YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
of the
ALFRED E. PERKINS FUND

m s

'¦': '"ifMfiitiSi'S

THE HISTORY

SURVEY OF THE ANTIQUITIES

WINCHESTER.

BY THE LATE

RIGHT REV. JOHN MILNER, D.D., F.S.A.
LOND. AND CATH. ACAD., ROM. BISHOP OF CASTABALA, AND
VIC. APOS. OF THE MIDLAND DISTRICT.

WITH SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES.

A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOTt, BY THE
REV. F. C. HUSENBETH.

' GUINTOXIAM TITULIS CLABAM GAZISQUE EEPLETAM
NOVEBIWT VETEBUM TEMPOBA PBI8CA PATBOM.
SED JAM 8ACBA FAMES AUBI JAM CtECUS HABEHDI
UKBIBUS EGBEGII9 PABCEBE NESCIT AMOB."
Alex. Necham Poeta, Sac. 13.

THIRD EDITION.
IN TWO VOLUMES. — VOL. I.

WINCHESTER:
NUTT AND WELLS, COLLEGE STREET.
LONDON : D. NUTT, 270, STRAND.

OKI GINAL DEDICATION.

TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

THE

COUNTESS CHANDOS TEMPLE.

Madam,
I was no sooner prevailed upon to undertake the task of
writing the genuine History and Antiquities of Winchester,
than both my judgment and my inclination pointed out to me
the illustrious name which would best become the present
page. It was not, however, until I had obtained permission
to this effect, that I actually resolved on inscribing the
work to your Ladyship.
Descended from a family, the monuments of whose attach
ment and munificence to this city adorn its public places,*
the sole heiress and representative, in all his property and
* The statue of Queen Ann, in the front of the town hall, was the gift
of George Bridges, Esq., of Avington house, in the year 1713. The same
gentleman, by his will, bearing date February 17, 1749, bequeathed the
sum of £800 to repair and fit up the city chambers, in St. John's house,
which money was paid and employed accordingly. He made a more valu
able present to the nation at large, in his gallant and successful relative, Sir
George Bridges Rodney, afterwards Lord Rodney, whom he introduced to
public notice and service. He was the representative of Winchester in
seven parliaments, and his portrait is the only one which has the honour of
being suspended, with that of our city's royal friend, Charles the II., in the
great assembly-room.
VOL. I. b

Vi ORIGINAL DEDICATION.
interests, of a father, the late Duke of Chandos— whose name
is, at the present day, almost adored in Winchester, and some
of whose last thoughts were directed to it— your Ladyship
has an hereditary claim to the public homage, and to the
private respect and gratitude, of every real friend to this city;
and more especially of the historian of its ancient glories
and virtue.
But this claim, Madam, besides being hereditary, is also
direct and personal, being grounded on the benefits which
you have actually conferred upon the city, and the attach
ment and respect which you have expressed for it. The latter
I had a particular opportunity of witnessing when your Lady
ship did me the honour to request that I would attend you
upon a visit to those sacred and invaluable monuments of
antiquity, which at present constitute its chief wealth and
importance. It is natural for me to seize upon the present
opportunity of acquitting myself of that honourable com
mission by my pen, which an accident prevented me from
performing in person.
As it is a proof of gross ignorance, stupid apathy, or base
self-love, to contemplate with unconcern the most impor
tant transactions or memorials of past ages, such as the
sepulchres in our city of the princes to whom we are indebted
for our Christianity,* our Monarchy,-^ and our Constitution; J
or, to experience no sentiment, either of the sublime or the
beautiful, in surveying the wonderful efforts of our religious
ancestors' art, in their sacred edifices; so, in an age of
unbounded dissipation, and amidst the blandishments of youth
and fortune, to prove a relish and a preference for such
* Kinegils, whose remains are in one of the mortuary chests in Winchester
cathedral. — See his history, p. 70, &c. of this work.
7 The remains of Egbert, who having united the Heptarchy into one
Monarchy, was crowned first king of England, in the said cathedral, are in
another of those chests.
J Alfred's remains are amongst the ruins of Hyde abbey.

ORIGINAL DEDICATION Vll
refined and rational pleasures, is the mark of a mind ingen
uous, exalted, and virtuous in a high degree. To these
intellectual gratifications the study of antiquity is, or ought
always to be subservient. But this noble science is too often
disgraced and brought into ridicule by pretended antiquaries ;
who, too dull for any other branch of literature whatever,
spend their lives in minute and uninteresting investigations
or enumerations, which are incapable of raising any other
emotion than that of disgust, or of emitting a single spark
of useful information.
After all, the most excellent branch of ancient learning is
that which your Ladyship, together with the illustrious young
nobleman upon whom you have bestowed your hand and your
heart, has cultivated with the greatest diligence and success,
namely, ancient manners and ancient virtues. Considering
themselves as stewards of one supreme Lord and Master, the
grandees of former times conceived that they had other rela
tions with the poor, overwhomHehad placed them, thanmerely
to receive the produce of their labours. Hence they took
effectual care that the labouring hind, who raised the grain,
should not himself want bread ; that the watchful shepherd,
who fed the flock, should not be destitute of clothing ; that
the village youth should not grow up in vice and ignorance ;
and that the aged and sick peasant should not want any relief
or comfort which was within the utmost compass of human
art or attention to procure; and it was their delight to assist
per*sonallyin the administration of these their charities. Such,
history informs us, were our West Saxon ladies — the Marga
rets,* the Christinas,"f- and the Matildas,:}: of the 12th cen-
* St. Margaret, the grand-daughter of Edmund Ironside, married Malcolm,
King of Scotland.
7 Sister of the above-mentioned, who afterwards became Abbess of Romsey,
near Winchester.
J The daughter of St. Margaret, brought up in St. Mary's Abbey, in
this city, who being married to Henry I. obtained the name of JWolUe tijt
dKootf <j?u«n. — See her history, in this work, pp. 150, 151.
b2

VU1 ORIGINAL DEDICATION.
tury, and such the grateful poor, round Avington house,
proclaim their noble mistress to be at the end of the 18th
century, before yet she had attained her nineteenth year.
That your Ladyship may long live to enjoy the heartfelt
pleasures attending the blessings of the poor and the afflicted,
and that your example may excite many others to share the
same with you, is the earnest wish of him, who has the
honour to remain,
Madam,
Your Ladyship's most faithful and obedient Servant,
JOHN MILNER.

Winchester, April 6t7t, 1798.

LIST OF PLATES.

VOL. I.
Winchesteb (General View) Frontispiece. VOL. II.
Winchesteb Cathedbal (N.E. Viewof) Frontispiece. page
Silkstead's Chapel  78
Iktebiob of Choib  82
Deaneby  189
Conventual Kitchen  141
Cheyney Coubt  149
College Toweb, Libbaby, and Mill  153
 Gate and Warden's Lodge  157
 Chapel  159
Wolvesey Castle  171
St. Cboss (N.E. View)  179
Hospital of St. Cboss  184
Hall of the Hospital of St. Cboss  188
West Gate (Looking West)  209
Wtest Gate  210
City Cboss  215
Colebbook Stbeet  223
Cheesehill Stbeet  • . . 228
St. John's Stbeet and Chubch ......... 229
Roman Catholic Chapel  25L..JI}

PREFACE
TO THE FIRST EDITION.

A little more than a twelve-month ago, the Author was far from
imagining that he should ever add to the List of local histories,
which appeared to him to be already swelled beyond due bounds.
We have now separate histories, not only of most of the counties,
cities, and towns of any note in England, but also of innumerable
parishes, villager, and hamlets; for most of which we are evidently
more indebted to the partiality of the writers for the places of their
nativity or residence, than to the celebrity or importance, either
ancient or modern, of the places themselves. The first criterion
for judging of the utility of such performances, is evidently the
materials which the subjects of them afford. If these are sufficiently
numerous and important to support a connected and interesting
narration, it cannot be wrong to work them up into a history ; but
to weave the annals of insignificant places, like writing the Uves of
obscure individuals, out of ordinary and domestic transactions, is
to hold them up to the contempt, instead of to the admiration of
the public.

X PREFACE.
That Winchester, according to this criterion, is entitled to a
separate, history and description, will be admitted by those who are
not ignorant, that it has been, in general, until within a few cen
turies, the capital of the western part of the kingdom, and some
times the metropolis of the whole kingdom, and that it actually
contains, at the present day, monuments of several of the most
important national events which took place during the Saxon and
Norman periods. Hence our city has already been the subject of
as many particular accounts as perhaps any place within the com
pass of this Island.
When the Author was first applied to, by a respectable book
seller and printer of this city, to furnish him with a faithful ac
count and description of Winchester, for the sake of publication —
the former works on this subject being either out of print, or not
being to be procured by him — he had no other idea than to enlarge
and correct one or other of our late descriptions or histories of it,
after obtaining the consent of its proprietor. Upon examining,
however, these works in succession, he found them to be, at the
same time, so defective and so erroneous, omitting what ought to
have been recorded, and supplying the deficiencies with fables,
that he could not prevail upon himself to work upon so faulty a
foundation as these furnished; and he felt it to be a justice due to
our ancient and renowned city, and to the public at large, which
had hitherto been abused/ with imperfect and faulty accounts of
Winchester, to draw up its genuine History, and to display its
existing Antiquities. These are the subjects of the two following
volumes. But before he speaks of .these, it will be proper to give
an account of the different works relative to "Vl|fochester which
have already been published, and to justify the severe censure
which he has passed upon those amongst them of a later date.
The most ancient accounts of Winchester extant in print, are
the "Historia Major Wintoniensis," and the "Annales Wintonienses "
published in 1691, by the learned Henry Wharton, in the first
volume of his Anglia Sacra. The former of these was written by
Thomas Rudborne, a monk of the cathedral of this city who
flourished in the middle of the fifteenth century. The Historia
Major begins with the foundation of a Christian church at Win
chester, under King Lucius, in the second century; and breaks off

PREFACE. XI
in the reign of Henry II, in consequence of the manuscripts being
incomplete which the editor made use of. In this work, Rudborne
cites different authors, much more ancient than himself, particularly
Vigilantius and Moracius, whose works were extant in his time,
and appear to have related to the antiquities of Winchester. The
Annales Wintonienses are also the work of a monk of this city,*
though his name is not known; and they appear to have been writ
ten about the year 1454. The annals begin with the conversion of
Kinegils, the first Christian king of the West Saxons, in 633,f
and are continued down to 1277- These, with a few Other original
though short records, published by the same learned editor, form
an invaluable storehouse of information for modern historians of
our city ; nevertheless, our late writers on this subject have never
once named them, nor do they appear to have had recourse to them
any more than as though they had never existed. It is unnecessary
to observe to persons who are accustomed to the perusal of monkish
chronicles, that the above-mentioned works can only^erve as
memoirs for a history, not as histories themselves of the times to
which they relate ; being, upon the whole, vague, jejune, and un
connected : redundant in many particulars, and deficient in others.
A second publication, relating to our city, is " The History and
.Antiquities of the Cathedral Church of Winchester," which is stated
in the preface to have been begun by Henry, earl of Clarendon, in
1683, and to have been finished by Samuel Gale, gent., in the year
in which it was printed, viz. 1715. The authors of this work were
men of learning, and equal to the task of giving a complete his
tory of our city, if they had been disposed to do so. But they
confined their accounts almost solely to the cathedral; and even
upon this subject they are exceedingly concise, except in their col
lection of epitaphs, which is very copious. There is one point,
however, on which Gale enlarges to very little purpose, namely, in
attempting to clear up a difficulty which had no existence but in
his own misconception. Having met with a passage in the monk
ish annalist, concerning a riot in Winchester, in 1264J — excited by
the lower order of citizens against the monks of the cathedral — in
which they burnt down King's gate, and "the church of St.
" Pref. Ang. Sac. t Rather in 635.
t See Annales Wintonienses, ad dictum annum.

Xii PREFACE.
Swithun, over it,"* he fancies the passage refers to the great church
of St. Swithun, or the cathedral church; and is at a loss to conceive
how the latter could have been so speedily built up again, as he finds
it must have been, and concludes that the roof alone of it was burnt,
to which sense he forces the passage in question to apply ; whereas
the text expressly speaks of a diminutive parish church, situated,
in the 13th century, as it is now, over King's gate.f This work is
enriched with plates of different subjects in the cathedral, which,
however, are far from being true representations of them. Some
of them, indeed, as the sides of the font, are so unlike the originals,
as to lead us to believe that the draughtsman worked from memory,
and not from an actual view of them. The most valuable parts of
this little octavo volume, which has long since been out of print,
and is become exceedingly rare, are the lists of the charters, belong
ing to the churches and monasteries of this city, extant in the
Tower, md of the ancient priors and late dignitaries of the cathe
dral; all%rhich Gale has collected with great diligence, and to
which the writer frequently expresses his obligation.
A third account of Winchester, which is published to the world,
but in a more solemn manner than by means of the press, is "The
City Tables," erected at St. John's house, and professing to give an
account of all the most remarkable occurrences which have befallen
this city since its first foundation. This account appears to have
been drawn up some time in the last century; and was contained
in a parchment scroll, suspended in the council chamber, until the
year 1787; when it was copied, and emblazoned with gilding, on
two large tables of wood, which were at first placed in the great
assembly-room, but afterwards, from their not suiting the general
style of its decorations, removed into the council chamber, where
they are still displayed. While the writer cordially applauds the
zeal of the worthy magistrate for the fame of our city, who caused
this pubhc monument to be transcribed and decorated — after having
submitted it to the revisal of an antiquary of high character — he is
bound to say of the Tables themselves, that they are a tissue of
egregious errors, in matter of fact, chronology, and grammar, not
to be paralleled in any public record in the Island. These errors
* " Portam, quae vocatur Kingate, cum ecclesia S. Swithuni supra, &c. combusserunt."
— Annales Wintonienses. t See Preface to Gale's History

PREFACE. Xlll
the writer has repeatedly pointed out, in the newspapers, in the
Gentleman's Magazine, and in his conversation with the most re
spectable personages connected with the city; and though his
objections have passed current on all these occasions, as likewise
with the Society of Antiquaries, at Somerset House — where his ob
servations were twice read ; yet it has so happened that our respec
table and learned city continues to exhibit a public monument
which would disgrace the most illiterate village in the kingdom.*
Every reader of common information will agree with the writer in
this judgment of the Tables, when he comes to inspect the exact
copy of them, in the Appendix to the present work. A great many
of the errors in question are copied into the margin of Godson's
splendid and valuable map of Winchester, contained in four large
sheets. The Author comes now to speak of more recent accounts of
Winchester, and such as are more generally known. Abcmt forty
years ago,f a gentleman, not more distinguished by the sublimity
of his genius, than by the depth of his learning, the late Rev.
Thomas Warton, poet-laureate, published "A Description of the
City, College, and Cathedral of Winchester," in eighty-four duode
cimo pages. It is certain that no man in England was better qua
lified than himself to do, justice to the antiquities of a city to
which he had so many ties, and which was so frequently the place
of his residence, had he bestowed the pains upon them necessary
for this purpose ; but his mode of revising the City Tables, alluded
to above, shews how inattentive he sometimes was to matters of dull
narration, when, soaring on the wings of imagination, he was medi
tating some immortal song. Thus much is incontestable, that his
description is exceedingly defective and erroneous. Of this our
pages will furnish too many instances. But not to leave the reader
in suspense concerning so serious a charge, made upon a writer of
high character, the Author will point out one or two of these mis
takes, which he apprehends to be of such, a nature, as to throw an
air of credibility on the accusation at large. The writer, in his
second paragraph, speaking of the walls of Winchester, gives the
* Soon after the first edition of this work, the errors in question were corrected, in
conformity with the suggestions of the author.-See the note to the Appendix.
f There is no date affixed to this publication.
VOL. I. C

Xiv PREFACE.
following account of them : — " It is said to have been first fortified
with walls by Guidorius, Anno Dom. 179. The present walls are
reported to have been erected by Molewtius Dunwallo, Anno Dom.
341." What will the reader now think of the attention and study
bestowed upon this description of our city, when he is informed
that, according to all the ancient chroniclers, who adopt that suc
cession of kings, to which the above-mentioned names belong, the
reign of Guiderius, though it was anterior to the date here assigned
to it, by 150 years, nevertheless was posterior to that of Mulmu-
tius Dunwallo by several centuries : the latter being the twentieth
on the list of British kings since Brutus, and the former the 69th.*
A less egregious, though a no less pardonable anacronism, is where
this writer assigns the year 611 as the aera of building our cathe
dral, by our first Christian king, Kinegils,t whereas the gospel was
not preached in the West Saxon kingdom, nor its prince converted,
until twenty-four years later.f Another more palpable instance of
absence of mind in this writer is, where he assigns two different
spots in our cathedral, widely apart from each other, for the burial
place of Bishop Edington, namely, in page 78, the Portland chapel ;
and in page 83, the bishop's own chantry. Finally, not to mul
tiply proofs of the charge above stated, our writer, amongst other
transactions which he ascribes to Winchester — for which there is
no foundation in history — relates the circumstances of a pretended
siege of it by the French, in the year 1377,|| having somehow or
other mistaken Winchelsea for Winchester. It is with regret
that the author points out these mistakes in a writer for whom,
when alive, he felt both a respect and a regard : — " Indignor quan-
doque bonus dormitat Homerus".§ Indeed this work seems to have
been extorted by the importunity of booksellers ; and it is plain
that our poet and antiquary did not choose to stake his credit on
its merits, as he witheld his name from it. As to those compo,
sitions to which that respectable name actually appears, particu
larly the History of English Poetry, the author has read them not
only with satisfaction, but also with benefit, as will be seen in the
following pages.
The work which is particulary known under the name of " The
* Renulph, Diceto Hist., Compend. de Reg. Brit., Mat. West., Flores Hist
t Viz. p. 62. j Chron. Sax. || p. 21. * Horace.

PREFACE XV
History of Winchester," consists of two volumes in duodecimo, one
of 237, the other of 299 pages, published in 1773, and till of late was
supposed to have been written by the late Rev. Mr. Wavel, assisted
by other gentlemen. As the friends of this gentleman, now that
the errors of the work in question have been detected, deny him
to have been the author of it; and as no other person can be
found to lay any claim to it, the present writer is content to quote
it under the name of The Anonymous History. A slight attention
to the first paragraph of this history will enable the reader to
form an idea of its general merits. The historian begins his task
with a dissertation on the several names which our city has borne
at different periods. He says, " it was called by the Britons Caer
Givent, &c."* which name he uniformly applies to it during the
British period.f Now the truth is, the original historians never
once call it by this name, but always either Caer Gwent, or Caer
Guent.% This writer is equally unfortunate in the Saxon name which
he ascribes to Winchester. After having been at the trouble of pro
curing Saxon characters, for the sake of greater accuracy, he
has not hit upon any of the modes in which it stands in original
authors. || Finally, he says it was called "by the monkish chro-
nologers, Ventanus Wentanus, ut in vita Anselmi, fol. 4, quartus a
Dunstano Alphegus Wentanus Episcopus, &c." This proof that
Winchester was formerly called Wentanus, is really below criti
cism, and seems to argue that the writer did not understand the
difference between a noun substantive and a noun adjective. In
his second paragraph, the historian, proceeds to copy the errors of
Warton above' stated, concerning the first building of the city
walls by Guiderius, and a subsequent erection of them by Mul-
mutius, taking care to copy even the errors of his press. When,
however, he comes to his second volume, he makes Mulmutius
reign in the year of the world 3528, and Guiderius in the year of
Christ 47 ;§ which, without being accurate, is indeed coming nearer
the truth, but at the same time is a flat contradiction of his former
statement. The fact is, in his first volume, he servilely copies
Warton ; and, in his second, blindly follows Trussel, without ap-
* Vol. I, p. l. t Vol. II, pp. 2, 3.
X Nennius, Hist. Brit.; Rudborne, Hist. Maj. Wint.; Higden; Polychron,
11 Sec p. 55 of this work. § Vol II, pp. 1 2.
C 2

Xvi PREFACE.
pearing to be even sensible of the opposition there is frequently
between them. This insensibility is so great, that in giving an
account of the cathedral priory of St. Swithin, he transcribes at
full length, and applies it to a charter,* the very terms of which
imply that it was granted to a different convent, namely, to the
new monastery,t afterwards removed to Hyde. In like manner,
speaking of King Henry II, he says, that "in 11-76 he caused his
eldest son to be christened in this city." This was four years after
the latter had been crowned, with his wife Margaret, in our city,f
and even subsequent to different transactions, in which the writer
himself had mentioned Prince Henry and his younger brother as
being concerned. || Many other errors of this historian, equally
flagrant, are pointed out in the following pages, but it would re
quire a whole volume to detect them all.
It is hardly worth while mentioning, that one or more pamphlets,
under the title of The Winchester Guide, have been published;
they being mere extracts of the former work, and of course adopting
the errors which that contains, in the passages which are copied
into them.
From this account of the former histories and descriptions of
Winchester, the Httle justice that has hitherto been done to it will
readily appear ; and it will be admitted, that both the credit of our
venerable city, and the truth of history, require that a full and
genuine account of a place so famous in ancient story should be
laid before the public. Whether the present History and Survey
are calculated or not to do justice to this subject, it is not for the
author to judge ; but rather to give an account of jthe materials
which he has made use of, and the rules which he has followed in
composing them.
On the first of these heads it is not necessary for the author to
say much, in consequence of his care in referring to his vouchers
for most facts of importance which he has mentioned, .and even in
quoting their words, wherever these appeared controvertible in
their meaning, or peculiarly energetic or beautiful. Though he
has not been able to procure all the books which he had occasion
for, yet it will appear that he has read and studied a considerable
number of them, particularly of those which relate to the period
* Vol. II, p. 22. f P. 24. : Viz. A.D. 1172.— Annal. Wint. || Vol. II, pp. 58, 59.

PREFACE. XV11
of Winchester's greatness. He has consulted the records of tlie
different corporate bodies belonging to this city, where they
seemed to promise any particular information ; and he has had,
through the favour of John Duthy, Esq. the use of Trussel's MSS.
written in the reign of James I; being the same that Gibson refers
to in his translation of Camden,* which, amongst a chaos of in
digested and erroneous matter, contain many useful points of
intelligence. Amidst the various accounts of the transactions or characters,
which occur in different writers, the author has used his best judg
ment in appreciating the respective merits of the latter. Thus he
pays much more attention to Caesar's description of the ancient
Britons than to those of any other classical historian, on account
of the care which he always took, and the interest which he evi
dently had, in gaming the best information, concerning those people
with whom he had any relation, either of war or peace ; in a word,
because Caesar related what he saw, whilst the other Latin and
Greek authors reported what they had heard from a distance.
Amongst the British writers, he gives infinitely the most credit, or
rather he gives an implicit credit, to the mournful Gildas ; because
his pen was not infected with the prevailing vanity of his country
men ; his object being rather to humble and convert them, than to
flatter and please them. Amongst the Saxon authors, he relies, in
the first place, on the grave narration of "the friend of truth" as
-Venerable Bede has deserved to be named,t who, besides his cha
racter for veracity, points out the authentic sources from which he
has collected his history, f The Saxon Chronicle, being considered
by the learned as an approved public record, || is of the first autho
rity, in settling dates and other matters that are disputed. But,
not to launch out into a dissertation, the author concurs in the
sentiment of Sir Henry Savile,§ that the monkish historian, Wil
liam of Malmsbury, was by far the most learned and intelligent
historian of the refined and studious period in which he lived;^f
perhaps it may be true to add, of all succeeding times, down to
the present.
* In his catalogue of books and treatise relative to the antiquities of Hampshire.
t Camden. J In Pref. Eoc. Hist. Gent. Aug.
|| Gibson, in Prefat. § In Epist. Dedicat. Rerum. Angl. Script.
If Viz. the reign of Henry II.

XV111 PREFACE.
With respect to the early history of this Island, ahd the wars
carried on here by the Romans, which are so differently related by
the historians of the conquerors and the conquered, the author
has not hastily taken his part, as most writers do. Warton,
Anonymous, Trussel, Stow, and many others blindly following the
British accounts; whilst Camden, Carte, Hume, and most other
modern writers, despise these, and only pay attention to what is
reported by the classical writers. On the contrary, he has care
fully examined how far this opposition is real, and how far it is ap
parent only. Hence, by making due allowances for national vanity
and poetical embellishments; for the diversity of names in the
same person or place ; for the identity of name in different per
sons or places; and for the fastidiousness and carelessness of
elegant authors; in describing the manners or transactions of
obscure and distant barbarians;* it appears to him that many ac
counts, which at first sight seem widely distant from one another,
may, to a certain point, be brought to agree. The rule, how
ever, which has enabled him to adopt many circumstances of the
British history, since the invasion of Julius Caesar, he could
not, with any security, carry back into the dark and uncertain
times before that period. The same method of reconciliation
the author has attempted upon the different narrations of the
British and Saxon writers, concerning the wars between their
respective ancestors ; particularly in what relates to Arthur's
reign. As to the general manner of writing a local history, this the
author thinks ought not to be different from that which is laid
down by the ablest judges for writing history in common,f namely,
that a regular series of events should be kept up, and that the
motives, causes, consequences, and chief circumstances of such
Bvents should be pointed out ; as a bare rehearsal of insulated facts
cannot afford either much instruction or much pleasure. In like
* This appears in the account which Tacitus gives of the Jews, Hist. 1. v. ; likewise in
what Tacitus says of the Christians, in the reign of Nero : — " Christianos per flagitia
invisos."  " haud perinde in crimine incendii, quam odio generis huinani convicti
sunt." — Annal. 1. xv. Another classical writer, who often mentions the affairs of Britain,
gives the following blind and prejudiced account of the Christians : — " Judasos, auctora
Chresto, assidue tumultuantes Roma expulit." — Suetonius, in Tib. Claud, c. xxv.
+ "Si tollas ex historia quare, quomodo, quo sine quidquid fuerit actum, et an ex ra-
tioneres jesta successerit ; quicquid reliquum est, ludicrum magis est quam documentuin."
— Camden, Annal. ex Polybio.

PREFACE. XIX
manner, it is impossible to present a just and adequate idea of any
particular city or place, at a certain period of time, without some
general notion of the state of the kingdom or empire to which the
same belongs, and of the transactions that are then going forward
in it. This enlarged manner of writing the history of our city,
in particular, is the more necessary, as — having been for so many
ages, the capital and seat of government of the most considerable
kingdom in the Island — the History of Winchester unavoidably be
comes, in a great measure, the history of the Gewissi or West
Saxons. One inconvenience, however, of this plan has been, that
the work has swelled to its present size, far beyond what was
either desired or foreseen. After all, the author will not deny, that
he has launched out into several dissertations, which do not strictly
belong to his subject; nevertheless, if he has been led aside on
these occasions, out of his straight way, it has been for the sake of
pointing out something new, of illustrating something obscure, or
of establishing something doubtful or disputed. Should he be
condemned for these digressions by some readers — admitting that
he has not totally failed in the object of them — he is sure of being
pardoned by others.
He has been copious in his account of the establishment and
progress of religion in this city and neighbourhood during the
Saxon period, and of the different changes which took place in it
there during the two centuries preceding our own ; because he has
undertaken to write an ecclesiastical as well as a civil history ; and
because the temporal condition of Winchester has, at all times,
been particularly connected with the situation of its church esta
blishment. In speaking, however, of the latter of these periods,
he has thought it necessary to be very particular in the choice of
his authorities, and very exact in referring to them ; accordingly,
he has hardly quoted any but the most approved and orthodox his
torians of the Estabhshed Church, such as Heylyn, Camden, Stow,
Wood, Echard, and Collier, except in certain facts of a less pubhc
nature, where he has been obliged to have recourse to Catholic
writers. By the same rule, in his account of the Presbyterians
and Quakers, he has preferred the authority of their own writers
and advocates.
But the chief rule of all others, by which the author professes

XX ' PREFACE.
to be gui'ded, is that prescribed to every historian by Tully :—
" Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat." If he has
a vanity, it is in thinking that he has observed this rule better than
many of his contemporary writers, who equally profess to be
guided by it. The truth is, those who are supposed to lead the
public opinion, namely, authors, are much more frequently led by
it. Subsisting, on popular applause, as TertuUian describes the
condition of the ancient philosophers,* few public writers have the
courage to oppose the favourite errors and prejudices of mankind;
being conscious that, on such occasions, where they do not make
converts to their own opinion, they are sure of making enemies to
themselves. With respect to the author himself, having little ex
pectation of gaining applause, and being sure of not acquiring
profit by his labourious task, tbte chief pleasure which has cheered
and supported him under, it, has been that which is attached to the
pursuit and attainment of truth, as it has appeared to him on the
several subjects of his narration and disquisition. Hence, in con
formity with the former rule, he has sometimes dared to oppose the
greatest authorities in their respective studies, where it appeared
that they were evidently in the wrong — for example, Camden,
Leland, and Gibson, in points of topography ; Carte, Rapin, and
Hume, in those of History ; Stephens, Warton, and Lowth, in the
particular account of our cathedral and city — but what is a much
bolder attempt, he has not been afraid of thwarting many deep-
rooted opinions of the present age, in matters that are directly or
remotely connected. with their religion and their politics.
After all, the author is far from supposing himself exempt from
the common infirmity of human nature, err are humanum est ; he
takes it for granted, that in a work so extensive, and comprehending
such various subjects as the present History and Survey, he must
necessarily have fallen into several mistakes, which, though imper
ceptible to him, others may detect. Hence he pledges himself npt
only to abandon, but also to disavow all such errors, whether they
regard facts or opinions, of whatever nature they may be, or to
whatever extent they may go, as are pointed out to him with can
dour, and proved by solid arguments. All that he deprecates is
general and vague censure. If he is chastised, let him know and
* Animalia popularis aurae.

PREFACE. XXI
be made sensible of his fault in a distinct manner. To such en
lightened criticism he will bow with respect ; but if he finds him
self charged, in general terms, with ignorance, bigotry, credulity,
superstition, and presumption, he will only consider such language
as a proof that his critic is of a different opinion from himself,
but that the grounds of it will not bear a thorough discussion.
What has here been said relates more immediately to the first or
historical part of the present work. The second part contains
the Survey. The author having, in the former part, related the
most remarkable events, which have taken place in this ancient
city, proceeds, in his latter part, to point out the memorials of
them that actually exist there, and to describe the antiquities of
Winchester in general. This Survey — having been made in a regu
lar tour, and accompanied with proper ichnographical plans — will
enable the curious stranger, who visits Winchester, to be his own
cicerone in viewing the said antiquities, and even the reader at a
distance, to form a distinct idea of them.

ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE SECOND EDITION.

A Second Edition of " The History of Winchester" being called
for, the Author thinks 'it proper to acquaint the reader with the
particulars in which' this differs from the former edition.
1st. A copious POSTSCRIPT is annexed to the present edition;
in which the several strictures, contained in the Reviews and other
works that have been published on the subject of the History, are
detailed and discussed. The few real errors which these publica
tions have brought to hght, and which are corrected in the work
itself, are candidly acknowledged. On the other hand, the nume
rous objections , which originate in the mistaken or prejudiced
opinions of the critics, are fairly met, and, it is hoped, solidly an
swered. A bare enumeration of these critics will shew that the
History has been sufficiently noticed, and has gone through a severe
ordeal. In what condition it has come out of this fiery trial the
Postscript will shew. Of these writers, the principal are Dr.
Sturges, Dr. Hoadly Ashe, the Reviewer in the Hampshire Re
pository ; and the Anti-Jacobin, Monthly, Critical, and British-
Critic Reviewers. The present Postscript will be found to con
tain whatever is most important, and worthy of being preserved in
the Appendix to this History, subjoined to the first or quarto
.edition of "Letters to a Prebendary."

ADVERTISEMENT. XX1U
2dly. Several considerable additions are interspersed through
out the work, and particularly amongst the notes; one of these
contains observations upon a work lately published in two 8vo. vols.
called "British Monachism."* Another addition consists of a whole
new chapter; being a Survey of the most remarkable Modern
Monuments in Winchester Cathedral, f
3dly. Certain notes, which seemed to be of httle importance, are
abridged, or omitted, in this edition ; and the whole Preface to the
Second Volume is left out, as the substance of it is contained in
the Postscript.
Lastly. The Style of the whole work has been carefully revised,
and, it is hoped, considerably improved.
* Part u. ch. 4.
f Part n. ch. 3. The greater part of this chapter was printed a considerable time
after the work itself, on two loose sheets, under the title of " A Second Appendix to the
History of Winchester." But, owing to its form and late appearance, it did not get
into public notice. It is also now unavoidably imperfect, as it omits the description
of some lately erected Monuments, and other matters contained in the present edition.

d2

ADVERTISEMENT

TO THE THIRD EDITION.

Of this, the third edition of Dr. Milner's " History of Winches
ter" little is necessary to be said further than to state the reasons
for its publication, and in what it differs from the two former.
The form in which the first and second editions of the work
appeared, and the enormous expense necessarily incurred in bring
ing so elaborately and beautifully an illustrated work before the
public, caused its price to be such as that it could not find its way
into the hands of any but collectors of expensive works. These two
editions have been long disposed of. To meet the demand for a
book so justly celebrated ; and to place it within the reach of even
the most humble votary of hterature, has the present edition been
projected. This edition is still more profusely illustrated than the former.
The text has been strictly followed, excepting only where the reve
rend Author's meaning appeared obscure ; this has been rectified,
but in no instance has its spirit been interfered with.
An addition has been made to bring down the History of the
City to the present period, so that it may be perfect up to the day
of pubhcation, which will doubtless be acceptable to those who feel
an interest in the City which was so long the capital of the English
kingdom ; the seat of the most remarkable events during the Ro-

and side dates have been added ; an alteration which, it is conceived,
will be considered an improvement. Indeed no trouble has been
spared to render this edition as perfect as it can be made.
In addition to the above, a highly-talented gentleman, and an
early friend of the venerable author, has be"en induced to write a
Biographical Notice of Dr. Milner, which cannot fail to be deeply
interesting to those who were his personal friends or who are
interested in his writings.
The Engravings are twenty in number ; representing the most
interesting parts of the city, and executed by artists of the very
first talent ; among others, the celebrated Le Keux.

CONTENTS
OF VOLUME THE FIRST.

Biography. zxel.
chap. i.
Foundation of Winchester by the Celtic Britons. — Manners and Religion of its first
inhabitants. — Druidical Monuments remaining in it.— Subdued and inhabited by the
Belgae. — Name and Condition of the City under this People. page 1.
chap. ii.
Caesar's Invasion. — Conduct of the Belgae on this Coast. — Monument of Caesar found near
the City. — Condition of the City after his Return. — Conquest of Winchester by the
Generals of Claudius. — Fortified and garrisoned by the Romans. — Civilisation of ita
Inhabitants. — Placed under the Jurisdiction of Cogidubnus. — The different Names and
Adventures of this celebrated Personage. p. 1 1 .
chap. in.
Danger of the City from Boadicea. — Saved by the Roman General Paulinus Suetonius. —
Death of Boadicea. — Place of her Burial. — Death of Arviragus, King of the Belgae. —
His Successors, Marius, Coillus, and Lucius, in a right Line. — The Conversion of Lucius
to the Christian Faith. — Proofs of the reality of this Event and Objections answered. —
Lucius sends to the Bishop of Rome for the Bishops who are to preside in Britain. —
Winchester made a Cathedral Church, with a College of regular Clergy annexed to it. —
Remaining History of Lucius. — Place of his Burial. — The tyrants Carausius and Allectus.
— Persecution of Dioclesian, Destruction of the Cathedral, and Martyrdom of its Clergy. p. 26.
CHAP IV.
Discontinuance of the Persecution. — The Cathedral re-built. — Change in the Civil Govern
ment of the City. — Rebellions of Magnentius and of Maximus. — Consequences of the
same. — The City plundered by an Army of Irish. — A Monk of the Cathedral becomes
Emperor. — The Island abandoned by the Romans. p. 37.
chap. v.
The Saxons invited into Britain.— A Western Chieftain, Vortigern, is chosen King of the
Britons.— Aurelius Ambrosius elected King in the Place of Vortigern. — He resides at
Venta. — His Brother Uther succeeds him, and is there crowned.— Cerdic, the Founder
of the West Saxon Kingdom, lands at Cerdicshore. — Reduces Venta and extirpates its
British Inhabitants. — Condition of Winchester, now re-peopled with Jutes. — Capital of
the West Saxon Kingdom. — Cerdic is crowned there. — Enters into a Treaty with the
British King, Arthur. — Fabulous History of the latter refuted. — Sources of those Fa
bles, and his real History traced. — Succession of West Saxon Kings. — Winchester
under one of them, becomes the Metropolis of the Southern part of the Island, p. 45.

CONTENTS. XXVU
CHAP. VI.
The Conversion of this City and Province by St. Birinus.— A splendid Miracle recounted
of him.— Baptism of King Kinegils.— The Cathedral new founded.— The Work inter
rupted, but is at length completed. — Misunderstanding between the King and the
Bishop concerning the Division of the West Saxon Diocese. — Palpable Errors of Hume.
—Succession of our Kings. — Two of the greatest amongst them successively resign
their Crowns from a motive of Religion. — Succession of the Bishops of the West Sax
ons.— The See is fixed at Winchester.— The Diocese is divided into different Sees.—
Literature promoted by the Bishops.— Continuation of West Saxon Kings.— One of
them assassinated near Winchester. — The Cathedral their common Burying Place. —
Occasion of the disgraceful Law made against the Royal Consorts. — Influence of the
Christian Religion on the State of the City, and the Manners of the Inhabitants, p. 66.
chap. vii.
Union of the Heptarchy by Egbert. — Winchester its Capital. — History of St. Swithun. —
The piety of King Ethulwolph.- — Winchester sacked by the Danes. — Martyrdom of the
Cathedral Clergy. — Various Fortunes of Alfred. — Re-establishment of the Kingdom and
City by the splendid Victory of Alfred. — Foundation of the New Minster. — Edward the
Elder. — Succession of Bishops. — Glorious Victory of King Athelstan. — Combat of Guy
and Colbrand. — State of Winchester under Edmund, Edred, and Edwy. — Misrepresenta
tions of modern Historians. p. 87.
chap. viii.
Accession of Edgar to the throne. — Laws and Ordinances respecting Winchester. — Life
of its Bishop, St. Ethelwold. — The Cathedral re-built. — Monks substituted for Secular
Canons. — Dissertation on the original Institute of the Cathedral Clergy of Winchester.
— Ditto on Clerical celibacy. — Succession of Kings, Edward the Martyr, Ethelred II. —
Degeneracy of the Citizens of Winchester. — Slaughter of the Danes, and Hocktide
Sports here begun. — The City reduced by the Danes. — Life and Martyrdom of St. El
phege II, — Events relating to Winchester, under Edmund Ironside, Canute the Great,
Harold, and Hardicanute. — Edward the Confessor crowned in this City. — Succession of
Bishops. — History of Alwyn. — Nature of Ordeals. — Queen Emma passes through the
fiery Ordeal in the Cathedral. — Frightful. Death of Earl Godwin, at Winchester. —
Harold's Partisans in this City. p. 117.
chap. IX.
General Influence of the Norman Conquest. — Instances of Oppression exercised at Win
chester. — The Citadel. — The Curfew. — Doomsday Book.— Ecclesiastical Transactions.
— A Norman Bishop. — The Cathedral re-built.< — The Death of Rufus in the Forest. — His
Burial at Winchester. — The Election of Henry I, and his Marriage there. — History of
Molde, the good Queen. — A new Bishop named.. — Dispute concerning Investitures. —
Great Prosperity of Winchester.- — Synod in this City. — Bishop de Blois builds Wolvesey
Castle. — Civil War between King Stephen and the Empress.— The latter received into
this City in solemn Procession. — The War breaks out again here. — Winchester nearly
destroyed. — The Empress besieged in the Castle. — Escapes from thence by a singular
Stratagem. — A Pacification takes place in this City between Stephen and Henry Fitz-
empress. p. 141.
chap. x.
Winchester repaired by Henry II and the Citizens. — Receives many marks of the royal
Favour. — The first City that was governed by a Mayor. — Character and Conduct of
Bishop de Blois.— True Statement of the Dispute between Henry II and Archbishop
St. Thomas Becket. — Contention for Precedency between the Citizens of Winchester
and London at the Coronation of Richard I. — Acts of Beneficence by Bishop Godfrey
de Lucy. — Ceremonial of the King's second Coronation at Winchester. — Charters
granted to the City by King John. — Winchester the most ancient Corporation in En
gland, — The Scene of John's disgraceful Vassalage to the Pope. — Besieged and taken

XV111 CONTENTS.
by the French.— Errors of modern Writers concerning King John's Funeral.—
Henry III, a Native of Winchester, succeeds to the Throne. — Its Bishop, Peter de
Rupibus, the young King's Tutor.— Conduct of that Prelate. — Disputes between the
King and the Cathedral Monks concerning the election of his Successor.— Persecution
of Bishop William de Raley. — The King forces the Monks to elect his half-brother
Ethelmar, an unworthy Clerk. — Bishops John Jervayse and Nicholas de Ely.— Benefits
conferred on Winchester by Henry III. — The Citizens again dispute for Precedency
with those of London. — Disrepute of Winchester for the Crimes there committed. —
A Stop put to them by the inflexible Justice of the King. — Parliament held at Win
chester against Foreigners. — A Civil War breaks out, there.— The City taken and
sacked. — Intestine Commotions. — Parliaments held there after the War. — General
State of the City. p. 165.
chap. XI.
Reign of Edward I. — His Valour displayed near Winchester. — His other Transactions
there. — Dispute between the Citizens of Winchester and those of London. — Terms of
Agreement between them. — Winchester disgraced and punished by the King. — Rein
stated through the Clemency of the Queen. — Succession of Bishops. — Pontificate of
John de Pontissara. — Foundation of St. Elizabeth's College, and of St. John's House. —
Bishops Woodlock, Sandale, De Asserio, and Stratford. — Reign of Edward II. — Earl
of Winchester. — His barbarous Execution. — An Infringement of the Liberties of this
City. — Edmund, Earl of Kent, executed at Winchester. — Episcopacy of Adam de Orlton.
— His Crimes. — Reign of Edward III.— Prosperous Face of Winchester. — Subsequent
Calamities. — Episcopacy of Edington. — He is succeeded by William de Wykeham. —
Acts and Character of this illustrious Prelate. — History of this City during the reign of
Richard II. — Errors of former Historians. — Henry IV marries Queen Joan at Winches
ter.— Henry V keeps his Court there. — Account of Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Win
chester. — Partiality of Henry VI to this City. — His Visit and Benefactions to it. — Ed
ward IV at Winchester bestows the Title of it upon a foreign Favourite. — Short Reign
of Edward V.— Richard III passes through this city. — Life of Bishop Waynflete. p. 201.
chap. xii.
Accession of Henry VII.— He brings his Queen to lie-in at Winchester.— The Cornish In
surgents march through this City.— Succession of Bishops Langton, Courtney, and
Fox.— Character and Transactions of the last-mentioned. — Beginning of the Reign
of Henry VIII.— His Visit to Winchester, with the Emperor Charles V.— Cardinal Wol-
sey succeeds to this See.— His Conduct in the Affair of the Divorce.— This brings on
the regal Supremacy and the Suppression of Monasteries, which entirely change the
Face of Winchester.— The City still more defaced by the Protector Somerset, under
Edward VI.— Conduct of Bishop Gardiner.— Dr. Poynet appointed to succeed him. —
Profanation of sacred Things, and Dismembering of the Bishopric— Accession of
Queen Mary.— Solemnity of her Marriage at Winchester.— Restores it, in part, to its
ancient Splendour.— The Persecution carried on in her Reign. — An Account of the
Protestant Sufferers belonging to this City.— Death and Funeral of Bishop Gardiner.—
He is succeeded by Dr. White.— Queen Elizabeth mounts the Throne, and re-assumes
Ecclesiastical Supremacy.— Effects of this Measure in the Cathedral and College of
Winchester.— Dr. Horne appointed to this Diocese.— The latter again dismembered.—
The City defaced, and falls into great Ruin and Poverty.— A new Charter is granted.—
Substance of the same.— The College receives a mark of public Distinction.— Succes
sion of Bishops, Dr. Horne, Dr. Watson, Dr.Xooper, Dr. William Wickham, Dr. Day,
and Dr. Bilson.— Persecution carried on by Elizabeth against the Catholics.— An Ac
count of the Sufferers belonging to this City. „ 239

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE

RIGHT REV. DR. MILNER.

The two preceding editions of the History of Winchester, ap
peared while its distinguished author was yet living. The pub
lication of this third edition is not only the proper period for in
troducing a prefatory Memoir of Dr. Milner ; but we should be
justly chargeable with disrespect to his memory, were we to neg
lect the opportunity now afforded of giving some information of
his life, and of paying an honourable tribute to his merits.
John Milner was born in London, October 14, 1752. His
family name was Miller ; but he called himself Milner, for some
reason unknown. He was peculiar, however, through life, in his
ideas of the propriety of names; and often persuaded others to
adopt what he considered a preferable appellation. He received the
first part of his education at Sedgley Park, near Wolverhampton ;
which, at that time, was almost the only Catholic school in the
kingdom. From thence he removed for the completion of his studies
to the memorable English seminary at Douay. There he studied
with several eminent ornaments of the English Catholic clergy.
He has often been heard, to commemorate his having been con
temporary at Douay with John Kemble ; and he would add, with
amusing self-congratulation, that he himself Was accounted then
quite as good a speaker as Kemble. In the year 17773 Dr. Milner
was ordained priest, and sent over to England to begin his mis
sionary career in London. The English Catholic clergy paid an
early tribute to his literary character, by entrusting their chapter-

XXX BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
library to his care. He remained for some time in Gray's Inn,
discharging zealously the duties of his sacred ministry, which, in
those times, were hazardous as well as arduous.
In 1779, Dr. Milner was called to reside in Winchester. The
occasion of his removing thither was the prevalence of a malignant
fever among the French prisoners in that city, which had carried off
two Catholic priests. The zeal and charity of our author urged
him to fly to the assistance of the unhappy sufferers. Through the
influence of the marquis of Buckingham, his friend and patron, he
obtained their removal to the King's house. Many acts of heroic
charity and rehgious zeal are recorded of him during his residence
in Winchester, where he had the pastoral charge of the Catholic
congregation for twenty-four years. Among these, -was the pubhca
tion of a Letter to establish the innocence of Sainsbury, then under
sentence of death in Winchester gaol. Dr. Milner was right ; and
the man's innocence was afterwards acknowledged, but unhappily
too late. Another remarkable instance was his soliciting and ob
taining leave to endeavour to instruct and convert three Lascars,
who could speak no language but their own. His charitable zeal
could not endure to see these poor heathens, who were condemn
ed to the gallows for murder, perish without any knowledge of
God and of their Redemption through his divine Son. He inge
niously contrived by signs and by the help of a picture of Christ
crucified, to instruct them, and elicit satisfactory proofs of their
faith in the essential mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation.
He baptized them, and accompanied them to the place of execution,
rejoicing that his labours had been thus eminently successful.
Dr. Milner built, in 1792, the Catholic chapel at Winchester,
described in his History. That city was perhaps the most fitting
locality which could have been chosen to call forth his great and
peculiar talents. It was here accordingly that he began to culti
vate, under the most favourable auspices, his ardent love of history
and antiquities. The abundant remains of Catholic edifices in
Winchester ; and, above alk its venerable cathedral, nurtured and
expanded the germs of religious and antiquarian zeal in his capa
cious mind. He soon became conspicuous and eminent for his
superior ability in historical and antiquarian, as well as theological,
researches. In 1790:, he had been introduced to the Royal Society
of Antiquaries, and obtained the honour of a fellowship. He
communicated to the Archaeologia of that Society several valuable
papers :— on the Glastonbury cup, on the Limerick mitre and cro
sier, on an ancient copy of St. John's Gospel, on the use of
the Pax, and on the emblematical figures on the Font in Winches-

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. XXXI
ter cathedral. He communicated many articles on antiquities to the
Gentleman's Magazine ; and wrote the article in Rees' Cyclopaedia
on Gothic Architecture, which has always been highly esteemed,
and tended materially to immortalize the name of its author. It
was afterwards published by the author as a separate work, much
augmented and enriched with authorities ; and in this form it has
already passed through three editions. In 1792, Dr. Milner pub
lished "An Historical and Critical Enquiry into the Existence and
Character of St. George," addressed to the President of the Anti
quarian Society. He also assisted the able antiquary, Mr. Carter,
in his eminent work on the Ancient Architecture of England ; and
in his works on sculpture and painting.
But the work which fixed the fame of Dr. Milner, was " The
History, Civil and Ecclesiastical, and Survey of the Antiquities of
of Winchester." The first edition appeared in 1798, the second,
corrected and enlarged by the learned author, in 1809. This work
is so perfect a monument of historical and topographical research,
that if the author had left no other memorial of his talents, his
reputation would stand on this basis alone, solid and immovable.
The merits of this learned production were at once acknowledged :
and the novelty of such a work emanating from a Catholic priest,
added in no small degree to the interest which it excited. It was
praised by the Reviews as a work of the highest merit ; and the
intimate acquaintance which its author displayed with all the an
cient historians, not only enhanced his reputation as a writer of
history, but decided the value of his book, as a genuine record in
which the greatest confidence could be placed.
This work opened the way also to Dr. Milner's subsequent fame
as a polemic. For having in his History freely censured Bishop
Hoadley, and observed that "both living and dying, he under
mined the church of which he was a prelate ;" he was attacked by
a friend of Hoadley's, the Rev. Dr. Sturges, Prebendary and Chan
cellor of Winchester, in a work, which he entitled, " Reflections on
Popery." This called forth Dr. Milner's celebrated work, " Letters
to a Prebendary," which displays not only deep theological argu
ment and acute controversial skill, but throws new hght upon
those portions of English history subsequent to the change of re
ligion, which had met with httle justice from the pens of preceding
historians. This remarkable work was extolled in the House of
Commons ; and its author was defended in the Upper House, by
Bishop Horsley, when attacked upon it by the Lord Chancellor.
So great a sensation was caused by this production, that an at
tempt was made to induce the author to suppress it, by the offer
e 2

XXX11 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
of a pension : but little did they understand the spirit of Dr. Mil
ner, who could venture such a proposal.
During the whole course of Dr. Milner's residence at Winches
ter, he had taken an active and decided part in the peculiar con
cerns of the Catholic body; and had published several remarkable
productions relative to their affairs. The CatholicSj had experi
enced some relief from the operation of the penal laws in 1778,
but were more effectually benefited by the Act of 1791. On this
occasion the energetic and well-timed interference of Dr. Milner,
prevented the passing of the Relief Bill in a form, which would
have endangered the integrity and independence of his religion.
About the same time he took a zealous and useful part in repress
ing the Blanchardist schism, which had alienated a portion of the
French emigrant clergy in England from the spiritual submission
which they owed to the supreme pontiff, Pius VII, on account
of his concordat with Buonaparte. Several publications appeared
from his pen, connected with this subject, and the disputes which,
it occasioned. An ecclesiastic of such distinguished merit was eminently quali
fied to watch over the interests of the Catholic Church in this coun
try in a more exalted station than he had hitherto occupied;
he was therefore elevated, by Pope Pius VII, to the episcopal dig
nity. He was consecrated in his own chapel at Winchester, on
the 23rd of May, 1803, Bishop of Castabala; and appointed Vicar
Apostolic of the Midland District of England. This obliged him to
leave Winchester, which was not within the hmits of his vicariate,
and he took up his residence at Long Birch, near Wolverhampton.
He removed soon after to that town, and resided during the re
mainder of his hfe at the respectable mansion erected by one of his
predecessors, which has always borne the name of Giffard House.
Mindful of the essential duty of the episcopal charge, Bishop
Milner was ever the watchful guardian of his flock ; and in his
new station exerted himself indefatigably in the long and arduous
struggle of the Catholic body to obtain their complete emancipa
tion from the penal laws, and to be placed on an equal footing with
all other subjects of the realm. Indeed it appeared plainly to his
brethren in faith, that Almighty God had raised him up among
them, like another Moses, to be the leader of his people towards
the desired land of their liberty : though like Moses, he was only
permitted to see it at some distance, as he died three years before
the great act of justice was accomplished. It was but natural, that
after long bondage and exclusion, some of the Catholic body, with
the new prospect of parliamentary seats and political honours be-

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. XXXU1

fore them, should have been too ready to make concessions dan
gerous to the independence, or even existence of their religion, for
the attainment of their long-withheld privileges. But Dr. Milner,
with whom religion was ever far above every other consideration,
and whose pastoral office both qualified and required him to judge
and give warning where danger threatened, succeeded again, in
1813, in preserving his Church in this kingdom from threatened
subjugation. This he effected by repeated publications, and per
sonal exertions and remonstrances, in which his inflexible integrity,
and uncompromising adherence to truth and justice, are every
where conspicuous.
He continued, indeed, ever active in vindication of his religion,
which he found everywhere assailed. With this view, in 1807, be
made a tour in Ireland, and, on his return, published a highly in
teresting work, the nature of which may be at once seen by its
title : "An Inquiry into certain Vulgar Opinions concerning the Ca
tholic Inhabitants and the Antiquities of Ireland." He visited Ire
land a second time, and held many consultations with the Catholic
hierarchy of that country on the questions connected with Ca
tholic emancipation. These venerable prelates placed in Dr. Mil
ner their unbounded confidence : he was appointed their agent
for Catholic affairs in this country; and had always the conso
lation to enjoy their support and confidence.
But this admirable prelate was, at the same time, indefatigable
in his episcopal duties at home. Soon after his arrival in the Mid
land District, he began a small seminary for the education of his
clergy at the place of his early education, Sedgley Park ; but the
buildings for the purpose were scarcely finished, when an offer was
made to him of the college at Oscott, near Birmingham, which he
accordingly purchased, and opened as an ecclesiastical seminary
and college for Catholic youth, under the title of St. Mary's college,
August 15, 1808. This establishment he lived to see attain to a
high reputation for piety and learning; while it afforded a regular
supply of exemplary clergy for the wants of his district. His cha
rities were great and continual : he devoted the greater part of
his pecuniary resources to the relief of the poor, the education of
his clergy, the erection of chapels and schools, and the support of
the persons in charge of those establishments.
While every part of his extensive flock experienced his zealous
and fostering care, he did not forget his favourite studies. He
published in 1811, "A Dissertation on the Modern Style of altering
ancient Cathedrals ." and in the same year, his " Treatise on the Ec
clesiastical Architecture of England." Besides these, many other

XXxiv BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE.
productions appeared from his indefatigable pen, on various sub
jects connected with Catholic doctrine and discipline ; while each
year he addressed a pastoral charge to his clergy, admonishing
. them of their sacred duties, and instructing them on the position
of their religion in this country, in reference to the agitated ques
tion of Emancipation. In 1814, Dr. Milner undertook a journey
to Rome on the affairs of the Catholic body. While there, he was
honoured by the intimate friendship of the Cardinals Litta and
Delia Somaglia, and was admitted to frequent audiences of his
hohness, Pope Pius VII. A proof how highly the Pope esti
mated the sincerity of this prelate, may be gathered from the
words of his holiness, on a certain occasion, when an attempt
was made to obtain some relaxation of discipline by representa
tions which appeared suspicious. The Pope said : — " Let us ask
Dr. Milner : he will tell us the truth."
A love of truth indeed, was the prevailing feature of Dr. Milner's
high character. It ruled his conduct, it animated his exertions,
it breathed in all his productions. Soon after his return to Eng
land, he published his celebrated work : " The End of Religious
Controversy ;" which having been attacked by the Rev. R. Grier,
was followed in 1822, by "A Vindication of the End of Religious
Controversy •" besides which, there appeared from his pen, "A Brief
Summary of the History and Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures," and
a small " Scriptural Catechism." He also published a valuable and
important work, " Supplementary Memoirs of the English Catholics,
addressed to Charles Butler, Esq., 1820." Also, several treatises on
subjects of devotion and religious practices. His last work was a
further defence of his immortal " End of Religious Controversy,"
entitled, "A Parting Word with the Rev. R. Grier, with a Brief No
tice of Dr. Parr's Letter to Dr. Milner."
This last work appeared in 1825, at the close of which year Dr.
Milner was evidently much altered, and exhibited painful indica-
tions of the decay of his long vigorous constitution. He was fully
sensible of his approaching end ; and had announced it, in a most
affecting manner, in an assembly of his clergy, in the spring of
that year. He had procured the appointment of the Right Rev.
Thomas Walsh as his coadjutor, with right of succession after his
own decease ; and consecrated him bishop on the 1st of May, 1825.
The exemplary prelate then gave his whole attention to the great
work of preparing to give an account of his stewardship. He
gradually declined till the spring of 1826, and on the 19th of
April, died a most edifying death, at his residence in Wolverhamp
ton, in the 74th year of his age, and the 23rd of his episcopacy.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. XXXV
Few men have possessed the eminent talents and virtues of Dr.
Milner. Truth was his grand polar star in every circumstance and
change of his long and arduous career. As a scholar, he was pro
found, but perfectly free from pedantry ; as a critic, he was judi
cious, but sternly fixed to integrity ; and was never found to sacrifice
truth to curry favour or promote self-interest. His architectural
skill is too well known and acknowledged to need commendation
here; and his historical and antiquarian science is equally ad
mitted and respected. His love of rehgion was ardent, and his
piety enlightened and most edifying. He had his enemies, as
every man must have who rises above his fellows, or takes a de
cided part in any great question ; but they were chiefly men who
knew least of his real character. Those who knew him intimately,
were perpetually reminded of his real goodness, his unaffected sim
plicity of heart, his true humility, sincere piety, and universal
charity.

PART I.
THE HISTORY, ECCLESIASTICAL AND CIVIL,
OF
WINCHESTER.

CHAP. I.
Foundation of Winchester by the Celtic Britons. — Manners and
Religion of its first Inhabitants. — Druidical Monuments remain
ing in it. — Subdued and Inhabited by the Belgce. — Name and Con
dition of the City under this People.
Without having recourse to romantic legends, or traditionary b. c
songs, it is a sufficient commendation of the antiquity of Win- '"^
Chester, that it extends beyond the reach of every certain and au
thentic record, and is lost in the mist which envelops the first po
pulation of this island.
We have been told, by former historians,* that this city was 892.
built by a king of Britain, named Ludor Rous Hudibrass, 892
years before the birth of Christ, f or 139 years before the founda
tion of Rome.J But the very existence of such a king as the
above named, rests upon no better foundation than certain roman-
* Rev. Thomas Warton's Description of the City, &c. of Winchester. — History and
Antiquities of Winchester, 2 vols. 12mo. — Tables of Winchester, in the City Chambers. —
Godson's Map.— Trussel's MSS.— Also Galfrid. Monumet. Mat. West., &c.
f Warton, p. 1. — Hist, of Winchester, vol. I. p. 1.
X The computation of these modern writers, according to their own authorities, is
erroneous, and much too low. Mat. West, makes Hudibrass contemporary with Solo
mon ; vide Mt. Quart.
VOL. I. A

2 FOUNDATION OF THE ; CITY.
B- c- tic tales,* invented fifteen hundred years after the period in ques-
'~y~' tion, by British writers ;f in order to prove that their ancestors, no
less than the Romans, were descended from the heroes of Troy;
whose history itself is, perhaps, only fabulous.J We cannot admit,
as a real historical fact, that Winchester was founded by this pre
tended monarch of our island, without also beheving that London
was built, as a substitute for the ancient Troy, by a supposed
great grandson of Mneas, called Brutus, after having conquered
all Greece and the greater part of Gaul ;|| and, that Bath was built
by Bladud, the son and successor of our Hudibrass, and enriched
with the inextinguishable fire of Minerva ;§ with many other fables,
equally romantic, which all rest on the same authority, Hudibrass
is stated to have been the eighth king in succession from the first
settler, Brutus.
The next brought in to adorn the histoiy of Winchester, by
its late historians, is Dunwallo Mulmutius, who is placed the twen
tieth in the list of royalty, and represented as contemporary with
Darius of Persia.^" He is said to have erected the walls of this
city ;** and, having made himself sole monarch of the island, and
crowned himself with a crown of gold, to have convoked hither all
* It is plain that the aboriginal Britons, at Cassar's invasion, had no pretensions to a
Trojan ancestry: their boast, on the contrary, was, that they were Term Filii, born of
the earth ; as was also the boast of the Germans, who worshipped the earth as a Deity ;
and who, like the Gauls, boasted of their being the children of Dis or Pluto. — De Bello
Gallico, 1. vi. " Britannias pars interior ab iis colitur, quos natos in insuHt ipsi memorial
proditum dicunt." — De Bello Gall. 1. v.- — See also Borlase's Cornwall, p. 18, 20. So
late as the time of Gildas, in the sixth century, (the most ancient, as well as the most
judicious, of the British historians, whose works have reached us,) this tale was either
unknown or disregarded by men of learning. Accordingly he professes to write his
history, not from domestic records, which, he says, were destroyed, or carried away, but
from the relations of foreign writers. — See Hist. Gilds, p. 2. ed. Thorn. Gale. On the
contrary, Nennius (who, like Gildas, was successively a monk arijj an abbot of the
famous monastery of Bangor, and who wrote in the seventh century,) gives the whole
pedigree of Bruto or Brito, the supposed first King of this island, up to jEneas, and to
Jupiter himself. The same author also gives the substance of the romantic exploits of
King Arthur, which Geoffry of Monmouth published in detail seven centuries after
wards. This fact, which has escaped the observation of many writers, vindicates the
last mentioned from the charge of forgery, which has been so often brought against him.
f It is true, however, that many ancient English authors, as Mat. West. Diceto,
Huntingdon, and Higden, have given their credit and support to these fables.
X The learned authors, who, of late years, have proved, that the Pagan mythology in
general, and the early history of Egypt in particular, related by Herodotus, the father of
history, as he is called, is no more than a metamorphosis of certain parts in the book of
Genesis, have also brought plausible arguments to shew, that the substance of the Iliad
of Homer, concerning the siege of Troy, and the immortal heroes engaged therein, on
both sides, is no other than certain altered and misapplied stories relating to the war of
the ten tribes against the tribe of Benjamin. — See Histoire Veritable des Temps Fa-
buleux, par L'Abb£ Rocher de Guerin ; and Herodote Historien du Peuple Hebreu sans
le spavoir, par L'Abbe' Bonnaud.
|| Galfrid. Monumet. — Chron. — Mat. West. Mt. i.— Hen. Huntingdon, Hist. 1. l.-r
Polychronicon, 1. 11, &c.
§ Mat. West. ^Et. iv. — Polychrou. 1. 11. -
i Galfrid.— Rudb. Dicet.— De Reg. Brit.— Mat. West. Mt. ».
*'* Rev. Thomas Warton's Description of Winchester, p. 2.

FOUNDATION OF THE CITY. 3
his nobles; where, by their common consent, the Mulmutian laws B- c-
were enacted.* That there existed, at some remote period, a legis- ""
lator of the name of Mulmutius, who devised the wise and salutary
laws so celebrated in our history,f is highly probable; that the
same prince adopted the use of a golden crown, and assembled the
states of the whole island, in some part of it; are also facts which
have been reported of him by a well known British historian, J and
his English followers : but that these events took place at Win-.
Chester, there is no ancient authority whatsoever for asserting.
Indeed, the facts related are in themselves improbable ; as we have
unquestionable proofs, that the Britons in general, several ages
after the date here assigned, were found to be in a state of bar
barism, without any other defence to their towns, than a mound
of earth and a trench ;|| being subject to a variety of petty chief
tains, who were almost always at war with each other; and using
brass and iron for their precious metals.§
After our city is stripped of all these false honours, she will still
retain a well founded claim to as high antiquity, as, perhaps, any
other city within the compass of the Island. It is clear, both from
argument and authority,^ that South Britain, at least, was first peo
pled from the opposite coast of Gaul, and particularly from the
Armorican coast of the Celtic Gauls, whom, in language, manners,
and rehgion, they so much resembled ;** that the southern coast
was first inhabited ; and that population gradually spread itself from
* Hist, of Winchester, vol. II, p. 2.— Trussel's MSS.
f They were translated into Latin by Gildas, and into English by king Alfred. — Rud-
born, Hist. Maj. Higden. " Leges Molmutianae usque hodie inter Anglos celebrantur."
— 'Mat. West. The most noted of these laws were those which granted the right of sanc
tuary to temples, highways, and ploughs; laws which, however noxious in a civilised
and well regulated state, were highly beneficial amongst a barbarous, vindictive, and
divided nation.
X Geoffry of Monmouth.
|| Caesar, de Bello Gall.
§ " Utuntur aut asre aut annulis ferreis, ad certum pondus examinatis pro nummo.
— De Bell. Gall. 1. v. "In Britannia nil neque auri neque argenti." — Cic. Ep. 1. vn.
" Etiam illud jam cognitum est neque argenti scrupulum esse ullum in ill& insula." — Cic.
Epist. ad Attic. " Fert Britannia aurum et argentum pretium victorise."— Tacit. Vita
Agric. This last passage proves that the Britons, within a century and a half after
their discovery by the Romans, had been excited to a diligent examination of the con
tents of their mines and their rivers.'
f Caesar gives no opinion of his own concerning the first inhabitants of Britain ; he
only reports their own accounts, which were so agreeable to their superstition, and to
their prejudices against the new colonies from Belgium. Tacitus having considered this
matter, concludes as follows : — " In universum aestimanti Gallos vicinum solum occu-
passe credibile est." Bede says : — "In primis haec insula Britones solum, a quibus
nomen accepit, incolas habuit, qui de Tractu Armoricano, ut fertur, Britannium advecti,
australes sibi partes illius vindicarunt." The same is the sense of the Saxon Chronicle,
according to its true reading; as, also, amongst modern writers, of Camden — Borlase,
Hist, of Cornwall — Whitaker, Hist, of Manchester, &c.
** Caesar, Tacitus, &c.
A 2

4 ITS NAME AND CONDITION.
B- c- thence into other parts of the country* This being so, and the
W-' relative situation of the twenty-eight original cities of Britain con
sidered^ we can have no difficulty in pronouncing, that the first
Celtic settlers, embarking at the nearest. Armorican port to Britain,
(that of the Unelli, or Cherburg,{ from the vicinity of which they
must often have seen the white cliffs of the Isle of Wight,) landed
and established themselves at Caer Peris, or Portchester, the only
ancient city which is actually on this coast. From thence, pro
ceeding up the country in a north-west direction, they could not
overlook that beautiful and commodious spot, which possessed the
several advantages within itself, or close to it, of a well watered
valley, and of fertile fields, for their own support, and that of their
valuable flocks ; of extensive downs, interspersed with covers proper
for the chace ;|( and of shady forests, § necessary for defence, and for
the mysterious rites of the Druidical rehgion. Here, then, they
made their chief settlement on the southern coast, which, from the
chalky cliffs that surround and overhang it, they called Caer Gwent,
signifying in their language, (one of the most ancient in the world,)
the White City ; and by this name it is recognized in the most an
cient writers, domestic and foreign, who have left any account of
the state of Britain.^ From this city seemed to have proceeded
the colonies which founded Caer Segent, Silchester; Caer Dorm,
Dorchester, in Oxfordshire ; and Caer Paladgin, Shaftesbury.**
That the name of City, however, may not impose upon the reader,
it is necessary to give bim an idea of the state of Caer Gwent, and
of its inhabitants, at the period in question, ahd during several cen
turies afterwards. It was then no more than a collection of long
cabins, built of mud, and covered with reeds ;tt in each of which a
number of families herded together, with so httle order and deco
rum, as to induce a behef, amongst foreigners, of the existence of
* " Cum plurimam insulae partem (incipientes ab austro) Bitrones posscdissent, &c.
• — Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. i. c. i.
t Gildas, Hist. c. i. — Nennius, Hist. c. lxv. — Bede, Hist. c. i. — Rubd. Hist. Major. c. n.
X These formed a part of that maritime confederacy which Ccesar could not subdue
but by means of a fleet. — Bell. Gall. 1. in.
|| "Vita omnis in venationibus." — Cass. Bell. Gall. 1. vi.
§ The forests, indeed, round this city, have been destroyed, as cultivation increased;
but authority proves that there must have been much wood there ; and experience proves
that the soil in general is favourable to its growth.
If Nennius ut supra. — Rubd. ex. Girald. Cornub. &c. Claudius Ptolemy, the Greek
Geographer, 1. vm. c. 2, calls it O'TENTA, with the distinctive character of noAIS,
or a city. Antonius, the Roman author of the Itinerarium, writes it Venta.
** Auctores ut supra. — N.B. The word Caer, or Cert, for a city, equally enters into
the composition of many ancient Persian cities, as Tryganocerta, &c. The resemblance
between many of the eastern words, as well as manners, and those of the Celts, Gaels
or Gauls, is very striking.
tt "iEdificia sunt Gallicis consimilia." — Cass. De Bell. Gall. 1. v. — Diod. Sicul.

MANNERS AND RELIGION OF ITS INHABITANTS. 5
a community of wives amongst them.* These cabins were, in a B. c.
great measure, sheltered by the overspreading boughs of the native ""^
forest, in which situation our British cities were invariably built.|
Except where a river afforded them protection and defence, the
whole was surrounded with a rampart and a ditch,J which secured
the inhabitants from the insults of other tribes, whom, by force
and terror, they kept at the greatest distance, in order to prevent
their establishing any other city in their neighbourhood. || The ad
joining fields were devoted to the fattening of their flocks and
herds ; ,on the flesh and the milk of which, with the addition of
the animals which they killed in hunting, they entirely subsisted ;
being unacquainted with the luxury of bread, and averse to the
labour of tillage. § Their only dress was a hide thrown over their
shoulders, by way of cloak, to guard them from the cold, which
was fastened at the neck, with a metal broach, or a wooden skewer.*!
In the mean time, the finery of both sexes consisted in the iron
chains which they wore about their necks and waists ;** with a
sword, ft or battle-axe, sometimes made of brass, and sometimes of
stone, hanging by their naked sides ;J J but their principal orna
ments consisted in the figures of different animals, or other sub
stances, which they impressed, or tatooed on every part of their
bodies, with the blue infusion of their native woad, and ostentati
ously displayed in the field of battle, and on other public occa-
sions. ]| ||
If the manners of our barbarous and unenlightened predecessors
were disgusting, their religion was still more horrible. This was
* "Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes." — Caes. I. v. — Carte, vol. I.,
p. 72, vindicates them from the infamy of this promiscuous concubinage.
t " Urbium loco sunt ipsis nemora. Arboribus enim dejectis ubi magnum circulum
sepserent, sibi casas, pecori stabula condunt." — Strabo, ex. version.
X " Oppidum Britanni vocant quum silvas impeditas vallo atque foss& munierunt."—
Caes. 1. v.
|| "Civitatibus maxima laus est quam latissamas circum se, vastatis finibus, solitu-
dines habere." — Caes. de Bell. Gall. 1. vi.
J "Interiores (that is the original Britons) frumenta non serunt sed lacte et carno
vivunt." — Id. 1. v.
If " Pellibus sunt vestiti." — Cses. De Bell. Gall. 1. v. "Tegmen omne sagum, fibulS,
aut, si desit, spini consertum, caeteri intecti." — Tacit. N.B. A few circumstances of this
description, necessary for explaining the customs of the Britons, are borrowed from the
description of the kindred tribes in Gaul.
** "Neque enim vestis usum cognorunt, sed ventrem atque, cervicem ferro cingunt,
ornamentum id esse ac divitiarum argumentum existimantes perinde ac aurum caeteri
barbari." — Herod. 1. in. ex. Inter]). Polit.
tt "Gladio nudis corporibus pendente."— Id.
XX These tomahawks are exceedingly common in the collections of the curious, and
are called Celts.
HII " Quin ipsa notant corpora pictura varist et omirifariis formis animalium, quocirca
neque induuntur, ne picturam corporis adoperiant." — Id. " Omnes Britanni vitro se
inficiunt, atque hoc horribiliores sunt in pugna aspectu."— Caes. I. v. " Britanniorum
conjuges nurusque glasto toto corpore oblitae," &c. — Plin. 1. xxii. u. i.

6 MANNERS AND RELIGION OF ITS INHABITANTS.
B- c- the general Paganism of other Gentile nations, but moulded into a
^^ peculiar form by the Celtic Druids ; who, from having their chief
colleges* and templest for learning and for practising their myste
rious rites in Britain, were too hastily supposed to have invented
them in our Island.J No people were more addicted to rehgion;
but the objects of it were peculiarly absurd: the Oak and the
Misletoe;|| the Logan, or Rocking Stone; and the Tolmen, or Ora
cular Stone. § They firmly maintained the immortality of the
soul, but so far abused this doctrine, as to consume with the bodies
of the deceased, whatever had been most necessary and dear to
them in life; not only their clothes and armour, their dogs and
horses, but also their servants and dependants;^ in order that these
might accompany them in that new state of existence into which
they had launched. They retained, from the eastern patriarchs,
the tenet and and practice of expiatory sacrifice; but, hke the
worshippers of Moloch, in the vale of Hinnom,** they held no vic
tim to be so acceptable to their deities, or so propitiatory, as man.tt
One instance of their superstitious cruelty exceeds all that we read
of the Ammonites; and, indeed, of all ancient and modern Heathens,
who have delighted in human sacrifices. It was their custom, on
certain occasions, to build up, of basket-work and straw, an enor
mously large figure, which seems to have represented the god
Saturn. This they filled with a great number of living men,J J
together with beasts of every kind,|||| and a sufficient quantity of
fuel. They then set fire to the whole ; the raging flames of which,
together with the mingled shrieks of the tortured men, the howl-
ings of the enraged beasts, the shouts of the Druids, and the sound
of their trumpets, present an idea, which can only be equalled by
that which we are taught to form of the infernal regions; and dis
pose us to believe1 what Pliny relates of the actors in this scene,
* These in latter times, were removed into Anglesea. — Tacit. Agric.
t At Stonehenge, Abury Rollright, &c.
X Disciplina (Druidum) in Britannia reperta atque inde in Galliam translata esse
existimatur. Et nunc qui diligentius earn rem cognoscere volunt plerumque illuc, dis-
cendi causi profiscuntur." — Caes. 1. vi.
II Pliny. Hist. Nat. 1. xxvi.
§ Borlase's Cornwall.
"(f " Omnia quae vivis cordi fuisse arbitrantur, in ignem inferunt, etiam animalia ; ac .
paulo supra hanc memoriam servi et clientes una cremabantur." — Caes. 1. vi.
** II Kings, c. xxm. v. 10.
tt Solinus, Dio. " Pro victimis homines immolant aut se immolaturus vovent, admi-
nistrisque ad ea sacrificia Druidibus utuntur, quod pro vita hominis nisi vita hominis
raddatur non posse aliter Deorum numen placari arbitrantur." — Caes. 1. vi.
tt "Alii immani magnitudine simulacra habent, quorum coutexta viminibus membra
vivis hominibus complent, quibus succensis, circumventi flamma exanimantur homines "
— Caes. 1. vi.
IIII "Magnam etiam e faeno statuam apparentes, iu eamque lignis pecudibuset omnis
generis bestiis et hominibus conjectis holocaustum faciebant." — Strabo, l.iv. ex vers. Lat.

DRUIDICAL REMAINS. 7
that they were accustomed even to taste the scorched flesh of the B- c-
human victims whom they thus immolated".*
Such were the manners, and such the religious rites of the first
inhabitants of this city, as the clearest historical testimonies evince:
and the same, probably, continued during the course of many hun
dred years.t The only monuments, however, that have reached
us of those times, independent of history, are the connical hillocks,
or barrows, upon our mountains, which still propably retain the
remnants of the horrid funerals above described; J and the numer
ous misshapen blocks of heath stone, which were brought from a
great distance, and when poised one upon another, for augurial
or judiciary purposes, were called Logans or Tolmens; or, when
supported by pedestals of the same material, formed the dreadful
Cromlechs, or altar stones, that have so often smoaked with the
blood of the human creature offered in sacrifice. ||
* Lib. xxx. c. i. N.B. — In different places on the opposite side of the Channel,
where we are assured, by the authority quoted, that these horrid rites prevailed, amongst
the rest at Dunkirk and at Douay, it has been an immemorial custom, on a certain holi
day in the year, to build up an immense figure of basket-work ana canvas, to the height
of twenty or thirty feet, which, when properly painted and dressed, represents a huge
giant. It also contains a number of giving men within it, who raise it from the ground,
and cause it to move" from place to place The popular tradition is, that this figure
represents a certain Pagan giant, who used to devour the inhabitants of these places,
until he was killed by the patron saint. Have not we here a plain trace of the above
described horrid sacrifice of Druidism, offered up to Saturn or Moloch ; and of the bene
ficial effect of Christianity, in doing away its inhuman superstitions?
t The irruptions of the Celtish Gauls into the heart of Italy, and even into Greece
and Asia, after having replenished every part of Spain, (which events took place several
centuries before the Christian era,) render it extremerely probable that the neighbouring
island of Britain was, at those periods, full of inhabitants.
t The generality of the barrows in the neighbourhood of Winchester, in consequence
of the former populousness of the country, and the cultivation of most of the downs,
have been disturbed, at one time or other, as the writer has invariably discovered to be
the case; but their general resemblance to, and similar construction with, those which he
has seen opened on the neighbouring coast of Dorsetshire, where such remains of men
and beasts, with ashes, coarse unbaked urns, &c. were found, leave no doubt of then-
having once, at least, contained the memorials in question.
|| A great number of these huge stones, of the same kind with those that form Stone-
henge, (though most of them are much mutilated and diminished,) are still, after the
lapse of nearly 2000 years since the extinction of Druidism, to be seen in various parts
of the city; especially near Hyde-abbey; in Upper Brook-street; at the water edge,
behind Durngate-mill ; at the Close-gate ; under the east pier of King's-gatej (being the
foundation stone) ; in King's-gate-street, &c. Others, of a still larger size, are to be
found in the neighbourhood of the city, particularly in the rich valley of Twyford;
which, prior to the arts of cultivation, must have been covered with a thick and lofty
forest, highly favourable to Druidical rites. It is to be observed, that stones of this
kind and size are not found, in their natural state, nearer our city than Bagshot-heath,
the plains of Wiltshire, the Isle of Wight, or the coast opposite to it ; in short, not
nearer to it than from twenty to thirty miles : of course, the labour that it must have
cost to convey them so far by land carriage, and through bad roads, proves that they
were brought thither for some very important purpose. Now it is certain that they are
equally unfit for carving and for building ; accordingly we generally find them lying use
less on the road side, or employed by way of fences at the corner of streets. It remains,
then, for us to say, that they were collected by the ancient Britons, in our city, for the
same religious purposes for which the same kind of stones were brought to Stonehenge
and to Abury. One of the stones at Twyford, by the road side, has a mortice, appa
rently in the exact direction of the centre of gravity, and seems to have been the impost

8 SUBDUED BY THE BELGAE
B- c- The first event in the history of this city, which we can trace
^^ by the hght of certain and authentic records, was of the greatest
importance and magnitude; being no less than a total change of
its government and inhabitants, by means of a foreign invasion.
The authors of this were the Belgas, originally a German nation,*
who, passing the Rhine several ages before the period in question,
had conquered and seized upon a third part of Gaul ;t where they
ever maintained the character of being the bravest of all the neigh
bouring nations. J Not content with their conquests on the con
tinent, and being incited by the hopes of plunder, a part of them
crossed over the narrow sea which separated their coast from that
of Britain ; expelled the original Britons from the whole extent of
the maritime counties, from Kent as far as Cornwall ; and kept pos
session of them. || They consisted of different clans, which were
distinguished in this Island, as they had been upon the continent,
by their respective names. But that clan which appears to have
been the most considerable amongst them, and which, by its sub
sequent victories^ proved itself to be the most vahant, retained, by
^ay of pre-eminence, the national name of Belgae, without any
addition. This tribe seated itself in thte central province of Hamp
shire; and, extirpating or expelling the former inhabitants, esta
blished the chief seat of government at Caer Gwent, which hence
forward, during many ages, in addition to its own name, bore also
that of its Belgic rulers. § It is not easy to ascertain at what time
of a Logan ; a second, which lies on the ground near Hyde-abbey, and measures about.
eleven feet in length, seems to have been the upright of a Tolmen ; whilst a flat stone
close to the blacksmith's shop in Upper Brook-street, which measures five feet in its
greatest length, two and a half in breadth, and one foot and a half in thickness, was
evidently a Cromlech, or altar stone, in which a small cavity seems to have been wrought
near the middle, in order to retain a certain quantity of blood, for sprinkling round
the altar, according to the Druidical usage. Two of the three pedestals, on which this
altar rested, are seen worked into the foundation of the opposite wall. Another, much
larger stone than the above mentioned, which stood in this neighbourhood, and seemed
to have belonged to the same Druidical monument, was used as the foundation stone of
the present hospital, (a)
* " Reperiebant Belgas ortos esse a Germanis, Rhenumque antiquitus transductos ibi
confedisse. — Caes. 1. n.
t Caes. 1. n.
t " Horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae." — Ib. 1. i.
I| " Maritima pars Britanniae ab iis incolitur qui predae, et belli inferendi causa ex
Belgio transierant, et bello illato, ibi remanserunt." — Caes. 1. v.
§ They themselves, probably, called it Gwent Bolg. The Roman writers softened this
name (as it was their custom to do with respect to all barbarous names)' into Venta Bel-
garum ; pronouncing, however, the letter v open, in consequence of which it had the
same sound as our w, and the ov of the Greek geographer Ptolemy ; who, as we have
(u) The large Stones, which Mr. M. supposes to be relics of Druidical worship, are
scattered over the whole country, especially near the shores opposite to the Isle of Wight,
in great quantities, many of which are worked into buildings; and others lie between high
and low water mark, where they were certainly not placed for any religious purposes. By
what means they were so scattered, might be a subject of curious inquiry to a naturalist.
— Sturges's Reflections on Popery. Postscript, 2d. Ed.

CONDITION UNDER THAT PEOPLE. »
this revolution took place. It had certainly been effected a whole B- c-
century before the Christian sera;* nearly about the period at
which Divitacus, the Belgic king of Soissons, is celebrated for hav
ing extended his sway over a considerable part of Britain, as well
as of Gaul.t
The change of inhabitants was, unquestionably, an improvement
to Caer Gwent ; for the Belgic Britons were several degrees more
refined than the Celtic Britons. They did not entirely subsist,
like the latter, upon milk and flesh ; for they practised agriculture,
and raised corn, J making both bread and beer;|| their milk, also,
they learned to work into cheese ;§ and instead of the raw hides
of their predecessors, they seem to have worn manufactured cloth
ing.^! The single circumstance of their applying to agriculture,
instead of the chase, (which indeed it was not safe for them to
follow to any great distance in the neighbourhood of enemies,) by
confining them more at home, must have greatly contributed to
the improvement of their dwellings. But what chiefly served to
raise the inhabitants of this city and neighbourhood above the
native barbarity of the ancient Britons, was their intercourse and
traffic with foreigners ; of which, on account of the conveniency of
their harbours, and other advantages, they probably enjoyed, at
the period we are speaking of, the greatest share, next to their
brethren in Kent.**
This progress of our city towards civilisation, which it was ne
cessary to point out, (in consequence of what we learn from that
illustrious author, who • wrote from occular testimony,) must not,
however, be overrated. The inhabitants were still barbarians; adopt
ing the strange custom of their predecessors, in marking their
bodies all over with blue figures, by way of ornament; and, of course,
throwing off their clothes in battle, and on other occasions, in order
seen, writes our Venta Ovevra. — See Antoninus's Itinerarium, It. Brit, ad finem. ; also
Ricard. Corin. It. xv., and Whitaker. The ancient anonymous geographer of Ravenna
calls it Venta Velgarum.
* Camden. The learned Whitaker is of opinion, that this conquest of the sea coast
by the Belgae, took place two centuries and a half earlier than this period. — Hist, of
Manchester, b. xn.
t " Apud eos (Suessones) fuisse regem nostril memorial Divitiacum totius Galliae po-
tentissimum, qui magnae partis, hujus regionis, turn etiam Britanniae imperium obtinuit."
— Caes. 1. ii.
t " Belgae Agros colere coeperunt." — lb. 1. v. " Interiores plerique frumenta non
serunt." — Ib.
|| See Whitaker and the authorities quoted by him. — Hist, of Manchester, c. vn., and
Appendix, No. i.
§ Strabo.
If " Interiores pellibus sunt vestiti."— Caes. 1. v.
** " Neque iis (mercatoribus) quidquam praeter oram maritimam atque eas regiones
quae contra Galliam sunt notum est. — "Caes. 1. iv. " Longe humanissimi qui Cantium
incolunt quae regio est maritima omnis."— Ib. 1. v.

10 CONDITION UNDER THAT PEOPLE.
B- c- to display them.* They were also addicted to the horrid rites of
Druidism ;t whilst the cities of the Belgae, in general, were so little
improved in their appearance, or manner of fortification, as not to
be distinguished by the Roman general from the entrenched woods
and huts of the savages in the interior country. J
* " Omnes Britanni vitro se inficiunt." — Caes. 1. v.
t This religion, no less than the custom of staining their bodies, the Belgae, who
were a German tribe, had borrowed from the conquered Britons. " Germani neque
Druidas habent neque sacrificiis student." — Caes. 1. vi.
t " Oppidum Britanni vocant," &c. — Ut supra, p. 5.

CESAR INVADES BRITAIN. 11

CHAP. II.
Ctesar's Invasion. — Conduct of the Belgee on this Coast. — Monument
of Cmsar found near this City. — Condition of the City after his
Return. — Conquest of Winchester by the Generals of Claudius. —
Fortified and Garrisoned by the Romans. — Civilization of its In
habitants. — Placed under the Jurisdiction of Cogidubnus. — The
different Names and Adventures of this celebrated Personage.
The union of the British Belgae under one government, does not b. c.
appear to have lasted longer than the reign of Divitiacus. Soon ,_,— '
after his time, we. find them split into a variety of petty states,
four of which subsisted in the single county of Kent, each having
its respective chieftain or king, as he was called.* The conse
quence of this disunion was that, upon the eastern frontier, where
the Belgas appear to have been most divided, they were unable to
cope with the ancient Britons; one of whose kings, who ruled
over the Cash of Hertfordshire and part of Buckinghamshire, was
enabled, about the time we are speaking oi, to conquer and put to
death Imanuentius, king of the Belgic Trinobantes, and to take
possession of London, his chief city.t Our Belgae of the West,
if we may judge by their subsequent successes against the common
enemy, were more united.
But a time was now come, when a sense of their common dan- 55.
ger rendered it necessary for the inhabitants of this Island, in
general, to forget their ancient enmities and separate interests, and
to form one grand confederacy for mutual defence. J For they
* " Quibus regionibus (Cantio) iv reges praeerant. — Caes. 1. v.
t " Imanuentius in ea civitate (Trinobantum) regnum obtinuerat, interfectusque erat
a Cassivellauno." — Caes. 1. v.
t " Consilio ejus (Caesaris) cognito, et per mercatores perlato ad Britannos."— Ib. I. 1 v.

12 CASSIVELLAUNUS CHOSEN GENERAL.
B- c- learnt from the merchants, who traded between their coasts and
^L the opposite coasts of the continent, that the great Roman general,
who had subdued all Gaul, from the Alps to the British Channel,
was preparing to cross the latter with his invincible legions, in
order to bring their country under the same yoke. The different
tribes, accordingly, united together, and having chosen for their
generalissimo, Cassivellaunus,* a prince, whose repututation for
military talents seems to have been the highest amongst them ; the
people of the maritime provinces shewed themselves no less obedient
to his orders, than were those of the interior, or his own immediate
subjects.t If it be asked, why no mention is made of our Ven-
tenses, or of any other part of the Belgic people immediately sub
ject to this city, in either of the famous expeditions which the great
Julius made into this Island ; the answer is at hand, and reflects a
lustre upon their character. Not knowing on which part of the
coast each of the threatened invasions was to take place ; they, no
less than the people of Kent, were employed in watching and
guarding that which skirted their own province. Afterwards, when
Caesar had, with his usual celerity, routed the armies immediately op
posed to him ;% when the confederacy was dissolved; and when the
different tribes from Norfolk, || from Oxfordshire, § from Berkshire,!!
from Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire,** from Middlesex,tt and
even from the neighbouring city of Silchester,JJ pressed forward, by
their several ambassadors, to make their submission to the conque
ror, and to court his protection; the inhabitants of Caer Gwent
were not forward to bend their necks to the yoke ; and, by this
conduct, avoided the disgrace which was incurred by so many of
the neighbouring cities and people. ||||
* Otherwise called Cassi-Belinus . — See Camden's Buckinghamshire, &c.
t This appears in the bold attack made upon the Roman camp and shipping by the
chieftains of Kent, in conformity with the orders of Cassivellaunus, when his capital, Ve-
rulam was besieged by Caesar. — De Bell. Gall. 1. v.
t The British writers boast of prodigies of valour performed by their countrymen
against the person and army of Caesar ; particularly by the chieftain called Nennius, who
is said to have seized upon the sword of the Roman general, and with it to have killed
Labienus, (id est Laberius Durus.) — See Caes. 1. v. In confirmation of this account,
they quote the verse of the Roman poet : — " Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis."
— Lucan. It is certain they defended themselves with much valour, and with more success,
than Caesar is willing to acknowledge .
|| Cenimagni, orlceni, called by Ptolemy Simeni.
§ Ancilites, viz. in the north east parts of the said county.
«f Bibroci, the south parts of Berkshire, whose capital was Bray, near Windsor.
** The Casii, or Cattieuchlani.
tt The Trinobantes. tt See Segontiaci.
|||| Notwithstanding the silence of Caesar concerning any incursion made by the Ro
mans, in either of his expeditions, so far to the west as our city ; yet the following dis
covery renders it probable, that a part of his army, at least, had been in our neighbour
hood ; and had even met with a defeat there, and been obliged to bury their ensigns, to
prevent their falling into the hands of the Britons. Perhaps this was the case with that
part of the cavalry, which was embarked, in the first expedition, on board of eighteen

THE BELGiE INCREASE THEIR TERRITORY. 13
In the end, Caesar returned to the continent, more vain of him- B> c-
54.
self, and more extolled by his countrymen, for having discovered a ^-i
part of Britain, which was then considered as a new world,* than
for having subdued the Avhole extent of Gaul.t From this period,
which was the 54th year before the birth of Christ, during the
space of nearly a century, the Britons were free from any foreign
invasion. It is true, they were, threatened with an invasion, on one
pretence or other, by each of the three succeeding emperors,
Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula; the latter of whom actually led A. D.
an army as far as the opposite shore of the British ChannelJ for
that purpose. They were, however, left quiet during all this time,
on the sole condition of their paying a small tribute, which was
rather calculated to gratify the pride, than the avarice, of the
haughty Romans. ||
During this period, it is natural to suppose that, our Venta was,
greatly aggrandized, in consequence of the success, both in arms
and commerce, of that people, whose acknowledged capital it was :
for our proper Belgae, whom, with aU their kindred tribes, Cassar
represents as confined to the southern shores of the Island ;§ the
geographer, Ptolemy, describes, two centuries afterwards, as being
possessed of the whole country to the south of the Dobuni of
Gloucestershire ; that is to say, the whole or the greater part of
the country between the Severn and the British Channel, with the
cities of Bath and Ilchester.^ This increase of territory could not
have been obtained without signal conquests gained over the Celtic
Britons ; and the interval between the first and the second Ro-
transports ; and which, being driven by stress of weather to the westward, would natu
rally endeavour to land, and to form a junction with the Roman forces in Kent. Be that
as it may ; about fifty-six years ago, some labourers, digging for sand, near the entrance
of Otterburn, which is^a village four miles distant from Winchester, found, at the depth
of twelve feet, a plate of white mixed metal, (such as those which were fixed to the
eagles, or other ensigns of the Roman generals,) with the head and inscription of Julius
Caesar upon it, in as high preservation as if it had but just been stamped. This circum
stance, together with the depth and nature of the soil, creates a suspicion that it had
been purposely buried. The medal has been in the possession of one of the labourers, (still
living in the village) from the time of the discovery, un>il within these three months,
when it fell into the hands of an ingenious medical gentleman of this city.
* "Et penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos." — Virg. Eclog. i.
t " Ob hoc quod Britanniam bello petivissit, et ipse sibi (Caesar) vehementer place-
bat, et qui Romae erant mirifice praedicabant. Nam cum'viderunt quae priusignota fue-
rant, in lucem prolata, et quae ante, ne fando quidem, erant audita, jam sibi patefacta ;
spem ex his couseeuturam velut re exhibitam amplectebantur, atque ob has res suppli-
cationes in vigesimum diem decreverunt." — Dio. 1. xxxix. ex vers.
X Whence he ridiculously sent cockle shells to the Roman Senate, as a proof of his pre
tended victory over the ocean. — Suet, in Calig.
|| Strabo.
§ See note 4, p. 8. *
1 "Toif Ss AoGnvois witweivrau BeXyai, kou iroteig Ic^xXtc, TSarx
®epwa., 'Ouavra."— Ptl. 1. viii. c in. Hence Camden and other modern geographers
attribute Somersetshire and Wiltshire, no less than Hampshire, to the Belgae.

14 ' GUIDERIUS AND ARVIRAGUS.
A- D- man invasion, was the only period in which it was possible for
<-v~' our Belgse to achieve such conquests. But what must have
contributed most to raise the importance of the city, and, at the
same time, to enrich and civilise its inhabitants, was the establish
ment of the chief foreign mart, for the staple commodity of tin, in
the Isle of Wight,* which was in their neighbourhood, and subject
to them. It appears to have been, at. that time, accessible from the
land at low water, as the tin was conveyed thither in carts.t This
mart, which must have been held at Cowes, was estabhshed as
early as the reign of Augustus.! The duties upon commerce
were probably the only means of paying the tribute exacted by the
Romans. Accordingly, we find they were collected at this very'
mart; || which fact seems to imply, that the Romans had a cus
tom house, with proper officers there, for receiving the duties ; and
their intercourse with our metropolis of Venta, must have served
to introduce a considerable portion of the manners and improve
ments of the civilised world.
43. At length the time arrived when this civihsation became com
plete, but not without the severe disciphne of defeat and subjec
tion. It is plain that the Island, at the time of which we are
speaking, consisted of separate states, and was subject to a great
number of chieftains; still, however, it appears, that since the
erection of a kind of limited monarchy,§ in the person of Cassi
vellaunus, previous to Cassar's second expedition, his successors had
enjoyed the same authority in regular order. The king just named,
is said, by the British historians,^" to have been succeeded by his
nephew, Tenancius, the son of Lud ; whose successor, Cunobelhn,
or Cymbelline, is mentioned, not only by them, but also by the
Roman historians.** Both classes of writers also agree, that this
king left sons,tt the joint inheritors of his kingdom, whom the
British records call Guiderius and Arviragus, but the Roman
* Diodorus Siculus and Rubd. Infra. — See also Whitaker's observations, Hist, of Man
chester, c. XI.
t See the writers last quoted.
t Diodorus wrote in the reign of Augustus.
|| " Legi in quadam Chronic^ vetustissima^, quod Insula Vecta dicebatur, quia tempore
Britdnum Vectigalia regia, tributa Romanorum in Insula illft numerabantur et solvebantur,
et etiam in Insula H1& quasi stapulil totius mercandiae regni Britanniae." — Rudb. Hist.
Major. 1. 2. c. I. Whilst we reject the etymology here laid down, we cannot deny the
facts on which it is founded, drawn from such ancient records.
§ To this succession Tacitus seems to allude where he says, " Olim regibus parebant,
nunc per principes factionibus et studiis trahunter." — Annal. 1. xii.
1f Galfrid,— Mat. West.— Diceto. — Ranulph, &c.
** Suet, in Calig. ^
tt There was also"n elder son, Adminius, whom Cymbelline was forced to pardon, in
consequence of the threats of the Emperor Caligula; to whom Adminius fled for protec
tion, after having taken up arms against his father. It was not likely, however, that, after
such behaviour, he was permitted to share in the inheritance of his father's dominions.

DEFEATED BY PLAUTIUS, AND GUIDERIUS SLAIN. 15
writers, Togodumnus and Caractacus.* Whatever were their true A- D-
names, it is certain they were both princes of high spirit, great ^1
military talents, and of unbounded authority among their country
men. The former, however, possessed the chief command ; with
which, being elated, he disdained to pay the accustomed tribute to
the emperor,t who was then Claudius ; and even refused to give
up the Roman criminals who had taken refuge in his dominions.!
These affronts, being aggravated by the malice of Bericus, a sediti
ous chieftain, who had been banished by Guiderius, || Claudius, at
length, resolved upon undertaking the often projected conquest of
this Island.
It is natural to suppose, that Guiderius and his brother Arvira-
gus, in setting the Roman power at defiance, made the best prepa
ration they were capable of for resisting it; one part of which
consisted in fortifying their cities; and hence we may conclude,
that our city of Venta was not neglected on the occasion. § The
time, however, would not have permitted them to raise stone walls
round this,^[ and their other cities, had this mode of fortification
been then adopted amongst the Britons, which does not seem to
, have been the case. Claudius first sent Aulus Plautius as his
general upon this expedition, with a suitable army, who met with
great success, defeating Arviragus in one engagement,** and killing
Guiderius in another.tt It is highly probable that the scene of these
first actions was, where the British historians place them, in our neigh
bourhood. J % Hence Plautius pursued his successes through the
country of the Belgae, as far as the Severn, where he subdued the
* With respect to the proper names of British men and places, and, indeed, with respect
to most other circumstances relating to their history, where national vanity could take no
hold, greater credit at this period becomes due to the British than to the Latin and Greek
historians. t Mat. Wast, ad Ann. Dom. 44. t Suet, in Claud. || Dio,
§ This, however, is merely founded on probability. No ancient author makes mention
of Winchester, in particular, on this occasion ; much less is there any authority for
describing its walls, trenches, and battlements ; of which we read in the Description of the
City, &c. p. 2. — History of Winchester, vol. II. p. 4. — City Tables, &c.
1f Ibid. ** Dio. 1. lx.
ff Idem, and Mat.West. &c. The last mentioned author, however, makes Claudius him
self present on this occasion; and places the scene of action, in which Guiderius fell, between
this city and Southampton ; the name of which place he absurdly derives from one Hamon,
a Roman General, who, he says, was then killed near it. In the end, he represents the
Emperor Claudius as forced, by the surviving brother, to seek for refuge within the walls of
our city. — " At Arviragus hostiliter insequitur (Claudium) jam Wintoniam ingressum."
Being besieged here, we are told, he gave up his pretended daughter Gewissa and quiet
possession of the island (but so as to hold the same of him) to the besieger. Thus far the
History of Winchester, p. 4, 5, is supported, in its accounts, by records, though disfigured
and unfaithful ; but for all the other circumstances which it mentions, concerning dogs,
camels, &c. there is not a shadow of any authority or probability whatsoever.
tt This route, which supposes the Romans to have landed at Porchester, as Mat.West.
relates, is much more probable than that traced by the imagination of Carte, who makes
them land on one side of the Thames, only to return to it on the other. — p. 100.

16 CLAUDIUS VISITS BRITAIN.
A D. Dobuni of Gloucestershire.* From thence he bent his march,
^1 through the midland country of the Cassi, into that of the Trino-
bantes, with a view of making himself master of Camoludunum.t
In the meantime, the charge of completing the conquest of our
Belgae was committed to Vespasian, then an officer of no great
rankf in the army, but who here laid the foundation of his future
greatness. As a proof of the obstinacy with which his enemies
defended themselves, it is recorded, that, in the course of this war
with the two brave tribes, the Belgae and the Dobuni,|| whom in
the end he subdued, together with the Isle of Wight, he was
obhged to fight thirty battles, and .to besiege and take twenty
towns. §
Whilst these things were carrying on, Plautius sends to Rome
for Claudius himself to hasten into the Island ; but whether this was
done for the purpose of lending his assistance in prosecuting the
war, as some have pretended;^ or, of furnishing a pretence for those
triumphs and extravagant honours which were afterwards heaped
upon him by the Roman Senate and the different provinces, facts
will best declare. The truth is, having marched an army, furnished
in every respect with imperial magnificence, and even accompanied ,
by elephants,** to the port of Boulogn,tt Claudius was wafted into
Britain, near to the chief scene of action; where he found the
British army hemmed in by Plautius, between the tides of Black-
water and the Thames ; and, as it were, reserved for him to have the
honour of defeating. In hke manner, the important city of Ca-
melodunum, or Maldom, seemed only to wait for his orders to sur
render itself to the Roman arms.JJ The whole time of the Empe
ror's continuance in Britain was but a few days,|||| during which,
in addition to the abovementioned exploits, he received the sub
mission of those districts in the Island which were reduced to his
obedience ; and of course, that of Venta and the rest of Belgic
* Boduni. — Dio. ibid. f Idem.
t " Legatus legionis." — Suet, in Vesp. c. iv.
|| That the Belgae were one of these conquered people is plainfrom many circumstances,
particularly from that of his reducing the Isle of Wight. That the Dobuni were the other
tribe is probable, from the course of Plautius's preceding march.
§ " Tricies cum hoste conflrdt. Duas validissimas gentes, superque viginti oppida et
insulam Vectem, Britannia; proximam, in ditionem redegit, partim Auli Plauti, partim
Claudii ipsius ductu." Suet, in Vesp. c. iv.— In one of these battles Dio says, that he was
m imminent danger of being cut off by the enemy, when he was rescued by his son Titus.
Perhaps this circumstance may have given rise to the story of Claudius being besieged; the
writers ascribing the several exploits of his generals to the emperor himself.
If Dio. Carte, &c. ** Dio. tt Gassoriacum. Suet. Bede.
tt This is the only consistent story which can be collected from the two different
accouuts of Dio and Suetonius. That of the latter is as follows : " Intra paucissimos dies
sine ullo praelio aut sanguine, parte insula; in deditionem recept&, sexto quam profectus
erat mense, Romam rediit triumphavitque maximo adparatu."— Tib. Claud c xvii
IIII Suet.

OSTORIUS SCAPULA APPOINTED GENERAL. 1?
Britain. He took away their arms, but, at the same time, endeared A. D,
himself to them, by restoring their property, which had been 44-
declared confiscated.* ^^
The expedition of Claudius took place in the year of Christ
44. Upon his return home, he continued Plautius in the com
mand which he had before held in Britain; where Vespasian,
also, appears to have remained some time after the Emperor.
Plautius stayed there- five years longer ;t during which the
brave and indefatigable Arviragus, in various quarters, but chiefly,
it seems, on the banks of the Severn and the Wye, gave him
full employment. Being recalled to Rome, under the honour
able pretence of receiving a reward for his services,! a more
active successor was, in the next year, viz. in the year, 50, ap- 50.
pointed to replace him: this was P. O storms Scapula; who,
upon his arrival in the Island, found the Roman government
almost overturned, and the country of their allies (by whom we
are chiefly to understand our Belgae,) invaded and laid waste, ||
in consequence of the inroads of Arviragus and his unsubdued
Britons ; who were probably the Cangi and the Silures. Having
repulsed the enemy with great slaughter, his first care, before
he proceeded further, was to secure the Roman province, as it
was called,§ and to prevent similar calamities in future. With
this view, he disarmed such of the inhabitants as he suspected to
be favourable to the enemyn and fortified, in a regular manner, all
the Belgic cities of note, between the two great actuaries; the
Anton or Southampton river, and the Severn ,^f
* Dio, ad supra.
t Vide Fasti Regum, ab Hen. Saville, ad Calcem. Ang. Script.
t The inferior honour of ovation was decreed to him. — Dio, 1. lx. Soon after which
his wife Pomponia Graecina was discovered to be a Christian ; as is plain from the words
Tacitus, Annal. 1. xiii.
|| "In Britannia P. Ostorium turbidae res excepere, effusis in agrum sociorum hostibus."
— Tacit. Annal. 1. xii.
§ " Redecta paulatim, in formam provinciae, proxima pars Britannia." — Tacit. Agric.
, If "Detrahere arma suspectis, cinctosque castris Antonam et Sabrinam fluvios cohibere
parat." — Ibid. Few points of our national geography have been more warmly contested,
than to determine which of our rivers Tacitus here calls the Antona. Some writers, as
Camden, Carte, &c, decide for the Nen of Northamtonshire ; others for the Wye ; whilst
the learned Whitaker is confident that it is the Warwickshire Avon, which is here spoken
of. — Hist, of Manchester, c. xn. In support of the system here advanced, which, indeed,
has before been adopted by Cressy, (Ch. Hist. b. i. c. 3.) in favour of the Southampton ri
ver, it is to be observed, that this river was formerly called the Anton, as Camden himself
clearly proves, (see Hampshire) ; that these two rivers are the precise boundaries, north
and south, of the province first subdued, viz. that of the Belgae; for securing which, both
from internal and external enemies, these fortresses were certainly necessary, and were
deemed to be so by Ostorius; lastly, it-is to be observed, that the province in question is
actually surroundedby Roman fortresses, as their names imply — Silchester, Chichester, (for
merly. Regnum) Porchester, Winchester, Ilchester, and Badoncester : fortresses which there
was no opportunity of raising at an earlier period, nor any necessity of erecting at a later^
when the seat of war was transferred to the north. Ostorius and the other Roman gene-
VOL. I. B

18 THE CITY FORTIFIED.
A. D. This then is the proper period to which the regular construction
50- of our city, in a square form, which was that of the Roman camps
"^ in general, is to be ascribed;* together with the city walls, com
posed of flints and strong mortar; the substance of which, after so
many repairs and alterations, still remains.t These fortifications
were not raised except for the purpose of being defended by a gar-
rals, his successors, undoubtedly observed the policy of other conquerors in securing the
country by fortifications, progressively as they subdued it. Hence, the cities ot Hampshire,
near the Antona; which county, Camden,&c. agree was first reduced ; were fortified before
those upon the Avon and the Nen, in the Midland Counties. About the same time, but
after the fortifications on the Antona and the Sabrina were completed, the other places that
required to be secured, in the provincia prima Britannia;, were fortified, in hke manner, in
the proportion of about one in each county. To thetast, there was Andredescester, among
the Regni, in the forest of Andrida; Rochester, among the Cantii; Colchester, at the con
fines of the Trinobantes; and Werlamcester, near those of the Cassu. On the west, were
Dorchester, amongst the Durotoriges; and Exeter, amongst the Damnonu.
The learned Gibson, in controverting the arguments of his author, Camden, lays nimselt
open to severe censure, where he asserts that our county was, by ancient writers, always
called Hamtunscyre, never Hantunscyre ; and the neighbouring town Ham tun, never
Hantun,Hanton, &c, except once, by mistake, by Florence of Worcester— See addittons to
Hampshire. In confutation of these assertions it will be sufficient to adduce the following
passages from various ancient authors :— "Osricas HantunensiumComes."— Asser. Annal.
Ad. An. dccclx. " Omnes accolae Hantunensis Pagi."— Id. Ad. An. dccclxxiii. " Por-
tus Hamonis, qui nunc Hantonia vocatur."— Ben. Claudioces, in Angl. Sac. vol. II. p. 150.
"Hantunescryre:'—Hen. Huntingdon, p. 350, Ed.Sav. "Hantescyre."— Ann Wint. Ad.
An. 1216. "Hantescire and Hentescrie." — Doomsday passim. " Hantuna." — Simeon Du-
nelm. ante p. i. Ed. Twys.— See also Higden, ib. p. 224, Diceto, &c. Also, the title of the
old romance Beuves de Hanton.
From these authorities, it follows: 1st.— That the translator of Camden is not warranted in
finding fault with his author, for saying that Hantescyre was the original name of the
county, and Hanton that of our neigbouring town. 2dly.— That the arguments of this great
man, drawn from Ptolemy, Antoninus, Bede, and from the existing names of several places,
on the river in question, in proof that the appellations™ Hantescyre, now Hampshire, and
of Hanton, now Southampton, are both derived from the Antona, (as the names of Wilt
shire and Wilton are confessedly derived from the river Willy), receive additional weight.
By this Antona we are either to understand the whole course of the Test; or, perhaps, only
the mouth of it, which we now call the Southampton River. 3dly. — That the supposition
made above, concerning the river being the Antona of Tacitus, is highly probable.
From what has been said, the reader will discover how gross an error it would be to
suppose that, when we speak of the County of Southampton, we refer to that county in
which a certain town of the same name is situated. The fact is, one is the Shire of the
river Anton, now pronounced Hampton (by contraction Hampshire) the capital of
which was ever Winchester ; the other is the town, or rather the port of the river Anton
or Hampton ; by Antoninus and Bede called Entum in Clausentum, and Solente. It has
been only since the Conquest, that the discriminating word South has been added to the
names of the town and county, in order to distinguish them from another town and
county; which were then found to have the same name; and which, from their relative
situation, were called the town and county of Northampton.
* See various plans of them in General Le Roy's Military Antiquities of Britain. — Fol.
Sumptibus Soc. Antiq. The corners, however, were mostly rounded off; such was also
the form of our city walls, as may be seen at the north comer, the only one which has
not been altered.
t It does not appear that the Britons, before their reduction, ever abandoned the form
of their towns, which, like those of most barbarous nations, were certainly round, as
Strabo ('vide p. 6.) has assured us ; or the materials of their fortifications, which were
mounds of earth and the trunks of trees. Indeed the very name of Chester, derived
from Castrum, which still remains annexed to that of our city, is admitted to be a suffi
cient proof of its having been fortified by the Romans, and after their manner. Now, as
we have said, they had no opportunity sooner, nor any necessity later, of effecting this.
On the other hand, the opinion that the substance of a considerable part of our city walls
is of the period here assigned to them, "will receive great support from comparing them
with the still existing walls of Silchester ; which city we know was utterly destroyed soon
after the Romans abandoned our Island.

