Pelagius^French bishops sent for
to suppress Pelagianism in Britain — Germanus and Lupus come over
and preach in Britain. Their disputation with the Pelagian doctors 
Many remarkables in this disputation— St. Alban's the place of the
conference— Germanus raarcheth against the Pagan Picts and Saxons
—A victory gotten, not by shooting, but shouting— St. Alban's in
Hertfordshire, Cologne, Ely, and Osell, pretend to the whole body of
St; Alban- After the departure of Germanus, Pelagianism recruits in
Britain— Pelagianism and king Vortigern's incestuous marriage con
demned in a synod— In vain the Britons petition to the Roman emperor
for help against the Picts— True reasons why the Romans neglected to
send aid to the Brij^ons— The sad success of the Pagan Saxons, invited
by king Vortigern into Britain— The respective bounds of the Saxon
heptarchy— Irish St. Patrick said to live and die at Glastonbury— He is
made co-partner in the church with the virgin Mary — Yet the credit of
.^ Patrick's being at Glastonbury shrewdly shaken— The fabulous history

CONTENTS. Ill
of St. Ursula confuted — Why so little church-story in this age — Gildas
at a strange sight suddenly silenced — The partiality of Saxon writers —
The British treacherously murdered — The description of Stonehenge
— Vortigern, burning in lust, burned to ashes — Aurelius causelessly
slandered by an Italian — The academy of learned men under Dubritius
— Forged lies obtruded on posterity, in lieu of lost truths — The mas
sacre of the monks at Winchester — Merlin left in a twilight ; whether
that magician was an impostor, or his whole story an imposture put
upon credulous posterity. Pages 46 — 65.
SECTION VL CENTURY VI.
A.D. 501—580.
The most miserable estate of the British commonwealth — King Arthur's
actions much discredited by monkish fictions — Caer-leon a principal
staple of learning and religion — St. David an advancer of monastic life
— One paramount miracle of St. David — Reasons why men in this age
lived so long — The discreet devotion of Cadocus — Iltutus abused with
monkish forgeries — Sampson, archbishop of Dole — Paternus a pattern
for all bishops— Petrock, the captain of Cornish saints — The piety of
St. TeUau — Several other worthies of the same age — Pastors in this
age, why in constant motion — Books falsely fathered on British
writers. Pages 66 — 72.

BOOK II.
sECTiojsr I.
A.D. 585—600.
The first occasion of the Saxona' conversion to Christianity— Gregory
would convert England in his person, but doth it by his proxy-
Augustine and his fellows shrink for fear— Augu'stine troubled with
mocking Michals in his passage through France— Adfustine, for all
his power of working miracles, needs interpreters to preach to the
English— The rabble of Saxon idols— A recruit of their idols— All
these antiquated by Christianity— The character of king Ethelbert—
Augustine's addresses, and Ethelbert's answer— Ethelbert and others
converted to the Christian faith— Gregory's answer to Augustine's
letters— Conclusion of this century. Pages 77—86.
SECTION II. CENTURY VII.
A.D. 601—697.
Whv the archbishop's see was removed from London to Canterbury-
Augustine summons a synod of Saxon and British bishops-The
British clergy refuse submission to the pope of Rome-The credit of
this manuscript impugned— The synod proves ineffectual— The
A ^

CONTENTS.
dialogue betwixt the British bishops and the anchoret— Proud
Diotrephes Augustine— Augustine's prophecy— The massacre ot tne
monks at Bangor— Augustine suspected to be their murderer— Wit
nesses produced against him— Testimonies in his behalf— The para
graph in Bede's testimony questioned— Mr. Fox's moderation much
moveth the jury— The blood of Bangor monks revenged— Farewell
taken for some years of the British church — Commendation of the
British language — Causelessly traduced by ignorance — Augustine
baptizeth ten thousand in one day — The simplicity of ancient baptism
— The idol Heale destroyed by Augustine at Cern — A ridiculous
miracle — The great improvement of the Gospel— Augustine's death
and epitaph— The date of the year, how wanting therein— Farewell to
St. Augustine — Laurentius succeedeth Augustine — The controversy
about Easter betwixt Rome and the Britons stated — The Britons' plea
— The controversy reconciled by Laurentius — The antiquity of this
difference — The death of Ethelbert, Feb. 24th, and decay of Chris
tianity — MeUitus and Justus's departure defended — Laurentius, intend
ing to depart, rebuked — Eadbald becomes a Christian — Justus received
at Rochester, and Mellitus rejected at London — Mellitus's Character —
What a pall is — Edwin's preparatory promise to Christianity — His con
dition performed, and yet he demurs — The speech of Coify the priest
— The courtier's comparison — Edwin converted and baptized — The
East Angles converted to Christianity — The religion and learning of
king Sigebert — Difference about the antiquity of the university of
Cambridge — The leading testimony of Bede explained — Authors com
menting on Bede's text — First objection against Sigebert's founding of
Cambridge. Answer — Second objection. Answer — Third objection.
Answer — Fourth objection. Answer — Fifth objection. Answer —
Conclusion with prayer — Edwin, king of Northumberland, slain — The
unhappy year — A lost year well found — A victory given from heaven —
Pope Honorius's ineffectual letter — Birinus converts the West Saxons
to the faith — A broken promise well kept — Dorchester made a bishop's
see — England divided into parishes — A morose preacher little edifieth
— Aidan's due commendation — Bede's allay — Laymen's diligence in
reading Scripture — The royal interpreter — The first Lent in England
— The ill success of good kings — Oswald's hand said never to
putrify. Mystically true — Over-officiousness occasioned purgatory —
The death of PauUnus — Most Christian king Oswy — Sigebert the too-
good — Annas happy in a holy issue— The conversion of the Mercians
to Christianity under prince Peada— St. Cedde and St. Chad — Fridona,
first English archbishop — Wulphere's murder of his two sons — The
making of glass brought first into England-^Scottish bishops dissent
from others in keeping Easter. This controversy spreads into private
famiUes. A council is called to compose this controversy — Wilfride's
prevailing argument. His intended but disappointed preferment-
Abbess Hilda. A miracle imputed to her holiness— Theodoras, arch
bishop of Canterbury. His fierceness to keep Easter after the Romish
rite. He envieth Wilfride bishop of York— The South Saxons, as
formerly the Friezlanders, converted by Wilfride — The first, the last-
Pagan obstinacy punished with famine — South Saxons first taught to
fish — A double good deed — Godfathers used to men of mature age 
Cadwallader founds a Welsh hospital at Rome : since, injuriously

CONTENTS. V
taken from the Welsh — The ecclesiastical laws of king Ina — Women
present at the great council of Becanceld — Romish brags of St. Audre's
chastity. Twice a wife, still a maid. Pretended chastity, real injustice.
Her miraculous monument of marble. Confuted by a credible witness
— The council at Berghamsteed — Wilfride restored to York, and outed
again. Pages 87 — 141.
SECTION III. CENTURY VIIL
A. D. 701—800.
Wilfride persecuted afresh by Alfred king of Northumberland — Wilfride
appealeth to Rome, and is acquitted. He is at last restored, and dieth
in peace — Sherborne taken out of Winchester bishopric — Multitude of
books created by a mistake — The numerosity of noble saints in this
age — St. Guthlake the first Saxon hermit — A swinish conceit of a
monk — The first synod for image-worship in England — Binnius and
Baronius sullen, and why — The miracle-working of St. John of
Beverley — Kings and queens turn monks and nuns — King Ina's fine
and rent to the church — Winnifride an Englishman converteth the
Germans — Bede, though sent for, went not to Rome^Bede pro
bably went out of his cell — Bede, why surnamed Venerabilis — Bede's
last blaze, and the going-out of the candle of his life — The general
viciousness of the Saxons, how occasioned — The effect of Boniface's
letter to the king of Mercia — Cliff in Kent probably the ancient
Cloves-ho — The chief canons of this synod — Egbert, archbishop
of York, famous in several respects — The beastly canons of Egbert
— The charter of Kenulphus to the abbot of Abingdon — The cavils
of Parsons against Sir Edward Coke confuted — Bodies first
brought to be buried in churches — The occasion of monks' first
drinking of wine in England — Danes' first arrival in England —
Denmark, formerly fruitful, is now become barren of men. Two
reasons thereof — The reason of reasons — Bad presages of the Danes'
approach — The archi-episcopal pall removed to Lichfield — St. Alban's
body enshrined — Peter-pence re-confirmed to Rome — Gift no debt — ¦
The royal foundation of St. Alban's abbey — Canterbury recovereth its
former dignity — Learned Aleuinus confuteth image-worship — Egbert
the first fixed monarch of England. Pages 141 — 163.
SECTION IV. CENTURY IX.
A.D. 801—900. 1 EGBERT TO 18 ALFRED.
The archbishopric restored to Canterbury at the instance of king Kenulph
— The first most formal subscription in a synod — Some observables
on the method and manner of their meeting — The acts of the council
at Celichyth — Egbert proclaimed monarch of England — Seven king
doms swallowed up in England — Danes disturb king Egbert—
Athelwolphus's universal grant of tithes to the church — Former acts
for tithes infirm — Objections against this act answered — Store no sore
 A pleasant passage— A sobd answer of a learned serjeant — This law
not presently and perfectly obeyed— King Ethelwolph's journey to

VI CONTENTS.
Rome, and bounty to the pope— How this sum was divided, and col
lected out of several diocesses— The Saxons wilfully accessary to their
own ruin by the Danes— Fight betwixt Christians and Danes—
Crowland monks massacred— Peterborough monks killed. Monastery
burned — A heap of martyrs— The cruel martyrdom of king Edmund
King Ethelbert's prayer-victory— King Ethelbert heart-broken with
grief — King Alfred's exemplary character — Alfred, as a fiddler, dis-
eovereth the Danish designs — The Danish ships left water-bound — The
general ignorance in England — Ancient schools at Crekelade and
Lechlade — The university first founded by Alfred at Oxford — King's
hall founded by king Alfred — The birth-place of Johannes Scotus—
Wales's right to Scotus's birth—" Scotus," saith Caius, " studied at
Cambridge." Miserably murdered by his scholars. Unmartyred by
Baronius — Scotus confounded with other of his namesakes — The
scholars' maintenance out of the king's exchequer — Dissension betwixt
the students at Oxford — The arms of Oxford — One, once a Swineherd,
made bishop of Winchester — The preface to the canons made by king
Alfred — A general contribution to Rome and Jerusalem — Death of
king Alfred — Weak guardians, God wot — The woful estate of the
English — The commendable temper of king Alfred and king Edward.
Pages 163—187.
SECTION V. CENTURY X.
A.D. 904—995. 3 EDWARD THE ELDER TO 15 ETHELRED.
England interdicted by the pope for want of bishops — The character of
those kings on whom the pope most improved himself — The pope
jjleased, and England absolved again — Vacant bishoprics supplied, and
new erected — King Edward in a new synod confirms his father's con
stitutions — Cambridge university repaired by king Edward — The tes
timony of John Rouse concerning king Edward's repairing of Cam
bridge — Cambridge represented in a three-fold estate — The principal
laws enacted in the council at Greatlea — Dignities and degrees amongst
the Saxons — Dunstan's first coming into favour at the court. Banished
thence on suspicion of magic. He retires unto his cell-prison at
Glastonbury. Takes a devil by the nose. This false miracle canvassed
— Aelfgine, Dunstan's bountiful friend— Re-called to court, and re
banished thence— King Edmund's miraculous deliverance— Fie, for
shame, lying monk— King Edred a high patron of Dunstan— But king
Edwin his professed enemy ; who, though wronged by the monks,
was a worthy prince. He banisheth Dunstan, and dieth heart-broken
with grief— Dunstan re-called by king Edgar, and takes a double
bishopric— Oswald's law to eject secular priests— Dunstan's disciplin
ing of king Edgar, and carriage towards an incestuous count. Observa.
tions thereon— Edgar's canons, why by us here related— Edgar a most
triumphant king— A national council in Wales. The merry laws made
therein. Confirmed by the pope— A council at Winchester, with a
miraculous voice m it— Secular priests strive still— A portentous coun
cil at Calne— Several censures on this sad. accident— Seculars outed
and -monks advanced— Priests hardly dealt with— The prodigious'
prodigaUty in building and endowing of abbeys-Caution to our age—

CONTENTS. vii
King Edward murdered, alios martyred— King Ethelred prognosticated
unsuccessful— Dunstan's corpse wrongfully claimed by the convent of
Glastonbury. A night hue-and-cry made after his corpse. Discovered
with the manner of the interment thereof— Priests and monks alter
nately cast out— The Danes re-invade England— The unreadiness of
king Ethelred advantageth the Danes — A dear peace bought of the
Danes — Multitudes of monasteries caused the Danish invasion — The
cruelty of the returning Danes. Pages 187 — 212.
SECTION VI. CENTURY XL
A.D. 1011—1066. 36 ETHELRED TO 1 HAROLD,
Murder of the Danes in a church. Canterbury sacked : Alphage killed by
the Danes — Believe what you list. More cruelty — The valour of
Cambridgeshire-men — Two English kings at once. Edmund Ironside
treacherously slain — Canutus's cruelty converted into charity. He
goeth to Rome. Returneth, improved in devotion — The paramount
cross of England for richness. King Canutus's humility. Commands
the sea ; but in vain. His sermon thereon. His laws, why omitted — ,"
Harold Harefoot succeeded him ; then Hardy Canutus — Edward the
Confessor becomes king of England — The original of our common
laws — No hostile Danes appear in England — The manner of ordeal by
fire — Queen Emma's miraculous purgation — A wife no wife. Yet, was
there not a cause ? — The good daughter of a bad father — Godwin's
device to get Berkeley nunnery. Another trick to gain the manor of
Boseham — A miracle reported done by king Edward. Westminster
church rebuilt by him — A ring said to be sent from St, John to king
Edward — A vision worth observing — King Edward's contempt of
wealth — King Edward's wardrobe put into the regalia. No confessor
in the strictness of the word — Stigand the vicious archbishop of Can
terbury — King Edward's ecclesiastical constitutions — How the kings of
England come to cure the king's evil. Several opinions of the causes
thereof. Others count it superstition. Many make the cure mira-
» culous — The ingenuous confession of a catholic — Queen Elizabeth, why
displeased with the people in Gloucestershire — The kings of France cure
the king's evil — Laurentius falsely denies the kings of England power
in curing the king's evil — The indifferent opinion — Harold usurpeth
the crown — William duke of Normandy twisteth many weak titles
together — William rebateth his conquering sword with composition —
A breviate of the doctrine of England in these ages before the Norman
conquest — The author's engagement to the archbishop of Armagh, and
conclusion of this second book. Pages 212 — 233.
SECTION VII.
A.D. 1066. 1 HAROLD TO 1 WILLIAM I.
The design propounded and asserted — Imposing of names denotes dominion
 Fixed surnames not long "before the conquest— Surnames late in
(because not needful to) kings — Many of the Normans most noble by
birth. Yet some not so much as gentlemen — Many of the neighbour
ing nations under the notion of Normans — W names Walloons — The

VIII CONTENTS.
twilight credit of Battle-Abbey Roll— Objection : then it is of no credit.
Answer : how credit thereunto is to be cautioned— Copy of Battle
Roll from Holinshed. Copy of Battle Roll from Stow. CoPX °f
Battle Roll from Fox's Acts and Monuments. Another from Holin
shed. Two others from Stow— The prefixing of D' before names-
French surnames discerned by their terminations — Wivil closeth the
catalogue— The family of the Walgraves— After the conquest several
recruits of French in England — Tradesmen not mentioned in this Roll
came over with them, as appears by Doomsday-Book — The sad case of
the English. Pages 233—257,

BOOK IIL
SECTION I.
A,D, 1067—1100. 1 WILLIAM I. TO 1 HENRY I.
The drunken Enghsh conquered by the Normans, and [WilliamJ foundeth
Battle-Abbey. William crowned by the archbishop of York, whilst
many of the English clergy fly into Scotland — Doomsday-Book made
— Stigand deposed in a council at Winchester — The pope's first usurpa-!
tion of the crown of England ; yet king William invested ecclesias
tical persons ; and refuseth to do fealty to the pope — King William
ordereth the power both of pope and archbishop in his own dominion
— Barons not to be excommunicated without the king's command —
Bishop's jurisdictions first severed from the sheriffs — The contest
betwixt common and canon law, how only to be reconciled — King
William's charter to the clergy — Two contrary characters of king
William — Our endeavours to compass the difference — King William's
bounty to Battle-Abbey. His hard deaUng with the students at
Oxford — Lanfrank most kindly treated by the pope — His charge
against Thomas, elect of York, and against Remigius, elect of Lincoln
— L?infrank's return and employment — Bishops' sees removed from
villages to cities — Wolstan's simplicity saveth his bishopric — The
original of " Secundum Usum Sarum" — The first coming of the Jews
into England— The death of king William, with the difficulty of his
burial — The three sons of the Conqueror, how denominated— King
William Rufus crowned. His covetousness and inconstancy. His
enriching himself by church-Uvings. His sickness and resolution
of amendment— Anselm's expression questioned — Anselm refuseth to
send king Rufus one thousand pounds— Herbert bishop of Thetford's
simoniacal flattery— Wolstan bishop of Worcester dieth— Duke Robert
prepares for the Holy War— Variance betwixt the king and Ansehn.
Their several pleadings, and present reconcilement— They disagree
again— King Rufus's death. His burial and character— Henry I. suc
ceedeth Rufus, and is crowned. Pages 260 — 285.
SECTION II. CENTURY XII.
A.D. 1101— 1174. 2 HENRY I. TO 20 HENRY II.
The helUsh imprecation of Maud when married to king Henry. The story
otherwise told by Eadmerus, an eye and ear witness— A grand synod

CONTENTS. ix
of the clergy and laity, with the constitutions thereof— Anselm refuseth
to consecrate the king's bishops— Anselm sent to Rome— The king
parts with his investing of bishops— Anselm forbids priests' marriage,
only by a church- constitution grounded on a double error— Paramount
holiness in a married person— St. Paul expounded ; and marriage
defended— A monk's verses, as bald as his crown— An ill evasion well
stopped up— Marriage bed may be forborne for a time, not totaUy for
bidden— H. Huntingdon's censure of Anselm— Anselm dieth re infectd
of priests' divorces— The stoutness of Norwich clergy— Learned mar
ried Ealphegus— A virgin-leecher unmasked — Priests buy their own
wives — Ely-abbey made a bishopric, and enriched with royalties — St.
David's contest with Canterbury — Impar Congressus — King Henry's
death— Stephen usurpeth the crown on a silly title— Maud the fourth 
The perjury of the clergy — Variety of people's opinions— Pro and con
for king Stephen— A second party, with their opposers. A third, with
theirs, A fourth, with theirs— Some act at, not for, king Stephen's
commands — Politic patience — Robert earl of Gloucester singular
— Highly conscientious — ^An honest revolt of the clergy — Canons of
Paul's soundly paid — What Focarise were — A synod at Westminster-
Henry of Winchester, England's arch-prelate— The issueless issue of
the synod at Winchester — Why plenty of religious foundations in these
martial days — Religious houses founded by king Stephen— The con
stancy of Theobald archbishop of Canterbury — The seasonable death
of prince Eustace— An Englishman pope — Geoflft-ey Monmouth
defended — The death of king Stephen— Sobriquets, what they were —
King Henry's character — What became of Maud the empress— The
body of the common-law compiled — Castles demolished — Thomas
Becket, lord chancellor of England. His great reformation, being
made archbishop of Canterbury. A stubborn defender of the vicious
clergy, against secular magistrates. He incurs the king's displeasure
f— The vanity of Becket's path. He flieth beyond sea, without the
king's consent. How employed in- his banishment — Is reconciled to
the king. Returns as obstinate as he went over. Is slain by four
knights in his own church — Various censures on his death — The heavy
penance performed by king Henry — Becket, after fifty years, enshrined
— The blind superstition of people. Pages 285 — 318.
SECTION III,
A.D. 1176— 1200. 22 HENRY IL TO I JOHN.
The undutifulness of young king Henry — Richard made archbishop of
Canterbury — The controversy betwixt Canterbury and York for pre
cedency — Canterbury's title — York's title — How much carnality in the
most spiritual — The pope's decision gives final satisfaction — The far-
extended English monarchy, in this king's reign, could not make him
fortunate in his own family — Disobedience endeavoured to be expiated
by superstition — An account of our design — Nevil Kill-Lion's per
formance in Palestine — Ancestors to the noble and numerous Nevilles
— Girald de Talbote, whence the house of Shrewsbury — Guarrin Fitz
Girald, from whom the earls of Kildare and barons o£ Windsor — A
quarternion more of adventurers — Ingelram Fiennes's posterity —

CONTENTS,

Radulphus de Alta Ripd—A mistake freely confessed— Crescent and
star, why the device of king Richard L in his voyage to the Holy I-and
—The arms of the ancient family of Minshul; as also of the noble St.
John's and Sackville— The worshipful family of the Tilneys— The most
honourable ancestors of the Villiers — The arms of the Berkeleys
More churchmen abroad than church-business at home — Longchanip
and Wolsey paraUeled. Wolsey the better of the two. Yet a word in
excuse of Longchamp — King Richard dearly ransomed — Why a small
sum great in that age — King Richard better for affliction — Lambeth
convent, why demolished — King Richard's death by a poisoned arrow.
The threefold division of his corpse. His double epitaph and sue-
cesser. Pages 318—332.
SECTION IV, CENTURY XIII.
A,D, 1201—1220. 2 JOHN TO 4 HENRY III.
Hubert's indiscreet emulation of the king — A scratch betwixt the monks of
Canterbury widened into a dangerous wound — Two archbishops chosen
by the monks of Canterbury, and the pope propoundeth a third — The
pope sends two letters of contrary tempers to the king — King John's
return, raising his voice to too high a note at first — Three bishops, by
command from the pope, interdict the whole kingdom — England's sad
case under interdiction — Two grand effects wrought by this interdic
tion — King John's innocence and the pope's injustice in these proceed
ings — King John by name excommunicated ; yet is blessed with good
success under the pope's curse — The prophecy of Peter of Wakefield
against king John — King John's submission to the pope — The rent
never paid the pope, nor demanded by him — The proud carriage of
Pandulphus to the king — Peter the prophet hanged, whether unjustly,
disputed — The interdiction of England relaxed — The pope's legate
arbitrates the arrears betwixt the king and clergy — The barons rebel
against king John — Le-wis prince of France invited by the barons to
invade England — An unworthy embassy of king John to the king of
Morocco — The lamentable death of king John — King John's character
delivered in the dark — Henry HI. under tutors and governors — By
what means king Henry so quickly recovered his kingdom — Our prin
cipal design in writing this king's Ufe— Occasions of the pope's intole
rable extortions— A new design— Good text, whatever the comments-
Serenity in the state. Pages 332 — 347.
SECTION V.
A.D. 1215—1262. 7 HENRY IIL TO 46 HENRY HI. ,
A remarkable writ of the king to the sheriff of Buckinghamshire— A
remarkable prohibition of papal appeals— The effect of the instrument
—Appeal to the pope prohibited— The time makes it the more remark.
able— Caursines, what they were— Necessary observations— Caursines,
whence so called— Foxes' hap and happiness— Caursines and Lom
bards the same— Deep hypocrisy -The present of the Oxford scholars
to the legate, ill requited— The legate's brother killed by the scholars

CONTENTS.

of Oxford— The legate flies to the king— Oxford in a sad condition ;
interdicted by the legate, who returns to London— The bishops inter
cede for the university. All are reconciled — Bishops' ancient inns in
London— A valiant offer— A free-forced gift— Spoken like a king — Say
and do, best— A pension given by the pope to an English earl — There
are rich who make themselves poor — The death of bishop Grouthead
— The pope's fume against this good bishop quenched by a Spanish
cardinal — Grouthead the people's, though not the pope's, saint— Dis
contents begin in England ; grounded on too much occasion — A title
without power only left to the king — The pope freely gives his cour
tesies for money — Sad case when the royal root is no better than a
sucker. No part of church-work. Bettered by affliction— Charta
Magna first fuUy practised — Balliol college built by a banished prince :
great revenues for that age — Endowed with more land than now it
possesseth — The author's request to the learned in Oxford — Four
necessary things premised : whence the masters are collected ; whence
the bishops ; whence the benefactors ; whence the learned writers — No
wilful wrong done : add and mend— Balliol college — A pair of learned
judges — University college founded — Jews damnable extortioners— A
second privilege — The third privilege — The submission of the dean
and chapter of St. Asaph — Edmond archbishop of Canterbury, sainted
after his death — Boniface, a worthless archbishop. Pages 347 — 368.
SECTION VI.
A.D. 1272—1297. 57 HENRY III. TO 25 EDWARD I.
The vivacity of king Henry III. and the variety of his life. The serenity of
his death, and solemnity of his burial — The advantages of absent
prince Edward. His achievements against the Turks — The pope's
present power in England — Merton coUege in Oxford founded — ^A
manor in Cambridge given thereunto — Merton's monument renewed —
The living passed over in silence — The original of postmasters — ^The
church ready to eat up the commonwealth — The mischief of Mortmain
to the crown — This law not new, but renewed — Ambrose angry with
Mortmain — The statute of Mortmain — Who the active prelates of this
age — The spiritual and temporal courts bounded by parliament — Judge
Coke's decision — No end can end an everlasting difference — A transi
tion to the entire story of our English Jews. Their principal residence
in London — The justice of the Jews — The high priest or presbyter of
the Jews — Jews griping usurers. Their rapaciousness and tenacious-
ness — Jevvs might purchase houses — Lay excommunication, what it
was — Jews unfortunate at feasts and frays — A sad Jewish jubilee —
London Wall built with Jewish stones — Henry III. cruel to the Jews —
The wonder of the Jews' speedy recruiting their estates — Crowds of
counterfeit converts — Misdemeanours charged on the Jews — Jews, say
others, not cast out, but craved leave to depart — The king gets incre
dible wealth forfeited by the Jews — King Edward arbitrator betwixt
Balliol and Bruce. He proveih Malleus Scotorum. Pages 369 — 391.

Xii CONTENTS.
SECTION VIL CENTURY XIV.
A.D. 1301—1314. 29 EDWARD I. TO 7 EDWARD II.
The pope chaUengeth Scotland as P-u^ar to himself-King Edward
assisted by his lords, stoufly maintameth his own right--One con
demneS for a traitor f^r bringing the pope's buU-The arcbbi^^^P of
Canterbury humbled by the king-Gmltmess makes P^°"d men base
-The remarkable dialogue betwixt the king and archbishop-Wm-
chelsey finds no favour from the pope, and why-A signal piece of
iustice done by foreign sequestrators-England's galled back ex
changes a fuU fly for a hungry one-The infinite wealth Rome yearly
drained from England-The death and character of king Edward I.-
Winchelsey, at the request of king Edward II. restored to his arch-
bishopric-The character of king Edward II.-The fatal defeat of the
EngUsh in Scotland— Nine eminent schoolmen of the Enghsh nation-
Alexander Hales their father and founder-Bacon accused for a con-
iuror— Many Bacons in one make a confusion-Duns Scotus, why so
caUed Three kingdoms lay claim to his birth— Low but learned
Baconthorpe-Occam a stiff ImperiaUst-Holcofs sudden death— The
just praise of Thomas Bradwardine— Schoolmen busied m needless
difficulties. Excuses for their bad Latin. Their several divisions in
judgment— AU Oxford, most Merton college-- Why school divinity not
so used in Oxford, after this age— The sad distemper of England at
this time— King Edward accused for betraying his privileges to the
pope. Pages 391—406. SECTION VIII.
A.D. 1316—1326. 9 EDWARD II. TO 19 EDWARD II.
Exeter coUege founded by bishop Stapleton, who afterwards was barba
rously murdered— Sir WiUiam Petre's bounty— Dr. HackwiU built this
chapel— Western men here most proper— The king's courteous answer
to the prelates' complaints — Made a printed statute under the title of
"ArticuliCleri" — Yetthe controversy between the two jurisdictions still
continued — Oriel coUege built by king Edward II. Query about the
name thereof — Kings nursing fathers to this house ; lately rebuilded most
decently — War between the queen and king — Counter proclamations,
and counter rumours — The king, unable to fight and flee, after a short
concealment, is taken — King Edward resigneth his crown. He is
rejected by his own wife, and cruelly murdered — A brace of loyal
subjects, and a loyal priest-chancellor — Walter Reynolds unthankful
to the king — The nature of the pope's provisions — Henry bishop of
Lincoln bad — Smile or frown — A grave foolery — A devil preaching,
and as bad writing : a strange apparition — Arraigned for treason, he
escapes the first time — Arraigned again, and protected by the clergy
— Cast the third time by a lay jury, and proscribed. Pages 406 — 416.

CONTENTS. XUI
SECTION IX.
A.D. 1326—1370. 1 HENRY HI. TO 45 EDWARD HI.
Defunctus amabitur idem. King Edward II. half-sainted— A pair of kings
well-matched — King Edward not active in his father's deposing — His
admirable success in his wars, and humiUty — England hitherto igno
rant in curious clothing — The king's agents tempt the Dutch appren
tices to come over into England ; and obtain their desire. Their
welcome reception — The king politicly disperseth the Dutch — Fullers'
earth a precious commodity — Woollen cloth the English wealth — The
pope's Italian usurers turn merchants ; but at last are prohibited by
the king — A survey made of the clergy's glebe-land ; partly useless by
ill- engrossing — Clergymen engross all offices: several opinions of the
causes thereof — The founding of Queen's College in Oxford by Robert
Eglesfield — A pair of princes bred therein — Queens, nursing-mothers
to this college. Queen Elizabeth's singular bounty — This college
parted between two archbishops — The pope makes use of the king's
absence — The statute of provisions reasonably made. Man's anger
worketh God's pleasure — Statutes of provisions not presently obeyed
— Papal power in England declines — The pope takes wit in his anger
— The institution of the knights of the garter — The qualification of
these knights ; their habits ; their oath — Other rites they are bound to
observe — Order, how voided — Excess in apparel restrained — Clergy
men enjoined to take up arms More scared than hurt — A petition
against Clergymen's employment in secular places. The answer, in
effect, a denial — Simon Mepham, archbishop of Canterbury — John
Stratford his successor. His last his best days — Thomas Bradwardine
the third archbishop ; the best archbishop of that see — Simon Islip,
next archbishop — Langham, Whittlesey, and Sudbury. Pages 416
—432,

BOOK IV,
SECTION I,
A.D. 1371—1400. 45 EDWARD III. TO 2 HENRY IV.
Several causes of the speedy spreading of Wickliffe's doctrine— Wickhffe
guilty of many errors— The learning of Wickliffe — WickUffe accused
for ambition and discontent — The employment of Wickliffe in Oxford
— Difference in the number of Wickliffe's opinions — Thomas Waldensis
accuseth WickUffe to have maintained these dangerous heretical
opinions — Much pity that Wickliffe's own books are lost— Wickliffe
appears before the synod in St. Paul's— The brawl betwixt the bishop
and the lords in the church— Why the archbishop and Wickliffe silent
the while — Wickliffe's opinions marvellously spread, and why— The
death and character of king Edward IIL— Laity bandying against the
clergy in parUament— Wickhffe wonderfully preserved from prosecu
tion  Transactions in the parliament of Gloucester. Sanctuaries
shrewdly shaken— AUens debarred from holding benefices— The rebel-

CONTENTS.

lion of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw— The rabble divided into three
companies — The barbarous outrages by them committed — Judas and
Wat Tyler paralleled— Cope chargeth aU this rebeUion on WickUffe's
doctrine. His malicious slander confuted — Archbishop Courtenay
persecutes the Wickliffians— Wickliffe's miraculous deliverance. His
quiet death — New coUege built by bishop Wickham — Industry and
judgment in architecture the cause of his advancement — A castle-
college designed for defence — A college at Winchester built also by
bishop Wickham — His care for his kindred — Good laws in due season
— The maul-pope's statute of praemunire — The occasion of this statute
— Why called prsemunire — Pope's covetousness odious to the clergy —
The pope's letter against this statute — More scared than hurt — Sir
Thomas Smith's judgment herein — The solemn form of an abjuration
— Take it^ faults and all — Some observations on this abjuration —
The death of John de Trevisa ; who translated the Bible into English,
yet escaped persecution — As did his contemporary, Geoffery Chaucer.
His parentage and arms. He refined our English tongue. A great
enemy to friars — A short quiet in the church — The character of
Richard II. Conspired against by Henry IV. and resigneth the crown
— The baseness of the disloyal clergy — The courageous conscience of
the bishop of Carlisle — Innocency the best armour — Activity wiU be
tampering — A bishop not triable by his peers — A seasonable expedient.
Pages 438—472.
SECTION II. CENTURY XV.
A.D. 1408—1434. 10 HENRY IV. TO 11 HENRY VI.
King Henry bloody against poor Christians, yet asserts his regal power
against the pope's encroachments — William Sautre the proto-martyr of
English protestants — Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury,
solemnly pronounceth Sautre an heretic convicted — Sautre's indiscreet
denying of himself — Sautre, by a second sentence, is adjudged to be
degraded and deposed. The order of his degradation — The king's
warrant for the burning of Sautre — A surfeit of synods in archbishop
Arundel's time — A new chronology — A severe motion against the
Welsh, moderated by the king. The cause of his anger — The .quater
nion of Welsh bishops, who and what at this time— The petition of the
lords and commons to the king against Lollards — The prince made a
party against Wicklivites — Complication of royal and prelatical interest
— Wicklivists' schools— LoUards, why so called — A charitable paren
thesis—King Richard, why believed alive— No woman LoUard mar
tyr—Who meant by "the fool in Scotland"— Cruel persecution-
Archbishop Arundel, going to visit Oxford, is resisted by the chan
cellor—The king determines the cause for the archbishop  The effect
of the statute of premunire — FareweU to king Henry IV. Chaumber-
dakyns banished England— The death of Thomas Arundel— The clergy,
jealous of king Henry's activity, divert it on a war in France— The sad
story of Sir John Oldcastle. His belief. He is charged of treason—
The author, intricated, leaveth all to the last day— The lord Cobham
taken in Wales. His double death. Unjustly made the buffoon in
plays— Lincoln college founded— Nicholas Pont, great anti-Lincolnian

CONTENTS.

— The author, some weeks in, though not of, this house— The arch-
casuist of our church and age— Bishop of Lincoln builds them a new
chapel— The death and character of king Henry V.— Queen Catherine
married again ; but never buried, by her own desire : alii aliter—The
parliament appoint the king's counseUors — A strict law for the Irish
Clergy — WickUffe, quietly buried forty-one years, ordered to 'be
ungraved for a heretic. His ashes burned and drowned — None can
drive a nail of wax — Difference betwixt authors — WickUffe traduced—
A monk's charity to WickUffe — A conditional privy counsellor— Pri-
vilege of convocation — ^Want of grammar-schools complained of—
Eleanor duchess of Gloucester commended by Mr. Fox for a confessor:
made traitor by A. Cope— Mr. Fox's ingenuous confession. His
flat denial. His ten conjectures in behalf of the duchess — A moderate
way — The meanest bishop above the mightiest abbot — Lichfield's
cathedral, the neatest pile in England — Charles the fifth of Florence —
An ingenuous design — A grievance complained on, with great earnest
ness; yet not fuUy redressed — WiUiam Linwood's Constitutions set
forth. First employed ambassador into Portugal. His work printed
and prized beyond sea. Pages 472 — 500.

SECTION III.
A.D. 1434—1482. 12 HENRY VI. TO 22 EDWARD IV.
English ambassadors sent to Basil — Why the pope declines general coun
cils in our age — England must send four, might send more, bishops to
a general council — English puissance in France — Langdon, the learned
bishop of Rochester — Precedents for precedency — A charitable and no
impolitic offer — A contest betwixt the English and Castilians about
precedency. The answer of the English — All-Souls' coUege in Oxford
founded — A tart jeer soberly returned — The founding of Eaton college
— The bad poetry of that age — A bountiful foundation : God continue
it — All quickly lost in France — Occasioned by the English discords —
The death of Humphrey duke of Gloucester — A flt work for a good
pen — The death of the rich cardinal — The clergy move in vain against
the statute of premunire — An eminent instance in Ireland, of a priest
indicted on the statute of premunire — Cade and Straw, like and unlike
— The wars begin between York and Lancaster — Magdalen college, in
Oxford, founded by bishop Wainfleet — The many worthies bred therein
—Edward IV. gaineth the crown by conquest — Why little church-
history in this king's reign — Synod privileges broken and repaired —
King Henry returned, routed, and imprisoned — The earl of Warwick
takes just distaste at king Edward — King Edward taken prisoner, and
king Henry enlarged — Edward escaped, flieth beyond sea, and return
eth J recovereth the crown by conquest — Why most armies make for
London — Brawls betwixt mendicants and secular priests — Christ
falsely traduced to be a beggar. Writers pro and con in the cause —
A prodigious feast at an archbishop's installation — A second [feast]
sadder in the conclusion — Scotland freed from the see of York — John
Goose, martyr — King Edward preacheth his own funeral sermon.
Pages 501—524.

XVI CONTENTS.
SECTION IV.
A.D. 1483—1500. 1 RICHARD HI. TO 16 HENRY VII.
After More, no more — Clergy complying, not active — Shaw's shameless
sermon — The sumptuous coronation of king Richard — King Edward
and his brother stifled — King Richard vainly endeavoureth to ingra
tiate himself by making good laws ; as also by building of monasteries
— Art hath done more .for king Richard than ever nature did — The
request of the duke of Buckingham denied. Buckingham surprised
and beheaded — Morton Make-Peace — Mr. Prynne charged for charg-
ing bishop Morton with treason — Earl Henry landeth at Milford-Haven
— The battle of Bosworth — Henry the Seventh's six-fold title to the
crown — The death of archbishop Bourchier — John Morton succeeded
him — A gift not worth the taking — Exorbitancies of sanctuaries
retrenched — Two synods at London — Italians good at getting and
holding — Rochester bridge repaired by pardons — The king desired
king Henry, then the sixth, to be sainted — The requisites to a canon
ization. These applied to king Henry VI. — A brace of miracles
wrought by king Henry VI. — Reasons why king Henry VI. was not
sainted — Archbishop fllorton procureth the sainting of Anselm —
The king's carriage to the pope : severe to the vicious clergy. Sad
to be the king's convert— Needless cruelty— The founding of Brazen-
nose college — The death of archbishop Morton. Pages 525—539.

THE

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.

BOOK I.

FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE ANCIENT
BRITONS TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON HEPTARCHY.

Vol.

TO

THE ILLUSTRIOUS ESME STUART,
DUKE OP RICHMOND.

I HAVE sometimes solitarily pleased myself with the
perusing and comparing of two places of Scripture : —
Acts xxii. 22. Hebrews xi. 38.
The wicked Jews said of St. St. Paul said of the godly Jews,
Paul, " Away with such a fellow " Of whom the world w^s not
from the earth : for it is not fit -v^orthy."
that he should live."
Here I perceive heaven and hell, mercy and malice,
God's Spirit and man's spite, resolved on the ques
tion, that it is not fit that good men should live long
on earth.
However, though the building be the same, yet the
bottom is different ; the same conclusion being inferred
from opposite, yea, contrary premises. Wicked men
think this world too good, God knows it too bad, for
his servants to live in. Henceforward I shall not
wonder that good men die so soon, but that they live
so long ; seeing wicked men desire their room here on
earth, and God their company in heaven. No wonder,
then, if your good father was so soon translated to
happiness, and his grace advanced into glory.
He was pleased to give me a text, some weeks
before his death, of the words of our Saviour to the
B 2

4 DEDICATION.
probationer convert : " Thou art not far from the
kingdom of heaven ; " Mark xii. 34 ; that is, as the words
there import, from the state of salvation. But before
my sermon could be, his life was, finished, and he in
the real acceptation thereof, possessed of heaven and
happiness. Thus was I disappointed (O that this were the
greatest loss by the death of so worthy person !) of a
patron, to whom I intended the dedication of this first
part of my History.
I after was entered on a resolution to dedicate it to
his memory ; presuming to defend the innocency and
harmlessness of such a dedication by precedents of
unquestioned antiquity. But I intended also to sur
round the pages of the dedication with bla-ck, — not
improper, as to his relation, so expressive of the pre
sent sad condition of our distracted church.
But, seasonably remembering how the altar " Ed"
(only erected for commemoration) was misinterpreted
by the other tribes for superstition, Joshua xxii. 11;!
conceived it best to cut off all occasions of cavil frond
captious persons, and dedicate it to you his son and
heir. Let not your Grace be offended, that I make you a
patron at the second hand : for though I confess you
are my refuge, in relation to your deceased father;
you are my choice, in reference to the surviving
nobility. God sanctify your tender years with true
grace, that in time you may be a comf&rt to your
mother, credit to your kindred, and honour to your
nation ! Your Grace's most bounden orator,
Thomas Fuller,

THE

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.
BOOK I.

SECTION I.
THE FIRST CENTURY.
1. The doleful Case of the Pagan Britons.
That we may the more freely and fully pay the tribute of our
thanks to God's goodness for the Gospel which we now enjoy, let
us recount the sad condition of the Britons, our predecessors, before
the Christian faith was preached unto them. "At that time they
were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world." They were foul idolaters, who, from
misapplying that undeniable truth of God's being in every thing,
made every thing to be their god, — trees, rivers, hills, and
mountains. They worshipped devils, whose pictures remained in
the days of Gildas,* within and without the decayed walls of their
cities, drawn with deformed faces, (no doubt, done to the life,
according to their terrible apparitions,) so that such ugly shapes did
not woo, but fright people into adoration of them. Wherefore, if
any find in Tully, that the Britons in his time had no pictures,
understand him, — they were not artists in that mystery, like the
Greeks and Romans ; they had not pieces of proportion, being
rather daubers than drawers, stainers than painters, though called
Picti, from their self-discoloration. 2. Their principal Idols.
Three paramount idols they worshipped above all the rest, and
ascribed divine honour unto them : 1. Apollo, by them styled
" Belinus the Great ;" 2. Andraste, or Andate, the goddess of vic
tory ; -f 3. Diana, goddess of the game. This last was most espe
cially reverenced, Britain being then all a forest, where hunting was
not the recreation but the calling, and venison, not the dainties
• Epist. de Eiccid. Brit. ' t Xiphil. Epi. in Xcronc-

6 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.
but the diet, of common people. There is a place near St.
Paul's in London, called in old records " Diana's chamber," where,
in the days of king Edward I. thousands of the heads of oxen
were digged up ; wherpat the ignorant wondered, whilst the learned
well understood them to be the proper sacrifices to Diana, whose
great temple was built thereabout.* This rendereth their concejt
not altogether unlikely who will have London so called from Llan-
Dian, which signifieth in British " the temple of Diana." And
surely conjectures, if mannerly observing their distance, and not
impudently intruding themselves for certainties, deserve, if not to
be received, to be considered. Besides these specified, they had
other portenta diabolica, pene numero JEgyptiaca vincentia :f
as indeed they who erroneously conceive one God too little, will
find two too many, and yet millions not enough. As for those
learned pens, J which report that the Diuids did instruct the ancient
Britons in the knowledge and worship of one only God, may their
mistake herein be as freely forgiven them, as I hope and desire. that
the charitable reader will with his pardon meet those involuntary
errors which in this work by me shall be committed.
3. The Office and Employment of the Druids.
Two sorts of people were most honoured amongst the Britons : —
1. Druids, who were their philosophers, divines, lawyers ; 2. Bards,
who were their prophets, poets, historians. The former were so
called from Spuj, signifying generally " a tree," and properly " an
oak," under which they used to perform their rites and ceremonies ;
an idolatry whereof the Jews themselves had been guilty, for which
the prophet threateneth them : " They shall be ashamed of the oaks
which they have desired," Isaiah i. 29. But the signal oak which
the Druids made choice of, was such a one on which misletoe did
grow ; by which privy token, they conceived God marked it out^ as
of sovereign virtue, for his service.g Under this tree, on the sixth
day of the moon, (whereon they began their year,) they invocated
their idols, and offered two white bulls, filleted in the horns, with
many other ceremonies. These Pagan priests never wi-ote any
thing, so to procure the greater veneration to their mysteries ; men
being bound to believe that it was some great treasure which was
locked up'in such great secresy.
4. The powerful Practices of the Bards on the People.
The bards were next the Druids in regard, and played jexcellently
to their songs on their harps ; whereby they had great operation on
' Ca«i,e«. Britann. in Middlescv. 1 Gildas ut prius. t Druidfs unum
e.ue Deum semper inculcarmit.—CAMDztt and Bishop Godwin. * Plinii
Natur. Hist. lib. vi. cap. 44.

A.D. 37. BOOK I. CENT. I. 7
the vulgar., surprising them into civility unawares,— they greedily
swallowing whatsoever was sweetened with music. These also, to
preserve their ancestors from corruption, embalmed their memories
in rhyming verses, which looked both backward,— in their relations,
and forward, — ^in their predictions ; so that their confidence, meeting
with the credulity of others, advanced their wild conjectures to the
reputation of prophecies. The immortality of the soul ttey did not
flatly deny, but fekely believe ; disguised under the opinion of
transanimation, conceiving that dying men's souls afterward passed
into other bodies, either preferred to better, or condemned to worse,
according to their former good or ill behaviour. This made
them contemn death, and always maintain erected resolutions,
counting a valiant death the best of bargains, wherein they did not
lose, but lay out their lives to advantage. Generally they were
great magicians ; insomuch that Pliny saith, that the very Persians,
in some sort, might seem to have learned their magic from the
Britons.* 5. The first Preaching of the Gospel in Britain. A.D. 3'J.
So pitiful for the present, and more fearful for the future, was the
condition of the Heathen Britons, when it pleased God, " with a
strong hand, and stretched-out arm," to reach the Gospel unto
them, " who were afar off," both in local and theological distance.
This was performed in the latter end of the reign of Tiberius, some
thirty-seven years after Christ's birth ; as Polydore Virgil collecteth
out of the testimony of Gildas.-j-
6. Causes which hastened the Conversion of Britain, before
other Kingdoms which lay nearer to Palestine.
If it seem incredible to any, that this island, furthest from the
sun, should see light with the first, whilst many countries on the
continent interposed (nearer in situation to Judea, the fountain of
the Gospel) sat, as yet, and many years after, " in darkness, and in
the shadow of death ;" let such consider, First, That Britain being a
by-comer, out of the road of the world, seemed the safest sanctuary
from persecution, which might invite preachers to come the sooner
into it. Secondly : It facilitated the entrance and propagation ^ of
the Gospel hither, — that lately the Roman conquest had in part
civilized the south of this island, by transporting of colonies thither,
and erecting of cities there ; so that by the intercourse of trafiic and
* Nalwr. Hist.VCo. xxx. cap 1. t Tempore (ut scimus) sumino Tiberii Casaris.
— In Epist. de Excid. Brit. t In his jippeal of injured Jrmocence, Fuller says
that, by the addition of the two words " and propagation," this sentence " shall be
altered, (God wUling,) in the next edition ; " which is here corrected according to his
expressed intention. — Edit.

37
^ CHUBCir HISTORY OF BKITAIN. , -*^-^-
commerce With other countries, Christianity had the ""''^^ ^P^^^^ '
and convenient waftage over. Whereas on the other Bid«. *1"^ «^
the conversion of Germany so backward, because the -J-^ p-^s
thereof entertained no trading with others ; and out of defiance to
the Romans, hugged their own barbarism, made ovely with liberty,
bolting out all civility from themselves, as jealous that it would
usher in subjection. Lastly and chiefly : God in a more peculiar
manner did always favour " the islands," as under his immediate
protection. For as he daily walls them with his providence, against
the scaling of the swelling surges, and constant battery of the tide;
60 he made a particular promise of his Gospel unto them, by the
mouth of his prophet : " I will send those that escape of them to
the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame," Isaiah Ixvi. 19 ; to
show that " neither height nor depth," no, not of the ocean itself,
" is able to separate any from the love of God." And for the same
purpose, Christ employed fishermen for the first preachers of the
Gospel, as who, being acquainted with the water, and mysteries of
sailing, would with the more delight undertake long sea^voyages into
foreign countries.
7. St. Peter falsely reported to have preached in Britain.
But now, who it was that first brought over the Gospel into
Britain, is very uncertain. The conversioner (understand Parsons
the Jesuit) mainly stickleth for the apostle Peter to have first
preached the Gospel here.* Yea, when Protestants object against
St. Peter's being at Rome, because St. Paul, in his epistle to the
Romans, omitteth to name or salute him ; the Jesuit handsomely
answers, that Peter was then probably from home, employed in
preaching in Britain and other places. His arguments to prove it are
not so strong, but that they easily accept of answers, as followeth : —
Argument I. — St. Peter preached in Britain, because Gildas,
speaking against his dissolute countrymen, taxeth them " for usurp
ing the seat of Peter with their unclean feet."-|-
Ans-wee. — Understand him, that they had abused the profes
sion of the ministry : for it follows, " They have sitten in the
pestilent chair of Judas the traitor." Whence it appears, both are
meant mystically and metaphorically, parallel to the expressions of
the apostle, Jude 11, "Theyhave gone in the way of Cain," &c.
Argument II. — Simeon Metaphrastes saith so, that he stayed
some days in Britain, where, having preached the word, established
churches, ordainCd bishops, priests, and deacons, in the twelfth year
of Nero he returned to Rome.J
* Parsons's Three Conversions, part J, chap. 1, page 19. -f In Epist. de Excid.
Brit. X Cotnincntario de Pctro et Paulo, ad diem 29 Junii.

A.D. 37  41. BOOK I. CENT. I. 9
Answer. — Metaphrastes is an author of no credit, as Baronius
himself doth confess.*
Argument III. — Innocent the First reporteth that the first
churches in Italy, France, Spain, Afric, Sicily, and the inter
jacent islands, were founded by St. Peter.-f
Answer. — Make the map an umpire, and the epithet " inter
jacent " will not reach Britain, intending only the islands in the
Mid-land Sea.
Argument IV. — Gulielmus Eysingrenius saith so.
Answer. — Though he hath a long name, he is but a late
author, setting forth his book anno 1566.| Besides, he builds on
the authority of Metaphrastes ; and so both fall together.
Argument V. — St. Peter himself in a vision, in the days of
king Edward the Confessor, reported that he had preached the
word in Britain.
Answ^er. — To this vision pretended of Peter, we oppose
the certain words of St. Paul, " Neither give heed to fables,"
1 Tim. i. 4.
We have stayed the longer in confuting these arguments,
because, from Peter's preaching here. Parsons would infer an
obligation of this island to the see of Rome ; which how strongly
he hath proved, let the reader judge. He that will give a cap and
make a leg, in thanks for a favour he never received, deserveth
rather to be blamed for want of wit, than to be praised for store of
manners. None therefore can justly tax us of ingratitude, if we be
loath to confess an engagement to Rome more than is due ; the
rather because Rome is of so tyrannical a disposition, that, making
herself the mother-church, she expects of her daughters not only
dutifulness, but servility ; and, not content to have them ask her
blessing, but also do her drudgery, endeavoureth to make slaves of
all her children.
8, .S*^. James, St. Paul, St. Simon, and St. Aristobulus, Preach
ers in Britain. ^.D. 41, 47, 56.
Passing by Peter, proceed we fo the rest of the apostles, whom
several authors allege the first planters of religion in this island : —
1. St. James, son to Zebedee, and brother to John.§ But if we
consult with the Scripture, Ave shall find that the sword of Herod
put an end to all his travels before the apostles' general departure
from Jerusalem. Indeed, this James is notoriously reported (how
truly, let them seek who are concerned) to have been in Spain ;
• In aliis muUis ibi ab ipso positis ei-rare eum cerium, est. — Ecc. .dnnal. in An. 44,
num. 54. t Bpistola 1, ad Decentium. X Mason de Minist. Ang. lib. 2,
cap. 2 page 65. ^ IsiDOKUS De Patribus utriusjuc Testament, cap. 72. Item
Flavu'S Lcck-5 Dextek in Chronica ad annum 41.

47—56
10 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D.'*/
and it is probable, some, mistaking Hibernia for Hiberia,&rLA.
then confounding Hibernia, a British island, with our Britain,
(as one error is very procreative of another,) gave the beginning to
James's preaching here.
2. St. Paul is by others shipped over into our island ; amongst
whom thus sings. Venantius Fortunatus : — *
Transit et oceanum, vel quafacit insula portum :
Quasque Britawnus habet terras, quasque ultima Thule.
But less credit is to be given to Britannus, because it goeth in
company with ultima Thule ; which, being the noted expression of
poets for " the utmost bound of the then-known world," seems to
savour more of poetical hyperbole, than historical truth, as a phrase
at random, only to express far-foreign countries.
3. Simon the Canaanite, sutaamed Zelotes : and well did he
brook his name, the fervency of whose zeal carried him into so far
and cold a country to propagate the Gospel. Dorotheus makes him
to be both martyred and buried in Britain. " But this," saith
Baronius, " receiveth no countenance from any ancient writers." f
What, then, I pray, was Dorotheus himself, being bishop of Tyre
under Diocletian and Constantine the Great ? If the cardinal
count him young, what grave seniors will he call ancient ?
4. Aristobulus, though no apostle, yet an apostle's mate, Rom.
xvi. 10, counted one of the seventy disciples, is by Grecian writers
made bishop of Britain.^ Strange, that foreign authors should see
more in our island, than our home-bred historians, wholly sile#
thereof ! and it much weakeneth their testimony, because they give
evidence of things done at such distance from them. But how
easy is it for a writer, with one word of his pen, to send an apostle
-many miles by land and leagues by sea, into a country wherein
otherwise he never set his footing !
The result of all is this : Churches are generally ambitious to
entitle themselves to apostles for their founders ; conceiving they
should otherwise be esteemed but as of the second form and
younger house, if they received the faith from any inferior preacher.
Wherefore, as the Heathen, in searching after the original of their
nations, never leave soaring till they touch the clouds, and fetch
their pedigree from some god ; so Christians think it nothing
worth, except they relate the first planting of religion in their coun
try to some apostle. Whereas, indeed, it matters not, if the
doctrine be the same, whether the apostles preached it by them
selves, or by their successors. We see little certainty can be
extracted, who first brought the Gospel hither ; it is so long since,
* Lib. 3, De Vitd S. Martini. ¦\ Annal. Eccks. in anno 44, num. 39.
X Meneea Grcccorum, die decimo quinto Martii.

A.D. 56— 63. BOOK I, CENT. I. H
the British church hath forgotten her own infancy, who were her
first godfathers. We see, the light of the word shined here, but
see not who kindled it. I will not say, as God, to prevent
idolatry, caused the body of Moses to be concealed, Deut.
xxxiv. 6 ; so, to cut off from posterity all occasion of superstition,
he suffered the memories of our primitive planters to be buried
in obscurity.
9. Claudia, notwithstanding Parsons's Eooceptions, might be a
British Christian. A.D. 63.
Now, amongst the converts of the natives of this island, in this
age, to Christianity, Claudia, surnamed Ruffina, is reputed a prin
cipal, wife to Pudens, a Roman senator. And because all this is
too high a step for our belief to climb at once, the ascent will be
more easy thus divided into stairs and half-paces : —
First. That Claudia was a Briton born. Martial affirms it in his
Epigram, lib. 11, epig. 54 : —
Claudia caruleis cum sit Ruffina Britannis
Edita, cur Latiai pectora plebis habet ?
Secondly. That this Claudia was wife to Pudens, the same poet
averreth, lib. 4, epig. 13 : —
Claudia, Rufe, meo nuhit peregrina Pudenti.
Macte esto tcedis, O HymencEe, tuis.
Thirdly. That there was a Pudens and Claudia living at Rome,
both Christians, we have it from a more infallible pen, [that] of
St. Paul iimself : " Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and
Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren," 2 Tim. iv. 21.
Lastly. That this Claudia mentioned by St. Paul, then living at
Rome, was the same Claudia, a Briton born, mentioned by Martial,
is the opinion arid probable conjecture of many modern writers.
But father Parsons will not admit hereof, because willingly he
would not allow any sprinkling of Christianity in this island, but
what was rained from Rome when Eleutherius sent to Christian
king Lucius, that so our engagement to the Romish church might
be the more visible and conspicuous. " This of Claudia Ruffina is
huddled up," saith he,* " by our late heretical writers ;" (though
some as catholic as himself, in his own sense, do entertain it ; \)
" and hereby we see that heretics are but slight provers, and very
deceitful in all matters, as well historical as doctrinal."
10. Parsons'' s Objection to the contrary answered.
'But- be it known to him and others, that our history is foimded
on the best human books we can get, but our doctrine is grounded
• Parsons's Three Conversions, part 1, p. 18. t Pitseus De Script. Brit.
p. 72, is zealous for it.

12 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 63.
on what is best in itself, — the Divine Scriptures. The matter in
hand is so slight a controversy that it cannot bear a demonstration
on either side ;' it will suffice, if, by answering his reasons to the
contrary, we clear it from all impossibility and improbability that it
is not "huddled," but built up by plummet and line, with propor
tion to time and place.
Argument I. — There is a general silence of all antiquity in
this matter.
Answer. — Negative arguments from human writers in such his
torical differences are of small validity.
Argument II. — Martial, a Heathen, would hardly so much
commend Claudia if she had been a Christian.
Ans-wer. — A wanton poet, in his chaste intervals, might praise
that goodness in another which he would not practise in himself.
Argument III. — Claudia, spoken of by St. Paul, was in the time
of Nero, and could not be known to Martial, who lived sixty years
after, in the reign of Trajan.
, Answer. — Though Martial died a very old man in Trajan's
days, yet he flourished under Nero, very familiar with his friend
and fellow-poet, Silius Italicus,* in whose consulship Nero died.
Argument IV. — That same Claudia (reported also the first
hostess which entertained Peter and Paul) must be presumed
ancient in Martial's remembrance, and, therefore, unfit to be praised
for her beauty.
Answer. — Even in the autumn of her age, when she had
enriched her husband with three children, her vigorous beauty, pre
served by temperance, might entitle her to the commendation of
matron-like comeliness.
Argument V. — The children assigned, in the Roman calendar,
to Claudia the Christian will not well agree to this British Claudia.
Answer. — Little certainty can be extracted, and therefore
nothing enforced to purpose, from the number and names of her
children ; such is the difference of several writers concerning them.f
The issue of all is this : Claudia's story, as a British Christian,
stands unremoved, for any force of these objections, though one
need not be much engaged herein; for, whosoever is more than
lukewarm is too hot in a case of so small consequence. Yet we
will liot willingly leave a hoof of the British honour behind, which
may be brought on ; the rather to save the longing of such, who
delight on rath-ripe fruits : and antiquaries much please themselves
to behold the probabilities of such early converts of our island.
But, now to return again to the prime planters of religion in Britain ;
As for all those formeriy reckoned up, there is in authors but a
* Martial, Ub. 7, ep, 62. f See Usher De Brit. Eccl. Prim. cap. 3.

A.D. 63. BOOK I. CENT. I. 13
tinkling mention of them ; and the sound of their preaching, low
and little, in comparison of those loud peals which are rung, of
Joseph of Arimathea's coming hither. Let the reader with patience
take the sum thereof, extracted out of several authors.
11. The Coming of Joseph of Arimathea into Britain.
The Jews, bearing an especial spite to Philip, (whether the
apostle or deacon, uncertain,) Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Mary
Magdalene and Martha his sisters, with Marcella their servant,
banished them out of Judea, and put them into a vessel without
sails and oars, with intent to drown them. Yet they, being tossed
with tempests on the Mid-land Sea, at last safely landed at Mar
seilles in France : a relation as ill-accoutred with tacklings as their
ship, and which is unrigged in respect of time and other circum
stances ; neither hath it the authority of any authentic writer for a
pilot to steer it ; which, notwithstanding, hath had the happiness to
arrive at the hearing of many, and belief of some few. Now,
whilst Philip* continued preaching the Gospel in Prance, he sent
Joseph of Arimathea over into Britain, with Joseph his son, and
ten other associates, to convert the natives of that island to Chris
tianity. These, coming into Britain, found such entertainment from
Arviragus the king, that though he would not be dissuaded from his
idolatry by their preaching, yet he allowed them twelve hides of
ground, (a hide is as much as, being well manured, will maintain a
family ; or, as others say, as much as one plough can handsomely
manage,) in a desolate island, full of fens and brambles, called the
Ynis-Witrin, since, by translation, " Glastonbury." Here they
built a small church, and by direction from Gabriel the archangel,-f-
dedicated it to the virgin Mary, encompassing it about with a
church-yard ; in which church, afterwards, Joseph was buried : and
here these twelve lived many years, devoutly serving God, and con
verting many to the Christian religion.
12. The History full of Dross when brought to the Touch.
Now, a little to examine this history, we shall find, First. That
no writer of credit can be produced, before the conquest, who men-
tioneth Joseph's coming hither ; but since that time, to make
recompence for former silence, it is resounded from every side. As
for Bale's citations out of Melkinus Avalonius, and Gildas Albanus,
seeing the originals are not extant, they be as uncertain as what
Baronius hath transcribed out of an English manuscript^ in the
• Some hold Philip came not in this ship, but was in France before. t Malmes-
bwry MS. de Antiq. Glaston. Ecclesia. X Written in our age, as Archbisljop
Usher observes, De Brit. Eccl. Prim. p. 15.

14 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 64.
Vatican. Yet, because the Norman charters of Glastonbury refer
to a succession of many ancient charters, Tiestowed on that church
by several Saxon kings, as the Saxon charters relate to British
grants in intuition to Joseph's being there; we dare not wholly
deny the substance of the story, though the leaven of monkery hath
much swollen and puffed up the circumstance thereof. For, the
mentioning of an enclosed church-yard overthrows the foundation of
the church, seeing churches, in that time, got no such suburbs about
them as any church-yards to attend them. The burying his body
in the church was contrary to the practice of that age ; yea,' dead
men's corpses were brought no nearer than the porch some hundreds
of years after. The dedication of the place to the virgin Mary
showeth the story of later date, calculated for the elevation of saint-
worship. In a word : As this relation of Joseph is presented
unto us, it hath a young man's brow, with an old man's beard ; I
mean, novel superstitions, disguised with pretended antiquity.
13. The Platform of the most ancient Church in Christendom.
A.D. 64.
In all this story of Joseph's living at Glastonbury, there is no one
passage reported therein beareth better proportion to time and place
than the church which he is said to erect ; whose dimensions, mate
rials,, and making, are thus presented unto us. It had in length
sixty foot, and twenty-six in breadth;* made of rods, wattled, or
interwoven. -f Where, at one view, we may behold the simplicity
of primitive devotion, and the native fashion of British buildings in
that age, and some hundred years after. For we find that Hoel
Dha, king of Wales, J made himself a palace of hurdle-work, called
Tyguyn, or "the white house;" because, for distinction's sake,
(to difference it from, and advance it above, other houses,) the rods
whereof it was made were unbarked, having th6 rind stripped off:
which was then counted gay and glorious ; as white limed houses
exceed those which are only rough cast. In this small oratory,
Joseph, with his companions, watched, prayed, fasted, preached,
having high meditations under a low roof, and large hearts betwixt
narrow walls. If credit may be given to these authors, this church,
without competition, was senior to all Christian churches in the
world. Let not, then, stately modern churches disdain to stoop
with their highest steeples, reverently doing homage to this poor
structure, as their first platform and precedent. And let their
checqueied pavements no more disdain this oratory's plain floor, than
• Ancient plate of brass in the custody of Sir Heni-y Spehnan,— De Conciliis Brit. p. 1 1 .
1 Malmesbury, ut prius. } He was king of all Wales many years afterj
viz. 940, See Camden in Cai-marthenshire.

A.D. 64 — 76. BOOK I. CENT. I. 15
her thatched covering doth envy their leaden roofs. And although
now it is meet that church-buildings, as well as private houses, par
taking of the peace and prosperity of our age, should be both in
their cost and cunning increased, (far be that pride and profaneness
from any, to account nothing either too fair for man, or too foul for
God .') yet it will not be amiss to desire, that our judgments may
be so much the clearer in matters of truth, and our lives so much
the purer in conversation, by how much our churches are more light,
and our buildings more beautiful, than they were.
14. Difference about the Place of Joseph's Burial. A.D. 76.
Some difference there is about the place of burial of Joseph of
Arimathea ; some assigning his grave in the church of Glastonbury,
others in the south corner of the church-yard, and others elsewhere.
This we may be assured of, — that he, who resigned his own tomb
to our Saviour, Matt, xxvii. 60, wanted not a sepulchre for himself.
And here we must not forget, how, more than a thousand years
after,* one John Bloone, of London, pretending an injunction fi-om
heaven, to seek for the body of Joseph of Arimathea, obtained a
licence from king Edward III. to dig at Glastonbury for the same,
as by his patent doth appear.-f It seems, his commission of inquiry
never originally issued out of the court of heaven ; for God never
sends his servants on a sleeveless errand, but saith, " Ask, and ye
shall have ; seek, and ye shall find." Whereas this man sought,
and did never find, for aught we can hear of his inquisition. And
we may well believe, that had he found the corpse of Joseph, though
fame might have held her peace, yet superstition would not have
been silent ; but, long before this time, she had roared it even into
the ears of deaf men. And truly he might have digged at Glaston
bury to the centre of the earth, and yet not met with what he sought
for, if Joseph were buried ten miles off, (as a Jesuit \ will have it,)
at Montacute, or in Hampden Hill. Hereafter there is hope, that
the masons, digging in the quarries thereof, may light by chance
on his corpse, which (if fond papists might prize it) would prove
more beneficial to them, than the best bed of freestone they ever
opened. The best is, be Joseph's body where it will, his soul is
certainly happy in heaven.
15. The budding Hawthorn nigh Glastonbury attributed to
Josephs Holiness.
Some ascribe to the sanctity of this Joseph the yearly budding
of the hawthorn near Glastonbury, on Christmas-day, — no less than
* Anno Dorn. 1344, the nineteenth of Edward III. t Iu the Tower of London,
nineteenthof Edward III. part 1. parchment 8. t Gulielmus Goodus, cited by
Archbishop Ugher, De Brit, Ecc, Prim. p. 28.

16 church history of BRIIAIN. ' '¦
an annual miracle. This, were it true, were an ^ff ""f *:f''^^!?!
James did once pleasantly urge it,) to prove our old style beiore the
new; (which prevents our computation by ten ^ajs, and ^ ujed m
the church of Rome ;) yea, all prognosticators might ^^^^ ^^~
their almanacks from this hawthorn. Others more wan y affirm,
that it doth not punctually and critically bud on Christmas-day,
(such miracles must be tenderiy touched, lest, crushed by harsh
handling, they vanish into smoke, like the apples of Sodom,)
but on the days near or about it. However, it is very strange, that
this hawthorn should be the harbinger, and, as it were, nde post to
bring the first news of the spring, holding alone, as it may seem,
correspondency with the trees of the antipodes, whdst other haw
thorns near unto it have nothing but winter upon them.
16. Different Opinions of Men concerning it.
It is true, by pouring every night warm water on the root
thereof, a tree may be maturated artificially, to bud out in the midst
of winter ; but it is not within suspicion, that any such cost is here
expended. Some likewise affirm, that if an hawthorn be grafted
upon an holly it is so adopted into the stock that it will bud m
winter : but this doth not satisfy the accurateness of the time.
Wherefore most men, pursued to render a reason hereof, take refuge
at occulta qualitas, the most manneriy confession of ignorance.
And God sometimes puts forth such questions and riddles in nature,
on purpose to pose the pride of men conceited of their skill in such
matters. But some are more uncharitable in this point, who,
because they cannot find the reason hereof on earth, do fetch it
from hell, nor sticking to affirm, that the devil, to dandle the infant
faith of fond people, works these pretty feats and petty wonders,
having farther intents to invite them to superstition, and mould
them to saint-worship thereby.
17. The Subject of the Question taken away.
However, there is no necessity that this should be imputed to the
holiness of Arimathean Joseph. For there is, as it is credibly said,
an oak in New Forest, near Lyndhurst in Hampshire, which is endued
with the same quality, putting forth leaves about the same time,
where the firmness of the rind thereof much increaseth the wonder :
and yet, to my knowledge, (for aught I could ever leam,) none
ever referred it to the miraculous influence of any saint. But I
lose precious time, and remember a pleasant story, how two physic
cians, the one a Galenist, the other a Paracelsian, being at supper,
fell into a hot dispute about the manner of digestion ; and whilst
they began to engage with earnestness in the controversy, a third

¦^A^J"

MirmEB ABBEYS' Seals orAioas.

A.D. 76. BOOK I. CENT. II. 17
man, casually coming in, carried away the meat from them both.
Thus, whilst opposite parties discuss the cause of this hawthorn's
budding on Christmas-day, some soldiers have lately cut the tree
down, and Christmas-day itself is forbidden to be observed ; and
so, I think, the question is determined.
18. The Conclusion of this Century.
To conclude this century : By all this it doth not appear, that the
first preachers of the Gospel in Britain did so much as touch at
Rome ; much less, that they received any command or commission
thence to convert Britain, which should lay an eternal obligation of
gratitude on this island to the see of Rome. Insomuch that Parsons
himself (as unwilling to confess, as unable to deny, so apparent a
truth) flies at last to this slight and slender shift : " That albeit St.
Joseph came not immediately from Rome, yet he taught in England,"
in Britain he would say, " the Roman faith, whereof St. Paul hath
written to the Romans themselves, ' that your faith is spoken of
through the whole world,' Rom. i. 8."* Hereby the Jesuit hopes
still to keep on foot the engagement of this island to Rome for her
first conversion. But why should he call the Christian religion
" the Roman faith," rather than " the faith of Jerusalem, or " the
faith of Antioch .f" " seeing it issued from the former, and was
received and first named in the latter city, before any spark of
Christianity was kindled at Rome. But, what is the main, he may
sooner prove the modern Italian tongue, now spoken in Rome,
to be the self-same in propriety and purity with the Latin language
in TuIIy's time, than that the religion professed in that city at this
day, with all the errors and superstitions thereof, is the same in
soundness of doctrine, and sanctity of life, with that faith which by
St. Paul in the Roman church was then so highly commended.

SECTION II.
THE SECOND CENTURY.
TO ROBERT ABDY, OF LONDON, ESQUIRE.
He that hath a hand to take, and no tongue to
return thanks, deserveth, for the future, to be lame and
dumb : which punishment that it may not light on me,
• "Three Conversions," part i. ch^p. 1, num. 26.
C

18 church HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 105 lUo-
accept this acknowledgment of your favours to your
devoted friend and servant, T. F.
1. Taurinus no Bishop of York. A.D. 105.
Desire of our country's honour would now make us lay claim to
Taurinus, bishop of York, and reported martyr. To strengthen
our title unto him, we could produce many writers affirming it, if
number made weight in this case.* But, being convinced in our
judgment, that such as make him a Briton ground their pretence on
a leading mistake, reading him Episcopum Eboricensem, instead
of Ebroicensem, "Eureux" (as I take it) in France; we will
not enrich our country by the errors of any, or advantage her
honour by the misprisions of others. Thus being conscientiously
scrupulous not to take or touch a thread which is none of our own,
we may with more boldness hereafter keep what is justly ours, and
challenge what is unjustly detained from us.
2. Difference of Authors concerning the Time of King Lucius''s
Conversion. A-D. 108.
But the main matter, which almost engrosseth all the history of
this century, and, by scattered dates, is spread from the beginning
to the end thereof, is the conversion of Lucius, king of Britain, to
Christianity. However, not to dissemble, I do adventure thereon
with much averseness, seeming sadly to presage, that I shall neither
satisfy others nor myself; such is the variety, yea, contrariety of
writers about the time thereof. " If the trumpet," saith the
apostle, "giveth an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to
the battle ? " He will be at a loss to order and dispose this story
aright, who listeneth with greatest attention to the trumpet of
antiquity, sounding at the same time a march and retreat ; appoint
ing Lucius to come into the world by his birth, when others design
him by death to go out of the same. Behold, reader, a view of
their differences presented unto thee ; and it would puzzle Apollo
himself to tune these jarring instruments into a concert.
These make king Lucius converted : —
A.D. A.D.
4. Ninius, in one copy. 144
5. Annals of Krokysden. 150
6. Geoff, of Monmouth. 155
7. John Capgrave. 156
8. Matth. Florilegus. 158
• GuiL. Harrison Descrip. Brit. Ub. i. cap. 7, et Webnerus Laebius in Fasci-
culo, anno 94, et Hartmannus Schedelius in Chronico.

1. p. Jovius in Descrip.

Brit.

99

2. Jo. Caius in Hist. Can

tab.

108

3. Annals of Burton.

137

A.D. 108. BOOK I. cent. II. 19
A.D. A.D.
9. Florence Vigomiensis. 162 19. Polydore Virgil. 182
10. Antiq. of Winchester. 164 20. Chron. Brit. Abbrev. 183
11. Tho. Redburn, jun. 165 21. Roger de Wendover. 184
12. Will, of Malmesbury. 166 22. Matth. Paris.
13. Venerable Bede. 167 Westminster. 185
.14. Henry of Erphurt. 169 23. Hector Boethius. 187
15. Annals of Lichfield. 175 24. Martin Polonus. 188
16. Marianus Scotus. 177 25. Saxon Annals. 189
17. Ralph de Balduc. 178 26. John Harding. 190
18. John Bale. 179
Here is more than a grand jury of writers, which neither agree in
their verdicts with their foreman, nor one with another ; there being
betwixt the first and the last, Paulus Jovius and John Harding,
ninety years' distance in their accounts. This, with other argu
ments, is used, not only to shake, but shatter, the whole reputation
of the story. And we must endeavour to clear this objection,
before we go farther, which is shrewdly pressed by many. For if
the two elders, which accused Susanna, were condemned for liars,
being found in two tales ; — the one laying the scene of her incon-
tinency under a mastick-tree, the other under an holm-tree ; * — why
may not the relation of Lucius be also condemned for a fiction .''
seeing the reporters thereof more differ in time, than the fore-
named elders in place ; seeing when and where are two circum
stances, both equally important, and concerning, in history, to the
truth of any action.
3. The History of King Lucius not disproved by the Dissen
sion of Authors concerning the Time thereof.
But we answer, that, however learned men differ in the date, they
agree in the deed. They did set themselves so to heed the matter,
as of most moment, being the soul and substance of history, that
they were little curious (not to say, very careless) in accurate noting
of the time ; which, being well observed, doth not only add some
lustre, but much strength, to a relation. And, indeed, all computa
tion in the primitive time is very uncertain, there being then (and a
good while after) " an anarchy," as I may term it, in authors'
reckoning of years, because men were not subject to any one
sovereign rule in accounting the year of our Lord ; but every one
followed his own arithmetic, to the great confusion of history, and
prejudice of truth. .In which age, though all start from the .same
place, our Saviour's birth, yet, running in several ways of account,
they seldom meet together in their dating of anjj memorable acci-
• Susanna 54, 58.
C 2

20 CHURCH HISTORY Of BRITAIN. A.D. 108 167-
dent. Worthy therefore was his work, whoever he was, who first
calculated the computation we use at this day, and so set Christen
dom a copy, whereby to write the date of actions ; which
since being generally used hath reduced chronology to a greater
certainty. 4. Lucius might be a British King umder the Roman Monarchy,
As for their objection, that " Lucius could not be a king in the
South of Britain, because it was then reduced to be a province
under the Roman monarchy ;" it affects not any that understand
how it was the Roman custom, both to permit and appoint petty
kings in several countries,* (as Antiochus in Asia, Herod in Judea,
Dejotarus in Galatia,) f who, under them, were invested with regal
power and dignity. And this was conceived to conduce to the
state and amplitude of their empire. Yea, the German emperor at
this day, successor to the Roman monarchy, is styled rem regum,
as having many princes, and particularly the king of Bohemia,
homagers under him. As for other inconsistents with truth which
depend, as retainers, on this relation of king Lucius, they prove
not that this whole story should be refused, but refined. Which
calleth aloud to the discretion of the reader, to fan the chaff from
the corn ; and to his. industry, to rub the rust from the gold, which
almost of necessity will cleave to matters of such antiquity. Thus
conceiving that for the main we have asserted king Lucius, we
come to relate his history as we find it.
5. Lucius sendeth to the Bishop of Rome to he instructed in
Christianity. A.D. 167.
He being much taken with the miracles which he beheld truly
done by pious Christians, fell in admiration of and love with then:
religion ; and sent Elvanus and Meduinus, men of known piety
and learning in the Scriptures, to Eleutherius bishop of Rome, with
a letter, requesting several things of him, but principally that he
might be instructed in the Christian faith. The reason why he
wrote to Rome, was, because at this time the church therein was
(she can ask no more, we grant no less) the most eminent church in
the world, shining the brighter, because set on. the highest candle
stick — the imperial city. We are so far from grudging Rome the
happiness she once had, that we father bemoan she lost it so soon,
degenerating from her primitive purity. The letter which Lucius
wrote is not extant at this day, and nothing thereof is to be seen,
Vetu^ et jampridcm recepta populi Romani consuetude, ut haberet insirumenia
servitutis et reges — Tacitus in Vitd Agricolae. \ Fnller, in his Appeal of
injured Innocence, sajB, " I confess a memory-mislake of Sicilia for Galatia— Edit.-

A.D. 167. BOOK I. CENT. II. 21
save only by reflection, as it may be collected by iW answer
returned by Eleutherius, which (such an one as it is) it will not be
amiss here to insert.
6. This Translation of the Letter of Eleutherius is transcribed
out of Bishop Godwin, in his Catalogue of Bishops. There
is some Variety between this and that of Mr. Fox.
" Ye require of us the Roman laws and the emperor's to be sent
over unto you, which you would practise and put in ure within your
realm. The Roman laws and the emperor's we may ever reprove,
but the law of God we may not. Ye have received of late, through
God's mercy, in the kingdom of Britain, the law and faith of Christ ;
ye have with you, within the realm, both parts of the Scriptures :
out of them, by God's grace, with the council of the realm, take ye
a law, and by that law, through God's sufferance, rule your kingdom
of Britain. For you be God's vicar in your kingdom. ' The
Lord's is the earth, and the fulness of the world, and all that dwell
in it.' And again, according to the prophet that was a king : ' Thou
hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity ; therefore God hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' And
again, according to the same prophet : ' O God, give judgment unto
the king, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.' He said not,
* the judgment and righteousness of the emperor,' but, 'thy judg
ment and righteousness.' The king's sons be the Christian people,
and folk of the realm, which be under your government, and live
and continue in peace within your kingdom. As the Gospel saith,
' Like as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings,' so doth the
king his people. The people and the folk of the realm of Britain
be yours ; whom, if they be divided, ye ought to gather in concord
and' peace, to call them to the faith and law of Christ, to cherish
and maintain* them, to rule and govern them, so as you may reign
everlastingly with Him whose vicar you are ; which with the Father,
and the»Son," &c.
7- A Preparative for the examining the Truth of this Letter.
Now we have done our threshing, we must begin our winnowing,
— to examine the epistle. For, the trade of counterfeiting the letters
of eminent men began very early in the church. Some were tam
pering with it in the apostles' time, which occasioned St. Paul's
caution, " That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us," 2 Thess.
ii. 2. Since, men, then but apprentices, are now grown masters in
this mystery ; wherefore, it will be worth our examining^ whether
* In the Latin it is, Manu tcnere.

22 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 167-
this epistle be genuine or no. Say not, " This doth betray a
peevish, if not malicious, disposition, and argues a vexatious spirit
in him which will now call the title of this letter in question, which,
time out of mind, hath been in the peaceable possession of an
authentic reputation, especially seeing it soundeth in honorem
ecclesicB BritanniccB; and, grant it a tale, yet it is smoothly
told to the credit of the British church." But let such know,
that our church is sensible of no honour but what resulteth from
truth; and if this letter be false, the longer it hath been
received, the more need there is of a speedy and present confuta
tion, before it be so firmly rooted in men's belief, past power to
remove it. See, therefore, the arguments which shake the credit
thereof: —
1. The date of this letter differs in several copies; and yet none
of them light right on the time of Eleutherius, according to the
computation of the best-esteemed authors.
2. It relates to a former letter of king Lucius, wherein he seem-
eth to request of Eleutherius, both what he himself had before, and
what the good bishop was unable to grant. For, what need Lucius
send for the Roman laws, to which Britain was already subjected,
and ruled by them ? At this very time, wherein this letter is pre
tended to be written, the Roman laws were here in force ; and, there
fore, to send for them hither was even actum agere, and to as much
purpose as to fetch water from Tiber to Thames. Besides, Eleu
therius of all men was most improper to have such a suit preferred
to him. Holy man ! he little meddled with secular matters, or was
acquainted with the emperor's laws ; only he knew how to suffer
martyrdom in passive obedience to his cruel edicts.
3. How high a throne doth this letter mount Lucius on, making
him a monarch ! who, though rex Britannicus, was not rex
Britannice, except by a large synecdoelie ; neither sole nor
supreme king here, but partial and subordinate to the Romans.
4. The Scripture quoted is out of St. Jerome's translation, which
came more than an hundred years after. And the age of Eleuthe
rius could not understand the language of manu tenere, for " to
maintain," except it did antedate some of our modern lawyers to be
their interpreter.
In a word : We know that the Gibeonites' mouldy bread -^-as
baked in an oven very near the Israelites, Joshua ix. 12 ; and this
letter had its original of a later date,* which, not appearing any
where in the world till a thousand years after the death of Eleuthe
rius, probably crept out of some monk's cell, some four hundred
• See Sir Hen. Spelman in Councils, p. 34, &c. where there is another copy of this
letter, -with some alterations and additions.

A.D. 167. BOOK I. CENT. II. , 23
years since, the true answer of Eleutherius being not extant for
many years before. 8. King Lucius baptized.
But, to proceed : Eleutherius, at the request of king Lucius, sent
unto him Faganus and Derwianus,* or Dunianus, two holy men
and grave divines, to instruct him in the Christian religion ; by
whom the said king Lucius, called by the Britons Lever-Maur, or
" the great light," was baptized, with many of his subjects. For
if when private persons were converted, Cornelius, Lydia, &c. their
households also were baptized with them. Acts xvi. 15, 32 ; it is
easily credible, that the example of a king embracing the faith drew
many followers of court and country ; sovereigns seldom wandering
alone without their retinue- to attend them. But whereas some
report that most, yea, all, of the natives of this island then turned
Christians,"!- it is very improbable; and the weary traveller may sooner
climb the steepest mountains in Wales, than the judicious reader
believe all the hyperbolical reports in the British chronicles hereof.
9. J. Monmouth's Fiction of Flamens and Arch-Flamens.
For Jeffrey Monmouth tells us, that at this time there were in
England twenty-eight cities, each of them having a flamen, or
pagan priest ; and three of them, namely, London, York, and Caer-
leon in Wales, had arch-flamens, % to which the rest were subjected :
and Lucius placed bishops in the room of the fiamens, and arch
bishops, metropolitans, in the places of arch-fiamens : " All which,"
saith he, " solemnly received their confirmation from the pope."
But herein our author seems not well acquainted with the propriety
of the -worifiamen, their use and office amongst the Romans; who
¦were not set severally, but many together in the same city. Nor
were they subordinate one to another, but all to the priests' college,
and therein to the Pontifew Maximus. Besides, the British
manuscript, § which Monmouth is conceived to have translated,
makes no mention of these flamens. Lastly. These words, " arch
bishop" and " metropolitan," are so far from being current in the
days (?f king Lucius, that they were not coined till after-ages. So
that in plain English, his flamens and arch-flamens seem flams
and arch-flams, even notorious falsehoods !
10. A gross Mistake.
Great also, is the mistake of another British historian, || affirming
how, in the days of king Lucius, this island was divided into five
• Aliter Phaganus et Duvianus. t I<a ut, in brevi, nullus infidelis remaneret — ¦
Matt. Paris Westm. t Monmouth De Gestis Britannor. lib. ii. cap. 1, fol. 33.
5 Ja. Armagh. De firit. Eccl. Prim. p. 7. II Giraldus Cambrensis De Sedis
Menevensis dignitate, apud D. Joh. Priseum. p. 75.

24 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 167  178.
Roman provinces; namely, Britain the first, Britain the second,,
Flavia, Maximia, and Valentia ; and that each of these was then
divided into twelve bishoprics, sixty in the whole : a goodly com
pany, and more by half than ever this land did behold. Whereas
these pro-vinces were so named from Valens, Maximus, and Flavius
Theodosius, Roman emperors, many years after the death of Lucius.
Thus, as the damsel convinced St. Peter to be a Galilean, "for,"
said she, " thy speech agreeth thereunto," Mark xiv. 70 ; so this
five-fold division of Britain, by the very novelty of the names, is
concluded to b6 of far later date than what that author pretendeth.
11. Pagan Temples in Britain converted to Christian Churches.
But it is generally agreed, that, about this time, many Pagan
temples in Britain had their property altered, and the aelf-same.
were converted into Christian churches ; particularly, that dedicated
to Diana in London, and another near it, formerly consecrated to
Apollo, in the city now called Westminster. This was done, not
out of covetousness, to save charges in founding new fabrics, but
out of Christian thrift ; conceiving this imitation an invitation to
make Heathens come over more cheerfully to the Christian faith ;
when beholding their temples, (whereof they had a high and holy
opinion,) not sacrilegiously demolished, but solemnly continued to
a pious end, and rectified to the service of the true God. But
human policy seldom proves prosperous, when tampering with
Divine worship, especially when without or against direction from
God's word. This new, wine, put into old vessels, did in after-ages
taste of the cask ; and, in process of time, Christianity, keeping a
correspondency and some proportion with Paganism,* got a smack
of Heathen ceremonies. Surely, they had better have built new
nests for the holy dove, and not have lodged it where screech-owls
and unclean birds had formerly been harboured. If the highr
priest amongst the Jews was forbidden to " marry a widow, or
divorced woman, but that he should take a virgin of his own people
to wife," Lev. xxi. 14 ; how unseemly was it, that God himself
should have the reversion of profaneness assigned to his service, and
his worship wedded to the relict, yea, (what was worse,) whorish
shrines, formerly abused with idolatry !
12. The Bounty of King Lucius to Cambridge. A.D. l'J8.
Some report, that at this time three thousand philosophers of the
university of Cambridge were converted and baptized ; that king
Lucius came thither, and bestowed many privileges and immuni-
• Thus, the Pantheon, or " shrine of all gods " in Rome, was turned into the chuxcb
of All Saints .

A.D. 180— 187. BOOK I. CENT. II. 25
ties on the place ; * with much other improbable matter. For,
surely, they do a real wrong, under a pretended courtesy, to that
famous academy, to force a peruke of false gray hair upon it, whose
reverend wrinkles already command respect of themselves. Yet
Cambridge makes this use of these over-grown charters of pope
Eleutherius, king Lucius, king Arthur, and the like, to send
them out in the front, as the forlorn-hope, when she is to encounter
with Oxford in point of antiquity ; and if the credit of such old
monuments be cut off, (as what else can be expected ?) yet she still
keeps her main battle firm and entire, consisting of stronger authori
ties, which follow after. Nor doth Cambridge care much to cast
away such doubtful charters, provided her sister likewise quit all
title to fabulous antiquity, (setting dross against dross,) and waving
tales, try both the truth of their age by. the register of unquestioned
authors, if this difference betwixt them be conceived to deserve the
deciding. 13. Several Churches founded by King Lucius. A.D. 179-
Besides the churches afore-mentioned, many others there were,
whose building is ascribed to king Lucius : as, namely, —
1. St. Peter's in Cornhill, in London, a.d. 179 ; to which Ciran,
a great courtier, lent his helping hand. It is said, for many years
after, to have been the seat of an archbishopric : -f- one Thean first
enjoyed that dignity.
2. Ecclesia prima sedis, or the chief cathedral church in
Gloucester. 3. A church at Winchester, consecrated by Faganus and Duvia
nus, A.D. 180, whereof one Devotus was made abbot.
4. A church, and college of Cliristian philosophers, at Bangor.J
5. The church dedicated to St. Mary in Glastonbury, repaired
and raised out of the ruins by Faganus and Duvianus, where they
lived with twelve associates, a. d. 187.
6. A chapel in honour of Christ in Dover castle.§
7. The church of St. Martin in Canterbury : understand it thus,
— that church which in after-ages was new named, and converted to
the honour of that saint.
Of all these, that at Winchester was king Lucius's darling, which
he endowed with large revenues, giving it all the land twelve miles
on every side of the city, fencing the church about with a church
yard, on which he bestowed privileges of a sanctuary, and building
a dormitory and refectory, for the monks there ; if the little History
• Caius De Antiq. Cantab, p. 51, et Hist. Cantab, p. 22. t Tabula pensilis
qttte adhuc in iUd ecclesid cernitur. X Pitzmvs De Brit. Sa-iptor. mnn. 2\ .
i .lOHN Leland Assert. Arthuri, fol. 7.

26 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 18/-.
of Winchester be to be believed,* whose credit is very suspicious^
because of the modern language used therein. For as country-
painters, when they are to draw some of the ancient Scripture-
patriarchs, use to make them with bands, cuffs, hats, and caps,
alamode to the times wherein they themselves do live ; so, it
seemeth, the author of this History last-cited, lacking learning to
acquaint him with the garb and character of the age of king Lucius,
doth portray and describe the bounty and church-buildings of that
king, according to the phrase and fashion of that model of monkery
in his own age. 14. Two Luciuses confounded into one.
Some Dutch writers report, that king Lucius in his old age left
his kingdom, and went over into France, thence into Germany, as
far as the Alps ; where he converted all Rhetia,-|" and the city of
Augsburg in Suevia, byhis preaching, with the assistance of Emerita
his sister ; it being no news, in God's harvest, to see women with
their sickles a-reaping. It is confessed that converting of souls is
a work worthy a king ; David's and Solomon's preaching hath
silenced all objections to the contrary. It is also acknowledged,
that kings used to renounce the world, and betake themselves to
such pious employment ; though this custom, frequent in after-ages,
was not so early a riser as to be up so near the primitive times. It
is therefore well observed by a learned man, J that Lucius the
German preacher was a different person from the British king, who
never departed our island, but died therein. I have read, how
woman in the Lower Palatinate, being big with twins, had the fruit
of her womb so strangely altered by a violent contusion casually
befalling her, that she was delivered of one monster with two heads,
which nature had intended for two perfect children. § Thus the
history of this age, being pregnant with a double Lucius at the same
time, is, by the carelessness of unadvised authors, so jumbled and
confounded together, that those which ought to have been parted,
as distinct persons, make up one monstrous one, without due pro
portion to truth, yea, with the manifest prejudice thereof
• Manuscript, in Biblioihecd Cottoniand. \ Velser. Rerum August. T'indelic.
lib. vi. ad annum 179. X Achilles Gassarus in Augustance urbis Descriptione.
i Munster De Germanid, in the description of the Lower Palatinate.

A.D. 201. BOOK I. CENT. III. 27
SECTION III.
THE THIRD CENTURY.
TO MR. SIMEON BONNELL, MERCHANT.
It is proportionable to present a century, short in
story, to one low in stature, though deservedly high in
the esteem of your friend, T. F.
1. The Death, Burial, and Epitaph of King Lucius. A.D. 201.
Of all centuries this begins most sadly ; at the entrance whereof,
we are accosted with the funeral of king Lucius, (the brighest sun
must set !) buried, as they say, in Gloucester. Different dates
of his death are assigned ; but herein we have followed the most
judicious.* Long after, the monks of that convent bestowed an
epitaph upon him, having in it nothing worthy of translating :
Dudus in tenehris prius idola qui coluistl,
Es m&ritd Celebris e.v quo baptisvia suhisti.-\
It seems the puddle-poet did hope, that the jingling of his rhyme
would drown the sound of his false quantity. Except any will say,
that he affected to make the middle syllable in idola short, because
in the days of king Lucius idolatry was curbed and contracted,
whilst Christianity did dilate and extend itself.
2. The Christian Faith from the flrst Preaching thereof
ever continued in Britain.
But Christianity in Britain was not buried in the grave of Lucius,
but survived after his death. Witness Gildas, whose words deserve
to be made much of, as the clearest evidence of the constant con
tinuing of religion in this island- " Christ's precepts," saith he,
" though they were received but lukewarmly of the inhabitants, yet
they remained entirely with some, less sincerely with others, even
until the nine years of persecution under Diocletian."J Whose
expression concerning the entertaining of Christianity here, though
spoken indefinitely of the British inhabitants, yet we are so far from
understanding it universally of all this island, or generally of the
• Annals of Sarvun, M. Paris, Westm. with London tables, and Hist, of Eochester.
t John Bever in his Abbrev. of the British Chron. X Quce prmcepta, (in Britan-
nid,) licet ah incolis tepid^ suscepta sunt, apud quosdam tamen integr^, et alios minus,
usque ad persecutionem Diocletiani novennem permansere.—GlLVAS in Epist. de esecidio
Brit.

28 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D.

201.

most, or eminently of the principal parts thereof, that, if any list to
contend that the main of Britain was still Pagan, we will not
oppose : a thing neither to, be doubted of, nor wondered at, if the
modern complaints of many be true,— that, even in this age, there
are dark corners in this kingdom where profaneness lives quietly
with invincible ignorance. Yea, that the first professors in Chris
tianity were but lukewarm in religion, will, without oath made for
the truth thereof, be easily believed by such who have felt the
temper of the English Laodiceans now-a-days. However, it appears
there were some honest hearts, that still kept Christianity on foot
in the kingdom. So that since religion first dwelt here, it never
departed hence ; like the candle of the virtuous wife, " it went not
out by night," Prov. xxxi. 18 ; by the night neither of ignorance,
nor of security, nor of persecution. The island generally never was
an apostate, nor, by God's blessing, ever shall be.
3. Two Fathers to be believed before two Children.
To the authority of Gildas, we will twist the testhnony of two
Fathers, both flourishing in this century, — Tertullian and Origen ;
plainly proving Christianity in Britain in this age ; both of them
being undoubtedly orthodox (without mixture of Montanist or
Millenary) in historical matters. Hear the former : " There are
places of the Britons, which were unaccessible to the Romans, but
yet subdued to Christ."* Origen, in like manner : " The power of
God our Saviour is even with them which in Britain are divided
from our world."j- These ought to prevail in any rational belief,
rather than the detracting reports of two modern men, Paradine and
"Dempster, who affirm, that, after Lucius's death, the British nation
returned to their Heathen rites, and remained infidels for full five
hundred years after. Which words,| if casually falling from them,
may be passed by with pardon ; if ignorantly uttered, from such
pretenders to learning, will be heard with wonder ; if wilfully
vented, must be taxed for a shameless and impudent falsehood.
Had Dempster (the more positive of the two in this point) read as
many authors as he quoteth, and marked as much as he read, he
must have confuted himself; yea, though he had obstinately shut
his eyes, so clear a truth would have shined through his eyelids.
It will be no wild justice, or furious revenge, but equity, to make
themselves satisfaction, if the Britons declare Dempster devoid of
the faith of an historian, who endeavoured to deprive their ancestors
* Britannorum inaccessa Romania loca, Christo vero subdita. — Tertul. Advers.
Judeos, cap. 7. f Virtus Domini Salvatoris et cum his est, qui ab orbe nostra
in Britannid dividantur — Orig. in Ducts, c, 1, Homil. 6. { Paradine Ang.
Deserip. cap. 22. Dempster in Apparat, Hist. Scot. cap. 6.

A.D. 201. BOOK I. CENT. III. 29
of the Christian faith for many years together ; his pen, to befriend
the North, doing many bad offices to the South part of this island.
4. The Judgment of the Magdeburgenses in this Point.
The Magdeburgenses, compilers of the general Ecclesiastical
History, not having less learning, but more ingenuity, speaking of
the churches through Europe in this age, thus express themselves :
" Then follow the isles of the ocean, where we first meet with
Britain ;" Mansisse et hoc estate ejus insulce ecclesias, affir-
mare non dubitamus ; " We doubt not to affirm, that the churches
of that island did also remain in this age." But as for the names of
the places, and persons professing it, we crave to be excused from
bringing in the bill of our particulars.*
5. Want of Work no Fault of the Workman.
By the Levitical law, if an ox, sheep, or beast, were delivered to
a man to keep, and it were stolen away from him, the keeper should
make restitution to the owner thereof ; but if it was torn in pieces,
and he could bring the fragments thereof for witness, he was not
bound to make it good, Exod. xxii. 12, 13. Had former historians
delivered the entire memory of the passages of this century to our
custody, and charged us with them, the reader might justly have
blamed our negligence, if, for want of our industry or carefulness,
they had miscarried ; but seeing they were devoured by age, in
evidence whereof we produce these torn reversions hardly rescued
from the teeth of time, we presume no more can justly be exacted
of us. 6. Reason why so little left of this Age.
Gildas very modestly renders the reason why so little is extant of
the British History. Scripta patrice, scriptorumve monumenta,
si quce fuerint, aut ignibus hostium exusta, aut civium exulum
classe longius deportata, non eomparent. " The monuments,"
saith he, " of our country, or -writers, if there were any, appear not,
as either burnt by the fire of enemies, or transported far off by our
banished countrymen." 7. Conclusion of this Century.
This is all I have to say of this century ; and must now confess
myself as unable to go on, so ashamed to break off; scarce having
had, of a full hundred years, so many words of solid history. But,
as I find little, so I will feign nothing ; time being better spent in
silence, than in lying. Nor do I doubt but clean stomachs will be
* Centuria tertia, cap. 2, colum. 6.

30 CHURCti HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 303.
befter satisfied with one drop of the milk of truth, than foul feeders,
who must have their bellies full, with a trough of wash mingled
with the water of fabulous inventions. If any hereafter shall light
on more history of these times, let them not condemn my negli-
gence, whilst I shall admire their happiness.

SECTION IV.
THE FOURTH CENTURY.
TO THEOPHILUS BIDULPH, OF LONDON, ESQUIRE.
Of all shires in England, Staffordshire was (if not
the soonest) the largest sown with " the seed of the
church," I mean, " the blood of primitive martyrs ;" as
by this century doth appear. I could not, therefore,
dedicate the same to a fitter person than yourself, whose
family hath flourished so long in that county, and
whose favours have been so great unto your thankful
friend, T. F.
] . First Persecution in Britain under Diocletian. A.D. 303.
Dark and tempestuous was the morning of this century, which
afterward cleared up to be a fair day. It began with great affliction
to God's saints. The Spirit saith to the church of Smyrna, " Ye
shall have tribulation ten days," ReV. ii. 10. This is commonly
understood of the ten general persecutions over all the Christian
world. But herein Divine mercy magnified itself towards this
island, that the last ecumenical, was the first provincial, persecution
in Britain. God, though he made our church his darling, would
not make it a wanton ; she must taste of the rod with the rest of her
sisters. " The fiery trial," spoken of by the apostle, 1 Peter iv. 12,
now found out even those which by water were divided from the rest
of the world. This tenth persecution as it was the last so it was
the greatest of all, because satan, the shorter his reign, the sharper
his rage ; so that what his fury lacks in the length it labours to gain
in the thickness thereof.
2. Alban, the British ^f. Stephen, how a Citizen of Rome.
In this persecution, the first Briton which to heaven led the van
of the noble army of martyrs, was Alban, a wealthy inhabitant of

A.D. 303. BOOK I. CENT. IV. 31
Verolam-cestre, and a citizen of Rome ; for so Alexander Neccham*
reports him : — Hie est ¦iTw.rtyrii roseo decoratus honore,
Albanus, cives, inclyta Roma, tuus.
" Here Alban, Rome, thy citizen renown'd,
With rosy grace of martyrdom was crown'd."
None need stop, much less stumble, at this seeming contradiction,
easily reconciled by him that hath read St. Paul, in one place pro
claiming himself " a Hebrew of the Hebrews," Philip, iii. 5, and
elsewhere. Acts xxii. 25, pleading himself to be a Roman, because
born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, and Roman colony ; as Verolam-
cestre was at this time enfranchised with many immunities. Thus
Alban was a Briton by parentage, a Roman by privilege ; naturally
a Briton, naturalized a Roman ; and, which was his greatest honour,
he was also citizen of that spiritual Jerusalem which is from above.
^ 3. The Manner of Albanus Conversion.
His conversion happened on this manner : Amphibalus, a Chris
tian preacher of Caer-leon in Wales, was fain to fly from persecution
into the Eastern parts of this island, and was entertained by Alban
in his house in Verulam. Soon did the sparks of this guest's zeal
catch hold on his host, and infiamed him with love to the Christian
religion. Herein our Saviour made good his promise : " He that
receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall
receive a righteous man's reward," Matt. x. 41. And the shot of
Amphibalus's entertainment was plentifully discharged in Alban's
sudden and sincere conversion. Not long after, a search being
made for Amphibalus, Alban secretly and safely conveyed him
away , and, exchanging clothes with him,-]- offered himself for his
guest to the Pagan officers, who, at that instant, were a sacrificing
to their devil-gods ; where not only Alban, being required, refused
to sacrifice, but also he reproved others for so doing, and thereupon
was condemned to most cruel torments. But he conquered their
cruelty with his patience ; and though they tortured their brains to
invent tortures for him, he endured all with cheerfulness ; till rather
their weariness than pity made them desist. And here we must
bewail, that we want the true story of this man's martyrdom, which
impudent monks have mixed with so many improbable tales, that it
is a torture to a discreet ear to hear them. However, we will set
them down as we find them ; the rather, because we count it a
thrifty way, first to glut the reader's belief with popish miracles,
* In his poem on Vernlam. t Beda, hb. i. cap. 7.

32 CHURCil HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 303.
that so he may loathe to look or listen after them in the sequel of
the History. 4. The miraculous Martyrdom of Alban.
Alban being sentenced to be beheaded, much people flocked to
the place of his execution, which was on a hill called Holm-hurst ; *
to which they were to go over a river, where the narrow passage
admitted of very few abreast. Alban, being to follow after all the
multitude, and perceiving it would be very late before he could
come to act his part, and counting every delay half a denial, (who
will blame one for longing to have a crown ?) by his prayer, obtained,
that the river, parting asunder, afforded free passage for many
together. The corrupted copy of Gildas calls this river the
Thanies;-f- But if the miracle were as far from truth as Thames
from Verulam, (being sixteen miles distant,) it would be very hard
to bring them both together. The sight hereof so wrought with
him who was appointed to be his executioner, that he utterly refused
the employment, desiring rather to die with him or for him, than to
offer him any violence. Yet soon was another substituted in his
place ; for some cruel Doeg will quickly be found to do that office
which more merciful men decline.
5. A new Spring of Water at Alban's Summons appears in the
Top of a Hill.
Alban at the last, being come to the top of the hill, was very dry,
and desirous to drink. Wonder not that he, being presently to
taste of "joys for evermore," should wish for fading water. Sure,
he thirsted most for God's glory, and did it only to catch hold of
the handle of an occasion to work a miracle for the good of the
beholders. For, presently by his prayer, he summoned up a spring
to come forth on the top of the hill, to the amazement of all that
saw it. Yet it moistened not his executioner's heart with any pity,
who, notwithstanding, struck off the head of this worthy saint, | and
instantly his own eyes fell out of his head, so that he could not see
the villany which he had done. Presently after, the former convert-
executioner, who refused to put Alban to death, was put to death
himself, — baptized, no doubt, though not with water, in his own
blood. The body of Alban was afterwards plainly buried : that age
knowing no other use of saints' dust, than to commit it to the dust,
" earth to earth ;" not acquainted with adoration and circumgestation
of relics ; as ignorant of the manner how, as the reason why, to do
it. But some hundred years after, king Offa disturbed the sleeping
• Understand it so called afterwards in tlie time of the Saxons. f Thames is
wanting in the mannseript Gildas, in Cam]^-idge Ubrary. J May 23, aliter June 22.

A.D. .303. BOOK I. CENT. IV. S3
corpseof this saint, removing them to a more stately though less quiet
ted, enshrining them, as (God willing) shall be related hereafter.
6. Amphibalus. Difference about his Name.
6. Immediately followed the martyrdom of Amphibalus, Alban's
guest, and ghostly father ; * though the story of his death be encum
bered with much obscurity. For, first, there is a query in his very
name : why called Amphibalus ? and how came this compounded
Greek word to wander into Wales ? except any will say, that this
man's British name was, by authors in after-ages, so translated into
Greek. Besides, the name speaks rather the vestment than the
wearer, signifying " a cloak wrapped or cast about ;"f (Samuel was
marked by such a mantle ;) and, it may be, he got his name hence ;
as Robert Curt-hose, son to William the Conqueror, had his sur
name from going in such a garment. And it is worth our observing,
that this good man passeth nameless in all authors till about four
hundred years since ; when Jeffery Monmouth was his god-father,
and first calls liim Amphibalus,;]: for reasons concealed from us, and
best known to himself.
7. The cruel Manner of his Martyrdom.
But it matters not for words, if the matter were true, being thus
reported. A thousand inhabitants of Verulam went into Wales
to be further informed in the faith, by the preaching of Amphi
balus ; who were pursued by a Pagan army of their fellow-citizens,
by whom they were overtaken, overcome, and murdered ; save that
one man only, like Job's messenger, who escaped of them, to report
the loss of the rest. And although every thing unlikely is not
untrue, it was a huge drag-net, and cunningly cast, that killed all
the fish in the river. Now these Pao-an Verolamians brouo-ht
Amphibalus back again ; and being within ken of their city, in the
village called Redburn, three miles from Verulam, they cruelly put
him to death. For, making an incision in his belly, they took out
his guts, and tying them to a stake, whipped him round about it.
All which he endured, as free from impatience as his persecutors from
compassion. Thus died Amphibalus ; and a writer § born and named
from that place reporteth, that in his days the two knives which
• September 16. f Tl>e following is the judgment of Dr. William Howel, in his
'* Institution of General History," who is deservedly considered a great authority on
matters of this kind: — " Gildas wrote, that Constantine slew two boys of royal blood,
stib sancii abbatis amphibalo, that is, ' under the gown-coat or vestment of the holy abbot ; '-
for, that amphibalum, was a sort of outward vest or garment wom by clerks and monks,
is very certain, hairy on both sides, so that it was doubtful which was the outward or
inward side of it, whence it had its name."-— Edit. X Usher De Brit. Eccl.
Primord. p. 159. 5 Thomas Redbcrn, -n-ho -n-rote 1480.
D -

34 CHURCH HISTORY OF ENGLAND. A.D. 303.
stabbed him were kept in the church of Redburn. The heat and
resplendent lustre of this saint's suffering wrought as the sun-beams,
according to the capacity of the matter it met with, in the beholders,
melting the waxen minds of some into Christianity, and obdurating
the hard hearts of others with more madness against religion.
8. Vain Fancies concerning the Stake of Amphibalus.
Tradition reports, that the stake he was tied to afterwards turned
to a tree, extant at this very day,* and admired of many, as a great
piece of wonder ; though, as most things of this nature, more in
report than reality. That it hath green leaves in winter, mine eyes
can witness false : and as for its standing at a stay, time out of
mind, neither impaired, nor improved in bigness, (which some count
so strange,) be it reported to woodmen and foresters, whether it be not
ordinary. I think the wood of the tree is as miraculous, as the water
of the well adjoining is medicinal ; which fond people fetch so far,
and yet a credulous drinker may make a cordial drink thereof.
9. The Martyrdom of another thousand Britons variously
reported.
At the time of Amphibalus's martyrdom, another thousand of the
Verulam citizens, being converted to Christ, were by command of
the judges all killed in the same place. -f- A strange execution, if
true ; seeing John Ross of Warwick J lays the scene of this tragedy
far off, and at another time, with many other circumstances incon
sistent with this relation ; telling us how, at Lichfield in Stafford
shire, this great multitude of people were long before slain by the
Pagans, as they attended to the preaching ' of Amphibalus. This
relation is favoured by the name of Lichfield, which in the British
tongue signifies a " Golgotha," or place bestrewed with skulls ; in
allusion whereto that city's arms are a field surcharged with dead
bodies. He needs almost a miraculous faith, — to be able to remove
mountains, yea, to make, the sun stand still, and sometimes to go
back, — who will undertake to accord the contradictions in time and
place, between the several relaters of this history.
10. Several Places pretend to, and contend for, the same
Martyrdom.
The records of Winchester make mention of a great massacre,
whereby, at this time, all their monks were slain in their church ;
whilst " the Chronicle of Westminster " challengeth the same to be
done in their convent ; and " the History of Cambridge " ascribeth
• I mean anno 1643. + Usher De Brit Eccl. Primord. p. 160. J In his
9ook of tho Bishops of Worcester.

A.D. 303. BOOK I. CENT. IV. 35
it to the Christian students of that university, killed by their
British persecutors. Whether this happened in any or all of these
places, I will not determine : for he tells a lie, though he tells a
truth, that peremptorily affirms that which he knows is but uncer
tain. Meantime we see, that it is hard for men to suffer martyr
dom, and easy for their posterity to brag of their ancestors'
sufferings ; yea, who would not entitle themselves to the honour,
when it is parted from the pain ? When persecution is a-coming,
every man posteth it ofi', as the Philistines did the ark infected with
the plague, 1 Sam. v ; and no place will give it entertainment.
But when the storm is once over, then, as seven cities contended
for Homer's birth in them, many places will put in to claim a share
in the credit thereof.
1 1 . The imperfect History of these Times.
Besides Amphibalus, suffered Aaron and Julius, two substantial
citizens of Caer-leon ; and then Socrates and Stephanus, forgotten
by our British writers, but remembered by foreign authors ; and
Augulius, bishop of London, then called Augusta. Besides these,
we may easily believe many more went the same way ; for such
commanders-in-chief do not fall without common soldiers about
them. It was superstition in the Athenians to build an altar " to
the unknown God," Acts xvii. 23 ; but it would be piety in us here
to erect a monument in memorial of these unknown martyrs, whose
names are lost. The best is, God's calendar is more complete than
man's best martyrologies ; and their names are written in the book
of life, who on earth are wholly forgotten.
12. The Cause of the great Silence of the primitive Times.
One may justly wonder, that the first four hundred years of the
primitive church in Britain, being so much observable, should be so
little observed ; the pens of historians, writing thereof, seeming
starved for matter in an age so fruitful of memorable actions. But
this was the main reason thereof, — that, living in persecution, (that
age affording no Christians idle spectators, which were not actors on
that sad theatre,) they were not at leisure to do, for suffering.
And as commonly those can give the least account of a battle who
were most engaged in it ; (their eyes the while being turned into
arms, their seeing into fighting ;) so the primitive confessors were
so taken up with what they endured, they had no vacation largely
to relate their own or others' sufferings. Of such monuments as
were transmitted to posterity, it is probable most were martyred by
the tyranny of the Pagans : nor was it to be expected, that those who
were cruel to kill the authors, would be kind to preserve their books.
D 2

36

CHURCH HISTORY OF ENGLAND. A.D. 304, 305.

13. Constantius Chlorus gives the Christians Peace. A.D.
304, 305.
Afterwards it pleased God to put a period to his servants' suffer
ings, and the fury of their enemies. For when Diocletian and
Maximian had laid down the ensigns of command, Constantius
Chlorus * was chosen emperor in these western provinces of France,
Spain, and Britain ; whose can-iage towards Christians, Eusebius
thus describeth : Toof ura-' olvtov dso<re§el; aSXaSsig <poXa.^a;, " that
he preserved such religious people as were under his command,
without any hurt or harm." So that under him the church in these
parts had a breathing-time from persecution. But I am afraid that
that learned pen-f- goes a little too far, who makes him founder of a
bishopric at York, and styleth him " an emperor surpassing in all
virtue and Christian piety ; " seeing the latter will hardly be proved,
tliat Constantius was a thorough-paced Christian except by our
Saviour's argument, " He that is not against us is on our part."
And Constantius did this good to Christianity, — that he did it no
harm ; and not only so, a privative benefactor to piety, but positive
thus far, that he permitted and preserved those who would rebuild
the decayed Christian churches. But the greatest benefaction
which he bestowed on Christians was, that he was father to Constan
tine. Thus as physicians count all sudden and violent alterations
in men's bodies dangerous, especially when changing from extremes
to extremes ; so God in like manner adjudged it unsafe for his
servants presently to be posted out of persecution into prosperity ;
and therefore he prepared them by degrees, that they might be
better able to manage their future happiness, by sending this Con
stantius, a prince of a middle disposition betwixt Pagan and
Christian, to rule some few years over them.
14. He dieth at York, as is witnessed by Hieronymus, in
Chronico, and Eutropius, Hist. lib. 18.
At York this Constantius Chlorus did die, and was buried.
And, therefore, Florilegus, or " the flower-gatherer," as he calleth
himself, (understand Matthew of Westminster,) did crop a weed
instead of a flower, when he reports that in the year 1283 the body
of this Constantius was found at Caer-custenith j in Wales, and
honourably bestowed in the church of Caer-narvon by the command
of king Edward the First. Constantius dying bequeathed the
empire to Constantine, his eldest son by Helen his former wife ;
" and the soldiers at York cast the purple robe upon him, whilst he
• Eusebius De Vitd Constantini, lib. i. cap. 12, et Orosius, lib. vii. cap. 25.
t Camden, Brit, in.description of York. X Compare Mr. Camden's Brit, iri
Caernarvonshire, with him in the description of York.

A.D. 307. BOOK I. CENT. IV. 37
Wept, and put spurs to horse to avoid the importunity of the army,
attempting and requiring so instantly to make him emperor. But
the happiness of the state overcame his modesty."* And whereas
formerly Christians, for the peace they possessed, were-oi^ly tenants
at will to the present emperor's goodness ; this Constantine passed
this peaceable estate to the Christians and their heirs, or rather to
the immortal corporation of God's church, making their happiness
hereditary, by those good laws which he enacted. Now, because
this assertion, — that Constantine was a Briton by birth, meets with
opposition, we will take some pains in clearing the truth thereof.
15. Worth the Scrutiny to clear Constantine a Briton by Birth.
Let none say, " The kernel will not be worth the cracking ; and,
so that Constantine were born, it matters not where he was born."
For we may observe God's Spirit to be very punctual in registering
the birth-places of famous men : " The Lord shall count, when he
writeth up the people, that this man was bom there," Psalm
Ixxxvii. 6. And as David cursed mount Gilboa, where godly
Jonathan got his death ; 2 Sam. i. 2 ; so, by the same proportion,
(though inverted,) it follows, those places are blessed and happy
where saints take their first good handsel of breath in this world.
Besides, Constantine was not only " one of a thousand," but of
myriads, yea, of millions ; who first turned the tide in the whole
world, and not only quenched the fire, but even overturned the
furnace, of persecution, and enfranchised Christianity through the
Roman empire ; and, therefore, no wonder if Britain be ambitious
in having, and zealous in holding, such a worthy to be bom in her.
16. The main Argument to prove the Point.
An unanswerable e-vidence to prove the point in controversy, that
Constantine the Great was a Briton, is fetched from the panegyrist,
(otherwise called Eumenius Rhetor,) in his oration made to Con
stantine himself; but making therein an apostrophe to Britain :
O fortunata, et nunc omnibus beatior terris Britannia, quce
Constantinum Cessarem prima vidisti '.-f " O happy Britain, and
blessed above all other lands, which didst first behold Constantine
Csesar!" Twist this testimony with another thread, spun of the
same hand : Liberavit pater Constantius Britannias servitute ;
tu etiam nobiles, illic oriendo, fecisti :% " Your father Constantius
did free the British provinces from slavery ; and you have ennobled
them by taking thence your original." The same is affirmed by the
writer of the Life of St. Helen, mother to Constantine, written about
the year of our Lord 940, in the English-Saxon tongue ; as also
" A. D, 307. Feb. 27. 1 Panegyr, 9. X Panegyr, 0.

38 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 307-
by William of Malmesbury, Henry Huntingdon: John of Salisbury,
and all other English writers. And, lest any should object, that
these, writing the history of their own country, are too light-fingered
to catch any thing, right or -wrong, sounding to the honour thereof;
many most learned foreign historians, Pomponius Lsetus, Polydore
Virgil, Beatus Rhenanus, Franciscus Balduinus, Onuphrius Pan-
vinius, Caesar Baronius, Anthony Possevine, and others, concur
with them, acknowledging Helen, Constantine's mother, a Briton,
and him born in Britain.
17. Answers to the Objections of the contrary Party.
But whilst the aforesaid authors in prose softly rock the infancy
of (yet little) Constantine the Great in Britain, and whilst others in
verse (especially Joseph of Exeter* and Alexander Nechamf)
sweetly sing lullabies unto him, some learned men are so rough and
uncivil as to overturn his cradle, yea, wholly deprive Britain of the
honour of his nativity ; whose arguments follow, with our answers
unto them.
Objection I. — The panegyrist, speaking how Britain first saw
Constantine Caesar, refers not to his ordinary life, but imperial lus-
tre.j Britain beheld him not first a child, but first saw him Caesar ;
not fetching thence his natural being, but honourable birth, first
saluted Cagsar in Britain.
Answer. — Even Lipsius§ (Britain's greatest enemy in this
point) confesseth, that though Constantine was first elected em
peror in Britain, yet he was first pronounced Caesar in France,
in the life and health of his father ; (Caesar was a title given to
the heir-apparent to the empire ;) and therefore the words in the
panegyrist, in their native construction, relate to his natural birth.
Objection II. — Constantine Porphyrogenetes, the Grecian
emperor, about seven hundred years since, in his book of govern
ment which he wrote to his son, confesseth Constantine the Great to
have been a Frank by his birth ; whence learned Meursius collecteth
him a Frenchman by his extraction.
Answer. — It is notoriously known to all learned men, that the-
Greeks in that middle age (as the Turks at this very day) called all
Western Europeans, Franks. Wherefore as he that calleth such a
fruit of the earth "grain" (a general name) denieth not but it may
be wheat, a proper kind thereof; so the terming Constantine "a
Frank," doth not exclude him from being a Briton ; yea, strongly
implieth the same, seeing no western country in Europe ever pre
tended unto his birth.
* In Antiochiede sud. -f See his Tetrastichon in Bishop Usher De Brit.
Eccles. Primord. p. 76. J Joannes Ln-iNEius, Not. in Panegyr. 5. § Not. in
Admiranda, lib. iv. cap. 21.

A.D. 307. BOOK I. CENT. IV. 39
¦^ Objection III.— Bede, a grave and faithful author, makes no
mention of Constantine born in Britain, who (as Lipsius marketh) *
would not have omitted a matter so much to the honour of his own
nation. Answer. — By the leave of Lipsius, Constantine and Bede,
though of the same country, were of several nations. Bede, being a
Saxon, was little zealous to advance the British honour : the history
of which church he rather toucheth than handleth, using it only as a
porch to pass through it to the Saxon history. And Saxons in gene
ral had little skill to seek, and less will to find out, any worthy thing
in British antiquities, because of the known antipathy betwixt them.
Objection IV. — Procopius-f- maketh Drepanum, a haven in
Bithynia, (so called because there the sea runs crooked in form of a
sickle,) to be the place where Constantine had his r/jo^sia, or " first
nursing," very near to his birth ; and Nicephorus Gregoras makes
him born in the same country.
Answer. — The former speaks not positively, but saith, i'ao-i,
" Men say so," reporting a popular error. The latter is a late
writer, living under Andronicus junior, anno 1340, and therefore
not to be believed before others more ancient.
Objection V. — But Julius Firmicus, contemporary with Con
stantine himself, an author above exception, maketh this Constantine
to be born at Naissus, (in printed books Tharsus,) a city of Dacia.
Answer. — An excellent critic;]: hath proved the printed copies
of Firmicus to be corrupted; and justifieth it out of approved
manuscripts, that, not Constantine the Great the father, but
Constantine the younger his son, was intended by Firmicus born in
that place.
Thus, we hope, we have cleared the point with ingenuous readers,
in such measure as is consistent with the brevity of our History.
So that of this Constantine (a kind of outward saviour in the world,
to deliver people from persecution) we may say, with some allusion
to the words of the prophet, Micah v. 2, (but with a humble reserva
tion of the infinite distance betwixt the persons,) "And thou,
Britain, art not the meanest amongst the kingdoms of Europe ;
for out of thee did come a governor, which did rule the Israel of
God, giving deliverance and peace to the saints."
18. Mr. Fox defended against the Cavils of Verstegan.
Now see what a pinch Verstegan, § whose teeth are sharpened by
the difference of religion, gives Mr. Fox : " What is it other than
• In his Epistle to Mr. Camden. Non Beda ille antiquus etjidus ? an gloria gentis
suie non favet ? ^ In lib. v. de.isdijiciis Justiniani. X Camden in his Letter to
Lipsius, pi-inted in Usher De Prim. Eccl. Brit. p. 188. § In hia Epistle to this nation.

40 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. SO?-
an absurdity, for an English author to begin his epistle to a hiige
volume* with Constantine, the great and mighty emperor, the son of
Helen, an Englishwoman, &c. Whereas," saith he, " in truth, St.
Helen, the mother of Constantine, was no English but a British
woman." And yet Fox's words are capable of a candid construc
tion, if by " Englishwoman" we understand, by a favourable prolepsis,'
one bom in that part of Britain which since hath been inhabited by
the English. Sure, in the same dialect St. Alban hath often been
called " the first martyr of the English," by many writers of good
esteem. Yea, the breviary of Sarum,f allowed and confirmed no
doubt by the infallible church of Rome, greets St. Alban with this
salute : — Ave, proto-martyr Anglorum,
Mites Regis angeloru/m.,
O Albane,Jlos martyrum.
Sure, Helen was as properly an Englishwoman as Alban an English
man, being both British in the rigid letter of history ; and yet may
be interpreted English in the equity thereof. Thus it is vain for
any to write books, if their words be not taken in a courteous lati
tude ; and if the reader meets not his author with a pardon of course
for venial mistakes, especially when his pen slides in so slippery a
passage. 19- Three Cities contend for Constantine bom in them.
And now, having asserted Constantine a Briton, we are engaged
afresh in a new controversy betwixt three cities, with equal zeal and
probability, challenging Constantine to be theirs by birth : London, J
York,§ and Colchester.|| We dare define nothing; not so much
out of fear to displease ; (though he that shall gain one of these
cities his friend, shall make the other two his foes by his verdict;)
but chiefly because little certainty can be pronounced in a matter so
long since and little evident. Let me refresh myself and the reader
with relating and applying a pleasant story. Once at the burial of
St. Teliau, second bishop of Landaff, three places did strive to have
the interring of his body; — Pen-allum, where his ancestors were
buried, Lanfolio-vaur, where he died, and Landaff, his episcopal see.
Now after prayer to God to appease this contention, in the place
where they had left him there appeared suddenly three hearses, with
three bodies so like, as no man could discern the right ; and so,
every one taking one, they were all well pleased.^ If by the like
miracle, as there three corpses of Teliau encoffined, so here three
child-Constantines encradled might be represented, the controversy
• He meaneth his books of "Acts and Monuments." + In officio Sancti Albani.
t William Fitzstephens in " the Description of London." § Oratores regis Anglice in
Condi, Constant. \\ Camden's Brit, in Essex. TT Godwin in the Bishops of Landaff

A.D. 312  314. BOOK I. CENT. IV. 41
betwixt these three cities were easily arbitrated, and all parties fully
satisfied. But, seriously to the matter : That which gave occasion to
the varieties of their claims to Constantine's birth may probably be
this, — that he was born in one place, nursed in another, and per
chance, being young, bred in a third. Thus we see. our Saviour,
though born in Bethlehem, yet was accounted a Nazarite, of the city
of Nazareth, where he was brought up ; and this general error took
so deep impression in the people, it could not be removed out of the
minds and mouths of the vulgar.
20. Peace and Prosperity restored to the Church by Constantine.
A.D. 312.
Constantine being now peaceably settled in the imperial thronCj
there followed a sudden and general alteration in the world ; perse
cutors turning patrons of religion. O the efficacy of a godly
emperor's example, which did draw many to a conscientious love of
Christianity, and did drive more to a civil conformity thereunto !
The Gospel, formerly a forester, now became a citizen ; and leaving
the woods wherein it wandered, hills and holes where it hid itself
before, dwelt quietly in populous places. The stumps of ruined
churches, lately destroyed by Diocletian, grew up into beautiful
buildings ; oratories were furnished with pious ministers, and they
provided of plentiful maintenance, through the liberality of Con--
stantine. And if it be true, what one relates, that about this time,
when the church began to be enriched with means, there came a
voice from heaven, (I dare boldly say, he that first wrote it never
heard it, being a modern author,)* saying, " Now is poison poured
down into the church ; yet is there no danger of death thereby, see
ing lately so strong an antidote hath been given against it." Nor do
we meet with any particular bounty conferred ,by Constantine, or
Helen his mother, on Britain, their native country, otherwise than
as it shared now in the general happiness of all Christendom. The
reason might be this,^that her devotion most moved eastward
towards Jerusalem, and he was principally employed far off at Con
stantinople, whither he had removed the seat of the empire, for the
more conveniency in the midst of his dominions : an empire herein
unhappy, that as it was too vast for one to manage it entirely, so it
was too little for two to govern it jointly, as in after-ages did appear.
21. The Appearance of the British in foreign Councils.
A.D. 314.
And now, just ten years after the death of St. Alban, a stately
church was erected there and dedicated to his memory ; as also the
* John Nauclenis, president of Tubing University, anno 1500.

42 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D.314— 359.
History of Winchester reporteth, that then their church, first
founded by king Lucius, and since destroyed, "was built anew, and
monks, as they say, placed in it. But the most avouchable evi
dence of Christianity flourishing in this island in this age is produced
from the bishops representing Britain in the council of
1. Aries, in France, called to take cognizance of the cause of the
Donatists ; where appeared for the British, (1.) Eborius,*
bishop of York. (2.) Restitutus, bishop of London. (3.)
Adelfius, bishop of the city called the Colony of London,
which some count Colchester, and others Maldon in Essex,
(4.) Sacerdos, a priest, both by his proper name and office ;
(5.) Arminius, a deacon ; both of the last place, a. d. 314.
2. Nice, in Bithynia, summoned to suppress Arianism, and estab
lishing an uniformity of the observation of Easter ; to which
agreed those of the church kcctoL ra; BpiTravlag.'f' a.d. 325.
3. Sardis in Thracia, called by Constantius and Constans, sons- to
Constantine the Great; where the bishops of Britain J coh-
curred -with the rest to condemn the Arians and acquit
Athanasius. a.d. 347.
4. Ariminum, on the Adriatic Sea in Italy, a synod convocated by
Constantius the emperor, a. d. 359.
In this last council it is remarkable that, whereas the emperor
ordered that provisions (and those very plentiful) of diet should be
bestowed on the bishops there assembled, yet those of Aquitaine,
France, and Britain,§ preferred rather to Uve on their proper cost,
than to be a burden to the public treasury. Only three British
bishops, necessitated for want of maintenance, received the emperor's
allowance ; the refusal of the former (having enough of their own)
being an act full of praise, as the latter's accepting a salary to
lelieve their want, a deed free from censure. Collect we hence, 1,
That there were many British bishops in this council, though their
names and number are not particularly recorded. 2. That the-
generality ofBritish bishops had in this age plentiful maintenance,
who could subsist of themselves so far - off in a foreign country ;
¦whereas lately, in the council of Trent, many Italian bishops, though
in a manner still at home, could not live without public contribu
tion. But there was good reason why the British were loath to
accept the emperor's allowance, (though otherwise it had been
neither manners nor discretion for prelates to refuse a prince's
proffer,) because as Daniel and the children of the captivity pre
ferred their pulse before the fare of king Nebuchadnezzar, for fear
See the several subscriptions at the end of this council in Binnius. f Eusebius
De Vitd Constant, lib. iii. o. 18. J Athamasius in the beginning of his Second
Apology against the Arians. § Sulpitius Severus Hittoriai Sacr<B, lib. ii.

A.D. 360.^ BOOK I. CENT. IV. 43
they should be defiled with his (though princely, yet) Pagan diet,
Dan. i. 8 ; so these bishops did justly suspect, that Constantius the
emperor, being an Arian, had a design to bribe, their judgments by
their palates, and by his bounty to buy their suffrages to favour his
opinions. In very deed this synod is justly taxed, not that it did
bend, but was bowed, to Arianism ; and, being overborne by the
emperor, did countenance his poisonous positions.*
22. Britain beginneth to be tainted with Arianism. A.D. 360.
Hitherto the church in Britain continued sound and orthodox, in
no degree tainted with Arianism ; which gave the occasion to St.
Hilary, in his epistle to his brethren and fellow-bishops of Germany
and Britain, &c.-f- though he himself was in Phrygia in banishment,
to solace his soul with the consideration of the purity and soundness
of religion in their countries. But now, alas .' the gangrene of that
heresy began to spread itself into this island ; so that what the Jews
bf Thessalonica said unjustly of St. Paul and his followers, the
Britons might too truly affirm of Arius and his adherents : " These
that have turned the world upside-down are come hither also," Acts
xvii. 6. Hear how sadly Gildas complaineth : Mansit namque hcec
Christi capitis membrorum consonantia suavis, donee Ariana
perfldia atrox, ceu anguis transmarina nobis evomens venena,
fratres in unum habitantes exitiabiliter faceret sejungi, Sfc.
So that the words of Athanasius, Totus mundus Arianissat, were
true also of this peculiar or divided world of Britain. Naturalists
dispute how wolves had their first being in Britain ; it being impro
bable that merchants would bring any such noxious vermin over in
their ships, and impossible that of themselves they should swim over
the sea ; which hath prevailed so far with some, as to conceive this,
now an island, originally annexed to the continent : but here the
query may be propounded, how these heretics (mystical " wolves
not sparing the flock," Acts xx. 29) first entered into this island.
And, indeed, we meet neither with their names nor manner of
transportation hither, but only with the cursed fruit of their labours.
And it is observable, that, immediately after that this kingdom
was infected with Arianism, the Pagan Picts and Scots out of the
North made a general and desperate invasion of '\i;X it being
just with God, when his vineyard beginneth to bring forth wild
grapes, then to let loose the wild boar, to take his full and free
repast upon it. '
* Episcopi in Arianu/m dogma fuerunt subacti, opprvmente Constantio. — Facundus,
lib. V. cap. 30. t Dedicating tmto them his book De Synodis. X Ammianus
Marcellinus, in the beginning of his twentieth book, maketh this irruption to happen anno '
360, which continued many years after.

44 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 379 — 383.
23. Maximus, usurping the Empire, expelleth the Scots out of
Britain. A.D. 379.
In this wofiil condition, vain were the complaints of the oppressed
Britons for assistance unto Gratian and Valentinian, the Roman
emperors, who, otherways employed, neglected to send them succour.
This gave occasion to Maximus, a Spaniard* by birth, (though
accounted bom in this island by our home-bred authors, -f) to be
chosen emperor of the west of Europe, by a predominant faction in
his army ; who, for a time, valiantly resisted the Scots and Picts,
which cruelly invaded and infested the South of Britain. For these
nations were invincible whilst, like two arms of the same body, they
assisted each other. But when the Picts, (the right arm,) being
most strong and active, suffered themselves to be quietly bound up
by the peace concluded, the Scots, as their own authors J confess,
were quickly conquered and dispersed. But Maximus, whose main
design wag not to defend Britain from enemies, but confirm himself
in the empire, sailed over with the flower of the British nation into
France ; where, having conquered the natives in Armorica, he
bestowed the whole country upon his soldiers, from them named
at this day Little Britain.
24. Britain in France when Conquered, and why so called.
A.D. 383.
But Ireland will no ways allow that name unto it, pleading itself
to be anciently called the Lesser Britain in authentic authors ;§ and,
therefore, this French Britain must be contented to bear that name,
with the difference of the third brother ; except any will more pro-
periy say, that the French Britain is the daughter of our Britain ;
which infant, when she asks her mother's blessing, doth not jabber
so strangely, but that' she is perfectly understood by her parent'.
Although one will hardly believe what is generally reported, namely,
that these French Britons were so ambitious to preserve their native
language, that, marrying French women, they cut out their wives'
tongues, II for fear they should infect their children's speech with a
mixture of French words. Here the Britons lived ; and though they
had pawned their former wives and children at home, they had
neither the honesty nor affection to return thither to redeem the
pledges left behind them. Strange that they should so soon forget
their native soil .L But as the loadstone, when it is rubbed over
with the juice of onions, forgetteth its property to draw iron any
* ZosiM. Histor. lib. iv. t Gildas, H. Hunting. Histor. lib. i. Galfrid.
Monmouth, and before the three latter, Ethelwerdus Chronic, lib. i. I John
FORDON Scoto-Chronic. lib. ii. cap. 45. ^ Ptolemy calls it Minpa BpeTTtofa, Ub.
u. cap. 6, p. 31. Ed. Grac. \\ Heylin's Geogr. in the Description of France.

A.D. 383  390. BOOK I. CENT. I. 45
longer ; so, though we allow an attractive virtue in one's own country,
yet it loseth that alluring quality when the said place of one's birth
is steeped in a sad and sorrowful condition, as the state of Britain
stood at this present. And, therefore, these travellers, having found
a new habitation nearer the sun, and further from suffering, there
quietly set up their rest.
25. Maximus slain in his March towards Italy. A.D. 388.
But not long after, Maximus, marching towards Italy, was over
come and killed at Aquileia : a prince not unworthy of his great
name, had he been lifted up to the throne by a regular election, and
not tossed up to the same in a tumultuous manner. This makes
St. Ambrose,* Gildas, and other authors violently to inveigh against
his memory, notwithstanding his many most honourable achieve
ments. -f" This difference we may observe betwixt bastards and
usurpers ; the former, if proving eminent, are much bemoaned,
because merely passive in the blemish of their birth ; whilst usurp
ers, though behaving themselves never so gallantly, never gain
general good-will, because actually evil in their original ; as it fared
¦with Maximus, who, by good using, could never make reparation for
his bad getting of the empire. Surely, Britain had cause to curse
him, for draining it of her men and munition, so leaving it a trunk
of a commonwealth, without head or hands, wisdom or valour,
effectually to. advise or execute any thing 'in its own defence; all
whose strength consisted in multitudes of people, where number was
not so great a benefit as disorder was a burden ; which encouraged
the Picts (the truce expired) to harass all the land with fire and
sword. The larger prosecution whereof we leave to the chronicles
of the state, only touching it here by way of excuse, for the brief
ness and barrenness of our ecclesiastical history ; the sadness of the
commonwealth being a just plea for the silence of the church.
26. Frequent Pilgrimages of the Britons to Jerusalem, whilst
St. Keby lived quietly in Anglesey. A.D. 390.
We conclude this century when we have told the reader, that
about this time the Fathers j tell us, how pilgrimages of the Britons
began to be frequent as far as Jerusalem, there not only to visit
Christ's sepulchre, but also to behold Simon Stilita a pious man,
and Melania a devout woman, both residing in Syria, and at this
time eminent for sanctity. Perchance, discontentment mingled with
devotion moved the Britons to so long a journey, conceiving them-
• In Oratione Funebri de exiiu Theodosii. \ Sulpitius Severus, Dialogo
Secwndo, cap. 7. t Hieronymus, tom.l. ep. 17, et Palladius Gai.ata Hist.
Lausiac. cap. 119.

46 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 390— 401.
selves, because of their present troubles at home, more safe any
where else than in their own country. As for those Britons who,
in this age, were zealous assertors of the purity of religion against
the poison of Arianism, amongst them we find St. Keby a principal
champion, son to Salomon duke of Cornwall, scholar to St. Hilary
bishop of Poictiers in France, with whom he lived fifty years, and
by whom being made bishop, he returned first to St. David's, after
wards into Ireland, and at last fixed himself in the Isle of Anglesey :
so pious a man that he might seem to have communicated sanctity
to the place, being a promontory into the sea called from him Holy
head, but in Welsh Caer-guiby ; as in the same island the memory
of his master is preserved in Hilary-point ; where both shall be
remembered as long as there be either waves to assault the shore,
or rocks to resist them.

SECTION V.
THE FIFTH CENTURY.
TO THOMAS BIDE, OF LONDON, ESQUIRE.
Amongst your many good qualities, I have particu
larly observed your judicious delight in the mathema
tics. Seeing, therefore, this century hath so much of
THE SURVEYOR therein, being employed in the exact
dividing of the English shires betwixt the seven Saxon
kingdoms, the proportions herein are by me submitted
to your censure and approbation.
1. Pelagius, a Briton by Birth. A.D. 401.
Now the Arian heresy, by God's providence and good men's
diligence, was in some measure suppressed, when the unwearied
malice of satan (who never leaveth off, though often changeth his
ways, to seduce souls) brought in a worse (because more plausible)
heresy of Pelagianism. For every man is born a Pelagian^
naturally proud of his power, and needeth little art to teach him to
think well of himself. This Pelagius was a Briton by birth ; (as
we take no delight to confess it, so we will tell no lie to deny it ;)
as some say called Morgan,* that is in Welsh, '¦' near the sea ;"
(and well had it been for the Christian world if he had been nearer
the sea, and served therein as the Egyptians served the Hebrew
' Jacobus Usserius De Brit. Eccl. Prim. p. 207, et Dominus Hen. Spelman in
Conciliis, p. 46.

A.D. 401. BOOK I. CENT. V. 47
males;) being to the same sense called, in Latin Pelagius. Let no
foreigner insult on the infelicity of our land in bearing this monster ;
but consider. First, if his excellent natural parts and eminent acquired
learning might be separated from his dangerous doctrine, no nation
need be ashamed to acknowledge him. Secondly. Britain did but
breed Pelagius ; Pelagius himself bred his heresy ; and, in foreign
parts where he travelled, France, Syria, Egypt, Rome itself, if not'
first invented, much improved his pestilent opinions. Lastly. As
our island is to be pitied for breeding the person, so she is to be
praised for opposing the errors, of Pelagius. Thus the best father
cannot forbid the worst son from being his child, but may debar
him from being his heir, affording no favour to countenance his
badness. 2. Pelagius no Doctor of Cambridge, but a Monk of Bangor.
It is memorable what one relates,* that the same day whereon
Pelagius was born in Britain, St. Augustine was also bom in Afric ;
Divine Providence so disposing it, that the poison and the antidote
should be twins in a manner, in respect of the same time. To pass
from the birth to the breeding of Pelagius : John Caius,-}- who
observes eight solemn destructions of Cambridge before the Con
quest, imputeth that which was the third in order to Pelagius ; who,
being a student there, and having his doctrine opposed by the ortho
dox divines, cruelly caused the overthrow and desolation of all the
university. But we hope it will be accounted no point of Pelagian
ism for us thus far to improve our free-will, as to refuse to give
credit hereunto till better authority be produced. And yet this
sounds much to the commendation of Cambridge, that, like a pure
crystal glass, it would prefer rather to fly a-pieces, and be dissolved,
than to endure poison put into it ; according to the character which
John LidgateJ (a wit of those times) gave of this university: —
" Cambrege of heresy ne're bore the blame."
More true it is that Pelagius was bred in the monastery of Bangor,
(in that part of Flintshire which, at this day, is a separatist from the
rest,) where he lived with two thousand monks, industrious in their
callings, whose hands were the only benefactors for their bellies ;
sbhey -labourers, not ahhey-lubbers like their successors in after-'
ages, who, living in laziness, abused the bounty of their patrons to
riot and excess. 3. The principal Errors of Pelagius.
Inflnite are the deductions and derived consequences of Pelagius's
errors. These are the main : 1. That a man might be saved
* Dempster Hist. Scot. lib. xv. num. 1012. t Hist. Cantab. Academ, lib. i.
p. 28. t In his Poem of Cambridge.

48 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRI-TAIN. A.D. 401— '¦420.
without God's grace, by his o-wn merits and free-will. 2. That
infants were bom without original sin, and -Were as innocent as
Adam before his fall. 3. That they were baptized, not to be
freed from sin, but thereby to be adopted into the kingdom .of
God. 4. That Adam died, not by reason of his sin, but by the
condition of nature ; and that he should have died albeit he had
not sinned.
Here to recount the learned works of Fathers written, their pious
sermons preached, passionate epistles sent, private conferences enter
tained, public disputations held, provincial synods summoned,
general councils called, wholesome canons made, to confute and
condemn these opinions, under the name of Pelagius, or his scholar
Caelestius, would amount to a volume fitter for a porter's back to
bear, than a scholar's brains to peruse. I decline the employment,
both as over- painful, and nothing proper to our business in hand ;
(fearing to cut my fingers if I put my sickle into other men's corn ;)
these things being transacted beyond the seas, and not belonging to
the British history ; the rather, because it cannot be proved that
Pelagius in person ever dispersed his poison in this island, but
ranging abroad, (perchance, because this false prophet counted him
self " without honour in his own country,") had his emissaries here,
and principally Agricola,* the son of Severian a bishop.
4. French Bishops sent for to suppress Pelagianism in Britain.
A.D. 420.
It is incredible how speedily and generally the infection spread
by his preaching, advantaged, no doubt, by the ignorance and lazi
ness of the British bishops, — in those days none of the deepest
divines, or most learned clerks, as having little care, and less comfort
to study, living in a distracted state : and those that feel practical
discords will have little joy to busy themselves with controversial
divinity. However, herein their discretion is to be commended,
that, finding their own forces too feeble to encounter so great a foe,
they craved the assistance of foreigners out of France, and sent for
Germane, bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus, bishop of Troyes ; not
being of their envious and proud disposition who had rather suffer a
good cause to fall, than to borrow supporters to hold it up, lest
thereby they disgrace themselves, confessing their own insufficiency,
and preferriiSg the ability of others. The two bishops cheerfully
embraced the employment, and undertook the joumey, no whit
discouraged with the length of the way, danger of the sea, and bad
ness of the winter ; seeing all weather is fair to a willing mind, and
opportunity to do good is the greatest preferment which a humble
'" Beda, lib. i. cap. 17.

A.D. 429- BOOK I. CENT. V. 49
heart doth desire. This Lupus was brother to Vincentiiis Liri-
nensis,* husband-f- to Pimeniola, the sister of Hilary, archbishop of
Aries ; one of such learning and sanctity, that a grave author of
those times styleth him " a father of fathers, and bishop of
bishops ; yea, another James of that age."| And yet in this
employment he was but a second to Germane the principal ; and
both of them, like Paul and Barnabas, jointly advanced the design.
5. Germanus and Lupus come oner and preach in Britain.
A.D. 429.
Coming into Britain, with their constant labours they confirmed
the orthodox, and reclaimed the erroneous, preaching openly in
fields and highways. § As the king's presence makes a court, so
theirs did a church, of any place ; their congregation being bounded
with no other walls than the preacher's voice, and extending as far as
he could intelligibly be heard. As for their formal disputation with
the Pelagian doctors, take it from the pen of Bede, and mouth of
Stapleton translating him.
6, Their Disputation with the Pelagian Doctors.
" The authours and head-professours of hereticall errour lay lurk
ing all this while, and, like the wicked sprites, much spighted to
see the people daily to fall from them. At length, after long
advisement used, they taketh upon them to try the matter by open
disputation ; which being agreed upon, they come forth richly
appointed, gorgeously appareled, accompanied with a number of
flattering favours, having leifer^ to commit their cause to open dis
puting then to seem to the people, whom they had subverted, to
have nothing to say in the defence thereof. Thether resorted a
great multitude of people, with their wives and children. The
people was present, both to see and judge the matter : the parties
there were faiTe unleke of condition. In the one side was the faith,
on the other was presumption ; on the one side meeknesse, on the
other pride ; on the one side Pelagius, on the other Christ. First
of all, the blessed priest Germanus and Lupus gave their adversaries
leave to speak, which vainly occupied botlT the time and eares of the
people with naked words. But after the reverend bishops poored
out their flowing words, confirmed with Scriptures out of the Gospels
and apostles, they joyned with their own words the words of God ;
and after they had said their own mind, they read other men's
* Eucherius, in liiello de laude Eremi ad Hilarium. • t Usher De Brit. Eccl.
Primord, p. 325. X Sidonius, lib. vi. epist. 1. § Per trivia, per rura,per devia.
IT Not presuming to alter any of Stapleton's words, t»ke it;, with aJl the printer's faaltd,
done probably by an outlandish press.
Vot. I. ^

50 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D

429.

minds upon the same. Thus the vanite of hereticks is convicted,
and falsehed is confuted, so that at every objection they were forced
in effect to confesse their errour, not being able to answere them.
The people had much to do, to keep their hands from them, yet
shewed tlieir judgement by their clamours."
7. Many Remarkables in this Disputation.
A conference every way admirable : First. In the opponents,
who came forth gallantly, as antedating the conquest, and bringing
the spoils of their victory with them. But gay clothes are no
armour for a combat. Secondly. In the defendants of -the truth,
appealing to no unwritten traditions, but to the Scriptures of the
Gospels and apostles ; because the point of grace controverted
appeared most plainly in the New Testament. Thirdly. In the
auditors, or, as they are called, the judges, — men, women, and
children. Wonder not at this feminine auditory, seeing they were
as capable of the antidote as of the poison ; and, no doubt, the
Pelagians had formerly, as other heretics, " crept into houses to
seduce silly women," 2 Tim. iii. 6; and, therefore, now the plaster
must be as broad as the sore. As for children, we know who it was
that said, " Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them
not," &c. Matt. xix. 14. But here, though called " children"* in
relation to their parents, they might be in good age and capacity of
understanding ; or if they were little ones indeed, fiocking, out of
fashion in a general concourse, to see these men speak Divine mys
teries, they could not hereafter, when grown old, date their remem
brance from a more remarkable epoch. See we here that, in these
times, the laity were so well acquainted with God's word, that they
could competently judge what was or was not spdk;en in proportion
thereunto. Lastly and chiefly. In the success of this conference.
For though generally such public disputations do make more noise
than take effect, (because the obstinate maintainers of error come
with their tongues tipt with clamorousness, as their proselyte
iiuditors do with ears stopped with prejudice,) yet this meeting, by
God's blessing, was marvellously powerful to establish and convert
the people. But here a main difficulty is by authors left wholly
untouched, namely, in what language this conference was entertained
and managed, that Germanus and Lupus, two French bishops, and
foreigners, could both speak with fluentness, and be understood with
facility. Perchance the ancient Gauls in France, whence these
bishops came, spake still (as they did anciently) one and the self-same
tongue with, the Britons, differing rather in dialect than language :
or, which is mor» probable, both France and Britain, remaining as
* In I^tin, not pueri, bnt liberi.

A.D. 429. BOOK I. CEKT. V. 51
yet Roman provinces, spake a coarse, vulgar Latin, though invaded
with a mixture of many base words, as Britain especially, now
or near this time, was infested with foreign barbarous nations.
8. St. Alban's the Place of the Conference.
This conference was held at St. Alban's, even where at this day
a small chapel is extant to the honour of St. Germane ; though
Hector Boethius* assigns London the place; adding, moreover,
that such obstinate Pelagians as would not be reclaimed were, for
their contumacy, burned by the king's officers. But it will be hard
to find any spark of fire in Britain, or elsewhere, employed on
heretics in this age. We may observe, that the aforesaid Hector
Boethius, and Polydore Virgil, (writing the chronicles, the one of
Scotland, the other of England, at the same time,) as they bear the
poetical names of two sons of Priamus, so they take to themselves
much liberty of fancy and fiction in their several histories.
9. Germanus marcheth against the Pagan Picts and Saxons.
Not long after, the aid of Germanus and Lupus -was implored,
and employed an hundred miles off in another service, — against the
Pagan Picts and Saxons. Here we meet with the first mention of
Saxons, being some straggling volunteers of that nation, coming over
to pillage here of their own accord, not many years before they were
solemnly invited hither under Horsus and Hengistus, their generals.
Germanus, after the Lent well spent, in the fasting of tlieir bodies,
and feasting of their souls, (for the people had daily sermons,-f-) and
the solemnity of Easter festival duly celebrated, wherein he chris
tened multitudes of Pagan converts, in the river Alen, marched with
an army of them, whilst their baptismal water was scarce wiped from
their bodies, against the aforesaid enemies, whom he found in the
north-east of Wales. Here the pious bishop, turning politic
engineer, chose a place of advantage, being a hollow dale, surrounded
with hills, near the village called at this day by the English Mold,
by the British Guidcrue, in Flintshire, where the field at this day
retains the name of Maes Garmon,\ or German's Field ; the more
remarkable, because it hath escaped (as few of this note and nature)
the exact observation of Master Camden.
10. A Victory gotten, not by shooting, but shouting.
Here Germanus placed his men in ambush, with instructions that,
at a signal given, they should all shout " hallelujah" three times
with all their might, which was done accordingly. The Pagans
• Scot. Hist. lib. viii, t Bede, book i. cap. 20. J Usher De Brit. Ecc.
Primord. p. 333. - .
E 2

52 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 430.
were surprised with the suddenness and loudness of such a sound, "
much multiplied by the advantage 6f the echo, whereby their fear
brought in a false list of their enemies' number ; and, rather trusting
their ears than their eyes, they reckoned their foes by the increase
of the noise rebounded unto them; and then, allowing two hands
for every mouth, how vast was their army! But besides the
concavity of the valleys improving the sound, God sent a hollow-
ness into the hearts of the Pagans ; so that their apprehensions
added to their ears, and cowardice often resounded the same shout
in their breasts, till, beaten with the reverberation thereof, without
striking a stroke, they confusedly ran away ; and many were drowned
for speed, in the river Alen, lately the Christians' font, now the
Pagans' grave. Thus a bloodless victory was gotten, without sword
drawn, consisting of no fight, but a fright and a flight; and that
hallelujah, the song of the saints after conquest achieved. Rev.
xix. I, was here the forerunner and procurer of victory : so good a
grace, it is to be said both before and after a battle. Gregory
the Great, (a grave author,) in his comment upon Job xxxvi.
29, 30, makes mention of this victory, occasioned on those words,
^' Can any understand the noise of his tabernacle .''"
11. St. Alban''s in Hertfordshire, Cologne, Ely, and Osell,
pretend to the whole Body of St. Alban. A. D. 430.
Germanus, now twice a conqueror, of Pelagians and Pagans,
prepares for his return ; after, first, he had caused the tomb of St.
Alban to be opened, and therein deposited the relics of many
saints, which he brought over with him ; conceiving it fit, as he
said, that their corpses should sleep in the same grave, whose souls
rested in the same heaven. In lieu of what he left behind him,
(exchange is no robbery,) he carried along with him some of St.
Alban's dust, wherein spots of the martyr's blood were as fair and
fresh, as if shed but yesterday. But what most concerns St.
Alban's monks to stickle in, some report German to have carried
the body of Alban to Rome : whence, some hundred years after,
the empress to Otho the second brought it to Cologne,* where, at
this day, they maintain his uncorrupted body to be enshrined ; the
monks of Ely in Cambridgeshire, pretending to the same, as also
do those of Ottonium, or Osell, in Denmark. Thus, as Metius
Suffetius the Roman was drawn alive by horses four ways ; like
violence is offered to the dead body of Alban, plucked to four
several places by importunate competitors ; only with this differ
ence, — that the former was mangled into quarters, whereas here
each place pretends to have him whole and entire, not abating one
• SuKius, togio iii, Vitd Sanct. Junii 22.

A.D. 430—449. BOOK I. CENT. v. 53
hair of his beard.* Nor know I how to reconcile them, except any
of them dare, say, though without show of probability, that, as the
river in Paradise went out of Eden, " from whence it was parted,
and became into four heads," Gen. ii. 10, Alban in like manner, when
dead, had the same quality of one to be multiplied into four bodies.
12. After the Departure of Germanus, Pelagianism recruits in
Britain.
Now after Germanus and Lupus were returned home into their
native country, Pelagianism began to sprout again in Britain : an
accident not so strange to him that considers how quickly an error
much of kin thereunto grew up amongst the Galatians, presently on
Paul's departure. "I marvel," said he, "that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto
another Gospel," Gal. i. 6. St. Paul's marvelling may make us
marvel the less, seeing that wonder which hath a precedent is
not so great a wonder. Here we may sadly behold the great
proneness of men to go astray, whose hearts, by nature cold in
goodness, will burn no longer than they are blown. To suppress
this heresy, Germanus is solicited to make a second voyage into
Britain ; which he did accordingly, accompanied with his partner
Severus, because Lupus, his former companion, was otherwise
employed, a.d. 449. Hereupon a prime poet of his age,-]- makes
this apostrophe unto St. German :
Tuque, O, cui toto discretes orbe Britannos
Bis penetrare datum, bis intima cernere magni
Monsira inaris :
" O thou that twice pierced Britain, cut asunder
From the whole world, twice didst sm-vey the wonder
Of monatrous seas."
The same success still followed ; j and this conqueror, who formerly
had broken and scattered the main body of the Pelagians, now
routed the remnant, which began to rally and make head again.
13. Pelagianism and King Vortigern's incestuous Marriage
condemned in a Synod.
He also called a synod, § wherein those damnable doctrines were
condemned ; as also the incestuous marriage of Vortigern king of
Britain, II (a wicked prince in whom all the dregs of his vicious
ancestors were settled,), who had took his own daughter to wife.
And yet of this unlawful copulation, a pious son, St. Faustus, was
born ; to show that no cross-bar of bastardy, though doubled with
• Caput enim cum fcrfr?.— Idem ut priu.?. t Ebricus Antissiodorensis in
Vitd S. Germani. X Bede, lib. i. cap, 21, ^ Matt, West, in anno 449,
II Nennius, cap. xxxvii.

54 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D,

449.

incest, can bolt grace out of that heart wherein God will have it to
enter. Germanus, having settled Britain in good order, went back
to his own country ; where, presently upon his return, he died ; as
God useth to send his servants to bed, when they have done all
their work ; and by God's blessing on his endeavours, that heresy
was so cut down in Britain, that it never generally grew up again.
14. In vain the Britons petition to the Roman Emperor for Help
against the P'lcts.
Meantime the South of this island was in a woful condition,
caused by the daily incursions of the Picts. As for the Picts' wall,
built to restrain them, it being a better limit than fortification,
served rather to define than defend the Roman empire ; and useless
is the strongest wall of stone, when it hath stocks only upon it :
such was the sottish laziness of the Britons to man it ; a nation at
this time given over to all manner of sin, insomuch as Gildas their
countryman calls them cetatis atr amentum, " the ink of the age."*
And though God did daily correct them with inroads of Pagans, yet,
like -restive horses, they went the worse for beating. And now the
land, being exhausted of the flower of her chivalry, (transported
and disposed in Roman garrisons, as far as Judea and Egypt itself,)-}-
could not make good her ground against the Picts ; and was fain to
request, first, Theodosius the younger, then Valentinian the third
Roman emperor, (whose homagers the British kings were until this
time,) for their assistance. They dispatch petition after petition,
embassy on embassy, representing their woful estate. Now, the
barbarians beat them to the sea, the sea repelled them to the
barbarians ; and thus bandied betwixt death and death, they must
either be killed or drowned. They enforced their request for aid
with much earnestness and importunity ; all in vain, (seeing whis
perings and hallooings are like to a deaf ear,) and no answer was
returned. Had they been as careful in bemoaning their sins to
God, as clamorous to declare their sufferings to the Roman emperor,
their requests in heaven had been as graciously received, as .their
petitions on earth were carelessly rejected.
15. True Reasons why the Romans neglected to send Aid io the
Britons.
What might be the cause of this neglect ? Had the imperial
crown so many fiowers, that it might afford to scatter some of
them ? Was Britain grown inconsiderable, formeriy worth the
conquering, now not worth the keeping ? Or was it because they
conceived the Britons' need not so much as was pretended ; and aid
* In Prvlogo libri de Excid. Brit. t See Nutilia Provinciarum .

A.D. 449. BOOK I. CENT. V. 55
is an alrtis ill-bestowed on those beggars who are lame of laziness,
and will not work for their living .? Or was the service accounted
desperate, and no wise physician will willingly undertake a disease
which he conceives incurable .'' The plain truth is, the Roman em
pire, now grown ruinous, could not repair its out-rooms, and was fain
to let them fall down to maintain the rest ; and, like fencers, receiving
a blow on their leg to save their head, exposed the remote countries
of Spain, France, and Britain, to the spoil of Pagans, to secure the
Eastern countries, near Constantinople, the seat of the empire,
16. The sad Success of the Pagan Saxons, invited by King
Vortigern into Britain.
Here Vortigern, forsaken of God and man, and left to himself,
(malice could not wish him a worse adviser,) resolves on a
desperate project, — to call in the Pagan Saxons out of Germany for
his assistance, under Horsus and Hengistus, their captains. Over
they come, at first but in three great ships ; (a small earnest will
serve to bind a great bargain ;) first possessing the island of
Thanet in Kent ; but following afterwards in such swarms, that
quickly they grew formidable to him that invited them over, of guests
turning sojourners, then inmates, and lastly landlords, till they had
dispossessed the Britons of the best of the island : the entertaining
of mercenary soldiers being like the administering of quicksilver to
one in iliaca passio, — a receipt not so properly prescribed by the
physician to the patient, as by necessity to the physician. If hired
aid do on a sudden the work they are sent for, and so have a present
passage to be discharged, sovereign use may be made of them : other
wise, if long tarrying, they will eat the entrails, and corrode the
bowels, of that state which entertains them ; as here it came to pass.
17- The respective Bounds of the Saxon Heptarchy.
For, soon after, the Saxons erected seven kingdoms in Britain ;
and because their several limits conduce much to the clear under
standing of the following History, and we for the present are well at
leisure, we will present the reader with the description of their several
principalities. The partition was made by mutual consent, thus far
forth, — that every king caught what he could, and kept what he
cauwht ; and there being amongst them a parity of high-spirited
princes, (who more prized an absolute sovereignty over a little, than
a propriety with subjection in never so much,) they erected seven
several kingdoms, in little more than but the third part of tliis
island : — a thing which will seem no wonder to him who hath read
how the little land of Canaan found room at the same time for
one-and-thirty kings, Josh. xii. 24 : — but let us reckon them up.

56 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 449.
1. The first was the kingdom of Kent : which began anno 457,
under king Hengist. It contained the county of Kent, as it is at
this day bounded, without any notable diflference. And though
this kingdom was the least of all, (as consisting but of one entire
county, without any other addition,) yet was it much befriended in
the situation for traffic with France and Germany. Besides, it
being secured on three sides with Thames and the sea, and fenced on
the fourth with woods, this made their kings, naturally defended at
home, more considerable in their impressions on their neighbours.
2. Of the South Saxons : comprising Sussex and Surrey ; both
which, till very lately, were under one sheriff. And this kingdom
began anno 491, under king Ella ; and was the weakest of all the
seven, affording few kings, and fev,rer actions of moment.
3. Of the East Saxons : comprehending Essex, Middlesex, and so
much of Hertfordshire as is under the bishop of London's jurisdic
tion, whose diocese is adequate to this kingdom : — a small ring, if
we survey the little circuit of ground ; but it had a fair diamond in
it, the city of London, (though then but a stripling in growth,) well
thriving in wealth and greatness. This kingdom began in Erchen-
win about the year 527.
, 4. Of the East Angles : containing Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge^
shire, with the isle of Ely, and, as it seems, (saith a reverend
writer,)* part of Bedfordshire, It began anno 575, under king
Uffa, and lay most exposed to the cruelty of the Danish incursions.
5. Of Mercia : so called because it lay in the midst of the island,
being the merches, or limits, on which all the residue of the king
doms did bound and border.-f- It began anno 582, under king
Cridda, and contained the whole counties of Lincoln, Northampton,
(with Rutland, then and long since part thereof,) Huntingdon,
Buckingham, Oxford, Worcester, Warwick, Derby, Nottingham,
Leicester, Stafford, and Chester, beside part of Hereford and
Salop, (the remnant whereof was possessed by the Welsh,)
Gloucester, Bedford, and Lancaster.;}: In view, it was the greatest
of all the seven : but it abated the puissance thereof, because on the
West it affronted the Britons, being deadly enemies ; and, bordering
on so many kingdoms, the Mercians had work enough at home to
shut their own doors.
6. Of Northumberiand : corrival with Mercia in gi-eatness, though
far inferior in populousness ; as to which belonged whatsoever lieth
betwixt Humber and Edinburgh Frith. It was subdivided some
times into two kingdoms, — of Bernicia and Deira. The latter
consisted of the remainder of Lancashire, with the entire counties of
• Usii ER De Brit. Ecc. Primord. p. 394. f Lambert's " Description of Kent."
X Idem, ilii/.

A.D. 449. BOOK I. CENT. V. 57
York, Durham, Westmoreland, and Cumberland. Bernicia con
tained Northumberland, with the south of Scotland to Edinburgh.
But this division lasted not long before both were united together.
It began anno 547, under king Ida.
7. Of the West Saxons : who possessed Hampshire, Berkshire,
Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, and Devonshire, part of Cornwall, and
Gloucestershire. Yea, some assign a moiety of Surrey unto them.
This kingdom began anno 519, under king Cerdicus, and excelled
for plenty of ports on the South and Severn Sea, store of boroughs,
stoutness of active men, (some impute this to the natural cause of
their being hatched under the warm wings of the south-west wind,)
which, being excellent wrestlers, gave at last a fall to all the other
Saxon kingdoms. So that as the seven streams of Nilus lose
themselves in the Mid-Land Sea, this heptarchy was at last devoured
in the West Saxons' monarchy.
The reason that there is some difference in' writers in bounding of
these several kingdoms is, because England, being then the constant
cock-pit of war, the limits of these kingdoms were in daily motion ;
sometimes marching forward, sometimes retreating backward, accord
ing to variety of success. We may see what great difference there
is betwixt the bounds of the sea at high-water and at low-water
mark ; and so the same kingdom was much disproportioned to itself,
when extended with the happy chance of war, and when contracted
at a low ebb of ill success. And here we must not forget that,
amongst these seven kings, during the heptarchy, commonly one
was most puissant, over -ruling the rest, who styled himself " king of
the English nation."*
18. Irish St. Patrick said to live and die at Glastonbury.
But, to return to the British church, and the year of our Lord
449 : wherein St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, is notoriously
reported to have come to Glastonbury ; where, finding twelve old
monks, (successors to those who were first founded there by Joseph
of Arimathea,) he, though unwilling, was chosen their abbot, and
lived with them thirty-nine years, observing the rule of St. Mark
and his Egyptian monks ; the Order of Benedictines being as yet
unborn in the world. Give we here a list of these twelve monks ;
withal forewaming the reader that, for all their harsh sound, they
are so many saints, lest otherwise he should suspect them, by the
ill noise of their names, to be worse creatures : — 1. Brumbam,
2. Hyregaan, 3. Brenwall, 4. Wencreth, 5. Bantom-meweng,
6. Adel-wolred, 7- Lowar, 8. Wellias, 9. Breden, 10. Swelves,
11. Hinloemius, 12. Hin. * Camden's Brit, page 139.

5.8 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 449.
But know that some of these names, as the third, sixth, and
ninth, are pure, plain Saxon words ;* which renders the rest sus
pected. So that whosoever it was that first gave these British
monks such Saxon names made more haste than good speed, pre
venting the true language .of that age.
19. He is made Co-partner in the Church with the Virgin Mary.
So great was the credit of St. Patrick at Glastonbury that, after
his death and burial there, that church, which formerly was dedi
cated to the virgin Mary alone, was in after-ages jointly consecrated
to her and St. Patrick. A great presumption : for if it be true,
what is reported, that at the first, by direction of the angel
Gabriel, -f that church was solely devoted to the virgin Maiy ; surely
either the same, or some other angel of equal power, ought to have
ordered the admission of St. Patrick to the same, to be matched and
impaled with the blessed virgin in the honour thereof. In reference
to St. Patrick's being at Glastonbury, several Saxon kings granted
large charters, with great profits and privileges, to this place.
20. Yet the Credit of Putrick''s being at Glastonbury shrewdly
shaken.
But now the spite is, that an unparalleled criticj in antiquity
leaves this Patrick at this time sweating in the Irish harvest, having
newly converted Leinster to the faith, and now gone into the pro
vince of Munster on the same occasion. Yea, he denies, a,nd
proveth the same, that this Patrick ever lived or was buried at
Glastonbury. But be it known to whom it may concern, that the
British are not so over fond of St. Patrick as to ravish him into their
country against his will, and the consent of time. Yea, St. Patrick
missed as much honour in not being at Glastonbury, as Glastonbury
hath lost credit if he were never there ; seeing the British justly set
as high a rate on that place, as the Irish do on his person. See but
the glorious titles (which, with small alteration, might serve for
Jerusalem itself) given to Glastonbury ; and seeing now the place is
for the most part buried in its own dust, let none envy these
epithets for the epitaph thereof: —
" Here lies the city({ which once was the fountain and original of
all religion, II built by Christ's disciples, consecrated by Christ him
self;^ and this place is the mother of saints."**
We are sorry, therefore, for St. Patrick's sake, if he was never
* Fii-at observed by Mr. Camden, and since by the archbishop of Armagh. t See
Cent. i. paragraph 11. J James Usher De Brit. Ecc. Primord. ^p. 875,883,894,895.
§ Or borough. || In the charter of king Ini. and also in king Edgar's.
11 Malmesbury MS. de Antiq. Eccles. Glaston. ** So called in the charter of
king Kenwin.

A.D. 450. BOOK I. CENT. V. 59
there. To salve all, some have found out anotlier Patrick, called
Senior, or Sen Patrick, (a nice difference,) equal with the Irish
apostle in time, and not much inferior in holiness, who certainly
lived at Glastonbury. The plain trath is, that, as in the comedian,*
when there were two Amphitruoes, and two Sosias, they made
much fallacious intricacy and pleasant delusion in the eyes of the
spectators ; so, there being in this age two Patricks, (others say
three,)-]- two Merlins,| two Gildasses,§ and (that the homonymy
maybe as well in place as in persons) three Bangors,|| three Glaston-
buries;5[ (as haste or- ignorance in writers mistake them;) these,
jumbled together, have made a marvellous confusion in writers, to
the great prejudice of history, where they are not exactly observed.
21 . The fabulous History ofuSt Ursula confuted. A. D. 450.
But, leaving St. Patrick, let us try whether we can have better
success with St. Ursula, daughter of Dinoth, or Deo-notus, duke of
Cornwall ; who in this year is said with eleven thousand virgins to
have sailed over into Little Britain in France, there to be married
to the Britons their countrymen, who refused to wed Frenchwomen
for their wives. But by foul weather these virgins were cast on the
French shore amongst Pagans, by whom they were cruelly mur
dered, for refusing to forsake their religion, or betray their chastity.
Others tell the story quite contrary : how the aforesaid Ursula, with
her virgin army, went to Rome, where she conversed with pope
Cyriacus,** her countryman, and with him returning back into
Britain, was murdered, by the command of Attila king of the
Huns, at Cologne, with all the rest of the virgins, and the afore
said pope Cyriacus ; whose name is omitted in the papal catalogue,
because before his death he surrendered his place to Anterus his
successor : in which relation we much commend the even tenor
thereof, consisting of so level lies, that no one swelling improbability
is above the rest ; but for matter of time, place; and persons, all
pas.sages unlikely alike. We dare not defame Britain, as to suspect
but that eleven thousand Christian virgins, all at once, able to
travail, might be found therein ; though at this time Paganism
prospered in this land, and religion was in a low condition. But
what made these Cliristian Amazons, with Ursula their Penthesilea,
to go (not to say "to gad") to Rome? Surely they were no
daughters of Sarah, which did abide in her tent. Gen. xviii. 9,
but rather sisters of Dinah, Gen. xxxiv. 1, which would go abroad
to see foreign fashions ; and therefore their hard usage is the less to
• Plaiitus's AmpHtrao. t See Usher, page 895. t Ambrosius,
Caledonius. % Albanius, Badonicus. || In Flintshire, in Carnarvonshire, in Down
in Ireland. IT Glasgow- in Scotland. Dimglass in Ireland. •• Vision.
Elizabeth, lib. iv. cap. 2. Edit. Paris, anno 1513 el Colon. 1628.

60 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 450-^462.
be' pitied. Was it modest for so many maids to wander by them
selves, without a masculine guard to protect them ? Did ever such
a wood of weak ivy grow alone, without any other trees to support
it .? But the city of Cologne will not abate us one of the eleven
thousand, where their relics and sepulchral inscriptions are at this
day to be seen. And we may as safely believe that these virgin-
martyrs lie there entombed, as that the bodies of the three wise men
of the east, commonly called " the three kings of Cologne," which
came to visit our infant Saviour at Bethlehem, are interred in the
same city ; which the monks of Cologne brag of, and show to travel
lers. Beside all this, there is a town in Berkshire called Maiden
head,* which, as many other churches in Cliristeiidom, was dedicated
in memory of their virginity : which if it be not an argument strong
enough to convert the reader to the belief of this story, we must
leave him to his infidelity ; that as tales of bugbears are made to
fright crying children, so this story of Ursula was contrived to befool
credulous men.
22. Why so little Church-Story in this Age. A.D. 453.
Nor hath the judicious reader cause to wonder, that no better
account is given of the British church in this age, considering the
general persecution by Pagan Saxons. Religion now-a-days played
least in sight, hiding itself in holes ; and the face of the church was
so blubbered with tears, that she may seem almost to have wept her
eyes out, having lost her seers and principal pastors. Only two
prime preachers appear : — Vodine, the learned and pious bishop of
London ; who, taking the confidence to reprove Vortigern the
British king, for putting away his lawful wife, and wedding Rowena,
the Heathen daughter of Hengist, was by him most barbarously
murdered :f — the second, Gildas Albanius, (much ancienter than his
name-sake Surnamed " the wise,") born in Scotland, bred in France ;
whence returning into the South of Britain, he applied himself to the
preaching of divinity, and reading liberal sciences to many auditors
and scholars at Pepidiauc,| a promontory in Pembrokeshire.,
23. Gildas at a strange Sight suddenly silenced. A.D. 462.
It happened on a day, as Gildas was in his sermon, (reader,
whether smiling or frowning, forgive the digression,) a nun big with
child came into the congregation ; whereat the preacher presently
was struck dumb, (would not a maid's child amaze any man .?) and
could proceed no further.^ Afterward he gave this reason of his
• Camden's Britannia in Berkshire. t Hector Boethius Scot. Hist. lib riii.
X 3. Armagh. De Brit. Ecc. Primord. page 442. § Girald. Cambrens. in the Life
of St. David. •'

A.D. 463. BOOK I. CENT. V. 61
silence, — because that virgin bare in her body an infant of such
signal sanctity as far transcended him. Thus as lesser loadstones
are reported to lose their virtue in the presence of those that are
bigger ; so Gildas was silenced at the approach of the Welsh St.
David, (being then but hanse en keldar,) though afterward, like
Zachary, he recovered his speech again. Thus fabulous authors*
make this St. David a mock John Baptist, forcing a fond parallel
betwixt them ; where, to make the proportion current, Gildas must
be allowed father to St. David. But, enough : I like this scent so
ill, I will follow it no further.
24. The Partiality of Saxo?i Writers.
Meantime, fierce and frequent fighting betwixt the British and
Saxons, about defending and enlarging their dominions. And
although Gildas (and out of him Bede) confess often alternation of
success, yet other Saxon writers mention not the least overthrow of
their own side, but constant conquering : as if their generals had
always buckled on victory with their armour. It is almost incre
dible, that ingenuous men should be so injurious to' the truth and
their own credits, by partiality, were it not that the factions of
modem pens invite us to the belief thereof; not describing battles
with a full face, (presenting both sides,) but with a half face, advanc
ing their own, and depressing the achievements of the opposite
party. Most true it is, the British got many victories, especially
under hopeful prince Vortimer, whose valour was the best bank
against the Saxon deluge, until broken down by untimely death :
the Pagans generally prevailed, much by their courage, more by
their treachery. 25. The British treacherously murdered.
For they invited the British to a parley and banquet on Salisbury
Plain ; where suddenly drawing out their seaxes, concealed under their
long coats, — being crooked swords, the emblem of their indirect pro
ceedings, — they made their innocent guests, with their blood, pay the
shots of their entertainment. Here Aurelius Ambrosius is reported
to have erected that monument of Stonehenge to their memory.
26. The Description of Stonehenge. A. D. 463.
It is contrifved in form of a crown, consisting of three circles of
stones set up gate-wise ; some called " corse-stones," of twelve
tons,-]- others called " cronets," of seven tons' weight ; (those haply
fur greater, and these for inferior officers ;) and one stone at distance
seems to stand sentinel for the rest. It seems equally impossible,
* J. Armagh. De Brit. Ecc. Primord. page 443. t Camden's Britann. in
Wiltshire.

62 CHURCH HISTORY OP BRITAIN. A.D. 463  466.
that they were bred here, or brought hither; seeing (no navigable
water near) such voluminous bulks are unmanageable in cart or
waggon. As for the tale of Meriin's conjuring them by magic out
of Ireland, and bringing them aloft in the skies ; (what, in Charies's
Wain .?) it is too ridiculous to be confuted. This hath put learned
men on necessity to conceive them artificial stones, consolidated of
sand. Stand they there, in defiance of wind and weather, (which
hath discomposed the method of them,) which, if made of any
precious matter, (a bait to tempt avarice,) no doubt long since had
been indicted of superstition ; whereas, now they are protected by
their own weight and worthlessness.
27. Vortigern, burning in Lust, burned to Ashes. A.D.^QG.
Vortigern, the , British king, fled into Wales, to his castle
Genereu, impregnable for situation, which he manned and woinaned ;
(conveying a multitude of his whores into it ;) and there lived sur
feiting ¦ in lust, while . his land lay sweltering in blood. Here
Aurelius Ambrosius, setting fire on his castle, burned him and his to
ashes. This gave occasion to the report so constantly affirmed by
many authors, (and men are prone to believe prodigious deaths, of
such as led licentious lives,) that Vortigern's palace, like another
Sodom, was burned by fire from heaven. Indeed, in a secondary
sense it was true ; as all exemplary punishments more visibly proceed
from Divine vengeance. But, otherwise, the first raisers of this
fable did apparent wrong to the attribute of God's truth, in pre
tending to do extraordinary right unto his justice.
28. Aurelius causelessly slandered by an Italian.
This Aurelius Ambrosius is said to be extracted of the Roman
race, who, having done this execution on Vortigern the tyrant, was a
singular champion of the British against their enemies ; one com
posed of valour and religion, wholly employing himself, in time of
peace, to raise new churches, repair old, and endow both ; unworthy
therefore the libel of an Italian author,* who, on no other evidence
than his own bare assertion, traduceth this Ambrosius to have been
a favourer of Judaism, Arianism, Manicheism, and a persecutor of
the professors of true religion. Thus the greatest virtue is sanctuary
too small to secure any from the pursuit of slanderous pens ; and
thus soHie humorous authors, leaving the road of true reports,
because common, go a way by themselves of different relation, so to
entitle themselves to more immediate and peculiar intelligence ; as
if others, (being only of truth's council,) had not received such
private instructions as themselves, being cabinet -historians.
• GoTEl'RID. ViTERisiENSis, Chro, part xviii.

A.D. 469, BOOK r. CENT. v. 63
29. The Academy of learned Men under Dubritius. A.D. 469.
Leave we this Ambrosius bickering with the Saxons, with
interchange of success, much commended for his constancy in all
conditions. For, sometimes his valour was the hammer upon,
sometimes his patience was the anvil beneath, his enemies ; but
always he bravely bore up his spirits ; and as the sun looks biggest
on the earth when he is nearest to set, so he carried it out with the
boldest appearance, in the lowest declination of his fortune. If we
behold the church in his time, the most visible estate thereof pre
sents itself to us in the academy which Dubritius kept, near the
river Wye in Monmouthshire. His father, say some,* was
unknown ; others make him to be son to Pepiau,-]- a petty king in
this age : it being observable, that, in this and the next century, all
men eminent for learning and religion are either made without
known fathers, or sons to kings ; (no mean betwixt these extremes,
as by many instances may appear ;) so that such as consider the
narrowness of the Principality, will admire at the number of British
princes. This Dubritius taught many scholars, for seven years
together, in human and divine learning ; (being himself, in his life,
a book cf piety of the best edition for his pupils to peruse ;)
amongst whom the chiefest, Theliau, Sampson, Ubelin, Merchiguin,
Elguored, &c. for the reader had better believe than read the
names of the rest, remarkable only for length and hardness, without
any other information. | Afterward Dubritius removed to Warwick,
(haply mistaken for Werwick, a village some two miles from
Cardigan,)§ and from thence, it seems, returned to Moch-Rhos, that
is, " the place of a hog ;" because he was admonished, in a vision in
his sleep, there to build a chapel or oratory, where he should find a
white sow lodging with the hogs:|| a clean conceit, and as full of
wit as devotion. It seems, the friar, father of this fable, had read as
far as the eighth book of Virgil's ^neids, where the river Tiber, in
a dream, advised ^neas to erect an altar, and sacrifice to Juno, in
the place where he should find the sow lying with the pigs ; and
from this Pagan hint was advantaged for a popish legend.
30. Forged Lies obtruded on Posterity, in Lieu of lost Truths.
Here we cannot but renew our former complaint ; — and it is
some mitigation to our misery, (as perchance some ease to the
reader,) if we can but vent our old grievances in new expressions ; —
how, instead of true history, devoured by time, prodigious tales of
impudent, brasen-faced monks are obtmded upon us. Thus when
" Johan. TiNMUTHENSiS in ejus Vitd. t Chro. Colleg. fVurwicensis,
X Vide Armagh. De Brit. Ecc. Primord. ^. ii5. § .Fi'tfe Speed's map of that
eonnty. || Vide AKn.iCii.ut prius.

64 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 469  ii).>
the golden shields of king Solomon were taken away, Rchol> ):iin
substituted shields of brass in their room, 1 Kings xiv. 27 ; th agh
not so good, perchance more gaudy, especially to ignorant eyes
viewing them at distance, and wanting either the skill or opportunity
to bring them to the touch. Amongst which the tale of Cungaras
the Eremite, otherwise called Doccwyn, (but, first, let the one man
be allowed, before his two names be admitted,) may challenge a
principal place ; being reported son of a Constantinopolitan emperor,
and Luciria his empress :* a nfime unowned by any Grecian
historians. The best is, that unconscionable liars, though they
most hurt themselves, do the least harm others, whose loud ones are
both the poison and the antidote, seeing no wise man will believe
them. Small grit and gravel may choke a man ; but that stone can
never stop his throat which cannot enter into his mouth.
31. The Massacre of the Monks at Winchester. A.D. 495.
In very deed, very little at this time was ever reported of church
matters. For a drought of Christian writers (in the heat of perse
cution) caused a dearth of all history. Now it was that Cerdicus,
first king of the West Saxons, having overcome the Britons at
Winchester, killed all the monks belonging to the church of St.
Amphibalus,-f and turned the same into a temple of idolatry. Also
Theon, archbishop of London, seeing the Pagan Saxons to prevail,
left his see, and, about this time,J may be presumed to have fled
into Wales. I say, " about this time." For, what liberty is allowed
to prognosticators of weather, to use all favourable correctives and
qualifications, — " like to be rain, inclined to rain, somewhat rainy,"
&c. — the same latitude we must request, in relating actions past in
point of chronology : his fere temporibus, per hcec tempora, circa,
circiter, plus minus, 4"c. And what -sve take upon trust in this
kind, let the reader be pleased to charge, not on the* score of our
ignorance, but on the uncertainty of that age's computation. As
for St. Petrock, son to the king of Cumberland, we remit hiin to the
next age, because, though budding in this, full blown in the next
century.
32. Merlin left in a Twilight ; whether that Magician was an
Impostor, or his whole Story an Imposture put upon
credulous Posterity.
This age is assigned by authors for that famous Ambrose Merlin,
differing from Sylvester Merlin the Scot ; though it be doubtful
whether ever such a man in rerum naturd ; it being suspicious,
* JoH. Capgrave m Vitd S. Cungari. t Wintoniensis Ecc. Hist. cap. ix.
J But Matth. Florilegus designeth the year 586.

A.D. 495. BOOK I. CENT. VI. 05
First. Because he is reported born at Caer-marthen, and that
city so denominated from him. Whereas it is called Maridunum
by Ptolemy many years before. Thus it is ominous to begin with
a lie. Secondly. Because it was said, his mother was a nun, got with
child by a devil in the form of an incubus ; perchance such a one as
Chaucer describes.
It seems, that as vestal virgins, when they had stolen a great
belly, used to entitle some deity to the getting of their child, (so
did the mother of Romulus and Remus,) whereby they both saved
themselves from shame, and gained reputation ; so nuns in this age,
when- with child, unable to persuade people, (as the poets feign of
the Spanish mares,) that they were impregnated by the wind alone,
made the world believe that some spirit had consorted with them.
This makes the whole story of Merlin very doubtful ; and as for all
his miracles and prophecies, they sink with the subject. For, sure,
the same hand which made the puppet gave it all its motions, and
suited his person with properties accordingly. May the reader be
pleased to take notice of three ancient British writers : — 1. Aquila
Septonius, or " the eagle of Shaftesbury," whether he or she. 2.
Perdix Prsesagus, or Partridge the prophesier. 3. Merlin Ambrose.
All three birds of a feather, and perchance hatched in the same nest
of ignorant credulity : nor can I meet with a fourth to make up the
mess, except it be the Arabian Phoenix. But, because it is a task
too great for a giant to encounter a received tradition, let Merlin be
left in a twilight as we found him. And, surely, no judicious man
will censure the mention of Merlin (whose magical pranks and con
jurations are so frequent in our stories) to be a deviation from the
history of the church, who hath read both of Simon Magus and
Elymas the sorcerer, in the Acts of the Apostles.

SECTION VI.
THE SIXTH CENTURY.
TO DOUSE FULLER, OF HAMPSHIRE, ESQUIRE.
I CANNOT say certainly of you, as Naomi did of Boaz,
" He is near of kin unto us," Ruth ii. 20 ; having no
assurance, though great probability, -of alliance unto
you. However, sir, if you shall be pleased in courtesy
Vol. I. P

66 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 501  508.
to account me your kinsman, I will endeavour that (as
it will be an honour to me) it iriay be to you no
disgrace^1. The most miserable Estate of the British Commonwealth.
A.D. 501.
Questionless we shall not be accounted trespassers, though
only ecclesiastical business be our right road, to go a little in the
by-way of state-matters, because leading the shortest passage for
the present to our church-story. Most miserable at this time was
the British commonwealth, crowded up into barren corners, whilst
their enemies, the Pagan Saxons, possessed the East and South ; if
not the greatest, the best part of the island. Much ado had Uter
Pen-dragon, the British king, with all the sinews of his care and
courage, to keep his disjointed kingdom together ; whose only
desire was to prolong the life (it being above his hopes to procure
the health) of that languishing state. And though sometimes the
Britons got the better, yet one may say, their victories were spent
before they were gained ; being so far behind-hand before, that their
conquest made no show, swallowed up in the discharging of old
arrearages. Needs, then, must religion now in Britain be in a
doleful condition ; for he who expects a fiourishing church in a
fading commonwealth, let him try whether one side of his face can
smile, when the other is pinched.
2. King Arthur's Actions much discredited by Monkish Fictions.
AD. 508.
Pen-dragon, dying, left the British kingdom to Arthur his son, so
famous in history that he is counted one of the nine worthies ; and
it is more than comes to the proportion of Britain, that, amongst
but nine in the whole world, two should prove natives of this
island, — Constantine and Arthur. This latter was the . British
Hector, who could not defend that Troy which was designed to
destruction ; and it soundeth much to his honour, that, perceiving
his country condemned by God's justice to ruin, he could procure a
reprieve, though not prevail for the pardon thereof. More unhappy
was he after his death; hyperbolical monks so advancing his vic
tories above all reach of belief, that the twelve pitched battles of
Arthur, wherein he conquered the Pagan Saxons, find no more
credit than the twelve labours of Hercules. Belike, the monks
hoped to pass their lies for current, because countenanced with the
mixture of some truths ; whereas the contrary came to pass ; and
the very truths which they have written of him are discredited,
because found in company with so many lies. Insomuch that

A.D. 508  516. BOOK I.. CENT VI. 67
leamed Leland is put to it to make a book for the asserting of
Arthur. Many are unsettled about him, because Gildas, his
countryman, living much about his age, makes no mention of him :
though such may be something satisfied, if, considering the principal
intent of that quemlous author is not to praise, but to reprove, not
greatly to grace, but justly to shame, his country ; his book being a
bare black bill of the sins and sufferings, monsters and tyrants, of
Britain, keeping no catalogue of the worthies of this island ; so
that neither Lucius, Constantine, nor Arthur are once named by
him. But the best evidence that once Arthur lived in Britain is,
because it is certain he died in Britain ; as appears undeniably by
his corpse, coffin, and epitaph, taken up out of his monument in
Glastonbury, in the reign of king Henry II. whereof many persons
of quality were eye-witnesses.*
3. Caer-leon a principal Staple of Learning and Religion.
A.D. 516.
The entire body of the British church at this time was in Wales,
where Bangor on the North, and Caer-leon (on Usk, in Monmouth
shire) on the South, were the two eyes thereof, for learning and religion.
The latter had in it the court of king Arthur, the see of an arch
bishop, a college of two hundred philosophers,-f- who therein studied
astronomy, and was a populous place of great extent. But cities,
as well as their builders, are mortal : it is reduced at this day to a
small village. But as aged parents content and comfort themselves
in beholding their children, wherein their memories will be con
tinued after their death ; so Caer-leon is not a little delighted to
see herself still survive in her daughter Newport,]: a neighbouring
town raised out of the ruins of her mother. Whilst the other stood
in prime, there was scarce an eminent man who did not touch here
for his education, whom we will reckon in order, the rather, because
all the church-history of this age seems confined to some principal
persons. Dubritius aforementioned was the father and founder of
them all, late bishop of Landaff, now archbishop of Caer-leon ; a
great champion of the truth against Pelagius ; and he had the
honour here to crown two kings, Uter and Arthur. Being very
old, he resigned his archbishopric to David, his scholar ; and that
he might be more able and active to wrestle with death, he stripped
himself out of all worldly employment, and became an anchoret in
the island of Bardsey.§ Six hundred years after, (namely May
20th 1120,) his bones were translated to Landaff, and by Urban,
» Giraldus Cambrensis, an eye-witness.— Camden's Britannia in Somersetshire.
-t Thomas James, ont of Alexander Elsebiensis. X Camden's Brit, in Monmouthshire.
S Fra Godwin in Episc. Mencvensibus . p. 600.
F 2

68 CHURCH HISTORY pF BRITAIN. A.D. 519.
bishop thereof, / buried in the church, towards the north side
thereof. 4. St. David an Advancer of Monastic Life. A.D. 519.
David, the next archbishop, of royal extraction, was uncle to
king Arthur. He privately studied the Scriptures ten years, before
he would presume to preach, and always carried the Gospels about
him. He kept a synod against the Pelagian error, (a second
edition whereof was set forth in his time,) and confirmed many
wavering souls in the faith. By leave obtained from king Arthur,
he removed the archi-episcopal seat from Caer-leon to Menevea, now
called St. David's, in Pembrokeshire : in which exchange his devo
tion is rather to be admired than his discretion to be commended ;
leaving a fruitful soil for a bleak, barren place ; * though the worse
it was, the better for his purpose, being a great promoter of a
monastical life. And though the place was much exposed to the
rapine of pirates, yet this holy man laid up his heavenly treasure
where " thieves do not break through, nor steal."-f-
5. One paramount Miracle of St. David.
Yet I am sensible that I have spent, to my shame, so much'
precious time in reading the legend of his Life, that I will not
wilfully double my guiltiness in writing the same, and tempt the
reader to offend in like nature. This miracle I cannot omit: J
David one day was preaching in an open field to the multitude, and
could not be well seen because of the concourse ; (though they make
him four cubits high,§ a man-and-half in stature ;) when, behold,
the earth, whereon he stood, officiously heaving itself up, mounted
him to a competent visibility above all his audience. Whereas our
Saviour himself, when he taught the people, was pleased to choose
a mountain, Matt. v. 1 ; making use of the advantage of nature,
without improving his miraculous power. He died aged one
hundred and forty-six years, on the first of March, still celebrated
by the Welsh with wearing of a leek ; || perchance, to perpetuate
the memory of his abstinence, whose contented mind made many a
savoury meal on such roots of the earth.
6. Reasons why Men in this Age lived so long.
A wonder it is to see how many Methuselahs (extreme aged men)
these times did produce. St. Patrick died aged one^ hundred and
twenty-two ; Sampson, aged one hundred and twenty ; David, one
hundred and forty-six ; Gildas Badonicus, ninety, ^f &c. Some
* Giraldus Cambrensis. t Camden's J^ril. in Pembrokeshire. J " Flowers
of the English Saints." p. 222. § BAL.ffius Cent, prima, nu. 56. || Several
reasons hereof assigned by authors. 1[ See Bal^eus in their general Lives.

A.D. 519. BOOK I. CENT VI. _ 69
reason whereof may be alleged : Because, living retired in a con
templative way, they did not bruise their bodies with embroiling
them in worldly affairs ; or it may be ascribed to their temperate
diet, whilst many of our age spill their radical moisture through the
leaks of their own luxury. Nor is it absurd to say, that God made
these great tapers of a more firm and compacted wax than ordinary,
that so they might last the longer in burning to give light to
his church, and bestowed on them an especial strong natural
constitution. 7. The discreet Devotion of Cadocus.
About the same time, (accurateness in computing years is not to
be expected : for never were more doublings and redoublings made
by a hunted hare, than there are intricacies in the chronology of
this age, going backward and forward,) flourished Cadocus, abbot
of Llancarvan in Glamorganshire, son of the prince and toparch of
that country. This godly and leamed man so renounced the world, •
that he retained part of his paternal principality in his possession,
whereby he daily fed three hundred of clergymen, widows, and poor
people, beside guests and visitants daily resorting to him.* He is
equally commended for his policy, in keeping the root (the right of
his estate) in his own hands ; and for his piety, in besto-wing the
fruit (the profits thereof) in the relieving of others. It seems, in
that age wilful poverty was not by vow entailed on monastical life.
Nor did this Cadocus (as Regulars in after-times) with open hands
scatter away his whole means, so foolishly to g^asp his fist full of
popular applause. He is said afterwards to have died at Bene-
ventum in Italy.
8. Iltutus abused with Monkish Forgeries.
Iltutus comes next into play, a zealous man, and deep scholar ;
who, not far from Cadocus, at Llan-lwit in Glamorganshire, (con-
tractedly for Llan-iltut,) preached God's word, and set up a college
of scholars, being himself a gr'eat observer of a single life. It is
reported of him, that when his wife repaired to him for "due
benevolence," or some ghostly counsel, he put out her eyes, out of
anger, for interrapting him in his constant course of chastity.-f- But
surely some blind monk, having one of his eyes put out with igno
rance, and the other with superstition, was the first founder of this
fable. Thus godly saints in that age were made martyrs after their
death ; persecuted (though in their commendation) with impudent
and improbable lies. It is reported also of the same Iltutus, that
he turned men into stones. J Had it been stones into men,
* Johan. Tinmuthensis in ejus Vitd. t Balteus De Script. Britan. centur.
prima. X Idem, ut prius.

70 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 521  548.
(converting stupid souls into Christians, by his preaching,) it
had been capable of an allegorical construction ; whereas, as
now told, it is a lie in the literal, and nonsense in the mystical,
meaning thereof. 9. Sampson, Archbishop of Dole. A.D. 521.
Sampson succeeds, scholar to Iltutus, made by Dubritius bishop
at large, sine titulo.* It seems, in that age all bishops were not
fixed to the chair of a peculiar church, but some might sit down in
any vacant place for their cathedral, and there exercise their epis
copal authority ; provided it were without prejudice to other bishops.
Afterwards, this Sampson was made archbishop of Dole in French
Britain ; and in those days, such was the correspondency betwixt
this Greater and that Lesser Britain that they seemed to possess
leamed men in common betwixt them. Scarce am 1 reconciled to
this Sampson, for carrying away with him the monuments of British
antiquity.-J" Had he put them out to the bank, by procuring several
copies to be transcribed, learning thereby had been a gainer ; and a
saver, had he only secured the originals ': whereas, now her loss is
irrecoverable ; principal and interest, authentics and transcripts, are
all embezzled. Nor is the matter much, whether they had miscarried
at home by foes' violence, or abroad by such friends' negligence.
10., Paternus a Pattern for all Bishops. A.D. 540.
It were a sin to omit St. Patern, for three and twenty years a
constant preacher at Llan-Patem in Cardiganshire. His father-like
care over his flock passeth with peculiar commendation, — " that he
governed his people by feeding them, and fed his people by govern
ing them ."J Some years after, the place continued an episcopal see,
and was extinguished upon occasion of the people's barbarously
murdering of their bishop.
11. Petrock, the Captain of Cornish Saints. A-D. 548.
St. Petrock comes in for his share ; (from whom Petrock-stow
contracted Padstow, in Cornwall, is denominated ;) one of great
piety and painfulness in that age. Afterward he is said to have
gone to the East Indies ; (all far countries are East Indies to
ignorant people ;) and at his return to be buried at Bodmin in
Cornwall. That county is the cornucopia of saints, (most of Irish
extraction,) and the names of their towns and villages, the best
nomenclator of the devout men of this age. If the people of that
province have as much holiness in their hearts, as the parishes
• Armach. De Brit. Ec. Prim. p. 1136. t Bal.eus De Script. Britan. iu Sampson.
t Cajiden's Brit, in Cardiganshire.

A.D. 550  580. BOOK I. CENT VI. 71
therein carry sanctity in their names, Cornwall may pass fov ^^nother
Holy Land in public reputation.
12. The Piety of St. Teliau. A. D. 550.
Next St. Petrock comes St. Teliau ; for it is pity to part two
such intimate friends. He was called, by allusion to his name,
Helios,* which in Greek signifieth "' the sun," because of the lustre
of his life and learning. But the vulgar sort, who count it no fault
to miscall their betters if they have hard names, called him Eliud ;
(one of that name was one of our Saviour's ancestors, Matt. i. 14 ;)
tuming the Greek into a Hebrew word, and understanding both
alike. He was scholar to Dubritius, and succeeded him in the
bishopric of Landaff: a pious man, constant preacher, and zealous
reprover of the reigning sins of that time.-j- This is all the certain
truth extant of him ; which some monks counting too little have,
with their fabulous breath, blown up the story of his life to siich a
bigness, that the credit thereof breaks with its own improbability .J
Witness his journey to Jerusalem, full of strange miracles, where
he had a cymbal given him, excelling the sound of an organ, and
ringing every hour of its own accord :_ no doubt a loud one.
" Loaden with merits," saith the author, (I had thought nothing
but sin could burden a saint,) " he departed this life, having his
memory continued in many churches of South Wales, dedicated
to him, and is remembered in the Roman Calendar on the ninth of
Febmary."§ 13. Several other Worthies of the same Age. A.D. 580.
I had almost forgotten Congel, abbot of Bangor, who much
altered the discipline of that monastery ; Kentigern, the famous
bishop of EUwye in North Wales ; St. Asaph, his successor in the
same place ; in whose mouth this sentence was frequent, — " Such
who are against the preaching of God's Word, envy the salvation of
mankind." II As for Gildas, surnamed the Wise, their contem
porary, we reserve his character for our " Library of British His
torians."^ Many other worthy men flourished at the same time ;
and, a national church being a large room, it is hard to count all
the candles God lighted therein.
14. Pastors in this Age, why in constant Motion.
Most of these men seem bom under a travelling planet ; seldom
having their education in the place of their nativity; oft-times
• Harpsfield's Ecc. Ang. p. 41. c. 27- -f BAL.ffiUS centuria prim. num. 58.
1 In the book of his Life extant in the church of Landaff. § " Flowers of the Samts."
151. H Godwin in his Catal. of bishops of St. Asaph. IT yide our Library
of British Histor. num. 1.

72 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 580.
composed of Irish infancy, British breeding, and French prefer
ment ; taking a cowl in one country, a crosier in another, and a
grave In a third ; neither bred where born, nor beneficed where
bred, nor buried where beneficed ; but wandering in several
kingdoms. Nor is this to be imputed to any humour of inconstancy,
(the running gout of the soul,) or any affected unsettledness in them ;
but proceeding from other weighty considerations. First. To pro
cure their safety : for, in time of persecution, the surest place to
shift in is constant shifting of places ; not staying any where so
lone- as to give men's malice a steady aim to level at them.
Secondly. To gain experience in those things which grew not all
in the same soil. Lastly. That the Gospel thereby might be
further and faster propagated. When there be many guests and
little meat, the same dish must go clean through the board ; and
Divine Pro-ndence ordered it, that, in the scarcity of preachers, one
eminent man, travelling far, should successively feed many countries.
15. Books falsely fathered on British Writers.
To most of these authors many written volumes are assigned, the
titles and beginnings whereof you may find in our countrymen, Bale
and Pits ; who will persuade you, that they have seen and perased
some of them. This they do partly to enhance the merit of their
industry in finding out so many rarities ; and partly to commend
to the world the latitude of their own reading. I shall as soon
believe that they have seen all Solomon's volumes, which he wrote
" from the cedar of Libanus, to the hyssop that groweth on the
wall." But this humour possesseth many men, that brag of many
books coming under their discovery ; as if not only with the mice
they had crept through the crannies of all libraries, but also with the
moths had got betwixt the leaves of all treatises therein. In plain
truth, as it is probable that those British prelates -wrote many books
of consequence ; so it is certain that long since by time they have
been abolished. As for those spurious tracts, which monks in
after-ages set out under these worthy men's names, they are no
more to be accounted the true offspring of these learned saints, than
that common manna, ordinarily sold in apothecaries' shops, is the
self-same with that angels' food which fell down from heaven, and
feasted the Israelites.

THE

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.

BOOK IL

FROM THE CONVERSION OF THE SAXONS TO CHRISTIANITY, UNTIL
THE COMMONLY-CALLED CONQUEST OF THE NORMANS.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY,
LORD MARQUIS OF DORCHESTER,
EARL OF KINGSTON, VISCOUNT NEWARK, LORD
PIERREPONT, &c.

How low learning ran in our land amongst the
native nobility some two hundred years since, in the
reign of king Henry VI. too plainly appeareth by the
motto in the sword of the martial earl of Shrewsbury,
(where at the same time one may smile at the
simplicity and sigh at the barbarism thereof,) Sum
Talboti, pro occidere iNiMicos MEOS : the best Latin
that lord (and perchance his chaplains, too, in that age)
could afford.
But in the next generation we may observe the rise
of learning in noble families. I behold John Tiptoft,
earl of Worcester, (bred in Balliol college,) as the first
English person of honour that graced learning with the
study thereof, in the days of king Edward IV., both
at home and in foreign universities. He made so
eloquent an oration in the Vatican, in the presence of
pope Pius II. (one of the least bad, and most learned
of any of his order,) that his Holiness was divided
betwixt weeping and wondering thereat.*
This earl may be said to have left John Bourchier,
baron of Berners and governor of Calais, the heir to
his learning ; as who wrote many treatises, and made
excursions into variety of studies, in the days of king
Henry Vll.t
This learned baron had several successors, under
* J. Bale De Script. Angl. t Idem, et PiT2.i;us De Scrip. Anglic.

76 DEDICATION.
king Henry Vli I. at the same time to his parts and
liberal studies:—!. Henry Lord Stafford, son to the
last duke of Buckingham of that name. 2. William
Lord Montjoy, a great patron to Erasmus, and well
skilled in chymistry and mathematics. 3. Henry
Howard, earl of Surrey, (though last in time, not least
in merit,) the first reviver of English poetry ; so that
he may seem in some sort to wave his coronet, to wear
the laurel. Since whose time to our days, learning
hath ever had a visible succession in our nobility ;
amongst whom your Honour, as captain of the highest
form, is most illustrious.
Indeed, your lordship is a real refutation of that
scandalous position which some maintain, that " such
who are generally seen in all arts, cannot be eminently
skilful in any one : " a position no better than a libel
on learning, invented and vented, — either by the idle,
who would not themselves study, — or by the envious,
who desire to discourage the endeavours of others :
whereas there is such a sympathy betwixt several
sciences, as also betwixt the learned languages, that, as
in a regular fortification one piece strengtheneth
another, a resultive firmness ariseth from their com
plication, reflecting life and lustre one on another.
Arts may be said to be arched together ; and all
learned faculties have such a mutual reciprocation.
Thus one is the better canonist, for being a good civi
lian ; and a better common-lawyer, for being both of
them*. And hereof your Honour is an experimental
proof, whose knowledge is spread so broad, yet lieth
so thick in all liberal sciences.
What remaineth, but that I crave leave humbly to
mind your lordship of that allusive motto to your
name, Pii repone te ; that your honour " reposing
yourself piously in this life," may in a good old age be
gloriously translated into another ? The desire of
Your lordship's most bounden orator,
Thomas Fuller.

THE

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.
BOOK II.

SECTION I.
THE SIXTH CENTURY.
1 . The flrst Occasion of the Sa.vons' Conversion to Christiatiity.
A.D. 585.
It is wonderful to see how the fruits of great events are virtually
comprised in the small seed of their cause, and how a contemptible
accident may give the occasion of most considerable effects ; as may
appear by the conversion of the Saxons to Christianity. For it
happened that certain Saxon children were to be sold for slaves, at
the market-place at Rome ; when Divine Providence, the great
clock -keeper of time, ordering not only hour's, but even in'stants,
Luke ii. 38, to his own honour, so disposed it, that Gregory, after
wards first bishop of Rome of that name, was present to behold them.
It grieved the good man to see the disproportion betwixt the faces
and fortunes, the complexions and conditions, of those children,
condemned to a servile estate, though carrying liberal looks, so
legible was ingenuity in their faces. It added more to his sorrow,
when he conceived that those youths were twice vassals, bought by
their masters, and " sold under sin," Rom. vii. 14 ; servants in
their bodies, and slaves in their souls to satan ; which occasioned
the good man to enter into further inquiry with the merchants
(which set them to sale) what they were, and whence they came,*
according to this ensuing dialogue : —
Gregory. — Whence come these captives ?
Merchants. — From the isle of Britain.
* Bede Hist. Ecclesiasi. lib. ii. cap. 1.

78 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 586.
Gregory. — Are those islanders Christians.?
Merchants. — O no : they are Pagans.
Gregory.— It is sad that the author of darkness should possess
men with so bright faces. But what is the name of their particular
nation .''
Merchants. — They are called Angli.
Gregory.— And well may, for their "angel-like faces;" it
becometh such to be coheirs with the angels in heaven. In what
province of England did they live ?
Merchants. — In Deira.*
Gregory. — They are to be freed de Dei ird, "from the anger
of God." How call ye the king of that country ?
Merck ANT s . — Ella.
Gregory.— Surely hallelujah ought to be sung in his kingdom
to the praise of that God who created all things.
Thus Gregory's gracious heart set the sound of every word to the
tune of spiritual goodness. Nor can his words be justly censured
for levity, if we consider how, in that age, the elegancy of poetry
consisted in rhythm, and the eloquence of prose in allusions. And,
which was the main, where his pleasant conceits did end, there his
pious endeavours began ; which did not terminate in a verbal jest,
but produce real effects, which ensued hereupon.

2. Gregory would convert England in his Person, but doth it by
his Proxy. A.D. 586.
For, repairing to Pelagius, bishop of Rome, he imparted his
discoveries unto him, desiring that some might be sent to endeavour
the conversion of the English nation, tendering his personal service
thereunto. But Pelagius was unwilling to expose Gregory to so
dangerous a design ; and the people of Rome, accounting him a
precious jewel, to be choicely kept for his own wearing, would " not
cast this pearl before swine," by hazarding him to the insolency of the
Pagans. Now Pelagius, not long after being called into another
world, Gregory succeeded in his place ; who, rising to new greats
ness, did not fall from his old goodness, but, prosecuting his
project with more earnestness, sent Augustine the monk, with
Mellitus, and forty more, to preach the Gospel in Britain. He
, himself, tarrying behind in body, went with them in his spirit,
1 Cor. V. 3, accompanying them with his effectual prayers : and
none will deny, but that Moses in the mount contributed as much
to the conquering of Amalek, as. Joshua in the valley, Exod.
xvii. 11. * Which at this day is the hishopric of Deirham, or Durham.

A.D, 586. BOOK II. CENT. VI. 79
3. Augustine and his Fellows shrink for Fear.
These men had not gone far, when they were surprised with a
qualm of fear, and, sending Augustine back again to Gregory,
requested to be excused from going to so barbarous a nation, not as
yet converted to civility, whose language they did not understand.
Here some will be ready to deride them for cowards ; who, more
seriously considering with how many excuses Moses, being sent by
God himself, declined the going to Pharaoh, Exod. iii. iv. and
how loath Jeremy was to preach to his countrymen, the stiff-
necked Jews, Jer. i. 6, will presently change their censuring into
commiserating the frailty of flesh, and common condition of man
kind. But those make short miles who, looking through a window,
travel a day's journey in an instant ; whilst wayfaring men must
honestly pay for every step, and dearly earn it with their industry.
It is facile for men, in their pleasing speculations, to project the
conversion of a kingdom, and with themselves to discourse a
Heathen, nation into Christianity, whilst those must encounter
many difficulties who really go about to perform it. Gregory, per
ceiving them to tire in their undertakings, spurred them on with
his exhortatory letter ; the copy whereof is here inserted, to acquaint
us with the style of the bishops of Rome in that age : —
" Gregory, the servant of the servants of God, &c. Forso-
much as better it were never to begin a good work, than after it is
once begun to go from it again ; you must needs, my dear sons,
now fulfil the good work which, by the help of God, you have
taken in hand. Let, therefore, neither the travel of the journey,
neither the talk of evil-tongued men, dismay you. But with all
force and fervour make up that you have by the motion of God
begun ; assuring yourselves, that, after your great labour, eternal
reward shall follow. Be you in all points obedient unto Augustine,
whom I have sent back unto you, and appointed him to be your
abbot ; knowing that shall much profit your souls, which you shall
do upon obedience to his commandment. Our almighty Lord
defend you with his grace, and grant me to see the fruit of your
labours in his kingdom of heaven ! And though I cannot labour
myself with you, yet I may enjoy part of your reward, for that I
have a will to labour. God keep you healthy, my dearly beloved
children. " Dated the 23rd of July, our lord Mauritius Tiberius reigning,
our most virtuous emperor, in the fourteenth year of his empire, the
thirteenth year after his consulship, indictione 14."*
As yet we see the chaplain had not lorded it over his patron ; as
• Bede's " History of the Church of England," book i. chap. 23, translated by
stapleton.

80 church HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 58b.
yet the pope's crown was not built three stories high, but observed
a distance of submission towards the emperor, as appears by his
respectful expressions. Yea, this bishop measured the time by the
years of the emperor's reign ; whose successors have learned a new
arithmetic, in their modern dates of charters, only reckoning by the
years of their own consecration, without relating to any imperial
account. Gregory, by the way, was the first which, in humility,
used the style of servus servorum Dei. But as, in the method of
nature, a low valley is immediately seconded with an ambitious hill ;
so after this humble Gregory, (a submissive soul,) within two years
followed Boniface the Third, in whom was the pitch of pride, and
height of aspiring haughtiness, to be termed " the universal bishop
of the world."
4. Augustine troubled with mocking Michals in his Passage
through France.
Besides the aforesaid letter, Gregory wrote many others, — one to
Theodorick and Theodebert, kings of France,* and several epistles
to sundry French bishops, — to accommodate and assist Augustine
and his companions in so pious a design. And, which must not be
forgotten, with them he sent over Candidus, a priest, ¦[" into France,
to receive the profits and long-detained arrears of the pope's patri-
moniolum,X as he terms it, (the diminutive is well increased at this
time,) and with the money to buy clothes for the poor, and also to
buy English Pagan-captive youths in France of seventeen or eigh
teen years old, that they might be brought up in Christianity in
monasteries,; so at once bestowing both liberty, religion, and learn
ing upon them : a transcendent degree of charity ; an alms worthy
Gregory's hands to give it. And now Augustine with his partners,
well encouraged, effectually prosecute their project, passing quietly
through France, save only at the village of Saye in Anjou, where
some giggling housewives (light leaves will be wagged with little
wind !) causelessly fell a-flouting at them. But, in after-ages, the
people of the same place, to repair this wrong, erected a masculine
church (women being interdicted the entrance thereof) to the
memory of St. Augustine : and how soundly one woman smarted for
her presumption herein, take it on the trust of my author :§ —
Plebs parat ecclesiam mulieribus haud reserandam :
Iniroitwrn tentat una, sed ilia pcrit.
" They build a church where women may not enter :
One tried, but lost her life for her adventure."
Yet Augustine himself found courteous usage from the weaker sex :
? Gregor. lib. V. epist, 58. t Idem, lib. v. epist. 10. } Idem., Kb. v. epist. 57.
4 Alexander Elsebiensis in his " Annals of Saints," and .John Capgrave.

A.D. 596. nooK II. cent. vi. 81
witness tbe kind can-iage of Bmnichilda, the queen of France, unto
him, (for which Gregory, in an epistle, returned her solemn
thanks,)* and Bertha the king of France's daughter, wife to Ethel
bert king of Kent.
S. Augustine, for all his Power of working Miracles, needs
Interpreters to preach to the English. A. D. 596.-
Augustine, safely wafted over the sea, lands with the rest at'
Thanet in Kent; taking, as it seems, deep footing, if it be true
what one writes,f that the print of his steps where he first landed
' \h as perfect a mark in a main rock, as if it had been in wax ; and
V Romanists will cry shame on our hard hearts, if our obdurate
lief, more stubborn than the stone, will not as pliably receive the
/impression of this miracle. But it is worthy our consideration, that
though Augustine all his way might be tracked by the wonders he
left behind him ; (when thirsty, miraculously fetching a fountain ;
when cold, a fire ; restoring the blind and lame to their eyes and
imbs ;):|: yet, for all this, he was fain to bring interpreters out of
France with him, by whose help he might understand the English,
,nd be understood by them.: whereas in Holy Writ, when the
ipostles (and papists commonly call Augustine " the English
apostle," how properly we shall see hereafter) went to a foreign
nation, God gave them the language thereof, lest otherwise their
preaching should have the vigour thereof abated, taken at the
second-hand, or rather at the second mouth, as Augustine's was ;
who used an interpreter, not as Joseph to his brethren, Gen. xlii. 23,
out of state and policy, but out of mere necessity. This, I say,
well thought on, will malce our belief to demur to the truth of his
so frequent miracles, being so redundant in working them on trivial •
occasions, and so defective in a matter of most moment. But
•leaving him and his for a time safely landed and lodged, that our
gratitude to God may be the greater for freeing the Saxons our
ancestors from the bondage of idolatry, let us behold with horror the
huge fetters of error and ignorance wherewith the devil kept them
in durance, before the Gospel was preached unto them.
6". The Rabble of Saxo7i Idols.
The Saxons, like the rest of the Germans, whilst pure-impure
Pagans, worshipped many idols, barbarous in name, some mon
strous, all antic for shape, and abominable in the rites fl,nd ceremo
nies of their adoration. Some aver, that, as the Germans, affecting
an autarchy or sole-sufficiency 'amongst themselves, disdained
• Lib. vii. ep. 5. t Flares Sanctorum; Mali 26, in the Life of St. Augjistine,
page 499. t Idem, page 498, \

Vol. I- « I

82

church history of BRITAIN.

A.D. 596.

commerce in customs or civil government with the Romans ; so they
communL^ted not with them in their religion. Yet others affirm,
that, in after-ages, the Dutch did enter common with the Romish
superstition ; at least-wise some modem authors have reduced tlie
Saxon idols (symbolizing with the Romans in power and properties)
to some conformity with the Roman deities. Now although,
according to God's command to the Jews, " Their names shall not
be heard out of our mouth," Exod. xxiii. 1.3, by way of praising
them, praying to them, or swearing by them ; yet an historical
mention of them, here ensuing, is as free from offence, as useful for
information. Beside the Sun and Moon, the Saxons sacrificed to

CI)ororC]^ur,
abbreviated of
Thunre, which
we now write
CJ^Unlrrr. Thurs
day, named from
him.*_ Wioirm, tbat
19, "wood, fierce,
or fiuious," givoDg
tlie deuomination
to TFednesday^ or
ffodensduy. dfriffaorj^wa,
remembered on
FHday, heater, stm re
maining on Satur
day. %\XT^^Cf whence
Tuesday took its
name.

that is, " the pillar
or stay of the
poor,"

%ti\t.

A. corpulent statue, reposed
on a covered bed, wearing a
crown of gold, about which
twelre stars ; a kingly sceptre
in his right hand.

Armed cap~a-pi^j with
mihtary coronet on his head.

A hermaphrodite j per
chance because the reputed
patroness of generation, where
in both sexes are joiaed.
Of a lean visage, long hair,
bare head, holding in one hand
a wheel, in the other a pail of
flowers. Covered with a skin, anus
and feet naked, with an ancient
aspect, and a sceptre in his
hand. Pictured T^t-ith » banner in
one hand with a red rose, in
the other a pair of balances, on
his head a cock, breast a bear,
before him an escutcheon, &c.
His stately statue stood at
Cem u^ Dorsetshire.

OFFICE.
He governed the
wind and clouds,
causing hghtning,
thxmder, tempest,
fair or foul wea
ther.

He was the god
of battle, by who.3e
aid and furtherance
they hoped to ob
tain victory.
The giver of
peace and plenty;
the causer of love,
amity, and increase.
Conceived to have
a great influence on
the kindly fruits of
the earth.
The peculiar tu
telar god of the
Duytsh, whence
they had their
name. _The pretended
bestower of wit and
cunning in bargains
and contracts.
The preventer'of
diseases, preserver
and restorer of
health.

Correspo? iid-
ent withj
The Romani
Jupiter.

Mars-t

Venus,

Saturn.

Mercury,

.^sculapius.

Thus we see the whole week bescattered with Saxon idols,
whose Pagan gods were the godfathers of the days, and gave them
their names. This, some zealot may behold as the object of a
necessary reformation, desiring to have the days of the week new
dipped, and called after other names ; though, indeed, this sup-
• Verstegan's " Restitution of Decayed Intelligence," chap. iii. page 74
Verstegan, page 72 ; but Camden, BHii. page 135, makes him to be Mercury

tSo

A.D. 596. BOOK II. CENT. VI. Btl
posed scandal will not offend the wise, as beneath their notice, and
cannot offend the ignorant, as above their knowledge. Wherefore,
none need so hastily to hurry to the top of the mainmast, thence to
pluck down the badge of Castor and Pollux, Acts xxviii. 11 ; but
rather let them be careful steadily to steer their ship to the heaven,
for which it is bound ; and let us redeem the time, for the days are
evil : not because in their name they bear the cognizance of the
Pagan gods ; but because swarming with the sins of profane men,
which all should labour to reprove in others, and amend in
themselves. 7. A Recruit of their Idols.
But it was not a week or a month, yea, scarce a year of days,
which could severally contain the numerous Saxon idols. Beside
theforenamed, they had Neptune,* to whom, in their abominable
decimations, they sacrificed every tenth captive whom they had
taken in war ; so making that sea-god to swim in man's blood, per
hujusmodi non tam sacrifi/Aa purgati, quam sacrilegia polluti,
saith an ancient Christian author. -f Secondly. Eoster or Goster, a
goddess, which they worshipped in the spring-time, wherein the feast
of Easter afterwards was celebrated, and so thence named, as Bede
observeth. Thirdly. Flynt, so termed because set on a great flint-
stone, which, I dare boldly say, had more sparks of Divine nature
than that idol which thereon was erected. Lastly. Tacitus
observeth, that the Saxons worshipped the peculiar god Herthus,
the self-same which in English we call " the earth," adoring that
whereon they did daily trample.
8. All these antiquated by Christianity.
Besides these, they had other lesser gods, of a lower form and
younger house ; as Helmsteed, Prono, Fridegast, and Siwe : all
which at this day (to use the prophet's expression) are " cast to the
moles and the bats," Isaiah ii. 20; fit company for them which
" have eyes and see not," blind to the blind, like all those whicli
put confidence in them- And as the true and real serpent of
Aaron did swallow up and devour the seeming serpents, which
Jannes and Jambres the Egyptian enchanters did make. Exodus
vii. 12 ; so, long since in England, the religion of the tnie God
hath outlived and outlasted, confuted and confounded, all false and
feigned deities. To conclude this discourse : I have heard of a
man, .who, being drunk, rode over a narrow bridge, (the first and
last that ever passed that way, as which in likelihood led him to
imminent death,) and next morning viewing how he had escaped,
• Selden " Of Tithes," chap. x. page 269. t SinoNius Apollinahis, lib. viii. Epist.
G 2

84 CHURCH HISTOKY OF BRITAIX. A.D. o9,6..
he fell into a swoon with acting over again the danger of his adven
ture in his bare apprehension. So, should England (now, thanks
be to God, grown sober and restored to herself) seriously recollect
her sad condition, when posting in the paths of perdirion, being
intoxicated with the cup of idolatry, she would fall into a trance of
amazement at the consideration of her desperate state, before
Christianity recovered her to her rjght senses ; the manner whereof
we now come to relate.
9. The Character of King Ethelbert.
When Augustine the monk (as is afore said) landed in Thanet,
Ethelbert was tlien king of Kent ; one, who had very much of
good-nature in him ; of a wild oliv.e well civilized, and a stock fit to
be grafted upon. Yea, he was already, with king Agrippa, though
not in the same sense, " almost a Christian," Acts xxvi. 28 ; because
his other half, queen Bertha, daughter to the king of France, was
a Christian ;* to whom he permitted the free use of her religion,
allowing her both Jjuidhard, a bishop, for her chaplain, and an old
church in Canterbury (fonnerly dedicated by the Romans to
St. Martin) to exercise her devotion therein. Besides, at this time,
this Ethelbert was in effect monarch of England ; whilst his person
Ijad residence chiefly in Kent, his power had influence even to
Humber ; all the rest of the Saxon kings being homagers unto him :
which afterward much expedited the passage of the Gospel in
England. Thits each officious accident shall dutifully tender
his service to the advance of that design which God will have
effected. 10. Augustine's Addresses, and Ethelberfs Answer.
Then Augustine acquainted this Ethelbert with his arrival,
informing him by his messengers, that he brought " the best tidings
unto him, which would certainly procure eternal happiness in
heaven, and endless reigning in bliss with the true Godj to such as
should entertain them." Soon after Ethelbert repaired into Thanet ;
to whom Augustine made his address /nera TroAAijj (pxvTaa-lag, " with
a deal of" spiritual, carnal "pomp;" having a silver cross carried
before him for a banner, the image of our Saviour painted in a
table, and singing the litany in the way as they went.f King
Ethelbert desired all things betwixt them might be transacted in the
open air, refusing to come under a roof, for fear of fascination.
And, indeed, a stranger, who had never seen the like before,
beholding Augustine with such abundance of trinkets about him,
being formeriy jealous, might hereby have his suspicion increased,—
• Bede Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. 25. ¦)¦ Beda, ut prius.

A.D. 597. ffiOOK II. CENT. VI. 85
that he went about some strange machination. ' However, Ethelbert
returned him a civil answer : — " That their promises were fair and
good ; but, because new and uncertain, he could not presently
assent unto them, and leave the ancient customs of the English,
which had been fiir so long time observed. But because they were
strangers, coming from far countries, to communicate to him and
his such things as they conceived were good and true, he would not
forbid any converts, whom their preaching could persuade to their
opinion, and also would provide them necessaries for their comfort
able accommodation."
11. Ethelbert and others converted to the Christian Faith.
A. D. 597. '
Hence Augustine, with his followers, advanced to Canterbury,
to the aforesaid old church of St. Martin's. Here they lived so
piously, prayed .so fervently, fasted so frequently, preached so con
stantly, wrought miracles so commonly, that many people of inferior
rank, and at last king Ethelbert himself was baptized, and embraced
the Christian religion. The same Ethelbert also ordered, that
none should be forced into religion ;* having understood, that
Christ's service ought to be voluntary, and not compelled. And
if his courtiers had been as cautious not to embrace religion for
fashion, as the king was careful they should not receive it for fear,
there had not at that time been made so many Christians, for
conveniency, probably, rather than for conscience, who soon after
Teturned again to Paganism. However, as it is rendered a reason,
in the days of Hezekiah, why the Jews, at so short warning, so
unanimously kept the passover, — " God had prepared the people, for
the thing was done suddenly ;" — so, on the same account, it came to
pass, that in so little a time (beside temporary believers) so many
true and sincere converts embraced the Christian faith.
12. Gregorys Answer to Augustine's Letters.
Then Augustine by his letters informed Gregory of the progress
and proficiency of his pains in England. Gregory returned him a
discreet answer, rejoicing with him, and advising of him not to be
puffed up by pride foj: the great miracles wrought by him ; but,
timendo gaudere, et gaudendo perlimescere. He minded him how
when the disciples triumphed at their casting-out of devils, Luke
x. 17, Christ more spiritualized their joy, — ^rather to rejoice " that
their names were written in heaven." And, indeed, as some emi
nent in piety never attained this honour; ("John" Baptist "did
no miracle," John x. 41 ;) so many, finally disavowed of God, as
• Bede Hist. Eccks. lib. i. cap. 26.

86 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 600.
unknown unto him, shall plead for themselves, (and truly, no
doubt,) " In thy name have we cast out devils," Matt. vii. 22.
Yet this admonition of Gregory is, with me, and ought to be with
all unprejudiced persons, an argument beyond exception, that
(though no discreet man wUl believe Augustine's miracles in the
latitude of monkish relations) he is ignorantly and uncharitably
peevish and morose who utterly denies some miracles to have been
really effected by hiin. About the same time, St. Gregory sent from
Rome Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and RufBnianus, to be fellow-
labourers with Augustine in the English harvest.
13. Co7iclusion of this Century. A.D. 600.
Thus was Kent converted to Christianity. For such as account this
a conversion of all England, to make their words good, do make use of a
long and strong synecdoche, " a part for the whole ;" far more than
half of the land lying some years after in the "darkness of Paganism ;
which others afterward enlightened with the beams of the Gospel. But,
as HE is esteemed the architect or master-workman, not who builds up
most of the wall, but who first designeth the fabric, and layeth the
foundation thereof ; in the same respect Augustine carrieth away the
credit of all that came after him, because the primitive planter of
the Gospel amongst the Saxons. And it is observable, that this
conversion was done without any persecution, (yea, considerable
opposition,) costing some pain, no torture ; some sweat, no blood ;
not one martyr being made in the whole managing thereof. Mean
time, the' poor Christian Britons, living peaceably at home, there
enjoyed God, the Gospel, and their mountains ; little skilful in, and
less caring for, the ceremonies alamode, brought over by Augustine ;
and, indeed, their poverty could not go to the cost of Augustine's
silver cross, which made them worship " the God of their fathers"
after their own homely but hearty fashion ; not willing to disturb
Augustine and his followers in their new rites, but that he had a
mind to disquiet them in their old service, as in the sequel of the
History will appear.

SECTION II.
THE SEVENTH CENTURY.
AMICO SUO GR. B.
Socrates interrogatus, quo philtro natura sympa-
thias conciliaret, quidve esset in causa, ut alii homiiium

A.D. 601. BOOK ir. CENT. VII. 87
primo occursu ament medullit&s, alii sibi mutuo sint
infensi, hanc rationem reddidit : " Deus," inquit, " ab
seterno quicquid futurum esset animarum creavit ;
creatas, -per immensum temporis spatium, in uno
cumulo coUocavit ; collocatas, corporibus, prout indies
generantur, infundit. Hinc est, si contingat vel for-
tuitum consortium inter eos homines, quorum animae
in hoc acervo propinquiores, quod primo visu (quasi
veteris vicinitatis memores) se invicem diligant ; dum
isti, primo intuitu, antipathise stiraulis urgefintur, quo
rum animae adversantes diametrice opponebantur."
Fateor commentum hoc Socraticum a theologid
abhorrere ; et in philosophia plurimis asystatis laborare.
Quod si ei subesset tantum veritatis, quantum ingenii,
sanctissime voverem, in hoc animarum cumulo tuam et
meam contiguas olim jacuisse ; cum te primum con-
spectum et animitiis amarem, et a te redamarer.
1. Why the Archbishop's See was removed from London to
Canterbury. A.D. 601.
Much about this time, pope Gregory sent two archbishops' palls
into England; the one for London,* the other for York. The
former of these cities had been honoured with an archbishop's see
some hundred years since king Lucius. But, at the instance of
Augustine, and by a new order of the foresaid Gregory, this pall
sent to London was removed thence to Canterbury, (whereof
Augustine was made archbishop,) and there, for the future, fixed
and confirmed for several reasons. First. London already had
lustre enough, being the biggest city in Britain ; and it was need
less to add new spiritual to her old temporal greatness ; which, con
joined, might cause pride in anyone place, whilst, divided, they might
give honour to two cities. Secondly, London, by reason of the
receipt thereof, was likely to prove the residing place for the English
monarch ; and it was probable that the archi-episcopal dignity would
there be eclipsed and outshined by the regal diadem. Thirdly.
Had Augustine been archbishop of London, he might have seemed
to succeed the British archbishops, and to have derived some right
from them, contrary to his humour, who would lead all, but follow
none ; and therefore would not wear an old title, but have a span-
new archbishop's chair carved out for himself. Lastly. Canterbury
• RoG. Wendover, M.itth. Flohileg. and Rorr. Histor.

98 church history of Britain. a.d.

601.

was the place wherein Chrisrianity was first received by the Saxons,
and therefore deserved to be honoured, to perpetuate the memory
thereof. Thus London hereafter must be contented with the plain
seat of a bishop, the mother being made a daughter, and must come
behind Canterbury, which did much wrong and, perchance, some-
thino' trouble her. But churches have more discretion and humility
than to break their hearts about earthly precedency ; and the matter
is not much, which see went first when living ; seeing our age hath
laid them both alike level in their graves.
2. Augustine summons a Synod of Saxon and British Bishops.
Augustine, thus armed with archi-episcopal authority, to show a
cast of his office, by the aid of Ethelbert king of Kent called a
council, for the Saxon and British bishops to come together, in the
confines of the Wiccians and West Saxons ; an indifferent place,
for mutual ease, in mid-way betwixt both ; haply presaging, that, as
their distant persons met on equal terms, so their opposite opinions
might agree in some moderation. The particular place was called
Augustine's Ake, (that is, his oak, in our modern dialect,) which
Stapleton * (mistaken by the affinity of Wiccii or Veccii, with
Vectis, the Latin name for the Isle of Wight) seeketh near South
ampton ; where, indeed, he may find many oaks in the New Forest,
and yet miss the right one. For this oak stood in the confines
of Worcester -f- and Herefordshire ; though, at this day, time
hath confounded it root and branch ; and therefore this meeting
is, in Latin, called , Synodus % Vigorniensis. Many solemn
entertainments, we know, were anciently made under trees. Gen.
xviii. 4 : and a palm-tree served Deborah for her Westminster-hall,
wherein she judged Israel, Judges iv. 5. But several reasons
are assigned why Augustine kept this council under an oak. First.
So public a place was free from exceptions ; whereunto. none were
debarred access. Secondly. Being congregated under the view of
heaven, and not pent within' the walls of a private house, they were
minded of clear, fair, and open proceedings, without secret ends, or
sinister intents. Thirdly. Perchance some Pagan Saxons, allured
with novelty, would repair to the council, whose jealousy was such
as in no case they would come under a roof, for fear of fascination, §
as hath been formerly observed. Lastly. Augustine, knowing that
the Pagan Britons performed their superstitions under an oak,||
celebrated his synod under the same, in some imitation, and yet a
correction, of their idolatry : as, in a religious parallel. Pagan tem-
* In his Translation of Bede, book ii. chap. 2. t Camden's Britannia iu
Worccatersliire. X Spelman in Conciliis, anno 601, page 107. § This reason is
given by Sir Honrv Spelman, iit prius. \\ See Fii'st Centnry, parag. 3.

A.D. 601. BOOK II. CENT. Vll. 89
pies had formerly by him been converted into churches of saints.
But, when all is done, the matter is not-so clear but that the place
called " Augustine's Oak" may as well be a town as a tree, so
called from some eminent oak in, at, or near it : as the Vine in
Hampshire, so named from vines anciently growing there, is a
beautiful house, and principal seat, where the barons Sandys have
their habitation. And, what is most apposite for our purpose,
Sozomen calleth the place where Theophilus .kept a synod against
St. Chrysostom, "the Oak;" which, notwithstanding, is noto
riously known to have been a populous suburb of the city of
Chalcedon. 3. The British Clergy refuse Submission to the Pope of Rome.
At the first sessions of this synod there was a very thin appear
ance of the Britons ; of ¦vvhom Augustine demanded, that they
should mutually contribute with him their pains to convert the
Heathen in Britain, and that they should submit to the pope, and
embrace an uniformity with the Romish rites, especially in the cele
bration of Easter. What their answer was, it is pity it should be
delivered in any other words than what the abbot of Bangor, being
the mouth for the rest, represented as followeth ; and let it shift, as
¦well as it can, for its own authenticalness : —
Bid ispis a diogel i, chwi ynbod ni holl vn ac arral, yn vuidd
ac ynn ostingedig i eglwys Duw, ac ir Paab o Ruvam, ac i
boob Kyar grisdic n dwyucl, y garu pawb yn i radd mewn
kariad parfaich, ac ihelpio pawb o honaunt ar air a guecthred
i vod ynn blant y Duw, ac amgenach wyddod nc hwn nidadwen
i vod ir neb yr yddeck chwi y henwi yn paab ne in daad o dnad,
yw glemio ac yw ovunn : ar uvyddod hi vn idden in yn varod
yic rodde ac yw dalu iddo ef ac i pob Krisdion yn dragwiddol.
He tiid yr ydym ni dan lywodrath esooh Kaerllion ar Wysc,
yr Men ysidd yn oligwr dan Duw ar nom ni, y wuenthud i ni
gadwr fordd ysbrydoL*
" Be it known and without doubt unto you, that we all are, and
every one of us, obedient and subjects to the church of God, and to
the pope of Rome, and to every godly Christian, to love every one
in his degree in perfect charity, and to help every one of them by
word and deed to be the children of God ; and other obedience
than this I do not know due to him whom you name to be pope,
nor to be the father of fathers, to be claimed and to be demanded.
And this obedience we are ready to give, and to pay to him, and to
every Christian continually. Besides, we are under the govern-
* Copied exS.ctly many years since by Sir Henry Spelman, out of an ancient British
manuscript of Mr. Peter Moston's, a Welsh gentleman. Spelman's Concilia, page 108.

90 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D.

601.

ment of the bishop of Kaerieon upon Uske, who is to oversee under
God over us, to cause us to keep the way spiritual."
See we here the pedigree of the British church, which the shorter
the ancienter, the fewer steps it had the higher it reached. They
were subject in spiritual matters to the bishop of Caer-leon, and
above him unto God, without any subordination unto the pope ; so
that it was more than a presumption, that religion came into
Britain, not by the semi-circle of Rome, but in a direct line from
the Asiatic churches. We must not forget, that though, many
years since, the archi-episcopal see of the Britons was removed from
Caer-leon to St. David's ; yet it still retained the title of Caer-leon,
as of the first and most famous place.
4. The Credit of this Manuscript impugned.
A late papist, much impugneth the credit of this manuscript, (as
made since the days of king Henry the Eighth,) and cavilleth at the
Welsh thereof, as modern, and full of false spelling. He need not
have used so much violence to wrest it out of our hands, who can
part with it without considerable loss to ourselves, or gain to our
adversaries ; for it is but a breviate or abstract of those passages,
which in Bede and other authors appear most true, of the British
refusing subjection to the see of Rome. Whilst, therefore, the
chapter is canonical, it matters not if the contents be Apocrypha,
as the additions of some well-meaning scribe. And though this
Welsh be far later than the days of abbot Dinoth, and the
English (added in the original) later than the Welsh ; yet the
Latin, as ancienter than both, containeth nothing contrary to the
sense of all authors, which write this intercourse betwixt Augustine
and the Welsh nation. 5. The Synod proves ineff'ectual.
But this synod, in fine, proved ineffectual, the British bishops
refusing to submit, and Augustine to communicate with them with
out such submission. Whereupon, at Augustine's motion, a blind
man was publicly presented amongst them ; on whom the British
bishops practised in vain with their prayers, to restore him to his
sight ; which, at the request of Augustine to God, was presently and
perfectly performed.* This miracle convinced the Britons, that
Augustine was in the right for the critical observation of Easter.
But yet, they could not, absque suorum consensu ac licentia,
" without the national consent of their own people, and principal
elders therein," renounce their ancient customs to embrace new
prfictices. Indeed, as for their submitting to Augustine's jurisdic-
* Bede's Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 2.

A.D. 601.. BOOK II. CENT. VJI. 91
,tion, they apprehended it unsafe for the present, and mischievous
for the future ; having another civil government under kings of
their own, and suspecting his spiritual power might, in process
of time, intrench upon their temporal liberty.
6. The Dialogue betwixt the British Bishops and the Anchoret.
Departing hence, the Britons repaired to an aged anchoret,
charactered by Beda to be sanctus et prudens, " holy and wise,"
(and none would wish his counsellor better qualified,) and craved
his advice, how hereafter they should behave themselves in the next
synod, wherein they had promised to give Augustine a meeting ;
which out of our author may thus be dialogue-wise digested : — •
BRITISH BISHOPS, ANCHORET.
British bishops. — Are we bound to desert our traditions at
the preaching of Augustine ?
Anchouet. — If he be a man of God, follow him.
British bishots. — But how shall we be able to make trial
thereof.? Anchoret. — The Lord saith, " Take my yoke upon you, and
learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart," Matt. xi. 29. If
therefore this Augustine be mild and humble in heart, it is credible
that he himself beareth the yoke of Christ, and tendereth the same
to be borne of you ; but if he be cruel and proud, it appeareth that
he is not of God, neither ought ye to heed what he saith.
British bishops. — But how shall we make discovery hereof.''
Anchoret. — Contrive it so, that he and his may come first into
the place of the s.ynod. And if he rise up when you draw near
unto him, hear him then obediently, knowing him for a servant of
Christ ; but if he slighteth you, and vouchsafeth not to rise up
unto you, (seeing you are more in number,) let him be slighted by
you. Armed with these instructions, the British bishops advance to
the second synod ; where Augustine, pontifically sitting in his
.chair, at their entrance, entertained them only with neglect and
contempt ; which by the Britons was accordingly requited.
7- Proud Diotrephes Augustine.
Herein that stately prelate forgot St. Gregory's precept to him,
" not to proceed too rigorously in the alteration of ceremonies,
but to allow a latitude according to time and place." * O for a
little in him of St. Paul's temper, who was " made all things to all
* See his answer to Augustine's third question.

92 CHURCH history OF BRITAIN. A. D. 601  603, OE 605..
men, that by all means he might gain some ! " 1 Cor. ix. 22.
Had Augustine's joints been suppled with the oil of humility, one
bended knee might probably have bowed many hearts unto him ;
whereas now he lost their affections: pride being an unwinning
quality, rendering the proud party scorned by his betters, hated by
his equals, feared (perchance) by his inferiors, but loved by none.
Had not he, who is said to have cured the blind, need to have his
own eyes opened herein ? who, though he be commonly called
" Augustine the less," in distinction from his name-sake, Father
St. Augustine of Hippo ; yet may be allowed " Augustine the
great," if a measure be taken from the dimensions of his pride and
haughtiness. 8. Augustine's Prophecy.
We pass now from this Augustine's pride, to his prophecy ;
who, enraged at the British bishops, for denying subjection unto
him, flatly fell a-menacing them ; that, seeing they would not
submit to his motion, and join with him in preaching to the
Saxons, soon after they should feel the force of their enemies'
sword, and be suddenly confounded by those whom they would not
endeavour to convert : which accordingly came to pass.
9. The Massacre of the Monks at Bangor. A.D. 603,
alias 605.
For not long after, Ethelfrid, the Pagan king of Northumber
land, having conquered Chester, invaded Wales, and bade the
Britons battle. Amongst them was a regiment of the monks of
Bangor, all naked and unarmed, save with tears and prayers,
(whole volleys whereof they discharged to heaven for the good
success of their countrymen,) being all by themselves upon an
advantage of ground ; and one Brockmaile, a Briton, as captain of
their life-guard, had a corapany of soldiers to defend them. Ethel
frid, being informed that these monks prayed against him, con
cluded them to be his effectual enemies, though otherwise offering
him no hostility; and, fiercely falling on them, put twelve hundred
of them to the sword, fifty only escaping ; Brockmaile most basely
deserting them whom he was set to defend.
10. Augustine suspected to he their Murderer.
But here some birds sing a different note from the rest, which
must be listened unto ; namely, such authors, considerable for
their number, antiquity, gravity, and learning, who accuse this
Augustine for the designer of the death and destruction of these
innocent British monks ; so that he cunningly foretold what he

A.D. 603 OR 605. BOOK 11. CENT. Vli. 93
himself cruelly intended to fulfil. Thus, well might Jezebel, who
" calleth herself a prophetess," Rev. ii. 20, certainly foreshow the
death of Naboth, for denying his vineyard to Ahab, when she had
purposely beforehand packed and plotted the same : a heavy accu
sation, if true, that " Augustine," (to use my friend's expression,)*
" Gregorii Vicarius, should be gregis sicarius ; et ecclesicB
futures AnglicancB conversor should be prcBsentis BritanniccB
eversor ; so that, instead of a prophet's reward, he deserved the
punishment of a murderer." But, to clear this point, conceive we
a grand jury of four-and-twenty judicious readers einpanneled,
before whom the memory of Augustine is indicted of murder, and
witnesses produced on both sides. Let none censure me, if in
these proceedings my pen fails in legal formalities ; such exactness
not being by me intended, but only some general conformity with
a law-trial, to fix the history in our fancies with more pleasure and
delight. 11. Witnesses produced against him.
The bill, first, was solemnly read, running to this effect, — " That
Augustine the monk, (commonly called the English apostle,) not
having the fear of God before his eyes, out of forethought malice,
feloniously did plot, project, and contrive, the murder of twelve
hundred monks of Bangor, by soliciting Ethelbert the Christian king
of Kent, to move Ethelfrid the Pagan king of Northumberland,
with force of arms to kill and slay the monks aforesaid," &c. An
accusation so heinous, that at first it filled the whole jury with
silence, horror, and amazement ; till afterwards they recollected
themselves to attend unto the following witnesses : —
1. Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose Welsh blood was up, as
concerned in the cause of his countrymen. " Ethelbert, king of
Kent," said he, "when he saw the Britons disdaining to yield sub
jection to Augustine, and that they scorned to be subject to him
self, stirred up the Northumberlanders, and other Saxon princes ;
that, gathering a great army against the city of Bangor, they should
go forth to destroy the abbot Dinoth, and the other clergy, who
had formerly slighted them."-[-
2. Thomas Gray, an old chronicler,^: (as it is written in
French,) brought in this evidence, — " That Augustine, being
refused of the Christian Britons, inflamed Ethelbertus king of
Kent, to levy his power, and to war against them, himself
being also in company," (as in the old abstract of chronicles is
recorded,) " and marching with him towards the slaughter ;"
• Mr. Abraham Wheelock, in his notes on Bede, page 115. f Manuscript, in
pub. lib. Cantab, page 16". t Cited ia Jewel's " Apology," part i. page 11.

94 church history of Britain. a.d. 603.
where they had no more regard of mercy, than a wolf hath upon
a sheep. 3. Nicholas Trivet, a Dominican, who wrote some three hun
dred years since, deposed,—" That Ethelbert king of Kent, being
highly offended, incited Ethelfrid king of Northumberland, and
other petty Saxon kings, because they had contemned Augustine
in the council,"* &c.
4. Elsebiensis Monachus, commenting on those words of
Merlin, Delebitur iterum religio, " Religion shall again , be de
stroyed," thus expoundeth them : — " This was afterwards fulfilled,
either by Gormund, or by Augustine, who caused twelve hundred
monks to be slain at Bangor in Wales, because they obeyed him
not in a council." -f"
These testimonies much moved the Jury ; who, notwithstanding,
reserved their other ear, as it became honest men, to hearken to the
depositions in Augustine's behalf.
12. Testimonies in his Behalf.
Amongst these, that of Bede was most material : — Sicque com-
pletum est prtBsagium sancti pontificis Augustini, (quamvis
ipso jam multo ante tempore ad ccelestia regna sublato,) ut
etiam temporalis interitus ultionem sentirent perfidi, quod
oblata sibi perpetucB salutis consilia spreverant-X Which words
(for, it is seasonably remembered, all pleas must now be in
English) may thus be translated : — " And so the prophecy of holy
bishop Augustine was fulfilled, (although himself, long before that,
was taken out of this life to the kingdom of heaven,) that also the
treacherous people might feel the revenge of temporal ruin, because
they had despised the counsels of eternal salvation offered unto
them." 1 3. The Paragraph in Bede's Testimotiy questioned.
Much difference arose hereabouts ; the rather, because some
urged that parenthesis ("although himself long before," &c.) to
have been studiously interpolated in Bede, on purpose for the
purga.tion of Augustine, by some in after-ages that favoured him ;
alleging that it is not in the ancient Saxon copies, being put in
as "a piece of new cloth into an old garment," with intent to
" fill it up," but in event " making it worse ;" because this passage
checketh the pen of Bede in the full speed thereof, (no less against
the rules of history, than of horsemanship,) as he was writing the
Life of Augustine, the story whereof, notwithstanding, still runs on,
• Sir Henry Spelman's " Cotmoils," page 111. t Manuscr. in Bennet Coll.
liibrar. Camh. X Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 2. Editione Whelochiand.

A.D. 60.3. book II. cent. vii. 95
and continues until the end of the next chapter. Here some of the
jury betook themselves to the point of chronology, as most proper
to decide the matter now depending ; but such was the variety of
authors, that no certainty could thence be extracted. For, though
the massacre of the monks of Bangor is generally noted to be
anno 603,* which falls out before the death of Augustine ; yet
the Annals of Ulster (whose authority is not to be contemned)
observe the same in the year 613 ; which, undoubtedly, was after
Augustine's decease.-f-
14. Mr. Fox's Moderation much moveth the Jury.
Then a second sort of witnesses presented themselves, as Mr.
Parker,]: bishop Jewel, § and others, somewhat sharp against
Augustine in their expressions ; which wrought the less with the
jury ; partly, because of such authors' known opposition, to the
Romish church ; and, partly, because of their modern writing, —
almost a thousand years after the matter-in-fact. Only the moderate
testimony of reverend Mr. Fox much moved the whole court, as one
thoroughly well-affected in religion, and averse from all popery
and cruelty, thus expressing himself : " This seemeth rather sus
picious than true, that Ethelbert, being a Christian "king, either
could so much prevail with a Pagan idolater, or else would
attempt so far to commit such a cruel deed : but, of uncertain
things I have nothing certainly to say, less to judge."|| This, I say,
prevailed so far with the jury, that, consulting with themselves, they
found an ignoramus : with whose commendable charity I concur ;
preferring rather to clear a twilight innocence into noon-day, than
to darken it into midnight.
15. The Blood of Bangor Monks revenged.
To return to the monks of Bangor : Their innocent blood went
not long unrevenged ; for we find recorded, how three British
princes, namely, Blederick duke of Cornwall, Margaduc duke of
South Wales, and Cadwan duke of North Wales, bade battle to
the Northumberlanders as they were invading Wales, and not
only dangerously wounded the aforesaid Ethelfrid their king, but
also discomfited his army, and slew ten thousand and sixty of his
soldiers, forcing him at last to articles of composition ; — that he
should confine himself within his own country, north of Trent, and
leave all Wales to be entirely and peaceably enjoyed by the Britons,
the true owners thereof.^
• Matt. "West. Chichestr. MS. Bibl. pub. Cantabrig. t Usher Brit. Eccles.
Antiq. page 1157. X Antiq. Britan. page 48. § "Apology," part i. page 11.
II " Acts and Monuments," part i. page 154, col. 2. H Nicolas Trivet, largely
cited by Sir Henry Spelman in his " Councils," page 112.

86 church history of Britain. a.d. 603.
16. Farewell taken for some Years of the British Church.
However, here, to our great grief, we are fain to take our farewell,
for some hundreds of years, of the British church, wanting instruc
tions concerning the remarkable particulars thereof. Yet Dr.
Harpsfield deserves a check, both for his false ground-work,* and
presumptuous inference built thereupon. For, first, he slighteth
the British nation, as such a one as, since this their dissenting from
Augustine and the Romish church in ceremonies, never achieved any
actions of renown, or mounted to any eminency in the world.
Then, he imputeth their being so long depressed, and at last sub
dued, by the English, as a just punishment of God on their not
complying with Rome : so pragmatical a prier he is into Divine
secrets. But he who thus casteth forth a national abuse can never
see where such a stone lighteth ; for, beside the nation for the time
being, their posterity engaged therein have just cause either to find
or make reparation to themselves. I could and would myself assert
the British from his scandalous pen, were it not against the rules of
manners and discretion to take this office out of the hands of some
of their own nation, for whom it is more proper, as they are more
able to perform it.
17. Commendation of the British Language.
Only give me leave to insert a line or two, (some pleasant dis
course will not do amiss, after so much sad matter,) in commenda
tion of the British tongue, and vindication thereof against such as
causelessly traduce it. First. Their language is native. It was
one of those which departed from Babel ; and herein it relates to
God, as the more immediate author thereof : whereas most tongues
in Europe owe their beginning to human depraving of some original
language. Thus the Italian, Spanish, and French, daughters or
nieces to the Latin, are generated from the corruption thereof
Secondly. Unmixed. For, though it hath some few foreign words,
and useth them sometimes, yet she rather accepteth them out of
state, than borroweth tbem out of need, as having, beside these,
other words of her own to express the same things. Yea, the
Romans were so far froin making the Britons to do, that they could
not make them to speak, as they would have them : their very lan
guage never had a perfect conquest in this island. Thirdly.
Unaltered. Other tongues are daily disguised with foreign words,
so that in a century of years, they grow strangers to themselves ; as
now an Englishman needs an interpreter to understand Chaucer's
English. But the British continues so constant to itself, that the
prophecies of old Teliessin (who lived above a thousand years since)
* Eccles. Hist, "seculo 7, cap. 39, page 114. ,

A.D. 603. BOOK II. CENT. VII. 97
are at this day intelligible in that tongue. Lastiy. Durable ; which
had its beginning at the confusion of tongues, and is likely not to
have its ending till the dissolution of the worid.
18. Causelessly traduced by Ignorance.
Some indeed inveigh against it, as being hard to be pronounced,
having a conflux of many consonants, and some of them double-
sounded ; yea, whereas the mouth is the place wherein the office of
speech is generally kept, the British words must be uttered through
the throat. But this rather argues the antiquity thereof, herein
running parallel with the Hebrew, (the common tongue of the old
world, before it was enclosed into several languages,) and hath much
affinity therewith, in jointing of words with affixes, and many other
correspondencies. Some also cavil, that it grates and tortures the
ears of hearers with the harshness thereof; whereas, indeed, it is
unpleasant only to such aS are ignorant of it. And thus every
tongue seems stammering, which is not understood; yea, Greek
itself is barbarism to barbarians. Besides, what is nick-named
" harshness " therein maketh it indeed more full, stately, and mas
culine. But such is the epicurism of modem times, to addulce all
words to the ear, that (as in the French) they melt out, in pro
nouncing, many essential letters, taking out all the bones, to make
them bend the better in speaking ; and such h3rpocrites in their
words speak them not truly in their native strength, as the plain-
dealing British do, which pronounce every letter therein more manly,
if less melodious. Lastly. Some condemn it unjustly as a worthless
tongue, because leading to no matter of moment ; and, who will
care to carry about that key which can unlock no treasure .-' But
this is false ; that tongue affording monuments of antiquity, some
being left, though many be lost ; and more had been extant, but for
want of diligence in seeking, and carefulness in preserving them.
19- Augustine baptizeth ten thousand in one Day.
But, craving pardon of the reader for this digression, we re-assume
our Augustine, who all this while was very industrious, and no less
successful, in converting the Saxons to the Christian faith. Insomuch
that a certain author* reporteth, how, in the river Swale, near
Richmond in Yorkshire,-]- Augustine on one day baptized above ten
• Cited by Mr. Camden, Preface of Brit, page 136. t In his Examen Historicum,
Dr. Peter Heylin says, that the Swale, in which Augustine baptized such a great multi
tude, was not the river which fertilizes the valley of Richmond in Yorkshire ; " The
Medway, felling into the Thames.is divided by the Isle of Sheppey into two great branches,
of which the one is called JEast-Swale, the other West-Swale." Fuller very ingenuously
adds : " I profess myself the Animadverter's convert in this point, agreeing with him, that
this grand baptizing, if done by St. Aitstin, was done in the place by him specified." — Edit.
Vol. I. H

98 church history or Britain. a..d. 60J.
thousand; adding withal, that the people not only passed without
danger through so deep a river, but also they who were sick and
deformed when they went in, were whole and handsome when they
came forth again.* The judicious reader may, in this miracle, dis
cover how the author thereof (no doubt some ignorant monk) hath
therein jumbled and confounded three distinct Scripture bistories, to
make a mock-parallel betwixt the rivers Jordan and Swale : — 1.
borrowing the people's safe passing through it, from Joshua's.con-
ducting the Israelites through Jordan, Joshua iv. 1. 2. Borrowing
their being baptized in it, from John's baptizing the Jews in Jordan,
Matt. iii. 6. 3. Borrowing the curing of their infirmities by it,
from Elisha's healing Naaman's leprosy in Jordan, 2 Kings v. 14.
But here it must be remembered, that Bede maketh no mention at
all hereof; and ascribeth this numerous baptizing to Paulinus, arch
bishop of York, many years after. It would argue too much
morosity in us, to demur in our faith to the whole fact, till authors
are all agreed about the doer thereof. For mine own part, I con
ceive Paulinus the more probable person, as questioning whether
Augustine (most conversant amongst the South and West Saxons)
ever moved so far Northward.
20. The Simplicity of ancient Baptism.
And, if so many were baptized in one day, it appears plainly,
that, in that age, the administration of that sacrament was not loaded
with those superstitious ceremonies, as essential thereunto, of cross
ing, spittle, oil, cream, salt, and such-like trinkets ; which Protest
ants generally as little know what they are, as Papists why they use
them. I say, in that age nothing was used with baptism but bap
tism ; the word and the water made the sacrament. Yea, the arch
bishop is said to have " commanded by the voice of criers, that the
people should enter the river confidently, two by two, and, in the
name of the Trinity, baptize one another by turns."-|- This, indeed,
was the most compendious way ; otherwise Joshua's day, wherein
the sun stood still, had been too short for one man's personal per
formance of such an employment.
21. The Idol Heale destroyed by Augustine at Cern.
Another considerable accession was made to Christianity in the
South- West part of this isle, and particulariy in Dorsetshire ; where
Augustine, at Cern, destroyed the idol of Heale, or ^sculapius,
which the Saxons formerly adored. | But in his journey hither,
(reader, they are not mine, but my author's, words) " with his holy
* Flares Sanctorum, torn. i. wrote by Jerome Porter, page 515. f CamDEN,
ut. prius. J Camden's Brit, in Dorsetshire.

A.D. 603. BOOK II. CENT. VII. 99
company, they were cruelly oppressed with the three familiar dis
commodities of travellers, — ^hunger, thirst, and weariness ; when
Augustine, striking his staff into the ground, fetched forth a crystal
fountain, which quenched the extremity of their thirst : whence the
place was afterward called Cernel, from Cerno, in Latin, ' to see,'
and El, in Hebrew, ' God.' " * A composition of a name hardly to
be precedented, that a word should commence, per saltum, from
Latin into Hebrew, without taking Greek by the way thereof.
Why not rather, Cernwell, " Behold the fountain ;" or Cernheal,
"See the destruction of the idol.''" But, in truth, in all books,
ancient and modern,-f- the place is plainly written Cern, without any
paragogical apposition thereunto.
22. A ridiculous Miracle.
Indeed, most of the miracles assigned unto this Augustine,
intended with their strangeness to raise and heighten, with their
levity and absurdity do depress and offend, true devotion. Wit
ness, how, when the villagers in Dorsetshire beat Augustine and his
fellows, and in mockery fastened fish-tails at their backs, in punish
ment hereof " all that generation had that given them by nature,
which so contemptibly they fastened on the backs of these holy
men."J Fie for shame ! he needs an hard plate on his face that
reports it, and a soft place in his head that believes it.
23. The great Improvement of the Gospel.
However, for the main, we undoubtedly believe that the preach
ing of Augustine and his fellows took good effect, finding the visible
progress and the improvement thereof, in the conversion of so many
from Paganism to Christianity. For, Sebert king of Essex
(nephew to Ethelbert king of Kent, by Ricula his sister) embraced
the faith, with all his kingdom, by the ministry of Mellitus, whom
Augustine ordained bishop of London ; much about the same
time making one Justus a Roman, (who was vir sui nominis, " a
man answering his name,") bishop of Rochester. Many other
remarkable matters happened in the life of Augustine, especially
those questions and answers which passed betwixt him and Gregory
the Great ; by us purposely omitted, partly, because they are too
voluminous to insert ; and, partly, because they are at large in
many authors, to whom we remit the reader.§
24. Augustine's Death and Epitaph. A.D. 610.|)
And now was the time come of Augustine's dissolutioii, whose
body was buried in the northern porch of the new church in
' Flores Sanctorum, in the Life of Augustine, pp. 515, 516. f So both in Camden
and Harpsfield. t Flores Sanctorum, ut prius. 5 Bede, " Book of Martyrs," and
others. || Alids 611, aliis 612.
H 2

100 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.t). 610.
Canterbury, dedicated to Peter and Paul, having, as Bede informs
us, this inscription written upon his monument : " Here resteth
lord Augustine, the first archbishop of Canterbury ; who, being in
times past sent hither from blessed Gregory, bishop of the Roman
city, and supported by God with the working of miracles, brought
king Ethelbert and his country from the worshipping of idols to
the faith of Christ : and, the days of his office being finished in
peace, he died the seventh of the calends of June, the same king
reigning."* 25. The Date of the Year, how wanting therein.
But in this epitaph one thing is wanting, and that mainly mate
rial ; namely, the year when he died. Strangely is that watch con
trived, and is generally useless, which shows the minute of the
hour, not the hour of the day. As this epitaph points at the day,
of smaller consequence ; leaving out the year, of greater concern
ment ; — this hath put men's fancies on various conjectures. Some
make it a mere omission of Bede ; which, notwithstanding, is very
strange, because otherwise he is most critical, and punctual in the
notation of time. Others conceive it a fault of commission in
some of after-ages, who purposely expunged the year, (beshrew their
fingers that thrust out the eyes, — the date, of this epitaph !) lest
the same should make too clear discoveries of Augustine's surviving
after the massacre of the monks of Bangor ; which would increase
the suspicion of his having a finger therein. Others place the
neglect in the monument-maker, and not in Bede ; seeing he was
but the bare relater of the epitaph, and, therefore, loath to add or
alter any thing thereof. Perchance, the tomb-maker registered the
day, as a nicety most likely to be forgotten ; omitting the year, as
a thing generally, universally, and notoriously known, all men
keeping a record thereof, which, in process of time, became wholly
forgotten. Thus those things are not long effectually kept by any,
which are equally to be kept by all, and not charged on any one
man's particular account. Sure I am, the setting-up of this land
mark, the noting of the year of his death, had given excellent direc
tion to such as travel in the Saxon chronology, who now wander at
random for the want of it.
26. Farewell to St. Augustine.
And now we take our farewell of Augustine, of whom we give this
character : — He found here a plain religion, (simplicity is the badge
of antiquity,) practised by the Britons, living some of them in the
contempt, and many more in the ignorance, of worldly vanities, in a
* Eccles. Hist, lib ii. cap. 3.

A.D. 610. BOOK II. CENT. VII. 101
barren country : and, surely, piety is most healthful in those places
where it can least surfeit of earthly pleasures. He brought in a
religion spun with a coarser thread, though guarded with a finer
trimming, made luscious to the senses with pleasing ceremonies ; so
that many, who could not judge of the goodness, were courted with
the gaudiness thereof. Indeed, the Papists brag, that he was " the
apostle of the English;" — but not one in the style of St. Paul,
" Neither from ^men, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ," Gal. i. 1 ; —
being only a derivative apostle, sent bythe second-hand; in which sense
also he was not our sole apostle ; though he first put in his sickle,
others reaped down more of the English harvest, propagating the
Gospel farther, as shall appear hereafter. But, because the begin
nings of things are of greatest consequence, we commend his pains,
condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning, admire his
miracles, admit the foundation of his doctrine Jesus Christ; but
refuse " the hay and stubble" he built thereupon. We are
indebted to God's goodness in moving Gregory, Gregory's careful
ness in sending Augustine, Augustine's forwardness in preaching
here : but, above all, let us bless God's exceeding great favour, that
that doctrine which Augustine planted here but impure, and his
successors made worse with watering, is since, by the happy
Reformation, cleared and refined to the purity of the Scriptures,
27. Laurentius succeedeth Augustine.
After the death of Augustine, Laurentius, a Roman, succeeded
him ; whom Augustine in his life-time not only designed for, but
" ordained in, that place ;"* out of his abundant caution, that the
infant church might not be orphan an hour, lest satan should
assault the breach of such a vacancy, to the disadvantage of religion.
Such a super-ordination in such cases was canonical ; it being a
tradition, that St. Peter in like manner consecrated Clement his
successor in the church of Rome.-f- And sure it is, the prophet
Elijah, no doubt to his great comfort whilst living, anointed Elisha
to minister in his room, in his prophetical function, 1 Kings xix. 16.
In one respect Laurentius exceeded Augustine, — that he reduced
the recusant Britons and Scots (probably demeaning himself more
humbly than his predecessor) to some tolerable conformity to the
Romish ceremonies, especially in the celebration of Easter. Now,
seeing frequent mention hath formerly been made of the difference
between the Romish and British churches, in observation of that
festival ; we will endeavour, as truly as briefly, to state the contro
versy betwixt them, with arguments each side produceth in their
own behalf. • Bede Eccles, Hist. lib. ii. c. 4. 1 Idem, ibidem.

102 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 610.
28. The Controversy about Easter betwixt Rome and the
Britons stated.
But, because the point in hand is so nice, (rather than necessary,)
that a little variation therein may be material, I will carefiilly
follow the truest copy I can get, in stating the question ; taking it
from a learned pen exactly skilled therein.* " The Romans' kept
Easter upon that Sunday which fell betwixt the fifteenth and
twenty-first day of the moon,-|- (both terms included,) next after the
twenty-first day of March, which they accounted to be the seat of
the vernal equinoctial : and, in reckoning the age of the moon, they
followed' the Alexandrian cycle of nineteen years, as it was explained
unto them by Dionysius Exiguus. The Britons kept Easter
upon the Sunday that fell betwixt the fourteenth and the twentieth
day of the moon ; following, in their account thereof, not the nine
teen years' computation of Anatolius, but Sulpitius Severus's circle
of eighty-four years." It is enough to prove the practice of Rome
was the right, — that it was the practice of Rome ; yea, did it not
deserve the stab of excommunication for any dissenting from her
practice, tantamountingly, to give her the lie ? However, it seems
the reputation of Rome's infallibility was yet in the nonage thereof,
that the British durst so boldly differ from them without danger of
damnation. 29. The Britons' Plea.
Yea, they pretended ancient tradition on their side, from the
primitive times, derived from St. John himself; as by the ensuing
verses, which we thought fit to translate, may appear : —
Nos seriem patrlam,X nonfrivola scripta tenemus,
Discipulo eusebii % Polycarpo dante Johannis.
Ille etenim bis septente sub tempore Phwice
Sanctum prajixit nobis fore Pascha colendum,
Atque nefas dixit, si quis contraria sentit.
" No writings fond we follow, but do hold
Our counti-y-course, which Polycarp of old.
Scholar to blessed John, to us hath given.
For he, when th' moon had finish'd days twice seven.
Bade us to keep the holy Paschal time,
And count dissentuig for an hemous crime."
Time was, when once the activity of Peter and John with holy
zeal was excellentiy employed, contending in a race which should
first come to. the grave of our Saviour, John xx. 4 : but see here
• James Usher in " the ReUgion of the ancient Irish," cap. 9. page 63. t Hence
IS It, that Beza tartly termeth the controversy, Lunatica quastio. X Fridgodcs
m« the Life of Wilfrid." i Id est, sancti vel beati.

A.D. 6.13. BOOK II. CENT. VII. 103
the Romans and the Britons; the pretended followers of these two
apostles, not running, but wrestling in a violent contention, who
should most truly observe the resurrection of Christ out of his
grave. 30. The Controversy reconciled by Laurentius. A.D. 613.
Strange that so good and wise men should thus fall out about
the mint and cummin of religion, — a ceremony not at all decided in
Scripture ! It is to be feared, that the when marred the how of
Easter ; and the controversy about the time spoiled a more material
circumstance, of the manner of keeping this feast ; these opposite
parties scarce being mutually in charity at the receiving of the
sacrament, at that solemn festival, kept among the Jews with
" unleavened bread," celebrated among Christians with too much
leaven (sour and swelling) of anger and passion. The best is, for
the present Laurentius composed the quarrel, and brought both
Britons and Scots* (that is, the inhabitants of Ireland) to comply
with the Romans therein. But as every small wrench, or stepping
awry, is enough to put an ill-set bone out of joint ; so each petty
animosity was great enough to discompose this agreement. But,
enough of this controversy for the present : we shall meet it too
soon again ; which, like a restless ghost, will haunt our English
History for more than a hundred-and-fifty years together.
31. The Antiquity of this Difference.
Only I will add, that, although about Augustine's time, this
controversy was then most heightened and inflamed ; yet an old
grudge it was, long before, betwixt the Romans and Britons. For,
if old Taliessin's (styled " chief of bards " by the Britons) lived (as
Pitseus,-)- a papistj writer, will have it) in the year five hundred-
and-forty ; and if the following verses be Taliessin's, as it is
undoubtedly believed ; § then this difference was on foot fifty
years before Augustine came into England.
Gwae'r offeiriad byd
Nys en^reifftia gwyd
Ac ny phregetha :
Gutae ny cheidwey gail
Ac efyn vigail
Ac nys areilia :
Gwae ny cheidwey dheuaid
Rhac bleidhie Rhufemaid
Aiffon gnwppa.
* Bede's Hist. lib. ii. cap. 4. t De Britan. Scriptoribus aitate sextd, page 95.
X In his "Appeal" Fuller says, '^Catholic shall be deleted in the next edition, and
Papist placed in tlie room thereof."-EDiT. § Chron. of Wales, page 254.

104 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 613.
" Woe be to that priest yboro
That will not cleanly weed his com,
And preach his charge among :
Woe be to that shepherd, I say.
That will not watch hia fold alway.
As to his office doth belong.
Woe be to him that doth not keep
From Romish wolves his sheep,
With staff and weapon strong."
These words, " from Romish wolves," relate to the vigilancy of the
British pastors to keep their people from Rome's infection in these
points. Thus, whilst the Britons accounted the Romans "wolves,"
and the Romans held the Britons to be " goats," what became of
Christ's little flock of sheep the while ? The best is, the good
God, we hope, will be merciful in his sentence on men, though
passionate men be merciless in their censures one on another.
32. The Death of Ethelbert, Feb. 2ith, and Decay of
Christianity.
To return to Laurentius : The great joy for the agreement made
by him was quickly abated with grief, at the death of king Ethel
bert ; who, having reigned fifty-six, and been a Christian one-and-
twenty years, was buried nigh to his good wife, queen Bertha, who
died a little before him, in the porch of St. Martin's church in
Canterbury ; which fabric, with some other churches, by him were
beautifully built, and bountifully endowed. In Ethelbert's grave
was buried much of the Kentish Christianity ; for Eadbald, his
son, both refiised his father's religion, and, wallowing in sensuality,
was guilty of that sin " not so much as named amongst the Gen
tiles," in keeping his father's second wife. Such as formerly had
taken up Christianity as the court-fashion, now left it ; and whom
Ethelbert's smiles had made converts, Eadbald's fro-wns quickly
made apostates. Yea, at the same time, (so infectious are the
bare examples of great men,) the three sons of the king of the
East Saxons fell back to Paganism. These refused to be baptized,
and yet, in derision, demanded of the bishop Mellitus to receive
the eucharist, which he flatly denied them ; baptism being an
introductory sacrament, and it being unlawful to break into the
church without going through this porch. Yet they gave Mellitus-
fair warning, and free leave to depart ; who, coming into Kent,
held there a council with Laurentius and Justus, what was best to
be done. At last they concluded that it was in vain prodigally to
lose their pains here, which they might expend with more profit in
their own country ; and, seeing martyrdom as it is not cowardly
to be declined, so it is not ambitiously to be affected, they resolved

A.D. 613. BOOK II, CENT. VII. 105
to go the way which Divine Providence directed them, and to
return into France : which Mellitus and Justus did accordingly.
33. Mellitus and Justus's Departure defended.
Was this well done of them, to leave their charge ? Did not
God place them sentinels in his church ? And could they come off
from their duty, before they were relieved by order ? But, surely,
their ill-usage was an interpretative discharge unto them. In
warrant whereof, we have not only Christ's precept. Matt. x. 14, to
leave the " unworthy house " with a witness ; (namely, with " the
dust of our feet " shaken off, as a testimony against it ;) but also
his practice, — agoing from the Gadarenes, Matt. viii. 84 ; ix. 1,
¦when they desired he should " depart their coasts." Indeed, " the
word of life " is a quick commodity, and ought not, as a drug, to
be obtruded on those chapmen who are unwilling to buy it ; yea,
in whose nostrils the very " savour of life unto life " doth stink,
because proffered unto them.
34. Laurentius, intending to depart, rebuked.
Laurentius entertained the like resolution of departure ; when,
lying on his bed, St. Peter is said to have taken him to task in a
vision.* Yea, St. Peter was not only seen, but felt, sharply and
soundly whipping him for his unworthy intention to forsake his
flock ; who, rather, should have followed St. Peter's example, (as
he imitated Christ's,) whom no losses or crosses could so deter as to
desert his charge. Some will say, Peter herein appeared a partial
parent, so severely disciplining this his son, whilst two other of his
children, being more guilty, Mellitus and Justus, (who had actually
done what Laurentius only designed,) escaped without any correc
tion. But we must know, though these seemed more faulty, by
what appears in open view, yet the passages behind the curtain
(considerables concealed from us) might much alter the case.
And, indeed, pastors leaving their people is so ticklish a point, and
subject to such secret circumstances, that God and their own con
sciences are only the competent judges of the lawfulness or unlaw
fulness thereof. 35. Eadbald becomes a Christian.
Thus, all black and blue, Laurentius repaireth to Eadbald king
of Kent, and presenteth himself unto him in that sad condition.
The king, much amazed thereat, demands who durst offer such
violence to so good a man ? Whereby it plainly appears, that,
though Eadbald himself refused Christianity, yet he afforded
civility and protection to Laurentius, and to all in Kent of his
• Bede, lib, ii. cop, 6.

106 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 613^624.
religion. He largely relates what had happened unto him ; and, in
fine, so prevailed on Eadbald, that he not only put away his wife-
mother-whore, but also embraced Christianity, and, at his desire,
Justus and Mellitus returiied again into England.
36. Justus received at Rochester, and Mellitus rejected at
London.
Rochester readily received Justus their bishop ; being a little
place, of few persons, and they therefore the easier all to be brought
to be of one mind. But large London, (though then, for greatness,
but the suburbs to the present city,) I say, London then was even
London then, — as wanton in the infancy as now wayward in the old
age thereof ; where generally the people, long radicated in wicked
ness, refused to entertain their good pastor returning unto them.
But here my good friend,* in his notes on this passage, makes an
ingenious reservation, that, though the major part must be confessed
peevish in all populous places, London in all ages afforded eminent
favourers of learned and religious men. And would I could (being
the meanest of ministers) as truly entitle myself to the foresaid
qnalifications, as I heartily concur with him in my grateful confes
sion,- — that I have effectually found plenty of good patrons in that
honourable corporation. Mellitus, thus rejected, was glad to lead a
private life in London, till that, after the death of Laurentius,
(a.d. 619, Feb. 3rd,) he succeeded him in the church of
Canterbury. 37. Mellitus's Character.
A grave and good man, but much afflicted with the gout, and
highly meriting of his see of Canterbury ; especially if true, ¦what
Bede reports,f that, when a grievous fire happened in that city,
Mellitus accosted the very fury thereof with faithful prayer >nd his
own bare hands ; (strange ! that no modern monk hath since, in his
relation, put a crucifix, or holy-water-sprinkle into them ;) and so
presently quenched the raging of the flames. Say not, " Why
could he not as easily have cured his own gout, as quenched this
fire .?" seeing miracles are done, not for men's ordinary ease, but
God's solemn honour. Yea, the apostles themselves were not at
pleasure masters of their miraculous power, for their personal use ;
seeing St. Paul could neither cure the " often infirmities" of his
dear son Timothy, 1 Tim. v. 23 ; nor remove the acute, desperate
disease, wherewith he himself in Asia was afflicted, 2 Cor. i. 8.
Five years sat Mellitus in Canterbury ; after whose death, (a. d. 624,
April 24th,) Justus bishop of Rochester succeeded him, and had
his pall solemnly sent him by pope Boniface.
• Mr. Wheelock on the place in Bede. f Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 7.

A.D, 624, BOOK II. CENT. VII. 107
38. What a Pall is.
By the way, the pall is a pontifical vestment, considerable for the
matter, making, and mysteries thereof. For the matter : It is
made of lambs' wool and superstition, . I say, of lambs' wool, " as
it comes from the sheep's back, without any other artificial colour ;"*
spun, say some, by a peculiar Order of nuns, first cast into the
tomb of St. Peter ; " taken from his body," say others •,\ surely,
most sacred if from both ; and superstitiously adorned with little
black crosses. For the form thereof: " The breadth exceeded not
three fingers,' (one of our bachelor's lamb-skin hoods in Cambridge
would make three of them,) having two labels hanging down before
and behind," J which the archbishops only, when going to the altar,
put about their necks, above their other pontifical ornaments. Three
mysteries were couched therein: First. Humility, which beau
tifies the clergy above all their costly copes. Secondly. Innocency,
to imitate lamb-like simplicity. And, thirdly. Industry, to follow
Him who fetched his wandering sheep home on his shoulders,§
Luke XV. But, to speak plainly, the mystery of mysteries in this
pall was, that the archbishops, receiving it, showed therein their
dependence on Rome ; and a mote, in this manner ceremoniously
taken, was a sufficient acknowledgment of their subjection. And, as
it owned Rome's power, so in after-ages it increased their profit.
For, though now such palls were freely given to archbishops, whose
places in Britain for the present were rather cumbersome than com
modious, having little more than their pains for their labour ; yet
in after-ages the archbishop of Canterbury's pall was sold|| for five
thousand florins : ^ so that the pope might well have the golden
fleece, if he could sell all his lambs'-wool at that rate. Only let me
add, that the author of Canterbury-Book** styles this pall, tanquam
grande Christi sacramentum.-ff It is well tanquam came in to
help it, or else we should have had eight sacraments. But, leaving
these husks to such palates as are pleased to feed on them, we come
to the kernel of religion, — how the same was propagated in other
parts of England, And, first, of the preparative for the purge of
Paganism out of the kingdom of Northumberland.
39. Edwin's preparatory Promise to Christianity. A.D. 625.
Edwin, the king thereof, was monarch of all England, with the
Isles of Man and Anglesey, more puissant than any of his predeces
sors. " And this," saith Bede,JJ " was in auspicium suscipiendcB
• Flores Sanctorum, Mail 26, page 506. t Latin Camden, in Kent, page 238.
X Flores Sanctorum, ut prius.. % Camden, ut prius. || Godwin's Cat.
Episc, page 225. IT A Florin is worth four shillings and sixpence, ** A manu
script in Trinity-Hall library, in Cambridge. ft Mr. Wheelock on Bede, page 99.
tJ Eccles. Hist, lib, ii. cap. 9.

108 church HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 626.
fldei, ' in good handsel of the faith' he was hereafter to receive."
God first made him great, and after gracious ; that so, by his power,
he might be the more effectual instrument of his glory. Now he
had married Edilburge, daughter of Ethelbert king of Kent ; to
whom he not only permitted free exercise of religion to herself and
her servants, but also promised himself to embrace it, if, on
examination, it appeared the most holy and fittest for Divine ser
vice. In the court of this queen was one Paulinus, a pious bishop,
who, with much pains and little profit, long laboured in vain to
convert the Pagans ; God hereby both humbling him, and showing
that the hour of his mercy shall not be antedated one minute by
any human endeavours. However, Paulinus, seeing he could not
be happy to gain, would be careful to save ; and daily plied the
word and sacraments, thereby to corroborate his own people in piety.
40, His Condition performed, and yet he demurs. A.D. 626.
Now it happened that one Eumere, a swash-buckler, a contemner
of his own life, and thereby master of another man's, sent from
Guichelm,* king of the West Saxons, with an envenomed dagger
sought to kill king Edwin ; when Lilla, one of his guard, foreseeing
the blow, and interposing himself, shielded his sovereign with his
own body, yea, deaded the stroke with his own death : loyalty's
martyr, in a case which is likely to find more to commend than
imitate it, on the like occasion, Edwin, notwithstanding, slightly
hurt, was very sensible of the deliverance, and promised, that if he
might conquer the treacherous West Saxon king, with his adherents,
he would become a Christian. And though there be no indenting
and conditional capitulating with God, (who is to be taken on any
terms,) yet this in. a Pagan was a good step to heaven, and Paulinus
was glad he had got him thus far ; especially when, in earnest of the
sincerity of his resolution, he consigned over his infant daughter
Eansted,-f- to be baptized, whom Paulinus christened, with twelve
more of the queen's family. Well, the West Saxon king was
quickly overcome, and all his complices either killed or conquered ;
and yet king Edwin demurred to embrace Christianity. But he
communicated with the sagest of his council, with whom he had daily
debates, being loath rashly to rush on a matter of such moment.
And, truly, that religion which is rather suddenly parched up than
seasonably ripened, doth commonly ungive afterwards. Yea, he
would sit long alone, making company to himself, and silently arguing
the case in his own heart, being partly convinced in his judgment of
the goodness of the Christian religion ; and yet he durst not entertain
Truth, a lawful king, for fear to displease Custom, a cruel tyrant.
• According to Rapin and other historians, Quicelm, — Edit. t Idem, ibidem.

A.D. 627. BOOK II. CENT. VII. 109
41. The Speech of Coify the Priest.
Amongst the fiiany debates he had with his council about altering
his religion, two passages must not be forgotten ; whereof one was
the speech of Coify, the prime Pagan priest. " Surely," said he,*
" these gods, whom we worship, are not of any power or efficacy in
themselves ; for none hath served them more conscientiously than
myself; yet other men, less meriting of them, have received more
and greater favours from their hand, and prosper better in all things
they undertake. Now, if these were gods of any activity, they would
have been more beneficial to me, who have been so observant of
them." Here the reader will smile at Coify's solecism, wherein the
premises are guilty of pride, as the inference thereon of error and
mistake. If he turn Christian on these terms, he will be taught a
new lesson ; — how not only all outward things happen alike to good
and bad, " to him that sacrificeth, as to him that sacrificeth not ;"
Eccles. ix. 2 ; but also, that "judgment beginneth at the house of
God," 1 Peter iv. 17, and the best men meet with the worst success
in temporal matters. However, God was pleased to sanctify this
man's error, as introductory to his conversion : and let none wonder,
if the first glimmering of grace in Pagans be scarce a degree above
blindness. 42. The Courtier's Comparison.
Better, in my opinion, was the plain comparison which another
nameless courtier made at the same time. " Man's life," said he,
" O king, is like unto a little sparrow, which, whilst your majesty is
feasting by the fire in your parlour with your royal retinue, flies in
at one window, and out at another. Indeed, we see it that short
time it remaineth in the house, and then is it well sheltered from
wind and weather ; but presently it passeth from cold to cold ; and
whence it came, and whither it goes, we are altogether ignorant.
Thus, we can give some account of our soul during its abode in the
body, whilst housed and harboured therein ; but where it was
before, and how it fareth after, is to us altogether unknown. If
therefore Paulinus's preaching will certainly inform us herein, he
deserveth, in my opinion, to be entertained." •}¦
43. Edwin converted and baptized. A.D. 627-
Long-looked for comes at last. King Edwin, almost three years
a candidate at large of Christianity, cordially embraceth the same ;
and with many of his nobles, and multitudes of his subjects, is
solemnly baptized by Paulinus, in the little church of St. Peter's in
* Bede Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 13. t Idem, ibid.

110 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 630,
York,* hastily set up by the king for that purpose, and afterward by
him changed into a firmer and fairer fabric. Thus, as those children
which are backward of their tongues, when attaining to speech, pro
nounce their words the more plainly and distinctly ; so Edwin, long,
yea, tedious, before his turning to Christianity, more effectually at
last embraced the same. And when it was put to the question,
" What person most proper to destroy the Heathen altars ?" Coify
the chief priest tendered his service, as fittest for the purpose,
solemnly to demolish what he had before so superstitiously adored.
Down go all the Pagan altars and images at God-mundingham, now
Godmanham, a small village in the East- Riding of Yorkshire ;-j- and
those idols with their hands were so far from defending themselves,
that their mock-mouths could not afford one word to bemoan their
final destruction. 44. The East Angles converted to Christianity.
" When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren," was the
personal precept given to Peter, Luke xxii. 32, but ought generally
to be the practice of all good men ; as here it was of king Edwin,
restless until he had also persuaded 'Earpwald, king of the East
Angles, to embrace the Christain faith. Indeed, Redowald,
Earpwald's father, had formerly at Canterbury (to ingratiate himself
with king Ethelbert) professed Christianity ; but returning home,
he revolted to Paganism at the instance of his wife :| so great is the
power of the weaker sex, even in matters of religion ! For, as
Bertha and Edelburge, the queens of Ethelbert and Edwin, occa
sioned and expedited the conversion of their husbands' kingdoms ;
so here a female instrument obstructed that holy design. Yea,
Redowald afterwards in the same church set up a Samaritan-mongrel
religion, 2 Kings xvii. 41, having altare et arulam,§ "a com
munion-table and an idolatrous altar" in the same temple. " You
cannot be partakers," saith the apostie, " of the Lord's table, and of
the table of devils," 1 Cor. x. 21 ; that is, You cannot lawfully,
conscionably, comfortably ; hut, de facto, "it may be done," was
done by Redowald in this his miscellaneous religion.
45. The Religion and Learning of King Sigebert. A.D. 630.
But, three years after, the conversion of the East Angles was more
effectually advanced by king Sigebert, brother, and, after the death
of Earpwald, his successor in the kingdom. This Sigebert had lived
an exile in France, and got the benefit of learning by his banish
ment. For, wanting accommodations to appear in princely equipage,
* Bede Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 14. f Camden's Britannia. J Bede
Eccles. Hist, lib. ii. cap. 15. § Bede, ut prius.

A.D. 631. BOOK II. CENT. VII. Ill
he applied himself the more close to his studies ; seeing that means
which would maintain a prince but like a scholar would maintain a
scholar like a prince. Yea, which was best of all, on his learning
he grafted true religion ; Bede giving him this character, — that
he became vir Christianissimus et doctissimus ; (can more be
said in so few words ?) and, returning home, assisted by the preach
ing of Felix, a monk of Burgundy, juxta nominis sui sacra-
mentum, saith Bede, (happy was his name, and happiness was with
him,) converted his subjects to Christianity. This Felix was made
the first bishop of Dunwich in Suffolk ; a place formerly furnished
with two-and-fifty churches,* and hath scarce two now remaining, the
rest being swallowed up by the sea. I can hardly hold myself from
calling the sea " sacrilegious ;" save that, on second thoughts, con
sidering that element to be but a natural agent; yea, such whose
motions are ordered by Divine Providence, " Hither shalt thott
come, and no farther ;" I will rather reserve this epithet, " sacri
legious," to be bestowed on those men who willingly and wilfully
demolish the places appointed for God's service.
46. Difference about the Antiquity of the University of
Cambridge. A.D. 631 .-f-
This Sigebert is generally reputed the founder of the university of
Cambridge. And because the point in hand is somewhat litigious,
we will take the more pains in clearing thereof, two things being
warily premised : First. That Sigebert's founding the university of
Cambridge ought not by any to be extended to lessen and abate,
much.less to drown and destroy, her more ancient title to learning,
which she deriveth (according to good authors) | from many hundred
years before. Valeant, quantum valere possint : " Let such her
over-grown evidences stand as valid as they may," by us neither
confirmed nor confuted for the present. And, indeed, all such old
things in either university, though specious to the eye, must be
closely kept, and tenderly touched, lest otherwise, being roughly
handled, they should moulder into dust. Secondly. Let none sus
pect, my extraction from Cambridge will betray me to partiality to
my mother, who desire in this difference to be like Melchisedec,
aysvsa\oyy)To;, " without descent," only to be directed by the truth.-
And here I make this fair and free confession, which, I hope, will
be accepted for ingenuous : That, as in Thamar's travail of twins.
Gen. xxxviii. 28, Zarah first put out his hand, and then drew it in
again, whilst Pharez first came forth into the world ; so I plainly
perceive Cambridge with an extended arm, time out of mind, first
- • Weaver's " Ftmeral Monuments" in Suffolk. f But some make it four
years after. X See Caius on the antiquity of Cambridge.

112 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 631.
challenging the birth-right and priority of place for learning ; but,
afterwards drawing it in again, she lay for many years desolate, and
of less account; whilst Oxford, if later, larger, came forth m more
entire proportion, and ever since constantiy continued m the full
dimensions of an university.
47. The leading Testimony of Bede explained.
These things being thus cautiously stated, we proceed ; beginning
with Bede, on whose testimony all the following history is founded.
Sigeburtus, ubi regno potitus est, mox ea qucB in Galliis bene
disposita vidit, imitari cupiens, instituit scholam, in qua pueri
Uteris erudirentur,juvante se episcopo Felice (quern de Cantia
acceperat) eisque pcBdagogos ac magistros, juxta morem Can-
tuariorum, prcBbenfe. — Beda Eccles. Historia, lib. iii, cap, 18,
" Sigebert, when he had obtained the kingdom, presentiy desiring
to imitate those things which he had seen well-ordered in France,
instituted a school, wherein youths might be trained up in learning,
Felix the bishop (whom he had received out of Kent) assisting him,
and providing for them teachers and masters, according to the cus
tom of those in Canterbury," See here, king Sigebert, to make his
school complete, united therein such conveniences for education, as
he had observed commendable, 1, Abroad, in France ; where learn
ing at and before his time was brought to great perfection ; St,
Jerome affirming, that, even in his age, he had seen studia in Galliis
florentissima — In epistold ad Rusticum, " most flourishing univer
sities in France," 2, At home, in Canterbury ; where, even at this
time, learning was professed, though more increased some forty, years
after; when, as the same Bede reports,* that, in the days of Theo-
dorus the archbishop, there were those that taught geometry, arith
metic, and music, the fashionable studies of that age, together with
divinity : the perfect character of an university, where divinity the
queen is waited on by her maids-of-honour. But I question whether
the formality of " commencing" was used in that age; inclining
rather to the negative, that such distinction of "graduates" was
then unknown, except in St, Paul's sense : " Such as used the office
of a deacon well, purchased to themselves a good degree,"
1 Tim. iii. 13. 48, Authors commenting on Bede's Text.
So much for Bede's text. Come we now to ancient authors com
menting upon him. " Ancient" I call those who wrote many years
before the differences were started about the seniority of the
universities, and therefore are presumed unpartial, as unconcerned in
• Hist. Eccles.

A.D. 6.31. BOOK II. CENT. Vll. 113
a controversy which did not appear. First. Polydore Virgil,* who
from Bede's words plainly collects, that Sigebert then founded the
university of Cambridge. Nor see I any cause for that passage in
the assertion of Oxford's antiquity,-[- charging Polydore, Quod
qffectibus indulgens, adamatcB studet academics; who, being a
foreigner and an Italian, had nothing to bias his affection to one
university more than the other. Learned Lelandj succeeds ; who,
being employed by king Henry the Eighth to make a collection of
British antiquities, (much scattered at the dissolution of abbeys,)
thus expresseth himself: —
Olim Granta fuit titulis urbs inclyta multis,
Vicini ajiuvii nomine, nomen habens.
Saxones hanc belli deturbavere procellis /
Sed nova, pro veteri, non procul ind^ sita est :
Quam Feli.v tnonachus, Sigeberti jussa sequutus,
Ariibus illustrem reddidit, atque scholis.
Hjbc ego, perquirens gentis monumenta Britannce,
Asserui in laudem, Granta diserta, tuam.
*' Grant, long ago a city of gi-eat fame,
From neighbom-ing river doth receive her name.
When storms of Saxon wars her overthrew,
Near to the old sprang up another new.
Monk Felix, whilst he Sigebert obeys,
Lighten'd this place with schools, and learning's rays.
Searching the monuments of British nation,
This I assert in Grant's due commendation."
Here we omit the several testimonies of Bale,§ George Lilie, and
Thomas Cooper, in their several histories, anno 636, with many
more, concluding Sigebert then the founder of the university of
Cambridge. 49. First Objection agai?ist Sigebert's founding of Cambridge.
But our cousin -germans of Oxford will scarce give credit hereunto,
multiplying objections against it. " There were," say they, " many
places, beside Cambridge, in the kingdom of the East Angles,
(containing Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire,) which, with equal
probability, may pretend to this school of Sigebert's foundation,
seeing Bede doth not nominatim affirm Cambridge for the particu
lar place, where this university was erected."
SO. Atiswer.
Though Bede be dumb in this particular, not naming Cam
bridge, yet he makes such signs that most intelligent antiquaries,
by us alleged, understand him to intend the same ; especially
• Lib, iv. et lib. v. page 107. t Written anno 1566, page 20. J In liis
Comment, in Cygneam Cantionem. § In Sigeberto, et rursus, cent. xiii. in Felice.
Vol. I. t

114 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 631.
seeing Cambridge is acknowledged by all authors, time out of mind,
to have been a place for the education of students in literature.
51. Second Objection.
" If any such university was founded by Sigebert, it was at
Grantchester, differing, as in appellation, so in situation, from
Cambridge, as being a good mile South- West thereof. Cambridge,
therefore, cannot entitle itself, but by apparent usurpation, to the
ancient privileges of Grantchester." 52. Answer.
Most usual it is for ancient places to. alter their names, (Babylon
to Bagdad, Byzantium to Constantinople, our old Verulam to
St. Alban's,) still retaining the numerical nature they had before.
Oxford, they tell us, was once called Bellositum,* and yet not
altered from its same self by another name. Nor is it any news for
great cities, in process of time, (as weary of long standing,) to ease
themselves a little, by hitching into another place. Thus, some
part of modern Rome is removed more than a mile from the ancient
area thereof. Thus, Jerusalem at this day is come down from
Mount Sion, and more South- West climbed up Mount Calvary.
Yet either of these places would account themselves highly injured,
if not reputed (for the main) the same with the former. Sufficeth
it that some part of Cambridge stands, at this day, where Grant-
chester-|- did, (which anciently extended North- West, as far as the
village called Howse,)J and that is enough to keep possession of
the privileges of Grantchester, as properly belonging thereunto;
especially, seeing Oxford at this day lays claim to the antiquities of
Crekelade [CrickladeJ and Lechlade, (towns distant sixteen miles off,
the one in Wilts, the other in Gloucestershire,) two ancient schools
of Greek and Latin, (as some will have it,) removed afterwards to
Oxford, from whence some of her assertors do date her beginning.
53. Third Objection.
" Sigebert founded but scholam, which makes little to the honour
of Cambridge : for, thereby her professors are degraded to pedants ;
and, by a retrograde motion, Cambridge is sent back to Eaton ; I
mean, is made no better than a great grammar-school."
54. Answer-.
If the best of Latin orators may be believed, schola properiy
signifies "the place where all arts are publicly professed." Ex
Platonis schola Ponticus Heraclides: " Ponticus Heraclides came
" Bryan Twine Antiq. Acad. Ox. page 114. t Mr. Camden, an Oxford man,
in Ins description of Cambridgeshire, alloweth Grantchester and Cambridge for the
same place. J Caius De Antiq. Cantab, (c.r libra Barnwellensi,) page 11.

A.D. 031. BOOK II. CE.VT. Vlt. 115
out of the school of Plato;"* which is notoriously known to have
been an academy; yea, all his scholars known by the name of
Academics to this day. Those of Salerno in Italy, dedicating a
book of physic to our Henry, (the Second, I take it,) begin thus :
— Anglorum regi scribit schola tola Salerni. School-boys deserve
to be whipped, indeed, if, presuming to prescribe receipts to a king ;
but THAT schola there is sufficiently known to have been a famous
university. And, under the favour of the university, the word
universitas is but a base and barbarous Latin (while schola is pure
Greek originally) to design either the place where general learning
is publicly professed, or the persons studying therein. And, though
I dare not totally concur with that learned critic, -f- that universitas
was first used in the foresaid sense, about the reign of king'Henry
the Third ; yet, I believe, it will not be found in any classical
author in that- modern acceptation.
55. Fourth Objection.
" In good authors, Sigebert is said to have founded not only
scholam, ' a school,' but scholas, ' schools,' in the plural. . If
schola therefore be an university, either he made more universities
than one in Cambridge, (which is absurd to affinn,) or else he
erected more universities in other places of his kingdom, which
Cantabrigians will not willingly confess."
56. Answer.
The variation of the number is of no concernment. For,
if respect be had to the several arts there professed, Sigebert
founded schools in the plural. But if regard be taken of the cyclo-
psedy of the learning resulting from those several sciences, he
erected but one grand school. Every " fresh-man" knows that the
single quadrant, wherein the public lectures are read and acts kept,
is called plurally " the schools," in each university.
57. Fifth Objection.
" B\\t Bede terms them pueros, ' boys,' properly under the rod
and ferula, whom Sigebert placed in his school ; and the word
pesdagogi, 'ushers,' placed over them, imports the same; that
they were no university-students, but a company of little lads, that
lived there under correction." 58. Answer.
Critics will satisfy you, that the word pueri signifies even those
of more maturity, especially if living sub regimine, "under the
* TuLLV De Naturd Deorum. t MR. Camden in his "Britannia," in
Oxfordshire, page 381.

1

2

116 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D.

632.

discipline of superiors." Secondly. Bede, being a great divine, and
conversant in Scripture-phrase, borroweth an expression thence;
Christ calling his disciples 7r«iS/a, " children," John xxi. 5. He
useth also pesdagogos in the same notion with St. Paul's 7ra»5aya)youf
h Xpia-TM, which our last translators read " instructors in Christ,"
1 Cor. iv. 15, even to tiieCorinthians,who still needed such pedagogues
or teachers, though already " enriched in all utterance and know
ledge," 1 Cor. i. 5, Thirdly. The Saxgn ancient copy of Bede,
which, doubtless, doth emphatically render the Latin, translates
pwerijeonje menu. Fourthly. Asserius Menevensis, "speaking of
Alfred's founding of Oxford, saith that he endowed the same, sues
proprics gentis nobilibus pueris, et etiam ignobilibus; and it is
but equal, that the pueri at Cambridge should be allowed as much
man in them, as those at Oxford. Lastly. The young fry of
scholars, when first admitted, is such, to whom pueri,* in the proper
sense thereof, may well be applied. And here it may seasonably
be remembered, how an Oxford antiquary affirmeth,-f- that Edward
the fifth prince of Wales, and Richard his brother, duke of York,
Ovonies studuerunt, " studied at Oxford," in the life-time of
their father : stout students, no doubt, whereof the elder could not
then be ten, the younger not nine years old. But I forget what
lawyers hold, — that the king's eldest son is at full age, for some
purposes, at the day of his birth ; in which respect he may sue out
his liveries for the dukedom of Cornwall ; and this, perchance, may
somewhat mend the matter.
59. Conclusion with Prayer.
But enough of this matter, which some will censure as an imper-
tinency to our Church History, and scarcely coming within the
churchyard thereof. My prayers shall be, that each university may
turn all envy into generous, yea, gracious, yea, glorious emulation ;
contending, by laudable means, which shall surpass other in their
s'erviceableness to God, tiie church, and commonwealth ; that so,
commencing in piety, and proceeding in learning, they may agree
against their two general adversaries, — ignorance and "profaiieness.
May it never be said of tiiem, what Naomi said of herself, that
she was too old to bear sons ! Ruth i. 12. May they never be
superannuated into barrenness, but, like the good trees in God's
garden, "They shall still bring forth fruit in their old age, they
shall be fat and flourishing."
60. Edwin, King of Northumberland, slain. A.D. 632.
Seasonably Sigebert erected an university at Cambridge, thereby
in part to repair the late great loss of Christianity in England, when
* AU the scholars of Pembroke Hall in Cambridge, not being fellows, are teimei pueri
in their statutes. t Bryan Twine Antiq. Oxon, page 322.

A.D. 6-33. BOOK II. CENT. VII. H'
(the year after) Edwin, king of Northumberland, was slain in battle
by Cadwal king of Wales, and Penda king of the Mercians.*
After whose death, his whole kingdom relapsed to Paganism ; and
Paulinus, archbishop of York, taking with him queen Ethelburge,
returned into Kent, and there became bishop of the (then vacant)
church of Rochester. Mortified man ! he minded not whether he
went up or down hill, whilst he went on straight in his calling to
glorify God, and edify others ; sensible of no disgrace, when
degrading himself from a great archbishop, to become a poor bishop.
Such betray much pride and peevishness, who, outed of eminent
places, will rather be notiiing in the church, than any thing less
than what they have been before.
61. The unhappy Year.
After the death of king Edwin, his kingdom of Northumberland
was divided into two parts, both petty kingdoms : 1. Bernicia,
reaching from the river Tees to Edinburgh-fiith,-f- whereof
Eanfrith,! was king. 2. Deira, whence, say some, Deirham, or
Durham, lay betwixt Tees and Humber, whereof Osric was king.
These both proved apostates from the Christian faith ; and God in
his justice let in Cadwald, king of the Britons, upon them, who
slew them, harassed their country, and made a lamentable desola
tion, within the compass of one year, without respect to age or sex ;
until Oswald, bred and brought up in Scotland, next of the blood-
royal, came to be king of Northumberiand, whom God sent to
redeem that miserable country from the hands of. their enemies, and
many eminent victories he obtained.
62. A lost Year well found. A.D. 633.
The fatal year, wherein so many outrages were committed on the
apostate Northumberlanders, by Cadwald king of the Britons, is
detested by all Saxon chronologers. And, therefore, all the
annalists and writers of histories in that age, by joint consent,
universally resolved to damn and drown the memorial of that annus
infaustus, as they call it, " unlucky year," but made so by ungodly
men. Yea, they unaminously agreed to allow those two apostate
kings§ no year's reign in their chronicles, adding the time (sub
tracted from them) to Oswald, their Christian successor, accounting
him to have reigned nine years ; || which, indeed, were but eight of
his own, and one of these historians" adoption. Yet is it no news,
even in Scripture itself, to bury the reign of tyrants under the
* Beda Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 10. t Camden's Brit, page 797. J Accord
ing to the orthography of Rapin and other historians, Anfrid, and Cadwald, Cad-
wallo. — Edit. § Bede Eccles. Hist. lib. ii. cap. 1. || Idem, lib. iii, cap. 9«

118 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 635.
monument of a good prince succeeding them. Thus when Ehud is
said to have "judged the land fourscore years," Judges iii. 30,
those eighteen years are included, wherein Eglon the Moabite
oppressed Israel, Judges iii. 14.
63. A Victory given from Heaven. A. D. 635.
Amongst the many victories achieved by this Oswald, one
most remarkable was gained by him near Hexham in Northumber
land, against the Pagans, against whom he erected the standard
of the cross, in a place which, time out of mind, was called
Heaven-feld, (Haledon at this day,) by a prolepsis, not answering
the name thereof until this time. Hence a poet, writing the Life of
Oswald : — Time primum scivit causam cur nomen haberet
Heafen-feld, hoc est, cailestis cam.pus ; et illi
Nomen ab antique dedit appeUatio gentis
PrcBterittB, tanquam belli prcesaga futuri.
" Then he began the reason first to know
Of Heaven-feld, why it was called so ;
Named by the natives long since by foresight,
That in that field would hap an heavenly fight."
Thus it is generally reported, that the place nigh Leipsic, where
the king of Sweden got one of his signal victories, was, time out
of mind, termed by the Dutch Gots Acre, or God's ground."*
And thus, as Onesimus and Eutychus were so called from their
infancy, but never truly answered their names till after the conver
sion of the one, Phil. 11, and reviving of the other. Acts xx. 12;
so places (whether casually or prophetically) have names anciently
imposed upon them, which are sometimes verified many ages
after. 64. Pope Honorius's 'ineffectual Letter.
About this time, Honorius the pope sent his letter to the Scotch
nation, advising them to an uniformity with the church of Rome in
the celebration of Easter. His main reason is thought to have
more of state than strength, human haughtiness than holy divinity,
in it : namely, he C9unselleth them, Ne paucitatem suam in
extremis terresflnibus constitutam, sapientiorem omnibus Christi
ecclesiis csstimarent. This is that Honorius of whom Leo II.
his successor, complaineth in his epistle to the bishops of Spain :
Flammam hcsretici dogmatis non (ut decuit apostolicam authori-
tatem) incipientem extinxit, sed negligendo confovit : " By his
negligence he did countenance the heretical opinions," meaning of
the Monothelites, then beginning afresh to spring up again, "which
* Swedish Intelligencer.

A.D. 636. BOOK II. CENT. Vlt. 119
he ought to have suppressed."* Thus he, who could stickle about
the ceremony of keeping Easter, could quietly connive at, yea,
interpretatively, consent to, the depraving of the doctrinal part of
religion. But his letter to the Scotch took little effect, who kept
their Easter not one minute the sooner or later for all his writing
unto them. 65. Birinus converts the West Saxons to the Faith.
In a better work, and with better success, was Birinus employed;
an Italian by birth, sent over by pope Honorius for the conversion
of the remainder of England, and to that purpose (that his preach
ing, be like, might be the more powerful) made a bishop before his
coining over,-f- by Asterius bishop of Genoa. Here I am at a
loss : bishop — of what ! Where was his diocese or bishopric ?
Were not bishop and bishopric so correlated in that age, that they
must be together .'' the trick of making titular bishops not as yet
being used in Rome. It is impossible, that "bishop" here should
import no more than a plain " priest ;" and that he only took orders
before he came over into England. Well, commend me to the
memory of this man, who first was made bishop, and then made ¦
himself a bishopric, by earning it out of the Pagan English, whom
he intended to convert to Christianity. Yea, he passed his solemn
promise in the presence of the pope, that he would preach the
Gospel "in the heart of the uttermost coasts of England,"J (mean
ing the northern parts thereof,) " whither no teacher had at any
time gone before him:" minded herein, like St. Paul, "not to
boast in another man's line of things made ready to his hand,"
2 Cor. X. 16. 66. A broken Promise well kept. A D. 636.
This his promise Birinus, though he literally brake, virtually
kept; for he chanced to land amongst the West Saxons, then
called Ge vises, in the South- West part of England, wliere as yet
the inhabitants were pure-impure Pagans. Having here found a
fit subject for his pains, why should he go farther to seek the same ?
Is not Providence the best herald to marshal us ? And ought we
not to sit down where it disposeth us .'' Besides, according to
military rules, it was best to clear the coasts as he went, and not to
leave a Pagan foe behind his back. Moved herewith, Birinus here
sets up his staff episcopal, fixeth himself, falls a-preaching, converts
many, and, amongst the rest, Kyngils§ the West Saxon king,
whom he baptized. Oswald, king of Northumberland, chanced to
' Decret. Epist. ed. Romce, 1591, tom. ii. page 654. t Bede, lib. iii. cap. 7.
t Idem, ibid. i Otherwise, Cinigisil. — Edit.

120 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 63^.
be present at that time,* and was first godfather, then father-in-law,
to king Kyngils, to whom he gave his daughter to wife.
67. Dorchester made a Bishop's See.
Dorchester, (not the town which denominates Dorsetshire, but)
an old city in Oxfordshire, (not in Berkshire, as Stapleton mistakes
it,-f-) was made the seat of Birinus's bishopric. Bede saith, Dona-
verunt autem ambo reges eidem episcopo civitatem, qucs vacatur
Dorinca, 8fC. " Both the kings" (Oswald and Kyngils) "gave to
the said bishop the city Dorinca, or Dorchester." Both of them
— Hence observe, first, that Oswald, whose concurrence in this
grant was required, though particular king of Northumberland, was
also monarch of all England; to justify our former observation,
that " amongst the seven Saxon kings always one was paramount
above the rest." Secondly. That this Dorchester (though it lay
North of Thames in Oxfordshire, whicli properly belonged to the
kingdom of Mercia) pertained now to the West Saxons, beyond
the ordinary limits assigned to that kingdom.
?
68. England divided into Parishes. A.D. 63'J.
In this year Honorius, archbishop of Canterbury, divided Eng
land (understand, so much thereof as was Christian) into parishes.
But that most exquisite antiquary | seems very unwilHng to admit
so early and ancient parishes, in the modern proper acceptation of
the word. Who knoweth not, that parochia at large signifieth
"the diocese of the bishop ?" and two new dioceses, (Dunwich and
Dorchester) were erected under Honorius in the province of Canter
bury. But whether parishes, — as usually understood for places
bounded in regard of the profits from the people therein, payable
only to a pastor incumbent there ;— I say, whether such parishes
were extant in this age, may well be questioned, as inconsistent
with the community of ecclesiastic profits, which then seemed
jointiy enjoyed by the bishop and his clergy.
69. A moros". Preacher little edifieth.
No sooner was Oswald (whom we formeriy mentioned) settied
in his kingdom of Northumberiand, but his first princely care was,
to provide pastors to instruct his people in Christianity, In order
whereunto he sends into Scotland (where he had his own education)
for some eminent preachers. Unusual the sun should come out of
the North to enlighten the South, as here it came to pass. One
preacher was sent him thence, whose name we find not,§ but thus
• Bede F.ccles. Hist.lih. iii. cap. 7. t In his ti-anslation of Bede, fol -82 J Mft See
PEN in his " History Of Tithes," cap. 9, page 256, § Gorman, a monk of lona. -Edit.

A.D. 637. BOOK II. CENT. VII. 121.
riiuch of his nature, — that, being over rigid and severe, his sermons
made no impression on his English auditory. " Hard with hard,"
saith the proverb, " makes no wall ; " and no wonder, if the
spiritual building went on no better, wherein the austerjty and
harshness of the pastor met with the ignorance and sturdiness of the
people. Home he returns, complaining of his ill success ; and one
Aidan, of a milder temper and more discretion, (a grace which
none ever spake against, but such as wanted it,) was sent back in
his room. 70. Aidan's due Commendation.
Aidan, coming into England, settled himself at Lindisfern, or
Holy Island, in Northumberland ; a place which is an island and
no island twice in twenty-four hours, as divided by the tide from,
so conjoined at low-water to, the continent. His exemplary life
was a pattern for all pious pastors. First. He left to the clergy,
saluberrimum abstinentice vel continentics exemplum ; though
we read not he vowed virginity himself, or imposed, it on others.
He lived as he taught ; and whatsoever the bounty of princes or
great persons bestowed on him, he gave to the poor. He seldom
travelled but on foot ; and, when invited to large feasts at court,
used to arise after a short refection, and betake himself to his medi
tations. He redeemed many slaves from captivity, making them
first freemen, then Christians. 71. Bede's Allay.
All thesehis excellent practices Bede* dasheth with this allay, —
that "he had a zeal of God, although not fully according to
knowledge ; " merely because he dissented from the Romish church
in the celebration of Easter. But whether those words of St.
Paul, Rom. x. 2, spoken of his countrymen the Jews, in reference
to their stumbling at Christ, the Saviour of mankind, be fitly
applicable to Aidan, only differing in an outward ceremony, let
others decide. True it is, this Aidan was a prime champion of the
Quartadecimans, as who had been brought up under or with St.
Columba,-]- in Ireland. The writer of the Life of this St. Columba
(let this be inserted by the way) reports, how the said saint had a
revelation of the Holy Ghost, J " which prophesied unto him of
this discord, which after many days should arise in the church,
about the diversity of the feast of Easter." Yet he telleth us
not, that the Holy Ghost reproved this Columba (whose example
* Eccles. Hist. lib. iii. cap. 3. \ Fuller writes him St. Colme, on the same prin
ciple as, in that age, St. Austin was tantamount to St, Atigustin?, &c. — Edit.
i Archbishop Usher in "the Religion of the Irish;" page 99.

122 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 637  640.
animated others against the Roman rite) for his error ; as if God
cared not which of both sides carried the controversy !
72. Laymen's Diligence in reading Scripture.
But all which Bede speaketh in diminution of Aidan may freely
be forgiven him, were it but for his faithful recording of the
following passage in Aidan's Life ; and take it with Stapleton's
own translation thereof: Omnes qui cum eo incedebant, sive
attonsi, sive laid, meditari deberent ; id est,, aut legendis
Scripturis, aut Psalmis dlscendis oper am dare. " All they
which went with him, were they professed into religion, or were
they lay-brethren, gave themselves continually to contemplation ;
that is to say, bestowed all their time in reading Scripture, or
learning the Psalter." Bede, speaking hereof, addeth, moreover,
tantum vita illius a nostri temporis segnitid distabat, " so much
differed his life from the laziness of our age ;" taxing those of his
time for neglect of the Scriptures ! And the ignorance, bemoaned
in his age, continued and increased after his death.
73. The Royal Interpreter.
When Aidan came first into England, he was not perfect in the
language of our country. For although the speech of the modern
Southern Scot be only a Doric dialect of, no distinct language from,
English ; yet Aidan, who naturally spoke Irish, was not intelligible
of his English congregation. Wherefore king Oswald, a better
Scotchman (as bred amongst them) than Aidan was Englishman,
interpreted to the people what the other preached unto them.
Thus these two, put together, made a perfect preacher. And
although some will say, " Sermons thus at the second-hand must
lose much of their life and lustre ;" yet, the same Spirit working
in both, the ordinance proved effectual to the salvation of many
souls. 74. The first Lent in England. A. D. 640.
This year the first Lent was kept in England ;— conceive it in
those parts thereof which obeyed the Roman celebration of Easter.
Otherwise it is suspicious, that the Quartadecimans were no good
Quadragesimariatis, and no such conscientious observers of Lent
on the Romish account. Surely, if people were taught in Lent to
fast (as from flesh, so) from a proud and false opinion of meriting
thereby, policy would be well pleased, and piety not offended, at
the observing thereof; whilst continent-countries might keep it
without any loss to their souls, and islands with great gain to their
estates.

A.D. 642. BOOK II. CENT. VII. 123
75, The ill Success of good Kings. A:D. 642.
Oswald, king of Northumberland, fighting at Maserfield (since
Oswestry) in Shropshire, against Penda, the Pagan prince of
Mercia, was overthrown, slain, and his body most barbarously
abused and chopped in pieces. Yea, it is observable that such
Saxon kings, which were first converted to Christianity, and such
who were the most active restorers of religion after a general apos
tasy, commonly came to violent deaths by the hands of Heathens.
As, Edwin, first Christian king of Northumberland, slain by Pagan
Penda, anno 632. Erpenwald, first Christian king of East Angles,
slain by his own people, anno 639. Peada, first Christian king of
Mercia, slain by his own wife, anno Q5d. Edelwald, or Ethelwald,*
first Christian king of Sussex, slain likewise. Oswald, the most
religious restorer of Christianity in Northumberiand, slain, anno
642. Annas, the most pious king of the East Angles, slain by
Penda, anno 654. Edmund, the most devout king of the East
Angles, martyred by the Danes, anno 870. Inquiring into the
causes hereof, we find : First. That the lustre of their lives, shining
before men, made them the fairer mark for their malicious enemies.
Secondly. Satan, accounting them traitors against his " kingdom of
darkness," left no stone unturned, thereby to bring them to temporal
destruction, the greatest hurt which his power could inflict. Thirdly.
God, to try the patience of his infant church, acquainted them with
afflictions from their very cradle. Such therefore are mistaken who
make prosperity a note either of piety in particular persons, or verity
in a whole church ; seeing, take it one time with another, and it
misseth the mark oftener than it hits it. As for our Oswald, legions
of miracles are attributed unto him after death ; all which we will
ingly omit, insisting only on one as most remarkable.
76. Oswald's Hand said never to putrify.
The story goes thus : On an Easter-day Oswald was sitting in
his palace at dinner with bishop Aidan ; when in comes one of his
servants, and informeth him, that abundance of poor people from all
parts sate in the streets, expecting some alms for their relief. Pre
sently king Oswald commands, not only that the meat set before
him should be given them, but also that the large silver charger
holding the same should be broken in pieces, and (in want, perchance,
of present coin) parted betwixt them. Whereupon, Aidan laying
hold on Oswald's right hand, (and that alone, we know, ought to be
the almoner. Matt. vi. 3,) " May this hand," said he, " never be
consumed :"-f- which is said accordingly to come to pass. So that,
• CaUed by Rapin and others Adelwakh, or Adeltvalt. — Edit. t So Stapleton
translateth what in Bede is, invclerascal.

124 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 642.
when all the other members of king Oswald's body (torn asunder by
his barbarous enemies) were putrified, his right hand always remained
unconsumed. Nullo verme perit, nulla putredine tabet
De.vtra viri y nullo constringi frigore, nullo
Dissolvi fervore potest ,• sed semper eodem
Immutata statu persistit, mortua vivit.*
** No worm, no rottenness taints his right hand ;
CoiTuption-free, in vain the cold doth strive
To freeze, or heat to melt it, which doth stand
Still at one stay ; and though dead, is alive."
But it is not enough for us, that we have the poet's pen for it ; if
we also had Oswald's" hand to show for the same, much might be
wrought on our belief herein. 77- Mystically true.
For my own part, I conceive that Aidan's words to Oswald, that
" his hand should never wax old, or be consumed," were spiritually
spoken, in a mystical meaning, parallel to those Scripture-expres
sions : " The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance," Psalm
cxii, 6, even when " the name of the wicked shall rot," Prov, x, 7-
" The bountiful hand never consumes :" neither actually; it never
wastes nor impairs an estate, God so ordering it that the more he
giveth the more he hath ; — nor passively ; it is not consumed, the
acts thereof remaining in a perpetual memorial here and hereafter.
But, grant this miracle of Oswald's hand literally true in the latitude
thereof ; I desire any ingenuous Papist to consider the time wherein
it was acted. It was Easter-day, yea, such an Easter-day as was
celebrated by the Quartadecimans, Aidan being present thereat,
contrary to the time which the canons of Rome appointed. Now,
did not a Divine finger in Oswald's miraculous hand point out this
day then to be truly observed.? Let the Papists produce such
another miracle, to grace and credit their Easter Roman style, and
then they say something to the purpose.
78. Over-qfflciousness occasiotied Purgatory.
It plainly appears, that the survivors had not only a charitable
opinion, but a comfortable presumption, yea, an infallible persuasion,
that the soul of king Oswald was possessed of heavenly happiness,
instantly after his death. What better demonstration of his present
being in perfect bliss, than those many miracles which the Papists
confidentiy report to be done^by him after his death, in curing sick
people of their, several maladies ? For, such souls which they fancy
in purgatory are so far from healing others, that they cannot help
• Camden's Britannia in Lincolnshire.