ROMAN ROADS. 19
rison. Hence there can be no doubt that some Roman legion,* a. d.
or some cohorts, were then stationed in this city, though afterwards 50-
removed farther north, when the necessity of continuing them here
ceased.t These troops, according to their usual custom, had their
Castrum ^Estivum, or summer encampment, in the neighbourhood,
as weU as their winter quarters in the city itself. We accordingly
find the vestiges of this encampment in the situation where we
should naturally look for them, namely, on that singular penin-
sulated hill, within a mile of the city, called Catherine Hill ; which
communicates with the Roman road between Porchester and Win
chester, on one side ; and with the river, which washes its foot, on the
other. On the top of this hill we discern the dimensions and form
of the Castrum, in the bold entrenchment which still surrounds it,
and which approaches to the Roman quadrangular shape, as nearly
as the figure of the hill will permit. J
Wherever the Romans carried their conquests, they constantly
opened a communication between city and city, by means of those .
firm and straight roads, which still remain in so many parts to attest
their genius and magnificence. In forming these, they employed
their own soldiery, to inure them to toil and hardship, and ; also, the
inhabitants of the country ; as such extensive works could not have
been executed without their assistance. ||
* Trussell asserts, upon the credit of Voleterranus, but of no authority more ancient
than his, that the legio xx was stationed at our Venta. — MSS. Certain it is, that this legion
was stationed in Britain about this time. — Tacit. Antoninus places it ad Devam, on the
river Dee ; but this was at a later period.
t This accounts for no military force being assigned to our city in the Notitia, which
was written so late as the reign of Honorius.
t See Gibson's Additions to Hampshire.
|| Galgacus mentions the manual labour imposed on the conquered Britons,' by the Ro
mans, as a singular act of their tyranny : " Corpora ipsa ac manus_ silvis ac paludibus
emuniendis, verbera inter ac contumelias, conterunt." — Tacit. Vit. Agric
It will probably gratify the reader to present him with a short account of the chief
roads leading from this city, in various directions, in the time of the Romans ; extracted
from the Itinerarium of Antoninus. — Ed. Gale, elucidated by that of Ric. Corinensis, pub
lished by Whitaker, Hist, of Manchester, vol. II.
From Winchester to Southampton, &c. :
Ad Portum Magnum, Porchester ... x

A Venta Belgarum ad Lapidem, Stone-
ham, mille passus, (miles)  vi
Inde ad Clausentum, Southampton . . iv
From Winchester to Exeter

Ad Regnum, Chichester  x

A Venta Belgarum ad Brigem, the vil
lage of Broughton, m. p  Xl
Ad Sorinodunum, alias Sorbiodunum,
Old Sarum  ix

Ad Vindocladiam, Wimborn .... xn
Ad Durnonovarium, Dorchester . . ix
Ad Moridunum, Seaton  xxxvi
Ad Iscam Dumnuniorum, Exeter . xv

From Winchester to London :

Ad Bibractem, Bray  . . . xx
Ad Londinium, London M, . .jf*i. . . xx

A Venta Belgarum ad Vindonum, Sil-
chester, m. p  xxi
Ad Callevam, Wattingford  xv
The last road is laid down according to Corinensis. Antoninus indeed shortens it, but,
by an egregious error, makes the first stage Calleva, only xxn miles from Winchester.

20 CIVILIZATION INTRODUCED.
A. d. We have still traces and remains of the roads, made about this
50- time, which lead from our Venta to most of the considerable ancient
"^ towns in the neighbourhood; particularly those which, with almost
mathematical precision, conduct to Vindonum, or Silchester ; and
Sorbiodunum, or Old Sarum*
To induce the people to inhabit a city in the power of their con
querors, it was necessary to bring them off from the habits of that
rude hfe to which they had been accustomed, and to introduce the
arts of civilization in their placet Accordingly those measures
appear to have been now practised in this first province of Britain,
which we afterwards find the conquerors pursuing throughout the
whole Island, when it fell under their power.J
A taste for well-built and magnificent market-places, temples,
houses, and porticos ; as, hkewise, for baths and entertainments, was
carefully infused into the inhabitants': || they were encouraged, not
only to adopt the manners and dress of their conquerors,§ but also
to apply themselves to hterature and the liberal arts,! under an
idea that their genius was far better turned for these, than was that
of their neighbours in Gaul ;** so that men, who before disdained
to learn the Roman language, now contended for the palm of its
eloquence.tt Those who excelled in these pursuits, were applauded
and rewarded ; whilst those who neglected them, met with every
kind of discouragement. J J
Amongst the measures for humanizing our Belgic Britons, the
most important and effectual were those which regarded rehgion.
Augustus had caused a law to be enacted, which prohibited Ro
man citizens from practising any of the dire rites of the Druidical
rehgion. || j| Tiberius extended this prohibition to Gaul;§§ where
these rites, no less than in Britain, formed the rehgion of the coun-
without mentioning the intermediate stage of Vindonum ; the next stage is Pontes, or
Colnbrook ; which he places at an equal distance from WaUingford and London, or xxii
miles each way.
1st. — We observe that the miles here made use of are longer than our present miles;
though the Roman miles, in general, are shorter. 2ndly. — That there are some errors in
laying down the respective distances of places ; and, that, however excellent and straightthe
Roman roads were, from town to town ; yet, for want of a sufficient number of them, as,
likewise, from the irregular manner in which the country was inhabited, travelling to any
great distance was then very circuitous.
* This is seen a little beyond the turnpike gate of the Romsey road, stretching to the
right, over the downs and through Farley woods, in a straight line, until it is lost in the low
grounds about Brashfield. But it is again found upon the downs, beyond the intermediate
station of Broughton; and is plainly visible from thence all the way to the very trenches of
Old Sarum. t Tacit. Agric. + Ibid.
|| " Hortari privatim, adjuvare publice ut templa, fora, domusextruerent." — Tacit. Agric.
§ " Habitus nostri honos et frequens toga." — Tacit. Agile. fl Ibid.
** " Ingenia Britannorum studiis Gallorum anteferre." — Ibid. tt Ibid.
U Ibid. _ %
IIII "Druidarum religionem civibus sub Augusta interdictam." — Suet, in Claud.
§§ "Tiberii principatus sustulit Druidas Gallorum." — Pliny.

DRUIDICAL RITES ABOLISHED. 21
try. But it seems to have been reserved to Claudius to enforce A. D.
the observance of this law.* Accordingly, the Druids, whose prin- ^\
cipal seat seems, by the remains which they have left, to have been
originally in the country of our Belgae, were reluctantly forced to
abandon their dreadful altars in Venta, their mysterious circles at
Abury, and their stupendous temple at Stonehenge ; and to retreat
to Anglesea, and other remote situations, amongst their unsubdued
countrymen, in order to practise their horrid ceremonies with im-
punity.t In their place the Romans introduced their own more
humane and civilized priests, called Flamines ; not so much to bring
about a change of rehgion as of manners, by their means, amongst
the inhabitants : and, as it was foreseen that a great number of
these men would be wanted for the same pohcy, in other parts of
the Island, when they should be reduced, as well as a succes
sion of them for after times, a seminary of their order was now
founded, which was estabhshed in our metropolis of the Belgae. J
We gather, from a passage above cited, || that various temples were,
at this time, erected for the practice of the new rehgion : two of
these are particularly named, and both of them stood in the neigh
bourhood of the cathedral; namely, the Old Temple of Concord,
and the New Temple of Apollo. §
We have seen that the funerals of the Britons were no less in
human than their sacrifices. These cruel rites were now sup
pressed ; and instead of burying the ashes of their dead under
barrows, on the open downs, inclosed in coarse pots of clay, which
had been hardened in the sun ; they consumed the bodies, of per
sons of distinction at least, in funeral piles, just without the city ;
and collecting their ashes in urns of fine black pottery, and of an
elegant shape, buried them in rows, near the place where they had
been burnt. In fact such urns have been discovered, within these
few years, just without the city walls, both to the east and to the
north ; as will be mentioned in our Survey of the city.
Next to the abolition of the Druidical sacrifices and funerals, the
greatest benefit conferred upon the inhabitants of our city by the
Romans, in exchange for their independence, was the revival of
their trade and commerce, which had been interrupted by the am
bition of Guiderius, and must have been considerable, from its
* "Druidarum religionem diras immanitatis apud Gallos penitus abolevit."— (Claudius)
— Suet, ut supra.
t Tacit. Agric. de Insul. Mona. . ,
t " Principalis sedes Flaminum erat in Urbe Wentana, quae lingua Bntanmca nomi
nate est Kaer Gwent. — Rudb. Hist. Major Wint. c. n.
|| See note ||, p. 20.
§ Rudb. Hist. Major Wint. c. vi.

22 MANUFACTORY ESTABLISHED IN THE CITY.
A. D. neighbourhood to the great mart of Cowes.* We must add to this
50- the estabhshment in it of a manufactory^ adapted to its local
^ situation and natural products ;J and which appears to have been
under the particular protection of the emperor. || It is not pre
tended, that these several measures of civihzation and improvement
were introduced, and all carried to perfection at the period in ques^
tion, namely, in the beginning of the reign of Claudius ; but they
were then set on foot, and carried on, as circumstances proved
favourable, with progressive advancement, during the three en
suing centuries.
We left the Roman general Ostorius pursuing his conquests.
The fortifications which he had erected in the west, arguing a re
gular plan of retaining his conquests in the Island, and not barely
of punishing certain offenders, alarmed the inhabitants of the
eastern country,§ who had hitherto professed themselves the allies
of the Romans.^" They accordingly took up arms against him,
but were defeated with great slaughter. It seems, however, to
have been the pohcy of this commander, first to place his western
conquests in a state of perfect security, before he attempted to
bring the powerful nation alluded to, under his yoke. He accord
ingly granted them favourable terms ;** and hastened to subdue the
Cangi, on the confines of Devonshire and Somersetshire, who ap
pear to have still harrassed our Belgae, and to have been the only
obstacle to the submission of the people, who possessed the western
country as far as the Land's End. He, therefore, entirely broke
their power, carrying on a war of extermination against them, to
the very sea which bounded their territory .tt This being effected,-
and a small party of the Brigantes, who had entered into the con
spiracy of his enemies against him, being routed with great slaugh
ter, he was at hberty to bend his whole force against Arviragus or
/Caractacus, who was the soul of all these movements, and, indeed,
* Vide sup. p. 13. The chief articles of their exportation, besides tin and lead, were
bridle-bits, made of ivory, or rather of bone ; collars pearls, amber, glass, slaves, and
dogs. — Diod. Sic, Strabo. The principal article which they imported was brass. — Caes.
To this must be added all the articles of conveniency or luxury, necessary for the refine
ment which they had adopted.
t Camden observes, from the Notitia, by the help- of Pancirollus, its editor, that there
was a Cynegium, or rather Gyntecium Bentense, or Venteme, which means a workshop
' for weaving ; an art that, at the time in question, was the exclusive province of women.
t We cannot doubt that the cloths made in this city were woollen; not linen, as Cam
den seems to suppose : the country round about supplying the raw materials of the former
in the greatest abundance, and of the finest sort; whereas it is not likely that any flax was
either raised or imported here at this early period.
|| This appears from the circumstance of the procurator of the manufactory being an
officer appointed by the emperor.
§ The Iceni of Norfolk, Suffolk, Huntingdonshire, &c. — Tacit. Ann. 1. xn. If Ibid.
** This follows from the tenor of the testament of Prasutagus. — Ibid.
tt This appears to have been the Bay of Barnstaple.— Tacit. Ann. 1. xn.

ACCOUNT OF ARVIRAGUS OR CARACTACUS.

23

the most powerful, as well as the most warlike prince in Britain ; a. d.
now that he had succeeded to his brother Guiderius, in the title of 50-
Togidubnus,* and in the office of generahssimo of all his inde
pendent countrymen. The seat of war, for a considerable time,
* As this system, which makes the Caractacus of Dio, the Cogidunus of Tacitus, and
the Arviragus of Geoffry, Mat. West, &c, to be one and the same person, may appear
new to many readers, though insinuated by the learned Cressy, (Eccles. Hist„l. i. c. in.) ;
it seems not improper to state, in a succinct manner, the grounds on which it is founded,
by producing certain parallel circumstances from the Roman and the British Historians.

According to the Roman Historians.
1st. — Cunobelinus, king of the Britons,
left two sons, Togodumnus and Caractacus,
who, upon the invasion of their country by
the Romans, in the time of the Emperor
Claudius, commanded armies, and fought
clivers battles with them ; in one of which
Togodumnus was slain. — Dio, Sueton.

According to the British Historians.
1st. — Cymbeline, king of Britain, dying
in the year of the Christian aera 23, left two
,sons, Guiderius and Arviragus ; the former
of whom, succeeding to the authority of
his father, refused to pay to the Emperor
Claudius the accustomary tribute. A war
breaking out in consequence of this, Guide
rius was at first victorious, but, in a subse
quent engagement, was killed by the
treachery of aRoman general. — Geof., Mat.
West., Ranulph.
N.B. — It seems to be agreed, at present, amongst the learned, that the word Togodumnus
or Cogidubnus, is not a proper name, but a title of honour, (see Carte and Whitaker,)
probably meaning the conqueror of the Dobuni, (as Claudius, from his success in Britain,
assumed the title of Britannicus) . Hence it appears to have been transmitted at his
death, together with his power, to his younger brother. The presumption therefore is,
that Guiderius was the real name of this unfortunate British prince.

2ndly. — Arviragus, having assumed the
armour, together with the authority of his
deceased brother, restores the battle, which
was almost lost, kills the traitor, and besieges
Claudius in Winchester; who, in the end,
is forced to give his daughter in marriage to
him. Yet, notwithstanding this boasted
superiority, he is content to hold his king
dom of Claudius, and to pay him tribute.
Arviragus is so much devoted to the person
of Claudius, that he builds the city of
Gloucester (in the county of the Dobuni,
from which he himself derives, his title of
Cogidubnus,) in honour of Claudius, calling
it after him, Claudiocester. — Mat. West.,
Galfrid, &c.

2ndly. — Caractacus, undismayed at the
death of his brother, continued to combat
the Romans, with'persevering courage and
various success, until at length being taken
prisoner, he was conveyed to Rome ; where
Claudius, admiring his heroic sentiments
and conduct, pardoned him, together with
his wife and children, and restored him and
them to their liberty. — Tacit. Ann. 1. xn.
The same historian, in another work, treat
ing, in a cursory manner, of the affairs of
Britain, during the reign of Claudius, says,
that "certain cities of our Island were
given up by the Romans to king Cogidunus."
— Tacit. Vit. Agric. This fact is confirmed by
an inscription on a stone dug up at Chiches
ter in the beginning of the last century, in
which this king is more correctly called
Cogidubnus, with the addition of the
emperor's own names, Tiberius Claudius,
which it appears he had assumed. — Philos.
Trans. No. 379.
N.B.— Great abatements are evidently to be made from the alleged victories of the
British warriors, as coUected from the songs of their native bards. The great object of
a judicious and faithful historian is to guard against the negligence and want of informa
tion of the Jinan writers, on the one hand, and the national vanity of the British writers,
on the other. Nevertheless, that there was such a British king as Arviragus, is proved
from his coin.— See Camden, pi. xvn. and Speed ; as, hkewise, from Juvenal: "De
Temone Britamio excidet Arviragus." It has been objected, by respectable historians,
that these verses must relate to a prince who lived in Do|iitian's time. But the Arviragus
of Mat. West, is stated to have lived until within a few years of that reign ; and it is
probable that the Roman poet did not recollect, or had not heard, that he was dead._

3dh£ Tacitus asserts, that king Cogidunus
remained faithful to the Romans, until
within his own memory, ad nostram usque
memoriam: now, he wrote his life of
Agricola in the beginning of the reign of
Trajan, A.D. 118.

3rdly,— Mat. West, places the beginning
of the reign of Arviragus in 44, and his
death in 73; a period which must have
been within the recollection of many con
temporaries of Tacitus.

24 ACCOUNT OF ARVIRAGUS OR CARACTACUS.
A. D. was amongst the vahant Silures of South Wales : until Arviragus,
i^L being unable to maintain his ground there any longer, was forced
to retreat into North Wales, where he was overcome in a general
battle, and his wife and children were taken prisoners.* Flying
for refuge to Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes, in the north
of the Island, he was delivered up by her to Ostorius, who sent
him and his family in chains to Rome.t The joy of Claudius, and
of the Roman Senate and people, on this occasion, was immoderate.
They fancied that the Britons would never again dare to appear in
arms, When deprived of their great commander. He, himself, be
haved, in this trying situation, with a modest firmness, which
proved his greatest of soul more than all his past exploits. He
neither meanly courted, nor insolently dared, the conquerer who
held him in chains.J He was content to hve, provided he might
hve honourably. Claudius, struck with his appearance, granted
him and his family their hves and liberty. || Nor was this all : for
rightly judging that no person was so hkely to prove faithful to
him in peace, as one who having valiantly opposed him in war,
now promised fidelity to him; and following the approved pohcy
of the Romans, in making kings the instruments of their ambi
tion ; he sent back Arviragus into Britain with orders to Ostorius
53. to reinstate him in the civil jurisdiction of a part of his territories.§
We have enlarged upon the history of this hero, because it does
not appear to be generally understood ; and because our province
of the Belgae seems to have constituted his dominions, and our
city of Venta to have been his metropolis.! During his con
tinuance at Rome, he had every means of improving his mind
enlarging his ideas, and of perfectly acquiring the habits of civi-
If this system of reconciling the British with the Roman writers be admitted, the
learned Carte will have no reason to reproach the former, with having set up imaginary
heroes, and with overlooking their real champion Caractacus ; since it will appear, that he
is the very king whom they magnify into the conqueror of that very emperor, by whose
favour he enjoyed his dominions and his life.
* Tacit. Ann. 1. xn. t Ibid. t Ibid. || Ibid.
§ It is clear, from our author, that the promotion of Cogidubnus took place during the
command of Ostorius, probably A.D. 53, the year after he was sent to Rome.
t It is certain that the territory conferred upon this prince was such as the Romans
were then masters of. It was not the whole provincia prima, or the expression would
not have been quesdam civitates. On the other hand, it was not the easterns part of the
province, or we should probably have heard of Cogidubnus in the subsequent? war of the
Iceni, under Boadicea. Besides, other measures for keeping the inhabitants in subjec
tion were adopted there, namely, those of establishing a municipium and colony. It
remains then to say, that his dominions were in the western part of the province; where
indeed most writers place them ;*Gale, at Silchester ; Camden, in Sussex. But the ex
pression qumdam civitates, implies more than a single district, or even county; at a
time when there were so few cities. What, however, seems to settle this point, and to
prove that our Belgae formed the bulk of his subjects, is, that we find him building' a city
upon their confines to the north, namely, Gloucester; and that we discover an undoubted
monument of his authority to the south, at Chichester ; as the terms of the inscription
found there imply. Now, of this whole extent of country, at the period in question,
Venta was undoubtedly the chief city; and, therefore, may justly be called the capital of

ACCOUNT OF ARVIRAGUS OR CARACTACUS. 25
lized society ;, means which were necessary to enable him to fulfil a. d.
the intentions of the emperor in sending him back to Britain, 53>
that he might communicate his own improvements to his coun
trymen. It is not unhkely that he contracted a second mar
riage here, with some lady about the Court, whom the British his
torians called Gewissa, and exalt to the honour of being daughter
to Claudius himself.* What seems certain is, that his own daughter,
Claudia, who, hke her father, changed her name in honour of the
emperor, continued at Rome, t and was married to the senator Pu
dens,! where she was celebrated for her beauty and virtue by the
poet Martial ;|| and commended, with her husband Pudens, by St.
Paul,§ amongst the chief saints of the Roman church. As to
himself, it is evident that, with his ancient ideas and manners, he
also laid aside his proper name, substituting'the whole name of
his friend and benefactor in its place ; and, hence forward, calling
himself Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, King and Legate of the Au
gust Emperor in Britain.^ In his honour, also, he is said to have
named the city which he erected in the country of the Dobuni,
from which he derived his own title ;** calling it Claudiocester, un
der which name it is frequently mentioned by ancient authors.
the metamorphosed Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus ; once the beloved Arviragus of the
Britons, and the dreaded Caractacus of the Romans. * Mat. West, ad ann. 44, &c.
t See the old Saxon Martyrologium, Ap. 7 ; where it is asserted, that ." she was
brought captive from Britain by the emperor, and that she died at Sabinum, A.D. 110."
t " Claudia, Rufe, meo nupsit peregrina Pudenti
Macte esto tasdis, O Hymeiiae tuis!" — Mart. Epigr. 1. iv.
|| " Claudia Caeruleis cum sit Ruffina Britannis
Edita, quam Latiae pectora plebis habet !
Qualaejlecus formae!" &c. — Id. 1. xi. % II Tim. civ. v. 21.
If Such is literally his style and title in the Chichester inscription ; in which the tem
ple, alluded* to, is said to have been built by his authority ; " Pudens giving the ground for
the same." This seems to argue that Arviragus had conferred possessions in his southern
dominions upon his son-in-law Pudens ; which fact serves to confirm the statements
given above. ** Cogidubnus, conqueror of the Dobuni.

Note.— CESAR'S MEDAL.— See Note ||||, p. 12.

26 DANGER OF THE CITY FROM BOADICEA.

CHAP. III.
Danger of the City from Boadicea. — Saved by the Roman General .
Paulinus Suetonius. — Death of Boadicea. — Place of her Burial. —
Death of Arviragus, King of the Beiges. — His Successors, Marius,
Coillus, and Lucius, in a right Line. — The Conversion of Lucius
to the Christian Faith. — Proofs of the Reality of this Event and
Objections answered. — Lucius sends to the Bishop of Rome for
the Bishops who were to preside in Britain.— -Winchester made a
Cathedral Church, with a College of regular Clergy annexed to
it. — Remaining History of Lucius. — Place of his Burial. — The
Tyrants Carausius and Allectus. — Persecution of Dioclesian, De
struction of the Cathedral, and Martyrdom of its Clergy.
A. D. Whilst our city, under the powerful protection of the -Romans,
vf^1 and the mild government of her native king, Caractacus Cogi
dubnus, was making a rapid progress in the several improvements
which have been described, she was on a sudden, in the seventh
year of the reign of Nero, and the sixty-second from the birth of
Christ, exposed to the imminent danger of losing them all, and of
relapsing into her former barbarism. This was occasioned by the
inexorable vengeance of the warlike Boadicea,* for her own wrongs,
and by the general indignation of her high spirited subjects, the
* Tacitus, in his Annals, calls her Boudicea; in his Agricola, Voadicea ; Xiphelin
terms her Bonduca, whilst her own coins, published by Camden, are inscribed, one Boo
Tika, another Boduo: (nisi forsan pro Bodunis aut Dobunis) . The strange licences
which the Roman writers take, on every occasion, in smoothing and latinizing what they
deem barbarous names, will sufficiently account for the difference which we find between
them and the British writers with respect to the name of the prince, concerning whom
so much has been said above. By his medal in Camden, it appears that his genuine
name was Arivog. This is not a little changed by his native writers, who call him
Arviragus, but much more so by foreigners, who moulded Arivog successively into
Carivoctus, Carivactus, Caractus, and Caractacus,

SAVED BY PAULINUS SUETONIUS. 27
Iceni, at seeing themselves transferred, like cattle, by the testa- A.D.
ment of their late king, Prasutagus, to the Roman yoke ;* and their 62#
religion exterminated by the Romqn general in its principal seat.t
Already had the infuriate bands of these eastern Britons, march
ing from a different Venta from our own,J destroyed every vestige
of civihzation at Camalodunum, London, and Verulam ; || killing,
with refined cruelty, every native Roman, and even every Roman
ally, who fell into their hands,§ to the number of 70,000 souls ;
they were now in full march towards this city, with the same
murderous and destructive intentions, when Paulinus, whose army
had been reinforced from this part of the country, opposed himself,
on its borders,! to their further progress ; and, availing himself of
the great superiority of his own military talents, and of the dis
ciphne of his army, gave them one of the most terrible defeats
recorded in history ; killing not fewer than 80,000 of these devoted
people, not even sparing the very women and horses that had be
longed to them.**
This was our city saved from utter ruin. Hence, instead of
receiving Boadicea at the head of 230,000 barbarians,tt breathing,
hke herseff, nothing but vengeance against every ally of the
Romans, and eager to obhterate every vestige of their power and
improvements, its inhabitants beheld her breathless body brought
hither in mournful procession, in order to receive the rites of
sepulture, which were performed with uncommon magnificence. J {
The fact is, she was resolved not to fall a second time into the
* He had made Nero joint heir of his kingdom with his two daughters. — Tacit.
t The propraetor Paulinus was, at that time, employed in exterminating the Druids in
their strong hold, the Isle of Anglesea, and in cutting down their sarced groves, &c.
—Ibid. t Venta Icenorum, now Caster, near Norwich. — Antoninus, Itiner. — Camden,
Britannia. || " Caetera quidem impetu direpta, aut incensa sunt. — Ibid.
§ " Neque enim capere aut venundare, sed caedes, patibula, ignes, cruces, festinabant."
—Ibid. 1f It appears, by the narration of Tacitus, and by Boadicea's speech, that Paulinus,
when he was forced to abandon London to the fury of the enemy, continued for a cer
tain time, to retreat before them. Now the eastern country was all their own, and they .•
had got possession of the country to the north, as appears by their devastations at Veru
lam, and likewise by what is stated of1 this general's return from Anglesea, namely, that
he passed through the midst of his enemies. He had only, then, the south-west country
to fly to, where, in fact, his principal strength lay. On the whole, it is probable that
this celebrated battle was fought not far from Farnham ; since, had he fallen back far
ther, he would have left one city or other of the allied Regni or Belgae exposed. This
conjecture does not disagree with those of Carte and Guthie.
** Tacit.
tt Such was their number, according to Dio ; of course they formed the greatest
army that ever was collected together in this Island. Perhaps, however, the women,
who, we learn from Tacitus, were assembled to see the battle, are included in the
number. tt This fact is asserted on the credit of the work entitled Nero Ccesar, quoted by
Trussell, but upon what ancient authority the writer is ignorant.

28 DEATH OF ARVIRAGUS OR CARACTACUS.
A.D. hands of the Romans; and being a stranger to that Christian
62- courage, which fortifies the mind to support the unavoidable cala
mities of life, rather than, with desponding impatience, to fly from
them, by sullen suicide, she deliberately poisoned herself.*
From this period, Venta continued, for a long space of time, to
enjoy the blessings of peace and civihzation, without disturbance
or ditead. The seat of war with the unsubdued Britons was
removed more and more to the north, which caused her Roman le
gionaries to be withdrawn, to the great comfort of the inhabitants ;
and the Roman generals were employed, partly in extending their
frontier, partly in propagating that system of civilization amongst
the more remote inhabitants,t which had before been successfully
practised in this first province, as it was called. In the mean time,
Arviragus, or Caractacus Cogidubnus, continued to sway the tri
butary sceptre of this province, with due submission and fidelity
73. to the Roman government,! until the third year of Vespasian, ||
with whom, in their early years, he had probably often measured
swords. This was the year 73 from the birth of Christ ; ^svhen
closing his hfe, he was buried at the city of the Dobuni, which he
himself had founded.§ He was succeeded by his son Marius, a
prince celebrated for his wisdom and prudence ;!'who, being exact
in paying to the Romans the tribute** by which he held his com- ,
mand, was supported by them in it ; nor is it at all improbable that
they enlarged his territory out of their late conquests ; in effecting
which, he is stated to have been instrumental, tt Marius, in order
to give the emperor the most secure pledge of his fidelity, sent
his infant son and heir, Coillus, to be educated at Rome ; where
he so conducted himself as to acquire the entire confidence of the
78. Roman Senators.fJ His father dying in 78, Coillus was permitted
to return to Britain, and to take possession of his kingdom ; which
he held in perfect peace and tranquillity, || || being punctual iri paying
the usual tribute,§§ .during the space of 46 years. He died in the
124. year of our Lord, 124, leaving a son and heir, then only nine
• years of age, but of the most promising disposition ; who soon
became no less respected and beloved than Coillus himself had
* Tacit. Ann. 1. xiv. t Tacit. Agric. ,
t "Is (Cogidunus) ad nostram usque memoriam fidissimus mansit."— Tacit Asric
|| Mat. West. s
§ Claudiocestriae or Gloucester. — Mat. West. f Ibid. ** Ibid.
tt Geoffry and Ranulph relate, that Marius defeated, in Westmoreland, an army of
Picts under the command of Roderic, who had arrived in the northern part of the Island
from Scythia. Joannes Forden, who admits this fact, calls Marius "Romana; gentis le-
gionumdux, Britonumque patricius." — Scotorum Hist. c. xxvu. This description of
his authority, which propably approaches nearest to the truth, renders more probable
the succession of princes, which is here given in conformity with our ancient historians.
tt Galfrid., Mat. West. |||| Galfrid., Ranulph., Mat. West. §§ Idem

LUCIUS SUCCEEDS COILLUS 29
been.* This was the celebrated Lucius, the first Christian king A. D..
in this or in any other country,t and the pecuhar benefactor of ™^
our city of Venta.
It is plain, that each of the successive princes, mentioned above^
must have had a knowledge of the faith of Christ from their
near relations, who were some of its brightest ornaments both at
Rome and in Britain.! Hence they are recorded|| as the protec
tors and benefactors of rehgion in their respective times and domi
nions ; but it was reserved for their descendant Lucius, (surnamed
from this circumstance, in allusion to his name, Lever Maur, or
the Great Light,§) to discern, through the dark clouds of Pagan
infidelity, the promised Star of Jacob, that had then risen upon
the world, and to cause a great number of his subjects to see the
same. The time, indeed, was exceedingly favourable for this pur
pose. For, in the first place, peace and moderation were as much
the professed study of Antoninus Pius,! ana< of his two adopted sue- 13^.
cessors, Marcus Aurelius** and Lucius Verus,tt who were then Ro
man emperors, as military glory and rigid authority over the sub
ject nations, were the objects of their predecessors in general. In
the next place, Aurelius, in gratitude for the miraculous victory ob
tained over the Quadi, in 171, by the prayers of his Christian le- 171>
gion, which, on that account, was called The Thundering Legion,%%
had recently pubhshed a decree in favour of the disciples of
Christ, which he caused to be sent to all the provinces throughout
the whole empire. ||||
All opposition, on the part of the supreme authority, being thus
removed, Lucius, who was already of an advanced age, resolved to
* Ut supra. t Usher, Prim. Eccles. Brit, proves this at large.
t Not only Claudia herself, who was the daughter of Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus or
Caractacus alias Arviragus, and Claudia's husband Pudens, were Christians, renowned for
their sanctity, as we have said before ; but also a great number of their descendants, as S.S.
Pudentiana and Praxedes, their daughters, (see Martyrolog. Rom. Maii 19). and Novatus
and S. Timotheus, their sons ; the latter of whom is said to have come into Britain in
order to preach the faith, about the year 161 ; though he afterwards returned to Rome,
and was there martyred. He was second cousin to Lucius, and probably contributed
greatly to his conversion.
|| In the records of Glassenbury Abbey, it is said, that three kings, though pagans,
protected the holy solitaries, who first established themselves there. These could be no
other than Arviragus, Marius, and Coillus.— Antiq. Glassen. Gul. Malm.
§ " Lever Maur id est Magni Splendoris, propter fidem quae in ejus tempore yenit." —
Nennius, Hist. Brit. c. xvm.
% Eo usque amavit pacem (Antoninus Pius,) ut Scipionis sententiam frequentant,
malle se unum civem servare quam mille hostes occidere." — Julius Capitolinus, ed. Rob.
Steph. p. 76. The same prince passed a decree in favour of the Christians in the East. —
St. Justin. Martyr. .*.,«* TJ
** Provinciasingeutimoderationeetbenignitate tractavit (Marcus Antoninus. )— Idem
Jul. Cap. p. 91. , . j. „
tt " Confecto sane bello, regna regibus, proi»ncias vero comitibus suis regendas dedit.
(Lucius Verus.) — Id. p. 102.
tt Tertul. Apol, Euseb. Hist. 1. v. ; S. Apollinaris, Apolog. IIII Idem.

30 LUCIUS SENDS TO ROME FOR PRELATES.
A. D. lose no more time in declaring himself a Christian :* and though
178- many of his own subjects, no less than several eminent pre-
t"Y~J lates in Gaul, (amongst whom was Ireneus, bishop of Lyons,) were
qualified to instruct him in its tenets, and to initiate him in its
mysteries;t yet, knowing how necessary both unity and jurisdictfen
are in the formation of a Christian Church, he chose to receive his
teachers and his prelates from the Bishop of Rome, who at that time
was S. Eleutherius.J His ambassadors, on this occasion, were
ElvanuSj of Glassenbury, and Medwinus, who appears to have
been an inhabitant of this city.|| They, were probably, both of
* Authors are divided concerning the precise year of this_ reparkable event. It is
proved, by circumstances, that Nennius places it too early, viz. in 164, and the Saxon
Chronicle too late, viz. in 189. The precise year must have been between 176, when
Eleutherius became Pope, and 180, when Marcus Aurelius died.
t That there were many Christians at that time in Britain, appears from Origen, Ter
tuUian, &c.
t Certain modern writers, taking offence at this circumstance, which, however, equally
occurred at the conversion of the Picts, the Scotch, the Irish, our English Saxons, the
different states of Germany, &c, have called in question the whole history of Lucius's
conversion; and have even denied the existence of such a king. This, however, is the
excess of scepticism, since hardly auy point of our national histpry is more positively,
unanimously, or circumstantially delivered than this is, by the Saxons, and other antago
nists of the British writers, no less than by the Britons themselves ; and by foreigners,
no less than by our native historians. To quote the authorities, on this occasion, would
be almost equivalent to making a list of all our ancient authors, and othe,r ecclesiasti
cal writers, who treat of this period. Finally, the existence and Christianity of
Lucius are attested by coins, no less than by books and manuscripts. It may, however,
be objected, that the most ancient of our British writers, Gildas, does not make mention
of Lucius. The answer to this is obvious and satisfactory, as the short work of Gildas,
which we have in print, De excidio Britannia, is more in the nature of a sermon than of
ahistory. 2dly. — Though the account, in question, is not found in the copies of this work,
from which our printed editions are made, yet it certainly occurred in more ancient
manuscripts of it ; since it is referred to as being in chap, vn, by Rudbourne, Hist. Maj.
Wint. 1. i. c. i : as, likewise, in another work of Gildas, cited by Mat. West, ad An.
clxxxvi. With respect to the medals of Lucius, two of which are referred to by Usher,
and a third is published by Camden, pi. xxxvii. no. 25, (where the name appears at
full length, with the emblematic star), it has been objected, by an ingenious contem
porary writer, (see Hist, of Manchester, c.xi.) that these medals must be spurious;
since Gildas informs us, chap. v. that " all the brass, silver, and gold in Britain, was
marked with the impression of Caesar." But it must be remembered, that this passage
refers to a period prior to that in question, by about 120 years, namely, to that which im
mediately followed the defeat of Boadicea. Admitting Lucius and his predecessors to
have stood as high in the favour of the Roman Government, as they are described to
have stood, we cannot doubt that this rule might, in their time, have been dispensed
with ; admitting it even- to have been originally made, which, indeed, the words do not
absolutely imply. — Lastly, a more general objection to the history of Lucius, has been
the improbability of the Romans admitting a king to govern in a province, which was so
absolutely subject to them, as Britain was in the second century. This argument, in
deed, would have weight, if the question were concerning an independent sovereign,
but not when it relates only to such subaltern princes as our Lucius and his predecessors
are supposed to have been. For such was also the succession of the Herods in Judaea;
and, as we learn from Julius Capitolinus, in his account of these times, such were several
princes in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, who were actually the contemporaries
of Luchis. We have already seen, in the passage quoted from Tacitus, that it was the
standing policy of the Roman government to have kings for the tools of their ambition.
|| Usher. Cressy Ch. Hist., &c. These authors refer to ancient chronicles, in which
Elvanus is said to be of Glassenbury, and Medwinus of the Belgae ; by which it is natural
to understand the city of the Belgae, as the inhabitants of Glassenbury belonged to the
province of the Belgae.

A CATHEDRAL ERECTED IN THE CITY. 31
them already Christians ; and the latter is said to have afterwards a. d.
received Orders, when at Rome.* The prelates, whom Eleutherius 178-
pitched upon for this important business, were Fugatius and Du-
vianus,t by whom Lucius and his queen were baptized, .with the
greater part of their subjects.! Having thus established Christi
anity in Britain, the next concern of this pious prince was to pro
vide for its support and continuance. He accordingly founded
churches in each of the twenty-eight cities ; which we learn, from
our most ancient authors, || actually existed, at that time, in Britain ;
and had been the chief seats of the Flamines, or Pagan priests;
settling upon the Christians priests the revenues which the former
had before enjoyed. §
With respect to the hierarchy to be estabhshed, it seemed best
to Lucius and his prelates, that the same should be observed,
which had before obtained amongst the Flamines; according to
which, London, York, and Caerleon, became metropolitical sees.!
Hence our city of Venta, though the particular object of the re
gard of Lucius,** and probably the capital of his dominions,tt
was left destitute of that pre-eminence, to which, as the chief
city in the west, it was otherwise entitled; it, however, became a
bishopric,!! and was honoured with certain distinctions pecuhar to
itself. Instead of causing one of the Heathen temples in it to be
purified and consecrated for the purpose of a Christian church, as
he did in the other cities, Lucius built our cathedral from the
* Gul. Malm. Antiq. Glassen., Mat.West., Rubd. Hist. Maj., Martyr. Rom., Usher,
Cressy, &c.
t Idem. t Gildas, Nennius, Bede, &c.
|| Idem. Liber Abingdon.
§ All this was very practicable, admitting an almost general conversion of the country ;
as our writers, in general, describe it to have been. There are incontestable proofs, that in
no place had Christianity taken so deep a root, in these early ages, as in Britain. This
could hardly have been the case without some such measures as those which have been
mentioned. If The distinction .of Flamines into Dialis, Martialis, &c. is well known ; but, besides
this, there must have been a system of subordination amongst them, which the monkish
writers, perhaps, too closely assimilated to the hierarchy, with which they were acquainted
fn the Christian Church.
**- "Ecclesiam Wintoniensem speciali praerogativ& dilexit." (Lucius.) —Rubd. Hist. Maj.
chap. ii.
f^ It has been a subject of much debate in which part of the Island the dominions of
Lucius were situated. Some have carried them to the north, beyond the Picts' wall ;
whilst others, as Usher and Stillingfleet, have confined them to the extremity of the south,
in the counties of Sussex and Surrey. .The arguments, however, which have been adduced
to prove that the province of the Belgae, enlarged with part of the territories of the Do
buni and the Regni, formed the kingdom of Arviragus, and that our city was his capital,
seem equally to point out the peculiar dominion and metropolis of his great grandson
Lucius. It is possible, however, that he might have been honoured with the civil jurisdic
tion of all the different Roman provinces iu Britain. Or, without an actual authority, he
might have effected all the changes ascribed to him, by his talents, treasure, and influence.
tt Rubd., Mat.West., &c. "Templis Deorum aPagonas&purificatus superstitione, uni
Deo ejusque Sanctis ecclesias dedicantes."-— Rubd. Hist. Maj. chap. u. ex Giraldo.

32 DEATH OF LUCIUS.
A.D. ground, upon a scale of grandeur and magnificence which has never
178- since been equalled;* and bestowed upon it the right of sanc
tuary, with other privileges.t Moreover, as in this city had been
the chief school of the Pagan Flamines, so Lucius annexed to the
cathedral here a monastery, as our historion calls it,! or rather a ,
community of clergy living together in common; one of whose
members we shall afterwards find in a very different and unlooked
for condition of life. The situation and dimensions of this first
foundation of the cathedral will be more particularly described af
terwards in our survey of it. In the mean time, whilst this great
work was in hand, our rehgious prince raised a temporary cha
pel near it, together with a small dwelling-house, containing a
dormitory and refectory, for the use of the regular clergy who
served it.|| The above-mentioned magnificent work being com
pleted, the cathedral was consecrated by the prelates Fugatius and
Duvianus, in the name oi The Holy Saviour ; and a rehgious bishop,
by name Dinotus,§ was vested with the spiritual authority and ju
risdiction belonging to such a foundation.
It has been remarked, by late writers, as extraordinary, that so
httle should occur in our original records concerning the time or
other circumstances of the death and burial of this celebrated
Christian king. One or two, indeed, of our historians assert, that
he died and was buried at Gloucester ;! whilst a third, who sup
poses him to have been killed by the Picts, assigns York as the
place of his interment.** The absurdity of the pretence set up by
all our Winchester writers,tt that his tomb is still to be seen at the
east end of our cathedral, will be shewn when we come to describe
that edifice. This silence or uncertainty of our native historians,
gives some countenance to the report of the German writers, who
say, that a httle before his death, either resigning his crown,!! or
* " Ecclesiam Wintoniensem solummodo ex fundamentis renovavit." — Rubd. Hist. Maj.
ex Vigilancio.
t "Dedit Lucius praedictae ecclesiae quam de novo fundaverat, suburbana civitatis cum
privilegio Dunwallonis Molmucii." — Idem ex Moracio. ,
t Rudb. ibid. In different passages of his history he takes care to inform his readers,
that the monks, of whom he speaks, were of the nature of those instituted by St. Mark at
Alexandria; who are described, at large, by Cassian, as also by Philo the Jew, who calls -
them Therapeutes, This attempt, however, of our monastic historian to carry up* the
antiquity of his profession into the three first ages of the church, is not warranted by
ecclesiastical monuments. — See the learned Thomassinus, vol. 1, 1. m. At all events the
pretence of finding Therapeutes of Egypt, then in Britain, is perfectly absurd.
|| Rudb. ex Vigilancio. § Ita Usserius. Rudb. calls him Devotus.
If Galfrid. L v., Mat. West. ** Diceto inter 10 Scrip, p. 555.
tt History and Antiquities of the Cathedral of Winchester, by Lord Clarendon and
Sam. Gale, p. 34 ; Description of ditto, by the Rev. T. Warton, p. 83 ; Hist, of Win
chester, vol. I, p. 59; Winchester Guide, p. 47.
tt Fordun countenances this opinion, where he says. " Lucio rege mortuo, vel non
comporante." — Scot. Hist. 1. u. c. xxxi.

BRITAIN GOVERNED BY ROMAN TYRANTS. 33
being dispossessed of it by the Romans, he went abroad and A.D.
preached the gospel in Bavaria, and in the country of the Grisons.* ^v-'
At all events, it is certain that with Lucius ended the dynasty of
our British tributary princes ;t our historians agreeing that the
Roman emperors, henceforward, governed, by their own officers,!
all the four provinces, which they had reduced in the Island. If,
however, this was done for the security of the empire, and to pre
vent insurrections, as one writer informs us was the case,|| the end
was certainly defeated ; for the fertility of this Island, in producing
tyrants, became notorious; as Gildas remarks § from Porphyrius,
The first of these was Clodius Albinus, who declared himself em
peror in 193. At first he was, from necessity, acknowledged as 193.
such by Severus : and it is plain, that had the army, which he led
out of Britain to assert his claim, evinced as much disciphne as
they showed bravery at the battle of Lyons,! his name would
have still been inscribed in the fasti of emperors ; whilst that of
his competitor Severus would have been degraded to the hst of
tyrants. Of the succeeding tyrants,** as they were called, who disturbed
the tranquillity of Britain during the space of a century, we do not
find any one whose history is at all connected with that of this
city,tt until the reign pfBfeioclesian, about the year 284. At that 284.
time, Carausius, an experienced sea officer,!! was appointed to the
command of what may be called the Imperial Channel Fleet, in
order to scour the seas of those innumerable Frank and Saxon
pirates,|| || who infested the shores both of Gaul and Britain. In
this capacity he found out the natural strength of this Island ; and,
having gained the confidence of his sailors, instead of being daunted
at the threats of the Emperor Maximinian, who was desirous of
displacing him, he set him at defiance, and assumed the imperial
purple, which he continued to wear seven years.§§ During a part
of this time he was acknowledged, as a partner in the empire, by
* Raderius in Bav. Sac, Baronius Annal., Martyrolog. Rom.
t Galfrid., Mat. West., Rad., Dicet., &c. t Joannes Fordun, ibid, &c.
|| , Hector Boethius, Hist. Scot. § De Excid. c. 11.
t Herodian, 1. in . .
** Posthumius, Tetricus Bonosus, &c, the last of whom was by birth a Briton.
tt On the contrary, our historian seems to refer to the whole of this period, when he
speaks of the peace and security of the city, and the populousness of the adjoining country ;
in which, he says, there were eight good villages within the compass of twelve miles, in
every direction 'from our city of Venta. " In illis diebus latronum mucrones cessabant,
nee erat qui violentiam allicui ingereret ; erantque ab unaquaque parte civitatis, in quoh-
bet duodenario numero passuum, octo viculi optimi. — Rudb. Hist. Maj. Wint. 1. 1. c. in.
tt Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. 1. c. iv. .
HII The real ancestors botli of the French and of the English people : the former being
then seated in the north parts of Holland, and the latter beyond the Elbe.
§§ Bede ut supra.
VOL I. C

34 CONSTANTIUS INVADES BRITAIN.
A- D- Maximinian himself,* who found all the strength of the Roman
-»J Empire inadequate to the task of subduing the Isle of Britain,
whilst defended by a superior navy. At the end of the above-
mentioned term ; while Constantius Chlorus, then newly declared
Caesar, was building a fleet,t with a view of once more uniting
this Island with the body of the Roman Empire, Carausius was
2in- supplanted and slain by the treachery of his friend AUectus.!
Constantius employed three years in making his preparations for
the invasion of Britain; during all which time -AUectus governed
it with as great dignity and power as any former emperor had done;
wearing the imperial crown and purple, and coining money in great
abundance, with his impression and insignia upon it. As the or
dinary station of the British fleet, during his reign, as, likewise^
that of his predecessor, appears to have been upon our coast, with
in the Isle of Wight; || and, as it was not safe for either of these
maritime emperors to lose sight, for a long time, . of that force
upon which their very existence depended; it is not rash to
assign our city for the principal place of their residence, when on
shore. This conjecture is confirmed by the coins of these two
usurpers, dug up in this city, or found in the neighbouring fields ;
which exceed,, in number, those of any two lawful emperors what
soever, wk
The preparations of Constantius, for nis long threatened inva
sion, being completed, he still found himself unable to dispute the
empire of the seas with AUectus, whose fleet continued to he off
the Isle of Wight ;§ probably in that very station where the main
strength of the British navy is, at the present time, generally
found at anchor. He, therefore, had recourse to stratagem ; divid
ing his fleet into separate squadrons, in order to make a descent at
different points of the coast, at one and the same time. He, also,
took the advantage of hazy weather, the more securely to effect the
passage.! The squadron, under the command of the praetorian
prefect, Asclepiodotus, was most exposed, but being favoured by
the hazy weather, sailed unobserved close by the tyrant's fleet, and
landing its troops on our neighbouring coast, had the chief honour
of this important conquest: for AUectus, instead of engaging
Constantius himself, who had disembarked in a different quarter,
294. flew to oppose Asclepiodotus ; by whom he was defeated and slain.
However, as the general-in-chief followed the motions of the tyrant;
and, soon after the day was gained,** arrived at the scene of action,
* One of the medals of Carausius records this treaty of peace with Maximinian.
t Eumenius Rhetor. t Bede.
|| Eumenius Rhetor. § Idem. f Idem. ** Idem.

DIOCLESIAN PERSECUTES THE CHRISTIANS. 35
which must have taken place very near our city ; it is highly pro- A- D-
bable that it was the first to receive this celebrated conqueror with- ^-j
in its walls ; and to pay him those congratulations, wi,th which, we
are assured,* he was welcomed by the Britons in general. This
event is to be assigned to the year of Christ 294.
If there be a high probability that the civil state of Venta re
mained undisturbed, during the century of which we have been
speaking ; we have a positive assurance that this was the case with
respect to its ecclesiastical estabhshment. For, though we have
not been able to obtain any names or details in this line ; we are
assured, in general, that the pubhc service of rehgion, in all its
solemnity, was uninterruptedly performed in the magnificent cathe
dral church which Lucius had built for that purpose ; and that the
bishops and clergy, attached to it, remained in quiet possession of
the ample revenues with which he had invested them, until the
grand effort of Pagan violence to crush Christianity was made ; of
which Dioclesian was the chief instrument.t This is conformable
to the account of our historians in general;! without whose con
curring testimony we could not have believed that persecutions so
severe and general, as were those of Maximian, Decius, and
Valerian; and which, we know, extended themselves over the
neighbouring provinces of Gaul, should not have reached this
Island. The only way of solving this difficulty is by supposing, in
conformity with the account of our ancient historians, that Christi
anity was much more general, and more firmly estabhshed in this
Island, than in any other part of the empire ; and that the Roman
government was apprehensive of irritating a people, whom, on ac
count of their distance and insular situation, it was so much more
difficult to hold in subjection, than those of other countries. These
motives, however, had no influence over Dioclesian and his col
league, Maximian, surnamed Herculeus ; who, in the year 303 or 303.
304,|| extended the flames of persecution, which they had before
enkindled in the heart of the empire, to the remotest, parts of it,
* Eumenius Rhetor
t Requievit ex tunc religio monastica in ecclesia^ Wyntonieiisi, quieta in pace et pacific^
possessione, Domino jugiter conjubilans 102 annis, a primo anno regni Lucii Christianis-
simi principis, usque secundum annum Diocletiani tyranni." — Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. 1, c. in.
What our author, who was a monk of Winchester Cathedral, here says of the religio
monastica, from a too eager zeal to advance the antiquity of his order, is to be under
stood of the regular clergy who then served it. The chronology also of our historian,
in these early ages, is often defective, as his editor, Henry Warton, has proved.
t Gildas, Hist. c. vii ; Bede, Eccles. Hist.l. 1, c. iv, vi ; Chron. Sax. ; Hen. Hunt. 1. 1.
Mat. West.
|| There is a great difference in the chronology of different writers concerning the time
of this persecution. Rudborne places it, in his great history, in 266; and, less erroneously,
in his little history, in 296. The Saxon Chronicle assigns the year 283 ; Matthew West
minster, 303, with whom Eusebius and Lactantius nearly agree.
c 2

36 LUCIUS's CATHEDRAL DESTROYED.
A^ and to Britain in particular. It was on this occasion that St.
w-- Alban, who is said to have been a person of great distinction ;* and
who is celebrated by foreign no less than by our own writers,t was
put to death at Werlamcester, now called St. Alban's ;1 for enter
taining in his house a priest, who was himself seized upon and
put to a cruel death, being emboWeled ahve. This priest, whose
name and memory became famous in our city, was called Am
phiballus. Many other persons, of each sex, suffered martyrdom,
at this time, in different parts of Britain, by the most horrible and
refined cruelties. ||
As in no part of the Island rehgion flourished more than at
Venta, so no where did the storm of persecution fall more heavily.
The stately cathedral of Lucius, with the adjoining college of
ecclesiastics, was leveUed with the ground; and the ecclesiastics
themselves were all slaughtered, except a few who saved themselves
by flight. This account, concerning the persecution in our city, is
conformable to that of Gildas and Bede,§ with respect to the gene
ral treatment of Christianity throughout the Island, at this period.
These historians add, that the surviving Christians, who had not
renounced their faith, hid themselves in woods, deserts, and caves ;
waiting until a just Providence should repress the fury of their
enemies, and afford them the protection which they prayed for.!
* He is called, in the Saxon Martyrology, GZconomus, or Procurator of Britain.
t " Albanum egregium faecunda Britannia profert." — Fortunat. in Laud. Virg.
t Bede, Hist. c. vii.
|| " Passi sunt ek tempestate Aaron et Julius, legionum urbis (Caerleon) cives, aliique
utriusque sexus diversis in locis perplures. Qui diversis cruciatibus torti, et inaudita mem-
brorum discerptione lacerati, animas ad supernae civitatis gaudia, perfecto agone miserunt."
—Bede, ibid; Similiter fere Gildas, c. viii. § Ibid. % Gildas, c. vm.

CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION DISCONTINUED. 37

CHAP, IV.
Discontinuance of the Persecution. — Tfie Cathedral re-built. —
Change in the Civil Government of the City. — Rebellion of Mag-
nentius and of Maximus. — Consequences of the same. — The City
plundered by an Army of Irish. — A Monk of the Cathedral be
comes Emperor. — The Island abandoned by the Romans.
The persecution does not appear to have lasted in Britain above a. d.
two years.* The merit of putting a stop to it is ascribed to Con- j^
stantius Chlorus ; who, in the year 305, was declared successor to
Maximian, and Emperor of the West ; and, thereby, left at hberty
to follow his inclinations in favour of Christianity. The share,
however, which he previously had in carrying it on, whilst he was
Caesar, or heir apparent of the empire, in compliance with the will
of Maximian, is not so generally known; being lightly touched
upon by ecclesiastical historians,t out of gratitude for his own
favours to the church ; and still more for those conferred upon it
by his son, the Great Constantine. In a word, the Christians now
left their hiding places, and began again to hold their rehgious
assembhes. They did not, however, venture to re-build their
churches, which had been levelled to the ground ; until the famous
* Gildas says that it lasted almost two lustrums, or ten years ; but this must be under
stood of its continuance on the Continent, particularly in the Eastern Empire ; " Igitur
bilustro supra dicti turbinis necdum ad integrum adimpleto, &c." Florilegus makes it last
fantil the seventh year of Constantine, evidently to make up the number of these ten years ;
and not distinguishing between the persecution which took place in this Island, and that
which raged in Italy and the East.
t Eusebius, Lactantius, &c. The latter, indeed, admits that Chlorus pulled down
churches, in compliance with the edict ; which, he says, he unwillingly received. But it is
true that our clergy of Venta, as well as St. Alban, and the other martyrs, were put to
death by his authority ; Britain being under his peculiar jurisdiction, and the, ordinary place
bf his residence, during the time of his being Caesar.

38 CATHEDRAL RE-BUILT.
A-D- edict of Constantine, in the year 312, subsequent to his victory
^J. over the tyrant Maxentius, authorized them to do it. Indeed,
until this time, Christianity was only practised, by connivance, in
Britain ; and was actually persecuted in most other places.
But now, all restraint being removed, and the constituted autho
rities every where declaring in favour of Christianity ; the churches
began to vie with each other in the magnificence of their religious
fabrics, which they dedicated to God, in honour of the martyrs who
had lately suffered, and in the splendour of their pubhc service.*
The citizens of Venta were inferior to no other in these demon
strations of Christian zeal. They accordingly, without loss of time,
set about re-building their cathedral,t and proper habitations for
the clergy ;! but, though they had a Roman Emperor to protect
them in the execution of this pious work, they had not a British
King to assist them in furnishing the expences of carrying it on.
So far from this, they were reduced to the necessity of collecting
money from individuals. || The consequence was, that the second
Cathedral of Venta, hke the second Temple of Jerusalem, was
greatly inferior to the first ;§ though built upon the same spot, and
317. in the same form.! It appears to have taken five years to re
build the church, and the adjoining mansions ;** when, the'whole
of which, being completed, was dedicated by the bishop, Constansj
in honour of St. Amphiballus, the martyr; Deodatus being'
superior of the clergy who then served the cathedral.tt
We have seen that Venta continued to have a bishop after the
persecution, no less than before it. In fact, the British prelates,
not forming a body apart, but communicating in faith, disciphne,
and hierarchy, with the body of the church, and joining with it in
its councils and synods, and on all pubhc occasions,!! were con-
* " Laetis luminibus omnes Christi tyrones, quasi post hyemelem ac prolixam noctem,
temperiem lucemque serenam aurae caelestis excipiunt ; renovantque ecclesias ad solum
usque destructas, bassilicas sanctorum martyrum fundant, construunt, perficiuntque, ac
velit vitricia arma passim propalant, &c."— Gild. Hist. c. vm. ; Bede, Hist. Ecc. 1. 1. c. vm.
t Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1. 1. c. vi j Ibid.
|| " Re-aedificata est ecclesia Wyntoniensis secund6 a Christi fidelium oblationibus."—
Hist. Maj. ibid. § Idem ex Moracio ; Auc. Antiq.
If This is clear, from what Rudborne says of its relative situation with respect to the
bishop's palace, &c.
** This is gathered from the narration of Rudborne. His dates, however, are erroneous
in this, as well as in fonner instances; from having set his chronological scale upwards of
20 years too forward. We must again remark, that our author's partiality for his own
profession causes him to strain historical facts beyond their due bounds in" favour of its
antiquity. tt Idem ex Giraldo Cornub. et Vigilantio.
tt A certain number of them, as representatives of the rest, were present at the first
Council of Aries, in 313 ; in which those who kept Easter and tbe moveable feasts at a
wrong time, were condemned.— c. i. And at the general Council of Sardica, in 347 ; in
which the liberty of appeals to the Bishop of Rome was confirmed.— Can. in. iv. vii.

CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. 39
vinced that no alteration in their ecclesiastical government could A-D-
validly take place by means of any civil commotion or other cause, ^1,
except by the decree of a competent ecclesiastical authority. Still,
however, we learn, that the same cause, which disturbed the inter
nal peace of the church at large, produled its effect in the churches
of Britain also. This was the restless spirit of Arianism ; which,
though seemingly crushed at Nice, was afterwards able to " cor
rupt, with the poison of its errors,* a great part of the world, and
even this remote Island;" which, our author describes, as being
" out of the world." Allowing for a certain temporary confusion
occasioned by this heresy; and, a century afterwards, by that of
Pelagianism, the author of which was a British monk ; we are
assured that the church of Venta remained in perfect peace: its
ministers continuing to perform their rehgious functions with
edifying piety, until the next grand revolution, occasioned by the
invasion of our immediate ancestors, the Saxons.t
But we must now look back to the civil state of this city and
province, during the above-mentioned period. Constantius Chlorus
enjoyed the imperial dignity but a short time ; dying at York! in 30c.
306, he was succeeded by his son, Constantine the Great, who was
born in Britain. Thus it happened that the first Christian em
peror, no less than the first Christian king, was a native of this
Island ; for which benefit and honour we seem, in both instances,
to be indebted to the virtues and piety of British ladies. By what
has been said, it appears that the conversion of Lucius may, in a
great measure, be ascribed to his illustrious aunt, Claudia Ruffina ;
and, it is certain, that the seeds of Christianity were sown in the
infant mind of Constantine, by his rehgious mother, St. Helen ;
who was, unquestionably, a native of this Island, born at Col
chester. |j
Constantine having seen, with his own eyes, the state of the
Island, was enabled, in the general regulation which he made for
In a word, the British churches were appealed to, as orthodox, by St. Athanasius and all
the great luminaries of that time.
* Bede, Hist. Ecc. 1. 1, c. vm ; Gildas, &c. The event to which Ven. Bede particularly
alludes on this occasion, is the council of Arminium, at which the British bishops, as
usual, were present. In this no erroneous tenet was sanctioned,; but only too much
courtly policy prevailed, under the specious pretext of peace and union. Tne consequences
were, that the Arian party boasted of their orthodoxy ; and the great Catholic majority
complained that they were betrayed ; or, as St. Jerome emphatically expresses it. " Inge-
muit Orbis et se Arianam esse miratus est." '
t Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1. 1. sub finem.
t The reason why this emperor resided chiefly at York, as his predecessor Severus had
done, was because that was the most distinguished city in the north ; which quarter was
the chief scene of military actions against the Caledonians ; and, therefore, the principal
station of the Roman forces, and of their commanders.
|| See the proofs of this, in Camden's Account of Colchester, Usher, Antiq . Collier,
Ecc. Hist. Cressy, &c.

40 VENTA GOVERNED BY THE COUNT OF THE SAXON COAST.
A. D. the government of the empire,* to distribute the offices, jurisdic-
^^ tion, and military force which he appointed for it, according to the
circumstances in which it then was, and the exigences of the times.
By virtue of the new arrangement, Venta became subject to The
Honourable Count of the Smcon Coast, as he was called.t It was
his pecuhar business to protect the whole southern coast of the
Island, with a certain extent of the eastern coast from the in
vasion of the Saxon pirates ; by whom, it has already been ob
served, they were grievously infested.! For this purpose he had,
not only a fleet under his orders, but, also, a considerable army,
both of horse and foot; which was stationed at proper distances
throughout the whole extent of the exposed coast. || Our city,
however, being too far within the land, to dread the insults of these
rovers, does not appear to have been burdened with a garrison;
though it was, probably, the seat of some of the civil officers who
were attached to the office of the above-mentioned count. § Certain
it is, as we have said before, that the Procurator Gynegii in Bri
tannia, or Director of the Imperial Manufactory of Cloth, resided
here at the time of which we are speaking.!
These regulations, however, were far from securing the future
peace of Britain; there being many usurpers, and much interior dis
turbance, in the Island, during the greater part of the time that
the Romans remained masters of it. The first of these usurpers, if
there is any truth in his history, must have had a particular rela
tion with this city, in quahty of duke or king** of the Belgic
Britons,tt whose metropolis certainly was our city of Venta. He
is called Octavius,!! and is said to have conquered, near Por
chester, where he landed, Trahernus, the uncle of St. Helen, who
was sent by the emperor against him ; and to have preserved his
367. Power until tne reign °f Gratian and Valentinian. There is,
generally, a foundation for the most inconsistent relations of our
old British writers, which modern authors will not take the trouble
of examining into. Thus we have reason to beheve, that Octavius
was no other than the tyrant Magnentius, who was of a British
family, and who, having assassinated Constans, one of the sons of
Constantine, possessed himself both of Britain and Gaul, which he
* Zozimus. _ t Notitia Dignitatum.
t Hence the poet Claudian, in his panegyric on the Roman general Stilicho, makes
Britannia say of him : —
" Me  munivit, ne littofe toto
" Prospicerem dubiis venientem Saxona ventis."
|| Vide Notitiam Dignitatum. § Ibid. w ibid
** Mat. West.
tt Tlie country, in question, is the same that is now called the Western Circuit
tt Mat. West , Galfrid., Ranulph., Diceto. The last makes Trahernus overcome Octavius.

BRITISH YOUTH SETTLE IN ARMORICA. 41
held during three years ; at which time one Gratianus, surnamed A. D.
Funarius, was the Roman general in Britain.* f^
Historians are better agreed concerning Maximus, who was a
native of this Island,t and had commanded in it with the highest
character, both for military talents and probity; in short, one
whom all mankind would have judged worthy of the imperial
purple, if he had been content to remain in an inferior station.!
But having, unfortunately, hstened to the acclamations of his army, 382.
they proclaimed him emperor ; and his ambition proved not only
his own ruin, but also that of his country : for having to oppose
the whole strength of the empire, chiefly with such succours as
this Island could afford, he stripped it of almost every man who
was capable of bearing arms. Shipping was provided by Maximus
to transport this immense army to the continent, where it was to
assert his cause : but when, after having killed the Emperor Gra- .
tian, he, himself, fell under the power of Theodosius, on the other
side of the Alps, the British youth, who found their way back to
the shores of the channel, seem to have wanted the means of con
veying themselves across it. However that may be, it is certain
that they did not return home, but estabhshed themselves on the
coast of Armorica;|| the country from which the main stock of
their ancestors originally came ;§ and which, from this circum
stance, acquired the name of Britanny ;! a name that it has ever
since borne.** The death of Maximus happened in the year 388, 388-
according to. some writers; in 392, according to others.
* Am. Marcel.
t Zozimus, whom Carte and Guthrie follow, says, he was a Spaniard ; but Gildas, our
best native historian, who calls him a Briton, deserves more credit, " Maximus a Britannia
oriundus." — Hen. Hunt. &c.
t "Vir strenuus et probus atque Augusto dignus; nisi contra sacramenti fidem per
tyrannidem emersisset in Britannia." — Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. 1, c.ix.
|| " Juventis quae comitata vestigiis supradicti tyranni, domum nusquam ultra rediit." —
Gildas, c. xi. " Hi s,unt Britones Armorici et nusquam reversi sunt ad proprjum solum
usque in hodiernum diem." — Nennius, Hist. Brit. c. xxm ; Hen. Hunt.
§ See p. 4. 1T La Bretagne.
** Geoffry of Monmouth and Cardinal Baronius, from an ancient MS., found in the
Vatican library, relate, that these British soldiers, when settled in Armorica, being desi
rous of having wives of their own nation, sent over to Britain for this purpose. Several
thousands of young women, some say 11,000, were accordingly collected together, and
put on board of vessels, to be conveyed to the new colony. Being under sail for the
Armorican ports, a violent storm arose from the west, in which some of the transports, with
all the women on board of them, were lost : the rest, being driven far to the east, were
forced to seek for refuge in a harbour at the mouth of the Rhine. Here they found two
famous pirates ; Malga, a Pict, and Gaunus, a Hun, with a fleet under their command.
In a word, these Christian heroines, persisting, with invincible fortitude, to defend their
honour, the lust of the barbarians was turned into fury ; and they accordingly put them all
to the sword. This the learned Cardinal supposes to be the true history of the celebrated
British virgins and martyrs, St. Ursula and her companions ; who are commemorated in
the ancient martyrologies ; and in whose memory churches were erected in Germany,
within two centuries after the period in question. He brings strong collateral proofs in
support of this history, which, it appears, he would not have admitted on the credit of

42 THE CITY PLUNDERED BY THE IRISH.
A. D. There is more reason for dwelling on this expedition, as, to the
388- consequences of it, in depriving Britain of her warlike youth, our
historians attribute her subsequent calamities;* which, there is
reason to suspect, were felt more severely in our city than in many
other parts. For now those numberless hordes of fierce and needy
barbarians, reaching from mount Caucasus to the Baltic sea, whom
the Roman armies had hitherto with so much difficulty restrained
within their bounds, having, at length, overcome all opposition,
came pouring in, hke an inundation, upon every part of the
eivihzed world; and, in the end, made a complete conquest of
Europe and Africa; until they met, in the remote parts of each, with
other barbarians still fiercer and poorer than themselves. It is not
likely that Britain, or at least the part that was opulent and eivi
hzed, should long escape a calamity which involved the rest of the
empire; nevertheless our historians are confident, that the Britons
would have repulsed their enemies, but for the aforesaid selfish
pohcy of the tyrant Maximus.t What is certain is, that at the time
395 of which we are speaking, namely, the end of the fourth century,
whilst the Goths and other barbarians were invading the heart of
the empire, the Scots, Picts, and Norwegians, with still increasing
numbers from Scandinavia, carried their victorious arms over the
northern provinces of this Island;! whilst the Irish, under their
king, Neil Nao-gaillae, landing in the west, spread desolation to
the very shores opposite to Gaul.|| In such a case, these free
booters were not hkely to neglect visiting a city so wealthy as
Venta then was. Hence we see the grounds for supposing that
our city was once possessed and plundered by the Irish.
It is true there was still a military establishment of Romans in
the Island; but this being much neglected, on account of the
state of affairs on the Continent, it was, in general, too weak and
too much divided, to be able to repress such powerful invasions.
The same circumstances gave rise to frequent seditions and rebel-
Geofiry alone.— Vide Notas Bellarmini in Martyrol. Roman. Oct. 21 ; also Annales and
Mat. West, ad an. 392. Other writers, as Usher, Cressy, and Butler, agree in the sub
stance of this story, but refer it to a later emigration of the Britons into Armorica.
* " Aquibis (militibus) spoliata emarcuit Britannia." — Hen. Hunt., Gildas, &c,
t " 0 Divimam, ob praeterita scelera vindictam ! O tot, per vesaniam Maxirni tyranni
bellicosorum militum absentiam !" — Joan. Fordun, Hist. Scot. 1. iu. c. x.
t Gildas, c. xi.
|| This fact is collected by Carte, from an ancient life of St. Patrick.— Gen. Hist, of
Eng. vol. I, p. 169. What, in some degree confirms it is a passage of Claudian, in which
he speaks of Ireland as bemoaning the loss of her Scottish sons, destroyed by Stilicho.
Now this destruction must have happened in Britain, as that general certainly never
invaded Ireland: " Scottorum cumulos flevit glaciaEs Ierne." Bede also mentions ' diffe
rent invasions of the Irish on the southern coast : " Revertuntur ergo impudentes grassa-
tores Hyberni domum : post non longum tempus reversuri. Picti in extrema parte insula;
tunc pnmum et deinceps quieverunt." — Bede, 1. i, c. xiv.

CONSTANS, THE MONK, MADE EMPEROR. 43
lions amongst the soldiers themselves ; so that they successively a. d.
set up three emperors in Britain, in defiance of the reigning em- 398*
perors, Arcadius and Honorius ; the former of whom governed the
East, the latter the West. These were Marcus,* Gratian,t and 407.
Constantine : the two former they murdered, after a few months
reign ; the last-mentioned, with his son Constans, acted a longer
and more remarkable part on the stage of human affairs ; and
which, from certain circumstances, requires to be mentioned in the
history of this city. The historians, who deserve the most credit,!
tell us, that Constantine was a man of mean birth, and of little
merit, who was chosen emperor merely on account of his name
being deemed auspicious ;|| that, instead of making head against
the barbarians, he imitated the conduct of his predecessor Maxi
mus, in draining the Island of all the youth in it, capable of
bearing arms ; whom he transported to the Continent, to fight his
battles there ; and that, hke Maximus, he met with some success
at first; but was, in the end, cut off and slain; whilst his troops, 411
like their former brethren, being unable to obtain a passage home,
were forced to retire to Armorica. They agree, also, that this
tyrant had a son, whose name was Constans, and who was by pro
fession a monk ; that, upon the appearance of his good fortune, he
withdrew this son from his sohtude, and created him, first Caesar,
and then Emperor; in which capacity he conquered Spain.
Other historians,§ whose account of these transactions differ from
that just delivered, in many particulars, agree in the circum
stance of Constans being a monk; they moreover add, that he
was a monk of St. Amphiballus, in this city. This event, of a monk
of Winchester church attaining to the dignity of Roman emperor,
(to which Camden ! and other great writers give credit), though,
in the end, his ambition proved fatal to him, is singularly interest
ing, and otherwise important, as it proves that our cathedral,
during this second foundation, was served by monks. **
The strength and courage both of the Romans and the Britons
being nearly exhausted, the former were now as desirous of aban
doning the Island, as they before had been eager to gain posses-
* Zozimus. t Bede, &c.
t Bede, Hen. Hunt. Zozomen. || Bede, ibid.
§ Galfrid., Mat. West, Diceto, Higden.
f Britannia, vide Winchester. For this fact, viz. that Constans was a monk of our
cathedral, Trussell cites the archives of the same.
** It is certain there were many other monasteries at this period in Britain ; as, for
example, those of Bangor, Glassenbury, Abingdon, &c. Of the first mentioned monas
tery, three abbots were famous; Pelagius, the heretic, A.D. 400; Gildas, the writer, in
550 ; and Nennius, the historian, in 620. In his time, viz. when this monastery was de
stroyed by king Edilfrid, its inhabitants were divided into seven bands, each of which
consisted of 300 monks, making in the whole 2,100 religious men.— Bede, 1. ii, c. u.

44 ROMANS FINALLY QUIT BRITAIN.
A.D. ion of it; whilst, on the contrary, the Britons evinced as much
1-v-' earnestness in retaining the Roman soldiers, as their ancestors had
418. formerly shewn in repelling them. In 418, the danger from the
barbarous invaders appears to have been so imminent and univer
sal, that the Romans, for the most part, quitted the Island in such
haste, as to leave their money behind them.* On two occasions,
420. however, about the year 420, at the earnest request of the Britons,
a legion was sent over to their assistance, which was of singular
service to them in repelling their invaders ;t but, having requested
446. the same favour a third time, in the year 446; Aetius, to whom
the petition was addressed, was, from the, circumstances of the
times, under the necessity of refusing to comply with it. ! Thus
this devoted people was left to the extremity of misery; being,
at the same time, a prey to famine and the sword;|| with no
other choice left, than to determine to which of their two enemies
it was better to abandon themselves; the cruel Picts, who laid
waste their country by land; or the fierce Saxons, who infested
their shores by piratical invasions.
* " Hoc anno, 418, Romani coacervarunt omnes, qui essent in Britannia, auri thesauros
ac partim in terram occultabant, ubi postea nullus invenire posset, partim in Galliam
secum asportarunt." — Chron. Sax. ex. vers. Gibsoni.
t Bede, 1. 1. c. xn. t Idem, 1. 1. c. xm.
Idem, l.i. c.xiv.

VORTIGERN CHOSEN KING. 45

CHAP. V.
The Saxons invited into Britain — A Western Chieftain, Vortigern,
is chosen King of the Britons. — Aurelius Ambrosius elected King
in the Place of Vortigern. — He resides in Venta. — His Bro
ther, Uther, succeeds him, and is there crowned. — Cerdic, the
Founder of the West Saxon Kingdom, lands at Cerdicshore. —
Reduces Venta and extirpates its British Inhabitants. — Condi
tion of Winchester, now re-peopled with Jutes. — Capital of the
West Saxon Kingdom.— Cerdic is crowned there. — Enters into a
Treaty with the British King, Arthur. — Fabulous History of the
latter refuted. — Sources of those Fables, and his Real History
traced. — Succession of West Saxon Kings. — Winchester, under
one of them, becomes the Metropolis of the Southern Part of the
Island. Upon the retreat of the Romans, the several provinces of Britain A. a.
fell under the dominion of different independent princes ;* until a ^,
sense of their common danger forced them to unite together in
choosing a general-in-chief or king, as their ancestors had done, at
Caesar's invasion, in order, the more effectually to concentrate
their force, and act in concert for their safety. It is natural to x
suppose that the prince of our western districtt was then the most
powerful man in the Island ; as he was able, without either pubhc
or private merit,! to command the voices at this meeting, and to
get himself chosen king. This was the noted Vortigern ; and, as
* We read at this time of Gundleus, Melianus, and other petty kings in Britain. — See
Capgrave, Aug. Sac.
t "Vortigernus Consul Gewissorum."— Mat. West,, Galfrid.
t Gildas, Gul. Malm., &c.

46 VENTA MADE THE METROPOLIS OF BRITAIN.
A. D. Venta was incontestably the chief city in his native domain, so it
446- may be considered as having risen, by this election, to the dignity
^^ of metropohs, or chief city, of the Island ; and this dignity it held
during the time that his power lasted. His notorious sloth and
sensuality lead us the more readily to beheve what certain writers
relate concerning his bad success against the northern nations;*
as, without such a situation of affairs, we can hardly suppose he
would have been able to persuade the general council of the
Britonst to invite and receive, with open arms, another hostile
nation, whose very name had hitherto struck them with dread.!
These were the Saxons ; who .were too well acquainted with the
local advantages of this Island, to refuse the offer of gaining a
449. settlement in it. They, accordingly, landed, in the year 449, in
the Isle of Thanet, (which was appointed for their place of abode,) ||
under the command of the brothers, Hengist and Horsa; and
they very soon justified the opinion which had been formed of
their valour, by defeating, with great slaughter, the Picts and
Scots, who had extended their invasion as far as Stamford, in Lin
colnshire^ On this occasion, the superiority of their battle-axes
and long swords, over the lances and darts of the Picts, was mani
festly displayed.! Having performed this service, they grow
turbulent, under a pretence that they are not furnished with pro
visions in a sufficient quantity; and are accused of a design to
seize upon the country for themselves. The Britons become
impatient, and depose the sensual Vortigern, who had been invei
gled to marry Hengist's daughter. His brave son, Vortimer, is
chosen to replace him, who soon brings on a battle with the
Saxons ; in which his brother Catigern, who, with Aurelius Am-
brosius,** commands under Vortimer, falls on one side ; whilst
Hengist loses his brother Horsa, on the other. tt Vortimer dies a
456. natural death in 456, upon which Vortigern regains his authority.
This event gives great hopes to the Saxons, who know how to
avail themselves of his slothful temper ; and who are accused of
owing their success as much to treachery as to valour ; particularly
* Certain Scotch writers affirm that he lost 20,000 men, with his general, Gurellus, in
a battle with their ancestors. — See Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 93,
t " Initur Consilium." — Gildas, c. xxii. " Placuit omnibus." — Hen. Hunt.
t " 0 desperabilem crudamque mentis hebitudinem ! Quos propensius morte, cum
abessent tremebant, sponte, ut ita dicam, sub unius tecti culmine invitabant."— GUdas,
c. xxm. II Wil. Malm., De Gestis Ang. 1. 1.
§ Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. u.
f Securibus gladiisque longis."— Hen. Hunt. ibid. Yet Hume, Hist, of England, c. I,
ascribes their success to the shortness of their swords '
** Ibid. tt Ibid.

VORTIGERN RESIGNS THE CITY TO THE SAXONS. 47
that tragical event at Amesbury, in which 300 * of the principal A. D.
Britons are, upon a signal given by Hengist, murdered with the ^
weapons from which the Saxons derive their name,t and the weak
monarch, Vortigern, is taken prisoner ; who, to recover his hberty,
is contented to resign to them three whole counties,! ani tne four
principal cities in the Island, London, Lincoln, Winchester, and
York. These they accordingly seize upon, and immediately pro
ceed to fill them with their sacrileges and cruelties; destroying
churches, profaning relics of the martyrs, burning the Holy
Scriptures, and murdering the clergy upon their altars. ||
The Britons never seem to have fought well until they were re
duced to the brink of despair. This was their present situation.
They accordingly elected for their general, the only man amongst 465.
them who was equal to so difficult a command ; and who appears
to have been brother to our above-mentioned celebrated monk and
emperor, Constans. § Marching, with courage and confidence,
under his command, they gained a signal victory over their terrible
enemies,! and appear to have entirely driven them from this city
* Florilegus makes their number amount to 460, but the account of the judicious Wil
liam of Malmsbury is here followed; who, though a declared enemy to the, fables of the
Britons, yet, by adopting this adventure, places it beyond all dispute. His words are,
" Interea Hengistus vicio quodani humani generis, ut quo plus habeas plus ambias, fraude ,
subornata, generum (Vortigernum) ad convivium, cum 300 suorum invitat, cumque fre-
quentioribus poculis invitatos ad tumultum anhnasset, et unumquemque ex industria, falsa
dicacitate, perstringeret, prim6 adjurgia, mox ad arma ventum est. Ita Britones ad
unum jugulati animas inter vina evomuere." — De Gestis, Reg. 1. 1. .
t It seems to be agreed, among the learned, (see Verstegan, p. 17, &c), that the Saxons
were so called from their crooked swords and daggers, which they termed Seares,
(whence our word axe) , such as the Germans are seen fighting with on Trajan's pillar.
Carte and Hume deny the whole of this history ; but, in their usual way, they have recourse
to ridicule for want of argument. The former says, that this story is borrowed from
Whitichindus, who relates it of the Thuringers ; but Nennius, who tells it of the Saxons,
lived three hundred years before Whitichindus !
t " Tribus Provinciis." — Gul. Malm.
|| Mat. West. ad. an. 462. The whole of this account is conformable to that of Gildas
and Bede. The latter says, " Proximas quasque civitates agrosque depopulans, ab orientali
mari usque ad occidentale, nullo prohibente, suum continuavit incendium, totamque prop-
insulae pereuntis superficiem obtexit. Ruebant aedificia publica simul et privata passim
sacerdotes inter altaria trucidabantur, &c." — Hist. Ecc. 1. 1. c. xm.
§ Bede and Gildas say, that he was almost the only man who remained in the Island
of the ancient Roman race ; that his parents had been honoured with the purple, and had >
been killed, whilst yet the Roman power prevailed. Now, it was only 50 years since Con
stantine, the father of the monk Constans, assumed the purple in Britain ; and the said
monk is reported by Zozomen, to have been the eldest of his sons. This opinion, con
cerning the pedigree of Ambrosius, is supported by Cressy and Speed out of ancient MSS.
The present happy choice of a general and a king happened only one year before the
miserable Vortigern was burnt to death in his castle in Wales, viz. in 466. N.B — This
account of the pedigree of Ambrosius, which the author first hazarded on mere conjecture,
he has since found to rest upon ancient authority. — Benedictus Claudiocestrensis in Vita
S. Dubritii, c. iv. Angl. Sac. vol. II. p. 656, says, "Ambrosio Aurelio filio Constantini,
&c, Now Gildas, Hist. c. xxv., speaks of the sons of Ambrosius as reigning, in his time,
in Wales. These appear to have been Cadwan and Cadwallo, from' whom the Tudors
derived their descent. Thus a collateral branch is added to the pedigree of her present
Majesty, and the history of our Winchester monk is seen in a more interesting point of
view. " If Bede, Hist. 1. l. c. xvi.

48 AURELIUS AMBROSIUS POISONED.
A. D. and neighbourhood ; where, of course, the Christian rites, and the
465 ¦ former government, were again estabhshed.* After this they con
tinued to engage the Saxons, with doubtful success, until the
493. famous battle of Bath, in 493,t in which the young hero, Arthur,
serving under the command of Ambrosius,! performed prodigies
of valour; || and the Pagan army was defeated with immense
slaughter. Upon this success, it appears that Ambrosius enjoyed an interval
of tranquillity, which he spent in this his western capital. At
least, here it was that the envious Pascentius, the third legitimate
son§ of Vortigern, found him ; by whom he was never forgiven for
having been preferred to himself in the succession of the crown.
Having, therefore, bribed a certain Saxon, by name Eoppa, to feign
himself a physician, he, by his means, poisoned this magnanimous
monarch;! who dying at Venta, was, nevertheless, said to have
been buried at The Choir of the Giants, as Stonehenge is generally'
termed by our ancient writers.** The valiant Ambrose being dead,
without leaving children, his brother Uther became heir to the
crown ; and accordingly hastened to this city,tt which appears to
* This appears by the subsequent history, and other circumstances.
t " xliv. anno adventus eorum in Angliam." — Gildas, Bede. Carte uses many argu
ments to prove that the Badonicus Mons, where this celebrated battle was fought, is not
the city of Bath, but a certain hill in Hampshire. He has, however, in this instance,
overlooked our most ancient historian, who says, " Usque ad annum obsessionis Badonici
Montis qui prope Sabrinum ostium habetur." — Gildas, cap. ult.
t " Intumescentes' barbaros eximU bellicosi Arthuri opera\ pressit. (Ambrosius.)" —
Gul. Malm. 1.1.
|| The British historians make him kill, in this battle, 840 men with his own hand.
§ He is said to have had an incestuous son by his daughter, concerning whose birth,
and that of Merlin, with other tales, told by Nennius and Geoffry, Ranulphus Higden
says, " Presenti historiae addidissem si ea veritate fulciri credidissem." — Polychron, c. v.
With respect, however, to the famous Merlin, since every one has heard of his prophecies,
we will extract from them, as a matter of curiosity, a few passages, chiefly relating to our
ancient city. " Vae Rubeo Draconi, (namely the Britons, whose ensign it was,) nam ex
terminate ejus festinat ; cavernas ejus occupabit albus draco, qui Saxones, quos invitasti
significat  Tres fontes in urbe Wintoniae errumpent, quorum rivuli insulam in tres
portiones secabunt. Qui bibet ex uno diuterniore vitii fruetur nee superveniente languore
gravabitur. Qui bibet de altera indeficiente peribet fame et in facie ipsius pallor et horror
sedebit. Qui bibet de tertio subitit morte morietur, nee corpus illius poterit subire
sepulchrum.  Accede Cambria et junge lateri tuo Cornubiam et die Wintoniae, absor-
bebit te tellus. Invidebit ergo Londonia, et muros suos tripliciter augebit," — Mat. West.
ad. an. 465. 1[ Galfrid., Mat. West., Ranulph.
** Those very historians who, as Geoffry, Mat. West., Ranulphus, &c, ascribe the
erection of this stupendous monument to Ambrosius, Uther Pendragon, and Merlin, in
memory of the slaughter of their countrymen, whjch took place near it, confute their
own account, in the name by which they call it, viz. Chorea sive Chorus Gigantum ; and
point out its original purpose, which was that of a choir or orchestra for the Druids or
Priests of the aboriginal inhabitants of this Island, whom the same writers always call by
the name of Giants. — See Mat. West. aet. in. Had Stonehenge been built at so late a
period, and for the purpose mentioned above, most certainly there would have been some
mark of Christianity found in it, and in the barrows with which it is surrounded ; the
skeletons also would have been found lying east and west, not north and south, as is the
case here. This is, generally, a sufficient mark for distinguishing the graves of Christians
from those of Pagans, at least in our northern countries.
tt Mat. West, ad diet an. ; Galfrid.

THE BRITISH CITY OF CAER ANDRED DESTROYED BY ELLA. 49
have been his principal seat of government ; where, calling together A- D-
the chief men of the kingdom, he was crowned with great pomp,* <-^L,
in the year of our Lord 498. On the same occasion, having seen '
certain meteors in the air, which to him appeared like two dragons'
heads, he caused two gilt ensigns of that form to be made : one of
which he placed in the cathedral church of this city,t the other he
carried with him as his standard in war.! From this circumstance,
it is probable that he derived the name of Pendragon, or Dragon
Head. But it is now time to look back to the affairs of the
Saxons. It does not appear that, after the election of Ambrosius, the
Saxons of Kent, under Hengist, or his son Esca, ever advanced
into the western parts of the kingdom. Whatever contests they
maintained with the Britons took place in the eastern and north
ern parts of the kingdom. Hence this city would have en
joyed a certain security, had not a new invasion of these enter
prising barbarians taken place in 4773|| at no great distance 477.
from it. The leaders of this expedition were Ella and his three
sons, Cymenus, Pleting, and Cissa.§ Ella's first effortsj^tere di
rected to gain a firm footing in the country in whiclrwie had
landed, and to form a communication with the Saxons of Kent,
who then formed a firm and compact kingdom under Esca, the
son of Hengist. This was acting in a more sure and regular
manner than pushing forward to Venta; which was the royal
residence, and strongly fortified. He, accordingly, marched east
ward, and finding the British city of Caer Andred to be the chief
obstacle to his junction with the forces of Esca, laid close siege
to it ; and having taken it, after an obstinate resistance, he razed it
to the ground, and put to death every inhabitant it contained.!
The whole south-east coast of the Island being now in the power
* Mat. West, addict, an.; Galfrid. t Ibid.
t Ibid. These facts relating to our city are inserted on the credit of the authors here
cited; because there is neither any more certain history, nor any probability against
them. As to certain circumstances related, in the History of Winchester, vol. II., p. 7,
concerning Uther's invention of the Round Table here, the burning of his palace, and the
presence of Joseph Arimathea, there is not the shadow of any ancient authority whatever
for them ; and with respect to some others there mentioned, viz. Uther's driving Cerdic
out of this city, and his marriage here with Ingern, they are directly contrary to all an
cient records. II Chron. Sax., Hen. Hunt., &c.
§ The first-mentioned of these three, gave his name to the place of their landing,
namely, Cymensore, on the peninsula of Selsea, in Sussex ; the last, to the city of Chi
chester, which was called, before, Regnum.
If Chron. Sax., Hen. Hunt.,&c. " Omnes ore gladii devorati sunt cum mulieribus et
parvulis, it* quod nee unus solus evasit. Et quia tot ibi damna toleravere extranei, ita
urbem destruxemnt ; quae numquam postea re-aedificata est. Locus tantum quasi nobilis-
simae urbis transeuhtibus ostenditur desolatus." — Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. n. This city was
termed, by the Saxons; Andredceaster ; and was situated, according to Camden, at New-
enden, on the river Rother, near the borders of Kent.
VOL. I. D

50 the SAXONS, UNDER ELLA, DEFEATED BY AMBROSIUS.
A- D- 0f the Saxons, the warhke Ella appears, next, to have directed his
^ arms northward; and, avoiding our city, which was still, probably,
too strong for him to attempt, he first fell upon Vindonum, or Sil
chester, where he exhibited the same scenes of ruthless cruelty and
destruction as at Andredceaster ; leaving nothing on the spot but
the bare city walls, without a house standing within them, and the
adjoining amphitheatre, to attest its former existence* Marching
forward, in the same direction, he next laid siege to the important
city of Bath;t where he met with that signal defeat from Ambro
sius, (who had marched to its relief, assisted by young Arthur),
which we have already mentioned ; and of which Gildas and the
the other British historians speak with so much rapture.
It was this defeat which arrested, for some time, the fate of our
city, and of the western cities in general. Ella was obliged to fall
back into his kingdom of Sussex; and the Britons might soon,
perhaps, have realized those complete conquests which their writers
ascribe to them, and have succeeded in driving the Saxons entirely
out of the Island, had it not been for another descent of a fresh
body ofAese people ; which, soon after, took place in the west, at
a convwRent distance from the kingdom of Ella. The leader of
this was Cerdic, a general illustrious for his descent from Woden,
and for the martial achievements which he had performed in his
own country.! Hearing, however, that a nobler scene was now
open to his valour in Britain, he embarked for that Island with his
son Cenric and a choice army, amounting to about the number of
15,000 men, in five long galleys, called cyules.|| Cerdic landed, in
* Nearly in this condition it still remains, a singular and interesting sight to the musing
antiquary. That it was destroyed by, the fierce Ella, in his march to Bath, in 493, there
is every reason to believe. We find it mentioned in the records of Roman transactions
down to the time of Constantine, the father of the reigning British king, Ambrosius ;
who is said to have been invested with the purple there, as Gervasius relates. After this
time it is never mentioned in the history of British and Saxon affairs, except by one or
two authors, who, contrary to all probability, as we shall shew, say, that Arthur was
crowned there.
t The truth of this statement, by which the siege of Bath, and the other attempts of
the Saxons in these counties at the time ii* question, are ascribed to Ella and the South
Saxons, is thus proved. The siege of Bath happened in 493, as Bede, Gildas, and
Ranulph expressly declare ; now, at that time, the great Hengist had been dead two or
three years, according to Hen. Hunt., Chron. Sax., and Randulph ; and his son, Esca, who
succeeded him, was contented with his paternal kingdom of Kent. " Eisc magis tuendo
quam ampliando regno intentus, pateijios limites nunquam excessit." — Gul. Malm. On
the other hand, Ella, who died in 514, was, by his military talents and exploits, then the
acknowledged head of the whole Saxon confederacy. '"Ella rex Australium Saxonum,
qui omnia jura regni Angloium, reges scilicet et proceres et tribunos in ditione suai tene-
bat."— Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1.' n. t Gul. Malm., De Gest. 1. 1, c. n.
|| Gul. Malm., also by Gildas, &c. It would exceed all belief, that such large armies,
as must have arrived from Germany to achieve the conquest of Britain, could have been
transported in so few vessels, if all onr historians were not unanimous as to the fact.
The first expedition under Hengist and Horsa, which conquered the Picts, sailed in three
vessels only ; each of which, according to Vcrstegan and his authorities, contained 3000

CERDIC, THE SAXON, APPROACHES VENTA. 51
the year 495, at a place which, from his name, was called Cerdic- A- D-
esora,* or Cerdicshore ;t where he found the Britons drawn up in ^,
battle to oppose him.! Having repulsed this army, he gradually
extended his conquests ; and, in six years, had carried his vic
torious arms over a great part of the west.|| In the course of
these conquests, in the year 501, a fresh body of Saxons landed 501.
at Portsmouth, from two greater galleys than any that had yet
been seen,§ under the command of Port! and his two sons, Ble-
da and Magla; who, having defeated the Britons immediately
opposed to them, and killed their general, took possession of the
adjacent country, which Port afterwards held in vassalage of Cer
dic.** Notwithstanding these repeated successes, by which the
dominions of Uther were so much contracted, it was not until the
year 508, when Cerdic, returning from the west, began to approach 508.
the capital city of Venta, that Uther' exerted himself in his own
defence. Then, however, he drew together a very large army, and
resolved upon hazarding a general action. Cerdic, on his part,
men. It is, however, to be considered, that these barbarians, being inured to hardships
of every kind, could subsist for a long time on a very small quantity of food ; and that
they required no other stores whatever than their arms. Their predatory expeditions, in
which a few men only were embarked in each ship, were carried on in vessels of a very
different kind, viz. mere skiffs, or truckle boats, made of wicker work, and covered with
hides ; their boldness in trusting to which, and their dexterity in managing them, were
the admiration of the civilized world.
" Quin et Aremoricus piratam Saxona tractus,
Sperebat ; (timebat) cui pelle salum suleare Britannum
Ludus, et assuto glaucum mare findere lembo." — Sidonius Apollinarius.
N.B. — The number of men, here assigned for Cerdic's army, brought over in five gallies,
is computed by that of Hengist's, which arrived in three gallies.
* Chron. Sax., Hen. Hunt. It is, with regret, we find ourselves obliged to oppose
the sentiment of so illustrious, a topographer as Camden ; but this is unavoidable, when
we find him placing this Cerdicshore on the coast of Norfolk. — See Britannia, Yarmouth.
In opposition to this, we must observe, that no ancient author, whatever, hints that Cerdic
either embarked a second time to arrive at the western coast, or that he earned his victo
rious arms from the eastern to the western shore of the Island. On the contrary, they
agree, that he took possession of the sea-coast where he landed ; and from thence gradu
ally extended his territory. — Hen. Hunt., Mat. West. 2ndly. — When Withgar and Stuffa
brought reinforcements to their uncle, Cerdic, the latter was certainly in the west ; and
Mat. West, expressly says, they landed "in the west part of Britain;" now the Saxon
Chronicle and Huntingdon as possitively affirm that they landed at Cerdicesora. . It will
be asked, where then is this celebrated post, from which the kingdom of the West Saxons
took its beginning? Gibson, in Chron. Sax., mentions that some learned men have
supposed it to be Calshot, quasi Caldshore, at the entrance of the Southampton
river. More probably it was at Hengisburyhead, near Charford, or Cerdicesford ; where
a tradition of the inhabitants still testifies that a battle was fought between the Saxons
and Britons, similar in its circumstances to that which took place at the landing of Cerdic.
Perhaps, however, the opinion of Carte may be right, who thinks the place in question, is
Charmouth, in Dorsetshire ; a place afterwards famous for hostile invasions.
t Chron. Sax., Hen. Hunt. In 494 secundum Westm.
t Hen. Hunt., Gul. Malm. II Chron. Sax.
§ " Venerunt cum duabus navibus maximus." — Hen. Hunt. .
^ Hen. Hunt., Mat. West., &c, maintain, that Portsmouth derives its name from this
Saxon general, Port. Camden rejects this derivation ; but his arguments, on the subject,
are far from being conclusive.
** Rudborne.
D 2

52 THE BRITONS, UNDER NATANLEOD, DEFEATED BY CERDIC.
«
A.D. being sensible of his danger, procured reinforcements from King
^j Esca, in Kent ; from King Ella, in Sussex ; and from Port, at
Portsmouth.* He marshalled his army in two divisions ; one of
which he commanded himself, the other he committed to his son,
Cenric. The British army formed one body, under the direction
of Natanleod; whom some writers call the general of Uther,
others describe as being Uther himself.t The battle, was fought
with great obstinacy on both sides. At first the Britons succeeded
in turning the division which Cerdic commanded in person ; but
the other division under Cenric, at that moment, falhng upon them
in the rear, they were defeated with the loss of 5000 men, amongst
whom was their general, Natanleod. The scene of this important
action was in the New Forest; all which distriet was, during
several succeeding ages, called after the name of the monarch who
was slain, and had probably been encamped there a long time be
fore ;! as the ford on the river Avon, where the battle was fought,
derived its name from the conquering general. ||
It is probable that the auxiliary troops were withdrawn after this
battle ; and that Cerdic was under the necessity of sending to Ger
many for* a military reinforcement, before he undertook the siege
S14- of the royal city of Venta. Certain it is, that, in the year 514, a
reinforcement, which landed at the above-mentioned port of Cer
dicshore, arrived to his assistance, under the conduct of his'
nephews, Withgar and Stuffa, in three galleys ; § and, after some
* Hen. Hunt.
t The Saxon Chronicle terms him "Rex;" Hen. Hunt., " Maximus Regum." Hence
Usher, and other moderns, suppose all that is said concerning Uther's sickness, and his
sending his general Natanleod in his place, to be a fiction of the British writers, who were
unwilling to allow that their king himself was killed in battle by the Saxons ; on the
contrary, they suppose that Natanleod, or rather Natan, was the real name of the suc
cessor of Ambrosius, and that of Uther (terrible), to be only a cognomen.
t The Saxon Chronicle says, " Cerdic and Cenric interfecerunt Natanleod, a quo tem
pore regio ea nuncupatata est Natan-leag usque ad Cerdicesford."— Idem, fere Hen.
Hunt., &c. Now leag means uncultivated land, (Verstegan), and only describes the
nature of the country ; the whole question, then, amongst antiquaries and topographers
is, what country continued to be called, during the course of many centuries, after the
name of the aforesaid British general, Natan ? Camden says, that he has " sought but
cannot find any footsteps of that name." Gibson, in his additions to Camden, fancies he
has found these traces in Netley or Nutley. Carte spends several of his folio pages to
prove the same of Tanley ; all of which are mere villages, and at a great distance from
the place of Natan's death. To clear up this doubtful and contested point, we are to
observe, 1st. — That the place in question was a large district, " Regio," and that the
same was uncultivated. 2ndly.- — That the district of the New Forest, in the pronuncia
tion of its ancient Saxon name, Utene, bears a great affinity with Natan, pronounced
NcEtan, " Nova Foresta, quae lingua Anglorum Ytene nuncupatur." — Simeon Dunelm.
and Joan. Brumpton, ad. an. 1100. 3rdly. — That the New Forest docs, in fact, reach up
to Charford, on the Avon ; as we are informed the districtdid,,of which we are in search.
|| Certicesford, Hen. Hunt., Chron. Sax., &c. Charford, Camden. It seems uncer
tain whether this place received its name from this first victory of Cerdic, or from a
second, which Henry of Huntingdon expressly says he gained here over the same enemy,
in the seventh year of his reign, in 526.
§Chron. Sax., Kanulph., &c.

VENTA DESTROYED BY THE SAXONS. 53
ineffectual opposition, on the part of the Britons, effected a June- a.d.
tion with him. The British writers,* who boast of some splendid 515,
victories gained by Uther, (whom they maintain to have been still
alive, though very infirm, and even to have commanded his army
from a litter,)t nevertheless agree with our Saxon historians,! tnat
after this junction with his nephews, Cerdic became exceedingly
formidablejftnarching wherever he pleased without opposition. ||
This then was the period, namely, 515 or 516, that our city un
derwent the most terrible revolution which it has ever yet experi
enced, by falhng into the hands of this fierce Pagan conqueror.
In fact, we find him, in the latter of these years, completing his 516.
devastations and sacrileges in it.§
To form a proper idea of what has just been said, we are to ob
serve, that the wars of our fierce ancestors were not so much wars
of conquest, as of destruction and extermination. Unacquainted,
on one hand, with the arts and conveniences of eivihzed life,
wherever they conquered, they burnt or destroyed the temples or
churches, the baths, the porticoes, and other magnificent buildings,
whether pubhc or private ; together with the tessellated pavements,
statues, pictures, and elegant furniture, which the Romans, as we
have remarked,! introduced amongst the eivihzed Britons. Equal
ly insensible, on the other hand, to the feehngs of compassion, it
was their general custom to put to death, not only the enemies
who bore arms against them, but also their very women and chil
dren, when they fell into their hands. The impartial Gildas, not
more severe with respect to the crimes of his enemies than of those
of his countrymen, draws a frightful picture of city walls and gates
beaten down with, battering rams ; of streets blocked up with the
ruins of fallen buildings,' or rendered impassable by numberless
fires enkindled to destroy the edifices ; of mangled carcases strewed
along the highways, and left to be devoured by birds and beasts ;
and of sacred altars besmeared with blood, and covered with pieces
{ oi human flesh, amidst the glittering weapons of the exulting vic
tors:** all which horrors, he tells us, everywhere followed the
conquests of our unenhghtened and unfeeling ancestors. This
author, with whose statements those of Bede, and of our other an
cient authors, in generah^jagreett as to the substance of the history,
admits, indeed, that a few of the Britons were spared, upon condi
tion of their remaining perpetual slaves to the Saxons; but he
* Galfrid., Mat. West.ad. an. 512, &c.
t Mat. West. ad. an. 512.
t Hen. Hunt., Chron. Sax., Gul. Malm. II Galfrid., Mat. West.
§ Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1. n, c. i. U Supra, p. 20. ** Gildas, Hist, c.xxiv.
tt Bede, Hist. Eccl. 1. i, c. xv. ; Mat. West. ad. an. 511.

54 VENTA DESTROYED BY THE SAXONS.
A. D. assures us that this was considered as a very high favour.* It is
516- true we have not the detail of the conquest of our city, any further
than that the monks, who served the cathedral, were all murdered ;
and that the church itself was profaned and turned into a heathen
temple ;t but we have no reason to suppose that it was treated
more favourably than other cities which were taken by the Sax
ons. On a prior occasion,! it na(l been given up to them by
treaty, and therefore met with a degree of favour ; but now, having
been reduced by force, it felt the whole weight of their merciless
fury. After this great revolution, little remained of the former city ex
cept the situation, a great part of the walls, and some of the
houses, adequate to the small number of the victorious people that
could be spared to replace the former inhabitants. These were
chiefly of the nation called Jutes,|| who had come over with Stuffa
and Withgar in the last mentioned expedition ; and of others, of
each sex, who were probably sent for from Jutland, to take posses
sion of this important place. Its magnificent cathedral, instead of
being employed in the worship of the true God, to whom it had
* Gildas, Hist. c. xxv.
t Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1. n, c. i. He says, that it was turned into a temple of Da
gon; by which deity we are to understand Thor, the chief God of the Saxons.
t After the massacre at Stonehenge, (see p. 47).
|| All our historians agree in distinguishing the present invaders of this Island into three
tribes: the Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes. The Saxons, according to Ethelward's
description, came from between the Rhine and the Elbe ; the Angles, from between the
Elbe and the Baltic ; and the Jutes, whom he calls Giotti, and Bede Vitae, from the pe
ninsula of Jutland. These historians equally agree, that the last-mentioned tribe, besides
peopling the county of Kent and the Isle of Wight, formed a distinct nation or tribe on
the coast directly opposite to that Island, on the coast of Hampshire. " De Vitarum
origine sunt Cantuarii et Vectuarii ; hoc est, gens, quae usque hodie in provincia occiden-
talium Jiaxonum, Vitarum natio nominator, posita contra ipsa insulam Vectam." — Bede,
Ecc. Hist. 1. 1, c. xv. Now what people of any such name was ever found in this country
except the Vitti, or Gevissi ? (Ge being a mere expletive, as Verstegan proves, p. 172)
mentioned by Bede, 1. in, c. vii; and Rudborne, 1. u, c. I. On the other hand, it is
plain, from both these authors, and from Mat. West. ad. an. 44, that our city formed part
of the territory, and was even the capital of the Gevissi. Hence it is clear, that this city
was peopled, as stated above, by the Jutes. Hence, also, we are enabled to confute the
fabulous etymology of this name, given by Rudborne and others ; who derive it from the
pretended daughter of the Emperor Claudius, called Gevissa, whom Arviragus is supposed
to have married. But though these invaders formed three different tribes, yet there is
every reason to suppose, from the identity of their language, manners, and religion, and
still more from the circumstance of their respective leaders claiming a common descent
from Woden, that they were all originally the same people ; being a horde of the GetE or
Goths, who had been conducted by Woden, the Odin of the Runic Bards, from the Pa-
lus Maiotis to the shores of the Baltic and the German Ocean. This must have happened
about the time of our Saviour, Christ; as Cerdic is stated, by Malmsbury, to be the tenth
in descent from Woden. According to this account, which agrees with that of the nor
thern writers in general, it appears, that the Jutes, having retained their original name
i fc WtK- the cmef aud most resPectable of the three kindred tribes. It is probable
also, from their having penetrated further north than the others, that they were the most
valiant ; and that they were the most handsome, is generally allowed by those who have
seen their descendants iu the Isle of Wight; where they have remained ever since, in a
great measure, undisturbed and unmixed.

CERDIC CROWNED KING OF THE WEST SAXONS, IN THIS CITY. 55
been dedicated, was now made subservient to the gloomy and im- A> D-
pure rites of Thor, Woden, Frea, and Tuisco.* Its arts and splen- ^
dor, its commerce and manufactures, were no more. The loss of
these, however, was not felt by barbarians, who studied no other
art, but that of war ; and who knew no other pleasures, than those
of the sensual appetite. Amongst other changes, which now took
place with respect to it, was that of its name : it was no longer call
ed Caer Gwent, or Venta Belgarum, but Wintanceaster,t now con
tracted into Winchester : the name which it has ever since borne,
and which is expressive of its former importance as a Roman
station. Still Winchester, under all its disadvantages, was the chief city
of the most powerful king in the Island. Accordingly, having re
solved, in the most pubhc and solemn manner, to declare himself
monarch of the western kingdom, Cerdic assembled the chief of his
subjects in this city, and caused himself to be crowned, in the new
temple of Thor, late the cathedral church,! with the usual ceremo
nies of his nation. 1 1 This important transaction took place in the
year 519 ;§ from which year all our ancient historians! date the 519-
beginning of the West Saxon kingdom: a kingdom which, even at
its first beginning, was paramount to the other Saxon states, and
which, in the end, was destined to swallow up the whole heptarchy.
Cerdic being firmly seated in his West Saxon kingdom, went on
enlarging it,** not however without frequent combats. One battle,
in the year 520,tt is particularly noticed by the British historians ; 520.
in which Colgrin, Cheldric, and Baldulf, Saxon chiefs, who appear
to have been the allies, if not the generals, of Cerdic, were defeated
at Bannesdown, near Bath, by the same renowned Arthur, who
already, twenty-seven years before, when serving under his uncle
* Deities of the Jutes and Saxons, from whom four days of the week in our language
derive their names.
t Bede writes it rather differently, " In civitate Venta, quae a gente Saxonum Vintan-
cestir appellator."— -Ecc. Hist, in, c. vm. We find it also written, by ancient authors,
Winteceaster, PVinceagter, and Wincester, (see Gibson ad Calcem Chron. Sax. p. 50.)
but never Wittanceaster ; as the anonymous author of the History of Winchester, vol. I,
p. 1, and vol. II, p. 9, erroneously writes it; both as to the orthography, and the form of
the first letter.
t Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1. 11, c. 1.
|| " More gentili."— Rudb. ibid, item Ranulph. Higd. ad. an. 544. The custom of _ the
Saxons, in crowning then- kings, was, probably, the same with that of their former neigh
bours, the Franks ; who caused their sovereign to stand upon a shield, and to be thus
carried about upon men's shoulders.
If "Regnum Westsexe incipit an. 519.— Hen. Hunt., Chron. Sax., Chron. Joan. Wal-
lingford, &c. . . . „
** " Fortitudo Certici terribilis facta est et pertransiit terrain in fortitodine gravi.
— Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. 1.
W Mat. West, ad diet an., Nennius, Henry of Huntingdon.

56 SOUTHERN AND WESTERN COUNTIES CEDED TO CERDIC.
A- D- Ambrosius, had forced the Saxons to raise the siege of that city.
^J In return, Cerdic, with his son Cenric, engaging the Britons, on the
same spot in the New Forest, where Natanleod had been defeated,*
gained a second victory. In the end, Arthur, being unable to sus
tain the war any longer in this part against so powerful an enemy,
entered into a treaty of peace with him; making a formal surrender
to Cerdic of the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Wiltshire^and Somer
setshire, which appear to have been already, in a great measure, in
his possession.t Our historian adds, that Mordred, being desirous
of strengthening his party against Arthur, whom in his absence he
had supplanted, both in the possession of his kingdom, and in the
affections of his wife, transferred to Cerdic his right to the three
remaining western counties, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Corn
wall; ! throughout all which extensive domain Cerdic either killed
or banished the Christian Britons, except in Cornwall, where he
left to the inhabitants the enjoyment of their government and reh
gion, under the condition of an annual tribute. || The place of the
Britons, whom death or exile had removed, was supplied by Saxons,
who still continued to flock from Germany.
Having perused our account of this memorable period, it will be
asked, by many an admirer of the Antiquities of Winchester,
" What then becomes of the boasted feats of the renowned Arthur,
which are said to have taken place in this ancient city, and have
hitherto been considered as its chief glory ? of the castle which he
built ?§ of the Round Table which he erected, and which is still
pointed out there?! of four-and-twenty knights installed; with
their splendid tilts and tournaments held there?** of his institu
tion of parliaments, and of oaths of allegiance ?tt and, lastly, of the
dreadful battle fought between Arthur and his nephew, Mordred,
on the adjoining downs, called Magdalen-hill; and of the final
triumph of this first Christian worthy?"!!
To these questions, the historian, who is mindful of his first
duty, the duty which he owes to truth, |||| will be forced to answer,
that the erection of the Castle of Winchester ; tbe invention of the
Round Table, with the other ceremonies of chivalry ; as, also, the in-
* Chron. Sax. ad diet. an. "Anno nono regni ejus pugnaverunt iterum contra Bri-
tannos apud Certicesford." — Hen. Hunt.
t "Pertaesus Arthurus cum Cerciico deinceps praelia inire, faedus cum illo pepegit
datis sibi Hampshiria, Suthreia, Wyltshira, Somersetouia." — Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. u, c. I;
Higd., ad an. 544. J Rudb. ibid. || Ibid.
§ Rev. Tho. Warton's Description ; Hist of Winchester, vol. II, p. 7 ; Trussell, MSS.
If Idem, Drayton, Harding, &c. ** Idem.
tt Hist, of Winchester, vol. Hp.8; Trussell.
tt Idem, Lambard, cited by Trussell.
IIII " Ne quid falsi dicere audeat," — Cic.

ARTHUR CHOSEN KING OF THE BRITONS.

57

stitution of parhaments ; are of a later date, by many centuries, than A. D.
the age of Arthur ; and that the exploits of this valiant hero and ^r~J
true patriot, which, according to an ancient and judicious Saxon
writer, were worthy to be recorded in the faithful page of history,*
have been degraded by absurd and romantic fables, originating in
national and local prejudices on one side ; and in ignorance and
carelessness, in confounding dates and places, on the other. Let us
try if it be not possible to disperse the mists which hang over this
most obscure part of our history ; and, by suppressing the roman
tic exaggerations of our British bards,t to make the substance of
their history agree with the sober relation of our judicious and im
partial Saxon writers. It is not less the duty of the faithful histo
rian to divest his subject of the false honours it wears, than it is to
adorn it with those which actually belong to it.
Uther Pendragon is stated to have died at St. Alban's, about the
time that Cerdic became master of Winchester,! in the year 516, 516.
not without suspicion of having been poisoned by the Saxons. ||
On this occasion, the celebrated St. Dubritius, Bishop of Caerleon,
and predecessor, in the metropolitical dignity, to the great St. Da
vid, being anxious to procure a prop to his falhng country,§ called
a meeting of the British grandees and prelates, in a place the most
safe from the incursions of the Saxons, namely, at Caer Seiont,
near the modern town of Carnarvan;! where Arthur, who had
* "Hie est Arthurus de quo nugae Britonum delirant: dignus plane quem non fallaces
fabulae, sed veraces historiae praedicareut."— Gul. Malm., De Gestis Keg. Angl. 1. i.
t The history of Geoffry of Monmouth was chiefly collected from the songs of the
bards, by Walter of Oxford, who wrote it in the British language. Being understood by
very few in this language, Geoffry translated it into Latin ; on which it occasioned a vio
lent outcry amongst the learned ; as may be gathered from Malmsbury, Higden, Rud
borne, and even Giraldus, de Illaudab. Walliae, c. n, chiefly on account of the extravagant
things related of King Arthur : and the translator himself was surnamed, in derision,
Geoffry ap Arthur. Other ancient writers, as Mat. West., Diceto, &c, adopted this his
tory, in a great measure, but so as to qualify and change many circumstances related in it.
t The concurring authority of all ancient writers, whether British or Saxon, who
relate the history of this time, in distinguishing between Uther and Natanleod, must
outweigh the conjecture of Usher, who supposes them to be the same person; a conjec
ture which is built upon the single circumstance of the latter being called a king ; which
word we often find used, in the British history, to denote a general-in-chief.
|| The circumstances of this alleged treachery prove that the report of it originated in
the envy and malice of the Britons. They pretend that their enemies sent emissaries to
infuse poison into the famous fountain of St. Alban, in the city of that name, out of which
Uther was accustomed to drink. — Mat. West., ad. an. 516.
§ Vita S. Dubritii apud Capgrave. — Joan. Fordun, Scot. Hist. 1. n, c. xxv.
% Here occurs one of those errors, which was occasioned by ignorance or inattention,
in distinguishing between places of the same name. Geoffry of Monmouth and Benedict
of Gloucester say, that a general meeting of the Britons was held at Silchester, in which
Arthur was elected king. Now it is very improbable that such a congress could have taken
place so near to the capital city of Cerdic, (had Silchester been then in existence, which it
was not) at a time when, according to Mat. West, himself, Cerdic carried his victorious
arms wherever he pleased. But, as we have observed, Geoffry's history was collected
from records in the British tongue ; and, in this tongue, there were two cities of the name
of Caer Seiont; one near the modern town of Carnarvan, the other on the borders of

58 ARTHUR MAKES PEACE WITH CERDIC.
A- D- already given such pregnant proofs of his military talents, was cho-
¦~^J sen king,* notwithstanding the illegitimacy of his birth, in prefe-
ence to Mordred and Galwan,t the children of his legitimate sister,
Anne, by Lothus, a Scottish chieftain. His conduct justified the
expectations that were formed of him. For several years, he up
held his country from sinking,! an(l routed different bodies of the
Saxons, both to the north and to the south of Wales, which was his
pecuhar domain, as being now almost the only part of South Britain
which they had not overrun. Twelve of his victories are peculiarly
celebrated; || the last of which was his forcing the Saxons, for the
second time, to raise the seige of Bath.§ In acheiving these con
quests, he was assisted not only by his own forces, but by auxiliary
troops, which he procured from his allies, both within and without
the Island ; particularly from Hoel, the King of Brittany.! We
have proofs, which have been stated above, that, after many severe
battles, Arthur made peace with Cerdic, the most powerful of the
Saxon kings; and, it is probable, that he also entered into treaties
with the other princes of the same nation, upon honourable terms.
This then was the period of those magnificent solemnities and feats
of arms, which we read of his celebrating;** particularly of one of
these at Pentecost, at which he was solemnly crowned;tt four of
his vassal princes carrying swords of gold before him.!! These
solemnities, in after times, agreeably to the customs then prevaihng,
Hampshire. In consequence of this identity of names, they both laid claim to have the
sepulchre of Constantius within their respective walls.— See Camden's Britannia, Hamp
shire and Carnarvaushire. Now that meeting of the Britons, in 516, which could not
have taken place in the south of England, was very likely to have taken place in the north
of Wales.
* Mat. West, makes Arthur to be only fifteen years old at the time of his election ; at
which age it is diflicult to conceive that he could have already proved himself possessed of
the talents necessary to govern a kingdom, or have commanded the armies in chief of
different British kings, as Nennius tells us he had done, Hist. c. lxii.— It is possible,
however, that he was of this age when he signalized himself at the first battle of Bath.
t Joan. Fordun, Scot. Hist. 1. in, c. xxiv.
t "Quippe qui labantem patriam sustinuerit, infractos civium animos ad bellum
acuerit." — Gul. Malm., De. Gest. Reg.
|| Nennius, Hen. Hunt., Ranulph., &c.
§ We have' proved, from Gildas, that the first battle of Badon was at the city itself of
Bath; and not, at a certain Mons Badonicus, on the borders of Berkshire, as Carte pre
tends. It is equally clear, from Benedict of Gloucester, that the second battle was at the
same city. " Urbem Badonis obsidione valiant."— In Vita S. Dubritii. This second de
feat of the Saxons, at Bath, is the more probable, as, without some such event, it is diffi
cult to conceive that it should not have fallen into the hands of Cerdic, with the rest of the
county of Somerset. Now, we are assured that this city was not reduced under the
power of the West Saxons until the reign of Ceaulin
1[ Mat. West., Ben. Claud., Galfrid.
** " Tunc invitatis quibusque magnificis ex regnis longe positis, tantam in domo sua
caepit habere facetiam, ut in mduendo, sive in armo ferendo, loquendo et se gerendo longe
manentes populos ad aemulationem sui provocaret."  Mat. West an 523
tt Benedict. Claud, in Vit. Dubrit. Angl. Sac. vol. II, p. 659.
tt Ibid.

MORDRED USURPS THE CROWN. 59
were described to be tilts and tournaments.* The actual scene of A- D-
these, and the place where Arthur usually kept his court, was either
Caer Gwent itself, (the Caer Gwent of Monmouthshire, Venta Silu-
rum,)t or the adjoining city of Caerleon, in Wentsend; that is to
say, the territory of Venta, as the whole country thereabout was
called.! The former of these cities, in process of time, being quite
destroyed, and the latter reduced to a mere village, the splendid
scenes, with which Arthur had ennobled them, were, through igno
rance or flattery, transferred to our Caer Gwent, at a time when it
was one of the most important cities in the Island. || The same
season of peace allowed Arthur the necessary leisure for making a
pilgrimage of devotion to the Holy Land.§ This journey afforded
sufficient materials for the bards, whom Geoffry copies, to work up
into the most extensive conquests; they, accordingly, represent their
hero as having subdued all the countries through which he passed.
During his absence he committed the regency of his kingdom to
his nephew, Mordred; who, considering the crown as his due, in
right of his mother, took measures to secure it, as well as the affec
tions of his aunt, Queen Guenhumara, to himself. His most im
portant proceeding was to strengthen himself, by making a treaty
with King Cerdic! These particulars coming to the knowledge of
Arthur, he hastens home, and endeavours, in the first place, to gain
possession of his capital, and of his queen; who, dreading the effects
of his displeasure, takes refuge, and puts on the rehgious veil, in the
famous Abbey of St. Julius, at Caerleon.** He hastens to the
* Harding, Drayton, Trussell.
t Antoninus, Itiner. ; Camden, Britan. Monmouthshire.
t Ibid. "Beatus igiter Dubritius, quoniam in sua diocesi curia (Arthuri) tenebatur," &c.
St. Dubritius was bishop of Caerleon, in which diocese, at the distance of eight or ten miles,
the Caer Gwent in question was seated. Giraldus Cambrensis descibes Arthur as keeping
his court, and receiving foreign ambassadors, at Caerleon itself.— See Camden's Mon
mouthshire. *
|| Whenever the name, Caer Gwent, occurred in the British songs or records, it was, of
course, written in Latin, Venta or Wintonia, by Geoffry, Mat. of Westminster, &c;
which appellations, at the time we are speaking of, were exclusively applied to our city.
An opinion having thus prevailed that King Arthur had kept his court here, the ancient
castle was assigned for his place of residence; which, in the next place, it was asserted he
had built. Of course he was said to have set up the Round Table which was found there.
— See John Stow, Annals^&c.
§ Nennius, who boasts of Arthur's victories at home, but seems not to have heard of
any conquests abroad, nevertheless speaks of his pilgrimage: "Nam Arthurus Jerosolimam
perrext et crucem ad quantitatem salutiferae cruris fecit." — Hist. Brit. c. lxiii.
U Mat. West., Higden, Rudborne.
** Mat.West. ad. an. 541. That there was a nunnery dedicated to St. Julius, the British
martyr, in the city of Caerleon, is attested by Benedict, Ang. Sac. vol. II, p. 659; also by
Giraldus, quoted in Camden's Monmouthshire. Now it was an easy matter for the queen
to fly from the Gwent or Vintonia of Monmouthshire to Caerleon, but a very difficult one
to get thither from our city, especially in the situation of affairs in which this is said to
have happened.

60 ARTHUR DIES AND IS BURIED AT GLASSENBURY.
A- D- Caer Gwent,* which is ignorantly supposed to be our city ;t a bat
'~y~' tie, which is, therefore, stated to have happened on Magdalen-hill,!
ensues before it;|| Arthur is victorious, but is, soon after, griev
ously wounded in a second battle, in which Mordred loses his life.§
Finding his end approaching, Arthur gives up his kingdom to his
relation Constantine ; and retires, with the utmost secrecy, to pre
pare himself for death, amongst the sohtaries of Glassenbury;!
who appear, by some means or other, to have met with protection
or connivance in the worst of times.** Here he dies in so much
obscurity, that his credulous countrymen will hardly admit the
fact of his being dead,tt until his tomb is discovered in the reign of
Henry II4I
It is necessary to clear up one more mistake of certain ancient
as well as modern writers,|||| which has served to perplex the his
tory of this city with improbability and fable. We learn, from an
historian, who for his impartiality, as well as for his antiquity and
means of information, is above all exception,§§ that Constantine,
now King of the Britons, contrary to an oath which he had given
for their protection, killed two royal youths, who must have been
the sons of Mordred, at the altar of a certain church, to which they
had fled for the benefit of sanctuary, under the very amphiballus
or surplice of a holy abbot, which he had extended over them.!!
The ambiguity of the word amphiballus,*** which signifies a large
* "Arthurus furibundus Wintoniam properans, Mordredum infra eandem obsedit." —
Mat. West.
t Trussell's MSS., Hist, of Winchester, vol. II. p. 9.
II Idem. + Mat. West.
§ Annales Menevenses, Mat. West., Higden.
1[ Annales Menevenses, Mat. West., Antiq. Glassen.
** Antiq. Glassen., Cressy, Ch. Hist.
tt "Quia Britannica historia de ejus (Arthuri) morte niljsertum tradidit, Britones
adhuc eum vivere delirant." — Radb., Diceto De Reg. Brit.
tt Idem, Girald. Cambren., Higden, Camden. The writers of the History of Winchester,
more romantic than Geoffry himself, but less excusable, because they propagate the most
revolting falsehoods, without the shadow of authority, make Cerdic gain possession of this
city; cause him to be driven out of it by Pendragon; then tell us he killed Arthur in battle,
and became master of it a second time. — Vol. II. p. 6, 9.
IIII Mat.West.; John Stow, Annals.; Trussell; Hist, of Winchester.
§§ Gildas.
TIIT " Post horribile juramenti sacramentum, quo se devinxit (Constantinus) nequaquam
dolos civibus facturum, in duarum venerandis matrum sinibus, ecclesiae, carnalisque, sub
Sancti Abbatis amphiballo, latera regiorum tenerrima puerorum — ^laceravit." — Epistola
Gildae, Increpatio in Constan.
*** Amphiballus, a cloak which encompasses the body on both sides, and is not barely
thrown over one shoulder like the toga. Such were the sheep skins, which the monks or
hermits originally wore for their outside dress, when they met at their devotions, and
which, therefore, obtained the name of superpeliceum. It has been thought, by some
critics, but without sufficient grounds, that Amphiballus was not the real name of the priest
who converted St. Alban; and who, being martyred soon after him, became the ancient
patron saint of our church. Certain it is that some martyrs, whose names were unknown,
have been inserted in the calendar by a name drawn from some adventitious circumstance,
as, for example, St. Adauctus. — See Martyrolog. Rom.

CERDIC DIES AND IS BURIED IN THIS CITY. 61
mantle, such as the monks surplices were ; and which, also^ was A. D.
the name of the saint to whom our cathedral had been dedicated, '-Y-'
has given occasion to these writers to represent this tragedy as
having taken place in our cathedral, at a time when Constantine
could not have dared to come within fifty miles of the city ; and
when the church of St. Amphiballus, with its abbot and its
monks, no longer existed ; a temple of Dagon having been set up
in its place.*
.Thus, in endeavouring to disengage the antiquities of our city
from the fables, with which they have hitherto been disfigured, we
have, at the same time, disentangled one of the most perplexed
periods of our national history ; and reconciled, in a certain degree,
the British with the Saxon historians. Tbe existence and the feats
of Arthur, to the extent and in the places which have been here
assigned to them, are reconciled with probabihty ; but it is proved
that these have no immediate relation with our city.
In the mean time Cerdic continued to sway the sceptre of the
West Saxon kingdom ; and to exercise, from his capital of Win
chester, a kind of limited authority over the other princes of his
nation. Having now no enemies to contend with, in the main
Island, he passed over, with his son, Cenric, and an immense
army,t into the Isle of Wight, where he slaughtered, to a man,
the wretched inhabitants,! who were assembled together at Cares-
brook, in their own defence ; and supphed their place with a colony
of Jutes,|| over whom he placed his nephews, Withgar and Stuffa.§
This took place in the year 530;! four years after which this 530'
mighty conqueror and founder of a new kingdom departed this
hfe, and was buried at his capital city in the cathedral church, or
rather in the temple of Thor, which it was now become.** This 534<
distinction was paid him, probably, by way of apotheosis, or deify
ing him ; for the custom of the Saxons" universally, as long as they
continued Pagans, was to inter their dead in barrows.tt
Cenric succeeded his father, and was not his inferior in valour,!!
as he had proved on many occasions, when fighting side by side
* Seep. 55. t Hen. Hunt.
t Mat. West. ad. an. 849. — " Innumerabilem stragem hostium fecit apud tVitgaresburg."
— Chrou. Sax. So called because Withgar was afterwards buried there. — Hen.Hunt.,Rudb.
|| Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. 1, c. xv. § Chron. Sax., Hen. Hunt. U Chron. Sax.
** "Obiit (Cerdicus) et Wyntoniae in templo Dagon, more Paganorum sepultus est." —
Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. n,c I.
tt From the Teutonic Kirighe, to hide. Hence to bury and to burrow, as rabbits do;
also, burg and bury in the final syllable of the names of towns, as in Canterbury, Gains
borough, to signify places with works raised for hiding or protecting the inhabitants from
the enemy. — See Verstegah's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, p. 165.
tt Wil. Malm., De Gest. 1. 1, c. n.

62 BATTLE OF BANBURY.
A, D. with him. Hence, when the Britons had assembled a large army* j
f^l from their provinces to the north of this kingdom, he, in order, if
possible, to crush it in its infancy, advanced within one day's march
of his capital, Salisbury ;t and there, meeting with an enemy col
lected in haste, charged them with his usual vigour, and routed
them with great slaughter.! This happened in the year 552. The
Britons being provoked, rather than discouraged, by this defeat,
employed four years in taking their measures to revenge it. For
this purpose they assembled together the stoutest and bravest men,
whom their nation afforded, and furnished them with arms in the >.
most complete manner. || This being done, they marshalled their
army in nine divisions, with proper officers to command each of :s
them. Of these bodies, three composed the van, three the centre, j|
and the remaining three the rear; this being the most excellent
order of battle then known.§ Their archers and dartmen, together "j
with their cavalry, they disposed according to the tactics which they
had derived, by tradition, from the Romans.! The Saxons were
unacquainted with this artificial mode of fighting, and rushed upon
their enemies in one compact body, breaking through the ranks of
their spears, and attacking them, hand to hand, with their heavy
swords,** which they wielded with irresistible might. Still, however, *
the combat remained doubtful, until night put an end to it ;tt which
the accurate historian, who relates these circumstances, mentions
as a proof of the superior strength and courage, which men, in the
sixth century, possessed over men in the twelfth, when he wrote.
The place of this terrible combat was Banbury,!! m Oxfordshire ;
which proves how much Cenric had extended his dominions, by
556. the year 556, at which time Aurelius Conanus was King of the
Britons; to whom, therefore, the merit of this brave effort, in favour n
oi his country, is to be ascribed.
560. Cenric dying, in 560, was succeeded by his son, Ceaulin; who
even surpassed his father and grandfather in warhke talents, and in
the extent and variety of his conquests. |||| His first essay of this
kind was directed, not against the common enemy, but against a
rival prince of his own nation ; the famous Ethelbert of Kent, the
same who afterwards became a Christian. By the victory which
* Hen. Hunt. f Searobyrig.—Chvon. Sax
t Hen. Hunt. || Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. n
§ Idem- If Idem.
** Idem- tt Idem, Chron. Sax.
tt Beranbyng.
IIII " Hujus(Ceaulini) spectatissimum in pneliis robur annales ad invidiam efferunt; quippe ' \
qui fuit Anglis stupon, Bntonibus odio, utnsque exitio."— Wil. Malm., De Gest. l! i c II.

SAXONS DEFEATED BY THE BRITONS AT WODENSDYKE. 63
CeauHn gained over that prince, in 568, at Wimbledon,* in Surrey, A. D.
he acquired a paramount authority amongst the Saxon kings ;t 568'
and of course our city was again considered as a sort of metropohs
of Britain.! After this, assisted by his brother, Cutha, and his son,
Cuthwin, he routed the Britons, on one side, at Bedford ; reducing
many considerable places in that direction, as Aylesbury, Bensing-
ton, and Eynsham ; and, on the other, in two different battles, in
Gloucestershire ; which gained him the important cities of Bath,
Cirencester, and Gloucester : cities which had, hitherto, been free
from the West Saxon yoke.||
The death of the pacific Cissa, King of the South Saxons, at an
advanced age, in 590 ; who, unhke his father Ella, is better known 590.
for founding cities than for destroying them ;§ furnished Ceaulin
with a fresh object for his ambition. Y He refused to permit Edilwach
to succeed to his father's kingdom, ^Rut added it to his own.! This,
however, was the destined term of his greatness: for having, in the
following year, marched to repel an invasion of those Britons, 591.
whom he so much despised, and had sd often subdued, he suffered
a total defeat from them ;** and his brave West Saxons, unaccus
tomed to fly,tt were almost all killed on the field of battle. ' This
important event took place near that remarkable trench, called
Wodensdyke, which seems to have been the boundary of his king
dom to the north.!! His defeat is ascribed, by one historian, to the
* Wibbandme. — Chron. Sax.
t The Archdeacon of Huntingdon makes Ceaulin the second in the list of Saxon mo-
narchs, who enjoyed a paramount authority over the other kings, and the whole southern
part of the Island as far as the Humber; reckoning Ella, of the South Saxon's, to be the
first, and Ethelbert of Kent to be the third, monarch of this kind.
t To prevent the possibility of a doubt concerning the capital of the West Saxon king
dom, at this precise period, as well as concerning the extent of this kingdom, it may be
proper to insert the following extracts from Matthew of Westminster. — "Anno 585 regnum
Merciorum initium sumpsit. Inchoata sunt ergo hoc tempore omnia Anglorum sive Sax-
onum regna, quae octo numerantar. Regnum West Saxonum sive Occidentalium Saxonum
cujus caput est Civitas Wentana, quae modo Wintonia dicitur, &c." " Reges West Saxonum
dominabantur in provinciis Bercensi, Dorsetensi, Suthreiensi, Wiltonensi, Saresberiensi,
et Bathonensi." — Idem, ad. an. 586.
|| Hen. Hunt., Wil. Malm, lt was the first of these battles, that of Deorham or Derham,
a village on the borders of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, which forced the Britons to give
uf> the whole country to the east of the Wye, and to confine themselves to the mountains
of Wales, yet so as still to make many powerful irruptions into England. — Malm., Higden,
Mat. West.  The British Bards in order to account for this terrible defeat, in which three
of their princes were slain, say, that the Saxons were assisted by a pretended African king,
Gormund, at the head of 566,000 men.— Galfrid., Ranulph., Dicetus.
§ He either preserved or re-built the ancient Regnum ; which was called after him, Chi
chester. His name is also preserved in Cissbury.
•1 jyiat. West. ** Chron. Sax., Ethelward.
tt Saxones quanto in bellis praestantiores esse splebant tanto in fuga segniores effecti,
valde contriti sunt."— Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. n.
+ + Camden thinks that this trench was the line of separation between the West Saxon
andtiie Mercian kingdoms. But as the latter, which had but just received a beginning,
did notalready extend so far as this trench; and as the historians speak of the dyke as
actually existing at the time of the battle; it is much more likely to have been the boundary

64 WEST SAXONS CONQUERED BY THE NORTHUMBRIANS.
A. D. Roman tactics, which the Britons observed, and to the want of
^discipline among the Saxons;* but much more probably, by
another, to the treachery of Ceaulin's own subjects; who, disgusted
at his tyranny, had entered into a conspiracy with the Britons.^
What confirms this opinion is, that, though the conquered monarch
survived this defeat, he was not permitted to keep possession of his
crown ; but his nephew, Ceolric, a man of a more peaceable turn of
597. mind, was elected to replace him.! The latter dying, in 597, was
succeeded by his cousin, Ceolwulph, a prince of Ceaulin's cha
racter; || whose whole reign was one continued warfare against the
Britons, the neighbouring princes, or the Scots and Picts,§ who
appear to have made a formidable irruption into South Britain in
612. his time. Leaving no issue, the succession devolved, in 612, upon
his nephew Kinegils, of whom^ve shall soon have matters of im
portance to relate. In the fourth year of his reign, he associated
his son,! Gluilchelm, with him, in his kingdom. Soon after this
he gained an easy victory over an army of Britons, on the western
frontier of his dominions:** they having been seized with pa
nic at the sight of the large glittering battle-axes and swords of
their enemies ;tt who appear to have been marshalled in better
order than they had formerly been.!! Of a far more serious
nature were those battles which Kinegils and his son were obhged
to maintain against three different armies of their own countrymen,
which successively invaded5them. The first of these consisted of
Northumbrians, under the command of King Edwin ; whom Gluil
chelm had basely endeavoured to murder, by means of a hired
assassin. || || In this war our West Saxon princes were Worsted,
and forced to submit to the terms imposed on them by the con
queror^ In the next place, they had to defend themselves
of the British and the West Saxon territories, when Arthur and Cerdic entered into a
treaty. The name of Woden, which it still retains, proves that it had some particular re
lation to the Saxon people.
* " Cum Britones, more Romanorum ; acies distinct^ admoverent, Saxones vero audac-
ter et confuse irruerent, maximum praelium factum est, concessitque Deus victoriam Bri-
tannis." — Hen. Hunt. t
t "Quia in odium sui quasi classicum utrobique cecinerat, conspirantibus tarn Anglis
quam Britonibus, apud Wodensdyh, caeso excercitu, anno 31 regni, nudatus, in exilium
concessit et continuo decessit." — Wil. Malm., De Gest. 1. 1, c. n.
t Chron. Ethelward, 1. n, c. m. || Chron. Sax., Chron. Ethelward.
§ Huntingdon.
If Wil. Malm., Chron Sax., Mat. West, and Huntingdon, call him his son.
** At Beandune. Camden takes this to be Bindon, near Wareham; Gibson thinks it is
Bampton, in Somersetshire.
tt "Timentes aciem securium maximarum splendeutium et framearum magnae longitu-
dinis."— Hen. Huut.
tt Hen. Hunt. |||| Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. n, c. ix.
§§ "Bello inito, universos, quos in necem suam conspirasse didicerat, aut occidit, aut in
deditionem recepit."— Ibid. -It is then a false reading in Huntingdon: — "Kinegils et
Kichelmus pugnantes contra Edwinum jure necati sunt." — Hist. 1. n.

THE CITY UNDER THE SAXONS. 65
against the East Saxons, led on by Sexted and Seward, the apos- A.D.
tate sons of the pious Christian king,, gebert* These princes ^i
advanced from London to attack them, and a most bloody engage
ment ensued, in which Kinegils and Gluilchelm proved victorious ;
destroying the whole army of their enemies, with both their gene-
rals.t Lastly, being obliged to contend with Penda, who, with an
army of his Mercians, had invaded their dominions, they defeated
him at Cirencester,! and afterwards entered into a treaty with
him. ||
The succession, which is here given, of a race of kings, whose
court and seat of government were chiefly held at Winchester, is
necessary, not only to keep up the connection of the history of
the city, for more than a century, but, also, to enable the reader
to form an idea of its internal condition, during that period. It
will readily be conceived, that the general success of our warlike
princes, must have tended to increase its population and to improve
its exterior appearance, since the time of Cerdic, who, after laying
it waste, re-erected and established it as a Saxon city. The only
arts, however, that, even at this later period, flourished in it,
were those that are connected with war. Commerce and science
it had none. Its rude inhabitants were not so much as acquainted
with the use of letters. In consequence of this defect, it had no
laws nor constitution, but such as were precarious and undefined ;
and the princes, who subdued other kingdoms, were often the tyrants
of their own. Their religion was of the same gloomy complexion
as their manners : the highest pleasures to which its votaries
aspired, in a future state, being to sit in the haU of their deified
ancestor, Woden ; quaffing strong ale out of the skulls of their
slaughtered enemies.§ But an event was now at hand, through
the merciful dispensation of Providence, which, in bettering their
future prospects, contributed, at the same time, to remove their
present defects, and to bestow upon them all the benefits of,
humanity and civilization.
* Wil. Malm. De Gest. 1. 1, c. vi.
t Hen. Hunt. t Wil. Malm. 1. i, c. n.
|| Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. n. This author represents the above-mentioned as a drawn battle.
§ This horrid idea was not, unfrequently, reduced to practice by those northern barba
rians, who, at this period, had overrun all Europe ; as may be gathered from fhe following.
anecdote, related by Matthew of Westminster : — "Albinus, King of the Lombards, having
conquered and put to death Cunimund, King of the Gepidae, he caused his skull to be made
into a cup to drink out of, which, on a certain occasion, he tauntingly presented to his
queen, who was the daughter ot Cunimund, saying to her, surely you will not refuse to
drink with your father. In revenge for this cruel insult, she murdered her husband in
his bed, with the help of his armour-bearer." In like manner, Chrumnus, King of the
Bulgarians, having taken prisoner and put to death the Greek emperor, Nicephorus, in the
year 811, made a drinking-cup of his skull, as Theophanes informs us. — Flores, Hist. ad.
an. 574.
VOL. I. E

66 THE WEST SAXONS CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY.

CHAP. VI.
The Conversion of this City and Province, by St. Birinus. — A splen
did Miracle recounted of him. — Baptism of King Kinegils. — The
Cathedral new founded. — The Work interrupted, but is at length
completed. — Misunderstanding between the King and the Bishop
concerning the Division of the West Saxon Diocese. — Palpable
Errors of Hume. — Succession of our Kings. — Two of the greatest
¦ amongst them successively resign their Crowns, from a motive of
Religion. — Succession of the Bishops of the West Saxons. — The
See is fixed at Winchester. — The Diocese is divided into different
Sees. — Literature promoted by the Bishops. — Continuation of
West Saxon Kings. — One of them Assassinated near Winchester.
— The Cathedral their common Burying Place. — Occasion of the
disgraceful Law made against the Royal Consorts. — Influence of
the Christian Religion on the State of the City, and on the Man
ners of the Inhabitants.
A D Early in the seventh century the greater part of the Island had
v-^.received the Christian faith. The ancient Britons, who were now
confined to the mountains of Wales and to Cornwall, had never
abandoned it, since they embraced it in the reign of King Lucius.
In the fifth century the Picts were converted by St. Ninian ; and
the Scots by St. Palladius, who had received his commission from
Pope Celestine.* With respect to the different kingdoms of the
Saxons, those to the south-east and to the north, were, in a great mea-
597. sure> converted, with their respective kings, by St. Augustine, St.
Paulinus, and the other monks sent on this charitable errand by
Pope Gregory the Great ;t who had been infinitely desirous of un-
* Chron. of St. Prosper. f Bede/Ecc. Hist. I. i, c. xxm.

THE WEST SAXONS CONVERTED TO*CHRISTIANITY. 67
dertaking it himself, and had actually left Rome for this purpose.* A.D.
But our ancestors, who inhabited the southern and western parts ^-jj>
of the Island, together with the great nation, the Mercians, which
occupied most of the midland provinces, were still immersed in the
shades of idolatry ; and, as no such favourable circumstances appear
ed in their regard as had smoothed the way for the conversion of their
countrymen,t it required an apostolic spirit, of the most ardent kind,
in the preacher, who should first venture to disabuse them of their
errors. Such was that of St. Birinus, a zealous priest, and, accor
ding to some writers, a monk,! Dut of what country is unknown ;||
who, being informed of the state of Christianity in Britain, pre
sented himself to Pope Honorius, in order to receive a deputation
from him to announce the gospel in those parts of the Island, into
which it had not yet penetrated.§ His zeal meeting with due ap
probation and encouragement, he was directed to proceed to Genoa,
which city lay directly in his way to Britain ; to receive ordination*
from the bishop of it, by name Asterius,! as likewise, in all pro
bability, to learn the Saxon language from some of the Franks, who
frequented that mart.**
* Paul. Diac. Dialog.
t Ethelbert, King of Kent, had married a Christian lady, Bertha, the daughter of Cari-
bert, King of Paris, who had a French bishop for her chaplain, and a church in Canterbury
for the practice of her religion, where St. Augustine and his companions were permitted,
at their first arrival "to sing, pray, say mass, preach, and baptize, without molesta
tion/' — Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. i, c. xxvi. A similar circumstance paved the way for St.
Paulinus to preach to the Northumbrians. Edwin, their king, sent an embassy to Ethelbert,
in order to demand his daughter Edelburgh in marriage, who, as well as her father, was
a zealous Christian. The offer was accepted, but upon the condition that she might be
at liberty to practise her religion. This furnished an opportunity for St. Paulinus, who
accompanied her, to introduce Christianity into the north.
t Rudborne says he was a monk of St. Andrew's Monastery in Rome ; the same to whieh
St. Augustine and most of his companions had belonged.
|| John Brompton calls him a Roman. Wm. of Malmesbury says, "Dubium unde ori-
undus." § Bede, Hist. Ecc. 1. in, c. vn. If Ibid.
** St. Augustine and his companions, coming to preach the gospel to the English, took
with them Franks for their interpreters ; "Acceperunt autem, precipiente B. Papi Grego-
rio de gente Francorum interpretes." — Bede, Hist. 1. 1, i. xxv. As there is no mention
of interpreters to St. Birinus, it is probable that he learned the Teutonic language, which
was then common to the two nations of Franks and Saxons. The learned Verstegan
proves, at large, that the French tongue, before it was altered by an adoption of so many
corrupt Latin words from the conquered Gauls, was radically the same with our own.
To prove this curious fact, that a Frenchman originally spoke English, it will be sufficient to
borrow from the above-mentioned author a few lines of Otfrid's Introduction to his
rhyming Translation of the Gospel, made, about the year 850, into the French of that age.
$u toilf Sfft fcriben untec fteifl
Now will I write our health (or salvation)
€bange[iano Deil
Of the gospel the deal (or part)
Mrt t'g nu ftiar begunnun,
So is it now here begun,
3ffn tfrenM'ga tungurt
In the French tongue. E 2

68 MIRACLE OF ST. BIRINUS.
A-D Proceeding from Genoa, through France, our apostle came to
^J, the sea-port on the channel, from which he was to embark for our
Island. Here, having performed the sacred mysteries, he left
behind him what is called a corporal,* containing the blessed sa
crament^ which he did not recollect until the vessel, in which he
sailed, was some way out at sea. It was in vain to argue the case
with the Pagan sailors who steered the ship, and it was impossible
for him to leave his treasure behind him. In this extremity, sup
ported by a strong faith, he stepped out, of the ship upon the
waters, which became firm under his feet, and walked, in this
manner, to the land; having secured what he was anxious about,
he returned,' in the same manner, on board the vessel, which had
remained stationary in the place where he left it. The ship's crew
were of the nation to which he was sent ; and, being struck with
the miracle which they had witnessed, lent a docile ear to his
instructions. Thus our apostle began the conversion of the West
Saxons before he landed upon their territory. This prodigy is so
well attested,! by the most judicious historians, that those who
have had the greatest interest to deny it, have not dared openly to
do so. ||
From the past conduct of Kinegils and Gluilchelm, St. Birinus
had reason to fear that he should meet with a Very indifferent
reception from them. Providence, however, disposed of events in
such manner, that he was received, at his first landing, with the
greatest kindness and respect. The consequence of this was, that
he was enabled immediately to enter upon his pious career; the
happy effects of which soon appeared, in the conversion of a great
number of Pagans, and even of the two kings themselves. The
providential circumstance, here alluded to, was the presence of the
powerful and religious King of the Northumbrians, Oswald, at the
court of Kinegils, for the purpose of demanding his daughter in
* " Corporalia, ut ita dicuntur." — Wil. Malm. De Gest. Pontif. 1. n.
t John Brom. p. 755 ; Ed. Twys.
t Gul. Malm., Floren., Wigorn, Higden, John Brompton, Capgrave, &c.
|| John Fox, Acts and Monuments, Godwin, &c— If there is any faith in history, and
unless an absolute scepticism takes place, it must be admitted that miracles were fre
quently wrought, not only at the conversion of our ancestors, but also during the time
that they continued in their primitive fervour and strength of faith. Nothing can more
clearly prove this important fact than a letter of St. Gregory, still extant amongst his
works, (Greg. 1. ix, c. lviii.) addressed to his disciple, St. Augustine, in which he
cautions him in the most serious manner, not to take occasion of vanity from the many
miracles of which God made him the instrument at the time of the conversion of our
ancestors. Bede gives the following account and extract of this letter:—" Quo tempore
misit etiam Augustinus epistolam super miraculis, quae per'eum facta esse cognoverat, in
qua eum, ne per illorum copiam periculum elationis incurreret, his verbis hortator: Scio,
frater, quia Deus, per dilectionem tuam, in gentem, quam eligi voluit magna miracula
ostendit, unde necesse est ut timendo gaudeas, et gaudendo pertimescas " Src  Ecc.
Mist. 1. i, c. xxxi. ' •"

EPISCOPAL SEE ESTABLISHED AT DORCHESTER, NEAR OXFORD. 69
marriage ; which happened at the very juncture of St. Birinus's a.d.
arrival, in 635.* It is readily conceived that his protection ahd 635-
example must have aided the lessons of our zealous missionary
during his continuance in these parts, which was prolonged until
he saw his father-in-law baptized ; to whom, on this occasion, he
acted in quality of sponsor or godfather ; a circumstance which all
our historians mention as something singular.t
Our apostle, with his fellow-labourers, remained in this city, or
in the neighbourhood, until Christianity had taken deep root
there, and a great part of the inhabitants had been baptized.! He
was then desirous of proceeding further into the country, with the
same view ; being mindful of his promise to Pope Honorius, that
he would announce the gospel in those interior parts of the Island,
whither the name of it had not yet reached. || This was the cause
why Dorchester, near Oxford, then a considerable city,§ and
apparently the place where Gluilchelm kept his court, was assigned
to him, by Kinegils and St. Oswald,! as a proper situation for the
present estabhshment of his episcopal see ; being one of the most
centrical that could have been pointed out for propagating religion
through the two extensive dioceses, which then equally belonged
to him ; those of the West Saxons, and the Mercians. In the fol
lowing year, 636, he had the satisfaction of admitting Gluilchelm 636.
to the sacred font in the said city ;** but not until the latter
found his health declining, and that he was in imminent danger of
dissolution^^ which, in fact, took place very soon afterwards-!!
Three years later our saint baptized his son, Cuthred, in the same
city, and was himself his sponsor. ||||
The establishment of the episcopal see at Dorchester, as we
have intimated, was only a temporary regulation, in order to satisfy
* Chron. Sax., Rudb. Hist. Maj.
t Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. n, c. vii.; Will. Malm. De Gest. Pontif.; Mat. West.
t This seems very clear from the account of Malmsbury.
|| "Pollicitus fuerat Birinus Honorio papas quod extremas Anglorum penetraret pro-
vincias, ibi credulitatis saturus semina, ubi nee evangelii fuisset uomen auditum.— Will.
Malm. De Gest. Pontif. 1. n. ...
§ It has still a considerable church, and great appearance of fortifications round it.
Coins also, chiefly Roman, are dug up there in great abundance.
^ All our historians agree that St. Oswald joined with Kinegils in this act of authority;
the reason of which was, that, at this time, Oswald was the supreme monarch, or head,
of the Saxon Heptarchy, as we are assured by Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. n.
** Chron. Sax. tt Will. Malm. De Gest. Reg. 1. n.
- tt The concurring testimony of Malmsbury, Huntingdon, the Saxon Chronicle, &c,
concerning the baptism of Quilchelm, must outweigh that of Florilegus, who says, that
this prince was killed in battle by Edwin, in the year 526, at a place, which, from this
circumstance, was called Quichlines-haune . That there was a place so called, from
Quilchelm's being buried there, or from some other circumstance in his lite, we are
willing to admit, and are indeed surprised that neither Camden nor Gibson should have
discovered it in Cuckamsley Hill, on the Downs, near Wantage.
|||| Chron. Sax.

70 KINEGILS COMMENCES THE ERECTION OFA CATHEDRAL.
A. D the zeal of St. Birinus ; for it seems to have been settled, from the
636- beginning, between that apostle and Kinegils, that the episcopal
^~ see should be removed to Winchester, where it had always existed
before the Saxon invasion, as soon as the important business should
be completed, for which the bishop removed to Dorchester*
Hence this pious monarch, whose passion for war was now turned
into a zeal for rehgion, began, soon after his conversion, to collect
materials for building a cathedral worthy of so great a prelate, and
of this his royal city.t It was his intention also to settle a prodi
gious tract of land, all round the city,! as a foundation for the said
see ; and, being seized by a mortal distemper, he caused his son,
Kenewalk, to be brought to him, and obliged him to swear, in the
presence of St. Birinus, that he would punctually fulfil these pious
643. intentions.|| His death happened in 643,§ and he was buriedin
the cathedral church, which he had begun to erect, where his
remains are still preserved with due veneration.!
The young king, having mounted the throne, at first gave orders
for the continuance of the work then in hand;** but, being a
Pagan, and carried away by headstrong passions,tt be soon forgot
his father's dying injunctions, and his own vow. Hence the
building of the church was interrupted for some years-!! His
extravagancies, however, brought with them their own punishment;
and this punishment produced his conversion. Having repudiated
his lawful wife, Sexburga, the daughter of the powerful Mercian
king, Penda, he was, in the second year of his reignjpverthrown
by him in battle, and dispossessed of his kingdom. || |f In this ex
tremity, he sought an asylum in the court of the Christian King of
the East Angles, whose name was Anna.§§ Remaining here in
exile three years, he had leisure to reflect on his past misconduct;
and, being also moved by the exemplary conduct of his friend and
protector, a wonderful change was wrought in his dispositions ; so
* "Iste dedit S.Birino civitatem Dorcacestriam, ut sederet interim in eS, donee con-
deret Ecclesiam tanto Pontifice dignam in regiaV civitate." — Annales Ecc. Wint., Ang.
Sac., vol. I, p. 288.
t "In votis enim ejus erat in Wintonia aedificare templum praecipuum collectis jam
plurimis ad opus aedificii," &c. — Ibid.
t The annalist, just quoted, says, that this donation was to have extended to the
distance of seven leagues round the city. But, from the subsequent conduct of Kenewalk,
who nevertheless is positively said to have fulfilled his oath, we must necessarily under
stand only certain places within that distance ; such, probably, as actually belonged to
the king.
|| Annal. Wint. § Mat. West.
1f See our survey of the Cathedral Church.
** "An. 643. Cenwallus capessit regnum; jussit aedificari veterem ecclesiam in Win-
tanceaster." — Chron. Sax.
tt Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. in, c. vn. ; Will. Malm. De Gest. Reg. 1. n, c. n.
tt Annal. Wint. |||| Mat. West., Chron. Sax.
§§ Bede, &c.

THE CATHEDRAL COMPLETED BY KENEWALK. 71
that he not only became a Christian, but also a model for Christian a. d.
princes.* By the management of 'his friends, particularly of his 648-
kinsman, Cuthred, he was, at the end of three years, restored to his
crown. In this situation he had an opportunjfc-, in a short time,
of regaining his military character, by defeating, in different en
gagements, the Britons,t who had invaded his kingdom from the
extremity of the west, where they still were in force. His hberahty,
or rather gratitude, to Cuthred, is deservedly extolled by our his
torians;! for he bestowed upon him no less than 3000 hides of
land, 1 1 which he computed to be almost a third part of his whole
kingdom. § The principality appears to have been the same which
his father Gluilchelm had held,! consisting of Berkshire and a part
of Oxfordshire.
But what more particularly relates to our present purpose is,
that this prince no sooner recovered his kingdom, than he seriously
set about finishing the cathedral of Winchester,** which his father
had begun. This was done in the most complete and magnificent
manner that the age was acquainted with. St. Gregory had con
sented that the Pagan temples, throughout the country, upon the
conversion of the inhabitants, should not be destroyed ; but that
they should be consecrated into Christian churches, by the sprin
kling of holy water, the erection of altars, and the placing of relics
in them.tt But our munificent founders, Kinegils and Kenewalk,
would not avail themselves of this permission, but began by level
ling the old cathedral, which had for one hundred and thirty
years been a heathen temple ; and, on the site of it, they, for the third
time, built a Christian church. And whereas the churches that
were raised, upon the conversion of our ancestors, were, in general,
of very rude workmanship, being nothing else, for the most part,
than trunks of trees, placed close to each other, and covered with
reeds,!! and also built upon a very contracted scale, our cathedral
* Will. Malm. De Gest. Reg. t Idem, Hen. Hunt.
t Will. Malm., Mat. West.
|| Chron. Sax. N.B. — A h'y4e of land, according to Brompton, was such a quantity as
is usually tilled by one plough in a season.
§ Will. Malm. De Gest. Reg. 1. r, c. ii.
If " Prope ^Escesdune." — Chron. Sax.
** Florilegus expressly says, that the church which Kenewalk was at this time em
ployed in building at Winchester, was for the purpose of a cathedral: "Eodem tempore
Kiniwalchus sedem episcopalem in WintonU fundavit." — An. 544.
tt " Quod fana idolorum destrui minime debeant : sed ipsa quae in eis sunt idola des-
truantur. Aqua benedicta fiat, in eisdem fanis aspergatur, altaria construantur, reliquiae
componantur. Quia si fana eadem bene constracta sunt, necesse est ut a cultu dee-
monum in obsequia veri Dei debeant commutari." — Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. i, c. xxx.
tt The, cathedral of York, built by King Edwin, was, at first, of no other materials :
" Ecclesia S. Petri quam ipse de ligno construxerat." — Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. m. — That
this was the first style of building churches, adopted by our ancestors, and likewise that
they soon after changed it for a better, is clear from the following passages :— Finan in

72 DEATH OF ST. BIRINUS.
A. D. was celebrated for the beauty of its first architecture ;* and its
Jj^ dimensions were the same which it afterwards possessed, when no
expense was spared to make it as magnificent as possible.t Toge
ther with the clupsh, Kenewalk erected suitable1 offices for the
monks or regular canons,! wno performed the divine office and
ministry in it;«and he endowed the new establishment with all the
lands which his father had left for that purpose, to which he added
the manors of Downton, Alresford, and Worthy. || The whole
being finished, St. Birinus came to our city, and dedicated this
famous seat of his successors in the name of the Holy Trinity, and
of St. Peter and St. Paul,§ in the year of our Lord 648.! After
this he returned to Dorchester, where he died the death of the just,
650- and was buried in 650.** We shall see that his body was after
wards translated to Winchester.
Our apostle being now no more, a learned and zealous priest, by
name Agilbert, a native of France, but one who had studied the
Holy Scriptures a long time in Ireland,tt and had since been a
Insula Lmdisfarnensi fecit ecclesiam episcopali sedi congruam. Quam tamen, more
Scotorum, non de lapide sed de robore secto totam composuit atque arundine texit.
Sed episcopus Eadbert, ablate arundine, plumbi laminis earn totam, hoc est et tectum et
ipsos parietes ejus co-operiri curavit.: — Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. in, c. xxv. The same historian,
speaking of Natan, King of the Picts, says, " Architectos sibi mitti petiit qui juxta morem
Romanorum, ecclesiam de lapide ingenti ipsius facerent." — 1. v, c. xxn.
* "Templum, per id temporis, pulcherrimum." — Will. Malm. De Gest. Reg. 1." n,
c. ii. " Ecclesiam .pulcherrimam construxit in Wyntonift." — Rudb. If it be asked how
Kenewalk was taught to erect his cathedral in a better style than seems to have been
generally known at the time we are speaking of, we may answer, that he was probably-
assisted by the the talents of the famous abbot, St. Bennet Biscop, who, we are assured,
was his particular friend ; and who took immense pains in procuring skilful masons,
glaziers, and other artificers, from France and Italy, to build churches in this Island-
See Venerable Bede's History of the Abbots of Wiremouth, published by Sir J. Ware.
t " Quod loci posteritas in sede episcopali fundandft, esti augustiori peritia, per eadem
tamen cucurrit vestigia." — Gul. Malm. De Gest. Reg. 1. n, c. n.
t Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1. n, c. n. N.B. — Of what institute the clergy were, who served
the cathedral, at this period, we shall discuss when we come to treat of the reien of
Edgar. || Annal. Wint. an. 539.
§ Rudborne says, that this church was dedicated in the name of the Holy Trinity.—
Hist. Maj. 1. n, c. n. Ven. Bede expressly calls it by the name of St. Peter and St.
Paul. — 1. in, c. vii. The Saxon Chronicle terms it St. Peter's Church. — An. 643. 'It
remains to say, that it was dedicated in the several names mentioned above, which is
strictly conformable to ecclesiastical usage.
If Rudborne. ** Idem.
tt " Legendarum gratia, scripturarum in Hybernia non parvo tempore commoratus."
—Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. in, c. vn. We learn from different passages in this historian, and from
other ancient writers, that Ireland was, iu the age of which we are speaking, the great store
house of literature ; to which students flocked from other countries, and from which the
most learned men were obtained to enlighten the different parts of the continent. " Erant ibi
in Hybernia multi nobilium simul et mediocrum de gente Anglorum, qui tempore Finani
et Colmani episcoporum, relicta, insula patria, vel divinae lectionis vel continentioris vitze
gratia, illo seccesserant. Quos omnes Scoti (id est Hyberni) Iibentissime suscipientes,
victum eis quotidianum, sine pretio, libros quoque ad legendtim, et Magisterium #atuitum
prabere curabaut."— Ibid, 1. m, c. xxvn. See Camden concerning Ireland, at the end
of his Britannia; where he signifies, that our ancestors, the Saxons, borrowed the form
of their alphabet from the Irish.

AGILBERT IS APPOINTED BISHOP OF THE SEE. 73
fellow labourer with St. Birinus, was requested, by King Kenewalk, A^-
to become his successor. Yielding to the earnest entreaties that w^
were made to him on this subject,* he governed his extensive
diocese with equal reputation for piety and talents ; being, in par
ticular, assiduous in preaching the gospel t in this city, which he
considered as his principal seat,! and where the West Saxon court
was also held. One defect, however, he laboured under, which
was a certain foreign pronunciation of the Saxon tongue, that
sounded uncouth and barbarous to the ears of Kenewalk. || He
resolved, therefore, to have a more pohshed preacher for his royal
city. With this view, having procured an Enghshman, called
Wina, of great talents,§ but a person of an intriguing and ambi
tious turn, to be consecrated in France,! he ventured, by his own
authority, to divide the diocese into two portions ; assigning that
of Dorchester, with the counties to the north of his kingdom, to
Agilbert ; and keeping Winchester, with those to the south, fOr his
favourite, Wina. This happened in 650.** Agilbert being well
acquainted with the irregularity and invalidity of this measure, tt as
likewise with the unlawfulness of his even conniving at it, resigned
his see entirely, and retired to his native country ; where his merit,
being known, he was soon appointed Bishop of Paris. |||| In the
mean time, Kenewalk, discovering the true character of Wina, at
the end of three years,!! expelled him out of the diocese. Thus, 653-
from having two bishops at a time, it now had none; in which
destitute state it continued four years ;§§ when Kenewalk, awaken- 657.
ed, as he had formerly been, under similar circumstances, to a sense
of his guilt, by the calamities which he and his people then endured,
in consequence of some severe defeats from the Mercians, sent an
embassy to request Agilbert to return to bis former see. This the
latter represented to be impossible in his present circumstances ;
but, being anxious for the welfare of that flock, in the service of
* Bede. t Erat Pradicator egregius et doctor." — Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. n, c. n.
t " Agilbertus xv annos provinciae West Saxonum apud Wentam praesedit." — Poly-
chronicon, 1. v.
|| " Rex pertaesus barbarae loquelae."— Bede Polychron. The Franks, by a mixture of
Latin words, early corrupted the Teutonic tongue, as we have remarked above.
§ Rudborne says he was a monk (that is to say a regular canon) of Winchester Cathe
dral. It is not likely that he should lay claim to such a character, as belonging to his
monastery, unless he had found the proofs very strong for this fact.
1f Bede, Will. Malm.
** Chron. Sax.
tt It being a fundamental principle of the canon law, that no act, affecting ecclesias
tical jurisdiction, is valid, unless it proceeds from a competent ecclesiastical authority. On
this subject, see Collyer's Ch. Hist torn. I, b. n.
Jt His name is inserted in the list of saints belonging to that church.— Matyrol.
Gallic. HII Chron. Sax. §§ Ibid.

74 KENEWALK DEFEATED BY THE MERCIANS.
A- D. which he had so much laboured, he recommended his nephew,
i_^J, Eleutherius, who was renowned for his piety and his learning,*
to be bishop in his stead. He was, accordingly, received with
open arms both by prince and people, and consecrated Bishop of
the West Saxons, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore, in
670.t In the mean time the unworthy prelate, Wina, not to lose
his consequence in the eyes of the world, purchased the favour of
Wulphere, King of the Mercians; whose superior 'power and
authority rendered his recommendation of Wina to the East Saxon
king, Sebba, as a proper person to fill the vacant see of London,
equivalent to a command. He was, consequently, nominated to
that diocese ;! and, according to Bede, continued to hold it during
the remainder of his life.|| The monk of this cathedral, however,
with more probability^ says, that being struck with remorse, he
retired to his ancient monastery, at Winchester, and spent the three
last years of his hfe in acts of penance, constantly repeating this
sentence : If we have erred in our youth, let us repent in our old
age.^ But it is now time to look back to the civil state of this city
and province, as connected with the fortune of its sovereign.
Kenewalk was far from meeting with the same success in con
tending with his countrymen of Mercia, that he had experienced
661. in his wars with the Britons. In the year 661, he suffered almost
as heavy a calamity from Wulphere, the king of that people, as he
had experienced, fifteen years before, from his father, Penda:
being defeated and put to flight by him in a general engage
ment,** and his whole kingdom overrun by the victorious army,
which was not stopped in its course even by the sea; for,
passing over into the Isle of Wight, Wulphere made a complete
conquest of it :tt and, as it was his pohcy to estabhsh a counter
poise to the West Saxon kingdom, so that it might no longer be
in a condition to contend for superiority with that of Mercia, he
wrested this important island, and with it the territory of the
Meanuarii,!! from the West Saxons, to whom they before be
longed, annexing them to the principality of the South Saxons ;
which he withdrew from its former subjection to our monarchs.
* " Vir demirandae sanctitatis et doctrinas." — Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. n, c. n.
t Chron. Sax., Bede.
t Bede, Ecc. Hist. V. in, c. vii ; Wil. Malm. De Gest. Pontif. || Ibid.
§ This probability rests chiefly on the circumstance of Wina 'being buried in our
cathedral, as the inscription on his monument there testified.
«f " Semper haec verba niminabat : Erravimus juvenes, emendemus senes."— Rudb.
Hist. Maj. 1. n, c. in. ** Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. n. tt Idem.
tt Rede, Ecc. Hist. 1. iv, c. xm. This territory was upon the borders of the two
kingdoms; the vestiges of its name still remain in East Meon, WestMeon, and Meon
Stoke.

KENEWALK DIES AND IS SUCCEEDED- BY ESCUIN. ^5
The South Saxon king, at that time, was Edilwalch,* the son of a.d.
Cissa ; and only the second in succession from the mighty Ella, ^\
the founder of that kingdom.t Professing himself, at this time, a ,
Christian, Wulphere became his godfather; and also appointed
certain missionaries to preach the gospel to his subjects.! These,
however, met with httle success until the famous St. Wilfrid, from
the north, afterwards joined them. As to our Kenewalk, yielding
to the pressure of the times, which required a reduction of his
power, and submitting to the heavy judgment of God, which
almost depopulated this city and country by a plague, that from
hence spread itself over the rest of Britain,|| he passed the 66i
remainder of his days in peace : being chiefly intent on works of
piety and charity ; the effects of which were experienced by
different monasteries, particularly by that venerable Mother of
Saints,^ as Glassenbury was called.! He closed his variegated hfe
in 674, after a reign of 31 years ;** and was buried in the cathe- 674.
dral, which he had raised in this his chief city.tt
Upon the death ^>f Kenewalk, his widow, Sexburga, endeavoured
to prove herself capable of swaying the sceptre, to which she was
appointed by the last will of her husband,!! who was desirous of
making her satisfaction for the affront he had formerly put upon
her.; nor was anything wanting, says a judicious historian, ||||
except the necessary sex, to make her reign happy and glorious.
But the martial West Saxons, holding it unworthy of them to
take the field under a female commander,§§ she was obliged to
abdicate the throne at the end of the year. Upon this, Escuin, a 675.
collateral branch of the royal family^!, mounted the throne; and,
being of a military disposition, endeavoured to recover the former
ascendancy of the West Saxons over the Mercians. For this
purpose he fought a terrible battle with them at Bedwin, in Wilt
shire;*** which, without being decisive, proved fatal to many
thousands on each side.ttt IQ a very short time afterwards he
* Bede. t Hen. Hunt., Floren., Wigorn. t Bede._
|( Bede, 1. iv ; Higden ; and Chron. Sax. ad. an. 664. £ Charta Regis Hen. II.
% Antiq. Glaston. ** Secundum Chron. Sax ad. an. 672.
tt R"db. Hist. Maj. 1. n, c. in. tt Will. Malm. De Gest. 1. 1.
IHI " Nee deerat mulieri spiritus ad obeundaregni munia. Ipsa novos exercitus mohn,
veteres tenere in officio, ipsa subjectos clementer moderari, hostibus minaciter infremere,
prorsus omnia facere, ut nihil praeter sexum discerneres. Verumtamen plus quam
animos faemineos anhelantem vita destituit, vix annua potestate perfunctam."— Will.
Malm. ibid.
§§ " Indignantibus regni magnatibus, expulsa est a regno, noleutibus sub sexu
fitemineo militare."— Mat. West. ad. an. 672 ; Rudb. Hist. Maj. It will be perceived, that
the two last quoted historians do not quite agree with the former concerning the occasion
of Sexburga's ceafcig to reign. 1f1f See his pedigree, Chron. Sax. an. 674.
*** Bedanhafde— Chron. Sax. Bedwin.— Ita Gibson ad calcem. _
ttt On this occasion an ancient historian indulges in the following moral reflection :—

76 CAD4VELLA ELECTED KING OF THE WEST SAXONS.
A. D. himself died, and was buried in the church of Winchester.*
l"nrJ There was still a son of our first Christian king alive, by name
Kentwin;t he succeeded Escuin; or, according "to some authors,
reigned jointly with him;! an(l is celebrated for completely sub
duing the Britons of Devonshire and Cornwall, || who had so often
685. disturbed the West Saxon kingdom. He died in 685, and accord
ing to the annahst of our city, was buried in the cathedral.§
Ceadwella, a descendant of Cerdic and Ceaulin, who next
swayed the sceptre, in this capital, over the West Saxon provinces,
was a youth of the most unbridled passions : turbulent, ambitious,
and sanguinary in the extreme ; but engaging and popular among
the military, by whose favour he seems to have risen to the throne,
after having been banished from the kingdom for sedition, in. the
preceding reign. The three short years of his power are filled
with great and daring enterprises. Whilst in exile,! he found
himself able to cope with Edilwalk, King of Sussex, whom he
routed and killed in battle ; and, though he afterwards met with a
check from two generals of the deceased, it «nly roused him to
more vigorous exertions, when, soon afterwards, he became king.
In short, he reduced the whole South Saxon kingdom under his
yoke ; and carried his victorious arms into the kingdom of Kent ;
which he laid waste with fire and sword.** In this expedition,
however, he lost his brother Mull, or Mollo ; who, with a small
party of men, was surrounded and burnt in a cottage, whither he
had retired to defend himself.tt Ceadwalla hkewise crossed over
into the Isle of Wight, where he committed equal excesses ; and
was once upon the point of putting to the sword all the inhabitants
of it indiscriminately, in order to supply their place with a fresh
colony from his own kingdom.!! It seems to have been owing
to the entreaties of St. Wilfrid, who was then preaching the
gospel in the island, and whom he greatly respected, |||| that he
did not carry his barbarous resolution into effect. The king of the
" Operae pretium est attendere quam viles sunt actus hominum, quam vilia sunt bella
regum gloriosa, et gesta nobilia. Cum enim reges praedicti tantam cladem genti suae,
causa pompae et tamoris et inanis gloriae, ingessissent, alter eorum, viz. Wulphere, eodem
anno, morbo periit, alter vero sequenti." — Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. n.
* Annales Ecc. Wint.
t There was one more surviving son of Kinegils, Egilwin, who seems to have been a
monk ; and whose memory for sanctity was perpetuated in the monastery of Adeling, of
which he was the patron. — Will. Malm. De Pontif. 1. u.
t This seems to be the sense of Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. iv, c. xn. ; Will. Malm.
|| Mat. West. an. 685. " Kentwinus fugavit occidentales Britones in ore gladii, usque
ad mare." — Ranulphus Higden.
§ Annal. Wint. ad. an. 670. Malmsbury, however, speaks of a Kentwin buried at
Glassenbury. — Antiq. Glassen. ^f Bede, 1. iv. c. xuh
** Will. Malm., Hen. Hunt. tt Idem, Higden.
tt Bede, 1. iv, c. xvi. |||| Idem, Higden.

Peter's pence settled on the see of rome by ina. 77
island, Arvald, who must have been a descendant of Withgar, and A.D.
therefore a relation of his own, he actually put to death, with most 1~^rJ
of his family.* With respect, however, to the two royal youths,
his brothers, who had escaped and lay hidden in the neighbouring
village of Stoneham,t until they were betrayed into his hands, one
Cimbert, the abbot of a monastery which then existed at Red-
bridge,! obtained a respite for them, until they could be instructed
and baptized. For historians remark, that Ceadwella, though yet
a Pagan, had a respect for Christianity ; which he tarried so far,
as to dedicate to the service of God the tenth part of the spoils
which he took in war.|| Soon after this, being instructed by St.
Wilfrid, he professed himself a Christian from conviction; when
his ideas and dispositions underwent an astonishing change.
He became moderate, gentle, humble, and disengaged from the
things of the earth ; insomuch, that he renounced his crown, and
went to Rome to do penance and receive baptism. There he died,
whilst yet he had on the white garments, which it was customary ggg
to wear eight days after that important ceremony. §
Ina was promoted to the vacant throne, says our historian,!
more for his valour, prudence, and piety, than for his right of
birth; though he was of the blood royal, and a nephew of Kine
gils.** He justified the expectations that had been formed of
him, during a reign of 37 years ; in which he humbled the Mer
cians, subjugated the South Saxons, and forced the King of Kent
to pay him a tribute. He is still more celebrated for the wise
laws by which he secured the internal peace and happiness of his
subjects,tt than for the victories which he gained over his
enemies; and his benefactions to the church are highly extolled
by those who received the benefit of them.!! He entirely re
built the famous convent of Glassenbury, which he endowed with
ample privileges, |||| and settled Peter's Pence upon the see of
Rome ; which was a tax of a penny upon every family in his
* Bede, Mat. West. t' Ad~Lqpidem.—Bede.
X Readford, id est, Vadum Arundinis. — Bede. Bedford. — Mat. West. ad. an.
687. When a bridge was afterwards built at this ford, it, of course, took the name of
Reedbridge or Redbridge. The place is still remarkable for the quantity and size of the
reeds which it produces.
|| It may be proper here to insert the reflection of a certain monkish historian, con
cerning this offering of Ceadwalla; " In quo etsi approbamus affectum, improbamus
exemplum,. juxta illud: qui qffert sacriflcium de substantial pauperis, quasi qui immolat
filium in conspectu patris." — Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. i, c. n.
§ Bede, Mat. West. ad. an. 789. If Will. Malm.
** See his pedigree in Chron. Sax. an. 687.
tt " Indicio sunt leges ad corrigendos mores in populo latae : in quibus vivum, ad hoc
tempus puritatis suae resultat speculum."— Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. I, c. n. Many of
these laws are extant in Brompton.
tt Will. Malm. De Reg. IIII Antiq. Glaston.

78 QUEEN ETHELBURGA REDUCES THE CASTLE OF TAUNTON.
A. D. kingdom,* for the support of that see, at a time when it had not
l~v~' yet received those extensive territorial possessions, which were
afterwards settled upon it : as likewise for the support of an ample
hospital and school, in favour of the pilgrims of this nation ; who
flocked to that city in great numbers, and who felt the want of
such an institution.t He was blessed with a queen, by name
Ethelburga ; who was not inferior to himself in the nobility of her
sentiments, and who was his superior in the sentiments of religion.
The king being unable, on a certain occasion, to lead his army
against a body of South Saxons, who had penetrated into the
west, and seized upon the castle of Taunton ; she took the com
mand of it in his stead, laid siege to the castle, and pressed it
with such vigour, that it was reduced to a heap of ruins.! Still,
however, her inchnations led her to a more retired and religious
kind of hfe than that of a court ; and she was desirous that her
husband should experience the same. She had frequently spoken
to him of the uncertainty and vanity of all wordly grandeur ; and,
at length, made use of a very singular expedient to impress this
truth upon his mind ; of which, as it took place at the palace of
Ina, our city was most probably the scene. || The king, having
celebrated a royal feast, left his palace in the highest order and
state of magnificence^ and was proceeding, in company with his
queen, to some other part of his dominions, when the latter, who
had given directions, and had taken measures, conformably to her
intentions, took some occasion or other to induce him, after pro
ceeding a mile or two, to return to the palace. Being arrived
there, he enters and is astonished at the change which has taken
place, in the short interval of his absence. The servants have all
disappeared; the rich vessels and furniture have been carried off;
the halls and chambers are laid waste, and filled with ruins and
dirt; and, to complete the scene, a htter of filthy pigs is seen
lying on the royal couch. Whilst Ina surveys this scene in
silence, Ethelburga, with the most moving eloquence, draws the
moral lessons, for which she had calculated it, concerning the
transitory nature of all wordly enjoyments, and the great change
that death will occasion in us.§ In a word, our historian ascribes
* Mat. West. ad. an. 727. t Mat. West.
t Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. iv ; Chron. Sax. ad an. 672.
|| Wil. Malm. De Gest. Reg. 1. i, c. ii; Polychron. ad. an. 728.
§ "Ubi sunt, Domine conjux, hesterni strepitus? Ubi sunt aulea sidoniis fucis ebria?
Ubi parasitorum discurrens petulantia ? Ubi daedalea vasa, pondere metallorum, mensas
ipsas onerantia? Ubi terrA marique exquisita, ad gulae lenocinium obsonia? Nonne om
nia fucus et ventus ? Nonne omnia transierunt ? Et vae his qui haeserint ; quia, scilicet
trahentur! Cogitar quaeso, quam miserabiliter defluent carnes, qua? modo in deliciis nutri-
untur. Nonne nos, qui ingurgitamur uberius putrescimus miserius ? Potentes potenter
tormenta patientur et fortioribus fortior instat cruciatio .'"—Sap, c. vi, v. 7, Wil. Malm.

KING INA GOES TO ROME AND THEN DIES. 79
A. D.
to this pious artifice of the queen, an act of self-denial, which ^->"
appears extraordinary at this day, but which was then so common
amongst our Saxon princes,* in the first fervor of their conversion,
namely, the relinquishing of his crown, to attend solely to his
sanctification. In order to withdraw himself still more from the
eyes of the world, he went to Rome; where, having settled what
related to the English school, he cut off his long hair, which was a
mark of dignity amongst the Saxons, as well as amongst the
Franks, t put on a mean dress,! an(l shortly after departed this
life. || As to Queen Ethelburga, she retired to the abbey of Bark
ing, of which her sister was abbess, where she died, celebrated for
her sanctity, in the year 741.§ 741.
We left Eleutherius, the fourth bishop of the West Saxons, just
consecrated by Theodore to .the whole extensive diocese, as it had
originally existed. In fact, we are given to understand that the
conduct of Kenewalk, in dividing it, by his own authority, was
* Amongst others of our West Saxon kings, who relinquished their crowns about this
time, in order to embrace a monastic or retired course of Ufe, were Sigebert, King of the
East Angles ; Ethelred, and Kenred, his successor, Kings of Mercia ; Sebba and Offa,
Kings of the East Saxons ; and Ceolwulph and Egbright, Kings of the Northumbers. The
number of queens, princes, and princessess, who renounced the distinctions and pleasures
of life, with the same view, is incredible. The author of the Monasticon says, that above
thirty kings and queens made this sacrifice within the two first centuries after the
conversion of our ancestors. Those who condemn this abdication, as superstitious, when
performed for the sake of religion, would extol it, as an act of heroism, if it were grounded
on a philosophic contempt of wealth and state ; or, on a preference of the calm pleasures
of a domestic Hfe, or of studious retirement.
t Montfaucon, Monarchie Francoise. t Gul. Malm.
|| The most celebrated of our modern historians says, that Ina, "iri the decline of his
age, made a pilgrimage to Rome ; aud, on his return, shut himself up in a cloister, where
he died." — Hume, Hist, of Eng. c. i. In support of this account he quotes Bede, Chron.
Sax., Higd., Wil. Malm., Hen. Hunt., Mat. West. Now the truth is, everyone of this for
midable band of historians gives the lie to this account ; according to whom, Ina did not
return to England, but died at Rome ; nor is there any mention or intimation of his living
in a cloister. Let the brief Saxon Chronicle speak in the name of the other authorities
quoted : — "An 728. Hoc anno Ina profectos est Romam, et ibi animam efflavit." In the
preceding part of the same chapter, this writer, in giving the succession of our WestSaxon
kings, says, that "Ceaulin being expelled the throne, Cwichehn and Cuthwin, his sons,
governed jointly the kingdom ; till the expulsion of the latter, in 591, and the death of the
former, in 593, made way for Cealric." For the truth of this statement he appears to
quote the Saxon Chronicle and Higden, both of whom flatly contradict it. "An. 591.
Hoc anno Ceawlinus pulsus est et Ceohicus quinque annos regnavit."— Chron. Sax. "An.'
597. Hoc anno Ceolwulphus incaepit regnare in Occidentalibus Saxonibus." — Ibid. The
same is the account of Higden, Wil. Malm , Hen. Hunt., &c. Here we evidently see
there is no room for the reign either of Cwichelm or Cuthwin. In fact, Cwichelm was
the brother, not the son, of Ceaulin ; and neither he nor Cuthwin ever reigned, and there
fore neither of them could be dethroned. It was Ceaulin himself who was expelled the
-throne in 591. The writer goes on "to him (Cealric) succeded Ceobald, in 593." He
had told us in the preceding line, that it was Cealric himself who came to the throne in
593. Such unpardonable carelessness, in writing history, proves that the author's object
was to amuse rather than to instruct. ,. The learned Whitaker, in his History of Man
chester, has obliged the world with a just criticism on three or four of the first pages
of Hume's history. An equal number of errors might be collected from the same quan
tity of matter, taken indiscriminately from his history, as well as from the writings of most
oi our modern historians.
§ Higden, Martyrol. Anglic.

80 ST. HEDDA CONSECRATED BISHOP.
A. D. censured, as irregular and invahd, by an ecclesiastical synod.*
w-' Eleutherius appears to have been consecrated in this city, and
chiefly to have resided here;t nevertheless he refused, as yet,
formally to transfer the see hither, to prevent the appearance of
his giving the least countenance to a measure which had proved so
injurious to his uncle. He was assiduous in the discharge of his
duty;! an(lj amongst other pious works, is celebrated for having
supported and assisted St. Aldhelm in raising the hermitage of
his master, Maydulph, an Irish hermit, || into the famous abbey of
Malmsbury; the chief seat of learning, for many succeeding
676. years, in the western kingdom, Eleutherius died in 676, and was
succeeded by St. Hedda; who had been, first a monk, and then
abbot, of the monastery of Streneschal;§ and who was con
secrated, at London, by Archbishop Theodore.! Venerable Bede
testifies of him, that he was a good and just man, who executed
his episcopal charge more by the innate force of virtue, than by
the aid of human learning;** but the monk of Malmsbury, an
able judge in such matters, declares that his letters, which he had
seen in the monastery of that name, addressed by Hedda to St.
Aldhelm, prove him to have been no contemptible scholar. tt This
prelate executed the plan, which had been projected by our
apostle, at his first entrance into the kingdom, of removing the
episcopal see entirely to this royal city-!! What seems to have
determined him in taking this step was, that the kingdom of the
Mercians, in which his predecessors had hitherto maintained an
authority, being now quite converted, four several bishoprics were
erected, by the authority of the metropolitan, |||| amongst which
the jurisdiction of the whole province was divided ; so that the
West Saxon bishop, having no longer any authority there, had no
occasion to reside at Dorchester, upon the borders of it. Upon
his removal to Winchester, he carried with him the remains of the
great St. Birinus, §§ which were deposited in our cathedral. Here,
also, St. Hedda himself was buried, according to our native
* " Ex synodica sanctione episcopatum Gewisseorum solus gessit."— Bede 1 in c vii
This synod seems to have been that of Thetford; the second canon of which refers to
the conduct of Wina, in accepting part of the "West Saxon diocese
t "In ipsa civitate consecratos."— Bede, ibid. " In poutificatum Wentanae civitatis
assumitur."— Rudb. 1. n, c. in ; Godwin de Paesul.
t " Sedulo moderamlue episcopatum gessit." — Bede.
M", " ™ey~ If> nati.°,n,? Scotus> eruditione philosophus, professione monachus."— Will.
Malm. De Vita St. Aldhelmi ; Ang. Sax. vol. II, p. 3. The natives of Ireland, of whom
the proper Scotch were a colony, are generally called Scoti, by ancient writers, both
ecclesiastical and profane.
LR^db\1;."' c' "'•' WiU" Malm- f Bede. 1- 'v, ^. xn.
** w-n ™St, L A CS'X- „ ., , +t WiU- Malra- De °est. Pontif. 1. ii.
tt Will. Malm. De Gest. Pontif. 1. n ; Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1 n c in
IIII Godwin, De Presul. p. 205. §§ Bede, Hist. 1. in, L-. vii ; Will. Malm. ; Rudb. •

DANIEL BECOMES BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. 81
historian ;* and his tomb is mentioned, by Bede, as having been A. D.
famous for the prodigies wrought at it.t 70L
The diocese of the West Saxons, thus restrained within its pro
per bounds, and fixed at its capital city, Winchester, is still found
too extensive to be governed by one bishop, now that the great
body of the inhabitants was converted to Christianity in every
part. Accordingly, upon the death of St. Hedda, the diocese was
divided, not by royal authority,! as had been done in a former in
stance, and which had been productive of so much confusion, but
by an episcopal synod, as we are positively assured. || To the see
of Winchester were assigned the counties of Hampshire, Surrey,
Sussex, and the Isle of Wight ; to the other see, which was first
estabhshed at Sherburn, was given the other provinces. To both
of them were appointed bishops of the greatest character in the
kingdom, for learning and piety; who were, also, both of them
monks of the new monastery and school of Malmsbury. Our
bishop, who was a native of these parts, and by name Daniel, had
such a reputation for sacred hterature, that he was frequently con
sulted by the great apostle of Germany, St. Boniface, in preference
to all the learned men on the continent, ^enerable Bede, also, in
the preface to his invaluable Ecclesiastical History of the English
Nation, owns his literary obhgations to Bishop Daniel. § The
chief writings which he left behind him were, a History of the
Kingdom of the South Saxons, a History of the Isle of Wight, and
the Life of St. Chad.! In a subsequent synod to that already
mentioned, it was thought advisable, that the province of the South
Saxohs, which was last of all converted to the faith, by the zeal of
St. Wilfred,** should have a separate bishopric established in it.
Daniel, far from regretting the diminution of his diocese, which
this measure would occasion, was the most forward to promote it.
Accordingly, a new see was erected for Sussex, which was fixed at
the monastery of Selsea,tt and afterwards removed to Chichester.
With respect to the Bishop of Winchester, having executed his ,
charge with great zeal and piety, during the space of 43 years,!!
he formally resigned it, in order to die in the condition of a private 744
monk, in his beloved sohtude, at Malmsbury. ||||
* Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. n. t Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. v, c. xix.
t Godwin, De Praesul. p. 205, erroneously states this act of jurisdiction to have been
performed by, King Ina. _
|| " Synodali concilio, diocaesis, ultra moduni protensa, in duas sedes divisa." — Will,
Malm, in Vit. St. Aldhelm ; Ang. Sac. vol. II, p. 20. § Vid. Prarfat, Ecc. .Hist.
If Harpsfield, Cressy, Godwin, De Erassul. ** Bede, Ecc. Hist.
¦ft Bede, 1. v, c. xix. Selsey or Seolsea, i. e. the Isle of Seals or Porpusses.
tt Chron. Sax.
IIII Will. Malm. De Pontif.; Rudborne.
VOL. I. F

82 ST. ALDHELM.
A.D. The other bishop of the West Saxons was still more famous
701- than the above-mentioned for learning and sanctity. This was
""' St. Aldhelm, a person of noble birth,, great talents, and intense
application; who, under great disadvantages, in the infancy of li
terature, became an eminent scholar, both in the Latin and in the
Greek tongues; and wrote with spirit and elegance in verse as well
as prose.|| It appears, by extracts from his works, that he was a
proficient in law and astronomy,t no less than in divinity and
polite hterature ; nor did he disdain to unbend his own mind, and
the minds of his scholars, with poetical anagrams and amigmas.!
It was to his indefatigable pains, in his monastery at Malmsbury,
whilst he was abbot and chief master there, that a taste for classi
cal, as well as sacred learning, was diffused amongst our rude an
cestors ;§ but the Irish hermit, Maydulph, must not be forgotten,
to whom Aldhelm himself was indebted for the ground-work of his
learning. § A more important and honourable employment was
that which was imposed upon him, by an episcopal synod, of writing
a treatise, in order to convince the Britons of their error concern
ing Easter, which treatise produced the desired effect.! For it
having been debated, in the synod, by what means this people,.
no less obstinate in their error than implacable in their resentment,
and many of them being now subject to our king, Kentwin, migh{
be brought to a uniform observance in the few points** in which
* See the life of him, written at large, by William of Malmsbury, Ang. Sac. vol. II ;
from which the following passage, at the end of his book, De Schematibus, is borrowed,
by way of illustrating what is said above, concerning the early obligations of literature to
our saints : " Haec de metrorum generibus et schematibus, pro utilitate ingenii mei habes;
multa laboriose, nescio si fructuosS collecta; quamvis mihi conscius sum illud me Virgi-
lianum posse jactare :
" Primus ego in patriam, mecum, modo vita supersit,
Aonio rediens deducam vertice musas."
t See his letter to our Bishop Hedda.- — Ang. Sac. vol. II, p. 6.
t "Aldhelmus cecinit millenis versibus odas." — Vide ibid, p. 7.
It " Curritur ad Aldhelmum totis semitis, his vitae sanctimoniam, illis literarum scientiam
desiderantibus." — Ibid, p. 10.
§ Ibid, p. 3.
If Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. v, c. xix. ; Will. Malm. De Vit. Aldhelm.
** The most essential of these was the observance of Easter at a wrong time, by which
means all the other moveable holidays were misplaced ; and, amongst Christians of the
same communion, one part was performing all the austerities and the mournful service of
Lent, whilst the other was eating flesh meat, and singing the alleluiahs of the Pascal so
lemnity. There were two other points, and two only, in which St. Augustine required
their .conformity, as the condition of communicating with them ; namely, that they should
change certain ceremonies which they madet use of in baptism ; and that, laying aside
their resentment against the English, they should join with him, and his fellow labourers
from Rome, in preaching the gospel to them. " Si in tribus his mihi obtemperare vultis,
ut pascha suo tempore celebretis, ut ministerum baptizandi, quo Deo renascimur, juxta
morem Romanae sanctae ecclesiae et apostolicae compleatis, ut genti Anglorum, una nobis-
cum, praadicetis verbum Domini, caetera, aequanimiter cuncta tolerabimus." — Bede, Ecc.
Hist. 1. ii, c. ii.

THE BATTLE OF BURFORD. 83
they differed from the usages of the Roman church ; it was resolved A. D.
that force was not to be resorted to, but arguments only ;* and that w-'
Aldhelm wa»s the most capable of placing these in their true light.t
The resignation of Bishop Daniel took place in the year 744. 744.
After him Humfred! filled the see of Winchester ten years, and 754.
Kinebard six and twenty. His death, which happened in the .
year 780, made place for another monk and abbot of Malmsbury, || 780.
who was celebrated for his virtues and learning,§ by name Athe-
lard. His merit and talents afterwards raised him to the metro
political see of Canterbury, when he was succeeded, at Winchester,
by Egbald ;! after whom came Dudda, Kinebert, Almund, and
Wighten.** The last mentioned was a monk of Glassenbury, and
had the honour of placing the undivided crown of all England on
the head of the first of its monarchs, as we shall see below.
King Ina had resigned his crown in favour of his kinsman, 726.
Aethelherd.tt The latter, after suppressing the rebellion of Os
wald, who thought himself injured by this disposition, wore it in
peace 14 years. He died in 741, and was buried in the cathedral ; 741.
as was also his sister, Frydeswitha, the mother of the holy patroness
of Oxford, who bore the same name.!! Cuthred next mounted
the throne; a prince of great martial talents, of the whole of which
he%tood in need, having fierce wars to maintain with the Britons,
again struggling for their liberty; || || with his own brave general,
Edilhun,§§ who rebelled against him; but chiefly with Ethelbald,
the powerful King of Mercia, against whom he often contended with
doubtful success.!! At length, in the thirteenth year of his reign,
both kings making the greatest efforts; Ethelbald to retain his su- 754.
periority, Cuthred to disengage himself and his people from sub
jection, these brought on the battle of Burford ; when Cuthred
experienced the advantage of that clemency which he had hereto
fore shewn to the valiant Edilhun, after he had vanquished him.
For, whilst the Mercians, confident in their numbers,*** and their
past success, sorely pressed the West Saxons, and their king himself,
with his huge sword, mowed down whole ranks before him,ttt
Edilhun, alone, seemed a host on the side of Cuthred, hewing the
hmbs and smashing the bones of as many as came within the reach
of his ponderous battle-axe.!!! At length these rival heroes found
* "Non vi cogendos schismaticos, sed rationibus ducendos."— Will. Malm, iu Vit.
Aid. ; Ang. Sac. vol. II, p. 15. t Ibid, P- 15-
t Gul. Malm., Rudborne. II Iidem. § Godwin, De Praesul. p. 47.
If Gul. Malm., Rudborne. ** Iidem. tt Chron. Sax.
tt Rudborne, 1. u, c. iv. IIII Hen Hunt., WilUMalm.
§§ Iidem, Chron. Sax. Ill Will. Malm., De Reg. 1. n.
*** Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. iv. ttt Ibid. ti+ lDld'
VOL. I. F 2

S4 KYNEWULPH MURDERED BY KYENARD.
A. D. themselves engaged together in personal combat,* in which both of
754- them exerted their utmost strength and valour, and the advantage
seemed for a long time doubtful ; but a panic suddenly seizing-
Ethelbald, he fled, and was followed- by his army. This victory is
the more important and deserving of relation, as by it the founda
tion was laid for the subsequent greatness of our kingdom and
city.t Cuthred died in 754,! and was buried, hke his predecessors, in
our cathedral, || leaving his throne to one of a character diametri
cally opposite to his own ; for Sigebert is recorded as having been
a tyrant towards his subjects, and a coward towards his enemies.§
Hence the several counties which composed the West Saxon king
dom, by common consent, shook off his yoke, with the exception
of this city and the surrounding county of Hampshire ; which, to
gether with a few faithful friends, particularly one, of the name of
Cumbra, still acknowledged his sovereignty .^| At length, however,
having killed this trusty adherent, for advising him too freely,**
he was forced to fly to the woods of Sussex for his personal secu
rity; where he was, in revenge, murdered by a servant of the in
jured Cumbra.tt His breathless body, however, was not denied
the usual honours ; and was, therefore, brought to the royal mau
soleum, at Winchester, for interment.!! %
Kynewulph, a youth of great expectations, and of the blood-
royal, was the person chosen to succeed Sigebert. |||| He go
verned his kingdom, for the space of thirty-one years, with a great
character, both for pubhc and for private virtue ;§§ when, yielding to
his passions, on one particular occasion, he laid himself open to the
malice of his enemy, Kyenard, brother to the late king. Kyenard
had been driven by him into exile, but had privately returned, and
then lay lurking in the woods near this city,!! with a few desperate
followers, waiting for an Opportunity of revenge. This he found
in the unguarded moment of an unlawful amour, in which the king
was indulging at the neighbouring village of Merden.*** The
latter, being unaccustomed to fly, defended himself bravely, with
* Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. iv. -(. Ibid.
t Chron. Sax. || Rudborne.
§ "Vir apud suos, saevitia immanis, idemque, foris, ignavia perinfamis."— Will. Malm.
De Reg. 1. i, c. n.
f Chron. Sax. an. 755.
** Will Malm., Hen. Hunt. f ff Iidem
tt Rudborne. Hy Hen. Hunt. '
it ^ui? annos>nec "jnave nee immodeste, regnasset."— Will. Malm. DeReg. 1. i,c.n.
Iff Rudborne, 1. n, c. v.
*** Merantune Chron Sax. ; Meretune, Hen. Hunt. There are different places in
surrey, Wiltshire, Oxtordshire, and elsewhere, which have names similar to this; but the
arguments which induce us to place the present scene at Merden, near Hursley, four
Bines from Winchester, are, that, by comparing together the accounts of Malmsbury,

BRITERIC POISONED BY HIS QUEEN. S5
the few thanes* who attended him, until they Were all slaughter- a. d.
ed; when, he himself being killed, his corpse was brought to Win- 7Si-
Chester to be buried.t
In 784, Briteric, a descendant from the founder of the West
Saxon kingdom, came to the throne,! to the prejudice of Egbert,
whose right to it, notwithstanding, is preferable to that of Briteric.
His talents being more calculated for intrigue than war,|| he endea
voured to secure the friendship of the King of the Mercians, whose
power was still formidable, by marrying his daughter. This was
the cause of his untimely end ; for, being a most proud and un
principled woman, who could suffer no one to advise the king but
herself, she prepared a dose of poison for a favourite minister, of
whose influence over her husband she was jealous. It happened
that Briteric tasted of the poison, as well as the person for whom
it was intended; and thus both of them lost their lives. § Con
trary to the custom which had obtained at the death of our West
Saxon kings, except two, who died at Rome, this prince was not
interred in our cathedral, but at Wareham;! where, probably, this
tragedy was perpetrated. With respect to Egburga, the unworthy
author of it, having gathered together her valuables, she fled over
to the continent ; where she met with deserved contempt from the
new Emperor of the West, Charlemagne.** Her memory was held
in such execration, by the thanes of the West Saxon kingdom, that
they entered into an unanimous resolution not to permit the wives
of their kings, in future, to enjoy the title of queen, or any other
distinction belonging to royalty -tt
We cannot have failed to remark the influence of Christianity
upon the manners and condition of our rude ancestors. They had
now learnt, that there are pleasures fajjdaetter adapted to the heart
of man than sensuality and revenge ;" ence they began to lay a
restraint upon their passions, which raised them above that brutal
state, in which they had hitherto lived, and caused them to observe
the moderation of just defence, in regard of their enemies, amidst
Huntington, the Saxon Chronicle, Matthew of Westminster, and Rudborne, it appears
that the Meretune in question, was a retired country place, not far from the city where
the king resided, and where he had a considerable military force ; which arrived at the
spot, where the fatal affray took place, before the murderer had time to withdraw himself
from it.
* Thegnas, Saxonice; Thani, Latine.— Chron. Sax. 755.
t Will. Malm., Chron. Sax., Rudborne.
t Mat. West, says he was the son of the late king. || Will. Malm.
§ Rudborne, Higden. f Will. Malm., Rudborne.
** Mat. West., Rudborne, Higden, Asserius Annales, ad. an. 855. The last quoted
author says, that he received these particulars from the mouth of his friend, King Alfred.
tt Our ancient author, in relating these facts, is animated with a becoming indignation
against "the perverse and detestable custom," as he calls it, of disgracing a whole sex for
the crime of an individual.

86 THE ADVANCE OF THE CITY IN CIVILIZATION.
A. D. the very calamities of war. We no longer meet with wars of exter-
'~^-' mination ; and, instead of selling their own children to foreigners,*
they ceased to hold in servitude even their prisoners of war. Plun
der and robbery, both pubhc and private, had constituted their chief
occupation and their glory ;t but now we meet with innumera
ble instances of their resigning their lawful property, either to assist
their fellow creatures, or to cut off from themselves the sources of
avarice and worldly solicitude. The same cause which improved their
moral character, served also to elevate their minds, and to bestow
upon them all the benefits of eivihzed life. The Gospel introduced
the use of letters, and letters introduced every kind of knowledge,
classical and scientific. The sons of those men, who knew no
thing beyond steering the piratical cupff, I or wielding the murder
ous £eare,|| now became the oracles of sacred and profane hterature.
Such were our Daniel and Aldhelm, in the south of the Island;
such were a Wilfred and a Bede, in the northern parts of it. To the
same cause we are indebted for our laws and constitution. With
out a Birinus and a Swithun, we should never have known an
Alfred. Finally, the same missionaries, who taught our ancestors
the worship of the true God, equally instructed them to build stone
edifices, supported on arches and pillars ; to glaze and to lead their
buildings ; likewise to carve and to paint ; to sing and to perform on
musical instruments. It is true, these arts were first introduced
for the decorum and splendour of rehgion, but soon became sub
servient to the ordinary purposes of hfe : and thus did our city,
which, under a Cerdic and a Ceaulin, was no more than a mean
group of gloomy huts, begin, once more, under a Kenewalk and an
Ina, to shine forth as a civilized city of the first rank.
*'" Hujus tempore venales ex Noroiumbria pueri, familiari et pene ingenitd illi nationi
consuetadine— Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. i, c. in.
t Tacit, de Mor. German.
t Their gallies so called, whence our keels.
II Their crooked swords ; from the use of which our ancestors derived the name of
Saxons.

EGBERT BECOMES KING OF THE WEST SAXONS. 87

CHAP. VII.
Union of the Heptarchy, by Egbert. — Winchester, its Capital. —
History of St. Swithun. — The Piety of King Ethelwolph. — Win
chester sacked by the Danes. — Martyrdom of the Cathedral
Clergy. — Various Fortunes of Alfred. — Re-establishment of the
Kingdom and City, by the splendid Victory of Alfred. — Founda
tion of the New Minster. — Edward the Elder. — Succession of
Bishops. — Glorious Victory of King Athelstan. — Combat of Guy
and Colbrand. — State of Winchester under Edmund, Edred, and
Edway. — Misrepresentations of Modern Historians.
The disgrace which Egbert had undergone, in being banished from Am IP-
his native country, by the late king, who was jealous of his great >-,—
talents and popularity, was probably the cause of his future suc
cess and exaltation. For repairing, on this occasion, to the Impe
rial court of Aix la Chapelle, he so diligently studied the example
of the illustrious Charlemagne, both in the closet and in the field,
as to become his rival, on this side of the water, when called to the
West Saxon crown, on the death of Briteric, in the year 800.*
His first care was to conciliate his own subjects ;t and then, by
uniting the whole Island under one monarchy, to staunch the blood,
which had so long flowed, in different parts of it, from the wars of
. the several kingdoms. His first essay in war was against the an
cient Britons, who never failed to embrace any favourable oppor
tunity of attacking the Saxons from their mountains, on both sides
of the mouth of the Severn ; that is to say, both from Cornwall
and from Wales. Of the former country Egbert made an entire
* " Annis 3 exulavit cum Rege Francorum, nobiliter tauieii et egregie." — Hen. Hunt.,
Chron. Sax., WiU. Malm. 1. n, c. i.
t Will. Malm. ibid.

88 EGBERT CROWNED FIRST KING OF ENGLAND IN THIS CITY.
A. D. conquest, uniting it with his own kingdom.* The latter he laid
"~^ waste from one end to the other, and reduced its princes to a state
of tribute and subjection.t He next overcame the Mercian king,
824- Beornwulph, on the banks of the Willy; which was long after noted
for having then run red with blood, and been choked with the
carcasses of the slain.! This Dattle was fought in the year 824 ;||
and was followed by the subjection, or the submission, of all the
kingdoms south of the Humber. Nor was the great and powerful
nation, which lay beyond that arm of the sea, and extended to the
Frith of Forth,§ over the most fertile part of Scotland, long behind
in owning him for its sovereign. Thus were the fierce struggles
for ascendancy, amongst the higher branches of the heptarchy,
finally suppressed. The West Saxon kingdom became the main
stock, in which the rest were engrafted ; and its capital city, Win
chester, now became the undoubted metropolis of the Island; a
prerogative which it had before enjoyed, at certain intervals, but
Which now continued to make it illustrious during the space of be
tween four and five centuries. Accordingly, Egbert, having resolved
to assert his claim to the undivided monarchy of the whole Island,
in the most public and solemn manner ; assembled the nobles to
gether, from every part of it, in this his chief city, and caused him-
827. self to be crowned, in the cathedral church, King of all England.^
In consequence of this solemn act, he published an edict, dated
from our city,** abolishing all distinctions of Saxons, Jutes, and
Enghsh, and commanding that all his subjects should, in future, be
called by the latter name only.tt This action, of so great im
portance to the whole Island, as well as to this city, appears to
have taken place in the year 827-!+ But such is the uncertainty
of human affairs, says a sentimental historian,|||| that this great
* "Earn regionem, quae Cornubia dicitur, subjugavit earn sibi et suo adjecit regno." —
Mat. West. ad. an. 809. t Idem an. 810 ; Chron. Sax.
t " Unde dicitur Ellendune rivus cruore rubuit, ruiua restitit, faetor? tabuit.— Hen.
Hunt. || Hen. Hunt., Mat. West.
§ Camden, Britannia.
f " Diende convocatis proceribus apud Wintoniam, coronatus est Rex totius Britanniae."
— Ranulph. Higden. " Egbertus primus totius Angliae monarcha fuisse dignoscitur. Vir
iste insignis Egbertus apud Wyntoniam coronatus est in regem in veteri monasterio." —
Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. in, c. i.
** "Ubi (i.e. Wintoniae) edictum fecit, ut ab illo die omnes Saxones et Jutae vocaren-
tor Angli, et Britannia Anglia vocaretur." — Higden, ibid.
tt The reason why the name of Angles was preferred to that of Saxons, seems to have
been, because it was more distinctive and more honourable ; there being, at that time, a
large nation of Saxons on the continent, who were then in disrepute, on account of their
manners, and the defeats which they had suffered from Charlemagne. It may be added,
that the Angles constituted far the greater part of Egbert's subjects ; all the northern,
eastern, and midland counties being inhabited by them.
tt Higden describes this to have happened after the reduction of the Northumbers ;
which event took place in the year set down above. — Chron. Sax,
till WiU. Malm. De Gest. Reg. 1. n, l. ..

EGBERT DIES AND IS BURIED IN THE CATHEDRAL. 89
monarch was unable long to enjoy the glory he had acquired amongst a. d.
his own subjects, in consequence of the disgrace he received from ~~^~"
the insults of foreigners. For now that scourge of God, as they
were called, the Danes and Normans, issuing from the same barren
regions, which our ancestors had formerly possessed, inflicted as
heavy calamities on them and on the French, as these had inflicted,
four hundred years before, on the Britons and the Gauls. Egbert
was not wanting in his usual vigour and precautions ; but the
doubtful success which he met with in these his latter wars, served
to humble him under the hand of God, and to prepare him for the
great change pf death, which he met with in the thirty-seventh
year of his reign, and of the century.* He was buried in the chief 837.
church of his capital city, where his remains are still honourably
preserved.t In one of Egbert's most desperate battles with the Danes, that
of Charmouth, he was attended by the Bishop of Winchester, 833.
Herefrith, and by another bishop, both of whom were slain.! The
death of the former made place for Edmund, who governed the
diocese but a few months, || and was immediately succeeded by the
venerable Hehnstan, or Helmstan, as he is termed by our native
historian. § He had been one of the monks, or rather regular canons
of the cathedral ; and to his care Egbert had committed the edu
cation of his son, Ethelwolph;! Helmstan employed in this charge
the famous St. Swithun, a religious man of that body. It is
certain, that this prince showed greater inchnations for the church
than for the throne, and that he actually became one of the clergy
of our cathedral. It is a mistake, however, of some ancient, as well
as modern writers, that he became the bishop of this see ;** for he
advanced no further than the order of sub-deaconship.tt It is
not improbable that, upon the death of Bishop Helmstan, which
happened about the same time with that of Egbert, he might
indeed have been elected to the episcopal dignity ; but so far from
being consecrated to it, he was dispensed with from his former
obligation, being called, by the voice of the nation, and, in some
sort obhged, to mount the throne.!! This is the second instance
* Hen. Hunt., Will. Malm. The Saxon Chronicle makes his reign shorter by a year.
t Will. Malm., Rudborne.
t Chron. Sax., ad an. 833.
|| Godwin, De Praes. Not.; Hen. Wharton, Ang. Sac. Not.
§ Rudborne. f Ibid.
** Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. v; Roger Hoveden, Annal. part I ; Sim. Dunelm, &c.
tt "Patre defuncto, quia alius legitimus haeres non extaret, ex gradu sub-diaconi Win
toniensis in regem translatus est concedente Leone 3." — Will. Malm. De Pontif. 1. n ;
Joannus Wallingford in Chron. ; Ranulphus Higden, ad. an. 836. ; Rudborne, Hist. Maj.
1. m, c. II.
tt Iidem.

90 ST. SWITHUN APPOINTED BISHOP.
A. D. in which we find a clergyman of Winchester raised to the highest
837 ¦ pinnacle of wordly greatness.
With respect to the office of bishop, Ethelwolph was resolved
that this should be filled by no other person than' his tutor and
master; for so he was accustomed to call St. Swithun.* This
saint, whose name afterwards became illustrious throughout the
whole kingdom, and particularly at Winchester, was of a noble
stock, and a native of this city or its suburbs ;t where, early in
life, he took the rehgious habit! amongst the regular clergy of the
cathedral ; and made the greatest proficiency in sacred hterature
and piety. Being ordained priest, he succeeded Helmstan in the
provostship of the cathedral. || This he retained until he was ap
pointed tutor to Prince Ethelwolph ; at which time he signed him
self, in charters still extant, § King Egbert's priest. Being raised
to the episcopal dignity, which was a subject of universal exulta
tion,! be even surpassed the expectations that had been formed of
him. He was indefatigable in promoting the good of the whole
kingdom, but particularly of this city and diocese ; insomuch that
a great part of the merit in whatever was well or wisely done by
his pupil was justly ascribed to him.** He built a great number of
churches in those parishes where none before had existed ;tt and
either first of all constructed, or, at least, re-built, the main city
bridge.!! He was> says his biographer, a treasury of virtues ;||||
but those for which he was most distinguished, were his mildness
and humility.§§ So great was his aversion to pomp and ostenta
tion, that he was accustomed to go from one part of his diocese to
another, when he went to consecrate churches, or perform other
duties of his charge, by night; and these journeys he constantly
performed on foot.!! Finally, he carried his affection for humi
lity even beyond the grave ; giving orders, in his last sickness, that
his body should not be buried with marks of distinction in the
cathedral itself, but amongst the common people, in the church-
* Will. Malm. t " In pago Wintoniensi." — Higden.
t Capgrave. || " Preepositos." — Rudborne.
§ Ingulph. Hist. Croyl. f Will. Malm. De Pontif. ** Ibid.
tt Capgrave, in Vit. St. Swith.
tt Will. Malm., Capgrave, &c. The same fact is recorded in the very ancient lives of
the saints, in verse, quoted by the Rev. Tho. Warton, Hist, of Eng. Poets, vol. I.
"&epnt &totthan hte biffjopricfee to at goobnefle orough :
#he totone alio of tSpnctjesitte fje amenoeo inough.
JFoc he fette the ftronge bruge fcrithout the totone acere,
ano ttmb thereto Ipm and fton ano the toocftmen tljat tfjer toece."
IIII Will. Malm. De Pontif.
§§ " Solitariae sanctitatis amator, nulla pompa bona sua prostitu'ebat."  Will. Malm.
ibid- Iff Idem.Capgrave.

KING ETHELWOLPH ESTABLISHES TYTHES. 91
yard ;* where, in fact, it lay, at the north-west end of it, for more A. D.
than a century, as we shall have occasion, afterwards, to remark. if^
Ethelwolph was very far from being gifted with the splendid
talents which had raised his father, Egbert, to the monarchy of the
Island ; nevertheless, being possessed of courage, probity, docihty,
and also of good counsellors,t namely, St. Swithun, in ecclesiastical
matters, and Alstan, Bishop of Sherborne, in affairs of state ; he
deserves to be ranked amongst our most accomplished kings. He
was ever ready to face the fierce Danes, either in person or by his
generals, in whatever quarter they made their invasion ; and though
his armies were sometimes defeated, and a few of his cities, parti
cularly Canterbury, Rochester, and London,! sacked by them; yet, 851.
on the other hand, he gave them so many and such terrible defeats, ||
that, in the end, these pirates, being desirous of an easier prize,
began to direct their invasions towards the coast of Normandy;
which they subdued, and, under the name of Normans, continued
to possess. But the act for which the reign of this prince is the
more celebrated, was the general estabhshment of tythes through- 854-
out the kingdom ;§ a measure now become indispensable, on ac
count of the increasing number of the clergy ; as new parishes
were formed, and new churches built, in every part of his do
minions, and the entire conversion of his subjects was accomphsh
ed. This measure was hkewise rendered necessary, from the nature
of the duty which was to be performed by the said clergy. This
important act took place in our city, as appears by a charter to
this effect, extant in most of our historians.! The instrument
testifies, that it was subscribed by Ethelwolph himself, and by his
two vassals, Burred, King of Mercia, and Edmund, King of the
East Angles ; as also by a great number of nobles, prelates, &c, in
the cathedral church at Winchester, before the high altar; and
that, being thus signed, it was, by way ,ef greater solemnity, placed
* WiU. Malm. De Pontif., Capgrave. f Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. n, c. ii.
t A.D. 851. Chron. Sax.
|| One of these defeats took place near Southampton, in the year 837. — Chron. Sax.
But the most terrible of them was that which they suffered at Okely, in Surrey, (Aclea
Campus Quercuum. — Sim.Dunelm.);where two of our gravest historians describe ranks ot
warriors mowed down, like corn in a harvest-field ; and rivers of blood carrying away, in
their course, human heads and limbs in great abundance. — Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. v ; Roger •
Hoveden, Annal.
§ It has been doubted whether the charter, in question, refers to tythes, but that this is
the purport of it, is plain from the learned and intelligent abbot of Croyland, who gives
the following account of it : — " Inclytus Rex Ethelwulphus omnium praelatorum ac prin-
cipum suorum, qui sub ipso varirs provinciis totius Anglae praeerant, grataito, consensu, tunc
primo, cum decimis omnium terrarum ac bonorum aliorurn sive catallorum universam
dotaverat ecclesiam Anglicanam." — Ingulphi. Hist.
% Mat. West., Ingulph., Rudb., &c. The last named, indeed, dates this charter in 844,
contrary to the whole current of historians, who say, that it was signed after the king
returned from Rome, viz. in 854 or 855.

92 A GUILD ESTABLISHED IN THE CITY.
A. D. by the king upon the altar.* Our ancient annahst, having related
854- this transaction, calls upon all the churches of the kingdom to pay
due veneration to the cathedral of Winchester; from whichthe ad
vantage in question was derived to them.t Amongst other inferior
donations made to the church by Ethelwolph, was a certain sum
of money to furnish oil for the lamps, which constantly burnt in
the churches of St. Peter and St. Paul, at Rome ;! as hkewise a
sufficient sum to re-build the English school, which had been burnt
/down in that city.|| We must not, however, forget an event of
still greater importance to this city than any of the above-mention-
856. ed. It was in the latter end of this reign, viz., in the year 856,
that its trade and commerce, flourishing exceedingly, our principal
citizens formed themselves, under the royal protection, into a so
ciety, called a guild; being the first association of this nature, by
the space of a whole century, recorded in history. Thus early were
the foundations laid of this primitive corporation. §
The latter days of this good king were, embittered by a more
sensible affliction than those of his father had been. His eldest
son, Ethelbald, rebelled against him, under pretence that he had
violated the laws of the kingdom, in associating his second wife,
who was Judith, daughter of the French king, Charles the Bald,
with himself, in the honours of royalty.! The king, however,
saw that ambition was the real cause of his son's conduct ; and,
having httle of that passion himself^ in order to prevent the
miseries of a civil war,** he quietly resigned to him the greater and
better parttt of his dominions ; contenting himself with the king
doms of Kent and Surrey, during the two years that he survived
857. this unnatural treatment. He died in 857, and was brought to
this cathedral for interment;!! where his remains are still respect
fully preserved, in a chest, inscribed with the name of King
Adulphus. The hypocrisy of Ethelbald, in taking up arms against his
father, under the pretence of driving Judith back into her native
country, now became apparent ; as one of his first acts, after the
decease of his father, was to contract an incestuous marriage with
this very Judith. Here, however, the eloquence of our St. Swithun,
* " In civitate Wentan& in ecclesia S. Petri ante altare capitale. Et tunc pro ampliore
firmitate Rex Ethelwulphus posuit cartulam super altare." — Will. Malm., &c.
t Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1 m, c. it. t Rudborne. || Idem, Will. Malm.
§ Trussel's MSS.
If Asserius, Annal. ; Will. Malm. ; Higd. ; Rudb.
** Mat. West.
tt " Ita ut pars occidentalis melior filio, deterior orientalis patri daretar." — Will. Malm.
De Reg. I', i, c. n. " Nam occidentalis pars Angliae semper orientali principalior est." —
Asser. Annal. an. 855. tt Will. Malm., Rudborne.

THE CITY SACKED BY THE DANES. 93
which, aided by the reputation of his sanctity, is described as A. D.
irresistible,* shone forth conspicuously. He induced the young s^\
monarch to gain an heroic victory over himself, in dissolving this
unnatural connection ; and, also, to repair, in a public manner, the
scandal which he had given by his licentious conduct, t Another
act of this prince; which he performed, at the request of St.
Swithun, more immediately relates to this city. Perceiving how
much the city, and particularly the cathedral, was exposed to the
violence and cruelty of the Pagans, in any sudden invasion, which
they might make on this part of the coast ; he persuaded Ethelbald
to secure the church and cloister by fortifications ;! part of which
still remains. This was a benefit, not only to the clergy of the
cathedral, but also to the city in general ; at a time when there
was no other citadel or place of refuge for its inhabitants. The
benefit of this work seems to have been soon experienced ; for,
Ethelbald being now dead, and his next brother, Ethelbert, who
had before governed the less valuable provinces to the east, having
succeeded to the chief or western kingdom ;|| the Danes, building
their hopes on his inexperience, landed a great army at South
ampton ; and, advancing to our city, made themselves masters of
it.§ Here they committed such horrid and lamentable excesses, 8g0
as cause our ancient historians to interrupt their narration, in
order to shed tears over the destruction of this ancient and royal
city; which they compare with that of the famous city of Troy.!
Nevertheless, many circumstances lead us to believe, that the
cathedral and the adjoining offices, escaped the Pagan fury on this
occasion ;** which preservation can only be accounted for by the
existence of the above-mentioned fortifications. The ruthless
barbarians, however, paid dearly for the calamities which they had
brought upon our city; for, having collected an immense booty
in the place, then the greatest and richest in the kingdom, they
* " Tanta humilitas erat in B. Swythuno, quod quicquid regibus suadebat, pro salute
animarum suarum, sine contradictione assensum praebuerint." — Rudb. ex Giraldo, Hist.
Maj. 1. in, c. m. t Ibid.
t " Iste Ethelbaldus, instigante St. Swythuno, caenobium vetus munivit contra hostiles
Danorum incursus." — Ibid.
|| See note (tt) P- 92.
§ Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. u, c. in ; Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. v; Chron. Sax. ; Hen. Hov. ;
Mat. West.
V " In diebus ,ejus (Adelbricht) venit navahs exercitus et egredientes destruxerunt
Wincestre, et sic* " Urbs antiqua ruit multos dominata per annos." — Virg.
Hen. Hunt, Hist. 1. v. ; Rog. Hoveden, Annal. part I.
** ist.  None of the historians, in describing the. calamity of Winchester, make mention
of any particular misfortune that befel the clergy at this time. 2dly. — The Danes do not
seem to have had time to reduce the fortifications of the cathedral, the king's forces
being in full march towards them. 3dly. — The massacre in our city, of whioh we shall
have to speak, is expressly stated to have happened after the battle of Escesdune, in 871.

94 THE DANES CONTINUE THEIR RAVAGES.
A. D. were conveying it, in haste and confusion, to their ships, which
f*60', seem to have lain at Southampton ; when Osric, Earl of Hamp
shire, and Ethelwulph, Earl of Berkshire, improving this opportu
nity, set upon them, in the road, and routed them with great
slaughter ; recovering, at the same time, all the spoils which they
were carrying away.* These events took place in the year 860.t
The fate of the cathedral, however, as we shall see, was not
averted, it was only suspended: for, Ethelbert having paid the
866. debt of nature, in 866,! and the third brother, Etheldred, having
succeeded to the throne; the Danes, that year, became more
powerful than ever : partly by means of fresh forces from abroad, j|
and partly through the encouragement and assistance which they
received from the Mercians and the Northumbers ;§ who still
looked, with a jealous eye, on the superiority of the West Saxons.!
Thus, in all times, have there been found men ready to plunge
themselves and their country into the abyss of pubhc misery, in
order to distress the government, when they were displeased with
it. Never was more ardent and persevering courage displayed,
tempered with the purest patriotism and rehgion, than by the
heroic brothers, Etheldred and Alfred; who, in one single year,
871. 871, and not far from this city, fought nine pitched battles with
those desperate invaders, besides skirmishes, beyond computation.
In one of these battles, in which the piety of the king was no
less conspicuous than his courage ;** one of the two Danish kings,
and the greater part of their generals, were killed. 'Nevertheless,
being re-inforced by fresh numbers of their countrymen, and
having the rest of the kingdom either for their subjects or their
allies,tt they proved too strong for our brave West Saxons alone ;
though commanded by an Etheldred and an Alfred. The first of
these, having been mortally wounded in the battle of Merton,
* Asser. An., Chron. Sax., Will. Malm., &c.
t Idem. Mat. West, places this disaster in 861.
t Chron. Sax., Mat. West. || Chron. Sax.
§ " Interim Reges Merciorum et Northanimbrorum, captata occasione adventus Da-
norum, k servitio West Saxonum respirantes dominationem suam pene asseruerant. Ita
dum unusquis que maluit vindicare quam praeveuire injuriam socordia sua exanguem
reddiderunt patriam." — Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. n, c. iv. ^ Ibid.
** This was the battle of Escesdune. Etheldred was hearing mass in his tent when the
Danes began the combat; and, however urgent was the occasion, refused to quit his
oratory until the mass was concluded. — See Mat. West. ad. an. 871. ; tmnulphus Higden,
&c. In fixing the scene of this victory, it is surprising that our topographers should have
overlooked the large village of Assingdon, near Henley, where the ancient family of the
Stonors have been long seated ; which, from its name, appearance, and situation, (with
respect to Englefield, Reading, Basing, and Merton, the places of the other battles,
which were fought within a few days of each other), is more likely to be the spot sought
after than any other that has yet been mentioned.
tt The kingdoms of Kent, of the East Saxons, and of the East Angles, were then
absolutely subject to them ; those of Mercia and of Northumberland had entered into an
alliance with them.