A.D. 642 — 645. BOOK ii. cent. vii. T25
themselves. Yea, Bede* calleth this Oswald, jam cum Domino
regnantem, " now reigning with the Lord." Yet the same author-f-
attesteth, that even in his time it was the anniversary custom of the
monks of Hexham, to repair to Heofen-feld, (a place hard by,
where Oswald, as aforesaid, obtained his miraculous victory,) and
" there to observe vigils for the salvation of his soul," plurimdque
psalmorum laude celebratd, victimam pro eo manl sacrcB obla-
tionis qfferre : a mongrel action, betwixt good- will and will-worship ;
though the eyes of their souls in those prayers looked not forward to
the future,- petitioning for Oswald's happiness ; but backward to
what was past, gratulatory to the bliss he had received.. Purgatory,
therefore, cannot properly be founded on such suffrages for the
dead. However, such over-officiousness, though at first it was like
the herb in the pot, which doth neither good nor ill, in after-ages -
became like that "wild gourd," 2* Kings iv. 40, poisoning men's
souls with superstition, when they fell to downright praying for the
departed. 79. The Death of PauUnus. A.D.Gii.
This year Paulinus, late archbishop of York, since bishop of
Rochester, ended his life ; and one Ithamar succeeded him, born in
Kent, and the first Englishman-bishop, all being foreigners before
him. As he was the first ot his nation, I believe him the second of
his name, meeting with no more save only Ithamar, the youngest
son of Aaron, high priest of Israel, Exod. vi. 23.
80. Most Christian King Oswy. A.D. 6i5.
After king Oswald's death, four Christian contemporary kings
flourished in England. First. Oswy, king of Northumberland,
inore commendable for the managing than the gaining of his king
dom ; except any will say, that no good keeping can make amends
for the ill getting of a crown, seeing he defeated Ethelwald,
Oswald's son, and the true heir thereof. Bede termeth him regem
Christianissimum,X " the most Christian king ;" a style wherewith
the present majesty of France will not be offended, as whiclj, many
years after, was settled on his |incestors. Long had this Oswy
endeavoured in vain, by presents, to purchase peace from Penda,
the Pagan king of Mercia, who miserably harassed his country, and
refused any gifts, (though never so rich and great,) which" were
tendered unto him. At last, saith my author,§ " Oswy r^olved,
We will offer our presents to such a King, who is higher in com
mand, and humbler in his courtesy, as who will not disdain to accept
them." Whereupon he devoted his daughter to God, in her per-
• £ccfe*. flirf. lib. iii. cap. 12. t Lib. iii. cap. 2. t Lib. iii. cap. 21. % Idem.

126 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 645  656.
petual virginity, and soon after obtained a memorable conquest over
his enemies, and cleared the country from his cruelty.
81. Sigebert the Too-good.
Secondly. Sigebert, king of Essex, and the restorer of religion
in his kingdom, which formerly had apostatized after the departure
of Mellitus ; valiant and pious, though taxed for his contumacious
company-keeping (contrary to his confessor's command) with an
excommunicated count, in whose house he was afterward murdered
by two villains ; who, being demanded the cause of their cruelty,
why they killed so harmless and innocent a prince, had nothing to
say for themselves, but they did it, " because his goodness had
done the kingdom hurt ; * such his proneness to pardon offenders,
on their (though but seeming) submission, that his meekness made
many malefactors." But I hope and believe, that the heirs of
Sigebert, (though the story be silent herein,) finding his fault,
amended it in themselves, and exercised just severity in the execu
tion of these two damnable traitors.
82. Annas happy in a holy Issue. A.D. 654.
Annas may be accounted the third successor to Sigebert, and
happy in a numerous and holy offspring. Yea, all his children
(save Firminus the eldest, slain with his father in a fight against
Pagan Penda) were either mitred or vailed, when living ; sainted
and shrined, when dead : as, Erkenwald, bishop of London ;
Ethelred or Audrey, and Sexburga, successively foundresses and
abbesses of Ely ; Withgith, a nun therein ; and Ethilburge, abbess
of Barking, nigh London.
83. The Conversion of the Mercians to Christianity under
Prince Peada. A.D. 656.
Peada, prince of Mercia, may make up the quaternion, who
married Alfrede, daughter of Oswy, king of Northumberiand ; and
thereupon, renouncing Paganism, embraced Christianity, and pro
pagated it in his dominions. Indeed, Penda, his father, that
persecutor of piety, was still alive, (and survived two years after,)
persisting a Heathen till death, but mollified to permit a toleration
of Christianity in his subjects. Yea, Penda in his old age used an
expression, which might have beseemed the mouth of a better man ;
namely, that he hated not Christians, but " only such who professed
Christ's faith, without his works ;"-f accounting them contemptible
who pretended to believe in God, without obeying him.
* Beda, Ub. iii. cap. 22. f idem, lib. iii. cap. 21.

a.d. 656. BOOK II. cent. vii. 127
84. St. Cedde and St. Chad.
A brace of brethren, both bishops, both eminent for learning and
religion, now appeared in the church ; so like in name, they are oft
mistaken in authors one for another. Now, though it be " plea
sant for brethren to live together in unity," yet it is not fii, by
error, they should be jumbled together in confusion. Observe
their difference therefore : St. Cedde, in Latin Ceddus, I believe
the elder, born at London,* (where afterward he was bishop,)
bred in Holy Island, an active promoter in making the East
Saxons cow-verts (or rather re-verts) to the faith. He is remem
bered in the Romish Calendar, January the seventh. St. Chad,.
in Latin Cedda, born in Northumberland ,-|- bred likewise in
Holy Island, and scholar to Aidanus. He was bishop of Lich
field ; a mild and modest man, of whom more hereafter. His
death is celebrated in the Calendar March the second, and the dust
of his tomb is by Papists reported to cure all diseases alike in man
and beast. I believe it might make the dumb to see, and the
lame to speak. The latter of these was, as the longest liver, so
the most eminent in his life ; who made many Christians, and
amongst the rest Wiilfade and Rufine, sons to Wulphere king of
Mercia, succeeding Peada therein, who was suddenly slain, and his
untimely death was a great loss to religion.
85. Fridona, first English Archbishop.
Look we now on the see of Canterbury, where, to our comfort,
we have gotten one of our own countrymen into the place, Fridona,
a Saxon. Yet for the more state of the business, he assumed the
name oi Deus-dedit. We know, archbishops of his see are termed
Alterius orbis Papce ; and such changing of names was fashionable
with the Popes. He was consecrated by Ithamar alone, bishop of
Rochester ; the first English bishop consecrating the first English
archbishop. Let no sophister cavil with his threadbare maxim,
" Nihil dat quod non habet, and therefore a single bishop could
not confer archi-episcopal power ;" but leave it to the canon-
lawyers, to decide what may be done in case of extremity. Mean
time, how causeless is the captiousnessj of the Papists at the
consecration of Matthew Parker,§ because no archbishop (though
four bishops) was present thereat. Seeing, though an archbishop
be requisite ad dignitatem, bishops will suffice ad honestatem i
and a single bishop (as Ithamar here)|| may be effectual ad essen-,
tiam of an archi-episcopal consecration. No wonder, therefore, if
Evagrius was acknowledged a legitimate bishop by the Pope
• Flores Sanctorum, p. 35. 1 Idem, p. 224. J The word here used by Fuller was
taption. — Edit. 5 Sanders De Schism, page 297. II Bede Hist. lib. iii. page 217,

128 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 662,
himself,* though contrary to the rigour of the canon, consecrated
by Paulinus aloncf Deus-dedit answered his name ; (a good arch
bishop is "God's gift;") and, for nine years and more, ruled the
church to his great commendation.
86, Wulphere's Murder of Ms two Sons. A.D. 662.
A barbarous murder was committed by Wulphere, king of
Mercia ; who, understanding that his two sons, Wulfade and
Rufine, had embraced Christianity, cruelly slew them with his own
hands. But afterwards, repenting of so foul a fact, he himself
turned Christian ; and, in testimony thereof, finished the fair fabric
of the monastery at Peterborough, begun by Peada his brother.
The whole story thereof was, till lately, set forth in painting, and
poetry (such as it was) in the glass-windows, round about the
cloisters of Peterborough, " Wulfade proy'd Chad, that ghostly leach.
The faith of Christ him for to teach."
87. The making of Glass brought first into England.
And now, having fallen on the mention of glass, be it seasonably
remembered, that just at this time one Benault, a foreign bishop,
(but of what place I find not,) brought the mystery of making glass
into England, to the great beautifying of our churches and houses ;
the eyes being the grace of the body, as windows are of buildings,
I conceive, his invention was white glass alone, more ancient than
painted glass in this island ; as plain-song is much senior to all
descanting and running of division,
88. Scottish Bishops dissent from others in keeping Easter.
The paroxysm continued and increased, betwixt the Scottish
bishops (headed, after Aidan's death, by Finan, bishop of Holy
Island) and such who celebrated Easter after the Roman rite.
The latter so bitterly detested the former, that they would not
receive consecration of them, or imposition of hands ; as if their
very fingers' ends were infected with schism, for dissenting from
Rome, Yea, they would neither give the sacrament of the Eucha
rist to them, nor receive it from them; and yet they never
quarrelled at or questioned the validity of baptism confen-ed by
thein, seeing bishop Finan christened the king of the East Saxons
and all his subjects. Somewhat more moderate were the Scots, or
Quartadecimans, in their carriage to the other, seeing St. Chad
(Scottized in his judgment) refused not consecration from Wyni,
bishop of Winchester, though one of the contrary opinion,
* Binnius, tom. i. page 679, in Notts in Epist, 17. Ihnocmtis primi. f Theo-
DORET, lib. V. cap. 23.

A I). 663. BOOK II. CE\T. VII. 129
89. This Controversy spreads into private Families.
Nor was this controversy confined to cloisters and colleges, but
derived itself from the king's court, down into private families.
Thus Oswy, king of Northumberland, was of the Scottish persua
sion, whilst his queen and eldest son were of the Romish opinion,
in celebration of Easter, One board would not hold them whom
one bed did contain. It fell out so sometimes, that the husband's
Palm Sunday was the wife's Easter-day ; and in other families,
the wife fasted and kept Lent still, whilst her husband feasted and
observed Easter. Say not, " That wife deserved to fast always who
in so indifferent a ceremony would not conform to her husband's
judgment." For, consciences, in such kinds, are" to be led, not
drawn. Great was the disturbance in every great family ; only the
poor gained by the difference, causing a duplicate of festivals, two
Easters being kept every year in the same house.
90. A Council is called to compose this Controversy. A.D. C63,
To compose this controversy, if possible, a council was called at
Streanch-hall,* now Whitby in Yorkshire, by the procurement of
St, Hilda, abbess therein. Here appeared, amongst many others : —
For the Romish Easter, Wilfride, an abbot, a zealous champion ;
Romanus, a priest, very hot in the quarrel ; and others : — For
the Scottish Easter, St, Coleman, bishop of Holy Island, who
succeeded Finan in that place, — Moderators, Hilda, the abbess
of Streanch-hall ; S, Cedd, bishop of London, propending to the
Scottish, but not thoroughly persuaded. But Baronius and
Binnius will in no case allow this for a council, (though elsewhere
extending that name to meaner meetings,) only they call it " a
collation ;" because, forsooth, it wanted soriie coun cil-formali ties,; —
all bishops not being solemnly summoned, but only some vohinteeis
appearing therein. Besides, as there was something too little, so
something too much, for a canonical council ; Hilda, a woman,
being moderatress therein ; which seemed irregular.
91. Wilfride's prevnili^ig Argument.
In this council or collation, (call it which you please,) after much
arguing pro and con, Wilfride at last knocked all down with this
argument : — That the Romish celebration of Easter was founded
on the practice of St. Peter, prince of the apostles, and porter of
heaven. King Oswy, hearing this, was affrighted ; who had rather
anger all the other eleven apostles, than offend St. Peter, one so
high in power and place; for fear, as he said, lest, coming to
heaven-gate, St. Peter should deny him a cast of his office, and
• Otherwise, Streanes-halh. — Edit.
Vol,, I, K

130 church history of Britain, a.d. 663.
refuse to let him into happiness. St. Coleman^ being on the otiier
aide, was angry that so slight an argument had made so deep an
impression on the king's credulity ; and, to manifest his distaste,
after the council was broken up, carried all those of his own opinion
home with him into Scotland, One Tuda succeeded him in his
bishopric of Holy Island, the first of that see that conformed
himself in this controversy to the Romish church, and died in the
same year of the plague.
92. His intended but disappointed Preferment.
As for Wilfride, he was well rewarded for his pains in this
council, being .presently promoted to be bishop of York, which,
since Paulinus's death, was no longer an archbishop's, but a plain
bishop's see. But, though appointed for the place by king Oswy,
he refused consecration from any English bishops, being all irre
gular, as consecrated by the schismatical Scots ; only Wyni, late
bishop of Winchester, now of London, was ordained canonically,
but lately he had contracted just shame for his simony, in buying
his bishopric. Over goes Wilfride, therefore, to Rome for conse
cration ; and stays there so long, that, in his absence, the king put
St, Chad into the bishopric of York, The writer of Wjlfride's
Life complains loudly hereof: —
Audacter sponsam vivo rapuere marito.
" Boldly in the husband's life,
Away from him they took his wife."
But, by the poet's leave, York was but espoused, not married, to
Wilfride, whilst he was in England : and after his going over
beyond sea, he stayed so long that his church presumed him dead,
and herself a maid-widow, which lawfully might receive another
husband. At last Wilfride, returning home, had York restored
unto him, and St, Chad was removed to the new-founded bishopric
of Lichfield. 93. Abbess Hilda.
The abbess Hilda, whom we mentioned before, was like another
Huldah, which lived in the college, 2 Chron, xxxiv, 22 ; superior to
most of her sex in learning, inferior to none in religion. Monks
ascribe it to her sanctity, that she turned many serpents in that
country into stones ; plenty of which stones "are found at this
day about Whitby, the place of her abode, having the shape of
serpents, but most headless ; as the tale is truthless, relating it to
her miraculous operation. Who knows not but that at Alderly, in
Gloucestershire, there are found stones resembling cockles or peri
winkles, in a place far from the sea ? which are esteemed by the

A,D, 66.3—673, BOOK 11, cent. VII. 131
learned the gamesome work of nature, sometimes pleased to disport
itself, and pose us by propounding such riddles unto us,
94. J Miracle imputed to her Holiness.
Some impute it also to Hilda's holiness that wild geese, when
flying over the grounds near her convent, fell down to the ground,
as doing homage to the sanctity thereof. As the credit of the
reporters hath converted wise men to believe the thing ; so they
justly remain incredulous, that it proceedeth from any miracle, but
secret antipathy. But, as philosophers, when posed in nature and
prosecuted to render reasons of her mysteries, took sanctuary at
occulta qualitas ; monks, in the same kind, make their refuge to
the shrine of some saint, attributing all they cannot answer, to his
or her miraculous operation. Yea, sometimes, such is monkish
impudence, falsely to assign that to a saint, (though all chronologies
protest against the possibility thereof,) which is the plain and
pregnant effect of nature. Witness when they write,* that Richard
de la Wich, bishop of Chichester, with his fervent prayers obtained,
that the wiches, or salt-springs, should boil out of the earth in
Droitwich in Worcestershire ; which are mentioned and described
by ancient authors, dead before the cradle of the said Richard de la
Wich was made.
95. Theodorus, Archbishop of Canterbury. A.D. 668.
Look we now on the see of Canterbury, and there, after the
death of the last archbishop, and four years' vacancy, we find
that church hath changed her Latin into Greek, I mean, dead
Deus-dedit, into Theodorus his successor, put in by the Pope.
This Theodorus was a Grecian by name and nation, fellow-citizen
with St. Paul, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, Acts xxii. 3 ; and herein
like him,^that "he spake with tongues more than they all," 1 Cor,
xiv, 18 ; had more skill in learned languages than all his brethren,
bishops of England, in that age. Yea, as children, when young,
are permitted to play ; but, when of some years, are sent to learn
their book ; so hitherto the infant church of England may be said
to have lost time for matter of learning, and now Theodorus set it
first to school, brought books to it, and it to books ; erecting a
well-furnished library, and teaching his clergy how to make use
thereof, 96 His Fierceness to keep Easter after the Romish Rite.
A.D. 672-3.
I could wish this Theodorus had had one quality more of St.
Paul ;  that, in matters indifferent, he would have been " made all
* As Camden saith in Worcestershire.
K 2

132 church history of Britain. --v. d, 672-3,
things to all men, that by all means he might save some," 1 Cor,
ix, 22, Whereas he most rigorously pressed conformity to Rome,
in the observation of Easter : and, to th^t purpose, a council was
called at Herad-ford, now Hertford, and not Hereford, as judicious
and industrious bishop Godwin (partial to the place whereof he
himself was bishop) doth mistake it. Here Easter was settled after
the Romish rite ; and we are not sorry for the same, willing rather
it should be any way ordered, than that the reader (with whom I
sympathize, more than grudge my own pains) should be troubled
any longer with such a small-great controversy, low in its own
merit, but heightened with the spleen and passion of such as pro
secuted it. In this synod nine other articles were concluded of, as
they follow here in order, out of Bede, as Stapleton* himself hath
translated them : —
" 1,-That no bishop should ha"ve aught to do in another's dio
cese, but be contented with the charge of the people committed •
unto him.
" 2. That no bishop should molest or any wise trouble such mo
nasteries as were consecrated, and given to God, nor violently take
from them aught that was theirs.
" 3. That monks should not go from place to place, that is to
say, from one monastery to another, unless by the leave of their
own abbot ; but should continue in the obedience which they pro
mised at the time of their conversion and entering into religion,
" 4,, That none of the clergy, forsaking his own bishop, should
run up and down where he list, nor, when he came any whither,
should be received without letters of commendation from his dio
cesan. And, if that he be once received, and will not return, being
warned and called, both the receiver and he that is received shall
incur the sentence of excommunication,
" 5, That such bishops and clerks as are strangers be content with
such hospitality as is given them ; and that it be lawful for none of
them to execute any office of a priest, without the permission of the
bishop in whose diocese they are known to be,
" 6, That whereas, by the ancient decrees, a synod and convoca
tion ought to be assembled twice a year ; yet because divers incon
veniences do happen among us, it hath seemed good to us all, that
it should be assembled once a year, the first day of August, at the
place called Clofeshooh,-f-
" 7. That no bishop should ambitiously prefer himself before
another, but should all acknowledge the time and order of their
consecration, " 8, That the number of bishops should be increased, the number
* Lib. iv. cap. 5. ¦\ See cent. viii. parag. 21.— Edit.

a.d, 673—679. BOOK II, cent. vii. 133
of Christian folk waxing daily greater ; but hereof at this time we
said no further.
" 9. That no man commit advoutry [adultery] nor fornication ;
that no man forsake his own wife, but for only fornication, as the
holy Gospel teacheth. And, if any man put away his wife being
lawfully married unto him, if he will be a right Christian man, let
him be joined to, none other : but let him so continue still sole, or
else be reconciled again to his own wife."
I wonder no mention herein of settling the tonsure of priests, (a
controversy running parallel with that of Easter,) according to the
Roman rite. To conclude : Let not the reader expect the like
exemplification of all articles in following synods, so largely as here
we have presented them. For this synod Stapleton* calls "the
first of the English nation ;" (understand him, whose canons are
completely extant ;) and therefore more patrimony is due to the
heir and eldest son, than to the younger brethren, who shall be con
tent to be confined to their pensions ; I mean, to have their articles
not exemplified, but epitomized hereafter.
97- I^e envieth Vi^'ilfride Bishop of York.
Theodorus, archbishop of Canterbury, beheld Wilfride,' bishop
of York, (one of great parts, and greater passions,) with envious
eyes ; and therefore, to abate his power, he endeavoured that the
diocese of York might be divided. Wilfride, offended hereat, goes
over to Rome to impede the project, and by the way is tossed with
a grievous tempest. It is an ill wind which bloweth no man profit.
He is cast on the shore of Friezland in.Belgia, "where the inhabit
ants, as yet Pagans, were by his preaching converted to Christianity.
This may be observed in this Wilfride, — his Trapspya were better
than his epya, his casual and occasional were better than his inten
tional performances ; which shows plainly, that Providence acted
more vigorously in him, than his own prudence : I mean, when at
ease in wealth, at home, he busied himself in toys and trifles of
ceremonious controversies ; but when (as now and afterwards) a
stranger, and little better than an exile, he effectually promoted
the honour and glory of God.
98. The South Sa.vons, as formerly the Friezlanders, converted
by Wilfride: A.D. 679.
And as it is observed of nightingales, that they sing the sweetest
when farthest from their nests ; so this Wilfride was most diligent
in God's service, when at the greatest disttmce from his own home.
For though returning into England, he returned not unto York, but
* In his tran.-lation of Bede, folio 118.

134. church, history of Britain. a 6. 679.
staid in the Pagan kingdom of the South Saxons, who also, by God's
blessing on his endeavours, were persuaded to. embrace the Christian
faith. 99. The first, the last.
These South Saxons, of all the seven kingdoms, were the last
which submitted themselves to the perfect freedom of God's service ;
and yet their country ,was in situation next to Kent, where the
Gospel was first planted. Herein it was verified, " Many that are
first shall be last, and the last, first." Yea, the Spirit, which
" bloweth where it listeth," observeth no visible rules of motion ;
but sometimes, taking no notice of those in the middle, reaeheth to
them which are farthest off. Indeed Edilwalch [Adelwalch] their
king was a little before christened by the persuasion of Wulphere,
king of Mercia, (who was his godfather, and at his baptizing gave
him for a gift the Isle of Wight, et provinciam* Meanuarorum
in gente Occidentalium Saxonum,) but his country still remained
in Paganism, And although Dicul, a Scot, with some six of his
brethren, had a small monastery at Bosenham -f- in Sussex ; yet they,
rather enjoying themselves, than meddling with others, were more
careful of their own safety, than their neighbours' conversion. And,
indeed, the Pagans neither heeded their life, nor minded their
doctrine, 100, Pagan Obstinacy punished with Famine.
However, these South Saxons paid for their stubbornness, in
standing out so long against the Gospel ; for they always were a
miserable people, and at this present afflicted with a great famine,
caused by three years' drought ; so that forty men in a row, holding
hand in hand, used to throw themselves into the sea, to avoid the
misery of a lingering death. In this woful condition did Wilfride,
bishop of York, find them, when he first preached the Gospel unto
them ; and on that very day wherein he baptized them, (as if God
from heaven had poured water into the font,) he obtained store of
rain, which procured great plenty. Observe (though I am not so
ill-natured as to wrangle with all miracles) an apish iii.itation of
Elijah ; who carried the key of heaven at his girdle, to lock or
unlock it by his prayer ; only, Elijah gave rain after three years and
six months, Wilfride after bare three years ; it being good manners
to come a little short of his betters,
101, South Saxons first taught to fish.
Also, saith my autlior,| he taught the people (who till then knew
not how to catch any fishes but eels) how to take all kind of fish in
* Bede, lib. iv. cap. 13. t In modern times, Bosom. — ^Edit. J Bede, lib. iv. cap.-13.

A,D, 680, BOOK II, CENT, VII, * 135
the sea and rivers. Strange ! that thus long they should live in
ignorance of so useful a trade, being (though infidels) no idiots ;
especially seeing men's capacities come very soon to be of age to
understand their own. profit ; and the examples of their neighbours
might have been tutors unto them. But Wilfride afterward wanted
no hearers, people flocking unto him ; as when Christ made his
auditors his guests, they followed after him, " because they-ate of
the loaves, and were filled," The priests, Eappa, Padda, Bruchelin,
and Oidda, assisted in baptizing the common people; and king
Edilwalch gave Wilfride a piece of land, containing eighty-nine
families, at Selsey, where he erected a bishop's see, since translated
to Chichester, 102, A double good Deed.
Amongst other good deeds, Wilfride freed two hundred and
fifty men and maid- servants, both out of soul-slavery and bodily
bondage. For, having baptized them, he procured their liberty of
their masters ; which they, no doubt, cheerfully embraced, accord
ing to St, Paul's counsel : " Art thou called a servant .'' care not
for it : but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather," 1 Cor, vii, 21.
And thus, by God's blessing, in the space of eighty and two years,
(from five hundred ninety-seven, to six hundred seventy-nine,) was
the whole Saxon heptarchy converted to Christianity, and did never
again relapse to Paganism,
103. Godfathers used to Men of mature Age.
Mention being lately made* of Wulphure's, the Mercian king,
being godfather unto Edilwalch, king of the South Saxons, some
will much admire, that one arrived at years of maturity, able to
render an account of his faith, should have a godfather, which, with
swaddling-clouts, they conceive", belong to infants alone. Yet this
was very fashionable in that age : not only for the greater state, in
kings, princes, and public persons ; but in majorem cautelam,
even amongst private people. For such susceptors were thought to
put an obligation on the credits, and by reflection on the con
sciences, of new Christians, (whereof too many in those days were
baptized out of civil designs,) to walk worthy of their profession,
were it but to save their friends' reputation, who had undertaken
for their sincerity therein.
104. Cadwallader founds a Welsh Hospital at Rome.
Cadwallader, the last king of Wales, wearied out with war,
famine, and pestilence, left his own land, and, with some small
* Paragraph 99.

1.36 CfltTKCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 685  692,
treasure, fled to Alan, king of Littie Britain. But princes are
welcome in foreign parts, when pleasure (not need) brings them
thitiier ; or whilst they are so considerable in themselves as to com
mand their own entertainment. Whereas this distressed king's
company was beheld not only as useless and expensive, but dan
gerous, as likely to draw with it the displeasure of the Saxon kings
(his enemies) on his entertainer. But, it seems, Cadwallader had
better friends in heaven, than any he found on earth ; if it be true,
what confidently is reported, that an angel appeared unto him,
advising him to go to Rome, there to take on him the habit of a
monk, and spend the remainder of his life.* Here he purchased
lands, all by the foresaid angelical direction, built a house, (after
his death converted into an hospital,) and by his will so ordered
it, that certain priests of his own country should for ever have the
rule and government thereof. These were to entertain all Welsh
pilgrims with meat, drink, and lodging, for the space of a month,
and to give them a certain sum of money for a viaticum at their
departure, towards their charges in returning to their own country.
105. Since, injuriously taken from the Welsh.
Many a year did this hospital flourish in good plenty, till the
middle of queen Elizabeth's reign ; when fair the revenues belong
ing, and few the Welsh pilgrims repairing, thereto. This made
father Parsons, with the rest of our English J esuits, cast an envious
eye thereon, who would never be quiet until they had obtained of
pope Gregory XIII. to eject the old British, and unite this
hospital to the English college at Rome. This, no d(mbt, stirred
up the Welsh blood of Dr. Morris, Dr. Lewes, Dr, Smith, and Mr,
Griffith, who, in vain, stickled to the utmost of their power to con
tinue this foundation to their countrymen. In my poor opinion,
seeing an angel is said to direct in the founding and endowing of
this hospital, it was but fit that either the same angel appearing
again, or some other of an higher or, at least, equal dignity and
degree in the celestial hierarchy, should have altered the use and
confirmed the alienation thereof. But of this more hereafter ,-)•
106. 7'hi' ecclesiastical Laws of King Ina. A.D. 692.
Ina, king of the West Saxons, about this time, set forth his
Saxon laws, translated into English by Mr. Lambert. Eleven of
his laws concerned church-matters ; kings in that age understanding
their own power, the pope having not as yet intrenched on their
just prerogative. These constitutions were concluded on by the
king, through the persuasion of Kenred his father, Hedda and
* Lewes Owen's " Running Register," page 17 . -f Vide annum Domini 1569.

A.D. 692. BOOK II. CENT, VII, 137
Erkenwald his bishops, and all his aldermen and wise senators of
the people. Let none wonder that Ina, in his preface to these
laws-, termeth Erkenwald his bishop, whose see of London was
properly under the king of the East Saxons. For he might call
him his in affection, whose diocese was in another king's possession ;
Ina highly honouring Erkenwald for his piety, and, therefore,
inviting him (forward of himself to all goodness) to be present at
the passing of these laws. Besides, some assign Surrey as part of
the kingdom of the West Saxons.* Probably, at this present Ina's
puissance sallied over the Thames, and London might be reduced
into his honorary protection. But see here a breviate of his church-
laws : —
1. That ministers observe their appointed form of living,-f-
2, That every infant be baptized within thirty days after his
birth, on the penalty of his parents forfeiting thirty shillings ; and,
if the child chance to die before he be baptized, all his estate,
3, If the servant doth any work on the Lord's day at the
master's command, the servant shall be acquitted,:]: and the master
pay thirty shillings. But if he did that work without his master's
command, let him be beaten, or redeem it with money, &c. A
priest offending in this kind was to be double punished,
4, The first-fruits of seeds were to be paid to the cliurch on the
feast of St, Martin, on the penalty of forty shillings, besides the
payment of the said first-fruits twelve times over,
5, If any deserving stripes shall fly to a church, his stripes shall
be forgiven him. If guilty of a capital crime, he shall enjoy his
life, but make recompence according to what is right and due,
6, Fighters in the king's court, to lose their goods, and to be at
the king's mercy for their life. Such as fight in the church, to pay
one hundred and twenty shillings. If in the house of an alderman,
sixty shillings, &c,
7. Such as falsify their witness or pawn in the presence of the
bishop, to pay one hundred and twenty shillings,
8. Several penalties of moneys imposed on those that should
kill a stranger,
9, Such as are breakers of the peace in the town of the king or
archbishop, puni.shable with one hundred and twenty shillings ; in
the town of an alderman, eighty shillings ; in the town of one of
the king's servants, sixty shillings, &c,
10. First-fruits of all seeds were to be paid by house-keepers
• UssERii De Brit. Ecc. Primord. page 394. t SiB Henry Spelman's
" Councils " page 182, &c. I Latin, liber esto, may not only import a freedom from
fault bnt, also, that sach a slave-servant should be manumissed from servitude. See the
following 113th paragraph.

138 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 692  694,
as due to that place wherein they themselves were resident on the
day of Christ's nativity,
11, What sums of money are to be paid by such who have
killed their god-fathers or god-sons.
In this last law, express provision is made, episcopi filius si
occidatur, " in case the son of a bishop be killed ;" a passage
impertinently alleged, by some, for the proof of bishops married in
that age ; seeing neither sons natural nor conjugal, but only
spiritual, at the font, are thereby intended. Now let the learned
in the law render the reason, why murder in that age was not
punishable with death, but might be bought off with money,
107. Women present at' the great Council of Becanceld.
A.D. 694.
A great council (for so it is titled) was held at Becanceld* by
Withred king of Kent, and Bertuald archbishop of Britain, so
called therein ; (understand him of Canterbury ;) wherein many
things were concluded in favour of the church. Five Kentish
abbesses, namely, Mildred, Etheldred, .^te, Wilnolde, and Heres-
wide, were not only present, but subscribed their names and
crosses to the constitutions concluded therein. And we may ob
serve, that their subscriptions are not only placed before and above
all presbyters, but also above Botred^f a bishop, (but of what diocese
not specified,) present in this great council. It seems it was the
courtesy of England to allow the upper hand to the weaker sex, as
in their sitting, so in their subscriptions.
108. Romish Brags of St. Audre's Chastity.
We will conclude this century with the miraculous holiness of
Ethelreda, j or St. Audre ; professing at first to be afraid to adven
ture on so high a subject, disheartened in reading a popish author
to rant so in her commendation : " Let the fabulous Greeks talk no
more of their chaste Penelope, who in the twenty years' absence of
her husband Ulysses lived continently, in despite of the tempting
importunity of many noble wooers ; and let J,he proud Romans
cease to brag of their fair Lucretia, that chose rather to become the
bloody instrument of her own death, than to live after the violent
ravishment of her honour ; and let all the world turn their minds to
admire, and their tongues and pens to sound the praises of the
Christian virtues and chastity of our blessed Ethelreda,"§ &c. But,
leaving the bubbles of his rhetoric to break of themselves, on serious
" Su]3po9ed to be Beckenham in Kent. — Edit. t Sm Henry Spelman's
" Coimcils," page 190. J Adelfrida, or St. Atildry. — Edit. § " The Flowers
of the Saints," written by Jerome Porter.

A.D. 694— 696. BOOK II. cent, vn, 139
considerations we are so far from admiring, it is more than we can
do to excuse, this St, Audre, as her story is reported.
109. Twice a Wife, still a Maid.
This Audre was daughter to Annas king of the East Angles, and
from her infancy a great affecter of virginity. However, she was
over-persuaded to marry one Tombert, prince of the Fen-land, with
whom she lived three years in the bands of unexperienced wedlock,
both, by mutual consent, abstaining from carnal copulation. After
his death, so importunate were her friends with her, that she married
with Egfride king of Northumberland.
110. Pretended Chastity real Injustice.
Strange, that, being once free, she would again entangle herself;
and stranger, that, being married, she utterly refused to afford her
husband what the apostle calls " due benevolence," 1 Cor. vii. 3,
though he by importunate intreaties requested the same. Being
¦i' benevolence," it was uncharitable to deny it ; being " due," it
was unjust to detain it ; being both, she was uncharitable and unjust
in the same action. Was not this a mockage of marriage, (if in
that age counted a sacrament,) — solemnly to give herself unto her
husband, whom formerly she had passed away by a previous vow of
virginity .'' At last she wrested leave from her husband to live a
nun in the monastery of Ely, which she built and endowed. After
her entrance therein she ever wore woollen, and never linen* about
her ; which whether it made her more holy or less cleanly, let others
decide. Our author-f- tells us, that, in memory of her, our English
women are wont to wear about their necks a certain chain made of
fine small silk, which they call " Ethelred's chain." I must profess
myself not so well acquainted with the sex, as either to confute or
confirm the truth thereof. At last she died of a swelling in her
throat, and was buried in Ely.
111. Her miraculous Monument of Marble.
Sixteen years her corpse slept in a private .grave near her own
convent ; when it came into the head of bishop Wilfride and her
friends, to bestow on her a more costly burial. But, alas ! the soft
and fenny ground of Ely-Isle (where scarce a stone big enough to
bury a worm under it) afforded not a tomb-stone for that purpose.
Beino- thus at a loss, their want is said:}: to be miraculously sup
plied ; for under the ruined walls of Grantchester, or Cambridge, a
coffin was found, a.d. 696, with a cover correspondent, both of
* Bede Eccles. Hist. lib. iv. cap. 19. t Jerome Porter in his " Flowers of the
Saints," and Harpsfield, sec. vii. cap. 24. t Beda Eccles. Hist. lib. iv. cap. 19.

140 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 6J7.
white marble, which did fit her body so exactiy, as if (which one
may believe was true) it was made for it. Herein was Audre's
corpse stately enshrined, and for many years superstitiously adored.
112. Confuted by a credible Witness.
But Johan. Caius, fellow of Gonville-Hall, within ten miles of
Ely, at the dissolution of abbeys,"being reputed no great enerhy to
the Romish religion, doth on his own knowledge report, in his
Histor. Cantab, lib. i. page 8 : Quamquam illius cBvi cescitas
admirationem in eo paret, quod regnante Hen. nuper VIII.
dirutum idem sepulchrum ex lapide communi fuit, non, ut Beda
narrat, ex albo marmore. " Although the blindness of that age
bred admiration therein, yet when the tomb was plucked down in
the reign of king Henry VIII. it was found made of common stone,
and not of white marble, as Bede reporteth." Thus was her tomb
degraded and debased one degree ; which makes the truth of all the
rest to be suspected. And if all popish miracles were brought to
the test, they would be found to shrink from marble to common
stone, nay, from stone to dirt and untempered mortar.
113. The Council at Berghamsteed. A.D. Cd'J.
It is needless here to insert the canons concluded on at Bergham
steed, by Withred king of Kent, and Bertuald archbishop of Can
terbury. First. Because topical, confined to that small kingdom.
Secondly. Hard to be understood, as depending on some Saxon law-
terms, whereon conjectures are the best comment. Thirdly, Such
as are understood are obsolete ; namely, If a master gave his servant
flesh to eat on a fasting-day, his servant was, on the refusal and com
plaint thereof, to be made free,* Some punishments therein were
very absurdly proportioned ; namely, six shillings, or a whipping,
was to be paid by that servant who ate flesh on fasting-days ; and
just the same penalty was inflicted on him if convicted of offering
oblations to the devil ; as if equal their offences. And be it remem
bered, that this council was kept cum viris quibusdam militaribus,
" some soldiers being present thereat ;" and yet the fifth canon
therein was made to punish adultery, in men of their profession.
114, Wilfride restored to York, and outed again.
As for bishop Wilfride, whom lately we mentioned so active
about the removal of St, Audre's corpse, he was about this time
restored to his bishopric of York, Whereupon he fairly quitted the
bishopric of Selsey, which Edilwalch, and after Cedwall, kings of
Sussex, bestowed upon him, and returned to York, It is much
* Sir Henry Spelman's " Coimcils," page 1904, &c.

A,D, <01, BOOK II, CENT, VIII," 141
this rolling stone should gather so much moss, and get wealth
enough to found two monasteries ; who sometimes had three bishop
rics together, — York, Lindisfern, and Hagulsted ; sometimes none
at all, living many years together in exile. And, indeed, he con
tinued not long in York ; but, being expelled thence again, was for
a time made bishop of Leicester, Nor was the king of Northum
berland content with his bare expulsion, but also he would have him
confess the same legal, and resign it according to the late decrees
which the archbishop of Canterbury had made against him. But
more hereof, God willing, in the next century.

SECTION III.
THE EIGHTH CENTURY,
THOM^ ADAMIDI, SENATORI LONDINENSI,
MECiENATI MEO.
In hkc taiita rerum vicissitudine, quis, qui te uovit,
constantiam tuam non suspicit ? Undique turbatur ; tu
interim tibimet ipsi tota tranquillitas, cum Deo, et
bonis, et studiis tuis vacas.
Perlegas, quEeso, hanc centuriain, vel eo nomine,
quod funera tui et mei Bedse exhibeat: " Tuum" dico,
quia haud ita pridem sub auspiciis patronatus tui, typis
Saxonicis pulcheri-imus prodiit : " Meum," quo authore
(vel potius authoribus) in hoc opere toties usus sum.
Pluribus viro occupatissimo molestus esse nolo. Vale,
1. Wilfride persecuted afresh by Alfride King of Northumber
land. A.D. 701.
Painful Wilfride was no sooner out of one trouble, but he
was engaged in another. Hereupon Harpsfield * calls him " the
Athanasius of that age ; " only, saith he, " that father was perse
cuted by heretics, and this Wilfride by catholics." He might
have added, that Athanasius was troubled for essential and doctruial
truths whilst Wilfride was vexed about ceremonious and circum
stantial matters. And now Alfride, who succeeded Egfride king
of Northumberland, powerfully opposed him, being the paramount
* Hist. Eccles. Angl. page 95.

142 CHITRCH HISTORY OF BBITAIN. A.D. 70o.
prince and, in effect, monarch of the Saxon heptarchy. For, as we
have noted before, amongst these seven kings, as amongst the
planets, there was ever one sun that outshined all the rest. This
Alfride, joining with Bertuald archbishop of Canterbury, called a
council,* and summoned Wilfride, who appeared there accordingly.
But being demanded whether he would obey the decrees of
Theodore late archbishop* of Canterbury, he warily returned, that
he was willing to obey them so far as they were consonant to the
holy canons.-)- This answer was not satisfactory to his adversaries,
as having in it too little of a grant to please them, and yet not
enough of a denial to give them a just offence. Then they sought
by fair means to persuade him, because much trouble had arisen in
the church about him, voluntarily to resign under hand and seal his
possessions and archbishopric ; affirming, it would be a glorious act
to prefer the public good before his private profit. But Wilfride
persisted loyal to his own innocence, affirming such a cession might
be intei-preted a confession of his guiltiness ; £^nd appealed from
that council to his Holiness ; and this tough old man, being seventy
years of age, took a journey to Rome, there to tug it out with his
adversaries. 2. Wilfride appealeth to Rome, and is acquitted. A.D. 705.
They accused him of contumacy, that he had contemptuously
denied canonical obedience to the archbishop of Canterbury. He
cleared himself, and complained that he had been unjustly deprived,
and that two monasteries of his own founding, Ripon and Hexham,
were violently detained from him. No fewer than seventy several
councils:]: (understand them so many several meetings of the con
clave) were -assembled in four months, and employed only or
chiefly about deciding of this difference. Belike, there were intri
cacies therein more than are specified in authors, (knots to employ
so many cunning fingers to untie them,) or else the court of Rome
was well at leisure. The sentence of pope John VII. passed on
his side ; and his opposers were sent home with blame and shame,
whilst Wilfride returned with honour, managing his success with
much moderation ; equally commendable, that his innocence kept
him from drooping in affliction, and his humility from insulting in
prosperity. 3. He is at last restored, and diefJi in Peace.
Bertuald, archbishop of Canterbury, Iiumbly entertained the
pope's letters in behalf of Wilfride, and welcomed his person at
his return. But Alfride, king of Northumberland, refused to
• Malmesb. De Gestis Pont. lib. iii. t See Sir Henry Spelman in Conciliis
anno 701. J Septuaginta conciliabula coacte.— Malmesbury, ut prius.

A.D. 705. BOOK II. ct<;nt. viii. 143
re-seat him in his bishopric, stoutly maintaining, that " it was
against reason to communicate with a man twice condemned by the
council of England, notwithstanding all apostolic commands in
favour of him."* But soon after he fell dangerously sick, — a con
sequent of, and therefore caused by, his former stubbornness ; as
those that construe all events to the advantage of the Roman see,
interpret this a punishment on his obstinacy. Suppled with sick
ness, he confessed his fault ; and so Wilfride was restored to his
place : whose life was like an April-day, (and a day thereof is a
month for variety,) often interchangeably fair and foul ; and, after
many alterations, he set fair in full lustre at last. Being forty-five
years a bishop, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, he died, and
was buried in his monastery at Ripon. And as he had been a
great traveller when living, so his bones took one journey after his
death, being translated, by Odo archbishop of Canterbury,-)- from
Ripon to Canterbury ; in reparation, perchance, for those many
wrongs which the predecessors of Odo had done to this Wilfride.
Let not therefore the papists vaunt immoderately of the unity of
their church, neither let them uncharitably insult on our unhappy
differences ; seeing, by the confession of their own authors, there
was digladiabile odium, "hatred," as one may say, "even to
daggers' drawing," betwixt Wilfride and certain principal persons,
conceived signal for sanctity in that age, and since put into the
" Calendar of their Saints." And it is as sure as sad a truth, that
as long as corruption resides in the bosoms of the best, there will
be dissensions, inflamed by malicious instruments, betwixt pious
people, which otherwise agree in main matters of religion.
4. Sherborne taken out of Winchester Bishopric.
The bishopric of Sherborne was taken out of the bishopric of
Winchester by king Ina, and Adelme his kinsman made first
bishop thereof. I find no compensation given to the see of
Winchester for this great canton cut of it ; as, in after-ages, when
Ely was taken out of Lincoln diocese, the manor of Spaldwiek in
Huntingtonshire was given by king Henry I. to Lincoln, in repara
tion of its loss, for so much of the jurisdiction taken from it.
But at this time, when Sherborne was parted from Winchester, the
damage to Winchester, accruing thereby, was not considerable ;
episcopal jurisdiction in that age not being beneficial, but rather
•• Contra rationem, hom.ini Jam bis a toto Anglorum consilio damnato, propter qu<B-
libet apostolica scripta communicare. — Malmesbury De Gestis Pontijicum, lib. iii.
+ Godwin, in his Catalogue of the archbishops of York, page 11 : — Viri illi q-jos sane-
tissimos celebrat antiquitas, Theodorus, Bertualdus, Johannes Bosa, et Hilda Abbatissa,
digladiabili odio impetierunt Wilfridum Deo acceptissimum.

1"44 church history of britain. a.d. 70o.
burdensome. So that Winchester might turn her complaints into
thankfulness, being thus eased of her cumbersome greatness. This
Adelme, bishop of Sherborne, was the first of our English nation
who wrote in Latin ; * and the first that taught Englishmen to
make Latin verse, according to his promise : —
Primus ego in pairiam Tnecum modo vita supersit,
Aonio rediens deducam vertice Musas.
" If life me last, that I do see that native soil of mine,
From Aon top I'U first with me bring down the Mnses nine."
He wrote many works ; one of Virginity,-)- another of the
Celebration of Easter : and about this time, the libraries of monas
teries began to be replenished with books, many being written in
that age. 5. Multitude of Books created by a Mistake.
By the way, one mistake (I could not have discerned it myself,
had not a learned -writerj discovered it unto me) makes books of
this age more numerous, and the kings therein more learned, than
indeed they were : namely, because every Latin charter, granted by
any king to a monastery, is ternTed by the Saxon writers, liber, or
libellus, " a book." Wherefore, when they tell us of such and such
books, made by the Saxon kings ; understand we most of them of
their charters of donation. In which sense king Edgar, who, some
two hundred years after this time, founded as many monasteries as
weeks in the year, (and consequently made "as many charters,) was a
voluminous writer of no less than fifty-two books. And yet this
large acceptation of books will not make up the number, which Bale
and Pits pretend they have seen in this age : a vanity in them to
affect a title-learning ; (though a stationer's apprentice, after some
weeks' experience, might excel them therein;) and the greater,
because many imaginary authors, which they make as if they had
seen, either were never extant, or long since extinguished.
6. The Numerosity of Noble Saints in this Age.
But the multitude of books increaseth not our marvel so much as
the numerosity of saints, such as they were, in this age ; whereof
four parts of five (according to the heraldry of such who wrote their
Lives) were of royal or noble extraction. It addeth to the wonder,
because St. Paul saith, " Not many noble are called ;" 1 Cor. i.
26 ; except any confine that observation of the apostle to times of
persecution, whereas Christianity now in England flourished in all
peace and prosperity. But, to render their noble parentage at this
* Camden's Britannia in "Wiltsliire. -f Bede. } Spelman in Conciliis, page 210.

A.D. 705  708. BOOK II. CENT VIII. 14.5
time the more probable, know, that, under the Saxon heptarchy,
royalty was increased seven-fold in England, which must beget a
proportionable multiplication of nobility attending them. Yet,
when all is done, as the Jewish Rabbins, on their bare tradition,
without ground from Scripture, make Ruth the daughter to Eglon,
king of Moab, merely to make the descent of their king David from
her the more illustrious ; so it is suspicious, that, to advance the
temporal reputation of these saints, such monks as wrote their Lives
causelessly clarified and refined many of their bloods into noble
extraction. However, if truly pious indeed, such saints have the
best nobility in the Scripture-sense : " These were more noble,
because they received the word with all readiness of mind," Acts
xvii. 11. 7. St. Guthlake the flrst Saxon Herm't. A.D. 7O8.
Of these noble saints, St. G uthlake, a Benedictine monk, was the
first Saxon that professed a hermitical life in England ; to which
purpose he chose a fenny place in Lincolnshire, called Crowland,
that is, " the raw or crude land ;" so " raw," indeed, that before
him no man could digest to live therein. Yea, the devils are said
to claim this place as their peculiar, and to call it " their own land."*
Is any place, but the prison of hell, properly theirs ? Yet wonder
not at their presumption, pretending this spot of ground to be theirs
whose impudence durst affirm, that God had given them " all the
world, and the glory thereof," Matt. iv. 8. Could those infernal
fiends, tortured with immaterial fire, take any pleasure, or make
any ease to themselves, by paddling here in puddles, and dabbling
in the moist, dirty marshes ? However, Guthlake took the boldness
to " enter common" with them, and erect his cell in Crowland.
But if his prodigious Life may be believed, ducks and mallards do
not now flock thither faster in September, than herds of devils came
about him ; all whom he is said victoriously to have vanquished.
But, whom Satan's power could not foil, his policy had almost
destroyed, by persuading Guthlake to fast forty days and nights
together, after the example of Moses and Elias :f till, finding this
project destructive to nature, he was forced, in his own defence, to
take some necessary but very sparing refection. He died in his own
cell ; and Pega, his sister, an anchoritess, led a solitary life, not far
from him. 8. A swinish Conceit of a Monk.
Eoves also, a poor plain man, was eminent in this age : a shep
herd say some ; a neatherd, others ; swineherd, say the third sort,
• Flores Sanctorum, written by Jerome PoRTER,in the Life of St. Guthlake, page 348^
t Idem, page 347.
Vol. I. L

146 CHUJICH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. ^09.
and that most probable. For whilst he lived in AVorCestershire, not
far from the River Avon, the virgin Mary is said to have appeared
unto him, even where (farewell all good tokens !) " he found a lost
sow with seven pigs sucking upon her ;"* and to have given order,
that in that very place a monastery should be erected to her honour.
The beastly mojik, who made this vision, had even learned as far as
Virgil's ^neids ; whence he fetched the platform of this pretty
conceit, a place, so marked, being foretold fortunate ' to .^neas, to
found Alba (near Rome) therein.
lAtoreis f ingens inventa sub ilicibus sus
Triginta capitura fiBtus enixa Jacebit
Alba solo recubans, albi drcmn ubera nati :
Hie locus urbis erit, requies ubi certa laborum.
* ** Where imder oaks on shore there shall be foimd
A mighty sow, all white, cast on the gi-oimd,
"With thirty sucking pigs j that 'place is 'sign'd
To build your town, and ease your wearied mind."
Here the monk, mutatis mutandis, (but, principally, shrinking the
number of the pigs from thirty to seven, as more mystical,) applies
the apparition to his purpose. A pretty parallel, that Pagan Rome;
and Popish superstition, (if hue-and-cry should be made after
them,) might be discovered by the same marks ! This gave the
first motion to the foundation of Evesham abbey, (so called from
Eoves aforesaid,) first built in that s6w-place.
9. The first Synod for Image-worship in England. A.D. ^09.
But the building thereof was hastened by a second., more neat
and cleanly, apparition of the virgin Mary in the same place ; who
is pretended to have showed herself, with two maiden attendants,
to Egwin, bishop of Worcester, prompting him to expedite a struc
ture therein.! Egwin posts presentiy to Rome, and makes faith of
this vision to Constantine the pope ; who, convinced in his judgment
of the truth thereof, dispatcheth his commands to Brightwall, arch
bishop of Canterbury, to assemble a synod at Auncester in Worces
tershire, to promote the building of an abbey in that place : wliich
was done accordingly, and the same was bountifully endowed by
Offa, and other Mercian kings, with very large reyenues. And not
long after, another synod, saith my author,§ was called at London,
to introduce into England the doctrine of image-worship, not heard
of before, and now first beginning to appear in the public practice
thereof, • Godwin in Catalogo Episcoporum, page 501. f ^ncidos, Hb. iii. J See
Sir Henry Spelman's "CoimcUs," page 210. § Magdeburgenses Cent.
sed ex recentioribus authoribus, Nauclero, vix. et Bnla:o.

A.D, 709  718, BOOK 11. CENT. VIII. 147
10. Binnius and Baronius sullen, and why.
Here we expected that Binnius and Baronius, two of.the Romish
champions, should have been both joyful at and thankful for this
London synod, in favour of image-worship, — a point so beneficial to
the Popish coffers. But behold them, contrary to our expectation,
sad and sullen ! insomuch as they cast away the credit of this synod,
as of no account, and disdain to accept the same. For, say they,
long before, by Augustine the monk, worship of images was intro
duced into England. But let them show us when and where the
same was done. We deny not but that Augustine brought in with
him, in a banner, the image of Christ on the cross,* very lively de
pictured ; but this makes nothing to the worshipping thereof, Vast
the distance, in their own nature, betwixt the historical use and
adoration of pictures ; though, through human corruption, the
former, in after-ages, hath proved introductory to the latter. Nor
was it probable, that Augustine would deliver doctrine point-blank
against Gregory that sent him, who most zealously inveigheth against
all worshipping of images.-)- Wherefore, let Binnius and Baronius
make much of this London synod for image -worship, or else they
must be glad to accept of later councils in England to prove the
same, seeing before this time none can be produced tending
thereunto. 11. The Miracle-working of St. John of Beverley. A.D. 718,
Now also flourished another noble-born saint, namely, John of
Beverley, archbishop of York, a learned man, and who gave the
education to one more learned than himself,^ I mean, Venerable
Bede, Now, though John Baptist did none, John x. 41, yet
John of Beveriey is said to have done many, miracles. But, did
not the monk over-do, who reports, in his relation, that this John of
Beverley, by making the sign of the cross on a dumb youth, with a
scald head, not only restored him to speech and a head of hair, but
to elegant discourse and brave curled locks ? § Some years before
his death, he quitted his archbishopric, and retired himself to his
monastery at Beverley, where he died ; and which afterwards king
Athelstan made (I will not call it "a sanctuary," because un
hallowed with the largeness of the liberties allowed thereunto, but)
a place of refuge for murderers and malefactors : so that tha f reed-
stool in Beverley became " the seat of the scornful ; " and such
heinous offenders as could recover the same, did therein securely
defy all legal prosecution against them.
• * See our second Book, cent. vi. parag. 10. t In liis epistle ad Serenum
Massiliensem. X Bede acknowledgeth that he received the order of priesthood
from him 5 " Flowers of the Lives of English Saints," page 416.
L 2

148 CHURCH HIS-fORY OF BRITAIN. A,D.718 — 726.
12. Kings and Queens turn Monks and Nuns.
About this time it ^ew fashionable with kings and queens in
England to renounce the world, and turn monks and nuns,
commonly in convents of their own foundation. Surely, it is not
only lawful, but commendable, for men to leave the world before it
leaveth them, by "being crucified thereunto, and using it as if they
used it not," Gal. vi. 14. But let others dispute, whether this
properly be renouncing the world, — for Christians to bury their
parts and persons in a cloister, which, put forth to the bank, would
turn to good account for church and commonwealth. David, I
dare say, as holy a man as any of these, lived a king, and died a
king. The swaying of his sceptre did not hinder the tuning of his
harp ; his dignity being no impediment to his devotion. And
whilst these kings, tuming monks, pretended to go out of the
world, a world of spiritual pride and superstition went into them,
if (as it is too, too suspicious) they had a high opinion to merit
heaven thereby.
13. King .Tna's Fine and Rent to the Church. A.D. 726.
Amongst the Saxon princes "^^ho thus renounced the world, in
this and the next century, these nine following were the principal :
— 1. Kinigilsiis, king of West Saxons ; 2. Ina, king of West
Saxons ; 3. Ceolwolfus, king of Northumberland ; 4. Edbertus,
king of Northumberland ; 5. Ethelredus, king of Mercia ;
6. Kenredus, king of Mercia ; 7- Offa, king of East Saxons ;
8. Sebbi, king of East Saxons ; 9. Sigeburtus, king of East
Angles. Of all whom king Ina was paramount for his reputed
piety ; who, accounting himself to hold all that he had of God, his
Landlord-in-chief, paid not only a great fine, but settled a constant
rent on the church, then accounted the receiver-generaL of the God
of heaven. Great fine — For, beside his benefaction to other, he
bestowed on the church of Glastonbury two thousand six hundred
forty pounds weight,* in the utensils thereof, of massy gold and
silver. So that while some admire at his bounty, why he gave so
much ; others wonder more at his wealth, how he got so much ;
being in that age wherein such dearth of coin, and he (though,
perchance, the honorary monarch of England) but the effectual
king of the West Saxons. The " constant rent " he settled were
the Peter -pences-)- to the pope of Rome, to be paid out of every
fire-house in England, (a small sum in the single drops, but swell
ing great in the general channel,) which, saith Polydore Virgil,
this . king Ina began in England. I say Polydore Virgil, (and let
' Sir H. Spelman iu his " Coimcils," page 229. f Antiq. Brit. fol. 68.

A.D. 726  730. BOOK II. CENT. VIII. 149
every artificer be believed in his own art,) seeing, as he confesseth,
this place was his first prefennent in England, which brought him
over to be the pope's publican, or collector of that contribu
tion. Afterwards this king went to Rome, and there built a
school for the English, and a church adjoining unto it, to bury
their dead.
14. Winnifride an Englishman converteth the Germans.
J.Z). 730.
But, if my judgment mistake not, Winnifride, an Englishman,
was better employed, being busied, about this time, to convert to
Christ the provinces of Franconia and Hessia in Germany. True
it is, the English were indebted to the Dutch, from them formerly
deriving their original, by natural generation ; and now none will
censure them for incest, if the son begat his parents ; and this
Winnifride, descended from the Dutch, was an active instrument of
their regeneration, 15, Bede, though sent for, went not to Rome.
Now, although many in this age posted from England to Rome,
possessed with a high opinion of the holiness thereof ; yet, sure I
am, one of the best judgment (namely, Venerable Bede) was often
sent for, by pope Sergius himself, to come to Rome ; yet, for aught
we can find, never went thither : which, no doubt, he would not
have declined, if sensible of any transcendent sanctity in that place,
to advantage the dwellers therein the nearer to heaven. This Bede
was born in the kingdom of Northumberland, at Girwy,* now
Yarrow, in the bishopric of Durham, brought up by St, Cuthbert ;
and was the profoundest scholar in his age, for Latin, Greek,
philosophy, history, divinity, mathematics, music, and what not .''
Homilies of his making were read in his life-time, in the Christian
churches ; a dignity afforded to him alone. We are much behold
ing to his Ecclesiastical History, written by him, and dedicated to
Ceolwolfus, king of Northumberland. A worthy work, indeed ;
though, in some respect, we could heartily wish that his faith had
been less, and his charity more. Faith less — In believing and
reporting so many prodigious miracles of the Saxons ; except any
will say, that this in him was not so much vitium hominis as
seculi. Charity more — I mean to the Britons, being no friend to
them, and over-partial to his own countryinen, slightly and slen
derly touching British matters, only thereof to made a pedestal,
the more fairly to rear and advance his Saxon History thereupon,
* Camden's Brit, page 743,

150 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 730.
16. Bede probahly went out of his Cell.
Some report, that Bede never went out of his cell, but lived and
died therein. If so, the scholars of Cambridge will be very sorry,
because thereby deprived of their honour, by Bede's living once
in their university ; whose house they still show, betwixt St. John's
college and Round-church, or St. Sepulchre's. Surely, Bede was
not fixed to his cell, as the cockle to his shell, seeing no observance
of his Benedictine Order imposed such a penance upon him.
Indeed, his own words, -in the end of his book, give some counte
nance to their conjecture of his voluntary confinem'ent, speaking of
himself, Cunctum tempus vites in ejusdem monasterii habitatione
peragens. But his expression imports only his general residence
therein, that he was no gadder abroad, or discontinuer from his
convent, for a long time ; though he might for some short space
make his abode elsewhere. Thus, when of the prophetess it is said,
" that she departed not from the temple," Luke ii. 37 ; we under
stand it not so as if she never went out thereof, but that, for the
main, she spent the most of her time therein.
17- Bede, why surnamvd Venerabilis.
He is generally surnamed Venerable ; but why, authors differ
therein. Some say, a dunce-monk, being to make his epitaph,
was non-plused to make that dactyle, which is only of the quorum
in the hexameter, and therefore at night left the verse thus
gaping,— Hie sunt infossd BedtB^  ossa ;
till he had consulted with his pillow, to fill up tha hiatus. But,
returning in the morning, an angel (we have often heard of their
singing, see now of their poetry !) had filled up the chasma with
Venerabilis. Others, disclaiming this conceit, assign this reason :
Because Bede's Homilies were, as aforesaid, read in all chm-ches in
his life-time,* plain Bede was conceived too little, and saint Bede
too much ; because, according to Popish (but not St. Paul's)
principles, saint is too much flattery to be given to any whilst
alive ; Solon allowing none happy, and this mine author none, in
this degree, holy, before their death. Wherefore Venerable was.
found out as an expedient to accommodate the difference, luckily
hitting the mark, as a title neither too high nor too low ; just even
to so good a man and great a scholar, whilst alive. This is observ
able in all those who have written the Life of Bede, — that, whereas
such Saxon saints as had not the tenth of his sanctity, nor hun
dredth part of his learning, are said to have wrought miracles
ad lectoris nauseam ; not one single miracle is reported to have
* Flores Sanctoi'um, in the Life of Bede, page-528.

A.D, 730 — ^735. BOOK II, CENT, Vllf, 151
been done by Bede, Whereof, under favour, I conceive this the
reason : Monks, who wrote the Lives of many of their saints, knew
little more of many of them than their bare names, and times
wherein they lived ; which made them historicB vacua miraculis
supplere, " to plump up the hollowness of their history witii
improbable miracles," swelling the bowels of their books with
empty wind, in default of sufficient solid food to fill them.
Whereas Bede's Life affording plenty and variety of real and
effectual matter, the writer thereof (why should" a rich man be a
thief or liar ?) had no temptation (I am sure, no need) to farse his
book with fond miracles, who might rather leave than lack of
material passages therein.
18. Bede's last Blaze, and the Going-oat of the Candle of his
Life. A. D. 734.
One of the last things he did was the translating of the Gospel
of St. John into English. When death seized on him, one of his
devout scholars, whom he used for his secretary or amanuensis, com
plained, " My beloved master, there remains yet one sentence
unwritten." " Write it, then, quickly," replied Bede, and, sum
moning all his spirits together, like the last blaze of a candle going
Out, he indited it, and expired. T]ius, God's children are immortal
while tteir Father hath any thing for them to do on earth ; and
death, " that beast, cannot overcome and kill them, till first they
have finished their testimony," Rev, xi, 7 ; which done, like silk
worms, they willingly die when their web is ended, and are com
fortably entombed in their own endeavours. Nor have I aught else
to observe of Bede, save only this : A foreign ambassador, some
two hundred years since, coining to Durham, addressed himself
.first to the high and sumptuous shrine of St, Cuthbert, " If thou
beest a saint, pray for me ;" then, coming to the plain, low, and
little tomb of Bede, " Because," said he, ^' thou art a saint, good
Bede, pray for me,"
19. The general Viciousness of the Saxons, how occasioned.
A.D. 735.
Now began the Saxons to be infected with an universal vicious
ness. The cause whereof was, Ethelbald, king of Mercia, contemned
•marriage ; and, though abstinence from it in some cases may be
commendable, the contempt thereof always is dangerous, — yea,
damnable, as it proved in him. For his unlawful lust made no
difference of places or persons, castles or cloisters : common
kerchief or nuns' vail, all came alike to him. But 0 the legislative
power which is in a great prince's example h His subjects presumed

152 ¦ CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 735—747.
they might not only impune but legitime, follow his precedent ;
which made the land swarm with wickedness.
20. The Effect of Boniface's Letter to the King of Mercia.
This caused the letter of Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, (an
Englishman bom, and lately very eminent for converting the
Germans to Christianity,) to king Ethelbald ; wherein he observed the
prudent method of St. Paul to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. xi. 2, 22.
As the apostle" first commended them, — " I praise you, brethren,
that you remember me in all things," &c. — so he began with a
large encomium of king Ethelbald 's charity and bountiful alms
giving. Hence, seasonably, he descended to his faults : " Shall I
praise you in this ? I praise you not ;" and soundly and roundly
told him of his notorious incontinency ; proving, both by Scripture
and reason, the heinousness of that sin, and heavy judgments of
God upon it. In fine : this wrought so far on the king's good
nature, that he not only reformed himself, bi^t, with Cuthbert
archbishop of Canterbury, called a solemn synod at Cloves-Ho, or
Clives-at-Ho, for the reformation of others, a. d. 747-
21. Cliffy in Kent probably the ancient Cloves-Ho.
But where this Cloves-Ho should be, authors make much inquiry.
It is generally conceived the sSme with Cliff, near Gravesend, in
Kent. Though a learned author* will hardly consent tiiereunto;
and his intimations to the contrary are of no great validity. For,
whereas he allegeth, that this Cliff is in Kent, whilst Ethelbald,
who called this synod, was king of Mercia ; l.e minded not, mean
time, (what, no doubt, he knew well,) that this Ethelbald is styled,
in the letter of Boniface,f archbishop of Mentz, unto him, inclyta
Anglorum imperii sceptra gubernans, " ruling the famous sceptre
of the English empire." And whereas he objecteth, " the site of
that place inconvenient for such an assembly ;" it seems fit enough,
(though confessed dirty in winter, and unhealthy at all times,) for
the vicinity thereof to London and Canterbury,^the residing
places of the king and archbishop, the two persons in this synod
most concerned.! Nor doth the modern meanness of the place
make any thing against it ; it might be a gallant in that age, which
is a beggar now-a-days. And though, we confess, there be many.
Cliffs in the inland shires, (properiy belonging to Mercia,) yet the
addition of ho, or haw, speaketh the maritime positure thereof. So
• Camden's Brit, in Kent. t Extant iu Sir H. Spelman's "Councils,"
page 233. J " Cliif-at-Hoo," says Rapin, " is a town on a rock near Rochester.
Bnt the presence of the king of Mercia at this and some other coimcils, held .at Clovea-
hoo, makes it supposed that it is the same with Abingdon in Berkshire, about the middle
of the uation, anciently written Shovcsham." — Edit.

A.D. 747. BOOK JI. CENT. VIII. 153
that Clives-Ho, or Haw,* seems to be a Cliff near the sea, well
.agreeing to the situation of Cliff in Kent aforesaid.
22. The chief Canons of this Synod.
But the acts of this synod are more certain than the place thereof;
being generally accounted one and thirty canons, although some
small variation in their number and order, all extant at large in
Malmesbury ; -)- and of which we take notice of these four as of most
concernment : —
1. " That the priests ' learn, and teach to know,'J the Creed,
Lord's Prayer, and words of Consecration in the Mass," or Eucha
rist, "in the English tongue." — It seems learning then ran low, that
the priests themselves had need to learn them ; yet ignorance was
not then so high but that the people were permitted to be taught
them. 2. " That the Lord's day be honourably observed." — We under
stand it not so as if the sanctity of that day depended only upon
ecclesiastical constitutions, or that the command thereof in Scripture
is so infirm, in point of right to oblige men's consciences, that it
needs the title of man's power, ad eorroborandum : only, human
authority was here cast in as over-weight, for the better observation
of the day ; carnal men being more affected and affrighted with
corporal penalties of man's inflicting, (as nearer unto them,) than
with eternal punishments, which Divine justice, at distance, de-
nounceth against them.
3. " That the sin of drunkenness be avoided, especially in the
clergy." — Indeed, it was high time to suppress that sin, which was
grown so rife that, (as Boniface, archbishop of Mentz, doth observe
in his letter to Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury,)§ the English
bishops were so far from punishing it, that they were guilty of the
same. Moreover, he addeth, Ebrietas speciale malum nostree
gentis ; hoc nee Franci, nee Galli, nee Longobardi, nee Romani,
nee Grceci faciunt, " Drunkenness is a special evil of our nation ;"
(namely, of the Saxons, of which country this Boniface was a
native ;) " for neither Franks, nor Gauls, nor Lombards, nor
Romans, nor Greeks," (understand him, anciently, for we know the
modem proverb, of a merry Greek,) " are guilty thereof."
4. " That prayers be publicly made for kings and princes." — An
excellent canon indeed, because canonical Scripture, and long before
made by St. Paul himself: " I exhort, therefore, that supplications
be made for all men ; for kings," &c. 1 Tim. ii. 1.
• Plymouth Haw. See Speed's " SmTey of London," the meaning of Haw.
t De Gestis Punt. lib. i. in Cuthberto. ' X Discant ct doceant. — Malmesbury.
I Extant in Sir H. Spelman's " Councils," page 241.

154 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 747— 750-
This synod being finished, with the royal assent and all the
bishops' subscriptions thereunto, Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury,
with wonderful celerity, returned the canons concluded therein, by
Rinebert his deacon, to Boniface archbishop of Mentz, who was
affected with great joy at the sight thereof.
23. Egbert, Archbishop of York, famous in several Respects.
At this time flourished Egbert, archbishop of York, famous in his
generation for. First, his royal extraction, being brother to Eadbert'i
king of Northumberland; both of them lovingly lying buried
together, in the porch of the church of York. For, in that age, the
greatest princes' and prelates' corpses came no nearer than the
church-porch, and, as I may say, only knocked at the church-doors ;
though, in after-ages, the bodies of meaner persons were admitted
into the church, and buried therein. Secondly. For his procuring
the archi-episcopal pall to his see. For, after the departure, or,
rather, the banishment of Paulinus from York, his successors were
content with the plain title of " Bishop," until this Egbert (to do
something extraordinary, proportionable to his princely extraction)
procured the restitution of his pall, which ipso facto re-advanced
his church into an archbishopric. Thirdly. For furnishing the same
with a plentiful library, highly commended by Aleuinus, in his
epistle to Charles the Great, wishing France had the like ; which,
though exceeding England in paper till of late years, ever came short
of it in books. Fourthly. For his canons, for the regulating of his
province ; whereof one sort is called, " Egbert's Excerptions out of
Fathers,"* and is generally good ; the other entitled, " Canons for
the Remedy of Sin," and are fraught with abundance of abominable
beastliness and superstition.
24. The beastly Canons of Egbert. A.D. 750.
I will give the reader only a taste (or rather a distaste) of these
canons, by which he may guess the rest : — " If a layman hath carnal
knowledge of a nun, let him do penance for two years, &c. she three.
If a child be begotten betwixt them, then four years: if they kill it,
then seven years' penance."-)- Penance also is provided for besti
ality and sodomy, in the same canons. Thus, where God in Scrip
ture denounceth death, — " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man
shall his blood be shed," Gen. ix. 6 ;— they now changed it into
penance, and in after-ages commuted that penance into money ; so
by degrees " making the word of God of none effect," by their
paltry canons. See we here, also, how forced virginity was tiie
* At large in Sir H. Spelman's " Councils," page 258. f See Sir H.
Spelman's '• Coimcils," page 282.

A.D, 750 — 755. BOOK II. CENT. VIII. 155
mother of much uncleanness ; it being applicable to them, what the
apostle speaketh of others : " It is a shame even to speak of those
things which are done of them in secret," Eph, v, 12, And one
may justly admire how these canonists, being pretended virgins,
could arrive at the knowledge of the criticisms of all obscenity ; so
that chaste love may .lie seven-and-seven years in " the undefiled
marriage-bed," and be utterly ignorant what the language of lust
meaneth in such filthy canons. Yea, when such love, by the help
of an interpreter, shall understand the same, it would blush for
shame ; were it not that that red would be turned into paleness, as
amazed at so horrid uncleanness !
25, The Charter of Kenulphus to the Abbot of Abingdon.
A.D. ^55.
Some five years after, Kenulphus, king of West Saxons, conferred
large privileges on the monastery of Abingdon, We will recite so
much of his charter* as concerns us, because useful to show tire
power which kings in that age had in ecclesiastical matters : —
Kenulphus, rex, SfC : per literas suas patentes, consilio et
consensu episcoporum et senatorum gentis sues, latgitus fuit
monasterio de Abbindon in comitatu Barke, ac cuidam Richino
tunc abbati monasterii, ^c. quandam ruris sui portionem, id est,
quindecim mansias in loco, qui a ruricolis tunc nuncupabatur
CuLNAM, cum omnibus utilitdtibus ad eandem pertinentibus,
tam in magnis, qudm in modicis rebus, in esternam hesredi-
tatem. Et, quod presdictus Richinus, ^c. ab omni episcopali
jure in sempiternum esset quietus, ut inhabitatores ejus nullius
episcopi aut suorum qfficialium jugo inde deprimantur ; sed in
cunctis rerum eventibus, et discussionibus causarum, abbatis mo
nasterii presdicti decreto subjiciantur. Ita quod, S^c.
" Kenulphus, king, &c. by his letters patents, with the advice and
consent of the bishops and counsellors of his country, hath given to
the monastery of Abingdon in the county of Berks, and to one
Richine then abbot of the monastery, &c. a certain portion of his
land, that is to say, fifteen mansions, in a place which then of the
inhabitants was called Culnam, with all profits to the same belong
ing, as well in great as mean matters, as an inheritance for ever;
And, that the aforesaid Richine, &c. should be for ever acquit from
all episcopal jurisdiction, that the inhabitants thereof be thenceforth
oppressed with the yoke of no bishop or his officials ; but in all
events of matters, aud discussions of causes, they be subject to the
decree of the abbot of the aforesaid monastery. So that," &c,
. • Cited by Stanford, lib. iii. fol. Ill ; and this charter was pleaded primo Hen. vii.
fol. 23 and 25.

156 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 75j.
From this charter,Sir Edward Coke,* the king's attorney, inferreth,
that king Kenulphus had ecclesiatical jurisdiction in himself, in that
he had power to discharge and exempt this abbot from the jurisdi&.
tion of the bishop. Which ecclesiastical jurisdiction was always
invested in the imperial crown of England ; and therefore the
statute made under Henry VIII. concerning the king's spiritual
authority, " was not introductory of a new law, but declaratory only
of an old."
26. The Cavils of Parsons against Sir Edward Coke confuted.
But father Parsons (for he it is who stands under the vizard of
the " Catholic Divine," in a book written of set purpose against
Master Attorney, in this point) will by no means allow king
Kenulphus any ecclesiastical power ; but by many fetches seeks to
evade so pregnant a proof.
Argument I. — First he pleadeth,-)- that " in this charter,
Kenulphus did not exempt the abbot from all jurisdiction spiritual
of the bishop, but from some temporal interest, or pretence, which,
perhaps, the bishop of the diocese claimed over the lordship of
Culnam." Ans"wer. — Perhaps, (commend not his modesty, but thank his
guiltiness for his timorous assertion,) saith he : but, how doth this
appear .f" For he bringeth no proof; and, if he affirmeth it on free
cost, we can confute it as cheap, by denying it.
Arg. IL — Secondly. Saith he, " The king exempted the abbot,
ab omni episcopali jure, that is, ' from all right of the "bishop,' and
not jurisdiction."
Answ. — Sharp wit, to cut so small a mote in two parts, for no
purpose; sei^mg, jus &nA. jurisdiction are often known to import
the same sense !
Arg. III. — Thirdly. He objecteth, " The words- no way seem
fitly to agree to be spoken of the bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
which run thus : ' That the abbot should be quiet from the bishop's
right, and that the inhabitants from thenceforward should not be
oppressed by the yoke of the bishop's officers.' "
Answ. — Why ? what incongruity, but that these words may be
spoken, as they are, of ecclesiastical jurisdiction ? Is the word yoke
too coarse a phrase to be applied to the bishop's spiritual power, as
they sometimes did manage it ? I appeal to those who felt it : for
no yoke is heavy to him that puts it on, but to those who bear it.
Mark, by the way, the word he rendereth officers, is in thecharter
(not qffimarii, lay-Latin, but) officiates, which is church-language,
• His "Reports," part v. fol, 9, t Catholic Divine, o^mj Parsons, in his
Answer to the King's Attorney, pp. 95, 96, &c.

A.D. 755 — 758. BOOK IT, cent, VI ti, 157
and the very dialect of the court Christian, and should be translated
" officials," to whom bishops committed their spiritual power. But
Parsons knew well how to lay his thumb on what he would not have
seen. Arg. IV. — Fourthly. "Howsoever it werej it is manifestly
false," saith he, " that this ecclesiastical jurisdiction of king
Kenulphus was derived from his crown ; it might be, he had it
from the pope, which is most likely."
Answ. — Which is most unlikely ; for no clause in the charter
relates to any delegate power ; and yet such a passage might easily
have been inserted, yea, could not justly have been omitted, if he
had claimed his jurisdiction by deputation from the pope.
Arg. V. — Lastly. " Which," he saith, " seemeth to con
vince the whole matter, and decide the very case. One Rethurus,
abbot of Abingdon, went afterwards to Rome, to obtain confirma
tion of the privileges of his monastery from the see apostolic,"*
Answ, — What of this .'' This post-fact of Rethurus argues
no invalidity in Kenulphus's former grant, but rather shows the
over-officiousness of a pragmatical abbot, who, to ingratiate himself
with the pope, craved of him what he had before. Yea, such
cunning compliance of the clergy with his Holiness, by degrees, fixed
in him a supposed ecclesiastical power paramount, which really he
never had, nor rightly ever ought to have.
See here the king's power in church-matters, in conferring eccle
siastical privileges ; and this single thread we will twist with another
instance, so strong that the Jesuit's art shall be unable to break it
in sunder. 27. Bodies first brought to be buried in Churches.
A.D. "JSS.
By the constitution of Augustine, first archbishop of Canterbury,
confirmed by the authority of Gregory the Grejit, bishop of Rome,
it was decreed, that no corpse, either of prince or prelate, should be
buried within the walls of a city, but only in the suburbs thereof;
and that alone in the porch of the church, and not in the body.
Now Cuthbert, archbishop of Canterbury; having built Christ-
church therein, was desirous to adorn it with the corpses of great
persons, therein afterwards to be interred. In pursuance of this his
design, he durst not adventure on this innovation by his own
power, nor did he make his applications to the pope of Rome, (as
most proper to repeal that act, whicli the see apostolic had decreed,)
but only addresseth himself to Eadbert, king of Kent, and from
him, partim precario, partim etiam pretio, "partly praying,
• Harpsfield Hist Ang. seculo primo cap, 9, e,v Mariano Scoto,

158 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 758  789,
partiy paying for it," saith my author,* obtained his request.
Behold here an ancient church-canon, recalled at the suit of an
archbishop, by the authority of a king. This Cuthbert afterwards
handseled Christ-church with his own corpse ; whose predecessors
were all buried in St, Augustine's without the walls of Canterbury,
Thus began corpses to be buried in the churches, which, by degrees,
brought in much superstition ; especially after degrees of inherent
sanctity were erroneously fixed in the several parts thereof: the
porch saying to the churchyard, the church to the porch, the
chancel to the church, the east end to all, " Stand farther off, for I
am holier than you." And, as if the steps to the high altar were
the stairs to heaven, their souls were conceived in a nearer degree to
happiness, whose bodies were mounted there to be interred.
28 The Occasion of Monks' first Drinking of Wine in England.
About this time the bill of fare of monks was bettered generally
in England, and more liberty indulged in their diet. It was first
occasioned some twenty years since, when Ceolwolphus, [Ceolulph,]
formerly king of Northumberland, but then a monk in the convent
of Lindisfern, or Holy Island, gave leave to that convent to drink
ale and wine,f ancientiy confined by Aidan, their first founder,- to
milk and water. Let others dispute, whether Ceolwolphus thus
dispensed with them by his new abbatical or old regal power ; which
he so resigned, that, in some cases, he might resume it, especially
to be king in his own convent. And, indeed, the cold, raw, and
bleak situation of that place, with many bitter blasts from the sea,
and no shelter on the land, speaks itself to each inhabitant there,
" Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's
sake, and thine often infirmities," 1 Tim. v. 23. However, this
local privilege, first justly indulged to the monks of Lindisfern, was
about this time, (a,d, 760,) extended to all the monasteries of
England ; whose primitive over-austerity in abstinence was turned
now into a self-sufficiency, that soon improved into plenty, that
quickly depraved into riot, and that, at last, occasioned their ruin,
29, Danes' first Arrival in England. A.D. 7«9,
This year the English have cause to write with sable letters in
their almanac, on this sad occasion, — that therein the Danes first
invaded England with a considerable army. Several reasons are
assigned for their coming hither, to revenge themselves for some
pretended injuries ; though the true reason was, because England
was richer and roomier than their own country.
• Tho. Spot in his " History of Canterbury." Also Archiv. Cantuariens. cited by
A}itiq. Brit, in Cuthbert. t Roger Hoved. in parte priori.

A.D. 789. BOOK II. CENT, VIII. 159
30. Denmark, formerly fruitfid, is now become barren of Men.
It is admirable to consider what shoals of people were formerly
vented out. of Cimbrica Chersonesus, take it in the largest extent for
Denmark, Norway, and Swedeland,* who, by the terrible names of
Goths, Ostro-Goths, Visi-Goths, Huns, Vandals, Danes, Normans^
over-ran the fairest and fruitfullest parts of Christendom, .Whereas
now, though for these last three hundred years (the Swedish wars in
Germany excepted) that country hath sent forth no visible numbers
of people, and yet is very thinly inhabited, so that one may travel
some hundreds of miles therein through mere deserts, every man
whom he meeteth having a phoenix in his right hand. Yea, so few
the natives, that some of their garrisons are manned with foreigners,
and their kings fain to entertain mercenary Dutch arid Scotch to
manage their wars. 31. Two Reasons thereof.
Strange, that this country, formerly all on the giving, should now
be only on the taking hand. Some impute their modern compara
tive barrenness to their excessive drinking,-)- (a vice, belike, which
lately hath infected that nation,) drinking themselves past goats into
stocks, out of wantonness into stupidity, which by a contracted
habit debilitateth their former fruitfulness. Others, more truly,
ascribe their former fruitfulness to their promiscuous copulations
with women during their Paganism, :J: which are not so numerous
since Christianity hath confined them to the marriage of one wife,
32. The Reason of Reasons.
If I might speak according to my own profession of a divine,
(soaring over second causes in nature,) I should ascribe their ancient
populousness to Divine operation. As the widow's oil multiplied
till her debts were satisfied, and that effected for wliich the miracle
was intended, which done, the increase thereof instantly ceased ; so
these northern parts flowed with crowds of people, till their inunda
tions had paid the scores pf sinful Christians, and then, (the birch
growing no more when the wanton children were sufficiently
whipped,) the procreativeness of those nati(5ns presently stinted and
abated, 33, Bad Presages of the Danes' Approach.
The landing of these Danes in England was ushered with many
sad prognostics : § stars were seen strangely falling from heaven,
* Otherwise, stiictly it containeth only part of Denmark, continent to Germany.
t Barklay in Icon Animarum. X G. Taylor in his "Chronicle of Normandy;"
5 Sim. Di'NEL. Rakulphus Cestrensjs, ei alii.

160 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 790.
and sundry terrible flames appeared in the skies. From the firing
of such extraordinary beacons, all concluded some new enemy was
approaching the nation. Serpents were seen in Sussex,.and blood
rained in some parts of the land. Lindisfern, or Holy Island, was
the first that felt the fury of these Pagans ; but, soon after, no place
was safe and secure from their cruelty ; whereof more hereafter..
34. The archi-episcopal Pall removed to Lichfield. AD. 790,
At this time the archbishopric of Canterbury was in part
removed to Lichfield, five essential things concurring to that great
alteration : —
1, Tl^e puissance and ambition of Offa, king of Mercia, com
manding in chief over England, He would have the brighest mitre
to- attend the biggest crown,
2, The complying nature of pope Adrian ; except any will call it
" his thankfulness" to gratify king Offa for the large gifts received
from him,
3, The easy and unactive disposition of Jambert, or Lambert,
archbishop of Canterbury : unless any will term it " his policy,"
that, finding himself unable to resist, (a pope and a prince over
match- for a prelate,) he would not strive to keep what must be
taken away from him,
4, The commodious situation of Lichfield, almost in the navel of
the land : and where should the highest candlestick stand (the
metropolitan cathedral) but in the midst of the table .'' Whereas
Kent itself was but a corner, (whence it taketh its name,) and
Canterbury seated in the corner of that corner, a remote nook
thereof, 5, The antiquity of Lichfield in Christianity, where the British
church suffered a massacre from the Pagans three hundred years
before St, Augustine's coming to Canterbury ; * witness the name
of the place, being another Helkath-hazzurim, or " field of strong ,
men," 2 Sam, ii. 16, where so many worthies died for the testimony
of the truth.
On these and other considerations, Aldulph was made the first
(and. last) archbishop of Lichfield, (though others make Humbeit
and Higbert his successors in that dignity,) and six suffragans,
(namely, Worcester, Hereford, Leicester, Sidnacester, Helmham,
and Dunwich,) subjected to his jurisdiction. Yet was not the
archi-episcopal see removed, as some seem to conceive, but com
municated to Lichfield ; Canterbury still retaining its former dignity,
and part of its province; the bishops of London, Rochester,
Winchester, and Sherborne continuing still subject unto him.
* Vide supra, cent, iv. pai'ag. 8.

A,D. 793  795, BOOK II, CENT. Vrill. 161
35. St. Alban's Body enshrined. A.D. 793.
King Offa having settied an archbishopric at Lichfield, his next
design was to enshrine the corpse of St. Alban ; five hundred and
seven years had passed since his death and plain burial.* For as
John Baptist, the last martyr before Christ, and St, Stephen, the
first martyr after him, were fairly interred by their friends and
followers, without any more ado ; so the corpse of St, Alban was
quietiy committed to the earth, and there some centuries of years
peaceably reposed. But now Offa, they say, was admonished in a
vision, to bestow more public sepulture upon him, A star, we
know, directed to the place of Christ's birth ; whereas a bright
beam,-)- say the monks, discovered the place of St, Alban's burial :
a beam, suspected by some shot by him who can turn himself into
an angej of light, because gaining so much by their superstition.
Then was Alban's body in pompous manner taken up, enshrined,
and adored by the beholders. No wonder, then, if the Dalies now
invaded the dominions of the English, seeing the English invaded
the prerogative of God, diverting the worship, due to him alone, to
the rotten relics of dead men ; and henceforth the old Romans'
city of Verulam lost its name under the new Saxon town of St,
Alban's. 36. Peter-pence re-confirmed to Rome. A.D. 794,
King Offa went to Rome, and there confirmed and enlarged to
pope Adrian the gift of Peter-pence, what Ina king of the West
Saxons had formerly bestowed. For this favour the pope granted
him, that no Englishman for penance imposed should be banished
out of his own country, 37, Gift no Debt.
But bold beggars are the bane of the best bounty, when grown
so impudent, that what at first was given them for alms, in process
of time, they challenge for rent. Some call this a tribute (badge of
subjection) of England to the see of Rome ; among whom is
Polydore Virgil, once collector of those Peter-pence in England.
But blame him not for magnifying his own office ; who, had he
owned this money (as indeed it was) given in frank'-ahnonage, had
then appeared no better than a gentle beggar, whereas now he hopes
to advance his employment to a nobler notion,
38, The royal Foundation of St. Alban's Abbey. A. D. 795,
Offa, having done all his work at Rome, — namely, procured the
canonization of St, Alban, the absolution of his own sins and
* Vita Offa Secundi, annexed to the new edition of M. Paris, page 28. f Ibid. p. 26.
Vol. I. M

162 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 795  ^799.
many murders, and visited and endowed the English college there,
— ^returned home, fell to found the monastery of St. Alban's, bestow^
ing great lands and liberties upon it ; as freeing it from the
payment of Peter-pence, episcopal jurisdiction, and the like. This
is alleged and urged by our regions to prove the king's paramount
power in ecclesiasticis ; seeing none can give, save what they are
formally or eminently possessed of. And whereas Papists plead
that Offa had fore-requested the granting of these privileges from
the pope ; no mention at all thereof appears in the charter of his
foundation,* (here too large to insert,) but that all was done by his
own absolute authority. Next year Offa ended his life ; buried at
Bedford, on that token, — that the river Ouse swelling on a sudden
swept his corpse clean away.
39. Canterbury recovereth its former Dignity. A.D. 799,
Offa being dead, down fell the best pillar of Lichfield church, to
support the archi-episcopality thereof. And now Canterbury had
got Athelard a new archbishop, who had as much activity to spare,
as his predecessor Lambert is said by some to want. Wherefore,
he prevailed with Kenulph king of Mercia, and both of them with
Leo the new pope, to restore back the archi-episcopal see to Canter
bury ; as in the next century was perfectly effected.
40, Learned Aleuinus confuteth Image-worship.
We will conclude this century with two eminent men, (to leave
at last a good relish in the memory of the reader,) now flourishing
therein. The one Aleuinus, or Albinus ; it being questionable,
whether he were more famous for Venerable Bede, who was his
master, or Charles the Great, who was his scholar ; whilst it is out
of doubt, that he is most honoured for his own learning and
religion. And because Englishmen may be presumed partial in
the praise of an Englishman ; hear what a character a learned
foreigner gives of him : -f Vir in divinis scriptis eruditissimus, et
in sescularium literarum peritid nulli suo tempore secundus,
carmine excellens et prosd. But he got himself the greatest
credit by opposing the canons of the second Nicene council,
wherein the superstititious adoration of images was enjoined.J
These canons, some seven years since, were sent by Charles the
Great to king Offa, to be received of the English ; who, notwith
standing, generally distasted and rejected them, the aforesaid
Aleuinus writing a learned epistle against the same. He was
• Amongst Sin Tho, Cotton's Manuscripts, and is exemplified in "Weaver's " Fun,
Mon." page 99. t Trithemius Abbas lib. de Script. Ecclesiasticis, fol. 61.
1 R. HovED. Annal. part i. page 405.

1 EGBERT. BOOK II, CEKT, IX, 163
fetched by Charles, his scholar, calling him his " delicious master ; "
where he first founded the university of Paris, and died abbot of
St, Martin's in Tours,
41. Egbert the flrst flxed Monarch of England. A.D.^QQ.
The other was Egbert, who in this very year made himself sole
monarch of England, True it is, in the Saxon heptarchy there
"was generally one who out-powered all the rest. But such monarchy
was desultory and movable, sometimes the West Saxon, some
times th'e Mercian, sometimes the Northumberland king ruled over
the rest. But henceforward Egbert fixed the supreme sovereignty
in himself and his posterity : for though afterwards there con
tinued some other petty kings, as Kenulph king of Mercia, &c.
yet they shined but dimly, (as the moon when the sun is risen,) and
in the next age were utterly extinguished. So that hereafter we
shall double our files, and for the better regulating of time, next the
column of the year of our Lord, add another of the reign of our
English kings.*

SECTION IV.
THE NINTH CENTURY.
TO ME. WILLIAM AND MR. ROBERT CHRISTMAS,
MERCHANTS, OF LONDON.
You are both brethren by birth, and by your joint
bounty on my endeavours. It is therefore pity to part
you. May no other difference be in your hearts, thun
¦what heraldry allo-ws in your arms, only to distinguish
the age of the elder from the younger ; that so the
memory of your happy father may survive in you his
hopeful children.
] . The Archbishopric restored to Canterbury at the Instance of
King Kenulph. 1 Egbert, J. J>. 801.
Then Kenulph, king of Mercia, sent a letter to Leo the third,
pope, by Athelard the archbishop, to this effect : — That whereas
the metropolitan seat, by authority apostolic, was primitively fixed at
Canterbury, where the blessed body of Augustine was buried ; and
* In this edition, the alteration is added to the running title on each leaf, — Edit,
M 2

164 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 801  16,
whereas lately king Offa, out of opposition to archbishop Lambert,
had removed the same seat to Lichfield, and procured from pope
Adrian the same translation to be confirmed; Kenulph* requested
his Holiness so far to concur with the general desire of the English
nation, as to revoke the act of his predecessor, and restore the arch
bishopric to its proper place. And knowing that suits in the court
of Rome speed no whit the less when accompanied with gifts, he
sent his Holiness one hundred and twenty mancuses-)- for a present.
The gift was kindly accepted, the archbishop courteously enter
tained, the request bountifully granted ; and thus the archbishop's
see, dislocated, or out of joint, for a time, was by the hands of his
Holiness set right again.
2. The first most formal Subscription in a Synod. A. D. 803,
-lEthelard, "returning home, called a synod at Clives-Ho, in Kent,
not far from Rochester, where by power from the pope, he riveted
the archbishopric into the city of Canterbury, the synod denouncing
heavy penalties to any that hereafter should endeavour to divide
them ; so that it is believed, that the archbishop's see may as easily
be wholly dissolved, as hence removed. The subscriptions in this
council were the most formal and solemn of any so ancient. The
reader will not be offended with their hard namesj here following,
seeing his eye may run them over in perusing them, though his
tongue never touch them in pronouncing them.
Canterbury : — Athelard, archbishop ; ^thilheah, Feologeld,
abbots ; Wulfheard, Wernoth, Beornmod, presbyters ; Vulfed,
archdeacon. Lichfield : — Aldulf, bishop ; Higberth, abbot; LuUa, Monn,
Wigfreth, Eadhere, Cuthberth, presbyters.
Leicester : — Werenberth, bishop ; Falmund, Beomia, Fortli-
rod, Wigmund, priests and abbots ; Eadberth, presbyter.
Sydnacester : — Eadulf, bishop ; Eadred, Dseghelm, priests
and abbots ; Plegberth, Eadulf, Hereberth, presbyters.
Worcester: — Dsenebreth, bishop; Higberth, Thineferth, Pega,
abbots, and Freothomund, priest and abbot ; Coenferth, presbyter,
Hereford : — Wulfheard, bishop ; Cuthrsed, abbot ; Srygol,
Dygoga, Monn, presbyters ; Heathobald, deacon.
Shikeburn- : — Wigberth, bishop ; Muda, Eadberth, Beorth-
mund, abbots.
Winchester : — Almund, bishop ; Cuthberth, Mark, Cumba,
Lulla, abbots ; Northeard, Ungthe, presbyters.
• Malmesb. De Gestis Reg. lih. i. cap. 4. t Mancu.scs quasi manu cus<e, a coin
ahout the valuation whereof is much variety [of opinion]. J The original is extant
in tho Records of Canterbury, copied out by Sir H. Spelman in his " Councils," p. 325.

16 EGBERT. BOOK II. CENT. IX. 165
Helmham :— Ealheard, bishop ; Folcberth; Frithoberth, Ead
berth, Vulflab, presbyters.; Hunfride, deacon.
Dunwich :—Fidfrith, bishop; Wulfheard, Lulla, abbots;
Ceolhelm, Cynulfe, Tydberth, presbyters ; Eadberth, deacon.
London: — Osmond, bishop; Heahstan, Plegberth, abbots;
Wigheard, Tidhun, Frithorad, Ethelhelme, presbyters.
Rochester : — Wsermund, bishop ; Lullingo, Tuda, Beagnothj
Heathoberth, Wigheard, presbyters,
Selsey : — Weothun, bishop ; Ceolmund, abbot ; Dudd, Ead
berth, Beorcol, Hethfride,* Cynebald, presbyters.
Being one archbishop ; twelve bishops ; twenty-six abbots ;
thirty-nine presbyters ; one archdeacon ; three deacons : eighty-two,
in all, 3. Some Observables on the Method and Manner of their
Meeting.
Now, to make a short, but necessary, digression : In this synod
we may observe, that Ibishops appeared personally, and the rest of
the clergy were represented, monks in their abbots, and the seculars
in the priests and deacons of their diocese respectively. Such
abbots as in this catalogue have the addition of pr.-f- were also priests,
and so present in a double capacity ; though, perchance, they made
only use of their abbotship. No deans appear here, as a dignity of
far later institution. The bishops, in the order of their subscrip
tions, seem to observe seniority of their consecrations, and not
dignity of their bishoprics ; seeing London lags one of the last, to
which our church-heralds | did afterwards assign the highest place,
next the archbishops : only Lichfield may seem to have had the
precedency, by the courtesy of the synod, that the lost dignity
thereof might be buried in honour, being so lately the seat of an
archbishop. Lastly, This was but a provincial council for Canter
bury alone ; York with his two suffragans (Lindisfern and Hexham)
not mentioned in the meeting. Thus, as the anatomy of a little
child, representing all parts thereof, is accounted a greater rarity
than the skeleton of a man of full stature ; so I conceive it more
acceptable to the studious in antiquity, to behold the form of these
synods, with the distinct members thereof, in the infancy of the
Saxon church, than to see a complete council in after-ages, when
grown to full perfection,
4, The Acts of the Council at Celichyth. A.D. 816.
Pass we by some petty synods celebrated in the reign and country
of king Kenulph of Mercia. Eminent was the council at Celichyth§
• Doubtful whether priests or deacons, t Here called "priests" unabridged, — Edit,
X Harpsfield Hist. Ang. page 743. ^ Rapin calls it Calouith or Calchite, — Edit.

166 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 816  31.
under Wolfred (who succeeded Athelard) archbishop of Canter
bury. Wherein, amongst other things slight or superstitious, was
decreed, 1. That the catholic faith should be kept, and ancient canons
observed. 2. That new churches* should be consecrated with holy-water by
their bishops, and the saints somewhere painted therein to whom the
same is dedicated.
3. That all in Christian charity mutually love one another.
4. That abbots and abbesses be blameless persons, chosen by the
bishop with the consent of the convent.
5. That no Scotchman baptize, or administer the eucharist, in
England ; it being uncertain, whether, or by whom, they are
ordained. We may discover herein some remaining dregs of the long-lasting
difference about the celebration of Easter, which made the suspicious
English still to harbour a causeless prejudice against the Scotch
priesthood. 6. That the judicial sentences of bishops in former synods
remain ratified ; as also all their acts solemnly signed with the cross.
7. That no abbey-lands be leased out longer than, in dies et
spatium unius hominis ; — that is, as I take it, " for the single life of
one man ;" except in some case of extremity ; " to help against
famine, invasion of foes, or for obtaining of freedom."
8. That things dedicated to God remain so for ever.
9. That the acts of all synods be fairly written out, with the date
thereof, and name of the archbishop president, and bishops present
thereat. 10, That bishops at their death give the full tithe of their goods
to the poor, and set free every Englishman which in their life-time
was a slave unto them,
11, That bishops invade not the diocese, priests the parish,
neither the oifice, of another ; save only when desired to baptize, or
visit the sick. The refusers whereof in any place are to be sus
pended their ministry, till reconciled to the bishop.
12. That they pour not water upon the heads of infants, but
immerge them in the font, in imitation of Christ, who, say they, was
thrice so washed in Jordan .-j-
But where is this in Scripture .'' The manifestation indeed of the
Trinity plainly appears in the text ; — Matt. iii. 16, 17 5 Father in
the voice, Son personally present, Holy Spirit in the dove ; but as
for thrice washing him, altum silentium ! However, see how our
modern sectaries meet popery in shunning it, — requiring the person
" See Sir H. Spelman in Ms " Coimcils," page 328. f Idem, page 331.

31 EGBERT. BOOK II. CENT. IX. 167
to be plunged ; though critics have cleared it, that baptize doth
import as well " dipping" as " drenching" in water.
5. Egbert proclaimed Monarch of England. A.D. 820.
And now we take our farewell of king Kenulph, who, for all his
great bustling in church-matters for the first twenty years in this
century, was (as genus subalternum amongst the Logicians) a king
over his subjects, yet but a subject to king Egbert, who now at
Winchester was solemnly crowned monarch of the southern and
greater moiety of this island, enjoining all the people therein to term
it Engelond, (since, England,) that so the petty names of seven
former distinct kingdoms might be honourably buried in that general
appellation. 6. Seven Kingdoms swallowed up in Engelond.
Some will wonder, seeing this nation was compounded of Saxons,
Juites,* and Angles, why it should not rather be denominated of
the first, as in number greatest, and highest in reputation. Such
consider not, that a grand continent in Germany was already named
Saxony ; and it was not handsome for this land to wear a name at
second-hand belonging to another. Besides, England is a name of
credit, importing in Dutch the same with " the land of angels."-|-
And now the name, stamped with the king's command, soon became
current, and extinguished all the rest. For Kent, Essex, Sussex,
Northumberland, though remaining in common discourse, shrunk
from former kingdoms into modern counties : Wessex, Mercia, and
East Angles were, in effect, finally forgotten. It will not be amiss
to wish, that, seeing so great a tract of ground meets in one name,
the people thereof may agree in Christian unity and affections.
7, Danes disturb King Egbert. A-D. 831.
King Egbert was now in the exaltation of his greatness. But
n6ver will human happiness hold out full measure to man's desire.
Freed from home-bred hostility, he was ready to repose himself in
the bed of ease and honour ; when the Danes not only jogged his
elbows, but pinched his sides, to the disturbance of his future quiet.
They beat the English in a naval fight at Charmouth in Dorsetshire,
which proved fatal to our nation. For an island is never an island
indeed, until mastered at sea, cut off from commerce with the con
tinent. Henceforward these Pagans settled themselves in some part
of the land, though claiming it by no other title than their own pride
and covetousness, and keeping it in no other tenure than that of vio
lence and cruelty.
• The ancient inhabitants of Jutia, or Jutland, in Denmark. — Edit. t Verstegan
" Of Decayed Intelligence."

168 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 837  48 OR 55.
8. Athelwolphus's universal Grant of Tithes to the Church.
1 Ethel wulf. A.D. 83?.
Athelwolphus, [Ethelwulph] his son succeeded king Egbert in
the throne ; a prince not less commended for his valour, than devo
tion, and generally fortunate in his undertakings ; though much
molested all his life-time by the Danes. But nothing makes him so
remarkable to posterity, as the granting of this charter, or rather the
solemn passing of this act ensuing : —
Regnamte Domino nostra Jesu, Christo, in perpetuum. Dum
in nostris temporibus bellorum incendia, et direptiones opum
nostrarum, necnon ei vastantium crudelissimas depradationes
ho.ttium barbarorum, Paganarumque gent'ium nmltiplices tribula-
tiones ad affligendum usque ad internecionem, cernimus tempora
incumbere periculosa.
Quamobrem ego Ethelwolphus, rex Occidentalium Saxonum,
cum consilio episcoporum ac principum mearum, consilium salubre,
atque uniforme 7-emedium afflrmavi : td al'tquam portionem terra-
rum hareditariam antea possidentibus omnibus gradibus, sive
famulis et famulabus Dei, Deo servientibus, sive laicis, semper
decimam mansionem ubi minimum sit, tamen partem decimam in
libertatem perpetuam perdonari dijudicavi, ut sit tiita ac muuita
ab omnibus secularibus. servitutibus, necnon regalibus tributis^
tnajoribus et minoribus, sive taxationibus, quod nos dicimus
Witereden ; sitque libera omnium rerum pro remissione anima
rum nostrarum- ad serviendum Deo soli sine expeditione, et pontis
instructione, et "arcis munitione, ut eo diligentius pro nobis ad
Deum preccs sine cessatione fundant, quo eorum servitutem in
aliqud parte levigamus.
Placuit etiam episcopis Alhstatio Schireburnens'is ecclesia, et
Swithuno Wintcmien-ns ecclesia, cum suis abbatibus, et servis
Dei, con.nlium inire, ut omnes fratres, et sorores nostra, ad
unamquamque ecclesiam omni hebdomada die Mercurii, hoc est
Weddensday, cantent quinquaginta psalrnos, et unusquisque
pre,',byier duas missas, unam pro rege, Ethelwolpho, et aliam pro
ducibus ejus huic dmio consentientibus, pro mercede et refrigerio
delictorum suorum : et pro rege vivente dicant, Oremus, Deus,
QUI jusTiFiCAS ; pro ducibus etiam vivcntibus, Prxtende,
DoMiNE : postquam autem defuncti fuerint, pro rege defuiurto
singulariter, et pro principibus defunctis communiter. Et hoc sit
tam flrmiter const'dutum omnibus Christianitatis diebus, sicut
libertas ilia constiluta est, quamdiu fides crescit in gente
A'iglorum.* " E.r Ingulph. cl Malmesb. Gest. Reg. lib ii, cap. 2.

11 ou 18 ETHELWULF. BOOK II. CENT. IX. 169
This Athelwolphus was designed by his father to be bishop of
Winchester, bred in a monastery, after taken out, and absolved of
his vows by the pope ; and, having had church-education in his
youth, retained to his old age the indelible character of his affec
tions thereunto. In expression whereof, in a solemn council kept at
Winchester, he subjected the whole kingdom of England to the
payment of tithes, as by the foregoing instrument doth appear.
He was the first born monarch of England. Indeed, before his
time there were monarchs of the Saxon heptarchy ; but not
successive and fixed in a family, but fluctuating from one kingdom
to another. Egbert, father to this Athelwolph, was the first that
achieved this monarchy, and left it to this his son, not monarcha
factus, but natus, and so in unquestionable power to make the
foresaid Act obligatory over all the land.
9. Former Acts for Tithes inflrm.
Indeed, before his time many Acts for tithes are produced,
which, when pressed, will prove of no great validity. Such are the
imperial edicts in civil law, never possessed of full power in
England ; as also the canons of some councils and popes, never
admitted into plenary obedience by consent of prince and people.
Add to these, first, such laws as were made by king Ina and Offa,
monarchs indeed of England in their turns, as I may say, but not
deriving the same to the issue of their bodies ; so that their
Acts, as personal, may by some froward spirits be cavilled at, as
determining with their own lives. Join to these (if produceable)
any provincial constitutions of an English archbishop, perchance,
Egbertus of York : those might obey them who would obey, being
otherwise not subject to any civil penalty. But now this Act of
Athelwolphus appears entire in all the proportions of a law, made
in his great council, equivalent to after-parliaments ; not only cum
consilio episcoporum, "with the advice of his bishops," (which
easily may be presumed willingly to concur in such a matter
qf church-advancement,) but also principum meorum, " of my
princes," saith he ; the consent of inferior persons not being
required in that age,
10. Objections against this Act answered.
However, nothing can be so strong but it may meet with cavils,
though not to destroy, to disturb the validity thereof; as this
Act hath : and we will severally examine the defects charged
upon it.
Objection I. — Some object that " Athelwolphus was but king
of the West Saxons, as appears by his style. Rex Occidentalium

170 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 848 — 55.
Saxonum,, and not ' universal monarch of England,' whose Act
only is obligatory to his own subjects. Let those of Cornwall,
Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Hants, Wilts, and Berks pay tithes by
virtue of this command ; other parts of the land are freed from the
same, because nihil dat quod non habet, ' none can derive that to
others which they enjoy not themselves ;' being king but of a part,
he could not lay this law upon all the land."
Answer. — He is termed eminently, not exclusively, "king of the
West Saxons ;" being fondest of that title, as his father's first inherit
ance, before he acquired the monarchy of the whole land. There
were, indeed, at this time two other royalets, as only kings
by his leave ; namely, Beorred king of Mercia, and Edmond
king of East Angles, who, as it plainly appears by Ingul-
phus,* were present at his council, and consented to the Acts
thereof. Objection II. — " The consideration was superstitious, to say
so many masses for the souls of this king and his captains when
deceased." Answer. — A double consideration is mentioned in tiiis grant.
The First, general : So pious in itself, no exception can be taken
thereat, namely, to divert the imminent judgments of God from
the land, hourly fearing the invasion of fierce foreign Pagans ; so,
the better to secure the nine parts thereof to himself and his
subjects, by setting apart, resigning, and surrendering a tenth
to God, (the supreme Landlord of all,) in such as attended
his daily service. The Second consideration is more restrictive
and particular; and resents, indeed, of the ignorance of that
age ; but yet is proportionable to the best devotion those
days produced : and easily may an accidental abuse be purged
by the pious use intended, and designed generally to God's
glory. Objection III, — " The king only granted tithes of his own
crown-land, non in dominio sed in dominico suo, ' not in all his
dominions, but only in his demesnes,'"
Answer,— There needed no such solemn consent of the council
of the land for the passing away of his private bounty. And that
the grant extended to the kingdom in general, appears by other
authors on the same : -f- Adelwolphus decimo-nono anno regni sui,
qui totam terram suam ad opus ecclesiarum decimavit propter
amorem Dei, &c. More plainly another author : In eodem anno
decimavit Afhulf. rex deomni possessione sud in partem Domini,
et in universo regimine sui principatus sic constituit.
• ExempliBed in Sir H. Spelman's " Coimcils," page 348. f Henry Hunting.
Hist, lib, V. page 348,

18 ETHELWULF, BOOK II, CENT, IX, 171
11, Store no Sore.
Here we insist not on the many arguments out of Old and New
Testament, to prove tithes to be jure Divino ; which in due time
jnay be produced, when all tempests of tumultuous spirits are
allayed, and when — ^what the town clerk of Ephesus promised to
the citizens thereof — the question may be determined Iv t^ ivvo(i.oo
snxXYjd-ioi, " in a lawful and ordinary assembly," Acts xix, 39,
without fear of force, and suspicion of violence. For, two strings
to a bow do not amiss ; being no hinderance to the archer for the
better hitting of the mark, who may wind up one, and use that for
the present which he sees most for his own convenience. Mean
time most true it is, that men are not so conscientious to obey the
laws of God, as fearful to resist the edicts of men ; and therefore
(though far be it from the clergy to quit their title to tithes by
Divine right) they conceive it the surest way sometimes to make
use of human injunctions, as having the most potent influence on
men's affections : especially in this age, when the love of many
(both to God and goodness) beginneth to wax cold.
12. A pleasant Passage.
A reverend Doctor in Cambridge, and afterwards bishop of
Salisbury, was troubled at his small living at Hogginton, with a
peremptory Anabaptist, who plainly told him : " It goes against
my conscience to pay you tithes, except you can show me a place of
Scripture whereby they are due unto you." The Doctor returned :
" Why should it not go as much against my conscience, that you
should enjoy your nine parts, for which you can show no place
of "Scripture .-^ " To whom the other rejoined : "But I have, for
MY land, deeds and evidences from my fathers, who purchased and
were peaceably possessed thereof by the laws of the land," " The
same is my title," saith the Doctor ; " tithes being confirmed unto
me by many statutes of the land, time out of mind." Thus he
drave that nail, not which was of the strongest metal or sharpest
point, but which would go best for the present. It was argu-
mentum ad hominem, " fittest for the person he was to meddle
with ;" who afterwards peaceably paid his tithes unto him. Had
the Doctor engaged in Scripture-argument, though never so preg
nant and pertinent, it had been endless to dispute with him who
made clamour the end of his dispute, whose obstinacy and igno
rance made him uncapable of solid reason ; and therefore the worse
tiie argument, the better for his apprehension.
13. A solid Answer of a learned Serjeant.
Most solid and ingenious was the answer of a most eminent
serjeant-at-law of this age, to the impertinent clamours of such

172 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 855  67-
against the payment of tithes, because, as they say, due only by
human right : " My cloak is my cloak by the law of man ; but he
is a thief, by the law of God, that taketh it away from me."
14. Tliis Law not presently and perfectly obeyed.
True it is, that this law did not presently find an universal
obedience in all the land. And the wonder is not great if, at the
first making thereof, it met with many recusants ; since, corroborated
by eight hundred years' prescription and many confirmations, it
finds obstacles and oppositions at this day : for, in succeeding ages,
several kings confirmed the same, though papal exemptions of
several Orders, and modus decimandi according to custom, have
almost since tithed the tithes in some places.
lo. King Ethelwolph's Journey to Rome, and Bounty to the
Pope. A. D. 856.
King Athelwolphus the next year took his — call it " progress"
or — "pilgrimage" to Rome: where the report of his piety pre
vented his arrival, and provided both welcome and wonder for his
entertainment. Here he confirmed unto the pope his predecessor's
grant of Peter-pence, and, as a surplusage, bestowed upon him the
yearly revenue of three hundred marks, thus to be expended : —
1, To maintain candles for St, Peter, one hundred marks. 2. To
maintain candles for St, Paul, one hundred marks. 3, For a free
largess to the pope, one hundred marks.*
16. How this Sum was divided, and collected out of several
Dioceses.
If any be curious to know how these three hundred marks were
in after-ages divided and collected, let them peruse the following
account ; if the particulars be truly cast up, and (attested to me
out of Sir Thomas Cotton's library, and, as they say, out of the
Vatican itself) be authentical : —
£. s. d. £. s. d.
Canterbury  8 8 0 Winchester  17 6 8
London  16 10 0 Coventry and Lich-
Rochester  5 12 0 field  41 5 0

s.

d.

8

0

10

0

12

0

10

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Norwich  21 10 0 Exeter  9 5 0
Salisbury  17 0 0 Worcester  10 5 0
Ely  5 0 0 Hereford  6 0 0
Lincoln  42 0 0 Bath and Wells  12 5 0
Chichester  8 0 0 York  11 10 0
' * William Malmesbury, ut prius.

1 ETHEtRED. BOOK II, CENT, IX. 173
These sums were demanded by pope Gregory XIII. in the forty-
sixth of Edward III, on that token, — that their payment was much
opposed by John of Gaunt, I dare not discede from my copy a
tittle, coming, as they say, from the register at Rome : nor will I
demand a reason why Durham and Carlisle are here omitted ; much
less, examine the equity of their proportions, as applied to their
respective dioceses ; but implicitiy believe all done very justiy.
The reason why the Welsh bishoprics were exempted, is, because,
at the grant hereof by king Athelwolph, Wales was not then under
his dominion. This three hundred marks was but a distinct
payment by itself, and not the whole body of Peter-pence,
(amounting to a greater sum,) whereof, God willing, more hereafter,
17. The Saxons wilfully accessory to their own Ruin by the
Danes. 1 Ethelred, A. D. 867,
After the death of king Athelwolphus, and his two sons
Ethelbald and Ethelbert succeeding him, this land was in a sad
condition, though nothing so bad as under the reign of Ethelred his
third son and successor : for then, indeed, most miserable was the
state of the English, harassed by the Danes, who, like the running-
gout, shifted from joint to joint, from place to place ; often repelled
from the several shires, never expelled out of England, The Saxon
folly hurt them more than the Danish fury ; refusing effectually to
unite, to make a joint resistance against a general enemy. For,
some sixty years since, the West Saxons had subdued the other six
kings of this nation ; yet so, that they still continued kings, but
homagers to the West Saxon monarchy. The shortening of their
sceptres stuck in their stomachs, especially of the Mercian and
Northumbrian kings, the most puissant of all the rest. Where
upon, beholding Ethelred, the West Saxon king, (the staff and
stay of the whole nation,) embroiled with the invasion of the Danes,
they not only lazily looked on, but secretly smiled at this sight, as
the only way to conquer the conqueror, Yea,^ such their envy,
that rather than one (once their equal) should be above them in
felicity, they all wonld be equal with him in misery. They would
more contentedly be slaves to a foreign foe, to whom they all stood
unrelated, than homagers to him who had, as they thought,
usurped dominion over them ; never considering, that the Danes
were Pagans ; (self-interest is deaf to the checks of conscience ;)
and revenge, which is wild at the best, was so mad in them that
they would procure it with the hazard, if not loss, of their God, his
church, and true religion. Thus the height of the Saxon pride and
envy caused the breadth of the Danish power and cruelty. Indeed,
the foresaid Saxon kings, perceiving their error, endeavoured at

174 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D, 867  ^70.
last to help the West Saxon (or rather to help themselves in him)
against the Danes. But, alas ! it was too late. For the Danish
garrisons lay so indented in the heart of the land, that the Saxon
troops were blasted before they could grow into regiments, ajid
their strength, dispersed in the gathering, was routed before regulated
into an army.
18. Fight betwixt Christians and Danes. A. D. 87O.
This year the Danes made an invasion into Lincolnshire, where
they met with stout resistance ; and let us take a list of the chief
officers on both sides. CHRISTIAN SAXONS.
Count Algar, general, witii the youth of Holland : * Harding de
Rehale, with Stanford men, all very young and valiant : Tolie, a
monk, with a band of two hundred Crowlanders : Morcar, lord of
Burn, with those of his numerous family : Osgot, sheriff of Lincoln
shire, with five hundred under him : -f- Wibert, living at Wiberton,
nigh Boston in Holland ; Leofrick, living at Leverton, anciently
Lefrinkton ; — ^places named from their owners.
DANISH PAGANS.
King Gordroum, king Baseg, king Osketill, king Halfeden, king
Hammond ; count Frena, count Unguar, count Hubba, count
Sidroke the elder, count Sidroke the younger.
The Christians had the better the first day, wherein the Danes
lost three of their kings, buried in a place thence called Trekingham ;
so had they the second, till at night, breaking their ranks to pursue
the Danes in their dissembled flight, they were utterly overthro"«vn.
19. Crowland Monks massacred.
Theodore, abbot of Crowland, hearing of the Danes' approach,
shipped away most of his monks, with the choicest relics and
treasures of his convent, and cast his most precious vessels into a
well in the cloister. The rest remaining were at their morning
prayers, when the Danes, entering, slew Theodore, the abbot, on
the high altar ; Asher, the prior, in the vestiary ; Lethwin, the
sub-prior, in the refectory ; Pauline, in the choir ; Herbert, in the
choir ; Wolride, the torchbearer, in the same place ; Grimketule
and Agamund, each of them an hundred years old, in the cloisters.
These, saith my author,^ were first examinati, " tortured," to
betray their treasure, and then exanimati, "put to death," for
their refusal. The same writer seems to wonder, that, being killed
» Ingulpiii Hist, page 865. t Vicedominus. ' J Ingulphus, page 866.

4 ETHELRED. BOOK II, CENT. IX. 175
in one place, their bodies were afterwards found in another. Surely,
the corpses removed not themselves, but, no doubt, the Danes
dragged them from place to place when dead. There was one
child-monk therein, but ten years old, Turgar by name, of most
lovely looks and person. Count Sidroke the younger, pitying his
tender years, (all devils are not cruel alike,) cast a Danish coat *
upon him, and so saved him, who only survived to make the sad
relation of the massacre.
20. Peterborough Monks killed. Monastery burned.
Hence the Danes marched to Medeshamsted, since called Peter
borough ; where, finding the abbey-gates locked against them, they
resolved to force their entrance ; in effecting whereof, Tulba,
brother to count Hubba, was dangerously wounded, almost to
death, with a stone cast at him, Hubba, enraged hereat, like
another Doeg, killed abbot Hedda, and all the monks, being four
score and four, with his own hand. Count Sidroke gave an item to
young monk Turgar, (who hitherto attended him,) in no wise to
meet count Hubba, for fear that his Danish livery should not be found
of proof against his fury. Then was the abbey set on fire, which
burned fifteen days together, wherein an excellent library was con
sumed. Having pillaged the abbey, and broken open the tombs
and coffins of many saints there interred, these Pagans marched
forwards into Cambridgeshire, and, passing the river Nine, two of
their waggons fell into the water, wherein the cattle which drew
them were drowned, much of their rich plunder lost, and more
impaired. 21. A Heap of Martyrs.
Some days after, the monks of Medeshamsted were buried all
together in a great grave, and their abbot in the midst of them, a
cross being erected over the same ; where one may have four yards
square of martyrs' dust,' which no place else in England doth afford.
Godric, successor to Theodore, abbot of Crowland, used annually to
repair hither, and to say masses two days together for the souls of
such as were entombed. One would think, that, by popish prin
ciples, these were rather to be prayed to, than prayed for ; many
maintaining that martyrs go the nearest way to heaven, sine ambage
Purgatorii : so that surely Godric did it not to better their con
dition, but to express his own affection, out of the redundancy of his
devotion ; which others will call " the superfluity of his superstition."
22. The cruel Martyrdom of King Edmund.
The Danes spared no age, sex, condition of people ; such was the
cruelty of this Pagan unpartial sword ! With a violent inundation
* In Latin, Collobium,

176 CHURCH HISTORY OP BRITAIN. A.D. 8/'0  2.
they brake into the kingdom of the East Angles ; wasted Cam
bridge, and the country thereabouts ; burnt (the then city of)
Thetford ; forced Edmund, king of that country, into his castie of
Framlingham ; who, perceiving himself unable to resist their power,
came forth, and at the village of Hoxon [Hoxne] in Suffolk ten
dered his person unto them, hoping thereby to save the efiusion of
his subjects' bloods : where, after many indignities offered, unto him,
they bound him to a tree ; and, because he would not renounce his
Christianity, shot him with arrow after arrow ; their cruelty taking
deliberation, that he might the better digest one pain, before another
succeeded, so distinctly to protract his torture, (though confusion
be better than method in matters of cruelty,) till not mercy, but
want of a mark, made them desist ; according to the poet's*
expression : — Jajm loca vulneribu^ desuni, nee du/m furiosis
Tela, sed hybemd grandine plura volant.
" Room wants for wounds, bnt arrows do not fail
From foes, which thicker fly than winter-hail."
After-ages, desiring to make amends to his memory, so over-acted
their part in shrining, sainting, and adoring his relics, at Bury St.
Edmund's ; that, if those in heaven be sensible of the transactions
on earth, this good king's body did not feel more pain from the fury
of the Pagan Danes, than his soul is filled with holy indignation at
the superstition of the Christian Saxons.
23. King Ethelbert's Prayer-victory.
However, the West Saxon king Ethelbert behaved himself
bravely; fighting, with various success, nine battles -f against the
Danes : though ninety-nine had not been sufficient against so nu
merous an enemy. But we leave these things to the historians of '
the state to relate. We read of " a heap of stones," Gen. xxxi. 52,
made between Jacob and Laban, with a mutual contract, that
neither should pass the same for harm. Thus "svould I have eccle
siastical and civil historians indent about the bounds and limits of
their subjects, that neither injuriously encroach on the right of the
other. And, if I chance to make an excursion into the matters of
the commonwealth, it is not out of curiosity, or busybodiness, to be
meddling in other men's lines ; but only in an amicable way, to give
a kind visit, and to clear the mutual dependence of the church on
the commonwealth. Yet let me say, that this war against the Danes
was of church-concernment ; for it was as much pro aris, as pro
focis, " as much for religion, as civil interest." But one war must
• Camden's Britan. in the Description of Suffolk. t "AVilliam Malmesbury
De Gestis Regum Anglarumi, lib. ii. page 42.

1 ALFRED. BOOK II. CENT. IX. 177
not be forgotten : Importunate messengers brought the tidings, that
•the English were dangerously engaged with the Danes, at Essen-
dune, (haply, Essenden now, in Surrey,) * and likely to be worsted.
King Ethelbert was at his devotions, which he would not omit, nor
abbreviate, for all their clamour. No suit would he hear on earth,
till first he had finished his requests to heaven. Then, having per
formed the part of pious Moses in the mount, Exod. xvii. 11, he
began to act valiant Joshua in the valley. The Danes are van
quished, leaving posterity to learn, — that time spent in prayer is
laid out to the best advantage.
24. King Ethelbert heart-broken with Giief. A. D. 871 •
But, alas ! this Danish invasion was a mortal wound, dedecus
SaxoniccB fortitudinis ; the cure whereof was rather to be desired
than hoped for. Ease for the present was all art could perform.
King Ethelbert saw, that of these Pagans the more he slew, the
more they grew, which went to his valiant heart. Grief is a heavy
burden ; and, generally, the strongest shoulders are able to bear the
least proportion thereof. The good king, therefore, withered away
in the flower of his age, willingly preferred to encounter rather
death than the Danes ; for he knew how to make a joyful end with
the one, but endless was his contest with the other ; according to
the observation of the English Historian,f that the Saxon kings, in
this age, magis optabant honestum exitum, qudm acerbum
imperium, 25, King Alfred's exemplary Character. 1 Alfred, AD. 872.
In .this sad condition God sent England a deliverer, namely, king
Alfred, or Alured, bom in England, bred in Rome, where, by a
prolepsis, he was anointed king by pope Leo, (though then but a
private prince, and his three elder brothers alive,) in auspicium
futuri regni, " in hope that hereafter he should come to the crown."
Nor did this unction make Alfred antedate his kingdpm, who
quietly waited till his aforesaid brothers successively reigned, and
died before him, and then took his turn in the kingdom of the West
Saxons, The worst was, his condition was like a bridegroom, who,
though lawfully wedded, yet might not bed his bride, till first he had
conquered his rival ; and must redeem England, before he could
reign over it, The Danes had London, many of the inland, more
of tiie maritime towns, and Alfred only three . effectual shires, —
Somerset, Dorset, and Wilts ; yet, by God's blessing on his valour,
he got to be monarch of all England. Yea, c.onsider him as a king
in his court, as a general in his camp, as a Christian in his closet, as
• Or, according to others, Aston in Berkshire.— Edit. t Malmeseuriensis ut prius.
Vol. I, ^

178 CHURCH 'history OF BRITAIN. A.D. 872  82.
a patron in the church, as a founder in his college, as a father in his
family, — his actions will every way appear no less excellent in them
selves, than exemplary to others.
26. Alfred, as a Fiddler, discovereth the Danish Designs.
A.D.Qie.
His most daring design was, when lying hid about Athelney in
Somersetshire, and disguised under the habit of a fiddler, (being an
excellent musician,) he adventured into the Danish camp. Had not
his spirit been undaunted, the ¦ sight of his armed foes had been
enough to have put his instrument out of tune. Here going unsus
pected through their army, he discovered their condition, and some
of their intentions. Some would say, that the Danes deserved to be
beaten, indeed, if they would communicate their counsels to a
fiddler. But let such know, Alfred made this general discovery of
them, — that they were remiss in their discipline, lay idle and care
less : and security disarms the best^appointed army. Themistocles
said of himself, that he could not fiddle, but he knew how to make
a little city great. But our Alfred could fiddle, and make a little
city great, too ; yea, enlarge a petty and contracted kingdom into a
vast and absolute monarchy.
27. The Danish Ships left water-bound.
But, as the poets feign of Antseus, the son of the earth, who,
fighting with Hercules, and often worsted by him, recovered his
strength again every time he touched the earth, revived with an
addition of new spirits ; so the Danes, which may seem the sons of
Neptune, though often beaten by the English in land-battles, no
sooner recovered their ships at sea, but, presently recruiting themselves,
they returned from Denmark, more numerous and formidable than
before. But, at last, (to follow the poetical fancy,) as Hercules, to
prevent Anteeus's farther reviving, hoisted him aloft, and held him
strangled in his arms till he was stark dead, and utterly expired ; so,
to secure the Danes from returning to the sea, who out of the Thames
had with their fleet sailed up the river Lea, betwixt Hertfordshire
and Essex, Alfred with pioneers divided the grand stream of Lea
into several rivulets ; so that their ships lay water-bound, leaving
their mariners to shift for themselves overland ; most of which fell
into the hands of their English enemies : so that this proved a mor
tal defeat to the Danish insolence.
28. The^eneral Ignorance in England.
Alfred — having thus reduced England to some tolerable terms
of quiet, made most of the Danes his subjects by conquest, and the

11 ALFRED. BOOK II. CENT. IX. 179
rest his friends by composition — encountered a fiercer foe, namely,
ignorance and barbarism, which had generally invaded the whole
nation ; insomuch, that he writeth, that, south of Thames, he found
not any that could read English. Indeed, in these days all men
turned students. But what did they study ? Only to live secretiy
and safely from the fiiry of the Danes. And now, that the next
age might be wiser than this, Alfred intended the founding of an
university at Oxford.
29. Ancient Schools at Crekelade and Lechlade.
Indeed, there were anciently standing on the banks of Isis,
(which in due time commenceth Thamisis,) two towns ; one Creke
lade, or Greeklade, [Cricklade] in Wiltshire ; the other Lechlade,
or Latinlade, in Gloucestershire. In the former of these, many years
since, (things " time out of mind " must not be condemned as
" time out of truth,") the Greek tongue, as in the latter the Latin
tongue, are said to he publicly professed by philosophers. But
where was Hebrew-lade f the Hebrew tongue being more necessary
than both the former for the understanding of the Old Testament.
Alas ! in this age it was banished, not only out of England, but out
of Christendom. As in the ordinary method of nature, the more
aged usually die first ; so no wonder if Hebrew, generally presumed
the oldest language in the world, expired -first in this age of igno
rance, utterly abolished out of the Western countries. Yea, it is
well the other two learned tongues were preserved in these places ;
Crekelade and Lechlade being then cities of eminent note, shrunk
now to mean towns, and content with plain English, where Latin
and Greek were formerly professed.*
30. The University flrst founded by Alfred at Oxford.
A. D. 882.
But now the Muses swam do"ffn the stream of the river Isis, to
be twenty miles nearer to the rising sun, and were by king Alfred
removed from Crekelade and Lechlade, to Oxford, where he
founded an university. Yet some say, Alfred did flnd and not
• Heylin says, " There is a common tradition, (amongst the common people,) that
Crekelade [Cricklade] was a university of Greek philosophers ; Lechlade of Leches, or
physicians, as the name doth intimate ; and Latten, a small village betwixt both, to be
the place of study for the Latin tongue. But though the people are mistaken in the
etymon of the name of Lechlade, yet are they not so far out, as our author is in making
Lechlade or Latinlade to be both the same place and of the same signification ; whereas,
in truth, that town is so denominated from the river Lech, which, arising in the hills of
Cotawold, passeth first by Northlech, from thence to Eastlech," &c. FuUer, after
expressing his obligations for these remai-ks, subjoins : " My next edition, God willing,
shall be reformed accordingly." See also, in this volume, the same subject discussed,
page IU.--EDIT.
N 2

180 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 882.
[did] found letters therein, seeing there was a sprinkling of
students therein before ; though learning was very low and little
therein, till this considerable accession, when Alfred founded
therein three colleges, one for grammarians, a second for philoso
phers, a third for divines. Take a list of their primitive professors :
— In divinity, St. Grimbal, St. Neoth ; in grammar, Asserius, a
monk; in logic, John of St. David's; in mathematics, Johannes
Monachus. It is credibly reported, that what is now called
University College was then one of king Alfred's foundations, as
the verses written in their hall, under his arms do attest : —
Nobilis Alfredi sunt hcec insignia, cujus
Primum, constructa est htec pietate domus.
And from this time learning flourished here in great plenty and
abundance, though oft-times abated ; the universities feeling the
impressions of the commonwealth.
31. King's Hall founded by King Alfred.
At the same time wherein king Alfred built University College
in Oxford, he also founded another house called King's-great-hall,
(intimating a lesser hard by,) now included within the compass of
Brazen-nose College.* And hence it is that at this very day it
payeth some chief rent to University College, as the ancient
owner thereof. Here he- placed Johannes Scotus (highly endeared
in this king's affections) reader therein. On the clearing of whose
extraction and opinions a long story doth depend.
32. The Birth-place of Johannes Scotus.
This Scotus is called Johannes Scotus Erigena, with addition
sometimes of Sophista : so tiiat all may amount to a kind of
definition of him as to his individual person. Conceive we Scotus
for his genus, which because homonymous in that age,-|- (as
signifying both Scotland and Ireland,) Erigena is added for his
difference, that is, born (as some will have it) in Ireland, called
Erin in their own country language.^ But Dempster, a Scotch
writer,^} who will leave nothing that can be gotten above-ground
(yea, will dive and dig into the water and land of others) to the
credit of his country, claimeth Scotus as born in Scotland, spelling
him Airigena, from Aire, a small place therein. But, beside
unanswerable arguments to the contrary, " gena " is a termination
seldom added to so restrictive a word, but (as Francigena, - Angli-
gena) denotetli" generally the nation, not petty place, of a man's
extraction. As for Dempster, his credit runneth low with me, ever
• Rex Platonicus, page 211. f Jac. War. De Scrip. Hib. page 43. X Mercat.
Atla.^, page 47. 4 Eccles. Hist. Scot. lib. 1. num. 64, and lib. ix. num. 104.

11 ALFRED. BOOK 11. CENT. IX. 181
since he made pope Innocentius I. a Scotchman, because calling
himself Albanus, — and Scotland, forsooth, is Albania! — it being
notoriously known that the said Innocent was born at Long Alba
nigh Rome. Yea, Bellarmine himself said, reading the three books
of Dempster, wherein he hooketh in -so many for his countrymen,
that he thought that if he should add a fourth, he would make
Jesus Christ himself to be a Scotchman.
33. Wales's Right to Scotus's Birth.
All' this while Wales stands modestly silent, with intention to
put in her claim the last to Scotus's nativity, whom many writers
make born at St. David's.* Whilst some will have the epithet of
Erigena affixed unto him quasi r^pi yivo/j-svos, " early born,"
because of.the timely rising of his parts (as a morning star) in those
dark days, which I can better applaud for an ingenious allusion,
than approve for a true and serious assertion. But be Scotus born
where he please, most sure it is, by king Alfred he was made a,
professor of learning in Oxford.
34. " Scotus," saith Caius, " studied at Cambridge."
I confess, Caius maketh this John Scotus scholar to Bede,-f- (as
many good authors also do,J) and brought up at Cambridge ; to
which the sons of our aunt are loath to consent, that one who was
taught in Cambridge should teach in Oxford ; and their eloquent
orator falls very foul § (save that it is some ease to be railed on in
good Latin) on him for the same. Now, because we Cambridge-
men are loath to take a limb of John Scotus, or any other learned
man, more than what will come of itself, with the consent of
chronology ; and because I find Bale dislikes the same,|| chiefly on
the account of his improbable vivacity of an hundred-and-seventy
years ; I can be content to resign my particular title unto him,
provided it be without prejudice to others of our university, who
hereafter may challenge him with better arguments,
35. Miserably murdered by his Scholars.
I much wonder that this Scotus should be so degraded in his
old age from Oxford to Malmesbury ; from a professor in an
university, to a schoolmaster in a country-town ; where pouring
learning into his lads, (rather in proportion to the plenty of the
fountain, than to the receipt of the vessels,) he was severe to such
scholars as were dull in their apprehensions. This so irritated
• Bale De Scrip. Brit. cent. ii. page 124. t Caius De Ant. Cant, lib, i, page 157.
t Trithemius et e,jus sequaces. § Sir Isa. Wake in Reg. Pkttonico, page 212.
il Baleus, cent. ii. ut prius.

182 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 882  5.
their anger against him, that by an universal conspuracy they
dispatched him in the school with their penknives. I find not
what punishment was inflicted upon them ; whipping being too
littie, if sturdy youths ; and hanging too much, if but littie boys.
Only I observe one Cassianus, a schoolmaster in primitive times, sent
the same way on the same occasion, his death being elegantly
described by Prudentins.* 36. Unmartyred by Baronius.
All the amends which is made to the memory of Scotus is, that
he was made a martyr after his death, and his anniversary is remem
bered in the Calendar on the fourth of the Ides of November, in
the Roman Martyrology, set forth at Antwerp, 1586, by the .
command of Gregory XIII. But since Baronius hath unmartyred
him ; and that on good reason, saith Henry Fitz-Simon,-f- attesting
that an apology is provided, confirmed with approbation of many
popes, cardinals, and many learned doctors, justifying Baronius
therein, which we, as yet, have not beheld. Indeed, Scotus detested
some superstitions of the times, especially about the Presence in the
Lord's supper ; and I have read,;]: that his book De Eucharistid
was condemned in the Vercellian synod, for some passages therein,
by pope Leo. This makes it suspicious, that some hands of more
age, and heads of more malice, than school-boys, might guide the
penknives which murdered Scotus, because of his known opposition
against some practices and opinions of that ignorant age.
37. Scotus confounded with other of his Namesakes.
It is much that this Scotus, though carrying in his name a
comment on himself, that all should not suffice so distinctly to
expound him to some apprehensions, but that still they confound
him with others of his name ; sometimes with Johannes Scotus
Mailrossius,§ sometimes with John Duns Scotus ; though indeed
there be difference enough of time, place, and other distinguishing
characters betwixt them, — our present Scotus being most probably
an Irishman, a great linguist in the learned tongues, a vast traveller
into the Eastern parts, a monk by profession, killed and buried at
Malmesbury. The other Scotus born in Northumberland, skilled
only, and that but meanly, in Latin, never travelling farther than
France and the hither part of Germany, a Franciscan by his Order,
dying of an apoplexy, and buried at Cologne, of whom (God
willing) largely hereafter.
* Prudentius in his book Peri Stephanon. t In sccundd edit. Catal. SS. Hib.
X Joh. Parisiensis Hist, in anno 877. ^ John Bale, ut prius.

14 ALFRED. BOOK II. CENT. IX. 183
38. The Scholars' Maintenance out of the King's Exchequer.
To return to king Alfred : As for the mainterfance of the
scholars, it issued forth annually from Alfred's exchequer, who
made a fourfold division of his wealth :* — ^understand it of the
surplusage thereof, more than what his court and camp expended : —
one part to the poor, of all kinds, that came and craved of him ; a
second to the monasteries of his own erection ; a third to the
school, understand Oxford, which he himself had founded ; the
fourth and last to the neighbouring monasteries round about.
However, we may easily believe, that, after his death, the students
of Oxford were often at a loss of livelihood. For, seeing the
coffers of the greatest kings, especially in the time of war, are
subject to a drought of coin, there must needs be a dearth in those
colleges which are watered thence for their maintenance. Scholars
may in time of peace, but soldiers must be paid in time of war.
Wherefore the most certain subsistence for scholars, (so far forth as
inconstant things, as all sublunary, can be made constant,) is, what
ariseth from solid lands, wherewith they are endowed. For, though
even such revenues are subject to casualties, yet some water will
*ver be running, though the tide thereof may ebb or flow, accord
ing to the fall or rise of commodities.
39. Dissension betwixt the Students at Oxford. A. D. 885.
But it is hard so to compose two swarms of bees in one hive, but
that they will fall out and fight. The college of logic, it seems,
from the foundation thereof, studied divisions, as well as distinc
tions ; there happening a dangerous difference betwixt the abo
rigines and the advenes, " the old stock of students and the new
store " brought in by St. Grimbald : the former, , standing on their
seniority, expected more respect unto themselves, deriving their
privileges from their leamed ancestors, time out of mind, which the
Grimballists would not consent unto. Both sides appealed to
Alfred, as their patron. He, coming to Oxford, carried himself
with much moderation, as accounting that agreement most durable
into which the parties were persuaded, not commanded. Grimbald,
expecting king Alfred's zealous engaging on his side, according to
the conceived merits of his cause, was not a little offended that the
king did not appear more resolute in his behalf Insomuch that he
forsook Oxford, wherein he had formerly built the church of St.
Peter from the very foundation, with stone most curiously wrought
and polished, and translated both himself and his intended tomb
thence to Winchester. • Asserius Menevensis in Alfredo,

184 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 885  89.
40. The Arms of Oxford.
An antiquary tells us,* that the ancient arms were assigned to
Oxford about this time; namely, in a Field Azure, a Bible with
seven seals appendant thereunto, opened (at the beginning of St.
John's Gospel, " In the beginning was the Word," &c.) betwixt.
three Crowns Or : yhich three crowns, saith he, signify the three'
senses of the Scripture ; in the which, I confess, I do not under-^
stand him. For either we must admit but one sense of the
Scripture, as principally intended therein, which is the general opi
nion of the Protestants ; or, if, with the Papists, we will allow more
senses tiian one, we must conclude four, namely, -j- the literal, alle-'
gorical, moral, and anagogical. What, if the three crowns import
the three professions which Alfred here founded, and all necessary
to the understanding of the book betwixt them ? Grammar, to
understand the letter ; Philosophy, the reason ; and Divinity, the
mystery of the Scripture.
41. One, once a Swineherd, made Bishop of Winchester.
One of the first scholars of note, whom I find bred in Oxford,
was one Dunwolphus, once a swineherd in Athelney, when Alfred
lurked therein, being the king's host, who entertained him, or
rather his master whom the king served. Alfred, perceiving in him
pregnancy of parts, (though stifled with the narrowness and crippled
with the lowuess of his vocation,) sent him to Oxford,;]: where he
became, after some years' study, doctor in divinity, and was by the
king, in gratitude, preferred to be bishop of Winchester.§ But
the monks of Winchester are so proud and sullen, they disdain to
accept this man for their bishop, affirming, that their see stood void
at this time; II more willing to confess a vacancy, than admit a
swineherd into their episcopal chair. Whereas, surely, Alfred so
great a scholar and good a man, would not have advanced him, per
saltum, from a swineherd to a bishop, had he not been qualified by
intermediate degrees of education. For my own part I see no
reason why Winchester should be ashamed of him ; and for aught
I know, Dunwolph might be as good a bishop as Dunstan, of whom
the monks of Winchester so boast, both without cause and measure.
42. The Preface to the Canons made by King Alfred.^ A.D. 887-
Councils, except councils of war, were very rare in this age.
The first I find a solemn one, celebrated by king Alfred ;^ the
• Brian Twine in Apolog. Antiq. Oxon. \ Aquinas's " Sums," quaes, i, art, IO:
J Godwin in his Bishops of Winchester, page 263. § Malmesb. De Gest. Pontifi.
cum, lib. ii. || See Mr. Ioaakson's " Chronology" in Catal. of Bishopb. ^ Sir
H. Spelman's 't Councils," page 354. '

18 ALFRED, BoOJf II, CENT. IX. 185
place not expressed, but the canons therein fairiy transmitted to
pos erity. 1 he preface of these canons is very remarkable, consist
ing of three parts ;_1. The Ten Commandments translated into
Saxon, as being the basis and foundation of all human laws.
2. Several pieces of chapters in Exodus, being the breviate of the
judicial law of the Jews ; which though in the latitude thereof cal
culated only for the Jewish commonwealth, yet the moral equity
therein obligeth all Christians, 3, The fifteenth chapter of the
Acts, containing the council of Jerusalem, as being a Divine pre
cedent, or warrant for Christians to convene together, and conclude
orders for regulating men's conversations. It is remarkable, that
in the aforesaid Ten Commandments, as exemplified in this council
of Alfred, the second commandment is wholly expunged ; image-
worship beginning then to grow common in the worid, and the
clergy, who gained thereby, (hating the second commandment on
the same account as Ahab did Micaiah, IKings xxii. 8 ; — because it
ever prophesied evil unto them,) dashed it out of the Decalogue.
The worst is, when this was wanting, the Decalogue was but an
Ennealogue ; and, therefore, to preserve the number of teuj the
papists generally cleave the last commandment into two ; but in
Alfred's preface, this is made the tenth and last commandment,
" Thou shalt not worship gods of gold and silver." Which, as it
comes in out of its proper place, (and why should not God's order
be observed, as well as his number, in the commandments .'') so
is it defectively rendered, nothing so full against graven images
36 God propounded it. The canons made in this council fall
under a threefold consideration ; some relate only to the com
monwealth, and by us may properly be forborne ; others concern
only monks and friars,— a sixth finger, and no necessary mem
ber of the church; and, .as actio moritur cum persona, so,
with the extirpation of those convents, those canons may seem to
expire. 43. A general Contribution to Rome and Jerusalem.
J.X>. 889.
Plegmund, a hermit in the Isle of Chester, (now called Pleg-
mundsham) tutor to king Alfred, was by him preferred to be arch
bishop of Canterbury, then a miserable place, as hardly recovered
from the late sacking of the Danes. By the king's command, he
called the clergy of England together, and made a collection of
alfns, to be sent to Rome and Jerusalem ; and Athelm, archbishop
of York, was employed in the journey, going personally to the
aforesaid' places, to see the contribution there faithfully delivered,
and equally distributed.

186 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A, D, 900  4.
^A^. Death of King Alfred. A.D. 200.
About the end of this century died worthy king Alfred, remark
able to posterity on many accounts, whereof this not the least, —
that he turned David's Psalms into English ; so that a royal text
met with a royal translator. He left his crown to Edward his son
(commonly called " the elder") far inferior to his father in skill in,
but not so much in his love to, good literature. Indeed, he had an
excellent tutor, Asserius Menevensis, archbishop of St, David's,
(the faithful writer of his father's actions,) supposed by some bishop
of Sherborne ; which is denied by others,* (though one of the same
name was some years before,) as inconsistent with chronology,
45, Weak Guardians, God wot.
As for the principal clergymen extant at this time, we take special
notice of two : The one, Berthulf, bishop of Winchester, made one
of the guardians of the realm against the incursion of the Danes :
The other, Halard, bishop of Dorchester, advanced also into the
same employment. But, alas ! what weak guardians were these to
defend the land, which could not secure their own sees ! And in
what capacity (save in prayers and tears) were they able to make
any resistance .'' For now the Danes not only assailed the skirts
and outsides of the land, but also made inroads many miles into the
continent thereof. Insomuch that Winchester lay void six, and
Sherborne seven, years ; such the Pagan fury, that none durst offer
to undertake those places !
46. The woful Estate of the English.
True it is, the English oftentimes in battle got the advantage of
them ; when the Pagan Danes, being conquered, had but one way
to shift for themselves ; namely, to counterfeit themselves Christians,
and embrace baptism : but no sooner had they got power again into
their hands, but that they, turning apostates, were ten times more
cruel than ever before. Thus successively was the land affected
with sickness, recovery, and relapses ; the people's condition being
so much the more disconsolate, because, promising a continuance of
happiness to themselves upon their victories, they were on their
overthrows remanded to the same, if not a worse, condition.
47. The commendable Temper of King Alfred and King
Edivard.
It is strange to observe the alternations of success between the
English and Danes, how exactly they took their turns ; God using
them to hold up one another, whilst he justly beat both. Meantime,
* James Usher Dc Brit. Eccles. Primor. in Indice Chronolog. page 1177v

3 EDWARD THE ELDER. BOOK II. CENT. X. 187
commendable the temper of late king Alfred, and present king
Edward ; it being true of each of them,
Si modo victus crat, ad crastina bella parabat ;
Si modo victor erat, ad crastijia bella timebai.
** If that it happed that conquered was he.
Next day to fight he quickly did prepare ;
But if he chanced the conqueror to be,
Next day to fight he wisely did beware."
But these things we leave to the historians of the state to prosecute,
and confine ourselves only to matters of ecclesiastical cognizance.

SECTION V.
THE TENTH CENTURY.
JACOBO LANGI-IAM, ARMIGERO, AMPLISSIMI SENATORIS
LONDINENSIS PRIMOGENITO.
Decimam hanc centuriam tibi dedicandam curavi,
quod numerus denarius semper aliquid augustum
sonet. Sic in Papicolarum globulis, quibus preculas
suas numerant, decimus (ut Decurio) aliis magnitudine
praestat. At dices : " Centuria hsec inter ecclesiasticos audit
infelix, cixm sua tantiim obscuritate sit illustris." Quid
tibi igitur, felicissimo viro, cui Isetum ingenium, lauta
hsereditas, cum infelici seculo?
Verbo expediam : Volui nomen tuum historiae mese
hie prsetendi, ut, instar phosphori, lectores in hac
tenebrosa setate oberrantes, splendoris sui radiis dirigat.
Percurras, quaeso, insequentes paginas ; nihil scien-
tise, aliquid voluptatis, tibi allaturas. Quo cum nemo
sit in ipsis elegantiarum apicibus Latinior, probe scio,
te perquam suaviter risurum,,cum diploma Edvardi-
num, nimia barbarie scatens, perlegeris.
1. England interdicted by the Pope for want of Bishops.
3 Edward the Elder. A.D. 904.
At this time there was a great dearth of bishops in the land,
which lasted for seven years, — as long as the famine in Egypt ;

188 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 904  6.
during which time, there was no bishop in all the West parts of
Eno-land. Pope Formosus was foully offended hereat, and there
upon, cum magnd iracundid et devotione,* " with much passion
and piety," by his curse and excommunication, interdicted king,
kingdom, and all the subjects therein. We cannot but gaze at the
novelty of this act, as we conceive, a leading case in this kind ;
whilst the skilful in the canon law can give an account of the equity
of the pope's proceedings, why all should suffer for some, the
guiltless with the guilty, and have the word and sacraments taken
from them for the want of bishops in other places : otherwise, the
punishment seemeth unjust in the rigid justice thereof, and, if not
heavier, larger than the offence, and beareth no proportion with
common equity. Christian charity, and God's proceedings, who
saith, " The soul that sinneth shall die."
2. The Character of those Kings on whom the Pope most
improved himself.
Notwithstanding, this excommunicating of king Edward by the
pope is highly urged by Parsons,-f- to prove the pope's power in
England over princes, according to his constant solecism clean
through the tenure of his book, to reason a facto ad jus; arguing,
from the pope's barely doing it, that he may justly do it. We
deny not but that, in this age, active and ambitious popes mightily
improved their power upon five sorts of princes. First. On such as
were lazy and voluptuous ; who, on condition they might enjoy
their sports and delights for the present, cared not for their
posterity. Secondly. On such as were openly vicious, and so
obnoxious to censure ; who "would part with any thing, out of the
apprehension of their guiltiness. Thirdly, On such as were tender
and easy-natured ; who gave, not so much out of bounty to give, as
out of bashfulness to deny the pope's importunity. Fourthly, On
those of a timorous spirit ; who were affrighted with their own
fancies of the pope's terribleness, and, being captivated unto him by
their own fear, they ransomed themselves at what price he pleased.
Lastly, On pious princes ; whose blind zeal, and misled devotion,
thought nothing too precious for him : in which form we rank this
Edward the Elder, then king of England. And it is worth our
observing, that, in point of power and profit, what the popes once
get, they ever hold, being as good at keeping as catching ; so that
what one got by encroaching, his successor prescribed that
encroachment for a title, which whether it will hold good in matter
of right, it is not for a historian to dispute.
• Archiv. Cant, in Regist. Priorat. Eccles. Cant. fol. 3, b. t In his Answer to
the Lord Coke's Report, cap. 6, page 136.

5 EDWARD THE ELDER. BOOK II. CENT. X. 189
3. The Pope pleased, and England absolved again.
But, to return to our story : We are glad to see Malmesbury so
merry, who calleth this passage of the pope's interdicting England,
jocundum memoratu, " pleasant to be reported," because it ended
so well. For Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury, posted to
Rome, bringing with him honorifica munera, (such ushers will
make one way through the thickest crowd to the pope's presence,)
informing his Holiness that Edward, king of England, in a late-
summoned synod, had founded some new, and supplied all old,
vacant bishoprics. Pacified herewith, the pope turned his curse
into a blessing, and ratified their elections. The worst is, a
leamed pen tells me,* that in this story there is an inextricable
error in point of chronology, which will not suffer pope Formosus
and this king Edward the Elder to meet together. And Baronius
makes the mistake worse, by endeavouring to mend it. I have so
much wariness, as not to enter into that labyrinth out of which I
cannot return ; but leave the doubt to the pope's Datary to clear,
proper to him, as versed in such matters. The same pen informs
me,-f- that the sole way to reconcile the difference is, to read " pope
Leo V." instead of pope Formosus : which, for quietness, I am con
tent to do ; the rather, because such a roaring curse best beseems
the mouth of a lion.
4. Vacant Bishoprics supplied, and new erected.
Hear now the names of the seven bishops which Plegmund
consecrated in one day : a great day's work, — and a good one, if
all were fit for the function. Fridstan, bishop of Winchester, a
learned and holy man ; Werstan, of Sherborne ; Kenulfe, of
Dorchester ; Beornege, [Beornock,] of Selsey ; Athelme, of
Wells ; Eadulfe, of Crediton in Devon ; and Athelstan, in Corn
wall, of St. Petrock's [or Padstow]. These three last Western
bishoprics were in this council newly erected. But St. Petrock's
had never long any settled seat, being much in motion, translated
from Bodmin in Cornwall, (upon the wasting of it by the Danes,)
to St. Germain's in the same county, and afterward united to
Crediton in Devonshire. This bishopric was founded principally
for the reduction of the rebellious Cornish to the Romish rites ;
who as they used the language, so they imitated the lives and
doctrine, of the ancient Britons, neither hitherto nor long after
submitting themselves to the see apostolic.
5. King Edward in a new Synod confirms his Father's
Constitutions. A.D. 906.
A synod was called at Intingford ; where Edward the Elder, and
Guthurm king of the Danes, in that part of England which formerly
• Sir H. Spelman in Conciliis, page 389. f IdeTn, ibidem.

190 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 906  15.
belonged to the East Angles, only confirmed the same ecclesiastical
constitutions* which Alfred, Edward's father, with the said
Guthurm, had made before. Here the curious palates of our age
will complain of crambe,— that, two kings, with their clergy,
should meet together only actum agere, " to do what was done to
their hands." But whilst some count all councils idle, which do not
add or alter ; others will commend their discretion, who can discern
what is well ordered already, approve their policy in enjoining such
things unto others, and principally praise their piety for practising
them in themselves. And whosoever looks abroad into the worid,
with a judicious eye, will soon see, that there is not so much need
of new laws, (the multitude whereof rather cumbers men's memories,
than quickens their practice,) as an absolute necessity to enforce old
laws, with a new and vigorous execution of them.
6. Cambridge University repaired by Kiny Edivard. A.D.9\5.
And now king Edward, remembering the pious example of his
father Alfred in founding of Oxford, began to repair and restore the
university of Cambridge, For. the Danes, who made all the sea-
coasts of England their haunt, and kept the king4om of the East
Angles for their home, had banished all learning from that place ;
Apollo's harp being silenced by the drum of Mars, till this king's
bounty brought learning back again thither, as by his following
charter may appear : —
Iti nominef D. Jesu Christi : Ego Edwardiis, Dei gratid, rex
Anglorum, divino compulsus amore, pracepto Joannis, apostolica
sedis episcopi, ac Pleigmundi Cantuar. archiepisc. consilio oxtmi-
iim sacerdotum et principum mea dominationis, universa et sin
gula pr'ivilegia, doctoribus et scholaribus Cantabrigia, necnon
servientibus eorundem, (uti ab olim viguit indesinenter mater
philosophia, et reperitur in prasenti fons clerimonia,) a me data,
sen ab antecessoribus meis quomodolibet concessa, stabilijure grata
et rata decerno durare, quamdiu vertigo poll circa terras atque
tequora atliera syderum justo inoderamine volvet. Datum in
Grantecestrid, anno ab Incarnatione D. 915. venerabili fratri
Frithstano, civitatis scholarium Cantabrig. cancellario, et doctori
per suum, Sfc.
The credit of this charter is questioned by some, becahse of the
barbarous style thereof; as if an university were disgraced with
honourable privileges granted unto it in base Latin, But know,
that age was so poor in learning, it could not go to the cost of good
• Lambert in his "Saxon Laws," and Sir H. Spelman in his « Councils," p. 390.
\ Charta exlat in MS. codice qui Cantabrigia est in Auld Clarerm. ejusdem meminit
Tho.' Rudbdrn, necnon Joh. Rossrs.

14 EDWARD THE ELDER. BOOK II. CENT. X. 191
language. Who can look to find a fair face in the hottest parts of
.Ethiopia ? Those times were ignorant : and as it is observed of
the country-people born at the village of Carlton* in Leicestershire,
that they have all (proceeding from some secret cause in their soil or
water) a strange uncouth wharling-f- in their speech ; so it was pro
per to the persons writing in this age to have a. harsh, unpleasant,
grating style, (and so much the sourer to critical ears, the more it is
sweetened with an affected rhythm,) though a blemish, yet a badge
of their genuine Deeds which were passed in those times.
7- The Testimony of John Rouse concerning King Edward's
repairing of Cambridge.
Hear also what John Rouse, an excellent antiquary, furnished by
king Edward IV. with privacy and pension, to collect the monu
ments of this land, allegeth to this purpose : who, being bred in
Oxford, and having written a book in confutation of those which
deduce the foundation of this university from Cantaber, may be pre
sumed will allow Cambridge no more than what in right is due unto
her. He, speaking of king EdwardJ the Elder, out of an ancient
table and chronicle of Hyde abbey by Winchester, which himself,
by the favour of the abbot, perused, reporteth of the restoration of
decayed Cambridge at this time, in manner as followeth : —
Propterea ad clerimoniam augmentandam, sicut pater suns
Oxoniam, sic ipse ab antique cum cateris studiis generulibus sus-
pensani, desolatam, et deslructam Cantabrigiam, iterum ad pri-
mam gloriam erexit : necnon ibi aulas stud'ientium, et doctoriim
magi str orum que cathedras et scdilia, ut dilectissimus cleri nutritm;
amator, et defensor, suis sumtibus erigi et fabricari pracepit.
Ab Oxonid namque universitate, quam pater suus nobilis rex
erexerat, magistros ariium quas liberales vocamus, pariter in
sacrd theologid doctores, advocavit, ibique ad legendum forma-
liter, et docendum invitavit. — Joh. Rossus in lib. de Regibus.
" Therefore, for the augmentation of clerk-like learning, as his
father had done to Oxford, so he again raised up Cambridge to her
first glory, which, for a long time, with other general schools, had
been suspended, desolate, and destroyed : as also, like a most loving
nourisher of the clergy, he commanded that halls for students, chairs
and seats of doctors and masters, should there be erected, and built
on his own proper charges : for he called from Oxford university,
which his noble father the king had erected, masters of those arts
which we call liberal, together with doctors in holy divinity, and
invited them there formally to read and teach."
• Camden's Brit in Leicestershire, page 517. t Ash describes this as a provincial
word, which signifies " fluttering."-EDiT. X Baleus, cent, viii. num. 53,

192 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN'. A.D. 915 — 28,
8. Cambridge repxesented in a three-fold Estate.
Have we here Cambridge presented in a three-fold conditioh.
First. What she had been long before king Edward's time ; fairly
flourishing with learning. Secondly, In what case he found her;
desolate and decayed. Then the cup of Cambridge was at the
bottom, her breasts dry, and her sun in an eclipse. She was, saith
Rouse, " suspended," not by the power of any pope's keys, (as the
word may import,) but by the force of Pagan swords, who here
interrupted the exercise of Acts and public lectures ; as in Spain,
Germany, and other foreign parts, places appointed for learning had
shared in the like calamity. Thirdly. In what condition Edward
left her ; under whom, as under " the father of the Act," Cambridge
itself did then commence and take a new "degree." Happy this
Edward, who like a ¦vs'^ealthy landlord had two nurseries of choice
fruit ; so that if the one, by any sad accident, chanced to fail, he
could supply it from the other, without being beholding to his
neighbours. This was the love betwixt the two sisters ; — what
either had, neither could want ; and Oxford, which lent now, bor
rowed another time, as in due place shall appear. If the same
- author* elsewhere calleth this king Edward " founder of Cam
bridge," it is by an easy and obvious error, because a total repairer
doth amount to a partial founder. Nor doth Cambridge regret
thereat ; seeing grateful expressions, which had rather transgress in
the excess, than the defect, may in courtesy call their mender their
" maker," 9, The principal Laws enacted in the Council at Greatlea.
1 Athelstan, J.Z). 924.
Athelstan, his son, succeeded king Edward, being much devoted
to St, John of Beverley ; on whose church he bestowed a freed-
stool, with large privileges belonging thereunto. Many councils
were kept in this king's reign, at Exeter, Feversham, Thunderfield,
and London, all of them of uncertain date. But one held at
Grately is of greatest account for the laws therein enacted ; the
principal here ensuing : —
1, " That the king's officers should truly pay tithes, out of his
demesnes, as well as of his quick cattle, as dead commodities,
2, " That cyricsceat (that is, first-fruits of seeds) be duly paid to
God in his church,
3, " That the king's officers maintain one poor-body in the
king's villages ; and in case none be found therein, fetch him from
other places," — Christ saith, " The poor you have always with you."
The church in general is well stocked with them, though some par-
* In his Catalogue of the Earls of "Warwick.

5 ATHELSTAN, BOOK II, CENT, X, 193
ticular parish may want such as are in want. If any would know the
bill of fare allowed these poor people, it was monthly a measure of
meal, una perna, a gammon of bacon, a ram worth a groat, four
cheeses, and thirty pence on Easter- Wednesday to buy them
clothes, 4, " That moneyers, wilfully corrupting the coin, and found
guilty, have their hands cut off, and nailed to the mint-house." —
Every borough was allowed one mint therein ; but, besides these,
Hastings had one ; Cirencester, one ; Shaftesbury, two ; Wareham,
two ; Exeter,* two ; Hampton, two ; Lewes, two ; Rochester,
three ; Winchester, six ; Canterbury, seven ; (namely, for the king,
four ; for the archbishop, two; for the abbot, one;) London, eight.
Most of these places were anciently in the West Saxon kingdom ; to
whom the English monarchs were most favourable, in doubling their
privilege of coinage, but single in other places of greater capacity,
5. " That such who were tried by ordeal, should ceremoniously be
prepared thereunto with the solemn manner of managing that trial.
6. " That no buying or selling be on the Lord's day." — This
took not full effect for -many years after ; for Henry I.-f* granted to
Battle Abbey a market to be kept on that day, lately (at the
motion of Anthony Marquis Montacute) by Act of parliament
removed t.o another day.
7. " That one convicted of perjury shall be trusted no more on
his oath, nor be buried in holy earth, except restored by the bishop
on his penance.
8. " That witches, confessing themselves to have killed any, be
put to death." — Such as were suspected, and denied the fact, might
be tried by ordeal ; which was done either by fire, whereof here
after, or by water. Of the latter, mergatur una ulna et dimidia
infune; which I thus understand : "Let the party be tied to a
rope, and drenched an ell-and-half above his own height." And
this is the first footstep we find of swimming of witches ; for which
no law, save custom, at this day ; and that whether just in itself,
and satisfactory, as a means proportionable for the discovery of the
truth, is not my work to determine.
Whosoever desires to have more exact information of this council
may repair to Sir Henry Spelman, | where he may receive plentiful
satisfaction. 10. Dignities and Degrees amongst the Saxons.
Only I must not omit one passage in this council, acquainting us
with the heraldry of that age, and the distances and degrees of
* So in the Saxon Manuscript, though in libra Jornalensi by mistake Oxonia is put for
Exonia. t Camden's Brit, in Sussex. X In his " Councils," page 396, et sequentibus.
Vol. I. o

194 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 928  35.
persons, collected from their Weers or weer-gilds, that is, " taxes
and valuations ;" it being truly to be said in that age, —
Quantum quisque sud num/morum, servai in arcd,
Tantum habet etjidei — — —
" Every one's testimony in law-cases in courts was credited accord
ing to his wealth."
1. Ceorles (whence our northern word " carles," and common
word " churls ") being country-clowns, whose weer-gild was two
hundred shillings, or ten pounds ; the same with " villains," who
held land in villanage of others. These, if by blessing, on their
industry they rose so high as to have five hides of land of
their own, with a place in the king's court, and some other
privileges now hardly to be understood, were advanced to be
thanes.* 2. The weer-gild or value of a thane was six times as much as
a churl or a villain, namely, twelve times a hundred shillings,
therefore termed " a twelve-hind-man ;" whose oath in law was
equivalent to six oaths of churls or villains ; as a shilling pass
ing in payment countervaileth six two-pences. Note, that if a
masseer, or " merchant," pass the Great Sea thrice, (understand
the Mediterranean, not the Narrow Seas betwixt us and France,)
and not in the notion of a servant, but on his own account, he then
was dignified with the reputation of a thane. These thanes were of
two sorts : " Meset thanes," priests qualified to say mass ; and
" Worrould thanes," that is, secular or temporal thanes.
3. Of the first, if a scholar made such proficiency in his studies
that he took Holy Orders, he was reverently respected, and (though
not valued as a worrould thane in rates and taxes) amends were
to be made for any wrongs done unto him, equal to a thane ; and in
case he should be killed, the penalty thereof was the higher, the
more Orders the person had taken. Observe by the way, (so far as
we can understand the Saxon laws,) that manslaughter was not then
punished with death, but might be redeemed by the proportionable
payment of a sum of money, according to the quality of tJie person
* Dr. William Howel says, " The mulcts or fines of our Saxon ancestors were either
greater or lesser. The greater took away all or much of their substance, being the sante
with that which we call ' the valuation of the head,' by them caUed were ; which word
originally signifieth ' a man,' and this ' valuation or payment' secondaaily, or by way of
translation. The lesser sort of mulcts they call wite ; which differed from were, both in
this, that it was less, as also in that it was uncertain ; whereas the other was settled and
constant. The first [were] answers to the word redemption, or, as it is now used in
English, ransom ; and the last [wife] to fine and amercement properly. Thus ' the
valuation of heads ' they called were, the payment whereof they termed vjcre-gild." See
the sense in which witereden is used in the Latin charter of Ethelwulf, quoted in a pre
ceding page, 168. — Edit.

12 JVTHELSTAlJ. BOOK II. CENT. X. 195
slain ; part thereof payable to the king, part to his kindred, part to
the country thereabouts.
But the further prosecution hereof (where the footsteps are
almost outworn with time) we leave to more expert antiquaries ;
who will tell you, that alderman in that age was equal to our
modern " earl," who with bishops were of the same valuation ; also
that comes in that age sounded as much as "duke" in ours,
archbishops going along witt them in all considerable equipage.
11. Dunstan's flrst Coming into Favour at the Court.
A.D. 933.
Now began St. Dunstan to appear in court, born at Glastonbury,
of noble parentage, — as almost what saint in this age was not
honourably extracted ? — nephew both to Elphegus bishop of
Winchester and Athelm archbishop of Canterbury, yea, kinsman
remote to king Athelstan himself; and being thus highly related, he
could not miss of preferment. His eminencies were painting and
graving, (two qualities disposing him to be very useful for saint-
worshipping, either for pictures or images,) an excellent musician,
(preaching in those days could not be heard for singing in
churches,) and an admirable worker in brass and iron. These
accomplishments commended him at court to be acceptable to
company ; and for some time he continued with the king in great
reputation. 12. Banished thence on Suspicion of Magic A.D. 935.
But it is given tq that bowl which lies next to the mark, to have
most take aim to remove it. Eminency occasions envy, which
made Dunstan's enemies endeavour to depress him. He is accused
to the king for a magician, and upon that account banished the
court. It was brought as evidence against him, that he made his
harp not only to have motion, but make music of itself ; which no
white art could perform. " St. Dunstan's harp fast by the wall
Upon a pin did hang-a ;
The harp itself, with ly and all,
Untoucht by hand did twang-a."
For our part let Dunstan's harp hang there still on a double suspi
cion twisted together : First. Whether this story thereof were true
or false : Secondly. If true, whether done by magic or miracle. Sure
I am as good a harper and a better saint than Dunstan was, hath
no such miracle reported of him, even David himself; who with his
harp praised God, pleased men, frighted devils, 1 Sam. xvi, 23 ;
yet took pains with his own right hand to play, Psalm cxxxvii, 5,

196 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 937 — 'j^
not lazily commanding music by miracle to be made on his
instrument. 13. He retires unto his Cell-prison at Glastonbury. A.D. 93'J.
Banished from court, Dunstan returns to Glastonbury, and there
falls a-puffing and blowing in his forge. Here he made himself a
cell, or rather a little-ease, being but four foot long, two and a half
broad, (enough to cripple his joints witk the cramp, who could not
lie along therein,) whilst the height thereof was according to the
stature of a man. Wisely and virtuously he would not confine
himself upwards, that the scantness of the earthly dimensions in his
cell (breadth and length) might be enlarged in the height thereof,
and liberty left for the ascending of his meditations. But it
matters not how little the prison be, if a man, with Dunstan, be his
own gaoler, to go in and out at pleasure. Leave we him at the
furnace in smithery-work, (excelling "Alexander the coppersmith"
therein,) whilst we find such monks as wrote his Life at another
forge, whence they coined many impudent miracles, pretended done
by Dunstan, and this among the rest : —
14. Takes a Devil by the Nose. A.D. 938.
Dunstan was in his vocation making some iron trinkets, when a
Protens-devii appeared unto him, changing into shapes, but fixing
himself at last into the form of a fair woman. Strange, that satan
(so subtile in making his temptations most taking) should prefer
this form ; belike, shrewdly guessing at Dunstan's temper, that a
fair woman might work upon him, and Vulcan might love a Venus,
Dunstan, perceiving it, plucked his tongs glowing hot out of the
fire, and with them kept him (or her shall I say ?) there a long time
by the nose roaring and bellowing ; till at last he brake loose, by
what accident it is not told unto us,
15, This false Miracle canvassed.
I have better employment than to spend precious time in
confuting such follies ; but give me leave to admire at these new
arms against satan. " Take the shield of faith," saith the apostle,
" wherewith ye may quench all the fiery darts of the "wicked,"
Ephes. vi. 16. Dunstan found a new way by himself, with fiery
tongs to do the deed. But let us a little examine this miracle. The
devil himself, we know, is a spirit, and so impassible of material
fire. Now, if it were a real body he assumed, the snake could shp
off his skin at pleasure, and not be tied to it, much less tormented
with it. Besides, did Dunstan willingly or unwillingly let the
devil go ? If willingly, mercy to so malicious an enemy, incapable

1 EDMUND. BOOK II. CENT. X. 197
of being amended, was cruelty to himself; if unwillingly, was it
Dunstan's fire or his faith that failed him, that he could hold out
against him no longer ,'' But away With all suspicions and queries !
None need to doubt of the truth thereof, finding it in a sign painted
in Fleet-street near Temple-bar.
16. Aelfgine, Dunstan's bountiful Friend.
During Dunstan's abode in his cell, he had, to his great comfort
and contentment, the company of a good lady, Aelfgine by name,
living fast by. No preacher but Dunstan would please her, being
so ravished with his society that she would needs build a little cell
for herself hard by him. In process of time this lady died, and by
her last will left Christ to be the heir, and Dunstan the executor, of
her estate. Enabled with the accession thereof, joined to his pater
nal possessions, which were very great, and now fallen into his
hands, Dunstan erected the abbey of Glastonbury, and became him
self first abbot thereof.* He built also and endowed many other
monasteries, filling them with Benedictine monks, who began now
to swarm in England, more than maggots in a hot May, so incredi^
ble was their increase.
1 7- Re-called to Court, and re-banished thence. 1 Edmund,
A.D. 939, 940.
After the death of king Athelstan, Dunstan "was re-called to court
in the reign of king Edmund, Athelstan's brother, and flourished
for a time in great favour. But who would build on the brittle
bottom of princes' love .'' Soon after he falls into the king's dis
favour ; the old crime, of being a magician, (and a wanton with
women, to boot,) being laid to his charge. Surely, Dunstan, by
looking on his own furnace, might leam thence, there was no smoke
but some fire : either he was dishonest or undiscreet, which gave
the ground-work to their general suspicion. Hereupon he is re
banished the court, and returned to his desired cell at Glastonbury ;
but within three days was solemnly brought back again to court, if
the ensuing story may be believed.
18. King Edmund's miraculous Deliverance.
King Edmund was in an eager pursuit of a buck, on the top of
a steep rock, whence no descent but destruction. Down falls the
deer, and dogs after him, and are dashed to pieces. The king fol
lows in full speed on an unruly horse, whom he could not rein, and
• The following clause was added in the text — " a title till his time unknown in
England." But in the Appeal of injured Innocence, FuUer says, " I request such as
have my Church- History to delete these words ; for I profess I know not by what casualty
these words crept into iny book, contrary to my intent.'' — Edit.

198 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 940  58.
is on the brink of the brink of the precipice. Yet his prayers prove
swifter than his horse ; he but ran, whilst they did fly to heaven.
He is sensible of his sin in banishing Dunstan, confesseth it with
sorrow, vows amendment, promiseth to restore and prefer him.
Instantly the horse stops in his full career, and his rider is wonder
fully preserved. 19. Fie, for shame, lying Monk !
Thus far a strong faith may believe of the story ; but it must be
a wild one which gives credit to the remainder. Cervus et canes
reviviscunt,* saith the impudent monk, " The deer and dogs revive
again." I remember not in Scripture that God ever revived a brute
beast ; partly, because such mean subjects are beneath the majesty
of a miracle ; and partly, because, as the apostle saith, brute beasts
are " made to be taken and destroyed," 2 Peter ii. 12. Well then
might the monk have knocked off, when he had done well in saving
the man and horse ; and might have left the dogs and deer to have
remained dead on the place ; the deer especially, were it but to
make venison-pasties, to feast the courtiers at the solemnizing of
their lord and master's so miraculous deliverance.
20. King Edred a high Patron of Dunstan. 1 Edred.
A.D. 946.
Dunstan, returning to court, was in higher favour than ever
before. Nor was his interest any whit abated by the untimely
death of king Edmund, (slain by one Leoff, a thief,) seeing his
brother Edred, succeeding to the crown, continued and increased
his kindness to him. Under him Dunstan was " the do-all" at
court, being the king's treasurer, chancellor, counsellor, confessor, —
all things. Bishoprics were bountifully proffered him, pick and
choose where he please ; but none were honoured with his accept
ance : whether because he accounted himself too high for the place,
and would not stoop to the employment ; or because he esteemed
the place too high for him, unable conscientiously to discharge it in
the midst of so many avocations. Mean time monasteries were
every where erected, (king Edred devoutly resigning all his treasure
to Dunstan's disposal,) secular priests being thrust out of their con
vents, and monks substituted in their rooms.
21. But King Edwin his professed Enemy. 1 Edwin. A.D. 954.
But, after Edred's death, the case was altered with Dunstan,
falling into disgrace with king Edwin his successor. This king, on
his coronation-day, was said to be incestuously embracing both
• RoFF. HiSTOR. Matt. West. Johannes Capgrave, Osbernus.

5 EDWIN. BOOK II. CENT. X. 199
mother and daughter, when Dunstan, boldly coming into his bed
chamber, after bitter reproofs, stoutly fetched him thence, and
brought him forth into the company of his noblemen. A heroic
act, if true, done with a John-Baptist spirit ; and no wonder if
Herod and Herodias, I mean, this incestuous king and his concu
bines, were highly offended with Dunstan for the same.
22. Who, though wronged by the Monks, was a worthy Prince.
But good men and grave authors give no belief herein, conceiv
ing king Edwin (how bad soever charactered by the monks, his
malicious enemies) to have been a worthy prince. In witness
whereof they produce the words of Henry Huntingdon,* a learned
man, but no monk, thus describing him : Edwin non illaudabiliter
regni infulam tenuit. Et rursus : Edwin rex, anno regni sui
quinto, cum in principio regnum ejus decentissimefloreref, pros-
pera et Icstabunda exordia mors immatura perrupit.
" Edwin was not undeserving of praise in managing the sceptre
of this land." And again : " King Edwin, in the fifth year of his
reign, when his kingdom began at first most decently to flourish,
had his prosperous and'pleasant beginnings broken off with untimely
death." This testimony considered, makes many men think better of king
Edwin, and worse of Dunstan, as guilty of some uncivil intrusion
into the king's chamber, for which he justly incurred his royal
displeasure.
23. He banisheth Dunstan, and dieth heart-broken with Grief,
A.D. 956,
Hereupon Dunstan is banished by king Edwin, not as before
from England to England, from the court to his cell at Glastonbury ;
but is utterly expelled the kingdom, and flieth into Flanders ;
where his friends say that his fame prepared his welcome, and the
governor of Ghent most solemnly entertained him. Mean time, all
the monks in England of Dunstan's plantation were rooted up, and
secular priests set in their places. But soon after happened many
commotions in England, especially in Mercia and Northumberland,
The monks which write the story of these rebellions conceive it
unfit to impart to posterity the cause thereof; which makes wise
men to suspect, that Dunstan, (who could blow coals elsewhere as
well as in his furnace,) though at distance, virtually (or rather
viciously present) had a finger, yea, a hand therein. Heart-broken
with these rebellions, king Edwin died in the flower of his age,
* Hist. lib. \ . page 35?".

200 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIX. A.D. 959  69.
2i. Dunstan re-called by King Edgar, and takes a double
Bishopric. 1 Edgar. A.D. 959.
Edgar succeeds him, and re-calls Dunstan home, receiving him
with all possible affection. Yea, now Dunstan's stomach was come
down, and he could digest a bishopric, which his abstemiousness
formeriy refused. And one bishopric drew down another: Wor
cester and London, not successively, but both a-breast, went down
his conscience. Yea,"never age aff'orded more pluralist bishops. In
this king's reign Letine [Leofwyn] held Lincoln and Leicester ;*
Oswald (a great monk-monger, of whom hereafter) held York and
Worcester ; and Aldulph, his successor in both churches, did the
like, pardoned, yea, praised for the same : though Woolstan
(because no favourer of monks) is reproved for the like plurality.
Thus two men, though doing the same thing, do not the same
thing. Bigamy of bishoprics goes by favour ; and it is condemn-
able in one, what is commendable in another. Odo Severus, arch
bishop of Canterbury, being ceremoniously to consecrate Dunstan
bishop of Worcester, used all the formalities fashionable . at the
consecration of an archbishop : ¦\ and being reproved for the
same, he answered for himself, that he foresaw that Dunstan,
instantly after his death, would be archbishop of Canterbury. And,
therefore, a compendious way to spare pains, he only by a provident
prolepsis ante-dated his consecration. Surely, whosoever had seen
the decrepit age of Odo, the affection of king Edgar to Dunstan,
the affection of Dunstan to dignity, needed no extraordinary pro
phetical spirit to presage that (on the supposition of Dunstan's
surviving him) he should succeed him in the archbishopric of Can
terbury. 25. Oswald's Law to eject secular Priests.
Yea, king Edgar was so wholly Dunstanized, that he gave over
his soul, body, and estate to be ordered by him and two more, then
the triumvirate who ruled England, namely, Ethelwald bishop of
Winchester, and Oswald bishop of Worcester. This Oswald was
the man who procured by the king's authority the ejection of all
secular priests out of Worcester, and the placing of monks in their
room; which Act was called "Oswald's law" in that age. They
might, if it pleased them, have styled it " Edgar's law ;" the legis
lative power being then more in the king than in the bishop. This
" Oswald's law " afterwards enlarged itself over all England, secular
priests being thrown out, and monks every where fixed in their
rooms ; till king Henry VIII.'s law outed " Oswald's law," and
ejected those drones out of their habitations.
* \'ide Antiq. Britan. page 83. t Idem, ibidem.

12 EDGAR. BOOK II, CENT. X. 201
26, Dunstan's disciplining of King Edgar,
King Edgar violated the chastity of a nun at Wilton. Dunstan,
getting notice thereof, refused at the king's request to give him his
hand, because he had defiled a " daugliter of God," as he termed
her. Edgar, hereby made sensible of his sin, with sorrow confessed
it ; and Dunstan (now archbishop of Canterbury) enjoined him
seven years' penance for the same. Monks endeavour to enforce a
mock parallel betwixt David and Edgar, Nathan and Dunstan,
herein. Sure I am, on David's profession of his repentance,
Nathan presently pronounced pardon : " The Lord also hath put
away thy sin ; thou shalt not die," 2 Sam, xii. 13 ; consigning him to
be punished by God the principal ; (using an undutiful son, treach
erous servants, and rebellious subjects to be the instruments thereof;)
but imposing no voluntary penance, that David should by will-
worship undertake on himself. All that I will add is this, if
Dunstan did septenary penance, to expiate every mortal sin, to use
their own terms, he committed, he must have been a Methuselah,
extremely aged, before the day of his death.
27. And Carriage towards an incestuous Count.
A.D. 969.
More commendable was Dunstan's carriage towards an English
count, who lived incestuously with his own kinswoman, Dunstan
admonished him once, twice, thrice ; nothing prevailed : whereupon
he proceeded to excommunicate him. The count slighted his excom
munication, conceiving his head too high for church-censures to
reach it. King Edgar, falsely informed, desires Dunstan to absolve
him, and is denied. Yea, the pope sends to him to the same
purpose, and Dunstan . persists in his refusal,* At last the count,
conquered with Dunstan's constancy, and the sense of his own sin,
came into a national council at Canterbury, where Dunstan sate
president, (active therein to substitute monks in the places of secular
priests,) on his bare feet, with a bundle of rods, tendering himself to
Dunstan's chastisement. This wrought on Dunstan's mild nature,
scarce refraining from tears ; who presentiy absolved him.
28, Observations thereon.
Three things herein are remarkable. First. That bribes in the
court of Rome may purchase a malefactor to be innocent.
Secondly. That the pope himself is not sO infallible, but that his
key may miss the lock, and he be mistaken in matter of absolu
tion. Thirdly. That men ought not so with blind obedience
* OsBERN. in Vita Dunstani.

202 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 969  70.
to obey his pretended Holiness ; but that if (with Dunstan here)
they see just cause to the contrary, it is no mortal sin to disobey his
commands. 29. Edgar's Canons, why by us here related.
The apprenticeship of Edgar's penance long since expired, he
flourished in all monarchical lustre ; sole founder of many, co-
founder of more, benefactor to most, abbeys in England. And as
he gave new cases to most monasteries, (repairing their outward
buildings,) so he gave new linings to all, substituting monks instead
of the secular priests, whom he expelled. Many ecclesiastical
canons were by him ordained, which, at large, are presented in Sir
Henry Spelman, and which I have neither list nor leisure to recount
in this my History. Our women have a proverb, " It is a sad
burden to carry a dead man's child ;" and, surely, an historian hath
no heart to take much pains (which herein are pains indeed) to
exemplify dead canons ; (dead and buried long since, as most
relating to monkery ;) this age, wherein we live, being little fond of
antiquity, to know those things which were antiquated so many
years since. 30, Edgar a most triumphant King.
Now, though the devotion of king Edgar may be condemned to
be biassed to superstition, yet, because the sincerity of his heart
isought to advance God's honour, according to the light in those
dark days, he appears one of the most puissant princes that
ever England enjoyed, both in church and commonwealth, I have
read in a most fair and authentic gilded manuscript,* wherein he
styleth himself " God's vicar in England, for the ordering ecclesias
tical matters ;" a title which at this day the pope will hardly
vouchsafe to any Christian princes. His reign was blessed with peace
an.d prosperity, both by land and sea ; insomuch that, in a royal
frolic, eight petty kings rowed him over the river Dee near to
Chester ; namely, five princes of Wales, (whereof Hoel-Dlia was
the principal,) Kened, [Kunade or Kineld,] king of Scotland,
Malcolm, king of Cumberland, and Mac-huse, a great sea-robber,
who may pass for the prince of pirates.-j-
* Extant in the precious library of Sir Thomas Cotton, t Of this worthy, and of his
strange title, the very leamed Dr, "William Howel gives us the following information,' in
his Institution of General History : — " Maccusius, by Florent of Worcester and Hove-
den, is termed ' a king of very many islands.' Matthew of Westminster calls him ' king
of Man and very many other islands.' And Malmesbury calls him ' an arch-pirate ;'
by which word a robber is not to be understood, but, as Asserius and others of that age
use it, one skilled in sea-affairs, or a sea-man, so called from pira, whjch in the Attic
tongue signifies craft or art [Ttupa, the knowledge which is the result of experience^. But

13 EDGAR. BOOK II, CENT. X. 203
31. A national Council in Wales. A.D. 970-
This Hoel-Dha, contemporary with king Edgar, was he that held
a national council for all Wales, at a place called Ty-guin, or " the
White-house," (because built of white hurdles, to make it more
beautiful,) regulated after this manner : Out of every Hundred in
Wales he chose six laymen, with whom he joined all the eminent
ecclesiastical persons (accounted a hundred and forty) in his domi
nions. Out of those he chose eleven laymen and one clergyman,
(but such an one as who alone by himself might pass virtually for
eleven,) Blangoridus by name, to enact what laws they pleased,
which, after the impression of royal assent upon them, should be
observed by that nation. One might suspect this council, thus
overpowered with laics therein, which pinch on the priests' side ;
whereas we find the canons therein wholly made in favour of the
clergy ; enacting this among the rest, " That the presence of a
priest and a judge constitute a legal court," as the two persons only
in the quorum thereof.
32, The merry Laws made therein.
But methinks the laws therein enacted (which a leamed anti
quary* presents us at large) fall far short of the gravity of a
council ; except any will excuse it from the age thereof. What we
count light and trivial might be esteemed serious and solid in those
days. Besides, the laws discover in them a conceited affectation of
the number of three. In three cases a wife may legally leave her
husband : First, If he hath a leprosy. Secondly. If he hath a
stinking breath. Thirdly. And if he be unable to give her due
benevolence. In three cases it was lawful for a man to kiss his
neighbour's wife : First. At a banquet. Secondly. At the Welsh
play called Guare-raffau. And, Thirdly, when he comes from a
far journey, by way of salutation. If a man and his wife were to
part asunder, they were to divide their goods betwixt them so that
she was to have the sheep ; he, the hogs ; — she, the milk and milk-
vessels, with all the dishes save one ; he, all the beer and barrels,
with the axe, saw, &c.
afterward it came to he applicable only to such as without any justice infest the seas.
• Not long after, the governor of a ship of pirates came to be called * a pilot,' fi*om pile, the
name of a ship in the ancient Gallic language, some remainders whereof still continue
ainong the Franks, After the insolency of these northern rovers and Pagans grew so
great, "all the maritime tovms throughout Christendom "might well be sensible of their
danger ami the means of their deliverance ; as, to express their common faith, and, next,
their common refuge under God, on one side of their coin they stamped a cross, and on
the reverse a ship; which gave original to that (though much-practised yet) little-
understood custom of casting and naming ovss and pile to this day." — Edit.
• Sir H. Spelman in his " Councils," page 411 .

204 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 971  7-
33. Conflrmed by the Pope. A D. 971-
But how silly soever these canons seem to our modem critics,
they were then conceived of such weight and worth, that king Hoel-
Dha, with his archbishop of St. David's, the bishops of Bangor,
Landaff, and St. Asaph, are said. to have taken a journey to Rome,
and procured the pope's confirmation to them. Nor find I aught
else of this synod, save that the close thereof presents us with a
list of seven episcopal seats then in Wales : 1. St. David's,
2. Ismael, 3. Degenian, 4. Ussyll, 5. Teylaw, 6. Teuledauc,
7. Kenew.* I am not Welshman enough to point at these places,
and to show you where they be at this day, which we leave to some
skilful antiquary of their own nation. -f- Only we find that whereas
the churches were burdened with some payments out of them, two
of the bishops' seats, Ussyl and Kenew, were freed from the same.
And this satisfactory reason is rendered of their exemption, quia
terris carent, " because they had no lands belonging unto them."
34. A Council at Winchester, with a miraculous Voice in it,
1 Edward the Martyr. A.D. Q'Ji.
King Edgar was peaceably gathered to his fathers, leaving his
crown to Edward his son ; and his son, because under age, to the
tuition of Dunstan. In this king's reign three councils were
successively called, to determine the differences between monks and
secular priests. The first was at Winchester ; where the priests,
being outed of their convents, earnestly pressed for restitution, and
sought by arguments to clear their innocence, and prove their title to
their ancient possessions. The council seemed somewhat inclinable
* Query, Whether Bangor, Landaff, and St. Asaph be not comprised under these.
t Such a "skilfid antiquary" was Dr. William Howel, from whose Institution of
General History, I make the following quotation, not only to elucidate the text, but also as
an instance of the great confusion both in many dates and names at that dai-k period and
for some ages afterwards : — " This king Ludwal is by others called Hunwal, Hurval, or
Houil ; no name having more various reading, and is thought to have been the same with
Howel- Dha, or ' the good,' that great king of the Welsh, so famous for the laws he
made to govern his subjects. Perceiving them out of all order for want of laws, he sum
moned together out of every kennel or 'hundred' of his kingdom, both laymen that were
eminent for authority and knowledge, as also ecclesiastics, to a place called Gain upon
Taff' yn dead, a house he had caused to be built of white or pilled rods for his use when
he came to hunt in the parts of Demetia, whereupon it was called by the name of Ty
Guyn. There the king and they continued all the Lent, fasting, and praying for a good
issue of their meeting. Of those that now met he chose twelve of the laity, and a very
leamed clerk called Blangondus, to make a draught and preparative for their business.
Camden wiU have this assembly held in the year 914 ; a certain manuscript, written long
ago, about the year 920 ; the History of Wales, after or about 940 ; so great is the dis
agreement of wiiters ; which seems to hint, that three several assemblies were held, if so
long the reign of this Howel continued. The Book of Liinijaff makes him later, the con
temporary of king Edgar, who began not his reign till the year 969."— Edit.

4 EDWARD THE MARTYR. BOOK II. CfiVT. X. 205
to favour unto them ; when presently a voice, as coming from a
crucifix behind Dunstan, is reported to be heard, saying, Absit
hoc utflat ! Absit hoc utflat ! Judicastis benl ; mutaretis non
bene. " God forbid it should be done ! God forbid it should be
done ! Ye have judged it well, and should change it ill."
Whether these words were spoken in Latin or English, authors
leave us unresolved. Monks equal this (for the truth thereof) to
the " still small voice," 1 Kings xix. 12, to Elijah ; whilst others
suspect some forgery ; the rather, because it is reported to come
" as from a crucifix :" they fear some secret falsehood in the foun
tain, because Visible superstition was the cistern thereof. However,
this voice proved for the present the casting voice to the secular
priests, who thereby were overborne in their cause, and so was the
council dissolved. 35. Secular Priests strive still. A.D. 977-
Yet still the secular priests did struggle, reftising to be finally
concluded with this transient airy oracle. " To the law and to the
testimony : if they speak not according to this word," &c. Isaiah
viii. 20. They had no warrant to rely on such a vocal decision, from
which they appealed to the Scripture itself. A second council is called
at Kirtlington, now Katlage in Cambridgeshire, the barony of the
right honourable the lord North ; but nothing to purpose effected
therein. Du^nstan, say the monks, still answered his name ; that
is, Dun, " a rocky mountain," and Stain, " a stone," (but,
whether a precious stone, or a rock of offence, let others decide,)
persisting unmovable in his resolution ; nor was any thing per-
fonned in this council, but that, by the authority thereof, people
were sent on pilgrimage to St. Mary at Abingdon.
36. A portentous Council at Calne.
The same year a tliird council was called, at Calne in Wiltshire.
Hither repaired priests and monks, with their full forces, to try the
last conclusion in the controversy betwixt them. The former, next
the equity of the cause, relied most on the ability of their cham
pion, one Beornelm, a Scottish bishop ; who, with no less eloquence
than strength, with Scripture and reason defended their cause :
when, behold, on a sudden, the beams brake in the room where
they were assembled, and most of the secular priests were slain, and
buried under the ruins thereof All were affrighted, many
maimed ; only the place whereon Dunstan sate, either, as some
say, remained firm, or fell in such sort, that the timber (the
sword to kill others) proved the shield to preserve him from
danger.

206 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 9/7.
37. Several Censures on this sad Accident.
Some behold this story as a notable untruth : others suspect the
devil therein, not for a liar, but a murderer, and this massacre
procured by compact with him : a third sort conceived that
Dunstan, who had so much of a smith, had here something of a
carpenter in him, and some device used by him about pinning and
propping of the room. It renders it the more suspicious, because-
he dissuaded king Edward from being present there, pretending his
want of age ; though he was present in the last council, and, surely,
he was never the younger for living some months since the same
assembly. If truly performed, Dunstan appears happier herein
than Samson himself, who could not so sever his foes, but both
must die together. Sure I am, no ingenuous papist now-a-days will
make any uncharitable inference from such an accident ; especially
since the fall of Black Friars, 1623, enough to make all good men
turn the censuring of others into a humble silence, and pious ador
ing of Divine Providence.
38. Seculars outed, and Monks advanced.
But the monks made great advantage of this accident, conceiving
that Heaven had confirmed their cause, as lately by word at Win
chester, so now by work in this council at Calne. Hereupon
secular priests are every where outed, and monks substituted in their
room. Indeed, these latter, in civil respect, were beheld as more
beneficial to their convents ; because secular priests did marry, and
at their deaths did condere testamenta, " make their wills," and
bequeathed their goods to their wives and children ; whilst monks,
having no issue which they durst own, made their monastery heir of
all they had. It was also objected against the priests, that, by
their looseness and laziness, left at large in their lives, they had
caused the general declination of piety at this time ; whilst it was
presumed of the monks, that, by the strict rules of observance to
which they were tied, they would repair the ruins of religion in
all places. 39. Priests hardly dealt witli.
It appears not what provision was made for these priests when
ejected ; and they seem to have had hard measure, to be dis
possessed of their civil right. Except any will say, " It was no
injury to them to lose their places so soon, but a great favour that
they enjoyed them so long, living hitherto on the free bounty of
their founders, and now at the full dispose of the church and state.
Little can be said in excuse of the priests, and less in commenda
tion of the monks ; who, though they swept clean at the first, as

4 EDWARD THE MARTYR. BOOK II. CENT. X. 207
new besoms, yet afterwards left more dust behind them of their own
bringing in than their predecessors had done. Thus the hive of the
church was no whit bettered by. putting out drones, and placing
wasps in their room. Yea, whereas formerly corruptions came into
the church at the wicket, now the broad gates were opened for their
entrance ; monkery making the way for ignorance and superstition
to overspread the whole world,
40, The prodigious Prodigality in building and endowing
of Abbeys.
Another humour of the former age (to make one digression for
all) still continued, and increased, venting itself in the fair founda
tions and stately structures of so many monasteries. So that one,
beholding their greatness, (being cor-rivals with some towns in
receipt and extent,) would admire that they could be so neat ; and,
considering their neatness, must wonder they could be so great ;
and, lastly, accounting their number, will make all three the object
of his amasement : especially, seeing many of these were founded
in the Saxon heptarchy, when seven kings put together did spell
but one in effect. So that it may seem a miracle, what invisible
Indies those petty princes were masters of, building such structures
which empoverish posterity to repair them. For although some of
these monasteries were the fruit of many ages, long in ripening, at
several -times, by sundry persons, all whose parcels and additions
met at last in some tolerable uniformity ; yet most of them were
begun and finished, absolute and entire, by one founder alone.
And although we allow, that in those days artificers were procured,
and materials purchased, at easy rates ; yet, there being then
scarceness of coin, — as a little money would then buy much ware, so
much ware must first in exchange be given to provide that little
money, — ^all things being audited proportionably, the wonder still
remains as great as before. But here we see with what eagerness
those designs are undertaken and pursued, which proceed from
blind zeal ; every finger being more than a hand to build, when
they thought merit was annexed to their performances. O, with
what might and main did they mount their walls, both day and
night ! erroneously conceiving, that their souls were advantaged to
heaven, when taking the rise from the top of a steeple of their own
erection ! 41. Caution to our Age.
But it will not be amiss to mind our forgetful age, that, seeing
devotion (now better-informed) long since hath desisted to express
itself in such pompous buildings, she must find some other means
and manner to evidence and declare her sincerity. Except any

203 CHURCH HISTOKY OF BRIT.\IN. A.D. 977 — 87.
will say, that there is less heat required, where more light is granted ;
and that our practice of piety should be diminished, because our
knowledge thereof is increased. God, no doubt, doth justiy expect
that religion should testify her thankfulness to him, by some eminent
way and works ; and where the fountain of piety is full, it will find
itself a vent to 'fiow in, though not through the former channels of
superstition. 42. King Edward murdered, alias martyred. A.D. 979-
King Edward went to give his mother-in-law at Corfe-Castle a
respectful visit, when by her contrivance he was barbarously mur
dered, so to pave the way for her son Ethelred's succession to the
crown. But king Edward by losing his life, got the title of "a
martyr," so constantly called in our Chronicles. Take the term in a
large acceptation, otherwise, restrictively, it signifies such an one as
suffers for the testimony of the truth. But, seeing this Edward
was cruelly murdered, and is said after death to work miracles ; let
him, by the courtesy of the church, pass for a martyr, not knowing
any act or order to the contrary, to deny such a title unto him^
43, King Ethelred prognosticated unsuccessful. 1 Ethelred
the Unready,
Ethelred, Edward's half brother, succeeded him in the throne :
one with whom Dunstan had a quarrel from his cradle, because,
when an infant, he left more water in the font than he found there, at
his baptizing, Happy Dunstan himself, if guilty of no greater fault,
which could be no sin, nor properly a slovenliness in an infant, if
he did as an infant ! Yet from such his addition, Dunstan prog
nosticated an inundation of Danes would - ensue in this island ;
which, accordingly, came to pass. But Ethelred is more to be
condemned for the blood he shed when a man ; it being vehemently
suspected that he was accessary, with his mother, to the murdering
of his brother Edward.
44, Dunstan's Corpse wrongfully claimed by the Convent of
Glastonbury. A.D. 987,
But Dunstan survived not to see his prediction take effect ; for
he was happily prevented by death, and buried on the south side of
the high altar in the church of Canterbury ; where his tomb was
famous for some time, till Thomas Becket eclipsed the same ;
seeing saints, like new besoms, sweep clean at the first, and after
wards are clean swept out by newer saints which succeed them.
Yea, Dunstan's grave grew so obscure at Canterbury, that the
monks of Glastonbury, taking heart thereat, and advantaged by John

8 ETHELRED. BOOK II, CENT, X, 209
Capgrave's report, that, anno 1012, Dunstan's corpse were trans
lated thither, pretended his burial, and built him a shrine in their
convent. Men and money met at Glastonbury on this mistake ;
and their convent got more by this eight-feet length of ground, (the
supposed tomb of Dunstan,) than eight hundred acres of the best
land they possessed elsewhere. Whereupon William Wareham,
archbishop of Canterbury, to try the truth, and to prevent farther
fraud herein, caused a solemn search to be made in the cathedral of
Canterbury after Dunstan's corpse, in the place tradition reported
him to be interred.
45. A Night Hue-and-Cry made after his Corpse-
Four of the friars, fittest for the work, (to \nt, of stronger bodies
than brains,) undertook to make this scrutiny, anno 1508, the
22nd of April. Great caution was used, that all should be done
semotis laicis, " no laymen being present ;" whether because their
eyes were too profane to behold so holy an object, or too prying
to discover the default if the search succeeded not, In the night
they so plied their work, that ere morning they discovered Dunstan's
coffin, and rested the day following from more digging ; as well they
might, having taken so much pains, and gained so much profit by
their endeavours.
46. Discovered with the Manner of the Interment thereof.
Next night they on afresh ; and, with main force, plucked up
the ponderous coffin upon the pavement. A coffin built, as one
may say, three stories high : the outermost of wood, but almost made
iron with the multitude of nails therein; within that another of
plain lead ; within that a third of wirought lead, wherein the bones
of Dunstan lay in his pontifical vests,* with this inscription in a
plate, Hie requiescit Sanctus Dunstanus archi-episcopus.
Some lumps of flesh were found, which were said to smell very
sweet, the relics, perchance, of some spices which embalmed him ;
and all done in the presence of many worthy witnesses : amongst
whom, Cuthbert Tunstal was one, then the archbishop's chancellor,
afterward bishop of Durham. Hereupon the archbishop sent his
mandate to the abbot and convent of Glastonbury, henceforward to
desist from any jactitation of Dunstan's corpse, and abusing people
with such pretences : a fault most frequent in that convent, chal
lenging almost the monopoly of all English saints ; witness that
impudent lie of the rhyming monk, writing thus of Glastonbury : —
• Archiva Eccles. Cant, exemplified by my good friend Mr. Will. Sohner in his
Desoript. of Cant, in Appendice Script. 12.
Vol. I. 1'

210 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 987  94.
Hie tumulus sanctus, hie scala poll celebraiur j
Vix luii Infemi posnas hie qui tUTnulatur.
But, who is rather to be believed ? — St. Peter, that saith, " The
righteous shall scarcely be saved ? " 1 Peter iv. 18 ; or this monk,
affirming that " whoso is buried at Glastonbury shall scarcely be
damned.''" 47. Priests and Monks alternately cast out. A.D. 988.
After the death of Dunstan their patron, the monks (not much
befriended by king Ethelred) were cast out of the convent of
Canterbury, or rather cast out themselves by their misdemeanours.
" Man in honour hath no understanding," &c. Psalm xlix. 20.
They waxed so wanton with possessing the places of secular priests,
that a monk,* himself of Canterbury, confesseth, Monachi propter
eorum insolentiam sedibus pulsi, et clerici introducti : " Monks
for their insolency were driven out of their seats, and secular clerks
brought into their room." Thus was it often, " in dock, out nettle,"
as they could strengthen their parties. For Siricius, the next arch
bishop of Canterbury, endeavoured the re-expulsion of the priests ;
"which by Alfricus his successor was efiected.
48. The Danes re-invade England. A.D. 989.
But, soon after, the Danes revenged the quarrel of the secular
priests ; and, by a firm ejection, outed the monks before they were
well warm in their nests. Their fury fell more on convents than
castles ; whether, because the former were in that age more
numerous ; (castles afterwards were increased by William the
Conqueror ;) or because their prey and plunder was presumed the
richest, and easiest to be gotten ; or because the Danes, then
generally Pagans, principally spited places of religion. A relapse is
far more dangerous than a simple disease ; as here it proved in the
Danes. England for these last sixty years had been cured of and
cleared from their cruelty, which now returned more terrible than
ever before.
49. The Unreadiness of King Ethelred advantageth the Danes.
A.D. 990.
These Danes were also advantaged by the unactiveness of king
Ethelred, therefore sumamed " the Unready " in our Chronicles.
The clock of his consultations and executions was always set some
hours too late, vainly striving with much industry to redress what a
little providence might seasonably have prevented. Now, when
this unready king met with the Danes, his over-ready enemies, no
• Will. Thorn, cited by Ant. Brit, page 90.

15 ETHELRED. BOOK II. CENT. X. 211
wonder if lamentable was the event thereof. The best thing I find
recorded of this king Ethelred, is, that in his days began the trial
of causes by a jury of twelve men to be chosen out of the vicinage,
of Hke quality, as near as may be suited, to the persons concerned
therein. Hereby men have most fair-play for their lives ; and let
it be the desires of all honest hearts, that, whilst we pluck off the
badges of all Norman slavery, we part not with the livery of our old
Saxon liberty.
60. A dear Peace bought of the Danes. A.D. 991.
In this sad condition king Ethelred hearkened to the persuasions
of Siricius, archbishop of Canterbury, and with ten thousand pounds
purchased a present peace with the Danes. Indeed, it was con
formable to the calling of a churchman to procure peace, having not
only Scripture precepts therein, " Seek peace, and pursue it,"
Psalm xxxiv. 14 ; but also precedents for the same, when gracious
Hezekiah with a present pacified Sennacherib to desist from invading
him, 2 Kings xviii. 14. However, this archbishop generally
suffered in his reputation, condemned of all, for counselling of what
was, First, Dishonourable : That an entire nation, being at home
in their own land, should purchase a peace from foreigners, fewer in
number, and fetching their recruits and warlike provisions from a
far country : let them be paid in due coin, not silver, but steel.
Secondly. Unprofitable : If once the Danes got but the trick to
make the English bleed money to buy peace, they would never
leave them till they had sucked out their heart-blood, and exhausted
the whole treasure of the land.
51 . Multitudes of Monasteries caused the Danish Invasion.
A.D. 994.
Indeed, one may safely affirm, that the multitude of monasteries
invited the invasion, and facilitated the conquest of the Danes over
England ; and that in a double respect : First. Because not only
ihe fruit of the king's exchequer (I mean, ready money) was spent
by this king's predecessors on founding of monasteries ; but also the
roo^ thereof (his demesne lands) plucked up, and parted with, to
endow the same : whereby the sinews of war were wanting, to make
effectual opposition against foreign enemies. Secondly. Because
England had at this time more flesh or fat than bones, wherein the
strength of a body consists ; more monks than military men. For
instance: Holy Island, near Northumberland, is sufficiently known,
for the position thereof, an advantageous landing-place, especially in
relation to Denmark. This place was presentiy forsaken of the
fearful monks, frighted with the approach of the Danes; and
p 2

212 €HURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 994  ^1012.
Aldhunus, the bishop thereof, removed his cathedral and convent to
Durham, an inland place of more safety. Now, had there been a
castle in the place of this monastery, to secure the same with
flghters instead of feeders, men of arms instead of men of bellies
therein, probably they might have stopped the Danish invasion at
the flrst inlet thereof ; England then as much wanting martial men,
as since* it hath surfeited with too many of them.
52. The Cruelty of the returning Danes. A.D. 995.
The Danes, having received and spent their money, invaded
England afresh, according to all wise men's expectation. It is as
easy for armed might to pick a quarrel, as it is hard for naked inno
cence to make resistance. The deluge of their cruelty over-ran the
realm ; whose sword made no more difference betwixt the ages,
sexes, and conditions of people, than the fire (which they cast on
houses) made distinction in the timber thereof, whether it was elm,
oak, or ash ; the fierceness of the one killing, the fiiry of the other
consuming all it met with. Indeed, in some small skirmishes the
English got the better, but all to no purpose. There is a place in
Hertfordshire called Danes-end, where the inhabitants by tradition
report, (uncertain of the exact date thereof,) that a fatal blow in a
battle was given to the Danes thereabouts. But, alas ! this Danesr
end was but Jisnts-beginning ; they quickly recovered themselves
as many, and mighty in the field, and it seemed an endless end to
endeavour their utter extirpation. Thus this century sets with little
mirth, and the next is likely to arise with more mourning.

SECTION VI.
THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.
BALDWINO HAMEY, MEDICINE DOCTORI LITERATIS-
SIMO, MEC^NATI SUO DIGNISSIMO.
CoNQUERUNTUR ftostrates novissimo hoc decennio,
uovam rerum faciem indui ; nee mutata soliim, sed et
inversa esse omnia. Hujus indicia plurima proferunt,
tristia sanfe ac dolenda ; dominos nimirum servis post-
positos, dum alii e servis domini repentfe prodierint.
* Namely, in thie wars between "Vork and Lancaster,

35 ETHELRED. BOOK II. CENT, XI. 213
At, ad metamorphosin hanc probandam, argumentum
suppetit mihi ipsi Isetum et memoratu jucundum.
Solent enim segroti, si quando medicum adeant, manus
afferre plenas, referre vacuas. At ipse e contra te
ssepe accessi et aeger et inops ; decessi integer et bene
nummatus. Quoties enim opus hoc nostrum radicitus
exaruisset, si non imbre munificentiae tuse fuisset
irrigatum !
1. Murder of the Danes in a Church. Canterbury sacked:
Alphage killed by the Danes. A.D. 1011.
This century began (as children generally are born) with crying;
partly for a massacre made by the English on the Danes, but chiefly
for the cruelty committed by the Danes on the English. Concem-
ing the former : Certain Danes fled into a church at Oxford, hoping
the sanctity thereof (according to the devout principles of that
age) would secure them ; and probably such pity might have in
clined them to Christianity. Whereas, by command from king
Ethelred, they were all burned in the place ;* whose blood remained
not long unrevenged. The Danish fury fell (if not first) fiercest on
the city of Canterbury, with fire and sword, destroying eight thou
sand people therein : and such authors who quadruple that number,
surely take in not only the vicinage, but all Kent, to make up their
account. Ealphegus the archbishop of Canterbury, commonly
called Alphage, was then slain, and since sainted ; a church nigh
Cripplegate in London being consecrated to his memory.

2. Believe what you list. More Cruelty. A.D. 1012.
A monk of Canterbury f reports, that the abbey of St, Augustine
was saved on this occasion : A Danish soldier stealing the pall from
the tomb of St. Augustine, it stuck so close under his arm-pits, that
it could not be parted from his skin, until he had publicly made
confession of his fault. Ultio raptorem rapuit, saith the author.
And hereupon the Danes, of invaders, turned defenders of that
monastery. But others;}; conceive, if it found extraordinary, favour,
their money (not this miracle) procured it. Sure 1 am, when Achan
Stole the Babylonish garment, he was left at large to discovery by
lot, Joshua vii. 18, and no miracle detected him. Next year a
nameless bishop of London was sacrificed to their fury, used
worse than the taskmasters of Israel, (on whose back the number
of bricks wanting were only scored in blows, Exodus v. 14,) being
" Hen, Huntingdon, Matth, Westminster, t Thorn in his " Description
of Cant«rbnry," t See Will, Somner in his " Anti^nities of Canterbury," p. 56

214 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 1012 35.
killed outright, for want of present pay of the tribute* promised
untp them. 3. The Valour of Cambridgeshire-men.
Cambridge and Oxford both of them deeply tasted of this bitter
cup at the same time. True it is, some two years since, when the
rest of the East Angles cowardly fled away, homines comitatus
Cantdbrigies viriliter obstiterunt, u/nde Anglis regnantibus laus
Cantabrigiensis provincics splendide florebat.'f' Hence it is that
I have read, (though unable at the instant to produce my author,)
that Cambridgeshire-men claim an ancient (now antiquated) privi
lege, to lead the van in all battles. But valour at- last little be
friended them ; the Danes burning Cambridge to ashes, and harass
ing the country round about.
4. Two English Kings at once. Edmund Ironside treacher
ously stain. 1 EdmundTronside. A.D. 1016.
Here let state-historians inform the reader of intestine wars be
twixt Edmund Ironside, (so called for his hardy enduring all
troubles,) king of England, defender, and Canutus the Dane,
invader of this land ; till at last, after a personal duel fought, the
land was equally divided betwixt them : a division wherewith both
seemed, neither were, well pleased ; seeing the least whole head
cannot be fitted with the biggest half-ciown ; all or none was their
desire. Canutus at last, with his silver hand, was too hard for the
other's Iron Side ; who by his promised bribes prevailed with one
Edrick to kill this his cor-rival ; which being performed, he was fairly
advanced with a halter.J It would spoil the trade of all traitors, if
such coin only were current in paying their rewards.
5. Canutus's Cruelty converted into Charity. 1 Canute.
A.D. 1017—31.
Canutus, or Knot, the Dane, (from whom a bird in Lincolnshire
is so called, wherewith his palate § was much pleased,) bathed him
self in English blood ; whom, at this distance of time, we may
safely term " a tyrant," so many murders and massacres were by him
committed. For his religion : As yet he was a mongrel betwixt a
Pagan and a Christian ; though, at last, the latter prevailed, espe
cially after his pilgrimage to Rome, In his passage thither, he went
through France ; where, understanding that the people paid deep
taxes, he disbursed so much of his own money in their behalf, that
he brought their taxes || to be abated to one half :^ an act of pity in
• Hen. Huntingdon, Rog. Hoveden. t Chronicon. Jo. Brojipton, page 887.
X Others say he was beheaded. § Drayton's Poly-olbion, page 112 || Rodulpii.
DE DicETO, column. 468. If Johannes Brompton, in leg. Canuti. column. 912.

18 CANUTE. BOOK II. CENT. XI. 215
a prince without precedent done to foreigners. It is vain for the
English to wish the like courtesy from the king of France ; partly
because England lies not in their way to Rome, partly because they
are fuller of compliments than courtesy.
6. He goeth to Rome. Returneth, improved in Devotion-
A.D. 1033.
Coming to Rome, Canutus turned convert, changing his condition
with the climate, showing there many expressions of devotion.
Much he gave to the pope ; and something he gained from him,
namely, an immunity for archbishops from their excessive charges
about their pall ; and some other favours he obtained for his subjects.
After his return into his own country, he laid out all the remainder
of his days in acts of charity, in founding or enriching of religious
houses, and two especially. Saint Rennet's in the Holm in Norfolk,
and Hyde Abbey near Winchester. ¦•
7, The paramount Cross of England for richness. King
Canutus's Humility. A.D.\035.
To this latter he gave a cross so costly for the metal, and curious
for the making, that one year's revenues* of his crown "was expended
on the same. But the cross of this cross was, — that, about the
reign of king Henry VI, it was burnt -j- down with the whole mo
nastery, in a fire which was very suspicious to have been kindled by
intentional malice. This Canutus, towards the latter end of his
reign, never wore a crown ; resigning up the same to the image of
our Saviour : he was also famous for a particular act of hiynility done
by him on this occasion.
8. Commands the Sea ; but in vain.
A parasite (and sooner will a hot May want flies, than a king's
court such flatterers) sought to puff up king Canutus with an opinion
of his puissance ; as if, because England and Norway, therefore
.ffiolus and Neptune, must obey him. In confuting of whose
falsehood, Canutus commanded his chair of state to be set on the
sea-shore, nigh Southampton, and settled himself thereon. Then
he imperiously^ commanded the waves (as a fence which walled that
land belonging unto him) to observe their due distance, not presum
ing to approach him. The surly waves were so far from obeying,
they heard him not ; who listened only to the proclamation of a
higher Monarch, — " Hither shalt thou come, and no further," Job
, • Camden's Britannia in Hampshire. t Idem, ibidem, X Hen. Hun-
TING don in Vitd Canuti.

216 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 1035  42.
xxxviii. 11 ; and made bold to give the king's feet so coarse a kiss,
as wetted him up to the knees.
9. His Sermon thereon. His Laws, why omitted.
On this accident, king Canutus made an excellent sermon : First.
Adoring the infinite power of God, sole Commander of the winds
and waves. Secondly. Confessing the frailty of all flesh, unable to
stop the least drop of the sea. Thirdly. Confuting the profaneness
of flatterers, fiixing an infinite power in a finite creature. As for the
laws made by king Canutus, we have purposely omitted them : not *
so much because many, large, and ordinarily extant ; but chiefly
because, most, of civil concernment.
10. Harold Harefoot succeeded him; then Hardy Canutus.
1 Harold Harefoot A. D. 1036. 1 Hardy Canute. A.D. 1040.
Two of his sons succeeded him, more known by their handsome
surnames, than any other desert. First his base son, (taking ad
vantage of his brother's absence,) called from his swiftness, Harold
Harefoot, — belike, another Asahel in nimbleness, 2 Sam. ii. 18 ; but
hare's-Aear^ had better befitted his nature, so cowardly his disposi
tion. Then his legitimate son, called Hardy Canute, more truly
Bloody Canute, eminent for his cruelty. With him expired the
Danish royal line in England, leaving no issue behind him, and
opening an opportunity for the banished son of king Ethelred to
recover the crown, whose ensuing reign is richly worth our descrip
tion. Mean time it is worth our observing, in how few years the
Danish greatness shrank to nothing ; and from formidable became
inconsiderable, yea, contemptible. Indeed, Canutus was one of ex
traordinary worth ; and the wheel, once moved, will for a time turn
of itself Had Harold his son (by what way it skilled not) been
one of a tolerable disposition, he might have traded in reputation on
the stock of his father's memory. But being so very mean, (con
siderable only in cruelty,) his father's worth did him the disadvan
tage to render his unworthiness the more conspicuous. Besides,
when Hardy Canute his brother succeeded him, and, though better
born, showed himself no better bred in his inhuman carriage, it
caused not only a nauseation, in the people of England, of Danish
kings, but also an appetite, yea, a longing after their true and due
sovereign. 11. Edward the Confessor becomes King of England.
1 Edward the Confessor. A.D. 1042.
Edward the Confessor, youngest son of long Ethelred, (his elder
brethren being slain, and their children fled away,) came to be king

4 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. BOOK II. CENT. XI. 217
of England. I understand not the ceremony which I read was
used to this Edward, whilst as yet {saith a monkish author,*
properly enough in his own language) "he was contained in the
weak cloisters of his mother's womb ;" at which time the peers of
the land sware allegiance unto him or her (the sex as yet being
unknown) before he was born. Indeed, I find that Varranes's
child was crowned king whilst yet in his mother's body, applicatd
ad uterum corond.'f But what solemnity soever was done to this
Hans-in-kelder,X it did not afterwards embolden him to the antici
pation of the crown, — attending till it descended upon liim.
12. The Original of our Common Laws.
A worthy king, no less pious to God, than just to man. For,
whereas formerly there were manifold laws in the land, — ^made,
some by the Britons, others by the Danes, others by the English,
— swelling to an unmeasurable number, to the great mischief of his
subjects ; he caused some few of the best to be selected, and the
rest, as captious and unnecessary, to be rejected. Hence, say
some, they were called " the common laws," as calculated for the
common good, and no private person's advantage.
13. No hostile Daries appear in England.
It isadmirable how the Danes in this king's reign were vanished
away. They who formerly could scarce be numbered in England
theywere so many, could now scarce be numbered they were so
few, and those living quietly with their English neighbours. As
for foreign invading Danes in this king's reign, as I cannot see
them, so I will not seek them, glad of their room and riddance.
Indeed, once I meet with an assay of them in a navy bound to
infest England ; but their king being casually drowned as he
entered his own fleet, put an end to their hopes, and our fears for
that design.
14. The Manner of Ordeal by Fire. A.D. 1046.
Emma, king Edward's mother, being suspected too familiar with
Alwin bishop of Winchester, under the colour of devotion, put
herself to be tried by ordeal ; whereof this the manner : Nine
plough-shares, glowing hot, were laid on the ground, one foot
distant from another ; the party suspected was to be brought blind
folded, and bare-footed to pass over them. If he chanced to step
in the intervals, or on the hot iron unhurt, he was pronounced
• Father Jerome Porter in "the Flowers of the Lives of the Saints," page 2.
t Agathias, lib. iv. J A Dutch phrase, Jack-in-the-cellar, for " a child in the
• womb." See a similar application of this epithet to St. David, page 61. — Edit.

218 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1046.
"innocent," otherwise condemned for an offender. An unjust law,
wherein the triers had no precept, the tried no promise. Must
innocence be ruined as often as malice would wrong it, if miracle
would not rescue it .'' This was not a way to try man, but tempt
God : as just a trying by fire, as that of our modem witches by
water. This trial queen Emma admirably underwent, not sensible
of the plough-shares till past them, saying to such as led her, " 0,
when shall I come to the place of my purgation ? "
15. Queen Emma's miraculous Purgation.
By what power this was performed, I will not dispute ; finding
amongst the Heathens a city Feronia,* twenty miles from Rome,
under Mount Soracte ;" where the inhabitants, possessed with a
spirit of a deity therein worshipped, usually walked upon burning
coals, without any hai-m. Only I wonder, that bishop Alwin
(equally suspected and equally innocent with Emma) should not
proffer himself to the like trial. But, perchance, the prudent
prelate remembered, that such barbarous customs, though kept up
amongst the common people, were forbidden by the ancient canons,
as also by the letter of pope Stephen V. which about the yea.r
eight hundred eighty and seven he wrote to Humbert, bishop of
Mentz. And now Emma who went willingly on this sad errand,
did the business for them both, and cleared their credits; The
church of Winchester got well hereby ; namely, nine manors,
which queen Emma bestowed thereon, in commemoration of her
deliverance.
16. A Wife no Wife.
King Edward the Confessor was married to the devout lady
Edith ; his wife in mind, but not in body ; in consent, not act ;
being only (as my author saith) an Abishag to the king. Strange !
that two persons, if loving each other in the prime of their years,
should light on so happy a temper as mutually to warm, not to heat,
one another ; which the wise men in our age will account difficult,
and the wanton impossible. Such will say, if this was true, that
king Edward passed as great a trial as queen Emma his mother ;
and that his ordeal was as hard, as hers was painful.
17. Yet,_was there not a Cause ?
Was it not pity but the world should have more of the breed of
them who were so godly a couple .-* Let baseness be barren, and
cruelty childless. Pious persons deserve a double portion in that
charter of fruitfulness, " Multiply and increase," Gen. i. 28. Yea,
* Strab. ^leog. lib. v. et Plin. lib. vii, cap. 2.

4 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, BOOK II. CENT. XI. 219
the English crown now wanting an heir, and, for default thereof,
likely to fall to foreigners, might (I will not say have tempted,
but) have moved king Edward to the knowledge of his wife. But
whilst Papists cry up this his incredible continency, others easily
unwonder the same, by imputing it partly to his impotence,
afflicted with an infirmity ; partly to the distaste of his wife, whom
he married only for conveniency ; and to the distrust of her
chastity," on suspicion whereof he confined her to the monastery of
Whore-well * (as I take it) in Hampshire.
18. The good Daughter of a bad Father.
But grant queen Edith a chaste woman, as she is generally
believed ; daughter she was to a wicked father, earl Godwin by
name ; whence the proverb : —
Sicut spina rosam, genuit Godwinus Ediiham :
" From prickly stock as springs a rose,
So Edith from earl Godwin grows : "
little ill being written of the daughter, and no good of the father.
Indeed, king Edward was father-in-law-ridden, who feared earl
Godwin rather than trusted him, as who with a long train of his
power could sweep many dependents after him. This Godwin, like
those sands near Kent which bear his name, never spared what he
could spoil, but swallowed all which came within his compass to
devour. Two instances whereof, because both belonging to church-
matters, we will relate.
1 9. Godwin's Device to get Berkeley Nunnery.
He cast a covetous eye on the fair nunnery of Berkeley in
Gloucestershire, and thus contrived it for himself : He left there a
handsome young man, really or seemingly sick, for their charity to
recover ; who quickly grows well and wanton. He is toying,
tempting, taking ; such fire and flax quickly make a flame. The
sisters lose their chastity, and, without taking wife in the way, are
ready to make mothers. The young man, if sick, returns to earl
Godwin in health, leaving the healthful nuns sick behind him.
The fame hereof fills the country, flies to court, is complained of by
earl Godwin to the king. Officers are sent to inquire, they return
it to be true, the nuns are turned out, their house and lands
forfeited, both bestowed on earl Godwin; surprised weakness being
put out, and designed wickedness placed in the room thereof.
Surely, king Edward knew nothing of Godwin's deceit herein ;
otherwise it was unjust, that the whores should be punished, and
the principal pander rewarded.
* " Horwell," says Mills, in his " Catalogue of Honotu'." — Edit.

220 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1046 — 61.
20. Another Trick to gain the Manor of Boseham.
• At another time he had a mind to the rich manor of Boseham in
Sussex, and complimented it out of Robert archbishop of Canter
bury, in this manner : Coming to the archbishop, he saith, Da
mihi Basium, that is, " Give me a buss," or " a kiss," — an usual
favour from such a prelate. The archbishop returns, Do tibi
Basium, kissing him therewith: a holy kiss (perchance) , as
given, but a crafty one as taken ; ibr Godwin presently posts to
Boseham, and takes possession thereof. And though here was
neither real intention in him who passed it away, nor valuable
consideration to him, but a mere circumvention ; yet such was
Godwin's power, and the archbishop's poorness of spirit, that he
quietly enjoyed it. Nor have I aught else to observe either of
Berkeley or Boseham, but that both these rich and ancient manors,
earl Godwin's brace of cheats, and distant a hundred miles each
from other, are now both met in the right honourable George
Berkeley, (as heir-apparent thereof,) the paramount Mecsenas of my
studies ; whose ancestors as they were long since justly possessed of
them, so I doubt not but their posterity will long comfortably
enjoy them. 21, A Miracle reported done by King Edward.
The monks that wrote this king Edward's Life had too heavy a
hand in over-spicing it with "miracles ; which hath made the relation
too hot for the mouth of any moderate belief, A poor cripple
chanced to come to him, one who might have stocked a whole
hospital with his own maladies. It was questionable, whether the
difiiculty of his crawling caused more pain, or the deformity thereof
more shame unto him. The sight of him made all tender beholders
cripples by sympathy, commiserating his sad condition. But, it
seems, this weak wretch had a strong fancy and bold face, who
durst desire the king himself to carry him on his back into the
church, on assurance, as he said, that thereby he should be recovered.
The good king grants his desire ; and this royal porter bears him
,into the church, where so strange an alteration is said to happen :
Qui venit quadrupes decessit bipes: " He that came on all four,
departed straight and upright,"
22, Westminster Church rebuilt by him. A.D. 1061,
The church into which the king carried the cripple was St,
Peter's in Westminster, built by him on this occasion : — King
Edward had made a vow to visit the relics of St, Peter in Rome ;
and, because his subjects could not safely spare him out of his own

19 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. BOOK II. CENT. XI. 221
country, the pope dispensed with him for the performance thereof.
Now, although, he went not to St. Peter, St. Peter came to him,
and in several apparitions advised him to build him a church in the
place now called Westminster, then Thornie, because desolate, and
overgrown with thorns and briers. Nor is it any news, that populous
cities, at this present, were anciently woods and bushy plots. What
else was Jerusalem itself in the days of Abraham, but a Thornie,
when, in the midst thereof, on Mount Moriah, " a ram was caught
bythe horns in a thicket.''" Gen. xxii. 13. This church many
years before had been dedicated to, and, as the monks say, con
secrated by, St Peter, till destroyed by the Danes : king Edward
raised it from the ruins, endowing it with large privileges and rich
possessions. 23. A Ring said to he sent from St. John to King Edward.
Next to St. Peter, our Edward's darling, he is said to be most
in favour with St. John the apostle, who is reported to have appeared
unto him in the shape of a begging pilgrim. The king, not having,
at the present, money to supply his wants, plucked off his ring from
his finger, and bestowed it upon him. This very ring, some years
after, St. John sent him back again by two pilgrims out of
Palestine ; but withal telling him, that he should die within six
months after : a message more welcome than the ring to such a
mortified man. If any doubt of the truth thereof, it is but riding
to Havering in Essex, so called, as they say,* from this ring,
where, no doubt, the inhabitants will give any sufficient satisfaction
therein. 24. A Vision worth observing.
Amongst the many visions in this king's reign, one I will not
omit, because seeming to have somewhat more than mere monk
therein. One, being inquisitive what should become of England
after king Edward's death, received this answer : " The kingdom of
England belongeth to God himself,, who will provide it a king at
his pleasure." Indeed, England is God's on several titles. First.
As a country : " The earth is his, and the fulness thereof."
Secondly. As an island ; which are God's demesnes, which he keeps
in his own hand of his daily providence. Thirdly. As a kingdom,
on which he hath bestowed miraculous deliverances. Seeing, then,
England is his own, we know who said, " Is it not lawful to do
what I will with mine own 'i" Matt, xx, 15. May He dispose of
his own to his own glory, and the good of his own servants !
• Camden's Britan, in Essex,

222 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D

1061.

25. King Edward's Contempt of Wealth.
Amongst the many resplendent virtues in king Edward, con
tempt of wealth was not the least, whereof some bring in this for an
instance-: — The king lay on a pallet surrounded with curtains ; by
him stood a chest of silver, which Hugolin, his treasurer, (called
away on some sudden occasion,) had left open. In comes a
thievish courtier, takes away as much money as he could carry, and
disposeth thereof. Then cometh he the second time" for a new
burden, little suspecting that the unseen king saw him all the while,
and, having laden himself, departed. Some add, he returned the
third time. " Be content," quoth the king, " with what you have,
lest, if Hugolin come in and catch you, he take it all from you,"
Soon after the treasurer retuming, and fretting for loss of.the
money, " Let him have it quietly," said the king, " he needeth it
more than we do : " words which spake him a better man than
king, as accessary to his own robbing ; who, if pleased to have
n>ade this pilfering fellow to have tasted of the whip for his pains,
had marred a pretty jest, but made a better earnest therein,
26, King Edward's Wardrobe put into the Regalia.
Posterity conceived so great an opinion of king Edward's piety,
that his -clothes were deposited amongst the regalia, and solemnly
worn by our English kings on their coronation ; never counting
themselves so fine, as when invested with his robes ; the sanctity of
Edward the first wearer excusing, yea, adorning, the modern
antiqueness of his apparel. Amongst these is the rod or sceptre,
with a dove on the top thereof, the emblem of peace, because in his
reign England enjoyed halcyon days, free from Danish invasions ;
as also his crown, chair, staff, tunic, close pall, Tuisni hosen, sandals,
spurs, gloves, &c.* Expect not from me a comment on these
several clothes, or reason for the wearing of them. In general, it
was to mind our kings, when habited with his clothes, to be clothed
with the habit of his virtuous endowments ; as, when putting on
the gloves of this Confessor, their hands ought to be like his, in
moderate taking of taxes from their subjects. Indeed, impositions,
once raised, are seldom remitted ; pretended necessities being
always found out for their continuance. But our Edward released
to his subjects the grievous burden of Dane-gelt, paid to his prede
cessors, conceiving it fit, now the Danes were departed, that the
gelt or tax should go after them. But now, Edward's staff is
broken, chair overturned, clothes rent, and crown melted ; our
present age esteeming them the relics of superstition.
" See Mills's " Catalogue of Honour," page 59.

19 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. BOOK II. CENT. XI. 223
27. No Confessor in the Strictness of the Word.
And yet, all things being cast up, I confess I understand not
how the name " Confessor " is proper to king Edward, in the strict
acceptance thereof. For a confessor is one actually persecuted for
the testimony of the trath, and prepared to lose his life for the
same. He is a martyr in bullion, wanting only the stamp of a
violent death to be impressed upon him. Now a great part of our
Edward's life was led by him in peace and plenty; nothing
bounding his abundance but his own moderation, and, for twenty
years together, having no visible foe to offend him. And although
in his youth he lived in Normandy, in a middle condition, betwixt
an exile and a traveller, flying thither for fear of the Danes ; yet
such his sufferings were of civil concernment, not directly relating
to conscience, though at distance reducible thereunto. But seeing,
in the titles of great persons, it is better to give too much than too
little ; a Confessor we found him, and a Confessor we leave him.
28. Stigand the vicious Archbishop of Canterbury.
Our eyes have been so intent in beholding the virtues of this
king, we have been little at leisure to take notice of the archbishops
of Canterbury, during his reign. Know, then, that about ten years
since, Robert archbishop of Canterbury, who succeeded Eadsin
therein, fearing some hard measure from earl Godwin, (notwith
standing he had been contentedly kissed out of his manor of
Boseham,) conveyed himself away beyond the seas, to his monastery
in Normandy, whence he came first into England. After whose
departure, Stigand, bishop of Winchester, intruded himself into
that see, eminent only for vice and sordid covetousness.
29. King Edward's ecclesiastical Constitutions.
As for the ecclesiastical laws made by this king in his reign, it
will be enough to affix their principal titles.
1. That every clerk and scholar should quietly enjoy their goods
and possessions.
2. What solemn festivals people may come and go of, without
any lawsuits to disturb them.
3. That in all courts where the bishop's proctor doth appear, his
case is first to be heard and determined.
4. That guilty folk, flying to the church, should there have pro
tection, not to be reprehended by any, but by the bishop and his
ministers. 5. That tithes be paid to the church, of sheep, pigs, bees, and
the like.

224 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1061-^-66.
6. How the ordeal was to be ordered for the trial of guilty per
sons by fire and water.
7. That Peter-pence, or Rome-scot, be faithfully paid to the
pope. But I lose time, and refer the reader to read these constitutions
at large being three-and-twenty in number, in the worthy work of
that no less learned than religious knight, Sir Henry Spelman.*
39. How the Kings of England come to cure the King's Evil.
A.D. January ith, 1066.
And now the full time was come, wherein good king Edward
exchanged this life for a better ; who as he was famous for many
personal miracles, so he is reported to have entailed (by heaven's
consort) an hereditary virtue on his successors, the kings of
England, (only with this condition, — ^that they continue constant in
Christianity,) to cure the king's evil.-f- This disease, known lo the
Greeks by the name of ^oipahg, termed by Latins struma and
scrophules, hath its cause from phlegm ; its chief and common
outward residence in or near the neck and throat, where it
expresseth itself in knobs and kernels, pregnant oftentimes with
corrupted blood, and other putrified matter, which, on the breaking
of those bunches, floweth forth, equally offensive to sight, smell,
and touch. And yet this noisome disease is happily healed by the
hands of the kings of England stroking the sore ; and if any doubt
of the truth thereof, they may be remitted to their own eyes for
farther confirmation. But there is a sort of men, who, to avoid the
censure of over-easy credulity, and purchase the repute of prudent
austerity, justly incur the censure of affected frowardness ; it being
neither manners nor discretion in them, in matters notoriously
known, to give daily experience the He by the backwardness of
their belief. 31. Several Opinions of the Causes thereof.
But whence this cure proceeds, is much controverted amongst the
learned. Some recount it in the number of those avamhixToi,
whose reason cannot be demonstrated. For as in vicious common
wealths bastards are frequent, who, being reputed filii populi, have
no particular father ; so man's ignorance increaseth the number of
occult qualities, (which I might call " chances in nature,") where
the effect is beheld, but cannot be certainly referred to any
immediate and proper cause thereof. Others impute it to the
power of fancy, and an exalted imagination.! For when the poor
* In his " Councils," page 619. 1 Prihrosius De Vulgat. Error, cap. ultimo,
X Ferrerius, Method, lib. ii, cap, 11, Dc Homeric. Curat.

24 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. BOOK II. CENT, XI, 225
patient (who, perchance, seldom heard of and never saw a king
before) shall behold his royal hand dabbling in a puddle of putre
faction, and, with a charitable confidence, rubbing, smoothing,
chafing those loathsome kernels; which I may call "clouds of
corruption," dissolved oft-times into a feculent shower; — I say,
when the sick man shall see a hand so humble of an arm so high,
such condescension in a king, to stroke that sore at which meaner
persons would stop their nostrils, shut their eyes, or tum their faces ;
this raiseth, erecteth, enthroneth the patient's fancy, summoning his
spirits to assist nature with their utmost might, to encounter the
disease with greater advantage. And who will look into the legend
of the miracles of imagination, shall find many strange and almost
incredible things thereby really effected.
32. Others count it Superstition.
Other learned men, and particulariy Caspar Peucerus,* though
acquitting this cure from diabolical conjuration, yet tax it as guilty
of superstition. With him all such do side as quarrel at the cere
monies and circumstances used at the healing of this malady : either
displeased at the second Gospel read, (consisting of the first nine
verses of the Gospel of St, John,) as wholly improper, and' nothing
relating to the occasion ; or unresolved of the efficacy of the gold
pendent about the patient's neck ; (whether partly completing, or a
bare compliment of, the cure ;) or secretly unsatisfied, what manner
and measure of belief is required; (according to the model whereof
health is observed to come sooner or later ;) or openly offended with
" the sign of the cross,"-f- which was used to be made by the royal
hands on the place infected. All which exceptions fall to the
ground, when it shall be avowed, that, notwithstanding the omission
of such ceremonies, (as requisite rather to the solemnity than
substance of the cure,) the bare hands of our kings (without the
gloves, as I may term it, of the aforesaid circumstances) have
effected the healing of this disease,
33, Many make the Cure miraculous.
Hereupon some make it a clear miracle, and immediately own
God's finger in the king's hand : That when the art of the physician
is posed, the industry of the surgeon tired out, the experience of
both at a loss, when all human means cry " craven ;" then that wound
made by the hand of God is cured by the hand of his vicegerent.
Hath Heaven endued vegetables (the worst and weakest of living
creatures) with cordial qualities .'' Yea, hath it bestowed precious
properties on dull and inanimate waters, stones, and minerals, inso-
• Lib. De Incantamentis. t Gu. Tucker in Charismate, cap, vii, page 96,
Vol, I, Q

226 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, . A,D, 1066.
much that such are condemned for silly or sullen, for stupid or
stubborn, as doubt thereof.' And shall we be so narrow-hearted as
not to conceive it possible, that Christian men, the noblest of cor
poreal creatures ; kings, the most eminent of all Christian men ;
kings of Britain, the first-fruits of all Christian kings, should receive
that peculiar privilege and sanative power, whereof daily instances
are presented unto us ? See here the vast difference betwixt Papists
and Protestants ! How do the former court those miracles which
fly from them ; and often, in default of real ones, are glad and
greedy to hug and embrace empty shadows of things falsely reported
to be done, or fondly reputed to be miracles ! Whereas many
Protestants, on the contrary, (as in the matter in hand,) are scrupu
lous in accepting miracles traly tendered unto them. But although
our religion, firmly founded on and safely fenced with the Scriptures,
needs no miracles to confirm or countenance the truth thereof; yet
"when they are by the hand of Heaven cast into our scales, not to
make our doctrine weight, but as superpondium, or an overplus
freely bestowed, sure, they may safely without sin be received ; not
to say, can scarce be refused, without (at least) some suspicion of
neglect and ingratitude to the goodness of God,
1
34. The ingenuous Confession of a Catholic.
Nor will it be amiss here to relate a passage which happened
about the midst of the reign of queen Elizabeth, after pope Pius did
let fly his excommunication against her. There was a stiff Roman
Catholic, (as they delight to term themselves,) otherwise a man
well-accomplished, and of an ingenuous disposition, who, being cast
into prison, (I conceive, for his religion,) was there visited in a high
degree with the king's evil. And having with great pain and
expense, but no success, long used the advice of physicians, at last
he humbly addressed himself unto the queen's majesty ; by whom,
with God's help, he was completely cured. And being demanded,
"What news?" "I perceive," said he, "now at last, by plain
experience, that the excommunication denounced by the pope
against her majesty is in very deed of none effect, seeing God hath
blessed her with so great and miraculous a virtue."*
35, Queen Elizabeth why displeased with the People in
Gloucestershire.
This mention of queen Elizabeth (there is a magnetic virtue in
stories, for one to attract another) minds me of a passage in the
beginning of her reign. Making her progress into Gloucestershire,
people affected with this disease did in uncivil crowds press in upon
* Gu, Tucker in Charismate, cap. vi. page 92,

24 EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, BOOK II, CENT. XI. 227
her, insomuch that her majesty, betwixt anger, grief, and compas
sion, let fall words to this effect : " Alas ! poor people ! I cannot, I
cannot cure you. It is God alone that can do it," Which words
some interpreted (contrary to her intent and 'practice, continuing
such cures till the day of her death) an utter renouncing and dis
claiming of any instramental efficacy in herself. Whereas she only
removed her subjects' eyes from gazing on her, to look up to heaven.
For men's minds naturally are so dull and heavy, that, instead of
travelling with their thanks to God, the Cause of all cures, they
lazily take up their lodging more than half-way on this side, mistak
ing the dealer for the giver of their recovery. It follows not, there
fore, that the queen refused to heal their bodies, because careful in
the first place to cure their souls of this dangerous mistake : a
princess, who as she was a most exact demander of her due,
(observed seldom or never to forgive her greatest favourites what
they owed her,) so did she most punctually pay her engagements to
others, as to all men, so most especially to God, loath that he
should lose any honour due unto him by her unjust detaining
thereof. 36, The Kings of France cure the King's Evil.
The kings of France share also with those of England in this
miraculous cure. And Laurentius reports, that when Francis I,
king of France was kept prisoner in Spain, he, notwithstanding his
exile and restraint, daily cured infinite multitudes of people of that
disease ; according to this epigram : —
Hispanos inter sanat rex cheeradas, estque
Captivus Superis gratus, ut ante fuit.
'' The captive king the evil cui'es in Spain ;
Dear, as before, he doth to God remain."
So it seemeth his medicinal quality is affixed not to his prosperity,
but person ; so that during his durance he was fully free to exercise
the same,
37. Laurentius falsely denies the Kings of England Power in
curing the King's Evil.
Thus far we patiently hear and sufficiently credit this author ;
but can no longer afford him either belief or attention when he pre-
sumeth to tell us, that the kings of England never tured the king's
evil,*— a virtue appropriated only to his majesty of France, Only
he confesseth, that long ago some of our English kings of the
Anjouan race, descended from Jeffery Plantagenet, did heal the
falling sickness with certain consecrated annulets, — a custom long
* De Mirabili Strwmarum Curatione, cap. 2.
Q 2

228 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.V. 1066,
since disused. Thus he seeks to deprive our princes of their
patrimonial virtue, and to make them reparations (instead of their
sanative power, whereof they are peaceably possessed to them and
their heirs, holding it of God in chief) with assigning them an old
lease, where the title at the best was litigious, and the term long
ago expired. But the reader may be pleased to take notice, that
this Laurentius was physician-in-ordinary to king Henry IV. of
France, and so had his judgment herein bowed awry with sp
weighty a relation ; flattery being so catching a disease, wherewi|;h'
the best doctors of physic may sometimes be infected. To pry
quits with him,^ doctor Tucker, chaplain to queen Elizabeth, in a
treatise he wrote of this subject, -denieth the kings of France ever
originally cured this evil, but per aliquant propaginem,* " by a
sprig of right," derived from the primitive power of our English
kings, under whose jurisdiction most of the French provinces were
once subjected, 38, The indifferent Opinion.
Between these two authors, violent in opposition, haply we may
find the trath, whose constant dwelling-place is pleasantly seated in
a moderate vale, betwixt two swelling extremes. For it plainly
appeareth by uncontrollable arguments and evidences, that both the
crowns of England and France have for many years been invested
with this miraculous gift ; yet so, that our English kings are the
elder brothers in the possession thereof. For if St. Lewis, king of
France, (who was contemporary with our king Henry III.) was the
first of that royal race which healed this evil,-|- his cradle was more
than one hundred and sixty years after the coffin of bur Edward the
Confessor ; from whom, as is aforesaid, our kings derive this
sovereign power by constant succession. But, methinks, my book
in this discourse begins to bunch or swell out ; and some will
censure this digression for a struma, or " tedious exuberancy,"
beyond the just proportion of our history; wherefore, no more
hereof: only I will conclude with two prayers ; extending the first
to all good people, — that Divine Providence would be pleased to
preserve them from this painful and loathsome disease. The second
I shall confine to myself alone, (not knowing how it will suit with
the consciences and judgments of others,) yet so as not excluding
any who are disposed to join with me in my petition ; namely, — '
that if it be the will of God to visit me (whose body hath the seeds
of all sickness, and soul of all sins) with the aforesaid malady, I
may have the favour to be touched of his majesty, the happiness to
• In his Charismate, cap, ri. page 84. t So witnesseth Andrew Chasne, a French
author, and others.

1 HAROLD, BOOK IT, CENT, XT. 229
be healed by him, and the thankfulness to be grateful to God the
author, and God's image the instrument, of my recovery. I will
only add this short story, and then proceed : A little before these
wars began, a minister (not over-loyally affected) was accused, and
was like to have been troubled for this passage in his sermon, that
" oppression was the king's evil." But, being called to answer it
before the commissioners, he expounded his own words, that he
meant oppression was the king's evil, not that the king caused it,
but only cured it, and alone in this land could remedy and redress
the same.
S9. Harold usurpeth the Crown. 1 Harold. A.D. 1066.
King Edward dying childless, caused by his affected chastity, left
the land at a loss for an heir in a direct line, and opened a door to
the ambition of collateral pretenders. Indeed, the undoubted right
lay in Edgar Atheling, son to Edward the Outlaw, grandchild to
Edmund Ironside king of England, But he, being tender in age,
and, as it seems, soft in temper, and of a foreign garb because of his
education in Hungary, (his most potent alliance in Germany, out
of distance to send him seasonable assistance,) was passed by,, by
the English nobility. These chose Harold to be king, whose titie
to the crown is not worth our deriving of it, much less his relying
on it. But having endeared martialists by his valour, engaged
courtiers by his bounty, and obliged all sorts of people by his
affability, he was advanced to the crown by those who more con
sidered his ability to defend than his right to deserve it,
40, William Duke of Normandy twisteth many weak Titles
together.
William duke of Normandy was competitor with Harold ; who,
supplying in number what he wanted in strength of his titles,
claimed the crown by alliance, adoption, and donation, from Edward
the Confessor ; though he was as unable to give and bequeath, as
William, being a bastard, in the strictness of Saxon laws, was
uncapable to receive it. But his sword was stronger than his titles,
and the sins of the English more forcible than either, to deliver
that nation (now grown, as authors observe, intolerably vicious)
into his subjection. So that, in a pitched field, he overcame and
killed king Harold, with the prime of the English nobility ; (a just
punishment on their perjury, for their deserting their lawful prince;)
and such as survived were forced either to hold the stirrup, or
lackey by the side, of many a mean-born Norman mounted to
places of profit and honour. This was the fifth time wherein the
South of this island was conquered : First, By Romans, Secondly.

2.30 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1066,
By Picts and Scots, Thirdly, By Saxons, Fourthly. By the
Danes, And, Fifthly, By the Normans, This mindeth me of the
prophet Elisha's speech to Joash king of Israel : " Thou shouldest
have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria
till thou hadst consumed it," 2 Kings xiii. 19. (It seemeth five
may, but six must dispatch a people.) God hath already smitten
this island five times with a rod of foreign invasion ; let us beware
the sixth time, (that final, fatal number,) for fear it prove the last
and utter confusion and destruction of our nation,
41, William rebateth his conquering Sword with Composition.
Thus king William came in by conquest ; though, in the latter
part of his reign, growing more mild and moderate, he twisted his
right of victory with composition. As such who have ravished a
woman against her will, endeavour afterwards to make her reparation
by wooing and wedding her, whom formerly. they had wronged; so
with love to cover their lust, by the most excusable way of marriage :
80 king William, though he had forced this land, yet afterwards,
not so much out of remorse as policy, (to suppress frequent tumults,
and procure security to himself and successors,) is said to have
closed with the Commons in a fair way of agreement, restoring
many ancient . privileges unto them. Thus, though conquest was
more honourable for his credit, composition was comfortable for his
conscience, and accounted most safe for his posterity. Witness
that judicial sentence which king William in open court pronounced
against himself, adjudging the lord of Sharnborn in Norfolk,*
being an Englishman, true owner of that manor ; contrary to that
grant wherein he had formeriy bestowed it on one Warren, a Norman.
Herein the Conqueror confessed himself conquered, submitting his
arbitrary power and pleasure to be regulated by justice, and the
ancient rights of Englishmen,
42, A Breviate of the Doctrine of Ejigland in these Ages before
the Norman Conquest.
But what impression the Norman victories made on the state, let
politicians observe. What change it produced in the laws, we leave
to the learned of that faculty' to prosecute ; whilst that which ren
ders the conquest to consideration in our church-story is, the mani
fest change of religion from what formerly was publicly professed in
England, To make this mutation in its due time more con
spicuous, we will here conclude this book with a brief character of
the principal doctrines generally taught and believed by the English,
in these four last centuries, before tainted with any Norman infec-
• Camden's Britannia in Norfolk.

1 HAROLD. BOOK II, CENT, XI. ' 2-31
tion. For though we must confess and bemoan, that corruptions
crept into the church by degrees, and divine worship began to be
clogged with superstitious ceremonies ; yet that the doctrine re
mained still sound and entire, in most material points, will appear
by an induction of the dominative controvdrsies, wherein we differ
from the church of Rome,
SCRII'TURE GENERALLY READ, — For such as Were with the
holy bishop Aidan, sive attonsi, sive laid,* " either clergy or
laity," were tied to exercise themselves in reading the Holy Word,
and learning of Psalms.
The original preferred, — For Ricemarch a Briton, -f- a
right learned and godly clerk, son to Sulgen bishop of St. David's,
flourishing in this age, made this epigram on those who translated
the psalter out of the Greek, so taking it at the second-hand, and
not drawing it immediately out of the first vessel : —
Ebraiis nahlam cusiodit Utera signis.
Pro captu quam quisque suo sernwne Latino
Edidit, inn/u/msros lingud variante libellos,
Ebrisumque jubar suffuscat nuAe Laiina:
Nam. tepefacta ferwm dant tertia lahra saporem.
Sed sacer Hieronymus, Ebrieofonte repletus,
Lucidius nudat verum, breviusque ministrat.X
" This harp the holy Hebrew text doth tender.
Which, to their power, whilst every one doth render
In Latin tongite with many variations.
He clouds the Hebrew rays vrith his translations.
Thus liquors, when twice shifted out, and pour'd
In a third vessel, are both cool'd and sour'd.
But holy Jerome truth to light doth bring
Briefer and fuller, fetch'd irom the Hebrew spring,"
No PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD, IN THE MODERN NOTION OF
PAPISTS. — For, though we find prayers for the dead, yet they were
not in the nature of propitiation for their sins, or to procure relaxa
tion from their sufferings ; but were only an honourable commemo
ration of their memories, and a sacrifice of thanksgiving for their
salvation. Thus St. Cuthbert, after he had seen the soul of one
Hadwaldus " carried by angels into heaven," § did celebrate obse
quies of prayers in his behalf.
Purgatory, though newly hatched, not yet fledged.
— For, although there are frequent visions and revelations in this
age pretended, thereon to Jbuild purgatory, which had no foundation
in Scripture ; yet the architects of that fanciful fabric had not so
" BeDjE Eccles. Hist, lib, iii. cap. 6. t CaRadoc. in " Chron. of Cambridge."
t MS. in the library of the leamed bishop, William Bedel, and cited by the archbishop
of Armagh in " the Religion of the ancient Irish," page 9. § Bede in Vitd
Cuthberti, cap. 34.

232 CHURCH history of BRITAIN. A.D. 1066.
handsomely contrived it, as it stands at this day in the Romish
belief. For Bede,* out of the vision of Furseus, relateth certain
great fires above the air, appointed to " examine every one according
to the merits of his work," differing from the Papists' Purgatory ;
which Bellarmine, by the common consent of the schoolmen, deter-
mineth to be within the bowels of the earth. Thus nothing can be
invented and perfected at once.
Communion under both kinds. — For, Bede-f- relateth, that
one Hildmer, an officer of EgFride king of Northumberland, en
treated our Cuthbert to send a priest that might minister the sacra
ment of the Lord's body and blood unto his wife, that then lay
a-dying. And Cuthbert himself, immediately before his own de
parture out of this life, received the communion of the Lord's body
and blood. And, lest any should fondly hope to decline so preg
nant an instance, by the novel conceit of concomitancy, (a distinction
that could not speak, because it was not born in that age,) it is
punctually noted, that he distinctly received the cup : —
Pocula degustat vital, Christique supinum
Sanguine munit iter X  — 
" His voyage steep the easier to climb up,
Christ's blood he drank out of life's healthful cup."
So that the eucharist was then administered entire, and not maimed,
as it is by Papists at this day ; serving it as Hanun the Ammonite
did the clothes and beards of David's ambassadors, 2 Sam. x, 4,
cutting it off at the middle. And, though the word " mass" was
frequent in that age, generally expressing all Divine service ; yet
was it not known to be offered as a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick
and dead,
43, The Author's Engagement to the Archbishop of Armagh,
and Conclusion of this second Book.
But if any desire farther information herein, let him repair to the
worthy work which James the right leamed and pious archblshop.-of
Armagh hath written of " the Religion professed by the ancient
Irish and British," From whom I have bon-owed many a note,
though not always thanking him in the margin, by citing his name ;
and, therefore, now must make one general acknowledgment of my
engagement. In cities we see, that such as sell by retail, though of
less credit, are of great use, especially to- poor people, in parcelling
out penny-worths of commodities to them, whose purses cannot
extend to buy by wholesale from the merchant. Conceive I, in like
manner, my pains will not be altogether unprofitable, who in this
• Lib. iii. cap. 19. t De Vitd Cuthberti, prosa, cap 15. X Idem in Vitd
Cuthberti, carmine, cap. 36.

1 HAROLD. ^ BOOK II. CENT. Xf. 2.33
History have fetched my wares from the storehouse of that reverend
prelate, the cape-merchant of all learning ; and here, in little rem
nants, deliver them out to petty country-chapmen, who hitherto have
not had the hap, or happiness, to understand the original treasuries
whence they are taken. And, clean through this work, in point of
chronology, I have with implicit faith followed his comphtation,*
setting my watch by his dial, knowing his dial to be set by the sun,
and account most exactly calculated, according to the critical truth
of time. Long may he live for the glory of God, artd good of his
church : for whereas many learned men, though they be deep
abysses of knowledge, yet, like the Caspian Sea, receiving all, and
having no out-let, are loath to impart aught to others ; this bright
sun is as bountiful to deal abroad his beams, as such dark dales as
myself are glad and delighted to receive them.

SECTION VII.
SEVERAL COPIES OF BATTLE-ABBEY ROLL.
TO THE RIGHT WOESHIPFUL SIR SIMON ARCHER, OF
TANWORTH, IN WARWICKSHIRE.
Some report, that the toad, before her death, sucks
up, if not prevented with sudden surprisal, the precious
stone (as yet but a jelly) in her head, grudging man
kind the good thereof. Such generally the envy of
antiquaries, preferring that their rarities should die
•with them, and be buried in their graves, rather than
others receive any benefit thereby.
You cross the current of common corruption ; it
being questionable whether you be more skilful in
knowing, careful in keeping, or courteous iu communi
cating, your curious collections in that kind.
Justly, therefore, have I dedicated these several
copies of Battle-Abbey Roll unto you: First. Because
I have received one of the most authentic of them from
your own hand : Secondly. Because your ancient name
chargeth through and through most of these catalogues.
* In his book, Dc Brit. Eccl. Primord.

234 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D,

1066.

Yea, as the Archers came over with the Conqueror,
so the Conqueror may be said to come over with the
Archers, (therefore placed in a list by themselves,)
because their valour achieved the greatest part of his
victory. The Design propounded and asserted.
Perusing the worthy pains of grave and godly Mr. Fox, in his
Book of Martyrs, I find him in the reign of William I. exemplifying
a double catalogue of such eminent persons as came over at the Con
quest., Now, seeing so reverend a writer accounted the inserting
thereof no deviation from his Church-History, we presume ac
cordingly, by way of recreation of the reader, to present him with a
larger list of those names, with some brief notes thereupon.
Imposing of Names denotes Dominion.
Here will I premise nothing about the ancient original of names,
which argued the undoubted dominion of him who first gave them,
over those on whom they were imposed. Thus Eve named Cain,
Gen. iv. 1 ; to show the command, even of the mother, over the
eldest (and therefore over all her) children. Adam named Eve:
" She shall be called Woman," Gen. ii. 23 ; to signify tiie hus
band's sovereignty over his wife. God named Adam : " Let us
make Adam," Gen. i. 26, or man ; to denote his power and authority
over man. And God named himself: " I AM hath sent me unto
you," Exodus iii. 14 ; importing his absolute and independent
being in and from himself. But, waving what may be said of the
beginning of names, we shall digest what we conceive necessary for
our present purpose, into the following propositions.
Fixed Surnames not long before the Conquest.
The first is : " Surnames were fixed in families in England, at or
about the Conquest." I say, " fixed." Formerly, though men had
surnames, yet their sons did not, as I may say, follow suit with their
fathers, the name descended not hereditarily on the family. At, or
about — Forty years under or over will break no squares. It began
somewhat sooner, in the Confessor's time, fetched out of France, but
not universally settled till some hundred years after. When men
therefore tell us, how their surnames have been fastened on their
families, some centuries of years before the Conquest, we hear them
say so. His chronology was no better than his heraldry who
boasted that his ancestors had given the three gun-holes (which
indeed were the three annulets) for their arms these thousand years,

1 WILLIAM I, THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY, 235
when guns themselves had not been extant three hundred years in
Europe. The same solecism in effect is committed by such who
pretend to the antiquity of surnames, before the same were settled
in rerum naturd.
Surnames late in (because not needful to) Kings.
The second : " Kings had fixed surnames later than common
people," Our four first Norman kings had no surnames, Henry II,
being the first of the Plantagenists. Wonder not that a Gentile
fashion should come later into the court than into the country, and
last to the crown itself. For, names being made to distinguish men,
they 'were more necessary for common people, whose obscurities
would be lost in a multitude, were they not found out by the sign
of their surnames, having no other eminency whereby they might be
differenced. But princes, being comparatively few in respect of
private persons, are sufficiently discovered by their own lustre, and
sovereignty may be said to be a surname to itself; and therefore
kings, not of necessity, but mere pleasure, have accepted additions
to their Christian-names. Many of the Normans most noble by Birth.
The third : " Many who came over out of Normandy were noble
in their native country :" especially such who are styled from their
places, as le Sire de Soteville, le Sire de Margneville, le Sire de
Tancarville, &c. whereby we understand them lords and owners of
such manors, towns, and castles from whence they took their deno
mination. However, this particle, de such a place, when without le
Sire going before it, doth not always give livery and seizin, and pre
sently put the person so named into possession of the place ; some
times barely importing that he was born there, and not owner thereof.
Yet some not so much as Gentlemen.
The fourth : " All that came over with the Conqueror were not
gentlemen until they came over with the Conqueror." For,
instantly upon their victory, their flesh was refined, blood clarified,
spirits elevated to a higher purity and perfection. Many a peasant
in Normandy commenced " Monsieur" by coming over into Eng
land ; where they quickly got goods to their gentry, lands to their
goods, and those of the most honourable tenure in capite itself.
What Richard III. said, no less spitefully than falsely, of the
Woodviles, (brethren to the wife of his brother king Edward IV.
by whom they were advanced,) that " many were made noble who
formerly were not worth a noble," was most true of some of the
Norman soldiery, suddenly starting up " honourable" from mean

2.36 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1066.
orio-inals These cruelly insulted over the Saxon ancient gentry,
whom they found in England. Thus, on the new casting of a di^,
when ace is on the top, sise must needs be at the bottom.
Many of the neighbouring Nations under the Notion of
Normans.
The fifth : " Beside native Normans, many of the neighbouring
countries engaged in England's invasion :" As Flemings, which
Baldwin eari of Flanders, and father-in-law unto the Conqueror, sent
to aid him : Walloons, with many from Picardy, Britain, Anjou,
and the very heart of Fi-ance. Thus when a fair of honour and
profit is proclaimed, chapmen will flock from all parts unto it. Some
will wonder, that any would be such wilful losers as to exchange
France for England, a garden for a field. Was not this degrading
of tiieir souls in point of pleasure, going backward from wine to ale,
from wheat to oats, then the general bread-corn of England.?
Besides, coming Northward, they left the sun on their backs ; the
sun, who is a comfortable usher to go before, but bad train-bearer to
come behind one. But let such know, that England in itself is an
excellent country, too good for the unthankful people which live
therein ; and such foreigners, who seemingly slight, secretly love
and like the plenty and profit thereof. But, grant England far
short of France in goodness, yet such adventurers hoped to achieve
to themselves a better condition in a worse country. Many a
younger brother came over hither, in hope here to find an elder
brothership, and accordingly procured an inheritance to him and his
posterity. As for the great French nobility, store was no sore unto
them : such pluralists retained still their old patrimonies in France,
with the additions of their new possessions in England.
W Names Walloons.
The sixth : " Names coming over with the Conquest, beginning
with w, were not out of France, but the vicinage thereof." As the
Britons disclaim x, the Latins y, (save when the badge of a Greek
word Latinized,) so the French disown w. When we find it, there
fore, the initial letter of a name, (whereof many occur in the ensu
ing catalogue,) it argueth the same Walloon, or Almain. Yea, I am
credibly informed, that some of the English here, wearied with
Harold's usurpation, fled over into Normandy to fetch in the Con
queror ; so that, when king William entered, they returned into
England. And this particularly hath been avouched of the noble
family of the Wakes, who were here before the Conquest, yet found
among the Norman invaders.

1 WILLIAM I. THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY. 237
The twilight Credit of Battle-Abbey Roll.
The seventh : " Battle- Abbey Roll is the best extant catalogue
of Norman gentry, if a true copy thereof could be procured.-"
1, Battle-Abbey Roll — Because hung up in that abbey, as fixed
to the freehold thereof; where the names of such as came over with
the Conquest were recorded,
2, Best extant — Otherwise, industry, with honesty, leisure, and
liberty to peruse Doomsday-book, might collect one more perfect,
out of impartial records, which neither fear nor fiatter. Such a
catalogue were to be believed on its word, before Battle Roll on its
oath, 3, Yet that Abbey Roll deserved credit, if a true copy might he
procured — One asked, which was the best St. Augustine ; to whom
this answer was given, (generally true of all ancient authors,) " Even
that Augustine which is least corrected." For corrections com
monly are corruptive, as following the fancy and humour of the cor
rector. Battle-Abbey Roll hath been practised upon with all the
figures of diction, — Prothesis, Aphesresis, &c. some names therein
being augmented, subtracted, extended, contracted, lengthened, cur
tailed. The same scruple, therefore, which troubleth sophisters,-:—
Whether Jason's weather-beaten ship, so often clouted and patched
with new boards, were the same numerically with the first, — may be
propounded of Battle- Abbey Roll, — Whether that extant with us,
after so many alterations, be individually the same with the original.
See what a deadly gash our great antiquary * gives to the credit
thereof : " Whosoever considereth it well shall find it to be forged,
and those names to be inserted which the time in every age favoured,
and were never mentioned in that authentical record."
Objection'. — Then it is of no Credit.
Objection, — " If such be the depraving of Battle-Abbey Roll,
then no credit at all is due unto it. Let it be pilloried for a mere
cheat, and be suffered no longer to go about, to deceive the honest
reader thereof; seeing we cannot hear the true tone of names therein,
monks have so set them to the tune of their present benefactors,
and minions of the age they lived in,"
Answer. — How Credit thereunto is to be cautioned.
Answer, — Though there be much adulteration therein, yet I
conceive the main bulk and body thereof uncorrupted. As they
therefore overvalue this Roll, who make it the Grammar of French
gentry, the herald's Institutes, and of canonical credit amongst
• Camden in his " Remains," page 152,

238 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1066.
them ; so such too much decry the same who deny all trust there
unto. Yea, we may confidentiy rely on this Roll, where we find a
concurrence of ancient English historians therewith ; and this
will appear in the generality of names which that -Roll presenteth
unto us.
We find in our English chroniclers two printed copies (a manu
script thereof worth mentioning I have not met with) of Battle-
Abbey Roll ; wherein such various lections, they agree neither in
number, order, nor spelling of the names ; which, though generally
digested in an alphabetical way, are neither of them exactly ordered
according to the same. But behold both.
From Holinshed, (Pages 3 — 5.)
Aumarle, Aincourt, Audeley, Angilliam, Argentoun, Arundell,
Abell, Auverne, Aunwers, Angiers, Angenoun, Archere, Anvay,
Aspervile, Albevile, Andevile, Amoverduile, Arcy, Akeny, Albeny,
Aybevare, Amay, Aspermound, Amerenges, — 24,
Bertram, Buttecourt, Brehus, Byseg, Bardolfe, Basset, Bigot,
Bohun, Bailif, Bondevile, Brabason, Baskervile, Bures, Bounilayne,
Bois, Botelere, Bourcher, Brabaion, Berners, Braibuf, Brande,
Bronce, Burgh, Bushy, Banet, Blondell, Breton, Bluet, Baious,
Browne, Beke, Bickard, Banastre, Baloun, Beauchamp, Bray,
Bandy, Bracy, Boundes, Bascoun, Broilem, Brolevy, Burnell,
Bellet, Baudewin, Beaumont, Burden, Bertevilay, Barre, Busse-
vile, Blunt, Beaupere, Bevill, Bardvedor, Brette, Barrett, Bonret,
Bainard, Barnivale, Bonett, Barry, Bryan, Bodin, Bertevile,
Bertin, Berenevile, Bellewe, Bevery, Busshell, Boranvile, Browe,
Belevers, Buffard, Botelere, Bonveier, Botevile, Bellire, Bastard,
Bainard, Brasard, Beelhelm, Braine, Brent, Braunch, Belesuz,
Blundell, Burdet, Bagot, Beauvise, Belemis, Bisin, Bernon, Boels,
Belefroun, Brutz, Barchamp, — 96,
Camois, Camvile, Chawent, Chauncy, Conderay, Colvile, Cham-
berlaine, Chamburnoun, Comin, Columber, Cribet, Creuquere,
Corbin, Corbett, Chaundos, Chaworth, Cleremaus, Clarell, Chopis,
Chaunduit, Chantelow, Chamberay, Cressy, Curtenay, Conestable,
Cholmely, Champney, Chawnos, Comivile, Champaine, Carevile,
Carbonelle, Charles, Cherberge, Chawnes, Chaumont, Caperoun,
Cheine, Curson, Coville, Chaiters, Cheines, Cateray, Cherecourt,
Cammile, Clerenay, Curly, Cuily, Clinels, Chaundos, Courteney,
Clifford.— 52,
Denaville, Dercy, Dive, Dispencere, Daubeny, Daniell, Denise
and Druell, Devaus, Davers, Dodingsels, Darell, Delaber, Delapole,
Delalihde, Delahill, Delaware, Delavache, Dakeny, Dauntre,
Desnjr, Dabernoune, Damry, Daveros, Davonge, Duilby, Delavere,

1 WILLIAM I, THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY. 239
Delahoid, Dmange, Delee, Delaund, Delaward, Delaplanch, Dam-
not, Danway, Dehense, Devile, Disard, DoivUle, Durant, Drury,
Dabitot, Dunsterville, Dunchampe, Dambelton. — 44.
Estrange, Estutevile, Engaine, Estriels, Esturney. — 5.
Ferrerers, Folville, Fitz Water, Fitz Marmaduke, Flevez,
Filberd, Fitz Roger, Favecourt, Ferrers, Fitz Philip, Filiot,
Furniveup, Furnivaus, Fitz Otes, Fitz William, Fitz Roand, Fitz
Pain, Fitz Auger, Fitz Aleyn, Fitz Rauff,. Fitz Brown, Fouke,
Frevil, Front de Boef, Facunberge, Fort, Frisell, Fitz Simon,
Fitz Fouk, Filioll, Fitz Thomas, Fitz Morice, Fitz Hugh, Fitz
Henry, Fitz Waren, Fitz Rainold, Flamvile, Formay, Fitz
Eustach, Fitz Laurence, Formibaud, Frisound, Finere and Fitz
Robert, Fumivale, Fitz Geffrey, Fitz Herbert, Fitz Peres, Fichet,
Fitz Rewes, Fitz Fitz, Fitz John, Fleschampe, — 53,
Gurnay, Gressy, Graunson, Gracy, Georges, Gower, Gaugy,
Goband, Gray, Gaunson, Golofre, Gobion, Grensy, Graunt, Greile,
Grevet, Gurry, Gurley, Grainmori, Gernoun, Grendon, Gurdon,
Gines, Grivel, Grenevile, Glatevile, Gurney, Giffard, Goverges,
Gamages, — 30,
Haunteney, Haunsard, Hastings, Hanlay," Haurell, Husee,
Hercy, Herioun, Heme, Harecourt, Henoure, Hovell, Hamelin,
Harewell, Hardell, Haket, Hamound, Harcord, — 18,
larden, lay, leniels, lercbnvise, lanvile, laspervile, — 6,
Kaunt, Karre, Karrowe, Koine, Kimaronne, Kiriell, Kancey,
Kenelre. — 8,
Loveny, Lacy, Linneby, Latomer, Loveday, Lovell, Lemare,
Levetot, Lucy, Luny, Logevile, Longespes, Loverace, Longe-
champe, Lascales, Lacy, Lovan, Leded, Luse, Loterell, Loruge,
Longevale, Loy, Lorancourt, Loians, Limers, Longepay, Laumale,
Lane, Lovetot, — 30.
Mohant, Mowne, Maundevile, Marmilon, Moribray, Morvile,
Miriell, Manlay, Malebraunch, Malemaine, Mortimere, Morti-
maine, Muse, Marteine, Mountbother, Mountsoler, -Malevile,
Malet, Mounteney, Monfichet, Maleheibe, Mare, Musegros,
Musard, Moine, Montravers, Merke, Murres, Mortivale, Mon-
chenesy, Mallory, Marny, Mountagu, Mountfort, Maule, Monher-
mon, Musett, Menevile, Mantevenat, Manfe, Menpincoy, Maine,
Mainard, Morell, Mainell, Maleluse, Memorous, Mon-eis, Morleian,
Maine, Malevere, Mandut, Mountmarten, Mantelet, Miners, Mau-
clerke, Maunchenel, Movet, Meintenore, Meletak, Manvile,
Manlay, Maulard, Mainard, Menere, Martinast, Mare, Mainwaring,
Matelay, Malemis, Maleheire, Moren, Melun, Marceans, Maiell,
Morton.— 76.
Noers, Nevile, Newmarch, Norbet, Norice, Newborough,

240 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1066.
Neiremet, Neilc, Normavile, Neofinarch, Nermitz, Nembrutz,
—12, Otevel, Olibet, Olifant, Osenel, Oisel, Olifard, Orinal, Oriol,
—8. Pigot, Pery, Perepount, Pershale, Power, Painel, Pcrche,
Pavey, Peurell, Perot, Picard, Pinkenie, Pomeray, Pounce,-
Pavely, Paifrere, Plukenet, Phuars, Punchardoun, Pinchard, Placy,
Pugoy, Patefinc, Place, Pampilioun, Percelay, Perere, Pekeny,
Poterell, Peukeny, Peccel, Pinel, Putril, Petivol, Preaus, Pantolf,
Peito, Penecord, Prendirlegast, Percivale.'^ — 39.
Quincy, Quintiny. — 2.
Ros, Ridell, Rivers,. Rivell, Rous, Rushell, Raband, Ronde,
Rie, Rokell, Risers, Randvile, Roselin, Rastoke, Rinvill, Rougere,
Rait, Ripere, Rigny, Richemound, Rochford, Raimond, — 22,
Souch, Shevile, Seucheus, Senclere, Sent Quintin, Sent Omere,
Sent Amend, Sent Legere, Somervile, Siward, Saunsovere, Sanford,
Sanctes, Savay, Saulay, Sules, Sorell, Somerey, Sent John, Sent
George, Sent Les, Sesse, Salvin, Say, Solers, Saulay, Sent Albin,
Sent Martin, Sourdemale, Seguin, Sent Barbe, Sent Vile,
Souremount, Soreglise, Sandvile, Sauncey, Sirewast, Sent Cheverol,
Sent More, Sent Scudemore. — 40.
Toget, Tercy, Tuchet, Tracy, Trousbut, Trainel, Taket,
Trussel, Trison, Talbot, Touny, Traies, Tollemach, Tolous,
Tanny, Touke, Tibtote, Turbevile, Turvile, Tomy, Taverner,
Trenchevile, Trenchelion, Tankervile, Tirel, Trivet, Tolet, Travers,
Tardevile, Turbarvile, Tinevile, Torel, Tortechappel, Trusbote,
Treverel, Tenwis, Totelles,— 37.
Vere, Vernoun, Vescy, Verdoune, Valence, Verdeire, Vavasour,
Vendore, Verlay, Valenger, Venables, Venoure, Vilan, Verland,
Valers, Veirny, Vavurvile, Veniels, Verrere, Uschere, Veffay,
Vanay, Vian, Vernoys, Umal, Unket, Urnaful, Vasderol,
Vaberon, Valinford, Venicorde, Valive, Viville, Vancorde,
Valenges. — 35,
Wardebois, Waid, Wafre, Wake, Wareine, Wate, Watelin,
Watevile, Wely, Werdonel, Wespaile, Wivell, — 12,
The total sum of all in Ralph Holinshed, 629,
From Stow. (Pages 105-107.)
Aumeic, Audjey, Angilliam, Argentoun, Arundel], Avenant,
Abell, Awgers, Angenoun, Archer, Aspervile, Amonerduil, Arey,
Albeny, Akeny, Asperemound. — 16,
Bertram, Butrecourt, Braehus, Byseg, Bardolf, Basset, Bohun,
Baylife, Bondevile, Barbason, Beer, Bures, Bonylayne, Barbayon,
Berners, Braybuf, Brand, Bonvile, Burgh, Busshy, Blundell,

1 WILLIAM I, THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY, 241
Breton, Belasyse, Bowser, Bayons, Bulmere, Broune, Beke,
Bowlers, Banistre, Belomy, Belknape, Beachamp, Bandy,
Broyleby, Burnell, Belot, Beufort, Baudewine, Burden, Bertevy-
ley, Barre, Bussevile, Blunt, Beawper, Bret, Barret, Bamevale,
Barry, Bodyt, Bertevile, Bertine, Belew, Bushell, Beleneers,
Puffard, Boteler, Botvile, Brasard, Belhelme, Braunch, Bolesur,
Blundel, Burdet, Bagot, Beaupount, Bools, Belefroun, Barchampe.
Camos, Canville, Chawent, Chancy, Conderay, Colvile, Chamber
lain, Chambernoune, Cribet, Corbine, Corbet, Coniers, Chaundos,
Coney, Chaworth, Claremaus, Clarel, Camuine, Chaunduyt, Clare-
vays, Chantilowe, Colet, Cressy, Courtenay, Constable, Chaucer,
Cholmelay, Cornevile, Champeney, Carew, Chawnos, Clarvaile,
Champaine, Carbonel, Charles, Chareberge, Chawnes, Chawmont,
Cheyn, Cursen, Conell, Chayters, Cheynes, Cateray, Cherecourt,
Chaunvile, Clereney, Cuiley, Clifford. — 49.
Deanvile, Dercy, Dine, Dispencer, Daniel, Denyse, Druel,
Devause, Davers, Doningsels, Darel, De la Bere, De la Pole, De la
Lind, De la Hill, De la Ware, De la Watch, Dakeny, Daunlry,
Desny, Dabernoun, Damry, Daveros, De la Vere, De Liele, De la
Ward, De la Pance, Danway, De Hewse, Disard, Durant, Drury.
—32. Estrange, Escutavile, Escriols, Engain, Evers, Esturney. — 6,
Folvile, Fitzwatter, Fitz-Marmaduke, Fibert, Fitz-Roger, Fitz-
Robert, Fanecourt, Fitz-Philip, Fitz- William, Fitz-Pain, Fitz-
Alyne, Fitz-Ralfe, Fitz- Broun, Foke, Frevile, Faconbridge, Frissel,
Filioll, Fitz-Thomas, Fitz-Morice, Fitz-Hugh, Fitz- Warren, Faun-
vile, Formay, Formibaud, Frison, Finer, Fitz-Urcy, Fumivall,
Fitz-Herbert, Fitz-John,— 31,
Gargrave, Granson, Gracy, Glaunvile, Gouer, Gascoyne, Gray,
Golofer, Grauns, Gurly, Gurdon, Gamages, Gaunt, — 13.
Hansard, Hastinges, Haulay, Husie, Heme, Hamelyn, Harewell,
Hardell, Hecket, Hamound, Harcourd. — 11.
larden, lay, lanvile, laspervile, — 4,
Karre, Karron, Kyriell, — 3,
Lestrange, Levony, Latomere, Loveday, Logenton, Levell,
Le Scrope, Lemare, Litterile, Lucy, Lislay or Liele, Longspes,
Longschampe, Lastels, Lind-Sey, Loterell, Lindsey, Longvaile,
Le Vawse, Loy, Lave, Le Dispenser, — 22,
.Marmilou, Moribray, Morvile, Manley, Malebranch, Malemaine,
Muschampe, Musgrave, Menilebillers, Mortmain, Muse, Mount-
bocher, Malevile, Marteine, Mountney, Maleherbe, Musegioss,
Musard, Mautravers, Merke, Murres, Montague, Mantalent,
Mandute, Manle, Malory, Merny, Muffet, Menpincoy, Mainard,
Vol, I, K

242 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1066.
Morell, Moriey, Mountmartin, Myners, Mauley, Mainwaring,
Mantel), Mayel, Morton. — 39.
' Nevile, Neumarch, Norton, Norbet, Norece, Newborough,
Neele, Normanvile. — 8.
Otenel, Olibet, Olifaunt, Oysel, Oliford, Oryol.— 6.
Pigot, Percy, Perecount, Pershale, Power, Paynel, Peche,
Peverel, Perot, Picard, Pudsey, Pimeray, Pounsey, Punchardon,
Pynchard, Placy, Patine, Pampilion, Poterel, Pekeney, Pervinke,
Penicord.— 22.
Quincy, Quintine. — 2..
Rose, Ridle, Rynel, Rous, Russel, Rond, Richmond, Rochford,
Reymond. — 9.
Seuche, Seint Quintine, Seint Omer, Seint Ainond, Seint Leger,
Sovervile, Sanford, Somery, Seint George, Seint Les, Savine, Seint
Glo, Seint Albine, Seint Barbe, Sandevile, Seint More, Seint
Scudemore. — 17-
Towrs, Toget, Talybois, Tuchet, Truslot, Trusbut, Traynel,
Taket, Talbot, Tanny, Tibtote, Trassel, Turbevile, Turvile,
Totet, Tavers, Torel, Tirel, Totels, Taverner.— 20.
Valence, Vancord, Vavasour, Vender, Verder, Verdon, Vere,
Vernoune, Venables, Venoure, Verland, Verlay, Veraois, Verny,
Vilan, Umframvile, Unket, Urnall. — ^18.
Wake, Walenger, Warde, Wardebus, Waren, Wate, Wateline,
Watevile, Woly, Wyvel.— 10.
The total sura of all in John Stow, 407.
Beside this Roll of Battle Abbey, there is another extant, not
(as this) alphabetically modelled, the work of some monk well at
leisure ; but loose, without any literal order : an argument, in my
opinion, of the more native purity thereof, (less soiled with partial
fingers,) as not so much tampered with by art and industry. It is
reputed by many to be the muster-roll of such principal soldiers as
embarked with duke William at St. Valeries ; and it is said, that,
after the fight ended, this list was called over, and all persons
solemnly summoned to answer to their names therein ; though many
made no vous-avex, as either sick of their wounds, or slain outright
amongst the six thousand and odd, which lost their lives on the
place. Were we assured hereof, we would prefer this before the
former Roll, believing a French muster-master, rather than any
English monk, (though the abbot of Battle himself,) as not so sub
ject to the suspicion of fiattery herein. This catalogue is taken out
of Guilliam Tayleur, a Norman chronicler of good credit. But the
worst is, we want Tayleur's French original ; and, I fear, it hath
passed through some botcher's hands, before it came to us. For

1 WILLIAM I, THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY, -243
there be three editions thereof in our English historians, which, like
the feet of a badger, fall out of unequal length, (if the reader be
pleased to measure them,) so different the number of names therein.
However, because this catalogue may conduce to the supplying of
defects, clearing of doubts, and amending of faults in that former,
w« here present the several copies thereof.
Fox's Acts and Monuments. (Pages 182, 183.)
Odo bishop of Bayeux, Robert count de Mortaigne, (duke Wil
liam's half brethren,) Baudwin de Bullion, Roger count de Beau
mont sumamed " with the beard," Guillaurae Malet, le sire de Mon-
fort sur Rdle, Guil. de Viexpont, Neel de S. Sauveur le Viconte, le
sire de Fougiers, Henry Seigneur de Ferieres, le sire Daubemare,
Guil, sire de Romare, le sire de Lithehare, le sire de Touque, le
sire de'la Mare, le sire de Neauhou, le sire de Pirou, Rob. sire de
Beaufou, le sire Danou, le sire de Soteville, le sire de Margneville,
le sire de Tancarville, Eustace Dambleville, le sire de Magneville,
le sire de Grantmesnil, Guil, Crespin, le sire de S. Martin, Guil, de
Moulins, le sire de Puis, Geoffray sire de Mayenne, Auffroy de
Bohon, Auffroy and Mangier de Cartrait, Guil, de Garennes, Hue
de Gournay sire de Bray, le conte Hue de Gournay, Euguemont
de 1' Aigle, le viconte de Touars, Rich. Dauverenchin, le sire de
Biars, le sire de SoUigny, le Bouteiller Daubigny, le sire de Maire,
le sire de Vitry, le sire de Lacy, le sire du val Dary, le sire de
Tracy, Hue sire de Montfort, le sire de Piquegny, Hamon de
Kayeu, le sire Despinay, le sire de Port, le sire de Torcy, le sire de
lort, le sire de Riviers, Guil. Moyonne, Raoul Tesson de Tingue-
leiz, Roger Marmion, Raoul de Guel, Avenel des Byars, Paennel
du Monstier Hubert, Rob, Bertran le Tort, le sire de Senile, le sire
de Dorival, le sire de Breval, le sire de S, lehan, le sire de Bris, le
sire du Homme, le sire de Sauchoy, le sire de Cailly, le sire de
Semilly, le sire de Tilly, le sire de Romelli, Mar de Basqueville, le
sire de Preaulx, le sire de Gonis, le sire de Sainceaulx, le sire de
Moulloy, le sire de Monceaulx.; the archers du val de Reul, and of
Bretheul, and of many other places ; le sire de S, Saen, i. de S,
Sydonio, le sire de la Kiviere, le sire de Salnarville, le sire de Rony,
Eude de Beaugieu, le sire de Oblie, le sire de Sacie, le sire de
Nassie, le Visquaius de Chaymes, le sire du Sap, le sire de Glos, le
sire de Mine, le sire de Glanville, le sire de Breencon, le Vidam de
Partay, Raoul de Morimont, Pierre de Bailleul sire de Fiscamp,
le sire de Beausault, le sire de Tillieres, le sire de Pacy, le senes
chal de Torcy, le sire de Gacy, le sire Doully, le sire de Sacy, le
sire de Vacy, le sire de Tourneeiir, le sire de Praeres,^!^], de
Coulombieres, Hue sire de Bollebec, Rich, sire Dorbec, le sire de
R 2

244 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1066,
Bonneboz, le sire de Tresgoz, le sire de Montfiquet, Hue le Bigot
de Maletot, le sire de la Haye, le sire de Brecy, le sire de Mom-
bray, le sire de Saye, le sire de la Ferte, Boutevillain, Troussebout,
Guillaume Patric de la Laund, Hue de Mortemer, le sire Danvillers,
le sire Donnebaut, le sire de S, Cler, Rob, le filz Herneys Due
d' Orieans, le sire de Harecourt, le sire de Crevecoeur, le sire de
Deyncourt, le sire de Brimetot, le sire de Combray, le sire Daunay,
le sire de Fontenay, le conte Deureux, le sire de Rebelchil, Alain
Fergant conte de Bretaigne, le sire de S. Vallery, le conte Deu,
Gaultier Giffard conte de Longueville, le sire Destouteville, le conte
Thomas Daubmalle, Guil. conte de Hoymes and Darques, le sire
<Je Bereville, le sire de Breante, le sire de Freanville, le sire de
Pavilly, le sire de Clere, Toustan du Bee, le sire de Maugny,-
Roger de Montgomery, Amaury de Touars, — 153,
Holinshed's Chronicle. (Pages 2, 3.)
Odo bishop of Bayeulx, Robert earl of Mortaing, Roger eari of
Beamnont sumamed a la Barbe, Guillaume Mallet seig, de Mont
fort, Henry seign. de Ferrers, Guil, d' Aubellemare seig, de Fou-
gieres, Guil, de Roumare seig, de Lithare, le seig. de ToUque, le
seig. de la Mare, Neel le viconte, Guil. de Vepont, le seig. de
Mao-neville, le seig. de Grosmenil, le seig. de S. Martin, le seig. de
Puisj'GuiL Crespin, Guil. de Moyenne, Guil. Desmoullins, Guil.
Desgarennes, Hue de Gournay alias Genevay, le seig. de Bray, le
seig. de Govy, le seig. de Laigle, le seig. de Tovarts, le seig. de
Aurenchin, le seig. de Vitrey, le seig. de Trassy alias Tracy, le
seig. de Picquigny, le seig. d' Espinay, Osmond seig. du Pont, le
seig. de Estoutevile, le seig. de Torchy, le seig. de Bamabost, le
seig. de Breval, le seig. de Seeulme, le seig. de Houme, le seig. de
Souch oy, le seig. de Cally, le seig. de la Rivere, Euldes de Beavieu,
le seig, de Roumilly, le seig. de Glotz, le seig. du Sap, le seig. de
Vanville, le seig. Branchou, le seig. Balleul, le seig. de Beausault,
le seig. de Telleres, le seig. de Senlys, le seig. de Bacqueville, le
seig. de Preaulx, le seig. de lovy, le seig. de Longueville, le seig. de
Aquigny, le seig. de Passy, le seig. de Tournay, le seig. de Colom-
bieres, le seig. de Bollebec, le seig. de Garensieres, le seig. de
Longveile, le seig. de Houdetot, le seig. de Malletot, le seig. de la
Haie Malerbe, le seig. de Porch Pinche, le seig. de Ivetot, the earl
of Tanquervile, the earle d' Eu, the earl d' Arques, the earl of
Anjou, the earl of Nevers, le seig. de Rouvile, le prince de Ale-
maigne, le seig. de Pavilly, le seig. de S, Cler, le seig. d' Espinay,
le seig, de Bremetot, Alain Fergant earl of Britaigne, le seig, de la
Ferte, Rob, fils Helvays due de Orleans, le seig, de la Lande, le
seig, de Mortimer, le seig. de Clare, le seig. de Magny, le Seig. de

1 WILLIAM I. THE ROLL OF BATTLK ABBEY. 245
Fontnay, Roger de Montgomery, Amaury de Touars, le seig. de
Hacquevile, le seig. de Neanshou, le seig. de Perou, Robert de
Beaufou, le seig. Meauvon, le seig. de Sotevile, Eustace de Hain-
blevile, Geoffray Boumom, le seig. de Blainvile, le seig. de Maune-
vile, Geoffray de Moienne, A uffray and Manger de Carteny, le
seig. de Freanvile, le seig. de Moubray, le seig. de lafitay, Guil.
Patais seig. de la Lande, Eulde de Mortimer, Hue earl of Gour
nay, Egremont de Laigle, Richard d' Aurinchin, le seig. de Bearts,
le seig. de Soulligny, Bouteclier d' Aubigny, le seig. de Marcey, le
seig. de Lachy, le seig. de Valdere, Eulde de Montfort, Henoyn de
Cahieu, le seig. de Vimers, Guil. de Movion, Raoul Tesson de
Tignolles, Anguerand earl of Hercourt, Roger Marmion, Raoul de
Gaiel, Avenel de Viers, Pauvel du Montier Hubert, Rob. Bertraule
Tort, le seig. de Senile, le seig. Dorival, le seig. de la Hay, le seig.
de S. John, le seig. de Saussy, le seig. de Brye, Richard Dollebec,
le seig. du Monfiquet, le seig. de Bresey, le seig. de Semilly, le
seig. de Tilly, le seig. de Preaux, le seig. de Meuley, le seig, de
Monceaux ; the archers of Bretvile, the archers of Vaudrevile ; le
seig. de S. Sain, le seig, de Breansou, le seig, de Sassy, le seig, de
Nassy, le Vidam de Chartres, le seig, de leanvile, le Vidam du
Passais, Pierre du Bailleul ^ seig, de Fescampe, le seneschal de
Torchy, le seig, de Grissey, le seig, de Bassey, le seig, de Toumeur,
Guil. de Colombieres, le seig, de Bonnebault, le seig, de Ennebault,
le seig, de Danvillers, le seig, de Bervile, le seig. de Creveceur, le
seig, de Breate, le seig, de Coutray, the earl of Eureux, le seig, dQ
S, Valery, Thomas earl d' Aumale, the earl de Hiesraes, — 167,
Stow's Chronicle. (Pages 10-3, 104,)
Odo bishop of Bayon, Robert earl of Mortaigne, Bandonni d©
Bullion, Roger E, of Beamont with the beard, Guilliam Mallet,
Guil. Fitz Osberne, le sire de Montfort sus Rille, Guil. de Vielz
pont, Neel de Saint Saveur le vicont, le sire de Feugiers, Henry
sire de Ferrers, le sire Dambemare, Guil. sire de Romare, le sire de
Lichare, le sire de Tonque, le sire de la Mare, le sire de Nahabon,
le sire de Piron, le sire de Beauson,' le sire de Damnon, le sire de
Soteville, le sire de Margneville, le sire de Tankervillfe, Eustace
Dambleville, le sire de Magneville, le sire de. Grimsville, Guil.
Crespin, le sire de S. Martin, Guil. de Moulinous, le sire de Pins,
GiefFray sire de Mayenne, Affroy de Behunt, Affroy and Mavigr.
de Cartaict, Guil. de Garennes, Hue de Gournay sire de le Bray,
le conte Hue de Dournay, Enguemount le Laigle, le vicont de
Tovars, Rich. Donnemchih, le sire de Biars, le sire de Salligny,
le Boutellier Daubegny, le sire de Marre, le sire de Victry,
le sire de Lacy, le sire du vail Darie, le sire de Tracy, Hue

246 church history of Britain. a.d. 1066.
sire de Montfort, le sire de Piqgny, Hamon de Brayen, le sire de
Spinay, le sire de Port, le sire de Torchy, le sire de lort, le sire de
Rivers, Guil. Moyon, Raoul Tesson de Chignelois, Rogier Mar
mion, Raoul de Gael, Ave Neel de Biars, Parnel du Monstier,
Bertram le Tort, Hubert Robert, le sire de Seukee, le sire de
Dormal, le sire de Brenall, le sire de S. Jehan, le sire de Bois, le
sire de Holnme, le sire de Saussay, le sire de Cailly, le sire de
Semilly, le sire de Tilly, le sire de Romely, Martell de Basque-
vill, le sire de Praux, le sire de Gonys, le sire de Sainteaulx, de
Mullox. These archers of the vale of Rueill, and of Bretviel, and of many
other places : — Le sire de S. Saen, le sire de la Rimer, le sire de
Salnarnille, le sire de Tony, Eude de Beaugien, le sire de OUie, le
sire de Sacy, le sire de Vassie, le Bisquams de Chaymes, le sire de
Sap, le sire Duglosse, le sire de Nime, le sire de Blamville, le sire
de Brencon, le Vidam de Partenay, Raoult de Mormont, Pierre de
Bailleul, sire de Fescamp, le sire de Beaufault, le sire de Tillieres,
le sire de Pacy, le seneschall de Torchy, le sire de Gacy, le sire de
Doully, le sire de Sancy, le sire de Bacy, le sire de Tourneur, le
sire de Praores, Guilliam de Colombieres, Hue sire de Bollebec,
Richart sire Dorbec, le sire de Donnebos, le sire de Troisgros, le
sire Mont Fiquet, Hue le Vigot alias Bigot de Maletot, le sire de
la Haye, le sire de Bracy, le sire de Moubray, le sire de Say, le
sire de Lasert, Bontevillam Tronsebours, Guilliam Patris de la,
Laud, Hue de Mortimer, le sire Donviller, le sire Donnebaut, le
sire de S, Cler, Robert le Fitz Herneys duke Dorlians, le sire de
Harecourt, le sire Crevecure, le sire de Dancourt, le sire de Brune-
tot, le sire de Cambray, le sire Dauncy, le sire Fonteney, le counte
Deureux, le sire de Roberchil, Alan sergent counte de Britaigne, le
sire de sainct Wallery, le counte Deden, Gualtar Guisart counte
de Logneville, le sire de Scouteville, le counte Thomas Danbinale,
Guil, de Holmes and Darques, le sire de Barrevile, le sire de
Breante, le sire de Freanvile, le sire de Panilly, le sire de Clere,
Tostamdubec, le sire de Mangny, Roger du Montgomery Comes,
Almary de Tovaers, — 153,
There is still another catalogue, late in the possession of Thomas
Scriven, Esq, I confess, quantus author, tanta fides ; and the
gentleman, long since dead, being generally unknown, some will
question the authority thereof. But know, he was a good promus-
condits of ancient records : condus in keeping them faithfully
himself; and promus, in imparting them freely to others. This
his catalogue is exemplified by Jolm Stow in his " Chronicle :" of
whom though a Cambridge comedian was pleased pleasantiy to say,
that " Mendacio now and then jogged on the elbow ;" yet, indeed,

1 WILLIAM I, THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY, 247
he deserveth Camden's commendation* of " a famous chronicler,"
lacking learning rather than tmth, seldom omitting what is, some
times recording what is not, observable. But see the catalogue.
Stow's Chronicle. (Page 107.)
Achard, Averenges, Aielard, Alard, Aubeney, Avenel, Asprevil,
Audeny, Akein, Arcy, Amile, Aunmidvile, Abbevile, Andvile,
Albemarke, Aubrey, Archer. — 17-
Bastarde, Baignard, Barvile, Brassard, Berad, Boygnaid,
Barkarvile, Baret, Basset, Bars, Belet, Beil, Breit, Boneit, Bluet,
Bracket, Buket, Biset, Blundet, Burdet, Blete, Barry, Berri,
Bracy, Brenenile, Bounttuile, Butenile, Beamchampe, Burnel,
Bussel, Beleice, Bonere, Bodler, Botiler, Bogod, Burle, Baul,
Brenbe, Brus, Butelem, Bricourt, Brian, Boch, Bozim, Bion,
Bailoil, Brocheris, Bardulfe, Bancan, Bussey, Beamvis, Bleis,
Baventre. — 53.
Camule, Carenile, Cardevile, Condrey, Cursey, Caution, Caily,
Corbet, Clare, Curtais, Curthose, Chamlin, Costentin, Comthense,
Cozmit, Chalenges, Chastlera, Courtueis, Chawers, Curty, Conun,
Crioile, Charles, Chen, Chaucer, Chandos, Cunly, Curly, Crely,
Colenile, Cabot, Charnel, Chamel, Charel, Cheinie. — 35.
Darcy, Dunstervile, Douchampe, Despenser, Duredent, Drivall,
Duket, Dreward, Delamare, Drunall, Dela, Deincourt. — 12.
Eurous, Estotkirke. — 2.
Faherburt, Fossard, Fresel, Frevile, Fressenile, Folenile,
Firmunde, Fizgeffray, Firpers, Fitzwaters, Feskampe, Fizhu,
Fizurs, Ferrer, Fomitall, Fineis, Fitzbrian, Frison, Ferers, Foham-
ble, Frignes, Fitzgariz, Formentin. — 23.
Gangy, Greminle, Gieunile, Gornumile, Gemule, Gerard, Giffard,
Gondrel, Gorger, Goner, Gigod, Gaibit, Giptot, Garin, Gunter,
Gras, Grauntson, Gournay, Greis, Gamage, Gautere, Gorge. — 22.
Hainule, Hantvile, Humchampe, Herebrace, Henile, Herenile,
Havel, Hachet, Haket, Harvy,' Hanesy, Hersy, Hai, Hasard,
Hansard, Hasser, Hubert, Hamelin, Harecurte, Hus, Hense. — 21.
lardin. — ^1.
Kernes, Keines, Kusac, Kosin, Kamais. — 5.
Laci, Liar, Lunecy, Luret, Lucy, Lidet, Linguenile, Levener,
Licot, Lonecot, Lovell, Lescei, Lambert, Lenn, Limare, Lisle,
La.— 17.
Maignard, Maureward, Mountford, Mountague, Mountbray,
Maundevile, Mortmer, Mansel, Maschy, Mungomer, Morvile,
Meisy, Munty, Mounteni, Mulct, Mumfitchet, Martell, Morell,
Musard, Maleit, Milere, Molevorer, Manturners, Moreiis, Muelent,
* Camden in Middlesex.

248 CHURCH history or Britain. a.d. 1066.
Meigne, Menul, Manne, Maceis, Mabuom, Mortem, Manfey,
Maresthall, Moriey, Martinas, Murdacke, Metun, Mameisin,
Morin, Mire, Morim. — 41.
Neemarch, Nepunt. — 2.
Orniall, Osevile, Orware. — 3.
Passemer, Passenaunt, Picot, Poorvanger, Pers, Purcel, Pichard,
Pypard, Pamel, Panel, Piterel, Penerel, Pleisy, Paveli, Pilet,
Parly, Palet, Piket, Percy, Punchet, Pachet, Punis, Pandulfe,
Pulem, Penir, Penne, Phanecourt, Pales, Prouz, Pirim, Peisim,
Parteben, Puntfrait. — 33.
Quinsi, Quatramart. — 2.
Russel, Rydel, Roter, Rochell, Rooz, Richmount, — 6,
Seintenile, Somery, Say, Suneli, Sorel, Seteplace, Spivenile,
Saundernile, Sonule, Soler, Sourrile, Stutenile, Soleny, Spigumel,
Seintbrenel, Soylard, Swywar, Saucer, Sausaver, Seniler, Saintcler,
Senittomer, Seintleger, Saundenal, Savage, Seintion, Saint-mareis,
Saucei, Sal, Seignes, Seintlis, Seintmoris, Seintgorge, Seintiore,
Seint-quintin, Seintmore, Sauntzire, Saintchy, Setuans, Seinte-royiz,
Seinteleme. — 41.
Toret, Tavit, Turpet, Tramel, Torchapel, Tonny, Trussel,
Tuchet, TorevUe, Trevet, Tirel, Trans, Talebot, Turbenile, Tracy,
Trassebut, Toe, Tailpas, Truan, Tener, Tisiure, Tayleboys — 22,
Verer, Vilers, Vesty, Vinframile, Veily, Vaieus, Veisin, Vorill,
Venur, Vavasue, Vans, — 11,
Widenile, Wimle, Wilby, Wadel, Ward, Wyschard, Walde-
boef, Wastueis, Warem, Weirim, — 10,
Yuoire.— 1, Total 381,
To these six catalogues let me add one more ; not that I am an
affecter of a septenary number, but because confident it is the best
and most authentic of all the rest, I find it in Mr, Fox;* but
surely collected by some, more skilful than himself in this kind,
out of several ancient chronicles. It containeth such persons who
after the battle were advanced to ^seigniories in this land. It pre
senteth us only with the initial letters of their Christian names, save
for the first seven therein. And although hereby we are left at an
uncertainty, as whether G, signifieth " George" or " Gilbert," I.
'^ James" or "John ;" yet more than a conjecture may be made by
observing what Christian name was predominant in their posterity.
John de Maundevile, Adam Undevile, Bernard de Frevile,
Rich, de Rochvile, Gilbert de Frankvile, Hugo de Dovile,
Symond de Rotevile, R, de Evile, B. de Kneuvile, Hugo de
Morvile, R, de Colevile, A. de Warvile, G. de Karvile, R, de
Rotevile, S, de Stotevile, H, Bonum, I, Monum, W. de Vignoum,
• " Acts and Monuments," tom. i. page 237.

1 WILLIAM I. THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY. 249
K. de Vispount, W. Bailbeof, S. de Baleyn, H. de Matreys,
I. Aguleyne, G. Agilon, R. Chamburlayn, N. de Vendres, H. de
Verdon, H. de Verto, C. de Vernon, H. Hardul, C. Cappan,
W. de Camvile, I. de Cameres, R. de Rotes, R. de Boys, W. de
Waren, T. de Wardboys, R. de Boys, W. de Audely,
K. Dynham, R. de Vaures, G. de Vargenteen, I. de Hastings,
G. de Hastank, L. de Burgee, R. de Butvileyn, H, de Malebranch,
S. de Malemain, G, de Hautevile, H, Hauteyn, R, de Morteyn,
R, de Mortimer, G. de Kanovile, E, de Columb, W, Paynel,
C, Panner, H, Pontrel, I, de Rivers, T. de Revile, W, de
Beauchamp, R, de Beaupale, E, de Ou, F. Level, S, de Troys,
I. de Artel, I. de Montebrugge, H, de Mounteserel, W, Trussebut,
W, Tmssell, H, Byset, R, Basset, R, Molet, H, Malovile,
G, Bonet, P, de Bonvile, S, de Rovile, N, de Norbeck, I, de
Corneux, P, de Corbet, W, de Mountague, S, de Mountfychet,
I, de Genevyle, H, Gyffard, I, de Say, T, Gilbard, R, de Chalons,
S, de Chauward, H. Ferret, Hugo Pepard, I, de Harecourt, H, de
Haunsard, I. de Lamare, P, de Mautrevers, G, de Ferron, R, de
Ferrers, I, de D'esty, W, de Werders, H. de Bornevile, I, de
Saintenys, S, de Syncler, R, de Gorges, E, de Gemere, W, de
Feus, S, de Filberd, H, de Turbervile, R, Troblenuer, R, de
Angon, T, de Mor«r, T, de Rotelet, H, de Spencer, R, de St,
Quentin, I, de Saint Martin, G, de Custan, Saint Constantin,
Saint Leger et Saint Med, M, de Cronu et de S. Viger, S, de
Crayel, R. de Crenker, N. Meyvel, I. de Berners, S. de Chumly,
E. de Charers, I. de Grey, W. de Grangers, S, de Grangers,
S, Baubenyn, H, Vamgers', E, Bertram, R, Bygot, S. Treoly,
I, Trigos, G, de Feues, H, Filiot, R. Taperyn, S. Talbot,
H. Santsavef, T. de Samford, G, de Vandien, C, de Vautort,
G, de Mountague, Tho, de Chambernon, S, de Montfort, R, de
Fernevaulx, W, de Valence, T, Clarel, S. de Clervaus, P. de
Aubermale, H. de Saint Arvant, E. de Auganuteys, S. de Gant,
G. de Malearbe, H. Mandut, W. de Cliesun, L. de Chandut,
R. Filzurz, B. Vicount de Low, G. de Cantemere, T. de Cantlow,
R. Breaunce, T. de Broxeboof, S. de Bolebec, B. Mol de Boef,
I. de Muelis, R. de Brus, S. de Brewes, I. de Lille, T. de Bellile,
I. de Watervile, G. de Nevile, R. de Neuburgh, H. de Burgoyne,
G. de Bourgh, S. de Lymoges, L. de Lyben, W. de Helyoun,
W. de Hildrebron, R. de Loges, S. de Saint Low, I. de Maubank,
P. de Saint Malow, R. de Leofern, I. de Lovotot, G. de
Dabbevile, H. de Appetot, W. de Percy, H. de Lacy, G. de
Quincy, E. Tracy, R. de la Souche, V. de Somery, I. de Saint
John, T. de Saint Gory, P. de Boyly, R. de Saint Valery, P. de
Pinkeny, S. de Pavely, G. de Monthaut, T. de Mountchesy,

250

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN,

.D, 1066,

R, de Lymozy, G, de Lucy, I, de Artois, N, de Arty, P. de
Grenvile, I, de Greys, V, de Cresty, F. de Courcy, T. de Lamar,
H. de Lymastz, I. de Moubray, G. de Moriey, S. de Gorney,
R, de Courtenay, P. de Gourney, R. de Cony, I. de la Huse,
R, de la Huse, V, de Longevile, P, Longespy, I. Pouchardon,
R, de la Pomercy, I, de Pountz, R. de Pontlarge, R. Estraunge,
Tho. Savage.— 224,
I presume the reader sufficiently wearied with so many dull
prose-catalogues ; and now we will refresh him a little with an old
song, as I find their names metrically composed, in the Chronicle of
John Brompton the abbot, "Indeed, the rhymes may be said to
make themselves ; such is the like cadency of many Norman
names ; and if the verses do but chime and tink in the close, it is
enough to the purpose.

Vous que desyrez assaver
Les nans de grauntz de la la mer.
Que vindrent Od le conquerour,
William Bastard de graunt vi-
goure ;
Lours surnons issi nous denys,
Com je les trova en escris.
Car des propres nons force ny a,
Puree qillis sont chaunges sa et laj
Come de Edmond en Edmarde,
De Baldmyn en Barnard,
De Godwyn en Godard,
De Elys en Edwin :
Et issint de toutz autrez nons,
Come its sont levez dufons.
Puree lour surnons que sont usez,
Et ne sont pas sovent chaungez,
Vous ay escript ; ore escotez,
Si vous oier les voylletz.
Maundevyle et Daundevyle,
Ounfravyle et Do"\vnefrevyle,
Bolvyle et Baskarvyle,
Evyle et Cle"vyle,
More"vyle et Colevyle,
Warbevyle et Carvyle,
Botevyle et Sotevyle,
Deverous et Cavervyle ;

Mooun et Boun,
Vipoun et Vinoun,
Baylon et Bayloun,
Maris et Marmyoun,,
Agulis et Aguloun,
Chaumberleyn et Chaumbersoun,
Vere et Vernoun,
Verdyers et Yerdoun,
Cryel et Caroun,
Dummer et Dammoun ;
Hastyng et Cammois,
Bardelfe, Botes, et Boys,
Warenne et Wardeboys,
Rodes et Deverois ;
Auris et Argenten,
Botetour et Botevelyn,
Malebouch et Malemeyn,
Hautevyle et Hauteyn,
Danvey et Dyreja,
Malure et Malvesyn ;
Morten et Mortimer,
Braunz et Columber,
Seynt Denis et Seynt Cler,
Seint Aubyn et Seynt Omer,
Seynt Fylbert, Fyens, et Gomer,
Turbevyle et Turbemer,
Gorges et Spenser,
Brus et Boteler ;

1 WILLIAM I, THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY.

251

Crevequel et Seynt Quinteyn,
Deverouge et Seynt Martin ;
Seynt Mor et Seynt Leger,
Seynt Vigor et Seynt Per ;
A"vynel et Paynell,
Payvere et Peverell,
Rivers et Rivel,
Beauchamp et Beaupel,
Lou et Lovell,
Ros et Druell,
Mountabours et Mountsorell,
Trussebot et Trussell,
Bergos et Burnell,
Bra et Boterell ;
Biset e< "Basset,
Malevyle et Malet,
Bonevyle et Bonet,
Nervyle et Narbet,
Coynale et Corbet,
Mountayn et Mounfychet ;
Geynevyle et Gyffard,
Say et Seward,
Chary et Chaward,
Pyryton et Pypard,
Harecourt et Haunsard,
Musegrave et Musard ;
Mare et Mautravers,
Femz et Ferers,
Beme'vyle et Berners,
Cheyne et Chalers,
Daundon et Daungers,
Vessi, Gray, et Graungers ;
Bertram et Bygod,
Traylliz et Tragod ;
Penbri et Pypotte,
Freyn et Folyot,
Dapisoun et Talbote,
Sanzaver et Saunford,
Vadu et Vatorte,
Montagu et Mounford;
Fonieus et Fomyvaus,
Valens, Yle, et Vans,

Clarel et Claraus.;
Aube"vyle et Seint Amauns,
Agantez et Dragans ;
Malerbe et Maudut,
Bre"wes et Chaudut ;
Fizowres et Fiz de Lou,
Cantemor et Cantelou ;
Braybuffe et Huldbjmse,
Bolebeke et Molyns ;
Moleton et Besyle,
Richford et Desevyle,
Watervyle et Dayvyle,
Nebors et Nevyle ;
Hynoys, Burs, Burgenon,
Ylebon, Hyldebrond, Holyon j
Loges et Seint Lou,
Maubank et Seint Malou ;
Wake et Wakevyle,
Coudree et Kne"vyle ;
Scales et Clermount,
Beauvys et Beamount ;
Mouns et Moiintchampe,
Nowers et Nowchampe ;
Percy, Cms, et Lacy,
Quincy et Tracy ;
Stokes et Somery,
Seynt Johan et Seynt Jay,
Greyle et Seynt Walry,
Pynkeney et Panely,
Mohant et Mountchensy,
Loveyn et Lucy,
Artoys fit Arcy,
Grevyle et Courcy,
Arras et Cressy,
Merle et Moubray,
Gomay et Courtnay,
Haustlayng ef Tomay,
Husee et Husay,
Pounchardon et Pomeray,
Longevyle et Longespay ;
PejTis et Pountlarge,
Straunge el Sauvage — 247,

2o2 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1066.
Pass we now from poetry to painting, seeing great- the aflSnity
betwixt them, fancy being predominant in both. Present we here
the reader with the names and arms of forty soldiers of king
William the Conqueror, matched with as many monks ; but how,
and on what occasion, the ensuing writing will acquaint us : —
" In the time of Thurston, our abbot of Ely, born of Worshipful
parentage in the village of Wichford near Ely, king Harold, son of
Godwin, and together with him all the states of England almost,
were slain by the soldiers of William duke of Normandy, nephew
to St. Edward the king, upon the feast of St. Calixt the pope, in
the year of our Lord God one thousand-sixty-and-six.
" Whereupon Egelwine bishop of Durham, Egfride abbot of
St. Alban's, the earl of Margai-y, and Edward Byam, with sundry
other chief of the land, together with their friends, laden with great
treasures, fled unto us, desirous to withstand, so far as lay in them,
the enterprise of the Bastard ; by whose aid we withstood the
tempestuous threats of the Normans seven years ; until such time
as Belase — who at that time was general of the king's army, and
from whom the circuit of certain hills at the south end of
Alderhithe-Causey, which at this day are corruptly called Belsar's-
Hills, took their name, being cast up on purpose that the army in
the night-time might lodge there safely — astonished us by the means
of an huge number of boats gathered together upon a sudden. A
council then being called, it seemed good to our captains in con
venient time to crave the king's mercy. Whereupon certain were
sent to the king's court, being then at Warwick, carrying with them
to the king a mighty treasure, a competent price and satisfaction to
pacify him concerning an unadvised attempt : wherewith the
honourable king was appeased, yet with this covenant and condi
tion, — that, so long as it pleased him, forty of the king's soldiers
should be maintained at the charge of the monastery. For the
king feared, lest that, whilst he bent his forces against the Scots
not yet subdued, the Isle of Ely (being indeed a dreadful strength)
should again revolt, to his great danger. The soldiers with their
retinue are sent, they come and here abide. Whereof each one is
delivered to some principal monk, as a captain to his lieutenant, or
a guest to his host. Now the king decreed that Bertwolde, the
butler, should minister food to the soldiers and monks jointly together,
one with another in the common hall of the monastery. What
need many words .'' These captains to their lieutenants, these
guests to their hosts, these soldiers to tlieir monks, were most
welcome : for all of them entertained each one, each one entertained
all, and every one mutually one another, with all duties of
humanity. At the length the fire of the civil war being quenched,

1 WILLIAM I. THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY. 253
and the king established according to his heart's desire, five years
after, his severity in punishing being in godly manner pacified, it
pleased the king to withdraw this yoke, wherewith the pride of the
monks was now sufficiently abated. And the Conqueror reclaimed
his soldiers, to punish the ungodly insolency of his son Robert, who
at that time in outrageous manner kept riot in Normandy. But
our monks (which is a wonder to report) did not only with tears
bewail the departure of their dearest mates, the heroical soldiers
and welcome guests ; but howled out most fearfully, and beat their
breasts as destitute of hope, after the manner of a new-married wife
whose husband is violently taken away, at an unseasonable time,
out of her sweet arms unto the wars. For they doubted lest that,
being thus forsaken, they should be subject to the spoil ; whereas
they had livCd securely at ease, with their armed guests, to whose
trust they had committed themselves and their goods. They being
now all ready for their journey, every one of our monks, many in
number, investured in their copes, in dutiful manner accompanied
these gentlemen departing, unto Hadenham, with songs, crosses,
censers, processions, and all solemnity that might be used : and,
retuming home, took order that the arms of each soldier should be
lively depainted upon the wall of the common hall, where they took
their repast together, to the perpetual memory of the customed
kindness of their soldierlike guests ; the which from time to time,
from the predecessors to the successors, and from obscure antiquity
to our posterity-at this day, are curiously set forth to be viewed of
all men, not without a pleasant delight, in such manner as they
glitter and shine honourable in the margent of this table."
This writing was composed about the reign of king Henry VII.
but the arms set up in Ely-Hall, (as may appear by inserting the
coat of Robert Orford, the fourteenth bishop of Ely,) about the year
1306 ; which hall was destroyed at the Dissolution. But another
transcript of the arms of these knights being depicted on the wall
of the dean's dining-room, was lately extant, whence our draught
here presented was taken, (rather truly than neatly done, out of
desire to conform to the original,) and communicated to me by
that worthy knight and able antiquary. Sir Simon Archer, of
Warwickshire. Some will wonder that Mr. Camden maketh no mention hereof,
whose omniscience in these things may be presumed of. Yea,
which is more, " there is," saith he,* "a rampire of mean height,
but of very large compass, which they call Belsar's-Hills, of one
Bellisar I wot not who ;" taking no notice of Belasis, the Norman
general, who subdued Ely, and from whom our late-produced writing
• Camden's Britannia in Cambridgeshire.

254 CHURCH HISTORY" OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1066«
attesteth those hills to be so named. But, besides that Camdenus
non videt omnia, great antiquaries are sometimes subject to fits
of sullenness, and will not see what they do see, when resolved to
take no notice thereof.
And, now we have presented the reader with eight several cata
logues ; two of Holinshed's, two of Stow's, two of Mr. Fox's, one
of Scriven's, one of friar Brompton's, besides the list of Ely knights,
I could wish a good herald would make a mono-ogdoon, that is,
" one out of eight," and alphabetically digest the same ; also note
what names are extant, and which, how, and when extinct.
By names which I call " extinct," understand " not existent in
any signal and remarkable lustre projjortionable to their former
greatness," though possibly some obscure under-boughs, truly de
rived thence, may still be in being. That worthy doctor* hath
made many converts in physic to his seeming paradox, maintaining
the circulation of the blood running round about the body of man.
Nor is it less true, that gentle blood fetcheth a circuit in the body
of a nation, running from yeomanry, through gentry, to nobility ;
and so, retrograde, returning through gentry to yeomanry again.
My father hath told me from the mouth of Sir Robert Cotton, that
that worthy knight met in a morning a true and undoubted Planta
genet holding the plough in the country.
He might add arms to ancient names, where he could recover any
certainty therein ; for I am confident that hereditary arms are not
so ancient as the Conquest, but fixed in families about the begin
ning of Henry III. finding, before that time, the warlike devices
of the sons not the same with the fancies of their fathers, and their
grandchildren differing from both.
If any say that I have already gone too far in this subject, who
am no herald by profession, but only K^pu^, Presco, " a crier" in the
spiritual acceptation of the office ; yea, that this savours of revenge,
as if, because so many in this age invade my calling, I in requital
have made incursion into other men's professions ; like men tiiat
take " letters of mart," not caring whom they wrong, so they repair
themselves for their former sustained or pretended losses : let such
know that I adventure on heraldry, not as a calling, but as an acces
sory quality for recreation. And, in evidence of my loyalty to the
kings of arms, I submit what here I have written to their censure
and correction, who have obliged me unto them with their many and
great civilities.
Only I will add some corollaries to this roll, and so conclude.
" Dr. Henley.