THE DANES DESTROY THE CATHEDRAL AND CLERGY. 95
retired to the monastery of Winburn,* where he died, and was A- D.
buried, as his tomb and epitaph there testify ; leaving to the latter ^J.
an inheritance of toil and danger.
It was about this timet that the cruel Pagans, no less intolerant
in their superstition, than unforgiving in their resentment; having
again entered the city, for the sake of plundering it, beset the
cathedral on a sudden ; and, from a hatred of Christianity, killed
all the rehgious clergy belonging to it; insomuch, that not an
individual amongst them was spared or escaped4 This was now
the third time that our city beheld its edifying clergy die martyrs
to their rehgion. Their loss to the remaining inhabitants was
great, in proportion to the difficulty there was in repairing it ; for
almost all the rehgious communities, whether of monks or of
canon regulars, having been equally destroyed by the Danes, it
was impossible to replace those of our cathedral with others of the
same discipline and institute. In short, there was a necessity of
admitting to the ministry such clergy as could be procured for this
purpose ; who, being unacquainted with the strict discipline of
their predecessors, gradually degenerated from their piety ; and, in
conclusion, fell into those disorders which ended in their disgrace,
as we shall afterwards relate. In the mean time, to St. Swithun,
had succeeded, in the bishopric, one Alfrith, a prelate of great
learning, || who is supposed to have been translated to Canterbury.§
His successor was Dunbert, who, dying in 879, settled certain
lands upon his cathedral, for its repairs;! of which, after the
Danish devastation, it must have stood greatly in need.
We come now to speak of the miracle of history : a prince, who
having been the subject of innumerable pens, has never had a
defect imputed to him as a sovereign, nor a fault as a man. This
was the immortal Alfred. He was the youngest and best beloved
son of his father Ethelwolph; who, desirous of giving him the
best education possible, committed him, in his very infancy, to the
care of his own venerable preceptor, St. Swithun,** who was then
bishop of this city, and never departed from it, but upon some
necessary business, for the benefit of other parts of his diocese.
* A celebrated nunnery, founded by Cuthberga, sister to our West Saxon king, Ina. —
See Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. i, c. n.
t Rudborne places this massacre in 867; but the Breves Annales, quoted by Hen.
Wharton, Angl. Sac. vol. I, p. 206, with more probability, places it in 873. The most
plausible date of all, is that which he himself assigns, viz. 871.
t Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. m, c. v. II Mai. West.
§ Godwin, De Presul. If Rudb. c. v.
** " Qui Alfredus, in infantilibus agens annis, St. Swythuno Wyntoniensi episcopio
traditus erat erudiendus. Nam idem praesul egregius quondam nutritius erat Adulphi
patris sui." — Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. in, c. vi.

879.

96 KING ALFRED.
A.D. Thus we may confidently say, that this model of kings received, in
l^r". this our city, those seeds, which afterwards yielded such a plentiful
harvest of public and private virtues. His sage instructor did not
neglect the rudiments of useful hterature ;* but his chief care was
to impress upon the tender mind of his pupil the principles and
habits of justice, temperance, activity, constancy, charity, and re
hgion. It is true, however, that Alfred was not always under the eye of
St. Swithun, during the whole period of twelve years that this pre
late survived the birth of the young prince ; for he was often at his
father's court ;t and, at the early age of five years, was sent by
him to Rome, where he received the sacrament- of confirmation
853. from Pope Leo IV. ; who, being charmed with his rising virtues,
adopted him for his spiritual son, and, also, anointed and crowned
him as a king.! He went a second time to Rome, two years
855. afterwards, with his father, || and, in the course of his travels, be
came acquainted with many persons of great talents and merit,
who were afterwards of great service to him. Far from being elat
ed with the flattering distinction which he had received in his
early years, he served his brothers, in their wars, with the same
zeal and activity, in quahty of their general, as if he had been
fighting his own battles. Even upon the death of Etheldred he
872. was not in haste to assume the crown, but calling together the
West Saxon nobility, he laid before them the will of his father, by
which it was ordained that the crown should descend to him, in
case of the death of his brothers ; at the same time assuring the
gemot or assembly that he was ready to forego his claim, ifj in
* Simeon Dunelm, Mat. West., and Higden report that Alfred continued illiterate,
until he was twelve years of age ; but this term does not imply that he was incapable of
reading, as some have supposed, but only that he had not then applied to the higher
branches of hterature. With respect to the story of his mother having given him a book
at that age, to encourage him to learn it, there must be a mistake as to the time set down ;
for his mother was dead before he had completed his sixth year. Rievallis, de Genealog.
Reg. Ang. expressly says : "Hie ab ipsa pen£ infantia sua legere et discere, dulce, liabuit."
t Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. u, c. u. ; Mat. West. ; Higden.
t " Quo tempore D. Leo IV. infantem Alfredum confirmavit, et in filium adoptionis
sibimet accepit, et etiam unctum oleo consecravit in regem." — Asser. Annal. an. 853. ;
Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. n, c. ii. ; Mat. West., &c. Some moderns have denied this
history, on account of the improbability of Leo's crowning a child, who had three legiti
mate elder brothers living ; whilst others suppose it was done in a prophetic spirit, byway
of presage. The difficulty will vanish when we reflect that the Pope did not pretend to
confer any real authority upon him ; but only to anticipate that august ceremony ; so as
to render the same unnecessary, when, by the gift of his father, or the laws of succession,
he should receive territories to govern. Our modern historians also assert, that this is
the first instance of anointing royal personages of this Island ; and, upon this assertion,
they build the most ill-natured theories. — See Caite, Hist, of Eng. b. iv ; Hume, &c. But
they have forgotten the following decisive passage in our venerable historian, who was
dead long before the age-of Alfred : " Ungebantur reges et uon per Deum ; et paulo pos
ab unctoribus trucidabantur." — Gildas, Hist. c. xix.
|| Asser. an. 855.

ALFRED DEFEATED BY THE DANES. 97
their judgment, the title of any other person were better than his A.D.
own.* In short, he was elected with universal and unbounded 872,
applause ; and crowned, as his father and grandfather had been
before him, in this his metropolis,t by the diocesan bishop, who
appears to have been Dunbert. No sooner had he received the
royal charge, than he set about fulfilling the duties of it, by collect
ing a fresh army; with which, in the course of a month after his
coronation, he engaged the Danes, who had advanced as far as
Wilton to meet him. The battle continued almost the whole day,
and the Enghsh at last drove their enemies off the ground ; but,
pursuing them in too much disorder, they were surrounded and
cut off by the superior number of their enemies.! Alfred being
unable to meet them any longer in the open field, particu
larly as most, even of the western provinces, entered into a treaty
with them at this juncture, || was forced to confine himself to
desultory attacks. In these he often had great success, both by
sea and land,§ until the year 878, when his situation became so
desperate, that he was obliged to disguise himself as a common
soldier, and seek for an asylum with a herdsman, in the Isle of
Athelney, amidst the fens of Somersetshire.! Here various ad
ventures befel him, which, in his better fortune, he took great
pleasure in relating.** On one occasion he was forced to super
intend the baking of some hearth cakes; which, having permitted
to burn, from inattention, he was severely reproached by the good
housewife, who said, that he was ready enough to eat the cakes,
though he would hot attend to the baking of them.tt On
another, when he and the companions of his distress were pos
sessed but of a single loaf of bread, he was unable to deny the
prayer of a poor beggar, who asked an alms of him, but gene
rously divided the loaf with him.!! At length, being encouraged
by the assurances, and also by the success, of certain faithful
subjects, he resolved to make one bold effort to rescue his country.
However, before he planned his grand attack, he issued from
* Testam. Alfredi. apud Spelm.
t " Wintoniae, magno populi cum gaudio et plausU, denuo coronatur." — Chron. MSS.
de Reg. Ang. apud Spelmah, Vit. Alf. p. 19.
t Asser., Chron. Sax., Hen. Hunt., Mat. West.
|| Chron. Sax. an. 871.
§ Ethelwerdi Hist., Chron. Sax., Mat. West. an. 886, 887.
If Will. Malm., Mat. West., Asser. ** Will. Malm.
¦ft Asser., Mat. West.
tt Ingulph., Ranulph. Higden. The same objection lies against this history, as against
one mentioned above ; viz. that his mother is named in it, as being still alive. Perhaps,
however, during his disguise, he might call the good housewife his mother. One ancient
author, Simeon Dunelmensis, relates those circumstances of Alfred's wife, which others
attribute to his mother.
VOL. I. G

98 ALFRED DESTROYS THE DANISH ARMY.
A. D. his hiding place, disguised as a minstrel, and, proceeding to
878- the place where the Danish army lay, reconnoitred it in every
part.* Thus instructed, he appointed his brave Hampshire men,t with
his other friends, from the county of Wilts and Somerset, to meet
him at Brixton,! on the eastern borders of Selwood forest. Here
the English standard was once more erected, amidst the joyful
acclamations of these faithful followers ; whom, having inspired
with his own steady and deliberate courage, he led, by secret and
cautious marches, 1 1 against the enemy, who lay negligently en
camped at Heddington, not far from Chippenham, where there
was a royal palace, then in the possession of the Danish king.§
The attack was as bravely executed, as it had been wisely planned.
The Danish army was not barely defeated; it was annihilated.
Those who were not killed on the spot, were, in a few days, obliged
to surrender at discretion, in an adjoining intrenchment, to which
* Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. n, c. iv ; Ingulph. Hist. Croy. ; Ranulph. Higden.
t " Ibi obviaverunt illi omnes accolae Hantunensis pagae, qui non ultra mare propter
metom Paganorum navigarunt." — Asser. An.
t From the name of Egbrichstan, by which Hen. Hunt., Chron. Sax., Sim. Dunelm.,
and other ancient authors, call this place ; and, by their description of it, " ab orientali
parte Sealwudce" (Chron. Sax., &c), the learned are agreed, that the village of Brixton,
near Warminster, is the place- where Alfred erected his standard against the Danes. Of
course the magnificent tower, which was built by the late Mr. Hoare, on the heights
between Bruton and Stourhead, under the name of Alfreds Tower, in order to com
memorate that important transaction, has been greatly misplaced.'
|| Hume says, that Alfred, having met his army at Brixton, " instantly conducted
them to Eddington (the field of battle)." This is in direct opposition to the authors,
whom he quotes, the first of whom says: " Ibi (ad petram Egbrighti Brixton), castra-
metati sunt un& nocte -. diluculo sequenti illucesente, rex inde castra commovens, venit ad
locum qui dicitur Iglea, et ibi un& nocte castrametatos est." — Asser. An. ad. an. 878.
The same account of Alfred's intermediate stations does the Saxon Chronicle give, which
he quotes in the second place, and the other ancient authors. This Iglea, Gibson (ad
calcem Chron. Sax.) places at Clay-hill, in which supposition Alfred's army marched only
four miles that day; whilst Carte romantically conducts it, in the same space of time, to
Oakley, near Basingstoke, a distance of above fifty miles. The name of the place,
Campus Insularis, and the course of Alfred's march, evidently point out Leigh or Wins-
ley, distant from Brixton about fifteen miles, as the Iglea in question.
§ With respect to the field of this famous battle, Ethandune, our most respectable to
pographers, Camden, Gibson, Spelman, &c, without hesitation, pronounce that it is
Eddington, near Westbury. But can we imagine that the West Saxons would have as
sembled within ten or twelve miles of the Danish army, for Eddington is not further than
this from Brixton ; and have employed two days in making a march of this length, when
their object was to take their enemy by surprise ? Carte, to obviate this objection, very
inconsistently removes the scene of action to Yattendon, in Berkshire. It remains that
we should fix this celebrated Ethandune, at Heddington, not far from Chippenham ; a
place of great antiquity, as the editor of Camden proves. In this case Alfred's army will
have moved about fifteen miles to their first encampment ; and about twelve, the next
, morning, to the field of battle. But what seems to decide this much agitated question, in
favour of the proposed conjecture, is a passage hitherto overlooked in the history of
Ethelwerd, the near relation of Alfred; in which the Danish army, here defeated, is re
presented to be that of Chippenham . " Interea coaptavit helium Alfred Rex adversus exer-
citus qui in Cippanhamme fuere, in loco Ethandune." — 1. iv, c. m. It is very probable
that, at this time, the Danish king resided in the palace which we know to have been at
Chippenham, whilst the main body of his army was encamped at Heddington, within six
miles of him.

GUNTHRUM, THE DANE, BECOMES A CHRISTIAN. 99
they had fled ;* and our Christian hero, forgetful of all that he and A. D.
his subjects had suffered from these merciless foes, granted the f\
most favourable terms to King Gunthrum, and those of his army
who were willing to become Christians ;t and was content with
obliging the rest, who persevered in their infidelity, to quit the
Island. It is not foreign to the history of this city, to dwell on the cir
cumstances, accompanying and preceding a battle, which raised it
from the lowest state of depression and misery! to its former
flourishing condition. The other great actions of this unrivalled
monarch, whether as a warrior, a legislator, a scholar, or a saint, ||
we are obliged to pass over, in order to confine ourselves to those
which more immediately relate to this his metropohs.
Winchester, the seat of government, and the usual place of resi
dence of Alfred's ancestors, as a learned writer of the last century
observes,§ had, at the time we are speaking of, been almost reduced
to a heap of ruins, and a solitude, by the destroying Danes.! Its
clergy were all murdered, and its other inhabitants had mostly fled
into France or Wales.** But Alfred, upon this turn of affairs in
his favour, soon restored it to its original state and dignity. tt It
again became the seat of government ;!! for here the public records
were kept, as is particularly noticed with respect to the Codex
* This was either Oldbury; or, perhaps, Chippenham itself.
t It is a maUcious falsehood of the infidel Hume, that " Gunthrum and his army were
admitted to baptism, without much argument, instruction, or conference." On the con
trary, it appears, that three weeks were employed in preparing these converts for the sa
crament of initiation ; and twelve days afterwards in confirming them in their good
purposes by further instructions. The event justified the wisdom of Alfred's conduct,
considered in a mere political light. Gunthrum, who, whilst a Pagan, had repeatedly
broken his solemn engagements and treaties, after his baptism, proved faithful and peace
able in some very trying circumstances.
t Many historians speak of the extreme desolation of this part of the country in par
ticular, immediately before the battle of Heddington : — " Junctis viribus conglobati omnem
West Saxoniam a mari usque ad mare depopulantes, et terram illam quasi locustae ope-
rientes. In hoc quoque persecutionis turbine constituti fideles Christi episcopi, cum
sanctorum reliquiis, et ecdlesiarum thesauris, populisque regionum, trans mare fugerunt,
et pars regem ^Elfredum secuta in silvis locisque desertis, in illo se mortis discrimine,
absconderunt." — Mat. West. ad. an. 878.
|| A learned writer, speaking of this greatest of kings, thus exclaims : "O Alfred, the
wonder and astonishment of all ages ! If we reflect on his piety and rehgion, it would
seem that he had always lived in a cloister: if on his- warlike exploits, that he had never
been out of camps : if on his learning and writings, that he had spent his whole life in a
college : if on his wholesome laws and wise administration, that these had been his whole
study and employment." — Hen. Spelman, Concil. Britan.
§ "Wintonia cum per aliquot retro secula regum West Saxoniae sedes et palatium
fuisset." — iElfred. Magn. Vita, a Joan. Spelman, p. 128.
1f Ibid, note (8) p. 69. ** Hen. Hunt.
tt CI. Spelman, Vit. Alf. p. 182.
tt Alfred had different palaces, at Chippenham aud Wilton, in Wiltshire ; at Aurle, in
Somersetshire ; and at Dean, in Hampshire. Still Winchester was the place where he
usually resided, as Spelman shews, p. 132. The above-mentioned Dean appears to have
been Bramdean, not far from this city ; since Asserius, who visited Alfred there, returned
to Wales through Winchester, where he remained sick above a twelvemonth.
VOL. I. G 2

100 ALFRED ERECTS THE NEWAN MYNSTRE.
A. D. Wintoniensis, or general survey of the kingdom, which was now
<~r~> made for the first time ; and, by Alfred's appointment, deposited
in this city.* In like manner the chief court of justice was held
at Winchester. This appears in the case of the crews of certain
Danish ships ; who, having again invaded this kingdom, contrary
to their oaths, given at Heddington, and fallen into the hands of
897. the English, were brought hither to be tried and executed.t Hence
we find Winchester still honoured, by contemporary writers, with
the title of Royal City.% In short, this illustrious king, being re
solved to build a monastery, in favour of his friend, St. Grimbald,||
whom he was desirous of retaining in England, after he had quitted
the school of divinity, instituted by him at Oxford; and, at the
same time, to provide a place of burial and royal chantry for him
self and his family, chose this his metropolis for the situation of his
intended foundation ; and accordingly began, on the north side of
the €alOen HlprijStre, or cathedral church, the erection of the lietoan
JHpn£tre, as it was called; the same that was afterwards transferred
to Hyde-meadow. As this was the principal of all the four monas
teries which Alfred built ;§ and as he was renowned for having in
troduced a more noble style of architecture into this country, than
had hitherto prevailed,! we cannot doubt that the abbey in ques
tion was a great ornament to this city ; and, in its time, one of the
most magnificent edifices in the kingdom. We are the more in
duced to believe this, as the ground for raising the building upon
was purchased at a mark for every foot of land :** a price which, in
those days, was thought enormous. This rehgious monarch also
* Ingulph. Hist. Croyl. ; CI. Spelman, Vit. All. p. 82.
t " Homines ducti fuerunt ad Wintoniam ad regem, qui eos ibi suspendi jussit." — Chron.
Sax., Mat. West. ad. an. 897.
t "Apud Wintoniam civitatem regalem decenter et regali honore est sepultus (Alfredus) ."
— Asser. An.
|| " Iste fecit iu Wintonia novum monasterium, quod S. Grimbaldo dedit, ut eum re-
tineret in Anglia." — An. Win. He had become acquainted with this learned man at
St. Benin's monastery, of which he was a monk, in his journ^to Rome. — Will. Malm.
De Reg. Being desirous of procuring him for his University of Oxford ; which, by the
advice of St. Neot, he was resolved to institute, he was under the necessity of securing
the interest and authority of Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims, for this purpose; to whom,
in return, he sent a present of English mastiffs, to destroy the wolves that laid waste the
plains of Champaigne. St. Grimbald, being arrived, was appointed, in addition to his
office at Oxford, the king's particular chaplain, or mass priest. Grimbolde minum mcesse
preost.—Prtef. Traduct. Past. S. Greg. Alfr. Vit. Alf. Appen. p. 194. Having resigned
the former employment in his old age, he was desirous of returning to his monastery
abroad ; but was induced to stay at Winchester, by the promise of Alfred, that he would
build for him a monastery there, in which he died, most holily, in 904. — Annal de Hyde,
quoted by Cressy.
§ Vit. Mlf. p. 132. The other monasteries were Athelney, in which he had concealed
himself; Shaftesbury, where his daughter Athalgive became a nun ; and St. Mary's abbey,
in this city.
If Asser. Ann. This monastery is noted for the magnificence of its fabric in the
Annales de Hyde.
** WiU. Malm, de Reg. ; Rudb. Hist. Maj.

ALFRED DIES AND IS SUCCEEDED BY EDWARD THE ELDER. 101
assisted his queen in building another monastery, in this city, for a. d.
persons of her sex, called the abbey of St. Mary, or the jjutma "~f~"
.IKtpnjStce,* which she intended for the place of her retreat, in case
she should survive her royal consort.
The good King Alfred, as he is emphatically called,t died in
901,! an{l was buried in a monument of porphyry marble, erected 901'
for him in the cathedral church, || until his own church of the New
Abbey could be completed and dedicated.
King Alfred had a son, called Edmund, whom he caused to be
crowned during his own hfe time ;§ but he died before his father,!
and was buried in our cathedral. Thus the right of succession de
volved upon his second son, Edward ; who, for distinction's sake,
was afterwards sirnamed the Elder. One of his first concerns, on
coming to the crown, was to complete the monastery of St. Grim
bald, the destined mausoleum of his father ; which, being finished,
he endowed with lands at Micheldever, Hyde, and other places, for
" supplying the refectory of the rehgious brethren there."** It
was the intention of the founder to place the monks in this abbey,tt
as he had done in his other monastery of Athelney. Indeed, with
out such a proposal on his part, it does not seem probable that the
holy monk, Grimbald, could have been prevailed upon to relinquish
his resolution of returning to his own monastery of St. Bertin; but
the very great difficulty, which a contemporary writer informs us,!!
there was then found in procuring monks of the English nation,
since the general destruction of our monasteries by the Danes, and
the bad consequences which had arisen at Athelney, from a pro
miscuous assemblage of foreign monks, |||| induced St. Grimbald to
admit, in their stead, secular priests, but living in community;
being mostly persons of noble families.§§- However, he is said to
have been so much dissatisfied with this community, a httle before
his death, as to resolve upon removing them, and looking out for
monks to re-place them.!! The church and monastery being
* Will. Malm. De Pont. 1. n.
t " De Alfredo bono."— Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. in, c. vi.
t Chron Sax., Will. Malm., &c. Asserius places his decease in 900.
|| Asser. Annal.
§ See his grave-stone in the cathedral, inscribed with an account of these particulars,
one of the most ancient of its kind extant; and the chest, where his bones are deposited,
in the same church, inscribed in like manner ; also, Rudb. Hist. Maj.
^f Ibid. ** Annal. de Hyde, apud Cressy, b. xxx, c. vi.
tt Annal de Hyde, apud Cressy, b. xxx, c. vi ; Rudb. Hist. Maj.
tt Asserius, Vit. Alf. IIII Ibid.
§§ Ibid. One of these appears to have been Ethelwerd, the founder s son, renowned
for his learning; who had studied under St. Grimbald, at Oxford; and who seems to
have followed him to Winchester, where he died, and was buried m the monastery of
that saint.
1fH Ibid.

102 ETHELWOLD REBELS AGAINST EDWARD.
A. D. finished, were dedicated by Archbishop Plegmund of Canterbury.*
"^~ Hither the remains of King Alfred were translated, with royal
magnificence, t from the Old Minster ; the new canons, who had
been placed there, readily consenting to part with the body, from a
superstitious idea that their church was haunted by Alfred's ghost.!
King Edward also completed the $Uinna H&jmure, or abbey of St.
Mary, in this city, to which his mother, Eanswitha, betook herself,
as soon as she became her own mistress, by the death of her
husband. || She behaved in so exemplary a manner, whilst living
in the world ; and devoted herself with so much ardour to the
exercise of a rehgious life, after she had embraced this state, that,
904. upon her death, which took place in 904, her name was inserted in
the calendar of English saints. § Her remains were buried in the
New Minster,! near those of her royal husband, and of her son,
the learned Ethelwerd. Amongst the daughters of the reigning
king was one called Edhurga; who having, in her childhood,
given an early symptom of her inclinations, by preferring a book
of the Holy Scriptures, a chahce, &c, to rich bracelets and other
female ornaments, which were displayed to her view,** was per
mitted, by her father, to follow her grandmother into the said
convent of this city ; where she became a model of all Christian
virtues, particularly of humility ;tt insomuch, that her name, also,
was inserted in the sacred calendar ; and she was honoured as the
patroness of the abbey in which she had lived-!!
Edward was not so much taken up with rehgious concerns, as
to neglect the defence of his kingdom and affairs of state. He no
sooner ascended the throne, with the general applause of the whole
kingdom, than he found himself obhged to defend it against an
active competitor. This was his cousin-german, Ethelwold, the
degenerate son of the late king, Ethelbert; a man of the most
daring spirit, and of the most abandoned principles, and, there
fore, universally hated. He contrived, however, to gain possession
* Asser. Vit.Alf. " Post triennium Archiepiscopus Plegmund enceniavit in Wintonia urbe
arduam turrim, quae tunc noviter fuerat sita, in honore Genitricis Dei Mariae." — Nob.
Ethelwerd, 1. iv, c. iv. From this passage we learn, that the New Minister had a
remarkably high tower.
t Asser. Annal.
t Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. n, c. iv ; Rudborne.
II Annal. Hyde, Capgrave, Surius.
§ Martyr. Angl. Jul. 20.
If Annal. de Hyde, Rudborne.
** Will. Malm, de Pontif. c, n. tt Ibid, Capgr., Surius.
tt Catal. Monast. Regn. Hen. VIII, apud Speed and Harpsfield. Besides the above-
mentioned, King Edward had another daughter, Edfleda, who became a nun, and in
whose favour he built the abbey of Rumsey, which seems to have given a beginning to the
adjoining town of that name. Amongst his sons, one bore the name of Alfred; who,
dying before his father, was buried in the New Minster.

EDWARD DIES AND IS BURIED IN THIS CITY. 105
of Winburn and Christchurch ;* and entrenched himself in thie A. D.
former of these places, declaring, that he would either conquer or ^~Y-'
die there.t He had previously taken out of the convent a pro
fessed nun, with whom he cohabited.! But Edward advanced
against him; and, having possessed himself of the adjoining en
trenchments of Badbury,|| Ethelwold withdrew himself from his
followers, and his mistress; and, hastening into the north, was
base enough to enter into a treaty with the Danes, who were
situated there in great numbers. These elected him for their
king ;§ and, under his command, began again their former ravages.
The consequences, however, in the end, were fatal to both parties ;
Ethelwold was killed in battle, and the Danes were repeatedly
routed with prodigious slaughter.! On one of these, occasions,
the Enghsh kingy being in the north, received the submission of
the King of Scotland.** Edward dying in 925, at Faringdon, in 925.
Berkshire, was brought to this city, and buried in the magnificent
church of St. Grimbald, which he had erected ; about which time
his son ^Elfward, departing this life at Oxford, was brought to the
same place for interment. tt
We now resume the succession of our bishops. One of the first
acts of the great Alfred, upon setthng his kingdom, after his most
important victory at Heddington, was to name a bishop of Win
chester. His choice fell upon Denewulphus; concerning whom
ancient writers relate, as a report, but not as a certain fact,!! this
most extraordinary circumstance, — that he was the very herdsman,
in whose cottage, in the Isle of Athelney, the king had been con
cealed. Finding him a man of extraordinary parts, he set him to
study ; and, his wife dying in the interim, as Godwin conjectures, || ||
Alfred raised him, in the short interval of a year, to this high 879
ecclesiastical station.§§ , But whoever Denewulph originally was,
he justified, by his conduct, Alfred's opinion concerning him;
proving himself an active prelate, and an able counsellor of the
state, for he was one of the king's chief advisers ;!! and was
* Winburnham aet Tweoneam— Chron. Sax. an. 901. The latter place is Twynham-
bura ; so called, from its situation between the rivers Stour and Avon.
t Chron. Sax., Mat. West. t Will. Malm.
|| Baddenbyrig, juxta Winburnham, now called Badbury Rings.
§ Chron. Sax., Will. Malm. If Iidem.
** An. 924. " Turn autem eum (Edwardum) elegit in patrem et dominum Scotorum
Rex, omnis item Scotorum gens." — Chron. Sax.
tt Chron. Sax.
tt " Si famae creditor." — Will. Malm. " Ut fama refert."— Mat. West.
IIII Godwin, De Presul. Denewulph. The conjecture is founded upon the canonical
laws and discipline of the times ; there not being a single instance of a married bishop
in this Island, between the second and sixteenth century.
§§ He was consecrated the year after the battle of Heddington, in 879.— Mat. West.
H1f Spelm., Vit. Alf. p. 102.

104 ST. FRITHSTAN AND ST. BRINSTAN, BISHOPS.
a.d. appointed by him to the important post of governor of this city.*
^ Upon the death of Denewulph, this see, as well as the neigh
bouring see of Sherborn, which lost its bishop about the same
time, is said to have remained vacant for the space of seven years, t
until the pope, offended at this irregularity, threatened the king
with the sentence of excommunication, unless bishops were ap
pointed to them.! Upon this, a grand synod of bishops, abbots,
and other dignified persons, was held, at which the archbishop,
Plegmund, presided ;|| when it appearing advantageous to the
cause of religion to increase the number of bishoprics in the west,
the measure was accordingly adopted. The diocese of Winchester
was left to its former limits, § but the see of Sherborn, which had
been originally taken out of it, was divided into four sees; of
which one was appointed still to continue at Sherborn, with
jurisdiction over the three counties of Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, and
Berkshire.! A second see was fixed at Wells, for Somersetshire ;
a third at Crediton, for Devonshire ; and the fourth at Bodmin,
909- for Cornwall.** To our see was appointed, at the recommenda
tion of the great Turketul, to whom it had first been offered, tt a
person of great learning and piety,!! by name Frithstan, who had
been a scholar of St. Grimbald, and one of the regular canons of
his monastery in this city.|||| He was consecrated at Canterbury,
with the bishops of the above-mentioned sees, and two others ;
one of whom had been appointed, in the aforesaid synod, to Dor
chester, in Oxfordshire; the other to Selsey, in Sussex. Our
bishop having filled the episcopal chair, in a most edifying manner,
931. twenty-two years, resigned it, in order to give himself up, at the
close of his life, entirely to contemplation and devotion.§§ He
.932. died in 932, the year after his resignation; and his name is in
serted amongst the saints of this cathedral.
St. Frithstan had previously consecrated as bishop, in his place,
St. Brinstan, a prelate, who is still more renowned for sanctity;
and who, hke his predecessor, had been instructed by St. Grim-
* Mat. West. ad. an. 897.
t There are some chronological difliculties concerning the vacancy in question, which
are discussed, at length; by Hen. Warton, Ang. Sac. vol. 1, p. 209 ; but the fact itself, and
the remarkable circumstance of seven bishops being consecrated by Plegmund, at the same
time, are so positively affirmed by Will. Malm. De Reg. and De Pontif. ; Mat. West. ; Ra
nulph. Higden ; Rudborne, and others, that they cannot consistently be called in question.
t Will. Malm. De Reg. || Mat. West.
§ Ibid.
if Will. Malm. De Pontif. 1. ii. ** Mat, West.
tt Ingulphus, Hist. Croyland. j+ Gul. Malm.
IIII Rudborne, Hist. Maj.. 1. in, c. vii.
§§ Idem, Chron. Sax. " Frithstanus Wintoniensis episcopus, ordinato pro se Brinstano,
viro rehgioso, in urbe Wintoniensi pauperum vitam transegit."— Mat. West. an. 932.

ST. ELPHEGE AND ELSINUS, BISHOPS. 105
bald, and had been a rehgious in the New Minster.* He excelled a. d.
chiefly in the virtue of charity ; employing a considerable space of 1-v-*
time, every day, in reheving the wants of the poor, and in serving
them, with his own hands, in the most humble manner.t There
is reason to believe that he founded an hospital in this city ; which,
being destroyed by the Danes, was afterwards re-established by
Richard Devenish,! and forms now the city chambers. He also
spent many hours of the day in prayer, and was accustomed to
walk round the church-yards, within and without the city walls,
praying for the dead.|| On a certain occasion, having retired to
his oratory, he continued there the whole day. The ensuing day,
his servants entering into his chamber, found that he had yielded
up his spirit in this holy exercise.§ St. Brinstan governed the see
not three years, and by his death, which happened on the feast of
All Saints, in the year 934,! made place for another prelate of this 934.
see, whose name also stands on the sacred calendar. This was
St. Elphege I, sirnamed the Bald, who had been a monk of the
famous abbey of Glassenbury ;** and was uncle to the celebrated
St. Dunstan ; whom, with our future bishop, Ethelwold, he raised
to the order of priesthood in this cathedral. He is described, by
our ancient historians, as not only excelling in Christian virtues of
every kind, but also as possessing a prophetical foresight ; some
remarkable instances of which they relate, tt At his death he left
his lands to certain churches and monasteries in Winchester, with
the obligation of paying annuities to some of his relations.!!
Hitherto this city had the happiness of seeing, in her episcopal
chair, men who did honour to their sacred character; but now,
upon the refusal of St. Dunstan, then abbot of Glassenbury, to
accept of the see,|| || it fell a prey to Elsinus, a man of royal blood
and great learning ;§§ but who proved himself to be unworthy of
ecclesiastical dignities, by the ambition with which he pursued
them. Not content with the rich and honourable bishopric of
Winchester, he aspired to the metropolitical dignity of Canterbury,
and, by unworthy artifices, succeeded in getting himself elected to
it ;!! but being impatient to procure the papal confirmation and
* Rudb. t Will. Malm. De Pontif.; Rudb. Hist. Maj.
t The ground of this conjecture, which is borrowed from Leland, will be stated in our
Second Part. II Will. Malm. De Pontif. ; Rudb. Hist. Maj.
$ Iidem. 1f Chron. Sax.
** Rudb. 1. m, c. vm.
tt Will. Malm, De Pontif. 1. u ; Rudborne, Capgrave, Surius, &c.
tt Ann. Wint. apud Cressy.
IIII Osbern, Vit. S. Duns., Ang. Sac. vol. II ; Mat. West.
§9 Rudborne.
iff Will. Malm. De Pontif. ; Osbern in Vit. Odonis. Ang. Sac. vol. II.

106 ATHELSTAN SUCCEEDS KING EDWARD THE ELDER.
a.d. pall,*' he hastened to Rome in the most unseasonable weather;
959- when, in crossing the Alps, he experienced such intense cold, as
induced him to cause the bodies of the horses on which he and his
companions rode, to be cut open, in order to preserve his own vital
heat, by plunging his feet into them.t But this expedient failing,
he died amidst the snow, and his body was brought home to our
cathedral for interment.! This happened in the year 959. His
promotion to Canterbury had made place for Brithelm, in this
diocese. ||
The great Alfred had early discovered the military talents of his
grandson Athelstan, and had accordingly invested him with the
insignia of a Saxon knight or warrior ; which were a red cloak, a
belt studded with jewels, and a Saxon sword, inclosed in a sheath
of gold.§ It was not, however, so much under the command of
Alfred himself that he studied, with such success, the art of war,
as under that of the heroine Elfleda, his aunt,! the wife of Ethel-
red ; who held the kingdom of Mercia, in vassalage, of our West
Saxon sovereigns. Of her valour and exploits in war, particularly
against the Welsh, our historians speak in terms of rapture.**
Our young hero had not, however, neglected the study of htera
ture ; on the contrary, it appears that he had applied to it under
severe masters, tt and that he had made considerable progress in
it. Being thus qualified, it is not extraordinary that his father
should have overlooked the defect in his birth, for he was born
before King Edward was married to his queen, Egwina,!! and
925 that he should have appointed him his successor in preference to
other sons.|||| The appointment was highly applauded by his
* In these ages the suffragan bishops received their confirmation, or authority to exer
cise spiritual jurisdiction, from the metropolitan ; but the metropolitan himself was
always confirmed by the pope : in token of which he received what is called the pallium,
which is still quartered in the arms of the see of Canterbury.
t Will. Malm,, Rudb., 4c.
t Rudb. || WiU. Malm., Chron. Sax.
§ Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. H, o. vi. if Ibid.
** Hen. Hunt., Ranulph. Higden : —
" 0 Elfleda potens, 0 terror Virgo virorum,
Victrix nuturce, nomine digna viri, Src.
Jam nee Ccesarei tantum meruere triumphi ;
Ccesare splendidior virgo, virago vale."
Ingulph says of her : "Antiquis Amazonibus praeferenda." — Hist. Croyl.
tt This we gather from the spirited verses composed in honour, of his coronation,
and set down at length by the monk of Malmsbury : —
" Adpatris edictum, datus in documenta scholarum,
Extimuit rigidos, feruld crepitante, magistros.
Et potans avidis doctrince mella medullis,
Decurrit teneros, sed non pueriliter annos."
XX Cressy, Ecc. Hist, brings certain arguments to prove that Edward married her. "
'III Will. Malm.

CONSPIRACIES FORMED AGAINST HIM. 107
subjects in general, both when it was first made known to them, A. D.
and afterwards, when he was crowned and anointed king, with ^^
circumstances of magnificence and splendid rejoicings, hitherto
unknown.* Still, however, certain individuals of high rank could
not look upon his elevation without jealousy and indignation ; and,
therefore, formed a conspiracy, in our city of Winchester, for
seizing upon his person and putting out his eyes, in order to
render him incapable of reigning. At the head of this was a
certain nobleman of the name of Elfrid ; who, at the discovery of
the plot, being seized upon, and persisting in denying any know
ledge of it, the king refused to take any farther cognizance of the
matter, or to punish the traitor ; but sent him to Rome, in order to
clear himself upon oath, in the presence of the pope. Thither ac
cordingly he repaired, where, repeating, before the altar of St. Peter,
the oath which he had before taken in this city, concerning his in
nocence of the crime alleged against him, he suddenly fell to the
ground in a fit ; and, being conveyed to his apartments, at the school
of the Enghsh, expired the third day afterwards. Having died in
this manner, the pope refused to permit his body to have Christian
burial, until he had consulted the Enghsh monarch on the subject ;
who, being moved by the tears of his relations, consented that it
should be interred in holy ground.t It is to be lamented that this
illustrious king, did not shew equal mercy, or even common justice,
to his brother Edwin. This prince, being also accused of conspir
ing against him, was, by his command, embarked on board a
vessel, with only one person, his armour-bearer, to manage it.!
The royal yOuth, after struggling some time with the boisterous
elements, gave up his sails and ship to their fury, and plunged into
the waves. His attendant, more patient and laborious, reached
* The crown that was placed upon his head was not such an one as our kings had
hitherto worn, but a diadem, as it is called.— Galfrid Monumet., Chron. Wallingford.
With respect to the rejoicings on this occasion, we think it will not be unacceptable to
the reader if we subjoin the following description of them, extracted from the poem
above quoted, as having considerable merit in itself, and as tending to illustrate the man
ners of the times -. —
" Fervet et exundat regali regia lumu,
Spumat ubique merum, f remit ingens aula tumultu.
Discurrunt pueri, celerant injuncta ministri.
Deliciis ventres, cumulantur carmine mentes.
lite strepit cithard, decertat plausibus iste.
In commune sonat, tibi laus, tibi gloria Christe."
t See all these particulars recounted by Athelstan himself, in his charter to the abbey
of Malmsbury.— Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. n, c. vi. _
t It does not appear to have been the intention of Athelstan absolutely to destroy his
brother Edwin, though he believed him to be guilty of a design upon his life ; and the
event shews, that he might have been saved, as his attendant was, if he had not purposely
thrown himself into the sea— Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. u, and De Pontif. 1. n. His affec
tion for his other brothers was remarkably conspicuous.

108 WARS OF ATHELSTAN.
A. d. the opposite coast of France, and even conveyed the body of his
"-^-' master, which he had recovered, along with him.* The king,
struck with remorse at the tragical conclusion of this adventure,
condemned himself to a seven years' penance,t in expiation of it;
and, with the same view, founded the noble abbey of Middleton, or
Milton, in the adjoining county of Dorset.!
No English king, at any succeeding period, has enjoyed a more
extensive power within the Island, or has been more courted by
foreign princes, than Athelstan. To acquire and preserve the for
mer, however, he was obhged to maintain many severe combats
with the Western Britons, on whom he imposed a heavy annual
tribute; || and with the different northern nations, consisting of
Britons, Danes, Picts, and Scots. In the course of the war he
carried his victorious arms to the utmost extremity of Scotland.§
After this, being satisfied with receiving the submission and the
hostages which they offered him, he returned to the seat of his go
vernment in Wessex.! The conditions of this peace were not
likely to last longer than the conquered party felt themselves under
the necessity of observing them. Accordingly Constantine, enter
ing into a close alliance with the Cumbrian and Northumbrian
princes, who had been subdued as well as himself; and hkewise
with the Danes, who were numerous and powerful in Norfolk, and
all along the eastern coast of the Island ;** prepared himself to
take a severe revenge for the indignities which he had suffered.
But what he chiefly depended upon was the powerful assistance of
his son-in-law, Analaf, the Dane ; who had estabhshed his power
over a considerable part of Ireland, and over the Orkneys and the
Western Islands. He accordingly brought to the assistance of his
father-in-law, an army of hardy barbarians, collected from almost
every part of the north-west of Europe. They sailed in a fleet,
composed of no less than 615 vessels, and landed at the mouth of
the Humber. tt Not finding Constantine in those parts, as he
seems to have expected, Analaf marched into the north ; where a
junction was no sooner formed between those motley hosts, at
» WiU. Malm. De Reg., Mat. West. t Iidem.
t Will. Malm. De Pontif.
|| Viz. 201b. of gold, 3001b. of silver, 25,000 oxen, and as many hawks and hounds as
he should have occasion for.
§ " Deinde maximal vi hostes subegit, Scotiam usque dum Feoder et Wertmorum, ter-
restri exercitu vastavit, navali vero usque Catnes, depopulatus est ; unde, vi compulsus Rex
Constantius filium suum obsidem, cum dignis muneribus, ei dedit." — Rog. Hoveden,
Annal. ; Mat. West. ad. an. 933 ; Chron. Sax., Sim. Dunelm. " Colla subdunt Scoti, pa-
riterque Picti, uno solidantur Britannidis arva." — Nobitis Ethelwerd, 1. iv. c. v. No fact
of history is better attested; yet, such is the force of national prejudice, the Scotch writers
assert, that Athelstan was conquered and killed in battle by theirancestors. — J. Fordun, &c.
If Rog. Hoveden, Mat. West. ** Ingulph. tt Rog. Hoveden.

WARS OF ATHELSTAN. 109
Brunanburg, on the remote borders of Northumberland,* than a. d.
they found our brave and indefatigable Athelstan, with his brother '~r~ '
Edmund, at the head of his West Saxon veterans, ready to op
pose them ; whilst his chancellor, Turketul,t led on a chosen army
of Londoners and Mercians to the same attack.! Analaf, not less
circumspect than daring, here put in practice the stratagem which
Alfred had given an example of, against his countrymen, in order
to reconnoitre the English camp ; but failed of his principal object,
which was to assassinate Athelstan in his tent. Instead of the
king, he killed our West Saxon bishop, Sherborn,|| who probably
attended as chaplain to the army. Th'e succeeding conflict was so
dreadful and bloody, that our ancient historians speak of it in terms
of astonishment ; and substitute the figures and language of poetry
for their ordinary grave and unornamented narration. § Certain
"' it is, that never did the valour of this nation shine forth mOre con
spicuously, and never was a victory more complete. Five princes,
amongst whom was the son of the Scottish king,! and twelve ge
nerals, with a promiscuous multitude, beyond all computation, of
Danes, Norwegians, Hebridians, Orkneymen, Irish, Scots, Picts,
and Britons, were left dead upon the field of battle.**
This account of the military transactions of Athelstan, at a dis
tance from his capital, are not altogether foreign to its history, as
it enables the reader to form a proper judgment of a remarkable
combat, which is said to have taken place, about this time, at our
city; and which, by local tradition, and the report of some his
torians, is magnified into an incident of the greatest importance ;
whilst, by other writers, it is rejected into the class of mere fables.
* Ingulph. This historian expressly says, that the place of battle was in Northumber
land ; which passage confirms the opinion of Camden, and overturns all the conjectures
of Gibson, in favour of a more southern station. — Vide calcem Chron. Sax.
t This great statesman and warrior, having, with many entreaties and tears, obtained
permission of his sovereign to bid adieu to the world, became the restorer of the abbey of
Croyland ; where all the monks, except a very few, who fled, had suffered martyrdom
from the Danes, in the most heroic manner ; the affecting history of which Ingulphus has
. preserved. Of the five venerable brethren, (to which number the survivors were at last
reduced), all of whom had passed their hundredth year; and (upon the re-establishment
of their monastery, were termed Sempectw, quasi Sumpaiktai, from the circumstance of
their having boys to attend upon them) brother Brunus had retired to the cathedral mo
nastery of Winchester, and brother Aio to that of Malmsbury. Both of these, however,
joyfully returned to Croyland, when chancellor Turketol resolved to become a monk, and
to re-establish that monastery. See all these particulars in the perspicuous history which
abbot Ingulphus has left us of the monastery of Croyland.
t Ingulph.
|| Wm. Malm., Ingulph., Higden.
§ See the curious poetical description of this battle in Chron. Sax. and Hen. Hunt.,
which very much resembles, in its style and figures, the poems of Ossian. This was pro
bably a popular song, long familiar to our Saxon ancestors. Ethelwerd says, " Facta est
pugna immanis barbaros contra, unde et vulgo usque ad presens, bellum praenominatur
magnum." — 1. iv, c. v.
1f Chron. Sax., Hoveden, Dunelm., Rudborne, Higden.
** Ingulph., Rog. Hoveden, Hen. Hunt., Mat. West.

110 COLBRAND AND GUY OF WARWICK.
A. D. We speak of the celebrated duel between the Danish giant, Col-
V-Y~' brand, and the Enghsh champion, Guy, Earl of Warwick. On
one hand he will see the improbability that Winchester, flourishing
and secure, who sent her sons to engage the Danes, in the remote
parts of the north, should have been, at the same time, besieged by
them ; as, likewise, that Athelstan, ever vigorous and victorious,
should have risked the fate of his kingdom upon the issue of a
single combat. Other circumstances also related of this battle are
seen to be the inventions or exaggerations of the writers ; such as
the gigantic stature of the Dane, the pilgrimage of Guy, the vision
of Athelstan, and the mode of conducting the combat, which favours
much more of the fourteenth than of the tenth century. On the
other hand, to reject the ground-work of a history, which is found
ed on so many ancient records,* and supported by immemorial tra
dition, as well as by a great number of monuments still existing, or
which existed until of late,t savours of absolute scepticism. By
taking a middle course, we shall avoid improbabilities ; and, at the
same time, preserve the credit of historians, and the favourite tale
of Winchester.
We see that there was an actual invasion of the kingdom in this
reign, by a Danish king, of the name of Analaf,! called by Knighton,
Olave, at the head of an immense army. It is not improbable that,
upon his landing, he sent a summons to Athelstan, at this his capi
tal city, to submit to him, and to consent to hold his kingdom in
vassalage of him ; and that his summons was brought by an em
bassy of daring warriors, amongst whom might have been a bravo of
uncommon bulk and strength, named Colbrand. Finally, it is very
hkely, that an Enghsh hero, who proved to be a Mercian thane,
of the name of Guy, and whose residence was at Warwick, was
found to repress the insolence of this haughty Dane. Thus, we
may venture to say, has a duel of national gallantry been magni
fied into a combat, on the issue of which the fate of two rival na-
* Hen. Knighton de Eventibus Angliae, 1. 1.— He wrote in the reign of Richard II.
about the year 1380. Tho. Rudborne.— He wrote about the year 1440. Their accounts
of this duel are now extant; but Harpsfield, who wrote in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
quotes, for the truth of this history, authors who lived in the reign of King John, and
some even in that of Henry II.
t Such as, 1st.— Athelstan's chair, being a turret so called in the north wall of the
city, from which he is said to have been a spectator of the combat. 2dly.— A representa
tion of the battle, in stone, which Wharton tells us, formerly existed in the said wall.
3dly.— Two mutilated statues ; one of a very tall man, the other of a little man, in the
. attitude of fighting ; said by Butler, in his Lives of Saints, to have existed in the chapel
at Guy s Cliff. 4thly.— Colbrandis Ax, as it is called by Rudborne, which was, preserved,
in his time, in the treasury of the cathedral.— Hist. Maj. There also it was in the reign
of James I., as Trussel testifies, and probably continued until the universal pillage, in the
grand rebellion.
t So named by Rudborne.

COLBRAND AND GUY OF WARWICK. Ill
tions was supposed to hang. Having made these observations, we a. d.
may safely lay before the reader an abstract of the most ancient, as ^r~'
well as circumstantial description that is known to be extant, of
the combat in question; leaving him to make such abatements
from the circumstances of it, as he shall judge reasonable.* It
* An Account of the Combat of Guy and Colbrand, abridged from Hen. Knighton. —
King Athelstan being informed, that Olave, or Analaf, King of the Danes, with a great
number of inferior princes and generals, and an army of 50,000 men, had landed in his
dominions, assembled together the chief men of his kingdom, in his city of Winchester,
in order to consult on the best means of making head against them ; but, before any
thing effectual was done, Analaf had led his army, by hasty marches, to the city, and laid
close siege to it ; which he carried on during the space of two years, without, however,
being able to reduce it. At length the Danish king proposed to leave the decision of the
important question, whether the English should be subject to the Danes, or the Danes to
the English, to the fortune of a single combat, between a champion on his side, one Col
brand, a man of gigantic stature and strength, and any English combatant, whom Athel
stan might fix upon, on the other. This proposal reduced the latter to great straits. He
was ashamed to own that he had not a Christian hero in his army, who was a match for
the Goliah of the Pagans, and yet he did not know where to find such an one ; and often
in vain sighed for his brave Guy of Warwick, with whose prowess he was well acquainted,
but who was then absent, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In this extremity he was
admonished, in a nocturnal vision, to choose for his champion a poor pilgrim, whom he
should find the next morning at the eastern gate of the city, dressed in a manner that was
then made known to him. Being early upon the watch, he accordingly sees a pilgrim,
who answers the description given, entering into the city from the Portsmouth road. On
an attentive survey of him, who should it prove but Guy himself, who had landed the
day before at the above-mentioned haven ; though greatly emaciated and disfigured by his
toils and austerities. It required little persuasion to induce so good a man to resume the
arms which he had laid aside, and to risk his life in defence of his king and country.
The challenge, therefore, of the Dane, which had been often repeated, is now accepted
of; the day of combat is fixed, as likewise the place of it, which is the vale of Chilcomb,
on the south side of St. Giles's hill. Guy, having laid aside his weeds, and recruited his
strength, in the course of a few intervening days, appears the same graceful warrior that
he had heretofore been ; and is furnished with the choicest arms, from the royal armoury
in this city. In particular, he is girt with the sword of Constantine the Great, and re
ceives into his hand the spear of Charlemagne ; he is also mounted on Athelstan's veiy
best war-horse. (Scandens meliorem dextrarium regis.) Being thus equipped, he rides
10 Chilcomb, amidst the vows and prayers of the citizens of Winchester, and of the whole
English army ; who, with their king, follow, to be the spectators of the important com
bat. Thither, also, Colbrand repairs, but so heavily armed, that his horse can hardly
support his weight. In addition to the arms which he wore, he is accompanied by a
cart, filled with Danish axes, huge iron clubs, and crooks to beat down an enemy, or
drag him off his horse. The signal of battle being given, the English champion claps
spurs to his charger, and, couching his lance, rushes upon his huge foe; but his spear is
shivered to pieces against the massive armour of Colbrand, and the point of it is left
sticking in his shield. In return, the enraged Dane, collecting all his might, whirls his
ponderous battle-axe at Guy, with such force, that falling on the unarmed neck of his
horse, it severs the head of the animal clean from its body. Our champion being thus
dismounted, the combat is renewed on foot : he making use of his sword and shield,
whilst Colbrand wields one of his huge clubs of iron. The advantage, however, is seen
to be evidently on the side of the latter, which fills the Danes with exultation, and the
English with dismay; for Guy's sword proves to be neither sufficiently long nor weighty
to make any greatimpression upon his adversary; whilst Colbrand's club is, every minute,
on the point of crushing Guy, who only saves himself by the interposition of his trusty
shield, which he for a long time manages with inimitable dexterity. At length a ponder
ous blow descending full upon it, the boss is dashed from the handle, which alone re
mains upon the arm of the astonished Guy. The exulting Dane, now pressing forward,
again lifts his murderous weapon ; and the life of our brave countryman, with the
liberties of England, seem inevitably on the point of being destroyed by the impending
blow. In this danger, however, the alertness of Guy proves to be of no less service than
his valour ; for springing aside, he dexterously eludes the massive weapon, which descends

112 ATHELSTAN DIES AND IS BURIED AT MALMSBURY.
A. D. seems necessary, however, to add, that our native historian, being
L"^r'~ supported by constant tradition and certain monuments, deserves
much more credit, in placing the scene of this action in Hyde
Meadow, called from this circumstance, Danemark,* and in arming
his Danish champion with a huge battle-axe, than does the canon
of Leicester, who transfers the combat to the valley, on the other
side of St. Giles's hill,t and who makes Colbrand fight chiefly with
a mallet or huge club, armed with iron. On the other hand, by
way of some support to Knighton's account, we ought to mention,
that amongst other curious and noble presents, which Athelstan
received from Otho, Emperor of Germany, and Hugh Capet, King
of France, were a sword, said to have belonged to Constantine the
Great; a spear, with which Charlemagne had fought against the
Saracens ; and a banner, supposed to have been that of St. Mau
rice's martyred legion.!
A proof of the prosperity and increasing commerce of this city, in
the present reign, was the estabhshment which Athelstan made in
it of six mints, for so many different kinds of money. || These
mints were placed in the centre of the city, where the pent-house
at present stands,§ but which then seems to have formed the site
of the royal palace. An argument, on the other hand, that rehgi
ous hterature was not neglected by this great king, was his care in
procuring the Scriptures to be translated. King Alfred, Venerable
Bede, and other Saxon authors, had laboured in translating parts
of that sacred volume ; but Athelstan procured a version of the
941. whole to be made. He died in 941 ; and as he had always enter
tained a pecuhar respect for St. Aldhelm's monastery of Malms
bury, according to what we gather from the charter mentioned
above, so he ordered his body to be there interred.!
Athelstan died without children, and was succeeded by his bro-
with such force as to escape from the hands of Colbrand ; and, whilst he stoops to re
cover it, our champion, with equal rapidity and strength, discharges so 'well-directed a
stroke of his sword upon his right hand, as to eut it clean off. Improving his advantage,
Guy is soon enabled to complete his victory, and the triumph of his countrymen, by lay
ing the enormous casque and the bleeding head of the Danish champion at the feet of the
English monarch.— Hen. Knighton, De Event. Angl. 1. i, p. 2321 ; Ed.Twysd.
* '• The Hydemede olim Denemarch appellatus, prope mouasterium de Hyda." —
Thomas Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1. in, c. vm.
t Chilcomb. This vale is now known by the name of Cobb's farm.
t Will. Malm. De Regibus, 1. n, c. in ; Higden, Rudborne.
|| Chron. Joan. Brompton, Leges Adelstani, c. xix. It must be owned, however, that
the natural advantages of London appear to have increased its trade and commerce in a
greater proportion, as eight mints were established there. Canterbury had as many; but
that was ordained in favour of the archbishop, who had the privilege of coining three
kinds of money ; and of the abbot of St. Augustine's monastery, who had a right to stamp
one kind. § Trussel's MSS.
If The ingenious and learned monk of that monastery testifies, that he was present
when the tomb of this king was opened ; and, amongst other particulars, he mentions, that
his yellow locks were found to be braided with wires of gold. — Will. Malm. De Reg.

EDMUND SUCCEEDS ATHELSTAN. 113
ther and fellow in arms, Edmund ; a valiant and victorious prince, A- D.
on every occasion, when he was forced to take the field; yet one, O^L
who knowing the value of human blood, was willing to preserve
peace by any sacrifices which were consistent with the good of his
people. This disposition alone can account for the treaty which
he made with the Danish Analaf; who now again invaded this
kingdom, and was joined by innumerable hordes of his country
men, of the northern and eastern counties. Edmund was con
fident in his own courage, and in the tried bravery of his faithful
West Saxons ; yet, as Analaf now professed himself a Christian,
and there was a prospect of his governing his subjects with equity,
Edmund, at the persuasion of the Archbishops of York and Can
terbury, consented to divide his kingdom with him; making
Watling-street the boundary of their respective dominions.* This
treaty, however, was rendered void by the death of Analaf, who
expired soon after, in the act of oppression and sacrilege ;t and
the conduct of the Danes, or Noimans,! was such, as to obhge
Edmund to treat them with greater rigour than formerly, and no
longer to permit their separate principalities. || He was not less
rehgious than he was valiant ; of which our New Minster, amongst
other churches, was an instance, to whose venerable family, as he
calls the regular canons, he gave the village of Pevesey, for their
further support. § He shewed equal regard for the prosperity of
the Old Minster, or cathedral.! But all these great qualities were
lost to his kingdom and to his family, by one hasty action ; at a
time too, when the latter, in particular, stood most in need of them.
His fault, however, was not so great as it is generally represented
to have been by historians. He did not at first attempt, in person,
to expel from the entertainment the outlaw Leof, who had obtrud
ed himself amongst the royal guests, but gave an order to this
effect to his butler.** However, when he saw his servant exposed
to great personal danger in executing his commands; the con-
* Rog. Hoveden, Annal. ; Mat. West. ad. an. 940.
t "¦ Analafus dum vastaret ecclesiam S. Balteri et Tinningham igne cremaret, mox Dei
judicio, correptus, vitam miserabiliter terminavit." — Mat. West. ad. an. 941 ; Rog.
Hoveden. t A passage here occurs in one of our most ancient and judicious historians, proving
the Danes and Normans to be the same people, which it would be wrong to pass over.
" Dacos igitur, qui etiam, eo tempore, Normanni sunt vocati, penitus extirpavit (Ed-
mundus)." — Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. v.
II wm. Malm., Mat.West.
§ Anna! de Hyde, cited by Cressy. The term of venerable family proves that the
canons of St. Grimbald's abbey still lived together in community.
1f' Rudb. 1. in, c. ix.
** " Magnificus Rex Edmundus, dum suum dapiferum Leonem e mauibus pessimi
cleptoris, ne occideretur, vellet erripere, ab eodem interficitur." — Rog. Hoveden, Annal. ;
Rudb. 1. in, e. ix.
VOL. I. H

114 EDMUND KILLED BY LEOF.
A. D. queror of Brunanburg could not submit to be insulted to his face
9*6- by a bold intruder, but rushing from the table, seized upon him by
^~v" the hair, and flung him on the ground. The traitor, in revenge,
drawing a private dagger, plunged it into the kingis body, and
deprived him of life, in the year 946. Edmund having professed
a great veneration, both for the abbey of Glassenbury, and for its
holy abbot, Dunstan,* it was thought best to convey his body
thither for interment.
The deceased king left two infant sons, incapable of reigning ;
but there was still living another son of Edward the Elder, named
Edred ; who, by his valour, probity, and piety, proved himself to
be worthy of his race. His bravery and firmness were manifested
in his successful wars with the Northumbrians and Scots ; who, at
this period, were found ever ready to swear fidelity and allegiance
to our victorious West Saxons ; and equally ready to violate their
oaths, when they could do it with impunity.t His piety was
proved in his devotion and beneficence to the venerable resting
place of his ancestors, and of so many saints, in this city ; upon
which he bestowed the manors of Downton and Husborn, with a
golden cross and certain images of the same metal.! Finding his
last hour approaching, he sent in haste for St. Dunstan, to ad
minister the sacraments to him;|| who, however, did not arrive
until after the king had expired. He, nevertheless, testified, that
he had been assured, on his journey, by a celestial voice, of the
happiness of the pious monarch.§ His body was interred, by the
saint, in our cathedral church ; which he had, in his life time, so
much respected, and where his remains are still religiously pre
served.! No nation, in any age, can shew so long a succession of great
and good kings, as those who swayed the sceptre in this regal city,
from Egbert down to Edmund. But the royal dignity suffered an
eclipse in the person of Edwy, the elder son of. the late king,
955. Edmund ; who next succeeded to the throne, though not yet four
teen years of age. He was a youth of some good qualities, and
exquisitely proportioned ;** but licentious and ungovernable in the
* Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. ii, c. vn.
t " Northanimbros et Scottos facile ad sacramentum suae fidelitatis adactos et mox
faedifragas."— Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. n, c. vm.
t Rudb. 1. in, c. x.
|| " Cum aegrotare caepisset, missai celeri legatione, B. Dunstanum, confessionis gratis,
accersivit." — Mat. West., Rog. Hoveden.
§ wm. Malm., Rog. Hoveden, Mat. West., Osbern, Rudborne, &c.
f In one of the chests over the presbytery.
** " Prae nimi4 pulchritudine pancali sortitas est nomen." — Ethelw. 1. iv, c. vm.
Pancalus, i. e. Pankalos, ex omni parte pulcher.— We cannot fail of being surprised at

EDWY AND ALGIVA. 115
extreme. This disposition rendered him a prey to a wicked woman A. D.
of great beauty and high birth, nearly related to himself,* by name 955-
Algiva ; who, together with her grown up daughter, inveigled and ""
corrupted him to such a degree,t as to cause him, soon after he
was crowned and anointed king, to leave the coronation feast, and
the company of his nobles, for the purpose of giving himself up to
their lewd company.! This was a general subject of scandal
to his numerous subjects, assembled at the ceremony, but particu
larly to his noble guests ; who, after waiting some time, obliged
his tutor, St. Dunstan, || and his relation, Kinsey, Bishop of Litch
field, to go and withdraw the misguided youth from such unworthy
company, and conduct him back to their assembly. § In fact, both
the proposal and the execution of this measure were loyal and
friendly to the real interests of Edwy. The consequences, how
ever, were fatal, not only to St. Dunstan himself, but also to the
whole monastic profession, of which he was the avowed patron ; all
of whom, together with their servants, the enraged youth, at the
instigation of the aforesaid women, drove into exile.! There is
the greater reason for dwelling upon these transactions, as, in their
remote consequences, they brought about that remarkable change
in the clergy of this city, which we shall have to mention in the
following reign. We are not surprised that the continuance of
such conduct, as this inconsiderate prince had given an example
of at his coronation, should have undermined his throne. Within 957.
the space of two years, all his subjects, to the north of the river
Thames, revolted from him, and chose his brother, Edgar, for their
king ;** so that, for the remaining two years of his life, the au
thority of Edwy was confined to this city, and the annexed king-
finding the Greek language so much in use amongst our ancestors, in the tenth century,
as it appears to have been by the titles and names which they adopted. For example,
Edgar, upon his coins, and in his charters, almost always termed himself Basileus.
instead of Rex. In like manner, the proper appellation for the heir apparant was Clyto,
quasi Klutos, for illustrious, &c.
* " Proxime cognatam." — Will. Malm.
t " Huic quaedam mulierinnupta, licet natione praecelsa, cum aduM filial per nefandum
familiaritatis lenocinium adhaerebat, ut sese vel filiam suam, sub conjugali titulo sociaret,
quas me alternatim libidinose tractavit." — Mat. West. ad. an. 955.
t " In die quii in regem consecratus est, confestim post regiam unctionem, de mensa
subito prosiluit princeps, et laeta reliquit convivia ; ut lascivus voluptatem lenocinii
vinolentus compleret." — Ibid. " Ipse die quo in regem sacratas fuerat, dum de rebus
seriis et regno necessariis inter eos ageretor, h medio, quasi ludibundus, prorupit in
triclinium et in complexum ganeae devolutus. Fremere omnes, &c." — Will. Malm. De
Reg. 1. 11, c. vn.
|| Osbern, in Vit. St. Dunst. ; Chron. Joan. Walling.
§ " Invenerunt (Dunsianus abbas et Kynesius episcopus) coronam de capite ejus, et
eum medium inter duas, matrem Ethelgyvam nomine, et filiam ; alternatim eas lascive,"
&c— Chron. J. Willing., In Vita S. Odonis., In Vit. S. Dunst.
ff Will. Malm., Osbern, Hist. Ramesiensis.
** Mat. West.
H 2

116 DEATH OF EDWY.
A. D. dom of the West Saxons. He died in the year 959,* before
959- he had attained his eighteenth year, and was interred in the
New Minster of this city, to which, in his hfe time, he had been a
benefactor.t * Chron. Bromp., Rudborne. It is astonishing to what lengths of misrepresentation
and barefaced falsehood the spirit of irreligion frequently carries our modern historians.
An instance of it occurs with respect to the history now before us, in which the sense of
the original writers referred to, is most shamefully and maliciously perverted, by Carte,
Hume, Guthrie, Rapin, &c. For, 1st. — These writers persist in asserting, that the royal
youth was actually married, at the time of his coronation, to one of the ladies whom he
was familiar with. Now this is contrary to the testimony of the original writers, as may
be gathered from the above -quoted passage of Matthew of Westminster, amongst many
others that might be brought forward. In support of their assertion, they cite William
of Malmsbury, whose words are : " Proxime cognatum invadens, uxorem ejus formae
deperibat." — (De Reg. 1. n, c. vn.) — which means, that he was dying to make her his
wife. Hence he never speaks of her, afterwards, but under the name of ganea and
pellex, the former of which words Carte, who undertakes to give the original passage
itself, as it stands in Malmsbury, renders queen, the latter wife ! Almost every other
sentence of the version is equally unfaithful. 2ndly. — These writers, particularly Hume
and Carte, take great pains to represent the conduct of Edwy, as (Dot exceeding the
bounds of decorum. To judge of their candour and truth, let their account, with respect
to this particular, be compared with the passages of Westminster and Wallingford, cited
above; the latter of whom Hume has the confidence to appeal to in his notes. 3dly. —
Both the above-mentioned writers make use of every foul art, by additions and suppres
sions, to blacken the character of those good men, whom past ages have viewed with ve
neration. " Dunstan (says Hume) conjectured the reason of the king's retreat, and carry
ing with him Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, over whom he had gained an entire as
cendancy, he burst into the apartment, upbraided Edwy, and probably bestowed on the
queen the most opprobrious epithets." Will it be believed, without occular demonstration,
that our modern author professes to build this account on the relation of Will. Malm.,
Osbern, and Mat. West.? The passage referred to in the first of these historians has
been given above. Let us now attend to what the two latter say : " Subito exiluit
(Edwyus) duarum faeminarum eum opperientium infandum consortium expeteus. Quae
res considentium mentes magno pudoris moerore dejecit. Habito autem consilio inter
eos, quid facto opus esset, missus est ab archiepiscopo (viz. Odone) et primoribus, vene-
rabilis abbas Dunstanus regem ab illicitis amplexibus abstrahere et ad regiam sedem inter
principes revocare." — Osbern, De Vit. S. Odon. Ang. Sac. vol. II, p. 83. " Pari et com-
muni omnium voto Dunstanus compellitur, qui regem adeat, &c." — Idem, Vit. S.
Dunst. p. 105. " Displicuit factum optimatibus et B. abbatem Dunstanum miserunt ad
regem reducedum. Qui juxta principum jussa, adjuncto sibi Cynesio episcopo, cognato
suo, thalamum ingressus invenerunt coronam regiam in terrain negligenter avulsam ....
regemque inter utrasque in volutabro voluntantem." — Mat. West. ad. an. 955 In addition
to the malice, we cannot but be struck with the supine negligence of the historian, in
making Odo accompany Dunstan on this occasion. This writer and Carte, from whom
he borrows, are guilty of equal inaccuracy, in confounding the history of the two women
in question. We gather, from the above-quoted passage of Wallingford, that it was the
mother, not the daughter, who was called Algiva; but we are left in the dark, by original
writers, as to which of them was branded in the face, by order of Odo, and afterwards
hamstrung, near Gloucester, by the authority of the thanes, then in arms against Edwy. —
Osbern, Vit. St. Dunst. Ang. Sac. vol. II, p. 106.
• t Annal. Wint. apud Cressy.

ACCESSION OF EDGAR. 117

CHAP. VIII.
Accession of Edgar to the Throne. — Laws and Ordinances respect
ing Winchester. — Life of its Bishop, St. Ethelwold. — The Cathe
dral re-built. — Monks substituted for secular Canons. — Disserta
tion on the original Institute of the Cathedral Clergy of Win
chester. — Ditto on Clerical Celibacy. — Succession of Kings.
Edward the Martyr, Ethelred II. — Degeneracy of the Citizens
of Winchester. — Slaughter of the Danes, and Hocktide Sports
here begun. — The City reduced by the Danes. — Life and Martyr
dom of St. EL/riiec/e II. — Events relating to Winchester, under
Edmund IronsWe, Canute the Great, Harold, and Hardicanute. —
Edward the Confessor crowned in this City. — Succession of
Bishops. — History of Alwyn. — Nature of Ordeals. — Queen Emma
passes through the Fiery Ordeal in the Cathedral. — Frightful
Death of Earl Godwin, at Winchester. Harold's Partizans in
this City.
Not one of that illustrious line^jf West Saxon princes, who had a. d.
hitherto swayed the sceptre, i^gned with so much glory as Ed- 939-
gar, the surviving son of the late king, Edmund, who was now
acknowledged sole King of England, and paramount sovereign of
the whole Island. The circumstance, however, which threw the
brightest rays on this greatness, was, that it was purchased without
shedding a drop of human blood. The fact is, he avoided war, by
means of the vast armaments which he had always on foot, both
by sea and land, ready to repel it ; and his subjects were enabled
to support him, in making these exertions, through the advantages
of the equitable, wise, and active government, which he supported
amongst them. He kept the Danes and other northern rovers at
a distance from his coasts, by a fleet of 3600 stout vessels, which

118 EDGAR'S CONQUESTS AND INSTITUTIONS.
A. D. scoured the seas, in three divisions ; one on each side of our trian-
959- gular Island. He overawed the Scottish, the Welsh, and the other
""^ inferior princes of the Island;* and, by requiring them frequently
to attend his court, prevented their combining against him, as they
had done against his ancestor, Athelstan. On one occasion, he
obliged the whole number of them, being eight, to row his royal
barge up and down the river Dee ; whilst he, in royal pomp, sat at
the helm, steering it at his pleasure.t The tribute which he
imposed upon one of these vassals, Ludwall, a Welch prince,
serves to illustrate, in the highest degree, his wisdom and attention
to his people's welfare ; and has an immediate relation to this
city. Edgar required him to find 300 wolves' heads every year,!
and to deposit them with the Bishop of Winchester, at his palace,
in our city ; which, from this circumstance, has derived the name
of Wolvesey. \\ The consequence was, that after paying this tribute
three years, he was unable to procure any more wolves' heads,§
either by hunting in his own territories, which seem to have been
hitherto their chief breeding place, or by purchase in any other
part of the Island. Thus were these destructive animals entirely
extirpated, and a foundation was laid for our rich woollen staple.
Still more conducive to the welfare and happiness of his subjects,
were those journeys which he made every year throughout his
dominions ;! to see that the laws were put in execution ; to protect
the poor from the oppressions of the rich ;** ann to provide pro
per remedies for whatever abuses or grievances he could any where
discover. Finding the current money greatly debased and altered,
which was partly owing to the great number of mints ; he caused
a general uniform coinage to be made;tt which seems to have
been struck in this his capital city. Perceiving, also, that great
confusion and frauds arose from the diversity of measures, in dif
ferent parts of the kingdom, he cadered standard measures to be
made,!! which he deposited here ; and, at the same time, enacted
a law, that the Winchester Measure, (which, until within these few
years,, was the standard legal measure for England,) should be
* wm. Malm. De Gest. Reg. 1. u, c. vm.; Rog. Hov. Ann. ; Sim. Dunelm. Mat.
West, and others make Edgar's fleet consist of 4800 vessels.
t These were Kynath, King of Scotland; Malcolm, King of Cumberland; Maccus,
King of the Hebrides ; and five kings who ruled in different parts of Wales. — WU1. Malm.,
Rog. Hov., Sim. Dunelm., Mat. West.
t Will. Malm. || Archiv. Ecc. S. Trin. cited by Trussel, MSS. § Will. Malm.
If Rog. Hov. ad. an. 975 ; Mat. West. *» Rog. Hov.
tt " Sit una moneta per totam regis imperium." — Leges Edgari, ap. Bromp. n. xni.
tt The original bushel of Edgar is still preserved in our Guildhall.roJ
(a) It is now (1838,) removed to a room recently fitted up for the reception of the
city records, &c. over the West Gate of the city.

CHARACTER OF EDGAR. 119
observed throughout his whole dominions.* The other wise laws, a. D.
which he made for the equal administration of justice; and, '~V~J
particularly, for preventing individuals from being oppressed by
the imposition of excessive fines and bail ; as, hkewise, for the
protection of morality and rehgion, may be seen in our ancient
authors.t One of his regulations is of a singular nature, and
descriptive of the manners of the times. The Danes, who were
dispersed all over the kingdom, being addicted to excessive drink
ing, and infecting the English inhabitants with the same vice ; so
that it became a subject of contest in the taverns, where they used
to assemble, who could drink the deepest out of the common
drinking cup, which passed throughout the whole company, Edgar
made an ordinance, that certain pegs should be placed, at equal
distances, within all such vessels, forbidding any person to drink
below his proper peg.!
Edgar was chiefly guided, both in his pubhc and private conduct,
by the advice of St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, one of
the greatest men of his age ; but who has suffered almost as much
in his character from the officiousness of his friends, || as from the
malice of his enemies. Besides being eminent for piety, learning,
and the sciences which are necessary for governing mankind, he
excelled in the liberal arts ; particularly in painting, carving, and
music.§ His greatest praise, however, was to hive animated his
pupil, Edgar, as he had done Edmund and Edred, the father and
uncle of this prince, to promote the security and happiness of his
* " Mensura sit, sicut apud Wincestriamjiabetur."— Ibid. Former historians of Win
chester have been unable to trace the Winchester measure higher than the time of Queen
Elizabeth.— See Description of the City, &c. by the Rev. T. Warton, p. 33 ; also, Hist, of
Winchester, vol. II, p. 117.
t Chron. J. Bromp.; Leges Edg., &c.
t " In tantum et in frivolis pads sequax, ut quia compatriotae, in tabernis convementes,
jamque temulenti pro modo bibendi contenderent ; ipse clavos argenteos vel aureos vasi
affigi jusserit, &c."— Will. Malm. " Vix in Anglia viculus in quo Daci cum Anghs non
habitarent. Daci a natur& potatores fortissimi, hoc unum praedicabile perpetuum rehquere
Anglis. Quamobrem rex clavos in ciphis fecit infigi, ut per emensos ciphorum terminos
biberent ad mensuram."— Chron. J. Bromp. p. 869 ; Ed. Twysd. See an engraving of
one of these cups, which formerly belonged to Glassenbury abbey, with a dissertation on
the same by the author.— Archaeologia, vol. XI. The cup contains two quarts, and is
divided by seven pegs, which allows half a pint to each person's draught.
|| Osbern, and the other writers of his life, have told ridiculous stories of his supposed
contests with the devil. Most readers have laughed at these legends, and have transferred
their contempt of them to St. Dunstan himself, without reflecting, that in despising him,
they despise, perhaps, the most comprehensive genius, and the greatest and best states
man, that this nation ever produced. ,
§ Osbern, &c. The instrument, on which he himself played, was the harp; but he
gave organs to the monastery of Malmsbury ; which, from the description ot thnm,
appear to have been of the same construction with those in present use : " Organa ubi
per fistulas areas, musicis mensuris elaboratas, dudum conceptas follu vomit anxms
auras." — Will. Malm, in Vit. S. Aldhelmi .

120 DEATH OF EDGAR.
A. D. subjects ;* and, at the same time, to have helped him to overcome
'-Y_' his private vices. For this prelate did not connive at the inconti-
nency of his friend Edgar, any more than he had countenanced the
licentiousness of his enemy Edwy ; and it was through his aposto
lical reproaches and exhortations, that this illustrious monarch,
hke another David or Theodosius, undertook a voluntary penance.
of seven years ;t one part of which was not to wear his crown
during the whole time.! The period being elapsed, he was
crowned with great pomp, amidst the most heartfelt rejoicings of
his subjects, at Bath,|| in the year 973. Three years after this
976- solemnity he died, and was buried in his favourite abbey of Glas
senbury. The ecclesiastical events of this reign, as they regard Winches
ter, form a more important part of the history than its civil trans-
963. actions. Brithelm, the successor of Elsinus, having died in 963,
St. Ethelwold, the most celebrated of our bishops, after St. Swi
thun, was appointed to succeed him. Like the last-mentioned
holy man, he was a native of Winchester, being born of opulent
and respectable inhabitants of this city.§ Here, also, he per
formed his studies, and received holy orders, at the hands of St.
Elphege the Bald ;! but afterwards, retiring to Glassenbury, he
became a monk and dean of that celebrated monastery; from
which he was renSoved, at the desire of King Edred and his pious
mother, Elgiva, in order to undertake the work of new-founding
the monastery of Abingdon.** From this situation he was forcibly
withdrawn, for the purpose of undertaking the pastoral govern
ment of this his native city ; which he conducted with equal re
putation for sanctity, for learning, for assiduity in preaching the
word of God, and for talents in sacred architecture.tt Besides
the churches and monasteries which he built and founded in other
parts, as at Ely, Peterborough,!! and Thorney;|||| he re-built his
* St. Dunstan, and our St. Ethelwold, are called by the judicious historian, Henry of
Huntingdon, who was no monk, the Lorica, or breast-plate of England. — Hist. 1. v.
t Osbern, in Vit. S. Dunst. ; Will. Malm.
t Iidem. Hume, who speaks with indignation of the slightness of this penance, sup
presses the other parts of it, viz. his fasting, his care to enact good iaws, his transcribing,
with his own hand, the Sacred Scriptures, and distributing them to different churches.
|| Will. Malm. — " Apud Akemancestre, quae latine Bathonia dicitur coronam portavit."
Mat. West. — " In veteri civitate Acemannescestre." Chron. Sax. — Ake-mans or sick-
man's town. This name proves that our Saxon ancestors were not ignorant or neglectful
of the medicinal virtues of the Bath waters.
§ Will. Malm. De Pontif. 1. n ; Capgr. in Vit.
1f Rudb. ** Will. Malm.
tt " Nescires quid in eo magis laudares, sanctitatis studium, an doctrinae exercitium,
in praedicatione instantiam, in aedificiis industriam." — Will. Malm. De Pont.
It Then called Pedrshamstede. |||| Rudb.

ST. ETHELWOLD*. 121
cathedral church in this city ; which he lived to finish and dedicate ; A. D.
enriching it with the magnificent shrines of St. Swithun, Birinus, w^
Brinstan, and other saints,* whose rehcs he solemnly translated.
On this occasion he built the crypts, or vaults, under tnTeast end
of the church, which still remain as he left them.t He hkewise
re-built and re-established the abbey of Benedictine nuns, founded
by Edward the Elder in this city ; J and assisted King Edgar in
re-building another monastery of the same nature ; which gave a
beginning to the town of Rumsey ; and, in which the king chose
to bury his son Edmund, who died about this time.||
However zealous this prelate was to promote the splendour of
rehgion, he was still more anxious to reheve the wants of the poor.
Hence, in the time of a great famine, he sold all the plate of his
church to purchase food for them ; saying, that the church, if
reduced to poverty, might again be enriched, but that if the poor
were starved, it was not in the power of man to recal them to
life.! Amongst other pubhc works, for the benefit of Winchester, one
ought not to be forgotten, the benefit of which is still felt by its
inhabitants. Great inconvenience being experienced from the
want of water, which then flowed in one current only, at the east
ern end of the city, St. Ethelwold made different canals, one of
which begins near the village of Worthy; and thus distributed the
water, at great toil and expence, throughout the greater part of
the city.**
* " Nov& Ecclesia, ut diu desideraverat, aedificatsi."— Will. Malm. De Pont. ; Mat.
West. " Ecclesiam hanc de novo renoyavit, et in honorem apostolorum Petri et Pauli
dedicavit, anno primo Ethelredi regis, ipso rege et proceribus praesentibus. A.D. 980. 24
Oct. S. Dunstano ecclesiam dedicante.*' — MS. Wood, ap. Richardson, in Godwini Com
ment. To these particulars it must be added, that the cathedral was, conjointly with the
saints, dedicated also to St. Swithun ; and that the fame of this, our native saint, soon
caused the church and monastery to be called "by his name alone.
t " Insuper occultis studuisti etaddere cryptas." — Wolstan. Ep. ad. S. Elph.
t " Construxit Edwardus in eadem urbe sancti-moniahum caenobium, sed posterioribus
annis per B. Ethelwoldum ampliatus est locus iste, quibus praeposuit Edelritham virginem
anum." — Will. Malm.
|| " Rex Eadgarus in monasterio Rumescige, quod avus suus R. Eadwardus construxerat
sanctimoniales congregavit, sanctamque Merweunam in eo abbatissam constituit " — Mat.
West., Sim. Dunelm. " An. 971. Decessit Eadmundus clyto, ejusque corpus jacet apud
Rumesige." — Chron. Sax., Sim. Dunelm. Other illustrious personages, belonging to this
royal abbey, were St. Elfreda and St. Christina ; the latter of whom was sister to St.
Margaret, Queen of Scotland, and Marv, daughter of King Stephen.
If WiU. Malm.
** " In tautum dilexit urbem Wentanam, quod aquam currentem suo studio et labore,
sumptibusque largifluis benignissime introduxit." — MS. ibid. The monk, Wolstan, in the '
epistle quoted above, speaking of the advantage of that part of the river called the Lock
pond, which St. Ethelwold brought into the monastery of St. Swithun, and which still
runs through the Close, says : — "Hucque
Dulcia piscosce flumina traxit aqua.
Secessusque laci penetrant secreta domorum
' Mundantes totum murmure ccenobium."

122 EJECTION OF THE SECULAR CANONS.
A. D. The most remarkable occurrence, however, of this pontificate,
w~' and that which has given rise to so much controversy, was the re
moval of Jthe married secular canons, who then served the cathedral,
and the introduction of Benedictine monks in their place. This
has been represented, by late authors, as a measure of the greatest
injustice ;* some of whom go so far as to assert, that the cathedral
was originally founded for clergymen of the above-mentioned de-
scription.t The confidence with whicb this assertion has been
made, and the character of some of those persons who have made
it, have led the pubhc into great mistakes upon this head, which it
will require some pains to clear up.
We have spoken of the manner of hfe observed by the clergy of
this church, as well as of other churches, at its first foundation, in
the time of Lucius ;! as, hkewise, of the profession of those who
served it, at its second establishment, after the persecution of Dio
clesian, down to the Saxon invasion. || To confine ourselves, then,
to the third foundation of the cathedral ; it is certain, indeed, that
St. Augustine and the first apostles of the Enghsh nation were
Benedictine monks,§ who founded an abbey of their own order at
Canterbury, which served that cathedral ;! and likewise, that all
the successors of this saint were -of the same rehgious institute,
down to the very time we are speaking of.** But the case is not so
clear with respect to the church of Winchester, at this period.
There is reason to doubt that St. Birinus was a monk ; certain it
is, that he instituted canons, and not monks, to serve his church at
Dorchester. This circumstance, however, is not conclusive against
the pretensions of the monks, as the cathedral, with the monastery
adjoining to it, was founded by King Kenewalch, who was the
friend of St. Bennet Biscop, and the zealous protector of the mo
nastic order. In a word, upon an attentive examination of the his
tory of this church, and of the bishops who governed it, from the
reign of Kenewalch down to that of Ethelred, the brother of Alfred,
we shall find no positive arguments, on either side, for setthng
this question. At the above-mentioned period, it is agreed on all
hands, that, the former clergy, being all slaughtered by the Danes,

* Hume, Hen. Warton.
t Camden's Britannia, Hampshire ; Tanner's Notitia ; Hen. Warton, Ang. Sac. vol. I,
p. 323. t See p. 32. || See p. 43.
§ Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1, i. c. xxm.
^f Idem. c. xxxiii.
** St. Odo, the contemporary of St. Ethelwold, being chosen to the see of Canterbury,
objected to his promotion, because he was not a monk, saying that all the metropolitans
had hitherto been of that institute. In the end, he went to the famous abbey of Fleury,
in France, and there made his monastic vows, and continued some time ; after which he
returned, and was consecrated — Will. Malm. De Pontif.; Osbern,»in Vit. Odonis.

HABITS OF THE MONKS. 123
those who succeeded them were not monks, but canons ;* who a. d
kept possession of the church for about one hundred years, down l~r~'
to the period of which we have been speaking. But though there
is no proof to determine whether the persons in question were
monks or canons, yet it is exceedingly plain, that, during this
whole period, and even until within a few years of the reign of
Edgar, they led what is called a regular or conventual hfe ; having
all things in common,t practising obedience, and, in particular,
observing continency.! Hence their institute, if not that of Bene-
* Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. in, c. v. ; Osbern, in Vit. S. Oswaldi.
t The first rule, which St. Gregory gave to the bishops of this nation, was to form one
family with all their clergy, who were in holy orders, and to live in common with them,
as the faithful had done in the primitive church of Jerusalem, without any persons having
property, of any kind, apart. With respect to the inferior clergy, in minor orders, who
were employed in singing, keeping the doors, &c it being free for them to marry, they
were to have seperate allowances, for supporting their respective families. " Interrogatio
Augustini Episcopi. De Episcopis, qualiter cum suis clericis conversentur, &c. ? Re-
spondit Gregorius Papa. Mos sedis apostolicae est, ordinatis episcopis, praecepta tradere,
ut in omni stipendio, quod accedit, quatuor debeant fieri portiones una viz. episcopo et
familiae propter hospitalitatem atque susceptionem, alia clero, tertia pauperibus quarta
ecclesiis reparandis. Sed quia fraternitas tua, monasterii regulis erudita, seorsum vivere
non debet a clericis suis in ecclesift Anglorum hanc debet conversationem instituere, quae
initio nascentis ecclesiae fuit patribus nostris, in quibus nullus eorum, ex his quae possi-
debant, aliquid suum esse dicebat, sed erant eis omnia communia. Si qui vero sunt
clerici, extra sacros ordines constituti, qui se continere non possunt, sortiri uxores debent
et stipendia sua exterius accipere." — Bede, Ecc. Hist. 1. ii, c. xxvn. That the canons of
the other portion of our church, settled at Dorchester, lived in common at their first
foundation, we are assured in the acts of their founder, collected by Capgrave ; until,
being desirous of more liberty, they, in process of time, became mere secular canons,
each living apart. At length,- in the reign of King Stephen, they were brought back
to their original institute of regular canons. From the life of St. Swithun, who was
dean of this cathedral, which title and ofiice, it is to be observed, are strictly conventual,
(as appears by the rule of St. Benedict), and from the lives of other bishops of this see,
who had been monks, and who led a conventual life ; likewise, from various donations
made to the venerable family of the church of Winchester, as it is expressly called,
during the period in question ; also, from the 'monk of Crowland's retiring to this cathe
dral in order to lead a monastic life, when he despaired of being able to continue it at his
own monastery, as related above ; finally, from the very nature and disposition of the offices
made for the clergy of the cathedral, in which we find mention of a refectory, or common
eating hall; of a dormitory, or common sleeping chamber: from all these circumstances,
it is plain that our cathedral was served, if not by monks, at least by regular canons
living in community, down to the period above-mentioned.
t It would be too tedious a task to cite all the canons, made in the primitive church,
against the marriage of bishops, priests, and deacons. Let it suffice to refer to Concil.
>Elib. can. xxxm ; 2 Concil. Cathag. can. ii ; 1 Concil. CEcum. Nicen. can. hi ; 2 Concil.
Arelat. can. n. — St. Jerome, in the fourth age, testifies that, in the three great patriarchates
of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, no persons were received amongst the clergy, but
such as were either single men, or entirely separated from their wives. Liber adversus
Vigilant. The testimony of the learned bishop, St. Epiphanius, is to the same effect. —
Hares 59. Not to multiply quotations, the centuriators of Magdeburg allow, that, about
the time of the conversion of our ancestors, a synod was held by St. Gregory the Great,
in which an anathema was pronounced against bishops, priests, or deacons, who should
presume to marry.— Cent, x, f. 642. The discipline of the Greek church, in subsequent
times, became less strict, in this point, than that of the Latin church. Its bishops did not
refuse to ordain married persons, to serve amongst the inferior clergy, (for, no prelate,
even amongst them, was ever allowed to have a wife) ; hence even their schismatical
council, called Quinisext, or in Trullo, after their separation from the Latin church,
utterly condemned the contracting of marriage, when a person was once initiated into
holy orders, and such their discipline has remained down to the present day. With re-

124 MONASTIC DEPRAVITY.
A. D. dictine monks, was, at least, that of regular canons, which dif-
'~^r~' fered from the former only in certain points of dress, and in the
degree of its strictness and austerity.* However, when Edwy5
upon his coming to the throne, gave such pubhc encouragement
to licentiousness and irreligion; and when, at the same time, a
prelate of Elsinus's character sat in the episcopal chair ; it is not
surprising that a considerable part of the clergy should have for
gotten the obhgations of their state, and have fallen into a great
depravity of manners.t Those of our cathedral are accused of
spect to our ancient English church, if the truth must be told, we are bound to say, that
its discipline was strictly conformable to that of the Latin church in general, of which it
formed a part ; and of course, that it was never lawful for any clergyman in holy orders,
whether secular or regular, to enter into the married state.; nor could any married man,
unless he was first separated from his wife by mutual consent, ever be ordained to the
higher orders. This we may gather, in the first place, from the above-quoted passage of
Venerable Bede, according to which, only those who were not in holy orders were allowed,
in any case whatever, to marry or live in the married state. The same is still more clear
from another passage of that primitive author, whom Camden calls the friend of truth.
In his exposition of the first chapter of St. Luke, having observed that the priests of the
old law were obliged to be continent only during the stated times of their ministry, he
goes on : " but now an injunction is laid upon priests to observe chastity continually, and
ever to abstain from the use of marriage, to the end they may always assist at the altar."
It does not appear that any of the clergy ever attempted to infringe this law, until after
the confusion, which followed the Danish devastation, in 860. Soon after this we find
Pulco, Archbishop of Rheims, congratulating King Alfred on the firm and zealous conduct
of his primate Plegmund, in extirpating, what he calls the error of those who held it
lawful for the clergy to marry. — Flodoard. Hist. Rhemens. 1. in. In the reign of King
Edmund, viz. in 944, we meet with the particulars of a great synod, as it was called, held
at London, by the two archbishops, and a great number of prelates, and other consider
able personages ; in the very first ordinance of which it is enjoined, " that all, iuitiated
in sacred offices, shall be careful, as their state requires, to lead their lives chastely, whe
ther they be men or women, which, if they fail to do, let them be punished as the canon
enjoins." — Spelmen, De Concil. The same learned writer proves, from the Penitential,
which he publishes, that bishops, priests, and deacons, no less than monks, were con
ceived, in those times, to be guilty of a great crime, if they ever returned to the state of
marriage, which they had renounced at their ordination.
This brief dissertation may serve to rectify the mistaken notions, which modern readers
may have hastily taken up on this point of ecclesiastical history, from Parker, Godwin,
Tanner, H. Warton, Carte, Hume, the late historians of Winchester, and other ignorant
or interested writers. Amongst others comes forward, at the present day, a writer, who
has miserably waded beyond his depth, wherever he has ventured to treat of ecclesiastical
antiquities. Speaking of the revolution in the church of Worcester, which took place at
the same time with that mentioned above in our cathedral, he says, " the popes had found
it their interest to exact celibacy from the clergy. They incited the monks to raise an
outcry against those, who, instead of devoting their whole.time to spiritual employments,
gave a part of it to the company of their wives, &c. Priests, that were members of the
cathedral colleges, had not as yet been restrained from marrying." — Valentine Green's
History of Worcester, p. 26. From this passage it appears, that the writer had never met
with a single canon, or ecclesiastical authority, enforcing clerical celibacy, anterior to the
tenth century, and that he ascribes the measures then taken by King Edgar and St.
Dunstan, St. Oswald, and St. F.thelwold, to certain negociations between them and the
popes, and to some new laws which the latter had just then enacted on this subject for
their own interest. It was incumbent on him to have pointed out the negociations and laws
in question. Unfortunately, however, too many of the popes in that age were abandoned
to licentiousness themselves, instead of watching over the morals of the other clergy.
The true policy of this original law of clerical celebacy, after all the sagacity of modern
writers, will be found in 1 Cor. chap, vn, v. 32, 33.
* See Dugdale and Stephens, Monasticon.
t " Ordo clericalis eltempestate plurimum erat corruptus." — Eadmer. De Vit. S. Duns.
" Fit canonicus (Oswaldus) inter canonicos ipsos (Wintonienses). Si quaeritur qualis

ST. ETHELWOLD ATTEMPTS REFORM. 125
neglecting the service of the church, of taking wives to themselves A.D.
illegally, and of changing them for others, at their pleasure; of l-Y~'
indulging in drunkenness, gluttony, and other vices.* This ac
count is confirmed by other historians, secular as well as regular,
and by King Edgar himself, in a public speech, which he made on
the occasion.t It appears that our zealous prelate had often
admonished the clergy of his cathedral to reform their conduct,
and to hve up to the duties of their station ; and that they neither
denied the charges brought against them, nor pretended to justify
them ; but, on the contrary, promised their bishop, day after day,!
that they would give him the satisfaction which he required, by
amending their lives. In the end, however, St. Ethelwold being
convinced of the impossibility of thoroughly reforming men so
corrupted as they were, without the strictest rehgious discipline,
ordered a proper number of cowls || to be brought into the choir,
in the midst of the canons ; and after a pathetic discourse on the
sanctity of their state of hfe, he left it to their choice, either to put
on those rehgious habits and embrace the monastic state, or to
quit the service of the cathedral; being fortified in this measure by
the authority of the sovereign. Three of the number were con
tent to enter on this strict course of life.§ The rest gave up their
stalls in the choir, which were soon after filled by a colony of monks
from Abingdon.^1 The displaced canons, however, were provided
for out of the revenues of the church, in the most ample manner.**
Nevertheless, they could not forgive the disgrace which they had
suffered, and some of them carried their resentment so far as to
attempt to poison the bishop, whom they considered as the author
of it.tt They so far succeeded in their mahcious design, as to
cause excruciating torment to the saint, who had actually swallowed
inter quales ? regularis inter irregulares. Ipse enim, quae institatio vitae canonicorum
docet et praecipit, indefessus exequebatur : illi spretS, institutione sui ordinis, juxta cordium
suorum desideria gradiebantur. — Eadm. De Vit. S. Oswald. N.B. This famous Bishop of
Worcester and Archbishop of York, was a native of Winchester, being born on the Lower
Brooks, in this city. — MS. Trussel.
* Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. in, c. xn. Annal. Ecc. Wint. " Ethelwaldus, secundo episco-
natus sui anno, quosdam canonicos in veteri monasterio Wincestre degentes et ordinem
suum pigrfe et negligenter observantes ejecit, et monachos imposuit." — Thus writes Henry,
the secular archdeacon of Huntingdon.
t jEldred. Rieval. De Genealog. apud Tysden.
t " Athelwoldus monuit eos semel et saepius mores et actus mutare, correctioris vitae
semitas, relictis faeminis, arripere. At mi, in praesentiamm quidem id sibi possibile esse
negantes, voce corvina, semper in crastinum correctionem sui pomcebantur." — Eadm. De
Vit. S. Duns.
II Ibid, Rudb. § Rudb.
If Ibid, Hist. Caenob. Abbendon.
** " Plura eis, ex episcopate delegatar sunt, praedia, viciniora situ, ampliora redditu."
—WiU. Malm. s
tt Will. Malm. De Pontif., Rudb.

126 DEATH OF ST. ETHELWOLD.
A. D. the potion which they had prepared for him ; but, confiding in the
984- promise of Christ, that even poison should lose its force upon
those who firmly beheve in him, and addressing himself to God
in prayer to this effect, he was suddenly restored to health.* The
canons of the new minster are described as being still more ne
glectful of their duty, and more hardened in wickedness, than
those of the cathedral.t They were accordingly expelled the year
after the latter, namely, in 984,! when more monks were brought
from Abingdon, to supply their place. || St. Ethelwold died in 984,
and was buried in the south crypt of the cathedral, which he had
built. His episcopal chair long remained an object of veneration
and popular awe : it being beheved that those, who, whilst they
sat in it, instead of attending to the divine office, gave way to
sloth and drowsiness, were punished with terrific sights and pain-
ful sensations. §
975. Edgar dying in 975, was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward,
sirnamed the Martyr, but not without violent opposition on the
part of the artful Elfrida ; who, ambitious of ruling the kingdom,
strove to get her own son, Ethelbert, then a child of the age
of seven years, chosen in his place.! Being defeated in this
design, chiefly by the firmness of the saints, Dunstan, Oswald,
and Ethelwold, she vented her resentment against their new reh
gious establishments ; many of which, particularly the three noble
abbeys, which our prelate had founded in the province of Mercia,
where her friend Elfer commanded, she caused to be dissolved,
and the possessions of them given up to married clergymen.**
This brought on the famous synod that was held in the refectory,
or eating hall of the cathedral monastery of this city, in which it
* wm. Malm. De Pontif. t Annal. Wint.
t Thus say the ancient authors, who were the best informed, and who give the most
circumstantial account of this matter : — " Athelwoldus factas episcopus Wyntoniensis re-
clamavit monachos in propriam haereditatem, viz. ad Wyntoniensem ecclesiam inhabitan-
dam, expulsis clericis, &c. Iste etiam anno revoluto canonicos expulit de novo monas
terio." — Tho. Rudborne, Hist. Maj. "Eodem anno (963) expulsis clericis, vetos monas-
terium monachis religiosis in eorum loco substituit. Anno 964 Eadgarus in novo
monasterio monachos collocavit." — Mat, West. In opposition to these authorities, a
modern writer, quoted above, says : " Ethelwold went with rapidity into the work, and
dislodged the seculars from the old and new minsters of Winchester, in the very first
year of his consecration, A.D. 963." — History of Worcester, by Valentine Green. — See
Chron. Sax. annis. 963, 964.
|| Such a number of monasteries having been founded at this time, St. Dunstan, in
order to preserve them in a strict uniformity of observances, composed and published
what is called the Benedictine Concordate, in this city of Winchester, as appears by its
preface. A question was agitated, early in the seventeenth century, whether the first
Enghsh monks, established by St. Augustine, &c, were of the Benedictine, or of a dif
ferent order; which question was decided in favour of the Benedictine claim, by Cotton,
Camden, Selden, and Spelman, to whose judgment it had been referred. — See Dodd's
Ch. Hist. vol. II, p. 476 ; also Stephen's Monasticon, vol. II, p. 109. For want of such
statutes, the former monasteries had adopted a great variety of usages.
§ Capgrave. If Will. Malm., Mat. West. ** Will. Malm.

PENITENCE OF ELFRIDA. 127
was debated, whether the monasteries in general should be dis- a. d.
solved, or left as they were. On which occasion, a supernatural 975-
voice was said to have been heard, deciding the question in favour
of the monks.* Soon after this, a second synod was held, at a
palace belonging to the king, at Calne, in Wiltshire, where the
same question was agitated ; the cause of the married clergy being
supported by a Scottish prelate, by name Beornelm, supposed to
be possessed of irresistible eloquence :t when, after tnuch argu
ment on both sides, a fatal catastrophe put an end to the debate :
the room in which the assembly was held suddenly sinking in, and
burying the party of Beornelm in its ruins, whilst the archbishop
with his friends who stood near him were left unhurt, in conse
quence of the beams which supported them remaining entire.!
Thus the magnificent monasteries in our city, with others else
where, escaped destruction for the present. It is probable, how
ever, that they would not have been so fortunate when Elfrida's
power became supreme, in consequence of her son Ethelred's suc
ceeding to the throne, had she herself continued in her former
dispositions. But, having carried her wickedness to the utmost
extremity, by causing her innocent son-in-law, Edward, to be mur
dered at the gate of her palace, in the Isle of Purbeck ; she was
so struck with remorse for her numerous and heavy crimes, as
well as alarmed at certain extraordinary accidents which befel her,|| 97g
that she set out to visit the body of the martyred prince, for so he
was considered by the public, and henceforward became a most
sincere and edifying convert. Leaving then her palaces in Dor
setshire^ she came into this county, and founded the abbey of
Wherwell, in the forest of Harewood, near the place where she
had begun her career of wickedness, in causing the murder of her
husband, Ethelwold, by the hand of Edgar, whom she had pre
viously seduced.! Here she abandoned herself to the most rigor
ous practices of penance, fasting, wearing hair-cloth next her body,
and praying constantly, until the end of her hfe ;** and here she
was also buried, tt She had previously, however, made another es-
• Will. Malm., Osbern., Eadm. in Vit. S. Duns., Mat. West., Rudb.
t Osbern, in Vit. S. Duns.
t Some authors, -as Hen. Hunt., and Rudb., say that St. Dunstan alone remained un
hurt. Others, as Osbern and Eadmer, assert that his friends also escaped the calamity.
However that may be, there is not the smallest degree of authority or probability to war
rant Hume's malicious insinuation, that the horrid tragedy was purposely contrived by the
archbishop. A proof that the author had no ground for this calumny is, that he himself,
after having advanced it, makes it a matter of doubt, whether any calamity at all, of the
above-mentioned description, took place.
II Westmon. ad. an. 978, Will. Malm. § At Corfe and Bere.
If Wm. Malm. De Reg, ** Ranulph. Higden, Westmon.
tt Ranulph.

128 DEGENERACY OF ETHELRED.  THE DANES.
A. d. tabhshment of the same institute, for persons of her own sex, at
'-•-' Amesbury, in Wiltshire.*
959 When the most potent prince of his age, Edgar, was rowed up
and down the river Dee in triumph, by eight tributary kings, little
did he think that, in the reign of one of his sons, his own king
dom would be brought into subjection by a handful of pirates,
and that the time was just at hand when it would be a disgrace to
be called an Englishman. Such, however, were the consequences
of his son Ethelred's degeneracy. Edgar was always triumphant
without a battle, because he was always prepared for it. Ethelred
979. was always subdued in combat, because he was never in a state of
readiness for it ; from which circumstance he obtained the name
of Ethelred the Unready.^ The first place which the Danes at
tacked in the predatory war, which they now again set on foot
against this nation, was Southampton, which was then considered
as the seaport of Winchester. Landing there from seven ships,
they pillaged it, and struck with terror the inhabitants of our
981 metropohs.! This happened in 981, two years after the young
king had ascended the throne.
Nor was the king alone degenerate : a great part of his nobihty
and subjects seem to have equally forgotten the virtue of their
forefathers. If the truth must be told, none were more infamous
in these days for their cowardice than the inhabitants of this city
and neighbourhood ; none more forward to bend their necks to the
insulting Danes of the present day, than the descendants of those
men, who, at Heddington and Brunanburg, had so gloriously tri
umphed over those invaders in the preceding century. What
adds to their disgrace is, that the inhabitants of the rival city,
London, in the course of this inglorious reign, defended it with
true English courage against the many attacks which were made
994. upon it. || During the greater part of the war, particularly in 994,
998, and 1001, these barbarians had their head quarters at South
ampton and in the Isle of Wight ; and the inhabitants of \his city
and neighbourhood seem to have purchased an exemption from
being besieged, by entering into a composition with them, and
supplying them with whatever provisions they required. § But
* Ranulph. t Rudb.
t Wm. Malm., Chron. Sax.
II " Frequenter urbem Lundonian impugnarunt : ibi autem semper male excepti fue-
runt." — Chron. Sax. an. 1009.
5 Chron. Sax. That Winchester was more strongly fortified and garrisoned, during
the early part of the war, than other neighbouring places, may be gathered from the fol
lowing circumstances : — In 980, the Danes took aud plundered Southampton, killing, or
leading away, almost all the inhabitants.— Sim. Dunelm. In 992, Elwina, second abbess
of Rumsey, and successor to St. Merwenna, finding her monastery exposed to the fury of

DANES MASSACRED.  HOCKTIDE SPORTS ESTABLISHED. 129
their want of courage and pubhc spirit was never so justly con- a.d.
demned, as when they permitted a body of these pillagers, who "^
had landed from the Isle of Wight, and made the circuit of Hamp
shire and Berkshire, marched through Reading, Wallingford, Cwic-
chelmeslawe, and Escesdune, to pass close by their walls, loaded
and encumbered with the immense booty which they had col
lected, without the least attempt to cut them off, or take away
their spoils.*
Those, however, who were the most backward to engage the
common enemy in the open field, were the most forward to destroy
them by acts of treachery. In this censure are included the King
himself, Earl Edric, and the inhabitants of Winchester. For it
was in this city, in 1002, that the joyful solemnity of Ethelred's 1002.
marriage with Emma, the Fair Maid of Normandy, as she was
called, was terminated by the horrible plot of murdering all the
unarmed Danes, who were dispersed throughout the kingdom.
Here the massacre began ;t and here, as soon as it was completed,
those unmanly and indecent revels, called the hocktide sports, were
instituted by Ethelred,! m memory of the part which the Enghsh
women had borne in it. These have continued, with a short in
terruption, until of late years. || It is true the Danes had acted in
the Danes, fled, with all her nuns, (amongst whom was her successor Elfleda, daughter
of King Edward the Elder,) the relics of the saints, and their other valuables, to Win
chester, as to a place of safety. Swayne accordingly advanced and pillaged the monastery. —
Capgrave, in Vit. S. Elfled. In 1003, Wilton and Sarum were taken and burnt to the
ground. — Sim. Dunelm,, Chron. Sax. In 1011, the Danes burnt down Waltham and
other small towns in the neighbourhood of this city. — Chron. Sax. During all this time
the barbarians did not attempt to besiege Winchester.
* " Ibi licuit videre Wintonienses, ignavum gregem et inhonestum, quippe, juxta
eorum portas, ad mare redierunt pagani, cum victu et pretiosis spoliis, ultra 50 milliaria
procul a mari petitis." — Chron. Sax. ad. an. 1606. Idem fere Hen. Hunt, ad diet. an.
t Trussel, MSS.
t The secret letters of Ethelred, directed to all parts of his kingdom from this city,
ordered, as Henry Huntingdon says, (reporting what he had heard from old people who
were living at the time) that all the Danes indiscriminately should be put to death ; and
this was executed, as we learn from the Chronicle of Wallingford, with circumstances of
the greatest cruelty, in many parts, even upon women and children. But in other places
it seems that the English, instead of killing their guests, satisfied themselves with what
was called hockshinning or houghing them, by cutting their hamstrings, so as to render
them incapable of serving in war; aud in this cruel operation the women were particu
larly active, using scythes and reaping hooks for that purpose. Hence the sports which
were afterwards instituted in our city, and from thence propagated throughout the whole
kingdom, obtained the name of the hocktide merriments. These consisted of the
women's tying men fast in their chairs, from which they were not released without cer
tain indignities not conformable to the manners of the present age. The massacre
itself took place on St. Brice's day, Nov. 13, (on which account, probably, the name of
that saint is still preserved in the calendar of the Common Prayer Book,) but the sports,
by an ordinance of Ethelred, were transferred to the Monday in the third week after
Easter, of which ordinance the following words are a part :— " Quia actum est istud
hyeme, et non est terupus conveniens solatiis vacandis, statutum est ut in Wentana civitate
post pascha 3ae septimanae die lunse, uxores teneant et ligent maritos, &c." — Ex Arch.
Ecc. S. Trin. ap. Trussel.
|| Some traces of these sports are said to be still discernible in certain of the northern
VOL. I. I

130 THE CITY TAKEN AND SACKED BY THE DANES.
A. D. general with treachery and cruelty towards their hosts, but such a
1002' conduct was no example for Englishmen and Christians to follow.
The dreadful vengeance which the Danish king, Swayne, who
landed soon after, with a fresh army, executed upon those of our
nation who fell into his hands, and had dared to resist him,
sickens us by its very recital.* With respect to our city, which
appears not to have been summoned by Swayne before the year
1013. 1013, it instantly opened its gates to the conqueror, submitting to
whatever terms he chose to impose upon it.f Marching from
thence, the Dane once more fruitlessly laid siege to London,
whilst the timid Ethelred escaped to his father-in-law on the con
tinent. «
The hocktide sports, we may well suppose, were now not so
much as mentioned; on the contrary, the greatest respect was
paid to the Lord Danes, % as they were called ; one of whom was
quartered upon every house, in quality of keeper or master of it.||
Whenever an Enghshman passed by a Dane, he was obliged to
uncover his head, and bow to him ; or if he met him near a bridge,
to stand still until he had passed it, under the pain of immediate
corporal correction.§ Nor was this the greatest indignity which
Englishmen, lately so exalted, had to undergo. For the Danes,
living in idleness, and having no other occupation than to dress
and adorn their persons,! became dangerous to the chastity of the
women, and wounded the domestic peace of the inhabitants in the
most dehcate part.**
984. The same year that St. Ethelwold died, viz. in 984, St. Elphege
II, or the Martyr, was in his place consecrated Bishop of Win
chester, by St. Dunstan. He was of a good family, and well
educated; and in his early youth became a monk at Deerhufst,tt
in Gloucestershire. From thence removing to Bath, many persona
resorted to him ; who, forming a monastery, thus gave a beginning
counties, where the women lift the men, as the term is, unless the latter redeem them
selves by a fine.
* " Pars civitatis Cantuariae incenditar, deinde tota capitur. Homines jugulantur, alii
flammis devorantar, alii de muris praecipites dantur, plures per verenda suspensi deficiunt.
Parvuli it matemis uberibus avulsi, aut lanceis, in altum project!, excipiuntur, aut minutum
in frusta conciduntur. Matronaa per plateas cruribus distractae, demum ignibus injectas
moiiuntur." — Mat. West. an. 1011 ; Osbern, in Vit. S. Elph.
t " Wintonienenses perterriti pacem cum eo fecerunt, et obsides, quos vel quot expetiit,
dederunt." — Sim. Dunelm. an. 1013.
t Hence the word lurdane, now used for an idle fellow.
If " Hospicium quod libet per Angljam, habuit nuum Danum custodem et magistrum
dom^s, super omnes alios." — Hen. Knighton, De Event. Ang. 1. I, c. vi.
§ Chron. Abbat. Jornal.
If It is recorded by Wallingford, as a proof of the luxury of the Danes in that age, that
they used to comb themselves every day, to bathe once a week, najnely, on a Saturday,
and very often to change their clothes.
*» Ibid, Hen. Knighton. tt Will. Malm., De Pontif.

ST. ELPHEGE, THE MARTYR, CONSECRATED BISHOP. 131
to what afterwards became the cathedral of that city.* In this A. D.
situation his virtues shone out so resplendently, that he was ^Jj
judged worthy to succeed the great St. Ethelwold, in this see.
His elevation made no alteration in his devotions or austerities.
He continued, both in winter and summer, to rise at midnight, in
order to perform the divine office, and prolonged his prayers until
it was broad day ;t and he never eat flesh meat, except when sick
ness rendered it necessary, and was otherwise so abstemious, that
his body seemed to be reduced to a skeleton.! In his public
charge he was indefatigable ; particularly in his attention to the
poor, which were so exemplary and well-conducted, that there were
no beggars in his diocese during the time that he governed it.||
His zeal was also conspicuous for the due performance of the
pubhc service of the church; and he is recorded as introducing
the use of the organ into his cathedral§. Having governed this see
in the most exemplary manner, during the space of 22 years ; he
was, on the death of Alfric, the archbishop, much against his own
inchnations, removed to the see of Canterbury, in 1006, whither 1006.
he took with him part of the relics of St. Swithun.! In this ex
alted station, his zeal and piety were no less conspicuous than they
had been at Winchester. In conclusion, being reserved by God
to witness that heavy calamity which befel his metropolitical city,
in 1013,** from the wide-wasting Danes, he acted the part of the Os
good shepherd, in its utmost extent, exhorting, comforting, and
assisting his flock, and opposing himself to the fury of the barba
rians. He was seen to rush between the murderers and their
helpless victims, crying out to the former : " If you are men, spare
at least the innocent and unresisting ; or, if you want a victim,
turn your swords upon me; it is I who have so often reproached
you with your crimes, who have supported and redeemed the pri
soners whom you have made, and have deprived you of many of
your soldiers, by converting them to Christianity ."tt The person
and the merit of St. Elphege were well known to the Danes ; he
having been sent on different embassies to them, and rendered them
many charitable offices.!! Hence they did not dare to strike him,
but satisfied themselves with seizing upon him, and committing
him to close custody, intending to extort an enormous sum for his
ransom. During his confinement of seven months, these Pagans,
being alarmed at an epidemical distemper which afflicted them,
* Godwin, De Presul. f Osbern, in Vit., Will. Malm.
t Osbern, in Vit., Will. Malm. || Osbern, Godwin, De Presul.
§ Not. MS ap. Godwin. If Osbern.
** See note (*) p. 130. tt Osbern, in Vit. EIp., Ang. Sac. vol, II,

Mat. West.