1 WILLIAM I, THE ROLL OF BATTLE. ABBEY, 255
The preflxing of D' before Names.
CoBOLL, I, — When any name begins with a vowel, or an H, the
prefixing of D' createth a (seeming) new name : as Arcy, D'Arcy ;
Aunvers, D'Aunvers ; Haurel or Hairel,'D'Hairel,
French Surnames discerned by their Terminations.
CoROLL. II. — French surnames are generally discernible by their
terminations. In age, as Savage ; ard, as Giffard ; champe, as Beauchampe ;
court, as Harcourt ; cy, as Darcy; ell, as Terrell; er, as
Archer; ers, as Danvers ; eux, as Devereux ; et, as Barret;
lay, as Cholmelay ; nay, as Courtnay ; ot, as Talbot ; vile, as
Nevile, Some few names, whose endings are exceptions from these rules,
are easily observed by reading, and known to be of French ex
traction, Wivil closeth the Catalogue.
CoROLL. Ill, — Wivil is the last name in most catalogues. First
fixed at Stanton Wivil in Leicestershire, where they continued in
the twenty-fourth year of the reign of king Henry VI, on this
token, — that WiUiam Wivill, being sworn and examined, did
depose that he could expend twenty pounds a-year of old rents
besides all charges. Of this house was Robert de Wivil, bishop of
Salisbury ; one neither handsome nor learned, but eminent for his
long life (forty-five years bishop there) and high spirit, that he would
not suffer the castle of Sarum to be parted from his see, challenged
by William Mountacute earl of Salisbury, without putting it upon
" trial of battle." Long since the Wivils here are extinct, bearing
Gules, Frettey Vary, a Chief Or. But there is extant an ancient
family of that name in the North, though different in arms, aug
mented in state and honour by matches with the heirs of Pigot,
Scroope of Upsall, and Bointon ; whereof Sir Marmaduke Wivil,
of Constable-Burton in Richmondshire, was created baronet by king
James, whose grandchild Marmaduke Baronet Wivil married the
daughter of Coniers lord Darcy. And I am glad that I may auspi
ciously close, and conclude my catalogue with so worthy a gentle
man ; bearing Gules, three Cheveronels braced in Base, Gobonee
A.rgent and Azure, a Chief Or.
The Family of the Walgraves.
CoROLL. IV. — All names of gentry whicli by authentical records
came over at the Conquest, are not expressed in any of these cata
logues ; as Saukvil, or Sackvil, and Walgrave-; we finding two of
that surname : One John Walgrave a Saxon, living at Walgrave in

256 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 1066,
Northamptonshire, and possessed of that manor before the Con
quest : The other a Walloon of that name, coming over with the
Conqueror, and employed by him in many services. The latter of
these, on the consent of the former, that he should marry his only
daughter, procured from the Conqueror a pardon for his father-in-
law, that he might quietiy enjoy his lands and livings, descending
on this Walloon Walgrave after the other's death. Which pardon,
legible in French, was, anno 1612, in the possession of the Wal
graves, still* fiourishing in Suffolk,
After the Conquest several Recruits of French in England.
CoBOLL, V, — Let none wonder, if some names of worshipful and
honourable .families, undoubtedly of French original, (but since the
Conquest,) have not appeared in the aforesaid catalogues. For
know, that after the Conquest, sundry Frenchmen of signal worth
entered England at several times, chiefiy, first, at the marriage of
king Henry II, to queen Eleanor, who brought the dukedom of
Aquitaine and earldom of Poictiers for her dowry. Secondly, at
the marriage of Edward II, to Isabella, daughter to Philip the Fair,
king, of France, when three thousand French came over with her,
(complained of as a great grievance,) and many settled here. Not
to speak of the conquests of king Edward III, and Henry V, in
France, causing such an intercourse of the nations, that then Eng
land and France may be said to have borne counterchangeably each
other's natives.
Tradesmen not mentioned in this Roll came over with them.
CoROLL, VI, — Many will admire no mention of tradesmen in all
these catalogues, being of absolute necessity both in war and peace.
Por soon would the head of the best Monsieur ache without a
Capper ; hands be tanned without a Glover ; feet be foundered
without a Tanner, Currier, Shoemaker ; whole body be starved,
cold, without Weaver, Fuller, Tailor ; hungry, without Baker,
Brewer, Cook^ harbourless, without Mason, Smith, and Carpenter..
Say not, " It was beneath the French gallantry to stoop to such
mean employments, who found all these trades here amongst the
English their vassals." For, besides that nothing is base which is
honest, and necessary for human society, such as are acquainted with
the French (both ancient and modern) finical humour, know they
account our tailors botchers, shoemakers cobblers, cooks slovens,
compared to the exactness of their fancy and palate ; so that, cer
tainly, such trades came over with them,
•Attested by John Raven, Richmond Herald. See Weaver's "Funeral Monu
ments," page 758.

1 WILLIAM I. THE ROLL OF BATTLE ABBEY. 257
As appears by Doomsday-Book.
CoBOLL.VII. — But hear what our great antiquary* saith herein :
" In that most authentical register, Doomsday-Book in the
Exchequer, ye shall have Cocus, Aurifaber, Pictor, Pistor,
Accipitrarius, Camerarius, Venator, Piscator, Medicus ; ' Cook,
Goldsmith, Painter, Baker, Falconer, Chamberlain, Huntsman,
Fisher, Leach,' Marshal, Porter, and others, which then held land
in capite, and, without doubt, left these names to their posterity ;
albeit haply they are not mentioned in those tables of Battle Abbey
of such as came in at the Conquest,
The sad Case of the English.
CoROLL, VIII, — Now let me bespeak the reader's pity (though
possibly his ingenuous sympathy hath given it before it was re
quested) for those poor Englishmen who were to find free-quarter
for all these French, Where could their landlords lodge them ?
Or, rather, how could they long continue landlords, when such
potent guests came to their houses ? O the several ways which
their necessities dictated unto them ! Some fought, as the Kentish,
who capitulated for their liberty. Some fied, as those in the North, '
into Scotland. Some hid themselves, as many, in middle England,
in the Isle of Ely. Some, as those of Norfolk, traversed their title
by law, and that with good success in the old age of king William
the Conqueror. Most betook themselves to patience ; which taught
many a noble hand to work, foot to travel, tongue to entreat ; even
thanking them for their courtesy, who were pleased to restore a
shiver of their own loaf, which they violently took from them,
* CAMDEji'g " Remains," page 234,

Vol. I,

THE

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.

BOOK III.

FROM THE COMING-IN OF THE NORMANS, UNTIL THE
APPEARING OF JOHN "WICLIFFE,

TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM,
LORD BEAUCHAMPE, &c.
GRANDCHILD AND HEIR-APPARENT TO THE RIGHT
HONOURABLE WILLIAM, MARQUIS OF HERTFORD.

Some there are who exact of every Christian, as a
touchstone of their sincerity, to render an account of
the exact time of their conversion, -with the circum
stances thereof, — how, when, and where performed.
I must crave leave to enter myself a dissenter herein,
conceiving such a demand unreasonable, as generally
required essential to all true believers.
I confess, some may return a satisfactory answer
thereunto; namely, such, whose souls, suddenly
snatched out of error and viciousness, were imme
diately wrought upon, almost in an instant, by the
Spirit of God. Thus of those three thousand gained,
on Many-Saints' Day, by St. Peter, at Jerusalem, with
the preaching of one sermon, Acts ii. 41, each one
might punctually and precisely tell the very moment of
their true conversion ; and, generally, the worse men
have been, the better they can point at the accurate
date thereof.
And thus as kings count their actions by the years
of their reign, (bishops formerly of their consecration,)
so these may use the style, " In the year of our con
version, first, or second," &c. And as Herod kept a
festival of his natural birth-day, Matt. xiv. 6, such, if
SO- pleased, may duly and truly observe an anniversary
solemnity of their regeneration.

262 DEDICATION.
A privilege, not granted to all true believers : God,
to show his power that he can, and pleasure that he
will, vary the manner of men's conversion, (though
going the same path by his word and Spirit,) useth a
slower pace in the hearts of others, in whom grace is
wrought sensim sine sensu, modelled by degrees ; in
such, no mortal man can assign the minutary juncture
of time, when preparing grace (which cleared the
ground) ended, and saving grace (which finished the
fabric of conversion) did first begin.
Observable to this purpose are the words of our
Saviour: "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man
should cast seed into the ground ; and should sleep, and
rise night and day, and the seed should spring and
grow up, he knoweth not how," Mark iv. 26. That
grace is sown, and is grown, inen know ; but when, and
how, in the persons aforesaid, God knows.
Besides these adult converts, there are a second sort
of Christians unable to discover the date of grace
dawning in them ; namely, such who, with Timothy,
2 Tim. i. 5 ; iii. 15, may be said to be good, time out of
mind, sucking in grace with their milk, extracted from
and educated under a pious parentage.
I hope and trust that your Honour may truly be
ranked in this latter form, that as many ancient deeds
(written before the reign of king HenryOI.) are com
monly without any date ; grace, in like manner, will
arise so early in your heaH, (advantaged by your godly
birth and breeding,) that you shall not remember the
beginning thereof.
However, to make sure work, it will be safest to
examine yourself, (when arrived at age,) what eminent
accessions and additions of grace you can remember,
with the place and time when the same were effectually
wrought in your soul, and what bosom-sin you have
conquered. Especially take notice of your solemn
reconciling to God, after repentance for some sin
committed.

DEDICATION. 263
David, no doubt, in some sort may be said to be
born good, God being his hope when in the womb,
Psalm xxii, 10, when on the breasts of his mother,
Psalm Ixxi. 5, trusting in him, and taught by him, from
his youth, Psalm Ixxi. 17. Now, though probably he
could not remember his first and general conversion,
he could recount his re-conversion, after his foul
offences of adultery and murder, as by his penitential
Psalm doth plainly appear.
Otherwise, such who boast themselves converted
before memory, (by the privilege of their pious
infancy,) if they can recover no memorials of their
repentance after relapse, and produce no time nor
tokens thereof, are so far from being good from their
cradle, it is rather suspicious they will be bad to their
coffin, if not labouring for a better spiritual estate.
And now, my lord, let me recommend to your child
hood the reading of the holy Scriptures, as the apostle
termeth them, 2 Tim. iii. 15 : Holy — in the fountain,
flowing from the Holy Spirit inditing them. Holy — in
the conduit-pipe, derived through holy men penning
them, 2 Peter i. 21. Holy — in the liquor, teaching and
directing to holiness. Holy — in the cistern, working
sanctity in such as worthily receive them, and " making
them wise unto salvation."
Now, next to the study of the Scriptures, history
best becometh a gentleman, church-history a Christian,
the British history an Englishman ; all which qualifica
tions, meeting eminently in your Honour, give mq
some comfortable assurance, that these my weak
endeavours will not be unwelcome unto you ; by perus
ing whereof, some profit may probably accrue to your
self, and more honour will certainly redound to
The meanest and unworthiest
of your lordship's servants,
THOMAS FULLER.

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.
BOOK in.

SECTION I.
THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.
1. The drunken English conquered by the Normans, and
[William] foundeth Battle-Abbey. 1 William the Conqueror.
A.D. IO67.
William duke of Normandy being thus arrived, (October
14th,) soon conquered Harold with an army of Normans, as far
beneath the English in number as above them in temperance. For,
the English, being revelling before, had in the morning their brains
arrested for the arrearages of the indigested fumes of the former
night, and were no better than drunk when they came to fight,*
But these things belong to the historians of the state to relate ;
whilst it is proper to us to observe, that king William, to testify
his gratitude to God for the victory, founded in that place Battle-
Abbey, endowing it with revenues and large immunities, ^ The
abbot whereof, •]¦ being a baron of parliament, caiTied a pardon in
his presence ; who, casually coming to the place of execution, had
power to save any malefactor. The Abbey-church was a place of
safety for any felon or murderer ; though such popish sanctuaries
themselves, if accused as unlawful, can find no refuge in Scripture-
precepts or precedents for their justification, seeing the very horns
of the altar, by Divine command, did push away those wilful
offenders which fled unto them ; and impunity, being the greatest
motive to impiety, made their convent the centre of sinners. Here
the monks flourished in all affluence ; as the old world in the days
of Noah, " they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold ;" would I
• Man6 adhuc ebrii contra hostes incunctanter procedunt. — M, Paris, t Camden'9
Ihit. in SuHsex,

1 WILLIAM I, BOOK III. CENT, XI, 265
might add, " They married wives and were given in marriage,"
(for want whereof they did worse,) till in the days of king Henry
VIII. they were all drowned in the general deluge of the
Dissolution,
2, William crowned by the Archbishop of York, whilst many of
the English Clergy fly into Scotland.
Now it was proper to the place of Stigand, archbishop of
Canterbury, to- perform the solemnities of king William's corona-.
tion ; but he declined that employment, pretending William's
unlawful title, and loath to pour the sacred oil on his head, whose
hands had shed so much innocent blood. The other, accounting
himself to have a better title to the crown by conquest, than the
archbishop had to his mitre by simony, disdained his service, and
accepted the crown from the hands of Aldred, archbishop of York ;
who first required an oath of him, to defend the church, minister
justice, and, amongst other things, to use Englishmen as favourably
as Normans, Notwithstanding which oath, he made the Normans
his darlings, and tiie English his drudges ; insomuch as many
English bishops and abbots, unable to comport themselves with his
harshness, and conceiving it more credit and safety to go than to
be driven away ; fearing by degrees they should all be quarrelled
out of their places, unwillingly-willing quitted their preferments,-
and fled into Scotland, Here king Malcolm Canmore (who had
married Margaret, niece to Edward the Confessor) freely received
them. He himself had formerly lived fourteen years in England ;
and now, of a grateful guest became a bountiful host, and cour
teously harboured these exiles. And as, at this time, England
began to turn France, imitating the language, garb, and manners
thereof; so Scotland began now to turn England, — the families
transplanted thither transporting the English customs, fashions, and
civilities along with them,
3, Doomsday-Book made. A.D. 1068,
About this time, (October 2nd,) Doomsday-Book was made,
containing an exact survey of all the houses and land in the king
dom, unpartially done with rigorous severity. They omitted nee
lucum, nee lacum, nee locum,* so accurate they were in the very
fractions of the land ; and therefore it may seem a miracle, that the
monks of Crowland should find a courtesy peculiar to themselves,
(belike out of veneration to their convent,) that their lands were
rated nee ad spatium, nee ad preetium,-^ " neither so much in
quantity, nor so high in value as indeed they were worth," This
• ll^GVLPHi Historia, fdl. 516. ] Idem, ibid.

266 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1070 — 8.
"Book of the General Survey of England," though how begun, did
take up some years before it was completed.*
4. Stigand deposed in a Council at Winchester. A.D- IO7O.
King William called a synod of his bishops at Winchester,
wherein he was personally present, with two cardinals sent thither
from Rome. Here Stigand archbishop of Canterbury was deposed,
for several uncanonical exorbitances ; and Lanfrank, a lordly
Lombard, substituted in his room, Stigand lived some years after
in a prison ; and, which was worse, a prison lived in him, — being
" straitened in his own bowels " towards himself. For, pretending
poverty, he denied himself necessaries, being afterwards discovered
to carry a key about his neck which opened to infinite treasure, so
that none would lavish pity on him who starved in store, and was
wilfully cruel to himself.
o. The Pope's flrst Usurpation of the Crown of England.
A learned lawyer hath observed, -f- that " the first encroachment
of the bishop of Rome upon the liberties of the crown of England
was made in the time of king William the Conqueror, For the
Conqueror came in with the pope's banner, and under it won the
battle, which got him the garland ; and therefore the pope pre
sumed he might boldly pluck some flowers from it, being partly
gained by his countenance and blessing. Indeed, king William
kindly entertained these legates, sent from Rome, so to sweeten the
rank savour of his coming in by the sword, in the nostrils of
religious men, pretending what he had gotten by power he would
keep by a pious compliance with his Holiness, But especially he
did serve the pope to be served by him ; that so, with more ease
and less envy, he might suppress the English clergy. But although
this politic prince was courteous in his complimental addresses to
the see apostolic, yet, withal, he was careful of the main chance — to
keep the essentials of his crown, as, amongst others, by these four
remarkable particulars may appear : —
6. Yet King William invested ecclesiastical Persons. A.D.IOH'].
First, He retained the ancient custom of the Saxon kings,j
investing bishops and abbots, by delivering them a ring and a staff;
whereby, without more ado, they were put into plenary possession
of the power and profit of their place. Yea, when archbishop
Lanfrank — one so prevalent that he could persuade king William
• Florentius WicoRNiENSis el HiGDEN make it finished anno 1078. f SiK John
Davys in hU " Irisli Repovt," case of Pramunire, fol. 87, 89, J Annai. Eccl.
Licliiielci MS. cited by Mr. Selden in liis notes on Eadmerus., page 14.

12 WILLIAM I. BOOK III, CEKT XI, 267
to any thing, (provided that ^the king himself thought it fitting,) — ¦
requested William to bestow on him the donation of the abbey of
St. Augustine in Canterbury, the king refused, saying, that he
would keep all pastoral staves in his own hand ; * wiser herein than
his successors, who parted with those staves, wherewith they them
selves were beaten afterward.
7. And refuseth to do Fealty to the Pope, A, D. IO78.
Secondly, Being demanded to do fealty for his crown of England
to Gregory the seventh pope of Rome, he returned an answer as
followeth : — Excellentissimo sanctes ecclesicB pastori Gregorio,
gratia Dei Anglorum rex, et dux Normannorum, Willielmus
salutem cum amicitid. Hubertus legatus tuus, religiose pater,
ad me veniens ex tud parte, me admonuit, quatenus tibi et suc-
cessoribus tuis fldelitatem facerem, et de pecunid quam anteces-
sores mei ad Romanam ecclesiam mittere solebant, melius cogita-
rem. Unum admisi, alterum non admisi. Fidelitatem facere
nolui, nee volo, quia nee ego promisi; nee antecessores meos
antecessoribus tuis id fecisse comperio. Pecunia, tribus ferme
annis, in Galliis me agente, negligenter collecta est. Nunc vero,
Divind misericordid me in regnum meum reverse, quod collectum
per presfatum legatum mittitur ; et quod reliquum est per legatos
Lanfranci, archiepiscopi fidelis nostri^ cum opportunum fuerit,
transmittetur. Orate pro nobis, et pro statu regni nostri, quia
antecessores vestros dileximus, et vos pres omnibus sincere dilir
gere et obedienter audire desideramus.'f In English : —
" To Gregory the most excellent pastor of the holy church,
William, by the grace of God, king of the English and duke of the
Normans, wisheth health, and desireth his friendship. J Religious
father, your legate Hubert coming unto me admonished me, in your
behalf, inasmuch as I should do fealty to you and your successors ;
and that I should take better care for the payment of the money
which my predecessors were wont to send to the church of Rome.
One thing I have granted, the other I have not granted. Fealty I
would not do, nor will I ; because I neither promised it, neither do
I find that my predecessors ever did it to your predecessors. The
money, for almost three years, when I was abroad in France, hath
been but negligently collected. But now, seeing by Divine mercy
I am returned into my kingdom, what is gathered is sent by the
aforesaid legate ; and the arrears which remain shall be sent by the
messengers of Lanfrank, our faithful archbishop, in time convenient.
* Gervasius Dorobernensis MS. cited iljid. t ^S. Codex Epistolarum
Lanfranci, cited by Sir John Davys in his " Irish Reports," of Pra.munire, fol. 89,
t Or, remembereth his love to him.

268 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1067.
Pray for us, and for the good state of our kingdom ; because we
have loved your predecessors, and do desire sincerely to love and
obediently to hear you, above all others,"
It is strange on what pretence of right the pope required this
fealty. Was it because he lent king William a consecrated banner,
that, under the colour thereof, he endeavoured to display his power
over all England, as if the king must do him homage as a banneret
of his creation, or because he had lately humbled Henry IV. the
German emperor, he thought that all kings in like manner must be
slaves unto him, — the pope being then in his vertical- height and
dog-days of the heat of his power ? But we need no further inquiry
into the cause of his ambition, when we read him to be Gregory
VII, otherwise Hildebrand, that most active of all that sate in that
chair. Surely, he sent this his demand rather with an intent to spy
than hope to speed therein ; so to sound the depth of king William,
whom if he found shallow, he knew how to proceed accordingly ; or
else he meant to leave this demand dormant in the deck, for his suc
cessors to make advantage thereof, who would claim for due what
soever they challenged before. However so bold an asker never
met with a more bold denier. Soon did king Willi^im find his
spirits, who formerly had not lost but hid them for his private ends,
England's Conqueror would not be Rome's Vassal ; and he had
brain enough to deny what the other had brow to require, and yet in
such wary language that he carried himself in a religious distance,
yet politic parity, with his Holiness,
, 8, King William ordereth the Power both of Pope and Arch
bishop in his own Dominion. A.D. 1067-
Thirdly, King William would in no wise suffer any one in his
dominion to acknowledge the bishop of Rome for apostolical without
his command,* or to receive the pope's letters, except first they had
been showed unto him. As for the archbishop of Canterbury, pri
mate of England, though by his own authority he might congregate
councils of bishops, and sit president in them ; yet the king per
mitted him to appoint or prohibit nothing but what was according
to his own will and pleasure, and what the king had ordained
before, "I-
9. Barons not to be excommunicated without the King's
Command.
¦ Lastly, King William suffered no bishop to excommunicate any
of his barons or officers, for adultery, incest, or any such heinous
crime, except by the king's command, first made acquainted with
* Eadmerus Hist. Nov. lib. i, page 6, f Idem, ibid.

12 WILLIAM I, BOOK III, CENT, XI, 269
the same. Here the word " baron" is not to be taken in that
restrictive sense to which the modern acceptation hath confined it, —
only for such of the higher nobility which have place and votes in
parliament ; but generally* for such who by tenure-en-chief, or in
capite, as they term it, held land immediately of the king. And
an English poet,-f- counted the Virgil of his age and the Ennius in
ours, expresseth as much in his rhymes, which we here set down,
with all the rust thereof, without rubbing it off; remembering how
one Jolin Throckmorton, ;[: a justice of Cheshire, in queen Elizabeth's
days, for not exhibiting a judicial concord, with all the defects of the
same, but, supplying or filling up what was worn out of the authen
tical original, was fined for being over-officious ; and, therefore, take
them with their faults, and all, as followeth : —
** The berthe was that noe man that of the king hnld ought
In cheif or in eni servise, to manling were ibrought
Bote the wardenis of holy chij'ch that brought him thereto
The king lede or his bailifes wat he had misdoe
And loked verst were thei to amendment it bring
And bote hy wolde by their leve doe the manling."
And a grave author § gives a good reason why the king must be
informed before any of his barons be excommunicated ;' " lest other
wise," saith he, " the king, not being certified thereof, should, out
of ignorance, unawares communicate with persons excommunicated,
when such officers of his should come to kiss his hand, be called to
his council, or come to perform any personal attendance about him."
Hitherto we have seen how careful the Conqueror was in preserving
his own right in church-matters. We will conclude all with the
syllogism, which the oracle || of the common-law frameth in this
manner : —
" It is agreed, that no man only can make any appropriation of
any church haYing cure of souls, (being a thing ecclesiastical, and to
be made to 'some person ecclesiastical,) but he that hath ecclesias
tical jurisdiction,
" But William the First of himself, without any other, (as king
of England,) made appropriation of churches, with cure to ecclesias
tical persons ; as by many instances may appear,
" Therefore it followeth, that he had ecclesiastical jurisdic
tion," And so much concerning king William's policy in doing justice
to his own power. Proceed we now to his bounty, confirming old
and conferring new favours upon the church and clergy,
* J. SEhDEN Spicilegium, ad Eadmerum, page 168. f Robert of Gloucester,
t Camden's " Elizabeth," anno 1584, ¦§ Radulphus De Dioeto stib anno I16S.
11 Lord Coke's " Reports," part v, De Jure Regis Ecclesiastico, fol, 10.

270 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1067.
10, Bishops' Jurisdictions flr^t severed from the
Sheriffs.
First, Whereas before his time the sheriff and bishop jointly
kept their courts together, (especially at the two solemn times,
about Easter and Michaelmas,) king William, in favour of the
clergy, assigned the bishops an entire jurisdiction by themselves,*
wherein they should have cognizance of all causes relating to
religion. I say " relating to religion," — a latitude of a cheverel -f-
extension, adequate almost to the mind of him that will stretch it
out ; and few ecclesiastical judges would lose what might be got
by measuring. Now, formerly, whilst the power of sheriff and
bishop went hand-in-hand together in the same court, neither could
much outstrip other ; but since they were severed, the spiritual
power far outwent its old mate, improving his own, by impairing the
secular courts ; and henceforward the canon-law took the firmer
footing in England, Date we from hence the squint eyes of the
clergy, whose sight (single before) was hereafter divided with double
looks betwixt two objects at once, — the pope and the king, to put
him first whom they eyed most, acting hereafter more by foreign
than domestic interest,
IL The Contest betwixt common and canon Law, how only
to be reconciled.
A learned pen J makes a just complaint, that " courts which
should distribute peace do themselves practise duels, whilst
it is counted the part of a resolute judge to enlarge the privilege of
his court : " a grievance most visible in contest betwixt the common
and the canon law ; which, as they were stars of so different an
horizon, that the elevation of the one necessitated the depression of
the other, lie at catch, and wait advantages one against another.
So that, whilst both might continue in a convenient and healthful
habitude, if such envious cor-rivality were deposed, now alternately
those courts swell to a tympany, or waste to a consumption, as their
judges find themselves more or less strengthened with power, or
befriended with favour : a mischief not to be remedied, till either
that mutual consent, or a predominant power to both, impartially
state their jurisdictions, rightly setting down the land-marks
thereof, and binding their proceedings not to exceed their bounds ;
which would both advance learning, and expedite the execution of
justice, * See this cleared by Mr. Selden in his notes on Eadmerus, page 167. t " Pliable,
flexible." — Edit. t Lord Bacon in his " Advancement of Learning,"
Aphorism xcvi. page 463.

12 WILLIAM I. BOOK III, CENT. XI. 271
12. King William's Charter to the Clergy.
To return to king William : As he conferred power on, so he
confirmed profit to, the clergy. Witness his charter,* granting
them throughout England, tithes of calves, colts, lambs, milk,
butter, cheese, woods, meadows, mills, &c. Which charter is con
cluded : (it is the strong hem keeps all the cloth from ravelling
out :) Qui decimam detinuerit, per justitiam episcopi et regis,
(si necesse fuerit,) ad redditionem arguatur .--f "Who shall
detain his tithes, by the power of the bishop and king, (if need
be,) let him be argued into the payment thereof." And kings'
arguments, we know, are unanswerable, as ab auihoritate, carrying
power and penalties with them. This charter might seem to give
the tenth loaf, of all the bread in the land, into the hands of the
English clergy. But the municipal laws, which were afterwards
made, did so chip and pare this loaf, with their modus decimandi,
that in many places (vicarages especially) a small shiver of bread
falls to the share of the minister, not enough for his necessary
maintenance, 13. Two contrary Characters of King William.
And here, — to make a short but needful digression, — I find in
eminent writers two contrary characters of king William, Some
make him an arrant tyrant, ruling only by the magna charta of his
own will, oppressing all English without cause or measure. No
author need to be alleged for the avouching thereof, the thing being
author for itself, being so notoriously known and generally believed.
Others make him to quit his title by conquest, and hold the crown,
partly by bequest from king Edward the Confessor, whose good
laws he is said to confirm ; (leges boni regis Edvardi quas
Gulielmus Bastardus postea conflrmavit ;) and partly by compact
with his peoplcj Yea, the Chronicles of Lichfield make him to call
a parliament in effect ; I mean, a meeting of his clergy and nobility
in a great council ; where, as if he had turned perfect Englishman,
he conformed his practice to their ancient constitutions,
14, Our Endeavours to compass the Difference.
Should I inteipose between these opposite parties to reconcile
them, probably the blows from both sides would fall heavy on my
charitable indiscretion. Yet thus far I will be bold to say, Sucli
confirmation of king Edward's law, if made by king William,
probably was rather oral and verbal, than real and effectual. But,
• See it at large in Mr. Selden " Of Tithes," cap. viii. page 225. f Others read
it adigatur, "let him be compelled," t See Mr. Selden, ut supra.

272 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1067  81.
if real, certainly it was not general, but limited to some particular
place, as the province of Kent, — the English " land of Goshen,"
which alone enjoyed the light of liberty, though rather gotten by
them than given unto them. But if any will contend, that this
confirmation was general, they must confess it done in the latter
end of his reign. King William, when young, loved honour ;
when old, ease : when young, to conquer ; when old, to enjoy.
Age will make all to stoop, as here it bowed him to a better
compliance with his people. However, this his confirmation of
king Edward's laws was not such as either gave general content
to, or begat assured confidence in, the Engli.sh.; perchance, because
but a personal act, and but partially done, and no whit obligatory
of his posterity. This made the English press so importunately,
though in vain, to William Rufus, the king's son and successor,
for a re-confirmation of king Edward's laws, which had been need
less, (as being the same with actum agere, or rather datum petere,}
liad the former grant from king William his father been conceived
sufficient for their security,
15, King William's Bounty io Battle-Abbey. A.D. 1081.
As for king William's particular bounty to Battle- Abbey in
Sussex, which he founded, it bare better proportion to the dignity
of the giver, than to the deserts of the receivers. For, beside those
privileges formerly mentioned,* he gave it all the land within a
league of the site thereof. He ordered that no foreigner should be
obtruded on their abbey ; but, in every vacancy, one of their own con
vent should be elected abbot thereof; except (which Heavens forbid!)
no fit person should be found therein for that preferment. Nor
should the abbot be forced to appear at any synod, or meeting,
except pleased of himself so to do. These and many more immu
nities he confirmed to that foundation, in such an imperious style. as
if therewith he meant to bluster all future princes, and king Henry
VIII, among the rest, into a perfect obedience unto his commands ;
especially with that clause in his charter, Nullus successorum
meorum violare pressumat. But dead kings' charters, though
they have tongues to threaten, yet have no teeth to bite, especially
when meeting with an equal after-power to rescind them,
16, His hard Dealing ivith the Students ai Oxford.
The more the pity that such drones, lazy Abbey-lubbers, went
away with the honey, whilst the industrious bees were almost
starved ; I mean the scholars of Oxford, For, at the coming-in of
the Conqueror, the students in University College, formerly founded
* In the flr.st paragraph of this [third] book, i

15

WILLIAM I. BOOK III, CENT, XI.

by king Alfred, were maintained by pensions, yearly paid them out
of the king's exchequer ; which provision was then conceived both
most honourable, as immediately depending on the crown, and 'less
troublesome, issuing out in ready coin, free from vexatious suits,
casualties of tenants, and other encumbrances. But now, king
William, who loved that the tide of wealth should flow into, but
not ebb out of, his coffers, detained and denied their exhibitions,*
Yea, the king picked a quarrel with them, because they sought to
preserve and propagate the English tongue ; which the king
designed to suppress, and to reduce all to the French language.
And yet the French speech was so far from final prevailing in this
kingdom, that it was fain at last to come to a composition with the
English tongue, mixed together, as they remain at this day ; save
that in terms of law, venary, and blazon, the French seemeth solely
to command. The scholars, thus deprived of their pensions, lived
on the charity of such as loved the continuance of their native
tongue. -f- Their Latin was then maintained by their English ;
though, surely, it was no small disturbance to their studies, merely
to depend for their subsistence on the arbitrary alms of others.
17- Lanfrank most kindly treated by the Pope.
Pass we now from king William unto Lanfrank archbishop of
Canterbury, next the king, then the most considerable person in our
ecclesiastical history. To Rome he went with Thomas, elect of
York, and Remigius of Lincoln ; all three for confirmation from the
pope in their preferment. Pope Alexander treated Lanfrank so
civilly, that a stranger, if beholding the passages betwixt them, haply
might have mistaken Lanfrank for the pope, and the pope for the
petitioner. His highness honoured him as his master, cujus
studio sumus in illis qucs scimus imbuti ; " by whose care,"
said he, " we have been instructed in those things whereof we have
knowledge," 1 8, His charge against Thomas, elect of York.
Then Lanfrank charged Thomas, in the presence of the pope, as
canonically uncapable of that archbishopric, because the son of a
priest. And yet, by Lanfrank's leave, no canon can be produced,
then in force, to debar priests' sons from preferment, though, some
few years after, in the council of Clermont such a prohibition was
made. And therefore Eadmerus,J speaking of Lanfrank, calumni-
atus est Thomam coram papd^ in the prop.er acceptation of his
words, speaks more truth than he was aware of, or probably did
• ExmonuriKntis Collegii Univer sitatis. t Brian Twine in Antiq. Academ.
O.ron. page 216. X Novorum, lib. i. page 7.
Vol, I. T

274 CHCBCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1067-
intend. JBut Lanfrank, being a privado to the pope's projects, and
as well to the intentions as the actions of the church of Rome,
might, by a prolepsis, antedate this objection against Thomas, using
it for the present as a rub to retard him, which some years after was
constituted a legal obstacle to exclude any priest's son frohi promo
tion. But, even when that canon some years after was made, the
pope was not so cruel as thereby fully and finally to exclude all
priests' sons from church-dignity, but only to shut them out for a
time, that they might stand at the door and knock, (I mean, with
the chink of their money,) and at last be let in when they had paid
dear for a dispensation. 19. And against Remigius, elect of Lincoln.
Lanfrank likewise charged Remigius, elect of Lincoln, as irregu
lar, because guilty of simony. Yet he did not tax him with a penny
of money, either paid or contracted for, only charged him that offlicio
emerat,* " by service-simony he had purchased" the place of king
William ; so that his officiousness to comply with the king's plea
sure had made him injurious and vexatious unto the people. Here
all things were referred to Lanfrank's own arbitration ; whom the
pope, of an accuser, made a judge so far as either to admit or
exclude the aforesaid prelates ; affirming, that if " any unworthiness
crept into English preferment, be it charged on Lanfrank's account,
whom he made sole judge of men's merits to any promotion."
20. Lanfrank's Return and Employment.
But all is well that ends well ; and so did this contest. Lanfrank,
having first given them a taste of his power, did afterwards give them
a cast of his pity, and favourably accepted them both into their
places. Hence they all post homewards, where we leave Lanfrank
safely arrived, and soundly employed in variety of business : — 1, In
asserting the superiority of his see above York, 2, In defending
his tenants, in what diocese soever, from the visitations of their
respective bishops ; which gave the first original to peculiars. 3, In
repairing his church of Canterbury, lately much defaced with fire,
4, In casting out secular priests, and substituting monks in theit
room, 5, Lastly, In recovering lands long detained from his see.
Nor was he affrighted with the height and greatness of Odo, bishop
of Bayeux, though half-brother to king William, and earl of Kent ;
but wrestled a fair fall with him in a legal trial, and cast him flat on
his back, regaining many lordships, which Odo had most unjustly
invaded. Such as desire more of Lanfrank's character, let them con
sult Eadmerus, a monk of Canterbury, and therefore prodigal in
" Eadmerus, ibid.

15 WILLIAM I, noOK III, CENT, XI, 275
Lanfrank's praise, an archbishop of Canterbury, and great promoter
of monastical life. Indeed, there was a design, driven on by
Walkeline, bishop of Winchester, (who had privately wrought the
king to abet it,) to re-induce secular priests into monks' places, till
Lanfrank, getting notice, defeated the plot ; procuring, that all such
monks, whom he had first fastened in their convents, were afterwards
riveted therein by papal authority,
21. Bishops' Sees removed from Villages to Cities.
About this 'time a constitution was made, that bishops should
remove their sees from petty towns to populous places ; this reason
being rendered for their removal, Ne vilesceret episcopalis dignitas,
by their long living in so little villages. Such bishops' churches
could not properly be called " cathedrals," who sate not upon chairs,
but low stools, so inconsiderably small were some places of their
residences. A fair candlestick, advantageously set, in some sense
may be said to give light to the candle itself; and episcopal lustre
will be the brighter, if placed in eminent cities. Besides, bishops
having now gotten canon-law, and distinct courts by themselves,
much people repaired unto their consistories ; which conveniently
could not be accommodated in little villages, but required bigger
places for their better entertainment. In order to this command,
the bishop of Dorchester, near Oxford, removed to Lincoln ; as,
somewhat before, Selsey was translated to Chichester ; and Sher
borne to Salisbury ; and, not long after, Thetford to Norwich.
Now, as these cities, to which they removed, being great before,
grew greater afterwards ; so those places which they left, Dorchester,
and Selsey especially, decayed to contemptible villages : it faring
with places as with persons, — the rich grow richer still, and the
meaner are daily diminished.
22. Wolstan's Simplicity saveth his Bishopric.
As these bishops accounted themselves well-busied in removing
their bishoprics, so some, I am sure, were ill-employed in endea
vouring to remove a good bishop ; I mean Wolstan, from his church
of Worcester. As the poets feign of Janus, that he had two faces,
because living before and after the flood ; so this Wolstan may
be charactered accordingly, made bishop before, but continuing his
place long after, the Norman inundation. But, in what sense
soever he may be said to have two faces, he had but one heart, and
that a single and sincere one to God and all goodness ; yet his
adversaries heaved at him, to cast him out of his bishopric, because
an Englishman of the old stamp ; but he sate safe, right-poised
therein with his own gravity and integrity. And, being urged to
T 2

27C CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1067  8S,
resign his staff and ring, ensigns of his episcopacy, he refused to
surrender them to any man alive, but willingly offered them up at
the tomb of Edward the Confessor, from whom he received them/
This his gratitude to his dead patron, and candid simplicity in
neglecting the pomp of his place, procured him much favour, and
occasioned his peaceable confirmation in his bishopric,
23, The original of "Secundum Usum Sarum.''
At this time several liturgies were used in England, which caused
confusion, and much disturbed men's devotions. Yea, which was
worse, a brawl, yea, a battle happened betwixt the English monks
of Glastonbury, and Thurstan, their Norman abbot, in their very
church, obtruding a service upon them which they disliked:" unfit
persons to fight, (being by their profession men of peace,) and
unfitter the place for a quarrel, " Have ye not houses to eat and
drink in ?" saith St, Paul to the Corinthians, " or despise ye the
church of God ?" 1 Cor, xi, 22, Was there no other room in their
convent for them to fall out and fight in, but their cliurch alone?
Here was an " Holy War" indeed, when church-forms, candle
sticks, and crucifixes were used for shields, by the monks, against
the abbot's armed men brought in against them. Nor was holy-;
water only, but much blood, spilled in the place ; eight monks being
wounded, and two * slain, (or, if you will, sacrificed,) near the steps
of the high altar. But this accident, ill in itself, was then conceived
good in the event thereof, because occasioning a settlement and
uniformity of liturgy all over England, For hereupon Osmund,
bishop of Salisbury, devised that ordinary, or form of service, which
hereafter was observed in the whole realm.; his church's practice
being a precedent, and the devotion therein a direction, to all othens.
Henceforward the most ignorant parish-priest in England, though
having no more Latin in all his treasury, yet understood the mean
ing of secundum usum Sarum, that all service must be ordered
''• according to the course and custom of Salisbury church,"
24, The flrst Coming of the Jews into England.
I find no Jews in England, (no deviation, I hope, from church-
history, to touch at the synagogue,) before the reign of the
Conqueror, who brought many from Roan in Normandy, and
settled them in London, Norwich, Cambridge, Northampton,-f &c.
In what capacity these Jews came over, Tfind not; perchance,, as
plunderers, to buy such oppressed Englislimen's gopds, which
Christians would not meddle with, Sufficeth it us to ktfow, that an
• Eulogium, an ancient and autjientio chronicle, cited by Mr. Fox, page 233.
t Stow's " Survey of London," in Coleman-gtieet Ward. ,

22 w

ILLIA.M I. BOOK III, CENT, XI, 277

(

invasion by conquest, such as king William then made, is like
an inn entertaining all adventurers ; and, it may be, these Jewish
bankers assisted the Conqueror with their coin. These Jews,
though forbidden to buy land in England, grew rich by usury, their
consciences being so wide that they were none at all ; so that in the
barest pasture, in which a Christian would starve, a Jew would grow
fat, he bites so close unto the ground, "And ever bow down
their backs," is part of God's curse upon the Jews, And crook-
backed men, as they eye the earth, the centre of wealth ; so they
quickly see what straight persons pass by, and easily stoop to take
up that they find thereon ; and therefore no wonder if the Jewish
nation, whose souls are bowed down with covetousness, quickly wax
wealthy therewith. King William favoured them very much ; and
Rufus, his son, much more ; especially, if that speech reported of
him be true, that he should swear " by St, Luke's face," his com
mon oath, " if the Jews could overcome the Christians, he himself
would become one of their sect,"*
25. Tlie Death of King WiUiam, with the Difficulty of his
Burial. A.D. 1088,
Now was the time come of king William's death, ending his
days in Normandy, September 9th, But see the unhappiness of all
human felicity ! For, his breath and his servants forsook him both
together ; the latter leaving him, as if his body should bury itself.
How many hundreds held land of him in knights' service ! whereas
now neither knight nor esquire to attend him. At last, with much
ado, his corpse are brought in mean manner to be interred in Caen,
As they were prepared for the earth, a private person forbids the
burial till satisfaction was made unto him, because the king had
violently taken from him that ground on which that church was
erected. Dbtli not Solomon say true, " A living dog is better than
a dead lion ;" when such a little cur durst snarl at the corpse of a
king, and a conqueror .'' At last the monies of Caen made a com
position, and the body was buried. And, as it was long before
this king's corpse could get peaceable possession of a grave ; so,
since, by a firm ejection, he hath been outed of the same. When
French soldiers,-)- anno Domino 1562, (amongst whom some
English were mingled,) under ChatiUion conducting the remnant of
those which escaped in the battle of Dreux, took the city of Caen
in his way, out of pretence, forsooth, to seek for some treasure
supposed to be hid in his tomb, most barbarously and cowardly
brake up his coffin, and cast his bones out of the same,
* Stow's " Snrrey of London," page 288. t Stow's " Chroaicje " at the death
of king WiUiam.

278 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1087  93.
26. The three Sons of ttie Conqueror, how denominated.
1 William Rufus. ^.D. IOB7.
William the Conqueror left three sons, — Robert, William, and
Henry : and, because hereditary surnames were not yet fixed in
families, they were thus denominated and distinguished : — 1. The
eldest from his goods of fortune, to which clothes are reduced,
Robert Curthose from the short hose he wore ; not only for fancy,
bilt sometimes for need, cutting his coat according to his cloth ; his
means, all his life long, being scant and necessitous. 2. The
second from the goods of .his body, namely, a ruddy complexion,
William Rufus, or " Red." But, whether a lovely and amiable
or ireful and choleric red, the reader, on perusal of his Life, is best
able to decide. 3. The third from the goods of his mind, and his
rich abilities of learning, Henry Beauclerk, or, " the good scholar,"
The middlemost of these, William Rufus, presuming on his
brother Robert's absence in Normandy, and pretending his father
got the crown by conquest, which by will he bequeathed unto him,
(his eldest brother being then under a cloud of his father's dis
pleasure,) adventured to possess himself of the kingdom,
27, King William Rufus crowned.
On the twenty-sixth of September, Lanfrank, archbishop of
Canterbury, with good Wolstan, bishop of Worcester, assisting
him, crowned Rufus king of England, though but his father's
second son. And, indeed, the known policy of the former, and
the reputed piety of the latter, were the best supporters of his title,
Jacob, we know, (acted with a prophetical spirit,) guiding his
hands wittingly, laid his right on Ephraim the younger, and his left
on Manasseh the elder brother, Gen, xlviii. 14 : but what warrant
these bishops had to invert and transpose nature's method, hy
preferring the younger brother before the elder, was best known to
themselves. Under Lanfrank he had his education, who made him
a knight,* though it had been more proper for his tutor's profession,
yea, and more for his credit, and his pupil's profit, if he, as the
instrument, had made him a good Christian.
28. His Covetousness and Inconstancy. A.D. 1088,
He began very bountifully, but on another man's cost ; not as a
donor but a dealer thereof, and executor of his father's will. To
some churches he gave ten marks, to others six, to every country
village five shillings, besides an hundred pound to every county, to
be distributed among the poor,f But afterward he proved most
" Mat. Paris, page 14. t Chronicon Johannis Brompton, page 9^3, ¦

3 WILLIAM II, BOOK III, CENT, XI, 279
parsimonious, though no man more prodigal of never-performed
promises. Indeed, Rehoboam, though simple, was honest, speak
ing to his subjects, though foolishly, yet truly according to his
intent, that his finger should be heavier than his father's loins,
1 Kings xii. 10 : whereas Rufus was false in his proceedings, who,
on the imminence of any danger or distress, (principally to secure
himself against the claim of his brother Robert,) instantly to oblige
the English, promised them the releasing of their taxes, and the
restoring of the English laws ; but, on the sinking of the present
danger, his performance sunk accordingly ; no letter of the English
laws restored, or more mention thereof, till the retuming of the
like state-storm occasioned the reviving, of his promise ; and, alter
nately, the clearing up of the one deaded the performance of the
other, 29, His enriching himself by Church-Livings. A.D. 1089.
This year died Lanfrank, archbishop of Canterbury : after whose
death, the king seized the profits of that see into his own hand, and
kept the church vacant for some years ; knowing the emptiness of
bishoprics caused the fulness of his coffers. Thus archbishop
Rufus, bishop Rufus, abbot Rufus, (for so may he be called, as
well as king Rufus ; keeping at the same time the archbishopric of
Canterbury, the bishoprics of Winchester and Durham, and
thirteen abbeys in his hand,) brought a mass of money into his
exchequer. All places which he parted with was upon present
payment. Simon Magus, Acts viii. 18, with his hands full of
money, would carry any thing from Simon Peter, with his, "Silver
and gold have I none," Acts iii. 6. Yea, John bishop of Wells
could not remove his seat to Bath, nisi albo unguento m'anibus
regis delibatis, "unless he had moistened the king's hands with
white ointment ;"* though a less proportion of a yellow colour,
would have been more sovereign to the same use. And picking a
quarrel with Remigius, bishop of Lincoln, about the founding of his
cathedral, he forced him to buy his peace at the price of a thousand
marks, 30. His Sickness and Resolution of Amendment. A.D. 1093,
But in the midst of his miiih, king Rufus, coming to Gloucester,
fell desperately sick, and began to bethink himself of his ill-led life.
As all aches and wounds prick and pain most the nearer it diaweth
to night ; so, a guilty conscience is most active to torment men, the
nearer they conceive themselves approaching to their death. Here
upon he resolveth to restore all ill-gotten goods, release all persons
* Mat. Paris, page 17.

2o0 CTIUKCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.
unjustly imprisoned, and supply all empty places with able pastors.
In pursuance hereof, he made Anselm, the abbot of Bee in
Normandy, one of eminent learning and holiness of life, archbishop
of Canterbury ; which place he was hardly persuaded, with much
importunity, to accept. The first eminent act of his archi-episcopal
office which we find, was, when preaching at the court on Ash-
Wednesday, he denied ashes and absolution to all those courtiers
who affected effeminateness in their behaviour ; * especially, in
wearing their hair long, and combed like women : a sin, no doubt ;
for whereas Tertullian calls the length of women's hair, sarcinam
sues humilitatis, the same in men (so promiscuously wom) may be
called, sarcina sues superbics^
31 , Anselm's Expression questioned.
There passeth a memorable expression of Anselm's, cried up and
commended by some for a master -piece of devotion ; namely,
" that he had rather be in hell without sin, than in heaven with
sin ;" whicli others f condemn as an unsavoury speech, " not
according to Scripture- phrase, as from one not sufficiently acquainted
with the justification of a Christian man," Indeed, some high-
flown expressions often knock at the door of blasphemy, but yet
not with any intention to enter in thereat ; in which we are more
to mind the sense than the sound of the words. Amongst those
may this of Anselm's be ranked, uttered, no doubt, in a zealous
detestation of sin ; yea, which charitably may be defended in the
very leiter thereof. For Adam, we know, was some while in
paradise (heayen's suburbs) after the eating of the forbidden fniit,
Gen, iii, yet was sensible of no pleasure therein, which made him
hide himself, as prosecuted by his guilty conscience ; and some of
the ancients conceive, that Christ went locally to hell, yet no pain
did seize on him there, seeing sorrow can arrest none but at the
suit of sin going before,
32. Anselm refuseth to send King Rufus one thousand Pounds.
But, to leave Anselm's words, let us come to his deeds : who
was scarce warm in his archbishopric, when the king sent to him
for a thousand pounds ; which sum, being so small in itself, (Rufus
usually demanding more of less bishoprics,) and that after his
entrance on his see, free from any pre-contract, might have passed
without the suspicion of simony, under the notion of a mere gratuity.
However, Anselm refused to pay it, because he would " avoid the
appearance of evil," Others say, j that he freely sent the king five
* Eadmerus Novorum, lib, i. page 23. t Mr. Fox's " Acts and Monamentsi"
Tol. i. page 240, } Eadjie;r|is Novohtm, lib, i. page 22,

9 WILLIAM II, BOOK III, CENT, XI, 281
hundred pounds, with this compliment ; — that, though it was the
first, it should not be the last he would present to his majesty ;
which the king in choler refused, because short to the sum he
expected, Indepd, Rufus only retained this of all his archi-episcopal
education, (being bred under Lanfrank, as is afore said,) — that
tliereby he experimentally knew the sweetness of church-prefer
ments; and, in his bargain and sale, set a rate upon them accord
ingly, being, after his recovery from his sickness, far more sordid
and sacrilegious than before,
33, Herbert Bishop of Thetford's simoniacal Flattery.
A.D. 1094,
Amongst the many simoniacal prelates that swarmed in the land,
Herbert, bishop of Thetford, must not be forgotten ; nicknamed,
(or surnamed shall I say ?) iMseng, that is " the Flatterer ;" our
old English word leasing for " lying " retains some affinity there
unto, and at this day we call an insinuating fellow, " a glozing
companion : " though the best persuasiveness of his flattery con
sisted in downright arguments of gold and silver. For, guilty of
the hereditary sin of simony, (his father formerly having bought the
abbey of Ramsey,) he purchased the bishopric of Thetford of the
king. But afterward he posted to Rome, confessed his fault, and
was absolved from the guilt thereof. Thus, as the leprosy of
Naaman was waslied away in Jordan, so that " his flesh came again
as the flesh of a little child, and he was clean," 2 Kings v. 14 ; so
this bishop was persuaded, that all his simoniacal corruption was
cleansed in this his holy pilgrimage, conceiving himself henceforward
to begin on a new account of integrity, especially having, after his
return, removed his episcopal seat from Thetford to Norwich,
where he first founded the cathedral,
34, Wolstan Bishop of Worcester dieth. A.D. 1095,
Wolstan, the venerable bishop of Worcester, left this life : a
, bishop of the. old edition, unacquainted with Lanfrank's Italian
additions ; not faulty in his conversation but country, because an
Englishman born. It was laid to his charge, that he could not
speak French, no essential quality in a bishop, .as St, Paul describes
him, 1 Tim, iii, 2 ; Titus i, 6, &c. Sure I am, he could speak the
language of Canaan, — humble, holy, heavenly discourse : a mortified
man, much macerating his body with fasting and watching, if not
over-acting his part, and somewhat guilty of will-worship therein,
35. Duke Robert prepares for the Holy War.
Aijout this time began the Holy War, which here we will not
repeat, having formerly made an entire work thereof, Robert,

282 CHURCH HISTORV of BRITAIN, A.D. 1095 — 100.
duke of Normandy, to fit himself for that voyage, sold his dukedom
to king William Rufus for ten thousand marks, say some ; for six
thousand, six hundred, sixty-six pounds, that is, one mark less, say
others ; haply, abating the odd mark, to make up the rotundity of
so sacred and mystical a number. To pay this money, king Rufus
laid a general and grievous tax over all the realm, extorting it with
such severity, that the monks were fain to sell the church-plate and
very chalices for discharging thereof. Wonder not, that the whole
land should be impoverished with the paying of so small a sum ;
for, a little wool is a great deal when it must be taken from a new-
shom sheep ; so pilled and polled were all people before, with
constant exactions. Such, whom his hard usage forced beyond
the seas, were recalled by his proclamation ; so that his heavy levies
would not suffer them to live here, and his hard laws would not
permit them to depart hence. And when the clergy complained
unto him, to be eased of their burdens ; " I beseech you," said he,
" have ye not coffins of gold and silver for dead men's bones ? "
intimating that the same treasure might otherwise be better
employed, 36. Variance betwixt the King and Anselm.
The streams of discord began now to swell high betwixt the kimr
and archbishop Anselm ; flowing principally from this occasion : —
At this time there were two popes together, so that the eagle with
two heads, the arms of the empire, might now as properly have fitted
the papacy for the present. Of these, the one (Guibertus) I may
call " the lay-pope," because made by Henry the emperor ; the other
(Urban) " the clergy-pope," chosen by the conclave of cardinals.
Now, because " like unto like," king William sided with the
former, whilst Anselm as earnestly adhered to Urban, in his
affections, desiring to receive his pall from him, which the king
refused to permit: Hereupon Anselm appealed to his pope,
whereat king William was highly offended,
37- Their several Pleadings, and present Reconcilement.
But, because none are able so emphatically to tell their stories,
and plead their causes, as themselves, take them in their own
words : — THE KING OBJECTED,
" The custom, from my father's time, hath been in England, that
no person should appeal to the pope, without the king's license.
He that breaketh the customs of my realm violateth the power and
crown of my kingdom. He that violateth and taketh away my
crown is a traitor and enemy against me," *

14 WILLIAM II, BOOK III. CENT. XI. 283
ANSELM ANSWERED.
" The Lord hath discussed this question : ' Give unto Caesar the
things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.'
In such things as belong to the terrene dignities of temporal princes,
I will pay my obedience ; but Christ said, ' Thou art Peter, and
upon this rock I will build my church,' &c. whose vicar he ought
to obey iu spiritual matters ; and the fetching of his pall was of that
nature." At last an expedient was found out, that Anselm should not want
his pall, nor fetch it himself from Rome, being by the king's consent
brought to him by Gualtar, pope Urban 's legate, whom the king at
last was fain to acknowledge; and so all things for the present
reconciled, 38, They disagree again.
But the wound betwixt them was rather skinned over than per
fectly healed ; and afterwards brake out again, the king taking
occasion of displeasure at Anselm's backwardness to assist him in his
expedition into Wales. Whereupon Anselm desired a second
journey to Rome, there to bemoan, and, probably, to relieve him
self by complaint to the pope. But the king stopped his voyage ;
affirming, that Anselm had led so pious a life he need crave no
absolution at Rome ; and was so well-stored with learning that he
needed not to borrow any counsel there. ' " Yea," said the lung,
" Urban had rather give place to the wisdom of Anselm, than
Anselm have need of Urban," In fine, after much contesting,
Anselm secretly stole out of the realm ; and the king seized all his
goods and lands into his own coffers. Three years was he in exile,
sometimes at Lyons, sometimes at Rome ; welcome wheresoever he
came, and very serviceable to the church by his pious living, painful
preaching, learned writing, and solid disputing, especially in the
general council of Bari, where he was very useful in confuting and
condemning the errors of the Greek church about the procession of
the Holy Spirit, 39. King Rufus's Death. -4, D. 1100,
King Rufus was a-hunting in New-Forest, August 2nd, which
was made by king William, his father ; not so much Out of pleasure
or love of the game, as policy to clear and secure to himself a fair
and large landing-place for his forces out of Normandy, if occasion
did require. Here then was a great devastation of towns and tem
ples ; the place being turned into a wilderness for men, to make a
paradise for deer, God seemed displeased hereat ; for, amongst
other tragedies of the Conqueror's family, acted in this place, Rufus

284 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1100.
was here slain, by the glancing of an arrow shot by Sir Walter
Tyrrel : — an unhappy name to the kings of England ; this man
casually and another wilfully (Sir James Tyrrel employed in the
murdering of king Edward V.) having their hands in royal blood.
Now it is seasonably remembered, that, some years since, this king
William had a desperate disease, whereof he made but bad use after
his, recovery ; and therefore now Divine Justice would not the
second time send him the summons of a solemn visitation by sick
ness, but even surprised him by a sudden and unexpected death.
40. His Burial and Character.
Thus died king William Rufus, leaving no issue ; and was buried,
saith my author,* at Winchester, multorum procerum conventu,
paucorum vero planctu ; '¦ many noblemen meeting, but few
mourning at his funerals," Yet some, who grieved not for his
death, grieved at the manner thereof; and of all mourners Ansehn,
though in exile in France, expressed most cordial sorrow at the news
of his death, A valiant and prosperous prince, but condemned by
historians for covetousness, cruelty, and wantonness, .though no
woman by name is mentioned for his concubine ; probably, because
thrifty in his lust with mean and obscure persons. But, let it he
taken into serious consideration, that no pen hath originally written
the Life of this king, but what was made by a monkish penknife ; and
no wonder if his picture seem bad, which was drawn by his enemy.
And he may be supposed to fare the worse for his opposition to the
Romish usurpation ; having this good quality, — to suffer none but
himself to abuse his subjects, stoutly resisting all payments of the
pope's imposing. Yea, as great an enemy as he was conceived to
the church, he gave to the monks called De Charitate the great
new church of St, Saviour's in Bermondsey, with the manor thereof,
as also of Charlton in Kent,
41, Henry I. succeedeth Rufus, and is crowned.- 1 Henry I,
Henry Beauclerk, his brother, succeeded him in the throne ; one
that crossed the common proverb, " The greatest clerks are not the
wisest men ;" being one of the most profoundest scholars and most
politic princes in his generation. He was crowned about four days
after his brother's death. At that time, the present providing of
good swords was accounted more essential to a king's coronation,
than the long preparing of gay clothes. Such preparatory pomp as
was used in after-ages at this ceremony was now conceived, not only
useless, but dangerous ; speed being safest to supply the vacancy of
the throne. To ingratiate himself to the English, he instantly and
• John Bhosu'ton, page 997.

2 HENRY I, BOOK III, CENT. XII. 285
actually repealed (for his brother William had put all the land out
of love and liking of fair promises) the cruel Norman laws: laws
written in blood, made more in favour of deer than of men ; more
to manifest the power and pleasure of the imposer, than for the good
and protection of the subject ; jvherein, sometimes, men's mis
chances were punished for their misdeeds. Yea, in a manner, king
Henry gave eyes to the blind in winter-nights ; I mean, light to
them who formeriy lived (though in their own houses) in uncomfort
able darkness, after eight o'clock ; when heretofore the Curfew-bell
did ring the knell of all the fire and candle light in English families.
But now these rigorous edicts were totally repealed ; the good and
gentle laws of Edward the Confessor generally revived ; the late
king's extorting publicans (whereof Ranulf Flambard, bishop of
Durham, the principal) closely imprisoned ; the court-corruption,
by the king's command, studiously reformed ; adultery (then grown
common) with the loss of virility, severely punished ; Anselm from
exile speedily recalled ; after his return, by the king heartily wel
comed ; by the clergy, solemnly and ceremoniously received ; he to
his church, his lands and goods to him, fully restored ; English and
Normans lovingly reconciled ; all interests and persons seemingly
pleased ; Robert, the king's elder brother, though absent in the
Holy Land, yet scarcely missed ; and so this century, with the first
year of king Henry's reign, seasonably concluded.

SECTION IL
THE TWELFTH CENTURY,
JOHANNI FITZ-JAMES DE LEUSTON, IN COMITATU
DORSET, ARMIGERO,
Non desunt in hoc nostro sseculo, qui librorum dedi-
cationes pene ducunt superstitiosum, plane superfluum ;
sic enim argutuli ratiocinantur : — " Liber, si bonus,
patrono non indiget, suo marte pergat ; sin malus,
patrono ne sit dedecori, suo merito pereat,"
Habeo tamen quod huic dilemmati possim regerere.
Liber meus, nee bonus nee malus, sed quiddam
medium inter utrumque. " Bonum " ipse non ausum
pronuntiare, cum plurimis mendis laboret; "Malum"

286 CHURCH HISTORY OF'BRITAlN. A.D. 1102.
alii, spero, non dijudicent ; ciim legentibus possit esse
Usui. Sub hac dubia conditione, vel adversariis nostris
judicibus, opus hoc nostrum patronum sibi asciscere
et potest et debet ; et sub alis clientelee tuse, qui tam
Marte praestas quam Mercurio, foveri serio triumphat.
1. The fielll^h Imprecation of Maud when married to
King Henry. A.D. U0\.
Grave Anselm archbishop of Canterbury espoused and married
Maud (daughter of Malcolm king of the Scots and St, Margaret his
wife) to Henry king of England, She had been a professed votary,
and was pressed, by the importunity of ber parents and friends, for
politic ends, to this marriage ; insomuch as, in the bitterness of her
soul, (able to appal the writer hereof, seeing his ink out-blacked
with her expression,) she devoted the fruit of her body to the devil,
because they would not permit her to perform her promise of
virginity : Thus Matthew Paris,* But the reader reserveth his
other ear for the relation of Eadmerus, reporting this story after a
different, yea, contrary manner, as followeth,
2. The Story otherwise told by Eadmerus, an Eye and Ear
Witness.
The aforesaid Maud, when a girl, lived under the tuition and cor
rection of Christian her aunt, and abbess of Wilton, at what time
the Norman soldiers, conquering the kingdom, did. much destroy
and more endanger virgins by their violence. Christian, therefore,
to preserve this her niece, clapped a black cloth on her head, in
imitation of a nun's vail, which she unwillingly ware in the pre
sence of her aunt, but in her absence off it went, from above her
head' to under her heels, so that in despiteful manner she used to
tread and trample upon it. Yea, if Malcolm her father chanced to
behold her wearing that mock vail, with rage he would rend it off,
cursing the causers of it, and avowing, that he intended her no
votary,- but a wife to count Alan, Besides, two grave archdeacons,
sent down to Wilton to inquire into the matter, reported, that, for
aught they could learn from the nuns there, this Maud was never
solemnly entered into their Order. Hereupon a council was called
of the English clergy, wherein some grave men attested of their own
knowledge, that, at the Norman Conquest, to avoid the fury of the
soldiery, many maids out of fear not affection, for protection not
piety, made a cloister their refuge, not their choice ; were nuns in
* Hist. Ang. in Hen. I. anno 1101.

3 HENRY I, BOOK III, CENT, XII. 287
their own defence, running their heads, but without their hearts,
into a vail. And in this case it was resolved by learned Lanfrank,
that such virgins were bound, by an extraordinary obligation, above
other women Debitam castitati reverentiam exhibere.
Nullum religionis continerdiam. servare : *
which is in effect, that they must be chaste wives, though they need
not be constant maids. These things alleged and proved, Anselm
pronounced the nunship of Maud of none effect, and solemnly mar
ried her to king Henry, However, some infer the unlawfulness of
this match from the unhappiness of their children, all their issue
male coming to untimely deaths. But sad events may sometimes be
improved by men's censures further than they were intended by God's
justice ; and it is more wisdom seriously to observe them to the
instructing of ourselves, than rigidly to apply them to the condemn
ing of others ; the rather, because Maud the empress, their sole
surviving child, seemed by her happiness to make reparation for the
infelicity of all the rest,
3, A grand Synod of the Clergy and Laity, with the
Constitutions thereof. A.D. 1102,
Next year a more solemn synod was summoned by Anselm, with
the king's consent, held at Westminster ; whereat, beside bishops,
were present, at Anselm's request from the king, the chief lay lords
of the land ; and tliis reason rendered : " Forasmuch as that what
soever should be determined by the authority of the said council,
might be ratified and observed by the joint care and solicitousness
of both estates." But whether the lords were present, as bare
spectators and witnesses" to attest the fair transaction of matters,
(which some will conceive too little,) or whether they had a power
to vote therein, (which others will adjudge too much,) is not clearly
delivered. Here we insert the constitutions of this synod. And
let none say, that it is vain to look after the. cobwebs, when the
besom of reformation hath swept them away ; seeing the knowledge
of them conduces much to the understanding of that age.
1, " That the heresy of simony be severely punished,-f- for which
several abbots were then and there deposed,
2, " That bishops undertake not the office of secular pleas, wear
ing an habit beseeming religious personsj and not be like laymen in
their garments ; and that always and every where they have honest
persons witnesses of their conversation.
3. " That no archdeaconries be let out to farm.
4. " That all archdeacons be deacons.
• Eadmerus Novorum., lib. v. pp. 57, 58. t Idem, lib, iii. pp. 67, 68.

288 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 1102  5,
5, " That no archdeacon, priest, deacon, or canon * marry a wife,
or retain one being married unto him : and that every sub-deacon,
who is not a canon, if he have married after his profession made of
chastity, be bound by the same rule," — Hear what a grave author,
almost of the same age, saith of this constitution : Hoc quibusdam
mundissimum visum est, quibusdam periculosum, ne dum muii-
ditias viribus majores sacerdotes appeterent, in immunditias
horribiles ad Christiani nominis summum dedenus inciderent.f
And as ,Iordan, wanting a vent or influx, like other rivers, into the
ocean, loseth its current at last in a filthy lake, or Dead Sea of its
own making ; so it was to be feared, that these men, now debarred
that remedy for their weakness, which God, who best knew the consti
tution of his own creatures, hath provided, settled themselves in some
unclean ways, and most mortal filthiness occasion by this prohibition,
6. " That a priest so long as he keeps unlawful conversation with
a woman, [understand his own wife,] is not legal, nor rightly cele-
brateth the mass ; nor is his mass to be heard if he celebrate <it,
7- " That none be admitted to the order of sub-deacon, or
upwards, without the profession of chastity,
8. " That the sons of priests be not made heirs to the church of
their fathers,
9. " That no clerks be provosts or proctors of secular matters, or
judges in blood." — This is the reason, saith the appendix to
Harpsfield,! (reporting is no approving of his judgment,) why
bishops, being arraigned for their lives, are not to be tried by their
peers, but by a jury of ordinary men, because debarred by their
canons to be judges of lay peers in like cases ; and, therefore, it
was conceived" unfitting that they should receive that honour, which
they could not return,
10, " That priests should not go to public drinkings, nee ad
pinnas bibant,^ ' nor drink at pins,' " — This was a Dutch trick
(but now used in England) of artificial drunkenness, out of a cup
marked with certain pins, and he [was] accounted the man, who
could nick the pin, drinking even unto it ; whereas to go above or
beneath it, was a forfeiture,
11, " That the garments of clergymen be of one -colour, and their
shoes according to order,
12, " That monks and clerks that have cast off their Order,
either return thereto or be excommunicated,
13. " That clerks have crowns patent, so that their shaving be
conspicuous to the beholder,
• Aliter " being canonical," f Henricus Huntingdon Historiarum., Ub, vii,
page 217. X In Catalogo Retigicarum, JEdium, page 74(J, t Hence probably
tbe proverb, " He ia in a niorry pin."

6 HENRY I, BOOK III, CENT, XII, 289
14, " That tithes be given to none but to churches,
15, " That churches or prebends be not bought,
16, " That new chapels be not made without the consent of the
bishop, • 17- " That no church be consecrated, until necessaries be pro
vided for the priest and church.
18. " That abbots make no knights ; and that they eat and sleep
in the same house with their monks, except some necessity forbid,"
-. — It appeareth, it was the ancient custom of abbots in this age to
make knights. Thus, Brando, the abbot of St, Edmundsbury,*
knighted Heward his nephew, having first confessed his sins, and
received absolution. Indeed, in those days men's minds were so
possessed, that they thought nothing well and fortunately done but
what came from churchmen. Whereupon he that was to be made a
knight, first offered his, sword upon the altar, and, after the Gospel
read, the priest put the sword, first hallowed, upon the knight's
neck with his benedictum,'f and so, having heard mass again, and
received the sacrament, he became a lawful knight. And seeing
the Holy War now was begun, no wonder if churchmen made
knights. And that age conceived, that a knight's sword dipped in
holy-water was well tempered, and became true metal indeed. Why
abbots were now prohibited to confer this honour, the cause is not
rendered ; whether because it made knighthood too common, or
that this privilege was reserved only for higher prelates, such as
bishops and archbishops were, or that it was an encroachment upon
the royal dignity, it being as proper for kings to ordain priests, as
for abbots to dub knights. This is most sure, that, notwithstand
ing this canon, king Henry I,| some years after granted, and king
John confirmed, to the abbot of Reading, the power of knighting
persons, with some cautions of their behaviour therein,
, 19, " That monks enjoin no penance to any, without permission
of their abbot, and that only to such persons whereof they have cure
of souls,
20, " That monks and nuns be not godfathers or godmothers,
21. " That monks hold no lands in farm,
22, " That monks take no churches by the bishopsj and that
they spoil not such as are giv^n unto them of the revenues, but so
that the priests serving in those cures and the churches might be
provided with necessaries,
. 23. " That faith in way of marriage, pledged secretly and with
out witness, betwixt man and woman, be of no effect if either party
do deny it.
* Ingulphus, page 512, Edict. Londin. t Camden's Britannia, page 173.
X J. Selden ad Eadmer. Spicilegium, paga 207.
Vol, I, u

290 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 1105
24, " That Criniti, * such as wear long hair,' be so shaven, that
part of their ears may appear, and their eyes not be covered," —
Criniti are opposed to Tonsi, extended to all lay persons. If any
demand how it came within the cognizance of the church to provide'
about their trimming, (which might well have been left to the
party's pleasure and his barber's skill,) know, this canon was built
on the apostle's words, " Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if
a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him ? " 1 Cor, xi, 14, And the
church forbade whatsoever was a trespass against Christian decency.-
Gildas giveth this character of the Picts : Furciferos magis vultus
pilis quam corporum pudenda vestibus tegentes,* that "they
covered rather their thievish eyes with their hair, than their shame
with clothes ;" which ruffian-like custom of long hair, now used by
the Normans, was here justly restrained.
25. " That parties akin to the seventh generation, be not
coupled in marriage ; and that persons so coupled remain not in
marriage ; and if any be privy to this incest and not declare it, let
him know himself to be guilty of the same crime.'' — This brought
much grist to the pope's mill for dispensations. As secular princes
used to stop travellers on common bridges, or at the entrance of
gates, not with intent finally to forbid their going further, but to
receive toll or custom for their passing-by ; so the pope prohibited
these degrees in marriage, not absolutely to hinder such matches,
but to receive large sums of money for his leave ; after whose facul
ties obtained, if such marriage were against the law of God, men did
sin not with less guiltiness, but more expenses.
26. " That the bodies of the dead be not carried to be buried out
of their own parishes, so that the parish-priest should lose his due
unto him,
27- " That none, out of a rash novelty, [which we know to have
happened,] exhibit reverence of holiness to any bodies of the dead^
fountains, or other things, without authority from the bishop,
28, " That none presume hereafter [what hitherto men used in
England] to sell men like brute beasts," — This constitution, as all
others which concerned the subjects' civil right, found not general
obedience in the kingdom. For, the proceedings of the canon
law were never wholly received into practice in the land ; but so as
made subject, in whatsoever touched temporals, to secular laws and
national customs. And the laity, at pleasure, limited canons in this
behalf. Nor were such sales of servants, being men's proper goods,
so weakened ¦(¦ with this prohibition but that, long after, they
remained legal according to the laws of the land.
29. "That the sin of sodomy, both in clergy and l^ity, should be
• De Excid. Britan. fol. 6, 1 See Mr, Selden, Spicileg. ad Eadmerum, p. 208.

6 HENRY 1. BOOK III, CENT. XII. 291
punished with heavy censures." — Remarkable that the same synod
which forbade priests' marriage found it needful to punish sodomy,
an Italian vice, beginning now to be naturalized in England. For,
those who endeavour to make the way to heaven narrower than God
hath made it, by prohibiting what he permits, do in event make the
way to hell wider, occasioning the committing of such sins which
God hath forbidden. We may further observe, that the plaster
now applied to the rotten sore of sodomy was too gentle, too nar
row, and too little time laid on. Too gentle — For whereas the sin
is conceived to deserve death, it was only slubbered over, that the
party convict of this wickedness, if in Orders, was admitted to no
higher honour, and deposed from what he had, till restored again on
his repentance. Too narrow — If it be true what one observes,
that monks * (as neither merely lay nor priests) were not threatened
with this curse, where all was hidden in cloisters. Lastly. Too
little time laid on* — For whereas at first it was constituted, that
such excommunication of sodomites convicted should solemnly be
renewed every Lord's day ; this short-lived canon did die in the
birth thereof, and Anselm himself postponi concessit,-^ " suffered
it to be omitted," on pretence that it put beastly thoughts into
many men's minds, whose corruption abused the punishment of sin
in the provocation thereof; whilst others conceive this relaxation
indulged in favour to some great offenders, who, hardened in con
science, but tender in credit, could not endure to be so solemnly,
publicly, and frequently grated with the shame of the sin they had
committed. So much for thp constitutions of that synod, wherein though
canons were provided^ for priests, cap-a-pie, from the shaving to the
shoes, yet not a syllable of their instructing the people and preach
ing God's word unto them'. We must not forget, that men guilty
of simony in the first canon are not taken, in the vulgar acceptation,
for such as were promoted to their places by money ; but, in a new-
coined sense of that word, for those who were advanced to their
dignities by investiture from the king ; which gave occasion to the
long and hot broil happening betwixt king Henry and Anselm,
which now we come to relate.
4. Anselm refuseth to consecrate the King's Bishops.
A.D. 1103—5.
The king commanded him to consecrate such bishops as he lately
had invested ; namely, William of Winchester, Roger of Hereford,
8ec, which Anselm refused, because flatly against the canon newly-
made in the council of Rome, by pope Urban, that any who had
* Bale in the " Acta of English Votaries," part ii, chap. 74. t Eadmerus, ut prius.
u 2

292 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1103  7
their entrance by the authority of temporal princes should be
admitted to bishoprics. Hereupon the king enjoined Gerard arch
bishop of York to consecrate them ; who, out of opposition to
Anselm his competitor, was as officious to comply with the king as
the other was backward, hoping thereby to hitch his church a degree
the higher, by help of his royal favour. Here happened an unex
pected accident : for William, bishop of Winchester, refused conse
cration from the archbishop of York, and resigned his staff and ring
back again to the king, as illegally from him. This discomposed
all the rest. For whereas more than the moiety of ecclesiastical
persons in England were all in the same condemnation, as invested
by the king, the very multitude of offenders would have excused
the offence if loyal to their own cause. Whereas now this defec
tion of the bishop of Winchester so brake the ranks, and maimed
their entireness, that their cause thereby was cast by their own con
fession, and so a party raised among them against themselves.
5. Anselm sent to Rome.
Soon after, the king was contented that Anselm should go to
Rome, to know the pope's pleasure herein. But one, none of the
conclave, without a prophetical spirit, might easily have foretold the
resolution of his Holiness herein ; — never to part with power whereof
(how injuriously soever) though but pretendedly possessed. Anselm,
for his compliance with the pope herein, is forbidden to return into
England, while the king seizeth on his temporalities.
6. The King parts with his Investing of Bishops- A.D. 1106-
However, not long after, by mediation of friends, they are recon
ciled ; the king disclaiming his right of investitures, — a weak and
timorous act of so wise and valiant a prince ; whose predecessors
before the Conquest held this power (though some time loosely) in
their own hands ; and his predecessors since the Conquest grasped
it fast in their fist, in defiance of such popes as would finger it from
them. Whereas now he let it go out of his hand, whilst his suc
cessors in vain, though with a long arm, reached after it to recover
it. And now Anselm, who formerly refused, consecrated all the
bishops of vacant sees ; amongst whom, Roger of Salisbury was a
prime person, first preferred to the king's notice, " because he began
prayers quickly, and ended them speedily ;" for which quality he
was commended as fittest for a chaplain in the camp, and was not
unwelcome to the court on the same account,
7- Anselm forbids Priests' Marriage. A.D-llO'J-
Anselm, having divested the king of investing bishops, (one of
the fairest robes in his wardrobe,) did soon after deprive the clergy

8 HENRY I, BOOK III, CENT, XII, 293
of one half of themselves. For, in a solemn synod he forbade
priests' marriage ; wherein, as charitably we believe, his intentions
pious and commendable, and patiently behold his pretences spe
cious and plausible, so we cannot but pronounce his performance,
for the present, injurious and culpable, and the effects thereof for
the future pernicious and damnable. And here we will a little
enlarge ourselves on this subject of so high concernment.
8. Only by a Church-Constitution.
It is confessed on all sides, that there is no express in Scripture
to prohibit priests' marriage. Thomas,* and Scotus,-f- commonly
cross, (as if reason enough for the latter to deny, because the former
affirmed it,) do both (such the strength of truth) agree herein.
Only ecclesiastical constitutions forbid them marriage. And,
though many popes tampered hereat, none effectually did drive the
nail to the head, till Hildebrand, alias Gregory VII, (the better
man the better deed) finally interdicted priests' marriage. How
ever, his constitutions, though observed in Italy and France, were
not generally obeyed in England ; till Anselm at last forbade
married priests to officiate ; or any lay people, under pain of
censure, to be present at their church-service,
9- Grounded on a double Error.
Herein he proceeded on two erroneous principles : one that all
men have, or may have, if using the means, the gift of continency.
Wherein they do not distinguish betwixt, 1, Common gifts, which
God bestoweth on all his servants, " The common salvation,"
Jude 3. 2, Proper gifts. Thus the apostle, 1 Cor, vii, 7, when
he had wished all like himself, (that is, able to contain,) he immedi
ately addeth, " But every man hath his proper gift of God, one
after this manner, and another after that," His other false suppo
sition is, that marriage is either inconsistent with or, at least, impedi-
tive to the purity of priestly profession,
10, Paramount Holiness in a Married Person.
The falseness whereof appeareth by the precedent of Enoch, in
whom met the threefold capacity of king, priest, and prophet. Yet
his marriage remitted not the reins of his princely power, hindered
not the performance of his sacerdotal function, rebated not the edge
of his prophetical spirit ; for, he " walked with God, and begat sons
and "daughters," Gen, v. 22. He made not a prayer the less for
* In Sccundd Secundce Part. Sum. Theol. quaest. Ixxxviii. art. 11. j Lib. vii. De
Justitid, qxiaest. vi. art, 2.

294 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1107;
having a child the more : and let us be but alike holy with Enoch,
and let others be more holy with Anselm.
11, 12. St. Paul expounded; and Marriage defended.
Wherefore, when the apostle saith, " He that is married careth
for the things which are of this world, how he may please his wife,"
1 Cor, vii, 33, therein he describeth, not that height of God-pleasing
which marriage ought, and in itself may, and by Enoch was
improved ; but expresseth such faults which, through human corrup
tion, too commonly come to pass : which are vita mariti, non
matrimonii ; uxoris, non uxoratus ; flowing neither from the
essence nor from the exercise of marriage, but only from the depraved
use thereof, which, by God's assistance, and man's best endeavours,
may be rectified and amended. It is therefore falsely charged on
marriage, qua marriage, that it is an hinderance to hospitality ;
starving the poor to feed a family. It is confessed it would break
marriage, if, cesteris paribus, she should offer to vie bounty with
virginity ; only she may equal virginity in " cheerfulness of her
giving," and in the discreet choice of fit objects whereon to bestow
it. Yet give me leave to say, in a married family there be com
monly most mouths ; and where most mouths, there probably most
bread is eaten ; and where most bread is eaten, there certainly most
crumbs fall beneath the table, so that the poor are feasted by those
fragments. If any rejoin, that " single folk bestow their alms, not
by crumbs, but whole loaves ;" the worst I wish is, that poor people
may find the truth thereof. Nor doth the having of children, qua
children, make men covetous, seeing Solomon saw a man " who had
neither child nor brother, yet his eye was not satisfied with riches,"
Eccles, iv. 8. On the other side, I find two in one and the same
chapter, Gen, xxxiii, 9 — 11, professing they had enough ; namely,
Esau and Jacob, both of them married, both of them parents of
many children. 13, A Monk's Verses, as bald as his Crown.
And here well may we wonder at the partiality of the papists,
over-exalting marriage in the laity to a sacrament ; and too much
depressing the same in priests, as no better than " refined fornica
tion," Yea, some have made virginity the corn, and marriage the
cockle ; which is a wonder that they should be of several kinds,
seeing virginity is but the fruit, and marriage the root thereof. But,
amongst all the foul mouths belibelling marriage, one railing rhyme
ster, of Anselm's age, bore away the bell, drinking, surely, of Styx
instead- of Helicon ; and I am confident my translation is good
enough for his bald verees.

8 HENRY I, BOOK III, CENT. XII. 295
O male viventes, versus audite sequentes ;
Uxores vestros, quas odit summa potestas,
Linquite propter eum, tenuit qui morte trophmmn.
Quod si nonfacitis, Inferni claustra petetis :
Christi %>onsa jubet, ne presbyter ille ministret,
Qui tenet uxorem, Domini quia perdit amorem.
Contradieentes fore dicimus insipientes,
Non ex ramcore loquor hiec, potitls sed amore.*
" O ye that in Uve, The spouse of Christ
Attention give Forbids that priest
Unto my following rhymes ; His ministerial function,
Your vrives, those dear mates. Because he did part
"Whom the highest power hates. With Christ in Ms heart,
See that ye leave them betimes. At his marriage-conjunction.
Leave them for His sake We coimt them all mad,
¦Who a conquest did make, If any so bad,
And a crown and a cross did acquire. As daring herein to contest.
If any say, " No," Nor is it of spite,
I give them to know, That this I indite.
They must all unto hell for their hire. But out of pure love, I protest,"
Where did this railing monk ever read, that God hated the wives of
priests ? And did not the church of Rome, at this time, come
under the character of that defection, described by the apostle .-' —
That " in the latter times some should depart from the faith, for
bidding to marry," &c, 1 Tim, iv, 1, 3,
14, 15, An ill Evasion well stopped up.
These endeavour (as they are deeply concerned) to wipe off from
themselves this badge of Antichrist, by pleading that, 1. They
forbid marriage to no man, 2, They force priesthood on no man.
Only they require of those who freely will enter into the priesthood
to vow virginity, and command such to part with their wives who
were formerly entered into Orders, All which is alleged by them
but in vain, seeing marriage may be forbidden either directly or
consequentially. For the first : None, well in their wits, consulting
their credit, did ever point-blank forbid marriage to all people. Such
would be held as hostes humani generis, " enemies of mankind,"
iu their destructive doctrines. Nor did any ever absolutely (as it
followeth in the same text) " command all td abstain from meats,"
This were the way to empty the world of men, as the simple for
bidding of marriage would fill it with bastards. And, although some
silly heretics, as Tatian, Marcion, and Manicheus, are said abso
lutely to forbid marriage, yet they never mounted high, nor spread
broad, nor lasted long. Surely, some more considerable mark is the
aim of the apostle's reproof, even the church of Rome, who, by an
oblique line, and consequentially, prohibit marriage to the priests, —
* Found in Ramsey Abbey, in a treatise De Monicatu, cited by John Bale.

296 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 1107 — "5,
a most considerable proportion of men within the pale of the
church, 16. Marriage-Bed may be forborne for a time, not totally
forbidden.
Notwithstanding the premisses, it is fit that the embraces of mar
riage should on some occasion for a time be forborne, for the advance
of piety. First. When private dalliance is to yield to public dole-
fulness : " Let the bridegroom go out of his chamber, and the
bride out of her closet," Joel ii, 16, For though, by the Levitical
law, one might not be forced to fight in the first year of his mar
riage, yet might he on just occasion be pressed to fast on the first
day thereof. It is not said, " Let the bridegroom go out of his
bridegroom-ship," but only " out of his chamber ;" and that also
with intention to return, when the solemnity of sorrow is overpast.
Secondly, When such absence is betwixt them mutually agreed on :
" Defraud ye not one another, except it be with consent for a time,
that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer ; and come together
again, that satan tempt you not for your incontinency," 1 Cor.
vii, 5, Here, indeed, is an interdiction of the marriage-bed ; but it is
voluntary, by mutual consent of the parties; and temporary, only
durante eorum beneplacito ; not as the popish prohibition,
impulsive, by the power of others, and perpetual, to continue
during their lives.
17- H. Huntingdon's Censure of Anselm.
Hear what Henry of Huntingdon expressly saith of Anselm's
carriage herein : — " He prohibited English priests to have wives,
who beforetime were not prohibited ; which as some thought to be
a matter of greatest purity, so others again took it to be most peril
ous, lest while by this means they aimed at cleanliness above their
power, they should fall into horrible uncleanness, to the exceeding
great shame of Christianity."
18, Anselm dieth re infectd of Priest's Divorces.
A.D. UOS.
But Anselm died before he could finish his project of priests'
divorces ; who had he deceased before he began it, his memory had
been left less stained to posterity. His two next successors,
Rodulphus, and William Corbell, went on vigorously with the
design, but met with many and great obstructions. Other bishops
found the like opposition ; but chiefly the bishop of Norwich,
whose obstinate clergy would keep their wives, in defiance of his
endeavours against them.

26 HENRY I, BOOK III, CENT. XII. 297
19. The Stoutness of Norwich Clergy.
Indeed, Norfolk-men are charactered injure municipali versa-
tisslmi, and are not easily ejected out of that whereof they had
long prescription, and present possession. No wonder, therefore, if
they stickled for their wives, and would not let go a moiety
of themselves. Besides, Herbert Losing of Norwich needed not to
be so fierce and furious against them, if remembering his own extrac
tion, being the son of an abbot. , These married priests traversed
their cause with Scripture and reason, and desired but justice to be
done unto them. But justice made more use of her sword than of her
balance in this case, not weighing their arguments, but peremptorily
and powerfully enjoining them to forego their wives, notwithstand
ing that there were in England, at this time, many married priests,
signal for sanctity and abilities,
20. Learned married Ealphegus. A.D. 1125.
Amongst the many eminent married priests, flourishing for
learning and piety, one Ealphegus was now living, or but newly
dead. His residence was at Plymouth in Devonshire, Mr,
Camden saith,* he was eruditus et conjugatus ; but the word
conjugatus is by the Index Expurgaiorius commanded to be
deleted,-}- 21, A Virgin-Lecher unmasked.
To order the refractory married clergy, the bishops were fain to
call in the aid of the pope. John de Crema, an Italian cardinal,
jolly with his youthful blood and gallant equipage, came over into
England with his bigness and bravery to bluster the clergy out of
their wives. He made a most gaudy oration in the commendation
of virginity, as one who in his own person knew well how to value
such a jewel — ^by the loss thereof. Most true it is that the same
night, at London, he was caught a-bed with an harlot ; J whereat
he may be presumed to blush as red as his cardinal's hat, if any
remorse of conscience remained in him. What saith Deborah .'' —
" In the days of Shamgar, when the highways were unemployed,"
(obstructed by the Philistines,) " travellers walked through
bypaths," Judges v. 6. The stopping the way of marriage, God's
ordinance, make them frequent such base bypaths, that my pen is
both afraid and ashamed to follow them. Cardinal Creraa's mis
chance (or rather misdeed) not a little advantaged the reputation of
married priests.
• Brit, in Devonshire, t Printed anno 1612, page 383. X Roger Hovedek
and He.\. Huntingdon.

298 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D. 1126: 36.
22. Priests buy their own Wives. A.D. 1126.
Bishops, archbishops, and cardinal, all of them almost tired out
with the "stubbornness of the recusant clergy ; the king at last took
bis tum to reduce them. William Corbell, archbishop of Canter
bury, willingly resigned the work into his king's hand, hoping he
would use some exemplary severity against them. But all ended in
a money-matter ; the king, taking a fine of married priests, per
mitted them to enjoy their wives, as well they might who bought
that which was their own before.
23, 24, Ely-Abbey made a Bishopric, and enriched with
Royalties.
About this time the old abbey of Ely was advanced into a new
bishopric, and Cambridgeshire assigned for its diocess, taken from
the bishopric of Lincoln ; out of which Henry the First carved
one, (Ely,) and Henry the Last two (Oxford and Peterborough)
bishoprics, and yet left Lincoln the largest diocess in England,
Spaldwiek manor in Huntingdonshire was given to Lincoln,
in reparation of the jurisdiction taken from it, and bestowed on
Ely. One Herveyus was made first bishop of Ely ; one who had been
undone, if not undone, banished by the tumultuous Welsh from the
beggariy bishopric of Bangor, and. now (in pity to - his poverty and
patience) made the rich bishop of Ely. It is given to parents to
be most fond of and indulgent to their youngest ; which some,
perchance, may render as a reason why this bishopric, as last-born,
was best-beloved by the king. Surely, he bestowed upon it vast
privileges ; and his successors, cockering this see for their darling,
conferred some of their own royalties thereon,
25, St. David's contest with Canterbury.
Bernard^ chaplain to the king, and chancellor to the queen, was
the first Norman made bishop of St,. David's, Presuming on his
master's favour, and his own merit, he denied subjection to Canter
bury ,*and would be, as anciently had been, an absolute archbishop
of himself. Indeed, St, David's was Christian some hundred of
years whilst Canterbury was yet Pagan ; and could show good
cards (if but permitted fairly to play them) for archi-episcopal
jurisdiction, even in some respect equal to Rome itself. Witness
the ancient rhyming verse, about the proportions of pardons given
to pilgrims for their visiting religious places : — Roma semel quan
tum bis dat Menevia tantum- Not that St, David's gives a peck
of pardons where Rome gives but a gallon, as the words at the first

1 STEPHEN, BOOK III, CENT, XII. 299
blush may seem to import ; but that two pilgrimages to St, David's
should be equal in merit to one pilgrimage to Rome, such was the
conceived holiness of that place,
26, Impar Congressus. AD. 1129,
Giraldus Cambrensis states the case truly and briefly : That
Canterbury hath long prescription, plenty of lawyers to plead her
title, and store of money to pay them ; whereas St, David's is poor,
remote out of the road of preferment ; intimating no less [than]
that, if equally accommodated, she could set on foot as good an
archi-episcopal title as Canterbury itself. But he addeth, that
" except some great alteration happeneth," (understand him, except
Wales recover again into an absolute principality,) " St. David's is
not likely to regain her ancient dignity." William archbishop of
Canterbury, aided by the pope, at last humbled the bishop of St.
David's into a submission ; who, vexed hereat, vnreaked his spleen
on the Welsh clergy ; furiously forcing them to forego their wives.
The successors of this bishop would have been more thankful to his
memory, had he laboured less for the honour, and more preserved
the profits, of his see, whose lands he dilapidated with this his
expensive suit, and on other designs for his own preferment.
26. King Henry's Death. A.D. 1135.
King Henry died in Normandy of a surfeit by eating lampreys ; *
an unwholesome fish, insomuch that Galen, speaking of eels in
general, (whereto lampreys may be reduced,) expostulates with the
gods for giving them so delicious a taste, and so malignant and
dangerous an operation. But grant them never so good, excess is a
venemous string, in the most wholesome flesh, fish, and fowl ; and
it was too great a quantity caused his surfeit. I find him generally
commended for temperance in his diet ; only his palate, his servant
in all other meats, was commonly his master in this dish. He was
buried at Reading, leaving biit one daughter (the sea having
swallowed his sons) surviving him,
27, Stephen usurpeth the Crown on a silly Title. 1 Stephen,
Stephen, earl of Boulogne, hearing of Henry's death, hasteth
over into England, (December 2nd,) and seizeth on the crown.
All his title unto it was this : First, Maud, the true heir thereof,
was a female. Secondly, Absent beyond the seas. Thirdly.
Married to a foreigner. Fourthly. No very potent prince, namely,
Geoffrey Plantagenet earl of Anjou, whose landlock-situation
rendered him less formidable for any effectual impression on this
• Mat. Paris, page 73,

300 CHURCH HISTORY OF BllITAIN, 'A.D

1135:

island. Lastly, He was son to Adela, daughter to king William
the Conqueror, though a male deriving his title from a female ;
conceiving himself, the daughter's son, to be preferred before
Maud, the son's daughter. Indeed, Stephen had an elder brother,
Theobald earl of Blois ; but he chose a quiet county before a cum
bersome kingdom ; the enjoyment of his own, rather than invasion
of another's inheritance, seeing Maud was the undoubted heir of the
English crown. 28, Maud the fourth.
This Maud, I may call, Maud the fourth ; yea, England had no
queen of another name since the conquest which left any issue,
1, Maud I, wife to king William the Conqueror, 2. Maud II,
daughter to Malcolm king of Scots, wife to king Henry I, 3,
Maud III, wife to king Stephen, 4, Maud IV, daughter to king
Henry I, and in right queen of England, This last Maud was
first married to Henry IV, emperor of Germany ; and after his
death was constantly called " the empress," by the courtesy of
Christendom, though married to earl Geoffrey, her second husband.
To her all the clergy and nobility had sworn fealty, in her fathers
life-time, 29. The Perjury of the Clergy.
William, archbishop of Canterbury, notwithstanding his oath to
Maud, solemnly crowned Stephen, December 26th ; and, in the
same act, showed himself perjured to his God, disloyal to his
princess, and ungrateful to his patroness, by whose special favour he
had been preferred. The rest of the bishops, to their shame,
followed his example ; dealing with oaths, as seamen with the points
in the compass, saying them forwards and backwards. Indeed,
covetousness and pride prompted this disloyalty unto them, hoping
to obtain of an usurper what they despaired to get from a lawful
king. For, their modesty (and that little enough) in asking was
all Stephen's measure in giving ; resolving with himself, for the
present, to grant what should please them, and at leisure to perform
what should please himself. Let him now get but the stump of
a crown, and, with wise watering thereof, it would sprout afterwards.
Hence was it that he granted the bishops liberty to ^uild and
hold many castles, freedom in forests, investiture from the pope^
with many other immunities, which hitherto the clergy never
obtained. All things thus seemingly settled, yet great was the
difference of judgments in the English concerning king Stephen,
which afterwards discovered themselves in the variety of men's
practices.

1 STEPHEN, BOOK III, CENT, XII, 301
30. Variety of People's Opinions.
Some acted vigorously for Stephen, conceiving possession of a
crown createth a right unto it. Where shall private persons, unable
of themselves to trace the intricacies of princes' titles, fix their loy-
"alty more safely than on him whom success tendereth unto them for
their sovereign .'' God doth not now, as anciently, visibly or audibly
discover himself ; we must therefore, now only look and listen to what
he showeth and saith by his voice, in the success of things, whereby
alone he expresseth his pleasure, — what he owneth or disclaimeth.
This their judgment was crossed by others, who distinguished
betwixt Heaven's permission and consent ; God sometimes suffering
them to have power to compel, to whom he never gave authority to
command, 31. Pro and Confer King Stephen.
But some urged, that " Stephen was declared lawful king by
popular consent ;" which, at this time, could alone form a legal
right to any in this island. For Maud, Stephen's cor-rival, in vain
pretended succession, seeing the crown, since the Conquest, never
observed a regular, but an uncertain and desultory motion. Nor
was it directed to go on by the straight line of primogeniture,
which leaped over the Conqueror's eldest to his second son ; then,
taking a new rise, from the eldest still surviving, to Henry's third
son. Here no chain of succession could be pleaded, where no two
links followed in order. But others answered, that "such popular
election of Stephen had been of validity, if the electors had been at
liberty ; whereas they, being pre-engaged to Maud by a former
oath, could not again dispose of those their votes, which formerly
they had passed away,"
32. A second Party, with their Opposers.
Others conceived, that the stain of Stephen's usurpation in getting
the crown was afterward scoured clean out by his long (more than
eighteen years') enjoying thereof. For, suppose Providence for a
time may wink and connive, yet it cannot be conceived in so long a
slumber, — yea, a sleep, yea, a lethargy, — as to permit one peaceably
so long to possess a throne, except Heaven had particularly designed
him for the same. To this others answered, that " Stephen all that
time rather possessed than enjoyed the crown, al^irmed all his life
long by Maud and her son ; so that he had as little quiet in, as
right to, the kingdom," But, grant his possession thereof never so
peaceable ; what at first was foundered in the foundation could not
be made firm by any height of superstructure thereupon. An error
by continuance of time can never become a truth, but the more
inveterate error.

302 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1135, 6.
33. A third, with theirs.
A third sort maintained, that " subjects' loyalty is founded on
their sovereign's protection ; so that both sink together. Seeing,
therefore, Maud was unable to afford her people protection, her
people were bound to no longer allegiance." But this position was
disproved by such, who, bottoming allegiance only on conscience,
make protection but the encouragement, not the cause, thereof.
They distinguished also betwixt a prince's wilful deserting his
people, and his inability to protect them ; not through his own
default, but the forcible prevailing of others. Thus the conjugal
tie is only dissolved by the party's voluntary uncleanness ; and not
by his or'her adventitious impotency to render due benevolence.
34, A fourth, with theirs.
A fourth party avouched that " Maud (though not actually and
openly, yet) tacitly and interpretatively released the English from
their allegiance unto her. For, what prince can be presumed so
tyrannical as to tie up people to the strict terms of loyalty unto
him, when the same is apparently destructive unto them, and no
whit advantageous to himself.'" But others disliked this position ;
for, where did any such relaxation appear .'' It cancelleth not the
obligation of a debtor, to fanc'v to himself an acquittance from his
creditor, which cannot be produced,
35, Some act at, not for. King Stephen's Commands,
Some acted at the commands, though not for the commands, of
king Stephen ; namely, in such things wherein his injunctions con
curred with equity, charity, and order, consistent with the principles
of public utility and self-preservation. These, having the happiness
to be commanded by an usurper to do that which, otherwise, they
would have done of themselves, did not discover themselves to act
out bf their o'wn inclinations, whilst it passed unsuspected in the
notion of their obedience to king Stephen. Thus many thousands
under the happy conduct (or at leastwise contrivance) of Thurstan,
archbishop of York, though in their hearts well-affected to Maud's
title, unanimously resisted David king of Scots, though he pretended
recuperative arms in queen Maud's behalf ; under which specious
title, he barbarously committed abominable cruelties, till nettled
therewith, both Stephanists and Maudists jointly bade him battle,
and overthrew him, nigh Allerton in Yorkshire,
36, Politic Patience.
All generally bare the burdens, and no less politicly than
patiently paid all taxes imposed upon them. Recusancy in this

2 STEPHEN, BOOK III, CENT. XII. 303-
kind had but armed king Stephen with a specious pretence to take
alt from them, for refusing to give a part. Nor scrupled they
hereat, because thereby they strengthened his usurpation against the
rightful heir, because done against their wills, and to prevent a
greater mischief. Mean time they had a reservation of their loyalty ;
and, erecting a throne in their hearts, with their prayers and tears
mounted queen Maud on the same.
37. Robert Earl of Gloucester singular.
Robert, earl of Gloucester, (the queen's half-brother,) may even
make up a form by himself, finding none other before or after him
of the same opinion ; who conditionally did homage to king
Stephen, scilicet, si dignitatem suam sibi servaret illibatam,*
namely, " So long as he preserved this Robert's dignity" (for so I
understand the pronoun's reciprocation) " to be inviolated,"
38, Highly conscientious.
A few there were, whose relucting consciences remonstrated
against the least compliance with king Stephen ; whose high loy
alty to Maud, interpreted all passiveness under an usurper to
be activity against the right heir. These even quitted their lands
in England to the tempest of times ; and secretly conveyed them
selves, with the most incorporeal of their estates, (as occupying the
least room in their waftage over,) into Normandy.
39. An honest Revolt of the Clergy. A.D. 1136,
The clergy, perceiving that king Stephen performed little of his
large promises unto them, were not formerly so forward in setting
him up, but now more fierce in plucking him down, and sided effec
tually with Maud against him : an act which the judicious behold,
not as a crooked deed bowing them from their last, but as an
upright one straightening them to. their first and best, oath, made
to this Maud in the life-time of her father. But Stephen, resolved
to hold with a strong what he had got with a wrong hand, fell vio
lently on the bishops, who then were most powerful in the land ;
every prime one having as a cathedral for his devotion, so many
manors for his profit, parks for his pleasure, and castles for his pro
tection ; and he uncastled Roger of Salisbury, Alexander of Lin
coln, and Nigellus of Ely, taking also a great mass of treasure from
them, 40, Canons of Paul's soundly paid.
Most fiercely fell the fury of king Stephen on the dean and
canons of Paul's, for crossing him in the choice of their bishop.
• Mat, Paris, page 75.

304 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A,D, 1136 9,
For he, sent, and took their focarias,* and cast them into London-
tower ; where they continued many days, not without much scorn
and disgrace, till at last those canons ransomed their liberty at a
great rate, 41. What Focaries were.
What these /ocaritE were, we conceive it no disgrace to confess
our ignorance ; the word not appearing in any classical author, and
we must by degrees screw ourselves into the sense thereof. 1, It
signifieth some female persons, the gender of the word discovering
so much, 2. They were near to the canons, who had" a high cour
tesy for them, as appears by procuring their liberty at so dear a
price, 3, Yet the word speaks not the least relation of affinity or.
consanguinity unto them, 4, All the light we can get in this
focaries, is from some sparks of flre which we behold in the word,
so as if these shes were " nymphs of the chimney," or " fire-makers "
to these canons. If so, surely they had their holiday-clothes on,
when sent to the tower, (kitchen-stuff doth not use to be tried in
that place,) and were considerable, if not in themselves, in the
affections of others. And now, well fare the heart of Roger
Hoveden,-|- who plainly tells us, that these focarice were these
canons' concubines. See here the fruit of forbidding marriage to
the clergy, against the law of God and nature ! What saith the
apostle ,'— " It is better to marry than to burn," 1 Cor, vii, 9 ; or,
which is the same in effect, " It is better to have a wife than a
fire-maker," 42. A Synod at Westminster. A.D. 1138.
Albericus, bishop of Hostia, came post from Rome, sent by
pope Innocent II, into England ; called a synod at Westminster,
(December 13th,) where eighteen bishops and thirty abbots met
together. Here was concluded, that no priest, deacon, or sub-
deacon, should hold a wife, or woman, within his house, under pain
of degrading from his Christendom, and plain sending to hell ; that
no priest's son should claim any spiritual living by heritage ; that
none should take a benefice of any layman ; that none were
admitted to cure which had not the letters of his Orders ; that
priests should do no bodily labour ; and that their transubstantiated
God should dwell but eight days in the box, for fear of worm-
eating, moulding, or stinking ; with such like. In this synod,
Theobald, abbot of Becco, was chosen archbishop of Canterbury,
in the place of William lately deceased,
• RoDOLPHUs De Diceto in hunc annum. \ In anno 1191.

5 STEPHEN. BOOK III. CENT, XU, 305
43. Henry of Winchester, England's Arch-Prelate.
The most considerable clergyman of England in this age, for
birth, wealth, and learning, was Henry of Blois, bishop of Win
chester, and brother to king Stephen, He was by the pope made
his legate for Britain, and outshined Theobald the archbishop of
Canterbury. For, although Theobald just at this time was aug
mented with the title of Legatus natus, (which from him was
entailed on his successors in that see,) yet this Henry of Blois,
being for the present Legatus factus, out-lustred the other as far
as an extraordinary ambassador doth a leger of the same nation.
In this Henry two interests did meet and contend ; that of a
brother, and that of a bishop ; but the latter clearly got the con
quest, as may appear by the council he called at Winchester, a.d,
1139, wherein the king himself was summoned to appear. Yea,
some make Stephen personally appearing therein ; — a dangerous
precedent, to plead the cause of the crown before a conventicle of
his own subjects : so that, to secure Rome of supremacy in appeals,
he suffered a recovery thereof against his own person in a court of
record loosing of himself to save the crown thereby unto himself.
But William of Malmesbury, present at the council, (and, there
fore, his testimony is to be preferred before others,) mentions only
three parties in the place present there with their attendance : — 1.
Roger of Salisbury, with the rest of the bishops, grievously com
plaining of their castles taken from them, 2, Henry bishop of
Winchester, the pope's legate, and president of the council ; with
Theobald archbishop of Canterbury pretending to umpire matters in
a moderate way, 3, Hugh archbishop of Roan, and Aubery de
Vere, (ancestor to the earl of Oxford,) as advocate for king Stephen.
This Aubery de Vere seems learned in the laws, being charactered
by my author,* homo causarum varietatibus exercitatus, " a man
well-versed in the windings of causes."
44. The issueless Issue of the Synod at Winchester.
In this synod, first, the commission of pope Innocent II, was
read, empowering the said Henry bishop of Winchester with a
legative authority. Then the legate made a sermon ; latiariter,
which is, as I conceive, " in the Latin tongue," We find not his
text ; but know this was the subject of his discourse, — to inveigh
against king Stephen depriving those bishops of their castles.
Sermon ended, the king's advocates, or true subjects rather, (many
making them to speak only out of the dictates of their own loyalty,
and not to plead by deputation from the king,) made his defence, —
• "William Malmesbury Hist. Novel, lib. ii.'page 183,
Vol,. I, X

306 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1139 — 53.
that bishops could not canonically hold castles, and that the king
had despoiled them of their treasure, not as episcopal persons, but
as they were his lay-offices, advised thereto liy his own security.
The bishops returned much for themselves, and, in fine, the synod
brake up without any extraordinary matter effected. For, soon
after, a.d. 1140, came queen Maud with her navy and army out of
Normandy, which turned debates into deeds, and consultations into
actions. But we leave the readers to be satisfied about the almna-
tion of success betwixt king Stephen and Maud, to the historians of
our state. There may they read of Maud's strange escapes, when
avoiding death, by being believed dead, (otherwise she had proved
in her grave, if not pretended in a coffin,) when getting out in
white linen, under the protection of snow : I say, how afterwards,
A.D, 1141, both king Stephen and Robert earl of Gloucester were
taken prisoners, and given in exchange, the one for the liberty of
the other ; with many such memorable passages, the reader may
stock himself from the pens of the civil historians, the proper
relaters thereof,
45, Why Plenty of religious Foundations in these martial
Days.
It is strange to conceive how men could be at leisure, in the
troublesome reign of king Stephen, to build and endow so many
religious foundations ; except any will say, that "men being (as
mortal in peace) most dying in war, the devotions of those days
(maintaining such deeds meritorious for their souls) made all in that
martial age most active in such employments," Not to speak of
the monastery of St, Mary de Pratis, founded by Robert, earl of
Leicester, a,d, 1144, and many others of this time; the goodly
hospital of St, Katherine's, nigh London, was founded by Maud,
wife to king Stephen, though others assign the same to Robert de
Querceto, bishop of Lincoln, as founder thereof So stately was
the choir of this hospital, that it was not much inferior to that of
St, Paul's in London,* when taken down in the days of queen
Elizabeth, by Dr, Thomas Wilson, the master thereof, and
secretary of state,
46, Religious Houses founded by King Stephen.
Yea, king Stephen himself was a very great founder, St, Stephen
was his tutelary saint, though he never learned his usurpation from
the patient example of that martyr ; whose name he bore, on whose
day he was crowned, to whose honour he erected St, Stephen's
chapel in Westminster, near the place where lately the Court of
• Stow's "Survey of London," page 117,

19 STETHEN. BOOK III, CENT, XII. 307
Request was kept. He built also the Cist'crtians' monastery in
Feversham ; with an hospital near the West-gate in York. And
whereas formerly there were paid out of every ploughland in
England, betwixt Trent and Edinburgh-Frith, twenty four oat-
sheaves for the king's hounds ;* Stephen converted this rent-charge
to his new-built hospital in York : a good deed no doubt ; for,
though it be unlawful to " take the children's bread and to cast it
unto the dogs," Mark vii. 27 ; it is lawful to take the dogs' bread,
and to give it unto the children.
47. The Constancy of Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury.
A.D. 1150.
The king, being desirous to settle sovereignty on his son Eustace,
earnestly urged Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, to crown hiin.
For Stephen saw that fealty, barely sworn to Maud in her father's
life-time, was afterwards broken ; and, therefore, (his own guilt
making him the more suspicious,) for the better assurance of his
son's succession, he would go one step farther, endeavouring to
make him actual king in his own life-time. But the archbishop
stoutly refused, though proscribed for the same, and forced to fly
the land, till after some time he was reconciled to the king.
48. The seasonable Death of Prince Eustace. A.D. 1153.
Eustace, the king's son, died of a frenzy, as going to plunder the
lands of Bury Abbey.-]- A death untimely in reference to his
youthful years, but timely and seasonably in relation to the good of
the land. If conjecture may be made from his turbulent spirit,
coining to the crown, he would have added tyranny to his usurpa
tion. His feither Stephen begins now to consider, how he himself
was old, his son deceased, his subjects wearied, his land wasted
with war ; which considerations, improved by the endeavours of
Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, and God's blessing on both,
produced an agreement between king Stephen and Henry duke of
Normandy, the former holding the crown for his life, and after his
death settling the same on Henry, his adopted son and successor.
49. An Englishman Pope.
We have now gotten (to our great credit and comfort no doubt)
an Englishman pope ; namely, Nicholas Breakspear, alias Adrian
IV. Born, saith my author,^ nigh Uxbridge in Middlesex, of the
ancient and martial family of the Breakspears ; though others §
make him no better than a bastard of an abbot of St, Alban's ; the
* Stow in the end of king Stephen's Life, t Mat, Paris in this year,
t Camden in Middlesex. 5 Bale in " English Votaries," fol. 85.
X 2

308 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1154,
abbot of which convent he confirmed the first in place of all in
England. If I miscount not, we never had but four popes and a half
(I mean cardinal Pole, pope-elect) of our nation. And yet of them,
one too many (will the papists say) if pope Joan (as some esteem
her) were an Englishwoman. Yea, lately, (the elected following
the pbirality of the electors,) they have almost engrossed the papacy
to the Italians, Our Adrian had but bad success, choked to death
with a fly in his throat. Thus any thing next nothing, be it but
advantageously planted, is big enough to batter man's life down to
the ground. 50. Geoffrey Monmouth defended.
Geoffrey ap Arthur, commonly called, from his native place,
Geoffrey of Monmouth, was now bishop of St, Asaph, He is the
Welsh Herodotus, the father of ancient history and fables ; for| he
who will have the first must have the latter, Polydore Virgil
accuseth him of many falsehoods ; (so hard it is to halt before a
cripple ;) who, notwithstanding, by others is defended, because but
a translator, and not the original reporter. For a translator tells a
lie in telling no He, if wilfully varying from that copy which he
promiseth faithfully to render. And if he truly tianslates what he
finds, his duty is done, and is to be charged no further. Otherwise,
the credit of the best translator may be cracked, if himself become
security for the truth of all that he takes on trust from the pens of
Dtlieis. 51. The Death of King Stephen. A.D. 1154,
King Stephen ended his troublesome life : a prince, who if he
had come in by the door, the best room in the house had not been
too good to entertain him. Whereas now the addition, " usurper,"
afl[ixed generally to his name, corrupts his valour into cruelty, ,
devotion into hypocrisy, bounty into flattery and design. Yet, be
it known to all, though he lived an usurper, he died a lawful king ;
for, what fonnerly he held from the rightful heir by violence, at
his death he held under him by a mutual composition. He was
buried with his son and wife, at Feversham in Kent, in a monastery
of his own building. At the demolishing whereof, in the reign of
king Henry VIII, some,* to gain the lead wherein he was -m-apped,
cast his corpse into the sea. Thus sacrilege will not only feast on
gold and silver, but (when sharp-set) will feed on meaner metals,
52, Sobriquets, what they were. 1 Henry II.
Henry II, succeeded him, known by a triple surname ; two
personal and ending with himself, " Fitz-empress," and " Short-
• Stow in the end of his Life.

1 HENRV II, BOOK III, CENT, Xll, , 309
mantle ;" the other hereditary, fetched from Geoffrey his father,
and transmitted to his posterity, Plantagenet, or Plantagenest,*
This name was one of the sobriquets, or penitential nicknames,
which great persons about this time, posting to the Holy War in
Palestine, either assumed to themselves, or had by the pope or their
confessors imposed upon them, purposely to disguise and obscure
their lustre therewith. See more of the same kind : — 1, Berger,
"a shepherd," 2, Grise-gonelle, "gray-coat," 3, Teste de estoupe,
"head of tow," 4, Arbust, " a shrub," 5. Martel, "a hammer,"
6, Grand-bcBufe, " ox-face," 7- La-zouch, " a branch upon a
stem." 8. Houlet, " a sheep -hook." 9. Hapkin, " a hatchet."
10, Chapelt, "a hood," 11, Sans-terr, "lack-land," 12.
Malduit, " Ill-taught." 13, Juvencas, geffard, or " heifer."
14. Fitx deflaw, " son of a flail." 15, Plantagenist, " stalk of a
broom," Thus these great persons accounted the penance of their
pilgrimage, with the merit thereof, doubled, when, passing for poor
inconsiderable fellows, they denied their own places and persons.
But, be it reported to others, whether this be proper and kindly
evangelical self denial, so often commended to the practice of
Christians. However, some of these by-names, assumed by their
fanciful devotion, remained many years after to them and theirs ;
amongst which Plantagenist was entailed on the royal blood of
England. 53, King Henry's Character.
This king Henry was wise, valiant, and generally fortunate.
His faults were such as speak him man, rather than a vicious one.
Wisdom enough he had for his work, and work enough for his
wisdom, being troubled in all his relations. His wife queen
Eleanor brought a great portion, (fair provinces in France,) and a,
great stomach with her ; so that it was questionable, whether her
froward spirit more drave her husband away from her chaste, or
Rosamond's fair face more drew him to her wanton, embraces. His
sons (having much of the mother in them) grew up, as in age, in
obstinacy against him. His subjects, but especially the bishops,
(being the greatest castle-mongers in that age,) very stubborn and
not easily to be ordered,
54, What became of Maud the Empress.
Mean time one may justly admire, that no mention in authors is
made of, nor provisions for, Maud the king's mother, surviving some
years after her son's coronation ; in whom, during her life, lay the
real right to the crown. Yet say not king Henry's policy was
* Alias Plantagenist.

310 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 1154  6I-.
little in preferring to take his title from an usurper by adoption,
rather than from his own mother, the rightful heir, by succession ;
and his piety less, in not attending his mother's death, but snatch
ing the sceptre out of her hand, seeing no writer ever chargeth him
with the least degree of undutifulness unto her. Which leadeth us
to believe, that this Maud, worn out with age and afflictions,
willingly waved the crown, and reigned in her own contentnient, in
seeing her son reign before her.
55. The Body of the Common-Law compiled. A,D.li55.
Those who are most able to advise themselves are most willing to
be advised by others, as appeared by this politic prince. Presently
he chooseth a privy council of clergy and temporalty, and refineth
the common laws ; yea, towards the end of his reign began the use
of our itinerant judges. The platform hereof he fetched from
France, where he had his education, and where Charles the Bald,
some hundred of years before, had divided his land into twelve
parts, assigning several judges for administration of justice therein.
Our Henry parcelled England into six divisions, and appointed
three judges to every circuit, annually to visit the same. Succeed
ing kings, though changing the limits, have kept the same number
of circuits ; and let the skilful in arithmetic cast it up, whether our
nation receiveth any loss, by the change of three judges every year,
according to Henry the Second's institution, into two judges twice a
year, as long since hath been accustomed.
56. Castles demolished. A.D. 1156.
The laws thus settled, king Henry cast his eye on the numerous
castles in England, As a good reason of state formerly persuaded
the building, so a better pleaded now for the demolishing of them.
William the Conqueror built most of them, and then put them into
the custody of his Norman lords, thereby to awe the English into
obedience. But these, Norman lords in the next generation, by
breathing in English air, and wedding with English wives, became
so perfectly Anglicised and lovers of liberty, that they would stand
on their guard against the king, on any petty discontentment. If their
castles (which were of proof against bows and arrows, the artillery of
that age) could but bear the brunt of a sudden assault, they were
privileged from any solemn siege by their meanness and multitude,
as whose several beleaguerings would not compensate the cost
thereof. Thus, as in foul bodies the physic in process of time
groweth so friendly and familiar with the disease, that they at last
side together, and both take part against nature in the patient ; so
here it cainc to pass, that these castles, intended for the quenching,

8 HENRY II, BOOK, III, CENT, XII, 311
in continuance of time occasioned the kindling, of rebellion. To
prevent farther mischief, king Henry razed most of them to the
ground, and secured the rest of greater consequence into the hands
of his confidants. If any ask, how these castles belong to our
Church-History ; know, that bishops, of all in that age, were the
greatest traders in such fortifications,
57. Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor of England.
Thomas Becket, born in London, and (though as yet but a
deacon) archdeacon of Canterbury, doctor of canon-law, bred in the
universities of Oxford, Paris, Bononia, was by the king made lord
chancellor of England, During which his office, who braver than
Becket .'' None in the court wore more costly clothes, mounted
more stately steeds, made more sumptuous feasts, kept more jovial
company, brake more merry jests, used more pleasant pastimes. In
a word, he was so perfect a layman, that his parsonages of Brom-
field, and St, Mary-hill in London, with other ecclesiastical cures,
whereof he was pastor, might even look all to themselves, he taking
no care to discharge them. This is that Becket whose mention is
so much in English, and miracles so many in popish writers. We
will contract his acts in proportion to our History, remitting the
reader to be satisfied in the rest from other authors,
58, His great Reformation, being made Archbishop of
Canterbury. A.D. 1162.
Four years after, upon the death of Theobald, Becket was made
by the king archbishop of Canterbury ; the first Englishman since
the Conquest, (and he but a mongrel, for his mother was a Syrian,
the intercourse of the Holy War in that age making matches
betwixt many strangers,) who was preferred to that place. And
now (if the monks' writing his Life may be believed) followed in
him a great and strange metamorphosis. Instantly his clothes were
reformed to gravity, his diet reduced to necessity, his company con
fined to the clergy, his expenses contracted to frugality, his mirth
retrenched to austerity ; all his pastimes so devoured by his piety,
that none could see the former chancellor Becket in the present
archbishop Becket, Yea, they report, that his clothes were built
three stories high ; next his skin he was a hermit, and wore sack
cloth ; in the mid he had the habit of a monk ; and above all wore
the garments of an archbishop. Now, that he might the more
effectually attend his archi-episcopal charge, he resigned his chan
cellor's place ; whereat the king was not a little offended. It added
to his anger, that his patience was daily pressed with the impor
tunate petitions of people complaining, that "Becket injured them ;

312 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 1162  64.
though, generally, he did but recover to his church such possessions
as, by their covetousness, and his predecessors' connivance, had for
merly been detained from it.
59. A stubborn Defender of ihe vicious Clergy, against secular
Magistrates.
But the main matter incensing the king against him, was, his
stubborn defending the clergy from the secular power ; and parti
cularly, (what a great, fire doth a small spark kindle !) that a clerk,
having killed and stolen a deer, ought not to be brought before the
civil magistrate for his punishment. Such impunities, breeding
impieties, turned " the house of God into a den of thieves : " many
rapes, riots, robberies, murders, were then committed by the clergy.
If it be rendered as a reason of the viciousness of Adonijah, that
his father never said unto him, " Why doest thou so .''" 1 Kings i. 6 ;
no wonder if the clergy of this age were guilty of great crimes, whom
neither the king nor his judges durst call to an account. And, seeing
ecclesiastical censures extend not to the taking away of life or limb,
such clerks as were guilty of capital faults were either altogether
acquitted, or had only penance inflicted upon them ; a punishment
far lighter than the offence did deserve. Indeed, it is most meet,
in matters merely ecclesiastical, touching the word and sacraments,
clergymen be only answerable for their faults to their spiritual
superiors, as niost proper and best able to discern and censure the
same. And in cases criminal, it is unfit that ministers should be
summoned before each proud, pettish, petulant, pragmatical, secu
lar, under-oflBcer, However, in such causes to be wholly exempted
from civil power, is a privilege which with reason cannot be desired
of them, nor with justice indulged unto them. Sure I am,
Abiathar, though high priest, was convented before and deposed by
Solomon for his practising of treason. And St, Paul saith, " Let
every soul be subject to the higher powers," Rom. xiii, 1,
60, He incurs the King's Displeasure. A.D. 1164,
To retrench these enormities of the clergy, the king called a
parliament at Clarendon, near Salisbury, (and not in Normandy,
as Mr, Fox will have it,) intending, with the consent of his great
council, to confirm some severe laws of his grandfather, king
Henry I, To these laws, sixteen in number,* Becket, with the
rest of the bishops, consented, and subscribed them. But after
wards, recanting his own act, renounced the same. Let not
therefore the crime of inconstancy be laid too heavily to the charge
' See them at large iu Matthew Paris.

10 HENRY II, BOOK III, CENT. XII. 313
of archbishop Cranmer, first subscribing then revoking popish
articles presented unto him ; seeing this his name-sake Thomas,
and predecessor Becket, without any stain to his saintship
retracted his own act, upon pretence of better information. But
so highly was Becket offended with himself for his subscription,
that, in revenge, for some months, he suspended himself from all
Divine service, (his pride and laziness, both before and after, sus
pended him from ever preaching,) and would not be present thereat.
Hereafter let none hope for more favour from this archbishop than
their fact may deserve ; seeing he cannot rationally be expected to
be courteous to others, who was so severe unto himself. The best
was, in this his suspension the knot was not tied so hard as to hurt
him ; who, in case of necessity, as he had bound so he could
loose himself; though, for the more state of the matter, pope
Alexander himself was pleased solemnly to assoil him from his
suspension.* Mean time Becket, both in his suspension and abso
lution, most highly offended king Henry, who every day the more
was alienated from and incensed against him.
61. The Vanity of Becket's Path.
Dm'ing Becket's abode about Clarendon, he is reported every
morning to have walked from his lodging, some miles, to the king's
palace ; where the ground, say they, called " Becket's path," at this
day presenteth itself to the eyes of the beholders, (but most quick-
sighted, if looking through popish spectacles,) with the grass and
grain growing thereon, in a different hue and colour from the rest :
a thing having in it more of report than truth ; yet more of truth
than wonder ; the discolorations of such veins of earth being com
mon in grounds elsewhere, which never had the happiness of
Becket's feet to go upon them.
62, He flieth beyond Sea, without the King's Consent.
But O ! if Becket's feet had left bnt the like impression in all the
ways he went, how easy had it been for all men's eyes, and par
ticularly for our pen, to have tracked him in all his travels ; who,
not long after, without the consent of the king, took ship, sailed
into Flanders, thence travelled into the southern parts of France,
thence to Pontiniac, thence to Sens, abiding seven years in banish
ment. But, though he served an apprenticeship in exile, he leamed
little humility thereby, only altering his name, for his more safety,
from Becket to Derman ; but retaining all his old nature, remitting
nothing of his rigid resolutions,
* Fox'b " Monuments." See the letter at lai'ge, page 269.

314 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 116a ^"0,
63, How employed in his Banishment. A.D. 1165,
Now, to avoid idleness, Becket, in his banishment, variously
employed himself. First, In making and widening breaches
between Henry his native sovereign, and Lewis the French king.
Secondly. In writing many voluminous letters* of expostulation to
princes and prelates. Thirdly. In letting fly his heavy excommu
nications against the English clergy ; namely, against Roger, arch
bishop of York ; Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London, a leameder
man than himself; Joceline, bishop of Salisbury, and others. His
chief quarrel with them was their adherence to the king ;. and par
ticulariy, because the archbishop presumed to crown Henry the
king's son, made joint king in the life of his father ; a privilege
which Becket claimed as proper to himself alone. Fourthly, In
receiving comfort from, and returning it to, pope Alexander at
Beneventum in Italy, Sameness of aflSiction bred sympathy of
affection betwixt them, both being banished; the pope by Frederick
Barbarossa, the emperor, for his pride and insolency ; as our Becket
smarted for the same fault from king Henry, Here also Becket
solemnly resigned his archbishopric to the pope, as troubled in con
science that he had formerly taken it as illegally from the king ; and
the pope again restored it to him, whereby all scruples in his mind
were fully satisfied, 64, Is reconciled to the King. A.D. IWJ.
But afterwards, by mediation of friends, Becket's reconciliation
was wrought, and leave given him to return into England. How
ever, the king still retained his temporals in his hand, on weighty
considerations ; namely, to show their distinct nature from the
spirituals of the archbishopric, to which alone the pope could restore
him ; lay lands being separable from the same, as the favour of
secular princes ; and Becket's bowed knee must own the king's.
bountiful hand, before he could receive them. Besides, it would be
a caution for his good behaviour.
65. ^Returns as obstinate as he went over. A.D. 11 70,
Caelum non animum. Travellers change climates, not con
ditions. Witness our Becket ; stubborn he went over, stubborn
he staid, stubborn he returned. Amongst many things which the
king desired and he denied, he refused to restore the excommu
nicated bishops, pretending he had no power, (indeed, he had no
will,) and that they were excommunicate by his Holiness, Yea,
he, instead of recalling his old, added new excommunications ; and
* See them exemplified at large in Stapleton Dc Tribus Thomis.

16 HENRY II. BOOK HI. CENT. XII. 315
that thunder which long before rumbled in his threatenings, now
gave the crack upon all those that detained his temporal revenues.
Roger Hoveden* reports, that upon Christmas-day (the better day
the better deed) he excommunicated Robert de Broc, because the
day before he had cut off one of his horses' tails. Yea, he continued
and increased his insolence against the king and all his subjects.
66. Is slain by four Knights in his own Church.
Here the king let fall some discontented words, which instantly
were catched up in the eais of some courtiers attending him. He
complained that never sovereign kept such lazy subjects and servants,
neither concerned in their king's credit, nor sensible of his favours
conferred on them, to suffer a proud prelate so saucily to affront
him : (now, a low halloo, and a less clap with the hand, will • set
fierce dogs on worrying their prey :) a quarternion of courtiers being
present ; namely, 1. Sir Richard Breton, of which name (as I take
it) a good family at this day is extant in Northamptonshire. 2. Sir
Hugh Morvil of Kirk-Oswald in Cumberland, where his sword -|-
wherewith he slew Becket, was kept a long time, in memorial of his
fact. His family at this day extinct. 3. Sir William Tracey,
whose heirs at this day flourish, in a worthy and worshipful equipage,
at Todington in Gloucestershire, 4, Sir Reginald Fitz-Urse, or,
" Bear's-son,":[: His posterity was afterwards men of great lands
and command, in the county of Monaghan in Ireland, being there
called Mac-Mahon,§ which in Irish signifieth " the son of a bear,"
These four knights, applying the king's general reproof to them
selves, in their preproperous passions mis-interpreted his complaint,
not only for Becket's legal condemnation, but also for their warrant for
his execution. Presently they post to Canterbury, December 28th,
where they find Becket in a part of his church, (since called the
Martyrdom,) who, though warned of their coming, and advised to
avoid them, would not decline them ; so that he may seem to have
more mind to be killed, than they had to kill him. Here happened
high expostulation, they requiring restitution of the excommunicated
bishops ; whose peremptory demands met with his pertinacious
denials, as then not willing to take notice of Solomon's counsel,
"A soft answer pacifieth wrath," , Prov. xv, 1, Brawls breed
blows ; and all four falling upon him, with the help of the fifth, an
officer of the church, called " Hugh, the ill clerk," each gave him a
wound, though that with the sword dispatched him, which cut off
his crown from the rest of his head,
• Parte posteriori Henrici Secundi, page 521, t Camveh's Britannia in Cumberland,
page 777. t Others call liim Walter. % Camden's Brilanniam Ireland,
page 107.

316 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAI.N', A,D. 1170  4,
67. Various Censures on his Death.
A barbarous murder, and which none will go about to excuse, but
much heightened both by the prose and poetry (good and bad) of
popish writers in that age. Of the last and worst sort, I account
that distich, not worthy the translating, one verse whereof, on each
leaf of the door of Canterbury choir, is yet legible in part : —
Est sacer intra locus, venerabilis, atque beatus,
PrcESul ubi sanctus Thomas est martyrizattis.'
But, if he were no truer a martyr than martyrizatus is true posi
tion, his memory might be much suspected. More did the Muses
smile on the author of the following verses : —
Pro Christi sponsd, Christi sub tempore, Christi
In templo, Christi verus amator obit.
Quis moritur ? Priesul. Cur ? Pro grcge. Qualiter ? Ense.
Quando ? Natali. Quis locus ? Ara Dei. "
" For Christ his spouse, in Christ church, at the tide
Of Christ his birth, Christ hid true lover died. ^
Who dies 1 A priest. Why ? For 's flock. How ? By th' sword.
When? At Christ's birth. Where? Altar'of the Lord,"
Here I understand not, how properly it can be said, that Becket
died pro grege, " for his flock," He did not die for feeding his
flock, for any fundamental point of religion, or for defending his
flock against the wolf of any dangerous doctrine ; but merely he
died for his flock ; namely, that the sheep thereof (though ever so
scabbed) might not be dressed with tar, and other proper (but sharp
and smarting) medicines ; I mean, that the clergy might not he
punished by the secular power for their criminal enormities. Sure
I am, a learned and moderate writer -f of that age passeth this cha
racter upon him : Ques ab ipso acta sunt laudanda nequaquam
censuerim, licet ex laudabili zelo processerint : " Such things as
were done by him I conceive not at all to be praised, though they
proceeded from a laudable zeal." But Stapleton \ calls this his
judgment, audacis monachi censura non fam politica, qUdm
plane ethnlca, " the censure of a bold monk, not so much politic
as heathenish." Should another add of Stapleton, that " this his
verdict is the unchristian censure of a proud and partial Jesuit ;"
railing would but beget railing ; and so it is better to remit all to
" the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,"
Rom, ii, 5.
68, The heavy Penance performed by King Henry.
Now king Henry, though unable to revive Becket, showed as
much sorrow himself for his death, as a living man could express;
• William Sojiner in his " Antiquities of Canterbm-y," page 166. f Gulielmus
NuBRiGiENSis, t In tribus Thomis.

20 HENRY II, BOOK III, CENT, XII. 317
and did the other as much honour as a dead man could receive.
First, Searching after all his kindred, (as most capable of his
kindness,) he found out his two sisters : One Mary, a virgin, not
inclinable to marry, whom he preferred abbess of the rich nunnery
of Barking, His other nameless sister, being married to one of the
le Botelers, or " Butlers," he transplanted with her husband and
children into Ireland,* conferring upon them high honours and rich
revenues ; from whom the earls of Ormond are at this day descended.
He founded also the magnificent abbey, called Thomas-court -f- in
Dublin, A.D. 1174, in memory of the said Thomas Becket, and
expiation of his murder ; beautifying the same with fair buildings,
and enriching it with large possessions. Nor did only the purse,
but the person, of king Henry do penance ; who, walking some
miles barefoot, suffered himself to be whipped on the naked back
by the monks of Canterbury. As for the four knights, who mur
dered him, the pope pardoned them, but conditionally, — to spend
the rest of their lives in the Holy War, (where the king, as part of
his penance enjoined by the pope, maintained two hundred men for
one year, on his proper charges,) to try whether they could be as
courageous in killing of Turks, as they had been cruel in murdering
a Christian. 69- Becket, after fifty Years, enshrined.
And now, being on this subject, once to dispatch Becket out of
our way, just a jubilee of years after his death, Stephen Langton,
his mediate successor, removed his body from the Under-croft in
Christ-church, where first he was buried, and laid him, at his own
charge, in a most sumptuous shrine, at the east end of the church.
Here the rust of the sword that killed him,| was afterwards ten
dered to pilgrims to kiss. Here many miracles were pretended to be
wrought hy this saint, in number two hundred and seventy, § They
might well have been brought up to four hundred, and made as
many as Baal's lying prophets ; though, even then, one prophet of
the Lord, one Micaiah, one true miracle, were worth them all,
70, The blind Superstition of People.
It is almost incredible, what multitudes of people flocked yearly
to Canterbury, (which city lived by Becket's death,) especially on
his jubilee, or each fifty years after his enshrining. No fewer than
an hundred thousand (we find it in words at length, and therefore
a cipher is not mistaken) of English and foreigners repaired hither, ||
• Camden's Brit, in Ireland, page 83. t Idem, page 93. t Erasmus's
Dialog, in Religionis ergo. i Fox's " Acts and Monuments," page 493. |i Will,
Somner, ut prius, page 249.

318 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1174  6.
And, though great the odds in hardness between stones and flesh,
there remains at this day in the marble the prints of their super
stition who crept and kneeled to his shrine ; the revenues whereof,
by people's offerings, amounted to more than six hundred pounds
a-year. And the same accomptant, when coming to set down what
then and there was offered to Christ's or the high altar, dispatcheth
all with a blank, summo altari nil. Yea, whereas before Becket's
death the cathedral in Canterbury was called Christ's church, it
passed afterwards for the church of St. Thomas ; verifying therein
the complaint of Mary Magdalene, Sustulerunt Dominum, " They
have taken away the Lord," John xx. 2, 13 ; though since, by the
demolishing of Becket's shrine, the church (and that justly) hath
recovered his true and ancient name.

SECTION III.
DOMINO JOANNI WYELEY, DE WYRLEY-HALL, IN
COMITATU STAFFORD, EQUITI AURATO.
Lex Mahometica jubet, ut Turcarum quisque
rnechanicse arti incumbat. Hinc est, quod, vel inter
Ottomanicos imperatores, hie faber, ille sartor, hie
totus est in balth eorum bullis,* ille in sagittarum pennis
concinnandis, prout quisque sua indole trahatur.
Lex mihi partim placet, partim displicet. Placet
industria, ne animi otii rubigine obducti sensim torpes-
cerent. Displicet, ingenuas mentes servili operi dam-
nari, cum humile nimis sit et abjectum.
At utinam vel lex, vel legis aemula consuetudo, inter
Anglos obtineret, ut nostrates nobiles, ad unum omnes,
meliori literaturse litarent. Hoc si fiat, uberrimos
fructus respublica perceptura esset ab illis, qui nunc
absque Musarum cultu penitiis sterilescunt.
Tu vero, doctissime miles! es perpaucorum homi-
num, qui ingenium tuum nobilitate premi non sinis:
sed artes ingenuas, quas Oxonii didicisti juvenis, vir
assidufe colis. Gestit itaque liber noster te patrono;
quo non alter aut in notandis mendis oculatior, aut in
condonandis clementior. * Edw, Sandys in sais Peregrinationibus.

22 HENRY II. BOOK III, CENT, XII, 319
1. The Undutifulness of young King Henry,
Even amongst all the stripes . given him since the death of
Becket, none made deeper impression in king Henry's soul, than
the undutifulness of Henry his eldest son, whom he made (the
foolish act of a wise king !) joint king with himself, in his life-time.
And, as the father was indiscreet to put off so much of his apparel
before he went to bed ; so the son was more unnatural in endea
vouring to rend the rest from his back, and utterly to disrobe him
of all regal power. The clergy were not wanting in their plentiful
censures, to impute this mischance to the king, as a Divine punish
ment on Becket's death ; that his natural son should prove so
undutiful to him, who himself had been so unmerciful^ to his
spiritual father. But this rebellious child passed not unpunished.
For, as he honoured not his father, so " his days were few in the
land which the Lord gave him," And, as he made little account of
his own father, so English authors make no reckoning of him in the
catalogue of kings. This Henry the Third being wholly omitted,
because dying during the life of his father.
2. Richard made Archbishop of Canterbury.
But, before this Henry's death, Richard, prior of Dover, who
divided Kent into three archdeaconries, was made archbishop of
Canterbury, Indeed, the place was first proffered to Robert, abbot
of Becco, in Normandy ; sequenls of three, if he had accepted it,
(Anselm, Theobald, and this Robert,) who, in the compass of
seventy years, out of the same abbey were made archbishops of
Canterbury ; but he refused it, as ominous to succeed Becket
in his chair, lest he should succeed him in his coflBn ; and preferred
a whole skin before a holy pall. But Richard, accepting the place,
is commended for a mild and moderate man, being all for accom
modation, and his temper the best expedient betwixt the pope and
king ; pleasing the former with presents, the latter with compliance.
This made him connive at Geoffrey Plantagenet's holding the bishop
ric of Lincoln, though uncanonicalness on uncanonicalness met in
his person. For, first, he was a bastard. Secondly, He was
never in Orders, Thirdly, He was under age. All which iiTegu-
larities were answered in three words, " The king's son," This was
that Geoffrey, who used to protest that " by the royalty of the king
his father," when a stander-by minded him to remember the
honesty of his mother,
3, The Controversy betwixt Canterbury and York for
Precedency. A.D. II76.
A synod was called at Westminster, the pope's legate being
present thereat ; on whose right hand sat Richard, archbishop of

¦320 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1176,
Canterbury, as in his proper place; when in springs Roger of
York, and, finding Canterbury so seated, fairly sits him down on
Canterbury's lap ; (a baby too big to be danced thereon !) yea,
Canterbury's servants dandled this lap-child with a witness, who
plucked him thence, and buffeted him to purpose. Hence began
the brawl, which often happened betwixt the two sees for pre
cedency ; though hitherto we have passed them over in silence, not
conceiving ourselves bound to trouble the reader every time those
archbishops troubled themselves. And, though it i^atters as little
to the reader as to the writer, whether Roger beat Richard, or
Richard beat Roger ; yet, once for all, we will reckon up the argu
ments which each see alleged for its precedency,
canterbury's title,
1, No catholic person will deny, but that the pope is the foun
tain of spiritual honour, to place and displace at pleasure. He first
gave the primacy to Canterbury, Yea, whereas the proper place of
the archbishop of Canterbury, in a general council, was next the
bishop of St, Ruffinus ; Anselm and his successors were advanced
by pope Urban to sit at the pope's right foot, as alterius orbis
papa. 2, The English kings have ever allowed the priority to
Canterbury, For a duarchy in the church (namely, two arch
bishops equal in power) being inconsistent with a monarchy in the
state, they have ever countenanced the superiority of Canterbury,
that the church-government might be uniform with the common
wealth's, 3, Custom hath been accounted a king in all places,
which time out of mind hath decided the precedency to Canterbury,
York's title,
1. When Gregory the Great made York and Canterbury archi-
episcopal sees, he affixed precedency to neither, but that the
archbishops should take place according to the seniority of their
consecrations ; until Lanfrank, chaplain to king William, (think
ing good reason he should conquer the whole clergy of England, as
his master had vanquished the nation,) usurped the superiority
above the see of York, 2, If antiquity be to be respected, long
before Gregory's time, York was the see of an archbishop, whilst as yet
Pagan Canterbury was never dreamed of for that purpose, Lucius,
the first Christian Britain king, founding a cathedral therein,
and placing Samson in the same, who had Taurinus, Pyrannus,
Tacliacus, &c, his successors in that place, 3, If the extent of
jurisdiction be measured, York, though the lesser in England, is
the larger in Britain, as which at this time had the entire kingdom
of Scotland subject thereunto. Besides, if the three bishoprics,

22 HENRY II, BOOK III, CENT, XII. 321
(namely, Worcester, Lichfield, Lincoln,) formerly injuriously taken
from York, were restored unto it, it would vie English latitude with
Canterbury itself.
This controversy lasted for many years. It was first visibly begun
(passing by.former private grudges) betwixt Lanfirank of Canterbury
and Thomas of York, in the reign of the Conqueror^ continued
betwixt William of Canterbury and Thurstan of York, in the days
of king Henry I. increased betwixt Theobald of Canterbury and
William of York, at the coronation of Henry II. and now revived
betwixt Richard of Canterbury and Roger of York, with more than
ordinary animosity. 4>. How much Carnality in the most spiritual.
Some will wonder that such spiritual persons should be so spite
ful, that they, who should rather have contended de pascendis
ovibus, " which of them should better feed their flocks," should fall
out de land caprind, about a toy and trifle, only for priority. Yet
such will cease to wonder, when they consider how much carnality
there was in the disciples themselves : witness their unseasonable
contest, just before our Saviour's death, quis esset major, " which
of them should be the greater," Luke xxii, 24 ; when then the
question should rather have been, quis esset mcestior, not, who
should be the highest, but, " who should be the heaviest" for their
departing Master,
5. The Pope's Decision gives flnal Satisfaction.
Here the pope interposed, and, to end old divisions, made a new
distinction, — " primate of all England," and " primate of England ;"
giving the former to Canterbury, the latter to York, Thus when
two children cry for the same apple, the indulgent father divides it
betwixt them ; yet so that he giveth the bigger and better part to
the child that is his darling, York is fain to be content therewith,
though full ill against his will, as sensible that a secondary primacy
is no primacy ; and as one stomaching a superior, as much as Can
terbury disdained an equal. Yea, on every little occasion this
controversy brake out again. The last flash which I find of this
flame was in the reign bf king Edward I, when William Wickham,
archbishop of York, at a council at Lambeth for reformation, would
needs have his cross carried before him, which John Peckham, arch
bishop of Canterbury, would in no case permit to be done in his
province. Wherefore the said Peckham inhibited all from selling
victuals to him or his family,* so hoping to allay his stomach by
uaising his hunger, and starve him into a speedy submission ; which-
* M?. Jackson out of Florilegus, in his Chronology, anno 1280.
Vol. I, Y

322 church HISTORY OP BRITAIN. A.D. 1176  90.
accordingly came to pass. Since, York was rather quiet than con*
tented, pleasing itself that as stout came behind as went before.
But at this day the clergy, sensible of God's hand upon them for
their pride and other offences, are resolved on more humility ; and
will let it alone to the laity to fall out about precedency.
6, 7- The far-extended English Monarchy, in this King's Reign,
could not make him fortunate in his own Family.
To return to king Henry : Never did the branches of the English
monarchy sprout higher, or spread broader before or since, as in the
reign of this king, so large and united his command, though in
several capacities. For, by right of inheritance from his mother
Maud, he held England and the dukedom of Normandy ; by the
same title from his father, Geoffrey Plantagenet, he possessed fair
lands in Anjou and Maine ; by match, in right of queen Eleanor, his
wife, he enjoyed the dukedoms of Aquitaine and Guienne even to the
Pyrenean Mountains ; by conquest he lately had subdued Ireland,
leaving it to his successors annexed to the English dominions ; and
for a time was the effectual king of Scotland, whilst keeping William
their king a prisoner, and acting at pleasure in the southern parts
thereof. The rest of Christendom he may be said to have held by
way of arbitration, as Christiani orbis arbiter ; so deservedly did
foreign princes esteem his wisdom and integrity, that in all difficult
controversies he was made umpire betwixt them.
Yet all this his greatness could neither preserve him firom death,
nor make him, when living, happy in his own house ; so that, when
freest from foreign foes, he was most molested in his own family ;
his wife and sons at last siding -with the king of France against him,
the sorrow whereat was conceived to send him the sooner to his
grave. I meet with this distich as parcel of his epitaph : —
Cui satis ad votum non essent omnia terra
Climata, terra modo sufficit octo pedum.'
" He whom alive the world would scarce suffice.
When dead, in eight-foot earth contented lies."
He died at Chinon in Normandy, and was buried with very great
solemnity, in the nunnery of Font-Everard [Fontevraud] in the
same country; a religious house of his own foundation and
endowment. 8. Disobedience endeavoured to be expiated by Superstition.
1 Richard I, A.D. 1189.
It is confidently reported, -f- that when Richard, son and successor
to king Henry, approached his father's dead corpse, they bled afresh
• Matt. Paris, page 151 ^ idem, utpriut.

1 RICHARD I. BOOK III. CENT. XIX. 323
at the nostrils ; whence some collected him the cause of his death.
But whilst nature's night-counsellors, treading in the dark causes of
hidden qualities, render the reason of the sallying forth of the blood
on such occasions, let the learned in the laws decide how far such an
accident may be improved for a legal evidence. For, surely, that
judge is no better than a murderer, who condemneth one for murder
on that proof alone. However, on the bleeding of the father's nos
trils, the son's heart could not but bleed, as meeting there with a
guilty conscience. And therefore, according to the divinity and
devotion of those days, to expiate his disobedience, he undertook,
with Philip Augustus, king of France, a long voyage against sultan
Saladine, to recover Christ's grave, and the city of Jerusalem, from
the Turks in Palestine.
9- An Account of our Design. A. D. 1190.
Having formerly written a whole book of the Holy War, and par
ticularly of king Richard's achievements therein, I intend here no
repetition. Only our design is to give a catalogue of some of our
English nobility, who adventured their persons in the Holy War ;
and whose male posterity is eminently extant at this day. I have
known an excellent musician, whom no arguments could persuade to
play, until hearing a bungler scrape in the company, he snatched the
instrument out of his hand, in indignation that music should be so
much abused ; then tuned and played upon it himself. My project
herein is, that giving-in an imperfect list of some few noble families,
who engaged themselves in this service, it will so offend some emi
nent artist, hitherto silent in this kind, that out of disdain he will
put himself upon so honourable a work, deserving a gentleman who
hath lands, learning, and leisure to undertake so costly, intricate,
and large a subject for the honour of our nation. And be it pre
mised, that, to prevent all cavils about precedency, first come, first
served ; I shall marshal them in no other method but as in my
studies I have met with the mention of them.
10. Nevil Kill-Lion's Performance in Palestine. A. D. 1190.
To begin with the place of my present habitation : One Hugh
Nevil attended king Richard into the Holy War, and anciently lieth
buried in a marble monument, in the church of Waltham Abbey in
Essex, whereof no remainders at this day. This Hugh Nevil being
one of the king's special familiars, slew a lion in the Holy Land, first
driving an arrow into his breast, and then running him through with
his sword, on whom this verse was made -.—Viribus Hugonis vires
periire Leonis,* " The strength of Hugh a lion slew." If Benaiah,
• Matt. Paris, A, D, 1222.
Y 2

324 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. ., A.D. 1191.
the son of Jehoiada, was recounted the fifth amongst David's
worthies for killing " a lion in the midst of a pit in the time of
snow," 2 Sam. xxiii. 20, surely, on the same reason, this bold
and brave baron Hugh ought to be entered into the catalogue of the^
heroes of his sovereign. But I cannot give credit to his report,*
who conceiveth that the achievement of the man was translated to
hia master ; and that on this occasion king Richard I. got the name
of Coeur-de-Lion, or " lion's heart."
11. Ancestors to the noble and numerous Nevilles.
This Hugh Nevil gave the manor of Thorndon to Waltham
Abbey,-f- and was ancestor of the noble and numerous family of the
Nevilles ; to which none in England equal for honour, wealth, and
number, in the latter end of king Henry VI. though at this day
the lord Abergavenny be the only baron thereof. He gave for his
arms a Cross Saltire, or the cross of St. Andrew, probably assuming
it in the Holy War. For, though I confess this is not tfie proper
cross of Jerusalem, yet was it highly esteemed of all those who
adventured thither, as may appear, in that all knights-templars make
such Saltire Cross, with' their thwarted legs upon their monuments.
12, Girald de Talbote, whence the House of Shrewsbury.
Girald de Talbote succeeds in the second place. When articles
were drawn up between our king Richard, in his passage to
Palestine, and Tancred, king of Sicily, for the mutual observation
of many conditions betwixt them, he put in, upon their oaths, for
his sureties, a grand jury of his principal subjects then present;
namely, two archbishops, two bishops, and twenty other of his prime
nobility expressed in his letters patents; J besides many others,
whose names were concealed. Of these twenty, the aforesaid Girald
de Talbote is the first ; whose male issue and name is extant at this
day, flourishing in the right honourable family of the earls of
Shrewsbury,
13, Guarrin Fitz Girald, from whom the Earls of Kildare and
Barons of Windsor.
Next amongst the royal jurors, as I may term them, was Guarrin
Fitz Girald, from whom are descended the Fitzgeralds in Ireland,
(where their name is in some places provincial,) of whom the earl
of Kildare is chief, A memorial of their service in Palestine is
preserved in their arms, giving Argent a Cross Saltire Gules, Here
it must be remembered, that the valiant sprightly gentleman, Hick-
• Weaver's " Funeral Momunents," page 644. t Registrum Cart. Abbat. de
tValtham. X R. KovKDEyi pars posterior in Rich, primo.

2 RICHARD I. BOOK III. CENT. Xll. 325
man Lord Windsor,* is descended from the same male ancestors with
the Fitzgeralds (as Robert Glover, a most exquisite herald, doth
demonstrate,) though, according to the fashion of that age, altering
his old, and assuming a new name from Windsor, the place of his
office and command. This lord Windsor carrieth the badge of his
service in his arms, being essentially the same with the earl of
Kildare's, save that the colours are varied ; the Field Gules, and
Cross Saltire Argent, betwixt twelve Crosses Crossed, Or ; which
coat, seemingly surfeited, was conceived in that age the more health
ful for the same ; " the more crossed the more blessed," being the
devotion of those days.
14. A Quaternion more of Adventurers.
Four other gentlemen of quality remain mentioned in that patent,
William de Curcy, father to John the valiant champion and con
queror of Ireland ; Robert de Novo Burgo, Hugh le Brain, and
Amaury de Mountford ; of all whom formerly in our alphabetical
comment on Abbey Roll.
15. Ingelram Fiennes's Posterity. A.D. 1191.
At the siege of Acre or Ptolemais, the grave-general of the
Christian army, amongst many worthies dying there within the com
pass of one year, I find Ingelram de Fiennes to be slain,-|- from
whom the lord viscount Say and Sele, and the lord Dacres of the
South, derive their descent. But most visible are the remains of the
Holy War in the achievement of Theophilus Fiennes, alias
Clinton, earl of Lincoln, giving in the lower parts of his shield (in
a field Argent) six Crosses crossed Fitchee Sable, denoting the
stability and firmness of his ancestors in that service.
16. Radulphus de Alta Ripd.
Also at the aforesaid siege of Acre, Radulphus de Alta Ripa,
archdeacon of Colchester, ended his life. Now, although, because
a clergyman, he could not then leave any lawful issue behind him ;
yet we may be confident, that the ancient family De Altd Ripd or
Dautry, [Dealtry,] still continuing in Sussex,^ were of his alliance.
3.7. A Mistake freely confessed.
Before we leave the siege of Acre, let me refresh the reader with
my innocent (and, give me leave to say, probable) mistake : I con
ceived the noble family of the lord Dacre took their surname from
some service there performed, confirmed in my conjecture : 1.
"• See Camden's Brit, in Berkshire, t R, Hoveden in Richardo primo, page 655.
'X Camden's Brit, ibid.

326 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D,

1192.

Because the name is written with a local tmesis, D'Acre. 2. Joan
daughter to Edward I. king of England, is called D'Acre, because
bom there. 3. They gave their arms. Gules, three Scollop-shells
Argent ; which Scollop-shells, (I mean, the nethermost of them,,
because most concave and capacious,) smooth within, and artificially
plated without, were ofl-times cup and dish to the pilgrims in
Palestine ; and thereupon their arms often charged therewith.
Since, suddenly all is vanished, when I found Dacor,* a rivulet in
Cumberiand, so ancient that it is mentioned by Bede himself, long
before the Holy War was once dreamed of, which gave the name to
Dacre Castle, as that (their prime seat) to that family.
18. Crescent and Star, why the Device of King Richard I, in
Ms Voyage to the Holy Land.
Before we go further, be it here observed, that when king Richard
I. went into Palestine, he took up for his device in his ensign, a
Crescent and a Star, . but on what account men variously conjecture.
Some conceive it done in affront to the sultan Saladine, the Turk
giving the half-moon for his arms. But this seems unlikely, both
because a crescent is not the posture of the Turkish moon, and
because this was a preposterous method with a valiant man at his
bare setting forth, who would rather first win, before wear, the arms
of his enemies. Others make a modest, yea, religious meaning
thereof ; interpreting himself and his soldiers by the crescent and
star, expecting to be enlightened from above by the beams of
success from the sun of divine providence. Indeed, it would trouble a
wise man, (but that a wise man will not be troubled therewith,) to
give a reason of king Richard's fancy ; it being almost as easy for
him to foretell ours, as for us infallibly to interpret his design
herein. However, we may observe, many of the principal persons
which attended the king in this war had their shields be-crescented
and be-starred in relation to this the royal device,
19. The Arms of the ancient Family of Minshul.
Thus Michael Minshul, of Minshul in Cheshire, serving king
Richard in this war, had not only the Crescent and Star given him
for his arms, but since also that family hath borne for their crest,
two Lion's paws holding a Crescent. And I have seen a patent
lately, (July 4th, 1642,) granted by the lord marshal to a knight,f
deriving himself from a younger branch of that family, assigning
him for distinction, to change his crest into the Sultan kneeling and
holding a Crescent.
* Camden's Brit, in Cumberland, p. 776. t Sir Richard Minshul, of Burton in Bucks,

3 RICHARD I. BOOK III, CENT. XII. 327
20. As also of the noble St. John's and Sackville.
And thus the noble family of St. John (whereof the earl of
Bolingbroke, &c.) give for their paternal coat Argent two Stars Or
on a Chief Gules. These stars first give us a dim light to discover
their service in the Holy Land, who since are beholding for perfecter
information to one now scarce counted a rhymer, formerly admitted for
a poet, acquainting us with this and another noble family adventuring
in the Holy War ; namely, the Sackvilles, still flourishing in the
right honourable the earl of Dorset.
** King Richard wyth gud entent
To yat cite of Jafesf went
On mom he sent aftur Sir Robart Sakevile
Sir William Watemile
Sir Hubart and Sir Robart of Tumham
Sir Bertram Brandes and John de St. John," *
Yet the arms or crest of the Sackvilles give us not the least intima
tion of the Holy War, And, indeed, no rational man can expect
an universal conformity in so much variety of fancies, that all the
arms of the adventurers thither should speak the same language, or
make some sign of their service therein.
21. The worshipful Family of the Tilneys. A.D. 1192.
I find Sir Frederick Tilney J knighted at Acre in the Holy Land,
in the third year of king Richard I. He was a man magnee
statures et potens corpore ; sixteen knights in a direct line of
that name succeeded in that inheritance ; whose heir-general was
married to the duke of Norfolk, whilst a male branch (if not, which
I fear, very lately extinct) flourished since at Shelley in Suffolk.
22. The most honourable Ancestors of the Villiers.
When I look upon the ancient arms of the noble family of the
Villiers, wherein there is pilgrim on pilgrim, I mean Five Scallops
Or, on the Cross of St. George ; I presently concluded, one of that
family attended king Richard in the Holy Land. But, on better
inquiry, I find that this family, at their first coming into England,
bare Sable Three Cinquefoyles Argent ; and that Sir Nicholas de
Villiers, knight, chg,nged this coat in the reign, not of Richard, but
Edward I.§ whom he valiantly followed in his wars in the Holy
Land, and elsewhere. 23, The Arms of the Berkeleys.
I will conclude with the noble family of Berkeley, than which
none of England now eminently existing was more redoubted in the
" Robert of Gloucester. t Jafes, that is, Joppa in Palestine. t Hackluyt
in his first volume' of " Voyages," % Burton in his Description of Leicestershire,

328 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 1193.
Holy War. All know their descent from Harding, son to the king
6f Denmark, whose arms are said to be Gules Three Danish Axes
Or : or, as others suppose, with more probability, I conceive, only a
plain Cheveron, though, some three hundred years since, they have
filled their coat with Ten Crosses Patte Or, in remembrance of the
achievements of their ancestors in that service. For I find that Hard
ing of England landed at Joppa,* July the third, in the second year
of king Baldwin, with a band of stout soldiers, where he relieved
the Christians besieged therein,
24^. More Churchmen abroad than Church-business at Home.
But I have been too tedious, intending only a short essay, and
to be (let me call it) an honest decoy, by entering on this subject,
to draw others into the completing thereof, during the whole extent
of the Holy War, The best is, for the present we have had good
leisure, these martial times affording but little ecclesiastical matter.
For at this present much of the English church was in Palestine,.
where Baldwin, archbishop of Canterbury, ended his life before the
siege of Acre ; and where Hubert Walter, bishop of Salisbury, was
a most active commander ; besides many more of the eminent clergy
engaged in that service. Yet many did wish that one clergyman
more had been there, to keep him from doing mischief at home ;
namely, William Longchamp, bishop of Ely, who played rex in the
king's absence : so intolerable a tyrant was he, by abusing the royal
authority committed unto him ! And it is a wonder, that he,
being indeed a Norman bom, but holding so many and great
offices in this land, should not be able to speak one word of
good English,-|- as the English were not willing to speak one good
word of him. 25, Longchamp and Wolsey paralleled.
Such as draw up a parallel betwixt this William Longchamp and
Thomas Wolsey, (afterward archbishop of York,) find them to meet
in many conformities. First. In the lowness of their birth ; the one
the son of a husbandman, the other of a butcher. Secondly, In the
greatness of their power ; both being the pope's legates, and their
king's principal officers. Thirdly, Height of their pride ; Long
champ having fifteen hundred daily attendants : Wolsey, though but
a thousand, equalizing that number with the nobility of his train.
Fourthly, Suddenness of their fall ; and it is hard to say which of
the two lived more hated, or died less pitied,
• Chronicon .Jerusalem, Ub. ix. cap. 11. + Godwin in his Catalogue of the
Bialiops of Ely.

3 RICHARD I. BOOK III, CENT. XII, 329
26. Wolsey the better of the two.
Yet, to give Wolsey his due, he far exceeded the other. Long
champ is accused of covetousness, promoting his base kindred, to the
damage and detriment of Others : no such thing charged on Wolsey.
Longchamp's activity moved in the narrow sphere of England's
dominions ; whilst Wolsey might be said, in some sort, to have held
in his hand the scales of Christendom : " Up Emperor, Down
France ;" and so alteriiately as he was pleased to cast in his grains.
Wolsey sat at the stern more than twenty years, whilst Longchamp's
impolitic pride outed him of his place in less than a quarter of the
time. Lastly. Nothing remains of Longchamp, but the memory of
his pride and pomp ; whilst Christ Church in Oxford, and other
stately edifices, are the lasting monuments of Wolsey's magnificence
to all posterity. 27, Yet a Word in Excuse of Longchamp,
But seeing it is just to settle men's memories on their true bot
tom, be it known, that one putteth in a good word in due season,
in the excuse of bishop Longchamp,* haply not altogether so bad
as the pens of monks would persuade us. It enraged them against
him, because Hugh Nonant, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield,
drave out monks out of Coventry, and brought in secular priests in
the room ; which alteration he being not able of himself to effect,
used the assistance of Longchamp bishop of Ely ; ordering the same
in a synod called at London, And seeing monks have no medium
betwixt not loving and bitter hating, no wonder if for this cause they
paid him their invectives. But we have done with him, and are glad
of so fair a riddance of him, on this account, — that most of his mis
demeanours were by him committed, not qua bishop, but qua
viceroy, and so more properly belonging to the civil historian,
28, King Richard dearly ransomed- A.D. 1193.
King Richard, in his return froni Palestine, was taken prisoner by
Leopold duke of Austria, and detained by him in durance, with hard
and un-prince-like usage, whilst the English clergy endeavoured
the utmost for his enlargement. And at last, when a fine certain
was set upon him to be paid for his ransom, they, with much ado, in
two years' time disbursed the same.
29. Why a small Sum great in that Age,
The sum was a hundred and fifty thousand marks, to be paid,
part to the duke of Austria, part to Henry VI. sumamed " the
* Godwin, ul prius.

330 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1194 9.
sharp," (sure, such our Richard found him,) emperor of Germany.
Some will wonder that the weight of such a sum should then sway
the back of the whole kingdom, (putting many churches to the sale
of their silver chalices,) having seen in our age one city, in few
days, advance a larger proportion. But let such consider, 1. The
money was never to return, not made over by bills of exchange, but
sent over in specie, which made it arise the more heavily. For such
sums may be said in some sort to be .but lent, not lost, (as to the
commonwealth,) which are not exported, but spent therein in the
circulation of trading. 2. A third of silver went then more to
make a mark than now a-days ; witness their groats, worth our six
pence in the intrinsic value. 3. Before trading to the East and
West Indies, some hundred and fifty years since, very little the
silver of England in comparison to the banks of modern merchants.
However, Hubert archbishop of Canterbury, with much diligence,
perfected the work ; and, on his ransom paid, king Richard returned
into England. 30. King Richard better for Aflliction. A.t)- 1194f,
Now lest his majesty should suffer any diminution by his long
late imprisonment, king Richard was crowned again by Hubert
archbishop of Canterbury, at Winchester, with great solemnity ;
and one may say that his durance was well bestowed on him, seeing
after the same he was improved in all his relations : — Son — For
though he could not revive his dead father ; yet on all occasions he
expressed sorrow for his undutifulness. Husband — Hereafter
prizing the company of Beringaria [Berenguella] his queen, daughter
to Sanctius, king of Navarre, whom formerly he slighted and neg
lected. Brother — Freely and fully pardoning the practices of hia
brother John, aspiring to the crown in his absence ; and being
better to his base brother ' Geoffrey archbishop of York, than his
tumultuous nature did deserve. Man — Being more strict in
ordering his own conversation. King — In endeavouring the
amendment of many things in the land ; in whose days a council
was kept at York, for reformation, a.d. 1196, but little effected,
31. Larnbeth Convent, why demolished. A.D. 1198;
Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, had almost finished a
fair convent for monks at Lambeth, begun by Baldwin his predecessor.
But instantly the monks of Canterbury are all up in anger against
him. They feared that, in process of time, Lambeth would prove
Canterbury, (namely, the principal place of the. archbishop's reside
ence,) to the great impairing of their privileges. The vicinity of
Lambeth to the court increased their jealousy. And now they ply

9 RICHARD I, BOOK III, CENT, XII. 331
the pope with petitions, and with what makes petitions to take
effect in the court of Rome ; never content till they had obtained,
contrary to the king's and archbishop's desire, that the convent at
Lambeth was utterly demolished ; many bemoaning the untimely
end thereof, before it was ended ; murdered, as one may say, by
malicious emulation, 32. King Richard's Death. A.D. 1199-
The death of king Richard is variously reported : but this rela
tion is generally received, that he lost his life on this sad occasion :
— A viscount in France, subject to king Richard, having found a
vast treasure, (hid probably by some prince, the king's predecessor,)
sent part thereof to king Richard, reserving the rest to himself ;
who, could he have concealed all, had made no discovery, and, had
be sent all, had got no displeasure ; whilst hoping by this middle
way to pleasure the king, and profit himself, he did neither. King
Richard disdains to take part for a gift, where all was due ; and
blame him not, if, having lately bled so much money, he desired to
fill his empty veins again. The viscount fled into Poictou, whither
the king following straitly besieged him.
33, By a poisoned Arrow.
The castle being reduced to distress, a soldier shoots a poisoned
arrow, contrary to the law of arms ; being [seeing] a sharp arrow,
from a strong bow, is poison enough of itself, without any other
addition. But those laws of arms are only mutually observed in
orderly armies, (if such to be found,) and such laws outlawed by
extremity ; when the half-famished soldier, rather for spite than
hunger, will champ a bullet. The arrow hits king Richard in the
eye, who died some days after on the anguish thereof, having first
forgiven the soldier that wounded him.
34. The threefold Division of his Corpse.
By will he made a tripartite division of his body, and our author*
takes upon him to render a reason thereof. His heart he
bequeathed to Roan ; because he had ever found that city hearty
and cordial unto him. His body to be buried at Fount-Everard,
[Fontevraud,! at his father's feet, in token of his sorrow and sub
mission, that he desired to be as it were his father's footstool. His
bowels to be buried in the parish-church, in the province of Poictou,
where he died ; not for any bowels of affection he bare unto them,
but because he would leave his filth and excrements to so base and
treacherous a place. Others more charitably conceive them buried
• Matt. Paris in hoc anno, page 196,

332 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1200 5.
there, because conveniently not to be carried thence, whose corrap-
tion required speedy interment. Another monk telleth us, that his
heart was grossitudine prcsstans,* " gross for the greatness
thereof;" which is contrary to the received opinion, that that part
is the least in a valiant man, and the heart of a lion, (this Richard
we know was called Cceur de Lion, or " lion-hearted,") less than
the heart of a hare.
35. His double Epitaph and Successor. 1 John. A. D. 1 200.
I find two epitaphs made upon him. The first, better for the
conceit than the poetry thereof, thus concludeth : —
Sic loca per trina se sparsit tanta ruina y
Nee fuit hocfunus cui sufficeret locus unus.^
" Three places thus are sharers of his fall ;
Too little one for such a funeral,"
The second may pass for a good piece of poetry in that age : —
Hie, Richarde, jaces ,* sed Dwrs si cederet armis,
Victa timore tui, cederet ipsa tuis.X
" Richard, thou liest here ; but, were death afraid
Of any arms, thy arms had death dismay'd."
Dying issueless, the crown after his death should have descended to
Arthur, duke of Britain, as son to Geoffrey, fourth son to Henry II.
in whose minority, John, fifth son to the said king, seized on the
crown, keeping his nephew Arthur in prison till he died therein.
Thus climbing the throne against conscience, no wonder if he sate
thereon without comfort, as in the following century, God willing,
shall appear.

SECTION IV.
THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.
TO MR. JOHN ROBINSON, OF MILK-STREET, IN LONDON,
MERCHANT.
Divines generally excuse the dumb man cured by
Christ, for publishing the same, though contrary to his
command, Mark vii. 36. Theophylact goes farther in
his comment on the text, AiSao-xo/Aefla yap ivrsukv, xyipua-areiv
xa.) (^>)^/^siv Toi); ayaSoTroc^o-avraj, xav exelvot fj-yj de'Xoxnv :
" Gervasius Doroeernensis in Rich. I. page 1628, -f Milj,es in his " Cata
logue of Honour," page 120, X Camden's Brit, in Oxfordshire.

7 JOHN, BOOK III, CENT. XIII. 333
" Hence we are taught," saith he, " to proclaim and
spread the fame of our benefactors, though they
themselves be unwilling." On which account I safely
may, and justly must, publicly acknowledge your
bounty to me.
1. Hubert's indiscreet Emulation of the King. A.D. 1201.
His Christmas king John kept at Guildford, where he bestowed
many new holiday-liveries on his guard ; and Hubert the arch
bishop gave the like to his servants at Canterbury ; who offended
the king not a little, that the mitre should ape the crown, and the
chaplain vie gallantry with his patron. To make some amends,
when the king and queen, the Easter following, were crowned at
Canterbury, Hubert made them magnificent, yea, superfluous
cheer.* Yet his offence herein carried an excuse in it ; and super
fluity at that time seemed but needful to do penance for his former
profuseness ; and to show that his loyalty in entertaining of the king
should surpass his late vanity in ostentation of his wealth. How
ever, when king J ohn had digested the archbishop's dainty cheer,
the memory of his servants' coats still stuck in his stomach. Surely,
if clergymen had left all emulation with the laity in outward pomp,
and applied themselves only to piety and painfulness in their
calling, they had found as many to honour as noW they made to
envy them,
2, A Scratch betwixt the Monks of Canterbury widened into
a dangerous Wound. A.D. 1205,
But now we enter on one of the saddest tragedies that ever
was acted in England, occasioned by the monks of Canterbury, after
the decease of Hubert, about the election of a new archbishop, O
that their monkish controversies had been confined to a cloister, or
else so enjoined a single life, that their local discords might never
have begotten any national dissensions ! " Behold," saith the
apostle " how great a matter a little fire kindleth," James iii, 5,
especially after a long drought, when every thing it meets is tinder
for it. All things at home, beside foreign concurrences, conspired
to inflame the difference. King John, rather stubbom than valiant,
was unwilling . to lose, yet unable to keep, his right ; the nobility
potent and factious ; the clergy looking at London, but rowing to
Rome, carrying Italian hearts in English bodies ; the commons,
pressed with present grievances, generally desirous of change, — con
ceiving any alteration must be for their advantage, barely because
" Matt, Paris Hist. Ang. in anno 1201,

334 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1205  7.
an alteration. All improved the discord so long till Normandy was
lost, England embroiled, the crown thereof envassalled, the king's
person destroyed, his posterity endangered, foreigners fetched in to
insult, and native subjects made slaves to their insolencies,
3, Two Archbishops chosen by the Monks of Canterbury, and
the Pope propoundeth a third.
The younger of the monks of Canterbury, in the night-time,
without the king's knowledge or consent, chose Reginald their sub-
prior, to be archbishop. The seniors of their convent, solemnly, at
a canonical hour, with the approbation, yea, commendation, of the
king, chose John Grey, bishop of Norwich, for the place; and both
sides post to Rome for the pope's confirmation. He, finding them
•violent in their ways, to prevent further faction, advised them to
pitch on a third man, Stephen Langton, born in England, but bred
in France, lately chancellor of the university of Paris, and since
made cardinal of St. Chrysogone. Which expedient, or middle
way, though carrying a plausible pretence of peace, would by the
consequence thereof improve the pope's power, by invading the
undoubted privileges of king John. The monks soberly excused
themselves, that they durst not proceed to an election without
the» king's consent ; but, affrighted at last with the high threats
of his Holiness, menacing them with excommunication, Stephen
Langton was chosen accordingly : one that wanted not ability
for the place, but rather had too much, as king John conceived,
— having his high spirit in suspicion, that he would be hardly
managed. 4. Tlie Pope sends two Letters of contrary Tempers to the King.
A.D. 1207.
Then two letters were dispatched from the pope to the king.
The first had nothing of business, but compliment, and four gold
rings with several stones ; desiring him rather to mind the mystery,
than value the worth, of the present : wherein the round_ form
signifieth eternity ; their square number, constancy ; the green
Smaragd, faith ; the clear Sapphire, hope ; the red Garnet,
charity; the bright Topaz, good works. How precious these
stones were in themselves, is uncertain ; most sure it is, they proved
dear to king John, who might beshrew his own fingers for ever
wearing those rings, and, as my author * saith, soon after, gemmce
commutates in gemitus. For in the second letter, the pope recom
mended Stephen Langton "to the king's acceptance, closely
couching threats in case he reTused him.
• Matt. Paris in anno 1207, page 233.

10 JOHN. BOOK III. CENT. XIII. 335
5. King John's Return, raising his Voice to too high a Note at
flrst.
King John returned an answer full of stomach and animosity,
that this was an intolerable encroachment on his crown and dignity,
which he neither could nor would digest, — to have a stranger,
unknown unto him, bred in foreign parts, familiar with the French
king his sworn enemy, obtruded upon him for an archbishop. He
minded the pope, that he had plenty of prelates in the kingdom of
England, sufficiently provided in all kind of knowledge, and that he
need not to go abroad to seek for judgment and justice ; intimating
an intended defection from Rome, in case he was wronged. Other
passages were in his letter, which deserved memory, had they been
as vigorously acted as valiantly spoken. Whereas, now, (because
he foully failed at last,) judicious ears hearken to his words no
otherwise than to the empty brags of impotent anger, and the vain
evaporations of his discontentment. However, he began high, not
only banishing the monks of Canterbury, for their contempt, out of
his kingdom, but also forbidding Stephen Langton from once enter
ing into England.
6. Three Bishops, by Command from the Pope, interdict the
whole Kingdom.
Hereupon pope Innocent III. employed three bishops — William
of London, Eustace of Ely, and Maugere of Worcester — to give
the king a serious admonition, and, upon his denial or delaying to
receive Stephen Langton for archbishop, to proceed to interdict the
kingdom of all ecclesiastical service, saving baptism of children,
confession, and the eucharist to the dying in case of necessity,
which by them was performed accordingly. No sooner had they
interdicted the kingdom, but with Joceline bishop of Bath, and
Giles of Hereford, they, as speedily as secretly, got them out of
the land, like adventurous empirics, unwilling to wait the working
of their desperate physic ; except any will compare them to fearful
boys, which at the first trial set fire to their squibs with their faces
backwards, and make fast away from them. But the worst was,
they must leave their lands, and considerable movables, in the king
dom behind them.
7. England's sad Case under Interdiction.
See now on a sudden the sad face of the English church ! — a
face without a tongue, no singing of service, no saying of mass, no
reading of prayers : as for preaching of seripons, the laziness and
ignorance of those times had long before interdicted them. None
need pity the living, (hearing the impatient complaints of lovers, fov

336 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1207  10.
whose marriage no license could be procured,) when he looks on the
dead, who were buried in ditches,* like dogs, without any prayers
said upon them. True, a well-informed Christian knows full well,
that a corpse, though cast in a bog, shall not stick there at the day
of judgment ; thrown into a wood-, shall then find out the way ;
buried by the highway's side, is in the ready road to resurrection ;
in a word, that wheresoever a body be put or placed, it will equally
take the alarm at the last trumpet : yet seeing these people
believed, that a grave in consecrated ground was a good step to
heaven, and were taught that prayers after their death were essential
to their salvation, it must needs put strange fears into the heads and
hearts both of such which deceased and their friends which survived
them. And although afterwards, at the entreaty of Stephen
Langton, the pope indulged to conventual churches to have service
once a week ; -f- yet parish-churches, where the people's need was as
much, and number far more of souls, as dear in God's sight, were
debarred of that benefit,
8. Two grand Effects wrought by this Interdiction.
Some priests were well pleased that the interdiction for a time
should continue, as which would render their persons and places in
more reputation, and procure a higher valuation of holy mysteries.
Yea, this fasting would be wholesome to some souls, who afterwards
would feed on Divine service with greater appetite. Hereby two
grand effects were generally produced in the kingdom : One, a
terrible impression made in men's minds of the pope's power, which
they had often heard of, and now saw and felt, whose long arm
could reach from Rome all over England, and lock the doors of all
churches there ; an emblem, that, in like manner, he had or might
have bolted the gates of heaven against them : The second, an
alienation of the people's hearts from king John, all being ready to
complain : " O cruel tyrant over the souls of his subjects, whose
wilfulness depriveth them of the means of their salvation ! "
9. King John's Innocence and the Pope's Injustice in these
Proceedings.
However, if things be well weighed, king John will appear
merely passive in this matter, suffering unjustly because he would
not willingly part with his undoubted right. Besides, suppose him
guilty, what equity was it, that so many thousands in England,
who, in this particular case, might better answer to the name of
" Corpora defunctorum. more canum in biviis etfossatis sine orationibus et sacerdotum.
ministerio sepeliebantur.—MAiT. Paris, page 226. f -^ntiq. Brit, in Steph,.
Langton, page 159.

11 JOHN. BOOK III.- CENT. XIII. 337
" Innocent " than his Holiness himself, should be involved in his
punishment ! God, indeed, sometimes most justly punisheth sub
jects for the defaults of their sovereigns ; as in the case of the
plague destroying the people for David's numbering of them. But
it appears in the text,* that formerly they had been offenders, and
guilty before God, as all men at all times are. But seeing the
English at this present had not injured his Holiness by any personal
offence against him, the pope, by interdicting the whole realm,
discovered as much emptiness of charity as plenitude of power.
But some will-say, " His bounty is to be praised, that he permitted'
the people some sacraments, who might have denied them all in
rigour, and with as much right ;" yea, it is well he interdicted not
Ireland also, as a country under king John's dominion, deserving to
smart for the perverseness of their prince placed over it.
10, 1 1 , King John by Name excommunicated ; yet is blessed
with good Success under the Pope's Curse. A.D. 1209, 1210.
But after the continuance of this interdiction, a year and
upwards, the horror thereof began to abate : use made ease, and the
weight was the lighter, borne by many shoulders. Yea, the pope
perceived that king John would never be weary with his single
share, in a general burden, and therefore proceeded nominatim to
excommunicate him. For now his Holiness had his hand in,
having about this time excommunicated Otho the German emperor ;
and if the imperial cedar had so lately been blasted with his
thunderbolts, no wonder if the English oak felt the same fire. He
also assoiled all English subjects from their allegiance to king John,
and gave not only licence, but encouragement, to any foreigners to
invade the land, so that it should not only be no sin in them, but
an expiating of all their other sins, to conquer England, Thus the
pope gave them a title, and let their own swords by knight-service
get them a tenure.
Five years did king John lie under this sentence of excommuni
cation ; in which time we find him more fortunate in his martial
affairs than either before or after. For he made a successful voyage
into Ireland, (as greedy a grave for English corpses, as a bottomless
bag for their coin,) and was very triumphant in a Welsh expedition,
and stood on honourable terms in all foreign relations. For as he
kept Ireland under his feet, and Wales under his elbow ; so he
shaked hands in fast friendship with Scotland, and kept France at
arms' end, without giving hitherto any considerable advantage
against him. The worst was, not daring to repose trust in his
* Compare 2 Sam, xxiv, 1, with 1 Chron. xxi. 1.
Vol. I. z

33i8 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1210—^13.
subjects, he was forced to entertain foreigners, which caused his
constant anxiety ; as those neither stand sure, nor go safe, who
trust more to a stafe" than they lean on their legs. Besides, to
pay these mercenary soldiers, he imposed unconscionable taxes both
on the English, (clergy especially,) and Jews in the kingdom.
One Jew there was of Bristol,* vehemently suspected for wealth,
though there was no clear evidence thereof against him ; of whom
the king demanded ten thousand marks of silver, and, upon his
refusal, commanded, that every day a tooth, with intolerable torture,
should be drawn out of his head ; which being done seven several
times, on the eighth day he confessed his wealth, and paid the fine
demanded ; who, yielding sooner, had saved his teeth, or, stubborn
longer, had spared his money ; now having both his purse and his
jaw empty by the bargain. Condemn we here man's cruelty, and
admire Heaven's justice ; for all these sums extorted from the
Jews, by temporal kings, are but paying their arrearages to
God for a debt they can never satisfy, — namely, the crucifying
of Christ.
12. The Prophecy of Peter of Wakefield against King John.
A.D. 1212.
About the same time, one Peter, of Wakefield in Yorkshire, a
hermit, prophesied, that John should be king of England no longer
than next Ascension-Day, after which solemn festival, (on which
Christ, mounted on his glorious throne, took possession of his
heavenly kingdom,) this opposer of Christ should no longer enjoy
the English diadem ; and, as some report, he foretold that none of
king John's lineage should after him be crowned in the kingdom.
The king called this prophet " an idiot-knave ;"-f- which description
of him implying a contradiction, the king thus reconciled, — pardon
ing him as an idiot, and punishing him as a knave with imprison
ment in Corfe-Castle. The fetters of the prophet gave wings to his
prophecy ; and, whereas the king's neglecting it might have puffed
this vain prediction into wind, men began now to suspect it of some
solidity, because deserving a wise prince's notice and displeasure.
Far and near it was dispersed over the whole kingdom, it being
generally observed, | that the English nation are most superstitious
in believing such reports, which causeth them to be more common
here than in other countries. For as the receiver makes the thief,
so popular credulity occasioneth this prophetical vanity ; and
brokers would not set such base ware to sale, but because they are
sure to light on chapmen.
• Mat. Paris in anno 1210, page 229, t Fox's " Martyi;ology," psge 229.
\ CominiBus saith, that the English are never withaut some prophecy on foot.

14 JOHN, BOOK III. CENT, XIII, 339
13. King JohrCs Submission to the Pope. A-D. 1213.
Leave we the person of this Peter in a dark dungeon, and his
credit as yet in the twilight, betwixt prophet and impostor, to
behold the miserable condition of king John, perplexed with the
daily preparation of the French king's invasion of England, assisted
by many English mal-contents, and all the banished bishops : good
patriots, who, rather than the fire of their revenge should want fuel,
would burn their own country which bred them. Hereupon king
John, having his soul battered without with foreign fears, and
foundered within by the falseness of his subjects, sunk on a sudden
beneath himself, to an act of unworthy submission and subjection to
the pope. For on Ascension-Eve, May 15th, being in the town
of Dover, (standing as it were on tip-toes, on the utmost edge,
brink, and label of that land which now he was about to surrender,)
king John, by an instrument or charter, sealed and solemnly
delivered in the presence of many prelates and nobles, to Pandulphus
[Masca] the pope's legale, granted to God, and the church of
Rome, the apostles Peter and Paul, and to pope Innocent III. and
his successors, the whole kingdom of England and Ireland ; and
took an estate thereof back again, yielding and paying yeariy to the
church of Rome, (over and above the Peter-pence,) a thousand
marks sterling, namely, seven hundred for England, and three
hundred for Ireland. In the passing hereof, this ceremony is
observable, that the king's instrument to the pope was sealed with a
seal of gold,* and the pope's to the king (which I have beheld and
perused, remaining amongst many rarities in the earl of Arundel's
library) was sealed with a seal of lead. Such bargains let them
look for, who barter with his Holiness, always to be losers by the
contract. " Thy silver," saith the prophet, " is become dross,"
Isaiah i. 22 ; and here was the change of Glaucus and Diomedes
made, as in the sequel of the History will appear.
14. The Rent never paid the Pope, nor demanded by him.
Yet we find not, that this fee-farm of a thousand marks was ever
paid, either by king John or by his successors ; but that it is all
run on the score, even unto this present day. Not that the pope
did remit it out of his free bounty, but for other reasons was rather
contented to have, them use his power therein. Perchance, sus
pecting the English kings would refuse to pay it, he accounted it
more honour not to demand it, than to be denied it. Or it may
be, his Holiness might conceive, that accepting of this money might
• Both instruments for the present were but sealed vrith wax, and the next yeaj
solemnly embossed with metal, in the presence of Nicholas the pope's legate.
z 2

340 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 121-3, 14.
colourably be extended to the cutting him off from all other profits
he might gain in the kingdom. The truth is, he did scorn to take
so poor a revenue per annum out of two kingdoms, but did rather
endeavour to convert all the profits of both lands to his own use,
as if he had been seized of all in demesnes.
1 5. The proud Carriage of Pandulphus to the King.
At the same time, king John on his knees surrendered the
crown of England into the hands of Pandulphus,, and also presented
him with some money, as the earnest of his subjection ; which the
proud prelate trampled under his feet : * a gesture applauded by
some, as showing how much his Holiness (whom he personated)
slighted worldly wealth, caring as little for king John's coin, as his
predecessor St, Peter did for the money of Simon Magus, Acts viii,
20, Others, and especially Henry, archbishop of Dublin, then
present, were both grieved and angry thereat, as an intolerable
affront to the king; and there wanted not those who condemned
his pride and hypocrisy, knowing Pandulphus to be a most greedy ¦
griper, as appeared by his unconscionable oppression, in the
bishopric of Norwich, which was afterwards bestowed upon him.
And, perchance, he trampled on it, not as being money, but because
no greater sum thereof. Five days, (namely, Ascension-Day, and
four days after,) Pandulphus kept the crown in his possession, and
then restored it to king John again : a long eclipse of royal lustre ;
and strange it is, that no bold monk, in his blundering Chronicles,
did adventure to place king Innocent, with his five days' reign,
in the catalogue of English kings, seeing they have written what
amounts to as much in this matter,
16, Peter the Prophet hanged, whether unjustly, disputed.
Now all the dispute was, whether Peter of Wakefield had
acquitted himself a true prophet, or no. The Romanized faction
were zealous in his behalf ; John, after that day, not being king in
the same sense and sovereignty as before ; not free, but feodary ;
not absolute, but dependent on the pope, whose legate possessed
the crown for the time being ; so that his prediction was true in
that lawful latitude justly allowed to all prophecies. Others,
because the king was neither naturally nor civilly dead, condemned
him of forgery ; for which, by the king's command, he was dragged
at the horse-tail from Corfe-Castle, and with his son,-f- hanged in
the town of Wareham : a punishment not undeserved, if he
foretold, as some report, that none of the line or lineage of king
John should after be crowned in England ; of whose offspring some
• Matt, Paius, page 237. t Idem, ut prim.

15 JOHN. BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 341
shall flourish, in free and full power on the English throne, when
the Chair of Pestilence shall be burned to ashes, and neither triple-
crown left at Rome to be worn, nor any head there which shall dare-
to wear it,
17. The Interdiction of England relaxed. ^,Z>, 1214,
Next year the interdiction was taken off of the kingdom, and a
general jubilee of joy all over the land; banished bishops being
restored to their sees ; service and sacraments being administered
in the church, as before. But small reason had king John to
rejoice, being come out of God's blessing, (of whom before he
immediately held the crown,) into the warm sun, or rather
scorching heat, of the pope's protection, which proved little bene
ficial unto him.
18. The Pope's Legate arbitrates the Arrears betwixt the King
and. Clergy.
A brawl happened betwixt him and the banished bishops, now
returned home, about satisfaction for their arrears, and reparation of
their damages, during the interdiction ; all which term the king had
retained their revenues in his hands. To moderate this matter,
Nicholas, a Tusculan cardinal and legate, was employed by the
pope ; who, after many meetings and synods to audit their accounts,
reduced all at last to the gross sum of forty thousand marks : the
restoring whereof by the king unto them was thus divided into
three payments : — 1. Twelve thousand marks Pandulphus carried
over with him into France, and delivered them to the bishops before
their return, 2, P'ifteen thousand were paid down at the late
meeting in Reading, 3, For the thirteen thousand remaining,
they had the king's oath, bond, and other sureties. But then in
came the whole cry of the rest of the clergy, who stayed all the
while in the land, bringing in the bills of their several sufferings
and losses sustained, occasioned by the interdiction. Yea, some
had so much avarice and little conscience, they could have been
contented the interdiction had still remained, until all the accidental
damages were repaired. But cardinal Nicholas averred them to
amount to an incredible sum, impossible to be paid, and unreason
able to be demanded ; adding, withal, that, in general grievances,
private men may be glad if the main be made good unto them, not
descending to petty particulars, which are to be cast out of course,
as inconsiderable in a common calamity. Hereupon, and on some
^ther occasions, much grudging and justlmg there was betwixt
Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, and the legate, as one, in his
judgment and carriage too propitious and partial to the king's cause.

342 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1214  16.
1 9. The Barons rebel against King John.
The remnant of this king's reign afforded little ecclesiastical
story, but what is so complicated with the interest of state, that it is
more proper for the chronicles of the commonwealth. But this is
the brief thereof : The barons of England demanded of king John
to desist from that arbitrary and tyrannical power he exercised, and
to restore king Edward's laws, which his great-grandfather king
Henry I. had confirmed to the church and state, for the general
good of his subjects ; yea, and which he himself, when lately
absolved from the sentence of excommunication by Stephen arch
bishop of Canterbury, had solemnly promised to observe. But king
John, though at the first he condescended to their requests, after
wards repented of his promise, and refused the performance, thereof.
Hereupon the barons took up arms against him, and called in Lewis
prince of France, son to Philip Augustus, to their assistance, pro
mising him the crown of England for his reward.
20. Lewis Prince of France invited by the Barons to invade
England. A.D. 1215.
Yet the pope endeavoured what lay in his "power to dissuade
prince Lewis from this design ; to which at first he encouraged him,
and now forbade him in vain. For, where a crown is the game
hunted after, such hounds are easier laid on, than either rated or
hallooed off. Yea, ambition had brought this prince into this
dilemma ; that if he invaded England, he was accursed by the pope ;
if he invaded it not, forsworn of himself, having promised upon oath
by such a time to be at London. Over comes Lewis into England,
and there hath the principal learning of the land — the clergy, the
strength thereof— the barons, the wealth of the same — the London-
-ers, to join with him; who but ill requited king John for his late.
bounty to their city, in first giving them a mayor* for their
governor, Gualo [Gallo] the pope's new legate, sent on purpose,
bestirred himself with book, bell, and candle ; excommunicating the
archbishop of Canterbury, with all the nobility opposing king John,
now in protection of his Holiness, But the commonness of these
curses caused them to be contemned ; so that they were a fright to
few, a mock to many, and a hurt to none,
21. An unworthy Embassy of King John to the King of Morocco.
King John, thus distressed, sent a base, degenerous, and unchris
tian-like embassage to Admiralius Mermelius, a Maliometan king of
Morocco, then very puissant, and possessing a great part of Spain ;
offering him, on condition he would send him succour, to hold the
* Granted to the city, A.D. 1209. Grafton, fol. 59.

17 JOHN-, BOOK III. CENT. XIII. 343
kingdom of England as a vassal from him, and to receive the law of
Mahomet.* The Moor, marvellously offended with his offer, told
the ambassadors, that he lately had read Paul's epistles, which for
the matter liked him very well, save only that Paul once renounced
that faith wherein he was born and the Jewish profession ; where
fore he neglected king John, as devoid both of piety and policy,
who would love his liberty, and disclaim his religion : a strange
tender, if true. Here, whilst some allege in behalf of king John,
that cases of extremity excuse counsels of extremity, (when liberty is
not left to choose what is best, but to snatch what is next, neglecting
future safety for present subsistence,) we only listen to the saying of
Solomon, " Oppression maketh a wise man mad," Eccles, vii, 7- In
a fit of which fury, oppressed on all sides with enemies, king John,
scarce compos sui, may be presumed to have pitched on this
project,
22, The lamentable Death of King John. A.D. 12\6.
King John having thus tried Turk and Pope, and both with bad
success, sought at last to escape those his enemies whom he could
not resist, by a far and fast march into the north-eastern counties ;
where, turning mischievous instead of valiant, he cruelly burned all
the stacks of corn of such as he conceived disaffected unto him ;
doing therein most spite to the rich for the present, but, in fine,
more spoil to the poor, the prices of grain falling heavy on those
who were least able to bear them. Coming to Lynn, he rewarded
the fidelity of that town unto him with bestowing on that corpora
tion his own sword ;-j- which had he himself but known how well to
manage, he had not so soon been brought into so sad a condition.
He gave also to the same place a fair silver cup all gilded. But
few days after, a worse cup was presented to king John, at Swines-
head-Abbey in Lincolnshire, by one Simon a monk,J of poisoned
wine, whereof the king died : a murder so horrid that it concerned
all monks (who in that age had the monopoly of writing histories)
to conceal it, and therefore give out sundry other causes of his
death, Some§ report him heart-broken with grief for the loss of his
baggage and treasure drowned in the passage over the washes ; it
being just with God, that he who had plagued others with fire should
be punished by water, a contrary but as cruel an element. Others ||
ascribe his death to a looseness, and scouring with blood ; others, to a
cold sweat ; others, to a burning heat ; — all effects not inconsistent
• Matt Paris, page 245, placeth tUs two years sooner, namely. A, D. 1213,
t Camden's Brit, in Norfolk, I Will. Caxton in his "Chronicle" called
Fructus Temp. lih. vii, I Matt, Paris, page 287, il Compare Mr. Fox's
« Martyrology," page 234, with Holinshed, page 194,

344 CHURtH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1217.
with poison : so that they, in some manner, may seem to set
down the symptoms, and suppress his disease.
23. King John's Character delivered in the Dark.
It is hard to give the true chara,cter of this king's conditions.
For we only behold him through such light as the friars his foes
show him in ; who so. hold the candle, that, with the shadow
thereof, they darken his virtues, and present only his vices. Yea,
and as if they had also poisoned his memory, they cause his faults
to swell to a prodigious greatness, making him with their pens more
black in conditions, than the Morocco king (whose aid he requested)
could be in complexion : a murderer of his nephew Arthur ; a
defiler of the wives and daughters of his nobles ; sacrilegious in the
church ; profane in his discourse ; wilful in his private resolutions ;
various in his public promises ; false in his faith to men, and waver
ing in his religion to God, The favourablest expression of him falls
from the pen of Roger Hoveden -.—^
Princeps quidem magnus erat, sed minus felix,
Atque id Marius, utramque fortunam expertus.-
Perchance he had been esteemed more pious, if more prosperous ;
it being an usual (though uncharitable) error, to account mischances
to be misdeeds. But we leave him quietly buried in Worcester
church, and proceed in our story,
24, Henry III. under Tutors and Governors. 1 Henry III,
Henry, the third of that name, his son, succeeded him, being but
ten years old ; and was crowned at Gloucester, October 28th, by a
moiety of the nobility and clergy, the rest siding with the French
Lewis, Now, what came not so well from the mouth of Abijah the
son, concerning his father Rehoboam, posterity may, no less truly,
and more properly, pronounce of this Henry, even when a man :
" He was but a child, and tender-hearted," 2 Chron, xiii, 7- But,
what strength was wanting in the ivy itself was supplied bythe oaks,
his supporters, his tutors and governors ; first, William Marshall,
earl of Pembroke, and, after his death, Peter, bishop of Winchester.
But, of these two protectors, successively a sword-man and a churchT
man, the latter left the deeper impression on this our king Henry,
appearing more religious than resolute, devout than valiant. His
reign was not only long for continuance, fifty-six years, but also
thick for remarkable mutations happening therein.
25, By what Means King Henry so quickly recovered his
Kingdom.
Within little more than a twelvemonth, he recovered the entire
possession of his kingdom'; many things concurring to expedite so

1 HENRY III, BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 345
great an alteration. First, The insolency of the French, disobliging
the English by their cruelty and wantonness. Secondly, The
inconstancy of the English, (if starting loyalty's return to its lawful
sovereign may be so termed,) who, as for their own turns they
called in Lewis, so for their turns they cast him out. Thirdly, The
innocence of prince Henry, whose harmless age, as it attracted love
to him on his own account, so he seemed also hereditarily to succeed
to some pity, as the son of a suffering father. Fourthly, The
wisdom and valour, counsel and courage, of William eari of Pem
broke, his protector ; who, having got the French Lewis out of his
covert of the city of London, into the champaign field, so mauled
him at the fatal battle of Lincoln, that soon after the said Lewis
was fain, by the colour of a composition, to qualify his retreat (not
to say his flight) into the honour of a departure. Lastly and chiefly.
The mercy of God to an injured orphan, and his justice, that
detained right (though late, yet) at last should return to its proper
owner.
26. Our principal Design in writing this King's Life. A.D. 1217.
But it were not only uncivil but injurious for us to meddle with
these matters, proper to the pens of the civil historians. We shall
"therefore confine ourselves principally to take notice, in this king's
reign, as of the unconscionable extortions of the court of Rome on
the one side, to the detriment of the king and kingdom ; so of the
defence which the king, as well as he could, made against it : defence,
which, though too faint and feeble fully to recover his right from so
potent oppression, yet did this good, — to continue his claim, and
preserve the title of his privileges, until his son, and successors in
after-ages, could more effectually rescue the rights of their crown
from papal usurpation,
27, Occasions of the Pope's intolerable Extortions.
Indeed, at this time many things emboldened the pope (not over-
bashful of himself) to be the more busy in the collecting of money.
First. The troublesomeness of the times, and best fishing for him
in such waters. Secondly, The ignorance of most, and the
obnoxiousness of some, of the English clergy. Now, such as had
weak heads must find strong backs ; and those that led their lives
loose durst not carry their purses tied, or grudge to pay dear for a
connivance at their viciousness. Thirdly, The minority of king
Henry, and, which was worse, his non-age, after his full age ; such
was his weakness of spirit, and lowness of resolution. Lastly.
The pope, conceiving that this king got his crown under the coun
tenance of his excommunicating his enemies, thought that either

346 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1217  ^20.
king Henry's weakness could not see, or his goodness would wink at,
his intolerable extortions ; which, how great soever, were but a large
shiver of that loaf which he had given into the king's hand. Pre
suming on the premises, Gualo, the pope's legate, by his inquisitors
throughout England, collected a vast sum of money of the clergy,
for their misdemeanours ; Hugo bishop of Lincoln paying no less
for his share, than a thousand marks sterling to the pope,* and a
hundred to this his legate. Yet when this Gualo departed, such as
hated his dwelling here grieved at his going hence, because fearing a
worse in his room ; choosing rather to be sucked by full than fresh
flies, hoping that those already gorged would be afterwards less
greedy. 28, A new Design.
And being now to give the reader a short account of the long
reign of this king, I shall alter my proceedings, embracing a new
course which hitherto I have not, nor hereafter shall, venture upon ;
wherein, I hope, the variation may be not only pleasant but profit
able to the reader, as scientifical and satisfactory in itself ; namely,
I will for the present leave offconsulting with the large and numerous
printed or manuscript authors of that age, and betake myself only to
the Tower Records, all authentically attested under the hands of
William Ryley, Norroy, keeper of that precious treasury,
29. Cfood Text, whatever the Comments.
When I have first exemplified them, I shall proceed to make
such observations upon them, as, according to my weakness, I con
ceive of greatest concernment ; being confident that few consider
ables in that age (which was the crisis of regal and papal power in
this land) will escape our discovery herein.
30. Serenity in the State. A. D. 1220,
Only I desire a pardon for the premising of this touch of state-
matters. At this instant the commonwealth had a great serenity,
as lately cleared from such active spirits, who nick-named the calm
and quiet of peace, " a sloth of government." Such Falcatius de
Brent, and others, who had merited much in setting this Henry III.
on the throne ; and it is dangerous when subjects confer too great
benefits on their sovereigns ; for afterwards their minds are only
made capable of receiving more reward, not doing more duty.
These were offended when such lands and castles, which by the heat
of war had unjustly been given them, by peace were justly taken
away from them ; finding such uprightness in the king, that his
* Matt. Paris, page 299.

7 HENRY III. BOOK III. CENT. XIII. 347
power of protection would not be made a wrong-doer. But now
the old stock of such malcontents, being either worn out with age,
or ordered otherwise into obedience, all things were in an universal
tranquillity, within the first seven years of this king's reign.

SECTION V.
THOMiE HANSON, AMICO MEO.
Displicet mihi modernus scribendi mos, quo monu
menta indies exarantur. Literse enim sunt fugaces, ut
quae non stabili manu penitiis membranis infiguntur,
sed currente calamo summam earum cuticulam vix
leviter prsestringunt. Use cum sseculum unum et
alterum duraverint> vel linceis oculis lectu erunt
perdifficiles. Haud ita olim archiva, in Turre Londinensi, Rotulis,
Scaccario, &c. deposita; in quibus ingens scribarum
cura, justa membranarum firmitas, atramentum vere
iEthiopicum, integra literarum lineamenta, ut calamus
prseli semulus videatur. Ita adhuc vigent omnia, in
illis qu8e trecentis abhinc annis notata, ut is, cui cha-
racteris antiquitas minus cognita, nuperrime descripta
judicaret. Ex his nonnulla decerpsi, ad rem nostram facientia,
et ea tibi dedicanda curavi, quem omnes norunt anti-
quitatis canitiem venerari: quo, in Ducatus Lancas-
trensis chartulis custodiendis, nemo fidelior, perlegendis
oculatior, communicandis candidior.
1, A remarkable Writ of the King to the Sheriff of
Buckinghamshire.
Here we begin with the king's precept to the sheriff of Buck
inghamshire, considerable for the rarity thereof, though otherwise
but a matter of private concernment,
Vic. Bucks.— Precipimus tibi quod Emme de Pinkney ux.
Laur. Pinkney, qui excommunicatiis est, eo quod predict.
Emmam affectione maritali non tractavit, eid. Emme rationa-
bil. estover. invenias, donee idem Laur. vir suus earn
tanquam suam tractaverit.

348 CHURCH HISTORX OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1215,
" To the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire,— We command you
concerning Emme de Pinkney, wife of Laurence Pinkney, wjio is
excommunicated, because he did not use the aforesaid Emme with
affection befitting a husband ; that you find for the said Emme
estovers in reasonable proportion, until the said Laurence her hus
band shall use her as becometh his wife,"
Of this Laurence Pinkney I can say nothing : only I find his
family ancient, and barons of Weedon in Northamptonshire,* It
seemeth strange he should be excommunicated for not loving usage
of his wife, no incontinency appearing proved against him ; except
his carriage was cruel in a high degree. By estover, in our forest
towns, we only understand, "a certain allowance of wood ;" though
the extent of the word be far larger, importing, " nourishment," or
"maintenance in meat and cloth," as a learned lawyer f hath
observed. This, it seems, being denied by her husband, the king
enjoineth the sheriff, that he should appoint the said Emme Pink
ney reasonable alimony, in proportion, no doubt, to her portion and
her husband's estate,
2, A remarkable Prohibition of papal Appeals. A.D. 1215,
Next we take notice of a writing which the king sent over to the
archbishop of Dublin,:]: and which deserveth the reader's serious
perusal : —
Rex Dublin. Archiepiscopo, Ju-Hiciario Hiberniee, salutem. —
Adea que vobis nuper nostris dedimus in mandatis, ut nobis rescri-
beretis quatenus fuisset processum in causa N'lcolai de Feldd, qui
contra abbatem et canonicos St. Thomee Dublinensis in Curia
nostrd, coram Justiciariis nostris, petiit duas carrucutus terra
cum pertineniiis in Kelredhery per ass'isam de morte Antecessoris,
cui etiam coram eiidem Justiciariis objectajhit Bastardia, propter
quod ab ipsis Justiciariis nostris ad vos fuit transmissus, ut in
foro ecclesiastico de ejus Bastardid ,nve Legitimitate agnosceretis,
nobis per litteras vestras signiflcastis ; quod cum in foro civili
terrain predictam peteret, per litteras nostras de morte anteces
soris versus memoralos abbatem et canonicos objecta ei fuit nota
Bastardie, quare in foro eodem tunc non fuit ulterius processum,
Memoratus etiam Nicolaus de mandato Justiciariorum nosirorum
in foro ecclesiastico coram nobis volens probare se esse Legitimum,
tc.stes produx'it : et publicatis attestationibus suis, post diuturn.
altercatioues et d'lsputationes tam ex parte abbatis, quam ipsius
Nicolai, cum ad caleulum diffinitive senteniie § procedere velletis,
comparuerunt due puelle minoris etatis, fllie Ricardi de la Feld,
* Camden's Brit, in Northamptonshire, f Bracton lib, iii. tract. 2, cap. 18, num, 1,
X Glaus. 8, Henr. HI. memb. 24, in dorso, % No se diphthongs in old records.

8 HENRY III, BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 849
patris predicti Nicolai, et appellaverunt ne ad sententiam feren-
dam procederetis, quia hoc in manifestum earum verteretur p?-e-
judicium : eo quod alias precluderetur eis via petendi hereditatem
petitam, nee possit eis subveniri per restitutionem in integrum.
Unde de consilio vestrorum prudenlum, ut dicitis, appellationi
deferentes cau.mm, secundum quod coram fiobis agitata est.
Domino pape transmis'istis instructam. De quo plurimum admi-
rantes, non immerito movemur,cum de Legitimitate predicti Nicolai
per testium productiones, et attestationum publicationes, plene
nobis constet ; vos propter appellutionem puellarum predictarum,
contra quas non agebatur, vel etiam de quibus nulla flebat mentio in
ass'isd memoratd, 7iec fuerunt alique partes illarum in causd pre-
dictd, sententiam diffinitivam pro eo distulistis pronunciare, et
male quasi nostrum declinantes examen, et volentes ut quod per
nostram determinandum esset Jurisdictionem, et dignitatem, ad
alienam transferretur dignitatem ; quod valde perniciosum esset
exemplo. Cum etiam si adcptus esset pradictus Nicholaus posses
sionem terra pradicta, per assisum pradictam, beneficium pctA-
cionis heereditatis preedictis puellis plane suppeteref in curid nostrd,
.per Breve de Recto ; max'ime cum per lilteras de morte ante
cessoris agatur de possessione, et non de proprietate, et ex
oflicio vestro in casu proposito nihil aliud ad vos pertinebat, nisi
tantum de ipsius Nicholai Legitimitate probationes admittere, et
ipsum cum litteris vestris testimonial'ibus ad Just'iciur'ios nostros
remittere. De consilio igitur magnatum et fldelium nobis
assistentium, vobis mandamus flrmiter injungentes, quatenus non
obstante appellatione pramlssd, non differaiis pro eo sentenciare,
ipsum ad Justiciarios nostros remittentes, cum litteris vestris
testimonialibus, ut eis de loqueld postmodum agitata, posimodum
possint secundum legem et con.metudinem terra nostra Hibernia
Justicia plcnitud'inem exhibere. Teste rege apud Glocester
19 die Novembris. 3. The Eff'ect of the Instrument.
The sum of this instrument is this : One Nicholas de Feld suing
for a portion of ground detained from him by the abbot of St,
Thomas in Dublin, (founded and plentifully endowed in memory of
Thomas Becket,) had bastardy objected against him. The clearing
hereof was by the king's judges remitted to the courts ecclesiastical,
where the said Nicholas produced effectual proofs for his legitima
tion. But upon the appeal of two minor daughters of the father of
the said Nicholas, who never before appeared, and who, if wronged,
had their remedy at common law, by a Writ of Right the matter
was by the archbishop of Dublin transferred to the court of Rome,

•350 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1215  35,
4, Appeal to the Pope prohibited.
The king saith in this his letter, that he did much admire thereat,
and (though all interests express themselves to their own advantage)
intimates the act not usual. And whereas he saith, that " the ex
ample would be pernicious ;" it seems, if this were a leading case,
the king's desire was it should have none to follow it, peremptorily
enjoining the archbishop (notwithstanding the aforesaid appeal to
the pope) to proceed to give sentence on the behalf of the said
Nicholas ; and not to derive the king's undoubted right to a foreign
power. 5. The Time makes if the more remarkable.
Indeed, the kings of England were so crest-fallen, or rather crown-
fallen, in this age, that the forbidding of such an appeal appeareth
in him a daring deed. Est aliquid prodire tenus ; essays in such
nature were remarkable, considering the inundation of the papal
power. Green leaves in the depth of winter may be more than full
flewers from the same root in the spring. It seems, some royal sap
still remained in the English sceptre, that it durst oppose the pope
in so high a degree,
6, Caursines, what they were. A.D. 1235,
In this year, 1235, the Caursines first came into England, proving
the pests of the land, and bane of the people therein. These
were Italians by birth, terming themselves the pope's merchants,
driving no other trade than letting-out money, great banks whereof
they brought over into England ; differing little from the Jews ;
save that they were more merciless to their debtors. Now, because the
pope's legate was all for ready money, when any tax by levy, com
mutation of vows, tenths, dispensations, &c, were due to the pope,
from prelate, convents, priests, or lay persons, these Caursines
instantly furnished them with present coin upon their solemn bonds
and obligations : one form whereof -we have inserted : —
" To all that shall see the present writing, Thomas the prior and
the convent of Barnwell wish health in the Lord, — Know that we
have borrowed and received at London, for our selves, profitably to
be expended for the affaires of our church, from Francisco and
Gregorio, for them and their partners, citizens and merchants of
Millain, a hundred and four marks of lawfuU money sterling, thirteen
shillings four pence sterling being counted to every mark. Which
said one hundred and four marks we promise to pay back on the,
feast of St, Peter ad Vincula, being the first day of August, at the
New Temple in London, in the year 1235, And if the said money
be not throiighly paid, at the time and place aforesaid, we bind our

19 HENRY, BOOK III, CENT. XIII. 351
selves to pay to the foresaid merchants, or any one of them, or their
certain atturney, for every ten marks, forborne two months, one mark
of money for recompence of the damages, which the foresaid mer
chants may incur by the not-payment of the money unto them, so
that both principall, damages, and expences, as above expressed, with
the expences of one merchant with his horse and man, untill such time
as the aforesaid money be fully satisfied. For payment of principal,
interest, damages, and expences, we oblige our selves, and our church
and successours, and all our goods, and the goods of our church,
moveable or immoveable, ecclesiasticall, or temporall, which we have,
or shall have, wheresoever they shall be found, to the foresaid mer
chants, and their heirs ; and do recognize and acknowledge that we
possesse and hold the same goods from the said merchants by way of
courtesy, untill the premises be fully satisfied. And we renounce
for our selves, and successours, all help of canon and civil law, all
priviledges, and clark-ship, the epistle of St. Adrian? all customes,
statutes, lectures, indulgences, priviledges, obtained for the king of
England, from the see apostolick : as also we renounce the benefit of
all appeales, or inhibition from the king of England, with all other
exceptions real or personal, which may be objected against the validity
of this instrument. All these things we promise faithfully to observe :
in witnesse whereof we have set to the seal of our convent. Dated
at London, die quinto Elphegi, in the year of Grace 1235."
Sure bind, sure find. . Here were cords enough to hold Samson
himself; an order taken they should never be cut or untied, the
debtor depriving himself of any relief, save by full payment.
7- Necessary Observations.
It will not be amiss to make some brief notes on the former obli
gation, it being better to write on it, than to be written in it as the
debtor concerned therein.
One hundred and four marks — The odd four seem added for
interest. Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula — The popish tradition
saith, that Eudoxia the empress, wife to Theodosius the younger,
brought two great chains, wherewith Herod imprisoned St, Peter,
from Jerasalem to Rome, where they are reported seen at this day,
and a solemn festival kept on the first of August, the quarter pay
day of Rome's revenues, in memorial thereof. But the name of
Lammas hath put out St, Peter's chains in our English almanac.
New Temple at London — In Fleet-street, founded by the Knights
Templars, and dedicated by Heraclius patriarch of Jerusalem, 1185.
Called " New " in relation to Ancient Temple, (less and less con
venient,) they had formerly in Oldburn [Holborn]. And our
certain atturney — Nuncius in the Latin, being one employed to

S52 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1235^8.
solicit their suit. All the goods of our church, moveable and im
moveable — Hence oftentimes they were forced to sell their chalices
und altar-plate to pay the bond, and secure the rest of their goods,
for these creditors. Canon and civil law — Common law not men
tioned herein, with which these Caursines, being foreigners, would
have nothing to do. Epistle of St. Adrian — This seems to be some
indulgence granted by pope Adrian IV, perchance, whereby churches-.
indicted found some favour against their creditors. Die quinto
Elphegi — I am not datary enough to understand this, I know
Elphegus to be archbishop of Canterbury, and martyr, and his day
kept the nineteenth of April ; so that the money was borrowed but
for three months ; so soon did the payment, or heavy forfeiture in
default thereof, -return. 8. Caursines, ivhence so called.
These Caursines were generally hated for their extortions. Some
will have them called Caursines quasi causa ursini, so bearish
and cruel in their causes : others Caursini quasi corrasini, from
scraping all together. But these are but barbarous allusions, though
best becoming such base practices,
9, Foxes' Hap and Happiness.
Mean time the Caursines cared not what they were called, being
akin to the cunning creature, which fareth best when cursed ; and
we^e indeed lords of the land, according to Scripture-rule, " The
borrower is servant to the lender ;" many of the laity, more of the
clergy and convents, and the king himself, being deeply indebted
unto them. Indeed, Roger Black, that valiant, learned, and pious
bishop of London, once excommunicated these Caursines for their
oppression ; but they, appealing to the pope, their good, friend,
forced him, after much molestation, to desist,
10. Caursines and Lombards the same.
These Caursines were more commonly known by the name of
Lombards, from Lombardy the place of their nativity, in Italy, And
although they deserted England on the decaying of the pope's power
and profit therein ; yet a double memorial remaineth of them : One
of their habitation, in Lombard-street in London : the other of their
employment, "a Lombard" unto this day signifying "a bank for
usury," or " pawns," still continued in the Low Countries, and
elsewhere, 11, Deep Hypocrisy.
Mean time one may lawfully smile at the pope's hypocrisy,
forbidding usury as a sin so detestable under such heavy penalties, '

22 henry III, BOOK ill, CENT, XIII. 3.53
in his canon law, whilst his own instruments were the most uncon
scionable practisers thereof without any control.
1 2, 13. The Present of the Oxford Scholars to the Legate, ill
requited. A.D. 1238.
Otho, cardinal, deacon of St. Nicholas, was sent the pope's legate
into England ; and, going to Oxford,* took up his lodgings in the
abbey of Osney. To him the scholars in Oxford sent a present of
victuals before dinner ; and, after dinner, came to tender their
attendance unto him. The porter, being an Italian, demanded
their business ; who answered him, that they came to wait on the
lord legate ; promising themselves a courteous reception, having
read in the Scripture, "A man's gift maketh room for him,"
Prov. xviii, 16 : though here, contrary to expectation, they were
not received. Call it not " clownishness " in the porter, (because
bred in the court of Rome,) but carefulness for the safety of his
master. But whilst the porter held the door in a dubious posture, betwixt
open and shut, the scholars forced their entrance. In this juncture
of time, it unluckily happened that a poor Irish priest begged an
alms, in whose face the clerk of the kitchen cast scalding water
taken out of the caldron, A Welsh clerk, beholding this, bent his
bow (by this time the scholars had got weapons) and shot the clerk
of the kitchen stark dead on the place,
14, The Legate's Brother killed by the Scholars of Oxford.
This man, thus killed, was much more than his plain pl^ce
promised him to be, as no meaner than the brother of the legate
himself; who, being suspicious (0 how jealous is guiltiness !) that
he might find Italy in England, and fearing to be poisoned,
appointed his brother to oversee all food for his own eating. And
now the three nations of Irish, Welsh, and English fell down right
on the Italians. The legate, fearing (as they came from the same
womb) to be sent to the same grave with his brother, secured him
self fast locked up in the tower of Osney church, and there sat still
and quiet, all attired in his canonical cope.
15. The Legate flies to the King.
But he, it seems, trusted not so much to his canonical cope, as
the sable mantle of night ; under the protection whereof he got out,
with a guide, to make his escape ; not without danger of drowning
in the dark, being five times to cross the river then swelling with
* M. Paris i'js anna 1238. Ran. Cistrensis, lib. ult. cap. 34, et T, Walsingham
in Hypodigm. NeusO'iee.
Vol, I, A A

354 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 1238,'
late rain, as much as the scholars with anger. He made fords
where he found none, all known passages being way-laid ; and
heard the scholars following after, railing on, and calling him
" usurer, simoniac, deceiver of the prince, oppressor of the people,"
&c, whilst the legate wisely turned his tongue into heels, spurring
with might and main to Abingdon where the court then lay.
Hither he came, being out of all breath and patience ; so that
entering the king's presence, his tears and sighs were fain to relieve
his tongue, not able otherwise to express his miseries ; whom the
king did most affectionately compassionate,
16, 17, 18, Oxford in a sad Condition ; interdicted by the Legate,
who returns to London.
And now woe to the poor clergy of Oxford, when both temporal
and spiritual arms are prepared against them ! Next day the king
sent the earl WaiTcn with forces against them, and a double com
mission, — eripere et arripere ; " to deliver the remainder of the
Italians," (little better than besieged in Osney Abbey.) " and to
seize on the scholars ;" of whom thirty, with one Otho Legista,
(forward, it seems, in the fray against the legate his name-sake,)
were taken prisoners, and sent, like felons, bound in carts, to
Wallingford prison, and other places of restraint.
Nor was the legate lazy the -vvhile ; but, summoning such bishops
as were nearest him, interdicted the university of Oxford, and
excommunicated all such as were partakers in the tumult ; which
were not the young fry of scholars, but clerks in Orders ; and
mainy of them beneficed, and now deprived of the profit of their
livings. From Abingdon the legate removed to London, lodging at
Durham-house in the Strand ; the king commanding the mayor of
London " to keep him as the apple of his eye," with watch and
ward constantly about him. Hither he assembled the bishops of
the land, to consider and consult about reparation for so high an
affront, 19- The Bishops intercede for the University -
The bishops pleaded hard for the university of Oxford, as being
the place wherein most of them had their education. They alleged
it was secunda ecclesia, " a second church," being the nursery of
learning and religion. They pleaded also that the churlishness
of the porter let in this sad accident, increased by the indiscre
tion of those in his own family ; adding also, that the clerks.
of Oxford had deeply smarted, by their long durance and sufferings,
for their fault therein.

¦ 25 HENRY III. BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 3-55
20, /ill are reconciled.
Mollified with the premisses, the legate at last was over-entreated
to pardon the clergy of Oxford, on their solemn submission ; which
was thus performed : They went from St. Paul's in London to
Durham-house in the Strand, no short Italian (but an English
long) mile, all on foot ; the bishops of England, for the more state
of the business, accompanying them, as partly accessary to their
fault, for pleading in their behalf. When they came to the bishop
of Carlisle's (now Worcester) house, the scholars went the rest of
their way barefoot, sine capis et mantulis, which some understand,
" without capes or cloaks," And thus the great legate at last was
really reconciled unto them,
21. Bishops' ancient Inns in London.
The mention of the house of the bishop of Carlisle minds me
how, anciently, every bishop (as all principal abbots) had a house
belonging to their see, commonly called their " inn," for them to
lodge in when their occasions summoned them to London, Not to
mention those which still retain their names, as Winchester,
Durham, Ely, &c, we will only observe such which are swallowed
up into other houses, conceiving it charitable to rescue their memory
from oblivion,
Salisbury-house, in Fleet-street, is now turned into Dorset-house :
St, David's, north of Bridewell, into small tenements : Chichester-
house, Chancery-lane, built by Ralph Neville, bishop of Chichester,
is now turned into Lincoln's Inn : Exeter-house, by Temple-bar,
built by Walter Stapleton, bishop of Exeter, is now turned into
Essex-house : Bath and Wells-house, Strand, into Arundel-house :
Landaff-house, Strand, into Somerset-house : Worcester-house,
Strand, into Somerset-house : Lichfield and Coventry-house, Strand,
built by Walter de Langton, bishop of Chester, into Somerset-house :
Carlisle-house, Strand, into Worcester- house,: Norwich-house,
Strand, into York-house : York-house, Westminster, into White
hall : Hereford-house, Old Fish-street-hill, built by Ralph de May-
denstune, bishop of Hereford, into a sugarmaker's house,
I question whether the bishop of Rochester, whose country-house
at Bromley is so nigh, had ever a house in the city. Let others
recover the rest from oblivion ; a hard task, I believe : they are so
drowned in private houses, O let us secure to ourselves " ever
lasting habitations," seeing here no abiding mansion ! Luke xvi, 9,
22, A valiant Offer. AD. 1241.
Come we now to present the reader with another offer of the
king's, (I fear it was not much more,) to repress papal oppression : —

356 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 1241.
Rex dilecto sibi in Christo Archidiacono Glouc. salutem. — Sig-
nificavimus, et etiam vivd voce exposuimus magistro P- Rubeo,
Nuncio Domini Papa, quod non est intentionis nostree, nee etiam
volumus aliquatenus .sustinere, qudd vel viros religiosos vel
clericnm aliquem ad contributionem faciendam ad opus Domini
Papa compellant.' Et ided vobis mandamus inhibentes districte,
ne ad mandatum ipsius magistri Petri vel suorum, viros religiosos
seu clericos ad contributionem pradictam faciendam aliqud censura
ecclesiasticd compellatis. Scituri quod si secils egeritis, nos contra
vos tanquam perturbatorem pads ecclesias tica, quam conservare
tenemur, mndis quibus expedire viderimus, procedemus. Teste
rege apud Glouc. 11 die Junii.*
" The king to his beloved in Christ the archdeacon of Gloucester,
greeting. — We have signified, and also by word of mouth have
declared to Mr. P. Rubens, nundo to the lord the pope, that it is
not our intention, nor will we any ways endure it, that they shall
compel religious men, or any clerk, to make a contribution, to
supply the occasions of the lord the pope. And, therefore, we
command you, strictly forbidding, that, at the command bf the same
Mr. Peter, or any of his officers, you compel not any religious men
or clerks, by any ecclesiastical censures, to make the aforesaid con
tribution : knowing that if you do otherwise, we shall proceed
against you, by means we shall think fit, as against the disturber of
the peace of the church, which we are bound to preserve. Witness
the king at Gloucester, the eleventh of June."
By the way, a nuncio differed from a legate, almost as a lieger
from an extraordinary ambassador ; who, though not so ample in
his power, was as active in his progging to advance the profit of the
pope his master. 23, A free-forced Gift-
This instrument acquainteth us with the method used by him in
managing his money-matters. Such as refused to pay his demands
were proceeded against by church censures, — suspension, excom
munication, &c. the cunning Italian, to decline the odium, employ
ing' the archdeacons to denounce the same in their respective
jurisdictions. Yet this went under the norion of a voluntary
contribution, as free as fire from flint, forced with steel and strength
out of it. 24. Spoken like a King.
Whereas the king counted himself " bound to preserve the peace
of the church," the words well became his mouth. They seem to
• Pat, 25. of Henry III. mem. 6.

25 HENRY 111,

BOOK III, CENT, XIII. 357

me to look like " Defender of the Faith " as yet but in the bud,
and which in due time might grow up to amount to as much. For,
though every Christian in his calling must keep the peace of the
church, kings have a coercive power over the disturbers thereof
25. Say and do, best.
This royal resolution, to resist the oppressing of his subjects, was
good as propounded, better if performed, I find no visible effect
thereof. But we may believe, it made -the pope's mill go the slower,
though it did not wholly hinder his grinding the faces of the clergy.
This patent is dated from Gloucester, more loved of king Henry
than London itself, as a strong and loyal city, where he was first
crowned, and afterwards did often reside,
26, A Pension given by the Pope to an English Earl.
Amongst the thousands of pounds which the pope carried out of
England, I meet only with three hundred marks yearly, which came
back again as a private boon, bestowed on an English knight, Sir
Reginald Mohun, by pope Innocent IV, then keeping his court at
Lyons in France. And because these are vestigia sola retrorsiim,
it will not be amiss to insert the whole story thereof, as it is in an
ancient French manuscript, pertaining to the family of the
Mohuns : —
Quant Sire Reinalda voit ceo faitz il passu a la Court de
Rome que adonques fuist a Lions, pur conflrmer et ratifer sa no
velle Abbay a grand honor de liu atouz joues et fuist en la Courte
le- deniergne en quaresms quant lenchaunce loffice del messe
Lestare Jerusalem al quen jour lusage de la Court este que la
poistoille doa a plus valiant et a plus honorable home qui puit
estre trovez en la deste Courte une Rose ou une florctte de fin
or donquez ilz sereherent tote le Courte enfroverent Cesti
Reinald pur le plus noble de toute la Courte a oui le Pape
Innocent donna celle Rose ou florctte dor et la Papa lui
damanda quit home il fuist en son pais il respondi simple bache-
leri, bean fltz fetz la Pape celle Rose ou Jlorette unquez ne
fuist donez fors an Rois ou an Dukes an a Countese pour.aeo
nous voluns que vous sons le Counte de Est ceo est Somerset
Reinald respondi et Aist O Saincts Piere ceo nay dout le nom
meinteyner lapos soille donques lui dona ducent mariz per
annum receiver sur Cantee saint Paul de Londres de ces
deneires d' Engleterre pour son honm- mainieyner de quen
donna il report a Bulks que enquore aurent en plomps, ^e.
en semblement odue moltes din aultres B idles confirmatione de sa
novelle Abbay de Newhama pres quen jour il porta la rose ou
florette en les armes.

8o8 CHURCH. HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1241  54,
It is as needless, as difficult, to translate this Bull verbatim,
being of base, obsolete, and ill-pointed French ; sufficeth it that
this is the sum thereof: The pope used on the Lord's day called
Lestare, Jerusalem, solemnly to bestow a consecrated rose on the
most honourable persons present at mass with his Holiness,
Inquiry being made, the rose was conferred on Sir Reginald
Mohun, as the best-extracted in the present congregation.
But seeing that rose used always to be given to kings, dukes, and
earls at least, (the lowest form of coronetted nobility in that age,)
his Holiness understanding the same Sir Reginald to be but a plain
knight bachelor, created him the earl of Est, that is, saith this Bull,
of Somerset ; and, for the better support of his honour, he allowed
him three hundred marks out of the pence of England (understand
the Peter-pence) as the most certain papal revenue in the land.
By this Bull the same Sir Reinald was made a Count Apostolic,
whereby he had the privileges to appoint public notaries, and to
legitimate bastards on some conditions. King Henry III, was so
far from excepting against this act, that he highly honoured him.
And yet Master Camden sometimes acknowledgeth,* sometimes
denieth-f- him for an English earl. Not that I accuse him as
inconstant to himself, but suspect myself not well attaining his
meaning therein.
27. There are Rich who make themselves Poor.
Now, though the said Sir Reginald did modestly decline the
pope's honour for want of maintenance, yet had he at that time no
fewer than forty-three knights' fees held of his castle of Dunster.
I have nothing else to add herein, save that the ancient arms of the
Mohuns, namely, a Hand in a Maunch holding a Flower-de-luce,
(in that age more fashionable than a rose, in heraldry,) seems to
relate to this occasion ; which their family afterward changed into a
Sable Cross, in the achievements in the Holy Land, borne at this
day by the truly honourable the lord Mohun, baron of Okehampton,
as descended from this family.
28, The Death of Bishop Grouthead. A.D. 1254,
This year died Robert Grouthead,J bishop of Lincoln, born at
Stradbrook in Suffolk, natalibus pudendis, saith my author,§ " of
shameful extraction ;" intimating suspicion of bastardy ; though the
* In his Brit, in Somersetshire. -f In his Elizabeth in the case of Count Anmdel,
X The name of this excellent bishop largely pai-takes of that variety in spelling surnames
which distinguished the middle ages, " Robehtus Grosthead, scu Capito dictus," says
Cave in bis Hist. Liter. Dr. Pegge writes Mm Grosseteste, and others Grotehead,
&c.— Edit. § Bisiior Godwin in Catalogue of Lincohi bishops.

38 HEKRY III, BOOK 111. CENT, Xfll, 359
parents, rather than the child, have caused a blush thereat. He got
his surname from " the greatness of his head," having large stowage
to receive, and store of brains to fill it ; bred for a time in Oxford,
then in France ; a great and general scholar, Bale reckoning up no
fewer than two hundred books of his making, and a great opposer of
the pope's oppression, which now grew intolerable.
29, 30, The Pope's Fume against this good Bishop quenched by
a Spanish Cardinal.
For it appeared by inquisition made the last year, that the eccle
siastical revenues of Italians in England — whereof many were boys,
more blockheads, all aliens — amounted per annum unto threescore
and ten thousand marks ; whereas the king's income at the same
time was hardly twenty thousand,* Bishop Grouthead, offended
thereat, wrote pope Innocent IV, such a juniper letter, taxing him
with extortion and other vicious practices, that his Holiness brake
out into this expression : " What meaneth this doting old man,
surdus et absurdus, thus boldly to control our actions '^ By Peter
and Paul, did not our innate ingenuity restrain us, I would confound
him, and make him a prodigy to the whole world. Is not the king
of England our vassal, yea, our slave, to imprison and destroy what
persons we please to appoint ?"
The pope being in this pelt, .^gidius, a Spanish cardinal, thus
interposed his gravity : " It is not expedient, my lord, to use any
harshness to this bishop. We must confess the truths which he
saith. He is a holy man, of a more religious life than any of us ;
yea, Christendom hath not his equal ; a great philosopher, skilled
in Latin and Greek, a constant reader in the Schools, preacher in the
pulpit, lover of chastity, and leather of simony,"
31, Grouthead the People's, though not the Pope's, Saint.
Thus the pope took wit in his anger, and Grouthead escaped for
the present ; though Bale reporteth, that he died excommunicate and
deprived of his bishopric. Popish authors f confidently report a
strange vision, or rather a passion, of pope Innocent IV, whom
¦Grouthead (appearing after his death) so beat with many blows (it
seems he had a heavy hand as well as a great head) that the pope
died thereof soon after. No wonder, therefore, if his successors
would not canonize this Robert, who notwithstanding was a saint,
though not in the pope's, yet in the people's, calendar ; many miracles
being ascribed unto him, and particulariy, that a sweet oil after his
death issued out of his monument: J which, if false in the literal,
• Matt Paris in anno 1552. t John Burie, Matt, Paris, Matt, -^Vestmin-
ster, Mr.' Fabian. ' X Godwin in his Catalogue ot Bishops,

360 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1254,
may be true in a mystical meaning, Solomon observing that " a good
name is as ointment poured out."
32, 33, Discontents begin in England ; grounded on too much
Occasion.
England began now to surfeit .of more than thirty years' peace
and plenty, which produced no better effects than ingratitude to
God and murmuring at their king. Many active spirits, whose
minds were above their means, offended that others beneath them
(as they thought) in merit were above them in employment, cavilled
at many errors in the king's government, being State Donatists,
maintaining, the perfection of a commonwealth might and ought to
be attained : a thing easy in the theory, impossible in the practice,
to conform the actions of men's corrupted natures to the exact ideas
in men's imaginations.
Indeed, they had too much matter whereon justly to ground their
discontents ; partly, because the king, distrusting his natives,
employed so many French foreigners in places of power and profit ;
partly, because he had used such indirect courses to recruit his
treasuries, especially by annihilating all patents granted in his
minority, (though, indeed, he was never more in his full-age than
when in his non-age, as guided then by the best counsel,) and forc
ing his subjects to take out new ones on what terms his ofiicers
pleased. In a word, an author* then living complaineth, that
"justice •B'as committed to men unjust, the laws to such who them
selves were outlaws, and the keeping of the peace to injurious
people delighting in discords,"
34. A Title without Power only lep to the King.
After many contests betwixt the king and his subjects, (which the
reader may learn from the historians of the state,) four-and-twenty
prime persons were chosen by parliament to have the supreme
inspection of the land ; which soon after, to make them the more
cordial, passed a decoction, and were reduced to three ; and they
three in effect contracted to one, Simon Mountfort, earl of Leicester,
the king's brother-in-law ; the king himself standing by as a cipher,
yet signifying as much as his ambitious subjects did desire. These,
to make sure work, bound him with his solemn oath to submit him
self to their new-modelled government.
35. The Pope freely gives his Courtesies for Money.
Here the pope, charitable to relieve all distressed princes, inter
posed his power, absolving the king from that oath, as unreasonable
* Roger Wendover.

38 HENRY III, BOOK III, CENT. XIII. 361
in itself, and forced upon him. His Holiness was well paid for this
great favour; the king hereafter conniving at his horse-leeches
(legates and nuncioes) sucking the blood of his subjects with
intolerable taxations. Thus was it not altogether the flexibility of
king Henry, but partly the flexion of his condition, (I mean, the
altering of his occasions,) which made him sometimes withstand and
otherwhiles comply with the pope's extortion. Thus always the
pope's courtesies are very dear ; and the storm itself is a better
shelter than- the bramble, fleecing such sheep as fly under the shade
thereof, 36, 37. Sad Case when the royal Root is no better than a
Sucker. No Part of Church- Work.
Mean time the king, having neither coin nor credit, having
pawned his jewels, mortgaged all his land in France, and sold much
of it in England, wanting wherewithal to subsist, lived on abbeys
and priories, till his often-coming and long-staying there made what
was welcome at the first quickly to become wearisome. Though a
royal guest, with often coming, — his royalty made not his guestship
the more accepted ; but the notion of a guest rendered his royalty
the less to be esteemed. Indeed, his visits of abbeys at first did
wear the countenance of devotion, on which account this king was
very eminent ; but afterwards they appeared in their own likeness,
the dimmest eye seeing them to proceed from pure necessity.
Soon after began the civil wars in England, with various success ;
sometimes the king, and sometimes the barons, getting the better :
till at last an indifferent peace was concluded for their mutual good,
as in the historians of the commonwealth doth plentifully appear.
38. Bettered by Affliction.
The latter part of the reign of king Henry was not only eminent
in itself, but might be exemplary to others. He reformed first his
own natural errors, then the disorders in his court, the expense
whereof he measured by the just rule of his proper revenue. The
rigour and corruption of his judges he examined, and redressed by
strict commission, filled the seats of judgment and counsel with men
nobly-born, sate himself daily in council, and disposed affairs of
most weight in his own person,
39. Charta Magna first fully practised.
And now the charta magna was very strictly observed, being made
in the ninth year of this king's reign, but the practice thereof much
interrupted and disturbed with civil' wars. It is beheld by all
judicious men as, like the aurea Bulla, or "golden Bull" of

362 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 12.54 6-.
Germany, the life of English liberty, rescued by the blood and
valour of our ancestors from tyrannical encroachment, giving the due
bounds to prerogative and propriety, that neither should mutually
intrench on the other's lawful privileges. And although some high
royalists look on it as the product of subjects' animosities, improving
themselves on their prince's extremities ; yet most certain it is, those
king's flourished the most, both at home and abroad, who tied them-
selves most conscientiously to the observation thereof.
40, 41. Balliol College built, by a banished Prince : Great
Revenues for that Age. A. D. 1262.
Two colleges in Oxford were founded in the reign of this king:
One, Balliol College, by John Balliol (and Dervorguill * his lady)
of Barnard's Castle in the bishopric of Durham, banished into
England, and father of Balliol king of Scotland, Wonder not that
an exile should build a college, charity being oftentimes most active
in the' afflicted, willingly giving to others a little of that little they
have : witness the Macedonians, " whose deep poverty abounded to
the riches of their liberality," 2 Cor, viii, 2,
True it is, the ancient revenues of this college were not great,
allowing but eight-pence a-week f for every scholar therein of his
foundation, whereas Merton college had twelve-pence : and yet
as one casteth up,:j: their ancient revenues amounted unto ninety-nine
pounds seventeen shillings and ten-pence ; which, in that age, I
will assure you, was a considerable sum, enough to make us suspect,
that at this day they enjoy not all the original lands' of their
foundation, 42, Endowed with more Land than now it possesseth.
Indeed, I am informed that the aforesaid king Balliol bestowed a
large proportion of land in Scotland on this his father's foundation ;
the Master and Fellows whereof petitioned king James, (when the
Marches of two kingdoms were newly made the middle of one
monarchy,) for the restitution of those lands detained from them
in the civil wars betwixt the two crowns. The king, though an
affectionate lover of learning, would not have his bounty injurious
to any, save sometimes to himself; and considering those lands they
desired were long peaceably possessed with divers owners, gave
them notice to surcease their suit. Thus not king James, but the
infeasibility of the thing they petitioned for to be done with justice,
gave the denial to their petition,
* She is called Deverguld by Rapin, Devorguilla hy Le Neve. — Edit, t RoGEB
Walden in his " History." J Brian Twine, Antiq. Acad. Ox. in Appendice. ¦

46 HENRY, BOOK 111, CENT, XIII, 3G3
4.3, The Author's Request to the Learned in Oxford-
Being to present the reader with the catalogues of this and other
worthy foundations in Oxford, I am sorry that I can only build bare
walls, (erect empty columns,) and not fill them with any furniture ;
which the ingenuous reader, I trust, will pardon, when he considers :
First, That I am no Oxford man. Secondly, That Oxford is
not that Oxford wherewith, ten years since, I was acquainted.
Wherefore I humbly request the antiquaries of tlieir respective
foundations, best skilled in their own worthy natives, to insert their
own observations, which if they would return untorme against the
next edition of this work, if I live, and it be thought worthy
thereof, God shall have the glory, they the public thanks, and the
world the benefit of their contribution to my endeavours,
44, 45, 46, 47, Four necessary Things premised : Whence the
Masters are collected ; whence the Bishops ; whence the
Benefactors ; whence the learned Writers.
The catalogue of Masters we have taken, with an implicit faith, out
of Mr, Brian Twine, who may be presumed knowing in that subject,
until the year 1608, where his work doth determine. Since which
time we have supplied them as well as we may, though too often at
a loss for their Christian names, Tf Mr, Twine's Register be
imperfect, yet he writes right who writes wrong, if following his
copy. The list of Bishops hath been collected out of Francis Godwin,
bishop of Hereford, whose judicious pains are so beneficial to tlie
English church. Yet Godwinus non vidit omnia ; and many, no
doubt, have been omitted by him.
As for the roll of Benefactors, I, who hope to have made the
other catalogues true, hope I have made this not true, — upon desire
and confidence that they have more than I have or can reckon up,
though following herein J, Scot's printed tables, and the last edition
of John Speed's Chronicle,
The column of Leamed Writers I have endeavoured to extract out
of Bale and Pitts ; whereof the latter being a member of this Uni
versity, was no less diligent than able to advance the honour
thereof, 48, 49, No wilful Wrong done : add and mend.
Let none suspect that I will enrich my mother, by robbing my
aunt. For, besides that Cambridge is so conscientious she will not
be accessary to my felony by receiving stolen goods ; Tros,
Tyriusque mihi nullo discrimine habetur.

364 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1262.
'' A Trojan whether he
Or a Tyrian be.
All is the same to mc."
It matters not whether of Cambridge or Oxford, so God hath the
glory, the church and state the benefit, of their learned endeavours.
However, I am sensible of many defects, and know that they may
be supplied by the endeavours of others. Every man knows his
own land better than either Ortelius or Mercator, though making
the maps of the whole world. And the members of respective
colleges must be more accurate in the particularities of their own
foundations, than the exactest historian who shall write a genera]
description thereof. BALLIOL COLLEGE.
Masters, — John Foderinghay, Robert Thwaites, John Abdy,
John Wickleffe, Robert Burleigh, Richard Bemingham, William
Whyte, George Cootes, William Wryght, Francis Babington,
Richard Stubbs, James Gloucester, Anthony Garnet, Robert
Hooper, James Brookes,* John Piers, Adam Squire, Edmund
Lilly, Robert Abbot, John Parkhurst, Thomas Laurence, Henry
Savage. •(-
Bishops. — Roger Whelpdale, Fellow, bishop of Carlisle ; George
Nevil, chancellor of the University at twenty years of age, after
wards archbishop of York and chancellor of England ; William
Grey, bishop of Ely ; John Bell, bishop of Worcester ; John Piers,
archbishop of York ; Robert Abbot, bishop of Salisbury ; George
Abbot, Fellow, archbishop of Canterbury,
Bejjefactors, — Philip Somervile, and Margaret his wife;
Ella de Long-Spec, countess of Salisbury ; Rich, d' Humsnigore ;
L, Will, Fenton ; Hugh de Vienna, knight; John Bell, bishop
of Worcester; William Hammond, of Gilford, Esq, Peter
Blundill of Tiverton ; L, Eliz, Periam, of the county of Bucks ;
Thomas Tisdale, of Glymton, Com, Oxon,, Esq, ; Mary Dunch ;
John Brown,
Learned Writers, — John Duns Scotus, first of this, then
of Merton College ; Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, commonly
called " the good ;" William Walton, Fellow, chancellor of the
* The fifteenth Master is here said to be James Brookes, while the twelfth is styled
James Gloucester ; both these names belong to one man : James Brookes became Master
of Balliol in 1547, and was created bishop of Gloucester in 1554, The reader will per
ceive, from this specimen, the utter hopelessness of correcting these lists, especially when
he is further told, that though only twenty-two Masters appear in this list, the actual
number was thirty-nine, not including the two appointed on the Foundation in 1282,
See Le Neve's Fasti.—EDiT. t Much discrepancy exists between this list, and
the more accurate one of Le Neve. The same observation applies to the subsequent
lists in other colleges, Fuller having acted as pioneer in this toilsome warfare,— Edit,

46 henry HI, BOOK 111, CENT, XIII, .365
University ; Thomas Gascoign, Fellow, chancellor of the University ;
John Tiptoft,* earl of Worcester ; Robert Abbot.
That John Wickliffe, here mentioned, may be the great Wickliffe,
though others justly suspect him not the same, because too ancient,
if this catalogue be complete, to be the fourth Master of this house,
except they were incredibly vivacious,-f- Nothing else have I to
observe of this foundation, save that at this day therein are main
tained one Master, twelve Fellows, thirteen Scholars, four Exhibi
tioners, which, with Servants, Commoners, and other Students,
lately made up one hundred thirty and six.
50, A Pair of learned Judges-
Nor must we forget, that, beside others, two eminent judges of our
land were both contemporaries and students in this foundation ; the
lord chief baron Davenpprt, and the Lord Thomas Coventry, lord
chancellor of England, whose father, also, a judge, was a student
herein. So that two great oracles, both of law and equity, had here
their education. 51, University College founded-
The other was University College : whereof I find different dates,
and the founding thereof ascribed to several persons,
1, Founder, — King Alfred : Time, — Anno 882 : Author. —
Universal tradition.
2. William de St, Carilefo, bishop of Durham : 1081, the 12th
of king William the Conqueror: Stow, in his "Chronicle" page
1061 ; to whom Pitts consenteth,
3, William, bishop of Durham, though none at this time of the
name :J lf^l7, in the first of Henry III, John Speed, in his
" History," page 817,
4. William, archdeacon of Durham, whom others confidently
call Walter; time uncertain; Camden's Brit, in Oxfordshire.
I dare interpose nothing in such great differences, only observe
that Master Camden (no less skilful a herald in ordering the anti
quity of houses, than martialling the precedency of men) makes
University the third in order after Merton College : which makes
me believe the founding thereof not so ancient as here it is inserted.
Masters, — 1, Roger Caldwell ; 2, Richard Witton ; 3, M.
Rokleborough ; 4, Ranulph Hamsterly ; 5, Leonard Hutchinson ;
• See more of him in our Dedication to the Second Book, t According to Le
Neve's accurate enumeration, " John de 'VricklyfFe, A.M. late of Merton College, ob
tained this Mastership about the beginning of the year 1.361 ; " consequently, a few years
prior to the publication of his opinions respecting the errors of the church of Rome,
 Edit. X Le Neve says, William Scott, archdeacon of Worcester, was elected in
1226 ; " but the king denied his as.^ent, October the 20th " in the same year. — Edit.

366 CHURCH history of BRITAIN, A,D, 1262,
6, John Craffurth ; 7- Richard Salvaine ; 8, George Ellison ; 9,
Anthony Salvaine ; 10, James Dugdale ; 11. Thomas Key ; 12,
William James ; 13. Anthony Gate ; 14, George Abbot ; 15, John
Bancroft; 16, Thomas Walker ; 17. Joshua Hoyle ; 18. Francis
Johnson. Bishops, — St, Edmond, archbishop of Canterbury; George
Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury; John Bancroft, bishop of
Oxford, Benefactors, — Walter Shiriow, archdeacon of Durham, three
fellowships ; Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland, three fellow
ships ; R, Dudley, earl of Leicester, two exhibitions, each twenty
pounds per annum ; John Freistone, two exhibitions, twenty
pounds in all per annum ; — Gunsley, two exhibitions ; Mistress
Payn, one exhibition, eight pounds ; Mr, Aston ; Sir Simoii
Bennet, who hath bequeathed good lands, (after the decease of his
lady,) to increase the Fellows and Scholars ; Mr, Charles Green
wood, some time Fellow of this College, and Proctor to the Uni
versity, gave a thousand pounds to the building thereof.
Learned Writers, — Some charitable and able
antiquary fill up this vacuity.
So that at this present are maintained therein one Master, eight
Fellows, one Bible-Clerk, which, with Servants, Commoners, and
other Students, amount to the number of threescore and nine.
52, Jews damnable Extortioners.
Sure it is, at this time Oxford flourished with multitude of Stu
dents ; king Henry conferring large favours upon them, and this
amongst the rest, — that no Jews * living at Oxford should 'receive of
scholars above two-pence a-week interest for the loan of twenty
shillings ; that is, eight shillings eight pence for the interest of a
pound in the year. Hereby we may guess how miserably poor
people in other places were oppressed by the Jews, where no
restraint did limit their usury ; so that the interest amounted to the
half of the principal. 53, A second Privilege.
Secondly, Whereas it was complained of, that justice was
obstructed, and malefactors protected by the citizens of Oxford,
who, being partial to their own corporation, connived at offenders
who had done mischiefs to the scholars ; the king ordered, that
hereafter not only the citizens of Oxford, but also any officers in
the vicinage, should be employed in the apprehending of such who
offered any wrong to the Students in the University,
" Claus. 22, of Hen. III. momb. 9, in dorso.

46 HENRY III, BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 367
54, The third Privilege.
Lastly, He enjoined the bailiffs of Oxford solemnly to acquaint
the chancellor thereof of those times when bread and other victuals
were weighed and priced. But in case the chancellor had timely
notice thereof, and refused to be present thereat, then the- bailiffs,
notwithstanding his absence, might proceed in the foresaid matters
of weight and measure,
55, The Submission of the Dean and Chapter of St.
Asaph.
We will conclude this section with this civil and humble submis
sion of the dean and chapter of St, Asaph, sent to the king in the
vacancy (as it seems) of their bishopric ; though dislocated, and
some years set back in the date thereof
De Recognitione Decani et Capit. de Sancto Asapho.
Universis Christi fldelibus ad quos presens scriptum per-
venerit, Decanus et Capitulum de Sancto Asapho salutem in
Domino. Consuetudini antique et dignitati quas Dominus'
Henricus illustris Rex Angl. et progenilores sui habuerunt in
ecclesid Anglicand, de petendd licentia eligendi vacantibus epis-
copatuum sedibus, et de requirendo assensu regio post fantam
electionem, obviare nolenies ; protestamur et recognoscimus, nos,
quotiens ecclesia nostra pastore vacaverit, ab illustri domino
Rege Angl. et heredibus suis debere reverenter petere licentiam
eligendi, et post electionem factum assensum eorum requirere.
Et ne super hoc futuris temporibus dubitetur, presenti scripto
sigilla nostra fecimus apponi. Dat. apud Sanctum Asaph.
Anno Domini uccxlix. in crastino E.valtationis Sanctes
. Crucis.— Pat. 33, H, III, M, 3,
The substance is this : — That the dean and chapter promise to
depend wholly on the king's pleasure in the choice of the next elect.
So that now cathedrals began to learn good manners. Notwith
standing, the pope usually obtruded whom he pleased upon them.
Say not, that St, Asaph's was an inconsiderable cathedral, being at
great distance and of small revenue, which might make them more
officious to comply with the king ; seeing the poorest oft-times
prove the proudest, and peevishest to their superiors. But although
this qualm of loyalty took this church for the present, we must
confess, that generally chapters ask the king's leave, as widows do
Jheir fathers to marry, — as a compliment not requisite thereunto :
as conceiving it civility to ask, but no necessity to have, his
approbation.

•368 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1262.
56, 57, Edmond Archbishop of Canterbury, sainted after his
Death.
Two eminent archbishops of Canterbury successively filled that
see, during the most part of this king's reign. First, Edmond,
treasurer of Salisbury, bom, say some, in London, and christened in
the same font with Thomas Becket, My author* makes him
educated in University College in Oxford, a great scholar, and lover
of learned men, refusing to consecrate Richard Wendover, bishop of
Rochester, because of his want of sufficiency for such a function.
Hereupon he incurred the displeasure of Otho the pope's legate,
siding with Wendover, requiring no other qualification save money
to make a bishop ; and was enforced to undertake a dangerous and
expensive journey to Rome, to his great damage and greater dis
grace, being cast in his cause, after the spending of a thousand marks
therein. He took the boldness to tell the pope of his extortion ; though
little thereby was amended. After his return he fell into the king's
displeasure ; so that, overpowered with his adversaries, and circum
vented with their malice, weary of his native country, the miseries
whereof he much bemoaned, he went into voluntary banishment. He
died and was buried in France ; and, six years after, (which, I assm-e
you, was very soon, and contrary to the modern custom,) was sainted
by pope Innocent IV. whose body Lewis IV, king of France,
solemnly removed, and sumptuously enshrined,
58, Boniface, a worthless Archbishop.
The other, Boniface by name, was only eminent on the account of
his high extraction, as uncle to the queen, and son of Peter earl of
Savoy ; a horrible scraper of money, generally hated ; insomuch
that he went his Visitation, having a corslet on under his episcopal
habit, which, it seems, was no more than needs, the Londoners being
so exasperated against him, that they threatened his death, had not he
secured himself by flight. Only he is memorable to posterity for
paying two and twenty thousand marks' debt of his see, which his
predecessors had contracted, for building a fair hall at Canterbury,
and a stately hospital at Maidstone, which, it seems, was indicted
and found guilty of, and executed for, superstition at the Dissolution
of abbeys, when it was valued at above a hundred and fifty pounds
of yearly revenue, being aliened now to other uses,
' Godwin in " Catalogue of Bishops," page 130,

57 HENRY III, BOOK III. CENT, XIII. . .369

SECTION VI.
TO WILLIAM ROBINSON, OF THE INWARD-TEMPLE,
ESQUIRE.
Sir Edward Coke -was wont to say, that he never
.knew a divine meddle with a matter of law, but that
.therein he committed some great error, and discovered
gross ignorance, I presume you lawyers are better
divines than we divines are lawyers; because, indeed,
greater your concernment in your precious souls, than
ours in our poor estates. Having therefore just cause
to suspect my own judgment in this section, wherein
so much of law, I submit all to your judgment, to add,
alter, expunge at pleasure ; that if my weak endeavours
shall appear worthy of a second impression, they may
come forth corrected with your emendations.
1, The Vivacity of King Henry III. and the Variety of his
Life. A.D. 1212.
Quiet king Henry III, our English Nestor, (not for depth of
brains, but length of life,) as who reigned fifty-six years, in which
term he buried all his contemporary princes in Christendom twice
over. All the months in a year may in a manner be carved out of
an April day ; hot, cold, dry, moist, fair, foul weather, being oft
presented therein. Such the character of this king's life, certain
only in uncertainty : sorrowful, successful ; in plenty, in penury ;
in wealth, in want ; conquered, conqueror.
2, The Serenity of his Death, and Solem/nity of his
Burial.
Yet the sun of his life did not set in a cloud, but went down in full
lustre ; a good token that the next day would be fair, and his
successor prove fortunate. He died at St. Edmundsbury, and,
'though a merciful prince, ended his days in a necessary act of
¦justice, severely punishing some citizens of Norwich for burning and
pillaging the priory therein. His coi-pse were buried- at Westmin
ster church (founded and almost finished by him) with great
-solemnity, though prince Edward his son, as beyond the seas, was
(hot present thereat.
Vol, I, B B

370 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. «.»• 1272  4.
3, The Advantages of absent Prince Edward. 1 Edward I,
There cannot be a greater temptation to ambition to usurp a
crown, than when it findeth a vacancy on the throne, and the true
heir thereof absent at a great distance. Such an advantage at this
instant had the adversaries of prince Edward (not as yet returned
from Palestine) to put in, if so minded, for the kingdom of
England, And strange it was, that no arrears of the former
rebellion were left, but all the reckonings thereof so fully discharged
that no cor-rival did appear for the crown. But a general con
currence of many things befriended prince Edward herein : — 1. .His
father on his death-bed secured his son's succession, as much as
might be, by swearing the principal peers unto him in his absence.
2, The most active and dangerous military men the prince had
politicly carried away with him into Palestine, 3, Prince Edward's
fame, present here in the absence of his person, preserved the crown
for him, as due to him no less by desert than descent. The pre
misses meeting with the love and loyalty of many English hearts,
paved the way to prince Edward's peaceable entr^ince without any
opposition, 4, His Achievements against the Turks.
King Edward was a most worthy prince, coming off with honour
in all his achievements against Turk, and pope, and Jews, and
Scots, and against whomsoever he encountered. For the Turks ;
he had lately made a voyage against them, which, being largely
related in our Holy War, we intend not here to repeat. Only I
will add, that this foreign expedition was politicly undertaken, to rid
the land of many martialists, wherewith the late barons' wars had
made it to abound. These spirits thus raised, though they could
not presently be conjured down, were safely removed into another
room. The fiercest mastiff-dogs never fight one with another,
whilst they have either bull or bear before them to bait ; the com
mon foe employing that fury which otherwise would be active
against those of their own kind. This diversion of the English
soldiery gave a vent to their animosities, which otherwise would
have been mutually mis-spent amongst themselves,
5, The Pope's present Power in England.
Great at this present was the pope's power in England, improv
ing himself on the late tumultuous times, and the easiness of king
Henry's nature ; insomuch that vvithin these last seven years ex
plenitudine (ox rather ex abundantid et superfluitate) potes-
tatis, he had put in two archbishops of Canterbury, Robert
Kilwarby, and John Peckham, against the minds of the monks.

3 EDWARD T, BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 371
who had legally chosen others. Probably the third time would
have created . a right to the pope ; and his Holiness hereafter
prescribe it as his just due, had not king Edward seasonably pre
vented his encroachment, by moderating his power in England,
as hereafter shall appear. Mean time we are called away on a
welcome occasion, to behold a grateful object ; namely, the founda
tion of one of the first and fairest colleges in Christendom,
6, Merton College in Oxford founded. A.D. 1274,
For in this year Walter de Merton, bishop of Rochester and
chancellor of England, finished the college of his own name in
Oxford, This Walter was born at Merton in Surrey, and at
Maldon in that county had built a college, which on second
thoughts (by God's counsel, no doubt) he removed to Oxford, as it
seems, for the more security ; now if the barons' wars, then (some
fifteen years since) in height and heat, were, as it is probable, any
motive of this translation, it was one of the best effects which ever
so bad a cause produced. For, otherwise, if not removed to Oxford,
certainly this college had been swept away, as " rubbish of supersti
tion," at the Dissolution of abbeys,
7. A Manor in Cambridge given thereunto.
Amongst the many manors which the first founder * bestowed on
this college, one lay in the parish of St, Peter's and west suburb
of Cambridge, beyond the bridge, anciently called Pythagoras-
House, since Merton-Hall, To this belongeth much good land
thereabout, as also the mills at Grantchester mentioned in Chaucer ;
those of Merton- College keeping yearly a Court Baron here.
Afterwards king Henry VI, took away (for what default I find not)
this manor from them, and bestowed it upon his own foundation of
King's-CoUege -f- in Cambridge, But his successor, Edward IV.
restored it to Merton-College again. It seemeth equally admirable
to me, that holy king Henry VI, should do any wrong, or harsh
Edward IV, do any right, to the Muses ; which maketh me to
suspect that there is more in the matter than what is generally
known, or doth publicly appear,
8. Merton's Monument renewed.
Sir Henry Saville, the most learned Warden of this college, three
hundred and more years after Merton's death, plucked down his old
tomb in Rochester church, near the north wall, almost over against
the bishop's chair, and built a neat new monument of touch and
• Brian Twine Ant. Acad. 0.r. page 319. t Caius Hist. Cant. Acad, page 68.
2 B 2

372 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A,D, 1274;
akbaster, whereon, after a large inscription in prose, this epitaph was
engraven : — Magne senex titulis, Musarum sede sacratd
Major, Mertonidum Tnaxime progenie,
H(Ec tibi gratantes post scecula sera nepotes
En votiva locant marmoi-a, sancte parens. '
And, indeed, malice itself cannot deny, that this college, or little
University rather, doth equal, if not exceed, any one foundation in
Christendom, for the famous men bred therein, as by the following
catalogue will appear-: —
Wardens. — 1, Peter Abyngdon ; 2, Richard Warblisdon;
3, John de la More ; 4, John de Wantinge; 5, Robert de Trenge;
6, Guliel. de Durant ; 7- John de Bloxham ; 8, John de Wen
dover ; 9, Edmund de Beckingham ; 10, Thomas de Rudburne ;
11, Robert Gylbert ; 12, Henry de Abingdon; 13, Elias de
Halcot ; 14, Henry Sever ; 15. John Gygur ; 16. Richard Fitz-
James; 17. Thomas Harper ; 18. Richard Rawlings ; 19. Rowland
Philips; 20, John Chamber; 21, Henry Tindal; 22, Thomas
Raynolds ; 23, Jacobus Gervase ; 24, John Manne; 25, Thomas
Bickley ; 26, Henry Saville ; 27, Sir Nathanael Brent ; 28, Dr,
Jonathan Goddard,
Bishops, — Robert Winchelsey, archbishop of Canterbury, anno
1294; Simon Mepham, archbishop of Canterbury; anno 1327;
Simon Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, anno 1349 ; John Kemp,
archbishop of Canterbury, anno 1462 ; Ralph Baldock, bishop
of London, anno 1305 ; Henry Gower, bishop of St, David's,'
anno 1328 ; William Reade, bishop of Chichester, anno 1369 ;
Robert Gilbert, bishop of London, anno 1435; Thomas Rodeburn,
bishop of St, David's, anno 1440 ; John Chedworth,* bishop of
Lincoln, anno 1452 ; John Marshall, bishop of Landaff, anno
1478 ; Richard Fitz-James, bishop of London, anno 1506; William
Siveyer, bishop of Durham, anno 1502; Richard Rawlins, bishop
of St, David's, anno 152-3 ; John Parkhurst, bishop of Norwich,
anno 1560 ; Thomas Bickley, bishop of Chichester, anno 1585 ;
George Carleton, bishop of Chichester, anno 1626,
Benefactors, — John Willet (bred in this college) D, D, and
chancellor of Oxford, founded the Portionists'-f- Hall and
exhibitions ; William Read, an excellent mathematician, built
the library ; Thomas Rudburne, Warden, built the tower over
the gate; Richard Fitzjames, Warden, built the Warden's lodgings;
Henry Abingdon, Warden, gave bells to the church ; Richard
Rawlins wainscotted the inside, and covered the roof thereof with
lead; Thomas Leach; Sir Thomas Bodley; Dr, Wilson ; Mr,
• He was provost also of king's college in Cambridge, t The same with postmasters'.

3 EDWARD I. BOOK 111. CENT, XUI, 373
John Chambers, some time Fellow of Eaton ; Doctor Jerviee ;
Doctor Jesop ; Sir Henry Saville.
Learned Writers, — 1, Roger Bacon, a famous mathematician;
2, John Dunce Scotus; 3. Walter Buriey ; 4, William Ocham;
5, Thomas Bradwardine, archbishop of Canterbury; 6, John
Gatisden ; 7- — Dumbleton ; 8. Nicholas Gorrham ; 9. William
Grysant, father to Grimoald Grysant, pope by the name of
Urban V. 10, Roger Switzet ; 11, John Wiclif; Henry Cuffe,
an able scholar, but unfortunate ; Sir Thomas Bodley, who built
Oxford library ; Sir Henry Saville ; Sir Isaac Wake, University
orator and ambassador to Venice; Henry Mason, who worthily
wrote De Ministerio Anglicano ; John Greaves, an excellent
mathematician ; Dr, Peter Turner, active in composing the new
statutes of the University. The Living passed over in Silence.
I purposely omit such as still (and may they long) sui'vive ;
whereof some — as. Dr. Edward Reynolds, Dr. John Earles, Dr.
Francis Cheynel, Mr. Doughty, Mr, Francis Rouse, &c. — have
already given the world a testimony of their great learning and
endowments. Others may, in due time, as Dr. Higgs, late Dean of
Lichfield, Dr, Corbet, &c. And surely Mr, John Hales, formerly
(jrreek professor, will not envy Christian mankind his treasury of
learning ; nor can conceive, that only a sermon (owned under his
name) can satisfy the just expectation from him of the church and
commonwealth. The Original of Postmasters.
There is a by-foundation of postmasters in this House, a kind of
college in the college ; and this tradition goeth of their original : —
Anciently there was over against Merton-College, a small un-endowed
Hall, whose scholars had so run in arrears, that their opposite neigh
bours, out of charity, took them into their college, (then but nine in
number,) to wait on the Fellows, But, since, they are freed from any
attendance, and endowed with plentiful maintenance ; Mr. Willet
being the first benefactor unto them in that nature, whose good
example hath provoked many to follow his liberality. These most
justly conceive themselves much honoured, in that bishop Jewel was
a postmaster before removed hence to be Fellow of Corpus Christi
College. We take our farewell of this House, when we have told,
it consisted lately (namely, 1635) of one Warden, twenty-one
Fellows, fourteen Scholars,* beside Officers and Servants, of the
foundation, witli other Students ; the whole number being eighty.
• The same, I conceive, with the postmasters.

374 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D, 1274  9.
9. The Church ready to eat up tlie Commonwealth.
Come we now to the king's retrenching the pope's power, grown
so exorbitant in- England : a principal part whereof consisted in
the multitude of monasteries, daily increasing in wealth, and all at
the pope's absolute devotion. If posterity had continued at this
rate to build and endow religious houses, all England would, in
short time, have turned one entire and continued monastery ; and
the inhabitants thereof become either friars or founders. Where,
then, should be any soldiers to fight the king's battles .'' seamen to
steer his ships .'' husbandmen to plough the king's land ? or rather
any land of his to be ploughed by husbandmen .'
10, The Mischief of Mortmain to the Crown.
Besides, though these friars had a living hand, to take and
receive from any ; they had mortmain, a dead hand, to restore
and return any profit to the king again. Yea, such alienation of
lands in mortmain, settled on monasteries, (which, as corporations,
neither married nor died,) afforded neither wards, marriages, reliefs,
nor knights'-service, for the defence of the realm ; in a word,
enriched their private coffers, impoverished the public exchequer.
It was not, therefore, such a dead hand which could feed so many
living mouths as the king for his state and safety must maintain.
Wherefore, for the future, he restrained such unlimited donatives to
religious houses, 11, This Law not new, but renewed.
Ignorance makes many men mistake mere transcripts for originals.
So here, the short-sighted vulgar sort beheld the king's act herein
as new, strange, and unprecedented ; whereas, indeed, former times
and foreign princes had done the like on the same occasion. First,
We find some countenance for it in Scripture, when Moses by
proclamation bounded the overflowing bounty of the people to the
tabernacle, Exod, xxxvi, 6. And in the primitive times, Theodosius
the emperor, although most loving and favourable to the clergy,
made a law of a mortisation or mortmain, to moderate people's
bounty to the church. Yet a great Father, Jerome by name, much
disliked this act, as appears by his complaint to Nepotian of that
law : " I am ashamed to say it, the priests of idols, stage-players,
coachmen, and common harlots, are made capable of inheritance,
and receive legacies : only ministers of the Gospel and monks are
barred by law thus to do ; and that not by persecutors, but by
Christian princes," But that passionate Father conjes off well at
last : " Neither do I complain of the law, but I am sorry we have
deserved to have such a law made against us,"

7 EDWARD I, BOOK HI. CENT. XIII. 375
12. Ambrose angry with Mortmain.
St. Ambrose, likewise, in his thirty-first epistle, expresseth much
anger on the same occasion, out of his general zeal for the church's
good. But, had the aforesaid Fathers (men rather pious than
politic ; good churchmen, no statesmen) seen the monasteries
swollen in revenues from an inch in their days to an ell, (by people's
fondness, yea, dotage, on the four sorts of friars,) in king Edward's
reign, they would, no doubt, instead of reproving, have commended
his and the neighbouring kings' care for their commonwealths,
13, The Statute of Mortmain. A.D. 1279.
For, the like laws for limiting men's liberality were lately made
in Spain and France, and now at last followed by king Edward,
according to the tenor ensuing : —
" Whereas of late it was provided, that religious men should not
enter into the fees of any without licence and will of the chief lords
of whom such fees be holden immediately : and, notwithstanding,
such religious men have entered as well into their own fees, as into
the fees of other men, approprying and buying them, and sometime
receiving them of the gift of others, whereby the services that are
due of such fees, and which at the beginning were provided for
defence of the realm, are wrongfully -withdrawn, and the chief lords
do leese their escheats of the same ; we therefore to the profit of
our realm intending to provide convenient remedy, by the advice of
our prelates, earls, barons, and other our subjects, being of our
council, have provided, made, and ordained, — That no person,
Religious or other, whatsoever he be, that will buy or sell any lands
or tenements, or under the color of gift or lease, or that will receive
by reason of any other title, whatsoever it be, lands or tenements,
or by any other craft or engine will presume to appropriate to him
self, under pain of forfeiture of the same, whereby such lands or
tenements may any wise come into mortmaine. We have provided
also, — That if any person, religious or other, do presume either by
craft or engine, to offend against this statute ; it shall be lawful to
us and other chief lords of the fee, immediately to enter in the land
so aliened, within'a year from the time of their alienation, and to
hold it in fee, and as inheritance. And, if the chief lord imme
diately be negligent, and will not enter into such fee within the
year, then it shall be lawful to the next chief lord immediate of the
same fee, to enter in the said land within half a year next follow
ing, and to hold it as before is said ; and so every lord immediate
may enter into such land, if the next lord be negligent in entering
into the same fee, as is aforesaid. And, if all the chief lords of
such fees being of full age, within the four seas, and out of prison,

376 CHURCH HISTORY OF BBITAIJ^, A.D. 1279  S3.
be negligent or slack in this behalf, we immediately after the year
accomplished, from the rime that such purchases, gifts, or appropria
tions hap to be made, shall take such tenements into our hand, and,
shall enfeoffe others therein, by certain services to be done to us,
for the defence of our realm, saving to the chief lords of the same
fees their wards and escheats, and other services thereunto due and
accustomed. And therefore we command you, that ye cause the
foresaid statute to be read before you, and from henceforth to be
kept firmly and observed. " Witness myself at Westminster," &c.
Date we from this day, the acme or vertical height of abbeys,
which henceforward began, to stand still, and, at last, to decline.
Formerly it was, " Endow monasteries who would," hereafter, " who
could," having first obtained licence from the king. Yet this law
did not ruin but regulate, not destroy but direct, well-grounded
liberality, that bounty to some might not be injury to others. Here
I leave it to lawyers by profession, to show how, many years after,
(namely, the eighteenth of Edward III.) prelates impeached before
the king's justices for purchasing land in mortmain, shall be dis
missed without further trouble, upon their producing a charter of
licence, and process thereupon made, by an inquest, ad quod
damnum, or, in case that cannot be showed, by making a con
venient fine for the same.
14, Who the active Prelates of this Age. A.D- 1283,
The late mention of the prelates' advice, in passing a law so
maleficial unto them, giveth me just occasion to name some, the
principal persons of the clergy, present thereat ; namely, 1, John
Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, a stout man. He afterwards
excommunicated the prince of Wales, because he went a long
journey to persuade him to peace with England, but could not
prevail. 2, William Wickwane, archbishop of York, accounted a
great scholar, author of a book called Memoriale, and esteemed a
petty saint in that age, 3, Anthony Beake, soon after bishop of
Durham ; the richest and proudest (always good manners to except
cardinal Wolsey) of that place ; patriarch titular of Jerusalem, and
prince of the Isle of Man, Yet, in my mind, Gilbert Sellinger,
[De Sancto Leofardo,] his contemporary, and bishop of Chichester,
had a far better title, as commonly called " the father of orphans,
and comforter of the widows," These, with many more bishops
consented (though some of them resorbentes suam. bilem as inwardly
angry) to the passing or confirming of the statute of mortmain.-
'f\' make them some amends, the king not long after favourably
slated what causes should be of spiritual cognizance.

13 EDWARD I. BOOK III. CENT, XIII. 377
15, The spiritual and temporal Courts bounded by Parliament.
A.D. 1285,
For a parliament was called at Westminster, eminent on this
account, — that it laid down the limits, and fixed the boundaries,
betwixt the spiritual and temporal jurisdictions : " Hitherto shall ye
come and no farther ;" though, before and since, both powers have
endeavoured to enlarge their own and contract their rival's authority.
We will present first the Latin out of the records, and then the
English out of our printed statutes, and make some necessary
observations on both.
Rex falibusjud'icibus salutem. — Circumspecte agatis de negotiis
tangentibus episcopum Norwicensem, et ejus clerum, non puniend.
eos si placitum tenuerint in curid Christianitatis de his qua mere
sunt spiritualia, viz. de correctionibus quas prclati faciunt pro
mortali peccato, v'lz.profornicatione, adulterio et hujusmodi, pro
quibus aliquando irfligitur poena corporal'is, aliquando pecuniaria,
maxime si convictus J'uerit de hujusmodi liber homo.
Item : Si pralatus puniat pro cemeterio non clauso, ecclesid dis-
coopertd, vel non decenter ornata, in quibus casibus alia poena non
potest infligi qudm pecunia7-ia.
Item : Si rector petal versus parochianos oblationes, et decimas
debitas vel consuetas, vel si rector agat contra rectorem de decimis
majoribus, vel minoribus, dummodo non petatur quarta pars
valor'is ecclesia.
Item: Si rector petal mortnarium in part'ibus ubi mortuarium
dari consuevit.
Item : Si pralatus aUcufus ecclesia, vel advorafus petat a rectore
pensionem si debitam, omnes hujusmodi petitiones sunt faciend. in
foro ecclesiastico. De violenid manuum injectione in clericnm, et
in causd diffamationis concessum fuit alias, quod placitum inde
teneatur in curid Christianitatis, cum non petatur jjecunia, sed
agalur ad correctionem peccaii, et similiter pro fldei lasione. In
omnibus pradiciis casibus habet judex ecclesiasticus cognoscere,
regid prohibitione non obstante.
" The king to his judges sendeth greeting, — Use yourself circum
spectly in al matters concerning the bishop of Norwich, and his
clergie, not punishing them, if they hold plea in court Christian, of
such things as be meerly spiritual, that is to wit of penance enjoyned
for deadly sin, as fornication, adultery, and such like ; for the which,
many times, corporal penance or pecuniary is enjoyned, specially if
a free man be convict of such things,
" Also if prelates do punish for leaving church-yards unclosed, or
for that the church is uncovered, or not conveniently decked ; in
which cases none other penance can be enjoyned but pecuniary.

378 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRlTAllN, A,D. 1285.
" Item : If a parson demand of his parishioners oblations and
tythes due and accustomed, or if any person plead against another
for tythes, more or less, so that the fourth part of the value of the
benefice be not demanded,
" Item : If a parson demand mortuaries in places where a mor-
tuarie hath used to have been given,
" Item : If a prelate of a church or if a patron demand a pension
due to themselves, all such demands are to be made in a spiritual
court. And for laying violent hands on a priest, and in cause of
defamation, it hath been granted already, that it shall be tried in a
spiritual court, when money is not demanded, but a thing done for
punishment of sin, and likewise for breaking an oath. In all cases
afore rehearsed, the spiritual judg shall have power to take knowledg
notwithstanding the king's prohibition,"
Something must be premised about the validity of this writing,
learned men much differing therein. Some make it, 1, Only a constitu
tion made by the prelates themselves ; much to blame, if they cut not
large pieces, being their own carvers : 2, Amere writ issued out from the
king to his judges : 3, A solemn Act of Parliament, complete in all
the requisites thereof Hear what a Bacon * (but neither Sir Nicholas
nor Sir Francis, the two oracles of law) writes in this case: "A
writing something like a grant of liberties, which beforetimes were
in controversy ; and this grant, if it may be so called, hath by con
tinuance usurped the name of 'a statute,' but, in its own nature is no
other than a writ directed to the judges," Presently after he saith,
" It is therefore no grant, nor release, but as it were, a covenant that
the clergy should hold peaceable possession of what they had, upon
this ground," And in the next page more plainly : " For my part,
therefore, I shall not apprehend it of a higher nature than the king's
writ, which in those days went forth at random."
16. Judge Coke's Decision.
Come we now to the calm judgment of Sir Edward Coke, on whose
decision we may safely rely : " Though some have said that this was
no statute, but made by the prelates themselves ; yet that this is an
Act of Parliament, it is proved, not only by our books, but also by
an Act of Parliament,"-]-
17- The king to his judges — Were it of concernment, it were
not difficult to name the prime judges of England at this time :
namely, 1, In the King's or Upper Bench, either Ralph de Heng-
ham, or, which is more probable, one Wymborne was judge, 2, In
the Common Pleas, Thomas ' de Weyland, on that token — that he
•^ Mr. Nath, Bacon in his " Historical Discourse of tiie Government of England,"
lib, i, page 233, f Second Part of hia " Institutes," page 487.,

13 EDWARD I, BOOK III, CENT, XIII. 379
was guilty of bribery. 3. In the Exchequer, Adam de Stratton, as
faulty as the former. But by the judges named in this writ, (for, as
this was an Act of Parliament, so was there a writ also founded
thereon, called, circumpecte agatis,) we understand some peculiar
commissioners dispatched and employed on this particular business,
18. Concerning the bishop of Norwich — It is needless to tell
the reader, that William Middleton was bishop thereof at this time,
charactered to be, vir in jure civili et canonico peritissimus ef
elegantissimus.* But Norwich is here put only for example, which
equally extended to all the bishops of the realm,
19, Si placitum tenuerint, " if they hold plea" — Placitum, "a
plea ;" so called, saith my author, "I- per antiphrasin, quia non
placet, none being pleased to go to law save barristers, who delight
in brangling. But what, if it be called placitum, because the
plaintiff is pleased to submit his right in question to the pleasure
of the court to decide it ?
20, In court Christian — These words are left out in Linwood's
" Constitutions," where all the rest is registered ; and, where the
recording thereof amongst the provincial canons of Canterbury gave
the bfet countenance to their conjecture who degrade this Act of
Parliament into a mere church-constitution. It is called " the court
Christian," because therein the laws of Christ do or should bear the
decisive sway, whilst the statutes of secular princes regulate the pro
ceedings in other courts,
21, Such things as be merely spiritual — This furnisheth us
with a necessary distinction of all matters, into merely and purely
spiritual, and into mixedly and partly spiritual. Of the former we
shall find very few merely spiritual. For the apostles sometimes
conceived, that the very distribution of alms to the poor had some
thing of worldly dressiness therein, called by them " serving of
tables," Acts vi, 2; as if only the preaching of the word were a
spiritual employment. Of the latter sort many things are mixedly
spiritual. For, seeing man consists of two principles, soul and
body, all his actions, good or bad, as to the mind-moiety or soul -part
thereof, must needs have at least a glance of spiritual reflection.
Here then the query will be in matters mixedly spiritual, whether
the spirituality of them shall refine the rest so as to exalt the same
into church-cognizance ? or the corporality or earthliness of them
depress them, so as to subject them to civil considerarion ? The
decision hereof dependeth on the practice and custom of the land, as
will appear hereafter,
22. For deadly sm— Distinguish we here betwixt a sin " deadly"
to the soul, drawing damnation without repentance, and a " deadly"
• Chronicon Osnicnse. -t Linwood's Constit. lib. ii. tit. De Foro Compctenti,-

380 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1285.
(commonly called a " capital") crime, deserving death by human
laws. The former only is here intended, the latter belonging
wholly to the common law. Nor did the punishment of every
" mortal sin," to use the language of that age, belong to church
men ; seeing, if so, as Linwood no less learnedly than modestly
confesseth, sic periret temporalis gladii jurisdictio, " Thereby the
power of the temporal sword will wholly be taken away," Long
since had Doctors-Commons eaten up all the Inns of Court, if all
things reducible to deadly sins had pertained to the court Christian,
And therefore the casuists themselves do qualify and confine these
words of indefinite extent to such crimes, which de sui naturd spec-
tant ad forum ecclesiasticum.
23. As flrst fornication — Here, saith Linwood, thirteen cases
are in specie recited, though I dare not reckon them up, fearing to
make them (lying so confusedly) more or less. Fornication, that
is, saith the casuist, soluti cum solutd, " the uncleanness of a
loose" (understand " unmarried") " with a loose person."
24. Adultery — These two alone are specified, because lying in a
middle distance, so the more conveniently to reach other sins of this
kind, of higher or lower guilt : 1, Higher, as incest : 2. Lowfer, as
soliciting a woman's chastity. If any say that adultery doth not
belong to the court Christian, because Christ himself would not
punish an adulteress taken in the act, John viii, 4 — 11, waving it as
an improper employment ; it is answered, that our Saviour, appear
ing in privacy and poverty, and coming not to act but to suffer, not
to judge but be judged, justly declined all judicial power. But we
see afterwards how the church of Corinth, by St, Paul's command,
proceeded against the incestuous person ; and at this time church
men cleanly carried the cognizance of such' offences, I say, " at
this time ;" it plainly appearing, that in the Conqueror's time, forni
cation and adultery were punishable in the king's court, and the
Leets especially, (by the name of Letherwite,) and the fines of
offenders assessed to the king, though now it merely belonged to
the church. As for a rape, being adultery, or, at leastwise, fornica
tion offered with violence, the common law hath justly reserved to
itself the trial and punishment thereof,
25, And such like — Here is an intei-pretative et-ccsfera inserted
in the body of a Parliament Act, and a writ grounded thereon,
causing some differences about the dimensions thereof. For, if these
words, " And such like," relate only to the last foregoing, " fornica
tion and adultery," (in common construction most probable,) then
tliey only fetch in such offences which have some tincture of carnal
uncleanness. But if they also refer to the mediate preceding words,
" deadly sins," behold a troop cometh, beyond our power exactly to

13 EDWARD I, BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 381
number them. And here foreign casuists bring in a bundle of mor
tal sins, all grist for their own mill, as of church-cognizance ; namely,
sacrilege, usury, heresy, simony, perjury, fortune-t,elling, consulting-
astrologers, drunkenness, &c. But it matters not how long and
large their bills be from beyond the seas, seeing our common law
brings their reckonings to a new account, defalking a great part of
that measure which they make to themselves in favour of church-
jurisdiction, 26, For that the church is uncovered — It belonged ever to the
priests to provide for the decent reparation of God's house. Thus
Jehoiada was careful to amend the decays of the temple, 2 Chron,
xxiv. But though it pertained to churchmen to see the thing
done, yet several persons were to do it, 1, The steeple with the
body of the church, and all chapels lying in common thereunto, are
to be repaired at the joint cost of the parish, 2. Private chapels,
wherein particular persons claim a propriety of sepulture at their
own charges. 3, The chancel, at the expense of the parson.
However, in all these, such respect is had to the custom of the place
time out of mind, that it often over-ruleth the premisses. Query,
— Whether the fences of the churchyard be to be made on the
parish-charges, or on the purse of the several persons whose ground
surroundeth it, or abutteth on the same ?
Oblations and tythes — It is a question which I believe will
never be decided to the contentment of both parties, in what notion
tithes belong to the court Christian, 1, The canonists maintain,
that originally and ex sud naturd, they are of ecclesiastical cogni
zance, as commonly avouched and generally believed due jure
Divino. Besides, such the near relation of the church and its
maintenance, that to part the oil from the lamp were to destroy it.*
They produce also the confession in the statute of the first of
Jlichard II, that pursuit for tithes ought, and of ancient time did,
pertain to the spiritual court.
2, The common lawyers defend, that tithes in their own nature
are a civil thing, and therefore by Britton (who, being bishop of
Hereford, and learned in the laws of this realm, was best qualified
for an unpartial judge herein) omitted, when treating of what things
the church hath cognizance. They affirm, therefore, that tithes
were annexed to the spirituality. Thus they expound those pas
sages in statutes of tithes, anciently belonging to court Christian, as
intended by way of concession, and not otherwise.
But the canonists are too sturdy to take that for a gift which
they conceive is their due, lest thanks also be expected from them for
enjoying the same ; and so we leave the question where we found it,
* Ekacton, Ub. V. fol. 401.

382 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A , D. 1285— -90,
27. Mortuary — Because something of history is folded up iii
this word, which may acquaint us with the pracUce of this age, we
will enlarge a Utile hereon, and show what a mortuary was, when to
be paid, by whom, to whom and in what consideration. 1, A
mortuary was the second best quick cattle whereof the party died
possessed,* If he had but two in all, (such, forsooth, the charity of
the church,) no mortuary was due from him, 2, It was often
bequeathed by the dying ; but, however, always paid by his
executors after his death, thence called a mortuary or corse-present,
3, By whom — No woman under covert-baron was liable to pay it,
and by proportion no children unmarried, living under their father's
tuition ; but widows, and all possessed of an estate, were subject to
the payment thereof, 4, To whom — It was paid to the priest of
the parish where the party dying received the sacrament, (not where
he repaired to prayers,) and if his house at his death stood in two
parishes, the value of the mortuary was to be divided betwixt them
both. 5, It was given in lieu of small or personal tithes, (predial
tithes are too great to be casually forgotten,) which the party in his
life-rime had, through ignorance or negligence, not fully paid. But
in case the aforesaid mortuary fell far short of full satisfaction for
such omissions, casuists maintain the dying party obliged to a
larger restitution. So much of mortuaries, as they were generally
paid at the present, until the time of Henry VI, when learned
Linwood wrote his Comment on that constitution. How mortua
ries were after reduced to a new regulation by a statute, in the
twenty-first of Henry VIII, pertains not to our present purpose,
28, For laying violent hands on a priest — The ecclesiastical
judge might proceed ex officio, and, pro salute animes, punish the
offender who offered violence to a priest ; but damages on action of
battery were only recoverable at common law. Note, that the
arresting of a clergyman by process of law is not to he counted a
violence. 29, And in cause of defamation — Where the matter defama
tory is spiritual, as to call one " heretic," or " schismatic," &c, the
plea lay in court Christian, But defamations with mixture, any
matter determinable in the common law, as " thief, murderer," &c.
are to be traversed therein.
30, Defamation it hath been granted — From this word
"granted," common lawyers collect, (let them alone to husband their
own right,) that originally defamations pertained not to the court
Christian, From the beginning it was not so, until the common
law, by Acts of Parliament, granted and surrendered such suits to
the spirituality, " Linwood's Constit. lib. i, fol. 2, cap. De Consuetudine.

18 EDWARD I, BOOK III. CENT, XIII. 383
3L No End can enct^an everlasting Difference.
Thus by this Act and writ of circumspecte agatis, king Edward
may seem, like an expert artist, to cleave a hair betwixt the spiritual
and temporal jurisdiction, allowing the premisses to the former, and
leaving whatever is not specified in this Act, to the cognizance of the
common law, according to the known and common maxim, Exceptio
firmat regulam in non exceptis. However, for many years after,
there was constant heaving and shoving betwixt the two courts.
And, as there are certain lands in the Marches of England and
Scotland, whilst distinct kingdoms, termed " battable grounds,"
which may give for their motto, not, Dentur justiori, but, Dentur
fortiori ; for, always the strongest sword for the present possessed
them : so, in controversial cases to which court they should
belong, sometimes the spirituality, sometimes the temporality,
altemately seized them into their jurisdiction, as power and favour
best befriended them. But, generally, the clergy complained, that,
as-in the blending of liquors of several colours, few drops of red will
give a tincture to a greater quantity of white, so the least mixture of
civil concernment in religious matters so discolorated the Christian
candour and purity thereof, that they appeared in a temporal hue,
and under that notion were challenged to the common law,* Sad,
when courts that should be judges, turn themselves plaintiffs and
defendants about the bounds of their jurisdiction !
32, A Transition to the entire Story of our English Jews.
A.D. 1290.
We long since mentioned the first coming-in of the Jews
into England, (brought over by William the Conqueror,) and now
are come this year to their casting-out of this kingdom ; having first
premised some observables concerning their continuance therein.
If hitherto we have not scattered our History with any discourse of
the Jews, know it done by design ; that as they were enjoined by
our laws to live alone in streets by themselves, (not mixing in their
dwellings with Christians,) so we purposely singled out their story,
and reserved it by itself, for this one entire relation thereof,
33, Their principal Residence in London.
They were scattered all over England ; in Cambridge, Bury,
Norwich, Lynn, Stamford, Northampton, Lincoln, York, and —
where not ? But there principal abode was in London, where they
had their arch-synagogue at the north corner of the Old Jewry, as
opening into Lothbury, After their expulsion, their synagogue was
• See more hereof on Articuti Cleri, in the reign of Edward II,

384 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D, 1290.
turned into the convent of the friars of the Sack, or, De Pcenitentia
Jesu ; and, after their suppression, it became successively the
house, first of a lord, then of a merchant, since of any man for his
money, being turned into a tavern, with the sign of " the wind
mill :"* a proper sign to express the movableness of that place,
which, with several gales of success, hath been turned about, from
so many owners, and to so many uses.
34, The Justice of the Jews.
As for the civil government of Jews in England, the king set
over them one principal officer, called " the Justice of the Jews,"
whose place in honour was next to the Barons of the Exchequer,
His office was to be the patron and protector of the Jews in their
just rights, to decide all suits betwixt Christians and them, and to
keep the seal of the Jews' corporation, with the keys of their
treasury ; I conceive, of such moneys as they paid as tribute to the
king : otherwise, the Jews had age enough to keep the keys of their
own coffers themselves, and wit too much to trust them with others.
Sir Robert de Hoo, and Sir Philip Luvel, (afterward treasurer of
England,) men of signal nobility, successively discharged this place.
These Justices often acted very high in defence of their clients, the
Jews ; insomuch as I find it complained of by the English clergy,-f-
as a great grievance, that, when a Jew was convented before the
ecclesiastical judge for his misdemeanours, (as sacrilege, violence
offered to some priest, adultery with a Christian woman, &c,) their
own Justice would interpose, and, by a prohibition obtained from
the king, obstruct all legal proceedings against such a Jew, as only-
responsible in his own jurisdiction,
35, The High Priest or Presbyter of the Jews.
In their spiritual government they were all under one pontifew,
or high priest. We find his name was Elias, who, anno 1254, had
that office. He was also called " the presbyter of the Jews," whose
place was usually confirmed at least, if not constituted, by the king,
who by his patent granted the same, as may appear by this copy of
king John's, as followeth : —
Rex omnihusfldelibus suis, et omnibus Judais, et Anglis salutem.
—Sciatisnosconccmsse, etprasenti chartdnostrd conflrmasseJacobo
Judao de Londoniis presbyterio Judaorum, pre.sbyteratun omnium
Judaorum totius Anglia, habendum et tenendum quamdiu vixerii
libera et quiete ; et honorifice, et integrk, ita quod nemo^ ei super
hoc molestiam aliquam, aut gravamen inferre prasumat : quare
• Stow's " Sm-vey of London," page 288. f Additamenta Matth^i Pakisiensis,
page 702.

18 EDWARD I, BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 385
volumus, et flrmiter pracip'imus, quod eidem Jucobo quoad vixerit
presbyteratum Judaorum per totam Angliam, garuntetis, manu
teneatis, et pac'ifice defendatis ; et si quis ei super eo for'isfacere
presumserit, id ei sine dilatione, (salvd nobis emendd nostra,) de
forisfacturd nostrd emendari faciatis, tanquam Dominico Judao
nostro qudm speciallt£r in servitio nostro retinuimus . Prohibemus
etiam ne de aliquo adse pertinente ponatur in placitum, nisi coram
nobis, aut coram capitali justit'id nostrd, sicut charta regis
Richardi, fratris nostri, testatur. Teste S. Bathomensi episcopo,
tj-c, Dat. per manus H. Cantuariensis archiepiscopi chancellarii
nostri apud Rothoinagum, 31 die Julii, anno regni nostri primo.*
I have transcribed this patent the rather for the rarity thereof, it
being a strange sight to see a Cliristian archbishop date an instrument
for a Jewish presbyter, 36, Jews griping Usurers.
Their livelihood was all on usury. One verse in Deuteronomy
(with their comment thereon) was more beneficial unto them than
all the Old Testament besides : " Unto a stranger thou mayest lend
upon usury ; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury,"
Deut, xxiii, 20, Now, interpreting all strangers, who, though neigh
bours at the next door, were not of their own nation, they became
the universal usurers of all England ; and did our kingdom this
courtesy, that, because all hated the Jews for their usury's sake, all
also hated usury for the Jews' sake, so that Christians generally dis
dained to be guilty thereof Now, seeing there are two ways
to wealth, — one long and sure, by saving at home ; the other short,
but not so certain, (because probably it may meet with detection
and punishment,) by oppressing abroad,— -no wonder if the Jews,
using both ways, quickly arrived at vast estates,
37, Their Rapaciousness and Tenaciousness.
For, first, for their fare : It was coarse in the quality, and yet
slender in the quantity thereof. Insomuch, that they would, in a
manner, make pottage of a flint. Swine's flesh indeed they would not
eat, but dog's meat they would ; I mean, beef and mutton so poor
and lean, that the refuse of all Christians was the Jews' choice in the
shambles. Clothes they wore so poor and patched, beggars would
not take them up to have them. Attendants they kept none, every
one waiting on himself. No wonder, then, if easily they did over
grow others in wealth who basely did under-live themselves in all
convenient accommodations. Nor were thy less gripple m keeping,
» Rot. Cart. 1 Reg. Joh. part. i. memb. 28, cart. 171.
Vol, I, c <^

386 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A, D, 1290.
than greedy in catching of goods ; who would as soon lose their fingers
as let go what they had clutched therein.
38, Jews might purchase Houses.
I was of the opinion, (and perchance not without company in my
mistake,) that the Jews were not permitted to purchase lands in
England, I thought only the ground of their graves (generally
buried without Cripplegate, in the Jews' Garden, on the west side of
St, Giles's Churchyard, now turned into tenements in Red-cross-
Street) could be termed theirs. But since, I am informed, that
Benomy Mittun,* a Jew, (as certainly many more beside him,) was
possessed of much land, and many houses in several parishes in
London, Surely, their purchases were limited within some restric
tions. But the Jews generally more fancied letting-out of money,
than buying-in of land, as which made their estates less subject to
discovery, more plentiful in their increasing, and more portable in
the removing thereof. >
39. Lay Excommunication, what it was.
It was an usual punishment legally inflicted on these Jews, for
their offences not capital, to excommunicate them. Thus such Jews
should be excommunicated who, contrary to the laws, kept Christian
nurses in their houses ;-|- or who cast off that badge or cognizance,
which they ought to have worn over their upper garment to be dis
tinguished from Christians. Surely such excommunication was no
ecclesiastical censure, needless to keep the Jews out of our churches,
who hated all coming into them. Rather it was a civil penalty, equi
valent to the universities discommoning a townsman in Cambridge,
whereby the Jews were debarred all commerce with Christians, — ¦
worse to them than all the plagues of Egypt ; and so the mart of
their profit marred, dearer unto them than life itself
40. Jews unfortunate at Feasts and Frays-
Endless it were to reckon up the indignities offered unto these
Jews, on occasion sometimes given, but oftener taken. Apprentices
now-a-days do not throw sticks at cocks on Shrove Tuesday so com
monly, as then on that day they used clubs on the Jews, if appearing
out of their houses : a people equally unhappy at feasts and at
frays. For, whensoever the Christians at any revels made great
entertainments, the Jews were made to pay the reckoning. And
wheresoever any brawl began in London, it ended always in the Old
Jewry, with pillaging of the people therein. What good heart can,
without grief, recount the injuries offered to those who once were the
• Stow's "Survey," pages 288, 289. t Additamenta Matt. Paris, page 202,

18 EDWARD I, BOOK III, CENT, XIII, 387
only people of God ? These were they who preferred Barabbas
before Christ their Saviour, which Barabbas " was a robber, a raiser
of insurrection, and a murderer," John xviii, 40 ; Mark xv, 7- And
ever since that time, in all insurrections against them, when they
desired and sought safety and deliverance, it hath been their constant
portion to be robbed and murdered,
41, A sad Jewish Jubilee-
But the most terrible persecution fell upon them at the coronation
of king Richard I, which, according to the Jewish computation, was
their jubilee : and then busy in the observance thereof, though,
alas ! they had not one merry day in the compass of the whole year.
They were forbidden, for fear of their enchantments, to approach the
king's coronation, upon heavy penalties denounced. Now, their
curiosity was so far above their covetousness, or rather, their wilful
ness so far above their curiosity herein, that, out of their old spirit of
contradiction, some appeared there, which caused the killing of many,
robbing of more, Jews in London. On the same account, within few
days after, (how quickly can cruelty ride post seven-score and ten
miles !) five hundred J ews, besieged in a tower at York, first beheaded
their own wives and children, and then burnt themselves, to escape
more cruel torments.
42. London Wall built with Jewish Stones-
In the seventeenth year of the reign of king John, the barons
brake into the Jews' houses, and rifled their coffers, and with the
stone of their houses repaired the gates and -walls of London.*
Surely, such stones must be presumed very hard, like the Jews
their owners, from whom they were taken ; and yet they soon
mouldered away with wind and weather. Indeed, plundered stones
never make strong walls. And I impute it as a partial cause of the
weakness of London-walls, (which no enemy ever since assaulted
but he entered them,) that a great part of them, enough to infect
all the rest, was built with materials got by oppression.
¦43. Henry III- cruel to the Jews-
But, of all our English kings, none ground the Jews with exac
tions like king Henry III. Only herein the Jews might and did
comfort themselves, that the English, his native subjects, also
smarted soundly under his oppression. He not only flayed the
skin, but raked the flesh, and scarified the bones, of all the Jews'
estates in England ; ut vivere fastidirent, " that it was irksome
for them to live,"-f- Gold he would receive of every J ewish man or
* Stow's " Survey of London," page 288, 1 Matt. Paris, page 605.
2 c 2

388 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1290,
woman, always with his own hand ; but consigned other officers to
receive the silver from them. One offensive act he wilfully did to
their conscience, in giving them leave, at their own cost and charges,
to build them a new synagogue ; and, when they had finished it,
he commanded them to dedicate it to the virgin Mary,* whereby
they utterly lost the use thereof ; and afterwards the king gave it to
be a cell of St. Anthony of Vienne, A vexatious deed, merely to
despite them, who are, since their smarting for idolatry in the cap
tivity of Babylon, pertinacious worshippers of one God ; and nothing
more retardeth their conversion to Christianity, than the scandal
given daily unto them, by the popish saintship to their images, ,
44. The Wonder of the Jews' speedy recruiting their Estates-
It may justly seem admirable, whence these Jews, so often pil
laged to their bare skins, so suddenly recruited themselves with
wealth. What I have heard affirmed of some ground in Gloucester
shire, that, in a kindly spring, " bite it bare over night, next morn
ing the grass will be grown to hide a wand therein," is most cer
tainly true in application to the Jews, so full and fast did wealth
flow in upon them. Let their eggs not only be taken away, but
their nests be plucked down ; yet within few years we shall find
them hatching a new brood of wealth therein. This made many
suspect them for clipping and coining of money. But, to lessen
the wonder of these Jews' speedy recovery, know, that, beside some
of their invisible hoards escaping their plunderers' hands, the Jews
in other places (where no persecution for the present) furnished them
to set up trading again. Indeed, commendable was the Jews'
charity to their own countrymen ; save that necessity commanded
them to love one another, being hated of all other nations.
45, Crowds of counterfeit Converts.
To avoid these miseries, they had but one shift, (and, as used hy
some of them, it was but a shift indeed,) to pretend themselves
Christian converts, and to tender themselves to be baptized. To
such persons, in a temporal respect, baptism washed away all sin ;
they being cleared and quitted from all ante-facts, how heinous
soever, by their entrance into Christianity, Thus, anno 1259,
Elias Biscop, a London Jew, charged with many horrible crimes,
and, amongst others, that with poisoned drink he had caused the
death of many English gentlemen, escaped all punishment by being
baptized, "I" For the farther encouragement of their conversion, king
Henry III, erected a small house in Chancery-Lane, (where the
office of the Rolls is now kept,) for convert-Jews to dwell in, allow-
• Stow's « Survey," page 190. t Matt. Paris, page 982.

18 EDWARD I, BOOK Ul, CENT, XIII, 389
ing a daily salary to them for their maintenance. It is to be feared
many lived therein who were Jews inwardly, but not in the apostle's
acceptation thereof, — " in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise
is not of men, but of God," Rom. ii, 29 ; but I mean such who
still retained the dregs of Judaism under the feigned profession of
Christianity, Sure I am, king Edward at this time was so incensed
against the Jewish nation, that now he resolved the total and final
extirpation of them and theirs out of his dominions.
46. Misdemeanours charged on the Jews.
Many misdemeanours were laid to their charge, amongst which
these following were the principal. First, Enchantments, This
was an old sin of the Jews, whereof the prophets always complained :
" The multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abundance of thine
enchantments," Isaiah xlvii, 9, And, it seems, they still retained
their old wicked wont. Secondly, Poisoning, To give the Jews
their due, this was none of their faults, whilst living in their own
land, not meeting with the word in the whole Bible, It seems,
they learned this sin after their dispersion in other nations, and since
are grown exquisite in that art of wickedness. Thirdly, Clipping of
money. Fourthly. Counterfeiting of Christians' hands and seals.
Fifthly. Extortion. A Jew occasioned a mutiny in London, by
demanding from a poor Christian above two ' shillings for the use of
twenty shillings for one week, being, by proportion, no less than
five hundred and twenty pounds per annum for every hundred.
Sixthly, Crucifying of the children of Christians, (to keep their
hands in ure,) always about Easter : so that the time pointed at
their intents directly in derision of our Saviour, How sufficiently
these crimes were witnessed against them, I know not. In such
cases weak proofs are of proof against ricfi offenders. We may well
believe, if their persons were guilty of some of these faiflts, their
estates were guilty of all the rest,
47. Jews, say others, not cast out, but craved Leave to depart.
Now, although it passeth for an uncontrolled truth, that the Jews
were by the king violently cast out of the land, yet a great lawyer*
states the case much otherwise ; namely, that the king did not
directly expel them, but only prohibit them to put money to use ;
which produced a petition from them to the king, that they might
have leave to depart the land ; a request easily granted unto them.
Some will say, " It is all one in effect, whether one be starved or
stabbed, death inevitably following from both, as here the Jews were
famished, on the matter, out of England ; usury being their meat
' Sib Edward Coke.

390 CHURCH HISTOKY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1290  301.
and drink, without which they were unable longer to subsist." How
ever, this took off much from. the odium of the act, — that they were
not immediately, but only indirectly and consequentially banished
the realm, or rather permitted a free departure on their own perition
for the same. As for the sad accident that some hundreds of them,
being purposely shipped out of a spiteful design, in a leaking vessel,
were all drowned in the sea ; if trae, it cannot but command compas
sion in any Christian heart,
48, The King gets incredible Wealth forfeited by the Jews.
A.D.1294>.
It is hardly to be believed what vast sums of wealth accrued to
the king, by this (call it ejection, or amotion, or) decession of the
Jews, He allowed them only bare viaticum to bear their charges,
and seized on all the rest of their estates. Insomuch, that now the
king needed not to listen to the counsel of William Marsh, bishop
of Bath and Wells, and treasurer of England, (but therein speaking
more like a treasurer than a bishop,) advising him, if in necessity,
" to take all the plate and money of churches and monasteries,
therewith to pay his soldiers," * The poor Jews durst not go into
France, whence lately they had been solemnly banished ; but
generally disposed themselves in Germany, and Italy, especially in
the pope's territories therein, where profit from Jews and stews
much advance the constant revenues of his Holiness,
49, King Edward Arbitrator betwixt Balliol and Bruce.
A.D. 1295,
King Edward, having done with the Jews, began with the Scots;
and effectually humbled them and their country. This the occa
sion : Two competitors appearing for the crown of Scotland, (John
Balliol, [Baliol,] and Robert Bruce,) and, both referring their title
to King Edward's decision, he adjudged the same to Balliol, or
rather to himself in Balliol, For he enjoined him to do homage
unto him, and that hereafter the Scottish crown should be held in
fealty of the English, Balliol, or his necessity rather, (his person
being in king Edward's power,) accepted the condition, owning in
England one above himself, that so he might be above all in Scot
land, But, no sooner was he returned into his own kingdom, and
peaceably possessed thereof, but instantly, in a letter of defiance, he
disclaimed all former promises to king Edward, appealing to the
Christian world, whether his own enforced obedience were more to
be pitied, or king Edward's insolence (improving itself on a prince's
present extremities) more to be condemned,
" Polydore Virgil.

25 EDWARD I, BOOK III, CENT, XlV. 391
50, He proveth Malleus Scotorum. A.D. 1297-
Offended hereat, king Edward advanceth into Scotland, with the
forces he formerly intended for France, Power and policy make a
good medley, and the one fareth the better for the other. King
Edward, to strengthen himself, thought fit to take in the title of ,
Robert Bruce, (Balliol's cor-rival, hitherto living privately in Scot
land,) pretending to settle him in the kingdom. Hereupon the
Scots, to lessen their losses and the English victories, affirm,* that
in this expedition their own countrymen were chiefly conquered by
their own countrymen, the Brucian party assisting the English.
Sure it is, that king Edward took Berwick, Dunbar, Stirling,
Edinburgh, the crown, sceptre, and (out of Scone) the royal chair,
and prophetical marble therein. And though commonly it be
observed, that English valour, hopefully budding and blossoming on
this side of Edinburgh-Frith, is frost-bitten on the north thereof;
yet our victorious Edward, crossing that sea, took Montrose, and
the best counties thereabout. In a word, he conquered almost all
the garden of Scotland, and left the wilderness thereof to conquer
itself. Then having settled Warren, earl of Surrey, viceroy thereof,
and made all the Scottish nobility (Doughty Douglas alone
excepted, who was committed to prison for his singular recusancy)
swear homage unto him, and taking John Balliol captive along with
him, he returned triumphantly into England.

SECTION VII.
THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY,
TO CLEMENT THROCKMORTON, THE ELDER, OF
HASELEY, IN WARWICKSHIRE, ESQUIRE,
Let others boast of their French blood, whilst your
EngUsh family may vie gentry -with any of the Norman
extraction, 1 . For antiquity : four monosyllables being,
by common pronunciation, crowded into your name ; —
THE, ROCK, MORE, TOWN, 2, For numerosity : being
branched into sd many counties, 3. For ingenuity :
charactered by Camden t to be fruitful of fine wits,
whereof several instances might be produced.
• G. Buchanan Rerum Scot, libro octavo. t Britannia in 'Warwickshire,

••392 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D.

1301-

But a principal consideration, which doth and ever
shall command my respect unto your person, is, your
faithful and cordial friendship, in matters of highest
concernment (whatever be the success thereof) to the"
best of my relations, which I conceived myself obliged
publicly to confess.
1, The Pope challengeth Scotland as peculiar to himself.
A.D. 1301,
Amidst these cruel wars betwixt the English and Scots, pope
Boniface VIII, sent his letters to king Edward, requiring him to
quit his claim, and cease his wars, and release his prisoners, of the
Scotch nation, as a people exempt and properly pertaining to his
own chapel. Perchance, the pope's right to the crown of Scotland
is written on the backside of Constantine's donation. And it" is
strange, that if Scotland be the pope's peculiar demesnes, it should be
so far distant from Rome, his chief mansion-house ; he grounded his
title thereunto, because " Scotland was first converted, by the relics
of St, Peter, to the unity of the catholic faith."* But it seems
not so much ambition in his Holiness made him at this present to
start this pretence, but the secret solicitation of the Scots themselves,
who now, to avoid the storm of the English, ran under this bush,
and put themselves in the pope's protection.
2, King Edward, assisted by-his Lords, stoutly maintaineth his
own Right.
Hereupon king Edward called a council of his lords at Lincoln,
where, perusing the contents of the pope's prescript, he returned a
large answer, wherein he endeavoured, by evident reasons and
ancient precedents, to prove his propriety in the kingdom of
Scotland, This was seconded by another from the English peerage,
subscribed with all their hands, the whole tenor whereof deserves to
be inserted ; •}- but this passage must not be omitted, being directed
to no meaner than his Holiness himself: — " Wherefore, after treaty
had, and diligent deliberation of the contents of your foresaid letters,
this was the common agreement and consent with one mind, and
shall be without fail, in time to come, by God's grace, that our
foresaid lord the king ought by no means to answer in judgment in
any case, or should bring his foresaid rights into doubt, nor ought
not to send any proctors or messengers to your presence : especially
seeing that the premisses tend manifestly to the disheriting of the
• Fox's " Acts and Monuments," lib. i. pp, 444, 445. 1 It is extant in Fox ut
supra, as also in Holinshed, in tlie 29th of the reign of king Edwai-d 1, page 311, ~

33 EDWARD I, BOOK III, CENT, XIV, 393
crown of England, and the plain overthrow of the state of the said
realm, and also hurt of the liberties, customs, and laws of our
fathers : for the keeping and defence of which we are bound, by the
duty of the oath made ; and we will maintain them with all power,
and will defend them, by God's help, with all our strength," The
pope perceived he had met with men which understood themselves,
and that king Edward was no king John, to be frighted or flattered
out of his right ; he therefore was loath to clash his keys against the
other's sword, to try which was made of the hardest metal ; but
foreseeing the verdict would go against him, wisely nonsuited him
self. Whereas had this unjust challenger met with a . timorous .
defendant, it had been enough to have created an undeniable title
to him and his successors. The best is, nullum tempus occurrit
papes, " no process of time doth prejudice the pope's due ;" but
whensoever he pleaseth to prosecute his right, Scotland lieth still in
the same place where it did before,
3, One condemned for a Traitor for bringing the Pope's Bull.
A.D. 1302,
About this time a subject brought in a Bull of excommunication
against another subject of this realm, and published it to the lord
treasurer of England ; and this was by the ancient common law of
England adjudged treason against the king, his crown, and dignity,*
for the which, the offender should have been drawn and hanged ;
but, at the great instance of the chancellor and treasurer, he was
only abjured the realm for ever. And this case is the more remark
able, because he was condemned by the common law of England,
before any particular statute was enacted in that behalff
4, The Archbishop of Canterbury humbled by the King.
A.D. 1305,
But the courage of king Edward most appeared in humbling and
ordering Robert Winchelsey, archbishop of Canterbury. He was an
insolent man, hated even of the clergy, because, though their
champion to preserve them from civil and secular burdens, yet the
pope's broker, to reserve them for his unconscionable exactions, as
if keeping churchmen to be wronged by none but himself Long
had the king looked on him with an angry eye, as opposite to his
proceedings ; and now at the last had him at his mercy, for plotting
treason wi°th some others of the nobility against him,+ projecting to
depose him, and set up his son Edward in his room.
• Brook tit. Praemunire, page 10. t Fifth Part of Sir Ed. Coke's " Reports,"
De Jure Reg. Ecc. fol. 12. X ^nnal. Eccl, August, Cant,

394 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1305.
5. Guiltiness makes proud Men base.
The archbishop, throwing himself prostrate at the king's feet,
with tears and lamentation confessed his fault in a posture of
cowardly dejection,* descending now as much beneath himself, as
formerly he had arrogantly insulted over others ;-f- some are loath to
allow him guilty of the crime objected, others conceive him only to
have done this, presuming on the king's noble disposition for pardon.J
But such must yield him a traitor either to the king's crown, or to
his own innocence by his unworthy acknowledging his offence. Thus
that man who confesseth a debt which he knows not due, hoping his
creditor will thereupon give him an acquittance, scarce deserveth pity
for his folly, if presently sent to prison for non-payment thereof.
Then he called the king " his master," a term wherewith formerly
his tongue was unacquainted, (whom neither by word or letter he
would ever acknowledge under that notion,), tendering himself to be
disposed at his pleasure,
6, The remarkable Dialogue betwixt the King and Archbishop.
" No," quoth the king, " I will not be both party and judge, and
proceed against you as I might by the common law of the land, I
bear more respect to your Order, whereof you are as unworthy as of
my favour : having formerly had experience of your malice in
smaller matters, when you so rigorously used my chaplains attend
ing on me in their ordinary service beyond the seas ; so that, though
I sent my letters unto you, you as lightly regarded what I wrote, as
what they pleaded in their own behalf," Winchelsey, having but
one guard for all blows, persisted in his submission, desiring (a pre
cedent unparalleled) that the king would give him his blessing.
" No," said the king, " it is more proper that you should .give me
your blessing. But, well, I will remit you to your own great
master the pope, to deal with you according to your deserts."§ But
the archbishop, loath belike to go to Rome, and staying longer in
England than the king's command, and (perchance) his own pro
mise, lurked in a convent, at Canterbury, till fourscore monks ||
were by the king's command thrust out of their places for relieving
him out of their charity ; and were not restored till the aforesaid
archbishop was banished the kingdom.
7- Winchelsey finds no Favour from the Pope, and why.
Not long after he appeared before pope Clement V. at Bourdeaux ;
where, having been so great a stickler for his Holiness, (insomuch
• Antiq. Britan. page 207, ex Tho. Wahingham. t Harpsfield Hist. Eccl.
Ang. page 446. X Worthily see Goodwin De Archiepis. Cantuariens. page 145.
§ Antiquilates Briia?mica;, ut prius. || Annul. Eccl. August. Cant.

33 EDWARD I, BOOK III, CENT, XIV, 395
that his present disfavour with the king was originally caused by his
activity for the pope,) he might rationally have expected some
courtesy. But Ihough he had used both his hands to scrape treasure
for the church of Rome, the pope would not lend his least finger
to his support, but suspended him from office and benefit of his place,
till he should clear himself from the crime of treason wherewith he
was charged. Whether done to procure reputation to the justice of
the court of Rome ; where, in public causes, men, otherwise privately
well-deserving, should find no more favour there than they brought
innocence thither : or because (which is most probable) the pope
loved the archbishopric better than the archbishop ; and knew,
during his suspension, both to increase his profit and improve his
power in England, by such cunning factors, as he employed in the
business ; namely, William de Testa, and -Peter Amaline, both
strangers, to whom the pope committed the sequestration of
Canterbury, whilst the cause of Winchelsey did as yet depend
undetermined, 8. A signal Piece of Justice done by foreign Sequestrators.
These, by papal authority, summoned before them John Salmon,
bishop of Norwich, for exacting the first-fruits of vacant benefices,
from the clergy of his diocess. The case was this : Some sixty years
since, Pandulph, an Italian, and pope's legate, (a perfect artist in
progging for money,) being bishop of Norwich, pretending his church
to be in debt, obtained of his Holiness the first-fruits of vacant bene
fices in Norfolk and Suffolk, to discharge that engagement,* This
grant to him, being but personal, local, and temporary, was improved
by his successors to a constant revenue ; yea, covetousness being an
apt scholar, and profit a^n easy lesson, this example was followed by
other English bishops in their respective diocesses. Behold here a
piece of exemplary justice ! Who could have looked for less (the
illegality of these payments appearing) but that the clergy should
be eased of them ? Whereas these foreign sequestrators did order,
that, generally throughout England, the first-fruits of all spiritual
promotions falling void next for three years should be paid over to
the pope's chamber at Rome: only cathedral and conventual churches
were excepted herein.f No reason is rendered why the burden fell
on parish -churches : except any will say, that the ass must bear more
than the horse ; and the load is best laid on that beast which hath
least mettle to kick it off, and throw it down ; the poor parochial
clergy being most unable to resist the usurpation of his Holiness,
• Harpsfield Hist. Eccl. Ang. in seculo xiii. cap. 15. 1 Aritiquitates Britan.
page 208.

396 CHUUCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1305  12.
9. England's galled Back exchanges a full Fly for a hungry
one.
Afterwards, this William Testa, who, according to his name, came
over an empty shell, but departed with the kernel of the English
wealth, complained of for his extortion to the parliament,* was called
home, and Peter a Spanish cardinal sent in his room ; where he
concluded and celebrated a marriage betwixt prince Edward and
Isabel, the king of France's daughter. Towards the bearing of his
charges, this cardinal required twelve marks of all cathedrals and
convents ; and of parish-churches eight-pence out of every mark of
their yearly revenue. But the king made him content with the
moiety of his demand,
10, The infinite Wealth Rome yearly drained from England.
Mean time intolerable were the taxes which the English clergy
paid to Rome, The poets feign Arethusa, a river in Armenia, to be
swallowed up by the earth, and, running many miles under the ocean,
in Sicily (they say) it vents itself up again. But, without any
fiction, the wealthy streams, flowing from a plentiful spring in
England, did suddenly disappear ; and being insensibly conveyed
in invisible channels, not under but over the sea, were found far off
to arise afresh at Rome,' in the pope's treasury ; where the Italians,
though (being themselves bred in a clear and subtile climate) they
scorned the dulness of the wits and hated the gross air of this island,
yet hugged the heaviness of the gold thereof; this kingdom being
one of the best places for their profit. Although proud Harding
saith, " that the pope's yearly gains out of England were but as a
gnat to an elephant,"-f- O the overgrown beast of Rome's revenues !
11, The Death and Character of King Edward I. A.D. 1307,
The death of king Edward I, gave a great advancement to the
pope's encroaching, A worthy prince he was, fixed in his generation
betwixt a weak father and a son ; as if made wise and valiant by
their antiperistasis : equally fortunate in drawing and sheathing the
sword, in war and peace ; having taught the English loyalty, by them
almost forgotten ; and the Welsh, subjection, which they never
learned before. In himself, religiously disposed ; founded the
famous abbey of Vale Royal for the Cistercians in Cheshire,! ^.nd by
will bequeathing thirty-two thousand pounds to the Holy War :
obedient, not servile, to the see of Rome : a foe to the pride, and
friend to the profession, of the clergy ; whom he watered with his
¦ Contra intemperantem Testee avaritiam publics in Parliamento querela: qudd clerum
immoderate emungeret.—HARTS.YlELV, page 431. f In Confut. Apolog.
X Camdkn's Brit, in Cheshire,

5 EDWARD II, BOOK III, CENT, XIV, 397
bounty, but would not have to spread so broad as to justle, or grow
so high as to overtop the regal authority ; dying in due time for himself,
almost seventy years old : but too soon for his subjects, especially
for his son, whose giddy youth lacked a guide to direct him. In a
word : As the arm of king Edward I, was accounted the measure
of a yard, generally received in England ; so his actions are an excel
lent model and a praiseworthy platform for succeeding princes to
imitate,12, Winchelsey, at the Request of King Edward II. restored to
his Archbishopric. 1 Edward II,
Edward his son, by letters to the pope, requested, that Robert
Winchelsey might be restored to his archbishopric, which was done
accordingly ; though he returned too late to crown the king ; which
solemnity was performed by Henry Woodlock, bishop of Winchester.
Here let the peaceable reader part two contrary reports from fighting
together, both avowed by authors of credit. Some say Winchelsey,
after his return, received his profits maimed and mangled, scarce
amounting to half; and that poor pittance he was fain to bestow to
repair his dilapidated palace.* Others report, his revenues, not
lessened in quantity, and increased in the entireness, were paid hiin
all in a lump ; insomuch that hereby (having leamed thrift in exile
to live of a little) he speedily became the richest of all his predeces
sors ;-f- so that he gained by losses ; and it was his common proverb,
that there is no hurt in adversity, where there hath been no iniquity ;
and many make his future success an evidence of his former
innocence. 13, The Character of King Edward IL A.D. 1312.
The calamitous reign of king Edward II, afforded little history
of the church, though too much of the commonwealth except it had
been better, A debauched prince this Edward was ; his beauty
being the best (not to say only) commendable thing about him.
He had an handsome man-case, and better it had been empty with
weakness, than (as it was) ill-filled with viciousness. Pierce
Gaveston first corrupted him, maugre all the good counsel that
Robert archbishop of Canterbury, and all his good friends, could
give him. And, when Gaveston was killed and taken away, the
king's badness was rather doubled, than diminished ; exchanging
one pandar to vice for two, the two Spencers, In a word, the court
was turned tavern, stews, stage, play-house : wherein as many vain
and wanton comedies were acted before the king in his life-time, so
a sad and sorrowful tragedy was acted by him at his death,
* Harpsfield Hist. Ecc. Ang. page 440. t Antiq. Brit, page 209, ex Adawo
Mummuten.