I 2

132 ST. ELPHEGE MURDERED BY THE DANES.
A. D. were upon the point of releasing him, without any ransom* At
1013- length, however, their avarice prevaihng, they sent for him to
^~" Greenwich, where their fleet then lay,t and put the question finally
to him, whether he was prepared to pay the 3000 marks of gold,
which they had imposed as his fine. His answer was, that all the
money which he could command, had been spent upon the poor,
and that if he had more, it would be their property; in a word,
that he had no gold to bestow upon those, in whose presence he
stood, except that of true wisdom, which consisted in the know
ledge of the living God.! Being provoked at this answer, they
beat him to the ground, and began to overwhelm him with stones,
and the horns of slaughtered oxen;|| whilst he, raising up his eyes
to heaven, thus addressed himself to his divine master : " 0 good
shepherd, do thou watch over the children of thy church, whom,
with my last breath, I recommend to thee."§ Our saint having
pronounced this prayer, and continuing to suffer, a Dane, by name
Thrun, whom he had the day before baptized, moved by a cruel
kind of pity, struck him on the head with his battle-axe, and com
pleted his martyrdom.!
1014. In the year 1014 died that cruel oppressor of the English nation,
Swayne. This event raised their hopes, and those of Ethelred who
returned home .from Normandy ; but for no other purpose than to
pass here another inglorious year, partly through his own negh
gence and partly through the treachery of his chief noblemen,
before death released him from his multiplied disappointments and
disgraces. The latter only of these causes prevented Ethelred's
son and successor, Edmund Ironside, from happily vindicating his
own and his country's cause ; for nothing was wanting on his part, '
either as an able general, or a vahant soldier, to secure success;
which, in the battle of Ashdown,** in particular, was on the very
point of rewarding his heroic valour, when one of his own generals,
the vile Edric, by the most treacherous artifice, snatched the victory
out of his hands, and devoted the bravest of his countrymen to the
swords of their enraged enemies.tt In conclusion, after a trial of
* Osbern. t Idem, Mat. West. t Osbern.
|| Mat. West. § Osbern. If Mat. West.
** In Essex, Hen. Hunt.
tt " Apparuit ibi virtus Edmundi juvenis. Cum enim Dacos solito acriu.5 pugnare
videret ; loco regio,relicto, qui erat, ex more, inter Dracem et Standard (two ensigns so
called) cucurrit terribilis in aciem primam. Vibrans igitur giadium electum, et brachio
juvenis Edmundi dignum, modo fulminis, fidit aciem, abrumpensque, mediam pertransiit,
seque sequentibus obruendam dedit. Inde in aciem regalem adyolat, ubi cum clamor et
stridor horrendus inciperet, videns dux Edricus ruinam Dacbrum imminere, clamavit An-
glorum genti; Flet Engle, Flet Engle : ded is Edmund. Sic igitur clamans fugam cum
suis primus incepit, quem tota gens Anglorum subsecuta est." — Hen. Hunt. Hist., 1. vi.

EDMUND IRONSIDE.  CANUTE. 1.33
personal strength and valour between the rival kings, Edmund and A. d.
Canute, in which the former appears to have had the advantage,* 1014-
it was agreed to divide the kingdom ; Wessex, with our city, which
was still the most honourable portion, being assigned to the former,
and Mercia, with the city of London, to the latter. Thus was
Winchester once more under the government of a native prince.
This division, however, lasted but a very short time, for the vali
ant Edmund, being carried off, either by treachery or sickness,t
Canute became sovereign of the whole kingdom, and our city
was again subject to a Danish master.
The contrast had not been greater between the glorious Edgar
and his ignoble son Ethelred, than it now proved between the in
exorable and persecuting tyrant Swayne and his magnanimous and
rehgious offspring, Canute. The nation, under the impartial and
equitable sway of the last named, began to recover its former
peace and happiness, and Winchester its ancient splendour. His
first act, on gaining the undisturbed dominion of the whole king
dom, was to divide it, for its better government, into four parts,
three of which he committed to the care of subordinate rulers,
retaining the most honourable portion, that in which his capital
was situated, under his own immediate jurisdiction.! Thus Win
chester preserved its pristine dignity and importance. According
ly, the king being bent, upon healing the wounds, which the nation
had suffered in the late unhappy wars, appointed a general meeting
of the nobihty, in this our city,|| by the advice and concurrence of
his chief subjects.§ Here a.great number of wise and equitable
laws were passed, tending to promote the peace and happiness of
the kingdom, and to encourage morahty and rehgion.! Other
ordinances were made at the same time, of a more unpopular
nature, for preserving the royal forests and beasts of chace,**
which afterwards served as a foundation for the forest laws of the
Conquerer. The merit of this Danish sovereign's justice and clemency is
undoubtedly to be ascribed to the Christian rehgion, which he had
embraced from a sincere conviction of its truth, as appeared by the
t The'last "quoted historian, also Westmon., Rudb., &c. say that he was murdered by
Edric, with circumstances of the greatest cruelty. WiU. Malm, and Higden mention the
public report on this head; but without giving full credit to it. The Saxon Chronicle, by
its silence, as to this particular, equivalently rejects it.
t Chron. Sax. an. 1017 ; Will. Malm. De Reg. 1. n, c. n.
|| Chronic. Jornal. „ . .
§ " Instituta Kanuti venerando sapientum ejus consiho. — ima.
% Vide ibid, Larnba.
** Trussel, MSS.

134 CANUTE DIES.  HAROLD ELECTED KING.
A. D. general tenor of his life. Amongst other acts of piety, his muni-
1J°^4j ficence to the priory of St. Swithun, as the cathedral of this city
was henceforward styled, which had been greatly impoverished and
laid waste by the rapaciousness of his father, is particularly cele
brated. Besides certain lands at Hill, he gave to it a large and
costly shrine for containing the remains of our apostle, St. Birinus ;
a prodigious large chandeher of sohd silver ; certain ensigns* and
other costly ornaments of plate and jewels ; insomuch that we are
assured by ancient writers, that when strangers come to view the
church, their eyes were perfectly dazzled by its splendour.t But
the most extraordinary of all his presents was that of his royal
crown, which he placed over the crucifix of the high altar ; having
vowed never more to wear that ensign of royal authority, from the
time, when, by commanding in vain the flowing tide not to ap
proach his feet, he proved to his flatterers the emptiness of their
praises, in hailing him lord of the ocean.! Nor was he unmindful
of the New Minster or abbey of St. Grimbald. For amongst
other presents, he bestowed upon it a large crucifix, composed of
gold, silver, and jewels, || which seems without dispute, to have
been the richest ever known in this kingdom ; and which, by the
exaggerations of some persons, was said, to be equal in value to its
whole annual revenue.§ This most powerful prince of his time
died at Shaftesbury, but his body was brought to Winchester
cathedral for interment, wbere it was first deposited before the
high altar.!
1035. The succession was now disputed between the Danes, in favour
of Harold, Canute's son by a former wife, and the Enghsh, in
behalf of Hardicanute, his son by his second wife, Emma, the
relict of the unfortunate Ethelred. However, the former faction
prevailed in a Witenagemot, or council of state, held at Oxford;
and the whole kingdom was adjudged to Harold, except the city
of Winchester, with the dependent territory of Wessex, which
were assigned to Queen Emma, there to keep court in the name of
her son.** The royal treasures also and furniture, which were
* Annal. Ecc. Wint. an. 1035.
t Wm. Malm. De Reg.
t Hen. Hunt., Mat. West., Rudb. " Ab hac hora coronam in capite non gestavit, sed
super caput crucifixi Wintoniae posuit." — Ran. Higd. The scene of Canute's commanding
the waves, Knighton, by mistake, places on the shore of the Thames ; but Rudborne, who
quotes more ancient authors, near the ancient Southampton, now the port of Northam.
The memory of the identical spot, where this transaction took place, is still pointed out at
Bittern, in Northam harbour, by the tradition of the inhabitants.
II Will. Malm. § Trussel MSS.
If His original epitaph was the following rhyming verse : —
" Moribus inclutus, hie jacet nomine Knutus." — Trussel.
** Chron. Sax. an. 1036 ; Hen. Hunt.

HAROLD. — HARDICANUTE. 135
preserved in our city, seem to have been given up to her* This A.D.
agreement, however, was of httle force against the tyrannical 1035'
rapacity of Harold. He first sent his messengers to seize upon all
the most precious articles contained in the palace here,t and the
next year absolutely drove her out of the city and the kingdom ;%
but not until she had first received and entertained for some time
in this city, Alfred, and Edward the Confessor, || her two sons by
Ethelred. The former was seized upon, and treacherously slain
by Earl Godwin ;§ the latter, with difficulty, escaped back into
Normandy, whither he was followed soon after by Emma herself,
who resided, until the death of Harold, in the castle of Bruges, in
Flanders.! Harold met with an early fate in the year 1039,** having done 1039.
nothing during his reign deserving of memory .tt His death,
which was a general subject of joy to the English nation, was
pecuharly beneficial to this city, as it occasioned Emma, who was
particularly attached to it, and who continued to bestow her royal
presents on the cathedral,!! to return and reside here, as she had
done before. Her power was unlimited during the two short
years of her son Hardicanute's reign, who was not indeed destitute
of many princely qualities ;|||| but being deeply infected with the
prevailing vice of the Danes, he fell a victim to it, at a marriage
feast at Lambeth; falling down speechless and senseless, in the
midst of mirth and jollity, as he stood up§§ to wassail the bride
in a potent draught. He expired soon after, and his .body was
brought to our cathedral, where it was buried near that of his
father, Canute.!! 1041.
However light the Danish yoke might have appeared, since
the beginning of Canute's reign, compared with what it had been
in the days of Swayne, still it was a yoke, both disgraceful and
* Rog. Hoved. Annal. p. 1.
t Ibid, Ran. Higd. t Hen. Hunt., Rog. Hov.
|| Hoveden.
§ Will. Malm, mentions a report that his eyes were put out at Guildford, where it is
ttain his followers were cruelly murdered ; and that afterwards he was sent to Ely, and
d there; but he does not give implicit credit to this rumour. Our other ancient
historians, as Hoveden and Mat. West, are divided concerning the circumstances of his
death, but all ascribe it, as Edward himself likewise did, to the wickedness of Godwin.
1f Hen. Hunt., Mat. West., Chron. Sax. ** Chron. Sax.
•ft Rudb. tt Annal. Wint.
|||| " Clarae indolis et benignae juventutis." — Hen. Hunt. This writer mentions it as a
proof of his royal liberality, that he caused four meals to be. provided every day for those
of his household, whilst preceding kings were accustomed to give them only one meal
in the day.
§§ Sim.' Dunelm., Ranulph. Higden, Rog. Hov.
\% Ailred Riev., Rudb. Near the same spot, six years afterwards, was interred Earl
Beorn, the nephew of King Canute, who was treacherously conveyed to Kxmouth, in De
vonshire, and there murdered by his cousin, Swayne. — Rog. Hov., Chron. Sax. an. 1045.

136 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY RESUMED.
A. D. painful in many respects, from which the Enghsh sighed to be
J^, free, though as yet there was no prospect of their obtaining the
desired blessing. At length, however, by the unexpected death,.
first of Harold and then of Hardicanute, without either of them
leaving children, the way to the throne was left open to a native
prince ; the descendant of their illustrious West Saxon hne, and
one who was the very mirror of justice, moderation, humanity, and
every other amiable virtue. This was Edward, for his sanctity
sirnamed the Confessor, the son of Ethelred, by Queen Emma,
The voice of the nation now loudly calling him to the crown,
that was accordingly placed upon his head, with the accustomed
ceremonies, by the two archbishops, in the presence of most of
the other prelates and nobility, in the cathedral of our city;* an
event not the least honourable amongst those which have distin
guished it. The joy of the people was immoderate ; and, as is
usual with their passions in general, proceeded, in certain places to
the most fatal excesses. Some Danes were murdered by them,t
and the disorderly hocktide sports began again in our city,! and
were never afterwards suspended. The monks of the cathedral
joined in the general festivity, the ceremonies of which were ex
tended, by charter, to all future occasions, on which a king of Eng-'
land should wear a crown in this city.||
1006. We now resume the history of our bishops. Upon the transla
tion of the holy martyr, St Elphege, from this see to Canterbury,
Kenulphus, otherwise called Elsius, who had been a monk of this
cathedral, and afterwards abbot of Peterborough, became bishop of
Winchester^ He died the same year in which he was consecrated,.
namely, in 1006, and was succeeded by Brithwold, otherwise called
1015. Ethelwold, whose death happened in 1015.! Elsinus next wore
1032. the mitre until the year 1032, when dying he made place for the
famous Alwyn, whose history requires a more detailed relation.
This prelate was a Norman by birth, and related to Queen Emma,
with whom he was sent hither by Duke Richard, her father, in qua
lity of her counsellor or guardian, when she came to espouse Ethel
red, in the year 1002,** being yet a layman, he was made Earl t§
* Will Malm. t Knighton, De Event. j Trussel, MSS.
II St. Howard granted a charter at his coronation (the benefit of which was probably
much later extended to the monasteries of Westminster and Worcester,) that as often as
a king oi England should wear his crown in the city, half a mark should be given to the
master of the choir, and that a cask of wine and an hundred cakes of white bread should
De bestowed tor the benefit of the convent.— Annal. Wint. an. 1053. The cakes here
si? a{ Were Called sumnelli- otherwise termed wastalli.— Glossar. Twysden.
I ™ e\, God,win accuses him of simony, but upon what grounds does not appear.
II We follow the chronology of the editor of Rudborne, rather than that of the monk
hlmself' ** Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. iv, c. i.

ALWYN BECOMES BISII01'. 137
Southampton, and employed as a general against the Danes ; in A. D.
which station he acquitted himself with fidelity and courage, until J^"
the peace between Edmund Ironside and Canute left him at liberty
to follow his inclinations for a hfe of retirement and devotion.*
With this view he became a monk in the cathedral priory of St.
Swithun ; Bishop Ethelwold himself, out of respect to so illustrious
a novice, invested him with the cowl of St. Benedict. He was soon
after appointed to the monastic office of sacristan ;t which circum
stance will perhaps account for the profusion of rich presents be
stowed upon the cathedral by King Canute and his queen. For,
being a monk, he could receive no presents for his own use ; the
only way, therefore, of complimenting him, was to besjMfcr them
upon the church of which he had the care. At length, in the
nineteenth year of his religious profession, he was drawn from his
obscurity by Canute, at the desire of his queen, and raised to the
vacant see of Winchester,! which he held for some years after the
Confessor came to the crown. It is agreed amongst our historians, ||
that this religious monarch, in the beginning of his reign, behaved
with rigour to his mother, Emma, seizing upon her treasures in
this city, and obliging her to retire to the neighbouring abbey of
Wherwell. Some of them add, that the chief cause of this treat
ment, were the calumnies laid to her charge by the king's favourite
counsellor, Robert, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, of her
having been accessary to the death of her son Alfred, and of cri
minal familiarity with our prelate Alwyn. The same writers tell
us, that the queen wrote letters from Wherwell to different prelates,
insisting upon undergoing the proof, so usual in those days, of the
fiery ordeal§ ; and that her offer, being at length accepted of, she
walked over nine red hot plough-shares, which were placed on the
pavement in the nave of this cathedral, without suffering the least
* Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. iv, c. i. t Ibid. t Ibid.
|| Will. Malm., Mat. West., Rog. Hoveden, Ran. Higden.
§ Ordeals, from or, great, and deal, judgment, were of different kinds. 1st. — By red
hot iron, either held in the hand, or walked upon with the feet bare. 2dly. — By boiling
water, into which the person accused was to plunge his arm. 3dly. — By cold water, into
which the suspected were thrown. 4thly. — By duel. These several methods of appeal
ing to the justice of God, in vindication of innocence, were repeatedly sanctioned by the
laws of this kingdom (as may be seen in Brompton's Collections) as well as of other
kingdoms, and were in constant usage. Being practised with an upright mind aud a
lively faith, there is no doubt but the Almighty did frequently interpose in behalf of in
nocence, as authentic history assures us. Amongst other testimonies, Eademer speaks of
fifty men, who, in his own time, underwent the fiery ordeal without being injured by it.
Nevertheless, as there is no warrant for such bold appeals to Divine Providence, either in
scripture or ancient tradition, the church, by her councils and other solemn decisions,
repeatedly condemned these practices, until they were finally extirpated, as is proved at
large by the learned Alban Butler. — Lines of the Fathers, Martyrs, &c. Oct. 13. One
kind of ordeal, that of cold water, was revived in this kingdom through the superstition
of James I,, and cost the lives of innumerable poor aged women accused of witchcraft.

138 QUEEN EMMA WALKS OVER THE RED HOT PLOUGH-SHARES.
A. D. injury from them.* In memory of this extraordinary deliverance,
1032' they tell us these plough-shares were buried in the west cloister of
the cathedral, to which church Emma and Alwyn gave each of
them nine manors, and the king three ; those of Portland, Way-
1047. mouth, and Wyke.t Alwyn died in 1047,! Emma in 1052.||
1052- Both of them Avere interred and recorded with honour in our
cathedral, as its special friends and benefactors.§
Another instance of mortality, which took place in this city two
1054. years later, namely in 1054, was an evident proof of divine justice,
and served to fix the guilt of one of the charges, which had been
brought against Queen Emma, upon the real criminal.! St. Ed-
* It is proper to state the historic evidence for and against this extraordinary event. It
is not mentioned by the more ancient writers, Ailred Rievallensis, H en. Hunt., Will. Malm.,
Rog. Hov., Sim. Dunelm. But it is related at length by Ranulph. Higden, in his Poly-
chronicon, who wrote in the middle of the fourteenth century. About the same time, viz.
in 1338, it was sung, amongst- other popular songs relating to the history of Winchester,
in the Prior's-hall here, at the translation of Orleton to this see.— MSS. Wolvesey, cited
in Warton, Hist, of Eng. Poetry, vol. I, p. 89. The other evidences are rather of a
later date, viz. Brompton, Knighton, Rudborne, Annal. Wint., and Harpsfield. _ ^
t It will be gratifying the taste or the curiosity of some readers to mention other parti
culars of this singular history, contained in the accounts of our native authors, Rudborne
and the Annalist.— See Aug. Sac. vol. I. p. 233, 290. They tell us, that Emma, having
succeeded in her request to clear herself and Bishop Alwyn by the fi ery ordeal, came from
the abbey of Wherwell to the cathedral church, and there spent the night preceding her
trial in fervent prayer. The morning being come, the king, the bishops, and an immense
multitude of persons of all descriptions, assembled in the cathedral, to be spectators of the
event. The pavement of the nave being swept, nine plough-shares, red with heat, arc
placed in a line upon it; whilst Emma, having invoked the Almighty to deal with her ac
cordingly as she is innocent or guilty of the crimes laid to her charge, prepares herself
for the trial, by laying aside her robes and baring her feet. She is then conducted to the
glowing metal by two bishops, one having hold of each of her hands. In the mean time
the vaults of the church thundered with the voices of the assembled multitude, who, in
loud shouts, called upon the Almighty to save the royal sufferer ; and their cries are echoed
through the whole city by the crowds who were unable to gain admittance into the
church. She herself raising up her eyes" to heaven, and slowly walking on, thus makes
her prayer : "O God, who didst save Susannah from the malice of the wicked elders, and
three children from the furnace of fire ; saue me, for the sake of thy holy servant
Swithun, from the fire prepared for me." Ina word, she is seen to tread upon each of
the burning irons, and is not even sensible that she had touched them, but addressing her
self to the bishops, who had now led her almost to the end of the church, she exclaims :
"When shall I come to the plough-shares ?" They turn round and shew her that she has
already passed them. The lamentations of the multitude then ceasing, the air resounds
with acclamations of joy and thanksgiving, still louder than their former prayers had been.
The king alone is found overwhelmed with grief and bathed in tears, lying upon the ground
in the choir ; to whom Emma being conducted, he begs her forgiveness, in terms of the
utmost humility and sorrow, for the injurious suspicions he had entertained concerning
her, and the rigour with which he had treated her. Not content with this, he requires of
her, and the bishops there present, to strike him with a wand which he presents to them.
She accordingly gave her son three blows ; when, having embraced him, both she and
Bishop Alwyn were put into full possession of their former rights and property, and ever
after enjoyed the royal favour and respect, in the degree they merited. — Such is the
substance of what is related at length by the two ancient historians of Winchester, quoted
above. t Mat. West., Sim. Dunelm. || Chron. Sax., Sim. Dunelm.
§ Rudborne.
If The substance of this supernatural effect of divine justice is recorded by all our
ancient historians, Ailred Rieval., Sim. Dunelm., Hen, Hunt., Will. Malm., Rad. Diceto,,
Rog. Hov., Mat. West., &c.

AWFUL DEATH OF EARL GODWIN. 139
ward was keeping the festival of Easter at his royal city of Win- A.D.
Chester, when Earl Godwin, and others of his nobihty and prelates l^t
dining with him, it happened that his butler, in carrying a dish,
slipped with one foot, but recovered himself with the other. "Thus,"
says Godwin, indulging in a sportive vein, "does brother assist bro
ther."* This speech recalled to the king's mind the suspicion, which
he had long entertained against the earl, on the subject of Prince
Alfred's death. He accordingly answered in a tone of great seve
rity : "So might I have been now assisted by my brother Alfred, if
Earl Godwin had not prevented it."-\ Upon this the earl, holding
up the morsel he was about to eat, pronounces a curse upon him
self, that it may choke him if he is guilty of that murder. The
king, or as others say, St. Wulstan, bishop of Worcester,! one of
the royal guests, repeats a short prayer, and Godwin puts the meat
into his mouth. He attempts to swallow, but his efforts for this
purpose are in vain ; the meat sticks fast in his throat, and stops
his respiration, and he is utterly incapable of forcing it thence,
either upwards or downwards. || An instant afterwards his eyes
are fixed, his countenance and whole body are convulsed,§ and he
falls dead under the table. Upon this the king, seeing the divine
justice thus evidently displayed, says to his attendants, — "carry
away that dog,*H and bury him in the high road."** His spns, how
ever, took care to have him privately interred in the cathedral of
this city.tt
This pious king contributed greatly to the future dignity and
prosperity of London, by building the abbey of Westminster, which
before had been a poor convent ; together with a palace adjoining
to it for himself and his successors. Nevertheless he had a regard
for Winchester, bestowing upon it many gifts and privileges.!!
There is no doubt also but that our city was the chief seat of his
government: the treasury, the records, and chief courts of state
being kept here, as hkewise the broad seal, which was first made
and preserved in this city:|||| Leoffric, who was afterwards made
* Ailred Riev., Mat. West., Rudb. t Iidem. t Rudb.
|| Ailred Riev., ap. Twysd. p. 395. § Ibid. If Ibid.
tt Wm. Malm., &c. ** Rudborne.
tt " Ecclesiae Wentanae civitatis erat specialissimus benefactor et fundator. Dona
largiflua veteri monasterio in WyntoniS, contularet. Unum est quod privilegium, God be
gete, dedit italiberum, veluti lingua poterit ennarrare." — Rudb. Hist. Maj. 1. iv, c. iv. It
is probable that the privilege in question consisted of certain rights and exemptions in
favour of the priory itself, and of the churches dependent upon it. The site of one of
these, dedicated to St. Swithun, at the south-west end of St. Peter's-street, still retains
the name of God be gete, vulgo God be got.
HII MSS. Trussel. The form of this broad seal may be seen in Speed, Hist, of Eng.
It is true, however, that Edgar arid other preceding kings, sometimes used seals, but these
were of a smaller size, as Dom Vannes, Diet. Diplom. proves, (a)
(a) A seal of the notorious Edric or Alfric mentioned in page 132, was a few years

140

DEATH OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.

A. D. bishop of Crediton, being appointed to keep it in the character of
10C6- chancellor* Edward died the death, as he had lived the life, of a saint, in
1066, and was buried according to- his own orders, in his new
founded abbey of Westminster. Having left no children, there is
no doubt, by his sending for the son and grand-children of his bro
ther, Edmund Ironside, out of Hungary, and by the kindness with
which he treated them, of his intention that the succession should
continue in the old West Saxon line. Nevertheless, his nephew
Edward having died before him, and Edgar Atheling, the son of
Edward, being now an infant, the ambitious Harold, eldest son of
the late Earl Godwin, found himself strong enough to mount the
throne; and as the prelates were unwilling to crownhim, he placed
the crown upon his head with his own hands.t Amongst other
zealous partizans of Harold, was his uncle Alwyn, abbot of the
New Mynster, in this city; whose forwardness in promoting his
service by even accompanying him, with twelve of his monks, to
the fatal field of Hastings,! nearly proved the ruin of that abbey,
when the Norman dominion was soon after estabhshed.
since found near Winchester, and presented to the Archaeological Society, by Mr. H.
Barnes, a public spirited gentleman of this city. This discovery set at rest the dispute as
to whether laymen were or were not permitted the use of seals anterior to the conquest.
* Mat. West. an. 1046.
t Mat. West. t Monasticon, Dugdale and Stephens.

ALFRIC'S SEAL.

NORMAN CONQUEST. 141

CHAP. IX.
General influence of the Norman Conquest. — Instances of Oppres
sion exercised at Winchester. — The Citadel. — The Curfew. —
Doomsday Book. — Ecclesiastical Transactions.— A Norman
Bishop. — The Cathedral re-built. — The Death of Rufus in the
Forest. — -His Burial at Winchester. — The Election of Henry I,
and his Marriage there. — History of Molde, the good Queen. —
A new Bishop named. — Dispute concerning Investitures. — Great
Prosperity of Winchester. — Synod in this City. — Bishop de Blois
builds Wolvesey Castle. — Civil War between King Stephen and
the Empress. — The latter received into this City in solemn Pro
cession. — The War breaks out again here. — Winchester nearly
destroyed. — The Empress besieged in the Castle. — Escapes from
thence by a singular stratagem. — A Pacification takes place in
this City between Stephen and Henry Fitzempress.
The joy of the English nation, at their emancipation from a foreign A-fi °/
yoke, was of short duration. Only twenty-four years intervened w-'
between the Danish tyranny and that of the Normans. These,
however, were very different in their respective characters and
effects. The two people were orginally the same savage horde, in
differently called Danes or Normans,* infamous for their piracies,
their cruelty, their impiety, and their barbarism; but since their
division into two nations, whilst the Danes retained, in a great
measure, their ancient, rude, and barbarous character, the Normans
were become the most polished and learned, as well as the most
powerful people in Europe. Hence, instead of destroying churches
and other edifices, they repaired and re-built them in a new and
more noble style of architecture than had hitherto been known.!
* "Dacos, qui etiam eo tempore Normanni sunt vocati." — Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. v.
t Wm. Malm. De Reg. 1. m.

142 THE CONQUEROR COMMENCES THE ERECTION OF THE CASTLE
A.D. Instead of extinguishing the arts and sciences in this Island, they
1066 soon rendered it famous for their cultivation. Finally, instead of
~~ extirpating the Enghsh inhabitants, they stripped the continent of
its most illustrious men, in order to instruct and improve them.
It is true the nation paid a severe price for these advantages,
being treated as a conquered people, and deprived of every ho
nourable distinction, and of most of their property, during the
course of a century.
The first persons in this city who experienced that they were
under the dominion of a conqueror, . were the monks of the New
Minster, or the abbey of St. Grimbald. We have said that their
abbot, Alwyn, had been so far hurried away by an indiscreet affec
tion for his nephew, Harold, as to follow him, with twelve of his
monks, to the field of Hastings ; where they all paid, with their
Uves, for the violation of their sacred institute.* This punishment,
however, did not satisfy the vengeance of the Conqueror : for com
ing to keep his court in this city, during the feast of Christmas,
very soon after his coronation at Westminster,t he seized upon the
abbey and all its lands.! The latter he divided amongst his fol-
1069. lowers; || the former he kept in his own hands for three years, at
the end of which he permitted a new abbot to be chosen ; not,
however, until he had seized upon part of the monks' narrow en
closure, on the north side of the present cathedral, in order to en
large the royal palace, situated in that quarter.§ It was at this
first period of his reign also that the Conqueror began to erect the
castle of this city, with the same view that he built similar for
tresses, in other convenient parts of the kingdom, as a bridle upon
the inhabitants, and in order to secure the important conquest he
had made.!
Many of the other severe and oppressive ordinances and mea
sures, affecting the nation at large, were also planned and first at
tempted by the Conqueror in this his capital city. Being desirous
of suppressing those nocturnal compotations, to which the English
were so much addicted,** and which afforded them an opportunity
of displaying their common grievances, and of conspiring against
* Stephens, Monast. vol. II. t Trussel, MSS.
t Charta de Inspeximus; Dugdale, Monast. vol. I.
|| See a list of these estates, thus seized and alienated, in Rudborne, Hist. Maj. 1. v, c. i.
§ Charta de Inspeximus. ,
If " Rex Wilhelmus, ad hostium arcendos excursus, tutissima castella, per loca stabi-
liens opportuna, mUitum electissimorum robore communivit." — Rudb. 1. v, c. i, ex Guliel-
mo Gemeticense. There is never any mention of a castle belonging to this city, pre
viously to the conquest; but very soon after it, namely in 1070, we discover that it had
one, Archbishop Stigand being confined in it. — Rudb. ad. diet. an.
** " Potabatur in commune ab omnibus, in hoc studio uoctes perinde ac dies perpetu-
antibus."— Will. Malm. De Will. I.

CURFEW.  NEW FOREST. 143
his government ; he first enforced in this city a singular regula- A. D.
tion,* which afterwards extended to other places, by which the in- I069,
habitants»were required to extinguish their fires and lights at the
hour of eight in the evening, a bell, called the curfew,t being rung
to give notice of the same : nor was it lawful to enkindle them
again until the sounding of the morning bell, which was rung at
four of the clock. As this ringing of bells first began in this city,
so it is continued here until the present day. It was at a jovial
meeting of Englishmen, at a marriage feast,! that the great and
good Earl Waltheof, one of the most powerful subjects in the king
dom, was drawn into certain rash projects for shaking off the Nor
man yoke; which, though upon mature reflection, he abjured, ||
and «ven voluntarily confessed to Wilham himself, yet could he not
escape the death of a traitor, which was inflicted upon him,§ to the
great disgust of all Enghshmen ; who considered him as a victim
sacrificed to the jealousy and avarice of the Normans. It was un
derstood that the imprudence of the earl, whatever it might have
been, had been pardoned and forgotten ;! when he was suddenly
seized upon, and, after passing through the formalities of a just
trial,** without the substance of it, in this city, he was led to the
brow of the cliff which overhangs the east, called St. Giles's Hill,
and there beheaded in sight of all the inhabitants ; who could view
the death of their favourite from their doors and windows,tt The
body, by order of the Conqueror, was buried in the cross road
upon the same hill, but was afterwards removed by his friends, and
interred in the famous abbey of Crowland.!!
A still more severe measure, than the law of the curfew, was
adopted in this city with respect to the neighbouring forest, now
called The New Forest, which although being well inhabited, |||| and
containing no less than thirty-six parish churches, was entirely
laid waste, and given up to beasts of chase.§§ This, however, was
effected, not so much for the indulgence of the pleasure which the
king took in hunting, as from a motive of policy, in order to secure
* Trussel, MSS.
t Curfew, quasi couvre feu, or cover fire. This was done by raking the ashes of the
wood fires, which our ancestors then used, over the glowing embers as they lay upon the
hearth. t Chron. Sax., Mat. West. II Rog. Hov., Will. Sen.
§ Hen. Hunt., Hist. 1, vn. If Rog. Hov., Will. Malm.
** He was tried by his peers, being the first instance upon record, says Trussel, of this
kind of trial. .
tt Leland, Itin., Trussel. tt Sim. Dunelm., Will. Malm.
|||| " Eadem regio incolis, et Dei cultoribus et ecclesiis uberrime renitebat." — Rog. Hov.
§§ Ibid, Rudb. N.B. This place appears to have been a forest before the time of the
Conqueror no less than it was afterwards ; but at this period it had become too well in
habited for his purposes.

144 DOOMSDAY BOOK.
A. D. a safe place of retreat for his Normans, on the coast directly oppo-
l_v^ site to their own country, in case of a general insurrection of the
Enghsh.* Accordingly, three strong castles were built^at proper
distances; two of them in the forest, namely Christchurch and
Malwood, and the third at no great distance from the eastern ex
tremity of it, viz. Porchester, which, together with Winchester
castle and Old Sarum, secured it on eveiy side.
The most oppressive, however, of all the Conqueror's acts,t and
that which gave the greatest uneasiness to the nation at large, was
1083. the severe inquisition, which he made in the year 1083, concerning
the extent and value of the whole landed property in the kingdom,
Tor the purpose of taxing it at his own discretion. This act ap
peared so terrible in the eyes of the Enghsh, that they called the
volume, which contained the information of the commissioners on
this head, by the name of Doomsday Book ;% though the proper
name of it, no less than that of the former collection made by Alfred,
Avas The Roll of Winchester,]] because here it was put together,§
and here the original was deposited.!
Under ah these disadvantages our city continued to flourish and
increase. This was owing partly to the causes above-mentioned,
and partly to the enlargement of its trade and commerce, by the
communication, which was now open to it with the king's foreign
dominions ; but principally to the additional wealth and splendour
of the new government, of which this city was still the principal
seat. For here the Conqueror made it an invariable rule, as long
as he lived, to keep his court and wear his crown, with the utmost
pomp, and the greatest retinue of his nobihty possible, during the
chief festivity of the year, that of Easter.** This rule also was ob
served by his successor, William Rufus,tt who, upon his disease,
* Trussel, MSS. f Rudborne, an. 1083.
t " Vocatus est (iste maguus liber) Domysday, quia nulli parcit, sicut nee magnus dies
judicii." — Rudborne an. 1083.
|| " Iste rotulus vocatus est Rotulus Wintonia, et ab Anglicis pro su& generalitate—
Domesday cognominatur.' Ta'.em rotulum — ediderat quondam Alfredus — qui quidem
Rotulus Wintonia vocatus est, quia deponebatur apud Wintoniam conservandus, quae
civitas caput West-Saxonici regni sibi hereditarii— In illo vero Wintoniae sic maxime vo-
cato— descripti sunt, non tantam, totius terrae commitatus, &c. sed quot carucatae terrae,
,&c." — Ingulph. Hist. Croyland.
§ Trussel, MSS.
If This is expressly asserted by the accurate and contemporary writer, Ingulph, in the
passage quoted above ; who, in the very next sentence, says, that he went to London to
examine how the lands of his abbey were rated. This proves that the Doomsday Book, then
and still kept in London, is a copy, not the original.
**• »Ter gessit suam coronam, singulis annis, quoties erat in Anglia. Ad Pascha earn
gessit in Winceaster, ad Pentecosten in Westmynster, et ad Natalis ad Gleawceaster. Tunc
autem presto apud eum fuerent omnes optimates." — Will. Malm., Rudb.; Chron. Sax.
N. B. Amongst other illustrious persons then residing in this city, was Edgitha, relict of
Edward the Confessor. She died here in 1075.— Chron Sax. tt Chron Sax.

ARCHBISHOP STIGAND DEPOSED. 145
in 1086, succeeded him. Hither also the immense revenues, A. D.
which he raised by various methods, were poured in from different ^
parts of his dominions.* Accordingly, it was to this city that
Rufus hastened, to get possession of the royal treasury, which was
kept here ;t great part of the contents of which he then distributed
to the churches, convents, and the poor, at once to comply with
the dying injunctions! of his father, who had been touched with
remorse for his past injustice, and to gain popularity, by way of
securing to himself the crown.
The civil events, which attended the conquest, were accompanied
by others equally important with respect to the church. The
Enghsh bishops and abbots were displaced in favour of foreign
ecclesiastics, as often as a pretence offered for so doing. Unhap
pily there was too just a cause for deposing the bishop of Win
chester. This was Stigand, a man whose avarice and ambition
were equally insatiable. He was consecrated bishop of Elmham,
a see that was soon after removed to Norwich, || when, the diocese
of Winchester becoming vacant, by the death of Ahvyn, in the
year 1047, be procured himself to be nominated to it; and five 1047
years after, by the hke sinister measures, got possession of the
metropolitical see of Canterbury, which he presumed to hold in
conjunction with the former.§ This, with other canonical crimes
that were proved against him, furnished just matter for deposing
him, in a great council of the whole Enghsh church, which was
held at Winchester,! in the year 1070, under the pope's legate, 1070
Ermenfred, bishop of Sion. The king had hitherto behaved to
him with a mixture of caution and respect. He had refused to be
crowned by him,** preferring for this high office, Aldred, arch
bishop of York, who had been a monk of our cathedral. In
return, however, he caused extraordinary honours to be paid to
Stigand, as well in Normandy as in England. tt But now that he
was degraded, the monarch shewed him no mercy, committing him
to close confinement in the castle of Winchester,!! where he con
tinued a prisoner for life. Dying in this confinement, he was
buried in the cathedral, to which, by his last will, he bequeathed a
prodigiously large crucifix, with the attendant images of the Blessed
* " Omnem ilium thesaurum Wintoniae, totis annis regni, accumulatum, ab arcanis
eruit in lucem." — Will. Malm. 1. in.
t " Rex proficisebatur Wintoniam et aperuit illud aerarium, ac tjiesauros quos pater
collegerat, auri et argenti et vasorum et vestimentorum et gemmarum, &c." — Chron. Sax.
an. 1086.
t Ibid, Will. Malm., Rog. Hov. || Will. Malm., De Pont. § Ibid.
1f Mat. West. an. 1070. ** Will. Malm.
tt Will. Malm. tt Rudb. 1, v, c. i. Annal. Wint. an. 1072.
VOL. I. K

146 WALKELIN REFORMS THE MONKS.
A. D. Virgin and St. John, composed entirely of gold and silvei.* These
1070, were placed over the screen at the entrance into the choir.t The
rest of his treasures the king seized upon for his own use.
To the high dignities, vacant by the deposition of Stigand, it
must be owned, were chosen men highly deserving of them, though
they were foreigners. Lanfrank, a Lombard, and abbot of Bee, in
Normandy, who became archbishop of Canterbury, was, without
all dispute, the most learned man of his age. Our prelate, Wal
kehn, who was a relation,! and chaplain to the Conqueror, || was
not behind him in merit, though inferior to him in science. This
prelate, at first, conceived a prejudice against the monks of his
cathedral, and was upon the very point of ejecting them, and sup
plying their place with secular canons ;§ but being restrained or
dissuaded from this measure by his metropolitan, Lanfrank, he
entered into his views for reforming the rehgious, and reducing
them to the strictness of St. Benedict's rule.! In this undertaking
he employed his brother Simeon, whom he procured to be chosen
their prior,** and who, together with his successor Godfry, a man
of great piety, talents, and learning, succeeded to admiration in
this undertaking; inducing them to abstain from flesh meat,tt
and in other respects to observe their institute with such exact
ness, that they became a model to the monks of the whole king
dom.!!
1079. In 1079,|| || Walkehn, whose genius and whose heart were equally
capacious, undertook the greatest work which ever yet has been
achieved by a bishop of this see, that of re-building the cathedral and
the adjoining monastery from the ground, at his own expence, and
in a noble style of architecture, hitherto unparalleled. Barely one
hundred years had elapsed since this sacred edifice had been new
built by St. Ethelwold ; but soon after that erection, the city had
fallen into the hands of the Pagan Danes, under Swayne, who, in
their rapacious and sacrilegious devastations, we may be assured,
did not spare the cathedral. Add to this, that the Normans, upon
their entrance into this Island, looked with contempt on the Saxon
buildings, and replaced them wherever it was in their power so to
do,§§ with others more extensive, lofty, and massive.!! An in-
* Annales Wint. t Rudb. t lwd-
|| Rog. Hov. § Will. Malm., De Pontif.
^f Lanfrank was the third grand reformer of the English monks, the first having been
St. Bennet Biscop, and the second St. Dunstan. — See Monasticon, by Stephens.
** Annal. Wint. an. 1082. tt Ibid.
tt Wm. Malm., De Pontif. |||| Mat. West.
§§ At the same time that Walkelin was re-vbuilding his cathedral; the other Norman
bishops were intent on the same work in most of the sees in England, as at London,
York, Lincoln, Sarum, &c.
flf This seems to be the distinctive character of the " novum aedificandi genus," which

AND RE-BUILDS THE CATHEDRAL. 147
cident, which took place in the course of this work, deserves to be a. d.
related, as it proves, at the same time, the greatness of the under- 1v°^9j
taking, and the generosity of the Conqueror. Our prelate finding
himself, in the course of his work, greatly distressed for timber,
apphed to the king for such supphes of this article as he might be
pleased to afford. William, without much reflection, told him, that
he might take as much timber, from his wood of Hanepinges,* in
the neighbourhood of this city, as he could cut down and carry
away in three days. The bishop, who found that the consumption
of this article was great beyond all computation, resolved to avail
himself of the grant to the utmost extent of it. He accordingly
used such diligence, having collected together for this purpose all
the woodmen of the country, that he got every individual tree, of
which the- forest consisted, felled and carted to Winchester within
the prescribed time. The king happened to be then absent from
the city, but returning thither, over the eastern downs, a few days
afterwards, as he drew near to it, he looked about with astonish
ment, and, addressing himself to his attendants, exclaimed : " Are
my eyes fascinated, or have I lost my senses ? For certainly I
thought I had a beautiful wood here, adjoining to Winchester."
Being informed of the proceedings of his cousin, Walkehn, he was
prodigiously incensed against him, and refused to see him. This
obliged the bishop to disguise himself, in order to get admittance
into the royal palace. Having obtained sight of the king, he fell
at his feet, and explained to him that he barely made use of the
permission that had been granted to him ; and added, that he was
ready to resign his bishopric, and return to his old condition of
chaplain, rather than lose his master's favour. The Conqueror,
who knew his sincerity and merit, was at once disarmed of his
resentment, and satisfied himself with saying : "Most assuredly,
Walkelin, I was too liberal in my grant, and you were too exacting
in the use you made of it."f 108&
This adventure happened in the last year of the Conqueror's
Hfe, and the building was continued during the first seven years of
Rufus's reign, at the end of which, namely, in 1093, the new 1093.
church, being rendered fit for divine service, and the conventual
offices for the reception of the monks, almost all the bishops and
abbots of England assembled in this city, to honour the solemn
Malmsbury tells us, the Normans introduced; not any particular style of architecture
distinct from that of the Saxons,
* Now called Hempage wood, distant three miles from this city, on the road to
Alresford. t Annales Wint, an. 1086.
K 2

148 WALKELIN DIES.
A.D. dedication of them, Avhich took place July 15, being the festival of
1093 St. SAvithun, the patron saint of the place.* On this occasion,
the monks Avent in solemn procession from their old to their new
monastery, which was situated to the west of the former. The
very next day the workmen began to demolish the ancient fabric,
leaving nothing standing at the end of the year, except the high
altar and one porch, Avhich seems to have been the corresponding
part, or eastern end of the cathedral church.t
The rich citizens of Winchester, being incited by the example
of their bishop, made other rehgious erections or foundations
about the same time. In particular, one Roger de Inkpen built a
general charnel house for the whole city, near the abbey of St.
Mary, with a chapel adjoining to it, making suitable endowments
for the canons who were to serve it.! With respect to Walkehn
himself, having completed his vast undertaking, in a manner that
seemed, as a contemporary writer observes, || to " bid defiance to
the ravages of time, and to secure blessings to his memory as long
as a bishop's see should remain in this city," he devoted himself
chiefly to the exercises of piety and mortification, hving with his
monks, and not only observing their abstemious diet, but also
denying himself the use of fish, wine, and beer, except on certain
1098. particular occasions.§ At length, in the year 1098, Rufus being
then in Normandy, and in want of money, sent a peremptory order
to Walkelin, to transmit to him, without fail or delay, an enormous
sum, according to the value of money in those days,! which could
not be raised without selling the valuables of the church, or with
drawing the necessary support of the poor.** In these straits
he made it his earnest prayer to be dehvered from the miseries of
hfe ; which event actually took place ten days after he had been
served with the king's summons.tt He was buried in the nave of
his own cathedral, at the foot of the steps leading into the choir*!!
Soon afterwards Rufus seized upon this bishopric, in addition to
the others which he had before sacrilegiously invaded, and kept
possession of it until his own untimely end, which took place in
Hoo. the course of two years, viz. in 1100.
This event, which was considered, at the time when it happened,
as a mark of the divine wrath against the family of the Conqueror
and the person of his son Rufus, |||| has an immediate relation with
* Annales Wint. an. 1093. f Ibid.
t Trussel, MSS., Leland's Itinerary, vol. III.
Q Will. Malm., De Reg. 1. in, item De Pontif. 1. n. § Annales an. 1098.
If C. C. Libras. ** Ibid. tt Ibid.
tt Rudb. 1. v, c.i.
|||| The judicious and spirited writer, Malmsbury, represents, in lively colours, the

RUFUS KILLED IN THE NEW FOREST. 149
the history of this city. Being on a hunting party in the neigh- A. D.
bouring forest, so famous for the devastations and sacrileges which 110°
his father had committed in it, and also for the fatal accidents
which had there befallen a brother of his and a nephew,* if we
may believe ancient historians, he received different intimations of
the fate which awaited himself, at the same place ;t which intima
tions had the effect of causing him to stay within doors, at the
castle of Malwood, where he then resided, during the early part of
the day, on which the accident happened.! But being heated
with wine at dinner, he began to ridicule the warnings of the
monk, who had come to caution him not to hunt that day,|| and
issued into the thickest part of the forest ; where, at the distance
of half a mile from the castle, having called upon his bow-bearer,
in a strain of impetuous profaneness,§ to shoot at a stag, which he
had missed, he received the arrow into his own bosom,^ and died
upon the spot. The next day the royal corpse was brought to this
city, defiled with blood and dirt, in no better vehicle than a char
coal-maker's cart.** Here, however, it was treated with proper
respect, and buried in the centre of the cathedral choir; many
persons looking on, says our historian, but few grieving.tt A
proof of the bad opinion, which the people entertained of the
deceased monarch is, that they interpreted the fall of a certain
tower in the cathedral, which happened the following year, and
covered his tomb with its ruins, into a sign of the displeasure of
heaven, that he had received Christian burial.!!
crimes which the king was guilty of himself or caused in others. We shall quote only
those words of the passage, which are descriptive of the dress and manners of the elegant
men in those days : " Tunc fluxus crinium, tunc luxus vestium, tunc usus calceorum, cum
arcuatis acuelis inventus ; mollicie corporis certare cum foeminis, gressum frangere, gestu
soluto et latere nudo, incedere, adolescentium specimen erat." — Will. Malm., De
Reg. 1. iv.
* Richard, second son of the Conqueror, who is also buried in our cathedral, and
another Richard, son of Robert.
t Will. Malm., Rog. Hoveden.
t Will. Malm. || Idem. § Mat. Paris.
If The tradition of the New Forest confirms the account of Mat. Paris, viz. that Tyrell's
arrow struck the king in consequence of its glancing from an oak tree. This tree existed
until within these last eighty years ; when it was cut down and replaced by an obelisk. It
was believed to put forth green leaves every Christmas morning, and multitudes of people
used to assemble to witness the supposed prodigy. — See Gibson's notes on Camden, who
tells us, that Charles II. ordered it to be surrounded with rails. Another tree, produced
from the former, is still believed to have the same quality, and is much frequented on .Old
Christmas Day. The writer, however, has ascertained that the reported annual prodigy
is a mere trick of the neighbouring inhabitants.
** The lineal descendents of this charcoal-maker, by namePurkis, still live (1799) With
in the distance of a bow shot from the spot where Rufus fell, and continue to follow the
trade of their ancestor. tt wm. Malm., Rudborne.
tt Wm. Malm., Rudborne. The former mentions the popular rumour, at the same
time that he treats it as a fable, ascribing the accident to a natural cause, namely, to the
bad state of that tower, which was probably one, at the east end of the church, that re
mained of the ancient Saxon building.

150 HENRY THE FIRST ELECTED KING.
A. D. Henry, the younger brother of the deceased, appears to have
^_,' been present in our city, at his funeral, with a great proportion of
the nobihty. He had always been the favourite of the nation,*
being born in the Island, and professing a great affection for its in
habitants, who had been so cruelly oppressed in the two late reigns.
These circumstances, added to the advantage of his being upon the
spot, where the nobles were assembled, and of his getting posses
sion of the rich treasury of his brother, preserved in the palace,t
easily turned the balance in favour of his pretensions to the crown,
in preference to those of Robert, the eldest son of the Conqueror,
who was httle known in this country, and was then absent, upon
the first grand crusade, in the Holy Land. He was accordingly,
the very day of the funeral,! elected king of England, in Winches
ter ; and, by way of earnest, that he meant to observe the ecclesi
astical and civil laws of the kingdom, he immediately named a
bishop to this vacant see, || his chancellor, Wilham Giffard, who
was a man of learning and merit. He then hastened to West.
minster, in order to be invested with the crown and insignia of
St. Edward the Confessor ;§ where he promised, by a solemn
charter, to govern the realm by his equitable laws.! All these
events took place within the space of a fortnight from the death of
Rufus.** The very same year Henry returned to this city, for a very im
portant purpose. Being desirous of ingratiating himself still more
with the nation, he wisely resolved to espouse the hneal descendent
of the ancient West Saxon kings. This was Matilda, the daughter
of Malcolm and St. Margaret, king and queen of Scotland ; the
latter of whom was grand-daughter of the heroic Edmund Iron
side. This lady appears to have been sent for education to her
aunt, Christina, the sister of St. Margaret ; who became a nun, and
afterwards abbess of the royal convent of Rumsey, near this city.tt '
Matilda afterwards resided in the abbey of St. Mary, in Winches
ter, where she wore the veil, to prevent being importuned by pro
posals of marriage, hut without having made the solemn vows of
the monastic state, as was afterwards juridically proved.!! It
* WU1. Malm. t Trussel, MSS. % Chron. Sax. || Ibid.
§ It was out of respect to this good and beloved king, and thereby to gain the favour
of the nation, that the Conqueror, and his successors after him, were crowned at West
minster, the crown, the robe, and the other regalia of the Confessor, with which the new
sovereign was always invested, being kept there as well as his body.
If Sim. Dunelm. ** He was crowned Aug. 15. — Mat. Paris.
tt Chron. Sax. an. 1085, Rog. Hov.
tt " A teneris annis inter sanctimoniales apud Wintoniam et Rumesium educata, Uteris
quoque foemineum pectus exercuit. Unde, ut ignobiles nuptias respueret, plusquam semel
a patre oblatas, peplum, sanctae professionis indicem gestavlt." — Will. Malm. 1. v.

MARRIES MOLDE, THE GOOD QUEEN. 151
appears, however, that she made a private vow of embracing that a. d.
state of life, and that it required all the entreaties and authority of 110°-
her father and friends to induce her to accept the hand of the
most accomphshed sovereign in Europe; they telling her, that she
must be ansAverable for all the horrors of war, which were likely
to attend her refusal of the proposed union.* Being overcome by
this argument, she consented to espouse the king. She was ac- '
cordingly married to him by the celebrated St. Anslem, then lately
returned from exile, in which he had been driven by the late ty
rant, her father and other relations being present, in this our city.t
She was then conducted by Henry to Westminster, and solemnly
crowned by the above-mentioned saint."!
To pursue the history of this lady, whose name is so famous in
the annals of our city, under the title of "Molde, the good queen :"\\
treading in the steps of her mother, St. Margaret, her whole de
light consisted in the practices of piety and charity, being unwea
ried in attending the church service, distributing alms,§ building
hospitals! and bridges,** and serving the infirm and sick in per
son, with circumstances of tenderness and humility, which in this
age would appear incredible.tt She died in the nineteenth year of
her husband's reign, and was buried in the eastern crypt of the
cathedral, as the Monk of Winchester warmly contends, in oppo
sition to certain other writers.!! In proof of this assertion, he
refers to the cathedral registers, and to her monument and epitaph
still extant there in his time ;|| [| though, he says, her remains had
been translated into a mortuary chest, together with those of
Queen Frideswide.
Within httle more than a twelvemonth after her marriage, Queen noi.
Matilda had been dehvered of a son in this city, who was baptized
by the name of Wilham. The joy of Henry was unbounded on
this occasion. He flattered himself that all the hopes which he
had built upon his late marriage would now certainly be realised,
though the queen more truly presaged that it would be attended
* " Ipsa vero inirita nupsit ei, parentum et amicorum consiliis vix adquiescens — Instantes
enim, importune dicebant : 0 mulierum generosissima, per te reparabitw Anglorum
genealis nobilitas — quod si non feceris causa eris perennis inimicitia — et sanguinis
effusionis irrestaurabilis. Votum virginitatis Deo spoponderat, et ut multi perhibent,
velum susceperat professa religionis." — Mat. Paris, Hist. Ang. an. 1100.
t Rudborne. t Rudb. Hist. l:v, c. m.
|| Ibid. § Wm. Malm.
If " Inter alia pietatis opera, versus occidentatem Londoniarum plagam unam domum,
ad leprosorum sustentationem, cum oratorio et officinis aedificavit. Et vocatur hospitale
S. Egidii (St. Giles's). Et est istud hospitale in Holborne."— Rudb. 1. v, a. in.
** See Stowe's Survey. tt Will. Malm., Rudb.
tt Chron. Sax., Will. Malm., &c. who say she was buried at Westminster.
IIII Rudb. ad. an. 1118.

152 CALAMATOUS FIRE.  NEW COINAGE.
A.D. with far different circumstances.* In the joy of his heart he
1101" granted a charter of privileges to the city to which he was indebt
ed for both his queen and his son.t
The exultation, however, of the citizens of Winchester, and, in
some degree, that of Henry himself, on this joyful occasion, was
soon after repressed by a terrible and unexpected accident. A fire
1102. broke out this year, viz. in 1102,! in the centre of the city, which
destroyed the royal palace, the mint, the guildhall, with most of
the city records, and a great proportion of the houses belonging to
the inhabitants. The other losses Avere gradually repaired, but
that of the charters and other records of the city, so ancient and
so highly dignified as this had been, at a time when it was not cus
tomary to multiply copies of such instruments, was absolutely ir
reparable. The mint was soon restored, as this city, from the
earhest times, had been the chief, and now, on a particular occa
sion, became the. only place in which money was coined. For, in
consequence of a great number of mints established in different
cities, the masters of them seeming to contend with each other,
who should enrich himself most at the pubhc expence, the current
specie of the kingdom was so much debased, that it would pass
neither in our own nor foreign markets. || The king, therefore, by
the advice of his chief minister, the celebrated Roger, bishop of
Sarum, was determined to remedy this evil. With this view he
gave orders to all the coiners throughout England to repair td ,
1125. Winchester,§ by Christmas day, in the same year, 1125. Here,
being separately examined, they were all found guilty of the frauds
imputed to them, except three persons of that profession in this
city;! and accordingly underwent the severe punishment of muti
lation, and the loss of their right hands.** To' the artists of Win-
* " Abbatissae paruit judicio, maledicens fructui ventris sui affuturo." — Rudb. 1. v,
c. in.
t Trussel, MSS. This writer, who was a diligent collector, but an indifferent critic,
congratulates himself on having found this charter, which he accordingly transcribes, and
which may be seen translated in the Anonymous History of Winchester, vol. II, p. 44,
which adopts it as genuine. In this, Henry is stiled Earl of Andalusia, and the witness
ing bishops are Thomas of Canterbury, Richard of London, and Gilbert of Winchester.
The word Andalusia seems to be a false reading for Andegavia, and this might refer to'
Henry II. But then no bishops, of the names set down above, governed those sees at
the same time, in either of the reigns in questiou. In these circumstances, it is impossi
ble for the author to adopt this charter, unless he should, at some future period, be for
tunate enough to discover the original. N.B. — In the late histories of London, an ample
charter, supposed to be granted to that city by Henry I, is published, which is equally
suspicious, and was utterly unknown to Stowe, in his Survey of London.
t Annales Wint. ad diet. an. Trussel, whose chronology is exceedingly faulty, places
this disaster in 1 1 1 2, in which, as well as in his other errors, he is followed by the anony
mous historian.
|| Chron. Sax. ad. an. 1125. § Ibid. If Annal. Wint.
** Chron. Sax.

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 153
Chester, therefore, was committed the charge of making a new A. D.
coinage, to supply the aa hole kingdom ;* all the base money being l™
cried down and cut to pieces. Finding also that frauds were com
mitted in measuring cloth, he caused, from the length of his own
arm, a standard yard to be made, which appears to have been de
posited in this city.t
It must not be forgotten, that Henry continued the custom of
wearing his crown, and keeping his court at Winchester, during
the solemnity of Easter,! unless prevented by particular business,
as his father and brother had done before him ; and that, in the
early part of his reign, being threatened with a war on the part of
his elder brother, Robert, who, landing at Portsmouth, marched
immediately to this city,|| he repaired its fortifications. §
We have now to speak of the ecclesiastical state of Winchester 1100
during the present reign. It has been mentioned, that the very
first act of Henry, upon being elected, in this city, to the throne,
was to name his chancellor, Wilham Giffard, to the bishopric of it,
then vacant; but an interval of seven years elapsed before he was
consecrated, or received even episcopal jurisdiction. The occasion
of this was, that the celebrated controversy was then warmly agi
tated, concerning the receiving of ecclesiastical investitures from
lay persons, by the pastoral staff and the ring ; which practice had
recently been condemned by the chief bishop and the church in
several councils.! The decision was vigorously supported by the
* Will. Malm. t Ibid.
t Chron. Sax., Rog. Hov. passim. ' || Ibid. § Trussel, MSS.
Tf Hume, and other modern historians, who are never so well pleased as when they
meet with an opportunity of stabbing religion through the sides of its ministers, are
guilty of the greatest misrepresentation and falsehood, in speaking of this famous con
troversy. In the first place, Hume represents Pope' Pascal as palming the most egregious
nonsense, in a strain of the most unsufferable arrogance, upon a prince, who was conspi
cuous both for his talents and his spirit. To be convinced how diametrically false this
charge is, let the candid reader turn to the three letters of that pope addressed to Henry,
which are contained in the history of his life, by Malmsbury, 1. v. Certainly more per
suasive arguments were never worked up, in more mild, affectionate, and paternal lan
guage. In the second place, with respect to the ground of the controversy, it was not so
much as understood by that infidel author, and other superficial writers of late times ;
which accounts for their unjust and outrageous invectives against the alleged encroach
ments of the church upon the civil power in wresting from it the supposed right of be
stowing bishoprics and other ecclesiastical dignities. Let us take a succinct view of the
whole business. Christ, who declared that his kingdom was not of this world, or in other
words, that the church had no authority over the state, at the same time left his church
ndependent of the state: " as my father sent me, so I send you : go, teach all nations," &c.
Accordingly the apostles, and their successors, the primitive bishops, during the three first
centuries of the church, appointed and ordained other bishops to the vacant sees, accord
ing to certain canons or church laws, which they from time to time made respecting this
matter. Still, however, as it was necessary, according to the injunction of St. Paul,
that bishops should have a good testimony from those who are without, it became a
general, though not an invariable rule, for the prelates, who met together at the vacant
church, to hold a kind of election there ; nevertheless, the votes of the assembly however
unanimous, were barely testimonial as to the merits of the person chosen ; the bishops of

154 HENRY'S CONTROVERSY WITH THE POPE.
*
A. D. archbishop of Canterbury, St. Anselm, the most learned man of
1L^°j his age; who refused to consecrate any persons who had passed
through this ceremony, as Giffard had done, without their making
a formal retraction of what they had done. On the other hand,
the king was so earnest in maintaining this supposed right, that
his ambassador to the pope declared he held it more dear than his
crown.* Hence upon the refusal of the metropolitan to perform
the ceremony, he required Giffard to receive consecration from the
archbishop of York, a courtly prelate, who was ready to give into
any sentiments or measures that were agreeable to his royal mas
ter.! Our future bishop, however, was a man both of learning and
conscience ; he dreaded the ecclesiastical censures and disabilities,
which he should incur by so uncanonical a measure, and chose
rather to lose the king's favour and suffer banishment, which was
1102. accordingly inflicted upon him in 1102, than to give in to it.! At
length, after much discussion, the controversy was terminated in
such manner, that the church and the state kept, each of them,
possession "of its respective rights. It was admitted that the
sovereign could not invest any person with ecclesiastical authority,
the province being still at liberty to institute or reject the person so proposed, and the
whole weight or efficacy (confirmatio, to kuros. — Concil. Nicen, can. iv.) of the elertion
depending on the bishops, or rather on the metropolitan. — See these particulars proved at
large, by De Marca, Concord. Impor. and Sacerdot. Van Espen, Thomassinus, Fleury,
Disc. Hist. Ecc. and by the author, in" his work on The Divine Right of Episcopacy.
When emperors and kings became Christians, they obtained, not all at once, but by slow
degrees, possession of this whole right of giving testimony to the merits of the elect, to
the exclusion not only of the people at large, but likewise of the capitular clergy, to whom,
for the sake of peace and order, this privilege in the eighth and ninth centuries, had been
in divers councils committed. The privilege, however, of nominating or presenting a per
son to receive authority to preach, absolve, and exercise other mere spiritual functions, is
evidently seen not to be any inherent right in the crown, otherwise it would equally be
long to Mahommedans and Pagans, who might make use of it to the utter destruction of
Christianity, but was an occasional grant from the church, as appears by many of its
canons and decrees, in return for the piety and liberality of the prinees, in endowing the
sees with large temporal possessions. At length, certain sovereigns began to consider it
to be as much their natural and inherent right to appoint bishops to the several sees within
their dominions, as to create temporal barons. They fancied that it was in their power to
confer upon them spiritual jurisdiction, and that nothing more was requisite to constitute
a lawful bishop, than that the person, whom they pitched upon for this purpose, should be
consecrated by any other bishop. This appears in the conduct of Henry, with respect to
our prelate Giffard. Hence they began to invest the persons whom they chose with the
emblems of spiritual power, the crosier and the ring. Not content with this they made
the most scandalous use of the privilege The emperors, Henry IV. and V. in Germany,
William Rufus in England, &c, publicly sold bishopries and other cures of souls to the
highest bidder : " Dei ecclesias expilavit (Willelmus) et episcopates abbatiasque — sive pre-
tio vendidit, sive suai possessione retinuit atque elocavit." — Chron. Sax. ad. an. 1100, Mat.
Paris, &c. In these circumstances it became necessary for the church to resume a grant,
which was so flagrantly abused, and to restore the former practice of capitular elections;
at the same time eaving the elect at liberty tojpay homage and perform all the customary
duties, for the temporalities of their bishoprics,' provided that, on such occasions, they were
uot invested with the symbols of faith and spiritual power, the ring and the crosier; as such
a ceremony had been found liable to be misinterpreted. — See the authors above quoted,
also Comer's Ecc. Hist. vol. I, p. 302.
* Mat. Paris. t Will. Malm. + Mat. Paris.

MONKS OF ST. GRIMBALD REMOVED TO HYDE 155
and the freedom of capitular elections was fully established ; the A. D.
king, however, still retaining the power of recommending the per- 1^i
son who was the object of his choice.* On the other hand, the
metropolitan and the pope were content that the bishop elect
should do homage to the king for his temporalities, and receive
from him the investiture of them ; but not by the crosier and the
ring,t these being the established symbols of spiritual power and
orthodox faith.!
The matter being settled, Wilham Giffard was instituted and
consecrated bishop of Winchester, together with Roger of Sarum
and three other prelates, who had been in the same situation as
himself, by St. Anslem, in the year 1107-H He proved to be a n»7-
prelate of great zeal and piety ; of which virtues he left several
monuments to posterity, particularly the church of St, Mary Qvery,
with a college of secular canons adjoining it,§ a convent of Cister
cian monks at Waverly, near Farnham,! and another of nuns of
of the same severe institute,** then lately introduced into England,
at Taunton, tt But the most important work of this nature, which
Giffard executed, was the removal of the New Minster, or St. Grim-
bald's abbey, founded by Alfred, from the- north side of the cathe
dral to Hyde meadow, which took place in 11 10.!! This measure mo.
in which our bishop was the principal actor, |||| might, at a former
period, have given offence to the monks, thus displaced, but now,
since the encroachments of the Conquerer upon their narrow boun
daries and the, unhealthiness of their situation, from the waters,
which issuing from the new made castle ditches, and passing through
a great part of the city, settled round their abhey,§§ seems to have
* wm. Malm, t Ibid- t Pontificate Roman. Epist. Pascal ad Hemic I. — Will. Malm.
|| Mat. West. § Richardson's Notes ad Godwin de Presul. If Godwin.
** Wm. Malm. De Reg. 1. v, and other writers of the Benedictine order, generously
concur in praising the superior strictness of the Cistercians, at their first institute. The
following is the panegyric which John Hanville, a monk of St. Albans, in this century,
composed upon them, and which, though in verse, is strictly descriptive of their way of
living : — " Osancta, Ofelix albis galeata cucullis
Libera paupertas ! Nudo jejunio pastu
Tracta diu solvens, nee corruptura palatum
Mollitie mensos. Bacchus convivia nullo
Murmure conturbat, nee sacra cubilia mentis
Inquinat adventu. Stomacho languente ministrat
Solemnes epulas, ventris gravis hospita, Thetis.
Et paleis armata Ceres. Si tertia mensts
Copia succedat, truncantur oluscula, quorum
Offendit macies 'oculos, pacemque meretur,
Deterretque famem pallenti sobria cultu."
tt Godwin, de Presul. tt Annal. Wint.
|||| "Novum monasterium, agente Willelmo episcopo, extra muros constnai jussit (Hen
ricus I.)" — Rog. Hov.
§§ Trussel's MSS. — This statement is confirmed by what Malmsbury says of the newly
erected monastery at Hyde, viz. "sanius incolitur." — De Pontif, 1. n.

156 FLOURISHING CONDITION OF THE CITY.
A. D.
llio. been executed with the general agreement of both monasteries, as
^r~J well as of the king and the bishop. Accordingly certain articles
were drawn up, for the common advantage and satisfaction of all
the parties, which we shall hereafter have more particular occasion
to notice.* In the execution of some of the above-mentioned
Avorks, the bishop alienated certain revenues, which the cathedral
monks conceived to belong to them. This gave occasion to great
complaints, on their part, against him ; and hence, by way of inti
mating that their prelate had turned things out of their right and
natural course, they themselves inverted the order of their proces
sions ; marching round their cloisters contrary to the course of the
1122. sun, and carrying the processional crosses reversed.t At length,
through the interference of the king, the contest was settled,! and
the bishop became so much attached to his monks, that he spent
the greatest part of his time amongst them ; joining with them in
their pious exercises, dining in their refectory, where he chose for
himself the lowest place, and taking his meridian, as it was called,||
with them, in their dormitory. At length, he received the religious
habit amongst them, in the cathedral church, § as the epitaph en
graved on his tomb-stone, which Avas placed immediately above
that of his predecessor, Walkelin, testified.! He died in the year
1129. 1129,** and was succeeded, in the same year, by Henry, the king's
nephew, and son of the Conqueror's daughter Adela.
It was during the reign of the first Henry, as Trussel rightly
observes, that Winchester attained to the zenith of its prosperity.
It was the chief seat of government, as we have frequently remarked
where the king wore his crown, and assembled his nobihty, at the
principal festival of the year, and where the treasury, the royal
mint, and pubhc records were kept. Here also was a royal palace,
of the greatest extent and magnificence ;tt as hkewise a noble castle
at the west end of it, to which, about this time, was added another,
no less considerable, at its eastern extremity, for the episcopal resi
dence ;!! not to speak of the guildhall, and other magnificent build
ings, whether for pubhc uses, or for the habitations of divers illus-
* In the survey of this abbey. t Annal. Wint. an 1122.
t Ibid. On this occasion, amongst other gifts, he settled upon them half the fishery of
Botley, in this county. — Rudb
|| This word, which is now out of use, signifies the hour of sleep at noon, which was
allowed to the monks, in consideration of a great part of the night being taken up with
the long services appointed by their rule. — Regula S. Benedicti.
§ Rudb. 1. v, c. in.
If "Wilhelmus Giffard Prcesul jacet hie tumulatus ;
Qui suscepit adhuc vivens habitum monachatus." — Rudb. ibid.
** Annal. Wint., N- 1. Hen. Wart. ff Girald. Cambren.
tt Wolvesey Castle.

HENRY THE FIRST DIES.  STEPHEN CROWNED. 157
trious personages, who were accustomed to reside here. It was a. d.
enriched with three royal monasteries, besides other rehgious 1129«
houses of less note, and an almost incredible number of parish
churches and chapels; amongst which sacred edifices, towered
supreme the vast cathedral, venerable, even in those days, for its
high antiquity, and for its possessing the remains of mOre perso
nages of the ancient royal hne, than all the other churches of the
Island put together. More important advantages than these, were
its populousness and extent ; its suburbs then reaching a mile in
every direction, further than they do at present ; on the north, to
Worthy ; on the west, to Week ; on the south, to St. Cross ; and
on the east, to St. Magdalen's hill.* It was the general thorough
fare from the eastern to the western parts of the kingdom, and was
resorted to from every part of it on account of its celebrated fairs.
Finally, it enjoyed a considerable woollen manufactory, particularly
in the article of men's caps,! which were worn till hats came into
fashion; and an extensive commerce with the continent, from
which it imported great quantities of wine,! in return for its wool
lens and other commodities. But our city, amongst others, is an
instance that civil, no less than natural bodies, have their periods of
increase, maturity, and decay ; and henceforward we shall have to
relate the steps by which this city, though still for a considerable
time one of the most interesting and important places of the king
dom, arrived at the last-mentioned of these states.
The first step, however, towards this decay, had not a natural,
but an accidental cause, produced by that very evil, which the
event, that had caused so much joy in this city at the commence
ment of the present reign, was supposed to have averted ; namely,
a disputed succession. Had our Matilda's son lived, or had her
daughter the empress died, England would probably have escaped
one of the most dreadful civil wars, and this city one of the most
heavy calamities, that ever they suffered.
Henry Beauclerk died in Normandy, at the latter end of the year
1135. His nephew Stephen, who had the first notice of this 1135
event, made all the haste in his power to London ; where, as well
as in this city,|| he formed a party, before the death of the late king
was known, and used such diligence as to procure himself to be
crowned on the ensuing festival of the saint of his name, St. Ste-
* Trussel. t Ibid.
t Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote about this time, speaking of the respective advan
tages of different cities, says : "Testes Londonia ratibus, Wintonia Baccho."
II "A Londinensibus et Wintoniensibus exceptus est (Stephanus)." — Will. Malm., Hist.
Novellae.

158 WOLVESEY BUILT.
A. D. phen ; only twenty-two days after the death of his predecessor*
1135. proCeeding next to Reading, in order to be present at the burial of
""^ Henry in the abbey he had there founded,! and thence to Oxford,
where he solemnly confirmed the ecclesiastical and civil hberties,
which he had sworn to observe at his coronation,! he next has
tened to Winchester; || where he opened, in the presence of the
archbishop of Canterbury, and the two bishops of Salisbury and
Winchester, the rich treasury of the late king, containing an im
mense sum according to the value of money in those days, namely,
100,000Z. independently of plate and jewels.§ All this the new
king seized upon for his own use, and distributed, but with very
httle judgment, in increasing the number of his friends.! Soon
after this, having taken the castle of Exeter, which Baldwin de
Rivers had refused to give up to him ; he returned into these parts,
and sailed into the Isle of Wight, which he secured to, himself, it
having before been the property of Baldwin.**
Stephen having gained the crown, by seducing the prelates and
nobihty from the allegiance which they had sworn to the Empress
Maud and her posterity, in the reign of her father Henry,tt in
which oath he himself had also joined,!! was, perhaps, not without
cause, suspicious of their fidelity to him, and therefore took every
opportunity that he could find to seize upon those castles, which
the Norman nobihty had been encouraged by the Conqueror to
build, in order to overawe the English. |||| The prelates, hke the
lay nobihty, also built their palaces in the form of castles, and at
the very time we are speaking of, the bishop of this see, Henry,
was employed in building the castle of Wolvesey, at the east end of
1138. this city;§§ as likewise other castles in his principal manorsj
namely, at Farnham, Taunton, Merden, Waltham, and Down-
ton.!! But no prelate had built such noble castles as Roger, bi
shop of Salisbury, who had been chief minister in the late reign.
His castle of Devizes was one of the most complete and beautiful
works of its kind in all Europe ;*** nor were the castles of Newark
1139. and Sleaford, built by his nephew, Alexander, bishop of Lincoln,
much inferior to it. In short, the king was resolved to have these
in his own hands, under pretence that it was not lawful for clergy
men to hold castles. He accordingly seized upon the prelates to
whom they belonged, and, by imprisonment, famine, and other
* Mat. Paris. t Bog. Hov. t Ibid.
|| Mat. Paris. § Mat, Paris, Mat. West., Rudb.
If Bog. Hov. ** Ibid. tt Will. Malm., Novel. tt Ibid.
IIII Hen. Hunt., Rudb. §§ Rudb. Annal. Wint. an. 1138.
tlf Aunal. *** Mat. Paris, ad an. 1139.

MAUD LANDS ON THE SUSSEX COAST. 159
barbarities, obhged them to surrender the same to him, with all the A.'D.
. . 1139
property and treasures contained in them.* _^J
This act of violence concerned our prelate, not on his own ac
count only, as master of several castles, but also as the head of the
English clergy in quality of pope's legate. He accordingly sum
moned a synod in this city against his brother, at which Theobald,
archbishop of Canterbury, and almost all the other prelates assist
ed;! as hkewise Alberic de Vere, to answer, on the part of the
king, who, at the same time, was residing at his palace in this city.
The injustice and violence that had been used, and that continued
to be used by the ministers of the king, were as indefensible as
they were notorious ; nevertheless the prelates satisfied themselves
with sending certain deputies to Stephen, who, on their knees,
reminded him of his solemn promises to protect the church, and
entreated him to redress the grievances complained of.! Instead,
however, of hstening to these entreaties, Stephen set off to Lon
don, || leaving not only the prelates here assembled, but also the
citizens in general highly displeased and much disaffected to him.
In this situation of affairs, the Empress Maud, with her natural
brother, Robert, earl of Gloucester, landed on the coast of Sussex,§
and soon the flames of civil war were lighted up throughout the
whole kingdom. The empress was apprised of the favourable
disposition of the people of Winchester towards her,! and she even
hoped that her cousin, Bishop Henry, who had lately, as well as on
many other occasions, opposed the unjust pretensions of his bro
ther, the king, would assist her cause. But whether he was swayed
by natural affection, or by a desire of putting the speediest conclu
sion to the war that was then raging, he took an active part, and
put in practice a most unjust and base stratagem against her. He
invited a great number of the -nobihty and chief men, in the inte
rest of Matilda, to an hospitable entertainment at his new castle of
Wolvesey, in this city, and causing the gates to be shut upon
them, he then endeavoured, partly by persuasion, and partly by
Constraint, to induce them to give up the strongholds of which they
were in possession.** The scheme, however, failed in the most im
portant article of it, which was to secure the castle of Winches
ter. For the chief magistrate of the city, who was the command
ing officer of that fortress, suspecting what was intended against
him, escaped in time from Wolvesey, and, flying to the citadel,
secured it for the empress.
* Mat. Paris. f Will. Malm. J Ibid. || Trussel.
§ Prid. Caland. Oct, an. 1139; Will. Malm. If Will. Malm., Hist Novel.
** Mat. Paris, ad. an. 1139.

160 MAUD ENTERS WINCHESTER.
A D. The war continuing with increasing fury and ravages, Stephen,
1139' at length, after prodigies of valour,* is taken prisoner under the
walls of Lincoln, and the whole kingdom, except the county of
Kent and the city of London, declare themselves in favour of his
opponent. In these extremities Bishop Henry de Blois found it
necessary to enter into a negotiation with the empress and her
brother, Robert ;t the terms of which being settled, he went out as
far as Magdalen hill, in solemn procession, accompanied by all that
was great and respectable in this city, nobility, bishops, abbots,
citizens, priests, the monks of both monasteries, and even the nuns
1141. of the abbey,! in order to receive her and her brother, together
with the nobility that attended her. Dismounting from her horse,
she was accordingly conducted by her cousin of Winchester, on her
right hand, and the bishop of St.. David's, on her left, with four
other bishops, ahd the company above described, through the
principal street of the city to the cathedral church, || amidst un
bounded acclamations and joy. The solemn service on this great
occasion being concluded, she retired to the castle; when both this
city; and the kingdom in general, flattered themselves they had
seen an end of calamities, which, in fact, were then only beginning.
The cause of their breaking out afresh, as we are informed by an
intelligent historian who was then on the spot, in this our city, and
in some degree a party in the business, § was as follows : The bi
shop, who was desirous of establishing a peace upon secure grounds,
and who probably knew what would satisfy his family, in the exis
ting circumstances, proposed to Matilda, that the paternal estates
of the captive king, on the continent, should be settled upon his
son, Eustace. The empress, who had already lost the citizens of
London by her haughtiness,! treated this proposal with the utmost
contempt.** Her conduct disgusting the bishop, made him neglect
to pay court to her, in the manner he had done, since the late pa-
* "Dum Rex Stephanus, ut leo rugiens, solus in campo persisteret et nullus ad euin
accedere auderet, stridens dentibus, et apri silvestris more, spumans, turmas in se irru-
entes cum bipenni, quam tenebat, repellens ac hostes praecipuos potenter consternens,
laudem sibi perpetuam comparavit." — Mat. Paris. t Will Malm.
t "In patente planitie camporum juxta Winton." — Will. Malm. "On Magdalen hill."
— Trussel. " Imperatrix a D. Episcopo et omnibus fere capitaneis Angliae recepta est." —
Annal Wint. "Imperatrix, cum ad civitatem Wintonae appropinquaret, occurrerunt ei
praesules Angliae, abbates plurimi, cum baronibus et multibus multis. Occurrerunt ei quo-
que, ex ipsa civitate, duo conventus monachorum, tertius sanctimouialium, cum clero et
populo civitatis, in laudibus et melodiis processionalibus. Traditura est ei dominum civi
tatis et turns cum coronai regni." — Chronic. Gervasii. Dorob. an 1141.
|| WiU. Malm.
§ William of Malmsbury expressly says, that he was present at the synod which
was now held in this city, for acknowledging Matilda's title. He probably accompanied
his abbot, as secretary aud counsellor, on that critical occasion.
If Gulielm. Newbrig. Rer. Anglic. ** Will. Malm.

WAR IN THE CITY OF WINCHESTER. 161
cification.* Matilda, on her part, growing suspicious, came from a. d.
Oxford, where she had spent some time, to Winchester, with a 1141"
considerable force, under pretence of taking up her residence in '"^
the royal castle, but evidently for the purpose of securing the
person of the bishop and his castle of Wolvesey. Accordingly, as
he neglected to wait upon her, she sent him a summons to attend
upon her, to which he returned the following ambiguous answer :
« I will prepare myself."^ The fact is, he did prepare himself, by
putting his castle of Wolvesey in the best condition possible to
stand a siege, which was soon after laid to it by the troops of the
empress, commanded by Robert her brother, earl of Gloucester,
and David her uncle, king of Scotland. This event was a signal
of insurrection to Stephen's queen, whose name was also Matilda,
to his general, William of Ipres, and to his partizans in general;
who were numerous in London.! They accordingly marched, in
all haste, to the relief of the besieged prelate, and upon their
arrival the tables were turned ; so that those who had made the
attack, were now forced to stand upon their defence. The armies
were ereat and warlike upon both sides, || and they carried on their
military operations, dining the space of seven weeks,§ in the heart
of the city ;! a calamity almost unparalleled in the history of
other cities. The party of the empress had possession of whatever
was to the north side of the High-streetj where the houses of the
citizens in general stood, together with the royal castle> The
king's party held the bishop's palace, the cathedral, and whatever
else was to the south of the High-street.** By degrees, also, they
forced their enemies from all the other quarters of the city, and
confined them to the castle ;ft but, in effecting this, they made
use of a most barbarous stratagem. They threw fire-balls from
Wolvesey, upon the houses that were possessed by the opposite
party ;!! a destructive measure, in which the brave earl of Glou
cester disdained to imitate them.|| || Thus they destroyed, first the"
adjoining abbey of St. Mary, then the whole north, which was

* Will. Malm. t Ibid. t Ibid.
j| " Factus est exercitus utrinque magnus, dimicabant quotidie, hon congressibus
atierem, sed militarium anfractuum circuitione." — Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. vm ; Rdg.Hoveden.
§ Gervas. Chron. f Annal. Wint., Trussel.
** Iidem. tt Trussel
tt " Interea ex turri pontificis jaculatum incendium in domos bu rg eusium, qui, ut dixi,
proniores erant faelicitati imperatricis quam episcopi, comprehend!? et combussit totam
abbatiain san.ctimonalium intra urbem, simulque caenobium, monachoruin, quod dicitur ad
Hidam extra." — Will. Malm.
IIII " Comes (Robertas) interea, quamvis quotidiano regiorum praelio cum suis afflicta-
retur, semper ab incendio ecclesiarum temperandum putavit, quamvis in viciuio. Si
Swithuni, hospitatus esset."— Will. Malm., Novel,
VOL. I. L

162 STRATAGEM AND ESCAPE OF THE EMPRESS.
A. D. by far the most populous part of the city; together with twenty
U41- churches,* the royal palace, which had lately been built in that
quarter,! the suburb of Hyde, with the magnificent monastery of
St. Grimbald, erected there in the preceding reign. Pursuing this
ruinous measure still further, in their predatory excursions, which
they made to prevent the empress from receiving provisions from
the western counties, whilst they themselves were plentifully sup
plied from those to the east,! they burnt down the royal abbey of
Wherwell. || At length the imperial party were confined to the
castle, in which they might long have bid defiance to their enemies,
had they not been straitened for want of provisions,§ and still more
for want of water : for the besiegers perceiving that a stream from
the river, flowing round the castle, added to its strength, and sup
plied it with the aforesaid necessary ; they at length obstructed the
course of it,! and thus brought matters to a crisis with the be
sieged. The chief object of anxiety to her brave brother and
uncle was to save the person of the empress ; and here the fertility
of her genius came in aid to their valour. She caused a report to
be spread of her illness, and then, after a suitable interval, of her
death ;** taking care, in the mean time, to keep herself out %f the
sight of every one, except a few trusty friends. In short, she was
inclosed, hke a corpse in a sheet of lead, and was thus suffered to
pass in a horse-litter, as if carried out for interment, through the
army of the besiegers, a truce having been granted for this pur-
pose.tt When she had reached a proper distance, she was freed
from her dismal inclosure : and then mounting her horse, made
the best of her way, by Luggershal and Devizes, to Gloucester.!!
* Gerv. Dorob. Stow quotes an authority, according to which forty churches were
then burnt. t Trussel. J Will. Malm.
|| " Joannem, nobilem quemdam fautorem eorum, ad monasterium Warwellensem
fugientem, milites episcopi persequentes, cum eum inde extrahere non valerent, ecclesiam
cremaverunt, cum domibus et libris et vestimentis sanctimonialium, &c." — Gerv. Chron.
The same author still more expressly ascribes the guilt of burning Winchester to the
bishop : " Hinc civitas famosa 2 die Aug. agente et praecipiente ejusdem civitatis episcopo,
traditur incendio, quo monasterium sanctimonalium, cum officinis suis et plusquam 20
ecclesiis, cum meliore parte civitatis et caenobioS. Grimbaldi, cum aedibus suis, in cinerem
redactum est."— Ibid. But the well-informed William of Malmsbury, who dedicates his
work to Earl Robert, and who, therefore, could be uo favourer of the bishop, expressly
ascribes the destruction of AVherwell to the savage temper of the general, Wilham of
Ipres, whom he calls " a wicked wretch, who feared neither God nor man;" and, by his
silence, he acquits the bishop of being concerned in the calamity of our city, further than
by being of the same party with those who were the authors of it. This same is the
opinion of Godwin, in his account of our prelate. Indeed Gervase himself admits, that
the bishop withdrew himself from the city, and Trussel says that he retired to Waltham.
§ Wm. Malm. H Trussel. ** Trussel, MSS.
tt Idem. Gervase says, that this singular stratagem was practised by the empress at
Devizes ; Walsingham, at Wallingford ; but many circumstances support the assertion of
Brompton, Knighton, Trussel, and others, that our castle, during this remarkable siege,
was the scene of it.
tt The account here given appears to be the most probable way of reconciling the little
variations in the accounts of different ancient authors.

STEPHEN LIBERATED.  PLOUGHS MADE SANCTUARIES. 163
In the mean time, Earl Robert, with his followers and the king of a. d.
Scots, taking advantage of the truce, suddenly issued from the 1141-
castle, with all their followers ; but, being pursued by Stephen's
army, the e8#>was taken prisoner at Stockbridge,* whilst the king,
having disguised himself, was so fortunate as to effect his escape
into his own dominions.t The captive earl was not of less value
to the imperial, than Stephen was to the regal party ; accordingly,
a proposition having been made to exchange them, it was readily
agreed to on both sides. It was settled that Robert should recover
his hberty upon Stephen's being restored to his friends at Win
chester. Thus passed over the eventful year 1141, so calamitous
to our city.
One of the first concerns of King Stephen, upon the recovery
of his hberty, was to strengthen with new works the castle of this
city, which had lately been found to be of so great importance ;%
but, whilst he was intent upon completing this undertaking, a
large army of his enemies being collected together before it from
the neighbouring country, which was entirely hostile to his in
terests, obhged him to abandon this fortress, and to save himself
by flight. ||
The war continued, with various success, ten years longer, but
without any remarkable events immediately relating to jjur city.
One measure, which originated here, tended greatly to diminish its
general horrors. The bishop, by his legatine authority, held a
synod at Winchester, in which it was resolved, that ploughs should
have the same privilege of sanctuary with churches ; and a sentence
of excommunication was pronounced by the whole assembly, with
the ceremony of lighted torches in their hands, against all those
who should attack or injure any person engaged in the employ
ment of agriculture.§ At length Stephen, having lost his only son 1142.
Eustace, his brother, and his queen, was induced by Theobald,
archbishop of Canterbury, and our prelate,! to enter into pacific
views ; and a final conclusion was put to the war in this our city,** 1153,
* Gervas. Chron. , t Gulielm. Newbrig. Rer. Ang.
t "Septimo anno sui regni construxit Stephanus quoddam castellum apud Wintoniam."
— Hen. Hunt. Hist. 1. vm, "Cum Rex Stephanus apud Wintoniam quoddam castellum
firmaret.'fe-Rog. Hoy. || Iidem.
§ " Statutum est (in Concil. Wint.) ut aratra in campis, cum ipsis agricolis, talem
pacem haberent, qualem haberent in cimiterio, si existerent. Excommunicaverunt autem
omnes qui contra hoc decretam venirent, candelis accensis; et sic milvorum rapacitas.
aliquantulum conquievit." — Mat. Paris, ad. an. 1142. If Hen. Hunt.
** The terms of pacification were indeed agreed upon between Stephen and Henry at
the siege of Wallingford castle, as Mat. Paris and Mat. West, relate, but it was in this
city that they were ratified by the consent of the whole kingdom. " Factum est ut mense
Novembris, an. 1153, expraecepto regis et ducis (Henrici) convenirent apud Wintoniam
praesules et principes regni, ut et ipsi jam initae paci praberent assensum. Pacto itaque in.,
L 2

164 STEPHEN ADOPTS HENRY,
A. D. where it had begun : young Henry Fitzempress, as he was called,
•153' being now in England, and, with the consent of the nobility, who
assembled here for this purpose,* agreeing that Stephen should
enjoy the crown during his life time ; while Stephen/*J§ft the other
hand, consented to adopt Henry for his son, and to acknowledge
him as the rightful heir of the throne,! after his decease. In re
lating this happy termination of a civil war, the horrors of which
he had himself seen and felt, a contemporary historian breaks out
into the following exclamation : — " O how blessed was the day,
when the illustrious youth, Henry, was received and conducted by
the king himself in a solemn procession of mitred prelates and
armed heroes, through the streets of Winchester, amidst the joyful
acclamations of an infinite multitude of people !"!
civitate Wintoniae conventu publico, et duce, cum ingenti gaudio, in episcopali sede
suscepto, &c. — Gerv. Dorob. Chron. The last clause means that young Henry was con
ducted in procession to the cathedral church
* Trussel. . t Mat. West.
t Hen. Hunt, sub finem Hist. N.B. — It was to the calamities, brought upon our city,
by this war of ambition and avarice, that the poet alludes in the motto, which is prefixed
to the present work. Alexander Necham, who died in 1227, had probably, in his younger
days, been an eye witness of the ruins, which defaced Winchester after this melancholy
event. Tlus author, who was the prodigy of his age for talents and learning, had the
misfortune to inherit or acquire a sirname, Necham, which had the same sound with
Nequam (a bad man), hence he was constantly exposed to sarcastical puns, on this ac
count. _ Bejjgft a native of the town of St. Alban's, he was at first desirous of becoming a
monk in tflprcelebrated convent there, but the abbot having conceived some prejudice
against him^was backward in accepting the offer which he made of himself to take the
religious habit. Necham, tired with delays, at length wrote to him the following, laconic
epistle : — " Si vis, veniam. Sin autem; tu autem." The two last words being the con
clusion of all lectures, &c. (Tu autem Domine miserere nobis) had the same meaning
as, adieu to you ; I commend myself to God. The abbot, who was not inferior in wit to
the postulant, answered him, in his own style, as follows : — " Si bonus es, veni; si
Nequam, (alluding to Necham's name) nequaquam." In this the abbot made a good
clench, but a bad determination. For Necham, who offered himself with more success
to the canons regular, turned out to be, not only a first-rate scholar, but also a most ex^
cellent and virtuous man, and died abbot of a convent of that order in Devonshire. —
Pitsius. De Illust. Ang. Strip.

HENRY THE SECOND BECOMES KING. 16J

CHAP, X.
Winchester repaired by Henry II. and the Citizens.-— -Receives many
Marks of the Royal Favour. — The first city that was governed by
a Mayor. — Character and Conduct of Bishop de Blois. — True
Statement of the Dispute between Henry II. and Archbishop St.
Thomas Becket. — Contention for Precedency between the Citizens
of Winchester and London at the Coronation of Richard I. —
Acts of Beneficence by Bishop Godfrey de Lucy. — Ceremonial of
the King's second Coronation at Winchester. — Charters granted
to the City by King John. — Winchester the most ancient Corpora
tion in England. — The Scene of John's disgraceful Vassalage to
the Pope.— -Besieged and taken by the French. — Errors of Modern
Writers concerning King John's Funeral. — Henry HI. a native of
Winchester, succeeds to the Throne. — Its Bishop, Peter de Rupi
bus, the young King's Tutor. — Conduct of that Prelate. — Dis
putes between the King and the Cathedral Monks, concerning the
Election of his Successor. — Persecution of Bishop William de
Raley. — The King forces the Monks to elect his Half-brother
Ethelmar, an unworthy Clerk. — Bishops John Gervayse and
Nicholas de Ely. — Benefits conferred on Winchester by Henry
III. — The Citizens again dispute for Precedency with those of
London.— -Disrepute of Winchester, for the Crimes there com
mitted. — A stoafeput to them by the inflexibk Justice of the
King. — Parliament held at Winchester against Foreigners.-^~A
Civil War breaks out there. — The City taken and sacked. — In
testine Commotions.-^Parliaments held there after the War. —
General State of the City.
Henry, who was indifferently called Plantagenet, from his father, A.D.
Fitzempress, from his mother and Short-Mantle, from a particu- 1^;
lar kind of garment which he was accustomed to wear, was kept

166 HENRY CROWNED.
A. D. out of his rightful inheritance barely a twelvemonth after the late
1154' pacification: Stephen dying in November, 1154.* Within a
month after this event, he landed from the Continent, and first of
all came to our city, in order to receive the homage of the nobihty,
who were previously assembled here to pay the same to him.t He
then proceeded to Westminster, in order to be crowned;! but
returning hither soon after, || he found that Bishop De Blois, who
was under some apprehensions for the safety both of his person
and his property, had gone abroad, with whatever money he could
collect together. This conduct, for which perhaps there was no
just ground, provoked the king to seize upon his three castles of
Wolvesey, Waltham, and Merden, which he completely disman-
1155. tled.§ Afterwards the king and prelate coming to a right under
standing, the latter returned to his bishopric, and ever after con
tinued with his royal cousin on the best terms. Henry spent
much of his time in this city, the air of which he found beneficial
to his health.! Accordingly one of his first cares was to re-build
the royal palace,** at the north-west extremity of the city, which,
we have said, was burnt down in the late civil wars. In this
palace he made a bower,tt upon the plan of that which he con
trived for his mistress, Rosamund, at Woodstock.!! He also
adorned it with numerous paintings ; but ominously left one pan-
nel, in the principal chamber, vacant, which was afterwards, with
too much justice, filled by the subject fOr which he had designed
1166. it-ll II It was here, in 1166, that he summoned his council to deh
berate, for the first time, upon the proposed invasion of Ireland ;
* Chron. Gerv. Dorob.
t " Congregatis, quos mare disperserat, sociis, Wintoniam pervenit, ibique confluentium
ad se principum fidelitates accepit." — Idem.
t Idem. |j Mat. Paris.
§ " Complanari fecit tria castella episcopi." — Mat. Paris, ad. an. 1155. This can only
be understood of the ditches, barbican, and other out-works. Rad. Diceto, in his Yma-
gines, Hist, says, the king destroyed all the bishop's six castles.
1f In 1176, the king, being at Stansted, in Sussex, and finding himself unwell, came to
Winchester for the sake of the air, " propter aeris serenitatem." — Chron. J. Bromp.
** Trussel's MSS.
tt For this circumstance we are indebted to Warton's Hist, of Eng. Poetry, vol. I, "who
quotes Robert of Gloucester for the fact. He says, it was madejUtiie castle ; but by this
expression we are to understand, not the castle of the city, buHne king's new palace,
which was built in that form, as all palaces then were.
tt " Huic puellae spectatissimae fecerat Rex apud Wodestoke mirabilis architecture ca-
meram, operas Daedalinas similem, ne forsan a regin9, facile deprehenderetur." — Chron.
Bromp., Hen. Knighton,
HII " Contigerat in camer& regis Wintoniae multlpliciter picturatai, locum vacuum, jussu
regis. relinqui,fubi Rex postmodnm aquilam, cum quatuor pullis insidentidus, depingi fecit,
quorum tres unguibus et rostris parentem lacerabant, sed quartos paternis oculis eruendis
acrius insistebat. Requisites Rex quid hoc praetehderet, ait ; hi filii mei sunt, qui me,
usque ad mortem persequi non cessabunt, sed potissime ille novissimus Joaunes, quern
modo cariiis amplector, neci mere acrius insudabit." — Hen. Knighton, De Event. Ang. 1. II,
Chron. Bromp. '

FLORENCE DE LUNN, THE FIRST MAYOR, ELECTED. 167
a measure which was unanimously approved of,* but laid aside for A. d.
the present, at the earnest request of the king's mother,t whose 116b-
military ardour, which had formerly distinguished itself so highly in ""^
this city, was now cooled by age and reflection.! The citizens and
clergy, excited by the example of their sovereign, vied with each
other in their efforts to repair the damages of the late war. Hyde
abbey, in particular, was re-built, and the abbot of it instituted a
law-suit against the bishop, in order to make him account for the
gold and silver, which he recovered from the ruins of their church,
by the melting of the grand crucifix, that had been bestowed upon
it by King Canute. || In short, the city was completely re-built,
and again was in a flourishing condition ; though not in the same
degree as during the reigns of the Conqueror and his two sons.
Still more to increase its consequence and prosperity, the king,
at different times, granted to it certain valuable charters ;§ by one
Of which its chief magistrate was raised to a rank above all other
municipal officers in th?«ingdom, it being ordained that Winches
ter should be governed by a mayor, with a subordinate bailiff;! a
privilege which London did not obtain until the tenth year of King
John.** Our first mayor was Florence de Lunn, his deputy, or
bailiff, was John Russell.tt In return for the many distinguished
marks of the royal favour to them, the citizens insisted, when the
king of Scotland was upon a visit to our monarch here, and his
four sons were all with him, upon the honour of entertaining him
and his guests with a banquet, worthy of so illustrious a company,
which offer Henry graciously accepted.!! Many other proofs of
his kindness towards Winchester are recorded in history. In
1172 his eldest son, Henry, having married Margaret, daughter of 1172.
Lewis the Young, king of France ; and it being a ceremony due
to her rank that she should be crowned queen of England, as the
prince, her husband, had been crowned king of England some
* Trussel's MSS. . t Idem.
t This illustrious daughter of our Henry I. whose first husband was Henry, emperor of
Germany, survived until the year 1186. when, dying abroad, she was honoured with the
following epitaph, which for matter, brevity, and point, has hardly its equal : —
" Ortu magna, viro major, sed maxima partu,
Hie jacet Henricifilia, sponsa, parens." — Mat. Paris, an. 1186.
|| Annal. Wint. an. 1149. •
§ There seems to be no doubt that the charter mentioned above, appertains to this
reign ; by one article of which, the citizens, belonging to the guild of Winchester, with all
their merchandise, were made free of all duties and customs throughout the kingdom.
If Viz. in 1184. — Trussel, MSS. who cites the records of the city extant in his time.
** In Stow's Survey of London, the first mayor is placed at the beginning of Richard's
reign, viz. in 1189; but Trussel and Sir Richard Baker prove, from Fabian and other
authorities, that this privilege did not take place until the period mentioned above.
tt Ledger Book, Wint. ap. Trussel %% Trussel's MSS.

168 HENRY DECLINES THE CRUSADE.
At D years before; Henry II. appointed that this ceremony should take
1184. place in our city.* In 1184, his daughter Maud, with her hus-
'~v~' band Henry, duke of Saxony, coming to England, to pay her
father a visit, he received them in this city, and the duchess being
with child, he gave up to her his palace here, where she was de
livered of a son, who was christened by the name of William,!
from whom the house of Brunswick and the present royal family
descend. Here he also received Hugozin, the pope's legate, who
he expressly desired might be sent to him on certain intricate
affairs regarding his family;! as likewise Heraclius, patriarch of'
Jerusalem, and the masters of the knights templars and hospital
lers, who, in the aforesaid year 1184, came to offer him the king
dom of the holy city and country, and to present him Avith the
keys of the sacred sepulchre, as also a consecrated banner, with
the view of inducing him, who was then unquestionably the most
powerful of all the Christian princes, to undertake a crusade. ||
He very prudently declined the honour mat was offered him, but
shewed every kind of respect to the ambassadors, both in this city
and elsewhere. Amongst other solemnities on this occasion, was a
solemn procession in the cathedral ; of which the king himself, the
patriarch, and almost all the bishops and abbots of the kingdom made
part.§ The scene of grandeur and prosperity, however, which has
been just described, received a great check, by a misfortune similar
to those which happened in the two former reigns. The king
having ordered a new coinage to be made, which was accordingly
n81 issued throughout the realm in 1181 ;! whilst the workmen of the
mint were employed in fabricating the coin, a fire broke out, which
burnt down, together with the mint itself, the greater and more
valuable part of the city.** This was probably the part to the
south of the High-street, where the mint, guildhall, and other
pubhc offices stood.
We have repeatedly found occasion to mention the powerful
prelate who governed the see, during the important period above
described, namely, Henry de Blois, nephew of the Conqueror, and
* Mat. Paris, ad. an. 1172. The anonymous Historian of Winchester, vol. II, p. 56,
places the christening of the king's eldest son in 1176, four years after the prince was
married, and subsequent to many transactions, in which this very prince, and also bis
younger brothers, are described as bearing a part.
t Mat. Westmon. an. 1184. t Rog. Hov. || Mat. Paris.
§ " An. 1 185. Venit patriarcha Jerosplymitanus in Angliam, receptusque fuit honori-
fice, apud Wintoniam, ad processionem, praesente tunc rege et fere episcopis et abbatibus
totius Augliae." — Annal. Wint.
If Mat. Paris, an. 1181.
** "An. 1180. Accensa est monetaria in Wintonia\, et egressfis inde ignis consumit
majorem partem et meliorem Wintoniae." — Annal, Wint.

, ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.  DE BLOIS. 169
brother of King Stephen. It was, however, to his uncle Henry I. A. D.
that he owed his promotion from the government of Glassenbury 1J^"
abbey to the episcopal throne of Winchester. He was certainly a
man of great talents and many virtues, though with a mixture of
some failings or vices ; but having taken the unpopular side, in the
civil war, the former have been too much depressed by most an
cient writers, and the latter too much magnified. From this cen
sure must be excepted one contemporary writer and fellow bishop,
who enlarges in the highest strains, not only upon his talents,
birth, and poAver, but also upon his piety, regularity, and episcopal
zeal.* Speaking of the works which he constructed for the be
nefit of his see, he says, that besides building the castles already
mentioned, he made vast lakes, and constructed aqueducts, which
were, in the beginning, conceived to be impracticable,t and that he
collected all the most rare and wonderful productions of nature,!
that could be met with ; some of which, surpassing all belief, are
specified by authors of credit. || He was a Avatchful guardian of
his cathedral church and monastery, having recovered much pro*
perty that had been unjustly alienated from them, and increased it
by many presents of his owri.§ He likewise improved the fabric
of his cathedral ; and, in particular, he collected together the re
mains of the illustrious personages who had been there interred,
into mortuary chests, which he disposed, in the most honourable
manner, round the sanctuary.! He was no less liberal to the
convent of Taunton, founded by his predecessor ;** and, by a
singular expedient, he became the benefactor of all the poor pa
rishes of his diocese. It had been decreed in a synod, at which
he presided, that no chalices of tin, or other metal, except gold or
silver, should be used at the altar :tt and, whereas many priests in
the country neglected to furnish their churches with such chalices,
under the pretext of poverty, the next time a free gift or tax from
the clergy was required, he ordered that each rector of a parish
should, for his quotum, contribute one silver chalice of a weight
prescribed. These being brought in, he ordered them to be re
turned to the several parishes, and there made use oi; undertaking
himself to raise the sum necessary for the wants of the state.!!
His principal work, however, and that which has most contributed
* Giraldus Cambrensis, Copula Tergemina, Aug. Sac. vol. II.
t Ibid. t Ibid. . ,. ,
|| Gulielmus Newbrigensis, Rer. Ang. 1. ii, c. xxviii, says that he kept in his house
living dog, which had been found in a mass of solid stone, when sawn asunder.
§ Girald. If Rudb.
** Godwin, De Presul., Nic. Harpsfield, Hist. Ecc. Ang.
tt Brompton, Gerv. tt Girald. Camb.
vol: I. M

170 HE FOUNDS THE CHURCH AND HOSPITAL OF ST. CROSS.
A. D. to perpetuate his memory in this city, was the foundation of the
^r_l church and hospital of St. Cross, at a place where, in the time of
the Saxons, a small convent had stood.* Here thirteen poor men
were decently provided for, with necessaries of every kind; and
one hundred others, the most indigent belonging to this populous
city, each day were furnished Avith a plentiful meal. In the famous
controversy which took place in this time between the king and
the metropolitan, he disdained to barter the rights of his order
and of religion itself! for the smiles of the court ; and, in the end,
he was applauded by the king himself for the conscientious part
which he acted in this important business.! In the early part of
his episcopacy, being already possessed of legatine power, which
placed him in a rank above all the other prelates in the kingdom,
whether bishops or archbishops, he had formed a plan, which was
approved of and nearly executed, for raising this ancient see to the
1142, metropolitical rank,|| by subjecting to it all the six sees,§ which
* Godwin, De Presul.
t It is unreasonable and unjust to decide on the merits of the controversy between
Henry II. and the celebrated St. Thomas Becket, as is generally done, by the usages and
opinions of the present day. To view it in its true light, we must transport ourselves back
into the twelfth century. To begin with the first stage of this controversy: at the time we
are speaking of, out of respect to sacred orders and to hterature, the immunity of the clergy
(that is to say of the regular students in every branch of learning whatever) was the
established law of the land, and the first article in the charters and coronation oath, which
Henry II, as well as his predecessors and successors, signed and swore to; the advantages
of which law, in such circumstances as then existed, may be foundin Montesquieu's Spirit
of Laws. This bein j(so, was it not the duty of the metropolitan to guard and defend the
privileges, belonging to a body 'of which he was the head and patron ? Strange it is, that
those very writers, who extol Archbishop Simon Langton for extorting the same privileges
from Henry's son, John, sword in hand on Runnimead, should so bitterly inveigh against
primate Thomas, for defending them by mere spiritual weapons, and due course of law '. —
With respect to the constitutions of Clarendon, which form the second part of this dis
pute ; some of these were not a bare infringement of privileges, granted by the state, but
an alteration of the established religion of England, as it was then understood to be de
rived from its divine founder, particularly that which goes to exempt all the king's officers
and tenants from ecclesiastical censures, without his permission first obtained. To con
sent to this, would have been a complete surrender of all spiritual jurisdiction, and would
have put it in the power of the king's successors, though they should turn Pagans, to de
termine who should or who should not receive the sacraments of the church. But, in the
third place, the cause in which this prelate shed his blood, was of a more uumixed nature,
and more demonstratively just than either of the above-mentioned. Four ruffians, with
out any authority whatsoever, real or alleged, rush upon him as he is performing his
sacred functions at the altar of his cathedral, and, assuming to themselves the right of
deciding, by the edge of their swords, upon an ecclesiastical cause, depending between
the metropolitan and certain of his suffragans, require him to take off the spiritual cen
sure which he had pronounced upon the latter. " / cannot," he replies, " without their com
plying with the conditions required by the canons in such cases." — " Then you shall die,"
they furiously exclaimed. — "/ am ready," he answers, " to die in the cause of -God and of
his church," and bows his head to their murderous weapons. Where shall we meet with a
cause more evidently just, or defended w'.th more heroism tempered with Christian meek
ness ? What civil magistrate who had died on the bench of justice, in similar circum
stances and dispositions, would not have had statues erected to his memory?— Vide
Chron. Gervas., Rog. Hov., Rad, Dicet., &c. '
t Godw n. || Mat. West. ad. an, 1142. Rudb., Walsingham.
§ These were Salisbury, Exeter, Wells, Chichester, Hereford, and Worcester.

DEATH OF DE BLOIS.  BISHOP TOCLIVE. 1 71
had been taken out of it; making a seventh of Hyde abbey; by A.D.
which means this would have been far the most considerable of the '"^
three archbishoprics. However, the civil war in England, and the
death of Pope Lucius at Rome, frustrated this project. In his old
age, this prelate increased his charities to such a degree, as hardly
to leave himself and his. servants the means of procuring one slen
der meal in the day.* In addition to the loss of his sight, which
he suffered with great resignation,! he added voluntary morti
fications;! in the practice of which and of constant prayer he
died in the 11715 and was buried before the high altar in his ca- n?i,
thedral.|| Henry, in opposition to his repeated engagements, but in con
formity with his usual practice, kept this see vacant a long time, in
order that he might, in the interim, receive the profits of it. At
length, at the request of certain cardinals,§ in 1173, he permitted 1173.
the monks to proceed to an election, who chose Richard Tochve,
of Ilchester, archdeacon of Poictiers. Nevertheless, he was not
consecrated, nor even ordained priest, until the following year.! 1174.
He had pursued a different conduct from his predecessor, in the
famous controversy mentioned above, and had taken so active a
part against the persecuted primate, as to draw upon himself the
sentence of excommunication.** But the latter's death in the
manner above related, brought about that peace and uniformity of
sentiments in ecclesiastical matters, which he could not procure in
his hfe time. Toclive, after his promotion, seems to have been a
zealous churchman, no less than an able magistrate, being ap
pointed chief justice of the kingdom.!! He at first endeavoured
to improve the charitable institution of his predecessor at Spark
ford, namely, the hospital of St. Cross;!! but afterwards seems to
have founded another, upon a similar plan, at an equal distance
from the city, on the opposite side of it, which was dedicated to
St. Mary Magdalen. |||| He died in the same year with his royal
master and patron, King Henry, viz. in 1189,§§ and was buried on ngo,
the north side of the presbytery, in his cathedral, where his tomb,
with an honourable epitaph to his memory, is still to be seen.!!
* Girald. Cam. t Harpsfield.
t Girald. He had the satisfaction to entertain, foi a long time, in his cathedral mo
nastery, the famous St. Wilham, archbishop of York.
|[ Rudb. He left certain writings behind him, one concerning the discovery of King
Arthur's monument, at Glassenbury, which took place whilst he was abbot there ; another
concerning the state of his cathedral, which appears to have been extant in the time of,
Harpsfield. § Godwin. If " Ordinati et consecrati." — Annal. Wint. an. 1174.
** Rad. Dicet. Ymg. tt Ibid. tt Lowth's Life of W. W.
|| If See our Survey of Winchester, Part II.
§§ N. S. Iiii Vid. ibid.
m 2

\>J2 HENRY THE SECOND DIES.  RICHARD.
a.d. Henry, whose dominions and power, though the most extensive
U89'. m Europe, were not equal to his ambition,* at length died quite
^ disgusted, with the enjoyments of this life.! His son Richard,
having attended his funeral, at the famous monastery of Font
Evraud, hastened into England; and, as the royal treasury was
still kept at Winchester, ' he made this his first place of resort.
Here he caused his father's money and other valuable effects to be
weighed, and an exact inventory of them to be taken ; the amount
pf which exceeded the sum of £900,000 in gold and silver, besides
rich vessels, jewels, and precious stones-! He at the same time
received here the homage of his nobility, on his accession to the
throne. || He then made a tour to Salisbury, Marlborough, and
other places ;§ in order to allow sufficient leisure for making the
necessary preparations for his coronation, which he was resolved to
have conducted with unusual magnificence.
This ceremony gave occasion to a contest, which was often re
newed, concerning precedency, between the two rival cities of
Winchester and London, on the following subject. It was an
established rule, upon the coronation of a sovereign, for the chief
nobihty of the kingdom to attend and perform certain honourable
services attached to their respective dignities.! Amongst these
haughty barons, the magistrates of these two cities were admitted,
as their representatives, to fill two important offices ; namely, to
officiate as wine butler, and as clerk of the kitchen, at the corona
tion feast. The former of these offices was the more honourable,**
and, from many circumstances, appears to have originally belonged
fo the citizens of Winchester. On the present occasion, however,
the Londoners obtained the preference, probably in consideration
of the sum they paid,tt at obtaining certain charters, which were
* He was accustomed to say that the world was not large enough to satisfy the mind
of a noble-minded prince.1 — Mat. Paris. Hence the following line made part of his
epitaph: — " Sufficit hie tumulus cuinon suffecerat orbis."
t " In abyssum tristitiae absorptus, maledicens diei, in qua natus fuerat, et geniturae suae,
diem clausit extremum." — Mat. West.
t " Statim arutem dux, ut applicuit, Wintoniam veniens, fecit ponderari et in scriptum
redjgi omnes thesauros patris sui. Et inventa sunt plura quam nongenta millia librarum,
in auro et argento, praeter utensilia et jocalia et lapides preciosos." — Mat. Paris.
II Trussel. § Ibid.
f One circumstance, particularly noticed by our historians on this occasion, is, that
after the unctions and other ceremonies, when the crown was to be placed on the king's
head, he himself took it off the altar, and delivered it to the archbishop, to prevent the
idea of his deriving his crown from the gift of the church. This jealousy of the civil
power will account for that of the church, with respect to investitures by the crosier ind
the ring. ¦
** We leara from a Cottonian MS. quoted by Speed, Rich. II, that the perquisites of
this office were the gold cup and waiter, which served for presenting wine to the king on
this occasion. What was the perquisite of the other office does not appear.
tt Stow's Survey of London.