398 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D, 1314.
14. The fatal Defeat of the English in Scotland. A.D. 1314.
Robert Brace, king of Scotland, encouraged by the laziness of
king Edward, thought this a fit time to recover his country, and
which the English detained from him. Whereupon he regained
Berwick, inroaded England, invaded Ireland. King Edward in
wrath advanceth against him, with an army rather dancing than
marching, fitter for a masque, than a battle ; their horses rather
trapped than armed. In all points it appeared a triumphant army,
save that no field as yet was fought by them. Thus, excluding all
influence of Divine Providence, and concluding it was fortune's
duty to favour them, at Stirling they bid the Scots battle, wherein
ten thousand of our men are by our own authors confessed to be
slain. There fell the flower of the English nobility, the king with a
few hardly saving himself by flight. Thus, as malleus Scotorum,
" the hammer or mauler of the Scots," is written on the tomb of
king Edward I, in Westminster ; incus Scotorum, " the anvil of
the Scots," might as properly be written on the monument (liad he
any) of Edward II,
15, Nine eminent Schoolmen of the English Nation.
But, leaving these fights, we proceed to other polemical digla-
diations, more proper for our pen ; namely, the disputes of School
men, which in this king's reign were heightened to perfection.
Formerly those were termed Scholastici who in the schools were
rhetoricians, making therein declamatory orations. Such exercises
ceasing in this age, the term was translated to signify those who
busied themselves in controversial divinity, though some will have
them so called, from scholion, " a commentary," their studies being
generally nothing else than illustrations of the text of Peter Lom
bard, the Master of the Sentences, Take them here together
at one view, intending to resume them again in their several
characters : —
1, Alexander Hales flourished a,d, 1240, in the reign of
Henry HI, His title was. Doctor Irrefragabilis, or. Doctor
Doctorum ; his Order Franciscan, He was born at or nigh Hales,
in Gloucestershire : bred in Hales, ibidem ; and buried in the
Franciscan church in Paris,
2. Roger Bacon flourished a,d, 1280, in the reign of
Edward I, His title was. Doctor Mirabilis ; his Order Francis
can, He was bred in Oxford, in Merton college ; and buried at
Oxford, 3. Richard Middleton, or, De Medid Villd, flourished a,d,
1290, in the reign of Edward I, His title was, Doctor Funda-
tissimus ; his Order Franciscan, It is uncertain whether he was

7 EDWARD II, BOOK, III. CENT. XIV. 399
born at Middleton-Stony, in Oxfordshire, or Middleton-Cheny in
Northamptonshire. He was bred in Oxford or Paris ; and buried
at Paris.
4. John Duns Scotus flourished a.d, 1308, in the reign of
Edward II. His title was, Doctor Subtilis ; his Order Francis
can. He was bom at Dunston (contracted Duns) in Emildon
parish in Northumberland ; bred in Merton college, in Oxford ;
and buried at Cologne.
5. GuALTER Burley flourished a.d, 13.37, in the reign of
Edward III, His title was. Doctor Approbatus. He was a secu
lar priest ; bred in Merton college, in Oxford ; and buried at Paris.
6. John Baconthorpe flourished a, d, 1346, in the reign of
Edward III, His title was. Doctor Resolutus ; his Order
Carmelite. He was born at Baconthorpe, in Norfolk ; bred in
Blackney Abbey, in Norfolk ; and buried in the church of his
Older in London.
7- William Ocham flourished a.d, 1347, in the reign of
Edward III, His title was. Doctor Singularis, or. Pater Nomi-
nalium ; his Order Franciscan, He was bom at Ocham, in
Surrey ; bred in Merton college ; and buried at Munich in
Bavaria, 8, Robert Holcot flourished a,d. 1349, in the reign of
Edward III, He was of the Order of Dominicans; born at
Holcot, in Northamptonshire ; bred in Oxford ; and buried at
Northampton, where he died of the plague,
9, Thomas Bradwardine flourished a,d, 1.350, in the reign
of Edward III. His title was. Doctor Profundus ; he was a
secular priest ; born at Bradwardine, in Herefordshire ; bred in
Merton college, in Oxford ; and buried in St. Anselm's chapel in
Canterbury. Besides many other Schoolmen of inferior note, which we pass by
in silence. Now we may safely dare all Christendom besides to
show so many eminent School Divines, bred within the compass
of so few years ; insomuch that it is a truth what a foreign writer
saith,* Scholastica theologia ab Anglis, et in Anglid, sumpsit
' exordium, fecit incrementum; pervenit ad perfectionem. And
although Italy falsely boasteth that Britain had her Christianity first
from Rome, England may truly maintain, that from her (immedi
ately by France) Italy first received her School-divinity.
16. Alexander Hales their Father and Founder.
Of these Schoolmen, Alexander Hales goeth the first, master to
Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure ; whose livery, in some sort,
* Alexander Minutianus in Epistold.

400 church history of Britain, a,d, 1-314.
the rest of the Schoolmen may be said to wear, insisting in his foot
steps. At the command of pope Innocent IV, he wrote the body
of all School-divinity in four volumes. He was the first Franciscan
who ever took the degree of Doctor in the university, (who formeriy
counted the height of a degree inconsistent with the humility of
their Order,) as appeareth by the close of his epitaph : — Egerwrum
flt primus Doctor eorum. So great an honourer of the virgin
Mary, that he never denied such who sued to him in her name ; *
as, since, our Mr, P'ox is said never to have denied any who begged
of him for Jesus Christ,
17- Bacon accused for a Conjurer.
Roger Bacon succeeds, O what a sin is it to be more learned
than one's neighbours in a barbarous age ! Being excellentiy
skilled in the mathematics, (a wonder-working art, especially to
ignorant eyes,) he is accused for a conjurer by Hieronymus de
Esculo, minister-general of his Order, and afterwards pope by the
name of Nicholas IV. The best is, this Hieronymus, before he
was a pope, was not infallible, and therefore our Bacon might be
scandalized by him ; however, he was committed to prison at
Rome, by pope Clement IV, and remained in durance a consider
able time before his own innocence, with his friends' endeavours,
could procure his enlargement,
18, Many Bacons in one make a Confusion.
For mine own part, I behold the name of Bacon in Oxford, not
as of an individual man, but corporation of men ; no single cord,
but a twisted cable of many together. And as all the acts of
strong men of that nature are attributed to an Hercules ; all the
predictions of prophesying women to a Sibyl ; so, I conceive, all
the achievements of the Oxonian Bacons, in their liberal studies, are
ascribed to one, as chief of the name. And this in effect is con
fessed by the most learned and ingenious orator of that university, ¦!¦
Indeed, we find one Robert Bacon who died anno one thousand two
hundred forty eight, a learned doctor ; and Trithemius styleth
John Baconthorpe, plain Bacon, which addeth to the probability of
the former assertion. However, this confounding so many Bacons
in one hath caused antichronisms in many relations. For how could
this Bacon ever be a Reader of Philosophy in Brasen-nose college,
founded more than one hundred years after his death .'' so that his
brasen head, so much spoken of, to speak, must make time past to
be again, or else these inconsistencies will not be reconciled.
Except any will salve it with the -prolepsis of Brasen-nose hall,
• PiTS's Desa-ipt. Ang. 1 Sir Isaac Wake in bis Rex Platonicus, pp. 209, 210.

< EDWARD II. BOOK III, CENT, XIV, 401
formerly in the place where the college is now erected, I have
done with the Oxford Bacons : only let me add, that those of
Cambridge, father and son, Nicholas and Francis, the one of
Bennet, and the other of Trinity college, do hold {absit invidia !)
the scales of desert, even against all of their name in all the
world besides,
19. Dttns Scotus, why so called. Three Kingdoms lay claim to
his Birth.
John Duns Scotus succeeds, who some will have called Scotus,
ob profundissimam dicendi obscuritatem,* "from his profound
obscurity in writing," Indeed, there was one Heraclitus, to whom
cognomen Scotinon fecit orationis obscuritas : f but others con
ceive him so called, either from Scotiand his country, or John Scott
his father. Nor was he called Duns, as some will have it con-
tractedly from Dominus, but from the place of his nativity, tiiough
three kingdoms earnestly engage to claim him for their country
man, England, — It is thus written at the end of his manuscript
works in Merton college in Oxford, whereof he was fellow : Explicit
lectura Subtilis in universitate Parisiensi doctor-is Joannis
Duns, nati in quadam villuld parochies de Emildon vocata
Dunston, in comitatu Norihumbrics, pertinente domui scho
larium de Merton-hall in Qxoriia.X
Scotland, — Although John Scott dissembled himself an
Englishman, to find the more favour in Merton college, living in an
age wherein cruel wars betwixt England and Scotland ; yet his
tomb erected at Cologne is bold to tell the truth, whereon this
epitaph : § — Scotia me genuit, Anglia suscepit,
Gallia edocuit, Germania tenet.
Besides, the very name of Scotus avoweth him to be a Scotchman,
Ireland, — He is called Joannes Duns, by abbreviation for
Dunensis ; that is, born at Down, || an episcopal see in Ireland,
where Patricius, Dubricius, and St, Columba lie interred. And it
is notoriously known to critics, that Scotus signifieth an Irishman in
the most ancient acceptation thereof.
I doubt not but the reader will give his verdict, that the very
Scotiety of Scotus belongeth to England as his native country, who
being born in Northumberland, — which kingdom in the Saxon
heptarchy extended from Humber to Edinburgh-Frith, — it was a
* SiXTDS Senensis. 1 Seneca in Epist. X Camden's Britannia in Northum
berland. 5 Archbishop Spotswood in bis " History of the Chmch of Scotland,"
II Hugh Cavel, in Vitd Scott.
Vol, I, D D

402 church history of Britain. a.d. 1314.
facile mistake for foreigners to write him a Scotchman on his monu
ment. As for the name of Scotus, it is of no validity to prove him
that countryman, as a common surname amongst us ; as, some four
years since, when the Scotch were enjoined to depart this land, one
Mr. English, in London, was then the most considerable merchant
of the Scotch nation. The sad manner of Scotus's death is sufiB.-
ciently known ; who, being in a fit of a strong apoplexy, was, by the
cruel kindness of his over-officious fi:iends, buried whilst yet alive,
and, recovering in the grave, dashed out his brains against the
coffin, affording a large field to such wanton wits in their epigrams,
who could make sport to themselves on the sad accident of others,
20, Low but learned Baconthorpe.
I had almost over-seen John Baconthorpe, being so low in
stature, as but one remove from a dwarf; of whom one saith, —
Ingenio magnus, corpore parvus erat :* " His wit was tall, in
body small." Insomuch that corpus non tulisset quod ingenium
protidif, " his body could not bear the books which his brain had
brought forth." Coming to Rome, being sent for by the pope, he
was once hissed at-)- in a public disputation, for the badness,
forsooth, of his Latin and pronunciation ; but, indeed, because he
opposed the pope's power in dispensing with marriages, contrary to
the law of God ; whose judgment J was afterwards made use of by
the defenders of the divorce of king Henry VIII.
21. Occam a stiff Imperialist.
William Occam sided with Lewis of Bavaria against the pope,
maintaining the temporal power above the spiritual. He was fain
to fiy to the emperor for his safety ; saying unto him, — Defends
me gladio, et ego te defendam verbo : " Defend me with thy
sword, and I will defend thee with my word." This Occam was
Luther's chief (if not sole) Schoolman, who had his works at his
fingers' end ; loving him, no doubt, the better for his opposition to
the pope, 22, Holcot's sudden Death.
Robert Holcot was not the meanest among them, who died of the
plague at Nortiiampton, just as he was reading his lectures on the
seventh of Ecclesiasticus ; wherein as many canonical truths as in
any Apocrypha chapter ; and although as yet in his public reading
he was not come to the last verse thereof, so proper for mortality,
we may charitably believe he had seriously commented thereon in
* Johannes Trissa Nemausensis in libro De Viris Illustribus. t Baleus in
ejus Vitd. X Jacobus Calcus Papiensis.

7 EDWARD II, BOOK III, CENT, XIV, 403
his private meditations : " Whatsoever thou takest in hand, remem
ber the end, and thou shalt never do amiss," *
23. The just Praise of Thomas Bradwardine.
Thomas Bradwardine bringeth up the rear, though in learning
and piety, if not superior, equal to any of the rest ; witness his
worthy book against Pelagianism, to assert the freeness of God's
grace in man's conversion ; which he justiy entitleth, De Causd Dei,
" Of God's Cause : " for as God is a second in every good cause, so
he is a principal in this, wherein his own honour is so nearly con-
cemed. And though the psalmist saith," " Plead thine own cause,
O Lord ;" yet in this age, wherein miracles are ceased, God pleadeth
his cause, not in his person, but by the proxy of the tongues and
pens, hands and hearts, of his servants. This Bradwardine was
afterwards archbishop of Canterbury ; and how highly esteemed, let
Chaucerf tell you : —
" But 1 ne cannot hoult it to the bren,
As can the holy Doctour St. Austin,
Or Boece, or the Bishop Bradwardin,"
This testimony of Chaucer, by the exact computation of time, [was]
written wdthin forty years after Bradwardine's death, which addeth
much to his honour, that in so short a time his memory was in the
peaceable possession of so general a veneration, as to be joined in
company with St, Augustine and Boethius, two such eminent per
sons in their several capacities,
24, Schoolmen busied in needless Difficulties.
The Schoolmen principally employed themselves in knotty and
thorny questions of controversial divinity. Indeed, as such who
live in London, and like populous places, having but little ground
for their foundations to build houses on, may be said to enlarge the
breadth of theii; houses in height ; (I mean, increasing their room in
many stories one above another ;) so the Schoolmen in this age,
lacking the latitude of general learning and languages, thought to
enlarge their active minds by mounting up ; so improving their
small bottom with towering speculations, though some of things
mystical that might not — more of things difficult that could not-p-
most of things curious that need not — be known unto us.
25. Excuses for their bad Latin.
Their Latin is generally barbarous, counting any thing eloquent
that is expressive ; going the nearest way to speak their own notions,
though sometimes trespassing on grammar, abusing, if not breaking,
• Bale's Descript. Brit. cent. xv. page 434. t In the Nun's Priest's Tale.
2 D 2

404 CHURCH history of BRITAIN. A.D. 1314
Priscian's* head therein. Some impute this their bald and thread
bare language to a design that no vermin of equivocation should be
hid under the nap of their words ; whilst others ascribe it to their
want of change, and their poverty in learning, to procure better
expressions. 26, Their several Divisions in Judgment.
Yet- these Schoolmen agreed not amongst themselves in their
judgments. For Burley, being scholar to Scotus, served him as
Aristotie did Plato his master, maintaining a contrary faction against
him. Ocham his scholar, father of the Nominals, opposed Scotus
the founder of the Reals ; which two factions divided the School
men betwixt them ; Holcot being a Dominican, stiffly resisted the
Franciscans, about the conception of the virgin Mary, which they
would have without any original sin. However, the papists, when
pressed that their divisions mar their unity, (a mark of the church
whereof they boast so much,) evade it, by pleading that these points
are not de flde only, in the out-skirts of religion, and never con
cluded in any council to be the articles of faith,
27- All Oxford, most Merton College.
All of these Schoolmen were Oxford — most Merton-college men.
As the setting up of an eminent artist in any place of a city draws
chapmen unto him to buy his wares, and apprentices to learn his
occupation ; so after Roger Bacon had begun School-divinity in
Merton college, the whole gang and genius of that house succes
sively applied their studies thereunto ; and many repaired thither
from all parts of the land for instruction in that nature. Mean time
Cambridge-men were not idle, but otherwise employed, more
addicting themselves to preaching, whereof though the world took '
not so much notice, positive divinity not making so much noise as
controversial, (where men engage more earnestness,) yet might be
more to God's glory, and the saving of the souls of men,
28. Why School -Divinity not so used in Oxford, after this Age.
Some will wonder, seeing School-divinity was so rife in Oxford in
this age, for some hundred years together, (namely, from towards
the end of Henry's to the end of Edward's reign, both the Third of
their names,) how the study thereof should sink so suddenly in- that
university, which afterwards produced not such eminent men in that
kind. But hereof several reasons may be assigned : — 1, The wars
betwixt York and Lancaster soon after began ; a controversy,
indeed, which silenced School-velitations, students being much disr
¦ Opus operatum.

7 EDWARD II, BOOK HI, CENT, XIV, 405
heartened with those martial discords, 2. Once in an age the
appetite of an university alters, as to its diet in learning ; which,
formeriy filled (not to say, surfeited) with such hard questions, for
variety' sake, sought out other employments, 3, The sparks of
scholars' wits, in School-divinity, went out for want of fuel in that
subject, grown so trite and threadbare, nothing could be but what
had been said of the same before. Wherefore fine wits found out
other ways to busy themselves, 4, Only information of the brain,
no benefit to the purse, accrued by such speculations ; which made
others, in after-ages, to divert their studies, a quesstionibus ad
quesstum, from metaphysical queries, to case-divinity, as more
gainful and profitable ; best enabling them for hearing confessions,
and proportioning penance accordingly. Since the Reformation,
School-divinity in both the universities is not used (as anciently)
for a sole profession by itself, to engross all a man's life therein, but
only taken as a preparative quality to divinity ; discreet men not
drowning but dipping their minds in the study thereof,
29- The sad Distemper of England at this Time.
Return we now to the commonwealth, which we left bad, and find
amended as an old sore without a plaster in cold weather. King
Edward, rather wilful than weak, (if wilfulness be not weakness, and,
sure, the same effects are produced by both, ruin and destruction,)
slighted his queen's company ; and such a bed, if left, (where beauty
without grace,) seldom standeth long empty. Queen Isabel,
blinded with fury, mistook the party who had wronged her, and
revengeth her husband's faults on her own conscience, living incon-
tinentiy with Roger Mortimer ; a man martial enough, and of much
merit otherwise, save that a harlot is a deep pit, therein invisibly to
bury the best deserts. The two Spencers ruled all at pleasure ; and
the king was not more forward to bestow favours on them, as they
free to deal affronts to others their superiors in birth and estate.
Thus, men of yesterday have pride too much to remember what
they were the day before ; and providence too little to foresee what
they may be to-moiTOw, The nobility, then petty kings in their
own countries, disdained such mushrooms should insult over them ;
and all the Spencers' insolencies being scored on the king's account,
no wonder if he, unable to discharge his own engagements, was
broken by suretiship for others,
30, King Edward accused for betraying his Privileges to the
Pope.
I find it charged on this king, tiiat he suffered the pope to
encroach on the dignity of the crown, to the great damage and more

406 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1314  6.
dishonour of the nation. Indeed, his father left him a fair stake,
and a winning hand, (had a good gamester had the playing thereof,)
having recovered some of his privileges from ihe papal usurpation ;
which since, it seems, his son had lost back again, though the par
ticulars thereof in history do not so plainly appear. Only it is
plain, that to support himself, and supply his necessities, he com
plied with the clergy, a potent party in that age ; favourably
measuring out the causes of their cognizances. For although, in
the reign of his father, a hedge was made by an Act in that nature
betwixt the spiritual and temporal courts ; yet now a ditch (a new
Act) was added to the former scene. So that hereafter (except
wilfully) they could not mutually trespass on each other's
jurisdictions.

SECTION VIII.
RICHARDO SEYMERE, NECESSARIO MEO.
Inter amicum meum et necessarium hoc pono
discriminis, quod ille ad bene esse, hie ad meum esse,
quodammodo requiratur ; quo nomine tu mihi es salu-
tandus, qui sine te plane mancus mihi videor. Tua
enim artifici dextra usus sum, per totum hoc opus in
scutis gentihtiis depingendis. Macte, vir ingenue, ac
natales tuos, generosos satis, novo splendore illustriores
reddito. 1, 2, Exeter College founded by Bishop Stapleton, who
afterwards was barbarously murdered. A.D. 1316,
Colleges yet were few, and students now many, in Oxford :
whereupon Walter Stapleton, bishop of Exeter, founded and endowed
one therein, by the name of Stapleton's Inn, since called Exeter
college. This bishop was one of high birth and large bounty, being
said to have expended a year's revenues of his (this rich) bishopric
in the solemnity of his instalment. He also founded Hart-Hall in
Oxford, But O the difference betwixt the elder and younger
brother, though sons to the same father ! the one carrying away the
whole inheritance, whilst the other sometimes hath littie more than
himself left unto him, as here this Hall is altogether unendowed.
This worthy bishop had an unworthy and untimely death, some
ten years after. For, being lord treasurer, and left by the king in

9 EDWARD II, BOOK III. CENT. XIV. 407
his absence to govern the then mutinous city of London, the
citizens, not without encouragement from the queen, furiously fell
upon him, and in Cheapside most barbarously butchered him, and
then (as hoping to bury their murder with his body) huddled him
obscurely into a hole. But afterwards, to make his ghost some
reparation and stop the clamour of the clergy, the queen ordered
the removing and interring of his body, and his brother's, (a valiant
knight slain on the same account,) in the cathedral of Exeter. One
would wonder this bishop was not made a martyr and sainted in
that age, save that his suffering was of civil concernment, and not
relating to religion. 3. Sir William Petre's Bounty.
This House hath since found two eminent benefactors : First.
Sir William Petre, bom of honest parentage in Exeter, principal
secretary to four successive kings and queens : one who in ticklish
and turning times did good to himself, got a great estate,-injurious
to none, (that I ever heard or read of,) but courteous to many, and
eminently to this college, wherein he bestowed much building, and
augmented it with eight fellowships.
4, Dr. HackwiU built this Chapel.
The other, George HackwiU doctor of divinity, late Rector
thereof, who, though married and having children, (must it not be
a quick and large fountain which, besides filling a pond, had such
an overflowing stream .'') bestowed more than one thousand pounds
in building a beautiful chapel. This is he who wrote the learned
and religious " Apology for Divine Providence," proving that the
world doth not decay. Many begin the reading thereof with much
prejudice, but few end it without full satisfaction, converted to the
author's opinion by his unanswerable arguments,
5, Western Men here most proper.
This college consisteth chiefly of Cornish and Devonshire men ;
the gentry of which latter, queen Elizabeth used to say, were
courtiers by their birth. And as these western men do bear away
the bell for might and sleight in wrestiing, so the scholars here
have always acquitted themselves with credit in palesstrd literarid.
The Rectors of this house ancientiy were annual, therefore here
omitted ; fixed but of latter years, to continue the term of their lives.
Rectors. — 1. John Neale, 2, Thomas Glasier, 3, Thomas
Holland, 4, John Prideaux, 5. George HackwiU, 6, John Conant,
Bishops, — John Prideaux, bishop of Worcester; Thomas
Winniff, bishop of Lincoln,

408 church history of britain, a,d, 1316 — 24,^
Benefactors, — Edmund Stafford, bishop of Exeter ; Mr,
John Piriam, alderman of Exeter ; Sir John Ackland, knight,
expending (beside other benefactions) eight hundred pounds in
building the Hall,
Learned Writers, — Judge Dodderidge, George HackwiU,
John Prideaux, Sir Simon Baskerville, Dr, Veluain, Nathanael
Carpenter, Nathanael Norrington, George Kendal,*
So that lately therein were maintained, one Rector, twenty-three
Fellows, a Bible-Clerk, two Pensioners, Servants, Commoners, and
other Students to the number of two hundred.
6. The King's courteous Answer to the Prelates'
Complaints.
Clergymen began now to complain, that the lay judges intrenched
on their privileges ; and, therefore, they presented a petition to the
king in his parliament at Lincoln, requesting the redress of sixteen
grievances. To most of them the king returned a satisfactory
answer, and so qualified his denials to the rest, that they could not
but content any reasonable disposition,
7. Made a printed Statute under the Title of Articuli
Cleri.
These concessions of the king were digested into laws, and are
printed at large in the statutes known by the title of Articuli Cleri.
Whereon Sir Edward Coke, in the second part of his Institutes,
hath made no less learned than large commentary. So that though
the law of circumspecte agatis had stated this difference ; yet it
seems this statute (as circumspectivus agatis) was conceived very
requisite, 8, Yet the Controversy between the two Jurisdictions still
continued.
Moreover, these statutes did not so clearly decide the difference
betwixt the spiritual and temporal jurisdictions, but that many
contests happened afterwards betwixt them, no longer ago than in
the fifth of king James, when the Doctors of the Commons under
Richard Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury, their general, opposed
the judges about the indeterminable controversies of prohibitions.
Add hereunto, that the clergy claimed to themselves the most
favourable interpretation of all statutes in their own behalf, whilst
the temporal judges, in the not sitting of pariiaments, challenged
that privilege to themselves.
• 1 am informed that Dr. Prideaux, in a dedication to one of his sermons, hath reck
oned all the worthy writers of this House j bnt as yet I have not seen it.

17 EDWARD II. BOOK III. CENT. XIV. 409
9, 10. Oriel College built by King Edward II. Query about the
Name thereof. A.D. 1324.
The most lasting monument of the memory of woful king
Edward IL was the building of Oriel college in Oxford, Indeed,
some make him, and others Adam Brown his almoner, founder
thereof; and both, perchance, truly, — the king allowing, his almoner
issuing, money for the building and endowing thereof, Otiiers will
have it, that his almoner persuaded him on conscientious principles
to this good work, pertinently alleging and pressing this instance,
to prove that the king's nature not bad in itself, but too yielding to
the impressions of others. Now, whereas the other alms of this
king were perishing, as relieving only poor for the present, these, as '
more lasting, have done good to many generations,
I meet with no satisfactory reason of the name which some will
, have to contain something of Easterness therein : so situated com
paratively to some more ancient foundation. Others deduce it from
criolium, an eminent room in monasteries ;* and I cannot but smile
at such who will have O Royal, as a pathetical admiration of
princely magnificence,
11, 12, King's nursing Fathers to this House ; lately rebuilded
most decently.
However, I do not deny but that the kings of England have
been very indulgent to this foundation. For, beside king Edward
II, the founder thereof, his son king Edward gave unto them the
hospital of St, Bartholomew's nigh Oxford with lands, to maintain
eight poor people, subject to the government of the Provost and
Fellows of this college. Besides, king James, being informed of
some legal defects in this foundation, granted them a new corpora
tion cavil-proof against all exceptions.
This college being much decayed, Anthony Blencowe, late Pro
vost, bequeathed twelve hundred pounds to the new building of a
front thereof; which being done, lest it should be a disgrace to the
rest of the fabric, the whole college is rebuilt in a most decent
manner. Provosts. — Adam Brown, William de Leverton, William de
Hawkeswortii, William Daventre, William Colyntre, John
Middleton, John Possell, William Corff, Thomas Lintiewarden,
Henry Kayle, Nicholas Barry, John Carpenter, Walter Lyhart,
John Halce, Henry Sampson, Thomas Hawkins, John Taylower,
Thomas Cornish, Edmund Wylforde, James More, Thomas Ware,
Henry Mynne, William Haynes, John Smith, Roger Marbeck,
• M. Paris in Vilis 23, Ab. 5, Albani, -^sg^ 100.

410 church HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1324  6.
John Belly, Anthony Blencowe, William Lewis, John Tolson,
John Sanders.
Benefactors. — John Frank gave four fellowships ; John
Carpenter, bishop of Worcester, gave one fellowship ; William
Smith, bishop of Lincoln, gave one fellowship ; Richard Dudley,
D. D. gave two fellowships and two exhibitions.
Bishops, — John Carpenter, bishop of Worcester,
Learned Writers, — William Allen, cardinal ; Sir Walter
Rayleigh ;* William Prynne,
So that lately were maintained therein, one Provost, eighteen
Fellows, one Bible-Clerk, twelve Exhibitioners, with Commoners
and College Officers, amounted to one hundred and sixty.
13, War between the Queen and King.
Let us cast our eye on the commonwealth only, as it is the ring
wherein the diamond of the church is contained, and that now full
of cracks, caused by the several state-factions. The two Spencers
ruled all things, till the queen and her son (who politicly had got
leave to go beyond the sea) returned into England with a navy and ,
army, landing in Suffolk, She denounceth open war against her
husband, unless he would presently conform to her desires,
14, Counter Proclamations, and counter Rumours.
The king proclaimed that a thousand pounds should be given to
him that brought the head of Roger Mortimer, The queen pro
claimed, (such who had the better purse may give the greater
price,) that whosoever brought the head of the young Spencer (it
seems his father was not so considerable) should have two thousand
pounds. The queen's party gave out, that the king of France had
sent over a vast army for her assistance, and the king's side anti-
rumoured, (who could raise reports easier than armies,) that the
pope had excommunicated all such who sided against him. Now,
though both reports were false, they made true impressions of hope
in such hearts as believed them,
15, 16, 17, The King, unable to flght and flee, after a short
Concealment, is taken.
Three ways were presented to king Edward, — fight, flight, and
concealment : the first he was unable to do, having no effectual
forces, only able for a time to defend the castle of Bristol, till many
of his complices were taken therein ; a tower therein (given out to
be undermined) being indeed undermonied with bribes to the
defenders thereof. Here the elder Spencer was taken and executed,
* Before or after of Chi-ist church.

18 EDWARD II. BOOK I [I. CENT. XI V. 411
Flight was no less unsafe than dishonourable. For, his kingdom
being an island, the sea would quickly put a period thereunto.
Indeed, there was some thoughts of his flight into Ireland, which
was no better than out of a dirty way into a very bog, besides great
the difficulty to recover the sea, and greater to pass over it, all ports
and passages were so waylaid.
Concealment was at the last resolved on, not as the best, but
only way of his security. For a time he lay hid a.mongst the
Welsh, (not able to help, but willing to pity him as a native of
their country,) concealed in the Abbey of Neath, till men are sent
down with money, (no such light as the shine of silver, wherewith
to discover a person inquired for !) and soon after he was betrayed
into their hands. The younger Spencer, taken with him, is hung
on a gallows fifty feet high ; and the promised two thousand pounds
were duly paid, and equally parted betwixt several persons employed
in his apprehension, 1 8, King Edward resigneth his Crown.
Many persons of quality were sent down from the parliament
then sitting, to king Edward, to Kenilworth Castie, to move (alias
to command) him to resign the crown ; which, at last, he sadly
surrendered. Sir William Trussel, a lawyer of great abused abili
ties, (being rather to make than find a precedent in this kind,)
improved his wits in the formalities thereof. Soon after, prince
Edward, his son, is crowned king, whose father is now no more than
plain Edward of Caernarvon, though his mother (whose titie was
relative to, and a derivative from, her husband the dethroned king)
was now more queen Isabel than ever before. Thus the degrada
tion of a knight (as some have informed me) extendeth not to his
wi^fe, who, by the courtesy of England, if once, is ever a lady,
19, 20, He is rejected by his own Wife, and cruelly murdered.
Edward, late king, with many letters, solicited to be admitted
into the queen's company. All in vain : she found embraces at a
less distance, dearer unto her, preferring the society of a lord who,
in effect, had deposed a king, before a king who had deposed him
self. She made many excuses of sickness and indisposition, to
enjoy him. So easily can that sex make plausible pretences, that
they cannot what they will not do ! „ • , ,
Roger Mortimer, whose lust and revenge was equally unsatiable,
could not be quiet whilst king Edward was alive : he feared kmg
Edward might play an after-game of affection in his subjects ; in
order therefore to his death, he is removed from Kenilworth, (where
the eari of Leicester his keeper was suspected, too, sympathizing

412 church history of britain, -*..d

1326.

with his sorrow,) unto Berkeley Castie, where he was barbarously
butchered, being struck into the postern of his body with a hot spit,
as it is generally reported,
21, 22, A Brace of loyal Subjects, and a loyal Priest-
Chancellor.
Nothing now remaineth in this king's reign, save to take notice
how the clergy (understand such who were active, for neuters shall
pass for none) stand affected in this great state-difference, I find
not enough to call a number of the bishops cordial to the king.
For, beside Walter Stapleton, bishop of Exeter, (of whom before^)
only John Stratford, bishop of Winchester, heartily adhered unto
him ; and yet this Stratford was employed on a message from the
parliament to the king at Kenilworth, to persuade him to resign the
crown, though having no other design than the king's safety therein.
He hoped that in this tempest the casting-out of the lading would
save the hulk of the ship, and the surrendering of the sceptre secure
the king's person.
With John Stratford let me couple Robert de Baldock, (though
no bishop, a bishop's mate,) as a priest and chancellor of England,
This man, unable to assist, resolved to attend the king, and was
taken with him in Wales, Hence was he brought up to London,
and committed to Adam Tarleton, [De Orleton,] bishop of
Hereford, Here the shadow of Tarleton mitre, if pleased to put
forth his power, might have secured this his guest-prisoner from any
danger ; whereas, on the contrary, it is more than suspicious that he
gave a signal to the tumultuous people to seize his person. For he
was dragged to Newgate, and there paid his life for his loyalty ; yet
was never heard to complain of the dearness of his pennyworth. If
any violence was secretly offered unto his person, he might endure
it the more patiently, having read, that " the disciple is not above
his Master, nor the servant better than his Lord," Matt, x, 24.
This Baldock was a good justice, nor charged in our Chronicles
with any misdemeanour, save faithfulness to an unfortunate master ;
and his memory will traverse his innocence, as confessing the fact,
but denying any fault therein.
23, Walter Reynolds unthankful to the King.
But we have more than a good number of such bishops, which
ungratefully sided with the queen, against her husband and their
sovereign, Walter Reynolds, archbishop of Canterbury, leads
their van, preferred to that see, at the king's great importunity, and
by the pope's power of provision, — on the same token, that a
far better man, Thomas Cobham by name, dean of Salisbury, (so

18 EDWARD II, BOOK III, CENT, XIV, 413
learned and pioiis a person that he was generally called " the good
clergyman,") legally elected by the commons, was put by, by the
pope, to make room for this Reynolds. He afterwards complied
with the queen, (his new mistress,) against his old master, active to
perform his desires. This some seek in vain to excuse, by pleading
her imperious spirit, and this archbishop's fearfulness, alleging that
cowardliness is rather a defect in nature than default in morality,
24. The Nature of the Pope's Provisions.
A word by the way of the nature of the pope's provisions,
(lately mentioned,) which now began to be a general grievance of
our nation. When any bishopric, abbot's place, dignity, or good
living, (aquila non capit muscas !) was like to be void, the pope,
by a profitable prolepsis to himself, predisposed such places to such
successors as he pleased. By this device he defeated, when so
pleased, the legal election of all convents, and rightful presentation
of all patrons. He took up churches before they fell, yea, before
they ever stumbled : I mean, whilst as yet no suspicion of sickness
in incumbents younger and healthier than his Holiness himself.
Yea, sometimes no Act of Provision was entered in scriptis in the
court ; only the pope was pleased to say by word of mouth, (and
who durst confute him ?) he had done it. So that incumbents to
livings, who otherwise had a rightful title from their patrons, were, to
purchase their peace, glad to buy of the pope's provisions. Yea,
his Holiness sold them aforehand to several persons ; so that
not he who gave the first but the most money, carried away
the preferment. 25. Henry Bishop of Lincoln bad.
Next we take notice of Henry Burwash, bishop of Lincoln,
lately restored to the favour of king Edward, and by him lately
esteemed. Yet no sooner did the queen appear in the field, with
an army against him, but this bishop was the first and forwardest
who publicly repaired unto her. This Burwash was he who, by
mere might, against all right and reason, took in the land of many
poor people, (without making also the least reparation,) therewith to
complete his park at Tinghurst, These wronged persons, though
seeing their own bread, beef, and mutton, turned into the bishop's
venison, durst not contest with him who was chancellor of England,
—though neither law nor equity in this his action ; only they
loaded him with curses and execrations. This mindeth me of a
modern accident, when, some twenty years since, a knight went
about injuriously to enclose the commons of a town, and demanded
of his bailiff what the railing-in of the same would amount to ; to

414 church history of britain. a,d, 1326,
whom his servant answered, that " if he would take in the com
mons, the country would find him railings," as here they did this
injurious bishop. Otherwise, let me say, that enclosures made
without oppression are a grand enriching both to private persons
and to the commonwealth, 26. Smile or frown.
Here let the reader smile or frown, I am resolved to write what I
find recorded in a grave author,* deriving it no doubt from good
intelligence. This bishop Burwash is said, after his death, to have
appeared to one of his former familiar friends, apparelled "like a
forester all in green-a," with his bow and quiver of arrows, and his
bugle-horn hanging by his side. To him he complained, that, for the
injuries done by him to [the] poor, whilst living, he was now con
demned to this penance, — to be the park-keeper of that place which
he so wrongfully had enclosed. • He therefore desired him to repair
to the canons of Lincoln, and in his name to request them, that
they would take order, that all hedges being cut down, and ditches
filled up, all might be reduced to their property, and the poor men
be restored to their inheritance. It is added, moreover, that one
W. Batheler was employed by the canons aforesaid to see the pre
mises performed ; which was done accordingly.
27. A grave Foolery.
This pretended apparition seems inconsistent with the nature of
purgatory, as usually by papists represented to people. Surely, the
smoke thereof would have sooted his green^ suit ; and the penance
seems so slight and light for the offence, as having so much liberty
and pleasure in a place of command. Some poets would have fan
cied him rather conceived himself turned Acteon-like, into a deer,
to be daily hunted by his own hound, (guilt of conscience,) until he
made restitution. But, it seems, there be degrees in purgatory;
and the bishop, not in the prison itself, but only within the rules
thereof, privileged to go abroad, (whether on his parole or with his
keeper, uncertain,) till he could procure suffrages for his plenary
relaxation, 28, 29, A Devil preaching, and as bad writing : a strange
Apparition-
Adam Tarieton, bishop of Hereford, is the last we will insist on,
born in that city, where afterward he became bishop, yet not
honoured, but hated and feared, in the place of his nativity. He
was, the grand engineer and contriver of all mischief against the
" Godwin in the Bishops of Lincoln,

19 EDWARD II. BOOK III, CENT. XIV. 415
king : witness the sermon preached by him at Oxford, before the
queen, then in hostile pursuit after her husband, taking for his text
the words of the sick son of the Shunamite : " My head, my head ! "
Here his wit and malice endeavoured to reap what God's Spirit did
never intentionally sow, and urged, that a bad king (the distempered
head of a state) is past physic or surgery to be cured by receipts or
plasters, but the only way is to cut it off from the body.
His writing was worse than his preaching : for when such agents
set to keep king Edward in Berkeley Castle were, by secret order
from Roger Mortimer, commanded to kill him, they by letters
addressed themselves for advice -to this bishop, then not far off at
Hereford, craving his counsel, what they should do in so difficult
and dangerous a matter. He returned unto them a riddling answer,
altogether unpointed, which carried in it life and death ; yea, life or
death, as variously construed ; — resolved to be guided and governed
wholly by his direction, not to dispute but do what from him was
recommended unto them, as knowing him able both in conscience
and policy to advise them.
Life and Death. — " To kill king Edward you need not to
fear it is good."
Life, — " To kill king Edward you need not, to fear it is good,"
Death, — " To kill king Edward you need not to fear, it is good."
30. Arraigned for Treason, he escapes the first Time.
This Adam Tarleton was afterwards accused of treason, in the
beginning of the reign of king Edward III. and arraigned by the
king's officers, when, in the presence of the king, he thus boldly
uttered himself: — "My lord the king, with all due respect unto
your majesty, I Adam, a humble minister and member of the church
of God, and a consecrated bishop, though unworthy, neither can nor
ought to answer unto so hard questions, without the connivance and
consent of my lord archbishop of Canterbury, my immediate judge
under the pope, and without the consent of other bishops who are
my peers." Three archbishops were there present in the place, —
Canterbury, York, and Dublin, by whose intercession Tarieton
escaped at that time.
31. Arraigned again, and protected by the Clergy.
Not long after, he was arraigned again at the King's Bench ; the
news whereof so startied the clergy, that the foresaid archbishops
erected their standards ; I mean, set up their crosses, and, with ten
bishops more, attended with a numerous tram of well-weaponed
servants, advanced to the place of judicature. The king's officers,
frighted at the sight, fled away, leaving Tarieton the prisoner alone

416 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, lo26,
at the bar ; whom the archbishops took home into their own cus
tody, denouncing a curse on all such who should presume to lay
violent hands upon him,
32, Cast the third Time by a lay Jury, and proscribed.
The king, offended hereat, caused a jury of laymen to be empan-
nelled, and to inquire, according to form of law, into the actions of
the bishop of Hereford, This was a leading case, and the first time
that ever laymen passed their verdict on a clergyman. These jurors
found the bishop guilty ; whereupon the king presentiy seized on
¦his temporals, he proscribed the bishop, and despoiled him of all his
movables. However, afterwards he came off, and was reconciled to
the king, and by the pope made bishop of Winchester, where he
died, a thorough old man and blinded with age ; many envying so
quiet a death to one who, living, had been so turbulent a person.
But these things happened many years after.

SECTION IX.
TO MASTER THOMAS WILLIAMS, AND MASTER WILLIAM
VANBRUGH, OF LONDON, MERCHANTS,
Astronomers affirm that some planets, Saturn,
Jupiter, &c. are by many degrees greater than the
moon itself; -and this they can easily evidence by
demonstration. However, the moon is bigger, and
sho-ws brighter, to men's eyes, because of the vicinity
thereof; whilst other stars are dimmed and diminished
by their distance.
He is not the happiest man who has the highest
friends, too remote to assist him ; whilst others lesser
might be nearer at his need. My own experience can
avouch the truth thereof, in relation to your courtesies
bestowed upon me.
1. Defunctus amabitur idem. King Edward II. half-sainted.
1 Henry III,
Soon after his death, king Edward was much lamented by those
of whom in his life-time he was never beloved. Whether this pro
ceeded from the mere mutability of men's minds, weary to loiter

1 EDWARD HI. BOOK III, CENT. XIV, 417
long in the lazy posture of the same affection ; or whether it pro
ceeded from the pride of Mortimer, whose insolence grew into
lerable ; or whether it was because his punishment was generally
apprehended to be too heavy for his fault ; so that deposition with
out death, or, at the worst, death without such unhuman cruelty,
had been sufficient.
One of our English poet-historians* acquainteth us with a passage,
which to my knowledge appeareth not in other authors : —
" At Gloucester entombed faire, and buried
Where some say God shewed for him great grace
Sith that time, with miracles laudified
Oft-times, in diverse many case
As is written there, in that same place.
For which king Richard, called the Second,
To translate him was purposed whole and sound."
It is much that one, but a small saint whilst alive, should be so
great an one when dead as to be miraculously illustrious. But
every man may believe his proportion.
2. A Pair of Kings well-matched.
Indeed, great was the conformity betwixt this king Edward and
that king Richard, both being secundi, " the second " of their
name : but not secundi, " happy " in their success. And had
king Richard II. known aforehand what casualty did attend him,
no wonder if he secretly sympathized with his condition : both sons
of valiant and beloved fathers ; both of proper and amiable persons ;
both debauched by the ill counsel of their dissolute companions ;
both deposed from their crowns ; both murdered whilst prisoners, in
a clandestine and (as some report) self-same way of cruelty,
3. King Edward not active in his Father's Deposing.
Ingenuous people are very loath to believe king Edward IIL.
accessary to his father's death, otherwise than by accepting the
crown which he should have refused, and antedating his own sove
reignty: which may be excused by his tender years, — thirteen as
some, fifteen as others, compute them. Nor is it a weak argument
of his innocence with impartial people, because he reigned above
fifty years, and lived to be a thorough old man : a happiness pro
mised by God to such who are obedient to their parents. Besides,
it is considerable, that this king, having a numerous issue of active
children of both sexes, none visibly appear a cross unto him for any
notorious undutifulness.

' John Harding in the Life of King Edward II,

'OL, I,

E E

418 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1326 — 36,
4, 5. His admirable Success in his Wars, and Humility.
The former part of this king's reign affords but littie church-
history, as totally taken up with his achievements in Scotland and
France, where his success by sea and land was above belief and
even to admiration. He conquered both before his face and behind
his back, whence he came and whither he went, north and south ;
the one in his person, the other by his substitutes in his absence.
Insomuch that he got more than he knew what to do with, exhaust
ing the land to man the cities which he had gained. Herein he
stands without a parallel, — that he had both the kings he fought
against, namely, John de Valois of France, and David the king of
Scotland, his prisoners at one time, not taken by any cowardly
surprise, but by fair fight in open field.
It soundeth much to the commendation of his modesty and
moderation, that, intending to found an Order of knighthood at his
castle of Windsor,* where he had these two royal prisoners ; in the
institution thereof he neither had any insolent relation to his own
conquest, nor opprobrious reflection on his enemies' captivity, but
began the innocent Order of the Garter, unreferring to any of his
former achievements. But, more hereof in due time.
6. England hitherto ignorant in curious Clothing. A.D. 1336.
The king and state began now to grow sensible of the great gain
the Netherlands got by our English wool ; in memory whereof the
duke of Burgundy, not long after, instituted the Order of the
Golden Fleece ; wherein, indeed, the fleece was ours, the golden
theirs, — so vast their emolument by the trade of clothing. Our
king therefore resolved, if possible, to reduce the trade to his own
country, who as yet were ignorant of that art, as knowing no more
what to do with their wool than the sheep that wear it, as to any
artificial and curious drapery ; their best clothes then being no
better than friezes, such their coarseness for want of skill in their
making. But soon after followed a great alteration, and we shall
enlarge ourselves in the manner thereof.
7, 8, 9, 10. The King's Agents tempt the Dutch Apprentices to
come over into England ; and obtain their Desire. Their
welcome Reception.
The intercourse now being great betwixt the English and the Nether
lands, (increased of late, since king Edward married the daughter of
the earl of Hainault,) unsuspected emissaries were employed by our
king into those countries, who wrought themselves into familiarity with
" Others say iu London town.

11 EDWARD III. BOOK HI. CENT. XIV. 419
such Dutchmen as were absolute masters of their trade, but not
masters of themselves, as either journeymen or apprentices. These
bemoaned the slavishness of these poor servants, whom their masters
used rather like Heathens than Christians, yea, rather like horses
than men ! Eariy up and late in bed, and all day hard work and
harder fare, (a few herrings and mouldy cheese,) and all to enrich
the churls their masters without any profit unto themselves.
But O how happy should they be if they would but come over
into England, bringing their mystery with them, which would pro
vide their welcome in all places ! Here they should feed on fat
beef and mutton, till nothing but their fulness should stint their
stomachs : yea, they should feed on the labours of their own hands.
enjoying a proportionable profit of their pains to themselves ; their
beds should be good, and their bed-fellows better, seeing the richest
yeomen in England would not disdain to marry their daughters unto
them ; and such the English beauties, that the most envious
foreigners could not but commend them.
Liberty is a lesson quickly conned by heart ; men having a
principle within themselves to prompt them, in case they forget
it. Persuaded with the premisses, many Dutch servants leave their
masters and make over for England. Their departure thence (being
picked here and there) made no sensible vacuity ; but their meeting
here all together amounted to a considerable fulness. With them
selves, they brought over their trade and their tools ; namely, such
which could not as yet be so conveniently made in England,
Happy the yeoman's house into which one of these Dutchmen did
enter, bringing industry and wealth along with them. Such who
came in strangers within their doors, soon after went out bridegrooms,
and returned son-in-laws, having married the daughters of their land
lords who first entertained them. Yea, those yeomen in whose
houses they harboured soon proceeded gentlemen, gaining great
estates to themselves, arms and worship to their estates,
11, The King politicly disperseth the Dutch.
The king having gotten this treasury of foreigners, thought not
fit to continue them all in one place, lest on discontent they might
embrace a general resolution to return ; but bestowed them through
all the parts of the land, that clothing thereby might be the better
dispersed. Here I say nothing of the colony of old Dutch, who
frighted out of their own country with an inundation, about the reign
ofldng Henry I, possibly before that nation had attained the cunning
of cloth-making, were seated only in Pembrokeshire, This new
generation of Dutch was now sprinkled every where, so that England
(in relation I mean, to her own counties) may bespeak tiiese inmates
2 E 2

420 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1336,
in tiie language of the Poet i—Ques regio in terris vestri non plena
laboris ? Though generally, where left to their own choice, they
preferred a maritime habitation.
East, — 1, Norfolk, Norwich Fustians; 2. Suffolk, Sudbury
Baize ; 3. Essex, Colchester Sayes and Serges ; 4. Kent, Kentish
Broad Cloths. ¦ n ^ i
West.  1, Devonshire, Kerseys ; 2, Gloucestershire, Cloth ; 3,
Worcestershire, Cloth ; 4, Wales, Welsh Friezes,
North.— 1. Westmoreland, Kendal Cloth ; 2. Lancashire,
Manchester Cotton ; 3. Yorkshire, Halifax Cloths.
South. — 1. Somersetshire, Taunton Serges ; 2. Hampshire,
Cloth ; 3, Berkshire, Cloth ; 4, Sussex, Cloth,
I am informed that a prime Dutch cloth-maker in Glouces
tershire had the surname of Web given him by king Edward there ;
a family still famous for their manufacture. Observe we here, that
Mid-England, — Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, and Cambridge,
having most of wool, have least of clothing therein.
12. Fullers' Earth a precious Commodity.
Here the Dutchmen found fullers' earth, a precious treasure;
whereof England hath, if not more, better than all Christendom
besides : a great commodity of the quorum to the making of good
cloth, so that nature may seem to point out our land for the staple
of drapery, if the idleness of her inhabitants be not the only hin
derance tliereof. This fullers' earth is clean contrary to our Jesuits,
who are needless drugs, yet still staying here, though daily com
manded to depart ; whilst fiillers' earth, a precious ware, is daily
scoured hence, though by law forbidden to be transported,
13. Woollen Cloth the English Wealth.
And now was the English wool improved to the highest profit,
passing tlirough so many hands, every one having a fleece of the
fleece, — sorters, combers, carders, spinsters, weavers, fullers, dyers,
pressors, packers : and these manufactures have been heightened to
a higher perfection since the cruelty of the duke de Alva drove over
more Dutch into England, But enough of this subject : which let
none condemn for a deviation from Church History : First. Because
it would not grieve one to go a little out of the way, if the way be
good, as this digression is, for the credit and profit of our country.
Secondly. It reductively belongeth to the Church History, seeing.
many poor people, both young and old, formerly charging the
parishes, (as appeared by the account of the church-officers,) were
hereby enabled to maintain themselves.

11 EDWARD III. BOOK HI. CENT. XIV. 421
14, 15. The Pope's Italian Usurers turn Merchants ; but at
last are prohibited by the King.
The extortion of the pope being now somewhat abated in England,
the Caursines or Lombards, formerly the money-merchants of his
Holiness, and the grand usurers of England, did not drive so full a
trade as before. Whereupon they betake themselves to other mer
chandize, and began to store England with foreign commodities, but
at unreasonable rates, whilst England itself had as yet but littie and
bad shipping, and those less employed.
But now king Edward, to prevent the engrossing of the trade into
the hand of foreigners, and to restore the same to his native subjects,
took order that these aliens should no longer prey on the radical
moisture of this land ; but began to cherish navigation in his own
subjects, and gave a check to such commodities which foreigners did
import, as in ancient poems is largely described, whereof so much as
concerneth our purpose : —
" He made a statute for Lombards in this land.
That they should in no wise take on hand
Here to inhabit, here to charge and discharge,
But forty dayes no more time had they large.
This good king by wit of such appriefe
Kept his merchants and the sea from mischiefe,"*
But this was a work of time to perform, and took not full effect to
the end of this king's reign ; yea, the Lombards were not totally
routed till the reign of king Richard III,
16, 17. A Survey made of the Clergy's Glebe-Land ; partly
useless by ill engrossing.
About this time the clergy were very bountiful in contributing to
the king's necessities, in proportion to their benefices. Hereupon a
survey was exactly taken of all their glebe-land ; and the same,
fairly engrossed in parchment, was returned into the Exchequer,
where it remaineth at this day, and is the most useful record for
clergymen (and also for impropriators as under their claim) to
recover their right. Many a straggling acre, wandering out of the
way, had long since by sacrilegious guides been seduced into the
possession Of false owners, had not this record directed them at last
to their true proprietary.
The worst is, whilst some diocesses in this terrier were exactiy
done, and remain' fairiy legible at this day, others were so slightiy
slubbered over, tiiat, though kept with equal carefulness, they are
useless in effect, as not to be read : thus I was informed from a,
clerk in that office lately deceased,t who, when living, was older
• Liber de custodid maris, extant in Hakluyt's "Voyages," book i, page 191,
t Walt. Hillary,

422 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 1336  40.
and as able as any therein. And thus manuscripts, like those men
who wrote them, though starting with their equals, hold not all out
to the same length, their humidum radicate (their ink, I mean)
not lasting alike in all originals.
18, 19. Clergymen engross all Offices : several Opinions of the
Causes thereof.
It was now generally complained of as a grand grievance, that
the clergy engrossed all places of judicature in the land. Nothing
was left to laymen, but either military commands, as general,
admiral, &c. or such judges' places as concerned only the very
letter of the common law ; and those also scarcely reserved to the
students thereof. As for embassies into foreign parts, noblemen
were employed therein, when expense, not experience, was required
thereunto, and ceremony the substance of the service ; otherwise,
when any difficulty in civil law, then clergymen were ever enter
tained. The lord chancellor was ever a bishop, as if against equity
to employ any other therein ; yea, that court generally appeared as a
synod of divines, where the clerks were clerks, as generally in
Orders, The same was also trae of the lord treasurer and barons of
the Exchequer,
Some imputed this to the pragmaticalness of the clergy, active to
insinuate themselves into all employment, how improper soever
to their profession. Others ascribed it to the king's necessity ; the
war engrossing the main of his men of merit ; so that he was
necessitated to make use of clergymen. Others attributed it to the
king's election, (no way weak in head or hand, plotting or perform
ing,) finding such the fittest to serve him ; who, being single
persons, and having no design to raise a family, were as knowing as
any in the mysteries of money,* and safest to be entrusted therein.
But more hereof hereafter,
20. The Founding of Queen's College in Oxford by Robert
Eglesfield- A.D. 1340,
Robert Eglesfield, bachelor of divinity, chaplain to queen
Philippa, wife to king Edward III, founded a college on- his own
ground, by the name of Queen's College, commending the patron
age thereof to his lady the queen, and to the queens of England
successively ; which he endowed with lands and revenues for the
maintenance of a Provost and twelve Fellows, which were to be
augmented as the revenues increased,
* Matters of weight.

15 EDWARD III. BOOK III. CENT. XIV. 423
21 . A Pair of Princes bred therein.
Now, though this was called Queen's, from their honorary patron
esses, it may be" styled Princes' College from those pair of students
therein — Edward the Black Prince, who presently after this founda
tion had his education therein, and Henry V. (as yet prince of
Wales) under Henry Beaufort, chancellor of this university, and his
uncle ; his chamber was over the college gate, where his picture at
this day remaineth in brass with this inscription under it : —
IN PEBPETCAM BEX MEMORIAM,
Imperator Britan7iia!,
TViumphator Galliae,
Hostium victor, ei sui,
Henricus qaintus hujus collegii,
Et cuhiculi (minuti satis)
Olim magnus incola.*
Which lodging hath for this sixteen years belonged to my worthy
friend Mr, Thomas Barlow, that most able and judicious philoso
pher and divine, being a library in himself, and keeper of another,
that of Sir Thomas Bodley's erection, out of which he hath courte
ously communicated to me some rarities of this university,
22, 23, Queens, Nursing-Mothers to this College. Queen
Elizabeth's singular Bounty.
Now, according to the care and desire of the founder, the queens
of England have ever been nursing-mothers to this foundation, O
what advantage they have when lying in the bosoms of their royal
consorts, by whom they cannot be denied what is equal, and of
whom they will not desire what is otherwise I Thus queen Philippa
obtained of her husband king Edward III, the hospital of St.
Julian's in Southampton, commonly called God's House. Queen
Elizabeth, wife to king Edward IV. procured of him the priory of
Sherborne in Hampshire ; and queen Mary by her intercession
prevailed with king Charles for the perpetual patronage of certain
benefices in the same county.
Nor let not our virgin-queen be forgotten, as, in effect, re-
foundress of this, from the third year of her reign ; being informed
that the title of the foundation thereof, -with the lands thereunto
belonging, were in question, and subject to eviction, by Act of
Pariiament conferred a sure estate of the same.
24. This College parted between two Archbishops.
I meet, in the records of the Tower rolls, with a passage concern
ing this college ; and though I do not perfectiy understand, I will
exemplify it. • Rossus Warvvicensis MS. in Henrico quinto.

424 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A,D, 1340  5,
"And a little after, upon divers matters moved between the
said archbishop, [Thomas Arundel,] and the archbishop of York,
[Henry Bowet,] upon certain privileges pretended by the said arch
bishop of York in the college called Queen-Hall in the university
of Oxford : The said archbishop of Canterbury in presence of the
king and of the lords promised, that if the said archbishop of York
could sufficiently show any privilege, or specialty of record, where
fore the said archbishop of Canterbury ought not to use his visita
tion of the said college, he would then abstain : saving to himself
always the visitation of the said scholars abiding in the said college,
according to the judgment and decrees, made and given by king
Richard II. and by our lord king Henry that now is, as, in the
record thereof made,* thereof more plainly is declared," -f-
It seems hereby, so far as I can apprehend, this college was so
parted betwixt the two metropolitans, that the dead moiety, namely,
the lands and revenues thereof belonged to the inspection of the
archbishop of York, whilst the living half, namely, the scholars,
especially in matters concerning their religion, pertained to the
visitation of the archbishop of Canterbury,
Provosts, — Richard de Retteford, John de Hotham, Henry
Whitfield, Thomas de Cariile, Roger Whelpdale, Walter Bell,
Rowland Byris, William Spenser, Thomas Langton, Christopher
Bainbridge, Edward Rigge, John Pantrey, William Denys,
[Devenish,] Hugh Hodgson, Thomas Francis, Lancelot Shaw,
Alane Scot, Bartholomew Bowsefield, Henry Robinson, Henry
Airay, Barnabas Potter, Christopher Potter, Gerard Langbaine,
Benefactors, — Robert Langton, Thomas Langton, Edmund
Grindal, Christopher Bainbridge, William Fettiplace, Henry
Robinson, Henry Airay,
Bishops, — Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester and cardinal
of St, Eusebius ; Christopher Bainbridge, archbishop of York and
cardinal of St, Praxes; Henry Robinson, bishop of Carlisle;
Bamabas Potter, bishop of Carlisle,
Learned Writf^rs, — John Wickliffe,| John de Trevisa, of
whom hereafter, anno 1397. This house hath lately been happy in
learned lawyers, Sir John Banks, Sir Robert Berkeley, Sir Thomas
Tempest, attorney-general of Ireland, judge Atkins, courteous to all
men of my profession, and myself especially. Sir Thomas
Overbury, Christopher Potter, in his excellent work of " Charity
Mistaken ;" Gerard Langbaine, eminent for his " Review of the
Council of Trent," Thomas Barlow,
" Ex Rot. Pari, Henrici. quarti anno 13, t See this recorded at large in the
next book, sect, ii. parag. 24 — 27. J Balliol, Merton, and Queen's Colleges claim
him J and, perchance rightly, at several times.

20 EDWARD III. BOOK HI. CENT. XIV. 425
So that at this present are maintained therein, one Provost, four
teen Fellows, seven Scholars, two Chaplains, two Clerks, and other
Students about one hundred and sixty.
25. The Pope makes Use of the King's Absence.
In the mean time the pope was not idle, but laid about him for
his own profit ; knowing king Edward could not attend two things
at once. And therefore, whilst he was busied about his wars in
France, his Holiness bestirred him in England, cropping the flowers
of the best livings in their bud before they were blown. Yea, in a
manner he may be said to " seethe the kid in the mother's milk."
So that before livings were actually void, he provisionally pre-
provided incumbents for them, and those generally aliens and his
own countrymen.
26, 27. The Statute of Provisions reasonably made. Man's
Anger worketh God's Pleasure- A. D. 1343.
Though late, the king got leisure to look on his own land, where
he found a strange alteration ; for as France lately was made
English by his valour, England was now turned Italian by the
pope's covetousness. In prevention, therefore, of future mischief,
this Statute of Provision was made, whereby such forestalling of
livings to foreigners was forbidden.
Our authors assign another accidental cause of the king's dis
pleasure with the pope ; namely, that when his Holiness created
twelve cardinals at the request of the king of France, he denied to
make one at the desire of this king of England. Surely, it was
reasonable in proportion, that his Holiness, giving the whole dozen
to the king of France, might allow the advantage to the king of
England. However, betwixt both, this statute was made to the great
enriching of the kingdom, and contentment of the subjects therein.
28. Statutes of Provisions not presently obeyed-
Yet this law of Provisions, as all others, did not, at the first
making, meet with present and perfect obedience. The papal party
did struggle for a time, till at last they were patient per-force, find
ing the king's power predominant. Trae it is, this grievance did
continue, and was complained of, all this and most of the next king's
reign, till the Statute of Prcsmunire was made, which clinched the
nail which now was driven in. So that afterwards the land was
cleared from the encumbrance of such Provisions.
29 Papal Power in England declines. A.D. 1345.
A good author tells us, Habent imperia suos terminos ; hue
cum venerint, sistunt, retrocedunt, ruunt : " Empires have their

426 CHURCH history of Britain, a, d, 1345 — 50,
bounds ; whither when tiiey come, they stand still, they go back,
they fall down." This is true in respect to the papal power in
England. It went forward until the Statute of Mortmain was made
in the reign of king Edward I. It went backward slowly when this
Statute of Provisions, swiftly when this Statute of Prcsmunire, was
made. It fell down when the papacy was abolished in the reign of
king Henry VIII.
30. The Pope takes Wit in his Anger. A.D. 1346,
Three years after the Statute against the pope's Provisions was
made, the king presented unto him Thomas Hatlife [De Hatfield]
to be bishop of Durham, one who was the king's secretary ; and
when this is, all is, said that can be, in his commendation, as utterly
devoid of all other episcopal qualifications. However, the pope
confirmed him without any dispute or delay ; and, being demanded
why he consented to the preferment of so worthless a person, he
answered, that, rebus sic stantibus, if the king of England had
presented an ass unto him, he would have confirmed him in the
bishopric. Indeed, as yet, his Holiness was in hope, that either the
king would revoke the foresaid statute, or else moderate the execu
tion thereof, 31, The Institution of the Knights of the Garter.
A.D. 1350,
This year, authors generally agree, (some few making it later,
namely, after John king of France was taken prisoner,) king Edward
instituted the Order of the Garter, consisting of
1. One chief guardian or sovereign, being the king of Engla'nd.
2. Five-and-twenty knights, whereof the first set were termed
" Founders," and their successors ever since called " Fellows" or
" Companions" of the Order.
3. Fourteen canons* resident, being secular priests.
4. Thirteen vicars, or choral priests.
5. Twelve military gentlemen of the meaner sort, decayed in age
and estate, commonly called " the poor Knights of Windsor."
6, One Prelate of the Garter, being always the bishop of
Winchester. 7- One chancellor thereof, being anciently the bishop of Salis
bury, in whose diocess Windsor is ; but lately a lay person. The
truly honourable and well-experienced statesman and traveller. Sir
Thomas Row (if I mistake not) was the last chancellor of the
Garter. • " Thirteen only with the Dean," says Heylin ; which mistake Fuller acknowledges
and promises to rectify, — Edit.

25 jedward hi, book hi, cent, xiv, 427
8, One register, being generally* the dean of Windsor,
9, One usher, who is one of the ushers of the king's chamber,
called " the Black Rod."
10. A chief herald, added for the more solemnity by king Henry
V. and called " Garter." This Order the king founded within his
castle of Windsor, to the honour of Almighty God, and the blessed
virgin Mary, and of the glorious martyr St. George, and to the
exaltation of the holy catholic faith.
32, 33, 34. The Qualification of these Knights ; their Habits ;
their Oath.
Four essentials are requisite in the persons eligible into this
Order : First. That they be gentlemen of name and arms by
fathers' and mothers' side, for three descents. Secondly. That he
be without spot or foul reproach ; understand it, not convicted of
heresy, or attainted of treason. Thirdly. That he have a competent
estate to maintain the dignity of the Order. Fourthly. That he
never fled in the day of battle, his sovereign lord or his lieutenant
being in the field.
Their habiliments are either ordinary, as a blue ribbon with the
picture of St. George appendant, and the sun in his glory on the left
shoulder of their cloak, added, as some say, by king Charles, being
for their daily wearing : or extraordinary, as their collar of S. S.
their purple mantle, their gown, kirtle, chaperon, and chiefly their
garter. This being made of blue is, with, Hony soit qui male
pense, in golden letters, enchased with precious stones, fastened
with a buckle of gold, and wom on the left leg of the Fellows of
this Order.
They take an oath, that to their power, during the time that they
are FeJlows of the Order, they shall defend the honour, quarrel,
rights, and lordships of their sovereign ; that they shall endeavour
to preserve the honour of the Order, and, without fraud or covin,
well observe the statutes thereof. This is taken absolutely by the
natives of this kingdom, but by foreigners relatively and in part,
with their reference to some former Order.
35. Other Rites they are bound to observe-
They oblige themselves, first, to be personally present (without
a just cause specified to and accepted by the sovereign or his
deputy) at Windsor on the festival of St. George. Secondly.
That if coming within two miles of that place, (except hindered by
some important business,) they repair thither, put on their mantles,
* " Always " was the word employed by Fuller, who, at Heylin's suggestion, promises
that '' it shall be reformed." — EniT,

428 CHURCH history of BRITAIN, A D, 1350 70,
(lying constantly leigers there,) proceed to the chapel, and there
make their offering. Thirdly, That 'they be never openly seen
without their Georges, which they shall neither engage, aliem, sell,
nor give away on any necessity whatsoever, Lastiy, That they take
order, their garter at their death be safely and solemnly sent back to
the sovereign, to confer the same on one to succeed him in the
Order, 36. Order, how voided-
I have done when I have told, that their places may be vacated,
on three occasions : First. By death, which layeth this (as all
Other) " honour in the dust." Secondly. By deprivation, on the
person's misdemeanour or want of the foresaid qualifications.
Thirdly. By cession or surrender, when a foreign prince (entering
into enmity with this crown) is pleased to send his garter back
again. 37, 38, Excess in Apparel restrained. A.D. 1361.
Excess in apparel began now to be great in England, which made
the state take order to retrench it. Some had a project, that men's
clothes might be their signs to show their birth, degree, or estate ;
so that the quality of an unknown person might, at the first sight,
be expounded by his apparel. But this was soon let fall as impos
sible ; statesmen in all ages, notwithstanding their several laws to
the contrary, being fain to connive at men's riot in this kind, which
maintaineth more poor people than their charity. However, the
ensuing passage must not be omitted : —
" Item, that the clerks which have a degree in a church, cathedral,
collegial, or in schools, and the king's clerks which have such an
estate that requires fur, do and use according to the constitution of
the same ; and all other clerks which have about two hundred
marks' rent per annum use and do as knights of the same rent ;
and other clerks under that rent use as squires of an hundred pound
rent.* And that all those, as well knights as clerks, which by this
ordinance may use fur in winter, by the same manner may use it in
summer."-f- 39, 40, Clergymen enjoined to take up Arms. More scared
than hurt. A. D. 1368,
Pass we now from soft fur to hard steel ; I mean, a command
from the king for the arming of all clergymen : —
" And beside this, the king commands and requires all the
prelates there assembled, that, in respect of the great danger and
* Pcllure in the French original. t Rot. Tur. Don. anno Edwardi III. 37.

45 EDWARU IH. BOOK IH, CENT, XIV, 429
damage which perhaps might happen to the realm and church of
England, by. reason of this war, in case his adversary should enter
the kingdom to destroy and subvert the same, that they will put to
their aid in defence of the kingdom, and cause their subjects to be
arrayed, as well themselves and their religious men, as parsons,
vicars, and other men of holy church whatsoever, to abate the
malice of his enemies, in case they should enter the kingdom :
which prelates granted to do this, in aid and defence of the realm
and holy church. And so the parliament ended."*
Here we see, in hostes publicos omnis homo miles, none are
dispensed with to oppose an invading enemy. But where were
these foreign foes .'' France and Scotiand being now both of them
ordered into a defensive posture, whose invasion was expected.''
Possibly these dangers were represented through state-multiplying
glasses, to quicken the care and continue the taxes on the English
nation. 41, 42, 43. A Petition against Clergymen's Employment in secu
lar Places. The Answer, in Effect, a Denial. A.D. 1370,
The Lords and Commons in Parliament began now to find them
selves much aggrieved, that the clergy engrossed all secular offices ;
and thereupon presented the ensuing petition to the king, according
to this effect insisting only in the substance thereof: —
" And because that in this present Parliament it was declared to
our lord the king, by all the Earls, Barons, and Commons of
England, that the government of the kingdom hath been performed
for a long time, by the men of Holy Church, which are not justifi
able in all cases,-|- whereby great mischiefs and damages have hap
pened in times past, and more may happen in time to come in
disinheriting of the crown and great prejudice of the kingdom for
divers causes that a man may declare  that it will please our
said lord the king, that the laymen of the said kingdom which are
sufficient and able of estate may be chosen for this, and that no
other person be hereafter made chancellor, treasurer, clerk of the
privy seal, barons of the exchequer, chamberlains of the exchequer,
controller, and all other great officers and governors of the said
kingdom, and that this thing be now in such manner established in
form aforesaid, that by no way it may be defeated or any thing
done to the contrary in any time to come ; saving always to our
lord the king the election and removing of such officers, but that
always they be laymen, such as is abovesaid,"J
• Rot. in Tur. Londin. anno Edwardi III. t Justifiables in the French originals,
Quere, -Whether " not able to do justice," or, " not to be justified in their employment,"
as improper for it. X Ex Rot. Pari, in Turre Londinensi in 45 Edwardi III.

430 CHURCH HISTOKY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1370.
To this petition the king returned, that he would ordain upon
this point as it shall best seem to him by the advice of his good
council. He, therefore, who considereth the present power of the
clergy, at the council-table, will not wonder, if all things remained
in their former condition, till the nobility began more openly to
favour John Wickliffe's opinions ; which the next book, God
willing, shall relate.
44, Simon Mepham, Archbishop of Canterbury.
We will close this with a catalogue of the archbishops of Can
terbury, contemporary with king Edward III. and begin with
Simon Mepham, made archbishop in the first year of his reign : so
that the crown and the mitre may seem in some sort to have started
together ; only here was the odds, — the king was a young (yea,
scarce a) man, whereas the archbishop was well stricken in years.
Hence their difference in holding out, — the king surviving to see
him buried and six more, (whereof four Simons inclusively,) heart
broken, as they say, with grief. For when John Grandison, bishop
of Exeter, (making much noise with his name, but more with his
activity,) refused to be visited by him, (the pope siding with the
bishop,) Mepham so resented it that it cost him his life.
45, 46. John Stratford his Successor. His last his best Days.
John Stratford was the second ; consecrated first bishop of
Winchester on the Lord's day whereon it was solemnly sung,
" Many are the afflictions of the righteous ;" whereof he was very
apprehensive then, and more afterwards, when his own experience
had proved a comment thereon. Yet this might comfort him,
whilst living, and make others honour his memory, — that a good
conscience, without any great crime, generally caused his molesta
tion. For, under king Edward II. he suffered for being too loyal
a subject, siding with the king against the queen and her son ; and
under king Edward III. he was molested for being too faithful a
patriot, namely, in pitying his poor countrymen's taxations ; for
which he was accused for correspondency with the French, and com
plying with the pope, (pope and king of France then blowing in
one trumpet,) whereat king Edward was highly incensed.
However Stratford did but say what thousands thought ; namely,
that a peace with France was for the profit of England, especially
as proffered upon such honourable conditions. This the archbishop
was zealous for, upon a threefold account. First, Of piety, to save
the effusion of more Christian blood. Secondly, Of policy, sus
pecting success, that the tide might turn, and what was suddenly
gotten might be as suddenly lost. Thirdly, On charity, sym-

45 EDWARD HI. BOOK IH, CENT. XIV. 431
pathizing with the sad condition of his fellow-subjects, groaning
under the burden of taxes to maintain an unnecesary war. For
England sent over her wealth into France, to pay their victorious
soldiers, and received back again honour in exchange, whereby our
nation became exceeding proud and exceeding poor. However, the
end as well as the beginning of the psalm was verified of this arch
bishop : " The Lord delivereth them out of all," dying in great
honour and good esteem with the king, — a strong argument of his
former innocence.
47, 48. Thomas Bradwardine the third Archbishop ; the best
Archbishop of that See.
The third was Thomas Bradwardine, whose election was littie
less than miraculous. For, commonly, the king refused whom the
monks chose ; the pope rejected whom the monks and king did
elect ; whereas all interests met in the choice of Bradwardine.
Yea, which was more, the pope as yet not knowing that the monks
and the king had pre-elected him, of his own accord, as by super
natural instinct, appointed Bradwardine for that place, who little
thought thereon. Thus omne tulit punctum ; and no wonder,
seeing he mingled his profitable doctrines with a sweet and amiable
conversation. Indeed, he was skilled in School-learning, which one
properly calleth spinosa theologia ;* and though some will say,
"Can figs grow on thorns,''" yet his thorny divinity produced
much sweet devotion.
He was confessor to king Edward III, whose miraculous victories
in France some impute more to this man's devout prayers, than
either to the policy or prowess of the English nation. He died
before he was enthronized, few months after his consecration, though
now advanced on a more glorious and durable throne in heaven,
where he hath received the crown from God, who here defended
" the cause of God,"-|- I behold him as the most pious man who,
from Anselm (not to say Augustine) to Cranmer, sat on that seat.
And a better St, Thomas (though not sainted by the pope) than
one of his predecessors commonly so called,
49- Simon Islip, next Archbishop.
Simon Islip was the fourth, a parsimonious (but no avaricious)
man ; thrifty whilst living, therefore clandestinely enthronized ;
and, when dead, secretiy interred without any solemnity. Yet his
frugality may be excused, (if not commended herein,) because he
reserved his estate for good uses, founding Canterbury college in
Oxford : thus generally bishops, founders of many colleges therein,.|
• Camden in Eliz. " + He wrote De Causd Dei. X Excipe Merton College,

432 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1370,
denominated them either from that saint to whom they were dedi
cated, or from their see, (as Exeter, Canterbury, Durham, Lincoln,)
putting thereby a civil obligation on their successors to be as visitors
so benefactors thereunto. This Canterbury college is now swallowed
up in Christ-Church, which is no single star as other colleges, but a
constellation of many put together,
50. Langham, Whittlesey, and Sudbury.
Simon Langham is the fifth, much meriting by his munificence
to Westminster abbey. He was made cardinal of St. Praxes,
and by the pope bishop of Prseneste in Italy, with a faculty to
hold as many ecclesiastical preferments as he could get. Here
upon he resigned his archbishopric of Canterbury, lived for a time
at Avignon in France, and there buried (according to his own
directions) in a temporary tomb, in a religious house of his
own, till three years after removed to Westminster, William
Whittlesey succeeded him, famous for freeing the university of
Oxford from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Lincoln, formerly the
diocesan thereof. As for Simon Sudbury, the last archbishop of
Canterbury, in the reign of king Edward III, of him, God willmg,
hereafter.

TIIE

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.

BOOK IV.

FROM THE FIRST APPEARING OF JOHN WICKLIFFE, UNTIL THE
JlEfGN OF KING HENRY VIII.

Vol, I, F P

TO THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE JAMES HAY,
EARL OF CARLISLE,
VISCOUNT DONCASTER, BARON OF SAULEY
AND WALTHAM.

We read in Holy Writ, when the Israelites fled
before the Philistines, who spoiled a field of barley,
how Eleazar the son of Dodo made them pay dear for
their trespass, so stopping them in the full speed of
their conquest, that he " saved Israel by a great deli
verance," 1 Chron. xi. 14.
Inspired truths need not the security of human his
tory to pass them into our belief. However, other
writers afford examples how one man, in a manner,
hath routed a whole army, and turned the flight of his
party into an unexpected victory.
Thus the Chronicles* inform us, that when the Scots
fled from the Danes (at a place called Long-Carty) one
Hay, a husbandman, then at plough with his two sons,
snatching the yoke into his hand, (it is the man makes.
the weapons, not the weapons the man,) not only
stopped the enemies' further pursuit, but beat them
back with a great overthrow : whose valour king
Keneth II. (seven hundred years since) rewarded with
as much ground of the best in Scotland as a falcon flew
over at one flight before it did take a stand. And the
memory hereof is continued in your arms, who doth
carry a chronicle in your coat, crest, and supporters.
* George Buchanan Rericm Scoticarttm. Hist, hook vi. page 55,
! 2 F 2

436 DEDICATION.
Let none quarrel at your supporters, being two men
holding each a yoke in his hand ; seeing they are the
supporters-general of all mankind, Solomon (being
himself a king) observing, that " the king himself is
maintained by husbandry," Ecclesiastes v. 9. Besides,
those yokes procured the Scotch liberty, who otherwise
had been miserably enslaved to the Danish insolence.
And if the bearing of arms were so ancient amongst
the Jews as the Rabbles will have it, it is proportion
ably probable that the posterity of Shamgar gave the
goad for the hereditary ensigns of their family, Judges
iii, 31.
Nor must your motto be forgotten, Conscientia
MiLLE SCUTA, " A good consciencc is a thousand
shields," and every one of proof against the greatest
peril. May your Honour therefore be careful to pre
serve it ; seeing lose the shield, and lose the field, — so
great the concernment thereof.
No family in Christendom hath been ennobled on a
more honourable occasion, hath flourished for longer
continuance, or been preserved in a more miraculous
manner. It is reported of the Roman Fabii, no less numerous
than valiant, (three hundred and sixty patricians flou
rishing of them at once,) they were all slain in one
battle, one only excepted, who, being under age to bear
arms, was preserved alive.*
A greater fatality befel your family in a fight at
Duplin Castle, in the reign of our Edward I, when the
whole household of Hayes was finally extirpated, and
not one of them visible in the whole world. Only it
happened, that the chief of them left his wife at home
big with child, from whom your name is recruited, all
springing as it were from a dead root, and thence
deriving a posthume pedigree,!
This puts me in hopes, that God, who so strangely
¦* Titus Livius libro secundo. \ Camden's Brit, in Scot,
Slratherne, page 705, I

DEDICATION, 437
preserved your name in Scotland, will not suffer it so
soon to be extinct in England, but give you posterity
by your noble consort, when it shall seem seasonable
to his own will and pleasure.
All that I will add is this, — that, seeing your Honour
beareth three smaller shields, or in-escutcheons, in
your arms, the shadow of the least of them, with its
favourable reflection, is sufficient effectually to protect
and defend the weak endeavours of
Your most obliged servant and chaplain,
THOMAS FULLER.

THE

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.
BOOK IV.

SECTION I.
FOURTEENTH CENTURY, CONTINUED.
1. Several Causes of the speedy spreading of Wickliffe's
Doctrine. A.D. 1371.
The Romanists observe, that several advantages concurred to the
speedy propagation of Wickliffe's opinions ; as, namely. First,
the decrepit age of Edward III. and infancy of Richard his
successor, being but a child, as his grandfather was twice a child ;
so that the reins of authority were let loose. Secondly. The
attractive nature of novelty, drawing followers unto it. Thirdly.
The enmity which John of Gaunt bare unto the clergy, which
made him out of opposition to favour the doctrine and person of
Wickliffe. Lastly. The envy which the pope had contracted by
his exactions and collations of ecclesiastical benefices.* We deny
not, these helps were instrumentally active in their several degrees,
but must attribute the main to Divine Providence, blessing the
Gospel, and to the nature of truth itself, which, though for a time
violently suppressed, will seasonably make its own free and clear
passage into the world.
2. Wickliffe guilty of many Errors.
And here we will acquaint the reader, that, being to write the
History of Wickliflfe, I intend neither to deny, dissemble, defend,
nor excuse any of his faults. " We have this treasure," saith the
apostle, " in earthen vessels," 2 Cor. iv. 7 ; and he that shall
endeavour to prove a pitcher of clay to be a pot of gold, will take
great pains to small purpose. Yea, should I be over-officious to
retain myself to plead for WickliflTe's faults, that glorious saint
would sooner chide than thank me, unwilling that, in favour of him,
* Harpsfield in liis Historia fVicliffiana, cap, i.

45 EDWARD III, BOOK IV, CENT. XIV. 4-39
truth should suflfer prejudice. He was a man, and so subject to
error ; living in a dark age, more obnoxious to stumble ; vexed
with opposition, which makes men reel into violence ; and therefore
it is unreasonable, that the constitution and temper of his positive
opinions should be guessed by his polemical heat, when he Was
chafed in disputation. But beside all these, envy hath falsely
fathered many foul aspersions upon him.
3. The Learning of Wickliffe.
We can give no account of Wickliffe's parentage, birth-place, or
infancy ; only we find an ancient family of the Wickliffes in the
bishopric of Durham,* since by match united to the Brackenburies,
persons of prime quality in those parts. As for this our Wickliffe,
history at the very first meets with him a man, and full grown, yea,
graduate of Merton college in Oxford.-f- The firuitful soil of his
natural parts he had industriously improved by acquired learning ;
not only skilled in the fashionable arts of that age, and in that
abstruse, crabbed divinity, all whose fruit is thorns : but also well-
versed in the Scriptures, — a rare accomplishment in those days.
His public Acts in the Schools, he kept with great approbation ;
though the echo of his popular applause sounded the alarm to
awaken the envy of his adversaries against him.
4. Wickliffe accused for Ambition and Discontent.
He is charged by the papists, as if discontent first put him upon
his opinions. For, having usurped the Headship of Canterbury
College.^ (founded by Simon Islip,) since, like a tributary brook,
swallowed up in the vastness of Christ Church, after a long suit, he
was ejected by sentence from the pope, because, by the statutes,
only a monk was capable of the place. Others add, that the loss
of the bishopric of Worcester, which he desired, incensed him to
revenge himself by innovations. And can true doctrine be the
fruit where ambition and discontent hath been the root thereof ?
Yet such may know, that God often -sanctifies man's weakness to
his own glory ; and that wise Architect makes, of the crookedness
of men's conditions, straight beams in his own building, to raise his
own honour upon them. Besides, these things are barely said,
without other evidence : and if his foes' affirming be a proof, why
should not his friends' denial thereof be a sufficient refutation ?
Out of the same mint of malice another story is coined against him,
—how Wickliffe, being once gravelled in public disputation, pre
ferring rather to say nons  than nothing, was forced to affirm
• C4MDEn's Brit._ in the Bishopric of Dm-ham. t Bal,eds, cent. vi. num. 1.
X HARPSFflLLD Hist. rVicliffivna, cap. i.

440 chukch history of britain. a.d. 1371-
that an accident was a substence.* Yet, methinks, if the story
were true, such as defend the doctrine of accidents subsisting in the
sacrament without a substance might have invented some charitable
qualificarion of his paradox, seeing those that defend falsehoods
ought to be good fellows and help one another.
5. The Employment of Wickliffe in Oxford.
Seven years Wickliffe lived in Oxford, in some tolerable quiet,
having a professor's place, and a cure for Souls ; on the week-days,
in the Schools; proving to the learned what he meant to preach ;
and, on the Lord's day, preaching in the pulpit, to the vulgar, what
he had proved before : not unlike those builders in the second
temple, holding a sword in one hand, and a trowel in the other,
Neh. iv, 17; his disputing making his preaching to be strong, and
his preaching making his disputations to be plain. His speculative
positions against the real presence in the eucharist did offend and
distaste, but his practical tenets against purgatory, and pilgrimages
did enrage and bemad his adversaries ; so woundable is the dragon,
under the left wing, when pinched in point of profit. Hereupon
they so prevailed with Simon Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury,
that Wickliffe was silenced and deprived of his benefice ; notwith
standing all which, he wanted nothing, secretly supplied by invisible
persons, and he felt many a gift from a hand that he did not
behold. 6. Difference in the Number of Wickliffe's' Opinions.
Here it will be seasonable to give in a list of Wickliffe's opinions,
though we meet with much variety in the accounting of them.
1. Pope Gregory XI. -f observed eighteen principal errors in his
books ; and Wickliffe is charged with the same nuinber,J in the
convocation at Lambeth.
2. Thomas Arundel,§ archbishop of Canterbury, in a synod held
at Preaching- Friars, in London, condemned three-and-twenty of his
opinions ; the ten first for heretical, and the thirteen last for
erroneous. 3. In the council at Constance, || five-and-forty articles of false
doctrines were exhibited against Wickliffe, then lately deceased.
4. Thomas Waldensis computeth fourscore errors in him.
5. John Lucke,^ doctor of divinity in Oxford, brings up the
account to two hundred sixty-six.
Lastly, and above all, John Cocleus** (it is fit that the latest
* Harpsfield, cap, 1, f Idem, page 684, X Fox's " Martyrology," page 398.
§ Idem, page 401. !| Idem, page 414, If Harpsfield Hist, mdiff. page 669.
•• In Historia Hussitarum in Prolog, tomi primi.

45 EDWAKD III. ¦ BOOK IV. CENT. XIV. 441
edition should be the largest) swells them up to full three hundred
and three.
Wonder not at this difference, as if Wickliffe's opinions were
like the stones on Salisbury-Plain,— falsely reported that no two can
count them alike. The variety ariseth, first, because some count
only his primitive tenets, which are breeders ; and others reckon all
the young fry of consequences derived from them. Secondly. Some
are more industrious to seek, perverse to collect, captious to expound,
malicious to deduce, far-distant consequences ; excellent at the in
flaming of a reckoning, quick to discover an infant or embryo- error,
which others overlook. Thirdly. It is probable, that, in process of
time, Wickliflfe might delate himself in supplemental and additional
opinions, more than he at first maintained : and it is possible that
the tenets pf his followers in after-ages might be falsely fathered
upon him. We will tie ourselves to no strict number or method,
but take them as we find them, out of his greatest adversary, with
exact quotation of the tome, book, article, and chapter, where they
are reported.
Thomas Waldensis accuseth Wickliffe to have maintained these
dangerous heretical Opinions.
OF THE POPE.
1, That it is blasphemy to call any " Head of the Church " save
Christ alone. Tome iv, book ii. article 1, chapter 1.
2. That the election of the pope by the cardinals is a device of
the devil. T. i. b. ii. art. 3, chap. 39.
3. That those are heretics which say, that Peter had more power
than the other aposries. T. i. b. ii. art, 1, chap, 2,
4, That James, bishop of Jerusalem, was' preferred before Peter,
T, i, b, ii, art, 1, chap, 4,
5, That Rome is not the seat in which Christ's vicar doth reside,
T. i. b. ii. art. 3, chap. 41.
6. That the pope, if he doth not imitate Christ and Peter in his
life and manners, is not to be called " the successor of Peter." T. i.
b. ii. art. 3, chap, 35,
7, That the imperial and kingly authority are above the papal
power. T. i. b. ii. art, 3, chap, 38,
8, That the doctrine of the infallibility of the church of Rome,
in matters of faith, is the greatest blasphemy of anti-christ. T. i,
b, ii, art, 3, chap, 48,
9, That he often calleth the pope " anti-christ," T, i, b, ii,
art. 3, chap. 54.
10, That Christ meant the pope, by " the abomination of desola-

442 CHUECH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 1371-
tion, standing in the holy place," Matt. xxiv. 15. T. i. b. ii. art. 3,
chap. 32. . OF POPISH PRELATES.
11. That from the words, and works, and silence of prelates in
preaching,* it seemeth probable, that they are devils incarnate. T, i,
b, ii. art, 2, chap, 16,
12, That bishops' benedictions, confirmations, consecrations of
churches, chalices, &c, be but tricks to get money, T, i, b. ii, art,
3, chap, 57, OF PRIESTS,
13, That plain deacons and priests may preach without licence of
pope or bishop, T. i, b, ii. art, 3, chap. 71-
14, That in the time of the apostles, there were only two orders,
namely, priests and deacons, and that a bishop doth not differ from
a priest, T. i, b, ii, art, 3, chap, 60,
15, That it is lawful for laymen to absolve no less than for the
priests. T, iii, chap, 68,
16, That it is lawful for clergymen to marry. T. ii. chap. 128.
17- That priests of bad life cease any longer to be priests,-|-
Chap, 61. OF THE CHITRCH,
18, That he defined the church to consist only of persons pre
destinated, T, i, b, ii. chap, 8,
19, That he divideth the church into these three members, — cler
gymen, soldiers, and labourers, T, i, b, ii, art 1, chap, 12,
20, That the church was not endowed with any immovable pos
sessions, before Constantine the Great, T, i, b, iv. art, 3, chap, 37,
21. That it is no sacrilege to take away things consecrated to
the church, T, i, b. iv. art, 3, chap, 16, 41,
22, That all beautiful building of churches is blameworthy, and
savours of hypocrisy, T, i, chap, 143.
OF TITHES,
23, That parishioners by him were exhorted not to pay tithes
to priests of dissolute life. T. i. b, ii, art, 3, chap, 65.
24, That tithes are pure alms, and that pastors ought not to
exact them by ecclesiastical censures, T, i, b, ii, art, 3, chap. 64.
OF THE SCRIPTURE.
25, That wise men leave that as imperrinent which is not plainly
expressed in Scripture, T, i, b, ii, art, 2, chap,' 23,
« E.i- verbo, opere, el taciturnilate prcelatorum.. f Waldensis in several places
of his book.

45 EDWARD III, BOOK IV, CENT, XIV. 443
26. That he slighted the authority of general councils. T, i,
b, ii, art, 2, chap, 26, OF HERETICS,
27. That he called all writers since the thousandth year of
Christ, "heretics." T. ii. chap. 81.
OF PRAYER,
28, That men are not bound to the observation of vigils, or
canonical hours, T, iii, chap, 23, 25,
29, That it is vain for laymen to bargain with priests for their
prayers, T, iii, chap, 11.
30. That to bind men to set and prescript forms of prayers, doth
derogate from that liberty God hath given them, T, iii, chap, 21,
31, That, to depress the benefit of other men's purchased
prayers, he recommended all men to hope and trust in their own
righteousness, T, iii, chap, 8, OF ALMS,
32, That we ought not to do any alms to a sinner, whilst we
know him to be so, T, i, b, ii, art, 3, chap, 71.
ot' THE SACRAMENTS.
33. That chrism, and other such ceremonies, are not to be used
in baptism, T. iii. chap, 45, 46,
34, That those are fools and presumptuous, which affirm such
infants not to be saved, which die without baptism : and also, that
he denied, that all sins are abolished in baptism, T, ii, chap,
99, 108,
35, That baptism doth not confer, but only signify, grace, which
was given before, T, ii, chap, 98,
36, That in the sacrament of the altar, the host is not to be
worshipped ; and such as adore it are idolaters. T, ii, chap. 26,
37, That the substance of bread and wine still remain in the
sacrament,* 38, That God could not, though he would, make his body to be
at the same time in several places. T. ii, chap, 55.
39. That the sacrament of confirmation is not much necessary to
salvation. T. i. chap. 109.
40. That confession, to a man truly contrite, is superfluous, used
by antichrist to know the secrets, and gain the wealth, of others.
T. iii. chap. 147- * This is scattered in several places of his book.

444 CHURCH HISTORY OP BRITAIN, A.D. 1371 — «.
41. That that is no due marriage which is contracted without
hope of having children. T. ii. chap. 130.
42. That extreme unction is needless, and no sacrament. T. ii.
chap. 163. OF ORDERS.
43. That religious sects confound the unity of Christ's church,
who instituted but one order of serving him. T. ii. b. ii. art. 2,
chap. 15.
44. That he denied all sacred initiations into Orders, as leaving
no character behind them. T. ii. chap. 109.
45. That vowing of virginity is a doctrine of devils. T. iii.
chap, 91. OF SAINTS,
46, That such Christians who do worship saints border on
idolatry. T. iii. chap. 130..
47- That it is needless to adorn the shrines of saints, or to go in
pilgrimage to them, T, iii, chap, 133,
48. That miracles conceived done at saints' shrines may be
delusions of the devil, T, iii, chap, 124, 125,
49, That saints' prayers (either here or in heaven) are only-
effectual for such as are good. T, iii, chap, 115,
OF THE KING,
50. That it is lawful in causes ecclesiastical, and matters of faith,
after the bishop's sentence, to appeal to the secular prince, T, i,
b, ii, art, 3, chap. 79.
51, That dominion over the creature is founded in grace, T, i.
b, iii. art. 1, chap, 81.
52, That God divesteth him of all right who abuseth his power.
T, i, b, iii, art, 3, chap, 83, OF ch:?,ist,
53, That Christ was a man, even in those three days wherein his
body did lie in the grave, T, i, b, ii, art, 3, chap. 43.
54, That the humanity of Christ, being separated, is to be wor
shipped with that adoration which is called latria. T. i. b. ii.
art, 3, chap, 44,
¦55, That Christ is the humanity by him assumed, T, i. b. i.
art. 3, chap. 44. OF GOD.
56. That God loved David and Peter as dearly when they
grievously sinned, as he doth now when they are possessed of glory,.
T. ii, chap, 160.

50 EDWARD III. BOOK IV, CENT, XfV, 445
57. That God giveth no good things to his enemies. T. i, b, ii,
art, 3, chap, 82,
58, That God is not more willing to reward the good than to
punish the wicked, T, ii, chap. 135.
59. That all things come to pass by fatal necessity.*
60.. That God could not make the world otherwise than it is
made. T. i. b. i. art. 1, chap, 13,
61, That God cannot do any thing which he doth not do. T. i.
b. i, art, 1, chap. 10,
62, That God cannot make that something should return into
nothing. 7, Much Pity that Wickliffe's own Books are lost.
Here the ingenuous reader must acknowledge, that many of these
opinions are truths, at this day publicly professed in the protestant
church. For the rest, what pity is it that we want Wickliffe's
Works, to hear him speak in his own behalf! Were they all
extant, therein we might read the occasion, intention, and con
nexion of what he spake ; together with the limitations, restrictions,
distinctions, qualifications, of what he maintained. There we might
see what was the overplus of his passion, and what the just measure
of his judgment. Many phrases, heretical in sound, would appear
orthodox in sense. Yea, some of his poisonous passages, dressed
with due caution, would prove not only wholesome but cordial
truths ; many of his expressions wanting, not granum ponderis,
but satis, " no weight of truth, but some grains of discretion,"
But now, alas ! of the two hundred books -j- which he wrote, being
burnt, not a tittle is left, and we are fain to borrow the bare titles
of them from his adversaries ; J from whom also these his opinions
are extracted, who winnow his works, as satan did Peter, Luke
xxii, 31, not to find the corn, but the chaff therein. And how
candid some Papists are in interpreting the meaning of Protestants,
appears by that cunning chymist,§ who hath distilled the spirits of
Turcisra out of the books of Calvin himself,
8, Wickliffe appears before the Synod in St. Paul's-
A.D. 1376,
Now a synod was called by Simon Sudbury, archbishop of Can
terbury, at Paul's in London, the Pariiament then sitting at West
minster; whither WickliflTe was summoned to appear; who came
accordingly, but in a posture and equipage different from expectation,
* 'Waldensis in several places layeth this to his charge, t ^Eneas Sylvius
Hist. Bohem, page 78. t So John Bale confesseth, cent, vi, page 451. § See
thg book called Calvino- Turcismus.

446 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 1376.
Four friars' were to assist, the lord Percy to usher, John duke
of Lancaster to accompany him. These lords' enmity with the
prelates, was all Wickliffe's acquaintance with them ; whose eyes did
countenance, hands support, and tongues encourage him, bidding
him to dread nothing, nor to shrink at the company of the bishops ;
" for they are all unlearned," said they, " in respect of you." . Great
was the concourse of people ; as, in populous places, when a new
sight is to be seen, there never lack lookers-on ;_ and, to see this
man-baiting, all people of all kinds flocked together.
9. The Brawl betwixt the Bishop and the Lords in the Church.
The lord Percy, Lord Marshal of England, had much ado to
break through the crowd in the church ; so that the bustle he kept
with the people highly offended the bishop of London, as profaning
the place, and disturbing the assembly. Whereon followed a fierce
contention betwixt them ; and, lest their interlocutions should
hinder the entireness of our discourse, take them verbatim in a
dialogue, omitting only their mutual railing ; which as it little
became persons of honour to bring, so it was flat against the profes
sion of a bishop to return ; who, by the apostle's precept, must be
" patient, not a brawler," 1 Tim. iii. 3.
Bishop Courtenay. — Lord Percy, if I had known beforehand
what masteries you would have kept in the church, I would have
stopped you out from coming hither.
Duke of Lancaster. — He shall keep such masteries here, though
you say " Nay."
Lord Percy. — Wickliffe, sit down ; for, you have many things
to answer to, and you need to repose yourself on a soft seat.
Bishop Courtenay. — It is unreasonable, that one, cited before
his ordinary, should sit down during his answer. He must and
shall stand,
Duke of Lancaster. — The lord Percy's motion for Wickliffe is
but reasonable. And as for you, my lord bishop, who are grown so
proud and arrogant, I will bring do-wn the pride, not of you alone,
but of all the prelacy in England,
Bishop Courtenay. — Do your worst, Sir,
Duke of Lancaster. — Thou bearest thyself so brag upon thy
parents,* which shall not be able to help thee ; they shall have
enough to do to help themselves.
Bishop Courtenay. — My confidence is not in my parents, nor in
any man else, but only in God, in whom I trust, by whose assistance
I will be bold to speak the truth,
* His father, Hugh Cmu-tenayj earl of Devonshire.

50 EDWARD III, BOOK IV, CENT, XIV. 447
Duke of Lancaster. — Rather than I will take these words at his
hands, I will pluck the bishop by the hair out of the church.*
These last- words, though but softly whispered by the duke, in the
ear of one next unto him, were notwithstanding overheard by the
Londoners ; who, enraged that such an affront should be offered to
their bishop, fell furiously on the lords, who were fain to depart for
the present, and for a while by flight and secresy to secure them
selves ; whUst, what outrages were offered to the duke's palace and
his servants, historians of the state do relate.
10. Why the Archbishop and Wickliffe silent the while.
Wonder not that two persons, most concerned to be vocal, were
wholly mute at this meeting ; namely, Simon the archbishop, and
Wickliffe himself. The former, rather acted than active in this
business, seeing the brawl happened in the cathedral of London, left
the bishop thereof to meddle ; whose stout stomach, and high birth,
made him the meeter match to undertake such noble adversaries.
As for Wickliffe, well might the client be silent, whilst such counsel
pleaded for him. And the bishops found themselves in a dangerous
dilemma about him ; it being no pity to permit, nor policy to
punish, one protected with such potent patrons. Yea, in the issue
of this synod, they only commanded him to forbear hereafter from
preaching or writing his doctrine ; and how far he promised con
formity to their injunctions, doth not appear.
11, Wickliffe's Opinions marvellously spread, and why.
In all this synod, though Wickliffe made but a dumb show,
rather seen than heard, yet the noise of his success sounded all over
the kingdom. For, when a suspected person is solemnly summoned,
and dismissed without censure ; vulgar apprehensions, not only infer
his innocence, but also conclude either the ignorance or injustice of
his adversaries. In public assemblies, if the weaker party can so
subsist as not to be conquered, it conquers in reputation, and a
drawn battle is accounted a victory on that side. If Wickliffe was
guilty, why not punished ? if guiltless, why silenced ? And it
much advantaged the propagating of his opinions, that at this very
time happened a dangerous discord at Rome, long lasting, for above
forty years, and fiercely followed ; begun betwixt Urban VI. and
Clement VII, one living at Rome, the other residing at Avignon,
Thus Peter's chair was like to be broken, betwixt two sitting down
at once. Let Wickliffe alone to improve this advantage ; pleading,
that now the Romish church (having two) had no legal head ; tliat
* Fox's " MartjTs," p. 393, and Hari'sfield in Hist. fVicliffiana, c^p. v. p, 683.

448

CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1376  O,

this monstrous apparition presaged the short life thereof ; and these
two anti-popes made up one anti-christ. In a word, there was
opened unto him a great door of utterance, made out of that crack,
or cleft, which then happened in this seasonable schism at Rome.
12. The Death and Character of King Edward III.
^,X>, 1377, 1 Richard II,
Edward, the third of that name, ended his life, having reigned a
jubilee, full fifty years, A prince no less successful than valiant,
like an amphibion, he was equally active on water and land. Wit
ness his naval victory nigh Sluys, and land-conquest at Cressy,
Poictiers, and elsewhere. Yet his achievements in France were
more for the credit than commodity, honour than profit, of England,
For, though the fair provinces he conquered therein seemed fat
enough to be stewed in their own liquor ; I mean, rich enough to
maintain themselves ; yet we find them to have sucked up much of
our English sauce, to have drained the money and men of this land
to defend them. This made king Edward to endeavour to his
power to preserve his people from popish extortions, as knowing
that his own taxes did burden, and the addition of those other would
break, the backs of his subjects. He was himself not unlearned, and
a great favourer of learned men ; colleges springing by pairs out of
his marriage-bed ; namely, King's-hall, founded by himself in
Cambridge ; and Queen's-college, by Philippa his wife in Oxford.
He lived almost to the age, arid altogether to the infirmities, of king
David ; but had not, with him, a virgin Abishag, a virgin-concubine,
to heat him : but, which is worse, in his decrepit age, kept Alice
Pierce, a noted strumpet, to his own disgrace, and his people's
disprofit. For, she, (like a bad tenant, which, holding an expiring
lease without impeachment of waste, cares not what spoil he maketh
thereon,) sensible of what ticklish terms she stood on, snatched all
she could rape and rend unto herself. In a word, the bad beginning
of this king, on the murder of his father, must be charged on his
mother's and Mortimer's account. The failings at his end may be
partly excused by the infirmities of his age ; the rather because^
whilst he was himself, he was like himself; and whilst master of his
own actions, he appeared worthy of all commendations. Richard
II. his grandchild by Edward the Black Prince, succeeded him,
being about twelve years of age, and lived under his mother's and
uncle's tuition,
13, Laity bandying against the Clergy in Parliament.
A parliament was called at Westminster, wherein old bandying
betwixt the laity and the clergy. The former moving, " That no

2 RICHARD II. BOOK IV, CENT. XIV. 449
officer of the holy church should take pecuniary sums, more or less,
of the people, for correction of sins, but only enjoin them spiritual
penance, which would be more pleasing to God, and profitable to
the soul of the offender;* the clergy stickled hereat ; for, by this
craft they got their gain ; and no greater penance can be laid on
them than the forbidding them to impose money-penance on others.
But here the king interposed, — "That prelates should proceed
therein as formerly, according to the laws of the holy church, and
not otherwise." Yea, many things passed in this parliament in
favour of the clergy ; as that, — " That all prelates and clerks shall
from henceforth commence their suits against purveyors and buyers
disturbing them (though not by way of crime) by actions of tres
pass, and recover treble damages." Also, " That any of the king's
ministers, arresting people of the holy church in doing divine
service, shall have imprisonment, and thereof be ransomed at the
king's will, and make gree to the parties so arrested."
14. Wickliffe wonderfully preserved from Prosecution.
A.D. 1378.
About this time Wickliffe was summoned personally to appear
before Simon archbishop of Canterbury, and the rest of the bishops,
in his chapel at Lambeth. He came accordingly : and now all
expected he should be devoured, being brought into the lions' den ;
when, in comes a gentleman and courtier, one Lewis Clifford, -f- on
the very day of examination, commanding them not to proceed to
any definitive sentence against the said Wickliffe. Never before
were the bishops served with such a prohibition : all agreed, the
messenger durst not be so stout, with a mandamus in his mouth,
but because backed with the power of the prince that employed him.
The bishops, struck with a panic fear, proceeded no farther ; the
rather, because the messenger so rudely rushed into the chapel, and
the person of this John Wickliffe was so saved from heavy censure,
as was once the doctrine of his godly name-sake, for " they feared the
people," Mark xi. 32. Only the archbishop summoned a synod at
London, himself preaching at the opening thereof We find nothing
of his sermon ; but his text was excellent, " Watch and pray." Four
constitutions he made therein ;J three whereof concerned confession,
grown now much into discredit and disuse, by Wickliffe's doctrine,
and therefore conceived more needful to press the strict observation
thereof. • Ex Rotulis in Turre Londinensi primo Ricardi II. t Antiq. Brit, page 258,
and Fox, page 506, X Linwood's Provincials, lib. v, fol. 183,
Vol, I, « '^

4.50 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1378 80,
15, 16, Transactions in the Parliament of Gloucester.
Sanctuaries shrewdly shaken.
In the pariiament kept at Gloucester this same year, the
Commons complained, that many Clergymen, under the notion of
sylva cesdua, "lopwood," took tithes even of timber itself;
requesting, that, in such cases, prohibitions might be granted to
stop the proceedings of the court Christian, It was moved also,
that sylva c'esdua, though formerly accounted wood above twenty
years old, might hereafter be declared that which was above the
growth of ten years,* and the same to be made free from tithes.
But this took no effect, the king remitting things to their ancient
course. To cry quits with the Commons in their complaints, the
archbishop of Canterbury inveighed, as bitterly, of the franchises
infringed of the abbey-church of Westminster ; wherein Robert de
Hanley, Esquire, with a servant of that church, were both despite-
fuUy and horridly slain therein, at the high altar, even when the
priest was singing high mass, and pathetically" desired reparation for
the same.
Some of the lords rejoined on their parts, that such sanctuaries
were abused by the clergy, to protect people from the payment of
their due debts ; the aforesaid Hanley being slain in a quarrel on
that occasion. And, whereas upon the oaths and examination of
certain doctors in divinity, canon, and civil law, it appeared, that
immunity in the holy church were only to be given to such who,
upon crime, were to lose life or limb, the same was now extended
to privilege people in actions of account, to the prejudice of the cre
ditor. They added, moreover, that neither God himself, (saving his
Perfection.) nor the pope, (saving his Holiness,) nor any lay prince
could grant such privilege to the church : and the church, which
should be the favourer of virtue and justice, ought not to accept the
same if gianted.-f- The bishops desired a day to give in their
answer, which was granted them : but I find not this harsh string
touched again all this parliament ; haply for fear but to make bad
music thereon. Complaints were also made against the extortion of
bishops' clerks ; who, when they should take but eight-pence for
the probate of a will,J they now exacted greater sums than ever
before : to which, as to other abuses, some general reformation was
promised, 17. Aliens debarred from holding Benefices. A.D. 1379,
In the next pariiament called at Westminster, one of the greatest
grievances of the land was redressed ; namely, foreigners holding of
• Ex Rot. in Turre Londin. 2 Ricardi II. parte primd, num, 45. -f Idem,
part ii. num. 28. J Ibid. num. 46.

4 RICHARD II, BOOK IV, CENT, XIV, 451
ecclesiastical benefices. For at this time the church of England
might say with Israel, " Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our
houses to aliens," Lam. v. 2. Many Italians— who knew no more
English than the difference between a teston and a shilling, a golden
noble and an angel in receiving their rents — had the fattest livings
in England by the pope collated upon them. Yea, many great
cardinals,* resident at Rome, (those hinges of the church must be
greased with English revenues,) were possessed of the best prebends
and parsonages in the land, whence many mischiefs did ensue. First.
They never preached in their parishes . of such shepherds it could
not properly be said, that " he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth," John
X, 12, who, though taking the tide of " shepherd" upon them, never
saw their flock, nor set foot on English ground. Secondly, No
hospitality was kept for relief of the poor ; except they could fill
their bellies on the hard names of their pastors, which they could
not pronounce ; — ^lord cardinal of Agrifolio, lord cardinal de St.
Angelo, lord cardinal Veverino, &c. Yea, the Italians generally
fai-med out their places to proctors, their own countrymen ; who,
instead of filling the bellies, grinded the faces, of poor people : so
that, what betwixt the Italian hospitality, which none could ever
see, and the Latin service, which none could understand, the poor
English were ill fed, and worse taught. Thirdly. The wealth of
the land leaked out into foreign countries, to the much impoverish
ing of the commonwealth. It was high time, therefore, for the king
and parliament to take notice thereof; who now enacted, that no
aliens should hereafter hold any such preferments, nor any send
over unto them the revenues of such benefices : as in the printed
statutes more largely doth appear.
18, The Rebellion of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. A.D. 1380.
While at this time clergy and laity cast dirt each in other's faces,
and neither washed their own ; to punish both, burst forth the dan
gerous rebellion of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw, with thousands of
their cursed company. These all were pure levellers, (inflamed by
the abused eloquence of one John Ball, an excommunicated priest,)
who, maintaining that no gentry was jure Divino, and all equal by
nature, " When Adam delved, and Eve span,
"Who was then the gentleman ? "
endeavoured the abolishing of all civil and spiritual degrees and
distinctions. Yea, they desired to level men's parts, as well as
their purses ; and, that none should be either wealthier or wiser
than his fellows, projected the general destruction of all that wore
• See the Catalogue of theii- names and numbers in Mr. Fox, page 562,
2 G 2

452 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1380.
a pen-and-ink-horn about them, or could write or read. To effect
this design, they pretended the people's liberty, and the prince's
honour ; and, finding it difficult to destroy the king, but by the
king, they advanced the name, to pluck down the thing signified
thereby ; crying up, that all was for king Richard ! They seemed
also to be much for reformation ; which cloak they wore, to warm
themselves therewith, when naked and first setting up ; but after
wards cast it off in the heat of their success, as not only useless but
burdensome unto them,
19. The Rabble divided into three Companies.
As the Philistines " came out in three companies," - 1 Sam.
xiii. 17, to destroy all the swords and smiths in Israel ; so this
rabble of rebels, making itself tripartite, endeavoured the rooting-out
of all penknives, and all appearance of learning : one in Kent,
under the aforesaid Wat and John ; the second in Suffolk ; the
third under John Littstarre, a dyer in Norfolk. The former of
these is described in the Latin verses of John Gower, prince of
poets in his time ; of whom we will bestow the following transla
tion : — fVatte vocat, cui Thome venit, neque Symine retardat,
Betteque Gibbe sim,ul Hykke venire jubet.
Colic furit, quem Gibbe juvat nocumenta pararUes,
Cum quibus ad daianum ff^ille coire vovet.
Grigge ra.pit, dum, Davve strepit, comes est quibus Hobbe,
Lorhin et in medio non Tninor esse putat.
Hudde ferit, quos Judde terit, dum Tebbe juvatur,
Jahke domosque viros vellit, et ense necat.
" Tom comes thereat, " Davie complains,
When call'd by Wat, While Grigg gets the gains,
And Simm as forvpard we find ; And Hobb with them doth partake ;
Bet calls as quick, Lorkin aloud,
To Gibb and to Hykk, In the midst of the ciawd,
That neither would tarry behind. Conceiveth as deep is his stake,
" Gibb, a good whelp " Hndde doth spoil.
Of that litter, doth help Whom Judde doth foil,
Mad Colle more mischief to do ; And Tebb lends his helping hand ;
And wai he doth vow. But Jack, the mad patch.
The tune is come now. Men and houses doth snatch,
He '11 join with their company too. And kills all at his command,"
O, the methodical description of a confusion .' How doth Wat
lead the front, and Jack bring up the rear ! For, confusion itself
would be instantly confounded, if some seeming superiority were
not owned amongst them ! All men without suniames : Tyler was
but the addition of his trade, and Straw a mock-name, assumed by
himself; though Jack Straw would have heen John of Gold, hai
this treason taken effect : so obscure they were and inconsiderable !

4 RICHARD II. BOOK IV. CENT. XIV. 453
And, as they had no surnames, they deserved no Christian names
for their heathenish cruelties ; though, to get them a name, they
endeavoured to build this their Babel of a general confusion.
20. The barbarous Outrages by them committed.
Many and heinous were the outrages by them committed, espe
cially after they had possessed themselves of London. All shops
and cellars were broken open, and they now rustled in silk, formerly
rattling in leather ; now soaked themselves in wine, who were
acquainted but with water before. The Savoy in the Strand, being
the palace of John duke of Lancaster, was plundered ; so was the
Hospital of St. John's, and Sir Robert Hales, lord prior therein,
and treasurer of England, slain. But as their spite was the keenest
at, so the spoil the greatest on, the law ; well knowing, that, while
the banks thereof stood fully in force, the deluge of their intended
anarchy could not freely overflow. They ransacked the Temple,
not only destroying many present pleas, written between party and
party, (as if it would accord plaintiff and defendant, to send them
both jointly to the fire,) but also abolished many ancient records, to
the loss of learning and irrecoverable prejudice of posterity. The
church fared as ill as the Temple ; and Simon Sudbury, archbishop
of Canterbury, after many indignities offered him, was at last by
them beheaded on Tower-Hill, patiently ending his life, and dying
a state-martyr. But most fiercely fell their fury on the Dutch in
London, offended, belike, with them for engrossing of trade, and
these words, " Bread and cheese," were their neck -verse, or Shib
boleth, to distinguish them ; all pronouncing " Broad and cause"
being presentiy put to death, Of all people only some Franciscan
friars found favour in their sight,* whom they intended to preserve,
What quality (to us occult) commended them to their mercy ?
Was it because they were the most ignorant of other friars, and so
the likest to themselves ? But perchance these rebels, if demanded,
were as unable to render a reason why they spared these, as why
they spoiled others ; being equally irrational in their kindnesses as
in their cruelties, 21, Judas and Wat Tyler paralleled.
When I read that passage of Judas in the counsel of Gamaliel,
Acts V, 37, it seemeth to me plainly to describe the rising, increase,
and ruin of these rebels : — ., . , i .. ,
1 Rising—'' There rose up Judas of Galilee m the days of the
taxing •" So Tyler appeared ; and this rebellion was caused by poll-
money,' heavily imposed by the king, and the arrears thereof more
. See Godwin's Catalogue Of the Bishops of Norv^ich in Hen, Spencer.

454 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D. 1380.
cruelly exacted by his courtiers that farmed it. And pity it is, so
foul a rebellion could pretend so fair an occasion for the extenuating
thereof. 2. Increase — "And drew away much people after him :" So the
snowball increased here. John Gower* telleth us, in his parallel of
the martyring of Simon Sudbury, archbishop of Canterbury, with
Thomas Becket, his predecessor : —
Quatuor in mortem spiraruni fosdera ThonUe ;
Simonis ei centum mille dedere necem.
<' But four conspired Thomas's blood to spill ;
While hundred thousands Simon help to kill."
Nor was this any poetical hyperbole, but a historical truth, if the
several numbers of their three armies were summed up together.
3. Ruin — " He also perished ; and all, even as many as obeyed
him, were dispersed :" So here, no sooner was Wat Tyler, their
general, as I may term him, killed by valiant Walworth, the lord
mayor of London, and his assistants, (for it was John Cavendish,
Esq.-|- that dispatched him with a mortal wound,) in Smithfield,;
and Jack Straw, their lieutenant-general, legally beheaded,J (too
brave a death for so base a fellow,) but all the rest mouldered away,
and vanished.
In memory of Sir William Walworth's valour, the arms of London,
formerly a plain cross, were augmented with the addition of a dagger,
to make the coat in all points complete. Happy, when the cross
(as flrst there in place) directeth the dagger, and when the dagger
defendeth the cross ; when religion sanctifieth power, and power
supporteth religion.
2^. Cope chargeth all this Rebellion on Wickliffe's Doctrine.
But Harpsfield (for h6 it is, whose "Ecclesiastical History of
England" goes under the name of Alanus Copus,) heavily chargeth
all this rebellion on the account of Wickliffe's doctrine ; whose
scholars, saith he,§ to promote their master's opinions, stirred up
this deadly and damnable sedition, and sounded the first trumpet
thereunto : adding moreover, that Wickliffe's tenet, that " domi
nion is founded in grace ;" and that " a king guilty of mortal sin is
no longer lord of any thing," was cos hujus seditionis, ^' the whet
stone of this sedition." But to what liar the whetstone doth pro
perly belong, will presently appear.
" In his hook called Vox Clamantis, lib. i. cap. 14, -f Weaver's " Ftmeral
Momunents," page 693. { Stow's " Survey of London," page 55. 5 In his
Historia Wicliffiana, cap. 12.

4 RICHARD II, BOOK IV, CENT, XIV, 455
23, His malicious Slander confuted.
It is no news for the best of God's children to be slandered in
this kind, Jeremy was traduced: "Thou fallest away to the
Chaldeans," Jer, xxxvii, 13, St, Paul was accused : " We have
found this man a pestilent fellow, a mover of sedition," Acts xxiv.
5. Yea, our Saviour himself was charged, that he made himself a
king, and was a traitor to Caesar, John xix, 12, But, as these were
foul and false aspersions, so will this appear, if we consider, —
1, When John Ball was executed at St, Alban's, and Jack
Straw* at London, not the least compliance with Wickliffe or his
doctrine is either charged on them, or confessed by them,
2, No wild beast will prey on his own kind. Now, it is certainly
known, that John^of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, was the principal
patron and supporter of Wickliffe ; whose life they sought to
destroy, and whose palace in the Strand they pillaged,
3, Wickliffe himself came within the compass of their destructive
principles, — designing the death of all who wore a pen and ink.
And, that Wickliffe had both pen and ink. Cope him self doth know,
and the court of Rome with shame and sorrow will confess.
4. Wickliffe lived some years after, and died peaceably possessed
of the living of Lutterworth in Leicestershire. Surely, had he been
reputed the inflamer of this rebellion, the wisdom of the king and
council would have taken another order with him.
5. Amongst the articles laid to the charge of Wickliffe and his
followers, in this king's reign, examined at Oxford and elsewhere, not
a tittle of this rebellion is pressed upon them ; which their malicious
adversaries would not have omitted, if in any hope tQ make good
that accusation against them-
6. Whereas it is charged on Wickliffe, that he held, that
" dominion was founded in grace," wliich occasioned this rebellion ;
we know this, that Huss, his scholar, though he did hold, riiat " a
king, being in mortal sin, was only called a king esquivocd denq-
minatione ;" yet the same Huss confesseth, to use his own words,f
Ipsum Deum approbare hujusmodi regem, quoad esse principem
exterius, " that God himself allows such a king to be a prince in ^H
outward matters." So that, leaving him to Divine justice, he never
dreamed of any resistance or rebellion to be made against him,
7. The modern Protestants (heirs, say the Papists, to Wickliffe's
doctrine) so far abominate the revelling and ignorant principles of
these rebels, that they are known, both to maintain distances of
people, and to have been the restorers of lost, yea, the revivers of
• See Ws confession at large in Stow's " Siu'vey of London," page 54, t Hds?
Tract, de Decimis, page 128. See Bishop Davenant's Thirty Determinations,

456 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1380  6.
dead learning and languages. How had the mathematics measured
their own grave Greek turned barbarism, Hebrew, as it readeth,
gone backward, never to return again, had not Protestant critics,
with vast pains and expense, preserved them !
8. It is more suspicious, that this rebellion came out of the
Franciscan convent, because some of these, belike, were the rebel's
white-boys ; and (as is afore-mentioned) to be spared in a general
destruction. In a word : I wonder, how any ingenuous papists can charge
Wickhffe of rebellion, in maintaining dominion to be founded in
grace ; when the grandees of their own religion, — Aquine, Cajetane,
Bellarmine, Suarez, maintain, that dominion is so founded in grace,
(in the pope,) that a king, by him excommunicate, may lawfully be
deposed and murdered.
24, A'>'<'hbishop Courtenay persecutes the Wickliffians.
A.D. 1382.
William Courtenay, archbishop of Canterbury, in the place of
Simon Sudbury lately slain, made cruel canons, in a synod at Lon
don, against the maintainers of Wickliffe's opinions. And I wonder,
that in Linwood's " Constitutions" no mention at all of any canons
jpade by this archbishop, who sate above ten years in the see. As
for the heavy persecution which soon after he raised against Robert
Rug, Thomas Britwell, Nicholas Herford, Philip Ripington, &c.
nothing can be added to what Mr. Fox hath related.
25, 26. Wickliffe's miraculous Deliverance. His quiet Death.
A.D. 1384.
In my mind it amounteth to little less than a miracle, that, during
this storm on his disciples, Wickliffe tlieir master should live in
quiet. Strange that he was not drowned in so strong a stream as
ran against him ; whose safety, under God's Providence, is not so
much to be ascribed to his own strength in swimming, as to such as
held him up by the chin, — the greatness of his noble supporters.
About this time he ended his tjranslation of the Bible into English,
(a fair copy whereof in Queen's College in Oxford, and two more in
fhe University library,) done, no doubt, in the most expresgivp
language of those days, though sounding uncouth to our ears. ^'The
KNAVE of Jesus Christ," for servant; " And Philip baptized the
PELDING," for eunuch. Acts viii, 38 ; so much our tongue is
improved in our age. As for the report of Polydore Virgil, making
him to fly out of England in the time of Edward, IH, et in magno
pretio apud Bohemos fuisse, "and to have been of high esteem

10 RICHARD II. BOOK IV. CENT. XIV. 457
amongst the Bohemians;" it is true of Wickliffe's writings, but not
of his person, who never departed his native country.
Not long after, therein he ended his life, at his cure at Lutter
worth in Leicestershire, of the palsy.* Admirable, that a hare, so
often hunted with so many packs of dogs, should die at last quietly
sitting in his form. Parsons the Jesuit snarls at Mr. Fox for counting
Wickliffe a martyr in his Calendar ; as, so far from suffering violent
death, that he was never so much as imprisoned for the opinion he
maintained. But the phrase may be justified in the large accepta
tion of the word, for " a witriess of the truth." Besides, the body
of Wickliffe was martyred as to shame, though not to pain, (as far
as his adversaries' cruelty could extend,) being taken up and burned
many years after his death ; as, God willing, we shall show here
after. 27. New College built by Bishop Wickham. A.D. 1386.
William Wickham about this time finished his beautiful college
in Oxford.-f Some have raised a scandal of him, — that he was no
scholar at all ; from which the very meanest scholar in his foundation
can acquit him, by that rule in logic. Quod efficit tale, magis est
tale, " What maketh the same is more the same." By which his
learning must be inferred whose bounty caused so many learned
men. Now, because the maxim runneth with a limitation, Si sit tale,
"if it be the same ;" the truth hereof also. appears from the learned
pen,J who, writing Wickham's Life, has proved him to have been a
sufficient scholar, skilled in other arts, as well as in practical mathe
matics and architecture.
28. Industry and Judgment in Architecture, the Cause of his
Advancement.
Now as Solomon, when about to build his house at Millo, seeing
Jeroboam to be an industrious man, 1 Kings xi, 28, made him
master of his fabric ; so Edward III. discovering the like sufficiency
in this great clerk, employed him in all his stately structures ; witness
this in motto at Windsor casUe, " This made Wickham ;" meaning
that the building of that castle gave occasion to his wealth and
honour ; whereas on this college he might write, " This Wickham
made ;" the building and endowing thereof being the effect of his
bounty alone. Hence it is that this college giveth the arms
of Wickham, namely, two Cheverons betwixt three Roses,
each Cheveron alluding to two Beams fastened together,§
• Leland ex Chronico Tencrisis Monasterii. t It was begun ^.D. 1375,
t Dr. Martin, who wrote a book in vindication of his learning. % Rex Platonicus,
page 144.

458 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D. 1386 — 92.
(called " couples " in building,) to speak his skill in archi
tecture. 29, A Castle-College designed for Defence-
This college he built very strong, out of a design that it should
be able to hold out a siege of itself,* if need so required it ; though
may it never have a temptation in that kind, to try the strength of
the walls thereof ! Indeed, this college, with Bourges in France,
may lay claim to the name of Bituris : — Turribus a binis .inde
vocor Bituris : so called from " two towers " therein, as this
hath the like ; one over the gate, the other over the porch in the
entrance into the hall ; so that it may seem a castle-college, and
made as well for defence as habitation. So that at this present is
maintained therein, a Warden, seventy Fellows and Scholars, ten
Chaplains, three Clerks, one Organist, sixteen Choristers, besides
Officers and Servants of the foundation, with other Students, being
in all one hundred thirty-five,
30, A College at Winchester built also by Bishop Wickham,
A.D. 1392,
Pass we now from his orchard of grown trees, to his nursery of
grafts, — the college at Winchester, which, few years after, the same
bishop finished ; not much inferior to the former for building and
endowments, as wherein he established one Warden, ten Fellows,
two Schoolmasters^ and seventy Scholars, with Officers and Servants,
which are all maintained at his charge ; out of which school he
ordained should be chosen the best scholars always to supply the
vacant places of the Fellows of this college,
31, His Care for his Kindred.
As his charity so his faith (" he that provideth not for his house
is worse than an infidel ") appeared in this his foundation ; ordering
that his own kinsmen should be preferred before others. Let their
parents therefore but provide for their nursing when infants, their
breeding when children, and he hath taken order for their careful
teaching at Winchester, when youth ; liberal living at Oxford,
when men ; and comfortable subsistence in their reduced age, in
those many and good patronages he hath conferred on the college.
And, truly, as these his kindred have been happy in him, sp
Wickham hath been happy in his kindred ; many of them meriting
the best preferment, without any advantage of his relation. And
.as this Wickham was the first in that kind so provident for his
kindred, his practice hath since been precedential to some other
* i^o say the Statutes of tins College.

16 RICHARD IT. BOOK IV. CENT. XIV. 459
colleges, as the statutes of this House are generally a direction to
other later foundations. To take our leave of this bishop : Who
soever considers the vast buildings and rich endowments made by
this prelate, beside his expense in repairing the cathedral at Win
chester, will conclude such achievements unpossible for a subject,
until he reflect on his vast offices of preferments, being bishop
of Winchester, rector of St. Martin's-le-Grand, holding twelve
prebends in commendam with it, lord privy-seal, chancellor,
and treasurer of England ; besides other places of meaner con
sequence. Wardens. — Richard Toneworth, Nicholas Wickham, Thomas
Cranely, Richard Malforde, John Bowke, William Escot, Nicholas
Osylbury, Thomas Chaundler, Walter Hill, William Porter, John
Reade, John Younge, John London, Henry Cole, Ralph Skinner,
Thomas White, Martin Culpepper, George Rives, Arthur Lake,
Robert Pink, Henry Stringer, George Marshall.
Benefactors, — Mr, Rawlins, Sir Richard Read, knight,
Dr. Newman, Dr. Reeve, Warden, Dr. Martin, Robert Bell,
Dr. Smith.
Bishops. — William Warham, archbishop of Canterbury ; Wil
liam Wainflete, bishop of Winchester ; John White, bishop of
Winchester ; Thomas Bilson, bishop of Winchester ; William
Knight, bishop of Bath and Wells ; James Turberville, bishop of
Exeter ; Robert Sherboume, bishop of Chichester ; Arthur Lake,
bishop of Bath and Wells.
Learned WniTERs.-r-Thomas Harding, Thomas Nele,
Nicholas Sanders, Nicholas Harpsfield, William Reynolds,*
Thomas Hide, John Marshall, Thomas Stapleton, John Fenne,
Richard White,-)- John Pits ; all violent maintainers of the popish
religion. Sir Henry Wotton ; Dr. Tooker, dean of Lichfield ;
Dr. James Cook, archdeacon of Winchester ; Sir Thomas Rives,
(beside other elegant works,) for his " Vicar's Plea ;" Sir James
Hassee ; Sir Henry Martin ; Dr. Merideth, dean of Wells ;
Arthur Lake, bishop of Bath and Wells ; William Twisse ; John
White. One may defy the suspicion of flattery, if adding Dr. Harris, the
reverend Warden of Winchester ; Dr. Richard Zouch, not
beholden to his noble extraction for his repute, founded on his
own worth, and books reprinted beyond the seas ; Dr. Merick,
late judge of the prerogative ; but it is better to leave the
characters of their worth to the thankfulness of the next age to
describe. • He was brother to Dr. John Reynolds the great Protestant. t He wrote a
History of England.

460 CHURCH history of BRITAIN. A.D

1393.

32. Good Laws in due Season. A.D. 1393.
Lately the pope's usurpation was grown so great in intrenching
on the crown, that there was an absolute necessity seasonably lo
retrench his usurpation. For albeit the kings of England were
as absolute in their domains, their prelacy and clergy as learned,
' their nobility as valiant and prudent, their commons as free and
wealthy, as any in Christendom ; yet had not some Laws of Provi
sion now been made, England had long since been turned part of
St. Peter's patrimony in domains : yea, the sceptre wrested out
of their kings' hands, her prelates made the pope's chaplains
and clerks, nobility his servants and vassals, commons his slaves
and villains, had not some seasonable Statutes of Manumission
been enacted.
33. The Maul-Popes' Statute of Prmmvnire.
For now came the Parliament wherein the statute was enacted,
which mauled the papal power in England. Some former laws had
pared the pope's nails to the quick ; but this cut off his fingers, in
effect, so that hereafter his hands could not grasp and hold such vast
sums of money as before. This is called " the Statute of
PREMUNIRE ;" and let not the reader grudge the reading thereof,
which gave such a blow to the church of Rome, that it never reco
vered itself in this land, but daily decayed till its final destruction.
" Whereas the Commons of the realm in this present Parliament
have sued to our redoubted lord the king, grievously complaining,
that whereas the said our lord the king and all his liege people,
ought of right, and of old time were wont, to sue in the king's court,
to recover their presentments to churches, prebends, and other
benefices of holy church, to the which they had right to present, the
cognizance of plea of which presgptment belongeth only to the king's
court, of the old right of his crown, used and approved in the time
of all his progenitors, kings of England : And when judgment shall
be given in the same court upon such a plea and presentment, the
archbishops, bishops, and other spiritual persons, which have institu
tion of such benefices within their jurisdictions, be bound and have
made execution of such judgments by the king's commandments of
all the time aforesaid, without interruption, (for another lay person
cannot make such execution,) and also be bound of right to make
execution of many other of the king's commandments, of which right
the crown of England hath been peaceably seized, as well in the
time of our said lord the king that now is, as in the time of all his
progenitors till this day. But now of late divers processes be made
by tiie bishop of Rome, and censures of excommunication upon

16 RICHARD II. BOOK IV. CENT. XIV. 461
certain bishops of England, because they have made execution of
such commandments, to the open disherison of the said crown, and
destruction of our said lord the king, his law, and all his realm, if
remedy be not provided. And also it is said, and a common
clamour is made, that the said bishop of Rome hath ordained and
purposed to translate, some prelates of the same realm, some out of
the realm, and some from one bishopric into another within the same
realm, without the king's assent and knowledge, and without the
assent of the prelates which so shall be translated, which prelates be
much profitable and necessary to our said lord the king, and to all
his realm : By which translations, (if they should be suffered,) the
statutes of the realm should be defeated and made void, and his said
liege sages of his Council without his assent, and against his will,
carried away and gotten out of his realm, and the substance and
treasure of the realm shall be carried away, and so the realm desti
tute as well of counsel as of substance, to the final destruction of
the same realm. And so the crown of England which hath been so
free at all times, that it hath been in no earthly subjection, but
immediately subject to God in all things touching the reality of the
same crown, and to none other, should be submitted to the pope,
and the laws and statutes of the realm by him defeated, and avoided
at his wiU, in the perpetual destruction of the sovereignty of the
king, our lord, his crown, his regality, and of all his realm, which
God defend.
" And moreover the Commons aforesaid say, that the things so
attempted be clearly against the king's crown and regality, used and
approved of the tiiije of all his progenitors. Wherefore they, and
all the liege Commons of the same realm, will stand with our said
lord the king, and his said crown, and his regality, in the cases
aforesaid, and in all other cases attempted against him, his crown,
and his reality, in all points, to live and to die. And moreover
they pray the king, and him require by way of justice, that he would
examine all the lords in Parliament, as well spiritual as temporal,
severally, and all the States of the Parliament, how they think of
the cases aforesaid, which be so openly against the king's crown, and
in derogation of his regality, and how they will stand in the same
cases with our lord the king, in upholding the rights of the said
crown and regality. Whereupon the lords temporal, so demanded,
have answered every one by himself, that the cases aforesaid be
clearly in derogation of the king's crown, and of his regality, as it is
well known, and hath been of a long time known, and that they will
be with the same crown and regality, in these cases especially, and
in all other cases which shall be attempted against the same crown
and regality, in all points with all their power. And moreover it

462 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1393.
was demanded of the lords spiritual there being, and the procurators
of others being absent, their advice and will in all these cases, which
lords, that is to say, the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates,
being in the said Parliament severally examined, making protesta
tions, that it is not their mind to deny nor affirm, that the bishop
of Rome may not excommunicate bishops, nor that he may make
translation of prelates, that if any execution of processes, made in
the king's court (as before) be made by any, and censures of excom
munication to be made against any bishops of England, or any other
of the king's liege people, for that they have made execution of such
commandments, and that if any executions of such translations be
made of any prelates of the same realm, which prelates be very pro
fitable and necessary to our said lord the king and to his said realm,
or that the sage people of his council without his assent, and against
his will, be removed and carried out of the realm, so that the sub
stance and treasure of the realm may be consumed, that the same is
against the king and his crown, as it is contained in the petition
before-named. And likewise the same procurators every one by
himself, examined upon the said matters, have answered and said in
the name and for their lords, as the said bishops have said and
answered, knd that the said lords spiritual will, and ought to be with
the king in these cases, in lawfully maintaining of his crown, and in
all other cases touching his crown, and his regality, as they be bound
by their liegeance [allegiance]. Whereupon our said lord the king,
by the assent aforesaid, and at the request of his said Commons,
hath ordained and established, that if any purchase, or pursue, or
cause to be purchased or pursued in the court of Rome, or else
where, any such translations, processes, sentences of excommunica
tions, bulls, instruments, or any other things whatsoever, which touch
the king, against him, his crown and his regality, or his realm, as is
aforesaid ; and they which bring within the realm, or them receive,
or make thereof notification, or any other execution whatsoever
within the same realm or without, that they, their notaries, pro
curators, maintainers, abettors, fautors, and counsellors, shall be put
out of the king's protection, and their lands and tenements, goods
and chattels, forfeit to our lord the king ; and that they be attached
by their bodies, if they may be found, and brought before the king
and his council, there to answer to the cases aforesaid, or that pro
cess be made against them, by Prcemunire facias, in manner as it
is ordained in other Statutes of Provisors : and other which do sue
in any other court in derogation of the regality of our lord the
king."

16 RICHARD II, BOOK IV. CENT. XIV. 463
34. The Occas-lon of this Statute.
Something of the occasion, name, and use of this statute : The
first is notoriously known from the papal encroachments on the
crown. No bishopric, abbacy, dignity, or rectory, of value in
England, was likely to fall but a successor in reversion was, by the
pope's « provisions," fore-appointed for the same. To make sure
work, rather than they would adventure to take the place at the first
rebound, they would catch it before it lit on the ground. This was
imputed to the pope's abundance (yea, superfluity) of care ne detur
vacuum in the church ; and rather than a widow-benefice should
mourn itself to death, a second husband had his license for marriage
before the former was deceased. But great parishes, where small
the profit and numerous the people, and where, indeed, greatest
care ought to be had of their souls, were past by in the pope's
Bulls ; his Holiness making no " provisions " for those livings,
which livings had no " provisions " for his Holiness.
.35. Why called Pr.^munire.
Some will have it called Prcsmunire, from fencing or fortifying
the regal power from foreign assaults ; as indeed this was one of the
best bulwarks and sconces of sovereignty : others, that Prcsmunire
signifieth the crown fortified before the making of this statute, as
fixing no new force therein, but only declaring a precedent and
foregoing just right and due thereof. Others conceive the word
Presmonere turned, by corruption of barbarous transcribers, inter
preters, and pronouncers, into Prcemunire. Others allege the
figure of the effect for the cause, and the common proverb, Pree-
monitus, Presmunitus. Most sure it is that Prcsmunire facias
are operative words, in the form of the writ grounded on the statute,
which may give denomination to the whole.
36. Pope's Covetousness odious to the Clergy-
It may seem strange such a statute could pass in Parliament,
where almost sixty spiritual barons (bishops and abbots) voted
according to papal interest ; except any will say, that such who
formerly had much of a pope in their bellies had now more of
patriots in their breast, being weary of Rome's exactions. Indeed,
no man in place of power or profit loves to behold himself buried
alive, by seeing his successor assigned unto him, which caused all
clergymen to hate such superinductions, and many friends to the
pope were foes to his proceedings therein.
37- The Pope's Letter against this Statute-
This law angered all the veins in the heart of his Holiness : the
statute of Mortmain put him into a sweat, but this into the fit of a

464 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1393,
fever. The former concerned him only mediately in the abbeys his
darlings ; this touched him in his person : and how choleric he was,
will appear by the following letter, here inserted (though written
some fifty years after) to make the story entire : —
Martinus episcopus, servus servorum Dei, dilecto fil'io nobili
viro Johann'i, Dud Bedford, salutem et apostolicam benedic-
tionem. — Quamvis dudum in regno Anglia, jurisdictio Romana
ecclesia, et libertas ecclesiastica fuei-it oppressa, vigore illius
EXECRABiLis STATUTi, quod omui divina et humaria ratloni
contrarium est: tamen adhuc non fuit ad tantam violentiam
prolapsum, ut in sedis apostolica nuncios et legatos manus
temere mitterentur ; sicut novissime factum est in persona dilecti
fllii Johannis lie Oisis palatii apostolici causarum auditoris, ef in
prafato regno nuntii, et collectoris nostri, quem audivimus ex hdc
sold causd, quod literas apostolicas nostro nomine prasentabat,
fuisse per aliquos de ipso regno carceribus mancipatum. Qua
injuria nobis, et apostolica sedi illata, animum nostrum cff'ecit
admiratione, turbatione, et molesfid singulari. Miramur enim,
stupescimus, et dolemus, quod tam f(edum et tvrpe facinvs
in illo regno commissum sit, contra sedem B. Petri, et nuntios
ejus, prasertim cum Utera ilia nostra, nil aliud quam salutem
animarum, honorem regni, et per omnia paternus et sanctas
admonitiones continerent. Fuit enim semper etiam apud Geii-
tiles, qui nullam tenebant vera fldei rationem inviolabile nomen
tiuNCii ; atque legati etiamsi ab hostib us mitterentur semper
salvi, et hodie apud Saracenos et Turcos, a quibusdam tuti
destinantur legut'iones et Utera ; etiamsi dlis ad quos deferuntur
molesta sint et injuriosa. Et nuncius noster, vir humanus et
moderalus, et continud conversntione notissimus in regno Anglia,
quod devotione fldei, et cultu divino se jactat omnes alias Chris
tianas rationes superare turpiter captus est, nihil imp'ium, nee
hostile deferens, sed literas saluta/es et justas. Sed revereantur
aliquando illi qui sic contumaciter et superbe ecclesiam Dei
coHtemneid, et sedis apostolica authoritatem, ne super ipsos
eveniat justa pumtio, ex Christi judicio, qui cam instituit
et findavit. Caveant ne tot cumulatis offensis Deum irrifent
ad ultionem, et tarditatem supplicii gravitate compensetif, Non
videbatur eis satis offendisse Deum siatuta condendo contra
v'lcar'ium ejus, contra ecclesiam ef ecclesia caput, nisi pertinaciter
perseverantcs in malo proposito, in nuntium apostolicum v'wlentas
manus inj'icerent? Quod non dubitamus ttta excellentia, qua
ecclesia et regni honorem diligit, displicere, et certi sumns quod
si fuisses in Anglid, pro tud naturali prndentid, et pro flde et
devotione quam geres erga nos, et ecclesiam Dei, illos incurrere

16

RICHARD II. BOOK IV. CENT. XIV. 465

tn hunc furorem nuUatenus permisisses. Verilm cum non solum
ipsis qui hoc fecerunt, sed toti regno magna accederiiignominia,
et dietim, si perseverabit in errore, accessura sit major ,• gene-
rositatem tuam, in qua valde confldemus, exhortamur, et affectuose
rogamus, ut circa hac prov'idea,<t, prout sapientia tua videbitur,
houori nostro, et ecclesiee, ac saluti regni convenire. Datum
Roma apud Sanctos Apostolos, VI Kal. Junii, pontificatus nostri
anno 12mo.*
Give winners leave to laugh, and losers to speak, or else both will
take leave to themselves. The less the pope could bite, the more
he roared, and, as it appears by his language, he was highly offended
thereat. This penal statute as a rod was for many years laid upon
the desk, or rather locked up in the cupboard ; no great visible
use being made thereof, until the reign of king Henry VIII.
whereof hereafter. 38. More scared than hurt.
Since the Reformation,, the professors of the common law have
taken much advantage out of this statute, threatening therewith such
as are active in the ecclesiastical jurisdictions, as if their dealings
tended to be the disherison of the crown ; a weapon wherewith they
have rather fiourished than struck, it being suspicious, that that
appearing sword is but all hilt whose blade was never drawn out, as
this charge hath never been driven home against them. But, herein
let us hearken to the learned judgment of Sir Thomas Smith,
secretary of state, who well knew the interest of his sovereign
therein, 39. Sir Thomas Smith's Judgment herein.
"Because the court, which is called curia Christianitatis, is
yet taken "for an extern and foreign court, and differeth from the
polity and manner of government of the realm, and is another court,
as appeareth by the Act and Writ of Prsemunire, than curia regis
aut regincB ; yet, at this present, this court, as well as others, hath
her force, power, authority, rule, and jurisdiction from the royal
majesty and the crown of England, and from no other foreign
potentate or power, under God ; which being granted, as indeed it
is true, it may now appear by some reason, that the first statute of
Prfemunire, whereof I have spoken, hath now no place in England,
seeing there is no pleading alibiquam in curid regis ac regince."-^ —
All I will add'of this statute is this : That it hath had the hard hap
• The original of this Bill was in the study of Sir Nicholas Bacon, lord chancellor,
whence the archbishop of Armagh had this his copy, from which that of Sir Robert
Cotton is derived. t Commonwealth of England, book iii. chap. II,
Vol, I. H H

CHURCH HIST'DRY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1393  97-
not to be honoured with so many readings therein, as other statutes ;
perhaps because not bringing in icpoo-aX^iTfl!, in proportion to the
pains which must be laid out thereon ; and therefore I would invite
some ingenious in our common law, (and with such no doubt it
aboundeth,) to bestow their learned endeavours thereon, to their
own honour, and advancement of the truth in so noble a subject.
40. The solemn Form of an Abjuration, A. D. 1395-
Many poor souls at this time were, by fear or flattery, moved to
abjure the truth, and promise future conformity to the church of
Rome, In proof whereof, let not the reader think much to peruse
the following instruments : First, For the authenticness thereof,
being truly copied out of the originals of the Tower. Secondly.
Because it contains some extraordinary formalities of abjuration.
Lastly. Because the four persons mentioned therein have escaped
Mr. Pox's observation, seeing no drag-net can be so carefully cast
as to catch all things which come under it.
" Memorand. quod pr'imo die Septembris, anno regni regis
Richardi Secundi post Conquestum decimo-nono Will. Dynet,
Nic. Taillour, Nic. Poucher, et Will. Steynour de Notyngham,
in cancellar. ipsius regis per,sonaliter constituti sacra divisirti
prestiterunt sub eo qui sequitur tenor e : — *
" I, William Dynet, be-for yhow worshipefull father and lord
archbishop of Yhorke, and yhother clergie with my free will and
full avysede swere to God and to all his sayntes upon this holy-
Gospells, yat fro this day forwarde I shall worship ymages with
preying and offeryng unto hem in the worschep of the sayntes that
yey be made after. And alsoe I shall never more despise pygre-
mage ne states of holy chyrche, in no degree. And alsoe I shall
be buxum to the laws of holy chyrche and to yhowe as myn arch
bishop, and to myn oyer ordinares and curates, and kepe yo lawes
upon my power and meynten hem. And alsoe I shall never more
meynten, ne tochen, ne defenden errours, conclusions, ne techynges
of the Lollardes, ne swych conclusions and techynges that men
clepyth Lollardes doctryn, ne I shall her bokes, Ne swych bokes
ne hem or any suspeict or diffamede of Lolardery resceyve, or com
pany withall wyttyngly or defende in yo matters, and yf I know ony
swich, I shall wyth all the haste that y may do yhowe or els your
ner officers to wyten, and of her bokes. And also I shall excite
and stirre all you to goode doctryn yat I have hindered with myn
doctryn up my power, and also I shall stonde to your declaracion
wych es heresy or errour and do therafter. And also what penance
yhe woll for yat I have don for meyntenyng of this false doctryn in
• Ex Rotulo Clausar. de anno regni regis decimo-nono Ricardi II, memb. 18,

21 RICHARD II, BOOK IV. CENT, XIV. 467
mynd mee and I shall fulfill it, and I submit me yer to up my
power, and also I shall make no othir glose of this my oth, bot as
ye wordes stonde, and if it be so that I come againe or doe again
this oath or eny party thereof I yhelde me here cowpable as an
heretyk, and to be punyshed be the lawe as an heretyk, and to forfet
all my godes to the kynges will withowten any othir processe of
lawe, and'yerto I require ye notarie to make of all this, ye whych is
my will, an instrument agayns me.
" Et ex habundanti idem Will, Dynet eodem die voluit et recog-
novit quod omnia bona et caialla sua mobilia nobis sintforisfca iti
casu quo ipse jur amentum pradictum seu aliqua in eodem juria-
menio contenta de cetera contruvenerit alio modo."
41, Take it, Faults and all.
We have here exemplified this abjuration just according to the
originals, with all the faults and pseudography thereof. For I
remember, in my time, an under-clerk at court threatened to
be called before the Green-Cloth for an innovation from former
bills, though only writing sinapi with an s, contrary to the common
custom of the clerks of the kitchen, formerly writing of it with a c :
so wedded are some men to old orders, and so dangerous in their
judgment is the least deviation from them !
42, Some Observations on this Abjuration.
The archbishop of York mentioned therein was Thomas Arundel,
then chancellor of England ; and in all probability tiiis instrument
was dated at York, For I find that at this very time, Thomas
Arundel, to humble the Londoners, (then reputed disaffected to the
king,) removed the terms and courts to York,* where they con
tinued for some short time, and then returned to their ancient course.
Whereas he is enjoined point-blank to worship images, it seemeth
that the modern nice distinction of worshipping of saints iN
IMAGES was not yet in fashion. It appeareth herein that relapse
after abjuration was not as yet (as afterwards) punishable with death,
but only with forfeiture of goods to the crown,
43, 44, 45, The Death of John de Trevisa ; who translated
the Bible into English, yet escaped Persecution. A.D. 1397-
This year a godly, learned, and aged servant of God ended his
days ; namely, John de Trevisa, a gentieman of an ancient family,t
(bearing Gules, a Garbe, Or,) born at Crocadon in Cornwall, a
secular priest, and vicar of Berkeley ; a painful and faithful translator
. Godwin in his " Catalogue of the Ai-chbishops of York." t Carew's " Survey
of Cornwall," page 114. ^

468 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1397 9-
of many and great books into English, as " Polychronicon," written
by Ranulphus of Chester, Bartholomseus De Rerum Proprietatibus,
&c. But his master-piece was the translating of the Old and New
Testament ; justifying his act herein by the example of Bede, who
turned the Gospel of St, John in English,
I know not which more to admire, his ability, that he could
— ^his courage, that he durst — or his industry, that he did— perform
so difficult and dangerous a task ; having no other commission than
the command of his patron, Thomas Lord Berkeley : * which lord,
as the said Trevisa observeth,t had the Apocalypse in Latin and
French, then generally understood by the better sort as well as
English, written on the roof and walls of his chapel at Berkeley ; and
which not long since, (namely, anno 1622,) so remained, as not
much defaced. Whereby we may observe, that, midnight being
past, some early risers even then began to strike fire, and enlighten
themselves from the Scriptures,
It may seem a miracle, that the bishops being thus busy in per
secuting God's servants, and Trevisa so obnoxious to their fury for
this translation, that he lived and died without any molestation.
Yet was he a known enemy to monkery; witness that (among
many other) of his speeches, that he " had read how Christ had sent
apostles and priests into the world, but never any monks or begging
friars,"! But, whether it was out of reverence to his own aged
gravity, or respect to his patron's greatness, he died full of honour,
quiet, and age, littie less than ninety years old. For, 1, He ended
his translation of " Polychronicon," (as appeareth by the conclusion
thereof,) the 29th of Edward III, when he cannot be presumed
less than thirty years of age, 2, He added to the end thereof,
fifty (some say more)§ years of his own historical observations.
Thus as he gave a Garbe or Wheat-sheaf for his arms, so, to use
the prophet's expression, " the Lord gathered him as a sheaf into the
floor," Micah iv, 12, even full ripe and ready for the same,
46, 47, 48, 49. As did his Contemporary Geoffery Chaucer.
His Parentage and Arms. He refined our English Tongue.
A great Enemy to Friars. A.D. 1399.
We may couple with him his contemporary, Geoffery Chaucer,
born (some say) in Berkshire, others in Oxfordshire, most and truest
in London, If the Grecian Homer had seven, let our English have
three places contest for his nativity. Our Homer, I say ; only herein
he differed : Mesonides nullas ipse reliquit opes : " Homer hini-
* Bal,!EUS De Script. Angl. cent, vii. num. 18. t " Polychronicon," fol, 2,
X Bal,eiis, ut prius. § Pitzjsus De Script. Angl.

23 RICHARD II, BOOK IV, CENT, XIV, 469
self did leave no pelf:" whereas our Chaucer left behind him a rich
and worshipful estate.
His father was a vintner in London ; and I have heard his arms
quarrelled at, being Argent and Gules strangely contrived, and hard
to be blazoned. Some more wits have made it the dashing of white
and red wine, (the parents of our ordinary claret,) as nicking his
father's profession. But were Chaucer alive, he would justify his
own arms in the face of all his opposers, being not so devoted to the
Muses, but he was also a son of Mars. He was the prince of
English poets ; mamed the daughter of Pain Roec, king of arms
in France, and sister to the wife of John of Gaunt, king of Castile,
TT
He was a great refiner and illuminer of our English tongue ; and,
if he left it so bad, how much worse did he find it ! Witness
Leland thus praising him : —
PrtBdicat Algeruvi marito Fiorentia Dantem,
Italia et numeros tota, Petrarche, tuos.
Anglia Chaucerum veneratur nostra Poetam,
Cui Veneres debet patria lingua suas.
" Of Alger Danfs, Florence doth justly boast,
Of Petrarch brags all the Italian coast.
England doth poet Chaucer reverence,
To whom our language owes its eloqtience."
Indeed, Verstegan, a learned antiquary,* condemns him, for
spoiling the purity of the English tongue, by the mixture of so many
French and, Latin words. But he who mingles wine with water,
though he destroys the nature of water, improves the quality thereof,
I find this Chaucer fined in the Temple two shillings for striking
a Franciscan friar in Fleet-street ; and it seems his hands ever after
itched to be revenged, and have his pennyworths out of them, so
tickling religious Orders with his tales, and yet so pinching them
with his truths, that friars, in reading his books, know not how to
dispose their faces betwixt crying and laughing. He lies buried in
the south aisle of St, Peter's, Westminster ; and since hath got the
company of Spencer and Drayton, a pair royal of poets, enough
almost to make passengers' feet to move metrically, who go over the
place where so much poetical dust is interred,
50, 51, 52, 53. A short Quiet in the Church. The Character
of Richard II. Conspired against by Henry IV. and
resigneth the Crown.
Since the abjuration last exemplified, we meet in this king's reign
no more persecution from the bishops. We impute this, not to
their pity, but other employment,— now busy in making their
• In his '.' Restitution of decayed Intelligence," page 203.

470 CHURCH HISTOKY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1399.
applications to the new king, on the change of government, king
Richard being now deposed.
He was one of a goodly person, of a nature neither good nor bad
bjit according to his company, which commonly were of the more
vicious. His infancywas educated under several lord Protectors
successively, under whom his intellectuals thrived, as babes battle
with many nurses, commonly the worse for the change. At last he
grew up to full age and empty mind, judicious only in pleasure,
giving himself over to all licentiQusness.
As king Richard was too weak to govern ; so Henry duke of
Lancaster, his cousin-german, was too wilful to be governed. Taking
advantage therefore of the king's absence in Ireland, he combined
with other of the discontented nobility, and draws up articles against
him ; some true, some false, some both ; as wherein truth brought
the matter, and malice made the measure. Many misdemeanours
(more misfortunes) are laid to his charge, — murdering the nobility,
advancing of worthless minions, sale of justice, oppression of all
people with unconscionable taxations. For, such princes as carry a
fork in one hand must bear a rake in the other ; and must covet
ously scrape to maintain what they causelessly scatter.
Looseness brings men into straits at last, as king Richard may be
an instance thereof. Returning into England, he is reduced to this
doleful dilemma, — either voluntarily, by resigning, to depose himself;
or violently, by detrusion, to be deposed by others. - His misery
and his enemies' ambition admit of no expedient. Yea, in all this
act his little judgment stood only a looker-on, whilst his fear did
what was to be done, diriscted by the force of others. In hopes of
life, he solemnly resigneth the crown ; but all in vain. For, cruel
thieves seldom rob but they also kill ; and king Henry his successor
could not meet with a soft pillow so long as the other wore a warm
head. Whereupon, not long after, king Richard was barbarously
murdered at Pontefract Castle, But of these transdctions the
reader may satisfy himself at large out of our civil historians.
54, The Baseness of the disloyal Clergy.
Only we will add, that the clergy were the first that led this
dance of disloyalty, Thomas Arundel, now arghbishop of Canter
bury, in the room of William Courtenay deceased, made a sermon
on Samuel's words, Vir dominabitur populo. He showed himself
a satirist in the former, a parasite in the latter part of his sermon, a
traitor in both. He aggravated the childish weakness of king
Richard, and his inability to govern ; magnifying the parts and per
fections of Henry duke of Lancaster, But, by the archbishop's
leave, grant Richard either deservedly deposed or naturally dead

2 HENRY IV. BOOK IV. CENT. XIV. 471
without issue, the right to the crown lay not in this Henry, but in
Roger Mortimer, eari of March, descended, by his mother Philippa,
from Lionel, duke of Clarence, elder son to Edward III. This the
archbishop did willingly conceal. Thus in all state-alterations, be
they never so bad, the pulpit will be of the same wood with the
council-board. And thus ambitious clergymen abuse the silver
trumpets of the sanctuary ; who, reversing tliem, and putting the
wrong end into their mouths, make what was appointed to sound
religion to signify rebellion.
55, 56, 57, 58, 59, The courageous Conscience of the Bishop of
Carlisle. Innocency the best Armour. Activity will be
tampering. A Bishop not triable by his Peers. A season
able Expedient. A.D. 1400,
But whilst all other churches in England rung congratulatory
peals to king Henry's happiness, one jarring bell almost marred the
melody of all the rest, even Thomas Merks, bishop of Carlisle,
For, when the lords in Parliament, not content to depose king
Richard, were devising more mischief against him, up steps the
aforesaid bishop, formerly chaplain to the king, and expresseth him
self as followeth : — " There is no man present worthy to pass his
sentence on so great a king, as to whom they have obeyed as their
lawful prince, full two-and-twenty years. This is the part of
traitors, cut-throats, and thieves. None is so wicked, none so vile,
who, though he be charged with a manifest crime, we should think
to condemn before we heard hirn. And you, — do ye account it
equal to pass sentence on a king anointed and crowned, giving him
no leave to defend himself ? How unjust is this ! But let us con
sider the matter itself I say, nay, openly affirm, that Henry duke
of Lancaster, whom you are pleased to call your king, hath most
unjustly spoiled Richard, as well his sovereign as ours, of his
kingdom,"* More would he have spoken, when the Lord Marshal
enjoined him silence, for speaking too much truth in so dangerous a
time. Since, it seems, some historians have made up what more he
would have said, spinning these his heads into a very large oration,
though tedious to none save those of the Lancastrian faction.
Here, if- ever, did the proverb take effect, " Truth may be
blamed, but cannot be shamed ;" for, although the rest of the
bishops, being guilty themselves, condemned him, as discovering
more convent-devotion (who originally was a monk of Westminster)
than court discretion, in dissenting from his brethren ; yet generally
he was beheld as loyalty's confessor, speaking what became his
calling, in discharge of his conscience. Yea, for the present,
* Bishop Godwin in the Bishops of Carlisle.

472 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A,D, 1400 — 8,
such the reverence to his integrity, no punishment was imposed
upon him.
Merks was conceived, in the judgment of most moderate men,
abundantly to have satisfied his conscience with his speech in Parlia^
ment. But how hard is it to stop an active soul in its full speed .'
He thought himself ^ound, not only to speak, but do, yea, and
suffer too, if called thereunto, for his sovereign. This moved him
to engage with Henry Hotspur, and other discontented lords,
against king Henry ; on whose defeat, this bishop was taken prisoner,
and judicially arraigned for high treason.
This is one of the clearest distinguishing characters betwixt the
temporal and spiritual lords, — that the former are to be tried per
pares, " by their peers," being barons of the realm ; the latter are
by law and custom allowed a trial only by a jury of able and sub
stantial persons. Such men found bishop Merks guilty of treason,
for which he was condemned and sent prisoner to St. Alban's.*
The king would gladly have had a fair riddance of this bishop,
whom he could not with credit keep here, nor send hence ; as to
deprive him of life, it was dangerous in those days, when some
sacredness was believed inherent in episcopal persons. Here his
Holiness helped the king with an handsome expedient to salve all
matters, by removing Merks to be bishop of Samos, in Grecia.-f-
I find three Grecian islands of the same name, and a critic J com
plaineth they are often confounded. The best is, it is not much
material of which of them Merks was made bishop, ha'ving only a
title (to starve in state) without a penny profit thereby. But
before his translation was completed, he was translated into another
world,

SECTION II.
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY,
TO SIR GERARD NAPIEE, OF DORSETSHIRE,
BARONET.
I HAVE read that a statute vpas made to retrench the
number of great men keeping their retainers, in the
reign of king Henry VII. and that politicly done, in
those mutinous times, to prevent commotions, lest
* Mr. Selden in a late small " Treatise of Parliaments." -f Godwin in his
Bishops. X Cabolus Stephanus in Dictionario Poetico.

10 HENRY IV. BOOK IV, CENT, XV, 473
some popular person should raise a little army, under
the covert of his great attendance : a law improved to
rigour, though certainly (as all other penal statutes)
intended but to terror; insomuch that the earl of
Oxford, more meriting of king Henry VII, than any
other subject, was even delivered to the king's attor
ney,* and, as report saith, fined fifteen thousand marks
for exceeding the proportion legally allowed,
I confess, we live in as dangerous days, and afford
ing as great jealousies, as those. But I have cause to
be right glad, (as deeply concerned therein,) that
though a statute hath forbidden many to depend on
one, none hath prohibited one to depend on many
patrons ; but any author of a book may multiply them
sans-nnmher, as driving on no hurtful design, but only
the protection of his own endeavours.
On this account I tender these my labours unto you,
knowing the very name of Napier acceptable to all
scholars, ever since the learned laird of Marchistown
(no stranger to your blood, as I am informed) by his
logarithms contracted the pains, and so by consequence
prolonged the time and life, of all employed in nume
ration.
1. King Henry bloody against poor Christians, yet asserts liis
regal Power against the Pope's Encroacliments. A.D. 1408,
King Henry being conscious that he had got and did keep the
crown by a bad title, counted it his wisest way to comply with the
clergy, whose present power was not only useftil but needful for
him. To gain their favour, he lately enacted bloody laws for the
extirpation of poor Christians, under the false notion of heretics,
condemning them to be burnt ; f a torment unheard-of in such
cases till that time : and yet it appeareth, that the pope, in this age,
was not possessed of so full power in England, whatsoever thfe
catholics pretend, but that this politic prince kept the reins, though
loose, in his own hand. For, in this time it was resolved,+ " that
the pope's collector, though he had the pope's Bull for that purpose,
had no jurisdiction within this realm ; and that the archbishops and
bishops of England were the spiritual judges in the king's behalf,"
• LOKD Verltlam in his " Life," page 211. -f Statute 2 of Henry IV. cap, 15.
t 1 Henry IV. fol. 19.

474 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1408.
As it was also enacted,* " if any person of religion obtained of the
bishop of Rome to be exempt from obedience, regular or ordinary,
he was in premunire." Yea, this very statute, which gave power to
a bishop in his diocess to condemn a heretic, plainly proveth, that
the king by consent of parliament directed the proceedings of the
ecclesiastical court, in cases of heresy ; so that the pope, even in
matters of spiritual cognizance, had no power over the lives of
English subjects.
2. William Sautre the Proto-Martyr of English Protestants.
The first on whom this cruel law was hanselled, was William
Sautre, formerly parish-priest of St, Margaret, in the town of Lynn,
but since of St, Osyth in the city of London, This was he whose
faith fought the first duel with fire itself, and overcame it. Abel
was the first martyr of men, St. Stephen the first of Christian men,
St. Alban the first of British Christians, and this Sautre the first of
English Protestants, as by prolepsis I may term them. Scriveners
use with gaudy flourishes to deck and garnish the initial characters
of copies ; which superfluous pains may be spared by us, in adorn
ing this leading letter in the pattern of patience, seeing it is
conspicuous enough in itself, dyed red with its own blood. Some
charge this Sautre with fear and fickleness, because formerly he had
abjured those articles for which afterwards he died before the bishop
of Norwich. But let those who severely censure him for once
denying the truth, and do know who it. was that denied his Master
thrice, take heed they do not as bad a deed more than /owr times
themselves. May Sautre's final constancy be as surely practised by
men, as his former cowardliness, no doubt, is pardoned by God !
Eight errors were laid to his charge in order as followeth : —
1, Imprimis, He saith, that he will not worship the cross on
which Christ suffered, but only Christ that suffered upon the cross,
2, Item, That he would sooner worship a temporal king than the
aforesaid wooden cross, 3, Item, That he would rather worship
the bodies of the saints than the very cross of Christ on which he
hung, if it were before him, 4, Item, That he would rather wor
ship a man truly contrite than the cross of Christ, 5, Item, That
he is bound rather to worship a man that is predestinate than an
ange] of God, 6, Item, That if any man would visit the monuments
of Peter and Paul, or go on pilgrimage to the tomb of St, Thomas,
or any whither else, for the obtaining of any temporal benefit, he is
not bound to keep his vow, but may distribute the expenses of his
VOW upon the alms of the poor, 7- Item, That every priest and
deacon is more bound to preach the word of God than to say the
" Statute 2 Henry IV, cap. 3,

lo HENRY IV, BOOK IV, CENT, XV, 475
canonical hours. 8. Item, That after the pronouncing of the
sacramental words of the body of Christ, the bread remaineth of
the same nature that it was before, neither doth it cease to be
bread." 3, Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, solemnly
pronounceth Sautre an Heretic convicted-
These were the opinions wherewith Sautre is charged in their
own registers, which, if read with that favour which not charity but
justice allows of course to human frailty, will be found not so
heinous as to deserve fire and faggot, seeing his expressions are rather
indiscreet, than his positions damnable. But Thomas Arundel,
archbishop of Canterbury, before whom Sautre was convented, in the
convocation, at St, Paul's in London, principally pinched him
with the last about transubstantiation in the sacrament. Thus their
cruelty made God's table a snare to his servants ; when their other
nets broke, this held ; what they pretended a sacrifice for the living
and dead proved, indeed, the cause of the sacrificing of many
innocents ; and cavils about the corporal presence was the most
compendious way to dispatch them : for the denial whereof, the
aforesaid archbishop solemnly pronounced Sautre an heretic
convicted, 4. Sautre's indiscreet Denying of himself -
Here happened a passage in Sautre, which I must not omit ;
which either I do not understand, or cannot approve in him. For
being demanded whether or no he had formerly abjured these
opinions, he denied the same ; whereas, his formal abjuration of
them, the last year, before the bishop of Norwich, was produced in
presence ; an action utterly inconsistent with Christian sincerity, to
deny his own deed ; except any will say that he was not bound to
accuse himself, and to confess in that court, (what he had done
elsewhere,) to his own prejudice. Thus offenders, which formerly
have confessed their fact,, in their private examinations before a
justice of peace, yet plead " Not Guilty," when they are brought
before the assizes, accounting themselves innocent in that court till,
by the verdict of the jury, they are proved otherwise. However, I
am rather inclined to suspect my ignorance than condemn his inno
cence, conceiving there is more on his side than appeareth in his
behalf.
5. Sautre, by a second Sentence, is adjudged to be degraded and
deposed-
The reader, I presume, will pardon our largeness (which we will
recompence with brevity in the rest) in relating the proceedings

476 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1408,
against this first martyr ; who being, as I may say, the eldest, and
the heir in our History, may justly challenge a double portion
thereof. Yea, the archbishop, who in his condemnation did not
follow but make a precedent therein, was very punctual and ceremo
nious in his proceedings, that he might set the fairer copy for the
direction of posterity ; and that the formality of his exemplary
justice might, for the terror of others, take the deeper impression in
all that did see it, or should hear thereof. And now his former
abjuration plainly appearing, Arundel, by a second -sentence,
adjudged him refallen into heresy, and incorrigible, and therefore to
be degraded afid deposed,
6. The Order of his Degradation.
For, lest priesthood should suffer in the person of Sautre, (and
all the clergy present, out of a religious sympathy, were tender of
the honour of their own profession,) he was there solemnly degraded
in order as followeth : —
1, From the order of Priest ; by taking from him the patin,
chalice, and plucking the chasuble from his back, 2, From the
order of Deacon ; by taking from him the New Testament and the
stole, 3, From the order of Sub-deacon ; by taking from him the
alb, and ,the maniple, 4, From the order of Acolyte ; by taking
from him the candlestick, taper, urceolum, 5, From the order of
Exorcist ; by taking from him the book of conjurations, 6, From
the order of Reader; by taking from him the book of church-
legends, 7. From the order of Sexton ; by taking from him the
key of the church-door and surphee.
How many steps are required to climb up to the top of popish
priesthood ! But, as when a building is taken down, one would
little think so much timber and stone had concurred thereunto, until
he sees the several parcels thereof lie in ruinous heaps ; so it is
almost incredible how many trinkets must be had to complete a
priest, but that here we behold them solemnly taken asunder in
Sautre's degradation. And now he, no longer priest but plain
layman, with the tonsure on his crown rased away, was delivered to
the secular power, with this compliment, worth the noting:
" Beseeching the secular court, that they would receive favourably
the said William unto them thus recommitted," But who can
excuse their double-dealing herein from deep hypocrisy, seeing the
bishops, at the same time, (for all their fair language,) ceased not to
call upon the king to bring him to speedy execution ?
7- The King's Warrant for the Burning of Sautre.
Hereupon -the king in pariiament issued out his warrant to the
mayor and sheriffs of London, ,tliat the said William, being in their

10 HENRY IV, BOOK IV, CENT, XV, 477
custody, should be brought forth into some public or open place,
wifliin the liberty of the city, and there " really to be burned to the
great horror of his offence, and manifest example of other Chris
tians ;"* which was performed accordingly. Thus died this worthy
man ; and though we be as far from adoring his relics, as such
adoration is from true religion, yet we cannot but be sensible of the
value of such a saint : nor can we mention his memory without
paying an honourable respect thereunto. His death struck a terror
into those of his party who hereafter were glad to enjoy their con
science in private, without public professing the same. So that now
the ship of Christ, tossed with the tempest of persecution, had all
her sails taken down ; yea, her mast cut close to the deck ; and,
without making any visible show, was fain to lie poor and private
till this storm was overpassed ; the archbishop Arundel being most
furious and cruel in detecting and suppressing all suspected of piety.
8, A Surfeit of Synods in Archbishop Arundel's Time.
Synods of the clergy were never so frequent before or since, as in
his time, when scarce a year escaped without a synod called or con
tinued therein. Most of these were but ecclesiastical meetings for
secular money. Hereupon, a covetous ignorant priest, guilty of no
Greek, made this derivation of the word " synodus," (far-fetched in
itself, but coming close to him,) from crumena sine nodo, because,
at such assemblies, the purse ought ever to be open, without knots
tied thereon, ready to disburse such sums as should be demanded.
Indeed, the clergy now contributed much money to the king ; hav
ing learned the maxim commended in the comedian, pecunlam in
loco negligere maxumum interdum est lucrum .--f- and, perceiving
on what ticklish terms their state stood, were forced to part with a
great proportion thereof to secure the rest, the pariiament J now
shrewdly pushing at their temporal possessions. For, although in
the first year of king Henry, the earls of Northumberland and
Westmoreland came from him to the clergy with a compliment, that
" the king only desired their prayers, and none of their money,"§
(kingdoms have their honey-moon, when new princes are married
unto them,) yet how much afterwards he received from them, the
ensuing draught of synods summoned in his days doth present :—
1, At St. Paul's in London, a,d, 1399, The President:
The prior and chapter of Canterbury, in the archbishop's absence.
The Preacher : William bishop of Rochester, His Text : Cor

478 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D,

1412.

meum diligit principes Israel. Money granted the King:
Nothing at this time, but the Clergy's prayers required. The other
Acts thereof: the king, at the request of the universities, promised
to take order with the pope's Provisions, and Proventions, that so
leamed men might be advanced. St. Gregory's day made holy,
2. Ibidem. a,d, 1400, The President: Thomas Arundel,
Money granted the King : A tenth and half. For a single tenth
was first proffered him, and he refused it. The other Acts thereof:
Nothing else of moment passed, save Sautre's condemnation.
3. Ibidem, a.d. 1402. The President: Thomas Arundel.
Money granted the King : At the instance of the earl of Somerset,
and lord Ross the treasurer, a tenth was granted. The other
Acts thereof: The clergy renewed their petition of right to the
king, that they should not be proceeded against by temporal judges,
nor forced to sell their goods, for provision for the king's court.
No answer appears,
4, Ibidem. a,d, 1404, The President: Henry bishop of
Lincoln, the archbishop being absent in an embassy. Money
granted the King : A tenth towards the king's charges in suppress
ing the late rebels. The other Acts thereof: Constituted that the
obsequies of every English bishop deceased should be celebrated in
all the cathedrals of the kingdom,
5, Ibidem. a,d, 1405, T/ie President: Thomas Arundel.
Money granted the King : A tenth ; when the laity in par
liament gave nothing- The other Acts thereof: Nothing of
consequence. 6. Ibidem, a, d, 1406, TAe Pres/t/ewf : Henry Beaufort, bishop
of Winchester, the archbishop being absent. The Preacher:
Thomas bishop of Carlisle, His text : Magister adest, et vocat
te. Money granted the King: A tenth. The other Acts
thereof: Nothing of moment,
7- Ibidem- a.d. 1408. The President: Thomas Arundel.
The Preacher: John Monke of St, Augustine's in Canterbury,
His Text : Faciei unus quisque opus suum. The other Acts
thereof: This synod was principally employed in suppressing of
schism ; and the following synod in the same year to the same
purpose, 8. Ibidem. The President : Thomas Arundel, The Preacher :
John Botel, General of the Franciscans. His Text : Vos vocati
estis in uno corpore.
9, Ibidem. a,d, 1411, The President: Henry bishop of
Winchester, the archbishop being abroad in an embassy. The
Preacher: John Langdon, monk of Canterbury. His Text:
Stelles dederunt lumen. Money granted the King : A tenth.

14 HENRY IV, BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 479
and a subsidy granted, saith Matthew Parker;* but, others f say,
the clergy accused themselves, as drained dry with former payments.
Also the pope's agent, progging for money, was denied it. The
other Acts thereof: Littie else save some endeavours against
Wickliffe's opinions.
10. Ibidem, a. d. 1412. The President : Thomas Arundel.
The Preacher: John Godraersham, monk of Canterbury. His
Text : Diligite lumen sapienticp. omnes qui presestis. Money
granted the King : A tenth. The clergy complained to the king
of their grievances, but received no redress. The other Acts
thereof: The pope's rents sequestered into the king's hands,
during the schism betwixt Gregory XII, and Benedict,
We will not avouch these all the conventions of the clergy in
this king's reign, who had many subordinate meetings in reference
to their own occasions, but these of most public concernment.
Know this also, that it was a great invitation (not to say an enforce
ment) to make them the more bountiful in their contributions to
the king, because their leaders were suspicious of a design now first
set on foot, in opposition to all religious houses, as then termed, to
essay their overthrow ; which project now, as a pioneer, only wrought
beneath ground, yet not so insensibly but that the church-statists
got a discovery thereof, and, in prevention, were very satisfying to
the king's pecuniary desires ; insomuch that it was in effect but
"Ask and have," — such their compliance to all purposes and
intents ; the rather because this king had appeared so zealous to
arm the bishops with terrible laws against the poor naked Lollards,
as then they were nick-named.
9 — 12. A new Chronology. A severe Motion against the Welsh,
moderated by the King. The Cause of his Anger. A.D. 1412.
Now we pass from the Convocation to the Pailiament, only to
meddle with church-matters therein ; desiring the reader to dispense
in the margin with a new chronology of this king's, reign ; assuring
him that whatsoever is written is taken out of the authentic records
of the Parliament in the Tower,
It was moved in parliament, that no Welshman, bishop or other,
be justice, chamberlain, chancellor, treasurer, sheriff, constable of a
castle, receiver, escheator, coroner, or chief forester, or other ofiicer
whatsoever, or keeper of records, j or lieutenant in the said oflJces,
in any part of Wales, or of counsel to any English lord, notwith
standing any patent made to the contrary. Cum clausula non
obstante, licet Wallicus natus.
• Antiq. Brit, page 274. t Harpsfield Ecc. Ang. page 616. X Ex Rot.
Par. in Tur. Land, in hoc anno.

480 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 1412.
It was answered, that " the king willeth it, except the bishops ;
and for them and others,- which he hath found good and loyal lieges
towards him, our said lord the king will be advised by the advice of
his council."
Such as wonder why the parliament was so incensed against the
Welsh, (seeing Henry prince of Wales was their own countryman,
born at Monmouth,) may consider, how now or very lately Owen
Glendower, a Welsh robber, (advanced by the multitude of his
followers into tiie reputation of a general,) had made much spoil in
Wales. Now commendable was the king's charity, who would not
return a national mischief for a personal injury ; seeing no man can
choose the place of his nativity, though he may bemoan and hate
the bad practices of his own nation.
13. The Quaternion of Welsh Bishops, who and what at this
Time.
The king's courteous exception for the Welsh bishops putteth us
upon a necessary inquiry, who and what they were, placed in sees at
this time.
St, David's, — Guido de Mona, or, of Anglesey; a tiue Briton
by birth, witnessed by his name. He was at the present lord
treasurer of England ; * in whom the king much confided, though
T, Walsingham be pleased to dash his memory, that " he was the
cause of much mischief."
Landaff, — Thomas Peverell, His surname speaks him Eng
lish by extraction, and he was of no remarkable activity,
Bangor, — Richard Young, He might be English or Welsh
by his name ; but, I believe, the latter : a man of merit sent by
the king into Germany, to give satisfaction of king Henry's
proceedings, St, Asaph, — John Trevaur, second of that Christian and sur
name, bishop of that see ; a Welshman, no doubt. He was sent,
saith T, Walsingham, to Spain to give account of the king's
proceedings : very loyal at the present, but, after his return home,
he sided with Owen Glendower,
But though the English at this time were so severe against the
Welsh, king Henry VII, (born in the bowels of Wales, at
Pembroke, and assisted in the gaining of the crown by the valour
of his countrymen,) some years after plucked down this partition-
wall of difference betwixt them ; -f- admitting the Welsh to English
* Godwin's " Catalogue of Bishops in St. David's." t In his Examen Historicum,
Heylin remarks : " King Henry the seventh did not hreak down tlie partition between
England and Wales. That was a work reserved for king Harry the eighth ; in the 27th
of whose reign there passed an Act of Parliament, hy which it was enacted, That tlie

14 HENRY IV, BOOK IV, CENT, XV, 481
honours and offices, — as good reason, equality of merits should be
rewarded with equality of advancement.
14. The Petition of the Lords and Commons to the King
against Lollards-
Sir John Tiptoft, made afterwards earl of Worcester, put up a
petition to the parliament, touching Lollards ; which wrought so on
the lords, that they joined in a petition to the king, according to
the tenor following : —
" To our most redoubted and gracious sovereign the king. —
Your humble son, Henry prince of Wales, and the lords spiritual
and temporal in this present parliament, humbly show, — that the
church of England hath been, and now is, endowed with temporal
possessions, by the gifts and grants as well of your royal pro
genitors, as by the ancestors of the said lords temporal, to maintain
Divine service, keep hospitality, &c. to the honour of God, and
the souls' health of your progenitors, and the said lords temporal.
" Yet now of late, some, at the instigation of the enemy against
the foresaid church and prelates, have as well in public sermons, as
in conventicles and secret places called schools, stirred and moved
the people of your kingdom to take away the said temporal posses
sions from the said prelates, with which they are as rightly endowed,
as it hath been, or might be, best advised or imagined, by the laws
and customs of your kingdom, and of which they are as surely
possessed as the lords temporal are of their inheritances.
" Wherefore in case that this evil purpose be not resisted by
your royal majesty, it is very likely that, in process of time, they
will also excite the people of your kingdom for to take away, from
the said lords temporal, their possessions and heritages, so to make
them common to the open commotion of your people.
" There be also others, who publish, and cause to be published
evilly and falsely among the people of your kingdom, that Richard
late king of England — who is gone to God, and on whose soul God
through his grace have mercy ! — is still alive. And some have
writ and published divers false pretended prophecies to the people ;
country of Wales should be, stand, and continue for ever, from thenceforth, united and
annexed to and with this realm of England : And that all and singular person and per
sons born, and to be bom, in the said principality, country, or dominion of Wales shall
have, enjoy, and inherit all and singuUr freedoms, liberties, rights, privileges, and laws
within this realm, and other the hing's dominions, as other the king's subjects naturally
horn within the sam.e have, and enjoy, and inheritf- Between the time which our author
speaks of, being the fourteenth year of king Henry the fom-th, and the making of this Act
by king Henty the eighth, there passed above a hundred and twenty years ; which inti-
mates a longer time than some years after, as our author words it." In his Appeal
FuUer says, in reply, " The intentions of king Henry the seventh were executed by king
Henry the eighth ; and aU shall be reformed in my book accordingly."— Edit.
Vol. i, I I

482 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1412.
disturbing them who would to their power live peaceably, serve
God, and faithfully submit and obey you their liege lord.
" Wherefore may it please your royal majesty, in maintenance of
the honour of God, conservation of the laws of the holy church, as
also in the preservation of the estate of you, your children, and the
lords aforesaid, and for the quiet of all your kingdom, to ordain by
a statute, in the present parliament, by the assent of the lords afore
said and the commons of your kingdom, that in case any man or
woman, of what estate or condition they be, preach, publish,
or maintain, hold, use, or exercise any schools, if any sect or doc
trine hereafter against the catholic faith either preach, publish,
maintain, or write a schedule, whereby the people may be moved to
take away the temporal possessions of the aforesaid prelates, or
preach and publish, that Richard late king, who is dead, should still
be in full life, or that the fool in Scotland is that king Richard
who is dead ; or that publish or write any pretended prophecies to
the commotion of your people, that they and every of them be
taken, and put in prison, without being delivered in bail, or other
wise, except by good and sufi&cient mainprise, to be taken before
the chancellor of England," &c.*
15, 16. The Prince made a Party against Wicklivites- Com
plication of royal and prelatical Interest-
See we here the policy of the clergy, who had gained prince Henry
(set as a transcendent by himself in the petition) to their side,
entering his youth against the poor Wicklivites ; and this earnest
engaged him to the greater antipathy against them, when possessed
of the crown.
Observe also the subtlety of the clergy in this medley petition,
interweaving their own interest with the king's, and endeavouring to
possess him, that all the adversaries to their superstitions were
enemies also and traitors to his majesty.
17, 18. Wicklivists' Schools. Lollards, why so called.
Now as "conventicles" were the name of disgrace cast on,
" schools" was the term of credit owned by, the Wicklivists for the
place of their meeting ; whether because " the school of Tyrannus,"
wherein St. Paul disputed. Acts xix. 9, was conceived by them
senior in Scripture to any material church ; or that their teaching
therein was not in entire discourses, but admitted (as in the Schools)
of interlocutory opposition on occasion.
By " Lollards" all know the Wicklivites are meant, so called from
• Contracted hy myself (exactly keeping the wwrds) out of the original.

14 HENRY IV, BOOK IV. CENT, XV, 483
Walter Lollardus* one of their teachers in Germany; (and not as
the monk alluded,-f- quasi lolia in ard Domini ;) flourishing many
years before Wickliffe, and much consenting with him in judgment.
As for the word " Lollard" retained in our statutes since the Reforma
tion, it seems now, as a generical name, to signify such who in their
opinions oppose the settled religion of the land ; in which sense the
modern sheriffs are bound by their oath to suppress them.
19, 20. A charitable Parenthesis. King Richard, why believed
alive.
The parenthesis concerning king Richard — " Who is gone to God,
and on whose soul God through his grace have mercy" — is according
to the doctrine of that age. For they held all in purgatory, " gone
to God," because assured in due time of their happiness ; yet so
that the suffrages of the living were profitable for them. Nor feared
they to offend king Henry by their charitable presumption of the
final happy estate of king Richard, his professed enemy ; knowing
he cared not where king Richard was, so be it not living and sitting
on the English throne.
As for the report of king Richard's being still alive, it is strange
any should believe it ; if it be true, that his corpse for some days
were at London exposed to open view : understand it done at dis
tance, lest coming too near might discover some violence offered on
his person. It is probable, that the obscurity of his burial (huddled
into his grave at Langley in Hertfordshire) gave the lustre to the
report that he was still alive, believed of those who desired it,
21, 22, 23, A^o Woman Lollard Martyr. Who meant by " the
FOOL in Scotland." Cruel Persecution.
Whereas this law against Lollards extended to women ; though
many of the weaker sex were in trouble upon that account, yet, on
my best inquiry, I never found any one put to death ; Anna Ascough
being the first who, in the reign of king Henry VIII, was burned
for her religion,
A Scotch writer tells us,J that king Richard fled disguised into
Scotland, discovered himself to, and was honourably entertained
by, Robert; the king thereof; adding, that Richard, who would no
more of the worid, gave himself wholly to contemplation, lived, died,
and was buried at Stiriing, Possibly some mimic might personate
him there, and is the fool mentioned in this petition.
Hereupon it was that the poor Lollards were prosecuted with
such cruelty, that the prisons were full of them; many forced to
• TRITHEMIUS in Chron. anno 1315, t Of St. Aug. Cent. MS. anno 1406.
X Hector Boetiu?, lib. 16.
2 I 2

484 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1412.
abjure, and such who refused, used without mercy, as in Mr. Fox is
largely related.
24, 25. Archbishop Arundel, going to visit Oxford, is resisted
by the Chancellor.
Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, came to Oxford, with
a pompous train, accompanied with many persons of honour, and
particularly with his nephew, Thomas Fitz-Allen, earl of Arundel.
His intent was juridically to visit the university, expecting to be
solemnly met, and sumptuously entertained, according to his place
and dignity.
But, see the spite of it ! Richard Courtenay, the chancellor of
Oxford, (whom, by his surname and high spirit, I should guess
descended from the earls of Devonshire,) with Benedict Brent and
John Birch, the two proctors, denied the archbishop entrance into
the university under the notion of a visitor ; though as a stranger,
great prelate, and privy counsellor, all welcome was provided for him
and his retinue, Arundel was angry with the affront ; and, finding
force both useless, (the scholars siding with the chancellor,) and
inconsistent with his gravity, was fain fairly to retreat, re infectd, to
London ; the rather because the chancellor had submitted the cause
in controversy to the hearing and determining of his majesty.
26. The King determines the Cause for the Archbishop.
King Henry, at the joint instance of both parties, summoned them
to Lambeth, to hear and determine the controversy. The chancellor
of Oxford produceth an anny of large Bulls of the pope. Archbishop
Arundel brought forth one champion ; namely, an instrument in
the reign of king Richard II. wherein the king adjudged all their
papal privileges void, as granted to the damage of the crown, and
much occasioning the increase of Lollards ; not that it was so done
intentionally by his Holiness ; (for who can suspect the pope turn
Lollard.'') but accidentally it came to pass, that, the university of
Oxford freed from archiepiscopal visitation, by virtue of those Bulls,
the Wicklivists therein escaped from consistorian censure. Here
upon king Henry pronounced sentence on the archbishop's side, on
Friday, Feb. 9th, as by the ensuing instrument wiU plainly appear : —
Et ulterius tam auctoritate sua regid, gudm virtute submissionis
pradicta sibi facta ad tunc ibidem arbi trains fuH, ordinavit, con-
sideravit, decrevit, et adjudicavit, quod pradicius archiepiseopus
et successores sui in perpetuum habeant visitaiionem et jurisdic
tionem in universitate pradictd, tam cancellarii commissarwyrum,
qudm procuratorum ejusdem univer sitatis, qui pro tempore fue
rint, necnon omnium doctorum, magistrorum, regentium et

14 HENRY IV. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 485
non-regentium, ac scholarium ejusdem univcrsitatis quorumcunque,
eorumque servientium, aliarumque personarum cujuscunque statHs
et conditionis extiterint, et etiam ejusdem univcrsitatis ut univer-
sitatis, et quod cancellarius, commissarii, procuratores universi-
tatis pradicta, qui pro tempore fuerunt, eorumque successores,
et omnes alii in dicfd universitate pro tempore commor antes, futuris
temporibus eidem archiepiscopo, et successor'ibus suis in visiiafione
etjurisdictione univcrsitatis pradicta etiam ut univer sitatis, in
omnibus pareant et ohediant. Et quod nee dictus cancellarius,
cummis.sarii, nee procuratores universifatis pradicta, nee eorum
successores, nee aliquis alius in universitate pradictd aliquod
priv'ilegium seu beneficium exemptionis ad excludendum prafaium
archiepiscopum seu successores suos de visitatione et jurisdictione
pradiciis, in universitate antedictd colore alicujus Bulla seu
alterius tiiuli ciyuscunque erga pradictum aixhiepiscopum seu
successores suos, clament, habeant, seu vendicent, ullo modo in
fuiurum. Et quod quotiens cancellarius, commissarii, vel locum-
tenens ipsorum, vel alicijus ipsorum, vel procuratores dicta
universifatis qui pro tempore fuerint, vel eorum successores, sive
aliquis eorum impedierint vel impedierit, prtefatum archiepis
copum vel successores suos, aut ecclesiam suam pradictam, aut
ipsorum vel alicujus ipsorum commissarium, vel commissarios, de
hujusmodi visitatione sive jurisdictione dicta universiiatis vel in
aliquo contravenerint, vel aliquis eorum contruvenerit, dictis,
arbitrio, ordinafioni, sive judicio per prafatum Ricardum nuper
regem factis, sive arbitrio, judicio, decreto, considerationi vel
ordinafioni, ipsius domini nostri regis Henrici in hoc casu, vel si
aliquis dicta universifatis in futurum impedierit dictum archie'
piscopum, vel successores suos, aut ecclesiam suam pradictam, aut
ipsorum, vel cdicujus ipsorum commissarium, vel commissarios,
de visitatione sud aut jurisdictione antedictd, vel in aliquo contra-
venerit dictis, arbitrio, ordinationi, sive judicio per prtefatum
Ricardum nuper regem in formd pradictd, factis, vel arbitrio,
judicio, decreto, considerationi vel ordinafioni ipsius domini nostri
regis Henrici. Et quod cancellarius, commissarii vel procura.
tores universifatis pradicta tunc non fecerint diligentiam et posse
eorum ad adjuvandum dictum archiepiscopum vel successores suos,
aut ecclesiam suam pradictam, seu commissarium vel commissarios
suos in hujusmodi casu, ac etiam ad puniendum hujusmodi impe-
dienieset resistentes. Quod totiens omnes franchesia, libertates,
et omnia privilegia ejusdem universHatis in manus domini regis
vel haredum suorum seisianfur, in eisdem manibus ipsorum domini
regis vel haredum suorum remansura, quousque pradictus archie-
piscopus vel siwessores sui pacificam visitaiionem ef jurisdictionem

486 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1412  4.,
in formd presdictd, in dicta universitate habuerit vel habuerint,
et etiam totiens cancellarius, commissarii, et procuratores ejus
dem universitatis, qui pro tempore fuerint, et eorum successores,
ac universitas presdicta solvant, et teneantur solvere ipsi domino
nostro regi Henrico et hcsredibus suis mille libras legalis monetes
Anglies. Concordat cum originali : Gulielmus Ryley.
Afterwards the king confirmed the same, with the consent of the
lords and commons in parliament, as in the Tower rolls doth
plainly appear.
27, 28, 29. The Effect of the Statute of Premunire. Farewell
to King Henry IV. Chaumberdakyns banished England.
1 Henry V. A.D. 1413,
See we here the grand difference betwixt the pope's power in
England, before and after the Statute of Premunire, Before it, his
auTOf l'<!)i) was authentical, and his Bulls received next to canonical
Scripture, Since, that statute hath broken off their best seals,
wherein they cross the royal power ; and, in all things else, they
enter into England mannerly with, " Good king, by your leave,-
i^ir," or else they were no better than so much waste parchment.
This doth acquaint us with a perfect character of king Henry IV.
who, though courteous, was not servile to the pope. And Sir
Edward Coke* acconnteth this his Oxford action, (though unwilling
to transcribe the instrument for the tediousness thereof,) a- noble act
of kingly power in that age ; and so we take our farewell of king
Henry IV. not observed, as all English kings before and rftcr him,
to have erected and endowed any one entire house of religion, as
first or sole founder thereof, though a great benefactor to the Abbey
of Leicester, and College of Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire. His
picture is not so well known by his head as his hood, which he
weareth upon it in an antic fashion peculiar to himself.
At the commons' petition to the king in parliament, that all Irish
begging-priests, called " Chaumberdakyns," [Chamberdekins,]
should avoid the realm before Michaelmas next, they were ordered
to depart by the time aforesaid, upon pain of loss of goods and
imprisonment during the king's pleasure.-|-
80. The Death of Thomas Arundel.
I hfid almost forgotten, that, just a month before the deatii of
king Henry IV. Tliomas Arnndel, archbishop of Canterbury,
expired ; famished to death, not for want of food, but a throat to.
• Fotu-th book of his Institutes, " Of the Jm-isdiction of Coiu-ts," page 228,
t Roiuti in Turre in hoc anno.

2 HENRY V. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 487
swallow it,— such the swelling therein that he could neither speak
nor eat for some days. I may safely report, what others observe,
how he, who by his cruel canons forbade the food to the soul, and
had pronounced sentence of condemnation on so many innocents,
was now both starved and stricken dumb together. Henry Chicheley
succeeded him in the place, whose mean birth interrupted the chain
of noble archbishops, his two predecessors and successors being earis'
sons by their extraction.
31,32. The Clergy, jealous of King Henry's Activity, divert it
on a War in France. A.D. 1414.
The prelates, and abbots especially, began now to have the active
soul of king Henry in suspicion. For, working heads are not so
willing to follow old ways, as well pleased to find out new ones.
Such a meddling soul must be sent out of harm's-way : if that the
clergy found not this king some work abroad, he would make them
new work at home. Had his humour happened to side with the
Lollards, Henry V. would have saved king Henry VIII. much
pains in demolishing of monasteries.
Hereupon the clergy cunningly gave vent to his activity, by
diverting it on a long war upon the French ; where his victories
are loudly sounded forth by our state-historians : a war of more
credit than profit to England in this king's reign, draining the men
and money thereof. Thus victorious bays bear only barren berries,
no whit good for food, and very littie for physic ; whilst the peaceable
olive drops down that precious liquor, " making the face of man to
shine" therewith. Besides, what this king Henry gained, his son
as quickly lost, in France. Thus, though the Providence of nature
hath privileged islanders by their entire position to secure them
selves, yet are they unhappy in long keeping their acquisitions on
the continent.
33, 34, 35. The sad Story of Sir John Oldcastle. His Belief,
He is charged of Treason.
Now began the tragedy of Sir John Oldcastie, so largely handled
in Mr. Fox, that his pains hath given posterity a writ of ease herein.
He was a vigorous knight, whose martial activity wrought him into
the affections of Joane de la Pole, baroness of Cobham ;* the lord
whereof he became, (sed quaere, whether an actual baron,) by her
marriage. As for the opinions of this Sir John Oldcastle, they plainly
appear in his belief, which he drew up with his own hand, and pre
sented it first to the king, then to the archbishop of Canterbury ;
* Camden's Brit, in Kent,

488 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1414.
wherein some things are rather coarsely than falsely spoken. He
knew to speak in the language of the Schools, (so were the meet
ings of the Wicklivists called,) but not scholastically ; and I believe
be was the first that coined, and last that used, the distinction of the
church militant, — divided into " Priesthood, Knighthood, and Com
mons," which had no great harm therein, as he explained it. As
for Parsons's * charging him with anabaptistical tenets, it is pity
that the words of a plain-meaning man should be put on the rack
of a Jesuit's malice, to extort by deduction what never was intended
therein. But a worse accusation is charged on his memory, — that he was
not only guilty of heresy, but treason. But, by the way, it appeareth
that Lollardism, then counted heresy, was made treason by statute,
and on that account heresy and treason signify no more than heresy ;
and then heresy, according to the abusive language of that age, was
the best serving of God in those days. But, beside this, a very
formal treason is laid to this lord's account in manner following :^
" It is laid to his charge, that, though not present in the person
with his counsel, he encouraged an army of rebels, no fewer than
twenty thousand, which in the dark thickets " (expounded in our age
into plain pasture) "of St. Giles's fields nigh London, intended to
seize on the king's person, and his two brothers, the dukes of
Bedford and Gloucester." Of this numerous army, thirty-six are
said to be hanged and bumed, though the names of three are only
known, and Sir Roger Acton, knight, the only person of quality
named in the design.
36, 37. The Author, intricated, leaveth all to ihe last Day.
For mine own part, I must confess myself so lost in the intri
cacies of these relations, that I know not what to assent to. On
the one side, I am loath to load the lord Cobham's memory with
causeless crimes, knowing the perfect hatred the clergy in that age
bare unto him, and all that looked towards the Reformation in
religion. Besides, that twenty thousand men should be brought
into the field, and no place assigned whence they were to be raised,
or where mustered, is clogged with much improbability ; the rather,
because only the three persons, as is aforesaid, are mentioned by
name of so vast a number.
On the other side, I am much startled with the evidence that
appeareth against him. Indeed, I am littie moved with what T.
Walsingham writes, (whom all later authors follow, as a flock the
bellwether,) knowing him a Benedictine monk of St. Alban's, bowed
by interest tb partiality ; but the records of the Tower, and Acts
* In his " Three Conversions,"

2 HENRY V. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 489
of Parliament therein, wherein he was solemnly condemned for a
traitor as Avell as heretic, challenge belief. For with what con
fidence can any private person promise credit from posterity to his
own writings, if such public monuments be not by him entertained
for authentical ? Let Mr. Fox, therefore, be this lord Cobham's
compurgator : I dare not. And if my hand were put on the Bible,
I should take it back again : yet so that, as I will not acquit, I will
not condemn him, but leave all to the last " day of the revelation
of the righteous judgment of God," Rom. ii. 5.
38, 39, 40, The Lord Cobham taken in Wales. His double
Death. Unjustly made the Buffoon in Plays.
This is most true, that the lord Cobham made his escape out of
the Tower, wherein he was imprisoned ; fled into Wales : here he
lived four years, being at last discovered and taken by the lord
Powis ; yet so, that it cost some blows and blood to apprehend
him, till a woman at last with a stool broke the lord Cobham's legs,
whereby being lame, he was brought up to London in a horse-litter^
At last he was drawn upon a hurdle to the gallows, his death as
his crime being double, — hanged and burned for traitor and heretic.
Hence some have deduced the etymology of Tyburn, from " Ty "
and " burne ;" the necks of offending persons being tied thereunto,
whose legs and lower parts were consumed in the flame.
Stage-poets have themselves been very bold with, and others very
merry at, the memory of Sir John Oldcastle ; whom they have
fancied a boon companion, a jovial roister, and yet a coward to boot,
contrary to the credit of all chronicles, owning him a martial man
of merit. The best is, Sir John Falstaff hath relieved the memory
of Sir John Oldcastle, and of late is substituted buffoon in his
place ; but it matters as little what petulant poets, as what mali
cious papists, have written against him.
41, 42. Lincoln College founded. Nicholas Pont, great Anti-
Lincolnian. The Author, some weeks in, though not of,
this House.
Richard Fleming, doctor of divinity, designed by the pope
archbishop of York, but, to please king Henry V. contented with
the bishopric of Lincoln, about this time founded a college, named
Lincoln College in Oxford. It fared the worse because he died
before it was fully finished ; and the best guardian to an orphan-
foundation comes far short of the father thereof. Yet was this
House happy in two bountiful benefactors ; Thomas Beckington,
bishop of Bath and Wells, who, according to the ingenuity of that
age, hath left his memory in a Beacon with a Tun on the walls ;

490 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1414  22..
and Thomas Rotherham, archbishop of York, adding five fellowships
thereunto. Here I wonder what made Nicholas Pont,* fellow of Merton-
college, and scholar enough, to be such a back-friend to this college
in the infancy thereof, inveighing bitterly against it. This is that
Pont whose faith many distrust, for his violent writing against
Wickliffe, but whose charity more may dislike for his malice to this
innocent college ;-|- except it was, that he foresaw it would produce,
in time, worthy champions of the truth, opposers of his erroneous
opinions ; as indeed it hath, though I be unable to give a particular
catalogue of them.
Indeed, I could much desire, were it in my power, to express my
service to this foundation, acknowledging myself for a quarter of a
year in these troublesome times (though no member of) a dweller in
it. I will not complain of the dearness of this university, where
seventeen weeks cost me more than seventeen years in Cambridge,
even all that I had ; but shall pray that the students therein be
never hereafter disturbed upon the like occasion. J
42. The Arch-casuist of our Church and Age.
A.D. 1421,
Amongst the modern worthies of this college still surviving, Dr. .
Robert Saunderson, late Regius Professor, moveth in the highest
sphere ; as no less plain and profitable than able and profound
casuist, — a learning almost lost among protestants ; wrapping up
sharp thorns in rosy leaves ; I mean, hard matter in sweet Latin and
pleasant expressions.
Rectors. — 1. Mr. Gul. Chamberlen ; 2. Mr. John Beke;
3. Mr. John Tristrope ; 4. Dr. George Strangwayes ; 5. Mr.
Gul. Bethome ; 6. Mr. Thomas Banke ; 7- Mr. Thomas Drax ;
8. Dr, John Cottisford ; 9. Mr, Hugo Weston ; 10, Mr, Christo
pher Hargrave ; 11, Dr, Francis Babington ; 12, Mr. Henry
Henshaw; 18. Mr. John Bridgter ; 14. Mr. JohnTatham; 15.
Dr. John Underbill; 16. Dr. Richard Kilbie; 17. Dr. Paul
Hudd. Bishops, — John Underbill, bishop of Oxford,
Benefactors, — 1. John Forrest, dean of Wells; 2, John
Southam, archdeacon of Oxford ; 3, William Findem, Esquire ; 4,
Henry Beaufort, cardinal, bishop of Winchester ; 5, John Bucktot ;
6, John Crosly, treasurer of Lincoln ; 7, William Batz ; 8, Edward
Darby ; 9, William Dagi-il, mayor of Oxford ; 10, William Bish ;
• Brian Twine m JWwcf«ra!'if. 1 Pitz^us, areMo 1410. I He fully
explains the meaning of this rather obscure paragraph, in his very interesting "Appeal
of injured Innocence." — Ebit.

1 hj:nry VI, BOOK, IV, cent, XV, 491
11. EdmtmdAudley; 12. John Traps; 13. Richard Kilbie, late
rector. Learned Writers. — William Harris,* whose writings are
much esteemed by the papists ; Richard Thornton.
So that at the present are maintained, one Rector, fourteen
Fellows, two Chaplains, four Scholars, which, with Servants and
other Commoners, lately made up seventy-two.
43, Bishop of Lincoln builds them a new Chapel.'
We must not forget John Williams, bishop of Lincoln, bred in
Cambridge, related only to this House as visitor thereof. Here
finding the chapel (built by John Forrest, dean of Wells in the
reign of king Henry VI,) old, little, and inconvenient, he erected a
far fairer fabric in the room thereof. He had a good precedent of a
Cambridge-man's bounty to this House ; even Thomas Rotherham,
Fellow of King's college, and Master of Pembroke-hall therein,
whom bishop Williams succeeded, as in the bishopric of Lincoln
and the archbishopric of York, so in his liberality to this foundation.
44, The Death and Character of King Henry V. A.D, 1422,
On the last of August, king Henry V, ended his life in France ;
one of a strong and active body, neither shrinking in cold, nor
slothful in heat, going commonly with his head uncovered : the
wearing of armour was no more cumbersome unto him than a cloak.
He never shrunk at a wound, nor turned away his nose for ill savour,
nor closed his eyes for smoke or dust ; in diet, none less dainty or
more moderate ; his sleep, very short but sound ; fortunate in fight,
and commendable in all his actions ; verifying the proverb, that an ill
youth may make a good man. The nunnery of Sion was built and
endowed by him ; and a college was by him intended in Oxford,
had not death prevented him,
45, 46, 47, 48, Queen Catherine married again ; but never
buried, by her own Desire : alii aliter, 1 Henry VI,
As for Catherine de Valois, daughter to Charies VL king of
France, widow of king Henry, she was afterward married to, and
had issue by, Owen ap Tudor, a noble Welshman ; and her body
lies at this day unburied, in a loose coffin at Westminster, lately
showed to such as desire it ; and there dependeth a story thereon :—
There was an old prophecy among the English, (observed by
foreigners to be the greatest prophecy-mongers,t and whilst the devil
knows their diet they shall never want a dish to please the palate,)
that an English prince, born at Windsor, should be unfortunate in
• PITZ.EUS De Script. Ang. 6, page 801. t PiHLir Commin^us.

492 church history of Britain. a.d. 1422 — 8.
losing what his father had acquired. Whereupon king Henry
forbade queen Catherine (big with chijd) to be delivered there ;
who, out of the corrupt principle, Nitimur in vetitum, and affecting
her father before her husband, was there brought to bed of king
Henry VI. in whose reign the fair victories woven by his father's
valour, were by cowardice, carelessness, and contentions, unravelled
to nothing.
Report, the greatest, though not the truest, author, avoucheth,
that, sensible of her fault in disobeying her husband, it was her own
desire and pleasure, that her body should never be buried.* If so,
it is pity but that a woman, especially a queen, should have her
will therein : whose dust doth preach a sermon of duty to femininej
and of mortality to all, beholders.
But this story is told otherwise by other authors ; namely, that
she was buried near her husband king Henry V. under a fair tomb,
where she hath a large epitaph,-f- and continued in her grave some
years, until king Henry VII. laying the foundation of a new chapel,
caused her corpse to be taken up. But why the said Henry, being
her great-grandchild, did not order it to be re-interred, is not
recorded ; if done by casualty and neglect, very strange ; and
stranger, if out of design.
49. The Parliament appoint ihe King's Counsellors.
In the minority of king Henry VI. as his uncle John duke of
Bedford managed martial matters beyond the seas ; so his other
uncle, Humphrey duke of Gloucester, was chosen his protector at
home, to whom the pariiament then sitting appointed a select
number of privy counsellors, wherein only such as were spiritual
persons fall under our observation. 1. Henry Chicheley, archbishop
of Canterbury ; 2. John Kempe, bishop of London ; 3. Henry
Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, lately made lord cardinal ; 4. John
Wackaring, bishop of Norwich, privy seal ; 5. Philip Morgan,
bishop of Worcester; 6. Nicholas Bubwith, bishop of Bath and
Wells, lord treasurer. So strong a party had the clergy in that
age, in the Privy Council, that they could carry all matters at their
own pleasure. 50. A strict Law for the Irish Clergy. AD. 1423.
It was ordered in pariiament, that all Irishmen living in either
university should procure their testimonials from the Lord Lieutenant
or justice of Ireland, as also find sureties for their good behaviour,
during their remaining therein. They were also forbidden to take
• Speed's " Chronicle," page 6B1, f Stow's " Survey of London," page 607,

6 HENRY VI. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 493
upon them the Principality of any Hall or House, in either univer
sity, but that they remain under the discipline of others.
51, 52, 53. Wickliffe, quietly buried forty-one Years, ordered to be
ungraved for a Heretic. His Ashes burned and drowned.
A.D. 14:28.
Hitherto the corpse of John Wickliffe had quietiy slept in his
grave, about one-and-forty years after his death, till his body was
reduced to bones, and his bones almost to dust. For though the
earth in the chancel of Lutterworth in Leicestershire, where he was
interred, hath not so quick a digestion with the earth of Aceldama,
tp consume flesh in twenty-four hours, yet such the appetite thereof,
and all other English graves, to leave small reversions of a body after
so many years.
But now, such the spleen of the council of Constance, as they
not only cursed his memory, as dying an obstinate heretic, but
ordered that his bones (with this charitable caution, " if it may be
discerned from the bodies of other faithful people,") to be taken out
of the ground, and thrown far off from any Christian burial.
In obedience hereunto, Richard Fleming, bishop of Lincoln,
diocesan of Lutterworth, sent his officers (vultures with a quick
sight scent at a dead carcase) to ungrave him accordingly. To
Lutterworth they come, Sumner, Commissary, Official, Chancellor,
Proctors, Doctors, and the servants (so that the remnant of the
body would not hold out a bone, amongst so many hands) take what
was left out of the grave, and burnt them to ashes, and cast them
into Swift, a neighbouring brook running hard by. Thus this
brook hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn,
Severn into the narrow seas, they into the main ocean. And thus
the ashes of Wickliffe are the emblem of his doctrine, which now is
dispersed all the world over.
54, 55. None can drive a Nail of Wax. Dfference betwixt
Authors.
I know not whether the vulgar tradition be worth remembrance,
that the brook into which Wickliffe's ashes were poured, never since
overflowed the banks. Were this true, (as some deny it,) as silly
is the inference of Papists attributing this to Divine Providence,
expressing itself pleased with such severity on a heretic, as simple
the collection of some Protestants, making it an effect of Wick
liffe's sanctity. Such topical accidents are good for friend and foe,
as they may be bowed to both ; but in effect good to neither,
seeing no solid judgment will build where bare fancy hatii laid
foundation.

494 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1428— 33,
It is of more consequence to observe the differences betwixt
authors, some making the council of Constance to pass this sentence
of condemnation, as Master Fox doth, inserting (but by mistake)
the history thereof, in the reign of king Richard II, which
happened many years after. But more truly it is ascribed to the
council of Sienna, except, for sureness, both of them joined in
the same cruel edict, 56. Wickliffe traduced.
Here I cannot omit what I read in a popish manuscript (but
very lately printed) about the subject of our present discourse :
" The first unclean beast that ever passed through Oxenford * (I
mean Wickliffe by name) afterwards chewed the cud, and was
sufficiently reconciled to the Roman faith ; as appears by his
recantation, living and dying conformable to the holy catholic
church ."-f-
It is strange that this popish priest alone should light on his
recantation, which, I believe, no other eyes, before or since, did
behold. Besides, if, as he saith, " Wickliffe was sufficiently
reconciled to the Roman faith," why was not Rome sufficiently
reconciled to him ? using such cruelty unto him so many years after
his death ! Cold encouragement for any to become Romists' con
verts, if, notwithstanding their reconciliation, the bodies must be
burned so many years after their death !
57. A Monk's Charity to Wickliffe. A.D. 1430.
But though Wickliffe had no tomb, he had an epitaph, (such as
it was !) which a monk afforded him ; and that it was no worse,
thank his want, not of malice, but invention, not finding out worse
expressions. " The devil's instrument, church's enemy, people's
confusion, heretics' idol, hypocrites' mirror, schism's broacher,
hatred's sower, lies' forger, flatteries' sink ; who at his death
despaired like Cain, and, stricken by the horrible judgments of
God, breathed forth his wicked soul to the dark mansion of the
black devil ! "J Surely, he with whose name this epitaph beginneth
and endeth was with the maker clean through the contrivance
thereof. 58, 59- A conditional Privy Counsellor. Privilege of
Convocation.
Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester, cardinal Sancti Eusebii,
but commonly called cardinal of England, was by consent of parlia-
• O tlie wit ! -t Hall in the " Life of Bishop Fisher," page 33. J 'Walsinoham
Ypodig. Neust. page 322.

11 HENRY VI. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 495
ment made one of the king's council, with this condition,— that he
should make a protestation to absent himself from the council when
any matters were to be treated betwixt the king and pope ; being
jealous, belike, that his papal would prevail over his royal interest.*
The cardinal took the protestation, and promised to perform it.
The clergy complained in Pariiament to the king, that their
servants which came with them to Convocations were often arrested,
to their great damage ; and they prayed that they might have the
same privilege which the Peers and Commons of the kingdom have
which are called to Parliament : which was granted accordingly.
60. Want of Grammar-Schools complained of.
Great at this time was the want of grammar-schools, and the
abuse of them that were even in London itself ; for they were no
better than monopolies, it being penal for any (to prevent the
grovrth of Wicklivism) to put their children to private teachers.
Hence was it that some hundreds were compelled to go to the same
school ; where, to use the words of the records, " the masters waxen
rich in money, and learners poor in cunning."
Whereupon this grievance was complained on in parliament by
four eminent ministers in London ; namely, Mr. William Lichfield,
parson of Allhallow's the More ; Mr. Gilbert, parson of St.
Andrew's, Holborn ; Mr. John Cote, parson of St. Peter's, Corn-
hill ; Mr. John Neele, master of the house of St. Thomas Acre's,
and parson of Colchirch. To these it was granted, by the advice of
the ordinary, or archbishop of Canterbury, to erect five schools
(Neele, the last-named, having a double licence for two places) in
their respective parishes, which are fitly called " the five vowels of
London," which, mute in a manner before, began now to speak and
pronounce the Latin tongue. Know that the house St. Thomas
Acre's was where Mercers' Chapel standeth at this day.
61. Eleanor Duchess of Gloucester commended by Mr. Fox for
a Confessor : made Traitor by A. Cope. A.D. 1433.
About this time the lady Eleanor Cobham, so called from the
lord Cobham, her father, (otherwise, Eleanor Plantagenet by her
husband,) was married unto Humphrey the king's uncle, duke of
Gloucester. She was, it seems, a great savourer and favourer
of Wickliffe's opinions ; and for such Mr. Fox hath ever a good
word in store ; insomuch that he maketh this lady a confessor, Sir
Roger Only, {alias Bolingbroke,) her chaplain, a martyr, assigning,
in his Calendar, the eleventh and twelfth of February for the days
of their commemoration. • Ex Archivis Tur. London.

496 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1433.
But Alanus Copus (namely, Harpsfield, under his name) falls
foul on Mr. Fox for making Sir Roger a martyr, who was a
traitor ; and Eleanor this duchess a confessor, who, by the consent
of our chroniclers, Robert Fabyan, Edward Hall, &c. was con
demned (after solemn penance and carrying a taper barefoot at
Paul's Cross) to perpetual banishment, for plotting with Only his
chaplain, (an abominable necromancer,) and three others, by witch
craft to destroy the king, so to derive the crown to her husband, as
the next heir in the line of Lancaster. But Cope-Harpsfield pinch-
eth the Fox the hardest, for making Margaret Jourdman (the witch of
Eye) a martyr, who was justiy burnt for her witchcraft. Other small
errors we omit, whereof he accuseth him.
62. Mr. Fox's ingenuous Confession. His flat Denial- His
ten Conjectures in behalf of the Duchess.
In answer hereunto, Mr. Fox makes a threefold return, — ingenu
ously confessing part of the charge, flatly denying part, and fairly
excusing the rest. He confesseth, — and take it in his own words,
— that " the former edition of his Acts and Monuments was hastily
rashed up at the present in such shortness of time,"* (fourteen
months, as I remember, — too small a term for so great a task) that
it betrayed him to many mistakes, as when he calleth Sir Roger Only
a knight, who was a priest by his profession : adding, moreover, that
" had he thought no imperfections had passed his former edition, he
would not have taken in hand a second recognition thereof."-|-
He flatly denieth that his martyr-making of Margaret Jourdman,
the witch of Eye. " I here," saith he, " profess, confess, and
ascertain, both you," (Cope-Harpsfield, he meaneth,) "and all
Englishmen both present, and all posterity hereafter to come, that
Margaret Jourdman I never spake of, never thought of, never
dreamed of, nor did ever hear of, before you named her in your
book yourself. So far it is off that I, either with my will, or against
my will, made any martyr of her."
He excuseth the aforesaid duchess Eleanor, alleging " ten con
jectures," as he calleth them, in her vindication : —
1. Sir Roger Only took it upon his death, that he and the lady
were innocent of those things for which they -were condemned.
2. It was usual for the clergy, in that age, to load those who were
of Wickliffe's persuasion (such this duchess) with no less false than
foul aspersions.
3. Sir Roger Only wrote two books, (mentioned by Bale,)| the
one of his own innocency, the other contra vulgi super stitiones-
* First Volume, page 920. t Page 921. J As in his eighth cent, cap. i.

11 HENRY VI. BOOK IV. CENT. XV, 497
It is not therefore probable he should be so silly a necromancer, who
had professedly confuted popular superstitions,
4, The accusation of this duchess began not until after the
grudges betwixt the duke her husband, and the cardinal of Win
chester,* about the year 1440.
5, It is not pfobable, if the duchess intended such treason against
the king's life, (as to consume him by burning a wax candle,) that
she would impart a plot of such privacy to four persons ; namely,
Sir Roger, Margaret Jourdman, Mr, Thomas Southwell, and John
Hume ; seeing " five may keep counsel, if four be away,"
6, So heinous a treason against the king's person, if plainly
proved, would have been more severely punished, with death, no
doubt, of all privy thereunto. Whereas this lady escaped with
exile, and John Hume had his life pardoned ; which, being so foul a
fact, would not have been forgiven, if cleariy testified against him.
7, She is accused in our Chronicles (Harding, Polychronicon,
&c,) for " working sorcery and enchantments against the church
and the king," Now how can enchantments be made .against the
church, which is a collective body, consisting of a multitude of
Christians..' And, reader, in my weak opinion, this conjecture
carrieth some weight with it. Balaam himself can tell us, " There is
no sorcery against Jacob, nor soothsaying against Israel," Num.
xxiii, 23, If any interpret "against the church," that is, " the laws
and canons of the church," the sense is harsh and unusual. This
rendereth it suspicious that her enchantments against the church
was only her disliking and distasting the errors and superstitions
thereof 8, This witch of Eye, saith Fabyan, lived near Winchester ; a
presumption, as Mr, Fox conjectureth, that the cardinal of Win
chester had a hand in packing this accusation,
9, Polydore Virgil maketh no mention thereof, otherwise sutfi-
ciently quick-sighted in matters of this nature,
' 10, Why may not this be false, as well as that king Richard
III.'s accusing of Jane Shore for bewitching of his withered arm ?
These conjectures are not substantial enough severally to subsist
of themselves ; yet may they be able to stand in complication, (in
the whole sheaf, though not as single aiTOws,) and conduce not a
littie towards the clearing of her innocence,
63. A moderate Way.
For my own part, it is past my skill to scour out stains, inlaid in
the memory of one deceased more than two hundred years ago, I
see her credit stands condemned by the generality of writers ; and
* I see not how this is much material in her defence.
Vol, I, K K

498 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A. D. 1433.
as it is above the power of the present age to pardon it, so it is
against all pity, cruelty, to execute the same, some after-evidences
appearing with glimmering light in her vindication. Let her
memory therefore be reprieved till the day of judgment, when it is
possible, that this lady, " bearing here the indignation of God for
her sins," may in ductime " have her cause pleaded, and judgment
executed for her, and her righteousness be brought into light,"
Micah vii. 9. Sure I am she fared no whit the better for her sur
name of Cobham, odious to the clergy of that age on the account of
Sir John Oldcastle lord Cobham, though these two were nothing of
kin. The best is, she left no issue to be ashamed of her- faults, if
she were guilty ; the best evidences of whose innocence are in the
manuscript books of J. Leland, which as yet I have not had the
happiness to behold.
64. The meanest Bishop above the mightiest Abbot.
At this time William Heiworth sat bishop of Coventry and
Lichfield, being translated thither from being abbot of St, Alban's,
Wonder not that he should leave the richest abbey of England,
(where he took place of all of his Order,) and exchange it for a
middle-sized bishopric. For, First, even those who most admire
the holiness and perfection of monastical life do grant the episcopal
function above it in all spiritual respects. Secondly, In temporal
considerations the poorest bishop was better, (and might be more
beneficial to his kindred,) than the richest abbot, seeing he by -will
might bequeath his estate to his heirs, which no abbot (incapable in
his own person of any propriety) could legally do, whose goods
belonged to his convent in common,
65. Lichfield's Cathedral, the neatest Pile in England.
A.D. 1433.
This bishop Heiworth deserved not ill of his cathedral church of
Lichfield. Indeed, the body of the church was built by Roger de
Clinton, bishop thereof, in the reign of king Henry I, who increased
the number of the prebends, and suiTOunded Lichfield witii a ditch,
bestowing much cost on the invisible castle, which now is vanished
out of sight. Afterwards Walter de Langton his successor in the
reign of king Edward I, was a most munificent benefactor thereunto,
laying the foundation of the chapel of the virgin Mary, and, though
dying before it was finished, bequeathing a sufficient sum of money
for the finishing thereof. He also fenced the close of the church
about with a high wall and deep ditch, adorning it with two beautiful
gates, the fairer on the west, the lesser on the south side thereof.

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11 HENRY VI. BOOK IV, CENT, XV. 499
He expended no less than two thousand pounds in beautifying the
shrine of St, Chad his predecessor.
But now, in the time of the aforesaid William Heiworth, the
cathedral of Lichfield was in the vertical height thereof, being,
though not augmented in the essentials, beautified in the orna
mentals thereof. Indeed, the west front thereof is a stately fabric,
adorned with exquisite imagery, [of] which I suspect our age is so far
from being able to imitate the workmanship, that it understandeth
not the history thereof.
66, 67. Charles the fifth of Florence. An ingenious Design.
Surely, what Charles V. is said to have said of the city of
Florence, " that it is pity it should be seen save only on holi
days ;" as also that " it was fit that so fair a city should have a case
and cover for it to keep it from wind and weather ;" so, in some
sort, this fabric may seem to deserve a shelter to secure it.
But, alas ! it is now in a pitiful case indeed, — almost beaten down
to tjie ground in our civil dissensions. Now, lest the church should
follow the castle, — I mean, quite vanish out of view, — I have, at
the cost of my worthy friend, here exemplified the portraiture
thereof; and am glad to hear it to be the design of ingenious
persons, to preserve ancient churches in the like nature, whereof
many are done in this, and more expected in the next, part of
Monasticon ; seeing when their substance is gone, their very
shadows will be acceptable to posterity.
68, 69, 7^' A Grievance complained on, with great Earnestness;
yet not fully redressed.
The Commons in Parliament complained to the king, that
whereas they had sold great wood of twenty years' growth and
upwards, to their own great profit, and in aid to the king in his
wars and shipping, the parsons and vicars impleaded such merchants
as bought this timber for the tithes thereof, whereby their estates
were much daninified, the king and kingdom disserved.
They also complained, that when such merchants, troubled in the
courts Christian, addressed themselves for remedy to the chancery,
and moved therein for a prohibition, which in such cases is to be
granted unto them, by virtue of a statute made in the forty-fifth
year of king Edward III. yet such a writ of prohibition and attach
ment was against all law and right denied them. Wherefore they
humbly desired the king to ordain, by authority of the present
pariiament, that such, who shall find themselves grieved, may here
after have such writs of prohibition and upon tiiat attachments as
well in the Chancery as in the King's and Common Bench at their
2 K 2

500 CHURCH HISTORY OP BRITAIN, A,D, 14'34,
choice ; and that the said writs of prohibition and attachment,
issuing. out of the said benches, have the same force and effects, as
the original writs of prohibition and attachment so issuing out of
the chancery of our lord the king.*
To this it was returned, " The king will be advised," the civilest
expression of a denial. However, we may observe, that, for a full
hundred years, (namely, from the middle of king Edward III. to
and after this time,) no one parliament passed wherein this grievance
was not complained on. So that an acorn might become an oak
and good timber in the term wherein this molestation for the tithes
of wood, under the pretence of silva cesdua, did continue. But it
seems it was well ordered at last, finding future parliaments not
complaining thereof.
71, 72, 73- William Linwood's Constitutions set forth. First
employed Ambassador into Portugal. His Work printed
and prized beyond Sea.
At this time William Linwood finished his industrious and useful
work of his " Constitutions." He was bred in Cambridge ; first,
scholar of Gonvilc, then Fellow of Pembroke hall. His younger
years he spent in the study of the laws, whereby he gained much
wealth, and more reputation. Afterwards, quitting his practice, he
betook himself to the court, and became keeper of the privy seal
unto king Henry V, who employed him on a long and important
embassy into Spain and Portugal,
Linwood, being no less skilful in civil than canon law, performed
the place with such exemplary industry and judgment, that, had not
the king's sudden death prevented it, he had been highly advanced
in the commonwealth. Afterwards he re-assumed his official's place
of Canterbury, and then at spare hours collected and digested the
Constitutions of the fourteen latter archbishops of Canterbury, from
Stephen Langton to Henry Chicheley, unto whom he dedicated the
Work, submitting the censure thereof to the church,
A worthy work, highly esteemed by foreign lawyers : not so par
ticularly provincial for England, but that they are useful for other
countries, his comment thereon being a magazine of the canon law.
It was printed at Paris, 1505, (but at the cost and charges of
William Bretton, an honest merchant of London,) revised by the
care of Wolfangus Hippolius, and prefaced unto by Jodocus
Badius. This Linwood was afterward made bishop of St, David's,
whose works (though now beheld by some as an almanac out of
date) will be valued by the judicious whilst learning and civility
have a being. • E.V Archivis in Tur. Londin. undccinio Hen. fl.

12 HENRY VI, ~ BOOK IV, CENT, XV, 501
SECTION IIL
TO THOMAS RICH, LATE OF LONDON, ESQUIRE,
Great is the praise St, Paul gives to Gaius, styling
him." HIS host, and of the whole church," Rom, xvi, 23,
Surely, the church then was very Uttle, or Gaius's
house very large. Now, hosts commonly are corpulent
persons; but Gaius not so, it being more than suspicious
that he was afflicted with a faint and feeble body, as
may be collected from the words of St: John : " I wish
that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy,
soul prospereth," 3 John 2,
You are, Sir, the entertainer-general of good men;
many a poor minister will never be wholly " seques
tered" whilst you are living, whose charity is like to
the wind, which cannot be seen, but may be felt. And
God hath dealt with you more bountifully than with
Gaius, blessing you in all dimensions of soul, body, and
estate ; and my prayers shall never be wanting for the
continuance and increase thereof,
1, English Ambassadors sent to Basil. A. D. 1434.
This year began the smart and active council of Basil, to which
our ambassadors were to represent both their sovereign and the
English nation ; where they were received with honour and respect,
the reputation of king Henry's holiness adding much to their credit ;
foreigners there being very inquisitive of them, to be satisfied in the
particulars of his devotion, which by them was represented much to
their master's advantage. But it is worth our pains to peruse the
commission they carried with them.
Rex omnibus quos, etc. salutem. — Sciatis quod, cum jtixfa
decreta Consiantiensis concilii, prasens concilium Basileense
actual'iter celebrefur, sub sanctissimo patre domino Eugenio Papa
quarto; nos eidem concilio, nedum ex parte ejusdem concilii per
suos oratores nobis ex hac causd .spcc'ialifer destinatos, verum
etiam aposlolicis et imperial'ibus, ac aliurum quamplurimoium
saucta mafi-is ecclesia patrum et principum sacularium Uteris
creberrime instigati, ad Dei laudem, sancta matris ecclesia pros-
perifatem optatam et honorem, et prasertim ob fldei catholica
exaltationem interesse cupienies, variis et divers'is caus'is rationa-

5,02 CHURCH HISTORY OF RRITAIN. A.D. 1434.
bililer prapediti, quo minus personaliter eidem interesse poterimus,
ui vellemus, venerabiles pafres Robertum Londoniensem, Philip-
pum Lexov'iensem, Johannem Roffensem, Johannem Bajocensem,
et Bernardum Aquensem episcopos, ac carissimum consanguineum
nostrum Edmundum Comitem Morifonii, dilectos nobis Nicho-
laum Abbatem Gla.st:m'ien.sem, Wdlielmum Abbatem ecclesia
heata Marie Eborum et Willielmum Priorem Norwicensem, nee
nofi dilectos et fldcles nostros Henricum Broumflete milifem,
mag'istrum Thomam Broun utr'iusque juris docforem, Sarum
Decanum, Johannem Colluelle milifem, magisfrum Petrum
Mauricii * docforem in theologid et magisfrum Nicholaum David
Archidiaconum Consfanticnsem et Licentiafum in utroque jure,
nostros ambassiatores, oratores, veros, et indubitatos procuratores,
actores, facfores, et nuncios speciales constituimus, faeimus et
depufamus per pra.sentes, dantes et damus eis et ipsorum majori
parti potestatem et mandatum tam generate quam speciale
nomine nostra et pro nobis in eodem concilio interessendi, tractandi,
communicandi et concludendi tam de Idis qua fldei orthodoxa
fulcimentum, regumque ac principum pacificationem concernere
poterunt, nee non de et super pace perpetud guerrarumve absti-
nentid inter nos ef Carolum adversarium nostrum de Franc'id,
ac etiam tractandi, communicandi et appunctuandi, consentiendi
insuper, et si opus fuerit dissenfiendi Mis, qua juxta deliberafionem
dicti concilii inibi statui, ac ordinari cont'igerit. Promittenteset'
promittimus bond flde nos raium, grafum, ct flrrnum perpetud
habiturum totum -f- et quicquid per dictos ambassiatores, oratores,
et procuratores nostros, aut majorem partem eoi'undem, actum,
factum, seu gesfumfuerit in pramissis, ef in singulis pramissorum,
ef hoc idem cum de et super Mis certiorati fuerimus quantum ad
nos ef Chrisfianum principem attinef, exccutioni deb'ita curabimus
demandare. In cujus rei testimonium has literas nosfi'os fi£ii
fecimus patentes.
Dat. .sub magni sigilli nostri tesfimonio in palatio nostro
West. 10 die Julii. Per Concilium.
" The king to all whom, &c, greeting. Know that according to
the decrees of [the late] council of Constance, the present coundil
of Basil is actually celebrated under the most holy father, lord
Eugenius the fourth pope. We being often instigated to be pre
sent at the same council, not only on the behalf of the same coun
cil, by their orators, especially dispatched to us for that purpose, but
also by the letters apostolical and imperial, and the letters of very
many other fathers of the holy mother church, and of secular
• Or Maurison. t Habiturum in MS.

12 HENRY VI. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 503
princes. And we, desiring to be present thereat, to the praise
of God, prosperity of the holy mother church, and her desired
honour, and chiefly for the exaltation of the Catholic faith, being on
just reason hindered with many and several occasions, cannot (as we
would) be personally present thereat. Wherefore by these presents
we constitute, make, and depute, the venerable fathers, Robert
bishop of London, Philip bishop of Lisieux,* John bishop of
Rochester, John bishop of Baieux, and Bernard bishop of Aix, and
our most dear cousin Edmund earl of Morton, our beloved Nicholas
abbot of Glasto, William abbot of St, Mary's in York, and
William prior of Norwich, and our beloved and trusty Henry
Broumflete, knight, Mr, Thomas Broun, doctor of laws, dean of
Sarum, John Coleville, knight, Mr, Peter Fitzmaurice, D.D, and
Mr, Nicholas David archdeacon of Constance, and licentiate in both
laws, our ambassadors, orators, true and undoubted proctors, actors,
factors, and special messengers ; giving, and we give to them, and
the greater part of them, power and command, as well general
as special, in our name, and for us, to be present in the same coun
cil, to treat, debate, and conclude as well of these things which may
concern the support of the orthodox faith, the pacification of kings
and princes, as also upon either a perpetual peace, or else a cessation
from war, betwixt us and Charles of France our adversary ; empower
ing them also to treat, commune, and appoint, moreover to consent,
and, if need be, dissent, in those things which shall happen there to
be established and ordained according to the deliberations of the
aforesaid council : promising, and we do promise, on good faith,
that whatsoever shall be acted, done, or managed, in the premisses,
and every one of them by our aforesaid ambassadors, orators, and
proctors, or the greater part of them, we shall have and account for
ratified, welcome, and firm for ever. And when we shall be certified
of and upon the same, we shall care to command the due execu
tion, so far as appertaineth to us, and a Christian prince. In wit
ness whereof, we have made these our letters patent.
" Given under our great seal, being our witness, in our palace at
Westminster, July 10."t
So eminent an instrument of so great importance must not pass
without some of our observations thereupon.
2. Why the Pope declines General Councils in our Age.
The council of Basil is said to be assembled according to the
decrees of the late council of Constance, wherein it was constituted,
that within so many years a general council should be called. For,
• A city in Normandy. t The Latin running on all in one contmued sentence,
we are fain to divide it into many, for the more clearness.

504 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1434.
seeing the church was subject to contract rust in doctrine and
manners, frequency of councils was conceived the best way to scour
the same. But the pope lately hath willingly forgotten this canon,
no general council being called since that of Trent, wherein all tiie
power and profit of the pope was secured under the notion of " arti
cles of the faith ;" since which time his Holiness thought it not safe
to tamper with a new council, as which might impair, but could not
improve, his condition,
3, England must send four, might send more. Bishops to a
General Council.
See we here fourteen ambassadors sent to Basil ; — ^five bishops,
one earl, (not that he was to vote in the council, but only behold
the transactions thereof,) two abbots, one prior, two knights, one
doctor in divinity, two doctors of law, all interests being in them
represented. When, therefore, we read in Roger Hoveden and
others,* ad generate concilium Domini papes, quatuor episcopi
de Anglid tantiim Romam mittendi sunt, " only four English
bishops are to be sent to Rome to a general council of the pope ;''
understand it, that such a number is sufficient, England needed to
send but so many, though, if pleased, might send more, confined by
no other command save the king's free discretion. And seeing
Basil was little above the half-way to Rome, the journey being
shorter, the more messengers were employed.
4. English Puissance in France.
The three French bishops sent by the king speak the great com
mand which king Henry as yet had in France, especially (if as I
take it by) Aquensis,f Aix be mentioned, situated in the furthermost
parts of Provence, though even now the English power in France
was a-waning, 5, Langdon, the learned Bishop of Rochester.
John, bishop of Rochester, here mentioned, was John Langdon,
intruded by the pope into that bishopric, to the apparent prejudice
of the archbishop of Canterbury, For the bishop of Rochester
was accounted Canterbury's chaplain, to whom he owed his spirituals
and temporals as his patron and founder ; though now the pope,
contrary to the archbishop's will and right, forced this Langdon into
• SiiiON DtiNELMENSis. t Hpyhn obscrves, in his E.vamen : " Bernard, whom
the Latin calls Episcopus Aguensis is very ill taken hy our author to be bishop of Aix.
He was, indeed, bishop of Acqus or Aux in Guienne, called anciently Aquai Augusta;,
from whence those parts of France had the name of Aquitaine. Now, Guienne was at
that time in the power of the kings of England." — Edit.

12 HE>IRY VI, BOOK IV, CENT, XV, 505
the place. But, indeed, he was a learned man, dying this year in
his embassy at Basil ; and deserved far better preferment than the
poor bishopric of Rochester, But yet, as some observe of tailors,
that they make the largest garments when they have the least cloth
allowed them ; so the poor bishopric of Rochester hath fared better
than many richer sees, seeing sacrilege would never feed on so bare
a pasture, 6, Precedents for Precedency.
Observe the method in the nomination of these commissioners,
wherein no wonder if the bishops precede so great an eari. Was it
not fit that " reverend fathers" should be placed before a " dear
cousin ?" Besides, the employment being of church-concernment,
spiritual persons carried it clear in the race of dignity. More strange
it is to find herein a knight, Henry Broumflete, put before a doctor
of both laws, and yet John Coleville, another knight, placed after the
same doctor, I confess the contest very ancient about priority
betwixt a knight and a doctor of law, — ever since the comparison
which Tully * made betwixt Lucius Murena, a knight of Rome,
and Pub, Sulpitius, a lawyer, either of them standing for the con
sulship ; though now in England the precedency of the knight be
indubitable, since preferment is taken from civil law, and the pro
fessors thereof shut up, as it were, in a narrow corner of their own
faculty. But we leave the critical decision thereof to his pen -|- who
hath written a just tract " of the Glory" (in truth, " of the vanity")
" of this World," and exactly stated this particular, with all the
circumstances thereof
7- A charitable and no impolitic Offer.
Whereas the king empowereth those his commissioners to meddle
in the point of his right of the realm of France with king Charles
his competitor, submitting his title to be discussed in the council, it
-carrieth with it a confidence of his own right, and charitable desire
to save the effusion of Cliristian blood. But this was not council,
but camp-work ; and we meet not with the mention hereof once
touched on in this great assembly. However, so wary was king
Henry (or rather his council) as not absolutely to tie up his title to
the decision of this council, but to give his commissioners a negative
voice, in case they see cause to dissent,
8. A Contest betwixt the English and Castilians about
Precedency.
The general history of the church reporteth the acts of this coun
cil, how they deposed pope Eugenius, and substituted Felix in his
• [n Oratione i,ro Murena. i Ch.assamscs La Gloria Mundi, lib. ix.

506 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1434-— 7-
room ; for which and other decisions therein, Rome beholds his
council but with bad eyes unto this day. We will only meddle
with a difference therein, which concerned our own nation. The
orators of several kings began to take their places, according to their
birthrights ; dating their age from their nations' first receiving
of Christianity. Here arose the controversy, of course, about pre
cedency betwixt the English and Castile ambassadors ; the former
alleging Britain's conversion by Joseph of Arimathea; which Alphon-
sus Garsias de Sancta Maria dean of Compostella and Segovia,
doctor of law, and ambassador for Castile, with a speech more
tedious than his name and titles, much endeavoured to disprove,*
and his arguments may be reduced to these four heads : —
First. He denied Joseph's arrival in Britain, and imposed the
proof thereof on the English who affirmed it, challenging them to
produce any authentic record for the same.
Secondly. He urged probability to the contrary, out of the
Golden Legend, or Flores Sanctorum ; where it is reported, how
Titus, taking Jerusalem, caused a thick wall to be digged through,
and therein found an aged man, who confessed himself to be Joseph
of Arimathea, there imprisoned by the Jews for burying of Christ ;
and that ever since he had been fed with meat from heaven. Hence
he inferred, that if Joseph were in durance all this while in the wall,
he could not, as the English pretended, come over into Britain to
plant the Gospel.
Thirdly. Grant that Joseph, after his enlargement by Titus,
preached in Britain, (which must needs be after the year of our
Lord, seventy and two,) Spain long before had received the Gospel
by the preaching of James the apostie.
Fourthly. Be it granted, that Joseph did preach in England, it
was but in a corner thereof, the grand body of Britain remaining
Pagan many hundred years after.
These arguments he uttered with such an affected gravity, as if
he could have made the matter the more by pronouncing the words
the longer. 9. The Answer of the English.
The English easily answered these exceptions, proving James to be
slaughtered at Jerusalem by Herod, Acts xii. 2, before his pretended
preaching in Spain ; seeing their own countryman, and an archbishop
of Toledo,f confesseth as much. They produced many ancient tes
timonies for the preaching of Joseph in Britain ; the fond fable of
his being kept in a wall being beneath confutation, as attested only
* Ex Schedis Cottonianis. t RoDERicus Ximenius in Concer. de Primatu cum
Pru:sule Coiiyjostcl in Concil. Lateran. Anno 1215,

15 HENRY VI. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 507
by a worthless author, Johannes de Voragine.* Their allegation,
that Britain was but partially converted by his preaching, was but
impertinent to the present purpose ; the point controverted not
being of the universality, but the antiquity, of first receiving the
Christian faith. Besides, neither James, nor any other disciple,
ever converted a kingdom totally and entirely to Christianity. How
ever, nothing was concluded in this controversy, always agitated,
never decided : — 1. In the council of Pisa, anno 1409. 2. In the
council of Constance, 1417, betwixt the ambassadors of England and
France. 3. In the council of Sienna, before Martin V. pope;
wherein Richard Fleming, bishop of Lincoln, encountered Prance,
Spain, and Scotland, about precedency. Lastly. Betwixt England
and Spain, in the council of Basil, though therein nothing concluded ;
those politic prelates accounting it better to keep both princes in hope
by discussing, than to put one into anger by deciding it. Yea,
they loved to set up this controversy (as that of the precedence of
Cambridge and Oxford in the English parliaments) out of design,
sometimes to delay time ; sometimes, by starting it, to stop and
divert more dangerous disputes.
10, All-Souls' College in Oxford founded. AD. 1437-
Henry Chicheley, doctor of law, archbishop of Canterbury, founded
a college in Oxford, by the name of All-Souls, for a Warden, and
forty Fellows ; which number by statute was never to be augmented
or impaired ; and all void places (by death, or otherwise) once in a
year to be supplied.
Wardens, — 1, Mr, Richard Andrews ; 2, Mr. Roger Keys ;
3, Mr, Gulielmus Kele ; 4, Mr, Gulielmus Poteman ; 5, Mr, John
Stokie ; 6, Thomas Hobbys ; 7- Mr, Gulielmus Brooke ; 8, Mr.
John Coale ; 9. Mr. Robert Woodward ; 10, Mr, Robert Stokelie ;
11, Mr, John Warner ; 12, Mr, Seth Holland ; 13, Mr, John
Pope; 14. Mr. Richard Barber; 15, Mr, Robert Hovenden ;
• Concerning this author the remark of Heylin is : " I find mention of one Johannes de
Voragine, a worthless author; mistook both in the name of the man, and his quality also.
For, the author of the book called Legenda Aurea was not Joharmes but Jacobus de
Voragine : in which book though there are many idle and tmwarrantable fictions, yet was
the man of more esteem than to pass under the character of a Uiorthless author, as being
leamed for the times in which he lived, archbishop of Genoa, a chief city of Italy, et
moribus et dignitate magno pretio, as Philippus Bergomensis teUeth us of him, anno 1250,
at what time he lived ; most eminent for his translation of the Bible into the Italian
tongue, (as we read Vossius,) a work of great both difficulty and danger, as the times
then were ; sufficient, were there nothing else, to free him from the ignommious name of
a worthless author." FuUer, after having with his usual frankness " entered his public
thanks to the Animadverter," concludes with this sentence ; " I confess I have formerly,
in the table of my esteem, placed this Voragme in the very lag at the lowest end thereof;
but hereafter I shaU say to him, Corne up hither, and provide a higher place for him in
my reputation," — Edit,

508 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D. 1437  46.
16. Mr, Richard Mocket ; 17- Mr. Richard Ashley ; Mr, Gilbert
Sheldon ; Mr, John Palmer,
Bishops, — James Gouldwell, bishop of Norwich, 1472; Gilbert
Bourn, bishop of Bath and Wells, 1554 ; Gyles Thompson, bishop
of Gloucester, 1611 ; Brian Duppa, bishop of Sarum, Fellow of
this House,
Benefactors, — King Henry VI, at the procurement of the
Founder, gave four Priories Aliens ; namely, Alberbury, "Romney,
Weedon- Pinkney, and Languenith ; queen Elizabeth confirmed
the parsonage of Stanton-Harcourt ; Reginald Pole, cardinal, arch
bishop of Canterbury ; Sir William Petre, Fellow of this college,
and secretary to four kings and queens.
Learned Writers, — Sir Clement Edmonds; Dr, Albericus
Gentilis, an excellent civilian ; Dr, Steward ; Mr, Diggs,
So that at this present this college hath one Warden, forty Fel
lows, two Chaplains, three Clerks, six Choristers, beside Officers and
Servants of the foundation, with other Students, the whole number
being seventy. The Fellows of this college are bound by their
statutes to be in bene nati, splendide vestiti, et mediocriter docti
in piano cantu.
Know, reader, I was promised by my respected friend, Dr, Jeremy
Taylor, late Fellow of this House, well known to the world by his
worth, a catalogue of the eminent scholars thereof ; but, it seems, the
press (like time and tide) staying for no man, I have not been so
happy seasonably to receive it,
11, A tart Jeer soberly returned. A.D. IMS.
Six years did this archbishop survive the first founding of this
college. He was a worthy man in his generation, had not his vas-
sallage to the pope (the epidemical disease of those days) engaged
him in cruelty against the poor professors of the truth. Most of the
synods called by him, toward the latter end of his life, effected only
the advance of money ; the clergy being very desirous to buy off
the penalty of a premunire, so pernicious to their proceedings ; but
could not completely compass the same, I have nothing else to
observe of archbishop Chicheley, save the common tradition, how
king Henry VI, acted herein by some misoclere courtiers, (other
wise in himself friend enough to churchmen,) sent this archbishop,
for a new-year's gift, a shred-pie indeed, as containing pieces of
cloth and stuff, of several sorts and colours, in jeer, because his
father was a tailor at Higham-Ferrars in Northamptonshire, The
archbishop thankfully received the gift, even after he had seen the
entrails thereof, and courteously entertained the messenger, request
ing him to return to his Grace : " If my lord the king do but as

24 henry VI, BOOK IV, CENT. XV. 509
far exceed Henry V. (whom God assoil) his father, as my meanness
hath gone beyond my poor father, he will make the most accom
plished monarch that ever was in Christendom," John Stafford,
one of noble parentage, succeeded in the place of Chicheley deceased.
May 3rd, 12, The Founding of Eaton College. A.D. 1M6.
This good precedent of the archbishop's bounty may be presumed
a spur to the speed of the king's liberality ; who, soon after,
founded Eaton College, incorporate by the name of Prcepositi et
Collegii Regalis Collegii Beates Maries de Eaton juxta Winsor,
It seemeth these words Beates Maries are so necessary, that, being
left out in a lease, wherein all the other titles of the foundation
were inserted at large, the said lease was adjudged void for that
omission,* But know, this verdict passed in queen Mary's days,
when Regina Maria made the mention of Beates Maries so essen
tial thereunto, 13, The bad Poetry of that Age.
Indeed, it was high time some school should be founded, con
sidering how low grammar-learning ran then in the land ; as may
appear by the following verses made for king Henry, the founder;
as good no doubt as the generality of that age did afford, though
scarce deserving translation ; so that the worst scholar in Eaton
college that can make a verse can make a better.
Luce tud, qui natus erat, Nicolae, sacer rex
Henricus Sextus hoc stabilivit opus,
Unctwm qui lapidem postquam pone bat in Eaton
Huncjixit clerum commemorando suum.
Astiterant illi tunc pontijices in honorem
Actus solennis regis et ecclesia.
Ex Orientali t si bis septem pedetentim
Mensurare veils, invenies lapidem ;
In f esto sancti Jacobi sanctum stabilivit
Hie unctam petram regia sacra manus.
Annis M. CCCC. sexto quater Xque,
Regis et H. regni quinto jungendo vicena.
" Devout king Hem'y, of that name the sixt,
Bom (Nic'las) on thy day, this buildlng-fixt.
In Eaton having placed a stone anointed,
In sign, it for the clergy was appomted.
His prelates then were present, so the more
To honour the king's acts and holy chore.
From Eastern midst, whereof just fom-teen feet
If any measure, they this stone shall meet ;
On holy James's day, the sacred hand
Of royal Henry caused tliis stone to stand
• Abridgment of Judge Dieb's « Reports," num. 379. Trin. Term, quai to Marice.
•f Medio.

510 CHURCH HISTORV OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1447.
M. four Cs. forty-six since Christ was bom,
When H, the crown twenty-five years had worn."'
14. J bountiful Foundation: God continue it-
This college consisteth of one Provost, Fellows, a School
master and Usher, with king's Scholars ; beside many oppidans,
maintained there at the cost of their friends ; so that were Eaton as
also Winchester school removed into Germany, they would no
longer be accounted scholes, but gymnasia, a middle term betwixt
a school and an university. The Provostship of Eaton is accounted
one of the genteelest and entirest preferments in England, the
Provost thereof being provided for in all particulars, to the very
points of his hose, (my desire is, one tag of them may not be
diminished,) and, as a pleasant courtier f told king Henry VIII.
" an hundred pounds a year more than enough." How true this is,
I know . not ; this I know, if some courtiers were to stint the
ENOUGH of clergymen, even the most industrious of them should
(with Solomon's slothful man) have poverty enough, Prov.
xxviii. 19. But take here a catalogue of the Provosts of Eaton : —
1, Henry Sell ver, D,D, almoner to king Henry VI. 2. William
Wainflete, B. D. afterwards bishop of Winchester ; 3. John Clerk,
B.D. died provost, Nov. 7th, 1447; 4. William Westbury, B.D,
chosen provost, anno 1448; 5, Henry Bost, B, D: he gave an
hundred marks, and twenty pounds per annum to the college, died
Feb. 7th, 1503 ; 6. Roger Lupton, B, D, ; 7- Robert Aldndge,
[Aldrich,] afterwards bishop of Carlisle ; 8. Sir Thomas Smith,
doctor of law, of Queen's college in Cambridge, chosen anno 1554;
9, Henry Colle, doctor of divinity and of law, chosen in the same
year, 1554; 10, William Bill, D,D, almoner to queen Elizabeth,
chosen July 5th, 1559 ; 11, William Day, B, D, dean also of
Windsor, chosen Jan, 5th, 1561, afterwards bishop of Winchester ;
12, Sir Henry Savile, warden of Merton college in Oxford, chosen
June 3rd, 1596, eminent to all posterity for his magnificent edition
of St, Chrysostom in Greek ; 13, Thomas Murray, Esq, tutor and
secretary to king Charles, whilst prince : 14. Sir Henry Wotton,J
famous for several embassies, chosen 1625 ; 15, Richard Steward,
doctor of law arid dean of St, Paul's ; 16. Francis Rouse, Esq,
This Eaton is a nursery to King's College in Cambridge, All
that I will add is, to wish that the prime scholars in this school
may annually be chosen to the university, and, when chosen, their
places may fall accordingly, not by the death of those in King's
* That is, current ; otherwise, but twenty-foiu- complete, J Sir John Hakrington
in the " Continuation of Godwin's Bishops," in bishop Day of Winchester. t Whose
Life is excellently wiitten by my worthy friend Mr. Isaac Walton.

37 HENRY VI. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 5ll
college, but their advancement to better preferment in the church
and commonwealth. 15. All quickly lost in France. A-D- 1447-
If we cast our eyes on the civil estate, we shall find our foreign
acquisitions in France, which came to us on foot, running from us
on horseback ; nulla dies sine civitate, scarce a day escaping
wherein the French regained not some city or place of importance ;
so that the English, who under king Henry had almost a third of
France, beside the city of Paris, another third in itself for wealth
and populousness, soon lost all on the continent, to the poor pit
tance of Calais and a little land, or, if you will, some large suburbs
round about it.
16. Occasioned by the English Discords.
Yet let not the French boast of their valour, but, under God's
providence, thank our sins, and particularly our discords, for their
so speedy recoveries. There were many clefts and claps in our
council-board ; factions betwixt the great lords present thereat ; and
these differences descended on their attendants and retainers, who,
putting on their coats, wore the badges, as well of the enmities as
of the arms, of their lords and masters : but behold them how
coupled in their antipathies : —
Deadly Feud betwixt Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset,
and Richard Plantagenet, duke of York: Betwixt Humphrey
Plantagenet duke of Gloucester, and Henry Beaufort, cardinal,
bishop of Winchester: Betwixt William De la Pole, duke of
Suffolk, and John Holland, duke of Exeter : Betwixt Humphrey
Stafford, duke of Buckingham, and Richard Neville, earl of War
wick : Betwixt Humphrey Plantagenet, duke of Gloucester,
William De la Pole, duke of Suffolk, Richard Neville, eari of
Warwick. Betwixt the tiiree last there was as it were a battie royal in this
cockpit, each of them hating and opposing another. In all these
contests their ambition was above their covetousness ; it being every
one's endeavour, not so much to raise and advance himself, as ruin
and depress his adversary,
17, 18, The Death of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester- A fit
Work for a good Pen.
Two of the aforesaid principal persons left the worid this year,
and in the same month. First. Humphrey duke of Gloucester,
brother to king Henry V. uncle and guardian to king Henry VI.
a great housekeeper. Hospitality being so common m that age, none

,512 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A,D, 1447  50,
were commended for the keeping, but condemned for the neglecting
thereof. He was much opposed by queen Margaret, (who would
have none rule the king her husband, save herself,) and accused of a
treacherous design ; insomuch that, at a packed parliament at Bury,
he was condemned of high treason, and found dead in his bed, not
without rank suspicion of cruel practices upon his person.
His death is suspended betwixt legal execution and murder, and
his memory pendulous betwixt malefactor and martyr. However,
the latter hath most prevailed in men's belief, and " the good duke
of Gloucester" is commonly his character. But it is proper for
some Oxford-man to write his just vindication ; a manual in asserting
his memory being but proportionable for him who gave to their
library so many and precious voluminous manuscripts. As for those
who, chewing their meat with their feet, whilst they walk in the body
of St, Paul's, are commonly said to " dine with duke Humphrey,"
the saying is as far from truth as they from dinner, — even twenty
miles off; seeing this duke was buried in St, Alban's, to which
church he was a great benefactor.
19- The Death of the rich Cardinal.
The same month with the duke of Gloucester, died Henry Beau
fort, bishop of Winchester, and cardinal ; one of high descent, high
spirit, and high preferments ; hardly to be equalled by cardinal
Wolsey (otherwise but a pigmy to him in birth) for wealth and
magnificence. He lent king Henry V, at once twenty thousand
pounds, who pawned his crown unto him. He built the fair hospi
tal of St, Cross, near Winchester ; * and, although chancellor of the
university of Oxford, was no grand benefactor thereunto in propor
tion to his own wealth, (commonly called " the rich cardinal,") or
the practices of his predecessor, Wickham, or successor, Wainefleet.
20. The Clergy move in vain against the Statute of Premunire.
The bishops assembled in parliament laboured the recalling of the
Act of Premunire ;_ and no wonder if galled horses -R'ould willingly
cast off their saddles ; but, belike, they found that statute girt too
close unto them, the Lords and Commons stickling stoutly for the
continuance thereof And because this is the last time we shall
have occasion to mention this statute, and therefore must take our
farewell thereof, it will not be amiss to insert the ensuing passage,
as relating to the present subject, though it happened many years
after, * Heylin informs us, in liis Examen Historicum, that this hospital was first built by
Henry of Bio's, brother of king Stephen, and bishop of Winchester, anno 1129; aug.
aiented only, and perhaps more liberally endowed, by this potent cardinal." — Edit.

28 henry VI. BOOK IV. CENT, XV. 513
21, An eminent Instance in Ireland, of a Priest indicted on
the Statute of Premttnire.
One Robert Lalor, priest, a native of Ireland, to whom the
pope had given the titulary bishopric of Kilmore, and made him
vicar-general of the see apostolic within the archbishopric of Dublin,
&c, boldly and securely executed his pretended jurisdiction for many
years, was indicted at Dublin, in Hilary Term, quarto Jacobi, upon
this statute of premunire, made two hundred years before, being
the sixteenth of Richard II. His majesty's learned counsel did
wisely forbear to proceed against him upon any later law, (whereof
plenty in the reign of queen Elizabeth,) because recusants (swanning
in that kingdom) might have their judgments convinced, — that, long
before king Henry VIII. banished the usurpation of the pope, the
king, lords, and commons in England, though for the most part of the
Romish religion, made strict laws for the maintenance of the crown
against any foreign invasion.* Whereupon, after the party indicted
had pleaded at large for himself, the jury departed from the bar, and,
returning within half an hour, found the prisoner guilty of the con
tempts whereof he was indicted ; whereupon the Solicitor-General
moved the court to proceed to judgment, and Sir Dominick Sars-
field,f one of the justices of his Majesty's Chief Pleas, gave judgment
according to the form of the statute whereupon the indictment was
framed. Hence it plainly appears, that such misdemeanours of papists
are punishable at this day, by virtue of those ancient statutes, with
out any relation to such as were enacted since the Reformation,
22, Cade and Straw, like and unlike. A. D. 1450.
About this time Jack Cade raised his rebellion, like and unlike to
the former commotion of Jack Straw. Like, First, Because
Jacks both ; I mean, insolent, impudent, domineering clowns.
Secondly, Botii of them were Kentish by their extractions. Thirdly.
Both of them pressed upon London, and there principally played
their pranks. Fourthly, Both of them, after they had troubled
the land for a short time, were justiy slain, and their numerous
rabble routed and dispersed. In other remarkables. Cade differed
from Jack Straw, First, Straw defied all nobility and learning,
vowing and endeavouring their ruin and extirpation ; whilst Cade
pretended himself to be the lord Mortimer, and next heir to the
crown, and no design against learning is charged on his account,
Lastiy, Straw's rebellion is (though most falsely) fathered by
popish writers on Wickliffe and his adherents, [who are said] to
have occasioned, at leastwise connived at, his commotion ; but I
' • SiK John Davies in his " Case of Premnnire," fol. 83. t Idem, fol. 99.
Vol, I, ^ '^

514 church history of britain. a.d. 1455t— 9,
never met yet with any Romanists accusing the Lollards, as they
term them, for having any hand in Cade's rebellion.
23. The Wars begin betwixt York and Lancaster.
A.D. 1455-
Now began the broils to break out betwixt the two Houses of Lan
caster and York, so mutually heightened that scarce a county
betwixt York (the place whence generally their armies started)
and London, (the goal they both aimed to win,) but a set battle
hath been fought therein ; and if any one shire lieth fallow in this
kind, the next afforded a double crop in that nature, (besides other
counties in the Marches of Wales,) as by the ensuing catalogue
will appear.
1. At St. Alban's in Hertfordshire ; betwixt Richard duke of
York, and king Henry VI. for Lancaster, anno 1455, and 34th of
king Henry VI. in June : slain on the king's side five thousand ;
on the duke's six hundred : conqueror, York House.
2. At Blore Heath, in Staffordshire ; betwixt Richard earl of
Salisbury, for York, and James Touchet, lord Audley, for Lancaster,
anno 1469, the 37th of Henry VI. September 21st : two thousand
four hundred, most Cheshiremen, slain on Lancaster's side : con
queror, York House.
3. At Northampton ; betwixt Richard earl of Warwick, for
York, and king Henry VI. for Lancaster, anno 1460, 38 Henry VI.
July 9th : ten thousand slain and drowned on both sides : conqueror,
York House.
4. At Wakefield, in Yorkshire ; betwixt Richard duke of York,
and queen Margaret, for Lancaster, in the same year, December
31st : two thousand two hundred slain on York's side, with their
duke : conqueror, Lancaster.
5. At Mortimer's Cross, in Shropshire ; (.'') betwixt Edward earl
of March, afterwards king, for York, anno 1461, 39 Henry VL
February 2nd : three thousand eight hundred slain on Lancaster's
side : conqueror, York House.
6. At St. Alban's, in Hertfordshire ; betwixt Richard eari of
Warwick, for York, and king Henry VI. and Margaret his wife in
person, for Lancaster, the same year and month, February 17th :
about two thousand slain on both sides : conqueror, Lancaster.
7. At Towton, in Yorkshire ; betwixt Edward earl of March,
for York, and King Henry VI. the same year, March 27th, being
Palm-Sunday : thirty five thousand ninety and one slain on both
sides : conqueror, York House.
8, At Hexham, in Northumberland ; betwixt John Neville, lord
Montague, and king Henry VI. and the queen, anno 1464,

34 henry vi. book iv. cent. ,\v. 515
4 Edward IV. May 15th : number slain, great but uncertain :
conqueror, York House.
9. At Banbury, or Edgcot, in the confines of Oxford and North
amptonshire ; betwixt William Herbert, eari of Pembroke, for York,
and Robin of Ridsdale, alias Hilliard, for Lancaster ; anno 1469,
9 Edward IV. July 26th : five thousand slain in the place, most of
them Welshmen : conqueror, Lancaster.
10. At Barnet, in Middlesex ; Richard Neville, earl of War
wick, for Lancaster, and king Edward IV. for York, anno 1471, 11
Edward IV.. April 14th, being Easter-day: four thousand slain on
both sides : conqueror, York House.
11. At Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire ; betwixt king Edward
IV. for York, and queen Margaret and Edward her son for Lan
caster, in the same year, on May 4th : three thousand slain of the
House of Lancaster : conqueror, York House.
12. At Bosworth, in Leicestershire ; betwixt king Richard III.
for York, and Henry earl of Richmond, for Lancaster, anno 1485,
3 Richard III. August 22nd : about four thousand slain in all :
conqueror, Lancaster.
13. At Stoke, in Nottinghamshire ; betwixt John De la Pole,
earl of Lincoln, for York, and king Henry VII. for Lancaster,
anno 1487, 2 king. Henry VII. June 16th : about four thousand
(whereof many Irish) slain on both sides : conqueror, Lancaster, or
rather the two Houses united in king Henry VII.
Besides many other skirmishes, cor-rival with battles ; so that such
who consider the blood lost therein, would admire England had any
left. And such as observe how much it had left, would wonder it
had any lost, such still the populousness thereof.
But these things the reader may best inform himself of out of tiie
state-historians, and particularly out of that noble Italian author,
(elegantly and expressively translated by the earl of Monmouth,) who
hath written a large volume, to the great credit of our English nation,
of the wars betwixt York and Lancaster. So that I could heartily
wish that some Englishman, in requital of his courtesy, would write
the Italian discords betwixt the Guelphs and Ghibelines,
24. Magdalen College, in Oxford, founded by Bishop Wainfleet.
A.D. 1459.
It was much, that, in the midst of so many miseries of civil wars,
William, surnamed Patin, from his parents ; but Wainfleet from
the place of his nativity, now bishop of Winchester, should found
the fair college, dedicated to Mary Magdalen, in Oxford, for one
President, forty Fellows, thirty Demies, four Chaplains, eight Clerks,
and sixteen Choristers ;> which number can never be increased. But
2 L 2

516 church history of britain, a,d. 1459 — 61,'
tiiough this foundation cannot be broader or longer, (admit oT
more members,) yet may it be made deeper, and this is capable of
benefactors' charity to augment the maintenance of the aforesaid
number. This William Wainfleet first founded Magdalen-Hall
hard by, as scriveners use to try their pens on a small piece of paper,
before they begin what they fairly intend to write, and afterwards
undertook and finished tiiis far more stately piece of architecture.
For whoso observeth the magnificence of the structure, the nume-
rousness of the corporation, the largeness of tiieir endowments,
and the mutual concinnity of all parts amongst themselves therein,
may possibly find out a college which may exceed it in some,
but hardly any tiiat will equal it in all, accommodations ; where
nothing is wanting for health and pleasure, except some will say,'
that " Mary Maudlin weepeth too much," and the walks sometimes
too wet and moist for the depressed situation thereof.
25, The many Worthies bred therein.
Nor hath this House been less fruitful than any with famous
persons ; and it is observable that th^re is scarce a bishopric in
England, to which this college hath not afforded one prelate at the
least, doubling her files in some places ; as by the ensuing catalogue
will appear : —
Presidents, — Mr, William Horneley, Mr, William Tybbard,
Mr, Richard Mayewe, Mr, John Clarmund, Mr, Knolles, Mr,
Oglethorpe, Mr, Cole, Mr. Coveney, Mr, Laurence Humphrey,
Dr, Nicholas Bond, Dr, John Harding, Dr, William Langton, Dr,"
Accepted Frewen, Dr, John Oliver, Dr, John Wilkinson, Dr,
Thomas Goodwin.
Benefactors, — King Henry VII, Thomas Ingledue, chaplain
to the founder ; William Fitz-Allen, earl of Arundel ; John
Forman ; Dr, Higden, president ; John Claimund, president ;
Robert Morewent ; John MuUins, archdeacon of London ; Dr,
John Warner, last bishop of Rochester,
BisHoi's. — John Stokesley, bishop of London, 1530; Thomas
Cooper, bishop of Winchester, 1584 ; John Longland, bishop of
Lincoln, 1521 : Thomas Bentham, bishop of Coventry and Lich
field ; William Overton, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, 1609;
Accepted Frewen, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, 1643 ; Henry
Cotton, bishop of Salisbury, 1598"; Thomas Godwin, bishop of
Bath and Wells, 1584; Thomas Wolsey, archbishop of York,
1515 ; John Peirce, archbishop of York, 1588 ; Owen Ogle
thorpe, bishop of Carlisle, 1556 ; John Voysey, bishop of Exeter,
1520 ; William Bradbridge, bishop of Exeter, 1578 ; Richard
Mayo, bishop of Hereford, 1504 ; John Harley, bishop of Hereford,

1 EDWARD IV, BOOK IV, CENT, XV, 517
1553; Thomas Bickley, bishop of Chichester, 1585; John
Warner, bishop of Rochester, 1637 ; John Bullingham, bishop of
Bristol and Gloucester, holding both together, 1581 ; John Cotes,
bishop of Chester, 1556 ; William Downham, bishop of Chester,
1561, Writers, — John Clarmund, afterwards president of Corpus
Christi;* John Hooke ;f Mich, Reniger ;+ John Fox, author of
" the Book of Martyrs ;" Thomas Cooper, who wrote the great
Dictionary; Robert Crowley ;§ Peter Morving;|| Alan Cope,^
proctor of the university, 15,58 ; Julius Palmer, martyr ; Dr.
Laurence Humphrey ; John Budden, doctor of law, who wrote
many men's lives in elegant Latin ; Dr. Henry Hammond ; Dr.
Peter Heylin,
Give me leave to suspect this catalogue of Presidents not com
plete, (though set forth by their great antiquary,**) both because
Dr, Higden (avowed president in the list of benefactors-f-f-) is therein
omitted, as also Dr, Walter Haddon,:}::J: whom we find president
hereof in the beginning of queen Mary. At this day there are
therein a President, forty Fellows, thirty Demies or Scholars, four
Chaplains, eight Clerks, sixteen Choristers, one Schoolmaster, and
an Usher, three Readers of Divinity, Natural and Moral Philosophy,
besides divers Officers and Servants of the foundation, with other
Students ; being in all two hundred and twenty.
26, 27. Edward IV. gaineth the Crown by Conquest. Why
little Church-History in this King's Reign. 1 Edward IV,
^.Z>, 1461,
King Henry being conquered in a fatal battle at Towton in
Yorkshire, fled with his queen into Scotland ; and, to make
himself the more welcome, resigned Berwick to the king thereof,
Edward, duke of York, his adversary, reigned in his stead by the
name of Edward IV, who, next to God and his own right, had just
cause to thank Richard Nevill, eari of Warwick for his crown.
This was that Nevill who, for extraction, estate, alliance, depen
dents,- wisdom, valour, success, and popularity, was superior to any
English subject since the Conquest, People's love he chiefly pur
chased by his hospitality, keeping so open an house that he was
most welcome who brought the best stomach with him ; the eari
charitably believing, that all who were men of teeth were men of
arms. Any that looked like a man might have in his house a full
• PlTZiEus Z)e £»•«. &n><. page 688. t /*»», page 730. t Bale, page 755.
* M«)» naee 728. II PiTZiEUS, page 755. 1[ Brian Twine Ard. Ac. Ox. in
Catal. 'Prolratorum. " Vide in calce libri. tt Vide Scot's Tables,
Jt L. HumphBey in " the Life of Bishop Jewel," page 71.

518 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1461— <>.
half-yard of roast meat ; namely, so much as he could strike through
and carry away with his dagger.* The Bear was his crest, and it
may be truly said, that when the Bear roared, the lions of the
forest trembled, the kings of England themselves being at his
disposal. This king's reign affordeth very littie church-story, and therefore
Mr. Fox (whose industry would have found out church-matter, if
above ground) is fain to fill it up with foreign passages, or domestic
relations of our civil differences. Indeed, now the sound of all
bells in the steeples was drowned with the noise of drums and
trumpets ; and yet this good was done by the civil wars, — it
diverted the prelates from troubling the Lollards ; so that this
very storm was a shelter to those poor souls, and the heat of these
intestine enmities cooled the persecution against them.
28. Synod Privileges broken and repaired. A-D. 1462.
Thomas Bourchier, archbishop of Canterbury, kept a synod of his
clergy at London, when Geoffrey Longbrooke, a member thereof,
(as proctor for Peter Courtney, archdeacon of Exeter,) was, at the
suit of Simon Nottingham, aiTCsted by the bailiffs of the lord
mayor. Complaint being made hereof to the Convocation, they sent
the prior of Canterbury to the mayor and sheriffs, to restore the afore
said Geoffrey to his liberty, threatening them else with excommuni
cation ;-|- to prevent which, the party was released. The parliament,
sitting at the same time, bestowed many privileges on the clergy.
As for the other synods in this king's reign, being six, as I account
them, little more than granting of subsidies was propounded and
concluded therein,
29- King Henry returned, routed, and imprisoned. A.D- 1463.
King Henry returned out of Scotland, furnished with sufficient
forces from James III. to recover his crown, had success befriended
him. But king Edward marched against him in person, (one
means of his being so fortunate in his fights, seeing in peace the
master's eye maketh the fat horse, as the prince's in war the valiant
horse-rider,) totally defeated, took, and imprisoned him in the
Tower, Here whilst churchmen observe how tender-eyed the
charity, statesmen admire how blind the policy, of that age in
keeping king Henry alive. No such sure prison for a captive king
as a grave, whose life, though in restraint, is a fair mark for the
full aim of malcontents to practise his enlargement : as here it fell
out in king Henry, who, either slighted for his simplicity, that he
could do no mischief, or reverenced for his sanctity, that he should
* Stow's "Annals," page>421. f Antiq. Brit, jtage 293.

8 EDWARD IV. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 519
suffer no ill, was preserved alive, and reserved thereby to be a
future trouble to king Edward,* who, though valiant to repel, was
not wise to foresee dangers ; and now, conceiving himself secure,
'ft'as viciously disposed, and given over to too much licentiousness.
30. The Earl of Warwick takes just Distaste at King Edward.
A.D. 1465,
Richard Nevill, earl of Warwick, is sent over into France to
obtain the lady Bona, (daughter to the duke of Savoy,) wife to
king Edward, So powerful a spokesman could not but speed ; and
all things are concluded, save the meeting of the parties and a
priest to marry them. Mean time king Edward raarrieth the lady
Elizabeth Grey, the first English king who since the Conquest
wedded his subject ; I might also add, and the first that matched
with a widow, seeing Eleanor, wife to king Henry II, divorced
from Lewis the younger, king of France, was properly neither maid
nor widow, Warwick stormeth hereat, that he had taken so much
pains about nothing, highly sensible of the affront, seeing a potent
arm is not to be employed about a sleeveless errand. He resolves
revenge ; and, because he could not make her queen whom he
desired, he would make him king whom he pleased,
31. King Edward taken Prisoner, and King Henry enlarged,
A.D. 1468.
Take hereof this cursory account : After many bloody battles,
King Edward was taken prisoner at Wolney in Warwickshire, and
committed by the earl of Warwick to the custody of his brother
George Nevill, archbishop of York. Henry is brought out of the
Tower, — shall I call him the sixth or the seventh, because dead
(though not in law) in dignity, and once deposed ? He is now
restored again to wear the royal robes, not so much as his own gar
ments, but as the livery of the earl of Warwick's liberality. However,
he acted a very short part of sovereignty, wherein he revenged not
any personal wrongs offered unto him in his restraint. For, one
who thrust him into the side with a sword when he was prisoner in
• On this passage HeyKn makes the foUowing just remarks, among others : « Our
author might have spared this doctrine so frequently in practice amongst the worldly
politicians of all times and ages, that there is more need of a bridle to hold them in, than
a spiu' to quicken them. The murdering of deposed and captive princes, though too often
practised, never found advocates to plead for it, and much less preachers to preach for
it, imtil these latter times. No such divinity preached in the schools of Ignatiur,
though fitter for the pen of a Mariana, than of a divine or minister of the Church of
England," Part of Fuller's reply, in his Appeal, is : " I say, Statesmen did admire at

If the Animadverter takes me
!neral judgment in this point
mistaken in me." — Edit.

the preserving king Henry aUve, and render their reason. Utl..Anvm^verter takes me
for a statesman, whose general judgment in this point I did barely relate, he is much

520 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D, 1468  70,
the Tower, was afterwards pardoned by hiin when restored to his
former dignity,
32, 33, Edward escaped, flieth beyond Sea, and returneth ;
recovereth the Crown by Conquest. A.D. 1470,
Meantime the archbishop allowed king Edward liberty to ride
abroad and follow his pleasure. Now, a careless keeper giveth his
prisoner a warning, and showeth him a way to make his escape.
King Edward followeth his hawking so long, that he taketh his own
flight at last. Over he gets beyond the seas to his brother-in-law
Charles duke of Burgundy, by whom he was supplied, to the pro
portion of a competent subsistence ; but not enabled for the recovering
of a crown. However, he returned into England, landed in the
north, marched to York, desired to be received therein, as into the
place whence he received his title, but in no other notion than a
subject to king Henry, taking the sacrament on the truth thereof;
but having gotten the city as duke, he kept it as king, contrary to his
oath, for which his children are conceived to fare no whit the better.
Let the state-historians inform you with what various changes king
Edward made hence into the south, and at last, near Barnet, bid
battle to and defeated the earl of Warwick, slain with his brother
the marquess Montague on the place. Learn also from them how
king Henry was cruelly put to death, and his son and queen Mar
garet soon after overthrown at Tewkesbury. For when a royal
family is once falling, all things conduce to expedite their destruc
tion- Henceforward king Edward (saving the differences of his
own with his wife's kindred) passed the remnant of his days in
much peace, plenty, and pleasure,
34. Why most Armies make for London.
In most of the battles we may observe, it was the word-general of
the weaker side, " For London ! for London ! " as the most martial
thrift to conquer a kingdom in a city. For such whose necessities
can allow their armies but little time to stay do burn day-light in
pelting against petty towns in the out-skirts of a land, especially if
all other human hopes be in one desperate push. Hence was it
that so many batties were fought about Barnet and St, Alban's,
(the cock-pit of war,) the lines of all armies drawn from the circum
ference of the land being the closer together, the nearer they
approached London, the centre in trade and wealth, though not in
exact position thereof,
35, Brawls betwixt Mendicants and Secular Priests.
Come we now to a tamer contest, and more proper for our pen,
continuing all this king's time, betwixt the Begging Friars and

10 EDWARD IV, BOOK IV, CENT, XV. 521
Secular Priests ; the former not content to cry up the dignity of
their own Order, but cast contempt on the rest of the clergy. But
these bold beggars met with as bold sayers " Nay." I mean, these
Mendicants found their matches in the Secular Priests, effectually
humbling their pride herein. For it was beheld as a most pestiferous
doctrine, the friars' so heightening the perfection of begging, that,
according to their principles, all the priesthood and prelacy in the
land, yea, by consequence the pope himself, did fall short of the
sanctity of their Order. Yet hard was it for them to persuade his
Holiness to quit Peter's patrimony, and betake himself to poverty,
although a friar (Thomas Holden by name) did not blush to preach
at Paul's Cross, that Christ himself,* as first founder of their
Society, was a beggar, — a manifest untruth, and easily confuted out
of Scripture.
36, 37. Christ falsely traduced to be a Beggar. Writers pro and
con in the Cause.
For, vast the difference betwixt begging, and taking what the
bounty pf others doth freely confer, — as our Saviour did from such
who " ministered unto him of their substance," Luke viii, 3, We
never read him begging any thing, save when from the woman of
Samaria he asked water, John iv, 7 ; — a creature so common and
needful, that it was against the law of nature to deny it him. Nor
is it probable he was a Mendicant, who was rated in the publican's
toll-book, and paid tribute unto Caesar, Mat, xvii, 24 ; not to say
that he was so far from begging, that it was his custom, especially
about the time of the passover, to relieve others ; and Judas his
purse-bearer was his almoner to distribute to the poor, John xiii, 29.
Here it will not be amiss to reckon up the principal champions
on both sides, whose pens publicly appeared.
FOR MENDICANTS.
1. Henry Parkerj-f a Carmelite, bred in Cambridge, living after
wards in Doncaster convent, imprisoned for preaching.
2. Jo, Milverton,! bred in Oxford, Carmelite, of Bristol, Being
excommunicated by the bishop of London, and appealing to the
pope, found no favour, but was kept three ye^s captive in St.
Angelo. AGAINST MENDICANTS.
1. Thomas Wilton,§ doctor of both laws, and, say some, dean of
St Paul's, most zealous in his preachings and disputings.
2. William I vie, canon of St, Paul's in London, || who wrote
• Fox's " Acts and Monuments," page 717, "l PiTZ^us, page 660. t Idem,
page 673. 4 «™> W^ 6^9. II Idem, page 654.

522 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A.D, 1470  4.
very learnedly in the defence of Richard Hill, bishop of London,
who imprisoned two Mendicants for their proud preaching.
But after pope Paul II. had interposed herein, concluding, quod
Christus publice mendicavit, pro damnatd hcsresi undique
declarandum et conculcandam esse, the Mendicants let fall
their bucklers, and the controversy sunk in silence never more
revived. 38. A prodigious Feast at an Archbishop's Installation-
A-D. 1465.
Never had England at once two archbishops of so high extraction
as at this time, namely, Thomas Bourchier, son of Henry earl of
Essex ; and George Neville, brother to the great earl of Warwick.
The latter is famous for a prodigious feast, wherein, whoso noteth
the number and quality of the guests, (all the nobility, most of the
prime clergy, many of the great gentry,) will wonder where he got
meat for so many mouths, whilst such who number the dishes thereof
will more admire where he got mouths for so much meat. But see
the bill of fare : —
Three hundred quarters of wheat,* three hundred and thirty tuns
of ale, one hundred and four tuns of wine, one pipe of spiced wine,
eighty fat oxen, six wild bulls, one thousand and four wethers, three
hundred hogs, three hundred calves, three thousand geese, three
thousand capons, three hundred pigs, one hundred peacocks, two
hundred cranes, two hundred kids, two thousand chickens, four
thousand pigeons, four thousand rabbits, two hundred and four
bittours, [bitterns,] four thousand ducks, four hundred hemsews,
[herons,] two hundred pheasants, five hundred partridges, four thou
sand woodcocks, four hundred plovers, one hundred curlews, one
hundred quails, one thousand egrets, two hundred rees, more than
four hundred bucks, does, and roes, fifteen hundred and six hot
venison pasties, four thousand cold venison pasties, one thousand
dishes of jelly parted, four thousand dishes of jelly plain, four thou
sand cold custards, two thousand hot custards, three hundred pikes,
three hundred breams, eight seals, four porpoises, four hundred
tarts. Earl of Warwick, steward ; earl of Bedford, treasurer ;
lord Hastings, comptroller ; with many more noble officers ; one
thousand servitors, sixty-two cooks, five hundred and fifteen
kitcheners. People present at this feast needed strong stomachs to devour,
and others, absent, stronger faith to believe, so much meat at one
time. Take the proportion by sheep, whereof magnificent Solomon
spent but " a hundred a day," 1 Kings iv, 23, in his sumptuous
'' Godwin in his " Calalogue of the Pishops of York," page 60.

14 EDWARD IV, BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 523
court ; and here was ten times as many expended at this feast as he
m a day's provision for all his numerous retinue. How long this
entertainment lasted, is uncertain; but by the pork, doves, and
woodcocks eaten therein, it plainly appears kept in winter, when
such are in season ; and how the same can be reconciled with so
much summer-fowl as was here used, I little know, and less care to
resolve. 39- A secofid [Feast] sadder in the Conclusion. A-D. 1472.
But, seven years after, this archbishop, to entertain king Edward,
made another feast at More-Park in Hertfordshire, inferior to the
former for plenty, yet, perchance, equalling it in price. For the
king seized on all his estate, to the value of twenty thousand
pounds, amongst which he found so rich a mitre, that he made him
self a crown thereof. The archbishop he sent over prisoner to
Calais in France, where vinctus jacuit in summd inopid, " he
was kept bound in extreme poverty ;" justice punishing his former
prodigality,* his hungry stomach being glad of such reversions
(could he get them) which formerly the voider had taken away at
his riotous installation.
40. Scotland freed from the See of York. A.D. 1474.
He was afterwards restored to his liberty and archbishopric, but
never to the cheerfulness of his spirit, drooping till the day of his
death. It added to his sorrow, that the kingdom of Scotland, with
twelve suffragan bishops therein, formerly subjected to his see, was
now by pope Sixtus V. freed from any further dependence thereon ;
St, Andrew's being advanced to an archbishopric, and that kingdom
in ecclesiastical matters made entire within itself; whose bishops
formerly repaired to York for their consecration, not without their
great danger, especially in times of hostility between the two king
doms. In vain did this Nevill plead for some compensation to be
given his see in lieu of so great a loss, or at leastwise that some
acknowledgment should be made of his former jurisdiction ; the
pope powerfully ordering against it. Henceforward no archbishop
of York meddled more with church-matters in Scotiand ; and
happy had it been if no archbishop of Canterbury had since inter
ested himself therein. 41. John Goose, Martyr.
About this time John Goose, sole martyr in this king's reign,
suffered at Tower-Hill. Let papists, who make themselves sport
* Godwin, ibid.

524 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A, D, 1474  83,
at the simplicity of his name, remember how their pope Os porci
or " Swine's-Face," could change his name into Sergius ; which
liberty, if allowed here, would quickly mar their mirth. This
Goose, when ready to suffer, desired meat from the sheriff which
ordered his execution, and had it granted unto him, " I will eat,"
saith he, " a good competent dinner, for I shall pass a sharp shower
ere I come to supper,"*
42, King Edward preacheth his own funeral Sermon.
A.D- 1482.
King Edward, foreseeing his approaching death, (who by intem
perance in his diet, in some sort, digged his grave with his own
teeth,) caused his own and wife's kindred (sadly privy to the
grudges betwixt them) to wait on him when he lay very sick on his
bed. To these he made a passionate speech, to exhort them to
unite, from the profit of peace and danger of discord ; and very
emphatically urged it, insomuch that, seemingly, they were his con
verts, and in token thereof shook hands together, whilst their hearts,
God knows, were far asunder. This speech I may call " king
Edward's own funeral sermon, preached by himself," (and it may
pass also for the funeral sermon of his two sons, finding no other
obsequies at their burial,) though very littie was really thereby
effected. Thus died king Edward, who, contrary to the ordinary
observation, that " men the older the more covetous," (as indeed
dying men's hands grasp what is next, and hold it hard,) was
gripple in the beginning of his reign, and more bountiful towards
the end thereof.

SECTION IV.
TO JOHN FERRARS, OF TAMWORTH CASTLE,
ESQUIRE,
Sir, Modest beggars, in London streets, commonly
choose twilight to prefer their petitions ; that so they
may have hght enough to discover him to whom they
sue, and darkness enough to cover and conceal them
selves. • Fox's " Acts and Monuments," De Polgehron.

1 RICHARD III, BOOK IV, CENT. XV. 525
This may make you the more to admire my bold
ness, who, in a mere midnight, (utterly unknowing
you, and unknown to you,) request you to accept this
dedication. But know, Sir, though I know not your
face, I know you are a Ferrars, inclined by your
extraction to a generous disposition, as I have found by
one of your nearest relations.
1. After More, no more. 1 Richard III, A.D. 1483,
Miserable king Edward V, ought to have succeeded his
father ; but alas ! he is ever pictured with a chasma, or " distance,"
betwixt his head and the crown ; and, by the practice of his uncle,
the duke of Gloucester, chosen Protector, (to protect him from any
of his friends to come near him,) was quickly made away, being a
king in right, though not in possession ; as his uncle Richard was in
possession, though not in right. All the passages whereof are so
elegantly related by Sir Thomas More, that a man shall get little
who comes with a fork, where Sir Thomas hath gone with a rake
before him, and by his judicious industry collected all remarkables.
Only, as proper to our employment, let us take notice of the carriage
of the clergy in these distractions,
2, 3, Clergy complying, not active- Shaw's shameless Sermon.
Although most of the prelates were guilty of cowardly compliance
with king Richard, yet we find none eminently active on his side.
Indeed, the archbishop of Canterbury was employed to get Richard
duke of York from his queen-mother in the sanctuary in West
minster, and very pathetical he was in the persuading her to part
with him ; haply on a point of conscience, as fearing, if denied,
some injury would be offered to the prejudice of the church, and
therefore more willing himself to woo him from her with eloquence,
than that others should wrest him thence with violence. Yet he is
generally conceived innocent herein, as not as yet suspecting any
fraud in the duke of Gloucester ; except any will say, that " it was a
fault in him, that so great a statesman was no wiser than to have
been deceived by his. dissimulation,"
But of the inferior clergy, Dr, Shaw, a popular preacher, made
himself infamous to all posterity. His sermon at St, Paul's Cross
had nothing but the text (and that in the Apocrypha)* good
therein ; as consisting of two parts, defaming of the dead, and
flattering of the living ; making king Edward far worse than he was,
• Ecclesiasticus xxiii. 25. Spuria vitulamina non agent radices alias.

526 CHURCH history of Britain. a.d. 1484.
and duke Richard far better than ever he Would be. He made
king Edward IV. and the duke of Clarence, both to be bastards,
and duke Richard only right begotten ; so proclaiming Cicely his
mother (still surviving) for a whore ; all being done by secret
instructions from duke Richard himself, who hereby gave a worse
wound to his mother's credit, than that which at his birth he caused
to her body, being (as it is commonly reported) cut out from her.
With Shaw we may couple another brawling cur of the same litter,
Pynkney, the Provincial of the Augustinian Friars, who in the same
place used so loud adulation, he lost his credit, conscience, and voice,
all together. These two were all (and they too many) of the clergy
whom I find actively engaging on his party, whilst multitudes of the
laity sided with him. So that, through the popularity of the duke
of Buckingham, the law-learning of Catesby, the city-interest of
Shaw, (then Lord Mayor of London, and brother to the preacher,)
the rugged rigour of Ratcliffe, and the assistance of other instru
ments in their several spheres, the queen's kindred were killed,
the lord Hastings murdered, king Edward and his brother
imprisoned, and at last Richard duke of Gloucester elected king of
England. 4. The sumptuous Coronation of King Richard.
His cor6nation was performed with more pomp than any of bis
predecessors ; as if he intended with the glory thereof so to dazzle
vulgar eyes, that they should not be able to see the shame of
his usurpation. Indeed, some of our English kings, who by
undoubted right succeeded to the crown, accounted their coronation
but a matter of course, (which did not make but manifest them to
be kings,) and so less curious in the pompous celebration thereof.
But this usurper apprehended this ceremony more substantial, and
therefore was most punctual in the observation of it, causing all the
nobility, who held lands in grand sovereignty, to do their service in
state ; amongst whom Richard Dimock, Esquire, hereditary Cham
pion by tenure, with a safe piece of valour, (having so many to
back him,) cast down his gauntlet, challenging any that durst oppose.
the titie of king Richard ; and, for aught I do know to the contrary,
he afterwards made his challenge good in Bosworth- field. And,
because "sure bind, sure find," he is said, and his queen, to be
crowned again in York with great solemnity.
5, King Edward and his Brother stifled.
Soon after followed the murder of king Edward and his brother
Richard duke of York, It was high time they should set, when
another already was risen in the throne. By a bloody-bloodless

2 RICHARD IU. BOOK IV, CENT. XV. 627
death they were stifled with pillows, and then obscurely buried.
The uncertainty of their interment gave the advantage to Perkin
Warbeck afterwards to counterfeit Richard duke of York ; so like
unto him in age, carriage, stature, feature, favour, that he wanted
nothing but success to make him, who did but personate duke
Richard, to pass current for the person of duke Richard.
6, 7- King Richard vainly endeavoureth to ingratiate himself
by making good Laws ; as also by building of Monasteries.
A.D. 1484.
After this bloody act, king Richard endeavoured to render him
self {Jopular : First, by making good laws in that sole pariiament
kept in his reign. Benevolence, (malevolence,) which formerly
the subjects unwillingly-willing had paid to their sovereign, —
power, where it requests, commands ; it not being so much thank
worthy to grant, as dangerous to deny it, — he retrenched, and
reduced to be granted only in parliament. He regulated trading,
which the Lombards and other foreigners had much engrossed, to
the detriment of the English nation. Now, although all people
carry much of their love and loyalty in their purses, yet all this
would not ingratiate this usurper with them, the dullest nostrils
resenting it done, not for love of virtue, but his own security.
And that affects none which all palpably discover to be affected.
Next he endeavoured to work himself into their good-will, by
erecting and endowing of religious houses ; so to plausiblelize him
self, especially among the clergy. Thus he built one far north, at
Middleham, and a college in the parish of Alhallows-Barking,*hard
by the Tower, as if he intended, by the vicinity thereof, to expiate
those many murders which he therein had committed. Besides, he
for his time dis-forested Whichwood in Oxfordshire, -f- (then far
more extended than in our age,) which his brother Edward had
made forest, to the great grievance of the country thereabouts. Yet
all would not do ; the people being more patient for an injury done
by king Edward, than thankful for the favour this Richard
bestowed upon them. He is said also to have given to Queen's
College in Cambridge five hundred marks of yearly rent ;J though
at this time, I believe, the college receives as little benefit by the
grant, as Richard had right to grant it. For, it was not issued out
of his own purse, but given out of the lands of his enemy, — the
unjustiy-proscribed eari of Oxford ; who, being restored by Henry
VII. made a resumption thereof.
• • Stow's " Survey of London," in Tower-street Ward, t Camden's Brit, in
Oxfordshire, page 374, out of John Rouse. J Stow in his " Annals," page 470.

528 CHURCH HISTORY OF RRITAIN, A,D. 148-5,
8. Art hath done more for King Richard, than ever Nature did.
Duke Richard was low in stature, crook-backed, with one shoul
der higher than the other, having a prominent gobber-tooth, a
wariike countenance which well enough became a soldier. Yet a
modern author,* in a book by him lately set forth, eveneth his
shoulders, smootheth his back, planeth hisj teeth, maketh him in
all points a comely and beautiful person. Nor stoppeth he here ;
but, proceeding from his naturals to his morals, maketh him as
virtuous as handsome, which in some sense may be allowed to be
true ; concealing most, denying some, defending others, of his
foulest facts, wherewith in all ages since he standeth charged on
record. For mine own part, I confess it no heresy to maintain a
paradox in history, nor am I such an enemy to wit as not' to allow
it leave harmlessly to disport itself, for its own content, and the
delight of others. Thus Cardan hath written his Encomium
Neronis ; and others (best husbandmen who can improve the
barrenest ground !) have by art endeavoured to praise as impro
bable subjects. But when men shall do it cordially, in sober sad
ness, to pervert people's judgments, and therein go against all
received records, I say, singularity is the least fault can be laid to
such men's charge. Besides, there are some birds, " sea-pies " by
name, who cannot rise except it be by flying against the wind, as
some hope to achieve their advancement by being contrary and
paradoxical in judgment to all before them,
9, 10, The Request of the Duke of Buckingham denied.
Buckingham surprised and beheaded.
Soon after followed the execution of the duke of Buckingham,
king Richard's grand engineer, or master of the fabric of his pre
ferment. The occasion thus : The duke requested-required of
king Richard (as confident that his merits were incapable of a
denial) the earldom of Hereford, and the hereditary constableship
of England, laying title to them by descent. Well did he ask
both together, which would be granted both together. For the
earldom of Hereford was an Abishag, concubine to the former kings
of England, which had long lien in the crown, (whilst in the
Lancastrian line,) so embraced and interlaced therewith that it was
difficult to dissever them. And the affecting thereof proved as
fatal to Buckingham, as the desiring of the other was to Adonijah,
being interpreted in both an ambition of the kingdom. ' The
hereditary constableship was conceived too unlimited a power to be
trusted to a subject, lest he should make more disorder than he
* Gedrre Buck, Esu. a claw-back to Crook-back.

3 RICHARD III, BOOK IV, CENT. XV. .529
should mend therewith ; so that, in fine, both in effect were denied
unto him.
Buckingham storms thereat : Shall a coronet be denied him, by
him on whom he had conferred a crown ? Yet, what anger soever
boiled in his heart, none ran over in his mouth, pretending very
fair in his behaviour. But, hard it is to halt before a cripple, and
dissemble before king Richard. The duke withdraws to Brecknock
in Wales, with his prisoner, bishop Morton of Ely, (committed unto
him by the king on some distaste,) who tampered with him about
the marriage of Henry earl of Richmond, with the eldest daughter
of king Edward IV. The duke carried himself so open therein,
that, surprised by king Richard, his head was divorced from his
body before this marriage was completed.
11, 12. Morton Make-Peace. Mr. Prynne charged for charging
Bishop Morton with Treason.
More cunning was bishop Morton to get himself over into
France, there to contrive the union of the two Houses of York and
Lancaster. If " blessed be the peace-makers," be pronounced of
such as reconcile party and party ; how much more must it be true
of his memory, — the happy instrument to unite those Houses, to the
saving of the effusion of so much blood ! Some will say, " It was
a design obvious to every capacity, to make such an union." But,
we all know, when a thing is done, then it is easy for any to do it.
Besides, it is one thing for men in their brains barely and
notionally to apprehend a project ; and another, as our Morton
did, to elect proportionable means, and, by the vigorous prosecution
thereof, really to effect it.
A modern writer, in his voluminous book, which he hath entitled,
" The Rebellions, Treasons, Conspiracies, antimonarchical Prac
tices, &c. of the English Prelates," to swell his number, chargeth
this bishop Morton with treason against king Richard III. But,
is it treason for one, in favour of the true heir, to oppose an usurper
in titie, and tyrant in practice ? Surely unbiassed judgments behold
Morton herein under a better notion. Had this bishop been active
on king Richard's side, how would the same author have proclaimed
him for a traitor against king Henry VII, ! Thus I see an inevi
table necessity, that Morton must be a traitor, whatsoever he did ;
and can observe, that no practice will please which cometh from one
•whose person or profession is distasted,
13. Earl Henry landeth at Milford-Haven. AD. 1485.
But king Richard's cruelties had so tired out Divine patience,
that his punishment could be no longer deferred, Henry eari of
Vol, I, ^ ^^

5.30 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN, A D, 1486.
Richmond lands with a handful of men at Milford-Haven ; a
landing-place politically chosen, near Pembroke, the place of his
nativity, in the heart of his countrymen and kinsmen the Welsh,
(his grandfather Owen-ap-Theodore, alias Tuthar, having thence
his extraction,) and far from London, the magazine of king
Richard's might. From Milford the earl marched north-east,
through the bowels of Wales ; and both his army, and the fame
thereof, crevit eundo, " grew by going." Many old prophecies
(the people about Leicester will load a stranger with them) were
fulfilled in him, and this amongst the rest may be remembered : — It
was foretold, that, in a great battle, which was to be fought near
Leicester, whosoever should shoot the arrow first, should have the
victory. This most understood, that the archer in the fight which
should first let loose should gain the day to his side. When,
behold, the .earl of Richmond, bending his march out of Wales, to
the middle of England, first passed Arrow, a rivulet in the confines
of Worcester and Wairwickshire, and accordingly proved victorious.
Por into Leicestershire he came, and in the navel thereof is met by
king Richard, and next morning both sides determine to try their
fortunes in fight. This night the earl had sweet and quiet rest,
whilst king Richard's guilty conscience was frighted with hideous
dreams and fanciful apparitions ; as no wonder if no pillow could
give him quiet sleep who with a pillow had so lately smothered
his lord and master. 14, The Battle of Bosworth.
The battie is called "the battie of Bosworth," (though fought
full three miles from the town,* and nearer other country villages,)
because Bosworth is the next town of note thereunto. The earl's
army fell far short of the king's in number and arms ; equalled it in
courage, exceeded it in cause and success. Indeed, the king's army
was hollow at the heart, many marching in his main battle who were
much suspected, (and therefore purposely placed there to secure
them from flying out,) and fought as unwilling to overcome. Yet
the scales of victory seemed for a long time so equal, that an exact
eye could not discern on which side the beam did break. At last
the coming in of Sir William Stanley, with three thousand fresh
men, decided the controversy on the earl's side. King Richard
fighting valiantly, (so his friends ; desperately, say his foes,) fell in
the midst of his enemies, and his corpse were disgracefully carried
to Leicester, without a rag to cover his nakedness ; as if no modest
usage was due to him when dead who had been so shameless in his
cruelty when alive. The crown ornamental, being found on his
• Burton in his " Description of Leicestershire,"

2 HENRY VII. BOOK IV. CENT, XV, .5-31
head, was removed to the earl's, and he crowned in the field, and
Te Deum was solemnly sung by the whole army.
15. Henry the Seventh's six-fold Title to the Crown.
1 Henry VII,
Soon after king Henry married the lady Elizabeth, eldest daugh
ter unto king Edward IV, whereby those roses, which formerly with
their prickles had rent each other, were united together. Yea, six
fold was king Henry's title to the crown. First, Conquest.
Secondly, Military election ; the soldiers crying out in the field,
" King Henry ! king Henry ! " Thirdly, Parliamentary authority,
which settled the crown on him and his heirs. Fourthly, Papal
confirmation ; his Holiness, forsooth, concurring with his religious
compliment. Fifthly, Descent from the House of Lancaster, But
that, all know, was but the back-door to the crown, and this Henry
came in but by a window to that back-door, (there being some
bastardy in his pedigree,) but that was salved by post-legitimation.
Sixthly, Marriage of king Edward's daughter : the first and last being
worth all the rest. Thus had he six strings to his bow, but com
monly he let five hang by, and only made use of that one, which,
for the present, he perceived was most for his own advantage. Yet,
for all these his titles, this politic prince thought fit to have his
person well secured, and was the first king of England who had a
standing guard to attend him,
16, 17. The Death of Archbishop Bourchier. John Morton
I succeeded him. A.D. 1486.
Thomas Bourchier. cardinal, and archbishop of Canterbury, had
the honour first to marry, then to crown, king Henry and the lady
Elizabeth.. And then, having sat in a short synod at London,
(wherein the clergy presented their new king with a tenth,) quietiy
ended his life, having saf in his see two-and-thirty years. He gave
a hundred and twenty pounds to the university of Cambridge, which
was joined with another hundred pounds which Mr, Billingforth,
master of Bennet college, had some years before given to the said
university ; and this joint stock was put into a chest, called at this
day " the chest of Billingforth and Bourchier ;" and treasurers are
every year chosen for the safe keeping thereof,
John Morton,' born, say some, at Bear, but more truly at St,
Andrew's-Milbourne, in Dorsetshire, (where a worshipful family of
his name and lineage remain at this day,) succeeded him in the see
at Canterbury, He was formeriy bishop of Ely, and appointed by
Edward IV. one of the executors of his will, and on that account hated
of king Richard III. the executioner thereof He was, as aforesaid,
2 BI 2

532 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 1486 — 9,
imprisoned, because he would not betray his trust, fled into France,
returned, and justly advanced by king Henry, first to be chancellor
of England, and then to be archbishop of Canterbury.
18, .^ Gift not worth the taking.
Now began the pope to be very busy, by his officers, to collect
vast sums of money in England, presuming at the king's connivance
thereat, whom he had lately gratified with a needless dispensation to
legitimate his marriage with the lady Elizabeth, his cousin so far off
it would half pose a herald to recover their kindred. For,
EDWARD THE THIRD, ON PHILIPPA HIS ftUEEN, BEGAT
1, Lionel duke of Clarence ; who, on Elizabeth his lady, begat
2, Philippa ; on whom Edward Mortimer, earl of March, begat
3, Roger earl of March ; who on  begat 4, Anne, on whom
Richard Plantagenet, duke of York, begat 5. Edward IV, king of
England; who, on Elizabeth Woodvile, begat 6, Elizabeth his
eldest daughter ; who was married unto Henry VII,
EDWARD THE THIRD, ON PHILIPPA HIS QUEEN, BEGAT
1. John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster ; who of Catherine
Swinford, begat 2. John de Beaufort, duke of Somerset ; who ou
 begat 3. John Beaufort, duke of Somerset ; who on
Margaret Beauchamp, begat 4. Margaret ; on whom Edmund
Tudor, earl of Richmond, begat 5. Henry earl of Richmond, after
wards (seventh of that name) king of England, who married
Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Edward IV.
Neither law, divine or civil, forbade marriage at this distance ;
but the pope would be over-officious, both to oblige the king, and
interest himself ; as if no princes could well be married except the
pope had a finger in joining their hands together !
IQ- Exorbitancies of Sanctuaries retrenched. A.D. US'].
More material to the king was the help of his Holiness to regu
late the exorbitancies of abused sanctuaries. In this age, could an
offender get such a house over his head, he accounted himself
instantly innocent, though not in conscience, yet as to outward
punishment ; the king's enemies, once sanctuaried, daring him no
less than the Jebusites in their strong fort of Sron defied David,
"Thou shalt not come in hither," 2 Sam. v. 6. The pope, there
fore, in favour of the king, and, indeed, of equity itself, ordered :
1. That if any sanctuary-man did, by might or otherwise, get out of
sanctuary privily, and commit mischief and trespass, and then come
in again, he should lose the benefit of sanctuary for ever after. 2.

5 HENRY VII, BOOK, IV. CENT, XV, 5-33
That, howsoever the person of the sanctuary-man was protected from
his creditors, yet his goods out of sanctuary should not, 3, That if
any took sanctuary for cause of treason, the king might appoint him
keepers to look to him in sanctuary.* Surely, had the king been
pleased to interpose his own power, he might have reformed these
abuses ; but he thought fitter to make use of the pope's spiritual
artillery against these spiritual castles of rebellion, that he might not
seem to intrench on their lawful privileges, having formerly, at least
in pretence, appeared a great patron of sanctuaries, and a severe
punisher of the unjust infringers thereof On which account this
king (who was never uxorious husband, nor over-dutiful son-in-law)
confined the queen-dowager, his wife's mother, to a religious house
in Bermondsey, because three years since she had surrendered her
two daughters out of the sanctuary at Westminster, to Richard duke
of York,
20, Two Synods at London. A. D. 1488.
A synod was holden by archbishop Morton at London ; wherein
the luxury of the London clergy f in clothes, (that city always
the staple of bravery,) with their frequenting of taverns, was for
bidden ; such preachers also were punished, who with popular
applause inveighed against bishops in their absence. The next year
also a synod was called, but little therein effected, but vast sums of
money granted by the clergyto the king,
21. Italians good at getting and holding. A.D. 1489.
John Gigles an Italian, about this time employed by the pope,
got an infinite mass of money, having power from the pope to
absolve people from usury, simony, theft, manslaughter, fornication,
adultery, and all crimes whatsoever, saving smiting of the clergy,
and conspiring against the pope; and some few cases reserved alone to
his Holiness, This Gigles gat for himself the rich bishopric of Wor
cester ; yea we observe, that in that see a team of four Italians
followed each other : 1. John Gigles : 2, Silvester Gigles : 3, Julius
de Medicis, afterwards Clement VIL 4, Hieronymus de Negutiisj
[Ghinucei], Thus as weeds in a garden, once got in, hardly got
out, as sowing themselves ; so these Italians, having planted them
selves in that rich place, were never gotten out, (pleading, as it
were, prescription of almost forty years' possession,) till the power
of the pope was partiy banished England, and then Hugh Latimer
was placed in the bishopric,
• Lord Verulam in Heniy VII. page 39. t -rlntiq. Brit, page 298. t Godwin
in his "Catalogue of the Bishops of Norwich," page 520.

A D. 1494.
534 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN.
22. Rochester Bridge repaired hy Pardons. A. D. 1494.
Archbishop Morton, as one much meriting from the pope, was not
onW honoured with a cardinal's bat, of tbe titie of St. Anastatms, bnt
also privileged from bis Holiness to visit all places formeriy exempt
from archi-episcopal jurisdiction ; empowering him also to dispense
his pardons where he saw just cause. Hereupon, Rochester Bridge
being broken down, Morton, to appear a pontifex indeed, bestowed
remission from purgatory for all sins whatsoever committed within
the compass of forty days, to such as should bountifully contribute
to the building thereof.*
23. The King desired King Henry, then the sixth, to be sainted.
The king had more than a month's mind (keeping seven years in
that humour) to procure the pope to canonize king Henry VI, for a
saint. For, English saint-kings, so frequent before the Conquest,
were grown great dainties since that time, France lately had her
king Saint Lewis, and why should not England receive the like
favour, being no less beneficial to the church of Rome ,' Nor
could the unhappiness of our king Henry (because deposed from his
throne) be any just bar to his saintship, seeing generally God's best
servants are most subject to the sharpest afflictions. His canonizing
would add much lustre to the line of Lancaster, which made his
kinsman and mediate successor king Henry VII, so desirous thereof.
Besides, well might he be made a saint who had been a prophet.
For when the wars between Lancaster and York first began, Henry
VI, beholding this Henry VII, then but a boy, playing in the
court, said to the standers-by, " See, this youth one day will quietiy
enjoy what we at this time so much fight about." This made the
king with much importunity to tender this his request unto the
pope ; a request the more reasonable, because it was well nigh forty
years since the death of that Henry, so that only the skeletons
of his virtues remained in men's memories, the flesh and cor
ruption (as one m.ay say) of his faults being quite consumed and
forgotten, 24, 23, The Requisites to a Canonization. These applied
to King Henry VI.
Pope Alexander VI, instead of granting his request, acquainted
him with the requisites belonging to the making of a saint. First,
That to confer that honour, (the greatest on earth,) was only in the
power of the pope, the proper judge of men's merits therein.
Secondly, That saints were not to be multiplied but on just
motions, lest commonness should cause their contempt. Thirdly,
* Antiq. Brit, page 298.

10 HENRY VU. BOOK IV, CENT, XV, 535
That his life must be exemplary holy, by the testimony of credible
witnesses. Fourthly, That such must attest the truth of real
miracles wrought by him after death. Fifthly, That very gi-eat
was the cost thereof, because all chanters, choristers, parafrenarii,*
bell-ringers, (not the least clapper in the steeple wagging, except
money was tied to the end of the rope,) with all the officers of the
church of St, Peter, together with the commissaries and notaries
of the court, with all the officers of the pope's bed-chamber, to the
very locksmitiis, ought to have their several fees of such canonization :
adding, that the total sum would amount to fifteen hundred ducats
of gold,f TantcB molis erat Romanum condere sanctum ! con
cluding with that which made the charges (though not infinite)
indefinite, — that the costs were to be multiplied secundum canoni-
zatl potentiam, " according to the power or dignity of the person
to be canonized," And certain it was, the court of Rome would
not behold this Henry VI, in the notion he died in as a poor pri
soner, but as he lived a king, so long as he had this Henry his
kinsman to pay for the same.
Most of these requisites met in king Henry VI, in a competent
measure. First. The holiness of his life was confessed by all ; save
that some sullen persons suggested that his simplicity was above his
sanctity, and his life pious not so much out of hatred as ignorance
of badness. As for miracles, there was no want of them, if credible
persons might be believed, two of whose miracles it will not be
amiss to recite,
26, A Brace of Miracles wrought by King Henry VI.
Thomas Fuller, a very honest man,| living at Hammersmith, near
London, had a hard hap accidentally to light into the company of
one who had stolen and driven away cattle, with whom, though
wholly innocent, he was taken, arraigned, condemned, and executed.
When on the gallows, blessed king Henry (loving justice when
alive, and willing to preserve innocence after death) appeared unto
him, so ordering the matter that the halter did not strangle him.
For having hung a whole hour, and been taken down to be buried,
he was found alive ; for which favour he repaired to the tomb of
king Henry at Chertsey, (as he was bound to do no less,) and there
presented his humble and hearty thanks unto him for his deliverance.
The very same accident, mutatis mutandis, of place and persons,
" Fuller left a chasm in the text, and placed this word in a note, thus : " The Latin is
parafrenarii," «. minor species of ecclesiastical officers with whose duties he was evi
dently imacnuainted. The error seems to me to lie in the transcriber of the Latin original,
who mistook this word for ceroferarii, " torch-bearers," who are generally conjoined with
the chanting-men, beU-ringers, &o.— Edit. t ^ntiq. Brit. p. 299. t Habpsfield
Hist. Ecclesiastica saiculo decimo quinto, p. 646.

536 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRITAIN. A.D. 14J4 O.
with some addition about the apparition of the virgin Mary, hap
pened to Richard Boyes, dwelling within a mile of Bath, the story
so like, all may believe them equally true.
All the premisses required to a saint appearing in some moderate
proportion in Henry VI. especially if charitably interpreted, (saints
themselves need some favour to be afforded them,) it was the general
expectation that he should be suddenly canonized. But pope Alex
ander VI. delayed, and in effect denied king Henry's desire herein ;
yea, Julius his next successor of continuance (not to mention the
short-lived Pius HI.) continued as sturdy in his denial,
27. Reasons why King Henry VI. Uias not sainted.
Men variously conjecture why the pope in effect should deny to
canonize king Henry VI, A witty but tart reason is rendered by a
noble pen,* " because the pope would put a difference betwixt a
Saint and an Innocent," But Others conceive king Henry not
so simple himself, his parts only seeming the lower, being over
topped with a high-spirited queen. More probable it is what another
saith,-f- that seeing king Henry held the crown by a false titie from
the true heir thereof, the pope could not -with so good credit fasten
a saintship on his memory. But our great antiquary J resolveth all
in the pope's Covetousness, In causd fuit Pontificis avaritia,
demanding more than thrifty king Henry VI, would allow; who at last
contented himself, by the pope's leave hardly obtained, to remove his
corpse from Chertsey in Surrey, where it was obscurely interred, to
Windsor Chapel, a place of greater reputation. Thus he whom
authors have observed twice crowned, twice deposed, twice buried ;
the best was, though he was not canonized, yet there was plenty of
popish saints beside him, wherewith the Calendar is so overstocked
that, for want of room, they justle one another.
28. Archbishop Morton procureth the Sainting of Anselm.
A.D. 1497.
But the saintship of Anselm archbishop of Canterbury was pro
cured on cheaper terms ; though it cost archbishop Morton much
money, who procured the same. Indeed, Anselm being alterius
orbis papa, " the pope of the English world," (as the archbishop of
Canterbury was termed,) no wonder if one pope, upon reasonable
terms, did this courtesy for another. Besides, great was the merit
of Anselm to the church of Rome, (little whereof goes far to obtain
a canonization,) seeing he was the champion and confessor of the
pope's cause about investing of bishops, against two kings succes
sively, — William Rufus and king Henry I,
* The Lord Bacon. t See Mh. Habington in the Life of Edward IV,
J Camden's Brit, in Surrev.

14 HENRY VII. BOOK IV. CENT. XV, 537
29,30,31, The King's Carriage to the Pope: severe to the
vicious Clergy. Sad to be the King's Convert. A. D. 1498,
Observable was the carriage of king Henry towards the pope, the
clergy, and the poor Lollards, To the pope he was submissive, not
servile ; his devotion being seldom without design, so using his
Holiness that he seldom stooped down to him in any low reverence,
but with the same gesture he took up something in order to his
own ends.
To the clergy of desert he was very respectful, trusting and
employing them in state-affairs, more than his nobility. To the
dissolute and vicious clergy he was justiy severe, and pared their
privileges, ordaining that " clerks convict should be burned in the
hand ;"* both that they might taste a corporal punishment, and
carry a brand of infamy. But for this good act the king himself
was afterwards branded, by mock-king Perkin's proclamation, for
an execrable breaker of the rights of holy church. He also made a
law,-f- that begging scholars, though clerks, should be reputed vaga
bonds, without they show the letters of the chancellor of the univer
sity fi-om whence he saith he cometh.
To the Lollards (so were God's people nicknamed) he was more
cruel than his predecessors ; for he not only in the beginning of his
reign connived at the cruel persecutions which John Halse, bishop
of Coventry and Lichfield, raised against them, but, towards the
€nd of his reign, appeared in his person very bloody unto them, if
the story be true which is very lamely delivered unto us : — There
was in Canterbury an old priest so resolute in Wickliffe's opinions,
that none of the clergy there could convince him of the contrary.
The king, casually coming thither in the month of May, undertook
the priest himself, though we never read before of his majesty's dis
puting, save when he disputed Bosworth-field with king Richard
III. The king, by what arguments we know not, converted this
priest, and then presently gave order he should be burned ; which
was done accordingly.^ Surely, there was more in the matter than
what appeared in the record, or else one may boldly say, that if
the king's converts had no better encouragement, this was the first
he made, and the last he was ever likely to make.
32, Needless Cruelty.
Two most needless pieces of cruelty were committed al this time :
The one an ao-ed old man burnt in Smithfield : The other, one
Joan Baughton, widow ; which seemeth a woman of some quality,
as mother to the lady Young, (who was afterwards martyred,) she,
• Loud Verol-^m in Henry VII. page 66. 1 " Statutes" undccimo Heniy VII.
can, 2. t Fox's " Acts and Monuments," page 656.

538 CHURCH HISTORY OF BRI-TAIN, A.D. 1498 — 500.
being fourscore years of age,* was bumed for an heretic, posting her
to the stake which was going to the grave.
33. The Founding of Brasen-nose College.
William Smith, sometimes Fellow of Pembroke-Hall in Cam-r
bridge, and bishop of Lincoln, this year began the foundation of
Brasen-nose college in Oxford : I meet not with any satisfactory
reason why so called, save the fancy of the founder. Except any
will say, " It was so named, because built where anciently Brasen-
nose-hall stood ;" though this does not so much resolve the
question as put it a degree further off. But when such who cavil at
the name build a college, it shall be left at their free liberty to call
it according to their own pleasure. This bishop lived not to finish
his intentions, and therefore after his death Richard Sutton, Esq,
took upon him to perfect the same, and accomplished it accord
ingly. Principals, — Matthew Smith, John Hawarden, Thomas
Blanchard, Richard Harris, Alexander Noel, Thomas Singleton,
Samuel Ratcliffe, Thomas Yate, Daniel Greenwood,
Bishops, — Richard Barnes, bishop of Durham,
Benefactors. — William Clifton, William Porter, John
Elton, alias Baker ; Humphrey Ogle, Edward Darby, John Clay-
mond, John Williamson, Brian Higden, Alexander Noel, Joyce
Frankland, Richard Harper, Sir John Port, John lord Mordant,
John Barneston, George Palin,
Learned Men, — Richard Caldwell, doctor of physic and
founder of a surgery-lecture in London ;f Robert Bolton, a famous
preacher. So that at this present the college is much beautified with build
ings and ornaments ; for the perfecting whereof, great sums have
been expended within these few last years ; maintaining a Principal,
twenty Fellows, beside Scholars, Officers, and Servants of the
foundation, in all amounting, anno 1634, to one hundred eighty-
six, Cheshire-men, whose county is called nobilitatis altrix, and
those of Lancashire, (most commendable ob bonitatem habitu-
dinis et decorem aspectUs,) are in this college most proper for
preferment, 34, The Death of Archbishop Morton. A.D. 1500.
John Morton cardinal and archbishop of Canterbiu-y deceased.
Many condemned him in his life for acting and putting the king
• Fox's " Acts and Monuments," page 656. t Camden's' Elizabeth in
anno 1585,

16 HENRY VII. BOOK IV. CENT. XV. 539
forward to be burdensome to his subjects with his taxes ; but his
innocence appeared after his death, — that he rather tempered the
king's covetousness than otherwise. He was a leamed man, and
had a fair library, (rebussed with more in text and tun under it,)
partly remaining in the possession of the late earl of Arundel. I
find him in the catalogue of the benefactors of St. John's college
in Cambridge ; understand it, by his executors, otherwise the first
brick of that house was laid nine years after the archbishop's death.
Now, as this was a sad year to Canterbury, wherein their good arch
bishop departed, so was it a joyful year at Rome for the coming-in
of that jubilee which brought men and money there. Yet many
went to Rome in effect, which stayed in England, by commuting
their journey into money, which was equally meritorious, the pope's
officers being come over to receive the same.

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