GODFREY DE LUCY.  ITCHEN NAVIGATION. 173
now granted to them. Thus the citizens of Winchester were oblig- A. D.
ed to be content with the inferior office of superintending the ^~r~'
kitchen* The fact is, they waived their claim, but did not surren
der it, as we shall afterwards have occasion to observe. On the
other hand, to prevent their being discontented, the new monarch
presented them with an ample charter, confirming and enlarging
the ancient privileges of their city.t
Whilst our brave Cosur de Lion was asserting the cause of
Christendom on the plains pf Palestine, and forcing the proud
Saladin, with his hitherto victorious Mussulmauns, to fly from the
superior prowess of Englishmen ; at a time when England itself,
in general, was overrun with daring outlaws, under the command
of the famous Robin o' th' Wood, or Hood, and London was con
vulsed by the sedition of .the impostor, Wilham Longbeard, at the
head of 50,000 rioters;! our city was increasing in wealth and
splendor, by the wise and beneficent measures of the prelate, who
had worn its mitre since the death of Toclive, namely, Godfrey de
Lucy, son of chief justice, Richard de Lucy. Of these measures,
the most important and useful to this city and the neighbouring
country, was his restoring the navigation of the river Itchen, not
only from the port of Northam, (the old Southampton), as far as
Winchester, but also to the very head of that river, || in the neigh
bourhood of Alresford : where, by raising a vast mole or head, he
formed a great lake, now called Alresford pond, by which means a
vast quantity of marshy land in that neighbourhood was drained,
and a reservoir of water was provided for supplying the navigation.
This vast and expensive work, which shews the greatness of Bishop
Lucy's genius, as well as his beneficence, was not finished until the
beginning of the following reign ; when he obtained for himself and
his successors the royalty of the said river, from the lake of Alres-
* " Cives Londonienses servierunt de pincernarist et cives Wintonienses de cocquin&."
— Mat. Paris.
t Chart. Antiq. i Rich. I, N. 30. ap. Bohun. — See Appendix. By virtue of this charter,
'the citizens of Winchester, free of the guild thereof, were exempt from the obligation of
pleading without their own walls, and from suffering the trial of duel. They were allow
ed to answer the pleas of the crown according to their ancient custom. They and their
merchandise were exempt from all toll and custom throughout the , kingdom, and every
sea^port in the king's dominions, as well on the other side of the sea as on this. They were
not liable to be fined, beyond what was customary in former times. They were secured
in all their property and rights. Certain royal duties were remitted to them, in order to
keep the city in repair, and all their other privileges were confirmed to them. There
seems, however, to be no privilege in this charter, which the citizens were not before
possessed of.
t Gul. Neubrig. 1. v, c. xvin.
|| Trussel's MSS. " At the head of this,water," says our author, in the passage here
referred to, " the ancient family of the Tichborne's, before the conquest, had their habita
tion, and thence their denomination, by construction of De Ytchingborne (or of the
Itching River) into Tichborne."

174 RICHARD THE FIRST RETURNS FROM CAPTIVITY.
A. D. ford, down to the sea ; which his successors still enjoy, as hkewise
^r~' a charter for collecting certain duties upon this navigation.* He
likewise purchased of the king, who was then setting out upon his
crusade, certain estates for the benefit of his cathedral, which had
belonged to it, before they were alienated, by the Conqueror:! and
for himself and the future bishops of this see, the custody of the
royal castle, with the dignity and rights of earl of Winchester.!
Godfrey did not, however, neglect the duties that more immediately
belonged to his station. He completed and greatly enlarged the
priory of Lesne, or Westwood, in Kent, which had been estabhshed
by his father ; || and performed such repairs and works in his cathe
dral here, as to merit being numbered amongst its principal foun
ders. The eastern end of the church, which was of Saxon work
manship, and had been suffered to remain by Walkelin,§ must, by
this time have stood in need of repairs. Add to this, that a new
style of architecture, the most solemn and best calculated of all
styles for religious structures, had now been discovered, and had
reached its first stage of perfection. Our prelate accordingly
determined to re-build, in what is now called the Gothic style, the
aforesaid portion of his church : beginning with a tower,! which
seems to have stood over the present chancel, and continuing his
work unto what was then the extremity of the Lady chapel.** For
completing this great work he entered into a contract with a con
fraternity or society of workmen, who were bound to execute their
undertaking within the space of five years.!!
1194. Our Cceur de Lion returned to England, not so much elated by
the laurels which he had won on the walls of Aeon, and in the fields
of Palestine, as depressed by the accidental and unjust captivity,
which he had endured in the dungeons of Trivalhs, through the
treachery of the duke of Austria. In short, he could hardly consi
der himself a king, after having been a captive, without the cere
mony of a new coronation,!! which accordingly he appointed to be
* See Appendix. t Wargrave et Menes., Rog. Hov., Godwin.
t Rog. Hov. || Godwin. § Annal. Wint. an. 1093.
If " An. 1200. " Hoc anno inchoata est et perfecta turris Wintoniensis ecclesiae." This
cannot be understood of the present tower,'which, by all accounts, and by the style of its
architecture, must have been finished a century earlier. Hence we must admit of a se
cond tower, to the eastward of the former, which having subsisted in the time of the
Saxons, was now re-built, and continued until Bishop Fox re-built the whole of the
presbytery. ** The style of the building bespeaks this period, and the following imperfect passage
of Rudborne seems to confirm the above account : — " Ad altare B. Mariae, ad finem, cum
aliis (alisj voltans."
tt " D. Wintoniensis G. de Lucy constituit confratriam pro reparatione ecclesiae Win
ton. duraturam usque ad quinque annos completes." — Annal. Wint. an. 1202.
tt " Apud Wintoniam ia octavis paschae, ignominul captivitatis deleU, quasi novus Rex
solemniter coronatus est." — Chron. Bromp.

IS CROWNED A SECOND TIME IN THIS CITY. 175
performed in this regal city. As certain circumstances of this a. D.
solemnity tend to illustrate the antiquities of Winchester, and 1194'
others are descriptive of the manners of the times, we shall
give them at large, as they occur in an ancient historian of great
credit. "On the 14th day of April, in the year 1194, Richard left
Woodstock, and arrived at Freemantle ; the next day he came to
the castle of Winchester, which he left on the 16th of April, after
dinner, and retired to the priory of St. Switbun, (viz. the monas
tery of the cathedral church). Here he slept the ensuing night,
and bathed himself; ordering, at the same time his brother Geoffry,
who was archbishop of York, not to have his cross carried before
him at the ceremony which was to take place the next day, for fear
of a dispute between him and the archbishop of Canterbury on the
subject.* As Geoffry was not allowed this honourable distinction,
he refused to be present at the coronation. On the 17th of the
said month, being the octave of Easter-day, there assembled toge
ther in St. Swithun's church, Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury,
John, archbishop of Dublin, Hugh, bishop of Durham, Richard, bis
hop of London, Gilbert, bishop of Rochester, Wilham, bishop of
Ely, Sefrid, bishop of Chichester, Henry, bishop of Exeter, William,
bishop of Hereford, with the bishops of Worcester, St. David's,
and Bangor, besides many abbots, clergymen, and a great multi
tude of people. Then King Richard, being clothed in his royal
robes, with the crown upon his head, holding in his right hand a
royal sceptre, which terminated in a cross, and in his left hand a
golden wand, with a figure of a dove at the top of it, came forth
from his apartments in the priory ; being conducted on the right
hand by his chancellor, the bishop of Ely, and. on the left by the
bishop of London. Before the king, marched in solemn procession
the above-mentioned archbishops and other prelates, with the ab
bots, monks, and clergy; and after him, came, in equal order, the
earls, barons, military, officers, and a great number of other lay
persons of distinction. The silken xanopy was held upon four
lances over the king by four earls ; namely, by Roger Bigot, earl
of Norfolk, Wilham, earl of the Isle of Wight, and the earls of
Salisbury and Ferrers: and the three swords of state, which were
kept in the royal treasury, were carried, the first by Wilham, king
of Scotland, the second by Hamelin, earl of Warren, and the third
by Ranulph, earl of Chester. The Scottish monarch walked in the
* Winchester being in the province of Canterbury, it was not lawful for the archbishop
of York to appear in public here, with the ensigns of his metropplitical authority. .

176 SECOND CORONATION.
A. D. middle, having Hamehn on his right hand, and Ranulph on his
1194. kfk fijg king being thus conducted into the cathedral, and up to
the high altar, there fell upon his knees, and devoutly received the
archbishop's solemn benediction. He was then led to the throne*
which was prepared for him on the south side of the choir. In the
mean time the dowager queen^ Eleanor, with the ladies her attend
ants, stood on the north side, directly opposite to him. The arch
bishop of Canterbury celebrated mass ; in the course of which, the
king was conducted in due state by his two assistants, the aforesaid
bishops, to make his offering, and was brought back in the same
order. When mass was finished, the king was led back again to
his apartments, with the solemnities that have been described above.
He then laid aside his ponderous robes and crown, and put on
other robes and a crown, that were much lighter, and so proceeded
to dinner, which was served in the refectory of the monks. The
archbishops and prelates, as hkewise the king of Scotland and the
lay earls and barons, had the honour of sitting at table with him ;
and every other person, who officiated at the ceremony, being plac
ed in his proper rank and place, partook of the royal entertain
ment. On this occasion the citizens of London purchased of the
king, for the sum of 200 marks, the privilege of performing the
office of butlers, in opposition to the claim of the citizens of Win
chester, who, in consequence of this, performed the service of the
kitchen.* The same day after dinner the king returned to his
habitation in the castle."!
This pompous ceremony, however, not being new to the king,
had lost its charms in his eyes, and he was far from shewing him-
self^ to use the words of the poet, " as kind as kings on coronation
day."! At his first arrival in the city, he began by dispossessing
the cathedral of its two manors, and the bishop of the royal castle
and county of Winchester, || which the latter had purchased of him,
bn the plea that the royal demesnes could not be alienated. The
chagrin which this unexpected stroke occasioned in our prelate,
accounts for his not even appearing in the splendid solemnity that
took place in his cathedral. During his stay here, Richard cited
some of his nobles to appear before him, and imposed heavy fines
bn others, who had taken part with his brother John in certain
, * This fact of bribery seems to betray a bad cause, and to prove that the contested
privilege belonged of right to the city of Winchester.
t Rog. Hov., Annales pars posterior. + Dryden's Hind and Panther.
|| " Dissaisivit Godefridum Winton. episcopum de castello et comitatur Wintoniae." —
Rog. Hov. From the whole of this account is proved the error of Grose, Antiquit. vol.
VIII. alias Supplem, who says that Richard I. committed the care of Winchester castle to
Hugh, bishop of Durham.

DEATH OF RICHARD THE FIRST. 177
late commotions.* One of his most loyal courtiers, Peter Rievallis, a.d.
dying, at this time in our city, intestate, the king availed himself of x^
his prerogative, and seized on all his effects, to a great amount.!
Finally, he now also disobliged the king of Scotland, by refusing
to let him purchase the fief of the county of Northumberland,
with the castles belonging to it, which had been voluntarily sur
rendered by the bishop of Durham ; this occasioned his cousin the
king of Scotland, to leave our city, and return home in great anger
and confusion.! From Winchester, Richard moved to Waltham,
and from thence to Portsmouth, where he embarked for the Con
tinent, never more to return to England. Dying of a wound, which
he received at the siege of Chaluz, in 1199, after the most heroical 1199.
charity exercised towards the bowman who wounded him,|| he was
buried at the feet of his father, at Font Evraud, in the very same
robes and crown which he had worn at the above-described solem
nity, in this our city.§
The nation was not deceived in the presages which they had
formed of the king who next mounted the throne, from his conduct
to his father Henry, which was undutiful ; to his brother Richard,
which was disloyal; and to his nephew Arthur, which was trea
cherous and sanguinary.! John Lackland was, at the same time,
avaricious and prodigal, tyrannical and pusillanimous, profane
and superstitious. Yet it so happened, that the nation in general,
and this city in particular, derived greater and more lasting ad
vantages from his vices, than from the virtues of most of its
other kings.
The first visit which we read of his making to this city, was for
the purpose of extortion : having summoned the chief men of the
kingdom to meet him here, for this object in the beginning of the
year 1207-** The tax which he now imposed was no less than a 1207.
thirteeth of all moveable property ; which fell so heavy on the sub
ject, that many persons, and amongst the rest his brother Geoffry,
archbishop of York, chose rather to leave the kingdom than sub
mit to the payment of it.!! John seems to have resided the
greater part of this year in our city, planning further schemes for
* Rog. Hov.
t Trussel's MSS. Geoffry Ridel, bishop of Ely, having also died intestate, four years
earlier, at Winchester, the king seized upon all his effects. — Hist. Eliensis. Ang. Sac.
t Rog. Hov. || Idem. § Annal. Wint. 1199.
If " Cum postea Rex occideret Arthurum," &c— Hen. Knighton, De Event. 1. 11,
c. xiv.
** " Anno 1207 Rex Joannes natale Domini celebravit apud Wintoniam, praesentibus
regni magnatibus. Deinde, in purifieatione B. M. de rapina cogitans, et ponens spem in
pecuniae thesauris, cepit per totam Angliam 13 partem ex omnibus mobilibus et rebus
aliis."— Mat. West. tt Mat. Paris, Mat. West.
VOL. I. N

178 WINCHESTER THE FIRST CORPORATE CITY.
a.d. accumulating money, which he afterwards put in execution, chiefly
J^y against those who were least able to defend themselves from in
justice, the Jews and the different orders of religious.* Towards
the end of this year his queen was delivered of a son in this city,
who was christened by the name of his royal grandfather,! and
who is still known in history by the name of Henry of Winchester.
It was not, however, so much out of affection for this city, where
he was blessed with a son and heir, as in pursuance of the plan,
on which he was now bent for raising ready money, by every
1208. means possible, that, soon after the aforesaid event,! he conferred
upon it all the great and hitherto unprecedented privileges of a
corporation; by virtue of which, our city became in a certain
sense, a httle independent state in the heart of the kingdom : the
chief citizens electing their own magistrates, framing laws for their
own government, and even collecting and applying to their own
use, the royal issues, that had hitherto been collected by the she
riffs of the county for the benefit of the crown. The fact is, the
citizens purchased these Jura Regalia, as they were called, for the
sum of 200 marks, once paid, and 100 marks per annum. || Thus
Winchester became the first of all corporate cities or places in the
kingdom § in the strictest sense of the term, nearly two years
before the present metropohs had even obtained the privilege of
being governed by a mayor.! This charter, by which these Jura
Regalia were conveyed, is unfortunately lost ; but another charter,
granted by this king to our city, about the same time with the
former, was recovered by the industry of a diligent antiquary in
the last century.** In addition to all the immunities from toll,
customs, fines, duels, trials out of their own walls, &c. which the
citizens enjoyed by former charters, two new articles are mention
ed; by one of which a grant is made of two mills below the city,
at a place called Coytbury, for the purpose of keeping it in repair ;
by the other it was ordained, that the royal mint and exchange of
money should be for ever kept at Winchester, with all the pri-
* Mat. Paris.
t Mat. Paris, Annal. Wint. + in X208.
II Trussel's MSS. Trussel was a learned magistrate, and sometime mayor of this city,
wno carefully examined its records near two centuries ago, when many evidences were in
being, which now are lost. This writer asserts, as facts, of which he had sufficient proofs,
tne particulars above stated; but the Anonymous Historian imposes upon the reader
charter gl™ Same' etween inverted commas, as if they were part of the original
#Jvd' . e If See above> P- 167-
» ™„ VT' ' °tur APPendlx' where the original text is given, which is translated in
ton ^ iT y m!Lnner *>y the Anonymous Historian. He also dates it erroneously, viz. in
tzZlJ-%!8 "if ' ron? ^0m he Professes to take it, expressly says that « it was
gianted in the ninth year of King John," or A.D 1208

John's quarrel with the pope. 179
vileges annexed to them. A few years after these charters were A.D.
granted, the king, being desirous of gratifying one of his most ,_^_/
potent barons, who had formerly been one of his bitterest enemies,*
namely, Saer de Quincey, created him earl of Winchester.!
Our city now became the scene of one the most disgraceful trans
actions, both for church and state, that is recorded in its history.
Upon the death of Archbishop Hubert, two persons were succes
sively chosen to replace him, by the cathedral monks of Canterbury,
in whom this right was vested : one of whom had the priority of
election, the other the advantage of the king's support.! The cause
being carried to Rome for decision, and no less than fourteen of the
electing monks being present to support one or other of the afore
said claims; || the pope obliged them, as the representatives of their
convent, to proceed to a third election, and to choose for their
archbishop, the celebrated Stephen Langton, who happened to be
then at his court. The election being accordingly made, he himself
consecrated Langton for the vacant see. This measure brought on
a violent quarrel between the king and the pope, and both parties
proceeded to the most unjustifiable lengths. The former wreaked
his vengeance on the whole body of ecclesiastics and religious
within the realm ; despoiling them of all their property, and de
priving them of the very protection of the laws.§ The latter, not
content with putting the whole kingdom nnder an ecclesiastical
interdict,! which lasted during the six years that this dispute con
tinued, and with excommunicating the king by name, at length
proceeded so far out of his own province, as to pretend to absolve
the subjects of this kingdom from their allegiance to John, and to
authorise the king of France to make a conquest of England.**
This measure, however unjust and of itself empty, in the particular
circumstances in which John was placed, produced its intended
effect. The latter was frightened into the most abject submission,
and had the meanness to accept of the afeirming terms which the
pope's agent, Pandulph, had the insolence to propose. These were
no less than absolute vassalage and tribute on his own part, and on
that of his subjects, to the court of Rome.!! By thus endeavouring
* " Oderat (Rex) quasi virus viperum, Saerum, de Quincey." — Mat. Paris, an. 1213.
t Viz. in 1215.— Trussel's MSS., Brook's Heraldry.
t Mat. Paris, Mat. West. II Hen. Knighton.
§ He went so far as to applaud, instead of punishing, the murderer of a priest. At
another time he caused three students of Oxford to be hanged, in revenge of a crime
which one of their companions had committed, but of which they were quite innocent. —
Mat. Paris.
^f During these six years no ecclesiastical function was allowed to be performed, except
baptizing infants and administering the sacraments to the dying. — Mat. Paris.
** Mat. Paris, Mat. West. tt Iidem.
N 2

180 DEGRADING PENANCE OF JOHN.
A. D. to elude the prediction, which so much terrified him, of the famous
1213. Yorkshire hermit, Peter, (who foretold that the king would lose his
crown before a certain day), he strictly fulfilled it.* Such at least
is the general remark of our ancient historians, who universally
prove a true Enghsh spirit, in describing the conduct both of the
Roman pontiff and of the Enghsh monarch, in these important
transactions.! The disgraceful negociation began indeed at Dover,
where the king laid his crown and his treasures at the feet of Pan-
dulph, but it was finally concluded in our city, where John was
absolved from his excommunication, and where he ratified the
terms which he had before agreed to. Pandulph had returned to
the continent, and in his place came Archbishop Langton, and the
bishops of London, Ely, Lincoln, and Hereford, together with a
great number of other persons of the laity, as well as the clergy,
who had been sufferers in the late dispute.! The prelates repaired
from Dover, where they landed, to Winchester, the king then re
siding there, who hearing of their approach to the city, went out
to meet them, on the downs of Magdalen-hill, || where, at the sight
of them, he fell upon his knees, and shed many tears. § This had
the effect of melting the whole company, who mingled their tears
with his. The prelates raising him from the ground, now marched
in mournful procession, repeating the 50th psalm,! to the western
door of the cathedral; where a great number of distinguished
personages joined them in weeping and praying. They did not,
however, yet enter into the church, this being unlawful, in the
predicament in which the king stood, of an excommunicated per
son ; but, after some time, proceeded to the monks' chapter-house,
where he was absolved in due form.** The king, on his part,
swore upon the Holy Gospels, that he would annul all unjust laws,
and revive the equitable laws of St. Edward.!! He also again
renetwed the fealty and homage which he had sworn to the pope-!!
The first part of this oath was what he owed to his people, and
well it would have been for him had he observed it ; the latter was
an act of treachery to them, and of dishonour to himself. ||||
All this, however, was hypocrisy, or at most a passing disposi
tion, on the part of John. His conduct to his subjects became
* " Resignavit igitur coronam Angliae Innocentio papae, et ei fecit homagium, et fecit
de uberrima regione ancillam, ut princeps provinciarum fieret sub tribute ; chartam inde
conficiens lugubrem et detestabilem." — Mat. West. an. 1213.
t " (Rex) De libero factus est servus."— Hen. Knighton, De Event., Mat. Paris, &c.
t Iidem. || Trussel's MSS.
§ Mat. Paris. if Alias the 51st psalm.
** Annal. Wint., Mat. Paris. tt Iidem. tt Iidem.
|||| " Omnia fecit in suo velle nee voluit legis formam servare."— Hen. Knighton, De
Event. 1. n, t. iv.

MAGNA CHARTA SIGNED.  JOHN DIES.

181

tyrannical and flagitious, beyond all example in this country.* A. D.
Hence his most powerful barons were soon up in arms against him, ,_v_,'
and our city, amongst others, fell into their hands.! This con
federacy, chiefly through the address of Archbishop Langton,! is
productive of Magna Charta; which our faithless monarch signs
indeed upon Runnimead, but pays no more attention to his con
duct, than he had done to his former engagements. Tired out
with a succession of evils, springing from a bad government, the
nobles, very unwisely, fly to a much greater, that of inviting armed
foreigners amongst them. In short, young Lewis lands ; and John, 1216.
unable to rely on his troops, flies to this city for safety. || Here he
erects the royal standard of the dragon, as if he meant to give
battle to his enemies ;§ but, upon their approach, he appoints
Savaric de Mauleon, to be his governor of Winchester, and retires,
to Gloucester. Savaric remains not long behind his master, but
setting fire to the city, abandons it to young Lewis,! wbo takes
possession of it, together with the royal castle, and that of the
bishop, and commits great depredations and ravages in them.**
The other castles of the county follow the example of its capital,
and surrender at the first summons. Only Odiham castle, with a
garrison of three soldiers and ten labouring men, makes a gallant
defence against a whole army for the space of fifteen days.!! Thus
did this and the whole neighbouring country become a province of
France, which it would probably still have continued, but for the
unexpected event of the king's death. He died of a broken heart,
at Newark, and was buried, by his own desire, in Worcester ca
thedral.!! * " More odibili magnatum uxores et dominas concupivit, deridendo maritos, post
perpetrata mala. Quod extitit principium et origo guerrae." — Knighton.
t Knighton. t Mat. Paris.
|| Mat. West. . § J. Stow
if Annal. Wint. The Anonymous Historian of Winchester, vol. II, p. 69, says, that
the castle held out for the king, and that Lewis was unable to reduce it. These assertions
are in direct opposition to original writers. — See Mat. Paris, Annal. Wint., Knigh
ton, &c.
** Trussel's MSS. ttMat. Paris.
tt A late topographer, whose chief boast is, that the city, which he celebrates, is pos
sessed of the remains of the worst of our sovereigns, has fallen into various errors on this
his favourite subject, as well as on many others. These, however, are not so unpardon
able in an antiquary, as his perpetually holding up to the unmerited ridicule of the pre
sent age, the sentiments and conduct of men in past ages, whose memory it was his
peculiar duty to protect. He is never satisfied with repeating his calumnies on the subject
of King John's funeral. "On the skull (of King John) was found the celebrated monk's
cowl, in which he is recorded to have been buried, as a passport through the regions of
purgatory." — See an account of the discovery of the body of King John, by Valentine
Green. " To be buried in a monk's cowl was deemed in those days a good passport
through purgatorial regions." — Hist, of Worcester, by Valentine Green, vol. I, p. 157.
" It was considered that the remains of King John partook of the reverence paid to the
Holy Virgin, and that they received additional sanctification, in being left undisturbed
before her altar, and between the sepulchres of the saints, Oswald and Wulstan."— Ibid. p.

182 ACCESSION OF HENRY THE THIRD.
A. D. Upon the death of John, his son Henry, a native of Winchester,
1216- then only nine years of age, succeeded to the throne. Contrary
~'~J to former precedents, he was anointed and crowned in the city of
Gloucester; and our bishop, Peter de Rupibus, assisted by John of
Bath, performed the ceremony,* in the presence of Gualo, the
pope's legate, and a number of faithful Enghsh barons. The cause
of this singularity was, that Westminster, Winchester, and the
whole south of England, were in the enemy's power, and that
Archbishop Langton was then one of their partizans, in conse
quence of which he was suspended by our prelate, in the name of
the pope. By the prudent and active measures of our bishop, and
of Wilham, earl of Pembroke, who was guardian of the king's
person and protector of the realm,! the royal cause gained
strength, and that of Lewis declined daily, until the latter was
obhged to decline the contest, and to withdraw from the kingdom.
At the end of four years, young Henry, holding his court at our
city, with Wilham, earl marshal, that most worthy and accomplish-
59. " The cowl of a monk, was deemed by King John to be a helmet of salvation for
him in a future state." — Ibid, p. 73. What a mass is here of ignorant and illiberal abuse,
calculated to represent the piety of our ancestors as more stupid, and of a more immoral
tendency, than the mythology of their Pagan ancestors ; and much less warranted or
excusable than the sexton's tale of King John being poisoned by St. Oswald and St. Wul
stan, which the same author ridicules in his preface, p. 16. But 1st. — Mr. G. who writes
so much about monks' cowls, proves himself not to know what a cowl is. He supposes
it to be a mere hood, covering the skull. Upon enquiry, however, he will find it to he a
large garment, which covered the whole, or almost the whole body. 2dly. — The writer is
here challenged to produce the record he here speaks of, as signifying that the cowl was
" a passport through the regions of purgatory;" or, instead of it, to bring forward the
decree of some synod, or the writings of some divine or schoolman, intimating such an
absurd dogma. Had this opinion been that of the age, as our writer says it was, we should
not fail to find it in the Master of Sentences, the Sum of St. Thomas Aquinas, and other
such works, written about this period, and of course every corpse would have been buried
in a monk's cowl, no less than King John's. Lastly. — This writer, before he spoke of the
" reverence and sanctification," which, he says, King John partook of from the place of
his interment, and of " the helmet of salvation, in a future state," which he describes him
as wearing, ought to have examined what were the real sentiments of the age concerning
the state of the deceased monarch's soul. The following line makes part of an epitaph,
which Matthew Paris says was composed for him, and which he intimates was actually put
upon his monument : —
" Hunc mala, post mortem, timor est nefata sequantur."
He gives another epitaph, composed on the occasion, still more severe : —
" Anglia, sicut adhuc sordet fastore Joannis,
Sordida fosdatur, fadante Joanne, gehenna."
The latter our good monk condemns as too profane. On the contrary, he expresses
hopes, (not that the cowl of his order will prove a helmet to salvation of the deceased,
but) that the " few good works which he did in his life time would plead for him at the
tribunal of Christ." Another monk, Matthew of Westminster, describes him as dying the
death of a reprobate, " maledicens et non valedicens omnibus baronibus suis ;" and the
canon of Leicester speaks of a good clerk, who being anxious for the soul of his royal
master, continued praying for a token of his state, until he received one of the most me
lancholy nature. — De Event. Ang. 1. n.
* Some writers say that Gualo crowned the king, but the account of Mat, Paris, which
we have adopted, seems to be far better grounded.
t Ibid.

BISHOP RUPIBUS. — FRIAR BACON. 183
ed nobleman, sickened and died;* upon which Bishop Peter, with A. D.
the approbation of the nobihty, succeeded to his charge.t By 1J^;
this means he became, in a manner, possessed of the whole royal
authority, and the importance of this city, was, of course, greatly
increased. This prelate had succeed Godfrey de Lucy in the see of Win
chester, through the favour of the late king, A.D. 1204. He was
by birth a native of Poitou, and had merited the honour of knight
hood from King Richard, whom he had served in his wars with
fidelity and talents.! Hence he was generally thought,' by his
education and past conduct, to be better qualified to command an
army than to preside over a diocese. || In this exalted station it
was impossible that he should not have some rivals and enemies,
from mere jealousy ; but he increased their number by his own con
duct, which was more honest than pohtic. The exigencies of the
state requiring a large supply of money, he advised his royal pupil,
instead of extorting money from the hard hands of the poor, to
resume a great number of valuable grants, which, with a boyish
levity, he had distributed amongst his courtiers.§ But what was
still more imprudent and fatal to him, he betrayed so great a par
tiality for his own countrymen, that they engrossed almost every
place of honour or profit.! Amongst the most active of the bi
shop's enemies was the famous Roger Bacon, then one of the king's j222
chaplains; but who afterwards became a Franciscan friar, and
distinguished himself in so eminent a degree, for his skill in ma
thematics. This able man, both in his sermons** and in his pri
vate interviews, endeavoured to prejudice the royal youth against
his guardian and minister. On a certain occasion he took an op
portunity of asking the king, " What things he thought a prudent
pilot, in steering a ship, was most afraid of?" the latter replying
" That Roger himself, who had made many voyages, could best an
swer that question:" " Certainly," says he, " they are stones and
rocks," (Petrse and Rupes) alluding to the two names of our pre-
late.tt In short, his enemies, and principally the chief justice,
Hugo de Burg, succeeded in supplanting him in Henry's favour.
The consequence was, that he retired abroad in 1227, and made an 1227.
expedition to the Holy Land ; where, by his prudent counsels, he
rendered the greatest services to the Emperor Frederic and the
* Mat. Paris, Mat. West. ad. an. 1219.
t " Rex in custodia Petri Wintoniensis remansit." — Mat. West.
t " Vir equestris ordinis." — Mat. Paris.
II " In negotiis plus bellicis quam scholasticis eruditus." — Mat. West.
§ Polydore Virg. If Mat. Paris. ** Pitsius, De Scrip. Ang.
tt Mat. Paris.

184 DEATH AND DEEDS OF RUPIBUS.
A.D. Christian cause.* Returning home in 1231, he was received in
1231. soiemn procession by the monks and clergy of his cathedral,!
which honour had also been paid to the king, and the metropolitan
Richard, in his absence.! Being shortly after visited in this city
by his former pupil, he soon regained his influence over him,||
which he held about two years, when the royal indignation was so
powerfully excited against him and his principal agents, Peter de
Rivallis and Stephen Segrave, that the two former found it neces
sary to fly to the cathedral, and the latter to the church of St.
Mary's nuns in this city, for the protection of their persons.§
The bishop, however, once more recovered the king's favour ; and
being sent for abroad by the pope, he, with his usual talents and
dexterity, extricated him from his difficulties, and obtained the
highest confidence of the emperor and other princes on the Con
tinent.! Finding his health decline, he returned home, and died
X233. in his palace of Farnham, in 1233, to the irreparable loss, says a
contemporary historian,** both of church and state. He was buried
in the cathedral, according to his own directions, with the utmost
privacy.!! It might be expected that a life, so much devoted to
exterior and pubhc concerns, would have left no leisure for the
pecuhar duties of his station ; and it is certain that his metropo
litan, St. Edmund Rich, made some reproaches to him of this
nature ; nevertheless, he was upon the whole, a zealous and edify
ing prelate, and left several monuments of his piety to future ages.
One of these was the convent of the Dominican friars, which he
founded near the eastgate of this city;!! a second was an hospital,
called God's-house, at Portsmouth; a third was the Norbertin
abbey of Titchfield; a fourth, the priory of canon regulars, at
Selbourn.|||| He was also instrumental in the foundation of the
Cistercian abbey of Edwardstow or Letley,§§ near Southampton.
All these were in his own diocese ; besides which he founded three
or four other religious houses, in different parts of the kingdom,
and one at Joppa, in the Holy Land.!!
The death of this illustrious prelate was peculiary detrimental to
our city, as it produced a violent and disastrous contention be
tween the king and the succeeding bishop. The former was, in
flexibly bent upon having William of Valentia, the uncle of his
* Mat. Paris. t Mat. West. + Viz. an. 1230, Annal. Wint.
H Mat. West. § Idem. If Mat. Paris. ** Idem. tt Idem.
tt Godwin, Speed, Harpsfield. || Mat. Paris.
§§ Godwin. Letley, i. e. de Laeto Loco, improperly called Netley.
Iflf Godwin. N.B. The year before this bishop's death a whale was cast upon the shore
at Millbrook, and was adjudged to belong to the monkB of our cathedral, to which that
manor was annexed.

HENRY QUARRELS WITH THE MONKS. 185
new married queen, elected to this dignity.* The monks, who had A. D.
heard that William was a man, not only ambitious, but also san- "~^
guinary,! stood upon their right, and persisted in refusing to
choose him. By way, however, of compounding with the king,
whose indignation they dreaded, they successively elected two of •
his ministers and favourites, William de Raley, bishop of Norwich,
and Ralph Nevill, bishop of Chichester.! These attempts, how
ever, had no other effect than that of causing him to discard from
his service both these prelates. The dispute continued during the
space of five years, though William of Valentia, who had been the
occasion of it, died in the first year after its commencement. The
monks felt the weight of the king's resentment, he seizing upon
their temporalities, and punishing them with stripes, imprison
ment, and famine. || Nevertheless, they continued to defend their
freedom of election ; and meeting privately, for the third time,
their two former elections having been invahdated at Rome, they
once more chose the person who had been the first object of their
wishes, Wilham de Raley. This prelate having at length, in the
year 1243, procured his translation to be ratified by the pope, re- 1243.
paired to this city, for the purpose of executing his pastoral duty ;
but found all the gates of it, by command of the king, shut against
him : nor could all the sermons which he preached, going bare
footed round the walls, induce the magistrates and citizens, who
heard him from the upper part of them, to admit him within their
precinct.§ At length having stationed himself at King's-gate, he
there fulminated an interdict upon his cathedral, with the other
churches of the city, and an excommunication against the mayor
and bailiffs, with those monks and clerks who opposed his entry.!
After that, conceiving his life to be in danger, he withdrew into
France ; where, we are informed, it became a common saying, that
our " Henry was a coward towards his enemies, and only brave
against his bishops."** The following year, however, peace was
restored, notwithstanding the opposition of a worthless ecclesiastic,
Henry de Seusa, master of St. Cross;!! the bishop being per
mitted to take possession of his diocese, and the censures being
taken off from those persons who had been involved in them.
The king even condescended to dine with the bishop, and gave him
the kiss of peace.!! Two years after this, viz. in 1246, our pre- 1246.
late performed, in the presence of the king, queen, and other illus
trious personages, the magnificent ceremony of dedicating the
* Mat. West. t " Vir sanguinum esse dicebatar." — Mat. Paris. t Mat. Paris.
|| Idem. an. 1250. § Mat. Paris, Mat. West. If Annal. Wint., Mat. Paris,
** Mat. West. tt Mat. Paris. tt Mem.
VOL. I. 0

186 HENRY PREACHES TO THE MONKS.
A. D. royal abbey, in the adjoining forest, so justly called de Bello Loco,
1246. or Beauheu,* which the late king, in a fit of devotion, began to
build for the Cistercian monks, whom he had before so grievously
oppressed. Wilham de Raley going abroad upon certain business,
1250. died at Tours, in 1250, having received the last rites of the church,
with circumstances of the most edifying devotion,! and was buried
there in the cathedral of St. Martin.!
We may judge how high a value Henry set upon the bishopric
of Winchester, by the pains which he took, at the different vacan
cies of it, during his reign, to procure it for his greatest ecclesias
tical, favourites. It is probable that he had earher notice of the
late bishop's death than the monks, and therefore took all the
precautions in his power to prevent their being before hand with
him in the election of a successor. For this purpose he sent down
in haste to the cathedral two of his chaplains, to stop all proceed
ings for the present, and followed them thither in person soon
after. Having assembled the monks in the chapter-house, he
preached to them a formal sermon, from the text, " Justice and
Peace have kissed;" the purport of which was to induce them to
elect his half-brother, Ethelmar, || for their bishop. One part of
his sermon, in which he makes honourable mention of this city,
deserves to be here transcribed. " I lately," says he, " have been
very severe upon you, in order to satisfy my wife, who was desirous
of advancing her uncle, Wilham de Valentia, to this bishopric ;
but as destruction came into the world by a woman, so the remedy
of the same came also by a woman. I now come to propose, for
your bishop, the son of my mother, Queen Isabella ! by choosing
whom, an entire reconcihation will be effected between us, and it
will become my study to promote your interests and those of your
church. If you are insensible to other motives for obliging me,
you cannot certainly forget that I was born in this city, and bap
tized in this cathedral. As this circumstance endears you to me,
so it merits a return of affection and obedience towards me on your
part."§ He concluded his discourse with very significant threats
of his vengeance, in case of their non-compliance.! The monks
now retiring, and being shut up together in a chamber, with heavy
hearts, began to reflect upon what they had\eard, and upon their
* Mat. Paris, Annal. an. 1246. t Mat. Paris, Godwin.
t Annal. Wint.
|| Isabella, relict of the late king, married Hugh, earl of March, by whom she had five
sons, of whom our Ethelmar, or Audomar, was the fourth.
§ Mat. Paris.
% On this subject our historian quotes this line of the poet : —
" Stricto supplicat ense potens."

ETHELMAR ELECTED BISHOP. 187
present situation. They saw that Ethelmar was destitute of every a. d
necessary qualification for the prelacy. He had neither morals nor 125°-
hterature, nor previous orders, nor even a canonical age to recom
mend him ;* but, on the other hand, they considered all the evils
which had fallen upon the whole city, as well as upon themselves,
by refusing to gratify the king in a former instance.! Neverthe
less, what chiefly influenced them in the step which they took,
was the certain knowledge that, in voting contrary to the king's
inclinations, they should not be supported by the then pope,
Innocent IV, who would certainly be brought over by the king,
to whatever measures the latter was bent upon.! In conclu
sion, with " assenting voices, but repugnant hearts," || they voted
as the king wished them to do. This election being confirmed by
the pope, Ethelmar became possessed of the spiritual and temporal
authority of the bishopric. The monks were not deceived in the
presages which they had formed of their new prelate's administra
tion. He conducted himself with so much injustice and tyranny
towards them, that a great number of them left the cathedral and
fled to other monasteries of their order.§ The prior, however,
Wilham of Taunton, hastened to Rome, there to accuse the bishop
elect of irregular and uncanonical conduct, particularly in turn
ing him out of his office, and substituting in his place a creature
of his own, one Andrew of London.! It appears that the cause
of the prior, which was that of justice, met with support. He was
honourably restored, and even invested by the pope with the
ensigns of a prelate, the mitre, the ring, and the crosier ;** a pri- 1254.
vilege which was to descend to his successors, the priors of St.
Swithun, in this city, and which was very rarely granted to any
rehgious under the rank of an abbot. In the end, an assembly of
the nobihty being held at Winchester, Ethelmar, with his two
brothers, whose insolence and oppressions were felt in other parts
of the kingdom, as well as in this, was driven into banishment.!! 1258.
All this time the bishop elect had deferred his consecration, or
rather it seems to have been deferred by order of the pontiff.!!
In consequence of this long delay, or of some other canonical
* He was only 23 years of age, and in minor orders. t Mat. Paris.
t Here our zealous monk exclaims : " O papa, patrum pater, ut quid permittis
Christianorum climata talibus inquinari ? Meritb igitur ab urbe et sede pulsus propria,
tanquam profugus alter Chaim, cogeris exulare." — Mat. Paris, ad. an. 1250.
|| Mat. West. an. 1254. '
§ Mat. West. Amongst other acts of oppression, he once confined them three whole
days in the church, without any food. This caused them to exclaim : " It is with just
cause we suffer this, because, fearing the wrath of man more than of God, we raised
this unworthy youth to the power which he so much abuses."
f Annal. Wint., Mat. Paris. ** Annal. Wint. an, 1254.
tt Annal. wfnt. an. 1258, Mat. Paris. t+ Godwin.
o 2

188 JOHN DE GERVAYSE APPOINTED BISHOP.
A. D. fault, his election became void, and the monks proceeded to a new
1258- election ; which measure the king himself does not appear to have
opposed, being by this time sensible of the unworthiness of his
brother.* They chose Henry Wengham, his chancellor, who,
however, refusing to accept of the bishopric in such intricate
circumstances,! was soon after made bishop of London. At
1260. last, in the year 1260, Ethelmar is said by some authors to have
succeeded in procuring himself to be consecrated at Rome, and to
have been on the point of returning to take possession of this see ;
when he was overtaken by the divine justice at Paris, where he
died, and was buried in the church of St. Genevieve,! after orderT
ing his heart to be conveyed to this cathedral, || the monument of
which is still there to be seen.§
The see, again vacant, once more became the subject of con
tention, not between the monks and the king, he not now taking
any part in the election, but amongst the electors themselves.
Wilham of Taunton, their former prior, who was afterwards made
abbot of Middleton,! being removed, Andrew of London had been
again forced upon the monks, by his patron Ethelmar.** In this
situation he had an opportunity of gaining a few partisans in the
community, who, to the number of seven, gave their votes for him
to be their bishop. The rest, to the number of fifty-four monks,
with the deputy archdeacon of Surry at their head, chose their
former prior, William of Taunton.!! The matter being litigated
before the pope, he set aside both the candidates, and appointed,
by way of provision as it was called, and consecrated bishop of
this see, John de Gervayse, or of Exon, who had been chancellor
of York.!! One of his first concerns, on taking possession of it,
was to inflict tHe due punishment|||| upon the turbulent prior,
Andrew of London. Not content with deposing him, he caused
him to be confined in Hyde Abbey, from whence, having effected
his escape by artifice, he pretended that he had been dehvered by
a miracle ; and hypocritically hung up at Canterbury the fetters
which he had worn, in proof of the pretended prodigy.§§ John de
Gervayse, taking part with the barons who were in arms against
the( king, was on this account suspended from his ecclesiastical
functions, by the legate Ottobone.!! This occasioned him to take
* Mat. West. t Godwin. j Annal. Mat. Paris., Mat. West.
|| Godwin. § See our Survey, Part II.
If Annal Wint. ** Ibid.
tt Ibid. an. 1260. tt Mat. West.
IIII "Andreas prior, suis meritis exigentibus, captus apud abbatiam de Hida\ incarcera-
tur."— Mat. West.
§§ Annal. Wint. ^ Mat. West.

NICHOLAS OF ELY, BISHOP — CIVIL HISTORY RESUMED. 189
a journey to Rome, where he died A.D. 1268, and was buried at A. D.
Viterbo.* ^
The late bishop having died in curia,f or at the court of Rome,
the appointment of his successor, by the ancient ordinances of the
canon law, belonged of right to the pope.! He seems to have
made a proper use of his prerogative on this occasion, by trans
lating from the see of Worcester, to this more important diocese,
Nicholas of Ely, a prelate who deserved a great character, both for
his public and private virtues. The greatest difficulty which he
met with, in the discharge of his duty, was from the arts and
violence of the deposed prior Andrew, who has been mentioned
more than once. This scandalous monk, returning to Winchester,
and being unable otherwise to gain admittance into the cathedral
church and monastery, made an attack upon them with an armed
force; || having previously gained several partisans, both in the 1274.
convent and in the city. At length, the king found himself under
the necessity of sending two of his judges, with a special commis
sion, to protect the bishop, and to preserve the peace of the city.§
This prelate was a special friend and benefactor to the Cistercian
abbey of Waverley, near Farnham, the first house of that order
which was founded in England. The church there being re-built
in his time, he performed the dedication of it in 1278, with great 1278.
solemnity : and entertained, entirely at his own cost, the numerous
company who flocked to it during the octave of that festivity. On
the day itself of the dedication, the number of guests, amongst
whom were many persons of distinction, consisted of between
seven and eight thousand.! Two years after this ceremony, bishop
Nicholas departed this life ; and, according to his own desire, his
body was buried in the church of Waverley, and his heart depo
sited in this cathedral, as an inscription there, on the south side of
the presbytery, testifies.**
Having gone through the list of bishops, who governed the see
of Winchester in the present reign, we shall now consider the
other transactions relating to this city, during the same period.
Henry was never unmindful of the natural tie which connected
him with the place of his birth. In the early part of his reign he
granted the citizens a confirmation of all their privileges ;!! and, as
* Annal. Wint. t Annal. Wint. an. 1268.
t See the example of St. Theodore, A.D. 668, appointed by Pope Vitahan to the see of
Canterbury, on the death of Wigart, who had been named to it, but died at Rome, waiting
for his confirmation.— Bede, Hist. Ecc. 1. iv, c. I.
|| Annal Wigornensis, an. 1274. § Ibid.
f Annal. Wigorn.
** See our Survey, Part II. tt Trussel s MSS.

190 st. Giles's hill fair.
a. D. their annual fair on St. Giles's hill was the most celebrated and
l-irJ {he richest in all the kingdom, abounding with foreign, as well as
home commodities, and being resorted to from distant parts of the
continent, as well as from every part of England, he enlarged the
grants of his predecessors, by extending it to the full term of six
teen days.* This was unquestionably a general advantage to the
city, though the bishop, who received the tolls arising from it, was
more immediately benefited by it. Henry added a new rehgious ,
foundation to those which this city already possessed, that of the
Franciscan friars,! for whom he built a convent upon the Brooks.}
He was also the first sovereign who granted to the corporation of
Winchester a common seal;|| and he continued the mint in this
city. Hence, the current coin of the kingdom being clipped to
almost half its size,§ he caused a new coinage to be executed here,
1248 commanding! all the former coin to be cried down,** or only taken
in exchange for the new, according to its weight. This incon
venience, though unavoidable, caused much murmuring, and some
distress.!! It appears that the same frauds were practised at this
time in France; to repress which, the French king condemned
those who were convicted of them to be hanged and gibbeted.!!
Henry very frequently wore his crown on solemn occasions,. and
passed much of his time in this city.|||| It is probable that the
palace, built by the last monarch of bis name, had been burnt
down, or had fallen into ruins, as he himself now resided in the
city castle. This appears by his being sometimes obliged to leave
Winchester, in order to make place for the itinerent judges.§§ He
and his royal consort, as hkewise his son Edward, seem to have
shewn great condescension and regard towards the different reh
gious communities of the city. The successive abbesses of St.
Mary were expected to wait upon him at the castle.!! On one oc
casion we find the queen presenting herself before the chapter of
the monks in order to be admitted into what is called their con-
* See our Survey. St. Giles's hill.
t Speed, Harpsfield, Parkinson.
t See our Survey. || Trussel's MSS.
§ " Eodem tempore moneta esterlingorum, propter sui materiam desiderabilem caepit
deterariori et corrumpti per illos falsarios monetarum, quos tonsores appellamus ; adeo ut
vix interiori circulo nummi parcendo, limbum literatum totaliter asportarent."— Mat.
Paris, an. 1247 and 1248.
If An. 1248. "Nova moneta fabricata est, apud Wintoniam post octavas Epiphaniae."
— Annal. Wint.
** Mat. Paris. tt Ibid.
tt " Jussit tales compertos patibulis laqueatos vento presentari." — Ibid.
|||| Mat. Paris. Annales Wint. passim.
§§ "An. 1273. Recessit D. Henricus rex de Wintonia post Epiphaniam, quiajusti-
ciarii itinerantes sederi debebant ibi. — Annal Wigorn. _
flf Annal. Wint. an 1265.

HENRY SHEWS HIS REGARD FOR WINCHESTER. 191
fraternity ;* and when the king and the prince, at a certain time, A. D.
were at variance, they appear to have referred the subject of it to '~r~l
the prior and monks of the cathedral, as they met together, and
were reconciled in the chapter-house.! With respect to the ma- 1258.
gistrates and community of Winchester, if he wanted the courage
to restore them to their ancient rank and precedency, yet he
refused to countenance their being deprived of them, as his two
predecessors had done. We have mentioned the dispute between
the citizens of our city and of London, concerning the right of
officiating as wine-butlers, whenever the king wore his crown.
There can be no doubt of the Wintonians obtaining their just pri
vileges, within their own walls, during the reign of their native
king, since we have positive proof of their disputing it with the
Londoners on their own ground. The king was unwilling to dis
oblige either party; and though the occasion was to him one of
the most solemn of his reign, that of translating the body of St.
Edward the Confessor, who was his patron saint, from before the
altar of Westminster to his present shrine behind it, when all the
chief nobihty of the kingdom were present ; yet, contrary to all
rule, he determined not to wear his crown at all, but commanded
the representatives of both cities to take their places at the royal
entertainment. This injunction the men of Winchester complied
with, but those of London returned home with stomachs empty of
food, but full of bile.! 1269,
The most important service, however, that Henry rendered to
his native city, was his breaking the illegal and scandalous asso
ciations of pilferers and robbers, with which it was infested ; and
restoring its character, which was greatly debased in other parts of
the kingdom. This, however, was not effected without a temporary
disgrace, which, as it has been varnished over by former writers, ||
shall be here fairly stated from the original historian.§ In the
year 1249,! the king coming to Winchester, where he was often 1249.
* Annal. Wint. 1242. t Ibid. 1258.
t " An. 1269. Sanctus Edwardus a veteri feretro in novum translates est presente D.
Henrico rege, qui secundum edictum suum coronam portare disposuit, sed non portavit.
Unde vendicantibus sibi jus et consuetudinem de pincernariai Wintonae et Londoniae civi
bus noluit D. rex ut quis eorum serviret, propter discordiam et periculum quod posset im-
minere; set jussit utramque partem discumbere. Unde Londonienses indignantes re-
cesserunt : Wintonienses vero remanserunt, comedentes et bibentes in curiit : et cum
licentia D. regis recidentes remearunt ad propria." — Annal Wigorn.
|| See the Anonymous History of Winchester, vol. II, pp. 71, 72, where many circum
stances are concealed and others added, to screen the character of this city; which, it
must be confessed, was at this period exceedingly scandalous for the practices in question.
|| Mat. Paris. Hist. Maj. ad. an. 1249. See also Mat. West. ad. diet. an.
§ Amongst other errors, the Anonymous Historian misdates this transaction, when he
places it in 1247. To speak the truth, he is seldom right in his dates.

192 THE CITY INFESTED BY ROBBERS.
A. D. accustomed to take his place amongst the judges, and to assist in
1249 ¦ trying causes; two merchants of Brabant come and complain to
him with many tears, that in passing near this city they were stop
ped and robbed of no less than 200 marks, by persons actually
attending upon the king's court ; at the same time offering to
prove their charge by the trial of the sword. The persons accused
are seized upon and impeached of the robbery; but the jury
being formed of the bettermost people of the city, who happen to
be infected with the same guilt, they are, without hesitation, ac
quitted. The merchants return to the king, persisting in their
complaints of the injustice that has been done to them : where
upon he assembles his counsellors, who tell him that the neigh
bourhood of Winchester is infamous throughout the kingdom, for
the robberies, violences, and murders committed there upon
strangers ; that the judges and magistrates have in vain attempted
to eradicate this evil, because the juries in general are accomplices
of the persons accused ; that the great number of strangers, par
ticularly from foreign parts, who flock to this city from the neigh
bouring port of Southampton, partly on account of the court being
kept in it, partly on account of the great fairs which are held here,
is a constant source of temptation to the ill-disposed.* The lung
therefore calling together the bailiffs and chief inhabitants of the
city and neighbourhood into the castle, thus addresses them: —
" What are these crimes that are laid to your charge ; there is not
apart of the country in such bad repute for robberies and murders
as is this city, with its suburbs and neighbourhood. I am witness to
them myself, and a sufferer by them. My wine is openly and tri
umphantly carried away from the carts, whilst they are conveying
it to my castle. I am quite ashamed of the city from which I derive
my birth. It is probable, nay it is certain, that you citizens and
countrymen, now before me, are partners in these crimes. However,
I am resolved to extirpate them, though it should be necessary to
assemble all the people of England hither for this purpose." Saying
this, he cries with a loud voice to his attendants, " Shut the castle
gates — shut them immediately." The bishop,! being present, now
rises up to moderate the royal indignation, and expresses himself
as follows: — "Be merciful, Sire, be merciful; there are many
good and loyal subjects here, who ought not to be shut up like pri
soners. You do not even accuse any others except the guilty, per-
* " Per has enim partes meant et remeant, turn propter portum propinquum, turn prop
ter regiam istam civitatem, turn propter nundinas, in^titores quam plurimi; praeclpue
ultra marini." — Mat. Paris.
t This was William de Raley, who, within a fortnight after this transaction, went
abroad, where he died. — Annal. Wint.

THE WINCHESTER ROBBERS. 193
sons of this city and their confederates. Then turning to the as- A. D.
sembly, he says : — " By all the spiritual power with which I am 1249-
invested, as your bishop, and under pain of excommunication, Ire-
quire of you to reveal what you know of these scandalous proceed- "
ings." Accordingly, twelve men of the city or neighbourhood
are empanneled, and sworn to make a true report of what they
can discover of the aforesaid robbery. After long consultation,
they declare that they are unable to make any discovery whatever
on the subject. Upon this the lang is provoked to a degree of
fury, and exclaims, " Carry away those artful traitors, tie them and
cast them into the dungeon below, and let me have other twelve men
of the city and neighbourhood, who will tell us the truth." In short,
a new jury, indifferently chosen from the city and county,* is em
panneled ; who, after some dehberation together, lay open a shock
ing confederacy, entered into for the purposes of rapine, in which
many persons of the fairest character and the most ample fortunes
in the city and neighbourhood,! as also several of the king's house
hold and guards, are found to be concerned.! Of these many are
taken; some fly to the churches for refuge, and others escape.
No fewer, however, than thirty are condemned and hanged ; and
about as many more are left in prison, expecting the same fate.
Thus was the evil itself removed,|| but this city, together with
Southampton, and the county in general, long bore the disgrace of
having been infected with it.§
Amongst the culprits, it has been remarked, were some of the
king's own household. These, by way of extenuating their guilt,
alleged that they had been driven to these bad courses through the
fault of the king himself, in neglecting to pay them their just
wages.! The truth is, Henry's coffers being generally empty, he
was unable to defray the expenses of his household; insomuch,
that in the year 1256, the merchants of Gascony, resident at Win- 1255
* Both these juries are expressly stated to have been chosen, " De civibus Wintonien-
sibus et comitate Sudamtoniae." The nameless historian to palliate the matter, but with
out any authority whatever, represents the first perjured jury as " consisting principally of
the court party," and the last jury, who told the truth, as being " selected out of the
merchants and principal tradesmen of the city." — pp. 71, 72.
t Quamplures erant de confinibus partibus, praecipue de Antona et de libertate episcopi
de Tantona."— Mat. Paris. .„„,„„,
* "Multi qui legales et boni vir ireputabantur, qui terns 50 vel 80(. gaudebaut, quidam
de+hospitio D. regis aepitui et arcubalistarii."— Ibid.
|| Sic volento Deo, domino ultionum, patria Wintoniensis, per quam crebro, turn
propter nundinas, turn propter portam civitati propinquum, turn propter civitatis celebrem
frequentiam, institores iam ultra marini quam cismarini transierunt, a latronum retiaculis
liberata est."— Mat. West. . . . , ,.,.., . - .
§ " Verum Wintonia, Sudamptonia et totus die comitatus indelibilem infamise notaits
inde contraxerunt." — Mat. Paris.
If Mat. Paris.
VOL. I. v

194 "MAD PARLIAMENT OF OXFORD.
A. D. Chester, refused to send for any more wine, on his account; and
1256- coming to high words with his steward on the subject, boasted
much of the protection which Prince Edward afforded them ; to
whom in fact they carried their complaints. This being repre
sented to the king in an unfavourable hght, caused a violent alter
cation and breach between the father and the son. The former
complained that he was now treated as his grandfather Henry II.
had been by his sons. The latter, by way of securing his person
from the insults of the courtiers, increased his body guard to the
number 200 horse.*
The discontents of the barons, which had been brewing during
the former part of Henry's reign, at length produced the same
1258. fatal effects as in the reign of his father. In 1258 they met at
Oxford, in what was then called a parhament,! but which resem
bled more the diets of Poland, than the legislative assemblage of
the present day. For they all came, by agreement, with their
horses and armour, attended by their military vassals.! Here they
obliged the king to renew their charters, by oath; and imposed
such conditions upon him as they judged most proper for obliging
him to observe them. Amongst the rest, they insisted on appoint
ing a chief justice, in whom they could confide, namely, Hugh
Bigod,|| and a council of twenty-four persons,§ who might coun
teract the bad advice of the king's half-brothers, and of the Poitou
men in general. These, perceiving their danger, silently left Ox
ford, and rode as fast as their horses could carry them to Win
chester,! of which Ethelmar was then bishop, in order to secure
the episcopal castles in this city and neighbourhood,** hoping by
this means to bafHe the designs of their enemies, which they per
ceived were to drive them out of the kingdom. This stratagem,
however, proved unsuccessful, for the barons, like raging hons, at
the apprehension of losing their prey,tt followed them hither,
with almost equal celerity, forced Wolvesey castle, where they
had taken refuge,!! and then again opening their parhament, as
it was called, || || passed certain statutes,§§ which obliged all four
brothers, including our unworthy prelate, with all foreigners in
general, to leave the kingdom.
The passions, however, of large assemblies, in whatever rank of
* Mat. Paris, an. 1256. t Mat. Paris, Mat. West.
t Knighton. || Mat. Paris.
§ Mat. West. % Mat. Paris.
** Ibid. tt Hen. Knighton, 1. ii.
tt Gul. Rishanger.
IIII "Illic (Wintoniae) aliud tenuere parliamentum." — Mat. West. an. 1258.
§§ Knighton.

THE POPE APPEALED TO. 195
hfe, when once excited, commonly proceed to unjustifiable lengths, a. d.
This was exemphfied in our city, on the present occasion. The 1258-
weather this year proved uncommonly unseasonable, storms and
deluges ravaging the country to such a degree, during the summer,
that the harvest in many places could not be reaped before All
Saints.* The consequence of this was, that a great mortality en
sued! and, amongst others, some of the nobihty, particularly
William de Clare, brother of the earl of Gloucester, died during
the fifteen days that they remained in our city ; and the earl him
self was taken ill, and hardly escaped with his life. This accident
was attributed to the perfidy and resentment of the foreigners,
who were said to have caused poison to be administered to them.
In particular, Walter de Scotney, steward of the earl of Glouces
ter, was accused of having been bribed to poison his master, toge
ther with his brother, the earl of Clare; and being tried here the
following year for his crime, he was, upon very shght evidence,}
found guilty, and put to death ; being dragged at a horse's tail to
the place of execution, and hung with circumstances of pecuhar
cruelty. §
At length, in 1262, the jealousies between the king and the 1262.
barons, which seemed four years before to have been extinguished
in this city by the removal of the foreigners, broke out in the
same place into an open flame. The independent nobility reso
lutely, adhered to the terms agreed upon at Oxford ; and in parti
cular they exercised the privilege which they had extorted, of ap
pointing the chief justice and the chancellor.§ The king and the
courtiers, on the other hand, affected to call this meeting " The
mad parliament of Oxford ," and considering themselves as not at
all bound by its articles,! they sent to the pope to obtain a de
cision to this effect ; together with a dispensation from the oath
with which the king had then bound himself.** At length, when
* Mat. Paris. t Idem.
% The jury being asked by the judge, upon what circumstances they founded their
verdict, answered — " We never heard that William de Valentia, or any of his brothers,
were indebted to Sir Walter de Scotney ; and, on the other hand, we know that the
former lately paid a large sum of money to him." This proof, however, our ancient
author intimates, is of less weight than the dying declaration of Wilham de Clare, that he
had been poisoned by Walter.
|| " Equis distractus et post in patipulo suspensus." — Annal Wint. an. 1261. " Horri-
biliter suspensus." — Mat. West.
§ Gul. Risanger, an. 1262, Mat. West.
% Mat. West. an. 1261.
** Without entering into any controversy, we will here candidly and briefly state the
casuistry of former ages, on the subject of oaths, vows, and dispensations ; for want of
understanding which, modern writers are apt to fall into great mistakes and idle decla
mation. For the accuracy of our statement, we refer to the Summa Theologia of St.
Thomas Aquinas, and to the works of the schoolmen in general, with which the time in
p 2

196 THE CITY BESIEGED BY DE MONTFORD.
A. D. the latter had taken all his precautions, and thought himself suffi-
}2^2; ciently strong to set the barons at defiance, he came down in haste
to Winchester, from the tower of London ; and having spent the
festival of Whitsuntide with his courtiers in the castle, he sent for
the chief justice and chancellor, who had been lately new appointed
by the barons, and desired them to deliver up to him the records
and the seal in their possession ;* and though they refused to com
ply with this demand, he proceeded to appoint new officers to the
important posts in question. This was the signal for open civil
war. The barons flew to arms, and immediately marched, under
the command of SimOn de Montford, to this our city,! hoping to
seize upon the king's person, on the very scene of his violating
their favourite articles. In this expectation, however, they were
deceived; for one of Henry's most sagacious counsellors, John
Maunsel, coming privately to him, persuaded him to retire in time
to the tower of London,! which he had fortified with extraordinary
care. The above-mentioned able general laying siege to Winches
ter, soon obhged it to surrender. It is said to have yielded on
favourable terms : but whether the barons themselves were irritated
at the behaviour of our citizens, or, what is more likely, were un
able to restrain the fury of their soldiers, certain it is, that the
city was at this time miserably sacked and defaced, and many
of the inhabitants ill-treated and even murdered. || This was
question abounded. According to these, a vow, of a private nature, between God and
the conscience, respecting prayers, fasting, or other such like good works, might, upon
due consideration of the inconveniencies with which it was attended, be dispensed with,
or commuted for other less objectionable works of piety, by the pastors of the church,
and principally by the pope. But a just and lawful vow, made and agreed to, between
man and man, for the benefit of one or both of the parties, was incapable of any dispen
sation from the church ; it not being in her power to dispose of the temporal property or
rights of individuals, without their consent. Supposing, however, the vow to be of an
unjust and unlawful nature, such as is extorted by a robber, or other person, through
violence or terror ; or such a one as tends to the destruction or confusion of the state,
or to other fatal consequences ; this vow they held to be, of its own nature, null and
void. But as the difficulty was to know where these invalidating circumstances really
existed ; and it is not fitting or safe for any man to be judge in his own cause, they were
accustomed to submit all such cases to the decision of the aforesaid pastors : being sensi
ble, however, that their decision was of no authority or weight whatever in foro con-
scientia, if they mis-stated the question to the spiritual judge, or unduly influenced his
opinion. The casuistry concerning oaths, in one particular, differed from that concerning
vows, viz. that, whereas in the fonner there occurred an invocation of the divine name,
they considered it unlawful to break through such an engagement, though manifestly
unjust, and extorted by violence, without a dispensation from that part of it which
regarded the diety, by his authorised ministers. This is exemplified in the case before
us. Henry reproaches the barons, that they had broken their oaths to him, and declares
that he considers himself as free from every obligation which he owes to them ; never
theless he, at that very time, declares that he shall send to the pope, which he actually
did, desiring to be absolved precisely from that tie, which he conceived the invocation of
the divine name to have imposed upon him. — Mat. West, ut supra.
* Mat. West., who ascribes these events to 1261.
t Mat. West., Gul. Rishanger. J Iidem.
|| Mat West. ad. an. 1265, Dictum de Kenelwoith, Trussel's MSS.

HENRY TAKEN PRISONER. 197
the hard fate of the Jews particularly, who were then exceed- A. D.
ingly numerous here, in consequence of the protection which they 1262-
had hitherto experienced, whilst in most of our cities they had
been riotously assaulted and murdered. One large street, in par
ticular, where also they had their synagogue, was full of them ;
which street, on this account, was called The Jewry.* The castle,
however, being garrisoned by the principal inhabitants, held out
for the king, and defied all the force and military skill of the
renowned general who commanded the malcontents;! until, in the
next year, both parties agreeing to refer their differences to the
king of France, who was St. Lewis IX, a kind of peace was made.
The sum of his decision was, that the Magna Charta of King John
was to stand in all its force, but that the statutes of Oxford should 1263.
be abrogated.! This not satisfying the earl of Leicester, whose
authority, on one side, was not inferior to that of the king on the
other ; after many negociations, delays, and skirmishes, the dispute
at last came to the decision of the sword, in two general battles.
In that of Lewes, fought in 1264, the royalists were overcome, ]264.
and the king, with his son, Prince Edward, was taken prisoner, not
however until the latter had made a horrible slaughter of the Lon
doners, who demanded the foremost rank in the army of the
barons. || The year following, this martial prince having escaped
from his guards by the fleetness of his horse, raised a fresh army,
and vindicated his own and his father's cause, though with some
risk to the latter's person,§ on the field of Evesham ; where the i265.
barons were routed, and the idol of his age, Simon de Montfort,
killed. The next year was famous for the happy pacification,
called Dictum de Kenelworth, between the king and the malcon
tents ; so called from its having been concluded before the castle
of that name ; in which, amongst other things, it AAras settled that
no other punishment, than a pecuniary one, should be inflicted
upon those persons who had been concerned in the devastations
committed at Winchester.!
At the very time that the different states of the kingdom were
engaged in this unnatural war with each other, the weight of which
fell so heavy upon our city, its inhabitants increased their cala-
* Trussel, now (1799) Gaol-street, (a) t Idem.
t Gul. Rishanger. an, 1263.
|| " Londonensis primos ictus belli petierant, discrimina ignorantes." — Knight.an. 1264.
§ The king was led to the battle by Simon de Montfort, whose prisoner he was, and
thus stood opposed to his own forces. Feeling a violent blow discharged upon his
shoulder, he cried out loudly, " / am Henry of Winchester, do not hill me."— Knighton,
ad. an. 1265.
f Vide Dictum de Kenelworth.
(a) This street is at present (1838) called by its original name.

198 OUTRAGES IN WINCHESTER.
A. D. mities, by a kind of domestic civil war, which they carried on
'~^~ amongst themselves. We are unacquainted with the origin of the
circumstances, but we know in general that the lower orders will
never want a pretence for making commotions and riots under a
disordered and weak government, which unfortunately was the case.
So far is certain, that in the year 1264, the same in which the fatal
battle of Lewes was fought, the common people of Winchester
rose up in arms against their fellow-citizens and neighbours, as
well lay persons as ecclesiastics ; and that they burnt down King's
gate, with the parish church of St. Swithun over it, and all the
houses adjoining to it, together with the great gate of the priory
or close ; and that they assassinated all the servants belonging to
the monastery, on whom they could lay hands.*
Soon after the battle of Evesham, Henry summoned a parha
ment at Winchester, in which the statutes of the mad parhament,
as that held at Oxford in 1258 was termed, were abrogated, and
1265. the hberties of the city of London annulled; in punishment of its
inhabitants having sided with the barons.! The next time the
king came hither, after the pacification of Kenelworth, he was re
ceived in the cathedral with a solemn procession ;! and the ensuing
1268. year, 1268, he held another parhament at Winchester, in which he
invested his victorious son and deliverer with the offices of senes
chal of England, and governor of all the castles in the realm. || In
1270. 1270, he again held a parliament here; the chief object of which
was to obtain supphes for a crusade, which Prince Edward had
-undertaken. § This matter being settled, the valiant Edward took
leave of his father in the castle ; and then proceeding to the priory,
he also took leave of the monks assembled in chapter, and recom
mended himself to their prayers.! Hence he immediately pro
ceeded to Portsmouth, in order to embark for Palestine ; but some
obstacle occurring, he went to Dover, and there took shipping.**
The last-mentioned parliament adjourned from our city to London,
where they enacted a law, that all manner of persons should be
obhged to produce evidence of the tenures by which they held
their lands. This was a general subject of discontent; and,
amongst the rest, the powerful and high-spirited John Warren,
earl of Surrey, instead of producing his parchment rolls, drew his
sword in Westminster Hall before the judges, swearing that his
* Annales Wint., Item Annal., Wigorn. ad. diet. an.
_ t "Triumphatis hostibus rex parliamentum Wintoniam convocavit. Ubi, inito consilio,
civitatem Londinensem, ob suam rebellionem, suis privilegiis et libertatibus privavit." —
Gul. Rishanger, an. 1265.
t Annal. Wint. an. 1267. || Ibid. 1268. § Annal. Wint.
f Annal. Wigorn. an. 1270. ** Ibid.

DEATH OF HENRY. 199
father and grandfather had held their estates by that right, and a.d.
that he would defend them by the same. A dispute on this en- 127°-
suing between him and the judges, he fatally fulfilled his oath, ""
by cleaving in two the skull of Alan de la Zouch, chief justice of
Ireland, as he sat upon the bench.* The trial of this grand cause
came on at Winchester, and was conducted according to the esta
bhshed laws of those times. The accused was acquitted of wilful
murder, upon his own solemn oath, that he had not struck the de
ceased out of preconceived mahce, or contempt of the king's autho
rity, and upon twenty-five persons, of the rank of knights, who
where called compurgatories, swearing that they beheved what the
earl had sworn to be true.! He was, however, fined in the heavy
sum of 1200 marks.
Another singular proceeding in the judicature of those times, re
lating to the title derived from this city, took place in the present
reign. At the death of Saer de Quincey, his elder son Robert was
absent on the crusade, in the Holy Land ; upon which, his younger
son Roger took upon himself the style and title of earl of Winches
ter. The former returning home, claimed his honours ; but it was
decided, that the younger brother having enjoyed the title without
dispute a considerable time, and having been summoned to parha
ment, as earl of Winchester, he should continue to possess it during
his life, but that upon his decease, it should revert to the family of
Robert.! In 1272, after a reign unprecedented in our annals, of 56 years, 1272.
Henry of Winchester paid the debt of nature ; and was buried,
according to his own directions, near the relics of his patron saint,
Edward the Confessor; whose festival he had always devoutly cele
brated, and after whom he caused his eldest son to be named.
Though he chose, on this account, to be buried at Westminster,
yet his partiality to the city of his birth is manifest in numberless
instances. Accordingly Winchester flourished exceedingly during
his reign. It was the more ordinary residence of the king, where
he constantly kept up a royal establishment, held many parhaments,
and transacted the weightiest concerns of the nation. Hence we
find it still emphatically termed, by contemporary writers, a royal
city. || It appears also that the chief officers of state had houses in
Winchester ; and that the publip records continued still to be kept
here,§ as the principal royal mint certainly was.! The wealth,
* Annal. Wigorn.; Annal. Wint. an. 1270.; Trussel's MSS.
t Trussel's MSS. t Contin. Mat. Paris.
II " Regia civitas."— Mat. Paris, ut supra. § Rishanger, ut supra.
If Annal. Wint. ut supra.

200 TRADE OF WINCHESTER.
A. D. talents, and piety of her bishops, in general, were also of great
>~w benefit to the city, by their public works and charities, and by the
important part which they acted in the affairs of the kingdom.
But what contributed most to the prosperity of the city, was its
extensive trade and commerce ; being the general mart and point
of union between England and the king's foreign dominions,
through the neighbouring port of Southampton; with which it
communicated, by the short canal which had been opened in the
preceding reign. The chief article of exportation was, of course,
the manufacture of this city, woollen cloths;* of importation,
claret wine.! This commerce was also greatly encouraged and
supported by the privileged fairs held here ; particularly, as we
have said, that of St. Giles' hill, then the greatest in the kingdom.
But this was the fated term of Winchester's greatness. If she
had descended one degree, in the scale of relative importance, at
the death of the first Henry, she sunk two degrees lower upon the
death of her native king, Henry III. This will appear in the
course of the following chapter, and is to be accounted for from
various causes ; but chiefly from the unparalleled increase, in com
merce, wealth, population, and splendor, of that city, which hence
forward we must admit to be the metropolis of .England ; and_to
which, with all our honest partiality for Winchester, we devoutly
wish the second part of the following hne of the poet may be as
truly applicable as the first is : —
"Huic ego nee metas rerum nee tempora pono." — Virg.
* We learn from Trussel, that Winchester had long possessed a considerable manufac
tory of capping and clothing ; still, however, it is true that great quantities of our wool
were exported and manufactured abroad, chiefly in Brabant and Flanders. Tliis is clear
from the following part of the good monk's mournful address to his country, on the ef
fects of the civil war in this reign : — "Tibi ( Angliae) de tu& material vestas pretiosas, tua
textrix, Flandria texuit. — Mat. Paris, ad. an. 1265. The first step to encourage the sta
ple manufacture of this country in general, appears to have been taken in the parliament
of Winchester, held in 1258, where, amongst other things, it was ordained: — "qu&d
lanae terra; comparentur in Angus, nee alienigeuis venderentur, et quod omnes uterentur
pannis laneis, infra limites terras operatis, pec nimis pretiosas vestes quaererent." — Hen.
Knighton, De Event. 1. n. c. xv.
t Robert of Gloucester, a contemporary poet, celebrates the wine of Winchester.
3fn the country of Cantecbucp mn^t plentp of figh ijS,
3no moiSt chasJe of toifoe-beagtg about ^ali^burp % tote,
ano Slonoon gejmi mogt, ano toine at I©inchegter,
at Ufartforo gfjeen ano ore, ano fruit at JBorce^tec.
See Camden's remains. That the wine chiefly then in use was claret, we gather from
another passage of the above quoted address to England : — " Tibi viuum tua Vascosia mi-
nistravit." — Mat. West.

EDWARD THE FIRST. 201

CHAP. XL
Reign of Edward I. — His valour displayed near Winchester. — His
other transactions there. — Dispute between the Citizens of Win
chester and those of London. — Terms of Agreement between
them. — Winchester disgraced and punished by the King. — Re-in
stated through the clemency of the Queen. — Succession of
Bishops. — Pontificate of John de Pontissara. — Foundation of St.
Elizabeth's College, and of St. John's House.— The Bishops, Wood-
lock, Sandale, De Asserio, and Stratford. — Reign of Edward II. —
Earl of Winchester. — His barbarous execution. — An infringe
ment of the Liberties of this City. — Edmund, earl of Kent,
executed at Winchester. — Episcopacy of Adam de Orlton. — His
Crimes. — Reign of Edward III. — Prosperous face of Winches
ter. — Subsequent Calamities. — Episcopacy of Edington. — He is
succeeded by William de Wykeham. — Acts and Character of this
illustrious Prelate. — History of this City during the Reign of
Richard II. — Errors of former Historians. — Henry IV. marries
Queen Joan at Winchester. — Henry V. keeps his Court there. —
Account of Cardinal Beaufort, bishop of Winchester. — Partiality
of Henry VI. for this city. — ?His Visits and Benefactions to it. —
Edward IV. at Winchester, bestows the Title of it upon a foreign
Favourite. — Short Reign of Edward V. — Richard III. passes
through this City. — Life of Bishop Waynflete.
At the death of Henry, his son Edward was signahsing his valour A. D.
in the Holy Land, on the same spot which was already famous for _^'
the prowess of his great uncle, Cceur de Lion. These exploits
were of httle avail towards restoring Christianity in the east*, but
* It has been the fashion for modern writers, ever since Voltaire set the example, to
spend all their eloquence in declamations against the Crusades; being little aware that we
VOL. I. Q

202 HEROISM OF EDWARD,
A.D. 1272. of the greatest service towards preserving it in the west. Nearly
""v"' two years elapsed from his accession to the throne, before the king
arrived at Dover, in his way to Westminster, where he was crown-
1274. ed with uncommon splendour and magnificence ; and it was more
than a twelvemonth from that period, before he could find leisure
to visit Winchester, to which, on different occasions, he had proved
the greatest attachment, still more for its tried loyalty in the late
civil wars, than for its being the birth-place of his father and of
his eldest son, John.* Our citizens, on the other hand, were not
less warm in their affection for him, having been witnesses to his
heroism, and other popular virtues, and particularly benefited by
them. One exploit, in particular, achieved in this neighbourhood*
had raised his reputation for personal bravery, more than all his
victories at Evesham, in the Holy Land, and elsewhere.
At the pacification of Kenelworth, some of the barons and their
adherents refused to be comprehended in its articles, and betook
themselves to a course of open robbery and plunder for their sub
sistence.! Amongst these was a knight celebrated for his strength
and intrepidity, one Sir Adam de Gurdon; who, lurking in the
woods with a few hardy followers, infested the high roads between
Winchester and Farnham, robbing all passengers, and plundering
the neighbouring estates, especially of those he knew to be of the
royal party. He had hitherto braved or eluded all the force that
had been sent against him ; when prince Edward undertook the
task of freeing the country from this its greatest terror. He ac
cordingly proceeded with a few armed followers, to the forest which
Gurdon most frequented, when, gaining sight of him, our heroical
prince Commanded his attendants to keep their distance, and rush
ed forward to measure swords with the daring outlaw, hand to
hand. The combat was severe and long, the parties being nearly
matched in strength as well as valour ; which quahties Edward ad
miring in his adversary, promised him his hfe and fortune if he
would yield himself his prisoner. Gurdon, who was well assured
of the prince's honour, threw down his arms, and Edward took
him into his immediate service ; and that very night sent him with
are indebted to them for not wearing the turban, and swearing by Mahomet at the pre
sent day. Let it be remembered that, about the time of the crusades, those wide-wasting
barbarians, whose primary rule of conduct was the extirpation of all unbelievers in the
Koran, had already subdued all the civilized countries of Asia and Africa; and being
masters of Spain, on one side of Europe ; and of Greece, with the neighbouring provinces,
on the other, hemmed in the Christian states within narrow bounds, and would infallibly
have reduced them, one .after another, but for those associations of the bravest warriors
throughout the several kingdoms, who successively harrassed them in the heart of their
strength, and found them sufficient employment at home, during the ages of their greatest
prowess and enterprise.
* Trussel's MSS. t Gul. Rishanger, an. 1267; Mat. West.

HE HOLDS A PARLIAMENT AT WINTON. 203
a letter to his mother, informing her of his safety from the danger A. d.
to which he had exposed himself.* This adventure had taken ^
place some years before the prince came to the throne.!
It was on the 12th of January, in the year 1276,! that Edward, 1276.
accompanied by his beloved and exemplary queen, Eleonora, paid
his first visit to Winchester, after his return from the Holy Land.
Having slept at the castle that night, the king came the next morn
ing to offer up his prayers in the cathedral, for which he had a
particular veneration on account of its antiquity, and the many
illustrious saints who were there interred. On this occasion he
was received in solemn procession by the bishop and the monks. ||
Finding the city in great confusion, through the dissentions which
had prevailed there for more than twelve years, that is to say, ever
since the beginning of the civil wars ; he exerted his talents and
authority to put a stop to them, and on this occasion he renewed
to the city all its charters, and restored the privilege of choosing
its own officers,§ WQich seems to have been taken away in the
course of these disputes. The citizens accordingly met on the
26th of the said month, and elected their mayor, aldermen, and
bailiffs, as they had been accustomed to do.! It is probable that
this was also the time of Edward's bestowing a new seal upon the
corporation, which they continue stiU to possess, and to use in
deeds of importance.** Edward's stay at Winchester, on this
occasion, was not quite three weeks, and yet he found leisure to
hold a parliament here;!! in which, amongst other transactions,
he received the submission of Gaston de Bierne, one of his foreign
vassals, who had rebelled against him, and who was now conducted
to him with a halter round his neck.!! The king at first com
mitted him prisoner to the castle here, but having afterwards sent
for him to London, he restored this vanquished enemy to his
liberfy.HH * Gul. Rishanger. Matthew of Westminster gives a different account of this combat.
He says that Gurdon was wounded and conquered, and that the prince gave him his life,
but that his attendants afterwards hung him.
t Viz. 1267.— Rishanger. t Prid- Id. Jan., Annal. Wigorn.
|| AnnaL-Wigorn, an. 1276. § Annal. Wint.
If Annal. Wint.
** This seal, which is always in the possession of the mayor, for the time being, repre
sents Edward I. crowned, with a lion couchant on his breast. The inscription, which is
abbreviated, and in the characters of that age, runs as follows : —
x g>. <£©!©. iR€4B. aB«53t. 3© !!?€€<©<©$. «b€W%Z<®$.

This inscription, at full length, is to be read as follows :—
Sigillum Edwardi Regis.^nglice, ad recognitionem debitorum apud Wintoniam. (a)
tt Annal. Wigorn. tt Ypodig. II II Annal. Wigorn.
(a) Since the Corporation Act passed a new Seal is used.— See Appendix,

204 HALFPENCE AND FARTHINGS FIRST COINED.
A. D. Edward left Winchester, with the intention of spending more
1276,time here on a future occasion. Accordingly, three years after-
"~^ wards, he came hither to keep his birth-day ;* where he continued
for the space of nearly six months.! The most important busi
ness that he transacted at this time in our city, which was still one
of the chief minting places in the kingdom, was an improvement
in the current coin. For whereas, before this time, no pieces bf
less value than pennies were struck, and these marked with a
double cross on the reverse, by which means they might, when ne-
1279. cessary, be broken into halfpennies and farthings ; and whereas
this mode of dividing the pieces gave occasion to great waste and
frauds, the king now gave orders for the coining of halfpence and
farthings ;! which was so great a novelty in the nation, that the
prophecies of Merlin were ransacked, in order to discover where
he had foretold it.|| We find Edward here again, with his chief
officers, the following year, keeping his Christmas in the castle;
which he left immediately after the Epiphany, in order to make
room for the judges of the circuit, who arrived the week following.§
The king took his route into the New Forest, but the chancellor
went to Westminster, in order that all those who had business
with him, might find him at a fixed and certain place.! The
royal visit, however, which conferred the greatest honour upon this
1285. city in the present reign, took place in the year 1285. The king
was at the abbey of Amesbury on the feast of the Assumption,
August 15, in order to conduct his daughter Mary to the altar,
where, with thirteen other young ladies of noble families,** she
pronounced her religious vows in quality of a nun ; in which she
was imitated, the year following, by her grandmother, the queen
dowager, Eleanor.!! From Amesbury Edward came to this city,
where, on the 18th of September, he held a great military solem
nity, creating at one time no less than forty-four knights.!! He>
at the same time, exacted scutage from all the knights throughout
the kingdom ;|| || requiring them, to perform the service, which
they owed to him, in the war which he was then meditating against
Scotland. However successful and advantageous to the realm,
this war in the end proved to be, yet the parhament which the
* Annal. Wigorn. t From July until after Epiphany.— Ibid.
t Circa festom B. Petri ad vincula (viz. Aug. 1, 1279) moneta in melius mutabatur.
Nam quia denarius findi in duas partes, pro obolis, et in quatuor partes pro quadrantibus,
consuevit: ordinatum fuit quod rotundi essent denarii, oboli et quadrantes— Mat. West.
|| " In quo prophetia Merlini videtur impleta." — Hen. Knighton.
§ Annal. Wigorn. fl Ibid. ** Ibid.
tt The queen dowager assumed the veil at Amesbury in 1286, where she died and was
buried in 1291.— Annal. Wigorn., Mat. West.
+1 Ibid. |||| ibid.

STATUTES OF WINCHESTER. 205
king held here at this time,* was much more beneficial to it, A. D.
by the wise regulations therein enacted, for restoring and preserv- ^J
ing its internal peace. These ordinances, known afterwards by the
name of The Statutes of Winchester, are admitted to have been
the wisest and the best ordinances, for the security of persons and
property, and for the general welfare of the state, that ever were
passed in any session of parhament, since such assemblies were
first held; and therefore, by a statute of the reign of Richard II,
were appointed to be proclaimed by every sheriff, in his county
four times in each year.!
This city had received an awful token of the complete conquest
of Wales, in one of the quarters of David, the last of its native
princes, who had been executed for high treason. It was sent
hither to be exposed on the castle walls ; the other three quarters
being transmitted to York, Bristol, and Northampton, and the
head to London.! This circumstance, trifling as it may seem,
points out the relative importance of the chief places in the king
dom, at this period. In fact, Winchester was no longer in a con
dition to dispute the point of dignity and rank with London ; and
now, whilst Edward was repeating the victories of his West Saxon
ancestors, in the remotest parts of Scotland, the latter city was
attempting to deprive her of more solid advantages, which were
common to the two cities, by exacting the same customs and
duties for the merchandise of Winchester, as for that from other
parts. This brought on a legal contest, which, however, terminated
on the production of our charters, as appears by the following
record: — "On Monday, before the Annunciation of the blessed
Virgin Mary, in the 32nd year of Edward, the son of Henry,
John Le Blunt, being then mayor of London, &c, and John de
Burnford, sheriff, in behalf of the commonalty of London, giving
meeting to Roger de Inkpen, mayor, John de Kirby, alderman, and
other citizens of Winchester, to treat about the aforesaid differen
ces : it was settled and concluded, that all men free of the guild of
merchants of Winchester, shall be free in the said city of London,
of all duties or customs for bridges, || walls,§ pasturage,! and all
other customs whatsoever, for their merchandise, except their
* "An. 1285, circa fest. Nativ. B. M. V. quaedam statuta fecerat publicari, ad refrae-
nandum praedonum et latronum rabiem." — Mat. West.
t Trussel's MSS. t Mat. West. an. 1283.
|| "Pontagio." § "Muragio."
If " Pannagio," sive Pasnagium, from Pastio s the money paid for permission to turn
out pigs to feed in a forest. See Du Cange, Glossarium, and the authorities quoted by
him. The author, in his first edition, had translated this word duty on cloth from
panuus, but submitting to the castigation of one of his critics, has here corrected his
mistake.

206 CHARTERS ANNULLED BY EDWARD.
A. D. custom for weighing,* which is sixpence for the first sack of
'~r~' wool, and fivepence for every other sack ; as likewise the duty to
be taken at the river for the use of the queen, of which they can
not be free, (though the citizens of Winchester continue to protest
against it 5) and for the perpetual memorial of this agreement, it
is ordered that the same shall be enrolled in the Guildhall of Lon
don, in the presence of both the said mayors, and of the several
aldermen aforesaid, by the hands of William de Hickling, clerk to
the aforesaid Guildhall.!
The royal favour which our city had hitherto enjoyed during
this glorious reign, was unfortunately lost near the conclusion of
it ; not, however, in consequence of any scandalous charge against
its magistrates, as had a httle before been the case with London,!
but from a mere accident, or at most a neglect, on their part. It
happened that a foreign hostage of great consequence, one Bernard
Pereres, who was security for the fidelity of the city of Bayonne,
escaped out of Winchester castle, where he had been detained by
the king's appointment, of which castle the mayor, for the time
being, and his brethren were the keepers. The indignation of the,
king, on hearing of this event, being worked up to the highest
pitch, he sent his writ hither, requiring the mayor, the bailiffs, and
six of the aldermen, to appear before him at the approaching par
hament, at Westminster ; by another writ he gave orders to the
sheriff of the county to seize upon the city, and, in his name, to
declare void its hberties. The magistrates being arrived in Lon
don, were committed close prisoners to the tower, and in the end
were fined the sum of 300 marks ; with orders that they should
not be enlarged until the same was paid. In these extremities,
the reigning queen, Margaret, || gratefully remembering the loyalty
and affection which had been shewn to her at Winchester, at a
visit which she had lately paid there, came forward with equal
spirit and humanity in its behalf. She made it appear, by a char
ter which the king had formerly granted her, that the fine in
question was her due : she then remitted one part of it, and took
the security of the prisoners for the payment of the other, when
it should be demanded ; nor did she rest until she had restored
both the magistrates and the city to the enjoyment of all their
* "Tronagio, a Trona, seu Trutina, a scale (hence our Troy weight.) — Du Cauge,
Glossar. t Trussel's MSS.
t In 1285 the charters of London were seized, and the mayor turned out of office,
in consequence of the latter's having taken a bribe from the bakers. — Stow.
|| She was Edward's second wife, being married to him in 1299, and was sister to
Philip of France.

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS RESUMED. 207
former privileges.* It is easy to conceive that the popularity of A. D.
this benevolent princess must have risen to a high pitch amongjst '""•-'
our Wintonians at this period. She accordingly chose this city
for her residence, whilst her royal husband was engaged in his last
expedition into Scotland ;! and here she was brought to bed of a
daughter, who was christened Eleanor.! About the same time 1306.
the victorious Edward sent prisoner to this castle the bishop of St.
Andrews, who had been taken in arms, fighting for his expiring
country, with strict orders to put him into irons, and confine him
in the strongest tower of the fortress. || The career, however, of
Edward's victories was stopped, and Scotland saved from becoming
a province of England, by his unexpected death, which overtook
him in the year 1307- 1307.
We have now to turn our eyes towards the ecclesiastical occur- 128O.
rences of these times. Upon the death of Bishop Nicholas, in
1280, the monks of the cathedral gave their votes in favour of his
friend, Robert Burnel, bishop of Bath, and sent to Rome, request
ing to have him translated to their see ;§ as, without such authority,
the measure would have been uncanonical and unlawful. The
pope refused to grant the dispensation required ; in consequence
of which, the former election being void, it was lawful for him to
appoint the new bishop. He did not, however, avail himself of
this right, but gave permission to the monks to proceed to a fresh
election, after admonishing them to make choice of a person, who
was fit to preside over the clergy and people of so important a
see.! They accordingly met together for this purpose, with the
two archdeacons of the diocese at their head, and unanimously
chose one of the said archdeacons,** Richard de la More, who
was also subdean of Lincoln, and professor of divinity. He was
accordingly admitted by the king to the possession of his tempo
ralities; but when the election was notified to the archbishop,
John Peckham, who had been a friar of the order of St. Francis,
he positively refused to confirm it, alleging the canons, lately en
acted in the council of Lyons, against plurahsts, in which situation
the elect stood.!! Richard went in person to Rome the following
* Trussel's MSS. t Ibid.
t "An. 1306. Domina Margareta regina apud Wintoniam peperit filiam Eleanoram."
—Mat. West. II Rym. Fased.
§ This account of the annalist of Worcester, which is in strict conformity with the
canon law then in force, is preferable to the account of Godwin and Hen. Wharton, who
represent Archbishop Peckam as rejecting this election ; which would imply, that he
assumed the power of translating his saffragans from one see to another, a privilege never
practised or claimed by any of our metropolitans.
If Annal. Wigorn ** Ibid, Hen. Wharton, Ang. Sac. vol. I.
tt Iidem.

208 JOHN DE PONTOYS, BISHOP.
A. D. year to prosecute his appeal, and to obtain a dispensation from the
"""^ impediment. On the other hand, the archbishop sent letters to
the same place, breathing an apostohcal firmness and zeal for dis
cipline ; in which, among other things, he declared, that if the ca
nons were allowed to be infringed, the Enghsh church was ruined,
and he was determined to resign his dignity.* These represen
tations had their due weight with the pope, who, setting aside
Richard, appointed John de Pontoys, or de Pontissara, who had
been chancellor of Oxford and archdeacon of Exeter,! but who, at
that time, was professor of the civil law in the city of Modena,! to
be bishop of Winchester ; and caused him to be consecrated in the
city of Rome. The new bishop immediately returned to England,
1282. and took possession of his see. This happened in 1282. Being a
man of learning and experience, he discovered the best mode of
terminating those dissentions, which had frequently taken place
between his predecessors and the monks of his cathedral. The
convent gave up to the bishop and his successors the advowson of
a great many churches in the diocese, to which they before had
claimed a right of presenting ; the bishop, on his part, resigning
to the convent, for himself and those who were to succeed him, all
his right to the manors of Gosport, Alverstoke, Drokesford, &c, as
likewise the custody of the convent itself, upon the death of its
priors, ordering that they should henceforth be perpetual, and not
moveable at the pleasure of the diocesan, as had hitherto been the .
case ; reserving, however to himself, the right of patronage, with
certain other rights specified in the register. || The most important
act, however, of his episcopal government, and that which was
afterwards successfully copied by his most illustrious successors
was the establishment of a college for the propagation of piety and
hterature amongst his clergy. This college, which was dedicated
under the name of Elizabeth of Hungary, was situated opposite
to Wolvesey castle, to the south-east of the present college.§ The
1301. statutes, which the founder made for the government of this college,
prove his zeal for the advancement of piety, morality, learning, and
clerical discipline ; but they are such as would be thought grievous
and impracticable in the present day.! The foundation was com
pleted a httle before the bishop's death, viz. 1301.** Towards the
close of his predecessor's government,!! another religious establish-
* Hen. Wharton. t Notae ap Godwin, De Praesul.
t Hen. Wharton.
|| Registrum de Pontoys, Epit. Ang. Sac., Hen. Wharton., Notae ap Godwin.
§ See our Survey, Part II.
If Monast. Anglic. ** Notae ap Godwin.
tt In 1278.— Speed, Harpsfield, in Catalog.

209
ment had been made, in the suburb of this city, where the above- A. D.
mentioned college stood; namely, the convent of the.. Carmelite ^~"
friars.* The Augustine friars were not long behind hand in ob
taining an establishment here ; though the precise period of their
foundation cannot be ascertained.! Thus were all the four mendi
cant orders planted in Winchester during the close of the thir
teenth century, the same in which they had sprung up.
The establishment, however, the most interesting to the people
of Winchester at the present day, of all those that were made in
our city about this time, was that of St. John's House or Hospital,
near the east end of the city. We shall have a future occasion to
give the history of this house, which still subsists, and to relate
its different foundations, and the respective purposes of these foun
dations.! At present let it suffice to say, that a worthy and cha
ritable magistrate of the city, John le Devenish, obtained a grant
of this house from the crown, about the beginning of the four
teenth century ; and estabhshed it upon one of the wisest, most
charitable, and patriotic plans that could have been devised,
John de Pontissara died at Wolvesey in 1304, and was buried 1304.
on the north side of the presbytery, where his tomb and epitaph
are still to be seen.|| The monks now meeting for a new election,
unanimously chose, for the first and only time, which to many will
seem extraordinary, their own prior to be their bishop. His name
was Henry Woodlock, alias de Merewell, from the place of his
birth,§ which was an episcopal manor near this city. His election,
confirmation, consecration, and enthroning, were conducted in due
form, and without opposition, in the course of the year 1305.! He 1305
proved himself to be a zealous, upright prelate, and one who was
little disposed to barter his duty and conscience for court favour.
This appeared, when his metropolitan, the learned and edifying
Robert de Winchelsea, was labouring under as severe a persecution
from Edward I. as any of his predecessors had suffered from
former sovereigns ;** in which unjust and oppressive treatment the
* See our Survey, Part II.
t They had certainly been established here before Edward III, as we find that they had
then' illegally accepted of certain lands, which had been given to them. — See our Survey,
Part II.
t See our Survey. II See Ibid.
§ Contin. Hist. Winch. Hen. Wharton. If. 'bid.
** The king interdicted him the use of fire and water, as it is expressed ; and actually
turned out of their monastery all the monks of the cathedral of Canterbury, to the num
ber of eighty, for having privately conveyed to their prelate the means of subsistence,
until he could withdraw himself to the continent. — Godwin, De Praesul. The crime of
which he was accused, was his having associated with the other prelates and nobility, to
oblige the king to keep the charters, which he had so often confirmed. — Vid. Stephan. De
Birchington, Vit. Arch, Cant.
VOL. I. B

210 Knights templar suppressed.
A. d reigning pontiff afterwards joined. However, as the archbishop
*~r~> was neither convicted of any crime, nor subject to any censure at
the time we are speaking of, the bishop of Winchester continued
to treat him with the respect which was due from a suffragan to his
archbishop. He also interposed, with more zeal than caution, to
appease the royal indignation.* The consequences were, that he
himself was outlawed, and his effects seized upon for the king's
use.! Edward dying not long after, his son, the young king, re
stored to both prelates their former rights. However, as the cere
mony of the coronation was appointed to take place before the
archbishop could return to England; our prelate, most probably
by his hcence, officiated at the solemnity, and had the honour of
crowning the new king, with his queen, Isabella, at Westminster.!
Henry de Merewell was not forgetful of the place of his nativity.
He considerably increased the foundation, which had originally
been made there by Bishop de Blois ;|| and he is recorded for hav
ing bestowed many rich ornaments upon his own cathedral.§ Dying
1316 at Farnham in 1316, he was conveyed to Winchester, and buried at
the entrance of the choir of the said cathedral.!
Having mentioned the rehgious establishments that were made
about this time in our city, it is proper to notice one that was sup
pressed in the year 1307, namely, the Knights of the Temple; who
certainly had property,** and most probably had a preceptory!!
in this city.!! Without entering deeper into the question con
cerning the guilt of this celebrated order, it. will be sufficient
to observe, that, from the account of all historians, they had
greatly relaxed from their original institute, which undoubtedly
was good ; and that, as there was a lurking heresy, of the most
infamous nature, which had spread itself from Persia, where
Manes founded it, into Bulgaria, and from thence into the country
of the Albigenses, and other parts, some time before the period in
question, so it is possible that this sensual system might have
crept into some, at least, of the preceptories of the Temple, and
thus have banished from them both the faith and morality of the
gospel. Our next bishop was John de Sandale, a canon of York, who
had been successively treasurer and chancellor of the kingdom.
* Godwin. t Contin. Hist. Winch.
t Harpsfield alone says that the coronation was performed in our city.
|| Contin. Hist. Winch., Harpsfield.
§ Epit. Wint. Ang. Sac. vol, I. % Ibid.
** Trussel's MSS.
tt So their houses were named, instead of convents.
tt See our Survey.

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 211
This prelate is not recorded for any thing that he performed in his A. D,
diocese, but only for what he neglected to perform. Being taken 1316-
up with his employment of treasurer, which required him to fur
nish the king with money for the war of Scotland, he contracted
many debts on his own account. Hence he suffered the episcopal
houses to get out of repair,* and permitted a poor convent of
nuns in his diocese, the convent of Witney, to be dissolved, for
want of assisting them in their distress, as a bishop ought to have
done ; for which omission he was called to a severe account by his
metropolitan, Walter.! Finally, at his death, which took place in
1319, at his palace of Southwark, he was not buried in his ca- 1319.
thedral, as all his predecessors had been, who had died within the
realm, but in the church of St. Mary Overy.!
The next was a contested election; the king recommended a
favourite clerk, for whose promotion he was particularly sohcitous,
Henry de Burgwash;|| but the monks chose one of their own
community, whose name was Adam, a man of extraordinary
learning.§ The pope, however, to wHom this matter was referred,
appointed, by way of provision, as it is termed in the canon law,
his own legate in England, Reginald de Asserio, to be bishop ;!
who was accordingly consecrated by the bishop of London : the
archbishop, Walter, who considered the appointment as an irregu
larity, refusing to perform the ceremony.**
The episcopacy of Asserio was not of longer continuance than
that of his predecessor; he dying in 1323, at the pope's court, j323
which was then held at Avignon.!! This was a case, in which by
ancient custom, it was regular for the pope to appoint the suc
ceeding bishop. The reigning pontiff, who was John XXII,
accordingly availed himself of this right ; and, at the recommen
dation of Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, appointed John de
Stratford, archdeacon of Lincoln, to the vacant see.!! The king
had been desirous that his chancellor, Robert Baldock, archdeacon
of Middlesex, should be fixed upon. Accordingly he shewed his
resentment against the new bishop, by outlawing him, and seizing
upon the temporalities of his see.|||| This obliged the bishop to
keep himself concealed for above a year, amongst his friends ; until
at length he was received to favour by his soA'ereign, to whom he
proved an able and faithful minister, in the turbulent times which
* Hist. Ecc. Nic. Harpsfield, Saec. xiv. t Ibid.
t Regist. de Southwark, Contin. Hist. Win.
|| Notae ap. Godwin. § Harpsfield.
1f Godwin, Contin. Win. ** Godwin.
tt Contin. Hist. Win. tt Harpsfield.
|||| Steph. Birchingtou.
R 2

212 CIVIL TRANSACTIONS.  EDWARD THE SECOND.
A. D. succeeded* At length, however, the affairs of Edward II. be-
^^ coming desperate, he was one of the persons deputed to induce
that ill-fated monarch to sign his own abdication.! Falhng after
wards into disgrace with the haughty Mortimer, whose power was
then the greatest that was known in England, he, with great
difficulty, escaped the fate of the loyal bishop of Exeter, who had
132q. been beheaded for his fidelity to the late king. In 1329, he was
hunted from place to place by Mortimer, who thirsted after his
blood ; being at different times concealed at the abbey at Wilton,
in the woods about Waltham, and with certain individuals in this
city.! Having escaped this danger, by the subsequent disgrace
and punishment of his adversary, he was afterwards honoured with
different preferments ; and at length the see of Canterbury being
1333 vacant, in 1333, he was, without any sohcitation on his part, or any
communication of councils between the parties, at one and the
same time, elected by the monks in England, and appointed by the
pope at Avignon, to that high dignity. ||
If the birth of Edward II. at Caernarvon served to conciliate the
affections of the Welch, his conduct upon coming to the throne
served to estrange the loyalty of the Enghsh. Still, however, his
weak and even profligate conduct almost disappears, when placed
beside the perfidious and vindictive behaviour of his queen and her
barons, who pursued this unfortunate monarch and his adherents
to the last extremeties of degradation and murder. It appears,
that Edward was a friend and benefactor to the venerable cathe
dral of this city,§ though we are unable to trace his residence here
at any time, except during the festival of Christmas, in 1319.H
The chief pretence for the violences offered to him, was, that this
weak prince was too much governed by the counsel of the nobleman
who derived his title from this city,** and of his son, Hugh De-
spenser the younger. Royal favourites, however, are the natural
consequence of royal imbecility ; and nothing is more certain, than
that the very persons who went such lengths to overthrow Gave-
ston and the Despensers, only aimed to establish their own power.
In fact, they afterwards exercised a more despotic empire in this
country, than those favourites had dared to attempt. Gaveston
* Steph. Birchington. t Polyd. Virg.
t Steph. Birchington. || Ibid.
§ Trussel, who quotes the following testimony of Edward's benefactions to the cathe
dral, from its archives : — " Ecclesia IFintoniensis
Suscipit a regis plurima dona manu."
If Stow's Annals. ** The family of the De Quincey's having failed,
Hugh Despenser, the elder, was created earl of Winchester, in the parliament held at
York, in the year 1321.— Hen. Knighton, Trussel.

DESPENSER THE ELDER EXECUTED. 213
had been taken and beheaded, without any form of law, by certain A. D.
powerful barons, before the queen was of age to take part in public w_'
business; nor did she appear openly in the conspiracy, which
broke out in 1321,* against the Despensers. By this conduct she 1321.
succeeded in her deep-laid scheme of being permitted to go abroad,
with her eldest son, Prince Edward, under pretence of setthng
certain differences with foreign princes ; but, in reality, to procure
their assistance in the attack which she meditated upon her royal
husband. Returning to England with men and money, in 1326, 1326.
she exhibited to Europe the strange spectacle of a reigning king
and queen of England at open war with each other. The latter
having the advantage of superior talents, courage, and support,
both from the haughty barons and the factious populace, especially
the Londoners ; and having also the young prince, heir apparent
to the crown, in her custody, she was soon enabled to dictate
terms to the vanquished and dispirited Edward. These were no
less than that he should sign his own abdication ; which step in a
lawful king is always equivalent to signing his own death-warrant.
Whilst these things were carried on, the earl of Winchester had
made a visit to this city,! in order to confirm it in the king's
interest ; but being obliged to return quickly to Bristol, which was
particularly entrusted to his care,! he soon found himself besieged
there by the queen and her victorious army. Having bravely
defended the place, until it was on the point of being stormed, ||
he was induced to surrender, for the ' sake of the citizens : when
the queen, without ceremony or delay, ordered him, the instant
she had him in her power, to be hung as he was in his armour,
and to be cut down and emboweled alive. Then, after exposing his
body four days on the gallows, she caused him to be cut into
morsels and thrown to the dogs.§ His head, however, was pre
served, and sent to this city, where it was fixed upon a pole at the
top of the castle gate, for the avowed purpose of terrifying the
citizens of Winchester,! who were known to be attached to the
same cause of royalty with their unfortunate earl. Such was the
end of this brave old man, being then not less than ninety years
of age. He is recorded for having been " great in virtue, wise in
counsel, and valiant in arms ;"** but these advantages were coun
terbalanced by the misfortunes of having a dissolute son, a weak
prince, and an unpopular cause.
* Hen. Knighton. t Trussel.
t Hen. Knighton, Histor. Anglicae, Polyd. Virg. || Polyd. Virg.
§ Knighton. If Polyd. Virg.
** Stow.

214 QUEEN ISABELLA AND MORTIMER.
A. D. The execution of the earl of Winchester, in his armour, was an
_^J affront to chivalry ; and the mode of his execution was an in
fringement of the charters of this city.* The present, however,
was not a fit time for Winchester to claim her ancient rights;
though it was a fit time for London to obtain fresh favours.!
The fact is, in all the reigns distinguished for civil wars since the
conquest, viz. in those of Stephen, John, and Henry III, no less
than in the present reign, the Wintonians were always found on
the side of allegiance, the Londoners on that of sedition.
Edward II. being now secured in prison, from which he was
only dehvered by the most treacherous and horrible kind of death,
Queen Isabella and her paramour, Roger Mortimer, enjoyed an
absolute and despotic authority throughout the realm, in the name
of the young king, Edward III.! wh° was proclaimed at the
1327. beginning of the year 1327 ; and they made the most perfidious
and tyrannical use of it. This was no where more conspicuous
than at our city, where they caused a parliament to meet, during
1329. the Lent of 1329. In the first place, they procured an act, obliging
every town in England to furnish one man-at-arms, besides inferior
soldiers, under pretence of defending the king's foreign dominions,
but in reahty to secure their own power :|| in the next place, find
ing that many of the great barons, who had hitherto supported
them, began to be impatient under their yoke, as this city had
been from the first, they were resolved to make a terrible example
of their vengeance, such as might prevent any attempts to shake
it off. The victim whom they fixed upon for this purpose was no
less a person than the king's own uncle, Edmund of Woodstock,
¦earl of Kent; an upright and virtuous nobleman, but weak and
credulous. Taking advantage of these defects, they, by a ma-
* In the time of the Saxons, different cities, as Trussel, who was a lawyer, observes,
had different modes of punishing criminals. At Southampton they were drowned, at
Northampton beheaded, and at Winchester they were mutilated, and had one eye bored
out. Now, by the several charters of Winchester, granted since the conquest, it was
confirmed to our city, that all trials and punishments of its citizens, in which class the
earl was certainly to be reckoned, should be conducted as they had formerly been. The
same writer produces the following case, from Rot. 29. 43. Edw. Ill, in support of his
assertion. The inhabitants of Wallingford having punished one of their inhabitants, con
victed of felony, in the manner above described, a Quo Warranto was issued against
them ; which, being tried before the itinerant judges, at the assizes for Berkshire, and
the inhabitants making it appear that tbeir borough had obtained the same charter which
had been granted to Winchester, where the custom in question had obtained, time out of
mind, and did obtain at that very time, a verdict was given for the defendants.
t Their privileges were confirmed and extended in the first parhament held at West
minster after this revolution. — Rym. Faed.
t " His diebus Isabella et Rogerius de Mortuo-mari appropriaverunt sibi regalem po-
testatem, in tantum quod non erat quisquam qui pro regis aut regni commodo loqui
auderet." — Hen. Knighton, De Event. Ang.
|| See the article of his impeachment, in old French. — Ap. Knighton.

EXECUTION OF EDMUND EARL OF KENT. 215
noeuvre which is not unfrequently practised in bad governments, A. D.
contrived the plot into which the unfortunate earl fell, by spreading 1329-
a report that Edward II. was still alive at Corfe castle, long after
they had caused him to be murdered in Berkeley castle; and causing
persons dressed up for the purpose, to represent him and his
attendants.* The consequence was, that Edmund conceived the
resolution, and began to prepare the means, to set his supposed
royal brother at hberty.! Being apprehended for this alleged
crime, here at Winchester, the day before the parhament met, he
was committed prisoner to the castle, and tried and condemned to
death in that assembly. But when the day came for his exe
cution, not a man of any sort or degree whatsoever, of this city or
neighbourhood, could be induced, by rewards or threats, to perform
the office of headsman. Thus this illustrious and beloved per
sonage stood on the scaffold before the castle gate from morning
until evening : when at length a mean wretch from the marshalsea
prison, to save his own life, consented to take away that of the
earl of Kent.! His body was buried in this city, in the church of
the Black Friars, or Dominicans ; who, together with two of the
other mendicant orders, were accused of being accessary to this
conspiracy, and with difficulty escaped punishment. ||
This severity, instead of producing its intended effect, only
served to excite the disaffected to more vigorous exertions against
the tyrants. Accordingly, in the course of this very year, the
barons, who attended the king, having concerted the means of
giving him ocular proof of his mother's and Mortimer's crimi-
nality,§ induced him to resolve upon taking the reins of govern
ment into his own hands. This determination was followed by his
obhging the dowager queen to hide her crimes in retirement, and
by consigning Mortimer, who was now become earl of March, to
the death of a traitor; in whose impeachment a principal article
was his conduct in the parhament held at Winchester, and his
share in the death of the king's uncle, Edmund.!
Amongst those, who had shared in the guilt of Mortimer, yet
who escaped partaking in his punishment, was the bishop, who
* See his impeachment, also Thomae de Walsingham's Ypodigma, Meustriae. The
farce carried on at Corfe castle could not have been continued without the connivance of
government; especially as John Deverel, governor of the castle, was one of Mortimer's
creatures. — Brady's Complete Hist.
t Ypodig.
t " Edmundus captus et attachiatus etadpssnam decollations condempnatussi_...cque
stetit extra portam castelli, mortem expectans, usque ad horam vespertinam, quia nemo
voluit eum decollare propter pietatem quam habebant de eo. Tandem venit unus ribaldus
sceleratus de Marshalsift, et pro sua vita habenda, decollavit eum," — Knighton.
, || Ibid. § Ibid. If Ibid.

216 BISHOP DE ORLTON.
A. D. governed this see next after Stratford. This was Adam de Orlton,
'~v~' an artful and"unprincipled churchman ; who, having been first
promoted to the see of Hereford, had been one of the most active
agents of the barons in the first war which they raised against the
king, in order to oblige him to banish the earl of Winchester, and
his son, Hugh Despenser the younger, earl of Gloucester.* He
was afterwards tried and found guilty of this offence by the ordi
nary secular tribunal, notwithstanding the opposition of the other
prelates ; being the first bishop in England who underwent that
disgrace.! He was accordingly deprived of all his property, and
banished by the king.! Hence, when Isabella raised the standard
of civil war against her husband, she was immediately joined by
Orlton ; who, marching with her party, disgraced his sacred mi
nistry, by driving them forward to the utmost lengths of rebellion.
Being at Oxford, he preached upon these words, " My head, my
head aketh;"\\ endeavouring to prove that, as the head of the king
dom was disordered, it was the duty of the members, independently
of him, to provide for their welfare. § The queen's cause was tri
umphant, and he was, by her interest, in the same year, viz. 1327,
translated to the see of Worcester. He is accused of having been
a principal instrument, not only in the deposition, but also in the
murder of the unhappy Edward II. Admitting, however, that
there are no crimes too black for the conscience of an ecclesiastic
who has once abandoned himself to the current of his passions,
yet truth obliges us to say, that the guilt of Orlton, as to this
particular charge, seems rather doubtful.! Having escaped all
punishment, and even enquiry, when Mortimer and his adherents
were condemned, he afterwards gained the favour of Edward III,
so far as to be employed by him as his ambassador at the court of
France. Here he conducted himself with so much artifice, as to
induce King Philip to interest himself warmly with the pope, in
order to get him translated a second time,** viz. from the see of
* Walsing. Ypodig.
t Antiq. Britan. ap. Godwin. t Ibid.
|| II Kings, c. iv. v. 19. § Walsingham.
% He is accused by modern writers of having invented and sent to Berkeley castle,
where the deposed king lay, the following ambiguous oracle, in the true Delphic style :—
Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est; which, by the mere disposition of a com
ma, at nolite, or at timere, will signify, either that Edward was not to be killed, or that
he was to be killed. But Richardson, in his notes upon Godwin, shews that this story
is borrowed from the Chronicle of Alberic, who ascribes this oracle to an archbishop of
Strigonium, in the preceding century, with respect to Gertrude, wife of Andrew, king of
Hungary. But what is most conclusive on this head is, that when Edward III. accused
Orlton to the pope of his different crimes, and particularly of his preaching rebellion
against his father at Oxford, and causing his deposition, he does not say a word of his
having promoted the inhuman tragedy at Berkeley castle.
** He is noted for being the first English bishop, who had yet been translated a second '

CIVIL AFFAIRS  EDWARD THE THIRD. 21/
Worcester, which he then held, to that of Winchester ;* at that A. D.
time, viz. 1333, vacant by the promotion of Bishop Stratford to 1^
Canterbury. In vain did his own king, who intended the see for
Simon Montague,! oppose the measure, and represent to the
court of Rome the divers enormities of which Orlton had been
guilty. He eluded the charges brought against him by an artful
and well-penned apology, which still subsists for the examination
of the curious.! In short, he carried his point at Rome, though ,
Edward refused to admit him to the possession of his temporali
ties until the next year, when he granted this favour, at the re
quest of the other prelates, in a parliament held at London. ||
He now took possession of his see in triumph. Some time after
this, making a visit to the prior of the cathedral, Alexander, he
was entertained by him in the great hall of the priory, with the
performances of Herbert, a celebrated minstrel of those times,
Avho sung to him the popular songs of Winchester: how Guy,
earl of Warwick, overthrew and killed Colbrand, the Danish cham
pion, under the walls of this city ; and how queen Emma walked
unhurt over the glowing plough-shares, in this cathedral.^ This
prelate, losing his eye-sight some years before his death,! was
thereby incapacitated from minghng any more in the busy scenes
of life, and had leisure to repent of his past disorders. He died
at Farnham in 1345, and was buried in a chapel, which he seems 1345.
to have prepared for himself in the cathedral.**
The reign of Edward III at first seemed to promise great pros
perity to Winchester, in consequence of the attention he had paid
to the staple commodity of England, which was also the article of
trade that particularly concerned this city. In 1333 he appointed, 1333.
for the convenience of foreigners, one general mart of wool,!!
which was most likely at our city, during the famous fair of St.
time, except Stigand, whose memory was infamous; and Richard Poore, whose merit
and talents were transcendently great. This gave occasion for the following sarcasticat
verses, in the style of the age : —
" Trinus erat Adam, talem suspendere vadam.
Thomam despexit. Wulstanum non bene rex.it.
Swithunum maluit. — Cur? — Quia plus valuit."
Ex Archiv. Castr. Belv. Ang. Sac. vol. I, p. 534.
N.B. The three patron saints, Thomas of Hereford, Wulstau of Worcester, and Swithun
of Winchester, are here put to denote the churches themselves.
* Walsing. Ypodig. t Contin. Hist., Wigorn.
t See Apol. Adam de Orlton, Twysd. ap. 10 Scrip. II Godwin.
§ MSS. Wolvesey, Ap. Tho. Warton's Hist. Eng. Poet. vol. I, p. 89.
f Contin. Hist. Win.
** " Sep. in Ecc. Wint. in capella propria."— Richardson ap. Godwin.
tt " Isto anno 1333, Statutum, Les Estaples, lanarum Anglicarum in uno certo loco,
ad venditionem alienigenis coadunari, ut petra lanae venderetur 2 solidm ; sed mercatores
non observaverunt." — Knyghtou.
VOL. I. S

218 A WOOL STAPLE ESTABLISHED IN THE CITY.
A. D. Giles ; and he even attempted to fix the price of that article at
¦ two shillings per stone.* But these ordinances were injudicious
and impracticable, and not observed.! Four years later he adopt
ed a much Aviser plan, in totally forbidding the exportation
of raw wool, as likewise the importation of foreign cloths; at
the same time holding out due encouragement to the experienced
workmen of Flanders to settle and pursue their occupation in
this country.! Finally, it being necessary that there should be
fixed markets for the sale of wool, he appointed ten such staples,
as they were called, for this purpose, in convenient places through
out the kingdom, of which our city was one;|| and, by its relative
situation, seems to have, in a great measure, concentrated the wool
trade of the three counties of Hants, Wilts, and Dorset. This
judicious and popular measure was no where more applauded than
in this city, to which it promised to restore a degree of its former
wealth and splendour. Accordingly, the king and council having
pledged their oaths not to revoke this order,§ the merchants of
Winchester began, with spirit and vigour, to make preparations
for availing themselves of it. For this purpose they purchased a
large tract of ground, which seems to have been part of the palace
garden of Henry II, and which has ever since retained the name
of Staple Garden;! where they built large warehouses, and
every other convenience for storing, sorting, and selling the wool;
erecting also what was called the king's beam, with proper scales
and standard Aveights, for weighing the said commodity.**
We are not surprised at the attention which Edward paid to the
wool trade, as it was chiefly from this he derived those pecuniary
resources, which enabled him to achieve his splendid conquests
abroad : conquests which, for the present, made France a land of
orphans and widows, but which tended in the end to make Eng
land a province of France. These brilliant scenes, however, were
clouded with disasters; which, even then, more than counter
balanced their advantages, particularly with respect to our city. In
J337, 1337, a French fleet arriving at Portsmouth, burnt it down.!! In
1338. 1338j another fleet of fifty sail appeared before Southampton, and
landed a large body of men. These killed all who opposed them ;
then entering into the houses, they instantly hung a great number
of the most respectable inhabitants, whom they found there con
cealed. Lastly, they reduced the town, in its whole circumference,
* Ut supra. t Ut supra. j Hen. de Knyghton, Walsing., Stow.
II "dem. § Iidem. f Trussel's MSS.
** These were in being, and one of the storehouses standing, in Trussel's time.— Ibid.
tt " Normanni intraverunt cum magna potentia in Portusmuth et miserunt in flammam
ignis totain villain." — Hen. de Knyghton.

SOUTHAMPTON BURNT.  PLAGUE. 219
to a heap of ashes.* The destruction of this port of Winchester, a. d.
and the key of its commerce, must have been highly detrimental 1338-
to it, and a great draw-back on its rising trade. A more heavy ca
lamity however befel this city and the new town of Southampton,
just ten years afterwards, from that destructive pestilence, which, 1348.
beginning in China, had swept over the face of the whole disco
vered globe, and entering into this Island, spent its first fury in this
neighbourhood.! It is true, provisions became cheap for want of
mouths to* consume them ;! but, in the same proportion, labour
became dear for want of hands to execute it.|| The most fatal
stroke, however, to the prosperity of Winchester that it had ever
yet experienced, was tSie unexpected ordinance of the king, in
1363, to remove the Enghsh staples to his new acquired town of 1363
Calais, on the French coast ;§ which seemed to argue a desire, on
his part, to turn the clothing trade into its ancient Flemish chan
nels. This ordinance was in direct opposition to the plighted
royal word, and gave too much occasion for the suspicion, that
Edward's unrivalled successes abroad, had caused him to consider
himself more as a foreign than an English sovereign. The execu
tion of this ordinance was the death blow to Winchester's pros
perity. She -had frequently risen from sieges and fires with fresh
vigour and splendour ; she had as often recruited her population
after destructive pestilences ; but this sudden drying up of her
trade and commerce, after the extraordinary exertions she had
lately made to increase them, she Avas never afterwards able to re
pair, and henceforward her decline from wealth and consequence
was sensible and uniform.
Still, however, Winchester continued to be the second bishopric
in point of dignity, and the first in point of opulence, in the king
dom ; while the talents, transactions, and merits of its pastors, by
their charities, pubhc works, and regular large estabhshment in
this city, made some compensation for the absence of the royal
court, and the decay of our commerce. Upon the decease of
* " Applicuerunt apud Suthamptoniam et interfecerunt in eh quos repererunt, et rapue-
runt, et plures de nobilioribus villae in propriis domibus suspenderunt, et in flammam ignis
totam villam in circuitu, immani crudelitate dederunt ; sed accurentibus compatriotis naves
ascenderunt et altum mare petierunt."— Hen. de Knyghton.
t " Tunc pestis dolorosa penetravit maritima per Suthamptoniam. '—Ibid. an. 1348.
t According to Knyghton, a fat ox sold for four shillings, a cow for twelvepence, a
sheep for threepence. Indeed, whole herds of cattle wandered through the fields, without
any one to claim them. .
|| The following autumn the wages of a common reaper were at the enormous price of
eight pence per day, of a mower at twelve pence per day, besides their food. Hence a
great quantity of the harvest, instead of being housed, was left to rot on the ground.—
Hen. de Knyghton.
§ Hen. de Knyghton.
s 2

220 ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.  BISHOP EDINGTON.
A. D, Adam de Orlton, the monks chose one of their own community,
'~r_' whose name and family could not fail of making him agreeable to
the people of Winchester. This was John le Devenish,* who
seems to have been son of the worthy and charitable magistrate of
this city, whom we mentioned as the founder of St. John's House.
The king had no objection to the promotion of this good monk,
but he had, in his own mind, designed the see of Winchester for
an ecclesiastic of great talent and merit, whom he had lately con
stituted his treasurer; namely, William de Edington,* so called
from the place of his birth in the centre of Wiltshire ; and, as he
could not set aside a regular canonical election, without infringing
on the hberties of the church, which he had sworn to maintain,
he applied to the pope to make use of his privilege of provision,
as it was termed, by means of which his favourite was appointed
to the vacant bishopric! On the other hand, John le Devenish
was, by way of compromise, as it was called, constituted abbot of
Canterbury.! Our bishop being in such high favour, in addition
to the dignity of his see, Ave are not surprised he should have been
appointed by the king, prelate of his new instituted order of the
1350. garter, in 1350 ; which honour was to descend to his successors.
He conducted himself, in the difficult post of treasurer with great
approbation, 1 1 and is only reproached with having coined certain
kinds of money, viz. groats and half-groats, of less weight than
they had hitherto been ; by which means the price of labour, and
of every commodity, rose beyond its former nominal value, and
could never afterwards be brought back to it.§ This complaint,
however, argues an ignorance of the principles of finance. The
depreciation of the specie was, in the first instance, a benefit to
government, which the enormous expence s of the war probably
rendered unavoidable ; but, in the second place, the lessening of
its real, could not fail to affect its nominal value, and thus produce
1357. the consequence complained of.! In 1357 Edington was pro-
1366. moted to the rank of chancellor, and in 1366 he was elected to the
highest dignity to which an English churchman could aspire, the
metropolitical see of Canterbury. This, however, he positively re
fused to accept, though authors are divided as to the motives of
his refusal. One ascribes it to his humility,** another to his
* Chronic. Guil. ThrOne de Abbat. Cant. t Ibid. t Ibid.
|| Contin. Hist. Win., Ang. Sac.
§ Contin. Polych., Walsing. Ypod. '
If Godwin, De Praesul. complains that by pursuing the same measure, the specie, in
his time, was reduced to one third of its ancient value, and unwisely ascribes to this cause,
that the nobility, in Elizabeth's reign, could not live with the splendour thev had done
in that of Edward 111.
** Harpsfield, Hist. Ecc. Sat?c. xiv, c xix.

WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM. 221
advanced age,* whilst a third attributes it to a motive of avarice, a. D,
putting into his mouth the following expression -.—"Though Can- 1366'
terbury is the higher rack, yet Winchester ist the richer manger." f
How little he was then under the influence of avarice appears
from his works of piety ahd charity, and from his distributing
almost all his remaining unappropriated money amongst the poor,
during his life time.! He was the founder of a college of secular
clergy at his native place of Edington ;|| which, at the request of
the Black Prince, who was an admirer af a certain order of her
mits, called Bon-hommes, he changed into a convent of that order.§
He was hkewise a benefactor to other religious houses, but most
of all to his cathedral church, where his memory has not obtained
that consideration to which it is entitled.! The fact is, he actually
began the great work of re-building the nave, the whole credit of
which is ascribed to his successor ; and he provided a considerable
sum of money for carrying it on, after his death.** He died at
the latter end of the year 1366, and was buried in the cathedral,
where his chantry, tomb, and epitaph are still to be seen.!!
The death of Edington made place for a prelate, whose public
works and beneficial institutions have reached our own times,
and extended to a class of men, who hold in their hands the keys
of the temple of fame. He is by far the most renowned of all our
bishops, and is regarded in this city with a kind of religious vene
ration. This was the celebrated personage, now known by the
name of Wilham de Wykeham ; who was born of a father, at the
neighbouring town of Wickham, either too mean to claim a sir-
name, or too obscure to have it recorded-!! Our young, clerk,
however, proved the truth of his motto before he adopted it, that
" Manners (mores) or merit makyth Man."\\\\ He was endowed by
nature with transcendent talents, and began from his early youth, to
cultivate them with unrivalled diligence. His parents being in nar
row circumstances, he was chiefly indebted for his education to the
* Hen. Wharton. Contin. Hist. Win. t Godwin.
t Chronic. Anonym., Contin. Hist. Win.
|| Ex Literis fundat. ap. Harpsfield.
§ Monastic. Stephens, sub finem.
1f See our Survey.
** " Testamento condito praecipit ut de bonis suis expenderetur ad perfectionem navis
ecclesiae cathedralis Winton a se inchoatae."— Registr. Lang, in Contin. Wint.
tt See our Survey.
tt Chaundler mentions him by his Christian name alone. Godwin and Dr. London
call him Perot. Haspsfield labours to prove that his family name was Wickham. Bishop
Lowth upon the whole, thinks it must be either Long or Aas: Life of W. W. p. 9.
|||| Harpsfield signifies that this motto is no more than the translation of the Latin
proverb : " Suam cuique mores fortunam fingunt."
In Vit. W. W. Hist. Ecc. S<ec. xiv.

222 WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM.
A. D. hberality of Nicholas Uvedale, lord of the manor of Wickham,
x~r~> and constable of Winchester castle.* This was conducted, first at
the place of his birth,! and afterwards at a school in this city,
which stood on the very spot where he afterwards founded his col
lege.! In the character of a student he was distinguished, not less
by his piety than his diligence. || He was accustomed every morn
ing to frequent the cathedral church, and to dedicate the day by
hearing the mass, which a good monk, by name Pekis, regularly
performed there, in a certain chapel of the blessed virgin.§ The
pious sentiments which he had experienced upon this spot, in his
youth, seem to have determined him afterwards, in the choice
which he made of it for his sepulchre.! The studies which he
cultivated were arithmetic, mathematics, logic, divinity, and above
all, the canon and civil laws.** It was chiefly, however, to his su
perior skill in mathematics, that he owed his fame and rise in the
world.!! He was first taken into the service of his patron, Uve
dale, as his secretary;!! in which situation he seems to have given
the first specimen of his talents in the mathematical science, by
repairing and altering the castle, |||| of which Uvedale was at that
time governor. It is certain also, that he was for some time in the
employment of his predecessor, Bishop Edington.; by whom he
was ordained priest, and recommended to the notice of Edward III.
His first office at court, which was that of surveyor of the king's
works,§§ points out the talents for which he was then most cele
brated ; and the buildings or repairs which he executed at Dover,
Queenborough, Windsor,!! and other castles, gave ample scope
for the exercise of them. His abilities were afterwards found to
be equally calculated for the management of more important busi
ness ; and he became successively secretary of state, keeper of the
* Godwin, Harpsfield, Chaundler. t Harpsfield.
t Lowth's Life of W. W. ex MS. Col. Win. p. 13. || Ibid.
§ " Young Wykeham was constant in his daily attendance, and fervent in his devotions
at this mass, viz. Pekis masse, so called from the name of a monk of the convent, who
usually officiated in it." — Lowth, p. 278.
1f Ibid, p. 277.
** Godwin, Harpsfield.
tt " R- Edwardus Gulielmi, ut exquisiti geometrae, novique cujusdam Euclidis, oonsilio
usus est." — Harpsfield.
tt " Vicetabellionis constabulario castri Wintoniensis adhaerebat." — Thorn. Chaundler,
Cancel. Oxon. in Vit. W. W. Ang. Sax.
|||| It is not likely the king would have entrusted such great works as he did to his skill,
unless he had already given proofs of it. On the other hand, our castle manifestly
appears to have undergone some essential alterations, about the time that Wickham resi
ded in it. — See our Survey.
§§ Harpsfield, Godwin, Lowth.
ITU Lowth, who rejects many popular stories told of this celebrated prelate, says, that
little credit is to be given to what is reported of his causing the following ambiguous
sentence to be inscribed upon the round tower of Windsor, after he had fiuished it—
This made Wykeham. Certainly it savours very little of his simple and modest character.

WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM. 223
privy seal, chancellor,* and, in short, the king's chief and confi- A. D.
dential counsellor, in the management of all public matters.! In *~~*~
reward for his services, the king heaped ecclesiastical benefices in
such profusion upon him,! that we should condemn any other cler
gyman but Wykeham for accepting of them; and we are only
induced to excuse him, in consequence of the proofs we have still
remaining, that he only received the revenues of the church with
one hand to expend them in her service with the other. But the
benefice which the king seems long to have had in his eye for his
favourite architect, was the see of Winchester, whenever it should
become vacant. || Accordingly, upon the death of Edington, he
recommended Wykeham in such strong terms to the monks, as a
proper person to fill it, that they were unanimous in their election
of him.§ The elect was no less acceptable to the pope than he
was to the king ;! but the former having, in Edington's life-time,
reserved, as the canon law expresses it, the next appointment to
the see of Winchester, he positively refused to confirm the election
of Wykeham ; though, on the other hand, he appointed him, by a
provisory bull, to the self- same dignity.** Being now one of the
chief prelates of the Enghsh church, we are assured that he set
about, with zeal and diligence, to fulfil the duties of his station ;
exciting himself to religious fervour, practising an abstemious and
mortified life, visiting the sick, reheving the wants of the poor,
solving intricate cases of conscience, and propagating the morahty
of the gospel, not less by his example than by his discourses.!!
Wykeham continued nine years after his consecration in high
favour with his sovereign, and was employed by him in the prin
cipal affairs of state ; when, in 1376, the old king being sunk into 1376.
a voluptuous indolence and stupidity, he was undermined by the
duke of Lancaster, who laid numberless misdemeanors to his
charge, but principally that of having embezzled the public money
which had been paid into his hands.!! In vain did he petition to
be heard in his own defence, and to be allowed to explain in what
manner all the sums in question had been spent in the pubhc ser
vice. |||| The revenues of his see were sequestered, and he con- ^
tinued under disgrace till nearly the death of Edward. Wykeham
having at length recovered his temporalities, returned to Winches
ter, and was received in solemn procession. §§ He then set about
* Godwin, &c. t Mem.
t See Contin. Hist. Win., Lowth, &c.
|| Lowth. § Chaundler.
if Lowth. ** Lowth, Appendix 5.
tt Thorn. Chaundler, Vit. W. W. .
tt Lowth. sect. iy. IIII Ibid, John Stow. §§ Godwin.

224 WILLIAM OF WYKEHAM DIES.
A. D. executing those great designs, which he had planned for the per-
l_v~' manent advantage of his diocese. These were, in the first place,
the two famous colleges, which he built and endowed, one at Win
chester, and the other at Oxford, for furnishing his diocese with a
constant supply of learned and pious clergy ;* which colleges were
admirably adapted to combine their respective studies and disci
pline to the same important end, and mutually to relieve and sup
port each other.! In the second place we must mention, not only
his re-building the grand nave of the cathedral, which is generally
known ; but also his zealous efforts for reviving the strict discipline
and edifying devotion of the monks and other clergy who served
it : for which purpose he drew up a body of statutes, every way
worthy of his prudence and zeal.! His pastoral solicitude, how
ever, extended itself not to them alone, but also to the other nu
merous clergy and religious of his diocese, whom he visited in
person; || and, in particular, he gathered together and supported a
great number of the monks, who, in consequence of the dissolution
of the alien priories, during the war with France, were left desti
tute, and nearly in a starving condition. § The vigour and perse
verance by which he recovered the famous hospital of St. Cross,
near this city, from the rapaciousness of its successive masters,
and his restoring it to its first charitable institute, have been
celebrated, amongst his other good works, by a panegyrist worthy
of his subject;! who, however, omits to mention innumerable instan
ces which may still be traced, of his beneficence to the other reli
gious establishments and churches of his diocese, as well as to its
poor ; twenty-four of whom he regularly supported, as part of his
own family. In a word, he re-built churches, repaired high-roads,
paid the debts of the insolvent prisoners, and performed so many
great actions, that we are at a loss whether to admire him most as
1404. a statesman, a bishop, or a christian. He died in 1404, and was
* Polydore Virgil, speaking of these two learned societies, says ; " Ex istis collegiis,
velut ex equo Trojano, viri, omni tempore virtute excellentes, prodeunt." — Hist. Anglic.
1. xix. t Harpsfield, speaking of the statutes of Wykeham's college, says ; " In quibus
(legibus) nee Solonis nee Lycurgi nee Platonis, imo nex eximiam sapientissimi et christi-
anissimi legislatoris prudentiam desiderabis." — N.B. Amongst the grateful sons of Wyke
ham, no one has exceeded this author. Speaking of himself, he says ; " Gulielmum
Wickamum, ut optimum parentem agnosco, suscipio, colo, cui si quid in me doctrinae,
virtutis, pietatis, et catholicae religionis, maxime acceptum refero. Quippe qui ab ineunte
aetate, in Wintoniensi primum, deinde et Oxoniensi ejus collegio, ad omnem ingenii, doc
trinae et pietatis cultum capassendum institutes sim." — Hist. Ecc. Ang. Sac. saec. xiv, c. xx.
t Harpsfield, Lowth.
|| Registr. Wyk.
§ Harpsfield. Honest John Stow, speaking of Wykeham, says ; " Neither do I doubt
but that he, that thus lived, is now with God, whom I beseech to raise up many like
bishops in England." — Annals,
1f Lowth, sect. in.

THE FRENCH MAKE A DESCENT AT SOUTHAMPTON. 225
buried in a beautiful chantry,* which he had prepared for himself A. D.
in the cathedral ; to the preservation and decoration of which, due *~^~'
attention has at all times been paid by his grateful sons, the Wyke
hamists. During the inglorious and troubled reign of the second Richard,
which commenced upon the death of his grandfather, Edward III,
June 21, 1377} if Winchester was not distinguished by many im- 1377
portant civil events, it was at least exempted from those calamities,
both foreign and domestic, which befel many other parts of the
kingdom ; though these have been falsely related also of our city,
by former historians. It is true, that within the space of a month
after the coronation, and at a time when the conqueror of Cressy
and Poictiers was imagined abroad to be still living, a French
fleet ravaged the whole sea-coast of Devonshire, Dorsetshire,
Hampshire, Sussex, and Kent, destroying many towns, and kilhng
great numbers of the inhabitants.! In particular, they made a
complete conquest of the Isle of Wight, excepting Carisbrook
castle, and laid the inhabitants under contributions ;! still, how
ever, it is absolutely false, though it has been repeatedly asserted,
that they "marched up the country and laid siege to this city, and
that the inhabitants, forming themselves into a body, furiously
attacked the besiegers, and drove them back to their ships with
great precipitation." || The French, though masters of the sea for
the space of several months, never dared to advance into the land,
or out of sight of their shipping ; and the nearest place to Win
chester which they ever approached, in this reign, was the new-
built town of Southampton : but this being strongly fortified, ac
cording to the tactics of that age, and bravely defended by Sir
John de Arundell, easily baffled their attempts to take it.§ Still
* See our Survey. »
t Walsingham, Ypodig., Polydore Virgil, Stow.
J Ypodig., Stow. ,
|| Description of the City, &c. of Winchester, by the Rev. Tho. Warton, p. 21. The
Anonymous Historian of Winchester, vol. II, p. 88, literally copies Warton, except that
he adds, by a fiction of his own invention, that " a great number of the clergy" assisted
the inhabitants of this city in driving back the French; and that he refers, in a note, to
the original author of this pretended siege of Winchester, namely, to Rapin, Hist. Eng.
by Tindal, vol. I, p. 453. The fact is, that Rapin, Tindal, Warton, and Anonymous, have
aU of them mistaken Winchelsea for Winchester : the former place having been besieged
by the French, after they had burnt Portsmouth, Rye, Hastings, and other places on the
coast, soon after the coronation of Richard, in 1377, which town of AVinchelsea, was
bravely defended by the abbot of Battle, as we are informed by Walsingham, Stow, and
other authors. The foreign writer, Rapin, falls into an incredible number of errors,
in relating the history of this country; many of which are corrected by his translator,
Tindal. The latter, however, sometimes, instead of diminishing, adds to their number;
as where he speaks of the bishop of Oxford, in the reign of Edward II, whereas every
one knows, that no such title was ever heard of, until the reign of Henry VIII.— hee
Rapin, vol. I, p. 399, note.
§ Ypodig.
VOL. I. T

226 WAT TYLER'S INSURRECTION.  WYCKLIFF.
A. D., more alarming to the kingdom in general, were those democratic
1377. insurrections, under Wat Tyler, Jack Straw, and the seditious
priest, John Ball ; which, being grounded on the new system of
Wyckliff,* threatened the overthrow of all civil government, and
the dissolution of society, so early as the fourteenth century. It
is true that this popular frenzy, which began and chiefly raged in
Kent and the maritime counties of the eastern coast, very justly
alarmed the whole kingdom ; and that the cities at the greatest
distance from the scenes of these commotions fancied these furious
levellers were at their very gates.! Nevertheless, there are no
proofs, either in the general histories of England, or in the parti
cular records of this city, to justify what has hitherto been beheved,
that a party of Wat Tyler's army repaired to this city, and, finding
the gates shut against them, plundered the suburbs, broke open
the prisons, and demolished a number of principal buildings.!
The present reign, however, did not not go off without some civil
occurrences relating to this city, and those of a more pleasing
1388. nature than what have just now been mentioned. In 1388,
Richard and his queen appear to have visited this city, in the
progress which they made into the west ; from whence they pro
ceeded towards the northern part of the kingdom. || Four years
1392. later, viz. in 1392,§ the inhabitants of London having incurred
* The learned Dr. Collier, giving an account of the doctrines of Wyckliff, in his
Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain, vol. I, p. 583, says, "Nothwithstanding his depres
sing the authority of the church, opening a new prospect of wealth to the laity, and over
straining the authority of the prince, yet some of his doctrines are very unserviceable to the
crown, and sap the foundations of civil government. For this purpose he declares against
the lawfulness of oaths, requires an exact probity to give a title to property and power,
affirms that an ill man forfeits his right to dominion, and that, as long as a prince con
tinues in mortal sin his prerogative is lost, neither does the royal style properly belong to
him."— In the same historian may be seen the invectives of this innovator, and of his
followers, against the capital punishment of criminals, against war, universities, colleges
&c, as likewise their justification of the murder of Simon Sudbury, by Wat Tyler's rabble'
Amongst the opiniones and conclusiones Magistri Joannis Wyckliff, to the condem
nation of which the name of our illustrious prelate, Wykeham, stands next to that of the
archbishop of Canterbury, were the following:—'' Error 5. Est contra scriptoram quod
vm ecclesiastici habeant possessiones temporales. Error 7. Nullus est dominus civilis
nullus est episcopus, nullus praelatus, dum est in peccato mortali."— Hen. Knvfmton de
Event. Ang. 1. v. col. 2648. ap. Twysden. '
t Knyghton.
t The Rev. Tho. Walton's Description, p. 21 ; Anonymous Historian, p. 89. It appears
that the former of these writers, in an oblivious moment, has transferred the transactions in
the borough of London to this city. Certainly there was here no prison without the walls
for the insurgents to break open. On the other hand, if they had destroyed the principal
buildings without the walls, we should have had some account of these excesses in the
records of the college, Wolvesey palace, Hyde abbey, and St. Cross, which are all so
situated. || Ypodigma Neustriae.
§ ^Anonymous Historian with his usual inaccuracy, refers this parliament to the
year 1388, and ascribes the calling of it to Bishop Wykeham, whom he makes, at that
time, chancellor of the kingdom; all which circumstances, with others there related, are
equally inaccurate. «.,¦»».

RICHARD THE SECOND DEPOSED. 227
the royal indignation, and suffered the loss of their privileges, a A.D.
parliament was summoned at Winchester, which granted the king W""J
the heavy subsidy of a tenth of all ecclesiastical property, and a
fifteenth of all lay property, throughout the kingdom, towards the
charges of the war then carried on in Ireland ; and to enable the
dukes of Lancaster and Gloucester to proceed to France, and make
peace with that country.* Nor must it be omitted that, in the
parhament held at Shrewsbury, in the year 1398, towards the con- 1398.
elusion of this reign, the memory of the unfortunate earl of Win
chester was vindicated : the statutes of exile and disherison, against
him and his son, which passed on the 14th and 15th of Edward
II, being annulled on the equitable ground that they had been
condemned without trial, f We do not find, however, that Thomas
Despenser, who obtained this act of justice due to his family, laid
claim to the earldom of Winchester, though we cannot discover
any barto the validity of such a claim.
Scarcely had the nation forgotten the violence and injustice,
which had seated the immediate predecessor of Richard II on the
throne, when this prince, circumvented by a powerful confederacy
of great men, who had but lately renewed their oaths of allegiance
to him,! found himself constrained, in 1399, to abdicate the crown; 13g9>
which, of course, was a prelude to his untimely end. No doubt
this monarch, besides great incapacity, had great faults, from which
the nation suffered in her exterior relations, as well as in her
domestic peace ; but how slight were the miseries which these oc
casioned, when compared with those resulting from the attempt to
redress them ! This interruption of the regular succession was
immediately productive of various conspiracies and insurrections ;
and, in the end, caused dreadful wars between the Houses of
York and Lancaster, which set brother against brother, in mortal
fight, and drenched the fields of England with its best blood.
Our venerable Wykeham was still alive, when the revolution took
place. He was too sage to be imposed upon by the pretexts on
which it was grounded ;|| and too grateful to forget his obhgations
to the deposed monarch, and his heroical father, the Black Prince:
but, as Henry of Bolingbroke appeared to be firmly seated, and
without a competitor, on the royal throne, under the name of
Henry IV, he saw that it was now a duty to yield obedience to his
government. This he did, however, without taking any active
part in the government, or even attending parliament^ On the
* Ypodig., Hen. Knyghton,
t Bot. Parlm. 21 Ric. II. t Ibid.
|| Knyghton. § Lowth'« Life of Wykeham, sect, vn,
T 9

228 HENRY THE FOURTH DIES.  HENRY THE FIFTH.
A. D. contrary, he henceforward confined himself to his diocese ; and
^r-' past the remaining years of his hfe in executing the office of a
good pastor towards his flock, and in preparing for his own disso
lution. It was, perhaps, chiefly for the purpose of gaining the
friendship of this illustrious prelate, who was so justly respected
throughout the whole kingdom, no less than in this city, that,
having contracted a match Avith Joan, dowager duchess of Britan-
ny, Henry chose to meet her in this city, and to have the magnifi
cent ceremony of his marriage performed in Wykeham's cathedral.*
This was the only civil event of any importance, that is recorded
of our city during the present reign.!
1413. Henry IV died at the beginning of the year 1413, and was suc
ceeded by his son," Henry V. This magnanimous prince, whose
great qualities would perhaps have shone forth no less brightly,
and probably more beneficially to his country, had he never been
a conqueror, received his education chiefly at Winchester college,
Oxford, under the tuition of his uncle, Beaufort.! Thus early
had the foundation of our Wykeham, in that university, attained
to superior renown, as a school of learning. || The greater part of
his short reign Henry spent on the Continent, in achieving those
conquests, which raised his own and his people's military character
to so great a height. Previously, however, to his embarking for
the French coast, we find him making a certain stay at the castle
of this city, with the princes of the blood and all his great barons ;
and there receiving, in the most solemn manner, the archbishop of
Bourges and the other ambassadors, who came, in the name of
Charles, the French king, to make a final effort to settle the rights
and claims of the rival monarchs, without bloodshed.§ The afore
said prelate had other conferences with the bishop of this city,
then chancellor of the kingdom ; but the pretentions of the two
courts were so widely different, that no other but the last fatal ar
gument of the sword was found capable of settling them. The
Enghsh monarch accordingly proceeded from Winchester to South-
* Ypodig. Neust.
t Where genuine materials for the history of this city are scarce, the late compiler is
too apt to fill up the vacancy with his own inventions. Such are the pretended parhament
held by Henry at Winchester, after his marriage, and the fictitious siege of this city, with
the destruction of its suburbs in the same year, by the partizans of the earl of Northum
berland, who, after all, never advanced nearer to this city than Shrewsbury, where they
were overcome, and their valiant general young Hotspur, was slain.— See Anonymous
Hist, of Winchester, v. II, p. 91. '
X Stow's Annals.
II Some authors substitute Queen's College for New College, but we adhere to the
authority of Stow.
§ Polydore Virg., Hollingshead, Speed.

ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.  BEAUFORT. 229
ampton, and having there* purged his army of the lurking traitors, A. d.
with which it was infected, set sail with it to France. The richest '~w~^
prize of his valour, in the king's estimation — his queen, Catherine,
who came over to England for the purpose of being crowned his
queen — seems to have passed through Winchester, in her way to
Southampton, where she embarked, with the duke of Bedford and
a powerful military reinforcement, to join her husband, a httle
before his premature death, in 1422.! 1422.
The bishop of this city, lately mentioned, was Henry Beaufort,
son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by his third wife,
Catherine Swyneford. He had studied both at Cambridge and at
Oxford,! but chiefly at Aix, in France ; where he apphed himself
to the branches of hterature most necessary, in that age, for a
statesman — the canon and civil law.|| He had been thrust into the
bishopric of Lincoln in a very arbitrary and irregular manner, by
Boniface IX ;§ when, upon the death of the venerable Wykeham,
he was, at the recommendation of his half-brother, Henry IV,
translated to the important and opulent see of Winchester ;! soon
after which he was graced with the scarlet hat and cloak, and be
came known under the title of the Cardinal of England. Had he
continued a lay nobleman, it is probable that his character would
have descended to posterity in the brightest colours. Certain it is,
that he was a sage counsellor of the state, an able politician, an
intrepid general, arid a true friend to his country.** Hence it is
not surprising, that his influence should have been great in the
cabinets of his brother and of his nephew ; and that, during the
early part of the reign of Henry VI, his httle nephew and god-son,
he should have been considered as the main prop of the state.
Being involved in the vortex of worldly politics, it is true, he gave
too much scope to the passions of the great, and did not allow
himself sufficient leisure to attend to the spiritual concerns of his
diocese. Nevertheless, there is no sohd ground in history for re
presenting him as that ambitious, covetous, and reprobate charac
ter, which he has been drawn by an immortal painter of human
manners ;!! who has robbed his memory, in order to enrich that
* Polydore Virg. The Anonymous Historian, p. 91, represents the conspirators as being
apprehended in this city.
t Stow's Annals.
J Notes ap. Godwin.
|| Ibid, Collier.
§ John Beckingham, bishop of that see, being, contrary to his wishes, translated to
Litchfield, to make place for Beaufort ; the consequence was, that Beckingham refused the
proffered diocese, and chose to become a private monk at Canterbury. — Godwin, De Praes.
U Ibid, Contin. Hist. Win.
** See Polydore Virg., Stow's Ann. ad an. 1448.
tt Shakspeare.

230 CARDINAL BEAUFORT.  ST. CROSS.
A d. of his adversary, termed, by popular prejudice, the good duke
^V-J Humphry of Gloucester. If he was rich, it must be admitted that
he did not squander away his money upon unworthy pursuits, but
chiefly employed it in the pubhc service, to the great relief of the
subjects,* as likewise in finishing his cathedral, which was left in
complete by his predecessor,! in repairing Hyde abbey, relieving
prisoners, and other works of piety and charity.! But what has
chiefly redeemed the injured character of Cardinal Beaufort, in
this city and neighbourhood, is the new foundation which he made
of the celebrated hospital of St. Cross. Far the greater part of
the present building was raised by him, and he added to the esta
blishment of his predecessor, Henry de Blois, funds for the sup
port of thirty-five more brethren, two-chaplains, and three women, ||
who appear to have been hospital nuns : their business was to
attend the brethren, when any of them were sick. It has been
admitted by those who are not very favourable to his memory, that
towards the end of his life he directed his thoughts chiefly towards
the welfare of his diocese. § It appears also, that he prepared him
self with resignation and contrition for his last end ; and the col
lected, judicious, and pious dispositions made in his testament,!
the codicil of which was signed but two days before his dissolu
tion,** may justly bring into discredit the opinion that he died in
1447. despair.!! He departed this hfe April 11th, 1447, and was buried
in the most elegant aad finished chantry in the kingdom.!!
If Winchester possessed few attractions for the late busy and
warlike monarch, this was not the case with his son, Henry VI, to
whose love of literature and devotion, the college, cathedral, and
other similar establishments here, furnished unfailing sources of
delight. In the ancient register of the college, |||| we discover that
this prince made several visits to our city, which are not noticed by
our ordinary chroniclers. He came first to Winchester in the year
1440. 1440,§§ at which time being weary of the vassalage in which his
uncle, the duke of Gloucester, had kept him, he threw himself into
the arms of his great uncle, Cardinal Beaufort ; by whose advice
* See an account of the sums lent by him to the state, or expended upon it, in Vetust.
Monum. vol. II, on plates 45, &c.
t See our Survey.
t Godwin, Collier, Ecc. Hist.
|| Godwin, Lowth's Life of W. W.
§ Godwin, Collier.
If Published in the Collection, of Royal and Noble Wills, by J. Nichols, an abstract of
which is given in Vetust. Monum.
** Viz. 9th. Apr. 1447, Ibid, Contin. Hist. Win.
tt Shakspeare. tt See our Survey.
Illi Published by Lowth, Life of W. W. Appendix, No. xm.
§§ Ibid.

BISHOP WAYNFLETE. 231
he released the duke of Orleans, long a prisoner in England, and a. d.
sent over commissioners to France, of whom the cardinal himself 144°-
was one, to make peace with that country.* The king's principal
business, however, in this city, at the present time, was to learn
the economy, disciphne, and plan of studies established by Wyke
ham, in his celebrated establishment here : it being his determina
tion to form another, exactly upon the same plan, near his palace
of Windsor.! This he accordingly executed, by the foundation of
Eton College ; in the establishment and forming of which, he made
use of William Waynflete, who had been head-master of Win
chester college, and now was employed in the same capacity, and
afterwards in that of provost, at Eton.! This establishment was
intended by Henry to supply his magnificent foundation of King's
College, Cambridge, in the same manner as Winchester College
supplies New College, Oxford. He came hither a second time in
November, 1444,|| after a truce had been happily obtained with 1444.
the different foreign powers ; and at the very time when his am
bassador, the earl of Suffolk, was entering into a contr a ct of mar
riage, by proxy, for him with Margaret of Anjou.§ On this
occasion, he confirmed all the privileges of the college ; and having
assisted at the solemn mass and vespers, performed on the festival
of St. Cecily, besides the usual offering, he gave a sum of money
for the decoration of the high altar.! His next progress to Win
chester, which was at the end of March, in the foUowing year,
seems to have been for the purpose of giving the meeting to his
new-married queen, who landed in the course of the next month at
Portchester, and renewed her marriage contract with Henry, at the
Premonstratensiam abbey of Titchfield,** which being under the
jurisdiction of Beaufort, it is probable that he officiated at the cere
mony. The king now left, as a present to the college, his best
robe but one, fined with sable!!. We find him here, for the fourth
time, in the following year,!! when the cardinal was drawing fast
towards his dissolution ; and a fifth time in 1448, for the purpose
of honouring the instalment of his friend, Bishop Waynflete, in
the cathedral of Winchester,|||| whom he had caused to be exalted
to that high dignity. The day after this solemnity, he assisted at
the high mass, performed at the college : where, besides his regular
* Stow, Rapin.
t Lowth, Life of W. W. p. 196. t Ibid.
li Reg. Vet. Colleg. By a different register of the college it appeals, that the king was
also here in the intermediate time, viz. 1442.
§ Stow. f Beg. Colleg.
** Stow. tt Keg. Colleg.
tt Reg. Colleg. IIII Ibid.

1448.

232 HENRY THE SIXTH.  PARLIAMENT HELD HERE.
A.d. offering,* he made a present to it of a chalice of gold, and ten
1448. pounds for the purchase of two golden cruets,! for the use of the
t~v~' altar, and a sufficient sum for providing an additional portion for
the students, on the ensuing feast of their patroness, the blessed
Virgin Mary4 Henry's last visit to Winchester, which took
1449. place in 1449, was of longer continuance, and upon more impor
tant business. He held a parhament there, which lasted a whole
month, viz. from the 16th of June to the 16th of July.|| The
chief object of this parhament seems to have been, to provide, if
possible, some means for retaining the Enghsh conquests in France;
which were now falling off more rapidly than they had been gained ;
and which, in fact, were soon after reduced to the port of Calais,
and its dependant territory. During this interval, we have a regu
lar journal of this religious prince's devotions, which were some
times paid at the cathedral church, and sometimes at the college
chapel, according to the festivals that were celebrated ; as likewise
of the prelates who officiated at vespers or high mass, on these oc
casions. These were, besides the diocesan Waynflete, Thomas
Beckington, bishop of Bath and Wells, who had been brought up
at the college here,§ and who proved himself a liberal benefactor
to it ; John Stratford, archbishop of Canterbury, then chancellor
of England; Wilham Askew, bishop of Sahsbuiy; and Adam
Moleynes, bishop of Chichester, Avho was keeper of the privy seal
and clerk of parhament.! On one occasion, when the king assisted
at the college chapel, he presented a golden tabernacle for the high
altar.** Nor were this pious monarch's benefactions confined to
the church and college. For, finding in the desolation which ap
peared upon the face of this city, the fatal consequences of the
removal of the staple from it, by his ancestor, Edward III, about
fourscore years before, he granted at his first visit here, in 1440,
the sum of forty marks annually, to the mayor and aldermen for
* Viz. 13s. 4d. t Regist. Colleg.
t " Ex sua magna gratis dedit 4s. 4d. pro un& pietantia, habendii inter socios et scho-
lares in festo Purificationis B. M. ex tunc proxime sequente." — Regist.
|| Our ordinary chroniclers and historians do not take notice of this parliament ; but
the authority of the register here quoted, is so authentic and so precise, that the fact itself
cannot be called in question. ' " A. D. 1449, A. R. Hen. VI. 27, viz. 16 Jun. in parliamento
ejusdem regis tento hie apud Wynton cum prorogatione direum usque ad 16 Julii," &c.
Vit. Thomae de Beckington, a Th. Chaundlero, Cancel. Oxon. — Ang. Sac. p. 2.
§ See his arms and devices in the college windows. " Die S. S. A. A. Petri et Pauli.
R. P. M. Th. Beckington Ep. Bathon. et Wellens. totam officium illius diei in hoc collegio
solemniter exequente, et totam collegium ipso die lautissime convivante." — Reg. Colleg.
There is not the smallest authority for that fable of the nameless historian, that "Henry
VI. was sumptuously entertained here in 1449, by the master, •warden, and fellows of the
college." He has probably mistaken for this, the entertainment given at New College to
Henry's ancestor, John of Gaunt, recorded by Lowth, Life of W. W. p. 199.
M Reg. Colleg. ** Ibid.

REDUCED STATE OF THE CITY. 233
its benefit ; to be paid out of the duties upon the cloth sold in A. D.
Winchester and its suburbs.* This consideration they continued '~r~'
to receive during the space of ten years ; when, by a clause in an
act of a parhament held at Leicester, particularly affecting corpora
tions, they found themselves deprived of that advantage. They,
therefore, in 1452, addressed an humble petition to their royal 1452.
benefactor, setting forth their distress, and humbly begging that
the aforesaid grant might be renewed to them, notwithstanding the
late act.! By the tenor of the petition, we learn the following in
teresting particulars : — That the city Avas then accustomed to pay
to the crown, for the royalties of Winchester, yearly, 112 marks ;
and forty shillings per annum to the hospital of St. Mary Magda
len; besides a tax that had lately been imposed of the 15th penny.
In addition to this, they were obliged to keep the city walls and
gates in good and defensible repair. These several charges added
together, made a sum, which it would indeed have been easy for
them to raise in the time of their former prosperity, but now they
represented that 997 houses were actually empty of inhabitants,
and 17 parish churches were shut up ; which diminution of popu
lation caused the assessments to fall so heavy on certain persons,
that some of them had no less than four marks to pay, each one
for his own share. Henry was touched with the distress of a place
for which he bore so particular a regard ; and, at the hazard of in
curring the odium of parhament, by acting in opposition to one of
their late ordinances, he granted the petition of this city, to its full
extent.! In other respects Winchester continued quiet and undisturbed,
whilst frantic riot convulsed the metropolis and its neighbourhood;
where Jack Cade, a robber and murderer, || under the name of
Captain Mendall,§ undertook to redress public grievances and
make the nation happy. At the same time similar excesses pre
vailed in the counties on both sides of this, viz. in Sussex and
in Wiltshire.! In the latter of these, one of the prelates, whom
we have mentioned as lately officiating in solemn state at Winches
ter, Wilham Askew, bishop of Salisbury, was dragged from the
altar, as he was performing divine service at Edington, and mur
dered by the rabble, for no other reason, than that he attended the
court, and was the king's confessor.** At length, an all-wise 1450.
* Petition of Winchester, 30 Hen. VI, in the Tower. t Ibid.
t Billa Hen. VI. lmo Feb. ann. 30, ejusdem.— Ibid.
II Royal proclamation against Cade.— Polyd. Virg. 1. xxm.
§ Stow. H lbld<
** Viz. June 10, 1450.— Godwin, De Praes.
VOL. I. U

234 HENRY THE SIXTH MURDERED.  EDWARD THE FOURTH.
A. D. Providence, which seems to have designed, amongst other ends, to
^~ perfect the virtue of that beneficent, merciful, and saint-like
king, Henry VI, and to render him Avorthy of that celestial crown,
which Avas the chief object of his ambition ; permitted him to be
first bereaved of his grandeur, and then of his life, with circum
stances of the greatest insult and barbarity.* This revolution was
a heavy misfortune to Winchester, in depriving it of a prince, who
had manifested so great a partiality for it, and in causing it, on this
very account, to be considered by the reigning prince, as a place
disaffected to his government.
1471. This prince, who now assumed the title of Edward IV, was the
grandson of that earl of Cambridge, who suffered the death of a
traitor at Southampton, for a conspiracy against Henry V, as he
was embarking upon his expedition to France. Though nothing
can excuse the ambition of Edward, which caused torrents of blood
to flow from one end of England to the other ; yet, having obtained
his object, he proved himself moderate ahd wise. In the first parha
ment held by him, upon his coming to the throne, he caused a
general act of oblivion to be passed,! with the exception of a very
few individuals. This included the citizens of Winchester in ge
neral; to Avhom, of course, notAvithstanding their attachment to
the deposed monarch, he behaved with his usual affability and
kindness, in the progress Avhich he soon after made hither, on his
way from Southampton to the marches of Wales.! With respect
to their venerable bishop, he seems to have paid a particular atten-
* No prince ever underwent greater or more numerous vicissitudes of fortune than
Henry VI. Bom to the inheritance of the kingdom of England, and of a great part of
France, he was proclaimed at Paris sovereign of both countries in 1422, being then not a
year old. Having been crowned under this title at Westminster, he afterwards was
crowned under the same title at Paris, in the year 1430, by the cardinal bishop of Win
chester. The course of his victories in France, being first stopped by a martial maid,
Joan of Arc, he is gradually stripped of all his foreign dominions : soon after which he
finds an unexpected competitor for the English crown, in one of his own noblemen, Richard
duke of York, aided by the earl of Warwick ; at length, in July, 1460, he is overcome and tak
en prisoner by them at the battle of Northampton. Six months after this he is restored to
his liberty and his power by his Amazonian queen ; after having gained two battles, one
at Wakefield, and the other at St. Alban's : in the fonner of which, his rival, Richard
duke of York, is slain. Henry's triumph, however, was of short duration ; for Richard's
son, Edward, succeedingto his claim iu March, 1461, gains the important victory of Towton,
which transfers the actual possession of the crown from the former to the latter ; who,
after a disgraceful exile in Scotland, aud some ineffectual attempts at Hexham and else
where in England, is a second time taken prisoner at Cletherwood, near Bungerley Hip-
pingstones, in 1463, and committed close prisoner to the Tower. In 1470, Edward is
conquered in his turn, at Bandbury fiejld, by Henry's friends, and soon after aken pri
soner ; but, effecting his escape, recovers his former power. Being however again worsted,
and obliged to fly, our pious Henry is restored to his liberty, and to the undisputed pos
session of the English throne. But this turn of affairs lasted only six months : for the
14th of April, 1471, his party is completely routed in the fatal field of Barnet, and he is
once more committed to the tower, where the next month he is murdered by the duke of
Gloucester. t Polydore Virg. 1. xxiv. + stow.

EDWARD THE FOURTH DIES. — RICHARD THE THIRD. 235
tion to him ; visiting his new founded college ;* and, besides the a. D.
common acts of grace, granted to the clergy, issuing a special par- x^\
don in his favour.! Still, however, though Edward was the favourite
in London, it is probable that Henry continued to be the darling
both of the prelate and people of Winchester; and that they gave
such proof of their attachment as was in their power, during the
half year that Henry wore the crown, towards the conclusion of
1470, and in the beginning of 1471, is also probable; as another
special pardon was found necessary, for the security of Waynflete,
in the latter of these years.! It seems also that Henry's queen,
Margaret, who landed at Weymouth from the Continent on the
very day of the battle of Barnet, was marching this way to recruit
her army, when she heard of the fatal issue of that engagement ;
which caused her to fly for sanctuary to the celebrated abbey of
Beauheu, in the neighbouring forest. || Whatever jealousy Edward
might entertain of the dispositions of this city in his regard, it is
a proof that he considered it a place of considerable importance
and dignity, by his conferring, soon after his restoration, the earl
dom of it, which title had long been extinct, upon one of his
greatest favourites; to whom, at the same time, he granted the
extraordinary privilege of, quartering the foyal arms of England
with his own.^ This was Lewis de Bruges, baron Gruthuyse, a
Flemish nobleman, who had saved the king's person from pirates,
and hospitably received him in his late flight and distress. § To
prevent giving umbrage to his subjects, by conferring such high
marks of honour upon a foreigner, he contrived that the parhament .
should present him a petition to this effect.!
Edward IV died in 1483, and it was easy to foresee that the "83.
young king, Edward V, and his brother, the duke of York, would
not long remain alive, to obstruct the ambition of their remorseless
uncle, Richard, whose hands were already stained with the blood
of so many royal personages.** Having procured their murder,
he soon experienced the delusive nature of those charms, which his
imagination had affixed to the possession of a crown ; his short
reign being one scene of alarms, commotions, and bloodshed, to
* R. G. Vet. Mon. vol. II.
t Ibid. t Ibid.
|| Polydore Virg. § Stow, Rapin.
f Iidem. The Anonymous Historian of Winchester, p. 93, speaking of this transaction,
tells us, that Lewis de Binges was made earl of Winchester, as a reward of his signal
intrepidity and courage in the field of battle ; that he was so promoted m a fresh list of
nobility: this happened in 1439 ; that Henry's forces were then totally overthrown, and
Edward himself then re-crowned. It is needless to prove that every one of these five
particulars is absolutely fictitious.
»* Henry VI, prince Edward his son, and his own brother, the duke ot Clarence.
u 2

236 ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.  BISHOP WAYNFLETE.
A. D. which at length he fell a victim. His first progress was into the
1483' western counties, in which the disaffected lords had raised their
standard against him.* On this occasion he appears to have been
at Winchester, on his way to Sahsbuiy; where his former associate,
but now declared foe, the duke of Buckingham, falhng into his
hands, was beheaded.! Soon after this, the expected deliverer df
his country, the duke of Richmond, made his first appearance on
the neighbouring coast,! which he knew to be full of his partisans.
He found it, however, fortified and hned with troops, which the
tyrant had collected to oppose him.|| This circumstance1 renders
it probable, that our city, being the chief rallying point along a
great extent of coast, was at this juncture put into a posture of
defence. The duke's second expedition was directed against a
coast equally friendly to him, and not so well guarded, that of
South Wales. He accordingly landed at Milford Haven, without
opposition, and, with still increasing forces, marched into the heart
of the kingdom ; where, upon Bosworth field, he put a final period
to the primes of Richard, and to the lengthened glories of the
House of Plantagenet.
During the whole melancholy season of civil war and mutual
slaughter, the see of Winchester was governed by the same prudent
and exemplary prelate. This was Wilham Waynflete, so called
from the place of his birth, but whose true name was Patten.§
He was first educated in the college of this city, whence he removed
to Wykeham's college at Oxford, to finish his studies. He after
wards became head master of the college here;! which station he
filled with so much credit to himself, during the space of twelve
1440. years, that Henry VI, coming hither in 1440, as has been said
above, to take a model of his new foundation of Eton,c0uld ndt
be satisfied until he had procured the consent of Waynflete to
remove thither, with a select number of his scholars,**' in order to
give a beginning to it. Remaining there three years in Quality
1447. of master, and four years in that of provost;!! he was, in VMf,
upon the death of Cardinal Beaufort, recommended by the king^ on
account of his piety, learning,' and prudence^!! and chosen by the
monks to the mitre of this diocese. His royal patron honoured
with his presence the ceremony of his enthronement. Being now
in the possession of ample revenues, he did not wait until the con-
* Polydore Virg., Stow. t Iidem.
t In the neighbourhood of Poole. — Polydore Virg.
H Ibid, Stow. § Godwin.
11 Idem, Chaundler, Harpsfield.
** Viz. 35 scholars and five fellows.
tt Aichiv. Colleg. Eton, Not, ap. Godwin, tt Godwin.

DEATH OF WAYNFLETE. 237
elusion of his life to make the best use of what he could spare out a. d.
of them ; but, the very year after his consecration, made a begin- 1447'
ning of that seminary of learning, which has hardly had its equal
for magnificence* in Europe, Magdalen College, Oxford. Having
entered thus early upon this great work, he had the satisfaction,
notwithstanding the turbulency of the times, to see it completed.
He was also the founder of a well-built free-school, in his native
town,! and was a benefactor to Eton College,! to his cathedral, ||
and to other places ; not only by his wealth, but also by his talents
in architecture, which appear to have been considerable. Though
his turn of mind rather led him to the pursuits of literature and
piety, than to those of pubhc life, yet he transacted several important
affairs of state, and was, during the space of three years, chancellor
of the kingdqm.§ Loyalty, gratitude, piety, and every commenda
ble motive, contributed to make him a partisan of his much-injured
friend and patron, Henry VI. He accordingly took such measures
in his behalf, both before Edward came to the crown and after
wards, when he was obhged to abdicate it during the space of half
a year, that on each occasion Waynflete stood in need of a special
pardon, as we have said before, from the successful usurper. There
is no doubt, however, that he comphed with the wishes of the pa
cific and unambitious Henry, in submitting to the circumstances of
the times, and yielding obedience to the king de facto, when the
cause of the king de. jure was hopeless. He hved to witness
the joy of the nation, and the hopes of Winchester, in conse
quence of the victory of Bosworth ; dying at his palace of Waltham,
near this city, in 1486 ;! whence his body was conveyed to the i486.
cathedral and buried in the sumptuous chantry, which is still seen
there.** * Godwin.
t Leland, Itinerary. See a plate and an account of it in Vetust. Monum. vol. Ill,
plate 6.
t Ibid, vol. II, p. 49. II See our Survey.
§ Hen. Whait., Ang. Sac. If Godwin.
** See our Survey.

ACCESSION OF HENRY THE SEVENTH. 239

CHAP. XII.
V
Accession of Henry VII. — He brings his Queen to lie-in at Win
chester. — The Cornish Insurgents march through this City. —
Succession of Bishops, Langton, Courtney, and Fox. — Character
and Transactions of the last-mentioned. — Beginning of the Reign
of Henry VIII. — His Visit to Winchester with the Emperor
Charles V. — Cardinal Wolsey succeeds to this See. — His conduct
in the Affair of the Divorce. — This brings on the Regal Supremacy
and the Suppression of Monasteries, which entirely changes the
face of Winchester. — The City still more defaced by the Protector
Somerset, under Edward VI. — Conduct of Bishop Gardiner. —
Dr. Poynet appointed to succeed him. — Profanation of Sacred
Things, and Dismembering of the Bishopric. — Accession of Queen
Mary. — Solemnity of her Marriage at Winchester. — Restores it, in
part, to its ancient Splendour. — The Persecution carried on in her
Reign. — An Account of the Protestant Sufferers belonging to this
City. — Death and Funeral of Bishop Gardiner. — He is succeeded
by Dr. White. — Queen Elizabeth mounts the Throne, and re-
assumes Ecclesiastical Supremacy. — Effects of this Measure in
the Cathedral and CoUege of Winchester. — Dr. Horne appointed
to this Diocese. — The latter again dismembered. — The City is de
faced, and falls into great Ruin and Poverty. — A new Charter is
granted. — Substance of the same. — The College receives a Mark
of Public Distinction. — Succession of Bishops, Dr. Horne, Dr.
Watson, Dr. Cooper, Dr. William Wickham, Dr. Day, and Dr.
Bilson. — Persecution carried on by Elizabeth against the Catholics.
— An Account of the Sufferers belonging to this City.
In proportion to the the weakness of Henry Tudor's direct he- A. D.
reditary claim to the crown of England — being descended from a J4^'

240 henry's eldest son born in Winchester
A. d. remote and illegitimate branch of the Lancastrian family* — he was
1485. industrious in fencing it round with every other kind of title that
it was possible to set up. The best and the most popular of these
was his marriage with Elizabeth, eldest daughter of the late Edward
IV, which transferred into his family the right of the House of
York ; though he himself^ who held the princes of that line to have
been so many usurpers, did not appear to attach any great value to
it.! The other titles, on which he grounded his claim, were — 1st,
the right of conquest;! 2dly, an act of parliament,|| not to men
tion a papal bull, which he also procured in favour of his preten
sions ;§ and finally, his supposed descent from Cadwallader, the
last king of the Britons, who died in the seventh century.! This
. latter title, so congenial with the feelings of a Welshman, who con
sidered the whole Enghsh nation as intruders and usurpers, was a
favourite one with Henry. To give a better colour to this, a story
was now invented and industriously spread abroad, concerning a
pretended revelation made to Cadwallader, purporting that his pos
terity should regain the sovereignty of Britain.** With the same
view, instead of naming his eldest son Henry, which was his own
name, and that of all preceding sovereigns of the House of Lan
caster, the king caused him to be christened Arthur, in honour of
the most renowned amongst the British princes ; and as, by an error
which has already been accounted for,!! this city was supposed to
have been particularly ennobled by the residence and feats of that
hero, he, when his queen was near the time of her lying-in, has
tened to conduct her hither,!! m order that the hoped-for prince
might be born in the very castle supposed to have been first built
by Arthur, and to be still illustrated by the monuments of his
power ahd magnificence. |||| The nation at large, however, were
* Catherine Swyneford was not married to John of Gaunt at the time of the birth of
Henry's ancestor, John Beaufort, earl of Somerset. The subsequent marriage of the
parties, legitimated him and the other children in the same case, according to the canon
law, but not according to the law of the land. It was on occasion of the bishop's pro
posing, in the reign of Henry of Winchester, to render the latter conformable to the
former, in this point ; that the barons made that memorable resolve : "Nolumus leges
Anglia mutari."
t Rapin. t Rym. Fcedera. || Ibid. § Rapin.
If Harpsfield, Polydore Virg.
** "Memoriae proditum ferunt vocem divinitus Cadovalladro, ultimo Britonnarum regi,
redditam, ejus progeniem rursus regnaturum." — Polyd. Virg. 1. xxvi. N.B. — No hint of
such a prophecy occurs in Geoffry of Monmouth, Mathew of Westminster, or any of the
other ancient writers, in treating of Cadwallader.
tt P- 5.
tt "Eboracensis provinciae statu collocato Londinum revertitur, ac paucis post diebus
Vintoniam petit, ubi loci Elizabeth regina puerum peperit, quem Arthurum appellavit,
atque Londinum aliquanto post regreditar." — Polyd. Virg. 1. xxvi.
IIII These pretended feats of Arthur at Winchester, and the round table, in particular, are
celebrated by John Harding, a favourite poet of Edward IV. «

CORNISH MEN PASS THROUGH WINCHESTER. 241
much less interested in the restoration of the rouge dragons' ho- a. d.
nours,* than in the union of the red and white roses, in the person l^w
of this royal infant ; which promised to staunch those torrents of
blood that had so long flowed in the wars between the adverse
parties. No words can heighten the importance which they at
tached to this joyful event;! and the eyes of all England were
directed toAvards Winchester, which was the scene of it. In return
for the demonstrations of joy, which this city exhibited on the
occasion, it is natural to suppose, from former precedents, that the
king renewed its charters ; though no actual proof or trace of such
a transaction is now known to exist.! There is evidence, how
ever, of his confirming one ancient privilege of Winchester — that
of keeping the standard weights and measures for the whole king
dom ; by his presenting it with a new set of them of superior
workmanship and materials to the old ones, which are still pre
served here in the Guildhall. ||
The attempts of certain Yorkists, in favour of the impostors,
Simnel, and Perkin Warbeck, were more vexatious than dangerous
to the government, and do not appear to have ever reached this
city. The only time in this reign that it was disturbed by any
alarm of war, was in 1497; when the miners of Cornwall, being 1497.
provoked at the heavy taxes which were then imposed upon the
nation, and the rigours exercised in collecting them,§ took up
arms, and marched through this city, under the command of Tou-
chet, Lord Audley,! in their route from Wells and Salisbury into
Kent ; where they expected to find the inhabitants equally disaf
fected and resolute with themselves. It does not appear, however,
that the least violence was committed by this army, either at Win
chester,** or at any other place in their march, except at Taunton ;
* The famous British standard, see p. 49, also one of the supporters of the Tudors'
arms. t See the account of a contemporary writer, Bernadus Andreas, in Speed's succession
of Eng. Mon. p. 958.
t The Anonymous Historian asserts, as a positive fact, that the city charter was re
newed at this time. — Vol. II, p. 94. But it is a familiar practice with him to assert facts
without authorities.
|| These measures have been removed to the Muniment Room over the West Gate of
the city. — Ed.
§ Polydore Virg. f Erroniously called by Warton and Wevel, Lord Dudley.
** It is certain, from the silence of some historians, and the positive assurance of others,
that the insurgents committed no violence, except that at Taunton. — See Polydore, Stow,
Speed, &c. In conformity with these, Rapin says, "Audley putting himself at their head,
led them directly to Salisbury, and from thence to Winchester, without suffering them to
commit any violence, and obliging them to be satisfied with a bare subsistence.— Vol. I.
p. 679. If we give credit to these historians, what can we say of the following extract,
unaccompanied with any authority or reference whatever, from the Rev. T. Warton's
Description of this City, &c. pp. 21, 22, which as usual is copied by the Anonymous His
torian, with additional errors, Hist, of Winch, vol. II, p. 94, p. 95 ? " In the year 1497, the
city of Winchester was attacked by the rebels, under the command of Lord Dudley, (for
VOL. I. X

242 ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.  BISHOP COURTNEY.
A. d. where meeting with the provost of Perin, who was the commis-
1497. sioner for collecting the taxes in those parts, they put him to death.
Notwithstanding this exemption from external calamities, our city
continued still to decline in its trade and population; so that it
became necessary, about this time, to repeat the measure, which
Bishop Wykeham had first practised, that of uniting different
parishes together. One cause of this decline was, that woollen
caps, which had formed a principal article of its manufacture,*
began to be out of fashion about this time. Other causes were,
those strange disorders pecuhar to the English constitution, the
sweating sickness,! and the plague, Avhich successively afflicted the
1500. inhabitants of the city. The latter, in the last year of the fifteenth
century,! carried off the bishop of this see, at a very critical period
to him, as we shall presently observe.
i486. Bishop Waynflete died in 1486, living just long enough to behold
the restoration of the House of Lancaster, in the person of Henry
VII. His death gave the king an opportunity of promoting to
this superior see, by means of the pope's provision, || which he
easily obtained, a prelate, who, both on his own account, and that
of his family, merited his utmost regard. This was Peter Courtney,
of the illustrious family of that name in Devonshire; who, being
bishop of Exeter, had during the late tyranny, emigrated with his
brother, Sir Edward Courtney, into France, and enlisted in the
cause which was now triumphant. He had left ample monuments
of his munificence to his late cathedral ; to which he presented
one of the largest bells in Europe, at the same time enlarging the
north tower, and rendering it fit to receive this noble gift. § It
does not appear, however, that he was otherwise liberal to the
cathedral of this city, except in concurring with the prior and
monks in carrying on the interior decorations, which seem never
to have been suspended, from the death of Wykeham until a later
period than that in question. Bishop Courtney died the 2d of
1492. September, 1492,! and was buried in the cathedral ; but the exact
situation of his grave is almost the only one belonging to any of
our prelates since the conquest, which is left to conjecture, and
cannot be absolutely ascertained.**
Audley,) who entering the city by storm, plundered the inhabitants, and committed many
other acts of violence. The mayor and his brethren, and many of the citizens, sheltered
themselves in the castle, which was also attacked with great fury by the rebels ; who find
ing its fortifications too strong to admit of being taken, endeavoured to capitulate with
the garrison, which being refused he retired." * Trussel's MSS.
t Polydore Virg. ad. an. 1486. t Viz. 1500. || Ang. Sac, Contin. Wint.
§ Godwin, De Praesul. See also an account of Exeter cathedral, lately published by
the Society of Antiquaries, accompanying Mr. Carter's beautiful plates of that cathedral.
1i Godwin, Ang, Sac. ** See our Survey.

BISHOP LANGTON. 243
Bishop Langton, who next wore the mitre of this see, Avas a A. D.
native of Westmorland, and received his first education in a con. in
vent of Carmelite friars, in the town of Appleby.* Thence he
removed, first to Oxford, and next to Cambridge, where he took
academical degrees. He afterwards became provost of Queen's
College, Oxford, and master of St. Julian's Hospital, in Southamp
ton.! His first step in the episcopacy was the see of St. David's,
to which he was consecrated in 1483. In the following year, he
was translated to Salisbury, and from thence to the see of Win
chester in 1499. He is called, by his learned biographer,! a second 1499.
Mecaenas, on account of the protection which he afforded to htera
ture and learned men. Not content with encouraging the two
colleges, which were opposite to the gates of his palace in this
city ; he had a number of youths, whom he caused to be educated
in the palace itself, particularly in grammar and music, and whose
exercises he was accustomed to attend daily in person, in order to
encourage and reward those who made the greatest proficiency in
them. || He himself was renowned for his learning, piety, and
prudence in the management of business. Hence, upon the death
of Morton, archbishop of Canterbury, he was deemed the fittest
person to succeed him, and was actually elected to that dignity ; §
when, a few days afterwards, in the same year, 1500, he was car- 1500.
ried off by the plague,! which proved fatal to two other distin
guished prelates, Rotheram, archbishop of York, and Alcock, of
Ely. He was buried in the chapel he had prepared for this pur
pose, at the eastern end of our cathedral, which was once no less
curious for its elegant workmanship, than it is still for its quaint
devices.** The circumstance of the two sees of Canterbury and Winchester
being both vacant, gave to the cathedral monks of the former a
claim to ecclesiastical jurisdiction over those of the latter ; which
they accordingly exercised,!! by deputing some of their number to
visit the monastery here, and to enquire into the number of its
members, and the state of its revenues and discipline. It is pro
bable, that the expensive works, which Prior Silkstead was then
meditating, or actually carrying on, in his church and monastery,
had led to an opinion that the monks here were in danger of exceed
ing their income. On this occasion, the number of the priory
* Athen* Oxon. Ant. Wood. t Ibid. i ?' j" •
|| Ibid. § Richardson, Not. ap. Godwin. II Godwin.
** Amongst these is still seen a musical note, called a long, proceeding from'a tun,.
being a rebus on the name Langton. — Ant. Wood.
tt Regist. Cant. ap. Hen. Wart, in success. Prior. Wint.
x 2

244 BISHOP FOX.
A.D. monks Avas found to be thirty-five, and their annual revenue to be
1500. joOOZ.* In short, we are left to conclude that no abuse nor mis
conduct was then discovered, as no new order or regulation then
took place ; and as Prior Silkstead was left at liberty, in conjunc
tion with the iUustrious prelate, who soon after took possession of
this see, to pursue their noble and magnificent plans for the repairs
and decorations of the cathedral and monastery.
The prelate alluded to was Richard Fox, the chief of all the
king's confidential friends and counsellors. He had studied both
at Oxford and Cambridge,! but happened to be at Paris, at the
time when Henry, then duke of Richmond, went thither to solicit
the aid of the French king, in his intended expedition against
Richard III. On this and on many other occasions, he rendered
his prince the most essential services,! and acquired the highest
character with him for talents and fidelity. Soon after the victory.
of Bosworth field, he was, upon the translation of Peter Courtney
to this see, made bishop of Exeter ; which he held six years, in
addition to his civil employments of keeper of the privy seal and
secretary of state. He was then transferred to the united sees of
Bath and Wells, which he governed two years ; when he was pro
moted to the bishopric of Durham, where he had opportunities of
displaying his munificence and architectural talents, || during the
six years that he occupied that station. At length, the king find
ing that his frequent absence, at so great a distance from the court,
whilst attending to the affairs of his diocese, was prejudicial to
his service,§ and wishing to have his advice on all affairs of conse
quence, procured to have him removed in the same year that Lang
ton died, to the see of Winchester.! No higher proof of the con
sideration in which the king held him can be adduced, than that
he was chosen to be sponsor to the young prince, who was after
wards Henry VIII.** Our prelate continued for some time to be
one of the chief counsellors of the son, as he had been of the father.
At length, either mortified at finding himself supplanted by Wolsey,
whom he had introduced to the king's service ; or else being desi
rous of consecrating the latter end of his life to the concerns of
religion and the sanctification of his soul ;!! he retired to his cathe-
* Regist. Cant. ap. Hen. Warton. t Godwin. t Harpsfield.
|| Athen. Oxon. § Harpsfield. % Richardson.
** In the account of this prelate, Vetust. Monum. on plate 1, vol. II, this fact is denied,
and it is asserted that Fox was only the baptising prelate. The authority, however, there
referred to cannot be compared with those of the contemporary historian Harpsfield, Hist.
Ecc. Ang. Saec. xv, u. 20, and of Godwin, De Prassul. Not to mention that Greenwich,
being out of the diocese of Winchester, it would have been irregular in the king to name
our prelate to perform the solemn rite, which there took place.
tt Harpsfield.

HE FOUNDS CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD. 245
dral city, and apphed himself exclusively to these objects. He a. D.
was now indefatigable in preaching the word of God to his people, ^
and in exciting his clergy to the performance of the same duty*
He was also unbounded in his charities to the poor, whom he
assisted with food, clothes, and money ; at the same time exercising
hospitality, and promoting the trade of the city, by a large esta
blishment which he kept up at Wolvesey, of 220 servants, being all
men.! The public works, which he is known to have left behind
him, suffice to prove the greatness both of his genius and his bene
ficence. The most celebrated of these is Corpus Christi College,
Oxford, which he built and founded ; endowing it not with eccle
siastical property, as had frequently been done in similar instances,
but with estates which he purchased for this express purpose.!
His first intention in making this establishment was, that it should
serve as a nursery for the monks of his cathedral church : but he
was afterwards dissuaded from pursuing this intention, by Oldham,
bishop of Exeter, who foretold the approaching ruin of the monas
teries; and he accordingly founded it for secular clergymen. ||
Having finished this seminary, he industriously drew to it some of
the most celebrated scholars of the age, such as Ludovicus Vivez,
the divine; Nicholas Crucher, the mathematician; Clement Ed
wards and Nicholas Utten, professors of the Greek tongue ; like
wise Thomas Lupset, Richard Pace, and Reginald Pole, who was
afterwards cardinal ;§ men of the greatest distinction for learning *
and talents. Our prelate also founded a grammar-school, in the
town of Taunton, dependant on this see ; and another at Grantham,
which was near the place of his birth.! He extended his charity
and munificence to many other foundations, particularly within his
own diocese ;** amongst others, the enchanting ruins of Netley
Abbey still attest that he was a benefactor to that monastery. But
the monuments which chiefly tend to embalm his memory in this
city, are those great and beautiful works, both within its cathedral
and on the outside of it, which have hardly been equalled in their
kind, and never surpassed. On these we shall find another oppor
tunity of enlarging.!! During the last ten years of Bishop Fox's
life, it pleased the Almighty to deprive him of sight.!! ^a-r> bow-
ever, from sinking under this trial, or relaxing in his zealous efforts,
the only use he made of this deprivation was to apply himself more
assiduously to prayer and meditation, which at length became
almost uninterrupted, both day and night. || [| ,In 1528 he finished 152R.
* Harpsfield. t Idem. t Idem.
|| Godwin, Dodd, U. G, iu Vet. Mon. § Harpsfield. fl Godwin.
** Idem, Dodd. tt In our Survey. tt Godwin. |||| Harpsfield.

246 HENRY THE EIGHTH VISITS THE CITY.
A. d his pious course, and was buried in that exquisite chantry, which,
1528- amongst his other works, he had prepared for that purpose, imme
diately behind the high altar, on the south side.*
1509. Henry VII departed this hfe, after a reign of nearly twenty-four
years, with a high reputation for wisdom and equity ;! except as
to certain extortions, of which Empson and Dudley bore the blame
and the punishment. To the prince who next mounted the throne,
it was natural for the body of the clergy, and, in a certain degree,
for this city also, to look up as to a special patron. Henry VIII
had received a theological education, and St. Thomas Aquinas was,
at all times, his favourite author. It was even understood that he
was to have been a churchman, had not his brother Arthur's pre
mature fate opened to him the road to the throne.! On the other
hand, this city, which was now chiefly distinguished by the number
and splendour of its ecclesiastical estabhshments, had for its bishop
the chief counsellor of the state and the godfather of the king.
Accordingly, in the early part of his reign, he gave a very uncom
mon mark, for a sovereign, of his zeal in the cause of the church,
by his writing a book against the new opinions of Martin Luther, ||
which he dedicated to Pope Leo X. The latter, in return, addressed
a bull to him, replete with praises, and conferring upon him the
title of Defender of the Faith ; of which Henry was not a httle
vain, and which he and his successors, the sovereigns of 'England,
have ever since borne. § We shall soon see how these expectations
were disappointed; but, in the mean time, it is proper to notice
other transactions.
It seems that Henry had early visited this city, in his western
1522. progress; but in 1522, the year after he acquired the above-men
tioned title, the emperor, Charles V, coming to England to confer
with him, the two sovereigns directed their course this way,! an£I
spent a week together,** viewing the antiquities of this renowned
city. Their notice here was particularly attracted by the famous
* Tlie last-quoted author, who enlarges, with so much unction, on the merits of Bishop
Fox, testifies that he was present at his funeral, being then a student in Winchester
College. t The object of one of his wiseand equitable laws, was to provide counsel gratis for
all persons having any trial or suit, who were too poor to procure it otherwise. Con
cerning this matter, Harpsfield writes as follows : — " Fuit et illud sanctissime constitu-
tum, quod utinam hodie accuratius observaretur, ut tenuiores et inopes haberent, qui
gratis eorum causas in foro disceptarent, neque quidquam, litium causa, quovis modo ab
eis abradaretur." — Saec. xv, c. vii.
t Dodd's Ch. Hist, of Eng. part i, art. vi ; Collier's Ecc. Hist, part n,b. i.
|| The Assertion of the Seven Sacraments against Luther. See the work itself, which
was republished about the middle of the late century.
§ Polydore Virg., Collier, &c. 1f Stow's Annals.
** From June 22 to July 1.

CARDINAL WOLSEY, BISHOP. 247
Round Table, then kept in the castle, and now in the County Hall ; a. d
which was firmly believed to be the identical table, which the '-*-'
British king Arthur had erected there just a thousand years before
that period, for celebrating feasts of chivalry.* The table was
newly painted on the occasion,! and a distich, in honour of the
illustrious visitors, was placed beneath it, which was legible for a
long time afterwards.! The following year the king was again in
this city, and made a visit to the college. ||
Upon the death of Bishop Fox, it was easy to foresee that this
bishopric would fall into no other hands than those of the great
and mighty cardinal, who then engrossed all the royal favour, and
a great part of the royal benefits, and the richest church livings.
Wolsey was accordingly put into possession of the temporahties of
this see, in October, 1528 ; though he did not receive his bulls, 1528.
and was not installed,§ until the beginning of the following year.
However, as to possess this rich bishopric, in commendam, it was
necessary to resign the care of the church of Durham, the revenues
of the latter were bestowed on a different kind of favourite, the
Lady Ann Boleyn,! maid of honour to the reigning queen.** At
this period the king, after having hved twenty years with his queen,
Catherine of Arragon, and having had several children by her,
affected to entertain scruples concerning the validity of his mar
riage.!! He accordingly left nothing untried, to induce Clement
VII, who was then pope, to pronounce a sentence of divorce between
them. The pontiff so far comphed with his wishes, as to appoint
ecclesiastical commissioners to take cognizance of this cause, and
to pronounce upon it. These were, Cardinal Wolsey, now bishop
of our see, and Cardinal Campegius, who was bishop of Sahsbuiy.
But Henry's passion proceeding faster in this business, than the
commissioners found themselves at liberty to act, the queen ap
pealing to Rome, and the pope revoking the cause to his own
immediate tribunal,!! the king became furious, and was bent on
revenge. His first victim was his great favourite, the new bishop
* Trussell's MSS.
t Trussel's MSS. The characters in the names of the twenty-four knights, and the
costume in the dress of the king, were those of the reign of Henry VIII, and have since,
at each fresh painting, been copied, though incorrectly.
t The distich was as follows : —
Carolus, Henricus vivant ; Defensor uterque i
Henricus Fidei, Carolus Ecclesia.
|| Regist. Colleg. § Ang. Sac, Collier. f Stow.
** Heylin's Hist. Qu. Eliz., Polydore Virg.
tt At the commencement of these pretended scruples, viz. in the year 1528, it is evi
dent, by two letters from Ann Boleyn to the cardinal — in one of which Henry also writes,
that the intrigue between her and the king was already formed. These letters are pub
lished by Collier, p. 33, from Burnet,
tt Heylin's Hist., pollier.

248 CARDINAL WOLSEY'S DISGRACE AND DEATH.
A. D. of this see ;* who was stripped of his offices and property, and
]53°- what he most regretted, even of those treasures which he had set
apart for the foundation of his two colleges at Oxford and Ipswich.f
At first he was only banished to Esher, one of the episcopal houses
belonging to Winchester ; but was afterwards ordered to withdraw
into the north, to the diocese of York, which he held together with
that of Winchester. ToAvards the conclusion of the same year,
1530, being sent for again up to London, but in quality of a pri
soner, he was probably saved from the last infamy and punish
ment, by a natural death, which overtook him on his journey. He
died, lamenting, with too much reason, that he had served his
prince more faithfully than he had served his God.! Whatever
the crimes were that had been selected for Wolsey's impeachment,
had he reached London, nothing can exceed the injustice and
tyranny implied in the charge, on which he had hitherto suffered.
This was no other than his acceptance of the office of pope's le
gate, contrary to an ambiguous act of parhament, which had never
been enforced, nor ever interpreted in the sense now affixed to it.||
At the very time that the king thus unrelentingly persecuted his
late minister for accepting a commission from the pope, it was
well known that the latter was possessed of an instrument, in due
form, containing his royal licence for so doing ;§ and it was noto
rious to ah Europe, that Henry himself had recently sohcited and
procured an extension of that commission, in favour of the divorce ;
and that, in what he now did, he was actuated by pure resentment,
because that power was not exercised to the extent of his inclina
tions. We have already intimated that Wolsey was a much better
statesman than a prelate. This city does not appear to have been
benefited by him, or even honoured by his presence. He took
possession of the cathedral by proxy ;! and the only use which he
is known to have made of his power, was to dissolve certain monas
teries and churches in this bishopric,** in order to confer their
possessions on the magnificent colleges which he was building.
Not content with the cruelty and injustice which he had exer
cised upon the cardinal himself, Henry caused the whole body of
the clergy to be brought in guilty of a premunire, or loss of all
* Godwin, De Praesul. f Stow.
t Ibid. Godwin remarks on the glory and happiness of Henry's reign whiist Wolsey
was his minister, and the unhappiness of it after he was discarded.
II 16 Ric. II. Collier, Ecc. Hist. vol. II, p. 62, brings good arguments to prove that the
act had no such import as that which was now ascribed to it.
§ Stow, Collier, &c. If Ang. Sac., Contin. Win.
** One of the dissolved chapels was that upon St. Catherine's Hill, near this city
— Leland, Itin.

HENRY VIII DECLARES HIMSELF HEAD OF THE CHURCH. v 249
their property, for having acknowledged Wolsey in quahty of pope's a. D.
legate ; though he himself had continued to do so ; and though, as ^^
they made it appear, their acting otherwise would have been at
tended with their certain ruin.* The truth is, the king was now 1529.
goaded on both by resentment and avarice, and was backed by a
parhament, so obsequious to all his inclinations, that at this very
time they passed an act to discharge him from the obligation of re
paying the several sums of money which had been lent to him by
his subjects.! Having held out this statute as a terror to the clergy,
he affected a great degree of moderation, in admitting them to a
composition; the weight of which, however, was so oppressive,
that it could only be exceeded by the enforcement of the statute
itself.! Another condition annexed to this favour, implied a total
change of the established religion of the country, by rejecting the
spiritual supremacy of the pope, and acknowledging Henry to be
the sole and supreme head of the church in this country ; which
prerogative, by a subsequent act of parliament, was interpreted
and constituted to be a right of judging and deciding upon all doc
trinal matters,|| and of issuing authority to exercise all ecclesiastical
functions whatsoever. § Of this new authority the old servant of
our late bishop, who was now become earl of Essex, namely,
Thomas Cromwell, was appointed vicar-general ; being also called
vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters.! Under these titles, though a
mere layman, he frequently sat in the convocation house, amongst
the bishops, as their head.**
This important and unprecedented measure, which caused so
much blood to flow in other parts of the kingdom,!! did not meet
* Collier p 61. t An. 1529-30, Tindal, Guthrie.
t Viz. 118,840 pounds sterling, which Collier computed to be worth more than twenty-
times as much money when he wrote. .... , .
|| " To visit, order, and reform all heresies and abuses, which by any manner of spi
ritual authority or jurisdiction, may lawfully be ordered or reformed."— 26 Hen. VII, c. i.
How rigidly this new branch of the royal prerogative was execrised by Henry, will appear
from the following extract from his speech iu parliament, A.D. 1545 :—" If you know
surely that a bishop or preacher preacheth or teacheth perverse doctrine, come and declare
to some of our council, or to us, to whom is committed by God the high authority to
reform and order such causes and behaviours, and be not judges yourselves of your own
fantastical opinions and vaine expositions, for in such high cause you may lightly err. —
Stow's Annals, Idem, Collier, &c. .
§ See the license to preach the word of God, granted by the king to Dr. Rowland Lee,
24th of March, 29 Hen. VIII, Col. p. 143.
If Collier, p. 104; Stow. ** Sir R. Baker s Chron Stow.
• tt Amongst those who suffered death in this reign, merely for denying the royal ecclesi
astical supremacy, were the great and good Sir T. More, chancellor of England, and John
Fisher bishop of Rochester, the chief ornament of the bench of bishops. Besides these,
there were three abbots, who sat in parliament, those of Glassenbury, Colchester, and
Reading; three Carthusian priors, and other clergy, secular and regular to the number in
,aU of 59 persons. See a list of them in Dodd's Ch. Hist, part I, p. 342. Whdst these
Catholics suffered the death of traitors, for maintaining the ancient religion, not a few
Protestants were burnt for introducing a new one, not entirely according to the king's fancy.
VOL. I. Y

250 HENRY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
A D. with that resistance in our city, which the name of the prelate who
1529- then presided in it, would lead us to expect. This was the famous
W~J Dr. Stephen Gardiner, who, at the time when the dispute concern
ing the ecclesiastical supremacy of the crown was at the greatest
height, was made bishop of this see, after it had remained vacant
almost four years.*. The fact is, having been first brought into
notice by his predecessor Wolsey, he owed his promotion to his
readiness in seconding all the views of Henry, of whatever nature
they were. He had laboured incessantly, both at Rome and in
England, to bring about the king's divorce with Queen Catherine ;!
and now that he was become, what was called in derision, one of
the king's bishops, he was content to take out, as well as his col
league, Bonner, the following strange commission, that " the king
. is the fountain of all jurisdiction and authority, as well ecclesiastical
as secular ; that those who had exercised this jurisdiction formerly,
did it only precariously and upon royal courtesy, and that therefore
this authority ought to be returned whenever the king should
please to call for it ; but that since the Lord Cromwell, knight of
the garter, vicegerent and- vicar-general, to preside, manage, and
direct in all ecclesiastical causes, was so far employed in matters
concerning the state, that he was not at leisure to discharge the
functions of vicegerent, and manage the ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
wholly delegated to him by the king, supreme head of the church
of England ; hence the said king gives him (Stephen Gardiner) a
commission to exercise all the branches of the episcopal authority
under the king his highness  to ordain, inflict censures, 
and to execute every thing belonging to the authority and jurisdic
tion of a bishop."!
The non-compliancy of Rome, in pronouncing the divorce of
Henry and Catherine — which divorce was necessary to enable him
to marry his beloved Ann Boleyn, was the chief cause of the im
portant events above related ;|| so essentially affecting the condition
of this city, and of other events still more important, which we
shall soon have to relate. But now the king had put the matter in
a train, in which it was sure to succeed. By the advice of Cranmer,
whom he had lately raised to the see of Canterbury, he had at first
* Godwin. t Collier.
t Collier, pp. 169, 170. Burnet, in his History of the Reformation, only mentions
Bonner, as taking out this commission ; but Collier proves that our bishop, Gardiner, the
two metropolitans, and other bishops of those days, took out the same.
|| This is expressly acknowledged by the learned Dr. Heylyn, who says, "The king
being violently hurried with the transport of some private affections, and finding that the
pope appeared the greatest obstacle to his desires, he first divested him of that supremacy,
which had been challenged and enjoyed by his predecessors, for some ages past, and finally
extinguished his authority in the realm of England." — Hist, of Ref Pref.

ANN BOLEYN BEHEADED. 251
assumed to himself the plenitude of ecclesiastical and spiritual A. d.
power;* and as the advanced pregnancy of Ann Boleyn required 1533'
a speedy termination of this long-protracted business, he accord- ""^
ingly imparted to that prelate a special licence for judging and
deciding upon it.! The process in Crammer's court was, of course,
much less tedious than it had been in Pope Clement's. He gave
judgment within a month from the date of the above hcence, viz.
May 20, 1533. What the purport of this decision was, concerning
the legality of Henry's first marriage, the reader need not be in
formed. To prove, however, still more the inconsistency and im
morality of this business, it is proper to remark, that the king,
whilst suing for a divorce from Catherine, had already been married
to Ann several months ;! and that within the space of four months
after this sentencer-the latter was brought to bed of her daughter
Ehzabeth, who became the celebrated queen of that name.|| It
appears that, during the three years of this lady's prosperity, she
had accompanied her royal husband in one or more of his progresses
to this city ; as the scene of one of the heaviest charges§ that
was afterwards brought against her, seems to have been laid here.
This related to one of the king's musicians, Mark Smeton, with
whom, amongst other persons, she was accused of having been cri
minally familiar. In vindication of herself, she owned that he had
been once in her chamber! when with the king at Winchester, but
she alleged that it was only for the purpose of his playing upon a
musical instrument then in use, called the virginals.
Whatever degree of guilt,** or levity,!! there had been in her
conduct, we meet with the accustomed insensibility and brutality
in that of Henry; who could, in the space of a few days, sur
render from his palace to the scaffold, that darling wife whom he
had strained every nerye to gain, and actually celebrate a new mar
riage before the blood of the unhappy Ann Boleyn had well ceased 1536.
to flow, namely, the very day after her execution.!! We also meet
with the accustomed obsequiousness of Archbishop Cranmer|| || to
* Godwin, Dodd. t See the same, Collier, Collect. Rec. vol. II, n. 24.
t Stow dates their marriage Jan. 25 in the same year. Heylyn carries it back to the
preceding November. || Born Sept. 7, 1533. — Heylyn.
§ This was in consequence of Mark Smeton's confessing the crime imputed to him and
the lady. — Burnet's Hist. % Burnet. Rapin says twice. ** Polydore Virg.
tt Several improper speeches and familiarities with Norris, Smeton, &c, are brought
forward by Heylyn and Burnet, but nothing, except the confession of Smeton, looks like
a proof of actual crime. tt May 20, 1536.
IIII The excuse set up for the archbishop by Rapin, vol. I, p. 812, is, that he was forced
to pronounce the sentence of divorce between the king and queen, and of the illegitimacy
of their daughter Elizabeth. This is also the only defence that can be set up for his di
vorcing the king from a third wife, Ann of Cleves, without the shadow of a real reason,
except that she was disagreeable to her royal husband : and for many other the most im
portant transactions of his episcopacy. Nothing could equal the injustice of the whole
proceedings against Ann Boleyn. She was condemned and put to death May 19, by
Y 2

252 HENRY MARRIES LADY JANE SEYMOUR AT MARWELL.
A. D. the passions of the tyrant in divorcing him from his second wife,
Jff- with less ceremony even than he had used in divorcing him from
his first.
Whilst the bloody scene was passing in the metropohs, Henry
appears to have made an excursion to this city ; as it was at the
adjoining manor of Marwell, belonging to this bishopric, that his
marriage with the Lady Jane Seymour took place.* This trans
action was kept secret until the ensuing festival of Whitsuntide,
when the king introduced Lady Jane at court as his queen.!
These circumstances have been related more in detail, because
the affair of the divorce brought on that of the supremacy; and the
business of the supremacy that of the suppression of the rehgious
houses; this produced the greatest change in the condition and
external appearance of this city, that it had experienced since the
civil war between the Empress Maud and King Stephen. No one
at the present day doubts that avarice and irreligion were the real
springs of these suppressions.! Nevertheless, to give a colour to
these proceedings, a visitation to all the convents which were
marked out for destruction, was set on foot|| by the king's active
vicegerent, Thomas Cromwell, under pretence of reforming, by his
ecclesiastical authority, the abuses which had crept into them. But
the commissioners who were selected for this business,§ having re
ceived their instructions, made use of such arts and violence,! as
did not fail of answering the intention of their employers ; by fur
nishing a pretext, grounded on the feigned motive of rehgion, for
an act of parliament, by which all monasteries were to be dissolved,
whose yearly revenues did not amount to £200.** The effect pro-
Henry's temporal authority, for the alleged crime of adultely, and by his spiritual authority,
of which Cranmer was the instrument, May 17, she had been declared never to have been
married to him !
* The chamber is still (1809) shewn at Marwell, where this marriage Was performed.
t Heylyn.
t " The suppression of the monasteries was thought the easiest way of furnishing the
exchequer."— Collier, pp. 109, 149. , ,fj ibid, 103.
§ Ibid, p. 104, &c. See the characters and behaviour of Dr. London, Layton, Leigh,
Petre, and the other visitors, in Dugdale's Warwickshire, in the preface to the English
Monasticon, Wood, Collier, &c. Also the first mentioned, in Lowth's Life oif W W.
p. 315.If Notwithstanding all the base arts, which, as Burnet himself allows, the visitors em
ployed to fill their black book with the crimes of religious persons ; yet the character of
many of these suppressed convents was so high for morality, piety, and charity, as to baffle
all their malice. — See Dugdale, ut supra.
** The preamble to the act of parliament, 27 Hen. VIII, c. 28, (which parliament, in
the preface to the Monasticon, is said to have been packed for the purpose of dissolving
the lesser convents) sets forth, " that manifest sin is daily committed in the lesser monas
teries, &c. ; that all attempts to reform them have proved vain ; and that, unless such houses
be utterly suppressed, and the religious be committed to the great and honourable monas
teries, where they may be compelled to live religiously, there can be no redress in that
behalf. Considering also that divers and great solemn monasteries in thii realm, where
in, thanks be to God, religion is well kept and observed, be destitute of such full number
of religious persons as they might and may keep, &c, wherefore it is resolved, that it is

SUPPRESSION OF THE MONASTERIES IN THE CITY. 253
duced in our city by this act, which was immediately carried into A. D.
execution, was the dissolution of five flourishing and useful com- 153fi-
munities ; whose property was seized upon for the king's use, and ""
whose members were turned adrift upon the world, some of them
only with the clothes they had on ; and others, in addition to their
clothes, with 40s.* These were, 1st, the Sustern Spital, or con
vent of hospital nuns, near King's-gate,! who were chiefly sup
ported by the benefactions of the cathedral priory, and whose
employment it was to receive the indigent into their hospital, and to
attend upon sick persons in their own houses ; 2dly, the Carmelites,
in King's-gate-street ; 3dly, the Austin Friars, near South-gate;
4thly, the Dominicans, at East-gate ; and 5thly, the Franciscans,
whose convent was situated upon the Middle Brook.! The Bene
dictine abbey of St. Mary, though of royal foundation, and holding
of the king in entire barony, || was included in the above-mentioned
sentence, the revenue falling short of the sum required for its
continuance,§ but the abbess, Lady Ehzabeth Shelley, who ap
pears to have been a woman of talent and industry, having pro
vided powerful friends at court, viz. the king's brother-in-law, Sir
Edward Seymour, Lord Beauchamp, and Lady Ann his wife, by re
signing to them the valuable manors of Archfount and Allcanning ;
she was so fortunate as to obtain a respite of her convent's fate.
In this case, however, it was necessary that a charter for new
founding it should be issued from the crown in favour of the
abbey, which was accordingly done, and all its estates and other
property were surrendered back to it, except the manors of Arch-
fount and Allcanning.!
Notwithstanding the formal attestation of the legislature to the
rehgious and moral character of the great and solemn monasteries
of the realm, so lately given ; yet no sooner was Henry in posses
sion of the smaller convents,** than he set on foot a second visita
tion ;!! the obvious intention of which was to get possession of the 1537
greater monasteries. The scenes of falsehood, injustice, and op
pression, which were exercised on this occasion, exceeded what had
been practised on the former.!! This will readily be conceived,
and shall be more to the pleasure of Almighty, and for the honour of the realm, that his
majesty shall have and enjoy all and singular such monasteries."— Collier, part 11, pp.
113, 114.
* Stow, Collier. t See our Survey
1 The site of these four houses the college obtained, either by favour or purchase.
| Dugdale, Collier. § It amounted only to 1791 per annum.
j. See the Charter at length in the Appendix to Eng. Monast. vol. Ill, n. 175, A. D.
** To the number of 376, whose yearly revenue amounted at that time to above
32,000/., besides the sale of the moveables. tt In 1537.
tt Some were persuaded on the score of conscience to give up their property to the

254 PRIORY OF. ST. SWITHUN, HYDE ABBEY,
A. D. when we reflect on the strange expedient that was now resorted to.
1537. Cromwell and his agents undertook that all the abbeys, and other
great monasteries of the kingdom, should at once make a voluntary
surrender of their lands and possessions into the king's hands. In
fact, they obtained signatures to this purpose, in almost all the
houses of the above-mentioned description; but nothing more
clearly proves the unwortny arts and the actual violence which
they must have had recourse to in so doing, than their general
success in this particular ;* nor can any thing shew more the abject
state of servility to which the parliament of England was then
brought, than that an act should have been passed by it, with such
a self-evident falsehood on its forehead, as that which now took
place, in order to confirm the tyrant's extortions, setting forth,
that " sundry abbots, priors, abbesses, prioresses, &c, had, of their
OAvn free-will and voluntary minds, good-will, and assent, without
restraint or compulsion of any person or persons, given to the
king, their manors, lands, &c"! The consequences of these sacri
legious measures were severely felt in our city: for first fell the
venerable priory of St. Swithun, which, with some interruptions,
from Pagan invasions or persecutions, may be considered as per
haps the most ancient conventual estabhshment then existing in
Christendom. With its lands and conventual offices, were, at the
same time, swept away a great part of its sacred treasury, and other
precious moveables.! It is too manifest that the prior, William
Kingsmill, who then governed it, was not difficult to be induced
by the visitors to overlook the solemn vows which he had taken,
both as to fidelity to his trust, and stability in his profession, from
his being continued superior of the new establishment, which was
now formed, in quahty of dean over twelve prebendaries and six
minor canons, upon a small proportion of the former conventual
possessions. There is reason, however, to think that the greater
part of the monks continued firm in their religious engagements,
as feAv of them seem to have been admitted upon the new founda
tion. In the second place fell the noble abbey of Hyde, the foun
dation of Alfred, and the burying-place of his family. There was
king; others were induced by the promises of large pensions; others were intimidated
by the threats of being charged with the worst of crimes ; some were sent to prison, and
died of the rigours they there experienced. It was a common practice to take away the
seals of the abbeys, and thus prevent the transacting of business. When a superior was
not found compliant, he was displaced on various pretexts, and some disorderly monk or
other person, who had been previously gained over by the visitors, was put into office, for
the mere purpose of making the surrender required.— See Collier, pp. 154 to 166 ; Dug-
dale's Hist, of Warwickshire; Preface to English Monasticon.
* Ibid, p. 159. T 31 Hen. VIII. c. 13.
t See a list of these, Monast. Ang. vol. II.

and st. mary's abbey suppressed. 255
no likelihood of there being much opposition to the king's pleasure a d
here; the abbot of it being Dr. John Salcot, alias Capon, who had ™38'-
received this benefice, together with the bishopric of Bangor, in "~*~
reward for his services in procuring a decision from the university
of Cambridge, in favour of the divorce.* Nor did his zeal and
activity on the present occasion, by which he prevailed upon his
monks, being twenty-one in number, to join with him in making a
tender of the property in which the Alfreds and Edwards had only
given them a life interest, pass unrewarded.! For the year after
viz. in 1539, he was promoted to the bishopric of Sahsbury. Last 1539
of all fell St. Mary's abbey of Benedictine nuns, founded by Alfred's
queen. They contended with the storm that assaulted them, by
sometimes appearing to yield to it, and at other times by cou-
ragiously resisting it, and actually continued their religious exer
cises in their own house two years after they had ceased in the
monasteries of the men ; when, at length, being quite unsupported,
they were forced to yield to their fate, and gave up their convent
and possessions in the year 1540, four years after obtaining their 1540.
charter of new foundation.!
We are informed that " the seizure of the estates of the lesser
abbeys was not generally acceptable to the people. || They found
hospitality decay, the farmers rents were raised, and the poor in
creased upon the country." These complaints of course became
much louder at the suppression of the greater abbeys. These, as
they had it more in their power, so they were generally more
beneficial to the public. By their doles and alms, they entirely
provided for the poor, insomuch that no poor laws existed until
soon after their dissolution. The monks let their farms at easy
rents, and made allowances for unfavourable seasons ; so that abun
dance and population increased around them. They received into
their houses and entertained, according to their rank, strangers of
all conditions, gratis. They provided hospitals for the indigent
sick, and seminaries for poor children. Their magnificent churches
were the schools of the arts, both liberal and mechanical, and their
scriptoria and hbraries were the only asylum of the sciences and of
classical literature.§ But all these advantages were at present lost
* Monasticon, Gale's Hist. t 'bid. t Monasticon Anglic.
|| " It was a pitiful thing to hear the lamentation that the people in the country made
for them (the monasteries first dissolved) , for there was great hospitalitie kept amongst
them, and as it was thought more than 10,000 persons, maisters and servantes, had lost
their livinges by the putting downe of these houses at that time." — Stow's Chron, an,
1536. § The number of those afterwards suppressed was 645, besides 90 colleges, 110 hospi
tals, 373 chantries or free chapels. On the utility of the convents to the public, see
Collier, part n, p. 165.

256 STATE OF THE CITY IN THE REIGN OF HENRY VIII.
A. d. to the community, and so many monuments of ancient piety were
1540. now annihilated, to gratify the passions of one sensual king, and
to raise the famihes of a few wicked courtiers. The effects of this
change were no where more fatally felt than at Winchester. It
had fallen from all its wealth and grandeur, as a royal and com
mercial city ; but the number and splendour of its religious foun
dations chiefly kept up whatever consequence, trade, and exterior
appearance it still possessed. But these being dissolved, and the
edifices themselves soon after pulled down, or falling to decay, it
must soon have worn the appearance of a city sacked by a hostile
army. In a word, it is chiefly since the reign of Henry VIII
that Winchester may be said to be no more than the skeleton of
its former state.*
AU the immense property thus iniquitously raised, being very
soon squandered away, either in aggrandizing a few court favourites,
or at the gaming table;! the hoary tyrant began again to look
round him for fresh objects of sacrilege. His ecclesiastical vicaav
general was now no more. Henry had enjoyed the spoils of his
crimes, and had rewarded him for them on the scaffold. In that
situation Cromwell had confessed his multiplied guilt, and paid
homage to the cause of religion, which he had so much outraged.!
Still, Henry was not wanting in courtiers to suggest the seizure of,
and a corrupt parhament to grant him, a considerable part of the
remaining spoils of piety and charity, together with those of litera
ture and commerce. In a word, an act was now obtained, which
authorised the king to seize upon all the properties of hospitals,
chantries, colleges, guilds, and corporations. || Had this act been
strictly carried into execution, Winchester would have been left
without a single body corporate, and almost without a monument of
* One of our classical poets, contemplating the sacrilegious devastation of Henry VIII,
varnished over with the pretence of reformation, exclaims : —
" Who sees these dismal heaps, but would demand,
What barbarous invader sack'd the land ?
But when he hears, no Goth, no Turk, did bring
This desolation, but a Christian king —
When nothing but the name of zeal appears
"Twixt our best actions and the worst of theirs ;
What does he think our sacrilege would spare,
When such th' effects of our devotion are?"
Sir John Denham's Cooper's Hill.
t Collier, from Fuller, tells us, that Henry played away many a thousand a year belong
ing to the monasteries. Stow, in his Survey of London, relates, that he staked a re
markably fine ring of bells, which belonged to a parish near St. Paul's, London, on a
throw of dice with Sir Miles Partridge ; and that, having lost them, they were the next
day taken down. It is added, that he once gave away a whole monastery to a lady, in re
turn for a dish of puddings that pleased his appetite. — Collier, part n, p. 166.
t He said that he had been seduced by the devil, and that he died in the Catholic
faith, &c. — Stow's Annals, an. 1540.
|| 27 Henry VIII, c. 4.

HENRY DIES, 257
antiquity. In reality, all the colleges indiscriminately, and the city a. d.
corporation, no less than the hospitals, were virtually dissolved; "~r~l
and there is no doubt but that Henry, had he lived a few years
longer, would have seized upon all their property, as he had seized
upon that of the abbeys.* At present, however, he was content
with fleecing some of these estabhshments, as that of St. Cross, and
St. Mary Magdalen on the Hill, and with devouring others. These
latter were most of the chaplainships of the cathedral and collegiate
churches in different parts of the city ; but chiefly the hospital of
St. John the Baptist, near East-gate, which had been founded by
a magistrate of Winchester, and left under the patronage and pro
tection of his successors in that office, for a public charity of the
most laudable and beneficial nature.! This was actually seized upon
for the king's benefit, with all its property, both moveable and im
moveable, even to the wretched beds which had been provided for
resting the wearied limbs of his poor soldiers, or of other needy tra
vellers, who had a lawful occasion to pass through this city.! The
corporation was probably too much alarmed for their own imme
diate preservation to remonstrate against such injustice and cruelty.
However, they afterwards petitioned for the bare walls and site of
the hospital, to serve as a pubhc magazine, and place of assembly
on certain occasions ; and were fortunate enough to recover so
much of their ancient property. ||
This most tyrannical and sanguinary of our monarchs was, at
length, forced, in his turn, to submit to the stroke of death, at the
beginning of the year 1547, leaving a son and heir of many pro- 154/.
mising dispositions, and particularly distinguished for his huma
nity^ As, however, he was but nine years and three months old
at his accession to the throne, it is to the conduct of his ministers,
not to his own, that we are to attend, during his short reign of
six years. Unfortunately these were the same rapacious courtiers,
who had stimulated his father to so many acts of injustice and sa
crilege, the weight of which had fallen, with such accumulated
oppression, upon our city. Their very first public act, which bids
* The universities, and perhaps the two colleges in this city, petitioned not to be dis- »
solved, and they had interest enough at court to obtain a favourable answer.— Collier,
part 11, p 209. Still, however, the act of parliament at this time stood against them,
and they only existed by royal favour. At a former period of this reign, the university of
Cambridge had been visited, by order of vicar-general Cromwell, when all its charters,
records, &c. were seized upon. N.B. The motives alleged in the act for suppressing the
colleges, were much the same as those made use of for dissolving the monasteries, viz,
that their revenues were misapplied, &c.
t See p. 209. t Trussel's MSS. II Ibid.
§ This was manifested in the opposition which he made, and the tears which he shed,
when urged and constrained by Archbishop Cranmer, to sign the death warrant of Joan
Knell, alias Butcher, convicted of heresy.— See Heylin's Hist, of Ret. p. 89; Collier,
VOL. I. Z

258

EDWARD THE SIXTH.

A. D. defiance to all decency and common sense, had the same fatal ten*
J^ dency. The third day after the funeral of the old king, meeting
together in council, to the number of sixteen — being the appointed
executors to his last will, they pretended that it had been the
intention of the deceased, to raise them severally to higher ho
nours than they then enjoyed ; in proof of which, they brought
forward the verbal testimony of one of their own associates,* who
stated that Henry had declared his intentions to that effect. He
also produced a hst of the intended new creations, which he pro
fessed to have written by the late king's orders.! Had this hst
been in Henry's own hand-writing, and had he signified, not
his intention, but his absolute will, that the creations in question
should be made, yet having reigned his full time, and being now
quiet in his tomb at Winsor, it was impossible that these men
should become dukes and lords by his authority. The truth is, the
whole transaction bears the mark of imposture and forgery.! The
honours, however, were divided amongst the parties, according to
their separate inclinations and influence ; not without bargaining
and exchanging, in order to balance their respective weights in the
political scales. || What is certain is, that Sir Edward Seymour^
earl of Hertford, the king's uncle, having previously obtained an
absolute ascendency, by being elected governor of the royal youth,
and protector of the realm, now became duke of Somerset^ which
was a royal title,§ with the posts of treasurer and earl marshal ;
his brother, Sir Thomas, was made Baron Seymour of Sudley, to
which was added the office of lord admiral ; Dudley, viscount Lisle,
was gratified with the earldom of Warwick ; Sir Thomas Wrioth
esley, instead of earl of Winchester, which title was first intended
for him,! was created earl of Southampton. The other prefer
ments need not here be mentioned. Sir Wilham Paulet St. John*
who afterwards obtained the honours of Winchester, was amongst
those who dechned promotion on the present occasion.** " How
ever," as a learned writer observes, " since title, without a propor
tionable estate, had more of burden than real advantage, they cast
about for a practicable expedient, and resolved upon a sale of the
chantry lands," &c.tf These had been already granted by par-
* This was Sir Wilham Paget. As it was proper that he should be rewarded for so im
portant a service, another of the inferior agents came forward and said, that he had re
ceived directions from Henry to write down 400/. per annum for Paget himself.— Tindal
t Fuller's Ecc. Hist., Tindal.
t This is extremely plain from the whole account of Heylin, who says "thev were
given out to be designed by King Henry before his death, the better to take off the envy
from the Protector." — Hist, of Edw. pp. 32, 33. J
L1^ o,o 5 Ib!d- 1 CoUier- ** IWd.
tt Ibid. p. 219.

THE PROTECTOR SOMERSET. 259
liament* to the late king ; but as he died without taking possession A. D.
of many of them,! it was thought the more safe and eligible way to 1547'
procure a fresh act for this purpose, than to proceed on the strength ^^
of the former. Accordingly, such an act passed this same year,
by which all lands and other possessions, belonging not only to
chantries and free chapels, but also to colleges, guilds, fraterni
ties, &c. "were conferred on the king by name," says an original
writer,! "but not intended for his benefit only." In short,
they fell to the disposal of the lord protector, who made use of
them as he thought fit, and who did not by any means forget his
own profit and dignity, nor that of his family, in the distribution
of them. || In treading, however, in the steps of the late king, the
present ministry avoided his glaring inconsistency. For, in the re
hgious medley, of which he was the author, prayers for the dead,
masses, and other rites, were retained, for the support of which
these lands and property had been devised; whereas the duke of
Somerset, and a majority of the council, embraced that system in
speculation, which they had resolved to follow in practice, and ac
cordingly 'adopted the Protestant religion in all its branches. §
Few cities, if any, furnished more ample matter for the operation
of the act than Winchester.! All those mortuary chapels which
still exist in our cathedral, with a great number of altars in other
parts of it, that are now destroyed, had distinct endowments for
keeping them in repair, and for supporting chaplains to officiate in
them. There was a vast number of others in different parts of
* 27 Henry VIII.
t Heylin, who elsewhere stated, that there were still remaining at Ws time 90 colleges
and 2374 chantries and free chapels in different parts of the realm.
t Heylin, p. 58.
|| " Thinking it unnecessary that two cathedrals (St. Paul's and Westminster abbey)
should be founded so near one another  and being unfurnished with a house or palace
. proportionable to his greatness, he doubted not to find room enough upon the dissolution
and destruction of so large a fabric, (Westminster abbey) to raise a palace equal to his
vast designs." — Heylin, p. 61 . Being afterwards forced to relinquish this intention, through
a collusion between Dean Benson and his own brother, Lord Thomas Seymour, he resolved
to build his palace of Somerset House in the Strand. In order to furnish the necessary
materials for this palace, he actually pulled down, the venerable and curious churches
of St. Martiu-Ie-grand and St. John of j erusalem, with four or five other churches in Lon
don and Westminster, together with three episcopal houses and the cloisters of St. Paul,
containing the curious Dance of Death. St. Margaret's church, Westminster, only escaped
this fate, through the spirit of the neighbouring inhabitants, who, with sticks and stones,
drove off the duke's workmen when they were preparing to take it down. — Stow, Heylin.
§ Dr. Heylin tells us that, when " the Grandees of the court began to entertain thoughts
of a Reformation, they found Archbishop Cranmer and some other bishops as forward as
themselves ; but on different ends ; endeavoured by the bishops in a pious zeal  but
by the courtiers on a hope to enrich themselves by the spoil of the bishoprics." — Hist, of
Ref. p. 33.
If It is impossible to ascertain how much of these chantry and college lands was seized
upon, at the latter end of Henry's reign, and how much at the beginning of Edward's.
There is reason however to believe, that far the greater part of them was not actually dis
posed of until the latter period,
z 2

260 AGGRANDIZEMENT OF WINCHESTER COLLEGE.
A. d. the city, and some in Wykeham's college, of the same nature;*
1547- as also different collegiate churches, or chapters of canons, who
kept choir, as it is called, or performed the regular service of the
church, in the same manner as at the cathedral, and had distinct
foundations in land or houses, for the said purposes. All these,
with other such consecrated property throughout the kingdom, were
seized upon, in order to enable the Seymours, the Wriothesleys, and
a few more overgrown courtiers, to support their ill-gotten dignities.
Amongst the colleges which were swallowed up in the present
whirlpool of pride and avarice, was one that was in part instituted
for the education of youth, namely, St. Elizabeth's college, founded
by Bishop Pontissara. This, in the distribution of spoils, fell to
the lot of Wriothesley, earl of Southampton,! who was already in
possession of the greater part of the estates of Hyde abbey ; and
the situation of it being very convenient for Wykeham's college,
Dr. White, who was warden of the latter, purchased it of him for
the use of his society upon certain conditions which appeared be
neficial to both parties-! ^ will be asked, how Wykeham's col
lege itself escaped destruction on this occasion ? The fact is, there
was a clause in' the act in favour of Winchester college, Eton col
lege, and the two universities. Thus, instead of suffering by this
storm, which proved fatal to so many other colleges, literary as
well as rehgious, our learned seminary was rather benefited by it.
The last parhament in the preceding reign had laid them all, with
out distinction, at the mercy of an individual, who was not much
accustomed to the exercise of that virtue ; hence, since that time,
they had only a precarious subsistence, as depending upon the
royal favour, but now they once more obtained a legal establish^
ment. However, though the college of Winchester, with the others
mentioned above, were secured in their existence, yet so many and
great were the discouragements thrown out at this time against the
pursuits of literature, || that they were almost abandoned, and few
persons, of liberal minds, chose to reside in them.
* The college library was a chapel of this sort, as likewise one or two chapels now de
stroyed, which then formed part of the present chapel. Whether the society was fortu
nate enough to save the foundations for supporting them does not appear.
t MSS. Col. t Ibid.
|| The famous Ascham, Queen Elizabeth's tutor, complains at this time, that " there is
scarce anymotive left to apply to study— learning having neither wealth nor respect attached
to it." — Latymer complains, in his sermon before the king, that many benefices, being let
out in fee farm to secular men, or given to their servants, for keeping hounds, hawks, and
horses, the poor clergy in their turn, were forced to go to service, and turn clerks of
the kitchen, &c. Those who continued in the colleges were exposed to the insults of bar
barian visitors, who termed their seminaries of learning, "the seats of blockheads, the de
vil's chapels, and the stews of the whore of Babylon," Sfc. In the mean time, under the
pretence of purging their libraries, whole cart-loads of curious manuscripts were carried
off and sold to binders, &c. All volumes containing circles, or other mathematical figures,

BISHOP GARDINER. 261
It is time to consider the conduct of the bishop of this city^ A. D.
Stephen Gardiner, under the changes that were making in his J^'
diocese. In the latter part of his reign, Henry had manifested a
desire of tracing back the steps by which he had abandoned the
ancient religion ; and, Gardiner being abroad at the time of the
king's death, received instructions to make certain advances towards
a reconciliation of this kingdom with the see of Rome.* At the
beginning of the present reign he submitted to the circumstances
of the times, by owning the royal child to be " supreme head, under
God, of the church of England ;"! and joining with Archbishop
Cranmer and the other bishops, in taking out a new license to govern
his see,! f°r so l°ng as be should give satisfaction to the court. ||
In short, he approved of whatever changes in religion had been
sanctioned by parhament, but he strongly resisted the duke of So
merset in those fresh alterations which he was introducing under
colour of a visitation ;§ and he insisted that things should remain
in the same state in which they were, until the king was of age.
He had been committed prisoner to the fleet in 1547, and again
discharged. At length, in the summer of 1548, things came to a 1548.
crisis between the protector and him : he was to preach before the
king, and the duke strictly enjoined him to abstain from mentioning
the important question of the sacrament in his sermon ; and, on
the other hand, to inculcate that the spiritual supremacy was as
real and absolute in the hands of the council during the king's
minority, as it would be in his own hands when he came of age.!
This proposition would have been in fact to ascribe the plenitude
of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and a kind of infallibihty, to the duke
himself, whose power was then absolute and unbounded. The pro
tector even sent his secretary, Cecil, to demand of Gardiner the
manuscript notes of his sermon, that he might examine it before it
was preached.** The bishop evaded this requisition, and preached
his sermon according to his own ideas and theological principles ;
which proving contrary to the commands of the duke in both the
above-mentioned particulars, he was committed prisoner to the
Tower.!! When the protector sent Gardiner, in so arbitrary a
manner, to prison, he httle imagined that he himself should so soon
were condemned as books of magic, and those with clasps or ornaments of precious metal
were carried off for a more substantial reason. — See Collier, part n, pp. 242, 307, 325,
Heylin, Dugdale, &c.
* This Gardiner himself declared, in his sermon at St. Paul s, Dec. 2, 1554.— Dodd,
vol. I. t Stow- + Collier, part i, p. 218 ; 1 Edw. VI, e. ii. For electing
bishops by letters patent, &c— Heylin, pp. 51, 52.
|| " Durante beneplacito."— Collier, p. 218. § Ibid, p. 252.
If Collier, pp. 249, 250, 251— Heylin, Dodd. ** Collier.
tt Heylin, p. 63, Stow's Annals, May 30, 1548.

262 RUSSEL OF BEDFORD AND. PAULET SEIZE CHURCH LANDS.
A.D. follow him thither. It is true, he supported his authority some
^- time longer, and directed certain important transactions ; the prin
cipal of which was the imprisonment and execution of his own
brother, Lord Thomas Seymour, of Sudley, high-admiral of Eng
land, upon the most frivolous charges,* without allowing him the
benefit of a defence.! At length, the greater part of the other
counsellors, indignant at the state of insignificancy to which they
were reduced, after securing the magistrates of London in their
interest, seized upon the protector, and sent him to keep company
1549. with Bishop Gardiner in the Tower.! The latter, hearing of this
revolution, was unable to conceal his joy,|| imagining that he
should have been immediately restored to his liberty and power.
In this, however, he was deceived ; for, though Dudley, earl of
Warwick, who was now at the head of affairs, and certain others
of his junto, secretly entertained the same partiality for the ancient
Cathohc rehgion that he himself did,§ yet, being much more
intent upon the gratification of their avarice and ambition, they
openly declared in favour of a further reformation.! In fact, a
new creation of titles, and distribution of honours now took place ;
in which Sir John Russel became duke of Bedford, and Pauletj
lord St. John, earl of Wiltshire. " Being furnished with honours,"
says a learned advocate of the estabhshed church,** "it is pre
sumed they would find some way to provide themselves sufficient
means to maintain their dignities." Ecclesiastical property was
the unfailing resource on such occasions. What, for the present,
was seized upon, were chiefly the moveables of the church.!! In
the first year of the present reign, the lord protector and the coun
cil had pubhshed certain injunctions, by virtue of which their
visitors were ordered to remove all images, shrines, candlesticks, &c,
which had been abused for superstitious purposes; at the same
* See those charges iu Heylin, p. 72, who adds, " he seems rather to have fallen a sacri
fice to the private malice of a woman, (the duchess of Somerset) than the public justice
of the state,  the warrant for his execution coming under the hand of his own bro
ther." He suffered March 20, 1548.
t Stow, Heylin. t Oct. 14, 1549. || Fox's Acts and Monuments.
§ This appeared afterwards at his execution, when, like vicar-general Cromwell, he
declared himself to be of the Catholic religion, notwithstanding all he had done to subvert
it. The earl of Southamptou, Wriothesley, and the marquis of Winchester, Paulet St.
John, were also interiorly of the same religion, which they transmitted tp their posterity.
The same is to be said of the earls of Pembroke, Shrewsbury, Arundel ; and of Lord Paget, as
likewise of Sir Antony Brown, Sir John Gage, Sir William Petre, Antony Bellasis, and
others, who had been the most active instruments of government in dissolving abbeys and
making ecclesiastical visitations, &c. One of the above-mentioned, after accumulating es
tates by these means, applied to the pope for a dispensation to keep them, the tenor of
which may be seen in Dugdale.
1f Collier, part n, p. 228 ; Heylin. ** Heylin, p. 85.
•ft Not but that many lands were also alienated from the church on this occasion, as may
be seen in Heylin.

SEIZURE OF CHURCH ORNAMENTS. 263
time leaving it to these interested judges, to decide which of them A. D.
had or had not been so abused.* Our bishop, Gardiner, had op- 1549,
posed the execution of this order within his diocese, particularly at
Portsmouth, where the images of Christ were treated with the
greatest indecency ;! and, by letters dated from this city, had ad
dressed the protector on the subject.! The arguments which he
then made use of, appear satisfactory to the most learned Protes
tant divines; || one of whom testifies that "covetousness more than
zeal spurred on this business, there being none of the images so
poor and mean, the spoil whereof would not afford some gold and
silver, if not jewels also, besides censers, candlesticks, and many
other rich utensils belonging to them."§ Still, however, the in
junctions were hmited to certain articles ; and, from the resistance
of the people, who rose in defence of their altars in this county,!
as well as in many others, they had been but imperfectly executed.
But now,** under colour of still further removing all occasions of 1550.
superstition ; so anxious were these rehgious courtiers for the spi
ritual benefit of the people of England ! another visitation was set
on foot, " the main business of which was to take down altars, and
put tables in their room."!! Some specious arguments were made
use of to disguise this measure, but the real ground of it was soon
visible ; when the visitors, under pretence of removing the altars,
carried away every valuable belonging to them, and stripped all the
churches, throughout the realm, of all gold and silver, plate, jewels,
and metal in general, which had been used either in decorating the
altars themselves, by way of antependiums, tabernacles, candle
sticks, crucifixes, or other statues, &c. ; or, that had been employed
in the divine service, such as chalices, patens, cruets, thuribles,
and divers other articles, too many for enumeration; leaving only
one chahce to every church, with a cloth or covering for the com
munion table.!! " Some profit," says the historian above quoted,
" was thereby raised to the king's exchequer, yet far the greater
part of the prey came to other hands ; insomuch that many private
persons' parlours were hung with altar cloths, their tables and beds
covered with copes,  and many made carousing cups of the
sacred vessels, as once Belshazzar celebrated his drunken feast in
the sanctified vessels of the temple. It was a sorry house, and not
worth naming, which had not somewhat of this furniture in it  .
Yet how contemptible were these trappings in comparison of those
* Injunct. art 3, 28, Heylin, pp. 35, 36. „ ,, „ u- . , T
t Collier t F°x> Acts and Monum., Dodd, Ecc. Hist. vol. I.
|| Heylin,' p. 56, Collier, 222. LHFfr ftJS^
*ff Echard's Hist, of Eng. vol. I, p. 408 ; Tindal. ** A. D. 1550
tt Collyer, p. 304, Heylin, p. 95. tt Heylin, pp. 95, 134.

264 SOME SACRED ORNAMENTS RECOVERED.
A. D. vast sums of money which were made of the jewels, plate, and
1550. gLjth 0f tiSSUe !"* As in no part of the kingdom had the churches
been more plentifully and sumptuously provided with whatever
implements or ornaments tended to the order and magnificence of
rehgion than those of Winchester, and particularly its' cathedral,
so nowhere was the tide of sacrilegious rapine swelled with more
numerous and ample spoils than in this city. Then were the pre
cious and curious monuments of piety and antiquity — the presents
of Egbert and Ethelwolph, Canute and Emma, unrelentingly rifled,
and cast into the melting pot, for the mere value of the metal that
composed them. Then were the golden tabernacles and images of
the apostles snatched from the cathedral and other altars, under the
false and absurd pretext, that these things were objects of idolatry
to the people. A great proportion of these moveable articles, as we
have seen above, fell into the hands of active individuals, who were
before hand with the public visitors in rifling the churches ; out of
which, however, it is probable that some of these articles were re
covered, by means of a fresh commission, issued chiefly for this
1553. purpose, at the end of this reign ;! whilst not a few of these
sacred implements, though chiefly of the less valuable sort, are
at this present day to be found in many private houses of this city
and neighbourhood.
All this time Bishop Gardiner continued a prisoner in the Tower.
Thus it was not in his power to throw any obstacle in the way of
the late visitations, as he had done in that of the former. But
now a measure was in agitation, which could not well be perform
ed without a complying bishop; hence his deprivation became
unavoidable. The fact is, as most of the other bishoprics had, by
this time, been dismembered of a considerable part of their manors,
in favour of one or other of the courtiers,! so it was resolved that
* Heylin. The following reflection of Dr. Collier seems more applicable to this than
to any other period of the Reformation. " It must be confessed there were several shock
ing circumstances in the reign of Henry VIII and of his children. For to see churches
pulled down or rifled, the plate swept off the altar, and holy furniture converted to com
mon uses, has no great air of devotion. To see the choir undressed, to make the drawing-
room and bed-chamber fine, was not very primitive, at first view. The forced surrender
of abbeys, the maiming of bishoprics, &c. are apt to puzzle a vulgar capacity. Unless a
man's understanding is more than ordinarily improved, he will be at a loss to reconcile
these measures with Christian maxims, and make them fall in with conscience and refor
mation."— Ecc. Hist, part n, p. 163.
- t A.D. 1553.
t The learned Harmer (Henry Warton, in his Specimen of Errors and Defects in Bur
net's History'of the Reformation) speaking of Vesey, bishop of Exeter, observes, that he
alienated no possession of his see, but upon express command of the king, (Edward VI)
directed unto him, under the privy seal, in favour of certain noblemen and courtiers. All
the bishops, as this author continues, at this time were subject to the like calamity. Even
Cranmer was forced to part with the better half of the possession of his see ; and Ridley
soon after his entry into London, was forced to give away four of the best manors of hia

BISHOP GARDINER DEPOSED.  DR. POYNET, BISHOP. 265
the church of Winchester should be further reduced, in order, first A. d.
to secure the title of Sir Henry Seymour to the manors of Marwell l553-
and Twyford, Avhich his brother, the duke of Somerset, had before ^
seized for his benefit;* and secondly, to enrich other courtiers,
particularly the lord treasurer Paulet, who had cast his eye upon
the palace, park, and estates of Bishop's Waltham. It is not ne
cessary to describe the illegal artifices made use of to dispossess Gar
diner of his see ; that Cranmer stretched a point in this process,
beyond equity and law, Burnet himself admits.! It is sufficient to say,
that Gardiner was declared to be no longer bishop of Winchester ;
and that Dr. Poynet, being the first bishop who was consecrated
according to the new ordinal lately published,! received letters
patent to succeed him. He was a divine of King's College, Cam
bridge, and was celebrated for his universal learning, and also for
his skill in mechanics; having invented a clock of curious work
manship, which he presented to the late king.|| These qualifica
tions, however, of themselves do not come up to the character given
by St. Paul of a good bishop. He is accordingly described, by
eminent historians, as being a very indifferent prelate ;§ and they
plainly signify, that he was preferred to this rich bishopric from
the see of Rochester, which he before held, for the simoniacal pur
pose of betraying the possessions of it to those who promoted him.!
Besides the manors which were disposed of to the noble personages
see in one day. These two were the greatest favourites among the bishops of that reign.
Others were yet more severely dwelt with. — Collect, of Records, No. 67, Collier, vol. II.
* " Sir Henry Seymour, second son of Sir John Seymour, was not found to be of so
fine metal as to make a courtier, and was therefore left unto the life of a country gentle
man ; advanced by the power and favour of his elder brother, to the order of knighthood,
and afterwards estated in the mannors of Marwell and Twyford, in the county of South
ampton, dismembered, in those broken times, from the see of Winchester. To each of
these belonged a park — that of the first containing no less than four miles ; that of the last
but two in compass, the first being also honoured with a goodly mansion-house, belonging
ancientlyto those bishops, and little inferior to the best of that wealthy bishopric. There
goes a story, that the priest officiating at the altar, in the church of Ouselbury, (of which
parish Marwell was a part) after the mass had been abolished bythe king's authority, was
violently dragged thence by this Sir Henry, beaten and most reproachfully handledby him,
his servants universally refusing to serve him, as the instruments of his rage and fury;
and that the poor priest, having first had an opportunity to get into the church, did openly
curse the said Sir Henry and his posterity, with bell, book, and candle, according to the
use observed in the church of Rome. AVhich, whether it were so or not, or that the
main foundation of this estate being laid in sacrilege, could promise no long blessing to it,
certain it is, his posterity are brought beneath the degree of poverty." — Heylin's Hist, of
Ref. pp. 4, 5. The tradition of the country is, that the priest was afterwards shot, as he
was officiating at the altar ; and a hole is shewn in the wall which is said to have been
made by the bullet that killed him.
t See Collier, p. 305. t Collier. II Godwin, De Prasul.
§ Heylin. A. Wood, who calls him a Calvinistic bishop, &c.
f " John Poynet, a better scholar than a bishop, and purposely preferred to that rich
bishopric to serve other men's turns. For, before he was well warm in his see, he dis
membered from it the goodly palace of Marwell, with the mannours and parks of Marwell
and Twyford, which had before been seized upon by the lord protector, to make a knight's
estate for Sir Henry Seymour," &c. — Heylin, p. 101.
VOL. I. AA

266 BISHOP POYNET.  CIVIL AFFAIRS.
A. D. already mentioned, there are records proving that he signed away
J^f ' a great number of other most valuable possessions of* this see,*
with a facihty which seems to have provoked the then dean ; who,
though a mere layman, and one who was connected with the court
by religion as as well as by office, is thought to have opposed these
surrenders, until he was committed to prison, in order to render
him more complying.! It seems, from the account of a celebrated
antiquary,! that Bishop Poynet, notwithstanding all his learning,
was destitute of the hberality and toleration which became a scholar.
This was particularly manifest in his treatment of the learned
Andrew Borde, who having studied physic before he became a
Carthusian monk, apphed himself with great success to the practice
of it, on the dissolution of his order ; and who, having seen most
parts of Christendom, chose Winchester for the place of his resi
dence, and professed a particular attachment to it.|| It appears
that Bishop Poynet took advantage of the superior ground on
which he stood, to oppress him with calumny when he could not
confute him by argument, and to give him all the disturbance in
his power.§ Amongst other things he appears to have caused him
to be committed to the Fleet prison, in which confinement he
died.!
1551. We have hinted that Paulet, lord St. John, who now appeared to
be strongly attached to the earl of Warwick,** and had lately been
created earl of Wiltshire, had procured for himself the episcopal
* "Memorandum, that Sep. 18, in the fifth year of our soveregn king, Edward VI, Sir
Richard Read, knt., one of the masters in chancery, brought from Winchester, from the
bishop, dean, and chapter, a deed quadripartite of feoffment, indented, made to his Ma
jesty, &c, of the mannors of Maiden, Twiford, Marwell, Waltham, Drokinsfield, Bren-
sted, and Bittern ; the hundred of Waltham, and the chace near the forest of Bere ; also
the mannors of Sutton, Ropley, Hedley, and the borough of Alresford, the hundred of
Sutton, together with twenty-nine mannors more, and some boroughs and hundreds more."
— Rec. ap Collier, No. 67. *
t This was Sir John Mason, knt. and master of requests ; who, without orders, or
other pretention to an ecclesiastical benefice, was, at the beginning of the reformation,
viz. Oct. 9, 1549, made and installed dean of this cathedral, being next in succession to
Kingsmill, the last prior and first dean. — Gale's Hist, of Win. Cath. p. 114, Heylin, p. 142.
The circumstance of his opposition to these surrenders is presumed by Collier, from his
having been committed to the Marshalsea, a little before they were made. — See the records
above quoted.
t Ant. Wood, Athen. Oxon. || Ibid. § Ibid.
f Dodd's Ch. Hist. Andrew Borde was a noted writer and poet ; and, amongst other
works, published the Introduction of Knowledge, which contains the celebrated charac
ter of the natives of this country . — ,
" I am an Englishman, and naked I stand here,
Musing in my mind what garment I shall weare:
For now I will weare this, and now I will weare that,
Now I will weare I cannot tell what.
I do fear no man, all man feareth me,
I overcome my adversaries by land and by sea," &c. — Camden'sRemains,p,18,
** "A most affectionate servant of the earl of Warwick." — Heylin, p. 85, also p. 3.

TRIAL OF SOMERSET. 267
palace of Waltham, with the park, manor, and estates belonging a. d.
to it.* " Having thus got into possession of so much lands of the 165U
bishopric, he conceived himself in a fit capacity to affect- the title of ^
lord marquis of Winchester."! This dignity was accordingly
conferred upon him, through the interest of his patron Dudley,
who chose for himself the dukedom of Northumberland,! by way of
preparation for the grand catastrophe that was now in contempla
tion at court;, where every day's experience more fully proved the
impossibility of two rival interests subsisting together in the king's
councils. We have seen by what means the great duke of Somer
set had, on a former occasion, been brought under the power of
Dudley, earl of Warwick, and committed to the Tower, in the
middle of October, 1549 ; and there is no doubt but his head would
have answered for the charges then brought against him, had it
not been for the submission and confession of guilt then made and
subscribed by him, which were so very abject, || that it seemed
impossible he should ever again rise to consequence, or become
an object' of jealousy to his rival. Hence he was enlarged in
the February following, and permitted once more to take his seat
at the council board, as a private member, not as the head and dic
tator of it, which had heretofore been the case.§ It was soon
found, however, that he had gained a great ascendancy over his
royal nephew. This circumstance, and his manifestly standing in
the way of the duke of Northumberland's ambitious projects, who
was fbent upon transferring the crown of England from the family
of Tudor to that of Dudley, caused him to be a second time appre
hended and sent to the Tower; about two years from the time of
his former commitment, and five days after the late promotions.!
-As it was not his degradation, but his death, which was now sought
for; so it was in vain to make acts of submission or promises.
The person chosen to perform the principal part in this tragedy
was the late created nobleman ; who, both on account of his title
and his possessions, had so near a relation with this city. The trial,
which took place in Westminster Hall, was conducted with great
solemnity : " The lord high steward for the time being the marquis
of Winchester, who took his place under the cloth of estate, raised
three steps higher than the rest of the scaffold."** In this situ-
* Heylin, p. 101. t Ibid.
t Viz. 11th Oct., 1551. Grunthuyse, the Flemish nobleman Who had been made earl
of Winchester by Edward IV, voluntarily renounced that and his other Enghsh honours,
and retired to his own country, on the accession of Henry VII. — Camden's Britain,
|| See two different submissions made by the duke, in Stow's Annals.
§ 8th April.
If Heylin. ** Idem, Stow.
AA 2

268 BISHOP GARDINER REINSTATED.
A. D. ation he was now enabled to pass sentence of death upon a noble-
1552- man, whose very name, a httle more than two years before, had
caused him to tremble ;* which sentence was accordingly executed,
January 23, 1552.!
If it be true, that the duke of Northumberland hastened the
young king's death,! he thereby only accelerated his own ruin;
for, having succeeded in his ambitious views, to the extent even of
his wishes,|| so far as to procure the crown for Lady Jane Grey,
who was married to his son, Lord Guilford, he thereby brought on
a crisis in his fortune, which soon ended in his own death, and
that of his son and daughter, upon a scaffold. Hence the succes
sion continues in its natural course, notwithstanding all the pains
that had been taken to divert it ; and Mary, daughter of Henry VIII
and Catherine of Arragon, now mounts the throne. However un
popular the reign of this queen has proved with the nation in
general, yet certainly it served to raise the drooping head of our
city ; and, had it continued longer, would probably have restored
it to some degree of its ancient consequence and splendour. One
of Mary's first acts of power was that of reinstating the bishop
of this see, Gardiner, whom she considered as suffering in her own
cause.§ Having been deprived of his bishopric by an uncanonical
process, and mere secular authority, the sentence was considered as
* Amongst his partisans, that were condemned and suffered death soon after him, was
Sir Miles Partridge, who as the historian adds, "was little lamented of the people, for
having deprived them of the best ring of bells that they had, called Jesus Bells, which, win
ning of King Henry at a cast of dice, he caused to be taken down and sold, or melted for
his own advantage. If any bell tolled for him, when he went to his death, or the sight of
a halter made him think of a bell-rope, it could not but remember him of his fault in that
particular." — Heylin, p. 117.
t This first marquis of Winchester, and founder of the Paulet family, was originally
steward to the bishopric of Winchester, in the time of Bishop Fox, by whom he was intro
duced to the court of Henry VII. So great was his address, and so ductile his disposition,
that he chimed with the prevailing party, both in religion and politics, during all the num
berless changes which took place under the five successive sovereigns of the House of
Tudor. Being once asked the question, how he stood so many severe storms of the state ?
he answered, " Because I am a willow, not an oak." In the last stage of his life, he ren
dered himself so agreeable to Queen Elizabeth, that she declared, if he were but a younger
man, there was not a person in her dominions whom she would so soon take for a hus
band as the marquis of Winchester. Such a conduct may be the road at courts to personal
security, power, and wealth ; but at the same time it implies a total sacrifice of conscious
rectitude and heartfelt peace! — See Richardsou, Notes on Godwin, Heylin, Nichols,
Progr. of Queen Eliz., vol. I.
t Heylin and many other writers positively assert that Edward VI was poisoned; others,
with more justice, admit that there are only conjectures to warrant such an assertion.
|| He was the son of that Dudley, who, in conjunction with Empson, became so infamous
for extortions in the reign of Henry VII ; and was executed for them in the reign of
Henry VIII. Having procured the dissolution of the bishopric of Durham, it was his in
tention to get the lands of it, together with the ancient patrimony of the Piercies, erected
into a palatinate in his own favour. He actually seized the house of that see in the Strand,
called Durham house.
§ She called him, the duke of Norfolk, the marquis of Exeter, and the duchess of So
merset, whom she set at liberty at the same time, her prisoners. — Stow's Annals.

MARY CROWNED BY GARDINER, 269
invahd ; and he took possession of its spiritual and temporal rights, A- D-
as a matter of course. Within a month after this event, the queen, ^
having had experience of his great talents, both against her cause "
and for it, made him her chancellor; and as Archbishop Cranmer
was now a prisoner in the Tower, upon a charge of high-treason,
in declaring for Lady Jane against the rights of the queen and her
sister Elizabeth,* our prelate had the honour of performing the
ceremony of crowning her, which took place October 1, in the year
1553. With respect to the degraded prelate, Poynet, whose con
secration, having been performed according to the ordinal of Edward
VI, was considered as invalid ; he permitted himself to be so far
hurried away with resentment and rehgious zeal, as to join Sir
Thomas Wyat,! who, at the beginning of the ensuing year, appeared
in arms against the government, and threatened a new revolution
in church and state.! This would probably have been the case,
had the general attended to Poynet's advice ; but losing time in
his march to London, on an unnecessary business, || the latter saw
that the day was lost to his party, and therefore withdrew himself,
before the engagement took place with the queen's forces, and
effected his escape into Germany. §
The restoration of the ancient rehgion, which Mary had effected,
was the main-spring of the late rebellion; though her intended
marriage with Philip, then prince of Spain, was held forth by the
leaders as the motive of it, being a far more popular pretext.! The
insurrection being suppressed, and such precautions taken as the
queen thought sufficient for quieting the minds of the people and
preserving -the independency of England — she not neglecting, in
the mean time, to strengthen the hands of those who appeared to
be firmly attached to her, by new honours and offices,** the business
* Heylin, &c.
t This fact is positively and circumstantially related by the truth-telling contemporary
annalist John Stow, as also by Heylin, &c. Nevertheless it is denied by Bishop Burnet,
but upon the most frivolous grounds, as Collier proves, Ecc. Hist., part ii, p. 363 Per
haps there never was an historian, against whom a greater number of falsehoods have
been proved, than against Bishop Burnet. — See Higgons's Historical and Critical Remarks
on Burnet's History of his own Times, and Antony Harmer, Collier, &c, with respect to
his History of the Reformation. Sir John Dalrymple, in his Memoirs, says, p. 34, " I
have never tried Burnet's facts by the tests of dates and original papers, without finding
them wrong."
t Rapin and some other modern writers pretend that Wyat was himself a Catholic :
nothing can be said more false, as appears from the Apparatus of Camden's Annals, p. 12,
|| A piece of ordnance, belonging to Wyat's army, breaking down, he halted a conside
rable time in order to repair it. — Stow. § Idem.
If " It cannot be denied, that the restitution of the Reformed Rehgion was the matter
principally aimed at in this rebellion, though nothing but the match with Spain appeared
on the outside of it." — Heylin, Hist, of Mary, p. 34. John Fox also owns that Wyat's
party " conspired for religion." — Acts aud Mon.
** Viz. Lord William Howard earl of Effingham, Sir John Williams lord Williams of

270 MARRIAGE OF MARY AND
A. D. of the marriage went on with all convenient dispatch. Our city
1553. was ^e piace fixe(j upon for the performance of this august cere
mony. The motives for this choice were, probably, that the neigh
bourhood of the capital was subject to riots ; that this city was a
convenient place for the meeting of the illustrious pair ; being near
Southampton, where Philip was to land, and having a royal palace
in the castle for their reception, and a majestic cathedral proper for
the performance of the sacramental contract. It was also the seat
of Bishop Gardiner's jurisdiction, who was pitched upon to bestow
the nuptial benediction. On the 19th of July, being the same day
on which, in the preceding year, Mary had been proclaimed queen,
Philip, whose title was then that of prince of Spain, arrived at
Southampton, with a fleet of 160 sail, partly Spanish and partly
English.* Here he staid four days, during which it appears that
the .queen, having notice of his arrival, removed from Windsor castle
to that of Winchester, In the evening of the 23rd he came from
Southampton to this city; and going first to the cathedral, to per
form his devotions, was received there in solemn state by the bishop,
attended by a great number of the nobihty.! It is most likely
that, on this occasion, he took up his residence in the bishop's pa
lace of Wolvesey. The next day he was introduced, for the first
time, to his intended bride, being eleven years older than himself;
with whom he had a long and famihar conversation.! Finally,
the 25th day of the month being arrived, which was the festival of
St. James, patron saint of Spain, the queen, with a gallant train of
lords and ladies ;|| and Philip, with Figuera, the latter's father, the
emperor's ambassador, and other foreigners of distinction, repaired
to the cathedral. Here they were received with the utmost solem
nity by the bishop and his clergy, who conducted them to the
chapel of the queen's patroness, the Blessed .Virgin Mary,§ which
was chosen for the scene of this important ceremony. As soon as
this was concluded, the ambassador, in the name of the emperor
presented Phihp with an instrument, by which he conferred upon
him the kingdom of Naples, with its dependencies. This, in some
degree, put the royal pair upon a footing of equahty. Accordingly,
the trumpets being sounded, they were solemnly proclaimed by the
Tame, Sir Edward North baron of Carthlege, and " Sir John Bruges, who being descended
from Sir John Chandos, a right noble banneret, and from the Bottelers, lords of Sudley,
was made Lord Chandos of Sudley, April 8, which goodly mannor he had lately purchased
of the crown, to which it escheated on the death of Sir Thomas Seymour." — Heylin, Hist.
of Qu. Mary, p. 38 ; Stow.
* Heylin. t Stow, Heylin. J Stow. || Heylin.
§ Now the morning chapel, where the chair is still preserved in which the queen sat on
this occasion.

PHILIP OF SPAIN IN THE CATHEDRAL. - 271
following style, in the English, Latin, and French languages :— a. d.
Philip and Mary, by the grace of God, king and queen of England, 1553-
France, Naples, Jerusalem, and Ireland; defenders of the faith -^
princes of Spain and Sicily ; archdukes of Austria; dukes of Milan,
Burgundy, and Brabant; counts of Hapsbourg, Flanders, and Tyrol*
This done, the king and queen marched out of the church together,
hand in hand, and two swords were carried before them, to denote
their distinct capacities in the public government.! We may well
imagine that old Winchester lifted up her head on this joyful occa
sion. Certain it is, that her charters were renewed ;! and it is hkely
that some part of the immense treasures brought over by Philip, ||
which were so much more to the taste of the Enghsh than the
splendid titles he had conferred upon their queen, circulated in this
city to the benefit of its inhabitants. Amongst the demonstrations
of joy, which took place here, epithalamiums were composed by
the students of the college; for which they were liberally rewarded
by the royal pair,§ in the visit which they made to this celebrated
seminary, with the other places worthy of notice in Winchester.
A more substantial advantage to the city, if properly applied, than
those mentioned above, was the restitution of all the lands that had
been ahenated from its bishopric, which the queen obhged the
noblemen who were in possession of them to make.! Id like man
ner she required the ornaments, and other moveable property,
wherever they could be found, to be restored to the cathedral, and
to the other churches from which they had been taken.** Not
content with this, she was resolved either to give back the abbey
lands, which had been ahenated by her father, at the beginning of
the changes in rehgion, or, to employ them in other works of piety.
It was found, indeed, impossible to make this restitution general,
* Stow, Heylin, Collier. In opposition to these, and innumerable other authorities,
the romancing Hume tells a series of falsehoods, where he says, " a few days after (Philip's
arrival at Southampton) they (Queen Mary and he) were married at Westminster, and,
having made a pompous entry into London, she carried him to Windsor." — The truth
is, the royal pair were married at Winchester, July 25 ; from which city they removed to
Basing house, and thence to Windsor, where they arrived August 11. Thence they proceeded
to Richmond, and afterwards to Southwark. The next day, being August 1 8th, they entered
London. t Heylin. t Charter of Elizabeth.
|| The bullion, brought over by Philip, and sent to the Tower to be coined, filled ninety-
seven chests, each chest being a yard and four inches long. It required twenty carts to
convey this treasure.
§ Philip and Mary visiting the college, bestowed in alms, (being probably their offering
at a high mass there performed) the king 10/. 16*. 7d., the queen 6/. 13s. id. The bishop
of Chichester, who attended them, gave 20s. ; besides these sums, the royal pair bestowed
40*. on the head schoolmaster, and 20*. on the usher, with a certain sum to be distributed
to the thirty elder scholars, in reward fortheir verses. — MSS.
If " Waltham, with the rest of Poynet's grants, leases, and alienations were again reco
vered to the church by the power of Gardiner, when he was restored to his see by Queen
Mary."— Heylin, Hist, of Edw. p. 101. ** Heylin, Collier.

272 RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
A. D. on account of the changes in property which had taken place in
*553- the course of eighteen years ; and accordingly, Pope Julius III,
being consulted on the subject, quieted the minds of most of the
possessors of them.* However, with respect to such as were actually
in her own possession, she declared to the marquis of Winchester,
and to other noblemen, whom she summoned to her for this pur
pose, that her conscience would not permit her to keep them,!
any more than the title of supreme head of the church of England,
which she in fact resigned. It does not appear that any of the
ancient rehgious or charitable estabhshments in Winchester were
actually restored during the short interval that the Catholic party
was triumphant, except the hospital of St. John, which seems to
have been, in a certain degree, new-founded by a charitable person,
one Richard Lamb ;! still, however, those general measures which
were taken in favour of the church, evidently contributed to the
prosperity of the city.
As those sanguinary persecutions, for which this reign was, un
fortunately, too famous, reached Winchester, it is necessary to say
something concerning them ; and since the matter has been mis
represented by the generality of writers, for the purpose of keeping
up a spirit of unchristian resentment and counter-persecution in
the nation, we shall enlarge upon the subject further than would
be proper, were a less benevolent object in view than the appeasing
of that spirit. First, then, it is to be observed, that if Mary was a
persecutor, it was not in virtue of any tenet of her rehgion that she
became so. At her coming to the crown, and for almost two years
afterwards, whilst she declared herself openly in favour of the an
cient rehgion, she as openly disclaimed every degree of force or
violence against those who professed and practised any of the latter
systems. 1 1 We have the ordinances and instructions of the pope
for bringing back this kingdom to his communion. In these occur
many documents and rules of forbearance and conciliation ; but not
a word that insinuates corporal punishment or persecution of any
kind.§ It is also universally admitted, that the papal legate, Car
dinal Pole, uniformly expressed " a strong aversion to extremity
and rigour,"! and opposed the practice of them, as far as was in
his power. In like manner it is admitted, that the Spanish chap
lains of King Philip, and other catholic preachers, publicly con
demned, from the pulpit, the persecution which was then carried
* Dodd's Ch. Hist. vol. I, p. 3. t Heylin, p. 64, Dodd. t Charter of Elizabeth.
|| Heylin, Hist, of Qu. Jane, p. 163 ; Hist, of Mary, p. 25.
§ Dodd, vol. I, p. 545, &c.
If Collier, p. 377, Echard, Heylin, Rapin.— See extracts from his letters, &c, in his
life, by Philips, vol, II.

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. 273
on; as being opposite to the Christian spirit, and detrimental to A.D.
the interests of religion* Secondly, if, after an interval of nearly 1553-
two years toleration, the queen engaged the parliament to revive ^
the ancient acts against Lollards,! it cannot be denied that she had
many provocations,! from which she too hastily inferred that the
existence of the Protestant religion was incompatible with the secu
rity of her government. These were Wyaf s rebellion ; the open
and avowed attempts made by reformers upon her own hfe, and the
fives of the then estabhshed clergy ;|| the prayers that were publicly
made in conventicles for her death ;§ the intolerable insults publicly
offered to the religion of the state ;1 the pohtical impostures prac
tised against her government and faith ;** and the seditious and
treasonable books which were pubhshed by some of the leaders of
the Reformation, and, amongst the rest, by our late prelate of Win
chester, Poynet.!! All this, however, is offered, not in excuse, but
barely in extenuation of the charge brought against Mary. Thirdly,
if Gardiner, Bonner, and certain other Catholics, taught and prac
tised religious persecution in their days, they were not singular in
this particular : the most eminent Protestant divines openly incul
cated the same intolerant lessons.!! In like manner, the Protestant
* Philips's Life of Card. Pole, Echard's Hist, of Eng., Collier, &c,
t 1st and 2nd Phil, and Mary, c. vi.
t Heylin, in his Account of the Causes of the Persecution, says, " Such were the mad
nesses of the people  the governors of the church exasperated at these provocations."
— Hist, of Qu. Mary, p. 47.
|| William Thomas, clerk of the council to Edward VI, and a disciple of the famous
preacher Goodman, plotted the murder of the queen, for which he was sent to the Tower,
and afterwards executed ; at which time he boasted that he died for his country. — Wood's
Athen. Oxon. Dr. Bourne and Dr. Pendleton, preaching the Catholic doctrine at St. Paul's
cross, barely escaped, the one a dagger which was thrown at h im, and which stuck in a post
of the pulpit ; the other a bullet, that was fired at him, and grazed his person. — Stow,
Collier, &c. § Heylin, p. 47.
If Dogs and cats, shaved and dressed like priests officiating, were suspended in the
streets, or otherwise exposed. — Stow, &c.
** In March, 1554, a girl, called Elizabeth Crofts, was concealed in a wall near Aldgate,
and there taught to counterfeit.a supernatural voice, declaiming against the queen, confes
sion, the mass, &c. — Stow, Heylin. The year following, at Eltham, in Kent, a youth of
the name of Featherstone, was instructed to assume the personage of Edward VI, in
order to invalidate the queen's right to the throne. — Ibid.
tt Such as the famous John Knox's " Blast against the monstruous Regimen of
Women," and his other works against Queen Mary of England, and Queen Mary of Scot
land. Goodman's book concerning " The superiour Magistrate," in which he invokes the
spirit of Wyat, as a martyr. Poynet's " Treatise on Politic Power." — Heylin, Collier, Ant.
Wood. tt Beza, the celebrated pastor of Geneva, writing in justification of the burning of Ser-
vetus, by his master Calvin, for heterodoxy in religion, which event had lately taken place
in that city, produces ample authorities from Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, Bullinger, and
Capito, (to whom he might have added even the conciliating Bucer,) in defence of capital
punishments in matters of religion. See Beza De Hereticis puniendis i, civili Magis
trate, Ure. occasione mortis Serveti. Cranmer took it upon his conscience that the young
king, Edward VI, was obliged to sign the death-warrant of Joan Butcher, condemned for
heresy, on account of a singular opinion concerning the nature of Christ's body.^-
Heylin, Collier, part y, p. 291. He also promoted the capital punishment of other Dis
senters during this reign, as he had, in the preceding reign, that of Protestants in general.
VOL. I. BB

274 RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
A. D. states were no sooner established, than they every where began to
<"">_' turn their sword against Catholics ;* and not content with that, the
different sects amongst them made use of it against each other.f
At the very time when Mary was burning Protestants in England,
the Enghsh refugees in Germany were persecuting each other, on
account of their respective opinions.! Finally, it is to be observed,
that the huge history of these persecutions, written by John Fox,||
which has been a store-house for all succeeding writers on the same
subject, has been demonstrated to be one tissue of falsehood, mis
representation, and absurdity. § Some of his pretended martyrs
were alive at the time when he was describing the circumstances of
their death ;! many of them were executed for rebellion, assassina
tion, theft, or other crimes ;** not a few of them died in the open
profession of the Catholic doctrine, or only differed in certain points
of no great consequence to the main subjects of controversy;!!
whilst the greater part either differed from the received doctrines
of the estabhshed church, or differed from each other in some of
* This is emphatically remarked, with respect to Scotland, by Dr. Robertson, in his
History of that country, ann. 1560. The same penal laws against Catholics were about
this time enacted in England, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, &c.
t For the persecutions practised by the Protestants against each other in the Low
Countries, see Gerard Brand, Hist. Ref. Pays Bas. For the persecutions raised against
the Anabaptists and other Dissenters in this country, see Stow, Collier, Neal's Hist, of
Puritans. For the persecutions exercised by Dissenters upon Quakers, see Penn's Life of
G. Fox, who complains that 3173 Friends had suffered imprisonment under the common
wealth ; of whom 32 had died of the rigours of their confinement. In New England
four Quakers, of whom one was a woman, were actually hanged. — See also Baxter's Key
to Catholics, p. 48, and pref. in which he boasts that his party has the sword to punish
heretics, and calls upon the Protector Cromwell to use it against Papists, Seekers, and
Quakers. t Heylin, Hist, of Queen Mary, pp. 61, 62.
|| Acts and Monuments, by John Fox. He held a prebend in Salisbury cathedral,
though he refused to conform to the discipline or sign the articles of the Church of
England. — Heylin, Collier.
§ The innumerable falsehoods and misrepresentations of this work, (new editions of
which are annually pubhshed, to keep up that spirit which it was first written to produce,)
have been demonstrated by Alanus Copus, alias Nic. Harpsfield, by F. Parsons, iu his
Three Conversions ; and in part by Ant, Wood, Collier, and other learned and candid Pro
testants. If Ant. Wood says, that Fox has committed many errors, by trusting to the relations
of poor simple people, and in making such martyrs that were living after the first edition
of his book, though afterwards by him excused and omitted. — Athen. Oxon. It is plain,
however, that these omissions only regarded such as were actually proved to be then alive
by Alanus Copus, as was the case with the musician Merbeck. The same learned an
tiquary brings numerous proofs of remaining errors, sufficient to invalidate the credit of
the whole Martyrology. See the remarkable story of one Grimwood, who was actually
present in a church when the clergyman was describing, on the authority of Fox's Acts
and Monuments, (see p. 2100), the circumstances of his supposed miserable and preter
natural death, "his bowels, by the judgment of God, falling out of his body in conse
quence.*' Grimwood, in return, brought an action against the clergyman for defamation.
— Athen. Oxon., Hen. Morgan.
" ** For example, Sir John Oldcastle, Sir Henry Acton, John Onley, William Flower,
William Gardiner, &c.
tt For example, Savanarolla, Rhedonensis, Hun, Thomas Bilney, William Taylor, &c.
To these may be added the pretended confessors, Picus Mirandula, Erasmus, &c.

BENBRIDGE BURNT IN THIS CITY. 2,75
the points at least on which they were arraigned and condemned.* A. D.
Having made these general observations upon the persecutions 1~v~'
carried on in this reign, we shall now give an account of those suf
ferers, whose history is connected with that of this city. The only
person who was actually executed at Winchester, on this occasion,
was Thomas Benbridge,! who appears to have been a person of*
some consideration, and a resident in this city or neighbourhood.
Being accused of heterodox opinions, he was, in 1558, imprisoned, 1558.
and examined several times by Dr. White ;! who, as will be after
wards seen, succeeded Gardiner in this bishopric. We have the
articles, to the number of nine, on which the charge against him
of heresy was grounded, and his answers to those charges ; which,
though different from the Catholic doctrine, are far from agreeing,
in several points, with that of the Church of England. || In con
clusion, he was condemned to the flames ; and, being led to the
stake, began to prepare for his severe trial with great courage and
alacrity, undressing himself, and disposing of his clothes to the
persons present.§ In the mean time, one Dr. Seaton was very
earnest in his endeavours to make him recant ; to whom, at first,
he returned no answer at aU, but at length exclaimed, "Away! Ba
bylonian, away !" Fire was now set to the fatal pile, when Ben-
bridge, feeling the heat of it in his legs, cried out, " I recant!"^
upon which some of his friends rushing forward soon withdrew the
flaming faggots from about him, and the sheriff, Sir Richard Peck-
sal, took it upon himself to stop the execution, and to carry back
the prisoner to his former place of confinement; not, however,
until he had, with some difficulty, been induced to sign articles of
retraction, which were drawn up on the spot by Dr. Seaton. Being
in prison, he wrote a letter to the last-mentioned, retracting his
recantation, which caused him to be effectually burnt, July 31,
just a fortnight after the former transaction. The sheriff himself
was committed to prison in ; London, and confined there some time,
for having, without sufficient grounds or authority, prevented the
execution, when it was first ordered.**
Another sufferer in this odious persecution, was intimately con- 155?
nected with our city, both by his birth and the office which he held,
though he was imprisoned and executed in London. This was Sir
* See at large " The Three Conversions of England," part in.
t Fox's Calendar, July 16, Acts and Monuments, p. 2046, 4th edition.
if Particularly concerning the validity of Catholic baptism, the authority of the church,
and the succession of bishops from the apostles.
5 "His gown he gave to the keeper, his jerkin, being laid on with gold lace, fair and
brave, he gave to the sheriff, his cap of velvet he threw away."-* ox, p. 2047.
f Ibid. ** ib»-d-
bb2

276 SIR JOHN PHILPOT.
A. D. John Philpot, son of Sir Peter Philpot, knight, born at the neigh-
If!^ bouring village of Twyford, where his family had been for some
time settled.* He studied the civil law at New College, Oxford,
during six or seven years, applying himself, at the same time, to
languages, particularly to the Hebrew; which seems to argue a
turn of mind for theological- disquisitions. He afterwards travelled
abroad, into Italy and other countries. Returning home he ob
tained of Bishop Gardiner the advowson of the archdeaconship of
Winchester,! to which he was presented by Dr. Poynet, whom he
had materially served, in contributing by his evidence to the depri
vation of Gardiner.! At the conferences held at the convocation-
house, at the beginning of Mary's reign, he was one of the chief
disputants for the Reformed doctrine, and shewed great talents and
learning on the subject of the sacrament ;|| but proved short and
embarrassed concerning the authority of the church to decide upon
matters of controversy.§ What was particularly objected to him
by the prolocutor, Dr. Weston, was his want of temper, and his
neglecting to observe the order of debate ; as hkewise his refusing
to appear in the ordinary habit of clergymen.! This, and the un
usual lauguage which he held on the nature of the sacrament,**
seem to prove that he was puritanically affected. Soon after the
conclusion of the convocation, he was called to an account by Gar
diner, who was at the same time his ordinary and the lord chan
cellor, for the doctrines he had therein advanced, and committed to
the King's Bench prison. This he complained of as a great in
justice, because liberty of speech was understood to be no less a
privilege of the convocation than of the parhament itself.!! Here
he remained a year and a half, until the revival of the persecuting
statutes above-mentioned ; when he was summoned before Bishop
Bonner, of London, and confined in what is called his coal-hole.
He at different times objected to Bonner's jurisdiction over him,
as not belonging to his diocese. The bishop answered, that the
speeches for which Philpot had been committed, having been
uttered in his diocese, he had authority to call him to an account
* Ant. Wood, Athen. Oxon., Fox, Parsons. These writers only say, that the family
was settled in Hampshire. It appears, however, from Leland's Itin. vol. Ill, that Twyford
was the place of their residence.
t Fox, Parsons.
t Fox, p. 1351. It appears that Gardiner held Philpot, at that time, for a violent and
extravagant character; as, in his justification, he says of him : — " I accompted Philpot
altered in his wittes." — Ibid.
|| Collier, p 357. § Ibid, p. 358. If Ibid.
** He offered to prove, before the whole house and council, that " Christ was not
present in the sacrament anywise." He also frequently appealed to the spirit that was in
him, though he called Joan Butcher a vain woman for having done the same. — Fox.
tt Fox, Collier.

HE IS BURNT.  BISHOP GARDINER DIES. 277
for them. We have the substance of fourteen different conferences A. D.
between Bonner, or his deputies, and Philpot, drawn up by the J^/
latter;* in which he displays his usual talents, but at the same
time betrays his accustomed violence and self-confidence. In the
end, he was condemned as an obstinate heretic, and given up to the
secular power, to be proceeded against as the law directed.! Two
days afterwards, viz. the 18th1 of December, 1557,1 ne was con
ducted to Smithfield ; where, having made his prayer and distri
buted his, money to those who had been kind to him, he underwent
his severe fate with undaunted resolution.
Gardiner, Avho had originally only voted for the persecution, in
a hmited degree, fancying that a few capital punishments would
have the effect of making the whole nation of one rehgion, || on
finding that these sanguinary measures produced a contrary effect
to that which he expected, declined any further concern in them.§
Had he been disposed to take an active part in so disgusting an
employment, he was too much occupied in the important concerns
of the state, to admit of it ; and he was now fast declining towards
the conclusion of his variegated life. Having opened a new par
hament, in quahty of lord chancellor, October 21, 1555, he was, 1555.
two days afterwards, seized with the gout,! and died in sentiments
of great humility and contrition,** November 12, following, at
York-place, now Whitehall. Thence his body was removed to a
yault in St. Mary Overy's church, in Southwark, until every thing
* Fox's Acts and Monuments. It is nevertheless difficult to conceive how such vo
luminous papers could have escaped the vigilancy of Philpot's keepers, who detected so
many other papers belonging to him, and the ink and penknife which were artfully con
veyed to him in a roasted pig.
t Whatever might be Bonner's disposition, his authority as a bishop did not, and could
not, proceed further than to pronounce on the heterodoxy of the person examined by him.
This is expressly declared in the tenor of the ecclesiastical sentence, which was exactly
the same that Cranmer and many other Protestant bishops had pronounced in similar cir
cumstances ; as may be seen in Collier, Ecc. Hist, part n, pp. 291, 292.
t Acts and Monum. Dec. 3, Calendar.
|| Heylin, Queen Mary, p. 47. § Collier, p. 382, Echard.
If Fox, and after him Burnet, and other historians, relate that, on the day of Ridley and
Latimer's execution at Oxford, Gardiner postponed his dinner until he had received an
account of that tragical event ; having messengers at proper distances on the road to con
vey him the earliest intelligence ; that the old duke of Norfolk, who was then one of his
guests, expressed great uneasiness at the delay of his meal ; and that on the arrival of the
news, Gardiner, transported with joy, sat down to table, where he was seized with the
disury, and, being carried to bed, died in great torments, a fortnight after. The falsehood
of this story, founded in excessive prejudice, is disproved by Collier, from the following
circumstances : Latimer and Ridley suffered Oct. 16. October 21, Gardiner opened the
parhament, which he afterwards attended a second time. The old duke of Norfolk had
been dead a year before this event ; and Gardiner himself died Nov. 12, not of the disury,
but of the gout.— Ecc. Hist. p. 386. '
** He died (say Godwin and Parker) repeating these words,— Erravi cum Petro, et
nonflevi cum Petro." In the sermon which he preached before the king and queen, his
words were, " Negayi cum Petro, exivi cum Petro, sed nondum ama e flevi cum
Petro."— Dodd. >

278 BISHOP WHITE.
A. D. was ready for his funeral at Winchester. At length, on the 20th
l_y_,' of the ensuing February, (his figure, made of wax and habited
in rich pontifical ornaments, lying on the coffin,)* the corpse was,
conveyed to this city, attended by Lord. Viscount Montague and
the bishop of Ely, who were his executors, and above two hundred
horsemen in mourning dresses, and buried in the chapel which he
had prepared forBthat purpose in his life time, opposite to that of
Bishop Fox ; where, after resting in peace for nearly a century, it
was disturbed in the manner we shall afterwards have to relate.!
Bishop Gardiner was succeeded in the see of Winchester by Dr..
White, who was born of a good family at Farnham,! and received
his first education at the college in this city. Thence he removed
to Wykeham's college at Oxford, of which he became a fellow, and
took the degree of A.M. He returned to Winchester, being elect-.
head-master of the college school ; in which capacity he has been
celebrated by his scholars and others for his prudent and pious,
conduct, as likewise for the extent of his genius and learning. || He
was afterwards chosen warden of the college§ and appears to have
been principally instrumental in saving it, when the adjoining col
lege of St. Elizabeth, the site of which he purchased, and so many
other, were utterly destroyed. Refusing to give in to the irrehgious,
measures of the duke of Somerset, he was deprived of his warden-
ship, and committed prisoner to the Tower,! where he lay until the
reign of Mary ; by whose interest he was first raised to the see of
Lincoln, and now, upon the death of Gardiner, translated to that of
Winchester ; which, on account of his predilection for his native
county, appears to have been the object of his wishes.** This
dignity, however, was granted him, upon condition of his paying
£1000 yearly, out of the revenue of his see, to Cardinal Pole ; who
complained that the temporahties of Canterbury were so ruined by
his predecessor, that he could not hve in a manner suitable to his
rank.!! He was chosen to speak the funeral oration of Queen
Mary, which he performed more to his credit as a scholar and
Christian preacher, than to his interest as a courtier;!! as the
event soon after declared.
* Stow, Godwin. t See our Survey.
t Ant. Wood, Athen. Oxon., Camden, Annal. Eliz. Godwin, by an error, which is also
adopted by Heylin and Collier, says, " Winionwe natus : Pitsius non longe a Wintonia in
lucem editus."
|| Pitsius and Christopher Johnson. Wood says, " his fame and actions did well answer
his name (White), and so did all men say, however contrary to him in rehgion."
§ Richardson, on the authority of a MS. of Gale, asserts that he was dean of Win-,
Chester ; but this is probably a mistake, as his name does not occur in Gale's catalogue of
deans. f Strype, Life of Cranmer. ** Godwin, De Praes.
tt Wood, Dodd. tt Wood, Collier.

ELIZABETH DECLARED HEAD OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH. 279
The reign of Queen Elizabeth, which commenced November 17, A D-
1558, whatever may be said of it in other respects, was certainly ^J,
prejudicial to the interest of this ancient city; inasmuch as its
wealth and consequence were, at the period we are speaking of,
inseparably connected with those of the national church. At first
she seemed undetermined, whether to give the preference to the
system of rehgion which had prevailed under her brother Edward,
or to that of her sister Mary. It is certain that she had ever re
tained a strong predilection for many tenets and usages of the an
cient church,* and was at great pains to have the ceremony of her
coronation performed by a Catholic prelate ;! but being sensible,
on the other hand, that " her own legitimation, and the pope's su
premacy could not stand together ;" after serious debates with her
council, which she chose partly of Catholic and partly of Protes
tant members,! during which she prohibited all preaching, without
a special license, || she finally determined in favour of the reformed
system. In consequence of this resolution, a parhament was soon
after held, which took upon itself to " unite and annex to the im
perial crown of this realm all such jurisdictions. . . . spiritual and
ecclesiastical, as by any spiritual or ecclesiastical power or authority,
hath heretofore been, or may lawfully be exercised or used for the
visitation of the ecclesiastical state and persons, and for reforma
tion, order, and correction of the same, and of all manner of errors
heresies, an'd schisms," &c. ; at the same time, requiring all persons
in offices, whether ecclesiastical or civil, to declare upon oath, that
" the queen's highness is the only supreme governor of this realm,
as well in all spiritual and ecclesiastical things or causes, as tem
poral," &c.§ This act of parhament was conclusive, and imme
diately produced the most important changes in this city and else
where ; for it did not only exclude every degree of spiritual power
in the pope, and in future general councils ; but it also ascribed a

* " De cruce autem, Beat& Virgine et Sanctis haud quaquam contemptim sensit, nee de
lis, sine qu&dam reverentia, unquam locuta, nee alios loqui patienter audivit." — Camden,
Annal. Eliz. p. 24. " Her own altar was furnished with rich plate, two fair gilt candle
sticks with tapers in them, and a massie crucifix of silver in the midst of them. Which
last remained there for several years, till it was broke in pieces by Patch, the fool, (no
wiser man daring to undertake such a desperate service,) at the solicitation of Sir F.
Knolles. When one of her chaplains had spoken less reverently, in a sermon, of the sign
of the cross, she called aloud to him, from her closet window, commanding him to retire
from that ungodly digression, and to return unto his text ; aud on the other side, when
one of her divines had preached a sermon in defence of the real presence, she openly gave
him thanks for his pains and piety." — Heylin, Queen Elizabeth, p. 124.
t She was crowned according to the ordinal of the Roman pontifical, by Dr. Oglethorp,
bishop of Carlisle, the only man amongst the bishops who could be wrought on by her to
perform that office. — Ibid, p. 106.
t Camden, Annal., Heylin.
|| Camden, p. 23, Collier, p. 411. § 1 Eliz. c. i.

280 Elizabeth's supremacy.
a. D more absolute authority, in matters of faith and discipline, to this
1558. princesSj than had been exercised by the bishop of Rome, in the
J plenitude of his power.*1 Bishop White was the first victim of the
* To shew upon what grounds so many of the brightest ornaments of this city incurred
the loss of their benefices, and some of them their liberty and lives, iu opposition to this
act of parliament, it is proper to observe, that the queen and her council, on every occa
sion, enforced it, and acted up to it, according to the strict tenor of its terms, which are
seen above. By virtue of this act, the queen soon after proceeded, by her commissioners,
to make an ecclesiastical visitation of the kingdom. The commissioners for the province
of York, with whose names Collier, p. 435, acquaints us, were fourteen noblemen or gen
tlemen, with only one divine, a private clergyman, amongst them. Of these any two even
of the laymen, are authorised to visit all cathedrals, collegiate aud parochial churches,
aud all degrees of the clergy, the bishops not excepted. They are empowered to exa
mine them upon the articles of their belief, the qualifications of their learning, and their
behaviour, as to morals ; and, in case they find them defective, heterodox, or irregular,
they are to proceed against them by imprisonment and ecclesiastical censures  They
are to give licences to preach to those whom they judge worthy, &c. — Collier, Ecc. Hist.
part n, p. 435. In conformity with the tenor of this act, Archbishop Parker, in his
homage to the queen used the following words : — " I acknowledge and confess to have
and to hold the said archbishoprick of Canterbury, and the possessions of the same en
tirely, as well the spiritualities as the temporalities, only of your majesty and the crown
royal." The dispute concerning the exercise of prophecying, (a certain enthusiastic and
popular mode of interpreting the scriptures), which took place in 1577, between Dr.Grindai,
archbishop of Canterbury, supported by most of the prelates, and by our Bishop Horne in
particular, on one hand, and by her majesty on the other; proved the extent of the oath of
supremacy, and that the whole constitution of the established church, with respect to faith
as well as discipline, did in fact depend upon the judgment or pleasure of an individual
female. This exercise of prophecying, whatever it might be, under certain regulations,
was approved of by the archbishop, and the other prelates in general ; nine of whose
names he particularly quotes, as veiy beneficial both to individuals and to the church.
He moreover declares, in his letter on this subject, to the lords of the star-chamber, that
he " finds thise xercise set down in the Holy Scriptures, and the use of the same to have
continued in the primitive church." The queen, on the other hand, declares in her orders
to the bishops, that the said exercises " occasioned numbers to presume on the functions
of preaching, not lawfully called, produced new forms of worship, and disputations upon
points of divinity, improper for a vulgar audience, and that they led many into schism."
Iu a word, the bishops are " strictly commanded not to suffer any of these prophecyings
in future." The order to the bishops coucludes: " We charge you to be careful and vigi
lant, as by your negligence, &c. we be not forced to make some example in reforming you."
It was vain for the bishops to resist after the oath they had taken. Hence, even Grindal
acquaints her majesty that, " as she had forbidden the exercises of prophecying, he had
suffered none of them in his diocese or peculiars." — Collier, Ecc. Hist, part n, pp. 554, 555,
559, 560, 579. Rec. No. 90. Nothing however will give us a juster idea of the absolute
authority and infallibility in religious matters, which Elizabeth attributed to herself in virtue
of her supremacy, than her speech to both houses of parhament, March 29, 1585, of which
the following is an extract : " My lords, and ye of the lower house  One matter
toucheth me so neere, as I may not overskip : religion, the ground on which all other
matters ought to take roote, and by being corrupted may mar all the tree : and that there
be some fault-finders with the order of the clergie, which so may make a slander to myself
and the church, whose overlooker God hath made me, whose negligence cannot be ex
cused, if any schisms or errors heretical were suffered. Thus much I must say, that some
faults and negligences may grow and be, as in all other great changes it hapneth — and what
vocation without ? All which, if you my lords of the clergie do not amend, I mind to
depose you, looke you therefore well to your charges  I am supposed to have many
studies, but most philosophical. I must yield this to be true, that I suppose few that be
not professors have read more : and I need not tell you that I am so simple that I under
stand not, nor so forgetful that I remember not : and yet amongst my many volumns, I
hope God's boke hath not been my seldomest lecture  I see many overbold with
God Almighty, making too many subtil scannings of his holy will, as lawyers do with
human testaments: the presumption is so great that I may'not suffer it (yet minde I do
not hereby animate Romanists, which what enemies they be to mine estate is sufficiently
knowne) nor tolerate new-fanglednesse. I mean to guide them both by God's true
rule," &c. The intelligent reader will smile at the vanity of this princess, and the

THE REFORMATION. 281
oath of supremacy. He had given offence by the ardour with A. D
which he had extolled the deceased queen, in his funeral discourse -^
upon her, and the frigid manner in which he spoke of the reigning
queen.* He had incurred still greater displeasure, by the vigour
with which he defended the ancient faith, in the public conferences
held between the Catholic and Protestant divines, in Westminster
abbey ; in which he is said to have threatened the queen with ex
communication.! Hence he, and Watson bishop of Lincoln, had
been committed prisoners to the Tower.! But now, having refused
to take the proposed oath, as his brethren hkewise did in general, ||
he was, in the month of June, 1559, declared to have forfeited his 1559.
bishopric, which was kept a long time vacant, for purposes that
will afterwards appear. The clergy in general were of the same senti
ments with the bishops ; as was manifest, both by their articles in
the Convocation^ and by the language of the universities :! but
they did not, at the time of trial, display the same firmness in suf
fering in defence of their conscientious opinions, which their
superiors, the bishops, had done.** It is true, however, that a
greater proportion of the dignitaries of this cathedral, and of the
masters and fellows of the college in this city, and of Winchester
college in Oxford,!! made the sacrifice in question, than of any
other cathedral or learned society in England. Of these, we have
been able to recover the names of the following persons, who were
deprived of their livings at this time, for refusing the oath of su
premacy: — Edmund Steward, D.D., dean of the cathedral;!!
Thomas Harding, D.D., the famous antagonist of Bishop Jewel,
who had been brought up in the college of this city, and afterwards
became fellow of New College, and prebendary of the cathedral ;||||
exclusive right which she claims to understand the Scriptures, and interpret them to her.
subjects : but what part was a conscientious Christian to take, when he was called upon,
as the above-mentioned clergy of Winchester were, to sanction all this extravagance by
their solemn oaths ?
* Ant. Wood, Godwin.
t Heylin. t April 5.— Stow.
|| All the bishops refused the oath of supremacy, except Antony Kitchen, of Llandaff;
who, as Heylin says, in a quibbling strain " having formerly submitted unto every change,
resolved to shew himself no changeling now." — Omnes qui tunc sederunt jurare ab-
nuerunt praetor unum Antonium Landavensem, sedis suae calamitatem." — Camden Annal.
p. 36. § Heylin, p. 113, Collier.
f See Jewel's Letter to Bullinger, written at this period, in which he complains that
there are not above two divines of their sentiment in the university of Oxford. — Col. p. 432.
** In addition to the fourteen bishops, there were only eighty rectors of parishes,
fifty prebendaries, fifteen heads of colleges, twelve archdeacons, twelve deans, and six
abbots or abbesses, who were turned out of their offices for refusing the oath. — Camden,
Annal. tt Ant. Wood, Antiq. Oxon. counts not less than twenty-three fellows of New
College who refused the oath.
tt Wood, Dr. Bridgwater ap Dodd.
HII Ant. Wood.
VOL. I. CC

282 BISHOP WHITE DIES.  ROBERT HORNE,
A. D. Peter Langrish, graduate of Oxford, and prebendary of the cathe-
1559. (kg].* Thomas Martin, LL.D., fellow of New College, and chan
cellor of the diocese of Winchester;! Thomas Hyde, D.D., of
an ancient family of that name, near Newbury, who had studied
at both Wykeham's colleges, and was now head master of the one
in this city, as also prebendary of the cathedral;! John Mar
shall, or Martial, LL.B., fellow of New College, and second master
of the school here ;|| Edmund Marvyn, A.M., of C. C, prebendary
of Winchester cathedral, and archdeacon of Surrey. § Richard
Martial, dean of Christchurch, Oxford, was another preben
dary of this cathedral, who lost his preferments for refusing the
oath; though afterwards, being seized upon and conveyed to
London, he was induced to take it, in hopes of recovering his
deanery.! The clergy, in general, who succeeded those displaced, were,
according to the character given of them by unprejudiced histo
rians, but ill qualified to repair the loss which the pubhc had suf
fered in the former.** With respect to Bishop White, he had
been detained in prison after the other bishops were discharged;
however, his health dechning, he was at length permitted to retire
to his sister's house, at South Warnborough, near the place of his
1560. nativity, where he died, Jan. 11, 1560.!! Though, in common
with the other bishops, he had been denied during his life-time the
privilege of practising his rehgion, even in private,!! ve* n0 °P~
position was made to his being interred in the cathedral, according
to the tenor of his last will, now that he was dead.||||
The next bishop of this see was Robert Horne, a Protestant
divine of great talents, who distinguished himself by his contro-
* Dodd.
t He wrote different works against Dr. Poynet, as also the life of William of Wyke
ham, which Dr. Lowth frequently quotes. — Ant. Wood.
t Ant. Wood, who gives a high character of his merit.
|| Ibid. § Ant. Wood, Fasti Oxon.
% Ibid. Other persons of note, connected with this city, by their preferments, resi
dence, or education, who lost their benefices for refusing to acknowledge Queen Elizabeth's
spiritual supremacy, were, Dr. John Boxal, late warden of the college, then dean of
Windsor; Dr. Nicholas Harpsfield, the learned writer of the Ecclesiastical History, arch
deacon of Canterbury ; Dr. John Harpsfield, archdeacon of London ; Dr. John Pitsius,
author of the work De Illust. Ang. Scrip. ; Dr. Wilham Reynolds, the learned contro-
vertist ; Dr. Saunders, author of the Visibilis Monarchia et De Schism. Anglic. ; Dr.
Thomas Stapleton, one of the most learned and voluminous writers of his age; Dr.
Lewis Owen, P. J. Can., the great friend of Cardinal Allen ; Richard White, of Basing
stoke, a learned antiquary and writer ; Robert Poyntz, John Mundyn, &c.
** Collier says, " Upon the Catholic clergy throwing up their preferments, some me
chanics were admitted into orders. The disadvantage of this expedient was soon observed :
the ignorance and improper behaviour of these men made them disregarded." — Part n.
p. 465. Wood gives a lamentable account of the situation of his university on this occa
sion. — Athen. Oxon. passim.
tt Athen. Oxon. tt Camden, Annal. p. 40. IIII Athen. Oxon.

A PROTESTANT DIVINE, SUCCEEDS HIM. 283
versial writings, and by the voluntary exile which he suffered A- D-
during the late reign. He had been dean of Durham under ^J
Edward VI, and was consecrated bishop of Winchester, Feb. 1 6,
1560.* Previously, however, to this ceremony, the court had
taken certain measures, which placed this see in a very different
situation from that in which Bishop 'White had left it. In the
first place, an act of parliament was obtained to strip it a second
time of all the possessions, which had been ahenated in Edward's
reign and recovered in that of Mary.! Besides this, a general
act was procured, empowering the queen, on the vacancy of any
bishopric or archbishopric, to issue a commission for surveying the
castles, manors, and lands belonging to it, and to take into her
hands such of them as to her should seem good; giving in ex
change impropriations and tithes to the same amount-! This
compensation is represented as a mere illusion, || and compared
with Diomed's exchange of brazen armour for armour of gold.
It was to afford leisure for the " queen and her courtiers to take
such advantage of this act as redounded most to their profit, and
to cull the best flowers out of the whole garden of the church,"§
that the different sees, and ours in particular^ were kept for a cer
tain time vacant. There was, however, a particular clause in the
act, by which the said ecclesiastical possessions were liable to as
great dilapidations when they were full, as when they were vacant.
By this clause, bishops were forbidden to make leases for more
than twenty-one years, or three lives, " except to the queen," and
under that pretence, to any of her hungry courtiers ;! to whom
they might be granted for ninety-nine years, or in fee farm. By
virtue of this clause, we are assured, that " many goodly manors
were alienated for ever from the see of Winchester," as well as
from other sees ;** which proves that Bishop Horne was a party
to these dilapidations. The appointment of a prelate of his cha
racter was a calamity to the city as well as to the bishopric. He
had been noted at Durham for the devastations which he had com
mitted; and he is described as "a man that could never abide any
ancient monument, acts, or deeds, that gave any hght of or to godly
religion."!! hence there is every reason to ascribe to his blind
zeal the havock which we discover to have been made about this
time in our city, and particularly in the cathedral. Not content
* Godwin. t Collier, p. 430. t.lEliz.c.4.
|| Even Burnet calls this " an act for robbing the church without enriching the crown.
§ Heylin, Hist. Qu.Eliz. pp. 120, 121.
If Heylin, Hist. Qu. Eliz. ** lbld-
•ft Athen. Oxon.
CC 2

284 BISHOP HORNE DEFACES THE CATHEDRAL.
A. D. with removing or defacing the roods or crucifixes, with such other
*~~r~' images or paintings, as were particularly obnoxious ;* for doing
which there was a plea, from the late pubhshed articles ;f it ap
pears that he also destroyed the numerous statues and chapels
which adorned our cathedral, though these have been left standing
in so many other churches. The venerable chapter-house also
and cloisters, part of which was the work of Wykeham, were
pulled down in this episcopacy, to the defacing of the city, and
1570. weakening of the church itself;! whilst so many other cathedrals
have the same curious and venerable monuments still to boast of.
It is true, there were different ordinances pubhshed in this reign, ||
to prevent such plunder of lead or bells, as likewise the defacing
of monuments, and other violences, which were then frequently
practised, not only by inferior persons, but, as it is insinuated, by
bishops themselves ; but our prelate either evaded these proclama
tions, or he was permitted, by such means, to indemnify himself
for the property of his bishopric, which he had conveyed away to
the courtiers. By all these measures was our ancient city defaced
in its external appearance and impoverished ; those veins of wealth,
which had heretofore circulated in it, and proved its chief support,
being now in a great measure dried up, or diverted elsewhere.
What added, in some degree, to this distress was, that the queen,
who threw every obstacle she could in the way of the clergy's mar
rying^ had now issued an injunction, which she caused to be in
serted in the constitutions and foundation-deeds of all cathedrals
and colleges, prohibiting every clergyman belonging to them
from admitting any woman whomsoever within their precincts,
* Such as the paintings, which are once more brought to light, in the Lady Chapel of
the cathedral. — See our Survey.
t Heylin, p. 117.
J This destruction took place in 1570 ; at which time it appears by certain authentic
MSS. which we have seen, that great quantities of lead were publicly carried away from
the cathedral.
II Viz. 1560.— Collier. 1572, Stow. Collier, speaking of the devastations and sacri
leges carried on at this period, viz. 1561, to which the people were excited by " certain
public incendiaries," thus expresses himself: "to see noble structures, consecrated to the
honour of the ever blessed Trinity, where all the articles of the1 Apostles' Creed were pro
fessed, thus ravaged and razed, the holy furniture made plunder, and the church estates
seized, gives a frightful idea of some of the Reformers." — Part n, p. 471.
§ By the injunctions, pubhshed at the beginning of her reign, clergymen desirous of
entering into the state of matrimony, were subjected to certain declarations arid cere
monies, too disgraceful to be mentioned.— See Collier's Hist, and Moral Essays. The
queen's insulting behaviour to Archbishop Parker's wife is well known. — See Elizabeth's
Progresses, by Nichols, ann. 1573. She had already defeated a bill brought into parliament
in favour of the married clergy of Edward's reign ; and Cecil takes to himself the merit
of having prevented a bill from being introduced, absolutely interdicting such marriages
in future. It is proper to add, that the preamble to the first act of parliament, which
gives permission to the clergy to marry, states, that " it were not only better for the esti
mation of priests and other ministers to live chaste, sole, and separate from the company

ELIZABETH VISITS WINCHESTER. 285
under the penalty of forfeiting all ecclesiastical preferment.* One a. d.
effect of this injunction, as Archbishop Parker proved, in his letter ^
to the Secretary of State, was to banish all hospitality out of the
houses of church dignitaries,! to the great detriment of trade in
the places where they resided.
Ovring chiefly to these causes, Winchester, about the middle
of this reign, as its most authentic records state, was fallen "into
great ruin, decay, and poverty."! The musters of able men taken
at this time, afford a melancholy proof of its decayed state. This
city, which could once pour out a whole army at its gates, now
was only capable of furnishing ninety men fit to bear arms ; whilst
Southampton, a place never of great extent or population, Avas able
to supply 490 men of that description. || There is reason to be
heve, that the magistrates and other citizens were watching anxi
ously for any opportunity that might offer, to obtain such assistance
and benefits as it was in the power of the crown to bestow, in
order to alleviate their calamity; but, in truth, Ehzabeth shewed
no great partiality for Winchester. She was more delighted with
the pageants exhibited in her honour, and the idolatry that was
paid her, at Basing, Cowdry, and Elvetham,§ than in surveying
the monuments of her religious ancestors — which this city had to
exhibit — and the sacred ruins which she had contributed to increase.
In the first considerable progress Avhich the queen made after
coming to the crown, namely, in 1560, she visited this city,! but 1560.
without leaving any marks of her beneficence, that we are able to
discover; and ever after, in her several western expeditions and
visits to different seats of the nobihty and places in this county,
Ehzabeth seemed purposely to avoid this city, though here she
had a royal residence, and it had been the favourite seat of so many
of her predecessors.** In these circumstances the citizens were
fortunate enough to make a friend of Sir Francis Walsingham, se
cretary of state ; who condescended to add to his other titles that
of women and the bond of marriage ; but also thereby they might the better intend to
the administration of the gospel, and be less intricated and troubled with the charge of
household," &c— 2 Edw. VI, c. 21.
* Collier, Ecc. Hist, part n, p. 472 ; Strype's Life of Archbishop Parker. ,
t Collier, p. 473.
t Queen Elizabeth's Charter.
|| See Ordinances of the Royal Household, published by the Society of Antiquaries.
§ See Queen Elizabeth's Progress, 2 vols, by J. Nichols.
f Ibid, vol. I.
** Warton, in his description of Winchester, p 22, seems to say, that Elizabeth was
there some time before the charter was granted. No such visit, however, as this has
been discovered by Nichols, who has been indefatigable in his researches concerning the
journies of this queen. A conjecture indeed may arise of her having been in this city,
in 1570, as it appears that money was then distributed at the college to her minstrels and
players. This, however, alone, is not a sufficient proof of the fact.

286 ELIZABETH GIVES A CHARTER TO THE CITY.
A. D. of high steward of Winchester.* At length, through his means,
1587. jn 158^ t^y succeeded in obtaining. an ample charter; which,
being the last of its kind that has been granted them, is the same
by which, at the present day, they profess to be governed, and to
hold their privileges.
This charter is expressly stated to be granted at the suit of Sir
Francis Walsingham ; and " in consideration of the city of Win
chester having been most famous for the celebration of the nativi
ties, coronations, sepulchres, and for the preservation of other
famous monuments of the queen's progenitors."! By the tenor
of this' charter, Winchester is declared to be a corporation of itself
and a free city, under a mayor, a recorder, six aldermen, a town
clerk, two coroners, two constables, and a council of twenty-four
of the better, discreeter, and more respectable citizens. The mayor,
recorder, and aldermen, are appointed justices of the peace for the
city, with the usual power and privileges of that ofiice, and the
city is exempted from the jurisdiction of the county magistrates.
The markets are ordered to be held on the Wednesday and Satur
day in each week, and the three usual fairs are sanctioned; one on
the feast of St. Edward the Confessor, and the eve and morrow of
the same day, being the 24th, 25th, and 26th of October, N.S. ; a
second on the Monday and Tuesday, in the first week of Lent ;
and the third on the feast of ,St. Swithun, and the eve and morrow
of the same day, being the 26, 27th, and 28th of July, N.S<! The
citizens are acquitted from all suits of the county, hkewise from
all tolls, pontage, &c, from which they had heretofore been exempt.
The mayor is appointed clerk of the markets, with power to make
the asskes of bread, wine, and other victuals. The said mayor, &c.
are authorised to take recognizance of debts, and make execution
thereon within the city ; hkewise to erect 'companies of the diffe
rent trades or occupations then exercised, or afterwards to be
exercised, in this city or suburbs. Moreover, to sustain the char
ges of the city, and for the rehef of the poor inhabitants, they
have permission to make broad-cloths and kerseys. The corpora
tion is also authorised to possess any houses, lands, &c, which
they may be enabled to acquire by gift, legacy, or purchase, within
the city or suburbs. Finally, all former rights and privileges, those
especially which had been granted by the late king and queen,
Philip and Mary, are confirmed to the city ; particularly the guar-
* Elizabeth's Charter, fa) ' t Ibid.
t This fair is no longer kept up, on account of the great fair of Magdalen hill, which
commences only five days afterwards.
(a) Since altered by the Municipal Reform Act. — See Appendix.

WINCHESTER WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.— DRAKE. 287
dianship of the. hospital of St. John, originally founded by John A D
Devenish, and since re-founded by Richard Lamb, and the diffi- 1587-
culties concerning its name and title are done away. The only <~r"
article in this charter which appears to be new, or which seemed
to promise any redress of the evil complained of, viz. the ruin,
decay, and poverty, into which the city is stated to have fallen,
was that relating to the woollen manufactory; for carrying on
which it has several advantages ; and by which, as we have seen at
different periods, it had acquired wealth and splendour. But to
give efficacy to this clause, not a bare permission to make broad
cloths and kerseys, but rather a wise and comprehensive arrange
ment, together with substantial assistance at the beginning to set
the machine in action, was requisite. Nothing of this sort was
then done ; and our city has continued ever since destitute of a
manufactory, and of course indigent. Amongst the ancient privi
leges of Winchester, which had been confirmed in general terms
by the late charter, was that of keeping the standard weights and
measures ; accordingly, the next year, viz. 1588; it received a new 1588>
set of these, marked with the arms and name of the queen,* and
in the ensuing year, 1589, it was further honoured with the gift of i589.
a new seal.!
If this city could contribute but little, as we have seen, to the
success of her majesty's arms ; yet it was amongst the foremost to
celebrate those signal victories, and other fortunate events which
distinguished this reign, and have rendered it so popular. For
this it was indebted to the talents of the students of the college.
For when, upon the return of the celebrated Drake from his voyage
round the world, in the year 1580, the ship in which he made his 1580.
voyage, being drawn ashore at Deptford, and decorated in the
most splendid manner possible, was visited, with a kind of reli
gious veneration, by all ranks of people, and by the queen herself,
who dined and knighted its fortunate captain on board of it,!
amongst other honours paid to the new Argo, verses, written by
* One of these, which is a yard, bears the marks of Henry VII at one end, and those
of Elizabeth, on a piece let into it, on the other end. This circumstance renders it
doubtful, whether the length of the yard was not altered at this period.
t The face consists of an ancient square castle, with the date and the letters A V G, in
the exergue: the inscription round it, tSIGILL :: :: CIVIT :: :: INION :: :: GNSIVT.
The reverse is a cross patee, with the date; the inscription, CONFIRMATIO SITIS ;
the latter word being the saihe, when read either backwards or forwards. There is evi
dently some anagram, or other riddle, in both inscriptions, which we leave to the investi
gation of those who are curious in such matters. Warton says, that the weights and
measures were given at the same time with the charter, (see his Description, p. 33) ; and
yet they bear upon their faces different dates — the charter, 1587 ; the weights, &c. 1588 ;
the seal 1589. The blunders of Anonymous, in speaking of the whole transaction, are
too gross and too numerous to be here insisted upon, Hist, of Win, pp. 99, 117.
t Camden, Annal. Eliz., Stow's Annals, A.D. 1580.

288 DRAKE.  BISHOP HORNE.
A. D. the ablest poets, were affixed to its mast,* and the palm of merit, on
,_"_; the occasion, was adjudged to the scholars of Winchester, and ac
cordingly their epigrams have been transmitted to us by one of the
most learned men of his age.! Only one distich of these having
been pubhshed to the present age, and that incorrectly,! we shall,
therefore, give the Avhole of them, as they stand in the contem
porary above alluded to : —
"PLUS ULTRA, Herculeis inscribas DRACE columnis,
Et magno, dicas, Hercule major eTO."||
"DRACE, pererrati quern novit terminus orbis,
Quemque simul mundi vidit uterque polus,
Si taceant homines, facient te sidera notum :
Sol nescit comitis non memor esse sui."§
" Digna ratis, quae stet radiantibus undique stellis ;
Supremo cceli vertice digna ratis."^
We left Bishop Horne in possession of the mitre of this city.
He seems not to have possessed a greater share of toleration than
was usual in that age. The severity of the laws, at the first esta
blishment of the Church of England, was extended not only
to the Catholics, but also to the Dissenters. We do not indeed find
capital punishments inflicted on the latter in this city, as they were
in the metropolis ;** but we discover some of their leading ministers,
about the present time, to have been sent to Bishop Horne, to be
* Camden. t Idem.
t The last word in.the first couplet, stands in the Anonymous History, era, instead of
ero, or ego, which is another reading of it. — See Camden's Remains. He calls this also
elegiac measure, or alternate hexameters and pentameters, " a particular kind of heroic
verse." — p. 98. || In vain the proud Herculean pillars stand,
Whilst Drake PLUS ULTRA graves on Calpe's strand.
§ Should men, 0 Drake ! ungrateful to thy fame,
Neglect thy wond'rous voyage to proclaim ;
The conscious sun thy praises will rehearse —
The sun, companion of thy circling course.
If Let Argo, now eclips'd, the sky forsake,
And brighter stars adorn the ship of Drake.
** In 1575, several Dutch Anabaptists, flying from persecution in their own country to
London, found themselves there in a still worse situation than they had been at home.
Two of them were actually burnt for heresy in Smithfleld: on which occasion the
bishop of London, by order of Queen Elizabeth, published a book to prove the lawfulness
of putting heretics to death.— See Gerard Brand's Hist. Ref. Pays Bas, vol. I, p. 234,
Stow, ann. 1575. In June, 1583, Elias Thacker and John Copping were hanged at Bury,
"for spreading certain books, seditiously penned by one Robert Browne, against the Book
of Common Prayer." — Stow, Annals. These were followed by Barrow, Greenwood,
Penry, aud other Independents or Anabaptists.

BISHOP HORNE DIES.  BISHOP WATSON. 289
confined,* AA'hich seems to argue, that he was one of the most a. d.
rigid and severe prelates against these national schismatics. It was '~^~'
chiefly, however, in his behaviour to his old antagonist, Bonner, in
the year 1563, that this vindictive and intolerant spirit appeared, 1563
which aimed at revenging the blood of the Protestants, put to
death in the former reign, upon him who was considered the prin
cipal author of that calamity. Bonner continued at this time a
prisoner in the Marshalsea, into which he had been cast, after
losing his see, for refusing the oath of supremacy. This being
situated in Surrey, and within the diocese of Winchester, Horne,
in quahty of his diocesan, once more tendered to Bonner the said
oath ; the refusal of which, on the third tender, was construed into
high-treason. The latter being indicted for his recusancy, confessed
the fact, but traversed the indictment. The main stress of his ar
gument was, that Horne, who had offered him the oath in his epis
copal quahty, was not actually a bishop according to law. In fact,
he had been consecrated according to the new ritual of Edward
VI, which, having been abrogated by an act of the last reign, had
not been restored in the present reign.! The conclusion of the
business was, that an act of parliament was now brought in to
legalise all such ordinations ; declaring the defect in question to be
a casus omissus. % On the other hand, Bonner was left to die
quietly in prison,|| instead of dying at the gallows. Horne, in his
turn, paid the debt of nature in 1580, at the episcopal palace in
Southwark, and was brought to this cathedral for interment, where
he was deposited, near the west-end of Bishop Edington's tomb.§
Soon after Bishop Home's death, the queen "committed the
charge of this church"^| to John Watson, M.D. He was educated
to the study of physic, in which he had considerable practice,**
until the beginning of the present reign ; when many laymen being
ordained to supply the places of the ejected Cathohc clergy, Dr.
Watson enlisted under the banner of the church, and took orders.!!
He was a great favourite at court, and was promoted to many great
benefices; being successively made prebendary of Winchester,
archdeacon of Surrey, chancellor of St. Paul's,!! master of St.
Cross, || || dean of this cathedral, and at length bishop of the
diocese, to which he was consecrated Sept. 18, 1580. He died at
his palace of Wolvesey, in this city,§§ Jan. 23, 1583, and was 15g3
* Collier, p. 507. t Collier, p. 492.
t Heylin, p. 174. II Athen. Oxon.
§ Godwin, i.e. "prope pulpitum."
f Godwin. ** Ant. Wood.
-ft Wood says he took Orders at that time, "if not haply before."
+} Idem. |||| Richardson, ex MS. §§ Stow.
VOL. I. DD

290 BISHOPS COOPER, WICKHAM, DAY, AND
A. D. buried in the nave of the cathedral, as his predecessor had been ;
if^5' leaving several benefactions to the university of Oxford, and to the
poor of his native town of Evesham; one of Avhich deserves
to be recorded and imitated, namely, £40 to set the said poor to
work.* Dr. Thomas Cooper, who next succeeded to this see, like
his predecessor, had practised and taken degrees in medicine!
during the late reign,. but returned to the more profitable study of
divinity, at the accession of Elizabeth. What first recommended
him to the notice of this princess was a Latin Dictionary, which
he published under the title of " Thesaurus Linguae Romanic et Bri-
tannicae," probably whilst he taught a grammar school at Oxford.!
His first promotion was to the deanery of Christchurch, his second
to the bishopric of Lincoln, and his third to this diocese, where he
remained stationary, until he was removed by death. This change
1594. took place April 29, 1594, when he was interred near the episcopal
throne, and a copious epitaph, partly in prose and partly in verse,
was inscribed on his tomb;|| this was probably defaced at the
new paving of the choir. Winchester now beheld a second Wil
ham Wickham on her episcopal throne. He had succeeded Cooper
in the see of Lincoln, and at present followed him to that of Win
chester. Here, however, he had neither the means nor the leisure
to copy the beneficent deeds of his great predecessor and name
sake ; dying of the stone and disury in less than ten weeks after
his translation, at his house in Southwark, and was buried in the
adjoining church of St. Mary Overy.§ During this short period,
however, he found means, as he possessed the courage, to tell the
queen, in a public sermon, an important truth which concerned the
interests of this city, viz., that if the see of Winchester were to
suffer as much rapine during the ensuing thirty years as it had
suffered in the preceding thirty, (that is to say, since the early part
of her reign,) there would not be left sufficient annual income to
keep on the roof of the cathedral church.! William Day, S. T. B.
dean of Windsor and provost of Eton, next succeeded. He was
brother to that George Day, who had died bishop of Chichester in
the former reign,** and who had attended Philip and Mary in their
visit to the college of this city, as we have mentioned before. The
present episcopacy, like the preceding, was chiefly distinguished
by its shortness, concluding in the space of nine months, by the
1595 death of the incumbent. This event made place for the promotion
* Athen. Oxon. t M.B. Athen. Oxon., Fasti Oxon. J Godwin.
|| See Richardson, ap Godwin.
§ See his epitaph, in Stow's Survey of London.
If Collier, Ecc. Hist, part n, p. 670. *# Wood.

BILSON.  RELIGIOUS PERSECDTION UNDER ELIZABETH. 291
of Dr. Thomas Bilson, a native of this city, and successively stu- A. D.
dent, master, and warden of the college here ; besides being fellow '~v_'
of New College, and prebendary of the cathedral.* In 1596, he 1596.
became bishop of Worcester, and thence was translated, the fol
lowing year, to this city. The high idea which the queen enter
tained of his talents and learning, caused him to be chosen into
the privy council. She over-rated these, however, when she em
ployed him to write ai work which should justify her in her usual
practice of raising commotions and rebellions in all the neighbour
ing states, as in Scotland, France, and particularly in the Low
Countries ;! yet so as to allow no pretext for resistance, in any case
whatsoever, to her own subjects against herself. Such was the
plan of Bishop Bilson's famous treatise, entitled, " The true Dif
ference between Christian Subjection and un-Christian Rebellion."
" This book," says a learned author, " served the queen's designs
for the present, but did much contribute to the ruin of her suc
cessor, Charles I. For there is not any book that the Presbyte
rians have made more dangerous use of against their prince, than
that which his predecessor commanded to be written to justify her
against the king of Spain."!
Having reported the persecution carried on by Catholics against
Protestants, in the reign of Mary, as far as concerns this city ; it
is requisite, for the truth of history, to say something of that
which the latter raised against the former, during the reign of
Elizabeth and the Stewarts. There is the greater reason for this,
as the fact is generally unknown, and as a right understanding and
balancing of accounts in this matter, may contribute to cut off one
of the most virulent sources of religious animosity, and dispose
Christians of different communions to forgive each other the faults
of their predecessors.
It was not until the year 1583, that any capital punishment took 1583
place in this city or neighbourhood, on the score of rehgion.
Some hghter penalties indeed had been inflicted; and, in particular,
certain poor Catholics, who were unable to pay the heavy fine im
posed upon them for neglecting to attend the public service of the
church— which was no less than £20 each, for every month that
they had been so absent ||— had been publicly whipped through the
city ;§ but, upon the translation of Bishop Cooper to this see, per
secution began to take a more severe form. Through his means,
+ " iTw'as written to put the best colour on the Dutch revolt," says Collier, p. 707.
t Ant. Wood. || 23.dEhz.cl.
§ Rishton, De Schism. Ang. p. 234.
DD 2

292 RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
A. d. two Catholic school-masters were apprehended ; who, refusing to
J^' take the oath of the queen's supremacy, were condemned and exe
cuted as guilty of high-treason. The name of the first of these
was John Slade, a Dorsetshire man, who had applied himself to
the study of the canon and civil law in the university of Douay,
but without taking orders ; and who, returning home, followed
the profession of a school-master in this city. The name of the
other was John Bodie, of a creditable family in the city of Wells,
and a Wykehamist ; being a master of arts, if not fellow of New
CoUege.* He too had apphed himself to the study of the canon
and civil law ; but not being able to advance himself by this know
ledge, on account of his religion, he seems to have kept a school
in the country, between Winchester and Andover. What is certain
is, that they were both tried together at Winchester, and con
demned, on the sole indictment of denying the queen's spiritual
supremacy, and asserting the supremacy of the pope ; and (what
was ascribed to the perturbation of the judge's mind at being
made an instrument of persecution,) the same sentence of death
was pronounced upon them two separate times.! John Slade was
drawn, hanged, boweled, and quartered at Winchester, October
30 ; John Bodie suffered the same cruel death at Andover, Novem
ber 2, 1583.! The latter, being called upon at the place of execu
tion by a gentleman of the neighbourhood, Mr. Kingsmill, to
confess his crime, that the people might know the cause for which
he died, made a profession of his obedience and fidelity to the
queen, in all temporal matters, and then added, — "be it known to
you all, that I suffer death this day, because I deny the queen to
be the supreme head of the church of Christ in England. I
never committed any other treason." || The following year another
Wykehamist, who appears to have been a resident in this city, suf
fered death at Tyburn, in the same cause. This was John Mun-
dyn, fellow of New College, from which, being ejected by Horne 3
bishop of Winchester, in 1566,§ on account of his religion, he went
abroad to Douay, and there was ordained priest. Travelhng on
horseback from this city to London,! he Avas stopped on Houn-
* Ant. Wood, Fasti Oxon. makes him N. C. S. and a priest. But he mentions other
persons of the same name, and owns himself at a loss to distinguish them. Hence his
account must give place to that of Stow, Rishton, and other writers.
t Rishton, De Schism, p. 324.
t Stow's Annals.
|| Memoirs of Missionary Priests, by the late R. R. Richard Challoner, D. D. Episc.
Deboren, vol. I, p. 136, who quotes the MS. of Douay college, and a printed account, by
R. Jones, a Protestant eye-witness, published in London in the same year.
§ Athen. Oxon.
if Mem. Miss. Pr. from Wood, Dr. Bridgewater's Concertatio et MSS. Duac,

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. 293
slow-heath by one Hammond, a lawyer ; who, knowing him to be a A. D.
priest, obliged him to return with him as far as Staines, where he \^
dehvered him up to certain justices of the peace, by whom he was
sent prisoner to London. Here, examined by Sir Francis Wal
singham, he acknowledged Queen Elizabeth to be the true queen
of England ; but being required to declare whether she was queen
dejure as well as de facto, and hesitating to answer this very intri
cate question, the secretary of state gave him a blow on the
ear, which made him reel, and stunned him for several days after
wards.* He was then confined in the Tower, and treated with
great rigour during the space of a twelve-month. At length he
was tried and cast, with four other priests, at Westminster Hall,
"as guilty of high-treason, for having been made priest beyond
the seas, and by the pope's authority, since a statute made in the
first year of her majesty's reign ; and had judgment to be hanged,
boweled, and quartered."! This sentence was accordingly exe
cuted five days afterwards, viz. Feb. 12, 1584. Two years later, 15gg
two priests of Douay, Robert Anderton and William Marsden,
bound from a port in France to some part of England, were
forced, by stress of weather, to land in the Isle of Wight ; where,
their character being discovered, they were apprehended and sent
to Winchester, to be confined and tried at the ensuing Lent assizes.
The judge, pitying their case, and being desirous of their acquittal,
suggested to them the following plea : — " I suppose, gentlemen,"
said he, " you embarked, not with the design of coming into Eng
land, but of going into Scotland, and that you were driven into
England by the storm, and against your will : tell me, is not this
the truth?" "God forbid," said they, "my lord, that we should
tell a lie for the matter ; our lives would be a burden to us if we
should save them by an untruth. We were sent hither to preach
the truth, and we must not, at our first setting out, give into a lie.
The truth is, we are both priests, and we set out with a design of
coming to England, to reconcile the souls of our neighbours to
God and his church. If we are not suffered to serve our neigh
bours' souls, we will take care not to hurt our own." " Nay then,"
said the judge, "the Lord have mercy upon you ; for, by the laws,
you are dead men." Sentence was accordingly pronounced upon
them, and they suffered the usual punishment with constancy and
intrepidity.! They were executed in the Isle of Wight, where
they had been apprehended, April 25, 1586. In the same year
* Mem. Miss. Pr. from Wood, Dr. Bridgewater's Concertatio et MSS. Duac.
I Letter'o^rlfn.' HoUand, S. T. L„ author of Urna Aurea, Diar. Duac, &c, Append.
Miss. vol. I.

294 RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.
A. d. another priest, by name John Adams, was apprehended at Win-
1586. chester, though he was tried and executed in London, merely for
executing his sacerdotal functions. He suffered October 8, 1586,*
1591. In 1591, two other persons suffered the death of traitors in this
city, for adhering to the ancient faith of its Swithuns and Wyke-
hams. These were Roger Dickonson, a priest of Rheims, who
exercised his missionary labours in the neighbourhood of Winches
ter ; and Ralph Milner, a poor, but honest and moral man, having
a wife and seven children, who resided in the neighbourhood of
Winchester. The former was condemned and executed in this
city, merely on account of his priestly character.! The latter
having been sent up to London, where he underwent the tortures
which were then so frequently practised upon the Catholics in
the prisons there,! was condemned for aiding and assisting the
aforesaid priest. The judge humanely offered him his hfe, if
he would but once attend the service of the established church, but
he refused the condition. At the place of execution, in this city,
his seven children were brought to him, that the sight of them
might melt his constancy ; but, instead of yielding to the sugges
tions of nature, he deliberately gave them his last blessing, and
declared, that he could wish them no greater happiness than to die
in the same cause in which he was about to shed his blood. || The
1791. *wo sufferers met their fate July 7s 1591. At the same assizes
were also condemned to death, seven single ladies of this city or
neighbourhood, whose houses the above-mentioned priest had fre
quented, and to whom he had administered the rites of his religion.
The judge thought to terrify them by pronouncing the sentence
of the law ; but, on the contrary, they were filled with joy on the
occasion, and afterwards burst into tears, when he gave them a
reprieve, declaring it to be their earnest desire to die with their
pastor: having, as they said, shared in his supposed guilt. § The
* Mem. Miss. Pr.
t Diar. Duac, MSS. Dr. Champ.
t MSS. Audomar. R. P. Thomas Stanney, an intimate friend of these sufferers. In
Diar. Rerum Gestarum in Turri Lond., written by Rushton, an eye-witness and fellow-
sufferer, we have a description of seven different kinds of torture used in the Tower
upon Catholic prisoners, and of those persons on whom they were inflicted. The general
use of the torture was afterwards discontinued, by order of the queen. See also Car
dinal Allen's Answer to Lord Burghley's Execution of Justice. The torture was, how
ever, occasionally used in England till the time of James I. — See Archaeologia, vol. X.
|| MS. Stanney.— Ibid.
§ MSS. Ant. Champney, S. T. D. Ribadineira, Mem. Miss. The cause of another Ca
tholic, who suffered death in the course of this year at Winchester, is of a more doubtful
nature, and therefore his name is not mentioned above. This was Laurence Humphreys,
a young layman of the age of 21, who, in the delirium of a violent fever, called the queen
a heretic, and other injurious names. Being indicted for these words, he called God to
witness that he could not remember having uttered them ; " nevertheless," says he, " as

RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION. 295
last whom we have discovered to have actually suffered here, A. D.
on the penal statutes in the present reign, was James Bird, of a 1593-
a genteel family, which had furnished several magistrates to this
city. Becoming a convert to the Catholic faith, at an early period
of life, he went abroad for education to the college at Rheims :
there being no means of education left for persons of that com
munion in England. On his return, he was apprehended, tried,
and condemned, for the fact of having made himself a Cathohc,
and for maintaining the pope to be the head of the church. His
life and hberty were offered to him, as they had been to Ralph
Milner, if he would only once attend the Protestant service.
When his father entreated him to accept the offer, he answered,
"that as he always had been, so he always would be, obedient to his
commands, except where they interfered with his duty to God."
Continuing in this resolution, he was, after a long imprisonment,
hanged, boweled, and quartered, in this city, March 25, 1593 ;
being then no more than nineteeen years of age. His head was
set on a pole over one of the city gates ; the sight of which so
affected his father, as to draw from him exclamations, which, in
those days of terror, were dangerous, even in the mouth of a con
formist.*divers witnesses affirm the fact, I will not deny it, but shall willingly suffer the punish
ment that may be inflicted upon me on that account." He was accordingly condemned
and executed in this city, some time in 1591.
* Bishop of Chalcedon's Catalogue, Dr. Champney's MSS., Mem. Miss Pr. Other
persons residing in the neighbourhood of this city, who suffered death in the reign of
Elizabeth, on the penal statutes, were, 1st, Swithun Wells, of the ancient family of that
name, settled at Brambridge, near Winchester, but descended from the noble family of
Lincolnshire, so famous in the time of the Plantagenets, to whom it was allied. He was
executed in London, in 1591, for having had mass said in his house, together with the
whole congregation, consisting of seven persons, excepting Mrs. Wells, who was con
demned, but left to die in prison. 2ndly, two persons of the ancient family of Titch-
borne suffered in the same cause, in 1601; Thomas for being a priest, and Nicholas for
being aiding to him, &c. The whole number of those who were put to death, in different
parts of the kingdom, for the profession the Catholic religion in Elizabeth's reign, was
about 200 : without mentioning the great numbers who died in prison, who were stripped
of all their fortune, banished, &c. To avoid returning again to this subject, it may be
proper to observe, that capital punishments continued to be actually inflicted on Catholics,
upon account of religion, until the latter end of the reign of Charles II. So late as the
reign of King William, one Paul Atkinson was condemned to death for his priestly cha
racter ; but his sentence was mitigated into perpetual imprisonment, in Hurst castle,
where he died, October 15, 1729, and was interred in the Catholic burying-ground, ad
joining to this city. In justification of the persecutions which we have detailed the fol
lowing lame pretexts have been offered :• — 1st, the rebellion of the earl of Northumber
land : but the number of Catholics who joined him, at a time when they certainly formed
the majority of the nation, was exceedingly small. Upon the principle of the revolution,
the whole body would have been justified in resisting Elizabeth, who had sworn to main
tain the church which she found established; but the Catholics did not admit of that
principle, and, in general were exemplary for their loyalty to this most severe of their
persecutors. We have admitted that Wyat's rebellion was no justification of Mary's per
secution. 2dly, the bull of excommunication and dethronement, fulminated against
the queen, is brought forward ; but the body of Catholics, instead of receiving, positively
rejected that bull. They knew how to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of the

296 SUNDRY PERSONS PROSECUTED FOR WITCHCRAFT.
a. d. We must not omit to mention another kind of religious perse-
1593. cution, by which many innocent persons lost their hves, in this and
the following reigns ; though it did not extend to that fatal extre
mity with respect to its victims in this city. In 1559, the articles
of visitation, which Archbishop Cranmer had issued ten years be
fore, for discovering all persons "who used charms, sorcery,
enchantments, witchcraft, soothsaying, or any hke craft," were
renewed.* On this occasion, amongst others, were apprehended
Leonard Bilson, uncle of Bishop Bilson, and prebendary of Win
chester cathedral, and John Cocks, clerks, and John Bright, gold
smith, all three of Winchester ; who, being committed to the Fleet,
and tried at Westminster, confessed (as Chief Justice Coke says)
their wicked actions. What seems much more certain is, that to
save themselves from being burnt, they bound themselves by oath,
in open court, " not to practise, deA'ise, or put in use, &c, any in
vocations or conjurations of spirits, witchcrafts, or enchantments,
or sorceries, in order to find money or treasure, or to waste, con
sume, or destroy any person, or to provoke any to unlawful love,"
&c! After thus engaging themselves, they were led through West
minster Hall, and, by the special command of the queen and her
council, were set in the pillory before the queen's palace.
The unrivalled success of Glueen Elizabeth in all her projects,
and particularly in cutting off all those who were obnoxious to her,
was probably the very circumstance that embittered "the last
scene of her life," which a faithful historian of the church of Eng
land assures us, " was dark and disconsolate ;"! very unlike that of
bishop of Rome, without ascribing to him one atom of temporal authority. Hence,
when Philip II sent his Invincible Armada, to execute that bull, the Catholic nobility and
gentry petitioned the queen to be placed in the foremost ranks, to oppose the expected
invasion, as Theophilus Higgons, a Protestant minister, writes. Sdly, The various plots
hatched against the person and government of Elizabeth are alleged. But, admitting
that we could give credit to such plots, as that for poisoning the queen's saddle, and
others of the same nature, which stand self-confuted; it would be extraordinary, if, in so
large a body as the Catholics then were, no turbulent or seditious persons were found.
Against the above-mentioned sufferers at Winchester, and indeed against the 200 already
named, no plot nor treason whatever was proved, or in general objected, except what was
supposed to be implied in the mere exercise of their religion. To make short of the
matter, Camden, whilst celebrating Elizabeth, at the desire and under the eye of that
bitter persecutor, Cecil, Lord Burleigh, (See preface to his Annals,) is forced to own that
the queen was convinced that the greater part of the poor priests, whose blood she
poured out like water, were innocent of all actual treason : " Plerosque tamen ex misellis
his sacerdotibus exitii in patriam conflandi conscios fuisse non credidit (Elizabetha) . Su-
periores autem hos ut sceleris instrumeuta habuisse, quandoquidem qui mittebantur
plenam ac liberam sui dispositionem superioribus relinquerent." It is an easy matter to
demonstrate the falsehood of the facts here assumed ; but taking the argument as it is
stated, Elizabeth thought it just to cause 100 priests to be hanged aud quartered for
the guilt of high-treason, because they were liable to commit high-treason !
* An Historical Essay on Witchcraft, &c. by F. Hutchinson, D D. p. 33, from Coke's
Entries. t Ibid.
t Collier, Ecc. Hist, part ii, p. G69.

DEATH OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 297
her unsuccessful rival, the queen of Scots, though the latter died, A. D.
at Elizabeth's command, on a scaffold.* "Whether the deep me- 1^
lancholy," says the same writer, " with which she was seized some
time before her death, proceeded from conscience or constitution,
is somewhat uncertain. It is possible her extraordinary usage of
the queen of Scots, embroiling the neighbouring kingdoms, and
harassing the patrimony of the church, might not please in retro
spection."! However that may be, the genuine daughter of Henry
VIII, and the second great destroyer of Winchester, yielded to
fate the last day of the year, 1602 O.S. ;! and with her ended the
dominion of the House of Tudor.
* The memory of this unfortunate princess has, of late years been vindicated by three
well known literary champions — Stuart, Tytler, and Whitaker — from the diabolical calum
nies and forgeries of the destroyer of her person, under which it had laboured for two
centuries. If such deep and complicated wickedness were capable of aggravation, it was
from the hypocrisy of Elizabeth, in publicly denying that she was accountable for the
murder of Mary, and in discarding and imprisoning the poor secretary, Davidson, as if he
were the author of that catastrophe. — There was one good point in the character of
Nero : he allowed that he was wicked and cruel, but said that others were as bad as he
as far as they had it in their power to be so.
t Collier, p. 669. t Viz. 24th of March.

END OF VOL. 1.

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